Iran coach eyes 2011 Asian Cup triumph

Iran coach Afshin Ghotbi said on Wednesday that he hopes to pilot his side to glory in the 2011 Asian Cup finals and what would be a first title in 35 years.

The draw in the Asian Cup 2011 to be played in Qatar from January 7 to 29 groups Iran, the Asian powerhouse from the late 1960s through the 1970s, with current Asian Cup champions Iraq, North Korea and the United Arab Emirates.

"We are there for victory, we are trekking on this path and we will act professionally. Our aim is the championship but I am not promising anything," Ghotbi told a Tehran press conference, his last as coach of Team Melli.

"Now all Iranians have to keep the tempo in backing the team... it is their children playing for glory... to achieve the title after more than three decades," he said.

Ghotbi, who will part with Team Melli after the Qatar finals, said that he has planned a 10-day training camp in the host nation, with whom Iran will play a pre-tournament friendly on December 28. A second has been pencilled in against Angola on January 2.

"I have assembled a team based on the players' being football-smart, team-minded, and having an instinctive ambition for the title," Ghotbi said, when asked why some recent caps had failed to make the squad.

However, both Javad Nekounam and Masoud Shojai of Spanish La Liga club Osasuna have made the shortlist.

Iran's opening game in Qatar will be against holders Iraq on January 11.

Ghotbi said: "I cannot say that Iraq is the hardest game we face, but our people have to recall that even Spain lost its first match in the 2010 World Cup, so people have to keep on backing the team throughout the tournament.

"It is very important for us to make it to the knock-out round after playing the first two matches... The days are long gone when you knew who was going to win the championship before the finals had started."

Iran has a current FIFA ranking of 66, which puts it behind Japan, South Korea and Australia. The country won the Asian Cup in 1968, 1972 and 1976, and hosted the continent's biggest football event in 1968 and 1976.

IMF completes sale of 403 tonnes of gold

The International Monetary Fund said Tuesday it had completed the sale of more than 403 tonnes of gold, part of a two-year drive to shore up the multinational lender's finances.

There were no immediate details of the final sale, but the IMF has previously announced the sale of 200 metric tonnes to India, ten tonnes to Mauritius, ten tonnes to Sri Lanka and ten tonnes to Bangladesh.

The sale to those countries was said to be around 7.6 billion dollars.

IMF members agreed in 2008 that the fund could sell an eighth of its gold assets in order to diversify its financial model so that it no longer relies on lending.

The fund is one of the world's largest holders of the precious metal.

British economy suffers growth downgrades

British economic growth for the first three quarters of 2010 was downgraded Wednesday in a fresh piece of bad news for the economy, which faces headwinds next year from government austerity measures.

Gross domestic product -- the total value of all the goods and services produced in the economy -- grew by 0.7 percent in the July-September period.

"UK gross domestic product (GDP) in volume terms rose by 0.7 percent compared with the previous quarter, revised down from the 0.8 percent rise published in November," the Office for National Statistics said in a statement.

In a further blow, the ONS also trimmed its estimate for second-quarter expansion to 1.1 percent, compared with 1.2 percent previously.

And first-quarter economic growth was pegged back to 0.3 percent from 0.4 percent.

The downward revision in the third quarter was largely due to lower growth from the construction sector, industrial output and business services.

The downbeat news comes one day after data showed that British state borrowing soared in November to the highest monthly level since records began.

IHS Global Insight economist Howard Archer argued that the economy was holding up -- but would face major headwinds next year as the government imposes deep spending cuts and large tax hikes to slash a huge deficit.

"While the modest downward revision to GDP growth ... is disappointing, it does not fundamentally change the picture that economic activity held up well in the third quarter after robust growth in the second quarter," he said.

However, he added: "We expect growth to lose significant momentum over the coming months as fiscal tightening increasingly bites and adds to the pressures on already stretched consumers."

In the foreign exchange market, the British pound sank against rival currencies following news of the downgrades.

"This is really disappointing news," said Mark Bolsom, head of the UK trading desk at Travelex Global Business Payments in London.

"The revision has taken the shine off the data and markets will be disappointed that UK growth is not as robust as it initially seemed."

He added: "It's a bad end to the year for sterling, as I expect growth to slow sharply next year as spending cuts and tax hikes start to bite."

Britain is facing the prospect of taxation hikes and massive cuts to public spending in 2011 as the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government seeks to slash a huge deficit.

On January 4, the VAT sales tax on goods and services rises to 20 percent from 17.5 percent currently.

The ONS added on Wednesday that British GDP climbed by 2.7 percent between July and September compared with the third quarter in 2009. That was also a modest downgrade from the previous figure of 2.8 percent.

Market expectations had been for no change for both the quarterly and the annual readings for the third quarter.

In November, Britain raised its official 2010 growth forecast to 1.8 percent from 1.2 percent, citing a stronger-than-expected recovery.

However, the economy was expected to grow more slowly than expected in 2011 and 2012, as the sweeping austerity measures begin to bite.

Pakistani IT firm's app tops Blackberry list

Photo editing software developed by Pakistani technology firm Five Rivers has become the best selling paid-for application for the Blackberry, the firm said Wednesday.

Lahore-based Five Rivers said its Photo Editor Suite had hit the top spot across all sectors on Blackberry's AppWorld store.

"This is extremely good news for us and especially for the Pakistani IT industry," Mahe Zehra Husain, the head of operations and product management at Five Rivers Technology, told AFP.

"We feel we are on top of the world. This is incredible."

The application "has been in the top five paid applications for quite a while now and on Sunday made its way to the number one spot," she said.

Photo Editor Suite allows users to crop, rotate, adjust brightness and contrast, recolour and resize photos, Husain added.

Five Rivers, which opened its subsidiary Pepper.pk a year and a half ago, says it has developed and run out more than 100 mobile applications for the Blackberry and iPhone as well as other smartphones.

The company started in 2003 and consists of 50 people and has worked with a number of leading technology firms at home and abroad, Husain said.

According to the State Bank of Pakistan, software and IT-enabled service exports amounted to 204 million dollars in fiscal year 2009-2010 and the industry as a whole is worth around 2.8 billion dollars.

Pakistan, a nuclear-armed conservative Muslim country of 167 million people, is in deep recession, exacerbated by years of Al-Qaeda-linked bombings, an energy crisis, poor foreign investment and this year by catastrophic flooding.

