PESHAWAR: Facing a legal battle over his eligibility just three days after he took oath as governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Shaukatullah Khan vowed on Wednesday to defend his appointment. Mr Khan, who quit as federal minister and also his seat in the lower house of parliament to become the governor, was immediately caught in a controversy when it was pointed out that under the 18th Amendment a person could become the constitutional head of a province only if he was a registered voter and resident of that province. `I am not a kid. I must have read the Constitution before taking oath of office. I must have done my homework, Mr Khan told Dawn. `All that is being said about my eligibility is not correct. Dawn.
LANDI KOTAL: A volunteer of a peace committee was killed and more than a dozen houses were set ablaze by militants in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency on Wednesday. Official sources said that Abdul Khaliq, a peace volunteer belonging to Zaodin tribe, was killed during a clash between security forces and militants in Sheen Qamar area on Wednesday morning. He was killed on the spot when a bullet hit him, they added. Militants in the area had occupied a bunker but security forces recaptured it after a shootout with them. The shootout claimed the life of the peace volun-teer, sources said. In Barkai area of Storikhel, militants torched the residential compound of a local elder, Malik Almas Khan Storikhel. Dawn.
PESHAWAR: The appointment of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Engineer Shaukatullah was challenged before the Peshawar High Court on Wednesday on the ground that he was not a registered voter and resident of the province Two identical writ petitions were filed separately by freelance journalist Shahid Orakzai and senior lawyer Gohar Rehman Khattak. Both the petitions were filed on the same ground with the request to the high court to declare the impugned appointment of Engineer Shaukatullah by the President of Pakistan as unconstitutional and against the law. The petitioners questioned whether a person could be appointed governor of a province when he was neither its resident nor a registered voter there. Dawn.
PESHAWAR: A three-day anti-polio campaign will begin in FATA from February 18, however, it will not be carried out in North and South Waziristan Agencies. An official of the Fata Expanded Immunisation Programme said that during this drive, a total of 700,000 children will be vaccinated. However, due to the security situation no anti-polio campaign would take place in South and North Waziristan agencies. He added that more than 2000 teams have been constituted for the tribal areas anti-polio campaign so that to achieve the target of 700,000 children set for immunization against the crippling disease. The Nation.
PESHAWAR: Around 894 persons, including 48 foreigners, 35 women and 24 children, were killed in the US drone attacks in North Waziristan during the last five years. The political agent of North Waziristan on Wednesday submitted complete report of casualties caused by the drone attacks from 2008 to 2012 to the Peshawar High Court (PHC) through Deputy Attorney General M Iqbal Mohmand. At the previous hearing, the court had sought detailed report from the government about the losses caused due to drone strikes in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata). According to the report, the US drones conducted 147 attacks on various locations in North Waziristan from 2008 to 2012. It said 211 people, including women and children, were also injured in the drone hits. The News.
MARDAN: Suspected militants blew up a primary school for girls in the limits of Katlang Police Station late Tuesday night, the police said. The explosives planted in the building of the Govt Girls Primary School in Taja Koroona, Shero village, went off at around 11:30pm. The explosion destroyed a room and veranda and partially damaged the boundary wall and other rooms. The News, The Nation.
ISLAMABAD: Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Mehsud tribe on Wednesday warned to continue their protest against the military operation and the United States (US) drone attacks in the South Waziristan Agency (SWA) until their demands were not met. The protesters also held a press conference to present their problems before the whole world, government of Pakistan, Army Chief and Chief Justice of Pakistan that how the people of SWA were living in miserable conditions and facing the problems. They warned that if their demands were not met and serious steps were not taken then they would devise their future strategy plan and would stage a sit-in protest in front of the Parliament. The Frontier Post.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s government on Wednesday urged the Taliban to announce a 30-day ceasefire as a precursor to peace talks which the militants offered earlier this month, adding the nation had rejected their campaign of terror. The umbrella Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) faction has stepped up attacks in recent months, leading to fears that violence could mar general elections scheduled to take place by mid-May. In a video message handed out to journalists on February 3, TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan proposed talks with Islamabad provided that certain opposition politicians, including main opposition leader Nawaz Sharif, act as guarantors. Sharif welcomed the peace talks offer but refused to be a guarantor. “First there should be ceasefire and peace talks can be held only after it,” Interior Minister Rehman Malik told reporters in Islamabad on Wednesday. Daily Times, The Nation.
KABUL: A NATO air strike killed 10 civilians, mostly women and children, Afghan officials said on Wednesday, as Kabul welcomed President Barack Obama’s pledge to withdraw more US troops. Afghan President Hamid Karzai “strongly condemns the NATO air strike in Shigal district which killed 10 civilians”, the presidential palace said in a statement. The civilians were killed by a NATO air strike during an overnight raid on a Taliban hideout in a remote eastern region, local officials said. Daily Times.
PESHAWAR: The All Pakistan Clerks Association (APCA) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Wednesday staged a protest sit-in in front of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly against the alleged delaying tactics in the approval of up-gradation and time-scale by government. To press the govt for meeting their demands, hundreds of clerks affiliated with different govt departments from across the province gathered in fronts of the KPK Assembly and asked government to approve up-gradation and time scale for them. Led by APCA KPK President Aslam Khan and district Peshawar president Zakir Khan, clerks chanted slogans in favour of their demands and alleged that CMr is using delaying tactics in approval of a summery regarding their up-gradation and time-scale. The Nation.
ISLAMABAD: Talks between Afghan Taliban and the US government concluded without showing any sign of progress in the capital of Qatar. According to details in the five days long talks the Taliban firmly stuck to the demand of release of their colleagues and the non-recognition of Karzai government. Taliban despite guarantors lent from the negotiators refused to trust them. According to the sources they straight away refused to meet JUI-F Chief Maulana Fazal Ur Rehman. According to JUI-F spokesperson Mufti Ibrar Maulana Fazal Ur Rehamn was on a personal visit in Doha, the capital of Qatar, and didn’t even try to meet the Taliban. Daily Mashriq.
ISLAMABAD: Almost all mainstream political parties and representatives of bar associations will meet here on Thursday at a multi-party conference organised by the Awami National Party to devise a joint strategy to deal with the menace of terrorism. The deliberations are likely to be dominated by the offer of talks made recently by the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan. According to the ANP, the conference will be held in camera because of the sensitive nature of the issue. `Of course, the peace talks offer made by the Taliban will be discussed at the conference,` said ANP`s parliamentary leader in the Senate Haji Mohammad Adeel. Dawn.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Ulema Council chairman Allama Tahir Ashrafi has announced that he would attend an Ulema conference in Kabul only after Taliban representatives are invited to it. Speaking at a news conference at the National Press Club here on Wednesday, he said in his opinion Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar was a freedom fighter struggling against foreign invasion in Afghanistan. He said that although most of the religious parties and groups had boycotted a peace conference held in Islamabad this week, he attended it at the request of the foreign affairs ministry because it looked odd that a delegation of Afghan Ulema was participating in it but Pakistani Ulema had refused to become part of dialogue. Dawn.
NAWAF KHAN, SHARAFAT ALI CHAUDHARY
