25 killed in Lal Masjid blast

At least 25 people, mostly policemen, were killed in a suspected suicide attack near Lal Masjid here on Sunday minutes after Islamic hardliners demanded the public hanging of President Pervez Musharraf at a rally to mark the shrine’s storming by the military a year ago.

“The death toll can rise but we can confirm 25 deaths till now. Most of those killed are policemen,” an interior ministry official told this newspaper. The official toll, however, stood at 19 till the time of filing this report.

The Pakistan government declared a “red alert” throughout the country. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Tehrik-e-Taliban’s Pakistan commander Baitullah Mehsud and other militant leaders had threatened to retaliate against an operation in Pakistan’s northwest.

“There were quite a few policemen at the venue due to the demonstration by Lal Masjid students and clerics, so we can expect more deaths. Dozens have been injured. They will be over 50,” the official added.

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Online tax payment huge hit with NRIs

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has claimed to have received overwhelming response to its online property tax payment system.

Within few months of its implementation, the MCD has declared that more than 5,000 NRIs have paid taxes for their properties in India. “Till June 30, 2008, the number of online property tax-payers have increased to 2,46,725 from 96,890 in 2007. Thus, there is a substantial increase of 154.46 per cent,” said Vijender Gupta, standing committee chairman.

According to MCD leaders, this year online tax has been received from 97 countries, including countries like the USA, Canada, Aus tralia, the UK, France, Germany, China and Russia. From USA, a total of 3,000 NRIs made online payments, from the UK (466), Australia (227), Singapore (277), Canada (1,189) and Germany (100).

“In India, nearly 20,000 people living in various cities and having properties in Delhi have paid their property tax online.

Of these, 7,000 paid tax from Mumbai, 2,000 from Bengaluru, 2,000 from Chandigarh, 1,500 from Gurgaon and 100 from Faridabad. The civic body has also claimed to have increased the ambit of number of property tax payers by more than 50,000.

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