We need political stability in Pakistan: Musharraf

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf, who is under mounting pressure to resign, called on Thursday for political stability and reconciliation to tackle economic and security problems.
Musharraf, speaking in a televised Independence Day address, did not refer to a plan to impeach him drawn up by a coalition government led by the party of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. (See Ninan’s Cartoon)

The former army chief and firm US ally also did not refer to the calls for him to step down.

"If we want to put our economy on the right track and fight terrorism then we need political stability. Unless we bring political stability, I think we can't fight them properly," Musharraf said.

"Political stability, in my view, can only be brought through a reconciliation approach as opposed to confrontation," he said. "This is the need of the hour."

Musharraf rakes up J&K violence

In an apparent bid to divert attention away from the impeachment threat looming over him, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on Wednesday night condemned the "human rights violations" in Jammu and Kashmir. ( Watch )

"Every Pakistani is with our brothers and sisters in Srinagar. Kashmir beats in the heart of every Pakistani," Musharraf said.

Condemning "human rights violations" in Jammu and Kashmir, he said the recent violence over Amarnath land row also claimed the life of Hurriyat leader Sheikh Abdul Aziz.

The PPP-led ruling coalition has plans to submit a "chargesheet" against the former military ruler in parliament next week, accusing him of misconduct, violation of constitution and financial irregularities.

Source : Times Of India

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India warns Pakistan: Keep off J&K issue

NEW DELHI: India on Thursday reacted strongly to Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's remarks on violence in Jammu and Kashmir.

Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee has warned Pakistan to stay out of Jammu and Kashmir issue.

"We have never interfered in Pakistan's internal matters. Pakistan should do the same," Mukherjee said.

On Wednesday, in his address to the nation, Pakistan President played the Kashmir card, and took a jab at India condemning the violence in Jammu and Kashmir as "human rights violations."

"Every Pakistani is with our brothers and sisters in Srinagar. Kashmir beats in the heart of every Pakistani," Musharraf had said in an address to the nation during the "Azadi Show" event at the Presidency here on the eve of Pakistan's Independence Day.

Musharraf's remarks had come hours after the Pakistan government said it was taking steps to internationalise the Kashmir violence by planning to raise the issue at the United Nations.

In an apparent bid to divert attention away from the impeachment threat looming over him, Musharraf had described as "martyrs" the 21 people who lost their lives in the violence in J&K in the last couple of days.

Musharraf's comments appeared to be an attempt to divert attention of his countrymen from the impeachment threat he was facing in Parliament.

Source : Times Of India

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Independence day being celebrated with national spirit across Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s 61st Independence Day is being celebrated across the country with great fervor and zest here on Thursday.

Special prayers were offered for the development of the country in Morning prayers. The central ceremony was held at Jinnah Convention Center in Islamabad where Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani hoisted the flag.

Also present in the occasion were Army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, Senate Chairman Mian Muhammad Soomro, federal ministers, Speaker Dr. Fehmida Mirza, members of National Assembly, diplomats and other top officials.

The sirens were rung at 7:58 am in the morning while students sang the national anthem.

Meanwhile, a flag hoisting ceremony was held at Quaid’s mausoleum in Karachi. The chief minister Qaim Ali Shah hoisted the flag. Governor Ishrat-ul-Ebad, members of provincial cabinet and assembly attended the flag hoisting ceremony.

After the flag hoisting ceremony, Chief Minister, Governor on this occasion laid floral wreaths at the mausoleum and offered ‘Fateha’.

In Lahore, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif attended the flag hoisting ceremony held at Hazoori Bag near Shahi Qila. Lahore Nazim Mian Amir Mahmood was also present on this occasion.

Chief Minster Amir Haider Hoti attended the flag hoisting ceremony at Police Line in Peshawar while in Quetta Chief Minister Haji Aslam Khan Raisani hoisted the flag.

Several events would be held across the country to celebrate 61st birthday of the country.

Source : The News

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Srinagar simmers; 1 killed in police firing

SRINAGAR/JAMMU: In fresh violence, a youth was killed and four others injured in CRPF firing at Safakadal area in Srinagar. A police vehicle was set afire by a mob in Rawalpora area of the city, sources said.

In Kishtwar in Jammu region, Army staged flag marches as security forces maintained a strict vigil in the curfew-bound town where two persons were killed and several others injured in communal clashes, police firing and a grenade blast on Tuesday.

