 |
|
|
Join politics, Zardari advises Iftikhar
Pak-Afghan jirga begins today
Booker winner Adiga denies sacking agent
|
|
|
Probe clears IMF chief
Briton, S. African ‘shot dead’ by Afghan guard
Security ‘relaxed’ at Suu Kyi’s home
Convicts will be disqualified: B’desh EC
Suicide bomber kills 11 in Pak
|
|
Join politics, Zardari advises Iftikhar
Virtually slamming the doors on further restoration of the “few” remaining deposed judges, including chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, President Asif Ali Zardari has invited Iftikhar and his handful of colleagues to join politics and promised to exercise his authority to lift two-year mandatory ban.
He claimed the judicial crisis was over and accused Iftikhar and his colleagues of issuing political statements as if posing a threat to the government. “The way these “former” judges are delivering speeches similar to that of politicians, I would advise the prime minister to give them a party ticket for the Senate elections to be held next year,” he said with a wry smile in a panel interview with The News. He said 42 out of 60 judges have taken fresh path, many have retired and only four to five are left including the “big gun”, a taunting reference to Justice Iftikhar. “I do not see even a semblance of judicial crisis”, he said adding that if Iftikhar thinks he was very popular and can pose threat to the government, he was free to contest Senate election next march and enter active politics. Asked to count major accomplishment of his presidency since election on September 6, Zardari mentioned efforts to “re-unite” the federation, working for national consensus, bringing on board all major political parties on the war on terror and undertaking a land-mark trip to China. To a suggestion about creating a constitutional office of vice-president, Zardari said this proposal along with constitutional package including that of doing away with the 17th Amendment would be presented to Parliament by early next year. On the public backlash of some unpopular decisions taken by the government like hike in power and petrol prices, Zardari said Pakistan might go for new technology-based power plants. He, however, said the first step the government would be taking to save energy would be to replace more than 10 million bulbs with free-of-cost energy savers with lower voltage and more light. He brushed aside any possibility of mid-term polls adding democracy will progress in the spirit of Charter of Democracy signed in London in 2006 by Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif. He deflected many questions to the prime minister while insisting that he is the chief executive of the country denying the Musharraf-Shaukat Aziz syndrome persists under him. “The tank-commander (referring to Musharraf as a gunner) assumed the powers of chief executive and then the president and he left behind nothing but a mess. Similarly, Shaukat Aziz, who knows market economy or service industry plunged the country in an economic mess,” he said. He said the IMF is not for filling in a begging bowl but an institution to correct a wrong. “What to talk about Pakistan, Sweden has also recently approached the IMF to save its economy and keep its financial health as robust as possible.
|
|
Pak-Afghan jirga begins today
Islamabad, October 26 The tribal council, known as a jirga gai or “mini-jirga” as it is the smaller version of a larger council of tribal elders from the two countries, is a track-II initiative. It has been billed as the biggest confidence-building measure since the meeting of the larger jirga in August last year, which was intensely divided over dealing with terrorism. The 25-member mini-jirga will discuss ways to enhance cooperation among tribal elders for peace on both sides of the border and steps to engage the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban in talks to restore peace in the tribal belt, which has been described by the US as a safe haven for Al Qaida. “So far there have been isolated attempts to broker a peace, but the significance of the mini-jirga is that it will try to collectively devise a way for talking to opponents the Taliban and other militant groups, who are involved in attacks in Afghanistan and the tribal areas of Pakistan,” an official told the Dawn newspaper. NWFP Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani will lead the Pakistani side that includes top tribal leaders like Awami National Party chief Afandyar Wali Khan. The Afghan side, to be led by former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, comprises members of the country’s National Assembly and Senate. Political observers said the involvement of leading political figures from the two countries adds to the hopes for a successful outcome of the talks. But they also pointed to the absence of “real stakeholders” as none of the leaders of the two sides set to participate in the mini-jirga represented regions, which were the centres of militancy. The meeting of the mini-jirga has been delayed by several months due to the strained relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The ties took a downturn with the suicide-car-bomb attack on the Indian Embassy in Kabul that killed nearly 60 persopns, including two top Indian diplomats. The mini-jirga members will frame rules for the next meeting of the larger jirga to be held in Islamabad. — PTI
|
|
Booker winner Adiga denies sacking agent
