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Suicide bomber kills 33 in Pak
Oz assault victim alleges shabby treatment
US scraps missile-defence shield plan
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Suu Kyi appeals against conviction
Sacking CJ was a mistake, says Mush
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Suicide bomber kills 33 in Pak Islamabad, September 18 The bomber targeted the Kachcha-Pucca market of Kohat district in North West Frontier Province at a time when a large number of people had gathered to board coaches to travel to their hometowns for the Id-ul-Fitr holidays. District police chief Dilawar Bangash said the suicide attacker drove his jeep into the crowd and detonated the explosives. A total of 65 persons were injured, some of them seriously. Police officials said up to 150 kg of explosives could have been used in the attack. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. The police cordoned off the site of the blast and started a search for accomplices of the suicide attacker. Pieces of human flesh lay scattered all over the market as black smoke engulfed the area. The powerful explosion destroyed almost all the structures in the market. Officials said the death toll could rise as several people were feared to be buried under the debris of a hotel and shops that collapsed due to the blast.The army also joined the rescue operations. An emergency was declared in local hospitals and doctors on leave were recalled for duty. Police officials said up to 150 kg of explosives could have been used in the attack. The blast, heard from 5 km away, caused panic in Kohat city. Officials said the attack might have been carried out by militants in retaliation for operations launched against the Taliban in the nearby Orakzai tribal region. President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani condemned the blast and said the perpetrators of the crime would not be spared. Zardari, who is currently in London on an official visit, said the government would leave no stone unturned to find the culprits and give them severe punishment. Gilani described the attack as a cowardly act of terrorism and expressed his government's determination to stamp out terrorism and militancy. He asked the authorities to conduct inquiry into the incident. — PTI
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Oz assault victim alleges shabby treatment
Melbourne, September 18 Onkar Singh, brother-in-law of Sukhdeep told PTI: “It was the efforts of consulate who pressurised the hospital to treat and examine Sukhdeep at the earliest otherwise we were given the date for examination as September 24th.” The attack left Sukhdeep with a broken jaw, nose and cheekbones and bleeding eyes. He said, Sukhdeep’s case was not taken up properly and the victim was only given painkillers initially. A 26-year-old Sukhdip Singh, his brother-in-law Gurdeep Singh and uncle Mukhtair Singh were attacked by a group of people when they were playing pool in the eastern Melbourne suburb of Epping. His uncle Mukhtiyar Singh, 46, suffered a broken shoulder and a black eye while Gurdeep Singh, 31, has a fractured jaw. He said the police was incorrect in saying that only four of the localites were directly involved. Asked if he had exaggerated the number of persons involved while giving the statement to Indian media, he said, “Four people cannot beat the similar number of people so badly. It has to be more.” Onkar said, “By the time police arrived most of them had run away and what they saw was 15-20 by-standers and 4 persons bashing us.” Onkar had told the media that a group of 70 persons was involved in the attack. He said the police even at first denied that the attack was racist but later confirmed that it was one. Around 30 Indian students have been attacked by Australians in various cities in a span of three months. — PTI
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US scraps missile-defence shield plan
President Barack Obama, in a major policy shift, has scrapped a controversial missile-defence shield favoured by his predecessor, removing a thorn in U.S.-Russia relations but earning criticism from some who accuse him of abandoning U.S. allies in Europe. Obama on Thursday announced that he would be abandoning plans to base U.S. interceptor missiles in Poland and radar in the Czech Republic to protect Europe from Iranian missiles. Instead, Obama has proposed deploying a system aimed at intercepting short- and medium-range missiles. The President justified his decision by citing new intelligence that shows Iran's long-range missile programme tobe far less developed than previously thought. Russia, which had vehemently opposed former President George W. Bush's plan to place U.S. military hardware on its border, said Obama's decision would go a long way in resetting the relationship between the two countries. In 2007, the Bush administration announced plans to install 10 ground-based anti-missile interceptors in Poland and battle-management radar in the Czech Republic to counter possible long-range Iranian ballistic missiles. Agreements were signed in 2008, but they have yet to be approved by Czech and Polish legislators. "Our new missile defence architecture in Europe will provide stronger, smarter and swifter defences of American forces and America's allies," Obama said in an announcement from the White House. "It is more comprehensive than the previous programme; it deploys capabilities that are proven and cost effective, and it sustains and builds upon our commitment to protect the U.S. homeland." "President Bush was right that Iran's ballistic missile programme poses a significant threat. This new approach will provide capabilities sooner, build on proven systems and offer greater defences against the threat of missile attack than the 2007 missile defence programme," he told reporters. "The best way to responsibly advance our security and the security of our allies is to deploy a missile defence system that best responds to the threats that we face and that utilizes technology that is both proven and cost-effective." In Moscow, Russian President Dimitry Medvedev, who will meet Obama at the U.N. General Assembly in New York next week and at the G20 summit in Pittsburgh, praised the "responsible decision of the U.S. President." He hinted that this could help ease negotiations on a nuclear arms reduction agreement. But the decision drew sharp criticism from Republicans. “Scrapping the U.S. missile defence system in Poland and the Czech Republic does little more then empower Russia and Iran at the expense of our allies in Europe,” said Congressman John Boehner of Ohio, the House minority leader.
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Suu Kyi appeals against conviction
Yangon, September 18 Suu Kyi and reporters were barred from attending the appeal at the Yangon Divisional Court. The verdict was to be delivered later. Separately, the junta hastily granted amnesty to thousands of other prisoners who were expected to be freed today. A mass release had been anticipated for months but the timing appeared to be partially aimed at distracting attention from Suu Kyi's hearing. The 64-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner was convicted on August 11 for breaking the terms of her house arrest when an American intruder stayed at her home. A three-year sentence was commuted to 18 months of house arrest by the junta chief, Senior Gen. Than Shwe. — AP
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Sacking CJ was a mistake, says Mush
Washington, September 18 “Now, after seeing the incidents following his (the Chief Justice's) dismissal from the office, I realised I should not have done that,” the 'ARY News' quoted the former military ruler as having said yesterday. “It was a mistake to send the reference against him to Supreme Judicial Council, though it was my constitutional and legal obligation. The reference resulted in a chaos in the country... Probably I will not commit such things in future. “Neither had I any personal enmity with Chaudhry when I removed him nor have I at the moment,” Musharraf said, adding he was left with no option but to depose the Chief Justice in order to prevent the democratic system of that time. Chaudhry was removed from the office of the Chief Justice of Pakistan in November 2007, by the then President Musharraf on charges of “misconduct and misuse” of authority. However, he was reinstated in Marchthis year. The Pakistani police had last month booked Musharraf for ordering the house arrest of Chief Justice Chaudhry and other judges he had sacked after imposing an emergency on November 3, 2007, following an Islamabad court's direction on a petition filed by one advocate Mohammad Aslam Ghuman. The Pakistani Supreme Court had also declared in July that Musharraf's imposition of emergency in November 2007, and the subsequent dismissal of judges were “unconstitutional and illegal”. —
PTI
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