DUBAI: Pakistan’s former military ruler Pervez Musharraf yesterday announced he would return home within weeks to contest election after nearly five years in self-imposed exile, but did not set a specific date. He last year delayed a planned homecoming after the government warned that he would be arrested and few commentators in Pakistan believe he will return this time. “People say that there are cases against me and there is danger. I am not afraid of dangers and I leave it to God. I have decided that I will return to Pakistan within one week after the formation of the caretaker government likely to be set up by March 16,” he said. President Asif Ali Zardari’s government, which won elections in 2008, will in mid-March become the first civilian government in Pakistan to complete a full-term in office.
US picks Brazilian plane for Kabul
SAO PAULO: The US Air Force has chosen a Brazilian firm for a $427m deal to supply light attack planes to Afghan forces, the company said. Embraer said 20 of its AT-29 Super Tucano aircraft would be manufactured in Florida in partnership with a US firm. US forces are due to withdraw from Afghanistan next year and is racing to train and equip its lightly-armed allies to fight Talibab. “The A-29 Super Tucano with its proven track record is exactly what’s needed,” said Taco Gilbert, a Vice-President of Embraer’s US partner in the contract, the Sierra Nevada Corporation. The propeller-driven Super Tucano comes in single and two-seated versions and can be equipped with a machinegun, bombs and missiles.
Plans to improve forest protection
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Ministry of Climate Change, international environmental organisations, WWF-Pakistan and the One UN Joint Programme on Environment will make forests a major part of the country’s strategy to combat climate change. Over 60 experts and stakeholders gathered to initiate a roadmap to improve forest protection and management. A mechanism for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) is a key element of global international climate change negotiations. The ministry will set up an REDD+ steering committee.
New intelligence chief appointed
Islamabad: The Pakistan government yesterday appointed Dawood Shah Director General of the Intelligence Bureau in succession to Akhtar Gorchani, the Dunya News said. Shah, a veteran police officer, earlier served as joint director of the bureau in the Khyber Pukhtunkhwa province. He has been appointed following directives from Prime Minister Pervaiz Ashraf.
Two killed in
Karachi violence
Islamabad: Two people were killed in separate incidents in Karachi, police said yesterday. An activist from Shia Ulema Council in Ancholi near the Samnabad Police Station was gunned down outside his home. Police said an armed gang emerged on bikes and asked the 30-year-old to come out of his house. As he did, the gunmen shot him dead and fled. A man from Muttahida Organising Committee was shot dead near his house in Faqeera Goth near the Sohrab Goth Police Station.
Agencies
