PML-N to turn CM House into IT varsity

A good statement. All such government owned places, such as PM House, President House, CM Houses, Governor Houses etc, must be given back to the nation. This would save spending millions of rupees monthly on one person. All our leaders must learn and adopt the life style of our Prophet (peace be upon him) and the Khulfa-e-Rashideen (May Allah be pleased with them)

LAHORE, March 23: PML-N president Mian Shahbaz Sharif says his party will convert Punjab Chief Minister's House into an information technology university.

The step would help in proper utilisation of the luxuriant building and its premises, he said in his address while presiding over a function to mark Pakistan Day at Aiwan-i-Karkunan-i-Pakistan here on Sunday.

Majid Nizami, Dr Javaid Iqbal, Sartaj Aziz, Brig (retd) Zafar Iqbal were prominent among the participants of the function organised by Nazria-i-Pakistan Foundation.

Shahbaz Sharif said his party would take practical steps instead of merely raising slogans.

“Children from poor families will get free education in professional institutions. Quality education and proper health facilities will be made available at rural areas to make Pakistan a true Islamic welfare state as envisaged by Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Dr Allama Muhammad Iqbal.”

Shahbaz said PML-N would lead the country towards progress and prosperity by implementing the 'Charter of Democracy'.

He said Pakistan Day today had assumed a greater significance because of the victory of the democratic forces.

Shahbaz Sharif expressed the hope that the coalition candidate for the slot of prime minister would get 85 per cent votes.

He hoped the new government would reduce poverty in the country and lead Pakistan towards a prosperous future.

Shahbaz objected to delay in calling sessions of provincial assemblies and said that 160 million people of Pakistan were waiting to see democracy take roots in the country — a prospect for which the nation actively participated in the 2008 polls.—APP

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Asif, Nawaz hint at changing anti-terrorism policy

Good statements by both Zardari and Nawaz Sharif

By Masood Haider
NEW YORK, March 22: Pakistan People’s Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and Pakistan Muslim League-N chief Nawaz Sharif have said they will revisit the country’s strategy for dealing with militancy.

In separate interviews with the New York Times, the two leaders said they would adopt a more independent stance and were determined to set a different course from that of President Pervez Musharraf.

Mr Zardari stated: “Obviously what they have been doing for the last eight years has not been working. Even a fool knows that.”

The war against militants had to be redefined, he said, adding it should be dealt with through negotiations and the use of a beefed up police force rather than the army.

Mr Sharif said: “We are dealing with our own people. We will deal with them very sensibly.

“When you have a problem in your family, you don’t kill your family members, you sit and talk,” he said, adding: “After all, Britain also got the solution of the problem of Ireland. So what’s the harm in conducting negotiations?”

The New York Times reported that Pakistanis are convinced that the surge in suicide bombings is a direct retaliation of three Predator strikes since the beginning of the year.

In the past, Washington opposed negotiations between militants and the Pakistani government because it believed that short-term peace deals were proved to be a sign of weakness and provided time to militants to fortify themselves.

Though short on details, the two leaders said they were determined to set a different course from that of President Musharraf, who received generous military aid of more than $10 billion from Washington for his support to war against terror.

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India urges Pakistan to grant clemency to Sarabjit

Lets see what the Pakistan government does. Its important to note that a cricket fan who lost his passport in India was killed in Jail by the Indian Authorities. Do we come under pressure and release Sarabjit?

India urges Pakistan to grant clemency to Sarabjit

Tuesday, March 18, 2008  NEW DELHI: India on Tuesday made an appeal to Pakistan to grant clemency to Sarabjit Singh on humanitarian grounds as members in the Lok Sabha made a strong plea to the government to step up efforts to save the Indian national from the gallows. Amid demands that Sarabjit be saved from death, Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee made a suo motu statement in the House, saying the government had no formal intimation from Pakistan and the matter about the 'death warrant' had come to the notice through media reports. Indian High Commission in Islamabad has sought details from the Government of Pakistan about reports of black warrant against Sarabjit, he said. "According to press reports, the black warrant has been issued and the sentence will be carried out on April one," Mukherjee said about Sarabjit, who is facing death sentence for allegedly carrying out bomb blasts in Pakistan in 1990. Noting that India and Pakistan had put in place certain institutional arrangements to improve the situation of prisoners of the respective countries, he said "it is in this context and in the same spirit that we appeal to the Government of Pakistan to treat Sarabjit Singh's case with clemency on humanitarian grounds." Members, cutting across party lines, voiced concern over reports that Sarabjit was going to be hanged on April 1 and wanted the House to pass a resolution urging Pakistan not to hang him. Pakistani media reports on Sunday said President Pervez Musharraf had rejected Sarabjit's mercy petition and the death warrant has been received at Lahore's Kot Lakhpat jail of Lahore where he has been languishing for the past 17 years. The External Affairs Minister's statement came in the backdrop of intense demands that the government act to save Sarabjit from death.

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OIC wants Israelis tried for war crimes -DAWN - Top Stories; March 14, 2008

Alhamdolillah a nice move. Must be followed up with concrete steps. Even if no result is achieved, it shows that OIC cares enough.

DAKAR, March 13: The

secretary-general of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC),
Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, has called for Israelis to be tried by an international
war crimes court for ‘heinous’ attacks against Palestinians.

Mr Ihsanoglu
told an OIC summit in Senegal on Thursday that Israel was repeatedly seeking to
undermine foreign-brokered peace plans.

“The situation in Palestine
remains deplorable due to the successive crises fabricated by Israel to stall
the peace process and to thwart the many peace plans and initiatives proposed by
the international community,” he said.

“It has become indispensable that
these aggressions and heinous crimes be officially documented and their
perpetrators be brought before international justice designed for these kind of
acts... such as the International Criminal Court.”

United Nations
secretary-general Ban Ki-moon told the summit that Israel’s “disproportionate
and excessive use of force” had killed and injured many civilians, including
children. He called for the violence to stop.

“I condemn these actions
and call on Israel to cease such acts. Israel must fully comply with
international humanitarian law and exercise utmost restraint,” he
said.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel of ‘ethnic
cleansing’ in Jerusalem by banning the building of Palestinian homes and cutting
the city off from the rest of the occupied West Bank.

An Israeli
spokesman alleged that the source of the problem was rocket fire from Gaza into
southern Israeli towns.—Reuters

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Race on as Fahim’s star sinks

As per the news item in the daily dawn of 1st March 2008, Zardari is trying to block Amin Fahim from becoming PM of Pakistan.

Is it true democracy that Asif Zardari is trying to take away PM spot from Amin Fahim since he threatens to become more popular than him and/or trying to nominate a pliant PM who would resign after 3 months when Zardari enters the parliament on bye election.

If the news item is to be believed then it would mean that PPP is not a sincere party and its slogan of National Concensus, just meant that they want to remove Musharraf to get the sole power and hence start looting the country, with its corrupt policies, once again.

I hope I am wrong and we never see a repeat of 1988-1999 corrupt governments of PPP and PML (N). And I believe that only Shariah can stop politicians from treating elections as business ventures rather than as a means to serve their country.