List of 242 NRO beneficiaries sent to PM

NAB has sent list of 242 NRO-benefited officials to the Prime Minister which has been sent to the Law Ministry for scrutiny.
This list was sent to Establishment Division two days ago which has now reached the PM House. The list doesnt include the named of President Asif Ali Zardari whose name was included in an earlier list sent to the Supreme Court. Interior Minister Rehman Maliks name has been included in the new list. Besides, names of former MD OGDC Adnan Khawaja and Principal Secretary of President Zardari Salman Farooqi have also been included in the list. Other key figures whose names are included in the list include Javed Talat, Pakistans executive director in World Bank, and Siraj Shamsuddin, Pakistans executive in Asian Development Bank. Similarly, names of three ambassadors are also included in the list. These are Pakistans ambassador in Iran Maula Bakhsh Abbasi, ambassador in Britain Wajid Shamsul Hassan and ambassador in US Hussain Haqqani. Pir Mukarram Shah, ex-husband of Farzana Raja is also NRO beneficiary.
The PM told the Senate that this list has been sent to the Law Ministry for scrutiny.

Senate: 291 train accidents in 2 years, 60 killed

ISLAMABAD: The Upper House was told Friday that a total of 60 people were perished and 208 wounded in 291 train accidents in the past two years.

The Ministry of Railways informed the Senate in writing that 61 passenger coaches and 7744 freight coaches have completed their operational life.

On the occasion, opposition leader in Senate Wasim Sajjad said the Railways Minister, accepting responsibility of the train accidents, should tender his resignation.

In a written reply it has been stated that 4 private airlines are operational in the country while an application of one more is under consideration.

The Interior Ministry told the Senate that a summary of raise in the salaries of FC personnel has been moved.

The Senate unanimously approved amendment bill 2010 in the Civil Laws.

Later, the session was adjourned till 4 PM Monday.

NAB recovers Rs225b since 2000

ISLAMABAD: Law Minister Babar Awan told the Senate on Friday that according to the NAB”s record, it recovered 225 billion rupees from defaulters since 2000 and some 1.7 billion rupees were disbursed among NAB”s employees during this period as reward for the recovery.

Senate Chairman Forooq Naik instructed to constitute a committee to scrutinise the affairs of NAB.

The Senate was also informed that a new law to ensure across the board transparent accountability was in the offing and it would be tabled before the parliament soon, after due consultation with all political forces.

Law minister told the Senate that the government was committed to ensuring good governance through transparent accountability and that the new law would help in achieving that goal.

Al-Qaeda ‘To Attempt US Attack Soon’: Spy Shief

Al-Qaeda ‘To Attempt US Attack Soon’: Spy Shief, Al-Qaeda can be expected to attempt an attack on the US in the next three to six months, the top US spy chief says.
“The chances of an attempted attack are certain. They’re going to try,” US Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair replied when asked about the likelihood of an attempted al-Qaeda strike over that time frame.
Blair said the extremist network that carried out the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks would keep targeting the United States until bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri have been caught or killed.
“We judge that al-Qaeda maintains its intent to attack the Homeland preferably with a large scale operation that would cause mass casualties, harm the US economy, or both,” Blair told the Senate Intelligence Committee.
“We assess that at least until Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri are dead or captured, al-Qaeda will retain its resolute intent to strike the Homeland,” he said.
With President Barack Obama’s administration under fire for its handling of the attempted Christmas Day bomber, notably informing him of his right to remain silent, Blair declined to say whether bin Laden should get the same treatment if captured.
Instead, Blair said he “would very much hope” that the Saudi-born extremists would be interrogated and that officials would “squeeze” him for information.
CIA Director Leon Panetta told Congress on Tuesday the terrorist organisation is deploying operatives to the US to carry out new attacks from inside the country, including “clean” recruits with a negligible trail of terror contacts. Al-Qaeda is also inspiring homegrown extremists to trigger violence on their own, Panetta added.
“The biggest threat is not so much that we face an attack like 9/11. It is that al-Qaeda is adapting its methods in ways that oftentimes make it difficult to detect,” Panetta told the Senate Intelligence Committee.

---

Al-Qaeda ‘To Attempt US Attack Soon’: Spy Shief was first posted on February 3, 2010 at 1:34 pm.

Killing Bin Laden key to Al Qaeda Defeat: McChrystal

WASHINGTON : Killing or capturing Osama bin Laden is the key to defeating the al Qaeda terror network, the top US military commander in Afghanistan told US legislators on Tuesday.

“I believe he is an iconic figure at this point whose survival emboldens al Qaeda as a franchising organization across the world,” said General Stanley McChrystal, testifying in Congress about the US military surge of forces in Afghanistan.

“It would not defeat al Qaeda to have him captured or killed, but I don’t think that we can finally defeat al Qaeda until he’s captured or killed,” McChrystal told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

US officials believe that bin Laden — considered the chief mastermind of the attacks of September 11, 2001 on New York and Washington that killed nearly 3,000 people — is hiding along the mountainous Afghan-Pakistani border.

US ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry, also testifying at the hearing, said that capturing or killing bin Laden “does remain important to the American people — indeed, the people of the world.”

McChrystal and Eikenberry testified about the renewed push in the Afghan war after President Barack Obama ordered an additional 30,000 troops to the country.

US national security adviser James Jones told CNN on Sunday that the latest intelligence reports suggest that Bin Laden “is somewhere inside north Waziristan, sometimes on the Pakistani side of the border, sometimes on the Afghan side of the border, hiding in very, very rough mountainous area, generally ungoverned.”

However Defense Secretary Robert Gates, also speaking Sunday, said in an interview that Washington did not know where bin Laden was and had lacked reliable information on his whereabouts for years.

A recent Senate report said Bin Laden was “within the grasp” of American forces in late 2001 but escaped because then-defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld rejected calls for reinforcements.

---

Killing Bin Laden key to Al Qaeda Defeat: McChrystal was first posted on December 9, 2009 at 4:09 pm.