PPP-MQM talks progressing, says Ishratul Ibad

ISLAMABAD: Governor Sindh Dr Ishratul Ibad on Saturday said consultations were going on to take political and administrative steps in order to improve Karachi’s security situation, DawnNews reported.
He further said that “why should we allow the conditions to deteriorate to a point that we have to call in the army?”
Dr Ibad was speaking to media representatives in Islamabad after a meeting with Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Dr Babar Awan.
Moreover, Dr Ibad said that the result of meeting with the senior PPP leader would soon be evident.
Problems between political parties have a negative effect on the country and certain elements use the situation to their advantage, he said, adding that talks between the PPP and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) were ongoing.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Awan said his meeting with Dr Ibad took place in a favourable atmosphere.

Dr Awan further said that President Asif Ali Zardari and MQM chief Altaf Hussain had played a significant role to strengthen democracy in Pakistan

President asks MQM to rejoin govt, Ebad calls on Zardari

ISLAMABAD: Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad called on President Asif Ali Zardari here at the Presidency on Friday, fueling speculation that both the parties were about to resume cooperation as coalition partners.
The meeting between Zardari and Ishratul Ebad was the outcome of a meeting held two days back at the Presidency in which the PPP’s coalition partners in the Sindh government authorised the president to hold negotiations with the MQM to bring them back into the fold of the coalition government and restore peace in the violence-hit Karachi.

The official announcement from the Presidency said that the law and order situation was discussed at the dinner meeting. However, sources close to the PPP say it was an important meeting in which the president offered that amendments in the commissionariate system in Sindh could be made as per the choice of the MQM. Sources said President Zardari also once again asked the MQM to rejoin the ruling coalition and become a part of the reconciliatory process.

According to sources, there was a consensus that peace in Karachi would have a positive impact on the economy of the country. The MQM has assured the president it will respond to his offer soon.

Sources also say there is a possibility of a telephonic contact between President Zardari and MQM chief Altaf Hussain soon. Political observers are of the view that the MQM could rejoin the ruling coalition after differences on the commissionerate system are resolved after Eidul Fitr

Akmal Raisani’s murder linked to RAW

ISLAMABAD – The human intelligence gathered by the men of Sarwan region of Balochistan and the Frontier Corps has directly linked the planning of Mir Akmal Raisani’s assassination on July 31 to Indian’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). The planning was executed by the hired assassins financed by Dr Allah Nazar, a former student leader of Panjgur, well-placed sources told TheNation.

“The RAW area chief hires men from Balochistan at much higher bounty for high value targets”, officials said. “The RAW planners fix rates between the range of Rs50,000 to Rs 10 million for attacking electric pylons, gas pipelines, official buildings and high profile personalities. Money is transacted to the Balochistan Liberation Front in Quetta or some other parts of the province by handlers”, they added.

The nephew of Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani was killed in a remote-controlled bomb in Mastung district.

The bomb went off at a time when spectators were leaving the football ground after the match.

More than 25 people including Akmal Raisani received severe injuries and were shifted to District Headquarters Hospital in Mastung.

However, Raisani’s nephew succumbed to wounds. According to officials, the blast was aimed at chief minister’s younger brother Nawabzada Siraj Raisani.

According to sources, some unidentified armed men had also opened indiscriminate fire on the people outside the stadium.

Such acts of terrorism are primarily meant to prevent scheduled completion of Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline project, they said.

Nawab Aslam Raisani is chief of Sarwan which is considered one of the most powerful tribe not only in Balochistan but also in Afghanistan and Iranian Baluchistan-Seistan where it often exercises its influence.

As per the tribal traditions, the Sarwan tribe men have the capability to blow up Indian Consulate in Kandhar in a tit-for-tat of Akmal Raisani’s murder but due to diplomatic complications the matter will be settled at some other level.

Earlier this year, some men had ambushed the CM’s caravan in Mastung. They had also attacked Governor Nawab Zulfikar Magsi’s official car. Those men live no more as the score was settled as per Balochistan’s tribal traditions.

