TEHRAN: Iranian Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi said on Friday that Iran had test fired a surface-to-surface missile, Qiam, footage of which was shown on state television.
The images showed the sand coloured Qiam (Rising) blasting into the air from a desert terrain.
Vahid announced the test firing of the missile but did not say when the launch took place.
The flood pressure has been on rise at Kotri Barrage on Friday after the river water receding at Guddu and Sukkur barrages. Indus flow has reached to 6,58,000 cusecs at Kotri. Director General Meteorological department Qamruz Zaman Chaudhry has said that an unprecedented flow of seven to nine Lac cusecs will pass through the Kotri Barrage within next two to three days. High tidal waves in the sea could aggravate the flood situation in downstream in Thatta, he further said.
KABUL: At least 20 insurgents were killed in Afghanistan’s southeast in an operation against the Haqqani network, whose leader Washington wants designated a terrorist, the Nato-led alliance said on Thursday.
Air strikes were called in after Afghan and International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) troops found dozens of insurgents in “entrenched fighting positions” in a mountainous area of Dzadran district in Paktia, not far from the Pakistan border, Isaf said in a statement.
Washington is pressuring Pakistan to take action against the Haqqani network, a group allied with the Taliban and believed to have close links with al-Qaeda.
“This area is a known Haqqani network safe haven and used to stage attacks into Kabul and the Khost-Gardez pass,” Isaf said.
“An air weapons team suppressed the enemy, resulting in more than 20 insurgents killed so far.”
The Haqqani network, headed by Jalaluddin Haqqani, a hero of the 1980s guerrilla war against the Soviet Union, and his son, is based mainly in Pakistan’s North Waziristan and adjoining provinces in Afghanistan.
It has staged several high-profile attacks, including an assassination attempt on Afghan President Hamid Karzai in 2008.
General James Mattis, confirmed on August 6 as the new head of the US military command overseeing operations in Afghanistan and elsewhere, said last month he wanted leaders of the group designated as terrorists, a move seen as raising pressure on Pakistan to go after the group.
Pakistan sees Haqqani — who had long-standing links with its military spy agency — as likely to be a valuable asset in Afghanistan if US troops leave before the country is stabilised.
“The Haqqani network is a prevalent insurgent threat in Afghanistan right now. Afghan and coalition forces are focused on smothering their influence and power,” the statement quoted US Army Colonel Rafael Torres as saying.
Effective leadership of the group has now passed from Jalaluddin Haqqani, who is in his 70s, to his more militant eldest son, Sirajuddin, security analysts say.
Fighting in Afghanistan, led by a resurgent Taliban movement, has intensified as US troops prepare to start staged withdrawals from July 2011.
June of this year was the deadliest month for foreign forces in nearly 10 years of war.
A UN report said this week that civilian casualties had risen 31 per cent in the first half of 2010, including 1,271 killed.
Almost 150,000 foreign soldiers are under the command of Nato and the US military.
KARACHI: Prices of many commodities that remain in high demand in Ramazan have almost doubled as compared to their rates last year in same month, Dawn has learnt.
The city government issued an incomplete price list on Wednesday as it failed to accomplish the task of ensuring a curb on profiteering, hoarding and overcharging.
Ironically, sugar, ghee, cooking oil, wheat flour and fresh milk appeared to be missing from the city government price list, although all these items are essential for Ramazan-specific recipes.
Moreover, an inordinate delay in the finalisation and issuance of the official price list seems to have provided considerable relief to profiteers as no stakeholder would be able to have the list on the first day, or possibly after some more days, of Ramazan as the list has just been sent to press, it was learnt on Wednesday evening.
Retailers will be able to charge prices of their choice of any commodity on sale until they receive the official price list and are made to follow it. The items missing from the list are either federal/provincial subjects or their rates could not be agreed upon at the meetings held between the city government and the parties dealing in it. The parties included millers, wholesalers, dairy farmers and retailers.
Fresh milk is currently selling at Rs56 per litre in most areas of Karachi and there is no hope of a decline in its price in Ramazan. Dairy farmers, wholesalers and retailers have arbitrarily pushed up the rate by Rs8 per litre since March 2010.
