New Delhi: Hina Rabbani Khar, the new foreign minister of Pakistan who was on her first official visit to India has left Delhi gushing by her look, charm and sense of dressing. The 34 year old first female foreign minister of Pakistan has won instant fans. News papers and channels, at length, discussed her style quotient – the focus being her 7 lakh’s hand bag.
Not only media and political commentators but netizens too are floored by her look.
Sheeba Naaz, a research fellow at Pakistan Studies Programme at Jamia Millia Islamia wrote on Facebook, “Indian males are more than interested in Indo-Pak dialogue… Thanks to Hina Rabbani Khar.”
Joydeep Hazarika, Co-producer at a media house in the capital, humorously wrote: “She is Pakistan’s deadliest weapon against India till date. And we Indian men are going weak in our knees.”
New Delhi: India and Paksitan issued a joint-statement following meeting between the Minister of External Affairs of India and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan.
The two ministers met today in the capital and held discussions over host of issues.Kashmir too was discussed, as host of other confidence building measures, including bilateral trade, counter-terrorism, humanitarian issues, water conflict, etc.
The Ministerial level talks were preceded by a meeting between the Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan yesterday.
The talks were held in a “candid, cordial and constructive atmosphere” both sides emphasized.
Both the ministers affirmed the “importance of carrying forward the dialogue process with a view to resolving peacefully all outstanding issues” and establishing “friendly, cooperative and good neighbourly relations”.
They have also agreed to convene separate meetings of the Expert Groups on Nuclear and Conventional CBMs, in Islamabad in September 2011.
On Jammu and Kashmir both sides agreed to the “need for continued discussions, in a purposeful and forward looking manner, with a view to finding a peaceful solution by narrowing divergences and building convergences”.
On Cross-LoC trade and travel facilitation for Jammu & Kashmir both sides have agreed to increase trade as well as people to people contact.
The number of trading days has been enhanced to 4 days from existing 2 days per week.
NEW DELHI, July 27(Xinhua) — Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna Wednesday started talks with newly appointed Pakistani counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar here and both sides are expected to take the relations forward with more confidence building measures in the meeting.
“We come here with a positive outlook,” Khar said while calling for “good, friendly relations” between the two countries. Khar also urged the two countries to work for peace, prosperity and stability in the region.
A host of key issues including Kashmir, terror, Siachen, Sir Creek, trade, confidence-building measures and people-to-people contact will be discussed.
Welcoming Khar to India, Krishna said: “I look forward to working closely with her in forging a peaceful and cooperative relationship between India and Pakistan, which is in the interest of peace and development of both our countries, the region and beyond.”
“I visualize a resurgent South Asia, proudly marching forth on a path of development, in a terror free and harmonious atmosphere, ” he said.
Ahead of the talks, foreign secretaries of the two countries Nirupama Rao and Salman Bashir had on Tuesday finalized a slew of Confidence Building Measures designed to expand travel and trade across the disputed Kashmir area.
After a break since Mumbai terrorist attack in 2008, the two countries in February this year decided to resume talks on all bilateral issues, which were earlier being discussed under Composite Dialogue. Subsequently, talks were held at levels of Defence, Interior and Commerce Secretaries and other official levels and capped with the on going ministerial meeting.
PESHAWAR, Pakistan, June 12 (Xinhua) — A twin bomb attack at a supermarket in Pakistan’s northwest city of Peshawar late Saturday night has so far claimed 35 lives and injured over 100 others, said local officials on Sunday.
Rescue team members and hospital sources said that the death toll could further rise as there could be still some people trapped in the debris of the collapsed buildings following the blasts and many of the injured admitted to the local Lady Reading hospital were still in critical conditions.
People transfer an injured person to a hospital in Peshawar, northwest Pakistan (Courtesy: Xinhua)
The attack came at about 23:50 p.m. local time Saturday when a first bomb, which was relatively small in intensity, went off at the Khyber market in the downtown area of Peshawar, leaving three people injured.
As the rescue team rushed to the blast site, a 17-year-old suicide bomber rammed his motorcycle laden with an estimated 10 kg of explosives into the crowds of the people gathering at the site, killing many people right on the spot.
