In its first order shortly after the induction of four more new judges, an eight-member Bench of the reconstituted Supreme Court today annulled the ruling passed by seven judges of the Supreme Court declaring as unconstitutional the proclamation of emergency by General Musharraf as army chief last Saturday.

The Bench led by the new chief justice Abdul Hameed Dogar ruled that the seven judges had given their ruling when the emergency order had already been enforced and these judges had been sacked from the Supreme Court. Their ruling is thus without any lawful effect and would be regarded as having never been passed.

The court further ruled that the Provisional Constitutional Order promulgated by General Musharraf as army chief would remain in force until the court passes any other order.

The deposed chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, while talking to media from his residence on telephone, dismissed the ruling by the hastily constituted Bench. He said these judges have taken oath under an illegal PCO and cannot be regarded as lawfully appointed.

Legal experts say the ruling by the seven judges was well-timed and would haunt General Musharraf as he strives to establish his legitimacy and legality. They pointed out that the army chief has no authority to suspend the Constitution or promulgate emergency. Tehrik-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan, reacting to the imposition of emergency on Saturday, said General Musharraf has committed treason which is punishable by death.

Earlier, Justice Chaudhry addressed Islamabad Bar on telephone and urged lawyers to continue the struggle for upholding the Constitution and rule of law. He expressed the confidence that the lawyers' community would ultimately prevail and defeat dictatorship. Authorities jammed all mobile phones of the capital for three hours immediately while Iftikhar was addressing but failed to disrupt his address.

Earlier, President Gen Pervez Musharraf inducted four new judges in the Supreme Court today. The court has been severely emaciated by refusal of 12 of the 17 judges to take oath under Musharraf’s Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO).

The new chief justice, Abdul Hameed Dogar, administered the oath to the new judges Qaim Jan Khan, Ejazul Hassan, Ejaz Yousuf and Moosa K. Lashari. Qaim Jan and Ejazul Hasan have been picked up from Peshawar High Court while Lashari is from Balochistan and Ejaz Yousaf from Sindh. Jan, who is closely related to acting Chief Minister of NWFP, Shamsul Mulk, is due for retirement in January and Ejazul Hasan in June next year.

Their induction raises the number of apex court judges to nine. Attorney general Qayyum Malik disclosed to reporters that it had been decided to curtail the strength of Supreme Court to 12 from 17. Hectic efforts are on to persuade two defiant judges, Jamshed Ali Khan and Tassaddaq Jilani, to return to the court and take fresh oath under the PCO. 

Islamabad, November 6
Senior Pakistani journalist Imtiaz Alam, the secretary-general of the South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA), has been arrested in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province.

Alam, who is also the current affairs editor of ‘The News’ daily, was on his way to office yesterday when he was picked up along with his driver by police men.

Though his driver was released later, Alam was arrested and taken to an undisclosed destination, the ‘Daily Times reported quoting sources.

Alam’s arrest is part of the ongoing clampdown on civil society activists, lawyers and political workers who are resisting the imposition of emergency.

Earlier on Sunday, he was briefly detained during a protest outside the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. — PTI

London, November 6
Britain today strongly urged the military regime in Pakistan to restore democratic and constitutional processes and confirm its intentions to go ahead with parliamentary elections in January as scheduled.

"The whole world is waiting to see how the transition to democracy that is so important for our own security, never mind for the security and stability of Pakistan itself, is re-established," foreign secretary David Miliband told newsmen after Prime Minister Gordon Brown spoke to Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf earlier. He urged Musharraf to make it clear that elections would be held on January 15 on a free and fair basis. — PTI

Washington, November 6
Slamming the imposition of an emergency in Pakistan as a direct assault on human rights, Amnesty International has asked the US to ensure that weapons provided by it are not used against the peaceful demonstrators opposing the step taken by Gen Pervez Musharraf.

"We urge President George Bush to ensure that no US weapons provided to Pakistan are used to commit human rights violations against the peaceful demonstrators in his country," said T Kumar, Amnesty International USA Advocacy Director for Asia. "The United States needs to publicly demand immediate and unconditional release of all the peaceful demonstrators detained in Pakistan," he said.

In a separate statement, US secretary-general Irene Khan said, "The military crackdown in Pakistan represents a direct assault on international law and human rights”. — PTI

Islamabad, November 6
Rumours were rife in the Pakistani capital Tuesday that President Pervez Musharraf, who imposed emergency on Saturday triggering widespread outrage, had fled the country and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto was to assume power.

