Imran says Pakistanis want change

TrendPK.com

DUBAI: Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) has said that the people of Pakistan have rejected two mainstream political parties in the country and that they now want change, reports TrendPK.

Talking exclusively to TrendPK TV here, cricketer-turned-politician maintained that whether or not PTI comes into power through the upcoming elections, the people in Pakistan will not allow both PPP and PML-N to occupy treasury benches once again. TrendPK

Badin road mishap: 4 police die; 12 hurt

TrendPK.com

BADIN: At least four policemen died while another 12 sustained injuries in a road accident near Badin district, reports SMAA on Sunday night.

According to police sources, the accident took place in Merwah Mori area, located in the suburb of Badin, when a Karachi-bound police van containing 16 under-training personnel including the driver, met a head-on collision with a truck.

Consequent to terrible collision, up to 04 police officials died on the spot while 12 others incurred injuries.

Injured have been rushed to a local hospital for immediate medical attention, sources maintained, fearing the death toll may further escalate as few among under-treatment police have been said to be critical in condition. TrendPK

Joint Parliament session in first Feb week: Firdous

TrendPK.com
ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan Friday said the elections will be held on the appointed time.

Talking to media, the federal minister said the joint session of the Parliament will be called in the first week of February.

Responding a question regarding the Supreme Court (SC) ruling on bogus voter lists, the minister said the government is currently in consultation with the opposition parties over the issue. TrendPK

Syrian opposition calls on Assad to end crackdown

Dozens of Syrian opposition members called on President Bashar Assad Sunday to end his deadly six-month crackdown or face an escalation in peaceful protests, as security forces fired warning shots to disperse high school students calling for the regime s downfall.

The weekend meeting drew more than 200 opposition figures, including leading writer Michel Kilo and Hassan Abdul-Azim, who heads the outlawed Arab Socialist Democratic Union party. It was also notable because it took place inside Syria, rather than in a neighboring country, as most others have.

A statement released after the meeting called on Assad s regime to immediately end its “acts of repression,” and it urged protesters to keep their movement peaceful and not be tempted to take up arms. The opposition members also stuck by an earlier position to oppose international intervention in Syria, though some protesters on the streets have called for unspecified outside help.

The Syrian uprising began in mid-March, amid the wave of protests in the Arab world that have toppled autocrats in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. Assad has responded with force in a crackdown that the U.N. estimates has killed some 2,600 people.

Japan parliament approves Noda as PM

TOKYO: The Japanese parliament’s lower house voted in Yoshihiko Noda on Tuesday as the nation’s sixth prime minister in five years.  

Noda, 54, a fiscal hawk who edged out a rival in a ruling party run-off vote on Monday, is finance minister in the outgoing administration of his predecessor Naoto Kan.

He faces the task of rebuilding from the massive March tsunami that devastated the northeast coast and ending the nuclear crisis it triggered, while addressing a myriad of economic ills including a strong yen and a ballooning public debt.

But he is hampered by a divided parliament in which the opposition can block bills and by deep rifts within his own ruling Democratic Party.

It was unclear how soon Noda would form his cabinet. AGENCIES

Yemeni president Saleh agrees to exit within 30 days: officials

SANAA: Yemen’s embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh has accepted a deal brokered by neighboring Persian Gulf nations to step down, Yemeni officials said Saturday.

Both Saleh and the Yemeni opposition have agreed to the deal in principle. But Saleh has yet to sign the agreement, which stipulates he leave office within 30 days and provides complete immunity for him and those who served in his regime, said a senior foreign ministry official, who requested anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

Mohammed Albasha, spokesman for the Yemeni Embassy in Washington, said the opposition has to accept the final deal before Saleh will sign.

The agreement also calls for a unity government to be formed within seven days.

Yemen’s state-run media quoted Deputy Minister of Information Abdu al-Janadi as saying that the political crisis will “have a solution which appeases all parties to take the country to a better democracy.”

He told the Saba news agency that Saleh “welcomed the initiative presented by foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council and showed readiness to positively deal with it according to the Yemeni constitution.”

The bloc of six oil-producing Gulf nations, known as the GCC, has been working to ease tensions between Saleh and an increasingly restive opposition.

Previously, Yemen’s largest opposition group, the Joint Meeting Parties (JMP) bloc, had objected to the Gulf initiative for failing to state clearly that Saleh must stand down.

Even after agreeing to the deal, Saleh lashed out at the opposition, accusing them of “receiving dirty money to topple the government.”

“We are very interested in preventing bloodshed because the Yemeni blood is very precious and the opposition can’t drag us to killing each other,” Saleh said. “Civil war will not only affect Yemen, but also the whole region and the international security.
He said the JMP was trying to grab power outside the framework of democracy.

“I am ready to quit, but according to the constitution, which stipulated change through the ballot boxes and free elections,” he said.

