Two Westerners kidnapped in Pakistan held by Taliban

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Two Western aid workers kidnapped in Pakistan in January are being held by the Pakistan Taliban near the border with Afghanistan, a senior militant commander told Reuters on Saturday.  

Gunmen stormed a house in Multan in southern Punjab province on Jan. 19 and drove away with two foreigners — one an Italian citizen and the other believed to be a German.  

“The two NGO (non-governmental organization) workers who were kidnapped in Multan nearly a month ago are in our custody near the border. We haven’t made any demands yet,” a senior commander of the Pakistan Taliban said.  

“They are in good health.”  

A Punjab provincial police chief said last month the foreigners were being held for ransom.   

Criminal gangs often target foreign aid workers in Pakistan in hope of securing large ransoms for their release. Pakistani officials say militant groups such as the Taliban are also involved in kidnappings.       

The senior commander said the Westerners were being held by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, an umbrella group of Pakistani militant factions formed in 2007 which is also allied with the Afghan Taliban and al Qaeda.  

In January, a Kenyan aid worker and his Pakistani driver went missing in southern Sindh province. A British doctor with the International Committee of the Red Cross was kidnapped by gunmen from the southwestern city of Quetta on Jan. 5.  

Last year, American aid worker Warren Weinstein was kidnapped from the central Pakistani city of Lahore. Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for Weinstein’s abduction in December.  

In July, a Swiss couple was kidnapped from the southwestern Baluchistan province by the Pakistani Taliban.  

Such kidnappings in Pakistan put off long-term investors. Foreign direct investment in Pakistan fell 37 percent to $531.2 million in the second half of 2011 from $839.6 million in the final six months of 2010. AGENCIES

Microsoft certified Pakistani wonder kid makes world record by creating 7 computer operating systems

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ABBOTABAD: After Arfa Karim now another Pakistani wonder boy has made world record after creating Microsoft and Google certified seven computer operating systems in the suburb of Abbotabad.

This teen computer genius of Pakistan, 14-year old student Sikandar Mehmood Baloch, lives in Bilal Town situated in the suburb of Abbotabad.

Sikandar not only become certified expert of 107 computer engineering languages in this young age, he also received all important certificates of his achievements from the Microsoft and performed work for the Gooogle.

He received further 25 certificates as acknowledgement of his unique work performed for Google the biggest search engine in the world.

Sikandar Mehmood is studying in 9th grade in a local school and he has made many Linux Systems (From VVS1 to VVS7) and developed an indigenous anti-virus system as well.

Sikandar made world record at the age of nine after making his first operating system. He works with many web sites and earns over 70 US dollars daily. TrendPK

US commander to visit Pakistan this month to repair ties: US paper

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WASHINGTON: Gen. James N. Mattis, the head of the military’s Central Command will visit Pakistan this month and meet Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the Pakistani Army chief of staff, to discuss the investigations into the US attack at the Afghan border that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, as well as new border coordination procedures to prevent a recurrence of the episode.

General Mattis’s visit was slated to begin Thursday, but has been postponed by at least a week pending debate in the Pakistani Parliament over a new security policy toward the United States.

General Mattis’s visit is aimed at formally presenting to Pakistan the Central Command’s findings in the Nov. 26 episode.

“We’ve felt an apology would be helpful in creating some space,” said an American official who has been briefed on the State Department’s view and who spoke on the condition of anonymity as internal discussions continued.

The State Department is in support a proposal for the United States government to issue a formal apology for the deaths of the Pakistani soldiers in the Nov. 26 airstrike by American gunships. TrendPK

Taliban video shows execution of Pakistani soldiers

PESHAWAR: Taliban militants have released a video showing the execution of 15 Pakistani soldiers whose bodies were found earlier this month after they were kidnapped in northwestern Pakistan.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan had claimed responsibility for the killings.

The 15 FC (Frontier Constabulary) personnel were kidnapped late last month after a night-time raid on a checkpoint in the northwestern town of Tank.

Pakistan’s seven tribal districts near the Afghan border, including North Waziristan, are rife with homegrown insurgents and are strongholds of Taliban and Al-Qaeda operatives.

The 2.38 minute video, a copy of which was obtained by AFP, was released late Saturday and shows the blindfolded soldiers sitting in three rows on a hillside.

The soldiers had their hands tied behind their backs and were flanked by two masked gunmen.

A middle-aged soldier, who identifies himself as Babar Khan, says in the video that he was captured with the others by Taliban militants who stormed their outpost late at night.

Then an unidentified Taliban commander wearing a leather jacket appears and says the group was taking revenge for the killing of 12 Taliban fighters in Khyber tribal district.

