High Court issues notice to Asif Zardari in dual office case

LHC issues notice to Asif Zardari in dual office case

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday issued a notice to President Asif Ali Zardari during the hearing in the dual office case.

The legal challenge to Zardari over his two posts does not pose an immediate threat to the president but it is a reminder of the legal difficulties he faces, legal analysts said.

The Pakistan Lawyers Forum (PLF) filed a petition, or a challenge, questioning the right of the president to hold the two offices and in response, the High Court in the city of Lahore ordered Zardari’s principal secretary to explain.

“Since the president could not appear because of security reasons, the court asked his principal secretary to appear in court on May 25,” PLF president A.K. Dogar told reporters outside the court.

There is no constitutional bar on the president holding office in a political party but Dogar said the Supreme Court had in the past barred a president from holding a party post.

“Our Supreme Court judges decided in 1993 that the president should be non-partisan. He should not involve himself in political battles. He should shun politics but here he is a party head, which is illegal,” he said.

Hearing in the dual office case was then adjourned till May 27.

Monday, 17 May, 2010

Courtesy: daily dawn

Source: http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/04-lhc-zardari-notice-qs-09

President Zardari issues pardon in Malik’s Sentence

Zardari issues pardon in Malik’s corruption conviction

– daily dawn

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari has given a presidential pardon to Interior Minister Rehman Malik after the latter was convicted by the Lahore High Court in two NAB corruption reference cases.

Rehman Malik, Interior Minister of Pakistan Might Be Arrested Soon

Malik plea against sentences dismissed

LAHORE: Lahore High Court (LHC) dismissed the appeals filed by Federal Interior Minister Rehman A Malik against the punishments announced by accountability courts, Geo News reported Monday.

It should be mentioned that Accountability courts declared three-year sentences for not appearing in two different cases. At the outset of the case, the court suspended his sentences on his plea and granted him bail.

The legal experts said the sentences meted out to Malik stood as restored technically after his appeals for the repeal of the sentences were discharged by the court and he might be arrested.

Courtesy: http://www.geo.tv/5-17-2010/65062.htm

Thailand: Tyrants cling to power over the dead bodies of the people

By Giles Ji Ungpakorn

Update, 03.25 hrs Sunday, May 16, 2010, Bangkok time — Earlier on Saturday, unconfirmed reports indicated that Abhisit Vejjajiva’s soldiers had shot dead at least 50 people. Later, 22 named deaths were confirmed by the Erawan emergency centre, and 172 injured (including one Canadian, one Polish, one Burmese, one Liberian). But an official from the centre says that the real death toll is higher but cannot be reported at the moment.