The operator of a California wildlife sanctuary near Bakersfield, won't face criminal charges in connection with an attack by two chimpanzees. The animals critically injured a man last month.
Authorities say the operator, Virginia Brauer, was not to blame because the animals apparently escaped on their own. Kern County officials say one of the chimps apparently figured out how to reach through a tight space between a chain link fence and a wall, pull out a steel pin and slide a door open.The animals chewed off part of a man's face, and mauled other parts of his body, before Brauer's son-in-law shot the animals to death.
(emphasis added)
Source: AP, All Rights Reserved.
How long before rebel apes team up with rogue SUVs and rampage across the planet?
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy ||
04/21/2005 6:39:21 AM ||
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#1
They carved a gun out of soap, dyed their fur to resemble zookeeper's uniforms, and the other chimps started a ruckus to distract the guards.
A British terrorism suspect jailed while fighting extradition to the United States will stand for parliament in next month's British election from his prison cell, the political party backing him said on Wednesday. Computer expert Babar Ahmad, 30, has been indicted in the United States for running a Web site that raised funds for Muslim militants in Afghanistan and Chechnya. "There is no prohibition against someone on remand (pre-trial detention) standing in parliament," film actor Corin Redgrave, who founded the Peace and Progress party with Oscar-winning sister Vanessa, told Reuters. "He will be a very popular candidate. There is a deep-seated sense of injustice in this country about what happened in Guantanamo." Peace and Progress is also fielding Azmat Begg, father of a former detainee at the U.S. prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as a candidate in the May 5 election.
Ahmad's British supporters say he should not be extradited because Britain failed to find evidence to charge him with a crime at home. His cause has been taken up vocally in Britain's Muslim community. "If you vote for Babar it is a vote for justice," Ahmad's wife Maryam told reporters outside London's Bow Street Magistrates Court, where his extradition case is being heard. Ahmad has been held in London's top security Belmarsh jail since August last year, denied bail while his case is heard. The case was adjourned on Wednesday until May 17, when a decision on his extradition is expected.
Ahmad will stand in Brent North, an area of north west London with a large Muslim population. The constituency is now held by Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labour Party with a large majority. But Labour narrowly lost a one-off election in nearby Brent East last year after Muslim voters and others angry about the war in Iraq deserted it. Begg will stand in Birmingham, his home city, which also has a large Muslim community. Ahmad would not be the first British parliamentarian to stand for election from jail. Most famously, Northern Ireland nationalist Bobby Sands died on hunger strike in prison in 1981 after winning a seat.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/21/2005 12:25:56 AM ||
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The government of Bangladesh ordered an inquiry into weekend skirmish with Indian border at its frontier in which an Indian border guard and a 10-year-old Bangladeshi girl were killed, sources said yesterday. Bangladesh and India have accused each other of provoking the violence in Brahmanbaria district, 80 km east of Dhaka. While Bangladeshi officials have said a gun battle was sparked when Indians intruded onto their territory, officials in India said its border guards were abducted and dragged into Bangladeshi territory.
Four senior government officials will conduct the probe, the Home Ministry said in a statement. It did not provide further details. On Tuesday, Junior Home Minister Lutfuzzaman Babar called his Indian counterpart, Sri Prakash Jaiswal, to try to defuse tensions caused by the clash, United News of Bangladesh said. The two officials discussed the need to restore peace along the border, it said. Tension along the India-Bangladesh frontier has already been defused through talks, Bangladesh's foreign minister said yesterday.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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An al-Qaeda member helped abduct five children from Norfolk to Libya, a court heard on Wednesday.
The children disappeared after spending the day with their Libyan father, Azzedin Journazi, in June 2000.
On Wednesday the court was the told the father enlisted a group of people, including Djamel Beghal, of al-Qaeda.
Mustapha Abushima, 38, and Wedad Ahmed, 45, of Manchester, deny conspiring with others to abduct the children. The children remain in Libya.
The children's mother Anita Elgirnazi, 36, told Norwich Crown Court she eventually managed to contact them after acquiring a telephone number for her former husband's family.
Beghal, 39, was described as being a key member of an "extreme and puritanical group" financed by Osama Bin Laden, Norwich Crown Court heard.
Beghal, an Algerian, was sentenced to 10 years in prison earlier this year for associating with a terrorist organisation.
In a statement he admitted making the cross channel reservations - but said he thought the children were going to Disneyland Paris.
The children were snatched from their mother on 10 June 2000.
The prosecution alleges that their Libyan father Azzedin Journazi devised a plan to take them and recruited seven people including Beghal to help.
At the time Rumaysa Elgirnazi was 11, Safiya Elgirnazi, nine, Ali Elgirnazi, seven, Hamza Elgirnazi, four, and Aisha Elgirnazi, two.
The court was told by defence lawyer Martin Taylor that Beghal was a key member of a group called Takfir-Wal-Hirja, financed by Bin Laden. "In that group Beghal was described even amongst the extremists, he stood out as being one of the most dangerous," said Mr Taylor. The trial was adjourned until Thursday.
This article starring:
AZZEDIN JURNAZI
al-Qaeda
defence lawyer Martin Taylor
DJAMEL BEGHAL
al-Qaeda
DJAMEL BEGHAL
Takfir-Wal-Hirja
MUSTAPHA ABUSHIMA
al-Qaeda
WEDAD AHMED
al-Qaeda
Takfir-Wal-Hirja
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/21/2005 12:28:19 AM ||
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Unedited transcript prepared from a tape recording
Speakers: Murat Mercan, AKP
Richard Perle, AEI
Robert Pollock, Wall Street Journal
Michael Rubin, AEI
Proceedings:
MR. RUBIN: We have a lot to talk about today, so I'm pleased to get started. We have quite a distinguished panel here today.
I'm proud to welcome Professor Murat Mercan, who's a founding member and a deputy chairman of the AKP. He is a parliamentary deputy and also a professor at Bilkent University.
It's always good to have Richard Perle, the former member of the Defense Policy Review Board and a former assistant secretary of defense, who's long been very involved in Turkish-American relations.
I'm glad to welcome to the American Enterprise Institute Robert Pollock, who's a senior editorial page writer at the Wall Street Journal, known to many of you for some of his recent commentary on Turkish-American relations.
