Accusing the PPP of betraying the popular mandate of February 18 elections on all major domestic and foreign issues, Pakistan Muslim League (N) chief Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday indicated his party plans to confront the government head-on by giving up the current low-profile role as country's main opposition.

Addressing a crowded news conference after a marathon session with party's senators and MPs, Sharif announced that the PML-N would initiate legislation to curtail presidential powers by ending the 17th amendment. He reiterated demand for resignation of chief justice Abdul Hameed Dogar over controversy relating to illegal enhancement of his daughter's marks, failing which the issue would be taken up in the Senate and the National Assembly.

Sharif also disclosed that a top figure in the government had offered to drop the disqualification cases against him and his brother Shahbaz Sharif in the Supreme Court if he gives up current campaign for resignation of Justice Dogar. Sharif said he is not bothered about his exclusion from electoral politics but would stick to the principled stand on Dogar and restoration of deposed judges.

He also took strong exception to reports that the government is planning to induct loyalists in superior courts and blamed the PPP of violating the Charter of Democracy (CoD) he had signed with slain PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto in May 2006. He said the CoD prescribed a transparent procedure for appointment of judges through a commission. He repeated his resolve not to destabilize the democratic system and pave the way for a military takeover but regretted that this commitment on his part is being exploited to renege on written pledges made by President Asif Zardari on restoration of deposed judges. There is also no progress on the unanimous resolution adopted in the joint session of the parliament on October 26 for review of Pakistan's current stance on war on terror.

The PML-N chief said the people of Pakistan had voted for a change in the February 18 elections but nothing has changed and the present government is pursuing the domestic and foreign agenda of military dictator Pervez Musharraf. He also condemned the Mumbai attacks and supported Pakistan stance that India must share intelligence and evidence to enable Pakistan government take action against those being blamed for responsibility for the attacks.

Sharif did not say anything about the future of his party's coalition in Punjab but accused governor Salman Taseer of carrying out a campaign of vilification against him. His assertions today were interpreted by political observers as signalling a possible termination of the fragile coalition setting both parties on a warpath both in the province and at the Centre between the PML-N and PPP. The immediate provocation was provided by Zardari's decision to name Punjab chief justice as acting governor, a departure from tradition of appointing the speaker who belongs to the PML-N.

President Asif Ali Zardari has asked his coalition partners to stand united to steer the country out of security threats and reaffirmed his resolve that national integrity and sovereignty would not be compromised.

ANP chief Asfandyar Wali Khan offered his services as a mediator to lower the current tension between India and Pakistan. He suggested that opposition parties should also be taken into confidence over the issue. Delegations of the Awami National Party (ANP), the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the Jamiatul Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) led by Asfandyar Wali Khan, Dr Muhammad Farooq Sattar and Maulana Fazlur Rehman, respectively, called on President Zardari separately at the Aiwan-e-Sadr last night and discussed with him political affairs and coalition matters.

The President had earlier planned to meet all coalition partners jointly but the MQM maintained that its delegation would prefer to have a separate meeting because it continues to sit on the opposition benches in the Centre.

Zardari briefed the delegations about his interactions with the world leaders on the tension between Pakistan and India following the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. Presidential aides said there was consensus among all the coalition partners to resolve the issue of recent tension with India through political and diplomatic channels.

The MQM delegation headed by Dr Farooq Sattar suggested that concrete measures should be taken to eliminate terrorism and extremism overlooking all the vested interests. During the meeting law and order situation in Karachi figured prominently. The MQM reiterated its support to the government in the war against terror. JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman urged the government to tread the path of reconciliation to cope with issues relating to extremism and terrorism.

Dhaka, December 17
The President’s proclamation to withdraw nearly two years of emergency rule in Bangladesh came into effect today, paving the way for reinstatement of the suspended fundamental rights ahead of the December 29 Parliamentary elections.

In a notification issued on Monday, Bangladesh President Iajuddin Ahmed ordered the withdrawal of the state of emergency, which he imposed in January past year following months of violent nationwide political strikes over election reform.

