"We are giving them everything we’ve got. There is a possibility that some negative forces would exploit this situation. For example, militants can take orphaned babies and put them in terror training camps," the president said at a joint press conference with US Senator John Kerry Thursday after visiting flood-affected areas of Multan and Jampur. ]]>
“We are giving them everything we’ve got. There is a possibility that some negative forces would exploit this situation. For example, militants can take orphaned babies and put them in terror training camps,” the president said at a joint press conference with US Senator John Kerry Thursday after visiting flood-affected areas of Multan and Jampur.
Zardari urged the international community to help Pakistan in its hour of need so that the affected families could be enabled to stand on their own feet and not to fall prey to terrorist organisations, Dawn News reported Friday.
“We need to address that, all of us, rapidly, to avoid their impatience boiling over or people exploiting that impatience,” he said.
He said the world must act swiftly to stop militants from exploiting the country’s devastating floods and to prevent social unrest.
“I am sending an SOS on that. All such catastrophes give strength to those forces which do not want a state structure,” he said.
Responding to the fears expressed by the president, Senator Kerry said: “None of us wants to see this crisis provide an opportunity or an excuse for people who want to exploit the misfortune of others for political or ideological purposes.
“It is important for all of us to work overtime to provide the assistance that is necessary… I know that President Obama is determined to do that,” Kerry said.
Replying to a question, Zardari said: “I am not the government, I am the governance. But I assure you that the funds will be distributed in a transparent manner.”
The president was of the view that some undemocratic forces were maligning the government with their false propaganda about possibilities of corruption in utilisation of funds.
“There have been allegations against the government but they are malicious and baseless as always, aimed only at weakening the democracy,” he said.
]]>Israeli intelligence officials have in the past argued that Iran could complete the race for a nuclear bomb sooner than later, but their American counterparts believe the timeline is longer, the New York Times reports.
“We think that they have roughly a year dash time. A year is a very long period of time,” said Gary Samore, President Obama’s top adviser on nuclear issues.
American officials said the United States believed international inspectors would detect an Iranian move toward breakout within weeks, leaving a considerable amount of time for the United States and Israel to consider military strikes.
The American assessments are based on intelligence collected over the past year, as well as reports from international inspectors.
They also said new intelligence information was being fed into a long-delayed National Intelligence Estimate on Iran’s nuclear program.
Now, American and Israeli officials believe breakout is unlikely anytime soon. (ANI)
]]>Talking to reporters during a joint press conference along with US Senator John Kerry at the Chaklala Air Base after visiting flood-affected areas, Zardari urged the international community to pour funds to prevent ‘social unrest’ in the country.
“There is a possibility that the negative forces would exploit the situation. Like they would take the babies who have been made orphans and take them to their camps and train them as the terrorists of tomorrow,” The Daily Times quoted Zardari, as saying.
“I am sending an SOS on that,” he added.
Zardari said the government was trying its best to provide relief to thousands of people affected by the catastrophe, however, he also cautioned people over extremists taking advantage of the situation.
“We are giving them (victims) everything we’ve got. There is a possibility that some negative forces would exploit this situation,” he said.
Speaking during the press conference, Kerry said President Obama is committed to help Pakistan amidst the impending crisis and certainly does not want the negative forces to exploit the situation for their benefit.
“None of us wants to see this crisis provide an opportunity or an excuse for people who want to exploit the misfortune of others for political or ideological purposes. It is important for all of us to work over time to provide the assistance that is necessary… I know that President (Barack) Obama is determined to do that,” Kerry said. (ANI)
]]>]]>
Islamabad, Aug 19 (IANS) US Senator John Kerry Thursday announced an aid of $200 million from the US for Pakistan, and warned that fundamentalist elements could utilise the opportunity if the world did not step forward to help the flood-ravaged people.
Kerry, with Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari by his side, was addressing a press conference in Islamabad Thursday evening after a visit to the flood-affected areas in Sindh and Punjab earlier in the day.
Lamenting the loss of life and infrastructure in one of the worst natural disasters in the country, Kerry said the world was slowly but gradually coming to realise the devastation caused by the floods. He promised all possible help for the rehabilitation of the displaced people.
Kerry, an architect of the Kerry-Lugar bill for easing financial burden on Pakistan, said that the US was aware of the challenges confronting the country like terrorism, energy crisis and the recent floods.
Kerry said that US President Barack Obama was himself keenly monitoring the situation in Pakistan.
Zardari, speaking on the occasion, thanked the visiting US senator and said that the nation will emerge stronger from this hour of crisis. He promised that all displaced people will be provided shelter and the problems will be overcome with help pouring in from all over the world.
