Islamabad, April 6(PFP):Finance Minister, Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh called on Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani at PM’s House here today and briefed the Prime Minister on the state of economy and steps taken towards self-sufficiency, preparation of next budget, mobilization of domestic resources and generation of employment in the country.

The Minister said that in this regard the country’s economy is showing strong performance of revenue mobilization.

The Minister disclosed that revenue collection upto March 2012 stood at Rs. 1270 billion as compared to Rs. 1020 billion during the corresponding period of last year reflecting 25% increase.

The Minister said country’s export continue to register upward trend despite the high base of last year exports of 30% increase that touched record figure of dollars 25.5 billions.

The Prime Minister appreciated the efforts of the Finance Minister which he is putting in to meet the imperatives of social uplift of the people and economic growth of the country.

The special investigation unit of the Federal Investigation Agency had booked them under Sections 212, 419 and 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code and 13 and 14-RW of the Foreigners Act related to abetting a culprit, making fake identity, taking illegal asylum and unlawfully residing in the country.

The charges carry a minimum punishment of three years in prison.

The court ordered the appointment of an interpreter before the next hearing, to be held on March 26, in the sub-jail because of the sensitivity of the matter.

It allowed Khairiah to speak to her family in Saudi Arabia.

Security agencies had taken the family into custody from a compound in Abbottabad after the killing of Bin Laden by US commandos on May 2 last year.

Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz has alleged before the memo inquiry commission that American investigators’ access to the widows was one of the conditions for delivering the memorandum to former US military chief Admiral Mike Mullen, to which former ambassador Husain Haqqani had agreed.

Leon Panetta now new secretary defense of US

WASHINGTON, March 13 (PFP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta indicated that the U.S. soldier accused of killing 16 Afghans could face death penality if convicted.

Panetta told reporters aboard his plane en route to Kyrgyzstan, late on Monday, that the shooting suspect would be brought to justice under the U.S. military legal code, which allows for the death penalty in some cases.

Earlier in the day, a military defense attorney said the soldier, who has not been publicly identified, could face the death penalty in the massacre of 16 villagers near Kandahar.

“My understanding is that in these instances that could be a consideration,” Panetta told reporters.

He also gave a brief description of what happened, saying that the American soldier walked out of his base in Afghan southern province of Kandahar on Sunday morning, entered homes of nearby Afghan villagers and fired on civilians.

“Then at some point after that (he) came back to the forward operating base and basically turned himself in. Told individuals what happened,” Panetta said.

The incident is one of the worst cases of alleged mass murder by a U.S. service member since the Vietnam War.

U.S. officials have said the soldier acted alone, leaving his base in southern Afghanistan and opening fire on sleeping families. After the massacre, he went back to his base and turned himself in, officials said.

The military will not identify the soldier until charges are filed, Pentagon spokesman William Speaks said on Monday. The suspect remains in Afghanistan while the attack is being investigated.

Military officials have said the soldier will not be turned over to Afghan authorities for trial. Afghan lawmakers have called for the soldier to be tried in Afghan courts.

According to initial reports, the attack took place in the remote Drey Nishtar area of South Waziristan and targeted a vehicle. As a result of strike, five militants were killed.

Osama bin Laden became a household name following the September 11 terrorist attacks in the US. Not only was he the world’s most wanted terrorist but a man whose extremist ideology had and continues to wreak havoc globally. Afghanistan was attacked and occupied by the US-led NATO forces because of this one man’s dangerous ideology. For years, the search for the al Qaeda chief was a top priority for the world community. On May 2, 2011, that search ended when he was killed by US Navy SEALs in Pakistan’s garrison town, Abbottabad. It was the worst possible humiliation for Pakistan, a frontline ally of the US in the war on terror, when bin Laden was found near the country’s premier military academy. Questions had been raised about Pakistan’s duplicitous role in the war on terror for years but on May 2, these questions and accusations turned out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. The compound where OBL lived for years without being detected right under the nose of the Pakistani military became an embarrassing reminder of the military’s incompetence and/or alleged complicity. Now that compound has finally been demolished.

