Cabinet directs generals, judges to declare assets

Federal cabinet has asked judges and generals to submit lists of their assets. A meeting of the federal cabinet chaired by Prime Minster Raja Pervez Ashraf is in progress in Islamabad. According to Dunya News the cabinet members agreed that generals and judges should also declare their assets. The federal cabinet also directed the establishment division to direct government servants also to submit statement of their assets. It is reviewing measures to overcome energy crisis. The committee on Balochistan is expected to present its recommendations to implove law and order situation of the province. The cabinet will also review the prices of essential commodities besides taking stock of the implementation status of its earlier decisions. Addressing the cabinet meeting Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf said resolution of energy crisis is the government s top most priority. He assured that all resources will be utilized to resolve the crisis. The Prime Minister said preparations for upcoming general elections should now be made. Pakistan Peoples Party believes in free‚ fair and impartial elections and whichever political party wins‚ result would be welcomed.

Pakistani court issues arrest warrant for Musharraf in murder case

An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Pakistan on Wednesday issued non-bailable arrest warrants for former military President Pervez Musharraf and former Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in a murder case of a tribal leader. Nawab Akbar Bugti, a Baloch tribal leader, was killed on Aug. 26, 2006 during a military operation in southwestern Balochistan province when Musharraf was ruling the country. Bugti's family had registered cases against the former president, then prime minister as well as former Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao, former Governor Balochistan Province Owais Ahmad Ghani and several other government officials. The court in Sibi district in Balochistan province, while issuing arrest warrants, ordered all the accused to appear on Sept. 5. Musharraf, who ruled Pakistan between 1999 and 2008, has been living in self-exile since his resignation as president in August 2008 on facing parliamentary impeachment over a variety of charges. The former president has also launched his own political party the All Pakistan Muslim League and has said to return to the country for the parliamentary elections due early next year. Another court has also issued arrest warrant for Musharraf in connection with the 2007 tragic assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Benazir, twice prime minister of Pakistan, was killed in a suicide blast and firing in the garrison city of Rawalpindi. Musharraf has denied any involvement in the murder of Benazir Bhutto.

Pak Rangers fire on Indian post on I-Day

Pakistani Rangers opened unprovoked fire in Hira Nagar sector of the international border on Wednesday, India's 66th Independence Day, according to sources in the Border Security Force (BSF). BSF sources said the Pakistani Rangers opened fire at Pansera post close to the zero line on the international border about 65 km south west of Jammu. The firing lasted for over half an hour. The Indian side did not retaliate, the sources said. Pakistani Rangers have been firing at Indian posts almost regularly for the past one week. This was the sixth such incident in the past week, the sources said. The firing was also a violation of a ceasefire that the Indian and Pakistani governments had agreed to adhere to in November 2003. India shares a 198-km international border in Jammu region with Pakistan.

Aitzaz doubts Imran’s slogan of change

Eminent lawyer and Pakistan People’s Party Senator Aitzaz Ahsan on Monday said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Imran Khan cannot bring any change with the kind of leaders he has gathered around himself. Addressing a ceremony in connection with Independence Day, Aitzaz said that it was because of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry that we have democracy in Pakistan today, otherwise Musharraf would still have been ruling the country. He said the elections would take place in due time as per provisions of the constitution. He said all institutions of the state should work within the limits earmarked in the constitution and there should be no clash among them. “It is unfortunate that judges have started sending people to jail just for staring at them,” he said.

Zardari and Karzai 'agree' Afghan border shelling probe

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said that he and his Pakistani counterpart, Asif Ali Zardari, have agreed to send a joint military delegation to examine recent shelling across their border. The two leaders met on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia on the sidelines of a meeting of Islamic nations. Cross-border shelling and militant incursions are a source of ongoing tension between the two countries. Each blames the other for failing to do more to curb the violence. There was heavy fighting on Tuesday between Afghan and Pakistani forces in the eastern Afghan province of Kunar, in which one Afghan border policeman was killed and five were injured in what Afghanistan said was an attack from the Pakistani side. The Afghan authorities sent hundreds of troops to the area. Afghan officials have in the past accused Pakistan's military of firing the rockets across the border - a claim Pakistan denies. Correspondents say that cross-border violence has become a highly sensitive issue in Afghanistan, where many are wary of Pakistan's historic ties to the Taliban. Islamabad says that the violence is being carried out by Pakistani Taliban fighters sheltering in Afghanistan, who have infiltrated the border to resume attacks on its security forces. President Karzai asked Pakistan "to immediately end" cross-border attacks. He warned that if they continued, they would adversely affect "Afghanistan's friendship with Pakistan". "Their continuation would not be good for Pakistan," a statement released by the president said. It went on to say that President Zardari had agreed to assign a joint military delegation to visit the border and investigate the shelling. A statement from the Pakistani president said that the two leaders "were unanimous in the view that all groups should shun violence and join the peace process in Afghanistan, for the peace and stability of the region".

