Pak opposition divided over boycotting election

ISLAMABAD, NOV 30 (Agencies):Pakistan's main opposition parties appeared completely divided on whether to participate in the January 8 general election or not, with the issue of reinstatement of judges sacked by President Pervez Musharraf turning out to be a major stumbling block.

Hours after Musharraf was sworn in as a civilian for second presidential term yesterday, an opposition alliance comprising former premier Nawaz Sharif's PML-N and the Jamaat-e-Islami said it would not participate in the polls unless the military ruler reinstated Supreme Court judges sacked under the emergency by December 15.

The All Parties Democratic Movement's call for a boycott was turned down by former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who said her Pakistan People's Party would participate in the election "under protest".

Bhutto also said she was not convinced a boycott would achieve anything.

Sharif and Bhutto also have not been able to reach common ground on the key issue of the deposed judges of the superior judiciary, including Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

Sharif has been insistent that the judges should be reinstated and allowed to decide Musharraf's candidature in the presidential poll.

Bhutto, however, has said her party wants an independent judiciary and individuals did not really matter to the Pakistani people, indicating that she will not press for the reinstatement of the judges.

Musharraf gets new jet ISLAMABAD, NOV 30 (Agencies): A new executive jet has been acquired for the exclusive use of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, who has embarked on a fresh five-year term as a civilian head of the country.

The 10-seat Learjet, which brings the number of aircraft in Pakistan's VVIP fleet to 14, is one of three planes whose procurement was approved by former Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.

"American pilots, who brought the jet here a few days ago, have started training their Pakistani counterparts," a source told the Dawn newspaper, adding the training would take two months.

Pakistan's aircraft fleet for VVIPs includes an Airbus-310, a G-IV, a Cessna Citation V, a Cessna Citation Excel, a Learjet 35, a Learjet 45 XR, a Raytheon Hawker 400, a Falcon 20, a Cessna Conquest II, three Bell 412 helicopters and an Mi-17 helicopter.

"Two other jets ordered may land here after the elections.

These jets are for the personal use of President and Prime Minister," the source said.

The source said the value of the new luxury jet was about 60 million dollars.

On March 15, Aziz had flown to Uzbekistan in the Airbus-310 that was gifted by Qatar in February.

Pakistan's Geo TV to resume telecast DUBAI, NOV 30 (Agencies): Pakistan's private Geo TV channel will resume operation from midnight tonight following an understanding reached with the authorities in the Emirate, which blocked its transmission reportedly under pressure from Islamabad.

Geo News will resume its transmission following fruitful talks between the channel officials and the management of the Dubai Media City, from where it was operating, the official Emirates news agency reported.

"We are glad to see GEO News channel back on air from the DMC which is committed to growing its partners' businesses, within the framework of full respect to UAE's domestic and foreign policies," Amina Al Rustamani, Executive Director of Media at Dubai Technology and Media Free Zone, said.

Earlier this month, DMC announced that ARY One World channel resumed its transmission from Dubai, based on mutual understanding between both parties.

Other eight channels of ARY Digital continued to be operational from DMC.

Geo and ARY channel were banned by the UAE as part of its policy of "neutrality and non-interference" in other countries' affairs, officials here had said.

Both channels were earlier banned in Pakistan for refusing to sign a media code introduced by President Pervez Musharraf after he declared emergency rule on November 3.

US welcomes Musharraf's decision to lift emergency WASHINGTON, NOV 30 (Agencies): The United States called President Pervez Musharraf's plan to lift emergency rule on December 16 a "positive and significant step" to steer Pakistan back towards democracy.

"It's a positive and significant step.

We look forward to the elections taking place in early January," the US State department Spokesman Sean McCormack said in his briefing.

He also said, this announcement, combined with the fact that President Musharraf has taken off his uniform and is now sworn in as civilian president of Pakistan, are all positive steps that will help get the country back on the path to democratic and constitutional rule.

"It is in the best interests of the Pakistani people and in the best interest of Pakistan and it's future," he added.

The senior administration official said "ultimately, it will be the Pakistani people who decide who to lead them, who elect members of parliament, and who will determine how Pakistan comes through this political transition." Asking Pakistani authorities to create a conducive environment to conduct elections, he said, it would be particularly important now, given where Pakistan has been over the past month, that Pakistani authorities ensure that those proper conditions are created.

"Forget about the views of the international community and what it thinks about these elections.

More importantly, those things are important for the Pakistani people so that they can have faith that those elections are free, fair and transparent," the spokesman said.

'Civilian' Musharraf sworn-in as Prez, says Emergency to be lifted on Dec.16 ISLAMABAD, NOV 29 (Agencies): Pervez Musharraf was today sworn in as a civilian President of Pakistan and quickly announced that the state of Emergency will be lifted and the Constitution restored on December 16 toning down his earlier defiance and yielding to mounting international pressure.

Musharraf took the oath for a second five-year-term-and the first sans uniform-describing it as a "milestone" in the transition to democracy and vowed that the January 8 National elections will go ahead "come hell or high water" amid threat of a boycott by major opposition parties.

Addressing the nation on state television within hours after assuming the Presidency, a day after quitting as Army Chief, Musharraf in a long-awaited gesture of reconcliliation said "I have full resolve to lift the emergency and withdraw the Provision Constitutional Order (PCO) on December 16".

Musharraf had earlier in the day after embarking on a new five-year presidential term shrugged off international calls to end Emeragency insisting that while he wanted democracy "we will do it our way." US President George W Bush and other world leaders while welcoming his resignation as Army Chief pressed Musharraf to quickly lift emergency rule to pave the way for free and fair elections.

In his televised address, Musharraf said the decision to lift Emergency clamped on November 3 was taken because of an improvement in the overall situation in Pakistan, with the democratic process moving according to programme and "terrorism" largely defeated.

"But I hope no obstacles will be created to destablise the process as was done in the past," he cautioned, saying former premiers Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto had been provided a "level playing field."