Never since Mujibur Rehmen, has the fauj (army), its pithus & media so obsessively targeted a man as they are targeting President Zardari.
Source – http://twitter.com/#!/NadeemfParacha
Daily Archives: 07/12/2011
‘Silent coup’ rumors swirl as Zardari leaves Pakistan
By Msnbc.com staff and wire services
ISLAMABAD — Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has traveled to Dubai after falling ill, fuelling rumors Wednesday of his possible resignation.
Close associates of the president told the Associated Press he is currently “unwell,” but did not provide specifics. His condition did not appear to be life-threatening, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
Zardari’s office said he was undergoing routine medical tests and a check-up “as planned.” ….
Read more » MSNBC
Asif Ali Zardari ‘determined to resist pressure to quit’
Pakistani president’s Dubai hospitalisation fuels rumours of a military coup, but aides say he will ‘never ever’ resign
By Saeed Shah in Islamabad
Pakistan’s embattled president, Asif Ali Zardari, is determined to resist pressure to quit, say his close aides, after speculation about his resignation was ignited by his sudden hospitalisation in Dubai. …
Read more » guardian.co.uk
President House dismisses reports about President’s health as “speculative”
The President House on Wednesday dismissed as “speculative” and “untrue” reports about President Asif Ali Zardari’s health in media and said he was in Dubai for regular medical checks. Spokesperson Farhatullah Babar told APP that President Zardari was is in a Dubai hospital for medical tests and check-up as planned. He said “reports in some sections of the media speculating on President’s activities and engagements are speculative, imaginary and untrue.” …
Read more » The Nation
Kabul shrine bomber was Pakistani, affiliated with LeJ: Afghan official
Karzai blames Lashkar-e-Jhangvi for Kabul blast
By AFP
KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai Wednesday blamed the the sectarian militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) for a bomb at a Kabul shrine which killed 55 people, demanding justice from Pakistan, his spokesman said.
The comments are likely to antagonise further already tense relations with Islamabad, which boycotted Monday’s Bonn conference on the future of Afghanistan following NATO air strikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.
“The president said he blamed the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi,” said Aimal Faizi following reports of a purported claim from the faction, blamed for scores of similar attacks on Shia Muslims in Pakistan.
“The president said that he will demand Pakistan take executive measures in this regard since this group is based in Pakistan so that justice can be done,” Faizi added.
Karzai’s comments came as he visited victims of the Kabul blast in hospital. He returned to Kabul earlier Wednesday after cutting short a trip to Europe to deal with the fallout of the unprecedented attack on Afghan Shias.
Afghan victims buried as fingers point to Pakistan
An Afghan official had earlier claimed that the bomber who attacked the shrine in Kabul was a Pakistani, affiliated with the sectarian militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ). ….
Read more » The Express Tribune
Persecution of Minorities in Pakistan, Never Ends even after death
For minorities in Pakistan, persecution never ends
By Abdul Manan
In a gruesome incident late Saturday night, 29 graves in an Ahmadi graveyard were desecrated in Dunyapur, district Lodhran, around 100 kilometres away from Multan. …
Read more » The Express Tribune
And how am I supposed to get my potassium? Islamic cleric bans women from touching bananas, cucumbers for sexual resemblance!
Islamic cleric bans women from touching bananas, cucumbers for sexual resemblance
CAIRO: An Islamic cleric residing in Europe said that women should not be close to bananas or cucumbers, in order to avoid any “sexual thoughts.”
The unnamed sheikh, who was featured in an article on el-Senousa news, was quoted saying that if women wish to eat these food items, a third party, preferably a male related to them such as their a father or husband, should cut the items into small pieces and serve.
He said that these fruits and vegetables “resemble the male penis” and hence could arouse women or “make them think of sex.”
He also added carrots and zucchini to the list of forbidden foods for women.
The sheikh was asked how to “control” women when they are out shopping for groceries and if holding these items at the market would be bad for them. The cleric answered saying this matter is between them and God.
