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DEATH TOLL IN KARACHI BOMBING REACHES 140, 539 INJURED

While Karachi police issues sketch of suspect suicide bomber

KARACHI: The FIR has been registered on Friday at Bahadaurabad police station against the bomb blasts in the Benazir Bhutto’s welcome procession under Anti-terrorism Act.

Talking to Geo News, Supervisory police officer Nawaz Ranjha said FIR has been registered with SHO Bahadaurabad police station as plaintiff against the unidentified terrorists.

The case is marked #183/07 with clauses related with terrorism, blast, murder and murder attempt applying to it.

Police has issued the sketch of the alleged suicide attacker. According to the police, the head of the suicide attacker was found from the spot of bomb blasts and police used it for preparing the sketch.

Benazir vows to live in country to continue struggle for democracy to save Pakistan

KARACHI: Former Prime Minister of Pakistan and PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto vowed on Friday to live in country to continue struggle for democracy to save Pakistan despite heavy loss of lives incurred as a result of assassination attempt made on her life through a suicide attack on caravan of PPP, which was moving towards Mazar-e-Quaid after return of Benazir to Pakistan on Thursday.

The suicide attack on PPP caravan at Shahra-e-Faisal near Karsaz on Thursday night left at least 139 people dead including three police officers and over 550 were injured.

Addressing a press conference here, she thanked God Almighty for protecting her and top PPP leaders, saying “ The assassination attempt was not on me alone but all other top PPP leaders were also targeted.”

Benazir expressed shock and deep grief over loss of PPP workers, security guards and police officers and cops.

Benazir termed the suicide attack as an attack on democracy, integrity of Pakistan and humanity saying, “ The unity and integrity of Pakistan depends on restoration of democratic order in Pakistan.”

Bhutto was unhurt in Thursday night’s attack, having climbed into her specially fortified vehicle just moments before two explosions ripped through crowds welcoming her back to Karachi after eight years in exile.

The streets, packed with hundreds of thousands of her jubilant supporters, quickly became a scene of bloody carnage. The campaign bus was scorched and dented.

“The attack was not on me, the attack was on what I represent,” Bhutto told a press conference in the port city.

Bhutto pledged to defy the “cowards” from Al-Qaeda, the Taliban and other militant groups who had vowed to launch suicide attacks against her before she flew home from Dubai.
“If it means sacrificing our lives, then we are prepared to risk our lives, but we are not prepared to surrender our great nation to the militants,” she said.

78 killed, dozens wounded in 2 blasts on Bhutto

Update: 85 killed, (60 minimum) dozens wounded in 2 blasts on Bhutto

In Response to Last Post

President and PM Condemns Karachi Blasts.

Visuals taken from Local TV Channels Update Place Exclusive

Blast Visuals

Blast Visuals 2

More then 65 killed in Bhutto blasts 100+ wounded.

Bhutto was being driven in a convoy through crowded streets from Karachi airport to a rally to mark her homecoming after eight years in exile.

Mrs Bhutto was not thought to be among the casualties. Two cars are on fire.

Hundreds of thousands of people had turned out to greet the former PM, amid a huge security presence.

Several Islamist groups including pro-Taleban militants have made threats against Mrs Bhutto.

The motorcade is now said to be at a standstill, and police have cordoned off the scene of the blasts.

The area around a stage where she was due to give a speech to supporters has been evacuated.

Police say the bombings may have been suicide attacks.

Pakistan’s highest court is hearing challenges to the legality of Pervez Musharraf’s re-election earlier this month as president, amid confirmation by Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister, that she intends to return from exile on Thursday.

Musharraf’s opponents are petitioning the court that he was ineligible to contest the October 6 vote by politicians.

A day before the vote, the court ruled that official results could only be declared once it had decided whether Musharraf was properly qualified.

With opposition parties boycotting the election, Musharraf received an overwhelming majority of the votes cast by federal and provincial politicians.

Unconstitutional

The opposition argued that it was unconstitutional for an outgoing parliament to choose a new president and that Musharraf was disqualified under a bar on public servants seeking elected office.

Kamal Hyder, Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Islamabad, said: “Thousands of opposition supporters have gathered outside the court.”

Musharraf has promised to resign from his army job before beginning a new five-year presidential term.

His term and that of parliament expire on November 15.

It is unclear when the nine-member panel of judges will rule on the case, which has injected more uncertainty into Pakistan’s already turbulent politics.

Bhutto’s return

Wednesday’s court hearing in Islamabad coincided with an announcement by Bhutto that she would leave for the Pakistani city of Karachi the next day to begin her campaign for parliamentary elections due by January.

