Lawyers, civil society, labourers join protest against Geo closure

LAHORE: The Protest against the ban/suspension of Geo TV is gaining strength with every passing day as more people from all walks of life, including members of civil society, lawyers, the journalist community, labourers and workers of the Geo/Jang Group, thronged outside the Jang, Geo offices to hold a protest demonstration here on Saturday.

The protesters, carrying banners, placards in favour the Geo/Jang Group, and terming the ban on Geo against fundamental rights, said that any such action would be tantamount to economic murder of around 50,000 workers of the largest media house.

Among the prominent persons who attended the protest were senior journalists Nasrullah Malik, Khawar Naeem Hashmi, Maqsood Butt, Bedar Bakht Butt, Sadia Sharif, Ameen Hafiz, Jang Workers Union President Rukhsana Nazli, General Secretary Waseem Babar, Fakhira Tehreem, Shahzada Irfan, Jamaat-e-Islami general secretary Ameerul Azeem, Sadia Jabeen of the PPP, Shahid Aslam, Imdad Qureshi, Zahid Rafique Bhatti, Sabir Awan, Zahid Ali Khan, Ijaz Manzoor, Ijaz Mirza, Farooq Chohan, Naseer Baig, Azhar Maqbool, Sadia Aziz, Huma Mir Hassan, Naveed Aslam, President Civil Society Pakistan Abdullah Malik, Sohail Butt, Muneer Khokhar, Adeel Khokhar, Shafqat Imran, Asim Naseer and Waheed Butt.

Nasrullah Malik said he had come to join the protest as defending freedom of press was the duty of every journalist. He said our (media) victory lies in defending our freedom against all dictatorial acts. Which Constitution allows to forcibly snatch copies of newspapers and to threaten the cable operators to shut a channel (Geo), Malik asked, adding that some black sheep exist in our community which need to be thrown out now.

Allama Siddique Azhar said it was a matter of grave concern that Geo TV is off air as employment of thousands of workers is attached with this largest media house. He said nefarious designs with the help of some other channels have been made to discredit the most reliable source (Jang/Geo) of information for the public only to serve some vested interests.

Bedar Bakht Butt said the attack on senior anchorperson Hamid Mir was not an attack on him alone, rather the whole community came under attack from some powerful quarters who do not want free speech and freedom of the media. He said a planned conspiracy has been put in place after the attack on Hamid Mir to cause unbearable loss to the Geo/Jang Group to oust democracy from the country. He said the time has come to join hands to fight with the ‘angels’ and dictatorial mindset if we want to continue telling the truth to the general public.

Maqsood Butt said by attacking Hamid Mir it seemed that a serious campaign has been launched to eliminate all those journalists who speak the truth and stand in front of all wrongs.

Yousaf Shah and Khursheed Shah while condemning the ban on Geo said all labourers and worker’s unions of the country are with the workers of the Geo/Jang Group at this crucial time, adding that Geo is being targeted only for raising a voice for the poor and the needy.

In his speech, Ameerul Azeem demanded all illegal actions initiated against the Geo/Jang Group be stopped immediately, saying that the media house is the pride of Pakistan. He said Geo and Jang are the voice of millions of Pakistanis and efforts were underway to malign their favourite channel and newspapers which is highly condemnable.

Shahida Jabeen said by discrediting the Geo/Jang Group through such malicious campaigns, some forces want to again impose martial law in the country by throwing out hard-earned democracy. She also asked her leadership to throw persons like Israr Abbassi and Mian Shams out of the PPP as they were dancing to someone else’s tune while sitting in the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra).

Nisar Safdar Advocate and Iftikhar Shahid Advocate said religious elements are being used by some quarters to settle scores with Geo and Jang as this media house always stood against the high and mighty of the country. He said the media along with the lawyers’ community fought for the independence of the judiciary and now the lawyers will support the media in their fight for freedom and justice.

A representative of the Baloch Ittehad said that it was Geo and Jang alone which highlighted and raised the issues of Balochistan. He said the Baloch nation stands with the workers of the Geo/Jang Group in their fight for truth and freedom.

