Govt not planning any curbs on media: Kaira

ISLAMABAD: Federal Information and Broadcasting Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said on Monday that the government is not planning to introduce any new restrictions on the media. Responding to a question at a press conference, Kaira said that a draft bill currently under discussion in the National Assembly’s standing committee was meant to do away with the amendments introduced by former president Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf. He said some of the Musharraf-era amendments had already been removed by the parliament, while the rest would be ratified through the proposed bill. staff report

Musharraf in Dubai to meet 'old friends' to garner support for political ambition

Lahore, July 5 (ANI): Former Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf has flown to Dubai from London to hold talks with his 'old political friends' viewing a possibility of mid-term polls in Pakistan.

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According to insiders, eager to try his luck in the country's politics, Musharraf has invited several 'friendly' leaders in the PML-Q to Dubai to discuss the future course of action amidst speculation of a snap poll in the country.


Leaders like Hamid Nasir Chattha, Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri, Ghulam Sarwar Khan, Lala Nisar Muhammad Khan and several others have been invited to Dubai for the meeting.

A leader, who is likely to meet Musharraf, while requesting anonymity said that it would be an advisory meeting with 'old friends.'

"We have told Musharraf in the 'April Meeting' in Abu Dhabi that we have our own political priorities back home and we would not join your party," he added.

Sources said that the Musharraf camp is also trying to contact PML-Q chief and former Prime Minister Chaudhury Shujaat Hussain.

However, Musharraf's political schemes could receive a set back from Hussain, as the later has clarified on several occasions that he has no interest in the former general's political adventures.

Sources said that after the meeting, Musharraf would go back to London, where he is currently living on an unannounced exile, and formally announce the launching of his party, All Pakistan Muslim League (APML).

He is also expected to announce a date for his return to Pakistan, The Nation reports. (ANI)

Pak trashes Musharraf's Kashmir plan

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan government has trashed former President Pervez Musharraf's four-point formula to resolve the Kashmir issue, saying it was "his thinking" which did not have the endorsement of Parliament or cabinet and suggested a fresh approach to address the vexed problem.

Foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who will be meeting external affairs minister S M Krishna here on July 15, said the two countries should build on progress made in any area and look at ways to make progress where it has not been done.

"Any issue, whether it is Kashmir, Siachen, Sir Creek, water, any issue where progress can be made, should be made. Where it hasn't been made, we should look at ways and means how to make progress.
Where progress has been made, let us build on it further," Qureshi said in a wide-ranging interaction.

Asked whether his government endorses the four-point formula floated by Musharraf in December 2006 to resolve the Kashmir issue, he said, "The four-point formula that General Musharraf made then was his thinking. It was being done through quiet back-channel diplomacy."

"We are a democracy, Parliament has to own them, Parliament has to endorse them, Cabinet has to discuss them," the foreign minister said, adding that these proposals were "neither discussed by cabinet, nor endorsed by Parliament. So, as democrats, there are certain Parliamentary procedures that we have to fulfill."