Rain sees Pakistan through to semi-finals

CENTURION: Pakistan qualified for the Champions Trophy semi-finals after the India-Australia match was abandoned due to rain here on Monday.

Pakistan have already secured four points after winning both of their matches in the four-team Group A, while Australia have three points and India one after two games. The West Indies have lost both of their games.

The top two sides advance to the semi-finals.

Defending champions Australia were on course for a big total before the play was called off due to heavy rain in the day-night match.

They posted 234-4 in 42.3 overs after winning the toss on a good batting track, with Michael Hussey (67), skipper Ricky Ponting (65) and Tim Paine (56) all making the most of a mediocre Indian attack.

Cameron White was unbeaten on 35 and Callum Ferguson on two.

India, needing a win to boost their hopes of making it to the last-four, bowled inconsistently, failing to keep pressure on Paine, Ponting and Hussey.

Australia lost an early wicket when Shane Watson pulled left-arm seamer Ashish Nehra to Harbhajan Singh at mid-wicket.

Ponting and Paine then steadied the innings with an 84-run stand for the second wicket, gathering runs comfortably against both pace and spin.

Paine was more aggressive than his captain, once pulling seamer Ishant Sharma for a six and also hitting seven fours in his 58-ball knock. His flourish ended when he was caught by Harbhajan off leg-spinner Amit Mishra.

But there was no respite for India as Hussey and Ponting consolidated their team’s position with an 88-run partnership for the third wicket.

Ponting was caught short of the crease while going for a second run, with Gautam Gambhir hitting the stumps from the deep at the non-striker’s end. He hit one six and four boundaries in his 88-ball knock.

Hussey fell in a bid to step up the run-rate, caught by Sachin Tendulkar at long-off off Sharma in the 41st over after hitting five fours in his 65-ball knock.

India made two changes from the side that lost to Pakistan on Saturday, bringing in Mishra and seamer Praveen Kumar in place of Yusuf Pathan and Rudra Pratap Singh.

Australia retained the team that defeated the West Indies in the previous match.

India clash with the West Indies, while Australia meet Pakistan in the last league matches on Wednesday.

SOURCE: dawn.com

Gilani, Singh likely to meet in Nov

NEW YORK: There’s a strong possibility that Indian and Pakistani prime ministers could meet on the sidelines of the Commonwealth heads of government meeting, which is scheduled in late November inTrinidad, diplomatic sources told Dawn.

This would be a follow-up of the two-day talks between their foreign ministers and foreign secretaries in New York during the weekend.

The meetings on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly were the first high-level contacts between the two countries since their prime ministers met at the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh in July.

When asked about the next round of talks at a briefing on Sunday, Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna said: ‘We have just come out of one (meeting). So, give us some time.’

While talking to the Pakistani media, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi also indicated that the next logical opportunity for another meeting would be the Commonwealth summit.

Mr Qureshi said he was willing to travel to India himself if this might improve public sentiment there towards engagement.

After his 100-minute meeting with his Indian counterpart, Mr Qureshi indicated that despite an apparently lukewarm response from the Indians, the fresh attempt to improve ties soured by last November’s militant attacks in Mumbai was gathering momentum.’ I have suggested to my counterpart a way forward and a roadmap for the future.’

SOURCE: dawn.com

BREAKING NEWS: Huge blast heard in Peshawar, casualties feared

ISLAMABAD: A huge explosion rocked Pakistan's main northwestern city of Peshawar on Saturday, police and residents said.

'It was a very big explosion. I could see smoke rising from the scene,' Asad Ali, a resident, said by telephone from Peshawar. Police said they were investigating.

According to local television channels, at least 25 people have been injured and are being taken to Lady Reading Hospital.

A Taliban suicide bomber earlier crashed his explosives-laden truck into a police station in Bannu, also in northwestern Pakistan, killing six people and wounding 30, police said.

India to deploy two fighter squadrons near border

SOURCE: dawn.com

NEW DELHI: The Indian Air Force is planning to deploy by 2011 two squadrons of Sukhoi Su-30 MKI multi-role strike fighters in the state of Punjab which borders Pakistan.

