DINA for the issue of November 20, 2012

	Tuesday 20th November 2012 | Muharram 5, 1434
The DAWN Internet News Alert (DINA) is a free daily news service from Pakistan’s largest English language newspaper, the Daily DAWN.
Nawaz hints at seat adjustment with PML factions, JI By Amjad Mahmood LAHORE, Nov 19: PML-N president Nawaz Sharif said on Monday his party might take along the Functional and Likeminded factions of the Muslim League and Jamaat-i-Islami in the coming elections...	For suggestions and comments: Email: webmaster@dawn.com Website: http://dawn.com Fax: +92(21) 35693995 Karachi Stocks Up 68.49 Points: KARACHI, Nov 19: At the close of trading, the KSE-100 index was at 16266.23, up 68.49 points. Forex Update : KARACHI, Nov 19: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at 96.7 to the US Dollar in the open market.
Zardari urges end to reliance on army By Zulfiqar Ali PESHAWAR, Nov 19: President Asif Ali Zardari urged the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to stop relying on the armed forces in their efforts to improve security situation in the province, and instead motivate police and other agencies for the purpose. Addressing a special session of the provincial assembly, he said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had a rich culture, great traditions and huge deposits of natural resources, including oil and gas. The only thing it lost was law and order, he added...
NA validates Gilani’s post-conviction actions By Raja Asghar ISLAMABAD, Nov 19: In nursing the wounds of a battle lost, the National Assembly on Monday overcame objections from the main opposition party to pass a government bill validating all official actions of former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani taken over a period of 55 days after the Supreme Court convicted him in April for contempt of court. The Validation Bill, 2012 now needs approval by the Senate to become law to replace a June 24 presidential ordinance that gave only a temporary validation and legal protection to actions taken by Mr Gilani as prime minister from the day of his conviction by a Supreme Court bench for contempt of court on April 26 to his removal from office by another bench on June 19...
Bill ready to lift dual nationality bar on legislators By Amir Wasim ISLAMABAD, Nov 19: The government is all set to push through the Senate on Tuesday a controversial constitution amendment bill that allows dual nationality holders to become members of parliament despite facing opposition even from one of its coalition partners. The bill, which is on the agenda for Tuesday’s session, if passed, will not only allow dual nationals to contest the general election but also nullify the recent orders of the Supreme Court disqualifying at least 12 legislators for holding dual nationality because it will have a retrospective effect from Nov 1, 2007...
A fragile stability along the Khyber Pass By Cyril Almeida & Hasan Khan TORKHAM: An unwitting comment by Marc Grossman last month may have triggered heated debate in Kabul and Islamabad over the Durand Line, but for the thousands who throng across the border on foot every day, the boundary line between Khyber Agency and Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, is irrelevant. Few, if any, of the locals have paperwork; many have businesses and families on both sides of the border; and several hundred schoolchildren come across every morning from the Afghan side to attend schools in Landi Kotal, the local tehsil...
Senate calls for Karachi’s deweaponisation By Our Staff Reporter ISLAMABAD, Nov 19: The Senate adopted on Monday an ANP-backed resolution recommending to the government to take “effective steps” to ‘deweaponise’ Karachi. The MQM vociferously opposed the resolution and its legislators wanted an amendment saying that the entire country should be cleared of weapons. Otherwise, they said, the move would yield no results and Karachi would continue to bleed...
Operation being planned to crush MQM: Altaf By Our Staff Reporter KARACHI, Nov 19: Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain alleged on Monday that certain state authorities were planning to launch another operation against his party in order to crush it. In a statement issued from London, he said the MQM was being made a scapegoat, but the elements conspiring against the party should know that it was not confined only to Karachi...
Crisis brewing over judges’ confirmation By Our Staff Reporter ISLAMABAD, Nov 19: A constitutional crisis that may further deepen the polarisation between the executive and the judiciary is brewing over non-confirmation by the government of a set of Islamabad High Court judges, as recommended by the Judicial Commission (JC) on judges’ appointment. Two developments marked the beginning of the current week. First, issuance of letters by the JC to Secretary to President Asif Zardari, Malik Asif Hayat, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister Ayub Qazi and Senate Secretary Iftikharullah Babar, who is also Secretary of the Parliamentary Committee (PC) on judges’ appointment, according to a source privy to the development. The matters are time-specific and when not pursued, the JC is left with no option but to push for these...
Khar refuses to disclose Afghan reconciliation strategy By Iftikhar A. Khan ISLAMABAD, Nov 19: Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar declined on Monday to disclose various aspects of Pakistan’s Afghan reconciliation strategy, including the recent release of around a dozen Taliban leaders and a plan to free Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar — co-founder of the Taliban movement in Afghanistan. “The reconciliation effort in Afghanistan has suffered from talking too much and doing nothing in the past,” she said, adding that Pakistan would do the opposite this time...
Qazi escapes suicide attack in Mohmand By Fauzee Khan Mohmand GHALANAI, Nov 19: Jamaat-i-Islami’s former chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed escaped unhurt after a suicide attack by a woman near his motorcade in Mohmand tribal region on Monday. Three people suffered minor injuries. The JI termed the incident handiwork of CIA’s agents allegedly active in the area. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa JI chief Prof Muhammad Ibrahim said in a statement that his party would continue its efforts to end what he called US meddling in Pakistan’s affairs...
SC ignores new CNG prices formula By Nasir Iqbal ISLAMABAD, Nov 19: CNG consumers will continue to buy gas for their vehicles at the reduced price for another 17 days as the Supreme Court ignored on Monday a request to undo its Nov 1 price freeze. A three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed which had taken up a case about fixing CNG prices asked the stakeholders in the business to put their heads together and come up with an acceptable formula which should also take care of consumers’ interest...
Balochistan coalition to implement SC order By Saleem Shahid QUETTA, Nov 19: The parliamentary groups of the political parties in the Balochistan coalition government have resolved to ensure implementation of Supreme Court’s orders relating to the province. A meeting of the coalition partners held in Islamabad on Monday with Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani in the chair decided to form a committee to monitor the steps being taken to implement the SC orders. The chief minister will head the committee...
Police tear-gas doctors QUETTA, Nov 19: Police fired tear gas to disperse slogan-chanting doctors and arrested several when they tried to gather in front of the Governor’s House on Monday to hold a demonstration in protest against the government’s failure to recover a senior eye specialist kidnapped last month. Dr Saeed Khan, associated with the Layton Rahmatullah Benevolent Trust, was kidnapped from Sariab road...
Gaza attacks toll crosses 100 GAZA CITY, Nov 19: Israeli strikes killed 24 Palestinians on Monday, taking the Gaza death toll past 100 as UN chief Ban Ki-moon joined efforts to broker a truce to end the worst violence in four years. As the violence raged for a sixth day, an Israeli missile killed a senior Islamic Jihad militant in a Gaza City tower housing Palestinian and international media, the second time in as many days the building has been targeted...
To subscribe or unsubscribe to this mailing list, please fill the form located at: http://www.dawn.com/alerts
DAWN Media Group, Haroon House, Karachi 74200, Pakistan	Copyright © 2012 Pakistan Herald Publications (Pvt.) Ltd.