Prosecutors at a Pakistani court will next week charge former military ruler Pervez Musharraf with criminal conspiracy and the murder of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, lawyers said Tuesday. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
A senior Pakistani Taliban commander has written to Malala Yousafzai, the teenage education activist shot by militants, accusing her of “smearing” them and of promoting “satanic” values, while urging her to return home.
Gunmen from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) shot Malala, now 16, in the head in her home town in Swat last October after she had campaigned for the right of girls to go to school.
She made a powerful speech to the U N on Friday in her first public appearance since the near-fatal attack, vowing to continue her struggle for education and not be silenced by the militants.
In an open letter released Wednesday, Adnan Rasheed, a former air force member turned TTP cadre, said he personally wished the attack had not happened, but accused her of running a “smearing campaign” against the militants.
“When you were attacked it was shocking for me,” Rasheed wrote in English.
“I wished it would never happened (sic) and I had advised you before.”
But he added: “Taliban believe that you were intentionally writing against them and running a smearing campaign to malign their efforts to establish Islamic system in Swat and your writings were provocative.
“… It is amazing that you are shouting for education, you and the UNO (UN) is pretending that you were shot due to education, although this is not the reason… not the education but your propaganda was the issue,” he continued.
“What you are doing now, you are using your tongue on the behest of the others.”
The letter was sent to reporters in northwest Pakistan and its authenticity confirmed to AFP by a senior Taliban cadre who is a close associate of Rasheed. It is understood Malala has not received the letter herself.
Rasheed accused Malala of seeking to promote an education system begun by British colonialists to produce “Asians in blood but English in taste”, and said students should study Islam and not the “satanic or secular curriculum”.
“I advise you to come back home, adopt the Islamic and Pashtun culture, join any female Islamic madrassa near your home town, study and learn the book of Allah, use your pen for Islam and plight of Muslim ummah (community),” Rasheed wrote.
Malala was given life-saving treatment in Britain, where she now lives with her family.
Rasheed was sentenced to death over a 2003 attack on Pakistan’s then military ruler Pervez Musharraf, but escaped from custody in a mass jailbreak in April last year.
He said he had originally wanted to write to Malala to warn her against criticising the Taliban when she rose to prominence with a blog for the BBC Urdu service chronicling life under the militants’ 2007-9 rule in Swat, in northwest Pakistan.
The Taliban have destroyed hundreds of schools across the northwest, an area on the frontline of the country’s bloody struggle against Islamist militants.
But Rasheed said the attacks were necessary because government forces used schools as hideouts and bases.
Gordon Brown, the former British prime minister turned UN special envoy for global education, who has supported Malala since she was shot, issued a caustic response to …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
The general who ruled Pakistan for nearly a decade before being forced to step down appeared on Saturday in front of an anti-terrorism court in Islamabad in connection with charges linked to his 2007 sacking and detention of a number of judges.
The hearing — the latest act in the drama surrounding Pervez Musharraf that erupted earlier this week — was to decide where he would be held while his case goes through the legal system.
Musharraf’s lawyer, Malik Qamar Afzal, said the judge ruled that he would be given judicial remand, which means that he would be held in jail until the next hearing in the case on May 4. That was confirmed by a court official who did not want to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Musharraf’s legal team has been pushing for his estate on the edge of the capital to be declared a sub-jail under the Pakistani legal system, which would mean that he would essentially be held under house arrest.
On Saturday, Musharraf was brought to the Islamabad courthouse surrounded by heavy security as supporters and opponents gathered outside the court.
He was arrested the day before in a case related to his decision, while in power, to sack and detain the judges, including the country’s chief justice, after declaring a state of emergency and suspending the constitution. The decision sparked widespread protests that eventually weakened his government so much that he was forced to call new elections and eventually step down.
A judge has said that decision amounts to terrorism, which is why the case was sent to an anti-terrorism court. Such courts are closed to the media and the public.
Musharraf returned to Pakistan last month from four years in self-imposed exile to make a political comeback and contest the May 11 election. But he was greeted with little popular support and was disqualified from running in the election. A judge on Thursday ordered his arrest.
That sparked a dramatic escape by Musharraf from court in a speeding vehicle after which he holed up in his heavily guarded house on the outskirts of Islamabad until he was taken into custody Friday morning.
