 |
| |
WEEKLY
SECTIONS |
 |
 |
 |
|
| Mengal under house arrest |
|
|
|
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
QUETTA: The Hub administration on Tuesday put the Balochistan National Party (BNP-M) chief, Akhtar Mengal, under house arrest because of his attempts to create a law and order situation. He has been detained as a protective measure.
Tariq Butt adds from Islamabad: Opposition senators on Tuesday protested the house arrest of BNP-M chief and former chief minister Akhtar Mengal, meant to stop him from leading a long march against federal policies on the eve of President Pervez Musharraf’s visit to the province.
The issue generated a heat in the Upper House with the government side insisting that it was a provincial matter that could be agitated in the Balochistan High Court (BHC). Dr Babar Awan raised the matter and said it was a violation of the Constitution to restrict free movement of any citizen. He alleged Mengal’s house arrest was part of the ongoing atrocities against the opposition leaders and workers in Balochistan.
He charged that some 150 political workers and leaders have been detained in the past few weeks in the province as they had aired the idea of observing a strike during Musharraf’s visit to Balochistan on November 30. He said this was alarming as there was already restlessness and uncertainty prevailing in Balochistan.
Awan stressed that the Senate should be told that why, instead of following constitutional means and engaging them in talks, political people in Balochistan were being bulldozed? The house should be informed under which law and charges Mengal has been incarcerated, he demanded.
Dr Abdul Maalik said there were no charges against Mengal and he has been arrested just to block him from leading the long march. He said Mengal’s offence was his protest against the president when the latter visited Balochistan on November 16. Mengal has been detained in Sakrand rest house, he said.
Dr Khalid Ranjha’s intriguing remarks that several people were arrested by the administration on their own request and that all detentions were not coercive, provoked protest from certain thoroughbred politicians.
He said no court has ever sustained such a detention order. However, he said placing people under house arrest or other detentions was not good. Dr Safdar Abbasi took exception to Ranjha’s view and said that his insinuation that political leaders and workers were arrested on their own request was totally wrong and misleading. He said political workers had been resisting dictatorial policies for decades. He said the Senate was a sovereign house and could discuss Mengal’s arrest.
Abdur Rehim Mandokhel also termed Ranjha’s observation as an unfounded allegation that political leaders and workers go to prison voluntarily on request. However, Ranjha said he didn’t intend to insult anybody, and added that several political figures had undergone the rigours of politics. He said home secretaries could be summoned by the Senate with 15 years’ record about arrests and detentions to ascertain the veracity of his claim that many detentions had been voluntary.
Afgan said freedom of movement provided in the constitution was not without reasonable restrictions that can be imposed through law. He said restrictions can be enforced in public interest and the action taken against Mengal was under the law.
|
|
|
| Back
| Send
this story to Friend | Print
Version |
|
|
Three killed as Sh Rashid escapes attempt on life
By Shakeel Anjum
RAWALPINDI: Awami Muslim League (AML) Chief and a candidate for NA-55 (Rawalpindi) by-election Sheikh Rashid Ahmad was wounded, while three people — a guard and two party workers — were killed when four gunmen more |
|
|
12 soldiers killed in South Waziristan
ISLAMABAD: Twelve soldiers embraced martyrdom while two others were injured in a clash with militants during the ongoing operation Rah-e-Nijat in South Waziristan Agency (SWA), the ISPR said on Monday.
S more |
|
|
Plan to attack five-star hotel foiled
By our correspondent
LAHORE: The CIA police here on Monday claimed to have foiled an attack on Americans staying at a five-star hotel and arrested six terrorists, including a suicide bomber.
Addressing a press conference, SS more |
|
|
Govt taking court for a ride
By Ansar Abbasi
ISLAMABAD: She fought her case in the media. She won her battle in the judicial forum too. But still the government is bent on making an example out of her for refusing to follow the illegal dictates of her min more |
|
|
Pakistan against arms race: Gilani
By Azeem Samar
KARACHI: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Monday said Pakistan does not want to be engaged in an arms race with any country.
