DINA for the Issue of March 19, 2012

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D A W N I n t e r n e t N e w s A l e r t
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March 19, 2012 Monday Rabi-us-Sani 25, 1433
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The DAWN Internet News Alert (DINA) is a free daily news-service
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(c) Pakistan Herald Publications (Pvt.) Ltd., Pakistan - 2012

The link at the end of each extract can be used to access the
complete story on DAWN - the Internet Edition.


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I'll quit if that helps resolve issue: PM
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By Zulqernain Tahir
LAHORE, March 18: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said here on Sunday that he would be ready to resign if that would help resolve the issue of writing a letter to Swiss authorities to reopen cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.

Mr Gilani, who was talking to journalists at his residence, made the remarks in response to a suggestion that he should better resign to avoid a jail sentence in the contempt of court case or a death sentence for violating the Constitution (in case of writing the letter)...

http://www.dawn.com/2012/03/19/ill-quit-if-that-helps-resolve-issue-pm.html


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14 bodiesfound in Bara
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LANDI KOTAL, March 18: Fourteen bullet-riddled bodies were found in Speen Qabar, Bara, on Sunday, a day after security forces left the area.

Local people told Dawn that the bullet-riddled bodies with their faces having acid burn wounds, had been brought by volunteers of a welfare organisation to Mandai Kas area and kept there for identification...

http://www.dawn.com/2012/03/19/14-bodiesfound-in-bara.html


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Haqqani's request for testimony via video link turned down
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By Malik Asad
ISLAMABAD, March 18: The memo commission turned down on Sunday a request by former ambassador Husain Haqqani to be allowed to record his testimony via video link from London and asked him to appear before it on March 26 in Islamabad.

Mr Haqqani told the three-member commission, headed by Balochistan High Court Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, that he was not an accused but a witness in the memo case, but he had lost his job and was being consistently maligned in the media. "Since the commission has been working under a tight schedule, it should start recording my testimony from Monday (March 19) without wasting more time because I also want an early end to the inquiry. There is no bar on the commission to record my testimony from London because it has already recorded the testimony and cross-examined American businessman Mansoor Ijaz via a video link," Mr Haqqani told the commission which resumed the hearing of the memo case in the Islamabad High Court building...

http://www.dawn.com/2012/03/19/haqqanis-request-for-testimony-via-video-link-turned-down.html


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MQM threat to boycott joint session tomorrow
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By Amir Wasim
ISLAMABAD, March 18: As President Asif Ali Zardari summoned the much-awaited joint sitting of the two houses of parliament on Tuesday to discuss new terms of engagements with the United States, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement appeared to be planning to use the occasion to mount pressure over its demand for a "massive crackdown on extortionists" in Karachi.

Talking to Dawn, MQM's media coordinator Wasay Jalil said the party could use any option, including the boycott of the joint session if the government did not take "practical steps" against the extortion mafia which held the Karachi city hostage...

http://www.dawn.com/2012/03/19/mqm-threat-to-boycott-joint-session-tomorrow.html


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Overall food prices rose by 79pc in four years
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By Khaleeq Kiani
ISLAMABAD, March 18: The cost of minimum food basket comprising basic items increased by 79 per cent during four years of the current government, adding to malnutrition and poverty, according to official findings.

"The food basket has shown a consistent increase since 2007 from Rs1000 to Rs1790 (79 per cent) based on retail prices of December 2011," according to a biannual report on Change in Cost of Food Basket (July-December 2011)...

http://www.dawn.com/2012/03/19/overall-food-prices-rose-by-79pc-in-four-years.html


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US, Pakistan set to begin military re-engagement
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By Anwar Iqbal
WASHINGTON, March 18: A US military commander will be the first to visit Islamabad as the United States and Pakistan begin the process of re-engagement, mainly because Pakistani political leaders will be out of the country later this month.

Gen James Mattis, commander of the US Central Command, is expected to arrive in Islamabad in the last week of March for a series of meetings with Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and other senior Pakistani military leaders...

http://www.dawn.com/2012/03/19/us-pakistan-set-to-begin-military-re-engagement.html


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Soldier, five civilians killed in Waziristan
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By Pazir Gul
MIRAMSHAH, March 18: Security forces resorted to indiscriminate firing and shelling in North Waziristan Agency on Sunday, killing five innocent people, one of them a child, after two military convoys were attacked.

According to sources, the security personnel began shelling some villages in Mirali tehsil in retaliation against an attack by militants on a military convoy...

http://www.dawn.com/2012/03/19/soldier-five-civilians-killed-in-waziristan.html


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PPP rebuts Ijaz's allegations against Zardari
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By Syed Irfan Raza
ISLAMABAD, March 18: The Pakistan People's Party came out on Sunday with a detailed reply to the allegations levelled by American businessman of Pakistani origin, Mansoor Ijaz, against President Asif Ali Zardari during the hearing by the memo commission and termed them 'self-contradictory'.

But the reply has come from former federal minister and frontline PPP leader Raja Pervez Ashraf and has been issued through a spokesman of the presidency...

http://www.dawn.com/2012/03/19/ppp-rebuts-ijazs-allegations-against-zardari.html


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Bookie shot dead after cricket match
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By Our Staff Reporter
LAHORE, March 18: Unidentified gunmen shot dead a 55-year-old alleged bookmaker in a single-room portion of a house in which he lived near main Sandah Road after India defeated Pakistan in an Asia Cup match on Sunday.

Iqbal Town SP Operation Abdhul Ghaffar Qaisarani told Dawn that Shaukat, alias Lambha, had been living in a portion of the house...

http://www.dawn.com/2012/03/19/bookie-shot-dead-after-cricket-match.html


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Singh in trouble as railway minister quits
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By Jawed Naqvi
NEW DELHI, March 18: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's fractious coalition was plunged into a serious crisis on Sunday after Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi was forced to quit by his Trinamool Congress, just days after he presented India's annual railway budget in parliament.

The resignation followed criticism by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of Mr Trivedi, her party nominee, for increasing train fares, a move she disapproved of. Reports said she had haggled with and persuaded the prime minister to nominate another senior party aide, Mr Mukul Roy, to replace Mr Trivedi. This could lead to an embarrassing rollback of the railway budget...

http://www.dawn.com/2012/03/19/singh-in-trouble-as-railway-minister-quits.html


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Democracy is the only way forward, says Nawaz
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LONDON, March 18: Pakistan Muslim League chief Nawaz Sharif said on Sunday that there was no other way except democracy to solve the problems being faced by the country.

Addressing a press conference in London, Mr Sharif said he had learnt a lot from the mistakes committed in the past and added that the PML-N would not support any other system except democracy...

http://www.dawn.com/2012/03/19/democracy-is-the-only-way-forward-says-nawaz.html


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