Abdullah Malik said Geo and Jang always promoted truth, harmony, equality, rule of law in the country. He said damaging this largest media organisation of the country means damaging democracy as every one knows that the independent media would not allow any unconstitutional act in the country again. He said all other channels and media houses should learn some lessons from the management of Geo/Jang Group as they accepted suffering a huge loss in the past one month or so but they never surrendered their freedom to the ‘angels’. He demanded that the government should intervene by finding a solution to the whole mess, otherwise things may go from bad to worse.

Meanwhile, the governing body of the Lahore Press Club on Saturday held its meeting with the chair of LPC President Arshad Ansari and expressed their serious concerns over the ban/suspension of Geo TV across the country.

In a statement issued here, the members of the governing body, while terming the ban on Geo as the economic murder of thousands of employees of the largest media house, said that such action against the Geo/Jang Group on any pretext would not be acceptable to the journalists’ community. “We will not let anyone ban/suspend any channel or media house of the country. If such actions were initiated against any group, the whole community would resist the move with full force,” they said.

The participants of the meeting asked the cable operators to restore Geo TV’s transmission throughout the country otherwise protest rallies would be taken out in all parts of the country.

Besides Arshad Ansari, LPC Secretary Shahbaz Mian, Afzal Talib, Farzana Ch, Asif Ch, Zahid Rafique Bhatti, Qamar Zaman Bhatti, Rizwan Khalid, Khwaja Naseer, Mehboob Ahmed, Imran Sheikh and Bilal Ghauri participated in the meeting.

Pope emeritus Benedict to join in double sainthood ceremony

 

AP A Feb 24, 2013 file picture shows Pope Benedict XVI giving his final Sunday blessing from his studio window in Vatican,

The Vatican says the retired pontiff, Pope emeritus Benedict XVI, will be among prelates helping Pope Francis to celebrate the sainthood ceremony Sunday for their late predecessors John Paul II and John XXIII.

Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi told reporters on Saturday that Pope emeritus Benedict will be in St. Peter’s Square for the canonization of John and John Paul. He said Pope emeritus Benedict and many cardinals will “co-celebrate” the Mass with Francis.

Pope emeritus Benedict resigned from the papacy a year ago, and since has largely dedicated himself to prayer in a monastery on the Vatican grounds. Sunday’s appearance will be his most high-profile one since he retired.

Pope emeritus Benedict presided over John Paul II’s funeral in the square in 2005, and was elected pontiff soon after.

Mullah Omar wants TTP to end infighting, join spring offensive

ISLAMABAD: The latest call by the ameer of the Afghan Taliban Mullah Mohammad Omar to the Pakistani Taliban to end their infighting in South Waziristan is actually aimed at securing their support against foreign troops in Afghanistan to launch the annual spring offensive with full force which is about to begin with the end of the winter season.

As bloody clashes intensify between two major factions of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan led by Khalid Mehsud alias Said Khan Sajna and Sheharyar Mehsud alias Shahbaz to capture the command of the Taliban in South Waziristan, Mullah Omar has appealed to the militants in a pamphlet [written in Pashto and distributed in the Miramshah area of North Waziristan on April 14] to work out their differences and end their internal strife.

It is for the first time that such a pamphlet has been distributed in Pakistan on behalf of Mullah Omar who is the supreme leader of both the Afghan and the Pakistani Taliban.

The pamphlet states that all the Muslims and particularly the Mujahideen are informed about the serious differences and clashes between two Mehsud Mujahideen groups. Mentioning verses from the Holy Quran, Mullah Omar has been quoted in the pamphlet as asking the people to recite it 100 times a day so that the hostilities between the warring militant groups of Mehsud tribe could come to an end.

