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Pervez Musharraf open to alliance with Imran Khan
Pakistan and England to renew rivalry in desert
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THE DIRTY PICTURE sweeps top honours at Colors Screen Awards
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pakistantoday.com.pk
rs15.00 Vol ii no 200 22 pages lahore — edition
monday, 16 january, 2012 safar 21, 1433
Answerable to parliament, not individuals: PM g
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Gilani says legal, constitutional attempts to bring new prime minister are welcome Denies president sought explanation or asked him to retract comments against army
ISLAMABAD
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AgEnciES
RIMe Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Sunday rejected a demand by Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani that he clarify or retract his criticism of the army and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), saying he was not answerable to an individual but to parliament alone. “I am definitely answerable as Article 91 of the constitution states that the prime minister, ministers and ministers of state are answerable to parliament. If anyone has any complaints, I will not answer to any individual as I am answerable to parliament,” he said. “Whenever parliament wants, I can present my viewpoint before parliament,” he added. In an interview with Chinese media
last week, Gilani criticised General Kayani and ISI Director General Lt General Ahmad Shuja Pasha for submitting their replies to the supreme court in the memo case. He said the filings were “unconstitutional”, infuriating the military’s high command, who issued a stern press release in response. Gilani’s comments were in response to a journalist’s question about media reports on Saturday night that Gen Kayani was infuriated by Gilani’s criticisms. The army chief complained to President Asif Ali Zardari and demanded that Gilani’s comments be clarified or withdrawn, a military source told Reuters on Saturday. Gilani, however, showed no signs of backing down. “What I said was not an accusation,” he told reporters. Continued on page 04
meeting of Coalition partners today | page 04
For the govt, today is a stormy day ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT
Today looks to be a stormy day for the government as the Supreme Court takes up the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) implementation case, the threemember judicial commission resumes its probe into the memo controversy and the opposition is set to resist the unanimous passage of the resolution the ruling coalition had tabled in the National Assembly amidst the government’s tense relations with the army and judiciary. Though Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani had made an effort to normalise
the situation with the army at the Defence Committee of the Cabinet (DCC) in the presence of the top military leadership by saying that all institutions needed to work within their respective domains with respect to each other, the criticism of his statement to a Chinese newspaper about two top generals from various quarters continues to keep the tension on a high scale. Beset with pressures from all sides, a generally coolheaded prime minister finally on Sunday clearly spoke his mind that he Continued on page 04
zardari meets shujaat, elahi | page 04
AG writes to embassy in US to locate Haqqani’s phones ISLAMABAD TAhiR niAZ
KhAnPuR: A man injured in a bomb attack on a Shia procession is taken to hospital on Sunday. The homemade bomb exploded near the procession, killing 18 people. REUTERS
Hakimullah Mehsud possibly killed ISLAMABAD: Intercepted militant radio communications indicate that Hakimullah Mehsud, the leader of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), may have been killed in a recent US drone strike, Pakistani intelligence officials said on Sunday, but a Taliban official denied the report. The claim that the TTP chief was killed came from officials who said they intercepted a number of Taliban radio conversations. In about a half a dozen intercepts, the militants discussed whether Mehsud was killed on January 12 in North Waziristan. Some militants confirmed Mehsud was dead, and one criticised others for talking about the issue over the radio. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to reporters. Pakistani Taliban spokesman Asimullah Mehsud denied the group’s leader was killed and said he was not in the area where the drone strike occurred. In early 2010, both Pakistani and American officials said they believed a missile strike had killed Hakimullah along the border of North and South Waziristan. They were proved wrong when videos appeared showing him still alive. REUTERS
18 killed in blast at Khanpur Shia procession g
More than 30 injured g angry mourners attack police station MULTAN AgEnciES
A homemade bomb exploded on Sunday near a Shia procession marking the chehlum of Hazrat Imam Hussain (RA) in Khanpur, killing 18 people and wounding 30, police officials said. The remote-controlled bomb was planted near an electric pole, said Sohail Zafar, Rahim Yar Khan district police officer. He said it was set off as the procession approached. “There was a loud explosion a few yards from the procession and we all scrambled to get away,” said Imran Iqbal, a mourner. “Debris was everywhere, and a cloud of dust engulfed us. Many people died on the spot.” Shias are often attacked by
militant groups who consider them apostates. Rescue teams rushed to the scene and started moving the bodies and injured to hospitals while the security men cordoned off the area. At least 30 injured were shifted to the Sheikh Zayed Hospital in Rahim Yar Khan, medical officials said. Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said the provincial government was closely monitoring the situation. He said Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif was in contact with authorities and had ordered a quick investigation into the incident. No group claimed immediate responsibility for the carnage. Mohammad Mushtaq, a senior government official, told a private TV channel that 16 people had been
killed and 20 injured. “We are trying to calm the situation,” Mushtaq said, after angry and tearful marchers attacked a police station. “We have talked with their leaders and the situation is now under control,” DPO Zafar said. Nabeela Ghazanfar, a spokesman for Punjab police, said 25 people had been injured in the bomb blast. There had been confusion at first about the cause of the explosion, with one senior police official, Abid Qadri, saying it was caused when a flag from the procession hit a power wire. Fingers were pointed at fanatics in Pakistan after an unprecedented bomb attack targeting Shias on December 6 in the neighbouring Afghanistan killed more than 80 people.
As the three-member judicial commission to probe the memo issue meets here today, Attorney General (AG) Maulvi Anwarul Haq has asked Pakistan’s embassy in Washington to locate the BlackBerry smartphones of former ambassador Husain Haqqani and send them to Pakistan. “The Attorney General has written a letter to Pakistan’s embassy in Washington on behalf of Husain Haqqani to locate his BlackBerry sets and we are waiting for the response from the United States,” a source close to Haqqani told Pakistan Today on Sunday. On January 9, Haqqani had told the commission that he was unaware of the location of the communication devices and they might be somewhere in Washington. The source said as Pakistan-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz seemed reluctant to face the commission and answer the queries from Haqqani’s lawyers, the legal team of the former ambassador would ask the threemember commission today to wrap up the investigation. He said it seemed that the accuser had failed to substantiate the allegations levelled against the former ambassador and the petitions were nothing but political point-scoring maneuvers of their movers. Whether Ijaz has arrived in Pakistan or will do so in the near future still remains a mystery. His lawyer, Akram Sheikh, did not comment on the matter. “Why do you ask me this particular question?” he said. During the previous hearing, the commission had directed Pakistan’s embassy in Bern (Switzerland) and High Commission in London to issue a multiple-entry visa to Ijaz as soon as Continued on page 04
No embezzlement charges against Qureshi ISLAMABAD: This is to clarify that National School of Public Policy Rector and former establishment secretary Ismail Qureshi was not involved in any embezzlement as mistakenly referred to in a report carried by Pakistan Today the other day. No such charge exists against him at all. PRESS RElEaSE