ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) decided to re-join the cabinet of the Pakistan People’s Party-led federal government on Friday, a day after the four-party ruling coalition announced it will impeach President Pervez Musharraf.

But its spokesman Ahsan Iqbal told Reuters it would be a “token rejoining”. “Three or four ministers will rejoin while the remaining ministers will rejoin after the judges are reinstated,” he said.

Sources in the PML-N said party President Shahbaz Sharif told PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari that Education Minister Ahsan Iqbal, Defence Production Minister Rana Tanveer, Youth Affairs Minister Khawaja Saad Rafiq, and Railways Minister Sardar Mahtab Abbasi would rejoin the cabinet “as a token of solidarity”. PML-N Media Co-ordinator Asim Junaid told Daily Times that the four ministers would resume office today (Saturday).

Impeachment: On Friday, the ruling coalition began lobbying for support for their move to impeach the president, and claimed “positive response” from various independent groups. Leaders of the ruling coalition talked to Pukhtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai and Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General Syed Munawar Hassan on the telephone, and Balochistan National Party-Awami Senator Mir Israrullah Zehri visited Zardari House.

A source said a number of opposition legislators had assured the ruling coalition of support but the coalition leaders did not disclose their names.

Charge sheet: Zardari and Shahbaz on Friday chaired a meeting of the six-member “War Committee” that put together a nine-point charge sheet against Musharraf. PPP sources said the meeting would continue today (Saturday) and the coalition partners will finalise the text of a resolution that the provincial assemblies will pass, asking President Musharraf to take a vote of confidence from them. They said that the Punjab Assembly would pass the resolution on Monday, followed by the NWFP on Tuesday, Sindh on Wednesday and Balochistan on Thursday.

LAHORE: Eighteen members of the PML-Q have contacted the PPP leadership to assure their support for impeachment of President Pervez Musharraf, Federal Information Minister Sherry Rehman said on Friday. Talking to Samaa TV, Sherry said that the PPP-led four-party coalition had devised a strategy to oust the president. She said that the draft of the resolutions to be tabled in the provincial assemblies favouring the impeachment would be prepared today (Saturday). A joint meeting of the parliamentary parties of the coalition would be held before the August 11 NA session, she added. daily times monitor






LAHORE: The army will not support President Pervez Musharraf if he dissolves the parliament using Article 58(2b) of the Constitution, Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rashid said on Friday. According to Geo News, Rashid said the ruling coalition would win the number-game, and that the president had three options – to face impeachment, use Article 58(2b) or resign. The channel quoted him as saying that a major crisis was imminent in one or two months and that it was better for Musharraf to “say goodbye”.


* Forces control part of Tskhinvali-Tbilisi
* Rebel leader says 1,400 civilians dead

TBILISI: Russian forces control part of the capital of the breakaway region of South Ossetia, the Georgian interior ministry said on Friday, after Russia sent forces over its border to repel a Georgian assault on separatists.

Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said Russian forces were shelling Georgian troops “from tanks and airplanes”. “We control part of the town, the Russians another,” Utiashvili said of the besieged capital, Tskhinvali. Georgia’s pro-Western president has said the countries are at war.

Civilians dead: South Ossetia’s rebel leader Eduard Kokoity said there were 1,400 dead civilians in the main town Tskhinvali, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported President Mikheil Saakashvili said 150 Russian tanks, armoured personnel carriers and other vehicles had entered South Ossetia from Russia.

“Russia is fighting a war with us in our own territory,” Saakashvili told CNN, calling on Washington to help.

He also said Georgian forces had downed two Russian jets. There was no immediate confirmation Russia had sent bombers. The head of Georgia’s Security Council, Kakha Lomaia said Georgia would withdraw 1,000 soldiers from Iraq to help fight off Russian forces.

A top Russian military commander said more than 10 Russian peacekeepers in South Ossetia had been killed and nearly 30 wounded, Russian news agencies reported. reuters


* Helicopter gunships and mortars pound insurgent hideouts

BAJAUR: More than 70 Taliban died and 60 were wounded in a fierce gunbattle between militants and the security forces in the Bajaur Agency, the Online news agency reported on Friday.

