Islamabad, November 4
A Pakistani court on Monday granted bail to former President Pervez Musharraf in the case pertaining to the military raid on the militant-affiliated Islamabad Red Mosque during his rule in 2007, which led to the death of nearly 90 religious students, lawyers said.

Musharraf was formally arrested in the case last month after the son of the deputy of the mosque, Abdul Rashid Ghazi, who was killed in the military operation, filed a case against him.

The former Pakistan President has already got bail in two other cases - the 2007 assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and the murder of senior tribal leader Nawab Akbar Bugti who was killed in 2006 in a military operation.

Bail to Musharraf in the mosque case has possibly paved the way for him to go abroad, Xinhua reported.

However, a Musharraf lawyer told reporters on Monday that the former military leader will not leave the country. Some opposition leaders say that the government and the former President have entered into a secret deal that will allow Musharraf to leave the country. But the government has not confirmed any deal.

Additional Sessions Judge Wajid Ali granted bail to Pervez Musharraf and ordered him to deposit two surety bonds, each of Pakistani Rs.100,000 (around $930), Musharraf's lawyer told reporters after the court's verdict. The prosecution had accused the former President of ordering the military operation, leading to the killing of students.

Musharraf's defence lawyer, Ilyas Siddiqi, however told the court that there is no written order to suggest the former military leader had issued any order for the operation.

Nearly 11 security men were also killed during the exchange of fire with the religious students.

Musharraf returned to the country in March after a nearly four-year self exile to take part in elections. The former president, who leads the All Pakistan Muslim League, is under detention at his farmhouse in Islamabad. However, his lawyers are now confident that he will soon be a free man. — IANS

the case During Musharraf's rule in 2007, the army raided the militant-affiliated Islamabad Red Mosque, leading to death of nearly 90 religious students. He was formally arrested in the case in October after a case was filed against him. Bail to him in the mosque case has paved the way for him to go abroad. However, his lawyer said the former military leader would not leave the country.

US drone strikes violate international laws and are counter-productive to efforts to bring peace and stability to the country and the region. — Nawaz Sharif Pakistan Prime Minister

Islamabad, November 4
The US drone campaign violates the sovereignty of Pakistan, which will not allow its national security policies to be determined by foreign powers, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said today.

In his first public remarks after the killing of Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud in a US drone attack on Friday, Sharif said the days when security policies were decided through "telephone calls from abroad" are over.

Without referring to the killing of the Taliban chief, Sharif said US drone strikes violate Pakistan’s sovereignty and international laws and are counter-productive to efforts to bring peace and stability to the country and the region.

“Gone are the days when our national security policies were determined through telephone calls from abroad. We now have a democratically elected government, chosen by the people of Pakistan," he said in his address at a field exercise by the army in Punjab province.

"Pakistan is faced with serious challenges both within the country and at international level. But there is hope, a hope to rise through and meet these challenges," he told a gathering that included top military officers and army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has blamed the US for deliberately sabotaging proposed peace talks with the Taliban by killing Mehsud. The government had begun contacts with the militants and a team of representatives was scheduled to meet the Taliban just before Mehsud was killed. — PTI

Islamabad, November 4
Blaming the Pakistan government for the death of their chief Hakimullah Mehsud in a US drone attack on Friday, the Pakistan Taliban said they would not hold any peace talks with the “puppet government”.

“After consultation with all the factions it has been unanimously decided that we will not hold any peace talks with the government. It's a puppet government of the US and it deceived us in the name of peace talks,” Geo News quoted Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Shahidullah Shahid as saying on Sunday.

The spokesman said the killing of Mehsud had proved that the government was not serious in holding the peace talks.

“We did not want innocent Pakistani people to suffer any more and, therefore, decided to hold negotiations with the government. But the government, by helping the US in the killing of Hakimullah Mehsud, proved that there was zero sincerity in the mind of the rulers. It was neither sincere nor serious in peace negotiations," he said.

“We are passing through a difficult phase and are still in the state of mourning. And that's the reason we could not sit to choose his successor,” he added. — IANS

Dhaka, November 4
At least three persons were killed and nearly 50 injured as violence today rocked Bangladesh during a 60-hour countrywide opposition strike demanding a neutral caretaker government to oversee the next general elections, taking the overall death toll in political turmoil to 25.

Supporters of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its rightwing ally Jamaat-e-Islami hurled bricks at vehicles and exploded crude bombs in the capital city of Dhaka as the strike got underway early this morning.

