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Lahore Edition
Tuesday, 6 March, 2012 Rabi-ul-Sani 11, 1433
LAHORE StAff REPORt
PML-N chief says govt should work sensibly on new provinces’ issue
LAHORE: PML-N President Nawaz Sharif addresses his party workers at the Aiwan-e-Iqbal on Monday. inp
Zardari gives ‘his word’ to allies ISLAMABAD StAff REPORt
President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday assured the heads of the coalition parties that their demands would be accommodated in the post scenario of the Senate elections as the ruling party wanted to continue its coalition for the upcoming general elections. A source told Pakistan Today that the president expressed these views while chairing a meeting of the coalition parties at the Aiwan-e-Sadr. Pakistan Muslim LeagueQuaid President Shujaat Hussain, Awami National Party President Asfandyar Wali Khan, PML-Q Secretary General Mushahid Hussain Sayed, ANP’s Afrasiab Khattak, Farooq Sattar and Babar Ghauri from the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Munir Khan Orakzai and Noorul Haq Qadri of the FATA parliamentary group attended the meeting. Apart from discussing the coalition parties’ success in the Senate elections, the meeting discussed the overall political situation in the country with particular reference to the post-Senate elections situation and coalition matters. Farhatullah Babar said the heads of the allied parties congratulated the president for the smooth holding of the elections and also for the thumping majority secured by the coalition parties in the Upper House of parliament. They also thanked the president for PPP’s support to the coalition parties in the Senate elections. Zardari praised the role of the allied parties in strengthening democracy and democratic institutions.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif on Monday said army generals should stay away from politics. “Stature and honour of the armed forces will increase if it limits itself to defending the borders of the country,” he said during a visit to the house of martyr Col Sheraz. However, when a reporter sought his comments on the possible extension in the term of InterServices Intelligence Director General Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha, Nawaz said it was not the right occasion to respond to the question. Commenting on the new provinces issue, the PML-N chief said the government needed to work sensibly on the matter. Earlier, addressing the general council of PMLN Punjab at Aiwan-e-Iqbal, Nawaz said his party was formulating a revolutionary programme to change the destiny of the country, bring prosperity to the people and raise their living standards. He said those who raised slogans of electing Musharraf as president in uniform 10 times have now joined hands with those who had got red warrants issued against him. He said these elements had also accused the PPP of being thirsty for their blood. Nawaz said such politics of hypocrisy could not help the country reach its destination and the time had come to bury politics of selfish interests. Nawaz congratulated Shahbaz Sharif on his unopposed election as the PML-N Punjab president and asked him to further accelerate the mission of public service. He said the Punjab government had taken revolutionary measures for the uplift of education sector and the youth would benefit from programmes of setting up IT labs in high schools and distribution of laptops among talented students. Nawaz said Pakistan was made a nuclear power in his era and this capability was achieved not with borrowed money, but with hard-earned money of the people of Pakistan. He said that Pakistan was proving its mettle in every sector during the PMLN’s rule and though sanctions were imposed as a punishment for carrying out nuclear tests, the PML-N leadership made a firm resolve to overcome all problems.
PM was legally bound to implement NRO verdict: SC g
Apex court releases reasons for rejecting Gilani’s intra-court appeal ISLAMABAD StAff REPORt
Releasing the detailed reasons for rejecting the prime minister’s intra-court appeal against contempt charges, the Supreme Court on Monday ruled that the possibility of contempt being committed by a constitutional functionary was a more, not less, serious matter than if the same had been done by an ordinary citizen. “In fact, the position which needs to be adopted, and which emerges from a close examination of the Constitution, is quite the opposite: the higher the constitutional office, the greater the onus of responsibility on the holder of such office. One reason for this is that a holder of Constitutional office is under this higher responsibility because he, unlike ordinary citizens, makes an oath to discharge his duties in accordance with the Constitution… and the law. The PM’s oath also requires that he will preserve, protect and defend the Constitution. Therefore, more stringent legal standards apply to him as compared to others who have not taken a similar oath”, the court ruled.
A seven-member special bench of the apex court on February 2, 2012 had decided to proceed with framing of contempt of court charge against the PM who had filed an intra court appeal against the preliminary order of the bench. The appeal was, however, heard by a separate eightmember bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and later on the bench after a detailed hearing on February 10 had turned down the appeal through a short order. The 15-page detailed judgment, authored by Justice Jawwad S Khawaja, ruled that while staying quiet about the PM’s affirmative defences, the opinion highlights important constitutional principles, which have a bearing on this case. “It is clear to us that PM’s claim to a ‘special privilege’ on account of his executive office, which seeks for him greater restraint amounting to an exception from contempt proceedings, does not find any basis in our constitution,” the court ruled. The judgment ruled that the two salient principles which have been expounded include: firstly that all people, regardless of their stature in society, are equally bound by
the law and are expected to obey court orders; and secondly, that the possibility of contempt being committed by a constitutional functionary was a more, not less, serious matter than if the same had been done by an ordinary citizen. “Since this was only the preliminary stage, the judgment refrains from passing any comment on the key defences presented by the PM,” Justice Jawwad S Khawaja ruled, adding that these include the PM’s argument that his act of contempt, if any, was not willful and that he was only following official summaries, which under the rules, he had received. These defences, the court said, required appraisal of evidence and were best left for adjudication by the trial bench. The court held that at this preliminary stage, all it needed to make up its mind was ‘an arguable case’ that contempt may have been committed. From the simple facts available on record, it was amply clear CoNTINuEd oN PagE 04