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[B]This meddling must stop[/B]



IT is a matter of concern that India should have chosen to stoke the fire in Balochistan by sending arms and ammunition to the militants. On Monday, while President Musharraf informed a high-level meeting about the routes through which terrorists in Pakistan were getting Indian arms, the Foreign Office spokesperson accused New Delhi of trying to destabilise this country. The president’s statement is significant, for it absolves the Afghan government of any involvement against Pakistan. Even though Afghan territory was being used for subversion in Pakistan, the president did not believe the Karzai government had anything to do with it. Instead, he said the Indian consulates in Afghanistan and Iran were organising the supply of weapons to militants in Balochistan. According to the president, the arms were being smuggled across the India-Pakistan border at Rahimyar Khan, reaching Balochistan via Sanghar and Jacobabad, while on the western border Zhob and Chagai served as the conduit for arms. RAW, India’s intelligence agency, was pumping arms and money into Balochistan, but the president said his government had sealed all the routes.

It is difficult to see how the peace process can move forward if the present slide in relations between the two countries continues. The big blow to the detente came with the Mumbai blasts of July 11, with the Indian media accusing Pakistan of involvement in the carnage even before preliminary investigations had begun. Then Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh implicitly accused Pakistan of involvement in the blasts and announced a freeze of the peace process. Visiting Mumbai after the tragedy, Dr Singh said the peace process would remain frozen “until Islamabad starts acting on its assurances to crack down on terrorists”. The Indian government took a unilateral step towards freezing the peace process by cancelling the secretary-level meeting scheduled for Islamabad on July 20-21. The secretaries later met at Dhaka on the sidelines of the Saarc ministerial committee meeting, but, like all Saarc conferences, it produced nothing positive. Instead, India accused Pakistan of failing to carry out its obligations under the South Asia Free Trade Area. August saw two more unpleasant developments: first, there was a tit-for-tat expulsion of diplomats, and on Aug 15, speaking on India’s independence day, Dr Singh repeated the threat that the peace process would remain frozen unless Pakistan took “concrete steps” to rein in terrorists. Things hit a new low when, following Nawab Akbar Bugti’s killing, India came out with a bit of gratuitous advice to Pakistan on how to deal with its domestic problems. This was astonishing, since Balochistan is Pakistan’s internal problem and it does not need to be told how to go about it.

In sharp contrast, the Pakistani attitude towards India’s domestic problems has been one of restraint, even though India is vulnerable on several counts. For instance, whatever is happening in India’s north-east has attracted the attention of international rights agencies and some of India’s own NGOs, besides censures from the US State Department’s annual reports on the atrocities being committed on the civilian population by India’s security forces. Yet Pakistan has chosen not to meddle in India’s internal affairs. The basic question is India’s sincerity about the peace process. New Delhi has two choices: either it should push the process forward, or it can choose to destabilise Pakistan. Pursuing the two objectives at the same time is contradictory.

Note: Taken from Dawn Editorial

[B]Pakistan to get high-tech air defence system [/B]


By Hanif Khalid

ISLAMABAD: As per President Musharraf's directives Pakistan will acquire a high-tech air defence system next year, but it must come with transfer of technology, an official told The News.

"China and a European country have offered Pakistan High-to-Medium-Altitude Air Defence System, Low-to-Medium-Altitude Air Defence System, Medium-Altitude Air Defence System and Short-Range Air Defence System," said an official, who wanted not to be named. "The two countries have also offered to set up a project in Pakistan for manufacturing short- medium- and high-range air defence systems," he added.

The official said a former PAF chief had sent a summary to President Musharraf for the purchase of a high-altitude air defence system from a European country without transfer of technology, but the president rejected it.

"The summary has been rejected because Pakistan's adversary has MiG-25, MiG-29, SU-27 and SU-30 fighter planes which are capable of flying at an altitude of more than 25km," he added.

India has these aircraft since 2002 whereas the PAF has no effective weapon system to save major cities of the country and defence installations from any attack by such planes, the official said.

"Had the organisations engaged in developing nuclear-capable missiles indigenously been tasked with the development of a system to overcome this shortcoming, the country would have until now achieved the capability of hitting planes at an altitude of 25-29 kilometres," he remarked. "But no attention has been paid towards this aspect of the country's air defence capability."

The official said that Pakistan has radars that can detect aircraft flying at an altitude of 25-29 kilometres but the country still lacks a weapon system to hit such planes. He said the country needs to install at least one battery of an ultra-modern air defence system on four sides of major cities or military installations for security.

According to the official, one battery of such a defence system would comprise 16 vehicles, including two radar carriers, six missile launching vehicles and six support vehicles and thus each battery would cost $40-50 million.

A short-range air defence system can shoot down an enemy plane up to five kilometres and medium-range system is capable of hitting and attacking aircraft up to 25 kilometres while a high-range air defence system can hit an enemy plane at a distance of 90 kilometres, elaborated the official.

[url]http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=5036[/url]

[SIZE="4"][FONT="Courier New"][FONT="Comic Sans MS"]All about hudood ordinance......Good comparison with other crimes under the the light of Quran and shunna[/FONT][/FONT][/SIZE]

[url]http://www.jang.com.pk/jang/jan2007-daily/08-01-2007/col2.htm[/url]

Asia's winds of change
 

Asia's Winds of Change
David Burton, Wanda Tseng, and Kenneth Kang
After recovering from the 1997–98 crisis, Asia is now facing new challenges of globalization

Asia, the world's largest continent with nearly three-fifths of its population, has undergone a remarkable transformation over the past 50 years. After the Second World War, Asia was a mix of poor and backward countries, possessing few natural resources and located far from most industrial countries. Since then, after embarking on an ambitious drive to open their economies to international trade and investment, many Asian countries experienced a remarkable period of sustained economic growth that has helped to lift millions out of poverty and improve living standards. Now, Asia is an important driving force in the global economy, featuring 4 of the world's 12 largest economies—Japan, China, India, and Korea—as well as several of the fastest-growing ones. Although Asia suffered a temporary setback from the financial crisis of the late 1990s, its quick recovery and dynamism suggest that its role in the global economy will continue to grow.
As Asia looks to the future, the most important challenge it faces is how to adapt to globalization, with its wide-ranging impact on trade patterns, production processes, employment opportunities, and financial linkages. Globalization, of course, is not new to Asia, a region that has benefited greatly from its close engagement with the world. But the accelerating pace of globalization is bringing new issues to the fore.
• The integration of capital markets has helped to allocate savings and investment more efficiently, but it has also increased the risks from volatile capital flows and financial contagion. How to reduce domestic vulnerabilities, prevent future crises, and create international and regional safety nets for insurance against large and volatile capital flows remains a key challenge.
• The globalization of production—especially with the rapid emergence of China and India—has created tremendous opportunities, but major efforts will be needed to make the region's economies flexible enough to reap the benefits while minimizing the associated dislocations. Adjustment costs are already evident in growing income disparities, as some countries, and groups and regions within countries, are increasingly being left behind.
• With Asia's growing importance in the world economy, it must play a role—together with other regions—in helping to address the large global current account imbalances. Reforms will be needed to rebalance growth away from exports toward domestic demand. Such a rebalancing would not only be in Asia's interest but would also have positive spillovers to the rest of the world.
This issue of Finance & Development reviews some of the key factors behind Asia's transformation and the challenges Asia faces in adapting to the rapid pace of globalization.
Staggered start
Asian countries began their rapid growth phase at different times. Japan, after the Second World War, was the first country to take off, followed by the group of so-called Asian tigers—Hong Kong SAR, Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan Province of China—which embarked in the 1960s on an ambitious outward-oriented strategy for growth. Other countries in the region soon followed, including Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. More recently, China and India, pursuing their different paths of liberalization, have experienced rapid growth.
Overall, the results have been impressive. From 1950 to 1997, Asian countries grew by nearly 6 percent a year on average, nearly twice as fast as the rest of the world and more than 1½ times faster than the United States (see Chart 1). Asian countries now account for about one-fourth of the global economy, in terms of both size and recent economic growth.

Trade was critical to success. During 1960–2005, Asia's share in global trade increased from 11 percent to 26 percent. Trade encouraged industrialization based on the dynamics of comparative advantage, shifting from agriculture to labor-intensive manufacturing and, more recently, to more capital-intensive, high-skilled industries. This pattern of industrialization helped foster growth with equity by creating new jobs and raising real wages. It also enhanced domestic competition and facilitated the transfer of advanced technologies.
Asian policymakers also pursued sound macroeconomic policies that allowed economic activity to flourish. These policies contributed to low and stable inflation, low levels of public debt, and high savings and investment, especially in human capital and economic infrastructure. Policymakers also demonstrated flexibility in responding quickly to changes in the external environment, such as the oil shocks of the 1970s and 1980s, and in abandoning failed industrial policies in favor of market-led growth.
From miracle to crisis to recovery
But in the late 1990s, Asia suffered a painful setback as a financial crisis hit Thailand and spread quickly through the region. The immediate trigger was the sudden sharp reversal of capital flows—net capital flows to Asian crisis countries swung from an inflow of over 6 percent of GDP in 1995 to an outflow of 2 percent of GDP in 1997 and rose above 5 percent of GDP the following year. But an underlying cause was structural weakness that left many economies vulnerable to the sharp withdrawal of capital. A weak financial sector saddled with large nonperforming loans; a heavily indebted corporate sector that overinvested in some sectors, such as real estate; and doubtful corporate governance practices undermined investor confidence and exacerbated the crisis (see Chart 2). In addition, many Asian countries, such as Korea and Thailand, relied on a rigidly managed exchange rate regime that was prone to misalignment and speculative attack.

Policymakers in the region responded by addressing these structural weaknesses to restore investor confidence and economic growth. Because Asian countries moved aggressively to restructure their financial and corporate sectors and liberalize their economies, investor confidence was quickly restored, allowing capital to return to the region (see Chart 3). This, in turn, helped Asian countries reduce their external vulnerabilities by replenishing foreign reserves and repaying foreign debt (see Chart 4). In the end, the financial crisis proved to be only a temporary setback, as many countries quickly realized the benefits of their extensive reforms and resumed their rapid pace of growth.


What's next?
As Asia builds on this recovery, it faces a variety of fresh policy issues created by the accelerating pace of globalization. They include finding ways to prevent future crises, strengthening integration to enhance the region's broader participation in the global economy, seizing the opportunities created by the rapid emergence of China and India, ensuring that the benefits of growth are more evenly shared, and contributing to the resolution of global current account imbalances.
Preventing future crises. The time-tested importance of having a sound macroeconomic framework, including appropriate monetary and fiscal policies, to protect against financial crisis remains relevant for the future. Asian countries have made progress in this area, particularly by moving to more flexible exchange rate regimes where appropriate, such as in Korea and Thailand. Many countries have also built up foreign exchange reserves as a way of cushioning their economies from shocks. Another key task is to reduce public debt burdens to more comfortable levels. Since the mid-1990s, the growth in public debt in emerging Asia has been particularly rapid, rising from about 40 percent of aggregate GDP in 1996 to about 55 percent in 2005 (see Chart 5). While there has been progress in reducing debt ratios, there is wide variation across the region. The current period of strong growth provides a golden opportunity to curb fiscal imbalances, not only to reduce vulnerabilities but also to prepare for the fiscal costs of Asia's aging population, especially in Japan and China.

In addition, many countries need to further strengthen their financial systems. A healthy and sound financial system would not only better serve increasingly sophisticated economies but would also help make markets more resilient by providing more financial instruments for a broader sharing of risks. To promote a sound financial sector, there is a need to further strengthen supervision to safeguard against systemic risk, improve risk-management skills, enhance corporate governance to strengthen market discipline, and put in place an efficient bankruptcy system for restructuring.
Strengthening regional integration. Since the crisis, Asian countries have taken steps to deepen regional integration and cooperation. On the trade front, Asia has experienced remarkable progress, with intraregional trade reaching over 40 percent of total trade in 2005, a level comparable to that reached in the North American Free Trade Agreement, up from 30 percent in 1990 (see Chart 6). Much of this expansion is being driven by market forces, especially the rapid integration of global production processes, particularly in China. There is also growing momentum for regional economic cooperation, including bilateral and regional trade arrangements (RTAs), most recently with the signing of an agreement between Korea and Singapore in 2005.

