Terrorists’ plot to target ministers with perfume bottle like bombs foiled: Pakistan

August 5, 2011 By

Pakistan interior minister Rehman Malik has said that a plot to target ministers and key figures with perfume bombs has been foiled.

“Terrorists had devised a perfume bottle like bombs as gifts to target ministers and key political figures in the month of Ramazan,” The Dawn quoted Malik, as saying

in his report.

He reportedly prepared the report after his ministry received information from the spy agencies.

The report was sent to President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, DG ISI Shuja Pasha, DG MI and to all four provincial chief ministers along with 21 other key figures.

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Train kills 12 crossing tracks to Spanish festival

June 25, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Twelve people were killed when a high-speed train slammed into them as they tried to cross a railway line to get to a festival on a beach near Barcelona late on Wednesday.

World

Thirteen others were injured in the accident at about 11:30 p.m. (2130 GMT) as a group of mostly young people headed for the annual Saint John’s Day celebration at the town of Castelldefels, the Catalan government said.

Emergency services found dismembered bodies scattered at the scene, a short distance from the Castelldefels beach.

One youth told SER radio the revelers had just got off a train.

“At that moment a train came from the other direction and ran everyone over,” said the youth, who gave his name only as Fernando.

“The accident has taken 12 lives and there’s 13 injured, three in critical condition. I wish them a quick recovery,” said Joan Saura, the Catalan regional government’s interior minister.

Dozens of people had been trying to cross the track at an unauthorized point instead of using an underpass on the line between Barcelona and Alicante, the mayor of Castelldefels said.

Earlier reports suggested the underpass had been closed or not well signed, but the mayor said it had been open.

Railway operator Renfe said it would carry out a full investigation.

Spain’s public works minister Jose Blanco said he would cut short his visit to Luxembourg to go to the scene later on Thursday. He urged an investigation as soon as possible.

St. John’s Day, June 24, is a public holiday in many parts of Spain and bonfire celebrations traditionally begin the night before.

The accident was Spain’s worst rail accident since 2003, when 19 people died when two trains collided near the central town of Chinchilla.

(Reporting by Nigel Davies and Martin Roberts; editing by Andrew Roche)

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Egypt protestors, police clash after activist’s death

June 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Egyptian opposition groups clashed with security forces Sunday after rights groups accused undercover officers of beating to death an activist who had attempted to expose police corruption.

World

Police have denied any role in the death of Khaled Mohammed Said, 28, who the Interior Ministry said Saturday died from an overdose of drugs he swallowed before police approached him.

Some 200 protestors chanting anti-government slogans, were quickly surrounded in Lazougli Square near the Interior Ministry in downtown Cairo, a Reuters witness said.

“Khaled was murdered and Adly is responsible,” protestors chanted, calling for Egyptian Interior Minister Habib el-Adly to be held accountable for Said’s death.

The violence began when demonstrators tried to break through a police cordon. A security official said 32 protestors were detained.

“We are here protesting the loss of the martyr of the emergency law,” said Ahmad Raghab, head of the Hisham Mubarak Law Center, referring to an Egyptian law that allows indefinite detention and curbs anti-government political activity.

“We demand that those responsible for his death are tried.”

Egypt last month extended until 2011 an emergency law that gives police wide-ranging powers including indefinite detentions without charge and limiting the freedom of public assembly to no more than five people.

The measure has been extended regularly since it was passed in 1981, but authorities say they have now limited its scope to terrorism and drug cases. Activists and analysts say the law is used to crush dissent.

According to activists and human rights groups, Said was killed in the port city of Alexandria on June 6 after he posted an internet video which Said’s family said showed police officers sharing the profits of a drug deal.

The El-Nadeem Center, a rights group following the case, said undercover policemen confronted Said in an internet cafe, dragged him onto the street and beat him to death. Social networking sites posted images of his beaten face and body.

Egypt’s attorney general has ordered an autopsy and referred the investigation into Said’s death to Alexandria’s appeals court. Rights group Amnesty International has called for an independent investigation into Said’s death.

(Additional reporting by Dina Zayed; Writing by Alexander Dziadosz)

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Egypt protestors, police clash after activist’s death

June 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment

CAIRO, June 13 (Reuters) – Egyptian opposition groups clashed with security forces on Sunday after rights groups accused undercover officers of beating to death an activist who had attempted to expose police corruption.

Police have denied any role in the death of Khaled Mohammed Said, 28, who the Interior Ministry said on Saturday died from an overdose of drugs he swallowed before police approached him.

Some 200 protestors chanting anti-government slogans, were quickly surrounded in Lazougli Square near the Interior Ministry in downtown Cairo, a Reuters witness said.

“Khaled was murdered and Adly is responsible,” protestors chanted, calling for Egyptian Interior Minister Habib el-Adly to be held accountable for Said’s death.

