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Altaf says 'mullahs' exploiting religion
2 including Sunni Tehreek a worker of shot dead;4 killed in accidents
Bus torched after hit 2 pedestrians
Bus service for female passengers from 14th
Lashkar hands over 5 abettors of militants, Demolishes three houses near Shakai
UN links Iran uranium particles to Pakistan
Pakistani held in US
Al Qaeda rebuilding its ranks: Report
Altaf says 'mullahs' exploiting religion
KARACHI, Aug 10: Leader of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement Altaf Hussain has lashed out at what he termed "so-called mullahs" and accused them of supporting dictators and oppressive rulers and serving the vested interests of the super powers by exploiting religion and the spirit of jihad.
He was speaking to participants of the party's 9th annual convention via telephone in Houston. Mr Hussain held the "so-called mullahs" responsible for the pathetic state of affairs in Pakistan.
Mr Al Green, Mr Richard Morrison, Mr Masroor Javed Khan and Dr Farooq Sattar, Parliamentary Leader of the MQM in the National Assembly also addressed the gathering.
Mr Hussain termed it imperative for everyone to demonstrate religious tolerance and show respect for humanity. Mr Hussain criticized those who talk of religion but do not practice it themselves.
Highlighting contradictions in American foreign policy, he said that the United States supported monarchs, dictators and oppressive rulers in the third world, adding that the Muslim rulers did not act any different at all.
Speaking to the representative of the US Congress and other dignitaries present in the convention, Mr Hussain appealed to the American establishment and the people at the helm of affairs to reshape the US foreign policies and instead of supporting the monarchical, dictatorial and oppressive governments, they should support the genuine representatives of the people which would not only be beneficial for the peoples of the world but also be in the interests of the United States.
He said that it was the right time to ponder about who created Taliban, Al Qaeda and other extremists groups and on whose support these terrorist groups have today become monsters.
He stressed that innocent Muslims were not responsible for the creation of these extremists outfits. Ordinary Muslims were not against Christians or people belonging to other faiths. Therefore, he said, the branding of all Muslims as religious terrorists would be wrong.
He stressed the need for the people of all religions and faith to demonstrate tolerance. Mr Altaf Hussain said that the MQM was struggling against religious fanaticism and extremism besides standing shoulder to shoulder with the international community in the war against terrorism.
2 including Sunni Tehreek a worker of shot dead;4 killed in accidents
KARACHI: Two persons, including a worker of Sunni Tehreek
(ST), were gunned down, while four persons lost their lives in separate
incidents in different areas on Tuesday, police said.
According to details, Shoaib Ahmed, 24, a resident of
North Nazimabad received bullet injuries when his friend opened fire on him
in Block T, North Nazimabad, police said. He was taken to the Abbasi Shaheed
Hospital (ASH), where he died, police added.
Adnan Qadri, 20, a resident of Surjani Town and a worker
of Sunni Tehreek (ST), was injured seriously when unidentified gunmen opened
fire on him near ST sector office in Khwaja Ajmair Nagri area late on Monday
night, police said.
The injured was shifted to
the ASH and later referred to the Civil Hospital, where doctors
pronounced him dead.
ACCIDENT: Nadir Ali, 18, a resident of Korangi, was
crushed to death by a hit-and-run vehicle in Korangi.
Raeesuddin, 45, a resident of Liaquatabad, was crushed to
death when a speeding Metro Bus
(JA-5730) hit his motorcycle
(KAM-5750) near the office of Nazim, Liaquatabad Town within Nazimabad police
precinct.
An unidentified 25-year-old woman was crushed to death by
a hit-and-run vehicle in Allah Wala Town, Korangi. Her body was shifted to
the JPMC and later placed in Edhi morgue.
Naeem, 35, fell to death while he was working on an under
construction water filter plant in Pakistan Steel Mills.
INJURED: At least four football players received bullets
injuries when some unidentified motorcyclists opened indiscriminate fire on
them in Muhammadan Football Ground, Malir City.
The injured were taken to the JPMC where they were
identified as Tariq Aziz, Abdul Hafeez, Abdul Aziz and Riaz Yousuf, police
said.
Abdul Aleem Lashari, a policeman, posted in the CID,
sustained bullet injuries when he resisted in a car snatching bid in FB Area.
Syed Kamal Shah, 35, a resident of Guilstan-e-Jauhar,
received bullets injuries when unidentified gunmen, on a motorcycle, fired
upon him in Sachal area.
Naeem, sustained bullet injuries when unidentified persons
fired upon him in Kalakot area.
VEHICLES: Carjackers took away 24 vehicles, including 17
motorcycles from various parts of the city on Tuesday.
Bus torched after hit 2 pedestrians
KARACHI: Residents of Aaram Bagh and Paper Market set a
bus on fire that had knocked two persons, including a schoolboy, on Tuesday
within Mithadar area, police said.
