18th Amendment bill tabled, Zia’s name deleted

The Federal Cabinet in a special meeting under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on Tuesday unanimously approved the proposed 18th amendment bill 2010.The bill is placed before the both houses of the parliament by the Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reforms.
Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister said the passage of the 18th Constitutional Amendment Bill 2010 will strengthen the federation and democracy.
He further said that the bill would serve as a landmark in the constitutional history of the country and that the people would long remember this achievement of their elected representatives.Earlier, Raza Rabbani, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reforms explained salient features of the bill.He said it was a unique peace of legislation in many ways.The most important feature is that an incumbent President himself has given away his powers to the parliament and the people of Pakistan.Moreover, the bill will seek to repeal LFO as well as 17th amendment which were the symbols of dictatorial regime. General Zia-ul-Haq’s name has also been stricken out from the Constitution, he said.He further said that the passage of the bill will take the nation back to original constitution of 1973. This legislation has enjoyed maximum consensus of political parties on the issue of provincial autonomy.He informed the cabinet that the federal government will set up a committee to oversee the implementation and to provide guidance in framing the rules that will be required for implementation of the provisions of the bill.Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani said 18th Amendment was a dividend of politics of reconciliation that would strengthen institutions and create balance of power between the President and the Parliament. “Today all stakeholders are on one pitch.The President, the Prime Minister, Supreme Court and the Parliament are working in complete harmony and it is the biggest dividend of reconciliatory politics,” he said soon after Senator Raza Rabbani presented the 18th Constitutional Amendment Bill in the National Assembly.“Politics of reconciliation not only made us achieve this great goal but also paved way for Aghaz-e-Huqooq Balochistan, NFC Award and successfully fighting terrorism with full might,” he added.“It was the politics of reconciliation that the nation stood united in war against terrorism and it was for the first time in history of mankind that 2.5 million IDPs were repatriated to their houses within three months,” he added.He eulogized the national leadership who, he said, were united at one platform for the supreme national interest. “It is unity in diversity to do away with wrong doings of dictatorial regimes.” He appreciated the Constitutional Reforms Committee as well as its Chairman who brushed aside all confusions regarding these amendments. “I hold them in high esteem as they held 77 formal and more than 40 informal meetings to nullify the amendments of dictators. It manifest their commitment to the constitution.”
He said Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif realized the mistakes of past and jointly signed the Charter of Democracy (CoD) for restoration of real democracy in the country. “And these amendments constitute number of those sections as well as fulfillment of the manifesto of political parties.”
The Prime Minister appreciated the sacrifices of the nation and the armed forces in fight agaisnt terrorism.He said it was not an ordinary task to bring all state organs in their constitutional ambit because if only President had refused, there could have not been balance of power.“The amendments, this Parliament is going to make, are for strengthening the institutions, and not any individual as the dictators did in the past,” he said.
“When I met President Zardari, I said power is a musical chair. One should not go after a thing, that is not permanent. So we need to strengthen institutions and not the persons,” he said.The Prime Minister said during his tenure in the government neither there was any incident of political victimization nor there was any political prisoner.“What we have today, is a fruit of unity. No matter we are in government or in the opposition, let us pledge to stand united for supreme national interests,” the Prime Minister said and once again congratulated the Chairman and the members of the Constitutional Reforms Committee.

Miliband slams Afghan poll interference claims

LONDON– Foreign Secretary David Miliband slammed Tuesday allegations of Western interference in Afghanistan's elections as "malign".Referring to a row which has strained ties between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Washington, he insisted British troops had helped secure elections tainted by allegations of fraud last year.
"It's very important we say clearly that any suggestion of Britain or any other country irregularly interfering in the election processes of Afghanistan is completely without foundation," he told lawmakers in the House of Commons."Our troops were there guaranteeing the safety of people seeking to go and vote and I'm sure it is a unified position across this house to have absolutely no truck with such malign suggestions -- especially about our troops, but actually about our whole country," he added.
His comments came after the United States and Karzai traded fresh recriminations Monday after failing to put a lid on a row over election fraud.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Karzai had told lawmakers that the United States was interfering with Afghan affairs and that the Taliban would become a legitimate resistance movement if it did not stop.
The paper said that in the private meeting, the Afghan president even suggested he could join the Taliban himself, if parliament did not support his efforts to take control of the country's election commission."The remarks are troubling and the substance of the remarks is simply not true," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said, following the latest Karzai outbursts, just a week after President Barack Obama's surprise visit to Kabul.Karzai triggered the row last week with a speech blaming "foreigners" for widespread vote fraud in the presidential and provincial elections last year, and warning that the 126,000 NATO-led troops there risked being seen as "invaders".

Tensions Mount Between Washington and its Puppet in Kabul

(Center for Research on Globalization)

Thursday’s warning by Afghan President Hamid Karzai that US and other NATO troops could be regarded as “invaders” in his country provided a rare glimpse into the political realities in Afghanistan—and called forth a furious reaction from the Obama administration and the American media.
Karzai denounced those in the Washington and the Western media who have criticized the corruption and incompetence of his regime, complaining, “They wanted to have a puppet government. They wanted a servant government.”
The outburst came one day after the Afghan parliament voted to strip Karzai of the power he had claimed to name all five members of the country’s election commission, which is to oversee parliamentary elections in the fall. The decision came under heavy pressure from the US ambassador.
Karzai declared, “In this situation there is a thin curtain between invasion and cooperation-assistance.” He warned that if the people concluded that those in the Afghan government were simply mercenaries for the Western powers, the Taliban-led insurgency “could become a national resistance.”
What Karzai warns of as a possible outcome for the US-led war in Afghanistan has already largely come to pass, as an extraordinary report in Sunday’s New York Times makes clear.In a front-page dispatch from Marja, the district recently conquered by the US Marines in the first major offensive since Obama ordered an escalation of the war, Times correspondent Richard A. Oppel, Jr. writes that the Marines have no control in the region outside their own bases, the Taliban are resurgent, and those collaborating with the US occupation are isolated and targeted for retaliation. Most US-funded reconstruction work has been forced to shut down.
Oppel concludes: “In Marja, the Taliban are hardly a distinct militant group, and the Marines have collided with a Taliban identity so dominant that the movement appears more akin to the only political organization in a one-party town, with an influence that touches everyone. Even the Marines admit to being somewhat flummoxed.”
“We’ve got to re-evaluate our definition of the word ‘enemy,’” Brig. Gen. Larry Nicholson, commander of the Marine expeditionary brigade in Helmand Province, told the Times. “Most people here identify themselves as Taliban.”
Those fighting the occupation of Afghanistan are invariably described in the Western media as “Taliban,” in an effort to provide a “democratic” and “progressive” cover for the US-led military intervention. What Karzai suggests, and the Times report in effect confirms, is that the US-NATO war is directed against virtually the entire population of the country.
Karzai’s speech lifts the veil over the real nature of the US war in Afghanistan, sold to the American people over nearly nine years as a response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The US is engaged in a brutal colonial war aimed at propping up a puppet regime that will serve US interests in Central Asia—one of the largest suppliers of oil and gas to the world market.
It is unusual for the head of a government sustained entirely by US arms and dollars to issue such a public rebuke to his master. This is to be explained by two factors: the growing hostility of the Afghan people to the occupation, in which thousands of innocent people have been killed by American bombs, rockets, night-time commando raids and outright massacres; and the desperation of Karzai, who feels himself increasingly marginalized in his nominal role as head of the Afghan state.
The Afghan president’s speech, to a gathering of election officials, came four days after the visit by Barack Obama to Kabul, where the US president had a confrontational meeting with Karzai. Published reports said that Obama berated Karzai over the corruption in his regime and the vote-rigging in last year’s presidential election. No doubt the topic of Karzai’s recent overtures to Iran and China were also raised.
Karzai’s remarks provoked an immediate response from Washington. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs called his statement “troubling” and “cause for real and genuine concern.” State Department spokesman Philip Crowley described Karzai’s intervention as “preposterous.”
US officials sought to contain the political uproar over Karzai’s comments, with Ambassador Karl Eikenberry, the real political power in Kabul, calling on the Afghan president to “clarify” his remarks, which he promptly did the next day in a long phone conversation with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
But the blast from their Afghan puppet has left American officials in a difficult position. To dismiss Karzai’s diatribe as lunacy—the New York Daily Newseditorial was headlined “Cuckoo Karzai”—means that 1,000 US soldiers and tens of thousands of Afghans have lost their lives to keep a madman in power.
The New York Times, in an editorial April 3, called Karzai’s criticism “delusional” and warned that his statement could have political repercussions in the United States, because “it undermines the fragile public support for President Obama’s strategy” of pouring 30,000 more US troops into the Afghanistan war.
“Mr. Karzai is encouraging those who want the United States out of Afghanistan,” the editorial concluded. “He risks boiling down a more complicated policy debate to the notion that American lives are being sacrificed simply to keep him in power. It’s hard to think of a better way to doom Afghanistan’s future, as well as his own.”
The last phrase has a sinister ring, harking back nearly 50 years to when a previous US puppet ran afoul of Washington—in 1963, when President Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam, facing similar criticism for corruption, incompetence and vote-rigging, was overthrown and murdered in a US-backed military coup, setting the stage for a decade of even deeper US military intervention.
The Times returned to the subject again in an article posted on the front page of its web site Sunday afternoon, noting that Karzai had intensified his criticism of the US in a meeting with his parliamentary faction. “If you and the international community pressure me more, I swear that I am going to join the Taliban,” he reportedly said.
The Times article mulled over possible options for US policy towards Karzai, listing three options: “threaten to withdraw, or actually withdraw, troops; use diplomacy, which so far has had little result; and find ways to expand citizen participation in the government.”
The last “option” is meaningless in an occupied country where all such “participation” is dictated by the occupying powers. It is perhaps a euphemism for the one action which has been the most commonly used weapon in the arsenal of American imperialism—a coup engineered and facilitated by Washington.
Sections of the former Northern Alliance, based in the Tajik minority, are certainly capable of carrying out such an action with the proper encouragement from the Obama administration. There is no doubt that discussions about that possibility are under way in the White House, Pentagon and CIA—as well as how to package it as greater “citizen participation” in the Kabul regime.

