Pakistan

JULY 15

1. Liaquat Jatoi wants mid-term polls
HYDERABAD, July 14: Chairman of the Awami Ittehad Party Liaquat Ali Jatoi has said that the government has become a threat to national integrity and it must be removed forthwith.
Addressing a press conference at a local hotel on Tuesday after chairing a meeting of the party, he said the government had failed on all accounts.
The People’s Party had come into power as a result of emotional elections, but failed to provide any relief to people in the last two-and-half years. It only took actions against opponents, he said.
He said that even the sitting finance minister had said that the country was heading towards bankruptcy.
Shaukat Tareen quitted because nothing was in order in the government, he added.
The federal law minister, he said, was trying to pit lawyers against the judiciary and if democracy was derailed, the situation would lead to a civil war.
He contested government claims on certain power projects, saying that 12 of them had been signed during his tenure as federal minister for water and power in the Musharraf government.
He said loadshedding was resorted deliberately to justify rental power plants.
The former minister said he could end loadshedding in four months if he was made honorary water and power minister, failing which he might be jailed.
He called for implementing the verdict on NRO of the Supreme Court passed on Dec 16, 2009, and descried the letter written to the chief justice by NAB as an attempt to cause anarchy in the country.
He criticised the parliamentarians who hold fake degrees and demanded an action against all those involved in fraud and cheating.
He said that when HEC chairman Javed Leghari refused to succumb to pressure, his brother was booked by the Anti Corruption Establishment. http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/national/liaquat-jatoi-wants-midterm-polls-570

2. Seven by-elections open to legal challenge
ISLAMABAD: Chief Election Commissioner Justice Hamid Ali Mirza is in the proverbial eye of the storm because of the fake degree issue. But in reality he is at the centre stage of even a bigger controversy — he has conducted seven by-elections for National and provincial assemblies despite the fact that he no longer has the powers to do so under the 18th Amendment which was passed on April 9, 2010.
“In fact, if these by-elections are challenged in a court of law they may be declared invalid,” a senior member of the federal cabinet, who was also a member of the 18th Constitution Amendment Committee, told Dawn.
His views are echoed by a retired judge of the high court and a former member of the election commission, Justice (retd) Tariq Mehmood.
“The government knew that following the approval of the 18th Constitution Amendment by the president, the appointment of members of the commission was imperative for holding elections; even then it did not pay any heed to this constitutional requirement,” he said.
Under the amendment, the process of supervising and holding elections is not the responsibility of the CEC but of the Election Commission which comprises the CEC and four members.
The powers of the election commissioner have been delegated to the commission under Article 219 of the Constitution which is subtitled ‘Duties of Commissioner’. It says the [“Commission”] “shall be charged with the duties of – (a) preparing electoral rolls for election to the National Assembly and the Provincial Assemblies, and revising such rolls annually; (b) organising and conducting election to the Senate or to fill casual vacancies of a House or a Provincial Assembly; (c) and to appoint election tribunals; (d) the holding of election to the National Assembly, provincial assemblies and the local government and (e) such other functions as may be specified by an act of Majlis-i-Shoora (parliament).”
Dawn has learnt that with the passage of the 18th amendment, legally, the present members of the commission – Mr Justice Iqbal Hameed-ur-Rehman, judge, Lahore High Court (Punjab); Mr Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhael, judge, Balochistan High Court (Balochistan); Mr Justice Faisal Arab, judge, Sindh High Court (Sindh); and Mr Justice Jehan Zaib Rahim, judge, Peshawar High Court (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) – have ceased to hold their offices.
These members have stopped working with the commission though sources at the ECP say that the status of these members is not clear and it has written to the law ministry for guidance.
These members were appointed by the president under the old law called the Election Commission Order, 2002, which said: “Each one of the four members of the Election Commission are appointed by the President in consultation with the Chief Justice of the High Court of the province concerned and the Chief Election Commissioner.”
Four members of the commission appointed by the president under the previous law were sitting judges of the high courts of the four provinces.
However, four new members of the commission, under the new law, are to be appointed by the prime minister from among retired members of the High Courts and each of them is to represent one of the four provinces. However, these are yet to be appointed and as a result, the ECP remains incomplete.
When contacted, the ECP spokesman conceded that the commission is incomplete at the moment. “We have asked the government for the early appointment of the four members of the commission,” he said.
The hitch, Dawn has learnt, is that because of the new procedure of appointment, envisaged in the 18th Amendment, the appointments are to be made by the prime minister in consultation with the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly.
And this apparently is the main hurdle; Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, have so far failed to agree on the names for the commission’s members.
And the tussle between the representatives of the two main political parties over the names has put in jeopardy the electoral exercises or rather by-elections held in recent months.
Seven by-elections, including the high-profile re-election of Jamshed Dasti from Muzaffargarh, have been held since the adoption of the amendment. The others were held for NA-167 Vehari, PP-63 Faisalabad, PP-206 Multan, PP-59 Muzaffargarh, PP-240 Dera Gazi Khan and PP-160 Lahore.
Another eight by-elections are scheduled to be held in the coming two months.
Analysts point out that with the fake degrees issue picking up momentum, some more by-elections may also have to be held. But unless the prime minister and the opposition leader move fast the legality of the election may be open to questions.
However, some legal experts are of the opinion that all is not lost and the by-elections already held can be salvaged. For instance, Mr Tariq Mehmood says that the elections could be declared valid if they are challenged in the courts on the basis of ‘fait accompli’. “If I had to argue in favour of these elections, I would refer to the judgment of the Supreme Court in the Asma Jilani case in 1972 in which the court had declared valid the controversial elections conducted by the Yahya government.” http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/seven-byelections-open-to-legal-challenge-570

