09 May 2004 02:52
Summary of Pakistan`s daily press for May 9 2004
Islamabad , May 9 2004 (PPI): The following is the summary of Pakistan's daily press for May 9 2004, prepared by
the Press Information Department, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of Pakistan.
PRESIDENT: A meeting between Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and President Gen. Pervez Musharraf is likely
to be held after August this year after the first round of composite talks between senior officials of Pakistan and
India. Indian High Commissioner Shivshankar Menon was quoted as telling a select gathering of politicians and
Lahore-based retired Army Generals on Sunday. (DAWN). PRIME MINISTER: Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, in an
interview with the US news agency has said, President Gen. Pervez Musharraf is the man of open-mindedness and of strong
nerves; "I never developed differences with him and Vajpayee is a peace-loving man; I wish his success in the
general elections." Shahbaz Sharif should give up his thinking of bringing revolution like Khameni. (NAWA-E-WAQT/
PAKISTAN/ AUSAF). Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali in his message on the occasion of mother day yesterday said,
the government will give women maximum support within religious and cultural norms to help them realize their full
potential. He said, the women of Pakistan deserve a much better status than we have given them in our society. He said,
women needed better health and education facilities. Mr. Jamali also urged married couples to try family planning. The
Prime Minister said, only educated women could meet the demands of the 21st century. (DAWN/ NEWS/ NATION/ JANG/
NAWA-E-WAQT). Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali will preside over a meeting of the five PML faction heads at the
Prime Minister's House on Monday. The meeting will discuss and sort out some thorny issues before holding general
council meeting of these factions on Tuesday to announce their dissolution and unification. The issue of Mr.
Jamali's own candidature for the new PML's Secretary-General will also figure in the discussion though the PML
President, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, appears to have won the support of some of the PML-Q members against the Prime
Minister in the Party's Parliamentary meeting at Lahore on Sunday, sources said. The Monday meeting is also
expected to discuss and create a consensus on the mechanism for the merger of the National Alliance led by Sardar Farooq
Ahmed Leghari. (DAWN/ NAWA-E-WAQT). GOVERNMENT: Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has said, he supports the idea
that public and party offices are kept separate. He made these remarks while talking to newsmen after his address to
ruling coalition parliamentarians from Punjab at the residence of Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain in Lahore on Sunday. He
informed that it was not only the desire of PML (Functional) but all the factions wanted Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah
Khan Jamali to hold the office of party General Secretary. Said, Muslim league is completely united under the leadership
of Ch. Shujaat Hussain and all the members of the Parliament have full confidence on Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan
Jamali. (JANG/ FRONTIER POST/ PAKISTAN/ DIN/ DAILY EXPRESS/ AL-AKHBAR). Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Muhammad
Ejazul Haq has said that the West propaganda against deeeni madaris was not based on facts and it should be effectively
countered. He also made it clear that the government respects these religious institutions and has no negative
intentions whatsoever against them. (NATION). Federal Minister for Water and Power Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao on Sunday
said, the government would announce relief to power consumers next week. Said, construction of at least one big dam will
start this year. (DAWN/ NATION/ JANG/ NAWA-E-WAQT). The federal government has asked all provincial governments to
revise the Category A list which contains the names of activists of terrorist and extremist organizations given to the
National Crisis Management Cell (NCMC) at the Interior Ministry, to prevent further terrorist attacks in Pakistan. The
Centre noted that the number of activists in the Anti-Terrorist Act's Fourth Schedule (compiled by the centre) were
more than on the list provided by each province and therefore the Centre asked the provinces to revise their lists
immediately. (DAILY TIMES). Government has decided to raise the salaries of teachers who are teaching in the remote
areas of the country including northern areas, a source in the Ministry of Education said. (FRONTIER POST/ ONLINE). The
government has decided to put in place contingency plans at all the airports 12 hours before the expected arrival of
PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif, an official source told the daily yesterday. (DAWN). Federal Ministry of Housing and
Works has reportedly sent its proposals for increasing House Rent Allowance of the government servants to Ministry of
Finance. According to sources, the Housing Ministry has asked the Finance Ministry to increase the said rent on the
basis of basic pay increased in 2001 rather than 1991 (JANG /KHABRAIN - May 09, 2004). FOREIGN: Tony Blair is to push
for Muslims troops from Pakistan to be deployed in Iraq in a desperate attempt to shore up the reputation of the
coalition forces following the widely-condemned images of abuse of Iraqi detainees. British Prime Minister and Defence
Secretary Geoff Hoon have called for 'channels to be opened' with Pakistan and India, which have said, they
will consider sending forces only if a United Nations resolution on the future of Iraq can be passed. (PAK. OBSERVER).
The US had taken steps to strengthen its ties with Pakistan and India to advance its regional goals and these moves
should not be seen as US accepting the South Asian nations as nuclear weapon states under the NPT, the PTI quoted a
senior State Department official as saying. (JANG/ NAWA-E-WAQT/ DAILY TIMES). Chechnya's President Akhmad Kadyrov
and a top Russian General were killed on Sunday along with at least 30 others in a bomb attack on a Victory Day
celebration in the war torn capital of the republic, officials said. The explosion shook Grozny's Dinamo stadium
where thousands of people - including the republic's top command - had gathered Sunday morning to celebrate the
defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945. (DAWN/ NATION/ NAWA-E-WAQT/ AFP). Indian Premier Atal Behari Vajpayee has said, we can
meet Pakistan's need of wheat. (JANG). ECONOMIC: Asian Development Bank (ADB) has threatened not to release $100
million (Rs.6 billion) for judicial and police reforms programme after it found the Prime Minister Secretariat and
Finance Ministry dragging their feet on agreed roadmap to improve sorry state of judiciary and police in Pakistan.
