W O R L D

No policy change on Siachen issue with India: Pakistan
Islamabad, April 19
Pakistan today said there was no change in its policy on the Siachen issue with India and that it had no plans to redeploy its troops from the glacier described as the world's highest and coldest battlefield.

Pakistani military personnel use heavy machinery to search for avalanche victims during an ongoing operation at the Gayari camp near the Siachen glacier. — AFP

Bombings kill 37 across Iraq
Baghdad, April 19
A wave of apparently coordinated bombing and shooting attacks in six different provinces across Iraq killed at least 37 people and wounded more than 150 today, security officials said.

An Iraqi security officer looks at the remains of a vehicle following two car bombings in the northern oil-rich city of Kirkuk on Thursday. — AFP

Annan’s team urges swift deployment of Syria observers
United Nations, April 19
UN-Arab League mediator Kofi Annan’s deputy told Security Council swift deployment of more observers to Syria was needed despite continued risks and persistent violence, council diplomats told Reuters.

North Korea threatens war as Seoul unveils new missile
Seoul, April 19
North Korea today demanded that South Korea apologise for what it called insults during major anniversary festivities, or face a "sacred war", as Seoul unveiled a new missile to deter its neighbour.

Haqqanis behind Afghan attacks, says US envoy
Kabul, April 19
The US ambassador to Afghanistan said there is "no question" that the Haqqani network was behind this week's brazen attacks on Kabul and other eastern cities and said Pakistan needs to do more to clamp down on the group's safe havens. The comments were the strongest yet from a US official blaming the attacks on the Haqqani network, an insurgent group based in Pakistan. — AP

Visitors walk through light cones by British-born artist Anthony McCall at an exhibition preview at Hamburger Bahnhof museum in Berlin on Thursday. — AFP

 

 

 

No policy change on Siachen issue with India: Pakistan

Islamabad, April 19
Pakistan today said there was no change in its policy on the Siachen issue with India and that it had no plans to redeploy its troops from the glacier described as the world's highest and coldest battlefield.

"There is no change as far as Pakistan's policy or position on Siachen is concerned," Foreign Office spokesman Moazzam Khan told a weekly news briefing.

He was responding to questions about army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani's remarks yesterday that Pakistan and India should resolve all issues, including Siachen, to ensure "peaceful co-existence".

"We are not thinking in terms of redeployment of our troops," Khan said.

The Pakistani side has made several proposals to resolve the military standoff on Siachen, including a proposal for "re-deployment of forces", he said.

"I said that the proposals that we have made regarding Siachen includes mutual redeployment of troops.

"We are not thinking of (any unilateral redeployment of troops)," he added.

The dispute over Siachen, which dates back to 1984, has been in focus since an avalanche slammed into a high-altitude Pakistan Army camp on April 7, burying 127 soldiers and 11 civilians under dozens of feet of snow.

After visiting the site of the avalanche yesterday, Kayani had said that there "should be a resolution of Siachen and other issues".

Khan said the Siachen issue was part of the ongoing dialogue between the two countries and is being discussed by the Defence Secretaries.

The next meeting on the Siachen issue is scheduled to be held in Pakistan and both sides are working to finalise a date.

"It is in the mutual interest of Pakistan and India that we address all these issues in a meaningful and result-oriented manner.

"In fact, I would like to refer to the meeting that President (Asif Ali) Zardari had with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (in New Delhi on April 8) and both leaders underlined the importance of finding pragmatic and practical solutions to all issues," Khan said.

The two sides would continue discussing all issues in order to "find some mutually acceptable solutions", he said.

Responding to a question about the test of the Agni-V ballistic missile by India, Khan said: "We were informed about this test in advance. This is as per the agreement that we have with India which was signed in May 2005 regarding the pre-notification of flight testing of ballistic missiles".

However, he said Pakistan had already made clear its "concerns" about an arms race in the region.

Asked about a petition filed by Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Mohammad Saeed in the Lahore High Court yesterday seeking protection from the government following the announcement of a 10 million dollar US bounty for him, Khan said Pakistan had "a very clear position" on the issue.

"Basically, we have a functional democracy and a very independent judiciary in Pakistan.

"If somebody has any proof against anybody, he is most welcome to take it to the court," he said without giving details.

Pakistan had earlier asked the US to provide "concrete evidence" against Saeed, who has been accused of masterminding the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. — PTI

Bombings kill 37 across Iraq

Baghdad, April 19
A wave of apparently coordinated bombing and shooting attacks in six different provinces across Iraq killed at least 37 people and wounded more than 150 today, security officials said.

