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ISLAMABAD: Confronted with a storm of criticism and in what seemed like a bid to end the ongoing controversy over his remarks in which he had asked for a ‘martial law-like action’ against corrupt politicians, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain said on Saturday that his party would never support military rule.

In an interview to a private television channel, the MQM chief explained that he had never sought imposition of martial law, saying he wanted the army to act within the constitutional limits and help the poor “snatch the lands and big palaces of feudals and landlords”.

However, it was not clear if his detailed interview on the issue would put an end to the controversy. The MQM chief was of the view that the Constitution allowed such an action.

“Under Article 190 of the Constitution, the Supreme Court can direct army, police, Rangers or any law enforcement agency to apprehend those who had breached canals and barrages only to save their lands and properties causing deaths and destruction,” the MQM chief said.

Mr Hussain, whose party was a part of the Musharraf regime when Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry was deposed in 2007, said he held the present judiciary in high esteem.

However, he warned that “if the chief justice and present SC judges do not take decisions in the country’s interest regardless of the consequences, then the people will hold them accountable as well”.

“In the past you (army) imposed martial laws for your own interests and feudals’ benefits. Now come out in support of the people of Pakistan to help them get rid of feudalism,” he said.

To a query, Mr Hussain suggested the formation of an interim government comprising honest and reputable persons to help the poor “occupy the lands and palaces of feudals”.

Mr Hussain said he had not only talked about corrupt politicians, but also about those “corrupt generals” who had “occupied 30 per cent lands of the country”.

The J-K government enforced a curfew in Kashmir’s summer capital Srinagar and northern district of Sopore on Saturday to scuttle any attempt by the All Parties Hurriyat Conference supporters to march towards Srinagar’s Tourist Reception Centre’s (TRC) ground. Eight protesters, however, were injured
related stories in protests in north Kashmir.

The protest march call was given by Hurriyat chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani as part of its “Quit Kashmir” campaign.

“No major attempt was made to break the curfew and assemble at the TRC ground,” said a senior police officer on the condition of anonymity. However, near Geelani’s residential colony in Hyderpora, a group of protesters tried to proceed towards the TRC ground, which was foiled by a posse of police personnel on duty in Srinagar.

The authorities extended curfew in the morning to north Kashmir’s Tangmarg and Kupwara areas after protesters marched on the streets and pelted stones at soldiers against alleged security forces highhandedness.

“Last night, soldiers of 52 RR of the army barged into residential houses and harassed inmates at Kunzar. We are out to protest against human rights abuses and misbehaviour of security personnel with women folk in the crackdown,” alleged Rahim Parray, a local.

The security forces fired in the air and swung batons to disperse the protesters at Kunzar, 35 km north of Srinagar. Residents of more than eight villages joined the demonstration. Six people were injured and five protesters were arrested during the police action.

“Police used force only after repeated attempts to quell protesters failed,” said a police spokesman.

Curfew was also reimposed in Kupwara district, more than 90 km north of Srinagar, when people of four colonies accused security forces of atrocities last night and clashed with them.

“Besides ransacking the houses in several localities, soldiers misbehaved with women in Darus-salam area (Kupwara),” alleged Rahim Kak, a village elder.

On Saturday morning, hundreds of local residents registered a protest and clashed with security forces. When forces fired tear-gas canisters at protesters, they retaliated with stones.

“Two persons who sustained injuries in the clashes were admitted to the hospital,” said Dr Mohammed Ramzan, deputy medical officer, Kupwara.

Meanwhile, moderate Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was on Saturday stopped from holding a religious congregation at Srinagar’s Aali Kadal mosque to observe his father’s anniversary.

“The authorities’ move to stop me from my religious duty shows how shaken the government is. I was not allowed to move from my house today and the mosque was sealed by the security forces,” said the Mirwaiz in a press statement.

The valley on Saturday entered into 77th day of civil strife triggered by the killing of 17-year-old boy by the police. Since then more than 60 people were left dead in 58 days of violent street protests and 53 days of curfews.

Floodwaters inundated a large town in southern Pakistan on Sunday as authorities struggled to build new levees with clay and stone to prevent one of the area’s biggest cities from suffering the same fate.

