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Arbab ignores PM’s directive, reshuffles BoR administration
Imtiaz’ front men booked for corruption
6 revenue officials remanded to custody
Grenades, rockets found
Minor boy abused, killed
814 deported Pakistanis arrive from Muscat
Akbar Bugti threatens armed resistance, 3 ‘terrorists’ held
DNA tests of Sui accused negative: Sherpao
MMA criticizes plan for new cantonments
Police clueless about school explosion
Taliban suspect arrested
US Congress seeks tough terms for arms supply to Pakistan
US senator calls for permanent bases in Afghanistan
Arbab ignores PM’s directive, reshuffles BoR administration
KARACHI: Despite the clear
directive of the Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and the PML
Chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain to the contrary, the Sindh Chief Minister, Dr
Arbab Ghulam Rahim has reshuffled the administration of the Board of Revenue
(BoR).
The Prime Minister and the ruling party chief directed the
chief minister to stop the administrative action relating to the charges
against the dismissed minister Imtiaz Shaikh till the investigation was
completed by the Prime Minister’s Inspection Team.
According to an official announcement, the Senior Member,
Board of Revenue, Mirza Karim Baig, a DMG Grade-21 officer was transferred on
Tuesday and directed to report to the Services and General Administration.
The Additional Secretary, BoR, Land Utilisation,
Muhkamuddin Qadri and District Officer, Revenue, Karachi, Azaz Dar, were also
transferred and directed to report to the S&GAD.
The Secretary-General, Administration, Ejaz Kazi, was
given additional charge of Mirza Karim Baig while Cane Commissioner,
Hyderabad, Nazar Baloch, was given additional charge as additional secretary
BoR, Land utilisation. Malik Ahsan was posted DO, Revenue, Karachi, in
replace of Azaz Dar. The additional charge of Registrar, Department of BoR,
was also withdrawn from Abid Ali Shah, Chief Inspector, Stamps.
Meanwhile, the dismissed revenue minister and
Secretary-General PML, Sindh, Imtiaz Shaikh, complained that the whole
machinery of the provincial administration under the control of the chief
minister was being used against him and demanded that all the evidence
presented before Mushahid Hussain against him should be examined by the Prime
Minister’s Inspection Team or a judicial magistrate.
Imtiaz’ front men booked for corruption
KARACHI: The Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) on
Tuesday registered five separate cases against a few individuals, including
two front men for an influential person, on charges of allotting government's
land to their "favourites" in connivance with officials of the
Sindh Revenue Department and the CDGK.
Sources in the ACE told The News that two of the five FIRs
(No 9/2005 and 10/2005) have been registered against Mehboob Shaikh and
Tunio, alleged front men for the sacked minister Imtiaz Shaikh.
They said the pair was allegedly involved in buying
valuable government land at through-away prices in connivance with the
officials of Land Utilisation and the Revenue Department of the city
government.
However, the ACE has not registered any case directly
against the sacked revenue minister, Imtiaz Shaikh, the sources added.
"We believe that he must have ordered transferring of the valued land to
his favorites," the sources said adding that during the course of
investigation, if any link was proved they would include the sacked minister
in the investigations.
6 revenue officials remanded to custody
KARACHI: Sadiq Hussain Bhatti, Judge, Provincial
Anti-Corruption Court on Tuesday remanded six officials of Revenue and Land
Utlization Department, Sindh, to custody of Anti-Corruption Police till Feb
28. The accused Mehboob Shaikh, Zafar Baloch, Ejaz Baloch, Nooruddin Soomro,
Anwar Panwhar and Maqbool Mahar were charged with forgery in revenue record,
facilitation to land mafia and abuse of their official position. The
Investigating Officer of the case requesting remand of the accused stated
that according to initial investigation, accused are involved in huge
corruption and illegal land allotment scam.
Grenades, rockets found
KARACHI: The police found three hand-grenades and six
rockets from different city areas on Tuesday. Some of the area residents
informed the police about the presence of grenades at a garbage dump near
Ghousia Khidmat Committee in Block III, FB Area within the Azizabad police
jurisdiction. Police reached the spot, surrounded the locality and called the
Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) who defused the grenades. ROCKETS FOUND: At least
six rockets were found lying at a garage dump near Jumma Bazaar in Bismillah
Colony within the Saeedabad police jurisdiction, police said. Area residents
informed the police when they spotted the rockets lying in an open place.
Police reached at the site, surrounded the entire vicinity and called the
Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS), which cleared the area after defusing rockets.