Sheikh Rashid, an Imran Khan ally, urges Pakistan’s Chief Justice to kill President Zardari

Let Us Build Pakistan

In a joint political rally by Imran Khan’s PTI and Sheikh Rashid’s Awami Muslim League in garrison town of Rawalpindin, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed called upon the Chief Justice of Pakistan to “kill the bast***d before he kills you”. He is alleged to be referring to President Zardari.There can be no doubts about Sheikh Rasheed’s intent which is incitement to murder. This gives rise to some uncomfortable questions: 1. Why would a failed Jihadist politician refer to the judiciary to kill anyone, let alone the elected President of the country? 2. Can Pakistan’s upper-middle class, the bulk of whom support PTI, PML-N, MQM and the Judiciary afford to associate themselves with such reprehensive, violent and abusive behavior. Given Pakistan’s bloody history of military coups and extremist violence, this question answers itself. 3. Will Pakistan’s Judiciary take notice of this incitment to murder and more importantly, will it prosecute Sheikh Rashid for his public admission of such crime? President Zardari is the symbol of the federation of Pakistan and has been elected by the Parliament. Parliament must take notice of this incitement to murder and take action against Sheikh Rashid. If the Supreme Court does nothing, then by default it becomes a party to this incitment to murder. The failure of the higher judiciary to take action on this may make it complicit in this hate crime. In such an instance, Parliament must also take action against the Supreme Court. Will Pakistan’s elected parliament show enough spine to take appropriate action against a judge who is so blatantly hostile to constitution and parliament? Sheikh Rashid like his fellow DPC comrades, Malik Ishaq of ASWJ-LeJ and Hafiz Saeed of JuD-LeT, does not belong to the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). By now Pakistanis know that this PCO Judiciary is only concerned in derailing the elected Government. Jihadis, PTI, PML N, family members and the ISI enjoy immunity from the Law. To reiterate, failure of the Judiciary to take notice of this incitment to murder makes them complicit. A judiciary that undertakes judicial activism for two bottles of liquor, a slap inside a polling booth in a remote town in Sindh and the prices of samosas cannot pretent to ignore this incitement to violence within a few miles radius of the Supreme Court! It will be most interesting to see the response of Pakistan’s partisan media (both English and Urdu) and civil society on this. Will their romance with the PTI, CJP and its violent Jihadi allies continue? Like many of the earlier questions, the answers are all too clear. Barring the exception, much of Pakistan’s media continues to mantain a silence on this issue. Failed politicians like Shiekh Rashid and Imran Khan are after all media darlings. Unlike elected PPP leaders, they are given ample and disproportionate media space to spew their hateful, bigotted and xenophobic message. Nusrat Javeed is one of the few journalists who took up this issue in his Bolta Pakistan show yesterdayNot only did Sheikh Rashid incide the CJP to murder, he also called Mullah Omar “Amir-ul-Momineen” (Leader of the Faithful) and requested the latter to issue Imran Khan with a visa for his pro-Taliban rally in North Waziristan later this year. Similarly, he extorted General Kiyani, albeit in a more roundabout manner, to stop the military operations against the various Taliban militias in Swat and North Waziristan. And this man is the political ally for Kaptaan Imran Khan. Enough said!

