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Work on chargesheet against Mush begins
Russia bombs Georgian troops
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Sharif’s party to rejoin cabinet
Impeachment move Pak’s internal matter: US
Maoists fail to form consensus govt again
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Work on chargesheet against Mush begins
While rival sides and analysts hotly debated the number game for impeachment, the coordination committee of the ruling coalition on Friday began deliberations on framing a chargesheet against President Musharraf. The committee also worked out a schedule for convening session of the National Assembly and all four provincial assemblies where resolutions would be introduced asking Musharraf to seek vote of confidence as pledged by him before the Supreme Court. PML-N spokesman Ahsan Iqbal told reporters that the panel was confident that the coalition had at least 303 votes against the requisite number of 295. According to constitutional provisions, the impeachment motion must have the support of 295 members in a combined House of 442 in order to succeed. The National Assembly or lower house of parliament has 342 members while the Senate or upper house has 100. Iqbal said the committee expect several members of the opposition PML-Q would also vote against Musharraf. However, PML-Q secretary-general Mushahid Hussain Sayed was confident that the motion would fail. He said the coalition “ is relying on Independents and members defecting from the PML-Q but is in for disappointment”. The initial chargesheet listed in their news conference by PPP co-chairman Asif Zardari and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif stated that the president has worked to undermine the transition to democracy through collusion with the ‘King’s party’ (PML-Q); his policies have weakened the federation while economic policies during the last eight years have brought Pakistan to the brink of economic impasse. Eminent jurist Hafeez Pirzada said the coalition would have to come out with more serious charges than those listed by Zardari. A presidential aide told reporters that Musharraf was determined to face the chargesheet and defend himself because he had not done anything to deserve it.
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Russia bombs Georgian troops Moscow, August 8 The worst outbreak of hostilities since the pro-Moscow province won de-facto independence in a war against Georgia in 1992 broke out after Georgian artillery and air assault hit provincial capital Tskhinvali. As many as 10 Russian peacekeepers were killed and 30 wounded in Georgian shelling in their barracks last night, Russian officials said, terming the attack a botched attempt to regain control over the province. Russian tanks and armoured personnel carriers crossed the border and moved towards Tskhinvali, while the defence ministry said it had sent reinforcements for its peacekeepers. Quoting its sources, NewsGeorgia web news portal confirmed that at least 100 tanks and armoured vehicles have crossed through the Roksky Tunnel linking Russian and Georgian parts of Ossetia partitioned by former Russian leader Joseph Stalin in North and South Ossetia. South Ossetian separatist leader Eduard Kokoity claimed hundreds of civilians had been killed. Witnesses said the capital city has been devastated, with bodies lying around and cars and buildings damaged in shelling. The fighting broke out as world’s attention was focused on Olympic Games opening ceremony and top leaders, including Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin were in Beijing. Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, who had earlier claimed that the government troops have “liberated” South Ossetia, accused Russia of being the aggressor and said it has sent aircraft to bomb Georgian territory. Russia has denied the claim. Addressing an emergency session of the national security council, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Moscow would punish those guilty of killing Russians in South Ossetia. Over 90 per cent population of South Ossetia, which declared its independence from Georgia after Soviet collapse, are Russian passport holders. Medvedev said Russia would remain a guarantor of security in the Caucasus, in a reference to Tbilisi’s demands that Russian troops pull out from the conflict zones. Speaking in Beijing, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said it would be difficult to stop thousands of Russian volunteers from heading to South Ossetia to help the province. In an interview to CNN, Saakashvili said it was in the interests of the US to help Georgia in this situation. “Now this concerns not only Georgia. This concerns America, its values. We are a freedom-loving nation, which has just been invaded,” he said. — Reuters
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Sharif’s party to rejoin cabinet
Islamabad, August 8 Party sources said four of its members — Ahsan Iqbal, Mehtab Abbasi, Tanvir Hussain and Khawja Saad Rafique — would quietly resume their duties in the ministries they held before tendering resignations in May. The rest would wait till after the restoration of judges. Since the Prime Minister had not accepted the resignations, the ministers would not be required to take a fresh oath from the President. Last time nine PML-N ministers took oath from him wearing black armbands.
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Impeachment move Pak’s internal matter: US
The Bush Administration appeared to have ditched its longtime ally Pervez Musharraf even as Pakistan president faces impeachment in Islamabad. At a regular press briefing, state department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos termed developments in Pakistan “internal politics” and repeatedly said it was an issue for the Pakistani people to decide. Gallegos said “any action” must be “consistent with the rule of law and the Pakistani constitution. It is the responsibility of Pakistan leaders to decide on a way forward to succeed as a moderate, modern, and democratic country.” Musharraf signed on as a key ally in President George W. Bush’s war on terrorism after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the US. Musharraf’s alignment with Washington cost him support at home and has been responsible for the rise of anti-US extremism in the country. Asked whether he realised Washington’s hands off approach sent a “huge message” to Pakistanis that Musharraf’s fate was essentially in their hands, Gallegos sai: “Our message to Pakistan has been consistent. We expect that any action will be consistent with their rule of law and Pakistani constitution.”
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Maoists fail to form consensus govt again
The CPN-Maoist, the largest party in the Nepal’s Constituent Assembly, once again missed the deadline to produce its claim before President Dr Ram Baran Yadav to form the new government, as it failed to persuade other political parties and garner their support to lead consensus government.
Despite holding a series of dialogue with the top-brass leaders of other big three parties in the Assembly, mainly the Nepali Congress, the CPN-UML and the Madhesi People’s Rights Forum, Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, alias Prachanda, failed to persuade other party leaders and reach an understanding to form the new government under his leadership and draft common minimum programme for it. The Nepali Congress remained adamant in its previous stances saying it would not support the Maoists until and unless the latter created conducive atmosphere by implementing the past pacts and understandings, including returning the illegally confiscated private and public property and dissolving the paramilitary structure of the Youth Communist League. As a result a meeting of big-four party leaders ended this evening inconclusively. However, Maoist supremo Prachanda said the parties would continue their efforts on Saturday to forge understanding.
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Yangon Kathmandu MOSUL 
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Moscow, August 8
