 |
|
|
Parliament opens minus Mush
CJ calls meeting of full court today
Oppn names Sattar as PM candidate
|
|
|
NRI couple shot in US
Oz denied visa to 2 Indian N-scientists
Restaurateur fined for exploiting Indian worker
|
Parliament opens minus Mush
Islamabad, March 17 Officials said the President was legally not required to attend the session at which outgoing Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain administered the oath to parliamentarians, who were elected to the National Assembly, lower house of Parliament, in the February 18 polls. While Musharraf was not present, PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif were in the gallery for the guests. Both of them are not members of Parliament. The new Parliament met for the first time today in the shadow of a potential confrontation with President Pervez Musharraf and the incoming PPP-led coalition vowed to end his “dictatorship.” “This is the last day of dictatorship,” Asif Ali Zardari, chairman of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) which is set to head a coalition government, told reporters at the tightly-guarded Parliament building. The coalition partners, PPP (120 seats), PML-N (90 seats) and ANP (13), earlier held a joint parliamentary party meeting after which Zardari said “This is our first step. We have conveyed a message to the world community to support democracy which defeats dictatorship.” Sharif said the coalition’s strategy was “very clear - our agenda is democracy versus dictatorship. It has to end, it has to be defeated.” Musharraf on his part continued to resist calls to step down as president saying he had to stay in power as there was “vacuum of proper leadership.” “We are not a dictatorship, the system must function,” he said in an interview broadcast yesterday. The PPP, meanwhile, was yet to settle differences within the party on nominating a prime ministerial candidate. PPP members wore black bands and sported badges featuring a picture of their slain leader Bhutto. The joint parliamentary meeting, chaired by Zardari, Sharif and ANP leader Asfandyar Wali Khan, reportedly gave final shape to modalities for forming government and distribution of berths in the federal cabinet. It also discussed the issue of nominating candidates for the posts of speaker and deputy speaker. The session began with a recitation from the Koran, the Muslim holy book, A total of 328 MPs of the 342-member National Assembly were sworn in by outgoing Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain, after which the House offered special prayers for Benazir Bhutto who was killed in a suicide attack last December. It was not clear whether the MPs took oath under the current Constitution or the 1973 Constitution. — PTI
|
|
CJ calls meeting of full court today
In a dramatic move, the chief justice of the reconstituted Supreme Court has called an unprecedented meeting of the full court on Tuesday, apparently to discuss the inevitable reinstatement of the deposed judges.
Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar did not specify the agenda of the meeting. Senior lawyers and political observers fear the meeting may initiate a direct confrontation with Parliament and lawyers’ community who are demanding restoration of the judiciary as it existed on November 2. Dogar also made another surprise move by allowing the media to cover the event. This is the first time media would be permitted to enter the heavily guarded Supreme Court premises since November 3 last year when Pervez Musharraf imposed emergency, suspended the constitution and sacked 60 judges, including 12 of the 17 judges of the Supreme Court. Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry was dismissed and put under detention along with his other colleagues. The Assembly session on Monday began with declaration from PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif that the countdown for restoration of judges within 30 days has started. PML-N and PPP in their Murree Accord on March 9 vowed to restore deposed judges within 30 days of the installation of the new Assembly through a resolution.
|
|
Oppn names Sattar as PM candidate
The upcoming combined opposition in the National Assembly has named MQM leader Farooq Sattar as its candidate for the post of Prime Minister.
A joint meeting of most of the parties of the erstwhile ruling coalition, including the PML-Q, the MQM and the PML-Pagara, prior to inaugural session of the newly elected National Assembly also chose former Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi as leader of the opposition. The Pakistan People’s Party - Sherpao (PPP-S) of former Home Minister Aftab Sherpao abstained from the meeting. He later told newsmen that his party would not join the combined opposition. He said the PPP-S would play a constructive role in the Assembly and would support restoration of the judiciary as demanded by the major winning parties. The Pagara factions of the Pakistan Muslim League -Functional (PML-F) led by former industries minister Jehanir Tareen also dissociated from the combined opposition. Tareen said his party has five members who would sit on opposition benches without being part of the combined opposition.