How to make regionalism work to strengthen trade, investment, and growth for Asian countries will be a challenge. There is the risk that the proliferation of RTAs could come at the expense of trade with nonmember countries, known as trade diversion. To be building blocks rather than stumbling blocks to multilateralism, RTAs should proceed in parallel with unilateral and multilateral liberalization. As tariff rates are lowered, the risk of trade diversion will be minimized.
Furthermore, Asian countries are increasingly being integrated into a regional supply chain, with final products destined in many cases for exports outside the region. RTAs can advance this integration, encouraging countries to specialize and trade more intermediate goods with each other. But this requires RTAs to be comprehensive in product coverage with few exemptions, featuring simple and transparent rules of origin to reduce the cost of compliance.
On the financial front, Asian governments have also worked to advance regional cooperation and integration, launching the Chiang Mai and regional bond market initiatives. Enhancing policy dialogue and expanding regional safety nets are welcome because they can assist in strengthening regional surveillance, reducing the risk and severity of liquidity crises, and complementing the role of the IMF in promoting global financial stability (see box). But, despite progress in financial reforms, capital markets in many Asian countries are still relatively underdeveloped. Here, regional initiatives could spur reforms—such as the harmonizing of laws, regulations, tax treatments, and market infrastructure—that would help these markets develop.

Reshaping the IMF's role in Asia
With prosperity on the rise in Asia, how can the IMF best help the region? For the IMF, deepening its dialogue with Asia is crucial, not least because Asia's role in the global economy has expanded significantly, and what happens in Asia has a profound impact on the rest of the world.
Asia also needs a strong IMF to promote global financial stability. As a universal institution, the IMF remains the principal forum for multilateral debate and action and has been working hard to respond to the calls from Asian policymakers to focus its advice on crisis prevention, improve financial sector surveillance, and strengthen regional and global surveillance. As part of its new medium-term strategy, the IMF is now exploring ways to make its economic surveillance more focused and effective, as well as to stimulate fresh thinking on financial markets and crisis prevention.
Like other emerging markets, Asian countries would also benefit from having access to IMF financial resources in times of need. Although Asian countries have built up comfortable levels of reserves and taken steps to strengthen regional economic ties, holding large reserves is costly, and regional financing arrangements have limits. Although the current benign financial conditions have drawn attention away from the risk of capital account crises, these conditions may not prevail forever. Thus, the IMF will need to make sure that its financial instruments are adequate to meet the needs of emerging market countries, including in Asia, and explore what it can do to leverage its financing capacity to support regional and other reserve pooling arrangements in crisis prevention and response.
In addition, it is vitally important that Asian countries have a role in decision making at the IMF that matches their growing importance in the world economy. This means increasing the voting power for some emerging market economies, especially in Asia. Raising Asia's quota share will not only ensure an adequate voice and representation for Asia in the IMF but also help strengthen the IMF's legitimacy and effectiveness in promoting international economic and financial stability—an interest shared by all countries.

Building on the opportunities from China and India. The growth of China and India has contributed to improved prospects for Asia as a whole. China's emergence as both a production network and a final export market for the region has been a key factor in boosting intraregional trade and investment; meanwhile, India has also grown rapidly following reforms in the early 1990s and, more recently, has become a global leader in service exports, even though its impact on the regional and global economies has so far been more limited.
At the same time, the emergence of these giants has also raised concerns about heightened competition for foreign investment and exports. Are these worries justified? A recent IMF staff study contends that China's emergence has so far not crowded out foreign direct investment (FDI) to other Asian countries, including low-wage countries (Mercereau, 2005). Even so, the impact of China and India's rapid development on the rest of the region is likely to grow. For other countries in Asia, the key to seizing the opportunities created by China and India will be to increase the flexibility of their economies to remain competitive and responsive.
Here, further development of capital markets and greater labor market flexibility will encourage resources to move quickly to new growth industries based on a country's comparative advantage. Measures to improve the business environment, such as further deregulation and liberalization of closed sectors, will facilitate new investment and innovation. Education policies aimed at upgrading skills will also enable workers to shift into new industries, while enhancing the social safety net will ease the burden of adjustment for the most vulnerable.
Sharing the benefits of growth. Although globalization has helped improve growth prospects in Asia, the benefits from this growth have not been evenly shared. Asia remains home to some of the poorest countries in the world, and even in the fastest-growing economies, such as China and India, vast areas remain poor and underdeveloped. In many countries, including the more developed ones, like Japan and Korea, income inequality is widening, and economies are becoming increasingly polarized, as some sectors and groups have surged ahead of others.
To ensure that the benefits from globalization are more evenly shared, Asian countries will need to pursue reforms that will expand opportunities for the poorest groups and regions to catch up. These would include broadening financial systems to improve access to credit and insurance, particularly by small enterprises and the working poor; adopting labor reforms that strike the right balance between flexibility and protection of basic employee security; establishing social safety nets that encourage labor flexibility; and, in some countries, improving the functioning of land markets to unlock their productive potential. Policies to improve the poor's access to quality health care, education, and infrastructure will also assist in enhancing their economic contribution. Finally, prudent macroeconomic policies that promote financial stability can help protect the poorest groups, who, because of a lack of assets and instruments, are more vulnerable to financial crisis.
Helping resolve global imbalances. In recent years, the rise in global current account imbalances has cast a spotlight on Asia's external surplus, along with the large deficit in the United States. Although the current account surplus in parts of emerging Asia and in Japan has started to narrow in response to the rising cost of oil imports, the strengthening of domestic demand, and exchange rate appreciation in some countries, more needs to be done.
How to reduce the imbalances is a hot topic. The large U.S. current account deficit and the counterpart surpluses in Asia and elsewhere are a concern because of the risks that a disorderly adjustment could slow global growth, destabilize financial markets, and lead to the imposition of protectionist policies around the globe. With its reliance on exports, this would be particularly damaging for Asia. There is an agreed international cooperative strategy to address the imbalances, requiring policy actions by deficit and surplus countries to rebalance demand. For Asia, this involves structural reforms to boost domestic demand and allow exchange rates to adjust, although there are important differences in the policy requirements across the region. The needed policy adjustments in Asia will also help rebalance demand and put growth in the region on a more sustainable footing.
In emerging Asia (excluding China), the surplus largely reflects a collapse in investment rates in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis, while saving rates have been relatively stable (see Chart 7). Investment remains subdued despite the progress in corporate and financial restructuring since the crisis. According to work done by IMF staff, a reason for the "investment drought" appears to be a perceived increase in risk, which may reflect more realistic perceptions about risks than during the precrisis period (see "Asia's Investment Puzzle" on page 32 of this issue).

What can be done to boost investment? On the macroeconomic front, sound policies that reduce uncertainty will remain critical. On the microeconomic front, improvements in corporate governance and regulations will reduce the costs of doing business, while further development of the financial sector will help transfer risk from the corporate sector to the wider investing public. It will also help create new financing structures to support startup enterprises, which will become increasingly important as Asian economies become more knowledge- and technology-intensive.
In Japan, since the early 1990s, the current account surplus has reflected a slower decline in the national saving rate relative to aggregate investment. Saving rates have fallen because of demographic factors and countercyclical fiscal policies to combat deflation, whereas investment has remained weak since the bursting of the asset-price bubble. Structural reforms to liberalize product markets, make the labor market more flexible, and encourage inward FDI will strengthen growth prospects and bolster private investment. They will also help mitigate the impact of population aging on potential growth.
In China, in stark contrast to the rest of Asia, the investment rate has been high and rising—reaching about 40 percent of GDP in 2005 (see Chart 8). But, because the saving rate has risen even faster—to about 47 percent of GDP in 2005—China's current account surplus has increased considerably. The steady rise in saving rates reflects increases in government, enterprise, and household savings, which now account for about 30 percent of disposable income.

If China hopes to stimulate a more permanent increase in consumption and make economic growth more balanced over the medium term, it will need to continue reforms on many fronts. Greater exchange rate flexibility, which, through an appreciation of the currency, will help boost consumption by raising household purchasing power, and a shift in budgetary spending toward education, health, and social safety nets (including reforming the pension system) are important macroeconomic policy measures. Further banking and financial market reforms will also prompt increased consumption by creating new savings, consumer lending, and insurance instruments that will help diversify risk and encourage households to spend more. In rural China, reforms to enable farmers to sell their land use rights at market prices and borrow against their land would also help meet the financing needs of rural households.
Building on success
The path that Asian countries have traveled to growth and prosperity in the past 50 years is nothing short of remarkable. Many ingredients of that success will remain relevant for the future—the embrace of openness, the commitment to macroeconomic stability, and the drive to adapt and reform in response to changing circumstances.
The rapid pace of globalization has brought new challenges. To meet them, Asia will need to continue to reform—to reduce vulnerabilities to crises; deepen regional integration while remaining open to multilateralism; strengthen financial systems and enhance the flexibility of its economies in order to benefit from the emergence of China and India; and rebalance demand to achieve more sustainable growth. With Asia continuing to reform and adapt, its prospects will remain bright, and its contributions to the global economy will be even greater over the next 50 years.

References:
Mercereau, Benoît, 2005, "FDI Flows to Asia: Did the Dragon Crowd Out the Tigers?" IMF Working Paper 05/189 (Washington: International Monetary Fund).



David Burton is the Director and Wanda Tseng a Deputy Director of the IMF's Asia and Pacific Department. Kenneth Kang is the IMF's Resident Representative in Korea.

Look ho is Talking Now
 

From The TimesMay 19, 2007

Afghan soldiers mass on border, ready and willing to take on old foe

In the late-morning lull that followed the thump of shellfire and chatter of machineguns, the preparations for a small war seemed to be unfolding in the orchards and paddy fields beneath the towering Spingar mountain range.

Scores of heavily armed Afghan troops and fighters from special border police units – determined, professional and evidently spoiling for a fight – gathered around their senior officers for orders. Artillery men waited beside their 122mm field guns hidden among the mulberry groves. And in nearby village bazaars tribesmen clustered around their elders, asking for weapons of their own so that they could join the fray.

Yet the enemy was not the Taleban, nor an infiltrating column of al-Qaeda fighters. Instead, in the remote border district of ’Ali Kheyl in eastern Afghanistan, Afghan security forces have found themselves pitted against an older and bigger enemy: Pakistan.

Clashes between the two neighbours – two of the West’s biggest allies in the War on Terror – began here last Sunday morning when Paki-stani forces fired on an Afghan post at Toorgawe, a strategic point on the border. The fighting is the most serious of its kind for years.

Since Sunday evening there has been a build-up of forces in the contested zone as hundreds of regular Afghan soldiers from the 203rd “Thunder” Corps, who had been fighting the Taleban, have deployed to the area to reinforce the beleaguered border police, bringing with them heavy artillery sent up from Kabul. “We can’t wait any more,” Brigadier Sanaoull Haq, a staff officer in the corps, said. “Now if anything further happens we will reply in kind.”

Each side accuses the other of initiating the bombardments, which so far have left 13 Afghans dead and 51 wounded. Foreign diplomats in Kabul fear that the situation, which has united Afghan nationalist sentiment across every ethnic divide, may escalate. It threatens to wreck any semblance of security cooperation between the countries, to the detriment of Nato’s struggle with the Taleban.

Tension has been growing for months along the 1,615-mile (2,600km) border shared by the two nations. Afghanistan has consistently accused the ISI, Pakistan’s intelligence service, of equipping and training Taleban fighters in camps inside Pakistan, then allowing them to cross into Afghanistan.

Pakistan has recently started building a security fence in selected areas of the border, ostensibly to halt the flow of insurgents. This, in turn, has provoked more Afghan wrath.

The Kabul Government does not recognise the border, drawn up by the British in 1893. Named the Durand line after Sir Mortimer Durand, then Foreign Secretary of the British Indian Government, the demarcation was intended to divide warlike Pashtun tribes antipathetic to British influence. Now Afghanistan sees the security fence as the de facto consolidation of a border dividing them from tribal areas in Pakistan that they claim as their own.

“The Durand line is a suffocating imposition under which we suffer,” said General Abdur Rahman, the chief of Afghanistan’s border police, as he briefed his men at Ghumruk, a customs post near the contested section of frontier, on Thursday. Seven of his men have been killed since the fighting started, yet he insisted that his orders so far were only to defend Afghan territory.

“We have donated our men’s blood to keep even a single foot of Pakistan from stepping inside our border,” he added. “But our orders from the Interior Ministry are to hold our positions, avoid trouble, and not fire unless fired upon.”

There was no security fence being built by Pakistan at Toorgawe. Instead, the Afghans say that their police in the post were attacked without warning simply because of its desirable strategic location.

“Wherever they see one of our border positions on a high pass they try to influence it,” said Brigadier Haq. “Since the Mujahidin times the Pakistanis have thought our country is their own. Then the Taleban came and still the Pakistanis could put up border posts wherever they wanted.

