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PPP all set to clip Mush powers
Sharif’s party offers trade-off with PPP on judges’ issue
China Quake
India to send more relief to quake-hit China
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Iraqi forces enter Baghdad’s Shi’ite stronghold
S. Africa moves to stop anti-foreigner attacks
Maoists distribute grabbed land
Top militants warn Pak against ‘retreat’ on Kashmir
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PPP all set to clip Mush powers
The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) is all set to clip presidential powers and preempt the lawyers’ June 10 long march for the reinstatement of sacked judges by introducing the 18th constitutional amendment before the budget session. The constitutional package has been finalised and will be first presented before the central leadership and the parliamentary party of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on May 24 before initiating consultations with coalition partners, including the PML-N, the ANP and the JUI, law minister Farook Naek told reporters here after a late night meeting with PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari. The package is an all encompassing document introducing far-reaching changes in the Constitution that would ensure a parliamentary democracy as envisaged in the original 1973 document. Naek has been talking about the package for past many weeks but observers are intrigued that the coalition does not enjoy the requisite two-thirds majority in the Senate. It is believed that President Musharraf has approved the package and will ensure its adoption with the support of his loyalists MQM and PML-Q. He may conceded some powers under the 18th amendment but will retain most of those he appropriated to himself under the Legal Framework Order (LFO) in 2002 and later the 17th amendment adopted next year with the help of the MMA. The 18th amendment will also, however, prune the Constitution of a few legal lacunae such as the ambiguity of the Article 6 regarding the subversion of the Constitution, which is high treason according to this provision. Article VI has never been invoked against military dictators, who had been subverting the Constitution because the usurpers would get a court verdict followed by a parliamentary approval indemnifying all their unconstitutional acts. Army officers violating oath of allegiance to the constitution and judges validating the unconstitutional actions would be liable to stringent punishments under the amendment. Article VI will not only guarantee the proper implementation of this constitutional provision against a military dictator but also ensure that judges were tried under this article too if they gave a judicial seal of approval to any unconstitutional action. Article 58 (2) B that gives powers to the President to dissolve the assemblies, appoint armed forces chiefs, chief election commissioner and governors may also be taken away. The tenure of the chief justice of Pakistan will be restricted either to four or five years and the retirement age of the Supreme Court judges will be increased to 67 or 68 years. The appointment of the judges, in future, will be done through a scrutiny committee of the parliament. The number of SC judges is likely to remain the same but a few additional/ ad hoc judges might be accommodated. The Gordian knot for the PPP will be to line up the PML-N’s support for this amendment. The PML-N is out of the loop until now and is likely to be taken on board very soon. Nawaz Sharif, who arrived here today, will have a meeting with Asif Ali Zardari in a day or two. The meeting is quite crucial as it will seal the fate of the constitutional package and the future course of politics in Pakistan. “It will be a Herculean task for Zardari to extract more concessions from Nawaz Sharif on the judges issue as the PML-N had already given a lot of space,” sources told The News. To get this amendment through both the houses of parliament, the PPP needs a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly as well as the Senate. To achieve this number, the PPP needs the PML-N support which will lend its helping hand only if the PPP restores the judges through a simple resolution bringing all of them, including Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, back to November 3 position. This could be done by revoking the November 3 order of the Law Division that barred the judges, who did not take oath under the PCO, from attending their offices. Naek said the amend would resolve the question of reinstatement of deposed judges and also settle the dispute of two chief justices if present chief justice Dogar was also to be retained, he said. Taseer as Governor Punjab and Mian Manzoor Wattoo as adviser to the Prime Minister. Wattoo’s appointment, however, is a shrewd political move by Zardari as it will help the PPP conjure up the magic number in the Senate where a two-thirds is not possible unless the PML-Q, or its forward bloc, sides with the treasury. However, bartering of interests with the PML-Q (declared Qatil League by Zardari) will not sink well with the PML-N, which is fastening its belt to ride on the judicial bus to Islamabad.
