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Pressure mounts on Zardari to quit
Extradition Treaty
Pak brigadier hurt in ambush
Hedge Fund Scam |
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Baby found alive in box
Benazir Murder US academician: Pak still supporting Taliban 13 dead as US Army Major goes on shooting spree Two dead in Orlando
office shooting
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Pressure mounts on Zardari to quit
The Pakistan government today found itself in is a tricky situation with Muttahioda Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain hinting at leaving the ruling coalition. The development has taken place at a time when President Asif Ali Zardari is grappling with the legal and political implications of withdrawal of the infamous National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO). Responding to the veiled threat, the President held a meeting with MQM MPs late last night and also rushed his main troubleshooter and Interior Minister Rehman Malik to Dubai early this morning for talks with an MQM delegation sent from London by Hussain for further discussion on the simmering differences. “We are ignored in decision-making on vital issues and were not taken into confidence on the Kerry-Lugar Aid Bill or NRO,” Altaf told an election rally in Skardu. He said the MQM had taken a principled stand on certain issues in response to public sentiments and was worried over corruption allegations against the government. “If we have to quit the coalition we will do so, but never compromise on principles,” he said. Altaf threw a bombshell early this week by declaring that his party would oppose the NRO in Parliament, which compelled Zardari to withdraw the bill the same night, fearing the government would be short of requisite numbers to ensure its adoption. Altaf also obliquely advised the President to make “highest possible sacrifice” to save the present democratic system from being derailed. The beleaguered President last night also held long session with estranged PPP leader and eminent jurist Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahasan amid continuing worries over his legal and political problems. He is reported to have made some attractive offers to Aitzaz for the office of Attorney-General or Governor Punjab. Ahsan had been sidelined by Zardari, apparently, because of campaign for restoration of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and other deposed judges. He first met Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and then had a comprehensive session with President Zardari. Media reports said Ahsan, who had met Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani three months ago, advised the president to transfer all his “politically undesired powers” to institutions. “This is the only way to save the system and democracy,” he was cited as saying. Talking to reporters, Ahsan said the President enjoyed immunity under Article 248 of the Constitution even if the controversial National Reconciliation Ordinance lapsed. “If NRO is abolished, all cases suspended under it will revive. The state machinery, including police and the National Accountability Bureau, can also take action, but no court can summon the President,” he said. In reply to a question about the cases against President Zardari outside the country, Ahsan said the President would have the protection under the “principal of sovereign immunity” and no court could summon him. Asked about the reported offers made to him, Aitzaz quipped:”The country is currently facing a war-like situation and at this stage these things do not matter.” He said more serious things were discussed than the offer of offices. He said if the NRO was abolished, all the cases decided under this ordinance would resurrect against other beneficiaries but the President cannot be prosecuted.
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Extradition Treaty Nepal has once again refused to sign the much awaited extradition treaty despite pressure from India.During a meeting in Kathmandu on Friday, Indian delegates led by Home Secretary GK Pillai tried to persuade their Nepalese counterparts to sort out the differences and sign the treaty, but in vain. According to a Home Ministry source, Nepal has expressed inability to reach the deal at the present transitional political period without forging political consensus among major parties. Earlier, political parties, including main opposition party Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoists, had urged the government not to sign the treaty hastily without analysing its pros and cons. However, Pillai said he would make his views public at a press meet slated for Saturday. India has been insisting upon Nepal to sign the treaty in the mutual interest of both countries and strengthen bilateral relations between them. Meanwhile, officials of both countries have agreed to cooperate with each other in curbing possible cross-border criminal and unruly activities.
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Pak brigadier hurt in ambush
Unknown gunmen ambushed and sprayed bullets on the vehicle of an army brigadier and his driver in Islamabad on Friday, wounding him and his driver, the police said.Brigadier Sohail and his driver came under attack by unknown assailants in the I-8/4 sector of the capital. This was the third such incident within a fortnight in the capital. In the first such attack on October 22, a brigadier attached with the UN peace mission in Sudan was killed. Another brigadier escaped unhurt two days later when he was fired upon. According to senior city police officer Tahir Malik, two assailants riding a motorbike sprayed bullets on the vehicle of Brigadier Sohail, injuring him and his driver, who were immediately shifted to hospital where they were reported to be in a stable condition. “We have collected a pistol from the site of the attack and are looking for further evidence,” Malik said. “Unknown attackers were waiting for Brigadier Sohail to leave his house and opened fire at his vehicle as soon as it entered the main road,” an eyewitness said.
