RAWALPINDI: Government of Pakistan has announced operational awards for the Armed Forces of Pakistan on the occasion of Defence Day of Pakistan 6th September 2009. Details are as follow:-

Sitara-i-Basalat has been awarded to Lieutenant Colonel Muhammad Tahir Iqbal (Shaheed), Major Muhammad Zubair (Shaheed), Major Abid Majeed Malik (Shaheed), Major Syed Zahid Hussain Shah (Shaheed), Lieutenant Safi Ullah (Shaheed) and Havildar Naeem Asghar (Shaheed).

Tamgha-i-Basalat has been awarded to Captain Muhammad Tahir, Captain Muhammad Abid Khan (Shaheed), Lieutenant Muhammad Zeeshan (Shaheed), Naib Subedar Arshad Mahmood (Shaheed), Naib Subedar Sharif Nadir (Shaheed), Naib Subedar Himat Khan (Shaheed), Havildar Abdur Rehman (Shaheed), Havildar Muhammad Yousaf (Shaheed), Havildar Mazher Rehman (Shaheed), Havildar Dewa Gul, Naik Akmal Said (Shaheed), Naik Abdul Rehman (Shaheed), Naik Rehmat Ullah (Shaheed), Lance Naik Mirabat Khan (Shaheed), Lance Naik Jalil Khan, Lance Naik Intizar Khan (Shaheed), Lance Naik Sarfraz Hussain (Shaheed), Lance Naik Jahangir (Shaheed), Lance Naik Shadab Haider Shah (Shaheed), Sepoy Iftikhar Ahmed (Shaheed), Sepoy Ghulam Gillani (Shaheed), Sepoy Muhammad Jahangir (Shaheed), Sepoy Muhammad Sajid, Sepoy Muhammad Ramzan Khan (Shaheed) and Sepoy Arif Hussain (Shaheed).

Imtiazi Sanad has been awarded to Colonel Mujahid Hussain, Colonel Saif Ullah Orakzai, Major Muhammad Farooq, Major Jehangir Khan, Captain Syed Ali Raza Gillani, Captain Rizwan Ahmed Shaikh, Subedar Major Sher Hayat Khan, Havildar Abdul Rahman, Lance Naik Shah Nawaz and Sepoy Nasir Mahmood.

COAS Commendation Card has been awarded to Colonel Naseer Ahmad Janjua, Lieutenant Colonel Mirza Asif Hussain Baig, Lieutenant Colonel Tauqir Abbas Shah, Lieutenant Colonel Arshad Mahmood, Lieutenant Colonel Abrar Hussain, Lieutenant Colonel Muhammad Saeed, Major Muhammad Ilyas Khan, Major Muhammad Ejaz Akhtar, Major Salman Jamil Noor, Captain Bilal Hasham, Captain Syed Fassih Ul Hasnain and Lieutenant Sami Ullah Khan Niazi. link

ISLAMABAD: A massive reshuffle has been made in almost entire top structure of the bureaucracy, after the Prime Minister granted permission. However in the process of promotion and transfers, many senior officers have been sidestepped against some favourites.

According to senior reporter Gulam Qadir’s report from Rawalpindi, the chosen-ones, who have been promoted to grade 22, also include Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary Nargis Sethi, although she stands on number 63 in the seniority list of the grade 21.

IG Javid Ali Shah Bukhari was moved to grade 21 just two month ago, yet he has been promoted again to grade 22, however there are about 40 senior officials in Police Service of Pakistan who have been bypassed in the run of grade 22.

Chief Secretary Punjab Javid Mehmod has been promoted to grade 22, however many officers of his group remained unsuccessful to be promoted to grade 22.

In the Seniority List, MD Police Foundation Khawja Khalid Farooq stands on 14th number; Commandant Police Foundation Syed Shabir Ahmed on 18th; DG Tariq Khosa on 23rd and IG Motorways on 33rd, nevertheless neglecting many senior officers, these dearies have been rewarded with grade 22. link

TEHRAN: Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi renewed on Saturday fraud allegations against Iranian authorities over the June election and called for continued protest.

"People, your friends are committed not to betray you on the path of fighting liars and fraudsters," Mousavi said in a statement carried on his official website.

"With respect to this commitment, the only way that I recommend is to continue on the green path that you have followed in the past months ... with small and large gatherings, campaigns and questions," he said.

Mousavi's call came two days after Iran's conservative-dominated parliament united behind President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and approved the vast majority of his proposed cabinet as reportedly advised by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Mousavi, who came in second, dismissed the June 12 poll as a "shameful fraud" as hundreds of thousands of Iranians poured on to streets in protest against the election.