Incidents of clashes and arson were reported from other cities and districts, including Natore, Rajshahi, Comilla and Bogra. Authorities deployed thousands of additional police and paramilitary personnel to maintain law and order during the second 60-hour strike called by the BNP within a week.

A member of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, BNP's student wing, was killed when police opened fire on clashing cadres of the ruling Awami League and strike supporters in northern Lalmonirhat district. The incident injured 39 people, including 15 policemen. A man died of injuries sustained when protesters hurled bricks at a truck carrying labourers in Natore district.

In the capital, an auto-rickshaw passenger died of burn injuries after miscreants hurled a petrol bomb at the vehicle. He succumbed to his injuries in Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

Demonstrators stabbed a youth leader of the Awami League in Comilla city while two persons were injured when two crude bombs exploded at the Bogra Judge Court premises.

Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) seized five crude bombs from the house of a BNP youth leader at Savar in Dhaka district. In Dhaka, a mobile court sentenced four strikers to six months in jail.

The BNP-led 18-party opposition alliance called the shutdown to press for the restoration of the neutral caretaker government system to oversee the next elections scheduled to be held by January 25, 2014.

RAB personnel joined riot police in patrolling city streets with water cannons and armoured carriers as the strike forced the suspension of nationwide secondary and higher secondary examinations, kept most private cars off the roads. However, state media claimed public life remained normal as people reported for work. Twenty-five people have died in violence linked to political turmoil since October 25. Sixteen people were killed across Bangladesh in the last shutdown during October 27-29 and six more died in recent political unrest. — PTI

Cairo, November 4
A defiant Mohammed Morsi today appeared at a court here to face charges of inciting murder and violence during the ousted Egyptian president's year-long rule, even as his high-profile trial was adjourned to January 8.

Morsi, in his first public appearance since the army deposed him in July, called the court “illegal” and asserted: “I am Dr. Mohamed Morsi, the president of the republic...

“This court is illegal,” the 62-year-old Muslim Brotherhood leader said, clad in a suit rather than the customary white detention clothes.

He slammed his ouster and demanded that the military leaders, who staged the coup, face trial. “This was a military coup. The leaders of the coup should be tried. A coup is treason and a crime," Morsi said.

After Morsi's remarks and his refusal to wear a uniform, the judge adjourned the trial until January 8 to allow prosecution and defence to examine documents.

During the trial, Morsi asserted that he is the "legitimate president of the country," appealing to the "Egypt's judiciary not to provide cover for the criminal coup d'etat," in reference to his ouster on July 3.

Supporters of the leader protested outside the court and elsewhere.

At least 10 people died in the clashes at the Ittihadiya presidential palace in December 2012 which broke out after pro-Morsi protesters attacked a sit-in held by opponents of a presidential decree which had granted the Islamist leader expanded powers.

If found guilty, Morsi and 14 others could face lifetime imprisonment or the death penalty. The deposed Islamist president was brought from a secret military facility where he has been detained for the past four months. He was flown down to the venue of the trial, a police academy in an eastern district here, by a helicopter. — PTI

Washington, November 4
Senior American lawmakers said today that intelligence leaker Edward Snowden should not be given clemency by the United States following his disclosures of widespread government surveillance.

The heads of the Senate and House intelligence committees spoke just days after a German lawmaker published a letter from the fugitive and said Snowden was ready to testify to Congress to shed light on "possibly serious offenses." But Senator Dianne Feinstein, in an interview with CBS’ “Face the Nation” news show, said he had missed his chance to do so.

“He had an opportunity, if what he was was a whistle blower to pick up the phone and call the House Intelligence Committee, the Senate Intelligence Committee and say, 'Look, I have some information you ought to see,” Feinstein said.

"We would have seen him and we would have looked at that information. That didn't happen, and now he's done this enormous disservice to our country," said the Democrat.

"And I think the answer is no clemency," she said, adding that Snowden should be prosecuted.

The former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor was granted asylum in Russia in August to the fury of the United States, where he is wanted on espionage charges. Congressman Mike Rogers, a Republican, said he didn't see "any reason" to grant Snowden clemency.

"If he wants to come back and own up to the responsibility of the fact that he took and stole information, he violated his oath, he disclosed classified information ... I'd be happy to have that discussion with him," he told CBS in a separate interview. — AFP