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KARACHI: The government on Monday increased the petroleum products prices up to 9.9 per cent for the first time in three months.

According to a notification issued by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA), petrol prices have been increased by Rs7.23 per litre or 9.9 per cent with effect from March 1, taking the new rate to Rs80.19 per litre. The government increased diesel prices by 9.83 per cent or Rs7.70 per litre.  The new per litre diesel price would be Rs 86.03.

Earlier, the Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association suspended the supply of petroleum products and announced a strike in Karachi due to a proposed increase in petroleum prices. The association warned that the strike may soon spill over into other parts of the country if its demands are not met.

Resultantly, a large number of people came out on the streets on Rashid Minhas road, in Nazimabad and Shahrah-e-Faisal road in Karachi following the announcement of a strike by petroleum dealers. The protesters clashed with the police and rangers personnel who tried to take control of the situation.

The demonstrators blamed the pump owners for halting supplies fearing a possible increase in the petrol prices today.

Long queues of vehicles were seen in the city outside the few stations still running.

The Pakistan petroleum dealers’ association later decided to call off their token strike.

OGRA authorities said an increase in the prices is necessary according to levy collected two months ago, whereas six to seven per cent increase should be made in accordance to the levy collected in current situation.

Sources informed that the government is providing a subsidy of Rs15 billion on petroleum products and it will have to give an additional subsidy of Rs10 billion if current prices are not increased.

CNG prices revised

Ogra has revised its CNG prices keeping in view the Gross Calorific Value (GCV). The new prices will become effective from March 1.

Four different prices will be followed in the country’s four provinces. CNG prices will rise in Islamabad, Rawalpindi and in areas from Attock to Jhelum.  In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, CNG will be available at Rs57 per kilogramme.

In inner Sindh and Balochistan, CNG will be availabe at Rs55.2 per kg. In Punjab and adjoining areas, CNG will now be available at Rs53.45 per kg.

According to All Pakistan CNG Association, OGRA’s revised prices will raise gas prices in 2,600 CNG stations and reduce them in 500 gas stations across the country.

LAHORE: Punjab Governor, Sardar Latif Khosa on Monday signed the summary sent to him by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif for the ouster of seven Pakistan Peoples Party provincial ministers.

Sharif had sent the summary under Article 132 of the Constitution, according to which the Chief Minister can ask for the removal of ministers from the provincial cabinet.

The summary also advises the removal of 13 PPP parliamentary secretaries.

The PPP ministers include: former irrigation minister Raja Riaz Ahmad, former labour and human rights minister Ashraf Sohna, former finance and youth affairs minister Tanvir Ashraf Kaira, former population welfare minister Neelam Jabbar Chaudhry, former revenue minister Haji Muhammad Ishaq and Farook Yousaf Ghurki.

Unification bloc alleges PPP horse-trading

The unification bloc on Monday released a mobile conversation allegedly between Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Minister of Provincial Assembly (MPA) Neelam Jabbar and unification block MPA Arshad Jutt.

In the conversation, Jabbar asks Jutt for the Unification Bloc’s support for the PPP in Punjab.

The incident reportedly took place during the imposition of governor’s rule in the province.

The unification bloc addressed the media before unveiling the mobile conversation.

The bloc’s head, Tahir Ali Javed, said that the PPP was trying its best to buy loyalties from the bloc to form its government in Punjab.

He said that the mobile conversation was ‘just a trailer of a whole movie’ and that more evidence on the PPP’s horse-trading efforts would be made public if any false accusations were levelled against the Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N).

He added that a resolution for unconditional support to Nawaz Sharif’s PML-N leadership has been passed: “If there is one leader in Pakistan, then that would be Mian Nawaz Sharif and we have expressed our unconditional support for his leadership. A resolution on this matter was read out today and has been unanimously passed by all allies.”

Zardari holds meeting in Karachi

Chairing a meeting at Bilawal House in Karachi with Punjab governor Latif Khosa and Interior Minister Rehman Malik in attendance, President Asif Ali Zardari said that he does not believe in the politics of horse-trading.

The president called the meeting to discuss the political situation in Punjab. He said the PPP would continue to play a democratic role in the province and asked PPP leaders to respond to the sitaution democratically.

