Law of land to take course if Musharraf arrives: Malik

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister, Rehman Malik on Monday said law of the land would take its course if former President General (Retd) Pervez Musharraf arrives in Pakistan.

“Officially I have no information about his arrival or in which city he (Musharraf) will land, but one can contact his party people to know about detail,” said Malik.

The minister said this after attending a meeting of National Assembly Standing Committee on Interior held at Headquarters of National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA).

Rehman Malik ruled out any mediation on part of Saudi Arabia’s government in connection with arrival of Pervez Musharraf to Pakistan. “Saudi Arabia has requested nothing in this regard,” he added.

The minister said the government would issue Pakistan’s visa to US businessman, Mansoor Ejaz whenever he wants. As per directions of Commission, probing memo issue, the government would also provide security to Mansoor Ejaz if he arrives, Rehman Malik assured.

“Chief of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Nawaz Sharif knows better that who is Mansoor Ejaz and if Nawaz Sharif wants to take him to Raiwind as a guest, all security would be provided,” he said, in response to a question.

When asked about involvement of his ministry’s officials in corruption, Malik said, the officials of Ministry of Interior, who were involved in corruption, have been arrested and challaned. Moreover, the cases registered ten years back, were also being scrutinised and action would also be taken as per law.

Rehman Malik said NADRA has been tasked to computerised arm licenses issued by Ministry of Interior with the objective to ensure transparency.

The minister asked the license holders to get their arm licenses re-registered so the process could be completed within set time frame.

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Musharraf will be arrested when he returns: Manzoor Wassan

KARACHI: Sindh Home Minister Manzoor Wassan said on Monday that former president Pervez Musharraf will be arrested from the airport when he returns.

Speaking to the media, Wassan said that the government had received warrants for Musharraf’s arrest and arrangements had been made to send him to Landhi Jail.

The home minister said that Musharraf will be sent to C-Class prison, which may be changed to A-Class if the court orders it.

Musharraf had announced that he would return to Pakistan between January 27 and 30, despite ‘baseless’ court cases.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik had earlier stated that, “Proclaimed offenders like Musharraf should be arrested.”

The former general is wanted in various high-profile cases pending in local courts, including his alleged involvement in former premier Benazir Bhutto’s murder, the interior minister had said.

Earlier, senior special prosecutor Azhar Chaudhry had also said that Musharraf will be arrested on his return to Pakistan.

Azhar, who is representing the federation in Benazir Bhutto’s murder case, said there is no need to issue new warrants for his arrest since the anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi has already issued arrest warrants in the case.

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Army, ISI chief statements to SC not approved by govt: PM

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani Monday said that any official action by a government functionary without the prior approval of the government was unconstitutional and illegal.

In an interview to a Chinese newspaper, Prime Minister Gilani referred to the observation of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry that any act of a government functionary without the government’s nod is unconstitutional and therefore illegal.

PM Gilani pointed out that the responses given by the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani and DG ISI Ahmed Shuja Pasha to the Supreme Court in connection to the alleged memo controversy did not contain the approval of the competent authority as required.

No summary seeking approval of a competent authority was initiated by the Ministry of Defence, nor was any approval obtained from the defence minister in this regard.

The Prime Minister stated that in two simultaneous issues, one relating to the Nato attack on Pakistani borders and the other relating to a letter written by an American national to another American, the civil and military leadership of Pakistan held detailed meetings and took immediate decisions.

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Linking embezzlements to Benazir’s grave not fair: Nawaz Sharif

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) president Nawaz Sharif, a petitioner in the Memogate scandal, has flayed President Asif Ali Zardari for terming the reopening of cases as a trial of Benazir Bhutto’s grave.

He was speaking to the media outside the Islamabad High Court on Monday after appearing before the three-member commission probing into the scandal.

Responding to a question regarding Swiss accounts and the implementation of the Supreme Court verdict in the NRO case, Sharif said: “Why is the government reluctant to write to Swiss authorities? Linking the embezzlements with Benazir’s grave is not fair. They must answer whose 60 million rupees have been kept in Switzerland banks. This is nation’s wealth which it now wants back.”

He said that Zardari’s recent statement to accept only parliamentary committee’s report in the memo case was a demonstration of no confidence in the judiciary.

The PML-N chief said, “I’m just a complainant in the case. I appeared before the commission to show my respect towards the judiciary.” He further claimed that the Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS) has done nothing on the issue so far.

After submitting his written statement through his counsel Mustafa Ramday, Sharif said: I have not named Haqqani or Zardari, I have just pleaded for an investigation into the matter.”

The judicial commission, set up to probe the Memogate scandal, is headed by Balochistan High Court (BHC) Chief Justice Justice Qazi Faiz Isa, and it continued its hearing in the Islamabad High Court in the presence of cameras and microphones recording the proceeding officially.

The PML-N chief said that the Memogate scandal was a serious and sensitive issue and was a plot against the country’s integrity. He said that he had not leveled allegations against anyone, and the scandal was a conspiracy to malign Pakistan’s sovereignty.

He also termed the memo a conspiracy against Pakistan and urged the concerned authorities to unmask the culprits behind the scam.

