Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.

ISLAMAVAD
(IANS) President Asif Ali Zardari has left for Chicago to attend a NATO summit as Pakistan mulls the reopening of supplies for the coalition forces in Afghanistan, a media report said Friday.
Zardari will be in Chicago for the 25th NATO Summit being held May 20-21 at the invitation of NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, reported Geo News.
The Foreign Office said the decision to attend the summit was taken after both the defence committee of cabinet and federal cabinet endorsed the invitation.
Zardari would address an International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) meeting.
Pakistan had cut off the NATO supply route after an airstrike in November last year in Salala near the Afghanistan border left two dozen Pakistan Army soldiers dead. US has been holding talks with Islamabad for an early reopening of the route.
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar Wednesday had said that reopening NATO supplies was in the interest of Pakistan.
“The restoration of NATO supplies will be strictly in accordance with the resolution adopted by the parliament,” she said on a TV programme.
“Pakistan wants an apology from America on Salala incident.
“Restoration of NATO supplies is in the interest of Pakistan. There is no hidden agreement behind the reopening of NATO routes,” she added.

Pakistan High Commissioner Shahid Malik

NEW DELHI
Ahead of the Indo-Pak Home Secretary talks, Pakistan High Commissioner Shahid Malik on Friday hoped that dialogue between the two countries on all issues, including Siachen and Sir Creek, will make progress.
“The talks are on. And it is going to take place again. I don’t say there are problems. We are hopeful that talks will progress on all issues,” he told reporters outside Parliament House.
He was asked to comment on ‘differences’ between the two countries on Siachen and Sir Creek despite positive indications earlier.
Mr. Malik was in Parliament House to call on Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj ahead of completion of his tenure in Delhi.
To a poser on police publishing photographs of terrorists, who later turned out to be Pakistani traders and its possible impact on Home Secretary level talks, he said it will have no impact.
“Pakistan is awaiting Home Secretary level talks. These are important talks. I don’t think it will have any impact on the talks,” he said.
Commenting on his experience in India, he said he had a good experience. “Relations have reached a level that I am leaving as a satisfied High Commissioner from here. As you are aware, the relations have improved between the two countries in every field,” he said.

Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari

ISLAMABAD
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari will attend NATO‘s upcoming Chicago summit as Islamabad looks all set to open the six-month blockade of the military alliance’s supply routes to Afghanistan.
NATO extended an “unconditional” invitation for its summit next week to Zardari and supply routes for foreign troops in Afghanistan will be reopened after negotiations conclude with the US, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said today.
Both the Defence Committee of the Cabinet, Pakistan‘s highest body on security issues, and the federal cabinet have endorsed the President’s participation in the NATO Summit in Chicago after the invitation was sent by NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, he said.
A final decision on reopening the “Ground Lines of Communication” or supply routes for NATO troops in Afghanistan will depend on the outcome of talks between the US and different ministries and organisations of Pakistan, Gilani told reporters on the sidelines of an official event.
“We have directed the concerned departments to conclude their negotiations. The talks are still underway,” he said.
Pakistan closed the supply routes after a cross-border NATO air strike killed 24 of its soldiers in November.
Islamabad and Washington were unable to put their ties on an even keel as Pakistan had been insisting on an unconditional apology from the US for the air strike.
Though Pakistani leaders, including Foreign Minister Khar, have sought to project participation in the NATO Summit and the demand for an apology from the US as separate issues, analysts have noted that Islamabad has climbed down on both the apology and the demand to end US drone strikes.
The Foreign Office today announced that President Zardari would attend the NATO Summit during May 20-21 as both the Defence Committee of the Cabinet and the cabinet had endorsed the invitation.

Emotions ran high as virologist Mohammed Khalil Chisty, who spent 20 years in India following a 1992 murder, was reunited with his family in Karachi.

ISLAMABAD
(IANS) Emotions ran high as virologist Mohammed Khalil Chisty, who spent 20 years in India following a 1992 murder, was reunited with his family in Karachi.
Chisty, 80, was permitted by the Indian Supreme Court May 10 to visit Pakistan during the pendency of his appeal against his conviction in a murder case and life imprisonment in Ajmer.
He arrived in Islamabad Tuesday night on an aircraft sent by President Asif Ali Zardari.
A day later, he flew to Karachi.
The ailing virologist’s family and friends eagerly waited to receive him with rose petals, garlands, and bouquets.
And there was not a single dry eye when Chisty embraced his loved ones.
His daughters were overcome with emotion when their father held them.
They told Geo News that they had missed their father at every step of their life, which was so incomplete when he was away.
The reunion has finally completed the family, they said.
Chisty was sentenced to life imprisonment for the death of a person in a brawl while he was visiting Ajmer in April 1992.

Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's son Ali Musa

ISLAMABAD
The political dimensions of a drug scandal that might involve Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani‘s son Ali Musa are “overshadowing” the very serious issue of the increasing use of ephedrine, known as the poor man’s ‘ecstasy’, a leading daily said Thursday.
Saying that those involved must be brought to book “without fear or favour”, an editorial in the Dawn said the International Narcotics Control Board gave Pakistan an annual quota of 22,000 kg for 2010-11.
“The scandal currently unfolding before the Supreme Court concerns the unexplained raising of this ceiling in 2010 by Pakistani authorities to 31,000 kg, the allocation of large quantities of the substance to two pharmaceuticals for export …and the suspected leak of ephedrine into the local markets and possibly across international borders,” it said.
Ephedrine is a central nervous system stimulant commonly used as a decongestant in cold remedies. However, ephedrine can be abused. In large doses, it produces effects very similar to those of the drug ‘ecstasy’, and is also known as ‘the poor man’s ecstasy’.
The daily said that the political dimensions acquired by the ephedrine case because of “the possible involvement of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani‘s younger son are overshadowing a very serious issue”.
Last month, Prime Minister Gilani‘s younger son, Ali Musa, had returned from South Africa after he was named as an accused in the Rs.7 billion scam of illegal sale of ephedrine.
The Anti Narcotics Force (ANF) named eight accused in its petition, including Musa Gilani, the prime minister’s principal secretary Khushnood Lashari and drug controller Sheikh Ansar.
Dawn said that Pakistan has enough on its plate “without suspicions that it is involved in the flow of controlled drugs westwards”.
The daily demanded those involved in the scandal “must be brought to book without fear or favour”.
“But more importantly, we must tighten drug regulations and ensure that controlled substances are not trafficked,” it added.
“The mechanism needs to step up its work to prevent the country becoming embroiled in more scandals.”

Former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf's home, Neharwali Haveli in Old Delhi's Daryaganj,

NEW DELHI
(IANS) The demolition of a portion of former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf’s ancestral home, Neharwali Haveli in Old Delhi’s Daryaganj, has stirred a row with the legality of the construction coming under question.
Archaeological experts say that while the building could be a heritage property, currently there is no protective law for such buildings.
“We have been demanding a law that protects any building of any age, which is considered archaeologically, politically or historically important but at present, there is no such law,” Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) Chairman, Maj. Gen. (Retd) L.K. Gupta said.
Located behind Daryaganj’s famous Golcha cinema, the Haveli, which occupies a large area at the end of the street, is no longer a single structure but a group of different houses as the portions were bought by new owners from time to time and constructed anew.
The central portion, where some of the dilapidated walls of the original structure can still be seen, was demolished earlier this year to make way for a residential project, according to the nearby shopkeepers.
According to the locals, Musharraf’s family left the Haveli in the custody of a Jain family, members of which still live in some portions of the old Haveli. However, they refused to comment on the situation.
“I was completely shocked. I came to know of the demolition only now and I am surprised how someone could demolish the Neharwali Haveli,” local legislator Shoaib Iqbal said.
“The Haveli is a heritage building. The residents or owners of any such property can not demolish or change any sections,” he claimed.
“When the work was initially started, the police came and stopped the construction but the developers had all the relevant paperwork and the construction restarted,” one of the shopkeepers said, on condition of anonymity.
“This (demolished) portion was already in a crumbling state with only a couple of rooms intact,” he added.
The architect of the project, Abdul Wahid, claimed that the project was purely residential. However, he refused to divulge the details of the developers.

Courtesy: Ibn live

ISLAMABAD
(IANS)Virologist Mohammed Khalil Chisti will return to Pakistan from India after 20 years in jail on board a special aircraft being sent by President Asif Ali Zardari, a media report said Tuesday.
Zardari, during his meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi last month, had pleaded for clemency for Chisti, given his advanced age.
The Indian Supreme Court on 10th May permitted Chisti who was in a jail in Ajmer, to visit Pakistan during the pendency of his appeal against his conviction in a murder case and life imprisonment.
Dawn reported that Interior Minister Rehman Malik will receive Chisti on his return. The two have spoken over the phone.
Malik told Chisti, who belongs to Karachi, that all arrangements have been made for his arrival according to Zardari‘s directions.
Dawn said that Zardari had given instructions for his presidential aircraft to be made available to Chisti for his journey back home.
Chisti was sentenced to life imprisonment for the death of a person in a brawl with him when he was visiting Ajmer in April 1992. He was granted bail by the apex court 9th April which asked him to make a separate plea for permission to visit Pakistan.

Pakistani security officials inspect the site of a car bomb attack in Quetta

ISLAMABAD

(IANS) At least three people were killed,  26 injured and eight vehicles caught fire after a paramilitary vehicle was attacked in the Quetta city of Pakistan‘s Balochistan province Monday, Geo News reported. A remote-controlled device was used in the blast, police said.  The target was security forces and passers-by. Five women and three children sustained multiple splinter wounds.

Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS), around 40kg explosives were used in the blast that completely destroyed eight vehicles, while 10 vehicles were partially damaged. At least 18 nearby shops and two banks were also damaged. Spokesperson of FC confirmed that two security men were killed and ten wounded in the blast. The deceased security men were identified as Waseem Abbas and Aziz.

The dead body of one FC official and injured were brought to Provincial Sandeman Hospital for treatment.