Posts Tagged ‘NATO’

South Punjab: President forms committee to push for one new province

However, whether it will be a ‘Seraiki’ province or ‘Bahawalpur’ is still undecided.

President Asif Ali Zardari has given a go-ahead to the party to draft legislation on the formation of a south Punjab and has constituted a high-level committee, which has to submit its recommendations in three months, sources privy to the development told The Express Tribune.

In a meeting at the President House on Monday between President Zardari and parliamentarians from south Punjab, a number of key proposals and some decisions were made on a new province. The proposals will be weighed at meetings of the new committee.

The committee will operate under the supervision of federal minister Makhdoom Shahabuddin, and members Senator Sughra Imam and Minister for Religious Affairs Syed Khurshid Shah will finalise the recommendations.

The mandate

According to details, the committee, among other things, will ponder over the new south Punjab province, and its name.

There is one particularly interesting proposal.

There are two main schools of thoughts – one supporting a linguistic-based ‘Seraiki’ province and the other an administrative-based Bahawalpur province – but the PPP has decided to create just one new unit. Therefore, the party will look to pacify the ones whose idea does not materialise.

How will the PPP do this?

If the party goes ahead with a ‘Seraiki’ province, the provincial headquarters will be Bahawalpur city – and if it goes ahead with Bahawalpur province, then the capital will be Multan.

In the preliminary stage, industrial zones will be established between Multan and Bahawalpur and later expanded into three zones.

Composition

According to ambitious proposals, aside from the 11 districts of three divisions, Multan, Dera Ghazi Khan and Bahawalpur, the new province would also look to carve out Bhakkar, Mianwali and Jhang.

Pakpattan, which is one district of Sahiwal division, would also be included. President Zardari wanted the entire Sahiwal division but some of his party members belonging to the area advised him against this. The committee will decide on this matter now.

The next step

According to sources, President Zardari said that recommendations of the party committee would be forwarded to the Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reforms (PCCR), which would draft the bill of a 21st Amendment for the formation of South Punjab province.

PCCR would perform its role as commission and to finalize all issues including demarcation and financial issues.

Senator Sughra Imam while talking with The Express Tribune confirmed the sources’ claims, and said that the party committee had already started working.

Sub-article 4 of Article 239 states that a bill needs to be moved by two-thirds of Parliament – and then sent to the concerned provincial assembly, which also needs two-thirds of the house to pass it.  The president will then sign it.

“The timing of the formation depends on the final drafting of the committee – whether it does a bulk of the work before budget or after the budget” said sources.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 17^th, 2012.

NATO supply resumption: Poison, threats sent to foreign embassies

According to the police, an unidentified person or persons from Sindh, sent letters to the three embassies on the same day, warning them against the reopening of Nato supply routes in Pakistan.

“NATO Supply Must Not Be Restored,” stated the letters in identical writing patterns. Officials investigating the case referred it to the secretariat police.

“Each parcel carried 0.5 grams of black powder. It was not explosive,” said a police officer, adding, however, that the material appeared to be poisonous.

The officer further said the material would be sent for laboratory tests to ascertain its composition and properties.

A police investigation officer said the poisonous material was in minute quantity and was insufficient to kill anyone. He also ruled out the possibility of it being anthrax.

“It appears the unknown sender or senders used poison as symbolic death to warn the embassies against the resumption of NATO supply routes,” said the police official, while requesting anonymity. He added that the matter has been taken seriously and is being thoroughly investigated.

The poisonous powder was first detected by the security staff of the embassies during clearance of parcels. They were handed over to the secretariat police who started investigations after registering cases against the unidentified senders.

When contacted, the Australian High Commission refused to comment on the matter, while the other two missions’ officials could not be reached.

After preliminary investigations, police officials said the letters were sent from some place in Sindh but the exact location was not known.

The letters, they added, were dispatched three days ago.

Till the filing of this report, the police were searching if other embassies in the diplomatic enclave had received similar parcels.

In a similar case about two months ago, anthrax in a parcel was sent to Prime Minister’s Secretariat. The parcel was traced back to the Jamshoro University post office in Sindh; however, the sender remains unidentified.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 17^th, 2012.

Is it curtains for Afghanistan’s fading silver screen?

