ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Monday directed the government to ensure that Pervez Musharraf does not leave the country as it began hearing several petitions seeking the former military ruler’s trial for treason for subverting the constitution and declaring emergency in 2007.

A two-judge Bench led by Justice Jawad S Khwaja ordered the Interior Secretary to take steps to prevent Musharraf from travelling abroad.

The Bench issued the directive after hearing initial arguments on five petitions asking the apex court to direct the government to prosecute Musharraf under the High Treason (Punishment) Act of 1973.

The Bench also issued notices to the government, Musharraf and other respondents to respond to the petitions and adjourned the case till Tuesday.

The lawyers argued that the former military strongman had violated the Constitution by declaring an emergency in 2007 and should be put on trial for treason.

They pointed out that the Senate or Upper House of Parliament had passed a resolution in January 2012 that said Musharraf should be arrested on his return but the government had not acted on it.

The government had failed to act on an earlier Supreme Court order that directed authorities take action against Musharraf for violating the Constitution, the petition said.

Talking to reporters after the hearing, the lawyers for the petitioners said Musharraf should not be accorded “VIP protocol” as he is an accused in several cases.

They said the case against the former President in the Supreme Court would ensure that no one subverts the Constitution in future.

They said the generals and other persons who backed Musharraf should also be held accountable. — PTI

NEW DELHI: In a breather to Bharatiya Janata Party general secretary Amit Shah, the Supreme Court on Monday restrained the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) from conducting a separate trial against him in the Tulsiram Prajapati murder case and said it has to be clubbed along with the Soharabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case.

A Bench headed by Justice P. Sathasivam said the murders of both Prajapati and Soharabuddin were part of the same conspiracy and separate trial cannot be conducted in the two cases.

Shah, a close aide of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who is out on bail after spending three months in jail in the Soharabuddin case, was again facing the threat of being arrested by CBI in the Prajapati murder case in which the agency had filed a separate charge sheet against him.

The apex court’s order came on the plea of Shah who has challenged the filing of separate charge sheet by the CBI in case of Prajapati’s killing.

He had argued that the charge sheet filed in Prajapati murder case should be treated as second supplementary charge sheet in the Soharabuddin Sheikh’s murder case.

The CBI, which has named Shah and 19 others in the charge sheet, has accused them of committing offences of murder, criminal conspiracy, destruction of evidence etc.

The special court, while accepting the charge sheet, had kept the issue of taking its cognisance pending.

Shah, who is the key accused in the killings of Soharabuddin and his wife Kauser Bi, has been named accused number one and the kingpin of the conspiracy in the fake encounter case of Prajapati, who was killed near Chhapri village near Danta in Palanpur on December 28, 2006.

The CBI has said Prajapati was a witness in the Soharabuddin case and his killing was part of a larger conspiracy in which Shah, as the then head of the state’s police administration, was involved.

Soharabuddin and his wife Kauser Bi were allegedly abducted from Hyderabad by the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) and killed in a fake encounter near Gandhinagar in November 2005. — PTI

MUMBAI: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Monday apologised for his controversial comments on water shortage and loadshedding, saying that he had hurt the sentiments of the people as well as the Legislature.

Making a personal clarification after the Lower House witnessed noisy scenes and two adjournments over his remarks, Pawar admitted that he should have used his words carefully.

"My comments on Saturday were not directed towards drought affected people and I had no intentions to hurt anybody's sentiments," he clarified. 

Pawar, who is the State Energy as well as Finance Minister, said the state government has accorded top priority to drought relief measures and the government stand has been made clear in this year's budget provisions as well as debates in the Legislature.

The state government is committed to provide water, cattle fodder and waiver of students fees in drought affected areas. "I hope my comments will not affect the drought relief measures. The relief works will continue vigorously," he said.

Opposition members continued to shout slogans against Pawar even as he was making the statement. After the statement, Speaker Dilip Walse Patil adjourned the House for 30 minutes.

"If there is no water in the dam...Should we urinate into it?" Ajit Pawar had asked in a comment made on Saturday at an interior village in Indapur tehsil of Pune that kicked up a controversy for mocking farmers reeling under severe drought.

The NCP leader followed up this comment laced with crass humour with another remark poking fun at load-shedding in the state stating, "I have noticed that more children are being born since the lights go off at night. There is no other work left then."

The Opposition had earlier stalled the proceedings forcing the Speaker to adjourn the House twice.

Protests against Pawar's remarks had seen Sudhir Mungantiwar, Devendra Phadanvis, Nana Patole (all BJP) and Eknath Shinde (Shiv Sena) moving to the well shouting slogans against the deputy CM.

Girish Bapat (BJP) said what Pawar had said amounted to an insult of drought-affected people.

"We should be allowed to raise the issue in the House," Bapat said, to which the Speaker responded saying a discussion could be held after Question Hour.

However, the House had to be adjourned for 30 minutes and later for an hour as Opposition members continued shouting slogans against Pawar.

Earlier, Pawar also apologised in the Legislative Council for his remarks.

"The state government is very serious about combating drought and helping drought-affected people. It is the topmost priority of the government to tackle drought," Pawar said in the Upper House amid huge uproar by Opposition members.

As proceedings began in the Upper House, Opposition BJP-Shiv Sena members trained guns on Pawar for his controversial statement by invoking Rule 289.

Leader of Opposition in the Council, Vinod Tawde, moved a proposal to hold a debate on Pawar's statement, which saw House chairman Shivajirao Deshmukh asking him to make a statement on the issue.

However, Pawar who was present in the House, told the chairman that he wanted to issue a personal clarification under Rule 47.

Pawar was backed by NCP legislator Vinayak Mete and minister of state for urban development Bhaskar Jadhav.

However, Tawde objected that "since Pawar is not a member of the House, he cannot clarify".

Chairman Deshmukh said that even if he is not a member, he can, as a minister, make a clarification in the House.

As the debate continued, the House was adjourned twice for twenty minutes each.

When proceedings resumed, Deshmukh granted permission to Pawar to clarify his stand.

But unhappy over the decision of the Chairman, Opposition members trooped to the well where they squatted in protest.

Subsequently, the House was again adjourned for 20 minutes and then for an hour. — PTI

NEW DELHI: A private jet carrying BJP president Rajnath Singh and senior leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley made an emergency landing on Monday at Delhi airport after it developed problems in its auto-pilot system.

The BJP leaders were flying to Bangalore to address an election rally there but the plane made an emergency landing nine minutes after taking off on Monday morning, sources told here.

They added that all the passengers on board the aircraft are safe and may fly to Bangalore if alternate arrangements are made.

The turbine powered Challenger jet is owned by a Mumbai-based company called Eon Aviation. It is a nine-seater plane with the call sign of VT-DBG, ATC sources said.

The pilot detected the problem in aircraft's auto-pilot system after taking off and immediately sought ATC's permission to land under emergency conditions, they said.

BJP general secretary Dharmendra Pradhan and joint general secretary (organisation) V Satish were also on board the aircraft when the incident took place.

ATC sources said the pilot took the correct action of landing the aircraft after the problem was detected. — PTI