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Thursday,
October 17, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Religious alliance, PML faction likely to form government MMA to name Rehman for PM’s post
“MQM has proof of rigging” 8 bombers staged Bali attack: report
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Death sentence for
Afghan commander Rockets fired at US base
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Religious alliance, PML faction likely to form government Islamabad, October 16 The PML’s Quaid-e-Azam faction (PML-QA) won 77 of the 272 seats for the National Assembly, or Parliament, to emerge as the largest party in a splintered house in Pakistan’s first polls since army chief Pervez Musharraf came to power in 1999. The PML-QA, which many political leaders have said was widely favoured by Musharraf’s regime, hopes to reach an agreement with the six-party Islamic alliance to form a coalition government. “We had very productive meetings with the MMA leaders and hope to comfortably reach an agreement with them to form a coalition government at the centre,” a senior PML-Q leader said requesting anonymity. “We feel the religious parties are our natural allies and the level of cooperation among us can be better than with any other party.” Some political leaders and analysts feel this development could be more of “Musharraf’s invisible hand” at play in order to cobble up the MMA, PML-QA and National Alliance (NA) coalition government. The NA also backs Musharraf’s policies and had assured PML-Q help in forming the next government. “These efforts are aimed at keeping MMA within the federal government’s fold,” a political commentator said. “The MMA alliance is likely to form governments in NWFP (North Western Frontier Province) and Balochistan and will be expected to play a critical backup role in the government’s foreign policy on Afghanistan.” Political analysts say former prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), which are components of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD), do not seem to be in a position to woo the MMA effectively. With 63 seats the PPP is the second largest party in Parliament with MMA a third at 45 seats. The PML-N has 14 seats and the NA has 13. Before an internal meeting on Wednesday, MMA leaders held separate discussions with the PML-Q and NA leaders. “Our talks with other political parties are proceeding well. We will continue talks after our own decisions,” MMA president Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani said during a break. He hoped the MMA would reach some decision by Thursday. “So far we have both options for a coalition of like-minded parties and a government of national consensus... but nothing is final. “The focus of our discussion is to reach a consensus on foreign policy. A decision on any cooperation with any party will be taken by the alliance.” A senior MMA leader said almost all alliance leaders spoke against the idea of sitting with the PPP and PML-N in Parliament. “This will negate all our struggle against the misgovernment of these two parties. Joining hands with them will damage our party’s image,” said a leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami that is part of the MMA. Political analysts say a MMA, PPP and PML-N alliance at the centre would relegate the government backed PML-Q to the Opposition in at least three of the four provinces — something clearly not be acceptable to the regime.
IANS |
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MMA to name Rehman for PM’s post Islamabad, October 16 “If the MMA decides to join the government, then our Prime Minister will be Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman and we will support him,” Mr Qazi Hussein Ahmed, vice-president of the six-party alliance, the Muttahidda Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), and chief of the Jamat Islami party told reporters here. Mr Ahmed made this statement after his meeting with government-backed Pakistan Muslim League - Quaid-e-Azam leader Sujat Husain. The PML(Q) leader has called on the MMA to extend support for the formation of the new government. Mr Rehman’s name for premiership was finalised at the first meeting of MMA leaders, held after the October 10 poll in which the alliance won 45 seats in the National Assembly as well as majority of seats in the North-West Frontier Province and Baluchistan. Mr Rehman shot into fame last year when he was arrested along with other religious party leaders for protesting the reversal of the pro-Taliban policy by President Pervez Musharraf following the September 11 attacks. Meanwhile, official APP news agency said the Jamat Ulema Islami has been given the post of Chief Minister in the future NWFP administration while the posts of Senior Minister and Speaker would go to the Jamat Islami. Meanwhile, paving the way for the formation of a coalition government in the country, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has conceded the demand by the alliance of six Islamic hardliner parties that won major gains in the recent poll to take oath under the 1973 Constitution, as against the version amended by him. An announcement to the effect was made by Law Minister Khalid Ranjha, who was quoted by official news agency APP as telling a private TV channel, that the newly elected members of Parliament would take oath as well as function by the 1973 Constitution. Downplaying the importance of the six-party alliance Muttahid Majlis-e-Amal which had refused to take oath under the amended constitution, Mr Ranjah said “the oath-taking is a non-issue.” However, he created further ambiguity by adding that General Musharraf could notify the restoration of constitution under the legal framework order (LFO) based on which he held the elections. Mr Ranjha did not explain how members taking oath under the 1973 Constitution would revert back to the amended one after their oath. Stressing that the National Assembly would function according to the Constitution, Mr Ranjah said General Musharraf need not seek re-election as he had been elected by a referendum in April this year under the LFO. “The election for the President would not be held and his five-year tenure would commence on the day when the Prime Minister resumes his duties as the new Chief Executive,” Mr Ranjah said.