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A projectionist watches a Bollywood film from a projection room at Ariana Cinema in Kabul May 3. — Photo Reuters

KABUL: Clouds of hashish and cigarette smoke float across a screen showing a dancing Pakistani woman, who evokes yowls of excitement from the hundreds of Afghan men passing their time in one of the capital’s rundown cinemas.

Once a treasured luxury for the elite, Afghan film connoisseurs are deeply distressed by the dilapidated state of their cinemas, which reflect an industry on the brink of collapse from conflict and financial neglect.

“Before our audiences were educated. Now they are illiterates who understand nothing of cinema and come only to smoke (marijuana),” said Sayed Khalid Sadat, manager of Pameer cinema, which sits on a corner in the bustling centre of Kabul.

Kabul’s cinemas show Pakistani films in Pashto, American action films and Bollywood to rowdy, largely unemployed crowds in pursuit of any distraction from their drab surroundings.

It’s a far cry from the heyday of Afghan-produced film 40 years ago, when cinemagoers were required to wear suits or evening wear.

Pameer is one of seven cinemas operating in the capital, down from the 23 Kabul boasted before the onslaught of the civil war in 1992, which razed two-thirds of the city. They all charge the equivalent of about one dollar per ticket.

Later the Taliban banned cinema, music and television outright during their five-year rule, deeming them un-Islamic and ending a rich tradition in a country that started showing films in the 1920s during the rule of King Amanullah Khan, and shot its first movie in Lahore in 1951.

Now Afghan directors are desperately trying to salvage what is left of their industry and its legacy but receive almost no support from the government or abroad.

“We have international forces here and billions of dollars pouring in but none goes to developing our culture,” said Latif Ahmadi, a much-loved film director and head of state-run cinema agency Afghan Film, set up in 1968.

He spoke to Reuters on its sprawling grounds, home to a hangar, editing suites and hauntingly empty corridors where dusty glass boxes hold the awards Afghan films won at various film festivals, mostly in the Soviet Union.

Before Moscow’s disastrous decade-long war in Afghanistan, starting with its invasion in 1979, the Soviets exercised enormous influence in the country, giving large amounts of aid and supporting education and the arts.

Their scholarships and training resulted in a slew of beloved classics produced in the 1970s-80s.

The civil war abruptly brought Afghan cinema to an end: only one film was produced in the 1990s, a 1994 feature celebrating mujahideen fighters’ victory over the Soviets.

“We want to have our own Afghan films, we want our cinema to improve,” said construction worker Nangyalia, 19, at the Pameer, its concrete walls adorned with Indian film posters with the bellies and shoulders of women blacked out by pen to observe Afghanistan’s ultra-conservative culture.

Since the Taliban were ousted in 2001 and the NATO-led war began, films using Afghan settings and actors have enjoyed enormous success at home and abroad, such as Osama in 2003 and The Kite Runner in 2007, but were made with foreign funding.

On its own, Afghanistan has only managed to make a couple of documentaries over the last decade.

The government pays the salaries of Afghan Film’s 100 or so staff, but gives no money toward film production, or preservation. Ahmadi says the archives hold more than 7,000 film cases, containing decades of recorded events in Afghan history, along with 50 or so feature films.

Partially ruined during the time of the Taliban, they are now at risk of being lost forever if not properly maintained or digitalised.

“That would be the greatest tragedy of all,” Ahmadi said.

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Via DAWN.com

Pakistan cuts oil product requirements for May-July

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Barrels of synthetic Jet fuel.—Reuters Photo

SINGAPORE: Pakistan State Oil has cut its total oil product requirements for May to July by 20 per cent, after dropping plans to buy a jet fuel cargo and three low sulphur fuel oil cargoes, industry sources said on Thursday.

The company was seeking 1.17 million tonnes of oil products, including 910,000 tonnes of fuel oil, 210,000 tonnes of gasoline and 50,000 tonnes of jet fuel, for delivery over May to July through a tender.

It ended up buying only half of the jet fuel requirements from Total for delivery in June, skipping its purchase for May, one of the sources familiar with the matter said.

“The cargo was sought in anticipation of the supply lines into Afghanistan being re-opened, but since it still hasn’t, the company does not need the cargo,” the source said.

