French Journalist stands by kickbacks report

But the investigations do not come from within Pakistan but have been unearthed by a French court and released in French newspaper Liberation. Standing by his story, French journalist Guillaume Dasquie says: ‘Today we are absolutely sure that Mr Zardari received a lot of kickbacks from this contract signed in September 1994, with DCN, the builder of the submarine.’ He was referring to a deal between France and Pakistan for French state contractor DCN to build the subs in Karachi.
It was during Benazir Bhutto’s second tenure and the infamous era where Asif Zardari earned the nickname Mr Ten Per Cent.
The allegations in the French paper have been slammed by Pakistani officials. President Zardari’s spokesman said in a statement: ‘This is actually new regurgitation of an old story which was already contradicted by French President Mr Sarkozy on July 11 this year as ‘untrue’, ‘malicious’ and ‘mischievous’. It is part of a media trial of PPP leadership which we condemn and dismiss with the contempt it deserves’.
The denial by the French president that Mr Farhatullah Babar refers to was scoffed at by Guillaume Dasquie. When this correspondent asked him about Mr Sarkozy’s comments he laughed — ‘the contract had to be underwritten by our ministry of budgets, the fact is that at that time Sarkozy was the minister in charge, he was embarrassed and that’s the reason he denied it.’
He also says the evidence is undeniable. ‘Because this is a very sensitive case — we prefer to have evidence in writing in the form of bank statements or from law-enforcement services. People can say whatever they want so we prefer to have strong evidence.’
The evidence has probably been revealed when a French court investigating the deaths of 11 DCN workers in a Karachi bombing allowed the release of some of the paperwork being scrutinised.
It’s claimed Mr Zardari received up to $4.3 million in kickbacks. An amount of $49.5 million is what the military (or the then top man in Navy) allegedly received as part of the same deal.
Some of the transactions were uncovered by Swiss Judge Vincent Fournier during separate investigations into money laundering by the late Benazir Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari.
Several payments were allegedly made into Mr Zardari’s foreign bank accounts before and after the submarine deal by a Lebanese business man, Abdulrahman Al-Assir, whom Guillaume Dasquie calls ‘a well known go-between here in France’. link

NA unanimously passes organ transplant bill

The house suspended some rules to take up the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Bill immediately after the standing committee on health presented its report on the draft based on a Musharraf-era ordinance and adopted it without a debate to honour Pakistan’s iconic kidney transplant surgeon Dr Adeeb Rizvi, who had campaigned for framing such a law and was present in a visitors’ gallery to witness the proceedings.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, Speaker Fehmida Mirza and members from all parliamentary groups made brief remarks after the vote to congratulate the house for adopting the important bill, which will become permanent law after its passage by the Senate, and to praise Dr Adeeb’s services in the field.
An identical bill introduced in the previous National Assembly on Aug 17, 2007 could not be taken up for a vote before the house ran out its tenure but it was saved in the form of an ordinance promulgated by then president Pervez Musharraf on Sept 4 the same year.
The ordinance is one of 37 Musharraf decrees which need parliament’s approval by Nov 28 to remain in the field after losing the cover of the former military president’s controversial Nov 3, 2007 emergency proclamation held unconstitutional by a Supreme Court ruling on July 31.
The bill provides for a regulatory mechanism, including a high-level federal monitoring authority and evaluation committees, for the removal, storage and transplantation of human organs and tissues for therapeutic purposes and prohibits the practice of their sale to foreigners which gave Pakistan the reputation of a virtual kidney bazaar where rich foreign patients could buy kidneys from poor people for transplantation at local kidney centres.
The new law will allow a voluntary organ or tissue donation by at least an 18-year-old living donor to any other ‘genetically and legally related’ person, who is a close relative such as a parent, son, daughter, sister, brother and spouse, with authorisation from an evaluation committee of specialists in the field helped by local notables to be set up for every medical institution and hospital where at least 25 transplants are carried out annually.
‘In case of non-availability of (such) a donor …, the evaluation committee may allow donation by a non ‘close blood relative’ after satisfying itself that such donation is voluntary,’ the bill says.
‘In the case of regenerative tissue, i.e. stem cells, there is no restriction of age between siblings,’ it further says.
The bill also provides for donation to be effective after death if a person aged at least 18 years, authorises any medical institution or hospital approved by a 10-member monitory authority headed by the health minister and including heads of organisations of the medical profession and specialists.
It says transplants and removal of human organs ‘shall only be carried out’ by recognised professionals after a written certification from an evaluation committee.
The bill prescribes an imprisonment for up to 10 years and a fine of up to one million rupees for those involved in the removal and human organs without the prescribed authority as well as their sale. Contravention of other provisions of the law will be punishable with up to three years of imprisonment or with a fine of up to Rs300,000, or with both. A medical practitioner convicted for unauthorised removal of human organs for transplant will also be liable to ‘appropriate action’ by the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council, including removal from its register for three years for the first offence and permanently for the subsequent offence.link

CNG stations observe strike against load-shedding

RAWALPINDI: CNG stations from Attock to Jhelum observed a strike on Tuesday in protest against a government decision to close CNG stations for two days a week under load management plan.

