'Angels of peace' end up as victims of rape

'Angels of peace' end up as victims of rape

Jess Smochek arrived in Bangladesh in 2004 as a 23-year-old Peace Corps volunteer with dreams of teaching English and "helping the world." She left six weeks later as a rape victim after being brutalised in an alley by a knife-wielding gang.

When she returned to the United States, the reception she received from Peace Corps officials was as devastating, she said, as the rape itself. In Bangladesh, she had been given scant medical care; in Washington, a counsellor implied that she was to blame for the attack.

For years she kept quiet, feeling "ashamed and embarrassed and guilty", The New York Times reports.

Today, Smochek is among a growing group of former Peace Corps volunteers who are speaking out about their sexual assaults, prompting scrutiny from Congress and a pledge from the agency for reform.

In going public, they are exposing an ugly sliver of life in the Peace Corps: the dangers that volunteers face in far-flung corners of the world and the inconsistent — and, some say, callous — treatment they receive when they become crime victims.

"These women are alone in many cases, and they're in rough parts of the world," said Representative Ted Poe, Republican of Texas, who says the Peace Corps' promises do not go far enough and is sponsoring legislation to force changes in the way it treats victims of sexual assault.

"We want the United States to rush in and treat them as a victim of crime like they would be treated here at home."

Founded in 1961 by President John F Kennedy, the Peace Corps has 8,655 volunteers and trainees, as young as 21 and as old as 86, serving in 77 countries. For most, service is, as the agency's Web site boasts, "a life-defining leadership experience."

But from 2000 to 2009, on average, 22 Peace Corps women each year reported being the victims of rape or attempted rape, the agency says. During that time, more than 1,000 Peace Corps volunteers reported sexual assaults, including 221 rapes or attempted rapes.

Because sexual crimes often go unreported, experts say the incidence is likely to be higher, though they and the Peace Corps add that it is difficult to assess whether the volunteers face any greater risk overseas than women in the United States do.

On Wednesday, the House Foreign Affairs Committee will convene a hearing to examine what its chairwoman, Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Republican of Florida, called "serious crimes" committed against Peace Corps volunteers, including murder; in announcing the hearing, her office cited reports of "gross mismanagement of sexual assault complaints."

Lois Puzey, whose daughter Kate was murdered in 2009 while posted in Benin, will testify.

So will Smochek, now a board member of First Response Action, a fledgling advocacy group founded by another former volunteer, Casey Frazee.

Frazee was sexually assaulted in South Africa in 2009 and came home, she said, determined to not "let the Peace Corps toss me off like I was an isolated incident."

In an interview on Monday, the director of the Peace Corps, Aaron S Williams, said he was committed to revamping the agency's practices to create a more "victim-centered approach."

William insisted that it was safe for women to serve in the Peace Corps. "We do not place Peace Corps volunteers in unsafe environments," he claimed.

But he said the agency must modernise its procedures to "make sure that we provide compassionate care" to crime victims.

Already, Williams has made some changes, including hiring a "victim's advocate" who began work on Monday and signing an agreement with a nationally-known rape crisis group to re-examine his organisation's training and policies.

The changes reflect the work of Frazee, who has spent the last 18 months tracking down Peace Corps sexual assault survivors by reaching out through social networking sites and her blog.

Last year, her work attracted the attention of the ABC News program "20/20," which ran a segment on the women in January.

In recent months, Frazee, 28, has collected more than two dozen affidavits from other women, who have shared stories that Williams called "tragic."

In interviews and documents, they paint a picture of what many call a "blame the victim" culture at the Peace Corps.

Top News Rahul arrested, released on bail

Rahul arrested, released on bail

There was late night action in Bhatta Parsaul on Wednesday as the Uttar Pradesh police first took Rahul Gandhi into preventive custody, and then released him on bail about two-and-a-half hours later.

The twin villages in Greater Noida, on the outskirts of the national capital, have been the epicentre of protests for the last few days.

Mr Gandhi was taken away from the dharna site in Bhatta Parsaul in a grey Tata Safari to the Kasna police station. He was then given bail and dropped off at the Delhi-UP border.

State Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi and Congress leaders Digvijaya Singh and Raj Babbar were also arrested and released with Mr Gandhi, reports NDTV.

Rahul Gandhi and the other Congress leaders had planned to sit with the protesting farmers through the night.Sources said this was being seen as Rahul Gandhi taking on Mayawati on her home turf yet again.