The JMP agreed to a unity government that included Saleh’s ruling General People’s Congress on the condition that protests be allowed to continue on the streets, said spokesman Muhammad Qahtan.

Violent anti-government demonstrations have erupted for many weeks across Yemen and the chorus calling for Saleh’s ouster has grown louder.

U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said he was aware of press reports around Saleh’s acceptance of the GCC proposal and called on all sides to refrain from violence.

“There must be genuine participation by all sides including youth in an open and transparent process that addresses the legitimate concerns of the Yemeni people, including their political and economic aspirations and their calls to quickly bring all perpetrators of violence against protesters to justice,” he said.

“A solution to Yemen’s problems will not be found through security measures, including the recently adopted emergency laws.”

Saleh has been in power since 1978 and served as a staunch U.S. ally in the fight against al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. He has argued he should stay in power because he is best equipped to fight Islamic militancy.

He has also said he accepts opposition demands for constitutional reforms and holding parliamentary elections by the end of the year. He promised not to run for president in the next round of elections.

But earlier this month, Saleh said he would not offer any more concessions to those demanding reforms.

Gaddafi forces killed 10,000 in Libya

TRIPOLI: Forces loyal to embattled Libyan ruler Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has killed at least 10,000 people during the ongoing fighting in the North African country, opposition says.

Libya’s National Transition Council said on Tuesday that another 30,000 were wounded and 20,000 more are still missing, AFP reported.

The revolutionary council, headed by Libya’s former Justice Minister Mustafa Abdel Jalil, plans to lead the country to an election.

Jalil was among the first high-profile Libyan figures to join protesters following Gaddafi regime’s brutal crackdown on the opposition. AGENCIES

Gulf Arabs to try to draw Yemen opposition to talks

SANAA: Gulf Arab ambassadors were to meet Yemen opposition figures on Wednesday to urge them to join mediation talks as protesters around the country again demanded an end to President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s 32-year rule.

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) invited government and opposition representatives on Monday to talks in Saudi Arabia, at a date yet to be set, while the United States pressed the veteran political survivor to negotiate with his opponents.

U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates visited Saudi Arabia on Wednesday and was to discuss the unrest sweeping the region with King Abdullah, whose kingdom borders Yemen and is grappling with internal pressures of its own.

Saleh, who ignored a transition-of-power plan offered by the opposition on Saturday, accepted the GCC invitation on Tuesday and urged the opposition to follow suit. So did Ali Mohsen, the prominent general who turned against Saleh last month. There was no sign of a shift in position by Saleh despite the pressure. He has insisted for weeks he will leave once he has overseen parliamentary and presidential elections this year.

“The president will not leave his historic role early, before the transition of power… This issue is important,” Saleh adviser Ahmad al-Soufi told Al Arabiya television.

The ambassadors of Qatar, Oman and Saudi Arabia were to meet the government side on Wednesday as well as representatives of the opposition coalition, which has been non-committal so far.

“We welcome the (GCC) position on respecting the Yemeni people’s choices and we will also welcome any efforts made for the sake of President Saleh’s speedy departure,” Joint Meeting Parties coalition spokesman Mohammed al-Sabri said on Monday.

On Tuesday, an opposition source said security forces in the southern port city of Aden detained six people for mobilising students to join a civil disobedience campaign that has kicked off in South Yemen in recent days, with shops, schools and some government offices closed for part of the day in some towns.

Tension has risen this week in a standoff that began in February when protesters began camping out outside Sanaa University. Saleh, a wily political survivor who has been in power since 1978, said then he would run for re-election in 2013 but that did not persuade sceptical activists to go home.

On Monday, security forces and armed men in civilian clothes fired on protesters in Taiz, south of Sanaa, and the Red Sea port of Hudaida, killing 21 people.

On Tuesday, security forces and armed men again attacked a crowd of tens of thousands of protesters in Taiz, residents said, and protesters responded by hurling rocks.

Doctors told Reuters around 30 protesters were wounded by gunfire and beatings. Around 300 were injured in total, they said, most suffering from tear gas inhalation.

Saleh supporters clashed with protesters and army units protecting them in Sanaa on Tuesday, resulting in three deaths. The government said a mediation team sent to General Mohsen had been set upon, while Mohsen said it was a trap to assassinate him.

U.S. CHANGES TACK

Washington has long seen Saleh as a pivotal ally in its fight against al Qaeda, which has used its Yemen base to stage attacks on Saudi Arabia and the United States. In return for billions of dollars in military aid, he has pledged to fight militants and allowed unpopular U.S. air strikes on their camps.

But on Monday, U.S. officials said Washington was ratcheting up pressure on Saleh to work towards a power transition plan.

On Tuesday, the Pentagon said the United States was calling for a negotiated transition in Yemen “as quickly as possible.”

