A Power Full 5 Blast In Lahore, Pakistan

this news update by www.breakingalert.blogspot.com
LAHORE: Five blasts occurred in Lahore on Friday, however, no casualties were reported.

The fifth blast occurred at Mazang Chungee near Tamaseel Theatre here today.

Rescue teams sent to the blast site immediately.

The blast damaged a gas pipeline, causing the gas to leak in the area.

According to an eye-witness, a man was seen running away after throwing a hand grenade at the site of the blast.

Earlier, four blasts occurred in quick succession near Al-falah theatre on Mall Road in Lahore on Friday, however, no loss of life was reported.

Two persons were arrested from the blasts site.

According to the bomb disposal squad, the blasts could have been caused by RDX or C-3 which only caused minor damage to buildings. However, CCPO Lahore said that the initial investigation indicates that the blasts were carried out by fire-crackers.

Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif directed the Home Secretary to submit report regarding the blasts in 24 hours.

this news published by www.thenews.com.pk

India and Pakistan Tension To Harm Terror War, Warns Zardari

this news update by www.24hrsalert.blogspot.com
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari has warned that an escalation in Indo-Pak tension might harm the war on terror in the region, urging the United States to play a concrete role in solving the Kashmir dispute rationally.

Talking to U.S. Vice President-elect Joseph Biden who called on him here Friday at President House, President Zardari linked the durable peace in the region with the rational solution of Kashmir dispute and urged the U.S. to play its role in this regard.

The two leaders discussed various issues of bilateral interests in their meeting, also attended by Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Pakistan’s ambassador to United States of America Hussain Haqqani and US Ambassador to Pakistan Anne W Patterson.

President Zardari apprised the Vice President elect about Pakistan’s commitment and the measures being taken by the government in the war against militancy, extremism and terrorism.

He also apprised him of his recent successful visit to Afghanistan where the two countries also signed a joint declaration. He said Pakistan believed in peace and stability in Afghanistan.

President Zardari informed the visiting US official that Pakistan is working on a multi-pronged policy to counter extremism and terrorism in its land and wants peaceful relations with all its neighbors, including India.

He declared that Pakistan is committed to unveil the culprits of Mumbai terrorist attacks.

The U.S VP-elect said the new US administration believes in having a long, real and broad commitment to Pakistan with a view to support its stability and nascent democracy.

Biden said the United States of America was positive in terms of assisting Pakistan as it was its important ally and partner.

Joseph Biden is visiting South Asia with a bipartisan congressional delegation and as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

A statement from Biden’s Senate office said the purpose of this trip was fact-finding.

In the coming months both the executive and legislative branches will carefully review US policy toward this region, and the trip will allow the participants to bring current and first-hand information to these reviews, Biden’s senate spokeswoman Elizabeth Alexander earlier said.

The vice president-elect is also accompanied by Senator Lindsey Graham from South Carolina of the US Armed Services Committee.

this news pblished by www.apakistannews.com

Truth on Kasav embarasses Pakistan PM

this news update by www.brekingalert.blogspot.com
The Kasav saga has backfired in a big way on the Pakistan government. Hours after Pakistan’s National Security Advisor (NSA) Mahmud Ali Durrani was sacked for speaking the truth on Ajmal Amir Kasav’s origins, in a startling comment, the Pakistan Prime Minister, Yusuf Raza Gilani has admitted that Durrani’s speaking the truth, embarrassed him greatly.

Moreover, government sources told Pakistan media that the Pakistan Prime Minister was upset because Durrani’s admission robbed him of the chance of making the dramatic disclosure on Kasav. Gilani on Wednesday (January 7) dismissed his NSA Major General (retd) Mehmud Ali Durrani for being a ‘bit too candid’ on the tricky issue of Mumbai carnage suspect Ajmal Kasav, without having taken him into confidence.

According to reports in the Pakistani media, a furious Prime Minister Gilani reportedly told some journalists that his ‘national security adviser had embarrassed me’ and the country by going public with the report of Kasav’s nationality without his permission.

Another Pakistan’s television channel quoted sources close to the ousted adviser as having said that whatever he had told the media about Ajmal Kasav and the findings of the Pakistani investigators were in the knowledge of the president.

The sacking of the NSA of Pakistan for disclosing the nationality of Kasav has triggered chaos and bitter infighting in the political circles of the country. The late-night decision by Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani sparked speculations about growing fissures within the ruling party, and perhaps among the various pillars of the establishment on the handling of crucial and sensitive matters of national security.

The summary dismissal also comes amid reports of tension within the government, particularly between President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani, on various issues linked to the decision-making process.

Meanwhile, highly informed sources in the government were quoted in the media as saying that the security agencies investigating the Kasav affair had already prepared their report which, through the ministry of interior, had been passed on to the prime minister for a formal decision.

The probe had concluded that Ajmal Kasav was a Pakistani national, but it was left to the government, or the prime minister, to decide when to make it public. Sources were quoted saying that Durrani was apparently sacked because the leak had not only caught the prime minister off guard, but perhaps also deprived him of the credit for breaking the news.

( This post is from an independent writer. The opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and are not endorsed by APakistanNews.Com.)

this news published by www.apakistannews.com

PML(Q) not to merge in any other party: Pervaiz Elahi

this news update by www.breakingalert.blogspot.com
PML-Q central leader Ch Pervaiz Elahi has said that party’s central executive committee has decided to maintain its separate identity.