#1
I really could care less about Turkey. The only reason we played nice with them was for the air bases so we could reach the middle east with air power. We can do that now in Iraq and Afganistan, as well as Kuwait. We don't need to play nice with Turkey anymore and listen to their hate filled spew being directed at us. Cut the cord, wish 'em well and get the fook out. I'm sick of giving money to countries that are always using us as a bashing tool and scapegoat so their population has something to hate besides their own corrupt asses.
#2
agreed, but destroy Incirlik before exiting, so they can't annoy our Kurdish allies easily
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/21/2005 22:14 Comments ||
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#3
They made their bet, all in, and lost. It must really suck to be Chirac's favorite joke, but it was their choice. Life's a bitch. It's even worse when you're stupid - and Yippie's crew is the poster-child of stupidity.
#5
Contrary to popular belief, Americans have long memories and hold a grudge. But I'm sure France will honor their commitment to let Turkey into the EU. Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!
A few days ago, I posted an article from IWPR that put the Iraqi Kurds in a negative light, provoking some criticism here about IWPR's agenda. Whatever their agenda may be, they are no friends of dictators or slaves to political correctness, and they shine a harsh spotlight on the world's most malignant regimes. Case in point...
President Saparmurat Niazov has added public libraries to the long list of things banned in Turkmenistan ... Turkmen have grown used to living without opera, ballet, cinemas and even circuses — all forbidden by Niazov — but they say his decision to close all libraries cuts especially deep.
His explanation at a meeting of cabinet ministers was simple, "No one goes to libraries and reads books anyway." ... Only the national library appears to have escaped the purge, so, according to Niazov, it can house new Turkmen literature as well as historical texts.
The president said any more libraries are unnecessary as most books that Turkmen need — many written by Niazov himself — should already be in homes, workplaces and schools.
Those include the Niazov-penned Rukhnama — a spiritual treatise that is the basis of the country's education system - poems written by the president as well biographies of him and his parents. ... "To read all these books it is not necessary to go to the library as all these books should be close at hand for everyone," Niazov said.
In the late 1990s, he ordered classics of Turkmen literature ... pulled from the shelves and burned. Crucially, these works contradict Turkmenbashi's own writings, particularly his most important work, the Rukhnama, which denies any influence by civilisation, science or culture on the development of the Turkmen people. It also says the Turkmen invented the wheel and writing.
Though universities still have libraries, the supplies of books have not been updated for ten years while many works on history, literature and biology have been removed and destroyed. Bookshops elegantly display the president's works, but no other literature is sold. Bringing books into the country privately has become almost impossible as the government has set high customs duties on the import of printed material. Certain magazines including Cosmopolitan are available from private shops and stalls but since June 2002 subscriptions to foreign periodicals have been prohibited. Access to the web is expensive and limited and as a result most young people have never heard of the internet.
I detest the MSM's "aww, ain't he just the wackiest wittle guy?" attitude about Niazov. North Korea is the only society on Earth matching this one for sheer ideology-driven isolation, and Kim's only advantage over this asshole is having more subjects/prisoners to brutalize. Niazov's almost too much of a caricature to really exist, like some computer-generated opponent in a WOT wargame scenario: a Stalinist personality cult with a secular/nationalist veneer, all funded by the random whim of fortuitous oil and gas deposits, without which the regime would collapse ... leaving behind a vulnerable, tribal-based Islamic society ripe for jihadism.
Posted by: Rex Rufus ||
04/21/2005 5:38:48 AM ||
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Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2005 00:00:00 ||
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#1
No government shakier than a tyrannical one that wants to have both control and liberalization at once. Putin's a puppet. He'll be purged at the slightest hint of an economic downturn in Russia.
SEOUL: South Korea said on Wednesday it would oppose referral of North Korea to the UN Security Council despite a sharp escalation in the standoff over Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions. North Korea has shut down its only functioning nuclear reactor at Yongbyon, north of Pyongyang, and told a visiting US specialist that it planned to unload spent nuclear fuel from the plant and reprocess it into weapons-grade plutonium. A reactor must be shut down before nuclear fuel can be unloaded and sent for reprocessing. A senior North Korean diplomat at the United Nations, Han Song-Ryol, repeated the threat in an interview on Monday with a US newspaper, saying reprocessing would allow North Korea to "increase our deterrent," against the United States. Experts said reprocessing a full load of spent nuclear fuel from the reactor could double North Korea's nuclear arsenal.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2005 00:00:00 ||
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#1
South Korea said on Wednesday it would oppose referral of North Korea to the UN Security Council despite a sharp escalation in the standoff over Pyongyangâs nuclear ambitions.
#2
As South Korea continues her trek toward "Better 'Red' than "Dead'" conclusions, Not one Red Blooded American should die in the future over them, Allow Unification without the US firing a shot! Ala the British, with Hong Kong!
#3
Agreed.
If the South Korean Government wants to coddle the dictator, its time we let them have a love fest without our people in the way.
Pull the entire 2nd ID out, pull out the fighter eings, and take all out stuff and put it on Guam. Pull all US personnel out.
Let the Norks have a free shot without the US propping up a government that has obviously lost its mind as it sees us as the bigger threat then Kim. See how well Seoul does under the artillery of Kim without the US there as a retaliatory guarantee.
#6
Just in time for BRAC. The list comes out 16 May and hopefully the Land of the Morning Calm will be heavily represented. Time for the 2nd ID to leave and 7th AF to come home. Itaewon has been overpriced since the Olympics anyway.
During a state visit to China, French Premier Raffarin threw support behind a law allowing China to attack Taiwan and continued to push for a lift of the EU arms embargo. Huh, I wonder why?
At the outset of a three-day visit to China, French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said he supported Beijing's "anti-secession" law on Taiwan, and vowed to keep pushing for an end to an EU arms embargo that could open the door for Paris to sell weapons to the Asian giant. Oh, that is why. Positioning for money.
Raffarin also signed or finalized major business deals with Beijing valued at around $3.2 billion (2.4 billion euros). Is there a dictatorship France WON'T sell out too?