“Now we have a central government and an army of our own and the Pakistanis are angry. They can’t tolerate us or our border.” In the initial absence of regular troops hundreds of Pashtun tribesmen from local villages rushed to support the Afghan border police during the attacks on Sunday.

“We were carrying rifles, axes and swords,” said Nawruz, one of the tribesmen who participated. “I took 15 men with me from my village. We got into a trench and started firing back at the Pakistani militia. One of my friends died beside me, killed by a Pakistani mortar round.”

On Monday a joint Afgh-an-American delegation flew across the border for talks with Pakistani officers aimed at producing a ceasefire. The meeting was held in a schoolhouse in Teri Mangel, a small town in the Kurram tribal area of Pakistan. Yet after the negotiations concluded the delegation was fired upon. An American soldier was killed and four others wounded.

Though Nato and Pakistan, keen to play down the incident, say the attack was the work of a single rogue member of a Pakistani militia, two Afghan delegates present as part of the delegation who were separately interviewed byThe Times, Governor Rahmatullah Rahman and Colonel Shamsur, say they were fired on by up to a dozen uniformed Pakistani militiamen.

“There were two groups of Pakistani militia shooting at us,” said Governor Rahmatullah. “One group was placed among rocks and it fired at the delegation as it drove from the school to be picked up by a helicopter. The other group fired at the delegation’s security guards in the school’s courtyard. The attackers were in uniform. I saw at least ten.”

Despite this attack, a border ceasefire held until Thursday, when renewed artillery exchanges began in the morning and lasted until midday. Though both the Pakistani militia in Kurram and the Afghans in ’Ali Kheyl are Pashtuns of the same Zazi tribe, their kinship seems to be no barrier to the desire to fight one another.

“When it is a question of territory or land even if it is your own brother you don’t care,” said Malik Khir Gul Khan, one of the Afghan tribal elders.

“Under our code of Pashtun-wali if your brother takes your house or land then you have to kill him or die trying.”

So far Nato and American-led coalition forces have kept their forces away from the area of fighting, though Captain Aziz, an Afghan army commander at Ghumruk, said on Thursday that he had seen an eight-man team of American troops move forward to observe the clashes until they, too, were shelled and withdrew.

Afghanistan’s 46,000-strong army is in no position to take on the military might of Pakistan, besides which diplomatic pressure on both countries makes it extremely unlikely that the scope of fighting will spread between regular forces. However, the fighting has sparked antiPakistani sentiment among the Afghan border tribes at a time when the fortunes of every foreign player trying to stabilise Afghanistan are dependent on the two neighbours cooperating.

“Only this morning I have had tribal elders offer me 400 men to fight the Pakistanis,” said Captain Aziz. “I have to keep ordering them to stay in their villages. Man, woman and child, in this area they are all ready to give their blood in a fight with Pakistan.”

[URL="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article1811094.ece"]http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article1811094.ece[/URL]

Blasts hit Pakistan garrison town
 

[B]
Blasts hit Pakistan garrison town[/B]


At least 24 people have been killed in two bomb blasts near the Pakistani military headquarters in the city of Rawalpindi, the military says.
The first explosion took place on a bus carrying defence employees in the town near Islamabad, killing 17 people.
Shortly afterwards, a motorcycle bomb exploded in a market, killing seven people.
Attacks by militants have increased since the army stormed the Red Mosque in Islamabad in July.
It had been occupied by pro-Taleban extremists and at least 100 people were killed during the siege and subsequent military operation.
Since then, suicide attacks and bombings, particularly in the tribal areas, have claimed the lives of at least 60 Pakistani soldiers.

The BBC's Damian Grammaticas, in Islamabad, says these latest attacks will cause particular concern because they have happened in what is a military zone.
They come at a time of great political uncertainty in the country with former prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto promising to return to the country to challenge the rule of President Pervez Musharraf.

[B]'Huge bang'[/B]

At least 66 people have been injured in the two attacks, officials said.

The first explosion occurred at 0720 (0220 GMT).
At least 17 defence employees were killed when a bomb tore through their bus near Qasim market in Rawalpindi.
Eyewitnesses said the bus was completely destroyed by the blast which could be heard across the city.
The roof of the bus and all its windows were blown away.
"There was a huge bang, then I saw the bus in a mangled heap. Body parts were scattered across the road and there was blood everywhere," witness Mohammad Tahir told AFP.
One of the dead in the bus attack has been confirmed as a sergeant in the intelligence services, according to the list issued by the hospital. A relative told the BBC the rest of the men on the bus were his colleagues.
Television pictures showed rescue workers at the scene, trying to cut open the wreckage to pull out injured people and bodies.
The second blast happened about three kilometres (two miles) away when a suspected motorcycle bomb exploded in the city's RA Bazaar.
"We only know that it was a motorcycle bomb. It exploded with a big bang," a police official was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.

Military spokesman Maj-Gen Waheed Arshad said authorities were trying to determine which department the people on board the bus worked for.

"It's terrorism because innocent people were killed in both blasts," Maj-Gen Arshad said.

At least 66 people have been wounded in the two attacks, he said.

Source BBc

Nepal's prince has heart attack
 

Nepal's Crown Prince Paras has been taken to hospital after suffering what doctors say is a mild heart attack.
He underwent an angioplasty operation in Kathmandu's Norvic hospital and is "much better", the hospital says.
Crown Prince Paras is a controversial and unpopular figure who has been at the centre of a number of scandals.
He is the only son of King Gyanendra. A constituent assembly due to be elected in November is to decide whether the monarchy should be abolished.

[B]Intensive care[/B]

Doctors attending the crown prince say that the mild heart attack was "genetic in nature" and caused blood circulation problems in the lower portion of his heart.

Dr Bharat Rawat who led a team of 12 doctors said a "balloon angioplasty" was successfully conducted on Thursday afternoon.

"The Crown Prince will be kept at the intensive care unit for two days and will be shifted to general ward thereafter. Now his condition is much better," Dr Rawat said.

A team of cardiologists and physicians rushed to the prince's residence after he complained of chest pains.

Shortly afterwards, the 36-year-old prince was admitted to a military hospital, which later transferred him to the private Norvic hospital, where the angioplasty was performed.

Dr Rawat said the operation took 50 minutes.

Doctors say Nepal's royal family has a history of heart problems, also seen in late kings Mahendra and his father Tribhuvan.


BBC reports

A DANGEROUS BACKLASH
a false choice in pakistan
by : Daniel Markey

check it out the link
[url]http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20070701faessay86407/daniel-markey/a-false-choice-in-pakistan.html[/url]

Martial law not an option for Army top brass
 

By Ansar Abbasi

ISLAMABAD: Martial law has not been an option worth considering for the top military commanders during the recent months of crises, it has been learnt.

An authoritative source told The News that even at the peak of the judicial crisis and the Lal Masjid issue, there was not a single corps commander who had suggested to President Musharraf to go for such an extreme step.

After the early June corps commanders meetings, the source revealed, Musharraf individually met all the corps commanders for their views on getting out of the post-March 9 crisis. The source said that there were only a few top military commanders who had recommended weighing the option of emergency, but there was no suggestion for imposition of martial law.

It was the same top military commanders meeting following which a press release was issued by the military spokesman announcing that the commanders stood behind Musharraf. It was also said that the military commanders lending their full support to him though such a statement was uncalled for as each and every member of the disciplined force is supposed to back the Army chief. Army chiefs don’t seek support from their senior commanders. It is mandatory. It is instinctive.

The source admitted that there was a realisation within the Army that public feelings against the institution had never been as strong as it were today. “In such a situation, the possibility of martial law is zero,” the source said, admitting, however, there was hardly anyone among the top commanders who could honestly tell the Army chief about their true feelings.

According to the source, the corps commanders meeting and the formation commander gatherings nowadays don’t discuss “thorny” political issues in a frank and honest manner unless allowed by the chair because of a wide gap of seniority between the Army chief and even the senior-most corps commanders.

“Would you believe that the present-day senior-most three-star generals were lieutenant colonels when Musharraf was a corps commander during the 90s,” the source said, quoting the examples of the Director General Inter-Services Intelligence (DG ISI) Lt Gen Ashfaq Kiani and Corps Commander, Rawalpindi, Lt Gen Tariq Majeed.

Although, Khalid Kidwai is the senior-most lieutenant general, he is out of the military’s command system and presently heading the Strategic Planning Division. Kidwai was to retire last year but Musharraf gave him one-year extension. He is the second exception after Lt Gen (retd) Hamid Javaid, Chief of Staff to the President, who were given extensions in service since October 12, 1999 military takeover. Musharraf himself is an exception as he is continuing as the Army chief since 1998.

Because of the seniority gap, it is said, the trend of raising dissenting voices within the four walls has ended. “Now the corps commanders are generally informed about the decision as recently happened in the case of the chief justice’s removal,” the source said, agreeing that for the sake of the institution of Army and the country the military commanders must be encouraged to speak their mind within the four walls.

The source recalled that the last time it was Tariq Waseem Ghazi, who, as lieutenant general (since retired), in a commanders meeting a few years back had expressed his dismay over the politicians being betted by Musharraf.

Sources even close to Musharraf confirm that a group of “opportunists”, including some political figures, are ill-advising him at the cost of national interest. There are some sycophants, it is said, who tell the president that his continuation in uniform is vital for the future of Pakistan. However, others believe that for the sake of one person, any extreme step could be disastrous for the country’s future.

These sources, however, admit that there are many in the government who realise that options like martial law are simply inconceivable at this stage as such an irrational step would lead Pakistan to a serious crisis.

Some believe that the recent speculation of martial law was an attempt to create a scare among those considered as “hurdle” by the powers that be. The ruling PML President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, who has been advising the president to impose emergency, is quoted by newspaper reports to have told Maulana Fazlur Rehman of the MMA that the government was considering the options of emergency, martial law and an extension in the term of the present assemblies.

link of this article
[URL="http://thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=9713"]http://thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=9713[/URL]

Pakistan airports 'on high alert
 

[SIZE="5"][B]Pakistan airports 'on high alert'[/B][/SIZE]




Pakistan's airports have been placed on highest alert, with the threat of a terror attack imminent, officials say.
The government has also banned gatherings of five or more people near Rawalpindi's international airport.
The moves come days before exiled former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who has a residence in Rawalpindi, is expected to return to the country.
Meanwhile, Lebanese and Saudi officials have urged Mr Sharif to honour a deal not to return to Pakistan until 2010.
Mr Sharif, leader of the opposition Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) party, insisted he would return home on Monday despite the Arab leaders' appeals.

[B]Exile deal[/B]

The Federal Secretary of the Ministry of the Interior, Syed Kamal Shah, told the BBC that Pakistan's airports had been alerted to the terror warning, but did not elaborate on the nature of the threat.


I will go back to Pakistan on 10 September with my brother because my country needs me
Nawaz Sharif

Preparing for confrontation

Mr Sharif is expected to fly into the Rawalpindi airport on Monday from London, after being exiled from the country following a bloodless coup in 1999 by President Pervez Musharraf.

Hundreds of Sharif supporters have been detained across the country ahead of his return.

Saudi Arabia's intelligence chief Prince Muqrin bin Abdul Aziz and Lebanese MP Saad Hariri called on Mr Sharif to postpone his return after meeting Gen Musharraf.

In 2000, Mr Sharif was exiled to Saudi Arabia after being sentenced to life in jail on charges of hijacking and terrorism.

Mr Hariri's father - assassinated former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri - helped negotiate the Saudi deal, under which Mr Sharif was to remain in exile for 10 years.
But Saad Hariri was unable to convince Mr Sharif to stay out of Pakistan when the two met on Friday.

"We are trying to convince him not to do so," Mr Hariri said.

"I can assure you that Saudi Arabia truly cares about Pakistan and its security and the agreement should be honoured."
Mr Sharif has denied the deal was made and insists he will return with his brother, Shahbaz, also a politician.

"I will go back to Pakistan on 10 September with my brother because my country needs me," he said at a news conference in London.

Gen Musharraf's faltering government has continued to use the Arab connection in a last bid to prevent Mr Sharif's potentially explosive political comeback, says the BBC's Shoaib Hasan in Islamabad.
But the country's supreme court ruled in August that no law could prevent Mr Sharif's return.


