New Maldives President expands cabinet
The new president of the Maldives is expanding his Cabinet to strengthen the coalition government ruling the Indian Ocean nation.
A presidential spokesman says six members from four political parties will be sworn in Sunday as ministers in the government led by President Mohammed Waheed Hassan.
Former president Mohamed Nasheed’s Maldivian Democratic Party, however, has not responded to an invitation to join the Cabinet.
The Maldives has been rocked by political turmoil for nearly a week, since Nasheed resigned and was replaced by his vice president. Nasheed claims he was ousted in a coup, a charge the new president denies.
A senior U.S. diplomat who met with Maldivian leaders on Saturday said the Maldives wasn’t ready for early elections as a way out of its political crisi
Not willing to become PM: Amin Fahim
Talking to media at Lahore Expo Centre after a ceremony of exhibition of Indian products, Amin Fahim said that PPP would wait for the Supreme Court’s final verdict in the prime minister’s ‘contempt of court’ case. He said the decisions in democracy are not made in haste.
While responding to a question about the next general elections and caretaker setup, Fahim said that elections would be conducted after the parliament completes its tenure and the caretaker setup would be formed with the consensus of government and opposition.
The federal minister said bilateral trade will increase with arranging exhibitions of Indo-Pak products while dialogue was underway to remove reservations over the negative list.
US envoy in Malidives to ease political crises
A top US diplomat arrived in the Maldives on Saturday seeking to help resolve a deepening political crisis sparked by the ousting of the Indian Ocean nation s first democratically elected president.
Mohamed Nasheed, who came to power in 2008, says he was forced to resign on Tuesday in a coup d etat led by mutinous army and police officers who threatened him with violence unless he stepped down.
He was replaced as head of state by his vice president Mohamed Waheed, whom Nasheed accuses of being party to the conspiracy to topple him.
The US assistant secretary of state for South Asian affairs, Robert Blake, will seek to clarify how power was transferred during a visit to the crowded capital of the famous holiday islands, the state department announced.
“Ambassador Blake will meet the president as well as the opposition during his 12-hour visit,” a US official in the capital island Male told AFP.
Since stepping down, Nasheed has called for fresh elections and has threatened protests if the police continue targeting his party members and figures in his former administration.
Rioting erupted across the country on Wednesday when Nasheed publicly said he was the victim of a military-backed coup and senior members of his party were beaten during a rally in Male.
At least 18 police stations were torched and dozens of vehicles, court houses and government buildings were destroyed some of the remote islets of the archipelago, police say.
The Maldivian police confirmed they were carrying out mass arrests of troublemakers while Nasheed said 350 people linked to his administration had been detained within three days of his resignation.
New President Waheed has rejected Nasheed s demand for elections.
“Simply because an ex-president wants an election we can t have one just like that,” Waheed s spokesman Masood Imad told AFP. “There is a constitutional process.”
Imad said Waheed had no intention of clinging on to power and would hold the next election when it is due, by November 2013.
New protests would spell further instability and damage for the country which depends on the hundreds of thousands of high-end travellers and honeymooners who visit its pristine islands each year.
Nasheed s efforts to force Waheed to step down suffered a major blow Thursday when Washington announced it recognised his successor s administration as legitimate.
Nasheed, a former political prisoner and climate change campaigner, voiced disappointment at the announcement and the US later appeared to step back from its earlier declaration.
“We will work with the government of the Maldives, but believe that the circumstances surrounding the transfer of power need to be clarified,” US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters in Washington.
“And we also suggest that all parties agree to an independent mechanism to do that.”
“He (Blake) will see all of the major players and have a chance to talk about an appropriate way forward and reconciliation and national unity mechanism.”
Nasheed said Friday that recognition of the new Male administration would not help resolve the crisis.
The former president claimed police “stripped and hand-cuffed” his supporters and ransacked homes in Addu, the southernmost atoll, and said he would travel there in the next 24 hours unless the crackdown stopped.
A UN special envoy, Assistant Secretary General Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, arrived in the Maldives Friday and met both sides, diplomatic sources said.
A European Union and Indian delegation are also due to visit.
Diplomatic pressure has been applied to prevent police acting on an arrest warrant for Nasheed issued by a local criminal court on Thursday, diplomatic sources said.
Presidential spokesman Imad said police were obliged to execute the arrest warrant only if they felt there was a risk that Nasheed would not appear in court to answer charges which are yet to be made public.
“He can go anywhere in the country, but he can t leave the country,” Imad said.
Strike to mark Egypt anniversary
Activists in Egypt are set to mark the anniversary of the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak with a strike and day of civil disobedience.
Activists plan a day of civil disobedience in Egypt on Saturday to mark the first anniversary since they toppled Hosni Mubarak but left an increasingly unpopular but defiant military in charge.
The call for strikes in universities and workplaces comes after a series of protests pressuring the military to transfer power immediately to civilians, rather than wait for planned presidential elections later this year.
The military, headed by Mubarak s long-time defence minister Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, has said it will deploy additional troops across the country in response to the calls for a day of disobedience.
