Upon hearing that YouTube has decided to shut down its video downloads service for the time being, your first reaction might very well be "Wait, YouTube had a video download service?"
Indeed, it launched in February, and allowed content creators to post both free and paid downloads to YouTube. Apparently, YouTube hasn't quite figured out how to make this scheme profitable. Users who had uploaded to the service received an email saying that current downloads would still be available, but no new downloads can be posted.
Although the beta test of this feature seems to have ended in failure, the language of YouTube's email doesn't rule out some new incarnation of the download service in the future: "We have decided not to fully productize this, for now" (emphasis added). Meanwhile, YouTube is planning to charge for premium streaming content, which was apparently a more lucrative avenue than paid downloads.
Millions of new Avast users will be offered Google Chrome
Where would you turn if you were looking for ways to capture new users for your web browser? And not necessarily savvy tech-types like Download Squad readers. I'm talking about average users, who might not know what Google Chrome is - or even what a web browser is, for that matter.
Here's a wacky idea. What not ask the developers of one of the most popular pieces of free software in the entire world to offer your browser whenever someone installs the latest version? That's exactly what Google has done -- shaking hands with Alwil Software, the makers of Avast.
Download.com alone has logged some 65 million downloads of Avast over the years, and it's available from other places as well. The bottom line is that Google now gets the benefit of a prominently displayed billboard that will be seen by several hundred thousand people every week, many of whom will likely opt-in and download Chrome.
On top of that, the opt-in screen says "Avast recommends." It's another subtle but brilliant move. After all, who knows what browser is going to keep you safe and secure better than a company developing antimalware products (again, in the eyes of the average user)?
Here's another wacky idea for you, Google. Maybe it's time to bump Firefox from the Google Pack and start pushing Chrome instead? Just a thought.
Here's a wacky idea. What not ask the developers of one of the most popular pieces of free software in the entire world to offer your browser whenever someone installs the latest version? That's exactly what Google has done -- shaking hands with Alwil Software, the makers of Avast.
Download.com alone has logged some 65 million downloads of Avast over the years, and it's available from other places as well. The bottom line is that Google now gets the benefit of a prominently displayed billboard that will be seen by several hundred thousand people every week, many of whom will likely opt-in and download Chrome.
On top of that, the opt-in screen says "Avast recommends." It's another subtle but brilliant move. After all, who knows what browser is going to keep you safe and secure better than a company developing antimalware products (again, in the eyes of the average user)?
Here's another wacky idea for you, Google. Maybe it's time to bump Firefox from the Google Pack and start pushing Chrome instead? Just a thought.
Favit by Favstar.fm brings the funniest tweets to your iPhone
Don't know where to look for the funniest material on Twitter? Favstar.fm keeps tracks of the most-favorited tweets on the site, and delivers them all in one place. And now they've got an iPhone app that's even better! It's called Favit and its extremely simple UI delivers the laughs directly to your face, with no clutter involved. It even filters out boring tech tweets and celebrities, making sure you only get the funny stuff.
Favit will show you a popular tweet, and the only decision you need to make is whether to give it a star or not. The tweets are all anonymized, unlike on Favstar.fm, which adds the extra element of trying to guess who wrote the joke in question. If you're curious, you can peek, but you have to favorite (or not) first, which removes bias. Favit is a good way to find funny people to follow, and it's also like having a constantly-updated joke book in your pocket. LOL!
Favit will show you a popular tweet, and the only decision you need to make is whether to give it a star or not. The tweets are all anonymized, unlike on Favstar.fm, which adds the extra element of trying to guess who wrote the joke in question. If you're curious, you can peek, but you have to favorite (or not) first, which removes bias. Favit is a good way to find funny people to follow, and it's also like having a constantly-updated joke book in your pocket. LOL!
No ID no worry, get loans and get them written off also
By Rauf Klasra
ISLAMABAD: As if the generous writing off of loans worth Rs59.94billion during the General Pervez Musharraf reign wasn’t bad enough, now official documents show that hundreds of these borrowers were even given these loans with such casualness and deliberate neglect that not even the national identity cards of the borrowers were demanded by the banks, what to talk of other collateral and sureties.