[B]MUSHARRAF UNDER PRESSURE[/B]
9 March: Musharraf suspends chief justice for "abuse of power". Lawyers protest
April: Protests grow, amid clashes with police
12 May: 34 people die as rival political groups clash in Karachi
11 July: 102 people die when army storms radical Red Mosque in Islamabad
July-Aug: Sharp rise in suicide attacks by pro-Taleban militants
20 July: Supreme Court reinstates chief justice
9 Aug: Musharraf rejects emergency rule
23 Aug: Supreme Court says exiled ex-PM Nawaz Sharif can return


BBC

[B]Pakistan 'deports' ex-PM Sharif[/B]


On Sunday, the party said more than 2,000 supporters had been arrested by the Pakistan authorities, while almost its entire leadership had been detained.
Supporters planned to launch a legal challenge to the deportation, which was "a violation of the court order under which Nawaz Sharif was allowed to arrive and stay in Pakistan," his aide, Sadique ul-Farooq, told the Associated Press.
Mr Sharif was exiled to Saudi Arabia in 2000 after being deposed, under what the government says was an agreement that he stay in exile for 10 years.

The former prime minister has denied there was ever such a deal.

Mr Sharif had planned to lead a triumphal motorcade from Islamabad to Lahore, his political power base, but he was aware he might not be allowed the opportunity.

He decided at the last moment to leave his brother Shahbaz, also a politician, behind in the UK "to hold the fort" in case he were jailed or deported.

[B]Political crisis[/B]

Mr Musharraf has made no secret of his contempt for Mr Sharif, describing him as corrupt and incompetent.

But for the army, a decision to arrest him is as much a political as a legal decision, says the BBC's M Ilyas Khan.

The military does not want to make Mr Sharif into a political martyr but it also does not want to see him campaigning for power, he says.

General Musharraf has been struggling to contain protests that have grown in strength since he tried to remove the head of the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

The president plans to seek a new five-year term in office in an election due in the next month.




Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif arrives at Islamabad airport 10/9/07

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been arrested and deported within hours of returning to Pakistan from exile, officials say.

After landing in Islamabad he was charged and put on board a plane, reportedly bound for Saudi Arabia.

Mr Sharif says he wants to challenge President Pervez Musharraf, who ousted him in a 1999 coup, ahead of elections.

Mr Sharif arrived home weeks after Pakistan's Supreme Court affirmed his right to return.

On board the plane which flew him home from London, Mr Sharif told the BBC he wanted to help restore the rule of law.

"It's democracy versus dictatorship," he said.



I have a duty, I have a responsibility, I have a national obligation to fulfil at all costs and that is democracy
Nawaz Sharif



Once the plane arrived in Islamabad, paramilitary troops surrounded it and there was a stand-off on board as Mr Sharif refused to hand over his passport to immigration officials for nearly two hours.

Eventually he agreed to leave the plane and was escorted to the airport's VIP lounge.

But shortly afterwards, he was separated from his entourage, returned to the tarmac and put on board a helicopter. Later, he was apparently transferred to a plane bound for Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.

Large numbers of police had set up barricades on roads to prevent Mr Sharif's supporters from reaching the airport, while all domestic flights from Islamabad on Monday were listed as cancelled.

[B]Plans abandoned[/B]

There were reports of clashes between police and crowds of Mr Sharif's supporters in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, and Attok, where shots were fired and several people were said to have been injured.

One worker from Mr Sharif's Muslim League party (PML-N) told the BBC he and about 20 others had been badly beaten by police outside the airport.


[B]KEY DATES
14 Sept: Date Ex-PM Benazir Bhutto will announce details of her homecoming
15 Sep-15 Oct: Timeframe Gen Musharraf has set for his re-election as president by parliament
October: Parliament expires and general election must be held[/B]

[B]BBC[/B]

Pakistan troops battle militants
 

[SIZE="5"]Pakistan troops battle militants
[/SIZE]


Scores of soldiers have been kidnapped in recent days
Fierce fighting raged overnight between Pakistani troops and pro-Taleban militants near the Afghan border.
The army says up to 30 militants may have been killed in the clashes around Nawazkot just inside the border of the South Waziristan tribal area.

A local official told the BBC that 10 troops had also been killed. The army says they were injured.
Violence has soared since troops were sent in to oust radical Islamists from Islamabad's Red Mosque in July.
More than 100 people died in the operation.

[B]US visit [/B]

The Nawazkot area is close to Ramzak, an important military town across the border in North Waziristan.
The militants are reported to have attacked a military post manned by 16 soldiers, sparking a battle in which the military called in army helicopter gunships.

"There were repeated attacks, which were repelled... We are hearing from local sources that militants suffered massive casualties," military spokesman Gen Waheed Arshad told the Associated Press news agency.

He says troops were only injured, not killed.
But a local official confirmed to the BBC that 10 soldiers had been killed, and nine troops injured in the clashes.
He said eight pro-Taleban militants were also killed.
The latest fighting coincides with a visit to Pakistan by the American deputy secretary of state, John Negroponte.
The United States is pressing Pakistan to take stronger action against Taleban and al-Qaeda militants operating from its border areas.

[B]Kidnapping spree [/B]

There has been a spate of kidnappings in and around the tribal areas in recent weeks.

Scores of soldiers abducted a fortnight ago are still being held in South Waziristan. The rebels say they are holding about 300 troops.
On Wednesday, 12 more soldiers were abducted outside the town of Bannu, just over the border from North Waziristan in North West Frontier Province.
The militants have demanded the release of a number of prisoners and an end to military deployment in their area.
Last month, militants beheaded a kidnapped soldier and videotaped the killing.
Correspondents say that the kidnapping of so many soldiers, apparently without a fight, has been a major embarrassment for the authorities.

Police target Pakistan opposition
 

[SIZE="5"]
Police target Pakistan opposition[/SIZE]

Police in Pakistan have detained key opposition figures who vowed to disrupt President Pervez Musharraf's bid for re-election, officials say.

Dozens of warrants for preventative custody had been issued, officials say.

Two of the key targeted groups are the PML-N party of former PM Nawaz Sharif and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam, an alliance of hardline Islamist parties.

"These are preventative detentions for the maintenance of public order," a senior police official told AFP agency.

"We have detained these people to prevent the holding of a protest rally in front of the Supreme Court, which would invite trouble because of the prevailing security threat," he said.

Disruption

Among those arrested was Javed Hashmi, acting leader of the PML-N, the party of exiled former PM Sharif.



Mr Hashmi said Gen Musharraf's Western backers should press the military-led government to uphold the same democratic standards that they enjoy.

"They are ruling the country with a gun in hand," Mr Hashmi said at his apartment, where four armed police stood guard outside.

"They think that the [military] uniform, not the people of Pakistan, are the source of power."

Also detained was Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, from the radical Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam.

Opposition parties have vowed to disrupt Gen Musharraf's attempt to be re-elected by federal and provincial assemblies for a fresh term in office.

Among the tactics included are resignations from the assemblies, mass demonstrations and an attempt to blockade the Election Commission to prevent Gen Musharraf from filing his nomination papers.

BBC

Updated News
 

[SIZE="4"]Interim government next month: Durrani LAHORE, Oct 16 (AFP):
[/SIZE]

[B]A caretaker government will be installed next month in a major commitment to holding general elections in early 2008, the information minister announced on Tuesday. The national parliament will be dissolved on November 15 and an interim government formed by President Pervez Musharraf in the run-up to the polls, scheduled for early January, said Mohammad Ali Durrani. “The interim government will be formed after consultation with opposition parties.” he said. The provincial assemblies would also be dissolved and caretaker chief ministers appointed, Durrani said[/B]


[SIZE="4"] Curfew lifted in Miram Shah after fighting eases MIRAM SHAH, Oct 16 (Reuters): [/SIZE]


[B]The army on Tuesday lifted a curfew imposed in the area, a week after about 250 people were killed in fighting with militant tribesmen, tribal elders and officials said. Tribal leaders said the situation was returning to normal after talks between a council of elders and the militants. “There is now peace in the area,” said Maulana Faizullah, a tribal leader who was involved in the negotiations.[/B]

[SIZE="4"]
Former NWFP chief minister passes away PESHAWAR, Oct 16: [/SIZE]

[B]Former Chief Minister of Frontier Arbab Mohammad Jahangir passed away here Tuesday morning. He was admitted in Rehman Institute due to heart trouble where he passed away. His funeral prayers would be offered at 5:00 pm in Tahqal area here[/B]

[COLOR="Blue"][B]DAWN[/B][/COLOR]

[B][COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="4"]Bomb targets Pakistani minister[/SIZE][/COLOR][/B]

[B]A suicide attack at the house of a Pakistani government minister has killed at least two people, police say.

Amir Muqam, federal minister for political affairs, escaped unhurt. Mr Muqam is a senior member of the governing PML-Q party.

[U]The blast took place at his home in the western city of Peshawar.[/U]

[U]Mr Muqam is from the district of Swat where Islamist militants demanding the introduction of Sharia law are fighting the military.[/U]

[U]Two security officials were killed and the attacker also died in the blast, police say.
[/U]

"Police tried to stop the suicide bomber but he blew himself up," Peshawar police chief Abdul Majid Marwat said, Reuters news agency reports.

Mr Muqam said: "I saw two, three bodies on my veranda."

No group has said it carried out the attack.

Correspondents say suspicion will fall on militants in the northern district of Swat. Mr Muqam has been vocal in his criticism of the militants there.
[U]
Gen Musharraf justified the introduction of emergency rule last Saturday on the need to combat militants and rein in the judiciary.[/U] [/B]

[B][SIZE="4"][COLOR="Blue"]Bhutto house arrest order lifted[/COLOR][/SIZE][/B]
[B]
Roadblocks and barbed wire were set up around Ms Bhutto's home
Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto has been released from house arrest in the capital, Islamabad.
[/B]
The order was imposed early on Friday, blocking Ms Bhutto's attempt to lead a rally against the emergency rule declared by President Pervez Musharraf.

[U]The United States had criticised the move saying that she must be "permitted freedom of movement."[/U]

Ms Bhutto has vowed to wage a campaign aimed at forcing General Musharraf to stand down as head of the army.

A three-day detention order was served on the former prime minister after she tried to cross the heavy police cordon set up outside her home on Friday.
[B]
Police had surrounded the house early in the morning with roadblocks and coils of barbed wire to prevent her from addressing a rally in the neighbouring city of Rawalpindi[/B].

Under emergency rule announced last week, such public gatherings have been banned.

Court Endroses Musharraf Election
 

[B]ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - [/B]A Supreme Court hand-picked by President Gen. Pervez Musharraf swiftly dismissed legal challenges to his continued rule on Monday, opening the way for him to serve another five-year term — this time solely as a civilian president.

The opposition has denounced the new court, saying any decisions by a tribunal stripped of independent voices had no credibility. Musharraf purged the court on Nov. 3 when he declared emergency rule, days before the tribunal was expected to rule on his eligibility to serve as president.

[U]The United States has put immense pressure on Musharraf to restore the constitution and free thousands of political opponents jailed under the emergency before Pakistan's critical parliamentary election on Jan. 8.[/U]

Monday's court ruling could hasten Musharraf's decision to take off his army uniform. The general has said he would quit as armed forces commander by the end of the month, assuming he was given the legal go-ahead by the court to remain as president.

[B]Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar dismissed three opposition petitions challenging Musharraf's victory in a disputed presidential election last month, saying two had been "withdrawn" because opposition lawyers were not present in court.[/B]

The third was withdrawn by a lawyer for the party of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, who suggested the court was illegitimate.

"We asked for (the case) to be postponed because we said there is no constitution," she told reporters in Karachi after a meeting with the U.S. ambassador. She said she had no plans to revive power-sharing negotiations with Musharraf, broken off after the general's decision to declare emergency rule.

"We are not going back to the former track," Bhutto said. "We are interested in a roadmap for democracy, but we do not have the confidence that Gen. Musharraf's regime could give us that road map."

One of Musharraf's first acts after seizing extraordinary powers was to purge the Supreme Court of independent-minded judges. Opponents had argued that he ought to be disqualified under a constitutional ban on public servants running for elected office, which they said applied because Musharraf was still army chief.

The military ruler told The Associated Press last week that he expected the retooled court to quickly endorse his re-election, and he was right. Deliberations lasted less then a day on the most serious cases challenging Musharraf.

The court said it would rule Thursday on another petition from a man whose candidacy for the Oct. 6 presidential election was rejected by the election commission. Only then can it authorize the election commission to announce Musharraf the winner of the vote.

An official in Musharraf's office, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media, said Monday's ruling kept the general on track to quit the army by the end of November.

With pressure mounting to get the country on a path to democracy, the government on Monday set Jan. 8 as the date for the parliamentary elections.

