Pakistan Views

Sindh Bar Council has announced that it will boycott the court proceedings on Monday to protest against shifting of household articles from the official residence of Justice Khalilur Rahman Ramday. This was decided in a meeting of the council under chairmanship of the newly elected vice-chairman Muzaffar Ahmed Leghari on Sunday.The meeting also decided to hoist black flags over the premises of bars. The office-bearers of the council thanked Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani for directing officials not to get Justice Ramday’s house evacuated.The meeting, in a resolution, demanded getting the Army House vacated by President Musharraf. Earlier, the meeting elected Muzaffar Ahmed Leghari as vice chairman of the council for year 2008. Amin Lakhani, Aqil Lodhi, Mahmoodul Hasan, Muhammad Ali Abbasi, Abdul Haleem Siddiqi, Ayaz Soomro, Asif Soomro, Ibrarul Hasan, Salahuddin Gandapur, Sher Muhammad Wasan, Allah Bachaio Soomro and Abdus Sattar Qazi spoke on this occasion.

Militants welcomed the offer by the new Prime Minister to hold talks with militants but urged Islamabad to abandon the US-led ‘war on terror’, the movement’s spokesman said. “We welcome the announcement by the federal government to hold talks with Tehreek to improve law and order situation in the country,” Maulvi Omar, a spokesman for the movement, told local reporters by telephone.”The talks announcement by the government will have extremely positive impact on the law and order situation, and the federal government should immediately stop the war for US interests,” he said. “The government should immediately say goodbye to pro-US policies because there is no good in them for the government and the people of Pakistan,” he added.
Omar also welcomed the repeal of Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR), a harsh legal code for tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, but demanded that Islamic law be enforced in its place. “The Prime Minister has won the hearts of the tribal people by ending the FCR, but the government should, keeping in view the wishes of tribal people, immediately announce enforcement of Islamic system,” Omar said.

Pakistan People’s party (PPP) co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Mnister Yousuf Raza Gilani will have a meeting today (Sunday) with Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) chief Mian Nawaz Sharif in Lahore. Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) sources said both the leaders would call on Nawaz Sharif at his Raiwind Farm tonight, where Nawaz Sharif will convene a dinner in their honour.It should be mentioned that the political circles are assigning great importance to this meeting. This would be the first time for Asif Ali Zardari meeting Nawaz Sharif at Raiwind Farm. Earlier, the two met in Model Town twice. The recent meeting is expected to decide several issues in future.Both the leaders will offer ‘fatiha khawni’ at the grave of Mian Mohammed Sharif.According to sources, Asif Ali Zardari is coming here from Islamabad by a special plane for only four hours and Yousuf Raza Gilani is already present here.

Muslim League-N leader, Makhdoom Javed Hashmi said political reconciliation does not mean none should be made accountable, albeit the accountability procedure would be finalized in consultations with the political parties. Talking to Geo News at the residence of ML-N vice-president Tariq Khan here, he said that the ministry was not the last end of participation in politics. On the other hand, “ML-N stance is that President Pervez Musharraf should go and his not taking any ministry also vindicated this stand that he would not take oath from any dictator,” he said. Javed Hashmi said that the judges stand restored; Bar has given them time and the People’s Party has also taken a forceful stand on this issue. He said that they would soon complete this task and the chief justice of Pakistan would be the justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry only. Responding to the reconciliation and reservations against MQM, Javed Hashmi said that the reconciliation for the supremacy of constitution augured well, but it couldn’t be that no one be made accountable.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in a phone call on Sunday apologized with Justice Khalil-ur-Rahman Ramday for the incident on Saturday. “You are respectable for us and the people involved in the incident will be taken to task,” Gilani said to Justice Ramday in telephonic conversation.
It is recalled that the belongings of Justice Ramday and his family were thrown out of the house in the Justice Lodges, which was being allotted to Justice Musa Leghari.

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has finalized the names of their NWFP cabinet ministers and their portfolios. Sources said that the PPP Co-Chairman, Asif Ali Zardari and the provincial leadership held a crucial meeting Saturday night, when the PPP high command finalized the names their 9 ministers and their portfolios among the NWFP 21-member cabinet. ccording to the decision, the newly elected member assembly Zahir Ali Shah got Health Department, Liaquat Shabab Excise and Taxation, Hamayun Khan irrigation and Power, Salim Khan Social Welfare, Mahmood Zeb Revenue, Sher Azam Khan Finance Department, Shuja Khan Food Department, Ahmad Hassan Shah Industries and nominated senior minister, Rahimdad Khan got Training and Development Department. Party announcing these names and portfolios was expected anytime.

Male and female students of Jamia Hafsa demanded from the government to fulfill its promises made with the people during the election campaign and compensate the injustice made with them.The female students of Jamia Hafsa demonstrated before the parliament building during the National Assembly session on Saturday.They asked to reconstruct the Jamia building following the court orders and also demanded to file cases in the court on behalf of the families of the students killed in the Lal Masjid incident.They also demanded to release Maulana Abdul Aziz and reopen the Jamia Fareedia.The students said that they would continue their protest until their demands are not approved.