According to details, a recklessly driven bus of route 5-C
(JA-6204) went out of its driver’s control and hit two pedestrians, Murtaza
Zafar, 13, and Saifuddin, 35, injuring them seriously. They were taken to the
Civil Hospital in critical condition.
The errant driver managed to escape, while the area people
set the bus ablaze. Traffic in the area remained jammed for an hour.
Meanwhile, Rauf Siddiqi, Minister for Home Affairs, taking
serious notice of the incident instructed the DIG (Traffic) to adopt strict
measures to avoid such incidents and for early arrest of the errant driver.
Public vehicles’ drivers must be trained, certified and
bear PSV badges otherwise strict action would be initiated against them and
also against the owners of such vehicles, he said. The Mithadar police have registered a case.
Bus service for female passengers from 14th
KARACHI, Aug 10: A new air-conditioned bus service for female commuters is being launched in the city from Aug 14.
The details regarding the bus service were finalized at a high-level meeting
held under the chairmanship of Dr Ishratul Ibad at the Sindh Governor's House on Tuesday.
The governor said the basic objective of this service was to facilitate the school and college students and working women in reaching their respective destinations. He said that generally the women faced great inconvenience in public transport due to seating constraints.
Dr Ibad said that initially the service was being launched with only two buses, and added that if it proved successful, then more buses would be inducted for different routes. He appreciated the efforts of DIG, Traffic, Mohammed Yamin Khan, in implementing the bus service project in a short time.
He suggested that the buses should be routed through the educational institutions, hospitals and markets, so that women could take maximum advantage of it. The governor also proposed the initiation of a "family bus service," so that the people could travel with their families in a conducive environment.
Mr Yamin Khan said on the occasion that the women bus service would be launched by the Sindh governor. The service was being initiated with the coordination of the Green Bus Service and the company would also launch the 'family bus service' soon.
He informed the meeting that the bus service for women would start from Surjani Town and end at Mereweather Tower after passing through Nagan Chowrangi, Sohrab Goth, Abul Ispahani Road, Gulshan Chowrangi, NIPA, Civic Centre, National Stadium, PTV, Sharafabad, Buhadarabad, Tariq Road, Alklahwali Chowrangi, Nursery, Regent Plaza, Jinnah Hospital, Hotel Mehran, Reo Centre, Zaibunnisa Street, Abdullah Haroon Road, Regal, Burns Road, Jamia Cloth and M.A. Jinnah Road and vice-versa.
Starting from Surjani at 7am and reaching MW Tower at 9.30am, the buses will continue to operate till 10.45pm. The last trip will start at 8.15pm and end at 10.45pm. It will be an air-donditioned service with normal fare, however, handicapped women will be charged only Rs5 for the entire route. The governor stressed on issuance of monthly and forthrightly tickets for the service as well as on other routes of the Green Bus Service. -APP
Lashkar hands over 5 abettors of militants, Demolishes three houses near Shakai
WANA: A tribal Lashkar demolished three houses and handed
over five suspected abettors of militants to the administration in South
Waziristan tribal agency on Tuesday.
Around 400 tribal volunteers took part in the operation in
Sarkot near Shakai. Assistant political agent, Wana Sub-division, tribal
elders, including former senator Faridullah Khan Wazir, and military officers
were present on the occasion.
The Lashkar razed to ground the houses of Khair Muhammad,
Khanan and Nazir Muhammad. The administration suspected that the attackers on
a military convoy in the area a few days back stayed in these houses. The
Lashkar also handed over Ajab Noor, Nabi Khan, Baitullah Deen, Nazir and
Khair Muhammad to the authorities.They allegedly took part in the attack on a
military convoy between Khumrang and Shakai. Administrator of the tribal
agency Asmatullah Gundappur told a private TV channel that fine would also be
imposed on the tribes under the collective responsibility clause of the
Frontier Crimes Regulation. Meanwhile, militant and security forces
reportedly exchanged fire in Azam Warsak and Wana.
NNI adds: The political administration of FR Tank on
Tuesday arrested some three-dozen men of Bhatni tribe from the vicinity of
Jandola in Monday’s attack on a bus carrying paramilitary troops.
A bus carrying scouts was blown up by an improvised
explosive device, near Jandola, as it was crossing a bridge. A driver of the
paramilitary force was killed and 18 others were injured in the incident.
According to officials of the political administration,
the crackdown against Bhatni tribe has been undertaken under the 40 FCR. The
authorities have also seized as many as 15 vehicles of Bhatni tribe and asked
the tribe to search and handover those responsible for attack on the bus.
Local cleric Maulana Hafta Khan Bhatni, while talking to
this agency by telephone, said: "We condemn the act of terrorism in
which troops were injured and killed. The tribe is searching those
responsible for this sabotage. We will shoot them publicly if reach them
(terrorists) as they have committed a heinous crime of killing and injuring
innocent people."