Pakistan imports about 25,000 tonnes of jet fuel every month and about 90 per cent of this is sold into Afghanistan.

Pakistan closed down the supply lines for the Afghan war effort following the Nato air strike in November that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.

Pakistan and the United States appeared on the verge of clinching an agreement to reopen ground supply lines into Afghanistan, a US official said, as Islamabad confirmed its president will attend a summit of Nato leaders this weekend in Chicago.

Reopening the supply route would be a major breakthrough in ties between Washington and Islamabad. Strained relations have fuelled speculation Pakistan might be excluded from Nato talks on Afghanistan’s future.

Once the supply route reopens, PSO will need to import about one jet fuel cargo a month or three cargoes in two months, the source said.

In the same tender, PSO only bought one out of four low sulphur fuel oil cargoes sought from Gunvor, due to a lower than expected demand from power plants, an industry source said.

Separately, the company is expected to enter the spot market soon to seek about 1-2 high sulphur gasoil cargoes ahead of the seasonal peak demand period, the source added.

Pakistan has a term contract with Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC) to receive regular shipments of gasoil, and only enters the spot market during the summer period when agricultural activities pick up.

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Via DAWN.com

Black ‘poison’ sent to embassies in Islamabad

ISLAMABAD  – Several Western embassies in Islamabad received letters on Wednesday containing suspicious powder and threats to poison supplies for NATO soldiers in Afghanistan, officials said.
Islamabad police chief Bani Amin told AFP that at least three embassies had received small packets containing black powder, which had been sent for laboratory analysis. The letters said the powder was …

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Pakistan takes flight from its drone stance

ISLAMABAD – Formal deliberations on drone strikes in Pakistan’s north-western belt are not part of Pak-US ‘reconciliation’ process as defence ministry finalises three strategic agreements ahead of Nato supplies resumption vis-à-vis future strategic cooperation between the allies, it is learnt.
Well-placed ministry officials said the formulation of these agreements, …

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PM props up sagacity on Nato supplies

ISLAMABAD – The Federal cabinet Wednesday welcomed the invitation extended by Nato to President Asif Zardari Bhutto for attending Chicago summit.
Chairing the cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said country’s relations with Nato and US were passing through sensitive phase where “we need to take critical decisions” keeping in view “our strategic importance and …

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US sees ‘positive political statements’ from Pakistan

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US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland. -Reuters Photo

WASHINGTON: Pakistan has made some “helpful and positive political statements” in support of an eventual deal to end a blockade of Nato supply lines into Afghanistan, a US official said Wednesday.

But “there are a number of technical issues that we are still working through,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said, as talks continued on reopening lines that have been closed for six months.

Pakistan shut its Afghan border crossings to Nato supplies on November 26 after US air strikes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.

“We have had some progress (in the talks). We’ve also had some very helpful and positive political statements out of Pakistan, some political moves,”Nuland told reporters.

“While the Pakistani political leadership hasn’t yet authorized the reopening of the ground transportation routes, we understand that they did endorse the conclusion of the negotiations,” Nuland said.

She added the Pakistanis “are sending a political signal to their own negotiating team that they would like to see this wrapped up. That doesn’t change the fact that we still haven’t closed all the issues.”Nuland did not elaborate on where stumbling blocks remained.

But she added: “So they see some urgency, we see some urgency, but the negotiators have to finish it.”

When asked if the urgency was to conclude a deal before the Nato summit begins at the weekend in Chicago, she replied: “The urgency is to be able to support Afghanistan from Pakistan.”

Although Islamabad has stopped short of announcing when the transit lines will reopen, it has signaled President Asif Ali Zardari will attend talks on Afghanistan in Chicago on May 20-21, after a last-minute invitation from Nato.

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Via DAWN.com

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

Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes dead at 83

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In this Nov. 18, 2008 file photo, Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes, left, embraces Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez during a round table discussion on Fuentes’ work at the UNAM national university in Mexico City. Fuentes, Mexico’s most celebrated novelist and among Latin America’s most prominent authors, died on May 15, 2012 He was 83. -AP Photo

MEXICO CITY: Carlos Fuentes, who died Tuesday aged 83, was one of the Spanish-speaking world’s best known writers, famous for his prolific output and his use of experimental language.