Authorities on Thursday relaxed curfew for varying periods in six violence-hit districts of the Kashmir Valley to allow people to buy necessary household items, official sources said.

Besides Srinagar, curfew was relaxed in Ganderbal, Budgam, Kulgam, Anantnag and Kupwara districts till 8 p.m. Relaxation was given in Bandipora district for a few hours till 11 a.m.

Barring these two incidents, the earlier two relaxation periods - from 6 a.m to 11 a.m. which was later extended to three p.m. - passed off peacefully.

The death toll in firing by security forces has now gone up to 22 while more than 700 people, including police and paramilitary personnel, have been injured in clashes across the Valley since Monday.

The Valley has remained shut for almost 10 days due to strikes and curfews. People were seen on Thursday buying essential items like vegetables, grains and medicines.

The authorities clamped curfew in all the ten districts of Kashmir Valley on Tuesday for the first time in 13 years after protests over the "economic blockade" in the wake of the Amarnath land row turning violent.

The curfew was re-imposed at 10 p.m. on Wednesday night after protests over alleged high-handedness of the CRPF in various violence-hit areas.

A CRPF spokesman denied the charges that the force was crossing the limits of policing.

"There are some vested interests who want to create a misunderstanding between the people and the force. CRPF is a people-friendly force and is out there it maintain peace and law and order," CRPF spokesman P Tripathy said.

Meanwhile, truckloads of vegetables, grains and milk arrived in the city from villages as there was shortage of these essentials in the open market.

The state administration said thousands of trucks had arrived with essentials in the Valley, though traders disputed the claim.

Source : Times Of India

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BJP for Look North-East Policy

NEW DELHI : Stressing that freedom fighters from the north eastern region were as dear as any other from rest of the country, Opposition Leader, LK Advani today proposed to integrate the Look East Policy with Look North-East Policy. Addressing a ‘Patriots Day’ function organised to mark the Third Bir Tikendrajit and General Tangal Shaheed Day, here today, the Opposition leader said that if NDA comes to power, it would try to give a further boost to India’s ‘Look East Policy’ by integrating it into a strong ‘Look North-East Policy’.

“I would like to see new doors of trade, investment and business opened between Manipur and other north eastern states and the countries in South-East Asia,” he said

Manipur is indeed the gateway to South-East Asia. Greater economic integration with the region will bring prosperity and create employment opportunities, Advani said.

Recalling the measures taken by the NDA, he said Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s Government took many steps to promote peace and accelerate development in the North-East.

“If the people of India give the NDA an opportunity to form the Government after the next parliamentary elections, it will be our sincere endeavour to carry forward the good work done during the six years of the Vajpayee Government,” he said.

“My party and the NDA want to see a peaceful and prosperous Manipur, in which the legitimate concerns and aspirations of its people are properly addressed. I would like to assure today that the BJP and the NDA shall work closely with all the patriotic and democratic forces in Manipur to achieve this objective,” the BJP leader said.

The function attended by the local Manipur Diaspora was also attended by BJP Arunachal Pradesh MP, Tapir Gaon among others.

Source : Assam Tribune

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Nobody can stop me from becoming PM: Mayawati

LUCKNOW: Unfazed by the failure of efforts to pull down the UPA government that may have pitchforked her into national centrestage, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Saturday said that "nobody can stop her from becoming Prime Minister".

In a show of strength a fortnight after the attempt in Parliament floundered, the BSP leader addressed a huge gathering of her party workers and supporters and a surprise presence in the stage was that of suspended Congress leader and former External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh.

Singh and his son Jagat Singh, an expelled Congress MLA in Rajasthan, are expected to join the BSP.

"If I can become chief minister of UP four times...Why cannot I become the Prime Minister. If people from sarv samaj (all castes) continue to support the BSP nobody can prevent her from becoming the Prime Minister," she said addressing the party's National Workers Convention in lucknow.

Mayawati accused the "casteist" forces, UPA and NDA, of conspiring against her before trust-vote in parliament so that "a dalit cannot become PM".

"I am proud of taking birth in a dalit family. My life is a struggle and I will continue to work for dalits and poor throughout my life", she said striking an emotional chord with the party workers.

Alleging that oppoistion parties were trying to malign BSP government in the state, she cautioned party workers to remain alert against any propaganda against her government.

