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Security inadequate: CEC
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Bangladesh building collapse toll rises to 953
B’desh 1971 war crimes Syria's Assad must go, insists Kerry Three dead in Pak plaza fire NZ court jails 2 Indian-origin
men for rape
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Lahore, May 9 Ali Haider, 27, was campaigning in Mati area of Multan, 350 km from Lahore, when the gunmen intercepted his SUV and fired indiscriminately. The gunmen, who came to the spot on motorcycles and a car, took Ali Haider away with them, said Iftikhar Baloch, a close associate of the former premier. Mohiyuddin Bhutta, the personal secretary of Ali Haider, was killed and four bodyguards were injured, Baloch said. Initial reports had said a bodyguard was also killed in the attack. No group claimed responsibility for the abduction. Local police chief Ghulam Mehmood Dogar described the incident as an act of terrorism. He said police had sealed the district and offered a reward to anyone who provides information about the kidnappers. Dogar did not rule out the involvement of banned militant groups in the kidnapping. A witness told Geo News channel that the gunmen came to the spot in a car and two motorcycles and indiscriminately fired at Ali Haider’s supporters. He said he had seen the gunmen bundle Ali Haider into a black car and drive away. The gunmen kept firing as they sped away, the witness said. The witness said Ali Haider’s clothes were stained with blood but he was not sure whether he was wounded . The abductors were wearing salwar-kameez and one of them had a beard, the witness said. Ali Haider, who was campaigning for himself and his elder brother Abdul Qadir, is one of a set of triplets. Gilani, who has four sons and a daughter, is one of the top leaders of the Pakistan People’s Party, which led the outgoing government. Ali Haider is contesting polls to the Punjab Assembly. Former Interior Minister Rehman Malik said in Lahore that he did not have any information about the involvement of the Pakistani Taliban in the kidnapping. "However, I cannot rule out the hand of extremists in this incident," he said. Gilani had earlier postponed a rally scheduled to be held in Multan today because of threats. "We cannot take the risk of holding rallies because of a security threat," he had said in a statement a few days ago. He has also refused to lead the PPP's election rallies because of a threat from the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. The former Premier told the media that the forces attacking liberal political parties were behind his son’s abduction. He asked PPP workers to remain calm and continue their campaign. — PTI Act of terrorism Gilani’s son Ali Haider visits Mati area of Multan for campaigning Unidentified gunmen arrive on the spot on motorcycles and a car They intercept his SUV, fired indiscriminately and take Ali Haider with them Mohiyuddin Bhutta, personal secretary of Ali Haider, is killed and four bodyguards are injured
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Security inadequate: CEC
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Fakhruddin G Ebrahim on Thursday asked Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani to deploy army personnel at all the sensitive stations across Pakistan. The CEC wrote a letter to the army chief stating that the current security plan was inadequate. Stressing that ensuring free and fair elections would be a joint effort, Ebrahim said the presence of the army at polling booths would eradicate the chances of rigging and violence. The CEC had declared 12,716 polling stations as sensitive. Pakistan’s military said on Thursday it would send tens of thousands of troops to polling stations and counting centres to prevent the Taliban from disrupting the elections. President Asif Zardari has also written letters to the CEC and caretaker Premier Mir Khoso voicing his concern over increasing incidents of violence.
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Vote for change, Imran Khan tells supporters
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan, who was injured after a fall from a makeshift lift on Tuesday evening, called upon party workers to muster courage as they would emerge triumphant in the May 11 battle. He said that although he was feeling better, he would not be able to cast his vote in his hometown of Mianwali as he had previously planned. He dispelled the impression about the incident being a conspiracy and said that it was just an accident caused by human error. Talking to mediapersons at the Shaukat Khanum Hospital on Thursday, Imran Khan urged his supporters to ensure voting in big numbers. “May 11 is the day of change,” he said. “I’m feeling quite well. Doctors have suggested complete rest for me. I’m thankful to the nation which prayed for my recovery,” the PTI chief said. The PTI chairman said that he did not know when the hospital authorities would discharge him. “I actually wanted to deliver a fiery speech in Raiwind but now, I will wait - on my hospital bed - for the election results,” Khan said. Imran Khan urged the people to vote for change and continue the struggle to make a new Pakistan.“May 11 is the day of change in Pakistan. I appeal to you all to come out of your homes on the day and cast your vote for change,” he said. Khan said he had a desire to cast his vote in Mianwali but it now seemed difficult. Meanwhile, Shaukat Khanum Hospital’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr Faisal Sultan told the media in Lahore that Imran Khan was recovering fast from his injuries but the decision to allow him to leave the hospital would be taken strictly on medical grounds. “Imran Khan has got three minor fractures but his spinal cord is completely intact. He is unlikely to continue his party’s election campaign as the medical board has advised him complete rest for at least two to three days to let his injuries heal”. The fall disrupted Imran’s frenzied campaign during which he had been addressing more than half-a-dozen rallies daily across the country. He had planned to conclude the campaign on Thursday evening with a massive rally in front of the Parliament House in Islamabad. Campaigning will come to a halt at midnight on Thursday, about 30 hours before polling begins on Saturday morning. Imran may not vote
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan will not be able to cast his vote in his home constituency, Mianwali, where he is also a candidate for the National Assembly. Khan, who had a serious fall from a lift in Lahore, is currently recuperating in the Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital. The medical board has advised him complete rest for at least two to three days |
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Bangladesh building collapse toll rises to 953 Savar, May 9 Over hundred more bodies were retrieved since last night ... the figure now stands at 953, an official of the army control room told PTI as the military-led salvage operation entered the 16th day today.