President Felipe Calderon announced the writer’s death in a message on his Twitter account. The National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature confirmed he had died in a Mexico City hospital.

The author’s doctor Arturo Ballesteros told reporters that Fuentes had died after suffering a massive hemorrhage in his digestive tract in the home in the early hours of Tuesday.

On Wednesday, a tribute to Fuentes will be held at the Palacio Nacional de Bellas Artes in the capital, with his casket on display, the institute said.

Arguably Mexico’s best known contemporary author, Fuentes, the son of a diplomat, was born in Panama City on November 11, 1928. He spent parts of his childhood in Quito, Montevideo and Rio de Janeiro, and was enrolled in a US public school when his father was transferred to Washington.

“You have to take some time out to be able to give literature the attention it deserves — for journalism, for speaking, for friendship. I cannot be cloistered like a monk because I would lose contact with human beings, with life,” Fuentes told AFP in a 2003 interview.

A leading figure in the 1960s Latin American literature boom. Fuentes befriended both Colombian leftist Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Peruvian conservative Mario Vargas Llosa, and was known for criticizing both the harsh side of capitalism and the tough realities of communism.

Unlike his contemporaries though, Fuentes never won a Nobel Prize in literature, although for years he said to be on the short list and collected a clutch of other prestigious awards.

“I met him 50 years ago,” Vargas Llosa said in a Twitter message upon learning of Fuentes’ death, “and we were friends all that time without anything ever impoverishing that friendship.”Fuentes’ travels helped shape his leftist political views and fueled his passion for political activism.

Like many Latin American intellectuals of his era, for years Fuentes was fascinated by the Cuban revolution and leftist rebel movements. But over time, his opinions grew more nuanced.

“Cuba is worthy of condemnation, and so is the United States,” he was quoted as saying. Fuentes published his first collection of short stories, “Masked Days,”under the guidance of his father Rafael.

In 1958, when he was 30, he achieved international renown with “The Most Transparent Region,” a portrayal of Mexico City’s explosive growth.

At the time, Mexico City was, in literary terms, “just an orange falling off a tree… all I did was eat it,” Fuentes said in 2003.

The novel “The Death of Artemio Cruz” (1967) won Fuentes both critical and public acclaim and became his best known work. Fuentes was appointed Mexico’s ambassador to France in the 1970s, an assignment that lasted only two years.

Not long afterwards he scored a new literary success with “Terra Nostra,” a novel on the complex cultural issues of the Iberian and Latin American worlds for which he was awarded the prestigious Romulo Gallegos prize in 1982.

Other prizes followed — including the Cervantes (1987), the Ruben Dario (1988) and the Prince of Asturias (1994).

His 1985 novel “Old Gringo,” about the disappearance of US writer Ambrose Bierce during the Mexican Revolution, was a best seller in the United States and became a 1989 Hollywood movie starring Gregory Peck and Jane Fonda.

Fuentes’ 1987 “Cristobal Nonato” examined the then-upcoming 500th anniversary in 1992 of the arrival of the Spanish in the Americas.
His intellectual curiosity led him to write “This I Believe” (2002), on his ideological and literary beliefs.

“The Eagle’s Chair” (2003) imagined the outlines of Mexico’s future, and “Against Bush” (2004) was a collection of his articles skewering US president George W. Bush.

Fuentes supported the election of conservative president Vicente Fox in 2000, which ended the seven-decade rule of Mexico’s Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).

“In the Americas we sometimes don’t realize democracy takes a long time to cook, maybe because we are used to abrupt decisions and heavy blows typical of dictatorships,” he said in 2001.

The late author is survived by his second wife, journalist Silvia Lemus, and a daughter from his first marriage to the late actress Rita Macedo. His two children from his marriage with Lemus, a son and a daughter, both died before him.

“RIP Carlos my friend,” Booker prize-winning British author Salman Rushdie said on Twitter.

Mexican author Xavier Velasco, who said he had dinner with Fuentes just days ago, said: “I firmly believe that he is the greatest novelist Mexico has ever produced and also the one with the best sense of humor.”

