US may lose Pakistan as key ally: FM Khar

ISLAMABAD/WASHINGTON: Pakistan warned the United States it risks losing an ally if it continued to accuse Islamabad of playing a double game in the war against militancy, escalating the crisis in relations between the two countries.   

Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar was responding to comments by U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, who said Pakistan’s top spy agency was closely tied to the Haqqani network.

“You will lose an ally,” Khar said while talking to a Pakistan-based news channel in New York in remarks broadcast on Friday.

“You cannot afford to alienate Pakistan, you cannot afford to alienate the Pakistani people. If you are choosing to do so and if they are choosing to do so it will be at their (the United States’) own cost.”

Mullen, speaking in Senate testimony, alleged Haqqani operatives launched an attack last week on the U.S. embassy in Kabul with the support of Pakistan’s military intelligence.

“The message for America is: ‘They can’t live with us, they can’t live without us,” Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani told reporters.

“Anything which is said about an ally, about a partner, publicly to recriminate it, to humiliate it, is not acceptable,” said Khar.

The United States has long pressed Pakistan to go after the Haqqani network, which it believes operates from sanctuaries in North Waziristan on the Afghan border.

Pakistan says its army is too stretched fighting its own Taliban insurgency.

The Haqqani network, Mullen said, is a “veritable arm” of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI).

Mullen, CIA director David Petraeus and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton all have met with their Pakistani counterparts in recent days to demand Islamabad take action against the Haqqani network.

Any Pakistani offensive against the Haqqanis would be risky. The group has an estimated 10,000-15,000 seasoned fighters at its disposal and analysts say the Pakistani army would likely suffer heavy casualties.

Mahmud Durrani, a retired major general and former Pakistani ambassador to Washington, said both sides should ease tensions to avoid American military action beyond drone strikes or economic sanctions.

“There’s a possibility. It’s wide open. But it will be absolutely, totally disastrous.” AGENCIES

Karachi: Brotherhood Week from September 21

A meeting was held un Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah and Interior Minister Rehman Malik at the Chief Minister House in Karachi which was also attended by Sindh Home minister Manzoor Wasan and higher officials of law enforcement agencies. It was decided in the meeting that ‘Brotherhood Week’ will be observed from September 21 to restore law and order and peace in Karachi.

It was also decided in the meeting that as per Supreme Court instructions, all the arrested target killers will be brought before public. Talking during the meeting, Rehman Malik vowed to continue indiscriminate action against criminals.

Shahbaz laments hurdles in way of democracy

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, while addressing the closing ceremony of International Judicial Conference at Lahore, said that justice cannot provided without elimination of gap between rich and poor. He said that there is need of accountability of judges and bureaucrats just like politicians.

The chief minister said that institutions in India are stronger than Pakistan. He said that hurdles are created in way of smoothly run democracy and it is the main reason that people again prefer dictatorship.

Shahbaz Sharif blamed that former president Pervez Musharraf accepted foreign aid to massacre Pakistanis.

Japan parliament approves Noda as PM

TOKYO: The Japanese parliament’s lower house voted in Yoshihiko Noda on Tuesday as the nation’s sixth prime minister in five years.  

Noda, 54, a fiscal hawk who edged out a rival in a ruling party run-off vote on Monday, is finance minister in the outgoing administration of his predecessor Naoto Kan.

He faces the task of rebuilding from the massive March tsunami that devastated the northeast coast and ending the nuclear crisis it triggered, while addressing a myriad of economic ills including a strong yen and a ballooning public debt.

But he is hampered by a divided parliament in which the opposition can block bills and by deep rifts within his own ruling Democratic Party.

It was unclear how soon Noda would form his cabinet. AGENCIES

Zulfiqar Mirza quits PPP position, portfolio

KARACHI: Sindh’s Senior Minister and PPP’s Senior Vice President Dr Zulfiqar Mirza announced on Sunday to quit party position and membership of Sindh Assembly, TrendPK reported.

He claimed that peace could be restored in Karachi within 15 days. “The bloodshed in the city will not end with my departure,” he added.

