Islamabad, A brawl occurred between Pakistan International Airlines crew members and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's son Ali Musa on a flight from Lahore to Karachi, according to a media report on Friday. Ali Musa, a parliamentarian, insisted that his guard, who had an economy class ticket, would sit with him in the business class, The Express Tribune reported. The matter was resolved when the captain of the flight intervened and told the premier's son that he would turn the aircraft back to Lahore if he persisted with his demand, which was against the rules. The threat by the captain worked and Ali Musa gave up his demand, following which the flight continued and landed at Karachi, the report said. The report did not say when the incident had ...
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Islamabad, Pakistan prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani faces the prospect of being disqualified as an MP for five years after Pakistan's Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that he "wilfully, deliberately and persistently" defied the highest court and brought the judiciary into "ridicule". A seven-judge bench headed by Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk issued a 77-page detailed order regarding the conviction of the premier for refusing to act on directives to revive cases of alleged money laundering against President Asif Ali Zardari in Switzerland. Earlier, the same bench had issued a short order when it convicted Gilani of contempt and gave him a symbolic sentence of less than a minute on April 26. Even in the short order, the bench had hinted that Gilani faced possible disqualification. The apex court referred to an earlier order it had issued on January 10, which had said that under provisions of Articles 63(1) and 113 of the Constitution, a conviction of contempt "may entail a disqualification from being elected or chosen as, and from being, a member of Majlis-e-Shoora (parliament) or a Provincial Assembly for at least a period of five years". The seven-judge bench enumerated ...
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Islamabad, Leader of Opposition in Pakistan's National Assembly Nisar Ali Khan has said Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani will not be allowed to remain in office following the Supreme Court holding him guilty of contempt. He said the opposition had no confidence in the prime minister. Speaking to reporters outside Parliament House Friday, the leader of opposition said despite the Supreme Court's verdict in a contempt of court case, the government and Gilani himself are hell bent on stating that he has not been disqualified. On April 26, Gilani was convicted for contempt of court by the Supreme Court and awarded a 30-second symbolic sentence for refusing to write to Swiss authorities to reopen a corruption case against President Asif Ali Zardari. Describing the National Assembly's resolution expressing confidence in the prime minister as being against the rules, Khan said Gilani came to the house last Friday at prayer time "when most of the members were not present in the house". He also said that "during noisy scenes, nobody had listened to the resolution and it was also not clear who voted for it and who didn't". "What was more interesting is that when the ...
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Islamabad, Pakistan's Supreme Court on Thursday convicted Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani for contempt of court for refusing to revive graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari and sentenced him to a symbolic "till the rising of the court", sparing him a jail term. During proceedings in courtroom number 4 that lasted less than 10 minutes, the seven-judge bench headed by Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk announced the verdict and said Gilani's sentence would last "till the rising of the court" or till the completion of the hearing. The judges left the court immediately after announcing the verdict, effectively ending 56-year-old Gilani's sentence. However, legal experts were divided on whether Gilani's conviction would lead to his disqualification. They said the court's detailed order would provide clarity in this regard. Emerging from the court, Gilani told the media: "We had sought justice. The decision was not appropriate". The maximum sentence that could have been given to Gilani in this case was six ...
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Lahore, Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has acknowledged that the case of Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed was an "issue" between Pakistan and India but said Islamabad needs "substantial" evidence against him to try him in a court of law. "We are serious on the issue of Saeed but the question is how to proceed against him without evidence. Courts here are independent and we need substantial evidence against him," Gilani said while interacting with a group of reporters at his residence Lahore on Sunday evening. Gilani further said it had been agreed that the interior and home secretaries of the two countries would discuss the issue when they meet on April 16. He said that former premier Nawaz Sharif too had asked him about the government's stance on the issue of Saeed. Saeed, the founder of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, has been in focus after the US offered a $10 million bounty for him last week. Gilani has said in parliament that the case of Saeed is an "internal issue" of Pakistan and any evidence against him should be provided to Islamabad so that it could be examined by the courts. Responding to a question about groups like JuD fanning extremism in ...
