It was pertinent to mention that some three days before Army took control of the Mingora city, however, the security situation get worst in passing three days despite betterment. Five police men were gunned down in last three days by unknown miscreants while the traffic system was also in dilapidated condition in the city, most terrible traffic jam was observed in Mingora after the army had taken control of the city.

Meanwhile, in Cabal area of swat security forces lifted the curfew after one month; whole area was presenting a devastating look after one month intense operation against militants in the area. 40 persons including 30 militants, four troops and six citizens were killed in one month long operation in Cabal, while scores of houses and shops were also destroyed due to heavy bombardment in the area.-SANA

This year has witnessed a decrease in the amount of land cultivated for growing poppies, a cut in opium production and a slashing of prices, yet the Taliban are able to raise hundreds of millions of dollars from the drugs trade. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report showed a 19 per cent decrease in opium cultivation to 157,000 hectares, down from a record harvest of 193,000 in 2007, and said that production also dropped by six per cent to 7,700 tons.

At the same time prices have fallen by some 20 per cent, resulting in an overall drop in value of opium to farmers by more than a quarter in the last year, from $1 billion to $730 million. The export value of opium, morphine and heroin for Afghan traffickers is also down from $4 billion in 2007 to $3.4 billion in 2008.

The size of the country’s opium problem is shrinking as one million fewer people were involved in cultivation this year and the area of arable land used to grow poppies has dropped from 2.5 per cent to 2.1 per cent, according to the UNODC Afghanistan Opium Survey 2008.

Despite reduced cultivation, production and prices, the Taliban and other anti-government forces are able to make huge profits from the drugs business by imposing a 10 per cent charge on economic activity.

Opium farming may have generated $50 to $70 million of such income this year, in addition to a further $200 to $400 million of income in forced levies on drug processing and trafficking “With so much drug-related revenue, it is not surprising that the insurgent’s war machine has proven so resilient, despite the heavy pounding by Afghan and allied forces,” said UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa.

Mr. Costa suggested that ongoing efforts by the Taliban to manipulate the opium market may result in less opium in 2009. “Since they are hoarding opium, they have the most to gain from lower cultivation. This would drive up prices, and result in a re-evaluation of their stocks,” he said.

It is important to keep downward pressure on both opium production and prices, said Mr. Costa while calling for “greater and faster international development assistance, including food aid to urban areas, to prevent a humanitarian disaster and to consolidate gains that have resulted in 18 out of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces becoming opium free.”

“If the Taliban can disrupt the market so can NATO. Drug production and trafficking would be slowed by destroying high value targets like drug markets, labs and convoys, which the Afghan army, backed by NATO, are starting to do.” Mr. Costa also noted that international efforts have been stepped up to stem the flow into Afghanistan of precursor chemicals, which are needed to produce heroin.

“These measures are meant to hit organized crime and insurgency in order to cut the Afghan drug economy’s umbilical cord to the world, breaking the link between opium farmers in Afghanistan and heroin addicts in Europe,” said Mr. Costa. “The downward trend in Afghanistan’s opium economy would gain speed with more honest government, more security and more development assistance.”-UN News Service

The raid was conducted by officials of the Directorate General Intelligence and Investigation of the FBR following a tip-off about an attempt to smuggle a massive quantity of drugs from Peshawar to Punjab by truck No RIH-1396. The officials set up a picket close to Ring Road Peshawar and tried to intercept the truck when it approached them.

However, the driver of the truck sped away. The officials chased the truck and found it abandoned on the GT Road with the driver having escaped. The officials searched the truck and recovered 350 kgs of foreign origin charas and 22 kgs of foreign origin opium.-SANA

He said that according to the Asian Development Bank, 85% of women in Pakistan have experienced violence at some time in their lives, which mars all aspects of their well-being. “Although our message touches every one, but its focus is the rural or semi urban population which needs to be mobilised to undo those taboos and customs which promote anti women attitudes”, he added.

There will be more then 24,000 events arranged by the change makers themselves. It is expected that about 500,000 people will be directly or indirectly touched by these events in Pakistan. The objective is mass awareness and engagement on the issue of violence against women.

The 1,000 events per district are a part of Oxfam’s nation wide campaign called ‘We Can End Violence Against Women” campaign, which was initiated in 2005. ‘

We Can’ campaign is about change in the attitudes and beliefs of a critical mass of ordinary people through simple and small actions in their daily lives to end violence against women. Currently, there are 144,000 volunteer change makers engaged with the campaign in 1,036 union councils, 90 tehsils in 29 districts of Pakistan.

