Peshawar, A Pakistani doctor accused of helping the CIA find Osama bin Laden has been jailed for 33 years for treason, television channels and a local government official said. The official said Shakil Afridi was accused of running a fake vaccination campaign believed to have helped the American intelligence agency track bin Laden in a Pakistani town, where he was killed in a US special forces raid last May. The imprisonment is likely to anger ally Washington at a sensitive time, with both sides engaged in difficult talks over re-opening NATO supply routes to US-led troops in Afghanistan. US officials had hoped Pakistan, a recipient of billions of dollars in American aid, would release Afridi, detained after the unilateral operation which killed bin Laden and strained ties with Islamabad. In January, US defense secretary Leon Panetta said in a television interview that Afridi and his team had been key in finding bin Laden, describing him as helpful and insisting the doctor had not committed treason or harmed ...
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Mumbai, Maharashtra BJP spokesperson Madhav Bhandari today told the visiting Pakistani journalist delegation that if the BJP-led NDA came to power in the next general elections, they would continue with the policies adopted by former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee while dealing with Pakistan. 'We will continue the same policies which were in use from 1998 till 2004 but were backtracked by the UPA in last eight years,' Mr Bhandari told the delegation of journalists during an interaction. The 17-strong media delegation from Pakistan, made up of representatives of various main line newspaper and TV channels inlcuding Dawn, Jung, ARY TV and Geo TV, are visiting Mumbai and Pune between May 21 and 27. The visit by the Pakistan delegation reciprocates a visit of 23 Mumbai Press Club members to Karachi in November, last year. ...
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Islamabad, Pakistan will test fire a new nuclear-capable missile by the end of this month, a media report said Saturday. Geo News reported that the surface-to-surface 'Nasr' missile has a 180-km range and a high degree of accuracy. The army has completed preparations for it, said sources. Pakistan April 25 successfully test-fired an intermediate range nuclear-capable missile, less than a week after India tested a 5,000-km range missile. The missile was capable of carrying nuclear and conventional warheads. In March, Pakistan test-fired a nuclear-capable short-range surface-to-surface ballistic missile. The Hatf-2 missile can travel up to 180 km and deliver nuclear as well as conventional warheads with high accuracy. Pakistan's missile repertory includes Hatf ballistic missiles and its variants, Ghaznavi short-range ballistic missile, Ghauri and Shaheen medium and intermediate range ballistic missiles, Babur cruise missiles and Baktar-Shikan anti-tank guided missile, most of which have been developed with China's ...
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Islamabad, A brawl occurred between Pakistan International Airlines crew members and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's son Ali Musa on a flight from Lahore to Karachi, according to a media report on Friday. Ali Musa, a parliamentarian, insisted that his guard, who had an economy class ticket, would sit with him in the business class, The Express Tribune reported. The matter was resolved when the captain of the flight intervened and told the premier's son that he would turn the aircraft back to Lahore if he persisted with his demand, which was against the rules. The threat by the captain worked and Ali Musa gave up his demand, following which the flight continued and landed at Karachi, the report said. The report did not say when the incident had ...
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Srinagar, General Officer Commanding of the Srinagar-based XV Corps, Lt General Syed Atta Hasnain, has said that security forces have been successful in foiling infiltration attempts by militants across the Line of Control (LOC). "We have had only one contact, on operation on the line of control (LoC). Besides that I cannot guarantee you that infiltration is not taking place, possibly some infiltration has taken place. Our grid on the LoC it is always porous, it can never be hundred percent certain some infiltration must have taken place but I think we have been very successful in limiting it," he General Hasnain told media here. "I think in Kashmir the threat of infiltration actually increases around about mid- June to July and that is the time we should be looking for," he added. He also hailed the scheduled visit of Home Secretary R K Singh to Pakistan. "In my view both India and Pakistan are now moving towards greater economic cooperation and the visit by Home Secretary (to Pakistan) is a precursor to that development," he said. " Whenever he goes to Pakistan to engage in bilateral talks, he would be in a better position to talk and carry forward the process ...
