DFC opposes resumption of NATO supply

TrendPK.com

KARACHI: Difa-e-Pakistan Council (DPC) has said that no compromise will be accepted on national security and resumption of NATO supplies.

Speaking at Difia Pakistan Conference in Karachi Sunday, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (S) Maulana Sami ul Haq stressed on the need to rescue Pakistan from the clutches of foreign supremacy and religious, and ethnic prejudiced.

Jamaat-e-Islami Amir Munawar Hasan said any election, in the presence of President Asif Ali Zardari, will be a drama and only produce fake results.

Awami Muslim League (AML) chief Sheikh Rashid stated this government has toppled all previous records of corruption in just four years.

Leaders of more than 40 religious and political parties attended the conference. TrendPK

Rally in Kabul wants NATO out

Hundreds of Afghans have taken to the streets of the country s capital to demand the immediate withdrawal of international troops ahead of the 10th anniversary of the US invasion.

Thursday s peaceful demonstration in downtown Kabul was meant to mark the Oct. 7 invasion of Afghanistan 10 years ago, following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks against the United States.

The invasion came after Taliban leader Mullah Omar refused to hand over Osama bin Laden, purportedly because of his disbelief that the al-Qaida chief was responsible for the attacks and because it went against the Afghan tradition of hospitality and protection of guests.

US forces killed bin Laden in a raid on his hideout in Pakistan in May.

Libya: Pro-Kadhafi forces fired 3 Scuds at Misrata

BRUSSELS: Forces loyal to defiant Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi fired three Scud missiles in the direction of Misrata during Monday fighting, a NATO spokeswoman told AFP on Tuesday.

Libyan rebels suffer losses in Misrata

MISRATA: Libyan rebels said at least eight of their fighters were killed repelling a government attack on Misrata on Saturday, but were buoyed by a series of NATO air strikes on government positions.

The last rebel bastion in western Libya, Gaddafi’s forces appear bent on seizing Misrata and crucially its port, which some analysts say the veteran leader needs to control if he is to survive a prolonged conflict.

For a second straight day, government forces pounded the eastern side of Misrata with heavy artillery, a rebel who identified himself as Mustafa Abdulrahman told Reuters, with the fighting centred on the Nakl al-Theqeel road to the port.

Rebels in Libya’s third city had been angered in past days by what they considered a reluctance by NATO to attack Muammar Gaddafi’s troops, who have laid siege to Misrata for more than six weeks.

“I have to say that the NATO forces have changed since yesterday, we are sensing a positive change. They have bombed at least four sites held by Gaddafi’s forces in Misrata,” Abdulrahman told Reuters by telephone.

NATO air strikes on Gaddafi’s armour seemed to have intensified in the last 24 hours, he added, with coalition missiles targeting at least four sites on Saturday.

Coalition aircraft also attacked a target in the southern outskirts of the city, a Libyan official said. “This smoke is from a NATO air strike which hit today,” the official said, pointing to a plume of black smoke.

As darkness fell over deserted streets of Misrata’s southern outskirts, a Reuters correspondent reported hearing the boom of artillery and saw smoke swirling above the city from several different locations.

In one Gaddafi-controlled neighbourhood, pick-up trucks packed with militia fighters sped towards the city, passing government checkpoints manned by militia fighters and reinforced by anti-aircraft guns.

Journalists had been promised a trip to central Misrata to show how the city was firmly under the government’s control but the bus was diverted to another location on Misrata’s southern fringe.

There, many buildings including a mosque and a hospital were pockmarked with bullet holes. Some had clearly been hit by artillery shells.

After weeks of encirclement, shelling and sniper fire, resident in Misrata say essential food stuffs are running low, the supply of water and electricity is sporadic and hospitals overflowing.

A Red Cross-chartered vessel carrying enough medical supplies to treat 300 patients with weapons injuries docked in Misrata earlier on Saturday, helping the agency to extend its activities to western Libya, it said.

However, reinforcements are also reaching Gaddafi’s forces.

“The Gaddafi forces received supplies last night and reinforcements on the eastern side of the city. It seems they want to enter the port,” Abdulrahman said.

It is difficult to verify the reports independently because journalists have not been allowed to report freely from Misrata, which lies about 200 km (125 miles) east of Tripoli. Gaddafi says he is fighting armed gangs with ties to al Qaeda. AGENCIES

Libyan rebels, Gaddafi forces fight on coast road

AJDABIYAH: Libyan rebels reported heavy fighting with the forces of Muammar Gaddafi on the Mediterranean coast road on Wednesday as both sides tried to break a stalemate in the seven-week war.

Mohamed el-Masrafy, a member of a rebel special forces unit, said clashes began at 6 a.m. (0400 GMT) after Gaddafi’s forces were resupplied with ammunition and moved eastwards out of the oil port of Brega.