The violence began when demonstrators tried to break through a police cordon. A security official said 32 protestors were detained.

“We are here protesting the loss of the martyr of the emergency law,” said Ahmad Raghab, head of the Hisham Mubarak Law Center, referring to an Egyptian law that allows indefinite detention and curbs anti-government political activity.

“We demand that those responsible for his death are tried.”

Egypt last month extended until 2011 an emergency law that gives police wide-ranging powers including indefinite detentions without charge and limiting the freedom of public assembly to no more than five people.

The measure has been extended regularly since it was passed in 1981, but authorities say they have now limited its scope to terrorism and drug cases. Activists and analysts say the law is used to crush dissent.

According to activists and human rights groups, Said was killed in the port city of Alexandria on June 6 after he posted an internet video which Said’s family said showed police officers sharing the profits of a drug deal.

The El-Nadeem Centre, a rights group following the case, said undercover policemen confronted Said in an internet cafe, dragged him onto the street and beat him to death. Social networking sites posted images of his beaten face and body.

Egypt’s attorney general has ordered an autopsy and referred the investigation into Said’s death to Alexandria’s appeals court. Rights group Amnesty International has called for an independent investigation into Said’s death. (Additional reporting by Dina Zayed; Writing by Alexander Dziadosz)

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Timeline: New clashes in Kyrgyzstan’s south

June 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Here is a timeline on Kyrgyzstan in the last five years:

March 21, 2005 – Osh, Kyrgyzstan’s second biggest city, falls to opposition control as protests sweep across the country’s south to demand the resignation of President Askar Akayev.

March 23 – Police violently break up a protest in the capital, Bishkek, and the interior minister says prepared to use force and weapons to restore order.

March 24 – Kyrgyzstan’s opposition declares itself in power after seizing key buildings as Akayev vanishes after protests.

March 25 – Opposition party leader Kurmanbek Bakiyev is named acting president. Akayev confirms reports he has left the country, but says he has not resigned.

March 28 – Kyrgyzstan’s new parliament takes over and confirms Bakiyev as prime minister as well as acting president.

July 10 – Bakiyev wins presidential elections.

November 8, 2006 – Parliament adopts a new constitution reducing the president’s powers. The opposition, which had staged days of protests calling on the president to quit if he would not cede to their demands, hailed the vote as a victory.

February 19, 2009 – Parliament votes to close the only U.S. air base in Central Asia. Washington later agrees to pay $180 million to Kyrgyzstan to keep the base open.

March 17, 2010 – Thousands of Kyrgyz protesters threaten to oust Bakiyev if he fails to accede to their demands within a week, five years after violent protests propelled him to power.

April 3 – Visiting U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calls on Kyrgyzstan to protect human rights after protesters shout “help us” as he drove to parliament.

April 7 – Bakiyev orders a state of emergency in Bishkek and three other areas after police clash with protesters. He later flees to southern Kyrgyzstan, his traditional power base.

– Some 1,000 people storm the prosecutor-general’s office in the capital.

– Plumes of smoke billow from the White House, the main seat of government, as crowds rampage through the building.

– Opposition activists also take control of state television channel KTR.

April 8 – Opposition leader Roza Otunbayeva says she is taking over the president’s and government’s responsibilities. She says the government has resigned and the opposition is negotiating the resignation of Bakiyev.

– Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin speaks to Otunbayeva effectively recognizing her government.

April 9 – Otunbayeva says she will guarantee the safety of Bakiyev and allow him to leave the country if he resigns.

April 12 – The U.S. welcomes statements from the interim government that it will abide by agreements covering a U.S. air base that supports military operations in Afghanistan.

April 15 – The ousted president Bakiyev leaves Kyrgyzstan for Kazakhstan. At least 85 people are killed in the upheaval.

April 27 – The interim government says it has charged Bakiyev with “mass killing” and has formally prepared an extradition request.

May 4 – Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko says he will not hand over Bakiyev to face charges over the violent upheaval last month.

May 13 – Bakiyev supporters seize control of government buildings in the cities of Osh, Jalalabad and Batken, kidnap the governor of Jalalabad region and try to take control of the area’s main airport in Osh.

May 14 – The interim government says it has regained control across the south after at least two people die in violent clashes with supporters of the ousted president.

May 19 – A state of emergency is declared in Jalalabad after two people die and 74 are injured in clashes between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in southern Kyrgyzstan.

– Otunbayeva’s government says she will act as president until the end of 2011, after which she will be replaced.

June 11 – At least 17 people are killed and 253 wounded as ethnic conflict flares up in Osh and in the southern region.

– The interim government declares a state of emergency in four southern regions.

(Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit)

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Timeline: New clashes in Kyrgyzstan’s south

June 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Here is a timeline on Kyrgyzstan in the last five years:

March 21, 2005 – Osh, Kyrgyzstan’s second biggest city, falls to opposition control as protests sweep across the country’s south to demand the resignation of President Askar Akayev.