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Moscow, Pakistan's Air Indus airline has shown interest in buying eight Sukhoi Superjet 100 airplanes, the Russian manufacturer said on Wednesday. "The client is interested in purchasing eight new SSJ-100 planes, and get three of them in 2013," Sukhoi Civil Aircraft senior vice-president Igor Syrtsov said. Russia will export 10 SSJ-100 airplanes in 2012. The planes will be delivered to Mexico, Indonesia, and Laos in the second half of the year. One plane has been exported this year to Armenia. The Superjet 100 is a medium-haul passenger aircraft developed by Sukhoi in cooperation with US and European aviation corporations, including Boeing, Snecma, Thales, Messier Dowty, Liebherr Aerospace and Honeywell. The aircraft is capable of carrying up to 100 passengers for up to 4,500 km. Sukhoi has received over 200 firm orders for Superjet 100 airliners so ...
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Islamabad, Pakistan prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani faces the prospect of being disqualified as an MP for five years after Pakistan's Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that he "wilfully, deliberately and persistently" defied the highest court and brought the judiciary into "ridicule". A seven-judge bench headed by Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk issued a 77-page detailed order regarding the conviction of the premier for refusing to act on directives to revive cases of alleged money laundering against President Asif Ali Zardari in Switzerland. Earlier, the same bench had issued a short order when it convicted Gilani of contempt and gave him a symbolic sentence of less than a minute on April 26. Even in the short order, the bench had hinted that Gilani faced possible disqualification. The apex court referred to an earlier order it had issued on January 10, which had said that under provisions of Articles 63(1) and 113 of the Constitution, a conviction of contempt "may entail a disqualification from being elected or chosen as, and from being, a member of Majlis-e-Shoora (parliament) or a Provincial Assembly for at least a period of five years". The seven-judge bench enumerated ...
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Dera Ismail Khan, Intelligence officials say the Taliban have beheaded two Pakistani soldiers and hung their heads from wooden poles in a town in the country's northwest. A Pakistani Taliban commander says militants seized the two men on Sunday night when the army raided two houses in Miran Shah, the main town in the North Waziristan tribal area. The military operation followed a militant ambush on a security checkpoint in Miran Shah earlier Sunday that killed nine soldiers. The intelligence officials did not specify how the soldiers were seized, but confirmed that their heads were hanging from poles in two different parts of Miran Shah. The officials and the Taliban commander spoke on condition of anonymity on Monday because they were not authorized to talk to the ...
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Kolkata, Pakistan has not taken necessary action against Hafiz Saeed, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Monday, referring to the Islamist suspected of masterminding an attack by Pakistan-based gunmen in Mumbai in 2008. India has repeatedly called on Pakistan to bring Saeed to justice, an issue that has stood in the way of rebuilding relations between the nuclear-armed neighbours since the carnage in India's financial capital, where gunmen killed 166 people. India is furious Pakistan has not detained Saeed, despite handing over evidence against him. Washington has offered a reward of $10 million for information leading to Saeed's capture. "We're well aware that there has not yet been the steps taken by the Pakistani government to do what both India and the United States have repeatedly requested them they do," Clinton said in Kolkata. "And we're going to keep pushing that point. So it's a way of raising the visibility and pointing out to those who are associated with him that there is a cost for that." Clinton also said that the United States believes al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri is somewhere in Pakistan. ...
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Islamabad, Leader of Opposition in Pakistan's National Assembly Nisar Ali Khan has said Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani will not be allowed to remain in office following the Supreme Court holding him guilty of contempt. He said the opposition had no confidence in the prime minister. Speaking to reporters outside Parliament House Friday, the leader of opposition said despite the Supreme Court's verdict in a contempt of court case, the government and Gilani himself are hell bent on stating that he has not been disqualified. On April 26, Gilani was convicted for contempt of court by the Supreme Court and awarded a 30-second symbolic sentence for refusing to write to Swiss authorities to reopen a corruption case against President Asif Ali Zardari. Describing the National Assembly's resolution expressing confidence in the prime minister as being against the rules, Khan said Gilani came to the house last Friday at prayer time "when most of the members were not present in the house". He also said that "during noisy scenes, nobody had listened to the resolution and it was also not clear who voted for it and who didn't". "What was more interesting is that when the ...
