Four passengers were killed and 11 others injured when an “unidentified” person hijacked a suburban train and drove it at high speed, resulting in a head-on collision with a goods train hauling empty oil wagons at Vyasarpadi Jiva railway station here early on Wednesday.
The condition of five of those injured, including a couple of women, was said to be critical.
According to railway sources, the collision took place minutes after the suburban train rolled out of the Moore Market Complex (near Central Railway Station) at around 4.50 a.m. The Electrical Multiple Unit (EMU) jumped the red signal and took the wrong line. The train sped past the Basin Bridge Junction, the next scheduled stop, and rammed the goods train.
A huge ball of fire engulfed two coaches immediately after the collision. The other coaches were thrown off the track.
Fire fighters rushed to the scene, put out the flames and began rescuing passengers along with Government Railway Police and Railway Protection Force personnel.
The first coach, including the driver’s cabin or the motor-cab, was ripped apart. The impact of the collision was such that a major portion of the Vyasarpadi Jiva station, foot over-bridge and railway track was damaged. The driver’s cabin was flung metres away.
Investigators were unable to confirm whether the suspect was among the deceased. Two of the four bodies were badly crushed and trapped in the mangled remains of a coach.
The driver and guard of the goods train escaped with minor injuries as they jumped out.
Some persons standing on the platform were among the injured. They were shifted to the Perambur railway hospital.
Intelligence warning
An intelligence agency official said they had warned the GRP, RPF and railway authorities of the possibility of sabotage on railway premises by sympathisers of Eelam Tamils and Muslim fundamentalists.
M.S.Jayanth, who is holding additional charge as General Manager of Southern Railway, said it appeared that the suspect was well-versed with the operation of EMU. It required four keys to operate an EMU. How he managed to get the keys was a mystery. Commissioner of Railway Safety K.J.S.Naidu would conduct an enquiry.
Southern Railway has preferred a complaint with the police that an “unauthorised” person started the train and drove it in a rash and negligent manner leading to the incident.
The Perambur railway police have registered a case under various provisions of the IPC, including Section 304 (A) (Causing death by negligence), Superintendent of Police (Railways), S.Manoharan, said.
Another suburban train and the Mettupalayam-Chennai Bluemountain Express were some distance ahead of the accident scene, approaching Chennai, on the same track. “The speed of the EMU service at the time of the collision was 92 kmph. The goods train was pushed behind by about 200 metres from the collision spot. One 140-tonne crane was moved in for relief and restoration works. The motorman (driver) and guard of the train had not taken charge when the train was hijacked. We hope to restore normal train services by Wednesday night,” Chief Mechanical Engineer V.Carmelus told The Hindu.
Mr.Carmelus said the Station Master of Basin Bridge Junction had noticed that there was neither a motorman nor guard in the speeding train, and alerted the control room.
“We could have stopped the train by switching off the power supply…but there was hardly any time for that,” he said.
According to Inspector General of Police (RPF) G.M.P.Reddy, suburban train platforms are not covered by the surveillance camera network.
Three of the deceased were identified as Joseph Antonyraj (40) of Rajamangalam in Villivakkam, Arockianathan, an employee of the Railway Hospital at Erode, and Mohanraj (35) of Avadi. The identity of the fourth deceased is yet to be established.
The police suspect he was the person who drove the train.
Case transferred
Director-General of Police K.P.Jain issued orders later in the night transferring the case to CB-CID for investigation
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Newspaper questions Rahul degree, gets notice
The Congress has served a legal notice to a Chennai-based newspaper for its “brazenly desperate attempt to fuel a controversy and malign” party general secretary Rahul Gandhi at the time of elections by questioning his M.Phil degree from Cambridge University.
The article — Rahul Gandhi, spin doctor — was published in The New Indian Express and carried on its website, expressbuzz.com, on April 11. The party said the newspaper had succeeded in defaming Rahul, 38, at the time of elections which had caused him “grave and irreparable harm”.
“Deeply distressed by your wild allegations, sly insinuations and self-serving innuendos, all premised on complete falsehoods and steeped in malice, a legal notice is being issued,” read the notice, copies of which were released to the media by party spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi.
A copy of the letter of Professor Alison Richard, vice-chancellor of University of Cambridge, was attached to the notice. The letter said Rahul was a student of the university as a member of Trinity College from October 1994 to July 1995 and was awarded an M. Phil in Development Studies in 1995.
In fact, Rahul had told mediapersons at Kochi on April 13 that he would serve a legal notice to the newspaper.
“Instead of verifying anything from our client, you wrote the subject article falsely, recklessly and with complete disregard for truth, alleging that our client did not complete his degree,” read the notice settled by Singhvi himself. Singhvi practices in the Supreme Court. It accused the newspaper of bias against Rahul and his family.
