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Wednesday, 7 November, 2012
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3 killed, 2 injured in firing on Quetta cab QUETTA STAff REPORT
Three people were killed and two others injured when unidentified gunmen opened fire at a yellow cab in the Spiny Road area of Quetta on Tuesday. According to details, five men were going to Hazara Town in a cab when they were shot at. Sources say that it was an incident of targeted killing. The injured were shifted to Bolan Medical Complex for treatment, but they are yet to be identified. Police cordoned off the area after the incident and initiated a search operation. Sectarian violence has been on the rise in Balochistan where several people, particularly Shias travelling for religious purposes, have been targeted.
Only ECP to supervise next elections: secy ISLAMABAD STAff REPORT
QUETTA: Men mourn the death of a relative who was among three hazara Shias gunned down in an attack in the provincial capital of Balochistan on Tuesday. INP
UN imposes sanctions on Haqqani network g
Afghanistan rules out peace deals with Haqqanis NEW YORK
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AGENcIES
HE UN committee that oversees sanctions against the Taliban imposed global sanctions Monday on the Pakistan-based Haqqani network, a fierce militant group considered a major threat to US and allied forces in Afghanistan, and its “chief of suicide operations”. The Taliban sanctions committee ordered all 193 UN member states to freeze the assets and institute an arms embargo against the Haqqani network, saying the group is linked to al Qaeda and other militant organisations and is responsible for suicide
attacks and targeted assassination as well as kidnappings in Kabul and Afghan provinces. The committee also ordered an asset freeze, arms embargo and travel ban against Afghan-born Abdul Rauf Zakir, also known as Qari Zakir, who it said oversees training of suicide attackers and provides instructions on how to construct improvised explosive devices. The Security Council committee described him as “chief of suicide operations for the Haqqani Network” under its leader, Sirajuddin Jallaloudine Haqqani, “and in charge of all operations in Kabul, Takhar, Kunduz and Baghlan provinces.” The United States earlier Monday also imposed financial sanctions against Zakir and
labeled him a global terrorist. The decision to impose sanctions required approval by all 15 Security Council members, including Pakistan, and diplomats said its agreement was considered very significant since the Haqqani Network is based in Pakistan’s North Waziristan tribal region. US Ambassador Susan Rice welcomed the Taliban sanctions committee’s announcement of sanctions against the network and Zakir. Meanwhile in Kabul, Afghanistan welcomed the United Nations’ decision to impose sanctions on the Haqqani network and said it would not negotiate for peace with the group blamed for several high-profile attacks in the country. Aimal Faizi, President Hamid
Karzai’s chief spokesman, said Kabul backed the UN decision, but added it should have been made a long time ago to weaken the Haqqanis. Although the Afghan government is engaged in reconciliation talks with members of the Taliban, it rules out dialogue with the Haqqani group, believed to be based in the unruly border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan. “We don’t want any kind of deal with the Haqqanis, who were behind many of the attacks on Afghan security forces and civilians including women and children,” Faizi told Reuters. “We have certain negotiating conditions with armed opposition groups but the Haqqanis do not meet the criteria and they are in the service of a foreign spy agency.”
Pakistan already cracking down Pakistan refuses flag meeting with on Haqqani network: govt india: report ISLAMABAD
STAff REPORT
Pakistan is already cracking down on the Haqqani network and does not need to impose extra measures following the group’s addition to the UN’s blacklist, a government spokesman said on Tuesday. “The three elements of the ban — arms embargo, asset freeze and travel ban — are all already in place in Pakistan,” Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said. The United States designated the Haqqani network as a terrorist organisation in September, a move the group’s commanders said proved Washington was not sincere about peace efforts in Afghanistan. “Which banned militant can openly travel in Pakistan? We have also checked on financing and other transfers. There is no problem,” Kaira said. Gretchen Peters, who wrote a report on
Haqqani finances for the Combating Terrorism Center, said Pakistan could shut down the Haqqanis if it wanted. “That’s patently not true” that they have already cracked down, she said. Seized receipts and other documents showed Haqqani leaders owned property, construction, trading and transport firms and bought weapons and ammunition inside Pakistan, she said. A small team of financial investigators with strong political backing could severely damage the network, she said, citing US successes in tackling South American drug cartels and seizing assets of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. So far, it is unclear how well the sanctions will be enforced. Peters’ report found that most of the Haqqani assets were in Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates. “A sanction is like an arrest warrant. It only means something if countries act on it,” she said.
