The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Pak court forms larger Bench to hear petition against Zardari Islamabad, June 25 A Pakistani court today constituted a larger Bench to hear a contempt of court petition against President Asif Ali Zardari while a lawyer filed a plea in the Supreme Court challenging the President's immunity and holding of dual offices. Lahore High Court Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial constituted the larger Bench that will hear the petition accusing Zardari of contempt of court for not quitting the political office of head of the ruling Pakistan People's Party. The Bench, which will be headed by Bandial, will hear the case on June 27. Earlier, Bandial had issued a notice to the Principal Secretary to the President in connection with the case. Bandial said the court would make its next decision after the President's Principal Secretary submitted a response. Lawyer AK Dogar, who is representing the petitioner, said the high court should summon the President to explain his position as the Supreme Court had recently summoned former premier Yousuf Raza Gilani in a contempt of court case. Muhammad Azhar Siddique, a lawyer, had filed the petition that said Zardari had not disassociated himself from his political office as soon as possible in line with an order issued by the Lahore High Court last year. He said the directions issued by the court had not been obeyed and the President had not stopped "misusing" the presidency for the purposes of the PPP. In a separate development, lawyer Mahmood Akhtar Naqvi filed a petition in the Supreme Court that challenged President Zardari's immunity and the holding of dual posts by him. Naqvi referred to Article 43 of the Constitution and said the President cannot hold two offices. It could not immediately be ascertained whether Naqvi's petition had been admitted by the Supreme Court, which is currently locked in a standoff with the PPP-led government. A Bench led by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry last week disqualified former premier Gilani following his conviction of contempt for refusing to act on the court's orders to revive graft cases in Switzerland against Zardari. — PTI 15 PML-Q men inducted into Ashraf’s Cabinet Islamabad, June 25 Fifteen lawmakers of the PML-Q, a key ally of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party, were today included in new Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf's Council of Ministers. In a separate development, PML-Q leader Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi has been appointed as the Deputy Prime Minister with immediate effect and until further orders. President Asif Ali Zardari administered oath of office to the 15 new ministers during a ceremony held at the presidency this evening. Eight lawmakers were inducted as federal ministers while seven were inducted as ministers of state. — PTI
	Another lawmaker’s membership suspended Islamabad, June 25 The Supreme Court today suspended a Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader's membership of Parliament on the ground that he possesses dual nationality, taking the number of lawmakers suspended so far to six. A three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry suspended the membership of PPP lawmaker Zahid Iqbal, who represents Sahiwal constituency of Punjab province in the National Assembly. The Bench sent an order to the Speaker of the National Assembly that said Iqbal's membership would remain suspended till he submits proof that he has only Pakistani citizenship. — PTI
	EU imposes fresh sanctions on Syria Luxembourg, June 25 The European Union today imposed fresh sanctions on President Bashar al-Assad's regime, targeting six government ministries as well as a bank and television company. A statement said this 16th round of sanctions agreed by the bloc's foreign ministers since the repression of anti-Assad protests began in March 2011 brings the total on an EU blacklist to 129 persons and 49 entities. "As long as the repression continues, the EU will continue imposing sanctions against the regime," said EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. No details were immediately available on the identity of those blacklisted, but several EU diplomats said on condition of anonymity that assets held in Europe by Syria's defence and home affairs ministries were targeted. Also on the list were a bank, a television firm, an oil transport company and a security office of the Baath party, sources said. Today's sanctions also included a specific ban on insuring items embargoed for delivery to Syria, including arms shipments. The measure follows an incident some days ago involving a British-insured Russian cargo ship carrying attack helicopters for Syria. The United States alerted Britain about the consignment and British security services told insurers Standard Club that providing insurance for the shipment would breach EU sanctions, reports said. Standard Club then cancelled insurance for the ship as well as others in the fleet owned by Russian cargo line Femco, forcing the vessel to head home. — AFP
