UN chief Ban seeks action on Syria

UNITED NATIONS: U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Wednesday the Arab League chief told him he intends to revive an Arab League monitoring mission in Syria, which has collapsed amid continuing violence there.

Nabil Elaraby asked for U.N. help with the project during a telephone conversation on Tuesday, Ban told reporters after briefing the U.N. Security Council on a visit he just paid to the Middle East.

Elaraby had further proposed a joint U.N.-Arab League observer mission, including a joint special envoy, for Syria, where a harsh crackdown on an 11-month-old uprising has left thousands dead, according to U.N. figures. Ban said the United Nations was ready to help, but indicated no decision had been taken.

Elaraby “informed me that he intends to send the Arab League observer mission back to Syria and asked for U.N. help,” the U.N. chief said.

The mission first went to Syria in December, reaching a strength of 165 members, but the Arab League suspended it on January 28 because of worsening violence, although it did not wind it up. Six Gulf Arab states, Jordan and Morocco have pulled out their teams, but other members are still in Syria.

Elaraby told Reuters in an interview in Cairo on Monday that a new mission could be sent but under different terms and with more members.

“If we are going to send another mission, and we are contemplating that, it has to be stronger in numbers and in equipment. The mandate has to be different,” he said, adding it would need international not just Arab backing this time.

Arab foreign ministers have been planning to meet on Sunday to discuss the fate of the monitoring mission. It was not immediately clear whether the plan to revive the mission would go ahead anyway.

Ban said that “in the coming days we will further consult the (Security) Council before fleshing out details. We stand ready to assist in any way that will contribute towards improvement on the ground and to the overall situation.”

“No detailed discussions have taken place yet. We will have to discuss with the Arab League on detailed matters,” he said later in reply to questions.

Ban did not say what help the United Nations might give. U.N. diplomats and officials have spoken in the past of possible training of monitors.

Elaraby said this week any new monitoring mission would require Syria’s approval.

A Security Council diplomat said discussion of any U.N. involvement was at an early stage. “I think what we would want to see would be a mission that was really making a difference, not just standing by and watching people being killed,” said the diplomat, who asked not to be identified. AGENCIES

Over 200 civilians die in Syrian ‘massacre’ ahead of UN vote

DAMASCUS: Syrian forces killed at least 217 civilians, including women and children, in a “massacre” in the central city of Homs, a rights group said Saturday, ahead of a UN vote on the repression.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 138 of the fatalities were caused by mortar fire in the Al-Khalidiya district of Homs, which has become a flashpoint of the 10-month revolt against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

Another 79 people were killed in other parts of town. Following violence elsewhere, including Damascus, during the day, Friday’s overall death toll was around 250 and could still rise, the Observatory said.

“It’s a real massacre,” the observatory’s director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP, calling for the “immediate intervention” of the Arab League to end the killing.

The Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya television channels showed images of dozens of bodies on the ground.

The violence broke out after thousands of people across Syria defied the government crackdown to mark the 30th anniversary of a notorious 1982 massacre in the central city of Hama that killed thousands.

News of the latest deaths came as a diplomat in New York said members of the UN Security Council would meet Saturday morning for a vote on a resolution condemning the violent repression in Syria.

The text is the same as a draft resolution sent to the council’s 15 members on Thursday.

It highlights the UN body’s support for an Arab League plan for a democratic transition while leaving out explicit references to calls for Assad to step down, the diplomat said Friday.

The Syrian rights group, called on the people “to take to the streets in the towns and villages and to rise up against the regime which is committing a real massacre right now in Homs.”

The Homs violence followed an already bloody day in which, the Syrian Observatory said, at least 35 other people were reported killed across Syria, among them 16 civilians.

The Britain-based group said 14 soldiers were killed in clashes with the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) and that five army deserters also lost their lives.

In addition, one person died of wounds sustained on Thursday, and the bodies of three other people were either found or returned to their families.

Amid growing concern that Syria is sliding into all-out civil war, an officer with the FSA claimed the regular army “is in a pitiful state and getting close to collapsing.”

The UN Security Council vote is expected on the same day that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is due to hold face-to-face talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, amid a fresh American push for passage of the resolution.

“It is the same text that’s going to a vote,” a UN diplomat said on Friday, referring to the draft resolution sent to the council’s 15 members the previous day.

The resolution faces an uncertain fate, as Moscow had maintained its opposition to a tougher draft resolution authored by Western powers and the Arab League.

Russia also said Friday it could not support the new draft in its current form, which states the council fully supports an Arab League plan to facilitate a democratic transition, but leaves out explicit references to calls for President Bashar al-Assad to step down.

The Security Council has yet to adopt a resolution on Syria despite 10 months of violence that has left more than 6,000 people dead, rights groups estimate. An earlier draft was blocked in October by China and Russia.

Clinton held what her spokesman described as “constructive” talks by telephone with Lavrov over the draft, and the pair were due to meet in Munich, likely ahead of the UN vote.

“You can be sure that Syria and the discussions at the UN will be one of the issues there, among many,” a senior State Department official said.