NEWS DESK The Indian army has claimed that Pakistan refused a flag meeting with India following an alleged ceasefire violation in the Uri sector of the Line of Control (LOC) in Kashmir, reported IANS on Tuesday. Major General Bipin Rawat, general officer commanding (GOC) of the 19 Mountain Division, alleged that Pakistani troops had violated the ceasefire in Uri sector last month and then refused Indian’s request of a flag meeting. “They even denied having violated the ceasefire. Yesterday (Monday) also, Pakistan rangers violated the ceasefire in the Uri sector,” the GOC was quoted as saying. According to the report, he further alleged that the ceasefire violations were meant to assist infiltration from Pakistan. “They want to infiltrate as many terrorists as possible into our side before the snowfall although some snowfall has already occurred along the LOC,” he claimed.
Published by Arif Nizami at Plot No 79, Sector 24, Korangi Industrial Area Karachi.
Editor: Arif Nizami
Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Secretary Ishtiaq Ahmed Khan has said the general elections will be held under the supervision of no institution other than the ECP itself. Talking to reporters on Tuesday after a meeting of Senate’s special committee on setting rules and regulations for the general elections, Khan said elections would not be conducted under the supervision of the Pakistan Army or the judiciary, however adding that where needed, the army and paramilitary forces will be appointed. Khan said that ECP had prepared five special codes of conduct with reference to the elections, which included those about the media, the civil society, political parties, observers, and security. A proposal for increasing the expenditure on electoral campaign for a candidate for the membership of the National Assembly was under consideration according to which the limit of the amount being spent had been raised from Rs 1.5 million to Rs 5 million while that for the candidate for the membership of the provincial assembly had been raised from Rs 1 million to Rs 3 million, the ECP secretary said. To a question, Khan said the document for electoral laws was being prepared and would be sent to parliament within a month for approval. He said the commission wrote to the foreign secretary on September 20 that foreign observers be invited to Pakistan to analyse the arrangements for elections but the foreign secretary had not done it so far, on account of which he had been asked to give an explanation.
Mumbai blasts accused hiding in Pakistan: India ROME ONLINE
India on Tuesday said the masterminds of the heinous 1993 Mumbai serial blasts were sitting in safe havens in Pakistan and Islamabad had taken no action against them despite being provided with credible evidence. Addressing the Interpol General Assembly, Indian Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said India continued to face a “high degree” of terrorist threats on several fronts, in particular of cross-border terrorism. “Terrorism in South Asia has increasingly emerged as an effective strategic weapon,” he was quoted as saying by PTI. The home minister said in spite of regular dialogue with the neighbouring country and handing over of credible evidence to it, the masterminds of one of the most heinous act of terror of last century – the 1993 Mumbai blasts – in which 257 people died and 713 were injured were still sitting in safe havens and yet to
be brought to book. “Their presence in a neighbouring country is well known and Interpol Red Notices against them, who are Indian nationals, are pending since 1993,” he said, in a clear reference to Pakistan. Shinde said terrorist groups had demonstrated that with simple tactics and low-tech weapons, they could produce vastly disproportionate results as had happened in the 26/11 attack. “Terrorist attacks have exacted a heavy toll of life and property. Terrorists have tried to disrupt our way of life by attempting to initiate the element of fear. Fortunately, the Indian society has time and again shown its resilience and refused to be overawed by the terrorist acts,” he said. Strongly favouring international cooperation to achieve visible results in curbing the menace, Shinde said New Delhi was committed to combating terrorism and extremism in all forms and manifestations as no cause genuine or imaginary can justify terrorism or violence.