The Pakistan government today banned Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the front organisation for the outlawed LeT blamed for the Mumbai attacks, after the UN Security Council declared it a terrorist outfit and sealed its nine offices in Sindh apart from rounding up over 20 of its activists.
Indian national Sarabjit Singh, on death row in a Pakistani jail, is unlikely to benefit from the government's proposal to commute all death sentences to life imprisonment as he was convicted for a terrorist act.Only those who were not involved in crimes like terrorism, bombings and spreading sectarian hatred could benefit from Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's recent announcement about asking President Pervez Musharraf to commute death sentences to life imprisonment.
Making the announcement, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told Parliament that the Interior Ministry will be asked to 'move a summary to President Pervez Musharraf to commute the sentence of those on death row to life imprisonment'. Under Pakistan Constitution, the President has powers to commute sentences.
The warnings by the intelligence agencies have been circulated by the interior ministry, which said they could be carried out as reprisals as Taliban, al Qaeda and other foreign militant elements, who have suffered badly in ongoing operations by the security forces in the tribal areas. According to official figures, more than 1,500 Taliban cadres have been killed in the army operations carried out in the Bajaur agency and Swat valley.
"Make no mistake: whatever LeT chooses to call itself, it remains a violent terrorist group. The US supports all efforts to ensure that LeT does not have a political voice until it gives up violence as a tool of influence," said Nathan A Sales, Coordinator for Counterterrorism at the Department of State.
The Pakistan consulate in the eastern Afghanistan city of Jalalabad was sealed off on Wednesday after a suicide bomber detonated himself followed by gunfire. Seven people have been reported killed.
Masood said he talked to senior police officials who said a routine search operation was going against the terrorists.
The attack in Lahore, where a group of armed gunmen took policemen at a training academy hostage, bears resemblance to the Mumbai terror attacks, Pakistan Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik said on Monday.
Pakistan on Friday stayed the execution of Sarabjit Singh. The hanging has been stayed till further notice.
Dawn News channel had on Wednesday quoted its sources as saying that Pakistani investigators had completed the initial investigation into the dossier provided by India on January 5 and found that the Mumbai attacks were not planned in Pakistan.
Pakistan is expected to respond to the Indian dossier on the Mumbai attacks on Thursday after wrapping up its investigation, extending the earlier deadline set by it to complete the probe by two days.With a 10-day deadline for the completion of a preliminary probe expiring on Tuesday, Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik held a meeting to review progress made so far in the investigation.There was no official word on the meeting.
During a meeting in Islamabad, Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik told Indian High Commissioner Satyabrata Pal about the inquiry being conducted by a three-member team into the information provided by New Delhi on the Mumbai attacks and other aspects of Pakistan's probe, official sources said. Pal, who sought the meeting with Malik, told PTI that the interior ministry chief had briefed him on the steps "already taken by the government by Pakistan.
Britain's Scotland Yard, which probed the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto, on Friday handed over a report on its findings to the Pakistani police. Officials said that the head of a three-member team of British detectives, which arrived in Islamabad on Thursday, handed over the report to senior Pakistani police officials.
Initially the visa will be offered for two weeks, an official said. Currently, nationals of 35 countries are granted visas on arrival at entry points, including Bahrain International Airport and King Fahad Causeway. The visitors should carry a valid passport and a return ticket and provide either hotel reservation details or family contacts in Bahrain for visas on arrival.
The Pakistan government has sought a report from officials on how Indian Minister Jairam Ramesh "strolled" into Pakistani territory at the Wagah border, violating rules and regulations last week, a media report has said.
The interior ministry had opposed enlisting of the MML as a political party, arguing that it is an offshoot of the banned JuD.
The Pakistan government has sealed offices of Al-Amin Trust in Karachi and Lahore and frozen several bank accounts as part of its ongoing crackdown on groups added to a UN Security Council list of terrorist organisations subject to sanctions.
The City of Love has become a scenic winter wonderland after seven inches of snow fell in Paris. Iconic landmarks such as the Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower are blanketed in snow, making the city look even lovelier than it was (if that's even possible). Here's a glimpse of Paris right now.
