Ex-Pak Military Intelligence DG in dock for many crimes

April 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Islamabad, Apr 26(ANI): Pakistan politicians have urged the government to start an investigation against former Military Intelligence Director General, Major General Nadeem Ejaz, who has been accused of a number of crimes including kidnapping of several political activists in Balochistan and Punjab.

According to reports, Ejaz once kidnapped the security guards of Chaudhry Shujaat Hussaina and also picked up the brother of a sitting MPA of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) for settling his personal scores with the then-Punjab Chief Minister.

Background interactions with leaders of these political parties revealed that Ejaz had become a monster in the last days of the General Pervez Musharraf regime.

It is also believed that even after the retirement of Musharraf as Army chief, Ejaz was directly reporting to him bypassing new Army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, The News reports.

A recently published UN Commission report on the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto claimed that after the assassination the crime scene was hosed down on the orders of Ejaz.

Though the government has constituted a three-member committee to pinpoint the responsibility for hosing down the crime scene, political circles in Islamabad are of the view that Ejaz’s role was not limited to hosing down the crime scene.

The politicians also claim that he should be investigated thoroughly because he was directly or indirectly related to many other important events like the assassination of Akbar Bugti in August 2006 and massacre in Karachi on May 12, 2007. (ANI)

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Ex-Pak Military Intelligence DG in dock for many crimes Ex-Pak Military Intelligence DG in dock for many crimes

April 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Islamabad, Apr 26(ANI): Pakistan politicians have urged the government to start an investigation against former Military Intelligence Director General, Major General Nadeem Ejaz, who has been accused of a number of crimes including kidnapping of several political activists in Balochistan and Punjab.

According to reports, Ejaz once kidnapped the security guards of Chaudhry Shujaat Hussaina and also picked up the brother of a sitting MPA of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) for settling his personal scores with the then-Punjab Chief Minister.

Background interactions with leaders of these political parties revealed that Ejaz had become a monster in the last days of the General Pervez Musharraf regime.

It is also believed that even after the retirement of Musharraf as Army chief, Ejaz was directly reporting to him bypassing new Army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, The News reports.

A recently published UN Commission report on the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto claimed that after the assassination the crime scene was hosed down on the orders of Ejaz.

Though the government has constituted a three-member committee to pinpoint the responsibility for hosing down the crime scene, political circles in Islamabad are of the view that Ejaz’s role was not limited to hosing down the crime scene.

The politicians also claim that he should be investigated thoroughly because he was directly or indirectly related to many other important events like the assassination of Akbar Bugti in August 2006 and massacre in Karachi on May 12, 2007. (ANI)

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Hundreds gather for anti-racism protest

April 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Several hundred people have rallied at Flinders Street railway station to protest against racism.

The protesters are gathering ahead of a planned anti-immigration and anti-Islam protest, later today.

Trade union officials, religious leaders and political activists have all addressed the crowd.

Victorian Trades Hall council secretary Brian Boyd had this message.

“We will not tolerate racism in this country. We will not tolerate fascism in this country. We will not tolerate discrimination of any kind in this country,” he said.

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Baloch and Sindhi activists demand Pak be declared as ‘terrorist state’

March 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Mon, Mar 29 05:17 PM

Baloch and Sindhi activists here have demanded that Pakistan be declared a ”terrorist state”.

A large number of people from the two communities converged in front of the BBC World Service office in London to protest and observe Pakistan’s illegal occupation of the “independent state” of Balochistan on March 27, 1948, a day that has since been declared as ”Black Day”.

“This is the time the world should realize and they should, I think, this is the time for the security, for the peace and for the stability of the region, and the international community that they should declare Pakistan as a terrorist state,” Samad Baloch, a member of the Baloch Human Rights Council, said.

The protest intended to tell the international community, including the UN, that Balochistan should be recognized as an occupied country.

The protesters, holding placards with anti-Pakistan slogans, its military, and human rights violations, blamed Pakistani authorities for settling Taliban militia everywhere in the country.