Zulfiqar Mirza said that he has so many Urdu speaking relatives. “I had not said that all Urdu speaking people were or are bad but I say that those who want to disintegrate Pakistan and specially Sindh are my enemies.”

Mirza said that Rehman Malik is the biggest enemy of Pakistan. “Rehman Malik is the biggest enemy of mine.”

Mirza said that Wali Khan Babar, a Karachi-based journalist, was killed by MQM. “Liaquat, a target killer, killed Wali Khan Babar,” he said.

“The Muttahida Qaumi Movement has not 100 percent mandate in Karachi and Hyderabad.”

“I am not a qualified actor. Rehman Malik is the vice chancellor of ‘liar’ university,” he added.

Mirza said that the Khidmat-e Khalq Foundation’s ambulances are used to transfer weapons and, he added, bodies are thrown through these vehicles.

“The chief of CPLC has affiliation with this organization. I don’t want to see him as the head of CPLC.”

“Altaf Hussain wrote a letter to UK’s premier Tony Blair in 2001, requesting him to eliminate ISI before it can create more Osama bin Laden,” he said.

He said that ISI and army have saved the country.

“I was forced to send to Nine Zero (MQM’s headquarter) once.”

Mirza said that Ishtiaq is a notorious target killer. He belongs to the MQM.

He said that during his time as a Sindh’s home minister he appointed about ten thousand policemen throughout the province. “I did not appoint anyone on the recommendations of the MQM,” he added.
“Altaf Hussain is a killer and the MQM is a terrorist organization,” he said.

“I have dedicated my life for the people of Karachi. I invite business community and traders to support me,” he said.

“It was attempted to defame me through facebook and other means.”

He said that Interior Minister Rehman Malik did not inform the party leadership rightly. “He is the aide of target killers.”

Replying to a question, he said that he will appear before the Supreme Court. “If am called by the court, I’ll say the truth on the Karachi situation,” he added.

Mirza said that MQM’s Nasreen Jalil wrote letters against him to 22 foreign ambassadors.

“I am not leaving PPP and my relation with President Asif Ali Zardari will be intact,” he replied.

Mirza said that he and Pir Mazharul Haq held a meeting with MQM’s Chief Altaf Hussain in London. “Altaf informed me that America wanted to disintegrate Pakistan and his party (MQM) will continue to support this cause and will kill Pakhtoon people,” he said. TrendPK

India anti-graft activist to end fast after government agrees demands

NEW DELHI: A self-styled Gandhian activist whose campaign against corruption sparked some of India’s biggest anti government protests in decades will end a 13-day hunger strike on Sunday after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh caved in to his demands.

The 74-year-old Anna Hazare has tapped a groundswell of public anger against endemic corruption, uniting the country’s bulging middle-class against a hapless political class and underlining voter anger at Singh and the ruling Congress party.

India’s parliament on Saturday backed landmark anti-corruption legislation, meeting Hazare’s key demands. Tens of thousands of mostly urban and wired voters across India will claim victory in an unprecedented movement that may usher in a new force in Indian politics and hit the ruling Congress party hard in crucial state elections next year.

“I feel this is the country’s victory … Tomorrow at 10 am I want to publicly break my fast,” Hazare told over tens of thousands of cheering supporters on Saturday evening at a protest site in New Delhi that has become the epicentre of a nationwide crusade.

“Only half of the battle has been won, there is still some of it left,” a weak-looking Hazare told the crowd.

Hazare and his team of social activist aides led a rousing rendition of the Indian national anthem as supporters waved national flags and celebrated almost a fortnight of protest.

The veteran activist, whose health had seriously deteriorated as his weight fell, made the announcement after a specially-convened session of parliament ended with lawmakers backing a resolution by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to push for a law to create an independent ombudsman with wide-ranging power to investigate lawmakers, the judiciary and bureaucrats.

Undermined by graft scandals and seen as out-of-touch with voters battling high inflation, Congress’ failure to deal with Hazare’s campaign before it became a national issue spells danger for the ruling party in state polls next year ahead of the 2014 general election.