He told Reuters after returning to the eastern town of Ajdabiyah there was heavy fighting with machineguns and other weapons.

“The rebel army is about 60 kms from here,” he said. That would put them about 20 kms from Brega, the focus of a week-long see-saw battle. Gaddafi’s forces mounted a sustained assault on Tuesday that pushed the rebels about half way back to Ajdabiyah, gateway to their stronghold of Benghazi.

As rebels in pick-ups piled with weapons headed west from Ajdabiyah and civilians fleeing the fighting passed them in the opposite direction, anger mounted over alleged lack of air strikes by NATO.

Hossam Ahmed, a defector from Gaddafi’s army, said the frontline was 40-60 km west of Adjabiyah, saying Tuesday’s retreat “wasn’t a full withdrawal, it’s back and forth.”

Like other rebels at Ajdabiyah’s western gate, Ahmed expressed frustration at the lack of NATO action. “There have been no air strikes. We hear the sound but they don’t bomb anything,” he said.

“WHAT HAS NATO DONE?”

Another rebel, Khaled al-Obeidi said: “What has NATO done, what has NATO bombed?”

“What is NATO waiting for? We have cities that are being destroyed. Ras Lanuf, Ben Jawad, Brega, and Gaddafi is destroying Misrata completely,” said Said Emburak, 43, a resident of Ajdabiyah.

Rebel army leader Abdel Fattah Younes has accused NATO of being too slow to order airstrikes, saying Gaddafi’s forces have been allowed to slaughter civilians in the besieged and isolated western city of Misrata.

NATO denies the pace of air strikes has abated since it took over from a coalition led by the United States, Britain and France on March 31.

Journalists were banned on Wednesday from heading west from Ajdabiyah, making it difficult to assess the fighting.

“Can you go with Gaddafi’s militias and do interviews with them and photograph the tanks? Well now you can’t with us either,” said al-Obeidi.

The conflict in the east has reached stalemate with Western air power preventing Gaddafi landing a knockout blow and the rebels’ rag-tag army unable to push closer towards Tripoli. AGENCIES

US gearing up to pull some vessels from Libya drive

WASHINGTON: The United States is planning to gradually remove some of the vessels it has in the Mediterranean now that NATO is taking command over the air strikes in Libya, a U.S. military official said on Monday.

Gunmen attack police HQ in Afghanistan’s Kandahar

KANDAHAR: Gunmen attacked the provincial police headquarters in Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar province on Saturday but it was unclear if there were any casualties, a Reuters witness and NATO-led forces said.

Actual number of missing NATO containers higher than reported: FTO

While addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Dr Suddle said that actual number of missing NATO containers was higher than reported. He further said that some FIA investigation team member wants to misguide the court. He should that all the culprits should be brought to justice.

He revealed that tax collection potential of Pakistan is about Rs.4-5 trillion. “We have come to know that there is a pilferage in the taxation system and resultantly we are only collecting one third of the tax potential”, Dr Suddle said .Highlighting the performance of FTO Secretariat, he said that in the year 2010, the Office of Federal Tax Ombudsman received 1446 individual complaints of which 955 pertained to income tax, 276 to sales tax, 205 to customs and 10 complaints involved the Federal Excise Duty.

Nato containers case: Probe report presented in SC

The Wafaqi Tax Mohtasib has presented complete probe report regarding the Nato containers case, trendpk.com reported on Tuesday.

As per the probe report, around 8,000 containers went missing inflicting Rs 25 billion loss to the national kitty. The investigation report confirmed liquor and arms smuggling instead of goods meant for the Nato and Isaf forces based in Afghanistan. It is pertinent to mention that the Supreme Court (SC) took suo moto notice of a report aired on trendpk.com programme Dunya Today hosted by Dr Moeed Pirzada, about liquor smuggling in containers meant for carrying ammunition, food and other necessities for NATO forces in Afghanistan. A three-member bench of the apex court under the head of Chief Justice of Pakistan heard the case.

The report replied to 11 question earlier raised by the SC, stating that the smuggling involved transporters, custom officials, clearing agents and importers. The report also called for setting up of a free collectorate for transit trade.

NATO disputes Afghan authorities over deadly raid

KABUL: The NATO-led force in Afghanistan disputed on Monday an accusation by the Afghan government that foreign forces had violated a security deal by conducting a night raid in Kabul that killed two guards last week.

Under the 2008 deal, Afghan authorities have to approve and lead all security operations in the Afghan capital. The Ministry of the Interior (MOI) said the rules had been ignored by foreign forces and that two senior Afghan policemen have been suspended over Friday’s raid.

But Brigadier General Josef Blotz, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), said ISAF troops had coordinated with Afghan security forces.

“ISAF coordinated with Afghan security forces to move on an area of interest, so we followed the usual procedures and the operation was partnered,” Blotz said.

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