Pakistan Views

The Zakhakhel tribesmen who had hijacked Kabul bound Pak-Afghan Dosti (Friendship) bus released the hostages and the bus after successful negotiation with the Political Administration of Khyber Agency hours after the hijacking on Wednesday. The tribesmen had made hostage about 40 passengers of the friendship bus near Zakhakhel area near Landi Kotal early Wednesday morning.According to official sources, the authorities had assured the Zakhakhel tribe that their demand would be conveyed to the authorities concerned. The bus was on its way to Afghanistan with about 40 passengers mostly Afghans on board.

A 500 KV power transmission line has been tripped in Gati area of Muzzafargarh on Tuesday morning causing shut down of Tarbela, Mangla and Ghazi Brotha power houses.
Power supply to several cities of Punjab has been suspended.

Authorities in India have launched an investigation into the ‘mysterious’ death in prison of a Pakistani man who Islamabad says came here to watch a cricket match, a report said Thursday. Khalid Mahmood, 26, had apparently travelled to India three years ago to see a game between the Pakistani and Indian cricket teams.Last week, his relatives alleged he was tortured to death by Indian police who picked him up when he went to the Pakistani embassy to report the loss of his passport.The Indian government ordered the probe after Foreign Ministry of Pakistan demanded an explanation for his death, Indian television network NDTV reported.The circumstances of his death were “mysterious” and “should be condemned in the strongest terms,” Spokesman Foreign Ministry of Pakistan Muhammad Sadiq told reporters in Islamabad last week. Mehmood’s death had “dampened the goodwill” generated by the release earlier this month by Pakistan of an Indian who spent 35 years on Pakistan’s death row for alleged spying, a separate statement said.Pakistan’s envoy to New Delhi was not informed about Mahmood’s 2005 arrest and his name was not on lists of prisoners exchanged by the two countries as part of a peace process launched in January 2004.The government of northern Haryana state, where Mahmood died, has said he was detained on an intelligence tip-off, the report said. India’s home ministry declined to comment on the probe.Meanwhile, the fate of Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh, facing the gallows in Pakistan on alleged terrorism charges, hangs in the balance after Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf rejected his mercy petition.
Singh, who was supposed to be executed on April 1, did however win a brief reprieve with the date of his hanging deferred by a month after the Indian government made a formal appeal for clemency.

Karachi ites are facing problem due to the transport strike here on Tuesday.
The All Karachi Transport Ittehad (AKTI) and other organizations have announced to shut down transport service today in protest against the massive increment in petroleum products prices. There is no public transport available on roads due to which students and the working class who travels by bus are facing problems. Irshad Hussain Bukhari, President of KTI said on Monday that transporters have decided to observe wheel-jam strike on Tuesday, aimed to minimise the excessive burden on the public. He said that if the increase in petrol and diesel prices was not withdrawn, indefinite strike would be observed. He added that the caretaker government was creating immense difficulties by raising petroleum prices. He urged the government to withdraw the increase and restore the previous rates. He said that AKTI, Karachi Goods Carriers Association (KGCA) and inter-city transporters would observe strike, but rickshaws and taxis would not join it.