Iran opposition leaders slam subsidy cuts

Iran's opposition leaders have slammed the cut in government subsidies on energy and food products, warning that a "dark future" awaits the nation's economy, an opposition website reported Wednesday.

Opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi acknowledged the necessity of cutting subsidies, but criticised its timing and the ability of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government to implement the sensitive plan.

"The country is faced with severe international sanctions, the economy is stagnating, unemployment of higher than 30 percent has spread across the country, and inflation is running wild," the website Sahamnews quoted the two leaders as saying during their meeting on Tuesday.

"Implementing the plan at this time is a burden whose pressure will be felt by the middle and lower classes" of society, it reported the pair as adding.

On Sunday, Ahmadinejad's government levied up to a five-fold hike in fuel prices as it started implementing its long-awaited economic overhaul.

The move has been welcomed by a large section of the parliament which had initially resisted it on grounds it would lead to further inflation.

Iranian "factories, which are failing to pay the average salary to workers, face closure every day," the website said, quoting the two opposition figures.

"The lack of security for investments and healthy competition... promises a dark future for the country's economy," it reported them as adding.

The two agreed that the plan in itself was a "fundamental project," but only if implemented "wisely and without any hype."

But "the situation is becoming worse as the government has no time to hear the opinion of experts on this issue."

The government plans to phase out over a five-year period subsidies on energy and food items which cost state coffers about 100 billion dollars a year, according to official estimates.

To offset the rising prices, the government has begun to pay part of the expected savings from subsidy removals in the form of direct aid to the people.

Israel complains to UN over Gaza rockets

Israel has called on the Security Council to issue a "clear and resolute" message against rockets fired into its territory from the Gaza Strip, in a letter to the United Nations body that was made public on Wednesday.

The December 21 letter, made public by Israel's foreign ministry, comes amid rising tensions on Israel's border with the coastal enclave.

On Tuesday, Israel launched a series of airstrikes against what it said were tunnels, training sites and weapons facilities in the Gaza Strip, in response to a salvo of mortar shells on Monday and rocket fire on Tuesday morning.

A Kassem rocket landed just metres (yards) away from a kindergarten in a southern Israeli kibbutz, wounding a teenage girl.

"The incidents of the past several days are part of an escalation of terrorist attacks emanating from Gaza that target Israeli civilians, towns, and military personnel," said the letter signed by Meron Reuben, Israel's UN ambassador.

"Israel holds the de facto authority in the Gaza Strip completely responsible for all of these incidents, which are carried out in clear violation of international law. In response to such attacks, Israel has exercised and will continue to exercise its right to self-defence."

The letter is addressed to US ambassador to the UN Susan Rice, the current chair of the Security Council, and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

It says three rockets and 18 mortars have been fired into parts of southern Israel from Gaza since December 19 alone.

"The Security Council, the Secretary-General, and the international community must send a clear and resolute message that these attacks are unacceptable," Reuben wrote.

"In addition, the Security Council must give appropriate attention to the smuggling of arms into Gaza, which continues to fuel violence and instability in our region."

On Tuesday, Israeli army chief Lieutenant General Gabi Ashkenazi warned that the relative calm that has prevailed since Israel's devastating Gaza offensive at the end of 2008 could quickly end.

"The situation is tense and fragile and could easily deteriorate, particularly if a rocket lands in a populated area," he told a parliamentary committee.

Between December 2008 and January 2009, Israel launched Operation Cast Lead, in response to hundreds of rockets fired from Gaza into the Jewish state.

The war cost the lives of 1,400 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and 13 Israelis, 10 of them soldiers.

Since then, the number of rocket attacks has dropped considerably, but the army says more than 200 rockets or shells have been fired this year.

Egypt and Libya vow to respect south Sudan vote

Egypt and Libya vowed on Tuesday to respect the outcome of an independence referendum in south Sudan that has sparked fears of a renewal of Sudan's civil war.

Southerners are widely expected to choose independence in the vote, due to take place from Jan. 9, but Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak and Libya's Muammar Gaddafi have both called in the past for the nation to remain united.

The two leaders, both of whose countries share long, porous desert borders with Sudan, flew to Khartoum for more than two hours of talks with Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and the leader of the semi-autonomous south, Salva Kiir.

After the meeting, the leaders issued a joint statement calling for a "peaceful, calm, transparent and credible environment that will reflect the will of southern Sudan's people", according to Sudan state radio.

They said they would respect the will of the southern Sudanese, whatever the outcome of the referendum.

US President Barack Obama has written to Gaddafi, Mubarak and other leaders in the region stressing Washington's desire to see a peaceful and successful voting process.

North Sudan's ruling National Congress Party (NCP) and the main southern party, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), have been talking for months about the course of the north-south border, how to split oil income and other issues.

But there has been little public sign of progress. Each side has accused the other of building up troops, and analysts say disputes over preparations for the vote could reignite conflict.

The plebiscite was promised in a 2005 peace deal to end decades of civil war between the mostly Muslim north and the oil-producing south, where most people are Christian or follow traditional beliefs.

Egypt had proposed a looser confederation as an alternative to secession and its foreign minister said in November that it would not object to a referendum delay of several months.

Egypt is almost totally dependent on the Nile for its water, and is watching the vote closely for any effect on colonial-era pacts that give it most of the river's annual flow.

It has also aired worries that the referendum could trigger violence and an influx of Sudanese migrants into Egypt.

Gaddafi warned in October that southern secession could spur separatist movements across Africa and scare off investors.

Interior Ministry bans production of new Ahmed Sakka film

The Interior Ministry stopped production of a new film starring Ahmed Sakka. The film, entitled “al-Maslaha,” tells the true story of police unraveling a major drug deal.

“We were going to start shooting next week,” said film producer Wael Abdallah. “But the ministry told us the film reveals classified details as to how the police investigate such cases.”

“We were banned from shooting in certain important locations,” Abdallah said. “This makes us lose the drama’s element of suspense.”

Abdallah question why the ministry recently banned the shooting despite the fact that it previously approved the script.

Security sources said the ministry objects to film scenes that show how the police arrest and investigate drug dealers. It said it considers the measures confidential and that publicly revealing them enables drug dealers to devise ways of countering them.

