TEHRAN — Tehran braced for a possible third day of defiance by opposition supporters on Wednesday after Iran’s leaders failed to halt huge demonstrations against last week’s disputed election results.
Placed on the defensive by the biggest demonstrations since the Islamic revolution in 1979, the authorities on Tuesday offered a concession to the sustained rage here, saying they would allow a limited recount of the vote — an offer that was resoundingly rejected.
But there were signs on Wednesday that the authorities were preparing to deepen a crackdown on the way news about the protest is being spread. On Tuesday, the government revoked press credentials for foreign journalists and ordered journalists not to report from the streets.
And on Wednesday, The Associated Press reported, the powerful Revolutionary Guards went further, threatening restrictions on the digital online media that many Iranians use to communicate among themselves and to send news of their protests overseas.
In a first statement since last Friday’s vote, the Revolutionary Guards said Iranian Web site operators and bloggers must remove content deemed to “create tension” or face legal action, the A.P. said. Despite that warning, new amateur video surfaced outside of Iran on Wednesday, apparently showing a government militia rampaging through a dormitory area of Tehran University late Tuesday or early on Wednesday.
Reuters reported, meanwhile, that Mohammadreza Habibi, the senior prosecutor in the central province of Isfahan, had warned demonstrators that they could be executed under Islamic law.
“We warn the few elements controlled by foreigners who try to disrupt domestic security by inciting individuals to destroy and to commit arson that the Islamic penal code for such individuals waging war against God is execution,” Mr. Habibi said, according to the Fars news agency. It was not clear if his warning applied only to Isfahan or the country as a whole, Reuters said.
The developments came a day after supporters of the defeated opposition presidential candidate, Mir Hussein Moussavi, jammed into a line more than a mile long in Tehran. They marched mostly in silence, some carrying signs in English asking, “Where is my vote?”
The numbers of opposition protesters did not match those on Monday, when hundreds of thousands of Iranians joined the demonstrations, enraged that the conservative president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was declared the winner of Friday’s election with 63 percent of the votes.
Fear, many said, was a factor. Seven protesters were killed following the demonstrations on Monday. Gritty and uncensored images, some taken by cellphone cameras, were beamed around the world via various Web sites.
“Nothing will change if we don’t come,” said one protester, Madjid, 26, an employee of the Foreign Ministry who was afraid to give his family name. “We need to become a big force to achieve what we want.”
Worry over the future of Iran, a country crucially important for its oil, its proximity to Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, its nuclear program and its ties to extremist groups, spilled over its borders.
In Washington, President Obama said that it would be counterproductive for the United States “to be seen as meddling” in the disputed presidential election. He dismissed criticism that he had failed to speak out forcefully enough about the growing unrest in Iran.
“I have deep concerns about the election,” Mr. Obama told reporters at the White House. “I think that the world has deep concerns about the election.”
In Vienna, Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the United Nations atomic energy watchdog, said in a BBC interview that he believed Iran wanted to develop nuclear weapons technology “to be recognized as a major power in the Middle East.”
As the confrontation inside Iran continued to build momentum on Tuesday, each side laid down more cards.
Reformers, with substantial popular support but without the power of the state, worked to gain religious backers, urging clerics to break with the government. “No one in his sane mind can accept these results,” a senior opposition cleric, Hassan-Ali Montazeri, said in a public letter posted on his Web site.
Supporters of Mr. Ahmadinejad — though apparently fewer than 10,000 of them — marched through Tehran’s streets proclaiming their candidate the election’s fair winner and chanting, “Rioters should be executed!”
In an intervention that suggested a growing concern over the scale of the protests, the nation’s supreme religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, took the unusual step of meeting with representatives of the four presidential candidates, urging national unity for the second time in recent days. He did not address the protesters’ demands for a new election.
The Guardian Council, the watchdog body that must certify the results, said it was willing to conduct a partial recount of the votes, the IRNA news agency reported. Ayatollah Khamenei, who had urged the council on Monday to examine the vote-rigging claims, said Tuesday that the candidates needed to resolve the issue through legal channels.
Mr. Moussavi’s representative, Ali Akbar Mohtashamipour, said a recount would not meet the demands of the protesters, Ghalamnews, a Web site linked to Mr. Moussavi, reported.
“We believe there has been fraud because our representatives were not allowed to supervise the elections, and we have evidence of many irregularities,” he was quoted as saying.
He gave an example: votes cast at some polling places, he said, exceeded the number of eligible voters in those areas. He also said the Guardian Council had not been impartial before the election because some of its members campaigned for Mr. Ahmadinejad.
Despite the crackdown on the news media, an extraordinary amount of information about the protests in Tehran and other cities has reached the outside world. On Tuesday, many Web sites posted a wrenching video that purported to show the death of a student in Isfahan in a shooting by pro-government militia members. Other videos showed bleeding and inert demonstrators from Tehran after the large protests on Monday.
In Tuesday’s demonstration here, a witness saw a member of the Basij militia loyal to Mr. Ahmadinejad opening fire on a group of people, hitting one person in the neck. Protesters attacked a group of the militia members and set one of their motorcycles on fire.
There were reports that at least two moderate politicians, Mohammad Ali Abtahi and Saeed Hajarian, as well as two other activists, were arrested on Tuesday. The government arrested more than 100 politicians and activists on Sunday. Some have been released.
The English-language Press TV wing of state-owned television said Behzad Nabavi, another reformist politician, had also been arrested. The detainees include politicians, intellectuals, activists and journalists, the A.P. reported.
In Paris, Soazig Dollet, a spokeswoman for Reporters Without Borders, a press freedom advocacy group, said at least 11 reporters had been arrested since the elections and the fate of 10 more was unclear since they may either be in hiding or under arrest.
On its Web site, the organization said Aldolfatah Soltani, a lawyer and human rights activist, had been detained along with “10 or so opposition activists, politicians and civil society figures” in Tehran and three other cities — Tabriz, Isfahan and Shiraz.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
1st EU-Pakistan Summit To Focus On Trade Links, Anti-terrorism
BRUSSELS --The European Union and Pakistan hold their first summit Wednesday, with the fight against terrorism and deepening trade links topping the agenda, according to a draft text.
In a joint declaration prepared for the summit, the two agree to launch " strategic dialogue" on "development, education, science and technology, security, counter-terrorism, strengthening democracy, human rights and enhancing trade."
The E.U. which regularly stresses Pakistan's strategic importance in the region, is also set this week to hail Islamabad's efforts to tackle terrorism and recognise "the sacrifice which the Pakistani people and armed forces are making notably during ongoing operations in North West Frontier Province."
That is where their forces are believed to be on the brink of an all-out onslaught to crush the Taliban in the Swat valley.
In separate conclusions drawn up for an summit Thursday and Friday, E.U. leaders express confidence "a successful outcome would greatly strengthen the democratically elected government in achieving its political and development objectives."
At the landmark E.U.-Pakistan summit Wednesday, Europe is also set to offer more relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction assistance in the Swat valley, according to the draft text seen by AFP.
In a report published Tuesday, NGO Oxfam International criticised "Europe's feeble response to the humanitarian crisis in Pakistan," saying it was " hampering efforts to assist more than 2 million people who have fled the fighting."
At the summit Pakistani President Ali Zardari and his Czech counterpart Vaclav Klaus, whose country holds the rotating E.U. presidency, are also set to agree to boost bilateral trade ties. The ultimate goal is a free trade agreement.
In the meantime the E.U. will "explore" how Pakistan could benefit from aspects of the bloc's preferential tariff regime, which affords customs privileges in return for respecting certain principles in the areas of workers' rights and the environment, according to the draft text.
In a joint declaration prepared for the summit, the two agree to launch " strategic dialogue" on "development, education, science and technology, security, counter-terrorism, strengthening democracy, human rights and enhancing trade."
The E.U. which regularly stresses Pakistan's strategic importance in the region, is also set this week to hail Islamabad's efforts to tackle terrorism and recognise "the sacrifice which the Pakistani people and armed forces are making notably during ongoing operations in North West Frontier Province."
That is where their forces are believed to be on the brink of an all-out onslaught to crush the Taliban in the Swat valley.
In separate conclusions drawn up for an summit Thursday and Friday, E.U. leaders express confidence "a successful outcome would greatly strengthen the democratically elected government in achieving its political and development objectives."
At the landmark E.U.-Pakistan summit Wednesday, Europe is also set to offer more relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction assistance in the Swat valley, according to the draft text seen by AFP.
In a report published Tuesday, NGO Oxfam International criticised "Europe's feeble response to the humanitarian crisis in Pakistan," saying it was " hampering efforts to assist more than 2 million people who have fled the fighting."
At the summit Pakistani President Ali Zardari and his Czech counterpart Vaclav Klaus, whose country holds the rotating E.U. presidency, are also set to agree to boost bilateral trade ties. The ultimate goal is a free trade agreement.
In the meantime the E.U. will "explore" how Pakistan could benefit from aspects of the bloc's preferential tariff regime, which affords customs privileges in return for respecting certain principles in the areas of workers' rights and the environment, according to the draft text.
From Rah-e-Rast to Rah-e-Nijat : Army ready to enter South Waziristan
From Rah-e-Rast to Rah-e-Nijat : Army ready to enter South Waziristan
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Army has formally recieved marching orders against Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud and preparations for the first phase of a miltary operation in South Waziristan have already been completed, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Maj Gen Athar Abbas said on Tuesday.
”The government has taken a principled decision to launch a military operation against Baitullah and his network,” Abbas said. Abbas told a press conference – which he addressed alongside Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira – that 13 terrorists were killed and another three were apprehended in Malakand and Dir during the last 24 hours. Abbas also said Baitullah claimed the support of a 10,000-strong militia
Abbas said Peochar valley, a stronghold for the Taliban, had been secured completely and a link up from Chaprial to Peochar had been completed.
He said the civil administration and police had become fully functional in Shangla. Kaira said the government would provide the army all the resources it needed to successfully complete the operation against the Taliban. The minister did not rule out the possibility of weapons flowing into the Tribal Areas from Afghanistan.
Abbas said there were unconfirmed reports that Uzbek militant leader Tahir Yuldashev was injured in a Pakistan Air Force strike on Sunday in the Makeen area of South Waziristan. He gave no further details.
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Army has formally recieved marching orders against Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud and preparations for the first phase of a miltary operation in South Waziristan have already been completed, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Maj Gen Athar Abbas said on Tuesday.
