A Pakistani anti-terrorism court today granted bail to former military ruler Pervez Musharraf over the assassination of ex-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007.

Judge Chaudhry Habib-ur-Rehman of the anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi granted bail to Musharraf against two surety bonds of Rs 10 lakh each.

In the morning, the judge had reserved his decision after hearing arguments by lawyers of both sides. The judge announced his decision in the afternoon.

During the arguments, Musharraf’s lawyer Salman Safdar said there was no solid evidence or witness against his client.

He said Musharraf had not been blamed for the 2007 suicide attack that killed Bhutto by the family of any of the victims.

Prosecutor Chaudhry Azhar of the Federal Investigation Agency opposed Musharraf’s bail petition, saying the former President could flee Pakistan if he was freed from detention.

Bhutto was killed by a suicide bomber after addressing an election rally in Rawalpindi in December 2007. Musharraf has been accused of providing inadequate security to Bhutto.

69-year-old Musharraf, who is currently being held at his farmhouse on the outskirts of Islamabad, was arrested shortly after he returned to Pakistan in March to lead his All Pakistan Muslim League party in the general election.

He was subsequently barred by a court from contesting polls for the rest of his life.

Besides the Bhutto assassination case, Musharraf has been arrested for detaining dozens of judges during the 2007 emergency and for the killing of Baloch nationalist leader Akbar Bugti in a 2006 military operation.

Speculation is rife in Islamabad that Musharraf may be allowed to leave the country under a deal worked out by the powerful military.

Pakistan Army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani on Saturday met Prime Minister-designate Nawaz Sharif and briefed him on the security situation of the country.

Kayani, who sought the meeting, called on Sharif at his brother Shahbaz Sharif’s residence at Model Town in Lahore this afternoon.

This was the first meeting between Kayani and Sharif since the PML-N emerged victorious in the May 11 general election.

The meeting lasted over three hours and the leaders had lunch together. No other PML-N leaders were present during the meeting.

The army chief briefed the PML-N chief on the security situation across the country. The leaders also exchanged views on the regional situation and the war on terror, sources said.

The meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere and Kayani congratulated Sharif on his victory in the polls, sources said.

The two leaders agreed to work together to confront challenges facing Pakistan, including terrorism, Geo News quoted its sources as saying.

They further agreed that all security institutions would work with the civilian government to overcome crises, the report said.

Sharif lauded the security establishment’s role in strengthening democracy and allowing the previous civilian government to complete its five-year tenure, the channel reported.

Sharif is poised to become Prime Minister for an unprecedented third time.

In an interview before the polls, Sharif said the Prime Minister would be the army chief’s “boss”. He also said he did not believe Kayani would seek another extension.

Kayani got an unprecedented three-year extension in 2010 from the previous Pakistan People’s Party-led government and is set to retire in November. Sharif had already said the next army chief will be selected on the basis of seniority.

In a separate development, Sharif accepted President Asif Ali Zardari’s invitation to a luncheon he is hosting for the visiting Chinese Premier at the presidency on May 22.

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.9 jolted northeastern Japan on Saturday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. No tsunami warnings have been issued. The United States Geological Survey recorded the quake at 6.1, with a depth of 20.5 miles. The epicentre of the quake was off the coast of Fukushima prefecture, more than 200 km (125 miles) northeast of Tokyo, where buildings also shook.

The northeast was hit in March 2011 by a magnitude 9 earthquake that triggered a devastating tsunami.

A serving judge has been named by a Pakistani court to probe the murder of Indian death row prisoner Sarabjit Singh, who died earlier this month after being assaulted within the Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore.

Lahore High Court Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial appointed Justice Syed Mazhar Ali Akbar Naqvi to investigate the matter and submit a report to the court.

However, no deadline has been given to Naqvi to complete the probe.

Earlier, caretaker Punjab Chief Minister Najam Sethi had written a letter to the Chief Justice, asking him to appoint a judge to conduct the probe.

Five to six prisoners had brutally assaulted Sarabjit in a well-coordinated attack on April 26.

After being comatose for nearly a week, Singh died at Jinnah Hospital in Lahore on May 2.

Police registered a murder case against two death row prisoners Amer Aftab and Mudassar for allegedly assaulting Sarabjit.

Both men told police that they wanted to kill Sarabjit as he was involved in killing innocent Pakistanis in bomb blasts.

A day after Sarabjit’s death, Pakistani prisoner Sanaullah Ranjay was assaulted at a jail in Jammu and later died in a hospital in Chandigarh.

