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PTI will take to streets if govt attacks judiciary: Imran Khan
Prospects for the airline industry in the year 2012
Malaysia’s Anwar Ibrahim acquitted of sodomy charges
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PROFIT | PAGE 04
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pakistantoday.com.pk
rs15.00 vol ii no 194 22 pages Karachi edition
Haqqani claims innocence but not very cooperative g
T
Tahir NiaZ
He probe into the memo issue is in full swing but with many spanners being thrown in the works of the judicial commission, as government officials and the lawyer of Husain Haqqani applied delay tactics and ignored repeated warnings of the threemember commission that failure to cooperate would lead it to draw an adverse inference. The former ambassador declined on Monday to hand over his BlackBerry smartphone for investigation, saying he was un-
aware of where the device was. Haqqani also rejected the commission’s request to waive his privacy rights with the Canada-based manufacturer of BlackBerry phones, Research In Motion (RIM), saying: “I may require approval of the government as I am bound to observe the Official Secret Act.” However, Commission Chairman Justice Qazi Faez Isa observed: “Official Secret Act does not come in the way.” When he asked Haqqani if he was prepared to give the waiver as Mansoor Ijaz did, Haqqani replied: “No sir, not at this stage.” Justice Isa said: “If obstacles continue to be created and you and the attorney general do not come forward, an adverse inference can be drawn.” He observed that no straight answer
was coming from the government on the memo issue. When Justice Isa asked Haqqani’s lawyer if the waiver would harm him, he did not reply in clear terms. It was a surprise for the commission members when Haqqani said that he had no idea where his BlackBerry was. “I came to Pakistan on short notice and left behind my belongings in the US. I have no information right now about where my BlackBerry set is. It might be lying somewhere at my US residence or Pakistan’s embassy in the US,” he told the commission. Continued on page 04
haqqani Challenges sC verdiCt | page 02
3 girls killed in concert stampede LAHORE Shafiq Sharif
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Kayani and Pasha’s replies in memo case illegal: Gilani
Former envoy to US tells judicial commission he doesn’t know where his BlackBerry is, also refuses to waive privacy rights g Commission tells govt to give Mansoor multiple entry visa as soon as he applies ISLAMABAD
At least three girls died and dozens sustained injuries, three of them in critical condition, in a stampede during a musical concert at Alhamra Cultural Complex on Monday. The event was organised by a noted group of private colleges. Per details, the administration of the colleges arranged a musical concert of Atif Aslam, Arif Lohar and other singers and all female students of the educational institute were allowed entry to the musical show. Families of clerical staff, teachers and other employees of the college were also allowed to attend the gala that started around 6pm. The place was overcrowded as around 5,000 girls, teachers and other staff of the college gathered at the venue. The show ended at around 10pm and as the people started leaving the venue, a stampede ensued. Subsequently, the people started pushing each other around, causing a number of girls to fall to the ground and get trampled. Officials of Rescue 1122 and parents of students rushed the girls to various hospitals, including Services Hospital, Ittefaq Hospital and Hameed Lateef Hospital. Three girls – Maheen Naeem Abbas (22), resident of Walton Road, Farah Nawaz (20), resident of Canal View, and Nimra (21), resident of Maraghzar Colony, died at Services Hospital owing to multiple injuries, while doctors said Zoya, Mujeeba and Sana were in a critical condition. The college administration said in a statement that the incident was a result of a bomb hoax. An injured student told reporters at Services Hospital that she heard someone saying there was a bomb in the premises which was about to explode, resulting in a stampede. Another student the venue had been overcrowded. Anjum Rasheed Cheema, a parent, blamed the college administration for the mishap.
tuesday, 10 January, 2012 safar 15, 1433
LahOrE: a woman escorts her injured daughter to the Services hospital following a stampede at a concert at the alhamra Cultural Complex on Monday night. nADEEM IjAz
ISLAMABAD aPP
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani told Chinese newspaper People’s Daily Online in an interview on Monday that any official action by a government functionary without the prior approval of the government would be unconstitutional and illegal. Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt General Ahmad Shuja Pasha’s depositions in the Supreme Court in the memogate case were therefore illegal, said Gilani, because they did not contain the approval of the competent authority. He said acquisition of permission from the authority concerned was mandatory for them in order to file replies to the apex court, adding that a reaction from any government institution without the sanction of the government was unconstitutional and unlawful. Gilani said neither the Defence Ministry nor the defence minister was approached by the two regarding their rejoinders in the memo case, and that they had to seek permission from the ministry before filing the replies. The prime minister stated that in two simultaneous issues, one relating to the NATO attack on Pakistani checkposts and the other relating to the memo controversy, the civil and military leadership of Pakistan held detailed meetings and took immediate decisions in the Defence Committee of the Cabinet. In case of the NATO attack, the prime minister said, it was decided that the matter should be referred to the Parliamentary Committee on National Security. In the second case, it was also decided that the matter should be referred to the committee, besides accepting the resignation of Husain Haqqani, he added.
Gilani eats his own words yet again g
Experts reject PM’s contention that COAS, ISI DG’s replies were unlawful ISLAMABAD irfaN BUKhari
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani made a startling revelation on Monday by contradicting his own statement as, in an interview with a Chinese newspaper, he implicitly said that Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director General (DG) Lt General Ahmad Shuja Pasha had violated the rules of business while submitting their responses to the Supreme Court in the memo case without the approval of the competent authority. What came as a surprise was that he chose to make this “revelation” in an interview with a foreign newspaper and
that too almost three weeks after the COAS and the ISI DG had submitted their responses. While there has never been any doubt about the differences between the civil and military leaderships, particularly on the memo issue, this statement of the prime minister finally confirmed it that they were not on the same page. “Any official action by a government functionary without the prior approval of the government is unconstitutional and illegal,” the prime minister said, quoting the chief justice that “any act of a government functionary without the government’s nod is unconstitutional and therefore illegal” to actually make a point that the responses submitted by the COAS and ISI DG with the Supreme Court were illegal as they did not contain
the approval of the competent authority as required under the rules of business. “No summary seeking approval of the competent authority was initiated by the Defence Ministry. Nor any approval was obtained from the Defence Minister in this regard,” the prime minister said. What confuses the situation is that the prime minister continues to first make a statement and then contradict it. On December 16, a day after the COAS and the ISI DG’s responses were submitted, General Kayani had called on Prime Minister Gilani. An official statement issued by the PM’s House after the meeting had said: “The Prime Minister and the Army Chief also agreed that replies forwarded by the COAS and DG ISI were in response to the notice of the Honourable
Court, through proper channel and in accordance with the rules of business and should not be misconstrued as a standoff between the Army and the government.” Terming the prime minister’s statement as “strange”, Senator SM Zafar said that the COAS and the ISI DG had submitted their replies in compliance with Supreme Court orders as they had been made respondents in the memo case by the petitioner. “The government had a right to challenge the petitioner’s plea of making them (the COAS and the ISI DG) respondents in the case and could ask the court that only the federation could be made party and the reply would also be submitted only by the federation. Continued on page 04