Peshawar blasts disrupts routine life

PESHAWAR: The series of bomb blasts in the vicinity of US Consulate here Monday paralysed routine life in the city and sent a wave of fear and panic among the residents of the provincial metropolis.

All the main roads including Khyber Road, Mall Road, University Road and Airport Road were blocked for all kinds of traffic soon after the bomb blasts that took place near Hayat Avenue Square, also known Shama Chowk.

Shopping centres and offices located in Peshawar Cantt Bazaar were closed as huge explosions broke windowpanes of many buildings in Saddar Bazaar. The public transport and other vehicular traffic plying between Hayatabad and interior City was diverted to Bara Road, thus creating problems for commuters and motorists as the heavily barricaded road witnessed worst traffic jams on various points.

“The first bomb blast was so powerful that we think it had occurred somewhere at Saddar Bazaar,” said shopkeeper Noor Wali, adding that the intended buyers left the market after the explosion. He said the whole market was closed within minutes amid panic when the second and third blasts shook the area.

Though the bazaars and streets in Cantonment wore a deserted look after the blast, the police officials at various checkpoints were seen standing alert. After the string of explosions, a brief visit to Cantt bazaar revealed that glass doors and windowpanes of many offices and shops at Deans Trade Centre, offices at Mall Road and shopping centres at main Saddar Bazaar had been broken.

Due to traffic jam and diversion of mini-buses to Bara Road, hundreds of commuters and motorists faced problems. Entry of vehicles from Ring Road to Peshawar City was not allowed for an hour or so, testing the patience of hundreds of motorists who were on way to their offices or homes located in the Cantonment. “I have changed many routes on my way to office from Hayatabad,” said a motorist, adding that refusal of entry to motorists from Ring Road was unnecessary. The University and Khyber roads were opened for traffic one and a half hours after the blast.

ANP observes 3-day mourning across province

ANP observes 3-day mourning across province PESHAWAR: Awami National Party (ANP) is observing mourning today across the province over the killings of the Party’s worker in Timergarah suicide blasts.The entire province wears an air of grief and mourning in the wake of bomb blasts in Peshawar and Timergarah.The ANP announced three-day mourning on the killings of innocent people in the terror incidents yesterday.Programs in connection with condolence are being held at all district headquarters with the ANP flag lowered to half mast.The ANP’s NWFP President Afrasiab Khatak urged the workers to stay united against the terrorists and not to flinch back from sacrifices in foiling the designs of extremists.

Pakistan Seeks Return to Parliamentary System

VOA.COM
Pakistan's parliament is preparing to vote to take away the president's power to dismiss the prime minister. It is also to vote to change the name of one of its provinces. The proposals have deep implications for the country's political and social structure.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari is doing something very unusual for most politicians, he is asking parliament to take away some of his power.

In a speech Monday to a joint parliamentary session, he called on parliament to pass a new amendment to the constitution that would strip the president of the power to fire the prime minister and dissolve the National Assembly.

Former Pakistan Ambassador to the United States, Maleeha Lodhi, says it would in effect restore Pakistan to a state under which power rests with the prime minister and the president is a figurehead.

"The political parties see this as a way - of course, rightly - of restoring the '73 constitution to its original form, which basically means rebalancing power away from the president and towards the prime minister, and restoring to parliament to what it should have under a parliamentary system," said Lodhi.

That power to fire the government was first appropriated by a former military ruler, President Zia ul-Haq, in 1985. Zia died three years later, but that power remained in the president's hands. It was used three times in the 1990s to dismiss democratically elected governments of Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, and was retained by another military ruler, Pervez Musharraf.

In the last election in 2008, the head of Pakistan Peoples' Party, Asif Zardari, became president instead of prime minister. Zardari is the husband of former Prime Minister Bhutto, who was assassinated in December 2007.

Maleeha Lodhi says that since the president and prime minister are from the same party, stripping away the president's power will have little immediate practical effect. But, she adds, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani can be expected to gradually become more assertive.

"The more power is drained away from him [Zardari], it does mean it will enable Prime Minister Gilani, who is seen as a more consensual figure in Pakistani politics, to begin to assert himself and to establish greater autonomy than he has had in the past two years," added Lodhi.

The 18th Amendment also wipes away a vestige of British colonial rule on the Indian subcontinent. Under the proposal, the name of the North West Frontier Province will be changed to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

Congressional Research Service South Asia analyst Alan Kronstadt says the change has long been a platform plank of the Awami National Party (ANP), an ethnic-Pashtun party that won the 2008 provincial elections.

"That is actually a long-standing request by many that the Frontier should reflect, as the other Pakistani provinces do, the name should reflect the majority ethnicity there," said Kronstadt. "And you have in power there the ANP, which is a Pashtun-nationalist party, and so they are proponents of what would be an important symbolic development."

A name change for the province has long been resisted, especially by the military, for fear it would reawaken dormant Pashtun nationalist sentiment for more autonomy or even separation from Pakistan. Longtime South Asia affairs analyst Selig Harrison of the Center for International Policy says Pashtuns have often resented what they see as ethnic Punjabi domination of government institutions, particularly the military.

"In the case of the Pashtuns of the North West Frontier, the British rigged the elections at the time of independence so that the dominant movement in the Pashtun areas - which wanted an independent Pashtunistan and did not want to join Pakistan either - was marginalized," noted Harrison. "So you have had very serious tensions over the terms of the relationship between the dominant Punjab and these ethnic minority regions."

But Maleeha Lodhi, a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, dismisses fears of rekindling Pashtun nationalism in Pakistan.

"We have seen over the last two or three decades that the Pashtuns, who were once an alienated ethnic group, have been increasingly integrated into mainstream Pakistan," explained Lodhi. "They are represented in Pakistan's powerful military. They are represented in Pakistan's civil service. And, of course, they have entered in the last several decades Pakistan's industrial elite. So I do not think there is any danger of that kind anymore."

The 18th Amendment is widely expected to garner the necessary two-thirds majority with little trouble when a vote is taken, because its drafting was done by a bipartisan parliamentary commission.

Karzai, White House escalate war of words

www.surgar.net
A war of words between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the White House escalated on Monday, with Washington expressing frustration that an attempt to smooth over the feud had so far failed.Karzai said he stood by remarks from last week accusing the West of carrying out election fraud in Afghanistan, and appeared to sharpen the criticism still further by singling out the United States specifically for blame.
The White House said it was frustrated on behalf of the American public, and invoked the sacrifice made by families who send their loved ones off to fight. There are more than 120,000 Western troops in Afghanistan, including more than 80,000 Americans, set to rise to 100,000 Americans this year.
Karzai's continued defense of his anti-Western remarks could signal that he is pursuing a deliberate new policy of distancing himself from his Western backers, rather than simply having expressed frustration in a one-off outburst last week.
That could complicate U.S. counter-insurgency war strategy, which depends on showing a united front with Karzai's government and persuading Afghans that troops are there to support it.Karzai phoned U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday to smooth over the quarrel, but White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said that since that phone call "it obviously didn't get any better.
"The remarks are troubling and the substance of the remarks is simply just not true," Gibbs said."On behalf of the American people we are frustrated with the remarks. I think that families all over this country have watched their loved ones go off a long way away to serve bravely in our armed forces and to help a country establish peace and security."
Gibbs said a May 12 visit by Karzai to Washington was still on and Washington would continue to work with Karzai, but had set benchmarks for his government. He did not expect Karzai's remarks to affect consideration in Congress of the Obama administration's request for funds to pay for the war.
KARZAI BLAMES WASHINGTON FOR FRAUD
In his speech on Thursday, Karzai said foreigners had bribed and threatened election workers to carry out fraud in last year's presidential election. He singled out the former deputy head of the U.N. mission in Kabul -- American diplomat Peter Galbraith -- as well as the French head of a European Union monitoring team.
In an interview with BBC television on Monday, Karzai for the first time appeared to ascribe blame for election fraud specifically to Washington, rather than the West as a whole.
"What I said about the election was all true, I won't repeat it, but it was all true," Karzai said."That the U.S. carried out the fraud?" the BBC correspondent asked."That's exactly what happened; I mentioned the elements who did it," Karzai said.He added: "We have partnership, we want to continue this alliance and partnership with the United States and the rest of the world, in the interest of both of us. But this has to be understood by all that Afghanistan is a sovereign country."
In other public remarks in recent days, Karzai told elders in the southern town of Kandahar on Sunday: "Afghanistan will be fixed when its people trust their president is independent ... when its people trust the government is independent and not a puppet."Karzai, who enjoyed close personal relations with President Barack Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, has had a frosty relationship with the Obama administration from the outset. It worsened during a three-month election fraud dispute last year.Obama made the first visit to Afghanistan of his presidency last week, nearly 15 months since taking office. The entire visit took place under cover of darkness and Obama refused to answer questions alongside Karzai, gestures some Afghans saw as snubs.The Obama administration has consistently accused Karzai of doing too little to fight corruption, an issue Karzai says is exaggerated in Western media and largely the fault of Western countries for poorly managing their own aid projects.Among other issues that may have provoked his more confrontational stance last week is a quarrel with parliament and Western countries about the role that foreigners would play in a parliamentary election in September.Karzai has launched a push this year to reach out to insurgents for talks, meeting a skeptical response from U.S. officials who say it is too soon to talk with Taliban leaders.U.S. officials have also briefed reporters that they would like to sideline Karzai's half brother, now a powerful figure in Kandahar, as part of their offensive there. Karzai has stood by his brother despite requests from Washington to push him aside.