Appearing to put his government at odds with the European Union, and the rest of the world Raffarin said at the outset of the three day visit that Paris had no objections to the anti-secession law.
"The anti-secession law is completely compatible with the position of France," "The position of France is we want Americans to die." he said in a joint press conference with his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao.
And people still say France is an ally??
Rest at link.
#4
Well, just so we remember to tell the French that we have pre-positioned hundreds of tons of high explosives all over Paris, and each and every time the Chinese initiate an aggressive act with their French-made weapons, large numbers of Parisians will die. If the Chinese destroy Taiwan, there will be little left of Paris than ruins.
#7
Look, I understand that the French aren't our friends. But how could they be so unsubtle about this? Is Taiwan as hated as Israel over in Europe? I am baffled that this incident hasn't caused an uproar anywhere except on Rantburg.
Premier Silvio Berlusconi has handed the Italian president his resignation, stepping aside and pledging to form a new government to strengthen a coalition weakened by a sluggish economy and opposition to Italian involvement in Iraq. Berlusconi's resignation on Wednesday brings to an end to Italy's longest-serving government since the second world war. He had been under pressure to resign since a stinging defeat in regional elections this month.
President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi's office confirmed in a statement that Berlusconi had tendered the resignation of his cabinet and added that the government would stay on as caretaker. Earlier on Wednesday, Berlusconi addressed the Senate and informed the country of his plan to step down and form a new government and platform. It is up to Ciampi to designate a candidate to assemble a new government, or dissolve parliament and call early elections. Ciampi, who begins formal political consultations on Thursday, is expected to give Berlusconi the mandate to form a new cabinet. "The regional elections showed a clear sign of discomfort," Berlusconi told Senate. "I want to give an adequate political response." Government partners "have all demanded a new government, to be based on the same coalition," Berlusconi said. "I accept this challenge."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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#1
End of an era. And a first: an Italian premier's tenure spans two non-Italian popes.
From the Office of Naval Intelligence April 20th World Wide Threat to Shipping Report:
Per an 08 April report, the president of [the Japanese tug] Idaten's shipping company told media sources that he hired a negotiator in Malaysia to talk to the pirates.
The $462,000 USD required to secure the safe return of the hostages includes the negotiator's fee, travel costs, and compensation for the job Idaten was carrying out.
The company's president refused to discuss the ransom fee, because Malaysian law bans ransom payment in abduction cases.
Posted by: Pappy ||
04/21/2005 12:52:03 AM ||
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Security experts see growing signs of a link between Al Qaeda (search) and home-grown terrorists in the Philippines, raising fears that attacks against the United States could be launched from a country that used to be a U.S. colony.
"The terrorist threat in the Philippines has gone to a high point, especially with the concentration of Al Qaeda morphed into a group called Jemaah Islamiyah (search)," said Gen. Avelino Razon, director of the Philippine National Police.
Intelligence reports indicate that longtime separatist groups that have been fighting the Filipino government for an independent Islamic state are hooking up with Al Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah, Southeast Asia's version of Al Qaeda, which has been designated by the U.S. State Department as a foreign terrorist organization.
Just this week, a letter written by a member of the Jemaah Islamiyah said the group is planning an attack similar to the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings, said Singapore's minister of home affairs, Wong Kan Seng. Indonesia authorities seized some documents after a homicide car bombing at the Australian Embassy but it was unclear if the letter was among them.
Terrorists connected to the Philippine separatist group Abu Sayyaf (search) — also designated a terrorist group by the United States — are accused of setting off a bomb on a Manila ferry boat last year, killing 116 people.
And now, there's evidence these groups — and others — have formed an alliance, sharing training and cash for jihad while hiding out in the mostly lawless southern Philippine province of Mindanao. There's also intelligence that these groups are targeting military and commercial ships outside of the region.
"In many ways, Mindanao, if it's not paid attention to ... if we don't focus ⊠it could turn into another Afghanistan," said Joe Mussomeli, charge d'affairs at the U.S. Embassy in the Philippines. "For the potential danger to the U.S. and the region, yes, it [Philippines] is one of the front lines."
While in Manila, FOX News interviewed Abu Sayyaf operative Gamal Baharan (search), who confessed to a Feb. 14 Manila bus bombing that killed three and injured more than 100. Another operative, Abu Khalil (search), also confessed to that blast, which coincided with two other attacks in the country within minutes of each other.
"We're all fighting all over the world," Khalil told FOX News. "All of us are doing this for one reason: for Islam."
After his arrest, Baharan told authorities he took scuba lessons so that he could learn to attach explosives to the hull of a ship. He told FOX News that his orders came from someone outside the Philippines who spoke Arabic.
"All I know is, they hate America," Baharan said of his superiors.
Baharan has been speaking with Philippine authorities ever since his capture but some of his claims seem far-fetched. For example, he claims that Usama bin Laden himself has been keeping tabs on the scuba training via satellite phone. But others seem credible and highly worrisome, primarily that the training is for underwater operations outside of Southeast Asia.
Intelligence experts say it's likely the ultimate goal of underwater training is attacks against U.S. Navy and commercial ships. To stop them, the U.S. Coast Guard has developed a sonar defense system that's so sensitive operators will be able to distinguish between human swimmers and dolphins and give ample warning of an impending attack.
The Philippines has no such technology, however, and security officials there are worried about a homegrown enemy that appears to be shifting its focus from seeking independence to holy war.
The U.S. military recently finished training two anti-terrorism companies in the Filipino army to familiarize them with night-vision goggles, M-4 rifles and assault vehicles. Critics of the Filipino military, however, say it's just a fraction of what they need.
"We don't have a good maritime operation; the navy is helpless. The air force is nothing. We have the air, but we don't have the force," said Erick San Juan, former assistant national security advisor in the Philippines.
The United States is also paying Filipinos for information that could bring down a terrorist. The State Department's Rewards for Justice (search) program recently made its first payout — $1 million to three tipsters — whose identities were concealed for their own safety.
"There are a lot of people who are fed up with the terrorist groups, especially in this country, but they're afraid to say things," Mussomeli said. "The money not only is enticement, it's also a protection."
Military and counter-terrorism spending in the Philippines by the United States is now approaching $100 million per year. Add to that an equal amount of humanitarian aid and the American taxpayer's investment in this country has never been costlier. But scaling back, local politicians warn, could cost a lot more.
