Monday, January 25, 2010

Ethiopian airliner crashes after takeoff from Beirut


BEIRUT: An Ethiopian Airlines plane with 85 passengers on board crashed into the Mediterranean sea shortly after taking off from Beirut airport in the early hours of Monday, airport sources said.

The plane, said to be a Boeing 737 by one source, disappeared off the radar some five minutes after takeoff.

About 50 passengers were Lebanese nationals, most of the others were Ethiopians, the sources said. There were thought to be seven crewmembers.

The plane took off shortly after its scheduled time of 3:10a.m. (0010 GMT), flying south-west, the sources said.

Ethiopian Airlines' website shows it has a flight from Beirut to the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa around that time, operating a Boeing 737. The airline could not immediately breached for comment.

According to one source, residents on the coast saw a plane on fire crashing.

Senior Lebanese officials headed to Rafik Hariri International Airport after news of the crash. The plane had flown in from Addis Ababa earlier in the night, the sources said.

Hundreds of Ethiopians work as domestic helpers in Lebanon.

Hammad steers Pakistan into World Cup final





LINCOLN: Allrounder Hammad Azam batted magnificently to help Pakistan beat West Indies to qualify for the final of the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup here at Bert Sutcliffe on Monday.

Chasing the target of 213 runs to win, Pakistan achieved victory by four wickets with nine balls remaining in the first semi-final against the West Indies and now they will play the final on Saturday against the winners of the second semi-final to be held on Wednesday between Australia and Sri Lanka.

Hammad came at the crease when Pakistan were reeling at 49 for four in 19.1 overs and then he anchored the innings to take his team towards victory.

He was involved in two big successive partnerships, adding 90 runs with middle-order batsman Rameez Aziz for the fifth wicket and 64 with wicketkeeper Mohammad Waqas for the sixth wicket.

Hammad remained unbeaten on 92, missing his century by only eight runs. His 93-ball innings was laced with ten boundaries.

Rameez batted very cautiously to make 39 from 81 balls while left-handed Waqas batted aggressively for 29 off 23 balls.

Fast bowler Jason Holder was the most successful bowler the West Indies, taking two for 28 from ten overs.

Earlier, Pakistan captain Azeem Ghumman won the toss and put West Indies into bat who made 212 for eight in the allotted 50 overs.

Opener Kraigg Clairmonte Brathwaite top-scored with 85 from 116 balls with six fours. He along with his captain Andre Creary made great recovery after West Indies lost two quick wickets for only seven runs on the board. They added 101 runs for the third wicket stand.

Creary made 41 while Shane Dowrich scored 55 as all other batsmen failed to make any significant score against the accurate bowling by Pakistani bowlers.

Pace bowler Sarmad Bhatti and spinner Raza Hassan claimed two wickets each while spinners Usman Qadir and Babar Azam took one wicket each.

Release Dr. Aafia Siddiqui

Sindh, Pakistan: National Conference held under the network of Human Rights in Sindh , Pakistan. They requested the US publicly to release Dr. Aafia Siddiqui.

The national conference held under the network of Human Rights named as 'Release Dr. Aafia Siddiqui". The presidency was supervised by the former Nazim of city district government, Karachi Naemat-ul-lah Khan. The special guest were president of Muslim League (N) Sindh Saleem Zeya, Ameer of Jama'at-e-Islami Karachi Muhammad Hussain Mehnati and Moulana Sadeeq Rathour. At this moment the president of Human Rights Network, Karachi Intikhab Alam Soori, Advocate Iqbal Aqeel and Shehzad Mazhar also spoke to the gathering.

On addressing to the conference, the former Nazim of city district government, Karachi Naemat-ul-lah Khan said that two incidents on the pages of the history will always remember, one is the incident of Muhammad Bin Qasim, when he heard that the government of time has arrested some women, he stands up for helping those women and attacks on India. The second incident is of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui who is now the victim of brutality and violence by America. The name of the Muhammad Bin Qasim always comes in golden words but when we speaks about Dr. Aafia, then it should be keep in mind that the history will written as 'When the daughter of Muslim Nation was facing violence, then the rulers and nation of Islamic State of Pakistan were sleeping. He said that Dr. Aafia Siddiqui was handed over to Americans by the Former General Pervaiz Musharraf; who is a national criminal. He also said that the role of agencies is very bad in Pakistan. He appealed to the American President Barack Obama to leave Dr. Aafia Siddiqui at once after no crime will be justified on her and her children should be recovered, if not so, then the Dr. Aafia case will be a black spot on the America's forehead.