The state government says Chief Minister Mayawati is being targetted. "At around 8pm in the evening, the district administration recieved an application for a rally in Bhatta Parsaul by the Congress. So apprehending a law-and-order disruption by anti-social elements, section 144 was imposed again.

That is why congress leaders have been taken into custody and they will be released on the border, "said UP Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh in Lucknow.

The state Congress President Rita Bahuguna Joshi described the arrest as an act of cowardice.The Congress party has issued a statement calling the arrest 'shocking' and said Mayawati is 'digging her own grave'.

The Congress general secretary had ridden pillion on a motorcycle into Bhatta Parsaul at 4am on Wednesday morning, dodging the strong police force deployed there. It was only when he began meeting farmers and heard their grievances that the policemen recognised the young Congress leader, who has often slipped out of his security cordon in the past to meet people.

In comments there are likely to spark off a fresh political controversy, Rahul Gandhi slammed the state government and said, "I have seen the violence unleashed on your men and women. By seeing what has happened here, I feel ashamed to be an Indian. The state government is tormenting its own people. I was travelling with the Assistant District Magistrate and he told me that it is like Naxalism has reached here."

Mr Gandhi, who sat with the farmers for over 12 hours, said he associated with them as they were demanding their "right" and there was "nothing wrong" in it.

"I want to tell you that I am with you till your demands are met. Till your work is not done, the Congress party will not desert you," he said to a thunderous applause from the gathering which shouted slogans hailing him.

Earlier, an elderly woman told the AICC General Secretary how "brutally PAC men had manhandled women members of her family in the name of conducting a search" after the clashes broke out. Another elderly man showed injuries on his body allegedly inflicted by policemen with batons.

Rahul Gandhi's party colleague Digvijay Singh, who accompanied him has demanded that till a judicial inquiry submitted a report no action should be taken against the farmers in respect of FIRs lodged against them.

He also demanded that all arrested farmers be released and that there should not be any forcible land acquisition.

Bhatta Parsaul, in the suburbs of the national Capital, has turned into a political battleground for parties after four people, including two policemen, were killed in Saturday's clashes between police and farmers. The Opposition has flayed the UP government for its land acquisition policy.

Farmers in Greater Noida and adjoining areas are demanding more compensation from the Mayawati government for their land.

Farmers were paid a little over Rs 800 per square metre. The same land was sold to developers at Rs 3200 a metre. And those developers are now offering residential plots, for example, at more than Rs 14,000 a metre.

The Jaiprakash Group, contracted to build the highway, was given 6000 acres by the state government. The company says that it needs to develop that land to offset the 10,000 crores it will spend on constructing the Yamuna Expressway.

There are ten other companies like Waves, Paras, 3C who have also been given the land that was acquired from farmers at fantastically low prices.

Rahul, who is the MP from Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, had last year visited Tappal Village in Aligarh district taking the local police by surprise when he went to meet farmers who had launched a protest demanding higher compensation for the land acquired by the Mayawati government for the Yamuna Expressway project.

OPPOSITION SLAMS RAHUL FOR VISIT

The BJP has slammed Rahul Gandhi for his visit to Bhatta Parsaul village. "I would like to remind you that Rahul earlier went to Tapal Gaon of Aligarh also. He had said that in the next Parliament session, the land acquisition amendment bill will be brought in. What has happened now? None of the bills have been bought to the Parliament. I want answers to all this," said BJP leader Rajnath Singh.

The Samajwadi Party also hit out at the Congress leader. "Rahul Gandhi is sitting there on protest. Nothing will happen if he keeps sitting there. The Central government needs to take some steps and if Rahul Gandhi wants, this can be done. The Central government should compensate the farmers," said party leader Akhilesh Yadav.

Opera Mini, the web tool giant

Opera Mini, the web tool giant

When Opera CEO says the company has lived up to its vision to get every possible device connected to the web, he is nearly right.

And why not! "…the raw number of users…more than 100 million all over the world each month," says a spirited Lars Boilesen.

Indeed, Opera Mini is now the most widely used web browser in the world. And it is free.

What's more, with a contract signed with Grameenphone to launch a co-branded Opera Mini, available to GP subscribers since Apr 5 with a seven-day free trial and free download, Bangladesh is on its way to joining the global Internet community.