”The government has taken a principled decision to launch a military operation against Baitullah and his network,” Abbas said. Abbas told a press conference – which he addressed alongside Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira – that 13 terrorists were killed and another three were apprehended in Malakand and Dir during the last 24 hours. Abbas also said Baitullah claimed the support of a 10,000-strong militia
Abbas said Peochar valley, a stronghold for the Taliban, had been secured completely and a link up from Chaprial to Peochar had been completed.
He said the civil administration and police had become fully functional in Shangla. Kaira said the government would provide the army all the resources it needed to successfully complete the operation against the Taliban. The minister did not rule out the possibility of weapons flowing into the Tribal Areas from Afghanistan.
Abbas said there were unconfirmed reports that Uzbek militant leader Tahir Yuldashev was injured in a Pakistan Air Force strike on Sunday in the Makeen area of South Waziristan. He gave no further details.
Rival groups rally in Tehran
Tens of thousands of opposition and pro-government demonstrators have held rallies in the Iranian capital, raising fears of possible clashes.Thousands of people gathered at a government-organised rally in Tehran's central Vali Asr square on Tuesday, while a similar-sized demonstration was held by opposition supporters in the city's north.
State television footage showed a crowd of thousands of flag-waving protesters at the pro-government rally, while the media was banned from filming the opposition protests.
"They are two completely different events," Al Jazeera's Teymoor Nabili, who watched both rallies, said.
"The Ahmadinejad rally in the south was a much more organised affair - they had built a little platform and there were speakers there."
He said by contrast the smaller, anti-government rally, taking place just six or seven kilometres away, was "almost completely silent".
"They're planning to start chanting at 10pm tonight [17:30 GMT]," he said.
Rival protests
Pro-government demonstrators have demanded the government crack down on the opposition, while their anti-government rivals have protested that their votes were "stolen" in the presidential election, which saw Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the incumbent, win a landslide victory over his rival Mir Hossein Mousavi.
Seven people were killed on the fringes of a massive opposition rally a day earlier.
Mossavi had urged his supporters to stay away from Tuesday's rally amid fears of further clashes.
In a message posted on his website, he asked his supporters to "exercise self-restraint".
Sadegh Zibakalam, an Iranian political analyst, said that the government had arranged its protest on Tuesday as a response to the anti-government movement.
"The government doesn't want to appear as being too soft - that's why they called this rally today and asked its supporters to come to the square where Mousavi's supporters had decided to gather," he told Al Jazeera.
"By arranging these crowds the government is making two points. It wants to demonstrate that it is firm in dealing with this crisis, [and] on the other hand they have been called [on] by the pro-government crowd to crack down.
"In a sense it is a justification for the seven people who were killed last night."
Possible recount
The rallies came just hours after Iran's powerful Guardian Council said it could order a partial vote recount if it found irregularities.
The legislative body has ruled out annulling the disputed poll, but the Council's move appears to be a first concession by authorities to the protest movement.
A spokesman for the Council, a constitutional watchdog formed by a 12-member group of clerics and Islamic law experts, said only that it was "ready to recount the disputed ballot boxes claimed by some candidates, in the presence of their representatives".
"It is possible that there may be some changes in the tally after the recount," Abbasali Kadkhodai, a Council spokesman said.
"Based on the law, the demand of those candidates for the cancellation of the vote, this cannot be considered," he told state television.
Media curbed
In Washington, Barack Obama, the US president, said he believed "people's voices should be heard and not suppressed" but also said that he did not want to be seen as "meddling" in Iranian internal affairs, given the history between the two countries.
Iran has grown increasingly sensitive to how the world views the heightened tensions and has subsequently restricted reporting by journalists working for foreign media.
Iranian state television said earlier that the "main agents" in post-election unrest had been arrested while carrying explosives and guns.
Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, Iran's intelligence minister, said his ministry was chasing two categories of people seeking to create instability in Iran, one of them backed from abroad.
Despite the upheaval in Iran, Ahmadinejad travelled to Russia for a meeting of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation, his first foreign trip since official results showed he had secured a second four-year term.
Owais stresses need for quality education
PESHAWAR: NWFP Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani Tuesday urged the heads of universities and other institutions to adopt policies and approaches for ensuring a minimum level of quality education.
He was presiding over a meeting of the vice-chancellors of all the public sector universities. Besides discussing several other issues, the meeting reviewed the existing procedures relating to grant of affiliation by universities to different subordinate institutions.
The governor said that huge resources were being spent on education and achievement of the desired standards of quality of knowledge was the best way to achieve the objective of their judicious utilisation.
The meeting also formed two committees comprising vice-chancellors of different universities to formulate necessary proposals within a week. The conference deliberated in detail on various aspects of the process of granting affiliations by universities to both public and private sector education institutions.
He was presiding over a meeting of the vice-chancellors of all the public sector universities. Besides discussing several other issues, the meeting reviewed the existing procedures relating to grant of affiliation by universities to different subordinate institutions.
The governor said that huge resources were being spent on education and achievement of the desired standards of quality of knowledge was the best way to achieve the objective of their judicious utilisation.
The meeting also formed two committees comprising vice-chancellors of different universities to formulate necessary proposals within a week. The conference deliberated in detail on various aspects of the process of granting affiliations by universities to both public and private sector education institutions.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Hardliners open fire on defiant protesters as tension grips Tehran
Tehran was a tinderbox last night after government paramilitaries started shooting following a huge public protest against last Friday’s disputed re-election of President Ahmadinejad.
Members of the Basij, a force of young Islamic hardliners, killed one demonstrator and wounded several more when their building was attacked as tens of thousands of protesters dispersed from a rally against election fraud held in defiance of a government ban.
In another incident a witness told The Times how she watched from her car as riot police on six motorbikes opened fire on youths walking under a bridge after the rally. “The riot police started shooting them with big guns,” she said. “It wasn’t like the films where there is just a small hole — the shooting was blowing off hands, limbs. It was terrible, terrible.”
Gunfire was heard in at least three other districts of the Iranian capital. The Ministry of the Interior was rumoured to have authorised the use of live ammunition as the regime struggled to maintain control. Supporters of the defeated candidate, Mir Hossein Mousavi, fought running battles with the police and Basiji, who have flooded into Tehran.
Mr Mousavi emerged from hiding for the first time since the election results were announced to address the rally. He told the crowd packed into Azadi (Freedom) Square: “God willing, we will take back our rights.” Newly emboldened, the protesters brought out their green ribbons and bandanas and chanted: “Mousavi we support you”, and “We will die, but retrieve our votes”. The show of strength boosted Mr Mousavi’s supporters, who have called for another rally and a general strike today. Demonstrations have also been reported in the cities of Esfahan, Shiraz, Mashad and Ahvaz
The regime showed its first sign of alarm when Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader, who at the weekend hailed the result as a “divine assessment”, instructed the Guardian Council of 12 senior clerics to investigate allegations that the election was rigged. However, the move was seen widely as a ruse to buy time.
The regime’s violent response to the biggest political crisis in the Islamic Republic's 30-year history has triggered a growing international backlash. Gordon Brown warned Iran that the way it responded to legitimate protests would affect its relations with the rest of the world. David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, expressed concern at “what seems to be state violence against its own people”.
President Obama said he was “deeply troubled” by the violence, and Ban Ki Moon, the UN Secretary-General, urged the regime to respect the “genuine will” of the Iranian people.
Pakistan Army Chief Rallies Troops in Northwest Offensive
By VOA News
Pakistan's army chief has rallied support for the military's ongoing offensive against the Taliban, flying over the battle zone in a fighter plane and giving a televised address.
A day after officials said the military is planning to target the Taliban stronghold in South Waziristan, General Ashfaq Kayani said the offensive is aimed at bringing militants to what he called the right path. He said prominent Taliban leaders are not Islamic scholars, but enemies of the country and Islam.
In remarks broadcast on private Pakistani television networks, he also highlighted the need to avoid civilian casualties.
While the military has not reported new fighting in South Waziristan, reports from the region indicate some civilians have begun fleeing their homes in anticipation of clashes.South Waziristan is the home of top Pakistani Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud.On Sunday, the governor of North West Frontier Province, Owais Ghani, said the government felt it had no choice but to resort to force against Mehsud in his South Waziristan stronghold, near the Afghan border.Mehsud has claimed responsibility for many attacks across Pakistan in recent months, including suicide bombings. He is believed to be a key link between Pakistani Taliban, Afghan Taliban and al-Qaida militants. On Monday, Pakistan's military says its forces are continuing an offensive against Taliban fighters in the northwest, killing six suspected militants in the last 24 hours.The army reported clashes with militants in the greater Swat valley, as well as Taliban positions in Bannu. In Dir, the army says a civilian militia killed five suspected militants in recent fighting.
Pakistan's army chief has rallied support for the military's ongoing offensive against the Taliban, flying over the battle zone in a fighter plane and giving a televised address.
A day after officials said the military is planning to target the Taliban stronghold in South Waziristan, General Ashfaq Kayani said the offensive is aimed at bringing militants to what he called the right path. He said prominent Taliban leaders are not Islamic scholars, but enemies of the country and Islam.
In remarks broadcast on private Pakistani television networks, he also highlighted the need to avoid civilian casualties.
While the military has not reported new fighting in South Waziristan, reports from the region indicate some civilians have begun fleeing their homes in anticipation of clashes.South Waziristan is the home of top Pakistani Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud.On Sunday, the governor of North West Frontier Province, Owais Ghani, said the government felt it had no choice but to resort to force against Mehsud in his South Waziristan stronghold, near the Afghan border.Mehsud has claimed responsibility for many attacks across Pakistan in recent months, including suicide bombings. He is believed to be a key link between Pakistani Taliban, Afghan Taliban and al-Qaida militants. On Monday, Pakistan's military says its forces are continuing an offensive against Taliban fighters in the northwest, killing six suspected militants in the last 24 hours.The army reported clashes with militants in the greater Swat valley, as well as Taliban positions in Bannu. In Dir, the army says a civilian militia killed five suspected militants in recent fighting.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Unrest in Iran Deepens as Leading Critics Are Detained
NEW YORK TIMES
TEHRAN — Violence and acrimony over Iran’s disputed election intensified on Sunday, with word spreading that more than 100 prominent opposition members had been detained, riots erupting in Tehran and other cities, and the triumphant incumbent hinting that his top challenger risks punishment for questioning the result.
