Chronology of Pakistan
April 2004 (Continued II)
Opposition leaders condemn Shahbaz's 'forced exile'
May 11: Members of different opposition parties have condemned the deportation of Pakistan Muslim League-N president Mian Shahbaz Sharif to Saudi Arabia and demanded registration of a hijacking case against the Punjab government. Talking to Dawn, People's Party Parliamentarians MNA Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan termed the "forced exile" of Mr Sharif a violation of fundamental rights. He said the act of the government was a violation of Article 15 of the Constitution, which granted a right to "remain" in the country to every citizen.
Govt acted in accordance with exile deal: Rashid
May 11: Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said that PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif had been sent to Jeddah in accordance with an agreement that had been reached between Pakistan and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia three years ago. Speaking at a news conference at the PID media centre, he said a copy of the agreement had not been produced before the Supreme Court in 'good faith' and because of respect Pakistan had for its most honorable friend, the government of Saudi Arabia.
Pakistan kept US informed
May 11: Pakistan had kept the United States informed about developments concerning Shahbaz Sharif's failed attempt to return home, the State Department said. The department's spokesman Richard Boucher, however, made it clear that the United States was "not in any way involved" in Pakistan's decision to deport him or in choosing a destination for the deported leader.
PML-N, PPP activists teargassed, arrested
May 11: Lahore Police teargassed and baton-charged the activists of the PML-N and the PPP before detaining scores of them, including senior leaders, in different parts of the city to prevent them from going to Lahore airport to greet Shahbaz Sharif.
Resolutions rejected in chamber: Secrecy, sensitivity cited
May 11: A number of resolutions pertaining to civil-military relationship, transparency in the government and human rights were rejected in the Senate chairman's chamber over the past year after being declared inadmissible under the rules, Dawn reported. The opposition's bid to highlight the issues in the house through bills, questions, motions and resolutions was thwarted in the name of secrecy and being of sensitive nature, sources said.
Lashkar drops militants' hunt
May 11: A tribal lashkar put off its hunt for foreign militants after doubts emerged about contents of the Shakai agreement reached on April 24 between the government and tribal militants. The postponement dealt a new blow to the government which was trying to mobilize Ahmadzai Wazir tribesmen after a top militant declared that the registration of foreign combatants was not part of the Shakai accord.
Factions of PML unite to form one party: Shujaat elected president
May 12: Five PML factions and the Sindh Democratic Alliance (Imtiaz Sheikh group) were finally unified into one party which will be called 'Pakistan Muslim League'. Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain was unanimously elected president of the unified PML. Informed sources told Dawn that the unification was made possible after some seemingly irreconcilable differences were sorted out in a last-ditch effort made on May 10 at 'the highest level'.
Saudi officials seize Sharifs' passports?
May 12: Saudi authorities took away the passports of deposed Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his brother Shahbaz and their families following the return of Mian Shahbaz to Saudi Arabia after he was deported from Lahore, a Pakistani source in Riyadh said.
Shahbaz says he was deported 'deceitfully'
May 12: Mian Shahbaz Sharif has alleged that he was deceitfully deported to Saudi Arabia, with police giving him the impression that the special plane was taking him to Rawalpindi for arrest in a NAB case. MNA Khwaja Saad Rafiq said at a news conference in Lahore that the former chief minister had told him by phone from Jeddah that on landing at Lahore he was shown arrest warrants in connection with a police encounter case and informed that he was being arrested.
Request for troops tops agenda: Rocca meets Musharraf, Jamali
May 12: US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs Christina Rocca met the country's top policy-makers and discussed with them Washington's 'wish-list' , including contribution of Pakistani troops to the international coalition force for Iraq. She separately called on President Gen Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Jamali and Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri and discussed bilateral and regional issues with them.
Jirga to register foreigners
May 12: A tribal jirga in South Waziristan agreed to begin registering 'foreigners' in an attempt to avoid another confrontation between tribal militants and the government. However, a parliamentarian from the tribal region, who had helped broker a deal between tribal militants and the government at Shakai on April 24, told the jirga that the registration issue was not a part of the accord and that there were no foreign militants in the tribal region.
US-trained personnel demonstrate skills: Anti-terrorism program
May 12: In Rahimyar Khan, a group of 28 personnel of the Punjab Elite Force demonstrated their skills which they learnt under the US supported six-week crisis response team (CRT) course at the Sihala camp. The CRT is being conducted under the State Department's Anti-terrorism Assistance Programme (ATAP) for Pakistan.