Over 20 shops near the blast site were destroyed. A two-storied hotel collapsed following the huge blast and many people inside the hotel were buried under the debris.
Some local media office buildings near the blast site were also damaged. At least one journalist was killed and three other media personnel were injured in the explosion.
The blast also triggered off a big fire, which burned to death at least three people.
During the search operation following the blasts, police have arrested three suspects and the bomb disposal squad has found the head of the suicide bomber on the spot.
Shortly after the twin blasts, Pakistan Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attack.
Both Pakistani president and prime minister have strongly condemned the terrorist attack.
Saturday night’s twin bomb attack in Peshawar is the most serious of its kind in Pakistan since this month. Following the killing of the al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden by the U.S. special task forces in Pakistan on May 2, both al-Qaida and Pakistan Taliban have vowed to avenge the death of bin Laden.
Since then Pakistan Taliban have launched a serious of terrorist attacks in the country, including a twin suicide bomb attack at a training center of armed border police forces in Charsadda in northwest Pakistan on May 13, which killed 98 people and injured more than 140 others.
On May 20, a bomb attack was reported in Peshawar. The target was the diplomats of the U.S. consulate in the city. During the attack two U.S. diplomats were injured and several others were killed.
Two days later, on late night of May 22, Pakistan Taliban launched a surprise attack at a naval air base in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi, which killed 13 security personnel, destroyed two U.S.-made P3C Orion surveillance planes and one helicopter.
On May 26, 36 people were killed and over 50 others injured in a suicide blast in Pakistan’s northwest city of Hangu. Most of the killed and injured were police.
Local watchers believe more bigger terrorist attacks could follow in the country in the near future.
New Delhi: Pakistan today said that it has put the trial of seven suspects of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks on the fast track and any delay in proceedings is due to India’s failure to decide on a request to allow a judicial commission to interview key officials in India, India’s premier agency PTI reported.
In a response to the Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram’s remarks yesterday that confidence between the two countries cannot be restored till Pakistan takes action against the “real culprits” behind the Mumbai incident, Interior Minister Rehman Malik indicated that New Delhi should provide more evidence to enable Islamabad to act against other suspects.
“As far apprehending those responsible for the attacks is concerned, seven accused are in jail. Their trial is being conducted properly and we have put it on fast track,” Mr. Malik told reporters at the Karachi airport early on Thursday morning.
“The delay in that trial is not on our part because we had a demand for a judicial commission (to visit India). Our Interior Secretary met their Home Secretary and we spoke of our request for the judicial commission (and we hope) India will respond to that and allow it,” he said.
Indian and American officials have said that Pakistani authorities arrested seven persons, including LeT commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, largely on the basis of information provided by India and the U.S.
However, their trial by an anti-terrorism court has been marred by a series of delays for technical reasons, diplomatic sources said.
Mr. Chidambaram said India had asked Pakistan to arrest five more suspects, including an Inter-Services Intelligence officer identified only as Major Iqbal.
This officer was allegedly the handler of Pakistani-American David Headley, who played a key role in planning and conducting surveillance for the Mumbai attacks.
Mr. Malik contended that India needs to provide more proof for Pakistan to act against individuals like Major Iqbal.
“Believe me, I don’t have an Aladdin’s lamp that if someone says I should apprehend Major Iqbal, I will be able to do it. Major Iqbal is a generic name. I had sent them 36 questions about Headley but I have not got a reply as yet,” he said.
The Interior Minister again sought to rubbish Headley’s testimony at the Chicago trial of Tahawwur Rana, another key suspect in the Mumbai incident.
He said Headley, whose father was from Pakistan, was a “double agent“.
“I think the Indian law enforcers and authorities realise in their hearts that he was and is a double agent. He makes nine visits to India, so many visits to Pakistan and Europe. Where did he get the finances from? Somebody must have been giving it,” he said.
Malik also raised India’s investigation of the 2007 bombing of the Samjhauta Express cross-border train in which 42 Pakistanis were killed.
He contended that Indian “intelligence and forces” were behind the attack though the ISI was blamed.