Two of the three opposition candidates and a clerical group issued fresh statements requesting an annulment of the election on Friday, which gave a lopsided victory to the incumbent, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a conservative who has become a polarizing figure at home and abroad. They did so despite a decree from Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, that the outcome was fair.
It was unclear how far Mr. Ahmadinejad’s adversaries were willing or able to go in challenging the result. But supporters of the opposition candidates skirmished with baton-wielding riot police officers on the edges of a government-organized victory rally in Tehran. There were also reports of riots in other Iranian cities, and the protests were echoed by Iranians demonstrating against the election results in Washington and in several European capitals.
Mr. Ahmadinejad dismissed the opposition’s allegations of fraud, saying that the victory had given him a bigger mandate than ever. He criticized Mir Hussein Moussavi, the main opposition candidate — who remained at home on Sunday with security forces closely monitoring his movements — in a veiled statement that many here saw as a threat.
“He ran a red light, and he got a traffic ticket,” Mr. Ahmadinejad said of his rival during a news conference at the presidential palace.
Those resisting the election results gained a potentially important new ally on Sunday when a moderate clerical body, the Association of Combatant Clergy, issued a statement posted on reformist Web sites saying that the vote was rigged and calling for it to be annulled. The statement warned that “if this process becomes the norm, the republican aspect of the regime will be damaged and people will lose confidence in the system.”
Mr. Moussavi called for the clergy to join his protest in an open letter late Saturday. It is difficult to say how influential the statement by the association, made up of 27 moderate clerics, will be in Iran’s complex and opaque power structure, but Ayatollah Khamenei, who has the last word on many important matters, is sensitive to clerical opinion.
Iran’s Interior Ministry announced on Saturday that Mr. Ahmadinejad had won about 63 percent of the vote, after a hard-fought election campaign and the rise of a broad reform-oriented opposition that clearly had rattled Iran’s ruling elite. Opposition leaders have catalogued a list of what they call election violations and irregularities in the vote, which most observers had expected to go to a second-round runoff.
The opposition members arrested late Saturday and Sunday were from all the major factions opposed to Mr. Ahmadinejad and included the brother of a former president, Mohammad Khatami, opposition Web sites reported. Some were released after several hours.
Mr. Ahmadinejad called the opposition protesters “unimportant,” comparing them to disappointed soccer fans after a match. He suggested the accusations of fraud were the work of foreign agitators and journalists.
He also seemed to be demanding affirmation of his election’s legitimacy from other nations, saying, “We are now asking the positions of all countries regarding the elections, and assessing their attitude to our people.”
The international reaction that trickled out Sunday was anything but a resounding affirmation, however. In the United States, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. said there appeared to be “some real doubt” about the results. But he said the United States would press on with its effort to engage the Iranian government.
Mr. Ahmadinejad’s electoral rivals appeared to be holding firm in their protest against the vote despite the arrests and a mass crackdown on street protesters by the police and Basij militia members, many of them wielding batons, whips and chains. Nationwide protest movements in 1999 and 2003 trailed off after a week or so.
In a statement, Mr. Moussavi said he had asked the Guardian Council of Iran, which must certify the election for it to be legal, to cancel the vote. He also said he was being monitored by the authorities and was unable to join his followers. His campaign headquarters has been shuttered, he said.
Another candidate, the reformist cleric Mehdi Karroubi, echoed Mr. Moussavi’s demand for the election to be canceled. “I am announcing again that the elections should not be allowed and the results have no legitimacy or social standing,” Mr. Karroubi said in a statement posted on opposition Web sites. “Therefore, I do not consider Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president of the republic.”
Mr. Ahmadinejad spoke Sunday at Valiasr Square in central Tehran, surrounded by thousands of chanting, flag-waving voters in what was clearly intended to be a show of popular support for his victory. But the smell of tear gas and smoke drifted over the cheering crowds. Only a few blocks away, groups of protesters chanted their own slogans against the government, and some of them, bloodied and screaming, could be seen running from police officers armed with clubs.
As night fell, protests resumed in nearby Vanak Square, where the rallies began Saturday, and chants of “Bye-bye, dictator!” and “God is great!” could be heard from rooftops in several areas of the capital.
“No one led these people in the streets,” said Bashu, a 28-year-old opposition supporter who, like many others, was afraid to give his full name. “This is the least we can do; we cannot stay at home and watch them celebrate a fake election.”
He opened his shirt to show long, red welts on his chest where, he said, a Basij militia member had whipped him with a chain. Next to him, a female friend dressed in a black Islamic chador stood with a bloody gash on her forehead that she said had been inflicted by the police.
“We just hope the people of the world hear our voice,” Bashu said. “We haven’t heard from Moussavi; we hear he is under arrest.”
Opposition supporters said they were organizing a major rally to take place Monday in Tehran, though it was not clear whether the authorities would permit it.
The pro-Ahmadinejad rally on Sunday afternoon took place in an atmosphere of extraordinary tension, with riot police officers forming barricades around Valiasr Square and beating people visibly identified with the opposition before they could enter. But inside the barriers, a number of opposition supporters approached a reporter, saying, “They stole the election” or “It is all lies” before scurrying back into the crowd.
The rally also rendered starkly visible the bitter class and cultural divisions that lie behind the disputed election. Mr. Ahmadinejad’s supporters, many of them poor and devout, view the opposition as arrogant and irreligious.
“They are traitors,” said Soraya Parvaie, 20, a student. “Our people are still awake, because of our revolution 30 years ago, and we will defend this revolution with our last blood.”
Another young woman nearby, apparently an opposition supporter, disagreed. “It wasn’t an election, he was just named,” she said. Instantly, two older women in traditional Islamic dress who were standing nearby began cursing and shoving the first woman, who ran away.
“She would like to take off her head scarf, that’s why she says such things,” said one of the women who had chased her away. “She benefits from the country’s wealth, look at her.”
Not far away, in the surging crowd in Valiasr Square, other Ahmadinejad supporters, many carrying banners and flags, angrily defended their president as an incorruptible champion of the poor. Most said they could not believe the election had been stolen.
“He is the only one since the revolution who wants to work for the common people,” said Amir Mallikian, a 28-year-old civil engineer. “He cares about those who are weak in our society. He is not afraid of any foreign power, not even of powers inside the country.”
The provincial capital has suffered 18 terrorist attacks since the launch of the military operation in Swat
PESHAWAR: The provincial capital has suffered 18 terrorist attacks since the launch of the military operation in Swat and rest of the Malakand division in April 2009.
The blast at the Pearl Continental (PC) hotel on June 9 was the deadliest that killed 17 people and injured over 50 others. Besides, the explosion, triggered with over 500 kilograms of explosives and mortar shells, severely affected the image of the city as foreign missions and organisations either restricted movement of their staff or shifted them to Islamabad.
Terrorists struck at the provincial metropolis and a nearby town thrice in a day, two days after the PC blast. The provincial minister for prisons, Mian Nisar Gul Kakakhel, sustained injuries when militants attempted to kidnap or kill the NWFP government cabinet member while on way from his hometown of Karak to Peshawar.
A police party on Ring Road near Charsadda Road was first attacked with a hand grenade and later hit by a suicide bomber, killing one person and injuring eight policemen on the same day. Terrorists continue to laugh at the security arrangements in the city that day when they exchanged fire with security personnel just outside the residence of corps commander Peshawar, one of the most protected parts of the province.
Intelligence reports about tasking terrorists to hit any target in Peshawar are being received on a daily basis. The situation has resulted in erecting barricades on almost all the main entry points to the city and cantonment, causing inconvenience to hundreds of thousands of Peshawarites everyday.
Apart from the inconvenience, the dwellers of the city are fearful of everyday terrorism incidents. This has forced many to change their planning, as they fear a bleak future of the city ahead, if the rulers of the country and the province did not succeed in stamping out the terrorism.
Peshawar has proved out to be a soft target for terrorists since 2004. However, the ongoing wave of terror has intensified with the launch of military operation in Swat. Peshawarites started to bear the brunt of the army action on May 8 when three rockets were fired at the city international airport.
A police van was reportedly attacked by the terrorists in Chamkani on May 12 when the cops were transporting some militants. Police not only foiled the attack, but also managed to gun down five assailants, including a commander of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Nato container terminals on Ring Road were attacked twice in mid May, torching several trailers and containers.
A suicide attack on FC camp near Matani killed 11 persons, including security personnel on May 11 while a huge blast ripped through the crowded Barrisco Bazaar near Aasya Gate on May 14, leaving 12 dead and dozens of others injured. The same day another explosion occurred in the congested Jinnah Street, or Gora Bazaar, in the Peshawar cantonment that killed a minor girl and wounded four others.
A high-intensity blast outside the Tasveer Mahal Cinema on Cinema Road on May 21 killed another 12 people. Over 65 people, mostly labourers, were injured in the explosion that destroyed the cinema building and nearby buildings.
Terror struck the city again on May 28 with twin blats in Qissa Khwani and a suicide attack on a police post in Sra Khawra on Kohat Road in quick succession. A total of nine people were killed in these terrorist attacks.
On June 3, a school was blown up in Salmankhel area while a police van was blown up and its driver killed in another attack on the police party in Hazarkhwani on June 8. The provincial capital is literally under siege where dwellers fear anything can happen to their lives and families. Though strict security measures have been taken in and around the city to protect its almost three million population, terrorist continue to break into Peshawar and hit sensitive targets right under the nose of the security agencies.
The blast at the Pearl Continental (PC) hotel on June 9 was the deadliest that killed 17 people and injured over 50 others. Besides, the explosion, triggered with over 500 kilograms of explosives and mortar shells, severely affected the image of the city as foreign missions and organisations either restricted movement of their staff or shifted them to Islamabad.
Terrorists struck at the provincial metropolis and a nearby town thrice in a day, two days after the PC blast. The provincial minister for prisons, Mian Nisar Gul Kakakhel, sustained injuries when militants attempted to kidnap or kill the NWFP government cabinet member while on way from his hometown of Karak to Peshawar.
A police party on Ring Road near Charsadda Road was first attacked with a hand grenade and later hit by a suicide bomber, killing one person and injuring eight policemen on the same day. Terrorists continue to laugh at the security arrangements in the city that day when they exchanged fire with security personnel just outside the residence of corps commander Peshawar, one of the most protected parts of the province.
Intelligence reports about tasking terrorists to hit any target in Peshawar are being received on a daily basis. The situation has resulted in erecting barricades on almost all the main entry points to the city and cantonment, causing inconvenience to hundreds of thousands of Peshawarites everyday.
