Posts Tagged ‘Bagh’

PPP to take out pro-Gilani rally

LAHORE – In the wake of Supreme Court’s verdict against PM Gilani, the PPP has planned to take out a rally in Lahore on Friday (today) to express solidarity with the convicted prime minister.
As per plan, PPP activists would gather at Nasir Bagh at 3 pm today to start their onward march towards Data Darbar in the form of a rally. Local party leaders will also address the participants at …

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Teachers out for pay scale revision

LAHORE – Punjab Teachers’ Union and Teachers Joint Action Committee took out a protest rally for their demands from Nasir Bagh to Regal Chowk, The Mall here on Thursday.
The teachers, hailing from across the province were having placards and banners inscribed with slogans highlighting their demands. They also chanted slogans and staged sit-in in front of various places. On the …

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More troops called in to defuse insurgency in Lyari

Pakistani police commandos take up positions during a crackdown operation against criminals in Karachi’s town of Lyari. —AP Photo/Fareed Khan

KARACHI: Fighting continued into the night on Tuesday as more police contingents were called in to defuse the mounting insurgency by the criminals at the end of fifth consecutive day of the “Grand Operation” in Lyari, DawnNews reported.

According to police, the authorities have decided to block the entry points into the area to stop weapon supply.

They also have decided to call in expert snipers from the police training centre who will be placed in provisional check posts on rooftops which are under the police’s control.

Despite several claims by police officials, security forces in Lyari have not been able to progress farther than Cheel Chowk, as the ,‘Grand Operation’, continued on fifth day.

Clashes between law-enforcement agencies and heavily armed criminals continued on Tuesday, as miscreants resorted to the use of hand-grenades and rocket propelled grenades (RPGs) in addition to using sophisticated automatic weapons against security forces.

Authorities had installed jammers on Monday night to block cellular access in the area. The move was viewed as a failure as the criminals were reported to be using walkie-talkies to communicate with each other.

It was disclosed that the criminals are in possession of more than a hundred sets of walkie-talkies.

In reports on Tuesday, a policeman identified as Tufail was killed during clashes near Cheel Chowk, while two more people were killed when police came under heavy gunfire and rocket attacks while progressing deeper into the areas near Cheel Chowk and Baghdadi colony.

Ten people were injured when a mini rocket propelled grenade landed on the upper story of a hotel in Lea Market. Police shifted the injured to a near-by hospital for treatment.

During the past four days, more than 20 people, as well as six security personnel, have lost their lives in the aggressive operation. Meanwhile, hundreds of Lyari residents continued to flee the fighting as they relocate from the violence-ridden area.

At the entry and exit points of Lyari , people were seen waiting in their cars for their relatives, desperate to flee the fighting in one of the oldest localities in the port city of Karachi.

Approximately 150 families from neighbourhoods affected by the operation –including Agra Taj Colony, Afshani Gali, Shah Abdul Latif Road, Ghas Mandi, Gul Mohammad Lane, Aath Chowk, Cheel Chowk, and other parts of Lyari – were reported to have relocated to safer parts of the city the previous day.

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Via DAWN.com

Govt figures show Iraqi civilian deaths climbed in April

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An Iraqi girl in Baghdad in 2006.

BAGHDAD: The number of civilians killed in violence in Iraq rose slightly in April, according to government figures released on Tuesday.

The worst incident occurred on April 19, when more than 20 bombs struck cities and towns across Iraq, killing at least 36 people and wounding more than 150. Al Qaeda’s Iraqi affiliate claimed the attacks.

Government figures showed 88 civilians were killed in April, up from 78 people in March, a health ministry source said.

Twenty soldiers and 18 policemen were killed, compared to 12 soldiers and 22 policemen the previous month.

Violence has dropped from the height of sectarian fighting in 2006-07, when monthly civilian tolls were regularly around 3,000, but bombings and killings still occur on a daily basis.

The Islamic State of Iraq (ISI)  and Sunni Muslim insurgent groups fighting the Shi’ite-led government say they will not lay down their arms despite the departure of US forces.

Tensions within Iraq’s coalition government of Shia, Sunnis and Kurds have climbed since December, when the government sought the arrest of Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi and the dismissal of Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq.

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Via DAWN.com

19 Taliban militants killed in Afghanistan over 24 hours

Afghan police, backed by army and NATO- led coalition forces, have eliminated 19 Taliban militants during cleanup operations across the country within the past 24 hours, the Afghan Interior Ministry said on Tuesday morning. “Afghan National Police (ANP), Afghan National Army, NDS or Afghan intelligence agency and Coalition Forces launched 11 joint cleanup operations in Kabul, Baghlan, Faryab, …

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Karachi: Liyari operation continues, one policeman killed

Police operation continued at fifth day on Tuesday as a police official was killed and another injured in rocket attack and firing by criminals in Liyari, officials said. According to police, the criminals fired rockets and hurled grenade on police when the law enforcement personnel approached toward areas adjacent to Gul Muhammad Lane, Seeti Lane and Baghdadi Police Station, killing one police …

