Khar says Pakistan seeks political solution to Afghan problem

Sergei Lavrov speaks during a news conference after meeting with Hina Rabbani Khar in Moscow.—Reuters

MOSCOW: Pakistan on Wednesday reiterated her belief that for durable peace in the region the Afghan conflict should be resolved politically.

Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar told a joint press conference along with her Russian counterpart here that Pakistan had a clear policy of extending full help and cooperation to any Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan-driven peace initiative as only that could lead to a lasting solution to the problem.

Khar is visiting the Russian Federation at the invitation of her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov from Feb 7 to 10.

She held in-depth talks with Lavrov on expanding and diversifying Pakistan-Russia relations.

The two foreign ministers exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual interest, besides increasing cooperation in energy, infrastructure development, agriculture, science and technology.

She said there was scope for cooperation between the two countries in different areas and all aspects for improving cooperation were discussed during the meeting of the two foreign ministers.

The two sides agreed to promote and enhance bilateral relations in diverse fields, including trade, energy and people-to-people contact.

Iraq executes 14 in one day, 65 this year

Iraq's President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. - Reuters Photo.

BAGHDAD: Iraq executed 14 people on a single day this week, most of them al-Qaeda members, a senior justice ministry official said on Wednesday, bringing to at least 65 the number of executions so far this year.

“Fourteen Iraqis were executed yesterday (Tuesday),” the official said, asking not to be named.

“They were convicted of terrorism and other crimes committed in 2006 and 2007. Most of them are from al-Qaeda, among them the wali (leader) of Mosul,” the official said.

The hangings bring the number of people executed in the first six weeks of this year close to the total of 68 for all of 2011.

Iraq executed 17 people on January 31, Justice Minister Hassan al-Shammari was quoted in a statement at the time as saying.

Before those executions, ministry spokesman Haidar al-Saadi said the authorities had so far hanged 34 people this year, including two women and a Syrian.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has expressed shock at the number of executions, criticising the lack of transparency in court proceedings and calling for an immediate suspension of the death penalty.

“I call on the government of Iraq to implement an immediate moratorium on the institution of the death penalty,” she said last month.

“Even if the most scrupulous fair trial standards were observed, this would be a terrifying number of executions to take place in a single day,” said Pillay, a South African high court judge.

Death sentences in Iraq must be signed by the country’s president, currently Jalal Talabani, but the chief executive may delegate that authority to either of the two vice presidents. As Talabani is an ardent opponent of the death penalty, that is what he does.

Hundreds of raids against London gang suspects

LONDON: More than 120 people were arrested in police raids across London on Wednesday by a new unit set up to combat gang violence following riots which rocked England last summer.

The suspects were picked up in more than 300 raids across the capital since dawn as hundreds of Metropolitan Police officers took to the streets to track down and arrest suspected gang members.

The arrests concerned suspected assault, robbery and the supply of drugs, with police seizing “significant amounts of crack cocaine, heroin and cash”, according to the police.

The 1,000-strong Trident Gang Crime Command has been created to monitor gang activity and work with London boroughs.

The unit, thought to be the largest in the country, has 19 dedicated gang crime task forces.

The Met, or the MPS, said in a statement: “As part of the MPS crackdown on gang crime, 109 warrants have been executed so far, resulting in 121 arrests for a variety of offences including, the supply and possession of drugs and gang related violence.

“A significant amount of cocaine and cannabis has been seized at various addresses across the capital.”

Ten thousand pounds were found at another address.

Violence ripped through London in August, sparked by the death of a black man in a police shooting.

It spread across the capital and then to the cities of Birmingham and Manchester.

In London alone, police have arrested nearly 3,900 people over the riots.

Nasheed supporters clash with police in Maldives

Workers clean the Maldivian President's office in Male, Maldives. - AP Photo.

MALE: Several thousand supporters of former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed clashed with police and troops in riot gear Wednesday, a day after his resignation which he blamed on a coup d’etat.

Nasheed was among the crowd that rallied in the centre of the capital Male in a square next to the police and military headquarters.

Chanting slogans in support of Nasheed, the protesters threw stones and security personnel responded with tear gas and pepper spray, finally forcing the crowd back and away from the square.

“We’re not going to stop,” said Mohamed Abdulla, a supporter of Nasheed’s Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).

“We’ll just regroup and protest elsewhere.These people have seized our power!” another protester shouted.

Nasheed had led the crowd into the square following a meeting of the MDP leadership, which passed a resolution calling the new administration of President Mohamed Waheed illegitimate.

In an exclusive interview with AFP, Nasheed insisted that he had been forced into resigning by a group of armed rebel police and army officers who had threatened a bloodbath if he refused.

No choice but to support Iran if Israel attacks: Wajid

Pakistan’s High Commissioner to Britain Wajid Shamsul Hasan.—File Photo

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s High Commissioner to Britain Wajid Shamsul Hasan said that Pakistan would be left with no option but to support Iran if Israel attacks it.

In an interview to a British newspaper The Sun published Wednesday, Hasan expressed his concerns over the United States’ “Drone Wars” that have taken the lives of hundreds of innocent civilians in Pakistan.

“We know the damage — destroyed schools, communities, hospitals. They are civilians — children, women, families. Our losses are enormous,” the newspaper quoted him as saying.

