Tribune News Service
Muktsar, December 11 The Muktsar police today claimed to have arrested a narcotics smuggler and seized 1 kg of smack from his possession from Killianwali village on the Punjab-Haryana border. The police said acting on a tip-off, Bhagwan Lal, aged about 40, a resident of Madhya Pradesh, was frisked at a naka and was arrested with the contraband.
A case under Sections 21, 61 and 85 of the NDPS Act has been registered at Lambi police station.
Islamabad, December 11. The Pakistani military will shoot down any US drone that intrudes the country’s airspace under a new defence policy in which troops have been given greater liberty to respond to incursions by NATO and allied forces in Afghanistan, according to a media report.
“Any object entering into our airspace, including US drones, will be treated as hostile and be shot down,” a senior unnamed Pakistani military official was quoted as saying by NBC News.
The defence policy was changed after a NATO air strike on two military border posts killed 24 Pakistani soldiers on November 26.
Following the air strike, Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani issued a communiqué that gave troops in the field full liberty to respond to any future attacks without consulting their superiors.
Kayani issued multiple directives since the November 26 attack, including orders to shoot down US drones, senior military officials said.
Pakistan also shut down all NATO supply routes and asked the US to vacate the Shamsi airfield in Balochistan province by December 11.
The airbase is reportedly used by CIA-operated drones that target militants in the tribal areas along the Afghan border.
A senior military official in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, told NBC News yesterday that the evacuation of the airbase would be completed within the deadline.
Pakistan’s paramilitary Frontier Corps took control of the airbase last evening after most US military personnel left.
Civil aviation officials too moved in yesterday. (PTI)
Srinagar, 12 December 2011. Jammu and Kashmir Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ali Muhammad Sagar on Sunday escaped a bid on his life when separatist guerrillas attacked him in Srinagar. One of the minister’s security guards was killed in the attack.
“At about 8 p.m. today (Sunday), some unidentified militants attacked Minister of Law and Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Sagar at his ancestral home in Shah Mohalla, Nawa Bazar, Srinagar,” a police statement issued here said.
“Three police personnel, Gulzar Ahmad, Mohammad Yaqoob and Feroz Ahmad got injured in this incident. Later constable Gulzar Ahmad succumbed to his injuries. A civilian, Ali Mohummad, was also injured in the attack.”
Senior police and paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) officers rushed with reinforcements to the densely populated old city Nawa Bazar locality to escort the minister safely to his uptown official residence. The minister had gone to his ancestral home in connection with a social function there.
This is the first major separatist guerrilla attack in Srinagar in many months and triggered panic in the area. The attack occurred at a time when Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has been advocating the revocation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from Srinagar district as well as Badgam district in the Valley and Jammu and Samba districts in the Jammu region. (IANS)
http://www.asianage.com/india/kashmir-minister-escapes-bid-life-cop-killed-873
Meensestraat, outside Menenpoort (Menen Gate)
Meensestraat, outside Menenpoort (Menen Gate)
Meensestraat, outside Menenpoort (Menen Gate)
Nanak Singh, Zorawar Singh, Kulwinder Singh
Meensestraat, outside Menenpoort (Menen Gate)
Harjit Kaur and Nanak Singh
To see more Ieper pictures go to :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12445197@N05/sets/72157621976532703/
More Ieper pictures to follow
Harjinder Singh
Man in Blue
Our Correspondent
Fatehgarh Sahib, December 11 More than 2,000 farmers from across the state are taking part with their cattle in the three-day livestock zonal championship, which started here today.
In the championship, which is being organised by the Animal Husbandry, Diary and Fisheries Department, farmers bought their buffalos, sheep, goats, cows, horses, pigs and other domestic animals for competitions.
Kirpal Singh Badungar, Chairman, Backward Commission, Punjab, inaugurated the championship, whereas Raju Khanna, Chairman, Youth Welfare Board, presided over the function. In the championship, prizes worth Rs 15 Lakh, trophies and certificates would be distributed to the winners.
In his address, Badungar appreciated the efforts of the department in organising the championship, which would encourage the farmers, particularly the youths to adopt dairy farming as a mode of employment.
Dr H S Sandha, Director, Animal Husbandry Department, said, “As fertility of the soil has reached its peak, we can not expect more produce from it, so these competitions are the first step towards diversification from agriculture to animal husbandry and to motivate the farmers to adopt dairy farming to improve their financial status as well the breed of the state cattle.” He said that for improvement of cattle breeds, the State Government had purchased 2.5 lakh dosages of semen from the USA and distributed among cattle farmers on 50 per cent subsidy.
“For cattle, mineral supplements are being provided on subsidies rates and the Government has set up new polyclinics in all the districts at the cost of Rs 13.5 crore to provide veterinary services at farmers’ door steps.”
12 December 2011
Islamabad: Pakistan’s interior minister and prime minister have both denied the government is holding peace talks with its homegrown Taliban, according to media, saying it would do so only if the militants first disarmed and surrendered.
The deputy commander of the Pakistan Taliban, who have been waging a four-year war against the government in Islamabad, said on Saturday that the two sides were holding talks, a move that could further fray the US-Pakistan relationship.
But both Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Interior Minister Rehman Malik denied the reports.
“Categorically, I’m telling on behalf of the government, no dialogue,” Malik told reporters in Islamabad.
Gilani left the door open to negotiations. “Whosoever surrenders and denounces violence, they are acceptable to us,” Gilani said in an interview with the BBC.
At the end of September, Pakistan’s government pledged to “give peace a chance” and talk with its home-grown militants.
Maulvi Faqir Mohammad, the deputy commander of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also known as the Pakistani Taliban, told Reuters on Saturday that talks for an end to the insurgency were under way.
http://www.dawn.com/2011/12/12/pakistani-government-denies-talks-with-taliban.html
