Nawaz demands NAB probe into Dubai property owned by Aleema Khan

ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif Wednesday raised questions over a Dubai property owned by Prime Minister Imran Khan's sister, Aleema Khan, and demanded the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to probe into her sources for purchasing the property.

In his informal conversation with journalists during his appearance before an accountability court, the former premier said the NAB does hold investigations against members of his party, adding that the anti-corruption watchdog should also find out how the prime minister's sister purchased the property.

This month, Aleema Khan deposited half the total cost of her previously undeclared Dubai property with tax authorities as penalty.

Aleema paid 25 per cent of the total estimated amount of her luxurious flat, "The Lofts East-1406", in taxes and 25 per cent fine charges, officials had said. The prime minister's sister was slapped with a double penalty (taxes and fine) because she did not disclose the said property worth around Rs74 million.

The said luxurious flat was located in the heart of Dubai, adjacent to Burj Khalifa, the most expensive area in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), added the officials.

"Wherefrom did Aleema Khan get property worth billions in Dubai," Nawaz questioned, adding that Aleema Khan does not even have any sources of income.

He said the prime minister's sister paid fine for hiding property, questioning, "Isn't it an NRO (National Reconciliation Ordinance)?"

Noting that Aleema is also a board member of Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital (SKMCH), the former premier asked what is the money trail of her property.

He said the nation wants to know who is behind Aleema Khan's property.

Nawaz said they saved Rs160 billion in power projects, behind which was tireless efforts of the then Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif.

"But Shehbaz Sharif was thrown in jail instead of commending him," he lamented.

The former premier further said the Lahore-Multan Motorway project has been completed, but it is not being operationalised.

"Name the project PTI Motorway, but at least open it," he urged, saying the government is not ready to operationalise projects initiated by them.

Nawaz further regretted his incarceration despite having done much for the country.

"We made JF-17 fighter jet in collaboration with China. Is it reward for that we are made to face prisons?" he asked.

"Thinking about this hurts. Then you say I do not speak up," the former premier told reporters.

He said people accuse him of making a 'compromise' if he does not speak up, questioning, "Can an individual, returning from London after being sentenced, go for an NRO?

"You can neither write nor publish whatever I would say," Nawaz told the newsmen.

Sri Lanka's top military official detained over mass murder cover-up

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka´s military chief was remanded by court Wednesday after weeks evading arrest over the alleged cover-up of the abduction and murder of 11 young men during the island´s civil war.

Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne is the highest-ranking military officer ever held by a court over alleged crimes from Sri Lanka´s wartime past, when the armed forces were accused of grave abuses against civilians.

The powerful Chief of the Defence Staff was detained after revelations he attempted to abduct a key witness over the weekend and have a police detective removed from the case.

"I am denying bail because in your position you are able to influence witnesses and disrupt the investigations," Magistrate Ranga Dassanayake told a packed courthouse in Colombo.

Wijegunaratne, who arrived at court flanked by military personnel, has denied protecting the chief suspect in the high-profile murders — a navy intelligence officer — or attempting to cover-up the crimes.

Wijegunaratne, who was chosen by the president, appeared in full military regalia, earning a rebuke from Magistrate Dassanayake who suggested he was trying to intimidate the court.

Earlier, his entourage attacked journalists trying to photograph Wijegunaratne as he arrived at court. A navy officer was later arrested by police for assault.

Three arrest warrants were issued for Wijegunaratne this month but the top military appointee refused to surrender, even travelling to Mexico as an envoy for the president.

Senior military figures have been accused of serious crimes and civilian abuses during Sri Lanka´s decades-long war, but have broadly enjoyed impunity from prosecution.

Grave abuses

Investigators told the court that Wijegunaratne helped the chief accused in the murders — Chandana Prasad Hettiarachchi, a naval intelligence officer.

He was accused of abducting and killing the wealthy men in their late teens and early 20s for ransom in the final days of the war that ended in 2009. Their bodies were never found.

Wijegunaratne, who is not directly tied to the murders, allegedly helped Hettiarachchi travel to Malaysia to evade arrest. The naval officer returned and was detained in August.

Military officials were accused of kidnapping and holding civilians for cash ransom during the war, among other major abuses documented by rights groups.

Several intelligence officers are facing prosecution over the murder of journalists critical of Mahinda Rajapakse, the former president whose tenure was marred by allegations of war crimes and grave rights abuses.

