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Parliament won’t be rubber stamp: Pak Speaker
Carters in Nepal to observe polls
Princes agree with Diana verdict
Iran begins nuclear expansion work
Shah Jahan’s dagger to be auctioned
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Rice not in race for vice-presidency
Hindu beaten to death in Pak
Highly-skilled Indians win court case
in UK
Militant groups to approach Pak SC
for lifting of ban 2 killed in Pak
N-plant gas leak
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Parliament won’t be rubber stamp: Pak Speaker
National Assembly Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza has said parliament will not be allowed to become a rubber stamp and the country will be run through legislation instead of ordinances. In an interview with the official APP news agency, she said the people were looking towards the elected parliamentarians for the solution to their problems. She termed it a must to hold parliamentary debate on all the important national issues, including terrorism. Proper representation would be given to women and minority legislators in the parliamentary committees and equal representation would be given to the members of the Opposition benches in the National Assembly, the Speaker said. Fehmida said it was an honour for her that she was not only the first woman Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan but of the entire Muslim World. She said huge responsibility lied on her shoulders being the Speaker because the eyes of the world were focused on Pakistan in the present situation. “I will do justice to my post and being a custodian of the House, I will run the House according to the rules and regulations,” she added. Fehmida said it was the responsibility of every parliamentarian to discuss those issues which derailed the democratic process in the country time and again. To create a relationship between the state and the people was the responsibility of the parliamentarians, she added. Replying to a question, she said the parliamentary committees were the spirit of the democratic system and they would be made stronger and effective. Fiscal health: Govt to summon Aziz
Islamabad: Pakistan’s new coalition government has decided to summon former premier Shaukat Aziz, who will be asked to give an explanation over the rapidly deteriorating state of the national
economy. “Our economy is under great pressure. We must have knowledge of the economic situation today. Aziz will be asked to attend the meetings to give his view on the state of the economy,” finance minister and PML-N leader Ishaq Dar told the Senate’s Standing Committee on Finance and
Revenue. Aziz, who is currently in the USA, left Pakistan soon after the formation of the caretaker government last year. It is not clear if there is any legal provision under which he can be summoned to Pakistan to brief the
government. The finance minister said he would present a transparent and factual statement on the state of economy by March 31 in the National
Assembly. — PTI
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Carters in Nepal to observe polls
Amidst looming uncertainty, Nepal’s political parties finally wrapped up their election campaigns from Monday night for the April 10 constituent assembly elections that are considered a key step to institutionalise the ongoing peace deal with the Maoists. As many as 10,000 candidates from 54 political parties are contesting the elections on the 575 seats. The election commission has declared 48 hours effective from Monday night to April 10 as silent hour. Within that period none of the candidate or party or the media would be able to launch election campaign. Once the election is completed, the crucial process of deciding the fate of 240-year-old monarchy will take place and the assembly will declare Nepal a federal democratic republic state by implementing the interim parliament’s decision in this regard. Citing its importance in national as well as international arena, high-profile national and international observers are in the field to observe the elections. Meanwhile, former US President Jimmy Carter and his spouse Rosalynn Carter arrived in Kathmandu on Monday to observe the elections. Likewise, Japanese parliamentarian Gaku Hashimoto, son of former Prime Minister Riyutaro Hashimoto, along with Tadahiko Ito another Japanese lawmaker has obtained the accreditation cards from the election commission to observe the elections. Besides these high-profile observers, 856 international observers from 28 organisations, 11 ambassadors from different diplomatic missions in Nepal and 12 members from the European Parliament, including Josep Borrell Fontelles, Csaba Ory, Filip Kaczmarek, Neena Gill, and Claudine Staub, are all set to depart in different parts of the country to observe the polls. The Carters are leading a group of observers under the banner of the US-based Carter Center to monitor the “fairness” of the unprecedented elections to the constituent assembly. The Carters met Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala in Kathmandu Monday and held brief meeting with election commissioners and discussed about the ongoing electoral procedures in the country. Similarly, over hundred international journalists have arrived in Kathmandu to cover the polls.
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Princes agree with Diana verdict
London, April 8 Princess Diana and her boyfriend Dodi Al Fayed died when their speeding car slammed into a concrete pillar while being chased through Paris by photographers in cars and on motorbikes in a tunnel on August 31, 1997. With a nine to two majority, the jury ruled that the couple died “because of gross negligence by both her driver Henri Paul and pursuing paparazzi photographers.” “We would like to thank the members of the jury at the inquests into the deaths of our mother and Dodi Al Fayed for the thorough way in which they have considered the evidence,” the young royals said. Conspiracy possible: Fayed
In a statement issued moments after the jury’s decision, Al Fayed, Dodi’s father and owner of Harrod’s departmental store, described the verdicts as both a vindication of his conspiracy theories and a “blow to the many millions of people around the world who have supported my
struggle”. He had accused Prince Philip, Prince Charles, the MI6 British intelligence agency and the then Prime Minister Tony Blair of being involved in a plot to kill Diana.
Al Fayed insisted the hearing, held largely at his behest, was not a waste of time or
money. During his summing up, Coroner Lord Justice Scott had said there was “not a shred of evidence” to back up Al Fayed’s claims. Although he ruled out the possibility of a verdict which would have pointed to a murder plot, the jury went further by pinning the blame partly on one of Al Fayed’s
employees. Former metropolitan police commissioner Lord Stevens, whose earlier inquiry investigated the conspiracy theories, said he hoped Diana and her lover Dodi would be allowed to rest in
peace. Meanwhile, Diana’s former butler Paul Burrell is waiting to learn whether he will face a police perjury investigation after allegedly lying to the inquest.