The strike affected public transport in Rawalpindi and Islamabad. Addressing a press conference, All Pakistan CNG Association’s chairman Ghayas Paracha claimed that 691 CNG stations closed on Tuesday.

Only six stations which are not members of the association because they are owned by oil marketing companies remained open.

He said CNG stations in Sargodha and Lahore region would observe a strike on Thursday and in Multan and Bahawalpur region on Friday.

Mr Paracha warned that his association would go on a country-wide strike from November 15 if the government did not withdraw its two-day closure decision.

He said owners of 2,986 CNG stations across the country had been asked to prepare for the country-wide strike.

Mr Paracha rejected a perception that the strike was politically motivated and said the CNG association had nothing to do with any political party.

Some members of the association told Dawn that CNG stations in Peshawar would observe a strike on November 14, in Sindh on November 15 and in Balochistan on November 16.LINK.....

Clinton says Korea naval fight won't deter U.S. envoy visit

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – A naval skirmish between the two Koreas will not derail the Obama administration's plans to send its first envoy to Pyongyang to revive dormant nuclear talks, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday.

The rival Koreas exchanged gunfire for the first time in seven years on Tuesday. The clash took place near a disputed sea border and left a South Korean vessel pockmarked with bullet holes and a North Korean patrol ship ablaze as it retreated home.

"This does not in any way affect the decision to send Ambassador (Stephen) Bosworth. We think that this is an important step that stands on its own," Clinton told a news conference on the sidelines of an APEC meeting in Singapore.

North Korea has often used military action to force its way onto the agenda of major diplomatic events, and recently caused alarm by announcing increased production of arms-grade plutonium. Yet at the same time, it has also been seeking direct talks with Washington.

"We're obviously hoping the situation does not escalate, encouraged by the calm reaction that has been present up until now," Clinton said.

President Barack Obama is due in Japan later this week to start his first tour through Asia since taking office, and the security threat North Korea poses to the economically vital region will be high on the agenda.

The United States said on Tuesday it had agreed to send Bosworth, its special envoy for North Korea, to the country to hold bilateral talks in the hopes of coaxing Pyongyang back into broader negotiations aimed at ending its nuclear arms program.

South Korea's military was on high alert for another possible incursion but there has been no suspicious activity from the North near the disputed sea border, officials said.

NUCLEAR TALKS

North Korea for nearly a year has boycotted the six-country talks aimed at having it scrap its nuclear program in exchange for aid to rebuild its broken economy and a better diplomatic standing that could help it receive international finance.

Analysts said Washington would not have signed off on the Bosworth visit unless it had assurances Pyongyang would return to disarmament talks.

Few expect the North Korean leader Kim Jong-il to ever give up nuclear weapons, which his state's propaganda machine said have fended off invasion attempts by a hostile United States and are the crowning achievement of his "military-first" rule.

Regional powers are hoping for at least a return to pledges reached in 2005 under a six-way deal where the North resumes taking apart its aging Yongbyon nuclear plant -- the source of its arm-grade plutonium -- and allowing in international nuclear inspectors to verify claims it made about its nuclear program.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak has tried to prevent Tuesday's clash from harming a recent warming of ties between the Koreas, who are technically still at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended with a cease fire and not a peace treaty.

"We do not want this to be an obstacle in the improvement of South-North Korea relations," Kim Eun-hye, a spokeswoman for the presidential Blue House.LINK......

Gunmen attack AA meeting in Mexico, killing 1

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico – Gunmen burst into an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting and opened fire in a violence-plagued Mexican border state, killing one person and wounding four others, authorities said.

Investigators have not determined a motive for the shootings late Monday in Chihuahua City, the state capital of Chihuahua, the state prosecutor's spokesman Eduardo Esparza said Tuesday.