Apart from the inconvenience, the dwellers of the city are fearful of everyday terrorism incidents. This has forced many to change their planning, as they fear a bleak future of the city ahead, if the rulers of the country and the province did not succeed in stamping out the terrorism.
Peshawar has proved out to be a soft target for terrorists since 2004. However, the ongoing wave of terror has intensified with the launch of military operation in Swat. Peshawarites started to bear the brunt of the army action on May 8 when three rockets were fired at the city international airport.
A police van was reportedly attacked by the terrorists in Chamkani on May 12 when the cops were transporting some militants. Police not only foiled the attack, but also managed to gun down five assailants, including a commander of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Nato container terminals on Ring Road were attacked twice in mid May, torching several trailers and containers.
A suicide attack on FC camp near Matani killed 11 persons, including security personnel on May 11 while a huge blast ripped through the crowded Barrisco Bazaar near Aasya Gate on May 14, leaving 12 dead and dozens of others injured. The same day another explosion occurred in the congested Jinnah Street, or Gora Bazaar, in the Peshawar cantonment that killed a minor girl and wounded four others.
A high-intensity blast outside the Tasveer Mahal Cinema on Cinema Road on May 21 killed another 12 people. Over 65 people, mostly labourers, were injured in the explosion that destroyed the cinema building and nearby buildings.
Terror struck the city again on May 28 with twin blats in Qissa Khwani and a suicide attack on a police post in Sra Khawra on Kohat Road in quick succession. A total of nine people were killed in these terrorist attacks.
On June 3, a school was blown up in Salmankhel area while a police van was blown up and its driver killed in another attack on the police party in Hazarkhwani on June 8. The provincial capital is literally under siege where dwellers fear anything can happen to their lives and families. Though strict security measures have been taken in and around the city to protect its almost three million population, terrorist continue to break into Peshawar and hit sensitive targets right under the nose of the security agencies.
Mousavi supporters plan rally in Tehran
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TEHRAN (Reuters) - Supporters of Iran's defeated presidential candidate plan a rally in Tehran on Monday to protest against the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which has sparked two days of violent protests in the capital.
Former Prime Minister Mirhossein Mousavi has appealed to the Islamic Republic's top legislative body to annul Friday's election result, in which hard-liner Ahmadinejad took 63 percent of the vote, because of what he alleges were irregularities.
Ahmadinejad himself held a triumphant rally on Sunday, attended by a cheering crowd of tens of thousands of people. It was not clear whether authorities would allow any demonstration by his opponents.
The unrest that has rocked Tehran and other cities since results were declared on Saturday is the sharpest show of discontent against the Islamic Republic's leadership for years.
The election result has disconcerted Western powers trying to induce the world's fifth-biggest oil exporter to curb its nuclear program. U.S. President Barack Obama had urged Iran's leadership "to unclench its fist" for a new start in ties.
Pro-Mousavi demonstrators threw stones at police at Tehran University on Sunday and also clashed with Ahmadinejad supporters on a main street in the city that was littered with broken glass and fires.
In the north of the capital, a stronghold of Mousavi backers, riot police patrolled streets after midnight. Rubbish burned in the street, some cars had their windows broken, and police blocked access to roads.
MOUSAVI'S APPEAL
In a statement on his website, Mousavi said he had formally asked Iran's legislative Guardian Council to cancel the election result.
"I urge you, Iranian nation, to continue your nationwide protests in a peaceful and legal way," he said.
Mousavi's supporters handed out leaflets calling for a rally in Tehran on Monday afternoon. After dusk some took to rooftops across the city calling out "Allah Akbar" (God is greatest), an echo of tactics by protesters in the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Ahmadinejad appeared at his rally amid a sea of red, white and green Iranian flags waved by supporters thronging Tehran's Vali-e Asr square, some perched on rooftops or cars, to applaud his win.
"Some ... say the vote is disrupted, there has been a fraud. Where are the irregularities in the election?" Ahmadinejad said in a speech that the crowd punctuated with roars of approval.
"Some people want democracy only for their own sake. Some want elections, freedom, a sound election. They recognize it only as long as the result favors them," he said.
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden cast doubt on the election result but said Washington was reserving its position for now.
"It sure looks like the way they're suppressing speech, the way they're suppressing crowds, the way in which people are being treated, that there's some real doubt," he told NBC's "Meet the Press" when asked if Ahmadinejad had won the vote.
Germany, one of Iran's biggest trading partners and a negotiator in the West's nuclear talks with Tehran, said it had summoned the Iranian ambassador.
"We are looking toward Tehran with great concern at the moment. There are a lot of reports about electoral fraud," Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told German ZDF TV.
An adviser to French President Nicolas Sarkozy said what was happening in Iran was "clearly not good news for anyone, neither for the Iranians nor for peace and stability in the world."
Iran's refusal to halt atomic work the West suspects is aimed at making bombs, a charge Tehran denies, has sparked talk of possible U.S. or Israeli strikes on its nuclear sites.
‘Decisive offensive’ ordered against Baitullah Mehsud
ISLAMABAD: The government announced on Sunday that a ‘decisive offensive’ will be launched against Baitullah Mehsud, chief of the banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and his associates.
‘The government has decided to launch an operation against militants in Fata. It has been decided that a comprehensive and decisive operation will be launched to eliminate Baitullah Mehsud and dismantle his network,’ NWFP Governor Owais Ghani said at a press conference here on Sunday night. He said the Taliban’s actions did not match their words.
‘We have repeatedly warned the Mehsud tribe through tribal elders to give up their miscreant activities and advised them not to shelter foreign militants. The government will not tolerate any act against the security of the people’s lives and property at any cost,’ he said.
‘They kept on their miscreant activities and continued to harbour terrorists. As a result, many people have lost their lives in suicide attacks in Lahore, Peshawar, Islamabad and today in Dera Ismail Khan,’ the governor said.
He said the Taliban had committed a reprehensible act by kidnapping students of the Razmak Cadet College and training innocent teenagers for carrying out suicide attacks.
Governor Ghani said the army had been ordered to launch a crackdown on militants in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.
‘Details and the strategy of the operation will be decided by the army,’ he said. He said Baitullah was the root of the problem and suicide bombers were being trained by him.
He said it was the responsibility of every government to establish its writ, protect people’s lives and property and maintain law and order.
‘Taliban are tarnishing the image of Pakistan and maligning Islam with such actions. They are enemies of Islam and Pakistan who want to destabilise the country,’ he added.
The governor said the terrorists were spending about Rs4 billion a year on ration, communication, transport, weapons and salaries of militants. Answering a question about the situation in Malakand division, he said terrorists had been defeated and they were on the run.
He claimed that many areas in the region had been cleared after which caravans of displaced people comprising more than 100 trucks had returned to their villages in Kalam over the past few days. He said supply of water, electricity and other basic amenities had been restored in Swat and other areas.
AP adds: Army spokesman Maj-Gen Athar Abbas said: ‘The government has made the announcement. We will give a comment after evaluating the orders.’
In recent weeks, militants and security personnel have repeatedly skirmished in South Waziristan, though the army has insisted that it is merely responding to attacks, not pursuing a new offensive.
A Taliban ‘commander’, Qari Hussain Ahmad, blamed the intelligence agencies for a blast that took place in Dera Ismail Khan on Sunday, saying the government was indulging in such acts to legitimise an operation in Waziristan. ‘They want to malign us. They want to use killings of innocent citizens against us.’
‘The government has decided to launch an operation against militants in Fata. It has been decided that a comprehensive and decisive operation will be launched to eliminate Baitullah Mehsud and dismantle his network,’ NWFP Governor Owais Ghani said at a press conference here on Sunday night. He said the Taliban’s actions did not match their words.
‘We have repeatedly warned the Mehsud tribe through tribal elders to give up their miscreant activities and advised them not to shelter foreign militants. The government will not tolerate any act against the security of the people’s lives and property at any cost,’ he said.
‘They kept on their miscreant activities and continued to harbour terrorists. As a result, many people have lost their lives in suicide attacks in Lahore, Peshawar, Islamabad and today in Dera Ismail Khan,’ the governor said.
He said the Taliban had committed a reprehensible act by kidnapping students of the Razmak Cadet College and training innocent teenagers for carrying out suicide attacks.
Governor Ghani said the army had been ordered to launch a crackdown on militants in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.
‘Details and the strategy of the operation will be decided by the army,’ he said. He said Baitullah was the root of the problem and suicide bombers were being trained by him.
He said it was the responsibility of every government to establish its writ, protect people’s lives and property and maintain law and order.
‘Taliban are tarnishing the image of Pakistan and maligning Islam with such actions. They are enemies of Islam and Pakistan who want to destabilise the country,’ he added.
The governor said the terrorists were spending about Rs4 billion a year on ration, communication, transport, weapons and salaries of militants. Answering a question about the situation in Malakand division, he said terrorists had been defeated and they were on the run.
He claimed that many areas in the region had been cleared after which caravans of displaced people comprising more than 100 trucks had returned to their villages in Kalam over the past few days. He said supply of water, electricity and other basic amenities had been restored in Swat and other areas.
AP adds: Army spokesman Maj-Gen Athar Abbas said: ‘The government has made the announcement. We will give a comment after evaluating the orders.’
In recent weeks, militants and security personnel have repeatedly skirmished in South Waziristan, though the army has insisted that it is merely responding to attacks, not pursuing a new offensive.
A Taliban ‘commander’, Qari Hussain Ahmad, blamed the intelligence agencies for a blast that took place in Dera Ismail Khan on Sunday, saying the government was indulging in such acts to legitimise an operation in Waziristan. ‘They want to malign us. They want to use killings of innocent citizens against us.’
Nine killed in Dera Ismail Khan market blast
DERA ISMAIL KHAN:A bomb blast in a market killed nine people in Dera Ismail Khan on Sunday, the latest in a wave of attacks since the army launched an offensive against Taliban militants.
The militants have responded with a string of bombs in towns and cities.
Separately on Sunday, a suspected US drone aircraft fired a missile in the South Waziristan region, a stronghold of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, killing three militants travelling in a vehicle, a witness and officials said.
The bomb in a market in Dera Ismail Khan killed eight people and wounded 25, a government official said.
"The initial probe suggests that the device was planted in a push-cart parked in the middle of the market," Syed Mohsin Shah, the top government official in the city, told Reuters.
