OPEC set to hold output steady, hopes for price rise

VIENNA- OPEC ministers set their sights on oil prices above $70 a barrel as they gathered for talks in Vienna, but they were expected to hold output steady and rely instead on economic recovery to push the market up.

Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said on Wednesday the world was ready to cope with oil at $75-$80 a barrel, the price range the leading oil exporter considers enough to sustain energy investment for the long term.

He said it could be reached before the end of this year.

Previously, Saudi Arabia signaled it could live with oil around $50 to help nurse the economy back to health.

Oil has already climbed from a low of $32.40 last December to six-month highs above $63 a barrel on Wednesday.

"The price rise is a function of optimism better things are coming in the future," Naimi told reporters.

"We see offshoots of recovery," he added. "There are a lot of positives in what I say because I am seeing a recovery."

Representing the world's biggest fuel consumer, the U.S. government's Energy Information Administration said too high an oil price could damage a fragile economy.

"I certainly would think that we are still in some pretty thick economic woods and that it would make sense to not push things with respect to the oil market," Howard Gruenspecht, acting head of the EIA, said on Wednesday.

"Keeping oil markets well supplied is pretty important."

U.S. President Barack Obama and Saudi King Abdullah were expected to discuss oil prices at a meeting next week in Riyadh.

Naimi said Thursday's meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in Vienna did not need to change the group's output policy.

Saudi Arabia has always been regarded as a moderate and ally of the United States. Venezuela, by contrast, which has big social spending plans to finance, has typically been among the first to seek higher prices.

On arriving in Vienna on Wednesday, Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said he hoped oil would reach $75 in the fourth quarter, but was concerned about "very, very high" levels of inventory.

He did not expect OPEC to change its supply targets, but said it should focus on stronger output discipline.

HIGH PRICE, HIGH INVENTORIES

When OPEC last met in March, oil was below $50.

Citing the need to restore the economy, which in turn would boost oil demand, the group then called only for tighter adherence to existing output curbs, rather than making new ones.

Since September last year, OPEC has lowered output by 4.2 million barrels per day (bpd) and has implemented around 80 percent of the promised cuts.

The historically high compliance has helped to drive the oil price rally, which has also been sustained by expectations across financial markets that the worst is over economically.

Algerian Energy and Mines Minister Chakib Khelil predicted oil prices would be around $60-$65 by the end of the year, rising to $65-$70 next year and said fundamentals of supply and demand did not justify the current price.

"Normally we shouldn't have these kind of prices, but we have them so we are happy with them and I hope they will continue going up," he said.

Some analysts said Naimi could be better placed than many to gather evidence of a recovery in fuel demand.

"I think Naimi's comments are very significant indeed," said Mike Wittner of Societe Generale.

"Nobody on the planet sells more crude to more refineries than Saudi Aramco. So when Ali al-Naimi says that he is seeing demand picking up in Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East, you have to believe him because he has the facts."

Provided energy demand indeed recovers, Naimi said oil inventories would shrink back to the equivalent of 52-54 days of forward cover, a measure closely monitored by OPEC.

The International Energy Agency, which represents consumer countries, said in a report this month oil inventories in developed countries had risen to the equivalent of 62.4 days of forward cover, the most since 1993.

While stating fundamentals are bearish in the near term, the IEA has also argued any recovery in demand could be accompanied by a rally back to the record levels of nearly $150 hit last year because cheaper oil has stymied investment in new supply.

Naimi too has said that is a risk and the difficulty was to keep prices in a range, fair to producers, but that does not destroy demand.

"That is the biggest challenge," he said when asked how to contain any price rise. "It's very difficult. There are too many players in the market. It's impossible with so many players."

Hypocrite leaders

The Frontier Post
Commitment to Journalism
Hypocrite leaders
M Waqar New York
Hypocrites of religious parties had a protest against military operation in Swat, its really amazing that leadership of these so-called religious parties never made any statement what Taliban did and doing to the nation, country as well as innocent people, where were their protest rallies when cruel, criminal, thug Taliban were beheading innocent people, hanging dead bodies on trees and poles? While Army is locked with Taliban in fierce battle in the Malakand Agency, especially in the Swat region, some of the hypocrites like Imran Khan and religious parties have started raising hell just to demoralize the nation and to show their inner filth and to just blackmail the government to get more attention and the perks and privileges. Qazi Hussain Ahmad, the ex-chief of Jamaat-e-Islami has announced a three-day sit-in in the Melody Chowk, Islamabad, against the military operation in Swat. Where was he and his clowns, when there was no military operation and government was trying to appease the Taliban by dialogues, deals and accords? Not even once Qazi or his people went to Swat or talked with Sufi Muhammad or Fazlullah. They remained silent. Now just to record their attention they are raising hell. This is the time when they should be helping the IDPs and not creating fissures and fuss. But they have always disappointed the nation. Does our religion propagate this type of politics?. No, never.... These religious leaders actions have nothing to do with religion. This is sheer hypocrisy. These people are using religion and their religious attire to fool the masses who are illiterate, religious minded and tend to fall prey to any religious gimmick. We must not allow these people to take control of our lives and affairs of our country. We need a totally different band of able political leaders who are sincere, honest, dedicated and work with a vision. We must look around, pick such people and encourage them to come forward. We must get rid of these stale feudal and maulvis who only play dirty politics for their interest. Why did not JI leadership go to Swat and talk to those ignorant mullahs Sufi and company, why JI did not say anything when Taliban were destroying schools and harassing girls if they were going to schools. Why did not they protest when Taliban were killing innocent people, sending suicide bombers across the country, destroying music centres and internet café, what Taliban are doing that was encouraged during MMA Govt in Pakhtunkhwa, nation should realise that JI is supporting Taliban. Imran Khan and JI leadership is deaf, dumb and blind, Imran Khan has forgotten when he used to party and clubbing in Europe , he forgets about his playboy past but now he talks about Islam and supports Taliban. Jamaat-e-Islami’s Munawar Hasan is criticisng those politicians who are supporting military operation but why did not Qazi Hussain or he himself go to Taliban and ask them to stop thei barbarian activities and stop killing innocent people. Extremism is death of sanity and a tricky shrewd extremist in high place has potential to ruin the nation. Unfortunately in Pakistani political chess board still some religious extremists command the events. These are the people who exploit the conflict and get benefits from every side. Let’s not forget that Maulana Fazlur Rehman who is the leader of Pakistan’s Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam or JUI is a person who benefits from every situation and every government. JI also opposed the creation of Pakistan. It supported Gul Badin Hikmatyar during so-called Afghan Jihad. Its leadership is vocal critic of army operations against extremists and spreading bitter propaganda against Army and forces fighting Taliban. Fazlur Rehman is “ideological mentor” of the Taliban. JI also opposed the creation of Pakistan. It has deep connections with international Islamist Parties like Akhwan ul Muslimeen of Egypt. Leaders of these religious parties supported every military dictator in Pakistan. Gen Zia and the so-called Afghan war in 1980 played an important role in the growth of religious parties. Several new parties were formed. One more Political party who is trying to exploit the situation is PML-N. Taliban are involved in crimes against humanity and they must be punished. Army has full support of educated civil society and the gains in Swat will be useless if we don’t act against the real bases of the Taliban and al-Qaeda in the tribal areas. Better suffer some casualties now, and suffer collateral damage, than see the whole country become Taliban’s playground. Salute to martyres of Rah-e-Rast and all those police officials who sacrificed their lives for Pakistan.
Saved from: http://www.thefrontierpost.com/News.aspx?ncat=le&nid=525&ad=28-05-200
Dated: Thursday, May 28, 2009, Jamadi-us-Sani 03, 1430 A.H.

27 killed, nearly 326 injured; ISI agents, 11 policemen among the dead : ISI, police attacked

Daily Times
LAHORE: Suicide bombers detonated a vehicle loaded with 100 kilogrammes of explosives near offices of the capital city police officer (CCPO) and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in Lahore on Wednesday – killing at least 27 people and wounding 326, in addition to destroying a two-storey building of the Rescue 15 police service, according to police.