He said 2,443 people were rescued alive so far but 13 of them succumbed to their wounds as they were being treated at different hospitals. Hundreds of bodies are still trapped under the debris of the illegally constructed Rana Plaza as many continue to remain missing, local media reported. It is still unclear how many people were in the building here in the suburbs of the capital Dhaka on April 24 when the structure, housing five garment factories, collapsed, a day after a huge crack was spotted by authorities. The building owner Sohel Rana and five factory owners have been charged with causing death due to negligence and violating construction laws, charges punishable by a maximum seven years in jail. Rana illegally added three floors and allowed the factories to install generators, police said. Some of the survivors of the collapse alleged that the factory owners had forced them to work despite appearance of the crack on the building the day before it collapsed. Yesterday, Bangladesh closed down 18 garment factories temporarily as part of its efforts to allay fears of international buyers and rights groups over safety and labour standards in the country's beleaguered apparel sector. — PTI Fire in garment factory, 8 dead Dhaka: A major fire engulfed several floors of a garment factory in Bangladesh killing eight persons, including its managing director, a top police official and a ruling party politician, two weeks after the worst industrial disaster in the country claimed over 900 lives. — PTI
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B’desh 1971 war crimes Dhaka, May 9 A special Bangladeshi tribunal handed down death penalty to Muhammad Quamaruzzaman for collaborating in the mass murder of 164 unarmed civilians in Sohagpur village on July 25, 1971, The Daily Star reported. "He will be hanged by neck until he is dead," chairman of the three-judge International Crimes Tribunal-2 Justice Obaidul Hassan pronounced as the convict was escorted to the dock at the crowded courtroom. Quamruzzaman, 60, an assistant secretary general of Jamaat, is the fourth accused who was convicted for the 1971 war crimes siding with Pakistani troops while his party was opposed to Bangladesh's independence. Elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion and police enforced a sharp vigil around the tribunal complex of the special tribunal at the Old High Court complex at down town Dhaka as the verdict came while an opposition enforced nationwide shutdown for the second consecutive day. Quamaruzzaman was brought at the court by a security convoy from the Dhaka Central Jail. The prosecution lawyers earlier said he was a principal organiser of the so-called elite Al Badr militia forces manned by Bengali collaborators in the northern Mymensingh region which subsequently carried out atrocities and mass murders also elsewhere in the country. During the trial, Kamaruzzaman denied the allegations and said the prosecution was politically motivated. The tribunal indicted him on June 4 last year on seven specific charges while it delivered the verdict after months of arguments between the prosecution and defence lawyers. The 265-page judgement said the five of the charges including mass killings were proved in the trial. Bangladesh says the liberation war left 3 million people dead, 200,000 women raped and forced millions to flee to India. — PTI
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Syria's Assad must go, insists Kerry
Rome, May 9 Speaking as he met Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh, Kerry said all sides were working to "effect a transition government by mutual consent of both sides, which clearly means that in our judgement President Assad will not be a component of that transitional government." Kerry also officially unveiled USD 100 million in additional US humanitarian aid for Syrian refugees, almost half of which will go to help Jordan struggling to cope with a tide of people fleeing the 26-month war. Some 2,000 people are flooding across the border into Jordan every day, and the country now hosts some 525,000 refugees, Judeh said at the start of the talks in Rome. "We have 10 per cent of our population today, in the form of Syrian refugees. It is expected to rise to about 20 to 25 per cent given the current rates by the end of this year, and possibly to about 40 per cent by the middle of 2014," he said. "No country can cope with the numbers as huge as the numbers I've just described," he warned, adding Jordan was very grateful for the help of the international community. Plans for an international conference to try to find a solution to the crisis were also continuing, Kerry said, after he agreed in talks in Moscow that he and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would work in tandem on the issue. He had spoken with most of the foreign ministers from the countries involved and there is a "very positive response and a very strong desire to move to this conference and to try to find, at least exhaust the possibilities of finding, a political way forward." UN chief Ban Ki-moon had also been in touch, so "we are going to