	39 Syrian armymen defect to Turkey Ankara, June 25 A Syrian General and 38 other soldiers defected to Turkey overnight, state television said on Monday, days after Syria shot down a Turkish warplane, escalating tensions between the two neighbours. Turkey has summoned a NATO meeting for Tuesday to decide on a response to the downing of its military reconnaissance jet in what it says was an attack without warning carried out over international airspace. Turkey's Cabinet was to meet on Monday to discuss Friday's attack, which lent a more menacing international dimension to the 16-month-old uprising against President Bashar al-Assad. Britain said it could press for more serious action at the United Nations Security Council. EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg called for a calm response from Turkey, saying they would increase pressure on Assad. — Reuters
	Assange seeks guarantees he won’t be sent to US Sydney, June 25 WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange today called for diplomatic guarantees he will not be pursued by the United States for publishing secret documents if he goes to Sweden to face criminal allegations. The Australian said he was prepared to go to Sweden to face questioning over sex assault claims, but feared Stockholm would turn him over to the US where he could face espionage and conspiracy charges over revelations by WikiLeaks. "Ultimately it may be a matter of what guarantees the United Kingdom, the United States and Sweden are willing to provide," he told the Sydney Morning Herald from the Ecuador embassy in London, where he is seeking asylum. Assange believes Washington will pursue him after WikiLeaks published sensitive documents, including those about the Afghan and Iraq wars, and thousands of diplomatic cables which have embarrassed governments worldwide. "For example, if the US were to guarantee (it would) drop the grand jury investigation and any further investigation of WikiLeaks publishing activity, that would be an important guarantee ... diplomatic commitments do have some weight," he said. Assange, who has been holed up in the Ecuador embassy for nearly a week to avoid extradition to Sweden, again criticised Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard over Canberra's handling of his case. The former computer hacker said his situation was "a serious political matter... (that) the Australian government should treat with the seriousness it requires". "I have been attacked by the US, from the vice-president down, as a high-tech terrorist, and by the Swedish prime minister and foreign minister, surely that requires some direct response from the Gillard government." Assange has said he chose the Ecuador embassy instead that of his home country because he felt Canberra had done nothing to protect him, a charge the government has denied. Canberra has said it has limited capacity to help him because he is not in Australia and has not broken any Australian laws. — AFP
	8 Pak soldiers killed in Taliban attack Islamabad, June 25 Eight soldiers and 15 militants were killed in fierce clashes that erupted after over 100 Taliban fighters sneaked in from Afghanistan and attacked military posts in northwest Pakistan, with Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf saying he would raise the matter with Kabul. The Taliban launched the attack late last night and killed at least eight soldiers, Pakistani military officials were quoted as saying by CNN. Fifteen Taliban fighters were killed in the exchange of fire that followed the attacks on check posts in Upper Dir district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said the Afghan Taliban carried out the attacks. "The Pakistani Taliban helped with reconnaissance and information before the attack," Ehsan told CNN. Some reports in the Pakistani media said up to 13 soldiers were killed and at least five more were missing after the clashes. Authorities had lost communications with a patrol party that was attacked. There was no official word in this regard. Prime Minister Ashraf, who assumed office last week, told reporters in Karachi that the government had strongly protested over such cross-border attacks and he too would talk to Afghan President Hamid Karzai about the matter. The attacks were the latest in a series of cross-border assaults from regions in eastern Afghanistan, where US troops began pulling out last year. — PTI
	Seven Indians go missing off Oman coast Dubai, June 25 Seven Indians on board a fishing boat have gone missing from Masirah waters in Oman. They may have been kidnapped by pirates, a media report has said. The coast guards in the country have been informed about the incident and the hunt is on to locate them despite adverse weather conditions. The missing Indians are all said to be from Tamil Nadu. “They went for fishing as usual, but have not returned yet. What I suspect is that they been hijacked by pirates,” said Saeed Rashid, owner of the fishing boat. The boat reportedly went missing from the al-Ashakara coast on Thursday evening. “They went fishing to the inner sea. What we have learnt is that they ran out of fuel and were stranded in the sea. They might have been kidnapped from there,” Rashid said. — PTI