Gunmen have opened fire in several drug rehabilitation centers inCiudad Juarez, located in the northern part of the state. In September, 28 people were killed in two such attacks in the border city, which has seen some of the worst violence in Mexico's drug war. More than 1,900 people have been killed there this year. Esparza said Monday's shooting was the first such attack in Chihuahua City.

Authorities attribute the violence to a dispute between the rival Juarez and Sinaloa cartels, and have said some drug gangs may be using drug rehabilitation centers as a cover or recruiting grounds.

Also Tuesday, in the Gulf coast state of Tabasco, state Attorney General Rafael Gonzalez Lastra announced police had detained 7 suspected members of the Zetas drug gang, including two teenagers, one aged 14.

He said the gang "may be recruiting adolescents, in order to avoid justice," given that minors are considered youthful offenders until the age of 18 — 16 in some states — and are not jailed.

The 14-year-old told police his father had been in the gang before being arrested in December.

Gonzalez Lastra said police also found weapons during the arrests, and acknowledged that one of the adult suspects had died while in police custody. He said medical exams indicate the man died of pneumonia and said the death was unrelated to police questioning.

Elsewhere, in the northern city of Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa state, a man's tortured body was found hanging from a highway overpass. State prosecutors' spokesman Martin Robles said the unidentified man had his hands tied behind his back and was hung by the neck.

Sinaloa is the home state of some of Mexico's most powerful drug lords. Two bodies had been found previously in similar circumstances in the border city of Tijuana.

And in the Pacific coast state of Colima, state police captured a violent gang member who was one of America's 15 most wanted fugitives by U.S. Marshals.

Aaron Lopez Garcia, 31, and three other inmates escaped from a city jail in Sunnyside, Washington, in November 2006, according to a press release on the U.S. Marshals Web site. Authorities captured his alleged accomplices soon afterward, but Garcia remained on the loose.

Police arrested him Monday near an ice cream factory in the seaside city of Manzanillo.

Federal law enforcement filed charges against Garza on Feb. 10, 2005, after authorities discovered him with a handgun on the floorboard of a vehicle in which he was a passenger. He went to trial and was found guilty.

U.S. Marshals said Garcia is a member of the Nortenos gang with past convictions of firearm possession, robbery, domestic violence, drug possession, burglary and assault.link.....

US imam wanted in Yemen over al-Qaida suspicions

SAN'A, Yemen – A radical American imam who communicated withthe Fort Hood shooting suspect and called him a hero was once arrested in Yemen on suspicion of giving religious approval to militants to conduct kidnappings. Yemeni authorities are now hunting for Anwar al-Awlaki to determine whether he has al-Qaida ties.

Al-Awlaki, who has used his personal Web site to encourage Muslims around the world to kill U.S. troops in Iraq, disappeared in Yemen eight months ago, according to his father. Yemeni security officials say they believe he is hiding in a region of the mountainous nation that has become a refuge for Islamic militants.

After his arrest in 2006, investigators were unable to prove any links to al-Qaida, and he was released in late 2007, according to two Yemeni counterterrorism officials and an Interior Ministry official. They spoke Tuesday on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press.

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan is accused of killing 13 people in a rampage atthe Fort Hood Army post in Texas. He communicated with al-Awlaki in e-mail exchanges 10 to 20 times over several months last year, according to a U.S investigative official in Washington and Rep. Pete Hoekstra of Michigan, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee.

The communications, which were intercepted by the FBI, consisted primarily of Hasan posing questions to the imam as a spiritual leader or adviser, and their content was "consistent with the subject matter of (Hasan's) research," a law enforcement official said. The law enforcement and investigative officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case.

In the Army, Hasan was working with patients suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from U.S. combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Associates and relatives have said he was disturbed that U.S. Muslim soldiers could fight against fellow Muslims in those countries.

The FBI investigated at the time and concluded that Hasan was not a threat. And investigators say now that there is no evidence Hasan received help or orders to carry out the Fort Hood attack.

But the man to whom Hasan turned for advice has for years preached in sermons circulated on the Web that the United States was engaged in a war against Islam and urged Muslims to fight it.

In January, al-Awlaki posted an article called "44 ways to support jihad," saying that joining or helping "holy warriors" fight the U.S. and its allies is "obligatory for every Muslim." The article encouraged Muslims to donate and raise money for mujahedeen and to encourage people to join.

The 38-year-old al-Awlaki, a U.S. citizen born in New Mexico to Yemeni parents, preached at a Virginia mosque that Hasan's family attended.