After receiving the irrefutable information of the Indian involvement in Akmal Raisani’s murder, the CM delegated extra powers to FC Inspector General Major General Obaidullah Khan.

General Obaidullah Khan being a former defence attatche in Turkemanistan is familiar with the central Asian affairs.

Dr Allah Nazar, from a middle class family of Panjgur commands 300 men and presently he is hiding somewhere in Mekran region.

The Frontier Corps had intercepted his communications with RAW officials and is keeping a track on him.

The day his accurate location comes under the track of security establishment of Pakistan, he will be brought to justice in tribal a traditional manner giving a chance to one particular private TV channel to flash stories of “Extra judicial killings taking place in Balochistan’

PPP again opens its arms to MQM

ISLAMABAD – The PPP has stepped up its efforts to woo MQM back into the government fold by giving some promises and assurances to the estranged coalition partner at the level of President Asif Ali Zardari.

Sources in the PPP informed TheNation that high-level contacts were made between the two sides and the MQM was again given assurances on amendments in the local bodies laws to alter the existing commissionerate system in the province and such other issues.

The sources further said to fine-tune the future arrangements between the parties Sindh Governor Dr Isharatul Ibad arrived here in Islamabad to have a meeting with President Zardari. Dr Ibad conveyed the message of MQM Quaid Altaf Hussain to the president and it was agreed that teams of both the parties would sit together in the coming days to look into the demands of MQM and would finalise some workable arrangement between the two sides, they added.

The sources in MQM said they were not averse to becoming the part of government and always left the coalition government only when they saw the PPP had not come up to the promises made with them.

On the other hand, some senior PPP leaders belonging to Sindh informed TheNation that there was strong resentment among majority of the PPP leaders belonging to Sindh that their party should not accept unreasonable demands of the MQM and resist the move to bring changes in the commissionerate system introduced in the province.

The sources said the PPP was supporting the commissionerate system and division of the Karachi into five districts only for bringing improvement in administration of the cosmopolitan city but certain vested interests did not want to see peace in the city.

Sources in the PPP said President Zardari was inclined to meet some of the MQM demands regarding fate and future of the local bodies set-up in the province but could not go to an extent to annoy his own party leaders who were all against keeping the district nazim system intact in the port city.

The PPP leadership just wanted to bring the MQM back in federal and provincial governments for which they could be given some relaxations, they added.

The sources further said the MQM wanted some concrete steps before they rejoin the coalition governments both at the Centre and Sindh. The government may announce some steps within few days on the recommendations of PPP-MQM committee to narrow down the differences between the two sides.

Meanwhile, a press release issued by the president’s media wing said Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad called on President Zardari at Aiwan-e-Sadr on Friday night. Law and order situation in Karachi was discussed during the meeting

Apex court grants time for denotification of PCO judges

ISLAMABAD - The Supreme Court on Friday has directed Federal Secretary Law and Justice to issue the notification for the removal of six judges, who had taken oath under Provisional Constitutional Order, by August 9, 2011.

A five-member special bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, and comprised Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany and Justice Amir Hani Muslim heard the case regarding non-implementation of SC judgment on PCO judges.

The Chief Justice in his opening remarks said that the order of the apex court should have been implemented and why the government was delaying it.

He asked the Secretary Law and Justice Masood Chishti that why so far the order of the Court has not been complied with.

Babar Awan, representing the Law Secretary, said Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani was busy in other issues, especially Karachi violence.

Therefore, some time should be given as the summary has been sent to the competent authority, he said to which the Chief Justice replied that that was a court order and required no summary.

The Chief Justice said that the government should have respected the judgment passed by a special bench.

He observed that in the absence of Masood Chishti, the acting Secretary Law Sultan Ahmed Shah had misguided the competent authorities.

Nobody had read the summary and signed it, he added.

CJ stated: ‘The government was trying to undermine the authority of the court’.

Babar Awan said that in accordance of the Rules of Business the Acting Secretary had sent the summary to the competent authority.