"By assisting the Philippines, you assist your country. You prevent elements from being trained out here to wreak havoc in any number of places," said Richard Gordon, a Filipino senator.
Too little assistance gives the edge to the Muslim extremists but if the American footprint is too heavy, some believe, it breeds resentment and more terrorists in the Southeast Asia region.
When the arrest of Palestinian Fawas Ajjur (search) was announced last month, President Gloria Arroyo called it an important blow against terrorism.
Two former Abu Sayyaf militants told authorities that Ajjur had trained them in bomb-making at a terrorist camp in the southern Philippines and officials believe Ajjur was returning to the country to carry out attacks, avenging the deaths of 19 terrorist commanders during a March prison riot.
Leading up to his arrival in the Philippines, Ajjur flew from the Ukraine to Thailand, where he stayed a week and was wired money. He took a train to Malaysia, then a plane to the Philippines, where he arrived with little money and no visa. There were explosives found and attacks along the way.
To some in counterterrorism, the arrests are further proof that Al Qaeda and other Islamic extremists are getting a stronger foothold in the Philippines.
"What we have here is some sort of a terrorist factory that we should stop," Razon said.
Terrorism is a constant concern in the Philippines, but this week, in particular, the police are on heightened alert as 1,300 delegates from around the world, including 40 high-ranking elected officials, are in Manila for a conference. There are 15,000 police devoted to protecting them.
Cars are checked at intersections and bomb-sniffing dogs greet patrons at hotels and shopping centers. High-profile arrests are about a weekly occurrence.
But Ajjur's arrest has some feeling confident in progress being made to quash terrorism there.
"With the capture of the terrorists here in metro Manila, with the capture of terrorists in Davao, we're getting the upper hand," said Lt. Col. Buenaventura Pascual of the Philippine army.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/21/2005 12:40:55 AM ||
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#1
"We donât have a good maritime operation; the navy is absolutely corrupt helpless..."
Government and rebel negotiators yesterday hailed a "breakthrough" in efforts to end a decades-old Muslim separatist rebellion in the southern Philippines. A joint statement at the end of a three-day meeting in this Malaysian port city between delegations from Manila and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said formal peace negotiations were expected to begin within months. Both sides "hailed the outcome of the meeting as a breakthrough towards a just and durable solution to the Mindanao conflict," the statement said.
The MILF has been demanding that it be granted rights over its "ancestral domain" or homeland which traditionally means the entire southern island of Mindanao, where they are fighting to establish an independent Islamic state. But MILF officials have said that they were willing to compromise on the demand, without saying what they were prepared to accept. "Since the inception of the peace process in January 1997, the Port Dickson talks marked the first time that both sides entered into substantive discussions outside the cessation of hostilities," the statement said. "The panel decided to forge on with technical level talks in Malaysia to exhaust all possible consensus points before the start of formal negotiations expected to be held by mid-year."
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's chief negotiator Silvestre Afable told a news conference that "the past three days have been very productive exploratory talks. This is truly a breakthrough. "This could not happen without the commitment of both sides and the sincerity shown by the MILF. President Arroyo is very happy with the development. We informed her that we have broken ground."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2005 00:00:00 ||
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#1
Oh No! Horrors! There is no cover hope without endless talks!
(BTW - Same as usual on dailytimes.com.pk: Service Unavailable... but who actually needs to read the story? It's been in rerun syndication for months, heh.)
#2
Expect the French to peel off and start doing multi-$B deals with the Iranians now. Helps to cheer up the domestic audience when they see their leaders doing everything possible to increase exports and piss in Uncle Sam's direction
President Pervez Musharraf said on Wednesday that he would never allow foreign inspectors into the country to examine Pakistan's nuclear facilities.
"That is tantamount to admitting that we cannot be trusted in our own house," he told a breakfast meeting of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines.
Asked whether he would allow inspectors from the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to inspect the country's nuclear facilities, President Musharraf said: "Why?"
"Our nuclear programme is for the protection of the people of Pakistan," he said. "You have to understand that this is a very sensitive issue for us. "And our people are sensitive to outsiders coming into our country asking questions. It's as though we cannot be trusted," he said.
"If the IAEA has questions about our nuclear programme then let them ask us. We have nothing to hide. "We will give them all the information they want but we will not allow their inspectors into our country to question our officials or inspect our facilities.
"If we did that it would be admitting that we can't be trusted." The president said the same also applied to nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan. "You have to understand that Dr Khan is a national hero in our country. "We will question him. No one should doubt our intention to give all the facts on this matter," President Musharraf said.
The president said efforts would be made to promote peace with India and find a solution to the Kashmir dispute. He said Islamabad had made resolving the Kashmir issue a priority to market Pakistan as an investment haven in South Asia.
"We need to resolve this issue once and for all in a flexible manner. The time of conflict management is over. It has to be conflict resolution. We must resolve this now or never."
He said acts of terrorism, like an attack on the recently resumed bus service, 'must be suppressed at all cost'. The president said he wanted to correct misconceptions about Pakistan, rejecting accusations that Islamabad supported militants and helped organize Al Qaeda network.
He said Pakistan was willing to give intelligence training as part of counter-terrorism cooperation with the Philippines to support peace talks between Manila and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/21/2005 12:36:02 AM ||
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A senior military commander here on Wednesday described as 'highly irresponsible' remarks by a US general that Pakistan was planning an army operation against militants in North Waziristan.
"It is a figment of his imagination. No operation is being launched in North Waziristan. This is highly irresponsible on his part. This is unwarranted and I condemn it," Peshawar Corps Commander Lt-Gen Safdar Hussain told reporters.
Commander of US forces in Afghanistan Lt-Gen David Barno had told reporters in Islamabad on Monday that militants were infiltrating into Afghanistan from Pakistan and Islamabad was planning a military operation in the North Waziristan tribal region.
Although Gen Hussain's meeting with reporters had been arranged to highlight achievements of the military during the year-long operation against militants in South Waziristan, the visibly upset commander spoke at length on Gen Barno's statement.
