UN Human Rights Council resolves to pressure Sudan over Darfur

 

GENEVA  ( 2008-03-28 02:16:43 ) : 

The UN Human Rights Council on Thursday pushed through a resolution pressuring Sudan to punish those responsible for human rights violations in the Darfur region's civil war.
The document -- a compromise between European and African countries -- condemns Khartoum for its role in attacks on civilians committed in Darfur. It was adopted unanimously, without a vote, by the 47 members.
In the resolution, the Council "expresses its deep concern at the seriousness of the ongoing violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in some parts of Darfur".
International organisations estimate Darfur's ongoing five-year civil war has left 200,000 dead -- a toll Khartoum places at only 9,000 -- with around 2.2 million people displaced, out of a total population of six million.
The Council insisted Sudan "address urgently this question by thoroughly investigating all allegations of human rights and international humanitarian law violations, promptly bringing to justice the perpetrators of those violations".
However, the Council's Canadian representative said those living in Darfur "deserve better" than this resolution.
Last week, the United Nations issued a report on what it said were deliberate attacks carried out on Darfur's civilians by the Sudanese army in the past two months.
According to the investigation, these attacks in western Darfur left at least 115 dead and another 30,000 forced away from their homes, mainly in the direction of Chad.

Baghdad locked down after violent clashes

 

BAGHDAD  ( 2008-03-28 12:40:47 ) : 

Baghdad was locked down on Friday amid a weekend curfew with pedestrians and vehicles keeping off the roads after violent clashes this week between security forces and Shia fighters.
An AFP correspondent said most of the capital's main roads were deserted after the city's military command imposed a curfew since Thursday night till Sunday 5:00 am (0200 GMT).
The curfew has been imposed to contain the fighting between Shia militants and Iraqi troops, security officials told AFP.
Dozens of people have been killed in Baghdad and at least 105 countrywide in clashes since Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered his troops to crack down on "lawless gangs" in the southern city of Basra on Tuesday, according to official reports. Some sources have put the toll at double that.
On Friday, Sadr City -- the bastion of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr -- which saw brutal clashes since Tuesday, was largely calm, an AFP correspondent said.
He said relatives in Sadr City were preparing to arrange for the funerals of those killed in the clashes.

Mohammed (PBUH) caricatures’ author plans charges against Dutch MP

COPENHAGEN  ( 2008-03-28 16:13:03 ) : 

The Danish cartoonist whose caricature of the Prophet Mohammed PBUH outraged Muslims said on Friday that he would press copyright charges against a far-right Dutch MP for reproducing it in his controversial anti-Islam video.
Kurt Westergaard's cartoon was among those that sparked a worldwide outcry and fierce debate about freedom of speech after they were first published in 2005. He said he was bringing the charge against Geert Wilders after the far-right MP published his anti-Islam video online on Thursday.
Wilders' video contains an image of Westergaard's cartoon showing the prophet with a bomb, its fuse burning, protruding from his turban.
"You can't just steal other people's works. This has nothing to do with freedom of speech, it's all about copyright," Westergaard told AFP.
"I won't accept my cartoon being taken out of its original context and used in a completely different one."
Westergaard has been in hiding since Danish police in February said they had foiled an assassination attempt against him.

US stepping up unilateral attacks in Pakistan: report

WASHINGTON  ( 2008-03-27 21:50:06 ) : 

The United States has stepped up unilateral strikes against al Qaeda and foreign fighters in tribal areas, partly because of fears the country's new leaders will insist they be scaled back, the Washington Post reported on Thursday.
The Pentagon declined to comment on the substance of the report, which said US-controlled Predator aircraft have struck at least three sites used by al Qaeda operatives over the past two months.
"Our operations with Pakistan are closely coordinated," said Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman. "Pakistan recognizes that we fight a common enemy when it comes to terrorists."
Musharraf's allies lost elections last month, and new Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani told US President George W. Bush this week that a broader approach to the "war on terror" is necessary, including political solutions.
The strikes followed a "tacit understanding" with Musharraf and army chief General Ashfaq Kayani that permits US strikes on foreign militants in Pakistan, but not against Pakistanis, the Post quoted officials as saying.
It quoted one senior official as describing the strikes as a "shake the tree" strategy designed to force al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and key lieutenants to move in ways that US intelligence can detect.
There was no immediate response from Pakistani officials on the report.
Pakistan has never formally admitted to allowing such missile strikes and Musharraf earlier this year said that unauthorized military actions on Pakistani soil would be treated as an invasion.
The report came as two senior US diplomats, Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian affairs Richard Boucher, continued a visit to Pakistan apparently aimed at wooing the new government.
A senior partner in the new coalition government, former premier Nawaz Sharif, warned the envoys earlier this week that parliament would review Musharraf's "one-man" strategy against extremism.
Sharif said he told them that it was unacceptable for Pakistan -- which has suffered a recent wave of suicide bombings blamed on militants -- to become a "murder-house" for the sake of US policies.