The drone strike on Sunday, the first since May 16, was in Laddah, in South Waziristan, about 60 km (40 miles) north of the region's main town of Wana.
"The missile destroyed the vehicle and I saw three bodies lying next to it," Pashtun tribal leader Habibullah Mehsud told Reuters by telephone from the region on the Afghan border.
A government official in the region confirmed the attack, saying drones had been flying over South Waziristan since early morning. The identity of the dead militants was not known.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
US Peshawar consulate staff moved to Islamabad
ISLAMABAD: The United States on Saturday announced it was relocating the staff of its consulate in Peshawar to Islamabad for fear of their security. “The US consulate in Peshawar relocated some of its personnel to Islamabad due to heightened threat conditions in the city,” US embassy spokesman Lou Fintor told Daily Times. He said the Peshawar consulate would remain open but would only provide emergency consular services to US citizens. Fintor said the staff had been relocated for an indefinite period.
PAF swings into action to avenge Naeemi’s murder
TANK: Thirteen people, including militants and a few non-combatants, were killed when air force planes pounded militants’ positions in South Waziristan on Saturday, in response to the assassination of a revered religious scholar by the Taliban in Lahore on Friday, military and other sources said.
The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan of Baitullah Mehsud had claimed responsibility for suicide attacks in the Lahore seminary of Allama Sarfaraz Naeemi and in a mosque in Nowshera.
The main target of the air strikes was in Makeen area, the headquarters of Baitullah Mehsud. Local people said five planes took part in the attack that started at around 8am.
The bombing flattened the building of a higher secondary school in Shakerkot area of Makeen. Militants had occupied the building and used it for their activities.
(According to APP, in response to the suicide attack on Jamia Naeemia ‘two terrorists compounds were targeted by PAF in Makeen, South Waziristan Agency. The number of casualties following the air strikes at compounds occupied by terrorists could not be ascertained immediately.’)
Houses of three tribesmen — Shah Jehan Mehsud, Wali Malik Shai and Shah Khan Abdulai — were also bombed.
The sources said that the grandson of Khagai Abdulai was injured while the daughter-in-law of Shapool Mehsud was killed. Three foreigners were also injured in the attack.
Security officials said that seven militants were killed and five others injured in the fresh offensive in Makeen.
However, local militants denied the claim and said that one girl was killed and three children and a watchman were injured.
There were unconfirmed reports that the head of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Tahir Yaldeshiv, had been injured in the air strike. The houses of the tribesmen bombed were occupied by foreign militants, according to the sources.
On Friday night, officials said, security forces pounded suspected locations in Zara Serwakai and killed five militants. Troops also fired artillery from Jandola Fort hitting targets in Serwakai. Taliban sources confirmed they had suffered casualties, but did not give figures.
Meanwhile, more tribesmen left their homes in Makeen area and were seen moving to the adjacent North Waziristan. Shopkeepers have closed their shops.
In Bajaur, six militants were killed and several others injured when air and ground forces carried out joint strikes against militants’ strongholds.
A seminary was also hit and militants’ bodies were seen lying in the nearby fields. Troops launched attacks in Charmang area on Friday.
According to sources, ground forces entered Tangi, the centre of Charmang, on Saturday. Reinforcements were on way to the area.
Ahmadinejad re-election sparks Iran clashes
TEHRAN — The authorities declared Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the official winner of Iran’s presidential election on Saturday afternoon, but opposition candidates and their supporters insisted the election had been stolen, and riot police officers used batons and tear gas against thousands of demonstrators in the worst street protests in a decade.
Witnesses reported that at least one person had been shot dead in clashes with the police in Vanak Square in Tehran. Smoke from burning vehicles and tires hung over the city late Saturday.
The Interior Ministry said Mr. Ahmadinejad had won 62.6 percent of the vote, with Mir Hussein Moussavi, the leading challenger, taking just under 34 percent. Turnout was a record 85 percent, officials said.
Mr. Moussavi, a former prime minister who had promised to reverse Mr. Ahmadinejad’s hard-line policies, declared himself the winner by a wide margin Friday night, charged widespread election irregularities and called on Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, to intervene.
The landslide victory for Mr. Ahmadinejad, an intensely divisive figure here and abroad, came as a powerful shock to opposition supporters, who had cited polls showing that Mr. Moussavi had a strong lead in the final days of the campaign.
Iran’s interior minister, Sadegh Mahsouli, said Saturday that such a lead was a misimpression based on Mr. Moussavi’s higher levels of support in the capital, and that he had less backing elsewhere.
Mr. Moussavi made clear in statements on Saturday that he rejected the results and called on supporters and fellow clerics to fight them. But there were no reports of any public appearances by him on Saturday, leading to rumors that he might have been arrested.
In a statement posted on his campaign Web site, Mr. Moussavi said: “Today the people’s will has been faced with an amazing incident of lies, hypocrisy and fraud. I call on my Iranian compatriots to remain calm and patient.”
But Ayatollah Khamenei closed the door to any appeals for intervention in a statement issued on state television on Saturday afternoon, congratulating Mr. Ahmadinejad on his victory and urging the other candidates to throw in the towel. “Our respected president is the president of all the people, including those who were his rivals yesterday, and they should all help and support him,” he said.
Mr. Moussavi’s defiance seemed to fuel street resistance by his supporters — a coalition including women, young people, intellectuals and members of the moderate clerical establishment — who had united in opposition to Mr. Ahmadinejad’s erratic economic stewardship, confrontational foreign policy and crackdown on social freedoms.
“Death to the coup d’état!” chanted a surging crowd of several thousand protesters, many of whom wore Mr. Moussavi’s signature bright green campaign colors, as they marched in central Tehran on Saturday afternoon. “Death to the dictator!”
Farther down the street, clusters of young men hurled rocks at a phalanx of riot police officers, and screams could be heard as the police used their batons to beat back protesters. As night fell, the crowd began setting fire to cars and tires. There were reports of demonstrations in other major Iranian cities as well.
The authorities closed universities in Tehran, blocked cellphone transmissions and access to Facebook and some other Web sites, and for a second day shut down text-messaging services.
Earlier in the day, hurried meetings were reported among Iran’s leading political figures and clerics; some were said to be trying to influence Ayatollah Khamenei to intervene in a situation that could stain public confidence in the integrity of Iran’s elections.
But Saeed Leylaz, an economist and political analyst, said he believed Ayatollah Khamenei’s statement would bring resolution, even if demonstrations persisted for a few days. “This has put an end to political negotiations from above,” Mr. Leylaz said.
For the moment, Ayatollah Khamenei’s admonition did nothing to calm the opposition’s rage.
“The results of the 10th presidential election are so ridiculous and so unbelievable that one cannot write or talk about it in a statement,” said Mehdi Karroubi, a reformist cleric and candidate. He came in last with 300,000 votes — much fewer than analysts had predicted. “It is amazing that the people’s vote has turned into an instrument for the government to stabilize itself.”
The other candidate, Mohsen Rezai, got 680,000 votes, Interior Ministry officials said.
In 2005, when Mr. Karroubi was also a candidate for president, he accused the government of rigging the vote in Mr. Ahmadinejad’s favor. In that election, the government announced when polls closed that there would probably be a runoff between two of three candidates, a reform candidate and a former police chief. But by 7 a.m. the next day, a spokesman for the Guardian Council, a clerical oversight panel that is not supposed to be involved in vote counting, announced that Mr. Ahmadinejad was in first place. Mr. Karroubi’s charges were never investigated.
The turmoil on Saturday followed an extraordinary night in which the Iranian state news agency announced that Mr. Ahmadinejad had won by a vast margin just two hours after the polls closed. The timing alone provoked deep suspicion here, because the authorities have never before announced election results until the following morning. Mr. Moussavi also announced Friday night that he believed he had won by a wide margin.
Mr. Moussavi also complained about irregularities and unfairness in the election, saying there had been a lack of ballots in many areas and that some of his campaign offices had been attacked and his Web sites shut down.
The official results prompted further skepticism, in part because Mr. Ahmadinejad won large majorities in some places that were considered safe for his opponents, including even their hometowns. Mr. Rezai’s hometown, for example, gave him less than a 10th of Mr. Ahmadinejad’s total there, the Interior Ministry said.
The issue of vote-rigging has often been raised in Iranian elections, but analysts have generally said the authorities can manipulate the results by only a few percentage points, leaving room for genuine democratic movements.
Iran’s clerical leaders often point to past reformist victories as proof of the Islamic Republic’s democratic legitimacy. Many reformists have boycotted votes in the past to avoid giving the clerics that satisfaction. Those reformists voted in large numbers this time, inspired by a vast popular movement that rose up to support Mr. Moussavi.
Their bitterness on Saturday at the unexpected results was correspondingly severe.
“We are not disposable things to be thrown away,” said Mahshid, 20, a student who declined to give her last name because she feared repercussions from the authorities. “From now on, we won’t vote. They have insulted our feelings of patriotism.”
Meanwhile, the working class areas of southern Tehran where Mr. Ahmadinejad is popular were largely quiet, despite rumors of wild victory celebrations.
“There might be some manipulation in what the government has done,” said Maliheh Afrouz, 55, a supporter of Mr. Ahmadinejad clad in a black chador. “But the other side is exaggerating, making it seem worse than it really is.”
Rs 2.482 trillion deficit budget unveiled, defence spending hiked
ISLAMABAD :Fighting a Taliban insurgency, mired in recession and kept afloat by an IMF emergency loan, Government announced on Saturday a budget for 2009/10 that underlined its dependence on foreign financial support.
Delivering the annual budget statement to the National Assembly, Minister of State for Finance Hina Rabbani Khar estimated that Pakistan had paid a price of about $35 billion for joining the US-led war against terrorism in 2001.
The civilian government, which came to power 15 months ago to bring down the curtain on almost a decade of military rule under former army chief Pervez Musharraf, has sought international support to stabilise its economy, fight the insurgency and fund development needed to make it harder for militants to recruit.
"We are facing huge expenditures to get rid of militancy," said Khar, who served as a minister of state in the Musharraf years.
"Our armed forces are in the forefront in the war against terrorism and militancy. Our western border is facing the most uncertain situation," she said, referring to the Taliban insurgency rolling in from the border with Afghanistan.
US officials, worried that their nuclear-armed Muslim ally could descend into chaos, have welcomed the army's offensive against militants in the Swat valley and adjoining areas northwest of Islamabad, which was launched in late April.
