Pakistan Views

President of Pakistan Muslim League (Q) Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain has said that removal of Article 58-2 (B) from constitution would cause crisis in the country.
Talking to media here, Shujaat made it clear that his party would play a positive role while sitting in opposition and would avoid stage walkouts and creating rumpus in the parliament.
He said that senators and parliament members should play constructive role in the parliament. Replying to a question, Shujaat said that he wants good governance in the country, “If new government attempt to eliminate the article 58-2 (B), it would cause crisis in the country”. PML-Q chief said that talks are underway with allies and we would sit collectively on opposition benches.

Mourners are observing chehlum of Hazrat Imam Hussain and other shuhada-e-Karbala in different cities of Sindh with respect and solemnity.
In this connection, the mourners holding majalis in memory of Hazrat Imam Hussain and other martyrs at imambargahs and various places throughout the province.
Ulema highlighting on the great sacrifices of Imam Hussain and other martyrs in these majalis after which processions will be taken out all over the country.
In Karachi, the central majlis of the chehlum will be held at the Nishter Park.
Later, the chehlum procession will be taken out which will go through the scheduled routes and end at Hussainia Iranian Kharadar.

The lawyers observed strike in Rawalpindi and Islamabad courts on Thursday to stress for restoration of deposed judges.
The lawyers of the twin cities stayed away from the courts proceedings on Pakistan Bar Council’s strike call.
The lawyers bodies holding protest meetings throughout the country to demand reinstatement of the sacked judges.

The US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has said that the polls results had been bad for Mr Musharraf but the people of Pakistan have to decide his future role.
Gates in an interview to British news channel said the US hoped to continue working with Musharraf he described as the elected president of Pakistan.
Speaking in Delhi, he said, “We will back democratically elected leaders in Pakistan and work with both the president and the new prime minister.” Mr Gates said the previous administration’s efforts to negotiate with the militants had not worked out. “Even the Musharraf government tried talking and doing deals in Waziristan. That didn’t work out very well,” he said. “Maybe this new government in Pakistan will have to go through the same experience itself.”

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) delegation, headed by former Sindh chief minister, Qaim Ali Shah, will call at the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) headquarters, Nine-Zero Azizabad, on Thursday.
The decision was taken after a recent telephone conversation between MQM founder, Altaf Hussain, and PPP co-chairperson, Asif Ali Zardari.
MQM Rabita Committee will welcome the PPP delegation, and the agenda of the meeting will be to promote peace, democracy and harmony in Sindh.
Officials said Shah and Nafees Siddiqi had already contacted MQM Rabita Committee Deputy Convener, Dr Farooq Sattar, and had formally conveyed the purpose of the meeting to him. The PPP team had also asked the MQM to initiate the talks for the future setup of the Sindh government.
Nafees Siddiqi from the PPP said that Zardari was willing to bring MQM on board because this was the wish of the party late chairperson, Benazir Bhutto. Siddiqi said that Zardari had already conveyed this to Altaf Hussain during a telephone conversation last week.

A missile strike early on Thursday killed at least 13 people, most of them Arabs, in South Waziristan officials and residents said. Residents in Azam Warsak village in South Waziristan told AFP that a house was destroyed by a missile fired from a pilotless drone and the loud blast was heard miles (kilometres) away in the rugged valley.
US drones have launched several previous strikes on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region targeting militants from Osama bin Laden’s network, although there was no immediate confirmation from Pakistani forces. A spokesman for the US-led coalition force based in Afghanistan said neither it nor the separate Nato-headed force were involved in the strike.
We have no reports that any of our forces are involved, coalition spokesman Major Chris Belcher told AFP. Security officials said they had received a report that a guided missile fired from neighbouring Afghanistan had hit a house belonging to a local tribesman at about 2:00 am Thursday (2100 GMT Wednesday).
The death toll is now 12 to 13 people — three of the dead appear to be from Punjab (central Pakistani province where several militant groups are based) while the rest are Arabs, a security official told AFP. At least five people were also injured in the attack, officials added. The security officials said they had no information on who could have been targeted in the attack. Pakistani officials do not confirm US strikes against al Qaeda-linked militants on its territory because of political sensitivities over sovereignty.
Libyan militant and Osama bin Laden’s operational number three Abu Laith al-Libi was killed in a missile strike on January 29 in the neighbouring Pakistani tribal area of North Waziristan. Al-Qaeda number two Ayman Al-Zawahiri vowed to avenge al-Libi’s death in a videotape message broadcast on an Islamist website on Wednesday.
Thousands of al Qaeda and Taliban militants fled into Pakistan’s tribal belt after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon.

