While political observers and analysts were surprised by the upbeat tone of President Pervez Musharraf in his Saturday’s interaction with mediapersons, senior politicians have reacted strongly to his threats and warnings. Journalists attending the briefing said Musharraf appeared relaxed and exuded confidence that the current barrage of attacks from all and sundry against him would subside. He was also convinced that the ruling coalition lacked political will and unity to impeach him and did not enjoy the requisite two-third majority in the Senate to amend the constitution in order to clip his powers.

His dire warnings on deteriorating economic situation and oblique references to the ineptness of the new leadership were termed as ominous and indicative of some deep plans being hatched by the Presidency to destabilise the government.

Critics said its timing was also sinister because it coincided Prime Minsiter Yousaf Raza Gillani and PPP co-chairman Asif Zardari’s meeting with Saudi leaders to seek assistance for overcoming current problems faced by the country.

The PPP, a leading component of the coalition, rejected Musharraf’s threat that he would react if parliament moved to curtail his powers. PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar said parliament was sovereign and could amend or create both new laws and the Constitution regardless of Musharraf’s warnings. Babar said the government would move forward with its constitution package.

The tone and tenor of Musharraf’s observations and oblique indictment of the present PPP-led government surprised PPP co-chairman Asif Zardari, currently in Saudi Arabia. But reacting in his usual ambiguous way, Zardari said if Musharraf continues to ignore his advice to quit, the parliament was sovereign to remove the President or the Prime minister.

Sayed Mushahid Hussain, secretary-general of the pro-Musharraf PML-Q, said Musharraf was cashing in on the vacuum created by the coalition’s incompetence and its failure to govern and deliver on their promises.

He said the coalition was using Musharraf as an alibi for its own incompetence. He said the PPP was supporting Musharraf because of NRO that pardoned corruption cases of Benazir Bhutto, Asif Zardari and other leaders and pro-PPP bureaucrats.

PML-N information secretary Ahsan Iqbal, said the President was rejected by the people in February 18 elections. He should read the writing on the wall and know that there was no place for him in Pakistan’s politics, he said.

Iqbal said the President would have been impeached and judges reinstated in 24 hours had his party been in the position to do so. “We have been convincing our coalition partners that further delay in acting against Musharraf would allow him to destabilise the elected government”, he said.

JUI chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said Musharraf should have stepped down on his own after the resounding popular verdict against him the February elections. He said his party would support any move to impeach Musharraf.

Jamaat Islami’s Liaquat Baloch said it was “pathetic” that the president was still not willing to step down. He also criticised the coalition government for delaying the impeachment. 

Lahore, June 8
PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif today made a triumphant return to the post of Chief Minister of the crucial Punjab province with a blistering attack on President Pervez Musharraf, asking the embattled leader to step down immediately "for the good" of the country.

"General Musharraf's dictatorship is taking its last breath," said Shahbaz, the 57-year-old younger brother of former premier Nawaz Sharif, who was ousted as Chief Minister during a military coup led by Musharraf in 1999.

Claiming that Musharraf's "days are numbered", Shahbaz said: "For the good of the nation, I would like to ask Musharraf... to show mercy to the country and immediately resign and go home so that this government gets a chance to work." As the PML-N and PPP legislators chanted "Go, Musharraf go", he said his return to the post is due to the people's struggle against dictatorship over the past eight years.

Shahbaz was elected Chief Minister by bagging 265 votes in the House with 297 elected members. The opposition PML-Q, an ally of Musharraf, boycotted the session.

Though he had filed nominations for by-polls scheduled for June 26, Shahbaz was elected unopposed after all other candidates in Bhakkar constituency withdrew from the race last week.

Addressing the assembly after his election, Shahbaz said the people were unwilling to accept Musharraf's continuance as President because of his repressive actions.

Dictators and perpetrators of injustice against political workers and women will be brought to justice, he pledged.

Though dictatorship was obliterated by the result of the February 18 general election, Musharraf had gone back on his promise to leave if the people voted against him, Shahbaz said.

"General Musharraf's dictatorship is taking its last breath. The prevailing situation shows that his presence in the country's political arena is about to end. This is the dictator who created countless problems for the country," he said.

The PML-N, a key partner in the PPP-led government at the centre, is the largest party in the politically crucial Punjab province with 164 seats in the House of 371. It is being supported by PPP as part of their power-sharing arrangement at the centre and in provinces.

The fresh attack came a day after Musharraf rejected speculation that he was planning to resign or go into exile in the wake of the PPP-led government preparing a sweeping constitutional amendment package to clip his wings.

Shahbaz also asked the army chief to take action against military officers who harassed workers of the PML-N and PPP, which is a key ally in the Punjab provincial government.

He said dictatorship had caused more damage to Pakistan than any other factor over the past six decades.

Shahbaz said his government would work for reforms of the law and judiciary. It would increase the salaries of the judiciary and attract "competent judges who are not influenced by political interference". — PTI 

The Army-backed Bangladesh interim government on Sunday cleared detained former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to fly abroad for medical treatment, in an effort to bring her party to crucial talks for planned general elections in December.

The government is also trying to fly out detained former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, who chairs the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), and her two detained sons to bring her party to the talks, as part of a compromised deal with the AL and the BNP.

Both the BNP and the AL have said they would not take part unless their leaders are released.

But, Khaleda said she does not want to go overseas because her damaged knees can be treated in Bangladesh.

Hasina’s medical board has ruled she needs to go overseas to replace her hearing aide. She is likely to go to London and then to the USA to stay with her son and daughter.