Awais Sheikh, the Pakistani lawyer of Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh, has told police that the armed men who abducted him and his son were “Pashto-speaking”.

According to the FIR registered by police, Mr Sheikh and his son Shahrukh were intercepted by four to five men travelling in a red pick-up truck and a motorcycle yesterday morning.

The armed men then bundled them into the pick-up. Mr Sheikh said the kidnappers did not talk to him or his son while they were in captivity.

The men, who were armed with sophisticated weapons, assaulted Mr Sheikh and dumped him on Sheikhupura Road, 40 km from Lahore.

The abductors did not harm Shahrukh and dumped him several kilometres from the point where his father was thrown out of the pick-up.

Mr Sheikh told police that the kidnappers were wearing ‘shalwar-kameez’ and were fluent in Pashto. They also spoke Urdu.

“They didn’t talk to me and my son,” Mr Sheikh said. He further said police that he did not suspect any
intelligence agency or anyone else was involved in the kidnapping.

Mr Sheikh needed six stitches for a wound on his head. Police registered a case against unidentified men under Section 365 of the Pakistan Penal Code, which relates to kidnapping a person with intent to secretly and wrongfully confine him.

Mr Sheikh and his son were abducted when they went to a village near Burki Hudaira area to buy land for a farmhouse.

Mr Sheikh was the lawyer for Sarabjit, who died on May 2 after being comatose for nearly a week following a brutal assault by other prisoners in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail.

The lawyer recently said that he had been receiving threats for defending Sarabjit, who was sentenced to death for alleged involvement in a string of bomb attacks in Pakistan’s Punjab province in 1990.

Awais Sheikh, the lawyer of Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh, who was kidnapped in Lahore on Wednesday along with his son, has now been freed.

According to reports, police recovered Awais Sheikh and his son Shahrukh from the Lahore-Sheikhupura bypass.

Talking to media earlier in the day, Muhammad Haroon, the son of Awais Sheikh, had said that his father left home on Wednesday but has not returned since.

 Sheikh and his son Shahrukh had gone to a village in Burki Hudaira area to buy land for a farmhouse.

Two men riding a motorcycle, who were reportedly wearing police uniforms, intercepted them, said Haroon.

The lawyer and his son were bundled into a pick-up truck and taken to an unknown location, Haroon told the police.

No one claimed responsibility for the abductions.

Sheikh first took up Sarabjit’s case in June 2009 and had received many threats. Earlier this month, he also escaped a kidnapping incident at Wagah Border where he was seeing off Sarabjit’s family members, reports The Express Tribune.

Sarabjit died on May 02 in Lahore’s Jinnah Hospital, six days after being attacked by fellow prisoners in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail on April 26.

He had been arrested in Pakistan in August 1990. Pakistan accused him of being an Indian spy and of carrying out bomb attacks. His family insisted he was an innocent man who crossed over to Pakistan inadvertently.

PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, set to become Pakistan’s next Prime Minister, reached out to his rival Imran Khan and suggested that the two of them should play a “friendly match”.

Sharif visited the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf chief at Shaukat Khanum Hospital, where he is recuperating after fracturing his spine in a fall at a campaign meeting days before the May 11 general elections.

Sharif inquired about Khan‘s health and spent some time with him.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, Sharif said: “We have reconciled and I have asked Khan sahab to get well and play a friendly match with me.”

He said he had a brief but “very good” discussion with a “receptive” Khan.

Sharif said he had asked Khan to let go of his anger as the Prophet Mohammed had once said that a person should not hold a grudge against anyone for more than three days.

He said that he and Khan respected each other’s mandate.

“Imran is recovering fast and he told me that his pain is reducing. I congratulated him and he congratulated me over the election victories.”

Sharif said he did not want anything for himself as “we have to collectively work to steer the country out of crises.”

He added, “I will develop a good working relationship with Imran Khan. Imran was receptive to my gestures and we had a meeting in a cordial atmosphere.”

In response to a question, Sharif said he wanted good relations with all countries, including the US.

Khan, 60, mounted virulent attacks on Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif while campaigning in Punjab.

Shortly after it became clear on Sunday that the PML-N was set to win the polls, Sharif said, without naming Khan, that he forgave everyone who had abused him during the campaign.

The former cricketer has been bed-ridden in hospital since May 7, when he fell off a fork-lift during a campaign meeting. As a gesture of goodwill, Sharif suspended his campaign for 24 hours after Khan‘s accident.