Talking to newsmen here on Friday, Western Air Command chief Air Marshal N.A.K. Browne said two units of medium-lift Mi-171V helicopters would be inducted in Rajasthan and occupied Kashmir.

He said the air force would continue to operate locally-built Dhruv advanced light helicopters and Cheetal helicopters in high-altitude areas, including Siachen, adding that IAF also planned to buy light utility helicopters for such operations.

The air marshal said the IAF was also planning to improve its air defence units all over Punjab and occupied Kashmir.

‘These (steps) are in tune with our focus to improve all-round offensive and air defence capability, operational infrastructure, and modernisation plans,’ Air Marshal Browne said.

The IAF, he said, was planning to install special mountain and light-weight radars along the 667-km border with China in Ladakh.

‘The air force is examining a special type of radars, which we call the ‘mountain radars.’ We are also looking at low-level light-weight radars. There is a definite plan,’ he said, adding that the radars would be put in place over the next four to five years.

The IAF had already awarded contracts for 19 low-level radars and its Western Air Command was already using some of them.

‘More are in the pipeline. They will start coming online from next year,’ he said, adding that two locally-developed Rohini radars had already been placed on the Line of Actual Control,India’s border with China along Ladakh.

‘We do need to talk to everybody ... every one of our neighbours and at the same time keep our gun powders dry. We should maintain our preparedness at highest levels,’ media reports quoted Air Marshal Browne as saying.

When asked to comment on IAF chief Air Chief Marshal P.V. Naik’s remarks that India’s air force fleet was just one-third of China’s, he said the IAF was ‘extremely well-balanced on all fronts,’ like numbers, technology, modern platforms and equipment.

SOURCE: dawn.com

Get Paid for Receiving Calls: Ufone

COURTESY:http://propakistani.pk

Ufone has launched this new promotion where the subscribers will get bonus balance for incoming calls.

The incoming calls have to be from operators other than Ufone or international calls. This service is available for prepaid users only.

A subscriber who gets a call from other network, will get 0.25 Rs in his balance if the duration of that call is more than 120 seconds (2 minutes). Meaning that 25 Paisas for each received call that is over 2 minutes duration …!

This balance will be credited to his account immediately.

One can find out about this balance through IVR by calling on 127 or by sending an SMS (USSD) to *127#. Charges may apply for balance inquiry as per standard balance inquiry charges.

We are told that this promotion is initially valid for 1 month (end of Oct).

• Free balance is valid for 15 days
• Free balance will end at the expiry of the scratch card/ULoad validity
• This is a limited time offer

COURTESY: http://propakistani.pk

Fawad fined for missing ceremony

JOHANNESBURG: Pakistan's all-rounder Fawad Alam got away with a mere Rs10,000 fine for failing to report for the flag-hoisting ceremony prior to the start of the opening match against West Indies at the Wanderers on Wednesday.

A well-placed source in the Pakistan cricket team confirmed to 'The News' that Fawad Alam did not turn up for the flag hoisting ceremony at the ground and even had failed to justify his absence.

After conducting a hearing on the player, the team management fined him and warned him against any future misconduct.

One of members of the team when requested to narrate the whole story said that the organisers had invited sixteen kids who were supposed to accompany the 15-member team along with the coach to the Wanderers for the flag hoisting ceremony. However, Fawad did not turn up despite several reminders and was sleeping in the dressing room. By the time he woke up, the short ceremony was already over. The kid who was supposed to accompany Fawad also left perplexed and confused. He even started weeping finding no player to walk with.

The kid was consoled and was later offered the opportunity to take pictures with each member of the team.

This is not the first time the player fell short of required discipline standard. A couple of weeks back he had been involved in a serious breach of conduct during the national training camp for the Champions Trophy forcing the management to impose a heavy fine of Rs100,000 on him.

When Pakistan team management was contacted, they tried to play down the episode. "It was not a big issue and we settled it according to laid down rules."

Trouble breaks out at G20 summit

Trouble has flared as world leaders gather in the US city of Pittsburgh for the G20 summit.

Reports said riot police used pepper gas and fired rubber bullets at protesters on a march near the venue.

Demonstrations were widely expected and thousands of extra police are on duty. The previous G20 meeting, in London in April, was marred by clashes.

