Benazir Bhutto determined to return to Pakistan

Former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has said that she is determined to return to Islamabad between September and December, in spite of the probability of her being arrested by the Musharraf regime."I must return home, even if they arrest me. I am ready for detention," she said in an interview with the BBC.

Expressing disappointment over President Musharraf's recent statement in which he had ruled out any possibility of her return and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, she said, "I am very much disappointed by his statement because I believe that the extremists are in a bid to establish a parallel government in Pakistan stretching from Tank to Islamabad.

Musharraf should welcome me and Nawaz Sharif in the country in the present situation." Though determined to face the risk of arrest, Benazir said that the military regime could levy any charge against her.She accepted that she is in contact with Musharraf, but refuted reports of any deal being worked out between her party Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the government. "There have been contacts, but deal is something else. There hasn't been any agreement under which we could accept him, "she said.She said that her party wants to see the army returning back to barracks.

Pakistan govt accepts demands by radical mosque

The government of Pakistan has agreed to accept all demands put forward by the management of the radical Islamabad mosque, Lal Masjid (Red Mosque), including the enforcement of Sharia or Islamic law in the country, according to the head of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML) Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain.
His comments came after talks on Tuesday night when Chaudhry Shujaat paid a surprise visit to Lal Masjid and met its clerics Maulana Abdul Aziz and Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi. He said details would be given in the parliament on Wednesday.The PML chief assured the mosque administration and the female students of its affiliated madrassa or Muslim seminar, Jamia Hasfa, that the government was ready to accept all their demands, including the enforcement of Sharia. Talking to journalists after the meeting, Chaudhry Shujaat said all contentious issues between the government and Lal Masjid clerics had been settled.Responding to a question about the situation inside the mosque, the Pakistan Muslim League president denied the presence of activists of banned organisations and illegal arms in the mosque.
Pakistani president Gen Musharraf had said many times in the recent past that the mosque administration had provided shelter to suicide bombers.Two security officials, who were taken hostage by the students of Jamia Hasfa last month, had also told the media that they had seen a bulk of arms and ammunitions in the mosque.About the enforcement of Sharia law, the PML chief said: “No Muslim rejects the enforcement of the Islamic system in the country.”The ruling party chief also met two sisters who had taken refuge in Lal Masjid after being sexually abused by Azhar Iqbal, an influential man in Jehlum. He assured the victims that they would be provided justice and that the accused would be punished.
He said the district police office of Jhelum would visit Lal Masjid on Wednesday and would register a case against the accused, Azhar Iqbal.Later, Chaudhry Shujaat took a tour of the Jamia Hafsa and said that female students were studying in a good atmosphere.The first round of talks between the government of the clerics of the Lal Masjid was suspended after a military helicopter had continued hovering over the mosque for 20 minutes last week.The mosque administration condemned what it called the aerial surveillance of the mosque and said that some gases had also been sprayed on the mosque. The clerics of the Lal Masjid have increasingly been challenging the government in recent months.
They had announced that a Taliban-style Islamic or Sharia court would be set up to curb "vulgar" activities and gave the government a month to close video shops and brothels.The madrassa students had also occupied a children's library in Islamabad in protest against the demolition of several unauthorised mosques. They kidnapped three women and a child for allegedly running a brothel and recently threatened the owners of shop selling videos and CDs carrying material which they say is obscene and vulgar. This Taliban-style activity has caused outrage among human rights groups in Pakistan. Thousands of activists have staged protests calling for action to be taken against the madrassas, which they say are harassing ordinary people in the name of Islam.
Courtesy: ADNKI

Pakistan police tackle rival Musharraf rallies

Pakistan police separated supporters and opponents of President General Pervez Musharraf as the two sides held rival rallies in the capital yesterday during a hearing on a top judge's contentious suspension.
Lawyers and opposition activists have organized several protests since Musharraf removed Supreme Court chief justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry on March 9, triggering a political crisis that is testing the president's hold on power.
The government insists it suspended Chaudhry only after receiving credible complaints that he had abused his office -- for example, by using his position to seek a plum police job for his son.
However, critics accuse the government of trying to oust an independent-minded judge ahead of possible legal challenges to Musharraf's continued rule.
Chaudhry has denied the charges and vowed to fight for his job.
Hundreds of supporters of the ruling PML-Q party joined the fray for the first time yesterday, marching from their party headquarters toward a court in the center of the government district in the capital, Islamabad.
Courtesy: TT