On Thursday, the US House of Representatives approved tripling aid to about $1.5 billion a year for five years to help combat extremism through development. Pakistan is the biggest recipient of US aid.
A $7.6 billion bail-out by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) saved Pakistan from a balance of payments crisis last November.
The budget factored in 178 billion rupees of aid from "Friends of Pakistan" international donors who met in Tokyo in April, and the government is still seeking money from friendly governments and international lenders.
TRYING TO BEAT RECESSION
The balance of payments crisis, an oil price shock and economic mismanagement contributed to a sharp slowdown in Pakistan's previously fast-growing economy in the past year.
Insecurity, political uncertainty, economic difficulties, and power shortages combined to deter investment, and the textile industry, Pakistan's main export sector, has been hit hard.
Economic growth slid to 2 percent in the 2008/09 fiscal year ending on June 30, tantamount to recession for a country with annual population growth of more than 2 percent and with more than a third of its 170 million people living in poverty.
The budget forecast gross domestic product (GDP) growth recovering to 3.3 percent in 2009/10, and inflation easing to 9.5 percent after averaging 21 percent for the year just ending.
Development spending was increased more than 17 percent to 646 billion rupees, while defence spending was increased 15.3 percent to 342.9 billion rupees, according to a "Budget at a Glance" document, portions of which were obtained by Reuters.
Under IMF scrutiny, Pakistan has targeted an increase in its fiscal deficit to 4.9 percent of GDP for 2009/10, from 4.3 percent in 2008/09.
Pakistan expects to cover almost 265 billion rupees of the 722.5 billion rupee deficit with external borrowing, and the rest from domestic borrowing.
"The major risk in this budget is foreign funding. We have heavy reliance on that, but if that is delayed or does not go through, there is no fall-back solution," said Ashfaque Hasan Khan, Dean of the National University of Science and Technology.
"That would mean that the government will have to cut down development expenditure, which will be a big problem and difficult politically," said Khan, a former senior official in the Finance Ministry.
Other analysts echoed that concern.
Sakib Sherani, a economist with an international bank and member of the government's Economic Advisory Council, also noted the risk that rising oil prices posed to the energy-deficit country, along with the threat from the insurgency.
"The security situation will also have a bearing on the final outcome with regards to the deficit," Sherani said.
Ahmadinejad wins Iran election, Mousavi cries foul
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won re-election by a thumping margin, official figures showed Saturday, but his moderate challenger rejected the tally as a "dangerous charade" that could lead to tyranny.
The scale of Ahmadinejad's victory -- he took nearly twice as many votes as former Prime Minister Mirhossein Mousavi with counting almost complete after Friday's poll -- upset widespread expectations that the race would at least go to a second round.
Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli said Ahmadinejad won 62.6 percent of the vote and Mousavi 33.75 percent. Turnout was a record 85 percent of eligible voters.
Mousavi protested against what he said were many obvious violations.
"I'm warning I will not surrender to this dangerous charade. The result of such performance by some officials will jeopardize the pillars of the Islamic Republic and will establish tyranny," Mousavi said in a statement made available to Reuters.
He had been due to hold a news conference, but police at the building turned journalists away, saying it was canceled.
Iranian and Western analysts abroad greeted the results with disbelief. They said Ahmadinejad's re-election would disappoint Western powers aiming to convince Iran to halt work they suspect is aimed at making bombs, and could further complicate efforts by U.S. President Barack Obama to reach out to Tehran.
"It doesn't augur well for an early and peaceful settlement of the nuclear dispute," said Mark Fitzpatrick at London's International Institute for Strategic Studies.
A bitterly fought campaign generated strong interest around the world and intense excitement inside Iran. It revealed deep divisions among establishment figures between those backing Ahmadinejad and those pushing for social and political change.
Ahmadinejad accused his rivals of undermining the Islamic Republic by advocating detente with the West. Mousavi said the president's "extremist" foreign policy had humiliated Iranians.
Friday night, before official results emerged, Mousavi had claimed to be the "definite winner." He said many people had been unable to vote and ballot papers were lacking.
He also accused authorities of blocking text messaging, with which his campaign tried to reach young, urban voters.
State election commission figures showed Ahmadinejad had secured a second four-year term with 61.6 percent of ballots against 32.5 percent for Mousavi with 39 million votes counted. It put the turnout at 80 percent of 46 million eligible voters.
Trita Parsi, president of the Washington-based National Iranian American Council, expressed disbelief at the wide margin in Ahmadinejad's favor. "It is difficult to feel comfortable that this occurred without any cheating," Parsi said.
Ali Ansari, who heads the Institute for Iranian Studies at St Andrews University in Scotland, said: "People will wake up today in Iran in shock, not that Ahmadinejad has won, but that he has won on such a dramatic scale."
STREET SCUFFLES
Western capitals had hoped a victory for Mousavi could help ease tensions with the West, which is concerned about Tehran's nuclear plans, and improve chances of engagement with Obama, who has talked of a new start if Tehran "unclenches its fist."
Now they must again deal with Ahmadinejad, who has refused talks with six world powers over Iran's nuclear program.
The three-week election campaign was marked by mudslinging, with Ahmadinejad accusing his rivals of corruption. They said he was lying about the economy. Inflation, officially put at 15 percent, and unemployment were core issues in the debate.
It was unclear how Mousavi's supporters, who thronged the streets of Tehran nightly during the campaign, might react to Ahmadinejad's victory. U.S. strategic intelligence group Stratfor called the situation "potentially explosive."
Scuffles broke out overnight between police and chanting Mousavi supporters in a Tehran square, a Reuters witness said. Police said they had boosted security across the capital. All gatherings have been banned until final results are declared.
Ahmadinejad draws his bedrock support from rural areas and poorer big city neighborhoods. Mousavi enjoys strong backing in wealthier urban centers, especially among women and the young.
Two other candidates attracted only tiny voter support.
Ahmadinejad, 52, won power four years ago, vowing to revive the values of the 1979 Islamic revolution. He has expanded the nuclear program, which Iran says is only for electricity generation, and stirred international outrage by denying the Holocaust and calling for Israel to be wiped off the map.
"If there was a shadow of hope for a change in Iran, the renewed choice of Ahmadinejad expresses more than anything the growing Iranian threat," Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said in a statement. "The international community must stop a nuclear Iran and Iranian terror immediately."
Ahmadinejad, who has cultivated relations with U.S. foes around the world, received telephoned congratulations from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the Fars news agency said.
Mousavi, 67, rejects Western demands that Iran halt uranium enrichment, but argued for a different approach to Iran-U.S. ties and nuclear talks -- although these are policy areas ultimately controlled by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The United States has had no ties with Iran, the world's fifth biggest oil exporter, since shortly after the 1979 Islamic revolution. Obama said his country had "tried to send a clear message that we think there is the possibility of change."
The scale of Ahmadinejad's victory -- he took nearly twice as many votes as former Prime Minister Mirhossein Mousavi with counting almost complete after Friday's poll -- upset widespread expectations that the race would at least go to a second round.
Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli said Ahmadinejad won 62.6 percent of the vote and Mousavi 33.75 percent. Turnout was a record 85 percent of eligible voters.
Mousavi protested against what he said were many obvious violations.
"I'm warning I will not surrender to this dangerous charade. The result of such performance by some officials will jeopardize the pillars of the Islamic Republic and will establish tyranny," Mousavi said in a statement made available to Reuters.
He had been due to hold a news conference, but police at the building turned journalists away, saying it was canceled.
Iranian and Western analysts abroad greeted the results with disbelief. They said Ahmadinejad's re-election would disappoint Western powers aiming to convince Iran to halt work they suspect is aimed at making bombs, and could further complicate efforts by U.S. President Barack Obama to reach out to Tehran.
"It doesn't augur well for an early and peaceful settlement of the nuclear dispute," said Mark Fitzpatrick at London's International Institute for Strategic Studies.
A bitterly fought campaign generated strong interest around the world and intense excitement inside Iran. It revealed deep divisions among establishment figures between those backing Ahmadinejad and those pushing for social and political change.
Ahmadinejad accused his rivals of undermining the Islamic Republic by advocating detente with the West. Mousavi said the president's "extremist" foreign policy had humiliated Iranians.
Friday night, before official results emerged, Mousavi had claimed to be the "definite winner." He said many people had been unable to vote and ballot papers were lacking.
He also accused authorities of blocking text messaging, with which his campaign tried to reach young, urban voters.
State election commission figures showed Ahmadinejad had secured a second four-year term with 61.6 percent of ballots against 32.5 percent for Mousavi with 39 million votes counted. It put the turnout at 80 percent of 46 million eligible voters.
Trita Parsi, president of the Washington-based National Iranian American Council, expressed disbelief at the wide margin in Ahmadinejad's favor. "It is difficult to feel comfortable that this occurred without any cheating," Parsi said.
Ali Ansari, who heads the Institute for Iranian Studies at St Andrews University in Scotland, said: "People will wake up today in Iran in shock, not that Ahmadinejad has won, but that he has won on such a dramatic scale."
STREET SCUFFLES
Western capitals had hoped a victory for Mousavi could help ease tensions with the West, which is concerned about Tehran's nuclear plans, and improve chances of engagement with Obama, who has talked of a new start if Tehran "unclenches its fist."
Now they must again deal with Ahmadinejad, who has refused talks with six world powers over Iran's nuclear program.
The three-week election campaign was marked by mudslinging, with Ahmadinejad accusing his rivals of corruption. They said he was lying about the economy. Inflation, officially put at 15 percent, and unemployment were core issues in the debate.
It was unclear how Mousavi's supporters, who thronged the streets of Tehran nightly during the campaign, might react to Ahmadinejad's victory. U.S. strategic intelligence group Stratfor called the situation "potentially explosive."
Scuffles broke out overnight between police and chanting Mousavi supporters in a Tehran square, a Reuters witness said. Police said they had boosted security across the capital. All gatherings have been banned until final results are declared.
Ahmadinejad draws his bedrock support from rural areas and poorer big city neighborhoods. Mousavi enjoys strong backing in wealthier urban centers, especially among women and the young.
Two other candidates attracted only tiny voter support.
Ahmadinejad, 52, won power four years ago, vowing to revive the values of the 1979 Islamic revolution. He has expanded the nuclear program, which Iran says is only for electricity generation, and stirred international outrage by denying the Holocaust and calling for Israel to be wiped off the map.