“My return heralds for the people of Pakistan the turn of the wheel from dictatorship to democracy, from exploitation to empowerment, from violence to peace,” she said at a news conference in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates.

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Hyder said, however, that many Pakistanis were not happy with her agreeing a power-sharing deal with Musharraf.

“Such talk is not likely to go down well with many people in Pakistan,” he said.

Musharraf has held talks with Bhutto that could see them form an alliance after the elections are complete.

The supreme court is also examining the legality of an amnesty signed by Musharraf that quashed corruption cases against her and others and paved the way for her return from eight years of self-exile.

Officials had urged Bhutto to delay her return because of the legal uncertainties.

Few, though, expect that she will face the same treatment as Nawaz Sharif, another exiled former premier who was swiftly deported to Saudi Arabia when he tried to return last month.

The supreme court is to hear later a petition from Sharif later on Wednesday, arguing that he should be allowed to return.

The opposition says that Japan should not be involved in what it calls “American wars” [GALLO/GETTY]

Japan’s ruling party has endorsed a draft bill to extend a refuelling mission in support of US-forces in Afghanistan and at the same time scale back Japanese support for combat operations.

he opposition says that Japan should not be involved in what it calls “American wars” [GALLO/GETTY]
But the bill, set to go to the cabinet on Wednesday, was unlikely to placate the opposition which has lobbied to end the mission entirely.

The proposed bill limits Japanese ships to refueling and supplying water to ships on patrol.

They will not refuel vessels involved in military operations, such as attacks, rescue operations or humanitarian relief.

The opposition, which controls the upper house of parliament, has not officially rejected the compromise bill, saying it wants to debate the issue once the cabinet approves it.

The upper house, dominated by the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) since July, has the ability to slow the ruling blocs legislative plans but not derail them.

The ruling camp could override the upper house through its two-thirds majority in the more powerful lower chamber, tough legislators may be reluctant to risk a public backlash by doing so, according to analysts.

Compromise bill

The new bill was due to go to the Diet, or parliament, for a plenary vote, ruling party and government officials said.

“Hopefully the bill wins the Democrats’ support and get passed by parliament,” Taku Yamasaki, a Liberal Democratic Party executive, said.

But the opposition says that Japan should not be involved in “American wars”, though it has yet to agree on a counter-proposal to the government bill.

The opposition remains divided on a compromise, with Ichiro Ozawa, who heads the DPJ, suggesting that Japan could provide support for the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, a UN-authorised, Nato-led peacekeeping mission.

The current mission, started in 2001, expires on November 1.

A Palestinian fighter and an Israeli soldier have been killed after Israeli army troops raided the southern Gaza Strip, officials have said.

Israeli troops shot dead Hazem Asfur, 21, of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, during the raid east of the town of Khan Younis on Wednesday, Palestinian medical sources said.

The Israeli soldier was critically injured in later exchanges of gunfire and was declared dead after being taken to a hospital, an Israeli army spokesman said.

Four Palestinians were also wounded in the incursion, nearly one kilometre inside Palestinian territory.

Houses raided

Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Gaza reported that a number of Israeli military vehicles, backed by helicopters, raided Khan Younis’ eastern Farahin district.

The vehicles raided the area amid intensive and indiscriminate gunfire at Palestinian citizens’ houses, he reported.

Eyewitnesses told the correspondent that a group of Israeli special forces infiltrated the district before the raid and had occupied a number of civilians’ houses, turning them into military bases.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said “terrorist threats and rocket-launching infrastructure” were the target of the raids.

Israeli troops shot several Palestinian fighters who had struck an Israeli armoured vehicle with an anti-tank rocket, she said.

Israel has tried with little success to stop frequent rocket fire from Gaza, which the Israeli government last month branded a “hostile territory”.

Fears of an eruption of Indonesia’s Mount Kelud have resulted in the evacuation of thousands of local residents.

The volcano, 90km southwest of Surabaya, Indonesia’s second-largest city, prompted a warning that it could erupt within 24 hours.

Authorities ordered the evacuation of more than 100,000 people from a 10km zone near the 5,712ft volcano, the National Agency for Disaster Management said.

However, as of Wednesday, many residents had flouted evacuation orders and stayed in their homes around the Javanese volcano.

Surono, head of Indonesia’s centre for volcanology and geological hazard mitigation, said: “The volcano is still on highest alert. I advise people to stay in the shelters and to be patient.”

