PTI picks up support from PML-Q faction

LAHORE: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, once a bit-player in national politics, is rapidly gaining stature in the lead up to the 2013 elections. A faction of the Pakistan Muslim League Quaid Likeminded group – itself a dissident group that split from the main PML-Q – is likely to join forces with the PTI in coming days, sources told The Express Tribune.

The faction includes in its midst shrewd politicians like Hamid Nasir Chattha, Khurshid Kasuri, Mian Asif, Chaudhry Amir Hussain Gujjar, Nasrullah Dareeshak, Afzal Sahi and Gohar Ayub Khan.

Senior leaders of the likeminded group met in Lahore on Tuesday where they decided to forge an alliance with the PTI in the next election. They will meet PTI chief Imran Khan one last time either on Wednesday (today) or Thursday (tomorrow) to finalise the makeup of such an alliance. Sources said that the details of an alliance had been all but agreed upon and only a final announcement remained.Read more eat Express Tribune

Efforts for Musharraf-Imran nexus heat up

DALLAS, Texas: All Pakistan Muslim League chief Gen (Retd) Pervez Musharraf and Tehrik-e-Insaf leader Imaran Khan are busy forging a covert political alliance through friends, sources privy to the development revealed Wednesday, Geo News reported.

The mayor of Paris (Texas, USA)) Dr Arjumand Hashmi, one of Musharraf’s cronies, is trying to broker a deal with all he is worth, they added. Read more

MQM to join army to foil external conspiracies: Altaf

LONDON: Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Chief Altaf Hussain Sunday said that Pakistan was beset with external threats but 'MQM will protect the country from every harm by joining the armed forces and foiling these conspiracies', Geo News reported.

Altaf Hussain, in his telephonic address to MQM office bearers and workers from Lahore zone, said a conspiracy was also being hatched to get the assemblies dissolved and go for snap polls to inflict a defeat on MQM. "But MQM will contest from across the country in the next elections," he vowed.

He assured his party workers that the day was not far off when Punjab would witness a revolution that would transform the grand houses of feudal lords and capitalists into boys and girls schools.

"Just when the philosophy of MQM began to gain ground in Punjab, an antagonistic drive was launched to project it as an enemy of the state," he alleged.

He challenged that no intelligence agency could prove that 'Altaf Hussain owns even one inch of land in Pakistan but the khadims of this nation have majestic houses.'

The MQM Chief without taking name of Dr. Zulfiqar Mirza, said claims of a cast out from one of the Sindh's parties were mind-boggling.

"This man (Dr. Mirza) is a desecrator of the Prophet (PBUH) because he claims to be bigger (in status) than Sarkar-e-Do-Alam," Altaf Hussain alleged, adding (Mohajirs) did not come from India in tatters'.

He said the entire blame of law and order situation in Karachi was pinned on MQM when 'actually 14 members of his party were also killed' in the May 12 carnage.

Source: The News Pk

MQM planning to kill my son: Zulfiqar Mirza

KARACHI: Former Sindh home minister Dr Zulfiqar Mirza said on Friday that President Asif Ali Zardari informed him of plots to kill his son, Hasnain Mirza, and himself in a telephonic conversation.

“President Asif Ali Zardari phoned me and said MQM is planning to kill my son Hasnain Mirza and Sindh local government minister Agha Siraj Durrani while federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik is hatching a conspiracy to kill me,” Mirza told a Sindh TV channel (KTN) on Friday.

Mirza said the president called him a day before he had addressed a press conference at the Karachi Press Club and was shocked to know that his own friends were planning to kill him.

“The president also asked me to avoid meeting these people,” he said.

The home minister went on to say that he would never consider rejoining the party until Rehman Malik was relinquished of his duties and the government broke their alliance with the MQM.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 15th, 2011.

Qureshi decision to stick with or leave PPP 'soon'

ISLAMABAD: Former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Thursday that he would soon make a decision on whether or not to leave the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), Geo News reported.

"I would make the decision on whether to stick with or leave People's Party after consulting my friends and family," he said while talking to Geo News.

Commenting on the current PPP leadership, Qureshi said people were not happy with President Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani. He also said that PPP loyalists from the Benazir era were not safe in the party. (The News Pk)

US missiles kill six in South Waziristan

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: A US missile strike killed at least six suspected militants in northwestern Pakistan near the Afghan border Saturday, two Pakistani intelligence officials said, in the third such American missile attack in as many days.

The officials said four missiles slammed into a compound near the border town of Angore Adda in the South Waziristan tribal region. The strike was targeting fighters of Maulvi Nazir, a militant commander who is accused of working with the Taliban and al-Qaeda to direct cross-border attacks, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Nazir is believed to have an agreement with Pakistani authorities that they will leave him alone so long as his men refrain from carrying out attacks on Pakistani soil.