"We believe that access to the Internet is a universal right. That is why one of our highest priorities is the education of Bangladeshi people, so that they can get the most out of their resources in terms of communication," Boilesen told bdnews24.com in an interview.

"The web is one of the great inventions of mankind and Opera Mini makes it possible to participate without having an expensive computer and broadband connection," he added.

The secret to Opera Mini's success is OBML (Opera Binary Markup Language) — the cell phone-friendly low-cost markup language that the browser uses for all pages. Any page requested by the user is compressed at Opera's server and transformed to OBML before sending it to the phone.

The process makes browsing two to three times cheaper and faster.

"At Opera, each new handset on the market represents a challenge, a possibility to reach new customers all the time," said the Opera CEO.

"We are driven by the company vision; to be present on all possible connected platforms and to get people online to participate on the web."

The Opera team draws inspiration from amazing experiences, some about a farmer in Africa using Opera Mini to get information on crops, or a person finding a long-lost friend through use of social networks on his phone.

Compatibility and outreach remains the Opera team's priority, says the CEO. While recently Opera launched Opera Mini 6, the newest version of the browser, it also launched an updated version of the Opera Mini 3 Basic.

The Basic version runs on even more basic phone models and features largely the same functions as Opera Mini 6.

Visiting m.opera.com, a user is guided through a simple system to the optimal version for his phone.

"We are continuously working hard to expand the language base of all our products, even as we speak," Boilesen assured.

Bangla websites are readable in all versions of Opera Mini. In case the phone does not support Bangla fonts, one simply has to enable complex bitmap scripts to be processed in the Opera server.

"In our experience, people all over the world want to participate in social media activities, search to expand their knowledge and have access to the same web, no matter what platform they are using," Boilesen said.

The Opera CEO hoped the Grameenphone agreement would bring about even more growth of Opera Mini users in Bangladesh.

News Of Bangladesh SC judgement visionary

SC judgement visionary: Suranjit


The co-chairman of the parliamentary special committee on constitution amendment has said they will seriously consider the Supreme Court verdict repealing the 13th amendment.

Speaking to bdnews24.com on Tuesday, Suranjit Sengupta termed the judgement 'visionary and bold'.

"It is a landmark judgement. The (committee) will consider it with importance after getting the copy of full verdict," the co-chairman said in his first reaction.

The senior parliamentarian added, "The special committee is also unanimous in its agreement that the caretaker government can't run forever."

Suranjit hailed the court's recommendation that chief justices should be kept away from the caretaker government. "Now the ball is in the politicians' court," he said.

Suranjit has already said the committee would submit its report on the amendment at the very first opportunity after the ninth session of the parliament begins on May 22.

The draft bill will also be tabled.

The caretaker government system was introduced through the Thirteenth Amendment in 1996. Since then, national elections have been held under caretaker governments led by former chief justices.

The government undertook a constitution review when the High Court annulled the Fifth Amendment. A 15-member special committee of parliamentarians was formed for the purpose.

The committee analysed different aspects of the review and discussed the matter with political parties, senior lawyers, former justices and editors.

Ruling Awami League recommended amending the caretaker system rather than scrapping it.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina suggested limiting the caretakers' term to 90 days, at the end of which, if it failed to conduct election, parliament would resume power and complete the task.

The special committee will cease to exist once it submits the report to parliament, Suranjit added.

Top News - SC sets aside caretaker govt system

SC sets aside caretaker govt system


The Supreme Court has repealed the 13th Amendment to the constitution that introduced the caretaker government but said the next two general elections could be held under unelected rulers.

It, however, ruled that parliament may amend the charter deleting provisions that require the former chief justices or the judges of the Appellate Division to head the caretaker government.

The majority decision of a seven-member bench of the Appellate Division, headed by chief justice A B M Khairul Haque, was delivered on Tuesday, upon a petition against the High Court judgment that rejected an appeal challenging the 13th amendment.

The Supreme Court order says: "The Constitution (Thirteenth amendment) Act 1996 (Act 1 of 1996) is prospectively declared void and ultra vires the Constitution."