The opposition has threatened to boycott, saying a vote held while its members are detained and its freedom to assemble blocked would have no validity. They also have questioned the neutrality of a caretaker government installed by Musharraf last week.

Despite an outcry both here and in Washington, there were no indications Musharraf intended to lift his state of emergency before the vote.

In his first public comments since a sit-down with Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, Musharraf vowed that the elections would be fair, but also defended the emergency, which has seen thousands of the general's opponents jailed, the judiciary purged and independent media muzzled.

"I took this decision in the best interest of Pakistan," Musharraf said at a ceremony late Sunday to inaugurate a bridge in the southern port city of Karachi.

"I could have said thank you and walked away," he told the state news agency. "But this was not the right approach because I cannot watch this country go down in front of me after so many achievements and such an economic turnaround."

Musharraf urged the opposition not to boycott the vote, saying that any who do would be acting because they feel they cannot win — not because the playing field is unfair.

Negroponte, Washington's No. 2 diplomat, was blunt in comments Sunday after his meetings with Musharraf and other senior military and political figures, saying the emergency rule was "not compatible with free, fair and credible elections."

But Pakistan was quick to dismiss those concerns, saying the senior American diplomat brought no new proposals on his weekend visit, and received no assurances after urging Musharraf to restore the constitution.

The face-off leaves the Bush administration with limited options in steering its nuclear-armed ally back toward democracy. Senior Bush Administration officials have said publicly that they have no plans to cut off the billions of dollars in military aid that Pakistan receives each year.

[B][U][SIZE="5"]Musharraf 'to quit army by end of the week'[/SIZE][/U][/B]

[B][I]November 19, 2007[/I][/B]

President Musharraf of Pakistan has decided to resign as Army chief by the end of the week, it emerged today.

Sources close to the Pakistani President indicated that he wanted to stand down almost immediately if a Supreme Court newly packed with his supporters decides, as expected, to reject the final legal challenge to his victory in last month's election on Thursday.

Today, the court rejected the first five of six legal challenges to his continued rule. After sustained domestic and international pressure, General Musharraf has already said he will quit as Army chief once the court gives him the green light to serve a second term.

Speaking after the court decision today, Mohammed ali-Saif, a member of the President's legal team, said that a decision in his favour next Thursday would be decisive.

"The court ruling has cleared the way for General Musharraf to continue in power for another five-year term," he said.

Zahid Hussain, the Times correspondent in Islamabad, said sources close to the President gave clear indications that General Musharraf intended to stand down as Army chief almost as soon as the court decision was finalised.

"The indications are that he will take off his uniform either by Thursday or by the end of the week," he said.

Critics of the Pakistani President claim that he engineered the Supreme Court's decision today by sacking a number of independently-minded judges who had been due to consider the case when the state of emergency was called.

However despite today's verdict, and the pledge to take off his uniform, the internal friction caused by the President's hardline crackdown continued.

It has been claimed that General Musharraf's aides contacted those close to the exiled opposition leader, Nawaz Sharif, with the intention of meeting him when the President visits Saudi Arabia tomorrow. Aides to Mr Sharif, however, say he rejected the offer, and is believed to be continuing talks with Benazir Bhutto, another opposition leader, to form a united front against him.

Meanwhile, it emerged that Imran Khan, the former cricketer jailed last week for protesting against emergency rule, has started a hunger strike today. Mr Khan, who leads a small opposition party, is in a high-security prison in Lahore usually reserved for major terrorist suspects.

Pressure from Pakistan's key ally, the United States, also showed no sign of easing today as General Musharraf refused to bow to American requests to call an immediate end to the state of emergency, or to release thousands of political opponents, lawyers and judges who were arrested when it was declared.

Yesterday, John Negroponte, the US Deputy Secretary of State, urged the military ruler to restore democratic rights before parliamentary elections and stop emergency rule.

"Emergency rule is not compatible with free, fair and credible elections," Mr Negroponte told reporters at the end of his visit to Pakistan.

General Musharraf, however, retorted that the state of emergency would be lifted only if security improved, indicating that this was unlikely before the elections to be held on January 9.

He did however order the release from house arrest of Ms Bhutto, a former prime minister, and the authorities freed a number of other political prisoners before Mr Negroponte’s visit. But thousands remain in prison and restrictions on the media continue. At the weekend the Government blocked Geo and ARY, leading private television channels that transmit from nearby Dubai.


Mr Negroponte telephoned Ms Bhutto soon after she was released, telling her that America was keen to see opposition figures take part in Pakistani politics. He urged Ms Bhutto resume talks with General Musharraf, underscoring America’s hopes of salvaging the fractious relationship between the two pro-Western leaders. Mr Negroponte asked them to restart talks and ease the atmosphere of brinkmanship and political confrontation.

But there seemed to be little hope that the power-sharing deal could be revived, with Ms Bhutto taking a collision path demanding that General Musharraf quit power.

Ms Bhutto has already ruled out negotiating with the President to form a coalition government to end the country's political crisis regardless of the Supreme Court's verdict, vowing to form an alliance with other opposition parties including that of Mr Sharif to defeat him.

General Musharraf had cited growing Islamic militancy as the main reason for imposing the state of emergency on November 3. But analysts and human rights activists said that most of those targeted were political moderates, not extremists, who were concerned at the way the President had ridden rough-shod over the constitution.

There is concern in Washington over the repercussions that political instability in Pakistan could have for the War on Terror and regional security. General Musharraf, who seized power in 1999, has been a key Western ally in the region.

Yesterday Mr Negroponte praised General Musharraf’s efforts in the fight against terrorism. "President Musharraf has been and continues to be a strong voice against extremism," he said. "We value our partnership with the Government of Pakistan under the leadership of President Musharraf."

Three days of sectarian violence between Sunni and Shia Muslims have left 91 people dead in a northwestern Pakistan town. Both sides fired mortars and weapons at each other in the town of Parachinar, targeting residential areas and hitting mosques. The military said that 80 civilians and 11 security personnel were killed.





[url]http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article2899235.ece[/url]

Handpicked Bench Rejects Challenges...
 

[B][U][CENTER]In Pakistan, Court Backs Musharraf's Reelection

Handpicked Bench Rejects Challenges[/CENTER][/U][/B]

By Emily Wax
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, November 20, 2007; Page A12

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Nov. 19 -- Pakistan's Supreme Court, newly stacked with allies of President Pervez Musharraf, on Monday dismissed most of the challenges to his reelection. Opposition leaders rejected the ruling as engineered and illegitimate, in the latest controversy in the country's ongoing political crisis.

Deliberating for just under three hours, the judges, many of them handpicked by Musharraf, struck down the five main challenges to his reelection. The sixth and final petition will be heard Thursday, though analysts expect it also will be dismissed.

Pakistani opposition parties had asserted that Musharraf was ineligible to stand for reelection last month while also serving as chief of the army. The Supreme Court was scheduled to hear challenges in the case when Musharraf fired several justices and proclaimed emergency rule Nov. 3.

Musharraf has said that once the court clears all the challenges to his reelection, he will shed his uniform and become a civilian president.
On Monday, the president also said he was asking the country's electoral commission to call parliamentary elections for Jan. 8. Opposition leaders have said the elections will be deeply flawed and unfair if conducted during a state of emergency. Hundreds of political leaders remain jailed, and independent TV news stations have been blacked out.

In a rare public appearance Monday, Musharraf insisted he was the only leader who could safeguard the country as Islamic extremists increase their attacks in the northwest.

"I could have said thank you and walked away," he said at a ceremony to break ground for a highway and bridge project in the southern city of Karachi. "But this was not the right approach, because I cannot watch this country go down in front of me after so many achievements and such an economic turnaround."

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John D. Negroponte held talks with Musharraf over the weekend in an attempt to press him to end emergency rule, restore the constitution and free political opponents. But there was no indication that Musharraf would bend to the growing pressure from Washington.
In Karachi, U.S. Ambassador Anne W. Patterson met with opposition leader and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who has aborted U.S.-backed plans to form a political alliance with Musharraf. Bhutto and Musharraf are no longer speaking.

"I am meeting the former prime minister and other political leaders to confirm American interest in free, fair and transparent elections and to assure her and all others that we will do everything possible to ensure that the electoral process takes place," Patterson told reporters.

Bhutto said she was frustrated that the Bush administration had not made lifting the emergency a condition for the continued disbursement of U.S. aid. The United States has delivered more than $10 billion in aid to Musharraf's government since 2001, saying the money helps train and arm the Pakistani military in its fight against extremism.

"If the United States gives him $10 billion and does not get him to do what it wants, how is it going to expect us to make him do what he does not want to do?" Bhutto said.

In a separate development, opposition leader Imran Khan, who was jailed by the government last week, began a hunger strike to protest emergency rule. Khan, of the Pakistan Justice Movement, is a former cricket star and an icon for students opposed to Musharraf's government. Members of his party said they hoped his hunger strike would encourage young people to keep protesting emergency rule.

"This is the only tool Khan has left to tell the world about the suffering of Pakistan," Hafeez Niazi, Khan's brother-in-law, said in a telephone interview from Lahore. "He feels this is the only way to bring attention to the issue now."

Political opposition leaders have also said they are considering a boycott of the elections. "The elections will be a ruse and a joke all over the world," said Farid Ahmad Paracha, deputy secretary general of Pakistan's most popular Islamic party, Jamaat-e-Islami. "The U.S. has been cheated, and the Pakistani people will suffer yet again."

[url]http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/19/AR2007111900116.html?hpid=topnews[/url]

‘Court order on deposed CJ has lost its efficacy’




By Nasir Iqbal

ISLAMABAD, Nov 21: Defending President Pervez Musharraf’s proclamation of the state of emergency, senior counsel Sharifuddin Pirzada argued before the Supreme Court on Wednesday that the court’s short order restoring deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry in July had lost its efficacy because the detailed verdict was not issued within three months.

The validation of Nov 3 emergency by Gen Musharraf was one of the pleadings of the counsel who advised the court to confer all powers to the army as it had done in the 2000 Zafar Ali Shah case.

Petitioner Barrister Zafarullah Khan of the Watan Party and president’s counsel Sharifuddin Pirzada concluded their arguments on Wednesday. Attorney General Malik Muhammad Qayyum was to start his arguments when the court time was over.

“We have the highest regard for the judiciary because we believe in its independence and hold the judges in highest esteem, but some orders were passed which render the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) ineffective,” Mr Pirzada said in an obvious reference to the July 20 short order of restoring Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry.

The short order was passed, but despite the lapse of three months no detail reasons had been given for obliterating the SJC, he added.

“What will be its effect?” asked Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar who is heading a seven-member bench of the Supreme Court hearing identical petitions challenging the validity of emergency and the Provisional Constitution Order.

“It will lose its efficacy and, therefore, could not be termed as a judgment,” Mr Pirzada referred to his arguments in the Zafar Ali Shah before the then court and said that it had the judicial review, but the power should be exercised with great caution.

“Judicial review should be judicial and should not be used to intrude into the domain of other branches of the government,” he said.

He said that the current situation was similar to those of 1977 and 1999, adding that the 1977 martial law was validated by the apex court in the Nusrat Bhutto case on the grounds that the Constitution had not been abrogated, though held in abeyance.

In 1985, general elections were held under martial law on non-party basis, while the assemblies indemnified all actions under the Constitutional Eight Amendment and also introduced Article 58 (2b) to prevent martial laws in future.

The counsel said the Nawaz Sharif government had deleted this safety valve through the 13th Amendment and taken drastic actions leading to a very unpleasant situation. “Subsequently emergency was proclaimed which was also validated by the apex court in the Zafar Ali Shah case stating that the armed forces saved the country from disastrous situation.”

Referring to the current situation, he said that half a dozen attempts had been made on the army posts, adversely affecting the country’s defence capability. “The entire country was in the grip of terrorism and extremism,” he said, adding that the prime minister had written a letter to the president after great deliberations against the backdrop of this situation.

He elaborated that while emergency has been imposed once again, the Constitution had not been abrogated and courts were functioning. “The current intervention is for a very limited period so that the country could return to democratic process through elections to be held on January 8, 2008.”

When the court asked him that the army chief, instead of the president, had imposed emergency, Mr Pirzada recalled that only once in Pakistan’s history, martial law had been clamped by President Iskandar Mirza in 1956 by abrogating the Constitution, and though validated by the Supreme Court in the Dosso case, it was subsequently overruled in the Asma Jillani case by passing strictures. “That is why such actions are always taken by the army chief and not by the president,” he argued.