March 23 – Police violently break up a protest in the capital, Bishkek, and the interior minister says prepared to use force and weapons to restore order.

March 24 – Kyrgyzstan’s opposition declares itself in power after seizing key buildings as Akayev vanishes after protests.

March 25 – Opposition party leader Kurmanbek Bakiyev is named acting president. Akayev confirms reports he has left the country, but says he has not resigned.

March 28 – Kyrgyzstan’s new parliament takes over and confirms Bakiyev as prime minister as well as acting president.

July 10 – Bakiyev wins presidential elections.

November 8, 2006 – Parliament adopts a new constitution reducing the president’s powers. The opposition, which had staged days of protests calling on the president to quit if he would not cede to their demands, hailed the vote as a victory.

February 19, 2009 – Parliament votes to close the only U.S. air base in Central Asia. Washington later agrees to pay $180 million to Kyrgyzstan to keep the base open.

March 17, 2010 – Thousands of Kyrgyz protesters threaten to oust Bakiyev if he fails to accede to their demands within a week, five years after violent protests propelled him to power.

April 3 – Visiting U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calls on Kyrgyzstan to protect human rights after protesters shout “help us” as he drove to parliament.

April 7 – Bakiyev orders a state of emergency in Bishkek and three other areas after police clash with protesters. He later flees to southern Kyrgyzstan, his traditional power base.

– Some 1,000 people storm the prosecutor-general’s office in the capital.

– Plumes of smoke billow from the White House, the main seat of government, as crowds rampage through the building.

– Opposition activists also take control of state television channel KTR.

April 8 – Opposition leader Roza Otunbayeva says she is taking over the president’s and government’s responsibilities. She says the government has resigned and the opposition is negotiating the resignation of Bakiyev.

– Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin speaks to Otunbayeva effectively recognizing her government.

April 9 – Otunbayeva says she will guarantee the safety of Bakiyev and allow him to leave the country if he resigns.

April 12 – The U.S. welcomes statements from the interim government that it will abide by agreements covering a U.S. air base that supports military operations in Afghanistan.

April 15 – The ousted president Bakiyev leaves Kyrgyzstan for Kazakhstan. At least 85 people are killed in the upheaval.

April 27 – The interim government says it has charged Bakiyev with “mass killing” and has formally prepared an extradition request.

May 4 – Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko says he will not hand over Bakiyev to face charges over the violent upheaval last month.

May 13 – Bakiyev supporters seize control of government buildings in the cities of Osh, Jalalabad and Batken, kidnap the governor of Jalalabad region and try to take control of the area’s main airport in Osh.

May 14 – The interim government says it has regained control across the south after at least two people die in violent clashes with supporters of the ousted president.

May 19 – A state of emergency is declared in Jalalabad after two people die and 74 are injured in clashes between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in southern Kyrgyzstan.

– Otunbayeva’s government says she will act as president until the end of 2011, after which she will be replaced.

June 11 – At least 17 people are killed and 253 wounded as ethnic conflict flares up in Osh and in the southern region.

– The interim government declares a state of emergency in four southern regions.

(Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit)

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Terrorist, criminals’ nexus in Pak Punjab posing serious security threat

June 11, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Lahore, Jun.11 (ANI): Pakistan intelligence agencies have revealed that there exists a dirty nexus between local criminals and terrorists in Punjab, especially in the provincial capital Lahore, which has witnessed a spate of bloody terror strikes in the recent past.

According to intelligence inputs, there was damning evidence that the terrorist were providing various logistical support to the criminals to assist them in kidnapping for ransom and robberies in order to generate funds that they eventually use in carrying out terror attacks.

“Karachi has been known in the past as a place where terrorists collaborated with criminals to raise funds for their own activities, however, terrorists are now zooming in on Lahore,” The Daily Times quoted sources, as saying.

Following the intelligence report, the top brass of the Lahore police have decided to
maintain a comprehensive database of criminals, especially those who had been involved in robberies and kidnapping for ransom.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is strengthening its position in Punjab continuously and has joined hands with local ‘jihadi’ groups, but strangely enough the provincial government is living in denial, as it has opposed the idea of a Swat like military operation in the province.

While Interior Minister Rehman Malik had clearly pointed out that Punjab based terror organisations pose a great risk and that they are planning some major attacks across the country, provincial leaders believe that the situation is under control.

“Army operations are required only where there are no-go areas and there is no such situation in any part of Punjab,” said Rana Sanaullah, Punjab Law Minister and a trusted aide of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.

It is pertinent to mention here that Sanaullah had attracted wide criticism after he was seen hobnobbing with leaders of banned terror outfit Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) during a local election in Jhang a few days ago. (ANI)

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FEATURE – Serbia snaring border migrants to bolster bid for EU

May 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

For many illegal migrants a Serbian village on the pastoral border with Hungary is the last hurdle blocking their dream of crossing into the European Union and starting a more prosperous life.

