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.

Convoy attacked in Afghan capital-police: NATO

KABUL: A NATO convoy was attacked near the parliament building in the Afghan capital on Friday, police and the coalition said, but there was no immediate word on casualties.

A police source said the attack had been carried out by a suicide bomber, although a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said it appeared to have been a roadside bomb.

Neither police nor ISAF had any word on possible casualties. AGENCIES

Punjab facing injustice in gas supply: Shahbaz

Deploring the step-motherly treatment with Punjab vis-a-vis gas supply issue, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Friday said that he would ask the Central government to resolve it.
Shahbaz was talking to media after inaugurating head office of Punjab Industrial Estate at Sundar Industrial Estate.
Referring to the Supreme Courts ruling on 18th amendment, the CM said that the said verdict would likely to help bring the political temperature down.
The decision showed that the judiciary has accepted the supremacy of the parliament which bodes well for the future, the CM maintained.

Militants storm Chechen parliament; 4 dead

Militants today stormed and seized the parliament building in Russias troubled region of Chechnya, taking hostages and killing at least two security guards, officials said.
Heavily-armed unspecified number of militants and suicide bombers stormed into the Parliament building in the provincial capital Grozny as speaker Dukuwakha Abdurahmanov was inside the premises, according to foreign news agency report.
As militants raced into the building after overpowering the guards, a suicide bomber blew himself up on the grounds of the premises near the office of speaker, killing two people and wounding many others. According to other reports, the militants have also launched simultaneous attacks on other state buildings in a most deadly attack since 2004 Beslan high school hostage crisis. Speaker Abdurahmanov, who was in the parliament building, was reported to be safe. According to some sources the shooting was in the office of the parliament speaker. The attack coincided with the visit of Federal Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev to Grozny, who was immediately informed about the attack. Interfax reported that in two suicide blasts at least four guards were killed and Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov is personally carrying the operation to flush out the militants from the building. In 2004, over 330 people were killed in Russias most shocking hostage tragedy when Chechen militants stormed a school in the town of Beslan in the Northern Cacuasus region of North Ossetia.

State within a state is uncalled for: Babar

Federal Law Minister Babar Awan on Sunday underscored the need to strengthen the democratic norms in the country, adding that politics within an institution is not allowed.
During a press conference in Lahore, the minister said that the parliament is the sole authority to amend the Constitution.
Undemocratic actions have always made Pakistan to regress but now we will make the country strong through continuity of the democratic process, the minister stated.
He said that he is very pleased that the courts remained open in night too.
We will not let emergence of a state within a state, the minister pledged. He called upon all the political parties to get ready for general election 2013.

PM rejects rumors of martial law

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani rejected the rumors of any change categorically and stated that with the present coalition government and the parliament having mandate of people through elections, every member of the parliament would protect democracy.
We have come through elections. We have the mandate. There is a coalition government and whatever is to happen, it could be through the parliament. Technocracy not acceptable, Gilani told this to a group of Islamabad-based foreign media representatives.
The Prime Minister said there was no danger of dictatorship in Pakistan, as the people had paid huge price to bring back democracy, adding, the 1973 Constitution has been restored with the support of all political parties, which had pledged it in their manifestos.
He said it is democracy that there is no political prisoner in the country. The Prime Minister said there can be difference of opinion among the political parties on issues, as they have their own political manifestos, but as far as the democracy is concerned we are together.

All political parties favor democracy: PM Gilani

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has said that all political parties are united in favor of democracy despite differences among them.

During his interview with a foreign newspaper on Thursday, PM Gilani said that there is no sign of change in the government in the country. “There is no threat to the parliament.”

He said that there is no political prisoner in the country. PM Gilani confidently said that each member of the parliament will defend the democracy. He said that people have made sacrifices for democracy. He said that all the parliamentarians voted for the revival of the constitution of 1973 and, he added, they will defend it. SAMAA

Tando Hafiz Shah embankment breached, Jamshoro submerges

Staff Report

THATTA: A breach has taken place in the embankment at Tando Hafiz Shah area of Thatta and after nine hours’ efforts the officials have been failed to fill it while flood has submerged some areas of Jamshoro, SAMA reported on Sunday.

According to details, the Sindh Irrigation Department is unable to fill the RBOD embankment breach at KB Regulator near Tando Hafiz Shah.

The local elected members and the DCO of Thatta have expressed no confidence on the proficiency of the Sindh Irrigation Department.

A local member of the parliament, Abdul Waheed Soomro (MNA), talking to SAMAA, has said that during last nine hours, this is second breach which has appeared in RBOD embankment but the irrigation department has failed to fill it.

The DCO of Thatta, Manzoor Ahmad Sheikh, told SAMAA that if water level rises then the concrete towns of

Accountable to parliament, not to HEC: Sardar Asif

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Education Sardar Asif Ahmed Ali has said that Higher Education Commission (HEC) is carrying out verification of (parliamentarians’) degrees in violation of the Constitution.

Talking to Geo News, the Education Minister said it is the Education Ministry that is authorized to undertake the review of the degrees.

He said the HEC should have sought permission from the Education Minister prior to embarking on the exercise of verification of the parliamentarians’ degrees.

“A high level commission, also comprising members of the Law Ministry, will be constituted to carry out review of the HEC verified degrees,” Sardar Asif told Geo News.

He said he is accountable to the parliament not to HEC.

Govt. to ensure better utilization of development funds: PM

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani said the government is planning to merge the development funds of members of the parliament of adjoining constituencies to launch joint projects, which can bring prosperity and generate employment on long-term basis.

He said that consultation with the public representatives would also be held to evolve a strategy in this regard. The Prime Minister was talking to Ministers and Parliamentarians who called on him separately at his Parliament House Chamber here on Tuesday afternoon.

Mentioning his Tuesday’s meeting on People’s Work Programme, the Prime Minister said that priority would be attached to the projects in such a way so as to bring the backward areas at par with the developed regions of the country.

He said that the people’s representatives should identify areas of importance at grassroots level so that could be targeted for the satisfaction of people at that level.

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