Attack: Witnesses said the attack started midmorning when two gunmen stepped out of a white van – which had pulled up in a narrow street separating the police and ISI buildings – cautioned civilians to take cover, themselves took cover behind concrete barriers protecting the buildings and started firing at security personnel deployed down the street. The driver remained in the van as his accomplices exchanged fire with the security personnel, to clear the path for the vehicle to move towards the ISI and CCPO offices – located about a hundred feet down the street opposite each other. The gunmen also hurled a grenade at the security personnel. As the firing continued, the driver managed to cross the concrete barrier, but could not get further and was forced to blow up the vehicle there.

SP Sohail Sukhera said two policemen were injured in the gunbattle. He said a threefold security cordon prevented the attackers from getting to the offices CCPO and ISI offices. He said the terrorist in the vehicle was shot – which prompted him to blow up the vehicle about a hundred feet away from the intended target, in front of the Rescue 15 building.

Officials said at least three suspects had been detained.

Civil Defence District Officer Mazhar Abbas told Daily Times a suicide jacket and two Russian-made hand grenades had been found from the blast site. Sukhera said 27 people – including 11 policemen – died in the attack. The AP news agency reported that “several intelligence agents” were among the dead. The APP news agency said 50 of the injured people were in critical condition, but Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said 20 were in critical condition.

Sukhera said nobody had claimed responsibility for the attack. The blast left a crater eight feet deep and several yards in diameter. There was no trace of the vehicle used in the blast – which destroyed an area nearly the size of a city block, with cars on the street left mangled and bricks strewn dozens of yards in all directions.

A nearby filling station was totally destroyed and several car showrooms damaged. The ceilings of several operating rooms in a nearby hospital caved in, and windows of buildings in a two-kilometre radius were shattered.

Most of the outer wall of the ISI office was destroyed and the building partially damaged, while the CCPO’s office was also damaged and SSP (Discipline) Farooq Mazhar injured. DCO Sajjad Bhutta said the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber. Rangers, Rescue 1122, police, Civil Defence and the Edhi Foundation immediately started rescue operations.

Sources in the Police Department told Daily Times that there were 35 police officials in the CCPO’s office at the time of the blast, and only three of them were unhurt – “all others were either injured or they died”.

The president and the prime minister condemned the attack in separate statements, and said their government remained committed to rooting out terrorism.

Compensation: According to APP, the Punjab chief minister has said that Rs 3 million would be given as compensation to families of policemen killed in the attack, and the government would also pay for their children’s education. Financial assistance would also be provided to the civilians killed or injured.

North Korea fires two short-range missiles

- North Korea fired on Tuesday two short-range missiles on its east coast. South Korean officials say this whips up tensions even further following a second nuclear test, which North Korea conducted on Monday.

“The North continues brandishing its arms,” a government source stressed. He did not explain whether those had been test launches.

According to officials from the South Korean Ministry of National Defense, North Korea declared on Tuesday the sea area off its northwestern coast closed for ships. Officials in Seoul believe this ban can be also connected with possible missile launches to the Yellow Sea.

A source in the South Korean government said the missiles fired on Tuesday had the range of 130 kilometers. One of them was an antiaircraft missile and the other one - an anti-ship missile. On Monday, North Korea conducted its second nuclear test and fired three small-range missiles. The U.N. Security Council condemned those moves.

Barack Obama names Hispanic Sonia Sotomayor as new Supreme Court judge

President Obama has named Sonia Sotomayor, the federal appeals judge, as America’s first Hispanic Supreme Court justice, a woman with a remarkable personal story that began on a housing project in the south Bronx.



If confirmed by the Senate Judge Sotomayor, 54, whose parents came from Puerto Rico, will also become only the third woman to serve on America’s highest court. Within minutes of the announcement conservatives said that they were preparing to do battle over a judge they accuse of being a liberal activist.

Judge Sotomayor, who was inspired to become a judge after watching the Perry Mason courtroom dramas as a child, had diabetes diagnosed at 8 and lost her father, a factory worker, the following year. She and her brother were raised by their mother, a nurse in a methadone clinic, in the Bronxdale housing project. She graduated from Princeton University summa cum laude in 1976, and from Yale Law School in 1979. She is divorced with no children.

In making the first Supreme Court nomination by a Democratic president in 15 years, Mr Obama has said that the most important quality he was looking for was someone with empathy for ordinary citizens. Announcing his choice in the White House he said: “Even as she has accomplished so much in her life she has never forgotten where she began, never lost touch with the community that supported her. What Sonia will bring to the court is not only the experience acquired over the course of a brilliant legal career but the wisdom accumulated from an inspiring life’s journey.”

Judge Sotomayor said that Mr Obama’s decision to pick her was “the most humbling honour of my life” and that “never in my wildest childhood imaginings did I ever envision this moment”.

Barring an unexpected scandal she is expected to be confirmed by the Senate without a bruising fight, mainly because, faced with a Democratic majority of 59 seats, Republicans will be unable to muster the 60 votes needed to mount a blocking filibuster.If confirmed she will replace David Souter, who is retiring. She will not significantly alter the finely balanced ideological make-up of the court, as he was a reliable liberal.

Yet Judge Sotomayor, a court of appeals judge from New York, has strong critics from both the Left and Right, with conservatives decrying the choice. They are particularly animated by a videotape of Judge Sotomayor, taken during a panel discussion four years ago in which she said, half-joking: “Court of appeals is where policy is made. And I know — and I know this is on tape and I should never say that because we don’t make law, I know.” The most provocative thing for conservatives that a judge could say is a claim to make policy from the bench — a breach of the separation of powers under the Constitution.

Wendy Long, of the conservative Judicial Confirmation Network, said: “Judge Sotomayor is a liberal activist of the first order who thinks her own personal political agenda is more important than the law as written. She thinks that judges should dictate policy.” Mike Huckabee, a 2008 presidential candidate, said: “Sotomayor comes from the far left and will likely leave us with something akin to the ‘Extreme Court’.”

From her 1998 Senate confirmation for the appeals court, 18 Republicans who voted in that process still sit in the upper chamber; 11 voted against her and seven in favour. Yet some will be wary of voting against the Supreme Court’s first Latino. Politically Mr Obama’s pick was shrewd. Hispanics are now America’s biggest minority, and a powerful voting bloc in the new electoral battleground that has opened up in the West.

Some liberals claim that Judge Sotomayor lacks the intellectual clout to take on the court’s conservative heavyweights. Some lawyers who have appeared before her say that she can be a bully. Yet her 17-year record shows a woman with liberal tendencies who is also a pragmatist.

Pakistanis in Swat "face catastrophe"; clashes spread

ISLAMABAD - Hundreds of thousands of Pakistani civilians trapped by an offensive against the Taliban in Swat face catastrophe, a rights group said on Tuesday, as fighting flared in another militant-plagued region.

The offensive in the Taliban bastion of Swat, about 120 km (80 miles) northwest of Islamabad, is the military's most concerted effort to roll back a spreading Taliban insurgency that has thrown the nuclear-armed country's future into question.

The offensive has sparked an exodus of 2.3 million people, according to provincial government figures, but about 200,000 people are believed to be still in the valley.

Severe shortages of food, water and medicine were creating a major humanitarian crisis for the trapped civilians, the U.S.-based group Human Rights Watch said.

"People trapped in the Swat conflict zone face a humanitarian catastrophe unless the Pakistani military immediately lifts a curfew that has been in place continuously for the last week," Brad Adams, the group's Asia director, said in a statement.

The army launched the offensive this month after the militants, emboldened by a controversial peace deal in Swat, pushed out of the former tourist valley into neighbouring districts, including one just 100 km (60 miles) from Islamabad.

The United States, which needs Pakistani action against militants in its northwest to defeat al Qaeda and disrupt support for the Taliban in Afghanistan, had criticised the pact as tantamount to "abdicating" to the militants.

The United States, which is pouring thousands of extra troops into Afghanistan to try to reverse Taliban gains, has welcomed the army's bid to clear Swat.

But the flight of so many civilians poses not only a major burden for an economy being kept afloat by a $7.6 billion International Monetary Fund loan, but could also undercut public backing for the military action.

Human Rights Watch said it was getting persistent reports of civilian casualties from army shelling and air attacks, as well as reports of summary executions of civilians by Taliban.

The government should take all possible measures including air drops of food, water, and medicine to alleviate the suffering and both sides should allow a humanitarian corridor through which civilians could escape and aid groups could help, it said.

Military spokesmen were not available for comment.

"READY FOR SOUTH WAZIRISTAN"

In the South Waziristan region on the Afghan border, army helicopter gunships attacked Taliban positions, killing six militants, intelligence officials and residents said.