Pakistan's Musharraf: Exiled Bhutto Not Returning

Pakistan's president said Sunday that there was no deal in the works with his main political opposition, denying speculation that former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto could return from exile.
President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's statement followed media reports and recent comments by a Cabinet minister suggesting that relations may be thawing between Musharraf and Bhutto.
"A spokesman for the president has strongly refuted all speculations regarding change in the government and a deal with an opposition party," an official statement from Musharraf's office said.
The government recently shifted a veteran anti-corruption investigator from cases against Bhutto, who lives in exile but still leads the Pakistan People's Party, the country's largest anti-Musharraf political group.
The transfer of the corruption investigator fanned speculation that Musharraf may sanction Bhutto's return to Pakistan. Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, a staunch Musharraf supporter, said Thursday that the move was part of negotiations between the government and Bhutto's party aimed at an unspecified possible deal.
Musharraf has been weakened by a bitter fight with opposition groups, including those led by Bhutto and another former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, over his removal of a senior judge.
Musharraf, who toppled Sharif's elected government and seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999, has said in the past that both Sharif and Bhutto, who was elected prime minister in the 1980s and 1990s, have no further role to play in Pakistani politics.
Courtesy: NM

Pakistani lawyers decide to keep intact campaign momentum

Lawyers from all over Punjab have resolved not to ease momentum of their movement against Gen. Pervez Musharraf or allow black sheep in their ranks to divert its path.
At a convention here, the Punjab Bar Council (PbBC) announced a full-day strike every Thursday as part of their protest against the ‘unconstitutional suspension’ of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, besides staging protest rallies, holding meetings and setting up hunger strike camps throughout the province.
The participants also enhanced the duration of the daily strike by lawyers from one to three hours during which time they would stage protests at their respective bars. The convention announced a strike and boycott of courts on April 3 when lawyers from all over the province will gather in Islamabad on the occasion of the hearing in the reference against the chief justice.
Bar Associations across the province were authorised to formulate their own protest schedules and programmes. It also said the lawyers' movement will remain unflinching till such time their goal has been achieved and lawyers will gather in Karachi if the venue for their assembly is shifted there.
The convention was attended by all the 113 bar associations, including representatives of the Supreme Court Bar Association and High Court Bar Association who demanded immediate ouster of Gen. Pervez Musharraf and reconstitution of the Supreme Judicial Council and demanded an open court trial of Justice Chaudhry.
The convention has demanded prosecution of Gen. Pervez Musharraf under Article 6, (high treason) for unconstitutionally holding office of president while in uniform of an army general and that a national government should be formed and elections held under an independent election commissioner.
The lawyers called for the removal of chief ministers of Punjab and Sindh for torturing lawyers and keeping Justice Chaudhry in detention allegedly for six hours to force him to resign.Paying glowing tribute to the boldness and courage of Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, the convention saluted judges and law officers who resigned to protest the reference. The convention also adopted a resolution demanding resignation of Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani for ‘lying to the nation’. The resolution flayed Law Minister Wasi Zafar, Dr Khalid Ranjha, Arif Chaudhry and Raja Abdul Rahman for supporting what they said, illegal and unconstitutional acts of President Musharraf.
Courtesy: KT

