Gaddafi revives offer of vote to end Libya conflict

TRIPOLI: The Libyan government on Sunday renewed its offer to hold a vote on whether Muammar Gaddafi should stay in power, a proposal unlikely to interest Gaddafi’s opponents but which could widen differences inside NATO.

Pressure is growing from some quarters within the alliance to find a political solution, three months into a military campaign which is costing NATO members billions of dollars, has killed civilians, and has so far failed to topple Gaddafi.

Moussa Ibrahim, a spokesman for Gaddafi’s administration, told reporters in Tripoli the government was proposing a period of national dialogue and an election overseen by the United Nations and the African Union.

“If the Libyan people decide Gaddafi should leave he will leave. If the people decide he should stay he will stay,” Ibrahim said.

But he said Gaddafi — who has run the oil-producing country since taking over in a military coup in 1969 — would not go into exile whatever happened. “Gaddafi is not leaving anywhere, he is staying in this country,” Ibrahim said.

The idea of holding an election was first raised earlier this month by one of Gaddafi’s sons, Saif al-Islam.

The proposal lost momentum when Libyan Prime Minister Al-Baghdadi Ali Al-Mahmoudi appeared to dismiss it. At the time, it was also rejected by anti-Gaddafi rebels in the east of Libya, and by Washington.

Many analysts say Gaddafi and his family have no intention of relinquishing power. Instead, they say, the Libyan leader is holding out the possibility of a deal to try to widen cracks that have been emerging in the alliance ranged against him.

The election proposal could find a more receptive audience this time around, especially after a NATO bomb landed on a house in Tripoli on June 19, killing several civilians.

After that incident, alliance-member Italy said it wanted a political settlement, and also said that the civilian casualties threaten NATO’s credibility.

SOCCER DEFECTIONS

Libyan government forces have been fighting rebels, backed by NATO air power, since Feb. 17, when thousands of people rose up in a rebellion against his rule.

The revolt has turned into the bloodiest of the Arab Spring uprisings sweeping the Middle East.

Rebels now control the eastern third of the country, and some enclaves in the West. They have been unable though to break through to the capital, leaving Western powers banking on an uprising in Tripoli to overthrow Gaddafi.

The Libyan leader suffered a propaganda defeat when four members of the national soccer team and 13 other football figures defected to the rebels, the rebel council said.

Libyans are passionate about the sport and the national team was closely aligned with Gaddafi’s rule. At one point his son, Saadi, played in the side.

Asked about the defections, government spokesman Ibrahim said: “The Libyan footall team is full and functioning and performing all of its duties inside and outside Libya.”

HUMANITARIAN SWAP

A momentary thaw in the fighting allowed the Red Cross to reunite people caught on the wrong side of the conflict with their families.

A ship, the Ionis, arrived in Tripoli’s port on Sunday carrying 106 people from the main rebel stronghold in Benghazi. Many of the passengers were elderly, and families with small children.

A crowd of a few dozen people waited for the ship to dock, among them Mohammed Al-Gimzi. “I love Muammar Gaddafi very much,” he said.

When Al-Gimzi’s sister disembarked from the ship, he rushed to greet her and the two stood weeping with their heads on each other’s shoulders. “I am very happy to see my sister again,” he said, tears running down his face.

As part of the same exchange, a ship carried around 300 people from Tripoli to Benghazi on Friday. They included dozens of rebel supporters who had been detained.

“This is purely humanitarian, for families to meet with their loved ones and to be able to travel,” Robin Waudo, a spokesman in Tripoli for the International Committee of the Red Cross, said on Sunday. AGENCIES

Ban condemns burning of the Quran, calls for tolerance

NEW YORK: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon on Tuesday condemned the recent burning of a copy of the Muslim holy book Quran in a U.S. church in Florida, adding that ” such actions cannot be condoned by any religion,” UN spokesman Martin Nesirky told reporters.

