Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has threatened to pull his party out of the ruling coalition with the Pakistan Peoples Party if his demand to reinstate sacked judges is not fulfilled soon. Sharif told the Wall Street Journal in an interview that if the judges are not restored, “it will be a bad day for democracy. It means whatever the dictator did to our country we aren’t rectifying that.”

Asked what would happen if the PPP does not agree to this demand, Sharif replied, “If the judges are not restored we will perhaps be forced to sit in the opposition. We will not try to bring the government down. But of course then we have no choice but to sit in the opposition.”

The cracks in the ruling coalition appeared soon after its common foe — Pervez Musharraf — announced his resignation earlier this week in the face of moves to impeach him.

Sharif said PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari had been insistent on impeaching Musharraf. The former prime minister, who was deposed by Musharraf in a military coup in 1999, said he wasn’t sold on pushing Musharraf out of office in a hurry. “Although I wasn’t convinced with [Zardari’s] arguments, I went along. I asked if the judges would be reinstated within 24 hours of impeachment, and he said yes,” Sharif said, adding that an agreement to this effect was produced in writing. “It’s now his turn to support us on the reinstatement of judges,” he added.

Sharif noted that the coalition with the PPP had come into being on the basis that democracy would be strengthened and judges restored. He said Zardari had agreed to reinstate all but one of the sacked judges — former Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhury. “We’ve said it’s not a question of any individual. It’s a question of the institution. We should be clear about whether we stand for the independence of the judiciary or we stand for certain individuals,” Sharif said.

The former prime minister said he was not interested in winning back his old job. He insisted he wants to see the coalition stay intact. 

Madrid, August 21
A Spanish tourist jet carrying 172 persons careered off a Madrid airport runway and broke up in flames, killing 153 persons in the country’s worst air crash in more than 20 years, the government spokesperson said. One engine of the Spanair MD-82 caught fire yesterday during the attempted takeoff from Madrid-Barajas airport on a flight to Las Palmas in the Canary Islands at 2:45 pm, Spanish media said, quoting witnesses.

Smoke billowed from the wreckage of flight JK 5022. Helicopters dropped water to douse the flames of the jet and grassfires caused by the crash. About 30 incoming flights were delayed by seven hours.

Transport minister Magdalena Alvarez said 153 persons were killed among the 172 on board, out of which 10 were crew members. The head of the emergency and rescue services in Madrid, Ervigio Corral, said the bodies were scattered over a wide area and some of the survivors were able to “walk away” from the accident.

Spanair, Spain’s second largest airline after Iberia, said the names of the passengers and crew would only be released after families had been notified. “Information on the number of people involved is not yet available, but Spanair is doing everything possible to help the Spanish authorities at this difficult time,” he said.

The flight, which was a code-share with Lufthansa, registered four passengers from a Lufthansa flight on the ill-fated Spanair jet, who had arrived in Madrid, the German carrier said. The Swedish foreign ministry said two Swedes were also among those on board, one of whom survived. — AFP

Oslo, August 21
Russia has decided to freeze its military cooperation with NATO and allied countries until further notice, the Norwegian defence ministry has said.

A ministry spokeswoman Heidi Langvik-Hansen said “The Russian defence ministry has telephoned the Norwegian embassy in Moscow” informing Norway of the development.

“The Russian ministry called to say Moscow was going to send a letter to the embassy with this information,” she said.

NATO foreign ministers on Tuesday declared that business as usual with Moscow was no longer possible following Russia’s invasion of Georgian territory in a fierce conflict over the South Ossetia separatist region. They urged Russia to respect its pledge to withdraw its troops from Georgia.

NATO secretary general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer accused Russia of failing to respect a French-brokered peace plan requiring both sides to move troops back to their positions before Georgia launched an offensive on the separatist region of South Ossetia.

The Russian navy meanwhile announced it had cancelled its participation in naval manoeuvres planned in the Baltic Sea as part of its partnership with NATO, and said it was currently not considered possible to host the US naval frigate ford. — AFP

United Nations, August 21
The UN Security Council (UNSC) is witnessing an acrimonious wrangling over the action it should take on the Georgian conflict, after a fresh draft resolution introduced by Russia on the issue was promptly opposed by the US.

Russia, which had earlier rejected a French draft resolution seeking withdrawal of its forces from Georgia and the breakaway South Ossetia, introduced its own resolution seeking endorsement of the six-point French plan to which it had agreed.