“Basically, they are settling Taliban everywhere; they are settling Taliban in Gilgit and Baltistan; they are settling Taliban in Pakistani-occupied Kashmir; they are settling Taliban in Sindh; they are settling Taliban in Balochistan, because they are their strategic extension,” said Lakhu Luhana, Secretary General, World Sindhi Congress, UK.

Luhana said that Sindhis and Balochs are being denied their basic rights.

“People are being disappeared, the political activists, and the Sindhi people… historical rights, political rights and legal rights and cultural rights, they have been completely denied them. There is no law and order, they have entered into poverty and suffering and that has descended on Sindh and Balochistan,” he said.

The protestors also said their struggle would continue until they had achieved their goal of a free Balochistan.

They said that Pakistan never wants to resolve the Kashmir issue, as it would then stop receiving international aid.

“If the Kashmir problem solved, how Pakistan General…becoming…take money, so they are the most corrupt army in the world, people call it fifth largest army of the world, but we say this is the most corrupt army in the world,” Mir Ghulam Hussain, Information Secretary, Baloch Human Rights Council, UK, said.

New Delhi accuses Pakistan of sponsoring terror in Indian-administered Kashmir. Pakistan, which claims Kashmir in full, has consistently denied its involvement in abetting an anti-India insurgency that has killed more than 47,000 people since 1989.

Former legislative assembly member from Balochistan and member of the powerful Marri tribe, Harbiya Marri, also said that Pakistan has no intentions to have peace with India, and the dialogue between the two countries is a farce.

“They have no intention of having peace with Pakistan because they have to maintain this large army and the army is main ruler of Pakistan, which is controlling Pakistan for the last 62 years. So this is the creation of this artificial stage. So, they have to have some sort of dialogue to show we want peace but in reality the intentions are not peace. They want these camps to be maintained to keep on terrorizing Indian government, people and the whole world,” he said.

India broke off a four-year-long sluggish peace initiative with Pakistan after the November 26, 2008 Mumbai attacks, saying dialogue could resume only if Islamabad acted against militants on its soil. It blamed the attacks, which killed 166 people, on Pakistan-based militants.
ANI

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Baloch and Sindhi activists demand Pakistan be declared as ”terrorist state”

March 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

London, March 29 (ANI): Baloch and Sindhi activists here have demanded that Pakistan be declared a ”terrorist state”.

A large number of people from the two communities converged in front of the BBC World Service office in London to protest and observe Pakistan”s illegal occupation of the “independent state” of Balochistan on March 27, 1948, a day that has since been declared as ”Black Day”.

“This is the time the world should realize and they should, I think, this is the time for the security, for the peace and for the stability of the region, and the international community that they should declare Pakistan as a terrorist state,” Samad Baloch, a member of the Baloch Human Rights Council, said.

The protest intended to tell the international community, including the UN, that Balochistan should be recognized as an occupied country.

The protesters, holding placards with anti-Pakistan slogans, its military, and human rights violations, blamed Pakistani authorities for settling Taliban militia everywhere in the country.

“Basically, they are settling Taliban everywhere; they are settling Taliban in Gilgit and Baltistan; they are settling Taliban in Pakistani-occupied Kashmir; they are settling Taliban in Sindh; they are settling Taliban in Balochistan, because they are their strategic extension,” said Lakhu Luhana, Secretary General, World Sindhi Congress, UK.

Luhana said that Sindhis and Balochs are being denied their basic rights.

“People are being disappeared, the political activists, and the Sindhi people… historical rights, political rights and legal rights and cultural rights, they have been completely denied them. There is no law and order, they have entered into poverty and suffering and that has descended on Sindh and Balochistan,” he said.

The protestors also said their struggle would continue until they had achieved their goal of a free Balochistan.

They said that Pakistan never wants to resolve the Kashmir issue, as it would then stop receiving international aid.

“If the Kashmir problem solved, how Pakistan General…becoming…take money, so they are the most corrupt army in the world, people call it fifth largest army of the world, but we say this is the most corrupt army in the world,” Mir Ghulam Hussain, Information Secretary, Baloch Human Rights Council, UK, said.

New Delhi accuses Pakistan of sponsoring terror in Indian-administered Kashmir. Pakistan, which claims Kashmir in full, has consistently denied its involvement in abetting an anti-India insurgency that has killed more than 47,000 people since 1989.