Ban issued the statement in a meeting on Tuesday with a group of ambassadors representing countries in the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the spokesman said.

The secretary-general said “such actions contradict the efforts of the United Nations and many people around the world to promote tolerance, intercultural understanding and mutual respect between cultures and religions.”

Terry Jones, pastor of the Dove World Outreach Center church in Gainesville, Florida, oversaw the burning of a copy of the Islamic holy book on March 20. The church had threatened to burn multiple copies of the Quran last year to mark the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks.

Reiterating the UN high representative of the Alliance of Civilizations’ statement on the desecration of any holy text, Ban said “no religion tolerates the slaughter of innocent people.”

Meanwhile, protests erupted throughout Afghanistan following news of the Quran burning that resulted in deadly violence.

On April 1, protesters in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif in Afghanistan overran a UN compound and killed seven international staff working with the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).

Ban added that such an attack cannot be justified under any circumstance, the UN spokesman said. AGENCIES

Lahore: FIA raids Moonis Elahis office

The team of FIA Lahore wing raided into the office of Moonis Elahi, son of former Punjab Chief Minister and arrested his manager Abdul Maalik, trendpk.com reported on Monday.

Moonis Elahi is considered as a companion of Mohsin Warraich, a main accused of NICL case. The raid was linked as a continuation of the investigation of NICL case.Commenting on the incident, Moonis Elahi said that the action done by the FIA has disclosed the alliance of PPP and PML-N. Moonid also said that PML-Q will face all the allegations and is not afraid of any such cases.

FIA has managed to recover Rs 1.68 billion from NICL accused. Earlier to this the accused had deposited a sum of 600 million rupees; however the cheques of remaining amount of 80.04 million rupees have also been.

Obama Says NATO Agrees on Missile Defence System

US President Barack Obama and his NATO allies agreed Friday to set up a new anti-missile defence shield across Europe and to invite Russia to take part.

The deal means NATO leaders would set up a network of radars and interceptors forming an anti-ballistic missile shield extending over Europe and possibly linking with Russia too. I’m pleased to announce that for the first time, we have agreed to develop a missile defence capability that’s strong enough to cover all NATO European territory and populations, as well as the United States, Obama said after a first session of the two-day NATO summit in Lisbon. Russia had been fiercely critical of a US missile defence plans, seeing it as a direct threat to its nuclear deterrent. But the 28 NATO powers hope President Dmitry Medvedev can be won over in discussions with the alliance on Saturday (today), the first encounter at this level since Moscow waged a war in Georgia in 2008.

NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen has said he expects Russia and the Allies to begin a joint study of Russia’s possible inclusion in the missile defence system, which would be a significant softening of Moscow’s position. In a strategic concept released Friday setting out NATO priorities for the next decade, the leaders agreed to develop the capability to defend our populations and territories against ballistic missile attack as a core element of our collective defence.We will actively seek cooperation on missile defence with Russia and other Euro-Atlantic partners, they said. The broad agreement marks a significant advance for Obama’s scheme, first announced in November 2009 when he ditched plans for a missile shield in Eastern Europe, the cause of a Cold War-style row with Russia. Obama decided to replace the shield, the brainchild of former US president George W. Bush, with a more mobile system targeting Iranian short-range and medium-range missiles, initially using sea-based interceptors. Before leaving Moscow, the Russian party said it was keen to share ideas about common missile defence but played down the chances of a major decision realigning the continent’s security. Rasmussen said Russia would likely be invited to link up with the NATO missile umbrella rather than merging its defences with those of the alliance, set up in 1949 to contain the Soviet Union. In addition to wooing the Russians, NATO allies have tiptoed around Turkey’s concerns about its sensitive relations with neighbour Iran.Diplomats had been discussing publicly identifying Iran as an emerging missile threat but Turkey had refused to countenance this possibility and Tehran did not figure in the document released.

