Benazir Bhutto determined to return to Pakistan

Former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has said that she is determined to return to Islamabad between September and December, in spite of the probability of her being arrested by the Musharraf regime."I must return home, even if they arrest me. I am ready for detention," she said in an interview with the BBC.

Expressing disappointment over President Musharraf's recent statement in which he had ruled out any possibility of her return and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, she said, "I am very much disappointed by his statement because I believe that the extremists are in a bid to establish a parallel government in Pakistan stretching from Tank to Islamabad.

Musharraf should welcome me and Nawaz Sharif in the country in the present situation." Though determined to face the risk of arrest, Benazir said that the military regime could levy any charge against her.She accepted that she is in contact with Musharraf, but refuted reports of any deal being worked out between her party Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the government. "There have been contacts, but deal is something else. There hasn't been any agreement under which we could accept him, "she said.She said that her party wants to see the army returning back to barracks.

Thirteen killed in raid near troubled Pakistan town

Suspected Islamist militants attacked the house of a senior government official in a village in north-western Pakistan and killed 13 people, police said on Thursday.
The attackers firing rocket-propelled grenades and rifles forced their way into the fortress-like home of Pir Aurangzeb in a village near the troubled town of Tank late on Wednesday.
"We could hear the rattle of guns and explosions in our office," said village police chief Sanaullah Khan Marwat. "It was a big attack and a large number of militants were involved."
Aurangzeb, a senior official with the government-run power utility, was killed in the attack along with five of his relatives and seven guests.
One of Aurangzeb's brothers is an Islamic cleric while another is a political agent, the top government official in a tribal region near the Afghan border.
Police were investigating whether they were the target of the attack. Neither brother was in the house at the time.
Violence has increased in parts of north-western Pakistan over the past year. Some analysts see this as evidence of "Talibanisation", the spread of militant influence from remote tribal regions on the Afghan border to more developed, populous areas.
Militants angered by Pakistan's support for the U.S.-led war on terrorism have killed many government officials in recent years in the tribal regions.
Tank, where Islamist militants are active, is the gateway to the South Waziristan tribal region on the Afghan border, a hotbed of support for al Qaeda and the Taliban.
Militants killed two paramilitary soldiers in a suicide bombing and another in an ambush near Tank on Monday.
Courtesy: scotsman

JSQM threatens protests on 30th

Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM) Chairman Bashir Qureshi on Friday announced that province-wide protest rallies and demonstrations would be organised on May 30 to press the authorities to release “missing” nationalist activists, including Dr Safdar Sarki. Addressing a news conference here, the JSQM chief regretted that despite the “long march” from Sukkur to Karachi, the government paid no heed to the issue. He said if the government did not take notice of even the May 30 protests, then the JSQM would block the National Highway at Hatri for 24 hours, halting traffic to and from the Punjab.