— PTI
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Iran begins nuclear expansion work
Tehran, April 8 Diplomats in Vienna told Reuters last week that Tehran was installing advanced enrichment centrifuges at the underground Natanz facility, accelerating activity that could give Iran the means to make atom bombs in the future if it chose to. Iran, the world’s fourth largest oil exporter, says it wants nuclear technology to generate electricity. “President Ahmadinejad has announced the start of the installation of 6,000 new centrifuges at Natanz,” state radio said. State television carried a similar report. “Today we have started the installation of 6,000 new centrifuges...I will announce more achievements tonight,” the official IRNA news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying at Natanz in central Iran, surrounded by anti-aircraft guns. The President will give a speech later on Tuesday in a ceremony in Tehran to celebrate Iran’s National Day of Nuclear Technology. Ahmadinejad’s announcement is a new snub to the UN Security Council that since late 2006 has imposed three rounds of sanctions on Tehran for refusing to halt enrichment work. A senior nuclear official said Ahmadinejad had also inspected a “new generation” of centrifuges built by Iranian scientists at a research facility at Natanz. Washington has not ruled out military action to stop Iran’s nuclear work and Israel, Tehran’s arch-foe, has urged the international community to stop “the aggressive nuclear programme of Iran”.— Reuters
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Shah Jahan’s dagger to be auctioned
London, April 8 Desenfans, driven by his passion for Islamic, Indian and South East Asian history and culture, spent over 50 years amassing one of the most important collections, which includes arms and armour, early pottery and works of art. Bonhams, the international fine art auction house, described the dagger, dated 1629-30, as an “elegant and understated personal dagger”. — PTI
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Rice not in race for vice-presidency
Washington, April 8 According to McCormack, Rice would return to the Stanford University, where she was a tenured professor. — UNI
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Hindu beaten to death in Pak
Karachi, April 8 Jugdesh (22), and other employees at the factory situated in the Korangi Industrial Area here were discussing some religious issue and he made some remarks about the Prophet that were considered offensive by the other men. His remarks angered the workers who beat him to death, police
said. Police officer Farukh Bashir said about 4,000 persons gathered at the site of the incident, creating a law and order
problem. He said a case will be registered to investigate the incident and those involved in it will be arrested.
— PTI
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Highly-skilled Indians win court case in UK
London, April 8 While holding as illegal the controversial retrospective changes, the high court in a landmark verdict said it was “not open to the government to alter the terms and conditions” of an old scheme --Highly Skilled Migrants Programme (HSMP)-- under which thousands of highly skilled employees, mostly Indians, came to Britain. The new rules would have made if harder for skilled migrants to remain in Britain and it was feared that up to 90 per cent of them already in the country would be forced to leave. Upholding the revision petition filed by the HSMP Forum against retrospective changes effected to the HSMP in November 2006, Justice Sir George Newman said, “The old scheme constituted an integrated and entire programme.” It said that it was “not open to the government to alter the terms and conditions upon which the pre-arranged stages were to be implemented.”
— PTI
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Militant groups to approach Pak SC for lifting of ban Islamabad, April 8 "The ban was a step that the retired general took only to please the Americans and now it is abundantly clear that the people have rejected his policies," said Saeed, who now heads the Jamaat-ud-Dawa. He criticised Musharraf's Kashmir policy and alleged that a U-turn by the previous government on the Kashmir issue had badly damaged the Kashmiri freedom struggle. All the options that Musharraf had offered on the Kashmir issue had not been responded to by India, he claimed. "It is necessary now that new Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani should review the country's Kashmir policy and talk openly to resolve this issue," Saeed told The News. The banned groups would approach the apex court for the lifting of the restrictions on them, Saeed said and asked Musharraf to step down as the mandate given by the people in the general election had been against him and America. The LeT, which is involved in militant activities in India, is among the groups that were banned by Musharraf following pressure from the US. Saeed said scientist A Q Khan, under house arrest for the past four years after admitting to proliferating nuclear secrets, was a victim who had suffered a great deal and should immediately be released and his honour restored. Saeed demanded that Khan be made the next President of the country as he deserved the position. Asked whether he was still in contact with the Pakistan army as in the past, Saeed said that now he had no contact with the army at any level. — PTI
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2 killed
in Pak N-plant gas leak
Islamabad, April 8 The leak occurred at the heavy water research reactor complex at Khushab in Punjab province at 2.30 pm (local time), the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission said in a statement. The situation was immediately brought under control but two workers lost their lives while controlling the incident, it said. The leak was controlled by the plant’s safety and fire protection division. The plant was undergoing annual maintenance and had been shut down at the time of the incident, the statement said. “There is no threat to public life as all the (leaked) gas has been burnt in the flare system of the plant,” said the statement. — PTI
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Chhibber appointed UNDP assistant secy-gen One dies after taking sex
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Amidst looming uncertainty, Nepal’s political parties finally wrapped up their election campaigns from Monday night for the April 10 constituent assembly elections that are considered a key step to institutionalise the ongoing peace deal with the
Maoists.
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