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Produce missing men in 48 hrs: SC

QUETTA – Supreme Court directed the Deputy Commissioner and Tehsildar Baghabna to produce nine missing persons by May 2nd who have been whisked away from Tutak area of Khuzdar district in February 2011.Sajid Tareen Advocate lodged an application in the Supreme Court stating that earlier three people, including the sons of local tribal elder Sardar Ahmed Ali Qalandarni, were whisked away from …

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Iran slams US pastor’s burning of Quran

Nadarkhani’s lawyer, Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, who himself risks incarceration for defending the pastor and a dissident in another case, told AFP that his client “must be released,” based on religious edicts from prominent Iranian clerics.The lawyer declined to comment on the Quran burning protest for Nadarkhani in the United States. — Reuters 

TEHRAN: Iran on Monday slammed a US pastor’s burning of a Quran, calling it provocative and demanding US authorities take action to prevent any recurrence.

Iran’s foreign ministry said in a statement carried by the official IRNA news agency that it “strongly condemns this ridiculous, insulting and provoking act by a so-called American priest in overt contempt of the holy Quran.”

The condemnation was in reaction to a Saturday ceremony in which Florida pastor Terry Jones set fire to the Muslim holy book and a depiction of the prophet Mohammed to protest Iran’s imprisonment of an Iranian Christian clergyman, Yousef Nadarkhani.

The act was broadcast online in a YouTube video that climaxed with Jones and a handful of followers repeating the US oath of allegiance as the Quran burned.

Jones, who rebuffed a US Defence Department request to desist out of fear for US troops’ safety abroad, was behind a March 2011 burning of the Quran by his assistant that triggered violence in northern Afghanistan in which at least 12 people were killed.

Iran’s foreign ministry said the latest burning was the result of “Islamophobia” in the West.

It said the world was “awaiting a quick, serious and frank response by the US government to this act so it is never repeated.”

The ministry said the Quran burning “undoubtedly creates religious hatred and will provoke Muslim anger worldwide.”

The act by Jones came as US and Iranian officials prepared for important talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme that are to be held in Baghdad on May 23.

While Iran is expressing optimism over those talks, any failure could stoke tensions between the Islamic republic and the West and strengthen the possibility of military action by the United States or Israel.

Nadarkhani, the Christian evangelical pastor in prison in Iran, was arrested in 2009 and condemned to death for converting to Christianity when he was 19.

Iran’s supreme court overturned the death sentence in July 2011 and a retrial took place in September 2011, but no verdict was made public.

Nadarkhani’s lawyer, Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, who himself risks incarceration for defending the pastor and a dissident in another case, told AFP that his client “must be released,” based on religious edicts from prominent Iranian clerics.

The lawyer declined to comment on the Quran burning protest for Nadarkhani in the United States.

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Via DAWN.com

Pak-US ties have bright future ahead: US envoy

The Untied States Ambassador Cameron Munter said on Sunday that U.S. hopes for long-term relationship with Pakistan.
Talking to media persons during a visit to Shalimar Bagh Lahore, Ambassador Munter said that Pak-U.S relations exist on the people’s level also, as U.S. wanted strengthening of ties with Pakistan.
The U.S. Ambassador said it is an honour for him to visit Lahore. He said that …

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Iran hopes for ‘success’ in next nuclear talks

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Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi (R) shakes hands with his Armenian counterpart Edward Nalbandian (L) upon his arrival for a meeting in Tehran on April 29. — Photo AFP

TEHRAN: Iran hopes May 23 talks with world powers in Baghdad over its disputed nuclear programme will result in “success,” Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said on Sunday, according to ISNA news agency.

“The Istanbul talks were a success and we hope that the Baghdad meeting also will be a success, and if we took one step forward in Istanbul surely, with God’s help, we will take several steps ahead in Baghdad,” Salehi said in a joint press conference with his Armenian counterpart.

“We were at the beginning of the end regarding (Iran’s) nuclear issue in Istanbul, and we hope in a not-so-far future we will witness the closure of this manufactured dossier,” he added.

Iran is to meet representatives of the so-called P5+1 group, comprising the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany, in Iraq’s capital for the second round of talks which were revived this month in Istanbul after a 15-month impasse.
The Istanbul talks sought to establish a non-confrontational tone allowing the more substantial Baghdad session to go ahead.

Iran is going into the meeting with the aim of rolling back Western economic sanctions imposed to pressure it over its nuclear activities. Tehran denies Western allegations that the activities include efforts to develop nuclear weapons capability.

The P5+1, though, are seeking ways to verify Iran’s programme is exclusively peaceful.
Discussions are seen as likely to focus on whether Iran should be permitted to continue enriching uranium to 20 percent, several steps short of the 90 percent needed for military uses.

The UN Security Council has imposed four rounds of its own sanctions on Iran because of suspicions about its nuclear programme, aired by the International Atomic Energy Agency in November 2011 and reiterated in February.

Salehi declined to go into details on the likely content of the Baghdad talks.
“Please allow the details to surface after the Baghdad meeting. There are a number of analyses and views going around which are premature to talk about,”he said.