According to well-informed diplomatic circles in Islamabad, the ameer of the Afghan Taliban’s call to the Pakistani Taliban for a truce between the two key warring factions has confirmed earlier reports that Mullah Omar had used his influence to persuade the TTP ameer Mullah Fazlullah for initiating peace talks with the Pakistan government primarily to prevent a Pakistani military action in Waziristan before the withdrawal of the US-led Allied Forces from

Afghanistan. The ameer of the Afghan Taliban was of the view that instead of wasting their energies in battling with Pakistan Army, the Taliban on both sides of the Pak-Afghan border should prepare themselves for a decisive battle in Afghanistan after the American withdrawal for the revival of the Taliban Emirates of Afghanistan.

Mullah Omar had been influencing the Pakistani Taliban in the past as well by using his influence with TTP leadership to help broker numerous peace deals with the Taliban in the tribal belt. The authority of Mullah Omar, who has been in hiding ever since the fall of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in 2001, extends beyond the Pak-Afghan border as the Pakistani Taliban also recognize him as their supreme leader, being their Ameerul Momineen, just like the Afghan Taliban. Therefore, Mullah Omar’s anguish over TTP’s infighting is but natural which has forced him to ask the Pakistani Taliban to end their infighting in South Waziristan. The TTP leadership also realises the fact that the current infighting was weakening their position with every passing day at a time when they are holding talks with the Pakistan government being the representative of the Pakistani Taliban.

Diplomatic circles in Islamabad believe that the TTP’s ongoing talks with the PML-N government were a tactical ploy to ensure a short-term truce which would be used to whole-heartedly support the Afghan Taliban in their upcoming spring offensive against the US-led allied forces stationed in Afghanistan. A spring offensive is launched every year by the Afghan Taliban after the winter season is over. In fact, due to harsh weather conditions, the Taliban slowdown their military activities and resume it as the spring approaches and the weather conditions improve. As yet another spring approaches, another offensive is being planned. But the Afghan Taliban believe that unlike in the previous spring offensives since they were booted out of power from Afghanistan, they are better placed than before, especially when the US-led coalition forces are scheduled to withdraw from Afghanistan by 2014.

The Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan, led by Mullah Omar, are still a strong force and are openly mocking the Nato and Isaf troops by saying that they are fleeing their country in disgrace and humiliation. To recall, the TTP had struck a clandestine peace deal with the Pakistani establishment in January 2013, before the start of the spring offensive that year, as per which the Taliban had agreed that they won’t attack the Pakistani security forces in the Fata. The deal was motivated by Mullah Omar who wanted to unite all the Taliban groups in Waziristan on a single platform to reorient the direction of their battle away from Pakistan and towards the allied forces in Afghanistan.

Subsequently, the Shura-e-Muraqaba, an anti-US war body consisting of five key al-Qaeda-linked Afghan Taliban groups, was launched. The five members of the Shura included the Afghan Taliban led by Mullah Mohammad Omar, the Haqqani Militant Network led by Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Tehrik-e-Taliban led by Hakimullah Mehsud and two more groups of militants led by the South Waziristan-based Maulvi Nazir and the North Waziristan-based Hafiz Gul Bahadar. The TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan had made public the formation of the Shura through a press release, saying all the militant groups have reposed their confidence in Mullah Omar’s leadership and accepted him as the consensus leader of Afghanistan. He had added that the unity among the militants came after a call by Mullah Omar, telling the Pakistani Taliban to stop fighting at home to join the battle to liberate Afghanistan.

Ehsanullah had said the TTP would send its fighters to Afghanistan after March for waging jehad against the US-led “infidel” forces.

“Convey my message to the Pakistani Taliban that you have forgotten the real purpose, which is to fight the US-led invading forces in Afghanistan and liberate it from their occupation. Forget all your differences and give us fighters to boost the battle against America in Afghanistan”, a reported statement by Mullah Omar had cautioned the TTP leadership at that time.