Zardari, Karzai discuss bilateral ties, regional situation

President Asif Ali Zardari and Afghan President Hamid Karzai met in Mecca Tuesday on the sidelines of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) summit, convened by Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz to discuss the challenges facing Muslim countries and to further strengthen unity and solidarity among the Muslim world. The two leaders discussed bilateral ties, regional situation, peace process in Afghanistan and other issues of mutual concern. Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, Interior Minister Rehman Malik, Pakistan’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Muhammad Naeem Khan were also present during the meeting. President Zardari assured his Afghan counterpart that Pakistan would continue to extend all out support for peace, stability and socio-economic development in Afghanistan. The president said as Pakistan and Afghanistan are linked with historic cultural, religious and neighborly bonds, the destinies of the two nations are intertwined. He said Pakistan considers Afghanistan’s peace and security as its own peace and security, adding, a peaceful, stable and prosperous Afghanistan was also in Pakistan’s interest. The two leaders were unanimous in the view that all groups should shun violence and join the peace process in Afghanistan, for peace and stability in the region. During the meeting, the two leaders besides discussing bilateral ties, regional situation and peace process in Afghanistan also exchanged views on the issues of international importance as well as the challenges facing the Muslim world.

Afghan-Pakistani team to probe border shelling: Kabul

Afghanistan and Pakistan have agreed to send a joint military team to investigate a recent surge in cross-border attacks that have soured relations between the two neighbours, Kabul said Wednesday. Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari took the decision on the sidelines of an Organisation of Islamic Cooperation summit in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, Karzai's office said. Pakistan said the two leaders "discussed bilateral ties, the regional situation, the peace process in Afghanistan and other issues of mutual concern", but declined to go into specifics. Afghans say that thousands of rockets and heavy artillery shells have landed on their territory in recent months, blaming Pakistan for the alleged attacks. The cross-border violence has become a highly sensitive issue in Afghanistan, where many are deeply suspicious of Pakistan and its historic ties to the Taliban, which is now fighting a 10-year insurgency against Karzai's government. Pakistan says groups of Pakistani Taliban sheltering in Afghanistan have infiltrated the border to resume attacks on its security forces. Karzai asked Pakistan "to immediately end these attacks" and warned that if they continued, they would negatively impact "Afghanistan's friendship with Pakistan". His office said Zardari agreed to assign a joint military delegation to visit the border and investigate the shelling. Zardari's office said: "The two leaders were unanimous in the view that all groups should shun violence and join the peace process in Afghanistan, for peace and stability of the region." The apparent agreement to investigate the border violence comes after officials on both sides said Pakistan allowed an Afghan delegation to meet a senior Taliban leader being held in a Pakistani jail. Pakistan's 2010 arrest of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a powerful military chief who has been described as the Taliban's second in command, had been blamed by Kabul for sabotaging peace initiatives.

Lohar Shahbaz provoking people

Punjab Governor Sardar Latif Khosa on Tuesday alleged that Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif was provoking the people to damage public property over the issue of loadshedding. “If the chief minister is so fond of warfare, he should join us to wage a war against ignorance, poverty, loadshedding and other social issues. He would find us in the front row,” he remarked while addressing a function of special children held at the Governor’s House in connection with Independence Day celebrations. The governor also asked government servants not to obey illegal orders of the chief minister. “Governments come and go, but civil servants stay, thus they should be loyal only to the state”, Khosa observed. The governor feared that democracy may be in danger if second prime minister was sent packing. “Instead of infighting, the institutions should find solution to problems by putting their heads together,” he added. In an obvious reference to the chief justice of Pakistan, the governor remarked that if somebody believed that he was doing great service to the country by making the parliament and the executive subservient to the judiciary, he was mistaken. On the 66th Independence Day, he said, all leaders should solemnly pledge to work together for keeping the spirit of democracy intact; and all institutions of the state, be they provincial or national, must cooperate with each other. On this occasion, the governor announced free education and boarding facilities to the special children in all public sector universities of the province. He further announced a two per cent job quota for the disabled in all government departments and directed their heads to ensure the immediate effectiveness of the new plan. Earlier, the governor visited the mausoleum of national poet Allama Iqbal and laid a flower wreath on his grave. Meanwhile, talking to a delegation from India, Khosa said that Pakistan and India should address their outstanding issues through dialogue. According to an official handout, all issues including Kashmir and water came under discussion.