Last year, the government failed to send them on exile after countrywide protests.

The CPN (Maoist), the largest party in the Constituent Assembly, which earlier refused to amend the interim constitution, on Sunday agreed to end the existing political impasse. As the Maoists agreed in this regard, a meeting of the top brass of the big three parties, the Maoists, Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML, was held at Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, alias Prachanda's, residence. It was decided to form a six-member taskforce to work out a draft on issues related to amendment to the interim constitution, effective implementation of peace accord and sharing of power among the major parties in the new government. 

According to CPN-UML leader Bharat Mohan Adhikari, the taskforce would submit its draft to the high-level three-party meeting scheduled for Monday.

"Once the draft is approved by the three major parties, it would be discussed at the 13-party meeting, and subsequently at the 25-party meeting for its final approval," he added.

Earlier, Maoist leaders had discarded the proposal to amend the interim constitution regarding the provision for the appointment and removal of the prime minister with simple majority instead of two-third majority.

New York, June 8
A teenager convicted of hate crime for cutting the hair of a Sikh schoolmate in the US has escaped jail time, shocking the community which is already seething after another student was attacked this week. Acting Queens Supreme Court Justice Joel Blumenfeld ordered Umair Ahmed, 19, to complete 180 hours of community service and write an essay about what he’d learned since his attack on 16-year-old Harpal Vacher.

Based on Ahmed’s conduct in the next year, Blumenfeld will decide next June whether to put him behind bars.

“What you did was incredibly stupid,” Blumenfeld was quoted as saying by New York Daily News . “Incarceration just can’t be the only answer. For this next year, the threat of jail hangs over your head.”

Ahmed faced up to four years behind bars for the May 24, 2007, attack on Harpal, in which he dragged the Newtown High School freshman into a school bathroom, ripped off his turban and cut off his waist-length hair, prosecutors said.

Ahmed was irate over a taunt about his mother, authorities said. A Queens jury convicted Ahmed of felony menacing and coercion charges, both hate crimes, along with weapons possession and harassment.

The verdict, which angered Sikh advocacy groups, came as New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein personally apologised to another Sikh student who was punched in the face with a set of keys by a teen trying to rip off his turban.

Following a rally calling for more protection for Sikh students, Klein met privately with Jagmohan Singh Premi, 18, who was assaulted Tuesday. — PTI 

BRIEFLY

12 Indians killed in Bhutan mishap
Thimphu: Twelve Indians, working in a construction company in Bhutan, were killed and six others injured when a boulder hit the rear end of the truck they were travelling in, the police said. The incident occurred when the truck was negotiating a narrow wet stretch of road while returning from their work site near Tala Dam at Wangkha in Chukha district at 8.30 pm on Saturday. — PTI

City demanded for migrant Hindus
ISLAMABAD: Wajihuddin Ahmed, former Chief Justice of Sindh High Court, during a presentation at a seminar on provincial autonomy held in Karachi yesterday, said a new city should be set up near Port Qasim in Pakistan’s Sindh province for old Sindhis and Hindus who migrated to India after partition and wanted to return to their native land. The city, which could be called “new Karachi”, should be a replica of the port city, he suggested. — PTI

Insurgents kill 11 cops
Kabul: Insurgents attacked a police convoy in Afghanistan today, killing 11 police officers and wounding one, an official said. Militants in the east attacked and killed four men, including a local government official. The convoy attack occurred in Qarabagh district of Ghazni, said deputy governor Kazim Allayar. — AP

Book: Sarkozi, Bruni share volcanic temperament
LONDON: French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife former supermodel Carla Bruni can prove to be an explosive combination as both have a volcanic temperament, according to a latest book about the couple's whirlwind romance. Carla Bruni, an Italian who is famous for a string of high-profile romances, "regularly" threw a former boyfriend's belongings out of the window of their flat in Paris in the 1990s, the book titled “Carla and Nicolas, the True Story” says. — PTI

Tomatoes off Hong Kong shelves
HONG KONG: Tomatoes imported from New Zealand have been pulled off the shelves in Hong Kong, after New Zealand banned further export of the vegetable following discovery of a new disease-causing bacteria. New Zealand authorities slapped an export ban on tomatoes and capsicums after the mysterious bug was found in three commercial hothouses in Auckland. Leading stores in Hong Kong, dumped the stored tomatoes as a precautionary measure. — PTI

Tornado hits parts of Chicago
CHICAGO: A large tornado has damaged homes, toppled power lines and overturned semi trailers across Chicago's southern suburbs. A tornado warning was also issued on Saturday for the city's northern suburbs. Relief worker, Mark Dorencz, says one person was injured on Interstate 57 in the southern suburbs. The National Weather Service says the large tornado touched down between the towns of Richton Park and University Park, then moved northeast. — AP

Airplane missing in Chile
SANTIAGO: Officials said an airplane carrying 10 persons went missing after taking-off from an airport in southern Chile. Air force Gen Hugo Pena said the Cessna 208 Caravan took off early on Saturday afternoon from the Puerto Montt airport, 1,000 km south of Santiago. It was heading south to the town of La Junta in the Aysen region with a pilot and nine passengers. Pena said that it has been missing for several hours. — AP

Gunmen kill journalist
MOGADISHU: Gunmen in southern Somalia shot a local journalist who had been a contributor to various news organisations, including The Associated Press and the British Broadcasting Corporation. Nasteex Dahir Farah (26) was shot several times in the chest in the southern port city of Kismayo and died at the hospital, said Mohamed Aden Dheel of Kismayo Hospital, on Saturday. — AP