The CJP remarked that rules are framed under the Constitution, adding, even a decree is passed by a civil court should be implemented.

He asked the Secretary you are bound by the Constitution and under the command of the SC judgment you should have issued the notification for PCO judges removal.

The CJP said that after the 18th and 19th Amendments the dysfunctional judges are no more judges of the superior courts.

Babar Awan requested that as the Prime Minister is not in town ,therefore, two days should be given to issue the notification.

He on behalf of the Secretary stated: ‘The government will issue the requisite notification in pursuance of the court judgment’.

The Supreme Court on May 18th had ruled that the dysfunctional judges had ceased to hold their offices after the passage of 18th and 19th Amendments.

It said the PCO 2007 read with Oath of (Judges) Order 2007 had already been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court through a July 31st, 2009, order on a Sindh High Court Bar Association’s petition.

‘Thus no immunity is available to them’, it said.

The court had also sent references back to the government forwarded to the Supreme Judicial Council under Article 209 of the Constitution, which provided the only legal way to send judges home.

The court observed that since these judges had been declared as not being judges, they could not be removed through the SJC and that they could be charged with committing contempt of the court - a defence the dysfunctional judges were banking on by pleading that a judge could not charge another judge with contempt.

The contempt proceedings against the judges are pending before the apex court

PML-Q resolution for new province lands in PA

LAHORE - As a first constitutional step required for making a new province, the PML-Q has submitted a resolution in the Punjab Assembly demanding creation of a new province in Punjab.

PML-Q parliamentary leader Ch Zaheer-ud-Din submitted the resolution in the assembly secretariat on Friday, which is likely to be taken up in the Assembly session due on August 11. When contacted, Ch Zaheer confirmed the submission of resolution and expressed hope that it would get passed by two-third majority, as no political force could afford to lose its vote bank in 11 districts, which might fall under the jurisdiction of a new province of South Punjab.

When asked if the resolution was opposed, he said: “The chances of opposing the resolution are bleak, as the opposition in the Punjab Assembly will go for voting if the Treasury opposed it.” He added: “If the resolution is passed by two-third majority from the House, the same would be sent to the federal government with the recommendation of carving out a new province in South Punjab.”

Talking to TheNation, veteran politician from Bahawalpur and PML-Q’s federal minister Riaz Hussain Pirzada said the political forces which would oppose the idea of a new province would cause serious damage to their vote bank in next elections in southern parts of the province.

He questioned that what harm could come by creating new provinces on administrative basis.

Some political forces are vying for creation of a new province consisting Multan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Bahawalpur, Muzaffargarh, Rajanpur, Bahawalnagar, Vehari, Khanewal, Leyyah, Bhakkar, Jhang and Mianwali districts.

Ukraine’s ex-PM Tymoshenko arrested

A Ukrainian court has ordered the arrest of country’s former Prime Minister and high-profile opposition leader, Yulia Tymoshenko.

­Around 30 police officers surrounded Tymoshenko’s table and escorted the ex-PM out of the court room.

After the judge voiced his decision, Ukrainian parliamentary deputies who supported Tymoshenko began chanting “Shame on you!” and “Yulia! Yulia!”

They also organized a fight with the police as the law enforcement officers prevented the MPs from leaving the court room.

Tymoshenko’s supporters continued their actions outside the court with opposition MPs organizing a human shield to block the path of the police vehicle carrying their leader along Kiev’s main Khreshchatyk street.

An application to arrest Tymoshenko came from prosecutor Liliya Frolova, who claimed statements made by the politician as well as her behavior disrupted the functioning of the court.

Tymoshenko has criticized the trial, calling it an attempt by President Viktor Yanukovich to bar her from elections. She has also refused to stand up while addressing the judge, repeatedly insulted him and questioned his objectivity.

The hearings were also regularly disrupted by Tymoshenko’s supporters.

Policemen surround a van in which Ukraine′s former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was placed to be driven to prison after her arrest.

