A selection of musings from around the cricket World Cup.
Pakistan's banned terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi on Wednesday took responsibility for a bomb attack on a senior judge of the Sindh high court earlier this month in which nine people were killed.
Pakistan's navy chief on Saturday retracted his statement -- that Ajmal Amir Kasab did not take the sea route -- and said he backed the Interior Ministry's report that nine terrorists had sailed from Karachi to launch the strikes. Admiral Noman Bashir, who had on Friday contended that the navy had no evidence to prove that Kasab took the sea route, said he was not contradicting the Interior Ministry's report on the Mumbai attacks.
India reminded Pakistan's Naval Chief Admiral Noman Bashir that Pakistan had already made a formal acknowledgement about the fact that the 10 attackers came to Mumbai from Karachi by vessels. "I am sure somebody (in Pakistan) will deny tomorrow what the Naval chief said. This is part of prevarication," Home Minister P Chidambaram told media-persons in New Delhi when asked to comment on Bashir's statement.
The case relates to alleged terror funding in 2017 in the valley and involves Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed, the 2008 Mumbai terror attack mastermind based in Pakistan.
In its first formal response to India with regard to the Mumbai attacks, Pakistan on Friday said it had initiated a 'series of actions' in connection with the probe into the terror strikes.Pakistan's response was conveyed by Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir to Indian High Commissioner Satyabrata Pal, a day after External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said Islamabad should inform New Delhi through diplomatic channels about steps it had taken in the wake of the Mumbai strike
Facing flak for inaction against Mumbai attack perpetrators, including Hafiz Mohd Saeed, Pakistan today said it does not want to take to court a "half-baked" case against the JuD chief in the absence of "legally tenable" evidence and asked India not to hold back the ties on a single issue.
Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister He Yafei, who will hold consultations with the top leadership of its 'all weather ally', stressed the need for maintaining peace and stability in South Asia, the Daily Times newspaper reported.Yafei, who met Pakistan Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir on Sunday called on India and Pakistan to work together to defuse the heightened tensions.
Indian High Commissioner Satyabrata Pal on Friday met Pakistan Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir to discuss the situation in the region.
Displaying anger at the Kabul embassy blast in which "elements" based in Pakistan were involved, New Delhi on Monday said the incident had vitiated the atmosphere putting the dialogue process "under stress" and asked Islamabad to address its concerns.
Though the main focus of talks between Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon and his Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir is on peace and security, Jammu and Kashmir and CBMs, other issues like release of prisoners, visa relaxation, trade and commerce will also come up for discussions.
Normal life was affected in Kashmir Valley on Sunday following a strike called by hardline Hurriyat Conference to protest the killing of a three-year-old boy by unidentified gunmen in Sopore.
Pakistan navy chief Admiral Noman Bashir on Friday claimed that there was no proof that Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone terrorist arrested during the terror attack on Mumbai in November last year, had used the sea route to reach India's financial capital."We have consistent surveillance on the maritime border. There is no possibility that Kasab and his associates used the sea route from Pakistan," he told a press conference.
President Pervez Musharraf has welcomed resumption of the composite dialogue process between India and Pakistan, hoping it would lead to "some fruitful and substantial" conclusion. Musharraf, who has supervised several rounds of talks with India, was given a presentation by the foreign ministry during a meeting attended by Foreign Minister Qureshi, Foreign Secretary Bashir and other senior officials, on the eve of the two-day talks to be held.
We review the latest DVD releases, in this new series launched today.
A self-styled divisional commander of the Jaish-e-Mohammad was killed and nine security personnel were injured in an encounter in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said Tuesday. The encounter broke out between militants and security forces at Shahabad-Kharpora when the ultras hiding there opened fire on the search party, Awantipora SP Bashir Ahmad Khan said.
Pakistan's Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir on Wednesday refused to confirm news reports about official investigations concluding that Kasab was a Pakistani citizen."I can at this point of time only say that our investigation is continuing. We are not in a position to confirm (the media report)," he told a TV channel.Asked if he was denying that Kasab is a Pakistani, he said, "What I am saying, mark my words, we are not in a position at this point to confirm this."