Zarqawi 'waiting' for Pakistani soldiers
May 12: Al Qaeda's purported leader in Iraq has blasted Muslims for not taking up the sword of Islam against America and sought to shame them for not following the lead of militants who "humiliated the mightiest army" in the Iraqi town of Fallujah. He singled out President Pervez Musharraf for helping the United States fight Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. "We tell him (President Musharraf) that we wait eagerly to receive your soldiers and, by God, we will demand them before the Americans and avenge the blood of our brothers in (Afghanistan)," a statement said to be from Abu Musab al Zarqawi, in a video tape that showed the beheading of an American in Iraq, said.
Pakistan has no links to ‘terrorist outfits’ in held Kashmir: US official
May 12: The government of Pakistan has "no connections" with terrorist organizations operating in held Kashmir, "none today, whatsoever", said Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Michael G Kozak while testifying before the House Sub committee on Human Rights and Wellness.
Muttahida wins all seats from Karachi
May 12: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement was re-elected from all three National Assembly and one provincial assembly seats from Karachi by defeating the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) and the PPP Parliamentarians, while the PML-F also retained its National Assembly seat from Sanghar and Sindh Assembly seat from Khairpur.
PML-Q candidate wins NA-196 bypolls
May 12: The ruling party's Chaudhry Zafar Iqbal Warraich, won the bypolls to NA-196. Four candidates were in the run, but a tough contest was between Mr Warraich and ARD's Chaudhry Jaffar Iqbal Gujar.
9 killed in Karachi by-poll violence
May 12: Nine people were shot dead and 28 others wounded in incidents of violence in different areas of Karachi during by-elections for three national and one provincial assembly seats in Karachi. The clashes involving workers of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and the Pakistan People's Party took place outside polling stations in different localities despite the presence of 12,000-strong police to ensure peaceful polling.
Karachi by-poll results stayed
May 13: Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Irshad Hasan Khan stayed the publication of official results of by-elections to three National Assembly and one provincial assembly seats in Karachi pending an inquiry into alleged 'grave irregularities' and violence in Wednesday's polling.
MMA holds rally against killing of its workers in Karachi
May 13: The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) took out a protest rally in Hyderabad on first day of their three-day mourning against killing of their 11 activists in Karachi during by-elections.
Pakistan hopes peace process will continue
May 13: Pakistan expressed confidence that the peace process with India would continue despite the defeat of Vajpayee-led coalition in the polls. Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri hoped the new government in New Delhi would carry forward the peace initiative with Islamabad. He said Pakistan was looking forward to seriously and closely engaging with the new government in India, to promote the process of peace and resolution of all outstanding issues.
Dialogue with Islamabad to continue, says Sonia
May 13: Congress President Sonia Gandhi said the next Indian government would continue dialogue with Pakistan launched by defeated premier Atal Behari Vajpayee. "From the very beginning we have been supporting Prime Minister Vajpayee’s initiative vis-a-vis Pakistan," Gandhi told reporters. "In fact we have been the one who has been saying all along that the dialogue must continue. We’re glad that they followed what we told them to do."
BJP’s defeat may slow Pak-India peace process: Mushahid
May 13: Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Senator Syed Mushahid Hussain says the pace of progress on dialogue between Pakistan and India may slow down after BJP’s defeat and Congress’ victory in the Indian elections because the new leadership may set new priorities. However, the basic thrust of the Indian policy would remain unchanged with one perhaps significant difference about the pace of Pak-India dialogue and the schedule the two sides had agreed upon after the 12th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) summit in Islamabad, Mushahid told The News.
Terrorist threat in Pakistan ‘remains high’: US
May 13: The United States said the terrorist threat to the US and western interests in Pakistan "remains high" due to tensions along the Afghan border and instability in the Middle East and Iraq and urged the US citizens to boost security measures. In addition, the US embassy in Islamabad warned that already high anti-American sentiment in Pakistan could rise and said western embassies and consulates throughout the country, as well as places where foreigners gather, might be "high priority" targets for terrorists.
Pakistan hails ARF decision
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday welcomed the decision of the ARF senior officials meeting to recommend Pakistan’s admission to the regional security forum. The senior officials of the Asean’s Asian Regional Forum (ARF) unanimously recommended Pakistan’s admission to the Forum at the next ARF Ministerial meeting that will be held in Jakarta from June 30 to July 2.