At the outset, the attorney-general conceded that the powers exercised by the army chief on Nov 3 was an extra-constitutional step for which nobody was happy, not even the president or the army chief, but said that in such circumstances, no remedy was available in the Constitution.

He said the Nov 3 emergency had been imposed keeping in view two principles -- ‘salus populi suprema lex’ (welfare of the people is the supreme law) and ‘salus republica suprema lex’ (welfare of the republic is the supreme law).

“Is Pakistan more important than democracy?” he asked and said that the circumstance was such that the existence of the state apparatus had been endangered.

“People were running state within state and 1,489 terrorist activities and bomb blasts occurred in the current year and scores of security personnel were killed,” he added.

The AG also criticised the pre-emergency judiciary and said that 500 to 600 suo motu notices had been taken. He said that only one suo motu case was decided by the Supreme Court in 1956 and former chief justice Afzal Zullah took up 40 such cases in 1975. “This was not a judicial activism but judicial ‘excessism’ (sic).”

He dispelled the impression that any proposal was under consideration to take away suo motu powers from the superior judiciary. He said that even the cabinet had been directed by the apex court to consider on a priority basis the human organ transplantation law, take up the road congestion problem in Karachi and fix prices of fruit and vegetables. “How is the function of the cabinet dictated by the apex court?” he asked.

Likewise, he said, the new Murree development and Islamabad chalets projects had been stopped.

“Although the intentions are laudable, this is not the job of the apex court but of the executive branch,” he said.

[url]http://www.dawn.com/2007/11/22/top2.htm[/url]

[B][SIZE="4"][COLOR="Blue"]Dozens killed in Pakistan blasts[/COLOR][/SIZE][/B]

[B]Twin suicide car bombings have killed at least 30 people and injured many others in the Pakistani garrison city of Rawalpindi, officials have said.

One of the blasts hit a bus packed with members of the security forces.

Another explosion at a checkpoint left officers badly hurt, and there are fears the death toll will rise.

It came as former Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif - ousted in 1999 by President Pervez Musharraf - said he would return to Pakistan from exile on Sunday.

Mr Sharif - leader of the Muslim League-N party - previously tried to return in September but was immediately deported back to Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile Pakistan's Electoral Commission has confirmed Gen Musharraf's victory in last month's presidential election, ratifying a second five-year term.

The result was initially put on hold until a reconstituted Supreme Court verified Gen Musharraf's right to stand while remaining head of the armed forces.[/B]



[B][U]Witnesses said the bus entered a compound housing Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), followed by a small car, which blew up seconds later.[/U][/B]


[B]"We saw a burning bus and people from the army trying to put the fire out. I don't think anybody inside the bus could have survived," Shoaib Abbasi, who was working at a nearby hotel, was quoted by AFP news agency as saying.

Soldiers and police quickly sealed the scene, and forced bystanders and journalists back.

Both vehicles were destroyed in the blast, which also damaged surrounding buildings.

An intelligence agent at the scene told the Associated Press news agency that the destroyed bus was a 72-seater, but that more people were on board.
[U]
About 19km (12 miles) away, a bomber in a car also attacked the checkpoint, army spokesman Maj Gen Waheed Arshad said.[/U]

Reports from security sources said at least one officer died in the attack.

"Both were suicide attacks," Gen Arshad told local reporters.

Pakistan has recently seen a number of suicide bombings, including an attack in Karachi that killed at least 135 people.

This is the third recent strike on Rawalpindi, and the first since a state of emergency was imposed by Gen Musharraf.

Rawalpindi, near the capital, Islamabad, is the main headquarters of the army in Pakistan, and the place where Gen Musharraf has his military offices.
[/B]


[B][SIZE="3"]Political turmoil[/SIZE][/B]

[B]No group has yet claimed responsibility for the bombings.

But the BBC's Barbara Plett in Islamabad says attacks are often suspected to have been carried out by pro-Taleban militants in revenge for military operations in the tribal areas near the Afghan border and in North-West Frontier Province.

The country is in the midst of political turmoil. Gen Musharraf has imposed emergency rule, which critics say will undermine general elections scheduled for January.

Gen Musharraf has promised to step down as the army chief and serve his new term as a civilian. [/B]

BBC

[B][CENTER][SIZE="4"][COLOR="Blue"]
Exiled Pakistani PM 'to return'[/COLOR][/SIZE][/CENTER][/B]
Barbara Plett
BBC News, Lahore


Mr Sharif was deposed by President Musharraf in 1999
[B]In a few hours former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is expected to make another attempt to return to Pakistan.[/B](Css ki tarah....Nikal jaye ga iss bar):vic

[U]Mr Sharif tried to return in September but was immediately deported by President Pervez Musharraf, who overthrew him eight years ago.[/U]

Now the country is under emergency rule imposed by the general.
[B]
Hundreds of policemen are deployed at the airport in Lahore, where Mr Sharif is expected to land, but the atmosphere is not as tense as it was in September.
[/B]
Then the former prime minister was greeted by a massive security clampdown and immediately sent back to exile in Saudi Arabia.

Observers do not expect him to be expelled again, largely because the Saudis have intervened.
[B]
They have told President Musharraf that Mr Sharif deserves a chance to fight forthcoming elections because the other former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, has now returned from exile.[/B]:unsure:

[B]Mr Sharif remains opposed to General Musharraf, but he no longer poses a direct threat because the military leader has recently secured another presidential term by declaring a state of emergency.
[/B]

[B][SIZE="4"][COLOR="Blue"]
Musharraf to quit army 'in days'[/COLOR][/SIZE][/B]



[B]
President Pervez Musharraf will stand down as head of the Pakistani army on Wednesday, his spokesman Rashid Qureshi has told the BBC.[/B]

The spokesman told the BBC Gen Musharraf would then be sworn in for another term as president on Thursday.

President Musharraf has been under intense international and domestic pressure to give up his military role.

He seized power in a coup in 1999, deposing the civilian government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

[B]Gen Musharraf's main international backer, the United States, has grown concerned in recent months at the army's inability to rein in pro-Taleban militants and by Gen Musharraf's growing unpopularity.
[/B]
It had been backing talks between President Musharraf and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who heads the country's largest political party, for a power-sharing deal.
[B]
But in recent days Ms Bhutto has said that she could not work with Gen Musharraf.[/B]:onesec

[B][SIZE="3"]Supreme commander[/SIZE][/B]

[U]Pervez Musharraf "will take over as the president of Pakistan as a civilian" on Thursday, spokesman Gen Qureshi told BBC World TV.[/U]

Nawaz Sharif returned from exile on Sunday

[B]He said President Musharraf would hand over his post of army chief to his deputy - Lt Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kiani - in a ceremony on Wednesday.[/B]
[B]
Asked if President Musharraf was severing all his professional links with the military, Gen Qureshi pointed out that he would remain supreme commander of the armed forces, as was the case with heads of state in other countries.[/B]
[U]
Gen Musharraf designated Gen Kiani, a former head of the intelligence services, as his successor as army head in October.[/U]
[U]
As a civilian president, Mr Musharraf would still have considerable powers, including the power to sack a civilian government.
[/U]
[B][SIZE="3"]Boycott option[/SIZE][/B]

The man he toppled in the coup, Nawaz Sharif, returned to Pakistan after years of exile on Sunday.

Mr Sharif and Benazir Bhutto have each served two terms as prime minister. Under current law that would bar them from being prime minister for a third term.

Both leaders have now filed nomination papers to contest parliamentary elections due in January.
[B]
But both are holding onto the option of boycotting the options if they deem that they will not be free and fair.[/B]:busy

Gen Musharraf imposed emergency rule on 3 November in order, he said, to rein in the judiciary and deal with a growing threat from Islamist militants.

Thousands of political opponents were arrested, TV and radio news was banned and judges seen to be a threat to the government were sacked.

[B]
BBC[/B]

[B][CENTER][SIZE="4"]
Nato bomb 'kills Afghan workers'[/SIZE][/CENTER][/B]

[B]A bomb dropped by a Nato plane has killed 12 men working on a road in Afghanistan's north-east, a provincial governor says.

The strike took place in Nuristan province, 180km (112 miles) north-east of the capital, Kabul, said Nuristan governor Tamimi Nuristani.

So far there has been no confirmation or denial by the international forces operating in the country.

Last week Nato said it had changed tactics to lessen civilian casualties.

Our correspondent in Kabul, David Loyn, says the governor of Nuristan told the BBC the incident had taken place on Tuesday.

The mountains of Nuristan are among the highest and most inaccessible in the country, providing smuggling routes across to north-west Pakistan for drugs going out and arms and men coming in, our correspondent adds.

The Taleban have been able to operate there freely in recent years, although there has been heavy fighting during 2007 as US-led forces try to reassert control.[/B]
[B][CENTER][SIZE="3"]
'Tent hit'[/SIZE][/CENTER][/B]

[B]Mr Nuristani told AFP news agency: "We had reports that rebels were there.

Nato head Jaap de Hoop Scheffer
Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said Nato had changed its tactics

"There was an air strike by coalition forces but later we found out that 12 people, all local road workers, were killed.

"The road workers were in a tent which was hit by one bomb. All died," he said.

The governor said the workers were from an Afghan construction firm.

Last week, Nato head Jaap de Hoop Scheffer had said the organisation was doing all it could to avoid Afghan civilian casualties.

After a meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, he said that Nato forces had changed their procedure to reduce the threat to civilians.

Mr Karzai has become more outspoken on the issue under increasing grassroots pressure.

The UN too has expressed alarm at the number of civilians killed by international forces in Afghanistan. [/B]

Pakistan police clash with protesting lawyers
 

[B][CENTER][COLOR="DarkRed"]Pakistan police clash with protesting lawyers[/COLOR][/CENTER][/B]
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Violent clashes broke out Thursday in the eastern Pakistan city of Lahore between police and lawyers protesting against the rule of President Pervez Musharraf.
Demonstrators threw bricks, glasses and sticks at police who blocked the path of about 400 lawyers as they tried to march from one court complex to another, according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene.

Some police officers picked up the missiles and threw them back at the lawyers, and used batons to beat several demonstrators who clambered over a gate onto the road.

Four lawyers and three policemen were injured, said Zahid Abbas, a police official, who was bleeding from a wound to his hand caused by a flying stone. At least two lawyers were detained.

Riot police wearing helmets and carrying shields eventually retreated far enough to let the protesters onto the street in front of the district court, but surrounded them on three sides.

FIND MORE STORIES IN: Thursday | Police | Pakistan | Pervez Musharraf | Lahore | Demonstrators | President Musharraf
The lawyers chanted slogans including "Go, Musharraf, go!" and "Friends of Musharraf are traitors!" and tore down election posters for a prominent Musharraf ally.

Lawyers and judges have been at the forefront of protests against Musharraf because of his campaign against Pakistan's Supreme Court.

Musharraf purged the court after declaring a state of emergency on Nov. 3, just as it prepared to rule on the legality of his victory in an October presidential election.

The court, re-staffed with loyal justices, last week approved his re-election. Musharraf was sworn for a new five-year mandate Thursday, a day after retiring from his dual role as army chief.


[url]http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-11-29-pakistan-protests_N.htm[/url]

[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="6"]Musharraf retires to full-time politics[/SIZE][/COLOR]
[SIZE="3"] [B][COLOR="Red"]• Gen Kayani gets the baton of command [/COLOR][/B]
[COLOR="Purple"]• Civilian president takes oath today[/COLOR]
[/CENTER][/U][/B][/SIZE]


[I][B]By Ihtasham ul Haque[/B][/I]

[CENTER][IMG]http://www.dawn.com/2007/11/29/images/top01.jpg[/IMG][/CENTER]

ISLAMABAD, Nov 28: Gen Pervez Musharraf on Wednesday handed over the command of the army to the new Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, fulfilling a promise many people had doubted he would keep.

He passed the baton of command to Gen Ashfaq Kayani at a ceremony held in the Army Hockey Stadium, close to the General Headquarters (GHQ).

“Although I would not be in uniform tomorrow, my heart will continue to beat it as it has been my family since I joined it at the age of 18. It is a sad moment for me to bid farewell to the army after serving it for 46 years. This is life and every good thing has to come to an end,” a tearful Gen Musharraf told the army top brass and government leaders at the first-ever public ceremony organised here for the change of command.

Gen Musharraf paid tribute to Gen Kayani, the former chief of ISI, saying he had known him since he was a colonel.

He thanked the army for the confidence it reposed in him and the loyalty it showed to him.

