Chronology of Pakistan
September 2003 (Continued III)
Minister, MP clash in NA over cars’ delivery
Sept 16: Minister for Industries and Production Liaquat Jatoi and a ruling party’s MP Ghulam Sarwar Khan had a verbal clash in the National Assembly over delayed delivery of locally manufactured cars and their prices. Sarwar said the minister has failed to implement assurances about reduction in the prices of locally-manufactured cars besides their timely delivery. He said the policies of the ministry for production are aimed at benefiting car manufacturers. Infuriated Jatoi said he would resign if any evidence of corruption against him or any member of this family is proven.
Five PML factions merge
Sept 17: Five Muslim League factions decided to unite and to have Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain as leader of the unified league. The factions are: Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-i-Azam) led by Chaudhry Shujaat, PML (Functional) of Pir Pagara, PML (Junejo) of Hamid Nasir Chattha, PML (Jinnah) of Mian Manzoor Ahmad Wattoo, and PML (Zia) of Ijazul Haq. Announcing the merger at a press conference in Islamabad, Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali said all the affixes attached to the PML such as J, F, Q, and Z had ceased to exist, and the party would be called as Pakistan Muslim League. Asked if the PML-N too was invited for merger talks, the prime minister said the invitation to them would be extended at an "appropriate" time. Mr Jamali said there was a proposal for making President Gen Pervez Musharraf president of the PML but it was decided "not to involve him in politics".
Pakistan is Israel's counterpart, says expert
Sept 17: Israel's natural counterpart in South Asia is not India but Pakistan, says a senior Israeli expert on South Asian affairs. In an article published in Israel's Haaretz newspaper and later reproduced in the United States, Yonatan Touval, says that Israel will be deceiving itself if it did not realize this key point while entering the South Asian arena as a player.
Opposition stages walkout in Senate
Sept 18: Protesting opposition parties stormed out of a hurriedly called Senate session turning it into an all-ruling coalition affair during which a government minister crossed swords with the leader of the house. Opposition Senators walked out to protest at President Pervez Musharraf's summoning of the upper house at an unusually short notice of less than a day and as part of a prolonged protest against the Legal Framework Order (LFO).
Workers reject PML bodies' dissolution
Sept 18: The unification of Muslim League factions has triggered differences within the now defunct Q-League as its leaders and workers have rejected the dissolution of the party's general council , central working committee and the central organization, terming it illegal and unconstitutional, insiders told Dawn. "Serious resentment is prevailing in the party ranks against a decision that has been made without taking the majority of the party leadership into confidence," party sources claimed. The critics of the unification said the party workers felt betrayed as they were not ready to accept people like Ijazul Haq who had only one seat in the NA, Manzoor Wattoo whom their majority viewed as politically unscrupulous and Pir Pagara who was considered to be a man of dubious integrity.
Army wants opposition to accept or reject LFO
Sept 18: The military leadership has resolved not to let the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) and the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) force the government to accept a few provisions of the Legal Framework Order (LFO) and reject others. The matter was extensively discussed between President Pervez Musharraf and the top Pakistan Army leadership over the past few days in Rawalpindi, well-informed sources said in Islamabad.
Pakistan, EU sign pact on illegal immigrants
Sept 18: Expecting that every South Asian illegal immigrant in Europe will not be dubbed as a Pakistani citizen, Pakistan has agreed to sign a comprehensive ‘EU-Pakistan Re-admission Agreement’, which would allow the deportation of large number of Pakistani immigrants living illegally in 15 member countries and 10 accession states of the EU, The News reports from Brussels. The European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, wants an early agreement with Pakistan as the EU member states have expressed their desire to move forward expeditiously to resolve the problem of illegal immigrants living across Europe, but Pakistan has expressed some reservations not on the content and the quintessence but on the implementation aspects of the proposed ‘EU-Pakistan Re-admission Agreement’.
Seven treasury MPAs walk out of Balochistan PA
Sept 18: Seven members of treasury benches, belonging to the Grand National Alliance, walked out of Balochistan Assembly to protest against the "unfair" distribution of development schemes in the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP).
SHC admits Afridi’s appeal
Sept 18: An appellate bench of the Sindh High Court (SHC) allowed the appeal of convict Jamil Khan Afridi in the 200 kilograms Chars case and set aside life imprisonment handed down to him by the trial court. The bench comprising Justice Wahid Bux Brohi and Justice Rehmat Hussain Jaferi held that the case of production was highly doubtful and the benefit of this doubt must go to the appellant. The Bench had, during hearing of the appeal, felt the necessity of sending the entire Chars allegedly recovered from the accused to the chemical examiner but the prosecution could not produce the said quantity and the court was told the case property (Chars) had been destroyed. The bench directed that a copy of the judgment be sent to the director-general, anti-narcotics force, to initiate inquiry, fix responsibility on the persons who had destroyed the case property in violation of the law and orders of the trial court, and for taking appropriate action as per the law under intimation to the SHC.
