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Chaudhry files petition against Musharraf, SJC
No deal with Pervez: PPP leaders
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PML shifts venue of beauticians’ conference
Another scare rattles Virginia Tech campus
Police hunt for Virginia Tech killer’s motives
‘Hello, how are you?’ said gunman before shooting
Baghdad bombs kill 160
N-deal: USA ‘can go only this far’
Indian pleads guilty of stabbing professor
85 Indians to perform in Pak
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Chaudhry files petition against Musharraf, SJC
Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry filed a constitutional petition before the full Supreme Court, challenging all actions by President Musharraf and the Supreme Judicial Council, during break in the proceedings of the council on Wednesday.
The council turned down the plea by Justice Iftikhar's lead counsel Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan saying that the council must first deliver its verdict on his objections and that three of the five judges on the bench have personal bias against him. He further submitted that the council is incomplete without the Chief Justice. As such it has no jurisdiction to impeach the Chief Justice, which can be conducted only by full bench of the Supreme Court. Acting Chief Justice Rana Bhagwandas observed that the council would give its ruling on all objections raised by the defence instead of pronouncing anything on the bias plea. The council adjourned the hearing till April 24. Outside the Supreme Court, lawyers and political parties staged another massive demonstration, while demanding withdrawal of the presidential reference, against Justice Chaudhry. Big rallies were staged in Karachi, Lahore and other major and small towns across the country, while lawyers boycotted courts during the day. The SJC will resume hearing on April 18 and will also meet on May 2 and May 5 to adjudicate on all the objections raised by the
defence.
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No deal with Pervez: PPP leaders
Even as reports of the Musharraf-Benazir deal have rocked the national scene,PML secretary-general Mushahid Hussain while saying his party is not involved in the ongoing talks between the government and the PPP, believes reconciliation is not a bad idea.
Meanwhile, PPP leaders have denied reports of a deal with the
government, saying such reports are aimed at diverting public attention from current issues. "The PML is not directly involved in the talks with the PPP,"Hussain told reporters,but he supported the negotiations."Reconciliation is not a bad plan.A new political culture needs to be developed.A deal always involves a degree of compromise," he said,adding he would not comment further on the issue because contradictory statements from ministers had already created embarrassment for the PML. While Mushahid has always advocated rapprochement with exiled leaders, PML chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and his cousin and Punjab chief minister Pervez Elahi have been vehemently opposing it and on many occasions persuaded Musharraf to abandon the idea which they believe would have a demoralising impact on the PML. Railway minister Shaikh Rashid Ahmed who is widely regarded as reflecting President Musharraf's thinking, yesterday spelt out parameters of the covert contacts with Ms Benazir which, he said,were "in the final stages".He said a three-step approach was being discussed which visualised Gen Musharraf's re-election as President (by the existing assemblies), the withdrawal of the cases against Benazir and Asif Ali Zardari, and, finally, Benazir's return home. Media reports say the deal or understanding has been negotiated by top emissaries of President Musharraf who are supposed to have held four rounds of talks in Dubai and Islamabad over a week and finally evolved a concerted approach. The PPP "will first support the re-election of the President by the present assemblies, and later endorse him in the assemblies after the general elections". In return,the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) will stop pursuing corruption cases against Benazir and Asif Ali Zardari in the Swiss courts. PML information secretary and junior minister for information, Tariq Azeem disputed the use of the word 'deal', saying that only contacts had been established. "These contacts are meant to take the country forward. President Musharraf does not want to conceal anything from the people." He welcomed PPP chief Benazir Bhutto's willingness to work with President Musharraf. "She has recognised the viewpoint of saner elements and acknowledged the mood and wishes of the people of Pakistan after seven years. Better late than never." Meanwhile, PPP deputy secretary-general Raza Rabbani and central information secretary Sherry Rehman rejected reports that the party had reached a deal with the government, saying such reports were a part of the government "disinformation campaign". "PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto is making no deal with Gen Musharraf. All reports in this regard are baseless and misleading," said Rabbani. However, he admitted that the PPP had back-channel contacts with the government for "ensuring free and fair elections and restoration of true democracy in Pakistan."
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PML shifts venue of beauticians’ conference
The ruling Pakistan Muslim (PML) on Wednesday suddenly shifted the venue of the beauticians conference from its headquarters to a hotel here apparently fearing a backlash from clerics currently locked in a standoff with government. Hundreds of beauticians from across the country have converged on the capital for the first ever two-day conference of fashion parlours that is designed to promote Gen Musharraf's concept of "enlightened moderation" and giving a soft image to Pakistan. The clerics of Islamabad's Lal Masjid,who are overlording protest campaign by girl students of a seminary (Jamia Hafsa) in the capital,are calling for immediate enforcement of Islamic Shariah in the country and vowed to halt all "obscene" and un-Islamic activities. PML chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain who was supposed to inaugurate the conference, withdrew at the eleventh hour.He ordered the venue be shifted to a lesser known hotel in the city. Shujaat has been negotiating the resolution of the Hafsa stalemate.The PML chief was reportedly advised by senior party leaders that such "high jinks" like the beauticians' conference would further enrage the clerics who may snap the negotiations he has been holding to end the impasse. Shujaat's directive to shift the venue was immediately implemented and the chief of PML Labour Wing Syed Faqir Hussain Bokhari ordered the office staff to dismantle all the stalls and shift them to the new venue.