On Friday, thousands of protesters snaked through Cairo s streets to bypass military cordons and reach the defence ministry, chanting “Down with military rule”
In a statement read out on state television late on Friday, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) said it would not bow to threats or plots against the state.
“We will never yield to threats, and we will never give in to pressure,” the SCAF said.
“We tell you quite frankly that our dear Egypt faces plans aimed at striking at the heart of our revolution.
“We are facing plots against the nation aiming to undermine the institutions of the Egyptian state, and to topple the state itself so that chaos reigns.”
The military, which has brutally quashed several protests in the past year, has played off the abundant suspicion in Egypt of foreign conspiracies.
Students in several universities have called for strikes for Saturday, with secular youth groups which spearheaded the revolt against Mubarak also taking part.
Tareq al-Khouly, an organiser of the April 6 youth group, said the plan was for a one-day strike which could be extended.
In a joint statement on Friday, the groups urged Egyptians “to support these strikes in order to end the unjust rule and build a nation in which justice, freedom and dignity prevail.”
The call for strikes and protests has divided the country s political forces, with the Muslim Brotherhood — the big winner in recent parliamentary elections — coming out against it.
Many Egyptians complain that the economy has been battered by the lack of security and deadly violence in the wake of the 18-day revolt that forced Mubarak to resign on February 11 last year.
Protests against the military, idolised immediately after the revolt for not siding with Mubarak, have heightened fears among many that the Arab world s most populous nation could veer towards chaos, as the military itself warns.
On Friday the SCAF said the nation was at “the most dangerous turning point on our road to liberty, democracy and social justice.”
Young activists who spearheaded the revolt against Mubarak believe the generals will try to exercise power through a pliant civilian government after presidential elections later this year.
The activists say the military should hand power to parliament, elected over three rounds in November and December, or to a civilian council ahead of presidential elections set to take place before the end of June.
The SCAF statement said it was determined to transfer power to an elected civilian body.
“We have kept the first promise and returned legislative power to the people s assembly,” it said, adding that the parliamentary election took place in an atmosphere of “liberty and integrity.”
“Presidential power will pass to the president of the republic after the election ending the period of transition, and your faithful army will revert to its original role,” the military statement said.
Expat French get internet vote
French citizens will for the first time this year be able to vote in a parliamentary election over the Internet, an experiment that could be extended to other elections if successful.
Edouard Courtial, the junior minister for French living abroad, told journalists on Friday that French expatriates would be able to choose their 11 MPs by Internet during June s two-round parliamentary vote.
The estimated one million French citizens living abroad were previously only allowed to vote in presidential elections but this year they will have 11 deputies representing their interests in parliament, also a first.
“Internet voting allows us to overcome the obstacle of distance and to take part in an easy and secure way from one s home,” said Courtial.
Greeks agree on austerity, unions call strike
This cleared the way for the eurozone to decide on a bailout package, but unions called a new strike against the terms.
A final agreement has been reached among Greek political leaders on additional austerity measures demanded by EU-IMF creditors in return for a loan bailout, a government source said on Thursday.
“There is a final agreement on the measures,” the source told AFP hours before eurozone finance were set to decide on a new bailout worth 130 billion euros ($171 billion), averting a default and ending a chapter in the eurozone crisis.
A deal by banks to write-down Greek debt was also at hand, an EU diplomat said.
The Greek government coalition parties had balked overnight at cutting 650 million euros in supplementary pensions, and argued until almost the last minute on Thursday over finding savings in other areas of the budget.
The message from Brussels meanwhile was that the shortfall in cuts, however small, had to be bridged, by whatever means.
European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi told reporters in Frankfurt that he had received a phone call from Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos just minutes earlier and “he told me that agreement has been reached and has been endorsed by major parties.”
An EU diplomat told AFP there is also “consensus” on the voluntary writedown by private creditors of their holdings of Greek bonds — “the biggest debt restructuring ever.”
Private creditors, who are negotiating an exchange of bonds that will save Greece at least 100 billion euros, are to meet on Thursday in Paris before the Europgroup meeting, according to a spokesman.
Greece has run up total debt of about 350 billion euros, roughly 160 percent of its gross domestic product, and the IMF has insisted that level be brought down to a maximum of 120 percent of GDP in 2020 in order for a further bailout to go ahead.
The deal would likely see the face value of the 200 billion euros in bonds that private creditors hold be cut in half, but their total losses may hit 70 percent given they will receive 30-year bonds at lower interest rates.
The bond exchange will take several weeks to perform, raising concerns whether it can completed before Greece faces 14.5 billion euros in payments due on March 20 and defaults, which could spark a domino effect that undermines the entire euro common currency project.
The main private and public-sector unions called a 48-hour general strike on Friday and Saturday to fight “barbaric” new wage and pension cuts.
“We categorically reject this framework to impoverish and bankrupt society and the economy,” the leading union GSEE said.
According to the Greek press, the measures under consideration included slashing the minimum wage by 22 percent, sweeping cuts to salaries and pensions and 15,000 public sector job losses.
Anguish over the measures was exacerbated as official data showed the jobless rate exceeding a million people, or 20.9 percent of the workforce.