“We warn the government of Pakistan to stop killing our people whom they have arrested and if they continue to do so then Taliban will (kill) them like this,” he says, before he starts shooting the captured soldiers with a Kalashnikov rifle, raising the slogan Allah-o-Akbar (God is great).

Other militants join him in shooting the captured soldiers.

FC commandant Majeed Khan Marwat told AFP that he had received the video and said that his men had been “martyred”.

Officials said that the men were killed in Shawa, a small town in the North Waziristan tribal region near the Afghan border. AGENCIES

Defence Day being observed today

KARACHI: The 46th Defence day is being observed today (Tuesday) countrywide with renewed resolve and  commitment to defend the ideological and geographical boundaries of the country from any aggression in line with the spirit and unity exhibited by the whole nation by standing shoulder to shoulder with defenders of the motherland in September 1965.

September 6th, 1965 is a historic moment when Pakistani nation in concert with its armed forces retaliated an attack by a far ferocious enemy and made it bite the dust.

India, maddened by its military might, undertook an unholy incursion against in order to satisfy its long-harbored desire to efface Pakistan from the face of earth September 6, 1965. But, jawans of Pakistan’s armed forces, carving out an indelible mark on the history of nations, fended off the enemies’ attack.

The daylong celebrations started with Quran Khawani, following special prayers for the sovereignty, solidarity and integrity of Pakistan.

The national flag has been hoisted at all Formation Headquarters, Units and Army installations. Tribute is being paid to the valiant soldiers, who had laid down their lives for the defence of country.

September 6 is marked as the Defence Day of Pakistan as on this day in 1965, the armed forces successfully defended the motherland against the invasion of Indian army. TrendPK

Pakistan to extradite Bali bomb suspect this month

A top anti-terrorism official says Pakistan will extradite a key suspect in the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people to Indonesia by the end of the month.

Indonesian national Umar Patek had a $1 million bounty on his head when he was captured in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad in January 25, four months before Osama bin Laden was killed there in a US commando attack.

The 41-year-old Patek allegedly built the bombs used in the suicide attacks on Bali nightclubs packed with foreign tourists. Many of the victims were Australians.

Anti-Terrorism Agency chief Ansyaad Mbai told the media on Wednesday that Patek would be returned to Indonesia before Aug. 30 to stand trial.

Police calm London, but riots flare across UK

LONDON: Thousands of extra police officers on the streets kept a nervous London quiet Wednesday after three nights of rioting, but looting flared in Manchester and Birmingham, where a murder probe was opened when three men were killed after being hit by a car.

An eerie calm prevailed in the capital, where hundreds of shops were shuttered or boarded up as a precaution, but unrest spread across England on a fourth night of violence by brazen crowds of young people.

Scenes of ransacked stores, torched cars and blackened buildings have frightened and outraged Britons just a year before their country is to host next summer’s Olympic Games, bringing demands for a tougher response from law enforcement. Police across the country have made almost 1,200 arrests since the violence broke out over the weekend.

In London, where armored vehicles and convoys of police vans patrolled the streets, authorities said there were 16,000 officers on duty — almost triple the number present Monday night.

The show of force seems to have worked. There were no reports of major trouble in London, although there were scores of arrests. Almost 800 people have been arrested in London since trouble began Saturday.

“What happened in London last night was, when community leaders and the police came together, there were significant arrests,” said police deputy assistant chief constable Stephen Kavanagh. “We used buses to make sure some looters were taken away before they got into doing anything, but it was that joint action that made the difference.”

Outside the capital, some looting erupted, but not on the scale of the violence that hit several areas of London on Monday.

In the northwestern city of Manchester, hundreds of youths rampaged through the city center, hurling bottles and stones at police and vandalizing stores. A women’s clothing store on the city’s main shopping street was set ablaze, along with a disused library in nearby Salford.

Manchester assistant chief constable Garry Shewan said it was simple lawlessness.

“We want to make it absolutely clear — they have nothing to protest against,” he said. “There is nothing in a sense of injustice and there has been no spark that has led to this.”

Britain’s soccer authorities were talking with police to see whether this weekend’s season-opening matches of the Premier League could still go ahead in London. A Wednesday match between England and the Netherlands at London’s Wembley stadium was canceled to free up police officers for riot duty.

Britain’s riots began Saturday when an initially peaceful protest over a police shooting in London’s Tottenham neighborhood turned violent. That clash has morphed into a general lawlessness in London and several other cities that police have struggled to halt.

While the rioters have run off with goods every teen wants — new sneakers, bikes, electronics and leather goods — they also have torched stores apparently just for the fun of seeing something burn. They were left virtually unchallenged in several neighborhoods, and when police did arrive they often were able to flee quickly and regroup.

