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pakistantoday.com.pk
rs15.00 vol ii no 210 22 pages Karachi edition
thursday, 26 January, 2012 rabi-ul-awal 2, 1433
PM backtracks in bid to mend fences over 100 PIC drug reaCtIon
dead and counting
LAHORE sTAFF RePoRT
Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said on Wednesday that more than 100 heart patients had died in and out of various hospitals from reactions to a dubious drug distributed by the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC), outlining the scope of the catastrophe, now in its fifth day, that has caused widespread panic. In a strange move, the chief minister revealed figures that were a lot more than the ones reported to the media by the Health Department. Shahbaz told reporters after a meeting held to review the measures taken to overcome the situation that the drug samples had been sent to drug testing laboratories in Britain and France through two responsible people and action would be taken upon receiving the lab reports. He said three different samples of the drug had been prepared which included one sample from the hospital stocks, one from under-treatment patients and one from the medicines retrieved from the families of those who had died from the reaction to the drug. The chief minister also said he had chaired a meeting in which the detailed figures of deaths had been presented to him, according to which more than 70 people died in hospitals while nearly 20 people lost their lives out of hospitals, not just in Lahore but in other areas of the province as well. He said that government teams were also investigating this incident and as soon as the investigation report was received, it would be brought before the people. Replying to a question, Shahbaz said manufacturing and import of medicines was the responsibility of the federal government despite the 18th Amendment. Meanwhile, relatives of the victims protested outside the PIC and demanded action against those responsible, as PPMA employees protested against their factories being sealed without waiting for the lab reports.
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says Coas, isi Dg did nothing unconstitutional by submitting replies to sC ISLAMABAD
I
MIAn ABRAR
T’S time to mend fences. In a bid to ease tensions with the military leadership, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Wednesday retracted his statement about Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director General (DG) Lt General Ahmad Shuja Pasha, saying he wanted to dispel the impression that the two generals had submitted their replies to the Supreme Court in violation of rules of business and the constitution. He told reporters at Chaklala Air Base before leaving for Davos, Switzeland to attend the World Economic Forum that his statements regarding the rejoinders of General Kayani and Lt Gen Pasha were relevant in a certain situation. Gilani’s statement came a day after a meeting with the COAS and the ISI DG. He said there were a lot of events taking place and there was overlapping by a lot of government functionaries on many issues. “My statement was in that context,” said the prime minister, adding that later when he found that some of the discrepancies had been made by certain functionaries, he
CHAKLALA: Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani heads to the aircraft to depart for Davos. online took action against them. “I am dispelling the remarks given at that occasion; they were under a unique situation when things were overlapping and there was no clarity. But since there is clarity and now we have all met and [the statement] does not pertain to these two gentlemen (The COAS and the ISI DG),” he said. Replying to another question about relations between the institutions, the prime minister said: “The
KARACHI: Men mourn their dead relatives after three shia lawyers were gunned down in an apparent targeted killing on Wednesday. online | story page 28
rs 630m fraud: FIa told to catch fraudster by 27th ISLAMABAD MAsooD ReHMAn
The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to ensure by January 27 the arrest of Mian Khurram Rasool, former media coordinator to the prime minister accused of Rs 630 million fraud. It also ordered the recording of a statement by Nargis Sethi, then principal secretary to the prime minister, as she was the complainant against Rasool. A three-member bench of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Tariq
Parvez passed the order while hearing a petition filed by Parvez Hussain and others against Rasool, who allegedly swindled over Rs 630 million from a Karachi-based business concern on the pretext of managing a petroleum export licence for it to NATO supply and the award of a contract of Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG). The court noted that an important aspect of the case was that Nargis Sethi had lodged the complaint against Rasool and in her complaint she said there was secret information that several other senior officers were also involved in the matter. The court also directed FIA to ensure by January 27
the recovery of Rs 630 million, allegedly extorted by Rasool. During the hearing, the chief justice remarked that if allegations were proved right, it would be the biggest crisis of the country as the prime minister and his secretaries were named in the case. Taking strong exception to the non-appearance of FIA Director General Tehseen Anwar Shah despite a court notice, the chief justice said Shah was explicitly violating court orders. “He will have to face action for leaving abroad without intimating the court,” the chief justice remarked. Continued on page 04
country cannot work in an atmosphere of confrontation among the institutions. Therefore for the national interest, we have to be on the same page.” This is not the first time that Gilani has withdrawn his words. On December 16, a day after the COAS and the ISI DG’s responses were submitted to the apex court in the memo case, General Kayani had held a meeting with Prime Minister Gilani. An official statement issued by
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.” However, a week later on December 22, Gilani made two emotional speeches in a day, claiming that conspirators were plotting to bring down the democratic government. He also said that a “state within a state” would not be allowed. He claimed that rules of business had been violated when the army chief and ISI DG sent their replies to the court and the government had been bypassed in this regard. However, the following day, the army chief rubbished the allegations and said in an Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) statement that the army would support the democratic process in the country. However, after a short lull, Gilani once again hit back at Kayani by telling a Chinese online daily on January 9 that General Kayani and Continued on page 04
Civil-military ties hinge on memo issue | page 04