Government bans launch of book on Pakistan military’s business interests, writer claims

A prominent defense writer accused Pakistan’s government Thursday of banning the launch of her new book on the army’s interests in business, an issue which has been raising concern.

Ayesha Siddiqa’s book “Military Inc. Inside Pakistan’s Military Economy” was to be launched at the main auditorium of the government-run Islamabad Club on Thursday, but Wednesday night the club told launch organizers they had to find another venue.

“The launch of my book has been banned by the government. No hotel in Islamabad is allowing me to hold a ceremony for my book’s launch,” she told The Associated Press, adding that she was still looking for another place.

DEATH SENTENCE FOR BLASPHEMY IN FIRST VIDEO TRIAL

A Lahore court judge has handed down a death sentence to a man accused of blasphemy on Wednesday, as well as a fine of Rs100,000 ($16,500). Defendant Younis Masih, of Chungi Amar Sadhu had been charged with making derogatory remarks against the Prophet Mohammad, an offence punishable by hanging or life imprisonment according to state law. However, the lawyer claimed the case against his client was concocted. Defence counsel Pervaiz Aslam Chaudhry said the trial at the prison had been arranged due to security reasons, adding that all evidence in the case was also recorded through a video facility.

The lawyer said the Christian community had arranged a spiritual gathering in Chungi Amar Sadhu in 2005 when neighbour Abdul Aziz, also a complainant in the case, objected to it. It turned into an exchange of harsh words in which the complainant alleged that the accused had used derogatory remarks.

The lawyer said that the case had not been investigated properly. He contended that the offence required investigation by an officer not below the rank of SP under section 156-A of the CrPC. But, he claimed, a sub-inspector had investigated the case. Chaudhry said he would appeal against the decision.

The court also directed the police to provide security to the lawyer who had been receiving threats during the trial.

Yesterday’s was the first ever blasphemy trial to be video-televised, which had been arranged at the jail due to security issues.

Source: ADNKronos International

Book shines light on Pakistan military’s ‘£10bn empire’

The Pakistani military’s private business empire could be worth as much as £10bn, according to a ground-breaking study. Retired and serving officers run secretive industrial conglomerates, manufacture everything from cement to cornflakes, and own 12m acres [4.8m hectares] of public land, says Dr Ayesha Siddiqa, author of “Military Inc: Inside Pakistan’s Military Economy”.The book tackles a previously taboo subject - the range and depth of the military’s business interests - considered a major factor in the ambitions of the generals who have ruled Pakistan for more than half of its 60-year history. “It feeds directly into the military’s political power; it’s an expression of their personal and organisation strength,” said Ms Siddiqa, a former director of research at the Pakistan navy.

Read the complete story at The Guardian Unlimited (UK) 

Pakistani rapist’s wife offered to victim’s father for punishment

A tribal council in central Pakistan has ordered the surrender of the wife of a rapist to the child victim’s father for retribution, media reports said Tuesday. The council, called a punchayat, was convened in a village near the Punjab Province city of Multan, located 380 kilometres south of Islamabad, after police refused to register a case against a local man for assaulting the minor.

Brothers of the accused man had initially offered one of their four daughters in compensation for the crime, the newspaper Daily Nation said. But the council decreed that the father of the victim could wreak revenge on the man’s wife, who upon hearing the verdict moved to her parents’ home for protection.

Tribal law still applies in many rural areas of Pakistan and it is not uncommon for women and children to be ‘given’ to aggrieved families during the settlement of feuds.

Source: M&C News

Pakistan probes PM’s alleged flirting with Rice

Senators in the upper house of Pakistan’s parliament on Tuesday moved a motion to summon Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz over “shameful” allegations that he tried to use seductive charm to win over US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during talks.

Referring to Rice’s first visit to Pakistan as foreign policy chief in March 2005, the author of a new biography on the US politician claims that the urbane premier puffed himself up and held forth in his “seductive baritone” but to little effect.

Aziz “tried this Saville Row-suited gigolo kind of charm: Pakistan is a country of rich traditions, staring in Rice’s eyes,” wrote Marcus Mabry, Newsweek magazine’s senior editor and author of the biography Twice as Good: Condoleezza Rice and her Path to Power.