Pakistan, Tajikistan ink eight accords
May 13: Pakistan and Tajikistan signed, in Islamabad, eight agreements to boost political and economic cooperation and set up two working groups on countering terrorism and regional stability. Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan and Tajik President Emomali Rahmonov witnessed the signing of accords on visa facilitation, avoidance of double taxation, education, judiciary, tourism, cooperation between official news agencies and combating drug trafficking.
Pakistan proposes five-point plan to salvage ME peace process
May 13: Pakistan proposed a five-point plan to help salvage the peace process in the Middle East with emphasis on seeking solution of the problems through dialogue. "Israel must abandon its repressive policies - extra judicial killings; killing of civilians; settlement activities; destruction of property; construction of separation wall; and unilateral disengagement plan," Minister for Information and Broadcasting Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told a special meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Ministerial Committee on Palestine in Putrajaya, Malaysia.
Govt stops payment of salaries to Ahmadzai tribesmen
May 13: The administration of South Waziristan tribal agency has refused to pay salaries to government employees belonging to Ahmadzai sub-tribe a day ahead of deadline for aliens registration in the region. A day earlier the administrator of the area, Asmatullah Gandapur, accepted demand of the tribe to release salaries of Ahmadzai tribesmen employed in government departments. The administration, as punishment, stopped payment of salary to Ahmadzai tribesmen after the tribe failure to hand over suspected terrorists wanted to the government.
Tribe refuses to pay penalty for attacks
May 13: Ahmadzai Wazir tribesmen refused to pay millions of rupees in fine imposed in March as a penalty for attacks on government and military installations in their areas by suspected tribal militants. "The April 24 Shakai agreement formed the basis of 'let bygone be bygone'. Why shouldn't the penalty be part of it," Malik Noor Ali - a Zalikhel Ahmadzai Wazir - announced at a jirga. Wana's deputy administrator Rehmatullah Wazir was present at the meeting.
112 judges and magistrates quit in Lahore
May 14: The ongoing bench-bar conflict in Lahore took a new turn when the 112 members of the subordinate judiciary resigned from their offices against what they called lawyers' 'high-handedness'. The judges took the extreme step following a clash between police and lawyers who had ventured to storm the office of Judge Mohammad Khalil Chaudhry and damaged his official car. They also ransacked the offices of the clerk of courts. The clashes left 19 lawyers, including Lahore Bar Association president Mirza Haneef Baig and joint secretary Nadeem Ansari, injured.
Five of a family shot dead in Lahore: Over a dozen protesters held after violence
May 14: Five members of a family, including an infant, and their maid were found murdered in their house-cum-school at Lal Pull in the city's Mughalpura area of Lahore. Riots erupted in the locality when a group of people belonging to a particular sect held protests to condemn the killings. Police fired shots into the air and baton-charged the protesters when they torched a police van and damaged several other vehicles. Over a dozen people were taken into custody.
Bonded labor continues to exist in 10 sectors: report
May 14: Debt bondage is illegal under an act of the parliament, but bonded labor continues to exist in at least 10 sectors, including brick kilns, agriculture and carpet industry, said a report. This was because the law brought on the statute book in 1992 still remains un-implemented, said former senator and human rights minister Iqbal Haider at a meeting in Islamabad held to launch the report, titled "Rapid assessment studies of bonded labor in different sectors in Pakistan".
‘Nationalists could be behind Gwadar attack’
May 14: Secretary Interior Tasneen Noorani told the ministry’s standing committee in parliament that ‘nationalists forces’ in Balochistan could be behind the deadly attack on Chinese engineers in Gwadar last week. A member of the Committee, who attended the meeting in parliament, further confirmed that Noorani confessed before the committee that government had received a timely warning from secret agencies against possible attacks on Chinese engineers in Gwadar.
Judges, lawyers resume work
May 15: The situation at the Lahore sessions courts seemed returning to normal when members of the subordinate judiciary resumed work and lawyers chose not to confront the police deployed near the court building. Almost all the additional sessions judges, civil judges and judicial magistrates returned to work, making a U-turn from their response to the lawyers' agitation that culminated in their en bloc resignations.
Death of six: complainant also found murdered
May 15: The complainant in the Mughalpura killing of five members of a Shia family and a maid, - engineer Nadeem Haider, 40, the elder brother of slain Sajjad Ahmad Shah - was found murdered in Harbanspura area in Lahore.
