Bomb Kills 25 at Pakistan Election Rally

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - A suicide bomber blasted a political gathering Saturday in northwestern Pakistan, killing at least 25 people, wounding dozens and stoking fears about security surrounding this month's parliamentary election.
In the south, an estimated 100,000 supporters of Benazir Bhutto turned out for her party's first major election rally since her assassination on Dec. 27. Bhutto's widowed husband told the crowd he had a responsibility to save the nation from President Pervez Musharraf's rule.
Also Saturday, riot police in the capital of Islamabad fired water cannons and tear gas against hundreds of lawyers protesting the detention of the deposed chief justice.
The violence underscored the deep tensions in Pakistan as the nation heads toward the Feb. 18 elections, which are meant to restore democracy after eight years of military rule. But campaigning has been overshadowed by Bhutto's killing, which U.S. and Pakistani officials blame on Islamic militants.
The blast occurred inside a hall where about 200 people had assembled for a political rally in the town of Charsadda in turbulent North West Frontier province, where Islamic extremists have been battling government forces.
The rally was organized by the Awami National Party - a secular organization which competes against Islamist parties for support among the ethnic Pashtun community.
Abdul Waheed, 22, who suffered burns from the blast, said the bomber struck as a member of the party was reciting verses from Islam's holy book, the Quran.
"I only heard the blast and cries and then something hit me and I fell down," Waheed told The Associated Press from his hospital bed in nearby Peshawar.
Television footage from the blast site, located in the sprawling residence of a party activist, showed the meeting hall littered with bloodstained clothes, police caps and overturned chairs. Policeman Mohammed Khan said two policemen were among the dead, and several children had been killed or injured.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack, but suspicion fell on Islamic militants with ties to the Taliban and al-Qaida. Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz said the militants are threatening all political parties in the northwest.
"They are against everyone," Nawaz told Dawn News TV.
Tensions have been running high across Pakistan since the charismatic Bhutto was killed in a suicide bombing in Rawalpindi. Nowhere is the tension higher than in the North West Frontier Province, a lawless region bordering Afghanistan where Islamic militants threaten government control.
Candidates have shied away from large outdoor rallies in favor of small gatherings of party stalwarts inside homes or high-walled compounds. Saturday's bombing showed even those tightly controlled gatherings are unsafe.
Nevertheless, about 100,000 people gathered Saturday in a sports stadium in the southern city of Thatta as Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party resumed its election campaigning - suspended for the traditional 40 days of mourning after her death.
In an emotional speech, Bhutto's husband, Asif Ali Zardari asked the crowd to "give me strength so that we can serve the country." He vowed to carry on his slain wife's mission.
"I have the responsibility to save Pakistan," Zardari said. "This is our country and we have to save it."
Zardari claimed his wife had been murdered by an establishment that she wanted to change.
"That is why they were against us," Zardari said. "If they try to stop me, I will destroy them and I hope you people will support me."
The government has rejected allegations that intelligence agents or members of the ruling party allied to Musharraf plotted to kill Bhutto.
The People's Party is widely expected to benefit from a sympathy vote. But it remains unclear whether Zardari can unite the party and dispel public doubts over allegations that he pilfered government funds and demanded kickbacks during Bhutto's two administrations in the late 1980s and 1990s.
Pir Bakhsh, a 24-year old laborer, said that Zardari's reputation was not good but that love for Bhutto "compels us to attend this rally."
"We will avenge the blood of Benazir. We don't have bombs. We are not terrorists, but we have political power and we will capitalize on this political power to avenge the death of Benazir," said Haji Jaffar, 75, a retired teacher. "The passion and love for (her party) has increased after Benazir's assassination."
Support for Musharraf plummeted when he launched a campaign last March against critics within the judiciary, including Chief Justice Iftikar Mohammed Chaudhry, who was fired three months ago and placed under house arrest.
About 1,500 lawyers tried to march Saturday to Chaudhry's barricaded home to protest his continued detention. When lawyers tried to breach the barbed-wire barricade, hundreds of riot police responded with tear gas, water cannon and a baton charge.
Several lawyers were roughed up, but there were no reports of serious injury.
Earlier Saturday, Pakistan's Bar Council announced the lawyers would boycott courts nationwide until the elections to pressure the government to restore Chaudhry and other senior judges.
Musharraf dismissed the chief justice and 60 other top judges after he declared emergency rule on Nov. 3, before the Supreme Court was to rule on the legality of his re-election as president. Musharraf lifted the emergency in mid-December but Chaudhry, his wife and children remain under house arrest.