Musharraf seized control of Pakistan in a coup in 1999 when he was army
From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/IhWFeNtVnIs/
By Matt Cantor 
From: http://www.newser.com/story/166496/pakistans-musharraf-arrested.html
Police say they have arrested former Pakistani military ruler Pervez Musharraf in connection with a case involving his decision to fire senior judges while in power.
Police officer Mohammed Khalid said Friday that authorities arrested Musharraf overnight from his home on the outskirts of Islamabad. He fled there from court Thursday after an Islamabad High Court judge rejected his bail and ordered his arrest.
Khalid said Musharraf was presented before a judge at Islamabad District Court on Friday who will decide whether he will be taken to jail or held under house arrest.
Local TV footage showed Musharraf entering the court in Islamabad amid high security.
Musharraf’s lawyer Malik Qamar Afzal says the judge asked police to keep Musharraf in their custody.
From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/EjPANM45C40/
Former Pakistani military ruler Pervez Musharraf has lashed out at his accusers following his arrest in a case involving his decision to fire senior judges while in power.
Police arrested Musharraf overnight following his dramatic escape from a court in Islamabad Thursday after a judge rejected his bail and ordered his detention.
Musharraf called the allegations against him “politically motivated” in a message posted on his Facebook page after his arrest.
Police presented Musharraf before a different court in the capital on Friday morning, where the judge ordered the police to keep him in custody for two days and then present him before an anti-terrorism court.
Police returned him to his home on the outskirts of Islamabad, where he holed up after his escape, and held him under house arrest.
From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/EJYmH7q3kTk/
By Matt Cantor A Pakistani court has called for the arrest of former leader Pervez Musharraf. Musharraf was in court seeking bail when the order, tied to the house arrest of judges in 2007, was issued. In such cases, a suspect is usually handcuffed in court—but authorities didn’t cuff the former ruler,…
From: http://www.newser.com/story/166435/pakistan-court-orders-musharraf-arrested.html
Former Pakistani military ruler Pervez Musharraf and his security team pushed past policemen and sped away from a court in the country’s capital on Thursday after his bail was revoked in a case in which he is accused of treason.
Local TV broadcast footage of the dramatic scene in which Musharraf jumped into a black SUV and escaped as a member of his security team hung to the side of the vehicle.
This week has gone from bad to worse for Musharraf, who seized power in a military coup in 1999 and spent nearly a decade in power before being forced to step down in 2008. He returned last month after four years in self-imposed exile to make a political comeback.
But a court in the northwestern city of Peshawar on Tuesday disqualified Musharraf from running in the parliamentary election scheduled for May 11, likely squashing his political comeback hopes.
He has also faced a raft of legal challenges since he returned.
The case before the Islamabad High Court on Thursday involved Musharraf’s decision to suspend the constitution and declare a state of emergency in 2007. He also placed senior judges, including the chief justice of the Supreme Court, under house arrest.
Musharraf obtained pre-arrest bail before he returned to the country, meaning he could not be arrested when he landed — a feature of Pakistan‘s legal system.
The Islamabad High Court refused to extend that bail on Thursday and ordered his arrest, said police officer Ali Asghar. Policemen were deployed at the court to detain the former military ruler, but he managed to escape, said Asghar.
A spokeswoman for Musharraf, Saima Ali Dada, confirmed that the court rejected his bail. His legal team is trying to decide his next move, said Dada.
From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/wQpOoD1phbs/
Police say former Pakistani military ruler Pervez Musharraf has sped away from a court in the country’s capital to avoid arrest after his bail was revoked.
Police officer Ali Asghar says policemen were deployed at the court building in Islamabad on Thursday, but Musharraf’s security team rushed him out and put him in a black SUV before they could detain him.
Asghar says the court rejected his bail in a case related to his decision to suspend the constitution and declare a state of emergency in 2007.
A spokeswoman for Musharraf, Saima Ali Dada, says his legal time is trying to decide the next move.
From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/3NF92Tby9Kw/
By Sib Kaifee
Pakistan‘s former president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, admits his regime had a secret pact with the U.S. to allow drone strikes in the country.
“Only on a few occasions, when a target was absolutely isolated and no chance of collateral damage,” said Musharraf, speaking to a US-based television network.
