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Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf declared his resignation from his post on Monday. Meanwhile Senate Chairman Mohd Mian Soomro will take over as Acting President.

Ending his nine-year reign since 1999, Musharraf said, “For the sake of the nation and people, I’m resigning. I don’t want anything from anybody. I’m not vindictive. Let the people be the judges. Let them do justice. I’m going with the belief that I have done everything for the nation with honesty.”

While addressing to nation Musharraf said, “I’m worried Pakistan is going down abyss rapidly, poor people are being affected.” Quoting recent opinion polls, Musharraf said that 80% of the population wanted him to stay.

“But I’m resigning so that there should be no more uncertainty in Pakistan,” he added.

Musharraf resigned in wake of a humiliating impeachment move, but his tenure was in a state of decline ever since he imposed emergency to pre-empt a judicial ruling on his October 2007 re-election, revoked the measure and quit as army chief under intense international and domestic pressure, entering uncharted waters as a civilian president.

“I may win or lose impeachment, but the people, the nation will definitely lose. I love Pakistan. I’m ready to give my life for the nation. I will never do anything that puts nation in the peril.” He said.

Musharraf recalled the days of his time in power. He talked about the GDP which was at 7% as late as December 2007 and that Pakistan was rated high by international rating agencies. But over the past eight months, the economy has begun a downslide, with foreign exchange reserves, stock exchange, currency rates falling. Prices of all essential commodities have also increased, he added.

Worried and emotional Musharraf said, “When I took over Pakistan’s reign in 1999, the country was in tatters. It was set to be declared a terrorist state. I have worked hard for last eight years and turned challenges into opportunities. I am proud I have kept Pakistan intact.”

During his farewell, Musharraf inspected the guard of honor presented by a tri-services contingent on the forecourt of the Presidency. A military band played martial tunes during the brief ceremony.

Musharraf then shook hands with members of his staff at the Presidency before leaving the imposing building in the heart of Islamabad for the last time. He then drove to his camp office in the nearby garrison city of Rawalpindi.

Finally before leaving, Musharraf said, “I thank the defence forces for their loyalty and also the people of Pakistan for the love they bestowed on me. I’m a common man, part of the middle class. I know their difficulties. I hope the government looks into it.”

He prayed for his nation. He called upon ‘Allah’ to keep his Pakistan safe and solve the problems of its people. He ended his words saying, “Pakistan Khuda Hafiz.”

There are rumors that Musharraf might go in exile. Reports also suggested that a Saudi plane is on a standby at the Rawalpindi airport, fuelling speculation that Musharraf might fly to Saudi Arabia after his address to seek asylum in the Islamic Kingdom.

Tags: Musharraf, Pakistan, Parvej Musharraf, President, Resignation

Pakistan has demanded N-deal with US similar to that of Indo-US deal. Ahead of the IAEA meeting on Friday, Pak PM Yousaf Raza Gilani, while his visit to US, has said that he also expects an India-like civil nuclear deal from the US.

At a gathering under the aegis of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Middle East Institute, Gilani added, “there should be no preferential, there should be no discrimination. If they want to give such nuclear status to India, we expect the same for Pakistan.”

The IAEA Board of Governors will meet in Vienna on Friday in a crucial session to consider for approval a key step for operation of the Indo-US nuclear deal.

If the 35-member Board approves the India-specific safeguards agreement by consensus leading to the signing of an unprecedented document, it would pave the way for India’s integration into the world of nuclear commerce.

According to a newspaper, the prime minister said that the government wanted to have cordial relations with all its neighbors, including India and Afghanistan, considering it a guarantee to regional peace.

“With India, we want to resolve all issues including the core issue of Kashmir,” he said when asked about the relationship with its eastern neighbors. He added that Pakistan had good trade ties with India.

Gilani also show his concern over terrorism and extremism, Pak-US relations including the economy and the scope of democracy in the country.

Tags: India, India US, Indo US, Indo USA, N-deal, Nuclear deal, Nuke Deal, Pak, Pakistan

A day after a bomb blast near Pakistan’s capital city Islamabad’s Lal Masjid killed 20 people, one more deadly serial bomb blast in Pakistan’s port city of Karachi killed 5 persons and left more than 50 others injured on Monday.

The six “low-intensity” explosions occurred in Banaras Chowk, Orangi town, Shahrah-e-Noor, Paharganj, Qasba mor and Mangho pir areas, police said.

“There were a series of blasts in Karachi which were of low intensity and have not caused any damage to property,” Karachi police Chief Waseem Ahmed said.