3. Degrees of all civil servants to be verified, Army, private sector may also be checked
By Usman Manzoor in The News, July 15

ISLAMABAD: As parliamentarians face the fake degrees scam, Chairman of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Education has announced he will get degrees of all government servants verified to cleanse the civil services as well.
PML-N MNA Abid Sher Ali has vowed to verify the degrees of all the civil servants, from Grade 17 and above, including doctors, engineers and educationists of both the government and private sectors.
Analysts, however, said it was not clear whether the MNA could verify degrees of people working in the private sector, as it was basically the responsibility of the private company managements to ensure that they hired genuine professionals.
Talking to The News from London, Abid Sher Ali said he had initiated the process of verifying all the degrees and had started with parliament but it would not stop until the degree of every responsible person in the country was verified
He mentioned that the judiciary was an independent institution, therefore, the verification of degrees of the judiciary would be left to the judiciary itself, However, he would write to the Ministry of Defence to get the degrees of army men verified.
It is worth mentioning here that Abid outsmarted the Election Commission and parliament, including his own party the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, in which many fake-degree holders were sitting, by initiating the battle against the fake degree holders on his own. He was criticised not only by the government but also by his own party members. Even one powerful federal minister threatened Abid of severe consequences if he did not stop the verification process of the degrees of parliamentarians.
“I am returning on July 22 and as soon as I reach Pakistan, I will take the task of verifying the degrees of all the civil servants of Grade 17 and above wherever they are posted,” said Abid, adding: “We will also verify the degrees of doctors, engineers, employees of the National Assembly and the Senate, all commissions and of educational institutions.” He also mentioned that his visit to the UK was planned much before he initiated the process of verification of degrees and there was no other reason behind his tour.
He held that the NA body would ask the Higher Education Commission to verify the degrees of all the educationalists, from vice-chancellors to lecturers, and of public and private sectors both.
While talking about the verification of the degrees of parliamentarians Abid Sher Ali said that the duty of NA committee had finished and now it was up to the HEC and the Election Commission. “We have finished our job and the HEC will compile the report of fake degrees by 18-19 July,” Adid added.
He once again intimated that he would countercheck the verification of degrees and if any university was found verifying a fake degree, its vice chancellor and Registrar would be sent to jail for cheating the nation. “We (parliamentarians) are the role models and should present ourselves as role models, therefore, there is no room for those who have cheated the nation by submitting fake degrees and we have initiated this process ourselves as we should not leave all the things to the judiciary,” said Abid Sher Ali. http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=30052

4. Number of lawmakers lying about degrees rises to 37

ISLAMABAD, July 14: The Higher Education Commission’s count of lawmakers who had lied about their educational qualification at the time of submitting nomination papers for general elections in 2008 is learnt to have risen to 37.
“The HEC until Wednesday has received verification reports from various universities on the educational background of 699 lawmakers and degrees of 37 members of parliament and provincial assemblies have been found to be forged,” said a senior HEC official
He said that a three-member committee headed by the commission’s adviser on quality assurance and learning innovation, Dr Mehmood Raza, was compiling data received from various universities and was thoroughly checking them to be doubly sure about their authenticity.
According to the HEC, 36 degree-awarding institutions in the country were involved in the verification process. In the first phase, degrees or certificates of 936 lawmakers were sent for confirmation to the universities. Certificates and degrees of 161 lawmakers were sent back to the Election Commission because their photocopies were illegible. After securing legible copies from returning officers, the EC is in the process of sending them to the HEC for their verification from the universities concerned.
“We are hopeful that by July 16 (Friday) the HEC committee will be able to submit a comprehensive report to a house committee which had initiated the across-the-board checking of academic qualifications of all 1170 lawmakers,” an HEC official said.
The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Education headed by Abid Sher Ali had asked the Election Commission to provide degrees of all members of Senate and National and provincial assemblies to the HEC for their verification.
So far the HEC has not released the names of parliamentarians and provincial lawmakers whose degrees have turned out to be forged. The sources said that the HEC would forward the final report to the standing committee and the Election Commission, and they would make the names public.
“We are only doing a job and has no mandate to announce the names of the lawmakers who lied about their qualification,” an HEC official said. http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/national/number-of-lawmakers-lying-about-degrees-rises-to-37-570