Source : Hindustan Times

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Election Commission to review J&K poll preparation

SRINAGAR/NEW DELHI: The Election Commission will today review the poll preparedness in Jammu and Kashmir for the state assembly elections , which are expected to be held in sometime in November-December.

The term of the Assembly would expire on November 20.

According to sources, the Election Commission will review the poll preparations with the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of the state.

The Commission will review the state's preparedness with regard to electoral rolls, electors' photo identity cards and general law and order situation.

Besides, the Election Commission will also hold talks on the preparations for the Assembly polls in Delhi with the Chief Electoral Officer of the national Capital, which also goes to polls in November.


Source : Times Of India

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NA passes protest resolution against Kashmiris martyrdom

ISLAMABAD: National Assembly Wednesday passed unanimously a protest resolution against the martyrdom of Kashimiris including APHC leader Shaikh Abdul Aziz by Indian forces� firing.

Federal Minister for Information, Sherry Rehman tabled the protest resolution before the assembly. The resolution condemning the killings in Indian administered Kashmir, urged the world community�s intervention for putting an end to the violence.

All the parties backed the resolution.

Inayatullah of Pakistan Muslim League-Q on the occasion demanded immediate cease fire in the occupied Kashmir besides taking up the issue of mass graves found there in the international court.

Shaikh Aftab called for solving the Kashmir stand-off in accordance with the resolutions of United Nations.

Source : The News

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Desist from making comments on J-K: India tells Pak

NEW DELHI: Taking strong exception to Pakistan's attempt to internationalise the Kashmir issue, India on Wednesday warned Islamabad to desist from such a course of action that is "gratuitous and illegal" and has the potential to harm the peace process between the two countries.

This is New Delhi's third warning to Islamabad in a week asking the latter to desist from meddling in its internal affairs. "The government of India finds deeply objectionable the series of remarks by the official spokesman and leaders in Pakistan on recent events in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir," external affairs ministry spokesperson Navtej Sarna said.

"We are witnessing a recurrence of Pakistani rhetoric and allegations that are factually wrong and that bear no relationship to reality," he added.

"To call for international involvement in the sovereign internal affairs of India is gratuitous, illegal and only reflects reversion to a mindset that has led to no good consequences for Pakistan in the past," he underlined.

"It is not too late for Pakistani leaders and spokesmen to desist from the course of action that they have recently embarked upon, and we would urge them to do so forthwith," said the foreign office spokesperson in a statement.

This is New Delhi's third warning to Islamabad in a week asking the latter to desist from meddling in its internal affairs, indicating that such posturing has the potential to derail the over four-year-old peace process between the two neighbours.

Moreover, this also goes against the spirit of the composite dialogue and the 1972 Simla pact under which both parties agreed to resolve the Kashmir issue bilaterally.

Taking strong exception to Pakistan's allegation of "excessive use of force" in Jammu and Kashmir, India Tuesday had said such remarks constituted "clear interference in its internal affairs" and can affect the peace process between the two countries.

Last week, India had criticised the Pakistan Senate's resolution on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir saying it "was gross interference in its internal affairs".

This is an unambiguous message to Pakistan that its efforts to cash in on simmering unrest in the Kashmir Valley over a land transfer row involving the Amarnath shrine will not succeed.

The recurrence of rhetoric, reminiscent of bitterness of an earlier time in India-Pakistan relations where such tit-for-tat statements were common, is seen in New Delhi as an attempt by hawks in Pakistan to put the Kashmir issue again on the centrestage.

New Delhi feels that Islamabad is trying to distract attention from its alleged complicity in the bombings on the Indian mission in Kabul last month and its alleged continued patronage of terror activities in India, official sources said.

Pakistan Wednesday had urged the international community to press India for "restraint" in the Kashmir Valley, where 20 people, including senior Hurriyat leader Shaikh Abdul Aziz, were killed in police firings early this week during protests over the land transfer to a board that manages the Hindu shrine dedicated to Lord Shiva.

"We are deeply concerned over the deteriorating situation in the Indian Occupied Kashmir which is resulting in loss of life and property of the Kashmiri people and violation of their human rights," Pakistan's foreign ministry spokesman Mohammed Sadiq told reporters in Islamabad earlier on Wednesday.

He called on the UN and human rights organisations to take notice of the "gross violation of human rights of Kashmiri people, unwarranted violence against them and their economic blockade perpetrated by extremist elements".