“Today their own (Indian)… investigators they have proof… that the attack on the Samjhauta Express was not done by Pakistan’s ISI. I have requested that the accused should be handed over… we will ask for the accused because they killed Pakistanis,” Mr. Malik said.
“We should not get into a blame game and jointly we should think about taking action against these terrorists. I have given clear indications that the Taliban want to extend their reach to the whole region and they have made their bases in India. We have given them some indications,” he added.
Mr. Malik said he wanted to the people and authorities in India that Pakistan is “very serious” about the trial of the seven suspects charged with involvement in the Mumbai attacks “but you know how long does it takes in the given system“.
“I assure you that, under our laws, these culprits will not be spared. They will be brought to justice because we mean business and we will not allow Pakistani soil to be used by any terrorist,” he said.
ISLAMABAD, June 5 (Xinhua) — At least 18 people were killed and some 30 others injured in a suicide blast that hit a bakery Sunday night in Nowshera, a city some 50 kilometers east of Peshawar of northwest Pakistan, reported local Urdu TV channel Dunya.
Policemen gather around a body at a hospital in Peshawar, northwest Pakistan (Courtesy: Xinhua)
The report quoted the district coordination officer Zakaullah as saying that the blast took place at about 8:30 p.m. local time inside a bakery located on a busy road within a military area of the city.
Dozens of people were busy shopping inside the bakery when the blast happened, said the report.
Bomb disposal squad said the blast was of suicide nature and the head of the suicide bomber was later found on the spot.
Police said that the blast caused another explosion of a gas cylinder in the bakery, which triggered off a huge fire.
Police said that the attack was aimed at targeting the family members of military personnel. A senior army officer’s wife and two children were killed in the blast, they said.
Sunday night’s blast in Nowshera is the second of its kind reported in the day in the country. Earlier Sunday morning, a bomb planted inside a pickup car killed six people including a woman and two children and injured ten others in the neighboring city of Peshawar.
Local watchers believe the two blasts could be revenge taken by Pakistan Taliban or al-Qaida following the killing of a top militant leader Ilyas Kashmiri in a U.S. drone strike launched late Friday night in Pakistan’s northwest tribal area of South Waziristan which borders Afghanistan.
Islamabad (AP): A Pakistani journalist who investigated al-Qaida’s alleged infiltration of the navy and told a rights activist he’d been threatened by the country’s intelligence agencies was found dead Tuesday. Police said his body showed signs of torture.
Pakistani journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad arrives at a local hotel after his release in Quetta in this Nov. 28, 2006 file photo. (Banaras Khan/AFP/Getty Images)
Syed Saleem Shahzad’s death underscores the dangers of reporting in Pakistan, which in 2010 was called the deadliest country for journalists. It could also increase scrutiny of Pakistan’s security agencies, already under domestic pressure since the May 2 U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
Shahzad, a correspondent for the Asia Times Online as well as Italian news agency Adnkronos International, went missing Sunday from Islamabad while on his way to appear on a television show.
A brother-in-law identified his body after it was found some six miles (10 kilometers) from his car in Mandi Bahaudiin district outside the capital. An initial exam found signs of torture, but autopsy results were pending, police official Bilal Ahmad said.
A senior Pakistani intelligence official denied allegations that the agency had anything to do with Shahzad’s case.
“It’s absurd,” the official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media on the record.
The 40-year-old Shahzad dabbled in some sensitive topics, which would likely have caught the eye of Pakistan’s security establishment. The country’s military and spy networks operate largely outside the law and regularly try to pressure media outlets and individual reporters.
Last October, Shahzad wrote an Asia Times article that claimed that Pakistan had freed a detained Afghan Taliban commander so that he could “play a pivotal role in backchannel talks through the Pakistani army with Washington.”
Within days, he was summoned to an office of Pakistan’s premier spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence, according to an email he sent to Ali Dayan Hasan, a researcher for Human Rights Watch. Intelligence officials pressured him to reveal his sources or retract the story, but he declined.
At the end of the meeting, one of the intelligence officials issued what appeared to be a veiled threat. The official told him the agencies had recently arrested a “terrorist” who had carried a hit list, and that if Shahzad’s name was on the list, he’d let him know.