In the short order, the highest constitutional court said: " It is hereby declared: (1)The appeal is allowed by majority without any order as to costs. (2)The Constitution (Thirteenth amendment) Act. 1996(Act 1 of 1996) is prospectively declared void and ultra vires the Constitution.(3)

"The election to the Tenth and the Eleventh Parliament may be held under the provisions of the above mentioned Thirteenth Amendment on the age old principles, namely that which otherwise is not lawful, necessity makes lawful)…

"Parliament, however, in the meantime, is at liberty to bring necessary amendments excluding, the provisions of making the former Chief Justices of Bangladesh or the Judges of the Appellate Division as the head of the Non-Party Care-taker Government.

"The Judgment in detail would follow."

Attorney general Mahbubey Alam told bdnews24.com after the verdict, "The court rescinded the thirteenth amendment. It, however, said the next two general elections might be held under caretaker government for the sake of maintaining peace and law and order and for continuity.

"The court, at the same time, opined not to involve the judiciary in the process."

He later told reporters, "The next two elections can be held under caretaker government, but not beyond those. The constitution has to be amended by this time."

The petitioner's lawyer Advocate M I Faruki, in his reaction, told reporters, "It bodes well for the constitution and the people. We have been able to preserve the constitution.

"Election should ideally be held under the Election Commission, which is the case with our neighbour India," the lawyer added.

"Caretaker government provision in reality is another form of military rule. A number of sections of the constitution get suspended under military rule which we witnessed in Zia's tenure and also in Pakistani rule.

"Likewise, several constitutional sections are suspended during caretaker government," Faruki said.

The 13th amendment carried out in 1996 introduced the caretaker government system in the country.

As per the provision, subsequent governments have been elected in ballots held under such provisional governments after the previous elected governments ran their terms.

The full bench heard the petition from Mar 1 to Apr 6 and the views of Kamal Hossain, T H Khan, Rafique-ul Haque, M Zahir, Mahmudul Islam, Amir-Ul Islam, Roklanuddin Mahmud and Ajmalul Hossain as amici curiae.

The petitioners said in the petition that the caretaker government system goes against the republican character of the state.

In 2004, the High Court declared the caretaker government system legal following a writ petition by advocate Salim Ullah and several other lawyers challenging the legality of the amendment.

Thereafter, the petitioners moved the Appellate Division against the order.

Now, Mohammad Abdul Mannan Khan is treated the petitioner, as Salim Ullah died and another petitioner, Ruhul Quddus was made a High Court judge.

Khan, in his reaction, told reporters, "I am delighted at the verdict."

The full bench heard the petition from Mar 1 to Apr 6.

Although the caretaker government system was introduced in 1996, a similar instrument was already in operation, since the general election in 1990 was held under an interim government after military strongman H M Ershad was deposed.

The then BNP government in 1996 brought the amendment under pressure from the then opposition Awami League.

Questions were raised about the system when the military-backed caretaker government came during the state of emergency after the political crisis in 2006 to rule for nearly two years, well past its mandated term of three months.

During the ongoing parliamentary exercise to review the constitution, recommendations have been made to put a timeframe on the caretaker government.

Prime minister and Awami League president Sheikh Hasina suggested if the caretaker government fails to ensure elections in three months, the previously elected government would do the job.

Of the amici curiae or friends of the court, Ajmalul Hossain spoke against the system while most others spoke for revision of the system.

Several leaders of ruling Awami League were critical of the caretaker provision.

Main opposition BNP has already declared it would wage movement if the system is scrapped.

Microsoft to buy Skype for $8.5 bln

Microsoft to buy Skype for $8.5 bln


Microsoft Corp agreed to buy Internet telephone company Skype for $8.5 billion in cash in its biggest deal ever, as the technology giant seeks to plug a hole in its mobile offerings.

Buying loss-making Skype would have no immediate impact on Microsoft's finances, but would make clear its intention to compete with rivals such as Apple Inc and Google Inc.

Reuters first reported about the deal earlier on Tuesday, quoting sources.

Microsoft already has video chat as a function in its Windows Live Messenger service, but it is not available on its Windows Phone 7 software.

Skype also makes versions of its own service which can be used as an application on the iPhone and iPad, Research in Motion's BlackBerry and Android phones. It cannot be used on Microsoft phones.

Osama mission: A Pak-US secret deal

Osama mission: A Pak-US secret deal

The US and Pakistan struck a secret deal almost a decade ago permitting a US operation against Osama bin Laden on Pakistani soil similar to last week's raid that killed the al-Qaeda leader, reports The Guardian.