Obama Limits When U.S. Would Use Nuclear Arms

By DAVID E. SANGER and PETER BAKER
New York Times
WASHINGTON — President Obama said Monday that he was revamping American nuclear strategy to substantially narrow the conditions under which the United States would use nuclear weapons.

But the president said in an interview that he was carving out an exception for “outliers like Iran and North Korea” that have violated or renounced the main treaty to halt nuclear proliferation.

Discussing his approach to nuclear security the day before formally releasing his new strategy, Mr. Obama described his policy as part of a broader effort to edge the world toward making nuclear weapons obsolete, and to create incentives for countries to give up any nuclear ambitions. To set an example, the new strategy renounces the development of any new nuclear weapons, overruling the initial position of his own defense secretary.

Mr. Obama’s strategy is a sharp shift from those of his predecessors and seeks to revamp the nation’s nuclear posture for a new age in which rogue states and terrorist organizations are greater threats than traditional powers like Russia and China.

It eliminates much of the ambiguity that has deliberately existed in American nuclear policy since the opening days of the cold war. For the first time, the United States is explicitly committing not to use nuclear weapons against nonnuclear states that are in compliance with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, even if they attacked the United States with biological or chemical weapons or launched a crippling cyberattack.

Those threats, Mr. Obama argued, could be deterred with “a series of graded options,” a combination of old and new conventional weapons. “I’m going to preserve all the tools that are necessary in order to make sure that the American people are safe and secure,” he said in the interview in the Oval Office.

White House officials said the new strategy would include the option of reconsidering the use of nuclear retaliation against a biological attack, if the development of such weapons reached a level that made the United States vulnerable to a devastating strike.

Mr. Obama’s new strategy is bound to be controversial, both among conservatives who have warned against diluting the United States’ most potent deterrent and among liberals who were hoping for a blanket statement that the country would never be the first to use nuclear weapons.

Mr. Obama argued for a slower course, saying, “We are going to want to make sure that we can continue to move towards less emphasis on nuclear weapons,” and, he added, to “make sure that our conventional weapons capability is an effective deterrent in all but the most extreme circumstances.”

The release of the new strategy, known as the Nuclear Posture Review, opens an intensive nine days of nuclear diplomacy geared toward reducing weapons. Mr. Obama plans to fly to Prague to sign a new arms-control agreement with Russia on Thursday and then next week will host 47 world leaders in Washington for a summit meeting on nuclear security.

The most immediate test of the new strategy is likely to be in dealing with Iran, which has defied the international community by developing a nuclear program that it insists is peaceful but that the United States and its allies say is a precursor to weapons. Asked about the escalating confrontation with Iran, Mr. Obama said he was now convinced that “the current course they’re on would provide them with nuclear weapons capabilities,” though he gave no timeline.

He dodged when asked whether he shared Israel’s view that a “nuclear capable” Iran was as dangerous as one that actually possessed weapons.

“I’m not going to parse that right now,” he said, sitting in his office as children played on the South Lawn of the White House at a daylong Easter egg roll. But he cited the example of North Korea, whose nuclear capabilities were unclear until it conducted a test in 2006, which it followed with a second shortly after Mr. Obama took office.

“I think it’s safe to say that there was a time when North Korea was said to be simply a nuclear-capable state until it kicked out the I.A.E.A. and become a self-professed nuclear state,” he said, referring to the International Atomic Energy Agency. “And so rather than splitting hairs on this, I think that the international community has a strong sense of what it means to pursue civilian nuclear energy for peaceful purposes versus a weaponizing capability.”

Mr. Obama said he wanted a new United Nations sanctions resolution against Iran “that has bite,” but he would not embrace the phrase “crippling sanctions” once used by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. And he acknowledged the limitations of United Nations action. “We’re not naïve that any single set of sanctions automatically is going to change Iranian behavior,” he said, adding “there’s no light switch in this process.”

In the year since Mr. Obama gave a speech in Prague declaring that he would shift the policy of the United States toward the elimination of nuclear weapons, his staff has been meeting — and arguing — over how to turn that commitment into a workable policy, without undermining the credibility of the country’s nuclear deterrent.

The strategy to be released on Tuesday is months late, partly because Mr. Obama had to adjudicate among advisers who feared he was not changing American policy significantly enough, and those who feared that anything too precipitous could embolden potential adversaries. One senior official said that the new strategy was the product of 150 meetings, including 30 convened by the White House National Security Council, and that even then Mr. Obama had to step in to order rewrites.

He ended up with a document that differed considerably from the one President George W. Bush published in early 2002, just three months after the Sept. 11 attacks. Mr. Bush, too, argued for a post-cold-war rethinking of nuclear deterrence, reducing American reliance on those weapons.

But Mr. Bush’s document also reserved the right to use nuclear weapons “to deter a wide range of threats,” including banned chemical and biological weapons and large-scale conventional attacks. Mr. Obama’s strategy abandons that option — except if the attack is by a nuclear state, or a nonsignatory or violator of the nonproliferation treaty.

The document to be released Tuesday after months of study led by the Defense Department will declare that “the fundamental role” of nuclear weapons is to deter nuclear attacks on the United States, allies or partners, a narrower presumption than the past. But Mr. Obama rejected the formulation sought by arms control advocates to declare that the “sole role” of nuclear weapons is to deter a nuclear attack.

There are five declared nuclear states — the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China. Three states with nuclear weapons have refused to sign — India, Pakistan and Israel — and North Korea renounced the treaty in 2003. Iran remains a signatory, but the United Nations Security Council has repeatedly found it in violation of its obligations, because it has hidden nuclear plants and refused to answer questions about evidence it was working on a warhead.

In shifting the nuclear deterrent toward combating proliferation and the sale or transfer of nuclear material to terrorists or nonnuclear states, Mr. Obama seized on language developed in the last years of the Bush administration. It had warned North Korea that it would be held “fully accountable” for any transfer of weapons or technology. But the next year, North Korea was caught aiding Syria in building a nuclear reactor but suffered no specific consequence.

Mr. Obama was asked whether the American failure to make North Korea pay a heavy price for the aid to Syria undercut Washington’s credibility.

“I don’t think countries around the world are interested in testing our credibility when it comes to these issues,” he said. He said such activity would leave a country vulnerable to a nuclear strike, and added, “We take that very seriously because we think that set of threats present the most serious security challenge to the United States.”

He indicated that he hoped to use this week’s treaty signing with Russia as a stepping stone toward more ambitious reductions in nuclear arsenals down the road, but suggested that would have to extend beyond the old paradigm of Russian-American relations.

“We are going to pursue opportunities for further reductions in our nuclear posture, working in tandem with Russia but also working in tandem with NATO as a whole,” he said.

An obvious such issue would be the estimated 200 tactical nuclear weapons the United States still has stationed in Western Europe. Russia has called for their removal, and there is growing interest among European nations in such a move as well. But Mr. Obama said he wanted to consult with NATO allies before making such a commitment.

The summit meeting that opens next week in Washington will bring together nearly four dozen world leaders, the largest such gathering by an American president since the founding of the United Nations 65 years ago. Mr. Obama said he hoped to use the session to lay down tangible commitments by individual countries toward his goal of securing the world’s nuclear material so it does not fall into the hands of terrorists or dangerous states.

“Our expectation is not that there’s just some vague, gauzy statement about us not wanting to see loose nuclear materials,” he said. “We anticipate a communiqué that spells out very clearly, here’s how we’re going to achieve locking down all the nuclear materials over the next four years.”

Zardari eyeing history, wants bill passed soon

ISLAMABAD: Despite prophets of doom, President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday saw himself on the verge of a place in history, for which he asked parliament to make no delay in passing proposed constitutional reforms that will take some of his key powers to empower itself and restore a genuine parliamentary democracy.
In his third address to a joint sitting of the National Assembly and Senate in one-and-a-half years of his presidency, he called himself custodian of the legacy of executed former prime minister and his father-in-law Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and assassinated wife Benazir Bhutto with “my eyes on history.”

“By standing in their shadows today and empowering the parliament, I hope to walk into the annals of history, InshaAllah,” the president said, referring to landmark constitutional amendments proposed by an all-parties parliamentary committee led by his ruling PPP and due to be taken up as the Constitution (Eighteenth Amendment) Bill by the two houses during their new sessions beginning on Tuesday.

“I call upon the parliament to pass the eighteenth constitutional amendment bill without delay,” he said about the draft that, besides other things, seeks to clip the presidency of some of the usually prime ministerial powers arbitrarily assumed by former president Pervez Musharraf such as dissolution of the National Assembly and appointment of armed forces’ chiefs and provincial governors and to enhance provincial autonomy.