“Our client is concerned with the systematic attempts that you have been making to defame him and his family from time to time by false, malicious, scurrilous and defamatory personal allegations. There is a systematic pattern to your devious agenda,” the notice said, demanding an apology from the newspaper
The article — Rahul Gandhi, spin doctor — was published in The New Indian Express and carried on its website, expressbuzz.com, on April 11. The party said the newspaper had succeeded in defaming Rahul, 38, at the time of elections which had caused him “grave and irreparable harm”.
“Deeply distressed by your wild allegations, sly insinuations and self-serving innuendos, all premised on complete falsehoods and steeped in malice, a legal notice is being issued,” read the notice, copies of which were released to the media by party spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi.
A copy of the letter of Professor Alison Richard, vice-chancellor of University of Cambridge, was attached to the notice. The letter said Rahul was a student of the university as a member of Trinity College from October 1994 to July 1995 and was awarded an M. Phil in Development Studies in 1995.
In fact, Rahul had told mediapersons at Kochi on April 13 that he would serve a legal notice to the newspaper.
“Instead of verifying anything from our client, you wrote the subject article falsely, recklessly and with complete disregard for truth, alleging that our client did not complete his degree,” read the notice settled by Singhvi himself. Singhvi practices in the Supreme Court. It accused the newspaper of bias against Rahul and his family.
“Our client is concerned with the systematic attempts that you have been making to defame him and his family from time to time by false, malicious, scurrilous and defamatory personal allegations. There is a systematic pattern to your devious agenda,” the notice said, demanding an apology from the newspaper
Sonia Gandhi, LK Advani's fate to be decided to
The world's biggest electoral exercise enters a decisive stage on Thursday with voting for 107 Lok Sabha seats in the third phase of polling. By the end of the day, two-thirds of 714 million Indian voters spread across nine states and two union territories would have cast their vote.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi, BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate LK Advani and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda are among the 1,567 candidates whose electoral fate will be sealed in ballot boxes in this phase.
Stakes are high for both national parties. The phase will account for 372 of the 543 Lok Sabha seats. After Thursday, voting on just 171 seats will remain during two phases on May 7 and May 13 respectively.
Of the 107 seats in this phase, the BJP is defending 43 against 25 of the Congress. A 14.40 crore-strong electorate will vote on Thursday. Gujarat’s 26 parliamentary seats go to the polls, besides 11 and 16 in Karnataka and MP respectively. Voting will also take place in 10 constituencies in Maharashtra, 14 in West Bengal, 11 in Bihar and 15 in UP. Also going to the polls are Dadra and Nagar Haveli (one), Daman & Diu (one), Sikkim (one) and Jammu & Kashmir (one).
Voting in the remaining two phases is in states not considered BJP strongholds.
In Gujarat, the BJP is riding high on the popularity of Chief Minister Narendra Modi. The party is also seeking to capitalise on its prime ministerial candidate, LK Advani, contesting from Gandhinagar.
In 2004, the BJP had won 14 seats from the state, while the opposition Congress had surprised pollsters by winning 12. This was the best Congress performance in a decade.
In West Bengal, reformist Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee faces an acid test, with voting scheduled in 14 of the state’s 42 seats. Of the 14 seats, the Left has a challenge to retain 11, while the Congress is defending just the three it won last time.
In Madhya Pradesh, besides the Guna and Ratlam constituencies (from where Jyotiraditya Scindia and Kanti Lal Bhuria respectively are the Congress candidates), the constituencies going to poll in this phase are considered BJP strongholds.
The Karnataka battle promises to be an interesting one as well. The 11 seats in this phase include Shimoga where warhorse S Bangarappa of the Congress is facing BS Yedurappa’s son BY Raghvendra.
In Bihar, JD (U) President Sharad Yadav is contesting the Madhepura seat, while BJP’s Shah Nawaz Hussain is the candidate from Bhagalpur.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi, BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate LK Advani and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda are among the 1,567 candidates whose electoral fate will be sealed in ballot boxes in this phase.
Stakes are high for both national parties. The phase will account for 372 of the 543 Lok Sabha seats. After Thursday, voting on just 171 seats will remain during two phases on May 7 and May 13 respectively.
Of the 107 seats in this phase, the BJP is defending 43 against 25 of the Congress. A 14.40 crore-strong electorate will vote on Thursday. Gujarat’s 26 parliamentary seats go to the polls, besides 11 and 16 in Karnataka and MP respectively. Voting will also take place in 10 constituencies in Maharashtra, 14 in West Bengal, 11 in Bihar and 15 in UP. Also going to the polls are Dadra and Nagar Haveli (one), Daman & Diu (one), Sikkim (one) and Jammu & Kashmir (one).
Voting in the remaining two phases is in states not considered BJP strongholds.
In Gujarat, the BJP is riding high on the popularity of Chief Minister Narendra Modi. The party is also seeking to capitalise on its prime ministerial candidate, LK Advani, contesting from Gandhinagar.