“There was this test of wills where he was trying to use all his charm on her as a woman and she just basically stared him down. By the end of the meeting, he was babbling,” Pakistani media quoted him as writing.

Moreover, Aziz is said to have bragged to Western diplomats that he could “conquer any woman in two minutes,” according to the biography.

Several Pakistani senators signed the motion seeking an explanation from the head of government in the upper house.

“The matter as published was shameful for the entire nation and needs discussion,” the motion said.

Source: Khaleej Times

Miss Japan crowned Miss Universe 2007

A 20-year-old dancer from Japan was crowned Miss Universe 2007 on Monday night in the United States, marking only the second time her country has won the world beauty title.Dressed in a black, red and purple Japanese-style gown, Riyo Mori nervously grabbed the hands of first runner-up, Natalia Guimaraes of Brazil, just before the winner was announced. Then she threw her hands up and covered her mouth, overcome with emotion.

But she gathered herself together enough to catch the diamond-and-pearl-studded headpiece valued at $250,000 as it slipped off her head when Miss Universe 2006 Zuleyka Rivera of Puerto Rico crowned her. Mori immediately placed it back on her head.

The last time Japan won the pageant was in 1959 when Akiko Kojima became the first Miss Universe from Asia.

“She is an amazing champion, an amazing woman and I hear that they go totally insane in Japan, so that’s good,” said Donald Trump, who co-owns the pageant with NBC.

Miss USA Rachel Smith, who slipped and fell to the floor during the evening gown competition and was jeered by the Mexican audience during the interview phase, was the contest’s fourth runner-up.

Mori, from the small town of Shizuoka at the base of Mount Fuji, won the cheers of the Mexico City audience when she opened her interview, saying ‘Hola, Mexico!’

Read more at: Mercury News

‘Bin Laden’ on passport spells trouble

Lebanese troops arrested four members of a Jordanian family after the surname bin Laden was spotted on one of their passports.

The passport belonged to Omar Samhouri, 22, an employee of the Saudi bin Laden Group, the construction firm owned and operated by the family of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. The family were stopped at a Lebanese army checkpoint last week as they were returning by car from visiting relatives in Tripoli.

Personnel of the seventh brigade panicked when they read the word bin Laden printed on Samhouri’s passport and all explanations by the family members did not succeed in convincing them that the occupants of the car were not planning a terrorist operation.

“We were taken to an intelligence post where we were interrogated for four hours and treated as criminals before the army commanders realised that we were nothing more than a Jordanian family who came to Lebanon to attend a wedding party, and freed us,” the father, Samhouri said.

Source: Gulf Times

Couple jailed for lying about husband’s sex

Pakistani court sent a couple to jail for three years yesterday on the grounds that they had lied about the sex of the husband who was a transsexual. The couple married last year, after the husband had undergone sex-change operations, but a medical team appointed by a high court in the city of Lahore found that the husband, Shumail Raj, 31, was a woman.

“There is sufficient evidence to establish that Shumail Raj is a woman,” Judge Khawaja Sharif said in his ruling.

He sentenced the couple to jail for three years and imposed a fine of Rs10,000 each for perjury. A decision on whether to annul the marriage would be taken at a hearing next month, he said.

The U-Fone Shoot You NEVER Saw

If you think U-Fone’s ‘baat ban jaye’ advertisment was a bit saucy, think again. Here are some clips from the U-Fone photoshoot that NEVER made its way to the masses… or is this planned for their next marketing installment. Click on the links and enjoy everyone

U-Fone Photoshoot 1 || U-Fone Photoshoot 2 || U-Fone Photoshoot 3 || U-Fone Photoshoot 4 || U-Fone Photoshoot 5 || U-Fone Photoshoot 6 || U-Fone Photoshoot 7

Battle lines drawn at radical Pakistani mosque

Pakistani security forces detained around 40 religious radicals on Sunday in Islamabad, where two policemen were being held hostage in a mosque by hardline clerics and students. Inside the compound of Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, the cleric leading the student movement belted out defiant statements from a loudspeaker, while his followers waved wooden sticks from the walls and rooftops.

“We are ready to fight, we are ready to die, but we will not back down,” Maulana Abdul Aziz cried out, as the students responded with chants of “Jihad”.