­The arrival of Ukraine’s acting prime minister, Nikolay Azarov, on the witness stand became the tipping point which pushed the judge to agree to the arrest.

Azarov said he holds Tymoshenko and her cabinet responsible for the gas crisis of 2009, which saw Russia cutting gas supply to its Ukrainian and European customers.

“The government was, essentially, carrying out the line of breaking the existing gas contracts with Russia and this led to the gas crisis,” he explained.

Tymoshenko, for her part, accused Azarov of corruption during the period when he was in charge of the country’s tax administration. She then demanded a translator.

“I don’t speak Russian. Provide me with an interpreter so that I could understand the Ukrainian prime minister, who can’t speak Ukrainian,” she said.

Azarov replied by saying that Yulia Tymoshenko has never understood him, but that that had nothing to do with language.

Yulia Tymoshenko considered her arrest “reprisal against a political opponent.” In a letter she wrote prior to her arrest, Tymoshenko also stressed that she is not “inclined to commit suicide.”

“I want to make a statement in connection with the realization of the plan to arrest me. Clearly, this is a reprisal against a political opponent, but I’m not about this. I want to say that I have no inclination to commit suicide,” Tymoshenko said.

Tymoshenko’s defense lawyer, Yury Sukhov, is intending to appeal the court’s decision to arrest the former prime minister next Monday.

Despite Sukhov earlier saying that he had obtained permission to visit Tymoshenko to bring her personal belongings, the lawyer was not allowed to meet his client. He entered the Lukyanovsky pre-trial detention facility, but almost immediately left.

“I was not let in,” he said. He added that until the next court hearing Tymoshenko is being left without legal assistance.

“The next hearing is scheduled for Monday at 10 am,” Sukhov said.

Yulia Tymoshenko’s “Batkivschyna” (Fatherland) party has decided to organize an open-ended picketing of the Pechersk district court in Kiev where the ex-prime minister is being tried.

Parliament deputy and former Tymoshenko lawyer Sergey Vlasenko told the Unian news agency that the decision to start the rally was unanimous.

The Ukrainian president’s press secretary has already officially announced that the head of the state, Viktor Yanukovich, has nothing to do with Tymoshenko’s arrest.

“The president has repeatedly said that neither he nor his administration has been meddling in the Tymoshenko’s trial,” said Yanukovich’s press secretary. “The president cannot interfere with judicial affairs. This is stipulated by the constitution.”

­Tymoshenko’s arrest worries Europe

­The European Parliament’s president, Jerzy Buzek, expressed concern over the arrest of former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, in a statement which was forwarded to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.

“The context and conditions raise concern regarding the political motivation of this decision and the application of the rule of law in Ukraine,” the statement reads.

“Recently, I expressed my concern to Ukraine’s political leadership about the apparent selectivity in the opening of criminal case against Tymoshenko and other former ministers of the previous government.”

Buzek called on Ukraine to “observe the principles and general values that define the relationship between Kiev and Brussels and that are the core of the Eastern Partnership.”

Russia’s Foreign Ministry also issued a statement declaring that the 2009 gas deals between Moscow and Kiev were backed by all the necessary instructions from the presidents of Russia and Ukraine and signed in strict accordance with the laws of both countries as well as international law.

The statement added that the criminal proceedings against Tymoshenko “should be fair and impartial, meet all the requirements of Ukrainian legislation in providing opportunities for protection and respect for basic humanitarian rules and regulations.”

The 50-year-old politician has been in court since June over allegations that she exceeded her powers when she made gas deals with Russia in 2009, during her term as Ukraine’s prime minister.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian Fokus.ua website claimed that the outcome of the “gas case” against Tymoshenko has already been decided.

Fokus.ua cites an unnamed source “close to the investigation in the High Council of Justice of Ukraine” as saying that the ex-PM will be sentenced to up to five years in prison before September 6.

Yulia Tymoshenko was one of the leaders of the Orange Revolution which started in November 2004 and later plunged Ukraine into political chaos when her alliance with Yushchenko broke down. (The EU Times)