During the Communist era, the Iron Curtain — in reality, fences topped by barbed wire patrolled by guards authorised to shoot intruders dead — sealed the frontier.

Now, around the village of Horgos, only occasional markers denote the Hungarian-Serbian frontier, the flat, rural divide between the prosperity of the EU and the rest of the world.

Serbia has stepped up efforts to patrol the border as a condition of making progress in its own goal of gaining EU membership. Last year, Brussels granted Serbian citizens visa-free travel after Belgrade promised to crack down on crime and improve control of hitherto porous borders.

An unshaven Afghan man in his 20s wearing track-suit pants recently paid the price for Serbia’s bolstered efforts. He was nabbed at the border and taken to a nearby detention facility.

“I have travelled from Afghanistan to Syria, then to Turkey, and from Turkey to Serbia,” he said.

Like most migrants at the facility, he was reluctant to talk, fearing prosecution at home or revenge by human traffickers. Most of these would-be immigrants pay 2,000-3,000 euros to join a criminal guide across the frontier.

“Primarily, they are from Afghanistan, Palestine, Georgia or other Asian countries. A smaller number comes from Kosovo,” said Miroljub Trivunovic, a Serbian border policeman.

Earlier this month, Serbian police arrested nine suspected members of an organised crime group involved in human trafficking. In 2009 it filed 51 criminal charges in other trafficking cases, according to Interior Minister Ivica Dacic.

The Serbian Interior Ministry says they have arrested 186 illegal migrants in the Horgos frontier area since January.

As Serbia has tried to accelerate its bid to join the EU since 2008 and toughened its border patrols, the steady tide of EU-bound migrants has eased, officials say. According to police data, many migrants now travel instead from Kosovo to Albania and finally across the Adriatic Sea to Italy.

NIGHT PATROL

Every night, a border police unit from the northern Serbian city of Subotica, near the Hungarian broder, patrols more than 180 kilometres (100 miles) of the boundary. Admittedly, it’s a wide goalpost for a limited number of goalies, but Hungarian officials and technology help supplement the effort.

The most common place for border-running is around Horgos, near the official Serbia-Hungary border crossing. Illegal migrants reach Horgos by bus or rail and wait for nightfall at a nearby gas station.

At night, their adventure starts. Migrants run through corn and wheat fields, or sometimes swim across rivers and canals, trying to get into Hungary.

Their attempts were moderately successful until recently when Serbian police received an EU grant for six SUV vehicles equipped with thermal-imaging cameras, global positioning and laser rangefinders.

A patrol may might wait in ambush for hours for would be-immigrants to come within range. After they’re spotted, another police patrol moves in for the arrest. Frequently Hungarian colleagues are involved in joint policing operations.

Migrants are typically sentenced to 30 days in jail and then sent to a holding facility in a Belgrade suburb.

“First we have to establish their identities: who are they, from which country, their way of entering Serbia, their intentions, why did they come and where do they plan to go,” said Dragan Dubljevic, head of the detention camp.

Dubljevic said this stage of the procedure may take months, especially if migrants are from countries with no embassies in Serbia or its immediate neighbours.

Some of them seek eventually asylum in Serbia, which applied last year to join the EU. But the U.N. refugee agency estimates there are 17,000 de facto stateless people in Serbia who cannot benefit from citizenship rights because of a lack of documentation.

(Writing by Aleksandar Vasovic, editing by Adam Tanner and Mark Heinrich)

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Indian officials should respect Pakistan’s courts: Malik

May 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The Pakistan government honours the Supreme Court’s decision upholding the release from house arrest of JuD chief Hafiz Saeed and Indian authorities should accord “similar respect to the verdicts of Pakistani courts,” Interior Minister Rehman Malik said today.

Malik made the remarks while talking to reporters a day after the apex court upheld the Lahore High Court’s decision to free Saeed from house arrest and dismissed appeals filed by the federal and Punjab governments challenging his release.

The Interior Minister said Indian authorities should show the same respect for verdicts of Pakistani courts as that shown by the Pakistan government.

“We had also honoured the Indian court’s decision against Ajmal Kasab,” Malik said, referring to the death sentence recently awarded by an Indian court to the Pakistani national for his role in the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

India yesterday expressed disappointment over Pakistan Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the release of Saeed, whom New Delhi has blamed for masterminding the Mumbai attacks.

Indian officials have said they have provided sufficient evidence against Saeed to Pakistani authorities.

Malik also called for a joint struggle against terrorism by Pakistan, India and Afghanistan.

He said Faisal Shahzad, the Pakistani-American arrested by the US for a botched car bomb attack in New York, had links in the restive South Waziristan tribal region.

An investigation into these links is underway though no one has so far been arrested, he said.

