TAUNTON: Tainted trio of Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir have been dropped by the Pakistan Cricket Board from the limited-overs leg of the England tour, according to team manager Yawar Saeed. Pakistan team manager Yawar Saeed said that new replacement players will be called in for the series. The players accused of spot-fixing during the Lord’’s Test missed a practice game against Somerset in Taunton to meet with Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and International Cricket Council (ICC) officials and senior diplomats. Captain Salman Butt and bowlers Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif have been implicated in the scandal following a sting operation by British tabloid ”News of The World”. Pakistan lost the four-Test series against England 1-3 last week at Lord’’s where the finale was overshadowed by the ‘’spot-fixing” scandal. Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir, the three Pakistan players who are at the centre of the spot-fixing controversy have been dropped; however, they had not, been suspended. The three players are currently in London, where they are due to meet Pakistan’’s high commissioner to the UK. The PCB chairman, Ijaz Butt, is expected to be at that meeting. Speaking in Taunton, where the Pakistan team are to play a warm-up match later on Thursday, Saeed said he had taken the decision, and also called for three replacements. “The T20 squad will remain what it is here this morning, i.e. 13 people,” Saeed said. “When we play the one-day internationals we will be asking for replacements to make the squad up to 16.” The decision comes after several rounds of meetings between Ijaz Butt, ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat and officials of the ECB, at which the PCB is believed to have been advised that the players should not take part in the rest of the tour.
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ISLAMABAD: Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit welcomed the US decision to slap ban on Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, as Pakistan has already outlawed this outfit, Geo News reported Thursday. Addressing a news briefing here at Foreign Office, he said British response is being awaited regarding sending a Pak team to investigate into the cricket scandal. ‘We have received pledges of over one billion dollars in aid for flood victims. Also, the government is mulling over calling donors conference in Islamabad,’ Basit informed. The Foreign Office official informed a conference would be held on September 19 in New York to court succor for the flood affectees and an important meeting of Friends of Pakistan would take place in Brussels on October 15. Chinese workers are scrambling to restore Karakoram Highway on request by Pakistan, he said. Abdul Basit said the government is still waiting for Indian reply on investigations of Samjhota Express Tragedy. Responding a question, he said Pakistan welcomed US withdrawal from Iraq, adding his country wanted stability in Afghanistan. The convoy of Pak Army cancelled its US visit in protest against inappropriate US attitude, he added.
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LAHORE: A judicial commission has been formed with Justice Mansoor Ali Shah of Lahore High Court (LHC) among other judges as its members, to determine the causes behind the disintegration of protective embankments and dykes for being shoddy or they were breached by the influential personages, Geo News reported Thursday. Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif taking strict notice of the complaints regarding breakdown of dykes and willfully breaching them, announced to set up a judicial commission to probe the issue. Subsequently, the LHC instituted a commission with Justice Mansoor Ali Shah as its member. Justice Mansoor, visiting the spots, will inspect protective embankments and bunds and pen down evidences. And later on, this investigative report would be dispatched to the government determining the responsibility.
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A senior official with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has said efforts to help flood victims in Pakistan are being compromised by suspicion and anger among the local population.Th…
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The three Pakistan players at the center of the fixing allegations dominating the team's tour of England will not play in the remaining Twenty20 and one-day international matches. Team manager Yawar …
LAHORE: The death toll from suicide attacks that targeted a busy procession in Lahore rose to 37 on Thursday as more people succumbed to their injuries, officials said. Three suicide bombers targeted a Shiite mourning procession made up of thousands of people on Wednesday at the moment of the breaking of the fast in the holy month of Ramadan, wounding hundreds. It was the first major attack in Pakistan since devastating floods engulfed a fifth of the volatile country over the past month in its worst disaster yet. “Thirty-seven people have died and a total of 281 were injured,” Fahim Jehanzeb, a spokesman for Lahore’’s rescue agency told media, adding that he feared more would die from their injuries. Sajjad Bhutta, a senior local administration official, also confirmed the new death toll. A mass funeral was hastily arranged for later in the day with police and paramilitary providing tight security, while local authorities announced a day of mourning with all public and private institutions closed. A reporter said that all markets were closed and the roads were quiet on Thursday, after the attacks provoked an outpouring of fury in the city a night earlier, with mourners trying to torch a nearby police station. Police fired tear gas to force back the surging crowd as furious mourners beat the bodies of the suicide bombers with sticks and shoes, while others beat their own heads and chests at the site of the attacks in frustration. The emotional crowd chanted slogans against the police and the provincial government over their failure to protect the Shiite procession, a correspondent on the scene said. Lahore, a city of eight million near Pakistan’’s border with India, has been increasingly subject to Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked attacks in a nationwide bombing campaign that has killed more than 3,600 people in three years. The procession hit by the blasts was being held to mark the anniversary of the martyrdom of Hazarat Ali, who is the son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammed. Shiites account for around 20 percent of Pakistan’’s mostly Sunni Muslim population of 160 million. In July, twin suicide attacks on an Islamic shrine in the city, which is the capital of Punjab province and a major military, political and cultural hub, killed 43 people. There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the latest attack, which came as the United States added the Pakistani Taliban to a blacklist of foreign terrorist groups, whose members now face asset freezes and travel bans. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton designated the Tehreek-e-Taliban as a foreign terrorist organisation on August 12, and it was formally added to the list when it was published Wednesday in the Federal Register.