War Demands Strain US Military Readiness

WASHINGTON (AP) - A classified Pentagon assessment concludes that long battlefield tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with persistent terrorist activity and other threats, have prevented the U.S. military from improving its ability to respond to any new crisis, The Associated Press has learned.
Despite security gains in Iraq, the military has not been able to reduce the response risk level, which was raised from moderate to significant last year, according to the report.
The Pentagon, however, will say that efforts to increase the size of the military, replace equipment and bolster partnerships overseas will help lower the risk over time, defense officials said Friday. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the classified report.
Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has completed the risk assessment, and it is expected to be delivered to Capitol Hill this month. Because he has concluded the risk is significant, his report will also include a letter from Defense Secretary Robert Gates outlining steps the Pentagon is taking to reduce it.
The risk level was raised to significant last year by Mullen's predecessor, Marine Gen. Peter Pace.
On Capitol Hill this week, Mullen provided a glimpse into his thinking on the review. And Pentagon officials Friday confirmed that the assessment is finished and acknowledged some of the factors Gates will cite in his letter.
"The risk has basically stayed consistent, stayed steady," Mullen told the House Armed Services Committee. "It is significant."
He said the 15-month tours in Iraq and Afghanistan are too long and must be reduced to 12 months, with longer rest periods at home. "We continue to build risk with respect to that," he said.
Other key national security challenges include threats from countries that possess weapons of mass destruction, as well as the need to replace equipment worn out and destroyed during more than six years of war.
On a positive note, Mullen pointed to security gains in Iraq, brought on in part by the increase in U.S. forces ordered there by President Bush last year. There, "the threat has receded and al-Qaida ... is on the run," he said. "We've reduced risk there. We've got more stability there as an example."
The annual review grades the military's ability to meet the demands of the nation's military strategy - which would include fighting the wars as well as being able to respond to any potential outbreaks in places such as North Korea, Iran, Lebanon or China.
The latest review by Mullen covers the military's status during 2007, but the readiness level has seesawed back and forth during the Iraq war. For example, the risk for 2004 was assessed as significant, but it improved to moderate in 2005 and 2006.
Last year, when Pace increased the risk level, a report from Gates accompanying the assessment warned that while the military is working to improve its warfighting capabilities, it "may take several years to reduce risk to acceptable levels."

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

Musharraf says terrorism, extremism pose big threat

KARACHI: President Pervez Musharraf on Monday said that terrorism and extremism pose a big threat to the country and reiterated the resolve to root out the menace.

He was addressing an unveiling ceremony of plaques of the already operative Pakistan Steel flyover on National Highway in Quaidabad and the planned Bin Qasim Industrial Park, which was arranged in Pakistan Steel Mills.

The President said the country was facing three major challenges - sustaining GDP growth at 7 percent, smooth transition of power to a new elected government, overcoming extremism and terrorism.

He said it was imperative to sustain the GDP growth rate at 7% or 6%. Otherwise, he said the country would become economically weak once again.

"I would not allow the reversal of the economy," he vowed.

Sindh Governor Dr. Ishrat-ul-Ebad Khan, Caretaker Chief Minister Justice (Retd) Abdul Qadir Halepota, Caretaker Federal Information Minister, Senator Nisar A. Memon, Caretaker Minister for Industries, Production and Special Initiatives Salman Taseer, Caretaker Defence Minister Saleem Abbas Jillani, City Nazim Mustafa Kamal besides a large number of Pakistan Steel employees and leading businessmen attended the ceremony.

President Musharraf said the second challenge for the nation was to put the country on a democratic path and the people would have to resist all those engaged in de-railing the democratic process.

He said through free, fair, transparent and peaceful elections the power would be transferred to a new government and this democratic process would strengthen further with the passage of time.

"Insha Allah, these elections would be peaceful," he asserted.

The President said this was a serious challenge to the country and the nation would have to fight this menace jointly and boldly.