“Faisal Shahzad had links in South Waziristan and his accounts are the focus of our investigation,” Malik said.

Media reports, however, said Pakistani authorities had detained 11 suspects, including an army major, for alleged links with Shahzad.

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32 arrested in trans-European anti-drug operation

May 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

London, May 26 (IANS/EFE) At least 32 people have been arrested in an anti-drug and anti-trafficking operation across Europe conducted by 750 police officials from Europol, the European Union’s criminal intelligence agency.

Twenty people were arrested in Spain and 12 in Britain Tuesday, in a joint operation in London and Spain’s Costa del Sol. The operation also included house searches in the Ireland capital Dublin as well as in Belgium and Cyprus, and was carried out jointly by Ireland’s An Garda Siochana police, the Spanish National Police, SOCA and the Belgian police.

A 53-year-old Irish-born British gangster Christopher ‘Christy’ Kinahan was arrested Tuesday at his mansion in Costa del Sol, Britain’s Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) said Tuesday.

Kinahan was arrested by the Spanish National Police along with several of his family members, a number of British and Irish citizens and four Spanish attorneys, SOCA said.

In a statement released in Warsaw, Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said Kinahan’s organisation is connected to several crimes including murder, drug and human trafficking.

Rubalcaba said the trans-European operation showed that ‘political cooperation works’.

‘The scale of this joint operation by law enforcement agencies from so many countries is an indication of how prolific we think this network was,’ SOCA director Trevor Pearce said.

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All issues with SC to be resolved amicably: Pak PM

May 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Lahore, May 21 (ANI): Pakistan Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilaniis hopeful that all issues with the Supreme Court will be settled soon.

Gilani denied any rift between his government and the judiciary on the issue of upholding the sentence of Interior Minister Rehman Malik by the Lahore High Court and awarding of the presidential remission soon after.

He said the government would accede to and act upon the Supreme Court verdict whatever it was in the original case, adding that all issues with the apex court would be resolved amicably.

Replying to o a question, he said there was no confrontation among the two state institutions.

Gilani said his government would look into the matter of extension in the service of Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Kayani, as and when the time comes, the Daily Times reported.

During the meeting with senior journalists, Gilani shared his opinion on a number of national and international issues and also discussed policies of the coalition government. (ANI)

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Zardari grants Malik presidential pardon to save him from 3-yr jail term

May 18, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Islamabad, May 18 (ANI): Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has come to the rescue of one of his most trusted aides, Interior Minister Rehman Malik, as barely hours after the Lahore High Court (LHC) rejected Malik’s plea in a corruption case, he pardoned the minister using his special power under the Article 45 of the Constitution.

The LHC had dismissed an appeal filed by Malik against punishments announced by the Accountability Court on Monday.

Hour’s after the court’s verdict, Presidential spokesperson Farhatullah Babar hastly announced that the ‘President using his constitutional power on the advice of the Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’ has granted remission to Malik.

Babar, however, refused to give any more details on the issue, The Dawn reports.

The spokesman said that the pardon has been granted under Article 45 of the Constitution which says: “The president shall have power to grant pardon, reprieve and respite, and to remit, suspend or commute any sentence passed by any court, tribunal or authority.”

Observers believe that Zardari’s move is likely to heighten tension between the Presidency and the higher judiciary at a time when the relationship between the two is already at its lowest ebb. (ANI)

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Pak now has two of Shahzad’s ‘collaborators’ in custody: US official

May 15, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Islamabad, May 15 (ANI): At least two men suspected of having helped fund Faisal Shahzad, the man behind the botched Times Square bombing plot are currently in custody of Pakistani authorities, a top US military official has said.

Speaking on conditions of anonymity, the official revealed that the Pakistani authorities have detained at least two suspects in connection with providing money to Shahzad, The Daily Times reports.

Earlier, media reports said that Pakistan has arrested a man, who claims to have helped Shahzad.

“The suspect in Pakistani custody is believed to have a connection to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Clues have added to authorities” understanding of the plot, but what is definitely true is that a lot of this comes from the statements of people directly involved,” The Washington Post had quoted a US intelligence official, who refused to be named, as saying.

U.S. officials declined to identify the suspect, but said American investigators have direct access to him, and described him as a facilitator for the TTP.

Officials privy to the probe said the suspect, during interrogation, described the whole story about the Shahzad’s arrival in Karachi last year and his travel north to Waziristan for training with elements of the Pakistani Taliban.

However, some other US official, briefed on the investigations said there are some “conflicts and disconnects” in the accounts of Shahzad and the man in custody.

Meanwhile, Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said no “formal” arrests have been made concerning the May 1 New York terror plot.