Saudi arrests 38 after 'sectarian' clashes: reports

Saudi police arrested 38 people in the holy city of Medina after fighting erupted near Islam's oldest mosque Al-Quba on the Shiite religious holiday of Ashura, Saudi media reported on Saturday.

Several people suffered minor injuries in Thursday's clashes between "groups of youths," the press reports said..

Three security officials were also wounded, the Al-Madina newspaper said.

The Shiite website Rasid.com said the fighting pitted members of Saudi Arabia's Shiite minority against majority Sunnis.

Many of the kingdom's top Sunni clerics have condemned Shiites as having rejected "true" Islam.

Thursday was the climax of Ashura, a 10-day commemoration of the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, one of the key figures of the Shiite faith.

A grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, Hussein was killed in 680 AD by the armies of the caliph Yazid in a battle in Karbala, Iraq.

There were clashes between Shiite and Sunni groups near the Al-Quba mosque in April last year. Police said they were triggered by "an argument between teenagers during a football match".

Obama congratulates Iraq on new government

US President Barack Obama congratulated Iraq after parliament endorsed a new government, saying the move was a "significant" historic moment and represented a rejection of extremism.

"Today's vote in the Council of Representatives is a significant moment in Iraq's history and a major step forward in advancing national unity," Obama said in a written statement.

"I congratulate Iraq's political leaders, the members of the Council of Representatives, and the Iraqi people on the formation of a new government of national partnership."

Obama and Vice President Joe Biden both spoke to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki personally by telephone to offer their congratulations, the White House said.

The president said that the Iraqi people and elected representatives had shown, with the long-delayed move after elections in March, that they were committed to democratic means to ease differences and shape Iraq's future.

"Their decision to form an inclusive partnership government is a clear rejection of the efforts by extremists to spur sectarian division," he said.

"Iraq faces important challenges, but the Iraqi people can also seize a future of opportunity.

"The United States will continue to strengthen our long-term partnership with Iraq's people and leaders as they build a prosperous and peaceful nation that is fully integrated into the region and international community."

Obama, who rose to power after he opposed the then unpopular Iraq war, has presided over the end of US combat operations in the country, and all American forces are due to be withdrawn by the end of next year.

He tasked Biden with monitoring the US withdrawal and his number two has invested substantial time in persuading various factions in the country to move towards a coalition agreement.

Biden said in his own statement that Iraq's leaders had delivered what their people deserved and expected -- "an inclusive, national partnership government that reflects the results of Iraq's elections."

"There are many challenges ahead, but I am convinced Iraq is up to them," Biden said.

Nearly 50,000 US troops remain in Iraq, seven years after the US invasion to topple ex-leader Saddam Hussein, mostly engaged in training and advising Iraqi security forces.

Iraq's parliament earlier gave Maliki's government a vote of confidence and adopted a 43-point program aimed at liberalizing the economy and fighting terrorism.

After more than nine months of political wrangling, parliament in separate votes gave its approval to Maliki, three deputy prime ministers and 29 other cabinet ministers, as well as the government program.

The results of the March 7 polls were generally split along sectarian lines, with Shiites mainly supporting Maliki's State of Law and the National Alliance, and Sunnis mostly voting for ex-premier Iyad Allawi's secular Iraqiya.

Neither Maliki nor Allawi was able to muster the majority needed to form a government, despite back-door negotiations with various Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish blocs that also picked up seats, leading to more than nine months of political deadlock.

But a power-sharing pact was agreed on November 10 which saw Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, reappointed as president and Osama al-Nujaifi, a Sunni Arab, named as speaker of parliament.

Accused in Karachi gang rape arrested

An accused, Lal Chand, in Karachi gang rape case has been arrested by the area police and investigation has begun against him, Geo News reported Tuesday.

According to the sources, the accused contacted the victim girl and sought apology. The police traced the number and nabbed him.

Intensive investigation by the police put the girl into a difficult situation, sources said. The party was held at the flat of the person arrested and the victim girl also attended it, it was also learnt.

According to the details, a woman was allegedly abducted, gang-raped and later dumped in a posh locality of the city by unidentified men on Monday morning.

Police sources said a team of the Darakhshan police station, in whose jurisdiction the incident occurred, reached the Civil Hospital after they learnt that two women who were allegedly sexually assaulted had arrived there.

According to the police sources, initially the women refused to give statements but later they agreed and told the police their names as K, 20, and S, 24.

A senior police officer, who requested not to be named, said that in her statement to the police, K said she lived in a flat situated on Khyaban-i-Jami, Phase-II, Defence.

He said that to celebrate the birthday of a friend in Defence, K asked S to come over. On Sunday night she hired a Vitz car from a rent-a-car outlet in Defence and went to the birthday party.

After attending the party they were retuning home late Sunday night when the incident took place.

Raisani says no threat to his govt

After the PML-Q and JUI-F threatened to topple Balochistan government, CM Aslam Raisani reached Maulana Fazlur Rehman's home here today and discussed the regional political situation and after the meeting Raisani said there was no threat to his government, Geo News reported.

While spaking on the occasion, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said the proposal to change the provincial political scene came from the chief of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain.

In reply to a question, the JUI-F chief said Syed Khursheed Shah could not talk of Maulana Sheerani's resignation. 'Majlis-e-Shura would discuss the matter of Balochistan in its meeting.' Senator Maulana Muhammad Khan Sheerani is the Chairman of the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) and a strong leader of the party.

CM Raisani said he don't care if the government was toppled.

The JUI-F chief had welcomed a suggestion by Chaudhry Shujaat that both the political parties could unite to change the chief minister of the province. Chaudhry Shujaat proposed that both the PML-Q and JUI-F, with the help of independent MPAs, could form a democratic government in Balochistan.

In response, the Maulana had said the matter could be further discussed if such a move comes from Chaudhry Shujaat. Both said the in-house change largely depends on the PPP and they would decide about their future strategies keeping in view their limitations. Both the leaders expressed these views in the Geo News programme "Capital Talk", hosted by Hamid Mir.

Report on 19th Amendment laid in NA

Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reforms Mian Raza Rabbani laid a unanimously passed report of the committee on 19th Amendment in the National Assembly on Tuesday.

