BRIEF NEWS UPDATE: 05.01.2012

Notices issued to Zardari and Nawaz

ISLAMABAD: The judicial commission investigating the memo issue has issued notices to President Asif Ali Zardari, Chief of the Army Staff Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and others.
A government official assisting the commission told Dawn on Wednesday that they had been asked to present their points of view on the memo allegedly sent to former US military chief Admiral Mike Mullen on behalf of the government of Pakistan to prevent a possible military coup.
They will have to submit their statements or appear before the commission at its next meeting to be held in the Islamabad High Court building on Jan 9.
The three-member commission, formed by the Supreme Court during the hearing on maintainability of the petitions filed by Nawaz Sharif and others in the memo case, had been asked to complete its inquiry in one month.
A source in the presidency said President Zardari, who arrived in Islamabad from Karachi on Wednesday and called a meeting of the PPP`s core committee, had received the commission`s notice. But the president`s spokesman Farhatullah Babar neither denied nor confirmed receipt of the notice.
“I am travelling and not aware of it,” he said. Legal expert Anwar Mansoor is of the opinion that being head of the state it was up to the President to appear before any commission or not.
PML-N spokesman Mushahidullah said Mr Sharif had received the notice.
Meanwhile, Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz, a principal character of `memogate` scandal, wrote a letter to the commission and said he was ready to fly to Islamabad.
He has acquired the services of prominent lawyer Akram Sheikh to pursue his case.
“I was out of the country and during my absence my office accepted the case of Mansoor Ijaz and now we will provide him legal assistance in the memo commission as well as in the Supreme Court,” Akram Sheikh said.
He did not say when would Mr Ijaz arrive. “He will arrive here whenever he will be asked by the commission,” he said.
In another development, former ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani expressed fear that he would be killed if he left the Prime Minister`s House, where he has been staying after returning from Washington.
In an interview to a British newspaper, he said he had been branded as a `traitor` and `Washington lackey` by powerful quarters, adding that he would be murdered like former Punjab governor Salman Taseer, who was killed on January 4 last year.
Mr Haqqani was forced to resign after Mansoor Ijaz claimed that the former ambassador had asked him to deliver to the US government a memo seeking help for removing Pakistan`s military leadership.
The commission had asked the authorities concerned to provide security to Mr Haqqani and Mr Ijaz whenever they attended its proceedings.
Prominent human rights leader Asma Jehangir had refused to pursue Mr Haqqani`s case in the commission. She said she had no confidence in the commission and that her client would not be given due justice.
Senior lawyer Zahid Hussain Bokhari will provide legal assistance to Mr Haqqani. He told a private TV channel that he would pursue Mr Haqqani`s case in the commission. However, he said, he had not held a meeting with his client.
“We will plead his innocence in the case. Mr Haqqani is quite concerned about his security and, therefore, a request will be submitted to the commission to seek relaxation of personal appearance,” he said.

Resignation of six MNAs accepted

ISLAMABAD: Before leaving for an official visit to the Caribbean on Wednesday, National Assembly Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza accepted the resignations of six MNAs who have joined the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf (PTI).