Shahzad told Hasan that he was sending him the notes of the meeting for the “record only if in case something happens to me or my family in future.”
Last week, militants staged an 18-hour siege of a naval base in Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi. The attack further embarrassed a security establishment still reeling from the unilateral U.S. raid against bin Laden. Pakistan has protested the May 2 American incursion as a violation of its sovereignty.
Shahzad wrote a story for the Asia Times alleging al-Qaida staged the raid after talks failed with the navy over releasing some of its officials held on suspicion of ties to the terror network. The story came amid widespread suspicion that the militants in the raid had inside help.
Asia Times Online says it is a Hong Kong-based outlet with some 50 correspondents and contributors in 25 Asian countries, the U.S. and Europe.
Shahzad’s wife got into touch with Hasan soon after her husband went missing Sunday, and in investigating the situation, the rights activist said he was told by some Pakistani government officials that they believed Shahzad was in the ISI’s custody.
“It is absolutely essential that an independent investigation, a transparent inquiry and clear judicial process lead to those responsible for (Shahzad’s) murder being held accountable,” Hasan said.
He added, however, “The manner in which this killing took place echoes other documented cases in which Pakistan’s intelligence services, chiefly the ISI, have been involved.”
Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani expressed condolences and ordered an inquiry into the journalist’s death. But Gilani, whose civilian government has little control over security forces, often orders such inquiries, and they either fizzle out or their results are never released.
Sohail Rehman, a close friend of the family, said Shahzad was originally from Karachi and had three children. He’d worked for several news organizations and often appeared on Pakistani news channels as an analyst and terrorism expert.
Adnkronos International, the Italian news agency, said Shahzad had worked for them since 2004, and that in 2006 Taliban militants in Afghanistan held him captive for several days.
According to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, Pakistan was the deadliest country for journalists in 2010, with at least eight media workers killed in the line of duty.
The threats often come from militants. Six of the journalists in Pakistan were killed in suicide attacks, the group said in a report late last year.
The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists strongly condemned Shahzad’s killing, and demanded a high-level investigation. “This is tragic,” said Amin Yousuf, secretary-general of the union. “We are losing our professional colleagues but the government never unearths who is behind the killing of journalists.”
(Associated Press writers Zarar Khan, Asif Shahzad and Chris Brummitt contributed to this report.)
SLAMABAD, June 1 (Xinhua) — Pakistani Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani constituted the commission for investigation into the presence of Osama bin Laden and the U.S. Special Forces operation in the city of Abbotabad to kill the al-Qaida chief, officials said Wednesday.
The five members commission will be headed by judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Justice Javed Iqbal, officials from the Prime Minister office said.
The commission is mandated to ascertain the full facts regarding the presence of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. It will investigate circumstances and facts regarding U.S. operation in Abbotabad on May 2.
The commission shall determine the nature, background and causes of lapses of the concerned authorities, if any, and it shall make consequential recommendations.
Other members of the commission include a former Supreme Court judge, Justice (retd) Fakhur-ud-din G. Ibrahim, a retired army general Nadeem Ahmed, former police chief of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkwa province, Abbas Khan, and a former Ambassador of Pakistan, Ashraf Jahangir Qazi.
The Secretary Cabinet will work as Secretary of the Commission.
It was not specified when the commission will submit report.
The opposition parties had been asking for formation of judicial commission to investigate the whole episode of the U.S. unilateral operation in Pakistan to kill bin Laden.
Pakistan has also been under mounting U.S. pressure to investigate as to who facilitated the al-Qaida chief to live in the Pakistani garrison city.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who traveled to Islamabad on Friday, said that no Pakistani at the highest level knew about the presence of Osama bin Laden in Abbotabad but insisted that Pakistan should investigate his supporting network.
New Delhi (Xinhua): India and Pakistan Tuesday failed to break ice on the issue of demilitarization of Siachen glacier, the world’s highest battlefield, after two days of Defense Secretary-level talks in the Indian national capital.
Though there has been no breakthrough in the talks, both India and Pakistan welcomed the dialogue, saying that the discussions were “frank and cordial”.
