Senate polls: President directs PPP ministers to consult allies

TrendPK.com

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari has directed PPP’s Sindh ministers to consult all coalition partners to build a consensus for unopposed Senate polls.

This he said while heading a meeting of party’s ministers in Sindh cabinet at Bilawal House today (Monday).

Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah also attended the meeting.

On this occasion, President Zardari also reviewed the under construction development projects.

President Zardari also directed the ministers to initiate measures that could prevent more flood devastations in the coming days.

 Following the meeting, Sindh Information Minister Shazia Marri said only Senate elections would be held this year while the parliamentary elections would take place as per schedule. TrendPK

Memo scandal: Parliamentary body’s in-camera session today

TrendPK.com

ISLAMABAD: The Parliamentary Committee on National Security probing into memogate scandal is going to resume its in-camera session today (Thursday) in Islamabad, TrendPK reports.

Reports say Attorney General of Pakistan Molvi Anwar Ul-Haq has provided with the committee details of his correspondence with Blackberry company for obtaining data of two cell phones used by Pakistan’s former ambassador Hussain Haqqani and Mansoor Ijaz, the Pakistani-American which is central character of the memo scam.

The in-camera session will be presided over by committee chairman Senator Raza Rabbani which is also ruling Pakistan Peoples Party’s central leader.

During the meeting, sources said, the AG would also brief the committee over the security for Mansoor Ijaz and Hussain Haqqani.

Ijaz has refused to come at Pakistan citing security concerns. TrendPK

PML-Ns parliamentary committee to submit recommendations to Nawaz today

Fifteen-member Parliamentary committee of PML-N headed by Raja Zafarul Haq will present its recommendations to the party chief Nawaz Sharif regarding formation of new provinces.

The committee has proposed that the new provinces should be formed on administrative and population basis instead of ethnic basis.

It has been stressed in the recommendations that distribution of resources should be made certain before the formation of new provinces on administrative basis instead of dividing one or two provinces.

PML-N will decide its policy today regarding formation of new provinces in the light of committee’s recommendations.

Shujaat asks Fazal to make joint govt in Balochistan

PML-Q chief Ch. Shujaat Hussain has suggested JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman to make joint government in Balochistan.

According to sources, Ch. Shujaat has maintained that PML-Q and JUI can make in-house change in Balochistan. JUIs Majlis-e-Amla will mull over the suggestion of the PML-Q chief in its December 22 meeting.

JUI secretary general Abdul Gafhoor Haidri said that no decision has yet been taken on Shujaat proposal and this matter wasnt come under discussion the meeting of Parliamentary party.

Ukraine: Members of parliament clash in the parliament

Dozens members of parliament from the Party of Regions supporting Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich clashed with opposition deputies on Thursday evening in an effort to put an end to the opposition protest which was halting Parliamentary sessions.

Earlier on Thursday, opposition deputies brought proceedings to a halt inside the parliament when they staged an action to support Yulia Tymoshenko who said that she was been unfairly targeted in a criminal probe. Deputies blocked the podium to demonstrate in support of former Prime Minister Tymoshenko, who leads the opposition faction ‘Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko’ (BYT). Tymoshenko supporters hung banners reading ‘End Political Repression against Tymoshenko’ and ‘Hands Off Tymoshenko’ around the assembly hall. Members of the pro-Yanukovich Party of Regions entered the hall on Thursday evening and tried to force the opposition deputies out of the parliament hall.

The fight ended up with several people injured and reportedly taken to hospital. Tymoshenko’s supporters have described the audit as an attempt to intimidate the opposition. She said the state prosecutors had summoned her for another round of questioning on 20th December.

IHC becomes operational today

Islamabad High Court (IHC) would become functional on Monday (today), however, the hearing would not be resumed because so far judges have not been appointed.

In April, the government has ordered revival of the IHC in the light of the 18th Constitutional Amendment. The high court will start functioning after appointment of judges. Law Minister Babar Awan said that the chief justice and judges of the IHC would be appointed from all units of the federation. Three judges for the IHC including the Chief Justice have been nominated, however the parliamentary committee would likely to notify more judges. The SC last year declared the Islamabad High Court as illegal, saying it had been established under the Provisional Constitutional Order imposed by former president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf of Nov 3, 2007. In its July 31 judgment, the apex court had struck down the order of establishment of the IHC and reverted the judicial system to the status of Nov 2, 2007. All the judges who were part of the judiciary on Nov 2, 2007, had been ordered to return to original courts. All judges who were not part of the judiciary had been ordered to cease acting as judges. The IHC employees had been ordered back to their original positions or to the federal surplus pool. The Supreme Court, under Justice Hameed Dogar, had decided in favour of the establishment of IHC. But its creation was delayed because of a stay order issued by the Lahore High Court after its establishment was challenged. The IHC was to start functioning in Feb 2008.