"If there was a shadow of hope for a change in Iran, the renewed choice of Ahmadinejad expresses more than anything the growing Iranian threat," Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said in a statement. "The international community must stop a nuclear Iran and Iranian terror immediately."
Ahmadinejad, who has cultivated relations with U.S. foes around the world, received telephoned congratulations from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the Fars news agency said.
Mousavi, 67, rejects Western demands that Iran halt uranium enrichment, but argued for a different approach to Iran-U.S. ties and nuclear talks -- although these are policy areas ultimately controlled by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The United States has had no ties with Iran, the world's fifth biggest oil exporter, since shortly after the 1979 Islamic revolution. Obama said his country had "tried to send a clear message that we think there is the possibility of change."
Friday, June 12, 2009
Pakistan to overpower extremism, hopes US
Updated at: 0500 PST, Saturday, June 13, 2009
WASHINGTON: US state department has hoped that Pakistan will overpower terrorism while international community will continue to extend their support for Pakistan’s internally displaced persons (IDPs) left out by military offensive in Swat and the other areas of NWFP.
During routine briefing here, the spokesmen to US state department Philip J. Crowley, to a question in regard to reports on the possibility of imposition of Martial Law in restive areas of Pakistan, said US concentrates on the relief and rehabilitation of displaced persons in Pakistan.
Pakistan is giving its hundred person to win its war on terror, which is commendable; he quoted Richard Holbrooke (US special envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan) as saying.
Reports have reached here that Pakistan army has entered Waziristan besides continuous army action to curb militancy in Swat and Malakand Divisions, he divulged.
Pakistan will soon abolish militancy as well as violence within this week US state department spokesman hoped.
Would-be suicide bomber arrested in Torkhum
LANDI KOTAL: Security forces at Torkhum arrested on Friday a would-be suicide bomber along with a suicide jacket and a hand grenade, officials said.
Hailing from the Zakhakhel tribe of Landi Kotal tehsil, the teenage suicide bomber Sulaiman son of Laeeq Khan was later presented before the media at Khyber House, the office of the Khyber Agency Political Agent.
Political Agent Tariq Hayat told journalists that Sulaiman was given training by the activists of Tehrik-e-Taliban in Afghanistan and was send to Pakistan via the Torkhum border to carry out a suicide attack.
The boy, he said was not yet assigned any target before he was nabbed.
The would-be suicide bomber was carrying a jacket filled with seven to eight kilograms of explosives along with a hand grenade.
Friday prayers in Nowshera hit by blast
NOWSHERA: Four people were killed and over a hundred injured when a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden vehicle into the wall of a military-run mosque in Nowshera during Friday prayers.
The explosion smashed windowpanes of several nearby houses and gouged cracks in walls and floors. Several children and women were injured. The army and police carried out rescue work.
Law enforcement personnel cordoned off the area and started search operation. Bodies and injured people were retrieved from the rubble hours after the explosion.
A worshipper told Dawn the explosion took place at the moment when the Pesh Imam was reciting last Rakat of the prayer.
The deceased were identified as sepoy Abdul Hameed of Multan, Jawad, Ahmed Gul and contractor Allauddin.
The injured were taken to the Cantonment Hospital, DHQ Hospital and Peshawar CMH. A doctor at the DHQ hospital said 90 injured, 15 of them critical, were brought to the hospital.
Body parts, including the head and legs of the suicide bomber, recovered from the site of the blast and were sent for DNA test. Witnesses said blood stains and body parts were scattered all over the floor.
Several vehicles parked in front of the mosque were also damaged.
Suicide bomber kills anti-Taliban cleric Allama Naeemi
LAHORE: Allama Dr Sarfraz Ahmed Naeemi, a renowned religious scholar of the country and principal of the Jamia Naeemia, was killed, in what police believe was a targeted suicide attack at his seminary’s office in Garhi Shaho on Friday.
His close aide, Maulana Khalilur Rehman, Abdul Rehman, an ex-student and a journalist, and two students were also killed while five others suffered injuries in the attack which destroyed furniture and religious books lying in the single room office and smashed all the windowpanes of madrassa-cum-mosque where over 1,000 students are receiving religious education.
A series of protests broke out outside Jamia Naeemia and other parts of the city following the attack on Mr Naeemi, who was the son of the ex-chairman of the Ruet-i-Hilal Committee and founder of Jamia Naeemia, Mufti Muhammad Husain Naeemi.
Capital City Police Officer Pervez Rathore said Dr Sarfraz had supported military action against Taliban militants and also issued a decree calling suicide attacks ‘Haram’ in Islam.
He told Dawn that Mr Naeemi had also arranged an Anti-Taliban seminar in his madrassa two weeks ago.
Senior Superintendent of Police (operations) Chaudhry Shafeeq believed Mr Naeemi was targeted by a suicide bomber, saying Mr Naeemi, however, did not inform the police about any immediate life threat to him.
‘We had asked him many times for the security but he did not accept it,’ he said.
The blast, which was carried out by a suicide bomber with approximately 12 kg explosives, shook students and staff present in the madrassa and residents of adjacent localities.
All adjacent markets and shops were closed following the incident and the police barricaded all roads leading to the Jamia Naeemia.
Some rangers also patrolled the spot.
The angry mob smashed in the windowpanes of the Alahsaan Welfare Trust ambulance.
Ambulances of Rescue 1122 and Edhi rushed to the spot and shifted the injured to Mayo, Sir Ganga Ram Services and Jinnah Hospital.
Mr Naeemi, after Friday prayer, was sitting in his room to see visitors when a young man, thought to be in his 20s, entered from the main gate, turned left and detonated an explosive device after entering Mr Naeemi’s office, witnesses said.
Most of the people had left the madrassa cum mosque after Friday prayers, and only students were present in their rooms and in other premises when the blast took place.
‘I had just started lunch after Friday prayer when an explosion took place and I initially thought that some structure had collapsed. I along other fellows came downstairs and saw smoke arising from the office of Mr Naeemi and screams,’ a student, who was in his room situated on the first floor, told Dawn.
He said he, along with others found Mr Naeemi with multiple injuries and shifted him to the nearby Railway Cairen Hospital.
Police rounded up a few students and took them to an unidentified location for interrogation.
Muhammad Ali Naqashbandi of Jamia Naeemia complained to the police took three students including Wajahat, son of Samiullah.
He said it had become police practice to pick up innocent people soon after any terrorist act in the name of security but not to act on intelligence in a timely manner.
A police official, however, said some people were detained who were found making videos of the spot.
Meanwhile, the police seized the complete face and legs of the alleged suicide bomber, and shifted the remains to an undisclosed location for identification process.
A suspect identified as Shahbaz was also taken from the spot and was shifted to an unidentified location for interrogation.
Civil Lines division SP Investigation Dr Hyder Ashraf told Dawn the bomber used a suicide belt which contained pellets, but that he was yet to be identified.
The SP said the bomber could not enter into the madrassa during prayer timings because of security checking by four policemen and madrassa volunteers.
However, he said that as the police left the venue after the departure of people, the bomber made his entry and blew himself up.
He said Mr Naeemi had recently refused to receive police guards when he was contacted for the purpose.
His close aide, Maulana Khalilur Rehman, Abdul Rehman, an ex-student and a journalist, and two students were also killed while five others suffered injuries in the attack which destroyed furniture and religious books lying in the single room office and smashed all the windowpanes of madrassa-cum-mosque where over 1,000 students are receiving religious education.
A series of protests broke out outside Jamia Naeemia and other parts of the city following the attack on Mr Naeemi, who was the son of the ex-chairman of the Ruet-i-Hilal Committee and founder of Jamia Naeemia, Mufti Muhammad Husain Naeemi.
Capital City Police Officer Pervez Rathore said Dr Sarfraz had supported military action against Taliban militants and also issued a decree calling suicide attacks ‘Haram’ in Islam.
He told Dawn that Mr Naeemi had also arranged an Anti-Taliban seminar in his madrassa two weeks ago.
Senior Superintendent of Police (operations) Chaudhry Shafeeq believed Mr Naeemi was targeted by a suicide bomber, saying Mr Naeemi, however, did not inform the police about any immediate life threat to him.
‘We had asked him many times for the security but he did not accept it,’ he said.
The blast, which was carried out by a suicide bomber with approximately 12 kg explosives, shook students and staff present in the madrassa and residents of adjacent localities.
All adjacent markets and shops were closed following the incident and the police barricaded all roads leading to the Jamia Naeemia.
Some rangers also patrolled the spot.
The angry mob smashed in the windowpanes of the Alahsaan Welfare Trust ambulance.
Ambulances of Rescue 1122 and Edhi rushed to the spot and shifted the injured to Mayo, Sir Ganga Ram Services and Jinnah Hospital.
Mr Naeemi, after Friday prayer, was sitting in his room to see visitors when a young man, thought to be in his 20s, entered from the main gate, turned left and detonated an explosive device after entering Mr Naeemi’s office, witnesses said.
Most of the people had left the madrassa cum mosque after Friday prayers, and only students were present in their rooms and in other premises when the blast took place.
‘I had just started lunch after Friday prayer when an explosion took place and I initially thought that some structure had collapsed. I along other fellows came downstairs and saw smoke arising from the office of Mr Naeemi and screams,’ a student, who was in his room situated on the first floor, told Dawn.
He said he, along with others found Mr Naeemi with multiple injuries and shifted him to the nearby Railway Cairen Hospital.
Police rounded up a few students and took them to an unidentified location for interrogation.
Muhammad Ali Naqashbandi of Jamia Naeemia complained to the police took three students including Wajahat, son of Samiullah.
He said it had become police practice to pick up innocent people soon after any terrorist act in the name of security but not to act on intelligence in a timely manner.
A police official, however, said some people were detained who were found making videos of the spot.
Meanwhile, the police seized the complete face and legs of the alleged suicide bomber, and shifted the remains to an undisclosed location for identification process.
A suspect identified as Shahbaz was also taken from the spot and was shifted to an unidentified location for interrogation.
Civil Lines division SP Investigation Dr Hyder Ashraf told Dawn the bomber used a suicide belt which contained pellets, but that he was yet to be identified.
The SP said the bomber could not enter into the madrassa during prayer timings because of security checking by four policemen and madrassa volunteers.
However, he said that as the police left the venue after the departure of people, the bomber made his entry and blew himself up.
He said Mr Naeemi had recently refused to receive police guards when he was contacted for the purpose.
