W O R L D

Nepal’s first post-royal cabinet sworn in
Key Maoist ally CPN-UML stays away
Nepal’s first post-royal cabinet led by Premier Prachanda was sworn-in today with Indian-origin leader Upendra Yadav bagging the key foreign affairs portfolio even as the CPN-UML made an eleventh hour move to stay away from the government due to a row over ministerial hierarchy.

Bush reaffirms support to Gilani
Islamabad, August 22
US President George .W. Bush yesterday separately called Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and ex-President Pervez Musharraf reaffirming continued US support to Gilani for strengthening the democratic government and thanking Musharraf for his role as an ally.

Presidential Election
PPP nominates Zardari
The Central Executive Committee (CEC) of Pakistan People's Party has formally nominated the Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari as its candidate for the coveted office of President of Pakistan.

• Poll on September 6

Russians quit Georgian town
Gori, August 22
The Russian soldiers waved and smiled, but it was far from being a fond farewell today as they pulled out of the Georgian town of Gori andheaded for home. “It’s such a relief,” said Valiko, a 68-year-old Georgian man, as a convoy of 10 armoured personnel carriers rumbled past him on its way to South Ossetia and eventually the Russian border.

A Russian military column leaves the Georgian town of Gori on Friday. — Reuters photo

Nepal’s first post-royal cabinet sworn in
Key Maoist ally CPN-UML stays away
Bishnu Budhathoki writes from Kathmandu & PTI

Nepal’s first post-royal cabinet led by Premier Prachanda was sworn-in today with Indian-origin leader Upendra Yadav bagging the key foreign affairs portfolio even as the CPN-UML made an eleventh hour move to stay away from the government due to a row over ministerial hierarchy.

Prachanda, who is scheduled to leave on a five-day visit to China tomorrow, announced a small nine-member cabinet and administered oath of office to eight ministers - four each from CPN-Maoist and Madhesi People’s Rights Forum (MPRF), more than four months after the former rebels emerged the largest group in the landmark April 10 Constituent Assembly polls.

The key Maoist ally CPN-UML decided to stay away from the government at the last minute, citing dissatisfaction at the hierarchy of the ministers.

Earlier, the CPN-UML had decided to send to the cabinet six ministers under the leadership of senior leader Bam Dev Gautam, who was named its candidate for the post of home minister.

After their demand for Gautam to be placed in the second position in the ministerial hierarchy after the Prime Minister was rejected by Prachanda, the emergency central committee meeting of the CPN-UML decided not to participate in the government unless Maoists reconsider the issue hierarchy.

Meanwhile, Prachanda administered the oath of office to eight newly nominated ministers - Dr Baburam Bhattarai (finance), Ram Bahadur Thapa (defence), Krishna Bahadur Mahara (information and communication), Dev Prasad Gurung (law, justice and parliamentary affairs) from Maoist party - at Presidential Office in Sital Niwas at the presence of President Dr Ram Baran Yadav.

Similarly, four members form MPRF, including its chairman Upendra Yadav for foreign affairs, party leaders Bijaya Gachhadar for physical planning and works, Jaya Prakash Prasad Gupta for agriculture and cooperatives and Renu Yadav for education also took the oath of office.

Bush reaffirms support to Gilani
Tribune News Service

Islamabad, August 22
US President George .W. Bush yesterday separately called Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and ex-President Pervez Musharraf reaffirming continued US support to Gilani for strengthening the democratic government and thanking Musharraf for his role as an ally.

Bush's call to Musharraf, about whom he once said he was tight, was believed to be his first since he faced a crisis following an announcement by the coalition earlier this month to impeach him.

The administration termed it as an internal matter and Bush reportedly did not receive frantic calls from Musharraf. Officials said Bush discussed with Gilani his government's plans to introduce a constitutional package to restore the original power equation between the President and the Prime Minister. 

Presidential Election
PPP nominates Zardari
Afzal Khan Writes from Islamabad

The Central Executive Committee (CEC) of Pakistan People's Party has formally nominated the Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari as its candidate for the coveted office of President of Pakistan.

Poll on September 6 Tribune News Service Islamabad, August 22 The presidential election would be held on September 6, the Election Commission announced here on Friday. The top office had fallen vacant consequent to resignation of Gen. Pervez Musharraf. Members of the Senate, the National Assembly and four provincial assemblies constitute electoral college for the election. The new President would serve the unfinished term of Musharraf who was elected by the outgoing assemblies on October 6 last year and sworn in as president for five years on November 29, 2007 after relinquishing the post of the army chief a day earlier. Secretary Election Commission Kunwar Dilshad unfolded the schedule for the election at a press conference here.

Zardari said he would decide on the nomination within next two days. He has also promised to consult the other coalition partners in the 4-party ruling alliance which may just be a formality. He had obliquely sounded top leaders of smaller components including the ANP's Asfandyar Wali Khan and Maulana Fazlur Rehman of JUI but never discussed the issue formally in the coalition. PPP leaders said the party is confident of securing support from its partners.

