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Yousaf Raza Gilani says Asif Zardari saw future president in him
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PROFIT | PAGE 01
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pakistantoday.com.pk
rs15.00 Vol ii no 182 22 pages islamabad — peshawar edition
‘President can be impeached if memo role is proved’
thursday, 29 december, 2011 safar 3, 1433
Govt to drop gas bomb: tariff to rise by 14% To retain the profitability of the two inefficient state-owned gas utility companies and to enable them to undertake politically motivated gas supply schemes, the government is all set to notify a massive hike of 14 per cent in gas tariff and imposition of gas infrastructure development cess effective from January 01, 2011. According to the proposed revision in gas sale prices, the tariff for domestic
and commercial consumers will be increased by 14 per cent while for other consumer categories increase will accompany cess, which the government plans to utilise for infrastructure development for gas import projects like LNG, Iran Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline and Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan and India (TAPI) pipeline. The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority
(OGRA) has allowed uniformed tariff hike for both the gas utility companies, even though the demand for increase in tariff was lower for Sui Southern Gas Company. The tariff for domestic consumers using up to 100 cubic meters or 3.5 mmBTU will be increased from Rs107.87 per mmBTU to 122.95 mmBTU. This will increase Rs448 monthly bill by Rs63 to Rs511 per month. Tariff for
consumers using up to 300 units or 10.6 mmBTU will jump from Rs215.74 to Rs245.89 mmBTU. It will cause an increase of Rs313 in the monthly bill of Rs2240 to Rs2553 per month. Tariff of commercial consumers will be increased 14 per cent from Rs526.59 to Rs600.19 per month. Industrial sector tariff will be increased by 16.97 per cent from Rs434.17 to Rs507.86 mmBTU.
detailed story | profit—page 01
apex court terms forensic evidence necessary to reach memo’s reality g CJp says probe of memo through the court will be most transparent g
ISLAMABAD MASOOD RehMAN
A nine-member larger bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, hearing a set of identical petitions filed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif and others seeking a probe into the memo issue, was told on Wednesday that if the involvement of President Asif Ali Zardari was proven in the memo issue, it would constitute grounds for impeachment. Resuming her arguments, Asma Jahangir, counsel for former ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani, argued that although the memo was a worthless piece of paper, if the involvement of her client in writing the memo was proved, it constituted a criminal case against him. She said if it was proved that the president was responsible for the memo, then it constituted grounds for impeachment of the president. The chief justice then observed that the affidavits filed by the federation, army chief, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief, Haqqani and the prime minister did not deny the existence of the memo. He said forensic evidence was required to reach the reality of the memo controversy, which could only be obtained from abroad through the court, as Research In Motion Ltd, the company that manufactures Blackberry smartphones, only provided such records to the court. He said the probe of the memo issue through the court would be most transparent. He said the court had the jurisdiction to determine a forum to probe the matter, and could interfere in any matter involving public interest and breach of fundamental rights. He said the memo issue was not a political matter, rather a matter of national security and sovereignty. He said the Parliamentary Committee on National Security could only investigate the matter when it was asked by parliament, adding that when assemblies did not deliver, matters came to the court. Asma contended that only on the basis of a piece of paper, Mansoor Ijaz, who was a US citizen with loyalties to the US, leveled allegations against her client. Justice Jawwad S Khawaja asked Asma to explain Article 19-A, which gives the right of access to information. The chief justice repeatedly asked her that if someone demanded the investigation of any matter from the court, what the court should do. “You are the king”, she replied. “Not us, but constitution and law are the king,” the chief justice retorted, adding that Haqqani also wanted to be bailed out after an investigation. Asma submitted that her client was ready for investigation, however it was a politically motivated matter brought forward by the ISI director general. The chief justice said it was not a political matter, but a matter involving national sovereignty and security. He said the president had not provided his reply in the memo case, and asked Asma what that should be considered. Asma said if that was so, the matter was headed towards the impeachment of the president. The chief justice, however, noted that the court had no concern with it and wanted to keep it limited to the extent of the memo issue. She said if the court thought that it could assume the function of a trial court, it could summon Mansoor Ijaz. She contended that the petitions were not maintainable, as no tangible effects were witnessed in the post memo scenario. She said there was not a single breach of fundamental rights of anybody in the memo case, but her client was barred from moving abroad without a hearing. The chief justice noted that the army chief and ISI chief had substantiated the existence of the memo, calling it “a reality”, which was allegedly written against Pakistan Army to former US Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Admiral Mike Mullen.The court noted that the prime minister did not deny the presence of the memo, whereas the president did not submit his rejoinder, adding that it did not mean that the president had denied the existence of the memo. Continued on page 04