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WASHINGTON: The US slapped Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud with terrorism charges on Wednesday for his alleged role in the murder of seven USAians at a CIA base in Afghanistan. The Justice Dept move came as the State Dept added the Tehreek-e-Taliban to a blacklist of foreign terrorist organizations, which means members face asset freezes and travel bans. The State Dept also offered rewards of up to $5m each for information leading to Mehsud’s location and the location of Wali ur-Rehman, who is reportedly Mehsud’s current second-in-command. The Justice Dept said in a statement said: Hakimullah Mehsud, the self-proclaimed emir of the Pakistani Taliban, has been charged by criminal complaint for his alleged involvement in the murder of seven US citizens on Dec 30 2009 at a US military base in Afghanistan. In a two-count complaint filed in US District Court in Washington, Mehsud was charged with conspiracy to murder US citizens abroad and conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction against US citizens abroad. Justice Dept spokesman Benjamin said improvised explosive devices, often made up of fertilizer and diesel fuel, fall into the category of weapons of mass destruction. Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, a Jordanian of Palestinian origin who is said to have been a triple agent, blew himself up at the base in Khost, near the Pakistani border in the deadliest attack against the CIA since 1983. In addition to the agents, Balawi also killed his Jordanian handler, a top intelligence officer and member of the royal family. In addition to the Khost bombing, the US has linked the Tehreek-e-Taliban to a botched car bomb plot in New York’s Times Square in May and a deadly attack at the US consulate in Peshawar, Pakistan in April. US Sec State Clinton designated the TTP as a foreign terrorist organization on Aug 12, and it was formally added to the list when it was published Wednesday in the Federal Register. Formal designation as a foreign terrorist organization triggers sanctions including an asset freeze, a ban on members traveling to the US, and makes it a crime to provide material support to the group. Benjamin told reporters: Today’s actions put the TTP and its sympathizers on notice that the US will not tolerate support to this organization, which has inflicted great harm to US and Pakistani interests. TTP’s destabilizing effect in Pakistan’s tribal areas has resulted in innumerable civilian deaths and considerable property losses. It has greatly, indeed unacceptably, complicated the efforts to counter the threat posed by al-Qaeda. State Dept spokesman Crowley said in a statement: The TTP and Al-Qaeda have a symbiotic relationship. TTP draws ideological guidance from Al-Qaeda, while Al-Qaeda relies on TTP for safe haven in the Pashtun areas along the Afghan-Pakistani border. Faisal Shahzad, a Pakistani-born US national, has pleaded guilty to the failed attack in New York and warned of more strikes on the US until it leaves Muslim lands. Shahzad told the judge he had undergone five days of bomb-making training during a 40-day stay with the Pakistani Taliban in Pakistan, between Dec 9-Jan 25. In Apr 2010, the State Dept said, Mehsud’s operatives used an explosives-laden truck, machine guns, and rocket launchers in an attack on the US consulate in Peshawar that killed six Pakistanis and wounded 20 others. Blacklisted along with the TTP are Lashkar-e-Taiba, Hamas, Hezbollah, the IRA and the Tamil Tigers.
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KARACHI: Ongoing flood devastations in Sindh province is underway as tehsil Khairpur Nathan Shah is being seen on rapid evacuation as fast roaring deluges are heading to wreak anticipated devastation in the area, Geo News reported Thursday. Meanwhile, flood tides have inundated Jati city of Thatta district. According to member provincial assembly Imran Laghari, emergency has been declared in Khairpur Nathan Shah tehsil of Dadu district owing to flood anticipation, asking people to evacuate houses in the earliest. Meanwhile, raging flood torrents, unleashed from two breaches in MS protective embankment, have entered Jati city of Thatta District after wreaking havoc in Sujawal. Another roaring floodtide, surging from Hadad Kot, is heading to hit Khairpur Nathan Shah while the city’s 70 percent population has relocated themselves to safer places for fear of flood devastation. A massive floodtide is 1km away from Kharipur Nathan Shah whereas; another flood torrent through breaches of MNV Drain is raging fast towards Khanpur and Indus Highway. Several villages have been deluged by floodwater in Jati city. Many cracks have started to appear in Dhamra Canal, allowing floodwater to flow through them.