The Students Islamic Movement of India activists arrested for their alleged involvement in the serial blasts in Ahmedabad on July 26 are also suspected to have planted bombs in Surat, Crime Branch officials said on Thursday.
Accusing "elements" in Pakistan for the suicide attack on Indian mission in Kabul, India Monday made it clear that the recent spate of terror attacks and ceasefire violations triggered from across the border have put the peace process "under stress". In some tough-talking, Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon told his Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir that these concerns of New Delhi must be addressed.
Former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was posthumously awarded the prestigious Tipperary International Peace Award for 2007 in recognition of her struggle for the restoration of democracy and peace in her country. Bhutto's long-time associate Bashir Riaz received the award on behalf of her family at an emotion-filled ceremony in Tipperary in Ireland on Friday. Riaz, heading a large delegation from Pakistan and the United Kingdom, received the award.
According to the Gujarat police, Muufi Abu Bashir was present in Ahmedabad on the day of the blasts. It is not yet known where he was from January 2007 to March 2008, when he allegedly took over as the head of the SIMI network after the arrest of Safdar Nagori, the general secretary of SIMI, and his brother Karimuddin by the Indore police in March this year
In Kashmir, due to the long history of mistrust towards Delhi, the Centre gets blamed for everything that happens there. The inability of the Centre to take up issues of the Valley and the inability of the state leaders to handle the situation there has led to this environment.
In Shujaat Bukhari, Kashmir has lost a journalist, an activist, ambassador, a formidable voice and, above all, a great human being, mourns Athar Parvaiz.
Track and field athletes led India's gold rush on the third day of competitions at the 13th South Asian Games as the country added a whopping 29 medals to jump to the top of the medals tally, in Kathmandu, on Wednesday.
Bashir Ahmed Mir, the chief operational commander of the militant outfit Harkat-ul-Jehadi-Islami, was killed in Jammu and Kashmir on Friday. According to the police, Mir was the mastermind behind the Uttar Pradesh serial court blasts.
Kolkata-based Neeraj Pandey, who arrived in Mumbai eight years ago to make a career in showbiz, gives us A Wednesday this week, a gritty film about a terrorist and a cop. The film also stars Jimmy Shergill, Rajpal Yadav, Amir Bashir and Deepal Shaw.
Always known as a sensible actor, Aamir Bashir is back with his new film A Wednesday directed by Neeraj Pandey. He plays the role of a police officer in the film.
Lawmaker Bashir Ahmed took oath at a swearing in ceremony in the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Kashmir's Grand Mufti Mufti Bashir-ud-Din, Saturday asked Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad to undertake penance for his recent utterances asking people to adopt Gandhian philosophy for worldly success. In an edict (Fatwa) issued by him, the Grand Mufti said that in case "he does not undergo penance for his utterance, his act would be considered as anti-Islam."
The National Accountability Bureau officials took Sharif, 68, and Maryam, 44, into custody in the Avenfield case, shortly after their arrival at Lahore airport from London via Abu Dhabi. They were flown to Islamabad on a special aircraft and then were taken to the Adiala Jail in separate armoured personnel carriers escorted by police convoys.
The separatist leaders were detained as a precautionary measure as authorities apprehended that their visit to the village might further deteriorate the already surcharged atmosphere, the sources said.
The army should refrain from interfering in religious places and instead focus on developmental activities, grand Mufti of Jammu and Kashmir Bashiruddin said.
The development assumes significance as under MCOCA, a confession does not have evidential value if it is not a voluntary and true disclosure.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi led the delegation. She said Modi government was 'shutting down' people's voices and bringing legislations which are not acceptable to them.
Condemning the police crackdown inside Jamia Millia university, several film industry insiders, including one from Hollywood, on Monday rallied behind the university's students and said the government is trying to stifle voices of dissent against the Citizenship Amendment Act.
The 13 accused had earlier refused to participate in the trial and pleaded against the charges framed against them by the court, saying that they wanted the trial to be transferred to another court.
A party of the paramilitary ITBP soldiers had allegedly arrested Koka, an employee of a local court in Bejibehara town, from his Verinag village in 2001
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