At the last of national conference, five resolutions were passed in which stop violence on Dr. Aafia, release her and the matter should be taken to the UNO and the International court of justice and the objectives of human rights should also be completed were involved.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Parliamentary delegation visit to India cancelled


KARACHI: The government has cancelled a planned parliamentary delegation’s visit to India, National Assembly Speaker Fehmida Mirza told the house.

Fehmida Miza gave no reason for the cancellation about which she said she had been informed by the government, reports DawnNews.

The announcement came immediately after opposition leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan announced the withdrawal of a lawmaker of his PML-N party, Ayaz Amir, from the delegation to protest against what he called humiliation of Pakistani cricketers by their exclusion from the Indian Premier League this year.

The opposition leader also said his party would not join any delegation visiting India in the future “until India changes its attitude” and called for a Pakistani ban on any “sports interaction” with India and a “complete ban” on showing Indian films in Pakistan.

Meanwhile, Law and Justice Minister Babar Awan denied the opposition leader’s charge that the government was following former president Pervez Musharraf’s policy of perceived appeasement with India.


Probable for 1st ODI against Aussies named


BRISBANE: Pakistan have announced the 11 probable for first One Day International (ODI) against World Champions Australia to be played here on Friday, Geo news reported.

According to sources, 11-member ODI squad comprised of Salman Butt, Kamran Akmal, Younis Khan, Muhammad Yousuf, Umar Akmal, Shahid Khan Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Rana Naveed-ul-Hassan, Muhammad Aamir, Saeed Ajmal, Muhammad Asif and Umar Gul.

Skipper Mohammed Yousuf said former captain Younis Khan is player of international standards and appreciated his inclusion saying, his experience will benefit green shirts in five-match series.

Moreover, I will consult Younis Khan and am hopeful for good performance from him, he further said.

“Shahid Afridi is our strength”, Yousuf claimed, “We are much stronger side in this form of game as compared to Test matches.”

He appealed to senior players and nation for extension of encourage and support.

China becomes world's second largest economy


BEIJING: China says its economy expanded by 8.7% in 2009, likely Japan to become the world's second largest economy behind only the US.

The Chinese government also said the growth in the final quarter of 2009 accelerated by 10.7% from 2008.

The announcement was made by China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The figures have exceeded the targets set by the Chinese government. A government spokesman said China has recovered from the global downturn and was moving in the right direction.

China was hit by the world economic crisis during late 2008 and early 2009, but not as badly as other countries. It recovered with the help of a massive government stimulus package.

OIC head calls on Islamic Ummah to assist Haiti affetees


JEDDAH: The Secretary General of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Prof. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu urged all OIC member states and civil society organisations to extend a helping hand to the Haitian population following the devastating earthquake on Jan 12.

The 7.3 magnitude earthquake killed about 75,000 people while 250,000 injured and a million left homeless.

According to Qatar media, Ihsanoglu expressed his shock and sadness following the disaster, which hit the Republic of Haiti and the large scale destruction inflicted on the people of this Island Nation.

He also praised the international community for its swift reaction in responding to the appeal made by Haiti government, Qatar News Agency said.

Ihsanoglu also expressed his gratitude to the OIC member states, which have already provided assistance and displayed solidarity by coming to the rescue of the Haiti people in the wake of this unprecedented catastrophe.

One week after the earthquake that hit the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, a massive international aid effort is underway as 43 search and rescue teams continue their work.

Britain cuts terror fight in Pakistan as pound falls


LONDON: Britain has cut back its counter-terrorism programme in Pakistan due to the fall in the pound's value, a minister has said, drawing criticism a major "terrorist threat" was being neglected.

Programmes in counter-terrorism and radicalisation in Pakistan had been cut as the Foreign Office was hit by losses of 110 million pounds (127 million euros, 180 million dollars), said minister Baroness Kinnock on Wednesday.

"As a result of exchange rate movements, the (Foreign Office) faces a shortfall in 2009-10 of an estimated 110 million pounds," said the Foreign Office minister.

"It is a fact that counter-terrorism and radicalisation projects in Pakistan and elsewhere have been the subject of these cuts that the Foreign Office has been obliged to make," she added.

The disclosure came just hours after Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that the "crucible of terrorism" on the Afghan-Pakistan border remained the "number one security threat to the West."

The main opposition Conservatives hit out at the decision to cut back on the programmes.
"Pakistan has been identified as one of the major sources of the terrorist threat to this country," said foreign affairs spokesman William Hague.

"Cutting (Foreign Office) expenditure on counter-terrorism programmes in Pakistan because of the movement of exchange rates is clearly not the way to run an effective foreign policy."

