Pakistan bin Laden commission runs into trouble

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's new commission into how Osama bin Laden lived in the country undetected for so long ran into trouble Thursday as one appointee refused to take part and the political opposition criticized it.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani announced Tuesday that an independent commission would investigate the circumstances of the Al-Qaeda chief's presence in Abbottabad, where he was shot dead by US Navy SEALs in a covert operation.

The revelation that the world's most-wanted man lived in a garrison city just a stone's throw from a top military academy raised questions about complicity or incompetence within the Pakistani security services.

Gilani's office said the five-member commission would be headed by senior Supreme Court judge Javed Iqbal and was mandated "to ascertain the full facts regarding the presence of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan".

However, former supreme court judge Fakhruddin Ebrahim told AFP on Thursday that he had written to the prime minister refusing to sit on the panel.

"I was not consulted before my name was included in the commission and the government did not follow the procedure prescribed in the parliament's resolution," he said.

"They will have to reconstitute it," he added.

Parliament on May 14 adopted a resolution saying the composition of the commission would be settled after consultations between the leader of the house and the leader of the opposition, he said.

Talking to AFP, Farhatullah Babar, spokesman for President Asif Ali Zardari said Ebrahim's decision was a "surprise" and reserved further comment pending consultation with the law ministry.

The main opposition leader Nawaz Sharif also criticised the government on Thursday over the commission, saying he had not been consulted.

"The commission set up without consultations was meaningless. It collapsed before it could be formed. What was the use of a commission set up unilaterally?" he told reporters.

The naming of the much-awaited panel came amid demands from lawmakers in Washington and Islamabad for disclosure on the bin Laden affair after the episode threw already tense ties between the allies into turmoil.

Pakistan has suffered a wave of fresh attacks this month, with the country's main Taliban faction claiming hits on domestic and American targets to avenge bin Laden's killing.

Power shortfall reaches 6,000MW

By Mohammad Luqman
LAHORE: The electricity shortfall reached to 6,000 megawatt, increasing load shedding timings across the country up to 18 hours daily,

Sources told the power demand in the country is 18,100 mw while the production is just 12,175 mw.

Owing to huge difference between demand and supply, power generating companies increase load shedding timings in urban areas up to 15 hours and 18 hours in rural areas

Pakistani forces kill five suicide bombers, including women

Al Qaeda leader bin Laden dead, says Obama

WASHINTON: Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed on Sunday in a firefight with U.S. forces in Pakistan and his body was recovered, President Barack Obama announced on Sunday.

"Justice has been done," Obama said in a dramatic, late-night White House speech announcing the death of the elusive mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the New York and Washington.

Obama said U.S. forces led the operation that killed bin Laden. No Americans were killed in the operation and they took care to avoid civilian casualties, he said. "The United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda and a terrorist who is responsible for the murder of thousands of men, women and children," Obama said. It is a major accomplishment for Obama and his national security team, after many Americans had given up hope of ever finding bin Laden.

A crowd gathered outside the White House to celebrate, chanting, "USA, USA." Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, had repeatedly vowed to bring bin Laden to justice "dead or alive" for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington that killed nearly3,000 people, but never did before leaving office in early 2009.

U.S. officials said that after searching in vain for the al Qaeda leader since he disappeared in Afghanistan in late 2001, the Saudi-born extremist was killed in the Pakistani town of Abbotabad and his body recovered. Having the body may help convince any doubters that bin Laden is really dead.

He had been the subject of a search since he eluded U.S. soldiers and Afghan militia forces in a large-scale assault on the Tora Bora Mountains of Afghanistan in 2001. The trail quickly went cold after he disappeared and many intelligence officials believed he had been hiding in Pakistan.

While in hiding, bin Laden had taunted the West and advocated his militant Islamist views in videotapes spirited from his hideaway. Besides Sept. 11, Washington has also linked bin Laden to a string of attacks -- including the 1998 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and the 2000 bombing of the warship USS Cole in Yemen.

US media: Osama killed in mansion outside Islamabad

WASHINGTON: Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is dead, and President Barack Obama will announce his death, nearly 10 years after the September 11 attacks in a televised address, a senior US official said.




The official said that Bin Laden was dead, but did not provide details of how his death occurred.