On Thursday, Gen Musharraf will be sworn in as a civilian president. Chief Justice of Pakistan Abdul Hameed Dogar will administer the oath at Aiwan-i-Sadr. In the evening, the president will address the nation on radio and television and is expected to announce the lifting of the state of emergency. The president said army was his life and passion and he served it with honour and dignity, adding that army had given him love and affection which he would never forget.

The entire area around the venue of the ceremony was blocked off with military and police personnel deployed in the area. Except for the invitees, no one was allowed to move into the area.

The president said he was handing over the command to Gen Kayani who was an excellent soldier. He said he was confident that the new chief would take the army to new heights in professional terms.

He prayed to Almighty Allah to guide the new army chief in commanding one of the most professional armies in the world and achieving new professional excellence.

Gen Musharraf said he was leaving the army in the best state of preparedness and armed with state of the art weapon systems.

Pakistan Army, he said, was one of the best professional forces in the world and hoped that it would continue to excel in future as well.

He commended the role of the army in overcoming external and internal threats to the country and maintaining peace and security.

The army, he said, had always risen to the occasion in difficult times, natural calamity like the recent earthquake, floods and internal and external security threats to the country.

He praised the role of the army in the development of the country’s infrastructure and said that it would continue to achieve this task in future. The president said it was unfortunate that some misguided elements pointed fingers at the army and criticised it.

He said the army had been stretched too much as it was performing its duties in Siachen and Kashmir and was deployed in Fata to fight terrorists and extremists, besides ensuring peace and security in Balochistan.

The change of command ceremony was attended by caretaker Prime Minister Muhammadmian Soomro, federal ministers, the three services chiefs, diplomats and senior serving and retired officers.

The ceremony included a parade by a contingent of the Pakistan Army.

The president reviewed a guard of honour and took salute. On his arrival at the parade ground, he was received by Gen Kayani.

CORPS COMMANDERS’ MEETING: Before the ceremony, Gen Musharraf presided over a meeting of corps commanders, his last as the army chief, and thanked them for their support during his tenure as the Chief of the Army Staff.

He praised the army for countering the threats of extremism and terrorism and for rendering great sacrifices for the country. He said the army was engaged in the national effort to defeat extremism and terrorism which were the biggest threats to the country.

“I salute all ranks of the army who sacrificed their lives for the country. The nation must acknowledge their sacrifices,” he said.Recounting his last nine years as the COAS, Gen Musharraf said the country had progressed well since 1999 and there had been a quantum leap in all fields from industry to agriculture and from infrastructural development to telecom sector.

He said he was leaving the office as a satisfied man.

“This is the highest decision making forum for the Pakistan Army and I always received valuable input from it,” the general said.

Praising Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani for his professionalism and qualities of heart and mind, the president wished him success in his new appointment. At the end Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani presented a souvenir to President Musharraf.

Before departing the General Headquarters, the president shook hands with the General Officers who bid him farewell.




[url]http://www.dawn.com/2007/11/29/top1.htm[/url]

[B][CENTER][SIZE="4"][COLOR="Blue"]
Pakistan clash 'kills civilians'[/COLOR][/SIZE][/CENTER][/B]


[B]A fire burns after Pakistani forces shelled a suspected militant position near
Pakistani forces have been battling the militants for weeks
At least 11 Pakistani civilians have been killed after troops shelled suspected militant positions in north-western Swat Valley, locals say.

They say troops fired indiscriminately at villages near the town of Mingora.

The army said it had no knowledge of civilian casualties but confirmed that artillery had been used.

The fighting in Swat is the first serious insurgent threat from pro-Taleban forces in what is known as a settled area of Pakistan.

Meanwhile, a roadside bomb has struck a military convoy in the troubled north-western tribal area of North Waziristan, killing five soldiers.

Military spokesman Maj Gen Waheed Arshad said four soldiers were also wounded when the convoy was bombed about 30km (20 miles) from the region's main town, Miran Shah.

North Waziristan has been at the centre of fighting in recent months and the US says it is a safe haven for al-Qaeda.

The violence has been escalating since mid-July when a ceasefire between the army and militants broke down.[/B]

[SIZE="3"][COLOR="Blue"]Radio off air[/COLOR][/SIZE]

[B]Hundreds of Pakistani ground troops have been fighting pro-Taleban insurgents in Swat, backed up by artillery and helicopter gunships.

Locals said the civilians, who included women and children, were killed in shelling late on Wednesday. They said houses were hit in the villages of Charbagh, Golibagh and Salanda.

After the bombing, more than 1,000 people held protests.

Military spokesman Maj Gen Waheed Arshad told the BBC: "No rockets were used in the exchange of fire which took place last night. The troops were only responding to fire directed at them. We have no reports of any civilian casualities."

Earlier in the week troops said they had recaptured a strategic mountain peak in Kabal district of Swat Valley and consolidated other recent gains.

An FM radio station run by the local leader of the insurgency, Maulana Fazlullah, has gone off air.

The army has reported more than 200 deaths since the beginning of last week, most of them suspected militants.

But there has been no independent confirmation of those figures.

Forces loyal to Maulana Fazlullah, including some foreign fighters, have taken control of a series of small towns and villages, where they want to implement strict Islamic law.

Until now the army has focused mainly on the largely autonomous Waziristan tribal areas along the Afghan border.

It is an alarming sign for the Pakistani authorities of how the threat from insurgents linked to the Taleban is spreading into previously peaceful regions, BBC correspondents say.[/B]

[SIZE="4"][COLOR="Blue"][B]US hails Pakistan leader's pledge[/B][/COLOR][/SIZE]

[B][U]President Musharraf addresses nation
Mr Musharraf insisted January general elections would go ahead[/U][/B]


The US has welcomed Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's pledge to lift a state of emergency on 16 December.

President George W Bush said the move was "an essential step towards getting Pakistan on the road to democracy".
[B]
But Washington urged Pakistan's leader to go further and ensure free and fair parliamentary elections in January.
[/B]:roll
President Musharraf, who took power in a coup in 1999, was sworn in for a new term as a civilian head of state on Thursday after resigning as army [B]chief.

The US, which regards Pakistan as a close ally in its war on terror, denied that Mr Musharraf had been pressurised into lifting the emergency or into giving up his military uniform.[/B]:roll

[B][SIZE="3"]Next move[/SIZE][/B]

In an address to the nation, Mr Musharraf urged all parties to take part in the elections.


Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif have come back, and a level playing field has been given
President Musharraf


He insisted that the general election would be held on schedule "come hell or high water" and that it would be open for monitoring by international observers.

He welcomed the return of his political rivals Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif to Pakistan, saying it would be "good for the political reconciliation".

Ms Bhutto said her opposition Pakistan People's Party (PPP) would take part in the 8 January poll to try to keep it free and fair.

[B]But Mr Sharif said he and his allies would take no part in the elections unless judges sacked under emergency rule were reinstated and wanted other political parties to do the same.
[/B]:oo
The pair are now expected to hold talks to decide what to do next.

The two former prime ministers have already filed papers to contest the elections. They can formally withdraw their nominations by 15 December at the latest.

[B][SIZE="3"]'Conspiracy'[/SIZE][/B]
[B]
For Thursday's ceremony and TV address, Pervez Musharraf wore a black traditional suit (sherwani) instead of a military uniform - which he had given up a day earlier.[/B](tho sahi hai na)



He was elected to a second term as president by the country's parliament and provincial assemblies in October. The legitimacy of the vote has been hotly contested.

Mr Musharraf told the nation he had declared emergency rule on 3 November because [U]"the very existence of our nation was in danger".[/U]

[U]"I was elected with 57% votes and there was a conspiracy to abort that,"[/U] he said, in an apparent reference to the Supreme Court which was hearing legal challenges to his re-election.

One of President Musharraf's first moves under emergency rule was to sack the judges. A reshaped court later dismissed all the legal challenges he had faced.
[B][SIZE="3"]
'Continued struggle'[/SIZE][/B]

Mr Musharraf also said on Thursday that there had been an "explosion of terrorism", which emergency rule had helped deal with.





"I think now things have improved, the administration is now on the right track and terrorism has been brought under control," he said.

"Now, I'm fully determined that the emergency will be lifted on 16 December.

As he was being sworn in, about 200 lawyers opposed to his rule clashed violently with police in Lahore.

The BBC's Barbara Plett in Islamabad says the civilian investiture does not mean an end to Mr Musharraf's difficulties.

The state of emergency has alienated much of the secular middle class, while an Islamist insurgency has also gained strength under his rule, she says.

[B]If his opponents join forces against him, he could be in real trouble, our correspondent says. If not, he might be able to play them off against each other. Either way, the president will continue to struggle with the political crisis.[/B]

BBC

[B][SIZE="4"][COLOR="Blue"][CENTER]
Bhutto unveils manifesto pledges[/CENTER][/COLOR][/SIZE][/B]

Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto has launched her party's manifesto for January's elections, focusing on domestic issues.

She said her Pakistan People's Party was taking part in the polls under protest and could still boycott them.

Another former Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, is calling on all parties to join in a boycott.

President Musharraf has promised to end emergency rule on 16 December, six weeks after he imposed it.

On Wednesday he stepped down as head of the army.

Miss Bhutto told journalists in the capital Islamabad that the PPP's policies were based on what she called the five Es: employment, education, energy, environment and equality.




But she refused to firmly commit to taking part in the parliamentary and provincial assembly elections.

[B]"We are taking part in elections under protest, we are not giving them any legitimacy. But if we do not participate we leave the field for others," [/B]she said.

She also outlined a number of concerns about the fairness of preparations for the elections.
[B]
On the issue of Nawaz Sharif's call for a boycott, she said that opposition parties would have to "agree to common goals, a common agenda, a common vision for transformation".[/B]:unsure:

An "election boycott is not enough, we must also agree on what follows next... then we will certainly review our decision" to participate in the elections.

[SIZE="3"][B][COLOR="Blue"]'Essential step'[/COLOR][/B][/SIZE]

The US has welcomed President Musharraf's pledge to lift a state of emergency on 16 December.


President George W Bush said the move was "an essential step towards getting Pakistan on the road to democracy".

But Washington urged Pakistan's leader to go further and ensure free and fair parliamentary elections in January.

President Musharraf, who took power in a coup in 1999, was sworn in for a new term as a civilian head of state on Thursday after resigning as army chief.

Mr Musharraf promised on Thursday that the general election would be held on schedule "come hell or high water".

Ms Bhutto and Mr Sharif have filed papers to contest the elections. They can formally withdraw their nominations by 15 December at the latest.

Mr Musharraf was elected to a second term as president by the country's parliament and provincial assemblies in October. The legitimacy of the vote has been hotly contested.

One of President Musharraf's first moves under emergency rule was to sack the judges. A reshaped court later dismissed all the legal challenges he had faced.

[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="4"][COLOR="Blue"]Musharraf to quit if ‘situation worsens’[/COLOR][/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]

WASHINGTON, Nov 30 President Pervez Musharraf said on Friday that if the coming elections created a situation that was ‘unacceptable’ to him, he would step down. In an interview with ABC television, Mr Musharraf also said that the United States and other western powers were partly responsible for the current political crisis in Pakistan.

Asked if he would enter into a power-sharing arrangement with Pakistan People’s Party chairperson Benazir Bhutto, Mr Musharraf replied: “I’m not into any deal with anyone.… We are in a stage where we have to have free, fair and transparent elections. We have to see, after the election, how things develop.”

He paused, and then said: “If the situation develops in a manner which is absolutely unacceptable to me, I have a choice of leaving.”

Mr Musharraf insisted that measures like the imposition of emergency were taken in response to the ‘opposition’s tactics’.

“The opposition, they have all along these five years tried to destabilise me and the government. You have to understand, we don’t want agitation here... Agitation means breaking down everything, burning things. That cannot be allowed.”

The president he would not allow political protests even after withdrawing some of the restrictions imposed on Nov 3. “So, therefore, if anyone is trying to do that, we will stop it. That is the way it is in Pakistan.”

Mr Musharraf said that Washington should blame its own ‘inconsistent’ policies for failing to achieve the desired results in this war.

“If there’s a failure, it’s not Pakistan’s failure,” the president replied when asked why his government failed to root out Al Qaeda and Taliban militants from the tribal region.

Pakistan, he said, had been struggling against radicalism and terror for 30 years. “We are fighting terrorism everywhere,” he told ABC television. “We have gone through 30 years of turmoil. We cooperate very well. So if there’s a failure, it’s not Pakistan’s failure. Please don’t accuse us.”

The United States, he said, turned a blind eye to terrorism until Sept 11, 2001. “We handled the situation alone for 12 years,” he added.