Laying the report in the House, Mian Rabbani said that today was a historical day in the political history of Pakistan and parliament as another unanimous amendment bill was being laid in the House.

"This is a unique moment in the political history of the country that two very important unanimously adopted constitutional bills are presented in the House in 2010," he added.

Complimenting the role of members of constitutional reforms committee and all political parties, he said that no dissent note was written in the 19th Amendment.

Main Rabbani said that reservations regarding clash of constitutional institutions would be sorted out for ever with the amendment.

He said when some articles of 18th Amendment were challenged in the Supreme Court there were rumours that the country was heading towards clash of institutions. However, the Supreme Court sent back the bill to parliament for review.

He said that he was thankful to the president, the prime minister and the National Assembly Speaker for giving a free hand to the committee which made it possible for him to present a unanimously adopted 19th Amendment by the committee in the House.

He said all the political parties showed political sagacity and reached consensus for national interest.

He said that all the constitutional institutions were functioning in their constitutional domain and the political system in the country was strengthening day by day.

Rabbani also paid tribute to the members of the committee and said without their active cooperation, it was not possible for bringing unanimous amendments.

Pak successfully test fires Ghauri Hataf-V

Pakistan successfully test-fired ballistic missile Ghauri Hataf-V capable of carrying all kind of warheads, the military spokesman said.


According to Geo News, ISPR spokesman stated that the missile is capable of carrying all kind of warheads besides hitting its target at a range of 1300 kilometers.

The test of Ghauri Hataf-V is normal experiment to identify its capability.

Meanwhile, President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani have f congratulated Pak Army and the whole nation on succesfull test of Ghori Hataf-V.

India says Arundhati Roy can be prosecuted

NEW DELHI: An Indian court ruled Saturday that award-winning author Arundhati Roy could face prosecution for allegedly speaking out on the disputed region of Kashmir, according to a report.

A court in Delhi allowed the registration of a case against Roy and Kashmiri pro-freedom leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, the Press Trust of India reported, without giving further details.

Roy, winner of the prestigious Booker award for her novel "The God of Small Things" in 1997, is a fierce critic of Indian policy in Kashmir, where protests against New Delhi have claimed some 111 lives since June.

Originally, the Indian government was reported to be opposed to prosecuting her.

There was no immediate reaction from the writer.

India must 'decrease footprint in Afghan' to gain Pak trust: Gilani

ISLAMABAD: India needs to "decrease its footprint in Afghanistan and stop interfering in Balochistan" in order to gain Pakistan's trust, Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani told US Senator John Kerry during a meeting earlier this year, according to a leaked US embassy cable posted by WikiLeaks.

"During a February 16 meeting with Senator John Kerry, Prime Minister Gilani spoke at length about the state of the Indo-Pakistani relationship. Gilani indicated that the GOP was willing to resume talks with the Indian government, and pointed to the upcoming meetings between India and Pakistan's Foreign Secretaries as evidence of such," said a cable, which was classified as "confidential".

Gilani further said that Pakistan and India had also resumed back channel discussions, and that "improving bilateral relations with India was in Pakistan's best interest as it would enable the GOP to focus all of its attention on securing its western border."

"Gilani, however, noted that in order to gain public support for this process, the U.S. had to treat India and Pakistan equally. He added that India would need to gain Pakistan's trust and indicated that reducing the Indian footprint in Afghanistan and halting Indian support of militants in Balochistan would be steps in the right direction," revealed the cable.

Kerry told Gilani that the upcoming meeting between the Indian and Pakistani Foreign Secretaries had "enormous potential", and urged the Pakistan government "not to allow pressure from the local media and the masses to derail these efforts."

"Kerry argued that dialogue with India was an opportunity to create new security arrangements that could change the regional dynamic. While assuring Gilani that the effort would not be U.S.-driven, Kerry indicated that the USG was open to the idea of serving as a mediator to help facilitate the resumption of the Pakistan-India Composite Dialogue," the leaked cable said.

The senator pointed out out that following the recent bombing in Pune, India was "focused on counter terrorism ., and suggested that the Pakistan government present the Indian government with its plan to tackle terrorism.

"He (Kerry) said that this would be a clear 'confidence builder' that would make India more willing to move forward in talks about Kashmir and water disputes," said the cable.

He also suggested that Pakistan and India sign a non-aggression pact, and added that "the US and other countries of goodwill would be prepared to help in any way possible".

"Gilani agreed to present Kerry's proposal to the the GOP leadership. He was amenable to the idea of a rapprochement in the India-Pakistan relation, but expressed concern that the public would not support the idea," according to the leaked document.

"Kerry said that in order to gain public support for this initiative, the GOP needed to clearly outline the long-term economic benefits of improved bilateral relations, such as improvements in social development and increased investments and trade, to the Pakistani people," the document added.

Indian army to be questioned over killing of Kashmiri

SRINAGAR: Police in Indian held Kashmir said Sunday they were investigating security forces over the killing of a youth in custody which has triggered angry protests in the disputed region.

Najeem Hussain, 20, was found dead in a forest in Poonch, 300 miles (480 kilometres) south of Srinagar, on Friday, leading to large protests against New Delhi's occupation over the Muslim-majority region.

The protesters accuse Indian soldiers and paramilitary troops of torturing and killing Hussain, a driver.

"A case of murder was registered against two personnel, one each of Army and Border Security Force (BSF), in connection with the death of Hussain," Police Inspector Kuldeep Raj said.

The two men have not been arrested but would soon be questioned, he added.

Holbrooke final words; ‘Stop war in Afghanistan’

WASHINGTON: Richard Holbrooke, the late US special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, had some stark final words as he was sedated and going in for surgery, the Washington Post reported Tuesday.

"You've got to stop this war in Afghanistan," Holbrooke told his Pakistani surgeon, the Post reported, citing unnamed family members.

Holbrooke, one of the most experienced US diplomats, died Monday as the administration of President Barack Obama reviews its strategy in Afghanistan. He was 69.

Holbrooke fell ill at work on Friday, was rushed to a Washington hospital and underwent what the Post described as a 21-hour operation to repair his aorta.

Working along with US military planners in Afghanistan, Holbrooke oversaw a tripling in the number of civilians in the war-ravaged country under a year-old plan to boost the country's agriculture, economy and civilian institutions.