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Sharif’s party offers trade-off with PPP on judges’ issue
Islamabad, May 20 Ruling out further talks on the issue, Siddique-ul-Farooq, spokesman of the PML (N) which pulled out from the cabinet on May 13 after it failed to get the judges reinstated, however, remained no-committal on supporting a constitutional amendment package drafted by the PPP to restore judiciary. Farooq said his party’s backing for a constitutional protection of the National Reconciliation Ordinance would also depend on the PPP agreeing to restore the Constitution to its position on October 12, 1999, when the then Sharif government was deposed in a bloodless coup by President Pervez Musharraf. The NRO, issued by Musharraf in October last year, dropped all corruption cases against PPP leaders, including PPP Chairman Asif Ali Zardari and his slain wife, former Premier Benazir Bhutto, and facilitated their homecoming from self-imposed exile. Observers have said the PPP’s reluctance to reinstate the deposed judges stems from the belief that they could reopen legal challenges to the NRO. Farooq said there was no need for further talks between the two parties and the PML-N would like the PPP to take measures to “honour its commitment” on reinstating the judges sacked by Musharraf during last year’s emergency. Though Sharif is arriving in Islamabad from Lahore to meet visiting External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, he is not expected to meet Zardari today. — PTI
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China Quake Beijing, May 20 The stories of miraculous survivals meanwhile continued to pour in with rescue workers pulling out a 31-year-old man, who spent 179 hours under the rubble of a power plant. Thousands of people spent the night in cars or slept in the open in Sichuan’s capital of Chengdu after a warning on the provincial government website, quoting seismological authorities. It said that a strong aftershock of 6 to 7 magnitude would strike the area battered by last week’s 7.9 magnitude temblor. Giant traffic jams developed as drivers headed towards the suburbs or the open spaces like parks and stadiums. China has been hit by more than 150 aftershocks measuring 4 or higher, including one overnight that measured 5. The warning of the powerful aftershock also hit the stock market, contributing to a nearly 4.5 per cent drop in share prices, reports said. The state media has said the May 12 earthquake was likely to trim 0.2 percentage points off China’s economic growth. The confirmed death toll in Sichuan province alone rose to 39,577, vice-governor Li Chengyun told reporters. Another 32,361 persons remained missing across the quake zone. The government was setting up temporary housing for quake victims, but there was a “desperate need for tents” to accommodate them, said Jiang Li, vice-minister of civil affairs. Five million people lost their homes in the quake, she said. — PTI
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India to send more relief to quake-hit China
New Delhi, May 20 With the casualties mounting in the province to over 71,000, officials today said three more giant IL-76 transport aircraft of the IAF would be flying to Chengdu in the next three days with 200 tonnes of relief supplies. An IL-76 aircraft would take off from Kanpur tomorrow and another two on Thursday and Friday carrying tents and medicines, IAF officials said. India has already flown 64 tonnes of relief material to China over the past three days. “We may send more assistance, if there is request from the Chinese authorities,” officials said. Beijing has appreciated India’s support and assistance for quake victims. — PTI
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Iraqi forces enter Baghdad’s Shi’ite stronghold
Baghdad, May 20 ''Soldiers had launched Operation Peace in the sprawling eastern Baghdad slum early today'', a spokesman for Iraqi security forces in Baghdad, Major-General Qassim Moussawi said. Iraqi soldiers, who previously controlled only the outer perimeter of Sadr City, advanced deep into the poor suburb, home to two million people, without meeting any opposition, he said. ''We are taking control of three-quarters of the city. What is left is the final quarter'', he said, referring to an area where Iraqi security forces had previously ventured only rarely. The Iraqi army's aim was to arrest wanted men, disarm insurgents and provide basic services to residents, he said. ''The army also aimed to set up permanent checkpoints to maintain security'', he said, as checkpoints would make it hard for militia members to move around. Sadr City is the main stronghold of Sadr's Mehdi Army, a militia estimated to number in tens of thousands. The US military once called the militia the greatest threat to peace in Iraq. The Mehdi Army staged two uprisings against the US forces in 2004. It has been battling Iraqi and the US forces in Sadr City since late March, when a government offensive against its operations in the oil port of Basra touched off a wave of retaliatory attacks in Baghdad and other cities. Iraq's ruling Shi'ite alliance and Sadr's opposition movement in parliament reached an agreement this month to end the fighting in Sadr City, in which hundreds have died. — Reuters
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S. Africa moves to stop anti-foreigner attacks Johannesburg, May 20 The police has struggled for over a week to end the violent attacks on foreigners who are accused by many in South Africa’s poor townships of stealing jobs and fuelling a wave of violent crime. The local media said two people were killed overnight. Several foreigners have been burnt to death, women have been raped and scores of shops and homes looted. More than 200 people have been arrested since the violence erupted on May 11 in the Alexandra township. The African National Congress said the situation was coming under control after it sent officials into townships to appeal for an end to the attacks. The police also increased its deployment to the trouble spots. “The situation is being managed. Many ANC people are on the ground... and things are quietening down,” ANC spokeswoman Jesse Duarte told. The unrest has increased political instability at a time of electricity shortages, rising inflation and disaffection among the poor over President Thabo Mbeki’s pro-business policies. South Africa, with a population of 50 million, is home to an estimated 5 million immigrants. Foreigners from poorer countries have been lured by the work in mines, farms and homes and by one of the world’s most liberal immigration and refugee policies. The biggest group - an estimated 3 million - is from Zimbabwe. They have fled economic collapse at home and the violent political standoff since disputed March 29 elections gives them little incentive to return home. — Reuters
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Maoists distribute grabbed land
Kathmandu, May 20 Maoists have undertaken the process of land distribution to the families of freed ''kamaiya'' (bonded labourers) in Kailali district. The Maoist cadres provided 10 ''katthas'' of land to each freed kamaiya family and landless people at Pahalmanpur in Kailali district. According to locals, Maoists distributed some 90 bighas of captured land belonging to different people in the areas. Maoists have further ensured that the people would be provided land ownership certificates once CPN-M forms the new government. —
UNI
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Top militants warn Pak against ‘retreat’ on Kashmir
Islamabad, May 20 Speaking on the eve of resumption of the composite dialogue between India and Pakistan, Syed Salahuddin, the chief of militant conglomerate United Jehad Council, said the Kashmir issue’s importance had increased as India, Israel and the US had made “Pakistan their target”. Salahuddin told a conference in Sialkot that they would wage “war” if “Kashmir liberation movement suffered due to the Pakistani rulers’ cowardice and pro-India policies”. — PTI
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