The target is to reach 700,000 change makers by the year 2011. Change makers represent all strata of the society; they are students, teachers, lawyers, farmers, housewives, clergy, police, media, traders, policy makers and many others.

The campaign is steered by 400 national allies, while Oxfam supports their initiatives and participates as an alliance member. This campaign is a regional level initiative and these 1,000 events are being launched simultaneously in six South Asian Countries. Across the region, the campaign has engaged over 1.2 million change makers through 1,800 alliance members.

Explaining the strategy Dr. Farhat Sheikh, Oxfam Programme Manger said that the strategy is not to isolate the perpetrators, but to engage them. She added, “If the Domestic Violence Bill gets approved by the parliament, it will play a significant role in protecting those who experience domestic violence”.-SANA

“Being a father of two daughters and the masses’ representative I hope you can relies the situation through which Dr. Aaffia is passing”, Qazi writes to the President. He said the role of the secret agencies was “cheapest” in her case as a citizen could not be handed over to any other country beyond judicial process.

He urged the government to uncover those faces who were involved in Dr. Aaffia’s case as they sold the nation’s daughter for the dollars and she had to under go from the miserable period of her life that marked by physical and mental torture, repeatedly rapping and separation from the children.

He expressed his feared that she was kept in Chronic Depressive Psychosis in order to deprive her of the memory on the name of psychological treatment. He also demanded of the government to take steps for the recovery of her other children.-SANA

Local District Police Officer stated, “lady was killed in very brutal manner. She was almost beheaded”, he cited Legal Medical Report. Former Minister and deputy of Okara Sayed Sajjad Hyder told,”it was the case of poverty and illitracy”.

A human rights activist and former Law Minister Iqbal Hyder announced, “we will press the government to enforce Women’s Protection and Empowerment Law in letter and spirit”.

Residents of Okara said after killing his wife Muhammad farooq made an attempt to set his house on fire to eliminate evidence but law enforcing agencies timely arrested him.

Courtesy : Arab News

I remembered the day when a fierce riot broke out in our college related to the issue regarding beating and insulting one of our fellow comrade, Comrade Asif Ali Peerzaada. He was beaten by the opponents so severely that as a General Secretary of the Union I was not able to sit back. I along with my fellow comrades started a riot in or college and we started to blow down the windows and set fire at corridor. Police approached and they arrested me along with eight other members. The police van took us to the police station and we reached there by 8:00 PM. I don’t know the reason but the police separated me and my friends. They kept me in a separate cell along with an inmate. The police were laughing at me after putting me in the cell and their caricature was really bothering me.

The cell was hardly 10 feet by 7 feet dark room with full of mosquitoes and bad odors. In that cell along with me there was another inmate who was sitting in one corner of the room and was continuously staring at me. His eyes were really bothering me, so to make myself comfortable I sat on the other corner of the cell. I continually kept a watch on that mysterious person; he was still staring at me with red eyes. The man was in his early forties wearing a dirty shirt and torned pajamas. His hair has turned almost white and he had not shaven for long time. He was smoking a biri and was staring at me. I was very much afraid of him and I was cursing myself from the bottom of my heart that why I had joined the politics. Time was flying by when suddenly that mysterious person came to me and sat beside me. Trust me my heart almost stopped beating. He suddenly started to laugh at me. Then he asked me in Bengali that what I have done…is it a murder or a rape? I felt really ashamed that now everyone is thinking that I am a hard core criminal. I told him angrily that I have got arrested on a minor issue regarding college and will be released by tomorrow morning. He offered me a Biri and I also took it since I was very tired and need some puffs.

Puffing the Biri, I asked that person his name. He told me his name as Rabi Das and he is from Barasat, a distant place from Kolkata. He also told me that he is a regular visitor in Lock Up since he is a professional criminal. He is having hundreds of theft charges, pick pocketing and extortions. But this time he is in Lock Up for a murder charge. His trial will be tomorrow. To make a point clear to readers, this is India and anything is possible a political minor can also be kept with murderers. I asked him whether he had really murdered. He shouted with joy and replied “Yes… I have murdered a devil.” Then he started crying. I soothed him and then he started his very extraordinary and sad story.

