‘No legal aid to Kasab unless citizenship proved’

Pakistan will not act on the request for legal aid by Ajmal Amir Iman, alias Ajmal Kasab, the lone gunman captured for the Mumbai attacks, unless it is proved that he is a Pakistani national, interior ministry chief Rehman Malik has said.

“There is no question of consular access unless it is proved that Ajmal Kasab is a Pakistan national,” Mr Malik told reporters on the sidelines of a function at the headquarters of the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) on Wednesday.

“We have thoroughly checked the registration record but have not found Ajmal Kasab’s name in the Nadra database,” he said. “Therefore we are not sure whether he is a Pakistani. How we can give him consular access without having knowledge about his nationality?” Kasab has written a letter to the Pakistani authorities seeking legal aid and the appointment of a lawyer to represent him. Mr Malik had said on Tuesday that Pakistani officials were examining Kasab’s letter and would respond to it by Wednesday.

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Target Islamabad

The government came under increasing pressure on Sunday to take decisive action in the wake of the November 26 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, as the clamour for suspending the five-year-old composite dialogue process with Pakistan grew louder.

With the Opposition parties upping the ante and seeking appropriate measures to deter Pakistan, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was weighing his options so that his government was seen to be doing its utmost in the runup to the general elections.

The government, fighting off demands to suspend all confidence building measures such as rail and air links with Pakistan, is understood to have put the Indian cricket team’s forthcoming tour of Pakistan on hold.

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Suicide blast at Pakistani MP’s house: 30 die

At least 30 people were killed and over a hundred others injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up at PML (Nawaz) leader Rashid Akbar Nawani’s residence in Bhakkar district.

Mr Nawani, a member of Pakistan’s Parliament, was meeting people from his constituency to exchange Id greetings when the blast occurred, injuring him and killing more than 30 people.

Mr Nawani was in critical condition in hospital. “Several of the injured are critical... We only hope the death toll will not rise,” said a doctor.

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India, Pakistan inch closer to starting Line of Control trade

India and Pakistan have made good progress towards starting trade across the Line of Control, but the euphoria was tempered by Islamabad’s reluctance to open a third trade route between Kargil and Skardu and its dilly-dallying over dispatching a business delegation from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to Srinagar.

The Indo-Pak joint working group on cross-LoC confidence-building measures, which met here on Monday, firmed up lists of items to be traded on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad and Poonch-Rawalkot routes. Both countries will trade in export surplus commodities. Customs and security matters were also discussed.

India was keen to launch cross-LoC trade in the first week of October, coinciding with Gandhi Jayanti and Id-ul-Fitr, but the Pakistani delegation led by additional secretary (South Asia) Aizaz Ahmed Choudhary is understood to have told the Indian team, headed by external affairs ministry joint secretary (Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran) T.C.A. Raghavan, that it wanted more time.

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Pervez’s allies say he might quit soon

Political allies of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf acknowledged on Wednesday that he could quit rather than face impeachment, as another provincial Assembly voted against him and speculation mounted that his resignation was imminent.

While Mr Musharraf has given no public sign that he plans to resign, political pressure is mounting on him.

Asked late on Wednesday whether he would stay in office to help the country, Mr Musharraf told a group of well-wishers, “God willing, I will try.” The President spoke at an official function to mark Pakistan’s Independence Day, which falls on Thursday. He appeared relaxed and confident.

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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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