Jameel Fakhri confirms son’s murder

LAHORE: Jameel Fakhri, the veteran television artist, has confirmed death of his son, Ayaz Fakhri, in US, Geo News reported.

Talking to Geo News, Jamel said that he had received a phone call from Pakistani embassy in United States, confirming the murder of his son.

100 injured in Bangladesh factory fire

DHAKA: At least 100 people were injured in a fire at a multi-storey garment factory near the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka Tuesday, fire service officials said.

"Firefighters are trying to douse the huge blaze and rescuers are retrieving the injured and evacuating trapped workers," said an official monitoring the fire at Ashulia, 25 km (16 miles) north of the capital.

At least 50 people with serious burn injuries were taken to local hospitals. Some of them were injured in a stampede as several hundred workers tried to escape to safety.

People to stop paying power bills if tax evasion continues’

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan on Sunday hinted at giving a call to the public to stop paying electricity bills if the ruling elite and the friendly opposition persisted with tax evasion and imposition of the proposed Reformed General Sales Tax (RGST).

Speaking at a big public meeting here at the Aabpara intersection, Imran said he would ask the people to stop paying power bills and taxes in the next phase once the country-wide anti-RGST and anti-corruption party demonstrations were over.

He warned if the rulers stuck to their anti-people policies, the PTI would give a call for a long march, which would not end at Gujranwala, a reference to the PML-N and lawyers march for the independence of the judiciary.

He asked President Zardari, Prime Minister Gilani, ex-premier Mian Nawaz Sharif and Maulana Fazlur Rehman to declare their assets, they owned inside Pakistan and abroad. “I shall deposit all my wealth in the national exchequer if these leaders make public their assets and the wealth in banks and start paying taxes,” the PTI chairman threw a challenge at the rulers and PML-N and JUI-F leadership amid loud chants of ‘down with the corrupt’ by the party flag-waving youth. Imran lamented that the entire Pakistan posed a question as to what was the solution to the ever-increasing price hike of commodities, as within 18 months the rates of essential items had doubled.

“It is in fact the price of the rich evading taxes and indulging in massive corruption that the common man is paying in the shape of massive power tariff and taxes and price spiral,” he maintained. As a result, today, he pointed out, Pakistan’s staggering 70 per cent population could earn hardly Rs6,000, which was not enough to make both ends meet. Imran wondered firstly who would fight corruption, as the corrupt rulers just could not lay hand on the corrupt as they themselves indulged in corruption.He noted that chicken prices and that of sugar had doubled in recent months and a selected class had minted billions of rupees and still they did not pay taxes. “How much tax did Nawaz Sharif pay?” asked a smiling Imran Khan when many from the audience shouted ‘Nawaz Sharif’.

He said Wapda had unearthed a huge number of illegal connections, but it could not lay hand on the culprits. “The poor masses are forced to pay the price of this massive power theft. The reason is a thief will never catch a thief. Zardari blames Nawaz for the mess and vice versa, and next morning they eat breakfast together,” he contended.

“The huge fabulous expenditures at the President House, Prime Minister, Governor Houses and Chief Minister Houses are being paid from your pocket...then why don’t you rise against this injustice and exploitation,” he asked.

Online adds: Imran Khan said that during their visits, all the rulers beg for loans and bow before the US leaders and compromise the country’s sovereignity.

Katrina Kaif was scared of Farah

Everyone in the industry who has worked with Farah Khan knows that the lady is a tough taskmaster. Naturally, the pressure was high on Katrina Kaif while shooting Sheila Ki Jawani for Tees Maar Khan. The actress was dead scared.

Kat is not that good a dancer (judging from her earlier dancing numbers), and she had never done a proper smoldering item song till now. So, before doing Sheila Ki Jawani she was frightened that Farah might scold or shout at her for not getting the steps right. In fact, the film's lead actor Akshay Kumar too has admitted that Farah is 'bossy' and many men are scared of her.

Though the choreographer-director was confident about Kat, the actress wasn't sure whether she will be able to pull off this sizzling number. The song, full on jhatka-matka, required Kat to move her body like Shakira and act like Madhuri Dixit.

As Kat is quoted as saying about dancing to Sheila Ki Jawani, "I was getting cold feet and my hands were shaking."

PM sacks Hamid Kazmi, Azam Swati as ministers

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has sacked Hamid Saeed Kazmi and Azam Swati from their portfolios following a dispute involving hajj scandal and a tirade between the two ministers, Geo News reported Tuesday.

Also, Secretary Ministry of Religious Affairs Agha Sarwar Raza Qazalbash has also been removed from his office. It has been learnt that the portfolios of certain federal ministers have also been shuffled.

According to the spokesman of the PM House, Khurshid Shah and Sardar Asseff Ahmed Ali were given the charge of ministry of Religious Affairs and ministry of Information Technology respectively.

Sardar Asseff Ahmed Ali will have additional charge of Ministry of Education and Khurshid Shah will have addition charge of Ministry of Labour and Manpower.

Also the Prime Minister has appointed Makhdoom Shahbuddin as Minister for Defence Production, who will continue to hold his portfolio of the Health Ministry.

Secretary Ministry of Religious Affairs Agha Sarwar Raza Qazalbash has been directed to report to the Establishment Division, while Secretary Overseas Pakistanis Division Saeed Khan has been appointed Secretary Ministry of Religious Affairs.

It should be mentioned here that Federal Minister for Science and Technology Azam Khan Swati leveled allegations regarding serious corruption against Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Hamid Saeed Kazmi in alleged corruption in hajj arrangements.

It is pertinent to mention here that there are no allegations of corruption against Azam Swati; however, he was sacked from his ministry for overlooking the directives from the Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, who directed the two to avoid giving statemnets.

Sugar down Rs.5/kg at Utility outlets

SLAMABAD: The Ministry of Production and Industries announced cut in sugar price by Rs.5 per kilogram at utility outlets with immediate effects, Geo News reported.

According to the statement issued from the ministry, the sugar price has seen decline of Rs.5 per kg upon the directives of Mir Hazar Khan Bajarani.

Now, sugar sells at Rs.60 a kilogram at Utility outlets.

The notification states that new crushing season has started now as mills have begun sugar production, which paved the way to deflation in price.

Currently, Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) is holding over 3,00,000 tonnes of sugar stock.