It was the deadliest day in Iraq since March 20, when shootings and bombings claimed by Al-Qaida front group the Islamic State of Iraq killed 50 people and wounded 255 nationwide.

The attacks, which come amid heightened political tension, drew an accusation from the Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc that security measures were insufficient, and that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, as head of the armed forces, was responsible for the deficiency.

Twenty-two civilians, 10 police, three members of an anti-Qaida militia and two soldiers were killed in dozens of attacks, including 14 separate car bombings, 13 other bomb attacks and three suicide bombings.

Bombings in and around Baghdad killed at least 17 people and wounded 97, an interior ministry official said.

A car bomb, targeting Health Minister Majid Hamed Amin's convoy in Haifa Street in the heart of the capital, killed two civilians and wounded nine people, including four of the minister's guards.

Four more car bombs and a roadside bomb in Baghdad killed nine people and wounded 53.

In Taji, north of the capital, two roadside bombs, two car bombs and a suicide bombing killed six people and wounded 29, and a suicide bomber in Tarmiyah, also north of Baghdad, blew up a vehicle by an army base, killing one soldier and wounding six.

In northern Iraq, bombings in Kirkuk province killed nine people and wounded 24, high-ranking police officers said.

A car bomb against the convoy of police Brigadier General Taha Salaheddin south of Kirkuk city killed two police and wounded 15 other people.

Another car bomb in the city centre killed two police and wounded three, a high-ranking police officer said on condition of anonymity.

Six bombs against houses in the town of Malha, 40 kilometres northwest of Kirkuk, killed five people including an army major and wounded six, police Brigadier General Sarhad Qader said.

And in Ramadi in Anbar province, west of the capital, two car bombs against police patrols killed one person and wounded nine, a police source said.

In Baquba, the capital of Diyala province, a suicide bomber blew himself up in the home of police First Lieutenant Mohammed al-Tamimi, killing him and wounding four family members, an Iraqi army lieutenant colonel and Dr Ahmed Ibrahim of Baquba General Hospital said.

A suicide car bomb against a police checkpoint in the city centre killed two policemen and wounded two others.

Another policeman was killed by a magnetic "sticky bomb" in Baquba, and gunmen attacked a police station west of the city, killing one policeman and wounding two others, a police major in Diyala and the medic said.

The army lieutenat colonel said another policeman was killed by gunmen in the town of Al-Mansuriyah north of Baquba, while a bomb against a home in the town wounded three people, and a bomb targeting a home in Ghalbiyah, west of Baquba, wounded three more.

In Samarra, in Salaheddin province, two car bombs exploded near checkpoints of anti-Qaida militiamen, killing three people and wounding six, militia commander Majid Abdullah and a police lieutenant colonel said. — AFP

‘We’ve decided to stay with our husbands’
Afzal Khan in Islamabad

The parents of the girls have protested against the verdict, saying it did not allow a free atmosphere to the girls to express their real decision without any pressure. The three young women present in the court did not utter a word in the court when it told them to express their ‘true’ feelings.

Annan’s team urges swift deployment of Syria observers

United Nations, April 19
UN-Arab League mediator Kofi Annan’s deputy told Security Council swift deployment of more observers to Syria was needed despite continued risks and persistent violence, council diplomats told Reuters.

Jean-Marie Guehenno told the council via video link from Geneva that deploying more unarmed military observers "would have a potential to change the political dynamics on the ground", a diplomat said. — Reuters

North Korea threatens war as Seoul unveils new missile

Seoul, April 19
North Korea today demanded that South Korea apologise for what it called insults during major anniversary festivities, or face a "sacred war", as Seoul unveiled a new missile to deter its neighbour.

Regional tensions have risen since Pyongyang went ahead with a long-range rocket launch last Friday, defying international calls to desist.

The event was to have been a centrepiece of celebrations marking the 100th anniversary Sunday of the "Day of the Sun", the birthday of Kim Il-Sung who founded the communist nation and the dynasty which still rules it.

But the rocket, which the North said was designed to launch a satellite, disintegrated after some two minutes of flight. "The puppet regime of traitors must apologise immediately for their grave crime of smearing our Day of Sun festivities," said a government statement on Pyongyang's official news agency. Otherwise, it said, the North Korean people and military "will release their volcanic anger and stage a sacred war of retaliation to wipe out traitors on  this land".

The North has several times demanded the South apologise for perceived slights or face war since its longtime leader Kim Jong-Il died in December. Under his son and new leader Kim Jong-Un, it has struck a hostile tone with the South. — AFP