What could be the motivation for finally demolishing the house where Osama bin Laden lived for years and was finally taken out? It seems that some neighbours have complained that they were being constantly harassed or watched by the intelligence agencies. But will the demolition of a building help a neighbourhood that is already under suspicion? No valid justification has been given for this act. Maybe it was razed because the compound was a constant reminder of the failure of the armed forces and intelligence agencies. It virtually became a scar of embarrassment for the military and the spy agencies. By demolishing the compound, they might be trying to wipe out the ignominy but it is doubtful if people will ever forget what happened there on May 2. Or maybe the government has tried to use the same logic as the US did when they buried OBL at sea so that his grave could not be turned into a shrine for the extremists. If the government thinks that by demolishing this building, they can stop his followers from following his ideology, they might be in for a surprise. While the US commandos took away computers and other incriminating material from the OBL compound, Pakistani security and intelligence agencies were also crawling all over the place, and took away truckloads of material from OBL’s lair. Nothing is known so far what, if anything, all that material contained. Now that the Abbottabad Commission is done with its investigation, perhaps this was considered the ‘right’ moment to get rid of the building. Some questions, however, still remain unanswered. Did the owner(s) of the building agree to the demolition or was it done at the whim of the establishment? What will happen to the empty plot now? Would it not have been much better to use the compound as a public school or for some other social welfare purpose instead of razing it? May 2, 2011, was a blot on Pakistan. It cannot be erased for centuries. The whole exercise of getting rid of a building is without any sense as such. Clearly, those who took the decision to erase OBL’s compound do not really care for logic.(PFP)

He is the first prime minister of the country who has been indicted.

Gilani, who swept into the court dressed in a dark suit, grey tie, white shirt and cufflinks, was charged within minutes of appearing.

Judge Nasir ul-Mulk read out the indictment and asked the prime minister whether he had heard the charges.

“Yes,” Gilani replied.

“Do you plead guilty?” asked Jutice Nasir-ul-Mulk.

“No,” Gilani replied.

The court then ordered Attorney General (AG) Maulvi Anwarul Haq to prosecute the case, giving him until Thursday (Feb 16) and the defence until February 27 to file documents, which will then be recorded on February 28. After that, a date will be set for trial.

He was indicted over not implementing paragraph 178 of NRO verdict spreading over two pages.

All the judges signed the charge sheet one by one. Aitzaz begged time till 24 for submission of reply as he was going out of the country and will come back by 21st.

Hearing of the case adjourned has been adjourned till February 22.

The bench comprising Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk, Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany, Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry, Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Muhammad Athar Saeed after a brief proceedidngs of the contempt of court case framed the two-page charge sheet against the Prime Minister for non-compliance of the Supreme Court judgement on NRO.

Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan appeared before the court as counsel of the Prime Minister.

Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Asfandyar Wali Khan and federal ministers including Ghulam Ahmed Bilour, Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan, Syed Khurshid Shah, Mir Changeze Jamali, Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, Rehman A Malik and Maula Bakhash Chandio, Governor Punjab Sardar Latif Khan Khosa and a large number of members of the Parliament and leaders belonging to PPP were also present in the court room during the contempt proceedings against the Prime Minister.

Authorities concerned produced missing prisoners before the apex court during hearing on Monday. The families of prisoners were also present in the courtroom.

The Chief Justice expressed resentment on agencies counsel for not producing all the prisoners.

Chief Secretary Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa told the court these prisoners were brought to Parachinar centre on January 26, adding that he did not know where these were prior to this.

Justice Khilji Arif in his remarks said was the detention of these people not the violation of article 10 of the constitution?

The National Assembly would lose nine and the Senate would lose three members for the time being. – File Photo

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Monday suspended memberships of 28 lawmakers of the national and provincial assemblies after the government failed to amend the Constitution to validate the recently held by-elections on what were said to be bogus voters’ list.

A four-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, heard the case pertaining to bogus voters’ lists here today.

The bench observed that the government had failed to pass the bill within the given time frame and therefore the court had decided to suspend the memberships of the concerned lawmakers until the government amended the Constitution.

The National Assembly would lose nine and the Senate would lose three members for the time being.

Eight members from the Punjab Assembly, four from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, two from Sindh and one from Balochistan would also be affected by the decision.