The president said that regardless of the present situation the mission of Benazir Bhutto and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto would continue.

He also directed the Federal Government to hold a dialogue with petroleum dealers to resolve the issue of the suspension of fuel supply in Karachi and directed Rehman Malik to provide security to traders in the city.

Ready for another long march: Nawaz

PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif on Monday said he is ready to lead another long march along with the youth of the country, if circumstances require him to do so.

Addressing party workers and leaders at his Model Town residence, Sharif added that corruption worth billions of rupees was taking place every year.

He regretted that instead of depending on indigenous resources, the government was relying on foreign aid.

The PML-N chief also accused President Asif Ali Zardari suggesting to provide constitutional cover to the unconstitutional actions of Former President Pervez Musharraf.

PML-N promoting horse-trading: Riaz

On the other front, senior minister Raja Riaz said the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) ministers will not resign from the Punjab Cabinet, following directions of the party leadership.

Addressing the media in Lahore, Riaz said the PPP has directed its ministers to stick to the party’s policy of reconciliatory politics.

He alleged that the PML-N is promoting horse-trading in Punjab and assured that his party will not destabilise the PML-N government in Punjab.

ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office on Monday said that progress has been made for the repatriation of stranded Pakistanis with the help of friendly governments.

A chartered flight from Istanbul is set to bring 180 Pakistanis who fled from Libya back to Pakistan tonight. The Pakistani nationals  worked for a Turkish construction company operating in Libya. Pakistan has around 18,000 of its nationals in the violence-torn country.

“Our Missions in the region have clear instructions from the Foreign Ministry to facilitate early and safe repatriation of Pakistani expatriates to Pakistan,” a statement from the Foreign Office spokesperson said.

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, taking note of the problems of the stranded Pakistanis in Libya directed the Foreign Office Sunday to take immediate measures for safety of Pakistani expatriates.

Pakistan embassy officials are working with local authorities in Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt and Turkey to ensure the repatriation, especially of those Pakistanis who were without proper documentation and passports, the statement said.

The Foreign Office said embassy officials have been sent to the Libyan border to receive arriving Pakistanis. It said that arrangements were being made for the arrival of a group of Pakistanis by sea to Turkey from where they will be evacuated by air.

The Foreign Ministry has contacted Turkey, China, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt and other countries for the evacuation of Pakistani expatriates through all possible routes.

‘Free of cost documents for stranded Pakistanis’

Interior minister Rehman Malik today ordered the DG passport to provide Pakistanis stranded in Libya with the required traveling documents at no cost.

Malik also advised to set up separate counters at airports where the concerned Pakistanis can register their data in order to streamline the procedure for their return, a report on a local television channel said.

The interior minister has also called for a meeting of related officials on Wednesday.

PESHAWAR: A court in Peshawar on Monday rejected the bail plea filed by Aaron Mark DeHaven, an American national arrested on Friday after he outstayed his Pakistani visa.

On Saturday a court remanded DeHaven in custody for 14 days and on Monday, a magistrate rejected defence lawyer Sardar Raza’s argument that he should be freed on bail because he had no prior criminal record.

“The bail application of Aaron Mark DeHaven has been rejected because he had no legal documents,” public prosecutor Javed Ali told AFP in the northwestern city of Peshawar.

DeHaven was taken into custody from the Falcon Complex, a residential area in Peshawar.

Police say his Pakistani visa had expired in October, and that he was working for security contractor Catalyst Services, providing security and accommodation to foreigners working on development projects in the region.

Express 24/7 however reported that DeHaven told the court he owns a construction company and came to Pakistan on a business visa.

Peshawar police are carrying out raids to arrest associates DeHaven to include them in the investigations into the case.

Hashmat Khan, a police official, has also quoted DeHaven as saying he had travelled to Peshawar to meet a Pakistani girl.

DeHaven will now be produced before the court on March 14.

Relations between Pakistan and the United States are already strained over the arrest last month of a CIA contractor identified as Raymond Davis, who has been charged with murder for shooting dead two men in Lahore.

The US embassy in Islamabad said Saturday that consular representatives had met DeHaven, “as they would with any private American citizen”.

“We appreciate the cooperation of the Pakistani authorities and respect the Pakistani legal process,” an embassy statement had said.

