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Obey order on Zardari or face contempt charges: Pak SC to Gilani
37 killed in Syria violence: Activists
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China shows the way in diplomacy
‘US drone strike kills senior militant in Pak’
A protester holds a burning US flag during a protest against the drone attacks in Multan on Thursday. — AFP
Memogate
Film conjures Arab Spring
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Obey order on Zardari or face contempt charges: Pak SC to Gilani
The Pakistan Supreme Court on Thursday offered to drop contempt charges against Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani if he implements its decision to write a letter to the Swiss authorities to reopen money-laundering case against President Asif Zardari. In a marathon but inconclusive session on Thursday, the court heard Prime Minister’s counsel Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan for seven hours to request dismissal of the contempt notice. But Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry urged him to advise his client not to show disrespect towards the court by refusing to write the letter. The Chief Justice further said this letter has to go to some other countries as well, besides Switzerland. He acknowledged that holding a Prime Minister guilty of contempt was no small matter, though it is a fact that he defied as many as 16 court directives for more than two years in the case. “The matter will be resolved if he promises to implement the judgment,” the Chief Justice observed. Ahsan said he could not make any commitment on the letter, but insisted that Gilani did not wilfully defy the judgment. He acted under the rules of business on the advice given him by legal aides, he added. The eight-judge Bench headed by the Chief Justice adjourned hearing till Friday and asked Ahsan to conclude by 10.30 am. The judges took exception to three paragraphs in Gilani’s appeal, in which he had recalled that he had ordered release of the judges detained by Gen Musharraf and later reinstated them. The Chief Justice said the appeal itself amounted to contempt because it tried to influence the court as if the PM had done some favour to the judges. Ahsan withdrew the paragraphs. Though Ahsan contended that Gilani was advised by the law ministry that the letter could not be written against the President, who enjoyed immunity under the constitution, he did not respond to the offer to argue on this issue. “I am here to argue against the contempt notice,” he said. He said Gilani was appearing before the court in a personal capacity and if convicted, it would be Gilani who would be sent to jail and not the Prime Minister. Ahsan pointed out that the Swiss authorities had themselves closed the cases on the grounds of immunity in 2008 when Zardari took office and that there was no third party to claim $60 million involved in the money laundering case. He urged the court not to insist on writing the letter that would sully its image abroad when it is turned down there. But the judges said the image of the court is undermined if the Chief Executive refuses to implement its rulings within the country.
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37 killed in Syria violence: Activists
Amman/Beirut, February 9 "Twenty-three persons have died in the shelling that began at dawn on the Baba Amr neighbourhood of Homs and one died in Khaldiyeh," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. "The bodies of several of the victims in Baba Amr were completely charred," he said. He said the government assault on the central city, which began on Saturday, has killed more than 400 people. The United Nations chief condemned the ferocity of the government assault on the heart of a revolt against President Bashar al-Assad. “I fear that the appalling brutality we are witnessing in Homs is a grim harbinger of things to come,” UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in New York.— Reuters
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China shows the way in diplomacy
Indian policy makers can perhaps learn a lesson or two from their Chinese counterparts on how to conduct public diplomacy. Qin Guangrong, secretary of the Communist Party in Yunnan province of China, surprised not only External Affairs Minister SM Krishna but even top Indian officials when he freely exchanged views with the visiting minister on India-China relations at the VVIP lounge of the Kunming airport in the presence of media contingents from both the countries. Krishna had made a brief halt at Kunming on Thursday afternoon on his way back to New Delhi from Beijing. The difference in how India conducts diplomacy despite being the largest democracy in the world and how China is coming to terms with the power of media in today's world despite being under a Communist State was quite palpable as Qin suggested a six-point formula for promoting India-China relations. A senior official admitted that it was quite an experience for him to have witnessed the interaction between the leaders of the two countries in full media glare. As Krishna heard him with rapt attention, the Chinese leader proposed an increase in business and trade exchanges, cooperation in the field of traffic and transport, intensification of educational exchanges, promotion of tourism and culture, increase in exchanges between the state governments of India and the provincial governments of China and expansion of areas of cooperation between the two countries. In this connection, he suggested that the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) Forum scheduled to meet in Kolkata later this month could be considered a role model for regional cooperation. Krishna, on his part, spoke about the 'spectacular' rise of the economic muscle-power of China. India, he said, had also been registering commendable success in the economic and developmental field. ''However, there is no need for us to look at each other in the spirit of competition...we should rather complement each other.'' He said the system of governance in India and China were different, but both the countries have shown to the world that development was possible if the leadership was committed. ''Our best practices can be replicated in China and yours can be replicated in India. The strides made by China in the infrastructure sector can be a model for developing countries,'' he said.
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‘US drone strike kills senior militant in Pak’ Peshawar, February 9 Badar Mansoor, leader of a faction of the Pakistani Taliban with close ties to the Al-Qaida, was one of the five killed in the strike in Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, near the Afghan border, intelligence officials and Pakistani Taliban sources said. "Badar Mansoor was living in a rented house here. He died in the drone strike this morning, and we have confirmation of five deaths," said a Pakistani intelligence official. Officials said the death toll could rise because buildings next to the one targeted were also damaged and people could have been there. On Wednesday, a US drone aircraft fired missiles at a compound in a village near Miranshah killing 10 suspected militants, Pakistani officials and villagers said. — Reuters
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Memogate
Islamabad, February 9 The Supreme Court-appointed commission observed that Ijaz had made a U-turn on the issue of coming to Pakistan to depose despite all sorts of assurances given by the government about his security. During a hearing last month, the commission had given Ijaz a final opportunity to depose before it today about the mysterious memo that had sought US help to stave off a feared military coup in Pakistan after the killing of Osama bin Laden in May last year. The three-judge commission issued the direction after Ijaz failed to appear before the panel on two occasions. In messages sent through this lawyer Akram Sheikh, Ijaz had cited security concerns as his reason for not coming to Pakistan. During today's hearing, Sheikh told the panel that Ijaz does not want to come to Pakistan, but is ready to provide evidence about the memo and record his statement outside the country. After consulting Ijaz during a recess in the hearing, Sheikh informed the commission that Ijaz was prepared to record his statement at the Pakistan High Commission in London. — PTI
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The Pakistan Supreme Court on Thursday offered to drop contempt charges against Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani if he implements its decision to write a letter to the Swiss authorities to reopen money-laundering case against President Asif Zardari.
As many as 37 persons, including eight security force members, were killed today in violence across Syria, most of them in a fierce government blitz on the flashpoint city of Homs, activists said.
The second US drone attack in two days in Pakistan's North Waziristan region killed five persons today, including a senior militant commander with links to the Al-Qaida, Pakistani intelligence officials and Taliban sources said.
Badar Mansoor, leader of a faction of the Pakistani Taliban with close ties to the
Al-Qaida, was one of the five killed in the strike in Miranshah, the main town in North
Waziristan, near the Afghan border, intelligence officials and Pakistani Taliban sources said.