If eurozone finance ministers approve the deal at a meeting due to begin at 1700 GMT the programme of reforms will be put before the Greek parliament on Friday, ahead of a vote on Sunday.
In principle, the government coalition can rely on support from 255 of the 300 deputies, but the political stakes are high as the parties prepare for early legislative elections in April.
Far-right leader Georgios Karatzaferis, the first to emerge from the coalition talks, denounced the troika for heaping unreasonable pressure on the Greek government to enact more painful cuts to public spending.
“I made clear my intentions right at the start of the meeting. I cannot in one hour sign up to a plan which will affect the country for 40 or 50 years with receiving (legal) assurances that the measures are going to get the country out of its impasse,” he told reporters.–AFP
No watershed on 20th Amend yet: Nisar
The Opposition Leader in the National Assembly said that no progress has been made on the 20th Amendment, which deals with the issue of creating new provinces. He also said that the PML-N’s stance remains unchanged. “The caretaker government should be formed in consultation with the Opposition, after evolving national consensus,” he added.
Talking to the media, Ch Nisar said neither has any progress been made so far on the issue of caretaker government. He said his party wants a consensus caretaker prime minister to ensure free and fair general elections.
The Opposition Leader also came down on the government, saying the government only informs the opposition after taking policy decisions. “We also have reservations on the word consultation. All opposition parties have reservations.”.
Nisar however said watershed on the 20th Amend is possible on Wednesday. He said the next elections must be free and fair.
On the suspension of 28 MPs on orders from the Supreme Court, Nisar said not those politicians, but the Election Committee is to blame. He said the Chief Election Commissioner’s tenure cannot be extended under the Constitution.
Iran detains Arabs in pre-poll sweep
Iran is detaining more than 65 members of its Arab minority after security sweeps in Khuzestan province in the southwest ordered over the past few months, Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday.
At least some of the arrests were linked to graffiti sprayed on public property hailing the “Arab Spring” revolutions and calling for a boycott of Iran s parliamentary elections due on March 2, the New York-based watchdog said in a statement citing reports by local activists.
Two of those arrested — identified as Mohammad Kaabi, 34, and Nasser Alboshokeh Derafshan, 19 — died in custody, apparently from torture, Human Rights Watch said.
A news “blackout” has been imposed in Iran on the security sweep, which began in November, the group said.
It called for the others being detained to be given access to lawyers and family members, and for anyone responsible for torture to be brought to account.
Khuzestan, a province on the border with Iraq with up to two million Arabic speakers, has been the scene of chronic anti-government sentiment in recent years, Human Rights Watch said.
Iranian officials have accused US and British intelligence services of fomenting ethnic unrest in the province.
Iran’s parliament to question Ahmadinejad
Iran s parliament on Tuesday decided to summon President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for questioning over a long list of accusations, including that he mismanaged the nation s economy.
The summons was the first of its kind for an Iranian president since 1979. It follows a petition by a group of lawmakers for a review of policy decisions by Ahmadinejad, who has come under increasing attacks in recent months from the same hard-liners who brought him to power.
It is also part of a power struggle on the Iranian political scene ahead of March 2 parliamentary elections and the 2013 presidential vote.
Mohammad Reza Bahnoar, the parliament deputy speaker, said lawmakers have demanded that Ahmadinejad answer a slew of questions on the economy, including purportedly bypassing a special budget for the Tehran subway and public transportation.
He is also to be queried about foreign and domestic policy decisions.
“There is a requirement for the president to answer questions in an open session of the parliament,” said Bahnoar, whose parliament speech was broadcast live on Iranian state radio.
A letter containing the summons is to be sent to Ahmadinejad in next two days, according to the parliament statement. Under Iranian law, he has up to appear in parliament after one month. It s unclear what would happen if Ahmadinejad fails to appear before parliament.
Ahmadinejad will also be asked why he “hesitated for 11 days” to act on a demand Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to reinstate intelligence minister, Heidar Moslehi, who was sacked by Ahmadinejad in 2011, and to elaborate on his snap dismissal of former foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, during a trip to Africa.
The power struggle has pitted Ahmadinejad against Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters in Iran.
Ahmadinejad and his policies have been the target of criticism by lawmakers, clerics as well as state-run media.
Other questions that will be put to the president include those about Iran s slacking economic growth, and why his administration failed to promote the Islamic dress code that calls for women to wear the traditional veil. Lawmakers behind the initiative allege Ahmadinejad promoted Iranian nationalism instead of Islamic values.
According to the statement, Ahmadinejad is also to explain his ties to Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, whose daughter is married to the president s son. Ahmadinejad s opponents content he is trying to push Mashei for president after his own term expires next year.
SC to resume hearing on by-polls under incomplete EC
A four-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry will hear the case regarding by-elections under the incomplete Election Commission.
The court will also decide about the fate of 23 parliamentarians who were elected under the incomplete Election Commission.
Earlier, the court had granted time till Feb 6 to get parliamentary ratification of the elections but the government failed to meet the deadline.
On the other hand, session of the National Assembly will hold on 5pm, in which the government will struggle to pass the 20th amendment.