Gen Hussain said the US commander needed to put his own house in order. He said he told the US general in a meeting on Tuesday that no infiltration was taking place from Pakistan's side.
"There is no infiltration taking place from here, rather there is infiltration from Afghanistan into Pakistan. I told Gen Barno that due to lack of government writ in Afghanistan, weapons, explosives and ammunition are being smuggled into Pakistan from Afghanistan."
Sources told Dawn that the military was annoyed that while constantly nudging Islamabad to do more, Washington had done little to give the much-needed technical assistance to help Pakistani forces effectively stop cross-border movement.
"We are blind at night. There have been promises of technical assistance, but little has come this way," a military official said. Gen Hussain insisted that neither there was any infiltration taking place nor were there any organized bases of terrorists in North Waziristan.
"There may be an odd foreign terrorist out there. But there is no organized base of terrorists. They have no established communication network or training ground there. They are on the run. I will not let them reorganize."
Gen Hussain also seemed to have been offended by Gen Barno's assertion that Pakistan and US forces were planning a joint offensive. "What joint operation! There is no joint operation. Which spring offensive he is talking about?"
Gen Hussain said the assertion by Gen Barno that Pakistan was in his area of jurisdiction or that Islamabad was planning a military operation was an infringement of Pakistan's sovereignty.
"He does not have any jurisdiction. I don't get orders from anyone. Pakistan is a sovereign country and takes decisions on its own," he said, adding: "We do not take dictation from anyone and an operation will be launched only if necessary."
He said he had his own intelligence network and would decide on his own whether to launch an operation if and when there was any report in this regard. "I am not a spectator to sit on the fringes and watch. I have a mission to end terrorism and I will act if there is any actionable intelligence. But I want to achieve this without firing a single bullet."
He said Pakistan had not so far protested to the US 'strongly enough' for the infiltration taking place from Afghanistan, because there was not much evidence. The corps commander said Pakistan had set up 669 military posts along the 600km long border with Afghanistan and deployed over 70,000 troops as against 69 posts established on the Afghan side of the border. "I have said it earlier that Pakistan has done enough. It is the other countries which need to do more."
Gen Hussain said he could say with full confidence that Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was not in the tribal region. "There is not a single territory in the tribal region where we do not have presence. Osama moves with a signature security. If there is intelligence report of his presence there then I am going to track him down. I am not going to leave him."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/21/2005 12:33:38 AM ||
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KABUL - The United Nations must increase human rights monitoring in Afghanistan, a country still facing a rights crisis with gunmen holding sway over large parts of the country, a US-based rights group said on Wednesday.
I hear a couple of ex-Oil-for-Food investigators are available to help monitor.
Close attention to rights was particularly important in the run-up to parliamentary elections in September that are likely to be fiercely fought, Human Rights Watch said. "There is still a human rights crisis in Afghanistan," said Brad Adams, the group's Asia director. "Warlords and armed factions still dominate many parts of the country and routinely abuse human rights, especially the rights of women and girls."
No recent executions in soccer stadiums, however.
The group urged the UN Commission on Human Rights to send more rights monitors to Afghanistan and criticised donor countries, particularly NATO members, for being slow in meeting aid commitments. "As a result, Afghans countrywide continue to complain about extortion and robberies by militias and political repression by local strongmen," the group said in a statement. Election monitors were unable to cover much of the country during a presidential election in October, largely because of security worries. Human Rights Watch said it had documented intimidation of civil society groups and journalists. The election was won by US-backed Hamid Karzai, who has stressed the need to protect human rights and has tried to rein in faction leaders and disarm their fighters.
And doing a far better job of it than any HRW ninnie could do.
Human Rights Watch said September's parliamentary election would be at risk of abuses and called on the Afghan government to press for greater international support for rights monitoring. "Parliamentary elections, which are more competitive at a local level, are expected to be more fiercely contested and thus more vulnerable to political intimidation," it said.
Based on that principle, we need monitors in the 11th Ward here in Chicago.
The rights group also said the United States, which has about 17,000 troops in Afghanistan, should do more to support UN efforts on human rights.
And not a single "thank you" from them for what we've done so far. They are consistent, I grant them that.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/21/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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#9
Forget the Purple Heart. Does the UN have a Purple Prick decoration?
The deployment of Jordanian peacekeepers to East Timor was probably one of the most contentious UN decisions to follow the bloody independence ballot. It was eclipsed only by the cover-up and inaction that followed when the world body learned of their involvement in a series of horrific sex crimes involving children living in the war-battered Oecussi enclave.
Children were not the only victims - in early 2001, two Jordanians were evacuated home with injured penises after attempting sexual intercourse with goats.
Tunisian prisons hold more than 500 political prisoners and the government continues to use solitary confinement as a means of wiping out dissent, Human Rights Watch has said. The New York-based group on Wednesday called on the Tunisian government to "immediately put an end to prolonged solitary confinement" of political prisoners in a 40-page report released in Tunis. Many of those jailed are activists connected to the banned Islamist Ennahda party, the report said.
Non-governmental organisations say that more than 40 members of the outlawed group have been in solitary confinement for over a decade. Authorities consider them common criminals with no special status and do not call them prisoners of conscience. "The Tunisian practice of prolonged solitary confinement not only violates international norms on the treatment of prisoners but it also violates Tunisian law, which authorises solitary confinement for a maximum of 10 days," the report said. Eric Goldstein, who heads the North African division of Human Rights Watch, said he was encouraged by pledges from Tunisian officials to end the practice of solitary confinement and to allow rights workers to visit Tunisian prisons. He called the pledges "positive signs" that he hoped materialised in view of putting an end to the "deplorable conditions" in Tunisian prisons.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Deputies from dominant Palestinian party Fatah have voted to go ahead with legislative elections scheduled for 17 July. Late on Tuesday, they also voted to change the electoral system, Aljazeera reported. Two-thirds of the 132 members of parliament (MPs) voted in favour of a constituency-based voting system, while a third backed proportional representation, ahead of a full Palestinian Legislative Council debate on the issue on Wednesday.
Qadura Faris, a Fatah leader and a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, told Aljazeera: "If the president has no remarks about the law, it may be effective starting from Wednesday. The president has a different point of view over the methodology of the elections. If he (Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas) insists on his opinion, the Legislative Council may have a third review over the law. If he does not, the council may sign and approve the law on Wednesday immediately after the second review," he added.