Since 2008, Washington has regularly used drone-fired missiles to target insurgents and their hideouts in Pakistani tribal regions where local and Afghan factions like the Haqqanis and al-Qaeda men are hiding. US officials do not acknowledge the CIA-led program publicly, and Pakistan protests the strikes, which are unpopular.

Saturday’s strike was the latest in a string of missile attacks targeting the militant-infested border region.

On Friday, US missiles killed four unidentified people in the North Waziristan tribal region. A day earlier, a missile attack in North Waziristan killed Janbaz Zadran. US officials say Zadran was a top commander in the Haqqani network and had helped orchestrate attacks in Kabul and southeastern Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, police said Saturday they had arrested a Russian and two nationals from Azerbaijan in Lakki Marwat, a town located near North Waziristan.

It was not clear how the men reached the region, which is off limits to foreigners, and authorities said they were still investigating to determine whether the men had any links to militant groups.(DAWN.COM)

Waseem Akhtar calls for Mirza's house arrest under MPO

KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Member National Assembly (MNA) Waseem Akhtar demanded to put former Home Minister Zulfiqar Mirza under house-arrest on Monday.

Akhtar asserted that Mirza should be put under house-arrest under Article 16 of Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) adding that Mirza wants to disrupt peace in Karachi with the help of bandits.

He also requested President Zardari to resolve issues between Mirza and Rehman Malik.

Meanwhile MQM chief Altaf Hussain appealed in a statement to his party workers to remain calm and peaceful despite Mirza’s heated statements.

Earlier on Sunday after a trip from overseas, Mirza launched into a diatribe against the MQM, just three days after it formally rejoined the ruling coalition led by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

He addressed a press conference at the Peoples Stadium in Lyari lashing out against MQM chief Altaf Hussain and calling the PPP-MQM coalition a conspiracy to break up the country.

Mirza blamed the MQM for several crimes in Karachi including murder, extortion, robbery and even rape. He claimed that he would ‘expose’ the MQM taking ‘evidence’ he has against the party and its chief to courts in the United Kingdom.

This Articel Orignaly Published at Express Tribun

MQM back in govt

KARACHI: For the umpteenth time, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement has rejoined the federal and provincial governments and decided to help the Pakistan People’s Party solve the many problems that ail the country.

At a joint press conference with Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad announced on Wednesday night that Muttahida ministers would resume their responsibilities.

He added that the chief minister would decide portfolios for MQM ministers.

The MQM left the coalition on June 27 in protest against the postponement of elections on two seats of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly.

Most of the portfolios held by 14 MQM ministers in the provincial cabinet before June 27 were subsequently allocated to other MPAs. The MQM also had one adviser to the chief minister.

However, in the federal cabinet, the three ministerial positions held by as many Muttahida MNAs were not handed over to others.

The press conference was preceded by 90-minute negotiations where the finishing touches were put to the agreement — unexplained, like previous deals — between the PPP and the MQM.

President Asif Ali Zardari, MQM supremo Altaf Hussain and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani were consulted by the governor.

Standing around the chief minister and the governor were Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Syed Khurshid Shah, Sindh Home Minister Manzoor Wasan and Local Government Minister Agha Siraj Durrani of the PPP and Dr Farooq Sattar, Dr Sagheer Ahmad, Adil Siddiqui and Waseem Aftab of the MQM.

Governor Ibad said that Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik — whom he praised along with Babar Awan for his peacemaking role — was supposed to attend the press conference, but could not do so on account of some other engagement.

He said the president — whose Aug 19 remarks on challenges facing Pakistan were alluded to — and the prime minister remained in contact with the MQM chief, who decided in the national interest to help the government face the challenges.

Without explaining why, Governor Ibad said the decision to rejoin the ruling coalition was a difficult one for the MQM. Read more

Pakistan must do more in al Qaeda fight, Biden says

(CNN) -- Pakistan has been an unreliable ally of the United States in the war against al Qaeda and other extremist organizations, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden told CNN in an interview set to air in full Monday night.

Biden, who spoke to CNN's John King on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, said Pakistan has failed "on occasion" when forced to choose between the United States and al Qaeda.

The price of Pakistan's choices has been the "loss of life of American soldiers in Afghanistan," the vice president said. Islamabad has "been very helpful in other times," he added. "But it's not sufficient. They have to get better. We need a relationship that is born out of mutual interest. And it's in their interest that they be more cooperative with us."

"We are demanding it," he said.

Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. forces in a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in May. Pakistan's government -- which has struggled with significant pro-al Qaeda sentiment within its borders -- was not informed of the attack beforehand.

Pakistani authorities insist they did not know bin Laden's location.

Despite troubles in Pakistan and elsewhere, the United States is "getting close" to bringing about an end to organized, legitimized terrorist activities, Biden said. Read More at CNN