A Swiss citizen was also taken into custody yesterday for travelling in Balochistan without permission in an area where a No Objection Certificate is necessary for any foreigner to travel.

India has decided to share the initial leads in its probe on the Samjhauta Express blasts with Islamabad.

According to a report in the Economic Times, Indian Home Secretary Gopal Pillai will update Pakistani’s Interior Secretary Qamar Zaman Chaudhry on the outcome of the investigations by India’s National Investigation Agency.

He will do this during home secretary-level talks in India on March 28 and 29.

The 2007 train bombings killed 68 people, mostly Pakistani nationals, when bomb blasts tore through two carriages of the Samjhauta Express as it travelled past Panipat towards Amritsar on its way to the Pakistani border.

After the confessions last month of jailed Hindu extremist leader to his involvement in several terrorist incidents, Pakistan urged India to share the findings of its investigations. The Indian government flatly refused.

“At this stage we cannot share the probe details as it is too premature. The investigation is still on and is at a preliminary stage. We will take an appropriate decision when the investigations are concluded,” a home ministry official told reporters as well as conveying the refusal in a home ministry communique to the external affairs ministry.

Swami Aseemanand, a leader of Hindu extremist outfit Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), confessed before a judicial magistrate that he and his fellow RSS activists were involved in the Samjhauta blasts as well as at mosques in Malegaon in Maharashtra state and Andhra Pradesh’s state capital, Hyderabad, and a Muslim shrine in Ajmer in Rajasthan.

Aseemanand’s confessions are now the main weapon with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI )and NIA in India’s ongoing probe into the blast which the Pakistani Foreign Office has accused as progressing at a ‘snail’s pace’.

In an interview with Munizae Jahangir of Express 24/7, Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram has said that New Delhi will share information with Islamabad once investigations are complete.

The Economic Times report claims that the report to be shared next month will include the inference that the blast was caused by right-wing extremists. It says that New Delhi will inform Islamabad on the ongoing efforts to track down the other accused – and have them join the dots. If this is the case, it could signify an improvement in relations between the two neighbours ahead of the formal resumption of talks in July.

ISLAMABAD: Two days after expelling the PPP from its Punjab government, the PML-N Sunday said it would go for ‘other options’ if President Asif Zardari could not take firm measures to curb the unbridled corruption.

A spokesperson for the party, however, did not specify in a statement the ‘options’ the PML-N believed were available to it.

“The PML-N will continue to monitor the Zardari administration’s performance very closely,” said Ahsan Iqbal, the party spokesperson and a member of the National Assembly. “It will play its democratic role to check massive corruption prevalent in the government if no concrete steps are taken (to eradicate it).”

Though Iqbal did not mention it explicitly, in recent months the party has been alluding to the possibility that it might call for fresh parliamentary elections this year.

Iqbal said that the party would not have expelled the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) from the Punjab government had President Zardari lived up to his promises of eradicating corruption and improving governance.

“The Zardari administration’s broken promises and poor performance made it inevitable for the PML-N to part ways with the PPP in Punjab,” the spokesperson said.

Corruption, inflation, unemployment and poverty had crossed all limits and were the outcome of the politics of patronage and bad governance pursued by the federal government, Iqbal added.  He said that the PML-N went out of the way to help the federal government in implementing the reforms agenda which the country needed desperately but the Zardari administration exhibited no seriousness and concern.

“As a result there was no option left with the PML-N but to disengage with PPP in order to clearly demonstrate that it is not a party to the Zardari administration’s politics of plunder and loot,” said Iqbal.

Iqbal said that the Charter of Democracy (CoD) — an agreement two parties signed back in 2006 — made it binding on both the groups follow politics of good governance and to fight corruption.

“Zardari should have done that, if he wanted us to continue to support him,” the spokesperson explained.

Article 63-A was originally introduced as part of the 14th Amendment to the constitution in the 1990s, during the second term of Nawaz Sharif as prime minister, largely to help prevent the kind of changes in party loyalty that had made coalition politics so volatile during the so-called “decade of democracy.” It was hoped that by making crossing party lines illegal, coalitions would be more stable.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 28^th, 2011.