“I would like to tell you that there has not been any formal arrest by us,” Malik said when asked whether Pakistani agencies have detained any accomplice of Shahzad. (ANI)

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Kyrgyz govt says to rout coup attempt organisers

May 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Kyrgyzstan’s interim government said on Thursday it will root out and punish organisers of what it called a coup attempt by supporters of ousted president Kurmanbek Bakiyev in the nation’s volatile south.

Bakiyev supporters seized government buildings in three southern regions of the impoverished Central Asian state in a coup attempt, the interim government said, and appealed for popular support as it prepares to track down those responsible.

“We know by name all organisers of this action. We have enough forces and means to round them up and arrest them during the upcoming day,” Azimbek Beknazarov, a deputy interim government head, said in a live speech on national television.

“We will start setting up units of vigilantes in every district, city and village today. I invite everybody to come out to preserve the people’s government,” said Beknazarov, who oversees security and defence in the interim government.

Any worsening of tensions in the south, at the heart of the Ferghana Valley, Central Asia’s most flammable and ethnically divided corner, would be of concern to the United States and Russia, which both operate military bases in Kyrgyzstan.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev appointed Vladimir Rushailo, a former Russian interior minister and security council secretary, his special envoy on establishing closer relations with Kyrgyzstan.

“We are receiving information and are trying to understand what is happening”, said Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Just hours after the appointment, Kyrgyzstan’s interim government’s chief of staff Edil Baisalov said Rushailo would visit Bishkek on Friday for talks with top cabinet officials — a clear sign of Moscow’s support in hard times.

“We have known Rushailo for a long time as a friend of Kyrgyzstan,” Baisalov told Moscow’s Rossiya-24 channel.

KIDNAP IN JALALABAD

Supporters of Bakiyev, who fled the country a month ago after an uprising, seized the buildings in the cities of Osh, Jalalabad and Batken, kidnapped the governor of Jalalabad region and tried to take control of the area’s main airport in Osh.

Jalalabad is the heart of Bakiyev’s power base in the south.

“This is the work of Bakiyev’s supporters,” said interim government spokesman Farid Niyazov. “They have one goal: to seize power… But they will fail.”

There were no reports of deaths but the unrest was the biggest challenge to the interim government, which has struggled to impose order in the impoverished Muslim country of 5.3 million since toppling Bakiyev in a revolt last month.

Unrest during the uprising against Bakiyev on April 7 disrupted troop flights out of the Manas air base which the United States uses to support the war in Afghanistan.

The interim government says it wants to extradite Bakiyev from his refuge in the former Soviet state of Belarus and put him on trial for corruption and for allowing troops to fire into crowds of protesters on April 7, killing dozens.

Belarus, whose maverick leader Alexander Lukashenko has refused to extradite Bakiyev, said all its diplomats had left the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek for security reasons.

Bakiyev, who is secluded in a country residence in Belarus, has so far made no comment on the unrest.

The interim government said it had foiled a coup plot by Bakiyev supporters in the capital the previous day and sent Defence Minister Ismail Isakov to Osh to try to quell the revolt, but it was not immediately clear what resources he had at his disposal.

Kyrgyzstan’s armed forces are small, poorly equipped and demoralised after the revolt against Bakiyev, during which they stayed mainly in barracks and avoided taking sides.

A spokeswoman for Bakiyev’s supporters claimed that thousands of people wanted to march on the capital.

“People want to gather and go to Bishkek, there are 25,000 of them, and they want to tell the interim government that it is not delivering on its promises and that president (Bakiyev) is legitimate,” she said.

Osh, where hundreds of Bakiyev supporters took control of a local government building after scuffling with guards, is located in the Ferghana Valley, a melting pot of ethnic and tribal tension that was the scene of deadly ethnic clashes in the last days of the Soviet Union.

(Writing by Dmitry Solovyov, Michael Stott, Olzhas Auyezov and Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Louise Ireland)

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‘All powerful’ Rehman Malik in whitewash mode to quash cases against him

May 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Islamabad, May 12 (ANI): Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik has been accused of tampering with cases filed against him and for targeting officers who are not ready to toe his line.

The official record of the 1996 cases against Malik has started to disappear and FIA officials who arrested and handled him back in 1996 are now facing his wrath.

A director of FIA in Peshawar confirmed to The News that the record relating to the minister had been misplaced and it is being reconstructed, but he denied they had tampered with the previous record.

The officials have been punished and harassed so much that they have now come on record to publicly complain that the all-powerful Interior Minister is targeting them.

Tariq Malik, FIA’s deputy director, who has twice been demoted after he refused to tamper with the record about the charge sheeting of the minister, has now been transferred to Quetta from Islamabad.

Tariq being an FIA inspector had filed a source report in 1996 that led to the registration of an FIR No. 14/96 against Malik, alleging that he received two Honda cars as a bribe from Toyota Company.

The Interior Minister’s staff officer summoned Tahir Malik in the ministry six weeks ago and interrogated him on how he came to know about the cars and how was it a bribe. The staff officer then demanded of Malik that he alter his statement to help Rehman Malik get acquitted.