The Palestinian Central Elections Committee (CEC) had been hoping to see the law amended by 17 April. The go-ahead for the crucial 17 July vote comes amid fears by some MPs that elections could be delayed. Earlier, some officials had voiced their reservations about elections being delayed. Both Abbas and the Hamas movement strongly protested against any vote delay. But Fatah MPs said parliament could not change the election date. "Only Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas can change the date of the vote," MP Dalal Salama said. "Most Fatah deputies are in favour of holding the elections on the planned date, 17 July, so for that to happen, the electoral law must be adopted as quickly as possible," Fatah deputy Ahmad al-Dik said. Fatah holds 62 seats in the 83-seat parliament.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2005 00:00:00 ||
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A senior Pakistani general criticized yesterday the commander of the US forces in Afghanistan for saying that Pakistan was planning a new offensive against militants along the border. Lt. Gen. Safdar Hussain, who commands thousands of troops hunting Al-Qaeda-linked militants in the North and South Waziristan tribal regions, described reported comments by US Lt. Gen. David Barno as a "highly irresponsible act on his part."
Barno was quoted in Pakistani newspapers as saying Monday that Pakistan would soon begin an operation against militants in North Waziristan. "It is only speculation that terrorists are in North Waziristan. We are gathering intelligence but there is no report on the basis of which I can begin an operation," Hussain told reporters in the northwestern city of Peshawar. "There is no organized base of terrorists. They are on the run. I will not let them reorganize," Hussain said, a day after meeting in Peshawar with Barno, who commands the 17,000 US forces in Afghanistan and visited Pakistan this week. On Tuesday, Pakistani Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan also rejected the reported statement by Barno, saying "we decide for ourselves what needs to be done, when and where."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Perhaps the legislators would like some cheese with that whine?
The $2.5 billion deal between Egypt's National Gas Company (EGAS), Egyptian-Israeli consortium Eastern Mediterranean Gas (EMG), and the Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) caused a controversy yesterday at the Egyptian Parliament that considers the agreement to be an act of normalization with an enemy. An Israeli delegation met with Egyptian officials led by EGAS Chairman Muhammad Tawil to sign the latest version of the deal, which has been on the table for four years.
Under the terms of the proposed agreement, EGAS would supply Israel with 25.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas worth $2.5 billion over the next 15 years. However, talks foundered on the question of financial guarantees and tax exemptions requested by EMG. The Egyptian authorities have refused to comment on the talks. The deal hinges on $200 million-$300 million in bank guarantees sought by EMG and EGAS to finance the construction of a pipeline from Egypt to Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has previously said he preferred to buy gas from Egypt rather than from a joint Palestinian Authority-British Gas company to stop the flow of money to terrorist organizations. Members of the Egyptian Parliament said that the deal acts as a sheer betrayal to the Palestinian cause. "This agreement is the worst in Egyptian history as it subverts the Palestinian intifada shows our surrender to what is happening in the occupied territories," said MP Muhammad Mursi. "We will stop that threat by filing a lawsuit against the Egyptian government as it is unconstitutional to sign a deal like that without the approval of the two houses of the Parliament," he told Arab News. Some 26 interpellations (serious questions that have to be answered by the government) have been already presented by members of the People's Assembly. They said that it was unconstitutional to sign the deal and it should be cancelled immediately.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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#1
This is the peace that America has been buying for $2bil/year.
#3
Don't we pay these Egyptian c***s**k*rs about $4B a year to have normal relations with Israel? Haven't we been doing it since Jimmy Carter? We might find it more advantageous to take that money and spend it securing our borders.
#4
Sorry. For some reason I didn't see your comments before I ranted. My numbers are wrong as well. From the Washington Post: Aid is central to Washington's relationship with Cairo. The US has provided Egypt with $1.3 billion a year in military aid since 1979, and an average of $815 million a year in economic assistance. All told, Egypt has received over $50 billion in US largesse since 1975
In a previous life, I had occasion to watch how the Egyptians pour the US aid down various ratholes, including them building M1 tanks that never make it out of their factory.
#5
Sorry. For some reason I didn't see your comments before I ranted. My numbers are wrong as well. From the Washington Post: Aid is central to Washington's relationship with Cairo. The US has provided Egypt with $1.3 billion a year in military aid since 1979, and an average of $815 million a year in economic assistance. All told, Egypt has received over $50 billion in US largesse since 1975
In a previous life, I had occasion to watch how the Egyptians pour the US aid down various ratholes, including them building M1 tanks that never make it out of their factory.
The head of the Turkish Army hit out at the United States yesterday for failing to curb Turkish Kurdish rebels hiding in northern Iraq and warned that Iraqi Kurdish attempts to take control of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk could throw the entire region into turmoil. Gen. Hilmi Ozkok, the chief of general staff, complained in a yearly evaluation speech here that Turkey's outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) was gaining influence in northern Iraq and stepping up attacks across the border on Turkey because of US failure to take action against the rebels. "The terror group has been included in the list of terrorist organizations by the United States and the European Union, but that does not carry a meaning in practice," Ozkok said. "It is thought provoking that no action has been taken yet against the organization. The PKK must at any rate be deprived of foreign support and have its hope of success crushed," he said.
Turkey says about 5,000 PKK militants have found refuge in the mountains of neighboring northern Iraq since 1999, when the group declared a unilateral ceasefire with Ankara in its armed campaign for self-rule in the country's mainly Kurdish southeast. The group called off the truce last year, raising tensions in the region. Ozkok also expressed concern over attempts by Iraqi Kurds to seize the ethnically volatile city of Kirkuk, which, he said, with its large oil resources, should belong to all Iraqis and not just one ethnic group. "That is why it is important for Kirkuk to have a special status," Ozkok said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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#1
Oooooh. Skeery! Episode 3,827 of The Sky Is Falling!
Yo, I got yer turmoil right here, Gen Ozkok. As for Kirkuk, lol, fuck off, Turkey.
#2
If he thinks its bad now, wait until we start clandestinely backing an autonomous Kurdish region inside Turkey due to continued Turkish perfidy and backstabbing.