The draft was, however, opposed by the United States and diplomats coming out of closed-door consultations said with veto-wielding permanent members opposing each other, the Council was set for a bitter wrangling over the issue. One of the contentious points is the issue of territorial integrity of Georgia.

The six-point plan does not mention it but the US and its allies would like to stress on it so as not to give the impression that they support independence for South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the two breakaway regions.

The six-point plan says that international discussion would be opened on lasting security and stability arrangements for the two regions. The Russian resolution mentions the six points and says that the Council should call upon the parties concerned to implement it in good faith.

Western diplomats, however, said the issue was much more complex and the resolution does not take into account the clarifications issued by France. — PTI

New York, August 21
The US has reached an agreement with Iraq to withdraw a part of its forces from the Iraqi cities by next summer as a prelude to a full withdrawal from the country, a media report said today.

The draft agreement sets 2011 as the date by which all US troops will leave Iraq, the Wall Street Journal said quoting Iraqi deputy foreign minister Mohammed al-Haj Humood.Teams of American and Iraqi negotiators spent months haggling over the deal which will be presented to the Bush administration and the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for formal approval or rejection, the journal said.

"The talking is done," a US official said late last night. "Now the decision makers choose whether to give it a thumbs up or a thumbs down." The precise terms of the agreement, the paper said, were not clear till yesterday and the final status will remain likely unsettled for at least a few more weeks.

Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the National Security Council, cautioned that the deal was not yet complete.

"Discussions are ongoing with the Iraqis to finalise a bilateral agreement," he said.

The deal represents a remarkable turnaround from just a few months ago, when talks about timetables and deadlines were routinely dismissed by the Washington. — PTI

BRIEFLY

Twelve killed in Algeria bomb attacks
ALGIERS: Two car bomb attacks in eastern Algeria killed 12 persons, state radio and a Canadian employer said. At least 31 persons were also injured in the latest attacks in the town of Bouira on Wednesday, one on a passenger bus parked near the Sophie hotel in the city centre, and another near the military headquarters 120 km southeast of Algiers, Algerian radio said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. — AFP

Pirates seize two vessels
KUALA LUMPUR: Two vessels, an Iranian bulk carrier and a Japanese-operated tanker, have been seized by pirates off the coast of Somalia, the International Maritime Bureau said on Thursday. “Both ships were attacked and hijacked on Thursday morning,” said Noel Chong, head of the International Maritime Bureau piracy reporting centre in Kuala Lumpur. The Japanese tanker had 19 crew on board, but no Japanese nationals, he added. — Reuters

Glitter to be expelled 
Bangkok: Thai immigration authorities said on Thursday they would expel former glam-rock star and convicted paedophile Gary Glitter to his native Britain after Hong Kong refused to let him in. Glitter (64) was released from a Vietnamese prison on Wednesday day after serving nearly three years for committing obscene acts with two girls aged 11 and 12. He had been booked to fly that night to London via Bangkok, but refused to get on the plane to Britain. — AFP

‘Green Police’ for K’taka
LONDON: At least 650 ex-servicemen will be employed as “Green Police” in Karnataka to look after the security of tourists and provide guidance to them, said the state’s minister for tourism and infrastructure development, G Janardhana Reddy. Addressing leaders from travel and tourism industry at the Crown Plaza hotel here on Wednesday, Reddy said, “This is the first time Green Police Guides will be enrolled for the security and assistance of tourists.” — PTI

Turtles under threat
NEW YORK: The marine turtle population in the Indian Ocean and South-East Asia (IOSEA) region is under threat from coastal tourism and illegal fishing practices, the UN environment agency reported ahead of a meeting in Bali to sign a conservation agreement. “Coastal development especially for tourist facilities has been proceeding very fast in much of the Indian Ocean region,” said chairman for the programme’s advisory committee Jack Frazier. — PTI

Beatle’s contract on auction
LONDON: The “life-changing contract” which launched the ‘Fab Four’ on the road to Beatlemania is set to go under the hammer in Britain. The Beatles’ first fully-signed contract with manager Brian Epstein is expected to fetch at least £250,000 at an auction next month. Epstein’s copy of the contract will be up for grabs at The Fame Bureau’s ‘It’s more than Rock ‘n’ Roll’ sale of rock and pop memorabilia at the Idea Generation Gallery in London on September 4. — PTI