DINA for the issue of April 23, 2013

	Tuesday 23rd April 2013 | Jumadi-us-Sani 12, 1434
The DAWN Internet News Alert (DINA) is a free daily news service from Pakistan’s largest English language newspaper, the Daily DAWN.
Faustian bargain By Naziha Syed Ali OVER 40,000 Pakistanis are estimated to have died at the hands of terrorists in the years since 9/11. However, this bloody saga has been over three decades in the making. During this period, in certain parts of the country, particularly in south Punjab, extremist elements have entrenched themselves in the warp and weft of the electoral landscape.	For suggestions and comments: Email: webmaster@dawn.com Website: http://dawn.com Fax: +92(21) 35693995 Karachi Stocks down 25.66 Points: KARACHI, Apr 22: At the close of trading, the KSE-100 index was at 18605.55, down 25.66 points Forex Update : KARACHI, Apr 22: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at 99.6 to the US Dollar in the open market.
LHC allows Raja to contest election LAHORE, April 22: A full bench of the Lahore High Court allowed on Monday former premier Raja Pervez Ashraf to contest the May 11 election. The bench comprising Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Syed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi set aside the decisions of returning officer for NA 51 Gujjar Khan (Rawalpindi) and an election tribunal comprising judges of the LHC’s Rawalpindi bench which had declared Raja Ashraf ineligible.
Caretakers’ mandate is to hold peaceful polls: Govt washes its hands of Musharraf case By Nasir Iqbal ISLAMABAD, April 22: It’s now official. Reiterating its earlier stance the caretaker government finally declined on Monday to prosecute former president retired Gen Pervez Musharraf for treason. “It is likely to become a controversial exercise in long-term for both political parties and institutions of the state and, therefore, it should be best left for the elected government (to decide),” said a five-page statement read out by Deputy Attorney General Dil Mohammad Alizai on behalf of Attorney General Irfan Qadir before a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court.
Payments made to journalists: Promised bang ends in whimper Dawn Report ISLAMABAD, April 22: The explosion that journalists had been predicting for Monday was not more than a damp squib. The list of the recipients of the ‘special publicity funds’ of the information ministry made public by the Supreme Court on Monday revealed nothing sensational; instead it just provided some of the routine expenses of the ministry such as Eid cakes; the names of a few widows who receive a pittance; and lists of journalists accompanying Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani on trips abroad that were sanctioned by their organisations.
Candidate of BNP-A escapes attack By Saleem Shahid QUETTA, April 22: The secretary general of Balochistan National Party-Awami (BNP-A), Mir Asadullah Baloch, and some members of his party escaped a bomb attack on their convoy in Panjgur on Monday. Mr Baloch was returning from the Tasib area of Panjgur where he had gone to hand over the body of a civil engineer to his family. The engineer had been gunned down earlier in the day. When his convoy of half a dozen vehicles was passing through Khuda-i-Abdan, a locality on the outskirts of the town, the bomb exploded.
Loans promised to jobless: Nawaz launches poll campaign in Sindh By Mohammad Hussain Khan TANDO ALLAHYAR, April 22: PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif promised here on Monday to provide loans at low mark-up to all unemployed skilled youths of Sindh if he was elected to power in the May 11 elections. Addressing a large public meeting in Sharlimar Garden in Tando Allahyar to kick-start his party’s election campaign in Sindh to support PML-N candidates in the area, Dr Rahila Gul Magsi and her younger brother Dr Irfan Gul Magsi, Mr Sharif said he would solve the problem of water shortage in tail-end areas of Sindh and build new distributaries for farmers of Jhando Mari, Chambar ad Bukera Sharif.
PTI pledges ‘Islamic welfare state’ By Gohar Ali Gohar BATKHELA, April 22: Chief of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan said on Monday he and his party would lay the ‘foundation stone of a new Pakistan’ on May 11 and urged “every patriotic Pakistani to play his role for bringing about this change”. Addressing an election rally in the Darqai area during a visit to Malakand, he pledged to make Pakistan a model Islamic welfare state whose citizens would be respected across the world.
Altaf wants Musharraf given chance to defend himself By Gohar Ali Khan HYDERABAD, April 22: Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain has again said that the next chief minister of Sindh would be from his party. Addressing a general workers’ meeting at MQM’s zonal office here late on Monday evening, he congratulated the party’s candidates and said people, including Sindhis, Baloch, Pakhtuns and Punjabis would vote for them, especially in Sindh.
Kerry to host Pak-Afghan talks tomorrow BRUSSELS, April 22: US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday he would host a meeting of top Afghan and Pakistani officials this week in Brussels to discuss reconciliation with the Taliban and other issues. Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his defence minister, along with Pakistan’s military chief and foreign secretary, will attend Wednesday’s meeting, Mr Kerry said.
Govt to hold probe into attack on Zehri convoy By Our Staff Correspondent QUETTA, April 22: The caretaker government of Balochistan decided on Monday to hold a probe into the bomb attack on the convoy of Sanaullah Zehri, the provincial chief of PML-N, in which his son, brother and nephew were killed. A Joint Investigation Team (JIT) comprising officials of different law-enforcement agencies would hold the investigation, said an official spokesman after a meeting held here with Chief Minister Nawab Ghous Bakhsh Barozai in the chair.
Myanmar officials aiding Muslims’ killings: HRW NEW YORK, April 22: Human Rights Watch on Monday accused authorities in Myanmar’s western Rakhine State of crimes against humanity in the ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims last year, charges the government dismissed as one-sided and “unacceptable”. Security forces were complicit in disarming Rohingya Muslims of makeshift weapons and standing by, or even joining in, as Rakhine Buddhist mobs killed men, women and children in June and October 2012, the New York-based HRW said.
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