In a purge, initiated after two botched attempts on former military ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistan Air Force has arrested, tried or dismissed dozens of officials suspected of links with terrorist organisations.

A PAF spokesman confirmed that at least 57 officials or lower ranks were court-martialed while a senior official also wanted for same reasons has been at large for quite long.

“Action against some of the PAF officials over links with terrorists began during former president Pervez Musharraf’s rule,” PAF spokesman Air Commodore Hamayun Waqar said. He, however, clarified, that nobody has been held during past two years.

More arrests were made after a PAF official Mushtaq was apprehended in 2004. Of these, 26 had to face court martial and were awarded 3 to 17 years imprisonment, while six were awarded death sentence for involvement in serious crimes, including two botched attempts on Musharraf in December 2003. A wanted corporal technician Amir is also still at large whose photos have been affixed at all the air bases.

Lawyers of the arrested personnel said the first arrest was made on Jan 9, 2004. They said the number of personnel court-martialed, arrested or dismissed after the assassination attempt made in December 2003 was more than 100.

The personnel were working at different air bases, including the PAF Base Faisal, Minhas, Mushaf and Risalpur.

Families of the two dismissed junior technicians, Adnan and Niaz, said they had been targeted for voting against the former president in a referendum.

They said the air force officials who had voted against Gen (retd) Musharraf had been identified from the serial number of the ballot papers issued to them.

The PAF has also declared an airman as ‘most wanted’ for facilitating the escape of the main accused in the assassination attempts, Mushtaq, who was later re-arrested.

The comments by the two ministers came in the wake of a court in Mumbai issuing warrants on Tuesday for the arrest of 22 Pakistanis in connection with the terrorist attacks. — PTI 

Washington, June 25
Noting that the Indo-US ties has lost the momentum seen in the early era of the Bush regime, a Task Force report today suggested US President Barack Obama to include India as a G-8 member, open a new Consulate in Bangalore and appoint a high-profile aide for New Delhi.

“President Barack Obama should assign ownership of the bilateral dialogue to a high-profile aide and this person should promptly meet with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s newly-formed government to define a mutual vision for economic interaction in the years ahead,” the report said today.

“The meeting should also prepare the ground for a productive visit to India by Obama, ideally during his expected trip to Asia later this year,’ said the report ‘Enhancing India-US Cooperation in the Global Innovation Economy’ which was released at the Capitol Hill by Congressman Howard Berman, Chairman of House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

A joint collaboration of the Pacific Council, an American thinktank, and the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), the report is co-authored by former US Ambassador to India Richard Celeste and FICCI Secretary-General Amit Mitra.

Both governments should undertake a comprehensive review of the export controls that still inhibited bilateral trade in high-technology goods and services and develop a joint plan for their maximum-possible reduction, the report said. — PTI

A candlelight vigil held in memory of Iran violence victims, including a young woman Neda Agha Soltan, at San Diego in US on Thursday. — Reuters

Tehran, June 25
Defeated Iranian presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi called off a planned ceremony today to mourn the deaths of slain protestors, his party website said. “Despite all efforts exerted by the sheikh of reforms (Karroubi) to prepare a site for the mourning ceremony, the ceremony will not take place today,” said the Etemad Melli website.

“It is very unfortunate that in this situation, even political leaders such as Karroubi are not given a site to hold a mourning ceremony,” it added.

The website said the reformist ex-parliament speaker, who came a distant fourth in the June 12 presidential election, was now planning to hold the ceremony next week either at Tehran university or at a cemetery.

Iran’s interior ministry has banned all gatherings by opposition groups, who are protesting what they say were rigged results of the election that returned Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power.

At least 17 people have been killed in the post-election violence, state media reports say. — AFP

Tehran, June 25
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused US President Barack Obama on Thursday of behaving like his predecessor George W. Bush towards Iran and said there was not much point in talking to Washington unless the US President apologised.

Obama said on Tuesday he was "appalled and outraged" by a post-election crackdown and Washington withdrew invitations to Iranian diplomats to attend the Independence Day celebrations on July 4 - stalling efforts to improve ties with Tehran.

"Mr Obama made a mistake to say those things ... our question is as to why he fell into this trap and said things that previously Bush used to say," the semi-official Fars News Agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.

"Do you want to speak with this tone? If that is your stance then what is left to talk about ... I hope you avoid interfering in Iran's affairs and express your regret in a way that the Iranian nation is informed of it," he said.

Iran has crushed anti-government protests, flooding the streets of Tehran with the police and militia to quell the most widespread unrest since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

About 20 persons have been killed in protests after Ahmadinejad was re-elected in a disputed June 12 poll which opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi says was rigged.

In what appeared to be further evidence of the government's determination to crush resistance, 70 professors were detained after meeting Mousavi, his website said on Thursday.

Mousavi said he was under pressure to stop challenging the election result and also complained about the closure of his Kalameh-ye Sabz daily newspaper and arrest of its staff. The row over the election has exposed an unprecedented public rift in within Iran's ruling elite.

With street protests fading, analysts say the battle has moved off the street into a behind-the-scenes struggle, which has divided the clerical establishment into two camps.

Mousavi has the backing of such influential figures as former presidents Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami, along with senior cleric Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who normally stays above the political fray, has sided strongly with Ahmadinejad. — Reuters