5.Sindh furious over Irsa decision
KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah took exception to a ‘hurriedly called’ meeting of the Indus River System Authority on Wednesday and saw it as a move to ‘subvert’ the understanding he had reached with his Punjab counterpart a day earlier to defuse a controversy triggered by the reopening of the Chashma-Jhelum Link Canal.
Addressing a news conference, Mr Shah urged Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to take note of what he termed an interference in the decision taken at Tuesday’s meeting, presided over by the premier.
He said it was agreed on Tuesday that water distribution among the four provinces would be done in accordance with the 1991 accord and Irsa would perform its functions free from any political influence. Mr Shah said that Sindh be given its share of water as guaranteed in the 1991 accord.
Describing Tuesday’s meeting with the prime minister and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif as positive, Mr Shah expressed astonishment over the convening of the Irsa meeting only a day after and regretted that some elements had moved quickly to subvert the understanding.
He said the water issue had been politicised again and criticised Irsa chairman’s announcement on Wednesday that the CJ link canal would be reopened after three days.
The chief minister said canal reopening would have a grave impact on Sindh’s agriculture, which was already suffering from 40 per cent shortage of water.
Mr Shah said that reopening of the canal under an illegal order had brought about a shortage of water in Sindh, adding that if Sindh did not receive 135,000 cusecs water then it would not be in a position to meet its requirements nor could it release water to Balochistan. http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/sindh-furious-over-decision-570

6.Foreign Direct Investment in Pakistan Declines 40.7%
By Farhan Sharif, Bloomberg News
July 14 (Bloomberg) — Foreign direct investment in Pakistan fell 40.7 percent in the 12 months ended June 30, led by a decline in inflows from the U.S. and Singapore.
Overseas direct investment fell to $2.21 billion in the period from $3.72 billion a year ago, according to an e-mailed statement from the central bank. Overseas funds sold $64.5 million of Pakistani stocks compared with a net sale of $1.1 billion a year ago.
Pakistan needs overseas investment to bolster an economy that is forecast by the government to expand 4.5 percent in the next financial year, the fastest pace in three years.
Foreign direct investment from the U.S. fell 43.9 percent to $488.4 million during the year, and from Singapore 55.7 percent to $122.8 million, the statement said.
Overseas investments have declined in the past three years after Pakistan’s military cracked down on Taliban militants along the border with Afghanistan, prompting the south Asian country to seek international loans and aid.
"Overall, there are security concerns in Pakistan and the global economic slowdown is behind the investment fall," Muhammed Imran, head of research at Arif Habib Securities Ltd., said in a phone interview from Karachi.
Pakistan received a $7.6 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund in 2008 to help avoid defaulting on debt. The package was increased to $11.3 billion last year. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/14/AR2010071402923_pf.html

7.Govt faces tough meetings with IMF delegation
ISLAMABAD: A delegation of International Monetary Fund (IMF) will start on Thursday formal review of Pakistan’s economic performance during the 2009-10 fiscal year, with clear indications that the government will be facing difficulties in getting waiver on non-observance of criteria for the fourth consecutive term.
Finance ministry officials said the most difficult question facing the government was to convince the visiting IMF mission and then its executive board next month how the $11.3 billion IMF programme could proceed smoothly when the country had ended the year with a fiscal deficit at least 1 per cent above the committed 5.1 per cent of GDP.
They said a three-member IMF mission had arrived in Islamabad and it would be joined by Adnan Mazarei, its Assistant Director for Middle East and Central Asia, later this week for discussions on the country’s economic performance during the year and also measures announced in the budget for stabilising the economy, expanding the tax net and improving public sector enterprises, particularly in the power sector. http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/16-govt-faces-tough-meetings-with-imf-delegation-570-hs-06

8.Clinton to visit Pakistan for security talks: Holbrooke
WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will attend high-level security talks in Pakistan before heading to a July 20 Afghanistan donors conference, special envoy Richard Holbrooke said Wednesday.
Holbrooke told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in prepared testimony that he would join Clinton “when she reconvenes the US-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue in Islamabad and leads the US delegation to the Kabul Conference.”
“While the Kabul Conference has attracted more international attention, the Secretary’s visit to Islamabad will be equally significant,” as part of an ongoing effort to improve US-Pakistan ties, he said.
“During her upcoming visit to Pakistan, Secretary Clinton will reconvene the Strategic Dialogue with Foreign Minister (Shah Mehmood) Qureshi to assess growing cooperation on topics ranging from energy and water, to education and health, to counter-terrorism and defense issues,” said Holbrooke.
“She will also meet with a range of senior Pakistani officials to encourage closer collaboration in areas of mutual interest,” said the diplomat, Washington’s special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The US State Department had previously announced that Clinton would attend a donors conference in Kabul as part of the largest gathering of foreign leaders in the war-ravaged nation since the 1970s.
The July 20 conference is a bid by Afghan government officials to urge a start to the spending of billions of dollars of pledged development funds.
Officials will present 70 donors with their long-term national development strategy, following a donors’ meeting in London in January.http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/16-clinton+to+visit+pakistan+for+security+talks+holbrooke-hs-02

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