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Pak files Baghlihar petition before World Bank

     Islamabad: Umer Ayub Khan, the grandson of former Pakistan President Field Marshal Ayub Khan, signed the petition to the World Bank raising a dispute over the hydro-power Baglihar project under the Indus Waters Treaty inked in 1960 It was a case of history repeating itself, as Field Marshal Khan and former Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had signed the treaty. Umer Ayub Khan, son of former Pakistan Foreign Minister Gohar Ayub Khan, is the Minister of State for Finance and Economic Affairs in Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz's cabinet. Khan signed Pakistan's petition seeking the appointment of a neutral arbitrator by the World Bank to resolve the dispute with India over Baglihar project being constructed in Jammu and Kashmir. Besides Umer, the petition was signed by Pakistan's Indus Water Commissioner Sayed Jamat Ali Shah, media reports here said. Earlier, Pakistan's Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan while announcing his government's decision to approach the World Bank described the Indus Water Treaty distributing six rivers between India and Pakistan as the most enduring CBM which survived two wars and decade-long tension between India and Pakistan. The petition was filed before the World Bank President James D Wolfenson in its headquarters in Washington by Pakistan's Ambassador to US Jahangir Karamat on Tuesday. Meanwhile, officials of the Indian High Commission here said they have not been officially informed by Pakistan about its decision to seek World Bank arbitration.

Kazakh diplomat shot in Pakistan (Go To Top)

     Islamabad: A diplomat from Kazakhstan has been shot and seriously wounded here. Sapargali Aubakirov, a deputy counsellor at the Kazakh embassy, was shot in the head at his home on Tuesday night and was in a coma, police said. They said the wounded diplomat was found on Wednesday morning and that nothing had been stolen from the home. Security has been beefed up at his residence after the incident. According to The BBC, police believe the attack was a criminal rather than political act.

Four car bombs claim 26 lives in Baghdad (Go To Top)

     Baghdad: At least four car bombs exploded in Baghdad today, killing at least 26 people and wounding 21, the U.S. military said. The military said a car bomb attack near the Australian embassy killed two Iraqis. A car bomb near a hospital half an hour later killed 18, including five Iraqi police, it said. A third car bomb killed two Iraqi security guards near Baghdad's international airport, and a fourth killed two civilians and two Iraqi soldiers at a military complex in Baghdad, The News quoted, the US military as saying. "All of these car bombers were stopped by security forces before they could reach their intended targets," said Lieutenant-Colonel James Hutton of the 1st Cavalry Division in Baghdad.