Declining Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry's plea for a full court hearing of his constitutional petition, Acting Chief Justice (ACJ) of Supreme Court of Pakistan, Rana Bhagwandas, Saturday constituted a five-member larger bench for the purpose.

Justice Rana further ordered that the new bench will begin hearing in the case from May 7 on a daily basis till the disposal of the case. Justice Iftikhar's request for staying the proceedings in the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) on presidential reference against him due to resume on May 2 was also not entertained. Rana himself is presiding over the council who competence, composition and jurisdiction has been challenged by Justice Iftikhar in his petition.

Rana ordered that all 36 constitutional petitions filed various bar associations and individuals to reinforce Chief Justice's case be clubbed together for adjudication by the larger bench.

President Musharraf's counsel Sharifuddin Pirzada had opposed Justice Iftikhar's petitions for stay order and its hearing on daily basis from May 2.

The three-member bench presided over by Justice Raza Khan had admitted Justice Iftikhar's constitutional petition and recommended formation of a larger bench. Justice Raza himself recused from hearing the case.

The judge contended that he was member of the Supreme Judicial Council on March 9 when it first met and passed a restraining order forbidding Justice Iftikhar from functioning till the disposal of the reference. Iftikhar has challenged the legality of this order.

The plea for constituting a full court was also turned down for identical reasons because it would have included three of the five members of the SJC, two of whom Iftikhar wants to be excluded - one on the basis of conflict of interests and the other because he himself faces corruption charges.

Justice M Javed Batar will head the new five-judge larger bench which will include Justice Nasirul Mulk, Justice Raja Muhammad Fayyaz, Justice Chaudhry Muhammad Ijaz and Justice Hamid Ali Mirza.

The acquisition of air power by the Tamil Tigers is literally giving government forces sleepless nights with a false alarm triggered on Thursday night plunging the commercial capital Colombo and the area around the international airport at Katunnayaka into darkness and causing widespread panic.

The possibility of a second attack on the country's main air force base adjoining the international airport came after the military received reports of the sighting of two suspicious aircraft around the Puttlam area, about 160 km north of Colombo.

The alert led to the air defence system getting activated with the electricity supplies to the area being cut off along with power supplies to Colombo as well as the Sri Lanka parliament complex, which is situated in a suburb of Colombo as a precautionary measure.

Passengers, who were at the airport, were asked to lie flat on the ground after an announcement was made on a public address system that an emergency situation had arisen. Eye witnesses said they had seen flares flying across the sky and anti-aircraft gunfire was heard all around adding to the panic.

The government said air defence system was activated after a suspicious LTTE aircraft coming from the north was spotted. However, no aircraft move or attack occurred, the Media Centre for National Security said.

Sydney, April 28
Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie is reportedly suffering from a “deadly disease”, according to an influential showbiz newspaper.

Angelina’s recent weight loss and her emaciated and exhausted appearance at a charity news conference in Washington has sparked off reports that she is seriously ill.

According to America’s The National Enquirer magazine, the Original Sin actress has a potentially fatal “serious health problem.” Pre-publication shots of the cover demonstrate headlines claiming Angelina is “losing her hair”, suffers “uncontrollable shaking” and is diseased by blinding headaches.

The magazine also reports that her beau Brad Pitt will stick by the actress, despite reports about the rocky state of their relationship. The reports have become more reliable and believable after Angelina’s brother James Haven’s public statement about his concern for his ailing sister.

Haven has openly stated that he is concerned with her shocking weight loss since giving birth to baby Shiloh last May, and losing her mother to cancer January this year. He has also told a British paper that she was not eating well and that both he and Pitt were concerned and pushing her towards a healthier lifestyle.

But the 32-year-old Tomb Raider star has continues with a series of high-status engagements including her UN charity work and the recent adoption of Vietnamese boy Pax Thien. — ANI

London, April 28
Insurgents in Iraq will attempt to make Prince Harry, the third in line to the British throne, as their prime kidnap target when he arrives in the war-torn area to be deployed as a troop leader of the UK Army, according to a commander of Iraq’s biggest Shiite militia.

“One of our aims is to capture Harry. We have people inside the British bases to inform us on when he will arrive,” Abu Mujtaba, who commands a unit of around 50 men active in the Mahdi army, was quoted as saying by the ‘Guardian’.

Not only us, the Mahdi Army, that would try to capture him, but every person who hates the British and the Americans would try to get him, all the Mujahideen in Iraq, the Al-Qaida, the Iranians all will try to get him, he added.

According to the Daily, Abu Mujtaba has a number of men under his command as well as weaponry, including rockets, but there is no independent evidence to substantiate his claims that militias have infiltrated British bases, or established a unit to target Prince Harry.

A senior Iraqi Defence Ministry official told the newspaper that militias could over-run Basra relatively easily because they had successfully infiltrated local security forces.

“When the Brits formed these forces they depended on these militias for lists of recruits,” he said.

Responding to the threats against Prince Harry, a British defence source said: “This is blatant propaganda from those who aim to tear Iraq apart. These threats will not prevent British forces from doing their vital work of building up the Iraqi security forces and helping them to face down those perpetuating violence against the Iraqi people.”

The Ministry of Defence here said Prince Harry’s deployment on a six-month tour to southeastern Iraq with his regiment, the Blues and Royals of the Household Cavalry, was under “constant consideration”.

“It remains our intention that Prince Harry will be deployed as a troop leader,” it said. — PTI