Tag: Unrest

The death toll in a fresh wave of violence blamed on political and ethnic tensions in Pakistan's biggest city of Karachi rose to at...

KANO - The Muslim opposition candidate in Nigeria's presidential polls rejected the results Wednesday but urged calm after deadly post-election riots, amid a rush to help nearly 40,000 displaced. Authorities say many were killed the violence, which saw corpses burnt beyond recognition and bodies reportedly thrown into wells, but have refused to give a toll, saying it could spark reprisals and would be inaccurate.
There were reports of fresh clashes in the northern state of

KARACHI - Extortionists and land grabbers responsible for the prevailing unrest in Karachi that has adversely affected industrial growth in the province, provincial Commerce and Industries Minister Rauf Siddiqui said on Tuesday. "However, extortionists, land grabbers and the other criminals could be taken to task by using modern technology and developing close liaison between each institute," he said while speaking at a business community reception held at the SITE Association office.

KARACHI - Following the killings of two activist of MQM, the city, again, fell prey to unrest as unknown miscreants set two buses on fire in Landhi area on Tuesday.
According to sources, armed men forcefully vacated a passenger bus and set it on fire near Manzil pump in Sherpao Colony of Landhi.
Likewise, unknown miscreants set another bus on fire at Quaidabad poultry stop.
Police and fire brigade authorities managed to control the fire but vehicles were completely

SANAA/CAIRO - Protests erupted across much of the Arab world on Friday, where demonstrators were killed in Syria and Yemen while Egyptians staged one of the biggest rallies since President Hosni Mubarak's fall.
State television reported that armed groups killed 19 policemen in Syria's southern city of Deraa, as activists and residents said at least 17 people were killed when Syrian security forces opened fire on thousands protesting against President Bashar al-Assad in the

CAMP LIBERTY - US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said in Iraq Thursday that Iran and extremist groups such as Al-Qaeda would try to exploit the unrest sweeping the Arab world.
"Yemen has really eased up the pressure on Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula," Gates said, referring to the militant group's affiliate in Yemen, which is witnessing a popular uprising against President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
"It's also a concern that the internal security services of many of these

KARACHI - Disruption in coal supplies is plausible as the geo-political situation, emerging in Middle East and North Africa, is likely to trigger a rise in crude oil prices. With reference to Pakistan, import of coal - chiefly from Indonesia - may have an adverse impact on production cost, given the latter's electricity generation need, said Gulshan D Ferozepurwalla at SCS trade.
He pointed out that political instability dominates oil markets in Middle East and North Africa,

BEIRUT - Lebanon's Hezbollah on Thursday vehemently rejected accusations that it was involved in training members of the Shiite opposition engaged in anti-regime protests in Bahrain.
"We cannot remain silent as concerns accusations about training (regime opponents)," the Shiite militant group said in a statement. "The accusations are aimed at undermining the peaceful demonstrations of the oppressed people." The statement was in reaction to charges by Bahrain's foreign minister

AMMAN - Jordan's Islamist opposition, leftists and trade unions on Saturday demanded the ouster of Prime Minister Maaruf Bakhit, who they blame for violence that has killed one person and injured 130.
"The Islamist movement demands the resignation, or the sacking, of the government and the formation a national unity and reformist government that would win the people's trust and protect their lives,"
Hamzah Mansur, chief of the powerful Islamic Action Front (IAF), said. "Any

ISLAMABAD - President Asif Ali Zardari expressed concern about political unrest in Gulf nations on Friday but ruled out the possibility of such a situation emerging in Pakistan.
"I don't think such political unrest can reach Pakistan, as it is a different country that has a strong parliament and a stable democracy," the president said in an interview with Al-Arabia news channel. Zardari said the restive nations could not be compared with Pakistan because the country was created

ALGIERS - The spiritual leader of Algeria's influential Salafist movement has issued a 48-page fatwa, or religious decree, urging Muslims to ignore calls for change because he says that democracy is against Islam. The fatwa by Sheikh Abdelmalek Ramdani, who lives in Saudi Arabia, comes at an opportune time for President Abdelaziz Bouteflika as Algerians watching protests in other Arab states have begun pushing their own political and economic demands.
"As long as the commander

KARACHI - The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has always played a pivotal role in relief efforts during difficult times faced by Pakistani nationals, and this time too the national carrier provided facilitation and assistance in bringing back the stranded Pakistanis from Turkey due to unrest in Libya. On the instructions of PIA Managing Director Nadeem Khan Yousufzai, the PIA arranged a relief flight to Marmaris (Turkey) to bring back the stranded Pakistanis who had arrived in

ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Monday stunned the members of the Lower House by saying that Dr Allah Nazar was spearheading the separatist movement in Balochistan and was instructing miscreants after people like Hairbiyar Murree and Brahamdagh Bugti had taken political asylum in Europe.
Making a policy statement on the unrest in Balochistan, Gilani said that solid evidence had been found that organisations like the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) were involved

KARACHI - Export promotional activities have been hampered due to the prevalent unrest in Middle Eastern/African countries. Pakistan, habitual of attending international business exhibitions and fairs in respective countries/region, has cancelled visit of various delegations following the uprising in different countries of the two regions.
Traders had been facilitated by the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP); however the grave law and order situation in foreign

LAHORE - Students of the University of Education on Tuesday protested against the unrest being created in the varsity by some students of the IT Department allegedly on the instigation of expelled director of the Science and Technology Division, Dr Anwaarur Rehman Pasha, according to a press release.
According to details, some students of the IT Department forced their way into other departments and started intimidating the students to join their protest. The miscreants also

MOSCOW - Russia risks losing up to $10 billion (7.4 billion euros) in arms sales from the wave of unrest currently sweeping north Africa and the Middle East, a weapons industry official said on Tuesday. The figure is equivalent to Russia's total arms sales for 2010 and would represent a massive setback to the country's efforts to maintain its Soviet-era clients in the Middle East.
The unnamed arms export official told the Interfax news agency that Russia was carefully monitoring

ROME - United Nations food agencies on Friday warned that record-high prices for basic commodities are helping generate unrest around the world and contributed to the ousting of the Tunisian president last month. "Not only is there a risk, but there have already been riots in some parts of the world because of rising prices," Jacques Diouf, head of the UN's Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), told reporters.
"Some governments have found themselves in difficult