The official record of these written off loans submitted to the National Assembly and available with The News revealed that in an unbelievable large number of cases the lending institutions, a bank and another (now defunct) financial entity, had issued huge loans to the individuals without even getting their National Identity Cards (NICs) as per prudential requirements.
The bank has not given any reason about how the loans were issued to these business parties and the individuals without getting their proper NICs as per requirements. One official has commented that this was not possible without the active collaboration of the bank officials as no bank could give loan to anyone without NICs.
The following cases reveal just another ugly aspect of this sordid plunder of national wealth where, barring a few genuine deserving cases, billions were siphoned away by hundreds of corrupt businessmen colluding with equally corrupt bankers. There were some genuine cases where loans were written off in accordance with the rules. In all cases listed below, none of the cited borrowers had been forced by the lending institutions to submit their ID cards, an otherwise basic requirement.
The ID cards of five directors of Ms Bawani Industries were missing. This loan was ultimately written off.
One foreign national Saral Dynamic Hardware Bobignv too managed to get a loan of Rs5.5million and later got his total outstanding Rs6.4million written off including the principal amount and Rs0.8million mark up. The loan was given in foreign currency to this foreign national.
The two banks wrote off billions of rupees during the Musharraf era and in one case, the defunct bank wrote off a loan of Rs137million outstanding against four individuals.
First Tawakal Modrab Karachi got Rs 628million written off while the borrowers—-Abdul Qadir Tawakal, Rafiq Tawakal,Ali Husasin Mooney and Abid Husain did not even bother submitting their NICs. Shahfa Corporation Lahore and its owners Saluddin Ahmed Sahaf, Wajiddin Mahmood Shaf also got Rs146million written off. Regnet Dyeing and Finishing Mills also got Rs 91million written including Rs50million principal loan. Fatima Foods Lahore also got Rs 80million written off with Rs 40million principal loan waived off. National Garments also got Rs 335million written off including Rs 140million principal amount. In Multan Mohib textile got Rs 1.17billion written off including principal amount of Rs546million. In Karachi Bawani Industries got Rs 70million written off including 11.3million principal amount. The names of the fathers of borrowers are not on official record of the bank who got this loan written off.
The papers show that even a London based n ex-employee of a bank, Abdul Haleem also got Rs 2.744million written off and now the bank says it did not have even the ID card of its own former employee available in record. His principal loan was Rs 2.7million which was written off.
Adamjee Industries also got Rs 48million written off including Rs168million principal amount. Farooq Sheikh, Mrs Shereen Farooq, Zafar Sheikh, Mumtaz Saleem, Tahir Sehikh got Rs 168million loan and got the whole principal wavied off. They also got the mark up of Rs225million written off too. Master Rubber Tyer owners Fayyaz Malik and Farooq Malik got 52m written off.
Even an industrial unit Ms Metropolitan National Textile Karachi owned by Sikandar Ali Jatoi, Mazhar Ali Jatoi, Jamal Hassan, SM Masood was given the loan without any NICs. A sum of Rs190million outstanding the Jaoti family was also written off.
The papers showed that even, the owners of Daweeo Corporation -Kim Woo Choong, Kim Joun Sung, Lee Woo Bok, Yoon Nuke Neon, Chug Myuong Kul did not submit their Ids at the time of obtaining Rs10.8million loan. Interestingly, the same amount was later written off by the bank. They got principal amount written off in addition to Rs2.3million mark up payable against this loan.
Even Ch Shujaat Hussain, Pervez Elahi and their family members who got Rs37.987 loan written off never produced their national identity cards.