Two PPP dissidents resign as MPAs
May 15: Two MPAs from Bahawalpur who quit the PPP three months back resigned from their Punjab Assembly seats. Speaker Afzal Sahi immediately accepted their resignations and forwarded them to the chief election commissioner for further action. Khalid Mahmood Waran from PP-269 and Shoaib Karim from PP-275, now the former MPAs, assigned no reason for their resignations. Three months ago, they along with another PPP MPA Dr Muhammad Afzal from PP-276, had announced at a press conference that they would quit their posts in protest against discriminatory treatment of workers by chairperson Benazir Bhutto. Dr Afzal tendered his resignation around two weeks ago.
Korea asked to correct Kashmir map
May 15: PML information secretary Senator Tariq Azeem, while reacting to a world map published by the Korean Overseas Information Service in which Jammu and Kashmir has been shown as part of India, has demanded immediate correction of the wrong information. According to a press release, Mr Azeem, in a letter written to the South Korean embassy in Islamabad, said Kashmir had been universally acknowledged as a disputed area and it should be shown as such.
Pakistani being probed for possible terror ties
May 15: US officials are trying to determine if a Pakistani, arrested in Texas on March 8, has links with Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Houston-based newspaper reported. Osama Haroon Satti, 35, was caught attempting to buy plastic explosives, guns and silencers in Tyler, Texas, Houston Chronicle said.
Musharraf calls for reviewing Hudood Ordinance
May 15: President Pervez Musharraf called for a review of "controversial" Hudood laws that human rights groups say are discriminatory against women and minorities. Speaking at a convention on human rights, Musharraf said the strict Islamic laws passed under the military dictatorship of late General Muhammad Ziaul Haq in 1979 should be studied afresh to ensure they were not misused.
Planning Commission, CBR differ on tax issues
May 15: Tension among budget makers on tax issues is picking as the CBR demands signatures of the chief planner on each tariff/tax change. The CBR officials are venturing to demand such an unprecedented act in order to avoid trouble with the government and the IMF in case of blunders, The News said.
Pagaro sees no future for unified PML
May 16: Pakistan Muslim League (Functional) president Pir Pagaro has said that the unified Muslim League will not last long because some people have joined it only for a share in power. Talking to journalists in Pir Jo Goth before the arrival of Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali, Pir Pagaro said that he had called for unity of different PML factions and not for their merger.
Talks held with US on N-export controls
May 16: US Under Secretary of State Kenneth I. Juster held talks with Pakistani officials in Islamabad on the peaceful use of nuclear civilian technology and export controls, the foreign ministry said. The cabinet last week approved a draft bill to tighten controls on the export of nuclear weapons technology. The draft bill, due to go before parliament, provides for imprisonment of up to 14 years, a maximum fine of Rs5 million, or both for offenders.
Accession to NPT only as N-state: Pakistan
May 16: Pakistan has communicated to the international community that it would "accede to NPT only as a nuclear weapon state," knowledgeable sources told Dawn in Islamabad. India, the sources said, had also moved from its original stance from objecting to the discriminatory nature of the NPT to simply telling the NPT community that New Delhi could not join the treaty as a non-nuclear weapon state. However, the demand of the foreign ministers of Pakistan and India that both countries be recognized as "nuclear weapon states" have been rejected by the United States.
Imran predicts fresh polls by 2006
May 16: By winter 2006, there will be fresh elections in Pakistan under a new president, Imran Khan told a briefing to Pakistani journalists in Washington.
Quetta Ashura attack bombers
May 16: Two suicide bombers involved in a deadly attack on a Shiite religious procession in Quetta over two months ago have been identified as members of an outlawed militant group, police said. Police have also arrested a constable, Ghulam Haider Lehri who allegedly aided the bombers in the March 2 attack on an Ashura procession in Quetta, provincial police chief Shoaib Suddle told reporters at a press conference in Quetta.
Ex-MPA caught using unfair means in exam
May 16: Jhang Police arrested the PML-N district president, Nawab Muzaffar Ali Khan Sial, who had remained an MPA for three times and a provincial parliamentary secretary once, for using unfair means in intermediate examination under Dera Ghazi Khan Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, the News reports. Nawab Muzaffar Ali Khan Sial could not file his nomination papers in the last general elections for want of the requisite educational qualification. Instead his brother in law Reza Khan Sial, whose degree was also declared as bogus, contested the election but lost to Najaf Khan Sial.
