Pakistan Views

Eleven people have been killed and six injured when a coach and a pickup collided and fell into a gorge in South Waziristan.Sources said that a coach and a pickup collided at Makeen-Wana Road due to jagged track and fell into a deep chasm. Eight people have been killed on the spot whereas nine sustained serious injuries. Locals started rescue operations immediately and shifted bodies and injured to hospital. Three people succumbed to injuries while on the way to hospital. The injured were shifted to Wana hospital.

A training aircraft of Pakistan military Tuesday crashed near Madhiala Warraich in Gujranwala. The pilot and instructor safely ejected from the aircraft.
The aircraft suddenly descended to surface due to unknown fault during a routine training flight, which forced pilot Noman and instructor Ishtiaq Kayani to eject out of the aircraft. The pilot and instructor were immediately transferred to the CMH after the incident.

A meeting between President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was held Tuesday at the presidential camp office in Rawalpindi to discuss key national issues.The president and prime minister in the talks agreed to avoid any clash for the sake of democracy and democratic institutions. President Musharraf reiterated to support the government under the constitution and will work to reinforce democracy in the country. Earlier, Prime Minister Gilani when reached the presidential camp office from Islamabad, was received by President Musharraf.According to the sources, the president and prime minister discussed law and order, price hike and Pakistan-India peace parleys. They also exchanged views over the political situation in the country, they added.

Talks between the two major ruling coalition partners on Tuesday failed to break the impasse over the restoration of judges.Co-chairman, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Asif Ali Zardari’s and president Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) Shahbaz Sharif held talks at Zardari’s residence in Dubai but could not come to any conclusion on the issue.
PML-N members have avoided media to tell the detail of talks.On Monday the two sides had a marathon session spread over several hours before they left the talks inconclusive prior to the dinner.The deadlock was reportedly on linkage of the resolution for judges’ restoration with the constitutional package for the judiciary, and the PPP was not ready to take the two, separately.On the other hand, the PML-N also refused to get the two - resolution and constitutional package - linked and made it clear to the PPP that the resolution and the constitutional package were two separate things and both must be treated separately.Further, there was a deadlock on the constitutional package too, as the PML-N was opposed to slashing down the tenure of the judges and simply wanted the restoration of the superior courts judges to pre-November 3 position. But PPP wanted to get the resolution linked with the constitutional package and insisted that the two should be tabled simultaneously in the Lower House of Parliament. The proposals formulated by the seven-member committee from two sides to hammer out differences on the issue, were discussed between Asif Zardari and Shahbaz Sharif. But, having failed to break the ice, the two sides left the negotiating table empty handed, said sources privy to the talks.

Muslim League-N leader Nawaz Sharif will leave for Dubai today in a bid to end the stalemate in talks on restoration of judges with Peoples Party. He would meet Co Chairperson of Pakistan Peoples Party Asif Ali Zardari tomorrow. There is only one day left in a deadline for the restoration of the judges. Sources said that this would be the final dialogue between Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif.

The commerce ministers of Afghanistan and Pakistan will hold crucial talks today for allowing transportation of the Indian exports to Afghanistan through Wagah border.
The two commerce ministers will exchange views on Afghan transit and boosting of bilateral trade in the talks scheduled here today. Afghan commerce minister will discuss matters relating to Pakistan’s permission for Indian wheat transportation to Afghanistan en-route Pakistan. It is expected that Pakistan would allow Indian flour en-route Wagah border crossing Torkham. Afghan commerce minister will also call on President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister, Yusuf Raza Gilani for conveying them the key-messages of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Talks between PPP and PML-N to discuss reinstatement of deposed judges were concluded in Dubai residence of PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari on Monday. According to private TV the decision is still awaited. The talks focused the ages of judges and tenure of the chief justice besides passing of resolution with two-thirds majority in the Parliament for reinstatement of judges.From PPP side Advisor to Prime Minister for Interior, Rehman Malik and Federal Minister for Law, Farooq H. Naek are accompanying Asif Ali Zardari while PML-N is being represented by Shahbaz Sharif, Federal Minister for Petroleum, Khawaja Asif, Chaudhry Nisar, Ahmed Ali Khan, Khawaja Haris and other leaders of the party.It may be mentioned here that Naek had expressed confidence that the ruling coalition will remain intact and ruled out any possibility of clash with Presidential House.He dispelled the impression that Zardari was against judges’ restoration.