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JATI: Raging flood torrents, unleashed from two breaches in MS protective embankment, have entered Jati city of Thatta District after wreaking havoc in Sujawal, Geo News reported Thursday. Another roaring floodtide, surging from Hadad Kot, is heading to hit Khairpur Nathan Shah while the city’s 70 percent population has relocated themselves to safer places for fear of flood devastation. A massive floodtide is 1km away from Kharipur Nathan Shah whereas; another flood torrent through breaches of MNV Drain is raging fast towards Khanpur and Indus Highway. Several villages have been deluged by floodwater in Jati city. Many cracks have started to appear in Dhamra Canal, allowing floodwater to flow through them.
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LAHORE: Thirty-seven people were killed and over 150 others injured in three back-to-back explosions, occurring in Lahore when processions of Yaum-e-Ali were on their way to conclude at the Karbala Gamay Shah in the city on Wednesday. The first blast of a cracker occurred in front of the gate of Lower Mall police station, opposite Karbala Gamay Shah building, at 6:55 pm. It caused panic among the mourners, who started running towards the Bhatti Gate. Meanwhile, the second blast took place in Ghaznavi Street, Urdu Bazaar’s parking area, at around 7 pm when a suicide bomber blew himself up while he was being frisked by a constable. Two persons, along with the constable, lost their lives in the blast. Other policemen standing there fled the spot. The third blast occurred at the Bhatti Chowk when another suicide bomber blew himself up about 13 minutes after the second blast. As a result, dozens of people received injuries. A number of people received injuries in stampede when mourners ran in various directions to save their lives. Panic gripped not only the mourners but also the policemen who, instead of maintaining the law and order situation, fled, leaving the injured in pools of blood at the Bhatti Chowk. The furious mob took the amputated legs of the suicide bomber, who had blown himself up at the Bhatti Gate, to the front gate of the Government College University and vented their anger by hitting them with shoes, sticks and bricks. The angry mob, armed with clubs and sticks, besieged the Lower Mall police station and set a police truck on fire. The police fired tear-gas shells and resorted to firing into the air from the rooftop of the building to disperse the mob, which was trying to make their forced entry into the building. A woman said she, along with her two children, huddled behind a counter placed on a footpath as she could not leave the place because of the mad rush. A youth said the explosion was louder than a jet engine sound. The impact was so great that it shattered windowpanes of the nearby shops and buildings. He said his brother suffered injuries from flying articles. “When I saw the rescue workers coming up, I knew that everything would be all right,” he added. The angry mob overpowered the policemen and gave them a good thrashing. The policemen standing far away from the scene could not dare come forward to rescue their colleagues. The protesters also pulled drivers of several ambulances out of their vehicles and beat them up. They damaged dozens of ambulances and police vehicles with sticks and bricks. The protesters chanted slogans against the police over the security lapse. The angry mob also pelted security officials and the media personnel with stones. A police personnel carrier was seen running over the mob when the driver witnessed the angry mob beating up the policemen with kicks, fists and sticks. Many people complained that the police did not install walkthrough gates at the entry points. According to Rescue 1122, over 150 injured persons had been shifted to various hospitals, and 65 of them, including six policemen, were stated to be critical. Around 85 injured persons were taken to the Mayo Hospital besides 11 bodies brought to the city morgue. At least, 25 injured were taken to the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital. Women, children and policemen were among the injured. Right after the incident, emergency was declared in all the government hospitals while emergency counters were established to facilitate the patients’ relatives. Due to the violent reaction of the protesters, the police could not preserve the crime sites. The charred body parts of many victims were still lying at the crime scene. However, the police recovered the torsos of the two suicide bombers. Senior police officers, including CCPO Lahore, DIG Operations and others did not reach the crime site. They did not inspect the crime scene, including Bhatti Gate and Ghaznavi Street. The commissioner and the DCO admitted the incident occurred due to a security lapse. No FIR was registered till the filing of the report. Meanwhile, doctors of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital closed the emergency after an exchange of hot words with policemen and relatives of the injured people. Meanwhile, various political and religious leaders strongly condemned the explosions. They were Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, President Asif Zardari, Pakistan Muslim League-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, PML-Q leaders Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Ch Pervaiz Elahi, Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Syed Munawwar Hasan, leaders of Sunni Ittehad Council and Tahafuz-i-Namoos-i-Risalat Mahaz (TNRM), Haji Fazal Karim, Riaz Hussain Shah, Raghib Hussain Naeemi, and Haji Hanif Tayyab, Majlis-e-Wahdat-e-Muslimeen leader Abdul Khaliq Asadi and others. PM Gilani, President Zardari, CM Shahbaz Sharif promised to bring the culprits to book and provide all help to the injured at government hospitals.
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