forge ahead very, very directly to work with all of the parties to bring that conference together," Kerry added. It is hoped the conference, aimed at finding a path towards a transitional government in Syria, could be held by the end of May. Although no venue has yet been identified, Geneva could host the talks. US ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, has meanwhile also met with the Syrian opposition in Istanbul yesterday to discuss the way forward, Kerry said. Since the war erupted to oust Assad, more than 1.5 million Syrians have fled the country into neighbouring nations, including Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon, vastly straining their resources. Up to four million more could be displaced within the country as they seek to flee the fierce fighting, which has already claimed some 70,000 lives. — AFP
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Three dead in Pak plaza fire At least three persons persons were killed in a fire that engulfed the LDA building in Lahore on Thursday. All three fell from the 13-storey LDA plaza while several others were trapped in the fire that affected the upper floors. Rescue teams were using helicopters to airlift the stranded occupants out of the burning building.
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NZ court jails 2 Indian-origin men for rape Melbourne, May 9 Benjamin Nilesh Goundar and Ashumendra Rohit Prasad abducted a 15-year-old girl and her 17-year-old cousin and raped the younger one for five hours in December 2011 in Hamilton, the High Court in Hamilton was told. Justice Ailsa Duffy of the High Court sentenced Goundar, 24, to jail for 16 years and Prasad, 27, for 15 years after they were convicted for rape, sexual violation and abduction. The judge ordered Goundar to serve at least six and a half years of the sentence, and a minimum term for Prasad of five and a half years. According to media reports from New Zealand, after being persuaded by Goundar and Prasad to get in a car in 2011, they became worried after they were taken to a rural property on the outskirts of the city. The 17-year-old escaped but the 15-year-old was unable to escape and she was driven to a layby in Tamahere, about 7-km away, where she was repeatedly raped for five hours, Fairfax NZ News reported. — PTI
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Bilawal’s plea for postal vote rejected
Overseas citizens get right to vote
Islamabad: President Asif Ali Zardari issued an ordinance on Thursday granting overseas Pakistanis the right to vote. Law Minister Ahmed Bilal Sufi later clarified that the ordinance would take effect after the May 11 poll. He said the Election Commission has already expressed its inability to arrange for allowing overseas Pakistanis to vote in these elections. President Zardari signed the Election Laws (Amendment) Ordinance 2013 on Thursday on the advice of the caretaker Prime Minister Mir Hazar Khoso. — TNS
Imran rival booked for obstructing cops
Islamabad: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate for NA-56, Mohammad Hanif Abbasi, was booked along with 700 supporters for damaging a police bus and obstructing policemen from discharging their official duty, the police said on Thursday. Abbasi is main challenger against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan at the NA 56 seat. The police said a convoy of political activists led by PML-N candidate Hanif Abbasi was stopped from taking the Benazir Bhutto Road for Liaquat Bagh where his party chief Nawaz Sharif was to address a rally. Abbasi could not be contacted for comment. — TNS
Taliban plan to attack landmark election
Islamabad: Pakistan’s Taliban plan to carry out suicide bombings during Saturday’s election in a bid to undermine the poll, according to a letter from the leader of the militant group. Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud, in a message to the group's spokesman, outlined plans for attacks, including suicide blasts, in all four of the country's provinces. “We don't accept the system of infidels which is called democracy,” Mehsud said in the letter, dated May 1, and obtained by Reuters on Thursday. Since April, the Al-Qaida-linked Pakistani Taliban have killed more than 100 persons in attacks on candidates and rallies. — Reuters |
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Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Fakhruddin G Ebrahim on Thursday asked Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani to deploy army personnel at all the sensitive stations across Pakistan.
Islamabad: PPP patron-in-chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari (in pic), who is believed to be in Dubai due to security reasons, may not be able to cast his vote on May 11. The Election Commission of Pakistan has rejected his application for permission to cast his vote through postal ballot. This was disclosed by former Prime Minister and key PPP leader Raja Pervez Ashraf at a news conference here. Bilawal has also been unable to lead the PPP campaign in any form contrary to earlier claims that he would be available for the campaign. — TNS