He has had several encounters with al-Qaida figures. In 2000, he met two of the 9/11 hijackers, Khalid al-Midhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi, at a San Diego mosque where al-Awlaki was a preacher. The U.S. government's 9/11 Commission report says the men "respected al-Awlaki as a religious figure and developed a close relationship with him." They were aboard the plane that crashed into the Pentagon.

The FBI investigated al-Awlaki in 1999 and 2000 after learning he may have been contacted by a possible "procurement agent" for Osama bin Laden. His telephone number was also found when police raided the Hamburg, Germany, apartment of Ramzi Binalshibh, a Yemeni al-Qaida figure believed to have been a key facilitator of the 9/11 attacks, according to the commission report.

After he returned to Yemen in 2002, al-Awlaki taught at San'a's Iman University, the same university that John Walker Lindh, the American caught with the Taliban in Afghanistan, used to visit while living in Yemen. The university is headed by Abdulmajid al-Zindani, a prominent Yemeni cleric often described as a religious mentor to bin Laden.

Al-Awlaki was arrested in 2006 with a group of five Yemenis accused of kidnapping a Shiite teenager for ransom, according to the Yemeni counterterrorism and Interior Ministry officials. Al-Awlaki was the group'sspiritual leader and had issued a fatwa, or religious decree, permitting them to kidnap foreigners and rich Yemenis, the officials said.

The group also plotted to kidnap the U.S. military attache in Yemen and rented a villa near the attache's house using a fake ID, the officials said. There was no immediate confirmation of the plot from American officials.

But investigators could not find any evidence for al-Qaida ties. Tribal leaders — who hold enormous influence in Yemen, where the central government is weak — intervened and pushed for the group's release, the Interior Ministry official said. The group was freed in December 2007 after they signed documents promising to remain in Yemen and to avoid any contacts with militants.

But authorities' suspicions over al-Awlaki were raised again several months after his release because he stopped checking in regularly with security officials as required under his release agreement, the officials said. Also, months later, another member of the group arrested with al-Awlaki left Yemen and was arrested in Syriaon terrorism charges.

In response, al-Awlaki was put on a wanted list on suspicion of possible al-Qaida links, the Interior Ministry official said.

He and the counterterrorism officials said al-Awlaki is believed to be hiding in Yemen's Shabwa or Mareb provinces, which along with Jof province make up the so-called "triangle of evil" because of a heavy presence of al-Qaida militants. Fighters from the terror organization have been increasingly entering Yemen and finding refuge among tribes disgruntled with the central government.

Still, al-Awlaki appears to be maintaining his Web site. On Monday, he posted a statement declaring that Hasan "is a hero. He is a man of conscience who could not bear living the contradiction of being a Muslim and serving in an army that is fighting against his own people."

Al-Awlaki's father, Nasser al-Awlaki, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he has not had any contact with his son in eight months and did not know his location. Anwar's wife and five children — three boys and two girls — are staying with Nasser al-Awlaki, he said.

The father, who was studying agriculture in the U.S. when Anwar was born and later served as Yemen's agriculture minister, insisted his son has no links with al-Qaida.

"He has nothing to do with al-Qaida. But he's a devout Muslim. He has never been involved in anything against anybody," he said.

___

Associated Press Writer Lee Keath in Cairo contributed to this report.link.....

'Drunk' United Airlines pilot arrested at Heathrow

LONDON (AFP) – Police charged a United Airlines pilot on suspicion of being drunk as he was about to help fly a passenger plane fromHeathrow Airport, a spokesman said.

Erwin Vermont Washington, 51, was charged with "exceeding the proscribed alcohol limit" after his arrest at the world's busiest airport a day earlier, police said late on Tuesday/

Washington, of Lakewood, Colorado, was charged with "being aviation staff performing an aviation function whilst exceeding the proscribed alcohol limit," the police spokesman said.

The pilot was arrested on Monday afternoon before the plane carrying 124 passengers and 11 crew was due to depart for Chicago, Scotland Yard and the airline said earlier Tuesday.

Flight 949 was cancelled and the pilot was suspended, a United Airlines spokeswoman told AFP.

"Safety is our highest priority and the pilot has been removed from service while we are cooperating with authorities and conducting a full investigation," she said.

"United's alcohol policy is among the strictest in the industry and we have no tolerance for violation of this well-established policy."

A spokesman for BAA, the company that runs Heathrow, said: "He was reported to police by United Airlines staff. I believe departure was imminent."

The pilot was taken to Heathrow police station on Monday and later released on bail pending the results of alcohol tests, the Scotland Yard spokesman said.

