The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has unveiled a 10-point chargesheet for the impeachment of President Pervez Musharraf and pressed the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) to honour its commitment in this regard.

“We have drafted a 10-point chargesheet against President Musharraf that will be presented in parliament along with all evidence. We also have another audiotape in which Musharraf is directing a judge,” PML-N senior leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan told a news conference at the party’s central secretariat.

Nisar said Musharraf had abrogated the Constitution and twice imposed martial law in the country. He toppled an elected government and put an elected prime minister behind the bars, the PML-N leader added.

He said Musharraf launched the ‘Kargil misadventure’ without consulting the then government and ‘misused’ the Pakistan army for advancing his own interests and to impose himself on this country.

He said Musharraf deployed the army in tribal areas to fight another country’s war in the name of ‘the war on terror’ without parliament’s consent. Nisar also said the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) was formed under the umbrella of the military to victimise and pressurise political opponents to join a certain political party.

Other charges on the list include assassination of Baloch nationalist leader Akbar Bugti and dismissal of 60 judges of the superior judiciary and putting them under house arrest.

The PML-N leader claimed that Musharraf not only ordered extra judicial arrests of innocent people and political workers in Balochistan and other provinces, but also handed over more than 600 people to the United States in exchange for money.

He said, “The President was solely responsible for the Lal Masjid carnage in which hundreds of innocent children were bombed.”

He also alleged that Musharraf had written new chapters on nepotism, cronyism, favouritism and corruption in Pakistan’s history, which, according to him, was exposed in the privatisation of Pakistani Steel Mills, Pakistan Telecommunication Limited and the Habib Bank.

Responding to questions, Nisar Ali Khan said PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari had, on various occasions, assured the PML-N that his party would impeach Musharraf if he did not tender his resignation.

PPP co-chairman Asif Zardari has said his party does not acknowledge President Pervez Musharraf as a constitutional president but was continuing working relationship with him.

“He occupies the present position by default,” Zardari said while addressing a gathering of party workers in Jeddh (Saudi Arabia) on Sunday, according to official APP news agency. The PPP co-chairman, who had gone to Saudi Arabia with Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani for talks with Saudi leadership, has stayed back to follow up the implementation of the decisions taken during meeting with Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz.

“The PPP-led government has a working relationship with the President as we have to run the affairs of state.” The PPP has never supported any dictator in the past nor would it do so in future, he added.

The PPP co-chairman said his party did not believe in working with personalities, instead it worked for the improvement of the collective political system and the strengthening of institutions. He listed security, economy and democracy as the priorities of the PPP-led government.

Indirectly responding to Musharraf’s observations regarding deteriorating economic situation in Pakistan due to “ineptness and lack of management skills” of the new government, Zardari retorted that mismanagement and poor policies of the last decade were responsible for the current economic crisis. He urged the mediapersons to directly ask Musharraf what he was actually up to by making controversial statements.

He said the Saudi leadership had always been generous towards Pakistan, and that it always supported Pakistan’s interests. He said Gilani’s visit to Saudi Arabia would help give new dimension to Pakistan’s ties with the kingdom in the long term, adding that “Saudi Arabia will help Pakistan improve its strategic oil reserves, to make them permanent.” He claimed that Saudi King had assured he would consider the “wish list” which Gilani had brought with him on his state visit.

According to a source, the wish list valued $3-6 billion, including free oil supply to Pakistan as it was done in 1998 after Pakistan went nuclear and faced sanctions.

Melbourne, June 9
Ruling out sale of uranium to India until it signs the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT), Australia today announced setting up of a global body for nuclear disarmament, hoping to rope in “like-minded” countries.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd today announced creation of the Nuclear Non-proliferations and Disarmament Commission during his visit to Japan.

The commission, to be co-chaired by former Australian foreign minister Gareth Evans, will examine the work of two similar earlier panels - Australian Canberra Commission and Japan’s Tokyo Forum - to develop a plan of action for the next NPT review conference to be held in 2010.

The first task of the panel will be to report to an international conference of experts in Australia next year.

“Australia has the largest known uranium reserves in the world. We can, therefore, understand the different concerns that different countries bring to this debate,” he said denying that the plan was a way to allow Australia to sell uranium to India, which is not a signatory to the NPT.

Rudd said he understood the Indian arguments and the US had also put India’s case to him, but the Labour party was firmly behind the NPT.

India would not be able to circumvent the NPT by joining the commission as “the commission that I’m proposing is a non-government body,” he was quoted as saying by The Australian.

Rudd said the NPT was under great pressure with some countries developing nuclear weapons outside its framework and others like North Korea defying the international community and leaving the treaty altogether.

“There are two courses of action available to the community of nations to allow the NPT to continue to fragment, or to exert every global effort to restore and defend the treaty,” he said.

The focus on the danger of nuclear weapons had dropped off since the end of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the US and stockpiles dwindled from their peaks in the late 1980s, he said.

“We no longer live with the daily fear of nuclear war between the superpowers. But nuclear weapons remain,” he said, adding: “New states continue to seek to acquire them. Some states, including states in our own region, are expanding their existing capacity.”

Rudd said Japan and Australia working together could make a difference in the global debate as they were uniquely qualified.

The 190-nation NPT was established in 1980 to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and technology and to further the goal of nuclear disarmament. Review conferences are held every five years to assess implementation of the treaty. — PTI

Melbourne, June 9
A 30-year-old Indian was fatally shot by three robbers in his liquor store in the New Zealand capital, sending shockwaves in the immigrant community which has accused the police of a delayed response to the incident.

