DINA for the issue of September 26, 2013

	September 26, 2013 | Ziqa`ad 19, 1434
The DAWN Internet News Alert (DINA) is a free daily news service from Pakistan’s largest English language newspaper, the Daily DAWN.
Quake left at least 328 dead, 300,000 affected By Saleem Shahid QUETTA, Sept 25: As desperate villagers in the districts hit by Tuesday’s powerful earthquake clawed through the wreckage of their homes and rescuers struggled to help thousands of people injured and left homeless, the Balochistan government said on Wednesday that about 300,000 people had been affected and 328 deaths confirmed in Awaran and Kech, but the toll might increase.	For suggestions and comments: Email: webmaster@dawn.com Website: http://dawn.com Fax: +92(21) 35693995 Karachi Stocks Down 27.59 Points: KARACHI, September 25: At the close of trading, the KSE-100 index was at 23060.90, down 27.59 points. Forex Update : KARACHI, September 25: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at 108.25 to the US Dollar in the open market.
Nawaz says he is looking forward to meeting Singh By Anwar Iqbal and Masood Haider UNITED NATIONS, Sept 25: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Wednesday that he was looking forward to his meeting with his Indian counterpart later this week and hoped that the talks would help improve relations between the two neighbours. Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh confirmed his plan to meet Mr Sharif on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on Sept 29. “I will be very happy to meet him (Singh) and we hope to pick up the threads from where we left in 1999,” Mr Sharif told reporters at the UN building. In 1999, Mr Sharif had invited then Indian prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to Lahore and the visit, dubbed as “bus yatra” by India, raised hopes of a rapprochement between the two neighbours. An armed conflict in the Kargil region of Kashmir, however, dashed hopes for peace.
Rouhani for ‘meaningful’ N-talks Dawn Report UNITED NATIONS, Sept 25: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has offered to find a framework to manage differences with the US, saying he is prepared to engage in “time-bound and results-oriented” nuclear talks. Iran poses “absolutely no threat to the world”, he told the UN General Assembly on Tuesday hours after US President Barack Obama asked his secretary of state to hold talks with the Iranian leadership in New York.
Taliban kill 3, kidnap two By Ashfaq Yusufzai PESHAWAR, Sept 25: PTI Chairman Imran Khan urged the government on Wednesday to allow Taliban to open an office for the peace dialogue to be held in accordance of a decision of the recently held all-party conference. “If the government is serious about pursuing the dialogue process with the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan it should allow them to have their own office like the one opened by the Afghan Taliban in Qatar,” Imran Khan told reporters outside the Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar.
Taliban be allowed to open office for talks: Imran By Fauzee Khan Mohmand GHALANAI, Sept 25: Taliban attacked the under-construction Gandao dam in Mohmand area and killed three workers and kidnapped at least two others on late Tuesday night. They also set bulldozers, tractors, power generators and other things on fire. TTP’s Mohmand Agency spokesman Umar Khurasani called the Mohmand Press Club and claimed responsibility of the attack.
Opposition walks out over govt ‘apathy’ to quake By Raja Asghar ISLAMABAD, Sept 25: Despite its claims of being active on the ground, the government showed only dim interest in the National Assembly on Wednesday about Tuesday’s killer earthquake in Balochistan, provoking an opposition walkout and a scathing charge that it was insensitive to the disaster in a remote region. It was after some procedural confusion and argument that the treasury benches endorsed an opposition-sponsored resolution that the house passed unanimously to express its “deepest shock” over the 7.8-magnitude quake which, according to a provincial government control room in Quetta, killed more than 300 people and injured over 400, mainly in Awaran district, and called upon the government to “expedite its rescue and relief efforts in the affected regions”.
Sami links peace with Taliban talks By Aamir Yasin RAWALPINDI, Sept 25: Maulana Samiul Haq, the chief of his own faction of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-S) and believed to be mentor of Afghan Taliban, has advised the government not to abandon the process of dialogue “if it wants to restore peace in the country”. He criticised Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan for his statement about reviewing plans for talks after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s return from New York.
Shah wants parliament briefed on IMF talks By Amir Wasim ISLAMABAD, Sept 25: The Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly, Syed Khurshid Shah, criticised the government on Wednesday for keeping the parliament in dark on its interaction with the International Monetary Fund and said he would raise the matter in the assembly. Informed sources told Dawn that Mr Shah informed the opposition parties about his ongoing consultation with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on the appointment of new chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
Another two islands emerge off coast By Faiza Ilyas KARACHI, Sept 25: Following the emergence of an island on Tuesday off the coast of Gwadar, two others have emerged along the Balochistan coast, according to sources. “The two new islands are located a few miles from Bidok and Bal, two villages along the coast of Ormara and Pasni. The information about the islands has been provided by local fishermen and tribal elders,” said Mohammad Moazzam Khan, a technical adviser to the World Wide Fund for Nature.
Extortionists attack shop owned by Mamnoon’s nephew By Our Staff Reporter KARACHI, Sept 25: A complaint has been lodged with the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) that an ice cream parlour reportedly owned by a man said to be a relative of President Mamnoon Hussain came under gun attack on Tuesday night after he failed to pay extortion money. Police said on Wednesday they were verifying the claim about the attack on the shop in the Aram Bagh area and owned by Abdul Mutlib, said to be a nephew of the president.
Zalmai upbeat on Pakistan ties at UN NEW YORK: Afghanistan’s foreign minister was upbeat on Tuesday about his country’s often-acrimonious relations with its neighbour following Pakistan’s release of a former Taliban deputy leader, a move Kabul had long sought to spur peace talks with the Taliban. He was speaking at the UN General Assembly. Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul said that the release of Mullah Baradar is the first signal that the new Pakistani leader, Nawaz Sharif, is keeping his promise made during a meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai a month ago to cooperate with Afghanistan.
Afghanistan wants key role for Mullah Baradar in peace process By Iftikhar A. Khan ISLAMABAD, Sept 25: Syed Farukh Shah Faryabi Jenab, who is heading an Afghan parliamentary delegation, said on Wednesday that the release of Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar would be meaningless if he was unable to play a role in the peace process. “We are not seeking Mullah Baradar’s handing over to Afghanistan, but he should be freed in real terms to make the initiative purposeful,” he said at a press conference at the end of the ninth round of Pakistan-Afghanistan parliamentary dialogue in Islamabad.
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