The protests, in which dozens of people were killed and thousands were arrested, have plunged Iran into its worst crisis since the 1979 Islamic revolution. But Khamenei strongly backed Ahmadinejad, dismissed fraud allegations, pointed an accusing finger at Western states over the unrest and held opposition leaders responsible for the ensuing violence.

The election and its aftermath have bitterly divided Iran's political elite and the authorities have also faced mounting criticism over their handling of the protests amid charges that protesters were raped and tortured in custody. link

WASHINGTON: The International Monetary Fund on Saturday welcomed what it said was an Indian commitment to buy 10 billion dollars worth of IMF bonds. link

TEHRAN: The Iranian Parliament approved President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's nominee for Health Minister, Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi, yesterday.

Dastjerdi is the country's first woman to be appointed to the cabinet since Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979.

Dastjerdi is reportedly a hard-line conservative who has previously proposed gender segregated healthcare. She is a gynecologist and currently teaches at the Tehran University of Medical Sciences, where she is also a member of the Medical Ethics Board Committee, reported Bloomberg.

Ahmadinejad was sworn in to his second term in office August 5, following widespread massive protests both in Iran and internationally after June's disputed presidential election. Women played a major role in the public uprising that followed the election and were particularly visible during the election campaigns.link

WASHINGTON: The lawyers of Dr. Afia Siddiqui Elaine Sharpe and Charles Swift will be travelling to Pakistan and Afghanistan, respectively, within next few weeks, to gather evidence to fight the case of Dr. Afia Siddiqui in a US federal court.

Diplomatic sources told The News here on Friday that Ms Elaine Sharpe and Mr. Charles Swift met with Pakistan's ambassador to the United States Hussain Haqqani and discussed various issues relating to the defence of Dr. Afia Siddiqui. Ambassador Hussain Haqqani assured the lawyers that Pakistan Government will fully cooperate with lawyers to end the ordeal of Dr. Afia siddiqui.

It may be pointed out here that Pakistan Government has paid 1.5 million US dollars to three lawyers-Elaine Sharpe, Linda Morano and Charles Swift to represent Dr. Afia Siddiqui's case in a federal court. Dr. Afia's arrest was announced by the US forces in Afghanistan last year after her mysterious disappearance in 2003 from Karachi.

According to the sources attorney Elaine Sharpe's visit to Pakistan and Charles Swift travel to Afghanistan will be focusing on finding what happened to Dr. Afia during the years of disappearance and who orchestrated it. link

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari has approved appointments of 13 new judges.

Approval has been granted for induction of 2 judges for the Supreme Court and 11 additional judges for Peshawar and Balochistan high courts link

LAHORE: Pakistan Sugar Mills Association put up a defiant attitude by refusing to sell suar at Rs36/kg, Geo News reported Saturday.

Addressing a press conference here, Sugar Mills Association Punjab Chairman Javed Kiani said they would not flinch back and as a last resort, close down the mills even if they are arrested.

He said the government gave incorrect statistics to the court.

Under the circumstances, the sugar crisis is expected to rage on, Kiani said adding the mills are already suffering from financial slump and would not be able to pay out to the cultivators and banks.

Javed said an appeal would be filed as soon as the court’s signed ruling is received; but, they cannot provide sugar at Rs36/kg, warning to government to plan beforehand for sugar, as there would be less sugar yield next year.

The government is harassing the inventors, and in this harrowing condition, nobody would set up mills here, he warned. link

TEHRAN: Iran said it won’t bow to international pressure to meet an end-of-September deadline for holding talks on its nuclear program.

The U.S., China, Russia, France and the U.K., the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, and Germany, met near Frankfurt yesterday to discuss the offer for direct talks with Iran.

“The Iranian nation favors interaction and dialogue but will not surrender to pressure,” state-run TV cited Hassan Qashqavi, the foreign ministry spokesman, as saying.

He was replying to a question on how Iran will respond to the September deadline, TV said.

The U.S. and its European allies suspect Iran is developing atomic weapons. They say they will seek international backing for stiffer sanctions on Iran should the Persian Gulf nation rebuff negotiations aimed at curbing its nuclear ambitions.

Iran’s top negotiator, Saeed Jalili, said today his country will present updated proposals for talks next week, Agence France-Presse reported.

Iran continues to enrich uranium in violation of United Nations sanctions, the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a report last month. The Vienna-based UN nuclear watchdog also said it can’t exclude the possibility that there is a military purpose to Iran’s nuclear program.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the threat of sanctions won’t sway Iran. “No one can impose sanctions on Iran anymore,” he said at a press conference in Tehran today, as quoted by the state-run news agency.

It remains unlikely that Iran is willing to make the necessary compromises on at least limiting its enrichment of uranium, said Cliff Kupchan, a senior analyst at Eurasia Group in New York.