The deal was struck between the military leader General Pervez Musharraf and President George Bush after Bin Laden escaped US forces in the mountains of Tora Bora in late 2001, according to serving and retired Pakistani and US officials.

Under its terms, Pakistan would allow US forces to conduct a unilateral raid inside Pakistan in search of Bin Laden, his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and the al-Qaeda No3. Afterwards, both sides agreed, Pakistan would vociferously protest the incursion.

"There was an agreement between Bush and Musharraf that if we knew where Osama was, we were going to come and get him," said a former senior US official with knowledge of counterterrorism operations. "The Pakistanis would put up a hue and cry, but they wouldn't stop us."

The deal puts a new complexion on the political storm triggered by Bin Laden's death in Abbottabad, 35 miles north of Islamabad, where a team of US navy Seals assaulted his safe house in the early hours of 2 May.

Pakistani officials have insisted they knew nothing of the raid, with military and civilian leaders issuing a strong rebuke to the US. If the US conducts another such assault, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani warned parliament on Monday, "Pakistan reserves the right to retaliate with full force."

Days earlier, Musharraf, now running an opposition party from exile in London, emerged as one of the most vocal critics of the raid, terming it a "violation of the sovereignty of Pakistan".

But under the terms of the secret deal, while Pakistanis may not have been informed of the assault, they had agreed to it in principle.

A senior Pakistani official said it had been struck under Musharraf and renewed by the army during the "transition to democracy" – a six-month period from February 2008 when Musharraf was still president but a civilian government had been elected.

Referring to the assault on Bin Laden's Abbottabad compound, the official added: "As far as our American friends are concerned, they have just implemented the agreement."

The former US official said the Pakistani protests of the past week were the "public face" of the deal. "We knew they would deny this stuff."

The agreement is consistent with Pakistan's unspoken policy towards CIA drone strikes in the tribal belt, which was revealed by the WikiLeaks US embassy cables last November. In August 2008, Gilani reportedly told a US official: "I don't care if they do it, as long as they get the right people. We'll protest in the National Assembly and then ignore it."

As drone strikes have escalated in the tribal belt over the past year, senior civilian and military officials issued pro forma denunciations even as it became clear the Pakistani military was co-operating with the covert programme.

The former US official said that impetus for the co-operation, much like the Bin Laden deal, was driven by the US. "It didn't come from Musharraf's desire. On the Predators, we made it very clear to them that if they weren't going to prosecute these targets, we were, and there was nothing they could do to stop us taking unilateral action.

"We told them, over and again: 'We'll stop the Predators if you take these targets out yourselves.'"

Despite several attempts to contact his London office, the Guardian has been unable to obtain comment from Musharraf.

Since Bin Laden's death, Pakistan has come under intense US scrutiny, including accusations that elements within Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence helped hide the al-Qaeda leader.

On Sunday, President Barack Obama said Bin Laden must have had "some sort of support network" inside Pakistan.

"We don't know whether there might have been some people inside of government, outside of government, and that's something we have to investigate," Obama said.

Gilani has stood firmly by the ISI, describing it as a "national asset", and said claims that Pakistan was "in cahoots" with al-Qaeda were "disingenuous".

"Allegations of complicity or incompetence are absurd," he said. "We didn't invite Osama bin Laden to Pakistan."

Gilani said the army had launched an investigation into how Bin Laden managed to hide inside Pakistan. Senior generals will give a briefing on the furore to parliament next Friday.

Gilani paid lip-service to the alliance with America and welcomed a forthcoming visit from the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, but pointedly paid tribute to help from China, whom he described as "a source of inspiration for the people of Pakistan".

NATO strikes target Gaddafi compound: witnesses

NATO strikes target Gaddafi compound: witnesses


A number of blasts were heard from apparent NATO missile strikes targeting Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's compound and other sites in Tripoli on Tuesday, witnesses said.

Libyan officials said four children were wounded, two of them seriously, by flying glass caused by blasts from NATO strikes in the Tripoli area overnight.

Officials showed foreign journalists a hospital in the Libyan capital where some windows had been shattered, saying the damage was the result of a NATO strike that toppled a nearby telecommunications tower.

The journalists were also taken to a government building housing the high commission for children that had been completely destroyed. The old colonial building had been damaged before in what officials said was a NATO strike on April 30.