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Via DAWN.com

Law and order situation in Khairpur returns to normalcy

Law and order situation in Khairpur has started returning to normal after two rival groups clashed over dispute of setting ablaze four cabins in Phool Bagh road area on Friday during which 18 persons were injured.
However, police and rangers remained deployed and patrol continued in the city to avoid any untoward occurrence. The police have arrested 60 persons of both the groups who are being …

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Policeman killed in raid on Lyari

KARACHI – A cop was killed while two others were wounded when a team of Crime Investigation Department (CID) reached Lyari to conduct raids on the hideouts of gangsters here on Thursday.In the wee hours of Thursday, Baghdadi Police cordoned off Musa Lane area when operatives of Lyari gang targeted them.An exchange of fire took place between the gangsters and the police party. A notorious gangster …

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Corporal Punishment: Madrassa student ‘tortured to death’

According to a complaint registered by one Mohammad Shafiq with the Shadbagh police station, his 12-year-old son, Mohammad Jamil, had been studying the Holy Quran at Madrassah Aziziya from administrator Qari Muhammad Jameel and an unknown teacher for at least four months.

A few days ago, Jamil complained to his mother about severe abdominal pain, caused by Qari Jameel’s alleged torture, according to the FIR. He was taken to four different private and government hospitals for treatment but he died on Sunday evening. Both Qari Jameel and the unnamed teacher escaped.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 24^th, 2012.

Bombings kill three as Iraq governor targeted

Bombs exploded in two minibuses in Baghdad on Saturday, killing three people and wounding at least 12, while a bomb attack on a governor’s convoy wounded two guards, security officials said. An interior ministry official said the bombs in the minibuses exploded about 8:30 am (0530 GMT) near a Shiite place of worship in the Chikouk area in north Baghdad, killing three people and wounding 12. A …

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Barak says Israel never ruled out attacking Iran

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Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak. -AFP Photo

JERUSALEM: Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Tuesday his country has never promised the United States it would hold off from attacking Iran while nuclear talks were taking place.

The comments, in which Barak said that a diplomatic push to reach a compromise with Iran was a waste of ”precious time,” further exposed a rift between Israel and the US over how to deal with Iran and its nuclear program.

”We are not committing to anything,” Barak told Israel’s Army Radio. ”The dialogue with the Americans is both direct and open.”

Israel, arguing that a nuclear Iran would pose an existential threat, has said it will not allow Tehran to acquire a nuclear weapon. It cites Iranian calls for Israel’s destruction, Iran’s support for Arab militant groups and its development of missiles capable of striking the Jewish state.

Fearing that Iran is moving quickly toward nuclear capability, Israel has repeatedly hinted at an attack if Iran’s uranium enrichment program continues to advance. Enrichment is a key process in developing weapons, and Israel says Iran is closely approaching a point where it can no longer be stopped.

The US favors diplomacy and economic sanctions and has said military action on Iran’s nuclear facilities should only be a last resort if all else fails.

Officials from the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany met with Iran in Istanbul last weekend to discuss the country’s nuclear program. The talks were described as positive, and they agreed to meet again on May 23 in Baghdad.

Barak told Israel’s Army Radio he did not believe the talks would prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. ”We regret the time being lost. This is precious time,” he said.

Barak said the talks needed to yield quick results.

”It requires a few direct meetings where all the demands are put on the table. There you can see if the other side is playing for time, drawing it out through the year, or if indeed the other side is genuinely striving to find a solution,” he said. ”In this light, any ‘time-outs,’ especially when they are this long, do not serve our interests,” he said.

”Unfortunately, we maintain the view that this will probably not have an impact or bring the Iranians to cease their nuclear program. Of course we will be happy to be proven wrong,” he added.

Earlier this week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran got a ”freebie” from the international community, saying the May meeting gave the Iranians an additional five weeks to continue uranium enrichment without any restrictions. He said Iran should be forced to stop this immediately.

Netanyahu was publicly rebuked by President Barack Obama, who said the US had not ”given anything away” in the talks.

Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes and says it does not seek a bomb. The US and its allies doubt the sincerity of that.

The Obama administration has urgently sought to hold off Israeli military action, which would likely result in the US being pulled into a conflict.

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Via DAWN.com

Shahbaz exhorted to back Mohajir province creation

KARACHI – The Mohajir Sooba Tehreek on Sunday applauded the remarks of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif about the formation of new provinces in the country.
In a press statement, the MST promised that it would gift Kalabagh Dam to the Pakistani nation if Sharif and other influential personalities backed the movement for carving out a Mohajir province. It requested PML-N chief Nawaz …

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CM exhorted for backing Mohajir province creation

KARACHI – The Mohajir Sooba Tehreek on Sunday applauded the remarks of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif about the formation of new provinces in the country.In a press statement, the MST promised that it would gift Kalabagh Dam to the Pakistani nation if Sharif and other influential personalities backed the movement for carving out a Mohajir province. It requested PML-N chief Nawaz …

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