US media quoted sources as saying that Bin Laden was killed in an operation based on actionable US intelligence targeting a mansion outside Islamabad.



Obama was imminently to address Americans in a highly unusual Sunday night appearance on television.



The death of Bin Laden will raise huge questions about the future shape of al Qaeda and also have steep implications for US security and foreign policy 10 years into a global anti-terror campaign. (AFP)

Pakistan says US conducted operation

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Monday confirmed the death of al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in an “intelligence-driven military operation” conducted by the US army, in the early hours at Abbottabad.




A statement from the Foreign Office said the most wanted terrorist mastermind was killed in an operation “conducted by the US forces in accordance with declared US policy that Osama bin Ladin will be eliminated in a direct action by the US forces, wherever found in the world.”



The Foreign Office termed it “a major setback to terrorist organizations around the world.” The statement said President Obama telephoned President Zardari on the successful US operation which resulted in killing of Osama bin Ladin.



Osama bin Ladin’s death illustrates the resolve of the international community including Pakistan to fight and eliminate terrorism.



The Foreign Office statement said al-Qaeda had declared war on Pakistan. Scores of Al-Qaeda sponsored terrorist attacks resulted in deaths of thousands of innocent Pakistani men, women and children.



Almost, 30,000 Pakistani civilians lost their lives in terrorist attacks in the last few years. More than 5,000 Pakistani security and armed forces officials have been martyred in Pakistan’s campaign against Al-Qaeda, other terrorist organizations and affiliates.



Pakistan has played a significant role in efforts to eliminate terrorism.

“We have had extremely effective intelligence sharing arrangements with several intelligence agencies including that of the US. We will continue to support international efforts against terrorism.”



“It is Pakistan’s stated policy that it will not allow its soil to be used in terrorist attacks against any country. Pakistan’s political leadership, parliament, state institutions and the whole nation are fully united in their resolve to eliminate terrorism,” the statement said.

Khairpur observes strike against MQM leader’s murder

KHAIRPUR: A shutter down strike is being observed against the killing of former Haq Parast Member of Provincial Assembly (MPA) Liaqat Shaikh in Khairpur and other cities of Sindh on Sunday.




Sheikh was murdered in Karachi two days ago.



The people protested against the murder of MQM leader and torched tires on different roads of the city. Police and rangers tried to disperse the protesters.



Other cities that are observing strike include, Gambat, Ranipur, Pir Jo Goth, Thari Mirwah and other areas

Deputy PM’s post not included in Constitution, says PM Gilani

ISLAMABAD: The post of a deputy prime minister is not included in the Constitution but issues can be resolved with the Pakistan Muslim League-Quide (PML-Q), said Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani here on Sunday.




PM Gilani has said in an interview today that Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) keeps a good record of having good relations with its allied parties; the PML-N itself parted way from the PPP.



He added that the PML-Q may join the Federal Cabinet in next two days while once again an invitation has been sent to Altaf Hussain for rejoining the government.

Wikileak, Iran not rogue state nuke programme deterrent cables

SYDNEY: Australia is at odds with its major security ally the United States over Iran, saying it is not a "rogue state" and its nuclear weapons programme is for deterrence, not attack, according to U.S. cables released by WikiLeaks.



The documents, published in the Sydney Morning Herald on Monday, also reveal that Australia's top security organisation believes Tehran sees a "grand bargain" with the United States as its best way to ensure national security.



But the Office of National Assessments (ONA) shared Washington's fears that Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons could lead to conventional or nuclear war, noting a conflict between Israel and Iran was the greatest challenge to Middle East stability.



The ONA was also concerned that nuclear proliferation in the Middle East may drive Southeast Asian nations to pursue their own nuclear capabilities.



"It's a mistake to think of Iran as a 'rogue state'," then ONA chief Peter Varghese told the United States in a briefing, according to the 2008 U.S. diplomatic cables from Canberra.



The cables said the ONA sought a balanced view of Tehran as a sophisticated diplomatic player rather than one liable to behave impulsively or irrationally.



WikiLeaks has provoked fury in Washington with its publications of secret U.S. cables and has vowed to make public details of the 250,000 secret U.S. documents it had obtained.



WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is under arrest in Britain over sexual assault charges in Sweden.