ISLAMABAD: Due to acute financial constraint the federal and provincial governments are finding it increasingly difficult to release the second instalment of Watan Card for flood victims.

“The fate of the second instalment of Watan Cards hangs in balance,” the source said adding that “the governments will have to further delay the payment due to lack of finances.”

The federal government has the option to either abandon the whole scheme or to slash its size to meet its expenditure.

Another official source in the ministry of finance said that the government would provide the second and last instalment of Watan Cards to only 50 per cent of those who were given the first instalment.

The government is negotiating a loan from the World Bank to provide the promised financial assistance to the flood hit people in the four provinces, Azad Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan, the source explained.

“At least Rs30 billion is required immediately for the second instalment to be released to all the 1.8 million flood victims,” the source said.

There are many families who have not received even the first instalment of Watan Cards due to the prolonged process of NADRA. The authority’s officials say that the delay was caused by the process used to ensure a transparent distribution of financial assistance to flood victims.  The federal and provincial governments have paid about Rs29 billion to the victims of the flood through Watan Cards.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 28^th, 2011.

ISLAMABAD: The Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is facing a serious financial crisis since its slain founding leader Baitullah Mehsud combined several scattered groups from all over the tribal belt to form the most feared terror network of homegrown militants back in 2007.

“The Taliban have seriously run out of funds…they have hardly any money anymore,” at least three associates of the group said amid a surprising halt in their activities – suicide bombings and terror attacks across Pakistan and in parts of Afghanistan  – in recent months.

Also mysteriously silent are long-cannoned guns from the artillery of Pakistani military that is involved in an operation against the TTP in their South Waziristan stronghold since 2009.

The TTP is apparently not able to fund its operations for the want of money, the group’s members told The Express Tribune.

“The group is in a fix even to keep its infrastructure comprising several thousand foot soldiers and a huge fleet of vehicles,” the members added.

“It seems the money has just stopped coming to them. All the avenues which they used to get funds through are not working for some time now,” one of the three said, describing how difficult the survival has been for the group.

In Islamabad, top officials in the military also confirmed the TTP was now in a multiple crisis — fund shortage, numerous defections and loss of strongholds across the mountainous border regions.

The officials claimed credit for the military for this, saying it was due to tight controls the Pakistan Army had put in place that the militants were not getting funds.

“The Taliban are running out of money because they are surrounded from all directions,” one of them said, referring to a blockade of the area by the military.

Though an army operation against the TTP led by Hakimullah Mehsud started in October 2009, the military had thrown a cordon around the stronghold of the fugitive group several months ahead of that.

And that arrangement was still intact, leaving no or very little chances for anybody from outside to reach them with arms or money.

An official in the intelligence agencies said another reason for the shortage of TTP funds was the blows the Arab al Qaeda had faced in the region because of a concerted campaign against them by the US forces stationed in Afghanistan.

“Al Qaeda is on the run now…most of the private Arab money to the TTP used to come through them. That has evaporated now,” the official added.

Drug money from Afghanistan is also not coming in a big way after tight controls by the US-led forces on the border following their operations against the Afghan Taliban in Helmand and Kandahar.

Last year a senior US general claimed the Taliban (Afghan) are facing a ‘financial crisis’.

Major General Richard Mills, who leads coalition troops in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province, a key poppy-growing region for the Taliban, said that with supply routes being blocked, the Taliban were facing a financial crisis

“We believe that the local insurgency here within the province has less than one half of what they had last year in operating funds,” The Telegraph quoted Major General Mills as saying citing ‘sensitive intelligence’ reports.

“Definitely, if the poppy cultivation in the south of Afghanistan is controlled, it will result in less money for the Pakistani Taliban,” one official commented.

Desperations

Official here are also interpreting the execution of Col (retd) Amir Tarar commonly known Col Imam by the Taliban led by Hakimullah Mehsud as a step taken in utter desperation.

Imam was the former official of the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) who trained most of Afghan Taliban, including their supreme leader Mullah Omar in the ’80s and ’90s.

“By killing him (Imam) a year after he was kidnapped, they might have given a message to the families of other people in their custody…and the bottom line is that they need money and need it desperately,” one official explained.

The Taliban, however, said they killed Imam because he staged the killing of hundreds of their Afghan counterparts some two years ago.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 28^th, 2011.