No single solution to tribal unrest: Negroponte

KARACHI  ( 2008-03-27 20:55:44 ) : 

US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said on Thursday there were no single solution to militancy in the tribal areas and stressed that the problem would require a combination of measures.
Negroponte however opposed talks with militants who could not be persuaded to renounce violence in the region bordering Afghanistan.
"Security measures obviously are necessary when one is dealing with irreconcilable elements who want to destroy our very way of life," he told reporters in Karachi.
"You cannot talk with those kinds of people. On the other hand there are reconcilable elements in any of these situations who hopefully can be persuaded to participate in the democratic political process," he said.
"The common ground that we have in discussing the issue of how to deal with violent extremism in this country or elsewhere where it occurs in the world is that it calls for a multi-faceted approach, there is no single solution."
Asked if the purpose of his visit is to rescue President Pervez Musharraf, Negroponte said it was for the political process in Pakistan to decide the future of Musharraf.
"As far as Musharraf's status, he is the President of the country. We met with him in that capacity and any debate or disposition with regard to his status is of course something that is to be addressed by (the) Pakistani political process."
He said the US would "certainly respect what is decided in that regard."
Negroponte reaffirmed the United States' commitment to the people and stressed there was no hidden agenda behind his visit to Pakistan.
Political observers say the US visit was designed to woo the new government and smooth its relations with Musharraf amid fears that instability in the nation will hurt efforts to tackle militancy.

Baghdad security plan spokesman kidnapped--police

BAGHDAD: A spokesman for the Baghdad security plan, designed to make the Iraqi capital safer, was kidnapped from his home by armed gunmen on Thursday, police said.
Armed men stormed the home of Tahseen al-Sheikhli in theal-Amin neighbourhood of southwestern Baghdad, set the building on fire, disarmed his bodyguards and took him away, a police source said.
No one was reported hurt in the raid.
Sheikhli, a university professor, is one of two main spokesmen for the security plan, launched by the government more than a year ago to reduce bombings and ethnic attacks by flooding the streets with U.S. and Iraqi troops.

DPOs directed to set up village force

PESHAWAR: Inspector General of Police Malik Naveed Khan has directed police highups to establish special police force at village level as per Police Order 2002 with immediate effect. These directives were issued to all DIGs and DPOs in a special order issued from CPO Tuesday, says a press release.

While spelling out the method of selection of the special police force, Malik Naveed said that in every village there should be one respectable, impartial, resourceful and well-reputed helper of police who will head the special police officers of the village, who shall be nominated on the recommendation of the local SHO, SDPO, subject to the approval of the DPO, the press release said.

It further said that the local police should give patronage to the heads of special police officers created so that their authority is established in the village.

They were also directed that the police officers concerned while recommending/appointing the special police officers shall ensure that all special police officers are apolitical i.e. not members or workers of any political party. Similarly the head of the special police officers will recommend the names of village police officers who shall be selected in consultation with the local SHO and SDPO, to be finally approved by the DPO. He shall be a Razakar, voluntary worker.

The duties of the special police officers will include: to keep peace in the area and their jurisdiction under the umbrella of local police; to help the police in detection, prevention of crime and apprehension of offenders; to patrol with police in the villages and assist in formation of and join "chagha parties"; to inform police about the persons who have no obvious source of income and are suspicious character; to inform police about the presence of POs and BCs, disputes which are likely to lead to crime or law and order situation, epidemic disease amongst the people, animals, birds etc, the refugees and other aliens and their activities; to report all unreported crimes, to help the police during natural disasters; to help improve the image of the local police.

