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Peshawar bleeds again A damaged vehicle is removed from the blast site in Peshawar on Thursday. — Reuters
Top Republican lawmaker refuses to dine with Manmohan
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Headley had co-conspirator in Pak army
UN panel quizzes Mush on Bhutto murder
Taliban threaten to contaminate water sources with poison
Pak has more nukes than India: US experts
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Peshawar bleeds again
At least 19 persons were killed and 50 injured outside the district courts in Peshawar on Thursday when a suicide bomber blew himself up while being frisked at the main gate. The blast occurred at the crowded entrance of the judicial complex situated on Khyber Road where several other strategic buildings, including the Governor House, Assembly building, Corps Commander's residence are located. The attack is a third one in the area in the recent weeks and sixth in the beleaguered provincial metropolis during the past 11 days. “The bomber resisted search by guards at the main gate and tried to force his way into the complex,” district police chief Liaqat Ali told mediapersons. “The bomber triggered the explosives concealed in his vest when a police guard grappled him to block his entry in the building,” he said, adding that three cops were among those killed. The bomb disposal squad estimated that about eight to ten kilograms of explosive was used in the blast. The complex is near the five-star Pearl Continental Hotel, where at least nine people were killed when attackers forced their way through a security checkpost and blew up a truck bomb in June last year. Six suicide bombings in 11 days have now hit the sprawling city of 2.5 million people, which lies on the edge of Pakistan’s lawless tribal belt. Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani described the latest incident in Peshawar the “last gasp” attempts by the militants “who have been defeated, their strongholds dismantled and equipment destroyed.” Talking to reporters here, Gilani said the wave of suicide attacks in Peshawar and other city would “soon subside”. These attacks are being carried out by scattered elements among the militants. Senior provincial minister Bashir Bilour, while talking to newsmen at the blast site, said the continuing wave of suicide attacks was quite perplexing. “The fact that the militants continue to receive equipment and manpower and are willing to blast themselves indicates the involvement of foreign hand in the terrorist acts here,” Bilour said.
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Top Republican lawmaker refuses to dine with Manmohan
A top Republican lawmaker has turned down a much-coveted invitation from the White House to dine with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and the Democratic leader in the Senate will also be conspicuous by his absence. John Boehner, the House minority leader, declined to attend the state dinner in honour of Manmohan Singh on Tuesday citing plans in his home state of Ohio for the Thanksgiving holiday, according to Politico, a Capitol Hill newspaper. The paper noted that Boehner, who complained earlier this month that President Barack Obama’s White House hasn’t invited Republicans over to talk healthcare since April, attended a state dinner for Queen Elizabeth II in 2007, when fellow Republican George W. Bush was the President. His absence at the dinner will not be the first time that a member of the opposing party has declined such an invitation. Harry Reid opted out of the 2007 dinner for Queen Elizabeth II. Reid, who is also not attending the dinner for Manmohan Singh, will be home in Nevada. Manmohan Singh is being honoured with the first state dinner of the Obama administration. According to the White House Historical Association, a state dinner honouring a visiting head of government or reigning monarch is one of the “grandest and most glamorous of White House affairs.” It is part of an official state visit and provides the president and first lady the opportunity to honour the visiting head of state and his or her spouse. “It is a courtesy, an expression of good will, a way of extending hospitality. It brings to mind the tradition of breaking bread with friends to seal a friendship. It is an event that also showcases global power and influence. The traditional toasts exchanged by the two leaders at the dinner offer an important and appropriate platform for the continuation of the serious dialogue that has taken place earlier in the day.”Prominent lawmakers invited to the dinner include John Kerry of Massachusetts, Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, Richard Durbin of Illinois and Richard Lugar of Indiana, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke will also be attending the state dinner. A senior White House official told Politico that senior Obama advisers Valerie Jarrett and David Axelrod are expected to be at the state dinner as well as Domestic Policy Adviser Melody Barnes and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina.