He cautioned that we have to succeed on all the three fronts otherwise the country would not be stable and would not prosper.

The President said it was very regrettable to note that after the assassination of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, anti-social elements resorted to looting, arson of banks, shops and vehicles, and violence, especially in Sindh province and caused loss of billions of rupees to the country as a whole.

President Musharraf said the mayhem badly affected the economy of the country and undermined confidence of the investors.

Some reports suggest that this hostile activity was planned and calculated one, he said that if this was true it would be highly regretful for the entire nation.

Lahore suicide blast toll climbs to 23

LAHORE: The death toll of Lahore blast has climbed to 23 whereas dozens others have injured in the incident.

According to initial police report 14-kilogram explosive material was used in the device including four-kilogram of ball bearings and other material. The bomber used suicide belt for the attack with explosives laden pockets on both sides of the belt, police said.

It is recalled that in previous suicide attacks explosives were filled in only one side of the belt but this time the evidence shows that the pockets at both sides of the belt were filled with the explosive material.

According to Edhi sources, 26 persons including 22 policemen have been killed in the suicide attack.
More than 70 persons were wounded in the incident and taken to hospitals for medical aid.

Britain Drops 'War on Terror' Label

The words "war on terror" will no longer be used by the British government to describe attacks on the public, the country's chief prosecutor said Dec. 27.

Sir Ken Macdonald said terrorist fanatics were not soldiers fighting a war but simply members of an aimless "death cult."

The Director of Public Prosecutions said: 'We resist the language of warfare, and I think the government has moved on this. It no longer uses this sort of language."

London is not a battlefield, he said.

"The people who were murdered on July 7 were not the victims of war. The men who killed them were not soldiers," Macdonald said. "They were fantasists, narcissists, murderers and criminals and need to be responded to in that way."

His remarks signal a change in emphasis across Whitehall, where the "war on terror" language has officially been ditched.

Officials were concerned it could act as a recruiting tool for Al Qaeda, which is determined to manufacture a battle between Islam and the West.

The term "Islamic terrorist" will also no longer be used. Officials believe it is unhelpful because it appears to directly link the religion to terrorist atrocities.

In an interview with BBC Radio's World at One, Macdonald made a fresh attack on plans to extend beyond 28 days the length of time a terror suspect can be held without trial.

He said that the evidence had shown that the existing limit was working well and he accused ministers of legislating on the basis of 'hypotheticals'.

US condemns Pakistan suicide attack

WASHINGTON: The United States on Friday condemned the suicide attack at a mosque in Pakistan that targeted a former minister and close ally of President Pervez Musharraf and killed at least 54 people.

"Violence for political gain is never justified, and is even more disturbing during such a special holiday in the Islamic faith," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack, upset that the bombing "killed and injured so many innocent people during the Eid al-Adha holiday."

"Terrorists continue to use violent tactics to foster fear and limit freedom," said McCormack. "Those responsible for the attack have demonstrated that they lack any compassion, humanity, or respect for faith."

Sherpao was reportedly unhurt in the attack, which hit as the mosque was crowded with Muslim faithful.

"We send our condolences to the families of the victims, as well as to the Pakistani people," McCormack said.

No body parts of attacker found from blast site: NWFP IG

PESHAWAR: NWFP Inspector General of Police Mohammed Shareef Virk Saturday said as many as 48 people lost their lives and over 114 others were injured in suicide attack in Sherpao area of Charsadda.

Talking to Geo News here, IG NWFP said at least seven to eight kilogram explosive material was used in the blast.

Responding a question, he said in such an intense blast, clues are normally not found from the explosion site; that is why, the body parts of the suicide attacker could not be determined.

Continuing he said, ‘However, the teams of various investigation institutions are present in Jamia Masjid of Sherpao village and the evidences are being collected.’

Mohammed Shareef said that a team led by Additional Inspector General Police Fayyaz Toor has been constituted to probe into the incident, vowing the team will soon submit its report to the government.

The inquiry team also comprises DIG Mardan Ghulam Mohammed, SSP Kashif Alam and members of bomb disposal squad.

NWFP Inspector General of Police Mohammed Shareef Virk confirmed that the blast was a suicide attack.