When he refused, in a space of two weeks, he was not only demoted again but also transferred to Quetta, a station that is seeing the pullout of all Punjabi FIA staffers after some of them were murdered there.

All these cases against Rehman Malik stand reopened after the revocation of the NRO but since the FIA is the executing agency, it is lending crucial support to cover up the past cases against their current boss.

Likewise, Sardar Azam, another assistant director, now retired, who had arrested Rehman Malik the day FIR No 14/96 was registered against him, has stated on record that his pension is being delayed as punishment. (ANI)

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PPP senator wants passengers of Benazir’s backup car to be questioned

May 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Islamabad, May 12 (ANI): A senior Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) senator wants investigators to question Law Minister Babar Awan, Interior Minister Rehman Malik, Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar and Lt Gen (r) Tauqeer Zia about driving away in a backup car from the site of former premier Benazir Bhutto’s assassination

According to various accounts, no vehicle was available at the site to take Benazir to hospital after the assassin had targeted her, and she had to be driven to hospital in Sherry Rehman’s car with burst tyres.

Senator Yousuf Talpur made this demand during a debate in the National Assembly on the president’s address to a joint sitting of parliament.

A close associate of Benazir, Talpur urged Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani to order investigators to ask top party officials who took away the car Benazir was supposed to use in case of an emergency.

Babar Awan, Rehman Malik, Farhatullah Babar and Lt Gen (retired) Tauqeer Zia were in the backup vehicle that was supposed to remain at the site until the bulletproof vehicle Bhutto was travelling in had safely driven away from a public park in Rawalpindi.

Talpur said it was time for investigators to find out what made those in the vehicle drive away the backup car, The Daily Times reports.

He said people in Sindh were waiting for word on who killed their “beloved leader” and why her killers had not been punished. (ANI)

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Pak Army between ‘devil and deep sea’ over US pressure to move into N.Waziristan

May 11, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, May 11 (ANI): Not only the civilian leadership, but the Pakistan Army too is facing the heat, as it is being pressed upon by the United States to extend its campaign against militants holed up in North Waziristan, following reports that Faisal Shahzad, the confessed Times Square bomber, had received terror training in that volatile region.

The United States has long been coaxing the Pakistan Army to launch an offensive in North Waziristan, however, the military has been reluctant to go into the region on the plea that it is already overstretched and lacks resources to open new fronts against the extremists in the troubled tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

“The army realizes that it must go into North Waziristan. They have been looking at this option for quite some time, but they have been hesitant as they are overstretched,” Time magazine quoted retired general and analyst Talat Masood, as saying.

“It”s a very complex area, particularly because there are elements there that are not so hostile to the Pakistani military,” Masood added referring to the Haqqani network, an al-Qaeda linked Afghan Taliban group, which targets US led international forces in Afghanistan, but is viewed as a strategic asset by Pakistan”s intelligence services.

“The army will prefer to take a limited operation, one that is confined to the Mehsud areas,” Masood said pointing towards the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) warlord Hakimullah Mehsud.

With the US sending some strong signals, it is being speculated that the Obama Administration might send troops to Pakistan to take on the militants themselves, a situation which could be catastrophic, said Aftab Sherpao, who served as Interior Minister in General Pervez Musharraf’s regime.

“The presence of U.S. troops would be truly disastrous. The mere presence of foreign soldiers would inflame public opinion to dangerous proportions, weakening the hand of the civilian government and the army,” Sherpao highlighted.

He explained that dismantling the terror safe havens flourishing in the tribal regions was not that easy a task as the US and the international community believes.

“It will take years,” Sherpao said adding, “You can”t start operations against all these groups simultaneously. You have to proceed step by step. You have to consolidate your gains first, then move on to the next target.”

But he also noted that the Times Square incident certainly served as a wake-up call for both the civilian and military set-up.

“The political and military leadership have to sit down now and devise a serious response.Otherwise, it will become very difficult,” Sherpao said. (ANI)

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Pakistan investigates NY bomb plot Taliban link

May 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Pakistan is investigating whether a Pakistani-American arrested over a botched plot to bomb New York’s Times Square met Pakistani Taliban leaders in their stronghold in the northwest, a minister said on Saturday.

Pakistani investigators were trying to verify information provided by the United States that the suspect, Faisal Shahzad, 30, had visited South Waziristan, a militant bastion near the Afghan border where the Pakistani military launched an offensive late last year, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said.

“Today we received a formal request from them in which they have given the details of the charges according to which Shahzad has been visiting South Waziristan and meeting Qari Hussain and Hakimullah Mehsud,” Rehman told reporters, referring to two Pakistani Taliban commanders.

“But it all needs confirmation.”

The Pakistani Taliban last Sunday claimed responsibility for the attempted car bomb attack the previous day, but a spokesman for the militants on Thursday denied links with Shahzad.