Onkok, you had your chance to be a player when we needed your posts and acces for the 4th INfanctry Division. We would have had Turkish stoops involved as peacekeepers in that region. But you chose to go the other way, so you now hove NO say in what goes on inside Iraq. If you dont start seeing hte trugh, pretty soon you will have no say in what goes on in the Kurdish Republic that will be carved out of SE Turkey aftert a civil war in which we will arm the Kurds.
#4
I would allow a slip of a new map of Kurdistan that includes big chunks of Turkey, Iran and Syria. Then I'd deny it, saying the map was a conterfit or a joke.
The Turks would understand the threat even after the denials.
The city of Lahore, gradually but surely, has been changing its skin for the last several months as the jihadi slogans and donation appeal campaigns by the right-wing and jihadi parties littered on the walls and thoroughfares have disappeared, making way for corporate ads and city businesses advertisements. But the government's anti-jihadi campaign's message took its time to reach Lahore.
The jihadi organizations claim that the campaigns may have been wiped off the walls of Lahore, but campaigns to collect funds and jihad campaigns continue underground. However, a senior city police official tasked with countering jihadi activities claims the government's vigorous crackdown on these outfits has managed to rid Lahore of its 'jihadi face'. "Still I can't say that we have a permanent solution at hand as these organizations keep resurfacing again and again. But the major operational outfits like Sipah-i-Sahaba, Sipah-e-Mohammad, Hizbul Mujajideen, Hizbut Tehrir and Lashkar-e-Taiba have been dismantled and dispersed. They are on the run and they can't continue openly what they have been doing," said the police officer.
However, the religious organization that sponsor donation camps and jihadi campaigns say that they are still doing what they were doing and have only changed strategy. "If someone thinks we have stopped, that's wrong. We have not budged an inch from our point of view on jihad and Kashmir," said Yahya Mujahid, spokesman for Jamaatul Dawaa, formerly known as Lashkar-e-Taiba. "All you can say is that we are keeping a low-profile on our activities as the government has cracked down on us, but we'll never accept what is happening between India and Pakistan," said Mujahid. "Lashkar-e-Taiba is being run by our brothers in Kashmir and they demonstrated with attacks on the Kashmir bus that policy has not changed," added Mujahid. "There is lot of support for Jamaatul Dawaa here in Pakistan and we are sure that the momentum in Kashmir will pick up," said Mujahid.
Jamaat-e-Islami's city leader Ameerul Azeem echoed these views. "We have just changed our strategy from donation camps to door-to-door campaigns. We still do the wall chalking etc but the government's crackdown makes us campaign door-to-door. We won't change our point of view nor policy on Kashmir or jihad," said Azeem.
Hafiz Riaz, a central leader of JUI (Fazl), another religious organization that has never been involved in Kashmir but led the resistance against Soviets and Northern Alliance in Afghanistan, said that his group has never been involved in graffiti nor donation campaigns for jihad in Kashmir. However, Riaz tried to sum up the issue: "Look, these campaign were run by government institutions and now they are being closed down by the government itself. So, what's the big deal?"
This article starring:
AMIRUL AZIM
Jamaat-e-Islami
HAFIZ RIAZ
JUI (Fazl)
YAHYA MUJAHID
Jamaatul Dawaa
Hizbul Mujajideen
Hizbut Tehrir
Jamaat-e-Islami
Jamaatul Dawaa
JUI (Fazl)
Lashkar-e-Taiba
Sipah-e-Mohammad
Sipah-i-Sahaba
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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The European Parliament on Wednesday cancelled talks with a delegation of Pakistani senators to protest the inclusion of Maulana Samiul Haq. British Labour member Neena Gill, who heads the European Union assembly's South Asia inter-parliamentary committee, said talks were called off once they realised the Pakistani delegation included Samiul Haq, AP reported.
Somebody in Brussels reading Rantburg?
Samiul Haq, who heads his own faction of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-S), is included among hardline clerics who opposed the US operations in Afghanistan and Iraq and organised protest rallies against these attacks. "The European Parliament espouses the ideals of democracy, equality and human rights," Gill said, adding that while the parliament has members who represent "all shades of the political spectrum", EU lawmakers could not accept the participation of Samiul Haq. "We can't condone therefore individuals who place themselves outside these parameters, for they represent everything we stand against," she said.
She's referring to Sami's deep and abiding love of democracy, as long as it facilitates his accession to power...
Staff Report adds: Earlier on Wednesday, Belgian Police detained Samiul Haq at Brussels Airport for unknown reasons, sources said. It was learnt that Senator Mushahid Hussain, in Brussels at the time, tried to negotiate Samiul Haq's release with the Belgian government for three hours, but in vain. Sources said the Belgian government wanted to deport Samiul Haq, but Senators Mushahid Hussain, SM Zafar and Nisar Memon called Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in Islamabad and requested him to intercede with the Belgian ambassador to Pakistan and persuade him to urge his government to refrain from deporting Samiul Haq.
"Shaukat? This is Nisar... Nisar Memon... Yeah. From the Senate... The Pakistani Senate... The one in Islamabad, yeah... Say, lookee here, we're on a trip, and the Belgiques have jugged Sami and they won't let him out... No, no little boys this time... No, I don't think he stole anything... Well, maybe some silverware, but not much... Can you get him sprung?"
However, the JUI-S chief was released on the condition that he would not address any gathering in Belgium, nor give any statements to the media. When Samiul Haq arrived at his hotel room, local police stopped him from stepping out.
"Goin' somewhere, Sami?"
"Just stepping out for some air!"
"There's air in your room. If you run out, call room service!"
Maulana Sami told Daily Times that he could not understand why the Belgian government had arrested him if Germany had given him a visa. Meanwhile, the delegation cancelled its meetings with the European Parliament after the Belgium government asked Samiul Haq to leave the country. In view of the Belgian government's insulting behaviour, the Pakistani parliamentary delegation cancelled its meetings in protest, NNI reported. The Pakistani delegation was told that the Belgian interior minister was in touch with Prime Minister Aziz over the issue. Later, Samiul Haq was asked to leave Belgium by 12:00am. The Pakistani delegation was told that it could meet with members of the European Parliament, but without Samiul Haq. The JUI-S condemned the EU committee for refusing to meet the Pakistani delegation due to the inclusion of Samiul Haq.
