MQM chief Altaf Hussain.—File Photo

KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain will announce the names of new Coordination (Rabita) and Organisation (Tanzeemi) Committees’ members today during the general workers address, DawnNews reported.

Talking with party members, the MQM chief said that he is busy in ‘reorganising the party’ and is currently conducting interviews for various posts within the party. He said that it would take somewhere between two weeks to a month to reorganise the party.

Meanwhile, he announced that Nadeem Nusrat would be the temporary in-charge of the Coordination Committee in the international secretariat.

-Photo by Zahir Shah Sherazi

PESHAWAR: The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on Saturday sent six alleged accused including a woman on physical and judicial remands.

The men and woman were arrested on May 24, 2013 from Peshawar’s Chamkini area during a raid and are accused of running a Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) backed terrorist network.

Presenting the alleged accused before the ATC judge, the police requested for physical remand. The men were sent on a five-day physical remand while the woman has been sent on a 14-day judicial remand.

The accused include the alleged female terrorist Munfajara, her four sons Roohullah, Asadullah, Irfanullah and Kashti Gul and a male relative Ashfaq Hussain.

During the raid, hand grenades, suicides vests and explosives were recovered from their possession.

In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, gives a televised speech from an unknown location to mark the anniversary of Israel’s May 2000 withdrawal from southern Lebanon. -AP Photo

BEIRUT: The leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah warned Saturday that the fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime would give rise to extremists and plunge the Middle East into a ”dark period,” and vowed his Shia militant group will not stand idly by while its chief ally in Damascus is under attack.    

In a televised address, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said Hezbollah members are fighting in Syria against Islamic extremists who pose a danger to Lebanon, and pledged that his group will not allow Syrian militants to control areas that border Lebanon.

Nasrallah’s comments marked the first time he has publically confirmed his men were fighting in Syria, and were his first remarks since Hezbollah fighters have become deeply involved in the battle for the strategic Syrian town of Qusair near the Lebanese frontier.

Hezbollah has come under harsh criticism at home and abroad for sending fighters to Syria to fight along Assad’s forces.

In his speech, Nasrallah sought to defend the group’s deepening involvement, and frame its fight next door as part of a broader battle against Israel.

He also portrayed the fight in Syria as an ”existential war” for anti-Israel groups including Hezbollah.

”Syria is the back of the resistance, and the resistance cannot stand, arms folded while its back is broken,” Nasrallah told thousands of supporters from a secret location though a video link.

”If Syria falls into the hand of America, Israel and takfiris, the resistance (Hezbollah) will be besieged and Israel will enter Lebanon and impose its will,” Nasrallah said.

Takfiri Islamists refers to an ideology that urges Sunni extremists to kill anyone they consider an infidel.

”If Syria falls in the hands of America, Israel and the takfiris, the people of our region will go into a dark period,” he said in a speech to mark the anniversary of Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon in May 2000.

”If Syria falls, Palestine will be lost.”

Syria, along with Iran, has been the main backer of Hezbollah and much of the group’s arsenal consisting tens of thousands of rockets is believed to have come through or from Syria.

More than 70,000 people have been killed and several million displaced since the uprising against Assad erupted in March 2011 and escalated into a civil war.

The Syrian government and Hezbollah deny there is an uprising in Syria, portraying the war as a foreign-backed conspiracy driven by Israel, the US and its gulf Arab allies.

Mahendra Karma, a Congress party state leader was killed in the attack, according to a police official. -File Photo

NEW DELHI: Suspected Maoist rebels on Saturday attacked a convoy of cars carrying local leaders and supporters of India’s ruling Congress party in a Maoist-infested area in eastern India, killing at least one party member and wounding several people.

Senior police officer M. Gupta said suspected insurgents fired at the vehicles in the Sukma area, about 215 miles (345 kilometers) south of Raipur, the capital of Chhattisgarh state.

Mahendra Karma, a state party leader, was killed in the attack, police officer Preetam Singh said.

The wounded Congress party members were taken to a hospital. They were returning to the state capital after attending a party rally.

Other details were not immediately available.

The Congress party is the main opposition party in the state. The rebels have been fighting the central government for more than four decades, demanding land and jobs for tenant farmers and the poor.

Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani.—File Photo

RAWALPINDI: The Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani has said that Pakistan will continue to make all efforts to bring about peace in Afghanistan, DawnNews reported.

International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) commander Gen Joseph F Dunford met on Saturday with General Kayani at GHQ, according to an ISPR satement.

During the meeting, the two discussed bilateral relations and security issues along the Pak-Afghan border. Strategy over withdrawal of Nato forces from Afghanistan were also discussed.

General Dunford stated that Pakistan’s role in the Afghan reconciliation process was imperative.

A tribal militia. -File Photo

KHYBER AGENCY: A Khasadar force (tribal militia) in Khyber Agency have foiled a plot after having seized 1750 kilograms of explosives from a pickup, on the main Pak-Afghan Highway near Jamrud. Three accused individuals have been arrested.

The Assistant Political Agent Jehangir Azam Wazir confirmed that explosives have been seized near Bagyari checkpost by the Khasadar force during checking. The vehicle was traveling from Jamrud to Tirah valley when it was seized.

“Three accused who were shifting the explosives have been arrested and have been identified as Khalid, Sattar and Mothaar. They belonged to the Zakhakhle tribe,” he said.

“The explosives were concealed under flour bags and were being carried to Tirah for sabotage activities and IED making,” he added.

He further stated that after recent attacks on Nato trucks and IED blasts on the main Peshawar-Jalabad highway, security has been beefed up on all checkposts.

PTI Vice President Shah Mehmood Qureshi. — File Photo

LAHORE: Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) on Saturday announced its decision to appoint candidates for all parliamentary positions, DawnNews reported.

A meeting of PTI’s parliamentary committee was held in Lahore and was chaired by the party’s chief Imran Khan.

Speaking to media representatives after the meeting, PTI leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that Javed Hashmi had been nominated as the leader of the house.

Furthermore, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Shehryar Afridi was nominated as the party’s candidate for the speaker of National Assembly and Munazza Hassan was nominated for the deputy speaker.

Dr Arif Alvi and Ghulam Sarwar were nominated to represent the party in the business advisory committee.

Moreover, Qureshi said that during the meeting, PTI had demanded an increase in number of judges on the election tribunal in order to dispose of election complaints.