Economic stability, financial regulation, climate change and bankers' bonuses are set to top the G20 agenda.

The clashes are thought to have begun after hundreds of protesters tried to march, without permission, towards the convention centre where the summit is being held.

'Party over'

With many major economies beginning to climb out of recession - attention will turn to when and how to withdraw government stimulus packages.

Cracking down on bankers' bonuses has popular appeal with the public, it is expected that an agreement will be reached on how that might be achieved.

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said G20 countries had reached a consensus on the "basic outline" of a proposal to limit pay and bonuses by the end of 2009.

Each country would set their own standards, he said, but that these would be overseen by the G20's Financial Stability Board - made up of central bankers and regulators.

Earlier, Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling warned bankers that the "party was over" and they must realise that the world has changed.

Balance growth

A spokesman for the White House said that financial regulatory reform was the most important agenda item for summit, but that addressing global economic imbalances was also a priority.

President Barack Obama has led a campaign to smooth out imbalances in the flow of global capital to try to secure greater long-term economic stability.

The US proposal calls on economies such as China, Brazil and India to boost domestic consumption in order to lower their trade surpluses.

Meanwhile the US and Europe would encourage more saving to reduce long-term budget deficits.

Director of the US president's National Economic Council, Larry Summers, said that a "balancing global growth approach" of said that there would have to be changes in

"The US can't, should not and won't continue to experience the consumption-led growth driving very high volumes of imports and lending impulse to the rest of the world economy," he told the BBC.

"That's not a sustainable financial situation for the US and that's why we're in the process of adjusting."

Other discussions will involve the continuation of talks over whether countries such as China, India and Brazil should have greater say on the board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

bbc.co.uk

Balochistan CM Raisani sacks minister

SOURCE: DAWN.COM

QUETTA: Balochistan Chief Minster Nawab Aslam Raisani has sacked provincial Food Minister Mir Ali Madad Jatak of the Pakistan People’s Party, with immediate effect.

A spokesman for the Chief Minister’s Secretariat announced the decision on Thursday night without giving any reason. ‘The chief minister has removed Mr Jatak from his office,’ he told Dawn, adding that he had not been authorised to provide details.

After the removal of the food minister the strength of the PPP-lead coalition cabinet has fallen to 47.

Zakat Minister Agha Irfan Karim of the PPP announced late in the night that he would quit the provincial cabinet in protest against the removal of Mr Jatak.

‘I will resign as a protest against the decision of the chief minister,’ he told reporters on telephone.

According to sources, Mr Jatak was sacked because of his ‘continuous violation of the party and cabinet discipline’.

They said the chief minister and several members of his cabinet had taken notice of Mr Jatak’s statements in the media against the coalition government and provincial leadership of the PPP.

In a statement published in Thursday’s newspapers, Mr Jatak criticised the chief minister and said his government was ‘without any power and is being run by bureaucracy’.

He also said that he had formed a group for political change in the coalition government and the new chief minister would be from the PPP.

The sources said the chief minister had taken the decision of Mr Jatak’s removal after consultations with coalition partners.

It has been learnt that a PPP minister without portfolio will take over the charge of the food ministry on Friday.

Mir Madad Jatak was elected MPA on a PPP ticket. Chief Minister Raisani included him in his cabinet as food minister, but his differences with the provincial PPP leadership after Senate elections led to his removal from the cabinet.

Mr Jatak accused the chief minister of working against the PPP in the province. ‘I am thankful to the chief minister for my removal from the cabinet as I was a powerless minister,’ he remarked.

'It is better to sit outside the cabinet than work as a powerless minister,' he told Dawn, adding he had already indicated that Mr Raisani, who had been elected on a PPP ticket, was working against the interest of the PPP, giving importance to the bureaucracy and ignoring ministers.

He said he would consult his group before taking any decision.

SOURCE: DAWN.COM

Senate triples US aid to $1.5 billion

SOURCE: DAWN.COM

The US Senate on Thursday approved a compromise legislation to triple non-military aid toPakistan,

President Barack Obama told an international summit inNew York.