Almost all of Sujawal’s 250,000 residents fled the town before the water rushed in, but the damage to homes, clinics and schools added to the widespread devastation the floods have caused across Pakistan, said Hadi Baksh, a disaster management official in southern Sindh province.

The floodwaters also threatened Thatta, a historic city of some 350,000 people who have mostly fled to higher ground. Thatta is the base of operations for local authorities trying to cope with a disaster that has overwhelmed the Pakistani government and international partners who have stepped in to help.

Authorities rushed to build makeshift levees across the road connecting Sujawal and Thatta, parts of which were already flooded, Baksh said.

“We are trying to plug the bridges at three different points to stop the water flow toward Thatta,” said Baksh. “We are trying all our best efforts.”

The floods began in the mountainous northwest about a month ago with the onset of monsoon rains and have moved slowly down the country toward the coast in the south, inundating vast swaths of prime agricultural land and damaging or destroying more than 1 million homes.

More than 8 million people are in need of emergency assistance across the country.

The United Nations, the Pakistani army and a host of local and international relief groups have been rushing aid workers, medicine, food and water to the affected regions, but are unable to reach many people.

The U.S. said Saturday that it would deploy an additional 18 helicopters to help with the relief effort. The U.S. military is already operating 15 helicopters and three C-130 aircraft in the country, the U.S. Embassy said in a statement.

The floodwaters that hit Sujawal on Sunday surged into the town after breaking through a levee on the swollen Indus River two days earlier. The town is about 90 miles (150 kilometers) southeast of Karachi, the capital of Sindh, and 15 miles (25 kilometers) southeast of Thatta.

Authorities in Sujawal were trying to limit the flood damage, but the water level has already risen up to five feet (1.5 meters) in the center of town and 10 feet (3 meters) in the surrounding villages, said Anwarul Haq, the top official in Sujawal.

Many of the people who fled Sujawal and Thatta headed to Makli, a hill just south of Thatta that contains a vast Muslim graveyard.

About half a million flood victims are camped out on the hill, Baksh said. Most lack any form of shelter and are desperate for food and water.

“We don’t have water to drink, not to mention food, tents or any other facility,” said Mohammed Usman, a laborer who fled Sujawal several days ago and needed water to help cope with a painful kidney stone.

On Saturday, flood victims blocked a road in Thatta to protest the shortage of aid, most of which is randomly thrown from trucks into crowds of needy people.

A college student who did volunteer work in Afghanistan has been charged with slashing the neck and face of a Bangladeshi taxi driver who said he was Muslim.

A criminal complaint alleges Michael Enright uttered an Arabic greeting and told the driver: “Consider this a checkpoint” before the brutal attack occurred on Tuesday night inside the yellow cab on Manhattan’s East Side. Police say Enright, 21, was drunk at the time.

Enright is being held on charges of attempted murder and assault as hate crimes, and possession of a weapon. The handcuffed defendant did not enter a plea during the brief court appearance.

In addition to a serious neck wound, cab driver Ahmed Sharif suffered cuts to his forearms, face and one hand while trying to fend off his attacker, prosecutor James Zeleta said while arguing against bail.

Jason Martin, defending, told the judge his client was an honours student at the School of Visual Arts who lived with his parents in suburban Brewster, New York.

Enright volunteered for Intersections International, a group that promotes interfaith dialogue and has supported plans for an Islamic centre and mosque two blocks from Ground Zero. A group representative, the Reverend Robert Chase, called the situation “tragic”.

“We’ve been working very hard to build bridges between folks from different religions and cultures,” Chase said. “This is really shocking and sad for us.”

Sharif, a 43-year-old Bangladeshi immigrant who has driven a cab for 15 years, was quoted in a news release from the New York Taxi Workers Alliance as saying that the attack had left him shaken.

“I feel very sad,” he said. He added that, because of tensions over the mosque, “all drivers should be more careful”. He accepted an invitation from New York’s mayor, Michael Bloomberg, a supporter of the mosque, to visit City Hall.

“This attack runs counter to everything that New Yorkers believe no matter what God we pray to,” the mayor said.