I referred the person as Rabi Da (Da means brother in Bengali). Rabi Da don’t know when and where he born. But when he opened his eyes he was in a dustbin. He was an orphan. A well to do scavenger found him and surrendered him to e station. The police done their duties by sending the baby to an abusive orphanage. Rabi Da recalled his childhood how he was beaten severely with belts and sticks how he was given electric shocks for not doing works how his soft skin was tortured with cigarette burns and how they kept him hungry day after days. His small little hands were used for cleaning the floors. He had never known what is mothers love what is a family what are festivals and what is love.

When Rabi Da was 11 years old he along with one of his inmates ran away from this abusive world and yeas they were really successful to ran. After running away from the orphanage they make up their minds that they will work hard and earn and live peacefully. They started to work in a tea stall. Time was flying peacefully when suddenly god smiled on their happiness. Rabi Da’s friend suddenly died at the age of 12 due to cholera. Rabi Da broke up and left alone. He asked his master to pay some rupees so that he can at least cremate the body of his friend. But the shop owner refused to pay the amount and instead he instructed to throw the body in “Shamsan Ghat”. Rabi Da was crying and was thinking what to do next. Then, he quickly stealed some money, but was caught and fired from job and his friend’s body was thrown in dustbin.

After this incidence Rabi Da left that place and he moved to a distant place. To earn he started Pick pocketing at the age of 14. Then on mastering on this art he started extortion and robbery. Rabi Da told me that he is having severe hatrism for those rude persons who has no heart and treat little Childrens as dogs. He started extorting riches and started earning. By the age of 20 he was a hard core criminal. He told me that by the age of 25 he has visited jail at least five times. He started taking alcohol and marijuana to sooth his pains.

A time came when Rabi Da also started to dream a normal life. A woman came to his life, and he dream to marry her and be settled. But here also god played his game. The woman was actually playing with him and she looted everything from him and ran away leaving him alone in distress. From this stage a hatrism developed in him for women and Rabi Da started visiting brothels and believed that it is the only place a woman can deserve, although I don’t agree with his view but I kept listening him.

I was listening to him minutely when suddenly a police shouted and my concentration broke. I looked at the watch; it was 3:30 AM. He offered me another biri ad we started puffing and he continued his story.

I asked Rabi Da whether he believes in God or not. He laughed and told me “Yes it is there. But you know he is my biggest enemy, if I have a chance to meet him or her I will take my revenge.” I was thinking whether he was correct or not. What has god given to him? No parents No Family No love! No one has ever cared about him, but in spite of being so untouched he had a big heart.

One day he pick pocketed a person. After stealing he ran to a safe distance and opened the purse. He found five five hundred rupees note, a card mentioning his name and address and a letter addressed to his sister. The letter was actually a suicidal note. In the letter that person had mentioned that he is going to suicide since he has no desire to live. He is leaving this money for his sister. That person has asked his sister to get a new sari on her birthday with this money. After reading this letter Rabi Da hurried his way to the spot where he had pick pocketed but it’s of no use. The person was not there. He tried to find him but failed. He was left with no other choice other than to go that place. So he moved to that person’s house by looking at the address in the card. But when he reached that place it was so late. The person had already committed suicide and his sister was crying holding her brother bitterly. There were police, relatives and friends. Rabi Da know, that if he returned the Purse he can be arrested, but this great man without any fear returned the purse and proudly went to jail. In this way Rabi Da entered left and reentered the jail. Everyone knows him including police, lawyers and judges. After saying this Rabi Da paused for a moment.

I asked Rabi Da whom he murdered. He stared at me and told me that he had murdered a father of a baby girl. I got red after hearing this and shouted upon him “why you have done so?” He smiled at me and replied that day he was drunken and was walking through road in mid night when suddenly he noticed a person throwing something wrapped in blanket in dust bin. He chased that person and found that he was throwing a 2 day old baby girl in dustbin. Rabi Da asked him why he is doing so. The man replied since he doesn’t want a girl. Rabi Da started to bargain and this bargain ended up in killing of the person by thrashing. People gathered and took him to police station.

I didn’t ask him why he had done so because I can understand his pain. One day he was also thrown in dustbin. Rabi Da was laughing bitterly madly and then started crying. I hold him in my arms I was feeling heaven to give love to someone who had so much pain.

Our conversation was so long that when it ended I saw the day light. My mother was standing outside with lawyer. Her face was red. Lawyer was talking to police. When suddenly a police came and released me. When I was leaving the cell Rabi Da told me not to do any misdeeds again since I have a bright future. His eyes were saying “Don’t leave me brother alone” but his mouth was saying “Best of Luck for your future.” I was leaving the cell forever but Rabi Da was entering the cell forever, since today morning he is having his trial.

