Chronology of Pakistan
September 2003 (Continued II)
Outstanding domestic debt up by Rs133bn
Sept 7: Pakistan's total outstanding domestic debt crossed a staggering Rs1.850 trillion mark on June 30, 2003, up by about Rs133 billion from Rs1.718 trillion in June 2002, according to the latest data of the State Bank of Pakistan. The total domestic debt in June 2003, alone has increased by Rs63 billion. It was recorded at Rs1.787 trillion in May 2003, but went up to Rs1.850 trillion a month later on June 30, 2003.
No clear understanding with govt on LFO: Qazi
Sept 7: As if there is no clear understanding between the government and Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) on the contentious issue of the Legal Framework Order (LFO), Amir Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) Parliamentary Leader Qazi Hussain Ahmed has said when a constitutional amendment bill comes up, it will be known which points have been agreed to by the government.
TNSM leaders vow to continue struggle for Shariah enforcement
Sept 7: The activists of the defunct Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM), held a meeting in Dir at which speakers vowed to continue their endeavour for promulgating Shariah in the country and promised not to bow before any pressure. President General Pervez Musharraf banned the TNSM on January 12, 2002.
Bush lauds Pakistan's role in war on terror
Sept 8: US President George Bush telephoned President Gen Pervez Musharraf and conveyed his satisfaction over the state of bilateral relations between the two countries.
President Bush also commended Pakistan's role in fight against terrorism. The two leaders also discussed and reviewed the present regional situation.
Pakistan releases 16 Sikhs
Sept 8: Pakistan freed 16 Indian Sikhs in a goodwill gesture to India following a thaw in relations. Ten of them had been in prison for the last 17 months in Quetta and another six people were arrested 11 months ago and imprisoned in Lahore.
Army warned of serious consequences: Kalabagh dam project
Sept 8: The Awami National Party has said that the army should stay away from the controversy surrounding the Kalabagh dam project, warning that its involvement could lead to dismemberment of the country. Speaking at a press conference in Peshawar, ANP's senior vice-president Haji Ghulam Ahmed Bilour said if the project was given a go-ahead Pakistan could again experience the 1971-like situation when the army's interference in the Eastern Wing led to the country's break up.
India-Israel nexus to have destabilising effect in region: FO
Sept 8: Islamabad has expressed its deep concern about the growing Indo-Israeli defense cooperation, which was enabling New Delhi to acquire sophisticated weapon system from Tel Aviv. Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan, while commenting on the visit of Ariel Sharon to India, said if this axis was directed against Muslims, including Pakistani Muslims, then there was cause for grave concern. He said the continuing Israeli-Indian defense ties would have a destabilizing effect in the region.
Wali invited to visit India
Sept 8: Khan Abdul Wali Khan, leader of the Awami National Party (ANP), has received an invitation from India to pay a goodwill visit to that country, along with his colleagues. High Commissioner of India in Pakistan, Shev Shenkar Menon, extended the invitation to Wali Khan during his visit to the Walibagh. Zahid Khan, the ANP's central information secretary, told Dawn that the meeting lasted for five hours during which various issues of mutual interest were discussed.
34 Army officers housing schemes launched during 1990-2002: NA told
Sept 8: The National Assembly was informed that during the last 12 years of both political and military regimes (1990-2002) a total of 34 defense officers housing schemes of various sizes for officers of the Pakistan Army were established over an area of almost 1,000 acres of land. Defence Minister Rao Sikandar Iqbal also informed the National Assembly that 513 military officers now occupying top civilian posts after October 12, 1999 would not be repatriated to their parent departments in the Pakistan Army and they all would continue to work even though a political government had been put in place.
ARD expresses reservations about Govt-MMA talks
Sept 9: The ARD expressed reservations about MMA-government Lahore talks on the LFO and said it would give its opinion on the matter when and if the proposed constitutional package was presented in parliament for debate and assent. ARD Parliamentary leader Javed Hashmi said: "We are not part of the on-going government-MMA negotiation process and we have not yet decided whether or not to join the process because all major political parties on the opposition benches differ with each other on the details of the LFO."
Wali Khan invited to visit Kabul
Sept 9: Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai in his telephonic contact with the veteran Pukhtun nationalist leader Wali Khan extended him an invitation to visit Kabul. According to a press release issued by the Awami National Party in Peshawar, the Afghan president telephoned the senior leader at his resident, Wali Bagh, and extended him a formal invitation to visit Kabul.