Hearts International Rawalpindi got Rs0.9million written off while the bank did not have the IDs of Dr Major Gen retired Zulifkar Ali Khan, Dr Abdus Qudus Khan, Mohammad Rafi, Shamim Ashraf Khan, Naheed Mashud Kiani, Rahat Azfa. Johoson and Philips also got Rs 64 million loan written off and there is no record of NICs of the borrowers-Bilal Ahmed Qureshi, Raja Ahmed Khan, Habibulah Baig, Rasid Y Chinoy, Abdul Rehman Khan, Syed Abdul Noor. Johnson and Philips again got another loan of Rs26million written off and once again the same borrowers did not give their NICs. Ahmed Chemical limited owners Aftab Khan, Jehan Ara Khan, Mahjabeen Ahmed, Sabiuddin Ahmed, Iqbal Ahmed Khan, Iram Aftab, Aftab Ahmed Khan NICs are not available. They got Rs0.6million written off. Ksornos Corporation Lahore also got Rs 4.3million written off. Again NICs of Sh Abdul Hafeez, Sh Imran Hafeez, Sh Salman Hafeez, Sh Nauman Hafeez, Qari Khalid Mahmood, Shahbaz Murad and Zahida Hafeez are not available in the record. Zodesh Limited got Rs 40million written off. The borrowers Zoraia Lashari, Imrana Lashari, Ms Lubna Lashari and Hayat Khan did not give NICs.
GUJRAT: Mohammad Akram Rs 2.5m, Fazal Hussain Rs 0.6m, Malik Mohammad Akthar 0.5m, Yaqoob Brothers Rs 0.5m, Nisa Enterprise Rs 0.5m (Islamabad).
Mohammad Saleem Rs0.7m,
QUETTA: Abdul Qadir Rs 0.511m, Mohammad Alm Rs 0.4m, Haji Moula Dad Kalat Rs 0.5m, Mohammad Hassan Rs 0.5m, Mohammad Ramzan Rs 0.5m, Gul Mohammad Rs 0.5m,
KARACHI: Babar Rafiq Rs0/6, Mosar Ahmed Rs 0.5m, Qaisaurz Zaman Rs 0.6m, Sajid Husain Rs 0.570m, Nasir Rafique Rs 0.531m, Badar Ahmed Rs0.596m, Mazhar Fared Rs 0.683m, Khalid Mahmood Rs 0.653m, Saeed Ahmed 0.61m, Jawad Textile Industries 1m, Masnoor Yousuf Rs0.536m, Mohammad Ismail Rs0.595m, Amir Hashmi Rs0.5m, Sajid Ali Rs0.7m, Mushtaq Hussain Rs 0.579m, Tahir Ehtasham RS 0.6M, Mohammad Noman Bhatti Rs 0.54m, Saleemuddin Rs 0.522m, Anisuddin Rs 0.522m, Monbina Begum Rs0.639m, Miss Tabasum Shehnaz Rs 0.6m, Mohammad Yousuf Rs 0.665m, Mant Lal Mault Rs 0.674m, Athar Maqbool Rs 0.7m, Shahid Khan Rs 0.5m, Azaam Afridi Rs 0.633m, Syed Qasim Hussain Rs 0.539m, Abdul Qayyum Rs 0.681m, Mohammad Burhan Khan Rs0.825m, Syed Khurram Raza Naqvi Rs 0.543m, Hassan Shakeel Rs 0.825m, Ali Hassan Rs 0.534m, Mohammad Irfan Khan Rs 0.550m, Shafiq Ahmed RS 0.820M, Ali Hassan Hassan Rs 0.534m, Mohammad Irfan Khan Rs 0.550M, Khawaja Moin Hasan Rs 0.666m, Raza Hasan Rs0.528m, Syed Afaq Moid Rs 0.679m, Syed Mohammad Nasim Ali Rs0.680m, Syed Aslam Ali Rs0.67m, Asif Rehman Rs 0.665m, Asim Ilyas Rs 0.5m, Adnan Hassan Rs 0.820m, Syed Rasheed Ahmed Rs0.5m, Mobina Afzal Rs 0.7m, Kamran Rauf Rs 0.74m, Najma Akthar Rs0.825m, S Sharifuddin Rs 0.825m, Imtiaz Hussain Zaidi Rs 0.6m, Khalid Baig Rs 0.589m, Mohammad Awan RS 0.6M, Tariq Baloch Rs0.668m, Mohammad Mobin Sheikh Rs 0.614m, Ms Golden Paint industries Rs0.7m, Mohammad Arshad Shakeel Rs 1.441m, Altaf Hussain Shah Rs 0.5m, Mehmoodul Hassan Rs 0.548m, Mashuddin Rs0.9m, Atizaudin Rs 1.5m, Wajihuddin