With police struggling, some residents stood guard to protect their neighborhoods. Outside a Sikh temple in Southall, west London, residents vowed to defend their place of worship if mobs of young rioters appeared. Another group marched through Enfield, in north London, aiming to deter looters.

One far-right group said about 1,000 of its members were taking to the streets to deter rioters.

“We’re going to stop the riots — police obviously can’t handle it,” Stephen Lennon, leader of the far-right English Defense League, told The Associated Press. He warned that he couldn’t guarantee there wouldn’t be violent clashes with rioting youths.

Anders Behring Breivik, who has confessed to the bombing and massacre that killed 77 people in Norway last month, has cited the EDL as an inspiration.

In the central England city of Nottingham, police said rioters hurled firebombs though the window of a police station, and set fire to a school and a vehicle but there were no reports of injuries. Some 90 people were arrested.

Some 250 people were arrested after two days of violence in Birmingham — where police launched a murder investigation after the deaths of three men hit by a car — some residents said the men had been patrolling their neighborhood to keep it safe from looters.

Police said a man had been arrested on suspicion of murder in the case.

In the northern city of Liverpool, about 200 youths hurled missiles at police and firefighters in a second night of unrest, and 44 arrests were reported.

There also were minor clashes in the central and western England locations of Leicester, Wolverhampton, West Bromwich, Bristol, and Gloucester — where police and firefighters tackled a blaze and disturbance in the city’s Brunswick district.

In London, hundreds of stores, offices, pubs and restaurants had closed early Tuesday amid fears of fresh rioting. Normally busy streets were eerily quiet and the smell of plywood filled the air as business owners rushed to secure their shops before nightfall.

In east London’s Bethnal Green district, convenience store owner Adnan Butt, 28, said the situation was still tense.

“People are all at home — they’re scared,” he said.

Prime Minister David Cameron’s government rejected calls by some lawmakers and citizens for strong-arm riot measures that British police generally avoid, such as tear gas and water cannons.

“The public wanted to see tough action. They wanted to see it sooner and there is a degree of frustration,” said Andrew Silke, head of the criminology department at the University of East London.

Cameron recalled Parliament from its summer recess for an emergency debate on the riots Thursday.

Other politicians visited riot sites Tuesday — but for many residents it was too little, too late. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg was booed by crowds who shouted “Go home!” in Birmingham, while London Mayor Boris Johnson was heckled on a shattered shopping street in Clapham, south London.

Johnson said the riots would not stop London from “welcoming the world to our city” for the 2012 Olympics.

So far 770 people have been arrested in London and 167 charged — including an 11-year-old boy — and the capital’s prison cells were overflowing. Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service said it had teams of lawyers working 24 hours a day to help police decide whether to charge suspects.

A total of 111 officers and 14 members of the public have been hurt.

The violence was triggered by the fatal police shooting of Mark Duggan, a 29-year-old father of four who was gunned down in Tottenham on Thursday under disputed circumstances.

Police said Duggan was shot dead when officers from Operation Trident — the unit that investigates gun crime in the black community — stopped a cab he was riding in. A Saturday protest demanding justice degenerated into a riot, which spread to neighboring parts of London on Sunday and by Monday had spread across the capital.

Duggan’s death resonated because it stirred memories of the 1980s, when many black Londoners felt they were disproportionately stopped and searched by police. Their frustration erupted in violent riots in 1985.

But the rioters who have taken to the streets since Sunday have been extremely diverse — those in central England appeared to be mostly white and working class. AGENCIES

Drone attacks challenge to Pakistans stability, says Shahbaz

British Member Parliament Keun Jons replied that it was being done with the permission of Pakistani government, which is following dual policy.

The drones are also igniting extremism.

Britain member Parliament Lord Nazir Ahmad received the guests with open arms.

Pakistani athletes shine in Athens Special Olympics.

The glorifying performance of Pakistani athletes continues in Athens Special Olympics.

Most successful athlete Adeel Ameer have won gold medals in 100 metre sprint after winning the gold in long jump, 100×4 race and rally race events.

Rahimullah won the silver medal in 1,500 metre race.

Misbah Tariq named silver medal in 200 metre sprint.

Abdul Nasir and Zulfiqar Ali won gold medals in Bocce double game.

Losing to India in the final of basket ball event, Pakistan have to content with the silver medal.

Somali pirates extend deadline for ransom delivery

In an exclusive interview with News Trends, Citizens-Police Liaison Committee chief Ahmed Chinoy said that the Somali pirates have extended the deadline for the release of the Pakistani hostages.

Ahmed Chinoy said that negotiations with the Somali pirates for the releases of hostages are underway. He said that the all settlements would be finalised by Monday.

Ahmed Chinoy said that due to non-cooperation by India an extension had to be taken and in-detail discussion are being held with the Somali pirates.

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