The radicals were detained in different parts of the city, away from the mosque but to try to prevent further trouble, said Deputy Commissioner Chaudhry Mohammed Ali, a senior administrator in the capital.

“We have completed our preparations and once we get the go-ahead from higher-ups we will launch a crackdown,” Ali told journalists, as police blocked streets surrounding the mosque in the heart of the normally sedate capital.

Pakistan complete series victory

Pakistan took an unassailable 2-0 lead over Sri Lanka in their three-match, one-day international series after a 98-run win in Abu Dhabi on Sunday. Chasing a big target of 313, Sri Lanka were bowled out for 215 in 39.5 overs with six wickets falling for 41 runs.  Shahid Afridi did the damage taking 3-37, while only Mahela Jayawardene put up any resistance with 61 off 69 balls.  Salman Butt’s 74 set Pakistan on their way to their imposing total with Yasir Hameed contributing with a fine fifty.

Butt and Imran Nazir put on 45 for the first wicket before the latter was bowled by Dilhara Fernando for 17, while Butt then built another solid partnership with Hameed, the pair putting on 98 before Hameed was caught and bowled by Malinga Bandara for 50.

Butt departed in the same manner but Pakistan continued to accumulate runs, Malik adding 27 before he too fell to Malinga Bandara and Mohammad Yousuf scoring 37 before being run out.

Bandara, with three for 56, and Farveez Maharoof, with three for 65, shared the bowling honours for Sri Lanka.  The Sri Lankan reply started promisingly, Upul Tharanga and Chamara Kapugedera putting on 37 in the first five overs before the latter had his middle stump uprooted by Mohammad Sami.

Traders oppose early closure of markets

The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) on Wednesday opposed early closure of markets saying that it was creating great difficulties for both consumers and traders as most of the business activities in summer was an evening affair.

Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry Acting President Jamal Abdul Nasir said in a statement that loadshedding in industrial areas was affecting the smooth operation of industries in Pakistan.

He said closing markets by 8.00pm or 9.00pm creates difficulties for shopkeepers as well as consumers.

Arrest warrants for ‘she’ couple

In the first of its kind case, the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday issued non-bailable arrest warrants for a couple after a medical examination found that the ‘husband’ was a woman!

The court issued the warrant after a five-man medical board, headed by Services Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Ejaz Bhatti, told the court that petitioner Shumail Raj was a woman.

Raj filed the petition in the court of Justice Khwaja Muhammad Sharif, alleging that ‘he’ and Shahzina Tariq had contracted marriage with free will, but police and Ms Tariq’s relatives had been harassing ‘him’.

After a medical report, the court directed Faisalabad police to arrest the ‘couple’ and produce them on the next of hearing on May 16. The judge also issued a notice to the petitioner as to why not ‘he’ be convicted under Section 193 of the Pakistan Penal Code for submitting a false affidavit to the court.

Two hanged for assaulting boy

Two men convicted of sexually assaulting and murdering an eight-year-old boy were hanged on Wednesday after President Pervez Musharraf turned down their pleas for clemency, jail officials said.

The pair was executed before dawn at a prison in Mianwali, jail superintendent Ghulam Dastgir said. Riaz Hussain Shah, 38, and Nadeem Ahmed, 30, were convicted by an anti-terrorism court in November, 1998 for raping and murdering the boy and then burning his corpse in the rural town of Bhera, he said.

Source: Dawn

Pakistan eye Whatmore as coach

Pakistan Cricket Board is in constant touch with the Sri Lankan-born Aussie Dav Whatmore to hire his services as team coach for Pakistan. This was stated by PCB Chairman Dr. Nasim Ashraf in an informal chat with the reporters here on Wednesday. “PCB is in contact with Whatmore. Our negotiations are continuing and whenever something is finalised, it will be promptly made public,” said the PCB supremo.

“PCB has also received applications from coaches in the West Indies, England, Australia and other countries and a decision on the issue will be made soon.”

PCB had advertised the coach’s post through its website last month after the death of Englishman Bob Woolmer during the World Cup had rendered the post vacant.

Whatmore will quit as coach of Bangladesh after the forthcoming series against the touring Indians. He was the man who coached Sri Lanka to their World Cup victory back in 1996.