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Islamabad, Pakistan is working to improve its international ties, including those with India, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said addressing the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) in China, it was reported here Monday. The three-day forum is being held in Boao, a scenic town in China's Hainan province. Besides Gilani, the participants include Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, Kazakhstan's Prime Minister Karim Masimov, Iranian Vice President Mohammad-Javad Mohammadizadeh, Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong and Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai. Gilani said Pakistan is working to bring improvement in international relations including India, reported Geo News. He stressed on the importance of regional cooperation in improving the economic condition of the country. The prime minister said being a new democracy, the country faces many challenges due to which the government had to make critical decisions. In an interview to China Radio International Sunday, Gilani said drone attacks had created misunderstandings between Pakistanis and the US. He said ties between Islamabad and Washington would be decided through the recommendations of ...
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Islamabad, Pakistan's beleaguered PM Yousaf Raza Gilani has conceded he would automatically lose his job if he is convicted of contempt, as he prepared to face the supreme court on Monday. The apex court threw out a last-ditch appeal by Gilani on Friday and is now set to indict him for contempt over his refusal to reopen graft cases against president Asif Ali Zardari. If convicted, Gilani faces six months in jail and disqualification from office in a case that has rocked his government and is expected to force elections within months in the country plagued by al-Qaida and the Taliban. Asked during an interview with Al Jazeera whether he would quit if found guilty, he conceded a conviction would lead to him losing his job - but said he could leave office without actually resigning. "Certainly then there is no need to step down if I am convicted , I am not supposed to be even the member of the parliament ," Gilani said. The SC has ordered Gilani to appear for framing of contempt charges over government's two-year refusal to ask Swiss authorities to re-open graft cases against Zardari. Gilani insisted that Zardari as president had immunity from ...
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Islamabad, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was on Monday indicted by the Pakistan Supreme Court on contempt charges for refusing to revive graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari, a move that may force the beleaguered leader to quit. Gilani, 59, the first Pakistani prime minister to be arraigned for contempt by the apex court, pleaded not guilty in the packed court room. The court adjourned the hearing till February 27. At the commencement of the hearing Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk, who headed the seven-judge bench, read out the charge sheet and asked him whether he had gone through the charges against him and understood them. To this, Gilani responded by saying, "Yes, I have read the charge sheet and have understood them." The prime minister personally drove his white SUV from his official residence located at a short distance from the court and was assisted by a battery of lawyers. The apex court last week rejected Gilani's appeal against the summons issued to him in the contempt case. The premier has said that he would automatically be disqualified as a parliamentarian if he is convicted by the court. The motorcade stopped on the road outside the ...
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Islamabad, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani "will never" write to Swiss authorities to reopen money laundering cases against President Asif Ali Zardari, according to a senior leader of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). Sources told the Dawn that the PPP's core committee meeting has decided that no letter would be written to the Swiss government. Instead, the government would fight its case in the Supreme Court. A senior PPP leader, wishing to remain unidentified, Thursday said that as far as the ruling party was concerned, the letter would not be sent as long as Zardari was holding office. The apex court had sought reopening of cases closed under the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) that granted immunity to politicians and bureaucrats in corruption cases. The NRO was struck down as void in 2009. The court warned the government of action if its ruling on the NRO was not implemented by Jan 10, 2012. It further ordered the government to write a letter to the Swiss authorities to reopen cases against Zardari. Accused of graft, Zardari had been granted amnesty under the NRO in 2007 by then president Pervez Musharraf to facilitate his return ...
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Islamabad, Pakistan's supreme court on Thursday promised to drop contempt proceedings against PM Yousaf Raza Gilani if he reopens graft cases against president Asif Ali Zardari. The court had earlier summoned Gilani to appear before it on February 13 for the formal framing of contempt charges for defying its orders on writing to the Swiss authorities about accounts that Zardari had allegedly used to launder about $12 million in bribes. The PM had a day earlier appealed against the order and asked the court to suspend it. "The money in the Swiss banks belonged to the people of Pakistan. It will not come into our pockets. If the PM writes the letter to Swiss authorities, we will end contempt proceedings," said chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudary, who heads an eight-judge bench hearing the appeal against the SC's order to frame contempt charges. The judges insisted that the PM should have taken the initiative in reopening those cases during Thursday's proceedings. They expressed their displeasure over certain parts in the draft of the appeal. It had said it would be ironic to send to prison a democratically elected PM who had released the detained judges. "The ...