While protests in India are not uncommon, the sight of many well-off young professionals using Twitter and Facebook taking to the streets of Asia’ third-largest economy suggest an awakening of a previously politically-ambivalent middle class.

PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION

Mukherjee on Saturday said parliament agreed to demands from Hazare to bring civil servants under the proposed agency’s authority alongside parliament and the judiciary, ensure similar agencies at a state level and create a citizen’s charter.

“We are at a crossroads, let us try to find a solution within the constitutional framework without violating the supremacy of Parliament,” Mukherjee told the lower house.

Support for Mukherjee’s resolution came after a grueling day of fractious debate in both chambers that highlighted just how much Hazare’s campaign and the public support for it had rocked India’s political establishment.

Hazare’s trademark white cap has been sported by thousands of protesters across the country, and the slogan “I am Anna” has become a rallying cry for a generation of young people disillusioned by their graft-stained politicians.

Hazare is not some out-of-the-blue phenomenon, however. Deep-seated change has been underway for years in India as its once-statist economy globalises, bolstered by a widely used freedom of information act, aggressive private media and the election of state politicians who have rejected traditional caste-support bases to win on governance issues.

After a botched arrest as part of a hardline approach to Hazare, a government U-turn saw ministers praise the activist, suggesting a leadership deficit in Congress without party head Sonia Gandhi, who is recovering after surgery for an undisclosed condition.

Congress pledged a slew of economic reforms after winning re-election in 2009 that would have made foreign investment easier and tax collection more effective. But graft and anger over inflation has stymied attempts to debate the legislation.

Transparency International rates India in 87th place on the most corrupt countries, according to a 2010 survey.

Several scandals linked to the government, including a bribery scam involving the granting of telecom licences that led to the arrest of a telecoms minister and may have cost the state up to $39 billion in lost revenues, led to Hazare’s latest protest.

Congress has staked a large amount of political capital on victory in next year’s state election in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, where a disappointing result would ring serious alarm bells for the federal ballot in 2014.

Hazare became the unlikely thorn in the side of the government when he went on hunger strike in April. He called off that fast after the government promised to introduce a bill creating an anti-corruption ombudsman.

The so-called Lokpal legislation was presented in early August, but activists slammed the draft version as toothless because the prime minister and judges were exempt from probes. AGENCIES

Karachi administrator removed

KARACHI: Lala Fazl-ur Rehman, Karachi’s Administrator, has been removed while additional charge is given to District Coordination Officer Mahammad Hussain Syed, TrendPK reported Monday.

According to the notification issued on August 9, Karachi’s DCO had to take the charge of the administrator but Lala Fazl-ur Rehman remained on the post on the verbal orders of Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah. TrendPK

Army may be deployed in Karachi

KARACHI: Federal Interior Minister Abdul Rehman Malik, following the incident of ambush at policemen in Korangi, resulting in demise of six cops, has nodded his head for deployment of army in Karachi, saying, “Karachi may be given under authority of army to ensure peace and stability in case the ongoing spree of violence and target killings continue to plague the city, TrendPK reported late Friday.

Karachi: Rangers, police patrolling likely to be increased in sensitive areas

The Sindh government, in a higher level meeting, decided to increase Rangers and police patrolling and taking targeted action on the basis of intelligence reports.

The overall law and order situation was discussed during a meeting at National Crisis Management chaired by Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik.

The interior minister lauded efficiency of Sindh IG and CCPO Karachi for arresting dacoits and accused of kidnapping for ransom and directed to continue action against criminal elements.

MQM to re-join govt soon: Wasan

Sindh Home Minister Manzoor Wasan has said that he will invite MQM leaders to his village and will serve them with dates and butter.

Reconciliatory efforts between the MQM and the government began on Friday.

Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad met with President Asif Ali Zardari in Islamabad and attended an Iftar party hosted by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah in Karachi.

Home Minister Wasan said that MQM would soon rejoin the PPP-led ruling coalition.

He said that he would take MQM leaders to his village for a trip. He said that local body systems of Karachi and Hyderabad would be amended if needed. But he explained that there would be no amendments in Commissionerate System and Police Act.

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