Pakistan offers to fly Musharraf's sick mother home

The Pakistani government Friday offered to fly home the sick mother of former president Pervez Musharraf, who faces a series of major criminal cases and is barred from leaving the country.

The former general is accused of a range of offences related to his 1999-2008 rule of the nuclear-armed nation, including treason and the murder of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

The pursuit of criminal cases against the former army chief has put the government on a potential collision course with the powerful military.

It has been suggested that one way to avoid such a potentially destabilising clash would be to allow Musharraf to leave the country on compassionate grounds, to see his sick and elderly mother in Dubai.

His legal team have sought permission for him to leave Pakistan in recent weeks, but without success so far.

On Friday the government said judges must decide Musharraf's fate, but offered to bring his 95-year-old mother to Pakistan to continue medical treatment.

"For the sake of fulfilling obligations of humanity, the prime minister of Pakistan is ready to send a special plane or ambulance to bring his mother to Pakistan so that she can live with her son and carry on with her medical treatment here," a government statement said.

The start of Musharraf's trial for treason was delayed on Tuesday because of a bomb scare and the hearing is now expected to go ahead on January 1.

The charges relate to Musharraf's imposition of emergency rule in November 2007 and if found guilty he could face the death penalty or life imprisonment.

His aides and lawyers have dismissed the cases as politically motivated, accusing the government and others of trying to use the courts to settle old scores.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who won a third term in May's general election, was the man Musharraf ousted when he seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999.

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US drone strike kills three in northwest Pakistan

A US drone strike targeting a militant compound killed at least three suspected insurgents in a restive Pakistani tribal region near the Afghan border late Wednesday, officials said.

The attack took place around midnight in Qutab Khel village, five kilometres (three miles) south of Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan tribal region, a stronghold for Taliban and Al-Qaeda linked militants.

"A US drone fired two missiles on a militant compound, killing at least three suspected insurgents," a senior security official told AFP.

A security official in Peshawar confirmed the attack and casualties.

Another official in Miranshah put the death toll at four and said a fifth militant was seriously injured.

The identities of those killed in the strike were not immediately known but officials suspect that they were of Afghan origin.

North Waziristan is one of Pakistan's seven semi-autonomous tribal regions which Washington considers to be a major hub of Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants plotting attacks on the West and in Afghanistan.

Pakistani government criticises drone strikes as a violation of sovereignty and counterproductive to anti-terror efforts. But ties with Washington have nevertheless improved this year after lurching from crisis to crisis in 2011 and 2012.

Last month a US drone attack on a seminary linked to the feared Haqqani militant network in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in the northwest killed at least six people.

The attack, which militant sources said killed the Haqqanis' spiritual leader along with five others, was extremely unusual as it was mounted outside Pakistan's lawless tribal areas on the Afghan border.

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US drone strike kills three in northwest Pakistan

A US drone strike targeting a militant compound killed at least three suspected insurgents in a restive Pakistani tribal region near the Afghan border late Wednesday, officials said.

The attack took place around midnight in Qutab Khel village, five kilometres (three miles) south of Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan tribal region, a stronghold for Taliban and Al-Qaeda linked militants.

"A US drone fired two missiles on a militant compound, killing at least three suspected insurgents," a senior security official told AFP.

A security official in Peshawar confirmed the attack and casualties.

Another official in Miranshah put the death toll at four and said a fifth militant was seriously injured.

The identities of those killed in the strike were not immediately known but officials suspect that they were of Afghan origin.

North Waziristan is one of Pakistan's seven semi-autonomous tribal regions which Washington considers to be a major hub of Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants plotting attacks on the West and in Afghanistan.

Pakistani government criticises drone strikes as a violation of sovereignty and counterproductive to anti-terror efforts. But ties with Washington have nevertheless improved this year after lurching from crisis to crisis in 2011 and 2012.

Last month a US drone attack on a seminary linked to the feared Haqqani militant network in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in the northwest killed at least six people.

The attack, which militant sources said killed the Haqqanis' spiritual leader along with five others, was extremely unusual as it was mounted outside Pakistan's lawless tribal areas on the Afghan border.

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.