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Wednesday,
January 15, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Pak will not budge on Kashmir:
Musharraf Pak acting
CJ sworn in under ’73 statute Jamali,
ministers ‘tainted’ Sharif’s
family returns home |
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Labour says no to Sharon-led
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USA for new deal with North
Korea
Nepal, USA to hold exercises Death for running Ecstasy
factory Woman killed on wedding day
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Pak will not budge on Kashmir: Musharraf Islamabad, January 14 “We wish to improve the bilateral ties with India as Pakistan wants durable peace in South Asia”, he said at a meeting yesterday which was attended by Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali, Foreign Minister Khursheed Mohammed Kasuri and top military officials. However, he said there would be no compromise on Pakistan’s principled stand on the Kashmir issue. Pakistan had time and again stated that it wanted to develop ties with India that were based on equality. “But it would not budge a single inch from its position on Kashmir and other disputes under any coercion or blackmail”, he was quoted as saying by the media. Foreign Secretary Riaz Khokhar briefed the meeting about the country’s policy perspectives focusing on Pakistan-US relations, which in the recent weeks came under strains especially after Washington directed all Pakistanis visiting and residing in the USA to register under the Immigration and Naturalisation Services (INS). The US decision had stirred strong emotions in Pakistan as thousands of Pakistanis, especially the illegal immigrants, would have to line up to register themselves. The Pakistan government had made repeated appeals to US officials to remove the country from the list in view of its cooperation in the crackdown against Taliban and Al-Qaida militants. But the Bush administration had not obliged so far. General Musharraf asked Kasuri, who would be visiting Washington later this month, to focus his trip on the INS issue. He also told the meeting about his recent conversations with US Secretary of State Colin Powell. Khokhar, in his presentation, highlighted the economic fallout on Pakistan of the US decision which could have adverse impact on Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves if the Pakistanis were either deported or returned. Pakistan at present had a record $ 10 billion foreign exchange reserves mainly by remittances sent by expatriates. On US and Pakistani forces exchanging fire at the Afghan borders, General Musharraf said: “Swift and apt action taken by Pakistan has defused tensions”. The President also asked Pakistan’s diplomats to counter the reports linking Pakistan’s nuclear programme with North Korea and Iraq. Claiming that Pakistan was a responsible state, he said there was no question of the country sharing its technology with any other nation. He said Pakistan would continue to maintain minimum nuclear deterrence to protect its security.
PTI |
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Pak acting CJ sworn in under ’73 statute Islamabad, January 14 Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary yesterday became Pakistan’s first Supreme Court judge after the end of the three-year military rule to take oath under the 1973 Constitution. While there was still ambiguity over whether the 1973 Constitution under which he took oath contained General Musharraf’s amendments or not, his decision formally marked a departure from the three-year old practice under which the judges took oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) promulgated by the General when he took over in a military coup in 1999. Several Supreme Court judges resigned at the time and declined to take a fresh oath under the PCO. Mr Justice Choudhary, the third seniormost judge of the apex court, has taken over as acting Chief Justice as Mr Chief Justice Riaz Ahmed Sheikh and his deputy have gone abroad on official visits. His decision to take oath under the 1973 Constitution followed a similar decision by members of the mainstream political parties in the recently elected National Assembly to take oath only under it and not the Legal Framework Order (LFO) containing the amendments. Mr Justice Choudhury, however, did not refer to the controversy. Answering a question after yesterday’s ceremony, he declined to comment if the other judges of the superior judiciary should also take oath under the 1973 Constitution as they were working under the PCO. “The matter of swearing in under the 1973 Constitution is under consideration. The country is passing through a critical phase and when the process of transition of power would be completed, the situation would be clear,” Mr Chaudhary added.
PTI |
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Jamali, ministers ‘tainted’ Islamabad, January 14 Accused or convicted in a number of corruption, criminal and fraud cases, some ministers are still under investigation while the cases of some have been either closed or brushed under the carpet, at least for the time being, the South Asia Tribune said. Mir Jamali was under probe by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for approving a credit of 100,000 bags of wheat to a mill. The NAB was said to have filed a case against the mill owner but deleted the name of the sanctioning person. However, NAB spokesman Maj Ali said no case was pending against the Prime Minister. Similarly, Speaker of National Assembly Chaudhry Amir Hussain is under investigation on charges of “improperly” allotting a plot in Lahore. While Food and Agriculture Minister Sardar Yar Mohammed Rind had been charged with murder and kidnapping, Minister of Water Resources Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao had been convicted in two references by NAB courts.
