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Sacked CJ urges MPs to defy Musharraf
Zardari for complete transfer of power
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Zardari’s meeting with US envoy flayed
UK thieves ship metal to India, China
For UK visa, fluent English to be must for Indian brides
Rushdie, Roy in race for
The Best of the Booker
Bangladesh’s detained ex-PM Hasina shifted to hospital
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Sacked CJ urges MPs to defy Musharraf
Sacked Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has appealed to the newly elected parliamentarians not to endorse the “illegal” steps taken by President Pervez Musharraf after he imposed emergency on November 3.
Chaudhry, in his telephonic address, said no individual has powers to amend the constitution. He said that the parliament should not endorse the post-November 3 measures taken by an individual otherwise it would lose its prestige and encourage the negative traditions. The sacked CJ said if such steps were legitimised than a police official would pressurise judges to get favourable decisions in future. Previous judges can be restored under an executive order in the same way as the new judges were appointed with an executive order under PCO, he added. Meanwhile, buoyed by massive popular verdict against President Musharraf and his allies in the general elections, lawyers and civil society activists countrywide demonstrations to press for reinstatement of deposed judges and called upon Musharraf to step down. Police fire teargas shells to disperse hundreds of protesters who had broken barriers and barbed wires outside the residence of Chaudhry. In Karachi, the police and lawyers clashed amid intense teargas shelling and hurled stones at each other. Many policemen and lawyers were wounded. Around 12 lawyers were detained and later let off. While Chaudhry addressed rallies in Lahore and Karachi on the phone, deposed judges Khawaja Sharif and Shahid Siddiqui participated in a demonstration in Lahore. Lawyers vowed to continue their struggle for reinstatement of deposed judges and restoration of full authority of the superior judiciary. In Rawalpindi, lawyers marched up to the Army House residence of President Musharraf. They dispersed peacefully after the demonstration. In Islamabad, about 1,000 lawyers and civil society activists broke barriers and barbed wires in an attempt to enter residence of Chaudhry. PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif addressed the rally in Islamabad. The police fired teargas shells at the agitators. Fresh notice to Chaudhry to vacate residence
The government has served a fresh notice on deposed chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry to vacate his residence and offered to release him if he agrees to return to his hometown, Quetta. But Iftikhar rejected the offer and insisted he was still the constitutional chief justice."If I give in today, an ordinary police officer would arrest the future chief justice," Iftikhar told reporters on telephone from his residence where he is confined without any legal notice. "The moment I am freed I will march to my office in the Supreme Court of Pakistan and resume my job," said a confident Iftikhar.He said if he stopped from entering the court premises,he would hold his court in an open field along with other deposed judges, who had refused to take the oath under the PCO on and after November 3.
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Zardari for complete transfer of power
Co-chairman of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Asif Ali Zardari has said his party will accept nothing short of complete transfer of power and not just the government responsibility.
He said Parliament would decide the fate of President Pervez Musharraf.He denied reports of his meeting with Musharraf and his emissaries but said he would not rule out any meaningful dialogue with him. "We want change in the system in which institutions rather than personalities would be strengthened," the PPP co-chairman told reporters here. "We want the power of governance and authority this time rather than only the government as we have to change the system to strengthen Parliament that could decide as to which President it could work with," he said. "Parliament has to decide whether it works with the President (Musharraf) or not," he said while responding to a question on Musharraf's statement that he would be willing to work with the new government. Regarding the reinstatement of judges, he said the PPP wanted to make the judiciary independent and stronger."All the basic guidelines for independent judiciary have already been provided in the Charter of Democracy," he added. Declaring the PML(Q) as “a hybrid crowd of individuals", he dismissed it as a coherent political force ruling out talk of any coalition with them. When asked whether the PPP would talk with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement for future coalition, he said though his party leaders had some reservations about the MQM, he wanted to take it along as a political force in urban Sindh. He said the PPP could form the government in the province but wanted a national consensus. Already he has spoken to leaders who boycotted the elections, including Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Imran Khan, Mehmood Khan Achakzai and Dr Abdul Hayee Baloch, in order to develop a common approach. He had also held talks with a delegation of US senators and the US Ambassador and they had assured him that America stood with the people of Pakistan. He ruled himself out as a candidate for the Prime Minister's slot but said the PPP would come out with a name after talks with allies and when it was invited to form the government as the party with single largest majority.He denied any differences within the party on the issue. Makhdoom Amin Fahim who is the likely choice for the office, flanked Zardari.