Suicide rate surges after 1998 nuclear tests
Sept 18: Suicide cases in Pakistan surged in the post-nuclear explosions days clearly indicating the nexus between bad economic indicators and the rate of suicide, said Dr Murad Moosa Khan, chairman of psychiatry department of the Aga Khan University (AKU). Dr Khan told newsmen in Karachi that the suicides were reported in higher numbers after 1998. He said only 2658 suicides were reported in Sindh starting from 105 to 350 suicides respectively in 1985 and 1999. "Suicide in Karachi was insignificant in the 60s but the mid-nineties witnessed an upsurge both in suicides and suicidal tendencies," the AKU psychiatrist informed. "Karachi buried 220 suicides last year alone."
‘MMA to seek Army’s role if talks with govt fail’
Sept 18: The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal will directly invite the Army to play a conciliatory role, pushing aside Premier Jamali, Chaudhry Shujaat and President Musharraf, if the running dialogues between the government and MMA fail, Secretary-General Jamaat-e-Islami Syed Munawwar Hassan said in Lahore.
Uproar in Senate over imprisonment of starving farmers
Sept 18: An uproar was witnessed in the Senate when it was disclosed that thousands of poverty-stricken farmers dislocated from border areas of southern parts of the country for the last three years because of military standoff between Pakistan and India were now being put in jails by the Punjab government for not paying taxes for the crops they never grew.
US bombs land in Pakistan
Sept 19: US warplanes dropped two bombs along Pakistan-Afghanistan border, that landed in Pakistani territory, Dawn reported. The bombs exploded in mountains in the border district of Angoor Ada in the tribal district of South Waziristan.
President, PM's US trip to cost Rs60m
Sept 19: Two supplementary budgetary grants of over Rs25 million have been approved by the prime minister for a 15-day trip by three delegations of around 50 parliamentarians to the United States as the "non-official component" of the delegation to the United Nations General Assembly session. Finance ministry sources said that the delegations would be in addition to the official entourage of the president and the prime minister.
Bomb blast damages offices in high rise
Sept 19: A powerful explosion damaged the offices at 10th floor of a multi-storey building on the Sharea Faisal in Karachi. However, no casualty was reported. The Kawish Crown Plaza was made target for second time in the last two months, as earlier, on July 11, a bomb had went off at the main entrance of the building, killing a security guard and an unidentified man.
Pakistan elected to IAEA body
Sept 19: Pakistan has been elected a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors for 2003-05. According to a press release, this was unanimously decided by the IAEA's Middle East and South Asia region and the decision was announced during the 47th regular session of the IAEA General Conference now in progress in Vienna, Austria.
13m children not enrolled in primary schools: Unicef
Sept 19: Some 123 million children are currently being left out perhaps never to see the inside of a classroom, a Unicef report said. Pakistan has approximately 27 million children in the primary school age bracket (5-10 years) but as many as 13 million are not enrolled in primary school; seven million of these children are girls. Fifty per cent of those children who do enroll drop out before they complete a full primary education, the majority is girls.
Cabinet okays six-point constitutional package
Sept 19: The federal cabinet has approved a six-point constitutional amendment package, leaving the uniform issue to be decided by President General Pervez Musharraf, announced Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed at a press conference in Islamabad. The package points are: 1. under Article 58-(2)(b) the president can dissolve the National Assembly but this dissolution order should be referred to the Supreme Court within 15 days. The Supreme Court would give its verdict on the reference within 30 days. 2. The National Security Council would be part of the Act of Parliament instead of being a part of the Constitution. 3. The powers to appoint the services chiefs will remain with the president but the president will consult the prime minister before appointing services chiefs. 4. A committee, headed by the prime minister and comprising all the four provincial chief ministers and the National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB) chairman, has been constituted on the matters pertaining to the NRB. 5. The matter of keeping two offices by the president will be decided by the president himself. 6. The president would seek resolution of confidence from the Senate, the national and all the provincial assemblies. "This will only be possible in case the constitutional package is accepted in to to by the MMA," the minister said.