According to a notification issued by the National Assembly Secretariat, the speaker has accepted the resignations with effect from the dates on which the members had submitted them.
Those whose resignations have been accepted are former foreign minister Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Nawabzada Mohammad Khan Hoti, Jahangir Khan Tareen, former PML-N stalwart Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, his daughter Maimoona Hashmi and Sardar Aseff Ahmed Ali.
Mr Qureshi resigned from his National Assembly seat from Multan (NA-148) and the Pakistan People`s Party (PPP) on Nov 15, before joining the PTI.
Former minister Nawabzada Hoti, who had won the 2008 elections from Mardan (NA-9) on the ticket of Awami National Party (ANP), announced his decision to quit both the party and the assembly on Dec 16.
Jahangir Tareen, a minister in the military regime of Gen Pervez Musharraf, had won his assembly seat from Rahimyar Khan (NA-195) on a Pakistan Muslim League-F ticket. He submitted his resignation on Dec 21.
Mr Hashmi and Maimoona Hashmi submitted their resignations to the assembly secretary during the session on Dec 29. Sardar Aseff also sent his resignation to the secretariat the same day.
Mr Hashmi had become MNA from Multan (NA-149), Sardar Aseff from Kasur (NA-140) and Maimoona Hashmi on a reserved seat for women.
The speaker left for Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, to attend the 21st Conference of the Speakers and Presiding Officers of Commonwealth Countries. The conference will begin on Jan 7 and continue till the 12th.
It was after a successful public meeting held by PTI chief Imran Khan in Lahore on Oct 30, last year, and Mr Qureshi`s announcement about joining the party a few days later that a number of prominent personalities and political heavyweights, including sitting legislators, from almost all the major parties started joining him.
A source in the PTI said it had been decided that Awais Leghari, an MNA from Dera Ghazi Khan, would not quit his seat and he was ready to face a notice or reference by the PML-Q leadership.
BY-ELECTION: The Election Commission has announced that by-election for a Sindh Assembly seat from Badin will be held on Feb 15. According to the schedule, candidates are required to submit nomination papers by Jan 13, the last date for withdrawal of the papers is Jan 24 and the final list of candidates will be displayed on Jan 25. The PS-57 seat fell vacant after Dr Zulfiqar Mirza quit the assembly in August last year. He had won the seat by securing 33,111 votes in 2008.
Political experts are of the opinion that the by-election has great significance because the decision of the Pakistan People`s Party leadership to award the party ticket can have an effect on the political situation in the province, particularly its relationship with its coalition partner Muttahida Qaumi Movement and nationalist parties.
Sources in the PPP told Dawn that President Asif Ali Zardari had discussed the matter with his advisers more than once after Dr Fehmida Mirza, spouse of Dr Zulfiqar Mirza, showed her interest in fielding their son Hasnain Mirza in the by-election.
The experts believe that if the PPP declines to give the party ticket to Hasnain Mirza, it will be considered disowning the speaker who has been winning the National Assembly seat from Badin since 1997.
Despite her husband`s continuous media outbursts against the MQM and some senior PPP members, Dr Fehmida Mirza has not spoken a word on the subject.
Similarly, it is believed that allocating the ticket to Dr Zulfiqar Mirza`s son will strengthen a perception that the former homer minister had the backing of President Zardari in his actions.

Romney says would seek to ‘influence’ Pakistan.

PETERBOROUGH: Republican White House hopeful Mitt Romney said on Wednesday that diplomacy was like dealing with a child and vowed to find ways to “influence” Pakistan to advance US interests.
“I don’t want to suggest that a country is like a child, but in the way that when you deal with another person we think of all these dimensions on which we try to influence them, we have to influence Pakistan,” he told voters here.
The former Massachusetts governor said he would “find how we can get those (Pakistani) institutions that are with us and will work towards modernity and peace and prosperity” to counter those that will not.
“In a place like Pakistan, you have the elected government, but then you also have the military – and the military in some respects has more power than the elected government,” said Romney, the frontrunner for his party’s nomination.
Speaking in a question-and-answer session in New Hampshire, which holds its nominating primary on January 10, he also cited Pakistan’s intelligence agency, the ISI, as well as “radicals and extremists” and local chiefs, “all of whom are pulling in different directions.”
Romney, who had been asked how he would tackle often strained relations with Pakistan, prefaced his answer by saying “it would be nice if in dealing with another nation it was as simple as turning on and off a faucet – a very simple, rudimentary experience.”
But instead it’s more like dealing with an adolescent – I don’t mean to compare any nation to an adolescent, but just the fact that there’s no easy answer for how you bring a child to adolescence,” he said.
“You have to push and pull and find ways of influence and to change behavior. Each nation will typically act in their best interests.
Sometimes we forget that, we think that every nation should act in our best interest,” he said.
“That’s not the way they think. And so we have to understand what their concerns are and what their interests are,” he said.

Business News

 Thu, 5 Jan 2012

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KARACHI: Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) here Wednesday signed a commercial agreement for supply of 200,000 

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SINGAPORE: Pakistan State Oil (PSO) is likely to buy a costlier 210,000 metric tonnes of non-oxygenated, 87 RON ga 

-Euro falls in Asia despite positive data
TOKYO: The euro fell against other major currencies in Asia on Wednesday as Europe s continuing debt woes overwhel 

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HONG KONG: Asian shares mostly rose in the region s first full day of trade Wednesday as investors took a strong l 

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ISLAMABAD: The talks between the Secretary Petroleum and Natural Resources Muhammad Ejaz Chaudhry and Chairman All 

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KARACHI: Share prices at Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) rose on Tuesday mainly as a result of traders interest in b 

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