 |
|
|
No Indian PoWs in jails, claims Pak ‘Musharraf acted maliciously against CJ’
Pak govt, Bar at loggerheads
|
|
|
Ban on Sindh visit
illegal, says Imran
‘Don’t curb movements of Kashmiri leaders’
Perjury Charges 6 killed in Colombo blast 4 dead in Thai blast
Curfew in Bhutanese refugee camps in Nepal
Japanese minister commits suicide
|
|
No Indian PoWs in jails, claims Pak
Islamabad, May 28 “Let me clarify that there are no Indian PoWs in Pakistan,” Foreign office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam told reporters here today. However, permission has been granted to a delegation of relatives to visit 10 such prisoners in Pakistan from June 1 to “assuage” their feelings and to “close the chapter once for all,” she said. According to Indian officials, 13 members of PoWs’ families have been granted permission and their programme is being chalked out. Aslam said the visit was arranged after a number of families approached the Indian government which, in turn, made the request to Pakistan. “We want to be very transparent and there is nothing to hide. This visit will take place.” She also said the issue civilian prisoners was a “bigger humanitarian” concern and Pakistan wanted to see the “activation” of a committee of retired judges from the two countries to meet as soon as possible to suggest measures to alleviate the suffering of hundreds of civilian prisoners from both sides languishing in each other’s jails. — PTI
|
|
|
‘Musharraf acted maliciously against CJ’ President Gen Pervez Musharraf acted maliciously while sending reference against Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry to the Supreme Judicial Council, Iftikhar’s lead counsel Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan told the 13-member full court bench of the Supreme Court here on Monday. Aitzaz contested the argument that the President cannot be made respondent under the Constitution. He said the defence was constrained to make him respondent because Gen Musharraf tried to intimidate Chaudhry and kept insisting that the Chief Justice must submit his resignation. The President was acting maliciously because he feared that Chief Justice might rule against him on some critical issues pertaining to his re-election. When a judge, Faqir Hussain, suggested that the federation instead of the President could have been made respondent, Aitzaz Ahsan said the federation could not have answered the point of malice. He cited several cases in which the President or the Prime Minister have been made respondents. He said the President vented his rage during his meeting with Chaudhry at the Army House on March 9 and asked him to resign. Aitzaz informed the court that he has concluded arguments on maintainability of the constitutional petitions and could begin arguments on merit of the petition. But the court said this issue would be decided on Tuesday. During the hearing, Chaudhry Aitezaz Ahsan told the court that he would be submitting a note relating to the maintainability of the petition in the court on Tuesday. Later, the hearing was adjourned till tomorrow.
|
|
Pak govt, Bar at loggerheads
The Pakistan government has accused the legal fraternity of “politicising” the Supreme Court building by making political speeches at Saturday’s national there and appealed to the SC to take notice of the “violation” of its directives.
It promised to take appropriate legal action on violation of directives of the acting Chief Justice Rana Bhagwandas not to use the occasion for political activities or character assassination. “The ‘political minders’ have badly damaged the neutral status of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. There is not a single precedence of a chief justice of the Supreme Court addressing political gatherings and travelling under political flags,” information minister Muhammad Ali Durrani and minister of state for information Tariq Azeem told a joint press conference here. Government counsel Ahmed Raza Kasuri called for registering sedition cases against Justice Iftikhar and his lawyers and others who shouted slogans against Pakistan army and spoke against former judges of superior judiciary. He said Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was equally responsible for anti-army speeches that are tantamount to sedition. The allegations were rejected by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), which insisted that the decorum of the SC building was maintained by speakers. SCBA secretary Z.A. Bukhari in a statement described Durrani’s contention as misleading. He said the Chief Justice did not make any political statement while other speakers talked about issues they have been doing for the past two months. He said no directive of the acting Chief Justice was violated nor any politician was invited to the auditorium.
