 |
Friday,
July 12, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
|
Pak SC
upholds ban on non-graduates Bar on
politicians meeting US envoy? |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Speed up
gang-rape case, SC tells cops Bhutto’s
in-law convicted for graft ‘Everything
done’ to stop infiltration ‘Indian
peacekeepers can’t be tried by ICC’ US House
votes for arming pilots Abandoned
baby dies, mother jailed
|
|
Pak SC upholds ban on non-graduates
Islamabad, July 11 “By unanimous decision, reasons to be recorded later, the petitions are dismissed,” the Supreme Court, the highest court in the country, said in response to a challenge against the decree. The government introduced the new law last month, but at least three political parties challenged it. Critics say the law will ensure power stays in the hands of a privileged elite and, with literacy levels of just 50.5 per cent, it was discriminatory. The law means a number of active politicians will be disqualified from standing in the elections — including former Foreign Minister Gohar Ayub, who was also Speaker of the Lower House. “Yes, I am hit...and not only me but quite a number of people will be hit by it,” he told Reuters. Others include the former ambassador to the United States, Abida Hussain, and the former minister for Kashmir affairs, Gen Abdul Majid Malik. The changes in election rules were part of a series of steps taken by military ruler President Pervez Musharraf in the last two weeks that critics say are strengthening his grip on power. He is due to address the nation on Friday and unveil further changes in the constitution.
Reuters |
|
Filing of papers for election from Aug 20 Islamabad, July 11 The last date for filing of nominations is August 27. Objections to nominations can be filed on August 28 and 29 and scrutiny will take place from September 1 to 3, The News reported today. Appeals by candidates against rejection of nominations can be filed on September 6. The tribunals will be given seven days to decide the fate of these appeals. Nominations can be withdrawn by September 14. The revised list of the candidates will be published on September 15 making a candidate eligible for contesting the poll.
UNI |
|
Bar on politicians
meeting US envoy? Islamabad, July 11 Raja Zafarul Haq, chairman of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s faction of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N), and Raza Rabbani, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) vice-president, were allegedly stopped at a barricade about half a kilometre from the US Embassy by the police. Ms Powell had invited several politicians Wednesday to discuss the current political scenario. A US embassy official said PML-N’s Haq and Ahsan Iqbal, Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) chief Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, PPP’s Rabbani and Makhdoom Amin Fahim and Jamaat-e-Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad were invited. Khan and Fahim could not make it to the meeting due to their busy schedules in Karachi. “Only Qazi Hussain Ahmad and Ahsan Iqbal could reach the embassy and attend the meeting,” the official said. Haq told IANS he was stopped at the barricade on the road leading to the U.S. embassy and returned “without arguing with the police”. “I know these junior people are helpless... they had to obey the orders,” he said, adding that one policeman asked him to contact “higher authorities but I didn’t as it was just wastage of time”. Iqbal said he too had also been stopped at the barricade. “I returned from there and took the alternate route,” he said. He said he had conveyed the PML-N’s reservations about President Musharraf holding free and fair elections in October. Jamaat chief Ahmad, who had made it to the embassy, said: “We told (Powell) the proposed amendments to the constitution were being made to target Nawaz Sharif and other opposition leaders.”
IANS |
|
Speed up gang-rape case, SC tells cops
Islamabad, July 11 Mukhtaran Mai was allegedly raped by four men last month on the orders of a village jury, or panchayat, to atone for her brother’s alleged affair with a girl from a different tribe. The incident sparked national outrage, highlighting the sometimes uneasy co-existence in the country of traditional law alongside Islamic and civil law. The Supreme Court has stepped in to monitor the case and today, when police officials made a routine report, ordered them to speed up the investigation. The Deputy Inspector-General of Police of the central Punjab province, Mr Asif Nawaz, told the court that 13 of the 15 suspects had been arrested so far. He said the victim had been medically examined and had recorded her statement before a magistrate. The court also ordered the police to provide full protection to Mai and her family because of fears the rival tribe might try to harass them. The Independent English-language daily Dawn said today that a Governor’s inspection team which went to the area to investigate the incident discovered that Mai’s brother had been allegedly sodomised by Mastoi tribesmen before her rape. Quoting the team’s findings, the paper said his attackers then falsely accused him of raping one of their women, and gang-raped his sister to avenge the shame. Most sex-related crimes go unreported in Pakistan because of the perpetrators’ influence or the social stigma attached to the victims.
Reuters |
|
Bhutto’s in-law convicted
for graft Karachi, July 11 Hakim Zardari was given five years sentence and a fine of 18.5 million rupees ($ 300,000 million), the court said. He was charged with possessing property disproportionate to his declared income. The case was lodged against him after the purchase of a mansion in Normandy, France, in 1990 for 4.8 million francs. Judge Azizullah Sheikh has also disqualified him from holding any public posts for 10 years or from seeking bank loans. Hakim Zardari was elected member of the national Assembly in 1988 and 1993. He was Chairman, Public Accounts Committee, of the parliament during Ms Benazir Bhutto’s regime. Ms Bhutto and her husband Mr Asif Zardari also face a number of corruption cases in the country. He is already in jail while Ms Bhutto is living in self-imposed exile.
