PML-N sets sights on Punjab prize in polls

LAHORE: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has set off visits to different areas in Punjab in hopes of achieving their target of a minimum of 100 seats in the lower house of parliament, in the upcoming general elections.

The move follows the Pakistan Peoples Party-led government’s response that the opposition parties’ call for general elections will be contemplated after the Senate elections.

Sources in the PML-N said that the party has set a target to achieve 100 seats out of 148 from Punjab in the National Assembly to form their government in the next general elections.

In this regard, PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, along with senior leaders, visited Sargodha and Sangla Hill, Nankana Sahib district, on Wednesday.

Sources in the PML-N told FTNews that opposition parties’ representatives, who met the prime minister last week, informed Nawaz that the government ‘partially’ accepted their demands regarding the general elections. They added that the government would announce and contemplate the demands after the Senate elections.

‘No change in Centre for 6 months’

Sources said that the government and the opposition will continue their negotiations, which include such points as installing a caretaker set-up, forming an independent election commission and holding general elections.

They added that Nawaz has also been informed that PPP leaders will try to linger on the NRO case through Aitzaz Ahsan and will write a letter to the Swiss courts as a last resort.

This was also confirmed by sources in the PPP but they added that the party was divided over the issue. One group, led by Nazar Muhammad Gondal, Qamar Zaman Kaira and Aitzaz Ahsan, are in favour of writing the letter; whereas the other, led by Babar Awan and Interior Minister Rehman Malik, opposes the idea.

Sources in the PML-N further said that Nawaz has asked party members to make the most of their time in their constituencies for the next six months, as there is no possibility of a change of government in the Centre.

‘PML-N will not resign’

Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan while talking to FTNews said that the PML-N will not give in their resignation at any cost because it does not want to give free space to the coalition government to name an opposition leader, caretaker prime minister or hold elections under their own set-up.

Sanaullah also claimed the establishment is forcing them to resign from the assemblies to fulfill ‘its plan’ for the upcoming elections.

Further elaborating, he said that the establishment wanted to see a ‘contest’ between the PPP and PTI.

Public rallies

While addressing a public gathering in Sargodha, where he had gone to condole over the death of MNA Ch Abdul Hameed, Nawaz said that if the PML-N was voted to power, Pakistan would become the Asian tiger on the map of the world.

While careful not to mention PTI chairman Imran Khan by name, Nawaz particularly urged the youth to understand the reality of ‘a person’ who is ‘cheating’ them on the pretext of change.

He said that there were a lot of ‘people’ in Punjab who wish to deceive the youth – something, he added, he would never do. He added that these deceivers do not have any vision, while he has an experience of 25 years in making the country prosperous.

In Nankana Sahib Sangla Hill, the PML-N chief condoled with MNA Ch Birjees Tahir over the death of his brother.

While addressing a public gathering, Nawaz asked people to wait a minimum of six months, after which, he hoped, he would come into power and bring change in the country.

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Posted in: NATIONAL

Musharraf delays return to Pakistan

LAHORE: Former president and All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) chief Pervez Musharraf has delayed his homecoming, FTNews reported on Thursday.

The decision comes after he consulted party members on his return plans. Earlier it had been announced that Musharraf will arrive in Pakistan between January 27 to 30, 2012.

According to FTNews, he delayed his return on the suggestion of his “friends”, who said that coming back to Pakistan right now might not be favourable for the former president.

Mohammad Amjad, senior vice president in Musharraf’s All Pakistan Muslim League, told AFP that “no final decision had yet been taken” but said the retired general would make an announcement on his plans “later, perhaps today”.

“His friends and party officials want him to postpone it for sometime. This was discussed yesterday at a meeting and conveyed to him,” Amjad said.

Reports of his arrest on arrival on account of cases registered against him have also surfaced lately.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik had assured the Senate on Wednesday that Musharraf would be arrested on his return to Pakistan.

“I assure this house that if he lands in Pakistan, he will be arrested because he is a proclaimed offender in the Benazir Bhutto murder case,” the minister had said.

The interior minister’s assurance came a day after Senator Raza Rabbani submitted a 10-point charge sheet in Senate, calling for the former dictator’s arrest.

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Posted in: NATIONAL

Pakistan to re-open NATO routes to Afghanistan: Official

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan expects to re-open supply routes to Nato forces in Afghanistan, halted after a Nato cross-border air attack killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November, but will impose tariffs, a senior security official told Reuters on Thursday.

The official said the fees were designed to both express continued anger over the November 26 incident, and raise more funds for the state to fight Taliban militants.

No date was given for reopening the supply routes.

The Nato attack plunged relations between troubled allies Pakistan and the United States to their lowest point in years.

Ties had already been severely strained by a secret raid by US special forces that killed Osama bin Laden on Pakistani soil in May last year.

Asked if the re-opening was a sign that the crisis in relations had eased, the official said there was still some way to go before normalcy was possible.

The two land routes to Afghanistan through Pakistan account for just under a third of all cargo that the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) ships into Afghanistan.

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Posted in: NATIONAL