LAHORE: The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has decided to use the 15-day period afforded by the law requiring the governor for approving the summary to remove PPP ministers to “expose Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s politics of turncoats before the national audience,” sources in the party told The Express Tribune on Sunday.

A party office-bearer said that Governor Punjab Latif Khosa would not sign the summary until the very last day. They said that the PPP “knows that although the governor has no legal power to reject the summary, he can hold the summary for two weeks, after which period it would assume to have been approved automatically”.

During the two weeks, he said, PPP’s federal ministers would visit Punjab and other provinces in a bid to improve the PPP’s public image.

On Sunday, Governor Latif Khosa said that he has not yet dealt with the summary sent by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif. He said that he would act in accordance with the law.

A handout quoted the governor as saying that the PPP “will not destabilise the Punjab government, but if anyone takes any illegal step, he will perform his constitutional role,” adding that he would not allow the politics of turncoats in the province.

Taking pride in calling himself the first Ghazi of the lawyers’ movement who shed blood for the restoration of the judiciary, he said that the PPP’s policy of reconciliation should not be construed as weakness.

Reminding that the law dealing with floor-crossing was Article 63-A of the Constitution, he said that as a lawyer and a governor, he could better perform his constitutional role to deal with such adventurism.

Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan said he was surprised why the governor was taking so much time to approve the summary for removing the PPP ministers from the provincial cabinet.

He said that the delaying tactics being used by the Governor House was “creating doubts”.

“If this is not a conspiracy for creating a crisis, then what is hindering PPP ministers to leave their ministries?” he said.

Also on Sunday, federal Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan addressed a press conference at the Lahore Press Club and criticised the PML-N leadership for making public statements in support of what he described as the turncoats.

He said that Nawaz Sharif’s statement that they “have rejoined their parent party was enough to disqualify the turncoats”. He said that the PML-N was paying a “very high price for securing the loyalties of turncoats”, adding that the chief minister was emptying the provincial coffers to appease them.

The PPP, he said, could have formed government in Punjab with the support of independent lawmakers, but it had respected the public mandate and supported the PML-N.

Awan said the PPP-led government had honoured the 18th constitutional amendment when the PML-N presented its 10-point agenda, but then the PML-N went to “Chhanga Manga, ruining the 18th amendment.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 28^th, 2011.

ISLAMABAD: Nearly 45 per cent of all agricultural land in Sindh is still under water as a result of the floods in 2010 and over 700,000 families still need assistance, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations.

The FAO states that the situation in Sindh remains a matter of grave concern, with a sustained aid effort required to rehabilitate the people of the province. People, as well as livestock, are in a desperate condition of suffering, with malnutrition on the rise in the province.

“The people are drinking the same water the animals are swimming in,” said FAO official Aly Khan. “The situation is dreadful in Sindh, natural breeding of livestock should be adopted and animals should be multiplied accordingly.”

According to the FAO, the next 12 to 18 months could be crucial for Pakistan. The food security situation could potentially turn disastrous if planting targets are not met. The agency has stated that it is required for Pakistan to meet two planting seasons – Kharif and Rabi on time before the sector normalizes.

“The international community stepped up during the emergency phase but this is the time when we need their support the most,” said Khan. Although the FAO received almost 90 per cent of the funds that they had requested, a substantial need for more remains.

The aim to meet Kharif season was achieved on time and rains benefited the crops that were sown on time. However, the agency fears that the risk of floods still exists, especially if the monsoon is worse than last year.

“We need to be well prepared for disaster,” said the official. “The international community needs to support and understand Pakistan’s needs.”

The FAO hopes to discuss the issues and needs of the agriculture industry in the upcoming conference in Rome sometime early next month. The agriculture agency has expressed concern over the sectors which have not been funded at all.

“Fisheries and forestry remains zero funded and we are worried. The sector has been damaged and it is neglected when it comes to funding,” said FAO official Aly Khan.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 28^th, 2011.

LAHORE: At least 30 suspected covert American operatives have suspended their activities in Pakistan and 12 have already left the country, according to sources familiar with the matter.