Kinnock gave details of other overseas initiatives that had been cut due to the plummeting pound, including counter-narcotics in Afghanistan and conflict prevention in Africa.

At least 23 dead in prison riot in Mexico


DURANGO: Rival gangs clashed inside a notorious prison in the Mexican state of Durango on Wednesday, leaving at least 23 inmates dead, officials said.

Army and federal troops as well as police were sent in to quell fighting between gangs which broke out shortly after breakfast at the jail housing 1,800 inmates, well over capacity, outside the city of Durango, reports AFP.

It took 40 minutes for the security officers to quell the clashes, reportedly between members of the rival Gulf and Sinaloa drug cartels using makeshift weapons but no firearms.

The prison was surrounded by army troops and police, as dozens of relatives of the prisoners gathered outside the facility anxiously waiting for news of their loved ones.

“We have confirmed that 23 people died in the fighting,” a spokesman for the prosecutor's office told AFP.

Twenty inmates were injured and most were treated at the prison, the official added.

He refused to be drawn on what caused the brawl but the Gulf and Sinaloa cartels have been waging a months-long turf war for control of the smuggling routes into the United States.

Back in August, when 20 inmates were killed and 25 injured in similar clashes at the same penitentiary, Durango public security official Jorge Torres described the prison as a “time-bomb” waiting to explode.

Durango and its neighboring states of Sinaloa and Chihuahua make up a region of Mexico dubbed “The Golden Triangle” because of the amount of marijuana, opium and heroin production conducted there.

In October 2008, 21 inmates were killed in a prison riot in northeastern Tamaulipas state. One month earlier, 19 were killed, including two Americans, in a prison uprising police put down with gunfire in the northern border state of Tijuana.

Firing at Lahore airport injures three


LAHORE: Three people were injured in firing inside the parking lot of Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore on Wednesday evening. One of them is reportedly in a critical condition, DawnNewsreported.


According to reports, those involved in the firing incident – which included two police officials and a civilian – came in two cars and had passed through all the security checks before the incident occurred.


The Airport Security Forces suspect that the incident was a case of planned target-killing. 'The target was Tipu Truckan Wala who had arrived in Lahore from Dubai on a PIA flight earlier this evening,' airport officials said.

Bomb scare in Lahore, Islamabad flights

KARACHI: Passengers aboard on two different private-airline flights bound to Lahore and Islamabad were evacuated at the Karachi airport on receiving bomb threats on Wednesday.

However, the information proved false as the Bomb Disposal Squad and Airport Security Force conducted search and cleared the aircrafts.

Pakistan lodges protest over cross-border firing


RAWALAKOT: A flag meeting was held between Pakistani and Indian military commanders at the Rawalakot sector along the Line of Control on Wednesday.


Pakistan rejected Indian allegations of infiltration and warned of retaliation if India did not stop firing across the border.


The Pakistan army lodged a strong protest with its Indian counterpart over Tuesday’s unprovoked cross-border firing at Keir sector.


One soldier was killed while another sustained injuries when Indian troops fired across the Line of Control.


It was the second time Indian troops had fired across the line of control in just as many days.

Pak-Iran gas pipeline project finalised


ISLAMABAD: The Federal Minister for Petroleum, Naveed Qamar on Wednesday said that the Pak-Iran gas pipeline project has been finalised and an accord is going to be signed next week between both the governments.

Speaking to the media in Mansehra, the petroleum minister said that the federal government is taking serious measures to combat the current energy crisis in the country.

He said that to enhance the current energy resources, undersea drilling was also being launched in the country on February 11.

Qamar ruled out the differences between Punjab and the federal government and said that although Punjab had some reservations, a cordial relationship still existed.

Al Qaeda could provoke new India-Pakistan war: Gates


NEW DELHI: Al Qaeda is seeking to de-stabilise the entire South Asia region and could trigger a war between nuclear-armed Pakistan and India, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates told reporters on Wednesday.

Groups under al Qaeda's “syndicate” in Afghanistan and Pakistan are trying “to destabilise not just Afghanistan, not just Pakistan, but potentially the whole region by provoking a conflict perhaps between India and Pakistan through some provocative act,” Gates said during a visit to New Delhi.

“It's important to recognise the magnitude of the threat that the entire region faces,” he said following talks with his Indian counterpart, A.K. Antony.

Gates cited three main groups operating under Al-Qaeda's “umbrella,” the Taliban forces fighting in Afghanistan, Taliban elements targeting Pakistan's government and the Islamist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in Pakistan focused on India.