In a video issued after it became clear that the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf had not performed very well in the polls, Khan did not acknowledge the PML-N’s victory or congratulate Sharif.

]]> http://canindia.com/2013/05/nawaz-sharif-reaches-out-to-imran-khan-wants-to-play-friendly-match/feed/ 0 http://canindia.com/2013/05/imran-khan-urges-pak-sc-election-commission-to-take-poll-rigging-complaints-seriously/ http://canindia.com/2013/05/imran-khan-urges-pak-sc-election-commission-to-take-poll-rigging-complaints-seriously/#comments Wed, 15 May 2013 13:02:31 +0000 Web Editor http://canindia.com/?p=94186 ISLAMABAD

The Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf has decided to move Supreme Court and Election Commission of Pakistan in order “to seek justice” after it identified “significant rigging instances” in as many as 20 constituencies in the Punjab province.

The PTI issued a list of 15 national and five Punjab Assembly constituencies claiming the party had “valid proofs” of rigging there, reports The Dawn.

PTI chief Imran Khan has said in a message that the ECP and SC should take the rigging complaints seriously because the future of the country as well as democracy directly depended upon free and fair elections.

PTI Punjab president Ejaz Chaudhry alleged that the rigging complaints were received from all the 297 constituencies, where police and polling station staff favoured PML-N.

A Pakistani anti-terrorism court on Tuesday extended former military ruler Pervez Musharraf’s house arrest over the murder of Benazir Bhutto for 14 days, a prosecutor said.

The court in the garrison town of Rawalpindi neighbouring Islamabad also put off hearing a bail application by Musharraf until May 20, Chaudhry Azhar told AFP.

He said, “the court extended Musharraf’s judicial remand until May 28 when it hears the case again,” adding that the adjournment came after Musharraf’s lawyer Salman Safdar could not attend the hearing.

This was the first hearing after the main state prosecutor handling Bhutto’s 2007 murder and the 2008 Mumbai attacks, Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali, was shot dead in Islamabad en route to court on May 3.

Musharraf is accused of conspiracy to murder two-time prime minister Bhutto, whose Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) was elected into power in February 2008 on a wave of sympathy over her death.

Musharraf’s government blamed the killing on Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, who denied any involvement and was killed in a US drone attack in 2009.

Musharraf returned from exile in March to stand in the May 11 general election, vowing to “save” the country from militancy and economic collapse but he was barred from running over charges dating back to his 1999-2008 rule.

The retired general also faces legal cases over the sacking of judges when he imposed emergency rule in 2007, and the 2006 death of a Baluch rebel leader.

Pinning hopes on significant economic reforms in Pakistan after Nawaz Sharif‘s victory in general elections, global agency S&P Monday said that the development bodes well for the country‘s credit profile, but ruled out any upgrade from the present junk grade rating.

S&P currently has a ‘B-’ sovereign credit rating on Pakistan, which is a non-investment or junk grade rating and means that the country is vulnerable to adverse business, financial and economic conditions but currently has the capacity to meet financial commitments.

In a statement issued here, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (S&P) said that Pakistan‘s parliamentary election results set the stage for longer-term stability of its ‘B-’ sovereign credit rating on the country.

Welcoming the strong lead taken by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party (PML-N) in poll results, S&P said: “This is a key achievement for Pakistan‘s maturing democracy, in the face of general economic malaise, widespread and incessant sectarian and political violence, large-scale domestic insurgencies, and ongoing tension with neighboring India.”

S&P said that in its earlier report on Pakistan in April it had outlined its view that “timely, successful, and credible elections were essential for Pakistan to deliver a government with a reasonable chance of tackling the country‘s economic imbalances, including a looming balance of payments crisis.Preliminary election results indicate such an outcome.

“The elections took place on schedule, without major shortcomings that would result in a disputed outcome, and with a large voter turnout despite intimidation and bombings on election day by extremist elements.

“The 60 percent voter turnout, compared with 44 percent in the 2008 elections, ensures greater legitimacy for the new government.

“Moreover, the results suggest that PML-N is likely to have a lead that will enable it to form a coalition without the support of major political rivals or the minor parties.

“We believe the election outcome puts the incoming government in good stead to sew up an IMF deal soon,” S&P credit analyst Agost Benard said.

“This is needed to stabilise external finances and to provide the policy framework for necessary fiscal and energy sector reforms. If successful, these efforts will underpin the continued stability of the sovereign ratings at the current ‘B-’ level,” he added.