Just 29 of 66,000 Pakistan applicants interviewed

Despite a "rigorous new system" for immigration control being in place, British officials have questioned face-to face only 29 out of 66,000 visa applicants from Pakistan in the last one year.

The visa checks on immigrants from Pakistan have been condemned as a "sham", a Daily Mail report said on Thursday citing the latest statistics. The Home Office set up the `hub and spoke' scheme in 2008 to prevent terrorists, extremists, illegals and criminals from entering the UK. But though the new system was operating since last October, data has revealed that just one in a thousand of those granted visas was "quizzed face to face". Figures showed that just 29 out of 66,000 applicants were interviewed by officials, the report said. The Opposition Tories said the statistics were proof that Britain's immigration controls are "wholly inadequate".

"Gordon Brown and MI5 boss Jonathan Evans have stated publicly that militants from Pakistan are the biggest terrorist threat to Britain and the country is classified as a `high risk' for visas by the home office,"the Mail noted.

To read the full article, click here...
To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.asianage.com

Pakistan gave Iran nuke aid: AQ

Rogue Pakistani scientist A.Q. Khan, father of its nuclear weapons, now admits Islamabad had helped with Iran's nuclear programme.

Mr Khan told Pakistan's Aaj TV in an interview that he and other senior Pakistani officials guided Iran to a network of suppliers to advance its covert nuclear programme years ago.

They were also instrumental in Tehran's covert purchases of equipment through Pakistan's Dubai suppliers, he said, in the first admission of official Pakistani support for Iran's nuclear ambitions.

To read the full article, click here...
To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.asianage.com

Second strike in 24 hours: 10 die in Peshawar

In the second major terror attack in Pakistan in 24 hours, three blasts at a crowded bazar and a police checkpoint killed at least 10 people and injured 100 others in Peshawar on Thursday, the police said. Two terrorists were also killed by securitymen in a crossfire that lasted for hours.

“Two blasts ripped through Kissa Khuwani Bazar within minutes of each other,” a police official told this newspaper over the telephone.

On Wednesday, a bomb blast killed at least 35 people and injured over 250 others near the office of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence in Lahore. The Taliban later claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s Lahore attack, saying it was to avenge the Pakistan Army’s operations in Malakand and Swat.

To read the full article, click here...
To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.asianage.com

Defiant Sharif heads for Islamabad sit-in

Pakistan’s pow erful Army Chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani on Sunday put pressure on the civilian leadership to swiftly end the chaos engulfing the country, with its most populous province — Punjab — almost in total revolt, with its police chief and his deputy as well as some senior government officials resigning from their posts and joining angry protesters in their march towards Islamabad. The marchers plan to begin a massive sit-in outside the Pakistan Parliament on Monday.

President Asif Ali Zardari’s arch-rival, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, defied house arrest orders to walk out of his Lahore home to lead the marchers to the federal capital. He told reporters that his Long March was the most momentous protest in Pakistan’s history since the freedom struggle which led to the independence of India and Pakistan in 1947.

“After 1947, this is the second time that the country needs you,” Mr Sharif told hundreds of cheering supporters, calling for the immediate ouster of President Zardari, who he said had “let down and betrayed” him.

To read the full article, click here..
To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.asianage.com

United Nations official kidnapped in Pakistan

A foreign official of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was on Monday kidnapped from Pakistani city of Quetta after shooting his driver dead, officials said.

Mr John Solecki, head of the UNHCR office in Quetta was on his way to his office when gunmen intercepted his vehicle and opened fire, the police said.

Syed Hashim Raza, the driver of UNHCR official was killed in the terrorist act, a police official further added. “The gunmen have taken him with them after shooting his driver,” said the police official.

Witnesses said that the vehicle crashed into a house after the gunman opened fire. A UN spokeswoman in Islamabad said details are sketchy.

To read the full article, click here..
To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.asianage.com

‘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.

To read the full article, click here..
To read the ePaper, visit:
http://epaper.asianage.com/Asian/AAge/2008/12/26/index.shtml

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.

To read the full article, click here..
To read the ePaper, visit:
http://epaper.asianage.com/Asian/AAge/2008/12/01/index.shtml

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.

To read the full article, click here..
To read the ePaper, visit:
http://epaper.asianage.com/Asian/AAge/2008/10/07/index.shtml

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.

To read the full article, click here..
To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.asianage.com

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.

To read the full article, click here..
To read the ePaper, visit:
http://epaper.asianage.com/Asian/AAge/2008/08/14/index.shtm

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.

To read the full article, click here...
To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.asianage.com