Speculation has been mounting that the army would soon turn its attention to South Waziristan, the headquarters of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud and a major base area for his Afghan Taliban allies battling Western forces in Afghanistan.

South Waziristan has been a militant hub for years and the United States and Afghanistan's U.S.-backed government have long pressed Pakistan to root out militants from border strongholds.

Frustrated by Pakistani inaction, the United States has been attacking militants in both South and North Waziristan with missile-firing drone aircraft.

Tension has been building in South Waziristan since President Asif Ali Zardari told Britain's Sunday Times newspaper just over a week ago that the military would move against militants in Waziristan after clearing Swat.

Although Zardari is reported to have later denied that, military officials say an all-out offensive against militants in South Waziristan looks inevitable.

"We're ready for an operation in South Waziristan. Now it's just a matter of time," a senior intelligence official said. With tension rising, about 10,000 people have fled from South Waziristan in recent days, a senior government official said.

Separately, gunmen killed three policemen in bid to free four foreign women detained last week over suspected links with militants.

The women, who police said appeared to be Afghan or Uzbek, managed to flee when gunmen attacked police at the house where they were being held 30 km (20 miles) northwest of Islamabad, but they were detained again, said police officer Fazal Khan.

The violence has worried stock market investors and the main index .KSE has dipped over the past couple of weeks. It was marginally lower at 7,166.59 points at 0933 GMT in afternoon trade.

Taliban rob a child of his will to play

Daily Times
KARACHI: Mudassir Khan, aged nine, is playing with his cousins on a street in Sultanabad. Though his cousins seem to be enjoying each and every moment of the game, Mudassir’s face paints a different picture.

His movements lack the freedom visible in the other children. When asked why he is not enjoying the game, he murmurs, “I don’t want to play games.” Khan is one of the thousands of children forced to migrate to Karachi after the military operation was initiated in the area.

His father, Muzammal Khan, steps in to better explain Mudassir’s lack of interest in games. Taking the boy aside, he asks Mudassir to narrate his experiences of the Taliban but the child remains silent. “Once he was playing gulli danda, which was his favorite game, when a Talib slapped him and his friends,” reveals Muzzamil Khan, who used to run a medical store in Mingora.

“My son was not like this at all but the tormenting experiences of the past few months have scarred him deeply,” he adds, still trying to coerce the little boy to share his experiences. Mudassir’s eyes start to well up but casting an annoying look at his father, he manages to murmur, “He was very bad, very bad.”

“I was playing gulli danda when a man with a Kalashnikov and a stick in his hand came up to us. He slapped us because we were playing games of infidels,” he narrates, “The Talib said that infidels have created these games in order to deviate the attention of Muslim children and youth from jihad.” He adds that then the Talib forcefully took him to the mosque and since that day, he has never dared to play a game again.

However, the hatred for the Taliban that Mudassir now harbours was not always present. “They would teach me about religion and prayed five times a day,” he says. However, all that changed when the Taliban started beating up people.

He stated that his madrassah teacher once took his 13-year old schoolmate for jihad training. “Maulana sahib would give sermons on jihad, focusing on stories of the glorious past. That friend of mine wanted to be Muhammad Bin Qasim,” says the green-eyed Mudassir.

It may be noted here that after establishing themselves in the area, the Taliban are forcefully sending children to religious seminaries and mosques. Moreover, though the Taliban are against the modern education system and have destroyed many schools in the area, the son of Taliban spokesperson, Muslim Khan, is enrolled in the pharmacy department of the University of Peshawar, which is a co-education university. More interesting was the reply of Muslim Khan when this was pointed out, as he stated that “the study of medicine is allowed in Islam.”

“He is always nervous and jittery all the time,” Waqma, 28, Mudassir’s burqa-clad mother said, adding that the Mudassir’s face was red for quite some time after that slap.

When contacted for an expert’s opinion over the child’s ordeal, Psychologist Haleem Shah said that the child would not be able to recover any time soon. “If the situation is as the parents describe, it will take months for him to recover and possibly play again,” reckoned Shah.

As the children once again run towards the ground, Mudassir remains with his parents, softly whispering, “I don’t want to play.”

Taliban seeking money, men and weapons

PESHAWAR: The Taliban are seeking money, men and weapons from the residents of the conflict-hit areas, urging them to “live and die together” fighting against the security forces, a resident of Kanju town in Swat district said Monday.

“The Taliban appear to have been running short of money, men and weapons to fight the army for long as they are seeking a fighter from each family, a Kalashnikov, or a Rs 50,000 donation,” said Bakht Rawan, whose original name has been withheld for security reasons.

Kanju is strategically located south of Mingora and has access to the Kabal and Matta tehsils. The Taliban held the town before the security forces took it back on May 22.

Rawan said the Taliban held a jirga with residents of Hazara area (in Kabal tehsil) at a mosque on Saturday and told them they were running short of ammunition and also needed Kalashnikovs. They urged the people not to leave for safer places. “Let’s live and die together,” the Taliban commanders told the villagers who have however decided to migrate.

60-year old Swat maid walked 32 hours to safety

thefrontierpost.com

PESHAWAR: Sixty-year old maid Zarsanga walked 32 hours to reach a safe place after she abandoned her native area extremely scared amid the Taliban reign of terror. Being single and orphan, Zarsanga was a maid at the house of a well-known doctor since her childhood. She migrated from Saidu Sharif to Mardan after the doctor along with his family left for America because of the alarming security situation. The story of Zarsanga, one of the hundreds of thousands of Swati people who left their homes in quest for peace, is a tale of misery and trauma. Zarsanga was among a large number of those non-registered displaced people who luckily found shelter with some well-off and kind hearted local people. They have remained unnoticed unlike those living at relief camps who had their stories projected by the media to the world. After covering a long journey on foot and with little or no food and water "I fell unconscious on the road in Mardan with swollen feet and high fever," Zarsanga told APP in an interview. "A good human being named Jamil took me home after I was able to tell him my story," she said. "I will probably find no one beside my grave when I leave this world," Zarsanga said with tears trickling down her wrinkled cheeks. Zarsanga said she was now living with the hope that peace would return to Swat one day and things would become normal again paving way for the return of the displaced people. "I love every nook and corner of Swat. I hope to return home someday. I have no children or relatives to miss me but I greatly miss the surroundings where I spent my entire life." Describing the ordeal of Swatis, she said that people became mentally sick due to the "insurgency and cruelties perpetrated on innocent and fear stricken people in the valley by the Taliban." "They have been through horrible time." She affectionately praised the man who has given her shelter "Kind hearted Jamil is looking after me like I am her real mother." Like Zarsanga, hundreds of women at the IDP camps yearn for peace in their native land enabling their dignified return. "We don't need anything from the government except honorable return to our places as soon as possible", Zarsanga said. She hoped that the military operation would lead to establishment of peace in the bleeding valley. "We are praying for the success of operation and an end to our agony."

U.S. appeals to China to help stabilize Pakistan

Beijing, which is hesitant to get more deeply involved, is asked to provide training and even equipment to help Pakistan counter a growing militant threat.
The Obama administration has appealed to China to provide training and even military equipment to help Pakistan counter a growing militant threat, U.S. officials said.

The proposal is part of a broad push by Washington to enlist key allies of Pakistan in the effort to stabilize the country. The U.S. is seeking to persuade Islamabad to step up its efforts against militants, while supporting the fragile civilian government and the nation's tottering economy.

Richard C. Holbrooke, the administration's special representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan, has visited China and Saudi Arabia, another key ally, in recent weeks as part of the effort.

The American appeal to China underscores the importance of Beijing in security issues. Washington considers China to be the most influential country for dealing with isolated, militaristic North Korea. Beijing also plays a crucial role in the international effort to pressure Iran over its nuclear program.

China traditionally has been reluctant to intervene in the affairs of other countries. However, Chinese officials are concerned about the militant threat near its western border, fearing it could destabilize the region and threaten China's growing economic presence in Pakistan.

A senior U.S. official acknowledged that China was hesitant to get more involved, but said, "You can see that they're thinking about it." He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the diplomatic sensitivity of the subject.

U.S. officials believe China is skilled at counterinsurgency, a holdover of the knowledge gained during the country's lengthy civil war that ended with a communist victory in 1949. And with its strong military ties to Pakistan, U.S. officials hope China could help craft a more sophisticated strategy than Islamabad's heavy-handed approach.