FATA MPs hail LG system decision in tribal areas

http://statesman.com.pk

A FATA delegation comprising Senators and Members of National Assembly led by Haji Munir Khan Orakzai, MNA called on Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf at PM’s House on Tuesday. Haji Munir Khan Orakzai, MNA congratulated the Prime Minister on the occasion of Independence Day. He also hailed the decision of the government to introduce local governments system in tribal areas. The delegation thanked the Prime Minister for the government’s special focus on tribal areas and informed him that people of tribal areas are appreciative of the efforts being made by the government to improve their standard of living. The Prime Minister said that the tribal people are brave, hospitable and an invaluable asset of the country. They have always been on the forefront whenever the nation has called upon them to play their role. The Prime Minister said that Peoples Party is a Federal party which has representation from all over the country including tribal areas. The role of National political parties is of paramount importance in furthering democracy and bringing progress and prosperity in the country, he emphasised. The Prime Minister praised the political acumen and the constructive role played by the Senators and Members of the National Assembly hailing from FATA. The delegation apprised the Prime Minister of the development projects and on-going schemes in their constituencies. The Prime Minister assured the delegation that the government will extend all possible assistance for the early completion of development projects in the tribal areas. Those who called on the Prime Minister included Engr Shaukatullah Minister for SAFRON, Senator Abbas Khan Afridi Minister of State for Commerce, Senator Hidayatullah, Senator Najamul Hassan, Senator Muhammad Idrees Khan Saafi, Senator Moulana Muhammad Saleh Shah, Sajid Hussain Turi MNA, Jawad Hussain MNA and Noorul Haq Qadri MNA, reports INP. President Asif Ali Zardari announced on Monday that the system of local governments would be introduced in tribal areas next year. He termed it another step forward in efforts to bring the people of the region into the mainstream of national life. “I have great pleasure in announcing the introduction of local governments in tribal areas. The coming year will be the year of giving local self-governance in accordance with the wishes of the tribal people, and in accordance with their customs and traditions,” President Zardari said at a special ceremony at Aiwan-i-Sadr to mark the country’s 66th Independence Day. Interestingly, the ceremony attended by Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, federal ministers, the chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, services chiefs, governors of the four provinces, members of parliament and diplomats was held hours before the president’s departure to Saudi Arabia to attend the OIC Summit and was recorded and telecast on Monday midnight. “We owe it to the people and to the peace and stability of the country and the region to bring these areas into the mainstream of national life,” he said. “Last year, on the eve of Independence Day, I had signed the regulation for reforms in tribal areas. Under that package, the FCR was replaced with Fata Regulation 2011. The political parties were also allowed to reach out to the people in tribal areas with their message,” he said, adding: “This was our gift to the people on the Independence Day last year. It was a major change in hundred years. It was historic. The process continues.” In an apparent reference to the ongoing confrontation between the government and the judiciary, the president called for safeguarding the dignity and honour of the elected parliament and for protecting it “from new forms of assaults”. He said parliament was the voice of the people and could not be silenced and would never be. The Independence Day this year, the president said, was being celebrated at a time when a democratically-elected government was about to complete its mandated term in office. “This is a historic milestone. It augurs well for democracy and democratic traditions in the country. Unfortunately for most part of our independent existence, people were often denied right to rule and the Constitution was repeatedly abrogated.” It was reassuring that the present parliament had unanimously restored, to a large extent, the ‘democratic’ Constitution of 1973, he said, adding that today the people of Pakistan had reasons to celebrate as they were an independent and a strong nation. But, he continued, there were dangers and threats also and said militants posed the greatest threat to the country. “A great challenge that we are faced with is defeating the militant mindset,” he said, adding: “For this, we must defend democracy and promote tolerance, discussion and debate.”

Did Jinnah dream of this kind of Pakistan?