Answering another question about what to do if women in the family like these foods, the sheikh advised the interviewer to take the food and cut it for them in a hidden place so they cannot see it.
The opinion has stirred a storm of irony and denouncement among Muslims online, with hundreds of comments mocking the cleric. ….
Read more » Bikyamasr.cm
Karzai vows to confront Pakistan over Kabul attack
KABUL: Afghanistan’s president says that the unprecedented suicide bombing at a Shia shrine in Kabul originated in Pakistan and is pledging to confront the Pakistani government about the attack.
President Hamid Karzai spoke Wednesday as he visited a hospital where scores of people wounded in the attack are being treated. At least 56 people, including an American citizen, were killed in the explosion, which occurred as Shias were commemorating the major Islamic holy day of Ashoura.
Karzai says the Afghan government has launched an investigation, but the group behind the attack is based in Pakistan and he will take the issue to the Pakistani government.
“Lashkar-e-Jhangvi which is based in Pakistan has claimed responsibility for this attack … We will investigate the issue very carefully and will discuss it with the Pakistani government,” Karzai said in Kabul.
Courtesy » DAWN.COM
Pakistani militants claim responsibility for pilgrim slaughter
A Pakistan-based insurgent group has claimed responsibility for twin attacks which caused carnage at two shrines belonging to Afghanistan’s minority Shiite Muslims yesterday.
The suicide attacks in Kabul and Mazar-i-Sharif killed at least 59 people and forced president Hamid Karzai to cut short his visit to Europe and the UK. …
Read more » ABC News
U.S. believes Zardari may resign: Report
– President Zardari may resign: Report
Report in US magazine claims President Zardari may resign over “ill-health”
An American magazine reported on Tuesday that President Asif Ali Zardari may step down due to his poor health condition.
In its report, The Cable quoted a former US government official saying that when US President Barack Obama spoke with Zardari recently regarding Nato’s killing of the 24 Pakistani soldiers, Zardari was “incoherent.” …
Read more » The Express Tribune
ISI is under nobody’s control and always keeps its hand in politics, says Mansoor Ijaz
– ISI always keeps its hand in politics: Ijaz
The S Branch of the ISI was involved in manipulating elections in Pakistan: Mansoor Ijaz
ISLAMABAD: The principal character in the memogate scandal, Mansoor Ijaz, has said that Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is under nobody’s control and always keeps its hand in politics.
In an interview with CNN host Fareed Zakaria, Mr Ijaz said: “The ISI has two critical branches in it. One is called CT, for counter-terrorism, and the other one is called S Branch for strategic —it’s sort of the arm of the ISI that does everything from political interventions in other countries, for example, Afghanistan, which is what they’re doing through the Haqqani network and the Taliban right now.”
He said the ISI was an organ of the state that nobody could control. “And it is essentially the organ of the state that the army and the intelligence wings are using to, shall we say, coordinate or obstruct what it is that the political side of the government, the civilian side of the governments do in Pakistan,” he said.
Mr Ijaz said the ISI does a lot of political interventions in its own country as it has been reported in the past by Pakistani press that S Branch was involved in manipulating elections and doing things of that nature inside Pakistan.
“Now, there have been so many wrong things that have happened since the death of Bin Laden in the early part of May, so many things that indicated some hidden hand, if you will, in what was going on,” Mr Ijaz said.
Mansoor Ijaz, who claimed himself a ‘messenger’ for a memo from Pakistan’s civilian government to the Pentagon asking Washington to clamp down on Pakistan’s military, said he had been involved in different operations in Pakistan now for a very long time. However, he did not mention that what kind of operations these were. ….
Read more » DAWN.COM
PPP government’s federal minister for Information Firdous Ashiq Awan on sick leave!
Info Minister advised to rest after accident
LAHORE: Information Minister Firdous Ashiq Awan has been advised to rest after a car accident, Geo News reported. Awan fractured her ankle in the accident which took place two days ago. The Information Minister was taken to the CMH hospital in Lahore where she was advised by doctors to rest for the next three weeks. Awan departed for Islamabad after being discharged from the hospital.
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