Another official said the number of volcanic quakes had dropped from around 500 on Tuesday to 61 on Wednesday morning, but said that did not mean an eruption could be ruled out.

“In fact, it may erupt in two or three days after there are quakes,” Simatupang, head of the vulcanological survey, said.

“The volcano may be storing energy for a blow out.”

Ring of fire

In Kampung Anyar, about 7km from the crater and within a zone deemed by authorities as dangerous, many villagers were at home.

Marsudi, a resident in the village, who evacuated and then returned to his home, said: “It’s not certain if Mount Kelud would ever go off. My parents and my siblings are at home at the moment. I’m going off to see some friends.

“Whenever we’re asked to evacuate, we will do so. But we came back simply because nothing happened,” he said.

When Kelud last erupted in 1990, around 30 people were killed and in 1919 about 5,000 died as it ejected scalding water from its crater lake.

Indonesia, which sits on a belt of intense seismic activity known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, has had a series of major volcanic eruptions over the centuries.

he US secretary of state has flown back to Israel to resume intense preparations for a looming Middle East summit after securing cautious Egyptian support for the conference.

Condoleezza Rice is to hold a second round of talks with Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, and Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, on Wednesday.

David Chater, Al Jazeera’s correspondent, said Abbas would likely press Rice to get concessions from Israel on “core issues”.

“But if she does force concessions [from Israel] it might mean the collapse of the coaltion government of the Israeli prime minsiter Ehud Olmert,” he said.
(more…)

India has raised doubts about a landmark nuclear energy pact with the US after domestic political tensions reached boiling point in recent weeks over relations with Washington.

Manmohan Singh, the Indian prime minister, told George Bush, the US president, that his government was having trouble finalising the deal as he faces fierce opposition from leftist parties whose support he needs to remain in power.

The agreement, which has become the subject of an increasingly acrimonious feud in India, allows for peaceful nuclear co-operation and was meant to be a cornerstone of thawing ties between both countries after decades of icy relations.

Late last week, Singh remarked that it was “not the end of life” if the deal collapsed.

The doubts raised then were further magnified late on Monday when he told Bush while touring Africa that “certain difficulties have arisen with respect to the operationalisation” of the deal.

The BJP, the country’s largest opposition party, was angered by the accord, saying it would erode India’s sovereignty.

The leftists in Singh’s government insist that he must not proceed with steps to finalise the deal until the Indian parliament debates the pact later this year.

Uday Bhaskar, an Indian defence analyst, told Al Jazeera the deal remained alive, even if had been put on hold for a time.

Bhaskar said India’s credibility was at stake if it backed away from the agreement, having already negotiated with the US on the issue.

“India needs to be able to import natural uranium to its civilian [nuclear] program going. The options for India in terms of its energy mix would shrink and its credibility would be diluted.”

The final stage involves negotiating separate agreements with the UN nuclear watchdog and the Nuclear Suppliers Group, a group of nations that export nuclear material.

US optimism

The White House, however, publicly maintains that the deal is still on the table.

On Tuesday Tony Fratto, a White House spokesman, said they were aware of India’s local politics but remained optimistic about closing the deal.

“India’s a thriving democracy. They have work to do, and they may need some additional time on their end to get their part of this deal done,” he said.

“The president is willing and is very understanding that the Indians may need more for this, but no, it’s not dead.”

Bush and Singh first conceived the deal in July 2005 as a way to bring India, a nuclear weapons state, into the international atomic mainstream in return for US atomic fuel and technologies for India’s booming but energy-starved economy.

The pact has also drawn heavy criticism from US legislators who said it could spark a regional arms race.

Libya has been elected to the UN Security Council, taking a step back towards global respectability after being considered a pariah state by the West for years.

The US, which had used its influence to foil previous Libyan attempts in 1995 and 2000 to win a coveted seat on the powerful council, took no similar action this year, diplomats said.

Libya, Vietnam and the West African state of Burkina Faso easily obtained a two-thirds majority on Tuesday after being endorsed by regional groupings to stand unopposed for the three non-permanent seats available for African and Asian nations.

Also elected for two-year terms starting on January 1 were Croatia, which defeated the Czech Republic in a contested race for an East European seat, and Costa Rica, which beat off a challenge from the Dominican Republic for a Latin American place.

Muammar Gaddafi abandoned Libya’s weapons of mass destruction programme in 2003 [Reuters]

At stake, like every year, were five of the 10 non-permanent seats on the 15-nation council which wields the power to send peacekeeping troops around the world and impose sanctions on countries.
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