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Sharif to return before Sept 10
Musharraf to shed army skin by
Defer poll, say Maoists
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Sikh wearing patka refused entry in US nightclub
Celebrity Big Brother axed
Paul: Brown greater than Churchill
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Sharif to return before Sept 10
The Central Executive Committee (CEC) of the Nawaz Sharif faction of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) said here on Saturday that Mian Nawaz Sharif should return to Pakistan before September 10. It was, however, decided that the final date would be announced at another meeting of the panel convened in London on August 29 by Sharif. The meeting was presided over by its chairman Raja Zafrul Huque. It discussed opposition leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s offer that Sharif should land in Peshawar to avoid any action by the Musharraf regime that had threatened to arrest him. A majority of members were of the opinion that the former premier should fly to his home town Lahore where they expect hundreds and thousands of people to greet him making it impossible for the government to arrest him. The meeting further decided that President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s bid for re-election in uniform through present Assembly constituencies would be resisted. An appropriate strategy would be evolved in consultation with the All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM). It was pointed out that apart from contesting General Musharraf’s candidature in courts, the democratic forces would launch street agitation to block the election. Secretary-general of the PML Zafar Iqbal Jhagra later told newspersons that General Musharraf’s latest proposal for national reconciliation was hollow. He said the General must first announce he would step down and negotiate a peaceful return to genuine democracy with army returning to barracks. He also turned down an offer by PML chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain for negotiations between both factions of the PML. He said people who betrayed the party to support a military dictator would never be accepted in the party. Jhagra reacted sharply to threats by the government that Sharif could be arrested on return. He said nothing would deter the former prime minister from joining his people. In a related development, the Accountability Court in Rawalpindi rejected a government request to issue notices to Sharif to appear before the court to answer charges of corruption and abuse of power in three cases pending before the court. The judge dropped charges against Nawaz’s father late Mohammad Sharif who died two years ago. He fixed September 7 for next hearing in the case.
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Musharraf to shed army skin by Dec-end
The secretary’s remarks confirmed that General Musharraf not only planned to have the current Assembly constituencies elect him, while uniformed, but he would also not appoint his successor as army chief until the end of the year. In an interview published by the Washington Times, Mahmood, who was on an official visit to the US in connection with the setting up of a media university in Pakistan in collaboration with the University of Colorado, said: “There is a strong feeling that the coming elections should be a smooth transition of power to the next government. General Musharraf will be quitting as the army chief of staff at the end of the year. He has said so himself.” Opposition parties have been pressing him to resign his military post in advance of presidential elections that will be held between September 15 and October 15, fearing he will try to stay on if he wins the presidential vote. Officials who misbehaved with CJ sacked
The government on Saturday reshuffled Cabinet and capital’s administration moving certain key characters in the judicial crisis. Law minister Wasi Zafar and minister for privatisation Zahid Hamid have swapped portfolios. Law secretary and retired justice Mansoor Ahmed, who was among those drafting the botched reference against Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, has resigned and his resignation has been accepted. Chief Commissioner, Islamabad, Khalid Pervez and IGP Iftikhar Rashid have been removed. They had been found guilty of misbehaving with the Chief Justice in a judicial inquiry. They have been replaced by Hamid Ali Khan and Shahid Nadeem Baloch, respectively. Army to be withdrawn from tribal areas
The army would be withdrawn from tribal areas after January 2008, President Pervez Musharraf has told a group of tribal parliamentarians. “Paramilitary forces, including Frontier Constabulary (FC), Levies and Khasadars, will take over the charge of tribal areas from military, which would be withdrawn after January 2008,” the president reportedly told the lawmakers who called on him at the camp office. Parliamentarians assured General Musharraf during the meeting that they would support him in his re-election bid from the sitting assembly constituencies. SC notice to minister
Parliamentary affairs minister Sher Afgan Niazi has said he has received a Supreme Court contempt notice and would respond accordingly in two weeks as demanded by the court. Dr Afgan said he stood by his remarks on the Supreme Court’s verdict on the Sharif’s petitions that it had become a party in the case. “I continue to believe that whatever I had said in the TV talk show is true,” he said.