Although he praised India for exercising restraint after the 2008 Mumbai attacks - which Delhi blamed on LeT - Gates suggested India could not be expected to remain restrained if it was attacked again.

“I think it's not unreasonable to assume India patience would be limited were there to be further attacks,” he said.

Gates described India as a vital partner in the struggle against extremist threats, expressed appreciation for its economic aid to Afghanistan and said that he discussed how to bolster US-India military cooperation.

MPA Aurangzeb Khan injured in Peshawar blast


PESHAWAR-PAKISTAN: A bomb blast injured five people on Wednesday including a provincial lawmaker in Pakistan's northwest city of Peshawar, a frequent target of Taliban attacks, officials said.


The cause of the blast was not immediately clear, but local television stations showed footage of a blackened car, rubble and a small crater in the centre of the capital of the North West Frontier Province.


“We have received four injured people. One of them is the MPA (Member of Provincial Assembly) Aurangzeb Khan. His condition is bad,” said Zafar Iqbal, a doctor at the main Lady Reading Hospital.


Sahibzada Mohammad Anis, Peshawar's top administrative official, confirmed that Awami National Party representative Khan was the target.


“The target was his vehicle. I can't say whether it was a planted bomb or a suicide attack. The incident took place near his home,” he told AFP.


The incident took place in the Dalazak Road in the Paharipura area.

US formally charges Aafia


NEW YORK: The United States formally charged Dr Aafia Siddiqui on Tuesday with trying to kill a group of US soldiers and FBI agents at an Afghan police compound in July 2008 with a rifle she had snatched from a soldier.


Dr Aafia’s lawyer, however, rejected the charge, saying that there’s no evidence to support the claim.


Assistant US Attorney Jenna M. Dabbs told a court here that Dr Aafia, who had been taken into custody by authorities in Afghanistan in July 2008, took an army soldier’s M-4 assault rifle, which he had placed on the floor of a second-floor office at the Afghan police compound; burst from behind a curtain in the office; and attempted to shoot the assembled agents and soldiers.


However, Charles D. Swift, Dr Aafia’s lawyer, said that there’s no evidence that she ever touched or fired the M-4 rifle. In his opening statement, Mr Swift said that the soldiers had given different versions of where she was when the M-4 was allegedly fired and how many shots were fired.


Mr Swift said a bullet and shell casings from the 9mm handgun were found in the room, but no bullets or bullet fragments from the M-4 were found in the room.


He also said there was no gunpowder residue consistent with the firing of a M-4 found on the curtain in the room. “When it comes to the M-4, you’re not going to have any physical evidence that it was fired in that room,” Mr Swift said.


In her opening statement, the prosecutor described the scene inside the interrogation room where Dr Aafia allegedly tried to snatch a rifle from the soldier and was shot and wounded in the process as chaotic but admitted that the FBI didn’t return to examine the room until six days after the incident.


“This is a straightforward case,” Ms Dabbs claimed. “The defendant saw an opportunity and she acted on it. The defendant picked up that assault rifle, saw agents and soldiers and tried to kill them.”


Dr Aafia, 37, is on trial on US District Court in Manhattan on a seven-count indictment that includes charges of attempted murder, armed assault on US officers and employees and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence. She faces up to 20 years in prison on the attempted murder charges and life in prison on the firearms charge.


Dr Aafia, who was wearing a white headscarf over tan prison garb on Tuesday, has denied wrongdoing. However, she has said she doesn’t recognise the legitimacy of the proceedings and refused at times to appear in court for proceedings.


“I’m being forced to come,” Dr Aafia said outside the presence of the jury on Tuesday. “I would rather stay in my prison cell.”


Aafia yells at jurors


Aafia Siddiqui yelled at jurors during the first day of her trial, saying she had been held in a secret prison.


She had to be led out of the courtroom after disrupting the testimony of one of the witnesses.


Assistant US Attorney Jenna Dabbs told jurors Ms Siddiqui was taken into custody by Afghan police in July because she was carrying containers of unidentified chemicals and notes referring to mass-casualty attacks and New York landmarks such as the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, Wall Street and the Brooklyn Bridge.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Haitian authorities record 72,000 deaths from earthquake
















Port-au-Prince, Haiti -- In the week since a 7.0-magnitude earthquake shattered this capital and jolted observers around the world, authorities have buried 70,000 bodies, about a third of the estimated final toll, officials said Tuesday.

Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive told CNN's Christiane Amanpour that at least 72,000 bodies had been recovered, a figure that did not include the unknown number of bodies buried by families or collected by the U.N. peacekeeping mission here.