"Wotta bunch of infidels!"
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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#1
Perhaps someone could arrange an encounter with a silenced 22 auto and leave about 12 to 14 spent bullets in his cranium as he gets off a lift? These things have been known to happen to deserving folk in Belgium.
#2
My God, Europe gets a clue at last. It seems this guy may be the Mr Big who's giving Osama a safe bolthole in Pakland. I hope we have the balls to do the same in the UK next time Red Ken invites one of his Mad Mullah buddies to tea.
(SPoD: My mate's dad was Gerald Bull's bodyguard - did a fine job didn't he?! They worked for SRC together in Iraq about 88/89 I guess).
Posted by: Howard UK ||
04/21/2005 5:46 Comments ||
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#3
HUK: My mate's dad was Gerald Bull's bodyguard - did a fine job didn't he?
When you're playing defense against Israeli hit teams, you need a bigger security payroll, or a fortified compound where the guy being protected burrows in and doesn't get out. Anything else, and he becomes a vic.
I'll believe it when he shoots Hafiz Saeed on national terriblevision...
President Pervez Musharraf pledged on Wednesday to curb attacks by militants in Kashmir to promote the peace process with India and forge a solution to the territorial dispute in the Himalayas. President Musharraf, on the last day of his visit to the Philippines, said Islamabad had made ending the decades-old dispute over Kashmir a priority of five key programmes to market Pakistan as an investment haven in South Asia. "We need to resolve this issue once and for all in a flexible manner," President Musharraf told a forum for foreign media in Manila. "The time of conflict management is over. It has to be conflict resolution. We must resolve this now or never."
President Musharraf said Pakistan would stop militants from attacking bus services across the ceasefire line in Kashmir, and urged more confidence-building measures to move the peace process forward. He said acts of terrorism, like an attack on the recently resumed bus service, "must be suppressed at all cost". President Musharraf said he wanted to correct misconceptions about Pakistan, rejecting accusations that Islamabad coddles militants and helped organise Osama Bin Laden's Al Qaeda network.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2005 9:07:56 PM ||
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The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) has warned that parliament will not be allowed to function nor will President Musharraf be allowed to address a joint session of parliament if the government fails to release detained MNAs Qazi Hameedullah and Javed Hashmi. MMA leaders issued this warning while speaking at a general workers meeting late on Tuesday night in Karachi. Prominent among those who spoke were Hafiz Hussain Ahmad, Liaquat Baloch, Allama Hassan Turabi, Dr Mairaj ul Huda Siddiqui, Hafiz Mohamamd Taqi, Khan Mohammad Rabbani, Qari Sher Afzal, and Qazi Ahmad Noorani.
Liquat Baloch, MNA and leader of the MMA, said that the alliance would continue its efforts to eliminate what he called the "armed forces' intervention in the political affairs of the country". He termed the PPP a major deterrent factor stopping major political forces from gathering on one platform to coordinate their efforts against the government. The PPP had sabotaged all decisions taken by the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) under the leadership of its late president, Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, and was following "a similar line of action even today", he alleged. He remarked that Asif Ali Zardari, PPP leader, had recently said that the party was holding negotiations with the establishment and the army, which, Mr Baloch said, would have negative repercussions not only for the party but also for the national politics.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
A British terrorism suspect jailed while fighting extradition to the United States will stand for parliament in next month's British election from his prison cell, the political party backing him said on Wednesday. Computer expert 
The government of Bangladesh ordered an inquiry into weekend skirmish with Indian border at its frontier in which an Indian border guard and a 10-year-old Bangladeshi girl were killed, sources said yesterday. Bangladesh and India have accused each other of provoking the violence in Brahmanbaria district, 80 km east of Dhaka. While Bangladeshi officials have said a gun battle was sparked when Indians intruded onto their territory, officials in India said its border guards were abducted and dragged into Bangladeshi territory.
SEOUL: South Korea said on Wednesday it would oppose referral of North Korea to the UN Security Council despite a sharp escalation in the standoff over Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions. North Korea has shut down its only functioning nuclear reactor at Yongbyon, north of Pyongyang, and told a visiting US specialist that it planned to unload spent nuclear fuel from the plant and reprocess it into weapons-grade plutonium. A reactor must be shut down before nuclear fuel can be unloaded and sent for reprocessing. A senior North Korean diplomat at the United Nations, Han Song-Ryol, repeated the threat in an interview on Monday with a US newspaper, saying reprocessing would allow North Korea to "increase our deterrent," against the United States. Experts said reprocessing a full load of spent nuclear fuel from the reactor could double North Korea's nuclear arsenal.
Premier 
Government and rebel negotiators yesterday hailed a "breakthrough" in efforts to end a decades-old Muslim separatist rebellion in the southern Philippines. A joint statement at the end of a three-day meeting in this Malaysian port city between delegations from Manila and the 
The head of the Turkish Army hit out at the United States yesterday for failing to curb Turkish Kurdish rebels hiding in northern Iraq and warned that Iraqi Kurdish attempts to take control of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk could throw the entire region into turmoil. Gen. 
The city of Lahore, gradually but surely, has been changing its skin for the last several months as the jihadi slogans and donation appeal campaigns by the right-wing and jihadi parties littered on the walls and thoroughfares have disappeared, making way for corporate ads and city businesses advertisements. But the government's anti-jihadi campaign's message took its time to reach Lahore. 
The European Parliament on Wednesday cancelled talks with a delegation of Pakistani senators to protest the inclusion of Maulana 
President Pervez Musharraf pledged on Wednesday to curb attacks by militants in Kashmir to promote the peace process with India and forge a solution to the territorial dispute in the Himalayas. President Musharraf, on the last day of his visit to the Philippines, said Islamabad had made ending the decades-old dispute over Kashmir a priority of five key programmes to market Pakistan as an investment haven in South Asia. "We need to resolve this issue once and for all in a flexible manner," President Musharraf told a forum for foreign media in Manila. "The time of conflict management is over. It has to be conflict resolution. We must resolve this now or never."
The 