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Via DAWN.com

If there were global justice, Nato would be in the dock over Libya

Seumas Milne
Libya was supposed to be different. The lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan had been learned, David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy insisted last year. This would be a real humanitarian intervention. Unlike Iraq, there would be no boots on the ground. Unlike in Afghanistan, Nato air power would be used to support a fight for freedom and prevent a massacre. Unlike the Kosovo campaign, there …

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Cabinet session: Printing money can help overcome loadshedding, suggests Gilani

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Wednesday suggested that the government should print currency notes and pour capital into the electricity sector in order to overcome loadshedding, Express News has reported.

During the federal cabinet session, Gilani said, “We can print currency notes and pour capital in the electricity sector in order to overcome loadshedding”.

Gilani’s suggestion surprised ministers present in the session, however, Interior Minister Rehman Malik, while endorsing the prime minister’s statement, said that the “2-3% rise in inflation could be overcome within a few years” and that there was no problem in printing money.

The participants also suggested that the recovery of dues that different sectors owed Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) could be handed over to Malik to curb the circular debt.

However, this idea was opposed by some ministers, saying that this will cause a dispute between the trader community and industry with Wapda.

Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh said that Wapda does not have a system to gauge the amount of electricity needed by different cities. He said that Wapda needs to develop a system to properly distribute electricity within the cities, prioritising on the demand.

Minister for Water and Power Syed Naveed Qamar could not answer a question asked 3-4 times in the session about the capacity of the electricity produced by Wapda.

Gilani says decision on Nato supplies be taken considering national interest

Gilani said that the decision on resumption of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) supply routes will be taken considering Pakistan’s national interest.

The prime minister said that the government has not compromised on its principles in the past and will not do so in the future.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is likely to be formally approved by the federal cabinet to reopen vital land routes for foreign forces stationed in Afghanistan.

He said that the government does not want to take an “emotional” decision which will not be beneficial for the country.

Reiterating his stance on the right to appeal the Supreme Court’s verdict in the contempt of court case, Gilani said that he is not “scared of any threats” and that he will continue to guard the constitution.

Earlier, Gilani had said that Pakistan’s relationship with 48 countries serving in the Nato cannot be put on stake just because of the US.

On Tuesday, Defence Committee of the Cabinet (DCC) finally gave a go-ahead to lift the almost six-month old blockade on Nato supplies passing through the country.

The supplies were suspended in November last year in reprisal to a Nato air raid on a Pakistani border post that had killed 24 soldiers and strained Pakistan-US relations to the breaking point.

PM briefs cabinet on UK visit

The prime minister said that during his visit to the United Kingdom from May 8 to May 13, 2012, he met UK’s Queen Elizabeth on her diamond jubilee and her reign of 60 years as head of the Commonwealth at the British Deputy High Commission.

He said that he also attended a parliamentary reception held by the speaker.

“I also visited Buckingham Palace for a meeting with Duke of York,” said Gilani. “Apart from the enhanced strategic dialogue review, all major ministers called on me for detailed discussions on various strands of cooperation between Pakistan and the UK.”

The premier said that the warm welcome given to him as an elected prime minister reflects the importance and confidence the UK government attaches to its relations with a democratic Pakistan.

He said that British Prime Minister David Cameron applauded the fact that the current government of Pakistan was working to strengthen democracy in the country.

“His categorical statement that Pakistan’s friend is UK’s friend and Pakistan’s enemy is UK’s enemy was a strong reiteration of Pakistan’s standing and importance in the committee of nations.”

Gilani further said that the UK has vowed to build a deeper, stronger relationship with Pakistan and that that it wants to strengthen relations in the fields of trade, defence, health and education.

“We [Pakistan and the UK] have also agreed to boost bilateral trade,” he said.

Cabinet apprised of CASA-1000 project

While reviewing the status of the implementation of the cabinet’s decisions pertaining to Water and Power Division, the cabinet meeting was informed by Qamar that the CASA-1000 Megawatt project meeting being held in Dubai was expected to make substantial progress.

CASA-1000 is a joint project of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Prime Minister Gilani told the cabinet that economic indicators of Pakistan’s economy were moving in the right direction despite the global recession and the devastating floods of 2010 and 2011.

Shaikh assured the cabinet that full financial support will be extended to the Ministry of Water & Power to eliminate unscheduled loadshedding immediately and also to decrease scheduled loadshedding at the same time.

For this purpose, it was decided to utilise the full thermal and hydal power generation capacity in the country.