In 2004, the BJP had won 14 seats from the state, while the opposition Congress had surprised pollsters by winning 12. This was the best Congress performance in a decade.
In West Bengal, reformist Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee faces an acid test, with voting scheduled in 14 of the state’s 42 seats. Of the 14 seats, the Left has a challenge to retain 11, while the Congress is defending just the three it won last time.
In Madhya Pradesh, besides the Guna and Ratlam constituencies (from where Jyotiraditya Scindia and Kanti Lal Bhuria respectively are the Congress candidates), the constituencies going to poll in this phase are considered BJP strongholds.
The Karnataka battle promises to be an interesting one as well. The 11 seats in this phase include Shimoga where warhorse S Bangarappa of the Congress is facing BS Yedurappa’s son BY Raghvendra.
In Bihar, JD (U) President Sharad Yadav is contesting the Madhepura seat, while BJP’s Shah Nawaz Hussain is the candidate from Bhagalpur.
UK buys 60m face masks as new cases of swine flu emerge
Three new British cases of swine flu were confirmed yesterday as the Department of Health stepped up its emergency response with plans to purchase additional stocks of antiviral drugs and face masks.
All three - a 12-year-old girl from Paignton, Devon, a 41-year-old woman from Redditch, Worcestershire, and a 22-year-old man from north-west London - had recently returned from Mexico.
The child was on the same flight into Birmingham as the Scottish honeymoon couple who tested positive earlierthis week. Her school has been closed for a week.
The number of suspected cases had risen to 78 by early yesterday afternoon, but the figure fluctuated as some were discounted after negative test results and others emerged.
Before the World Health Organisation last night declared a pandemic alert phase five, its second highest alert level, the UK health secretary, Alan Johnson, revealed an array of measures to combat the disease in Britain, including obtaining extra supplies of antiviral drugs to protect 50 million people - more than three-quarters of the population.
Current UK stockpiles of Tamiflu and Relenza are enough to cover 33 million.
The Department of Health could not give a figure for the cost of additional drugs. Prior to this week it had already spent £500m in "pandemic preparedness" - a sum that includes previously purchased antiviral drugs, vaccines and advance supply agreements for emergency medicines.
The further doses would "come through over the coming weeks", Johnson promised. The level of antiviral protection available was already far higher than any other country in the world, he added.
There is no evidence that providing the public with face masks would do anything to prevent the spread of the disease, but Johnson said 60m face masks would be ordered for "frontline" NHS staff, who may require several changes of mask in the course of their work.
There are signs of increased public demand for face masks. One online distributor, Windsor-based Surgical Face Masks, stopped taking orders yesterday, claiming to have been deluged by up to 5,000 orders since Saturday.
A factory in County Durham making face masks, run by the company 3M, has increased production to 24 hours a day, seven days a week to meet demand from the NHS.
The health secretary said: "To keep the public informed, a mass public health campaign will begin [today], with print, TV and radio adverts. The adverts will warn the public about swine flu and remind people to cover their noses and mouths with tissues [when they sneeze or cough] and then throw the tissue away."
The slogan will be "Catch It, Bin It, Kill It", referring to the advice to use throwaway paper tissues when ill, and to wash hands regularly. An information leaflet will be posted through people's doors next Tuesday.
The Department of Health has set up a telephone line for the public to ring for updates on the situation. The number is 0800 1513513.
Health Protection Agency staff are also being sent to UK airports that have direct flights to Mexico to hand out advice to passengers. Airlines are being asked to keep passenger seating records, normally purged after 24 hours, for a longer period to trace potential infection contacts.
"The virus is giving us more time than we would normally expect in a flu epidemic," said Sir Liam Donaldson, the chief medical officer. "It's possible it will evolve as it passes through the population." It could yet become more virulent. To be effective, he said, antiviral drugs have to be administered within 24 hours of the first symptoms appearing.
The decision to close the school in Devon until next Tuesday is in line with Health Protection Agency and WHO guidelines: seven days is the incubation period for the flu.
Fears of a fresh outbreak of swine flu in Scotland subsided yesterday after health authorities said 13 of the suspected cases had proven negative.
The Scottish health secretary, Nicola Sturgeon, said tests on eight of the nine people who had been in contact with the first Britons to catch it, Iain and Dawn Askham, had shown they did not have the same virus.
In a further development, tests on five of the 14 further suspected Scottish cases which came to light on Tuesday were also negative, while another two suspected cases were no longer of concern.
The minister said, however, that a further 24 suspect cases from across Scotland were under investigation, in Ayrshire and Arran, Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Lanarkshire, Highland and Lothian.
