Lahore suicide attacks: six security men among 20 dead

12 March 2010

LAHORE: Two suicide attackers blew themselves up near security forces vehicles in RA Bazar area of South Cantt as crowds gathered for Friday prayers killing at least 20 people including six security personnel and injuring 40, Geo News reported. Both the bombers were on foot, SSP Operations Chaudhry Shafiq told Geo News. Six security men were among the dead, he added. Director General Rescue 1122 told Geo News that 20 people have been killed and forty injured. Rescue workers and paramedics rushed to the R A Bazaar, a densely populated area of the city. The area was crowded as the blasts occurred shortly before the main Friday prayers were to start. Emergency has been declared in city hospitals and injured were shifted to CMH and other hospitals. Security forces have cordoned off the area and traffic was blocked. Media was not allowed to go near the scene. The blasts came four days after a suicide car bomber destroyed offices used to interrogate suspected militants in an upmarket district of Lahore.

Blast in Lahore’s RA Bazar

12 March 2010

LAHORE: There were reports of a bomb blast in RA Bazar area of Lahore near a bus stand, Geo News reported Friday. Rescue teams and ambulances have been sent to the scene.

Pak Navy tests fire missiles, torpedo: ISPR

12 March 2010

KARACHI: Pakistan Navy has conducted successful missiles, torpedo test in Arabian Sea on Friday morning, Geo news reported ISPR sources as saying. The missiles and torpedo were fired from F22 p Frigate, P3C and Agosta 90B while the Navy Chief Admiral Noman Nashir witnessed firepower, ISPR said. According to ISPR spokesman, these tests sent signal of strong deterrence to all.

Hemara Nizam-e-Riyaset by Dr Mujahid Mensoori

12 March 2010

Mixed human rights record in Pakistan: US report

12 March 2010

WASHINGTON: The United States reported on Thursday that the US-backed governments in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq had mixed results in protecting human rights in 2009. In Pakistan, “significant human rights challenges remain” even though the civilian authorities took some “positive steps, “ the US State Department said in an annual report on human rights abuses worldwide. It said “major problems” included extra-judicial killings, torture, and disappearances. The report said human rights abuses continued in Iraq even when the security situation had improved. “There were reports that the government or its agents committed arbitrary or unlawful killings in connection with the ongoing conflict, and insurgent and terrorist bombings, executions, and killings continued to affect all regions and sectors of society,” it said. It added that “violence against the media was common, and media workers reported that they engaged in self-censorship.” “The security situation in Afghanistan deteriorated significantly because of increased insurgent attacks, with civilians bearing the brunt of the violence,” Separately, China’s human rights record worsened last year as authorities increased harassment of activists and repression in the Xinjiang region, the US State Department said. “The government’s human rights record remained poor and worsened in some areas,” the annual report by the department said. It said Beijing “increased the severe cultural and religious repression of ethnic minorities” in Xinjiang, the western region that last year saw deadly clashes between China’s Han majority and the local Uighur people. The department said China “continued to repress Uighurs expressing peaceful political dissent and independent Muslim religious leaders,” by trying to associate the predominantly Muslim people with terrorism. “Uighurs were sentenced to long prison terms, and in some cases executed, on charges of separatism,” the report said. The State Department took note of China’s release last year of an action plan on human rights, which addresses issues such as prisoners’ rights and the role of religion. But the department said authorities did not implement the action plan.