However, what remained hidden was finally made public by Commander Sirajuddin Haqqani, the chief operational commander of the Haqqani network who conceded the existence of a peace deal with the Pakistani security establishment as per which the Pakistan Taliban, Afghan Taliban, Haqqani network and Maulvi Nazir and Hafiz Gul Bahadur groups won’t attack the Pakistani troops and instead they would focus their attention on the Allied Forces. The revelation came in a statement by Sirajuddin Haqqani, directing the Pakistani Taliban to stop attacking the Pakistani security forces in accordance with a peace deal, thus giving credence to media reports that the militants and the military have struck a clandestine ceasefire. Sirajuddin had issued these directives as the ameer of the Shura-e-Muraqaba.

Shortly afterwards, the spring offensive was launched with multiple attacks targeting Western embassies, the Nato force’s headquarters as well as the parliament building in Kabul. As the spring of 2014 has almost approached, the TTP is already busy holding talks with the Pakistan government amid reports that the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan have secretly agreed to focus on carrying out operations in Afghanistan, with Pakistani militants announcing a ceasefire with their government in order to preserve militant bases used to stage cross-border attacks. An Afghan military commander Major General Sharif Yaftali has already blamed Pakistan on April 12 for exporting terrorism to Afghanistan.

The current level of relationship between the Pakistani Taliban and the Afghan Taliban was well-described by TTP spokesman Shahidullah Shahid on October 6, 2013 in these words: “The Afghan Taliban not only financially support the Pakistani Taliban in their war with Islamabad but they also provide them sanctuary in Afghanistan. The Afghan Taliban are our jehadi brothers. In the beginning, we were helping them. But now they are strong enough to support us financially”, said Shahidullah Shahid while conceding that Mullah Fazlullah is being given shelter in Kunar province by the Afghan Taliban.

Woolly creatures join tourists in Louvre Museum

PARIS: It's not every day that you can stand in line at the Louvre Museum next to a flock of live sheep.

But that's what happened to tourists Friday caught up in a protest by small farmers beneath the glass pyramid of the Paris museum.

Louvre officials said there were no arrests or damage in the protest, and it didn't disrupt operations at one of the world's most-visited tourist sites

The few dozen protesters, from the Peasants' Confederation, are angry at proposed subsidy cuts that they say unfairly punish small farms and favor big agribusiness. The cuts are part of a broader reform of European Union agricultural policy.

Dairy farmer Laurent Pinatel argued that small farms deserve support because they are important to France's economy, identity and culinary reputation.

 

MQM gets offer to join Sindh government

 

KARACHI: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) confirmed on Wednesday that the party had received an offer to join the Sindh government, but said that it was holding deliberations within party ranks following the talks held in Karachi between former interior minister Rehman Malik, the Sindh governor and the chief minister.
This was disclosed to The News by MQM leader and member Coordination Committee Waseem Akhtar just after Rehman Malik held a meeting with Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan at the Governor House and later called on Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah.

Waseem said that the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has offered the MQM to join the government, adding that the MQM has not demanded any portfolios as being reported in a section of the press.

He said that it was the second meeting in Karachi between Qaim Ali Shah, Rehman Malik and Dr Ishratul Ebad but added that the MQM Coordination Committee would take a final decision on whether to join the government or not.

Waseem was again asked to when the MQM would be joining the government, to which he said, “No decision has been taken as yet…Discussions are under way in this regard”.He mentioned that Governor Ebad had earlier met former president Asif Ali Zardari in Dubai to sort out various issues.

Waseem said that departments and ministries did not matter for the MQM.It may be noted here that Sindh Minister for Information Sharjeel Inam Memon had told a press conference at the Sindh Assembly that he would neither confirm nor contradict reports about the MQM joining the government.

He had further said that ministries or departments did not matter for the ruling party as the same could be changed at any time.However, Speaker Sindh Assembly had told The News that important departments could not be given to Muttahida.

It may be noted here that the MQM normally takes time to join the government as they say that they have had bitter experiences in the past and that they are accountable to their people and voters.Rehman Malik has been playing a vital role to bridge the gap between the PPP and the MQM.

Earlier, the ruling PPP and the opposition MQM remained engaged in negotiations to evolve a power-sharing formula and both sides were hopeful that the issues would be resolved amicably.

