ISB 22-02-2012_Layout 1 2/22/2012 3:02 AM Page 1
pakistantoday.com.pk
rs15.00 vol ii no 236 22 pages islamabad — peshawar edition
wednesday, 22 february, 2012 rabi-ul-awal 29, 1433
GOVT PUTS THE ONUS OF BB’S MURDER ON
Interior minister briefs lawmakers in Sindh Assembly about findings of Joint Investigation Team g Says former president will be arrested and brought back to the country through Interpol ‘anytime soon’ g
F
KARACHI ismAil DilAwAr
ORMeR president and army chief Pervez Musharraf has been indicted along with the militants from al Qaeda and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), as the federal government on Tuesday briefed lawmakers in the Sindh Assembly about the findings of a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) probing the assassination of the country’s twice-elected prime minister Benazir Bhutto. Also named were the “elements of establishment”, local jihadi groups, some police officials and the “forces” who, the federal government said, felt threatened by the democratic leader, who returned to Pakistan in 2007 despite being warned by her well-wishers, including Afghan President Hamid Karzai and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. A video clip played in the assembly showed that all of the suicide bombers, aging from 12 to 15
years, were being trained by “Qari Hussain Masood” in Kotaki area of South Waziristan. They were all Pakistanis and were registered with NADRA, the JIT report said adding that some of the bombers, shown offering prayers wearing Sindhi caps, were influenced by the “Lashkar-e-Jhangvi”. The provincial legislators were told that five of the accused of Benazir’s murder were students of the Jamia Darul Uloom Haqqania, a seminary run by Jamiat Ulema-eIslam-S leader Maulana Samiul Haq in Akora Khattak, a town of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Musharraf, Baitullah Mehsud, Maulvi Faqueer Muhammad, Maulvi Fazlullah, Rawalpindi City Police Officer Saud Aziz, SSP Khurram Shehzad Haider, Ibadur Rehman, Saeedur Rehman, Muhammad Rafaqat, Husnain Gul, Sher Zaman, Aitzaz Shah, Rasheed Ahmed alias Turabi, Nadir Khan, Continued on page 04
govt playing on own turf | page 03 analysts say briefing inComplete | page 04
The accused denies charge Reacting to the interior minister’s briefing in Sindh Assembly regarding the Benazir Bhutto case on Tuesday, former president Pervez Musharraf strongly denied his involvement in the assassination of the former prime minister. Talking to reporters, Musharraf said he had informed Benazir about the threats to her life before the first attack. Musharraf said he had met Benazir twice in Dubai, but did not speak to her after October 18. “Rehman Malik was not present in those meetings,” Musharraf added. He said providing security to Benazir was the responsibility of the provincial government and her principal security was being handled by PPP workers. AgEncIES
Countrywide protests Ijaz likely to record his statement against power outages before memo commission today BlackBerry makers refuse to release telephonic record g UK issues visa to Hussain Haqqani’s counsel g
Traders, labourers warn of collective suicide g Power shortfall reaches 6,000MW g
ISLAMABAD/ABBOTTABAD/QUETTA/FAISALABAD Agencies
Citizens across the country on Tuesday took to the streets against prolonged power outages and gas shortage that have badly disrupted routine activities. Hundreds of traders and citizens took to the streets in Islamabad, Abbottabad, Quetta, Peshawar, Gujar Khan and other cities of the country, demanding the government ensure uninterrupted supply of gas and electricity. The protesters carried banners and placards inscribed with slogans demanding an end to unscheduled load shedding and exclusion of additional charges from monthly electricity bills in the name of fuel adjustment costs. Addressing the protesters, the speakers criticised the federal and provincial governments and power companies for failing to overcome the power crisis. They said the government did nothing in the past four years to deal with the energy crisis except paper work and making tall claims, due to which countrymen were suffering adversely. The speakers said political leadership did not get time to think about the miseries of masses as they were busy in protecting personal and party interests. They said they received electricity for
ISLAMABAD TAhir niAz
only a few hours during the day but PEPCO sent bills of thousands of rupees in the name of fuel adjustments. They warned that if the alarming situation was not addressed, they would be left with no choice but to attack power companies’ offices and force the closure of WAPDA offices. Trader representatives said trade and industrial sector had been ruined due to load shedding. The traders and labourers said they would be forced to commit suicide along with their children if the situation remained as it is. Meanwhile, Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO) officials said almost 17 power houses were shut down across the country resulting in a shortfall of 6,000MW of electricity. They said the total production of electricity in the country stood at 8,500MW due to suspension of fuel supply by the Pakistan State Oil (PSO). On Monday, the shortfall of electricity production had reached 5,500MW, resulting in load shedding of almost 10 hours in urban areas and of about 18 hours in rural areas of the country. Sources said the shortfall occurred due to disputes over payments between the PSO and PEPCO, which owed Rs 26 billion to the oil company.
Both the fate of the government and the credibility of the star witness in the memo scandal, Mansoor Ijaz, depend on what is being described as a make-orbreak statement he is likely to record before the memo commission from the Pakistani High Commission (PHC) London via video link today (Wednesday). Ijaz would lose credibility if unable to perform at this critical juncture while the government’s fate is also partially linked with the outcome of the key statement. All is set to record the statement of Ijaz but keeping in view his ‘somersaults’ so far, it still remains a valid question whether he would appear before the commission today. Zahid Bukhari, the counsel for Husain Haqqani, when contacted told Pakistan Today that he received his passport from the UK embassy at 2pm on Tuesday. “It was impossible for me to reach London in time,” he said. He said he had written a letter to the memo commission secretary on February 15, seeking his help for getting visa. “But even after the all out efforts of the Foreign Office and the attorney general, I was able to get my passport back on Tuesday,” he said. Asked if he would object to Ijaz’s
statement when he would not be there to cross-examine him, he said, “I will ask the commission to record the statement per law and that he should be given opportunity of cross-examining.” With all technical arrangements in place, memo commission already in London and Bukhari ‘unable’ to proceed abroad for cross-questioning Ijaz, Wednesday’s hearing would also set the future course of proceedings. The government has made all necessary arrangements for recording Ijaz’s
statement with LCD screens installed at the Islamabad High Court (IHC) and PHC London. The commission would meet at the IHC at 2pm and proceed further into the probe pertaining to the memo allegedly written on the advice of Haqqani and delivered to the top US military officials. During the last hearing, the commission had decided to record Ijaz’s statement from London via video link after he declined to visit Pakistan due to security concerns. The commission had allowed the respective counsels to be present either at the Islamabad High Court or PHC London for cross-questioning Ijaz. However, Bukhari was unable to proceed abroad due to delay in getting visa. Having denied the charges leveled by Ijaz, Haqqani has so far been unable to produce his two official Blackberry sets before the commission, which the inquiry tribunal believed were vital part of the evidence to establish link and its nature between Haqqani and Ijaz. In a statement made before the commission, Haqqani said the Blackberry sets were missing since he left the US. He had also declined to waive his privacy rights with the Research in Motion (RIM) so that no one else could obtain data from the Canadian-based company Continued on page 04