(NEWS). ELECTION: Sherry Rehman of the Pakistan People's Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) in a memorandum to the Human
Rights Commission of Pakistan has alleged that the government is using state machinery to rig the by-elections in
Karachi. (DAILY TIMES). POLITICAL: The ARD has urged the Commonwealth authorities not to allow re-entry of Pakistan into
the association before ensuring supremacy of the Constitution and Parliament in the country. (DAWN). PML-Q Secretary
General Salim Saifullah Khan has said, Saudi government has stopped Shahbaz Sharif from returning to Pakistan as
Pakistan had earlier contacted Saudi Arabia for the implementation of the deal in this regard. (JANG). It is learnt that
crown Prince Shahzada Abdullah through his special emissary, reminded Shahbaz Sharif in London about the deal for not
going back to Pakistan for ten years in which Saudi Arabia was a guarantor. Shahbaz Sharif has reportedly cancelled his
programme of returning to Pakistan after his meeting with the Saudi emissary, sources said. (JANG). GENERAL: Keeping in
view the continuous ignorance and indifference of Government towards teacher's demands, Muttahida Mahaz Asataza
Pakistan has given a long march call from Aabpara to Parliament House on May 12. (NATION). MEDIA: Speakers at a seminar
on 'Media Involvement in Conflict and Countries in Transition' said, reporting in violence - prone areas was
not possible without logistic support and resources in which Third World Countries lag far behind than the developed
nations. They also lamented the role of the government opposing probing journalism after the conflict. The function was
organized on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day by Federal Ministry of Information and Broadcasting with the
collaboration of UNESCO in Islamabad on Saturday. Minister for Information Sheikh Rashid was the Chief Guest. (NEWS).
NWFP: The NWFP government has demanded compensation of Rs. 65 million for use of its share of water by other provinces.
The demand was voiced at a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee for Water Resources in Peshawar on Sunday under
Senator Nisar Memon. The NWFP government was represented by Agriculture and Irrigation Minister Hafiz Akhtar Ali.
(FRONTIER POST). SINDH: The Sindh government has warned the people to stay away from the open sea and adopt
precautionary measures during the next two to three days as a Tropical cyclone (01A), is heading towards coastal areas
of Badin, Thatta, and Karachi. (PAK. OBSERVER). EDITORIALS: The daily News unveils the possibility that Americans had
not mistakenly entered Pakistan territory but that they were possibly advised that it was Afghan soil. The Pakistan
government needs to adopt a much more forceful stance on the issue and impress upon the United States the importance of
preventing such forays. The daily Jang supports the views of Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Nazim Hussain Siddiqui
who has declared that the confidence of people in courts is eroding because of delay in the provision of justice. He has
called upon both bench and bar to cause delay in the hearing of cases only on important pretext. The daily Al-Akhbar
lauds the participation of a large number of regional and international investors in the international investment
conference in Quetta. The Balochistan has wide investment possibilities in the fields of oil, gas, minerals, tourism,
agriculture, water resources, communication and telecommunications. LEADERETTE: The daily Dawn discloses the admittance
of Chairman CBR that there were gaps and loopholes in the tax system that needed to be filled. The daily proposes the
need for an integrated approach towards making the CBR more efficient as well as introducing laws that would allow the
organization to sustain the proposed reforms. The daily Nation supports one single important achievement of Pak-Tajik
joint ministerial commission, which has revived the proposal for Pakistan to import electricity from Tajikistan. The
daily Nawa-e-Waqt praises the decision taken by President Gen. Pervez Musharraf during a high level meeting that this
year we shall have to take decision to construct water reservoirs to meet the needs of sustained economic development.
ARTICLES: Imtiaz Alam in the daily News mentions that President Gen. Pervez Musharraf got an opportunity to fill the
political vacuum after 9/11. The General made a best capital out of it to emerge as the only hope for a moderate and
liberal Pakistan. Azam Khalil in the daily News focuses as Punjab government's efforts in education sector. To
overcome paucity of resources for its ambitions education programme in Punjab, the government has obtained a credit of
100 million dollars from the World Bank and 16 million Euros from Germany so that all the restructuring and
developmental projects initiated in the field of education progress smoothly without any constraints. Dr. Faisal Bari in
the daily Nation comments upon next budget and the hopes of consumers as well as businesses. The government has declared
that it is not going to impose any new tax, but tax rates can be adjusted. With more fiscal space, the government is
intending to expand development expenditure. Dr. Hasan Askari Rizvi in the daily Times declares that PML-Q leadership
has been working towards merging the various PML factions since September 2003. That effort is expected to produce
results this week when different factions merge to create the unified PML. This development strengthens the
pro-government political forces since most of them would now be functioning under the banner of the PML. COLUMNS:
Professor Saqib Ali in the daily Jang mentions the fact that Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali while addressing
Seerat Conference has said that in our national life we can learn a lot from the holy life of last prophet Muhammad
(PBUH) and international community can get guidance from His life.
(THROUGH ASIA PULSE)
[Pakistan Press International Information Services Limited] |
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