Reportedly, at least nine people were injured in Banaras Chowk while five people were wounded in a blast in a minibus in Shahrah-e-Noor area.

Ahmed claimed that the blasts were apparently carried out to create an atmosphere of fear and tension only.

Hours after Islamabad explosion, Islamic hardliners took out a rally demanding President Pervez Musharraf’s public hanging.

The police were on high alert and have taken all measures the secure the life and property of people. Injured were already rushed to hospitals. People are scared of the successive incidents of bombing.

Tags: bomb blast, Karachi, Musharraf, Pakistan

India lost the crucial Asia cup against Sri Lanka by 100 runs today in Karachi in National Stadium. Sri Lanka which set an easy looking target of 274, won the Asia cup Tropthy for the fourth time. The final match was all set for a Sunday delight to get a view of powerful Indian batting and Sri Lankan fielding but disappointedly the Indian batsmen really had no answer to Ajantha Mendis, who is selected as Man of the match and Man of the series as well.

Earlier India lost the Kitply Cup against Pakistan and lost the finals at Dhaka by 25 runs. India’s skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and elected to bowl first.

India was at good field at the start. Danger man Kumar Sangakkara was back to pavilion in just the second over of the match by Suresh Raina. He has made only 4 runs. Ishant Sharma removed Mahela Jayawardene for just 2 runs and send Chamara Kapugedera on a long walk back to the pavilion for a score of 5. With Kapugedera’s departure, the scoreboard read 66 for the loss of three in 11.4 over.

The lanky fast bowler Ishant Sharma seemed to be on fire as he took the wickets of skipper Mahela Jayawardene, Chamara Kapugedera and Chamara Silva in quick succession. Jayasuriya hit three sixes and two fours in the same over bowled by RP Singh. He scored 125 runs off 114 balls at total racing his 27th century in One-Day Internationals.

Virender Sehwag finally broke the 131 run partnership between Sanath Jayasuriya and Tilakratane Dilshan by forcing Jayasuriya to hole a catch into the hands of Ishant Sharma in the deep. Dilshan scored 56 important runs before sent back to pavilion by Dhoni.

Pathan bowled the last over of the innings and scalped Muttiah Muralitharan off the fifth ball of the last ball to finish the Lankan innings before 50 overs.

At that point India needed 274 runs in 50 over to lift the Asia Cup.  India lost their first wicket at the score of 36 in the 5th over.

Virender Sehwag departed after he struck a speedy half century to give India a good and quick start. Only Sehwag crossed his half century making a score of 60 runs out of 36 balls including 12 fours.

Yuvraj Singh came to the crease after Sehwag’s departure and followed him to the hut two balls later. Ajantha Mendis sent six players to the pavilion. Suresh Raina was another victim of him who made only 16 runs.

Although the final pair of Ishant Sharma and Pragyan Ojha offered some resistance to the Lankans, it was not sufficient to take the Indians home. Kulasekara took the last wicket in the form of Ishant Sharma by castling him to bring an end to the Asia Cup championship.

Dhoni made a score of 49 out off 74 balss. Other players could not show their best on the ground. India can only reach 173 runs in 39.3 overs before getting all out.

Mendis was awarded the man-of-the-match for his six wicket haul for 13 runs in six overs. He was also the man-of -the-series for taking 17 wickets in the tournament.

Tags: Asia Cup, Asia Cup 2008, Asia Cup Finals, Cricket, Dhoni, India, MS Dhoni, Pakistan, Sehwag, Sri Lanka

The 1971 Indo-Pak war hero and Former Army Chief Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw passed away on Friday at Military Hospital in Wellington in Tamil Nadu. He died around 00:30 am in midnight hours after getting slipped in coma early on the day. He was admitted to hospital some time ago for progressive lung disease, the Defense Ministry said on Friday. He was 94.

Manekshaw, the Padma Vibhushan and Military Cross awardee had led India to victory in Indo-Pak war in 1971. He retired as the Army chief in 1973. Manekshaw was conferred the honorary rank of Field Marshal for his stellar leadership during the Bangladesh campaign that saw the surrender of more than 90,000 Pakistani troops on December 16, 1971 in Dacca, then the capital of East Pakistan and which has now been renamed Dhaka.

He had developed “acute broncho pneumonia” with associated complications and his condition had been serious for the past four days.

President Pratibha Patil condoled the death of India’s first Field Marshal Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw along with Defense Minister A K Antony who said, “In his demise, the nation has lost a great soldier, a true patriot and a noble son.”

