LHR 24-02-2012_Layout 1 2/24/2012 3:30 AM Page 4
Friday, 24 February, 2012
West vows to up pressure Lpp activist arrested for on Assad at meeting blocking road…one year ago tUnIS AfP
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ESTERN powers vowed on Thursday to boost pressure on the Syrian regime and push it to allow in vital humanitarian aid at a global conference on Friday to tackle the country’s increasingly bloody crisis. As the flashpoint city of Homs came under renewed shelling, officials said Friday’s “Friends of Syria” meeting of over 60 nations in Tunisia will also seek to support the Syrian opposition in its efforts to build a unified front. France said the meeting will cement Syria’s “growing isolation,” while Britain said it will push for a tightening of the “stranglehold” on the regime and a US official said it will demand
that Damascus allow in humanitarian aid. But the Arab League-organised conference of senior Arab and Western diplomats, including US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, will be marked by a Russian boycott and the absence of China. Both countries have frustrated Western and Arab efforts to rein in President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, including by vetoing UN Security Council resolutions on the crisis. Russia said Thursday that Beijing and Moscow remained opposed to foreign intervention in Syria, while China’s influential People’s Daily warned this week that Western support for Syrian rebels could risk “large-scale civil war”. Activists say more than 7,600 people, mostly civilians, have died since Assad’s hardline regime launched a crackdown to snuff
out a revolt that began with peaceful protests in March 2011. Syrian forces launched another massive bombardment of rebel districts in Homs on Thursday, pounding the city for the 20th straight day, activists said. French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Friday’s talks will aim to “increase pressure on the regime” and send a clear signal not just to Assad but also to the countries that have backed him. The meeting “will be a very strong symbol of the growing isolation of the regime and the isolation of those countries that continue to block all solutions at the Security Council,” he told London-based pan-Arab newspaper Al-Hayat. A US official said Clinton discussed a “unified humanitarian proposal” with counterparts on the sidelines of an international conference on Somalia in London on Thursday.
LAHoRE Nearly 28 principals of all medical colleges affiliated with the UHS gathered in the varsity after MBBS students from various colleges gathered outside the UHS to protest against the results, Pakistan Today has learnt. Scores of students gathered outside the varsity on the second day on Thursday to protest against the results announced by the university. Earlier, they had issued a list
of reservations and demands regarding the results and on the day chanted slogans against the administration, blocked the traffic and had negotiations with police officials as well. A large number of female students also turned up. However, taking account of the situation, a pre-scheduled meeting of principals also involved the topic on the agenda because of the protesting students. The committee decided that those who call the results
Labour Party Pakistan (LPP) Lahore general secretary and Beaconhouse National University (BNU) teacher Ammar Ali Jaan was arrested by CIA personnel from Ghora Chowk around noon and placed in the Kot Lakhpat police lockup for being an absconder in a road blocking case from 2010.
3 polio cases detected despite vaccination
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tice. Earlier during the meeting on Aghaz-e-Haqooq-eBalochistan Package, deliberations were made on several recommendations for the welfare of Balochistan and its people. According to the press release issued by the Interior Ministry, 15,000 young graduates and post graduates from Balochistan should be given Rs 15,000/per month internship stipend in the Prime Minister’s Internship for Balochistan programmed for working as school teachers in the province. The handout stated that the federal government shall release Rs 4 billion to WAPDA on account of its share of subsidy for farmers of Balochistan, adding that 2,400 federal government
US delegation Continued from page 22 that the US Congress and Pakistan’s parliamentarians could play an important role in this regard. A Pakistani official, who sought anonymity, said that Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani had also conveyed to the congressmen Pakistan’s deep annoyance over the resolution on Balochistan in the US Congress, while observing that such acts would not help the ongoing efforts by both sides to repair the damaged ties. The congressmen assured the prime minister that they would convey Pakistan’s concerns over the resolution
to their fellow lawmakers after returning to Washington, the official said. “They also told the prime minister that they don’t support the independence of Balochistan,” he said. According to the statement, the congressmen expressed support for the government’s policy aimed at economic development, addressing the needs of education, health and providing employment to the people of the country. They also agreed that trade, not aid, was the way forward to economic development, and promotion of education and poverty alleviation
told that he had been arrested for an outstanding FIR against him at the Kot Lakhpat police station. He was later taken to the Kot Lakhpat police station where he was put in lockup. Speaking to Pakistan Today, Kot Lakhpat police Naib Muharar Abid said Ammar Ali was an absconder in FIR 555/10 registered on August 10 2010 under sections 147, 149,
353, 186, 290, 291 of the Pakistan Penal Code, for blocking a road. He said that Ammar was arrested by the investigations wing. However, asked to clarify why CIA police were involved, Abid said, “Anyone can arrest an absconder.” Investigating Officer Zulfiqar Ahmed could not be reached. LPP has called for protest outside the police station in the morning.