Former legislative assembly member from Balochistan and member of the powerful Marri tribe, Harbiya Marri, also said that Pakistan has no intentions to have peace with India, and the dialogue between the two countries is a farce.

“They have no intention of having peace with Pakistan because they have to maintain this large army and the army is main ruler of Pakistan, which is controlling Pakistan for the last 62 years. So this is the creation of this artificial stage. So, they have to have some sort of dialogue to show we want peace but in reality the intentions are not peace. They want these camps to be maintained to keep on terrorizing Indian government, people and the whole world,” he said.

India broke off a four-year-long sluggish peace initiative with Pakistan after the November 26, 2008 Mumbai attacks, saying dialogue could resume only if Islamabad acted against militants on its soil. It blamed the attacks, which killed 166 people, on Pakistan-based militants. (ANI)

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Political parties set up Ganesh Puja pandals in Rajkot

August 27, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Mumbai, Aug.27 (ANI): In a bid to cash on one of the biggest gatherings of devotees during the ongoing Ganesha festival, political parties have set up pandals or makeshift temples here.

The 10-day festivities mark the birth anniversary of Lord Ganesha, signifying good omen and prosperity.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has set up a huge ‘pandal’ for Ganesha followers, anticipating devotees converging in large numbers.

People are turning up in these pandals fascinated by the life-size Ganesha statues and to participate in prayers.

BJP’s local unit in Rajkot has planned grand celebrations during the days ahead with various cultural programmemes and competitions scheduled on this occasion

Political activists and organisers of the Pandal say that the objective behind all this set up is nothing but to encourage people’s participation in religious programmes such as this one.

“We are organising it for the second time. This programme is based on our religious sentiments. The people of Rajkot are aware that even though the programme is organised on behalf of the BJP but the motive is to encourage participation of Hindus and to propagate religious sentiment,” said Nitin Bhardwaj, City President, Bharatiya Janata Party.

Organisers deny it has anything to do with politics or publicity.

“This is not a political programme, it is a religious programme. Rajkot, Saurashtra, is the land of Mahatama Gandhi, Krishna and so on…This is a religious programme in honour of Ganesha,” said Dhansukh Bhanderi, organiser.

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena party has set a huge prayer tent and is drawing hundreds of devotees.

“The faith in Ganesha is such that people come here themselves. It is completely a public affair. There is no political intention in it,” said Jimmy Adwani, President of Shiv Sena’s Rajkot unit.

Initially, Ganesha Chaturthi was a personal or domestic affair, celebrated within homes. At the turn of the last century, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, a revolutionary freedom fighter and crusader against the British colonials proposed it become an even of bringing people together and promote unity. By Suresh Soni (ANI)

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Appalling increase in Pak crime rate revealed by HRCP data

July 10, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Karachi, July 9 (ANI): Data released by the Sindh chapter of the Human Right Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has revealed shocking details about the increasing crime graph in the country.

The data, which has been compiled on the basis of newspaper details, stated that incidents such as ethnic riots and honour killings have shot-up alarmingly by 21.34 percent in the first six months of 2009, as compared to the same period last year.

The statistics also revealed that crimes against women and children has also witnessed a steep rise, with an 83 and 162 percent increase respectively in the numbers of women and children being killed in various incidents.

According to the data, 119 women and 84 children were reportedly killed in different incidents during the above mentioned period.

The number of women who died after receiving serious burn injuries has increased to 23, while last year it was only four.

Political leaders also feature in the list of most affected people, with over 100 political activists killed in the said period, as compared to 74 in 2008, The Daily Times reports.

The report added that 25 policemen have been killed in the first half of the year so far. (ANI)

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Zimbabwe could face ‘complete anarchy’ within a year

May 26, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Harare (Zimbabwe), May 26 (ANI): Zimbabwe could collapse into “complete anarchy” in a year if foreign aid does not bolster it’s failing economy, a former judge has told Sky News Online.

The nation is battling to pay nurses, teachers, police and soldiers, despite adopting the US dollar as its first currency to tame hyperinflation with its own. Starvation and a cholera outbreak have also been wreaking havoc in the southern African state.