ANP to support govt on Nato supply resumption: Iftikhar Hussain

Nato supply trucks. — File photo

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Information, Mian Iftikhar Hussain, Wednesday said his party (Awami National Party) would support whatever decisions the federal government takes regarding the resumption of Nato supplies.

Speaking to media representatives here, the provincial minister said the decision taken by the federal government with regard to Nato supplies would be in the best interest of the country, however, he hoped that the recommencement of the supplies would come with certain conditions.

“Those who granted permission for Nato supplies through Pakistan are now making hue and cry,” he added.

Replying to a question regarding the fresh wave of terror attacks, the minister said it was a temporary situation and hoped that the government would soon overcome the crisis.

The minister categorically said that stern action would be taken against “terrorists no matter wherever they are”. The security forces have successfully carried out operations against terrorists in different parts of the province, he said, adding that actions against militants would continue.

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Via DAWN.com

Babar Awan withdraws intra-court appeal in contempt case

Former minister Babar Awan. — File photo

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed Barrister Ali Zafar, the counsel for Senator Babar Awan, to withdraw an intra-court appeal seeking a restraining order for a two-member bench that would indict the former minister for contempt of court on Thursday.

A three-judge bench, comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Jawwad S. Khwaja and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain, accepted the request of the counsel who wanted to raise certain objections on the plea before a two-judge bench hearing the contempt matter.

At the outset of proceedings, Barrister Zafar cited various judgments and contended that under set judicial precedents when an accused tendered an apology before a court, it was either accepted or rejected and then further trial process under contempt of court charges took place.

He said his client had already tendered an unconditional apology before a two-judge bench hearing the case and there was no need to proceed further on the matter.

Justice Khwaja asked Barrister Zafar to cite a single precedent of the High Court over the issue.

The barrister said it was the right of his client to raise such objections before the bench.

Moreover, the chief justice observed that the court was not targeting anyone specifically.

Referring to Awan, he said the former minister was also a senior counsel of the court and his license had been suspended only temporarily.

He advised the counsel to withdraw his plea, adding that the court did not close doors upon anyone but there were procedures which must be adopted.

Barrister Zafar said his client had tendered a written apology which must be considered and that further proceedings for framing of contempt of court charges should be dropped.

He said it was not known in the country’s judicial history that after tendering an apology, contempt proceedings continued.

He said there was no judgment over the continuation of contempt proceedings under such circumstances.

A two-judge bench, comprising Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan and Justice Athar Saeed, would now formally frame contempt of court charges against Awan on Thursday.

Yesterday, the same bench had put off proceedings on the request of Barrister Zafar who had requested that before the framing of charges, the court should wait for a decision on his client’s intra-court appeal.

The bench has been hearing a suo motu notice taken on Awan’s address at a press conference held at the Press Information Department on Dec 2, after an initial order of a larger bench on the memo issue.

On April 24, the bench had ,reserved its judgment, over framing of contempt charges but said they could not drop the proceeding at this stage.

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Via DAWN.com

PML-N to resist NATO supplies: Nawaz

Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) chief Mian Ex Prime minister Mian Nawaz Sharifhas said that his party would oppose and resist the resumption of NATO supplies bypassing the recommendations of the parliament.
In an interview with a private TV channel Wednesday, Ex Prime minister Mian Nawaz Sharifsaid that US has not offered apology over Salala check post attack killing 24 Pakistani troops neither it showed any flexibility in its attitude in …

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Containers, oil tankers reach Karachi expecting NATO supplies resumption

Hundreds of containers and oil tankers have reached Karachi and arrival of others continued after reports of possibility of resumption of NATO supplies in the next few days.
Yousuf Shehwani, Chairman of All Pakistan Tankers Association, claimed that the Interior Ministry has instructed them to complete all arrangements for NATO supply.
However, despite getting a green signal for resumption of …

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Pentagon confident supply routes in Pakistan will soon be reopened

WASHINGTON – A Pentagon spokesman expressed confidence Wednesday that U.S.-Pakistan relations are on the mend, and that Islamabad soon will re-open routes used to supply American troops in Afghanistan.
Pakistan closed two border crossings used by the U.S. military in Chaman and Torkham after a Nov. 26 NATO strike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. That was just the latest incident to further …

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