Sugar is selling at Rs.68 per kilogram in open market while it sells at Rs.71/kg in most markets in Pakistan.

US drone strike kills four people in North Waziristan

MIRANSHAH: A US drone strike in North Waziristan tribal belt on Tuesday killed four people, destroying their vehicle, local security officials said.

The strike took place in Spalga village, 15 kilometres (nine miles) south of Miranshah, the main town of the North Waziristan tribal district, near the Afghan border.

Security official confirmed the strike and said the drone fired two missiles.

WikiLeaks' founder Assange freed on bail

LONDON: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, arrested in Britain on Swedish allegations of sex crimes, was freed on bail by a British court on Tuesday.

Judge Howard Riddle granted him bail with conditions until another hearing on Jan. 11.

The 39-year-old Australian, whose website has provoked US fury by publishing some of a trove of 250,000 classified US diplomatic papers, was accused this year of sexual misconduct by two female Swedish WikiLeaks volunteers during a stay in Sweden.

Assange denies the allegations and is fighting Swedish attempts to extradite him.

Sweden to appeal Assange bail

LONDON: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will have to stay in prison after lawyers acting for Sweden said on Tuesday they would challenge bail granted earlier by a London court.

Lawyer Gemma Lindfield told City of Westminster Magistrates' Court that Swedish prosecutors intended to challenge a bail order issued earlier in the day.

The appeal hearing is expected to take place within 48 hours.

In a chaotic 30 minutes outside the court, Assange's lawyer Mark Stephens had earlier wrongly told reporters that Sweden would not appeal the granting of bail for the Australian who founded the whistleblowing website.

Assange, 39, is wanted in Sweden over claims he sexually assaulted two women -- claims that his lawyer Geoffrey Robertson described in court as "not serious".

A judge had earlier granted Assange conditional bail -- only for him to be told two hours later that he must remain behind bars in Wandsworth prison pending the appeal.

Altaf directs to prepare for probable elections

LONDON: The joint emergency meeting of Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s (MQM) Rabita Committee in London and Pakistan has been convened on Wednesday.

MQM chief Altaf Hussain directed the Rabita Committee for preparation of probable election in the wake of changing political scenario.

According to the sources, the meeting would discuss various issues including the change in political situation in the country, JUI-F’s decision to leave the coalition government and PPP’s conduct for MQM in Sindh.

Altaf Hussain directed Rabita Committee to tie up strategy in view of deliberate considerations on all options, sources added.

Assange op-ed: WikiLeaks 'fearlessly' defending the public

SYDNEY: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, in a newspaper opinion piece published Wednesday after his arrest in London, said the whistle-blowing website was "fearlessly" pursuing facts in the public interest.

In his commentary for The Australian newspaper, Assange made no mention of a legal case against him in Sweden over allegations of rape. He was due to appear in court after surrendering to British detectives Tuesday.

The 39-year-old Australian defended the controversial website's methods, and wrote that "not a single person, as far as anyone is aware, has been harmed" through its revelations.

Assange likened his campaign to the World War I reporting of Keith Murdoch, the father of media baron Rupert Murdoch, which excoriated British generals' management of the Gallipoli campaign in which thousands of Australians died.

"Nearly a century later, WikiLeaks is also fearlessly publishing facts that need to be made public," the WikiLeaks editor wrote.

WikiLeaks chief faces assassination risk’

LONDON: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is at risk of being assassinated over the release of secret US documents and will remain in hiding for his own security, the website's spokesman said Wednesday.

Spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson said the Australian's safety was at stake after US politicians called for him to face treason charges and an adviser to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper reportedly said he should be killed.

"We have had threats from governments and commentators, some of them totally preposterous, even calls for the assassination of Julian Assange," Hrafnsson said during a debate at the Frontline Club in London.

"He is justified in being concerned for his safety. When you have people calling, for example, for his assassination, it is best to keep a low profile," he added.

Hrafnsson said Assange's whereabouts would remain secret. He is known to have recently spent time in Sweden and London and is the subject of an Interpol arrest request over a rape allegation in Sweden. He has faced calls from the United States for his arrest, with Mike Huckabee, a former Republican presidential hopeful, reportedly saying that those responsible for the leaks were guilty of treason and should face execution.

Separately, Tom Flanagan, an advisor to Canada's prime minister, said flippantly in a television interview that Assange "should be assassinated" and that US President Barack Obama "should put out a contract and maybe use a drone."

Hrafnsson, an Icelandic former journalist, defended Assange's decision to remain in hiding and not to face up to the Swedish arrest warrant, saying the timing of the Interpol alert was "curious"."He is in a secret location and working on the project with a group of our staff. It is necessary in the circumstances to keep his location secret," Hrafnsson said.

The spokesman also pointed to the fact that WikiLeaks was suffering repeated cyber attacks as evidence that it was being targeted. "We know the interest of the US government in bringing down WikiLeaks," he said.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accused WikiLeaks on Monday of an "attack on the international community" by releasing the documents, but Hrafnsson insisted that WikiLeaks had done nothing illegal.

"There has been a lot of talk about legal actions taken against Wikileaks and Julian, about how we have done something illegal, that we are criminals, but we have not seen any reference to how we are supposed to have broken the law," he said.

Interpol warrant for WikiLeaks chief as chaos spreads

WASHINGTON: Interpol on Wednesday issued a global arrest warrant for the shadowy founder of WikiLeaks, as the chaos from its massive dump of secret US cables spread from governments to financial markets.

The United States suspended the military's access to some sensitive US diplomatic correspondence in a bid to stop new leaks, as the leaders of France and Pakistan were the latest to be stung by cables obtained by the website.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, a 39-year-old Australian computer hacker, is wanted in Sweden for questioning over the alleged rape and molestation of two women. Assange has denied the charges.

Interpol, which is based in Lyon, France, said early Wednesday local time that it had alerted all member states to arrest Assange if he is spotted. He spends much of his time in Britain and Sweden.

Assange is said to lead a spy-like life of rarely sleeping in the same place twice. Ecuador's left-leaning government initially offered Assange residency, but President Rafael Correa backtracked Tuesday.

Assange told Forbes magazine that the bank leak would "give a true and representative insight into how banks behave at the executive level in a way that will stimulate investigations and reforms, I presume."