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Hedge Fund Scam
New York, November 6 The latest action brings the number of people who have been charged in the case to 20, including four Indians. The scam came to light last month with the arrest of Sri Lankan Tamil-origin billionaire Raj Rajaratnam, founder of the Galleon Group founder and hedge fund operator, and five others, two of whom were Indians. Deep Shah, a former analyst at the Moody’s Investor Service, and Gautham Shankar, a former proprietary trader at Schottenfeld Group in New York, were charged yesterday. Shankar has pleaded guilty, while Shah is still at large. Anil Kumar and Rajiv Goel (both 51) are the two other Indians who were were arrested last month for allegedly committing the fraud. US Attorney Preet Bharara and New York’s assistant FBI director Joseph Demarest today said the accused took part in insider trading schemes that “generated more than 20 million dollars in illegal profits.” Of the 14, eight were arrested yesterday, while a ninth man was being sought, and later released on bail. Five others had already been charged and have pleaded guilty in a court in New York. Atheros Communications Inc executive Ali Hariri has been charged with passing on confidential information to a hedge fund manager Ali Far who has pleaded guilty of fraud and is now reportedly cooperating with the investigators. “People will probably ask just how pervasive is insider trading these days? Is this just the tip of the iceberg? We aim to find out,” said Preet Bharara, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Rajaratnam received 13 charges, four counts of conspiracy and eight counts of security fraud. Galleon Group is a hedge fund with up to $7 billion in assets under management. Out of the $20 million, Rajaratnam alone made $12.7 million in illegal profits for Galleon. — PTI
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Baby found alive in box
Chipley (US), November 6 Clothing was packed around it to muffle any sounds and baking powder placed inside to mask the stench of dirty diapers. Authorities say the baby’s mother, Chrystina Lynn Mercer, gave her to baby sitter Susan Elizabeth Baker early on Saturday, then reported her missing about 10 hours later. Sheriff Bobby Haddock choked up yesterday as he described how 7-month-old Shannon Dedrick was stashed in the box for 12 straight hours before investigators discovered her on Wednesday. —
AP
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Benazir Murder The UN commission investigating the murder of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has sought access to former president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf and a number of senior military officers for questioning. The foreign ministry is learnt to have received a letter from Mark Quarterman, chief of staff of Commissioner Heraldo Munoz, asking the government to arrange a meeting of UN investigators with former president. “They have shown a desire to meet the top leadership of the army and the ISI and, if there is an inability, the commission would have to reflect it in the final report,” the letter said.
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US academician: Pak still supporting Taliban Washington, November 6 “Pakistan is, in fact, limiting its war on terrorism to those elements that undermine the Pakistani state. And those elements are not comprehensively the enemies of the United States. They are specifically the enemies of Pakistan,” Assistant Professor at Georgetown University, Christine Fair said at a Congressional hearing today. “Having receiving $13 billion, if not more, from the United States to participate in the war on terrorism, Pakistan continues to support the Afghan Taliban. This means that Pakistan is undermining the very war on terrorism that it has received handsome reward allegedly to support,” she said testifying before the House Armed Services Committee's Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee. In order to stabilise the region, the US needs to compel Pakistan to cease supporting all militant groups operating on and from its territory over a reasonable time frame, she said. Fair said America’s inability to compel Pakistan to cease supporting all militant groups is actually the crux of instability in South Asia. Everyone who studies South Asia agrees that a militant attack similar to what happened in Mumbai will be the most likely precipitant of an Indo-Pakistan conventional crisis with potential escalation, she said. “The Pakistan Taliban shares overlapping membership with those very same groups that target India and, obviously, the Afghan Taliban operating in Afghanistan. So, it can’t defeat its own internal security threats —which brings into question Pakistan’s national integrity and obviously its strategic assets — until it is compelled to strategically abandon militancy,” she said. —
PTI
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13 dead as US Army Major goes on shooting spree Houston, November 6 The lone gunman responsible for the worst mass killing ever at a US defence post was identified as 39-year-old Major Nidal Malik Hasan, an American national of Jordanian descent, who was about to be deployed to Iraq, officials at sprawling Fort Hood military base in St Antonio in central Texas said. Clad in a military uniform, Hasan fired a pair of pistols, one of them semi-automatic, at a military processing centre, where soldiers go for a last-minute medical check up before being sent on deployment. Hasan and a policewoman also exchanged fire. Both were hit but survived, authorities said. Fort Hood’s base commander Lt Gen Bob Cone said the attacker was shot several times in exchange of fire with the woman officer and was captured. “His death is not imminent.” Military officials said the gunman attacked other troops at the Soldier Readiness Processing Centre and the adjacent Howze Theatre on the Central Texas post. Ten of the 13 people killed were soldiers, Cone said. A surveillance video aired by CNN showed Hasan wearing traditional Arab outfit at a convenience store in the campus hours before the incident, described by Barack Obama as “a horrific outburst of violence”. — PTI
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Two dead in Orlando
office shooting
Washington, November 6 News reports said the police have identified gun man as Jason Rodriguez, 40, a former employee of a business located in a downtown Orlando building where a deadly mass shooting took place. He is believed to be driving silver, 2002 Nissan SUV with tag number D11UXR, said Orlando Police spokeswoman Sgt Barbara Jones. Orlando police and Orange County Sheriffs deputies have blocked roads near the incident. A police helicopter hovered over the area as panicked workers rushed to safety, images from television station WESH showed. —
PTI
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A US Army psychiatrist, apparently angry over being deployed to Iraq, today went on a “horrific” shooting spree at America’s largest military base near here killing 13 persons, including 10 soldiers, and injuring 30 before being shot and injured by a woman police officer.The lone gunman responsible for the worst mass killing ever at a US defence post was identified as 39-year-old Major Nidal Malik
Hasan.