Addressing a gathering in Lahore, Pervaiz Elahi said that PML-Q would not make any alliance or merger with any other party. So far, one-year performance of the two ruling parties has been disappointing, he noted.

this news published by www.nation.com.pk

Blast in India, Guwahati, at least two killed, 5 injured

this news update by www.breakingalert.blogspot.com
A powerful bomb planted by militants exploded in crowded Maligaon area, near Kamakhya hills, in Guwahati on Friday, killing at least two and injuring five persons. The blast took place at around 6.15 pm near a bazar, Assam police spokesperson Jayashree said.

The bomb was planted on a bicycle near a market. The injured have been taken to the railway hospital in the city. So far, no outfit has accepted the responsibility for the blasts. Assam had been rocked by serial blasts for the past several months and in the last one on New Year's Day three blasts in the city claimed five lives.


this news published by www.apakistannews.com

Nawaz Sharif Declines To Meet Asif Zardari For Photo Sessions

this news update by www.breakingalert.com
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari, under immense political pressure at home, has sent at least three messages to PML-N leader Mian Nawaz Sharif for a summit meeting but the invitations have been declined because, according to a top PML-N leader “we do not want any more photo sessions in the Presidency.”

According to credible sources, the three messages were sent through different emissaries, political and non-political, in the last five days.

A PML-N leader told The News on Saturday that his party’s top leadership did not want any more photo sessions and that any meeting between the top leadership of the two major parties could only take place once the promises made to the nation were fulfilled, and a very clear agenda, including repealing the 17th Amendment strictly in accordance with the Charter of Democracy, was formulated.

Sources said that an adviser to the Punjab chief minister, who formerly was a senior bureaucrat, met PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday, carrying a message from Interior Ministry Czar Rehman Malik that an immediate meeting should be arranged between President Zardari and Nawaz Sharif.

Rehman gave the message to the former bureaucrat during a meeting in Islamabad some days ago and it was conveyed to the PML-N chief on Wednesday.

Yet another message was conveyed late Tuesday night during a telephone call to the PML-N chief by a fabulously rich town developer, having excellent relations with the top PPP leadership. This top town developer of the country conveyed President Zardari’s message that the president wanted an immediate meeting in the developing scenario and a worsening situation and wanted to talk on “every issue” now.

According to sources, this town developer contacted the PML-N chief after many months as his last talk with Sharif was on August 7, 2008, when he played the role of a guarantor.

A source, privy to the information, said the PML-N chief complained to the town developer and asked him where he had disappeared for five long months after giving guarantees. “Mian Nawaz Sharif asked him about the promises of August 7 and questioned why should he be trusted now. What is the need now for more meetings for negotiating the same issues?”

The messenger, however, tried to reassure the PML-N chief that now the ‘promises’ will be fulfilled.

When no positive response came from the PML-N, finally, President Zardari himself called Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif on Thursday and invited his elder brother for a meeting in the Presidency to start a fresh round of talks, the first among the two top leaders and then between the top leadership of the two parties.

The PML-N leadership, however, insists on a result-oriented meeting whose agenda, including the restoration of the deposed judges, should be decided beforehand.

A senior PML-N leader was also of the view that even if such meetings were necessary, the messages should be conveyed through political channels and not through non-political players.

Spokesman of the Presidency Farhatullah Babar, when approached by The News for version, said that according to his knowledge, no formal contact had been made with the top PML-N leadership for some fresh round of talks.

“You know, political leaders often make contacts off and on telephone or through friends but according to my information, no such development has taken place in the last few days,” Babar insisted.

When Babar was asked that according to credible information, the top PML-N leadership had been sent three different messages through political and non-political players and that the PML-N leaders said they did not want more photo sessions, Babar replied that he would not comment on hypothetical questions as according to his information no such contacts were made.

Insiders say that some sincere leaders of both the parties remain in touch despite all what has happened in the last nine months. These leaders include Raza Rabbani of the PPP and Ishaq Dar of the PML-N; however, both do not make the real decisions and feel desperate about the overall situation.

Sources say both want an immediate implementation of the promises made to the nation so that a meaningful round of talks could be initiated between the two major parties to stabilise the situation and tackle the grave crises facing the country.

this news published by www.apakistannews.com

Qureshi calls for immediate ceasefire in Gaza

this news update by www.breakingalert.com
MULTAN: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said situation is heading towards positive direction with India, but still all is not well.

Talking to newsmen at the Multan Airport on Sunday, Foreign Minister said government’s policy statement could not be issued on the basis of newspaper reports.

He informed US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher is arriving in Pakistan but declined to disclose the purpose of his visit to Islamabad.

To a question on Pakistan-India tension, Qureshi said we had three objectives to defuse tension with India – first to avert the threat of war, secondly to prevent Pakistan of being isolated in the international community and third objective was aimed at safeguarding Pakistan from internal instability.

The minister noted that situation was improving in the wake of Pakistan’s positive proposals to defuse tension. He said that talks with India should not only be resumed but also proceed in positive manner. Pakistan wants better relation with all its neighbors, he commented.

The entire region is threatened by the menace of terrorism and Pakistan is facing several challenges, he said, adding that internal issues need to be resolved first.

Foreign Minister added Pakistan-India tension had been defused over efforts made by other countries of the region. About replacement of prime minister and the government, Qureshi said it has no truth and termed these reports as rumors.

Qureshi condemned the Israeli offensive in Gaza and demanded of immediate halt. “We have a clear stance that Pakistan is along with its Palestinian brothers,” he said and added that Islamic world should jointly raise the voice against Israel.

this news published by www.apakistannews.com