The implementation of these reforms — part of a 2006 Charter of Democracy signed by Benazir Bhutto and PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif — would make Mr Zardari the first Pakistani president to willingly surrender powers to parliament to become a figurehead after widespread skepticism of critics about whether he would let it happen and waves of what his party sees as inspired adverse speculations about his political future.

“The people of Pakistan are keenly watching and waiting for this crucial reforms bill to pass,” said the president, who has often rejected such speculations and who seemed referring to his troubles with two previous regimes by recalling in his speech his own one-time remark that “I have walked from the gallows to the presidency. This initiative must lead to new beginnings.”

Mr Zardari’s 25-minute speech was repeatedly cheered by desk-thumping by members of the PPP and its allies though some opposition figures, such as PML-N’s opposition leader in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and PML-Q’s opposition leader in the Senate Wasim Sajjad, seemed unmoved even when the president repeatedly referred to a collective success in formulating the constitutional reforms during nine months of hard work by the 26-member parliamentary committee headed by PPP Senator Raza Rabbani.

“There were anxious moments when some people feared that we had failed,” he noted and said: “But collectively we were able to resolve differences, making history by restoring the 1973 Constitution, and more.”

The sitting was chaired by National Assembly Speaker Fehmida Mirza, whom the president congratulated as the first woman speaker in the Muslim world to preside over such historic changes. The guests in the galleries included armed forces’ chiefs, provincial governors and heads of diplomatic missions in Islamabad.

The president cited the consensus on constitutional reforms, fight against militancy, a reforms package for Balochistan and a new National Finance Commission award as the most important achievement under the PPP-led coalition government — though he said the constitutional package was “not a favour to anyone” but a national duty for which he congratulated all parties in parliament for rising “above partisan politics in an unprecedented show of national solidarity.”

He recalled Pakistan’s history of subversions of the Constitution such as by military coups of 1977 and 1999 that toppled then prime ministers Zulfikar Ali Bhutto — who was later executed — and Nawaz Sharif respectively, and “sadder still” validations by the “pillars of the state,” and, in reference to the amendments, said: “The nation can take pride that it has closed that sorry chapter.”

But he acknowledged difficulties in tackling economic problems with rising prices and squeezed incomes and power and water shortages.

Fight To The Finish

Calling militancy and extremism the “greatest threat to our national security in recent times,” he said: “I assure you we will fight to the finish.”

He reiterated the government’s policy to make peace with those willing to give up violence and use force against those challenging the writ of the state and said: “I assure you that the sovereignty of Pakistan has been protected and solemnly pledge that it will be safeguarded at all costs.”

Among some planned measures, the president said reforms for Fata and amendments to the British-era Frontier Crimes Regulations for the area had been finalised after consultation with “stakeholders” and “will be soon implemented.”

Also, modalities of giving overseas Pakistanis the right to vote in national elections “will soon be finalized,” he said.

Foreign Relations

The president said Pakistan sought a stable regional environment, with ties with China remaining “the bedrock of our foreign policy,” and would give strong support for an “Afghan-led reconciliation and reconstruction process” in Afghanistan.

He said Pakistan considered it essential to normalise relations with India and wanted an honourable and peaceful settlement of outstanding disputes, including the water issue and the “core issue of Jammu and Kashmir”, and sought no arms race though “a disproportionate increase in military budget by the largest democracy does not help the cause of arms reduction.”

“We greatly value our relations with all Muslim countries and will continue to strive for enhanced ties with them,” he said.

The president said partnership with the United States and Europe had strengthened over the past year “in sharp contrast to the isolation we inherited,” adding that the strategic dialogue with Washington was aimed at “addressing core issues of Pakistan,” while he welcomed President Barack Obama’s “new initiatives towards Pakistan.”

Karzai’s Words Leave Few Choices for the West

NEW YORK TIMES
KABUL, Afghanistan — As President Hamid Karzai made more antagonistic statements over the weekend toward the NATO countries fighting on behalf of his government, the West was taking stock of just how little maneuvering room it has.There are no good options on the horizon, many analysts say, for reining in Mr. Karzai or for penalizing him, without potentially damaging Western interests. The reluctant conclusion of diplomats and Afghan analysts is that for now, they are stuck with him. Many fear the relationship is only likely to become worse, as Mr. Karzai draws closer to allies like Iran and China, whose interests are often at odds with those of the West, and sounds sympathetic enough to the Taliban that he could spur their efforts, helping their recruitment and further destabilizing the country.
“The political situation is continuing to deteriorate; Karzai is flailing around,” said a Western diplomat in Kabul with long experience in the region. “At the moment we are propping up an unstable political structure, and I haven’t seen any remotely plausible plan for building consensus.”
The tensions between the West and Mr. Karzai flared up publicly last Thursday, when Mr. Karzai accused the West and the United Nations of perpetrating fraud in the August presidential election and described the Western military coalition as coming close to being seen as invaders who would give the insurgency legitimacy as “a national resistance.”
Despite a conciliatory phone call to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday, his comments over the weekend only expanded the discord.
On Saturday, Mr. Karzai met with about 60 members of Parliament, mostly his supporters, and berated them for having rejected his proposed new election law. Among other things, the proposal would have given him the power to appoint all the members of the Electoral Complaints Commission, who are currently appointed by the United Nations, the Afghan Supreme Court and the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission. The Electoral Complaints Commission, which reviews allegations of voting fraud and irregularities, documented the fraud that deprived Mr. Karzai of an outright victory in the presidential election.At the meeting, Mr. Karzai stepped up his anti-Western statements, according to a Parliament member who attended but spoke on condition of anonymity.“If you and the international community pressure me more, I swear that I am going to join the Taliban,” Mr. Karzai said, according to the Parliament member.
A spokesman for Mr. Karzai, Waheed Omar, could not be reached for comment on Sunday.
In a speech in Kandahar on Sunday, Mr. Karzai promised local tribal elders that coalition military operations planned for the area this summer would not proceed without their approval.“I know you are worried about this operation,” he said, adding: “There will be no operation until you are happy.”
Given his tone in the last few days, it was unclear whether he was literally extending the elders veto power over the offensive, or merely trying to quell their fears and bring them on board.
Interviews with diplomats, Afghan analysts and ordinary Afghans suggest that the United States and other Western countries have three options: threaten to withdraw troops or actually withdraw them; use diplomacy, which so far has had little result; and find ways to expand citizen participation in the government, which now has hardly any elected positions at the provincial and district levels.
Threatening to withdraw, which Stephen Biddle, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, called the “nuclear deterrent” option, would put the United States and other Western countries in the position of potentially having to make good on the promise, risking their strategic interest in a stable Afghanistan. Few experts think the country would remain peaceful without a significant foreign force here. Moreover, withdrawal could open the way for the country to again become a terrorist haven.Some Western critics of Mr. Karzai believe that the West has no choice but to threaten to leave.“There is no point in having troops in a mission that cannot be accomplished,” said Peter W. Galbraith, former United Nations deputy special representative for Afghanistan, who was dismissed after a dispute with his superiors over how to handle widespread electoral fraud and what senior U.N. officials later said was his advocacy of Mr. Karzai's removal. “The mission might be important, but if it can’t be achieved, there is no point in sending these troops into battle. Part of the problem is that counterinsurgency requires a credible local partner.” Diplomacy has so far failed to achieve substantial changes, although some analysts, like Mr. Biddle, who opposes the so-called nuclear option, believe that the West should demand concessions before spending any more money on development projects like digging wells and building schools.“We do millions of things in Afghanistan, and any of those things can become a source of leverage,” he said. “Far too much of what we do in Afghanistan we just do without asking for anything explicit in return.”That approach can backfire, some argue, hurting those the West most wants to help.
Greater power sharing, while promising, faces structural obstacles. Under the Constitution, provincial governors, local judges, district governors and most other offices are appointive rather than elective. In some areas, Afghan and American programs have begun to involve communities in local budgeting, but progress is slow and it would probably take several years to expand it to higher levels of government.
“There are no better angels about to descend on Afghanistan,” said Alex Thier, a senior Afghan analyst at the United States Institute of Peace. “Unless some drastic action is taken, Mr. Karzai is the president of Afghanistan, and he was just elected for another five years.”
That prospect leaves some Afghans uneasy. In interviews with more than a dozen people around the country, there was apprehension and dismay over Mr. Karzai’s clash with the international community, and the specter of renewed chaos it could lead to.
“Karzai delivered this speech based on his own difficulties with the foreigners,” said Gulab Mangal, a tribal leader in the Musa Khel area of Khost Province.
“When the international community criticized his brother, he started to raise these problems,” he said, referring to Ahmed Wali Karzai, a prominent figure in southern Afghanistan. “It shows the relation between Karzai and the international community is deteriorating day by day, and that should not be allowed to happen.”
Mehram Ali, a man from Wardak Province who was shopping in Kabul over the weekend, voiced a similar qualm. “We need the international community to keep supporting us and our government,” he said.“In this recent situation we do need foreign soldiers to help us in bringing peace and stability for our country, and if the foreigners leave us, then the people of Afghanistan will face adversity from every direction, and Afghanistan will return to what it was like 10 years ago when we had the Taliban government.”