He was born in Amritsar on April 13, 1914. Manekshaw was commissioned into the Army from the first course of the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, in 1934. He saw action in Burma, now Myanmar, during the Second World War and became the Indian Army chief on June 7, 1969.

Manekshaw assumed charge of the Indian Army, as the 8th Chief of Army Staff, on June 07, 1969. Born in Amritsar, Punjab in April 1914, he completed his schooling in Amritsar and Sherwood College, Nainital. He then joined the first batch of 40 cadets at Indian Military Academy (IMA), Dehra Dun on 01 October 1932. He passed out of the IMA in December 1934 and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Indian Army. He held several regimental assignments and was first attached to the Royal Scouts and later to the 12 Frontier Force Rifles.

For his selfless service to the nation, he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 1972. He was conferred with the honorary rank of Field Marshal in January 1973.

Tags: 71 War Hero, Army Chief, Death, Field Marshal, IMA, India, Manekshaw, Padma Vibhushan, Pakistan

India won its second Asia Cup beating Pakistan today after a gap of 20 long years, a first since 1988. Sehwag contributed this grand success with his wonderful inning at a score of 119 runs off just 95 at the National Stadium in Karachi.

Pakistan set a target of 300 runs against India after elected to bat first in Karachi at a loss of four wickets. Pakistan opener Shoaib Malik, who gave a magnificent century, has to go back to pavilion while playing after getting troubled with his cramps and he left the ground disappointed. He made 125 runs out off 119 including 16 fours and 1 six.

Pakistan was very slow at start until Shoaib had given superb shots one by one with a strong partnership with Younis who made 59 runs to achieve a respectable score for the team.

The second opener butt only scored 35 runs out off 64. Mohammad Yousuf was run-out due to a misunderstanding on the pitch for a score of 30 runs in just 20 balls. The home team had managed to amass a good score of 261 as Shahid Afridi came in to bat in the final five overs with Misbah-ul-Haq to support him.

Both, India and Pakistan were tough competitors for the Asia Cup. Indian team had made two changes for today’s match. Manpreet Goni and Robin Uthappa are swapped by Yuvraj Singh and Ishant Sharma.

Virendra Sehwag was the hero of the match who scored 119 runs out off only 95 balls including 12 boundaries and 5 sixes. Suresh Raina also given a magnificant score of 84 runs out off 69 balls. The duo hit the ball one after another and acheived a 150 mark quickly.

After Sehwag, M S Dhoni came with his bat to crease with Yuvraj Singh. Dhoni who remain on ground till the target achieved, had scored 26 runs out off 30 balls while Yuvraj scored 48 runs in 47 hits.

India crossed the target within 42.1 overs and won the match by 6 wickets. Suresh Raina was declared the Man of the match.

Tags: Aisa Cup, Dhoni, Hong Kong, India, Pakistan, Raina, Sehwag, Yuvraj

An Indian prisoner died of an electric shock mysteriously in Landhi jail in Karachi which prompts the leading human rights activist, Ansar Burney to probe the case.

The person died was identified as 25 year old Fisherman Bhagwan Das. He was electrocuted when he touched a pipe in a bathroom on Monday morning Landhi Jail Superintendent Nusrat Sanghan said. Das had gone along with other prisoners to wash clothes.

Majithia, hailing from Gujarat, was arrested along with 16 other fishermen on April 24 for illegally fishing in Pakistani waters.

He was the second Indian prisoner to die while being held in Landhi Jail within four months. Earlier Laxman Kanji, a 40-year-old fisherman, died of cardiac arrest after being rushed to hospital from the prison on March 20.

After the death of Das in “mysterious circumstances” Ansar Burney asked authorities to conduct a probe.

“This man was a prisoner and it is a bit hard to believe that a prisoner can die of an electric shock. It is not as if he was at home or at his workplace and could have been exposed to electrical equipment that could have caused his death,” Burney said.

India and Pakistan had recently formed a joint committee of retired judges to ensure the humane treatment of prisoners and to recommend measures to expedite their release. The Indian members of the panel visited Pakistani jails this month and met Indian prisoners in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi also.

Tags: Ansar Burney, Death, India, Indian, Pakistan, Prisoner

In the major breakthrough the Iran-India Gas Pipeline project will take off in a few weeks. The decision is taken during the emergency meeting in Jeddah late on Sunday night which came in the backdrop of the UPA government coming under attack from the Left for allegedly “dragging its feet” on the pipeline. 