Foreign powers are prepared to boost Zimbabwe with a multi-billion pound rescue package – but only if Mugabe abides by a power-sharing deal.

George Smith, a former High Court judge who served under both Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith and President Robert Mugabe’s regimes, said “It’s essential the outside world comes in with aid as soon as possible, even if it comes in bits and pieces and makes each step conditional.”

The judge, who played a key role in the Lancaster House negotiations in 1980 that brought about Zimbabwe’s independence, admitted “the big problem” with the unity government was Zanu PF’s reluctance to fulfill the power-sharing deal’s promises.

Referring to reports of police refusing to protect farmers from groups seizing their land, he said: “The failure to implement what was agreed and the arrests of political activists and journalists make a lot of people unsure the inclusive government is working as one. The problem is not the president, but there are people in the parties or in the police who are doing their own thing.”

He insisted holding back aid threatened “to destroy” the unity government, with internal political party tensions mounting, as the economy declines.

“Africa should be left to police itself. If aid does not come in, the whole thing will collapse and people are going to suffer,” he said. (ANI)

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Burmese junta bars lawyer from defending Suu Kyi

May 17, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, May 17 (ANI): The Burmese junta has revoked the license of a prominent activist lawyer in order to bar him from defending opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, as international pressure intensifies on the military regime to drop new charges against the Nobel Peace laureate.

Aung Thein said the order revoking his licence was issued on Friday, a day after a prison court charged Suu Kyi with breaking the conditions of her nearly six-year house arrest, due to expire on 27 May.

“I went to Insein Prison to be one of the five defence lawyers for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and they issued the order the next day,” The Scotsman quoted Aung Thein, as saying.

Critics of the regime have denounced the trial of Suu Kyi and two female companions, due to start tomorrow, on charges stemming from the visit of an American intruder who was arrested after he claimed to have spent two days at her lakeside home in Yangon.
Suu Kyi, 63, faces up to five years in jail if convicted. Her lawyers insist she is innocent and did not invite John Yettaw, who according to state media, swam to her tightly guarded lakeside home using homemade flippers.

Yettaw’s motives remained unclear, but he has been charged with various offences, including encouraging others to break the law and “illegal swimming”.

Aung Thein, 62, was jailed for four months last year for contempt of court while defending political activists.

The military, which has ruled Burma since 1962, has so far ignored the international outcry over its latest crackdown on Suu Kyi, who has spent more than 13 of the past 19 years in some orm f detention. (ANI)

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Political activists in Gujarat protest against killing of party worker

May 11, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Dausa/Gotada (Rajasthan), May 11 (ANI): Political activists in Gujarat on Monday demanded action against an election officer when one person was killed and four injured in police firing after a mob allegedly tried to capture a polling booth during a re-poll.

Jaikishan, an independent candidate was killed during a re-poll in Gotada area in the Dausa district of the state on Sunday.

The activists have submitted their demand to the Divisional Commissioner and the officials said they have filed a case against the election officer.

“The election officer inspecting the elections went to the polling booth and stopped the polling and said they will organize a re-poll. People got agitated when they were told that they could not vote. Police then had to open fire. We have filed a case,” said Kiran Soni Gupta, a Divisional Commissioner.

The agitated political candidates said they would not sit quiet on it.

“My supporters were detained without any reason. Our vehicles were seized. There was no booth capturing and our worker is killed. This is very wrong for the party, for me, for my electorate. I will take revenge in a democratic way,” Kirori Lal Meena.urther re-poll, for the third time, has been announced in the area. (ANI)

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3 killed in accident as rival convoys crash

April 6, 2009 By Leave a Comment

NELLORE: Three political activists were killed and another injured in a road accident when a convoy of rival parties encountered each other in
Atmakur constituency on Saturday. The dead were Arikatla Venkata Subbaiah and Rachakonda Venkateswarlu, both of the TDP, and Penugonda Srinivasulu of the Congress.

According to the police, TDP candidate Kommi Lakshmaiah Naidu was returning home alongwith his supporters after filing his nomination in the afternoon when they encountered Congress candidate Anam Narayana Reddy and his men who were on their way to file his nomination.

