Washington, May 28
The Taliban has said they had no plans to attack Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal, asserting that it is the only Muslim state possessing such weapons and the terror group aims to take over the country as well as its nukes.

The Taliban have stepped-up violent campaign to avenge Osama bin Laden's death and it has renewed fears that the country's warheads could be vulnerable.

Declaring that “Pakistan is the only Muslim nuclear power state”, Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said that his group had no intention of changing the fact, Wall Street Journal reported. The Taliban, after all, aim to take over Pakistan and its weapons, he said.

A well-coordinated Taliban attack on Pakistan key naval airbase at Karachi had triggered fresh global alarm that radical militant groups operating from the country's restive tribal areas bordering Afghanistan might be out to snatch nuclear weapons.

Seeking to dismiss these concerns, Ehsan claimed that US was using this as an excuse to pressurise the Pakistan government and military into fighting the Taliban, whom he portrayed as country's true protectors.

“Isn’t it a shame for us to have the Islamic bomb, and even then we are bowing down to the pressures of America?” the Taliban spokesman mocked.

Wall Street Journal said Ehsan’s remarks appeared tailored to appeal to that increasingly nationalist mainstream, where conspiracy theories flourish about American, Indian and Israeli plots to deprive Pakistan of its atomic arsenal.

Pakistan’s nuclear capability is cherished here as the guarantor of safety from India’s far larger conventional military.

Pakistan says its nuclear arsenal, which is believed to include about 100 warheads, is safe. Officials say facilities that store the weapons are well-guarded, and that rigorous checks screen out political and religious extremists from the nuclear programme.

But US and other Western officials have raised doubts about those guarantees in part because they have little visibility into Pakistan's nuclear programme. Their access is limited by the military, which fears both allies and enemies ultimately aim to take the weapons away.

Adding to concerns about Pakistan's nuclear programme is the Taliban's proven ability to penetrate high-security areas, such as the naval air station it attacked Sunday in Karachi, the country largest city. A base storing atomic weapons is about 15 miles (24 kilometres) from the air station.

It took hundreds of navy commandos and marines and paramilitary soldiers more than 15 hours to clear the navy base in Karachi. Ten people were killed and a pair of American made maritime surveillance and anti-submarine aircraft, each priced at $36 million, were destroyed. — PTI

Tripoli, May 28
NATO staged a rare daytime air strike on Tripoli on Saturday after a fifth straight night of attacks, adding to military and diplomatic pressure on Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to quit after 41 years of power. A big boom shook the Libya capital at about 0800 GMT but it was unclear if it was caused by a bomb or missile, or what the target was.

NATO bombed several sites in the capital on Friday night, Libyan state television and Arab news channel Al Arabiya reported. The Libyan broadcaster said NATO raids also caused “human and material” damage near Mizda, to the south.

Russia joined Western leaders in urging Gaddafi to step down and offered to mediate his departure, providing an important boost to NATO powers seeking to end his long rule. It was a striking change in tone from Moscow, which has previously criticised the 10-week bombing of Libya. NATO intervened under a United Nations mandate to protect civilians from Gaddafi's forces, but has effectively placed itself on the side of rebels trying to topple him in a deadlocked civil war.

NATO said it was preparing to deploy attack helicopters over the Arab North African state for the first time to increase the pressure on Gaddafi's forces on the ground. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Gaddafi, who seized power in a 1969 coup, no longer had the right to lead Libya.— Reuters 

Kathmandu, May 28
The Communist-led coalition in Nepal was locked in a last-minute negotiations with the opposition parties to hammer out a deal to avert a constitutional crisis, hours before the term of the interim Parliament expires today.

Leaders of CPN UML and UCPN-Maoist, the two largest party in the ruling coalition, are also holding discussions within their parties to firm up their policies amid the deadlock with the Nepali Congress, the main opposition in the House.

Unified CPN (Maoist), the largest party in the 601-member Constituent Assembly, is holding a meeting of its Standing Committee while the CPN-UML of Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal is set for a key consultation.

The Nepali Congress, the second largest party, is also discussing its strategy with members of the parliamentary panel.

The parties failed to end the deadlock over the extension of the term of the House despite several round of talks yesterday.

Prime Minister Khanal, Maoist chairman Prachanda and Nepali Congress President Sushil Koirala held talks to end the standoff amid growing concern over the uncertainty in Nepal’s peace process and failure of the parties to agree on a consensus to promulgate a new constitution.

“The Maoists did not agree to prepare an action plan to hand over arms” and to decide on the modality for the integration of their former combatants with the security forces, said a leader who attended the tripartite talks. — PTI