At around 6pm on Tuesday, a man hailed the cab at East 24th Street and Second Avenue, a police spokeswoman said. Sharif said that during the trip his customer asked him whether he was Muslim. When the driver said yes, the customer pulled out a weapon – believed to be a folding tool with a knife blade called a Leatherman – and attacked him.

After the assault, the driver tried to lock the customer inside the cab and drive to a police station, police said. The attacker jumped out of a window, 17 blocks from where he hailed the cab, police said.

An officer noticed the commotion, found Enright slumped on the pavement and arrested him.

A case for the tool was found inside the cab, but the tool was missing, police said.

Chase said Enright has been volunteering for the group for about a year on a project that involved veterans. He did a video project that sent him to Afghanistan for about six weeks this spring to document the life of an average soldier, Chase said. He was embedded with a unit there.

Intersections has come out in support of the mosque, but Chase said Enright wasn’t involved in that project.

Enright could face between eight and 25 years in prison if convicted of attempted murder.

HYDERABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani has called for a more coordinated role on the part of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) as far as flood in Sindh is concerned adding that he had deputed some federal ministers to look into it.

 He said that he would meet chief ministers of Balochistan and Sindh to resolve controversy in the wake of diversion of floodwater to Balochistan from upper Sindh.

“Their [NDMA] role should be more coordinated”, he told Dawn on tarmac at Hyderabad Airport Wednesday evening as he boarded Pakistan Air Force plane for Islamabad. He was accompanied by Speaker National Assembly Dr. Fahmida Mirza, Federal Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and Federal Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira.

 Prime Minister arrived here in the afternoon to take an aerial view of affected areas. He visited Kotri Barrage and was briefed about its regulation and water flows up and downstream Kotri.

 He met survivors from upper Sindh and Latifabad taluka in two relief camps, set up by district administration in Wahdat colony and Kohsar.

“I have deputed federal ministers to ensure a coordinated role of NDMA”, he said when he was told that NDMA seemed to have played no role in flood devastations in Sindh despite huge human displacement.

To another question about controversy between Sindh and Balochistan over diversion of floodwater to latter causing inundation of Dera Allahyar, Jaffarabad, Naseerabad and Rohjan Jamali, he said that it would be resolved.

 When asked if he was going to take any initiative in this regard, he replied that “I will meet two chief ministers in this regard to resolve it”. He expressed his satisfaction over world community’s response to havoc caused by floods in Sindh. “I am fully satisfied with it [the response], he said.

Earlier, he told journalists that he had come here to personally meet people and parliamentarians before devising a strategy.

 “Whatever losses I have seen are beyond my imagination”, he remarked. He said that 17 districts have been declared calamity-hit in Sindh. He said that he realised that people are migrating but government is also taking initiatives in this regard as people are facing difficult time.

The premier said that the government would try to count those who are still sitting on embankments and shift them to relief camps. He said that federal government was aware of their miseries and would not leave them in the lurch.

“I promise that we will not leave you alone”, he said. Mr Gilani said that survey of losses was being conducted adding that losses of cattle head, houses and crops were also being evaluated. “Government will provide money for building homes”, he said.

He urged party cadres to visit each place and taluka to help people in distress. He said that he had spoken to President Asif Ali Zardari also. “We are calling meeting of our party’s CEC to devise strategy”, he said.

The prime minister said that world community was helping Pakistan more than his expectations. About Tori bund breach inquiry, he said that breaches had taken place in canals in the country and it is upto provincial government to get an inquiry done.

 He said that people have the spirit and nobody could defeat them. He said that world community was with flood survivors. “With this spirit we will emerge successful”, he said.

He said government was committed to rehabilitation of flood affected people despite the fact that there is shortage of food, medicines, tents and other commodities.

 He said that government had decided to provide a grant of Rs20,000 to each flood affected family immediately before assessment of losses if finally done.

Federal Trade Minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim met the premier when he landed at airport but sought permission to reach Matiari for flood monitoring.

 Federal minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Syed Naveed Qamar, Sindh Home Minister Dr. Zulfiqar Mirza, MQM’s Sindh Minister for Rural Development Zubair Ahmed, Sindh Fisheries Minister Zahid Bhurgari, Sindh Minister for Special Education Syed Ali Nawaz Shah Rizvi, MNAs, MPAs and PPP leaders were present on the occasion.