All those involved had travelled in Mexico and other affected areas. Added to the outstanding tests on the first wave of suspicious cases, there were now 32 cases under investigation in Scotland. However, the lack of any further transmission of the virus so far within Scotland should give affected families and authorities in England some reassurance after three confirmed cases came to light in Torbay, London and Birmingham, she later told reporters.
"I do think the experience we've had to date, and I stress to date, does give cause for optimism, not just in Scotland, but in other parts of the UK," she said.
However, she warned it was still possible further cases would emerge. Sturgeon said she had spoken to Iain Askham, now entering his sixth day in an isolation ward, by telephone: "He said he was feeling well, he was feeling better. I think they're looking forward to getting back to normal, although when I said that to him he said he had forgotten what normal felt like."
All three - a 12-year-old girl from Paignton, Devon, a 41-year-old woman from Redditch, Worcestershire, and a 22-year-old man from north-west London - had recently returned from Mexico.
The child was on the same flight into Birmingham as the Scottish honeymoon couple who tested positive earlierthis week. Her school has been closed for a week.
The number of suspected cases had risen to 78 by early yesterday afternoon, but the figure fluctuated as some were discounted after negative test results and others emerged.
Before the World Health Organisation last night declared a pandemic alert phase five, its second highest alert level, the UK health secretary, Alan Johnson, revealed an array of measures to combat the disease in Britain, including obtaining extra supplies of antiviral drugs to protect 50 million people - more than three-quarters of the population.
Current UK stockpiles of Tamiflu and Relenza are enough to cover 33 million.
The Department of Health could not give a figure for the cost of additional drugs. Prior to this week it had already spent £500m in "pandemic preparedness" - a sum that includes previously purchased antiviral drugs, vaccines and advance supply agreements for emergency medicines.
The further doses would "come through over the coming weeks", Johnson promised. The level of antiviral protection available was already far higher than any other country in the world, he added.
There is no evidence that providing the public with face masks would do anything to prevent the spread of the disease, but Johnson said 60m face masks would be ordered for "frontline" NHS staff, who may require several changes of mask in the course of their work.
There are signs of increased public demand for face masks. One online distributor, Windsor-based Surgical Face Masks, stopped taking orders yesterday, claiming to have been deluged by up to 5,000 orders since Saturday.
A factory in County Durham making face masks, run by the company 3M, has increased production to 24 hours a day, seven days a week to meet demand from the NHS.
The health secretary said: "To keep the public informed, a mass public health campaign will begin [today], with print, TV and radio adverts. The adverts will warn the public about swine flu and remind people to cover their noses and mouths with tissues [when they sneeze or cough] and then throw the tissue away."
The slogan will be "Catch It, Bin It, Kill It", referring to the advice to use throwaway paper tissues when ill, and to wash hands regularly. An information leaflet will be posted through people's doors next Tuesday.
The Department of Health has set up a telephone line for the public to ring for updates on the situation. The number is 0800 1513513.
Health Protection Agency staff are also being sent to UK airports that have direct flights to Mexico to hand out advice to passengers. Airlines are being asked to keep passenger seating records, normally purged after 24 hours, for a longer period to trace potential infection contacts.
"The virus is giving us more time than we would normally expect in a flu epidemic," said Sir Liam Donaldson, the chief medical officer. "It's possible it will evolve as it passes through the population." It could yet become more virulent. To be effective, he said, antiviral drugs have to be administered within 24 hours of the first symptoms appearing.
The decision to close the school in Devon until next Tuesday is in line with Health Protection Agency and WHO guidelines: seven days is the incubation period for the flu.
Fears of a fresh outbreak of swine flu in Scotland subsided yesterday after health authorities said 13 of the suspected cases had proven negative.
The Scottish health secretary, Nicola Sturgeon, said tests on eight of the nine people who had been in contact with the first Britons to catch it, Iain and Dawn Askham, had shown they did not have the same virus.
In a further development, tests on five of the 14 further suspected Scottish cases which came to light on Tuesday were also negative, while another two suspected cases were no longer of concern.
The minister said, however, that a further 24 suspect cases from across Scotland were under investigation, in Ayrshire and Arran, Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Lanarkshire, Highland and Lothian.
All those involved had travelled in Mexico and other affected areas. Added to the outstanding tests on the first wave of suspicious cases, there were now 32 cases under investigation in Scotland. However, the lack of any further transmission of the virus so far within Scotland should give affected families and authorities in England some reassurance after three confirmed cases came to light in Torbay, London and Birmingham, she later told reporters.
"I do think the experience we've had to date, and I stress to date, does give cause for optimism, not just in Scotland, but in other parts of the UK," she said.
However, she warned it was still possible further cases would emerge. Sturgeon said she had spoken to Iain Askham, now entering his sixth day in an isolation ward, by telephone: "He said he was feeling well, he was feeling better. I think they're looking forward to getting back to normal, although when I said that to him he said he had forgotten what normal felt like."