I reached home my mother shouted upon me and even slapped me. I was felling sad not for my mom but for Rabi Da. I left politics and joined Engineering College. I topped. But in spite of so many happiness I never forget Rabi Da. One day I decided to meet him. I went to central Jail. But, sadly he was no more. Rabi Da expired only a month ago.

I thought yes, Thanks god for being so good to a son of yours. Rally Thanks! I accept and testify your presence. You could do anything you like.

In the darkness of hatrism and negligence our children are just going to be like Rabi Da. My request to the readers is to try to love children and orphans who has no one other than you. Try to look at their innocent eyes, whether they are girl boy or anything. Give love to every child and if possible stop throwing them in dustbin and also stop abusing them. By spreading love, joy and creating smile in their faces you are actually worshiping your god. It has more goodness than to visit Kashi or Kaba. Instead of visiting temples or Mosques or Church go to an orphanage and spread love, education and humanism which is the biggest religion.

Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed led the delegation of the Pakistan senators and the meeting lasted two-and-half-an-hour. he has demanded of the U.S. government to immediately release Dr. Aafia Siddique. Talking to a private TV channel, after his meeting with Ms Siddique in Texas, he said that she was completely fit physically and mentally and her morale was high.

He was of the view that the US government needed to release her as they have not proved allegations against her. He said all allegations leveled against her in the past five years are false and concocted. It’s pertinent to mention here that on courts’ order she was referred to the psychological department for check-up.

The Senators’ delegation was led by Mushahid Hussain Syed, they remained with Siddique for two and an half hour, during that meeting she seemed happy and normal and thanked the government of Pakistan and the members of the delegation for visiting her.-SANA

Those killed include Haji Habibullah, Madah Hussain, Abdur Rashid, Haji Ashiq, Ali Raza, Ashiq Hussain, Allah Nawaz, Ijaz Hussain, Abdur Rehman, Manzoor Hussain, Malik Haider, Zafar Nazim, Manzoor Rathi, Muzamil, Azmat Abbas and Mulazim Hussain. Bodies of other vicitms could not be identified yet. MS District Headquarters Hospital, Dr. Ehsan said that some 62 injured were brought to the hospital and all of them are being provided proper medical treatment.

President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday strongly condemned the suicide bomb blast at the residence of Member National Assembly Rasheed Akbar Khan Nawani in Bhakkar, injuring the MNA and killing many others. President Zardari in a message expressed deep grief over the loss of precious lives and condoled with the families of victims. He prayed to Allah Almighty to rest the departed souls in peace and grant recovery to the injured ones. He said such heinous incidents cannot deter the government’s resolve to fight against terrorism.

Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has strongly condemned the suicide blast, that caused loss of lives and injuries. The PM expressed his heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families who lost their dear ones in this unfortunate incident. He sympathized with the scores of people who suffered injuries including Rashid Akbar Khan Nawani. The Prime Minister announced Rs. 300,000 each as compensation for the families of those who lost their lives and Rs. 100,000 for each injured in the sad incident.

Prime Minister Gilani said that such heinous crimes are against humanity which cannot weaken the government’s resolve to fight this menace. He asked the Punjab government to initiate immediate inquiry into this cowardly act and bring the perpetrators to book. The Prime Minister directed the local hospital authorities to provide all possible medical facilities to the injured till their full recovery.

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Ms Sherry Rehman strongly condemned bomb blast in Bhakkar. In a statement the minister said that the government was fully committed to root out terrorism from the country. Sherry Rehman extended heartfelt condolences to the relatives of those who lost lives in Bhakkar blast. -APP

Whether or not they are true, U.S. officials fear perceptions that Hamid Karzai is protecting his brother are intensifying opposition to their anti-Taliban efforts, the newspaper said. “I am not a drug dealer, I never was and I never will be,” Ahmed Wali Karzai told the Times. Nevertheless, assertions that he has interfered with drug shipment interdictions haven’t helped Hamid Karzai’s beleaguered government, whose alleged corruption is one of the biggest recruitment tools for Taliban insurgents financing their movement from the heroin trade, the newspaper said.