(Awais Saleem can be contacted at great_wall165@yahoo.co.uk)
]]>The meeting has been deferred to Friday, said the Prime Minister's Office. ]]>
The meeting has been deferred to Friday, said the Prime Minister’s Office.
The cabinet meeting, to be chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, is expected to approve recommendations of the parliamentary standing committee science and technology on the nuclear liability bill.
The 31-member committee, which examined the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill, 2010 for over nine weeks, tabled its report in both houses of parliament Wednesday.
The panel has made a slew of proposals, that include tripling the accident compensation cap to Rs.1,500 crore ($322 million) and also sought to make suppliers of atomic equipment accountable if it is found defective or if an accident results from gross negligence.
It also recommended that while the government may increase the compensation cap, it should not decrease it under any circumstances. It also recommended doubling the period for victims’ claims to 20 years.
After the cabinet’s approval, the proposed legislation is expected to be passed during the ongoing monsoon session of parliament that is likely to conclude Aug 31.
The government is keen to get the legislation through before US President Barack Obama visits India in November as it is a prerequisite for beginning atomic trade following the 2008 India-US civil nuclear deal.
A section of the opposition has accused the ruling Congress and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of striking a deal to get the legislation through parliament.
]]>The United States has had to face a tough situation dealing with a weak democratic government and a powerful military in Pakistan, and the deluge, which has inundated almost one-fifth part of the country, has raised fears that the Taliban and other extremist organisations would make gains by stepping in to provide emergency meals and shelter to the victims.
“It certainly has security implications,” The New York Times quoted a senior American official, who spoke on conditions of anonymity, as saying.
“An army that is consumed by flood relief is not conducting counterinsurgency operations,” he added.
President Obama’s Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke has already expressed concerns over the implications that the catastrophe has had over the strategic relationship with Islamabad.
“We’re obviously not oblivious to the political and strategic implications of this catastrophe, but right now, we are fully focused on the emergency relief effort and trying to get a good assessment of the needs,” Holbrooke said.
“Worse may be yet to come,” he said while pointing towards the fact that several weeks remain in the monsoon season.
Bruce Riedel, the former CIA official who played an important role in formulating the White House’ initial policy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, also warned that the floods are likely to tilt the balance in favour of extremists in Pakistan, rather than the government, which has, so far, failed to win the hearts of countrymen.
“If the flood proves to tilt the balance of power in Pakistan, it’s more likely to tilt toward the militants than toward the government,” Riedel said. (ANI)
]]>Obama’s religion, like his place of birth, has been the subject of Internet-spread rumours and falsehoods since before he began his presidential campaign.
According to a new Pew Research Center survey, 18 per cent of the Americans now say that Obama is a Muslim, which is up from 11 per cent in March 2009.
It also found that the number of people who now correctly identify Obama as a Christian has dropped to 34 percent, down from 48 per cent in 2009.
The survey was completed in early August, before Obama’s recent comments that appeared favouring the proposed construction of a mosque near the site of the former World Trade Center, the Center said.
Meanwhile, White House officials have expressed dismay over the poll results, blaming it on “misinformation campaigns” by the President’s opponents.
“While the president has been diligent and personally committed to his own Christian faith, there’s certainly folks who are intent on spreading falsehoods about the president and his values and beliefs,” The Washington Post quoted Joshua DuBois, Director of the President’s Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, as saying. (ANI)
]]>At the same time, the number of people who now correctly identify Obama as a Christian has dropped to 34 percent, down from nearly half when he took office, according to new Pew Research Centre survey. ]]>
At the same time, the number of people who now correctly identify Obama as a Christian has dropped to 34 percent, down from nearly half when he took office, according to new Pew Research Centre survey.
Among those who say Obama is a Muslim, 60 percent say they learned about his religion from the media, suggesting that their opinions are fuelled by misinformation, says the poll.
The poll was conducted before he expressed support for the Muslims’ right to construct an Islamic cultural centre and mosque near the 9/11 terror attack site in New York.
While some suggest such a perception could pose serious political danger for the White House as the debate over his remarks continues, others say the shifting attitudes about the president’s religious beliefs could also be the result of a public growing less enamoured of him and increasingly attracted to labels they perceive as negative.
In the Pew poll, 41 percent disapprove of Obama’s job performance, compared with 26 percent disapproval in its March 2009 poll.
More than a third of conservative Republicans now say Obama is a Muslim, nearly double the percentage saying so early last year. Independents, too, are now more apt to see the president as a Muslim: Among independents, 18 percent say he is a Muslim, up eight percentage points.