Zardari says cantonment to be set up in Swat
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari vowed late on Friday night to continue war against terrorism till its logical end, announced the establishment of a cantonment in Swat and an increase in the salary of armed forces personnel equivalent to their one-month basic salary.
In his brief address, Mr Zardari commended security personnel fighting militants in Malakand for rendering invaluable sacrifices and said those who ‘are engaged in military operation in Malakand will get immediate increase. Others … will avail this facility from July 1.’
Denouncing Taliban for sowing terror, the president said: ‘Killing religious scholars like Dr Sarfaraz Naeemi, blowing up schools, killing doctors administering anti-polio drops and desecrating graves is not Islamic at all,’ he said.
He said the nation had now waken up to the Taliban threat and accused them of invoking Islam to take over the country. ‘We will, however, win the war against militants with the support of the people, political parties and parliament.’
Mr Zardari praised displaced people for showing courage and assured them that things would soon improve soon enough to make their return to Malakand possible.
The president said that the government had decided to set up a pay commission for government servants.
Iran rivals dispute poll victory
AL JAZEERA.COM
Both Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's president, and Mir Hossein Mousavi, his main election rival have claimed victory in the country's election.
The conflicting claims came just hours after polls officially closed on Friday.
Mousavi called a news conference in Tehran to claim victory soon after voting came to an end.
"In line with the information we have received, I am the winner of this election by a substantial margin," he said.
Only minutes earlier, close Mousavi aide Ali Akbar Mohatshemi-Pour was reported by the AFP news agency as saying his candidate had won 65 per cent of the vote.
But IRNA, Iran's official news agency, soon afterwards announced that Ahmadinejad had won re-eleection.
"Doctor Ahmadinejad, by getting a majority of the votes, has become the definite winner of the 10th presidential election," the news agency said.
Ahmadinejad received 3,462,548 votes, according to Kamran Daneshjoo, chairman of the electoral commission at the interior ministry.
That compared to 1,425,678 for Mousavi, Daneshjoo said.
The figures from the interior ministry give gave Ahmadinejad 69.04 per cent of the vote and Mousavi 28.42 per cent.
According to the interior minstry figures, the elections two other candidates Mohsen Rezai, a former commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards and Mehdi Karroubi, an ex-parliament speaker - came distant third and fourth with 81,509 votes and 45,453 votes respectively.
Both Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's president, and Mir Hossein Mousavi, his main election rival have claimed victory in the country's election.
The conflicting claims came just hours after polls officially closed on Friday.
Mousavi called a news conference in Tehran to claim victory soon after voting came to an end.
"In line with the information we have received, I am the winner of this election by a substantial margin," he said.
Only minutes earlier, close Mousavi aide Ali Akbar Mohatshemi-Pour was reported by the AFP news agency as saying his candidate had won 65 per cent of the vote.
But IRNA, Iran's official news agency, soon afterwards announced that Ahmadinejad had won re-eleection.
"Doctor Ahmadinejad, by getting a majority of the votes, has become the definite winner of the 10th presidential election," the news agency said.
Ahmadinejad received 3,462,548 votes, according to Kamran Daneshjoo, chairman of the electoral commission at the interior ministry.
That compared to 1,425,678 for Mousavi, Daneshjoo said.
The figures from the interior ministry give gave Ahmadinejad 69.04 per cent of the vote and Mousavi 28.42 per cent.
According to the interior minstry figures, the elections two other candidates Mohsen Rezai, a former commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards and Mehdi Karroubi, an ex-parliament speaker - came distant third and fourth with 81,509 votes and 45,453 votes respectively.
Turnout heavy in Iranian election
TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Long lines of voters massed at many Iranian polling stations early Friday in an heavy turnout believed to be unprecedented for the hotly contested presidential election.Voters were lining up, standing in the blistering sun, even before the polls opened at 8 a.m.The polling stations were to stay open for 12 hours after officials extended the polling time to accommodate the high turnout.
The election is pitting incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad against reformist Mir Hossein Moussavi, and two other candidates.
Kamran Daneshjoo, head of the election office, said the turnout was unprecedented, and that several polling places had already requested to stay open for two more hours.
But text messaging was not working in Iran on Friday, an issue that could affect Moussavi, who has used technology to inform his supporters.
In addition to Moussavi, two other challengers -- former parliament Speaker Mehdi Karrubi, another reformist, and hard-liner Mohsen Rezaie, secretary of Iran's Expediency Council -- hope to unseat Ahmadinejad in the election.
If no single candidate reaches a simple majority, a runoff election will be held on Friday, June 19.
Raucous, lively political rallies filled the streets of Tehran as the campaign season ended Thursday.
The streets were quiet late Thursday as posters bearing the faces of the top candidates were torn down, and graffiti proclaiming "Change, Change, Change" was washed away.
It was a strange contrast to the scene in Tehran a day before, when tens of thousands of Iranians took part in the final rallies Wednesday. Most of the rallies were in support of Moussavi.
As far as the eye could see, people walked for hours from east of the city to the west, converging on Tehran's Freedom Square, which became the symbol of the Islamic revolution that swept this country back in 1979.
Some Ahmadinejad supporters were taking part in the rallies, but most were wearing the color green, the symbol of Moussavi's campaign. The Moussavi supporters stayed out well past the midnight deadline, dancing, chanting, driving and honking their horns. The rallies were largely peaceful. At one point, police fired tear gas to disperse a crowd, but the situation did not get out of control.
People who are old enough to remember the Islamic revolution 30 years ago say this week's rallies in the capital were the largest they had seen since then.
Moussavi has energized Iran's women and young people, and his supporters hope that will be enough to sweep him into victory.
But much of his support is coming from those frustrated with Ahmadinejad's four years in office, during which prices of goods have skyrocketed and personal freedoms have plummeted.
"Thirty years of frustration is exploding," said Mohamed, a mechanical engineer student who took part in Wednesday's march to Freedom Square. "Even if Ahmadinejad wins, we are here just to express our opposition."
The Iranian president still has staunch support, especially among the poor in the provinces to whom he has doled out money, benefits and favors.
"Honestly we have never seen anyone as courageous as Ahmadinejad," said one of Ahmadinejad's supporters, who took part in this week's rallies.
Moussavi's supporters hope that he follows in the same footsteps as Mohammed Khatami, a reformist candidate who overwhelmingly won the presidency in 1997, raising hopes that the reformist movement would bring religious and democratic freedoms to the Islamic republic. But the real power in Iran rests in the hands of the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
By the time Khatami left office in 2005, he was unable to make major changes because of the opposition of hardline elements in Iran's clerical establishment.
No matter who wins Friday's election, analysts say it is unlikely that any of the candidates would change Iran's position on its nuclear program, which the Islamic republic insists is for civilian purposes but the United States and other Western powers believe may be a cover for a weapons program.
Iranian-American analyst and scholar Reza Aslan said that while Moussavi is "a little bit more of a moderate when it comes to the nuclear issue ... all four candidates agreement with Iran's right to develop nuclear."
Nevertheless, Aslan said that all four candidates also "recognize it's time to open up to America and to the international community because there's no other option with regard to the economy."
"But I think with Moussavi, you have someone that I think would be more palatable for a Barack Obama to sit down next to," he told CNN's "American Morning."
The U.S. president has indicated his willingness to open dialogue with Iran -- something his predecessor was unwilling to do. But talks with the incumbent Iranian president are more likely to trigger criticism because of Ahmadinejad's repeated denial of the Holocaust and his comments about wiping Israel off the map.
Aslan predicted that Moussavi will emerge victorious after Friday's vote because of his ability to energize key segments of Iran's population.
"He's finally got the young people in Iran to care about politics again," Aslan said. "They really dropped out four years ago and they're back in full force now."
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Fresh wave of terror confines Peshawarites to homes
PESHAWAR: The fresh wave of terror in the provincial metropolis has triggered extreme fear and sense of insecurity among the residents, confining most of them to their homes.
Grief, fear and terror loomed over the city after the Tuesday’s deadly blast at Pearl Continental Hotel that killed 17 people, besides damaging the symbol of Peshawar, the city’s lone five-star hotel.
The residents had not yet come out of the trauma of Qissa Khwani bomb blast - though the situation had improved marginally and the city started coming back to normal life - when the blast at the Pearl Continental plunged them in a profound sense of insecurity.
Quite thin presence of people could be witnessed in main shopping hubs of the city, including Qissa Khwani Bazaar, Khyber Bazaar, Namak Mandi, Chowk Yadgar, Hashtnagri, Saddar, University Road, etc, where roads used to be jam-packed.
The shopkeepers have taken security measures on self-help basis. They have encircled the areas surrounding their shops with ropes to avert car parking there.Bazaars and markets full of loud voices and laughter, the inviting songs of salesmen especially for cold drinks, the beautiful evenings with the family visiting restaurants and hotels appear to be the past story, said Zahid Khan, a shopkeeper in Khyber Bazaar.
Dull days and disturbing nights marred the Peshawarites due to ever-increasing security threats. “The people have lost the spirit to enjoy and laugh and even work. Stress and anxiety are visible on people’s faces,” said another shopkeeper sitting idle in his shop at Saddar Bazaar.
Fear can be noticed on the faces of people who visit these bazaars under compulsion. “It’s very painful to see the deserted bazaars of Peshawar which in peacetime were thronged by dwellers, especially in the evening,” said Nouman Shah, a resident of Saddar.
Even the very busy Dabgari Gardens - an area known for housing a lot of clinics of private medical practitioners - which is visited by patients from every nook and corner of the province and tribal areas, also wore a deserted look. “Only those who are in extremely serious condition visited the clinics,” said a doctor.
“A large number of patients come from south and north of the province but due to prevailing situation in these areas coupled with the increasing threat in Peshawar, have also left doctors idle,” a busy practitioner at the Khyber Medical Centre said.
The newspapers are full of stories about war and miseries in NWFP be it Bannu, Dir, Buner, Swat, Hangu or Peshawar. A lawyer Muhammad Anwar said Peshawarites feel they are being squeezed from all the sides. “While feeling sorrow for their brethren around, we find ourselves helpless in the face of emerging security threat,” he added.
However, there were some people, who appeared to be quite optimistic. They said peace and tranquillity would return to the province soon. Abdul Ali, a human rights activist, said “the dark nights will be over soon, terrorists will be defeated and we will have a peaceful Peshawar once again. But we will have to stand united and strong to face the menace of terrorism.”
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