PM Gilani not guilty of contempt: Kaira

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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Central Information Secretary Qamar-uz-Zaman Kaira Monday expressed distress over the indictment of Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani by Supreme Court (SC) in today proceedings in National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) Implementation case.

Talking to media outside the apex court, Kaira asserted that the PM Gilani is not guilty and this will be vindicated at the court as well. TrendPK

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Govt to tread legal path: Firdous Ashiq

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ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan Monday said the government will tread the legal path vis-à-vis court orders.

She said this while talking to reporters after hearing the landmark contempt case, where Supreme Court (SC) indicted Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani over contempt charge during the proceedings of National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) Implementation case.

She told the PM Gilani will not resign from his office, adding the government will consult its legal experts over the issue.

The judicial verdict is not yet out, she said referring to take on legal fight afar. TrendPK

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PPP leaders rise in sync over PM’s indictment on contempt charge

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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leaders Monday said it is premature to ask Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani to resign.

The PPP leaders, after the Supreme Court (SC) indicted The PM Gilani over contempt charge during the proceedings of National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) Implementation case, said their party respects the courts; however, this should be kept in mind that president has immunity under the Constitution.

Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan reiterated the old stance, “To our reckoning, the President enjoys immunity.”

Responding a question over making the PM Gilani a scapegoat, she said her party has always rendered sacrifices for the public and will keep doing so in future as well.

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Central Information Secretary Qamar-uz-Zaman Kaira, expressing distress over the indictment of Prime Minister Gilani, asserted that the PM Gilani is not guilty and this will be vindicated at the court as well.

PPP leader and Deputy Speaker in Sindh Assembly Shela Raza said there are thousands of cases pending in courts; but, the PM Gilani’s case is unnecessarily being given so much importance.

Awami National Party (ANP) Chief Asfandyar Wali Khan said his party will remain in coalition government regardless of the verdict.

Meantime, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, talking to the battery of reporters outside the apex court building, said he had offered a good counsel to the PM Gilani in this regard. TrendPK

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Poet Atta Shad’s being remembered today

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KARACHI: Famed Urdu and Balochi poet Atta Shad is being remembered on his death anniversary today (Monday).

Atta Shad was born in 1939 in South Baluchistan. He is inarguably one of the foremost intellectuals from Balochistan.

His repertoire includes two collections of verse in Urdu and three collections of verse in Balochi besides three research related works that also include the Urdu-Balochi dictionary.

He was appointed the director of National Art Council Quetta in 1973. Atta Shad was the recipient of the Sitara Imtiaz for his services rendered in the filed of literature.

He died on 13 February 1997 in Quetta. TrendPK

Govt honors judiciary: Spokesman Farhat

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PESHAWAR: Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar said the government respects the judiciary.

Talking to media here, he said the President enjoys and will continue to enjoy indemnity. TrendPK

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Britain seeks urgent talks on peace force for Syria

LONDON: Britain will have urgent discussions with the Arab League over the group’s proposal for a joint peacekeeping force with the United Nations in Syria, Foreign Secretary William Hague said Monday.
  
Hague also welcomed the Arab League’s decision at a meeting in Cairo on Sunday to endorse a “Friends of Syria” group, including Britain, which will meet in Tunisia on February 24.
  
“We will discuss urgently with the Arab League and our international partners the proposals for a joint AL/UN peacekeeping force,” Hague said in a statement.
  
“Such a mission could have an important role to play in saving lives, providing the Assad regime ends the violence against civilians, withdraws its forces from towns and cities and establishes a credible ceasefire.”
  
Hague said Britain would play a “very active part” in the Friends of Syria group, which has similarities to the Libya contact group formed by international partners against Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi.
  
The Arab League said in a statement after the Cairo meeting that it would “ask the UN Security Council to issue a decision on the formation of a joint UN-Arab peacekeeping force to oversee the implementation of a ceasefire.”
  
It said diplomats from the league would also open contacts with the Syrian opposition and give them financial and political support against Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
  
Hague said the Arab League had taken “significant steps to increase the diplomatic and economic isolation of the Syrian regime”.
  
“The Arab League could not have sent a clearer message to Syria than the one it sent yesterday and we look forward to working closely with them in the coming days and weeks,” Hague said. AGENCIES

PM Gilani enjoys support of coalition partners: Shujaat

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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain Monday said Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani stood in the dock before the court for the rule of the law and the Constitution.

Talking to media, he said the PM Gilani enjoys the complete support of the coalition partners. TrendPK

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Europe’s first rocket to woo satellites launches

KOUROU: Engineers were carrying out the final checks for the maiden launch on Monday of a new European rocket, Vega, aimed at capturing the market for deploying small satellites.
  
With 90 minutes before the launch window, all lights in the control room at Europe’s space base here were green and weather reports were good, an AFP reporter there said.
  
Thirty metres (100 feet) long and three metres in diameter, Vega is designed to hoist loads ranging from 300 kilos (660 pounds) to 2.5 tonnes into orbits from 300 to 1,500 kilometres (187-937 miles) depending on mass.
  
The lightweight launcher complements the heavyweight Ariane 5, capable in its beefed-up version of lifting more than 20 tonnes, and the mid-range Soyuz, the Russian-Soviet veteran deployed to Kourou last year under a deal between Russia and the European Space Agency (ESA).
  
Development of Vega dates back to 1998. It has cost 776 million euros (1.008 billion dollars), of which Italy has contributed nearly 60 percent.
  
Monday’s mission, whose launch window opens at 1000 GMT, is a “qualification” flight with a scientific payload. AGENCIES

Nawaz urges govt letter to Swiss authorities

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LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Chief Mian Nawaz Sharif Monday demanded the government to write the letter required by the Supreme Court (SC) to address Swiss authorities so that the people’s money could be brought back from Swiss banks.

Addressing a press conference along with Sindh National Front (SNF) Chief Mumtaz Bhutto, he said ‘what is immunity’ does not concern the common people, adding the common man wants his hard-earned money should be retrieved back into the country.

The PML-N leader wondered as to why Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani is shirking to write the letter.

The Sindhi nationalist leader Bhutto noted the circumstances are fast going out of control with poverty-stricken people coerced to sell off their kids, adding the politicians will have to sit together to steer the country out of these crises.

No fair and transparent elections, Mumtaz Bhutto stressed, could be expected if the present rulers stick to the helm of affairs.

The two leaders voiced consensus that the government should immediately write the letter to Swiss authorities to open graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari. TrendPK

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Opposition parties advise PM Gilani to step aside

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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Ishaq Dar Monday said his party has no role in making Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani ‘an accused’ in National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) Implementation case.

Meantime, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan said no moral justification is left for PM Gilani to stay in his office after he was indicted by the apex court.

It should be mentioned here a seven-member bench headed Justice Nasirul Mulk framed charge against PM Gilani with him (PM Gilani) standing in the docks over failing to implementing the court order over a span of more than two years in National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) Implementation case.

The opposition parties said nobody is above the law and the Constitution even if he is the chief executive of the country.

PML-N leader Dar said his party stands by the judiciary in this regard, adding his party always advised Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) to act upon the court orders precisely.

Analyst and politician Ayaz Ameer said the law gives time to the person accused after framing of the charges against him; no verdict can be delivered summarily.

In contrast, the PPP said it has always honored judiciary and will continue doing so in future as well and no step will be taken up in clash with the law and the Constitution. TrendPK

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