The 13th session of National Assembly met on Monday, setting the stage for a showdown between President Pervez Musharraf and a coalition government that immediately vowed to take him on. Pakistan Peoples Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari will lead the coalition after winning the most seats in elections in February, with the grouping of former premier Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League, as junior partner. “This is the last day of dictatorship,” Asif Ali Zardari told reporters after meeting Nawaz Sharif in the parliament building. “This is our first step. We have conveyed a message to the world community to support democracy which defeats dictatorship,” Zardari added. Nawaz Sharif said that the coalition’s strategy was “very clear — our agenda is democracy versus dictatorship. It has to end, it has to be defeated.” The session began with members of the 342-seat national assembly standing to attention, before a cleric recited passages from the Quran, AFP reporters said. Neither Zardari nor Sharif actually has seats in the assembly and both had to watch the ceremony from the gallery. Security was tight for the inauguration of the new parliament, following a bombing targeting foreigners at an Islamabad restaurant on Saturday. Politicians are also at risk following the martyrdom of PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto in a gun and suicide attack at an election rally on December 27 in Rawalpindi.
An announcement on the country’s new prime minister is expected later this week. Zardari is slated to take the post but will need to contest a by-election to become eligible. Both Zardari and Sharif avoided questions about the issue. The parliament is meeting with Musharraf’s popularity at an all-time low, and with his power already weakened by his resignation as army chief in November. His successor has vowed to keep the army out of politics. The biggest threat facing Musharraf from the PPP and PML-N is their pledge to restore some 60 judges whom Musharraf sacked in November under a state of emergency. But analysts say Musharraf appears to be ready to battle for his position.
Musharraf, who has repeatedly rebuffed calls to quit as president, said in a television interview shown late Sunday that “we have to run a democratic system. We are not a dictatorship, the system must function.” But in an apparent swipe at PML-N and PPP, he said Pakistan’s recent problems and the need for him to stay in power were due to a “vacuum of proper leadership.” A row is also brewing over the premiership.
Benazir loyalist and PPP vice-president Makhdoom Amin Fahim had been the prime contender, but party officials say Zardari now wants the post himself.

Muttahida Qaumi Movement parliamentary leader Dr. Farooq Sattar has said that the prime minister in 2013 will be elected from his party.
Talking to private news channel on his arrival at the parliament house Farooq Sattar said the five-year performance of his party has been in front of everyone. “It is rehearsal of the next elections and the prime minister in 2013 will be from Muttahida,” he said.
“We would not thump desks in the house, neither create hurdles for the government,” Sattar further said. The popular vote of MQM has increased from previous six percent to nine percent, he added.

Central leader of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Javed Hashmi has said Makhdoom Amin Fahim was a senior politician and his desire to become the prime minister did not match his personality. Talking to news channel here, he said Pakistan Peoples Party had the right to nominate anybody for prime ministership and PML-N would support their move.
Hashmi further said he had no intention to become the PM, and it was the PPP that put forward proposal to make him the Speaker. He said there were big names for the post of president and he did not present himself as a candidate for the valued position. Answering a question he said PML-N would take oath under the 1973 constitution. Javed Hashmi said Khawaja Asif’s statement as regards Amin Fahim was taken out of context and a strong PPP was in the interest of the Federation. He opined that Asif Ali Zardari’s nomination, as the PM would benefit the PPP.

Four children were killed and four other persons injured when a roof of a house caved-in in Mardan. According to sources, a roof of a house located in Kanzkandi in Baghdada area had collapsed suddenly last night killing four kids and wounded four other persons.
The dead included Jabir, 10, Anas,5, Marhaba,4 and Rabia of two months. Head of the family, his wife and their two children sustained injuries whereas two kids remained unharmed. The injured admitted in nearby hospital.

Two women and two children were killed by artillery shells fired by US-led coalition forces in neighbouring Afghanistan, the army said on Thursday.
The army spokesman said the shells destroyed the victims’ house in the region of North Waziristan. “The coalition forces were firing at a group of militants when five shells landed in Pakistan, destroying a house and killing two women and two children,” chief army spokesman Athar Abbas told AFP. “We have lodged a very strong protest with the coalition forces across the border,” he said. Local officials said the house in the town of Lwara Mundi, a hotbed of militancy on the frontier where there have been frequent clashes between security forces and militants, belonged to a local tribesman. Nato-led forces in Afghanistan said on Wednesday they had killed two women and two children in southern Afghanistan, which borders Pakistan, but it was unclear if they were describing the same incident.

At least seven people were killed and 19 others were injured in a roadside accident in Khanewal. According to hospital sources, a bus carrying pilgrims en route to shrine Sakhi Sarwar in Dera Ghazi Khan from Faisalabad, ran into an tractor near Multan Road Adda Bridge killing seven people. The accident claimed the lives of Shahid, Kashif, Nahid Akhtar and four other unidentified persons. The dead bodies were transported to Taluka Hospital Shorkot, from there, five injured have been conveyed to Allied Hospital Faisalabad.