Fauzia Wahab resigns from party office

AJJ News
Sectary information Pakistan Peoples party (PPP) Fauzia Wahab has resigned from her party office on Saturday.
Talking to media here Wahab said that the statement regarding Raymond Davis was personal her view adding that she had a proud for being a part of PPP.
She said that she would continue to work as a worker for party.

Egypt ruling party leaders resign, protesters unmoved

Daily Times
* Mubarak’s son Gamal resigns, Hossam Badrawi named new secretary general * Muslim Brotherhood says no Islamic revolution in Egypt * Saboteurs attack gas pipeline to Jordan 

CAIRO: The leadership of Egypt’s ruling party quit on Saturday, but the protesters who have rocked the political establishment dismissed the move as a ruse that would not deter them from their goal of toppling the president.

Reports by Al Arabiya saying President Hosni Mubarak had resigned as head of the party were later withdrawn by the Dubai-based television news channel.

State television said only the leadership of the party, including Mubarak’s son Gamal, had resigned and named the new secretary general as Hossam Badrawi, seen as more liberal. But the protesters were not impressed by the latest gesture. “These are not gains for the protesters, this is a trick by the regime. This is not fulfilling our demands. These are red herrings,” said Bilal Fathi, 22.

Earlier, Mubarak met some of the new ministers, the state news agency said, in a clear rebuff to the hundreds of thousands of anti-government protesters.

Meanwhile, Egypt’s influential Muslim Brotherhood is keeping a low profile in the current unrest because it does not want the revolt to be seen as an Islamic revolution, one of its leaders said.

“It is an uprising of the Egyptian people,” spokesman Rashad al-Bayoumi told the German weekly Der Spiegel, while accusing Mubarak’s government of distorting the image of the movement.

“The West won’t listen to us, but we’re not devils. We want peace not violence,” he said. Separately, unknown saboteurs attacked an Egyptian pipeline supplying gas to Jordan, forcing authorities to switch off gas supply from a twin pipeline to Israel, an official told AFP.

The attackers used explosives against the pipeline in the town of Lihfen in northern Sinai, near the Gaza Strip, the official said. It was initially thought the pipeline to Israel was attacked.

Rana Bakhtiar resigns over dismissal from Davis case

LAHORE: Deputy Prosecutor General (DPG) Rana Bakhtiar has tendered his resignation from his post after been dismissed from the Raymond Davis case.

According to the sources, Additional Prosecutor General Abdul Samad has been appointed as official counsel in Raymond Davis case.

It is pertinent to mention here that Rana Bakhtiar was dismissed over his statement given to Geo News that Raymond Davis does not have diplomatic immunity.

Bakhtiar said that he gave the above statement in accordance with the law and record, adding that he tendered his resignation over his dismissal from the Raymond Davis case.

"I am also handing over my official car and gunmen," he added.

Rana Bakhtiar was also investigating the murder case of Justice Javed Iqbal’s parents.

PPP MNA Nabeel Gabol resigns as State Minister

GEO
KARACHI: State Minister for Ports and Shipping Nabeel Gabol has tendered resignation from his office, Geo News reported Wednesday.

Nabeel has been reported to have declined to be at variance with his party and the government.

He told Geo News that being a state minister he enjoyed very limited authority and that the problems of his ministry were not being resolved, sources said.

Nabil Gabol also said in the capacity of state minister for Ports and Shipping he had been unable to address the issues of the people of Lyari.

Prime Minister Gilani should resign, says Fazl

JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman.

Dawn

ISLAMABAD: Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-F (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Tuesday demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, compounding pressure on a coalition government shedding support.

Fazlur Rehman made the call just hours after the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), the main coalition partner of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), announced that it was quitting the federal cabinet, although would not join the opposition.

“The prime minister should resign and the PPP should appoint a new one,” Fazlur Rehman told reporters.

His own Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-F party walked out on December 14 after Gilani sacked one of its three cabinet ministers over a war of words with religious affairs minister Hamid Saeed Kazmi, a PPP member, who was also fired.

Their spat related to a corruption scandal reportedly implicating Kazmi’s ministry in booking accommodation for tens of thousands of Pakistani pilgrims.