Civilians Flee as Pakistani Forces Hit Resistance
The Pakistani forces air-dropped commandos into the main town in Buner on Wednesday and quickly retook control of it from Taliban militants who flooded into the area last week, the military said. But the district was far from recaptured and the military may be in for a hard fight.
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Pakistani Military Moves to Flush Out Taliban (April 29, 2009) Villagers who fled the fighting and made it to this village on the plains said the military was bombing in Buner with fighter jets and firing rockets from helicopter gunships as Pakistani troops battled the Taliban on the ground for a second day.
Despite a curfew imposed by both the Taliban and the army, one villager, Walayat Khan, a cowherd in his 20s who did not know his exact age, said everyone was trying to get out of the district.
Some people were leaving on foot, as few vehicles were available. Those who left were forced to use back roads since the Taliban and military forces had blocked the main arteries leading into and out of Buner.
Mr. Walayat left his village, Kowgah, at dawn with 18 members of his family, mostly women and children, after jets bombed two nearby villages held by the Taliban on Tuesday afternoon. He left his brother and elderly father behind in the house, he said.
“Jets dropped bombs three times,” he said. “There was smoke and dust; I could not tell if they hit houses. We packed our things and then started moving because we thought they might hit us as well.”
Coming after intense criticism, both here and in Washington, of the military’s inaction, the air and ground campaign against the Taliban was the most intense waged by the army in six months.
Commandos of the Special Services Group were air-dropped into Daggar, the administrative center of Buner, a district of about one million people just 60 miles from the capital, Islamabad, the military said.
The use of the American-trained special counterterrorism forces, jets and mobile units was a sign of the military’s seriousness of purpose in this fight, said a former government official, who did not want to be identified while discussing national security matters.
No civilians were displaced in Daggar, Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, the military spokesman, said at a news briefing in Rawalpindi. That part of the operation appeared to have gone fairly smoothly.
But elsewhere heavier fighting was reported. Military units backed by paramilitary forces were deployed in a three-pronged attack against the Taliban in Buner from neighboring districts, General Abbas said.
Those forces met fierce resistance in areas in the north, south and west of Buner — in Nawagin, Pir Baba and Sultanwas, where the Taliban have established positions, he said.
“We are facing stiff resistance in the area of Ambala,” General Abbas said, referring to the area near Mr. Walayat’s village, where local people said the Taliban were firmly entrenched and blew up a bridge on Tuesday to block the army’s advance.
Taliban were also reported to be patrolling a key road in the north near the Pir Baba shrine and the boundary with the Swat Valley, which is a stronghold for the militants. They were also firing on helicopters from the mountains, local reporters said.
Heavy fighting was also under way in Karakar, in the north of the district, where the Taliban were holding hostage about 70 police officers and members of the Frontier Constabulary. Eighteen of the men were later released, General Abbas said, without providing more details.
He said the army was concerned about hurting civilians. “Our constraint is that we are launching an operation in an area where militants have held the local population hostage,” he said. “We are trying to ensure there is minimum collateral damage and minimum displacement of local people.”
Civilians driving on the roads, including students, were wounded when their vehicles came under fire, local reporters said. Several civilians, including a child hit by a bullet, were taken to the hospital in Swari, reporters for the newspaper Dawn said.
People were unhappy with the military operation, Mr. Walayat said. But his relatives in the neighboring district of Swabi who gave shelter to the extended family said they supported it.
They live less than six miles from the boundary with Buner and said Taliban militants had come into their area just two days ago.
“People are happy with the operation because the government gave them a deadline to leave and the people are saying that the Taliban really want to take over Tarbela dam and Islamabad,” said Yaqoub Khan, 42, a farmer who has made space in his house for 18 relatives who fled the fighting.
“If they had not come, the Taliban would have established positions here in this village by now,” he said.
Killings by the Taliban have shocked the local people, another relative said. Five days ago militants cut the throats of eight local policemen operating a post in the village of Chingalay in the south of Buner, just a few miles from Sheikh Jana.
“They cut their tongues out as well,” said Afsar Khan, 47, who saw the bodies of two of the policemen when he attended their funerals nearby.
Yet he said he doubted the military would be able to stop the Taliban advance. “This thing will expand,” he said. “It started from Afghanistan, then we saw Bajaur, Swat. Buner was the only place they could not gain a foothold,” he said.
But the local resistance in Buner to the Taliban also failed. “We expect this thing will come here as well,” he said.
Skip to next paragraph
Related
Pakistani Military Moves to Flush Out Taliban (April 29, 2009) Villagers who fled the fighting and made it to this village on the plains said the military was bombing in Buner with fighter jets and firing rockets from helicopter gunships as Pakistani troops battled the Taliban on the ground for a second day.
Despite a curfew imposed by both the Taliban and the army, one villager, Walayat Khan, a cowherd in his 20s who did not know his exact age, said everyone was trying to get out of the district.