He will appear at Uxbridge magistrates' court in northwest London on November 20.

The Independent said on its website that passengers were told to disembark because the pilot was sick. They were later put on to other flights.link.....

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/04-fresh-south-waziristan-clashes-kill-militants-qs-03

DAWN.com - ‎35 minutes ago‎
The South Waziristan offensive has displaced more than 250000 people and the United Nations has urged Pakistan to ensure safety and security of civilians during the operation.
Pakistan: 12 militants killed in offensive The Associated Press
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Xinhua - AFP - Expressindia.com - Los Angeles Times
all 218 news articles »LINK.....

Muslim army psychiatrist Nidal Malik Hasan kills 13 in US base rampage

A Muslim army psychiatrist opposed to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan opened fire on fellow soldiers at the world's largest military base yesterday, killing 13 people and wounding at least 30.

His family said that he had been due to be deployed to Iraq – a posting they described as "his worst nightmare".

At least two other men in uniform were initially suspected of involvement in the incident at Fort Hood in Texas, raising fears of a co-ordinated attack.

However, Lieutenant-General Bob Cone, the base commander, confirmed later that there was only one suspected gunman, identified last night as Major Nidal Malik Hasan, a doctor specialising in mental health.link...

Ramday to consider withdrawing from Khosa case

ISLAMABAD: Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday took exception to the allegation of bias against him by former attorney-general Latif Khosa and said he will consider withdrawing from the five-member bench scheduled to hear the corruption complaint against Khosa.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan has adjourned the hearing of the corruption complaint against Khosa for an indefinite period following the allegations.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry constituted the five-member bench to hear the Khosa case, as well as the cases against the PCO judges.

Meanwhile, Justice Ramday said he will consider withdrawing from the bench. However, he added that he has always been impartial in all cases. He countered the allegations of bias by pointing out that he has always given relief to the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and not once to the Muslim league despite the fact that his brother is a Muslim leaguer. — DawnNewslink....

Pakistani forces enter major Taliban base

ISLAMABAD, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Pakistani soldiers have entered an important militant bastion in South Waziristan, security officials said on Friday, as gunmen wounded an army brigadier and his driver in a drive-by shooting in the capital.

The army went on the offensive in South Waziristan, a lawless ethnic Pashtun region on the Afghan border, on Oct. 17 aiming to root out Pakistani Taliban militants behind a wave of violence in urban areas.

The offensive is closely watched by the United States and other powers embroiled in neighbouring Afghanistan, as South Waziristan's rugged landscape of barren mountains and hidden ravines has become a global centre of Islamist militancy.

Soldiers have been advancing into the militant heartland from three directions and had entered the militant-held village of Makeen, military and intelligence officials said.

"We have not seen much resistance as we entered Makeen," said a senior military official in the region who declined to be identified. "Our troops are now clearing mines and IEDs (improvised explosive devices) and moving forward."

An intelligence agency official said seven militants had been killed in clashes in Makeen, where Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud was killed in an attack by a U.S. missile-firing drone aircraft in early August.

Military spokesmen were not available for comment.

There was no independent verification of the report as journalists are not allowed into the area except on an occasional trip chaperoned by the military.

STOCKS DOWN

Foreign al Qaeda fighters are believed to be hiding in South Waziristan along with thousands of Pakistani insurgents. As the army squeezes militants out of their strongholds they have retaliated with bomb attacks and shootings in urban areas.

In the latest such attack, gunmen opened fire on a vehicle in Islamabad, wounding a brigadier and his driver. Dawn television said the brigadier worked for a military intelligence agency.

A brigadier and his driver were killed in a similar shooting on Oct. 22. Days later gunmen opened fire at a military vehicle but the occupants escaped unharmed.

The violence has unsettled trade on Pakistan's stock market and the main index was 1.54 percent lower at 8,971.59 when the bourse closed for a midday break.

"Ahead of the long weekend, investors are very cautious because of political uncertainty and security fears," said Mohammed Sohail, chief executive at Topline Securities."Nobody wants to take any risks."

Monday is a public holiday in Pakistan.

Separately, police killed two militants in a clash after they refused to stop their vehicle at a checkpoint in the town of Mansehra, 90 km (56 miles) north of Islamabad.

Two policemen were wounded. Police recovered bomb-laden jackets normally used by suicide bombers,along with detonators and explosives, said senior police official Waqar Ahmed. (Additional reporting by Hafiz Wazir and Javed Hussain; Writing byRobert Birsel; Editing by Bryson Hull)link....