Rs1.5m, Ihtashamuddin Rs 0.557m, FS Aizauddin Rs 0.5m, FS Azauddin Rs 0.58m, Mrs Rubina Rs 0.655m, Abdul Azim RS 0.556M, Abdul Razakk Rs 0.5m, Akthar Hussain Rs 0.519m, Asif Soomro Rs 0.554m, Fayyaz Ahmed Rs 0.544m, M Saleem Rs 0.539m, Sadiq Bano Rs 0.54m, Moizudin Rs 0.562m, Abdul Haq Rs0.5m, Mrs Kasuar Perveen Rs0.514m, Mohammad Rafiq Rs 0.551m, Mohammad Saleem Rs 0.591, Rana Mohmmad Rs0.545m, Rukhsana Begum Rs0.504m, S. Rehan Shahid Rs0.560m. Hssan Khan Rs 0.503m, Kashan Ali Rs 0.624m, Saleem Medical Store Rs 1.5million, Ms Huma Electric Inds Nameem Ullsah Rs 1.4m, Ms Tariq Electric Inds Rs 3.2m, Ms New National Steel Inds Rs 2.5million, Ms Kashmir Industrial Corp Rs 1.1m,
Irfan Basharat Rs 2.1m, Jhangir Hadier Rs 6.5m, Mohammad Sadiq Rs 2.66m, Punjab Ceremaic owners Zahid Shkeel Rs 7.6million, Ms Gulberg Caters owned by Mohammad Aslam Rs0.9m.
ISLAMABAD: As if the generous writing off of loans worth Rs59.94billion during the General Pervez Musharraf reign wasn’t bad enough, now official documents show that hundreds of these borrowers were even given these loans with such casualness and deliberate neglect that not even the national identity cards of the borrowers were demanded by the banks, what to talk of other collateral and sureties.
The official record of these written off loans submitted to the National Assembly and available with The News revealed that in an unbelievable large number of cases the lending institutions, a bank and another (now defunct) financial entity, had issued huge loans to the individuals without even getting their National Identity Cards (NICs) as per prudential requirements.
The bank has not given any reason about how the loans were issued to these business parties and the individuals without getting their proper NICs as per requirements. One official has commented that this was not possible without the active collaboration of the bank officials as no bank could give loan to anyone without NICs.
The following cases reveal just another ugly aspect of this sordid plunder of national wealth where, barring a few genuine deserving cases, billions were siphoned away by hundreds of corrupt businessmen colluding with equally corrupt bankers. There were some genuine cases where loans were written off in accordance with the rules. In all cases listed below, none of the cited borrowers had been forced by the lending institutions to submit their ID cards, an otherwise basic requirement.
The ID cards of five directors of Ms Bawani Industries were missing. This loan was ultimately written off.
One foreign national Saral Dynamic Hardware Bobignv too managed to get a loan of Rs5.5million and later got his total outstanding Rs6.4million written off including the principal amount and Rs0.8million mark up. The loan was given in foreign currency to this foreign national.
The two banks wrote off billions of rupees during the Musharraf era and in one case, the defunct bank wrote off a loan of Rs137million outstanding against four individuals.