Some people were leaving on foot, as few vehicles were available. Those who left were forced to use back roads since the Taliban and military forces had blocked the main arteries leading into and out of Buner.
Mr. Walayat left his village, Kowgah, at dawn with 18 members of his family, mostly women and children, after jets bombed two nearby villages held by the Taliban on Tuesday afternoon. He left his brother and elderly father behind in the house, he said.
“Jets dropped bombs three times,” he said. “There was smoke and dust; I could not tell if they hit houses. We packed our things and then started moving because we thought they might hit us as well.”
Coming after intense criticism, both here and in Washington, of the military’s inaction, the air and ground campaign against the Taliban was the most intense waged by the army in six months.
Commandos of the Special Services Group were air-dropped into Daggar, the administrative center of Buner, a district of about one million people just 60 miles from the capital, Islamabad, the military said.
The use of the American-trained special counterterrorism forces, jets and mobile units was a sign of the military’s seriousness of purpose in this fight, said a former government official, who did not want to be identified while discussing national security matters.
No civilians were displaced in Daggar, Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, the military spokesman, said at a news briefing in Rawalpindi. That part of the operation appeared to have gone fairly smoothly.
But elsewhere heavier fighting was reported. Military units backed by paramilitary forces were deployed in a three-pronged attack against the Taliban in Buner from neighboring districts, General Abbas said.
Those forces met fierce resistance in areas in the north, south and west of Buner — in Nawagin, Pir Baba and Sultanwas, where the Taliban have established positions, he said.
“We are facing stiff resistance in the area of Ambala,” General Abbas said, referring to the area near Mr. Walayat’s village, where local people said the Taliban were firmly entrenched and blew up a bridge on Tuesday to block the army’s advance.
Taliban were also reported to be patrolling a key road in the north near the Pir Baba shrine and the boundary with the Swat Valley, which is a stronghold for the militants. They were also firing on helicopters from the mountains, local reporters said.
Heavy fighting was also under way in Karakar, in the north of the district, where the Taliban were holding hostage about 70 police officers and members of the Frontier Constabulary. Eighteen of the men were later released, General Abbas said, without providing more details.
He said the army was concerned about hurting civilians. “Our constraint is that we are launching an operation in an area where militants have held the local population hostage,” he said. “We are trying to ensure there is minimum collateral damage and minimum displacement of local people.”
Civilians driving on the roads, including students, were wounded when their vehicles came under fire, local reporters said. Several civilians, including a child hit by a bullet, were taken to the hospital in Swari, reporters for the newspaper Dawn said.
People were unhappy with the military operation, Mr. Walayat said. But his relatives in the neighboring district of Swabi who gave shelter to the extended family said they supported it.
They live less than six miles from the boundary with Buner and said Taliban militants had come into their area just two days ago.
“People are happy with the operation because the government gave them a deadline to leave and the people are saying that the Taliban really want to take over Tarbela dam and Islamabad,” said Yaqoub Khan, 42, a farmer who has made space in his house for 18 relatives who fled the fighting.
“If they had not come, the Taliban would have established positions here in this village by now,” he said.
Killings by the Taliban have shocked the local people, another relative said. Five days ago militants cut the throats of eight local policemen operating a post in the village of Chingalay in the south of Buner, just a few miles from Sheikh Jana.
“They cut their tongues out as well,” said Afsar Khan, 47, who saw the bodies of two of the policemen when he attended their funerals nearby.
Yet he said he doubted the military would be able to stop the Taliban advance. “This thing will expand,” he said. “It started from Afghanistan, then we saw Bajaur, Swat. Buner was the only place they could not gain a foothold,” he said.
But the local resistance in Buner to the Taliban also failed. “We expect this thing will come here as well,” he said.
Shareholders Oust Bank of America Chief as Chairman
Bank of America shareholders stripped Kenneth D. Lewis of his chairman’s title on Wednesday while allowing him to remain president and chief executive officer, in a vote that may mark the beginning of the end of his leadership at the embattled bank.
Walter E. Massey, the former president of Morehouse College and a longtime board member, will succeed Mr. Lewis as chairman, the bank said.
Earlier, at an annual meeting here that was widely viewed as a referendum on Mr. Lewis, Bank of America shareholders re-elected him to the board, along with the company’s 18 directors, by “a comfortable margin,” a spokesman said. But the vote to separate the chairmanship from the company’s executive leadership raised questions about how much longer Mr. Lewis could steer the bank as shareholder anger mounts over his handling of the bank’s takeover of Merrill Lynch.
Mr. Lewis has worked at the bank and its predecessors for 40 years and run it as chief executive since 2001.
During Mr. Lewis’s tenure, Bank of America has more than doubled its deposits and expanded its credit card and mortgage operations, largely through his supersized acquisitions.