It was unclear how many of the dead had been identified prior to burial and how many of those burials occurred in mass graves. "We know that bodies have been buried, we feel inappropriately," said Dr. Jon Andrus, deputy director of the Pan American Health Organization. He cited lack of refrigeration as a complicating factor.

"Despite all our efforts, situations, circumstances are such that we are disappointed in many cases on how this has been managed, beyond everybody's control," he said.

PAHO, which is coordinating the health-sector response, offered a preliminary estimate of 200,000 dead.

At least 28 of them are Americans, the U.S. State Department announced Tuesday.

Despite the growing death toll, aid workers focused Tuesday on the living. The United Nations estimated that 3 million people were in need of food, water, shelter and medical assistance.

Some needed more than that -- they needed rescue. In all, 43 international rescue teams composed of 1,700 people have carried out some 90 rescues, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told reporters.

On Tuesday night, a team of New York City Fire Department and Police Department rescuers pulled two children alive from the rubble of a two-story building in the capital. The 8-year-old boy and 10-year-old girl were taken to an Israeli tent hospital.

On Tuesday afternoon, Ena Zizi was rescued from rubble near the national cathedral, CNN's Anderson Cooper reported.

Her son, Maxime Janvier, told CNN that he never gave up hope that she'd be found.

"We were praying a lot for that to happen," he told CNN on Tuesday afternoon, about 15 minutes after he learned she'd been rescued.

Rescue crews said earlier two other survivors may be under the same pile.

PAHO's Andrus said the need for blood donors was urgent, with the lack of refrigeration complicating medical workers' ability to store it safely.

The world's generosity continued to overwhelm the ability of the airport in Port-au-Prince to process it. The result: some badly needed aid was left sitting on the tarmac.

U.S. Army Maj. Daniel Allyn, the deputy commander of the Joint Task Force Unified Response, said flights would be diverted to two alternate ports of entry within the next day or two to relieve the pressure. On an average day before the earthquake, the airport was handling 13 commercial aircraft; in the days since, it was handling more than 200, he said.

Some flights were diverting to Santo Domingo, causing congestion issues there, too, Andrus said.

Nevertheless, advances were being made. Many roads that were impassable in the initial aftermath of the quake had been cleared so that supplies could be trucked to those in need, he said.

And some hospitals appeared in better shape -- surgeries resumed Tuesday at University Hospital, the country's largest, Andrus said.

In Washington, U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah told reporters Tuesday night that the U.S. response has been "swift, aggressive and coordinated."

He cited the U.S. donations of 18 water production units providing nearly 2 million liters of drinking water per day and nearly 17 million meals as examples.

The goal of the efforts, he said, "is to make sure that the things we do collectively as an international community to support the relief effort are as sustainable as possible."

At the capital's general hospital, doctors were working under stressful conditions in buildings located away from the main building, which has been deemed unsafe.

"We have run out of IVs and IV needles and IV fluids," said Dr. Mark Hyman of Partners in Health. "We've run out of surgical supplies. We have to wash with vodka and we have to operate with hacksaws because we don't have enough operating tools."

The military is going to help with organization and with supplies, Hyman said. "They're going to help us get electricity, they're going to help us get food, they're going to help us get tents, they're going to help us get all the operating supplies in," he said.

The United Nations Security Council approved sending an additional 2,000 soldiers and 1,500 police officers to the country and the port is expected to reopen next week, U.N. Secretary Ban said.

Fixing the port is a priority, since it is where fuel enters the country. Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez announced Sunday he will send 225,000 barrels of gasoline and diesel with arrival Thursday at a refinery in the Dominican Republic for use in Haiti.

That represents nearly three weeks worth of fuel if Haiti were to continue the 11,000 barrel-per-day consumption that was typical before the earthquake.

About 2,000 U.S. troops were in Haiti, and more than 5,000 were off-shore on ships, said Maj. Gen. Daniel Allyn, the deputy commander of Joint Task Force Unified Response.

He said the U.S. military anticipated eventually having 10,000 troops in Haiti.

"Our primary purpose is in getting to the population, whether it be the distribution of water, food, or, in this case, where they've got medical treatment going on and they're overwhelmed," Lt. Gen. P.K. Keen, head of U.S. Southern Command, told CNN.

In an interview with CNN's Amanpour, President Rene Preval applauded the progress aid workers made over the past week in restoring electricity and communication, clearing roads, erecting shelters, distributing food and re-establishing hospitals.

He credited the international community for the aid.

"Without their help, it would be impossible for us to cope with the situation," he said.

Some Haitians welcomed the arrival of U.S. forces. But one man said Haitians needed more relief supplies, not troops or guns.