Sources said that both sides were busy settling the remaining issues and clearing the way for the MQM to join the Sindh government. However, independent sources claimed that the ruling party was trying to convince the MQM not to insist on the local government and excise portfolios, as the PPP had been holding both portfolios in the previous tenure and there were reservations in the party ranks on this demand.

The MQM spokesperson rejected the impression that the process of talks was affected due to the statements of some PPP leaders against the MQM and pointed out that the dialogue was still in process as per the advice of the top leadership of both parties. He pointed out that the party leaders were bound to follow the instructions of the party chief and avoid talking to the media as the high command of both parties agreed that no party leader would speak against each other in the media.

PPP leader Syed Khurshid Shah had recently raised objections against MQM chief Altaf Hussain for his statement regarding the role of the army, while Speaker Sindh Assembly Agha Siraj Durrani also criticised the MQM’s demand for the local government and excise portfolios.

However, the MQM spokesman said that the party leaders would not speak in the media against any PPP leader and hoped that the PPP would also follow the instruction of their party high command in this regard.

The Governor’s House issued a statement that during their meeting, Dr Ishrat-ul-Ebad, Qaim Ali Shah and Rehman Malik agreed that both the PPP and the MQM believed in political harmony and reconciliation. They also said the leaderships of the two parties were engaged in talks to become coalition partners.

Ali Fazal to fly to Abu Dhabi to join ‘Fast & Furious 7′ gang

'Fast & Furious 7' was postponed after Paul Walker's death in a car crash in Washington.

The sudden demise of Paul Walker had put a question mark on the future of Fast & Furious 7. However the makers have decided to commence the shooting of the film, which had been postponed after Paul Walker’s death in a car crash in Washington, in Abu Dhabi.
Bollywood actor Ali Fazal, who is all set to be part of the thrilling saga says happily, “Yes, I will be joining the Fast & Furious gang soon. We have to finish the filming.”
Though the dates have not been sent to Ali Fazal, he has been told to keep himself ready to leave for Abu Dhabi at the end of this month. The shooting of ‘Fast & Furious 7′ resumes in the first week of April.
Ali Fazal also plays the romantic lead opposite Vidya Balan in ‘Bobby Jasoos’. Since he would be required in Mumbai for promoting the film which is expected to release around June (date not yet firmed in) he is hoping that the shooting schedules of ‘Fast & Furious 7′ don’t clash with his promotion of ‘Bobby Jasoos’.

Aamir will never join politics

Set to launch the second season of his TV show "Satyamev Jayate", leading Bollywood actor Aamir Khan Friday said he is not interested in joining politics, and does not consider himself a social activist either.

"I don't belong to the field of politics, won't be able to do well in politics. Why does one enter politics, to contribute to the society... I can contribute to the society from where I am. This is why I would not join politics," said Aamir while interacting with women journalists at Indian Women's Press Corps (IWPC).

The actor, whose "Satyamev Jayate" has raised several social issues, also said he did not consider himself a social activist.

"I don't see myself as a social activist. An activist is one who takes up a cause close to his heart and lives with that. I an an entertainer and a creative person..." he said.

He said as an entertainer, his responsibility includes bringing grace to society and building a moral fabric.

Asked if he supports any political party, the actor said: "I don't see any such party which I feel would change a lot of things if it comes to a majority."

He however said that he liked the idea of "swaraj" given by Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party.



"I agree with their concept of 'swaraj'. This is the only party which says they people would be a part of deciding how they rule... but the reason I don't support any party is that even AAP has to be tested. I am not in a rush to support any party. Don't want to have a knee jerk reaction," said Aamir who had supported the Anna Hazare movement.

"And elections should be free and fair, who am I to influence the people," he added.

On a question on the violence against north Indians by Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, Aamir said he was against any violence or forceful shutdowns.

"Any political party which uses power and muscle in the country is wrong. Earlier during the struggle for independence, Gandhiji would say people to boycott something and they would do it voluntarily," he said, questioning use of force to stop people from leaving their houses.

"They burn buses, use violence. It just indicates hooliganism. You are just a goon. It's not got any ground support," he said.