Who killed benazir bhutto?

Khalid Khwaja, a former Pakistani intelligence officer and self-declared friend of bin Laden, said Bhutto "was very openly threatening these tribal people.""Naturally some of them could have done it," he said. "She was certainly hated to that degree by those elements who are victims of the American terror."Bhutto was also labeled an infidel by groups such as Jaish-ul Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and Hezb-ul Mujahidin, which were spawned by Pakistan's military and intelligence services to take on neighboring India in the disputed Kashmir region.The groups later aligned themselves with al-Qaeda and have vowed to battle foreign troops in Afghanistan and wage war against the Pakistani military for its support of the US-led anti-terror campaign. Some of their leaders said Bhutto deserved to die for her threats to crush militants."They all work together and share a common antipathy to Bhutto because she's a woman, an advocate of secularism, a supporter of democracy and everything they stand against."
Or its Him...

Murder of Ms Bhutto

Pakistani former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has been assassinated in a suicide attack. Ms Bhutto - the first woman PM in an Islamic state - was leaving an election rally in Rawalpindi when a gunman shot her in the neck and set off a bomb.

At least 20 other people died in the attack and several more were injured.

President Pervez Musharraf has urged people to remain calm but angry protests have gripped some cities, with at least 11 deaths reported.

Security forces have been placed on a state of "red alert" nationwide.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the attack. Analysts believe Islamist militants to be the most likely group behind it.

Ms Bhutto, leader of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), had served as prime minister from 1988-1990 and 1993-1996, and had been campaigning ahead of elections due on 8 January. It was the second suicide attack against her in recent months and came amid a wave of bombings targeting security and government officials.

Nawaz Sharif, also a former prime minister and a political rival, announced his Muslim League party would boycott the elections.

He called on President Musharraf to resign, saying free and fair elections were not possible under his rule.

The United Nations Security Council held an emergency session and later said it "unanimously condemned" the assassination.

Ms Bhutto's coffin was removed from hospital in Rawalpindi and has now arrived by plane in Sukkur in Sindh province for burial in her home town, Larkana.

Her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, has arrived in Pakistan from Dubai to escort the coffin to its final resting-place.

The attack occurred close to an entrance gate of the city park where Ms Bhutto had been speaking.

Police confirmed reports Ms Bhutto had been shot in the neck and chest before the gunman blew himself up.

She died at 1816 (1316 GMT), said Wasif Ali Khan, a member of the PPP who was at hospital.

BENAZIR BHUTTO
Father led Pakistan before being executed in 1979
Spent five years in prison
Served as PM from 1988-1990 and 1993-1996
Sacked twice by president on corruption charges
Formed alliance with rival ex-PM Nawaz Sharif in 2006
Ended self-imposed exile by returning to Pakistan in October
Educated at Harvard and Oxford

NEW LORDS OF THE RING SALARY

TOP AH NEH SALARY UP AGAIN!

Ministers, top civil servants to get 4% to 21% in 2nd pay rise

SINGAPORE'S ministers and top civil servants will start the New Year with a pay increase, ranging from 4 per cent to 21 per cent.

This is the second phase of an increase that was decided on in April.

Under the revised salary package announced by the Public Service Division (PSD) on Thursday, ministers at the starting grade will take home $1.94 million next year - an increase of 21 per cent over this year's $1.6 million.

MPs and administrative officers - the elite of the civil service - will see their salaries going up by around 4 per cent or more.

The changes come after the first round of pay hikes in April, when the Government also announced that civil service salaries would be adjusted over time to keep pace with private sector benchmarks.

Minister-in-charge of the Civil Service Teo Chee Hean said on Thursday that the move was in keeping with April's announcement.

'Public sector salaries move up and down with the market. In this tight labour market, private sector salaries have moved up significantly, as the benchmark figures show. The service needs to follow promptly in order to attract and retain good people,' said Mr Teo, who is also the Defence Minister.

But he noted that actual pay would still be tied to performance. This includes individual performance and how the economy does.

'We are careful to link rewards closely to performance. We have increased the proportion of annual salary that is variable. At the senior levels as much as 50 per cent of the annual salary is now performance-based,' he said.

With the pay revision, the annual salary for President SR Nathan will go up from $3.1 million this year to $3.87 million in 2008, the Prime Minister's from $3.09 million to $3.76 million, ministers and senior permanent secretaries, from $1.593 million to $1.94 million, entry superscale grade Admin officers, from $384,000 to $398,000 and MPs, from $216,300 to $225,000 (see tables below).

Their pay increases will come in the form of a higher monthly salary and a fatter performance bonus.

For instance, ministers at the entry grade of MR4 will get an average of 9 months performance bonus, on top of the GDP bonus, which can fall between 3 and 8 months, depending on econommic growth.

In a statement, the PSD said that this round of changes would bring MR4 salaries to 77 per cent of the private sector benchmarks, to which it is pegged. The April revisions had brought it to 73 per cent of the benchmark.

The benchmark is set at two-thirds of the median pay of the top 8 earners in banking, law, engineering and accountancy, as well as employees of multinational corporations and local manufacturers.

This was $2.2 million as of April but has been revised to $2.7 million when calculating next year's pay.

ITS GOOD TO BE PRATA MAN!

