1.2m homes destroyed, 4.5m acres flooded, 230 people dead

This has been estimated by the local officials and Western aid groups. More than 300,000 people have been moved to shelters. Some 800,000 families hit by last year s floods are still homeless. Aid groups have warned of a growing risk of fatal diseases.

Last year, the military took charge of rescue and relief efforts, along with aid groups. The army is active again in the latest disaster. But some Pakistanis are growing impatient with it as well. Juman and his extended family fled when water as high as 12 feet (3.6 metres) raged through their village. Home has been a thatched hut on a roadside for several weeks in another village called Mohammad Yusuf.

“We go to the army and we have been asking for food, but they beat us with sticks and told us to leave,” said Juman, who added he was turned away because the army camp was already overwhelmed. “They scared us away.” The military, which has ruled Pakistan for more than half of its history, is seen as the only institution that can handle crises in the nuclear-armed South Asian nation.

Pakistan s cash-strapped government already faces many challenges, from growing frustration over power cuts to a stubborn Taliban insurgency. Disillusionment with the state can drive young men to join militant groups waging a violent campaign to topple the U.S.-backed government. Some flood victims are turning to the Al Khidmat charity which is linked to the most influential Islamist party in Pakistan, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI).

JI is not believed to have ties with the Taliban or other banned groups. Nevertheless, its relief efforts in last year s floods and other natural disasters helped discredit the government because of its relative efficiency. At a camp consisting of rows of white tents, green and blue JI flags flutter. Organisers wearing bright orange vests and badges organise flood victims.
People have to drink rain water and wash clothes in it but there is some relief.

“When we arrived there wasn t a camp here. They set the camp up and gave us the tents,” said Shabira, 35, holding her baby. “Now we are getting food every day.” Pakistani leaders are facing pressure on the diplomatic front as well. Islamabad s ties with Washington have been heavily strained since a unilateral US raid killed Osama bin Laden in a Pakistani garrison town in May.

There were signs that ties were under repair when the allies recently spoke of counter-terrorism cooperation. But fresh tension has emerged. A US warning on militants based in Pakistan, blamed by Washington for this week s attack on the US Embassy in Kabul, works against counter-terrorism cooperation between the two allies, the Pakistan Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.

It was referring to comments by US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta that Washington would do whatever it takes to defend American forces in Afghanistan from Pakistan-based militants Gilani may have wanted to meet senior American officials on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly to try to patch up ties with Washington, the source of billions of dollars in aid.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar is expected to meet US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the United States on Sept. 18. She will be addressing the General Assembly in Gilani s place.

Pakistan spells out ‘concerns’ to US general

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan spelt out “concerns” dogging its troubled alliance with the United States at talks Thursday with the most senior American to visit since the release of a CIA contractor accused of murder.

US commander of the Middle East and Afghanistan, General James Mattis, flew in as relations took a further knock from a White House report criticising Pakistan’s fight against Islamist militants on the Afghan border.

Mattis was meeting Pakistan’s army chief General Ashfaq Kayani and chairman of the joint chiefs of staff committee, General Khalid Shamim Wynne, Lieutenant Colonel Michael Shavers at the US embassy told AFP.

During the meetings, Mattis would “hear from them their concerns with regard to the relationship with the US military here”, Shavers said.

“He’s going to be in listening mode… that’s the main reason why he’s here,” he said. Mattis aims to visit Pakistan every three months and last visited in November, Shavers added.

The United States has made Pakistan a front line ally in the nearly 10-year war in Afghanistan and against Al-Qaeda, which US officials believe has carved out a global headquarters in Pakistan’s border areas with Afghanistan.

Under heavy US pressure, Pakistan has stepped up military operations against homegrown Taliban over the last two years, but US officials say more needs to be done to neutralise the threat posed by Islamist networks on its soil.

Islamabad rejected fresh criticism of its anti-militant fight, calling comments in this week’s White House report “unwarranted”.

“I would like to categorically state that we do not share the assessment of the US,” said foreign ministry spokeswoman Tehmina Janjua in a news briefing.

“Pakistan should not be held accountable for the failings of coalition strategy in Afghanistan,” she added.

Pakistan argues that its troops are already dangerously overstretched. With an estimated 147,000 forces in the northwest — more than the 130,000 US-led NATO force in Afghanistan — the army has also endured heavy losses.

The military says more than 2,800 soldiers have died and more than 8,700 have been wounded since 2001, when the September 11 attacks on the United States ignited the US-led war on terror.

Aside from military operations, more than 4,200 people have been killed across Pakistan in attacks blamed on Taliban and other Islamist extremist networks since government troops stormed a radical mosque in Islamabad in 2007.

On the same day as the Mattis-Kayani talks, a suicide bomber killed a Pakistani police constable and wounded five other people, including two children, in the southwestern province of Baluchistan that borders Afghanistan.

But the White House report noted a deterioration this year in the northwestern border with Afghanistan and criticised the Pakistani military for failing to forge a clear and sustained path to beat Islamist insurgents.

The Pakistan military confirmed that the Mattis talks dealt with Afghanistan and “military cooperation,” but commanders did not give detailed comment.

Mattis is the highest ranking US official to visit Islamabad since Pakistan released a CIA contractor who shot dead two men in Lahore in January.

The killings and Pakistan’s subsequent seven-week detention of Raymond Davis sparked a major diplomatic crisis between Washington and Islamabad, until $2 million in blood money was paid to the families of the dead men.

