Amidst continuing standoff between the government and defiant clerics in a mosque in Islamabad, President Pervez Musharraf presided over a meeting of top leadership of the coalition government and decided to hold back the use of force and give back-channel negotiations another chance.

It decided to keep all options open for maintaining law and order and preventing administrators and students of Lal Masjid and the Jamia Hafsa occupied by militant clerics from challenging the writ of the government. The two-month long stalemate at the religious seminary and capital’s central mosque where two clerics have threatened countrywide suicide attacks if government launched any operation to dislodge them, has caused domestic and international embarrassment to Musharraf for failure to establish writ of the government.

“If the peaceful means and negotiations fail to make any headway, the government would be left with no option but to take action,” a ruling party leaqder who attended the meeting told reporters.

The meeting focused on law and order in the context of the activities of the administrators of Lal Masjid and students of the Jamia Hafsa, and situation in the tribal belt and Parachinar.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, Pakistan Muslim League president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, interior minister Aftab Sherpao, law minister Wasi Zafar, religious affairs minister Ejaz-ul-Haq, information minister Muhammad Ali Durrani, and heads of intelligence agencies attended the marathon session.

Though Shujaat expressed his optimism about the outcome of his talks with the administrators of Lal Masjid and the Jamia Hafsa, some top religious figures would hold separate talks to end the stalemate, said an inside source

Musharraf approved this strategy of “dialogue before reaching the dead-end” and launching action against lawbreakers and those trying to create a state within a state. It will be a parallel strategy of preparing for action, as the participants considered the activities of the Lal Masjid and the Jamia Hafsa administrators and students, as “intolerable”. The dominant view at the meeting was that use of force would lead to lot of blood letting as the girls at Hafsa were determined to fight back.

Musharraf and Shaukat, however, made it clear that rule of law would be ensured in the federal capital and other parts with no one allowed to take the law into their hands. Meanwhile, the government has conveyed its willingness to defiant clerics in Islambad’s seminary and central mosque launch an operation in the capital to force the closure of brothels operating in various localities.

In an oblique reference to his ally Benazir Bhutto, exiled premier Nawaz Sharif has said he is neither waiting for a nod from the US nor aspiring to gain power riding on the “shoulders of foreign forces”.

“People of Pakistan are our politics and strength,” he said in a telephonic address to central working committee meeting of his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in Islamabad. The speech betrayed Sharif’s growing unease at Bhutto’s covert negotiations with Musharraf emissaries to strike a deal.

Sharif said his party would not compromise on principles nor would seek a deal with a military dictator. “I have reached a deal with the people of my country and will not betray their trust,” he said.

The former premier said in his recent meeting with Bhutto in Dubai he had cautioned her that whosoever entered into any deal or “dheel” (relaxation) with the government and shakes hands with the dictator, would get nothing but “humiliation and disgrace in return”.

The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) will never accept a president in uniform because it was against its manifesto, PPP chairwoman Benazir Bhutto said in an interview to a private TV channel, adding that uniform and democracy were contradiction in terms.

Bhutto said that the PPP and the government had been in talks since 2002. “But the two sides have yet not reached an agreement and there is no deal between the two,” she added.

Asked if Musharraf without uniform would be acceptable to her as president, Bhutto said this formulation would have to be debated within the party for a final decision. At the moment no such option had been offered to her.

She also vowed that she would be in Pakistan this year before elections. She also expressed concern over the chief justice’s suspension.

London, April 10
The number of prosperous Indians seeking to buy high-end property in London and elsewhere in Britain is growing exponentially, and most are willing to pay well over 1 million pounds for a place under the British sun.

Thanks to a growing economy and globalisation of enterprise, more and more Indian companies are opening offices in London to leverage its geographical, historical and financial advantages. This has resulted in swathes of prime property being bought by Indian entrepreneurs either for themselves or their companies.

Indian businessmen now rival Chinese and Russian plutocrats in chasing prime property in London, according to leading estate agents.
Joining the chase is Shilpa Shetty, winner of reality show “Celebrity Big Brother”, who is reported to be buying a home in the trendy Hoxton area of north London.

The record for buying the most expensive property in London so far stands in the name of Lakshmi Mittal, who bought numbers 18-19, Kensington Palace Gardens, for 57.1 million pounds in 2004.

The Indian buyers do not only come from India but also include the British Indians who have settled here for several years. And having done well, they are keen to move upwards on the property ladder.

Estate agents say that such is the interest from Indian buyers that many agents have now set up a separate desk to deal with Indian buyers. These include Savills, a top-end estate agency, Hamptons and Knight Frank.

London has a unique place in the Indian imagination. The capital is seen as a safe investment destination that includes all cultural and other accoutrements attractive to the globalised Indian entrepreneur. Owning property in London or having a London address is seen as a key statement for this growing class.

London is said to be particularly attractive to the global super-rich because of its accessibility, stability, low taxation and global standing of its financial institutions. It is seen as a magnet to the world’s billionaires.

According to Sheetell Halai, who runs Savills’ India desk: “The question (for Indians) used to be, ‘How big is your house?’ Now it’s, ‘How many do you have?’” She says the majority of her clients are looking for flats, with a budget of 1 million to 6 million pounds.

She told local media that Indians in search of houses were prepared to pay 7 million to 8 million pounds. Savills is also planning to target expatriate Indians based in Hong Kong, Shanghai and the US, keen to invest in London.

Such is the pace of acquisition by Indians that estate agents are already talking of a new ‘Asian arc’. — IANS

Dubai, April 10
The Federation of Indian Muslim Associations (FIMA), a Kuwait-based apex body of 13 Indian Muslim associations has chosen three prominent Indians for its 2007 excellence award.

The honour, to be presented at a mega event to mark the federation’s 10th anniversary on April 13, is to be conferred on CPM Politburo member Sitaram Yechury, retired judge of the Supreme Court and former Tamil Nadu Governor Justice Fatima Beevi and a retired IAS officer Harsh Mandar.

Renowned Muslim scholar and former MP Abdussamad Samadani will be the guest of honour, FIMA president Kareen Irfan said, adding these dignitaries always fought for the cause of minorities and promoted secularism through their writings, speeches and works.

FIMA, established in 1996, has honoured several prominent Indian personalities in the past like Sonia Gandhi, Muslim League leader Sayed Mohammed Ali Shihab Thangal, E Ahamed, C M Ibrahim, Dilip Kumar, Dr M K Muneer and E T Mohammed Basheer among others. — UNI