Three major winning parties have agreed to use muscles of the parliament to restore the dissident judges, but two of them appeared to be shying away from a key question of removing President Pervez Musharraf. PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, PML-N head Nawaz Sharif and Awami National Party (ANP) president Asfandyar Wali on Wednesday met here along with top associates to boost co-operation for the formation of the future governments at the Centre and provinces. According to details emerging after the first tripartite contact, there was a consensus among the three that jurists, including Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, must be brought back to their jobs immediately when the new administration is put in place. But it remained unclear whether the troika had also discussed and arrived to some common ground on the issue of what should be the fate of President Musharraf.
The President suspended (now-restored) constitution and removed Supreme Court Chief Justice in November last year to avoid a possible decision against the legitimacy of his re-election as president a month before. “They have agreed on judges’ restoration,” Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chairman Zafarul Haq told media after more than two-hour talks. “Through the power of the parliament,” he replied when asked what would be the operational strategy of these parties for doing so, but declined to share specific details. Some top constitutional experts, like Fakhruddin Ibrahim, briefed Zardari, Nawaz and Asfandyar on how they could use their numerical strength in the parliament to reinstate Iftikhar Chaudhry and fellows. Earlier, at a show of strength gathering attended by 171 National Assembly members-elect, they also called on President Pervez Musharraf to immediately summon parliament so they can show they have the majority needed to choose the next Prime Minister.
Zardari and Asfandyar did not either directly call for Musharraf’s resignation, or threatened with impeachment. “We are united together to empower the parliament and finish the establishment once and for all,” Zardari said in a rather indirect and more rhetorical warning to Musharraf. Asfandyar also restricted himself from sending any strong message of confrontation to the President. The restoration of judiciary and upholding the rule of law must be the hallmark of struggle, he remarked. Nawaz, however, kept up his anti-Musharraf stance, perceivably a reason for which contenders from his party were voted to power by people mostly in the central Punjab and non-Pushtoon belt of North West Frontier Province (NWFP). “We must fight together; we must defeat dictatorship,” he added. He claimed that the three parties had already gained two-thirds majority in the National Assembly and they would have it in the Senate soon, a qualification they need to send Musharraf home, if a political will is there at all.
Polls’ outcome shows PPP, PML-N and ANP are close to grab two-thirds majority in the National Assembly to impeach Musharraf and bring back judges by amending the constitution.
But they do not hitherto have such a right in the Senate. Half of its members are to be elected in March next year through four provincial assemblies where their parties once again are in majority. So, academically, they need at least one more year to be able to oust Musharraf through a parliamentary reprimand. But, already faced by a hostile lawyers’ movement, he may not be in a position to survive another wave of unfriendly protests by politicians this time around.
AGENCIES ADD: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) won the most seats but not enough to form a government on its own. The Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) led by Nawaz Sharif, came second and the two parties are in talks, along with a smaller third group, on a coalition government that could force Musharraf from power. The coalition has been wooing several independent MPs in a bid to gain the two-thirds majority, even if it is just to increase the pressure on Musharraf, a bulwark in US efforts to tackle al Qaeda and Taliban militants. Asif Ali Zardari said the opposition should work together to end the supremacy of the military-led establishment. “I think the homage to my … wife would be that we unite together, we take democracy, we take power for parliament and once and for all, finish the establishment,” Zardari told the meeting. Nawaz assured Zardari that his party would extend full support to him, although he did not say his party would accept cabinet posts. Some senior officials in Nawaz’s party have said it might support the PPP, but not serve in the government. “We must see that we have a long-lasting democracy in this country and abandon the role of the army and the military in the politics of Pakistan forever,” Nawaz said. “This is what we should be striving for.” Nawaz said the opposition parties would end up with two-thirds of National Assembly seats and he called on Musharraf to call the session as soon as the Election Commission issues official results. It is expected to declare results by Saturday. “We are not prepared to wait for a single more day for the assembly to be convened,” he said. Talking to newsmen on Wednesday, Zafarul Haq said that during the newly elected MNAs meeting, Asif Ali Zardari, Nawaz Sharif and Asfandyar Wali Khan agreed on the reinstatement of the sacked judges and the power of parliament would be utilised for it.
“During the meeting, all the leaders expressed identical views and agreed over the restoration of the judges who were illegally sacked” he added. He said the legal experts Fakharuddin G Ibrahim, Latif Khosa and Farooq Naik expressed their views about the restoration of judges in the meeting. The PML-N Chairman said, a committee was set up for legal advice and to prepare its report within week to suggest steps for the restoration of judges.” “There were differences in the meeting and all the leaders agreed over the reinstatement of judges” he noted.