The United States was conducting medical operations on board a vessel off the coast, the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson. And the USS Comfort, a hospital ship, was due to arrive Wednesday, Allyn said.

Outside Haiti, people have contributed more than $220 million to major U.S. relief groups, according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy, a newspaper covering nonprofit organizations.

Dozens of Haitian children rescued from an orphanage arrived Tuesday in Pennsylvania to be placed with foster families until adoptions are finalized. Most of the children's adoption cases were at the end of the bureaucratic process before the earthquake struck.

Occasionally, frustration in Haiti has erupted into violence, as occurred Monday when hundreds of Haitians broke into a damaged store in downtown Port-au-Prince, stripping it clean.

But such incidents have so far been isolated, said Alain Le Roy, the United Nations peacekeeping director.

But such incidents were isolated, Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters aboard a plane to India.

"I saw one reference to that for the last 24 or 48 hours or so. There has been a lot less violence in Port-au-Prince than there was before the earthquake," he said.

No law could be made which perpetuated corruption: SC releases detailed ruling in NRO case


ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court released on Tuesday its detailed judgment on petitions against the controversial National Reconciliation Ordinance.

No law could be made which perpetuated corruption and corrupt practices, instead of eliminating exploitation of the citizens, declared the judgment authored by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry.

“The president who is under oath to protect the Constitution in all circumstances is not competent to promulgate an ordinance in the name of national reconciliation which is beyond the scope of the federal as well as the concurrent lists of the Constitution,” the detailed judgment said, adding that any action on the president’s part which negated the dictates of the Constitution, including fundamental rights, would amount to promulgating a law which was neither acceptable to the nation nor internationally, being not in line with the dictates of the Constitution.

Headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, the 17-judge bench, on Dec 16 last year, had revived and reversed acquittals of people who benefited from the NRO, putting PPP parliamentarians, cabinet members and President Asif Zardari in a quandary.

The court had also asked the federal government to take immediate steps to seek revival of original requests or claims for mutual legal assistance to pursue money laundering cases pending in foreign countries. On Saturday, the government had filed a review petition against the Supreme Court decision declaring the NRO unconstitutional. It challenged the court’s directive for taking measures to reopen money laundering cases and said the authority to issue such directives or requests regarding status of cases outside Pakistan fell exclusively within the purview of the executive.

The detailed verdict was circulated among all judges of the bench. Although all of them had signed the verdict, three judges — Justice Sardar Mohammad Raza Khan, Justice Chaudhry Ijaz Ahmed and Justice Jawwad S. Khwaja — added supporting notes. Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday signed the judgment on Jan 12 — the day of his retirement.

The detailed verdict said: “A thorough perusal of the federal and the concurrent list persuades us to hold that the president was not empowered to issue NRO 2007.

“The object of providing guarantee to peace, welfare and amity of the people can only be achieved if the moral or ethical values, the desires of the nation, have been transformed into a legally enforceable formulation.

“In the instant case, the parliamentarians, by their high moral conduct, have already demonstrated, by not allowing the NRO, 2007, to become the Act of the Parliament.

“Citing a book tilted ‘Muhammad (PBUH) Encyclopaedia of Seerah’, which envisages that principle of equality in Islam is an essential requisite of justice because when there is discrimination and partiality between the people, there is no justice. The NRO was not even in consonance with the injunctions of Islam.

“Section 33F of the NAB Ordinance 1999, under Section 7 of the NRO, has not only made classification between the general public and the ‘holders of public office’ but also amongst the ‘holders of public office’ on account of time period, as well, on the basis of which, benefit to a particular class i.e. the persons against whom the proceedings were initiated prior to October 12, 1999, was extended on the criteria that prolonged proceeding were pending against them.

“Instead of withdrawing or terminating the corruption cases pending before accountability courts, mechanism should have been followed for the disposal of cases by increasing manpower of investigating agencies and the number of courts.

“Article 37 of the Constitution casts a duty upon the state to ensure inexpensive and expeditious justice. Therefore, the government by invoking this provision could increase the number of courts and para-legal staff to ensure expeditious disposal of the cases of persons charged for different offences.

“The Supreme Court, while interpreting different provisions of the Constitution, has an authority to make an observation with an object that the state must realise its duty. The court is empowered to pass appropriate orders, as it deemed fit under Article 187 of the Constitution as well as keeping in view the earlier precedents providing for monitoring of the cases pending in the courts and the increase in number of courts.”

Justice Jawwad Khwaja in his additional note observed that the concept of “tauba” (remorse) and sincere repentance, coupled with restitution of any ill-gotten gains and the expression of genuine remorse for past excesses, provided an age-old matrix for fostering reconciliation.