Minor boy abused, killed
KARACHI: A minor boy was found murdered in an isolated
vicinity of Sohrab Goth while a minor girl lost her life in a traffic
accident in Saeedabad. Earlier late on Monday, a robber was killed and his
accomplice injured in a shoot-out, police said on Tuesday.
According to details, Asif, an 8-year-old son of Shaukat
Ali, a mason and a resident of Gingar Goth near New Sabzi Mandi, was found
murdered along a drain course near New Sabzi Mandi.
Some of the passers-by informed the police when they
noticed a nude body of a minor child lying along a drain course. Police
reached the spot and shifted the body to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.
The medico legal experts were of the opinion that
unidentified persons had killed the minor boy by hitting some hard and blunt
object on his head after sodomizing him.
The deceased boy, who was a student of class I in local
school, had left his home to bring milk on Monday evening and went missing,
family sources told the police.
ACCIDENT: Surayya, 6, daughter of Allah Ditta, a resident
of Rasheedabad, who had received serious injuries when a recklessly driven
vehicle knocked her down on Monday evening, succumbed to her injuries in wee
hours of Tuesday at the Civil Hospital.
ROBBER KILLED: An alleged robber was gunned down and his
accomplice was caught in injured condition when mugged victims opened fire in
retaliation after they attempted to snatch cash and mobile phone from them
near Hussaini Blood Bank in Soldier Bazaar police jurisdiction late on Monday
night, police said.
Police registered a case against injured accused Adnan
Hafeez.
VEHICLES: At least 13 vehicles including seven
motorcycles were hijacked from various city areas, police confirmed.
814 deported Pakistanis arrive from Muscat
KARACHI: Another 814 weary job seekers returned on Tuesday
by Al-Hamdi-2 launch from Muscat, taking the total number of Pakistanis
deported from the Sultanate alone within the first two months of the current
year to 1455. Besides, more than 500 Pakistanis have been deported from
Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, says Ansar Burney, chief of the Ansar
Burney Welfare Trust to this correspondent.
On January 18, 2005, 641 deportees arrived back home. The
job seekers, most of them illiterate and hailing from upcountry, had been
smuggled to the Gulf state through Taftan, crossing the Pakistan-Iran border
illegally near Mand Ballu. They paid the human traffickers different amounts,
ranging from 5,000 to Rs25,000. Most of them were elderly or children.
All these 814 people came from Sihar Jail alone and
according to them there is no Pakistani in this jail now.
Akbar Bugti threatens armed resistance, 3 ‘terrorists’ held
KARACHI: Jamhoori Wattan Party chief Nawab Akbar Khan
Bugti threatened armed resistance on Tuesday if the government uses force to
tame tribesmen amid an "alarming" situation in Balochistan.
"The situation in Balochistan is alarming and there
could be an armed resistance if a military option is opted, which I can see
coming soon," Bugti told a telephonic press conference from Dera Bugti.
"Balochi people may die in large number but there can
be casualties on the other side as well," he told reporters at the
Karachi Press Club. Regular and paramilitary forces have moved into the area
and Bugti said the large Army presence around Sui indicated "an Army
operation is possible".
Bugti said Dr Shazia rape case had "ruined"
considerable efforts made for settling Balochistan issue and now, unless
culprits behind this heinous act were punished, the matter could not be
resolved.
"Considerable progress was made for settling
Balochistan issue prior to misfortune with Dr Shazia Khalid. But now, it has
become a matter of honour for the Baloch people and unless culprits involved
in the criminal act are punished, the Baloch people will not be
satisfied," he said. Bugti said sincere efforts were required to resolve
issues facing Balochistan and on top of that was justice to Dr Shazia Khalid,
who was subjected to inhuman act and disgraced.
Denying charges levelled against him regarding receiving
Rs 120 million annually from the Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL), he
demanded formation of a fact-finding committee, comprising journalists Ayaz
Amir, Irshad Ahmed Haqqani and Mushahid Hussain, to probe into the
allegations. "If the said committee finds me responsible for taking
money from the PPL or the government, I’m ready to face any punishment
recommended by it or anybody else," he added.
Commenting on use of foreign arms and money for unrest in
Balochistan, Bugti said the United States and other countries were giving
arms and funds to the government. "Everybody knows that only rulers
receive arms and foreign funds for suppressing their own people," he
said. He said the Baloch nationalist leaders at a recent meeting with US
ambassador to Pakistan informed him that weapons provided by the US in
Afghanistan were being used in Balochistan.