No other information was immediately available, but the Tripoli blasts occurred against a backdrop of a stalemate in the rebel war to unseat Gaddafi and the resulting dilemma for Western powers over whether to offer covert aid to the rebels.

Few details were immediately available, but the blasts occurred against a backdrop of a stalemate in the rebel war to unseat Gaddafi and the resulting dilemma for Western powers over whether to offer covert aid to the rebel cause.

On Monday, rebels said NATO bombed government arms depots four times during the day about 30 km (20 miles) southeast of Zintan, a town in the Western Mountains region where conflict is escalating.

"The site has some 72 underground hangars made of reinforced concrete. We don't know how many were destroyed. But each time the aircraft struck we heard multiple explosions," a rebel spokesman, who gave his name as Abdulrahman, said by telephone.

Another rebel spokesman said the planes also struck around Tamina and Chantine, east of Misrata, where besieged rebels are clinging on in the last city they control in western Libya.

Gaddafi's forces have launched a ferocious assault on Misrata and hundreds have been killed in weeks of fighting.

Opposition newspaper Brnieq said Libyan rebels were leading an uprising in the suburbs of Tripoli after being supplied with light weapons by defecting security service officers.

The report on the newspaper's website could not be independently verified. A Reuters reporter said he could not hear any gunfire and a government official denied the report.

Two months into a conflict linked to this year's uprisings in other Arab countries, rebels hold Benghazi and towns in the east while the government controls the capital and other cities.

The government says most Libyans support Gaddafi, the rebels are armed criminals and al Qaeda militants, and NATO's intervention is an act of colonial aggression by Western powers intent on stealing the country's oil.

Libyan state television reinforced that view, saying NATO warships bombed "military and civilian targets" in Misrata and in the adjacent town of Zlitan on Monday.

WESTERN DILEMMA

The military deadlock confronts allies including the United States, Britain and France with a choice over whether to exploit loopholes in the sanctions regime they engineered in February and March to help the rebels, analysts and UN diplomats said.

Another option would be to circumvent the sanctions secretly but both courses risk angering Russia and China. They wield U.N. Security Council vetoes and are increasingly critical of NATO's operations under a resolution aimed at protecting civilians.

The rebels face a government with superior firepower and resources but they reported a financial breakthrough on Monday, selling oil worth $100 million paid for through a Qatari bank in US dollars.

A rebel military commander said his fighters killed 57 troops and destroyed 17 military vehicles during a major battle west of the insurgent-held city of Ajdabiya on Monday.

The commander, whose statement could not be immediately verified, also told Al-Jazeera television two rebels were killed in the fighting, halfway between Ajdabiya and the strategic oil port of Brega where Gaddafi forces are entrenched.

Given the rebels' failure to achieve their main target of toppling Gaddafi, the war is focused on Misrata, Zintan and a Libyan border crossing near the Tunisian town of Dehiba.

Two rebel spokesmen in Misrata spoke of intense fighting in the city and at its strategically important airport.

Rebels were trying to extinguish fires at a fuel storage depot bombarded by the government on Friday.

A ship chartered by the International Committee of the Red Cross arrived in Misrata, bringing medical supplies, spare parts to repair water and electrical systems and baby food.

The war has killed thousands and caused extensive suffering, not least for tens of thousands of economic migrants from sub-Saharan Africa forced to flee overland or by boat.

Dozens have died trying to reach Italy and the migration creates not only the possibility of a humanitarian crisis but also poses a political headache for NATO and the European Union.

Top News ISI chief leaves for Washington

ISI chief leaves for Washington

Pakistan's spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt Gen Shuja Pasha on Friday left for Washington to explain Pakistan's position on the presence of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in the country before he was killed in a May 2 US raid, reports Pakistan-based newspaper Dawn.

Gen Pasha set off on the critical mission for putting an end to misgivings about Pakistan in the US a day after army's top brass conceded intelligence failure in detecting Laden's presence in the vicinity of the elite military training institute, and ordered an investigation.

Meanwhile, The Daily Beast, a sister website of Newsweek, said the most likely candidate to be the fall guy was Lt Gen Ahmad Shuja Pasha, the director general of the country's spy agency, the ISI directorate.

In a last ditch effort to control the damage and to assure the US that the ISI was not harboring bin Laden and was unaware of his presence in Pakistan, Pasha reportedly flew to Washington on Friday.

But some high-level sources who refused to be quoted or named say his resignation is only a matter of time.