‘How nice that the US president could announce it personally,’ US special envoy Richard Holbrooke later told a briefing while emphasising the importance of the announcement made at the Friends of Democratic Pakistan summit.

President Asif Ali Zardari also stressed the significance of Mr Obama’s gesture, telling the reporters that it reflected the confidence the international community had in the new democratic set-up in Pakistan.

‘We have come a long way. The democracy has completed a full circle,’ he said. We have a message for the extremists:

‘There’s no place for them in the civilized world.’

The president said that at the FODP summit, the entire world recognised that ‘our struggle against terrorism must be fought not just on the battlefield, but in education, in health, in jobs, in trade, and above all for the hearts and minds of our people.’

He added: ‘A stable, prosperous Pakistan is the world’s greatest hope against the spread of extremism and terrorism.’

He said that the elected government provided ‘political ownership to the war against extremism and terrorism’ and involved the entire nation in this fight.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who addressed a joint news conference with Mr Zardari after the summit, endorsed the Pakistani leader, reminding journalists that ‘leaders from more than 20 countries’ expressed their confidence in the new set-up in Islamabad.

Mr Holbrooke later explained how the Kerry-Lugar bill passed through the US Senate. ‘We worked all night to ensure that the bill is approved unanimously,’ he said, adding that some Republican lawmakers had reservations which were removed.

‘The entire room burst into spontaneous applause as President Obama announced the approval of the bill,’ said Mr Holbrooke.

‘I am not suggesting that one bill changes history but it is an important step,’ he said, noting that ‘it’s for the first time in the modern era that the US Congress made a multi-year commitment’ to another country.

The legislation, known as the Kerry-Lugar bill, will bring about $1.5 billion a year to Pakistanfor each of the next five years, as part of a plan to fight extremism with economic development.

The bill, approved on a voice vote, had been agreed between the Senate and House sponsors of legislation passed separately in each chamber earlier this year. It also had the ‘full support’ of key members of the Obama administration.

Mr Holbrooke said that chairman of the House Committee on International Relations had informed him that the House would take up the bill next week and it would soon be sent to President Obama who would then sign it into a law.

Supporters of the legislation — an updated version of a bill backed by President Obama, Vice-President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, when they were seNators — say the measure aims to banish any doubts that Washington has made a long-term commitment to helping Pakistan.

The measure, which seeks to use economic development to battle the despair that can fuel extremism, comes at a time when President Obama has vowed to overhaul US strategy for Afghanistan and neighbouring Pakistan.

More pledges were met at the summit where, according to the British prime minister, almost all participants agreed to increase the pledges they had made earlier.

At an earlier FODP meeting in Tokyo in April this years, a host of donor nations pledged almost $6 billion to Pakistan but the IMG confirmed on Tuesday that only ‘a fraction of those pledges have so far realised.’

Although almost 26 countries participated in the summit and some — the US, Britain, France, Japan, Canada and others — sent their presidents or prime ministers, Pakistan’s two key allies chose not to do so.

Both China and Saudi Arabia only sent their UN ambassadors, although their foreign ministers were in town.

‘Canada has a longstanding and important friendship with Pakistan,’ Prime Minister Stephen Harper told the summit. ‘This meeting was a valuable opportunity for leaders to show our commitment to working with the government and the people of Pakistan as they seek to build a more secure future.’

President Zardari, President Obama and Prime Minister Brown co-chaired this first leaders’ meeting of the Friends of Democratic Pakistan. It was convened to demonstrate the international community’s continued support at the highest level for Pakistan’s civilian and democratically-elected government as it faces complex security, economic development and humanitarian crises.

The discussions centred on combating violent extremism, addressing energy shortages and fostering socio-economic development in Malakand and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. These have been the areas of focus of ministerial-level meetings of the Friends of Democratic Pakistan.

Prime Minister Brown, besides increasing Britain’s pledge to Pakistan, also announced a separate aid of 50 million pounds for the areas bordering Afghanistan.

The Friends of Democratic Pakistan first met in New York on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly in September 2008. The founding members include Pakistan,Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, theUnited Kingdom and the United States, as well as the United Nations and the European Union.