MPA-elect, former chief minister Balochistan and prominent tribal leader Nawab Zulfikar Magsi has been named as new Governor of Balochistan. Magsi has remained chief minister of the province two times in 90s. Being a prominent tribal leader he owns cordial relations with all political and tribal leaders of the province. Despite receiving election ticket from the PML-Q, Magsi contested and won PA seat from PB-32 Jhal Magsi in the general elections 2008 independently. He would take oath as 13th Governor of Balochistan on Thursday.

Seven newly elected National Assembly members from Fata have pledged to support Pakistan People’s Party in the post-election setup. The MNAs called on the PPP co-chairman senator Asif Ali Zardari here at the Parliament lodges on Wednesday and expressed their willingness to support the steps and policies of Pakistan People’s Party, if it comes into power. Those who called on Zardari included Nur-ul-Haq Qadri and Hamidullah Khan Afridi (Khyber Agency), Munir Aurakzai and Jawad Hussain (Aurakzai Agency), Malik Bilal Rahman (Mohmand Agency), Shaukatullah Khan (Bajaur) and Zafar Beg Bhittani from frontier regions. Zardari thanked the MNAs for their support and said the party would give top priority to peace and security in the tribal areas.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday vacated its stay order against the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) and allowed the competent courts and officers to hear and decide the cases before them. Under NRO termination is allowed of all court cases and investigations against persons including members of National Assembly and Senate who had held public offices till October 1999. President Musharraf had promulgated the NRO on October 4, 2007 after protracted power sharing negotiations with Pakistan People’s Party Chairperson Benazir Bhutto. It paved the way for Benazir to come back from self-exile and take part in the general elections. However, five prominent personalities–Dr Mubashir Hassan, Qazi Hussain Ahmad, Roedad Khan, Shahbaz Sharif and Tariq Assad–challenged validity and legality of the NRO in the Supreme Court. The petitioners argued that the acquittal of a person through withdrawal of pending cases, especially those in which conviction has occurred, by means of a legislative instrument, amounts to an unconstitutional interference with the judicial function and was a violation of the principles of independence of the judiciary as well as separation of powers enshrined in the constitution. A four-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, had heard these petitions on October 12, 2007 and stayed implementation on the NRO and held that any benefit drawn by any public office holder under this law would be subject to the final decision of the court. A five-member bench of the apex Court, headed by Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, took up these petitions and the stay order on Wednesday. Petitioners Dr Mubashir Hassan and Roedad Khan requested the court to adjourn the hearing as their lawyers could not attend the court on medical grounds.
Attorney General Malik Muhammad Qayyum submitted that NRO is now a permanent law as it is protected by the Revival of the Constitution Order. Before adjourning the hearing for an indefinite period, the court vacated the stay order of October 12, 2007 and directed all courts and concern officials to act according to the law laid down in the NRO. The court dismissed the petitions of Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Mian Shehbaz Sharif and Tariq Assad as they did not appear in the court.