Musharraf, who spent several years in self-imposed exiled after he resigned as president in 2008 in the face of political pressure and low public ratings, is running for the 2013 national elections. He also faces a court case of treason charges looming over his political desire to be democratically elected to power.
Pakistan has publicly condemned drone strikes, denied intelligence sharing with the U.S., and repeatedly protested the attacks as infringements on its sovereignty.
“I can’t comment on what former president has said. Only he can elaborate. Pakistan‘s position on drone strikes is clear that these are counterproductive,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman, Aizaz Chaudhry, said to Fox News.
A majority of the drone activity takes place in the restive North West tribal areas, considered a safe haven for Al Qaeda and several militant groups that operate between Afghanistan Pakistan‘s porous border region and launch attacks on U.S. and NATO forces.
The U.S. has conducted more than 350 drone strikes in Pakistan since June 2004, the first of which killed Nek Muhammed Wazir, in South Waziristan, who was harboring Al Qaeda members. Statistics indicate more than 3,300 casualties have resulted from the drone campaign.
A high-ranking security official requesting not to be named told Fox News, “We haven’t given any sort of permission to CIA in the last five-six years, and there is no past record or documented evidence indicating our consent to these strikes.”
Another security official explained that if there was a secret deal or agreement, then Musharraf is exposing matters of national security – which is a crime.
With the 2014 U.S. drawdown in Afghanistan coming closer, and strained relations between America and Pakistan, the former president’s comments could further inflame tensions between both countries.
From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/-VS1f9s8AlU/
By Matt Cantor 
From: http://www.newser.com/story/166117/ex-pakistan-president-we-authorized-us-drone-strikes.html
At least 30 Pakistani soldiers and nearly 100 militants have been killed in fierce fighting in a remote, northwest valley over the past four days following a ground offensive launched by the army, military officials said Monday.
Meanwhile, Pakistan‘s top court ordered former military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf to respond to allegations that he committed treason while in power and barred him from leaving the country only weeks after he returned.
The army launched the offensive against the Pakistani Taliban and their allies in the Tirah Valley on Friday after weeks of fighting between rival militant groups forced tens of thousands of civilians to flee the rugged, mountainous area.
The valley is located in Khyber, part of Pakistan‘s semiautonomous tribal region, the main sanctuary for Taliban militants in the country. The army has launched scores of operations against the Taliban in the tribal region in recent years, but certain areas like the Tirah Valley have remained outside their control.
The Taliban have remained a serious threat and continue to launch attacks throughout the northwest and other parts of the country with frightening regularity. There is concern that the militants could step up the pace of attacks even more in coming weeks in an attempt to derail parliamentary elections scheduled for May 11.
The fighting in Tirah over the past four days has killed 30 soldiers and 97 militants, military officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. The air force has also conducted heavy bombing during the offensive, they said.
The officials claimed that the army has successfully seized control of a large portion of the valley from the Pakistani Taliban and their ally, Lashkar-e-Islam. The claims could not be independently verified.
In recent weeks, the Pakistani Taliban and Lashkar-e-Islam have been fighting against another militant group, Ansar-e-Islam, which is allied with pro-government tribesmen.
Over 40,000 people have been displaced from the valley since mid-March, according to a recent report by the U.N.’s humanitarian arm. Many of the displaced have sought refuge in the city of Peshawar and other parts of northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Many are in need of food, shelter, health care and clean water, said the U.N.
The Taliban have threatened to kill Musharraf, Pakistan‘s former military ruler, who returned last month after more than four years in self-imposed exile to run in the upcoming parliamentary election.
He has had a bumpy return, and the Supreme Court‘s order on Monday was in response to private petitions alleging Musharraf committed various treasonable offenses while in office, including toppling an elected government, suspending the constitution and sacking senior judges, including the chief justice.
If convicted of treason, Musharraf could be sentenced to death. The hearing where he must respond to the allegations is scheduled for Tuesday. Musharraf could appear in person, or send a lawyer.
“People want justice, rule of law and implementation of the constitution,” one of the petitioners, lawyer Chaudhry Akram, told two Supreme Court judges overseeing Monday’s hearing.