A U.S. diplomatic cable from Canberra in 2008 said the ONA believed Tehran's desire to develop nuclear weapons was probably driven by a desire to deter Israel and the United States from attack rather than to launch a Middle East strike.



"ONA viewed Tehran's nuclear program within the paradigm of 'the laws of deterrence', noting that Iran's ability to produce a weapon may be 'enough' to meet its security objectives," the U.S. embassy reported to Washington.



"Nevertheless, Australian intelligence viewed Tehran's pursuit of full self-sufficiency in the nuclear fuel cycle, long-standing covert weapons program, and continued work on delivery systems as strong indicators that Tehran's preferred end state included a nuclear arsenal."



The ONA believed "Iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons as inevitable" and the Australian government was concerned that such a move could see nuclear proliferation in Southeast Asia.



A U.S. embassy report in March 2009 told Washington that Australia was "concerned about the potential for renewed nuclear proliferation in the Middle East driving Southeast Asian states to abandon the (nuclear non-proliferation treaty) and pursue their own nuclear capabilities, which could introduce a direct threat to the Australian homeland".



But Australian intelligence analysts believe "that 20 years of hostility (towards Washington) and associated rhetoric aside, (Tehran) regime attitudes "have fairly shallow roots".

Secret US Embassy Cables

Wikileaks began on Sunday November 28th publishing 251,287 leaked United States embassy cables, the largest set of confidential documents ever to be released into the public domain. The documents will give people around the world an unprecedented insight into US Government foreign activities.




The cables, which date from 1966 up until the end of February this year, contain confidential communications between 274 embassies in countries throughout the world and the State Department in Washington DC. 15,652 of the cables are classified Secret.



The embassy cables will be released in stages over the next few months. The subject matter of these cables is of such importance, and the geographical spread so broad, that to do otherwise would not do this material justice.



The cables show the extent of US spying on its allies and the UN; turning a blind eye to corruption and human rights abuse in "client states"; backroom deals with supposedly neutral countries; lobbying for US corporations; and the measures US diplomats take to advance those who have access to them.



This document release reveals the contradictions between the US’s public persona and what it says behind closed doors – and shows that if citizens in a democracy want their governments to reflect their wishes, they should ask to see what’s going on behind the scenes.



Every American schoolchild is taught that George Washington – the country’s first President – could not tell a lie. If the administrations of his successors lived up to the same principle, today’s document flood would be a mere embarrassment. Instead, the US Government has been warning governments -- even the most corrupt -- around the world about the coming leaks and is bracing itself for the exposures.



The full set consists of 251,287 documents, comprising 261,276,536 words (seven times the size of "The Iraq War Logs", the world's previously largest classified information release).



The cables cover from 28th December 1966 to 28th February 2010 and originate from 274 embassies, consulates and diplomatic missions.
How to explore the data


Search for events that you remember that happened for example in your country. You can browse by date or search for an origin near you.



Pick out interesting events and tell others about them. Use twitter, reddit, mail whatever suits your audience best.



For twitter or other social networking services please use the #cablegate or unique reference ID (e.g. #66BUENOSAIRES2481) as hash tags.



Key figures:

•15, 652 secret

•101,748 confidential

•133,887 unclassified





•Iraq most discussed country – 15,365 (Cables coming from Iraq – 6,677)

•Ankara, Turkey had most cables coming from it – 7,918

•From Secretary of State office - 8,017





According to the US State Departments labeling system, the most frequent subjects discussed are:



•External political relations – 145,451

•Internal government affairs – 122,896

•Human rights – 55,211

•Economic Conditions – 49,044

•Terrorists and terrorism – 28,801

•UN security council – 6,532

WikiLeaks - Video (www.geoinews.blogspot.com)

Turkish rental power plant to be inaugurated in Karachi today

KARACHI: The Turkish rental power plant is all set to be inaugurated in Karachi on Sunday (today). This is the most expensive rental power of the world; it will start power supply to Karachi within a month.



This floating power plant was built by a Turkish company Kiyabe and it was commissioned in 1982. After commissioning, for a long time it generated power at a dockyard of United Arab Emirates and now it has been docked for next five years at Ibrahim Hyderi Dockyard of Karachi.



This power plant contains five units which can generate electricity through gas and furnace oil both.



The Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) has refused to provide gas supply and now this rental power plant will generate electricity by using 1200 tons of furnace oil daily