Navtej Singh, father of three girls, died today after battling for life for 36 hours.

Navtej had immigrated from Punjab to New Zealand and had set up a liquor store in South Auckland about three months ago.

“A total of 15 bottles of beer and maybe some change, a couple of dollars. That’s the price that has been put on this 30-year-old man today. I feel that this is a national shame,” Veer Khar of the Indian Central Association said.

Detective inspector Jim Gallagher said video footage reveals the three offenders, who entered the store around 9 pm, were male Pacific Islanders or indigenous Maori.

As Navtej lay injured on the shop floor, a man unconnected with the robbery walked in and stole a box of alcopops, video footage from the store’s CCTV showed.

Navtej’s friend and family, however, claimed that he could have been saved if the police and emergency services had not taken nearly an hour to reach the site after they were alerted.

“He might still be alive if they came quicker,” family spokesman Sandeep Verma told Fairfax Media.

Verma believes the police were delayed by following a GPS system that failed to disclose the road that was not linked to the motorway.

“Ambulance people asked me whether offenders, people who did this were at the liquor shop, are they still around. So my question is if I am calling from car park, what are they expecting, that the offenders will be there?” the victim’s colleague Gurwinder Singh said.

But the police have defended their actions.

In any emergency callout involving firearms, the police has to follow a standard procedure to ensure the safety of everyone, Gallagher said. — PTI

New York, June 9
It's unusual. But, it's a fact. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic party's presidential nominee, is seeking the blessings of Hindu god Hanuman in his battle for the White House. The 46-year-old senator from Illinois, who defeated his rival Hillary Clinton in an epic 17-month long electoral battle for the Democratic party nomination, carries a “tiny monkey god” apparently representing "Hanuman" with him for good luck.

A recent photo posted on Time's White House Photo of the Day collection shows the first-ever black American nominee of a major US party for the Presidential elections carries with him a bracelet belonging to an American soldier deployed in Iraq, a gambler's lucky chit, a tiny monkey god and a tiny Madonna and child.

That “tiny monkey god,” of course, appears to be a statue of the Hindu monkey god, Hanuman, says the posting but editors and the photographer has not identified it as such. Obama, whose father was a Kenyan and mother a white woman from Kansas, spent initial days of his life in Indonesia where Hinduism is a popular religion.

In addition to a lucky penny, Republican candidate John McCain carries a lucky nickel, and a lucky rubber band, which he wears around his wrist. He also has a lucky sweater and a lucky hotel room in New Hampshire, says the caption on his photo.

“People give Clinton lucky items all the time on the campaign trail,” said a Clinton spokesman. “Recently, for example, she's received a lucky coin, a lucky handkerchief that a woman in Texas gave to her that she sometimes keeps in her pocket, and a lucky bracelet that a woman in Ohio gave her that she wears every day. She keeps all of them.” — PTI

Nepal’s deposed King Gyanendra Shah is likely to hand over the royal crown and the scepter, including other important things that were used by the former kings in the past, to the government on Tuesday.

Home minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula said: “Former King Gyanendra has agreed to provide all historic documents of Shah Dynasty, the royal crown and scepter to a high-level government panel formed to prepare an inventory of properties with historic importance inside Narayanhity Palace tomorrow before he evicts the palace.”

Sitaula said after making a brief visit to Nagarjun Palace that has been granted by the government to the deposed king for his temporary accommodation.

On May 30, the government had asked Gyanendra to evacuate Narayanhity Palace by June 12 as per the directive issued by the first meeting of the Constituent Assembly that had declared the country a republic and nationalised Narayanhity Palace.

Earlier, the panel had informed that it failed to trace the records of the crown and scepter as the palace officials expressed ignorance about the whereabouts of those things.

As a result, the panel that was supposed to furnish its report by Monday to the government could not meet the deadline.

In the history of Nepal, “Shri Pech” made up of precious jewels, stones and bird of paradise plum that used to revere as royal crown worn by the former kings of Shah Dynasty and “Rajdand” scepter, a decorated stick that was carried by the former king during official ceremony were considered as symbols of authority.

BRIEFLY

Cash, art works recovered in safe deposits search
LONDON: The UK police uncovered cash, handguns, drugs, art works, and valuable jewellery after searching safe deposits boxes believed to be used by criminals. According to London's Metropolitan Police, a total of $76.8 million was seized, alongwith counterfeit currency, passports, chequebooks and credit cards. A 60-year-old man and a 44-year-old woman have been arrested. — AFP

Chavez asks Colombia’s rebels to end struggle
CARACAS: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez urged Colombian rebels to lay down their weapons, unilaterally free dozens of hostages and put an end to a decades-long armed struggle against Colombia's government. Chavez sent the uncharacteristically strong message to the leaders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia on Sunday, saying their ongoing efforts to overthrow Colombia's democratically elected government were unjustified. — AP

Court hopes to resolve 12-yr-old lawsuit
WASINGTON: It has been 12 years since a group of American Indians sued the government, saying Washington had cheated them out of profits from land royalties since 1887. A federal judge planned to begin hearings on Monday to determine how much the government should pay the Indians. The Indians’ 1996 suit claims they were swindled out of more than $100 billion in oil, gas and other royalties. The class-action suit covers about 500,000 Indians and their heirs. — AP