Kharotabad case: Tajik mother breaks down at painful sight

QUETTA: The parents of Tajik national who was killed in Kharotabad incident arrived in Quetta today and witnessed the body their son, Geo News reported.

Heart-wrenching scenes were witnessed, as the painful sight of the son’s body was much more than her heart could endure and she could not stop herself from breaking down.

PPP had offered Chattha CMship of Punjab

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) had offered the slot of chief minister Punjab to Hamid Nasir Chattha with an aim to win his support for getting Asif Ali Zardari elected as President, said a US Embassy cable leaked by WikiLeaks on Saturday.
The cable also discloses that MQM had been promised to get three-four important federal ministries for supporting Zardari’s name for the post of Pakistan President.
The secret US Embassy cable sent to Washington on August 27, 2008 highlights how PPP was involved in political scheming to get Zardari elected on President’s post.
PPP deputy secretary general Sheikh Mansoor in a meeting with US Charge d’Affairs Jerry Feierstein on August 27, 2008 admitted that his party leadership, including those serving in government, would not focus on the extremist threat or other pressing issues until its Co-Chair Asif Zardari was elected Pakistan’s president on September 6.
Party members were busy securing deals with factions of the Pakistan Muslim League, Karachi’s Muttahida Quami Movement, and religious party Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam.
Mansoor revealed that, if Zardari becomes president, as expected, party management will pass to his sister, parliamentarian Faryal Talpur, to serve as “executor” for Bilawal (Zardari and Bhutto’s son).
Mansoor recognized that Zardari would have to make good on his promise to the Army to grant former President Pervez Musharraf immunity, but said such a bill would be presented to the National Assembly only after Zardari became president. Lastly, Mansoor claimed that the PPP’s plan to gradually reinstate the deposed judges, minus former Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, was working, with eight judges returning to the Sindh High Court and possibly a couple of Supreme Court justices also agreeing to the “re-appointment”.

Geo News receives footage of Upper Dir attack

KARACHI: Geo News has received footage of the attack by Afghan militants on a Pakistani security check post in Upper Dir on June 1. The attack on the check post resulted in the death of 28 security forces personnel and 75 Afghan militants. The Afghan militants had gained controlled of the check post and clashes with security forces lasted for over one week.

The militants set fire to eight schools and at least eight civilians were killed during the clashes. Upper Dir is now completely under the control of security forces.

On Saturday during a press conference with Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said that if the involvement of Afghan national was proven in the Upper Dir and Bajaur clashes then the government and people of Afghanistan would be responsible for launching an investigation against them.

Petrol shortage continues in Lahore

LAHORE: A week on the petrol shortage continues in Lahore, Geo News reported. Many petrol stations in the city remain closed and those which are open are witnessing long lines.

Petrol station owners complain that they are not receiving petrol from oil companies. Residents of the city are also calling on the government to take notice of those vendors who are selling petrol at inflated prices.

ICC may extend Mohammad Aamir's ban

KARACHI: The 5-year ban on bowler Mohammad Amir may be extended by the International Cricket Council (ICC) after he was caught playing league cricket over the weekend, according to a newspaper report.
Aamir, who was found guilty of spot-fixing in a Test match vs England last August, claimed he had been told that the game was a friendly and would not affect his ban which prevents him from playing cricket at any level for 5 years.
"It is understood Amir - who, along with Mohammad Asif and Salman Butt, faces a criminal hearing at Southwark Crown Court in October over charges relating to cheating and conspiracy to obtain corrupt payments - was on friendly terms with three of Addington's players," the paper reported.
The ICC took notice of the violation and Aamir's lawyers have reportedly contacted the cricket governing body over the issue.

Murray gets walkover, Ward stuns champ Querrey

LONDON: Andy Murray reached the Queen's semi-finals on Friday after his last-eight opponent Marin Cilic was forced out by injury, while British wildcard James Ward stunned reigning champion Sam Querrey.
Murray has been struggling with ankle ligament damage since the French Open, but it was Cilic who was unable to recover from his own ankle injury just hours before the start of their match at the Wimbledon warm-up event in west London.
World number four Murray will now have some extra time to rest his injury ahead of his last four-clash against either Andy Roddick or Fernando Verdasco on Saturday.
Murray could be joined in the semi-finals by compatriot Ward as the unheralded British number two ended Sam Querrey's reign as the king of Queen's.
World number 216 Ward won the final set of their rain-delayed third-round match to clinch a shock 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory.
Ward had just levelled the tie at one set all in the gloom on Thursday when play was suspended due to bad light.
But the 24-year-old held his nerve overnight and piled the pressure on Querrey when play finally resumed after a 90-minute delay on Friday.
A tight deciding set swung Ward's way when he broke the American 13th seed in the seventh game to take a 4-3 lead.
Ward, who revealed after his surprise win over Swiss fourth seed Stanislas Wawrinka in the second round that he is trained by a former cage fighter, just had to hold serve twice to complete his latest giant-killing.
Querrey staved off one match point and then had a break point of his own, but Ward kept cool to earn a second match point, which he converted to the delight of the crowd.
There was little time for Ward to celebrate one of the best results of his career, however, as the son of a London taxi driver was due to return to action for his quarter-final clash with France's Adrian Mannarino later on Friday.

Zaheer, Sreesanth out of West Indies Tests

NEW DELHI: Injured fast bowlers Zaheer Khan and Shanthakumaran Sreesanth were Friday ruled out of India's three-Test series against the West Indies starting later this month.
The pace duo also missed out on the ongoing five-match one-day series in the Caribbean which India are leading 2-0.
"Zaheer has a right ankle problem, and Sreesanth has a right elbow problem. Both players will require some time off for rehabilitation," said N. Srinivasan, secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
Abhimanyu Mithun and Praveen Kumar have been named as their replacements in the Test squad.
India are already without Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh for the Test series beginning in Kingston, Jamaica on June 24.
Tendulkar, the world's leading batsman in both Tests and one-dayers, has opted out of the tour in order to spend time with his family while the other players are injured.
India's revised Test squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Venkatsai Laxman (vice-capt), Murali Vijay, Abhinav Mukund, Rahul Dravid, Virat Kohli, Subramaniam Badrinath, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Abhimanyu Mithun, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Praveen Kumar, Munaf Patel, Suresh Raina, Parthiv Patel.