Verdict reserved in generals' case
Sept 9: The Lahore High Court reserved judgment on a petition filed against its office's decision to reject the plea for the judicial probe of the army generals , including President Pervez Musharraf, under the Pakistan Army Act on the charges of misusing public funds and receiving kickbacks in defense deals. The LHC office had rejected the Pakistan Lawyers Forum's petition on technical grounds, saying the actions of the president and the army men could not be questioned by a court of law under Article 248 of the 1973 Constitution. Thereafter, PLF President A K Dogar moved an objection petition against the LHC office's decision with the court of Justice Raja Muhammad Sabir.
52 booked by NAB acquitted
Sept 9: Many acquittals in high-profile accountability cases has put the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in an awkward position, Dawn said. A total of 52 people were acquitted by different courts across the country, investigations carried out by Dawn revealed. According to available record, in the NWFP alone 12 people accused of being involved in corruption cases by the NAB were acquitted. Twenty-one people were acquitted in Sindh, 7 in Punjab and 3 in Balochistan. Some 9 people were acquitted by the court in Rawalpindi only.
NWFP PA opposed to change in Hudood law
Sept 9: The provincial assembly adopted a unanimous resolution strongly condemning the recommendations of the Federal Women Commission to review the Hudood Ordinance, and demanded of the government to implement the ordinance in letter and spirit.
US forces hunt Osama in Fata
Sept 10: The hunt for Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden has been narrowed to a 64-square-kilometre area in Pakistan, the US media reported. The reports said that US and Pakistani authorities are casting a net around the towns of Angoor Ada and Wana in southern Waziristan, an area with a strong Al Qaeda support base. Authorities have received new information from electronic intercepts and intelligence on the ground that shows Osama is very much alive, somewhere in the rugged terrain of Waziristan. US special forces are stationed across the border in Afghanistan with approximately 45 checkpoints should Osama head there, but authorities said there are many unfrequented routes and it is impossible to seal the entire border.
NWFP Assembly session prorogued: Newsmen boycott proceedings after scuffle
Sept 10: The NWFP provincial assembly was prorogued for an indefinite period after a scuffle between the speaker's staff and journalists over the non-provision of the assembly's agenda to the latter. The newsmen had asked the assembly staff to provide them with the day's agenda. An employee, who came with the agenda copies at the press gallery, exchanged hot words with a newsman which turned into a minor scuffle between them. The newsmen, who held a hurriedly-called meeting at the Peshawar Press Club, announced an indefinite boycott of the NWFP assembly.
Minorities be exempted from Hudood Ordinance: APMA
Sept 10: All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA), Balochistan, has asked the government to exempt the minorities from the Hudood Ordinance. Speaking at a press conference in Quetta, APMA provincial chief Michael Javaid said all discriminatory and prejudicial laws against minorities should be declared null and void. He referred to the speech of the Quaid-i-Azam, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, in the Legislative Assembly on Aug 11, 1947, that all citizens, including minorities, would have equal status and Pakistan would be a welfare state. The APMA leader said: "But today we have deviated from it."
Al-Zawahri allegations against Musharraf
Sept 10: Al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahri urged Pakistanis to rise up against President Pervez Musharraf in an audiotape aired by Qatar’s Al-Jazeera TV on the eve of the second anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the United States."We ask our Muslim brethren in Pakistan: until when will you put up with the traitor Musharraf, who sold the Muslims’ blood in Afghanistan and handed over the Arab mujahideen to crusader America?" the speaker purported to be Zawahri said.
Musharraf rebuts traitor charge
Sept 11: President Pervez Musharraf has said he takes strong exception to Al Qaeda's deputy leader purportedly calling him a traitor. President Musharraf said he believed relations between Muslims and the West had worsened since the attacks in New York and Washington. President Musharraf was speaking to the BBC on the second anniversary of the Sept 11 attacks. President Musharraf said that Islam and the West needed to work to bridge the differences which had led to the 2001 attacks.