EDITORIAL : Time to introspect

On this Independence Day, as Pakistan turned 65, we find as many views on democracy, secularism and Islam as there are people living in the country. Confusion is one word the youth that comprises 65 percent of this country uses often to describe their understanding of the situation in Pakistan. There is complete disorientation as to the purpose of creating Pakistan in the first place, and then the direction it should have, and still needs to take. If the idea was to create a nation with multiple cultural dimensions, with human values at its core, then the way we have dealt with our citizens by depriving them of a decent living goes against that grain. There is a need to reinterpret, redefine and shed the dust covering the original concept of Pakistan envisioned by Jinnah and Iqbal. They certainly did not talk of a Pakistan enslaved by the current dominant and self-defeating narrow interpretation of Islam. So-called Islamisation, starting from Zia’s era, has reduced the state and society to being entrapped by religious intolerance and lack of direction. The phenomenon of extremism, with a handful of people hiding in the mountains of northern Pakistan demanding Shariah to be the leitmotif of state and society is an indicator of things getting out of hand. The country is fast moving toward a debacle woven into a pattern of hatred, religious intolerance and crude understanding of Islam. Did Muhammad Ali Jinnah dream of this kind of Pakistan? The oft-repeated speech of Jinnah that he delivered at the first session of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan on August 11, 1947, clearly suggests the role of religion in the state that he envisaged. He delineated the position of minorities in Pakistan by granting them complete freedom of religion so that they could practice their faith in whatever manner they thought fit. This was the spirit that became the cause for the creation of Pakistan. Today it is a different country we are living in, where minorities are harassed and are forced to either convert to Islam or leave the country for safer havens in India or elsewhere. The domination of right wing groups and opinion in the political, social and economic spheres has affected our relations with the world. We are not at peace with our neighbours. An air of hostility swirls across Pakistan, India and Afghanistan. The India-Pakistan animosity paradigm that saw trillions of dollars lining the pockets of political elites and arms dealers from the western countries in the name of defence and security, brought nothing but economic deprivation for our general public. The case of US enmity sown in the hearts of Islamists played out as an expedient way to exploit public sentiment rather than establishing Pakistan as a country free of political, military and economic dependence. Pakistan is surviving on the periphery of the world’s mainstream, where the purpose, cause and reason for Pakistan’s creation is lost in a welter of noisy and contradictory voices, adding more heat and fury rather than reason and wisdom to the country’s striving for direction, stability and prosperity. We are unfortunately directionless even today after 65 years and the freedom that we so lovingly guard in the name of sovereignty has itself become a redundant formula of false claims of national success and pride. We are in need of deep introspection. And what could be a better time for this than Independence Day?

PPP has roots all over Pakistan

DAILY TIMES

Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf on Tuesday said the Pakistan People’s Party is a federal party, which enjoys representation all over the country, including the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). The premier was talking to a FATA delegation of lawmakers, led by MNA Munir Khan Orakzai, which called on him. Raja said the role of mainstream political parties was of paramount importance in furthering democracy and bringing progress and prosperity to the country. The PM said that the tribal people were brave, hospitable and an invaluable asset of the country. Orakzai greeted the PM on Independence Day. He also praised the government’s decision to introduce local government system in FATA. The delegation thanked Raja for the government’s special focus on FATA and informed him that the people were appreciative of the efforts being made by the government to improve their lifestyle. The delegation apprised the PM about the developmental projects and ongoing schemes in their constituencies. The premier assured the delegation that the government would extend all possible assistance for the early completion of developmental projects in FATA. The delegates were SAFRON Minister Engineer Shaukatullah, State Minister for Commerce Senator Abbas Afridi, Senator Hidayatullah, Senator Najamul Hassan, Senator Muhammad Idrees Khan Saafi, Senator Saleh Shah, MNA Sajid Hussain Turi, MNA Jawad Hussain and MNA Noorul Haq Qadri.