The parties included in the coalition government has sent the final lists of their nominated ministers to cabinet division. A 24-member federal cabinet will take oath in the first phase tomorrow.According to the sources of the cabinet division, 11 ministers will be from the PPP, nine from the PML-N, two from the ANP and one each from the JUI-F and FATA. As per the finalized list of PPP, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Sherry Rehman, Syed Naveed Qamar, Syed Khursheed Shah, Najamuddin Khan, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Senator Farooq Naek, Qamar Zaman Kaira, NazarMohammad Gondal, Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar and Mir Hamayon Aziz Kurd will take oath as federal ministers while Rehman Malik will be the Advisor to Prime Minister for Interior Affairs.Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan from the PML-N will be the senior federal minister while Senator Ishaq Dar, Ahsan Iqbal, Khawaja Saad Rafiq, Khawaja Asif, Shahid Khakhan Abbasi, Sardar Mehtab Abbassi, Tahmina Daultana and Rana Tanveer Ahmed will take oath as federal ministers.The ministers from ANP will be Ghulam Ahmed Bilour and Khwaja Mohammad Khan Hoti, from JUI (F) Rehmatullah Kakar and from FATA Hameedullah Jan Afridi will be the federal ministers.The cabinet division sent the summary, consists of the list of ministers, to the prime minister who approved it.
The oath-taking ceremony will be held in the President’s House on Monday at 1-45 pm and President Pervez Musharraf will administer the oath from the nominated ministers.

Some unknown saboteurs blew off 20-inch diameter gas pipeline in Sui area here. Sources said that that the unknown saboteurs carried out this explosion at the Loti area of Sui, which had suspended gas supply to Loti Gas Field, however, the gas supply was resumed through an alternative line. Security forces have started investigating into the matter.

Tajikistan will be able to export cheap electricity to Pakistan and Iran, Tajik Ambassador Said Saidbaig said here on Saturday. He was speaking at the inaugural session of a seminar on “National Trade Corridor (NTC),” jointly organised by the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) and Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) at the LCCI.The Tajik Ambassador said his country was constructing a high power transmission line from Tajikistan to Afghanistan and Pakistan. He said a consortium of Russia, Iran, Kazakhastan, Ukraine and Qatar was executing the construction of the two huge hydropower stations of the size Tarbela dam at Raguon.Within two years after the completion of these projects, Tajkistan would be able to export cheap electricity to Pakistan and Iran. The seminar, presided by National Highway Authority (NHA) Chairman Major General Imtaiz Ahmad, was also addressed by LCCI President Mohmmad Ali Mian, Ambassador of Afghanistan Anwar Anwarzai and LCCI Standing Committee on Transport and Logistics Chairman Muhammad Anwar.The Ambassador said that the construction process of the international road from Tajikistan capital Dushanbe into the direction of Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and China would give an opportunity to Tajikistan to enter Pakistan and reach Gwadar Port. This road would not only benefit Tajikistan, but would also help Pakistan get additional boost in terms of trade, he added.NHA Chairman Major General Imtiaz Ahmad said the completion of the National Trade Corridor (NTC) would not only help bring the world resources to Pakistan, but it would also cut the cost of doing business as infrastructure played an important role in promotion of trade and industry.The NHA chief said Gwadar Port was going to play a big role in the NTC programme because by implementing it in letter and spirit, “we would become part of the international community.” He, however, stressed the need for technical training to abreast with the development-taking place across the globe.LCCI President Mohammad Ali Mian said that with the implementation of NTC programme and declaring Karachi Port as mother port for Afghanistan, Central Asian Republic (CAR) and Western China would give considerable boost to economic activities in the region. He said that the key objective of the NTC programme was to reduce share of domestic transport and cost of non-service factors in total value of commodities.It would also help enhance railways share of long distance traffic of freight and reduction in the operating deficit of railways and improve safety of transport and procurement operations, he said.He said that under the NTC programme, it was proposed to set up multi-purpose parking and resting facilities for trucks and drivers at locations close to the main cities.He said that other carrier companies along with National Logistic Cell (NLC) should be allowed to carry goods in transit to Afghanistan and Central Asian Republics as the NLC had failed to operate in these countries due to economic and political situations in Central Asian Republics and Pakistan.Stressing the need for the modernisation of freight trucking fleet, Mian said that it was imperative as Pakistan’s dependence on road freight was high and was growing fast.The government should provide all necessary support for the modernisation of infrastructure facilities under the NTCIP, which would contribute in saving of two to 2.5 billion dollars per annum, he said, adding the modernised trucking fleets would reduce fuel import bill by 25 percent and road maintenance cost by one billion dollars. At the end, Mian distributed certificates and shields to participants.