Stop the Dark Force

Malaysia invoked a tough internal-security law on Thursday to indefinitely detain five ethnic Indian activists from a group that had staged a mass anti-government protest last month. A police official, who declined to be named, said the five belonged to the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf), which stunned the government by bringing more than 10,000 ethnic Indians onto the streets to complain of racial discrimination. One of those detained on Thursday was a Hindraf leader, lawyer P. Uthayakumar, who had already been charged with sedition for alleging that Malaysia practised "ethnic cleansing" of Indians, which make up about 7 percent of the population. "They said they were arresting him under the ISA (Internal Security Act), but they didn't say where they were taking him,"; said Shantha, who answered Uthayakumar's mobile phone after news of the detentions and said she was his secretary. She gave the names of three other detainees as M. Manoharan, V. Ganapatirau and T. Vasanthakumar. She said she was not aware of a fifth detainee, though the Hindraf Web site gave the fifth name as K. Kengadharan, also a lawyer. The opposition has accused Abdullah of using public order as an excuse to crack down on peaceful dissent' "We condemn these arrests,"; said Lim Guan Eng, head of the opposition Democratic Action Party. "It is a desperate act of last resort and if the government has any evidence, it should charge them in an open court. We urge the government to seek national reconciliation, not confrontation with disaffected, marginalised and dispossessed Malaysians."

Malaysiakini - 'Indians not gaining from gov't programmes'- Dec 13, 07 12:55pm Indian Malaysian social groups have been galvanised into action over the plight of the community, following the Nov 25 mass rally called by the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf). 

In a statement issued yesterday by Malaysian Hindu Sangam chairperson A Vaithilingam, a group of 48 Indian-based non-governmental organisations acknowledged that some 30,000 Indians who had gathered in Kuala Lumpur for the rally had “carried their frustrations, aspirations and hope for a better future”.

However, the group also expressed apprehension, concern and regret over “the increasingly strident voices of disunity threatening ethnic harmony among Malaysians”.

“It is clear that a significant segment of the community feels that their religious, educational, social ane economic rights and interests are being marginalised, and feel alienated from the mainstream of development and progress of our nation,” they said in the statement.

“Although the (five-year) Malaysia Plans and Outline Perspective Plans have recognised the increasing income disparity among Malaysians and have taken positive measures to tackle it, clearly the government’s intervention programmes have not adequately addressed the needs of the Indian community.”

Among the more prominent NGOs which endorsed the statement are the Malaysian Hindu Sangam, Sri Murugan Centre, Malaysian Associated Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Group of Concerned Citizens and Divine Life Society PJ.

Apart from youth groups and those based in religion, other NGOs represent the main cultural groupings - Tamils, Ceylonese, Malayalees and Telugus - in the Indian Malaysian community.

Proposals being formulated

Explaining that they are committed to overcoming the “serious problem” in a concerted way, they said they have consolidated their resources and are in the process of formulating proposals to be submitted to the government within the next three months.

“We...hope that our concerns can be addressed directly by the prime minister through dialogues and discussions and that the government will formulate appropriate policy measures, implementation strategies and monitoring mechanisms,” they added.

The Hindraf rally was called to support an attempt to submit a memorandum to the British High Commission in relation to a US$4 trillion class-action suit filed by Hindraf against the British government for bringing the Indians as indentured labourers to Malaya 150 years ago.

Hindraf has argued that the British colonialists did not sufficiently protect Indian interests in the run-up to Independence being granted in August 1957.

Since the rally - which was dispersed by police using tear gas and water cannon - the authorities have cracked down on both leaders and Hindraf supporters.

Doezens have been charged with offences ranging from participation in an illegal assembly to causing mischief and attempted murder of a policeman. Three Hindraf leaders including legal adviserP Uthayakumar have been charged with sedition. 

However, Hindraf’s claims of marginalisation, discrimination and 'ethnic cleansing' of the Indian community have not gone down well with those in government and even among some in the opposition ranks and other NGOs.

ISA to Stop the Dark Force

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has reportedly warned that ethnic Indian activists accused of having links with Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers could be held under internal security laws.

Ethnic rights group Hindraf, which organised mass anti-discrimination protests in November that were broken up with tear gas and water cannon, has been accused of seeking support from the Tigers.

Abdullah said he had ordered police to monitor Hindraf leaders and followers on suspicion of association with terrorists, and that they could be dealt with under the Internal Security Act (ISA) which allows detention without trial.

"ISA is an option," the premier said according to the New Straits Times. "I will decide when the time is right."

"If they are deemed (as a threat to national security) we will know what to do."

Cabinet minister Nazri Abdul Aziz reportedly said Hindraf would be banned if it was found to be supported by groups like the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and Hindu paramilitary group Rashtriya Swayamesevak Sangh (RSS).

"If it is true that Hindraf leaders have links with them, Hindraf is also a terrorist group," the de facto law minister said according to the Star daily.

Malaysia's ethnic Indians, who make up eight percent of the population, are mostly Tamils -- the descendents of indentured labourers brought here by the British colonial rulers in the 1800s.

Hindraf chairman P. Waythamoorthy, who is overseas lobbying international support for the group, claimed the government was conspiring against them.

"This is a state conspiracy to divert from the real issue of the oppression, marginalisation and suppression of the minority Indian community," he said in a statement.

"Hindraf will continue its peaceful struggle both locally and internationally."

On Friday, the government also sought to overturn a decision that allowed three Hindraf leaders including Waythamoorthy to walk free from sedition charges related to speeches they made last month.

The speeches criticised Malaysia's system of preferential treatment for Malays, who make up 60 percent of the population. The court has adjourned the hearing until Monday.

Paki Problem

Pakistani on the moon:

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Q: What do you call 10 Pakistanis on the moon? A: Problem...

Q: What do you call a 100 Pakistanis on the moon? A: Problem...

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