ISLAMABAD: Amnesty International called on the US to investigate reports of civilians killed and wounded by CIA drone strikes in Pakistan in a report released Tuesday. Amnesty said it is concerned that the attacks outlined in the report and others may have resulted in unlawful killings that constitute extrajudicial executions or war crimes, even though the US insists the strikes are legal. ”We cannot find any justification for these killings. There are genuine threats to the USA and its allies in the region, and drone strikes may be lawful in some circumstances,” said Mustafa Qadri, Amnesty International’s Pakistan researcher addressing a press conference here. The News, Daily Mashriq, The Frontier Post.
WASHINGTON: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that he would urge the United States to end drone strikes which he described as a major irritant in US Pakistan relations. Mr Sharif meets President Barack Obama at the White House on Wednesday, his first with the US leader in his third tenure as Pakistan`s prime minister. In a speech at the US Institute of Peace, he also said that India and Pakistan had a `common destiny` and they had no option but to resolve their differences peacefully. Mr Sharif told an audience of US think-tank experts and policy-makers that US drone strikes had `deeply disturbed and agitated our people` and that`s why in his very first statement to Parliament, he had `reiterated our strong commitment to ensuring an end to the drone attacks. Dawn, Daily Mashriq.
WASHINGTON: The United States denied that its drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen and elsewhere infringed upon international law and said it did all it could to avoid civilian casualties. The comments followed the publication of reports on the US drone war by two human rights groups. `We are reviewing these reports carefully,` White House spokesman Jay Carney said. `To the extent these reports claim that the US has acted contrary to international law, we would strongly disagree. `The administration has repeatedly emphasised the extraordinary care that we take to make sure counter-terrorism actions are in accordance with all applicable laws. Dawn.
PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak has expressed concern over the delay by federal government in initiating peace talks with Taliban. In a handout issued here on Tuesday, he said that Taliban continued to say that they hadn`t received any formal offer of talks from the government. `We are also aware of this delay,` he added. Dawn, Daily Mashriq, The Frontier Post.
PESHAWAR: Chief Minister, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pervez Khattak has said the US should be subjected to impeachment over what he termed the loss of innocent human lives in the unethical drone strikes. In a statement issued here today, the CM said the people of KP were paying the price of the inaction of the federal government in the form of terrorism. “The federal government should play its role towards putting the drone attacks to an end,” he demanded. The Frontier Post.
PESHAWAR: The United Nations Children`s Fund has engaged a non-governmental organisation to sensitise the staff of publications of religious seminaries to the harmful effects of polio and make them aware of the importance of vaccination to protect children against the crippling disease despite halting a similar project last year. Officials associated with the anti-polio campaign in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa said that a similar project was initiated by the Unicef in collaboration with the National Research and Development Foundation in 2009 initially in four districts for a few months, but was later extended to the whole province and Federally Administered Tribal Areas due to its success. The project was suddenly terminated in 2012. The KP has recorded seven polio cases of the total 50 countrywide in 2013, but presence of refusals had been jeopardising the country`s plan to become polio-free by 2014 due to unvaccinated children. The officials said that Fata with 37 cases was also facing the problem of refusals. Dawn.
KHAR: A border village in Mamond tehsil of Bajaur was hit by rockets fired from Afghanistan on Tuesday. According to officials at least seven rockets were fired from across the border. Three rockets landed in the border village of Sarkai, 36 kilometres from Khar, the agency headquarters. One of the rockets hit the house of a tribesman, but caused no casualties. A senior official of the agency administration confirmed the incident and said that militants living in the Kunar province of Afghanistan might be behind the attack. Dawn, The Frontier Post.
PESHAWAR: An explosion of remote control device occurred near a house in the limits of Khazan Police on Tuesday. However, no causality was reported. Unidentified miscreants planted a remote control device near house of one Munawar Khan in Ibrahim Abad area of Khazana, which exploded with big bang. As result of explosion boudrey walls of the house were damaged, however, no human loss was reported in the incident. Police teams reached to spot after the incident and started search operation in the area but no arrest was made in the operation. Bomb Disposal Unit officials said that one kg explosive material was used in the blast. The Frontier Post.
PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Information Shah Farman has said that dialogue with Taliban is in progress and has wished the success of peace talks, if the talks were successful that would be a defeat to those political elements who are opposing peace talks. This he said on Monday while talking to different delegation at his office, he said that some political were fearing parties that the success of dialogues would present their real picture to the people and their future would be darkened. The Minister further said that for the last ten years some political parties were enjoying the benefits on the so call war on terror and were receiving huge moneys and were enjoying government benefits for their personal interest. Shah Farman said that the denial of Taliban from Peshawar bomb blast was a clear proof that anti-stat elements were busy in sabotaging the peace process. The Frontier Post.
PESHAWAR (INP): Police on Tuesday 22nd October 2013 have claimed to have arrested a Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) accused and recovered maps of the houses of police officers from his possession. According to details, police conducted a raid at Ring Road area and arrested an accused TTP man. Police said maps of the houses of a DSP and an SHO were recovered from his possession. Police also said the accused was involved in attack on the residence of former KP minister Arbab Ayub Jan. Police claimed that the accused was involved in various crimes and arms were also recovered from his possession. The accused has confessed to his involvement in several crimes including murder, robbery and kidnap for ransom, police said. The Frontier Post.