The new draft backs a January 22 Arab League request that Assad transfer power to a deputy and a government of national unity within two months but does not call on him to step down, according to a copy obtained by AFP.

Instead, it calls for a “Syrian-led political transition to a democratic, plural political system… including through commencing a serious political dialogue between the Syrian government and the whole spectrum of the Syrian opposition under the League of Arab States’ auspices, in accordance with the timetable set out by the League of Arab States.”

The draft also “condemns all violence from whatever source and… requires that all parties in Syria, including armed groups (opposition), immediately cease all violence or reprisal.”

The latest attempt at consensus emerged after hours of talks stalled in the Security Council, with Moscow leading the opposition to a tougher draft resolution authored by Western powers and the Arab League.

Diplomats said the new draft took into account concerns by Moscow, a staunch Damascus ally. AGENCIES

Arab League team to head to UN over Syria Saturday

CAIRO:  Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al-Thani are to head to New York on Saturday to seek support for an Arab plan on Syria, Arabi said.

The two will “hold a meeting with the UN Security Council on Monday to seek ratification of the Arab League decision on Syria,” for President Bashar al-Assad to hand power to his deputy, Arabi said.

Arab League ministers meeting in Cairo last week had asked for UN support in their efforts to resolve the crisis in Syria, where a crackdown on protests has left more than 5,400 people dead since March.

The League called on Assad to delegate powers to his vice president and clear the way for a national unity government to be formed within two months. AGENCIES

Gulf monitors leave Syria, League seeks U.N. support

DAMASCUS: Gulf Arab monitors headed out of Syria on Wednesday after their governments said they were “certain the bloodshed and killing of innocents would continue,” and the Arab League sought U.N. support for a plan to end President Bashar al-Assad’s rule.

But their colleagues in Damascus pledged to pursue an observer mission, now extended until February 23, to verify Syria’s compliance with an earlier Arab peace plan.

“The departure of the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries will not have an impact on the mission’s work. We are all professionals here and we can do the job,” said a senior Arab monitor, who asked not to be named.

“We were around 170 or so and now with them leaving we are around 120,” the monitor said. “We need more monitors of course and more will come soon to replace those who left.”

Monitors from Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain left the Syrian capital and those from other Gulf states were expected to leave the Syrian capital soon.

Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby and Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, who heads the League’s committee on Syria, wrote jointly to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon setting out the plan for a political solution in Syria.

The letter asks for a “joint meeting between them in the U.N. headquarters to inform the Security Council about developments and obtain the support of the Council for this plan,” a League statement said.

Several diplomats at the United Nations said France and Britain were working with Qatar and other Arab delegations on a new draft resolution supporting the Arab League plan.

The Arab League call for Assad to step down will raise pressure on Russia to explain why it is still blocking U.N. action to stop the bloodshed in Syria, where Moscow has called for a dialogue.

Syrian opposition groups have accused the observers mission, which began on December 26, of giving Assad diplomatic cover to pursue a crackdown on protesters and rebels in which more than 5,000 people have been killed since March, by a U.N. tally.

The opposition Local Coordination Committees reported 68 deaths of civilians and army deserters on Tuesday. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the toll at 35.

The government says it is fighting foreign-backed Islamist “terrorists” who have killed 2,000 soldiers and police. The state news agency SANA said 16 more were buried on Tuesday.

The revolt in Syria was inspired by others that have toppled three autocratic Arab leaders and the bloodshed has battered Assad’s standing in the world, with Iran among his few remaining allies.

Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem wrote to the Arab League accepting an extension of the monitoring mission, even as he scornfully rejected the 22-member body’s call for Assad to hand power to his deputy and allow a new unity government to prepare for parliamentary and presidential elections.

“TO THE MOON”

“Definitely the solution in Syria is not the solution suggested by the Arab League, which we have rejected. They have abandoned their role as the Arab League and we no longer want Arab solutions to the crisis,” Moualem declared on Tuesday.

“Heading to the Security Council will be the third stage in their plan, and the only thing left is the last step of internationalization,” he told a news conference in Damascus.

“They can head to New York or to the moon. So long as we are not paying for their tickets it is none of our concern.”

Moualem poured contempt on the League’s call for Assad to hand power to a unity government to defuse the violence.

He said that while “half the universe is against us,” Syria’s long-time ally and arms supplier Russia, which wields a veto on the Security Council, would never permit foreign intervention. “That is a red line for them.”

Britain, France and the United States chastised Moscow on Tuesday for continuing to arm Syria despite the upheaval there.

French Ambassador Gerard Araud said it was “unacceptable that certain countries, including on this council, continue to provide the means of violence against the Syrian population.”

The United States and their European allies have called for a U.N. arms embargo and other sanctions against Syria, but Russia vehemently opposes Security Council action and wields a veto in the world body.

A Western diplomat at the Security Council said: “The Arabs have said that they want a resolution that has consensus agreement, and of course we’ll work for that.

“We always work for consensus in the council, but sometimes that’s not possible, as with our Syria resolution,” the diplomat added, referring to a Western-drafted resolution on Syria that was vetoed by Russia and China in October. AGENCIES

No martial law likely in Pakistan: Musharraf

LONDON: Former president General (rtd) Pervez Musharraf on Sunday ruled out the possibility of any imminent military action or martial law in Pakistan under present circumstances.