In the aftermath of the shootings in Lahore on January 27 by suspected CIA operative Raymond Davis, intelligence agencies in Pakistan began scrutinising records of the Americans living in Pakistan and discovered several discrepancies, causing many suspected American operatives to maintain a low profile and others to leave the country altogether.

The foreign ministry states that there are 851 Americans with diplomatic immunity currently in Pakistan, of whom 297 are not working in a diplomatic capacity. However, sources at the interior ministry put the number of non-diplomats at 414. The majority of these ‘special Americans’ (as the ministry refers to them) are concentrated in Islamabad, with some also residing in Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar. Interior ministry records show that most of the “special Americans” live in upscale neighbourhoods in Islamabad and Lahore, with smaller presences in Karachi and Peshawar.

Most of the ‘special Americans’ are suspected of being operatives of US  intelligence agencies who are on covert missions in Pakistan, reporting to the US Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), according to sources familiar with the situation.

Counter-intelligence agencies in Pakistan have long suspected a covert US espionage presence in Pakistan. The first internal investigation into suspicious activities by American citizens in the country was conducted in March 2009, which revealed some significant gaps in the implementation of laws concerning foreign citizens.

Under the Foreigners Act of 1946, foreign citizens are not allowed to live in cantonment areas anywhere in the country. Yet the majority of the suspected American intelligence operatives in Lahore are reportedly living in the Officers’/Generals’ Colony on Sarwar Road and Cavalry Ground in the Lahore Cantonment.

Several senior retired army officers – ranging in rank from brigadier to lieutenant general – have rented out their homes to American citizens at rates astronomically higher than the rents of similar homes in the area. The presence of these Americans came to light when several serving and retired Army officers who lived in the neighbourhood reported suspicious activity, including unauthorised foreigners living in cantonment areas.

Foreign citizens in Pakistan have to obtain a no-objection certificate (NOC) from security agencies before they can rent a residence. This process is meant to ensure that they are not living in prohibited areas. But somehow American citizens were able to get NOCs issued to live in cantonment areas in violation of the law.

Sources say that the intelligence agencies’ reports state that many of the Americans living in these residences are assumed to be US Special Forces – including members of the covert Delta Force of the United States Army – and therefore are considered armed and dangerous.

The report further claims that the late US special representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, had visited one of the covert American teams in Lahore, at a residence on Sarwar Road owned by a retired army general.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 28^th, 2011.

KARACHI/LAHORE: A day after ordering the expulsion of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) from the coalition government in Punjab, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) found itself hurtling towards renewed political recrimination with its former ally.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif fired the first salvo, launching a blistering attack on President Asif Ali Zardari for his policies against the Punjab government. The president, however, refused to be drawn into any direct confrontation, countering that his party would not indulge in “dirty politics” and would instead strengthen democracy through fair play.

On Saturday, Shahbaz advised Governor Sardar Latif Khosa to remove the seven PPP ministers from the provincial cabinet. He is reportedly planning to accommodate the ‘Unification Bloc’, which comprises dissident lawmakers from the PML-Q, in the cabinet.

The move elicited a caustic comment from the president though. “Some friends are trying to form a government with the help of turncoats,” he said during a meeting with PPP lawmakers from Sindh at the Bilawal House in Karachi.

Zardari said the PML-N has expelled ‘people’s  representatives’ from the Punjab government with the help of some ‘turncoats’. “This shows who is using undemocratic tactics,” he said.

For his part, the president said he was against undemocratic means and vowed to disallow anyone from resorting to the same. He regretted what he called the “politics of Changa Manga’ but said that the PPP would defend democracy at all costs.

Zardari said the opposition’s dream of snap elections would never materialise and the PPP-led coalition government would complete its five-year constitutional term.

PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif had not ruled out the possibility of mid-term elections in Friday’s news conference, saying that “the demand for snap polls was not unconstitutional.”

Responding to the provocative statements of some PML-N leaders, President Zardari said that those trying to revive the politics of the ‘80s would fail in their designs.

He said the PPP would continue to follow the politics of reconciliation, as was envisioned by its slain chairperson Benazir Bhutto. He voiced hope that small issues with other political parties would be sorted out soon.

Earlier speaking at a function in Lahore, the Punjab chief minister claimed that supply of natural gas to his province has been suspended intentionally and the purpose was to malign the PML-N government in the province. But in the same breath he warned the president to stop this ‘drama’.