Petroleum Minister Murli Deora after the meeting with his Iranian counterpart Gholam Hosein Nozari for talks on the $7.5 billion Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) pipeline project said there were “some minor problems” which have been sorted out.

However Deora said that there were also some issues with Pakistan that has been taken care of.

Deora said, “The Pakistan oil minister has changed and so we have to deal with the new minister who is going to deal with it. Very soon we should be able to sign the agreement with Iran and Pakistan.”

Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said India has managed to resolve most differences with Iran and that there is no pressure from the US not to go ahead. He met with the Iranian minister on the sidelines of the Jeddah oil summit. It was an unscheduled meeting but one that has clearly yielded positive results.

The Left which criticized the government for going slow on the deal has said it’s a positive step but they won’t be taking the heat off the government just yet, that’s because the Left is still strongly against the nuclear deal and according to the CPI’s D Raja, the two deals aren’t linked.

However all oil producing countries are not keen on increasing oil production. There has been no major outcome in terms of cooling of oil prices while Saudi Arabia has said it will further increase oil production. Iran is sticking to its stand that there’s no shortage of supplies.

Tags: Deora, India, Pakistan, Petroleum, Pipeline, UPA

There is a new hope raised for the Indian nation Sarabjit Singh, who is on death row in Pakistan jail after Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani announced plans to convert the death sentences of prisoners to life imprisonment.

Gilani on the birth anniversary of former PPP leader Benazir Bhutto on Saturday told Parliament that the Interior Ministry will be asked to ‘move a summary to President Pervez Musharraf to commute the sentence of those on death row to life imprisonment’.

Former Pakistan Human Rights Minister Ansar Burney confirmed the development, saying Sarabjit will be one of the beneficiaries. Sarabjit was on death row for last 18 years in Lahore jail for alleged involvement in 1990 Lahore bomb blasts which killed 14 lives.

His execution was delayed indefinitely last month after efforts of Ansar Burney and the Indian government took up his case amid intense pressure from his family.

In a mercy petition filed with the Pakistan President, Sarabjit had said that he is only a poor farmer and victim of mistaken identity, who strayed into Pakistan from his village located on the border. His mercy petition was rejected by President Musharraf on March 3 this year. He was awarded death sentence, but on April 29 this year, his execution was postponed for 21 days and again till further notice.

Sarabjit’s daughter Poonam Kaur expressed happiness over the development, and Burney described it as a great achievement.

Burney said another Indian on death row, Kirpal Singh would also benefit from the move.

The decision will raise hopes for other similar prisoners. However, the government is yet to confirm the move. Offering glowing tributes to Bhutto, who was assassinated in an election rally in Rawalpindi on December 27 last year, Gilani announced a number steps ‘for national reconciliation for which she was a torch bearer’. The prime minister announced the formation of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Trust, which will look after the children, particularly those from Federally Administered Tribal Areas, whose parents lost lives in terrorist attacks or by bombing.

Tags: Benazir Bhutto, Gilani, India, Pakistan, Sarabjit, Sarabjit Singh

Pakistan won the Kitply Tri-series Cup by beating India in the final match on Saturday at Dhaka by 25 runs.

After Pakistan’ Captain Shoaib Malik won the toss and elected to bat, the team put an untouchable target of 316 at a loss of three wickets only. Salman Butt made a brilliant score of 129 out off 136 including twelve 4s and three 6s. After giving such a magnificent inning, he was hurt and retired of the play.

Younis Khan’s century helped the team to reach the untouchable target by giving 108 runs at 99 balls with 8 boundaries and 3 sixes.

Team India can only score 290 before getting all out. Chasing the huge target of 316 runs, India had a slow start. Virendra Sehwag was sent back to pavilion after making just 2 runs. Rohit Sharma and Gambhir tried their hard to help the team but Rohit was out at 24 runs and Gambhir devoted 40 runs for the team.

Yusuf Pathan was the fourth wicket of team India which was sent after making only 25 runs. Yuvraj Singh, however, scored his half century but soon dismissed after scoring 56 runs. M S Dhoni, the captain also helped the team by his score of 64 runs out off 59 balls but it couldn’t help to achieve the success. The last wicket to fall was of Dhoni.

Irfan Pathan and Suresh Raina respectively made 28 and 24 runs. Pravin and Piyush Chawla were soon dismissed at 5 and 2 runs respectively.

Tags: Bangladesh, Dhoni, India, Kitply Cup, Kitply Cup 2008, Pakistan, Shoaib Malik, Yuvraj