In another interview conducted from an undisclosed location over a Skype Internet phone, Assange told a magazine that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton should resign over a cable that appeared to show the United States ordered diplomats to spy on foreign officials, particularly at the United Nations.

State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said that Clinton did not draft the document and that her name was affixed systematically to many cables out of Washington.

Crowley said the State Department had temporarily suspended the Pentagon's access to some of its correspondence, halting a trend to greater information sharing within the US government launched after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

WikiLeaks chief faces new arrest warrant

STOCKHOLM: Sweden said Thursday it would issue a fresh arrest warrant for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange as new revelations from his website's expose of US diplomatic cables saw Russia branded a "mafia state".
While the elusive whistleblower laid low, his British lawyer insisted police knew his whereabouts and it emerged that an initial warrant was defective.
After the Supreme Court in Stockholm refused to hear an appeal by Assange against the initial warrant over allegations of rape and molestation, Swedish police said they would issue a new one as a result of a procedural error.
"It's a procedural fault," Tommy Kangasvieri of the Swedish National Criminal Police told media. "The prosecutor Marianne Ny has to write a new one."
While Assange has not been seen in public since WikiLeaks began leaking around 250,000 cables on Sunday, his London-based lawyer Mark Stephens denied he was on the run.
"Scotland Yard know where he is, the security services from a number of countries know where he is," Stephens told media.

WikiLeaks chief arrives in court

LONDON: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange arrived at a London court on Tuesday, hours after British police arrested him on a Swedish arrest warrant for suspected sex crimes, a court official said.

Police sealed the street outside the City of Westminster magistrates court as a black unmarked car carrying several police officers and a silver-haired man believed to be the 39-year-old Australian raced into the car park.

A court official said the extradition hearing was due to start at 1400 GMT and confirmed that Assange had arrived.

Outside court, his London-based lawyer Mark Stephens said that Assange was "fine" after he surrendered to Scotland Yard's extradition unit at a police station in the capital on Tuesday morning.

"It was very cordial. They have verified his identity. They are satisfied he is the real Julian Assange and we are ready to go into court," Stephens told reporters.

Assange's lawyers have said they will fight all attempts to extradite him to Sweden. The legal process could take weeks or even months.

Stephens did not say whether Assange would seek bail, but police sources said he may not be granted it because of the risk that he will try to flee the country.

Assange was arrested on a European arrest warrant issued by Sweden over allegations of unlawful coercion, sexual molestation and rape, the Metropolitan Police said.

He has denied the charges, with his lawyers saying they could be "politically motivated" following the release by WikiLeaks of thousands of secret US documents.

Worldwide demos called in support jailed WikiLeaks chief

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama has offered his strongest condemnation yet of WikiLeaks' "deplorable" documents dump, as defenders of the website's founder denounced the rush to judgement against him.

The president made his comments in a call to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan Saturday, the White House said.

Obama "expressed his regrets for the deplorable action by WikiLeaks and the two leaders agreed that it will not influence or disrupt the close cooperation between the United States and Turkey," said his office.

The comments, and similar statements in a call to his Mexican counterpart Felipe Calderon, were Obama's most forceful yet against the website, whose steady leaking of a trove of secret US diplomatic cables has polarised opinion.

Obama's call to Erdogan could be seen as an effort to soothe ruffled feathers in Turkey, a key regional US ally. Officials there, including the prime minister have reacted badly to some of the information divulged by the documents.

Spanish online supporters of Assange called Saturday for worldwide demonstrations to press for his release from a London jail, where he is fighting possible extradition to Sweden to face rape allegations.

In a manifesto entitled "For freedom, Say No to State Terrorism," it demanded Assange's release and "restoration of the WikiLeaks domain."

"Given that no one has proved that Assange is guilty of the offences he is accused of and that Wikileaks is not implicated in any of those," the website also urged credit card giants Visa and Mastercard to rescind their decisions to cut off payments from the website's supporters.

But rallies in Madrid and Barcelona drew only about 400 people, and similar protests in Amsterdam and various Latin American capitals drew even smaller crowds.

Assange is due to appear in a London court for a second time Tuesday after being arrested on a warrant issued by Sweden. Prosecutors there want to question him about two women's allegations of rape and sexual molestation.

WikiLeaks insists the allegations are a politically motivated attempt to smear Assange in retaliation for the leak of 250,000 confidential US documents, believed to have been passed to WikiLeaks by a US Army private.

Assange, a 39-year-old Australian, has been transferred from the main section of Wandsworth prison to an isolation unit, according to Jennifer Robinson, a member of his legal team.

In the Netherlands, 75 people gathered in central Amsterdam to show their support for WikiLeaks, police spokesman Rob van der Veen said.

The Amsterdam rally was sponsored by the Dutch Pirates Party "to call for protection of freedom of the press" and "to express displeasure with the attempt to silence" sites such as WikiLeaks.

In Mexico City, about 40 protestors demonstrated outside the British embassy, pasting signs that read "no to censorship" and "the Internet was born free" on its walls.

In Peru, about a dozen Assange supporters gathered peacefully outside the British Embassy in Lima, where protestors stressed that the Assange's values

"affect us all."

"Solidarity has no boundaries. Injustice is injustice in any part of the world," protestor Jorge Meneses, 22, said.

In Bogota, only about 15 people turned out for the demonstration there. A protest in Lisbon drew several dozen people, some of them carrying photos of Assange or signs calling for freedom of the web.

Meanwhile, newly divulged US diplomatic cables revealed a row between the Vatican and Ireland over a child abuse inquiry.

The Holy See on Saturday questioned the reliability of the cables released by WikiLeaks, which indicated it had refused to cooperate with an Irish probe into child sex abuse by Catholic priests in Dublin.

In other disclosures, a leaked cable revealed that the United States and New Zealand have resumed intelligence collaboration after a 25 year break, according to the Wellington Star Times, which published the cable.

And mining giant BHP Billiton was said to have lobbied the Australian government hard to bring down a proposed 19.5 billion US dollar deal between its rival Rio Tinto and China's Chinalco.

Spokesmen for BHP and Rio Tinto refused to comment.

Assange's attorneys said that while he was getting no recreation time in prison, was having difficulties getting phone calls out, and was not allowed to have a laptop in his cell, he was in "very good" spirits.