Television reports said at least 3 people had been injured in the blasts that went off as a music show was in progress in the Al-Hamra Complex near the stadium.
The perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai attack, who shot dead 166 people, had confessed to details that should have been enough to hang him, but Pakistan enjoyed his anti-India rhetoric and let him spread his tentacles. A revealing excerpt from Khaled Ahmed's Pakistan's Terror Conundrum.
Prisoners facing death row in Pakistan, including Indian national Sarabjit Singh, are likely to get a reprieve with the government "actively considering" a proposal to convert capital punishment into life imprisonment. "A summary prepared by the interior ministry is at an advanced stage and a final decision is expected within a few days," a source was quoted as saying by the Dawn newspaper.
Forgot what happened in the week gone by? Here's a quick recap of what took place in 10 images.
According to Pakistan's National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) list, which was updated on Tuesday, JuD and FIF were among 70 organisations proscribed by the ministry of Interior under the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997.
Indian national Ram Prakash, freed after serving a 10-year prison term in Pakistan on charges of spying, was on Tuesday sent back to jail after Indian authorities at the Wagah border refused to accept him for 'not possessing valid travel documents'.According to Prakash, the Indian High Commission in Islamabad did not send his documents to the Indian authorities at Wagah. The High Commission claimed that they had not been officially informed by Pakistani authorities.
The arrests, made over the last three months, included 115 Saudis and 21 foreigners.
A month after he resigned as the prime minister, Alexis Tsipras won the snap elections in Greece.
sources said the explosion occurred at the Iraq army centre, Tamarat, near the town of Tal Afar, close to Mosul city.
"Some of their most prominent goals were to carry out suicide attacks against public figures; oil installations and refineries and military bases inside and abroad," the ministry said.
A senior police official probing the suicide attack on former Pakistan premier Benazir Bhutto's convoy in Karachi has been removed in the wake of objections raised by her Pakistan People's Party. DIG (Investigation) Manzoor Mughal, who was heading the probe, has applied for leave and will no longer be handling the probe, Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema said.
Such migrants often find their dreams shattered as they face a lot of hardship, including torture, at the hands of agents and others who exploit them on knowing about their illegal status, they said.
A two-member delegation from Pakistan will inspect the venues and other arrangements for the team's tour in November-December.
Indian national Ram Prakash, freed last week after serving a 10-year prison term in Pakistan on charges of spying, was on Monday repatriated following a mix-up that delayed his return home.
Dev Kumar was killed on the spot in the attack in Nimroz province. Four other ITBP personnel and an Afghan policeman were injured in the attack that took place at around 4.30 pm (5.30 pm IST), Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Zenarai Bashari said.He said the attack took place during the movement of a convoy of Border Roads Organisation personnel, who are engaged in construction of the Zaranj-Delaram highway.The injured have been hospitalised.
Those affected include baggage handlers, security agents, drivers, cleaners and clerks. Most have been suspended from their jobs after an investigation by security agencies on the orders of the Interior Ministry last May.
The German police had received information about plans to carry out a bomb attack on a gurdwara in Essen by a group of teenagers from one of the suspects' mother some weeks before an explosive was detonated there, media reports have claimed.
A suicide bomber on Thursday rammed his explosive-laden motorcycle into a bus carrying Pakistan Air Force personnel, killing eight of them and injuring 40 others, in the second such attack this week in Punjab province.
A suicide bomber attacked a British embassy vehicle in the Afghan capital on Thursday, killing five people, including one Briton.
Pakistan on Tuesday executed nine convicts, including four brothers, in the latest hangings since it lifted a moratorium on death penalty last year following the Peshawar carnage.
India today said none of its nationals was killed in a Taliban attack on a heavily fortified luxury hotel in Afghanistan's capital. Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi had said that four foreigners -- one each from New Zealand, Canada, Pakistan and India -- were killed in the attack on Serena Hotel which is used by UN staff and foreign diplomats.
No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, which comes just two days after a second round of a four-country meeting in Kabul aimed at reviving talks with the Taliban
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