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Islamabad, Pakistan's Supreme Court on Thursday insisted that Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani should write to Swiss authorities to reopen graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari, saying no one is above the law. Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry said the contempt proceedings against the prime minister would end if he wrote a letter to the Swiss authorities to reopen cases of alleged money laundering against Zardari. Chaudhry made the remarks while hearing Gilani's appeal against an order summoning him on February 13 for the framing of charges in a contempt of court case for refusing to revive the cases against Zardari. The person involved in these cases is the head of the prime minister's party but no one is above the law, he said. The USD 60 million that was allegedly laundered will come back to Pakistan only if the letter is written to Swiss authorities, the eight-judge bench said. The bench further directed Gilani's lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan to remove some "objectionable" paragraphs from Gilani's appeal. In these paragraphs, Gilani had questioned the contempt case initiated against him even though he had freed several top judges who had been detained by ...
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Islamabad, Pakistan prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Wednesday appealed against the Supreme Court order to frame contempt charges against him for failing to reopen graft cases against president Asif Ali Zardari. Gilani asked the court to suspend its last week order in which Gilani was summoned to appear before it on February 13 for the formal framing of the charges. He filed the 200-page appeal through his counsel Aitzaz Ahsan. The appeal points out more than 50 legal and constitutional points, emphasizing that the prime minister did not go against the constitution by not writing a letter to Swiss government to re-open corruption cases against the president. Adding that constitution provides immunity to the president from prosecution, Ahsan said, "My objection is that the court, in its order on Feb 2, cited no specific reasons for initiating contempt of court proceedings against the PM. The ruling was given without the premier being given an opportunity to defend himself directly." He asked the court to constitute a larger bench to hear the appeal. Excluding the judges that are currently hearing the case, Ahsan said, there are nine judges who can form a new bench ...
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Islamabad, Pakistan Thursday refuted media reports suggesting a meeting between Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Afghan Taliban representatives had been planned in Qatar during his three-day visit which concluded a day ago. According to Pakistan's foreign ministry spokesman Abdul Basit, the visit only focused on bilateral relations between Pakistan and the Gulf state. "A misconception was created that the prime minister had a plan to hold meeting with Taliban," Xinhua quoted the spokesman as saying during weekly press briefing. Some media reports quoted unnamed Pakistani officials as saying that Gilani would discuss the Taliban office in Qatar and their talks with the US. Neither a meeting between Gilani and representatives of Afghan Taliban was held in Qatar nor any such meeting was in schedule, he said. Gilani's visit to Doha exclusively focused on bilateral relations with Qatar, though regional situation and peace in Afghanistan were also involved in the meeting between the prime minister and Qatari officials, Basit said. The American diplomats had briefed Pakistani officials on their contacts with Afghan Taliban, he said but declined to confirm ...
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Islamabad, Pakistan and Qatar have agreed to collaborate in energy, trade, agriculture and infrastructure development during Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's three-day trip that began Monday. Gilani and his Qatari counterpart Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabar Al Thani Monday agreed to work together in diverse areas including energy, trade, agriculture and infrastructure development, Associated Press of Pakistan reported from Qatar. The two leaders discussed ways to further promote trade and investment ties compatible to their bilateral relations. The two sides discussed diverse issues, including joint development of hydropower sector, identification of sources of financing, exploration of investment opportunities in energy sector, rehabilitation of existing hydropower plants and infrastructure development. On the issue of finalization of transnational formalities to import Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), Gilani said Pakistan was interested in importing 500 million cubic feet LNG per day from Qatar that produces 77 million tonnes per annum of LNG. The prime minister also sought that Qatar should absorb Pakistani skilled and semi-skilled labour and said that ...
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New Delhi, Reiterating his country's commitment to a 'meaningful dialogue with India on all issues in order to move forward towards normalisation of relations with India', Pakistan premier Yusuf Raza Gilani said he would be sending Pakistan’s Interior Secretary to India soon to continue the high level official consultations between the two countries. This was stated by Minister of State for Planning Ashwani Kumar after meeting the Pakistan Prime Minister at Davos on the margins of the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum yesterday. 'In his conversation with Dr. Kumar PM Gilani said that he was committed to a meaningful dialogue with India on all issues in order to move forward towards normalization of relations with India', an official statement issued here today said. 'He(Gilani) informed Dr. Kumar that he would be sending Pakistan’s Interior Secretary to India soon to continue the high level official consultations between the two countries and conveyed his greetings to PM Dr. Manmohan Singh', the statement added. 'Both leaders agreed on the need of good neighboring relations between the two countries', the statement said. Mr Kumar and Mr Gilani are ...
