W O R L D

Zardari says he will continue as Pakistan president
slamabad, December 17
Pakistan's ailing president Asif Ali Zardari today scotched speculation that he could be ousted under a constitutional provision that provides for the removal of a president on the ground of "physical or mental incapacity".
Asif Ali Zardari

Memogate: Gilani, Kayani meet
Islamabad, December 17
Seeking to dispel the impression of a confrontation between them over the memogate scandal, Pakistan premier Yousuf Raza Gilani and army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani held a lengthy meeting following which they said their divergent views on the issue should "not be misconstrued as a standoff".

Over 400 killed as storm batters Philippines
Cagayan De Oro, Dec 17
More than 400 persons have been killed and thousands more have been rendered homeless or are missing after a typhoon hit the southern Philippines, Philippine National Red Cross Secretary-General Gwendolyn Pang told Reuters on Saturday. She said the death toll was expected to rise.

Zardari says he will continue as Pakistan president

Islamabad, December 17
Pakistan's ailing president Asif Ali Zardari today scotched speculation that he could be ousted under a constitutional provision that provides for the removal of a president on the ground of "physical or mental incapacity".

Talking to a senior Pakistani journalist who had written a column on the same issue today, Zardari said he was "absolutely fine" but doctors treating him in Dubai were not giving him permission to travel back to Pakistan.

Zardari questioned how the first clause of Article 47 of Pakistan's constitution could be used to remove him if he was absolutely fine.

If the constitutional provision was "forcefully imposed on him", he would reject it, Zardari was quoted as saying by the journalist. Clause (1) of Article 47 of the constitution states: "Notwithstanding anything contained in the constitution, the president may, in accordance with provisions of this Article, be removed from office on the ground of physical or mental incapacity". The president's abrupt departure for Dubai on December 6 triggered speculation that he could be on the verge of resigning due to growing pressure on him from the powerful military establishment in the wake of the "Memogate" controversy.

Prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said the president chose to seek treatment in Dubai due to threats he was facing in Pakistan.

Zardari has been at the centre of a storm since reports linked him to an alleged secret memo that was delivered by Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz to the US military after the killing of Osama bin Laden in May.

The memo sought US help to prevent a possible military takeover in Pakistan. The government has said both the president and prime minister had no role in drafting and delivering the memo. However, the government has not set a date for Zardari's return to Pakistan. — PTI

Memogate: Gilani, Kayani meet

Islamabad, December 17
Seeking to dispel the impression of a confrontation between them over the memogate scandal, Pakistan premier Yousuf Raza Gilani and army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani held a lengthy meeting following which they said their divergent views on the issue should "not be misconstrued as a standoff". The Gilani-Kayani meeting, which lasted over three hours last night, came after the government and military submitted their responses to the Supreme Court on the secret memo, which was sent to the US military seeking its help to prevent a possible coup in Pakistan following the May 2 American raid that killed al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad.

A statement issued by the premier's office after the meeting quoted Gilani and Kayani as saying that their divergent stands on the memogate issue "should not be misconstrued as a standoff between the army and government".

Gilani also said he had taken "serious note of the rumours regarding a confrontation" over the issue of the secret memo and  that he "strongly rejected the notion".

In an indication that the government was keen to address any differences with the military over the memogate scandal, the statement said: "The prime minister and the army chief underscored the significance of national unity to address the challenges faced by the nation." The differing stands adopted by the government and the military on the scandal became evident in replies submitted by them to the Supreme Court yesterday.

Gen Kayani and ISI chief Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha, in their responses, sought an inquiry into the memo.

The government, in  its reply, asked the apex court to dismiss a batch  of petitions seeking an inquiry into the controversy. — PTI

Over 400 killed as storm batters Philippines

Cagayan De Oro, Dec 17
More than 400 persons have been killed and thousands more have been rendered homeless or are missing after a typhoon hit the southern Philippines, Philippine National Red Cross Secretary-General Gwendolyn Pang told Reuters on Saturday. She said the death toll was expected to rise.

Typhoon Washi, with winds gusting up to 90km/h (56 mph), hit the resource-rich island of Mindanao late on Friday, bringing heavy rain that also grounded some domestic flights and left wide areas without power.

"The death toll might still rise because there are still a lot of missing people," said Pang. She said the hardest-hit areas were in the cities of Iligan and Cagayan de Oro. The Philippines social welfare department said about 100,000 people were displaced and brought to more than a dozen shelters in Iligan and Cagayan de Oro. Army spokesman Colonel Leopoldo Galon said rescue operations would continue along the Misamis Oriental and Lanao del Norte provinces. Reuters

Protect your women, EU tells Pak, Afghanistan

Fair deal eludes the fairer sex

Strasbourg, December 17
The European Parliament has asked Pakistan and Afghanistan to pay immediate attention to crimes against women and advised them to ensure better laws to protect their basic human rights.

The parliament is deeply concerned about the situation of women and girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan, it said in a statement here Friday.

Women’s rights must be addressed in all human rights dialogues, and in particular the issue of combating all forms of violence against women and girls, the statement said.

This included all forms of harmful traditional or customary practices, early or forced marriage, domestic violence and femicide.

The invocation of any custom, tradition or religious consideration of any kind in order to evade the duty to eliminate such brutality be rejected, it stressed.

The European parliament members paid tribute to Afghan women for playing a crucial role in nation-building, especially to Massouda Jalal, an international human rights activist and former Afghan minister for women affairs.

The parliament also said it is deeply concerned that despite all the progress made, Afghan women and girls continue to be victims of domestic violence, trafficking, forced marriages and being traded in settlement of disputes.

With regard to Pakistan, the members expressed deep concern about the handling of the court cases against Asia Bibi, Mukhtar Mai and Uzma Ayub, “which could further erode faith in Pakistan’s justice system and embolden those who seek to violate the rights of women”. — IANS

Iran-bound radioactive material seized in Russia

Moscow, December 17
Russia’s customs service said on Friday it had seized radioactive Sodium-22, an isotope that is used in medical equipment but has no weapons use, from the luggage of a passenger planning to fly from Moscow to Tehran.

The service said in a statement that the material could be obtained only “as a result of a nuclear reactor’s operations” but did not say when it had been discovered at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport. The material triggered an alarm in the airport’s radiation control system and a luggage search led to the discovery of 18 pieces of the radioactive metal, it said.

The passenger boarded the plane for Tehran and left Russia, the customs service said. It added that the passenger was an Iranian national. Russian law enforcement agencies opened criminal investigation into the incident.

Sodium-22 can be used for calibrating nuclear detectors.

“There is no weapons aspect to this (material),” said research director Lars-Erik De Geer of Swedish Defence Research Institute. Tension is rising between Western powers and Iran after a UN nuclear watchdog report last month that said Tehran appeared to have worked on designing a nuclear weapon, and that secret research to that end may be continuing. — Reuters