Talking to media after nomination of office-bearers of All Pakistan Muslim League here, he said the government of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has brought situation under control, adding he was not seeing elections before six months.

Musharraf stressed he would contest elections on public desire, remarking he would garner votes by organizing country’s youth together.

It is a political game on the part of Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif to give deadline to the government, he added. TrendPK

PML factions lock horns at Quaid mausoleum

KARACHI: Founder of Pakistan Muhammed Ali Jinnah gave message of co-existence, brotherhood and tolerance; but, the two Muslim League factions, in total oblivion of Quaid’s word, entered scuffle with each other on Saturday at the mausoleum here.

According to details, the workers of Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) flew into rage when they spotted the workers of All Pakistan Muslim League arriving for prayers at Quaid’s mausoleum.

N-League activists began raising full-throated slogans against former president General (rtd) Pervez Musharraf.

In this meantime, a PML-N female worker hit a poster of Musharraf with her slippers, causing his supporters to be infuriated. Musharraf’s supporters also broke into slogans against PML-N leadership. TrendPK

PML-Q decides to vote against RGST

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: The Chief of Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-e-Azam (PML-Q) Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain has announced on Saturday to vote against the Reformed General Tax (RGST) bill in the National Assembly.

During the press conference, Chaudhry Shujaat said that the members of his party would be declared ineligible, if they go against the party decision. Trend Pk

Manchester United Vs Tottenham Highlights (2-0) EPL 2010

Manchester United Vs Tottenham Highlights (2-0) EPL 2010 : Old Trafford Stadium is the venue, Manchester United Vs Tottenham highlights (2-0) of Barclays Premier League football match on 30-10-10, Kick-Off 17:30 UK Time. Wayne Rooney taking a few days off from football as the Red Devils try to adjust themselves back on the winning ways, but this weekend they have a tough test in the league since their opposition Spurs are playing some good football in the league and in Europe. Enjoy Man Utd and Tottenham Hotspur live match and highlights.

Match Kick-off time: Saturday 30 October 2010, 17:30 UK Time.
It was back in 2005 when Spurs almost made an upset in the Premier League when they scored a goal against United from a long range shot but the referee thought the ball didn’t crossed the line and the game ended 0-0. If we look at the current form of both sides, Rafael Van der Vaart in the heart of Tottenham midfield and Luka Modric both playing awesome. Gareth Bale is the outstanding new talent for the North London club as recently he scored a stunning hat-trick against Italian side Internazionale in the Champions League. Manchester United have their new striker Hernandez in good form as he recently on was target twice in the Premier League game at Britannia.

Circumstances compelled to launch MML: Pagara

All factions of All Pakistan Muslim League have merged into Muttahida Muslim League (MML) which was formally launched in Karachi today. Pir Pagara was elected as president of newly-formed Muttahida Muslim League (MML). The four factions, which were merged into the newly formed MML, were PML (F), PML (Zia), PML (like-minded), and PML (Awami).
In an important meeting at Kingri House Karachi on Friday, newly-formed MML leadership has constituted a 10-member committee to contact Nawaz Sharif and others to join MML. Mir Zafarullah Jamali will lead the 10-member committee.
Talking to media in Karachi, Mir Zafarullah Jamali said that Pakistan was passing through a difficult phase of time and it was need of the hour to unite all Muslim Leagues. He said that without showing leniency, Leagues cannot be united.
On this occasion, Pir Pagara while talking to media said that circumstances compelled them to launch a united party. He said that without Mutahida Muslim League, challenges of the country cannot be addressed.
Its a plan to break Ns vote bank: Ahsan
PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal while talking to Dunya News said that it was a scheme to break vote bank of PML-N. he said that N doesnt believe on traditional alliances but we believe on politics of principles. He said that hurdles were being created in the way of PML-N.

No decision to join APML yet: Ami Muqam
While talking to Dunya News, PML-Q leader Amir Maqam said that the party still had no meeting on the issue. He said that there should be a true and credible leader who can lead the new alliance so that every one can follow him.

Muslim League leaders meet at Kingri House Karachi

Staff Report

KARACHI: Four factions of Pakistan Muslim League are holding a crucial meeting to make an alliance while the leaders of All Pakistan Muslim League also joined the meeting without invitation, Trend Pk reported Thursday.

The meeting will decide the agenda of the major meeting of the Muslim League factions at Kingri House on Friday.

Hamid Nasir Chatha, Khurshid Kasuri, Saleem Saifullah, Mian Azhar, Sheikh Rasheed, Ijaz-ul-Haq, Jahangir Tareen, Makhdoom Ahmed Mehmood, Pir Saddaruddin Rashidi, Imtia Shaikh, Hamayon Akhtar and former prime minister, Mir Zaffarullah Jamali are attending the meeting.

Meanwhile, Baristar Saif and Rashid Qureshi of All Pakistan Muslim League, also reached at the Kingri House. Trend Pk

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