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Islamabad, Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has said the issue of the NATO attack was also referred to the Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNC), which comprised of chosen representatives and had complete backing of the people of Pakistan. The committee has finalised its recommendations, and the Joint Sitting of the Parliament would reportedly debate on the issue and take a decision soon. The decision would reportedly be made by chosen representatives. “Gone are the days, when the foreign policy was made by individuals. Now, the policies would be made by the chosen representatives and through the Parliament,” The Dawn quoted Gilani, as saying. Gilani also said the Parliament would debate on all issues and policies, including policies on Kashmir, new terms of engagement with United States (US), the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), and nuclear policy. He said the recommendations of the Parliamentary Committee on Kashmir would be honored and the government would seek guidance from the Committee on Kashmir Policy. ...
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Islamabad, Pakistan and India have fought four wars on the Kashmir issue but can't afford any more in "this 21st century", Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has said while calling for resolving issues through dialogue, diplomacy, prudent policy and national consensus. Gilani said with four wars already fought on Kashmir issue, the region still was a flashpoint. "But in this 21st century, we cannot afford wars", Associated Press of Pakistan quoted him as saying Sunday. Pakistan and India have had armed conflicts in 1947-48, 1965, 1971 and 1999. "We want to resolve the issues through dialogue, diplomacy, prudent policy and national consensus," the prime minister said. Gilani said Sunday that Kashmir issue remained the cornerstone of Pakistan's foreign policy. "We are committed to continue with the moral, political and diplomatic support to Kashmiris. The whole nation including all the political parties are united on the cause of Kashmir," Gilani said while addressing the Kashmir Convention held here. The prime minister added that since Pakistan is a responsible country as well as a responsible nuclear power, it has to make responsible policies. "We want to ...
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Islamabad, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani Friday inaugurated the country's first luxury train in the eastern city of Lahore. The Business Express will run between Lahore and Karachi cities. It is the first non-stop train to run between the provinces of Punjab and Sindh. The train successfully completed its trial run Jan 26. Pakistan Railways and Four Brothers International Pvt Ltd, a Karachi-based investor, will jointly operate it, Xinhau reported. As per the agreement between the two sides, the private company will invest USD 2.51 million for passenger services like ticketing, luggage care, bedding and food service. It will pay over USD 11 million per annum to the railways. The agreement will be valid for five years and can be extended for another term with the consent of both parties. The state-owned Pakistan Railways had been faced with a worst crisis during the last four years and most of its trains were suspended due to financial crisis. State-run trains were the cheapest medium of transportation in the ...
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Islamabad, The Pakistan Supreme Court Thursday ruled that Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had committed contempt by not initiating action against President Asif Ali Zardari for corruption. Gilani was directed to appear before the court Feb 13 and he has said he will appear. The court order shattered the uneasy calm following the tense weeks that saw a stand-off between the civilian leadership, the powerful army and the active judiciary. The seven-member bench of the Supreme Court said there were grounds to proceed against Gilani. "After the preliminary hearing, we are satisfied that prima facie there is a case for further proceeding into the matter. "Adjourned for Feb 13, for framing charges. Prime minister is required to remain present in the court," said Judge Nasir-ul-Mulk. If convicted, Gilani would face up to six months in jail and a possible disqualification from public office. Gilani's counsel Aitzaz Ahsan said outside the court that the government could file an appeal in the case, reported Geo News. "The court has decided to frame charges against Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. He has been asked to be present in person on Feb 13 when he will be ...
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Islamabad, Peace in Afghanistan was critical for peace and security in Pakistan, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has said. Pakistan had always supported Afghan President Hamid Karzai's peace efforts and would continue to favour an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned process of reconciliation, Associated Press of Pakistan quoted Gilani as saying. In a meeting with a delegation of Afghan senators led by Fazal-e-Hadi Muslimyar here, the prime minister said exchange visits of parliamentarians were essential to enhance bilateral relations and Pakistan had always made consistent and sincere efforts to improve relations with Afghanistan. He said Pakistan had extended full cooperation to the Afghan team that visited Islamabad with regard to the investigation of assassination of Burhanuddin Rabbani. A suicide bombing killed Afghan peace negotiator and former president Burhanuddin Rabbani Sep 20 last year. ...
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