The police said the rival groups who were on four wheelers and motorcycles, refused to yield the way to the other resulting in a collision between some of them.

A truck carrying Congress supporters accidentally hit a motorcycle that carried some TDP men and also another two-wheeler on which were the Congress supporters, resulting in the death of three of them. The condition of K Jayaramulu of the Congress is said to be critical.

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Pakistan’s top judge returns to court, urges end to corruption

March 24, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Islamabad – Pakistan’s top Supreme Court judge held court on Tuesday, more than 16 months after his dismissal by former military president Pervez Musharraf.

A crowd of jubilant lawyers dressed in black suits chanted slogans and threw rose petals as Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry arrived at the Supreme Court building with official protocol.

Chaudhry, 59, was reinstated by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on March 16 as lawyers and opposition political activists marched to the capital Islamabad for a sit-in.

Pakistan was gripped by mass protests since November 3, 2007, when then-president and army chief Musharraf sacked Chaudhry and 60 other judges amid fears that they might undo his re-election.

The government’s surprise move last week warded off a showdown that could have thrown the nuclear-armed nation into a political turmoil.

Chaudhry effectively resumed office after Saturday midnight, but returned to work on Tuesday, following the weekend and a national holiday on Monday.

The respected jurist thanked God for the restoration of “original courts” and asked attorneys help purge the judiciary of “endemic corruption.”

Chaudhry won plaudits for standing up to a military dictator and pursuing sensitive cases against the state in public interest.

But even on his return under a democratic government, the judge faces pressures on controversial issues, including ones that could alter the political balance.

Gilani’s government has already moved Chaudhry’s court to review a verdict that barred top opposition leader Nawaz Sharif and his brother, Shahbaz Sharif, from public office.

Some opposition groups are also banking on Chaudhry to rescind a Musharraf law that cleared current President Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, of graft charges.

Zardari replaced Musharraf as president after the former military strongman resigned in August 2008 under threats of impeachment.

Zardari repeatedly broke promises to reinstate Chaudhry, but finally gave in last week to defuse a potentially explosive political crisis that threatened the demise of his party’s government.

On Monday, he told the Sky News television channel that the climbdown on judge’s reinstatement had not weakened his presidency, a claim few analysts took seriously.

Pakistan’s shaky political situation, coupled with its struggling economy and growing insurgency, has set alarm bells ringing for the West, which considers the Islamic republic a linchpin in the fight against al-Qaeda and Taliban militants in Afghanistan.

David Kilcullen, adviser to US Centcom commander General David Petraeus, recently told The Washington Post that Pakistan could collapse within six months, warning such a situation would “dwarf” all the crises the world faced today. (dpa)

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Manipur residents, traders hold sit-in protest against rebels

March 20, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Imphal, Mar 20 (ANI): Scores of residents and traders here took part in a sit-in protest against militants.

Suspected militants exploded a bomb in front of the Hospital and Assisted Reproductive Centre in Imphal on Wednesday, damaging parked vehicles and severely injuring four persons, including two women.

Carrying placards that read, “Bomb attack at crowded area is an act of terrorists,” “We condemn gun culture,” and “Bomb is not a toy,” The protesters condemned the attack, shouting, “We want peace.”

Protesters said innocent people were being targeted and the situation had become intolerable.

“The attacks they have been carrying out are innumerable. Poor and helpless people, who are toiling hard for their livelihood, are always their victims. This is really difficult and hard to bear anymore,” said W. Ashalata Devi, president of Kombirei Keithel Meira Paibi Apunba Lup, a traders’ organisation.

There has been a marked rise in attacks in the run up to the polls with political activists being targeted in a bid to keep them off the upcoming general elections. (ANI)

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Sacked judges restored in line with Benazir’s promise: Aitzaz

March 18, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Rawalpindi (Pakistan), Mar.18 (ANI): Former Supreme Court Bar Association president and leader of the lawyers’ Long March, Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan said Wednesday that the restoration of the deposed judges was in accordance with the promises made by slain former Prime Minister and PPP leader Benazir Bhutto.