The Pakistani military has used artillery and aircraft against Taliban extremists in the Swat Valley and surrounding areas in its ongoing offensive. "They're very focused on hardware," the senior U.S. official said of the Pakistanis. But the fighting has forced more than 2 million civilians to flee, United Nations officials estimate, and a humanitarian crisis looms.

The tide of displaced people could set off a backlash against the campaign among ordinary Pakistanis, many of whom already see the fight as driven by American, rather than Pakistani, interests.

China's strategic alliance with Islamabad dates to the 1960s. Beijing has sold Pakistan billions of dollars' worth of military equipment, including missiles, warships, and tanks.

China also has a huge economic presence in Pakistan. China's ambassador, Luo Zhaohui, said in a speech this month that there are an estimated 10,000 Chinese engineers and technicians working in the country.

But Beijing is increasingly concerned about the Pakistani insurgency, in part because Muslim separatists from the northwestern Chinese region of Xinjiang inhabited by Uighurs have trained in Pakistani camps and then returned to China.

Officials in Beijing also are concerned because of recurrent kidnappings and killings of Chinese workers in Pakistan. China has repeatedly pressed the Pakistani government to better protect its citizens.

Analysts say the Pakistani government launched an attack on radicals in the Red Mosque in Islamabad in 2007 in part because of pressure from China after several of its citizens were briefly kidnapped by militants. More than 100 people died in the assault, and Islamic militants say it represented a turning point in their struggle against the government.

Pakistani officials in Washington acknowledged a lengthy alliance with China.

"Pakistan and China have a time-tested bilateral relationship and Chinese support and cooperation have been crucial for Pakistan at many difficult times in our history," said Husain Haqqani, Pakistan's ambassador to the U.S. "At this moment too, we continue to look to China as a trusted friend and partner while laying the foundations of a more enduring strategic relationship with the U.S."

Chinese officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Stephen Cohen, a South Asia specialist at the Brookings Institution, said China and Saudi Arabia wield more influence with Pakistan than does the United States. As a consultant to the U.S. government, Cohen has urged American officials to try to enlist Beijing's help.

"China can be a positive influence," he said. But he added that there may be divisions within the Chinese government, and that the Chinese military, despite close ties to the Pakistani army, may be reluctant to intervene.

Holbrooke, the U.S. envoy, visited China on April 16, and officials of both countries said then that they had agreed to work together on Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"We came here to share views on the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan because we share a common danger, a common challenge and a common goal," Holbrooke said at the time.

Lisa Curtis, a former congressional analyst now at the Heritage Foundation, a think tank, said it would be difficult to persuade China to assume any military role.

But she said the Chinese are concerned about the spillover effects of the Pakistani insurgency.

"The Chinese may try to deal with this privately," she said. "They won't want to make any public statements that might embarrass the Pakistanis."

North Korea conducts 'Successful' underground 2nd Nuclear test

North Korea said it carried out a second and more powerful nuclear test on Monday, defying international pressure to rein in its nuclear programmes after years of six-nation disarmament talks. The hardline communist state, which stunned the world by testing an atomic bomb for the first time in October 2006, had threatened another test after the UN Security Council censured it following a long-range rocket launch in April. The North "successfully conducted one more underground nuclear test on May 25 as part of the measures to bolster up its nuclear deterrent for self-defence in every way," the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. "The current nuclear test was safely conducted on a new higher level in terms of its explosive power and technology," it said. The United States, Britain, the European Union and others expressed concern about the test, which was confirmed by Russia's defence ministry, according to the ITAR-TASS news agency. "We are gravely concerned by North Korea's claims," a US State Department official said. "We are consulting with our six-party and UN Security Council partners on next steps." South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak convened an emergency National Security Council meeting and both South Korea and Japan announced the formation of government crisis teams. Japan said it would seek an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council, which imposed sanctions on the North for its first test. "It is absolutely unacceptable. Japan will take stern action against North Korea," said Takeo Kawamura, the chief cabinet secretary. The KCNA report did not say where the test was conducted. South Korean officials said a tremor was detected around the northeastern town of Kilju, near where the first was staged. The Korea Meteorological Administration said the tremor measured 4.5 on the Richter Scale conmpared to 3.6 in October 2006. Yonhap news agency said the North also appears to have test-fired a short-range missile Monday from its launch site at Musudan-ri near Kilju. There was no immediate confirmation of that report. China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States have been negotiating since 2003 to persuade the North to abandon its nuclear programmes in exchange for energy and security guarantees.
The negotiations led to an agreement signed in 2007, under which the North said it would dismantle its nuclear facilities. The deal bogged down last December over ways to verify the North's declared nuclear activities. In April the North irked the international community with a long-range rocket launch, a move that many nations said was actually a ballistic missile test. After the Security Council condemned the launch and tightened sanctions, the North vowed to conduct a second nuclear test as well as ballistic missile tests unless the world body apologised. It also announced that it was quitting the six-way talks, which are hosted by its closest ally China, and would restart its plutonium-making programme. Analysts believe the North has stockpiled enough plutonium for six to 12 small nuclear bombs. Its first test was seen as only partially successful, with a yield of less than one kiloton. KCNA said Monday's test had resolved "scientific and technological problems arising in further increasing the power of nuclear weapons and steadily developing nuclear technology." North Korea has frequently said it needs a nuclear deterrent to prevent any attack. It said Monday's test would "contribute to defending the sovereignty of the country and the nation and socialism and ensuring peace and security on the Korean peninsula and the region around it with the might of Songun (the army-first policy)." The North has expressed disappointment at the new US administration of President Barack Obama, calling it no better than its precedessor. "The second test was earlier than expected and reflects the North's growing anger at Washington," said Kim Yong-Hyun of Seoul's Dongguk University. "Or some internal problems may be forcing Pyongyang to take a strong attitude." Leader Kim Jong-Il, 67, was widely reported to have suffered a stroke last August, prompting speculation overseas about the succession. The North's position has noticeably hardened since then. Monday's test was staged while South Korea was in mourning for former president Roh Moo-Hyun, who leapt to his death Saturday after being questioned in a corruption probe. Roh had always championed engagement with the North, and Kim Jong-Il sent condolences to his family.

CD center blown up by militants in Peshawar

Unknown militants blew up a CD center near Bahadurkalay- Kohat Road. Police sources told a private TV that miscreants planted explosives outside a CD shop that went off with a loud explosion damaging CD shop and adjacent shops. No causality was reported in the blast. Police have registered the case against unknown miscreants.

Refugees survive on food 'cows won't eat'

PPP-S, ANP slam ban on IDPs entry

PESHAWAR: The Pakistan People’s Party-Sherpao (PPP-S) and the Awami National Party (ANP) have resented the decision by the Sindh and Punjab governments to ban entry of displaced persons from the troubled areas of NWFP.

The PPP-S staged a protest rally Sunday, which was led by the party provincial president MPA Sikandar Sherpao, general secretary Bakht Baidar, Muhammad Ali Khan, Fazal Rahman Nono, Malik Zawar and Alamzeb Umerzai.

The protesters were carrying banners and placards inscribed with slogans expressing solidarity with the displaced persons and condemning Sindh and Punjab governments for banning the IDPs entry into these provinces.

Meanwhile, provincial culture secretary of the ANP Hameedur Rahman Mohammadzai criticised the decision of the Sindh and Punjab governments. In a statement, Mohammadzai said banning the entry of IDPs from the conflict zones into Punjab, Sindh or the federal areas was a violation of the 1973 Constitution and human rights.

“Being the free citizens of Pakistan, the displaced people have the right to go and live anywhere in the country,” said the ANP leader, who added that under articles 15 and 25 of the Constitution, movement of the citizens could not be restricted in the country.

He said the decision would create bad feelings among the IDPs as well as people of NWFP that could prove harmful for the unity of the federating units.Mohammadzai demanded of the president and prime minister to take notice of the step-motherly treatment with Pakhtuns who were passing through a critical phase and fighting on the front line to save rest of the country.

Nightmare of war grips Pakistan's children

Pakistan, Iran finally sign gas pipeline accord

ISLAMABAD: After fourteen years of delayed negotiations over the Iran–Pakistan–India (IPI) gas pipeline project, Pakistan and Iran have finally signed the initial agreement in Tehran on Sunday.