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Islamabad, The US Embassy has issued an emergency message asking American citizens in Pakistan to take precautions for the next two weeks though it did not give any reasons for the alert. "This security message from the US Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan alerts US citizens to travel restrictions for US Embassy staff during the next two weeks," said the message posted on the Embassy's website. The message said the US Embassy had restricted its employees from going to restaurants and markets in Islamabad during April 27-May 5 due to "security concerns". It added: "We recommend that US citizens in Islamabad during this period take similar precautions." "Also, based on the current security conditions and a significant increase in the level of sectarian violence in northern Pakistan, the US Embassy has prohibited its employees from taking personal trips to the Gilgit/Skardu area until further notice," the message said. The US Embassy "continues to recommend that US citizens defer all non-essential travel to Pakistan," the message further said. The mission asked Americans to refer to the US Department of State's current travel warning for Pakistan and reiterated ...
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Islamabad, Pakistan on Wednesday test-fired an "improved version" of the nuclear-capable Hatf-4 intermediate range ballistic missile that can hit targets in India, six days after New Delhi tested the Agni-V missile with a range of 5,000 km. The test of the Hatf-4, also known as Shaheen-1A, was conducted successfully, state-run Radio Pakistan reported. The missile tested today was "an improved version of Shaheen-1 with improvements in range and technical parameters", the report said. The military did not specify the range of the missile though the original version of the Hatf-4 had a reach of 750 km. The missile, capable of carrying nuclear and conventional warheads, can reach targets deep within India. The impact point of the missile was in the Indian Ocean, reports said. Pakistan had informed India in advance about the test and asked it to issue suitable warnings to aircraft flying over the region. President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani congratulated scientists and military officials over the successful test of the ...
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Islamabad, Pakistan's Supreme Court on Thursday convicted Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani for contempt of court for refusing to revive graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari and sentenced him to a symbolic "till the rising of the court", sparing him a jail term. During proceedings in courtroom number 4 that lasted less than 10 minutes, the seven-judge bench headed by Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk announced the verdict and said Gilani's sentence would last "till the rising of the court" or till the completion of the hearing. The judges left the court immediately after announcing the verdict, effectively ending 56-year-old Gilani's sentence. However, legal experts were divided on whether Gilani's conviction would lead to his disqualification. They said the court's detailed order would provide clarity in this regard. Emerging from the court, Gilani told the media: "We had sought justice. The decision was not appropriate". The maximum sentence that could have been given to Gilani in this case was six ...
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Jammu, The troops of Border Security Force(BSF) arrested a Pakistan national when he infiltrated into the Indian Territory, from Indo-Pakistan International Border, in Pargwal area of tehsil Akhnoor on the city outskirts. "BSF troops yesterday noticed a suspicious movement along the border in Narsinghpora area of Pargwal," official sources here today said adding that they chased the suspect and arrested him. He was identified as Munawar Hussain, 32, son of Anwar Hussain, resident of Shiekhpora, Pakistan. "No incriminating material was recovered from his possession and he was handed over to the police for further investigations," he ...
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Islamabad, All 127 people on board a Bhoja Air aircraft that crashed in bad weather near Islamabad's international airport on Friday, were killed in the nation's worst air disaster in almost two years, the airline confirmed. Bhoja Air flight B4213, a Boeing Co. 737-200 with 118 passengers and 9 crew members, was on its way from Karachi, Pakistan, and crashed on approach for landing, said Salman Tahir, a Bhoja Air spokesman. The plane, that was earlier said to have had 131 people onboard, had crashed down in Hussain Abad village, about three kilometres from the main Islamabad highway during thunderstorms, an official from the police rescue team was quoted as saying. Eyewitnesses told television news channels that the plane was on fire in midair before the crash while television footage showed wreckage of the aircraft strewn across a street in what appeared to be a residential area. The aircraft was due to land at Islamabad airport at 6:50 pm (1350 GMT) but lost contact with the Air Traffic Control at 6:40 pm and crashed shortly afterwards, airport sources told reporters. Rescue workers are trying to collect the body parts which will then be taken to hospitals to ...
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Brussels, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen Thursday urged Pakistan to open the transit supply routes for the coalition forces in Afghanistan. "And when it comes to our relationship with Pakistan, my main point is to stress that we need a positive engagement of Pakistan if we are to ensure long-term peace and stability not only in Afghanistan but in the region," Rasmussen said at a press conference. The NATO chief noted that "We have two problems in our relationship with Pakistan. The first is a very immediate challenge to see the transit routes through Pakistan reopened," the EuAsiaNews reported. "It is of course an essential element in our operation in Afghanistan that we can cooperate with Pakistan when it comes to transit. So we hope to see these transit routes reopened as soon as possible," he said after a meeting of NATO foreign ministers with non-NATO countries contributing troops to International Security Assistance Force. Last November, Pakistan closed the NATO supply routes into Afghanistan after NATO forces attacked two military outposts killing 25 Pakistani ...
