Core
committee stands behind embattled leadership
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani received ‘applause’
from PPP leaders on Monday night for his earlier speech in the National
Assembly and was assured of complete party backing when he would appear before
the Supreme Court on Thursday to answer a contempt of court notice.PPP’s senior members, including a number of federal ministers, assured the prime minister at a meeting, presided over by President Asif Ali Zardari, that ‘the party will stand behind him in adopting a stance that is correct, respectful and constitutional’.
Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Khan Babar told reporters after the meeting held in the Presidency that the PPP leaders had also ‘appreciated the support extended to leaders of the government and the party by all coalition partners and thanked them for it’.
He said the meeting held in the Presidency reiterated confidence in the leadership of President Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani, who also attended it.
Mr Babar said the meeting reviewed the current situation and ‘discussed ways and means of overcoming the challenges faced by the party and the government’.
Sources in the PPP told Dawn that the main purpose of the meeting was to devise a strategy for the prime minister`s appearance before a seven-judge SC bench hearing the NRO implementation case.
The PPP’s information secretary Qamar Zaman Kaira refused to give details of the strategy prepared by the party for Thursday. “Why should I share my party’s plan? How are you asking this question and why should I tell you anything which is secret?”.
Similarly, when asked whether the prime minister and his party would march to the Supreme Court in a procession, the presidential spokesman said he could not disclose details butonly say that the party did not plan to make the occasion a show of strength.
Earlier talking to reporters outside the Parliament House, Information Minister Firdous Ashiq Awan said all cabinet members would accompany the prime minister to the court. She said the resolution adopted in the National Assembly was aimed at strengthening parliament and not degrading any institution.
The meeting at the Presidency was attended by President Zardari’s sister Faryal Talpur, Leader of the House in Senate Nayyar Bokhari, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, Rehman Malik, Mir Hazar Khan Bijrani, Manzoor Wattoo, Syed Khursheed Shah, Makhdoom Shahabuddin, Syed Naveed Qamar, Babar Awan, Raza Rabbani, Jahangir Badar, Faisal Raza Abidi, Sardar Ali Khan, Nazar Gondal, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Rana Farooq Saeed Khan, Rukhsana Bangash, Fouzia Habib, Mehreen Anwar Raja and Farhatullah Babar.
Talks
at Presidency to end govt-army impasse
ISLAMABAD: Away from the political maelstrom generated by Supreme
Court’s summoning of Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on contempt
charges, parleys between the government and the military establishment for
defusing the situation continued on Monday.Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Khalid Shameem Wynne met President Asif Ali Zardari at the presidency for what a source described as a follow-up meeting to the talks held between the president and Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani over the weekend.
Not much was officially said about the meeting between President Zardari and Gen Wynne except for a one-line statement by the presidency: Professional matters pertaining to the armed forces were discussed during the meeting.
However, knowledgeable sources contended that they focused on finding a way out of the ongoing impasse.
Though nothing can be said with certainty as to how the civil-military talks are progressing, but there are hints that some progress is being made.
An army official, after maintaining silence over media reports that Gen Kayani in his weekend meeting with Mr Zardari demanded retraction of PM Gilani’s comments about him (the army chief) acting unconstitutionally, confirmed that there was no such demand on the table.
He instead emphasised that the meeting was for lowering temperatures rather than raising it.
The presidency had denied that (the media report) immediately after it had been first reported by a news agency.
But some observers following the civil-military dialogue worried that legal developments could unsettle the easing of tensions between the government and the army.
Some even think that the military was the real force driving the legal battles in the Supreme Court-both the NRO and the memogate cases that can potentially cause the government’s downfall.
It was probably in the context of these widespread doubts that Prime Minister Gilani, while speaking in the National Assembly, said the army and judiciary must prevent democracy from being derailed.
The Pakistani Taliban leader killed
According to Pakistani intelligence services officials,
Hakimullah Mehsud, leader of the pakistani Taliban movement has been killed by
an air strike by the U.S. drone yesterday Sunday 15th.
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