DPA |
|
‘Everything done’ to stop infiltration Islamabad, July 11 "The President of Pakistan has said there is no infiltration across the Line of Control," the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Mr Inam-ul Haq, said in an interview to the Financial Times. "The Government of Pakistan neither sponsors nor encourages any infiltration across the Line of Control," the minister said.
PTI |
|
‘Indian peacekeepers can’t be tried by ICC’
United Nations, July 11 “We find it difficult to accept an outside authority purporting to sit on judgment upon the action of our troops... We see them as answerable for their behaviour to authorities within the established hierarchy of command and to our own established institutions,” new Indian Ambassador to the UN V.K. Nambiar said here yesterday. He, however, said New Delhi “understands the dilemma” of the countries which have signed the statute of International Criminal Court and taken upon themselves certain specific obligations. “We recognise that they are free to submit their nationals, including their troops, to the jurisdiction of the ICC,” Mr Nambiar told the Security Council on Wednesday. India has not signed the Rome treaty establishing the court as New Delhi considers it flawed. As the UN is discussing the issue of extension of the peacekeeping force in Bosnia and deadlocked over the question of immunity to US peacekeepers from the ICC, India urged the world body to give “careful consideration” to the view of major troop contributing countries that were not party to the ICC. “The council should not allow UN peacekeeping operations, an important tool for maintenance of peace and security in its hands, to be undermined by its own decisions,” he said. As a measure of caution, he said, the council should ensure that troops for UN peacekeeping were drawn from countries that uphold healthy democratic traditions and where respect for the rule of law, constitutional order, civilian control over armed forces and basic transparency in functioning of institutions were observed. The Indian diplomat said: “UN peacekeepers are deployed to serve the cause of peace often in lands unknown to the peacekeepers who operate under strict mandates and tight rules of engagement established by the world body.” “They are accountable to their own governments for their actions in the field and, therefore, it is highly unlikely that UN peacekeepers would commit criminal offences of an egregious nature or gross, premeditated and systemic crimes.”
PTI |
|
US House votes for arming pilots
Washington, July 11 The measure, a dramatic response aimed at boosting airline security in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks in which four US commercial airliners were hijacked, passed the House on a 310-113 vote. The Bill is opposed by the White House and faces an uncertain fate in the Senate. The legislation will allow all 70,000 U.S. commercial airline pilots on a voluntary basis to bring guns into the cockpit to defend against possible hijackings. It will require that the pilots undergo government-approved training in how to use firearms and will give pilots the right to decide not to carry a gun. It was passed after lawmakers, in a surprise move, removed a cap on the number of pilots who could carry guns and did away with a restriction to limit the programme to two years, making it permanent instead. “America’s airline pilots know best that they can both control their aircraft and defend their cockpits when necessary,” said Rep. John Mica, a Florida Republican and key supporter of the Bill. “They have asked for the ability to defend themselves and their passengers. Today, the House acted on this measure. The Senate should do the same.” In the September 11 attacks the authorities have said hijackers armed with knives managed to storm the cockpits of four airliners and seize control of the planes. Following passage in the Republican-controlled House, the Bill may run into trouble in the Democratic-run Senate, where key leaders, including Commerce Committee Chairman Sen. Ernest Hollings of South Carolina, do not support arming pilots. The Bush administration is also resisting the measure. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta and his top security deputy John Magaw have said aviation-security steps already being put into place are sufficient — and safer than giving guns to pilots. “Our position remains that the aviation security has been strengthened in numerous ways, including strengthened cockpit doors and additional federal air marshals on flights. We still believe that pilots should not be armed,” added Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the White House office of homeland security.
Reuters |
|
Abandoned baby dies, mother jailed
Bandar Seri Begawan, July 11 Zukarianie Hamdan, a divorcee, had not told anyone of her pregnancy and gave birth to the child in her bedroom at her parents’ home in the town of Lumut in early January, media reports here said today. After breastfeeding the baby, she put it in a noodle box which was then put in to a rubbish bag and she had her brother drive her to a nearby dump where she left the package. Pleas by her lawyer, Mohammad Shazale, that Hamdan was under "severe stress" at the time and feared her father might get angry if he knew about the pregnancy, were dismissed by Judge Steven Chong.
AFP |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 122 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
Dozens of powerful
rural tribal
leaders will be barred from contesting the parliamentary elections in
Pakistan in October after the Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a decree
requiring candidates to have a university degree.
In video (