Just two days away from being hanged, Indian national Sarabjit Singh got a second brief reprieve after authorities put off his execution for upto three weeks. There was a ‘procedural postponement’ of Sarabjit’s execution by the home department of Punjab, officials said. Sarabjit, 42, sentenced to death for allegedly carrying out four bomb attacks in 1990 in Lahore and Multan, was due to be hanged on May 1 after the expiry of a 30-day stay of his death sentence granted by President Pervez Musharraf in March. According to existing rules, Sarabjit’s case has to be put once again before a local court for fixing a fresh date for the execution, a private tv channel quoted the unnamed officials as saying. Under these rules, this fresh date of execution cannot be fixed before a period of 14 days or after 21 days. This means that the execution will be postponed for up to three weeks, the officials said. They added the decision was largely a ‘procedural matter’.Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Sadiq and Presidential spokesman Maj Gen Rashid Qureshi (Retd) said that they had no word on this development. Qureshi reiterated that Sarabjit’s case was not pending with the Presidency, which would act on the Prime Minister’s Secretariat’s recommendations in the matter. Sarabjit’s sister Dalbir Kaur, currently in Lahore with his wife Sukhpreet Kaur and his daughters Swapandeep and Poonam, said the family was elated to hear of the postponement. “We are all very happy,” she said.

Leader of the House in the Senate on Monday said that the ruling coalition government will not only scrap the controversial 58 (2b) article of the constitution, but also restore judges according to Bhurban Declaration.Speaking in the Senate, Raza Rabbani said that the article 58 (2b), under which the president can dissolve the National Assembly, was a bar in constitution used by dictators to subvert democracy.”The coalition government is clear that not only the Bhurban Accord will be implemented but also 58 (2b) will also be scrapped,” he said.He said the previous government failed to implement any of the recommendations of senate committee on Balochistan and did not stop military operation in that province.He said a sub-committee of the committee on Balochistan, headed by Mushahid Hussain recommended to stop land scam in Gwadar and construction of cantonment in Quetta but none of it were implemented.He said the incidents with former Chief Minister Sindh Arbab Ghulam Rahim and former minister Sher Afgan were part of a conspiracy against the government by those who were not ready to accept the February 18 election results.Rabbani vowed that the government will not let the blood of martyrs of democracy go waste and fulfill the mission for which they laid their lives.He assured that without going into blame game, his government would extend cooperation to the opposition to make democracy strong in the country. Earlier, leader of the opposition Kamil Ali Agha said that positive attitudes bring positive results and while in opposition they were ready to extend cooperation for policies in the larger national interest.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Monday informed the Senate that Pakistan will pursue the policy on terrorism in the larger national interest without compromising on its sovereignty.Speaking on a point of order, the foreign minister said US deputy secretary of state John Negroponte’s statement of pursuing bin Laden inside Pakistan without prior permission is his personal opinion.”He says that this is his personal opinion, as the ultimate decision rests with President Bush,” he said.Qureshi said that Negroponte appreciates Pakistan’s cooperation and admits that without it US can never win war on terrorism.”We are cooperating with the US in war on terror but we are not bound to follow the US directions. We will pursue this policy in the larger national interest. And there is no harm if it also serves the US interests,” Qureshi added.He made it clear that carrying out action inside Pakistan was the sole prerogative of Pakistani authorities.”No foreign power has the right for such an action inside Pakistan.”He referred to Tripartite Military Commission, which he added cooperates and shares intelligence information and chalks out strategy on action against terrorists.Foreign minister said it is decided under the commission that action inside Pakistan is to be carried out by Pakistani forces while across the border it will be carried out by Nato or Afghan forces.About the reports that foreign secretary Riaz Muhammad Khan was changed quietly and in haste, he said the reports were untrue.”He is a seasoned diplomat who served the interests of Pakistan for 40 years. He personally requested, citing personal reasons and said that he was also on contract and cannot continue,” Qureshi said.He said he tried to pursue Riaz Muhammad that the government was not in a hurry to replace him and he should continue.The government, Qureshi added, still wants to benefit from his vast experience and that is why he will personally meet Riaz Muhammad before the start of next round of talks with India.The appointment of new foreign secretary, he said, was appointed after consultations with Riaz Muhammad and requested him to continue in the office till the new foreign secretary joins.