A covert US drone campaign in the border region, which fosters deep anti-Americanism within Pakistan, has also continued to inflame tensions.

A missile strike on March 17 killed 39 people, civilians among them, and led to rare public condemnation by Kayani of the drone campaign, which continues with the tacit consent of Islamabad.

Military analyst Talat Masood said the recent trials and military relations between the two countries had “great scope for improvement”.

“They’ll have to work a lot harder to improve them — both between the intelligence services and the military,” he said.

Pakistan last month boycotted a key meeting on Afghanistan in protest against the March 17 drone attack.

“We are trying to build these relations between the two countries on the principles of mutual interest and mutual respect, and at no point the national interest of Pakistan will be undermined in any way,” Janjua told reporters. AGENCIES

15 hurt as bomber struck Turkish capital

At least 15 people have been injured in what appears to have been a suicide bomb attack in the centre of Istanbul, Turkish media say.
Police have cordoned off the area around Taksim Square where the blast occurred on Sunday morning. The blast occurred near a point where anti-riot police are stationed.
The Kurdish separatist PKK party has carried out bomb attacks in Istanbul in the past, as have extreme left-wing and Islamist groups.

15 hurt as bomber struck Trukish capital

At least 15 people have been injured in what appears to have been a suicide bomb attack in the centre of Istanbul, Turkish media say.
Police have cordoned off the area around Taksim Square where the blast occurred on Sunday morning. The blast occurred near a point where anti-riot police are stationed.
The Kurdish separatist PKK party has carried out bomb attacks in Istanbul in the past, as have extreme left-wing and Islamist groups.

15 hurt as bomber struck Trukish capital

At least 15 people have been injured in what appears to have been a suicide bomb attack in the centre of Istanbul, Turkish media say.
Police have cordoned off the area around Taksim Square where the blast occurred on Sunday morning. The blast occurred near a point where anti-riot police are stationed.
The Kurdish separatist PKK party has carried out bomb attacks in Istanbul in the past, as have extreme left-wing and Islamist groups.

Suicide bombers attack Afghan U.N. building

HEART: Two suicide bombers attacked a U.N. compound in the western Afghan province of Herat and several insurgents were now inside the building, local police said on Saturday.

Afghan troops were surrounding the U.N. building in Heart city, an area that Taliban and other Islamist militants are not very active in.

There were no immediate details on any casualties.

Mohammad Salem Ehsas, police chief of Herat, said two suicide bombers blew themselves up outside the building while several other attackers managed to get inside. He did not know how many fighters there were but said it could be up to three insurgents.

A U.N. spokesman in Kabul, Dan McNorton, said he “was aware of an incident affecting a U.N. office in Herat” and said it was ongoing. He did not confirm that an attack had taken place.

Militants attacked a U.N. guesthouse in Kabul

Bin Laden criticises Pakistan relief mission

DUBAI: Osama bin Laden criticised relief efforts in Pakistan and called for action against climate change in what appeared to be a new audio tape from the al Qaeda leader issued on Friday in an Islamist forum.

The audio message, entitled “Pauses with the Method of Relief Work”, was about 11 minutes long and was broadcast with a video showing still images of Bin Laden and images of natural disasters, the Islamist website used by al Qaeda said.

The authenticity of the tape and its precise release date could not be immediately confirmed. However, bin Laden congratulates Muslims on the holy month of Ramadan, which started on Aug. 11 and ended Sept. 9.

He describes the fate of the Pakistani people following catastrophic floods, saying: “Millions of children are out in the open air, lacking basic elements of living, including drinking water, resulting in their

24 killed in Daghestan suicide attack

A suicide bomber blew himself up in the republic of Daghestan, killing at least 24 people, including several police officers.
The bomber broke through a police cordon in the capital, Makhachkala, where security officers were battling militia fighters. At least two Islamist rebels were killed in that incident. On September 24, at least five suspected Islamist terrorists, including a woman, were killed in Daghestan. Daghestan has been the scene of bloody clashes between forces loyal to Moscow, criminal gangs, and Islamists striving for independence from Russia. The region is plagued by almost daily violence.

Abducted Briton freed in Pakistan – High Commission

ISLAMABAD: A British-Pakistani journalist abducted by suspected Islamist militants in Pakistan’s ethnic Pashtun tribal areas in March, has been freed, the British High Commission said on Thursday.

“Yes, we can confirm that Asad Qureshi has been released,” a spokesman for the High Commission said.

Qureshi was abducted in March along with two former Pakistani intelligence officers. AGENCIES

Blair pelted with eggs at Dublin book signing

DUBLIN: Three people were arrested after protesters threw eggs and shoes at former British Prime Minister Tony Blair when he arrived to sign copies of his memoir at a bookshop in Dublin on Saturday, national broadcaster RTE said.

No injuries were reported and the missiles did not hit Blair.

Some of the 200 activists who had gathered outside Eason, a bookstore on Dublin’s main thoroughfare O’Connell street, clashed with police over a security barrier.

Security at Blair’s first signing of his autobiography had been tight due to opposition by an Irish nationalist group opposed to British control of Northern Ireland and by critics of Blair’s decision to join the war in Iraq.

Readers were not allowed to take photos or ask Blair to write any personal messages in the copies of his self penned volume “A Journey”, which describes what he called the “nightmare”

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