His recent controversial appointment as prime minister by Sri Lanka´s president has plunged the country into crisis, with parliament twice voting against the war-era strongman ruler taking over government.

Rajapakse, who has refused to step aside as Sri Lanka drifts in a power vacuum, and several members of his family, are being investigated for fraud and murder during his 10-year presidency.

But those inquiries were thrown into doubt after his surprise return to the helm of government in an alliance with President Maithripala Sirisena.

Rajapakse led Sri Lanka as government troops crushed the Tamil insurgency in May 2009, ending 37 years of bitter and brutal fighting.

The final days of the offensive were marked by major abuses, according to rights groups. A UN panel has said 40,000 civilians may have been killed in the final stages of the war.

Indonesia's Lion Air must improve safety culture: crash report

Lion Air must improve its safety culture and better document repair work on its planes, Indonesian authorities said Wednesday, in preliminary findings into last month´s crash that killed all 189 people on board.

The Boeing 737 MAX vanished from radar about 13 minutes after taking off from Jakarta on October 29, slamming into the Java Sea moments after it had asked to return to the capital.

The transport safety agency did not pinpoint a definitive cause of the accident, with a final crash report not likely to be filed until next year.

But its investigators said that Lion Air kept putting the plane back into service despite repeatedly failing to fix a problem with the airspeed indicator in the days leading up to the fatal flight.

The report also suggested the pilots struggled with the plane´s anti-stall system as they radioed in a request to return to Jakarta´s main airport.

The findings will heighten concerns there were problems with key systems in one of the world´s newest and most advanced commercial passenger planes.

Investigators have previously said the doomed aircraft had problems with its airspeed indicator and angle of attack (AOA) sensors, prompting Boeing to issue a special bulletin telling operators what to do when they face the same situation.

An AOA sensor provides data about the angle at which air is passing over the wings and tells pilots how much lift a plane is getting. The information can be critical in preventing an aircraft from stalling.

Dubious record 

The Indonesian National Transportation Safety Committee has retrieved one of the plane´s black boxes — the flight data recorder — but is yet to locate the cockpit voice recorder.

Black box data showed the plane had an airspeed indicator issue on multiple earlier flights, investigators said.

Lion must take steps "to improve the safety culture and to enable the pilot to make (a) proper decision to continue the flight," the safety agency said, adding that the carrier must ensure "all the operation documents are properly filled and documented".

Despite a dubious safety record and an avalanche of complaints over shoddy service, the budget carrier´s parent Lion Air Group, which also operates Batik Air and Wings Air, has captured half the domestic market in less than 20 years of operation to become Southeast Asia´s biggest airline.

Indonesia´s aviation safety record has improved since its airlines, including national carrier Garuda, were subject to years-long bans from US and European airspace for safety violations, although the country has still recorded 40 fatal accidents over the past 15 years.

But Boeing has also come under fire for possible glitches on the 737 MAX -- which entered service just last year.

The APA, a US airline pilots union, said that carriers and pilots had not been informed by Boeing of certain changes in the aircraft control system installed on the new MAX variants of the 737.

"I am really surprised if Boeing has not shared all the flight performance parameters with pilots, unions, and training organisations," University of Leeds aviation expert Stephen Wright told AFP before the report was released.

"I cannot forsee why a manufacturer would not incorporate potential known problems into their mandatory training programs," he said, adding that "a deliberate omission would have serious legal ramifications"

Several relatives of the crash victims have already filed lawsuits against Boeing, including the family of a young doctor who was to have married his high school sweetheart this month.

Lion Air Flight JT610 plunged into the sea less than half an hour after taking off on a routine flight to Pangkal Pinang city.

Authorities have called off the grim task of identifying victims of the crash, with 125 passengers officially recognised after testing on human remains that filled some 200 body bags.

Huge explosion rocks Kabul, casualties feared: officials

KABUL: A massive explosion rocked Kabul late Wednesday amid fears a British security company had been targeted, officials said, with casualties expected in the latest violence to beset the Afghan capital.

The interior ministry and police both said the blast had been a car bomb targeting a compound which houses G4S, a British security company, in east Kabul. There was no immediate confirmation from the company or the British embassy in Kabul, however.

Interior Ministry deputy spokesman Nasrat Rahimi said casualties were "not known".

Kabul police spokesman Basir Mujahid said at least six wounded people had been evacuated from the site, but could not confirm their nationality.

Earlier, sources had said the blast was followed by gunfire. "There was some gunfire at the beginning, but it has stopped," Mujahid said.