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Another scare rattles Virginia Tech campus
Blacksburg, Va, April 18 The threat of suspicious activity turned out to be unfounded, said Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said, and the building was reopened. But students were rattled. "They were just screaming, 'Get off the sidewalks,'" said Terryn Wingler-Petty, a junior from Wisconsin. "They seemed very confused about what was going on. They were just trying to get people organised." One officer was seen escorting a crying young woman out, telling her, "It's OK. It's OK." Roommates and professors began opening up Wednesday about the gunman who had killed 32 people and himself in two university buildings on Monday. Roommates said Cho Seung-Hui rarely spoke or made eye contact with them and that his bizarre behaviour became even less predictable in recent weeks. Cho started waking up as early as 5.30 am instead of his usual 7 am, his roommate, Joseph Aust, told ABC's "Good Morning America." "I tried to make conversation with him earlier in the year when he moved in," Aust said. "He would just give one-word answers and stay quiet. He pretty much never looked me in the eye." Aust was among many students and professors who described the killer in the worst shooting massacre in modern US history as a sullen loner, and authorities said he left a rambling note raging against women and rich kids. News reports said that Cho, a 23-year-old senior majoring in English, may have been taking medication for depression and that he was becoming increasingly violent and erratic. Professors and classmates were alarmed by his class writings — pages filled with twisted, violence-drenched writing. — AP
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Police hunt for Virginia Tech killer’s motives
Blacksburg, Va, April 18 A chilling portrait of Cho Seung-Hui, a 23-year-old South Korean, has emerged from accounts of fellow students and teachers and from writings for his English degree that were dominated by disillusioned, violent characters. Noted US poet Nikki Giovanni, who teaches at Virginia Tech, told CNN that she had insisted that Cho be removed from her class in 2005 because he had intimidated other students by photographing them and by writing obscene, violent poetry. “I was willing to resign before I would continue with him,” she said. “There was something mean about this boy. There was a real mean streak.” Lucinda Roy, an English professor who taught Cho, was so concerned that he might be dangerous that she set up a code with her assistant; if she said the name of a certain deceased professor, her assistant would call for help, the New York Times reported today. Cho, who emigrated to the USA 15 years ago and was raised in suburban Washington, DC, on Monday, opened fire in classrooms in a building where he chained doors to prevent escape before cutting down his victims one by one. He later killed himself. He was found with the words “Ismael Ax” written in red ink on an arm, the Post reported law enforcement sources as saying. It was unclear what the words meant. Neighbours, roommates and teachers described Cho as a withdrawn person who rarely spoke. Two students who said they were Cho’s roommates said he had harassed several female students and once told them he wanted to kill himself, which prompted the roommates to report their concerns to the police. Cho used two handguns, which police confirmed he had purchased legally, and stopped only to reload. Police have stopped short of saying he was responsible for the shooting deaths of two other people two hours earlier at a dormitory but said tests showed the same gun was used in both incidents. Many students were still angry about the university’s failure to shut down the campus after the first shooting. The massacre has revived the debate over US gun control laws, which are the most lenient in the Western world. ABC News reported that one of the guns, a 9mm Glock, and ammunition were purchased on March 13 for 571 dollars from a shop about 30 miles from the Virginia Tech campus. President George W. Bush, in an interview on NBC yesterday, refused to answer questions on the gun control issue. “Now is not the time,” he said. “I’m more interested in helping people heal right now. And that’s why we’re here.” In Seoul, President Roh Moo-hyun expressed shock and anguish over the shooting rampage. “I and my fellow citizens can only feel shock and a wrenching of our hearts,” Roh told a news conference on Wednesday, expressing his condolences to the victims, their families and the US people. “I hope US society can get over such immense sadness and find a sense of composure as soon as possible.” The university, which has 25,000 full-time students, held a memorial service and candle-lit vigil yesterday as students struggled with shock and grief. Piles of stuffed animals, flowers and slips of papers with scrawled memories and messages to the victims were growing up around the campus. “Rest in peace fellow Hokies,” said one handwritten note, a reference to the nickname of the school’s athletic teams. “I will never forget you.” — Reuters
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‘Hello, how are you?’ said gunman before shooting