For the last two months, both the Hindu-majority Jammu region and the Muslim-dominated Kashmir Valley have been locked in unparalleled strife on communal lines over the transfer and subsequent revocation of 40 hectares of land to the Amarnath board.

The burning issue has set off a wave of protests, shutdowns and violence first in the Kashmir Valley, then in Jammu - and now again in the valley - virtually paralysing the border state.

Source And Further Reading : Hindustan Times

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J&K blockade staged by ISI to help Hurriyat?

NEW DELHI: As the agitation in the Kashmir valley against a "non-existent" economic blockade continues, Pakistan's intelligence agency, ISI, may be hoping to get through what it has failed to achieve all these years — project its loyalists in the Hurriyat Conference as the real representatives of the popular sentiments in the Valley.

The observation was made by senior intelligence officers during high-level meetings on Tuesday-Wednesday amid mounting evidence that Hurriyat was using the contrived complaint of 'economic blockade' to nudge the people to look towards Pakistan-controlled Muzaffarabad.

The home ministry on Wednesday released figures countering the claim of agitationists in the Valley about the economic blockade and arguing that truckers and unions of fruit growers openly aligned with Hurriyat were also engaged in myth-making about the blockade.

Claiming that there is no blockade at all along the Srinagar-Jammu highway, the ministry said as many as 236 trucks and tankers carrying oil, gas, sheep, medicines and poultry products crossed the Jawahar Tunnel from the Jammu side early on Wednesday morning. Of these, 82 trucks and tankers had reached Srinagar by afternoon, it said.

Referring to the stranded trucks in the Valley, an official said a fleet of them actually belonged to one individual known for his close affiliation with Hurriyat. The transporter refused to move his vehicles towards Jammu despite the promise of full security cover along the route.

Home ministry officials said that the decision of some of the fruit growers and truckers had more do with secessionist politics than any genuine security concern.

On Wednesday, home minister Shivraj Patil also told Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that there was no blockade on the Jammu-Srinagar highway and adequate security personnel were deployed for uninterrupted movement of vehicles.

The figures only confirm the suspicion that the blockade had been staged as part of ISI's design to help Hurriyat occupy the space which had till now been occupied by political parties.

"It has long been one of the objectives of the ISI to project the Hurriyat as the true representative of the Kashmiris. Though it failed in the past, it now appears to have gained some ground towards it this time particularly when even the mainstream political party PDP became part of the design by joining Hurriyat's 'march to Muzaffarabad' call," said a senior home ministry official.

The official also pointed out how this episode has even brought two sections of the Hurriyat — the group of Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and the rebel faction led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani — together.

"The solution to the Amarnath land row may be arrived at sooner than later, but the matter which brought the Kashmiris on roads has relegated the efforts for normalcy in J&K to the background," said the official, referring this to be the biggest worry of security and intelligence agencies.

The Jammu region has, however, a different problem. In view of the Shri Amarnathji Sangarsh Samiti's decision to extend the shutdown till August 20, the home ministry asked the paramilitary force — deployed for providing security to the Amarnath pilgrims — not to leave the state even after the end of the yatra on August 16.

Sources in the CRPF said that all the 5,000 paramilitary personnel would be diverted to the Jammu region considering the extension of shutdown.

The Centre is, meanwhile, contemplating to announce an economic package for those who were affected due to the agitation in both the Jammu region and the Kashmir valley. The suggestion was given by the all-party delegation which met twice in the past two days.

Source : Times Of India

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Shibu Soren calls emergency meeting of JMM on Aug 17

RANCHI(INDIA): A day after the quit call to the unrelenting Chief Minister Madhu Koda, JMM president Shibu Soren tonight said an emergency meeting of the party was convened on August 17 to assess its position during the 22-month long support to the government in Jharkhand.

"After discussing with all the party legislators, we have called the emergency meeting and legislative party meeting to discuss what all JMM gained and lost by supporting the state government," Soren told newsmen after returning from Delhi here.

"I will not tell you what is in my mind," Soren shot back when asked whether the 17-member JMM legislature party would withdraw support to the government if Koda continued to ignore his demand.

"We have called a meeting to decide and discuss all matters. We will also go to the people as they are the masters to decide who the chief minister will be," said Soren, warning the government that the JMM would not hesitate to face elections ahead of the schedule if its demand was not met.

We will also discuss law and order situation in the state during the meeting, Soren said.

Source : Times Of India

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