Mediawatch Desi Apr 03: A Q Khan, Hello Zardari, Goodbye Gillani?, Burney in India, Now PPP-MQM Bhai Bhai, Editorial on Stoning Death, Times New Song
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Abdul Qadeer Khan, the founder of Pakistan’s atomic weapons program who confessed four years ago to having run an illicit global nuclear proliferation network, expressed hope in an interview published Wednesday that the new government would end his house arrest and lift the restrictions on his movements. In the interview, his first since 2004 when he was put under house arrest in Islamabad, Dr. Khan, 72, bitterly complained about his confinement and what he described as his deteriorating health. Pakistan’s Disgraced A-Bomb Creator Hopes to be Freed - Salman Masood
SHEDAD KOT (Online) - PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari would take part in the by-election from constituency 207 of the National Assembly comprising Shedad Kot, Raton Dero and Mero Khan areas. According to sources, the district and area office-bearers of PPP have started elections campaign of Asif Ali Zardari. It may be recalled that late former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto hed won the election from the same constituency. Hello Zardari, Goodbye Gillani?
Amritsar, April 2: Pakistan’s former caretaker human rights minister Ansar Burney says he was aware Kashmir Singh, released from Lahore jail last month after 35 years behind bars, was a "spy" but took up the case as he was moved by his love story and wanted to reunite the star-crossed couple. "I still remember the day I went to Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore and Kashmir Singh told me his love story and how he got married with Paramjit Kaur. After listening to him, I was so moved I decided to reunite the pair," Mr Burney told reporters on Wednesday. Kashmir love story moved Ansar Burney
KARACHI, April 2: Asif Ali Zardari and Altaf Hussain have vowed to initiate a “new journey” for the sake of Pakistan, “pardoning” each other for the bitterness of yesteryear.
“We have forgiven each other and also pardoned our enemies. We will not take our revenge on the people … we will avenge ourselves by changing the system,” said Mr Zardari, the co-chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party, in a speech at the MQM headquarters Nine Zero on Wednesday night.
Altaf Hussain, the chief of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, in his telephonic address from London said: “Today we have started a new journey. We have forgiven PPP and they have pardoned us. We will work jointly to eliminate the urban-rural divide and for the rights of oppressed people to make Sindh prosperous.”
In a major political development that may lead to the inclusion of MQM in the new coalition government, Mr Zardari visited the MQM headquarters and held talks with its leadership on future relationship between the two parties. Asif, Altaf agree to forgive and forget By Azfar-ul-Ashfaque -
And the same as reported by the Nation and From the News
THE stoning to death — the first incident of its kind in the Fata region — of a man and a woman accused of adultery fills one with unspeakable horror. The sheer barbarity of the punishment aside, it is clear that the local Taliban want to demonstrate to the new government that they will not tolerate any attempt to dilute their hold in the region. Neither will they be swayed by the promise of a democratic form of governance if this is designed to undermine their moral authority in any way. This is particularly disturbing because the militants had earlier welcomed Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani’s willingness to hold talks with them. It is incumbent on the new government to strongly condemn this incident, hold an enquiry into it and arrest those responsible for ordering and carrying out the execution, the circumstances behind which remain far from clear-cut. Such instances of summary justice were disregarded by the previous government, many of whose members actually gave their tacit approval to the dehumanising punishments being meted out. Fata’s medievalism - Dawn Editorial
A little more problematic could be Mr Gilani’s plan to rationalise the National Accountability Bureau’s working. The 1999 ordinance is included in the Sixth Schedule to the constitution and it cannot be “altered, repealed or amended, expressly or impliedly, without the previous sanction of the president accorded after consultation with the prime minister”. The condition of consultation with the prime minister was added vide the 17th Amendment. Before that the president was bound to follow the prime minister’s advice. After this amendment he is not because, thanks to the LFO of 2002 and the 17th Amendment of 2003, “consultation shall, save in respect of appointment of judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts, mean discussion and deliberation which shall not be binding on the president”. As such the prime minister’s views on the NAB law shall not be binding on the president. President Musharraf may, in the interest of extending his tenure, agree to go along with the soft-spoken Syed from the Seraiki land but for a price. The ‘consultation’ condition will dog the prime minister’s steps in other areas too. The Qualification to Hold Public Offices Order, under which nobody can become prime minister /chief minister for the third time, is also in the Sixth Schedule and can be tinkered with only with the president’s permission.The way to a graceful exit By I.A. Rehman
The MQM may be unpopular with many outside the cities of Sindh but its conduct in the past months has helped it improve its credentials. It is now a liberal-secular force with muscle whose presence on the side of the forces of peace and moderation has become crucial. More than the PMLN, it is the PPP that could have resented any possible comeback of the MQM after its sweeping win in the province in the new elections. But it was the PMLN that decided after the 2008 elections to take a stand against the MQM’s inclusion in the coalition, mainly because of Mr Sharif’s affiliation with the APDM and the lawyers’ movement, based on the May 2007 violence in Karachi instigated by the MQM. Daily Times' New Song
In Urdu, Rauf Klasra
SHEDAD KOT (Online) - PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari would take part in the by-election from constituency 207 of the National Assembly comprising Shedad Kot, Raton Dero and Mero Khan areas. According to sources, the district and area office-bearers of PPP have started elections campaign of Asif Ali Zardari. It may be recalled that late former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto hed won the election from the same constituency. Hello Zardari, Goodbye Gillani?
