Pakistani police mounted tight security around the parliament yesterday ahead of President General Pervez Musharraf's first address to a joint sitting of the national assembly and senate since his 1999 coup.
Armed police posted on all roads leading to the parliament frisked people and searched vehicles in what officials described was a precaution in view of recent acts of terrorism including two failed attempts on Musharraf's life.
The opposition Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) said it would protest during the special session against the unelected president, who sought to legitimize his rule through a New Year's Day parliamentary confidence vote which he won.
Musharraf, who held legislative elections in October 2002, has summoned both houses of parliament to convene at 11:00am. He has so far avoided addressing the parliament which was inaugurated in November 2002.
It was disrupted for most of the past year by rowdy opposition protests against Musharraf and his sweeping powers.
But he is facing the new year in a strengthened position thanks to a deal with Islamist opposition parties whereby his unelected presidency was validated by a confidence vote on Jan. 1.
The deal also ratified his power to dissolve parliament, and came in return for his pledge to quit his post as army chief by the end of this year.
The deal ended a year-long battle between opposition and ruling pro-Musharraf MPs which had paralyzed the parliament.
Information Minister Sheikh Rashid said the opposition was expected to make some noise during the proceedings, which he termed "light music."
"We hope decent parliamentary traditions will be established in the session during the president's address," Rashid said. "However the opposition may resort to some protest but it will be merely a sort of light music."
The parliamentary groups of ARD, which is made up of Pakistan Peoples Party and Pakistan Muslim League-N of exiled former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif respectively, had a meeting just before the session to finalize their strategy for in-house protest.
The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid and its allies also discussed their response while the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) Islamists coalition met separately.
MMA leader Liaqat Baluch said his party members would sit on the opposition benches but did not say wether they would join the planned ARD protest.
He however said the alliance was opposed to Musharraf's policy on Afghanistan and what he called the unfolding "U-turn" on the dispute over Kashmir with India.
Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee met on the sidelines of a regional summit in Islamabad earlier this month and decided to restart stalled talks on all disputes including Kashmir.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was