There was no immediate claim for the attack. Both the Taliban and the Islamic State group have stepped up their attacks on Kabul, which is one of the deadliest places in the country for civilians.

According to its website, G4S provides security for the UK Foreign Office in Kabul.

The attack came just hours after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced a 12-person team for prospective peace talks with the Taliban, as the UN renewed calls for direct negotiations between Kabul and the militants.

The Afghan government, Western diplomats and United Nations officials have in recent weeks raised hopes of finally reaching a deal to end the Taliban´s 17-year insurgency.

At an international conference on Afghanistan in Geneva, Ghani said his government had "formed a 12-person negotiating team, comprised of both women and men, and led by presidential chief of staff (Abdul Salam) Rahimi".

Rahimi, a former humanitarian worker and ex-deputy Afghan finance minister, is considered one of Ghani´s closest aides.

However Wednesday´s assault also follows a wave of bloody violence across the war-torn country in recent weeks that has killed hundreds of people as militants step up their attacks.

On November 20 at least 55 people were killed when a bomber blew himself up in the middle of a banquet hall in one of the deadliest attacks in Afghanistan this year.

The violence comes as the Taliban intensifies pressure on Afghan security forces, even as the international community ramps up efforts towards talks.

US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad has expressed hopes that a peace deal to end the war could be struck before the Afghan presidential election, scheduled for April.

His comments underscore an apparent increasing sense of urgency in the White House and among American diplomats for a peace deal to be done quickly.

Bangladesh attorney general says jailed leader Khaleda cannot contest election

DHAKA: Bangladesh’s jailed opposition leader Khaleda Zia cannot run for office in next month’s election, the country’s top law officer said on Wednesday, increasing the uncertainty over the party’s prime ministerial candidate.

Khaleda, who has twice been the country’s prime minister and shares a long-standing rivalry with the current leader Sheikh Hasina, was jailed in February after being convicted for misappropriation of funds for an orphanage.

She denies the allegations and says it is aimed at keeping her away from politics.

Her ability to contest the polls has been in doubt since her incarceration but colleagues in her Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) have said they were hoping she would be released ahead of the elections.

With weeks to go for the Dec. 30 polls though, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said on Wednesday that, according to the law, even if Khaleda was released from jail, she would not be allowed to contest the polls.

His comments came a day after the Bangladesh high court ruled against petitions filed by five BNP members convicted of corruption who sought a stay on their sentences to stand in the election, Alam said.

One of the petitioners appealed that ruling at the Supreme Court, which has refused to intervene.

“So (Khaleda’s) case cannot be considered any differently,” Alam said.

The BNP’s secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam condemned the high court ruling in comments to local media, saying it was aimed at preventing Khaleda from taking part in the election.

The party plans to appeal the high court order at the Supreme Court, its lawyer Khandaker Mahmud Hossain said, adding that it continued to work on securing bail for Khaleda.

Hasina is widely expected to win the election, although analysts say the formation of a joint opposition alliance has meant the race would be more competitive.

The BNP has been in disarray since Khaleda was jailed and scores of its members have been detained and some convicted in recent months on charges it terms as fictitious.

If Khaleda is barred from running, it would be the first time the BNP will go to polls without her at the helm, Islam told reporters earlier in the week, breaking down in tears.

The BNP forged an alliance with three smaller parties last month, seeking to unseat Hasina from her decade-long reign.

But the opposition still does not have a clear prime ministerial candidate, and the alliance leader Kamal Hossain has said he is not seeking a ministerial post.

A decision on who should be prime minister will be taken after the opposition alliance wins, Islam told Reuters last week, adding the coalition had “several eligible candidates”.

Children among 24 injured in Turbat gas cylinder explosion

TURBAT: Twenty-four people, including 12 children, sustained burn injuries after a gas cylinder exploded in a shop.

The blast resulted in a huge fire, which engulfed the shop, located in the city’s main market, and injured people nearby.

Ten students of a school next to the shop were also among the wounded.

The shop sustained serious damage due to the fire.

The injured were shifted to Civil Hospital, Turbat. Later, 13 of them were transferred to Karachi via a flight, the medical superintendent said. Four were discharged after administering first aid while seven are under treatment in the civil hospital.

Commissioner Makran added that all injured would be taken to Karachi.

Chief Minister Balochistan Jam Kamal Khan expressed sorrow over the incident and instructed authorities to provide quality medical care to the injured. He also said that the provincial government will bear all expenses of the medical treatment.