First Tawakal Modrab Karachi got Rs 628million written off while the borrowers—-Abdul Qadir Tawakal, Rafiq Tawakal,Ali Husasin Mooney and Abid Husain did not even bother submitting their NICs. Shahfa Corporation Lahore and its owners Saluddin Ahmed Sahaf, Wajiddin Mahmood Shaf also got Rs146million written off. Regnet Dyeing and Finishing Mills also got Rs 91million written including Rs50million principal loan. Fatima Foods Lahore also got Rs 80million written off with Rs 40million principal loan waived off. National Garments also got Rs 335million written off including Rs 140million principal amount. In Multan Mohib textile got Rs 1.17billion written off including principal amount of Rs546million. In Karachi Bawani Industries got Rs 70million written off including 11.3million principal amount. The names of the fathers of borrowers are not on official record of the bank who got this loan written off.
The papers show that even a London based n ex-employee of a bank, Abdul Haleem also got Rs 2.744million written off and now the bank says it did not have even the ID card of its own former employee available in record. His principal loan was Rs 2.7million which was written off.
Adamjee Industries also got Rs 48million written off including Rs168million principal amount. Farooq Sheikh, Mrs Shereen Farooq, Zafar Sheikh, Mumtaz Saleem, Tahir Sehikh got Rs 168million loan and got the whole principal wavied off. They also got the mark up of Rs225million written off too. Master Rubber Tyer owners Fayyaz Malik and Farooq Malik got 52m written off.
Even an industrial unit Ms Metropolitan National Textile Karachi owned by Sikandar Ali Jatoi, Mazhar Ali Jatoi, Jamal Hassan, SM Masood was given the loan without any NICs. A sum of Rs190million outstanding the Jaoti family was also written off.
The papers showed that even, the owners of Daweeo Corporation -Kim Woo Choong, Kim Joun Sung, Lee Woo Bok, Yoon Nuke Neon, Chug Myuong Kul did not submit their Ids at the time of obtaining Rs10.8million loan. Interestingly, the same amount was later written off by the bank. They got principal amount written off in addition to Rs2.3million mark up payable against this loan.
Even Ch Shujaat Hussain, Pervez Elahi and their family members who got Rs37.987 loan written off never produced their national identity cards.
Hearts International Rawalpindi got Rs0.9million written off while the bank did not have the IDs of Dr Major Gen retired Zulifkar Ali Khan, Dr Abdus Qudus Khan, Mohammad Rafi, Shamim Ashraf Khan, Naheed Mashud Kiani, Rahat Azfa. Johoson and Philips also got Rs 64 million loan written off and there is no record of NICs of the borrowers-Bilal Ahmed Qureshi, Raja Ahmed Khan, Habibulah Baig, Rasid Y Chinoy, Abdul Rehman Khan, Syed Abdul Noor. Johnson and Philips again got another loan of Rs26million written off and once again the same borrowers did not give their NICs. Ahmed Chemical limited owners Aftab Khan, Jehan Ara Khan, Mahjabeen Ahmed, Sabiuddin Ahmed, Iqbal Ahmed Khan, Iram Aftab, Aftab Ahmed Khan NICs are not available. They got Rs0.6million written off. Ksornos Corporation Lahore also got Rs 4.3million written off. Again NICs of Sh Abdul Hafeez, Sh Imran Hafeez, Sh Salman Hafeez, Sh Nauman Hafeez, Qari Khalid Mahmood, Shahbaz Murad and Zahida Hafeez are not available in the record. Zodesh Limited got Rs 40million written off. The borrowers Zoraia Lashari, Imrana Lashari, Ms Lubna Lashari and Hayat Khan did not give NICs.
GUJRAT: Mohammad Akram Rs 2.5m, Fazal Hussain Rs 0.6m, Malik Mohammad Akthar 0.5m, Yaqoob Brothers Rs 0.5m, Nisa Enterprise Rs 0.5m (Islamabad).