The ‘boss’
before the commission. He also produced a copy of the email sent to Jones. He said that point six, which related to the US access to the widows of Osama bin Laden, was taken out from what turned out to be the final draft of the memorandum. On May 10, I sent a copy of the memo to James Jones. “In this email, I denoted Haqqani as ‘Baba’,” he further told the commission. Ijaz said the identity of James Jones was kept hidden in the email sent to Haqqani which contained the memo. “I did not want Haqqani to know who was helping me,” Ijaz added. “I wanted to protect the identity of James Jones, and in my email, in which I forwarded the memo to Haqqani, I removed the address of Jones and instead inserted something else as secrecy. In addition, I made certain other modifications to the body text of the email to ensure that nothing could be traced back to Jones,” he added. Continuing with his testimony, Ijaz said that James Jones was sceptical and surprised if anyone in Pakistan government could talk the matters mentioned in the memo. He said that on May 12, Haqqani informed him about the meeting between Mullen and Pakistani officials, and that a phone call could go out from the US president or Mike Mullen to “Pindi”. On communication with the Blackberry manufacturer, Research in Motion, for obtaining the record of the communication between him and Haqqani during a specific time period, Ijaz told the commission that he was unable to obtain the data. He said that he had already sent 12 emails to the commission which contained all the requests by him or his lawyer to the RIM for obtaining the data. Haqqani’s lawyer Zahid Bukhari continued irritating the commission as well as Ijaz with his “unnecessary objections” to the proceedings. At
one point, Ijaz got provoked when Bukhari objected to the proposal of Akram Sheikh that Ijaz should make a final request to the RIM to release the data. “I waived my privacy rights but Haqqani did not. Let the commission know on which grounds RIM declined the request. We tried in search of truth and he (Haqqani) has no interest in finding the truth,” Ijaz shouted, saying that after RIM’s refusal to release the data, the entire truth was in his Blackberry sets. Ijaz told the commission that many messages were exchanged between him and Haqqani which he could send to the commission through email. He explained that the term “bad boys” in the messages referred to the chiefs of Pakistan Army and the InterServices Intelligence (ISI). He said that Haqqani had messaged that the US could get access to Osama bin Laden’s widows. To Bukhari’s questions raised a day earlier about Ijaz’s faith, the PakistaniAmerican businessman categorically stated: “I am a Muslim.” He also recited the initial part of the first “Kalima” testifying Allah’s oneness to make Haqqani’s lawyer believe that he was a Muslim. However, Justice Isa asked him to keep his cool, as the opponent might provoke him to break his chain of thoughts. Upon an objection raised by the attorney general, the commission observed that the Blackberry record would not be exhibited at that particular juncture. The AG was of the view that the electronic evidence was subject to security certification under Article 78A of Qanoon-e-Shahadat. The commission directed the commission’s secretary to take prints of the electronic communication directly from Ijaz’s laptop computer. Mansoor Ijaz has almost finished his testimony, and the commission would continue its proceedings today.
the said resolution by a SubCommittee chairman does not represent the view of the US government and Congress. “I want to convey to the people of Pakistan and the government of Pakistan that the US is committed to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Pakistan. We do not support independent Balochistan and only support united Pakistan. We support strong, vibrant civilian government and in favour of continuity of democratic process in Pakistan,” he said. The US delegation included Congressmen James Moran, Joe Wilson, Adrian Smith, Kenny Merchant, and Father Patrick Conroy among other senior officials.
‘All options’ on table on Iran: Israel president
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jobs would be filled on merit with the assistance of MNAs and senators of Balochistan. To encourage representation of the government officials at the federal level, any officer coming to Islamabad on deputation would be awarded a higher post than his previous one. It was also decided to double the number of Benazir Income Support Programme beneficiaries from 375,000 to 750,000 and the federal Levis force shall be increased by 3,000 through fresh recruitment. A proposal was also floated during the meeting that free education to current 150 brilliant students from Balochistan shall be increased to 500 in the next academic year and endowment fund of Rs 5 billion shall be created for its sus-
tainability. It was also said that the Capital Development Authority (CDA) shall give one suitable plot to the Balochistan government for construction of a students’ hostel and officers’ hostel in Islamabad. It was also decided that the Frontier Corp (FC) Balochistan would not move to any district without the permission of the Deputy Commissioner and no checkpost would be established by FC without permission of the Balochistan CM. It was also decided that the FC and Coast Guards would exercise powers under Customs Act and strictly in accordance with the law and keep their deployment restricted to within 10 Kms of the international border.