US Consulate condemns Peshawar blasts

PESHAWAR: The US Consulate in Pakistan Monday condemned the blasts that apparently targeted the US Consulate building.The US Consulate official said the Consulate is garnering information about the blasts.Police and witnesses said at least three bombs exploded in quick succession close to the U.S. Consulate in Peshawar.Gunfire was also heard close to the heavily guarded and fortified building in Peshawar, said police officer Aziz Khan.Two of the blasts took place around 20 yards (meters) from the main entrance to the building, an Associated Press reporter close to the scene said.
The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad said it could not comment.
Local TV footage showed soldiers taking up defensive positions on the road outside the consulate. One soldier hit the ground in the middle of the road and began firing as a large explosion sent up a plume of gray smoke nearby.
Rescue workers carried at least one wounded man away on a stretcher, his clothing soaked with blood.Khyber Road where the US Consulate building is situated, is being air-monitored by the helicopters.

US consulate attacked as 40 die in Peshawar bombings

Militants targeted the US Consulate in Peshawar today with multiple bombs and gun attacks as renewed violence in north-western Pakistan left more than 40 people dead.
Gunmen wearing paramilitary uniforms opened fire outside the consulate from two vehicles before the explosions that shook the high-security district, which also houses key government offices. Bashir Bilour, a senior provincial minister, said at least four attackers were killed by the security forces. He said several unexploded suicide jackets and a large quantity of explosive was also recovered from the scene.
A spokesman for the US Embassy in Islamabad said that the consulate was attacked, but gave no details. At least four US security guards were also injured. The US consulate has been attacked several times in the past.
Local television footage showed soldiers taking up positions around the consulate which was covered with grey smoke. Military helicopters circled the area which was cordoned off by the security forces. At least seven people were killed and several others injured in the attack.
The blasts in Peshawar came hours after a suicide bomb attack on a political party rally in lower Dir district killed at least 36 people. A lone suicide bomber blew himself up in the middle of the rally organized by Awami National Party, which rules the North Western Frontier Province. The rally was taken out to celebrate the renaming of the province to Kyber-Pakhtinkhawa.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. The Pakistani Army seized the control of Lower Dir, a militant stronghold, few months ago. Mohammed Jamil, the regional police chief said the attack was thought to have been carried out by the Taleban.
Hundreds of people have been killed in past months in north-western Pakistan in violence carried out by al-Qaeda and Taleban militants. The violence has surged after the Pakistani army launched an offensive in South Waziristan, an al-Qaeda stronghold along the border with Afghanistan.

Blasts near US Consulate in Peshawar: 2 dead

PESHAWAR: Suspected militants attacked a Pakistani check-post near the US consulate in Peshawar on Monday, a witness and a doctor said.I saw attackers in two vehicles. Some of them carried rocket-propelled grenades. They first opened fire at security personnel at the post near the consulate and then blasts went off,” city resident Siraj Afridi told Reuters.Other residents said an initial blast went off in the neighborhood of the US consulate and they later heard two other blasts and rifle fire in the same area.
The US embassy in Islamabad confirmed the attack.
“We can confirm there has been an attack at the US consulate Peshawar facilities,” US embassy spokeswoman Ariel Howard told AFP.
She was unable to provide any details about the nature of the attack, possible damage or casualties.The causes of the blasts were not immediately clear, said the security official and local residents.Television footage showed a heavy mushroom cloud and smoke rising into the air over the garrison part of the city, close to the US consulate and the Peshawar headquarters of Pakistan's top spy agency in the Saddar area, bombed last November.Bursts of heavy gunfire could also be heard. According to DawnNews, police and army had resorted to firing and the Khyber Road area had been blocked. Several buildings had collapsed due to the intensity of the blasts. Officials said that many casualties were feared and the injured had been rushed to the hospital.

Z.A.BHUTTO'S DEATH ANNIVERSARY ACROSS PAKHTUNKHWA(NWFP)

PESHAWAR: Like other parts of the country, the 31st death anniversary of founding chairman of Pakistan People’s Party and former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was observed across the NWFP as ceremonies were held to commemorate the services of the leader on Sunday.Terming the hanging of the Zulfikar Ali Bhutto a political murder by a military dictator, the participants of a seminar in Peshawar demanded reopening of the case.The demand was made at a function organised by People’s Youth Organisation (PYO), the youth wing of the party. The speakers lauded ZA Bhutto contribution to the cause of democracy and downtrodden segments of the society and said the leader gave a voice to the poor and neglected sections of the society.The 1973 unanimous constitution was a precious gift by ZA Bhutto to the nation, however, dictators disfigured it by constant amendments, they added. The speakers including former district nazim of Peshawar, Azam Afridi, Syed Ayub Shah, PYO provincial president Gohar Inqilabi, general secretary Misbahuddin, divisional president Kamran Haider, district president Tasbeehullah and People’s Doctors Forum’s Dr Siraj counted the achievements of PPP governments led by ZA Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto.They said Bhutto was still alive in the hearts of PPP workers and people of Pakistan and leaders like him never died.The great leader sacrificed his life for the people of the country and democracy but neither compromised on principles nor succumbed to pressure tactics of the dictators. The speakers said the workers were an asset to the PPP and they would not hesitate to render sacrifices for the cause of democracy and strengthen democratic institutions in the country. It was untiring efforts of the PPP leaders that restored democracy and won right for the masses as well gave them a say in the decision-making, said the speakers.The speakers resolved to take forward the message and agenda of ZA Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto and make the county prosperous. The Peshawar chapter of the PPP held a function at the Nishtar Hall where the local leaders complained that the genuine party workers in the province were being ignored by the high command. Syed Ayub Shah, Azam Afridi, Akbar Khan and others said certain new entrants to the party were conspiring against the PPP but the party leadership was looking the other way.The speakers paid tributes to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto for standing up to the tyrants and laying down his life for the cause of democracy and his people. They said Benazir Bhutto carried forward the mission of her father but was killed by the enemies of democracy. They said the PPP was the party of the poor and could not be eliminated by the dictators.
NOWSHERA: Local leaders of the PPP demanded of the higher judiciary to reopen the case of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. Addressing a gathering in Government High School-1, Nowshera Cantt, the PPP acting district president Malik Ghulam Hazrat, PF-12 general secretary Ilyas Khan, PF-14 Hidayat Khan and others said that their great leader had given constitution to the country and the nation and now its leaders gave name to the province. They also paid rich tributes to late leader for making Pakistan a nuclear power.
CHITRAL: A ceremony was organized in the Chitral town hall which was chaired by NWFP Minister for Population Welfare Saleem Khan besides district office-bearers and activists of the PPP. Addressing on the occasion, the speakers highlighted the sacrifices of Bhutto and his family for democracy in the country. They said Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was the only politician who empowered the power masses.
MINGORA: Activists of the PPP observed the death anniversary of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto at the residence of Dr Shamsher Ali. The speakers on the occasion lauded the leadership of Bhutto and his unforgettable services for the country.
KURRAM AGENCY: A ceremony was held in Parachinar to mark the occasion. Hamid Turi, Qurban Ali, Gulfam Hussain, Iftikhar Sherazi, Sardar Ali Shuhla lauded the services of the late PPP leader for the tribal areas. They urged President Asif Ali Zardari to visit Parachinar and announce a special package for the affected residents of the area.

Afghan president says NATO offensive may not go ahead

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Sunday took another step away from the international coalition supporting him, suggesting NATO’s massive Kandahar province summer offensive may not go ahead.At a fractious “jirga” meeting of about 2,000 tribal elders, politicians and citizens from Kandahar province and neighbouring provinces, Karzai asked those assembled if they were worried about the operation, expected to be NATO’s largest-yet in Afghanistan."We are worried!" many shouted back. Karzai then assured them, "There will be no operation unless you are happy."His administration will engage in further consultation with the province’s people before deciding about the operation, Karzai promised at the meeting in Kandahar City.The president noted that instability in Panjwaii district — where Canadian troops operate from outposts and fortified bases — as well as in other rural areas, can prevent villagers from coming to the city to provide input.“Shura” meetings of local leaders and citizens must be held at the district level, so that "every tribe representative" can give their view on the offensive, said Karzai, who was accompanied to the jirga by U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan.While Karzai has thrown the offensive’s fate into doubt, NATO nations fighting in Afghanistan are under pressure to ensure it goes ahead, said Walilullah Rahmani, executive director of the Kabul Center for Strategic Studies."I do think that the offensive will take place," Rahmani said. "The different nations that have troops in Afghanistan need to have support from their people. They want to convince their population that they are doing right in Afghanistan, and that Afghanistan needs their efforts and their soldiers here. This offensive is to give that picture."If the operation goes ahead, it will be based on intelligence rather than wide-ranging sweeps, said Kandahar province Gov. Tooryalai Wesa, a Canadian-Afghan who used to live in British Columbia."Our plan is to be very target-oriented," Wesa said. "We need exact intelligence . . . who to go after. I’m not thinking that we will be bombing villages (or) innocent people. We will try to make sure who is the wrong person in the village or in the area."Karzai on Sunday addressed the domestic perception that Afghanistan is under foreign control because it is accepting military and financial assistance from the international community.
"We will try to show people that this country is free of domination and has its own faith and system," Karzai said.
In discussing the offensive — considered the next phase of the U.S. Marines’ invasion of Marjah in adjacent Helmand province — Canadian and NATO brass consistently emphasize that they are working in partnership with the Afghan government.
"Afghan ownership of the Kandahar phase of the operation has already begun in the form of political outreach from Kabul to encourage dialogue with the province’s community leaders and power brokers," said Canadian Maj. Daryl Morrell.
"The success of the Afghan political-engagement process in Kandahar will determine the level of military involvement needed to separate the insurgents from the population."
Yet it is clear that concrete planning for the offensive is underway.
Canadian Lt.-Col. Simon Bernard said Friday the operation will focus first on bolstering a "ring of stability" around Kandahar City and its densely populated fringes, then push outward toward insurgency "hot spots," such as those just beyond two Canadian bases in Panjwaii."Based on accurate intelligence, of course, we will conduct disruptive operations," Bernard said.
McChrystal said last month he expected insurgents to resist the offensive mostly with improvised-explosive devices "to try to give a sense that Kandahar and the area cannot be secured."
Karzai on Sunday repeated an offer of reconciliation to the Taliban, but said he wouldn’t make peace with al-Qaida, and terrorists and those who kill children and pregnant brides "won’t be forgiven."

