W O R L D

Bulldozers demolish Gaddafi’s Tripoli ‘den’
Tripoli, October 17
Libyan revolutionary forces bulldozed the green walls surrounding Muammar Gaddafi’s main Tripoli compound, saying it was time “to tear down this symbol of tyranny.”

An anti-Gaddafi fighter waves a Kingdom of Libya flag as a bulldozer destroys the residence of Muammar Gaddafi at the Bab al-Aziziya complex in Tripoli. — Reuters

Running out of patience on drone strikes: Pakistan 
Islamabad, October 17
With the US stepping up drone strikes on the Waziristan region in recent days, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar has said his government was running out of patience and Washington must not test its limits.

UAE gets its first multi-faith crematorium 
Dubai, October 17
In a major relief to people of different faiths, like Hindus and Christians, who used to struggle to bury or cremate their dead, the UAE has made operational its first multi-faith crematorium to serve all non-Muslims.
The 40,000 square metre cemetery in UAE’s second largest city, Al Ain, will serve people of all non-Muslim faiths residing anywhere in the country

Taseer alive and held near Afghanistan border: Malik
Islamabad, October 17
Nearly two months after Shahbaz Taseer, the son of slain Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer was kidnapped, Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik today said he was alive and was being held near the border with Afghanistan.

Liberia to hold second round of presidential vote in Nov
Monrovia, October 17
Liberia will hold a run-off presidential vote as the incumbent Ellen Johnson Sirleaf failed to win an outright majority in results announced yesterday after nearly all the votes were counted.

Bulldozers demolish Gaddafi’s Tripoli ‘den’
Fortress-like compound, known as Bab al-Aziziya, will be turned into a public park accessible to all Libyans

Tripoli, October 17
Libyan revolutionary forces bulldozed the green walls surrounding Muammar Gaddafi’s main Tripoli compound, saying it was time “to tear down this symbol of tyranny.”

The sprawling, fortress-like compound known as Bab al-Aziziya has long been hated by Libyans who feared to even walk nearby during Gaddafi’s more than four decades in power and its capture was seen as a turning point in the civil war as revolutionaries overran the capital in late August.

Ahmad Ghargory, commander of a revolutionary brigade, said yesterday that the area will be turned into a public park accessible to all Libyans.

“It’s the revolutionary decision to tear down this symbol of tyranny,” Ghargory said. “We were busy with the war, but now we have the space to do this.” Already, the courtyard in front of Gaddafi’s former house, which he used for many fiery speeches trying to rally supporters during the uprising, has been turned into a weekly pet market.

Tripoli residents roam the premises as if at a museum, with vendors selling revolutionary flags and other souvenirs.

Libyans are eager to move on after decades of repression, even though fighting persists on two fronts and tensions between supporters of the former regime and revolutionary forces remain high even in Tripoli.

The continued instability has delayed efforts by the transitional leadership to move forward with efforts to hold elections and establish democracy. The Bab al-Aziziya compound, surrounded by high walls lined with barbed wire, had been a mystery to most Libyans though it is one of the city’s largest landmarks. — AP

NTC forces claim Bani Walid advance

Bani Walid: Libyan fighters raised the new government’s flag over the desert oasis of Bani Walid on Monday and hailed an exodus of regime families from the only other redoubt of Muammar Gaddafi’s forces, his hometown Sirte. National Transitional Council commanders said there were still sporadic clashes in some part of Bani Walid, a sprawling desert town some 170 km southeast of Tripoli. But a twin-pronged attack by columns advancing from north and south captured the centre of the oasis, which had put up a dogged resistance to NTC forces for week, NTC commander Salem Ghit said. “The city has been 90 per cent liberated.” The desert region’s Warfala tribe was a major recruiting ground for elite units of the Kadhafi’s ousted regime, and NTC forces had faced tough resistance even when they launched an all-out assault on the town on Sunday in a bid to bring their prolonged siege to a conclusion. — AFP

Running out of patience on drone strikes: Pakistan 

Islamabad, October 17
With the US stepping up drone strikes on the Waziristan region in recent days, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar has said his government was running out of patience and Washington must not test its limits.

Pakistan has repeatedly protested the unilateral strikes, and Mukhtar said his government would unveil a revised policy on drone attacks soon.

The warning came as the US spy aircraft carried out four strikes in Pakistan’s Waziristan tribal region in three days and killed nearly 10 people including three Al-Qaida linked Egyptians.

A recent report on the US drone attacks in Pakistan says that the US spy aircraft have killed up to 775 civilians, that includes as many as 173 children, in 300 strikes in Pakistan’s tribal regions since the attacks started in June 2004.