The new Iranian proposal will probably focus on Iran’s role in the international order rather than offering concrete ways to resolve the nuclear dispute, according to Samuel Ciszuk, a Middle East energy analyst for London-based business intelligence company IHS Global Insight.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said July 27 that the U.S. will seek support for “a much tougher position” should Iran reject the deadline. Any new sanctions wouldn’t be incremental, he said on a visit to the Jordanian capital, Amman. LINK

GAZA CITY: Israeli warplanes struck the Gaza Strip early on Friday near the southern city of Khan Yunis, Palestinian and Israeli officials said.

The air strike targeted a tunnel under Israel's security barrier that was to be used to infiltrate Palestinian militants, an Israeli military spokeswoman said.

Palestinian security officials confirmed the air strike, adding that no one was injured.

Five mortar rounds were fired from the Gaza Strip at Israel on Thursday without causing damage or casualties, according to the Israeli military.

Two exploded inside Israeli territory, a third landed near the Karni crossing point into the Palestinian enclave and the other two hit near the border fence on the Palestinian side, a military spokesman said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned on several occasions that the Israeli army would respond to each rocket or shell fired into Israel.

According to the army more than 200 rockets and shells have been fired from Gaza since Israel's 22-day offensive against the Hamas rulers of the territory in December and January.

Operation "Cast Lead", which led to more than 1,400 Palestinian deaths including hundreds of civilians and which devastated swathes of the coastal strip, was officially aimed at ending the firing of rockets from Gaza. LINK

SEOUL: South Korea Friday pledged a stern response to North Korean "threats and provocations," after the communist state said it was in the final stages of an enriched uranium nuclear weapons programme.

"We find it very regrettable that the North's attitude goes against the UN resolutions," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

In a letter to the Security Council, the North said earlier Friday that an experiment to enrich uranium,a second route to a nuclear bomb, has entered its final phase.

It also said it was building more atomic bombs from spent reactor fuel rods."This is intolerable," the ministry said. "The government will take a stern and consistent response to North Korea's threats and provocations."

Spokesman Moon Tae-Young said South Koreans will have "in-depth" talks with US special envoy on North Korea Steven Bosworth, who arrives here later Friday from Beijing. LINK

LONDON: Leader of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) and former Chief Minister Sindh Syed Ghous Ali Shah said 1992 military operations was not against MQM but against criminal elements which was exceeded from the limits.

In a press conference here, Ghous Ali Shah said there are such elements in Pakistan, which want to see democratic process derailed. A dictator in army uniform contested presidential election in Pakistan while no Pakistani court prohibited him from so doing.

He said if we paid leniency to him who disrespected the constitution of Pakistan so democracy will always remain safe and sound.

Replying to question about Kargiln he said the then COAS kept Nawaz Sharif in dark about the Kargil issue.

He said Nawaz Sharif was not a part of the deal under which Musharraf left the presidency. Sharif never became a part of any deal.

Former Chief Minister Sindh said Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto worked with a dictator but when realize it was not in the interest of the country, he formed a separate party. He said Peoples Party blamed for the murder of Altaf Hussain’s brother and nephew but today both parties are sitting together.
LINK

WASHINGTON: US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that the war is worth fighting and signaled for the first time he may be willing to send more troops after months of publicly resisting a significant increase.

Gates urged patience amid polls showing rising disenchantment among the public with the war effort, saying the American military presence in Afghanistan was necessary to derail terrorists.

At a Pentagon news conference, Gates said efforts by President Barack Obama _ including ordering an additional 21,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan this spring _ are ``only now beginning'' to take effect and should be given a chance to succeed.

``I don't believe that the war is slipping through the administration's fingers,'' Gates said. Later, he added: ``I absolutely do not think it is time to get out of Afghanistan.'' At the same time, there is a ``limited time for us to show that this approach is working,'' Gates said. LINK

LOS ANGELES: Michael Jackson's family arrived at a suburban Los Angeles cemetery as the start of a funeral service for the "King of Pop" was delayed by more than one hour.

A motorcade of some 31 vehicles swept into the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale just after 8:00 pm (0300 GMT) local time for the service, which is being attended by around 200 close friends and family. Six black Rolls Royce limousines headed the convoy of mourners followed by several luxury sports utility vehicles.

Television footage showed Jackson's three children -- Prince Michael 12, Paris, 11, and seven-year-old Prince Michael II, otherwise known as "Blanket", arriving for the outdoor service as a piano played in the background. The singer's parents Katherine and Joe Jackson were seated near the children in the front row as other members of the musical clan filed in.

Other guests who had arrived earlier included Hollywood icon Elizabeth Taylor and actor Macaulay Culkin.

Jackson, who died aged 50 on June 25, will be laid to rest in an ornate mausoleum at the cemetery, where Hollywood icons such as Humphrey Bogart, James Stewart, Spencer Tracy and Walt Disney are buried. LINK