|
|
|
|
|
24 killed in Pak suicide blast
Inside hand? Military base staff to be quizzed
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Pak Govt worried over misuse of US aid by army: Cables
Will use all means to eliminate terrorists, says Gilani
Taliban, JeM step up efforts to recruit youths: WikiLeaks
China reacts cautiously to India’s request for NSG membership
Schwarzenegger investigated for misusing public money
|
|
24 killed in Pak suicide blast
Peshawar, May 26 The blast occurred in a high-security zone in the heart of Hangu where several government offices and a market are located. District administration chief Mohammad Siddique confirmed the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber. Eighteen persons, including policemen and passers-by, were killed by the blast, police officials said. At least two children were among those injured. Six of the wounded were in a serious condition, Siddique said. Witnesses said several persons could still be buried in the rubble of shops and buildings that collapsed due to the powerful blast. The offices of the district police chief and the district administration chief were also destroyed. A large number of people were present in the market and a bus terminal at the time of the blast. The injured were taken to a nearby hospital, where an emergency was declared. No group claimed responsibility for the attack. Cities and towns across Pakistan have witnessed a string of terrorist attacks in the wake of the killing of Osama bin Laden in a US raid in Abbottabad on May 2. — PTI
|
|
Inside hand? Military base staff to be quizzed
Islamabad, May 26 Investigators had found a hi-tech wireless system in an area where two of the attackers were killed, suggesting that the terrorists were in touch with persons outside the airbase who might have been directing the attack, the channel reported. Security forces also conducted a search operation in areas around the naval airbase and questioned people who worked in nearby fields, the report said. Sniffer dogs were used in the search. Investigators told the channel that the attackers had fired over 1,100 rounds and seven rockets. A wedding hall run by the air force at another airbase near PNS Mehran and the air force museum were closed amidst speculation that people who visited these two locations could have conducted surveillance for the attack. The attackers killed 10 security men and destroyed two P3C Orion maritime surveillance aircraft during the attack. — PTI
|
|
16-yr manhunt ends as Serbia arrests wartime military chief Belgrade, May 26 President Boris Tadic said the 69-year-old had been detained by the Serbian security forces, predicted that the capture would foster reconciliation within the Balkans. “Today, early in the morning, we arrested Mladic,” Tadic said. “The extradition process is underway,” he added, referring to the process to transfer Mladic to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), a UN tribunal based in The Hague. According to Serbia’s deputy war crimes prosecutor Bruno Vekaric, it could take up to seven days before Mladic is handed over to The Hague after he is first brought before a court in Serbia and receives a medical check-up. Mladic, the ICTY’s most wanted fugitive, faces charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes for his role in the Srebrenica massacre and the bloody siege of Sarajevo during the 1992-95 conflict. Tadic would not say how and where Mladic was arrested other than the confirm he was captured on the Serbian soil. But the Serbian security sources said three special units swooped on a house in Lazarevo around 80 km (50 miles) southwest of Belgrade and close to the Romanian border early today. The house was owned by a relative of Mladic and had been under surveillance for the past two weeks, one of the sources added. His arrest follows heavy pressure from the European Union which has made clear that Serbia’s failure to capture Mladic was a major obstacle to its hopes of joining the 27-nation bloc. — AFP
|
|
|
Pak Govt worried over misuse of US aid by army: Cables
Islamabad, May 26 The cables, provided by WikiLeaks to Dawn newspaper, disclose there was tension between Pakistan's civilian government and the powerful army over the use of funds provided for counter-insurgency operations. According to one cable, then Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin asked former US Ambassador Anne Patterson during a November 2009 meeting "to keep him informed of funds the US directs to the Pakistani military". Tarin said he would not reduce the military’s budget based on US assistance flows but made it clear that his ministry "needs to be kept aware for overall budgeting purposes". Tarin complained to the US envoy that army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani "does not pass on this information". In another meeting in September 2009, Patterson said the US had purchased equipment worth USD 370 million for the military through its Pakistan Counterinsurgency Capability Fund but Tarin said he was "unaware of this". Tarin said he "would work to see that the purchases of these items were removed from the army's capital budget". During the November 2009 meeting, Tarin provided figures to prove that the majority of allocations from the US Coalition Support Fund – money provided to reimburse Pakistan’s expenses in the war on terror – had not been used for counter-insurgency purposes or for the military, a cable revealed. These funds had been given to the regime of former military ruler Pervez Musharraf. — PTI
|
|
Will use all means to eliminate terrorists, says Gilani
The Defence Committee of the Cabinet (DCC) — Pakistan’s top civil and military security forum — has decided to utilise “all means” to eliminate terrorists and their sanctuaries. The committee, which met under PM Yousaf Raza Gilani along with Cabinet ministers and chiefs of three services, reaffirmed its confidence in the ability of the security agencies to deal with threats to national security. ISI chief Gen Shuja Pasha also attended the meeting that lasted nearly five hours. The panel deliberated on threats to national security, renewed momentum in the terror attacks following US operation in Abbottabad that killed Osama bin Laden, the simmering tensions with US amid suspicions of intelligence agents' complicity in hiding Osama for so long and apprehensions that the attack on Mehran Naval base also involved some inside collusion.