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Islamabad, A baby born in Pakistan's Sindh province has six legs, with a doctor assessing that the removal of the parasitic limbs could be a "serious and time-consuming medical exercise". The baby boy was born with extra limbs in Sukkur. He was on Monday shifted to the National Institute of Child Health (NICH) in Karachi. NICH director Jamal Raza said the infant has a parasitic twin. "One of the twins is living, while the other has become parasitic. The infant is all right and has been admitted to the intensive care unit of the NICH, but the removal of the parasitic limbs could be a serious and time-consuming medical exercise including both inner and cosmetic surgeries," Dawn quoted Raza as saying. A team of five surgeons will look into this case. The baby's father, Imran Ali Sheikh, 31, is an X-ray technician who married Afshan, 27, about five years back. The baby is their first child. "I want the doctors to save my son's life," he pleaded. "I am a poor man and have already spent my savings on the illness of my wife who delivered the child after a caesarean section April 12 at the Civil Hospital Sukkur," he ...
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Washington, The United States has said that it will continue to press Islamabad to "squeeze" the al-Qaida linked Haqqani network, as Afghanistan blamed the Pakistan-based group for the latest brazen attacks in Kabul. Declaring "there were indications of Haqqani involvement" in the weekend attacks in the Afghan capital, secretary of state Hillary Clinton said that she had pressed Pakistan to "squeeze" the Haqqani network when she visited Islamabad last October. "I will continue to make that point, and press it hard," Clinton was quoted by Fox News as telling reporters in the Brazilian capital Brasilia, where she described the Pakistan-based outfit as a "determined foe". Afghan interior minister Bismillah Mohammadi had told newsmen in Kabul that one of the militants arrested during the latest attacks on the Afghan capital and three other cities had told the authorities that al-Qaeda-linked Haqqani network was behind the assaults. The secretary of state said she had spoken to her Pakistani counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar to urge her for a commitment to work closely for peace and stability in Afghanistan and also discussed the recent terrorist attacks in Kabul. The ...
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Islamabad,Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar Monday called her Afghan counterpart Zalmai Rassoul over phone to strongly condemn the Taliban attacks in the country that killed nearly 50 people. Khar conveyed solidarity of her government and people of Pakistan with their Afghan brethren on the terrorist attacks, reported Xinhua quoting a foreign ministry statement. On Sunday, Taliban rebels stormed Kabul with intense gunfire and rocket attacks targeting key establishments in the heavily guarded diplomatic area. The assault ended after all the attackers were killed Monday. At least 48 people, including 36 terrorists, were killed and 65 injured in the 18-hour dramatic siege of the Afghan capital Kabul by Taliban suicide attackers. On this occasion, Khar also emphasised that Pakistan and Afghanistan faced common challenges of extremism and terrorism necessitating that the two countries work together with greater resolve to eradicate this menace. She assured the Afghan foreign minister of Pakistan's full support for any Afghan initiative that is focused on long-term peace and stability of Afghanistan. The latest attacks came as western forces prepare to leave ...
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Lahore, Pakistan and India should take a lesson from the recent avalanche that buried 138 people in the Siachen sector and review troop deployments on the Himalayan glacier, foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar said on Sunday. "Pakistan and India should take a lesson from the incident at Gyari camp. They will have to review the deployment of forces at Siachen," Khar said while addressing a ceremony held after a polo match in Lahore. An avalanche slammed into a Pakistan Army battalion headquarters at Gyari in the Siachen sector on April 7, burying 127 soldiers and 11 civilians. Pakistani troops have been engaged in a frantic search for the buried men at the site of the disaster. Pakistani media analysts and politicians have called for a review of the deployment of forces at Siachen, where soldiers from the two countries have been engaged in standoff since 1984. The guns have largely been silent since late 2003, when the two sides put in place a ceasefire along the frontiers in Jammu and Kashmir, and more troops have died due to the adverse weather than combat. Khar further said Pakistan wants peaceful relations with India and President Asif Ali Zardari's day-long visit ...
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