He, however, said the incident took place in an isolated
mountainous range having no population. "The act of terrorism committed
in the Bhatni tribe vicinity seems a conspiracy against the tribe. Bhatni
tribe has already declared the incident as an act of terror and loss of life
and property a national loss," the cleric added.
UN links Iran uranium particles to Pakistan
VIENNA: The UN nuclear watchdog has linked highly enriched
uranium particles found in Iran to Pakistan, which fits Tehran’s
explanation they came from equipment bought on the black market, a Western
diplomat said on Tuesday.
Iran says its nuclear programme is aimed solely at
generating electricity and that particles of enriched uranium, including some
bomb-grade samples, which UN inspectors have found in the country were not
produced in Iran. While the finding by the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) appears to strengthen Iran’s case against Washington’s charge that
Tehran is trying to build a nuclear bomb, diplomats warned the finding was
far from conclusive.
US State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said that the
enriched uranium question was only one of several troubling issues which also
included Iran’s failure to abide by agreements and cooperate with the IAEA.
"Obviously we think Iran has a weapons programme, we think the evidence
points to that," he said. "What’s troubling is that there are not
clear, consistent answers that are provided in an open and transparent way,
and that’s what we’re looking for."
A Western diplomat told Reuters the IAEA had matched
contamination from uranium enriched to 54 per cent to a sample from Pakistan.
"The IAEA has tentatively concluded that at least one instance of the 54
per cent contamination matches a sample provided by Pakistan," he said,
confirming a report on Tuesday by Jane’s Defence Weekly.
The IAEA declined to comment, saying its latest findings
would be presented in a report ahead of its September 13 Board of Governors
meeting.
Washington has been pressing the 35-nation board to report
Iran to the UN Security Council for hiding its uranium enrichment programme
from the IAEA for nearly two decades. State Department spokesman Ereli said
other troubling issues included Iran’s centrifuge programme and experiments
with plutonium-separation and polonium-210, which can be used to initiate a
chain reaction in a nuclear bomb.
Pakistani held in US
MIAMI: A Pakistani man arrested in North Carolina had
videotapes of bank buildings in Charlotte and of buildings in other major
cities such as Atlanta, Houston, Dallas and New Orleans, US justice officials
said on Tuesday.
Kamran Akhtar, a resident of Elmhurst, New York, was
stopped and questioned on July 20, while videotaping a downtown area of
Charlotte, according to the US Attorney’s office for the western district
of North Carolina. It added that other videotapes Akhtar had in his
possession showed buildings in other US cities. Investigators said the tapes
also showed a dam in Texas and public transportation systems in Atlanta,
Houston, Dallas and New Orleans.
The North Carolina Joint Terrorism Task Force was leading
an investigation into the case, the office said. A criminal complaint charged
Akhtar with violating federal immigration and naturalisation laws, the US
Attorney’s office said. According to the complaint, Akhtar, who has been in
custody since he was detained on July 20, said he was in the country with a
green card, or alien residency card, but later admitted he did not have one.
Meanwhile, two mosque leaders arrested in an FBI sting
believed that they were taking part in the purchase of a grenade launcher for
the immediate assassination of Pakistan’s ambassador to the United Nations,
an indictment alleges.
Yassin Mohiuddin Aref, 34, and Muhammad Mosharref Hossain,
49, of Albany were charged in the 19-count indictment with conspiring to
launder money and promote terrorism. The indictment, which was unsealed on
Monday, did not provide details about allegations the men are tied to an
extremist group linked to al-Qaeda.
Aref’s lawyer, Terry Kindlon, said the entire case is
based on government fabrication. "The facts of this case exist in the
imagination of the government," he said. There was no actual plot; it
turned out that Aref and Hossain were dealing with an FBI informant the whole
time.
The indictment chronicles exchanges of money that
authorities allege was for the fictitious sale of a disabled missile
launcher. It claims that during a meeting February 12, the men believed the
attack would take place the following week. Aref, a native of Kurdistan, and
Hossain, who is from Bangladesh, face up to 70 years in prison if convicted.
Al Qaeda rebuilding its ranks: Report
WASHINGTON, Aug 10: Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda has named new leaders to replace those who have been killed or captured, promoting from within and recruiting new operatives to run the organization
, The New York Times reported on Tuesday, citing intelligence officials.
"Al Qaeda's upper ranks are being filled by lower-ranking members and more recent recruits," the daily said, referring to computer records, documents and e-mail addresses seized after the July 12 arrest in Lahore, of 25-year-old Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan.
Khan's computer contained photos and surveillance reports on financial institutions in New York, Washington and Newark, New Jersey, as well as London's Heathrow airport. -AFP