At the New York summit, the Asian Development Bank, which also participated in the meeting, agreed to set up a fund to help Pakistan overcome the energy crisis while the World Bank agreed to set up a separate fund for dealing with the economic crisis. The Pakistani government will make an integrated plan for dealing with the energy crisis, with the help of the ADB.

The participants vowed to support Islamabad’s political and strategic strategy for dealing with militancy.

They promised to enhance their support to Pakistan’s efforts to fight extremism.

They acknowledged Pakistan’s sacrifices in the war against extremists and ‘praised the brave armed forces of Pakistan,’ as Prime Minister Brown said.

They also recognised the recent operation in Swat and Malakand as a successful operation. They endorsed a plan presented before a ministerial meeting in Istanbul earlier this year.

The participants also agreed to strengthen Pakistani institutions, particularly in the tribal areas.

SOURCE: DAWN.COM

World applauds Pakistan’s anti-militant operations’

NEW YORK: The global community has greatly appreciated the successful operation against the militants in the Swat and Malakand regions by the present elected government and has expressed strong economic and political support for democratic Pakistan, said Islamabad's envoy to the United States Husain Haqqani.

In an interview with APP here ahead of the Friends of Democratic Pakistan (FoDP) summit to be co chaired by President Asif Ali Zardari, US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown this week, he said the FoDP member countries would affirm their support for Pakistan in addressing the challenges it faces on the economic and security fronts.

The FoDP summit level meeting will be attended by twenty member countries and international financial institutions including World Bank, Asian Development Bank and the IMF.

Ambassador Haqqani said the FoDP summit will put across an unequivocal message for Pakistan that it would not be left alone in the fight against terror as was done after the Russian-Afghan war and that the international community would extend all possible help and succour to Pakistan to preserve its sovereignty, security, democracy and economic development.

He said it was quite evident that Pakistan's army could perform any arduous task with the backing of the people, adding that the public opinion in Pakistan was absolutely against any extremism.

To a question, Mr Haqqani said the FoDP will also suggest measures to facilitate market access for Pakistani products in the EU and other countries which, he added, however could not be done overnight

The envoy underscored that Pakistan has a strong case for continued international backing as its problems have roots in the world-supported effort when it helped fight the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s and now the country is spearheading the fight against extremism.

‘Pakistan's elected democratic government, its brave armed forces and the people are unanimous in their belief that terrorism is a threat to the country and that the efforts against the menace are not meant to please anybody but they are aimed at ensuring our own security and safety,’ he stated.

Among prominent participants at the FoDP summit will be the prime ministers of Spain, Norway, Denmark, Japan and top leaders from Germany, China, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

‘All these countries stand for security, stability and prosperity of Pakistan and their participation will reassure the Pakistani nation of their support.’

‘The summit will help remove apprehensions that the world will once again abandon the country, as had been the case in the past,’ he said in reference to the United States and world powers abandoning Afghanistan and Pakistan after the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989.

U.S. General admits rising Indian influence in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON: U. S. General Stanley A. McChrystal has warned that the rising Indian influence in Afghanistan could exacerbate regional tensions in the region and harm the U.S. interest.

In the clearest statement to date of Washington’s reservations about the rising Indian economic and political profile in Afghanistan, the top American general in charge of the war against the Taliban and other insurgents there has said India’s increasing influence in the insurgency-wracked country “is likely to exacerbate regional tensions”.

“Indian political and economic influence is increasing in Afghanistan, including significant development efforts and financial investment. In addition, the current Afghan government is perceived by Islamabad to be pro-Indian”, the McChrystal report notes.

General Stanley said that the Indian ongoing activities would exacerbate the tensions in the region and this could heighten the anxieties of Pakistan. U.S. General said that the tense situation in the region could result harming the U.S. interest.

New Wardrobe Brings Freedom to Women in Swat

COURTESY: NEW YORK TIMES

MINGORA, Pakistan — When the Taliban took control here in February and forced women into burqas, an epidemic of clumsiness swept this city. Women began banging into lamp posts. Nurses fumbled needles. Many simply stopped going out altogether.