But his most recent conquest, Merrill Lynch, brought the bank to its knees. That merger is under investigation by the attorney general of New York, and some shareholders say Mr. Lewis did not do enough due diligence and overpaid for the troubled investment bank. As Merrill’s results weakened just before the deal closed, Mr. Lewis did not disclose the problems to shareholders even as he discussed additional aid with the government.
News cameras began setting up Wednesday before 7 a.m., just as some of the bank’s employees were arriving at work. A few protesters trickled in with signs. One, Judy Koenick, wore a T-shirt that read: “Fire!!! Kenneth Lewis/Fire!!! The board of directors./Clean Sweep.”
In prepared remarks at the meeting, which brought 2,200 people to the Charlotte Performing Arts Center, Mr. Lewis defended the bank’s purchases of Merrill and another troubled financial institution, Countrywide Financial, a lender heavily involved in the subprime mortgage meltdown.
“Let me be clear: Merrill Lynch and Countrywide led the way for our first-quarter earnings,” he said. “Today I can state without reservation that these acquisitions are not mistakes to be regretted. Both are looking more and more like successes to be celebrated.”
When Mr. Lewis was asked about the bank’s choice not to disclose Merrill’s weakened state, he said he could not talk about it.
“I can’t because of litigation. You’re probably one of them,” he quipped. “So if you’d like to hear more, withdraw your lawsuit.”
Several shareholders made statements of support for Mr. Lewis. “Look over your shoulder, Mr. Chairman, we’re behind you,” one said. There was loud applause for each such statement.
But the bank has plenty of angry shareholders, including pension funds like Calpers and Calstrs, two public funds in California; CtW Investment Group, which represents unions’ pension funds; and individual stock owners like Jerry and Jon Finger, who sold their bank in Texas to Bank of America 10 years ago in exchange for stock.
Bank of America executives insist that Merrill will benefit the bank over the long run, in particular because of its herd of financial advisers. And in the first quarter, Merrill helped bolster the bank’s earnings.
“Every major commercial bank in the country is under pressure,” Mr. Lewis told shareholders. “I think any assumption that without Merrill our stock price or dividend would be where they were in September is terribly mistaken.”
Still, some shareholders believe that Merrill will not earn enough money to make up for the stock dilution and the extra $20 billion that the bank accepted from the government in January to help with the merger. The bank is on the hook for $45 billion in taxpayer money in total, and it is currently disputing some of regulators’ findings in the financial stress tests.
On the subject of the taxpayer money, Mr. Lewis said at the meeting that “we share the desire to pay it back as soon as humanly possible.”
Bank of America’s stock fell more than 90 percent in the last year from $37 a year ago to $3.14 in March. Since then, it has recovered some and closed at $8.68 on Wednesday.
Just a year ago, the board of Wachovia, a bank that was headquartered here, took the chairman title away from that bank’s chief executive, Ken Thompson. It was only a month until Mr. Thompson lost his job altogether. Wachovia was later sold to Wells Fargo.
Walter E. Massey, the former president of Morehouse College and a longtime board member, will succeed Mr. Lewis as chairman, the bank said.
Earlier, at an annual meeting here that was widely viewed as a referendum on Mr. Lewis, Bank of America shareholders re-elected him to the board, along with the company’s 18 directors, by “a comfortable margin,” a spokesman said. But the vote to separate the chairmanship from the company’s executive leadership raised questions about how much longer Mr. Lewis could steer the bank as shareholder anger mounts over his handling of the bank’s takeover of Merrill Lynch.
Mr. Lewis has worked at the bank and its predecessors for 40 years and run it as chief executive since 2001.
During Mr. Lewis’s tenure, Bank of America has more than doubled its deposits and expanded its credit card and mortgage operations, largely through his supersized acquisitions.
But his most recent conquest, Merrill Lynch, brought the bank to its knees. That merger is under investigation by the attorney general of New York, and some shareholders say Mr. Lewis did not do enough due diligence and overpaid for the troubled investment bank. As Merrill’s results weakened just before the deal closed, Mr. Lewis did not disclose the problems to shareholders even as he discussed additional aid with the government.
News cameras began setting up Wednesday before 7 a.m., just as some of the bank’s employees were arriving at work. A few protesters trickled in with signs. One, Judy Koenick, wore a T-shirt that read: “Fire!!! Kenneth Lewis/Fire!!! The board of directors./Clean Sweep.”
In prepared remarks at the meeting, which brought 2,200 people to the Charlotte Performing Arts Center, Mr. Lewis defended the bank’s purchases of Merrill and another troubled financial institution, Countrywide Financial, a lender heavily involved in the subprime mortgage meltdown.
“Let me be clear: Merrill Lynch and Countrywide led the way for our first-quarter earnings,” he said. “Today I can state without reservation that these acquisitions are not mistakes to be regretted. Both are looking more and more like successes to be celebrated.”