Replying to another query about former President Pervaiz Musharraf’s return to the country, he said: “It is good news.”

The judicial commission continued its probe into the Memogate scandal on Monday, while the Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS) will meet on Tuesday to continue its own proceedings.

The judicial commission has been given four weeks to complete the probe, while the PCNS has not been given any deadline.

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Haqqani appears before commission, denies role in memo

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s former ambassador to the United States, Husain Haqqani, on Monday told the judicial commission probing the memo scandal that he had no role in either the drafting of or dispatching of the memo, FTNews reported.

Recording his preliminary statement before the commission, Haqqani said he was residing in the prime minister’s official residence.

Earlier today, the government had decided to issue Mansoor Ijaz a visa to Pakistan without delay.

However, the attorney-general told the judicial commission that the government could not guarantee that a case would not be registered against the US businessman.

The commission comprising chief justices of three high courts continued its working here in the presence of cameras and microphones recording the proceeding officially.

The attorney-general told the commission that the government had directed the Pakistani High Commission in London to issue a visa to Ijaz when he applies for one. He moreover said that the government would notify the Supreme Court in the event of legal action against Ijaz.

During Monday’s meeting of the commission, chairman Justice Qazi Faez Essa said that no obstacles in the commission’s workings would be tolerated.

Earlier, Advocate Akram Shaikh, the counsel for Ijaz, said the US businessman had agreed to appear on Jan 16 before the commission.

However, Shaikh said Ijaz’s arrival and availability depended on the condition that the Blackberry conversation between Ijaz and Haqqani was made available to investigating authorities.

Shaikh said Ijaz had already issued a legal notice to the telephone company for making the conversation available. According to the company, Haqqani’s consent was necessary for that purpose, which Shaikh said Haqqani had not given. Haqqani said that was not the case and that he would soon make a decision on the subject.

To which, Justice Essa asked Haqqani if he understood what his possible refusal to make the records available would imply.

Haqqani’s counsel, Zahid Bukhari, claimed that Ijaz would meddle with evidence and then blame the Pakistani government.

Shaikh also provided the commission with a petition filed in a session court for arresting Ijaz and said that a false case was being registered against his client to intimidate him.

Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz’s chief Nawaz Sharif also appeared before the commission today.

Moreover, a written statement of Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani was also submitted to the commission.

Brigadier Naubahar of the GHQ’s JAG branch was representing the army chief and DG ISI Ahmed Shuja Pasha.

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Bodies of 10 missing FC personnel found in Upper Orakzai

PESHAWAR: The bodies of 10 Frontier Constabulary (FC) personnel, who went missing during a clash with militants on December 22, were found near Dabori area of Upper Orakzai Agency on Monday, confirmed an official.

An official said, “This morning, we found the bodies of the men near Dabori. They were part of an advancing party that came under attack from the militants.”

Officials said that the bodies of the men were flown off to Peshawar via a helicopter.

No group has claimed responsibility yet; however, it is believed by officials that it was the Tehreek-i-Taliban chapter in the area that was behind the killings.

At least 22 security personnel, including a major, were injured and 10 personnel had gone missing after a clash in the Orakzai Agency on December 22.

In a similar incident, 15 FC personnel were killed last week and their bodies were found in the area bordering North Waziristan and Orakzai. The Taliban had claimed responsibility for the killings, and had said that it was in revenge of the security operation taking place against the militants.

Security forces had launched an operation against the militants in Upper Orkazai Agency and in the last few months they have come under attack from several militants.

Gunship helicopters and heavy artillery is used frequently to target the militants. The operation in Orakzai is led by the Frontier Constabulary.

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CIA likely to resume drone strikes

ISLAMABAD: America’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is likely to resume the drone campaign that it had apparently called off following a deadly Nato airstrike on Pakistani border posts in the Mohmand tribal region on November 26, 2011. However, this time around, the frequency and intensity of attacks by pilot-less aircraft would not be as high as it was in the past.

Sources told FTNews on Sunday that both sides have almost agreed on ‘fresh terms of engagements’ to resume drone attacks against suspected al Qaeda members and their local facilitators hiding in the tribal areas, including North and South Waziristan.

The deadly aircraft operated from the CIA Headquarters at Langley in McClean, Virginia, would now be flying from American airbases in Afghanistan, said an official privy to the developments taking place behind the scene.

The Bagram airbase, just outside the Afghan capital Kabul, might be the new launch pad for drone attacks inside Pakistan in the future, said the official.

Conditions

Though the parliamentary committee on the national security is still working out new terms of engagement with the US, it was recently reported that top intelligence officials from Pakistan and the US were already busy in secret talks to lower tensions.

Officials said the resumption of drone strikes might be under new conditions. They added that Pakistani negotiators had convinced their American counterparts on at least a couple of conditions: First, the drone strikes should not be as frequent as they were in 2010 and 2011. And second, the CIA should narrow the stripe the aircraft were targeting under the approach known as ‘box formation’ in military terms.

“We don’t want them to be that frequent … it creates problems for us by invoking public anger,” the official added, saying Pakistani authorities believed drones were ‘strategically harmful but tactically advantageous’.

