Vol. III Issue. 30
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America against Islamic revival
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30 June 2012
Lahore: Daily Jasarat, June 28, 2012. Former chief of Jamaat-e-Islami Qazi Hussein Ahmad said that Turkey has begun to turn towards Islam. The well-known scholar Najmuddin Arbkani argued convincingly that Islam is not a symbol of backwardness, but rather a path towards development. He demonstrated that deviating from the principles of Islam has led to rising illiteracy and poverty among Muslims. He was speaking on the eve of the release of the book A journey of Turkey, by JI Secretary General Fareed Ahmad Paracha.
Qazi accused the United States of preventing the spread of Islam across the world and destroying cultures and communities described in the Quran and Bible. Pakistan, he said, will emerge as the centre of Islamic revolution and predicted that the new movement will rise from mosques and madrasas. He also said that Islam has experienced a revival in Turkey where the ideology of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk has been discarded.
Blunders at the President's House
Islamabad: Jasarat, June 30, 2012. The President's House committed a historic blunder on June 19 when it reduced convicted Indian spy Sarabjeet Singh's death sentence to life imprisonment and subsequently granted him presidential immunity. Indian authorities welcomed President Asif Ali Zardari's gesture. Indian Foreign Minister S M Krishna thanked the President, and people from Sarabjeet's village began to celebrate the event. TV Channels and politicians also started to comment on the breaking news.
Surprised by the fierce criticism from all sections, President's aide Farhatullah Babar addressed the media at midnight to clarify that the freed prisoner was in fact Surjeet Singh and not Sarabjeet. Sujeet was arrested in 1982 on charges of spying and sentenced to death by an army court in 1985. Later, in 1989, his sentence was converted to life imprisonment on the recommendation of late Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and President Ghulam Ishaq Khan.
It comes as a matter of shame that Federal Law Secretary Yasmin Abbasi confirmed to BBC that the President has approved the Law Ministry's mercy appeal for Sarabjeet Singh, who killed 14 Pakistani nationals. The file is now submitted to the Interior Ministry for processing. Sarabjeet was to be hanged in 2008, but the current government has delayed the implementation of the court's verdict as it tries to appease India.
Pakistan has world's second most active Judiciary
Karachi: Daily Jasarat, June 29, 2012. The American Foreign Policy magazine has put Pakistan's Judiciary as the second most prolific Judiciary in interrupting the political process and the working of the Executive. The Supreme Court disqualified Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani for contempt of court for failing to re-open corruption cases against President Zardari on June 19. Soon after Zardari nominated Makhdoom Shahabuddin as its candidate, a lower court issued arrest warrants against him on graft charges. Raja Pervez Ashraf, the new Prime Minister has become the latest target of the Court's activism which is expected to investigate his involvement in corruption during his earlier stint in the Water and Power Ministry.
The journal also highlighted a renewed confrontation between Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and Zardari, who have shared an uneasy relation since 2009. The army supports the Judiciary, according to the magazine.
Other countries where the Judiciary plays an important role in politics include Egypt, Israel, and India.
India should investigate its citizen's involvement in terrorism
Islamabad: Daily Ausaf / Jasarat, June 28, 2012. Former Interior Minister Rehman Malik said that while non-state actors in Pakistan were arrested following the Mumbai attack of 2008, three Indians involved in the incident are moving freely inside India. He added that New Delhi should do more against Hindu extremist groups active in India and investigate their role in recent terrorist violence.
Malik added that a report detailing Indian involvement in Balochistan has been submitted to the Indian authorities and warned India not to blame the ISI without concrete evidence. At the same time however, he stressed that the issue of Surjeet and Sarabjeet Singh's clemency is different. While Surjeet has completed his prison term and has been sent back to India, Sarabjeet's case is pending President Zardari's review.
Raja Pervez Ashraf will face investigations
Islamabad: Daily Jasarat/Ausaf, June 26, 2012. New Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf might be content with the working of his Cabinet and with building alliances with supporters like Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Pakistan Muslim League Quaid (PML-Q) chief Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi. However, he will soon have to react to Supreme Court's directions to send letters to Swiss authorities to investigate corruption charges against the President and other NRO beneficiaries. A three-judge bench comprising Justice Asif Khosa and Justice Azmat led by Justice Nasir ul-Mulk will give their ruling on the case soon.
Parliament can't make laws against Constitution: Chief Justice
Islamabad: Daily Ausaf, June 25, 2012. Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry said that Parliament could not constitute any law that is in conflict with the Constitution. He said, while addressing a youth Parliament that all State institutions are working according to the Constitution's directives. Supreme Court has the right to revise legislation that fails to conform to the Constitution.
Relations with India not to displease Pakistan: Saudi Ambassador
Islamabad: Daily Jasarat, June 29, 2012. Saudi High Commissioner in Pakistan said that Saudi Arabia does not believe in assisting India at the expense of displeasing Pakistan. He said this while addressing the media following a report published in the American think-tank Heritage Foundation which had advised the Arab State to arrest Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari, a key Lashkar-e-Tayeeba terrorist who participated in the Mumbai attack through a control room in Karachi. The High Commissioner said that Pakistan, being the only Muslim country to possess nuclear weapons is an important ally of Saudi Arabia and will remain so into the future.
(Shahid Raheem, Media Researcher, Observer Research Foundation prepared this Column.) |
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