“It has been applied successfully in ancient as well as modern societies, the most recent example being that of South Africa where a Truth and Reconciliation Commission has been able to bring about a genuine national reconciliation between staunch opponents divided, among other things, by race and embittered by decades of apartheid,” the note said.

How Philippines recovered Marcos money There are so many other countries, on whose demand, subject to determination, the wealth of the nation was reverted back to those states. In this behalf reference may be made to the case of Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos, President of the Philippines...

Marcos was elected as President of Philippines in November 1965 and re-elected in 1969. On Sept 21, 1972, he declared Martial Law in the country which was lifted on Jan 7, 1981.

He was re-elected as president in 1981 and remained on this position till February 1986, when he was removed through a popular revolt in 1986. In 1986, on the basis of documents lost by him in the presidential palace, assets worth $356 million were discovered in his name in Swiss Banks. The said assets were freezed on the request filed through Swiss lawyers in February 1986...

On Feb 28, 1986, the Philippine Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) formed under the Presidential Order No 1 of 1986 to recover Marcos-linked assets in the Philippines and abroad...

Afterwards the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland vide partial decision dated Aug 18, 2006, freezed the assets of GEI Inc (owned by Marcos/associates) and set a deadline of Dec 31, 2006, for filing or decision of the court of first instance about the seizure of said assets, which was provided on Dec 28, 2006. The beneficiaries/associates of Marcos filed appeals which were dismissed vide order dated June 1, 2007…

It may be noted that on account of above proceedings against Marcos, the money/funds belonging to the Philippine government were returned by the Swiss courts.—Excerpts from the judgment.

Haiti toll nears 200,000



PORT-AU-PRINCE: US President Barack Obama on Saturday declared one of the largest relief efforts in US history to help Haiti four days after an earthquake killed up 200,000 people and devastated the Caribbean nation's capital.

After hours of painstaking digging through the ruins, a team from Florida unearthed a seven-year-old girl, a man aged 34 and a 50-year-old woman in the ruins of a store as dawn broke in the capital, Port-au-Prince.

Later hundreds of rioters ransacked Hyppolite market in the heart of the devastated city as survivors besieged hospitals and make-shift field clinics, some carrying the injured on their backs or on carts.

Police reinforcements descended on the market armed with shotguns and assault rifles and one rioter, a man in his 30s, was fatally shot in the head, an AFP photographer said.

The church bells lay eerily silent Sunday over the ruined Haitian capital, but the faithful still came in droves praying for solace in the darkest hour of this deeply-religious nation.

“I want to send a message of hope because God is still with us even in the depths of this tragedy, and life is not over,” said father Henry Marie Landasse as he prepared for Mass at the main cathedral.

Only the facade of the once proud building stood over the ruins around it, felled by the powerful 7.0-magnitude quake which struck on Tuesday.

Arriving in Haiti to survey the destruction for himself, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the quake was the worst humanitarian crisis to face the world body in decades.

Battling emotional and physical fatigue, rescue teams continued their grim task in the knowledge that the likelihood of finding more survivors was fading with every passing hour.

The US general running the military relief effort vowed to redouble efforts after 70,000 bottles of water and 130,000 food rations were distributed on Saturday.

Asked about toll estimates as high as 200,000, Lieutenant General Ken Keen said no one could know for sure but such figures were a “starting point” and the international community feared the worst.

Between 20,000 and 30,000 people died just in the town of Leogane, west of the capital, according to UN officials. The Haitian government has estimated about 50,000 dead so far across the country.

“Clearly, this is a disaster of epic proportions, and we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us,” Keen said.

Water purification units that can process 100,000 liters (26,417 gallons) of clean water per day were being rushed to the scene as the US worked to open badly damaged ports needed to deliver vital fuel and supplies.

The US military has been relying mainly on helicopters deployed from the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier.

The Medecins Sans Frontiers (Doctors Without Borders) aid group said that when it opened an emergency hospital at Carrefour, a poor district near Leogane on Saturday, crowds arrived almost immediately.

“Patients arrived on handcarts or on men’s backs,” said MSF emergency coordinator Hans van Dillen.

“There are other hospitals in the area, but they are already unable to cope with the number of injured and have limited resources of personnel and medicines and equipment.”MSF said their doctors and surgeons had been working around the clock, amputating limbs and performing caesarian sections on pregnant women.

Another French aid group, Medecins du Monde, said it would have to amputate hundreds of people whose limbs had been crushed in the earthquake even though its doctors had no electricity to work by.

Most bodies were being dumped into mass graves outside the capital to prevent the spread of disease.