The order further stated that the head of the special police force will report to the SHOs of local police station periodically either in person or through diaries once in a fortnight, or could do more frequently depending on the importance and urgency of information. Similarly the SHO/beat officer while visiting the village will periodically meet the special police officers for seeking information and assistance. Likewise the SHO will maintain a separate register which should record the activities of the special police force.

Some guidelines have also been laid down for the special police force. Quarterly meeting of all heads of special police officers with DPO will also be held regularly. It further maintained that the DPO will be overall supervising authority over village police thus all the activities conducted by such special police officers shall be monitored by the DPO.

The order further elaboratd that the DPO could either club in a number of small villages to organise the village police officers to perform their duties in the beats that they have already laid out for a police station or bigger villages with complex problems and crimes could be taken separately. The discretion will be with the local police.

FUTURE FLIGHT

Kabul looks for anti-terror unity with Gilani

KABUL  ( 2008-03-25 15:45:13 ) : 

Afghanistan said on Tuesday it hoped the election of a new government and prime minister in Pakistan would lead to closer co-operation in efforts to fight extremism plaguing both countries.
President Hamid Karzai issued a statement congratulating Yousuf Raza Gilani who was sworn in by President Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday.
Karzai "deemed terrorism and extremism a serious problem against stability and development in the region and hoped the new Pakistan parliament and prime minister achieve huge success against this destructive phenomenon," it said.
The president also wanted relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan -- both key allies in the United States' so-called "war on terror" -- to expand under Gilani, the statement said.
Ties between the neighbours are fragile with both accusing each other of not doing enough to tackle militants behind a wave of violence on both sides of the border.
The Afghan defence ministry said separately that the election showed people in Pakistan "are weary of extremism."
It also "in part promises a new development in regional co-operation on the war on terrorism," it said.

SUICIDAL ATTACK IN LAHORE

2008 Workplace Resolutions

4 Uzbeks among 5 killed in shootout

LAKKI MARWAT: Four militants and a villager were reportedly killed in a fierce gunbattle in Khankhel (Tajori) area bordering Frontier region after the suspected Uzbek militants kidnapped a union council nazim along with his two friends on Tuesday.

During the course of firing locals also captured a militant and handed him over to law enforcement agencies", sources told.

Nazim Union council Bakhmal Ahmadzai Malik Muhammad Idrees Khan and his two friends Musawwar Gul and Hayatullah were coming to Serai Gambila in a car when five armed suspected Uzbek militants intercepted them near Manzar Faqir area and whisked them away along with the car", DSP Naurang circle Umar Faraz Khattak said. He said that the personnel of law enforcement agencies were put on high alert while the roads connecting the area with the tribal region of Janikhel Wazir were closed. "The news of nazim's kidnapping spread like a jungle fire in the nearby villages upon which a 'Chagha Party' (force of armed villagers) was formed to secure the release of the nazim and his friends", sources told. DSP Khattak said that heavy contingent of police force and Frontier Constabulary rushed to the area to foil any possible attempt of shifting the hostages to the tribal belt. The armed villagers, sources said, zeroed in on the criminals in a dry rainy watercourse Nunger/Chall Nullah near Khankhel and got freed the kidnapped nazim and his friends through talks.

"Law enforcers backed by the Chagha Party laid a siege to the militants when they were stuck in the nullah after police barricaded the roads connecting the district with the tribal belt", DSP told.

Sources further said that fierce fighting started between the personnel of law enforcement agencies assisted by local armed villagers and militants when the former reportedly refused to give a safe passage to the militants to drive out of the area.

"The militants (suspected to be Uzbeks) took shelter in a long caves locally called 'Kuri' situated on vast tract of eroded lands near Khankhel and exchanged heavy firing with the personnel of law enforcing agencies backed by villagers", sources maintained, saying that several explosion were also heard.

"Fighting lasted several hours wherein four militants and a villager identified as Dilawar Khan, resident of Bachkan Ahmadzai were killed while one of the militants was captured", sources told and said: "The arrested militant seems to be an Uzbek national from his appearances".

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari