Posts Tagged ‘Lahore’

PML-N set to finalise CEC probables

LAHORE – The PML-N is mulling four names for the appointment of the new chief election commissioner (CEC) after it rejected the list of three which Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had earlier sent to Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan for consideration.
The PML-N sources say the party is considering former judges of the Supreme Court – Justice (r) Sardar Raza …

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Imran to launch campaign against resumption of Nato supplies

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Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf chief Imran Khan. – File Photo by Reuters

LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan said on Wednesday that he was contacting other political parties for the opposition campaign against ,expected re-opening of the Nato supply, routes to Afghanistan, DawnNews reported.

Talking to media representatives at the press conference at Zaman Paark in Lahore, Khan criticised the parliament for its inability to implement the resolution regarding future rules of engagement with the United States.

He asked why Pakistan was compromising on its stand of  not allowing the Nato supplies through its land-routes, when the US drone attacks have not been  stopped and the US has not seek for an apology over the raid on Salala check-post that killed 24 soldiers.

The PTI chairman warned that Pakistan will have to bear financial loss and loss of human lives, if it allows reopening of the Nato supply routes.

Speaking about election commission of Pakistan (ECP), Khan said that if Pakistan People’s Party and Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz appoints their cronies in the commission then PTI would oppose that.

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Via DAWN.com

Robbers on the loose

While target killers have taken Karachi hostage, Lahore remains in the grip of burglars, thieves and street crime thugs. Incidents in the past few days show an alarming increase in armed robberies depriving citizens of valuables. Particularly worrying is the increase in house robberies. What could be worse if Pakistani citizens do not even feel safe within the four walls of their homes? Hardly …

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CEC’s appointment: PML-N floats new names as panel elects chairperson

The 12-member Parliamentary Committee on the Appointment of CEC elected Religious Affairs Minister Khurshid Shah as its head after Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F)’s Ghafoor Haideri – one of the six opposition members – voted in his favour.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), meanwhile, finalised three names for the post which will be formally put before the committee by Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, the opposition leader in the National Assembly, sources told The Express Tribune.

According to sources, PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, after consulting his party’s legal cell and lawyers, approved the names of Acting CEC Justice Shakirullah Jan, Justice (retd) Ghulam Rabbani and Justice (retd) Sardar Raza Khan.

The PPP had proposed the names of Justice (retd) Munir A Sheikh, Justice (retd) Amirul Mulk Mengal and Justice (retd) Qurban Alvi for the crucial post which could ultimately decide the fate of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani who has been convicted by the apex court in a contempt case.

Parliamentary meeting proceedings

On Tuesday, the body rejected PML-N’s demand to rotate the chairmanship between the government and the opposition.

In the bi-cameral panel, the PML-N has five and the JUI-F one member, while three belong to the PPP and one each from its three coalition partners — Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Awami National Party and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid.

JUI-F’s Haideri, who is currently hospitalised, did not attend the meeting and casted his vote through a letter, which swung the balance in favour of the ruling coalition.

“It’s not a big deal. Election of the chairman doesn’t really make any difference. The real issue is whether the committee can appoint a new CEC or not,” said PML-N member Lt Gen (retd) Abdul Qadir Baloch.

Obstacles

The PPP and the PML-N have different interpretations of the procedure of appointing CEC laid down in the 20th Constitutional Amendment passed by parliament earlier this year.

The ruling party says the committee needs to approve one of the three names sent to it with a simple majority. It means the PPP can have a candidate of its choice with the JUI-F voting in its favour.

However, the opposition thinks otherwise.

Chaudhry Nisar has said that according to Rules of Procedures and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly 2007, the committee is required to approve a name with a two-thirds majority, and not simple majority.

PML-N’s strategy

According to PML-N’s strategy, the party wants any one of the names it has nominated for the post. They said that according to the Constitution, only the committee could decide the final name but they did not trust JUI-F’s Haidri. Keeping that in mind, sources said that the party has decided focus on the rules of the procedure’s two-thirds majority clause.

PPP’s strategy

Although the PPP has apparently failed to succeed in appointing Justice Munir Sheikh as the new CEC, it has devised another strategy.

According to sources, since the coalition’s six members plus JUI-F’s vote does not make two-thirds majority, the PPP has decided to amend the rule of procedure in the coming week.

And for this purpose, according to sources, the government has asked the law ministry to prepare a draft for amendment.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 16^th, 2012.

Homecoming: After 20 years, Dr Chishty finally crosses border

After twenty years of incarceration in Rajasthan’s Ajmer Jail, Dr Chishty arrived in Pakistan from India late Tuesday night. The 82-year-old virologist was brought back in a special plane sent by President Asif Ali Zardari.

While not completely free, Dr Chishty will remain in Pakistan until his November 1, 2012 hearing in the Indian Supreme Court. He was welcomed at the airport by Interior Minister Rehman Malik and Port and Shipping Minister Babar Ghauri at 11:25pm, from where he was driven in a Mercedes car to the President House with official protocol. Local Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leaders and activists showered rose petals on him.

President Zardari had discussed Dr Chishty’s case with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his recent visit to Ajmer.

Chishty was recently released from Ajmer Jail after being sentenced to a life imprisonment term in a murder case. The Indian SC granted bail on April 9 to the virologist and allowed him to visit Pakistan for a temporary stay on May 10.

“I am happy that I am going to my homeland to meet my family and friends. I would like to offer a thanksgiving prayer as soon as I reach the airport and then I will go to my home,” he told reporters at Jaipur railway station.

In Karachi, his family was seen waiting for his arrival, anxious and excited in a house decorated with lights in celebration. While talking to a private news channel, his daughter, Farah, said “It is a miracle. We have been waiting since morning for his return and now we will spend the whole night waiting for his arrival tomorrow. We have made his favourite food.” His grandchildren, several of whom he has never seen, appeared just as eager to meet their grandfather.

A special leave petition against Dr Chishty’s conviction is pending in the Indian Supreme Court while a clemency petition is pending before the Rajasthan governor.

The octogenarian was visiting his ailing mother in Ajmer in 1992 when he got embroiled into a family feud that led to the death of one of his relatives. He has been in Ajmer since, incarcerated at his ancestral home for eighteen years before being jailed following his conviction in January last year.

The teary-eyed Pakistani added that he would also go to Lahore to meet Sarabjit Singh, an Indian national facing a death sentence on charges of involvement in bomb blasts in Pakistan. Sarabjit has been languishing in prison in Lahore for the last 22 years. Diplomatic efforts are on to commute his death sentence to life imprisonment.

Dr Chishty completed his PhD from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1968 in Public Health Virology. “Inasmuch as we have posted the appeal for final disposal on 20th November, 2012, we permit him to visit his country, namely, Pakistan and return back to India positively by 1st November, 2012. As soon as he reaches his native country he has to surrender his passport with the Indian High Commission, Islamabad,” the Indian SC said in its verdict on the case.

Talking to media earlier on Tuesday, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said President Zardari played a pivotal role in the release of Dr Chishty during his recent visit to India. “President Zardari has been very kind to send his plane to New Delhi on the request of the Indian government to bring back Dr Chishty home,” he emphasised. (WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT IN KARACHI)

Published in The Express Tribune, May 16^th, 2012.

Gilani’s conviction illegal, says Aitzaz

LAHORE, May 15: PPP leader and prime minister’s counsel in the contempt of court case, Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, has reiterated his stance that the conviction of Yousuf Raza Gilani through a short order was illegal and unconstitutional.

Talking to newsmen in the Lahore High Court on Tuesday, he said that in criminal cases an accused could not be convicted unless he had been informed of his offence and defence arguments had been advanced. “We have also reservations about the detailed order issued by the Supreme Court,” he added.

He said the short order was in violation of Article 10-A which was inserted in the Constitution after it had been approved by parliament.

To a question about any moral ground for the prime minister to hold office after his conviction, Mr Ahsan said the question of morality should be directly put to Mr Gilani. “I can only give legal point of view on the matter,” he added.

About the post-conviction strategy, he said several options, including an appeal, were being deliberated.

He brushed aside an allegation that the government was disobeying court’s orders and said had the prime minister been sentenced to six months in jail he was ready to undergo it.

He maintained that a letter to the Swiss authorities could not be written as long as the president was in his office because he enjoyed constitutional immunity.

About the role of the National Assembly speaker, Mr Ahsan said it had been clearly written in the Constitution. Even then the speaker will have to give convincing arguments before sending a reference to the Election Commission for disqualification of the prime minister, he added.