Some 43 international teams comprising 1,739 rescue workers and 161 dogs have already scoured 60 percent of the worst affected areas hit by the quake.

About 10,000 American troops are being sent to assist and secure the stricken
areas and should all be in place by Monday.

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs told AFP that 12 more people were pulled out alive from debris on Saturday, taking the total to more than 70 since the teams started working.

“We don’t give up hope to find more survivors,” stressed Byrs. “The morale of the rescue team is very high despite the hardship.” Byrs said the way buildings had collapsed left “sufficient void spaces that allow for trapped victims to remain alive.

The UN said increasing numbers of Haitians were trying to cross the border into the Dominican Republic, on the eastern side of Hispaniola island, and reported a surge of quake survivors fleeing to northern cities.—AFP

Indian Army chief suffers hearing loss


NEW DELHI: Indian Army chief Deepak Kapoor can be the first army chief in the world to retire on the basis of medical reason.

He is suffering from hearing impairment after exposure to heavy booming sound of artillery guns during a demonstration on anti-terror operation in the US in July last year.

As a result, the army chief has been placed in a lower medical category just four months before retirement. A lower medical category indicates partial disability and entitlement to higher pensions.

The doctor’s certificate, issued on November 23 last year, says during the army chief’s visit to the US in July 2009, “he was closely exposed to loud noise in the form of small weapons firing and gun firing during a counter-terrorism demo by US soldiers. Since then he has developed acute deafness in the left ear. He was unable to discriminate between spoken words.”

One Pakistani soldier killed in cross-border firing



ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani soldier was killed and another injured in an incident of "unprovoked firing" by the Indian troops in Rawalakot sector on Tuesday.

An ISPR spokesperson confirmed that the soldier was killed when Indian troops fired across the Pakistani side of the Line of Control, near Rawalakot in the Keller sector.
Pakistan lodged a formal protest with New Delhi and has demanded an urgent flag meeting of Pak Rangers and India's Border Security Force.

Tuesday's incident of firing along Pakistan-India border is the second in as many days. There were no reports of casualties in yesterday's firing which took place in the Sialkot sector.

President of Islamic Republic of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari visited Manchester of Pakistan


FAISALABAD, Jan 18: President Asif Ali Zardari said that prosperity would come to Pakistan within three years and the government would cut petrol and electricity prices and provide jobs to the masses.

President was addressing a gathering at the National Textile University here on Monday. He spoke in Punjabi language.

President Zardari recalled the sacrifices rendered by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto and said: “The PPP government is trying to fulfill the Bhuttos’ mission of providing ‘Roti, Kapra aur Makan’ to the masses.”

"We will continue to follow the mission of Shaheed Zulifkar Ali and Shaheed Benazir Bhutto. We would continue our mission to work for the prosperity of the people in the country", he said while addressing massive gathering here Monday in National Textile University.

He promised to provide basic amenities like electricity, gas, water and said farmers would be assured handsome rates for their crops. The government would soon reduce prices of electricity and petrol.

The government, he said, would also provide jobs to unemployed people.

He said the Faisalabad district would be the first to benefit from new power projects.

Accusing unnamed elements of hatching conspiracies, he said the conspirators did not want to see a popular president in the Aiwan-i-Sadr. Like before, he said, such forces would be defeated.

Earlier, the president had to travel to Faisalabad by road because of flight disruption caused by fog.

He inaugurated the academic and administrative blocks of the textile university and the 500-KV Muzaffargarh-Gatti transmission line. The president also announced a donation of Rs100 million for the university.

Delegations of local industrialists, most of them belonging to the textile sector and the People’s Lawyers Forum also called on Mr Zardari.

Industrialists told the president that foreign investors were reluctant to visit Pakistan because of the threat of terrorism, adding that the power crisis was also creating problems for the sector.

Punjab Governor Salman Taseer, federal Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira, Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and Textiles Minister Farooq Saeed also attended the meetings.

Farhatullah Babar, the president’s spokesperson, said Mr Zardari told lawyers and youths that the government had decided to upgrade existing power stations, besides using rental power plants to meet the rising demand for electricity.

He said the president also mentioned $125 million from the US for upgrading the Tarbela hydroelectric power station.

Mr Zardari said bad weather had not deterred him from coming to the city, adding that he had traveled by road.

He recalled that when he was in jail, he had turned down all ‘incentives’ and suffered incarceration for a long time.

President Zardari further elaborated that Benazir Bhutto has realized that she would be martyred on arrival in Pakistan, yet she came back for the masses and laid her life for principals and for the cause of democracy in the country.