He alleged that the PPP-led federal government in the centre was instigating people to rise in protest against the provincial government by creating an artificial natural gas shortage in the province.

This, he said, would financially weaken the provincial government and increase unemployment in Punjab. But he warned that the centre would not escape its impact.

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, who has often won over the Sharif brothers with his reconciliatory approach, poured scorn on Shahbaz’s claim.

According to him, he had asked the chief minister to take up the issue of gas load-shedding in the Council of Common Interest (CCI) but Sharif refused to do so. “I cannot change the existing laws which deal with such issues,” the premier told the media at his Lahore residence.

Chief Minister Shahbaz said that his brother PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif had given a 10-point reform agenda to the PPP-led government for eliminating corruption, ensuring good governance and stabilising democracy in the country.

But he regretted that the PPP did not respond positively to the PML-N agenda within 45 days as was demanded by Sharif. And the PPP’s ‘lukewarm’ response proved to be “the last nail in the coffin of Charter of Democracy (CoD)”.

In the CoD, signed by Nawaz and Ms Bhutto, the two parties had pledged to work together to stop future military intervention in the country.

Shahbaz criticised Sindh Home Minister Zulfikar Mirza for threatening to close down all PML-N offices in the province. Such ‘foul language’ was unbecoming of anyone with national thinking, he added.

Meanwhile, the elder Sharif toured Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on Sunday to meet local leaders of his party in Dir, Chitral and Malakand divisions in  a move to re-energise the party. He stressed the need for what he called a ‘revolutionary movement’ to steer the country out of crises.

Sharif said that he had led the long march for the restoration of dozens of judges sacked by former military ruler Pervez Musharraf because only an independent judiciary could rid the country of corruption.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 28^th, 2011.

QUETTA: A Swiss citizen has been taken into custody for travelling in Loralai district of Balochistan without a No Objection Certificate (NOC).

According to Express 24/7, Swiss Citizen “Merko” entered Balochistan from Iran and aimed to travel to Punjab by road through Loralai. Levies Force took the Swiss citizen into custody for not having an NOC from Balochistan’s Home Department. He has been shifted to Quetta for necessary interrogation regarding travelling along Loralai route without NOC.

Secretary of Home and Tribal Affairs, Akbar Hussain Durrani told Express 24/7 that the Swiss Citizen was travelling through an area of the province where an NOC is necessary for any foreigner.

The detainment of the Swiss citizen follows the recent arrest of an American national in Peshawar, who is thought to have been working for a private security company, after he outstayed his Pakistani visa.

The US embassy in Islamabad identified the man arrested on Friday as Aaron Mark DeHaven.

The purpose of the visit by DeHaven, whose visa expired in December last year, was unclear but a security official told AFP he had been working with private security agency Catalyst in Islamabad.

Tendulkar’s 120 saw him become the first batsman to score five centuries in World Cup cricket, claiming outright a record previously shared with India’s Sourav Ganguly and the Australian pair of Mark Waugh and Ricky Ponting. Already the record-holder for most one-day international centuries, Tendulkar’s 47th hundred in 446 ODI matches saw him in complete control against England’s hapless attack.

Together with Gautam Gambhir he shared a second-wicket stand of 134 at better than a run-a-ball before the left-hander was bowled by off-spinner Graeme Swann for 51.

Their partnership followed the loss of Virender Sehwag, who made 35 to follow his 175 in India’s tournament-opening win against fellow co-hosts Bangladesh. Tendulkar then put on 56 with Yuvraj Singh before he was caught off a leading edge by Michael Yardy at extra cover off Anderson.

Tendulkar faced 115 balls with 10 fours and five sixes — three against Swann and two off Paul Collingwood’s medium-pacers.

Left-hander Yuvraj ensured there was no respite for England with a quickfire 58 against an England attack that missed the variations of Stuart Broad, sidelined through illness. Anderson — unable to generate much conventional or reverse swing — conceded 91 runs in 9.5 overs, unable to stem the flow of runs.

But Tim Bresnan picked up several late wickets when the slog was on to finish with career-best figures of five for 48.