“What appears to be a fairly common Afghan public perception of corruption inside their government is a tremendously corrosive element working against establishing long-term confidence in that government—a very serious matter,” Lt. Gen. David W. Barno, a retired coalition forces commander, told the Times. “That could be problematic strategically for the United States.”
Input from agencies

From Bhikku chowk I rushed towards Noor hospital like a madman searching for sanity. Police bullets seem to have an ingrained bias against Muslims. Bullets chase Muslims till death. As I entered the hospital to inquire about the injured, I could hear the gunshots being fired outside (in Mushawerat chowk). With each shot, I trembled with rage and fear. Each shot increased my heartbeats. The palpitation was so seismic that I feared that my heart would jump out and leave me dead. On one hand Dr. Saeed Faizee, Dr. Sohail and Dr. Faisal continuously worked to restore the faith of Muslim community, outside the naked dance of official bias was at play. Where was the humanity of the people?

The scene at Faran hospital – where the majority of the injured (58) were brought – was chaotic. Curios onlookers and some family members of the injured were caught in the mêlée outside the Faran hospital. As I entered the hospital the smell of fresh blood became unbearable. It is still in my head. The injured were being treated by Dr. Saeed Farani and his dedicated team of doctors. The entire hospital was in collective mourning. The cry of a toddler will haunt me for the rest of my life. It could have been my nephew or anybody else’s. A bared burnt back of a bearded old man almost brought me to the brink of cry. But then the call of my métier restrained me. I made sure that tears didn’t spill out of my eyes. In the operation theatre, I saw an open surgery being performed on one of the injured. The ruptured veins of his left foot were a terrible sight to behold. I could stop there while beholding the sanguine scene or gently pass out. The sight of the three dead bodies neatly lined one after another froze my soul. I felt as if I was in the awesome presence of death. As I clicked their pictures, a thought crossed my mind: Is it fair for a journalist to take pictures of the victims mowed down by flying balls, nails and bullets? It was a call of the conscience. In the spilt of a second, I decided to go ahead. I thought I was Muslim as well as a journalist. The job of a journalist is not to write but to communicate. The Muslim in me thought that I must communicate to the world that my own community has been hit in its own backyard. Not once, but twice.

When the guns fell silent, I returned to Bhikku chowk at 3am. Uninformed media persons were orchestrating the official line that the bomb blast site is below the building where Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) once had its office. But nobody bothered to say that the bomb blast site is rather in front of a Police chowky as well. These are matters of perception.

Why was Bhikku chowk chosen for the blast site? Bhikku chowk represents a strong Muslim identity where Muslims from all diverse sects and walks of life gather for a cup of tea or socializing after traweeh prayers in Ramadan. The attack was on Muslim identity. Why can’t the security agencies accept that there is in essence a turf-war going on between communalists of different faiths in the form of bomb blasts? It is unfortunate that in this war Police often seem to be on the side of the majority community. It is a bitter truth albeit uncomfortable.

Next day, home minister RR Patil uttered the usual platitude of repeated bombings of recent past. “It was an attack on national integration.” I am sorry, Mr. Patil. Bhikku chowk is not the place for bridging the gulf that has divided two communities. It is a traditional Muslim ghetto. The attack was on Malegaon’s Muslim identity and not on national integration. There were eyebrows raised when I bluntly asked him ‘How many people have died in the police firing.’ He paused for a moment; Nikhil Gupta, Nasik SP, bent and whispered something. “Nobody has died in the police firing. Police had fired 58 rounds in the air so no one was injured,” Patil claimed. This goes against the public perception and a doctor’s claim in Malegaon. According to Dr. Saeed Farani at least 3 persons have been injured in the police firing. The actual figure is obviously higher but nobody is willing to say because the town is reeling under fear.

Each Muslim mother in Malegaon is praying lest her son becomes a “suspect.” Things will never be the same in this forsaken corner of Maharashtra but this much is certain: Indian Muslims will not allow India to become another Pakistan.

It happened as Asfandyar Wali Khan, head of the Awami National Party (ANP), was visiting a guest in a room attached to his house during celebrations of Eid Al-Fitr. “I saw the bomber come between us and security personnel as a crowd was leaving my house. He was hit by a bullet from the side, but he continued to walk toward me,” Wali Khan told reporters after the attack. “My own gunman then hit him from the front, but when the bomber kept going my guard grabbed him in a bid to stop him. They fell on the ground and then the blast occurred,” he added.

Television footage showed bloodstained chairs lying shredded on the ground outside the house and people frantically rushing casualties to ambulances. Wali Khan’s party, which supports the rights of ethnic Pashtuns, joined Pakistan’s coalition government led by slain former Premier Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party after winning elections in February.

