Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said his next round of talks with PPP co-chairman Asif Zardari next week would be conclusive.

“I want to have a final word with Zardari on an agenda that is simple, would take the country out of its present crisis and put it on the road to progress,” he said.

The first on the list of his eight-point agenda was rule of law, followed by independence of judiciary, restoration of deposed judges, blocking army intervention for all times to come, establishment of parliament’s supremacy, no to foreign dictation, accountability and institution of a treason case against Gen (retd) Musharraf, Sharif said at a gathering of UK’s wing of the PML-N in London last night.

Lest the ‘final word’ is mistaken for ‘final ultimatum’ to his coalition partner, Sharif hastened to add that he wanted the coalition to continue and complete ‘this simple agenda’ and asked rather rhetorically, “what would happen to Pakistan if this agenda is not fulfilled”? “Only God knows,” was his rhetorical answer.

However, Sharif did not specify the date or the venue of his proposed meeting with Zardari but Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has convened a meeting of top leadership of the ruling coalition on July 23.

Sharif said when he had met Zardari after Feb 18 elections he had invited the latter to “join hands with the PML-N to translate peoples’ mandate into a 
reality.”

“I told him let us start implementing the charter of democracy, get rid of the 17th Amendment, make Musharraf accountable for all the unconstitutional and illegal actions he had taken since October 12, 1999, and stop all unwanted wars against our own people,” said Sharif. “For all this I put no conditions. I told him that we do not want any share in the government and that we will support you without joining the government,” Sharif recalled.

The government is taking extreme security measures ahead of the upcoming summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC) in Colombo.

Around 30 schools will be closed by July 25 to accommodate the large number of troops being brought into the city. Police have announced that movement on many roads will be restricted, while three railway stations in the city would be closed.

In addition, intensified security checks are being carried out particularly in areas where a large number of Tamil nationals, who travel to Colombo from the north and east, find temporary accommodation. However, there has already been some criticism of the manner in which these places are being searched by the police and army.

People who need to travel to these restricted areas have been asked to obtain special passes from the police, while others have been asked to avoid to travel unless for urgent needs. The restrictions will apply between July 27 and August 3, when the ministerial and the heads of state summits will be held.

New Delhi, July 16
Unfazed by the July 7 car bomb blast at its embassy in Kabul, India has completed the crucial Zaranj-Delaram road link, despite frequent attempts by the Taliban to sabotage the project.

The road link seeks to reduce Afghanistan’s dependence on Pakistan for overland access to Central Asia and provide an alternative route for Indian goods to that country. The road link at Zaranj opens into Iran and Indian goods can land at a port at Iran and take the road into the heart of Afghanistan at Delaram.

Sources here said the road link could open “very soon” though it may formally be inaugurated at a later stage. “A soft launch” that was without much fanfare, would be preferred. The project, executed by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), would also help Afghanistan provide communication facility in remote parts of the country.

India has pledged $ 850 million for various reconstruction projects in Afghanistan, ranging from roads and bridges to power stations and parliament complex.

Built at a cost of about Rs746.79 crore, the Zaranj-Delaram road has been targeted by the Taliban and its backers many times in the past three years. This included the killing of a BRO personnel a few years ago. The foreign secretary had on Sunday visited Kabul and asserted that the embassy blast would not deter India from going on with various reconstruction projects.

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