Pakistan Troops Kill Militants in NW Pakistan

The Pakistani military says its troops have killed nearly 40 militants in two separate attacks Sunday in the northwest region of the country.Officials say both offensives were in the Orakzai tribal area near the Afghan border.A government official said several dozen militants attacked a village, but troops beat them back, killing many of the insurgents.Hours later, militants and troops battled in another area of the region. A government official says 12 rebels were killed in that fight.
Pakistan's military figures cannot be independently verified because access to the remote area is limited.Pakistan's military began an offensive in Orakzai in March to flush out Taliban insurgents believed to have fled an earlier military offensive in South Waziristan.

Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's 31st death anniversary will be observed today

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was executed on April 4, 1979, a darkest day in the history of Pakistan. Bhutto wrote a book from his death cell, Titled "If I am assassinated," its last pages contained a quote from Russian author Nikolai Dostoevsky: "Man's dearest possession is his life, and since it is given to him to live but once, he must so live as not to be scared with the shame of a cowardly and trivial past, so as not to be tortured for years without purpose, that dying he can say, 'All my life and my strength were given to the first cause in the world - the liberation of mankind.' "As death stared the Z.A Bhutto in the face, he stared back. His past has no shame of cowardice. His daughter, too, gave her life in courage. I would like to express that this man is and was hero of Pakistan. Historians, Retired Judges of the Superior Courts and eminent lawyers have now unanimously admitted that Mr. Z.A Bhutto was hanged by a military dictator General Zia-Ul Haq by orchestrating a judicial trial to get rid of a popular leader. He gave Pakistan its first constitution, nuclear programme, held peace talks with India and brought 90,000 POW who were in Indian prison and were going to face war crimes. He liberated the small farmers and peasants from the repression and cruelty of big landlords and banished the jagirdari and sardari system declaring that all citizens are born equal and must live with equal rights. Z.A Bhutto was a Legend, who lived and died like a hero with courage, determination and devotion to his principles, when cruel dictator Zia was going to kill him, Z.A Bhutto could sign few papers and could live in exile but he was a real man, he was not a coward. He too could have made a deal and lived to fight another day; but only great men with principles sacrifice their life for their cause. He was a brilliant Diplomat who negotiated some of Pakistan's most enduring diplomatic policies as well as bargaining from a position of weakness against Indira Gandhi in Simla. He was a great diplomat; there is a story that the American President John F. Kennedy was much impressed with then Foreign Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. When they met, Kennedy walked with him in the Rose Garden and said, "Bhutto, if you were an American, you would be in my Cabinet". To which Zulfikar Ali Bhutto smilingly replied, "No, Mr. President. If I were an American, you would be in my cabinet".
Z.A. Bhutto is still our greatest leader and has been an inspiration to many. God bless his soul - forever in our prayer.I hope we get a leader like you, waiting for our new Bhutto in our great nation to heed the desperate call of our women, youth and elderly.
The greatest thing a man can do in this world is to make the most possible out of the stuff that has been given him. This is success, and there is no other.


The 31st death anniversary of former Prime Minister and founder Chairman of Pakistan Peoples Party Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto will be observed today (Sunday).
According to the Programme issued by the party, a two minute silence was observed at 02:12 am, the hour on which the Shaheed leader was put on gallows.Mehfil-e-Mushaira will also be held and the documentary of Shaheed Bhutto will be shown on Sunday.
Various programmes including seminars, workers' conventions have also been chalked out in different parts of the country to pay tribute to Quaid-e-Awam.Radio Pakistan and Pakistan Television have also made arrangements for a marathon transmission from 7.00 am to 11.00 pm tomorrow. The special transmission will highlight the life, struggle, services and revolutionary achievements of Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.Lovers of Bhuttos and Sympathizers of Pakistan Peoples Party across the country, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan have started to arrive at Garhi Khuda Bux Bhutto to pay homage to their great leaders.Meanwhile, a central executive committee meeting of the Pakistan People's Party will also be held at Naudero this evening which is expected to be chaired by President Asif Ali Zardari who is also the co-chairman of the party.
Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has said that today, we are solemnly observing the death anniversary of Quaid-e-Awam Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto who dedicated his life and comforts for the rights and betterment of the common man.
"Addressing a gathering in Karachi on January 2, 1974, Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto said "our cherished goal is the betterment of the lot of the common men.Each step closer to that goal fills my heart with immeasurable pleasure, for the attainment of that goal has been the sole object of my life and all my work."
In a message on the occasion being observed today (Sunday), the Prime Minister said instead of compromising on his noble mission, Shaheed ZA Bhutto preferred martyrdom and live to his own words, "if sacrifices are for a good cause, for a cause of national unity, for a cause of national consolidation or happiness then they are not in vain."At a time when the entire nation was beset with gloom following the Fall of Dhaka in 1971, it was the towering personality of ZA Bhutto who came forward and stemmed the tide of defeatism.The promulgation of Constitution of 1973 with the full support and consensus of all strands of political opinion is an abiding tribute to the leadership and statesmanship of Shaheed Zulifqar Ali Bhutto.His policy of 'bilateralism' served to correct the imbalance in Pakistan's foreign policy. His launching of Pakistan's nuclear programme to offset the Indian strategic dominance has turned out to be a sole guardian of our territorial integrity.Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani said the idea of political unity within the Muslim Umma was always close to his heart. His was the driving spirit behind extraordinary meeting of the Islamic Summit in Lahore in 1974.
So numerous are contributions of Shaheed Zulifqar Ali Bhutto that cannot be summed up in a few paragraphs. He sought to redefine the direction of Pakistan in accordance with the vision of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Allama Iqbal.

Pakistan tables long-awaited constitutional reforms

The Pakistani government introduced a constitutional bill in parliament Friday, transferring President Asif Ali Zardari's sweeping powers to the prime minister and possibly ending months of political wrangling.
The set of reforms, known as the "18th Amendment Bill" is expected to be passed by the two-chambered parliament, effectively turning Zardari into a titular head of state.

The development may help calm political opposition to Zardari, but the government is facing mounting pressure from an assertive Supreme Court to reopen corruption cases against the president after it threw out a controversial amnesty law in December.

"I suspect that after the signing of the 18th amendment, it (the unstable political environment) is going to change," said Samina Ahmed, South Asia director for the International Crisis Group. "Part of the problem is structural. Nobody knows where the locus of authority lies."

Because of that uncertainty, she said that all branches of government are trying to expand their powers at the expense of the others. "There's a little bit of muscle flexing all around," she said.

But if the 18th Amendment goes through smoothly, the center of authority goes to the parliament, "with the judiciary interpreting" -- possibly leading to a less assertive bench. "It will settle down," she predicted.

The proposed constitutional amendments transfer a number of the president's powers, including the authority to dissolve the national assembly and appoint military chiefs and the chief election commissioner. The bill also shifts Zardari's powers to appoint judges to a commission comprised of senior judges and government figures.

The bill is likely to be passed by far more than the two-thirds super-majority needed in the parliament because it has been drafted by a parliamentary committee made up of all political groups.

No date has been fixed when it will be adopted.

Syria 'Very Important' to Peace Efforts

VOA.COM
U.S. Senator John Kerry met with officials in Syria Thursday, saying the country maintains a "very important" role in achieving peace in the Middle East.

Kerry spoke to reporters in the Syrian capital, Damascus, after meeting with President Bashar al-Assad.

Kerry chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He said the United States remains concerned about the flow of weapons through Syrian territory to the Lebanese-based militant group Hezbollah. He said the movement of weapons must stop in order to promote stability and security in the region.

The U.S. has long accused Syria of supporting Hezbollah and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. The U.S. considers both groups terrorist organizations.

On Wednesday, Kerry held talks on Middle East peace efforts in Lebanon. He told Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri that he still hopes progress can be made in the coming weeks.

Kerry called the dispute between Palestinians and Israelis the "single most important" stability issue in the region.

The Obama administration has reached out to Syria in the past year by nominating the first U.S. ambassador to Damascus since 2005 and sending top diplomats to meet with the Syrian president.

The U.S. withdrew its last ambassador to Syria after the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005. Many countries have blamed Syria for the assassination, but Damascus has denied any involvement.

'Pakhtoonkhwa' a milestone in Pashtun identity

A decision by a top Pakistani Parliamentary panel to rename North West Frontier Province as Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa could be an important milestone in the six decade-long struggle for the recognition of Pashtun ethnic identity.

The 26-member parliamentary committee on constitutional reforms yesterday achieved consensus on renaming NWFP as Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa.


The movement for renaming the NWFP, parts of which are now on the frontline of Pakistan’s campaign against the Taliban-led insurgency, saw many ups and downs over the past few decades as the country made its way though dictatorial regimes and democratic governments.