Speaking as chief guest at the induction ceremony of second Chinese-m more |
|
|
|
Punjab-Sindh water row Centre’s intervention sought
By our correspondent
ISLAMABAD: Tension between Punjab and Sindh over opening of the Chashma-Jhelum and Taunsa-Punjnad link canals has touched a new high as the former has sought the Centre’s intervention.
The Punjab has sai more |
|
|
|
French, Dutch fight over giving LNG to Pakistan
By Khalid Mustafa
ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin and his team is all set to thwart the attempt of an unscrupulous combine of oil industry heavyweights and some functionaries of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Re more |
|
|
|
Nine killed as no let-up in rains
By Nisar Mahmood
PESHAWAR: Nine people were killed and scores of others injured as heavy rains and snowfall lashed various parts of the country for the fourth consecutive day on Monday.
Reports from the Shangla district more |
|
|
|
Malik orders NUML closure as protest enters 5ht day
ISLAMABAD: The protest of the students of the National University of Modern Languages (NUML) against thrashing of Professor Malik Tahir by Registrar Brigadier (R) Obaidullah Ranjha entered its fifth consecutive more |
|
|
|
Malik insists no Blackwater in Pakistan
By Muhammad Anis
ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rehman Malik while responding to an accusation from a PML-N parliamentarian told the National Assembly that Blackwater was not providing security to the president and the prime mini more |
|
|
|
FBR gets list of properties rented out to foreigners
By Hanif Khalid
ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has received list of properties from Foreign Office, which were in use of foreigners in Islamabad, Karachi, Peshawar and Lahore, but these were not shown in annual tax more |
|
|
|
Repealing of 17th Amendment
By our correspondent
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has begun efforts to create consensus on repealing the 17th Amendment before presidential address to the joint sitting of the parliament.
The prime minis more |
|
|
|
Three suspects held in Mohmand
By our correspondent
GHALLANAI: The security forces arrested three suspected persons during search operation in Safi subdivision of Mohmand Agency, official sources said Monday. The sources said the security forces carried out sear more |
|
|
|
No presence of Blackwater, DynCorp in Pakistan, NA body told
ISLAMABAD: Secretary Interior Qamar Zaman again negated on Monday the presence of Blackwater, DynCorp or any other foreign security agency in the country. “Neither the Blackwater and the DynCorp nor any other s more |
|
|
|
Govt urged to take up water issue with India
By Asim Yasin
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Q, Parliamentary leader in the National Assembly, Makhdoom Faisal Saleh Hayat while urging the government to take up the issue of ‘water terrorism’ with New Delhi, has question more |
|
|
|
Avalanche kills 17 Indian soldiers in held Kashmir
HELD SRINAGAR: Seventeen Indian soldiers were killed on Monday in an avalanche that slammed into a group of 70 combat troops at a high-altitude warfare training camp in Kashmir, the army said on Monday.
more |
|
|
|
Taliban defiant as Afghans flee ahead of assault
KANDAHAR: The Nato commanders urged the Taliban to surrender as troops dug in on Monday for a major assault on their key stronghold in southern Afghanistan, sending thousands of residents fleeing.
The Ta more |
|
|
|
Plea to freeze foreign accounts
By our correspondent
LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday ordered the federal government to submit a reply within four weeks on a petition seeking freezing of accounts in foreign banks and recovery of illegal assets accumu more |
|
|
|
Attack on Sh Rashid
RAWALPINDI: The PML-N candidate for by-polls from NA-55, Malik Shakil Awan, has announced suspension of electioneering for a day to mourn the death of those killed in the attack on the office of his rival, Shei more |
|
|
|
Indian forces to halt Kashmir rally outside UN office
HELD SRINAGAR: The held Kashmir authorities deployed thousands of police and troops on Monday to prevent a protest outside the UN office here over the recent killing of two teenage boys by Indian security force more |
|
|
|
briefs...
20 die in Afghan floods, avalanches
KANDAHAR: Twenty people have died in floods and avalanches triggered by some of the heaviest rain and snow in Afghanistan for 50 years, an official said on Monday. At more |
|
|
|
ISSN 1563-9479 