|
|
Washington, March 17 Brij Chhabra (65) and his wife, Aasha (56), were found dead last Tuesday inside their home in Troy in Michigan and the police has arrested four persons from Houston, including a friend of Chhabras, Narayan Thadani. Thadani was hired by the couple to manage their assets in India and they had filed a lawsuit against him in 2006 that made several claims, including that he had transferred some of their assets to himself. The police arrested the alleged hired killers Miguel Angel Servando, and Nelson Mendoza, who were arraigned on Friday in a Troy court on first-degree murder charges. The two have pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors claim the two were promised $ 100,000 to kill the couple. Thadani and Douglas Tabor were taken into custody by the FBI late Friday on charges of conspiracy to commit murder, said Gina Balaya, a spokeswoman for the US Attorney’s Office in Detroit. The duo is awaiting an appearance before a federal magistrate in Houston and are expected to be extradited to Detroit to face the charges, according to a newspaper report. The Troy police said it could be up to 15 days before Thadani and Tabor were brought to Detroit. In a lawsuit pending in Tarrant County District Court in Texas, Aasha had charged Thadani with siphoning off valuable property and possibly millions of dollars belonging to her. — PTI
|
|
Oz denied visa to 2 Indian N-scientists
Melbourne, March 17 Barring of the two Bhabha Atomic Research Centre officials — Dipankar Mukherjee and Mohd Afzal — is revealed in documents held by a Melbourne-based company GBC Scientific that has been involved in a dispute with the government over its equipments export, which Australian officials claim can be used in nuclear weapons programme, 'The Age' reported. Documents disclosed that the two officials were refused short-stay business visas in April to finalise the purchase of an X-ray machine from GBC's laboratory though the machine was not subject to any export controls. However, in a letter to GBC, Australian immigration department refused to divulge reasons for denying visas to the Indian officials and stressed the importance of applicants meeting "Australia's health and character standards".
— PTI
|
|
Mitrovica (Kosovo), March 17 A Serbian party leader said NATO was behaving like the Nazi occupiers of World War II and Serbia’s caretaker prime minister said his country and its ally Russia were discussing joint moves to stop “all forms of violence against Kosovo Serbs”. But a NATO spokesman warned alliance forces would not back down in the face of organised mob violence. NATO said its troops came under automatic gunfire in the ethnically divided town of Mitrovica in clashes which began after U.N. special police backed by NATO peacekeepers stormed a UN court that had been seized by Serbs on Friday. A Serb hospital director said three Serbs were seriously hurt, one shot through the head “by a sniper”. A NATO spokesman said warning shots were fired into the air, not into the midst of rioters. Serb media reports said about 70 civilians were injured in the clashes, in addition to two dozen UN police and a dozen members of the NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping force. KFOR troops secured the area. But the violence underscored fears in the West that Kosovo is headed inexorably for violent ethnic partition. “NATO condemns in the strongest form the violence we have seen in northern Kosovo today,” NATO spokesman James Appathurai said. “KFOR will respond firmly to any acts of violence, as is its mandate from the United Nations,” he said. But Serbia blamed the UN and NATO for heavy-handed action. Its caretaker prime minister, Vojislav Kostunica, said in a statement that Serbia and Russia, which has backed Belgrade over Kosovo, were consulting on joint steps to stop “violence against Kosovo Serbs”. He condemned the use of force against Serbs who were opposing the setting-up of a “false state” and he accused NATO of “implementing a policy of force against Serbia”. — Reuters
|
|
Restaurateur fined for exploiting Indian worker
Melbourne, March 17 Federal Magistrates Court fined the director of Yoga Tandoori House Pty Ltd, Yogalingam Rasalingam, $ 18,200 (Rs 6,90,900) for exploiting the Indian worker, ‘The Australian’ reported today. Workplace Ombudsman Nicholas Wilson said the decision was a victory for vulnerable workers around the country. Magistrate Robert Cameron said that the company had failed to pay the worker for ordinary hours of work, overtime, weekend work, and public holidays.
— PTI
|
Indian stabbed to death 3 NATO troops killed 
|
| 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 | |