He vowed that the attack would not stop his party from continuing its opposition to the hard-line Islamist Taleban. “Whether I am dead or I am not dead, I have confidence in my party and party workers that they will continue the struggle,” said Wali Khan, who is also the chairman of the Pakistani Parliament’s foreign relations committee.

Four people were killed in the attack, said Mian Iftikhar, the information minister for North-West Frontier Province, confirming that Wali Khan was the target of the attack. The victims included Wali Khan’s guard, a policeman and a bank manager who was visiting to pay his respects to Wali Khan, police said.

Taleban militants have carried out several attacks on ANP activists in the past, including a bombing at an election rally in Charsadda in February which killed 25 people. “It is highly condemnable. This attack on a leader of big stature is an attack on Pakistan,” Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik said.

Meanwhile, Pakistani troops backed by artillery killed 25 Taleban militants in the latest clashes in the troubled tribal district of Bajaur on the Afghan border, officials said yesterday. Gunbattles erupted overnight and continued until late yesterday after militants attacked security checkposts in four villages in the restive region, a security official told AFP. “There were fierce clashes and we have reports of 25 militants being killed” in the villages of Rashakai, Tang Khata, Bai Cheena and Khazana, the official said on condition of anonymity. There was no way to independently verify the toll.

Separately, the local government has ordered Afghan refugees in Bajaur to leave the area within three days, a government official told AFP. There are an estimated 70,000 Afghan refugees in Bajaur, who have been living there since the late 1970s after fleeing the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
Courtesy Arab News

The Prime Minister assured the Ambassadors of his government’s full protection to the European diplomats as well as foreign citizens living in Pakistan. The Prime Minister regretted the fact that though the Polish engineer had been provided 10 gunmen for his security and had been requested not to move around without them, he opted to take only one of them along with him on Sunday morning and the militants took advantage of the relaxed security.

The Prime Minister said his government is fully alive to the threat of the terrorists, but called for adherence to the advice of Pakistani security agencies to the foreigner friends for their own safety. The Prime Minister of Poland has also sent a condolence message to the Prime Minister of Pakistan for the three Pakistanis killed in the kidnapping incident.

According to the sources Gunmen kidnapped a Polish engineer in northern Pakistan on Sunday, shooting dead his two drivers and a security guard during the abduction in the latest violence to hit the nation, officials said. Poland’s foreign ministry confirmed the kidnapping, while the engineer’s company said he was ambushed as he and colleagues were travelling to oil plants northeast of the Pakistani capital to carry out some tests.

The Chinese, working for Zhongxing Telecommunication Equipment, were still being held by the Taliban who were demanding the release of fellow militants from custody in return for their freedom, officials said. Two Chinese engineers, who were working on a multi-million-dollar hydroelectric dam project, were also kidnapped in late 2004 by Islamic militants in the troubled tribal region of South Waziristan.

Input from Agencies

City police officials reached the spot soon after the explosion and rushed the injured to the Civil Hospital for treatment. The second blast occurred in Dawood Shopping Plaza and police said that a gas cylinder exploded. Police reached at the scene and examining the nature and cause of the cylinder blast.

The bomb and cylinder exploded with bang sound and triggered panic among the people who came for Eid shopping. The main bazaars gave deserted look a half an hour after the explosions. Civil Hospital doctors identified the customers injured as two brothers Jameel and Abid, Niamatullah, Khizar Ahmed and shopkeepers Munir Ahmed and Rehmatullah. Police experts were investigating into the blast incident. City police station had not registered an FIR till filing of this report.

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani Sunday strongly condemned the bomb blast in Quetta which caused injuries to a number of people. In their separate messages, they expressed sympathy with the affectees and asked the authorities to ensure best medical treatment for the injured.

The suicide bomber walked up towards two vehicles of FC which were on routine patrolling of the area, and detonated the explosives belt which was strapped to his body, killing a teen-aged girl student Bibi Shahida and injuring 23 others including 15 FC men, five girl and one boy students and a passerby motorcyclist. The students were injured as their school van was taking them back to their houses and passing from Airport Road when the blast occurred.

Bomb disposal squad officials said that the bomber had strapped five to eight kilograms explosives on his body when he detonated his belt. The explosives went off and sound of the bang explosion was heard at far-off places and triggered fear among the people. Windowpanes of nearby vehicles were smashed as a result of the blast.

