The Lal Masjid commission in its report has held Gen Pervez Musharraf (retd), former Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and his political allies responsible for the 2007 operation on the capital’s major mosque in which 103 persons were killed.

The commission led by Justice Shehzada Sheikh recommended that those responsible for the operation should have murder cases registered against them and suggested that the former rulers of the country should be forced to pay compensation to the aggrieved families.

It, however, gave a clean chit to the military leadership as an institution saying Musharraf was guiding the operation and taking crucial decisions. The episode had led to a spate of suicide bombings across the country.

The former military ruler who returned to Pakistan on March 24 to take part in elections, has since been facing myriad of cases with charges ranging from treason, dismissing and detaining scores of judges to ordering assassinations, including that of Nawab Akbar Bhuti and abetment in that of Benazir Bhutto.

He is currently confined on a 14-day remand in the judges’ case to his farmhouse that has been declared a sub-jail. Over a dozen jail staff had been deputed and nobody except his wife was allowed to meet him without permission.

The 304 page Lal Masjid report that was submitted to the Supreme Court by the commission on March 22 has been made public under orders of the Supreme Court.

It pointed out that after six years it was not easy to condone the lack of accountability that public position-holders, responsible for the execution of the tragic incident, have faced. Such an attitude is evidence of their irresponsibility, apathy in attitude and callousness in dealing with this human tragedy, declared the report.

“It was quite clear from the number, level and nature of state actors that they could have only moved, manoeuvred and acted on all-inclusive direction and potent command. It evidently surfaces from the record also. This also shows that the coalition partners in power, particularly the Prime Minister and the Cabinet were not absolutely in the dark”, it added.

The report contended that history could not easily digest the notion that then President, Prime Minister, Cabinet, particularly Interior Minister, and other ministers concerned and political parties, were not aware of the operation, adding that hypothetically even if it was so, the political leadership at the helm of affairs could not be absolved of the responsibility for the incident, particularly when it carried criminal liability.

Islamabad, April 21
Former President Pervez Musharraf has been confined to two rooms of his palatial farmhouse, which has been declared a “sub-jail”, and is barred from meeting even his lawyers, one of his close aides said today.

“Musharraf has been restricted to two rooms and his family is not permitted to meet him. His personal staff have been restricted to the office within the farmhouse,” Muhammad Amjad, a leader of the All Pakistan Muslim League party, told reporters.

The 69-year-old former military ruler's farmhouse was declared a sub-jail hours after an anti-terrorism court yesterday remanded Musharraf to judicial custody for a fortnight.

The move came a day after Musharraf was arrested on the orders of the Islamabad High Court over a case related to the emergency rule of 2007.

Amjad said two prison officers had been deputed at the farmhouse at Chak Shahzad on the outskirts of Islamabad to take care of Musharraf's needs, including food.

However, Musharraf's lawyers were not being allowed to meet him, and this was affecting preparations for several cases pending in different courts, Amjad said. — PTI 

Islamabad/Lahore, April 21
Kashmir occupies much of Pakistan’s foreign policy space and remains an obsession with its security establishment and non-state actors but the issue hardly finds any mention in the campaign for next month’s national assembly elections that may again return a hung verdict.

Nor does India figure in the muted campaign of political parties whose candidates are mainly grappling with militant threats as the country goes to polls on May 11 to elect 272 members in a house of 342.

The remaining seats will be filled in accordance with various quotas. In the national elections, over eight crore people are eligible to vote. Polls are also being held to choose provincial assemblies.

Lack of any national issues mark the electoral scene in a country that is trying to make the first democratic transition in its history. No elected government in Pakistan had so far completed its term like the PPP-led government did.

After last elections, the PPP, headed by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the 24-year-old son of President Asif Ali Zardari and late Benazir Bhutto, and PML-N headed by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif came together to form a coalition government because no one got majority. Later, the two split but the government survived with the help of other parties.

Surprisingly, India and the emotive Kashmir dispute have not figured in the campaign of any of the parties though they are mentioned in their manifestos.

The PML-N's manifesto talks of making Pakistan a bridge between energy-rich Central Asia and Iran and energy-deficit countries like China and India.

It also speaks of linking India with Afghanistan and Central Asia and providing a land route from Iran to India.

The PML-N further says it will make special efforts to resolve the Kashmir issue in line with UN resolutions and the 1999 Lahore Accord.

The PPP, which sustained dialogue with India and normalised bilateral trade relations while in power, states in its manifesto that it will work to resolve all outstanding issues with India, including the “core issue” of Kashmir.

“We will not allow lack of progress on one agenda to impede progress on the others,” the manifesto says.

Imran Khan's party, widely perceived as being close to the powerful security establishment, says in its manifesto the resolution of the Kashmir dispute is one of Pakistan's “core national interests”. — PTI 

Beijing, April 21
The death toll in yesterday’s quake in China has reached 207 while the number of injured has gone up to around 11,500. The area continued to be rocked by hundreds of aftershocks today, while relief teams made frantic efforts to save hundreds trapped under tonnes of rubble.

Lushan county has been battered by over 1,170 tremors so far. The severest aftershock was around 5.4 in magnitude. Death toll continued to mount throughout the day as rescue teams reached remote areas and sifted though rubble to rescue people trapped under debris. So far, 207 bodies have been recovered while the “missing persons list” read 21.

The quake in Sichuan province, the second in five years, has sparked off a debate whether there should be high-density human settlements in areas “very prone” to recurring quakes.

Sichuan is located in the foothills of Tibetan plateau and is known to be prone to heavy earthquakes as it sits right over the place where tectonic Euroasian and Indian plates meet, often colliding with huge force.

