So, can someone tell if BB is corrupt or not? If not, why was Mushrraf’s NAB chasing her in courts all over Europe spending millions of tax payers dollars?
http://thenews.jang.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=10436
Govt decides to withdraw cases against Benazir
Ruling PML conveys concerns to Presidency
By Asim Yasin
ISLAMABAD: The federal ministers belonging to the ruling PML and its allied parties have endorsed the government’s decision to announce the withdrawal of cases against Benazir Bhutto.
They also backed the government announcement of political indemnity for politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen in a bid to create a broad-based national reconciliation before the presidential election.
The endorsement was done during an informal meeting of the Cabinet, which was chaired by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz here on Tuesday at the PM House. PML President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Speaker National Assembly Chaudhry Amir Hussain also attended the meeting.
According to sources, the government was giving final touches to the draft of the ordinance that would be called “Broad-based National Reconciliation” and the main beneficiary of this ordinance would be Benazir Bhutto and those whose cases were not yet decided during the last ten years and who were not convicted from any court of law.
Sources said the draft for the ordinance would be presented before the Cabinet that is expected to meet today (Wednesday) and would be presented in the coming session of the National Assembly that is likely to start from Thursday.
However, the sources said the other two demands of the PPP ie the removal of the Article 58(2)b from the Constitution and lifting the bar on third-time premiership, were not included in the draft of the ordinance as it was decided that this matter should be left to the next Parliament.
The Broad-based National Reconciliation is one of the three-point agenda that was announced by the government for the presidential campaign as the other two points included formation of national consensus and good governance.
The sources said that there was a stiff resistance from the top leadership of the ruling party for announcing the political indemnity, and they have communicated their apprehension to the Presidency.
Meanwhile, addressing a meeting, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said the PML and coalition partners are fully supporting President General Pervez Musharraf’s re-election as consistency and continuity of leadership and policies was essential for peace and prosperity in Pakistan.
The meeting discussed overall political situation in the country and the presidential election, and expressed satisfaction at the fact that the ruling coalition has a strong support in the national and provincial assemblies as well as in the Senate for the upcoming presidential election.
Ch Shujaat told the premier that the PML is well geared for elections and will bring forward strongest candidates in every constituency in all the four provinces. The participants appreciated the three-year performance report of the government, which has been released recently. They congratulated the prime minister and said that this proves that record development has taken place during the tenure of present government in all parts of the country.
The meeting regretted the resignations submitted by the opposition parties and said that this is injustice to the voters who elected these members. Other members of the delegation included the Speaker National Assembly, Senior Minister for Defence Rao Sikandar Iqbal, Minister for Communication Muhammad Shamim Siddiqui, Minister for Education Lt-Gen (retd) Javed Ashraf Qazi, Minister for Foreign Affairs Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri, Minister for Health Muhammad Nasir Khan, Minister for Environment Faisal Saleh Hayat, Minister for Interior Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao, Minister for Inter-provincial Coordination Saleem Saifullah Khan, Minister for Information & Broadcasting Muhammad Ali Durrani, Minister for IT and Telecom Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari, Minister for Labour and Manpower Ghulam Sarwar Khan, Minister for Population Ch Shahbaz Hussain, Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmad, Minister for Narcotics Control Ghous Bux Khan Mahar, Minister for Local Government Justice (retd) Abdul Razzaq Thaheem, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr Sher Afghan Khan, Minister for Privatisation Muhammad Wasi Zafar, Minister of State for Petroleum Naseer Khan Mengal and Chief Whip Sardar Nasrullah Khan Dareshak.
Meanwhile, Muhammad Ali Durrani on Tuesday hinted that the government was planning to promulgate the National Reconciliation Ordinance within next 48 hours so that all the political parties should play a positive role by evolving national reconciliation over all issues.
“The broad-based national reconciliation is ‘the need of the hour’ and any development in this regard would be made public,” he said while talking to newspersons here Tuesday when was quizzed over the reports about the promulgation of the ordinance.
Asked if the proposed ordinance was a Benazir Bhutto-specific initiative, he said the government would take the masses into confidence if any development in this regard was made. “The basic thinking behind the reconciliation efforts is to bring all the parties on board so that they could participate in the next election with confidence,” the minister added.