Musharraf seized power in a military coup in 1999 but was forced …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
By Kevin Spak It’s looking like an up-and-down kind of week for Pakistan‘s widely reviled former president. Just a day after a court gave Pervez Musharraf permission to run for office again, Pakistan‘s supreme court has demanded he face possible treason charges, the AP reports. A conviction could mean a death sentence. A… …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Newser – Home
Pakistan‘s top court has ordered former military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf to appear before the judges in connection with allegations that he committed treason while in power.
The Supreme Court on Monday ordered a notice to be sent to Musharraf to appear in court the following day.
The judges were responding to several petitions filed alleging that Musharraf committed treason by suspending the constitution and sacking senior judges, including the Supreme Court‘s chief justice, while in office.
Musharraf seized power in a military coup in 1999 but was forced to step down almost a decade later under threat of impeachment by Pakistan‘s main political parties.
Musharraf left Pakistan in 2008 and spent over four years in self-imposed exile before returning last month.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Pakistan has given former military ruler Pervez Musharraf the go-ahead today to run for parliament next month, a victory for him in what has otherwise been a bumpy return to the country after more than four years in self-imposed exile. Musharraf’s return has been largely ignored—with the exception of… …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Newser – Home
A close aide to Pakistan‘s former military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf says elections officials have approved his candidacy for parliament in a remote northern district after it was rejected in two other parts of the country.
Rashid Qureshi said officials in Chitral near the Afghan border accepted Musharraf’s nomination papers on Sunday.
Musharraf seized power in a military coup in 1999 but was forced to step down nearly a decade later. He returned to Pakistan from exile last month to run for the National Assembly in May 11 elections.
Two other applications for southern and central Pakistani districts were rejected while a third in Islamabad is pending. Opponents have filed objections on based on actions he took while ruling Pakistan.
Chitral officials could not be reached for comment.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf said he doesn’t fear arrest despite facing criminal charges as he vowed Saturday to return to his homeland and contest upcoming elections after more than four years in exile.
But legal problems are only one challenge facing Musharraf as the Taliban warned they have an assassination team ready to kill the one-time military strongman if he sets foot in the country on Sunday as promised.
Musharraf announced in early March that he would return to Pakistan to take part in upcoming elections, despite allegations he was part of a conspiracy to assassinate ex-premier Benazir Bhutto, militant threats to his safety and a waning popularity. The deposed general said he would lead his party in elections scheduled for May 11.
“I am going back to save Pakistan,” he told reporters Saturday during a press conference in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates.
Musharraf has earned a reputation as a strongman who cried wolf after failing to follow through on previous promises to return home, but the likelihood of his return this time got a boost on Friday when a Pakistan court granted him pre-emptive bail — essentially preventing his immediate arrest — in three cases in which he’s implicated, including Bhutto’s death. Under the pre-emptive bail, he has 10 days to appear in court, which Musharraf promised he would do.
“I will face these cases with bravery,” he said. Musharraf said “elements in Pakistan and outside” were spreading rumors that he was not returning, but that the granting of the bail would address some of those concerns.
The former general plans to travel to Karachi from Dubai accompanied by journalists and supporters of his political party, All Pakistan Muslim League.
Musharraf took power in a 1999 coup after then-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif attempted to dismiss the general while he was out of the country. Officers loyal to Musharraf put Sharif under house arrest. Upon return Musharraf took control of the government, eventually naming himself president in 2001. He ran the country for nearly a decade until he was forced to step down in 2008 after growing discontent with his rule.
His return comes as Pakistan faces a nationwide vote marking the first time an elected government has fulfilled its term and handed over power to another elected government. In a country that has undergone three coups, including Musharraf’s, there are precious few democratic milestones. Pakistan is struggling with rolling blackouts, rising inflation and widespread security problems.
While he was given a reprieve from the legal charges, he received no such leniency from militants who have been gunning for him for years. Just hours after his announcement Saturday, the Pakistan Taliban released a video threatening to unleash suicide bombers and snipers against Musharraf if he comes back. One of the two people speaking in the video was Adnan Rashid, a former Pakistani air force officer convicted in an attack against Musharraf. The Taliban broke Rashid out of prison last year, along with nearly 400 other detainees.
“The mujahedeen of Islam have prepared a death squad to send …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
