Pakistan’s federal minister for defense production resigned after being summoned by the prime minister to explain comments he made criticizing the army and accusing it of killing prominent politicians.
Abdul Qayyum Khan Jatoi accused the army of killing several high-profile Pakistani figures, including former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and ethnic Baluch tribal leader Nawab Akbar Bugti.
Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani later summoned Jatoi to explain his comments.
He told reporters on Sunday the minister made his statements “in his personal capacity and within five or six hours he resigned.”
Pakistani Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira told local TV that Jatoi’s comments were “against our policies.”
The army is widely considered the most powerful institution in Pakistan and it is risky for officials to criticize it.
The military has carried out three coups against civilian governments in Pakistan and has ruled the country for much of its 63-year history.
Bugti, the Baluch tribal leader, was killed in an August 2006 military operation. The 79-year-old’s remote cave hideout collapsed in an unexplained explosion while security forces were searching for tribal insurgents who fight for a larger share of natural resources extracted from impoverished Baluchistan.
The exact details of Bugti’s death are disputed.
Bhutto was assassinated in December 2007 after speaking at an election rally in a garrison city just outside Islamabad. The military-led government at the time blamed the killing on the Pakistani Taliban, which stage attacks throughout the country from their sanctuary in the tribal areas near the Afghan border.
Critics in Pakistan speculated the nation’s military or intelligence apparatus could have been involved in the killing, which the government refuted.
The tribal areas also host a range of militant groups focused on battling NATO troops in Afghanistan.
The US has stepped up pressure on these groups this month by carrying out 19 missile strikes, including two on Sunday — the most intense barrage since the attacks began in 2004.
In the first strike on Sunday, a drone fired three missiles at a house in Datta Khel, part of the North Waziristan tribal area, killing three suspected militants, said Pakistani intelligence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
Minutes later, a drone fired two missiles at a vehicle in the same area, killing four suspected militants, the officials said.
The exact identities of the seven people killed in the attacks were not known, but most of this month’s airstrikes have targeted forces led by Jalaluddin Haqqani, a commander once supported by Pakistan and the US during the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of