SMS messages being forwarded also said that Vice Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Kiani had resigned.

“Musharraf has sought resignation from Kiani,” said one message, while another went, “Musharraf flees country in an American plane”.

The rumours have stemmed from comparisons to what happened on Dec 20, 1971, when then Chief of the Army Staff and Martial Law Administrator General Yahya Khan handed over power to Benazir’s father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto after the dismemberment of the country (when Bangladesh was formed) following widespread street agitations. — IANS

The Seven Party Alliance (SPA) in Nepal seems divided within the interim parliament, polarising it into Leftists and democrats for the first time after the restoration of democracy in April 2006.

As the major ruling parties - Communist Party of Nepal, United Marxist and Leninist (CPN-UML) and CPN-Maoist and People’s Front Nepal, including other fringe parties, on Sunday decided to forge unity among them and vote in favour of Maoist proposal and Nepali Congress (NC) stood against the proposal in Parliament, it has triggered a serious political polarisation within the SPA.

The CPN (Maoist) had withdrawn its proposal on republic, seconding the amendment proposal (on the same issue) proposed by the UML. As a result, the House passed the UML’s amendment motion on republic and the Maoists’ motion for adopting proportional representation-based voting system by a simple majority.

The UML amendment motion asked the government to determine the concrete process to hold the Constituent Assembly (CA) polls by fixing a new date to declare Nepal a federal democratic republic, whereas the Maoist motion asked the government to take immediate measures to adopt full proportional electoral system instead of the current mixed electoral system for the Constituent Assembly election.

The Maoist 83 parliamentarians and the UML 83 together make up simple majority in the 326-member Parliament, but an amendment in the interim constitution, if the two issues are to be incorporated, will require two-thirds majority.

The two motions that were put forward in the special session of Parliament by the Maoist lawmakers on October 10 were put to vote, as the major parties failed to reach consensus over the issue.

Meanwhile, Nepali Congress vice-president and minister for peace and reconstruction Ram Chandra Poudel said the proposals would not be legally binding upon the government, as the proposal of public importance is just meant to draw the attention of the government.

“It is an issue to be endorsed by a two-thirds majority of Parliament, but we did not like to dispute over the process considering the fluid situation of the country,” he said, adding, “A parliamentary process must be followed if it is to be implemented.”

Although Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and Speaker Subas Nembang have urged all political parties to maintain their unity outside Parliament to lead the ongoing peace process into a success, some political analysts feared it could invite a serious rift among the ruling alliance.

A senior leftist intellectual and political analyst Nilambar Acharya said that Sunday’s decision in Parliament would make the CA election more uncertain.

“The communist parties came together to pass meaningless proposals,” he said, further adding, “This will push back the republic. This has broken the tradition of understanding,” he said.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Koirala did not vote on either proposal intending to maintain unity among the SPA. 

Houston, November 6
Indian-American Menu Khator has become the first person of Indian origin to be appointed as the head of the prestigious University of Houston (UH), which has more than 56,000 students on its rolls.

Khator, who was the sole finalist for the position, was unanimously appointed to be the next UH president during a special board meeting yesterday, the governing board for the University has confirmed.

Khator, 52, is expected to assume the chancellor role by January. Khator, provost of University of South Florida (USF), will replace Jay Gogue, who left in March to become the president of Auburn University, his alma mater.

Khator’s early interests were in education, but she could only finish her bachelors in India. She cried and went on a hunger strike after learning of her arranged marriage to a stranger, believing her dream of a master’s degree had ended. — PTI

New York, November 6
A housekeeper, who was allegedly enslaved by a multi-millionaire Indian American couple, gave graphic and chilling details of the torture she suffered at the hands of her employers. She told the jury that she was made to scrub the floor thrice a day and was poked repeatedly with knife.

Samirah, 51, from Indonesia, testified before a court here through an interpreter that she was scalded with hot water for sleeping late and was given pilfering food. She alleged that she was forced to walk naked to the kitchen and was repeatedly beaten.

Varsha Mahender Sabhnani and Mahender Murlidhar Sabhnani, who ran a perfume business from their mansion in Long Island, a New York suburb, are accused of enslaving and torturing two Indonesian women, employed for domestic work. They are out on a $4.5 million bail but under the conditions of the bail, they have to stay in the mansion and pay almost $ 10,000 a day for the security. If convicted, they could get up to 40 years in jail. — PTI