Kabul hits back at Pakistan over Kabul bombing

KABUL: Afghanistan and Pakistan were locked in a war of words on Thursday over a shrine bombing that killed at least 55 people in Kabul and which the Afghan government blamed on a Pakistani terror group.

Islamabad called for an end to the “blame game” after Kabul demanded action against the group, Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, whose purported claim of responsibility for Tuesday’s attack has not been confirmed independently.

“It is high time to get out of the blame game as such and to move forward in the spirit of cooperation,” said foreign office spokesman Abdul Basit.

“Publicly accusing Pakistan of unfounded events and things do create problems at some stage”, he told reporters.

“We would like to have a relationship that is free of recrimination and blame game,” Basit added.

Relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan are tense, and frequently spiral into mutual accusations over the violence plaguing both their countries.

Kabul said Thursday that it was up to Pakistan to investigate without waiting any longer after Pakistan called for hard evidence to support claims that Jhangvi was responsible.

“It’s up to Pakistan to take action and find out where and how the contact was made by Lashkar-i-Jhangvi from inside Pakistan. They shouldn’t wait for us to provide them with evidence,” Aimal Faizi, Karzai’s spokesman, told AFP.

Faizi said an Afghan investigation was under way but it is thought officials do not currently have evidence of the group’s involvement.

Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, an outlawed militant group which has links to al Qaeda and the Taliban, has been blamed for killing thousands of Shias and whipping up sectarian hatred in Pakistan.

But there has been no confirmation of a purported claim of responsibility for the Kabul attacks from Lashkar-i-Jhangvi splinter group al-Alami.

Officials and experts fear that Tuesday’s attack may have been designed to whip up sectarian conflict in Afghanistan, which has not previously suffered the scale of such violence experienced in Iraq and Pakistan.

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Uranium sales open to India, not Pakistan: Australia

SYDNEY: Australia’s Defence Minister Stephen Smith said India represented a “unique” case for uranium sales Thursday and denied that lifting its export ban to New Delhi opened the door to countries like Pakistan.

The ruling centre-left Labor party voted to overturn its long-standing ban on uranium sales to India at its national policy summit last weekend despite the fact that it was still not a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Smith, on an official visit to India, said the decision had been “warmly welcomed” but rebuffed suggestions that Pakistan may want a similar arrangement.

“The circumstances for India so far as export of uranium is concerned are, in my view, unique,” Smith told ABC television from India.

“Pakistan does not have the same record so far as proliferation is concerned. There have been serious expressions of concern about proliferation in the past.” Though India had not signed the NPT – Labor’s rationale for withholding sales until the weekend’s policy u-turn – Smith said it had agreed to split its civilian and military nuclear programmes and vowed not to engage in atomic tests.

It had also submitted to the authority of civil nuclear regulators.

“India is the world’s largest democracy. There’s never been any serious suggestion or any evidence of proliferation on India’s part,” he said.

He described the ban as “an irritant or a grain of sand in the relationship (that) is now gone” and said he and Indian officials had agreed that they could and should do more to boost strategic cooperation.

“The whole world is moving to the Asia Pacific and the Indian Ocean, and India is very much a central part of that,” he said.

Smith said he had also discussed the recent announcement of a US troop boost in northern Australia with Indian counterpart A.K Antony and he understood that “Australia has an alliance relationship with the United States.

“India also understands that Australia has a strong view that the engagement of the United States in the Asia Pacific, indeed the enhanced engagement of the United States in the Asia Pacific, is a good thing for peace, prosperity and stability,” Smith
said.

Australia describes India – its fourth-largest export market – as at the “front rank” of its global partnerships and aims to strengthen ties beyond economic and trade links into areas such as defence and security.

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Former Illinois governor sentenced to 14 years

CHICAGO: Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich on Wednesday was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison for political corruption including attempting to sell the US Senate seat vacated by then President-elect Barack Obama.

Blagojevich, who turns 55 on Saturday, must serve at least 85 per cent of the sentence or about 12 years before being released under the sentencing guidelines. He was also fined $20,000.

He was convicted of seeking jobs and campaign contributions in exchange for state government action. Blagojevich, a Democrat who was ousted from office in 2009, had asked US District Judge James B. Zagel for mercy, saying he was “unbelievably sorry.”

Zagel said before sentencing that he accepted Blagojevich’s apology, but “it comes too late.”

Zagel disputed the defence theory that Blagojevich was misled by his staff.

“The governor was not marched along the criminal path by his staff,” Zagel said. “He marched them and ruined a few of their careers.”

From the time of his arrest until his conviction, he launched a national campaign to proclaim his innocence, appearing on television talk and entertainment shows, even being a contestant on Donald Trump’s “Celebrity Apprentice.”

Wednesday was the first time Blagojevich expressed contrition, telling the judge he was “unbelievably sorry,” but stopping short of admitting guilt.

“I’m here convicted of crimes,” Blagojevich said. “The jury decided I was guilty. I’m accepting of it. I acknowledge it and of course I’m unbelievably sorry for it.”

During the trial, prosecutors presented evidence suggesting Blagojevich sought $1.5 million in campaign contributions from supporters of Representative Jesse Jackson, Jr., in exchange for appointing him to the Senate seat. They also said Blagojevich sought a cabinet post or a high-paying Washington job in exchange for appointing Obama’s choice to the Senate seat, Valerie Jarrett, now a White House aide.

He was also convicted of attempting to shake down the head of a children’s hospital for campaign cash in exchange for authorising an increase in doctor reimbursement fees, and shaking down the head of Illinois racetracks in exchange for approving legislation favourable to the industry.

Federal authorities, who had been taping Blagojevich’s profanity-laced conversations with aides, arrested him in December 2008, before he could complete the crime, prosecutors have argued.

Blagojevich was tried twice — first in August 2010, when he was convicted of one charge of lying to investigators and jurors deadlocked on 23 other counts. After a second trial this year, he was convicted of 17 of 20 counts.

Blagojevich must report to prison on February 16.

His predecessor in the governor’s office, Republican George Ryan, is currently in prison on corruption charges.

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