PTI |
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“MQM has proof of rigging” Karachi, October 16 Addressing general workers’ meeting at Nine-Zero from London via telephone, he lashed out at the religious parties and the rival Mohajir Qaumi Movement and accused them of strong-arm tactics and stuffing of ballot boxes with official patronage. He said how those who raised the slogan of Nizam-i-Mustafa but got the victory through a foul play can implement the system they had vowed to establish. Referring to historical gains of religious parties during the last 55 years, Hussain asked how was it possible that the impact of the Afghan war had a bearing on the election results in the NWFP, Baluchistan and Sindh but not in Punjab. “Does it mean that the people of Punjab do not love Islam?” Hussain remarked. He said the MQM would present unquestionable proof of rigging in the elections. Due to non-recognition of the people’s mandate in 1970, the country was fragmented, he said and warned that if owing to the massive rigging in the recent elections any harm came to the country, the establishment would be responsible.
ANI |
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8 bombers staged Bali attack: report Kuta (Indonesia), October 16
Citing police and intelligence sources, local daily Koran Tempo said the bombers may have used remote control devices to blow up the two bars filled mostly with foreigners in Bali’s busy Kuta tourist district. The police said the explosion, which killed more than 180 persons and has been blamed on Al-Qaida, was caused by a car bomb, using powerful plastic explosive C4. Two Indonesians have been detained in connection with the attack, which is being investigated by the local police backed by officers from Australia, the UK, Germany, Japan and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). One of the detained was said to have been in the Kuta area when the blast occurred. The daily cited information obtained from an unnamed official of the National Intelligence Agency that eight persons — seven Indonesians under the leadership of someone from West Asia — carried out the bombing. “They are all already out of Bali,” the official said. The Bali police chief Brig-Gen Budi Setiawan, asked about the newspaper report today said “that is from the report of our (police) intelligence” but declined to comment further. “The questioning and the investigation is still proceeding,” he said. “There are two possibilities, that the bomb was activated by a timer or the perpetrators just pushed a remote control button so that they could control the blast from a safe distance and get enough time to flee,” a police source was quoted as saying. The national police chief, Gen Da’i Bachtiar said some witnesses spoke of a man who left a white plastic bag at the scene and fled shortly before the blast. “We are already in possession of the description of the man,” General Bachtiar said. Sources said President Megawati was expected to discuss the probe into the country’s worst ever terrorist attack with some of her Cabinet members.
AFP |
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Death sentence for Afghan commander Kabul, October 16
The court judge said Abdullah Shah could appeal against the sentence and President Hamid Karzai’s approval for the death sentence was needed. The court also sentenced his alleged accomplice, Mohammad Arif, to prison for 10 years. Both accused, who appeared in shackles before an open court, pleaded not guilty and denied the charges against them. Afghanistan’s Chief Justice and Head of the Supreme Court, Mr Fazl Hadi Shinwari, has already demanded that Mr Karzai should award the death penalty to Shah. If the court’s decision is upheld, it would be the first official execution in Afghanistan since the fall of the hardline Islamic Taliban regime late last year. “We don’t accept the decision. We will appeal against the court’s verdict,’’ Shah told the court judge. When Afghanistan was in the grip of civil war in the 1990s, Shah served as a commander with another wanted warlord Zardad from the Hezb-i-Islami faction led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, officials said. According to Mr Shinwari, Shah hails from Paghman, a village outside Kabul city. He earned the title ‘’Zardad’s Dog’’ for biting and killing travellers who refused to pay duties to Zardad, who ruled the town of Sarobi, east of Kabul, in the 1990s.
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Rockets fired at US base Bagram, October 16 Five rockets were launched at the Lwara base, 180 km southwest of Kabul, last night, said Col Roger King, spokesman for the US forces at Bagram Air Base.
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