Obama was born to a Kenyan father and an American father and was brought up by his maternl grandparents in Hawaii because his father, who was also called Barack, left for Africa when Obama was just two. He has said in his autobiography that his grandfather, Hussein Onyango Obama, was a Muslim.
Expressing dismay over the poll results, White House faith adviser Joshua DuBois blamed “misinformation campaigns” by the president’s opponents.
“While the president has been diligent and personally committed to his own Christian faith, there’s certainly folks who are intent on spreading falsehoods about the president and his values and beliefs,” he said.
The president’s Christian faith plays an “important part” in his daily life, DuBois said pointing to six speeches on faith that obama has given in which he talked about his beliefs. But Dubois said coverage of Obama’s Christianity has been scant compared with news about the economic crisis, legislative battles and other issues.
]]>An NBC television correspondent embedded with the US Army's 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, reported the troops began crossing the border into Kuwait at 1:30 a.m. (2230 GMT Wednesday). ]]>
An NBC television correspondent embedded with the US Army’s 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, reported the troops began crossing the border into Kuwait at 1:30 a.m. (2230 GMT Wednesday).
The US military kept the departure under wraps until early Thursday. A Washington Post reporter present at the brigade’s departure reported the military required the accompanying media to maintain secrecy until the brigade reached Kuwait.
The brigade’s departure came more than seven years after the March 2003 invasion to topple Saddam Hussein’s regime. The most recent Pentagon figures showed 4,415 US soldiers have died in the conflict.
The 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, is based at Fort Lewis, Washington. A spokeswoman at the base could not confirm it had left Iraq but said plans were underway to have the troops back home by mid-September.
Obama had set an Aug 31 deadline for withdrawing US combat troops from Iraq, which would reduce the American presence to about 50,000 responsible for training Iraqi security forces and assisting in counter-terrorism operations.
US commanders opted to drive the combat troops out over a 580-km journey instead of flying them out to keep the last combat force in country several weeks longer, the Post reported.
All US forces are scheduled to leave Iraq by the end of 2011 as Obama shifts the focus to the war in Afghanistan. During his presidential campaign, Obama pledged to end the US role in Iraq, a war he opposed and said was draining resources from the fight against the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
The end of the US combat role marks a major shift for the Iraqi government, which has been taking on a greater responsibility for security operations.
The top US commander in Iraq, Ray Odierno, had said that a recent uptick of violence and the political stalemate in the Iraqi government following March parliamentary elections would not delay ending the combat role.
A recent upsurge of violence includes more than 80 people just in the last week, including 58 killed Tuesday when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside an Iraqi army recruiting centre in Baghdad. US officials say Al Qaeda in Iraq is severely weakened and the recent spate of attacks is a desperate attempt to show it has a presence in the country.
Tens of thousands of US soldiers have been leaving Iraq this year and hundreds of bases were transferred to the Iraqi government. The US military has expressed confidence that the Iraqis are capable of assuming security responsibilities.
US State Department spokesman PJ Crowley told MSNBC that even as the combat mission comes to a close, the United States will have a long-term commitment to Iraq as the missions from a military led campaign to a diplomatic one.
“We are ending the war … but we are not ending our work in Iraq. We have a long-term commitment to Iraq,” he told MSNBC.
]]>"Naturally if they (US) step down from the rotten imperialistic ladder and fully clarify their aims, then we would be ready for talks," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a meeting with the country's officials. ]]>
“Naturally if they (US) step down from the rotten imperialistic ladder and fully clarify their aims, then we would be ready for talks,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a meeting with the country’s officials.
“But currently they seem to be less after holding talks and more after using force,” added the ayatollah, who according to the Iranian constitution, has the final say on all state affairs.
Iran and the US have had no diplomatic ties for more than three decades.
Hopes on both sides that the presidency of Barack Obama would put an end to the political estrangement faded after Iran neither made any concessions in the nuclear dispute nor in the dilemma in the Middle East.
“We are in favour of talks but not in the shadow of threats and sanctions,” the ayatollah said, referring to the latest United Nations Security Council sanction resolution that was initiated and supported by Washington.
“The US approach towards us is still based on rejecting our Islamic system and we in return still reject the imperialistic nature of the US,” Khamenei said.
He said that the US should know that Iran would not bow to any pressure and “especially not make any concession in the nuclear field and continue pursuing its rights until production of its own (nuclear) fuel.”
Referring to a probable military attack by the US against Iran’s nuclear site, the Ayatollah doubted such a scenario would be realised.
“I doubt that they would commit such stupidity but if they realised such threats, then they should know that the Iranian reaction would not be limited to our (Persian Gulf) region but be far more expanded,” Khamenei warned without further elaborating.
]]>