Now the Taliban are mostly gone, driven out by a military operation this summer, and the women of this northern Pakistani city, the largest in the Swat Valley, are returning to public life. Teachers are back at work, maids are commuting to jobs across town and nurses are giving injections without having to squint through a coarse layer of netting.

People here still worry that the war could return anytime. Last month, a suicide bomber killed 15 police officers at the central police station here. But for now, at least, women are feeling steady on their feet, a cautious vote of confidence in security here by society’s most vulnerable.

“When the Taliban fled, our burqas went with them,” said Shahin Begum, 40, an elementary school teacher, who returned to work on Aug. 1.

Women were the main targets of the Taliban’s morals police, and once that rigid rule was imposed their lives froze. They were barred from going to traditional women’s shopping areas, and anyone who worked in a public place, including hospitals, was required to wear a burqa, a sacklike, head-to-toe garment with netting over the eyes.

The burqa is traditional for many women in tribal, conservative western Pakistan. But here in the Swat Valley and its ethnically mixed hill towns north of the capital, Islamabad, women are relatively more open, and for many the outfit felt clumsy and confining.

“I felt like I was out of air,” said Zaida Bibi, a maid in a green shawl with flowers.

Now, she said, it still feels like a delicious act of revenge to walk into Cheena Market, a maze of glittering glass stalls full of cosmetics, dresses and shoes that was forbidden under the Taliban, where she was shopping Sunday.

“It’s a free, light feeling,” she said as she chose gifts for Id al-Fitr, a major Muslim holiday, which was celebrated this week.

For many women here, after nearly two years of twisting themselves into strange shapes to survive, returning to work is its own form of protest. Asia Habib, 28, left a job in Peshawar, the regional capital, to return to her nursing position in a private hospital in Mingora in July. She remembers arguing with a Taliban fighter who threatened her when she refused to buy him medicine. What was worse, she had to wear a burqa to treat him.

“I had two jobs — managing the burqa and treating the patient,” said Ms. Habib, wearing a white shawl. “You wanted to weep but you couldn’t even do that in front of them.”

The burqa was not the worst of women’s troubles, but it was one of the most public displays of what the Taliban wanted of women — that they disappear. At first many women changed to a Persian Gulf niqab, with a slit for the eyes. But that was not enough for the Taliban, so the Afghanistan ghost style became mandatory.

“That’s when we started falling down,” said Shahi Begum, a 45-year-old primary school teacher. Like horses with blinders on, women lost their peripheral vision. Climbing into rickshaws became treacherous, as women gathered billowing material to sit in a small space. “Legs in one direction, hands in another,” Ms. Begum said.

Sharisa Rehman, a teacher who returned to her job at the Sangota Girls School on Aug. 3, said she still had difficulty thinking about the time she spent under Taliban rule. “I was bound like a prisoner,” she said.

Her postcommute changing routine out of her burqa reminded her of a superhero. “Like Spider-Man,” she said.

Nearly all her students have returned, she said, despite coming from affluent families who had migrated to larger, safer Pakistani cities. That ratio is much lower in rural areas of Swat.

Taliban rule left people here poorer. As girls schools began to close, Ms. Bibi’s work cleaning them dried up, and she could no longer risk traveling to work in private homes. Her children’s shoes grew tight. Her daughter was separated from her baby long enough that she stopped lactating, and finding the money to buy milk became a daily struggle.

“Life was strangled,” she said, adding, “we hated them.”

That life seems far away now. People take pleasure in once mundane things that disappeared under the Taliban, like traffic and TV. The Swat Cinema held its second screening in two years on Monday; so many people were clamoring to see the Pashtun shoot ’em-up that three more shows were added.

Mingora may seem normal now, but the social ills that fueled militancy are unchanged. Young men in the rural parts of the valley, where the insurgency began, are still unemployed. The Taliban remains a formidable force in other areas of western Pakistan, and the government has yet to fill the vacuum they left in Swat.

“Just because there’s no Taliban, doesn’t mean the problem is gone,” said Sher Yar, a businessman waiting in line for a haircut. “No practical steps have been taken for people to have faith in the government.”

Ms. Begum, the elementary school teacher, said she believed that the Taliban gave false messages to young people, including that Islam required women’s faces to be covered. But in a measure of how wary she still is, Ms. Begum said she would not speak of this in her classroom, for fear that her remarks might bring trouble.