Four Afghans killed in suicide attacks, three by NATO

KABUL: Suicide bombers killed four Afghans on Saturday and NATO admitted that its troops mistakenly killed three others, as the alliance pledged to start pulling its troops from the battlefield next year.

As NATO leaders vowed to pass on responsibility for ensuring security to Afghan forces by the end of 2014, a man, woman and child were killed when a bomber on a bicycle blew himself up in Mihtarlam, in eastern Laghman province.

A second attack in the city just a few minutes later killed one man, the interior ministry said. Twenty-five were wounded in the first attack and eight in the second, it added.

NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) described the attacks — both claimed by the Taliban — as “reprehensible” while President Hamid Karzai’s office called the perpetrators “the enemies of Islam and Afghanistan”.

“Afghanistan cannot

Karachi: PML factions meet for merger

Chairman of Muslim League (functional) Pir Pagara chaired a meeting for the union of all the Muslim Leagues of the country in which former ministers of Musharraf regime Humayun Akhtar and Ejaz ul Haq opposed Musharrafs joining in this alliance.
In the meeting, which was held in Kangri House Karachi, Awami Muslim Leagues Sheikh Rashid Ahmad said that PML-N and PML-Q must also be brought into the alliance. He also said that having two major parties in the alliance, a change in strategy will also take place.
Members of All Pakistan Muslim League also attended this meeting without any invitation which was objected by some groups of Muslim League. Another meeting of all the groups of Muslim Leagues will take place today in which no member of All Pakistan Muslim League will be present.

Air strike kills 15 insurgents in Afghanistan: NATO

KABUL: At least 15 insurgents were killed in a NATO air strike overnight in southern Helmand province, a spokesman for the alliance said on Monday.

U.S. Captain Ryan Donald, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), said he had heard allegations of civilian casualties but they had not been backed up by reports to date.

“Current reports show we only killed Taliban. We are aware of allegations of civilian casualties,” he said, adding that in addition to the 15 dead, six insurgents were detained.

A spokesman for the provincial governor said initial reports showed up to 25 militants may have died, including two Taliban commanders, and he had not received reports of any civilian deaths.

Foreign forces in Afghanistan have stepped up the use of air strikes in recent months since General David Petraeus took control of U.S.

Qureshi to meet NATO chief

BRUSSELS: NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen will meet with Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Monday, the alliance said, amid a row over a NATO helicopter strike inside Pakistan.

He will visit the transatlantic alliance’s headquarters in Brussels on the sidelines of a two-day Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM).

A NATO statement said today there would be no press briefing after the talks with Rasmussen.

Pakistan blocked a land route for NATO convoys carrying supplies to neighbouring Afghanistan on Thursday after officials blamed a cross-border NATO helicopter attack for the deaths of three Pakistani soldiers. AGENCIES

Qureshi to meet NATO chief

BRUSSELS: NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen will meet with Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Monday, the alliance said, amid a row over a NATO helicopter strike inside Pakistan.

He will visit the transatlantic alliance’s headquarters in Brussels on the sidelines of a two-day Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM).

A NATO statement said today there would be no press briefing after the talks with Rasmussen.

Pakistan blocked a land route for NATO convoys carrying supplies to neighbouring Afghanistan on Thursday after officials blamed a cross-border NATO helicopter attack for the deaths of three Pakistani soldiers. AGENCIES

Zardari asks people not to worry about alliance of political orphans

President Asif Ali Zardari said that people should not worry about the alliance of political orphans and social plunderers. He said that political orphans are those demanding end of feudalism.
Addressing the ceremony held for the monthly draw of Benazir Income Support Programme in Badin, the President said that democracy knew better how to defend itself. He said that one-time tax would only be imposed on the well-to-do and affluent class.
He said that they threw Pervez Musharraf, a dictator, out of President House. He said that every flood-affected city and village would be re-built. He said that people will foil every conspiracy hatched against the elected government.

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