The project, termed as the peace pipeline by officials from both countries, has been signed by President Zardari and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran on the sidelines of the tripartite summit on Afghanistan security in Tehran.

However, talking to the Iranian official news agency IRNA the Iran’s Oil Ministry had said that negotiations on the ‘Peace Pipeline’ project were still underway between Iranian and the Pakistani delegations, which would allow Iran’s gas to be exported to Pakistan.

The Pakistani delegation negotiating the project was led by the advisor to the prime Minister on Petroleum Dr Asim Hussain, who is accompanied by petroleum ministry officials and a technical team headed the managing director Inter State gas Systems (ISGC), Syed Hasan Nawab.

The ISGS is a semiautonomous body looking after Pakistani interests in the international gas pipeline projects to import gas from Iran and Turkmenistan.

The federal cabinet had earlier agreed to allow the import of one billion cubic feet of gas at the rate of 80 per cent of the price of crude oil.

‘The next phase was to sign the gas sales purchase agreement with Iran,’ member of the delegation told Dawn.

Official sources said that soon after signing of the gas sales purchase agreement work would start at the designing of the project.

‘Pakistan has already appointed a German designer is ‘ILF’ for the pipeline,’ petroleum ministry sources said, adding that the pipeline would enter Pakistan from its border near Gwader area to Nawabshah, which is the hub of gas pipelines in the country.

The IPI project was conceived in 1995 and after almost 13 years India finally decided to quit the project in 2008 despite a severe energy crises in that country. Pakistan is also facing severe criticism from the US over any kind of economic deal with Iran.

Official sources say that the sudden change of stance from the Pakistani government and the pace of developments at the project suggest that the strong US opposition has softened.

According to the initial design of the project, the 2,700 kilometre-long pipeline would cover around 1,100 kilometres in Iran, 1000 kilometres in Pakistan and around 600 kilometres in India, and the size of the pipeline was estimated to be 56 inches in diameter.

‘We are still hoping that India would join the project but in other case the size of the pipeline would be reduced to 42 inches as initially estimated,’ an official of ISGS said.

However sources in the ISGS said designing and finalising the reports of financial consultants would take up to one year and the work over the project can be started by mid of 2010.The estimated project completion time is between five years.

Sources in the petroleum ministry said that despite cabinet approval Pakistan would negotiate to get the gas prices lowered.

The official report prepared by the petroleum ministry and the ISGS said that the gas would be purchased for power generation and it would enable Pakistan to generate 5,000 megawatts (MW) power.

The petroleum ministry also said that power generation and usage of imported Iranian gas by heavy industries would result in annual saving of up to $1 billion in furnace oil imports, if the crude oil prices are at $50 per barrel.

The reports and calculations forwarded by the ISGS further said that there would be an annual saving of $735 million, compared to if the equivalent quantity of LNG was imported for power generation, and the saving will increase in line with the hike in global crude oil price.

Pakistani troops retake 'bloody intersection'

ISLAMABAD — Pakistani troops battling the Taliban have captured several points in the Swat Valley's main town, the army said Sunday, including a spot nicknamed "bloody intersection" because militants routinely dumped the mutilated bodies of their victims there.



مینگورہ کی گلیوں میں دست بدست لڑائی‘ 24 عسکریت پسند جاں بحق ۔۔۔ شدت پسندوں کو قاضی کورٹس میں پیش کریں گے : ترجمان سرحد حکومت

سوات میں جاری آپریشن کے دوران سکیورٹی فورسز مینگورہ کے شہر میں داخل ہو گئی ہیں جہاں اب گلیوں میں دست بدست لڑائی ہو رہی ہے۔


Elsewhere in the northwest, helicopter gunships pounded alleged militant hide-outs in a tribal region, killing at least 18 people, while police said they had captured an important militant commander and six other Taliban fighters.
Al-Qaida and Taliban fighters have long had hide-outs in Pakistan's northwest. The U.S. has pushed Pakistan to use force to root out the insurgents, who are often involved in attacks on U.S. troops across the border in Afghanistan.
The operation in Swat has strong support from Washington, and retaking Mingora, the valley's main commercial hub and urban center, is considered critical to its success.
A military statement Sunday said forces moving from street to street secured eight crossings while encountering at least 12 roadside bombs. One secured spot is Green Chowk, which earned the "bloody intersection" tag due to the terrifying spectacle of the Taliban victims.
Five suspected militants were killed in various parts of Mingora while 14 others were arrested, the army said. Overall in the valley, 10 militants were killed in the past 24 hours while three security troops died, it said.
The army has said 10,000 to 20,000 residents are still stranded in the town, which normally has a population of at least 375,000.
One trapped civilian told The Associated Press via phone Saturday night that gunshots were ringing through the air, first continuously then at intervals. He said he had tried to flee the city twice but failed due to the fighting and lack of transportation.
"I will try to leave again whenever I get another chance," said Fazal Wadood, a local leader of the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-N party. "It is like inviting death to stay here anymore."
The army also said that its forces had entered Piochar village, a hub in a remote part of Swat that is considered the rear base for Swat Taliban leader Maulana Fazlullah. A large cache of arms was recovered from suspected militant hide-outs and a bomb-making factory was unearthed, the military statement said.
Officials have downplayed reports that the army would soon expand the offensive to the lawless, semiautonomous tribal regions bordering Afghanistan. However, violence has continued to flare in those areas.
On Sunday morning in the Orakzai tribal region, helicopter gunships pounded suspected militant targets in multiple locations, including a religious school, local government official Mohammad Yasin said.
At least six civilians were among the 18 dead, he said, adding that the targeted spots were strongholds of Hakeemullah Mehsud, a deputy to Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud. Hundreds fled the area amid the fighting, he said.
Also Sunday, police in nearby Charsadda district said they caught seven Taliban militants during a raid on a religious school. They included Qari Ihsanullah, a Taliban commander suspected in attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan, Charsadda police Chief Riaz Khan said.
"We recovered three suicide jackets, explosives and assault rifles," he said of the Saturday night raid.
The military says about 1,100 suspected insurgents have died so far in the monthlong offensive in Swat and neighboring districts. It has not given any tally of civilian deaths, and it's unclear how it is separating regular citizens killed from militants. Residents fleeing the region have reported dozens of ordinary Pakistanis killed in the fight.
Some 1,500 to 2,000 hard-core insurgent fighters remain in Swat, the army says. Information provided by the military and civilians is nearly impossible to verify independently because of limited access to the area.
The offensive has also triggered an exodus of nearly 1.9 million refugees, more than 160,000 to relief camps. Some fear the generally broad public support for the military campaign could drain away if the refugees' plight worsens or if the army gets bogged down too long.

Iran hosts regional summit on war against drugs, extremism

TEHRAN: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hosted a summit with his Pakistani and Afghan counterparts on Sunday aimed at finding ways to combat extremism and drug smuggling in the region.

Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai and his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari both headed high-level delegations.

The summit came after Afghanistan's largest-ever drugs seizure in an operation that ended on Saturday in a Taliban stronghold and opium-production centre in the south of the country, in which troops killed 60 militants.

‘Today the three nations are suffering from drug and human trafficking which has put pressure on the three countries,’ Ahmadinejad told the gathering.

He said the region also faced other problems such as ‘intervention and extremism’ which have been ‘imposed on us from far away.’

‘They have been imposed by people who have no close historical or cultural proximity to us... and the foreign troops in the region who came here under the pretext of bringing security have also not succeeded,’ Ahmadinejad said referring to US-led forces in Afghanistan.

The Afghan foreign ministry said on Saturday that the summit aimed to create a ‘mechanism’ for regular high-level consultation between the three neighbours.

It would underline a shared commitment to ‘eradicating extremism, terrorism and drugs which run counter to Islamic beliefs and morals, and the culture and traditions of the three Islamic countries’, a ministry statement said.

The three governments also want to forge closer cooperation in the fields of agriculture, commerce, transport, health and energy, it added.

Ahmadinejad, Karzai and Zardari met less than three months ago in Tehran along with leaders of other neighbouring states for a regional economic summit that pledged to help rebuild war-shattered Afghanistan.

Afghanistan is the source of 90 per cent of the world's opium, most of which is converted into heroin inside the country and smuggled out through Pakistan and Iran, where drug use is growing.