The report released on Saturday by the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism said between 1,141 and 1,225 persons were also injured in the strikes, mostly in Waziristan tribal areas near the Afghan border.

Defence Minister Chaudhry Mukhtar said Pakistan strongly opposes the US drone strikes and is asking the Americans to stop these attacks.

He told reporters in the eastern city of Lahore yesterday that Pakistan is losing patience as the US has continued strikes, which he described as counter-productive in the war on armed militants.

Mukhtar said that Pakistan will soon chalk out a policy with a tough stand on the issue of US drone strikes.

Responding to a question, he said Pakistan was a responsible nuclear power and could not accept the killing of its people in such attacks. — PTI 

UAE gets its first multi-faith crematorium 

Dubai, October 17
In a major relief to people of different faiths, like Hindus and Christians, who used to struggle to bury or cremate their dead, the UAE has made operational its first multi-faith crematorium to serve all non-Muslims.

The crematorium, which was built five years ago, but was lying unused for lack of an operator, has finally found a manager in a Briton who was working in the Abu Dhabi morgue.

The 40,000 square metre cemetery in UAE’s second largest city Al Ain will serve people of all non-Muslim faiths residing anywhere in the country, the management of the facility said. The facility included a church, a waiting room, and municipality services chambers and is equipped to allow the people perform their religious rites in accordance with best environmental practises.

The facility comes as a major relief especially to expatriates, who used to struggle due to lack of a place to bury or cremate their loved ones.

For the past five years, the only operational crematorium was at the Dubai Hindu temple, but it was open only to residents in that emirate, said The National newspaper. There was no licensed crematorium in Abu Dhabi, leaving Hindu families to cremate their dead on an unlicensed bonfire near a rubbish tip in Al Ain, it said.

The ceremony to mark the opening of the crematorium was attended by representatives of different faiths and also saw Anglican Bishop of Cyprus and the Gulf Right Reverend Michael Lewis bless the chapel at the crematorium, which will be dedicated to St Thomas on behalf of the Anglican community.

“Every effort had been made to create an unshakable air of understanding and dignity among all non-Muslims who would be using this burial ground which is located some 15 km away, north of the city,” manager of the crematorium Don Fox said.

Due to the difference in cultures and local procedures, the bereavement process for non-Muslims living in the UAE is very difficult, he added.

“(The Municipality) was dealing with the unknown... They had the building but didn’t know what to do with it,” Fox was quoted as saying.

“No one thought it could be a multifaith building, it had to be either Christian or Hindu exclusively. That is why it has taken so long,” he said.

Fox who has more than 20 years’ experience of working with Abu Dhabi mortuary, said there was a vast amount of paperwork as well as a general lack of knowledge on how to handle this complicated process.

Gopi Pandiath, a spokesman for the Indian Social Centre in Al Ain, said “it is a relief for members of the Indian community, who wish to be cremated here in the UAE”.

“This has always been a complicated process but we now have access to this new quality service close to home,” he told the Gulf news. — PTI 

Taseer alive and held near Afghanistan border: Malik

Islamabad, October 17
Nearly two months after Shahbaz Taseer, the son of slain Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer was kidnapped, Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik today said he was alive and was being held near the border with Afghanistan.

“According to the latest information we have, he (Shahbaz) is somewhere on the border of Afghanistan. I can’t tell you more than this. We are tracking (him) and the information we have is that he is alive,” Malik said while speaking to reporters in the port city of Karachi.

Taseer was kidnapped from Lahore on August 26 while he was driving to work. The police had taken into custody, a number of people but any significant breakthrough is yet to be made in the case.

The police had also taken into custody some associates of Mumtaz Qadri, the police guard who gunned down Shahbaz’s father. — PTI

Liberia to hold second round of presidential vote in Nov

Monrovia, October 17
Liberia will hold a run-off presidential vote as the incumbent Ellen Johnson Sirleaf failed to win an outright majority in results announced yesterday after nearly all the votes were counted.

Second place finisher Winston Tubman said he would contest in the second round, even though he accused the National Elections Commission (NEC) of trying to rig the first round results in Sirleaf’s favour, prompting fears of a boycott.

Sirleaf, a 2011 Nobel Peace Laureate, took 44 per cent of the vote, according to official results from 96.7 per cent of the ballots, with Tubman, a former diplomat, at 31 per cent. Turnout in the October 11 vote was 71.4 per cent.

But both Tubman and Sirleaf confirmed they would stand in the next round scheduled for November 8. “For us there will be a second round”, Musa Bility, campaign director of Sirleaf’s Unity Party, said. — AFP