Talking to newsmen after visiting the Benazir’s memorial here, he said martyrs never die and she is also with us in this gathering.

“We renew our pledge of complete loyalty with her,” he said.

Ahsan offered prayers and laid a floral wreath on the memorial.

Ahsan’s statement came two days after agitating lawyers, political activists and former PM Nawaz Sharif propelled Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry to his rightful position as the Chief Justice of Pakistan.

In a swift response to President Asif Ali Zardari’s acceptance of the need to restore judges deposed by President General Pervez Musharraf in 2007, Sharif, who had set off on a ‘Long March’ from Lahore to Islamabad on Sunday, ended the agitation and declared victory.

Following intense pressure mounted by Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and the United States, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani announced in a televised address to the nation that Chaudhry and other judges sacked in November 2007 would be reinstated.

As Pakistan celebrated people’s power, Chaudhry described his re-instatement as a “great success” for the two-year-long agitation led by the country’s legal community. He will resume office on March 21.

Ahsan then said that for the chief justice to be able to work, he must have the cooperation of the government.

“We appeal to the government to cooperate with the chief justice and not create hurdles for him,” Ahsan said. (ANI)

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Suspected militants target Manipur’s politician

March 16, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Oibam (Manipur), Mar 16 (ANI): Political activists in Manipur said rebels were targeting them to keep them off the upcoming general elections.

Workers of the Congress party said they have been receiving threats from various militant outfits after announcements of general elections.

Suspected militants stormed the house of Congress party’s district president W. Maipak Singh in Bishenpur on Saturday.

Singh received bullets in the chest, neck and arm. He has been admitted to the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences and was out of danger.

The house of Singh bore bullet marks of the attack.

The rebels were believed to belong to the banned Kangleipak Communist Party – Military Council.

Militant groups accuse New Delhi of plundering the region’s mineral and forest resources, but investing little in return.

India has placed military, paramilitary and police forces under a single regional command to tackle the rebellion. (ANI)

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Long March: Pak’s Deputy AG, PPP Parliamentary Secretary resign in protest

March 16, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Lahore, Mar 16 (ANI): To protest the “undemocratic steps adopted by the Pakistan People’s Party Government against the marchers”, Deputy Attorney of Pakistan Abdul Hayee Gillani and PPP Parliamentary Secretary Ijaz Virk have resigned from their posts to record their protest against the torture of lawyers.

Gillani said he had faxed his resignation to President Asif Ali Zardari. Giving reasons for his resignation, he said he could not tolerate the way the police baton charged the lawyers and political activists and resorted to massive teargas shelling, which also targeted the Lahore High Court building.

He said it was intolerable for him to stay with a government that was denying rights to its citizens and sealing all routes around the country, which aimed only to curb their right to expression.

Gillani said that he especially felt pain on hearing that a lady had to give birth to a baby at a barricade after the police denied her the right to travel to hospital, The Nation reports.

In these circumstances, it was not possible for him to continue with the job under the present government and therefore had preferred to quit, he added.

Meanwhile, Punjab Government on Sunday issued transfer orders of DCO Lahore, Sajjad Bhutta, allegedly for his soft handling of participants during the ‘Long March’ in the city.

Earlier, there were rumours that Bhutta had resigned from government service refusing to obey the illegal orders of Punjab Government, but they turned out to be false.

The Punjab Government issued a notification for his transfer late on Sunday night. It was not clear in the official handout if he has been made an OSD.

The Punjab Government also issued suspension orders on Athar Waheed, Superintendent of Police, Gujranwala. (ANI)

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Western diplomats in Pakistan want to import armoured personnel carriers for safety

March 14, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Islamabad, Mar. 14 (ANI): After the US and the UK advised their citizens against visiting Pakistan due to security threats, Western embassies may request the Pakistan Government to allow them to import armoured personnel carriers (APCs) for the protection of their senior staff.

Particularly, High Commissions of Commonwealth member countries in Islamabad are so anxious, that some of them have already acquired such vehicles for their senior officials.

“I am not aware of such measures, but our security staff does take measures from time-to-time, according to fresh advisory and threats,” The News quoted British High Commission spokesperson Jennifer Wilkes, as saying.