Seven paramilitary troops also died in clashes near the Afghan border, AP said, as helicopter gunships and mortars pounded insurgent hideouts in the Rashakai and Tank Khata areas on Friday, officials and residents said.

The offensive in the tribal region came in the wake of a militant assault Wednesday on an outpost manned by security forces.

“Intense fighting is going on between soldiers and Taliban since Friday morning,” said Sher Zamin, a local resident. He said he saw Taliban fighters going toward the scene of the clashes.

“Intense firing again started at 8am at Loisam, Omari and Nawagai areas where a large number of armed Taliban are attacking security forces,” a security official told AFP.

“Security forces are responding with helicopters, artillery and mortar fire, but there were no immediate reports about casualties,” he said. agencies


KHAR: Taliban beheaded two men and shot dead a third in Bajaur on Friday after accusing them of spying on them, officials and witnesses said. The bodies of three men were found dumped by a road at Kayrala village, Bajaur, with notes saying, “These people were spying on Taliban,” a local government official told AFP. Witnesses said that two had their heads severed and the third was killed by a gunshot. Militants have killed various people after accusing them of spying. afp


* Telegraph report says Asif Zardari likely to be new president

Daily Times Monitor

LAHORE: The army chief will ask President Pervez Musharraf to resign in a week, according to a Daily Telegraph report published on Friday.

Citing an unidentified “senior government official”, it said the army wants Musharraf “to be spared the humiliation of impeachment”.

A senior official from the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) told The Telegraph that the army has “whispered in Musharraf’s ear that it is time to leave”, the report said.

“Over the next few days they will make it clear to [Musharraf] that a protracted battle [against impeachment] is not in Pakistan’s interests,” he added.

Citing a former military aide to the president, the newspaper said the army is neutral but is expecting Musharraf to resign. “It will then influence his honourable safe passage as the army’s senior leadership would not want him to be punished”.

The PPP government official said that his party had given an assurance of “indemnity” to the president.

He said the United States hopes the PPP and the president would work together but Musharraf “had begun to use intelligence agencies to plot against the government”.

“America wants Pakistan to be effectively governed and so has realised that the domestic struggle has to be resolved,” he added. Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid President Shujaat Hussain told the Daily Telegraph dissolving the parliament would be “ unfortunate” but it may be “necessary”.

Zardari: He said that he had evidence that the move to impeach the president was made after the usually bickering coalition partners had struck a deal to hand the Presidency to PPP Co-chairman Asif Zardari.

He said the army might oppose Zardari’s presidential candidacy.

“I have no knowledge of that but Pakistan would be better served by a civilian president with a knowledge of democracy,” a PPP spokesman said of Mr Zardari’s alleged presidential bid.




LAHORE: United States Ambassador Anne W Patterson and US embassy Deputy Chief of Mission Peter Bodey met PPP Co-chairman Asif Zardari at Zardari House in Islamabad to discuss the coalition’s decision to impeach President Pervez Musharraf, Dawn News reported on Friday.

The channel quoted PPP sources as saying that besides the impeachment decision, the overall political and security situation of the country were also discussed. Zardari briefed the US diplomats about the difficulties the coalition government was facing for legislation, restoration of judiciary, war against terror and providing relief to the people. aaj kal report / daily times monitor


WASHINGTON: While there is “tremendous sympathy” for President Pervez Musharraf, it may not extend to Congress, nor is the Pakistani leader “indispensable” either to the war on terror or Pakistan’s role in the war on terror, according to Bruce Riedel of the Brookings Institution.

Riedel told an AFP correspondent, “I think that Pakistan needs now to focus on the very many different difficulties it faces and the best way to speed that process and remove the uncertainty would be for Musharraf to make a graceful exit.”

In a commentary, Lisa Curtis of the Heritage Foundation felt that the “fate” of the Pakistani president now lies largely in the hands of army chief Gen Ashfaq Kayani. khalid hasan


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