FC, police and other agencies officials reached the scene soon after the blast and cordoned off the area. They closed Airport Road for all kinds of traffic movements. The security and police personnel shifted the injured FC men to Combined Military Hospital while the wounded students and a passerby to Civil Hospital Quetta.

A senior police official said that law enforcement agencies had found the head of the suicide bomber, adding investigators would carry its examination. The injured FC personnel have been identified as Nike Sharif, Lance Nike Qayyum, Nike Faizullah, sepoys included Ali Jan, Ehsan, Zafar, Meer Murad, Adil, Rafiq, Kalimullah, Akhtar, Gul Rehman, Ibrahim, Faqeer Muhammad, and Ameer Hamza.

The injured students have been identified as Aasia, Shahina, Abina, Ambarin, Qafiya and Mujtaba while injured motorcyclist has been identified as Muhammad Wali. It is the sixth suicide blast which had taken place in the provincial metropolis while the third in its nature which targeted the security personnel.

In Quetta, the first suicide attack occurred at Imambargah Kalan Hazara on July 4, 2003, the second at Ashura procession on March 2, 2004, the third one took place at civil court on February 18, 2007 and the fourth and fifth suicide blasts simultaneously took place at military check posts here in cantonment in late 2007. Meanwhile, Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Muhammad Aslam Raisani and Governor Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Magsi have strongly condemned the suicide blast.

President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday strongly condemned the suicide attack in Quetta that caused loss of lives and injuries. In a message, the President expressed his grief over the incident and said the perpetrators of such heinous crime would be brought to justice. President Zardari also condoled with the aggrieved families of the victims and prayed for the early recovery of those injured in the attack.

Input from agencies

The Council, in a presidential statement read out by Ambassador Michel Kafando of Burkina Faso, expressed “its deep sympathy and condolences to the victims of this heinous act of terrorism and to their families, and to the people and Government of Pakistan.” UNSC urges all States, in accordance with their obligations under international law and resolution 1373 (2001) and consistent with resolution 1624 (2005), to cooperate actively with the Pakistani authorities in this regard.

“The Security Council reaffirms that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security, and that any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed,” according to the statement.

“The Security Council further reaffirms the need to combat by all means, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts. The Council reminds States thatthey must ensure any measures taken to combat terrorism comply with all their obligations under international law, in particular international human rights, refugee and humanitarian law.

On Saturday, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon deplored the attacking, saying in a statement issued by his spokesperson that “no cause can justify the indiscriminate targeting of civilians.”

She told that two floors of the Marriott were reserved for US officials and secret agents. “It is open secret that hotel lifts were not stopped at these floors”, She added, on condition of anonymity. She disclosed that an officer of British Scotland Yard was also a permanent resident of the hotel. “These spy rackets were the original target of the blast”, she asserted.

The Pentagon Officials confirmed the deaths of two US marines in blast who were staying in the hotel. Pentagon officially announced that its two marines succumbed to injuries in the blast. These agents were posted in US embassy in Islamabad; their names have yet not been disclosed.

Furthermore Danish foreign minister Per Stig Moeller also confirmed that an embassy official was dead but a secret agent of Denmark intelligence agency PET was gone missing since the deadly blast. 53-year-old Detective Inspector Karsten Krabbe, a security adviser to the Danish mission, had now been identified as being among those killed in the bombing. “It is with deep sorrow that we have learnt with certainty that PET has lost a competent, trusted and highly appreciated officer,” PET Director General Jakob Scharf said.

“We have lost all contact with him, he was talking about a member of the intelligence service stationed at Islamabad”, he told a local channel. The missing officer had been sent to Pakistan to improve security for Danish staff here. The Danish intelligence agency, PET, said in a separate statement that one of its agents, a security advisor, was missing, presumed dead. A second PET official was unhurt, it said.

It would deemed worthy to mention that an Urdu national daily The Jung has pointed out towards the secret activities going on in Marriot Hotel. It was reported that suspicious Steel Boxes were allowed entering without any particular scanning few days back this suicide blast took place.

However The Adviser to Prime Minister on Interior Rehman Malik had declined The theory that the presence of two US marines in hotel was the total attraction to the terrorists in a press briefing when he issued footage of how the suicide bomber along with dumper truck loaded with 600kg of explosive; blew himself in front of Hotel gate causing deadliest ever attack in Islamabad.

It was reported that one of the men was the Imam Qari of a local mosque, while the other allegedly belonged to al-Qaeda and was also involved in the assassination bid on former president Pervez Musharraf’s life.