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Zardari’s meeting with US envoy flayed
Islamabad, February 21 Instead of meeting other political leaders, Zardari drove to the US Ambassador’s house yesterday. “Have you ever heard of or seen India’s Sonia Gandhi going to the American Embassy even while in the Opposition?” said Shireen Mazari, director- general of the Institute of Strategic Studies, a thinktank. “I think it is unfortunate that the leader of a major political party felt it necessary to rush and meet the American envoy in Pakistan before he met fellow politicians.I have nothing against meetings with diplomats but they must call on party leaders,” she told The News.
— PTI
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UK thieves ship metal to India, China
London, February 21 The gangs target the properties and railway network and sell the collection to dealers as part of international multi-million pound illegal networks. The metal is then shipped as scrap or after being melted down to India, China and Dubai, the police said. The booming manufacturing and construction industries in these countries have a constant demand for lead, copper and other metals. Demands for the metal has soared and there has been a near-fivefold rise in robberies at tracks and depots. “The copper is going through larger scrap yards, then to smelters and then by ship to China, which has an incredible demand for copper, particularly with this year’s Olympics and the demand for telecom infrastructure,” Andy Trotter, deputy chief constable of the British Transport police, told the media. Recently, a massive operation was launched across Europe to track down metal thieves whose activities have endangered railway operations and safety of passengers on several occasions. Several people were arrested in this operation, the police said. Around 979 such cases have been reported since April 2006 in north-east England alone. The British Transport police launched ‘Operation Drum’ to combat cable theft and are working with the railway network to ensure that copper is not left unguarded.
— PTI
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For UK visa, fluent English to be must for Indian brides London, February 21 “We will introduce a new English language requirement for those applying for a marriage visa and planning to settle in the UK, both as part of our determination that everyone who comes here to live should be able to speak English and to make sure that they cannot be exploited,” the Telegraph quoted him, as saying. The English language test would apply to tens of thousands of spouses. The Brit ministers had for some time been concerned that some of those arriving from India who had no knowledge of English were vulnerable to exploitation and could not get access to the job market. The UK government is also planning to raise the minimum age for a marriage visa for immigrants from 18 to 21. The new measures form part of the British government’s “crackdown on forced and sham marriages”. “We are consulting on changes to the process for applying for a marriage visa from overseas, including more in depth interviews for couples, raising the minimum age of a spouse and their sponsor from 18 to 21, and additional scrutiny of multiple applications submitted over a short period,” Prime Minister Gordon Brown said while speaking on ‘Managed Migration and Earned Citizenship’ at the Camden Centre here last evening. — Agencies
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Rushdie, Roy in race for
The Best of the Booker
London, February 21 The Best of the Booker will honour the finest novel to have won the The Man Booker Prize for Fiction since it was first awarded on April 22, 1969. In all, 41 novels will be eligible for the award, including Rushdie's Midnight Children, Roy's God of Small Things and Kiran Desai's The Inheritance of Loss. This is the second time that a celebratory award has been created by the Man Booker prize organisers. In 1993 - the 25th anniversary - Rushdie won the 'Booker of Bookers' for Midnight's Children. The Best of the Booker will, for the first time, invite the public to help decide which novel deserves to take this prestigious one-off award.
— PTI
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Bangladesh’s detained ex-PM Hasina shifted to hospital
Dhaka, February 21 She was admitted to Square Hospital this morning amid tight security. Physician Abdullah said she was suffering from high blood pressure, allergy and hearing problems, as her ears were damaged by the impact of grenade blasts at her rally in Dhaka on August 21, 2004. Earlier, her party Awami League demanded that the former Prime Minister be sent to the US for her ear treatment. The jail authorities, however, refused saying that she could not be sent abroad under the jail code. She can be treated at any hospital of her choice, they said. Sheikh Hasina (61) was arrested on July 16 last year in connection with an extortion case involving 3 crore Taka.
— UNI
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