Mohammad Saleem Rs0.7m,
QUETTA: Abdul Qadir Rs 0.511m, Mohammad Alm Rs 0.4m, Haji Moula Dad Kalat Rs 0.5m, Mohammad Hassan Rs 0.5m, Mohammad Ramzan Rs 0.5m, Gul Mohammad Rs 0.5m,
KARACHI: Babar Rafiq Rs0/6, Mosar Ahmed Rs 0.5m, Qaisaurz Zaman Rs 0.6m, Sajid Husain Rs 0.570m, Nasir Rafique Rs 0.531m, Badar Ahmed Rs0.596m, Mazhar Fared Rs 0.683m, Khalid Mahmood Rs 0.653m, Saeed Ahmed 0.61m, Jawad Textile Industries 1m, Masnoor Yousuf Rs0.536m, Mohammad Ismail Rs0.595m, Amir Hashmi Rs0.5m, Sajid Ali Rs0.7m, Mushtaq Hussain Rs 0.579m, Tahir Ehtasham RS 0.6M, Mohammad Noman Bhatti Rs 0.54m, Saleemuddin Rs 0.522m, Anisuddin Rs 0.522m, Monbina Begum Rs0.639m, Miss Tabasum Shehnaz Rs 0.6m, Mohammad Yousuf Rs 0.665m, Mant Lal Mault Rs 0.674m, Athar Maqbool Rs 0.7m, Shahid Khan Rs 0.5m, Azaam Afridi Rs 0.633m, Syed Qasim Hussain Rs 0.539m, Abdul Qayyum Rs 0.681m, Mohammad Burhan Khan Rs0.825m, Syed Khurram Raza Naqvi Rs 0.543m, Hassan Shakeel Rs 0.825m, Ali Hassan Rs 0.534m, Mohammad Irfan Khan Rs 0.550m, Shafiq Ahmed RS 0.820M, Ali Hassan Hassan Rs 0.534m, Mohammad Irfan Khan Rs 0.550M, Khawaja Moin Hasan Rs 0.666m, Raza Hasan Rs0.528m, Syed Afaq Moid Rs 0.679m, Syed Mohammad Nasim Ali Rs0.680m, Syed Aslam Ali Rs0.67m, Asif Rehman Rs 0.665m, Asim Ilyas Rs 0.5m, Adnan Hassan Rs 0.820m, Syed Rasheed Ahmed Rs0.5m, Mobina Afzal Rs 0.7m, Kamran Rauf Rs 0.74m, Najma Akthar Rs0.825m, S Sharifuddin Rs 0.825m, Imtiaz Hussain Zaidi Rs 0.6m, Khalid Baig Rs 0.589m, Mohammad Awan RS 0.6M, Tariq Baloch Rs0.668m, Mohammad Mobin Sheikh Rs 0.614m, Ms Golden Paint industries Rs0.7m, Mohammad Arshad Shakeel Rs 1.441m, Altaf Hussain Shah Rs 0.5m, Mehmoodul Hassan Rs 0.548m, Mashuddin Rs0.9m, Atizaudin Rs 1.5m, Wajihuddin Rs1.5m, Ihtashamuddin Rs 0.557m, FS Aizauddin Rs 0.5m, FS Azauddin Rs 0.58m, Mrs Rubina Rs 0.655m, Abdul Azim RS 0.556M, Abdul Razakk Rs 0.5m, Akthar Hussain Rs 0.519m, Asif Soomro Rs 0.554m, Fayyaz Ahmed Rs 0.544m, M Saleem Rs 0.539m, Sadiq Bano Rs 0.54m, Moizudin Rs 0.562m, Abdul Haq Rs0.5m, Mrs Kasuar Perveen Rs0.514m, Mohammad Rafiq Rs 0.551m, Mohammad Saleem Rs 0.591, Rana Mohmmad Rs0.545m, Rukhsana Begum Rs0.504m, S. Rehan Shahid Rs0.560m. Hssan Khan Rs 0.503m, Kashan Ali Rs 0.624m, Saleem Medical Store Rs 1.5million, Ms Huma Electric Inds Nameem Ullsah Rs 1.4m, Ms Tariq Electric Inds Rs 3.2m, Ms New National Steel Inds Rs 2.5million, Ms Kashmir Industrial Corp Rs 1.1m,
Irfan Basharat Rs 2.1m, Jhangir Hadier Rs 6.5m, Mohammad Sadiq Rs 2.66m, Punjab Ceremaic owners Zahid Shkeel Rs 7.6million, Ms Gulberg Caters owned by Mohammad Aslam Rs0.9m.