He said the apex court or high courts had no jurisdiction to deal with the prime minister’s disqualification and the key to the Election Commission was in the drawer of the speaker.

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Via DAWN.com

PM sentencing unlawful: Aitzaz

LAHORE – Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, counsel of Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, has said that the Speaker of National Assembly has authority under the Constitution not to forward the reference against PM Gilani to the Election Commission because the sentence given to him is unlawful.
‘Speaker Fehmida Mirza enjoys the authority to forward or not the reference to Election …

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Kalabagh Dam: A national lifeline

The Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah of PPP has made an outlandish statement that if KBD is built he would send 50 million people to march on Lahore. He is oblivious of the fact that Punjab has 100 million people twice those that he can theoretically muster. It appears the “bachha jamoora of PPP” has jumped over his head by making such foolhardy statements that do not reflect …

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Contempt case: Imprisonment sentence was wrong, says Aitzaz

LAHORE: Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, commenting on the court’s verdict in the contempt case against Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, said that the court was wrong in giving a sentence of imprisonment to the prime minister even though it was of a mere 30 seconds, Express News reported on Tuesday.

While talking to the media, Aitzaz said that he or the prime minister had never given any indication of not accepting the court’s order. In fact, he said, “The court’s order has always been accepted.”

“The fact that the prime minister quietly accepted his imprisonment sentence till the rising of the court is proof of that,” said Aitzaz, adding that if the sentence had been longer, the prime minister would have still complied with it.

He said, however, that it was not possible to give a sentence of imprisonment without giving a reason for it, adding, “And that too by the bench that itself was the prosecutor.”

“We have these objections with the verdict and many more, both with the short order and the detailed verdict,” said Aitzaz.

Contempt case: LHC admits petition seeking to curtail Gilani’s ‘illegal’ post

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday admitted a petition for hearing which calls on the court to restrain Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani from exercising his powers during the Federal Budget 2012-13, since he has been convicted for committing contempt of court.

Justice Umar Ata Bandyal admitted the petition by Advocate Shahnsha Shamil Paracha and observed that since the point raised by the petitioner was of “grave importance”, a larger bench should hear the case. He forwarded the case to the LHC chief justice with a request to constitute a larger bench for further proceedings on the petition.

Advocate AK Dogar advanced his initial arguments on behalf of the petitioner and said that since April 26, 2012 when Supreme Court passed its order, Gilani had ceased to be the prime minister of the country.

He said the respondent (Gilani) should be asked to explain under which law he and his cabinet were still holding their offices despite having been convicted of contempt.

The counsel argued that on April 26, the prime minister left the Supreme Court premises as a common citizen as he had been convicted and there was no need of any further procedure for his disqualification.

Justice Bandyal pointed out that the prime minister had the right to file an appeal against his conviction. The counsel, however pointed out that the prime minister had already made it clear that neither he nor any of his successors will write a letter to Swiss authorities, therefore, there was no likelihood of securing any relief from the Supreme Court in the appeal.

The lawyer further said that all expenses which Gilani incurred after his conviction, should be recovered from his personal account and his ministers, as the respondent had ceased to be a prime minster in view of Article 91 of the Constitution and his cabinet had lost its legal status.

All official visits conducted by the respondent following his conviction be called into explanation and proceedings should be initiated against him for recovery of the funds used by him from the treasury of public exchequer during that span, he added.

After hearing the arguments, the judge issued notices to respondents and sent the case to the LHC chief justice for the formation of a larger bench. The attorney general was also asked to assist the court on the next date of hearing.

Political wrangling: Inquiry confirms ‘abduction’ of Sharif family aide

LAHORE: A joint inquiry committee (JIC) formed by the federal government to investigate the ‘abduction’ of a former employee of the Sharif family has confirmed in its report that the man was briefly seized on May 3, this year, The Express Tribune has learnt.

However, the committee would not say that Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)’s officials were involved in the abduction of Muhammad Akram, a former accountant at the Sharif family-owned Ittefaq Steel Mills, as was claimed by him in an FIA registered case with the Shadman police station on May 7, sources said.

The investigation officer (IO) of the case, Abid Shah, on the other hand wrote to FIA’s Punjab chapter Director Waqar Shah claiming that the agency’s staffers were involved in the abduction.