“Obviously the situation right now is a difficult one. The longer it festers, the more difficult it becomes,” Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said.

Some diplomats in Saudi Arabia have suggested Riyadh wants Mohsen to replace Saleh, though the general has said he is not interested in taking power. Civil society opposition groups say Mohsen, 70, an Islamist, is tainted by his kinship and long-time association with the veteran ruler.

More than 100 people have been killed since anti-government protests began in Yemen, including the March 18 killings of 52 anti-government protesters by rooftop snipers in Sanaa.

That incident, which led Saleh to declare a state of emergency, prompted top Yemeni generals, ambassadors and some tribes to back the protesters, in a major blow to the president.

Opposition sources say talks stalled because Saleh was manoeuvring to ensure he and his family do not face prosecution over corruption accusations raised by the opposition. Many demonstrators are sceptical about the GCC talks.

Frustration with Saleh’s intransigence may push Yemenis, many of them heavily armed and no strangers to wars and insurgencies, closer to a violent power struggle. AGENCIES

17 dead in Yemen, Saleh loses US favour

SANAA — Yemeni security forces shot dead at least 17 protesters on Monday as Gulf states offered their mediation and Washington reportedly pulled the plug on embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

“The death toll has gone up to 17,” said Sadeq al-Shujaa, head of a makeshift field hospital at a square in central Taez after security forces opened fire on demonstrators marching on the local governorate headquarters.

Witnesses said the demonstrators stormed the courtyard of the governorate and that plainclothes gunmen and rooftop snipers also took part in the gunfire to push them back.

The bloodshed, a day after another protester was shot dead in Taez, 200 kilometres (125 miles) from the capital, sent the death toll to more than 100 in a crackdown on protests in the impoverished state since late January.

Saleh, a longtime US ally in Washington’s fight against Al-Qaeda, appears to be losing American support.

The US government is taking part in efforts to negotiate the president’s departure and a transitional handover of power, according to a report in the New York Times on Sunday.

US officials have told allies they see Saleh’s position as untenable due to the widespread protests, and believe he should leave office, the paper said. Negotiations on his departure had been launched more than a week ago.

The talks centred on a proposal for Saleh to hand over to a provisional government under his vice-president until new polls. The principle is “not in dispute”, an unnamed Yemeni official told the paper.

With the timing still to be worked out, the focus for Washington remains on keeping its Saleh-backed counter-terrorism operation in Yemen unaffected, the Times reported.

The opposition Common Forum on Saturday offered its “vision for a peaceful and secure transition of power”, calling on Saleh to hand power to Vice-President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, who would be a caretaker president.

But the president, who has adopted a defiant tone over the past week, on Sunday told the opposition to end protests and remove roadblocks, offering a “peaceful transition of power through constitutional ways”.

Youth protesters staging sit-in protests, however, said they would accept nothing short of an end to Saleh’s autocratic rule along with the departure of top figures in his regime.

Oil-rich Gulf states also said late on Sunday that they are seeking to mediate between Saleh and the opposition.

“The countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council have agreed to begin contacts with the Yemeni government and opposition with ideas to overcome the current situation,” it said after a meeting of foreign ministers in Riyadh.

On the ground in Sanaa, soldiers who have sided with protesters intervened on Monday to prevent police from taking on thousands of demonstrators camped at a square in central Sanaa.

Thirteen people were shot and wounded late on Sunday as police clashed with tens of thousands of demonstrators in the Red Sea city of Hudaydah, according to witnesses.

Police opened fire as the protesters marched on the city’s main local government building, they said.

In renewed clashes on Monday in Hudaydah, witnesses reported that dozens of people were wounded by police gunfire and rocks, while hundreds needed treatment for tear-gas inhalation.

The demonstrations in Taez and Hudaydah were part of a renewed spurt of protests for Saleh to end his three-decade rule.

The tide appeared to turn against Saleh on March 18 when regime loyalists gunned down 52 demonstrators in Sanaa, sparking widespread condemnation abroad and a string of defections from his camp.

But boosted by two huge pro-regime rallies in the capital and previous US statements on the battle being waged against al-Qaeda in Yemen under its ally Saleh have produced shows of defiance by the president.

ECP suspects degrees of 298 MPs

Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has declared the eligibility of 298 members of parliament (MPs) as suspected because they didnt submit their degrees of matriculation and intermediate. Federal Ministers Babar Awan, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Opposition Leader Ch. Nisar Ahmed, Ch. Shujaat Hussain and Pervaiz Elahi are among the members.

In spite of ECP demand, 112 MNAs and 21 Senators didnt submit their degrees. Besides, 112 MPAs of Punjab Assembly, 10 MPAs of Sindh Assembly, 10 MPAs of Balochistan Assembly and 45 MPAs of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly also didnt submit their degrees to the ECP. Election Commission has declared degrees of 118 members of parliament as correct.

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