UNI |
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Sharif’s family returns
home
Lahore, January 14 Mr Sharif’s sister-in-law, her two daughters and son arrived in Lahore by a flight from the Saudi port of Jeddah, an airport official said on condition of anonymity. Lahore is the family’s home town, but it was not clear whether the four planned to stay in Pakistan or were just visiting. Sadique al-Farooq, a spokesman for Mr Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-N party, confirmed the four had returned. He said there was no deal with the government and that the family was not barred from returning home. “Nothing restricts them to come to Pakistan,” he said. Mr Sharif was ousted by President Gen Pervez Musharraf in a bloodless coup on October 12, 1999. He was thrown in jail on corruption and terrorism charges, and later agreed to a 10-year exile in Saudi Arabia in return for his release from prison. Sabiha Abbas, 40, the wife of Mr Sharif’s youngest brother, and her children were driven from the airport in police vehicles, but a senior police official said the family members had not been arrested.
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Labour says no to Sharon-led govt Jerusalem, January 14 The decision by centre-left Labour appeared aimed at capitalising on corruption scandals swirling around Sharon and his right-wing Likud party, which maintains a lead in the opinion polls. Amram Mitzna, Labour’s candidate for prime ministership, decided to announce he would stay out of any Sharon-led government after internal party surveys showed the move would gain his party up to four seats in the election, the daily Ha’aretz said. “Corruption in the Sharon family and the personal problems hovering over the head of the Prime Minister, as well as the failure of his government, have led us to decide against sitting in a Likud-run government,’’ lawmaker Avraham Burg, Labour campaign manager, told Israel’s Army Radio. Sharon has made clear he wants to form another “national unity’’ coalition with Labour, Likud’s main rival. If he failed to do so, he would be forced to build a narrower government with ultranationalist and religious parties. Such alliances would give Sharon 63 seats in the 120-seat parliament, enough to govern but subject to partners’ demands for concessions that could threaten the coalition’s stability.
Reuters |
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USA for new deal with North Korea Washington, January 14 While the 1994 agreement reached with Pyongyang under the administration of former US President Bill Clinton “did succeed in capping production,” Powell told the daily, it “left intact the capacity for production.” “I think, therefore, that we need a new arrangement and not just go back to the existing framework,” he added. Powell’s comments came as the escalating tension with North Korea eased back yesterday.
AFP |
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Nepal, USA to hold exercises Kathmandu, January 14 A team of the US Pacific Command forces has arrived here to carry out the month-long joint military exercises, Constance Colding Jones, the US Embassy Spokesperson in Kathmandu said.
PTI |
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Death for running Ecstasy factory Jakarta, January 14 Presiding Judge M. Hatta Ali found Ang Kiem Soei, a Dutch citizen of Chinese descent, guilty of producing and selling illegal drugs. The police arrested him in last April and seized 8,000 Ecstasy pills, thousands of dollars and his passport. “The Judges find the defendant guilty and sentence him to death as he has committed the crime in an organised way,” Mr Ali said. Ang Soei was captured after the police raided a building on the western outskirts of the capital of Jakarta. Officers found Ecstasy-making equipment inside, which they estimated had been churning out some 15,000 pills a day for at least three years.
AP |
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Woman killed on wedding day London, January 14 Sahda Bibi, a dressmaker residing in Birmingham, was stabbed 14 times in her head, neck and shoulders as she got ready for a traditional Pakistani wedding at her home. The police yesterday named her first cousin Rafaquat Hussain as the prime suspect for her murder and launched an international manhunt to nab him. They have issued an all-ports alert for Hussain amid fears that he may have already fled to Pakistan. Hussain is said to have strongly disapproved of Sahda’s choice of husband and her decision not to opt for an arranged marriage. Sahda was busy with the final preparations for marrying a man she described as her first real love on Saturday morning, when she was killed. Sahda’s fiancee, Mr Zafar Hussain, from Barnsley, is recovering in hospital after suffering minor stab wounds when he tried to stop the killer from escaping.
UNI |
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