Responding to a question, Bugti said that without removing
impediments, such as justice to Dr Shazia Khalid, meeting with ruling PML
President Chaudhry Shujaat and party’s Secretary-General Mushahid Hussain
Sayed would be meaningless. "I have no reluctance in meeting with these
two (leaders) but without assurance of solution to Balochistan issue, it
would be meaningless," he said. -Agencies
Muhammad Ejaz Khan adds from Quetta: Balochistan police on
Tuesday claimed to have arrested three alleged terrorists and recovered three
rockets from their possession in a raid conducted in Marri camp in the
provincial capital.
"The police were tipped off about the presence of the
three terrorists in Marri," DIG Police Rafi Pervez Bhatti said, adding
that a special police team was constituted to arrest the terrorists. The
police team raided the house of one Abdul Rehman and recovered three rockets,
he said.
Bhatti said the accused Abdul Rehman was wanted to police
in various cases of terrorism. The police party also arrested another two
"terrorists" whose identification is yet to be established, he
added.
According to Bhatti the accused were involved in rockets
firing, bomb explosions and other terrorist acts in Quetta and other parts of
the province. "Further investigations are in progress," he added.
DNA tests of Sui accused negative: Sherpao
ISLAMABAD, Feb 22: Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Sherpao on Monday said the DNA test reports of 13 accused in Dr Shazia Khalid's assault case had been issued.
Talking to reporter at a function held at National Database Registration Authority (Nadra), the minister said the tests were 'negative'.
In reply to a question about an inquiry of the Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL), which confirmed that the doctor was sexually assaulted, the minister said: "It is an internal inquiry of the PPL and the government has nothing to do with it."
The minister said a judicial tribunal had yet to issue its report on the assault. A senior police official reportedly claimed that the DNA test did not match those 13 suspects, including Captain Hammad of the Defence Security Guard (DSG).
OTHER 12 ACCUSED IN THE CASE ARE: Subedar Abbas, Sepoy Asif Ali, Sepoy Khushal Khan, Haveldar Rafiq, Sepoy Malik Khan, Sepoy Umar Farooq of the DSG and PPL staff, including Pervez Jamoola, Muhammad Usman, Mohammad Ali, Sikander Ali Jatoi, Asghar Ali and an unknown person. All the accused were arrested and under investigation.
However, the PPL MD told a standing committee of the Senate that the lady doctor had been robbed and sexually abused in her house on the night of Jan 2. The PPL management informed the body that the Zila Nazim Dera Bugti had raised the issue of rape by writing letters to the senior officials on Jan 3, alleging that a PPL lady doctor was assaulted. The Nazim alleged that three or four personnel of the Defence Security Guards (DSG) had been seen coming out of her house.
MMA criticizes plan for new cantonments
QUETTA, Feb 22: MMA leader Syed Munawar Hasan has alleged that the government wanted to establish military cantonments in Balochistan to provide bases to the United States.
Speaking at a press conference here on Tuesday, he said the MMA was against new cantonments in Balochistan, adding that the government was executing the US agenda. He said there was no justification for setting up cantonments in Sui, Kohlu and Gwadar because the area had no border with any other country.
"The US would use these cantonments when it would launch an attack on Iran," he said. He also alleged that the government conducted a military operation in South Waziristan at the behest of the US in which Pakistani troops killed their own people. The operation had created a gulf between army and people of the area which could not be easily bridged.
Referring to the issue of Balochistan, the MMA leader said that the government had failed to meet the needs of the people of the province although it had a very small population.
He said that the mega projects of President Gen Pervez Musharraf in the province would be of no benefit to the local people. He said that Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain had set up two committees on Balochistan, but reports of the committees were yet to be made public.
Referring to the MMA's proposed million-men march and anti-government movement, he said the alliance aimed to send the army back to barracks and end its role in national politics. "If the march does not succeed in sending the army back to barracks, the MMA and other opposition parties would stage a sit-in in Islamabad," he said.
Taliban suspect arrested
QUETTA, Feb 22: Police on Tuesday arrested a suspected Taliban activist in Balochistan. A Kalashnikov rifle with ammunition, a mobile phone and a Thuraya satellite phone were seized as well as some documents, police said
, indicating the detainee may have links with senior members of the ousted Afghan regime.
"We are scanning telephone numbers on the Thuraya to determine if the man had been in touch with Taliban leaders," police officer Rauf Bareach told AFP.
Police refused to disclose the name of the detainee, who was captured in a raid on near Kuchlak town, 17km north of Quetta. Last month police arrested 17 Afghans including some Taliban suspects in a swoop on their hideouts in Quetta. -AFP
Police clueless about school explosion
LAKKI MARWAT: The police was clueless about the bomb
explosion that rocked a co-educational school for the children of labourers
here the other night. There was nobody at the institution at that time.