Countrywide criticism of intelligence failures coupled with international pressures and demand for accountability of security and intelligence establishment was also discussed. According to sources, fresh pressure on the ISI emanating from confessional evidence of David Headley directly implicating the ISI in the Mumbai carnage was also discussed with Pasha rejecting the testimony as “induced” to defame the agency.
|
|
Taliban, JeM step up efforts to recruit youths: WikiLeaks
Islamabad, May 26 The cable is largely based on information provided by a Faisalabad-based Deobandi scholar whose named was removed from the cable by WikiLeaks.
— PTI
|
|
PM gets red carpet welcome in Tanzania
Dar es Salaam, May 26 Manmohan Singh, who is the first Indian head of government to visit Tanzania after 1997, was welcomed by President Jakaya Kikwete at the airport.The Prime Minister inspected a guard of honour and was welcomed by children waving the Tricolour. The PM is accompanied by a high-level delegation, including External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and National Security Adviser, Shivshankar Menon. Singh and Kikwete will hold wide-ranging discussions tomorrow to find ways for upgrading bilateral ties in a comprehensive manner, a senior official said.
— PTI
|
|
|
China reacts cautiously to India’s request for NSG membership
Beijing, May 26 The new membership of the NSG should follow its “standard procedures based on consultations among its members,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu said when asked about 46-member NSG including India’s request for membership at its next meeting. China’s support was crucial as NSG decisions are taken with consensus among members. The NSG Troika, consisting of the Netherlands, New Zealand and Hungary had included India's membership as a part of special agenda to be considered at NSG Plenary meeting to be held early next month. India was hopeful as it had received assurances of support from the leaders of US, France and Russia besides several other important member states of the NSG. China did not oppose granting of crucial waiver to enable India to carry out nuclear commerce, when it came up for approval in September 2008, which helped it sail through as NSG. Beijing raised some questions but later supported along with other members. The NSG waiver, a key process of the India-US nuclear accord enabled India to access key civil nuclear technologies and fuel. Pakistan, a close ally of China is also demanding a similar waiver.
— PTI
|
|
Schwarzenegger investigated for misusing public money
Los Angeles, May 26 The veteran law enforcement officer made the explosive claims exclusively to the National Enquirer and even passed a polygraph test. He said Schwarzenegger used California Highway Patrol officers and vehicles to drive young, scantily-clad women to the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Sacramento on a regular basis. He claims much of the hotel and the governor's staff knew what was going on but that they were all too scared to speak out or do anything about it as Schwarzenegger had intimidated staff so much that they weren't even allowed to make eye contact with him. “On three different occasions after the governor arrived alone at the Hyatt regency, CHP Dignitary Protection Services arrived in their official vehicles about one to two hours later with one or two young female adults. “They'd hurriedly escort the women through the service entrance on the second floor parking garage to the elevator that went to the governor's private wing. The women looked between 18 to 25 years old, blonde and scantily dressed,” said Taylor. The claims are the latest in a long list of accusations against the former governor since he announced his split from his wife of 25 years.
— PTI
|
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | E-mail | |
Islamabad, May 26
The Defence Committee of the Cabinet (DCC) — Pakistan’s top civil and military security forum — has decided to utilise “all means” to eliminate terrorists and their sanctuaries. The committee, which met under PM Yousaf Raza Gilani along with Cabinet ministers and chiefs of three services, reaffirmed its confidence in the ability of the security agencies to deal with threats to national security.
Yousaf Raza Gilani
