BREAKING NEWS : Supreme Court declares NRO unconstitutional

 ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan has struck down the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), saying it is unconstitutional.

A 17-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, in his short order, declared the ordinance as null and void.

According to the judgment, the NRO is contrary to the equality guaranteed by the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan. Similarly, all the cases, disposed off because of the controversial ordinance, now stand revived as of Oct 5, 2007 position, said the judgment.

In addition, the court has ordered the government that it should immediately reopen the Swiss cases concerning President Asif Ali Zardari.

"The provisions of the NRO seem to be against national interests thus it violates the several provisions of the constitution," the ruling said.

Earlier, during hearing of petitions against the NRO, the chief justice said even parliament has no right to change the basic structure of the constitution.

“In accordance to oath, we are committed to safeguard the constitution,” he remarked.

Earlier, the chief justice has warned the NAB Chairman Naveed Ahsan about a stern action if something false detected in the list. He ordered the NAB Chairman to sign the list if it was correct. On the court’s order, he signed the list.

The court summoned the summary file of directives issued for the elimination Swiss cases when the hearing resumed on Wednesday. On the excuse of acting attorney general, the court summoned principal secretary and secretary law. Secretary law while presenting the file in the court said attorney general wrote the letter for withdrawal of cases on the directives of Asif Zardari’s lawyer Farooq H Naek that was opposed by the than law minister Zahid Hamid.

The court has expressed displeasure on acting attorney general and said he hide the truth. The principal secretary of president Salman Farooqi informed the court that cases files are not present in presidency. The files were in president’ camp office in Rawalpindi.

The court advisor Mian Allah Nawaz in his arguments termed the NRO as filthy law and said any, which is beneficial for some individuals, is illegal. Another court advisor Shaiq Usmani said there is no legal ground of giving amenity under NRO. President could only issue the ordinance, which will convert into law by the assembly.

In his remarks, chief justice said how assembly could declare corruption as legal. The judges in their remarks said NRO is against Quranic teachings and amenity could only be given to political cases.

The judges said that if it were an ordinance for national reconciliation, then Baloch leaders and Altaf Hussain should also have been called to the country. During the final stages of the hearing, Salman Raja, Akram Chaudhry, Dr Farooq Hussain, Shahid Orakzai and Abdul Hafiz Pirzada completed their arguments.

CIA asked us to eliminate Dr. A Q Khan: Blackwater chief

LAHORE: In a stunning revelation, US private security service agency, Blackwater’s founder, Erik Prince, has claimed that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had asked the agency to kill Pakistani nuclear scientist, A Q Khan.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, Prince said the CIA had asked the Blackwater to eliminate Khan, however, authorities in Washington “chose not to pull the trigger.”
“Dr Khan’s inclusion in the target list would suggest that the assassination effort was broader than has previously been acknowledged,” Prince said.
Prince has also admitted to Blackwater’s participation in some of the CIA’s most sensitive operations, including raids on suspected militants in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Prince said Blackwater’s, which now known as Xe Worldwide Services, role changed remarkably after its officials started providing security cover to CIA operatives in the field.
Raids on suspected insurgents in Iraq, known as “snatch and grab” operations, were mostly carried out during nights between 2004 and 2006.

CIA admits Blackwater presence in Pakistan

US Central Intelligence Agency Director Leon Panetta

Despite repeated denials, the CIA has now confirmed that US security contractor Xe Services, formerly known as Blackwater, has been operating in Pakistan.

CIA spokesman George Little said that agency Director Leon Panetta has terminated a contract with Xe services that allowed the company's employees to load bombs on CIA drones at secret airfields in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Although the spokesman denied that Blackwater was currently involved in CIA operations in Pakistan and Afghanistan, his comments, contradicted past US assertions that the company does not operate in Pakistan.

Other than the US administration, the Pakistani government and Xe itself had denied that the company was operating in Pakistan.

Little did say, however, that the contractor still provides so-called security or support assistance to the US intelligence agency in the two countries. He did not elaborate further on exactly what that role involves.

While the New York Times published CIA's claim that Blackwater employees no longer have an operational role in the agency's covert programs in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the Guardian posted a quite different article.

Citing comments from an unnamed former US official, the British daily reported that Blackwater was still operating in Pakistan at a secret CIA airfield used for launching drone attacks.

