India to open sixth air base in Rajasthan, 100 km from Pakistan

he Indian Air Force (IAF) will open a new air base in Rajasthan Tuesday to bridge the 'strategic air gap' between three of its forward bases in the state. The new base, the sixth in the state, is nearly 100 km from the international border with Pakistan. 'This airbase will further the strategic gap in air defence in the western sector. The new base is supported with modern infrastructure,' an IAF officer here said. The new air base at Phalodi is located between Jaisalmer and Jodhpur and will straddle the distance between the two bases. It is ready to undertake all types of operations. 'It will serve fighter aircraft and helicopters. As of now, no squadron has been based at Phalodi,' the officer said. Sources, however, maintained that the frontline Sukhoi Su-30MKI combat jets could be deployed at Phalodi. The IAF chief, Air Chief Marshal P.V. Naik, will inaugurate the new air base and witness a flypast by Jaguar, MIG-21 and MIG-29 fighters. The IAF's other bases in Rajasthan are located at Suratgarh, Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur and Barmer. The first three are close to the international border with Pakistan and are backed by by the bases at Jodhpur and Barmer. Fighters like the MiG-21 and the MiG-27 operate from these bases.

Militant killed, another arrested in injured condition in Kashmir

Srinagar, Apr 5: Alert guards repulsed an attack on a senior Congress leader when they gunned down a militant and arrested another in south Kashmir district of Pulwama, official sources said here today.They said a group of militants identified as Aslam Kala alias Janbaz and Irshad Ahmad Parray, reportedly belonging to Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) entered the house of senior Congress leader Abdul Gani Dar at Romhu Pulwama last night.Militants opened fire which was returned by the Personnel Security Officer (PSO) of Mr Dar, killing Aslam on the spot and injuring Parray, who escaped from the spot.However, he was later arrested after a chase and admitted in SMHS hospital here.Mr Dar and his family members escaped unhurt in the attack, they said. (uni)

US aims to ease India-Pakistan tension

Washington, Apr 5:United States President Barack Obama has reportedly issued a secret directive to its top foreign-policy and national-security officials to intensify their efforts aimed at easing tensions between India and Pakistan.According to the Wall Street Journal, the directive was summarized in a memo written by National Security Adviser James Jones at the end of the White House’s three-month review of Afghan war policy in cember.In the directive it is stated that India must make resolving its tensions with Pakistan a priority for progress to be made on US goals in the region. A debate continues within the administration over how hard to push India, which has long resisted outside intervention in the conflict with Pakistan. Current and former US officials said the discussion in Washington over how to approach India has intensified as Pakistan ratchets up requests that the US intercede in a series of continuing disputes, The News reports.

ZA Bhutto’s 31st death anniversary observed: PPP Chief, Hilal War demands reopening of Bhutto’s case.

Srinagar, (KMW) Apr 4: The People’s Political Party (PPP) today demanded a fresh probe into the assassination of its founder president Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. A high level meeting of Bhutto Memorial Trust (BMT) and PPP was held to commemorate Bhutto's 31st death anniversary at PPP headquarters, Rajbag, Srinagar, Kashmir (IoK).
Paying rich tributes to the late Z.A. Bhutto, the executive members elucidated Bhutto’s vision of a united Muslim world. He was a top notch politician and an intellectual, said Engineer Hilal War, Chairman PPP. Mr. Bhutto rendered many sacrifices time and again to ensure Pakistan became democratically strong, said War adding it is because of this that the anti-democratic forces in Pakistan engineered his murder. But his voice lives in our hearts and will keep guiding us through and through.
PPP Chief demanded the reopening of the Shaheed Z.A. Bhutto’s murder case, so that the perpetrators are brought to book. Mr. War said Bhutto created thousands of Bhuttos after his assassination. He was such a strong inspiration that many Bhuttos were born as a result of his martyrdom, said War. War said Bhutto not only threw challenge to the anti-democratic forces in Pakistan but he was a thorn in the flesh of the anti-Muslim forces worldwide. The anti-Muslim forces in the world never wanted to see Muslims unite and as a result they saw Bhutto as the biggest threat, and that is why they connived with various forces within the country to liquidate him, said Engineer Hilal War. PPP and BMT have demanded Bhutto murder case be reopened and the culprits punished.