|
|
Ban on Sindh visit illegal, says Imran
Islamabad, May 28 Speaking over the telephone to a conference organised by the Sindh Taraqi Pasand Party (STPP) in Hyderabad, he said he would lodge a case against MQM chief Altaf Hussain in London and he was personally collecting evidence to support the case. The Tehrik-e-Insaf party leader was barred from entering Sindh by the provincial government after the MQM alleged that it would hold demonstrations against him in the city, until he apologised for his alleged outburst against Hussain. Khan alleged that Hussain, who was living in self-exile in London, was responsible for the May 12 violence in Karachi, during the visit of suspended Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikar M Chaudhry in which 42 people were killed. The conference was attended by 14 political parties of Sindh, Balochistan and North West Frontier Province. Khan said he was not against the Urdu-speaking people who were migrants from India, but instead termed Hussain, who hailed from the ‘mohajir’ (migrant) community, as a "terrorist". Calling upon all political parties to unite against Pervez Musharraf, he said the President claimed to be against terrorism, but he himself was supporting the MQM. The meeting demanded that the MQM be declared a "terrorist group", the Chief Justice be restored and a caretaker government be formed under his supervision.
— PTI
|
|
|
‘Don’t curb movements of Kashmiri leaders’
Islamabad, May 28 “The Kashmiris have repeatedly supported Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s proposal for resolution of the longstanding dispute,” Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said at a weekly press briefing here. She said in his proposal, President Musharraf had suggested the identification of regions as a first step followed by
de-militarisation, self-governance and joint
management. — UNI
|
|
|
Perjury Charges
Lahore, May 28 The case of Shumail Raj, who was born female but had two operations to remove her breasts and uterus 16 years ago, and Shahzina Tariq has made waves by raising issues of homosexuality and trans-sexuality which are a taboo in the conservative Muslim society. The couple, who married last year, had approached the Lahore High Court for protection against harassment by Tariq's relatives. However, the judge accused them of lying about the gender of Raj, 31. Court-appointed doctors examined Raj and decided she was still a woman -- something the couple acknowledged later in court. Raj has expressed a desire to go abroad for surgery to become a male. Presiding Judge Kahawaja Mohammed Sharif, announcing their conviction for perjury, said he was issuing a "lenient" sentence, below the seven-year maximum, because they had apologised. The judge also fined them 10,000 Pakistani rupees and dropped a charge of committing an act of unnatural lust -- which can be punished by life in prison. Raj and Shahzina Tariq, 26, appeared shocked by the verdict. Defence attorney Zahid Husain Bilal said the couple would appeal and hoped for an acquittal.
— AP
|
|
Colombo, May 28 The explosion occurred along the main Galle road at Ratmalana, 15 km south of Colombo, where Lankan air force maintains its main fixed-wing transport base. The Colombo South hospital said 21 people were admitted there following the blast and five of them were brought dead. Six others were taken to the nearby Panadura hospital where one succumbed to his injuries. Military officials blamed the Tamil Tigers for the bombing. However, there was no immediate word from the Tigers. — PTI
|
|
|
4 dead in Thai blast
Bangkok, May 28 "Initial reports suggest that four people have died and 23 people were injured by the bomb," said police senior sergeant major Samroeng
Chayapan, an officer in the area where the bomb hit. He said that the blast hit a market in Saba Yoi district in Songkhla province at about 3.40 pm. Another local police officer said it was likely that the bomb was planted in a car or on a motorcycle. The attack came as the police began investigating seven small coordinated bombs that wounded 13 people last night at businesses across Hat
Yai, Songkhla’s provincial capital and a popular tourist hub. Officials have refused to say whether those blasts were linked to an ongoing separatist insurgency in the south, which has killed more than 2,200 people since January 2004.
— AFP
|
|
|
Curfew in Bhutanese refugee camps in Nepal
The local authority of Jhapa and Morang districts in eastern Nepal on Monday imposed an indefinite curfew on all seven Bhutanese refugee camps as the latter intensified their protest against Sunday's police action in which a teenager had died.
According to the Nepal office of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), "the government authorities have declared a curfew in all the seven refugee camps in Jhapa and Morang districts in eastern Nepal and 500 meters surrounding the camps." Meanwhile, India has sealed its border with Jhapa as the Bhutanese refugees taking shelter in eastern Nepal announced to hold a "long march" to Bhutan by crossing the Mechi bridge today to show their keen interest of repatriation.
|
|
Japanese minister commits suicide
Tokyo, May 28 Earlier, Matsuoka was found unconscious in his room at a residential complex for lawmakers in central Tokyo near Parliament, and media reports said he had attempted to hang himself in the room. Matsuoka’s death comes less than two months before an election to Parliament’s upper house, a key test for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government. Media reports have linked Matsuoka to a number of political fund scandals.
— Reuters
|
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
In
video (
