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Pervez to continue for another 5 years
Musharraf regime bought oil from Iraq: PPP
Thousands defy curfew in Kathmandu
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Idols of Hindu deities vandalised
Sikh pilgrims to visit Pak
26 die in Pak stampede
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Pervez to continue for another 5 years
Islamabad, April 9 He would decide at a later date whether to get re-elected by the present National and Provincial Assemblies or by the new bodies to be formed after the elections, Mr Rashid told reporters in Rawalpindi yesterday. He said General Musharraf, who seized power after a military coup, was “constitutionally” elected as President after the 2002 general elections by the National and four Provincial Assemblies. Defending General Musharraf holding the posts of President and Army Chief, Mr Rashid said a uniformed president was imperative for the country as enemies of the nation were engaged in nefarious designs. He also expressed hope that the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) and its allies, comprising supporters of former Prime Ministers Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto, would win the next election with a big margin. Mr Rashid’s comments came two days after Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sher Afghan Niazi said the poll for the National and Provincial Assemblies would be held in February 2008 instead of the next year when they were due. The existing national and provincial assemblies would complete their five-year term on November 16, 2007, and the next general elections will be held within 90 days after the dissolution of the assemblies which could be February, 2008, Mr Niazi had said. The elections would be followed by the election for the new President within 30 days after the completion of the poll process, he said, adding that the President was bound to dissolve the present assemblies under Article 52 of the Constitution after completion of five-year constitutional period.
— PTI |
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Musharraf regime bought oil from Iraq: PPP
Islamabad, April 9 Chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had claimed that Bhutto gave $2 million commission to the regime of Saddam Hussein to win contracts worth 115 million through two Sharjah-based companies she registered in 2000 and 2001. The Pakistan’s People’s Party (PPP) has hit back at the government, saying the charges against their leader were a “cover up” by President Pervez Musharraf’s government for buying $500 million worth of oil from Iraq by paying four million dollars as surcharge to the Saddam’s regime. “According to documentary evidence available, under the Musharraf military dictatorship, three companies brought oil for it from Iraq under the oil-for-food programme worth nearly $ 500 million paying cumulatively over 4 million in surcharge to the Saddam regime”, a statement issued by Amin
Fahim, Vice President of the PPP headed by Ms Bhutto, said. Fahim named three contracting companies which have paid surcharge to the Saddam regime and called for a Parliamentary probe.
— PTI |
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Thousands defy curfew in Kathmandu
Kathmandu, April 9 A woman, who sustained bullet injuries in yesterday’s firing by the army during demonstrations in Bharatpur municipality of Chitawan, died this morning at a hospital. Earlier, an activist was killed in the Army firing in the western resort town of Pokhara during demonstrations yesterday. The government clamped daytime curfew in Chitawan and also in the Rupandehi district in western Nepal to control the situation. It also imposed a curfew in Pokhara. Southwest Nepal’s Butwal, Taulihawa and Bharatpur areas were also under curfew. Some 5,000 demonstrators vandalised the Party office of Home Minister Kamal Thapa at Anaam Nagar, according to a local journalist. The protesters broke into the office of Rastriya Prajatatra Party’s breakaway faction known as RPP (Thapa). The royal government imposed the 13-hour curfew from 7 am for the second consecutive day today in a bid to the foil the seven-party alliance’s protest shows against the King. However, demonstrations were held in many parts of Kathmandu on the last day of the four-day nationwide anti-monarchy general strike called by the seven-party alliance, which also has the backing of the Maoists, despite the heavy mobilisation of army and police personnel. The police arrested at least 48 protesters from different parts of the capital. Those arrested included Nepal Backward and Ethnic Community chairman Lal Bahadur Bishwokarma and student leaders Madhusudan Poudyal and Asta Maharjan, party sources said. Around 10,000 persons, defying curfew, marched from Samakhusi to Balaju, said eyewitnesses. They were raising anti-King and pro-democracy slogans. Clashes also occurred between protesters and the security personnel in various areas, including Lokanthali, Putalisadak, Buddhanagar, Baneswor and Shantinagar. In Ghattekulo, Jivan Bhattarai, a student activist, was injured in police firing and a government motor cycle was burnt by the demonstrators. In Bhaktapur, the police allegedly entered houses of local residents and baton-charged them, leaving some people injured. Angry people then vandalised the ward office of Bhaktapur Municipality, according to a private radio. A radio journalist was detained for three hours and beaten up by the police, it claimed. The seven-party alliance also planned to hold demonstrations in the core area of Kathmandu defying curfew and restriction orders, party sources said.
—— PTI |
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Idols of Hindu deities vandalised
Vandals decapitated and dismembered statues of Hindu deities and caused several thousand dollars in damage to a $9 million Hindu temple being constructed in Maple Grove, a Minneapolis suburb, on April 5.
Temple and police officials said the walls of the auditorium and ceiling of a dining hall in the temple were riddled with puncture marks apparently caused by blows from a baseball bat. The temple is being built by the Hindu Society of Minnesota. There are more than 20,000 Hindus in Minnesota and between 1 million and 1.6 million in the USA. Democratic state Senator Satveer Chaudhary, an Indian American, urged the police to investigate the vandalism as a potential hate crime. "This was a crime against an obviously minority institution, and there is no way the perpetrators did not know that," he said. "Also, the focus of the destruction on Hindu sculptures was particularly heinous." Numerous architects have been working for more than two years on the temple which was scheduled to open in June. Mr Chaudhary said this was to be one of the largest Hindu temples in North America. According to the Hindu Society, the City of Maple Grove has been enthusiastically involved in the planning and construction of the new temple and city officials are extremely distressed by the acts of vandalism. "It's hard to understand why someone will do something so violent to a place of peace," Mr Chaudhary said. He noted that the Hindu society was confident it would be able to repair the damage. |
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Sikh pilgrims to visit Pak
Islamabad, April 9 Chairman of the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) Lt Gen Zulfiqar Ali Khan (retd) said this while talking to Pakistan’s officials APP news agency here today. He said the ETPB will make arrangements for boarding and lodging of the visiting pilgrims.— PTI |
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26 die in Pak stampede
Karachi, April 9 "At the moment, we are receiving news of injured being brought to various hospitals in critical condition. But, we can confirm that 26, including 21 women and five children, have been killed in the stampede while the initial injured list is 50," a police spokesman said.
—PTI |
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Islamabad, April 9