Mr Musharraf refused to say what he would do with if Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was captured in Pakistan.


[url]http://www.dawn.com/2007/12/01/top1.htm[/url]

[SIZE="4"][CENTER][B][COLOR="Blue"]Sharif facing Pakistan poll ban[/COLOR][/B][/CENTER][/SIZE]

Mr Sharif is expected to appeal against the ban
[B]Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been barred from standing in 8 January parliamentary elections.[/B]:oo

[B]A rival candidate had complained to the Election Commission, citing criminal convictions against Mr Sharif. The commission upheld the complaint.[/B]:nono (maine kya kia hai)

[U]Mr Sharif returned from exile last month. He was overthrown in a 1999 military coup led by the then head of the army, Gen Pervez Musharraf.[/U]

President Musharraf resigned from his army post last week.

He was sworn in for a second term as president, this time as a civilian, on Thursday.
[B][SIZE="3"]
Selective amnesty
[/SIZE][/B]
Mr Sharif has until Friday to appeal against the ban.

Benazir Bhutto - 1/12/07
Ms Bhutto is already on the campaign trail

[B][U]"His nomination papers are rejected because of his convictions," [/U][/B] :snor election officer Raja Qamaruzaman told the Reuters news agency in the eastern city of Lahore.

Mr Sharif said he found the decision "very surprising" and would tell other opposition parties they should join him in opposing the vote.
[B]
"We should now be fighting the dictatorship with more vigour and more determination."
[/B]:comein
Mr Sharif has said his party plans to boycott the vote, although he filed his nomination papers before making a final decision.

President Musharraf signed into law an amnesty earlier this year that cleared former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto from corruption charges facing her.

At the time he and Ms Bhutto were engaged in power-sharing talks. The amnesty was a major factor in her decision to return from self-imposed exile.

However the terms of the amnesty did not clear Mr Sharif.

He was found guilty of hijacking and terrorism after ordering in 1999 that the plane carrying Gen Musharraf back to Pakistan be stopped from landing.

The move led to Gen Musharraf staging the coup.

Mr Sharif went into exile the next year.
[B][SIZE="3"]
Boycott differences[/SIZE][/B]

Mr Sharif and Ms Bhutto are meeting to discuss a possible joint boycott of January's elections.
[U]
Mr Musharraf says he will lift emergency rule, imposed one month ago, on 16 December.[/U]
[U]
Mr Sharif has called for a boycott, but Ms Bhutto has indicated that a boycott would play into Mr Musharraf's hands.[/U]

Mr Sharif's brother, Shahbaz, has already been banned from the January elections. He had also applied to stand for a Lahore constituency. (kya hoga yaar)

[B][CENTER][SIZE="4"]Fatal blast at Pakistan madrassa[/SIZE][/CENTER][/B]

[B]A bomb at an Islamic religious school in south-west Pakistan has killed at least six people, officials say.

Several others were injured in the blast in Qila Saifullah in Balochistan province near the Afghan border.

All casualties were students attending the madrassa, officials said. No one has admitted carrying out the attack.

Balochistan has a long border with troubled Afghanistan. Nationalist rebels in the gas-rich province are also fighting for greater autonomy.

It is not clear if the blast in Qila Saifullah, about 150km (90 miles) from the provincial capital, Quetta, was linked to the nationalist insurgency or to the conflict in Afghanistan, where the Taleban and other militants are fighting Western-backed government forces.[/B]
[B][SIZE="3"]
Search[/SIZE][/B]

[B]Police official Mohammed Farooq told the Associated Press news agency that four students had been killed in the bombing, while two others died of their injuries later.

He said the bomb went off in a room used by an Afghan refugee, who had left after staying the night as a guest.

The bomb was concealed in clothing left by the Afghan, officials say.

"Six people were killed and five others injured, all of them students at the Imdadul Uloom seminary, when a bomb hidden in the bundle exploded during a search," provincial home secretary Furqan Bahadur told the AFP news agency.

Police say they have sealed roads in and out of the town as they search for the man.[/B]

Spanish court drops graft case against Benazir
 

[B]Spanish court drops graft case against Benazir[/B]
Tuesday 4th December, 2007 (IANS)

A Spanish court has dropped money-laundering investigation against Pakistan's former premier Benazir Bhutto citing lack of evidence.

Bhutto, who returned home Oct 18 after eight years of self-exile, her husband Asif Ali Zardari and several others were being investigated after suspicions were raised by foreign currency operations at a bank in the eastern Spanish town of Onteniente and the purchase of a house in Spain.

But Joaquin Banos, spokesman for the prosecutor's office at the Superior Court in the eastern region of Valencia, Monday said prosecutors were unable to find sufficient evidence of wrongdoing during more than two years of investigations, the Daily Times reported Tuesday.

Banos said the case became unsustainable after the Pakistani government of President Pervez Musharraf, which took part in the prosecution, decided not to proceed with it earlier this year.

Bhutto has also been under investigation for corruption and money laundering in Pakistan and Switzerland.

[url]http://www.karachinews.net/story/306015[/url]

[B]
[B][SIZE="4"][COLOR="Blue"][CENTER]Woman in Pakistan suicide bombing[/CENTER][/COLOR][/SIZE][/B]

Troops cordon off the area of a suicide bombing near a military post in Peshawar, 4 December
Police and soldiers sealed off the area
Police in Pakistan say a woman suicide bomber in a burka has blown herself up near an army checkpoint in Peshawar.

Islamist radicals have carried out a wave of suicide attacks in Pakistan in recent months, but this is thought to be the first by a woman since 9/11.

The attack happened in a neighbourhood which is home to senior retired and serving army officers.

Police say the bomber - thought to be an Afghan woman in her 40s - was the only casualty.

[B][SIZE="3"]Lawless areas[/SIZE][/B]

Peshawar is a frontier city in north-west Pakistan adjoining the lawless tribal areas that run along the border with Afghanistan.



Many in the West have long regarded the tribal areas as a safe haven for Taleban and al-Qaeda militants.

But in recent months the militants have extended their activities to other areas of Pakistan, including Peshawar.

No group has said it was behind the latest attack.

In another incident, suspected militants kidnapped six Pakistani policemen in Bajaur, in the tribal areas.

Local officials are quoted as blaming the Taleban. [/B]

BBC

[B][CENTER][SIZE="4"]
US 'kills key Iraq al-Qaeda man'[/SIZE][/CENTER][/B]


[B][U]Slain al-Qaeda militant Abu Maysara.
Abu Maysara was said to be a senior figure in al-Qaeda in Iraq
A man killed during fighting in Iraq last month was a key figure in the al-Qaeda in Iraq movement, the US military has said.[/U][/B]

Abu Maysara, a Syrian, was a senior adviser to the group's leader, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, a statement said.

Abu Maysara died during a raid near Samarra and was identified using DNA evidence, the military said.

[B]Separately, US military officials say they regret the killing of an Iraqi civilian during operations on Monday.[/B]

[U]The militant Abu Maysara and five other people died during a fire fight that broke out when US forces surrounded a house used to disseminate al-Qaeda in Iraq propaganda in Samarra, 100km (60 miles) north of Baghdad.
[/U]
He is thought to have played a key role in the group's media network and is said to have escaped from prison in March.

[SIZE="3"][B]Warnings 'ignored'[/B][/SIZE]

Monday's civilian death occurred during operations against suspected al-Qaeda militants in the town of Tarmiya, north of Baghdad.

Another three civilians were shot and wounded during the incident.

A US spokesman said the civilians had been in a vehicle that approached troops at high speed, ignoring warnings to stop.

[I]Last week a number of other civilians were killed by mistake in at least two separate incidents in Iraq. [/I]

BBC

[CENTER][B][SIZE="4"][COLOR="Blue"]Gunmen kill Bhutto's supporters
[/COLOR][/SIZE][/B][/CENTER]
[B]Gunmen in Pakistan have killed three supporters of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto amid campaigning for January general elections, police say.

The attackers opened fire on an office of Mrs Bhutto's opposition Pakistan People's Party (PPP) in a village in the south-western Baluchistan province.

The pre-dawn attack could be linked to tribal rivalries, police said.

Violence is common in the run-up to and during elections in Pakistan, especially in remote rural areas.

The shooting occurred in the village in Naseerabad district, about 240km (150 miles) east of the provincial capital of Quetta, police said.

"Unidentified men entered the PPP office and sprayed bullets on men sleeping there, killing three and injuring another," a local police officer was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.

Police believe the attack could be linked to a land dispute between two local tribes.

The death toll was later confirmed by PPP officials.

Mrs Bhutto returned to Pakistan in October after spending eight years in exile.

Her homecoming was overshadowed by two bomb blasts in the southern city of Karachi that killed some 140 people celebrating her return. [/B]

The former Pakistani Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, has confirmed that he will not stand as a candidate in the country's elections in January.

Mr Sharif's nomination papers were earlier rejected, and he now says he will not appeal against that decision.

Mr Sharif made a dramatic return to Pakistan last month after years in exile, and quickly re-established himself on the political scene.

He is now one of President Musharraf's most outspoken critics.

[B][U][SIZE="4"]Swat cleared of militants: army[/SIZE][/U][/B]

* Gen Janjua says militants may regroup for a major counter-attack
* Troops set to launch operation against militants in Matta

MINGORA: The Pakistan Army claimed on Saturday that it has cleared almost all militants from Swat after killing 290 rebels and arresting another 143 in recent weeks.

According to AFP, Major General Nasser Janjua said 20,000 troops backed by helicopter gunships and artillery had driven the militants out of their strongholds in an ongoing military operation. “Fazlullah is still on the run with hardcore militants estimated to be between 200 to 400, including some foreigners,” Janjua told reporters here.

“The militants have retreated to two places in the mountains in the northwest of the valley and we will chase them there,” the commander added.

Likely counter-attack: However, Janjua was careful not to claim success, saying the militants remain dangerous and likely will try to regroup for at least one major counter-attack, reported AP. He said officials believe that some of the fighters loyal to Fazlullah have melted into the local populace, while the hardcore supporters have been pushed into the Piochar side valley.

He said Fazlullah had been involved with the “enemy”, and claimed Al Qaeda had played a role in the unrest in the conservative region.

He said five soldiers and six civilians had been killed in the operation and around 20 civilians had also been wounded. He said it would take up to four months to stabilise the region, adding that it would take at least 12 months to reopen the region to tourists.

Matta operation: Meanwhile, Daily Times has learnt that security forces are set to launch a large-scale operation against militants in the Ghat Poochar area of Matta, Swat. Residents say a large number of troops have taken positions on the Baryam Top, traditionally a precursor to a military operation.

Separately, security forces have arrested 24 suspected militants in Kanjoo and Baryam Top areas, including a confidante of cleric Fazlullah, sources said. Fazlullah’s close aide Maulana Muhammad Esa was captured in Swat and shifted to an undisclosed location, sources told Daily Times. staff report/agencies

[url]http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C12%5C09%5Cstory_9-12-2007_pg1_1[/url]

[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="Black"][SIZE="4"]Government’s legal aides give final shape to PCO-2[/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

* Legal aides suggested clauses related to judiciary be altered
* 10 seats in NA suggested for ulema, technocrats, professionals

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: The government’s legal aides gave final shape to a draft of the Provisional Constitution Amended Order-II (PCO-2), recommending several amendments in the constitution before lifting the emergency on December 15.

The draft, penned by Syed Sharifuddin Pirzada, was finalised during a meeting at President’s House. Attorney General Malik Qayyum, Wasim Sajjad and several officials of the Law Ministry and presidential aides attended the meeting.

Judiciary clauses: Sources said the legal aides suggested that clauses related to the judiciary be altered. Article 209, which deals with the accountability of the superior judiciary, would authorise the president to send, in consultation with the Supreme Judicial Council, a judge on forced leave until his case had been decided. The sources said that the legal advisers are also considering amending Article 41(3). It said this amendment would allow the presidential election to be held even before the expiry of the presidential term, as the words related to the fixed period of the presidential election shall be abolished with effect from August 17, 1988.

Similarly, Article 44(2), regarding the eligibility for the presidential candidate, is also likely to be amended with the words, “subject to constitution” being replaced by “notwithstanding anything contained in the constitution”, they added.

10 seats: They said the government was also considering amending Article 51-2(A) to allow 10 seats in the National Assembly to be reserved for ulema, technocrats and professionals. According to the proposal, every provincial assembly would elect two members, Daily Times Monitor quoted Geo News as reporting. A proposal to hold the elections for the two seats of Islamabad, according to the procedure laid down in Article 59, is also under consideration, it added.