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US losing patience with Pak: Panetta Pak CJ
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‘86 killed in fresh massacre in Syria’ Hillary tells Assad to quit, leave country
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US losing patience with Pak: Panetta Kabul, June 7 "It is difficult to achieve peace in Afghanistan as long as there is safe haven for terrorists in Pakistan," said Panetta, speaking in the Afghan capital Kabul where he held talks with military leaders amid rising violence in the war against the Taliban and a spate of deadly attacks, including a NATO air strike said to have killed 18 villagers. "It is very important for Pakistan to take steps. It is an increasing concern, the issue of safe haven, and we are reaching the limits of our patience," he told reporters. The United States has long pushed Pakistan to do more to help in the war against militancy, but the relationship has received a series of blows, not least by a unilateral US raid into Pakistan to kill Osama bin Laden last year that humiliated Islamabad. Panetta also urged Pakistan to go after the Haqqani militant network, one of the United States' most feared enemies in Afghanistan, and said Washington would exert diplomatic pressure and take any other steps needed to protect its forces. "It is an increasing concern that safe havens exist and those like the Haqqanis make use of that to attack our forces," he said. "We are reaching the limits of our patience for that reason. It is extremely important for Pakistan to take action to prevent (giving) the Haqqanis safe havens, and for terrorists to use their country as a safety net to conduct attacks on our forces." Panetta, who left Kabul shortly afterwards, blamed the group for an attack last week on a US base in the east in which several insurgents, including some wearing suicide vests, attacked it with rocket propelled grenades. The attack was foiled, but it underlined the challenge facing Western and Afghan forces in the east where insurgents take advantage of the steep, often forested terrain and the Pakistani border to launch attacks and then slip across the border. "What happened the other day in Salerno is an indication that they are going to continue to come at us and let me be clear anybody who attacks US soldiers is our enemy and we are going to take them on. We have got to be able to defend ourselves," he told US troops earlier at Kabul airport. The comments came as Washington appears to be looking to other allies in the region for help in the face of Pakistan's foot-dragging. Panetta arrived in Kabul after a visit to India, Pakistan's old enemy, where he urged New Delhi to take a more active role in Afghanistan. NATO has signed an agreement with three countries to the north of Afghanistan for land routes as the US-led alliance begins a withdrawal of its forces from the country next year. Pakistan closed the shorter and cheaper routes through its territory last year to protest a cross-border NATO air attack that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. Discussions to reopen the Pakistan routes have stalled. The United States wants Pakistan to launch a full-scale offensive in the North Waziristan border region to go after the Haqqani group, which is close to the Afghan Taliban and Al-Qaida. "We have made that clear time and time again, and will continue to make clear that it is an intolerable situation to have those people attacking our people, our forces and to have the convenience of being able to return to safe havens in Pakistan," Panetta said. —
Reuters
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Pak CJ recuses himself from son’s case Pakistan’s Supreme Court Chief Justice (CJ) Iftikhar Chaudhry on Thursday recused himself from a case against his son Arsalan Iftikhar, who allegedly received up to Rs 400 million from tycoon Malik Riaz Hussain to influence cases in the apex court. The Chief Justice made the decision when a three-judge Bench headed by him resumed hearing the suo moto case against his son on Thursday afternoon. Promising full justice, the Chief Justice also indicated that he may enlarge the Bench hearing the case. “He is just Arsalan and not my son as he faces the charge in the court,” the CJ remarked while pointing a finger at Arsalan. On Wednesday, the Chief Justice had ignored a request made by Attorney General (AG) Irfan Qadir to recuse himself as commanded by the code of conduct for judges, saying the dignity of the institution being of prime importance was involved. “The CJ being emotional should not hear the matter,” the AG had said. But he was told that the court would pass an appropriate order on Thursday to answer the objection in the light of the Quran and Sunnah as well as different precedence from the law. The CJ walked out of the court room after pronouncing his decision to recuse himself from the court and endorsing the AG’s contention that the code of conduct warranted that he should delink himself from the case of his son. The two remaining judges on the Bench later continued the hearing. Arsalan again appeared in the apex court on the second day of the hearing while real estate tycoon Hussain did not come for the proceedings. Hussain’s counsel Zahid Bukhari said he was being treated for a health condition in Britain. Geo News anchor Kamran Khan appeared in court and told the Bench that the tycoon had shown him documents, including copies of Arsalan’s passport and receipts for payments, related to Iftikhar’s three visits to London and one to Monte Carlo Kamran said the documents showed that the Chief Justice’s son had visited Monte Carlo with a woman. The documents further showed that Arsalan and others had lived in expensive flats and hotels during their visits to London. Payments for travel, accommodation and shopping by the Chief Justice’s son were made with credit cards and bank accounts operated by Hussain and his relatives, Kamran said.
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‘86 killed in fresh massacre in Syria’ Damascus, June 7 The toll figure was declared by Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) and the Local Coordination Committees, RIA Novosti reported today citing Al Jazeera. Both the opposition and the government have accused the other of being responsible for the deaths. The regime of President Bashar al-Assad denied any involvement in the killings, and said "terrorists" were behind the massacre. "What a few media have reported on what happened in al-Qubayr, in the Hama region, is completely false," the government said on official television, according to Al Arabiya. "A terrorist group committed a heinous crime in the Hama region which claimed nine victims. The reports by the media are contributing to spilling the blood of Syrians," the statement said. The latest incident comes just days after a similar massacre in Houla district in which over 100 persons died.. —
IANS
Hillary tells Assad to quit, leave country Istanbul: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday to hand over power and leave his country, condemning a massacre near the town of Hama that opponents have blamed on his supporters as "unconscionable". Hillary said the United States was willing to work with all members of the UN Security Council, which includes Russia, on a conference on Syria's political future as long as it started with the premise that Assad gave way to a democratic government.
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US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said today that the United States was reaching the limits of its patience with Pakistan because of the safe havens the country offered to insurgents in neighbouring Afghanistan.
Pakistan’s Supreme Court Chief Justice (CJ) Iftikhar Chaudhry on Thursday recused himself from a case against his son Arsalan Iftikhar, who allegedly received up to Rs 400 million from tycoon Malik Riaz Hussain to influence cases in the apex court.