A top leader of one of the smaller parties told The Tribune that Zardari was set to occupy the exalted office of head of state since long. He has been arguing that his elevation as the President will lend strength and clear the misperceptions about fragile nature of the present government that has yet to establish its credibility.

Fazl commenting on PPP CEC's resolution said this is a decision of the party without taking other components into confidence. He said the coalition would take up Zardari's candidature and give its decision when the PPP formally moves it. Zardari has apparently presented a fait accompli to the coalition after a well-orchestrated campaign by the PPP's provincial chapters during past couple of days that was buffeted by MQM chief Altaf Hussain's strong support.

The PML-N of Nawaz Sharif has yet to be brought on board. It had some inkling but Zardari did not discuss the subject during various meetings since they formed the coalition. Senior PML-N leader Khawaja Asif, who has been participating all along in negotiations between Nawaz and Zardari regretted that the PPP did not consult his party, which is its major partner.

The PML-N has been emphasising that the President should be a non-controversial personality, who should enjoy wide confidence and support in the country. Nawaz Sharif discounted himself despite a strong case that the PPP must share at least one of three key offices (President, Prime Minister and Speaker) with its major partner in the coalition instead of retaining all three.

But he proposed the names of people like Balochistan's nationalist leaders Ataullah Mengal and Mahmood Khan Achakzai, while stressing that it would help curb the current separatist trends in the province. He also mentioned retired Chief Justice Saeeduzzam Siddiqui and Justice Fakhruddin G. Ibrhaim as other suitable candidates. 

Judges will be reinstated on Wednesday: Sharif
Afzal Khan writes from Islamabad

All deposed judges would be reinstated on Wednesday (August 27), PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif told reporters here.

A resolution declaring ex-President Pervez Musharraf’s November 3 actions as void, including dismissal of 60 judges, would be introduced in the National Assembly on Monday, Sharif said while addressing a joint news conference with two top leaders of junior coalition partners, Asfandyar Wali Khan (ANP) and Maulana Fazlur Rehman (JUI).

Both leaders had taken up mediatory role to salvage the coalition after the agreement signed by Sharif and PPP co-chairman Asif Zardari on August 7 ran into snags because of Zardari’s reluctance to restore deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry.

The disagreement had posed a serious threat to the survival of the coalition with Nawaz Sharif publicly threatening to quit if judges are not restored according to the “iron-clad” assurances given in writing by Zardari in their August 7 declaration. Earlier, Fazl and Asfandyar had a detailed meeting with the PPP co-chairman.

“Our efforts have reached a fruition, “Fazl said adding that deposed judges would be functional in about a week.

Sharif said the proposed resolution would be debated for two days and adopted after which an executive order regarding deposed judges would be issued in accordance with Murree Declaration signed by Nawaz and PPP co-chairman Asif Zardari on March 9 last.

Again on August 7, Zardari made categorical commitment that judges would be restored within 72 hours after Musharraf’s ouster. But Zardari dithered in meetings with Sharif this week after Musharraf’s resignation.

The Tribune learned from informed sources that Sharif showed flexibility in return for another overt understanding hammered out by Asfandyar and Fazl that would unfold in coming few days in terms of certain concrete developments revolving around Musharraf.

Russians quit Georgian town

Gori, August 22
The Russian soldiers waved and smiled, but it was far from being a fond farewell today as they pulled out of the Georgian town of Gori andheaded for home.

“It’s such a relief,” said Valiko, a 68-year-old Georgian man, as a convoy of 10 armoured personnel carriers rumbled past him on its way to South Ossetia and eventually the Russian border.

“I was waiting for this day and finally I see the Russians leaving my home town,” he said. “I’m so happy.”

Russian forces began pulling out on Friday from the Gori region that they stormed into this month after repelling a Georgian bid to retake the breakaway pro-Russian South Ossetia region.

For days, soldiers manned checkpoints on access roads to Gori and Georgia’s main east-west highway skirting the town, birthplace of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.

The majority of the population fled, leaving several thousand elderly people queuing for hours in stifling heat for humanitarian aid handouts. — Reuters

The Russian soldiers were unabashed. “Russia is a powerful country,” said one soldier perched atop an APC waiting to withdraw. “We showed the whole world just how powerful and strong we are,” he told a Reuters correspondent.

However, the extent of the final Russian withdrawal is in doubt, with Moscow insisting it will maintain checkpoints in an unspecified area adjacent to South Ossetia inside Georgia proper.

Russian peacekeepers, stationed in South Ossetia since the territory broke away from Georgia in the early 1990s, will continue to operate in this zone. It is unclear how many peacekeepers will remain.

The brief war, triggered by an offensive by Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili to rein in separatists in Tskhinvali, killed hundreds, and forced an estimated 80,000 from their homes.