Last year, the rates of sugar and flour were fixed at Rs47 and Rs30 a kilo, respectively, following intervention by the federal and Sindh governments. Sugar at present sells at Rs70-72 a kilo and flour at Rs36-38 per kg. The Sindh government, however, has launched a scheme under which a 10kg bag of flour is offered for Rs100, i.e. Rs20 per kg though only at especially set up stalls. Last year, a similar scheme offered flour for Rs10 per kg. Four millers have offered only Re1 per kg discount on their products at retail level in Ramazan.
Last year, the city government had issued two price lists — the first one was effective from August 23 to 31 and the second from August 29 to September 10 — and the reason was protest by some wholesalers, who viewed the prices fixed in the first list unrealistically low.
In the fresh list, Basin (dal channa variety) rate has been fixed at Rs62 a kilo as compared to Rs50 a kilo fixed last year. However, good quality basin is selling at Rs70-75 per kg in most city markets.
The official rate of good quality Kabuli channa (chickpeas) is Rs87 per kg and black gram Rs54 per kg while the rates last year were Rs56 and Rs42 per kg, respectively. At present, Kabuli channa is selling at Rs100-120 per kg and black gram Rs65-70 per kg.
The official rate of Moong washed and unwashed (quality no.1) are Rs129 and Rs107 per kg, respectively, as against the last year’s official rates of Rs50 and Rs44 per kg, respectively. Surprisingly, the existing rate of Moong washed and unwashed in the markets is Rs150-170 per kg.
Gram pulse no.1 rate has been fixed at Rs61 per kg as against the last year’s official rate of Rs44 per kg. Currently it is selling at Rs70-80 per kg. Similarly, the price of Mash quality no.1 has been fixed at Rs147 per kg against the last year’s Rs84 per kg. Currently, retailers are charging Rs160-175 per kg, depending on the area.
Masoor quality no.1 is currently tagged at Rs120 per kg but the city government’s quoted rate is Rs96 per kg as against Rs103 per kg quoted by it last year.
Arhar rate has been fixed at Rs122 as compared to last year’s Rs73 per kg while retailers are charging Rs140-150 per kg in the markets.
The new list offers a mixed relief to consumers in rice varieties. For example, Kernel Basmati rate has been fixed at Rs82 per kg against the last year’s Rs92 per kg. Its current market rate ranges between Rs110 and Rs115 per kg. The new official rate of Basmati rice is Rs72 per kg, Rs9 higher than the last year’s rate. It is at present selling at Rs80-90 per kg.
According to the official rate, mutton quality no.1 and 2 will be available at Rs440 and Rs415 per kg, respectively, and beef with and without bones at Rs220 and Rs250 per kg, respectively. Bachhia meat quality no.1 and 2 will be sold at Rs260 and Rs255 per kg, respectively.
LONDON — The commander of Iraq’s military is calling for U.S. forces to stay in the country for another decade, reinforcing his stance that his country’s military won’t be able to secure the nation on their own after U.S. troops leave.
“At this point, the withdrawal is going well, because they are still here, but the problem will start after 2011,” Gen. Babaker Shawkat Zebari said at a defense conference in Baghdad, according to the BBC.
“The politicians must find other ways to fill the void after 2011… If I were asked about the withdrawal, I would say to politicians: the U.S. army must stay until the Iraqi army is fully ready in 2020,” the BBC reported.
Under the security pact between Baghdad and Washington, all U.S. troops are scheduled to leave by the end of next year.
Violence in Iraq has fallen since the peak of sectarian warfare in 2006-2007, but the number of violent civilian deaths, from daily bombings, shootings and other attacks, rose sharply in July.
Zebari also raised his concerns earlier in the summer, telling the AP in June that Iraq needs the U.S. military in place until Iraqi forces prove capable of defending the nation, a benchmark which he also said at the time forces could take a decade to reach.
He pointed out that the U.S. military maintains a presence in other Middle Eastern countries.