The lifting of the emergency will also give candidates the freedom to conduct canvassing for the elections, which holds key in restoring democracy in Bangladesh.

Leaders of the two main political parties have been demanding lifting of the emergency so that free and fair elections could be conducted in this south Asian country, which witnessed Parliamentary democracy since 1991 following a pro-democracy movement.

Meanwhile, chief of army staff general Moeen U. Ahmed said armed forces would be deployed in several areas to ensure that voters exercise their franchise without any fear.

“The army will work as striking force enabling a voter to go to the election centre without any fear and the voters should feel free to cast votes at their own choice,” Moeen was quoted as saying by the national news agency BSS.

The military-backed Caretaker government led by Iajuddin proclaimed the state of emergency on January 11, 2007, exercising the authority vested upon him by the Constitution. — PTI

Kuala Lumpur, December 17
Heavily armed Somali pirates have hijacked two more vessels in the African waters undeterred by a strong multi-nation flotilla of warships carrying out vigorous patrols and vigil.

A tugboat heading to Malaysia, a Turkish and a Chinese vessel were the latest victims of the pirates, who have seized more than 40 freighters this year, including a giant Saudi super tanker and a luxury cruise ship against ransom.

The seajackings took place even as China announced that it was dispatching a naval task group to join an international effort by navies of more than a dozen countries to mount an aggressive sea-patrol of the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden.

The seizures came as the UN was discussing ways to fight the menace and has given a green signal to nations to carry out air and sea operations against the pirates.

The piracy incidents continued unabated in the Gulf of Aden area as a European Union naval task force took over patrolling from a NATO operation.

A senior official of the Vienna-based UN Office on Drugs and Crime Antonio Maria Costa has called for regional cooperation to tackle the situation.

He added that pirates had to be brought to justice. A similar approach has helped prosecute drug traffickers in the Caribbean, he noted. — PTI 

Washington, December 17
A.R. Rahman has added a Satellite Award to his Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Score for his music in British director Danny Boyle's uplifting underdog tale "Slumdog Millionaire". Apart from Rahman's award, the Mumbai set and shot film has won two more annual Satellite Awards given by the International Press Academy for Best Picture-Drama and Best Director for Boyle. The Associated Press movie writer David Germain has ranked the film at number four among the top 10 films of 2008. It also features in Time magazine's top 10 movies list of the year, standing seventh in the list.

Earlier last week, "Slumdog Millionaire" won two awards from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association - Best Director for Boyle and Best Music for Rahman. The film has won six Critics Choice Award nominations for Picture, Director (Boyle), Writer (Beaufoy), Young Actor (Dev Patel), Composer (Rahman), and Song ("Jai Ho"). 
— IANS/PTI

London, December 17
Iraqi doctor Bilal Abdulla, who along with an Indian-born accomplice staged the Glasgow airport bombings in 2007, has been jailed for 32 years.

A jury at Woolwich Crown Court at the end of a nine-week trial Tuesday found him guilty of conspiracy to murder and to cause explosions. The sentence was announced on Wednesday.

Justice Mackay told Abdulla he was “a religious extremist and a bigot” who held the most extreme form of Islamist views.

A jury at Woolwich Crown Court in London found 29-year-old Bilal Abdulla guilty of conspiring to murder and to cause explosions in the two separate attacks that rocked Britain just a few days after Prime Minister Gordon Brown came to power in June 2007.

An attempt to blow up a Mercedes car loaded with gas cylinders, petrol and nails outside the Tiger nightclub in London, packed with some 500 revellers, June 29, 2007, failed owing to a loose connection on the mobile phone detonators, the court heard.

Just a day later, a Jeep carrying a similarly deadly cargo was rammed into the main terminal of Glasgow airport, in Scotland, in an attempted suicide attack.

Bilal was co-passenger in the jeep driven by his friend, Indian doctor Kafeel Ahmed, who died from the severe burns he sustained in the attack. — IANS