Ms. Rehman, the private school teacher, used her burqa to express her doubts. “It’s still hanging in my room, ready to wear,” she said.

COURTESY: NEW YORK TIMES

US Congress approves $2.3bn aid package for Pakistan

WASHINGTON: The American Congress has approved an aid package of over two billion dollars for Pakistan for the current fiscal year ahead of an important meeting between President Asif Zardari and a US economic team, DawnNews reported.

The US Congress approved the $2.376 million aid for the 2008-2009 financial year, while the US administration’s request for $2.282 million for the financial year 2009-2010 is pending for approval of the US Congress.

In addition, the US administration has provided $913 million cash reimbursement with regard to the Coalition Support Fund.

SOURCE: http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/04-us-congress-approves-2.3bn-aid-package-qs-04

India increases security after Israel, Australia warnings

NEW DELHI: India said on Tuesday it was increasing security to thwart possible militant strikes in the country days after Israel and Australia issued warnings to its citizens to avoid travelling to Indian cities.

Israel and Australia have issued travel warnings to its citizens based on intelligence inputs on militant strikes.

'We are increasing our level of preparedness to meet any terror threat or terror attack,' Palaniappan Chidambaram, the home (Interior) minister told reporters in New Delhi, when asked about the country's security worries.

'Don't present an alarmist picture. We are fully aware of the threats from across the border,' Chidambaram said, replying to questions on the foreign intelligence reports.

Australia's Victoria state Premier, John Brumby, cancelled his trip to Mumbai this week after the Australian government issued a travel warning to avoid Mumbai.

Brumby, on a official trip to India, will now stay in Delhi and Bangalore, an Australian High Commission official said in the capital.

Security has been tightened with more checking in shopping malls, government buildings and important landmarks in Maharashtra state and its main city of Mumbai, which goes to state polls in October.

Last week Indian officials said they were in contact with Israel after a television report said Jerusalem had a 'pinpoint' intelligence tip-off about Pakistani militants attacking India in the coming weeks.

India is a popular destination for Israeli holidaymakers.

Foreign tourists at two plush hotels and a Jewish centre were among the several targets attacked by 10 gunmen in last November's militant strike on Mumbai, which India blames on Pakistani nationals.

'In case of a terror threat or terror attack our response will be swift and decisive,' Chidambaram said on Tuesday.

SOURCE:http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/india+increases+security+after+israel,+australia+warnings

Former Indian army soldier accused of spying

PATNA: An ex-Indian army soldier who was kicked out of the military for indiscipline has been arrested for allegedly spying for rival Pakistan's powerful intelligence agency, police said Tuesday.

Sudhakar Sudhanshu was arrested Monday in Patna carrying sketches that showed the location of Indian troops in the disputed Kashmir region and an ordnance factory, said Bihar state police official Neelmani, who uses one name.

He was allegedly planning to visit Nepal to hand over the sketches to a contact from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, Vineet Vinayak, a senior superintendent of police, told The Associated Press.

Police also recovered five mobile phone SIM cards that could be used on networks in Nepal and elsewhere.

India and Pakistan have fought two wars over control of Kashmir since they won independence from Britain in 1947. They both claim the Himalayan territory in entirety.

Sudhanshu is being held under India's anti-espionage law and will be formally charged later, Vinayak said. He will be appointed a lawyer when he appears in court. He could be jailed for 10 years, if convicted for spying.

Sudhanshu joined the army in 2002, but was kicked out five years later for indiscipline, Vinayak said.

SOURCE: http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/06-former-indian-army-soldier-accused-of-spying-rs-04

Younis not to play tomorrow’s match vs WI

JOHANNESBURG: Pakistan team captain Younis Khan has Tuesday announced not to play tomorrow’s match due to fracture in his hand’s finger.

Pakistan is playing its first match against West Indies tomorrow in ICC Champions Trophy.

Talking to media, Younis said he is raring to play match against India and rout it.

It should be mentioned here that doctors advised him to take four-week rest. He said he would be able to take part in the ICC Champions Trophy only after doctors’ advise.