Pakistan vs Afganistan - With the Eye of United States
Read Articles about Pakistan vs Afganistan - With the Eye of United States only on PKInside
US says al-Qaeda part of Quetta Shura
By Rahimullah Yusufzai
PESHAWAR: A US diplomat said here on Friday that some al-Qaeda figures were hiding in Balochistan as the so-called Quetta shura of Afghan Taliban also included members of the Osama bin Laden-led terrorist organisation.
E Candace Putnam, the US Consul General in Peshawar, said American intelligence reports indicated al-Qaeda’s close links not only with the Afghan Taliban but increasingly also with the Pakistani Taliban. She felt all this was in the knowledge of the Pakistani authorities but they may not want to say it openly. “We have to assume that your government and security forces know this,” she told a select group of journalists at the heavily-guarded US consulate.
Putnam said al-Qaeda was working and integrating its activities with the Afghan Taliban, TTP, LeT, Jaish and other groups in the region.
PESHAWAR: A US diplomat said here on Friday that some al-Qaeda figures were hiding in Balochistan as the so-called Quetta shura of Afghan Taliban also included members of the Osama bin Laden-led terrorist organisation.
E Candace Putnam, the US Consul General in Peshawar, said American intelligence reports indicated al-Qaeda’s close links not only with the Afghan Taliban but increasingly also with the Pakistani Taliban. She felt all this was in the knowledge of the Pakistani authorities but they may not want to say it openly. “We have to assume that your government and security forces know this,” she told a select group of journalists at the heavily-guarded US consulate.
Putnam said al-Qaeda was working and integrating its activities with the Afghan Taliban, TTP, LeT, Jaish and other groups in the region.
Will the govt make up its mind on NRO?
I will defend NRO in court, says Khawar
By Tariq Butt
ISLAMABAD: “I and my team will represent the federal government and defend the NRO in the apex court,” Shah Khawar told The News. When asked he said that he has no idea about hiring of some prominent private lawyers by the government in this case. “It is my and my team’s duty to speak for the government in courts.”
The attorney general said that he has so far received no instructions from President Asif Ali Zardari about the case. He would be meeting Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on his return from Britain to know how to go about in the anti-NRO petitions in the Supreme Court.
On the other hand, when contacted, Minister of State for Law Afzal Sindhu said that the government would engage some legal minds, including retired judges, but added that a decision was yet to be taken about the names to be chosen for the purpose.
According to sources, the government plans to marshal a strong line-up of private leading lawyers to defend the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) in the Supreme Court, which opens hearing on the petitions against the now lapsed law on Dec 7. This array will be apart from acting Attorney General Shah Khawar and a number of his deputies, who have already started preparations for the court fight. Other sources said that the government was not in a hurry to avail the services of private lawyers because it believed that no full-fledged hearing on the petitions against the NRO was expected to open on the very first day, Dec 7.
By Tariq Butt
ISLAMABAD: “I and my team will represent the federal government and defend the NRO in the apex court,” Shah Khawar told The News. When asked he said that he has no idea about hiring of some prominent private lawyers by the government in this case. “It is my and my team’s duty to speak for the government in courts.”
The attorney general said that he has so far received no instructions from President Asif Ali Zardari about the case. He would be meeting Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on his return from Britain to know how to go about in the anti-NRO petitions in the Supreme Court.
On the other hand, when contacted, Minister of State for Law Afzal Sindhu said that the government would engage some legal minds, including retired judges, but added that a decision was yet to be taken about the names to be chosen for the purpose.
According to sources, the government plans to marshal a strong line-up of private leading lawyers to defend the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) in the Supreme Court, which opens hearing on the petitions against the now lapsed law on Dec 7. This array will be apart from acting Attorney General Shah Khawar and a number of his deputies, who have already started preparations for the court fight. Other sources said that the government was not in a hurry to avail the services of private lawyers because it believed that no full-fledged hearing on the petitions against the NRO was expected to open on the very first day, Dec 7.
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