Mumbai/London, October 26 “The story in the British newspaper Telegraph is absolutely incorrect. Initially I had an agent in New York and the relationship between us had ended in November 2007,” said 34-year-old Adiga, whose debut book ‘The White Tiger’, won him the Booker this year. Adiga said his relationship with his “principal agent” ended as he thought the author was not making enough money. “I had an agent who was my principle agent and our relationship mutually ended because he thought I was not making money,” Adiga said reacting to British media reports. Adiga also objected to claims that the “sacked” agent had helped him with the 50,000-pound award. “The agent has no role in my winning,” he said. Adiga said nobody from British press contacted him. ‘The Sunday Telegraph’ today reported that Adiga had parted company with the William Morris Agency “credited with helping him win the prize”. It did not cite any reason. — PTI
|
|
Probe clears IMF chief
Washington, October 26 While the board stopped the short of disciplinary action, its leader, Shakour Shaalan, acknowledged there was a concern among female staff about Strauss-Kahn’s behaviour. Shaalan said he personally warned Strauss-Kahn, a former French finance minister, against further improper conduct. He said the board had accepted Strauss-Kahn’s apology. “The executive board noted that the incident was regrettable and reflected a serious error of judgement on the part of the managing director,” the IMF board, said in a statement yesterday. The investigation by an outside lawyer retained by the IMF board found Strauss-Kahn conducted a brief, consensual affair in January 2008, with Piroska Nagy, who worked in the IMF’s Africa department as a senior economist. The inquiry began after a complaint by a third person. The IMF board sought to deal with the investigation quickly so as not to distract the IMF from its role in dealing with the global financial crisis that has sent markets plunging on fears that the world economy is in for a long and deep recession. In a statement, Strauss-Kahn repeated an earlier apology to the board, blaming his actions on a serious error of judgement. “I regret the incident and I accept responsibility for it,” said Strauss-Kahn. — Reuters
|
|
Briton, S. African ‘shot dead’ by Afghan guard
Kabul, October 26 The Westerners, the head and the deputy head of the Afghanistan branch of international shipping company, DHL, were killed yesterday as their vehicle pulled up outside their office in the city centre. “One of the security guards who was standing in front of the company opened fire on the chief and the deputy of the DHL,” interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary said. He said the police was looking into the background of the guard, employed by an Afghan branch of a British-based security company, to find out what had led him to kill them. “No one knows if the person was recruited (to carry out the killing) or there was infiltration of the enemy,” Bashary said, referring to Taliban extremists behind a wave of violence in Afghanistan. The Taliban have rejected involvement in the murder, which came a week after a British-South African aid worker was shot dead. The Taliban said its men had killed Gayle Williams, who is to be buried in Kabul on Sunday, because her organisation preached Christianity, a charge rejected by the group, SERVE Afghanistan. Interior ministry criminal investigation chief Mirza Mohammad Yarmang said a postmortem would confirm that the guard for the DHL had killed the two Westerners and then himself. — AFP
|
|
Security ‘relaxed’ at Suu Kyi’s home
Yangon, October 26 “We noticed this morning that the security was reduced around her house,” said Nyan Win, a spokesman for the National League for Democracy party. — AFP
|
|
General Election
Dhaka, October 26 Addressing a meting of senior officials yesterday, chief election commissioner A.T.M. Shamsul Huda said, “People, who would be convicted until the day of scrutiny of nomination papers, will be treated disqualified for the polls.” Huda said the commission was set to announce the schedule for the general election next week as other preparations had been completed to conduct “fair and credible” polls in line with an earlier announcement of election road map. The government had earlier announced that the polls would be held on December 18. The statement came as two major political parties - Awami League of the former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her arch rival Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) - were engaged in talks with interim government for complete withdrawal of emergency. Earlier, both parties threatened to boycott the election in the absence of their top leaders, who were being tried for several graft charges. — PTI
|
|
Suicide bomber kills 11 in Pak Islamabad, October 26 The suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into the checkpost located along the border of Bajaur and Mohmand Agencies tonight, local residents and witnesses said. A majority of the 11 persons killed were personnel of the paramilitary Frontier Corps and Khasadar militia. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. The security forces cordoned off the area and traffic on several roads was suspended as rescue workers rushed the wounded and bodies to nearby hospitals. President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani condemned the attack. Gilani said those who were “playing with the lives of innocent people would not escape the...law of the land”. — PTI
|
Beijing babies drank ‘tainted’ milk Merl Saunders dead Dog risks life to save kittens Indians on trial
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
