The interim government on Monday refused to take action against former President Pervez Musharraf stating that it was not part of their mandate to do so.

"Our mandate states that our first and foremost duty is to carry out free and fair elections and provide security to the candidates,” the interim government stated in its reply to the court regarding Musharraf’s treason case.

“Now we know that the Ministry of Law and the Interior Ministry do not want to do anything regarding the case,” the court remarked when representative of the interim government explained its mandate.

Law Minister Ahmer Bilal Soofi talking to reporters outside the court room dispelled the impression that the interim government does not want to seek Musharraf's trial under Article 6 but said the government was focusing mainly on elections.

"However, we shall abide by whatever the court directs us to do," he added.

A treason case, under Article 6 of the constitution, can only be filed by the central government.

The PPP government of Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani sat on the SC judgment of July 31, 2009, which declared Musharraf's imposition of emergency on November 3, 2007, as unconstitutional and an act of treason by a usurper and recommended judicial action according to law.

The court asked Musharraf’s lawyer to meet his client and present his stance in the next hearing.

Earlier, in response to the court’s request for an opinion, the caretaker government said that it would abstain from giving any independent statement concerning Musharraf’s ongoing trial under Article 6 of the Constitution.

The interim government had decided to seek the court’s advice regarding any cooperation in the case, instead of taking a different stance.

The hearing in the treason case against Musharraf was adjourned till April 23.

Pervez Musharraf’s team of lawyers was on Monday refused entry into his farmhouse which is serving as a sub-jail. Musharraf’s advocate Ahmed Raza Kasuri told mediapersons about his apprehensions that the former military ruler might have been tortured.

“If we don’t speak to our client, then how will we fight the case,” he questioned. “It is like going into a war without weapons.”

Kasuri and two other lawyers are defending Musharraf in the treason case. The hearing by a three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court opened on Monday.

“Maybe our client has reservations against this three-judge Bench,” Ahmed Raza Kasuri said.

Earlier, we had asked for a full Bench court minus the CJP (Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammed Chaudhry),” he added in reference to the proceedings of the case. “We appreciate the fact that the CJP stepped down from the Bench.”

On the fear of torture, Kasuri said, “We demand Musharraf’s thorough medical examination by the Combined Military Hospital,” he said.

“We were issued orders by the court to meet him. We reached the farm house on time but were not allowed by the superintendent posted at the main gate,” he said.

Meanwhile, a petitioner has challenged the notification declaring Musharraf’s farm house as sub-jail. He has requested to move the former President to Adiala jail. According to the petitioner, the farm house cannot be considered a sub-jail. 

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan opened his election campaign in Khyber Pakhtunkhawa (KP) with the tantalising promise of bringing peace to the troubled tribal area of Waziristan through a series of measures precipitated in part by the withdrawal of troops from there.

Imran told thousands of ecstatic party supporters at a rally in Dera Ismail Khan that once the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf comes to power, he would order a pullout of forces from the tribal area.

“The prime minister of ‘naya’ (new) Pakistan will not be a slave to anyone,” Imran told the rally, his second in the course of a day on the fringes of the restive tribal belt.

Acknowledging that at present, there wasn’t anyone to speak for the people of Waziristan, Imran said his party would make accountable all those who had inflicted cruelty upon the people of Waziristan.

“The money that is spent on the war in the tribal areas will be spent on the welfare of the people,” he said. He said his party will provide employment and education to the populace of the tribal belt and carry out development work.

Elaborating on his peace-building plan, Imran said his party intended to carry out negotiations with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, who, he claimed, were from amongst the nation.

Imran made an impassioned plea to the youth to support his party. “With your support, we will oust all ‘political thieves’ from the country,” he said.

“There is no difference between Nawaz, Zardari, Maulana Fazlur Rahman and Asfandyar Wali,” Imran said. “These politicians took their turns and did nothing for the people. Instead, they filled their pockets with money.”

“On the night of May 11, the nation will reject the politics of opportunism and flattery and vote for people who truly work for their welfare,” he said.

Imran promised that his party would help end class differences between the rich and the poor, and would install one education system in the country.

