Saudi intelligence chief comes to Musharraf’s rescue

ISLAMABAD: Saudi Arabia on Saturday rushed its intelligence chief to Pakistan to broker a deal between embattled President Pervez Musharraf and the ruling coalition that plans to launch impeachment proceedings against him next week, media reports said.

Prince Muqrin bin Abdul-Aziz met Musharraf and leaders of the Pakistan People's Party-led coalition to discuss the possibility of the President being given a "safe exit" if he steps down, TV channels quoted sources as saying.

There was no official word on the matter and the Saudi embassy declined to comment. Saudi Arabia has close ties with Pakistan and its political leaders and has considerable influence in the country.

In the past, it has played a role in brokering understandings to settle political problems within Pakistan.

TV channels reported that Musharraf had sought help from Saudi Arabia for his safe exit in the face of the ruling coalition's plans to launch impeachment proceedings against him next week.

Prince Muqrin, who is the intelligence chief, is reportedly engaged in efforts to convince Musharraf to resign honourably, and in return the ruling coalition will neither impeach him nor try him in court.

The Prince conveyed a message from Saudi King Abdulalh to Musharraf and leaders of the coalition. He also met opposition PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain.

The Prince's visit came at a time when pressure is mounting on Musharraf to resign before he is impeached. Tariq Azim, a leader of the pro-Musharraf PML-Q, said on Friday that talks are underway for providing the President a safe exit.


Source : Times Of India

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Chargesheet finalised against Musharraf

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's coalition parties on Friday finalised charges against President Pervez Musharraf that would be tabled in the parliament along with an impeachment motion next week, a senior official said.

A special committee has finalised the draft chargesheet against the president and presented it to the law minister, Information Minister Sherry Rehman said.

"This document would be sent to the leadership of coalition partners by Sunday or Monday, before presenting it in the parliament," Rehman told reporters.

In a related development, the provincial assembly in Pakistan's southwestern province of Balochistan on Friday adopted a resolution against the president, asking him to initiate a vote of confidence in the parliament or resign.

Three other provincial assemblies had passed similar resolutions against Musharraf in the recent past.

The ruling coalition parties on Thursday announced that they would launch an impeachment motion against the president. The coalition needs a two-third majority in a joint session of upper and lower houses of the parliament to impeach the president.

Source : Times Of India

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No safe exit for Musharraf: Nawaz

LAHORE: PML-N Quaid Mian Nawaz Sharif has asked the people negotiating a safe passage for President Pervez Musharraf whether a dictator who had violated the Constitution twice and brought Pakistan to the verge of destruction deserved such soft treatment.

Addressing a gathering at the Mausoleum of Allama Iqbal here on Thursday, Nawaz alleged that the steps of President Pervez Musharraf had dented the solidarity of Pakistan. �President Pervez Musharraf has confessed in his book that he has earned dollars through selling Pakistanis,� Nawaz said, adding that, it was the responsibility of the present regime to ask Musharraf as how many dollars he had earned by selling Pakistanis and where he had kept this money.

He was of the view that a man who himself confessed that he had sold the innocent people of Pakistan must not be given a safe passage. Nawaz congratulated the Punjab, NWFP and Sindh assemblies for passing resolutions against President Musharraf and stated that the Balochistan Assembly would pass such a resolution on Friday (today).

He wished that these resolutions should have been adopted by the provincial assemblies four months back. He claimed that he had made Pakistan a nuclear state despite pressure from the US while Musharraf had entered into the slavery of the same country.

Nawaz held President Musharraf responsible for the killing of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, saying that the people should decide whether a person involved in heinous crimes should be awarded �Tamgha-i-Jurrat� or face impeachment.

Nawaz said that he had no personal grudge against anyone. He said there was no such word as revenge in his dictionary. �President Musharraf usurped my government, imprisoned me, handcuffed me in a plane and sent me into exile,� Nawaz said and added that the decision to impeach President Musharraf was not a personal one but that of the entire Pakistan. He claimed that a person, who violated the Constitution, imposed emergency and arrested the working judges must be given punishment.

Nawaz criticised the military generals for imposing martial laws in the country at regular intervals for 33 years and having brought the country to such a condition. He said the time had come for the nation to stand against a dictator to block the way to further martial laws.

About his recent meeting with PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, he said that he had gone to him for the restoration of the judiciary but he (Asif)told him to first impeach the president and then to restore the judges. He said that he had conveyed to Asif that it would have been an ideal thing if the prime minister had announced the restoration of the judges instead of just making an announcement of their release.

He said that Asif Zardari had assured him of the restoration of the judges in accordance with the Murree Declaration after the successful impeachment of President Musharraf. He stated that he had allowed his four ministers to join the federal cabinet as a token of goodwill and the remaining would join them after the restoration of the judiciary.

Nawaz was hopeful that the coalition partners would participate in the development of Pakistan in the light of the Charter of Democracy after Pakistan would get out of the prevailing political crisis.

About the Kashmir issue, Nawaz said a just solution of the Kashmir issue is in the interest of both Pakistan and India. He said that Kashmir was not an indigenous matter of India but of Pakistan as well. He demanded of the Indian government to stop its atrocities in held Kashmir and resolve the dispute as early as possible. He said he supports the enhancement of trade ties with India but this was not possible without a settlement of the Kashmir issue.

Source : The News

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Manmohan PM candidate of the Congress: Sonia Gandhi

New Delhi: In her first clear statement on the issue, Congress president Sonia Gandhi said Friday that Manmohan Singh would be the party's prime ministerial candidate at the general elections that are due in May 2009.

"Why not, certainly," Gandhi replied when asked at the Congress headquarters here whether Singh would unfurl the national flag at the Independence Day celebrations at the Red Fort next year.

"Hopefully," a smiling Manmohan Singh replied when asked the same question.

Gandhi and Singh were at the Congress headquarters to unfurl the national flag after Friday morning's ceremony at the Red Fort that was Manmohan Singh's last Independence Day speech during his current tenure.

Source : IBN Live

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