According to the official, who has direct knowledge of the operation, Xe employees patrol areas surrounding the Shamsi airbase in Pakistan's Baluchistan province.

Blackwater gained its notoriety mainly from its activities in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Iraqis have launched several cases against the company in US courts over violent attacks carried out by the company against unarmed people, including an unprovoked 2007 shooting spree in Baghdad that killed 17 civilians.

After the Baghdad incident Blackwater changed its name to Xe Services.

The company CEO Erik Prince also is facing allegations by a former US marine and a past employee that he organized the murder of witnesses that could have testified against his company during the hearings.

He has also been accused by the two witnesses, whose identities have not been disclosed by the courts for safety purposes, of having anti-Muslim sentiments, "encouraging and rewarding the destruction of Iraqi life", and arms smuggling.

CIA confirmation of Xe involvement in Pakistan comes a day after the New York Times reported that links between Blackwater and the CIA in Iraq and Afghanistan have been closer than has yet been disclosed.

A US Congressional committee is apparently investigating links between Blackwater and American intelligence services.

The paper said that Blackwater staff had participated in clandestine CIA raids.

Blackwater is a sensitive subject in Pakistan where its name is associated with drone strikes, bombings and violent activities that have left hundreds of civilians dead.

Before the US avowal, some Pakistani TV stations had already aired images of what seemed to be "Blackwater houses" in Islamabad. Several papers had also published reports accusing certain US officials and journalists of being Xe operatives.

Ahmadinejad has proof US trying to stop Hidden Imam Mahdi

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that he has documented evidence that the United States was trying to prevent the coming of the Hidden Imam [Mahdi] (messiah).

According to a Khabar Online report, Ahmadinejad expounded on the plots hatched by the East and West for the annihilation of Iran.

“[Ronald] Regan and his foreign minister were two of the stupidest people in the world,” he said, addressing an audience of the families of martyrs and altruists in Isfahan on Friday.

Referring to his June reelection, Ahmadinejad said, “The enemy… was hyping the issue as if the Iranian nation has been weakened and as if this was the best opportunity to get concessions from them. But your humble son [Ahmadinejad] stood in front of the oppressive powers and shouted: You are dead wrong! The Iranian nation will put you in your place.”

“In the recent [post-election] incident, they claimed that they had devised a plan that could bring hundreds of governments to their knees,” he continued. “But he who is on the righteous path will always be victorious and will never see defeat.”

Ahmadinejad said that the oppressive powers were after Iran’s oil and other natural resources. “They have a reason for this and they act upon that reason,” he said. “However, they do not break the news about it. We have documented proof that they believe that a descendant of the prophet of Islam will raise in these parts [Middle East] and he will dry the roots of all injustice in the world. They have devised all these plans to prevent the coming of the Hidden Imam because they know that the Iranian nation is the one that will prepare the grounds for his coming and will be the supporters of his rule.”

“They have planned to annihilate Iran. This is while all policymakers and analysts believe Iran is the true winner in the Middle East,” he went on to proclaim.

“In Afghanistan, they are caught like an animal in a quagmire. But instead of pulling their troops out to save themselves, they are deploying more soldiers. Even if they stay in Afghanistan for another 50 years they will be forced to leave with disgrace — because this is a historical experience [repeated countless times]. In my last visit to New York, I asked them, ‘Is there not one sane person in your country to tell you these things?’”

Ahmadinejad said that the most important region of the world was the Middle East and the most important country in the Middle East was Iran.

“They know themselves that they need Iran in the Middle East, but because of their arrogance they do not want to accept this reality. They are nothing without the Iranian nation and all their rhetoric is because they don’t want to appear weak.”

millitants captured in operation rah-e-rast are not pakistanis ..... VIDEO PROOF

US war strategy should focus on Pakistan: Senator

Senator Dick Lugar, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. - AP photo

WASHINGTON: The top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is questioning whether the United States is focusing on the right country in its war against the Taliban and the al-Qaida terrorist network.
Senator Dick Lugar said Wednesday the US risks spending billions of dollars fighting in strategically less important Afghanistan while militants are becoming more secure in their havens across the border in nuclear-armed Pakistan.
Lugar prepared the remarks for a Senate hearing where lawmakers will hear testimony from Gen. David Petraeus, overall commander for the Mideast region, and Karl Eikenberry, the US ambassador to Afghanistan.—AP