Mehsud is the head of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or Taliban Movement of Pakistan, while Hussain is referred to as the mentor of the Pakistani Talbian suicide bombers.

If confirmed that the Taliban in Pakistan sponsored the attempted bombing in New York, it would be the group’s first involvement in an attack on U.S. soil.

That would also put Pakistan under renewed U.S. pressure to intensify its crackdown on the militants.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in comments released by the U.S. CBS network on Friday, said U.S. ally Pakistan had been cooperating on the investigation.

But she also said the United States had warned Pakistan of “severe consequences” if a successful attack in America was traced back to Pakistan.

VIDEO THREAT

Mehsud was widely believed to have been killed in a missile strike by a pilotless CIA drone aircraft in January but he appeared in a video posted on the internet last week in which he threatened revenge suicide strikes in U.S. cities.

Hussain also appeared in a separate tape posted on the same day taking responsibility for the attack in the United States “with pride and valour”, apparently referring to the Times Square incident.

The New York police at the time said there was no evidence to support Taliban claim.

Malik said on Thursday he thought it unlikely that Shahzad acted alone.

Pakistani security officials say Shahzad, who is suspected of driving an explosives-laden SUV into Times Square, was close to Jaish-e-Mohammad, a group fighting Indian forces in the disputed Kashmir region.

The group also has ties to al Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban.

Pakistani security agencies have arrested at least one Jaish activist, Mohammad Rehan, as he left a mosque linked to the group in the southern city of Karachi on Tuesday.

Other associates, including Shahzad’s father-in-law, have also been detained in Karachi, according to media reports.

The United States has asked to interview Shahzad’s parents, the Washington Post reported on Thursday.

But Malik ruled that out.

“The government of Pakistan will not allow any outside investigators to investigate our people,” he said.

(Reporting by Zeeshan Haider; Editing by Robert Birsel and Sugita Katyal)

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Pakistan has helped break anti-China Islamic group

May 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Beijing, May 8 (ANI): Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said that a leader of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), which China accuses of orchestrating attacks in its restive Xinjiang region, has been killed which has subsequently served a severe blow to the group.

Interacting with reporters on the last day of his two-day China visit, Malik said Pakistan together with Beijing has been able to break ETIM’s back and has eliminated its top leaders.

“I am happy to inform you that their back is broken, it’s weakened. We treat ETIM not only as an enemy of China but also as an enemy of Pakistan … Now the other so-called gang leader Haq has been killed recently, I can confirm that,” Malik said while referring to Abdul Haq, an ETIM leader, who is also known as Memetiming Memeti.

“We have witnessed that the ETIM terrorists are weakened and they are no more that kind of organisation,” Malik added.

Beijing maintains that Haq had taken over the ETIM’s leadership after the death of its Pakistani commander Hasan Mashum in 2003.

However, the World Uyghur Congress has denied any knowledge about any such ETIM leader being killed.

“We have also heard this but we don”t have any further information and so cannot elaborate. We don”t know this person so we have no way to verify,” The Dawn quoted

Dilxat Raxit, a spokesman for the World Uyghur Congress, as saying.

In July last year, about 200 people were killed in Xinjiang’s ethnically divided Urumqi city in violent clashes between Han Chinese workers and Uighur workers. (ANI)

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Pak’s latest flip-flop, says it never demanded Kasab’s extradition

May 7, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Islamabad, May 7 (ANI): In yet another flip-flop, Pakistan has denied asking India to handover the lone November 2008 Mumbai attacker Ajmal Amir Kasab to it.

Talking to reporters after a special anti-terror court in Mumbai awarded death sentence to Kasab, Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said Islamabad had never asked for his extradition.

When asked about Kasab’s death penalty, Basit said Pakistan maintains that it was important to bring the perpetrators of the dastardly act to justice.

“Pakistan has strongly condemned the horrific attack. It’s important that the culprits are brought to justice,” The Daily Times quoted Basit, as saying.

“We would appreciate that our legal experts go through the detailed judgement,” he added.

It is worth mentioning here that days ago Pakistan had handed over six dossiers to India regarding developments made in the 26/11 probe and sought the extradition of Kasab, and Fahim Ansari, an Indian accused of conducting recce of places targeted by terrorists.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik had also said India should give Pakistan access to Kasab to facilitate the trial of seven terrorists arrested in the country in connection with the Mumbai attacks.

“Kasab’s statement is of paramount importance in the Mumbai attack case… it is an important document for the court and we need it,” Malik had said earlier.

During a meeting with Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Sharat Sabharwal last month, Malik had stressed that Kasab should be extradited to Pakistan after his trial in India is over, as his statement would prove to be of great importance in the prosecution of the seven suspects, including Lashkar-e-Taiba’s (LeT) operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi. (ANI)

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