Photo Caption: Pakistani Defence Secretary Lieutenant General Syed Ather Ali (L) shakes hands with Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony (Photo: AFP/File)
“The talks contributed to enhancing understanding of each others position on Siachen. Both sides agreed to continue the discussions in a meaningful and result-oriented manner. They agreed to meet again on a mutually convenient date in Islamabad,” said a joint statement issued by India and Pakistan.
India and Pakistan, in fact, began their first Defense Secretary-level talks here on Monday after three years, aiming at demilitarizing the Siachen glacier in the Himalayas.
The Indian delegation is being led by Defense Secretary Pradeep Kumar, and the Pakistani team is being led by his counterpart Lt General (Retd) Syed Ather Ali.
Siachen borders both parts of Indian and Pakistan-controlled Kashmir. The two countries agreed a ceasefire deal over the Siachen glacier in 2003 but have yet to agree on how to withdraw troops.
India stopped the composite dialogue with Pakistan after the Mumbai terror attacks in November 2008. Two months ago, India and Pakistan agreed to resume dialogue “on all issues”.
India in 1984 occupied key areas on Siachen, raising fears of another all-out conflict between the neighbours, and in 1987 the two militaries fought a fierce skirmish on the 6,300-metre (20,800-foot) high frigid mass.
Ties between the nuclear-armed rivals, who have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947, have improved over the last year after contacts between prime ministers and other senior government figures.
The meeting in New Delhi was part of the start-stop peace process aimed at bringing lasting stability to South Asia and Tuesday’s statement said the two countries “welcomed the ongoing dialogue process.”
India broke off all contact with Pakistan in the wake of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which were staged by the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba according to Indian and Western intelligence.
ISLAMABAD, May 27 (Xinhua) — The visiting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Friday said that the United States hopes Pakistan to take decisive action against the militants in the coming days.
Speaking to reporters after she met with Pakistani political and military leaders in Islamabad, Hillary Clinton said Osama bin Laden is dead but al-Qaida still poses a serious threat.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton addresses a news conference with Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff at U. S. embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan on Friday, May 27, 2011. (Courtesy: Xinhua/AFP Photo)
“Al-Qaida had safe heavens here in Pakistan. Vicious terrorists had been living in Pakistan over the past decades and operated from here. They target people in Pakistan, Afghanistan and anywhere in the world,” Hillary Clinton said.
Hillary said “there is no evidence to suggest that any one at highest level in the Pakistani government knew that Osama bin Laden was living just miles from Islamabad”.
She said both sides also discussed investigation into the network who had been supporting Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, adding that Pakistani side assured the U.S. delegation that investigation is underway.
The U.S. Secretary of State also said the U.S. side told Pakistani leaders that they will share with Pakistani investigators information about the people who had been supporting and facilitating the al-Qaida chief.
She disclosed that the U.S. authorities got access to the Osama bin Laden compound in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad and witnesses in the area. She thanked Pakistani army and its intelligence for allowing the U.S. investigators to visit the compound where Osama bib Laden was killed on May 2.
She said that Pakistani leaders told her that no one in the government had been involved to shelter the al-Qaida chief and President Asif Ali Zardari said that al-Qaida was behind the assassination of his wife Benazir Bhutto. Benazir Bhutto was killed in gunshots in December 2007.
“We both captured many al-Qaida men in Pakistan and this was not possible without Pakistan’s cooperation,” said the U.S. Secretary of State.
“Still much work is required and urgent, we discussed detail to dismantle al-Qaida and drive them out from Pakistan and the region, we will do on our part. We ask Pakistan to take decisive action in the future to make Pakistan and the U.S. secure,” she said.
About Pakistan’s role in reconciliation efforts in Afghanistan, Hillary Clinton said that Pakistan must be a part of that process, adding that many Afghans had been living in Pakistan and Pakistan has a legitimate interest and its interest must be taken into account.
“We discussed Pakistan perspective about Afghanistan to support international community in Afghanistan,” she said, and described as very important the trilateral process involving Afghanistan, Pakistan and the United States. She said that the two recent trilateral meetings in Islamabad and Kabul were very important towards the reconciliation process in Afghanistan.
