1. Pakistan accountable for Iran bombing: Ahmadinejad

TEHRAN: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday accused US forces in Afghanistan and Pakistan of backing the bombings such as the two suicide attacks which killed at least 28 people in southeast Iran. He added that the Pakistani government was also accountable for the attack.

“If (US President Barack) Obama is unaware of actions of American forces, then we tell him that American forces based in Afghanistan and Pakistan back such actions,” he told a cabinet meeting, referring to Thursday’s bombings in the restive city of Zahedan. Nato and US forces back “terrorists” with equipment and funds to launch such attacks in Iran, he said, quoted by the state news agency Irna. “Despite this support, the US president sends a message of sympathy.”

The hardliner said Islamabad must also be held “accountable” for such actions. “We are friends of Pakistan and we are by its side, but at any rate the government of that country should be accountable,” Ahmadinejad said.

On Thursday, two suicide bombers blew themselves up at a mosque in Zahedan, the capital of Sistan-Balochistan province which borders Afghanistan and Pakistan. The bombings killed at least 28 people and wounded hundreds more, according to an updated casualty toll.

“I strongly condemn the outrageous terrorist attacks on a mosque in southeast Iran,” Obama said in a written statement. “The murder of innocent civilians in their place of worship is an intolerable offence.”

The attacks were claimed by a rebel group, Jundallah (Soldiers of God), which says it is fighting for the rights of the Baloch people in the province of Sistan-Balochistan. Iranian officials have previously also accused US, British and Pakistan intelligence services of aiding Jundallah in launching cross-border attacks inside Iran. http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=30160

2. Iran shuts Taftan border because of suicide attack

QUETTA: Trade activities between Iran and Pakistan have been suspended as the former has closed the ‘zero-point’ in its border town of Taftan because of a suicide attack in Zahedan.

At least 20 people were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up near a mosque in Zahedan two days ago. Banned outfit Jundallah claimed responsibility of the attack.

According to sources, Iranian border authorities have informed Pakistani officials of their decision to close the border crossing.

“Yes, Iran has closed the zero-point, suspending all trade activities,” Tufail Baloch, a senior official of the Chagai district administration, said.

Local traders are facing serious problems because most of the edible items come from across the border through the zero-point. “If the border is not opened soon there will be a shortage of food and other items in Pakistan’s border areas,” officials said. http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/national/iran-shuts-taftan-border-because-of-suicide-attack-970

3. 15 injured as suicide bomber hits Sargodha Imambargah

By Faisal Aziz in The News, July 19

SARGODHA: Some 15 worshippers were injured in a suicide attack on Darul Uloom Muhammadia Madrassa and Imambargah in Block 19, Muslim Bazaar Chowk, in Sargodha on Sunday evening, District Coordination Officer Zulfiqar Ali Shah told journalists.

The DCO confirmed it was a suicide attack. The attacker, 18-20 years old, blew himself up in the mosque when the faithful were preparing for the Maghrib prayers. According to the DCO, the bomber attempted to enter the mosque/Imambargah and was intercepted by a security guard, Abdul Ghafoor.

Agencies add: The attacker was carrying a bag and detonated the explosives when a guard at the gate tried to stop him, Abdul Ghafoor, a witness who was wounded in the attack, said.  http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=30156

3.Security of CJ, two other judges tightened: By Mohammad Asghar in Dawn, July 19

RAWALPINDI: Law-enforcement agencies have been directed to tighten security around Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, Lahore High Court Chief Justice Khwaja Mohammad Sharif, Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday and members of their families in the light of intelligence reports that attacks are being planned against some prominent judges and foreigners.

The federal government’s National Crisis Management Cell (NCMC) has sent letters to provincial governments and the district administration of Islamabad, asking them to tighten security around the three senior members of the judiciary, according to sources.

In a related development, the Punjab home department has directed its police chief and all regional police officers to beef up security of Chinese engineers working on the Jinnah hydropower project and Chashma power plants.

Intelligence reports have indicated that some militant groups are planning to attack power projects, targeting particularly the Chinese personnel working there, says the department. http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/16-security-of-cj%2C-two-other-judges-tightened-970-hs-07

4.  Pak couple faces death by stoning threat after conviction for adultery: The Guardian

By Saeed Shah in Islamabad, July 18

A couple have been sentenced to be stoned to death for alleged adultery by a tribal court in north-west Pakistan, with the woman’s life now considered in grave danger.

The man involved, Zarkat Khan, has run away while the woman is in the custody of the court, according to residents in Kala Dhaka, a remote area of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. The death sentence, handed down in Manjakot village last month, will be carried out once the man is found, a member of the tribal court said.

The woman, whose name is being withheld at the request of human rights groups, is being held in a nearby village, according to campaigners. She is married and believed to have three children.

"As usual, it is the woman who is made to bear the brunt of such atrocious barbarism, injustice, and inhuman, un-Islamic sentences," said the Woman’s Action Forum, a Pakistani non-governmental organisation. "Why is the provincial law enforcement system neither de jure nor de facto functional? Where are the women’s protection mechanisms and institutions?"

The case is particularly awkward for the Pakistani authorities as Kala Dhaka is inside the main territory of the country, in Khyber-Pakhtunkwa (formerly North West Frontier province), and not part of the Taliban-controlled tribal fringe along the Afghan border. Kala Dhaka is administered by its tribes through the jirga, rather than normal law enforcement apparatus such as the police. This anomaly dates from British colonial times because the tradition-bound region has long proved difficult to rule.

There is little or no Taliban presence there. The government has announced plans to make Kala Dhaka a regular "settled" district. There have been several cases in recent years of couples put to death by tribal courts for adultery in Kala Dhaka and the surrounding area.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/18/couple-sentenced-pakistan