The Afghan military announced on Saturday that it had used air strikes to destroy 92 tonnes of drugs, heroin-processing chemicals and bomb-making materials in the southern province of Helmand.

The Tehran summit comes as the administration of US President Barack Obama has been working towards engaging Tehran in efforts to rebuild Afghanistan.

Iran also attended a US-backed international conference on Afghanistan in The Hague on March 31.

Engaging Iran is part of Obama's strategy to secure the help of all Afghanistan's neighbours in reconstructing the Muslim country which has been battling a resurgent Taliban insurgency boosted by rising militancy across the border in Pakistan.

Iran has not had diplomatic relations with the United States for nearly three decades, and was included in former president George W. Bush's so-called ‘axis of evil’ along with North Korea and Iraq.

Despite their rivalry, Washington and Tehran are both sworn enemies of the Taliban who ruled in Kabul from 1996 to 2001.

Shia Iran, which has close ethnic and religious ties with Afghanistan, has long suffered from the effects of opium production in its eastern neighbour, with easily available heroin fuelling a big rise in drug use at home.

PPP restores Aitzaz’s CEC membership

KARACHI: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has restored the Central Executive Committee (CEC)’s membership of Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan here on Saturday.According to sources, the Senator and the leader of PPP Islamuddin Shaikh told Geo news that the President Asif Ali Zardari and the Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan held talks lasting three hours yesterday wherein all the conflicts and complaints were settled.Following the successful talks, the co-chairman of PPP Asif Ali Zaradri announced the endorsement of the restoration of PPP’s CEC membership of Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan, sources added.

Why break the habit of a lifetime?

PESHAWAR: The Commissionerate of Afghan Refugees (CAR) staff has arrested four officials deputed at the Jalozai camp on charges of stealing items meant for the IDPs, stated a press release issued here.

The Emergency Response Unit (ERU) of the NWFP government has taken strict notice of complaints by IDPs about misuse of relief items being provided by various donor agencies and philanthropists, and directed the security agencies to arrest all those found guilty of selling food and other items intended for the displaced families.

On the instructions of Provincial Relief Commissioner and In charge of ERU, Muhammad Azam Khan, the CAR officials arrested Sub-Inspector Attiqur Rehman, two storekeepers Inayat Khan and Musa Khan, Food Constable Murad Khan and Junior Clerk Nawabzada, stealing 36 steel plates, 3 tarpaulins, 60 packets of biscuits and 20kg of sugar. They were carrying the stolen items in the car of Attiqur Rehman when the security officials intercepted them. Clerk Nawabzada reportedly fled the scene.

The ERU chief has issued instructions of zero tolerance for corruption and dereliction of duty by officials deputed in the IDPs camps in various parts of the province.

A strict vigil will be kept on the authorities discharging duties at the IDPs camps. The ERU has been set up by the NWFP government for monitoring the relief operation for the IDPs from Malakand division where the security forces have been carrying out a big operation against miscreants.

School blown up in Mohmand

Suspected Taliban blew up a government high school in Ambar tehsil of Mohmand Agency, a private TV channel reported on Saturday. According to the channel, the Taliban had planted explosives in the school building in Moosa Kaur area of the tehsil and detonated them late on Friday. The explosion destroyed the campus, it said, but no casualties were reported. daily times monitor

Children deal with the trauma of living in refugee camps

YAR HUSSAIN CAMP: Nabila Bibi sits in a tent in the blistering heat thinking about the dolls she left behind at home in the Pakistani mountains where the army and Taliban rebels are killing each other.

Rosy-cheeked Nabila understands nothing about Islamist insurgents and Pakistan's latest military offensive against them, which the United Nations said has displaced around 1.5 million people this month alone.

She is more concerned about her ‘lonely’ dolls. ‘I am very upset to be here. I feel all alone because my dolls are not with me. Is there someone who can bring these dolls from my house?’ Nabila asks her elder sister.

Nabila, 12, and her family were living outside the town of Mingora in the northwest Swat valley until they fled to the Yar Hussain camp in fear of their lives.

The dusty camp was set up by the government in North West Frontier Province (NWFP) with the help of the UN refugee agency on the outskirts of the town of Swabi, sheltering about 1,200 families in the same number of tents.

‘It is very hot here. I have no friends nor is there any proper playing field like the one I had in front of my house,’ said Nabila, who is taking classes at a temporary school in the camp.

The UN children's agency UNICEF, deeply concerned about the psychological toll on children displaced by the operation to flush out the militants, said it was providing education and recreation in 13 camps where families are holed up.

‘It is vital for children to cope with the trauma of displacement,’ UNICEF spokeswoman Antonia Paradela told AFP.

She said counselling services for women and children are available in all those camps, with trained staff identifying children who have been damaged mentally and helping them cope with a predicament which is none of their doing.

‘Children have also been provided toys, pencils and drawing paper to help them regain confidence,’ Paradela said.

But for all these initiatives, many youngsters in Yar Hussain look unsettled and some plain unhappy.

‘I miss my friends with whom I used to play cricket. I am a big fan of leg spinner cricketing hero Shahid Afridi,’ said Nauman Ali, 16, a carpenter from Mingora, Swat's main town.

‘I wish he would visit me in this camp. I like him because he is also a good batsman. He has a lovely style of hitting sixes.’ Nauman looked sceptical when asked if he thought he would go home soon.

‘I really don't know when I will be able to go back home and play cricket with my friends.’ Jawad Khan, a third grade pupil, said he wanted to become a doctor.

‘How can I continue my studies in an area where bombs and grenades explode daily? Stories about a group of people who slit the throats of their brothers scare me a lot,’ said Jawad, apparently referring to Taliban rebels.

‘I have a few friends from my area in this camp and we all agree these are dirty people,’ he added while carrying his half-naked infant sister.

Six-year-old Nadia Khan, meandering with her mother through the camp, where long queues of men and children formed at lunch time, repeatedly begged to be let out the camp.

‘I want to go home and play with my friends, please take me back,’ she pleaded with her mother in broken Urdu.

Despite severe irritation in her eyes caused by a dust storm, Nadia was hungry—even if the dish of spicy rice with chickpeas was hardly mouth-watering.

To help alleviate their suffering, Pakistani charity Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC) plans to create special play areas.

‘It is a major disaster. Children in the camps need our help to come out of the psychological stress,’ spokesman for SPARC, Kashif Mirza, told AFP.

‘We plan to create play areas and organise painting competitions in the camps for displaced children,’ he added ahead of a SPARC fund-raising campaign.

Shahid Khan, an eighth grade student, said the fighting had ‘shattered’ his dreams. But he was resolute nonetheless. ‘I want to become an army officer. I like their uniform, I like their discipline,’ he said.

‘I am determined to continue my studies. If this is not possible in Mingora, I will ask my father to send me to another city where I can complete my studies and join the army.’

Anti-drug effort in Afghanistan a failure: US admiral

WASHINGTON (Agencies): NATO has failed to stem the vast opium trade in Afghanistan that helps finance Taliban insurgents despite an eight-year effort, the top US military officer said. Countering narcotics networks is crucial to weakening the Taliban and allied insurgent groups, Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Senate hearing. “Strategically my view is it has to be eliminated,” Mullen said. “We have had almost no success in the last seven or eight years doing that, including this year’s efforts,” he said. Afghanistan produces 90 percent of the world’s opium, the raw material for heroin across Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East while cash from the trade helps insurgents buy weapons, according to officials. The Taliban, ousted from power seven years ago by a US-led coalition, has been reaping close to 100 million dollars (77 million euros) a year from the opium trade. A key element in tackling the problem was to offer Afghan farmers alternatives to the opium crop, the admiral said. “We’ve got to have a concerted effort, not only the United States, the international community, to displace it (opium crop) and to do it in a way that makes sense,” Mullen said. Officials in President Barack Obama’s administration say they want to emphasize alternative crops and avoid aggressive eradication operations that could alienate Afghans. Mullen said NATO-led forces have stepped up operations against drug networks after the alliance last year eased rules for targeting narcotics rings. “Recent rules of engagement have allowed us to go after labs, people associated with labs,” he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “That’s a step in the right direction but until we are able to execute a comprehensive agricultural strategy, it’s going to be very difficult to really have a strategic impact on that.” The bulk of Afghanistan’s opium production is based in the south of the country, which is also the heart of the Taliban-led insurgency. Obama has ordered more than 21,000 additional US troops to Afghanistan, with most of the extra troops deploying to the south.