About the box approach, he added that the areas the Pakistani military had already claimed to have cleared must not be hit. “We want them to be within a smaller radius,” the official explained.

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Memogate: Visa-less Mansoor Ijaz considers video link

ISLAMABAD: Mansoor Ijaz, the US citizen at the heart of the Memogate controversy, is being denied a Pakistani visa due to security reasons, FTNews has learnt.

The move came just a day after Interior Minister Rehman Malik’s statement that Ijaz would have to apply for a visa if he wants to appear before the commission investigating Memogate.

“We cannot issue a visa to him [Ijaz] until he gets clearance from the concerned security agencies,” said a senior official from the ministry of interior. “The fate of Ijaz’s visa links to his security assurance in Pakistan,” he added, also confirming that Ijaz will have to apply for a visa through the normal channels. Ijaz’s counsel Akram Sheikh said in response to Malik’s statement: “My client has been denied visa … as I learnt.” Sheikh, in a plea on Friday, also sought direction from Justice Qazi Faiz Isa, chairman of the commission investigating Memogate, regarding the visa. “The commission may direct either to the Swiss Embassy or the British High Commission in London.”

“If Ijaz is given a Pakistani visa he will unearth all the secrets,” said Sheikh. He added that, if the government does not issue a visa to Ijaz then he will request the Supreme Court to ensure the presence of his client at the commission.

If Ijaz is still unable to visit Pakistan, he will ask the commission to record his statement through a video link. Finally, he said that some key lawyers are preparing Ijaz’s case in Islamabad.

The commission may record his statement under the ‘Qanoon-e-Shahadat’ Order 1984. This order allows the use of modern technology to be used in court.

Ijaz himself wrote a letter to the Attorney General, stating that he will not appear before the commission until his demands are met by the government, according to Husain Haqqani’s Counsel Zahid Bokhari. “If the government of Pakistan does not meet my 19 conditions then it will be difficult for me to appear before the commission,” Ijaz apparently said.

“If Ijaz does not join the proceedings of the commission then allegations levelled against Haqqani will automatically meet their natural death. He [Ijaz] is making lame accusations against my client,” Bokhari told FTNews.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik and Interior Secretary Siddique-e-Akbar have neither confirmed nor denied the latest development. However, other top government officials do not even know whether Ijaz has applied for visa or not.

Presidential Spokesperson Farhatullah Babar says: “He [Ijaz] is a US national and can come to Pakistan only after getting a visa. I’m not sure if he has even applied for a visa yet.” Foreign Office spokesperson Abdul Basit did not know about any denial of a visa to Mansoor Ijaz. “I’m unaware of when and where Mansoor applied for Pakistan’s visa,” he said.

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Mansoor Ijaz agrees to appear before commission on Jan 16

ISLAMABAD: Mansoor Ijaz has agreed to appear on Jan 16 before the judicial commission probing the memo issue, FTNews reported on Monday.

The commission comprising chief justices of three high courts continued its working here in the presence of cameras and microphones recording the proceeding officially.

Pakistan’s former ambassador to the US, Husain Haqqani, was also present before the commission.

Advocate Akram Shaikh, the counsel for Ijaz, confirmed his client’s availability to appear before the commission on Jan 16, but said that his arrival depended on the condition that the Blackberry conversation between Ijaz and Haqqani was made available to investigating authorities.

Shaikh said that Ijaz had already issued a legal notice to the telephone company for making the conversation available. According to the company, Haqqani’s consent was also needed to provide access to the conversation, he said.

When asked regarding his client’s consent, Haqqani’s lawyer Zahid Bukhari did not give a clear answer.

Advocate Shaikh also alleged that his client was not being issued the visa to Pakistan in Europe.

Responding to Shaikh’s complaint, the commission directed concerned authorities in England to issue Ijaz a visa without delay.

A foreign ministry official told the commission that no application for the issuance of a visa had been filed by Ijaz.

Moreover, the attorney general began his arguments by reading out Ijaz’s email of Jan 1. He claimed that Ijaz had refused to go to the United States for the visa.

Shaikh also provided the commission with a petition filed in a session court for arresting Ijaz and said that a false case was being registered against his client to intimidate him.

Moreover, a written statement of Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani was also submitted to the commission.

Brigadier Naubahar of the GHQ’s JAG branch was representing the army chief and DG ISI Ahmed Shuja Pasha.

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Zardari has no faith in country’s judiciary: Nawaz

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif on Monday said that his party respected the judiciary and if required he would present himself before the judicial commission again, FTNews reported.

Speaking to media representatives after appearing before the judicial commission collecting evidence in the memo scandal, Sharif said he had not levelled charges against any one.

All we want is an investigation of the issue so that facts could be ascertained and established before the public, he added.

He said that President Asif Ali Zardari’s recent statement in a television interview showed his lack of faith in the country’s judiciary.

The opposition leader termed the memo issue as most significant and said that the matter was the first of its kind in Pakistan’s history.

Regarding the money in Swiss banks, he said that “that wealth belongs to the people and it should be brought back at all costs”.

He urged the government to implement the Supreme Court’s order regarding the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) and write a letter to Swiss authorities.

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