would help in combating the root causes of extremism and terrorism. The prime minister said that Pakistan wanted to have excellent relations with the US, and that it was important to follow a partnership based on mutual interest and mutual respect. Gilani reminded that Pakistan had made numerous sacrifices in the US-led war against terror. “The whole nation is united and the democratic government has given political ownership to the anti-terrorism campaign,” he said. The prime minister emphasised that the use of military in Afghanistan does not provide a permanent solution. “Pakistan, therefore,
supported the political process leading to political settlement in Afghanistan,” he said, adding that it was important that Afghanistan, Pakistan and the US were on the same page and worked together to promote national reconciliation, peace and stability in Afghanistan. The prime minister drew the attention of the congressmen to unilateral actions such as drone strikes, and called them “unacceptable and counter-productive”. Earlier, the US delegation also called on Senate Chairman Farooq H Naek, who called for restoring friendly bilateral relations. “We desire to maintain good relations with the US based on mutual trust and shared interests.
Though our relation is passing through challenging times, but we should work together in unison to see that irritants hampering our relations should be removed as early as possible.” Naek said that because of last year’s incidents like the Raymond Davis case, NATO attacks on Pakistani border posts, the resolution on Balochistan as well as the negative narratives published by the US media, the people of Pakistan had become extremely concerned about the nature of their country’s relations with the US. Talking about the resolution on Balochistan, Congressman David clarified that wide ranging views exist in the US on various issues, and
foul should be checked by these committees. The University of Health Sciences (UHS) has announced to set up independent committees of subject specialists to review the question papers of second professional MBBS examination held in December last year. The UHS spokesman further said that on the recommendation of the principals, these committees have been set up and they will submit their reports within four to five days.
LARkAnA ONLiNE
Three cases of polio were detected on Thursday in Naushehro Feroze and Kashmore. More than three cases of polio were detected; with one in Naushehro Feroze district and two in Kashmore. The diagnosed included Sadaf, 3, and Bilal, 4, both children of Nadir Ali Wasti. In Larkana division, a number of cases were identified last year, including Aziza, 3, Samia, 1, Yaseen, 2, and Deedar, 5. In Kamber-Shahdadkot, Mohammad Ali S/o Abdul Waheed Chandio, 4, resident of Gareebabad Muhalla Kamber city and Kalsoom D/o Imam Bux, 5, resident of village Katohar, have been diagnosed with polio virus, the Sindh Health department said.
Govt ready to forgive and forget opposition to the APC, saying that it had become a tradition for some political forces to always criticise the government. To discuss the law and order in the country, particularly in Balochistan, Interior Minister Rehman Malik also called on Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani. The interior minister briefed the prime minister about a bomb blast in Peshawar and reiterated the resolve of the democratic government to not get intimidated by cowardly acts of terrorism. The prime minister expressed his sympathies with the aggrieved families and directed law enforcement agencies to make relentless efforts to apprehend the culprits and bring them to jus-
According to sources, Ammar left home around 12pm and stopped at the Ghora Chowk petrol pump where four-five police officers asked him for ID, and began to check his vehicle. The police officers reportedly claimed that his chasis number was incorrect and he would have to come to the police station. Once taken to the CIA office Liberty Police Station, he was
stating that the message would be delivered to Mullen. “Three minutes later, Haqqani confirmed receiving the draft of the memo. However, he informed that he was tweaking it. He told me that once one objective (delivery of the message) was achieved, then Haqqani would get explicit approval on the specifications of the operation to get the army down”, he added. Ijaz claimed that until that time President Zardari was not aware of how Haqqani would get the army down, and had general instructions to get the military chief back. He said that on May 10, he called Haqqani and informed him that three possible persons could deliver the message to Mullen. “Two have already backed out, as they wanted the letter on a letterhead and signed by President Zardari, and these two options have been excluded,” he recalled as having told Haqqani. “The third one has agreed provided that it (the memo) had the authority of the president of Pakistan, to which Haqqani stated that he had sorted it out with the boss,” Ijaz claimed as having told Haqqani. “Immediately after I called James Jones I informed him that the message would be in writing and he (Haqqani) would get approval during the night. Haqqani again told me that he had sorted out with the boss, however, I spoke to James Jones and told him that authority would be solidified and made explicit during the night. The conversation with James Jones concluded that I would be sending the memo within the next hour, but he would not forward the email to Mike Mullen as Haqqani is tweaking the memo. At 1:28am on May 10, I sent the final draft to James Jones from my email address in two files – one Word file and the other PDF file,” Ijaz submitted
We demand a recheck! STAff REPORT
LAHoRE STAff REPORT
JerUsAlem: Israeli President Shimon Peres warned on Thursday that the Jewish state is keeping “all options” on the table on the issue of Iran’s nuclear activities. “The state of Israel is a sovereign state; it has the right and capacity to defend (itself) against any threat,” the Israeli leader said in remarks broadcast on military radio. “When we say that all options are on the table, we really mean it,” he added. AfP