“He (Gilani) has sabotaged the process of reconciliation among coalition partners and his actions have caused political instability in the country,” said Rehman.

“The government is under pressure and the president will have to take this step.”

The departure of JUI-F reduced the PPP’s coalition to 185 seats in the 342-member national assembly.

The MQM says it is withdrawing its two cabinet ministers over differences with the PPP, but has yet to join the opposition. The loss of its 25 lawmakers would leave the coalition in a parliamentary minority and could bring down the government.

Another setback for Pak govt as MQM parts ways

Hindustan Times


The ruling coalition in Pakistan led by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has suffered a major setback as another of its key ally, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), decided to part ways with the government. "The reservations of the party have not been addressed and we are forced to make a decision to go our own way," MQM legislator Haider Abbas Rizvi told Samaa TV.

The MQM's decision comes just a week after Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), withdrew from the government after Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani sacked Jamiat's Azam Swati, who was minister for science and technology, from his cabinet.

MQM lawmaker Haider Abbas Rizvi told Samaa TV that in the first phase, two federal ministers Farooq Sattar and Babar Khan Ghori, will offer their resignations to the prime minister.

The MQM last week set a 10-day deadline for the government to  clarify a statement of Sindh Home Minister Zulfiqar Mirza, who had accused MQM of extortion and target-killing in Karachi.

An MQM delegation called on President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani and both assured it of a favourable response. But the party decided to go ahead with the resignations at the end of the deadline when nothing concrete emerged.

"We are not going to apply for opposition benches as yet and will wait and see before making the next move," said MQM leader Wasay Jaleel.

"If things don't improve, we may decide to leave the coalition altogether in the centre and the Sindh province," he said.

JUI-F chief Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman on December 21 submitted resignations of four other ministers of his party and withdrew support to the government.

Federal minister and PPP leader Khurshid Shah said the government wants to take all allies along and the ruling party would assess the situation before giving a formal reaction.

Meanwhile, Zardari is believed to have asked Interior Minister Rehman Malik to play an interlocutor and the president is expected to reach Karachi shortly and establish contact with the MQM, reports said.

The divided mandate in the national assembly had forced the PPP to form a coalition government with the MQM (25), the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (6) and the Awami National Party (13). Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz Sharif) has 90 members, and Pakistan Muslim League (Qaid) has 51.

The exit of the two partners may affect the PPP's number game and it will be difficult for Gilani to take a vote of confidence in parliament.

"The allies have kept a window open for return if the government mends its ways. However, the gulf between the ruling party and its allies is likely to widen in the coming days because the government has not shown any signs of retreating from its hostile stand," political analyst Irfan Siddiqui told Geo TV.

Now, all eyes are on former premier Nawaz Sharif, chief of opposition PML-N, who holds the numerical strength to derail the government if he joins hands with another powerful group. However, he is playing a waiting game and has said that he "will not be part of any undemocratic move".

JUI-F's Senate chief whip resigns

Tribune


Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazlur Rehman (JUI-F) resigned from the post of the Chief Whip of the government in the Senate on Friday.
Haideri had been serving in this position from the last two years. However, after the JUI-F decided to break away from the government in the centre, there was pressure on him to resign from his post.
The senator is the third lawmaker of the JUI-F to resign from his position. Earlier, in protest of the sacking of Minister of Science and Technology Azam Khan Swati, the JUI-F had submitted the resignations of two cabinet members to the prime minister including Housing Minister Rehmatullah Kakar and Tourism Minister Maulana Attaur Rehman.
The JUI-F has rejected several reconciliation attempts by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). However the party has decided to not leave the provincial governments in Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan.
Nawaz believes in policy of reconciliation
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Chief Mian Nawaz Sharif on Friday telephoned Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani to assure him that his party will not become part of any plan to destabilise the government.
Sources informed that the PML-N chief said that his party believes in a policy of reconciliation, after which the prime minister thanked Sharif for his cooperation with the government.
Sharif also called Chief Minister Balochistan Nawab Aslam Raisani to discuss political situation in the back drop of his meetings with Maulana Fazalur Rehman.