Govt. decides to call joint parliamentary session on Dec. 18

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: The government has decided on Thursday to call a joint parliamentary session on December 18 and National Assembly’s session on December 20.

The Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs has sent an official summary, for calling both sessions, to President Asif Ali Zardari.

During the joint session, one house will present other house’s rejected bills, under the 18th Amendment, for the approval. Before 18th Amendment a mediation committee was formed for such rejected bills.

According to sources, in the session of National Assembly, on December 20, the Reformed General Sales Tax Bill can be presented for discussion. Trend Pk

Egypt opposition threatens to boycott runoff

CAIRO: Egypt’s Islamist and secular opposition said on Wednesday they may pull out of a runoff after a crushing defeat by President Hosni Mubarak’s party in weekend polls marred by alleged fraud and violence.

Such a move would leave barely any opposition contesting the second round and deal another blow to the credibility of the elections after Egypt came in for heavy criticism from its ally the United States and human rights groups.

Official figures showed Mubarak’s National Democratic Party (NDP) won 209 of 221 seats in the first round of the parliamentary election on Sunday, seen as a forerunner to a crucial 2011 presidential election.

In the vote, the outlawed but generally tolerated Muslim Brotherhood failed to win a single seat outright, while the legal secular opposition parties Tagammu and Wafd were also hammered.

Most of the seats in next

JAPC’s meeting being held in Islamabad today

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: The second meeting of Judges Appointing Parliamentary Committee (JAPC) is being held in Islamabad to finalize the appointment of the chairman and other rules and regulations.

The meeting of an eight-member committee is being held in Parliament House, Islamabad. The meeting is scheduled to review the proposals on appointing a chairman for the committee.

One proposal suggests that turn by turn, each member should be made chairman of the committee, while another proposal has been submitted that the chairman should be made with the majority’s choice. The meeting will evaluate both.

The meeting will also examine the appointment of the Judicial Commission’s nominee, Justice Ajaz Chaudhry’s as the Chief Justice of Lahore High Court (CJ-LHC).

According to sources, JAPC will finalize the name of Justice Ajaz Chaudhry as the

Maliki to Form Government in Iraq

BAGHDAD: Nuri al-Maliki was re-nominated as Iraqi prime minister on Thursday as fractious politicians ended an eight-month deadlock that raised fears of renewed sectarian warfare.

A pact on top government posts reached late on Wednesday brought together Shi’ites, Sunnis and Kurds in a power-sharing arrangement similar to the last Iraqi government, and could help prevent a slide back into the sectarian bloodshed that raged after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

In a sign of turbulent relations between the partners, lawmakers from the Sunni-backed Iraqiya alliance of former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi walked out of the parliamentary session at which Maliki was chosen for a second term. Many Sunnis said they doubted Maliki could forge national unity.

“Today is the day of victory. The victory of the true Iraqi will,” re-elected President Jalal Talabani told parliament.

Celebratory gunfire rang out in the streets of Baghdad. In its first steps to implement the deal, parliament met for only the second time since an inconclusive March election, electing Talabani, a Kurd, as president and Iraqiya lawmaker Osama al-Nujaifi, a Sunni, as speaker.

Talabani then nominated Maliki to form a new government. Under Iraqi law, he has 30 days.
The new parliament got off to a rocky start which could foreshadow problems for Maliki’s second term.

About two-thirds of Iraqiya’s 91 lawmakers, including Allawi, walked out before the start of the vote for president, saying they were angry that agreements between alliance leaders were not being honored.

“It is obvious that they want to monopolize power,” prominent Sunni politician Saleh al-Mutlaq of Iraqiya said after the walkout. “Then I congratulate them for this power.”

Sunnis, dominant under Saddam Hussein, would have reacted with outrage had Iraqiya been excluded from government. Some may still feel cheated because of Maliki’s return.

OPEC member Iraq, trying to rebuild its oil industry after decades of war and economic sanctions and to quell a stubborn Sunni Islamist insurgency, has been without a new government since an election on March 7 failed to produce a clear winner.

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