Seoul, April 18 Park Chang-Min was describing the terror which came to the US university Monday when his compatriot Cho Seung-Hui staged the deadliest school shooting in US history. Park was speaking to South Korean journalists in the US from his hospital bed, where he is recovering from wounds to his chest and arm. The 27-year-old engineering student was sitting at the back of a class in applied hydrology when the gunman walked in. “He hid his face behind a mask and had his brown-coloured cap lowered to his eyes. He wore glasses and something like a black ammn jacket,” Park said, according to the website of JoongAng Uhn newspaper. “We were only minutes into the class. There were about 15 students in the room. I was sitting in the back. The man came in with two handguns and a lot of ammn,” Park said. “He shot the professor first and spread bullets toward us.In a moment, the room turned into a bloody hell. “I got down intuitively, even did not notice a bullet brush my chest and right arm. The shooter then stepped out and entered the next room where a German class was being held. “I think I heard the gunman saying’ Hello, how are you?’ before he opened fire there,” Park said. “It took a long while after everything became quiet before police entered the room. They said, Anyone who is okay, raise their hands, Me and two others got up. All the others were either lying fare down on their desks or sprawled on the floor”. — AFP
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Baghdad, April 18 The explosive-rigged car blew up in the Al-Sadriyah district, home to a mixed Kurdish and Shiite population. More than 137 people were wounded, including women and children. The defence ministry has put the death toll at 112 with 115 wounded, although a medic at the capital's Al-Kindi hospital said doctors there had received 69 bodies alone. Markets are frequent target for bombings by the Sunni extremists bent on slaughtering Shiites, the majority community in Iraq, which now heads the government and dominates the security forces. The bombings have continued despite a massive security crackdown launched more than two months ago that has seen thousands of Iraqi and the US troops patrolling the capital's streets. — AFP
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N-deal: USA ‘can go only this far’
Frustrated by Indian demands and the slow pace of negotiations on a civilian nuclear deal,Washington has indicated there is only so much it can do within US law and India “needs to appreciate that.” On Monday, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said while President George W. Bush’s Administration understood that “a negotiation is about give and take,” the Indian government “needs to appreciate” that there are some areas in which the U.S. is restricted by its laws.“We have sought to be flexible and we have sought to be a good negotiating partner, and I think the record will show that,” he said.India wants permission to buy uranium-enrichment and plutonium-reprocessing technology from the USA and the right to test a nuclear weapon. A source close to the talks told The Tribune the main Indian obstacle in the path of the deal was the Department of Atomic Energy,which found it difficult to live with the requirements of U.S. law which required that agreements contained a U.S. right to consent to the reprocessing of spent fuel produced from U.S-supplied nuclear material or produced in U.S.-supplied reactors, the source explained.India wants advance, long-term consent to reprocessing. It is not unprecedented for the USA to give long-term,advance consent for reprocessing.It has given this to Japan and EURATOM (European Atomic Energy Community).It took years to negotiate these long-term arrangements- the first during President Ronald Reagan’s Administration and the second during President Bill Clinton’s time in office.In the deal with India,“ the U.S. has to have the right in the agreement and is prepared to consider Indian requests only on a case-by-case basis,” the source said. The source, who was involved in negotiating the agreements with EURATOM and Japan,said those negotiations were complicated and took many years. One of the major issues concerned the conditions under which the USA had the right to withdraw its consent, e.g. if it determined that its national security or nonproliferation interests would be threatened by the continued reprocessing, the U.S. could withdraw its consent to reprocessing. This and related issues have apparently not been raised in the discussions with India.The discussions are stuck at the point where the Indians are asking for long-term, advance consent and the U.S. is insisting on the right to consent and on considering requests for reprocessing on a case-by-case basis. “The Indians sought to reprocess under the now expired Tarapur agreement and the U.S. refused.This is one of the reasons that the Indians want advance consent up front,” the source explained. If the U.S. does grant an Indian request to reprocess either on a long-term or case-by-case basis,the plutonium and uranium recovered from that reprocessing must remain subject to safeguards and the other nonproliferation controls of the agreement. “If the Indians wanted to use that recovered plutonium in a breeder [reactor], the breeder would have to be subject to safeguards,” the source said, adding, the DAE would strongly resist that.
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Indian pleads guilty of stabbing professor
Washington, April 18 Twentythree-year old Nikhil Dhar from Kolkata entered guilty pleas yesterday to charges of armed assault with intent to murder and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. He had been scheduled to go on trial in Middlesex Superior Court last Wednesday.But two days before the
trial, his attorney said his client had decided to plead guilty in an agreement with prosecutors because of overwhelming evidence implicating him in the attack on December 22, 2005. Judge Diane Kottmyer sentenced Dhar to four to five years in state prison.
— PTI
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85 Indians to perform in Pak
Islamabad, April 18 The eight-day
festival, which began yesterday, was initially scheduled to be held in
March. It was postponed due to non-issuance of visas to a number of
Indian artistes. — PTI
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