Imran Khan

Tahir ul-Qadri

Pakistan's Army on Thursday night offered to guarantee a negotiated deal between the government and protesters led by PTI chairman Imran Khan and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) outside the Parliament House in the federal capital.

Both leaders announced their consent to resume talks with the government to defuse the current impasse on a message from army chief General Raheel Sharif following a lengthy meeting between him and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Addressing a big crowd at D Chowk late on Thursday evening, Imran Khan said he has been conveyed a message that Nawaz Sharif requested Gen Raheel to help resolve the ongoing turmoil. He said he has accepted Raheel's advice to defer the agitation and evolve a negotiated solution whose implementation he has guaranteed. Dr Qadri made a similar announcement to his followers at the sit-in.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif immediately left for Lahore after the meeting and was closeted with close aides including brother and Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif.

Earlier, the Punjab Police finally registered an FIR against 21 persons, including Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif, on Thursday. The government submitted to the mounting pressure by protesters and overcame reluctance to include the names of Sharif brothers.

The report, as stated by the Pakistan Awami Party (PAT), holds the accused responsible for police firing that resulted in death of 14 PAT workers and bullet injuries to over 80 others on June 17. The case has been registered under Sections 419, 148, 234, 302 and 109 of the Code of Criminal Procedure which pertain to murder, attempt of murder and terrorism charges.

PAT chief Dr Tahir ul- Qadri, however, rejected the FIR saying it does not include anti-terrorism clauses. He said terror was committed against innocent men and women during police firing.

Legal experts say the inclusion of any name in the FIR does not necessarily lead to arrest until established by a formal probe.

For the second time in three days, Pakistan's powerful Army Chief Raheel Sharif met the Prime Minister to discuss the over two weeks-long political turmoil.

The Prime Minister and the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) discussed security matters and uncertainty created by the ongoing protests in the country, sources said.

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Khan and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chief Qadri have snapped communications with the official negotiators after the fifth round of talks failed to produce any result last night.

Softening its stand under pressure, the government today accepted a key demand of Qadri by agreeing to register a murder case against 21 people, including Prime Minister Sharif, for their alleged role in the clashes that killed 14 supporters of the cleric.

After the government's go-ahead, finally acting on a court order, the police on Thursday registered a murder case against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his brother Shahbaz Sharif, key Cabinet ministers and senior officials.

Gaza City, August 28
Vital humanitarian aid was arriving in Gaza today as residents began rebuilding their lives following a devastating 50-day war between Israel and Hamas that experts say left no winners.

Millions in and around the war-torn coastal enclave were enjoying a second day of peace after the guns fell silent following a permanent ceasefire agreement, allowing people to begin putting their lives back together.

The truce, which went into force on Tuesday evening, saw the warring sides agree to a "permanent" halt to seven weeks of bloodshed in a move hailed by Washington, the United Nations and top world diplomats.

Under the deal, Israel agreed to immediately lift restrictions on fishing, allowing boats to work up to six nautical miles from the shore in a move which went into effect early yesterday.

It also pledged to ease restrictions at the two crossings into Gaza, Erez and Kerem Shalom, to allow the entry of goods, humanitarian aid and construction materials, in a move which began today.

Debate on crunch issues such as Hamas's demand for a port and an airport, and the release of prisoners, as well as Israel's calls to demilitarise Gaza have been postponed for another month until the sides resume talks in Cairo.

For now, the focus is catering for the immediate needs of the 1.8 million residents of the Gaza Strip, nearly half a million of whom were forced to flee their homes because of the fighting. — AFP

Damascus, August 28
Islamic State jihadists have executed more then 160 fleeing Syrian soldiers, a monitor said today, the latest in a string of brutal abuses alarming Western powers who fear a global spread of the terror.

News of the killings comes as US President Barack Obama is reportedly weighing air strikes on IS positions in Syria and coming closer to greenlighting a mission to aid Shiite Turkmen trapped in an Iraqi town by the jihadists.

Syrian regime air strikes killed six IS leaders today, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, but Washington has so far baulked at cooperating with Damascus against the jihadists.

French President Francois Hollande added his voice to the disquiet that has been growing since the jihadists marauded through Iraq and beheaded US journalist James Foley.

The latest killings took place in the Syrian province of Raqa, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding that the victims were soldiers fleeing towards government-held territory to the west after the jihadists overran their base at Tabqa.

The jihadists boasted on Twitter that they had killed 200 defeated troops and posted video of what they said was the garrison in headlong flight.

"IS executed more than 160 Syrian soldiers in three different places in Raqa province yesterday and at dawn today," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The jihadists seized the airport on Sunday after weeks of bitter fighting with loyalist forces, cementing their control over Raqa province, capital of their self-declared Islamic "caliphate".

Abdel Rahman said the defeated garrison comprised 1,400 soldiers, 200 of whom were killed and 700 of whom managed to escape.

Of the other 500, dozens were captured on Wednesday night as they attempted to cross the desert to government-held territory in the Orontes Valley to the west. — AFP

Kiev, August 28
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Thursday that Russian forces had entered his country and the military conflict was worsening after Russian-backed separatists swept into a key town in the east.

Poroshenko said he was cancelling a visit to Turkey and conferring with defence chiefs because of the "rapidly deteriorating situation" in the eastern Donetsk region, "as Russian troops have actually been brought into Ukraine".

A NATO military officer said: "We assess well over 1,000 Russian troops are now operating inside Ukraine... They are supporting separatists (and) fighting with them." Russia says it has no involvement in the conflict between pro-Moscow rebels and the Ukrainian military, in which more than 2,200 people have been killed since April.

It denies sending in weapons or troops, despite the capture of 11 soldiers inside Ukraine this week who Moscow said had probably crossed the border by accident. Russia's envoy to the OSCE security forum in Vienna said no Russian forces were crossing the Ukrainian border "at any point".

A rebel leader said their objective was Mariupol, a major port and industrial centre further west.

The latest sharp escalation in the crisis came only two days after the presidents of both countries held their first talks to work towards launching a peace process.

Ukraine's security and defence council said the border town of Novoazovsk and other parts of Ukraine's south-east had fallen under the control of Russian forces.

"A counter-offensive by Russian troops and separatist units is continuing in south-east Ukraine," it said on Twitter. It said Ukrainian government forces had withdrawn from Novoazovsk "to save their lives" and were now reinforcing defences in Mariupol.

Ukrainian PM Arseny Yatseniuk appealed to the US, EU and G7 countries "to freeze Russian assets and finances until Russia withdraws armed forces, equipment and agents". — Reuters