The PPP leader called for a judicial inquiry into what they called the assassination of the PPP founder. The PPP leader said the Pakistan was facing different challenges and was passing through a critical phase. He said as a result of ill-advised Kashmir Policy pursued by the government of Pakistan damaged the Kashmir case at international level. He vowed to continue his struggle for the rights of self-determination the people of Kashmir in order to translate the dream (Greater Pakistan) of Shaheed Z.A. Bhutto into reality. On the occasion PPP leaders heaped praise on Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto for his services to the party and the country. PPP leader vowed to continue the Mission of Shaheed Z.A. Bhutto.
The participants  and members of  PPP and BMT unanimously appealed to the people of Pakistan that they should rise above regional, racial and ethnic prejudices and considerations and unite together in the direction of national and emotional integration because such a course could only save Pakistan from external conspiracies aimed at disintegrating the country once again like December 1971.The speakers emphasized that the concept of Greater Pakistan floated by Bhutto and his Kashmir Policy for realization of right of self-determination for struggling people of Jammu and Kashmir were and are the source of inspiration for the political and armed activists of Kashmir Liberation Movement. The participants of the meeting urged the Government of Pakistan to formulate a Kashmir Policy in accordance with the letter and spirit of Bhutto's Kashmir Policy. The participants also disfavored and disapproved the proposed idea of showing any flexibility by government of Pakistan with regard to settlement of Kashmir Dispute.
Mr War said that the late PPP leader was the founder of Pakistan’s nuclear programme and his agricultural and industrial reforms laid the foundations of the Pakistan’s prosperity. Several other leaders paid tribute to the late Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.
The tripod of Bhutto’s achievements rests on awakening the people, giving  a unanimous Constitution to Pakistan and strengthening defence by giving nuclear programme.“He believed in dialogue and negotiations for resolution of most complex political issues instead of resort to force,” PPP Chief. Hilal War said.“It was through dialogue and negotiations that Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto brought back ninety thousand prisoners of war from Indian camps,” the PPP Co-Chairman added. The Simla Accord, which brought longest spell of peace between India and Pakistan, also stands as an endless monument to Shaheed Bhutto’s negotiating skills.“Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was a thinker, a friend of the poor, downtrodden and oppressed. Fearless in his beliefs he refused to bow before any man or power other than the Almighty,” he said. He asked the party workers to rededicate themselves to the ideals of Bhutto on the occasion of his anniversary,” to tell the world that Bhutto still lives in the hearts and minds of the people and, from his grave, haunts the enemies of democracy.”
In his message, PPP Supremo, Hilal Ahmad War said, “I urge the youth of Kashmir to come forward and strengthen the People’s Political Party (PPP) and bring about a visible change. I am confident they can. They will.” “On this occasion I urge the party workers to rededicate themselves to the ideals of Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.”  Qaid –e-Awam was a friend of the poor and oppressed and a great and fearless thinker, he refused to bow before superpowers. “In a span of thirty years both Benazir Bhutto and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto laid down their lives fighting for the cause. Their sacrifices have made me, my party and the people of Kashmir proud.
The 31st death anniversary of first elected Prime Minister of Pakistan and founder Chairman of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Z.A. Bhutto, is being observed across the globe today, Sunday. The main ceremony of the death anniversary is scheduled to be held midnight at Garhi Khuda Bux, the final rest place of Qaid-e-Awam, who sacrificed his life for the cause of United Muslim World and democracy at large. Garhi Khuda Bux is the city now called city of martyrs of democracy has gained prominence after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.

Benazir agreed to be PM under Zia: Fatima

New Delhi, Apr 4:Fatima Bhutto, niece of slain former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, has charged Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and her aunt with involvement in assassination of her father Murtaza Bhutto and said Benazir had agreed to become Prime Minister under military ruler Zia- Ul-Haq.Fatima, who has recently written a book 'Songs of Blood and Sword', which she claims reveals the inside story of the assassination of Murtaza Bhutto, the deep divisions between the Bhutto family and raises serious questions about Benazir Bhutto, made these allegations in an interview with Karan Thapar in Devil's Advocate programme on CNN-IBN.Fatima alleged Zardari had a role in assassination of Murtaza Bhutto while former Prime Minister Benazir was not only involved in the killing but also in the cover up later. She quotes the then Pakistan President Farooq Leghari's interview on Television in which he had said that ''Asif Zardari has the blood of Murtaza Bhutto on his hands and god knows how many other people.'' ''....He (Leghari) was interviewed by various channels of Pakistan. Only recently, in the past three months, he came out and said that Asif Zardari, the current President, went to him, when he was the sitting President and said that this man has to be eliminated.'' Fatima also claimed that Benazir had negotiated with Zia-ul-Haq, who had assassinated her own father and former Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, to become the Prime Minister of the country. Narrating the harrowing sequence of incident about the killing of Murtaza, his daughter said after being shot, he was not taken to a proper hospital but to a dispensary, which had a written notice that there was no treatment facilities for emergency cases. ''None of the seven men killed that night were taken to emergency hospital. They were all taken to different locations. They were all taken pass the time when they could have been saved. My father was taken to a dispensary where the doctors had their outpatient facility. It was a place, which had sign outside its front door saying ''no emergency''. It was very clear that that was not a hospital where doctors could be found to save anybody's life. Not just that but the police dropped my father at there and left,'' she said.She said that Murtaza was not registered at the dispensary and the police disposed him ''As if it was an unknown body.'' Regarding Benazir's role, Fatima said she presided over a state flawlessness. ''My father was one of thousands killed under her second government, so, certainly she bears a moral responsibility. And after his murder, my aunt played a strong role in the cover-up. We were forbidden from filing an FIR. All the witnesses were arrested. They had no access to their lawyers, their families. In fact, they were kept in jail till her government fell,'' she said.She said Masood Sharif, who was, at that time, head of the ISI and reported to the office of the Prime Minister, was at the scene of the crime that night. He was several years later inducted into the central committee of Benazir's party. ''Now, to induct a man who has been publicly accused of your brother's murder sends a certain signal,'' Fatima said. (UNI)