Vice Captain Shahid Afridi will captain tomorrow’s match against West Indies.

SOURCE: http://geo.tv/9-22-2009/49592.htm

Al-Qaeda issues new threats on KSA

DUBAI: AL-QAEDA has threatened further attacks inside Saudi Arabia following a suicide bomber's failed attempt to kill Riyadh's deputy interior minister last month, the SITE Intelligence Group said.

'If you can flee with your skin, then do so. By Allah, they will climb your walls and will come to you from where you do not expect,' Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) leader Abu Baseer al-Wuhayshi says in a video posted online, the US-based monitoring group reported.

Deputy Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, responsible for security affairs, was lightly injured in the Aug 27 attack in Jeddah that was claimed by AQAP, which named the bomber as Abdullah bin Hassan bin Taleh Assiri.

'Our heroes have woven their grave-clothes with your blood,' Wuhayshi says. The video also contains a telephone conversation between Assiri and the prince, in which the bomber says he wishes to return to Saudi Arabia from Yemen because he has repented.

On Sept 1 the Saudi interior ministry also released excerpts of the same conversation.

'I would like to meet you to discuss the whole matter with you,' Assiri told Mohammed, according to the excerpts broadcast by Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya television. The conversation took place after Assiri arrived at the the Saudi-Yemeni border, state news agency SPA reported.

Assiri was taken to Jeddah and when he arrived at Mohammed's residence and met him, he confirmed his wish to hand himself in and also help a group of Saudis living in Yemen to return home, the ministry said. While making a phone call to one of them in the reception room where they were meeting, he blew himself up.

Saudi and Yemeni branches of Al-Qaeda announced in January their merger into 'Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula'.

The attempt to kill Prince Mohammed was the first high-profile Al-Qaeda attack on the Saudi government since militants rammed a car bomb into the fortified interior ministry in Riyadh in 2004.

It was also the first strike on a member of the royal family since Al-Qaeda launched a wave of attacks in the kingdom in 2003, targeting Western establishments and oil facilities and killing more than 150 Saudis and foreigners.

SOURCE: http://geo.tv/9-22-2009/49596.htm

Musharraf to return Pakistan under good circumstance

PHILADELPHIA: Former president Pervez Musharraf said he will not retaliate against those, who are demanding to try him under Article 6. Talking to journalists after Eid prayer in Philadelphia, he said he will return Pakistan when circumstances improve. Former president ruled out the possibility of another coup, however said that he will return home under pleasant conditions.

Moderate earthquake hits northwest Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: A moderate 5.5-magnitude earthquake jolted northwestern Pakistan Saturday, but there were no reports of casualties or damage, officials said.

Tremors were felt at 10:17 am (0417 GMT) in several parts of northwestern Pakistan including Peshawar, the capital of northwest frontier province, a seismological department official told AFP.

The epicentre was about 300 kilometres (185 miles) north of Peshawar in the remote Hindu Kush mountains of Afghanistan, and was registered at a depth of 187 kilometres, it said.

Residents panicked in some parts but there were no reports of any casualties or damage, the official said.

A 7.6-magnitude quake on October 8, 2005 claimed more than 73,000 lives, seriously injured nearly 70,000 people and left 3.3 million homeless in Pakistan. More than 1,000 also died in Indian Kashmir.

SOURCE:http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/18-moderate-earthquake-hits-nwfp-am-02

Islamabad police raids US-linked security firm

ISLAMABAD: Islamabad police in an early morning raid claim to have recovered 61 illegal guns and nine pistols from the offices of a private security firm providing security to the US embassy.

The raid comes after it was revealed that the Interior Ministry had issued licences of highly sophisticated assault riffles to the company with the Prime Minister’s special permission.

The police has registered a case of fraud against the owner of the company and arrested two persons from the offices of Inter Risk.

US Ambassador Anne W. Patterson had held meetings with Prime Minister Gilani and the Interior Minister Rehman Malik for approval of the licenses.

Although the weapons are owned by the US embassy, they are to be carried by Inter Risk personnel.

The security firm Inter Risk had signed a contract with the US embassy in April to provide security to American employees of theUS embassy in Pakistan. — DawnNews