PYONGYANG: North Korean women mourn during the funeral procession for late leader Kim Jong-il on Wednesday. North Korea’s military staged a huge funeral procession in the snowy streets of the capital Pyongyang for its deceased ‘dear leader’, readying a transition to his son, Kim Jong-un. reuters | story on page 16
Land and property, police top list of most corrupt departments ISLAMABAD StAff RePORt
Land and property and police remained the two most corrupt departments of the country in year 2011, while education and military remained the two least corrupt departments during the said year, the National Corruption Perception Survey 2011 announced by Transparency International Pakistan (TIP) revealed on Wednesday. The survey, which remained distinguished as the military was included for the first time in it, also rang alarm bells as a massive increase in corruption of income tax, customs, contracting and tendering was reported, ranking at third, sixth and seventh most corrupt departments in 2011, whereas they were eighth, tenth and ninth in the NCPS in year 2010. Another noted feature was a significant increase in corruption of judiciary and courts, which slipped from sixth most corrupt department to fourth most corrupt department in NCPS 2011, which has been conducted this year by Gallup Pakistan. Moreover, corruption in the power sector was visibly reduced as the sector saw a slide from number two in year 2010 to number five in
2011. The report claimed that corruption had reached an unprecedented level in Pakistan and lack of accountability, being witnessed due to delay in punitive action by state organs in corruption cases like Pakistan Steel, NICL, Bank of Punjab, rental power plants, Haj 2010, KESC, PIA, Pakistan Railways and WAPDA were harming the country the most. “Judiciary is being confronted by deliberate defiance of Supreme Court orders and unwilling attitude of prosecution agencies. When 26 of 40 vacancies of judges are vacant in the Sindh High Court, how can efficient justice be provided and delay in punishing corrupt persons by the judiciary is one of the causes of lower ranking of the judiciary,” the report quoted TIP President Sohail Muzaffar as saying. The report further said a lack of political will to combat corruption could be seen from efforts of the government to avoid transparency in procurements, as rules of public procurement regulatory authority (PPRA) were being made dysfunctional by not appointing a managing director of the body since October 2011. “This year, NCPS 2011 has shown that tendering and contracting, which was the least corrupt in
2010, has jumped four places to become the sixth most corrupt institution,” the report said. The TIP said tenders for purchase of 150 rail engines from USA and 75 rail engines from China, purchase of all PIA aircrafts, 7,000MW Bonji Dam and 1,100MW Kohala Dam made the list. Syed Adil Gilani, TIP adviser, said in the statement that the Sindh government in June 2011 had issued a notification exempting Sindh Bank from application of Public Procurement Rules 2010. “The TIP filed constitutional petition in Sindh High Court against this notification and on December 15, 2011, the Chief justice in CP 2135 after reading that the Sindh chief secretary has cancelled the exemption notification, disposed of the petition as stating that the purpose of the petition has been achieved,” he added. “Similarly, the federal government also issued a notification in July 2011, with approval of ECC, amending Rule 5 of the PPRA rules 2004. This would amount to exempting contracts based on 39 MOUs signed by president and prime ministers with private parties from complying with public procurement rules 2004 and competitive bidding,” the report added.
Unacceptable: Pakistan formally rejects NATO enquiry ISLAMABAD ShAiq huSSAiN
Pakistan has formally rejected the USNATO enquiry into the airstrikes on the two border posts in Mohmand Agency on November 26, on the grounds that the report was not based on facts and the probe was carried out by top American security official Brig General Stephen Clark, who is also linked to the NATO team that carried out the cross border attack. “The US-led enquiry report is not based on facts and that has been formally conveyed to the US through diplomatic channels,” a Pakistani official requesting anonymity said on Wednesday. Moreover, he said the enquiry report could not be considered impartial given the fact that the probe team was headed by Brig Clark, a senior US military official who was also linked to the NATO raiding party that carried out the airstrikes. “We believe that General Clark was an unsuitable choice to carry out the investigation as compared with someone neutral and impartial,” he said. Meanwhile, media reports from Washington suggested that the American military had briefed COAS General Ashfaq Kayani on its investigation into airstrikes. Pentagon spokesman Captain John Kirby told reporters that a report by military investigators was delivered to General Kayani on Sunday by a US officer based in Islamabad, who explained the findings to the army chief. Continued on page 04