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Pak Army officials held for links with Headley
New York, November 19 “The Pakistani authorities had arrested as many as five other persons in connection with the (LeT) plot in recent weeks, including some former or current Pakistani military officials,” the New York Times reported. The paper quoted an official, who has been briefed on the investigation, as saying that those arrested remain in custody, but it was unclear what role they played in the expanding plot. Headley (49) and Tahawwur Hussain Rana (48), who were arrested last month by the FBI, are accused of plotting terror attacks on behest of the LeT against India and a Danish newspaper. — PTI
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Headley had co-conspirator in Pak army David Coleman Headley, the Pakistani American accused of plotting terrorist attacks in Denmark and India, had a second co-conspirator in the Pakistani military - a senior officer who recently retired. The New York Times reported on Thursday that Headley and his co-defendant, Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Canadian citizen who lives in Chicago, had coordinated their activities with an official who held the rank of colonel or brigadier-general. The Times said officials had declined to name the officer in the case. Both Headley and Rana graduated from an elite military academy in Hasan Abdal, Pakistan, and had been in touch with their classmates. Headley and Rana were accused in the FBI complaints of reporting to Ilyas Kashmiri, a former Pakistani military officer who has become a militant commander associated with both the al-Qaeda and the Lashkar-e-Toiba, which is suspected in the attacks in Mumbai. In the complaints against Headley and Rana, the officer is identified as an uncharged conspirator by the letters "A" and "B". The complaints describe him as "associated with Kashmir, as well as with the Lashkar-e-Toiba." Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Inquirer revealed that Headley is the son of a prominent and now deceased Pakistani diplomat Saleem Gilani. Headley suffered a culture shock when his American mother pulled him out of the military academy in Pakistan and brought him to the USA when he was 16-year-old. Raised as a pious Muslim, Headley, who was at the time known as Daood Gilani, had trouble accepting the fact that his mother Serrill Headley ran a bar in Philadelphia. Both his parents are now deceased. The Philadephia Inquirer reported on Thursday that Serrill Headley lost custody of her children in Pakistani courts when she split with her husband. Four years later, she succeeded in getting custody of her son. Gilani, who studied accounting in the Philadelphia area, operated a video store with his mother in Center City. In 1997, he was convicted for smuggling heroin into the country. He was sentenced to 15-month jail. Gilani changed his name to Headley in 2006. In an August interview with Customs and Border Patrol, Headley said he changed his name so as to raise less suspicion when he travelled. Family members have described his distinct eyes - one blue and the other brownish-green. Officers arrested for links New York: Some serving and ex-military officers are among five persons arrested in Pakistan in connection with the LeT plot to carry out a major terror attack in India using American national David Coleman Headley, a media report said on Thursday. “The Pakistani authorities had arrested as many as five other persons in connection with the (LeT) plot in recent weeks, including some former or current Pakistani military officials,” the New York Times reported. — PTI
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UN panel quizzes Mush on Bhutto murder
United Nations, November 19 “The body, looking into the facts and circumstances behind the assassination, has met dozens of officials during its investigation,” a spokesperson from the Secretary-General’s office told journalists here today. “The Commission of Inquiry says it had a frank, open and cordial conversation with former President Musharraf, having been able to pose to him many queries on issues central to its mandate,” the spokesperson said. While the UN did not reveal the location of the meeting, a media report in Pakistan quoted Musharraf’s spokesperson Nasim Ashraf as saying that the meeting took place in Philadelphia on October 27. A brief statement carried by the Dawn quoted Musharraf as saying: “While I met the team, I strongly oppose any international probe into Pakistan’s domestic affairs.” Bhutto was killed in an attack at a rally in the garrison town of Rawalpindi in December, 2007, while campaigning for parliamentary elections. Investigations carried out by the then Musharraf government had blamed Baitullah Mehsud, a Pakistani Taliban commander, for the attack. UK’s Scotland Yard was also called on Musharaff to investigate the killing. — PTI
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Taliban threaten to contaminate water sources with poison
Islamabad, November 18 A letter in which the Taliban purportedly threatened to contaminate water sources was faxed to the Directorate of Military Lands and Cantonments in Rawalpindi yesterday. The letter said the Taliban had procured 200 litres of poisonous materials that would be used to contaminate water sources and reservoirs in Rawalpindi and Chaklala, official sources were quoted as saying by The News daily. The letter also warned the government to stop the military operations against the Taliban in South Waziristan, the sources said. Confirming reports of the threat from the Taliban, Rafiq Adil Siddique, the CEO of the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board, said the Directorate of Military Lands and Cantonments had taken “effective security measures”. All six wards in the area have been divided into four zones headed by engineers, supervisors, directors, tube-well operators and valve men to ensure the security of water sources. Tube-well operators and valve men have been issued special instructions to keep the doors of their offices closed and boundary walls of tube-well sections are being raised, the daily reported. The military claims over 500 Taliban militants have been killed since the operation was launched in South Waziristan last month.
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Pak has more nukes than India: US experts
Washington, November 19 While Pakistan is estimated to possess 70-90 nuclear weapons, India is believed to have 60-80, claims Robert S Norris and Hans M Kristensen in their latest article “Nuclear notebook: Worldwide deployments of nuclear weapons, 2009”. The article published in the latest issue of “Bulletin of the Atomic Science” claimed that Beijing, Islamabad and New Delhi are quantitatively and qualitatively increasing their arsenals and deploying weapons at more sites, yet the locations are difficult to pinpoint. For example, no reliable public information existed on where Pakistan or India produced its nuclear weapons, it said. “Whereas many of the Chinese bases are known, this is not the case in Pakistan and India, where we have found no credible information that identifies permanent nuclear weapons storage locations,” they said. “Pakistan's nuclear weapons are not believed to be fully operational under normal circumstances, India is thought to store its nuclear warheads and bombs in central storage locations rather than on bases with operational forces. But, since all three countries are expanding their arsenals, new bases and storage sites probably are under construction,” the two nuclear experts said. — PTI
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At least 19 persons were killed and 50 injured outside the district courts in Peshawar on Thursday when a suicide bomber blew himself up while being frisked at the main gate.