Moeen Qureshi reaches Pakistan to ‘guide’ government
May 16: Former prime minister Dr Moeen Qureshi arrived in Islamabad to provide guidance to the rulers without accepting any office. "I am too old to take part in politics and assume any official assignment. It is the high time to attract foreign investment in Pakistan and I will go for it in big way; this is my mission," he told the News
JI MP slams Musharraf’s statement on Hudood Ordinance
May 16: Member parliament Samia Raheel Qazi has strongly reacted to the statement of President Pervez Musharraf that the Blasphemy Law and the Hudood Ordinance should be reviewed. Addressing a press conference in Multan, she said Musharraf was going to attain the sympathies of "Qadianis" by abolishing sections regarding Khatam-i-Nabuwat, Hudood Ordinance and Blasphemy Law from the Constitution.
Patriots urges Musharraf not to shed uniform
May 16: The Pakistan People’s Party-Patriots (PPPP) has urged President Pervez Musharraf to stay in uniform, as national interests and geo-strategic and international situation demanded to maintain the status quo. The call was unanimously issued by the Patriots during a meeting held under the chairmanship of the Senior Federal Minister and Minister for Defence, Rao Sikandar Iqbal, at his residence in Islamabad.
Nek Mohammad parts ways with foreign militants, claims official
May 17: In a major development in the standoff over foreign militants hiding in the south Waziristan tribal region, a tribal militant o dissociated himself from their rank and offered to back up military operations, government officials and tribal elders said. "Nek Mohammad has conveyed to us that he has parted ways with foreign militants and that he would abide by the Shakai Agreement and if needed he would cooperate with the tribe in the search for his former comrades," South Waziristan Political Agent Asmatullah Khan Gandapur told Dawn.
Troops redeployed in S Waziristan
May 17: Pakistan has re-deployed troops in its tribal region near the Afghan border for possible military action after foreign militants there failed to accept an offer of amnesty, a security official said in Peshawar. Brig (retd) Mahmood Shah, chief of security for Fata, said that the troops were sent to South Waziristan after the latest in a series of deadlines for the amnesty passed.
Over 70 lawyers booked in Kasur
May 17: After ransacking of office of DCO Kasur and Tehsil office Kasur, the District police registered cases against about seventy lawyers, including Qurban Dogar, President District Bar, and Saeed Ahmad, Secretary General District Bar Association.
449 murdered in the name of Karo-kari in four months
May 17: Women in Pakistan faced all kinds of gross violence and abuse at the hands of male family members and state agents. Multiple forms of violence including rape, domestic abuse, spousal murder, mutilation, burning, disfiguring of faces by acid-throwing, beatings, ritual honour killings, and custodial abuse figured most prominently. According to a report prepared by Madadgar, a project of Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid (LHRLA), as many as 449 individuals have already been murdered in the name of Karo-Kari in 2004.
Lashkar begins search for aliens
May 18: Around 1,200 armed volunteers of a tribal lashkar began a search for foreign militants in the South Waziristan tribal region of Azam Warsak about 15 km to the west of this regional headquarters in Wana.
US yet to pay $25m compensation: Airport, airspace shutdown
May 18: The US government has yet to compensate the loss of over $25 million caused to Pakistan due to suspension and curtailment of international commercial air traffic operations to and from Pakistan in the aftermath of 9/11, Dawn reports.
Tests find water not fit for drinking: Study on samples for Indus below Jamshoro
May 18: An analysis of samples of Indus water from the Kotri Barrage to Latifabad No 4 has found that it is not fit for human consumption. The samples, drawn from nine places were tested by Prof Dr M. Y. Khuhawar and Dr S. M. Leghari of the Dr M.A. Qazi Institute of Chemistry, University of Sindh, and Dr Hussain Bux Kolachi, associate professor, community medicine, Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences.
Indian navy kills three Pakistani fishermen
May 18: The Indian navy shot dead three Pakistani fishermen after their boat strayed into its territorial waters in the Arabian Sea, an Indian navy spokesman said in Ahmedabad. A naval patrol fired at a boat carrying the fishermen, about 10 nautical miles within the Indian side of the international border line on Monday, the spokesman said.
Millat Party approved merger with PML
May 18: The National Council of the Millat Party formally okayed merger of the party with the PML-Q at a meeting in Lahore. Farooq Leghari, who presided over the meeting, told the participants that the MP was not being merged with any faction of the League rather it was being disbanded to form a new party. He said Gen Pervez Musharraf had assured him that the new party would follow the Millat Party manifesto.