Tag: Says

ISLAMABAD - Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Kayani on Saturday said the government will decide when to launch a military operation in North Waziristan Agency, saying that it had to be decided politically, not militarily.
"It's not for the army to decide when to launch the military operation in North Waziristan... it will have to be a political decision," the COAS said in a brief chat with journalists at a luncheon hosted by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani in honour of Chinese

PERTH - Australian paceman Peter Siddle said on Saturday that England had played batsman Michael Hussey back into form during the Ashes series by bowling too short to him.
The left-handed Hussey all but put the third Test out of reach of the tourists with a crisp 116, his second century of the series, as Australia closed in on an Ashes-levelling win at the WACA Ground in Perth. On the verge of being axed before the first Test, Hussey is now the top scorer in the series with 517

BERLIN - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday for the first time that German troops were fighting a war in Afghanistan, as she addressed them on a surprise visit to the country, reporters with her said.
Her office said that she had arrived in Kunduz in northern Afghanistan to meet German troops serving there ahead of the Christmas celebrations.
She then went on to Mazar-i-Sharif for talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the US commander of international

BEIJING - China on Saturday called the situation on the Korean peninsula "extremely precarious" and urged more talks to ease tensions, the Xinhua news agency reported, as Seoul prepared for a live-fire drill.
Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun said Beijing was "deeply concerned and worried" about the situation on the peninsula, which is seeing its worst crisis in years, sparked by the North's shelling of a South Korean island last month.
Zhang on Friday summoned Seoul's

LONDON: WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange, freed on bail on Thursday after nine days in a London jail over alleged sexual offences, said he wanted to press on with his work releasing US cables and that he was innocent.
"I hope to continue my work and continue to protest my innocence in this matter and to reveal as we get it, which we have not yet, the evidence from these allegations," he said in a brief statement on the steps of the High Court in London.

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama on Thursday called on Pakistan to step up the fight to root out terrorist safe havens within its borders, saying progress "has not come fast enough".
Obama, speaking to reporters on a new war review, said that the US "welcomed" Pakistan's efforts against Islamic extremists, including offensives in it's Tribal Areas.
"Nevertheless, progress has not come fast enough, so we will continue to insist to Pakistani leaders that terrorist safe

ISLAMABAD: Environment managers in Pakistan have so far taken no serious view of a United Nations report which stated that the recent devastating flood have released some 3,000 tons of hazardous chemical posing potential threat to human health.
The report entitled "Climate Change and POPs Inter-Linkages" is due to be released by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) early next year.
The report presented at the climate moot held in Cancun, Mexico, last month revealed

LAHORE: Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram feels the national side's preparations
for the 2011 World Cup are not on the right track and it is high time the selectors picked the preliminary squad to give enough time to the players to gel as a unit.
Akram's statement echoed the views of Shahid Afridi and Waqar Younis who have stated that Pakistan needs to step up its preparations for the World Cup starting February 19.
"It is good they (Afridi and Younis) have spoken

ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court Justice Mahmood Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui on Wednesday observed that the violation of a court order by a judge could not be considered just only misconduct, but something beyond it. The bench, headed by Justice Mahmood Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui and consisting of Justice Jawwad S Khawaja, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Tariq Parvez, was hearing contempt charges against superior courts' judges who took oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) in

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Wednesday took his cabinet members into confidence on the sacking of their two colleagues, saying changes in the federal cabinet were unavoidable and more decisions would be taken to ensure good governance.
Addressing the cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's Secretariat, Gilani said he had sacked Religious Affairs Minister Hamid Saeed Kazmi for mismanagement in the Haj arrangements, and Science and Technology Minister Azam Khan

LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q) Senior Central Leader Moonis Elahi said that the people of Punjab are the biggest victims of the 'target killings wave' which has now engulfed the whole country.
Referring to the statement made by the Sindh Home Minister on Monday and the recent report of the Human Watch Pakistan which cites the murders of 12 educators of Punjabi origin living in Baluchistan, Moonis Elahi expressed serious concern and dismay at the unfortunate rise in

KABUL: Spreading violence in Afghanistan is preventing aid organisations from providing help, with access to those in need at its worst level in three decades, the Red Cross said on Wednesday.
"The proliferation of armed groups threatens the ability of humanitarian organisations to access those in need. Access for the ICRC has over the last 30 years never been as poor," said Reto Stocker, Afghanistan head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which rarely makes

ABUJA: Soldiers and civilians were killed during an assault by Nigeria's armed forces on militant camps in the oil-producing Niger Delta two weeks ago, the army chief said late Tuesday, highlighting the intensity of the violence.
Army chief of staff Onyeabo Ihejirika said eight soldiers and six civilians were killed during the army, navy and air force raids against camps believed to belong to notorious gang leader John Togo in Delta state on Dec 1. The Nigerian military rarely

PERTH: The groundsman in charge of the pitch for the crucial third Ashes Test at the WACA says the wicket is close to regaining its status as the fastest in world cricket.
The Perth pitch was once famed for lightning pace and bounce, making it a firm favourite with fast bowlers, but in recent years the wicket has lacked anything like its old venom. Ground curator Cam Sutherland said Tuesday he expected a lively wicket with a good covering of grass for the third Test, which

HAFIZABAD - Punjab Education Task Force Chairperson Saira Afzal Tarar has said that the Punjab government was spending billions of rupees for promoting education in the province.
She expressed these views while addressing a meeting of headmaster and headmistresses of the different schools in Hafizabad. Hafizabad District Education Promotion Committee Chairman Muhammad Bukhsh, Executive District Officer Education Sohail Azher Khan and attended the meeting.
She regretfully

ISLAMABAD: Army generals who violated the Supreme Court's restraining order issued by a seven-judge bench on November 3, 2007, will be issued contempt notices, Justice Jawwad S Khawaja said on Monday.
The bench was hearing contempt charges against superior courts' judges who took oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) in defiance of the Supreme Court orders. The bench on Monday dismissed objections of PCO judges on the bench's composition, rejecting a plea for the

LAHORE: The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Chief Syed Munawar Hassan on Monday said that the rulers at the centre and in the provinces had agreed on the levy of the RGST under the US dictations as both were in the run to prove their obedience to Washington.
He said this while talking to media at Mansoora after addressing the JI central workshop. He said Opposition's stance against Reformed General Sale Tax (RGST) was only to befool the masses and if it was sincere to the people, it should