Troops enter Mingora, fierce street fights erupt

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani security forces entered Mingora, the Swat Valley's main city, on Saturday and killed at least 17 Taliban militants as a new phase of their offensive against the militants began, the military said.

Chief military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said parts of Mingora had already been cleared and that 17 militants, including an important commander, were killed during the most recent fighting of Pakistan's northwest offensive.

The ground assault on Mingora, a city with an estimated population of around 300,000 - of whom many have fled - marks the most crucial part of the military's blistering offensive against the Taliban in the scenic valley.

'Today the most important phase of operation Rah-e-Rast, the clearance of Mingora, has commenced,' the military said in a statement on its website.

'In the last 24 hours, security forces have entered Mingora; 17 miscreants-terrorists, including important miscreant commander were killed,”added the statement, written in English.

The military reported intense exchanges of fire and said one would-be suicide bomber was shot dead and that another 'suicide vehicle' rigged with explosives had been destroyed.

Pakistani troops had been slowly tightening their encirclement of the city for days and Abbas said Saturday that militant supplies had been cut off.

'Mingora was surrounded from four directions and militant supplies were cut off,' Abbas told a news conference.

The prospect of an assault on Mingora, which has loomed for days, has raised fears of a bloody battle and the possibility of civilian casualties.

US-based Human Rights Watch earlier this week quoted residents as saying the Taliban had mined Mingora and 'prevented many civilians from fleeing, using them as 'human shields' to deter attack.'

The group also said Pakistani forces 'appeared to have taken insufficient precautionary measures in aerial and artillery attacks that have caused a high loss of civilian life.'

Pakistani commanding officers have stressed that soldiers are under top-level orders to avoid collateral damage and not to use either artillery or air strikes in built-up areas.

Army commences operation in Mingora

Pakistan Army has commenced the operation for the clearance of Mingora, chief town of Swat, besides claiming of killing more 17 miscreants in last 24 hours of ongoing operation in the area, report said. Briefing the newsmen here Saturday along with Minister for Information Qamar Zaman Kaira, Director General ISPR Maj. Gen. Athar Abass said that the security forces have been cordoned off Mingora city while the troops are engaged in battling with the militants in the streets of city’s outskirts. He said that the forces have cleared the area of Mingora from Circuit House to Matkan. He said that the land route between Matta and Peochar have also been restored as the forces have assumed control of the only bridge connecting the two valleys, known as Vinnay bridge.

Zhang Ziyi appears at Cannes Film Festival

Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi poses during the 62nd Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, on May 22, 2009. Zhang is a member of a jury that will select the best short film and the best of 15 films selected for the Cannes Cinefondation.

Militants forced army to take action: ANP

PESHAWAR: The Awami National Party Chief Asfandyar Wali Khan Friday said his party always believed in resolving issues through dialogue and peaceful political means rather than the use of force.

“The ANP-led provincial government has tried its best to resolve the Swat issue through dialogue and despite all pressure and criticism it signed peace accord, promulgated Nizam-e-Adl Regulation and set up Qazi courts, but unfortunately the militants violated the accord and forced the government to use force to ensure the safety of the people and establish the writ of the state,” Asfandyar said.

Addressing a meeting of party office-bearers and MPAs of district Charsadda here Friday, Asfandyar said the provincial government was still abiding by the Swat peace accord but the militants violated it and their nefarious designs were exposed before the nation.

Regarding Swat, he said the provincial government had always taken all the political parties into confidence and that was the reason all the political forces backed the military operation against the militants in Malakand division.

Asfandyar urged the party workers to make concerted efforts to provide better facilities to the displaced people of the restive areas. He asked them to constitute committees at district level, make regular visits to relief camps and co-ordinate with the provincial committee of the party about the deficiencies in the camps so that necessary steps could be taken to make them up.

The meeting also discussed the ongoing development projects in Charsadda district, including provision of natural gas, establishment of a cadet college and construction of roads. Asfandyar assured the party workers that the development projects would be completed soon.

Besides party office-bearers and provincial assembly members of Charsadda, Afrasiyab Khattak, Senator Zahid Khan, Bashir Ahmad Bilour, Tajuddin Khan and others also attended the meeting.

Timing not right for deal with Taliban: Gates

WASHINGTON: The chances of a deal between the Afghan government and the Taliban are remote as long as the insurgents enjoy momentum on the battlefield, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Friday.

In an interview with US television's "Today" show, Gates said the time was not yet ripe for the kind of reconciliation that occurred in Iraq with armed opponents of the Baghdad government.

"I think the view of most of us is that until the momentum of the battle turns against the Taliban... that the likelihood of any kind of reconciliation on the part of the leadership of the Taliban is very small," Gates said.

Asked about a New York Times report that Taliban factions were in talks with the Kabul government and pushing for a deadline for the withdrawal of NATO-led forces, Gates said Washington would "absolutely not" accept any such idea.

The defense secretary said "the end of all such wars involves some measure of reconciliation. We've seen it in Iraq."

Car bomb wreaks havoc in Peshawar

PESHAWAR - At least 10 persons were killed and more than 75 injured on Friday evening in a car bomb explosion in front of Tasweer Mahal Cinema, Khyber Bazaar.
According to police officials and eyewitnesses, the red coloured Suzuki Mehran car, bearing registration number R-7867 Peshawar, was parked in front of Tasweer Mahal Cinema.
As a result of the explosion, the cinema and nearby shops collapsed.
Four rickshaws and some other vehicles, electricity towers and wires were also damaged in the incident and disrupted power supply in the area.
Some of the killed persons have been identified as Usman, Kisahwar, Khan Wali, Janat Gul, orangzeb and Zahid Gul.
Soon after the explosion, a large number of civilians and police personnel reached the site. The ambulances of Edhi Foundation and Lady Reading Hospital also reached and started shifting the injured to various hospitals in the city.
Later, CCPO Peshawar, while briefing the media confirmed the killing of 10 persons and injuring of 75. He also said the 10 persons of the injured were in critical condition. He further informed that it was a high-intensity explosion in which around 40 to 50 kilograms explosive material was used.
Meanwhile President Zardari, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, NWFP Chief Minister, Amir Khan Hoti, Federal Information Minister Kamaruzzaman Kaira have strongly condemned the blast.
President Zardari said the government was determined to root out the menace of terrorism from the society and such cowardly acts will not dampen its spirit.
The Prime Minister while condemning the attack ordered an immediate inquiry into the incident and asked the local administration to provide best medical care to the injured.
Monitoring Desk adds: Miscreants on Friday blew up the house and hujra of Awami National Party leader in Shah Dheri area of Swat, reported a private TV channel. Swat-based militants detonated the house and hujra of ANP leader Khan Nawab. No casualty was reported in the incident as no one was living there in the house and hujra nowadays.

Pakistan Claims More Gains Against Taliban

NYT.COM
KHAWAZAKHELA, Pakistan — A top Pakistani general said Friday that the military has succeeded in clearing two militant strongholds in upper parts of the contested Swat valley and is just a week away from taking over a third.

“Essentially, at this point in time, we are looking at eliminating the hard core militants,” Major General Sajjad Ghani, the commanding officer of the military operation in the upper part of Swat, said in a briefing for journalists here. Khawazakhela is one of the largest cities in Swat, with a population locals estimate at more than 500,000.

General Ghani, who has been in the area for the past year and a half, said the military had cleared militants from Matta and Bini Baba Ziarart and was closing in on another stronghold in Peochar, in the upper Swat valley.

“The commandoes have already landed on the mountain peaks and ridges,” around Peochar, he said. “The militants are surrounded and encircled from all sides. They are hemmed in. And this is the right time that the security forces can go with full might and kill and eliminate the residual militants in the Peochar valley.”

Buoyed by the military’s success, local people in the neighboring northern area of Kalam have taken up arms against the Taliban, General Ghani said.

General Ghani ruled out the possibility of a ceasefire. “Miscreants are on the run,” he said. “Their command and control, communication infrastructure has been destroyed. They cannot coordinate and articulate operations in a coherent way any longer.”

While the military is gunning for the militant leadership, recruits who desert the Taliban ranks will be allowed to rejoin mainstream society, he said.

Gen. Ghani said residents could begin to return to Khawazakhela and Matta in 15 days.