Tendulkar was composed early on before the 37-year-old right-hander struck Collingwood for two sixes — the second taking him to a 66-ball fifty. England captain Andrew Strauss rang the changes but it made little difference.

Tendulkar reached his century off 103 balls when he glanced Bresnan for four, a shot greeted by raucous cheers from a near-capacity crowd.

Session Judge Sibi Jan Muhammad Gohar and Senior Civil Judge Muhammad Ali went missing along with their driver and body guard from Usta Muhammad area of Jafarabad district, Balochistan on Sunday.

Official sources informed the judges had gone to Usta Muhamad to attend a marriage ceremony. They went missing at night near Bayer area of Usta Muhammad on their way back to Sibi after ceremony.

Assistant Commissioner Dera Murad Jamali said the judges were kidnapped and their vehicle was abandoned near Bayer.

He further said efforts have been started their recovery.

Three lawyers were also abducted last week from Sibi area of Balochistan.

Kidnapping of judges and lawyers have sent a wave of concern among lawyers community.

KARACHI: Unidentified gunmen killed six people including three policemen on Sunday in a recent wave of violence in Karachi.

Police reached the Quaid-i-Azam colony in Mubina Town area after receiving information of severe firing. Two police officials Zaheer and Maqsood were gunned down as they tried to stop the firing.

Another policeman Muzzaffar was killed by the firing of unidentified people in front of his residence in Gulistan-e-Johar.

Meanwhile, a youth was shot in Korangi Chakra Goth area.

The police have started a search operation in the Quaid-i- Azam Colony and have so far arrested a number of suspects.

RAWALPINDI: An Anti Terrorism Court (ATC) in Rawalpindi accepted an application by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Saturday to declare Ajmal Kasab and Fahim Arshad Ansari as proclaimed offenders in the 2008 Mumbai attacks case.

Public Prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfiqar submitted an application before the ATC, claiming the case against seven men who were arrested for allegedly planning the Mumbai attacks could not proceed without Kasab and Ansari being declared proclaimed offenders.

Meanwhile the counsel for the defence, Khawaja Sultan, submitted application saying Kasab has already been convicted in India and could not be tried again in Pakistan under section 403 of the criminal procedure code. Kasab is not avoiding the court wilfully since he is in the custody of Indian law enforcement agencies, he added.

The court accepted the application of both the prosecution and the defence and adjourned the case till March 5.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 27^th, 2011.

LAHORE: The managing director (MD) of the National Police Foundation (NPF) has cancelled ‘illegal’ allotment of 10 pricey plots by the former Punjab police chief on his last day as the NPF head, The Express Tribune has learnt.

Meanwhile, scrutiny showed more dubious deals struck by PML-N legislator Anjum Aqeel Khan worth billions of rupees in the NPF.

The NPF chief, Zafar Ahmad Qureshi, confirmed the cancellation of plots and reports of more fraud in the foundation.

On his last day as the managing director of the National Police Foundation, Khwaja Khalid Farooq allegedly allotted 10 precious plots to his ‘blue-eyed’ police officials at throw-away prices in back dates. (See table for details of the beneficiaries)

Interestingly, the record shows that the allotments were made on May 5 last year. But neither Farooq nor any other NPF member mentioned the date along with their signatures on documents.

Sources told The Express Tribune that the officials who were obliged by the NPF chief later sold the plots at a hundred times more than their purchase price, thus causing huge losses to the NPF.

When the scam was unearthed, the NPF’s incumbent chief ordered an inquiry. Subsequently, the NPF management decided to issue notices to Farooq and other beneficiaries.

On the other hand, Anjum Aqeel Khan has offered in an affidavit to hand over land worth of Rs5.8 billion against his liability.

Sources said that Khan had misappropriated land measuring about 300 kanals in connivance with former officials of the NPF.

The NPF board of governors met on Saturday to discuss Khan’s offer. And subsequently they sent the offer along with their reservations to the federal interior secretary for approval.

The NPF chief also decided to summon Ajum Aqeel again for further investigation. Former MD Iftikhar Ahmed, former housing additional directors Abdul Hannan, Khuda Bakhsh and Laeeq Ahmed Khan have also been summoned on February 28 for their alleged involvement in the Rs6 billions scam.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 27^th, 2011.