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Pak takes Manmohan’s remarks seriously
Zardari favours reconciliation in Mush case
Mehsud is dead, says Taliban’s arrested spokesman
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Pak govt request halt in Benazir murder case
Car bomb, rockets strike Kabul
Tunisian woman carrying 12 babies
Transsexual pair wins legal recognition as men
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Pak takes Manmohan’s remarks seriously
Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has said Pakistan has taken “very seriously” the Indian premier’s statement fearing possible attack from Pakistan-based terrorist groups and asked New Delhi to share the information with Pakistan. Talking to media after addressing a function at the Foreign Services Academy Tuesday, Qureshi said Pakistan wanted an exchange of credible information that India was supposed to posses on which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had based his statement. He said Prime Ministers of both countries had decided in Sharm El Shiek to cooperate in information sharing with each other for curbing the menace of terrorism. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said at a security conference in New Delhi on Monday that there was “credible information” of plans by terrorist groups in Pakistan to carry out attacks on India. Pakistan responded to the remarks by inviting India’s Deputy High Commissioner in Islamabad to the Foreign Office where he was conveyed Pakistani request for full information. “We can’t take any such statement lightly. Pakistan wants peaceful and friendly relationship with all its neighbours and that’s why it wants that the misunderstandings should be ratified. So, let’s see what they respond to us,” the Foreign Minister said. Earlier, the Foreign Office said: “The Indian Prime Minister’s remarks warrant serious and prompt attention. “We would request India to share the information that they have and for our part we stand ready to cooperate fully in pre-empting any act of terror.” Replying to a question, the Foreign Minister played down the expansion of the US embassy in Islamabad at a cost of $1 billion. He said both countries wanted a long-term bilateral relationship and the US had trebled its economic assistant to Pakistan. The expansion of the embassy was thus justified and should not be a cause of alarm to the people of Pakistan.
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Zardari favours reconciliation in Mush case
Islamabad: President Asif Ali Zardari has said he is opposed to politics of revenge and favours reconciliation in the case of former President Pervez Musharraf. “But if the parliament decides to launch Musharraf’s trial, we will follow its lead,” Zardari He said the thirst for revenge against the former President should be quenched by reconciliation. This had been the fundamental position taken by slain PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto. The PPP government had not ordered the filing of a case against Musharraf, in line with Benazir Bhutto’s philosophy of reconciliation. To a question, he said Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani enjoyed full powers. He was unanimously elected by Parliament. He said it was unfortunate that the Charter of Democracy (CoD) that had pledged to undo the 17th Amendment introduced by Gen Musharraf shifting power balance to the Presidency, could not be fully implemented. He, however, said the PPP government was committed to implementing the charter in letter and spirit. He said he was not a power monger, as he had rejected several offers of becoming the country’s Prime Minister.
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Mehsud is dead, says Taliban’s arrested spokesman Islamabad, August 18 Hussain said intelligence agencies had informed him about Maulvi Omar confirming the death of Baitullah during interrogation. “Everybody knows that Maulvi Omar has been arrested. He was a spokesman for the Taliban. We will catch them all,” a Dawn report quoted Mian Iftikhar Hussain, Information Minister for the North West Frontier Province, as saying on Tuesday. Omar had been moved to the provincial capital Peshawar. US and Pakistani officials said they were almost certain that the chief, Baitullah Mehsud, had been killed during the August 5 strike, but at least three Taliban operatives, including the detainee, Maulvi Omar, had called media organisations following the attack to say he was still alive. Omar’s comments - relayed by an intelligence official who took part in the questioning - would be the first admission by the Taliban that Mehsud was dead. The spokesman’s capture was the second arrest of a prominent Taliban figure in 24 hours. As the official spokesman for Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan Omar frequently called journalists to claim responsibility for terrorist attacks in Pakistan. As well as being the movement’s mouthpiece, Omar was an influential aide to Mehsud and ranking member of the Taliban. He was captured along with two associates in a village in the Mohmand tribal region on Monday night while he was travelling in a car to South Waziristan, a Taliban stronghold, said Javed Khan, a local government administrator. — ANI
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Pak govt request halt in Benazir murder case
Islamabad: In a surprise move the federal government has requested a halt in the proceedings in the case relating to the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto in an anti-terrorism court.
The government has filed a petition with the court saying the Federal Investigation Bureau (FIA) will investigate the case. On the basis of that probe, an appropriate case would be brought to the court, the petition said. Five persons, mostly teenagers, are facing trial on the charge of murdering Benazir Bhutto. They include Aitzaz Shah (a juvenile), Sher Zaman, Abdul Rasheed, Rafaqat Hussain and Hasnain Gul.
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Car bomb, rockets strike Kabul
Kabul, August 18 Security officials said at least 52 were wounded by the suicide bomber, who rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into the convoy on the notorious Jalalabad road, scene of frequent Taliban attacks and home to many Western aid and military compounds. A spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan said foreign troops were among the dead and wounded. The UN mission in Kabul said two of its Afghan staff members were also among the dead. With incumbent Hamid Karzai fighting to win a fresh mandate without a second round run-off, Thursday’s election is also a test of US President Barack Obama’s strategy of escalating the eight-year-old conflict in an effort to reverse recent Taliban gains. Polls show Karzai likely to win Thursday's vote, but suggest he may fall just short of the outright majority needed to avoid a second round in six weeks. Taliban militants, meanwhile, have vowed to disrupt the poll with violence. — Reuters
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Tunisian woman carrying 12 babies
London, August 18 In fact, the woman, who is nine months' pregnant, is about to eclipse the octuplets of the American mother Nadia Suleman. Fertility experts have condemned the news, alleging the doctors who treated the couple are "irresponsible" and risking the health and lives of the mother and her babies. — PTI
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Transsexual pair wins legal recognition as men
Melbourne, August 18 The pair was previously denied legal recognition of their sex change by West Australian state government, as the government argued that until they had hysterectomies done they could not be considered men under the Gender Reassignment Act.They then appealed against the ruling. The State Administrative Tribunal upheld the appeal after it found the legislation did not specify reproductive surgery as a requirement so the pair could be legally considered men even with female reproductive organs. Reacting to the decision, one of them , whose identity is legally suppressed, said "The decision will open up lots of opportunities for me and other people who till now never tried to get their sex legally changed because they didn't think they'd be able to," the ABC reported. — PTI
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Islamabad, August 18 