Three other suspected terrorists were arrested from a Kharian District mosque located between Lahore and Islamabad. Kharian, also called ‘Kharian Cantt’, is a prominent garrison town housing one of the largest army bases in the country.-SANA

Two suicide bombers blew themselves while the third bomber managed to flee from the spot. However, locals managed to rescue the children safely. Meanwhile, police reached the area and launched the search operation.-SANA

There is now evidence that the UP authorities had clearly obstructed the arrests of three SIMI terrorists who are now emerging as the central players in the serial bombing in Delhi.

These three had ALREADY been identified by two other top terrorists leaders held in UP earlier this month. (Remember, that Modi had given specific intelligence to the PM and his Home Minister/National Security Adviser duo on Delhi to be the next target in Operation BAD).

These three men had been identified by Shahbaz Hussain and Abul Bashar Qasmi (the same guy, who is being now touted as an “innocent” by the pseudo-secular brigade)! In fact, NDTV actually had a news article “Not enough evidence against SIMI?” - where it gave quotes from people who thought that Qasmi was even innocent!

This kind of masochism just sickens one who can clearly see a motive to hit India from inside and through its own “intellectuals”!

Both Qasmi and Husain told their interrogators that the three Azamgarh men had met with Abdul Subhan Qureshi, a top Mumbai-based SIMI operative, who is thought to have taught dozens of Indian Mujahideen operatives their bomb-making skills and authored the organisation’s e-mail manifestos. Qureshi, they said, had visited Azamgarh at least twice in August, soon after the Ahmedabad bombings, to discuss future attacks. New Delhi was chosen as a target during these meetings.

This is how specific the intelligence input had gotten to!! And in the two weeks or so of having this kind of intelligence, the Government kept sitting and doing nothing!

Why? because of the ABSOLUTE appeasement policy and complete pussies we have in our government machinery! Here is the reason why?

Evidence on the central role of SIMI’s Uttar Pradesh networks in the Indian Mujahideen’s operations began to emerge in the course of the investigation into the December 2007 synchronised bombing of trial court buildings at Lucknow, Faizabad and Varanasi. Police learned that Jaunpur-based Mohammad Khalid Mujahid and Tariq Kazmi, using explosives provided by Jammu and Kashmir Harkat ul-Jihad-e-Islami commander Bashir Mir, had coordinated the trial court bombings.

Mujahid and Kazmi were held, but their arrests provoked widespread protests by local Muslims who claimed the two men were innocent. As a result of the protests, Uttar Pradesh authorities ordered police to ease back on operations targeting SIMI. Among those who thus escaped arrest was Qasmi, an Azamgarh-based seminary student-turned-SIMI-activist, who the Gujarat Police alleges was the central figure in the July 27 serial bombings in Ahmedabad.

If Qasmi had NOT escaped arrest in December last year, and the police had ACTED then maybe what happened in Ahmedabad and Jaipur would NOT have happened!

There are some really HARD questions that the UP Government of Mayawati, the Central Government - specifically the PM and Home Minister need to answer!

It is NOT enough now to keep on bashing the BJP and pointing at Modi for the mess and using his name as a pretext to claim the innocence of the terrorists that Gujarat Government has named and pursuing.. THE ONLY CASE to have been “solved” in last 6 years! It is time that PM and Mayawati are brought out to answer WHY was the entire machinery conniving with the terrorists!

Husain’s name figured in the interrogation of SIMI chief Safdar Nagori, who was arrested from a safehouse in Indore at the end of March. Nagori identified Husain, who he referred to by the nickname ‘Shaanu,’ as the ranking head of the group’s military operations. He told police that Qureshi had trained dozens of Indian Mujahideen operatives on Husain’s orders.

Uttar Pradesh police determined that Husain was indeed a SIMI member, who was recruited into the organisation while he was a student of the Indian Institute of Mass Communications in New Delhi. Before SIMI’s proscription in 2001, police found, he briefly edited one of its English-language magazines, Islamic Movement.

Interestingly, bomb-maker Qureshi worked at the Delhi offices of SIMI during this time, after resigning a position at the Mumbai-based computer firm Datamatics. However, Uttar Pradesh authorities again held back on making an arrest, arguing that the evidence available was inadequate to justify holding a prominent member of the community.

Rajasthan Police investigators, however, were able to obtain an arrest warrant after several suspects held in Gujarat — including top local SIMI organiser Sajid Mansoori — correctly identified photographs of Husain, who they described as their ranking commander.