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Defer poll, say Maoists
At a time when the Election Commission, national and international community and all political parties including the government of Nepal have been emphasising on holding Constituent Assembly election on November 22, the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist, however, proposed to postpone it to next year. Maoist chairman Prachanda, who had launched bloody war in 1996 which continued for over a decade under the conviction that "power comes through bullets not ballots," on Friday proposed to postpone the November poll to Baisakh (mid-April 2008). Speaking at an interaction programme, Prachanda said, "It is meaningless to participate in the drama being staged in the name of elections." There was no point making a rush for the November 22 polls, he said further adding, it would make no difference if the polls are held in mid-April-mid-May. Nepal has already deferred the poll date twice. During an interview with Nepal weekly on August 19, Prachanda had said that postponement of the poll till mid-April was not possible and people would not tolerate the postponement of the election time and again. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and other senior leaders of ruling eight-party alliance have rejected the Maoist recommendation and said that the election must be held on November 22. On August 15, Indian envoy to Nepal Shiv Shankar Mukharjee had also advised the government of Nepal and major political parties to hold the poll within the stipulated timeframe. Reiterating his previous stance, Prachanda said that the preconditions for CA poll - proclamation of a republic and adoption of full proportional electoral system - should be fulfilled.
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Sikh wearing patka refused entry in US nightclub
Silicon Valley, August 25 Dave Bindra, a Carlsbad resident, has alleged that bouncers who said he was violating a dress code stopped him from entering the clubs on July 27. Bindra says the bouncers objected to his patka. "I explained that I was wearing it because of my religion, but they said they had a policy of no beanies, no do-rags and no hats allowed," Bindra said. A recent graduate of the Gemological Institute of America, Bindra said he tried to plead his case to the manager of one of the clubs and received what he considered an offensive response. "He said 'beanie, do-rag, or turban, you still have a towel on your head and you're not getting in,' " Bindra was quoted as saying by North Country Times. Though managers of the two clubs alleged that Bindra was "aggressive", the youth insists that he was peaceful in his approach to both restaurants. Bindra said the Sikh American Legal Defence and Education Foundation in Washington, D.C. has filed a formal complaint against both restaurants with the Community Relations Service. Rajbir Singh Datta of the foundation said the complaint's intent is simply to get the bars to provide a written copy of their no-hats policy and to amend it if it does not include an exception for religious head coverings of all kinds. — PTI
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London, August 25 Channel 4 will turn its back on the reality show, which attracted 54,000 complaints and sparked international outrage over the treatment meted out to Shilpa by her fellow participants. Critics have accused Channel 4 of going down-market in recent months, saying it has become over-reliant on reality, lifestyle and factual entertainment shows. The broadcaster described its planned changes as a “creative overhaul”. It said the programming revamp is designed to refresh its schedules and re-assert its public service credentials. But others believe it is a direct result of the damage Big Brother did to Channel 4’s reputation. Ofcom, the regulator, ruled earlier this year that Channel 4 had breached the broadcasting code with “serious editorial misjudgements”. — PTI
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Paul: Brown greater than Churchill
London, August 25 A close friend of Brown and his wife Sarah, Paul told the daily that Brown would prove to be the greatest Prime Minister Britain has had. Greater than Winston Churchill? "Oh, yes, I think so. I hope we don't need a war to prove that," Paul said. "A ball of contradictions" - a tycoon who does not own a car and uses his senior citizen bus pass, is how the newspaper described the 76-year-old peer, named as the 36th richest person in Britain. The Jalandhar-born Paul - "a twinkling Santa who feigns ignorance of the extent of his wealth, wrought through the hardheaded canniness in the steel industry". — PTI
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Video
President Gen Pervez Musharraf would shed his uniform in December after the presidential election, Federal Information Secretary Syed Anwar Mahmood has said.