Over 90,000 persons were killed in 2008 quake in the province that virtually ravaged the area. Its neighbouring province, Qinghai witnessed a heavy quake in 2010, scripting death and destruction.

Yesterday’s earthquake is also being seen as a major test for China’s new leadership headed by President Xi Jinping, which took over power a month ago.

Under pressure to prove its mettle, the new government mounted relief operations on a war footing, mobilising thousands of soldiers and relief teams.

Following in the footsteps of his predecessor, Wen Jiabao, new Premier Li Keqiang rushed to the affected areas about five hours after the quake and stayed overnight in Ya’an city, the worst-hit area. He returned this afternoon. — PTI 

Seoul, April 21
North Korea has moved two more missile launchers to its east coast, where preparations are apparently underway for a missile test as tensions simmer on the peninsula, a report said today.

Expectations had been high that Pyongyang would carry out a test to coincide with celebrations marking the birth of North Korea's late founding leader Kim Il-Sung on April 15, but it did not materialise.

The North Korean military last week moved two launchers believed to be for Scud missiles to the northeast province of South Hamgyong, Yonhap news agency said, citing a senior Seoul official.

"We have discovered the North has moved two additional TELs (transporter erector launchers) to the east coast... after April 16," the official was quoted as saying, adding Seoul and Washington were closely monitoring the site. A spokesman for Seoul's defence ministry was not immediately available to confirm the report.

Previously, the North was reported to have moved seven missile launchers to its coast facing the East Sea (Sea of Japan) in apparent preparations for a test that would further escalate tensions.

Angered by fresh UN sanctions triggered by its third nuclear test in February and joint South Korea-US military exercises, the North has for weeks been issuing threats of missile strikes and nuclear war.

But despite the passing of the Kim Il-Sung anniversary, a Seoul defence ministry spokesman said Thursday that the possibility of a test involving shorter-range Scud, mid-range Musudan, or long-range Rodong missiles remained. April 25 could be another possible date for a missile launch, the report said, quoting military officials in Seoul. — AFP 

Kathmandu, April 21 
A Indo-Nepalese group of over 600 people will go on a 750 km-long pilgrimage from Bihar's Hariharnath temple, heading towards Nepal's famous Muktinath temple on the Nepal-Tibet border.

A group consisting of 500 Indians and 150 Nepalese will set off from Hariharnath Temple of Sonepur in Bihar tomorrow for the Muktinath Temple located at an altitude of 3,710 metres in Mustang district of Nepal.

Addressing a press conference here today, the convener of the organising committee Khemnath Acharya said that this pilgrimage has being organised to promote Muktinath temple, which is considered sacred both by Hindus as well as Buddhists.

Nepalese government is hosting the 'Yatra' to promote Nepal as a centre for religious and cultural tourism, said Sudhan Subedi, an official at Nepal Tourism Board. Three 'Shankaracharyas' will flag off the pilgrims at Hariharnath Temple tomorrow. — PTI 

Boston, April 21
The FBI investigators are reviewing the suspected Boston Marathon bombers’ motives and a visit made by one of the two to Muslim-dominated Chechnya and Dagestan republics in the Russia’s north Caucasus region.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev (26), who was killed after being pursued by the police in Watertown on Friday, travelled to Russia from Boston several times in recent years, say US officials who have reviewed his passport file.

He spent six months in Dagestan in 2012 and analysts say sojourn may have marked a crucial step in his alleged path toward the bombings, says the New York Times. Both suspects were brothers from Chechnya, which has witnessed deadly bombings carried out by Islamic rebels.

The FBI in 2011 interviewed Tamerlan, suspected of being behind the deadly Boston blasts that claimed three lives and injured over 180, at the request of a foreign government (now acknowledged by officials to be Russia) that suspected he might have ties to extremist groups with links to the Al-Qaida.

A senior law enforcement official said the Russians feared he could be a risk, and “they had something on him and were concerned about him, and him travelling to their region”.

Chechen extremists pose a greater threat to Russia than they do to the US, counter-terrorism specialists say, though some of the groups have had ties to the Al-Qaida, the paper said.

The US investigative agents apparently let him off after not detecting any terrorist activity. “The request (by the foreign government) stated that it was based on information that he was a follower of radical Islam and a strong believer,” the FBI said.

Agents also interviewed Tsarnaev’s family members, the FBI said, but did not detect terrorist activity.

“The FBI did not find any terrorism activity, domestic or foreign, and those results were provided to the foreign government in the summer of 2011,” it said in a statement.

Tsarnaev’s uncle, Alvi Tsarnaev, told the Boston Globe that the nephew visited his father in the restive Russian province of Dagestan, which neighbours war-torn Chechnya.

One month after Tsarnaev returned from Dagestan and Chechnya to the US, a YouTube page that appeared to belong to him was created and featured multiple jihadist videos that he had endorsed in the past six months.

Meanwhile, the Kavkaz Centre, an Islamic Chechen Internet agency believed to be the mouthpiece for Chechen Islamists, has dubbed Dzhokhar and Tsarnaev as “strange terrorists”, because “one dreamed of career and money, and the second to play for America at the Olympics”, according to the USA Today. — PTI

 

Suspect partied after attack Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (pic), the Chechen-origin Boston bombings suspect who was arrested after a massive manhunt had partied with his friends, tweeted rap lyrics and lived a normal college life after the deadly attack. He had worked out in the gym and slept in his dorm room on Wednesday. Tsarnaev remains in serious condition in the hospital, unable to speak due to injuries to his neck and tongue sustained while on the run from police, officials said.