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President not above CJ: Attorney
Pak govt might arraign lawyers
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China asks India not to bring differences to the fore Russia test fires next generation missile
6 die in Pak car explosion
9 die in Nepal blast
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President not above CJ: Attorney
“The President is not above the Chief Justice and in no way above the law,” Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan, lead attorney of suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, said to the 13-judge full court Bench of the Supreme Court, which was hearing the constitutional petititions against his suspension and impeachment by the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC). Ahsan repudiated the contention that under the Constitution, the President could not be impeached for any of his actions in a court of law for whatever reason. He contended that the Supreme Court had the authority to review any action of the President or the Prime Minister, particularly if it was illegal or malafide. He quoted several law cases decided by superior courts in Pakistan and India on this subject. The judges during intervention showed concern that Justice Chaudhry had made the President respondent in his petitions and asked Ahsan if he could strike off the President’s name from the list of respondents unless he considered it “indispensable and absolutely necessary.” Ahsan declined to do so saying it was integral to the CJ's petition which had maintained that Gen. Musharraf displayed malice and prejudice against him, while insisting that Musharraf should resign or face the reference. The court adjourned hearing till Wednesday when another defence attorney and an eminent former judge, Fakhruddin G. Ibrahim would present his arguments. Meanwhile, Suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry today filed an affidavit with the Supreme Court unveiling in detail the mystery of his five-hour ordeal in the Army House on March 9 when President Musharraf confronted him with certain allegations and asked him to resign which he declined. In his affidavit, Justice Iftikhar has stated Musharraf referred to a complaint he had received from a judge of the Peshawar High Court which was refuted. A few more allegations were made on the contents of a letter written by Naeem Bukhari which were put to the deponent. The deponent strongly refuted these allegations as being baseless and engineered to defame him personally and the judiciary as a whole. On this, Musharraf said that the deponent had obtained cars from the Supreme Court for his family which was vehemently denied. He insisted that the deponent should resign. The President said that in case of deponent's resignation, he (Musharraf) would 'accommodate' him. Despite several attempts to leave the room and the Army House, the deponent was made to stay there on one pretext or the other. His request to bring his car to the porch for departure was also denied. After the first meeting with the President which lasted for not more than 30 minutes, the deponent was kept there 'absolutely against his will' till past 5 pm. When the deponent saw the car of the Chief Justice of Pakistan, he discovered that his car had been stripped of both the flag of Pakistan and the emblem. When the deponent got home, he was shocked to see police officials and agencies personnel without uniform all over his residence.
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Pak govt might arraign lawyers
Amid reports that the government is mulling the option to arraign speakers and lawyers for the anti-army outbursts and slogans at a national seminar here at the Supreme Court on May 26, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has said nobody will be allowed to defame the army. Condemning the language used against the armed forces by the lawyers at a seminar, Aziz said Pakistan's armed forces were the asset of the country and no true Pakistani could even think of maligning them. Talking to reporters, he said Pakistan's armed forces had come forward every time to rescue the nation whenever a crisis confronted it. "The nation has a lot of respect for the armed forces and will continue to do so. However, the language used by the lawyers (at the seminar on Separation of Power and Judicial Independence) has not only hurt the sentiments of the forces, but also of the masses which is a condemnable act. He said in the seminar, retired judges also came under fire for their decisions made in the past and the Supreme Court should take notice of the political statements uttered by the lawyers. When his attention was drawn towards the statement of President in which he stated that there was no need to conduct a probe into the gory Karachi shoot-outs that claimed over 40 lives, he said the Sindh High Court has taken notice of the incident.
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China asks India not to bring differences to the fore Beijing, May 29 “We hold that the boundary issue between China and India should be settled fairly and reasonably at an early date through friendly consultations,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Jiang Yu said. Before the boundary settlement, differences should not be brought into the front, affecting exchanges between the two nations, Jiang told PTI here when asked to comment on Beijing's refusal to grant visa to an Indian IAS official from Arunachal Pradesh. “China welcomes the friendly exchanges between the two nations,” Jiang said without confirming the denial of Chinese visa to Gonesh
Koyu, an IAS officer of the Arunachal Pradesh cadre who was a part of a 107-strong delegation of IAS officers who planned to travel to China. “We welcome the Indian personnel to come and visit China and participate in the training programme,” she said, apparently referring to New Delhi's decision to cancel the visit of 107 IAS officers for mid-career training in China. She did not indicate the reason why China denied the visa to Koyu or whether China was willing to reconsider its decision to deny visa to the Indian official from the Arunachal Pradesh cadre.
— PTI
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Russia test fires next generation missile Moscow, May 29 “The RS-24 with multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicle (MIRV) warheads was launched from a mobile missile launcher system at 2:20 pm Moscow time (15:50 IST) from the northern test-range in Plesetsk,” a defence ministry spokesman announced. “The targets have been reached and objectives achieved completely,” Military spokesman Vadim Koval told Russia state TV, adding that the ICBM’s destination was a testing ground, 10 time zones away in Kamchatka peninsula in the Far East. Koval said the new ICBM met all international requirements in terms of strategic offensive arms control regimes and was capable of avoiding missile defence systems and, consequently, would enhance Russia’s nuclear deterrent potential when deployed. The government-run RIA Novosti agency noted that the latest test comes against the background of growing tensions between Moscow and the West due US plans to deploy elements of its global antiballistic missile defence system in Central Europe.
— PTI
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6 die in Pak car explosion
Islamabad, May 29 The car in which the bomb was suspected to have been planted was parked near the High Court building in the city, Mayor Ghulam Ali said. The blast comes weeks after a suicide bomb blast in a restaurant owned by Uzbek Afghan national in the city killing over 20 persons. Today's blast also followed several incidents yesterday in the NWFP and the nearby tribal areas in which suspected pro-Taliban militants shot dead a senior Pakistani security official at Tank while a suicide car bomber killed two paramilitary soldiers in the Boltonabad area. Hours before that the police killed four local Taliban in Bannu, the hometown of Chief Minister of the North West Frontier Province Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani yesterday. Militants yesterday shot dead and ambushed the vehicle of Mir Zarwali Khan, assistant district officer of the Frontier Constabulary, in the Boltonabad area on the
Tank-Jandola road, killing him.
— PTI
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9 die in Nepal blast
Kathmandu, May 29 The bomb went off at the residence of Tara Bahadur Thada killing his five family members and four guests. The Kathmandu Post local correspondent said the deceased were buried under the rubble when the blast razed the house. Five members of the family and four others were inside the house when the bomb went off. According to Superintendent of Police Jhin Prasad Dhakal of A police team, human rights activists and media persons have left for Bhutuke from Tansen.
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