US for tough anti-money laundering law
ISLAMABAD: The United States has urged Pakistan to put in place regulations and rules in a transparent manner to eliminate the scope of money laundering or terror-related flows. John W Snow, US Treasury Secretary said this in a press conference with Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz in Islamabad after the second meeting of the US-Pakistan Joint Economic Forum (JEF). He also urged the need of opening up markets, more trade and reforms of the capital and financial markets.
Pakistan gives arms lists to US
Sept 19: Claiming a breakthrough in the meeting of the Pak-US Defense Consultative Group, co-chair of the meeting and Pakistan’s defense secretary has said that talks were fruitful for the national interest of Pakistan and the country’s security needs. Talking to The News, Secretary Defense Lt Gen (retd) Hamid Nawaz Khan said, "We have been able not only to clear the backlog, but also deal with the list of defence needs during the next five years. The Group (DCG) has a roadmap of Pakistan’s defence needs for the next five years."This was the first meeting of the DCG in Washington in the last six years. The joint statement issued after the meeting does not make any reference to the security threats to the US ally, Pakistan, in the face of India-Israel cooperation. The issue was raised by Pakistan during the meeting.
Govt accepts traders’ demand, strike called off
Sept 19: Succumbing to the pressure of the traders the government has removed income tax clause of getting registered with the sales tax department to deposit tax for the current year. "The strike call has been withdrawn," Khawaja Shafique, chairman of Pakistan Traders Alliance announced at a press conference in Islamabad and added, "the government has accepted all our demands for removing harsh clauses from the Income Tax Return for the year 2003."
Unification points to early polls, says Pagara
Sept 20: Veteran politician Pir Pagara has said that the unification of some groups of the Muslim League is an indication of earlier general elections. Pir Pagara, who was addressing a press conference at his residence in Karachi, was asked what was the objective of the merger of various Pakistan Muslim League factions at this point in time. He said it was not a merger but a unification of various factions which was necessary for the survival of the party in the next elections since only a unified PML could face the challenge of the rival parties.
17 foreigners arrested in pre-dawn raids
Sept 20: Authorities arrested at least 17 Malaysians and Indonesians in pre-dawn raids on different religious educational institutions in Karachi. Sources said these foreigners were taken into custody because of their suspected links with "anti-social" elements. They said the ministry of foreign affairs had received a list of suspects from their respective countries. Later, the government assigned the interior ministry to locate and arrest them.
45 killed as train hits bus near Malikwal
Sept 20: At least 45 people were killed and8 others seriously injured when a Sargodha-bound train smashed into a bus at an unmanned level-crossing near Malikwal station, 60km from Sargodha. The accident took place at 8.25am when the bus driver attempted to cross the level-crossing, disregarding the fast approaching train, which runs between Lalamusa and Sargodha. Twenty people died on the spot. The bodies and the injured were taken out after cutting the wreckage of the bus which had been dragged quite a distance by the train.
N-link with S. Arabia denied
Sept 20: A Foreign Office spokesman dismissed as "factually incorrect" a news report appeared in the Guardian on Sept 18, alleging visit of a Saudi defense team to Pakistani nuclear facilities some four years ago. "The newspaper article is based on hearsay and rumors...the report is factually incorrect," said the spokesman when asked for comments on the report.
Musharraf dismisses call to remove uniform
Sept 20: President General Pervez Musharraf has dismissed the opposition’s calls that he vacates the post of army chief. "Pakistan’s political democratic stability requires that he serves as both head of the military and president at the same time," he said in an interview with Canada’s daily Toronto Star. "Please try to understand our environment. Don’t see us from Canadian eyes, see us from Pakistani eyes," said Musharraf.
Pakistan formally invites Vajpayee to Saarc summit
Sept 20: Pakistan formally invited India’s Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to the South Asian Association Regional Cooperation summit in Islamabad in the first week of January 2005. The Saarc summit was earlier cancelled this year when Vajpayee had refused to attend. According to the Saarc charter, all heads of governments have to be present for a summit to be held.
Okara Military farms proprietary rights
Sept 21: A spokesman for the Punjab government said that land of Okara military farms had been leased out to the Pakistan Army, and its proprietary rights could not be awarded to tenants. According to a press release of the government, the Lahore High Court has also ruled out tenants' stance that they should get proprietary rights.
Don’t hold LFO talks on ‘give-and-take’ basis, Nawaz asks MMA
Sept 21: In a rare statement from Jeddah, former prime minister Mian Nawaz Sharif said that he will return to Pakistan without delay if the government removes all obstructions in this regard. Talking to The News at the palace of late King Faisal in the presence of his other exiled associates and family members, he said that the MMA should refrain from holding talks on the LFO on give-and-take basis, as it would be violation of the APC agreement.