The security threats are intensifying even more ground with the deteriorating political situation in Pakistan, and occasioned by the lawyers long march call being supported by some of the major opposition parties.

Sources claimed that security officials of embassies and high commissions had taken a serious note of the build-up in and around the federal capital, where lawyers and political activists from all parts of the country were trying to stream in.

“The scenes of long march and the threats that the lawyers and the political activists would be causing a standstill in Islamabad are really worrisome.

We have in the past experienced attacks on our senior diplomats and staffs.

It is advisable that additional measures for protecting them are taken without any delay,” sources said.

“We are aware of the Foreign Office!s announcement that embassies and high commissions would be extended additional security.

But such measures have not been enough in the past. Therefore, we are planning to be extra cautious and use all instruments of security and make them available in Islamabad and throughout Pakistan,” they added. (ANI)

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Sharif demands immediate release of detained activists

March 12, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Lahore, Mar 12 (ANI): Pakistan Muslim League-N chief Nawaz Sharif today demanded immediate release of the lawyers, representatives of civil society and politicians arrested by police for participating in the lawyers’ long march.

Meanwhile, police baton-charged lawyers and political activists and manhandled dozens into vans at Karachi Toll Plaza on Thursday.

Police also arrested several lawyers and leaders of Pakistan Muslim League-N, Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, National People’s Party and Sindh United Party who gathered at Toll Plaza to leave for Sukkur, The News reported.

Those who have been arrested include President of Sindh High Court Bar, Rasheed A. Rizvi, former President of Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Munir A. Malik, JI leader Dr. Mairaj-ul-Huda Siddiqui, Sunni Tehreek leader Shahid Ghauri and Muslim League leader Captain (Retd.) Haleem Siddiqui.

According to police sources, arrest warrants of 11 political leaders have been issued and orders were passed to stop the long march protestors at Toll Plaza.

Police baton-charged activists and manhandled dozens into vans in Karachi, as thousands defied the government in a mass protest.

The Jamaat-e-Islami leaders Prof. Ghafoor Ahmad, Asadullah Bhutto and Mohammad Hussain Mehenti, president Karachi Bar Muhammad Ali Abbasi, general secretary Naeem Qureshi and many other political workers have been arrested from Karachi.

Earlier, a large number of lawyers gathered outside Sindh High Court (SHC) from where long march was kicked off. A rally of lawyers, headed by Rasheed A. Rizvi, left for Mazar-e-Quaid at 12pm from Sindh High Court Bar room. Police had sealed all the routes leading to City Court before the protestors arrived there.

Lawyers in black suits and opposition party activists carrying flags and punching their fists in the air marched in Karachi and Lahore, demanding that President Asif Ali Zardari reinstate sacked judges.

Hundreds of thousands of lawyers, opposition supporters and civil activists will join a four-day convoy on the 1,500 kilometers (940 miles) route from Karachi to Islamabad, where it is intended to arrive Monday. (ANI)

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Kayani meets Gilani, threatens to impose emergency in Pakistan

March 11, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Islamabad, Mar.11 (ANI): Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff, General Asfaq Parvez Kayani met Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Wednesday morning and reviewed the deteriorating law and order situation in the country on the eve of the proposed “Long March” from Karachi to Islamabad by the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

According to highly placed sources, General Kayani told the Prime Minister that the army could not be a silent spectator to the worsening situation, and added that unless the situation was not brought under control in the next four days, the army would take steps for imposition of an emergency, suspension of all assemblies (national and provincial) and dismissal of President Asif Ali Zardari.

He further said that in the event of that situation, the army would immediately nominate a caretaker interim set-up, which would replace the PPP-led coalition government.

General Kayani’s warning came as the government cracked down on opposition activists in various parts of the country, including Karachi, Multan and Lahore. Dozens of political activists and lawyers were arrested in Islamabad and across the Punjab on Wednesday in a bid to thwart the planned “Long March” on the capital, police said.

Thirty-five political activists and lawyers were arrested in Islamabad during raids launched overnight and continuing beyond daybreak, a senior police officer said on condition of anonymity.