When Mr. Lewis was asked about the bank’s choice not to disclose Merrill’s weakened state, he said he could not talk about it.
“I can’t because of litigation. You’re probably one of them,” he quipped. “So if you’d like to hear more, withdraw your lawsuit.”
Several shareholders made statements of support for Mr. Lewis. “Look over your shoulder, Mr. Chairman, we’re behind you,” one said. There was loud applause for each such statement.
But the bank has plenty of angry shareholders, including pension funds like Calpers and Calstrs, two public funds in California; CtW Investment Group, which represents unions’ pension funds; and individual stock owners like Jerry and Jon Finger, who sold their bank in Texas to Bank of America 10 years ago in exchange for stock.
Bank of America executives insist that Merrill will benefit the bank over the long run, in particular because of its herd of financial advisers. And in the first quarter, Merrill helped bolster the bank’s earnings.
“Every major commercial bank in the country is under pressure,” Mr. Lewis told shareholders. “I think any assumption that without Merrill our stock price or dividend would be where they were in September is terribly mistaken.”
Still, some shareholders believe that Merrill will not earn enough money to make up for the stock dilution and the extra $20 billion that the bank accepted from the government in January to help with the merger. The bank is on the hook for $45 billion in taxpayer money in total, and it is currently disputing some of regulators’ findings in the financial stress tests.
On the subject of the taxpayer money, Mr. Lewis said at the meeting that “we share the desire to pay it back as soon as humanly possible.”
Bank of America’s stock fell more than 90 percent in the last year from $37 a year ago to $3.14 in March. Since then, it has recovered some and closed at $8.68 on Wednesday.
Just a year ago, the board of Wachovia, a bank that was headquartered here, took the chairman title away from that bank’s chief executive, Ken Thompson. It was only a month until Mr. Thompson lost his job altogether. Wachovia was later sold to Wells Fargo.
Deadly clashes rock Pakistan city
At least 20 people have died in ethnic clashes in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi, officials say.
Eyewitnesses said vehicles had been torched in different parts of the city, which is Pakistan's commercial capital and has a history of ethnic violence.
Karachi is dominated by Urdu-speakers, but there is also a growing population of ethnic Pashtuns.
Officials said the fighting was between members of the two groups, and started after an unidentified man opened fire.
"These are the targeted killings by the criminals, drug and land mafias who want to fan ethnic violence in the city," said Faisal Subzwari, a provincial minister.
Mr Subzwari, a member of the Urdu-speaking Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), said three of those killed were from his party.
The MQM is an ally of Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari's Pakistan Peoples Party.
Bodies riddled
A spokesman for Mr Zardari said the Pakistani leader condemned the violence and called for unity.
"The president said that the nation could not afford violence in Karachi at a time when it was already dealing with the militants in northern parts of the country," said the spokesman, Farhatullah Barbar.
Doctors in Karachi hospitals said they had received bodies riddled with gunshot wounds.
A spokesman for the Pakistan Rangers paramilitary force said it had arrested 25 suspects and recovered weapons and ammunition from them, AFP news agency reported.
Karachi, a city of over 15 million, is the capital of Sindh province.
It contains many Urdu-speaking Muslims descended from people who migrated to Pakistan after the partition of India in 1947.
The Pashtun population has grown further since last year when tens of thousands were displaced by the military operation in the country's north-western tribal areas.
Some politicians have voiced fears of Taleban infiltration of the Pashtun community.
Eyewitnesses said vehicles had been torched in different parts of the city, which is Pakistan's commercial capital and has a history of ethnic violence.
Karachi is dominated by Urdu-speakers, but there is also a growing population of ethnic Pashtuns.
Officials said the fighting was between members of the two groups, and started after an unidentified man opened fire.
"These are the targeted killings by the criminals, drug and land mafias who want to fan ethnic violence in the city," said Faisal Subzwari, a provincial minister.
Mr Subzwari, a member of the Urdu-speaking Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), said three of those killed were from his party.
The MQM is an ally of Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari's Pakistan Peoples Party.
Bodies riddled
A spokesman for Mr Zardari said the Pakistani leader condemned the violence and called for unity.
"The president said that the nation could not afford violence in Karachi at a time when it was already dealing with the militants in northern parts of the country," said the spokesman, Farhatullah Barbar.
Doctors in Karachi hospitals said they had received bodies riddled with gunshot wounds.
A spokesman for the Pakistan Rangers paramilitary force said it had arrested 25 suspects and recovered weapons and ammunition from them, AFP news agency reported.
Karachi, a city of over 15 million, is the capital of Sindh province.
It contains many Urdu-speaking Muslims descended from people who migrated to Pakistan after the partition of India in 1947.
The Pashtun population has grown further since last year when tens of thousands were displaced by the military operation in the country's north-western tribal areas.
Some politicians have voiced fears of Taleban infiltration of the Pashtun community.
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