Pakistan's ex-PMs Benazir Bhutto & Nawaz Sharif seek US help for fair polls

Former Pakistan prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto have stepped up their overtures to the Bush administration, apparently in the belief that that the US alone can nudge President Pervez Musharraf towards holding free and fair elections.
The political rivals, engaged in forging opposition unity from their exile in Dubai and London, have also toured the US in the last month.
After a recent meeting in London, they had chided the West in general and accused it of 'hypocrisy' for being keen on democracy in neighbouring Afghanistan, but not in Pakistan.
Sharif, whom Musharraf deposed in 1998, told a US House of Representatives team in London last week: '2007 is a defining year for Pakistan. If elections are rigged, the country will plunge into deeper political crisis. The opposition parties are committed to restoring supremacy of constitution, rule of law, and ensuring fair and free elections in the country.'
Sharif lamented the continued US support to Musharraf at the meeting with the delegation of US House of Representatives subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs, led by its Chairman John Tierney, at his residence in central London, The Nation reported.
He complained that Musharaf had played the extremists' threat only to perpetuate his rule whereas the people of Pakistan had always supported moderate parties and ideas.
The US delegation, on its way to Pakistan on a three-day visit, expressed strong support for restoration of democracy and holding of fair and free elections in Pakistan.
They said: 'Congress is considering proposals to link Pakistan's economic assistance with progress on fighting terrorism and restoration of democracy. In this connection the delegation will meet with the representatives of the government, political parties, and civil society to formulate its recommendations.'
The American legislators assured Sharif that they would stress upon the Bush administration the need to hold free and fair elections and the participation of the entire political leadership in the process.
The US has also indicated its readiness to let Musharraf seek a second term in the presidency after which he might be confident enough to hold general elections.
Outgoing US envoy to Pakistan Robert C. Crocker told reporters here last week that it was 'for the people of Pakistan' to choose the type of democracy they desire. The US was not prescribing anything.
But the opposition says Musharraf's attempt would be patently illegal and even unconstitutional since the present parliament and provincial legislatures that form the electoral college have already elected him once in 2002.

Top Pakistan Islamist under house arrest

Pakistani authorities placed a top Islamist MP under house arrest on Monday ahead of planned protests against President Pervez Musharraf's removal of the country's top judge, officials said.
Qazi Hussain Ahmed, the chief of Pakistan's main coalition of fundamentalist parties, said he had been detained for two days at his residence in Islamabad.
"The government decision to detain me is undemocratic, unconstitutional and illegal. It appears they are in a complete panic," Ahmed said.
"It's difficult to say at the moment whether I will try to violate the detention order or not, but the protest will be held as per our decision."
"The government has confined our leader but our workers will take part in Tuesday's protest with full vigour. If the government stops us, the law and order situation will be its responsibility," said coalition spokesman Shahid Shamsi. Our protest is against the president's action against the chief justice and the military dictatorship in the country," he said. Interior minister Aftab Sherpao said he had "no knowledge" about Ahmed's arrest. But a senior security official confirmed on condition of anonymity that the leading Islamist was under detention.
Military ruler Musharraf suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on March 9 over allegations of misconduct and abuse of power, sparking a political crisis and a series of nationwide protests against his rule.
The Islamic coalition, known as the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal or United Action Front, called Tuesday's rally to coincide with the next sitting of a panel of top judges who are hearing the charges against Chaudhry. Chaudhry denies the allegations.
Ahmed -- regarded as a rabble-rouser by the government -- was also arrested on March 16 in Islamabad when he tried to break through a security cordon at protests in the capital, which later turned violent.
Lawyers and opposition parties loyal to exiled former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif have also called for separate but simultaneous demonstrations against Musharraf on Tuesday.
Courtesy: DNA-I

Missing in Pakistan, found in jehadi ranks: Musharraf

Hitting out at jehadi groups for bringing bad name to Islam, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf today said a number of missing persons, believed to have been abducted by intelligence agencies, actually joined militant outfits like the banned Jaish-e-Mohammad to create trouble in different parts of the world.
In his address to a religious conference here on the occasion of Eid Milad-un Nabi, Musharraf said he has conducted a thorough investigation into the allegations by relatives of missing persons and found that a number of them had joined jehadi groups.
He mainly referred to the campaign conducted by Amana, wife of one Janjua who has gone missing. Musharraf said Amana's husband, who was the son of an officer of Pakistan's special commando forces, went missing in Peshawar after attending the conference of an Islamic propagandaorganisation. Investigations revealed that Janjua had joined the Jaish-e-Mohammad.
Musharraf said his investigations have revealed that of the 45 persons missing, 35 have been traced.
Three of them, captured in Afghanistan, were found at Guantanamo. The remaining 10, including Janjua, have not been traced so far.
Referring to the girls of a madarsa here capturing two police and abducting three women, allegedly brothel runners, Musharraf appealed to the people present to prevail on such students not to indulge in militant acts.
He said young men and women joined jehadi groups and brought bad name to Islam by trying to impose their philosophy on others.
Musharraf said under Islam no one has the right to declare jehad except the government, which was the central authority. Jehad is just not about fighting and dying but it should be launched against illiteracy and poverty.
Courtesy: IE