He was however "frustrated" that he could not answer the allegations that WikiLeaks was behind cyber attacks launched on credit card firms that have refused to do business with the website.

WikiLeaks chief Assange behind bars in Britain

LONDON: WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange was refused bail Tuesday by a British judge over claims of sex crimes in Sweden, dealing a fresh blow to the website which vowed to stay online and reveal more US secrets.

The elusive 39-year-old Australian said he would fight an extradition request by Swedish authorities as he appeared in court in London just hours after he emerged from a month in hiding and surrendered to police.

Filmmaker Ken Loach, socialite Jemima Khan, and campaigning journalist John Pilger each offered to put up part of his bail but a judge in London refused, saying a court would review the situation at a hearing on December 14.

"I am satisfied that there are substantial grounds to believe that if granted bail he would fail to surrender," district judge Howard Riddle said at City of Westminster magistrates court.

The judge said the Swedish arrest warrant contains "extremely serious allegations" of molestation, unlawful coercion and rape involving two women with whom Assange had sex in Stockholm in August.

Assange had the "means and ability to abscond if he wants to," Riddle added.

The WikiLeaks boss, who has denied the charges, appeared calm and collected in court. Wearing a navy blue suit and a white shirt without a tie, he spoke to confirm his name and address in Australia.

Britain's Metropolitan Police said earlier in a statement that officers from its extradition unit had arrested Assange on a European arrest warrant "by appointment at a London police station" at 0930 GMT.

WikiLeaks criticised the court ruling as "bizarre" and said it would release more documents later Tuesday from the cache of 250,000 confidential US diplomatic cables that it started to publish on November 28.

"Let down by the UK justice system's bizarre decision to refuse bail to Julian Assange. But Cablegate releases continue as planned," the whistleblowing website said on its Twitter page.

Assange's Lawyer Mark Stephens told journalists outside court the allegations were "politically motivated", adding that he expected a "viral campaign" on the Internet on his client's behalf.

"We have heard the judge say he wishes to see the evidence himself. I think he was impressed by the fact that a number of people were prepared to stand up on behalf of Mr Assange and declare his innocence," he said.

Loach, Khan -- former wife of Pakistan cricket great Imran Khan and Pilger each offered 20,000 pounds (23,600 euros, 31,400 dollars). Another three donors also offered a total of 120,000 pounds between them.

Pilger told the court the case was "a travesty" and "absurd". After the hearing, he said: "This is a man who has made some very serious enemies for the best reasons."

WikiLeaks is battling to stay afloat after infuriating Washington with the release of the cables, which have revealed a string of diplomatic embarrassments from all corners of the globe.

In one of the latest leaks, US cables released Tuesday showed that NATO had extended an existing defence plan covering Poland to include Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania after they lobbied for extra protection.

The website has been forced to hop from server to server as various countries tried to close it down and hackers attacked it, though its supporters have responded by setting up hundreds of "mirror" sites to keep it online.

In a sign of Washington's satisfaction at the arrest, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates, who was visiting Afghanistan on Tuesday, said it "sounds like good news."

WikiLeaks is also coming under increased financial pressure, with Visa following in the footsteps of MasterCard and PayPal Tuesday by announcing that it was suspending all payments to WikiLeaks.

Swiss authorities shut down one of Assange's bank accounts on Monday, while a major WikiLeaks donor in Germany is in trouble for not filing its accounts on time.

WikiLeaks has already been expelled from the United States where Attorney General Eric Holder has said authorities were pursuing an "active, ongoing investigation that is criminal in nature" into the leaks.

In an opinion piece for The Australian newspaper after his arrest, Assange said the website was "fearlessly" pursuing facts in the public interest.

Two security men dead in Mohmand attack

PESHAWAR: At least two security personnel were killed and six others injured in extremists’ attack in Mohmand Agency, Geo News reported Tuesday.
According to official sources, extremists attacked a security check post with mortar shells in Mohmand Agency tehsil of Ambar area of Shati Kandao, killing two security personnel and injuring six others injured.
The security forces before long retaliated; however, no further loss of life was reported.
According to government sources, the injured were shifted to Agency’s Headquarters Hospital.
The security has been stepped up following the terror incident

US wanted moderate Pak Imams in UK: cable

LONDON: According to a latest leaked US diplomatic cable, US was mulling to import moderate Pakistani Imams in UK to take control over rising extremism in Britain.
The secret cable says:
C O N F I D E N T I A L LONDON 001160
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
EO 12958 DECL: 04/24/2018
TAGS PREL, PGOV, PTER, KISL, PK, UK
SUBJECT: REPORTS THAT BRITAIN IS IMPORTING PAKISTANI IMAMS
ARE EXAGGERATED
REF: 07 LONDON 4471
Classified By: Political Minister Counselor Maura Connelly for reasons 1.4 (b,d)
1. (C) Summary. The British press has reported that Home Secretary Jacqui Smith announced that Britain would launch a SIPDIS new initiative to bring "moderate Pakistani Imams" to preach in Britain. Poloff spoke April 24 with the Head of the Home Office's Prevent Unit Paul Morrison who said the initiative had been miscast and exaggerated in the press. End Summary.
2. (C) Morrison said the Home Secretary had been in discussions with Pakistani officials during her April 13-14 visit to Pakistan about what could be done to diminish the terror threat in the UK. One idea which had been floated was for Pakistani religious authorities to visit the UK as part of HMG's ongoing program to bring visiting religious scholars to the UK to promote moderate interpretations of Islam (in the Foreign Office-led speaking tour program known as "the Radical Middle Way.") Morrison said the concept had been discussed in principle but that no firm commitments had been made and no individuals had been identified. In any case, if Pakistani Imams were to come to the UK, "it would only be to visit," said Morrison.
3. (C) Morrison further clarified that it was not HMG's policy to import foreign Imams. "To the contrary," said Morrison, HMG hopes to foster local Imams "rooted in the community." To this end, HMG has supported Muslim communities' own efforts to form an association (the Mosques and Imams Advisory Body aka MINAB -- see reftel) which would lead in the development and self-regulation of Mosques in the United Kingdom. Morrison added that the Home Office looks to the Muslim communities to lead on that effort as "it is not the government's role to dictate to people how to practice their faith."