But as of Friday, the city of Khawazakhela, like other towns and villages throughout the Swat valley, had a ghostly aspect when seen from a helicopter. Long roads winding through green fields were deserted. Dozens of cargo trucks were parked in the center of town, while smoke billowed from what seemed to be a filling station. Very few people could be seen.

The Pakistan Army has established an operational base in a girls’ college in the city. Soldiers in camouflage fatigues stood guard outside the boundary walls of the building.

“The Taliban would have blown it up had we not established our base here”, said Lt. Col. Abdul Rehman, one of the officers. The Taliban had targeted girls’ schools and banned female education.

Colonel Rehman said that 31 soldiers in his unit had been killed, but that morale remained high.

As helicopters flew in and out of the base, a group of young officers said there was no moral dilemma for them in fighting the Taliban, most of who are fellow Pakistanis. “They are not Muslims despite their claims to be so,” said Lt. Asad Hanif. “A true Muslim cannot slaughter people like the Taliban have been doing.”

Officers said the Taliban were recruiting young men from the area through intimidation and coercion, and raising money through extortion. While most of the Taliban militants were from the area, the officers said that some foreigners, most of them from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, had also joined in the fighting.

Rahimullah Shaheen, a local journalist, sounded a note of caution, saying that the Taliban who had been forced out of Khawazakhela had simply retreated into the nearby mountains, just a few miles from the city.

Actor Smith to make Katrina film

Actor Will Smith has agreed to produce a movie telling the true story of a man who rescued hundreds of people after Hurricane Katrina, reports suggest.



Ex-marine John Keller was nicknamed The Can Man after saving 244 people from flooding during the disaster.

Trade newspaper The Hollywood Reporter said that Smith's production company and Sony Pictures had bought the movie rights to his story.

John Lee Hancock will direct the project, called The American Can.

Hancock, whose previous films include The Rookie and The Alamo, will also write the script.

Mr Keller was dubbed The Can Man after rescuing his neighbours from a five-story apartment building, The American Can Company, where he lived.

For five days, Keller warded off intruders and marauders as chaos raged around the city.

He also directed the eventual rescue operation from the building's roof after residents, many of them elderly or handicapped, were left stranded by 11 feet of water.

"This is the story of an everyman who became a hero," said Doug Belgrad from Sony subsidiary Colombia Pictures.

"That is the story we want to tell. In the moment of an American tragedy, when we are tested, we find that we have greater depth of spirit and strength than we ever knew."

Deadly bombing in Pakistan

10 killed, 70 injured in Peshawar blast

At least ten people have been killed while more than 70 others injured in a bomb blast in Peshawar. The incident occurred at Cinema Road near Khyber bazaar area, where what appeared to be a remote-controlled bomb planted in a vehicle went off in rush evening hour, eyewitnesses said. The blast was as powerful as it severely damaged a nearby cinema house, its adjacent buildings and parked vehicles. The area was jampacked at the time of the incident while a show in the cinema was also underway, news reports said. Paramedics, firefighters and security personnel have arrived at the scene while the corpses and injured were rushed to nearby Lady Reeding hospital. Emergency have also been declared in all the major hospitals of Peshawar. Police have cordoned off the area.

Peshawar Blast,10 killed,dozen injured.

PESHAWAR :A bomb exploded at Khyber Bazar in Peshawar killed atleast ten people, wounding at least 30 people, some of them seriously, atleast 10 people were killed and thirty wounded people were brought to hospital, some of them in very critical condition.The blast occurred outside a cinema and a main market in a congested neighborhood.

UN Issues Urgent Appeal for Pakistan Refugee Aid

VOA.COM
The United Nations is appealing for an additional $454 million to assist nearly two million Pakistanis displaced by fighting between army troops and Taliban militants in Swat Valley. The U.N. has already committed $88 million, bringing the total coast of humanitarian relief to $453 million.The United Nations says the scale and speed of the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Pakistan is extraordinary.
"The numbers of people who have moved in that last three and half weeks is the highest rate of movement we have seen for more than 20 years anywhere in the world," said Martin Mogwanja, the acting UN coordinator in Pakistan. "And it is the biggest displacement that has ever occurred in Pakistan. Given the other social, economic and security factors in Pakistan, we believe that responding to this appeal quickly and responding now is in the interest - not only of the humanitarian community - it is in the interest of the world as a whole."
This week, the Pakistani government unveiled a high-profile strategy to deal with the exploding numbers of people displaced by the war against Taliban militants in Swat Valley. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani hosted a donor's conference in the capital, Islamabad, where several nations, including the United States, pledged $224 million in humanitarian aid.
Gilani told donors that addressing the current humanitarian crisis in the northwest is inextricably linked to combating extremism.
"Taking care of Pakistan's IDP's [internally displaced people] is among the responsibilities that come in the wake of efforts to combat terrorism," said Mr. Gilani. "There is an urgent need for joint and comprehensive response to this issue by all those who are committed to fighting terrorism."
In addition to seeking outside financial help, the Pakistani government has budgeted $100 million for relief efforts that include one-time grants of $300 to each displaced family.Part of the problem facing the Pakistani government and aid agencies is that only 20 percent of people who fled the violence are actually in the camps. The rest are staying with family or friends and that population is harder to reach and help.
Helene Caux is a spokesperson with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. She visited Jalala camp in Mardan district not far from the military offensive this week. She says the biggest problem for camp residents is the heat, which has been steadily hovering just below 40 degrees Celsius. Caux also says camp residents are clearly traumatized and want to go home.
"They say everything is being provided to them in the camps, what they need is to go back," said Caux. "This is harvesting time right now and they absolutely need to go back [home] to do that."
On the battlefront, the military says they are on the verge on entering and taking control of Mingora, the main town in Swat Valley. Earlier this week, the military said it had recaptured the town of Sultanwas, a major Taliban stronghold, in neighboring Buner district.

Troops encircle Swat, cut off Taliban escape routes

KHWAZAKHELA: Troops are encircling Taliban militants in their mountain base as well as the main town in the Swat Valley, a Pakistani general said on Friday.

With scepticism growing about the progress of the month-old army offensive in the north-western region, the army flew a handful of reporters from foreign news organisations into Swat on Friday.

An Associated Press reporter aboard the helicopter saw no cars and few people in the town of Mingora or on roads further up the valley.

From the air, there was little evidence of the fierce fighting and air strikes that the military claims have already killed more than 1,000 militants as well as some 60 soldiers.

But a senior commander insisted the army was trapping militants in Mingora and Peochar, a side-valley further north that is the stronghold of Swat Taliban leader Maulana Fazlullah.

‘The noose is tightening around them. Their routes of escape have been cut off,’ Maj. Gen. Sajad Ghani said.

‘It’s just a question of time before (Taliban leaders) are eliminated.’

Meanwhile, the head of the government relief operation, Lieutenant General Nadeem Ahmed, said up to 200,000 civilians were stranded in the valley and authorities might have to drop food to them from the air.

But Ahmed said ‘not many’ civilians were left in Mingora, with most people still in the valley in its northern reaches, which had been ‘relatively calm’.

In a sign of growing hostility towards the Taliban among people long ambivalent, villagers in two north-western districts are trying to expel the gunmen, a politician and another official said.

‘The people of Kalam have risen against the Taliban. The people have asked them to get out,’ said provincial assembly member Jafar Shah, referring to a region to the north of Swat.

A clashed had erupted on Thursday and several people on both sides were wounded or killed, he said.

‘The residents are insisting they won’t let the Taliban stay. The militants have been confined to a small area,’ Shah said.

Villagers had taken the same stand in parts of Lower Dir, to the west of Swat, and Taliban had pulled out of some areas, a provincial government official said.

In Swat, soldiers advancing from three directions have begun battling the militants in towns where civilians are still hiding.

ANP leader house blown up in Swat

The miscreants Friday blew up the house and hujra of Awami National Party leader Khan Nawab in Shah Dheri area of Swat. The militants and the Lashkar of local tribesmen have declared ceasefire in tehsil Kalam of Swat still the extremists have been entrenched in bunkers and continuing their armed patrolling in the area. The Lashkar of tribesmen and the militants were agreed for truce yesterday after negotiations. In Takhtaband, Qanbar, Matta and Kabal the forces are targeting the hideouts of the militants. According to reports the forces and militants were also fighting in Kabal and Matta.