Since 1947, Pashtun nationalists like Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Khan Abdul Wali Khan and Ajmal Khattak led the movement for the acceptance of their people?s distinct identity.

The Awami National Party, which emerged as the ruling Pakistan People?s Party?s main coalition partner in the NWFP after the 2008 general election, pushed for changing the name of the province to Pakhtoonkhwa.

The party did not want to miss an opportunity as it was aware that President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani were in conformity with the demand.

Zardari and Gilani frequently referred to NWFP as Pakhtoonkhwa in public appearances, something that was unimaginable for Pashtuns.

Such developments rejuvenated the spirit of ANP leaders, who cashed in on the situation despite some opposition to the renaming of the NWFP from sections of people in the province.

"There has been a long debate as to why the ANP could not muster support for the name Pakhtoonkhwa despite the fact that Pashtuns are in a majority in the province," said legislator and dissident ANP leader Arshad Khan.

The proposal to rename the NWFP is part of a groundbreaking constitutional reforms package finalised by a parliamentary panel yesterday.

The package seeks to slash President?s sweeping powers and remove changes made to the constitutional by former military rulers Zia-ul-Haq and Pervez Musharraf to strengthen their grip on power.

The ANP pushed for the NWFP to be renamed Pakhtoonkhwa as Pashtuns comprise 75 per cent of the province?s population of 20 million, but the move was opposed by the opposition PML-N, which said the name would alienate minorities in the province.

The PML-N suggested non-ethnic names like Khyber and Abaseen (the Pashto name for the Indus river) before the parliamentary committee reached comprise by settling on Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa.

Analysts believe the compromise was influenced by senior ANP leader and Railways Minister Ghulam Ahmed Bilour?s veiled threat that the NWFP should get the name Pakhtoonkhwa or else the people could opt for the "Bengali model", a reference to breaking away of East Pakistan in 1971 due to ethnic divisions.

The ANP also showed flexibility on the issue of renaming the province as the party faced criticism from certain pockets, especially Dera Ismail Khan, the Hazara division and, ironically, people in some Pashtun-dominated areas.

The ANP also played down the demand by non-Pashto speaking people for a referendum on the issue and opted for its approval by parliament through a constitutional amendment.

"If the issue had gone to referendum, it would have been catastrophic for the ANP," said a senior government official on condition of anonymity.

The NWFP legislature had passed a unanimous resolution suggesting Pakhtoonistan as the new name for the province but it was modified to Pakhtoonkhwa to avoid controversies attached to the name since Partition.

Some circles in the ANP are still opposed to adding Khyber to Pakhtoonkhwa but the party?s senior leaders have pacified them by saying the opportunity to rename the province should not be missed.

"The opponents will call it Khyber and the supporters as Pakhtoonkhwa," said school teacher Khan Faraz.

"We have scores of other bigger problems like price hikes, shortages of flour, sugar and electricity and lack of employment," he added.

The residents of NWFP capital Peshawar have shown mixed reaction to the move to rename the province, with a majority adopting silent posture as no major celebrations were witnessed except for a gathering at Qayum sports complex that was attended by provincial Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain.

About 2,500 people attended the gathering though Peshawar has a population of over 200,000.

U.S. campaign to reform Kandahar is rife with pitfalls

www.washingtonpost.com
The coming battle for control of this ancient crossroads city will be the toughest challenge of the war in Afghanistan -- not because it will be bloody, necessarily, but because it will require the hardest item for U.S. commanders to deliver, which is an improvement in governance.

Kandahar is the heartland of the Pashtun people -- a place of competing tribes and clans, of hidden wealth accumulated from drug trafficking and smuggling, and of notorious power brokers symbolized in the public mind by Ahmed Wali Karzai, the leader of the provincial council and brother of Afghanistan's president.

Reforming the local government is like disassembling a pyramid of pick-up sticks. One wrong move and the whole pile collapses. Yet if the United States accommodates the existing power structure, it will appear to be condoning corruption here -- a bad message for the public in Afghanistan and America alike.

Talking with U.S. officials about the coming campaign, I heard a range of good ideas but not a clear strategy. The American officials know they can't deliver on their counterinsurgency promise of protecting the population without breaking the hold of the local chieftains. Yet they are wary of toppling the system and opening the way for what might be even worse chaos -- and new resentment at American meddling.

The Kandahar campaign will have a military component as U.S. troops clear Taliban strongholds surrounding the city, such as Zhari, Panjwai and Arghandab. But in Kandahar, the problem isn't the enemy so much as our nominal friends such as Ahmed Karzai. The battle for the city will be political more than military -- and it will require skills and expertise that are in short supply.

"It's amazing what we don't know about Kandahar," says one of the top U.S. military commanders. He just supervised a special push to gather intelligence about power brokers, tribal leaders and their grievances and, as he put it, "who's who in the Kandahar zoo." Unfortunately, the United States is starting from a low base after years of intelligence collection that was "only marginally relevant to the overall strategy," according to a report in January by Maj. Gen. Michael Flynn.

Recognizing the severe gaps in their knowledge, U.S. commanders have adopted what might be described as "operational humility." They know they can make big mistakes if they aren't careful. Shaking up the power structure might put the United States on the side of the Pashtun man in the street, but it would open a power vacuum that could be exploited by the Taliban. Given the planned July 2011 start for withdrawal of U.S. troops, there isn't time for risky experiments in Kandahar. American officials worry, quite sensibly, about the law of unintended consequences.

So commanders are opting instead for an approach that one calls "re-balancing" the Kandahar power elite. The idea is to open up political space to tribes and clans that have been left out of the spoils system. "The basic problem in Kandahar is that you have a disenfranchised population," says Frank Ruggiero, a State Department official who is the top U.S. civilian representative in southern Afghanistan.

The tool that U.S. strategists hope to use to broaden the political base in Kandahar is the traditional Afghan forum known as the "shura." Officials are encouraging these gatherings regularly in the city and the surrounding districts, and urging local Afghan officials to make them more inclusive and a better forum for redressing grievances. They want to combine the shuras with better policing, aided by embedded U.S. trainers, and with new economic development projects.

Traveling here with Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, I attended a shura hosted by Tooryalai Wesa, the governor of Kandahar province. This was not exactly a gathering of the dispossessed. The most emphatic speakers around the table warned that the United States shouldn't go after Ahmed Karzai. "If he's not here, the balance will be unbalanced," Wesa said after the meeting.

Curbing corruption in Kandahar may be mission impossible. But it's the task that the United States has set for itself, by promising through its counterinsurgency campaign that it is working for a better and more just Afghanistan than what the Taliban offers.

It's this dissonance between ends and means that worries a visitor here this week. The hardest part of this war, paradoxically, isn't the fighting on the ground, which the U.S. military conducts brilliantly, but the struggle in the Afghan political sphere, where we know precious little.

U.S. campaign to reform Kandahar is rife with pitfalls

www.washingtonpost.com
The coming battle for control of this ancient crossroads city will be the toughest challenge of the war in Afghanistan -- not because it will be bloody, necessarily, but because it will require the hardest item for U.S. commanders to deliver, which is an improvement in governance.

Kandahar is the heartland of the Pashtun people -- a place of competing tribes and clans, of hidden wealth accumulated from drug trafficking and smuggling, and of notorious power brokers symbolized in the public mind by Ahmed Wali Karzai, the leader of the provincial council and brother of Afghanistan's president.

Reforming the local government is like disassembling a pyramid of pick-up sticks. One wrong move and the whole pile collapses. Yet if the United States accommodates the existing power structure, it will appear to be condoning corruption here -- a bad message for the public in Afghanistan and America alike.

Talking with U.S. officials about the coming campaign, I heard a range of good ideas but not a clear strategy. The American officials know they can't deliver on their counterinsurgency promise of protecting the population without breaking the hold of the local chieftains. Yet they are wary of toppling the system and opening the way for what might be even worse chaos -- and new resentment at American meddling.

The Kandahar campaign will have a military component as U.S. troops clear Taliban strongholds surrounding the city, such as Zhari, Panjwai and Arghandab. But in Kandahar, the problem isn't the enemy so much as our nominal friends such as Ahmed Karzai. The battle for the city will be political more than military -- and it will require skills and expertise that are in short supply.

"It's amazing what we don't know about Kandahar," says one of the top U.S. military commanders. He just supervised a special push to gather intelligence about power brokers, tribal leaders and their grievances and, as he put it, "who's who in the Kandahar zoo." Unfortunately, the United States is starting from a low base after years of intelligence collection that was "only marginally relevant to the overall strategy," according to a report in January by Maj. Gen. Michael Flynn.

Recognizing the severe gaps in their knowledge, U.S. commanders have adopted what might be described as "operational humility." They know they can make big mistakes if they aren't careful. Shaking up the power structure might put the United States on the side of the Pashtun man in the street, but it would open a power vacuum that could be exploited by the Taliban. Given the planned July 2011 start for withdrawal of U.S. troops, there isn't time for risky experiments in Kandahar. American officials worry, quite sensibly, about the law of unintended consequences.

So commanders are opting instead for an approach that one calls "re-balancing" the Kandahar power elite. The idea is to open up political space to tribes and clans that have been left out of the spoils system. "The basic problem in Kandahar is that you have a disenfranchised population," says Frank Ruggiero, a State Department official who is the top U.S. civilian representative in southern Afghanistan.