Amritsar, April 2: Pakistan’s former caretaker human rights minister Ansar Burney says he was aware Kashmir Singh, released from Lahore jail last month after 35 years behind bars, was a "spy" but took up the case as he was moved by his love story and wanted to reunite the star-crossed couple. "I still remember the day I went to Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore and Kashmir Singh told me his love story and how he got married with Paramjit Kaur. After listening to him, I was so moved I decided to reunite the pair," Mr Burney told reporters on Wednesday. Kashmir love story moved Ansar Burney
KARACHI, April 2: Asif Ali Zardari and Altaf Hussain have vowed to initiate a “new journey” for the sake of Pakistan, “pardoning” each other for the bitterness of yesteryear.“We have forgiven each other and also pardoned our enemies. We will not take our revenge on the people … we will avenge ourselves by changing the system,” said Mr Zardari, the co-chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party, in a speech at the MQM headquarters Nine Zero on Wednesday night.
Altaf Hussain, the chief of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, in his telephonic address from London said: “Today we have started a new journey. We have forgiven PPP and they have pardoned us. We will work jointly to eliminate the urban-rural divide and for the rights of oppressed people to make Sindh prosperous.”
In a major political development that may lead to the inclusion of MQM in the new coalition government, Mr Zardari visited the MQM headquarters and held talks with its leadership on future relationship between the two parties. Asif, Altaf agree to forgive and forget By Azfar-ul-Ashfaque -
And the same as reported by the Nation and From the News
THE stoning to death — the first incident of its kind in the Fata region — of a man and a woman accused of adultery fills one with unspeakable horror. The sheer barbarity of the punishment aside, it is clear that the local Taliban want to demonstrate to the new government that they will not tolerate any attempt to dilute their hold in the region. Neither will they be swayed by the promise of a democratic form of governance if this is designed to undermine their moral authority in any way. This is particularly disturbing because the militants had earlier welcomed Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani’s willingness to hold talks with them. It is incumbent on the new government to strongly condemn this incident, hold an enquiry into it and arrest those responsible for ordering and carrying out the execution, the circumstances behind which remain far from clear-cut. Such instances of summary justice were disregarded by the previous government, many of whose members actually gave their tacit approval to the dehumanising punishments being meted out. Fata’s medievalism - Dawn Editorial
A little more problematic could be Mr Gilani’s plan to rationalise the National Accountability Bureau’s working. The 1999 ordinance is included in the Sixth Schedule to the constitution and it cannot be “altered, repealed or amended, expressly or impliedly, without the previous sanction of the president accorded after consultation with the prime minister”. The condition of consultation with the prime minister was added vide the 17th Amendment. Before that the president was bound to follow the prime minister’s advice. After this amendment he is not because, thanks to the LFO of 2002 and the 17th Amendment of 2003, “consultation shall, save in respect of appointment of judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts, mean discussion and deliberation which shall not be binding on the president”. As such the prime minister’s views on the NAB law shall not be binding on the president. President Musharraf may, in the interest of extending his tenure, agree to go along with the soft-spoken Syed from the Seraiki land but for a price. The ‘consultation’ condition will dog the prime minister’s steps in other areas too. The Qualification to Hold Public Offices Order, under which nobody can become prime minister /chief minister for the third time, is also in the Sixth Schedule and can be tinkered with only with the president’s permission.The way to a graceful exit By I.A. Rehman
The MQM may be unpopular with many outside the cities of Sindh but its conduct in the past months has helped it improve its credentials. It is now a liberal-secular force with muscle whose presence on the side of the forces of peace and moderation has become crucial. More than the PMLN, it is the PPP that could have resented any possible comeback of the MQM after its sweeping win in the province in the new elections. But it was the PMLN that decided after the 2008 elections to take a stand against the MQM’s inclusion in the coalition, mainly because of Mr Sharif’s affiliation with the APDM and the lawyers’ movement, based on the May 2007 violence in Karachi instigated by the MQM. Daily Times' New Song
In Urdu, Rauf Klasra
posted by temporal at 4/04/2008
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