The police registered a case against unknown persons for
planting the explosive device and was busy investigating the incident. The
impressive two-storey school building developed cracks at certain points due
to the explosion, most of its windowpanes were broken and the doors received
damage. The explosion was heard far and wide.
The Workers Welfare Board, NWFP had built the Working
Folks Grammar Higher Secondary School at a huge cost for children of workers.
Workers of the JUI-F and other Islamic groups had attacked
the school during a demonstration on October 9, 2001 against the US invasion
of Afghanistan. The JUI-F had been critical of the co-education at the school
and some of its leaders had alleged that it had been built with funds made
available by the NGOs and the West. Top JUI-F leaders and peshimams of
mosques affiliated to the party used to frequently criticize the school.
However, nobody involved in the planting of the bomb has been identified so
far.
US Congress seeks tough terms for arms supply to Pakistan
WASHINGTON, Feb 22: The US administration should seek a stronger adherence from Pakistan to nuclear non-proliferation as a price for obtaining high-valued military equipment from Washington, says a recent report
by the Congressional Research Service.
The CRS, which advises Congress and writes policy briefs for US lawmakers, says that weapon systems that are not directly related to counter-terrorism cooperation should only be given to Pakistan if it agrees with US non-proliferation objectives.
Such weapons include F-16 aircraft, anti-tank weapons, and other defence systems that Pakistan is seeking to offset Indian capabilities. This option could require Pakistan's agreement to full cooperation on the Khan network, absolute commitment on no future transfers of nuclear or missile technology, and no new nuclear tests and restraint on nuclear and missile competition with India.
As an incentive, the US administration should also offer Pakistan longe-term waiver of US nuclear and missile proliferation sanctions beyond the current year-to-year extensions in appropriations bills, the CRS says.
"A key rationale for this option is that providing Pakistan with such high-value weapons systems is only warranted if the benefits exceed the cost," the report says.
"In this case, the cost to the United States is not just the dollar value of the weapons systems but also the inevitable complications for relations with India, a country with which the United States also has developed a de facto strategic relationship." The CRS, however, acknowledges that the need for Pakistan's cooperation in the war against terror constraints US efforts to prevent nuclear proliferation.
A potentially significant problem with the approach of seeking Pakistan's cooperation in return for high valued military hardware is that so long as a Pakistani ruler perceives that the Bush administration needs him more than he needs the United States, Pakistan is in a position to turn the tables on US policymakers.
"That is, instead of treating the F-16s or other weapons systems as a 'carrot,' to be earned by additional cooperation, Pakistan could reduce or limit its cooperation on terrorism as a lever to get the United States to agree to allow the purchase of the aircraft and other desired hardware," the CRS warns.
The report notes that early this year, the Bush administration notified Congress of its intention to go ahead with a number of major weapons sales to Pakistan, but not the F-16s.
"Although trying to use the sale of F-16s to Pakistan as leverage for more cooperation regarding the Khan network might be risky, President Musharraf's domestic political vulnerabilities might give the US the upper hand in any test of wills," the CRS notes.
"In any event, withholding approval of the sale of the F-16s until Pakistan provides better cooperation on the Khan network may be the least risky of various options to pressure Pakistan to be more responsive to US nuclear proliferation concerns."
US senator calls for permanent bases in Afghanistan
KABUL: A senior American lawmaker called on Tuesday for
permanent US bases in Afghanistan to safeguard American security interests in
a region that includes Iran as well as Pakistan and China.
Sen John McCain, part of a five-strong US Senate
delegation which held talks with President Hamid Karzai, said he was
committed to a "strategic partnership that we believe must endure for
many, many years. "Not only for the good of the Afghan people, but also
for the good of the American people because of the long-term security
interests that we have in the region," McCain told reporters at the
presidential palace in the Afghan capital.
Asked what such a partnership would entail, he said:
"Economic assistance, technical assistance, military partnership
including-and this is a personal view-joint military permanent bases and also
cultural exchanges."
McCain, the No 2 Republican on the Senate Armed Services
Committee, did not elaborate, and Karzai did not address the issue at a joint
news conference. Other members of the US delegation, which arrived in Kabul
after stops in Baghdad and Islamabad, also backed long-term US-Afghan ties
but gave no specifics.
Karzai limited himself to expressing thanks. "It is
because of help from the United States that Afghanistan has what it has
today: Be it in reconstruction, be it in economy, in elections, in the very
fact that this is a country that is now owning itself." The other
senators were Republicans Susan Collins of Maine and Lindsey Graham of South
Carolina and Russ Feingold, a Democrat from Wisconsin.