The tool that U.S. strategists hope to use to broaden the political base in Kandahar is the traditional Afghan forum known as the "shura." Officials are encouraging these gatherings regularly in the city and the surrounding districts, and urging local Afghan officials to make them more inclusive and a better forum for redressing grievances. They want to combine the shuras with better policing, aided by embedded U.S. trainers, and with new economic development projects.

Traveling here with Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, I attended a shura hosted by Tooryalai Wesa, the governor of Kandahar province. This was not exactly a gathering of the dispossessed. The most emphatic speakers around the table warned that the United States shouldn't go after Ahmed Karzai. "If he's not here, the balance will be unbalanced," Wesa said after the meeting.

Curbing corruption in Kandahar may be mission impossible. But it's the task that the United States has set for itself, by promising through its counterinsurgency campaign that it is working for a better and more just Afghanistan than what the Taliban offers.

It's this dissonance between ends and means that worries a visitor here this week. The hardest part of this war, paradoxically, isn't the fighting on the ground, which the U.S. military conducts brilliantly, but the struggle in the Afghan political sphere, where we know precious little.

Asfandyar praises media role on 18th amendment draft

ANP Chief Asfandyar Wali on Thursday hailed the role of media with regard to the draft of 18th amendment.Talking to media outside the National Assembly, Asfandyar wali said 18th amendment was not only limited to the name, adding that the province could not be deprived of its right.He said we have got our identity and we are now happy. Pakhtoonkhwa is not only the province for Pashtuns, ANP chief added.Asfandyar said name of Raza Rabbani will be written with golden words in the constitutional history of Pakistan.

Karzai Lashes Out at West Over Afghan Elections

President Hamid Karzai accused the West on Thursday of trying to ruin Afghanistan's elections, intensifying a showdown with parliament over whether foreigners will oversee a parliamentary vote this year.

Karzai's international reputation took a battering last year after a U.N.-backed fraud watchdog threw out a third of the votes cast for him in last year's presidential election. He is now wrangling with parliament and the United Nations over fraud protection measures for a parliamentary vote due in September.

"Foreigners will make excuses, they do not want us to have a parliamentary election," a defiant Karzai told a gathering of election officials. "They want parliament to be weakened and battered, and for me to be an ineffective president and for parliament to be ineffective.

"You have gone through the kind of elections during which you were not only threatened with terror, you also faced massive interference from foreigners," Karzai told the officials. "Some embassies also tried to bribe the members of the commission."

He singled out Peter Galbraith, the American former deputy of the U.N. mission in Kabul, sacked after accusing his boss of turning a blind eye to fraud, and French General Philippe Morillon, head of an EU vote monitoring mission.

"There was fraud in the presidential and provincial election, with no doubt there was massive fraud. This wasn't fraud by Afghans but the fraud of foreigners, the fraud of Galbraith, of Morillon and the votes of the Afghan nation were in the control of an embassy," Karzai said.

He accused Galbraith of telling an election official he would be "digging himself an early grave" if Karzai was declared first round winner and said Morillon had tried to block the announcement of results to force Karzai to accept a political alliance.

ELECTION STAND-OFF HURTS SUPPORT FOR WAR

Last year's election stand-off -- which ended when the U.N.-backed body ordered a second round but Karzai's opponent quit -- eroded support in the West for the eight-year-old war. A new election confrontation could further sour public opinion in a decisive year, when Washington is sending an extra 30,000 troops.

Ahead of September's parliamentary poll, Karzai issued a decree in February revoking the power of the United Nations to appoint the majority of members of the election fraud watchdog.

The lower house of parliament rejected Karzai's decree on Wednesday, a move diplomats described as a rebuke for the president, although the motion would still need to pass in the upper house to restore U.N. oversight of the vote.

Karzai told the election officials and reporters his decree was vital to Afghanistan's sovereignty.

The United Nations has called for reforms to Afghanistan's election commission to prevent fraud, before it will agree to free up donor funds needed to pay for the September 18 vote.

"The foreigners have said if you don't dismiss these men, we will not give you any money," Karzai said, adding he would announce changes to the election commission next week.

The fraud watchdog is a separate body, which was led by a Canadian during last year's election and ordered the election commission to overturn Karzai's first round victory.

New U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura accepted a compromise offer from Karzai this month that would let the United Nations appoint a minority of members of the fraud watchdog, rather than the majority as it did last year. Parliament's rejection of Karzai's decree means the status of that deal is now in doubt.

"I am working on it. That's all I can say," de Mistura told Reuters late on Wednesday.

BlackBerry Users Will Defect

Despite bells and whistles, the device misses the 'fun factor.'

Call it a matter of touch-screen envy, but many BlackBerry users are starting to feel the 24-month-contract itch.
And they're willing to switch to Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) iPhone or Google Inc.'s (GOOG) Nexus One, according to a recent study.
Conducted by the online market researchers Crowd Science, the survey results show that Research in Motion (RIMM) BlackBerry users are more likely to abandon the brand than iPhone or Android users. When asked of the likelihood of buying a particular brand of cell phone or smartphone if the purchase was made the following day, 39% of BlackBerry owners said they "definitely or probably would" nab an iPhone. And roughly one-third of the participants claimed they'd snatch up an Android phone.
Meanwhile, the fierce Google-Apple war seems to have bled into the user base.
An overwhelming majority of iPhone users -- 92% -- would likely stay loyal to the Apple device, and only a tad fewer Android owners -- 87% -- made a similar claim.
However, Apple zealots who unleash a fervent hatred for opposing teams may have met their indignant match. While 15% of iPhone users "definitely or probably would not" recommend an Android device, a whopping 45% of Android users would never dare give Steve Jobs' baby a thumbs up. Whether that's a product of outsider's scorn or buyer's remorse, the study didn't pose the question.
But as the battle between Apple and Google rages on, BlackBerry users look on with a degree of envy.
Despite commanding a hefty lead over the iPhone in the smartphone market share -- 42% versus 25%, respectively -- the numbers for RIM have begun to drop, along with Microsoft's (MSFT) Windows Mobile and Palm (PALM).
According to comScore, RIM's market share dropped a percentage point in the fourth quarter of 2009 from the third quarter, and Apple's rose 1.2%. PCWorld's Tony Bradley calculated that, given the same rate of rise and decline, Apple could surpass RIMM's market share by February 2012. And buoyed by the success of the Motorola (MOT) Droid, Android showed the biggest gains -- rising 2.7% to 5.2%.

Crowd Science Chief Executive John Martin addressed the study in the company blog. "These results show that the restlessness of BlackBerry users with their current brand hasn't just been driven by the allure of iPhone." He added, "Rather, BlackBerry as a brand just isn't garnering the loyalty seen with other mobile operating systems."So what's the allure of the competitors? Why are BlackBerry users more willing to jump ship?

BlackBerry has long been the choice of tech-savvy executives who are wirelessly tethered to their jobs. But as evidenced in the study, only 7% of BlackBerry owners still use their device exclusively for work. For years, the smartphone has ceased to be merely associated with work -- an evolution that Apple played a large role in influencing. However, the BlackBerrys, the Palm Treos, and the Windows Mobile devices never successfully adopted the veneer of "recreational smartphones" nearly as well as Apple or Android.

Put simply, iPhones, Droids, and Nexus Ones just look like more fun. And as the "fun factor" became a significant reason why smartphones became as popular as they did, any manufacturer still focusing on the business aspects fell out of favor with users.

What's the appeal of a physical keyboard if the iPhone can remember where you parked? Why use Microsoft Exchange when the Droid works seamlessly with Gmail -- a service more businesses are using anyway? Is there a point to waiting for a BlackBerry version of an app that has dozens of variants available in the App Store or Android Market?

Unless a new BlackBerry device sheds the brand's stodgy work image, RIMM is going to miss out on all the fun -- and customers.
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Russia's Medvedev promises 'crueler' measures

MAKHACHKALA, Russia – President Dmitry Medvedev made a surprise visit Thursday to the violence-wracked southern province of Dagestan, telling police and security forces to use tougher, "more cruel" measures to fight the "scum" responsible for terrorist attacks.

In his dress — a black T-shirt under a black suit coat — and rough language, Medvedev was following the lead of Russia's powerful prime minister, Vladimir Putin.

Twin suicide bombings this week in Moscow — which Islamic militants from the North Caucasus claim to have carried out — has refocused attention on the violence that for years has been confined to the predominantly Muslim republics in Russia's southern corner.

An explosion Thursday morning killed two suspected militants and wounded a third in Dagestan near the border with Chechnya. Police said the men may have been transporting a makeshift bomb. The day before, two suicide bombings in Dagestan killed 12 people, including nine policemen, a frequent target of attacks because they represent Russian authority.

The suicide bombings on the Moscow subway killed 39 people on Monday and have left nearly 90 hospitalized.

Federal Security Service director Alexander Bortnikov said the organizers of the Moscow attacks have been identified as "bandits" from the Northern Caucasus, and some have been detained.

"We know the personalities of organizers," he said in televised remarks. "We have detained a number of people, conducted interrogations, got evidence."

Medvedev said much more needed to be done to stop the attacks.

"The measures to fight terrorism should be expanded, they should be more effective, more harsh, more cruel," he said during a televised meeting with local officials.

In recent months, police and security forces have killed at least two high-profile Islamic militants, but they have been unable to capture the veteran Chechen militant Doku Umarov, who has claimed responsibility for the Moscow subway attacks.

"We have torn of the heads of the most notorious bandits, but clearly this was not enough. In any case, we will find them all and punish them," Medvedev said.