Repeal of Hudood Ordinance demanded
Sept 11: A demonstration demanding repeal of the Hudood Ordinance was held outside the Karachi Press Club. The demo carried out by members of a number of NGOs working for the rights of women demanded that the Hudood Ordinance, including Zina, which has been used to target women, should be repealed as soon as possible. They also supported the recommendations of Pakistan’s National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) to repeal the Hudood Ordinance, calling it biased and un-Islamic.
Orders in conspiracy case reserved
Sept 12: An anti-terrorism court Karachi, reserved its order on an application of the defense for summoning President Musharraf and four others as witnesses in the conspiracy case pertaining to assassinate the President in April last year.
SC allows court to announce verdict: Benazir's case
Sept 12: The Supreme Court withdrew its order in which it had restrained the Accountability Court, Karachi, four years ago not to pass its judgment in a case in which Ms Benazir Bhutto and her officials were accused of making illegal appointments in the PIA. The SC decision paves the way for Accountability Court, Karachi, to pronounce its judgment in the case in which it has already concluded the proceedings.
Rocca's Delhi remarks decried
Sept 12: Pakistan expressed surprise at the reported remarks by US Assistant Secretary of State Christina Rocca she made in New Delhi on cross-border infiltration, and firmly stated that there was no terrorism emanating from its soil. It instead asked the United States to persuade India to end its repression in the occupied Kashmir and stop dragging its feet on resumption of dialogue with Islamabad.
Islamabad floats idea of regional force: Checking militancy in Kashmir
Sept 13: Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri called for the creation of a regional force to control militancy in disputed Kashmir state. "Pakistan is ready to maintain a peacekeeping force from the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) region in the disputed areas of Kashmir to curb and monitor cross-border terrorism," Mr Kasuri told an interactive program in Khatmandu involving Nepalese businessmen, industrialists, journalists and intellectuals.
Plea to call president as witness dismissed
Sept 13: Judge Aley Maqbool Rizvi of anti-terrorism court (ATC-I Karachi), dismissed miscellaneous application filed by defense counsel praying to call President Musharraf as witness in the conspiracy case to assassinate the president against activists of the banned organization Harkatul Mujahideen Al-Aalmi.
Farmers' demo against WTO
Sept 13: The Kissan Board of Pakistan staged a demonstration against the World Trade Organization outside the Press Club in Lahore, describing it as death sentence for the local farmers and industrialists. The board threatened to extend demonstration throughout the country, if the government failed to win concessions for them in the WTO talks.
Police fire tear gas shells on protesters
Sept 13: Seven people, including five women and two children, were injured when police resorted to tear-gas shelling on people who were protesting against drilling in a disputed piece of land at Mari Gas Field, Well No 77.
Islamabad floats idea of regional force: Checking militancy in Kashmir
Sept 13: Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri called for the creation of a regional force to control militancy in disputed Kashmir state. "Pakistan is ready to maintain a peacekeeping force from the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) region in the disputed areas of Kashmir to curb and monitor cross-border terrorism," Mr Kasuri told an interactive program in Khatmandu involving Nepalese businessmen, industrialists, journalists and intellectuals.
Plea to call president as witness dismissed
Sept 13: Judge Aley Maqbool Rizvi of anti-terrorism court (ATC-I Karachi), dismissed miscellaneous application filed by defense counsel praying to call President Musharraf as witness in the conspiracy case to assassinate the president against activists of the banned organization Harkatul Mujahideen Al-Aalmi.
Farmers' demo against WTO
Sept 13: The Kissan Board of Pakistan staged a demonstration against the World Trade Organization outside the Press Club in Lahore, describing it as death sentence for the local farmers and industrialists. The board threatened to extend demonstration throughout the country, if the government failed to win concessions for them in the WTO talks.
Police fire tear gas shells on protesters
Sept 13: Seven people, including five women and two children, were injured when police resorted to tear-gas shelling on people who were protesting against drilling in a disputed piece of land at Mari Gas Field, Well No 77.
Uproar in Sindh PA over Thal canal plan
Sept 16: Sindh Assembly Speaker Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah disallowed discussion on two adjournment motions of the opposition against the Greater Thal Canal on technical grounds , which instantly generated noisy protests amid allegations by the opposition of a sell-out on vital issues of the province. The ruling came after the opposition tabled two adjournment motions seeking to discuss "the failure of the provincial government" to pursue the two unanimous resolutions of the assembly urging the federal government to stop construction of the canal.