“I think time is running out until the Pakistan government can take a stand. They will have to at some stage take punitive actions to stop them. They have got means to take such actions to defend their own frontier and territories,” Hasan further added.

Hasan urged British Prime Minister David Cameron to convince the US that the drone attacks were counter-productive, making the American “the most hated people in the minds of the people in Pakistan.”

Talking about Iran, he said: “We wouldn’t like to be seen as part of Israel’s campaign against any country. If Israel attacks Iran, it will have an impact on Pakistan as well.”

“We will have to safeguard our own interests. We also have a Shia population in Pakistan who will not take it lying down.”

Dozens dead as Syria regime pounds Homs: activists

DAMASCUS: Syrian forces pressed a relentless assault on the protest city of Homs Wednesday, with dozens of civilians reported killed, hours after President Bashar al-Assad said he was committed to ending the bloodshed.

The barrage of gunfire, mortars and shells came at daybreak and flattened many buildings in the flashpoint neighbourhood of Baba Amr, a stronghold of army defectors the regime is targeting for a fifth straight day.

Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the overall toll amounted to around 50 dead, including three entire families slain overnight by regime forces and government-backed thugs known as Shabiha.

“We expect the death toll to rise … given the fact that many victims remain under the rubble,” Abdel Rahman told AFP.

The most intense shelling was in Baba Amr, where at least 23 buildings were completely destroyed, including a home hit by a rocket that killed a little girl.

All power and communications were cut off.

The three families were killed in the same neighbourhood and included at least three children aged five, seven and 15.

Activists in the besieged central city claimed the widespread shelling was a clear bid to pave the way for a ground assault.

“Since dawn the shelling has been extremely intense and they are using rockets and mortars,” Omar Shaker, who was reached by satellite telephone from Beirut, told AFP.

“They have destroyed all infrastructure and bombed water tanks and electricity poles. The humanitarian situation is extremely dire and food is lacking.

“We are trying to set up a field hospital but we have no medical supplies.”

Later in the morning, the shelling intensified as tanks moved toward the city from the capital Damascus, said Hadi Abdullah, another activist.

“We fear a new massacre,” he told AFP by satphone.

The Britain-based Observatory has reported several hundred civilians killed since the onslaught on the protest hub was launched overnight Friday.

It said new clashes killed at least one person in northwestern Idlib province, and added that 18 soldiers defected in the southern region of Daraa, cradle of the popular uprising against Assad’s 11 years of iron-fisted rule.

Rights groups estimate more than 6,000 people have died in nearly a year of upheaval in the Middle Eastern country, as Assad’s hardline regime seeks to snuff out the revolt that began in March with peaceful protests amid the Arab Spring.

Western and Arab efforts to end the violence have met resistance from Russia, whose foreign minister said after meeting Assad in Damascus on Tuesday that the Syrian leader was “fully committed” to ending the bloodshed.

Greece: 'There's no more left to cut'

That's enough, we can't take it anymore." That was the popular chant coming from protesters in Athens yesterday during the latest 24-hour general strike against the country's austerity measures. Teachers and doctors joined bank employees to demonstrate against a new round of expected cuts as the cash-strapped country continued to negotiate new reductions in spending to help keep the economy afloat.

Several thousand demonstrators from the public and private-sector unions braved the heavy rainfall, gathering outside Parliament to voice their opposition at the latest proposed measures to secure a €130bn (£108bn) bailout package. Minor clashes broke out when protesters tried to remove a cordon near the parliament building. Police sprayed tear gas and at times clashed with strikers, whose anger intensified overnight when a further 15,000 job cuts were announced.

Since the onset of the crisis, the austerity drive has sent unemployment to a record high of 18.2 per cent and the country's finances into a spiral of recession. Despite the deepening pain, crowds at protests have increasingly dwindled.

"People are scared and haven't really realised what's happening yet," George Pantsios, an electrician for the country's public power corporation, said. He has only been receiving half of his €850 monthly wage since August. "But once we all lose our jobs and can't feed our kids, that's when it'll go boom and we'll turn into Tahrir Square."

Prime Minister Lucas Papademos was scheduled to wrap up a new reforms package with party leaders that back his unity government last night, which will pave the way for more bailout money.

The conservative daily Kathimerini newspaper's headline said: "Merkel and Sarkozy's asphyxiating pressure." It was a reference to lenders' demands to axe another 15,000 civil servants by the end of the year and cut the minimum wage by 20 per cent.

The European Union and the International Monetary Fund said the measures are needed to restore Greece's competitiveness and reduce its mounting €300bn debt.

Many in the crowds yesterday said the talks were being used as an excuse to squeeze extra revenue from the sick man of Europe and they fear additional cuts will only stifle any hopes of growth. "We're already bankrupt. This new agreement will simply be our tombstone and the meeting will be the final curtain of this play," said Corinna Panopoulos, a state psychologist who demonstrated outside the parliament building.

Ms Panopoulos, who is single and has two children, said she had seen her salary drop by a third and has moved in with her mother to make ends meet. Her sister, Christina, who works as a supply teacher, will lose her state job in June.

Another woman had been forced to close her business: "I should leave and go abroad for work, but I want to stay and fight because my country needs me now."

The patience of Greece's creditors is wearing thin as the financial woes threaten to spill into other countries.