IMF and Pakistan

According to a report carried by a section of the press, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in a draft report stated that active political support is required at the highest level to implement essential reforms in Pakistan and that it would be worthwhile to consider the president for co-signing the letter of intent (LoI) for any future arrangement. All multilaterals, without exception, acknowledge that without active political support any programme loan accompanied by an entire range of politically challenging reform conditions is unlikely to succeed. At the same time, the IMF traditionally restricts its interactions to the Finance Ministry and the central bank as its focus is to discuss the state of the economy, provide guidance and seek a consensus with the debtor country's economists on identifying reforms considered critical to jump-start the economy. The subsequent agreement then forms the basis of the LoI which is submitted by the government seeking assistance to the IMF board of directors for approval of the assistance package. The implicit assumption made by the IMF is that the Minister of Finance, a very senior member of the ruling party in most democracies, has sufficient clout within the Cabinet to successfully persuade his colleagues into the need to accept the conditions dictated by the Fund. In the case of Pakistan, regarded as a perennial borrower from the Fund, there is overwhelming evidence that suggests that political commitment to reforms proposed by multilaterals is lacking and the signatories to LoIs, namely the Finance Minister and the State Bank Governor, have traditionally not had the clout necessary to convince their colleagues to support politically challenging reforms. Pakistani finance ministers by and large have neither been senior members of a political party or indeed regarded as political heavyweights by our military dictators. This country has seen many a bureaucrat promoted to the post of finance minister (Ghulam Ishaq Khan) or an international bureaucrat who has spent his/her working life as staff of a multilateral (Hafeez Sheikh). Conspiracy theorists spend an inordinate amount of time arguing which powerful institution recommended which finance minister and given the trichotomy of powers their choice is one of three. It is therefore little wonder that reports indicate that the IMF team met with the Chief of Army Staff however there is no confirmation from ISPR on this yet. Be that as it may, two facts are fairly evident in today's Pakistan. First and foremost the need for foreign assistance or going on another IMF bailout package is overwhelming given the state of the economy. The country is struggling with a rising budget deficit, expected to be over 8 percent for last fiscal year (higher than the 7.4 percent this government inherited in 2008 which necessitated going on the 7.4 billion dollar Stand-By Arrangement with the Fund), a rising trade deficit, a deteriorating balance of payment position, declining productivity of large-scale manufacturing sector due to the energy crisis and a farm sector heavily reliant on weather for greater productivity. In short, there is a need for an IMF programme and it is only a matter of time before the government would seek new programme lending from the Fund. Second, it is no secret that the centre of power is the President and not the Prime Minister irrespective of what our constitution states. Therefore, in this context it is not surprising that some wise person advised the IMF staff to meet with the President and seek his signature to an LoI. But perhaps two pertinent mitigating factors need to be considered. The President has succeeded in sustaining a coalition against all odds but even he has had difficulties in convincing Sindh government, where the PPP has an overwhelming majority, not to exercise its constitutional right to collect the sales tax on services and allow the Federal Board of Revenue to do so. And equally importantly, the PPP does not have a simple majority in parliament and therefore is not in a position to enforce reforms that maybe opposed by other parties both within and outside parliament for political reasons. Ideally, it is the consensus approach that would take all stakeholders on board - both within and outside parliament. As matters stand today even the coalition partners lament that they are not taken into confidence with respect to the budget document and, what has assumed a political dimension as the general elections near, or in terms of policies to resolve the severe energy crisis. Additionally, documents reveal that there is concern amongst cabinet members about the credibility of data presented by to them, a mistrust that is permeating the people of this country who witness the erosion of the value of each rupee they painstakingly earn almost daily with the Finance Ministry claiming that inflation is coming down. Inaccurate data also compromises the credibility of data presented in the budget. It is therefore necessary to delink the statistical gathering branch from the Finance Ministry and make it autonomous to ensure data integrity.

Punjab Governor warns sending another PM home will harm democracy

Punjab Governor Sardar Latif Khan Khosa has said sending the Prime Minister home will harm democracy. He was addressing at a ceremony held for special children in Lahore on Tuesday. He said PPP accepted the disqualification of former Prime Minister despite reservations‚ however‚ undermining the State institutions will neither serve democracy nor the country. He said the Chief Minister Punjab is involved in damaging public properties by provoking people in the name of load shedding.

NRO review petition: AG objects to SC's bench

A five-member bench headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa was hearing the petition. The Supreme Court on Wednesday resumed hearing of the review petition filed by the federation against the July 12 judgment in NRO implementation case. During case proceeding, Attorney General Irfan Qadir requested the formation of a larger bench to hear the appeal, adding that the bench which gave July 12 judgment should hear the review petition. Attorney General said that Prime Minister can not be made party in the case. He also argued that the judges should act according to the constitution. The government, last week, challenged a court order that asked Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf to write a letter to Swiss authorities seeking the reopening of money laundering cases against President Asif Ali Zardari. The peitition was filed in the backdrop of the issuing of a show-cause notice for contempt of court to Prime Minister Ashraf over his failure to implement the court’s directive of writing the letter.