[NYTr] India, Pakistan swap nuclear info; Mush to Address Nation Jan 2

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

[Major headlines from Pakistan include, perhaps most significantly, an
exchange of nuclear sites between India and Pakistan, and the promise
that this info will be exchanged annually on New Year's Day. Musharraf
is to address the nation tomorrow, Jan 2. Bhutto's offspring have
taken off for safer fields in Dubai and  weirdly, the Irish are awarding
the assassinated Benazir something called the Tipperary Peace Prize. ]


Dawn (Pakistan) - Jan 1, 2007
http://www.dawn.com/2008/01/01/welcome.htm


Pakistan, India swap nuclear lists 

ISLAMABAD, Jan 1 (AFP): Pakistan and India Tuesday exchanged lists of
their nuclear sites under an agreement between the South Asian rivals
to swap such information annually on New Year's Day, the foreign
ministry said. The information was exchanged under a 1988 agreement on
the prohibition of attacks on each other's nuclear installations, a
ministry statement said. (Posted @ 14:55 PST)


Irish peace prize for Benazir Bhutto 

DUBLIN, Jan 1 (AFP): Assassinated Pakistani opposition leader Benazir
Bhutto is to be posthumously awarded Ireland's 2007 Tipperary Peace
Prize, the organisers said Tuesday. Bhutto was recognised for her
“courageous” work for democracy and reconciliation, said the Tipperary
Peace Convention which has in the past honoured South Africa's Nelson
Mandela and Live Aid organizer Bob Geldof. “Ms Bhutto fought all her
battles through dialogue and political debate and was an example to all
those who do not use or surrender to terrorism,” it said in a
statement. “Her selection as Peace Prize recipient should act as an
inspiration to those in Pakistan who seek to secure democracy and
reconciliation for their country,” it added. (Posted @ 17:10 PST)


Musharraf to address nation Wednesday: spokesman 

ISLAMABAD, Jan 1 (AFP): President Pervez Musharraf is to address the
nation at 8:00 pm (1500 GMT) Wednesday, his spokesman said, days after
the assassination of Benazir Bhutto caused mass unrest. “The president
will address the nation tomorrow at 8:00 pm,” presidential spokesman
Rashid Qureshi told AFP Tuesday, without giving details of what
Musharraf would discuss. (Posted @ 15:05 PST)


Benazir's children leave for Dubai 

KARACHI, Jan 1 (Reuters): The children of slain PPP leader Benazir
Bhutto left for Dubai on Tuesday, an airport official said. Her
19-year-old son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, left for Dubai on an Emirates
flight with sisters Bakhtawar, 17, and Aseefa, 14. “The three reached
Karachi on a domestic flight from Sukkur this afternoon and then
boarded the Emirates flight for Dubai,” an airport official told
Reuters. (Posted @ 15:40 PST)


Bhutto had “proof” state, spy agency rigging poll 

KARACHI, Jan 1 (Reuters): Benazir Bhutto was poised to reveal proof
that Pakistan's election commission and shadowy spy agency were seeking
to rig an upcoming general election the night she was assassinated, a
top aide said Tuesday. Senator Latif Khosa, who authored a 160-page
dossier with Bhutto documenting rigging tactics, said they ranged from
intimidation to fake ballots, and were in some cases unwittingly funded
by U.S. aid. Bhutto had been due to give the report to two visiting
U.S. lawmakers over dinner on Dec. 27, the day she was killed in a
suicide bombing. “The state agencies are manipulating the whole process
There is rigging by the ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence), the election
commission and the previous government, which is still continuing to
hold influence. They were on the rampage” Khosa, a top Bhutto aide and
head of her Pakistan People's Party election monitoring unit, told
Reuters. (Posted @ 15:20 PST)


Five militants killed, four soldiers kidnapped in Waziristan: military

PESHAWAR, Jan 1 (AFP): Militants abducted four paramilitary soldiers in
South Waziristan Tuesday in the first such incident since the death of
opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, officials said. Militants seized the
soldiers as they descended from their observation post on a hill near
Makeen in South Waziristan. The military said five rebels were killed
and 20 others detained amid fighting following the abduction. Several
militants were injured, but evacuated by their comrades, the official
added. ”The rebels launched rocket and mortar attacks on a military
base near Ladda town from rugged terrain bordering Afghanistan, a
security official said. A local official said the attackers were loyal
to Mehsud, who is alleged to be an Al-Qaeda leader in Pakistan. (First
Posted @ 16:30 PST Updated @ 18:58 PST)


Pakistan vote on Jan 8 'looks impossible': Election Commission 

ISLAMABAD, Jan 1 (AFP): The spokesman for Pakistan's election
commission told AFP Tuesday that holding parliamentary elections as
scheduled on January 8 “looks impossible”. “It looks impossible to hold
elections on January 8. The elections can be delayed,” said Kanwar
Dilshad, the commission's spokesman and secretary. Dilshad said he had
informed Pakistan's political parties about the situation in 13
districts across the country where there were security problems
following the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
“We have also received reports from provinces about the situation and
they have all mentioned the month of Muharram,” he said. “The election
commission will hold another meeting tomorrow (Wednesday) and a
decision is expected then,” he said. (First Posted @ 09:40 PST, Updated
@ 13:15 PST)


Doctors cite pressure to keep silent on Benazir: Washington Post 

Rawalpindi, Jan.1 (PPI): The authorities pressured the medical
personnel who tried to save Benazir Bhutto's life to remain silent
about what happened in her final hour and removed records of her
treatment from the facility, the Washington Post reported Tuesday. The
report said doctors who were at Bhutto's side at Rawalpindi General
Hospital said they were under extreme pressure not to share details
about the nature of the injuries she suffered. “The government took all
medical records right after Ms. Bhutto's time of death was read out,”
said a visibly shaken doctor who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Sweating and putting his head in his hands, he said: “look, we have
been told by the government to stop talking.” Babar Awan, a top PPP
official who said he saw Bhutto's body after the attack and identified
two clearly defined bullet wounds -- entry and exit points. He said the
principal professor of surgery at the hospital, Mussadiq Khan, was
“extremely nervous, but eventually told me that Benazir had died of a
bullet wound. Why was this man so nervous?” Awan said. “He told me
firsthand he was under pressure not to talk about how she died.”
Reached at his home in Islamabad, Dr Khan declined to comment. (Posted
@ 16:20 PST)