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Dialogue with India
26/11: Trial adjourned till September 19
Patil leaves for St Petersburg
China expresses concern over US expansion in Pak
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Step back from N-plan: US to N-Korea
Pak actress gets bail
Top Islamic militant held
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Delay will help terrorists: Gilani
Karachi/Bangalore, September 5 Pakistan wants equity-based relations with India and resumption of the composite dialogue at the earliest, he said, while speaking to reporters in Karachi after inaugurating a housing scheme for low-income people. India had frozen the composite-dialogue process in the wake of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks that New Delhi had blamed on elements operating from Pakistan. New Delhi has consistently maintained that the talks could resume only after Islamabad took tangible action against the perpetrators of the Mumbai carnage that claimed the lives of over 170 persons, including 26 foreigners. India has also said it has provided Pakistan with adequate evidence of the involvement of its nationals in the Nov 26 attacks that held the city to ransom for over 60 hours. India reiterated this Saturday, with External Affairs Minister SM Krishna saying that Pakistan had been given "enough proof" to prosecute Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) leaders for masterminding the Mumbai terror attacks. "Our dossier(s) contain enough proof to nail the (Mumbai attack) accused," Krishna told reporters in Bangalore. "We have the names (of terrorists) involved in the Mumbai attacks and have sent them to Pakistan and it is but natural that they should be arrested and punished accordingly," he maintained. India has given six dossiers to Pakistan over the attacks. LeT chief Hafiz Saeed is viewed as the mastermind of the carnage. The Lahore High Court had freed him in June, citing insufficient evidence to warrant his continued detention.The Pakistani Supreme Court has indefinitely put off a hearing of a plea against Saeed's release. — IANS
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26/11: Trial adjourned till September 19
Islamabad, September 5 Judge Baqir Ali Rana of the anti-terrorism court is conducting the trial of five LeT operatives - including operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and communications expert Zarar Shah - and two other suspects within the high-security Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi. The proceedings are being conducted in-camera and the judge has ordered a media blackout, citing national security concerns as well as the security of the accused and witnesses.
— PTI
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Patil leaves for St Petersburg
Moscow, September 5 Patil, who arrived here on Wednesday on a five-day state visit to Russia, left for St. Petersburg after holding extensive talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on regional and international issues and efforts to fight terrorism. In St. Petersburg, she is expected to meet the plenipotentiary representative of the President to the North-West district and visit a Russian school that teaches Hindi. During her talks with the Russian leadership here, Moscow said its ties with New Delhi were defined by the “special trust”. Patil, on her part, said “the time-tested relationship between India and the Russian Federation has been marked by continuity, trust and mutual understanding.” Noting that the economic relations have become the “cornerstone” of the bilateral ties, both countries agreed to raise the volume of the trade between them to $10 billion by 2010. — PTI
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China expresses concern over US expansion in Pak
China has expressed concern over "massive" expansion of the US embassy in Islamabad and hoped it would be confined to normal diplomatic operations.
“China has concerns over expansion of the US embassy in Islamabad and the United States should expand its embassy by observing security rules and regulations of Pakistan,” Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Luo Zhaohui said while addressing a news conference here. The expansion being done at a cost of one billion dollars has also drawn a lot of media attention in Pakistan and abroad amid questions being raised over the unusual size, objectives and future plans. Media reports, refuted by the embassy, further said nearly 1,000 US marines would be deployed in the embassy for which the Pakistan government has leased a big chunk of about 175 acres of land for the expansion. Interior minister Rehman Malik also denied reports that extra-ordinary number of the US civil and military staff is being deployed in Islamabad. Rehman also denied reports of surge in presence of marines in the embassy. “As far as marines are concerned, neither the US has applied for any additional visas; nor we have given any permission to them and this was disinformation.” The public expression of concern over the US diplomatic activity is normally an unusual development on part of the Chinese diplomats, who normally remain very discreet on such matters. But Ambassador Luo Zhaohui also created a stir in diplomatic circles a couple of months back when he took exception to increase in US military strength in Afghanistan in the absence of any exit strategy. Responding to a question, Ambassador Luo said: “China is against using the term 'Af-Pak' bracketing Pakistan and Afghanistan. Pakistan is a sovereign state, which should not be clubbed with Afghanistan where the US and allied forces are battling against insurgency.” China is against using the term 'Af-Pak' bracketing Pakistan and Afghanistan. Pakistan is a sovereign state, which should not be clubbed with Afghanistan where the US and allied forces are battling against insurgency
— Luo Zhaohui, Chinese envoy to Pak
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Step back from N-plan: US to N-Korea
Washington, September 5 The statement came in the wake of the United States, in its capacity as the President of the Security Council for the month of September, receiving a letter from North Korea informing it that it is in final stages of the uranium enrichment process. "The letter we received in our capacity as the President of the UN Security Council. I think that in terms of characterising it, I would say that it just reconfirms the need for North Korea to step back from any kind of nuclear weapons programme and recommit to the obligations that it made in the September 2005 joint statement. And that was the complete and verifiable denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said. "We would just urge them to return to the table and join us with our Six-Party partners to resume talks leading to our goal," Kelly said. On a question, he said: "We are very concerned by these claims that they are moving closer to the weaponisation of nuclear materials." Kelly said the US is very concerned about the claims made by North Korea, but is not in a position to confirm that these claims were true. — PTI
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Pak actress gets bail
A Lahore court on Saturday granted interim bail before arrest to Meera, a leading actress of the Pakistan film industry who earned fame after a controversial role in an Indian film 'Nazar'. Meera is facing a theft case registered on a complaint by a businessman, who claims to be her husband, which she denies. The court allowed bail till September 15 on a petition by Meera who said the police was hounding her, her parents, brother and brother-in-law on a false complaint by her alleged husband. She said she was not hiding but the police has been raiding her and her relatives' houses in a bid to harass her. Meera started her acting career in 1995 with Film Kanta and has since been pursuing a successful film career but she became the focus of controversy after her appearance in an Indian film Nazar in which she kisses the hero.
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Top Islamic militant held
Cotabato (Philippines), September 5 Smawtin Basilan, who is a member of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and who had a $12,000 bounty on his head, was arrested at his home in Midsayap town Wednesday, the police said.
— AFP
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