Those rounded up include members of the PML-N, which is headed by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who was last month disqualified from contesting elections.

A top leader in Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) party, Raja Zafarul Haq, was placed under house arrest, police said.

Police dressed in civilian clothes attempted to arrest lawyers’ movement leader Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan from his residence early Wednesday morning, but he was not present at the time.

Many lawyers and MPs have gone into hiding to avoid detention, and were unreachable by telephone at their homes and offices.

Police also searched in vain for cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, who lives just outside the capital.

In Lahore police confirmed further arrests after authorities banned protests and ordered paramilitary troops to be on alert in a bid to prevent this week’s planned ‘long march’ demanding legal reforms.

Punjab MPA Iftikahr Baloch’s house was raided and eight people were arrested from there.

Women Action Forum’s Tahira Abdullah was detained for three hours. She has now been released.

Similar raids also took place in Vehari, Gujranwala, Shaikhupura, Faisalabad and Sialkot.

Pervez Malik, a local leader in PML-N, said police raided the homes of party MPs and arrested ‘dozens’ of workers in Lahore.

Ameer-al Azeem, the Lahore chief of opposition party Jamaat-e-Islami said that ‘some 15 to 20′ workers in the organisation’s youth wing had been detained.

In Multan district, police arrested 28 workers from opposition parties, district PML-N chief, Allah Nawaz Noorani.

There was, however, no immediate confirmation on the numbers from police.

Meanwhile, in Abbotabad, Sharif asked the nation to get ready for offering sacrifices for a revolution in the country.

Addressing a charged rally here on Wednesday, he said the time had come that the people should come on streets to change their destiny. He asked the people to take part in the long march of lawyers, if they wanted to change their fate.

He charged President Zardari with again introducing the politics of horse-trading in the country.

He lauded the efforts of Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, Sardar Mehtab Khan and Pir Sabir Shah for the restoration of deposed judges and supremacy of constitution.

“Today is a defining moment in Pakistan’s history. We can change the destiny of this country. Pakistan stands at a crossroads today and it is your duty to save it. We want to change this outdated system because it poses a danger to our existence and they want to charge me for sedition,” he told a rally of thousands of supporters, who cheered and waved party banners. (ANI)

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Pakistan launches clampdown ahead of protest march

March 11, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Islamabad  – Police on Wednesday began a crackdown on opposition parties and anti-government lawyers in Pakistan’s eastern province of Punjab to forestall this week’s planned countrywide protest march.

More than 150 political activists, mostly from the party of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, were rounded up in several towns of the country’s most populous province, according to media reports.

The arrests came after an overnight ban on public gatherings in Punjab and were followed by a similar ban in the southern Sindh province.

Authorities said public gatherings were banned in the wake of security threats, saying militants might attack protesters.

Opposition parties have joined the defiant lawyers in their planned rally, which they have named the “Long March”.

Prosters will call for the reinstatement of former Supreme Court chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, who was sacked by ex-president Pervez Musharraf in 2007.

The march is scheduled to begin in Sindh and Balochistan provinces on Thursday and will go through Punjab and culminate with a sit-in outside the parliament building in Islamabad on Monday.

Ali Ahmad Kurd, head of the lawyers’ campaign, vowed to go ahead with the protest, saying marchers would proceed even if their leaders were taken into custody.

Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party decried the police crackdown as dictatorial tactics.

“The arrests have strengthened our resolve to fight for an independent judiciary and rule of law,” a party spokesman Ahsan Iqbal said.

Sharif’s party ruled Punjab until late February when the Supreme Court barred the two-time ex-premier and his brother, Shahbaz Sharif, from office.

The judgment removed Shahbaz from the seat of chief minister, sparking a wave of angry protests throughout Punjab.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari was blamed for influencing the verdict, but he denied the allegations.

Zardari, along with Sharif, who remained his coalition partner for five months, earlier pledged to reinstate Chaudhry, but later backed off amid speculation that independent-minded judges could reverse a controversial law by Musharraf that cleared Zaradri of graft charges.

The political conflict has raised concern among Western countries who want nuclear-armed Pakistan to focus on the fight against militancy in its restive north-western region near Afghanistan. (dpa)

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