The IO confirmed to The Express Tribune that he has written a letter to the FIA chief and that he has not received a reply yet. He added that if the FIA director did not reply, then summons would be issued against him under the relevant sections of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Aslam Tareen, the capital city police officer (CCPO) of Lahore, told The Express Tribune that the deputy inspector general (DIG) of police (investigation branch) has sought details of FIA’s vehicles and staffers from FIA Director Waqar Shah.

If the FIA chief refuses to cooperate or shows reluctance, then the provincial police would adopt the legal course, CCPO Tareen added without elaborating.

The joint inquiry committee, which comprises officials from the FIA, ISI, IB and Punjab police, has completed its probe and sent its report to the federal government. The Punjab police had refused to cooperate with the JIC, saying instead that the FIA should cooperate in the police investigation.

The JIC, because of lack of cooperation from police, has recommended that a judicial inquiry be conducted into the abduction of the Sharif family aide.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 15^th, 2012.

Message of reconciliation: Asma urges Nawaz to end political deadlock

LAHORE: The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) made its first move to reconcile with the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) on Monday through a message conveyed by renowned lawyer Asma Jahangir.

The message was simple: the PPP is ready to negotiate with the PML-N over early elections, sources privy to the development told The Express Tribune.

According to an official handout, Asma was accompanied by a delegation of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) who met the PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif in Lahore.

Asma advised Sharif to end the political deadlock with the government and cease demands on the issue of the prime minister’s conviction. She said that the continued rift between the government and the opposition would encourage the anti-state forces to exploit the situation.

Furthermore, she informed Nawaz that the lawyers’ community was in favour of early elections as well and urged him to move dialogue forward to ensure free and fair elections. Nawaz replied to Asma’s request, saying that early elections were the solution to the current political crisis, adding that she (Asma) should support the PML-N’s stance in the appointment of an independent chief election commissioner.

According to sources, Asma had been sent to Nawaz on the request of President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari to convey the message of reconciliation.

The PPP wants Nawaz to play an integral role in abridging the gap between PPP-led coalition government and the Supreme Court, sources added. Nawaz would be asked to help calm the judiciary and the lawyers’ community and discuss early elections with them.  The delegation invited Nawaz to attend Supreme Court Bar Association  National Conference in Islamabad. Nawaz accepted the invitation to address the conference.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 15^th, 2012.

South Punjab just an election stunt, says Nawaz

LAHORE – PML-N President Mian Ex Prime minister Mian Nawaz SharifMonday said he would not have stayed in power for a minute had the Supreme Court convicted him the way it had dealt with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in the contempt case.
On the PML-N stance that the army must never come into power, he said his party’s view point was the consensus of the whole nation.
Gilani’s visit to the UK after the …

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PPP dragging feet on national commission

LAHORE – The PPP, which supported the formation of a national commission on new provinces only a week back in Punjab Assembly, now seems disinclined to accepting the demand made by the Assembly through its resolutions also seeking carving out of two more provinces out of Punjab.   
The PPP, along with other political parties, had then supported these resolutions, demanding of the …

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Zardari’s special plane to bring Chishti

lahore – President Asif Ali Zardari as a special gesture is sending his special plane to bring back Dr Khalil Chishti from India on Tuesday (today). He has also instructed Pak HC to India to accompany Khalil Chishti back home. It has also been learnt that Interior Minister Rehman Malik will receive Chishti at Lahore Airport.

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Mehsud’s close aide held in Peshawar

LAHORE – A close associate of Hakimullah Mehsud, chief of banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and six others have been arrested from Peshawar, a report said on Monday.
Mehsud’s close associate, “Hakeem,” has been arrested along with six other extremists from Peshawar’s Hayatabad phase VI and have been shifted to an undisclosed location, the report quoted its sources. …

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‘PIA planes escape disaster’

LAHORE – Two PIA planes narrowly escaped disaster in the air on May 10, due to negligence of Air Traffic Control (ATC) staff this month but no inquiry has so far been launched to probe the matter and fix the responsibility, an unconfirmed report said Monday.
As per report, on the day of incident an ATR plane Pk-550 took off from Karachi for Multan and after six minutes only, another plane …

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