Summary here and here and here.

Pro-Taliban militants killed thirteen people in raid on a government official’s house in Pakistan Thursday.

According to reports, around 100 militants attacked the house of Ameerud Din, the top administrator of the Khyber Tribal region in North West Frontier Province. Din himself was not at home at the time, but six family members who were inside the house were killed, including Din’s brother. The other seven killed were reportedly guests.

The attack lasted for 30 minutes, with militants using rockets, hand grenades and guns on the house. The attackers then fled the area before they could be caught. Article

Going out on a decidedly callous and sour note.

The retiring U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, in a farewell assessment, said Thursday he did not know how long U.S. troops ought to remain in the South Asian country.

But on his last day in the foreign service, and after two years in a post his father also once held in Kabul, Ronald Neumann said helping Afghanistan to develop its first democratic government was “a long-term process.”

“There is corruption of society at all levels,” he said, but there are several positive developments, including growth of the Afghan army and the judicial system and the building of roads.

“It is a weak state and not a strong Taliban that is causing us problems,” he said.

[snip]

Five U.S. soldiers were among the victims Thursday in the downing of a CH-47 Chinook helicopter in southern Helmand province, raising the U.S. death toll for U.S. forces in the country to about 400.

“I am sorry for the loss of life,” Neumann said, after a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.

“But I don’t consider it significant from a strategic point of view,” he said of the attack, noting that they have become less frequent. Article

Things fall apart, the center cannot hold.

Under tight security by NATO and Afghan forces, hundreds of people protested on Thursday in Afghanistan’s northern town of Shiberghan, scene of a bloody protest this week against a provincial governor.

The protesters demanded the removal and trial of Governor Juma Khan Hamdard, who they accuse of being incompetent and a bigoted ethnic Pashtun.

Protesters said Hamdard should be tried for the deaths of those killed in Monday’s demonstration. Witnesses said 13 died when police fired shots into the crowd, while the government said six were killed.

A spokesman for the governor, Rohullah Samun, said the protests were part of an armed uprising provoked by General Abdul Rashid Dostum against provincial and central authorities. Article

More:

Protests had spread to the Jowzjan capital, Shebergan, by 28 May. Around 1,000 people took to the streets in support of Gen Dostum.

They chanted slogans against Jowzjan Governor Joma Khan Hamdard, an ethnic Pashtun, for “his rank inefficiency, narrow-minded nationalism and ethnic prejudice”, and called for his removal “for the sake of ethnic harmony”.

The sequence of events leading to the shooting dead of at least seven civilians remains unclear, with claims and counter claims about which side started the firing.

The interior ministry in Kabul blamed Gen Dostum’s supporters for staging a “rebellion”. A statement broadcast by Afghan state radio said police had taken “legal measures to restore order”.

“Unfortunately, the demonstrators carried out armed attacks against the police,” the ministry said.

But a statement attributed to Gen Dostum, broadcast by Aina TV, blamed Governor Hamdard for the violence. Article

Keeping up with the Chaudhry crisis:

President Gen. Pervez Musharraf did not consult his Cabinet before suspending Pakistan’s top judge, a lawyer told a court Thursday, claiming the move that has ignited a political crisis was unconstitutional.

Hamid Khan, a lawyer for the Pakistan Bar Council, made the allegation before the Supreme Court, which is hearing more than 20 challenges to the March 9 suspension of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry.

Khan’s claim came as more than 2,000 lawyers and opposition activists _ some chanting “Death to Musharraf!” _ protested in the eastern city of Lahore. A government lawyer, meanwhile, filed a petition to the Supreme Court accusing Chaudhry of taking part in a political protest last weekend.

[snip]

Ahmed Raza Qasuri, who is pleading the government’s case challenging Chaudhry’s suspension, filed a case in the Supreme Court on Thursday trying to stop the chief justice from “political activity” under a constitutional provision that bars judges from involvement in “any public controversy.”

Qasuri linked the allegation to Chaudhry’s attendance of a seminar at the Supreme Court on Saturday, when he gave a speech warning against any ruler wielding absolute power.

Thousands of Chaudhry supporters held a rally outside the seminar. Qasuri described it as a “pathetic sight of hooliganism and rowdyism.” Article

More:

The Supreme Court…observed that the president of Pakistan was not exempted from appearing in court. Justice Khalilur Rahman Ramday citing Article 248 of the Constitution said the president under the constitution did not enjoy any such immunity.

Earlier government’s attorney Sharifuddin Pirzada had said that the president could not be summoned by the court because he enjoys immunity under the constitution. Article

Could be innocent, but it sure is suspicious.