Boston, April 22
Several US lawmakers have questioned the manner in which the FBI handled the information it had received from Russia about one of the Boston bombings suspect and the way he was allowed to walk free after questioning.

"As far as getting information in advance and not seeming to take proper action, this is the fifth case I'm aware of where the FBI has failed to stop someone who ultimately became a terrorist murderer," Congressman Peter King told Fox News.

King and several other Congressmen and Senators are asking why the FBI did not follow the lead it had received from the Russians against Boston bombings suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, who died last week in a shootout with police.

His brother and the second suspect - Dzhokar Tsarnev - was arrested last week after a massive manhunt.

"I have great regard for the FBI and for Director (Robert) Mueller, but this is the latest in a series of cases like this where the FBI is given information about someone as being potential terrorists, they look at them, and then they don't take action," said King, a member of both the Homeland Security and Intelligence committees.

"There are a lot of questions that had to be answered (by the FBI). This man was pointed out by a foreign government to be dangerous. He was interviewed by the FBI once. What did they find out? What did they miss? Then he went to Russia and to Chechnya. Why wasn't he interviewed when he came back, either at the airport when he was returning or later? And what happened in Chechnya that may have radicalised him?" Senator Chuck Schumer asked on the CNN.

Noting that there were things on his website that indicated he had been radicalised, Schumer said certainly, when a foreign government points out that something is wrong or something might be wrong, he ought to be interviewed again.

"While the FBI has done a very good job over the last 10 years, I certainly think there are questions that have to be answered," Schumer added.

House Homeland security Chairman, Michael McCaul, also lashed out at the FBI on its handling of the suspect case.

"It is important enough to have a foreign government tie him to extremism. I always give the FBI the benefit of the doubt. I'm sure they interviewed him. You can't detain all lawful persons in the United States... There were concerns about this individual, and yet, when he travels abroad and gets to a very dangerous part of the world, nothing seems to be done. Why is Chechnya important? I think the American people need to understand this. The Chechen rebels are some of the fiercest jihadist warriors out there," McCaul told CNN. — PTI

Washington, April 22
Late Richard Holbrooke, the first US special Af-Pak envoy, was fully aware that the Pakistani generals were lying to him on their support to the extremist groups against India, but he was against cutting off military aid to Islamabad, a new book has said.

In his latest book “Beyond War: Reimagining American Influence in a New Middle East”, the two-time Pulitzer winner David Rhode said Holbrooke wanted massive aid for Pakistan and launch some signature big projects there, in the absence of which he increasingly became frustrated with the USAID.

“While publicly praising the Pakistanis, he was tough-minded in Pakistan. Holbrooke was fully aware that the Pakistani military was still supporting the Afghan Taliban as proxies against India and that some Pakistani generals were lying to his face,” Rhodes said.

“In a conversation with Holbrooke in 2010, I asked him why the United States did not cut its $1 billion a year in military aid to the Pakistan army. He said cutting aid was ‘off the table’ because it would only increase distrust of the United States. ‘This cannot be a transactional relationship’,” he told me.

In his book, Rhodes writes that many people in the US Government were against Holbrooke’s style of functioning. “USAID officials and some American diplomats complained that Holbrooke repeatedly shifted the focus of the American assistance in Pakistan,” he wrote.

In his book, which hit the stands this week, Rhodes gives an insight into the working of Holbrook, his tensed relationship with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, the public engagement and focus on Pakistan and the manner in which he was sidelined by the White House.

In January 2009, Holbrooke was appointed as President Barack Obama’s special adviser on Pakistan and Afghanistan, a frustrating assignment which was said to have caused his health to deteriorate.

He served until he died from complications of an aortic dissection on December 13, 2010 at the age of 69.

Rhodes, who spent eight years in Afghanistan and Pakistan where he was held captive for seven months by the Taliban, argues the case for easing the India-Pakistan tension, which he says is important to stabilize the broader Islamic world.

He argues the Obama Administration in its second term should stop providing aid to the Pakistan army, alleging that it suppresses democracy. The book has been listed by the Foreign Policy magazine as 25 top “Books to Read” in 2013. — PTI