Hair included in elite panel, won’t supervise Pakistan matches

Thursday, March 20, 2008 DUBAI: Controversial umpire Darrel Hair has been included in the ICC elite panel but he will not supervise any match of Pakistan. The International Cricket Council (ICC) had reinstated the elite panel status of Darrel Hair on previous day but it was not pointed out that whether he would supervise the matches involving Pakistan or not. However, general manager ICC Dave Richardson said that the governing body of the ICC has decided that Darrel Hair would be kept away from umpiring those matches in which Pakistan would be involved.

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Baitullah among five proclaimed offenders

By Mudassir Raja

RAWALPINDI, March 18: An anti-terrorism court here on Tuesday declared Baitullah Mehsud and four other militants ‘proclaimed offenders’ in a case relating to the assassination of PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto after they failed to appear in the court.

Special Judge of ATC-I Chaudhry Habibur Rehman issued the orders under Sections 87 (Proclamation for person absconding) and 88 (Attachment of property of person absconding) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) of 1898 and directed investigators to put up ‘wanted’ posters for Mehsud and Ikramullah, the alleged second would-be suicide bomber, Abadur Rehman, Abdullah alias Saddam and Faiz Mohammad alias Kaskat.

The court was to formally frame charges against the five persons arrested in connection with the case – Aitzaz Shah, Sher Zaman, Abdul Rasheed, Hassnain Gul and Muhammad Rafaqat – but the hearing was adjourned till April 21 because of the absence of prosecution lawyers. The first three men are accused of concealing the conspiracy to kill Ms Bhutto and the other two of helping the suicide bomber.

Meanwhile, Aitzaz’s lawyer filed an application under the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance of 2000 demanding his separate trial because he was under 18 years of age at the time of his arrest. According to his birth certificate, he was born on April 19, 1992, in Karachi.

Lawyer of accused Sher Zaman filed a bail plea, saying no incriminating evidence had been produced against his client and the confessional statement of Aitzaz had been recorded under duress. Aitzaz had said that Sher Zaman was handling him as a suicide bomber on behalf of Baitullah Mehsud.

According to the bail application, Sher Zaman, a native of South Waziristan, was arrested from his house in Dera Ismail Khan on Jan 18 and not along with Aitzaz as claimed by police.Interestingly, the petitioner has included the name of PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari in the list of respondents while the complainant in the December 27 case was a local SHO.

Hearing in cases related to suicide blasts in R.A. Bazaar and the on a road leading to the Army House was adjourned till April 1.

Mohammad Rafaqat and Hasnain are also involved in the two cases and are in Adiala Jail on judicial remand. Police charge-sheet is awaited in the cases.

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Clemency plea for Indian not to be entertained

By Syed Irfan Raza

ISLAMABAD, March 18: The government has decided not to entertain a fresh clemency appeal from the Indian government for an Indian convict, Sarabjit Singh, who is to be executed on April 1.

“He would be hanged on the exact date (April 1) and there would be no delay,” Interior Ministry spokesman Brig (retd) Javed Iqbal Cheema said on Tuesday.

He said at his weekly media briefing that the government had received a fresh mercy appeal from the Indian government but it would not be entertained.

The date of the execution was fixed after President Pervez Musharraf turned down his mercy petition. He has been convicted by superior courts of the country for committing acts of terrorism in Pakistan.

A notification for his execution has been sent to the Punjab government because the convict was in the custody of the Punjab police.

Mr Cheema said four American nationals who received injuries in a blast at an Italian restaurant in Islamabad were not personnel of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

“One of them was a legal attaché of the US embassy and three others were his subordinates,” he added. The spokesman said they had flown back to their country the day after the blast.

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Ansar Burney says Indian set for gallows should have life sentence instead

Tuesday, March 18, 2008 ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Minister for Human Rights, Ansar Burney Tuesday said President Pervez Musharraf should halt the execution of a convicted Indian terrorist and let him live out his days in jail. India's government is seeking a reprieve for Sarabjit Singh, jailed in Pakistan in 1990 for alleged spying and involvement in bomb blasts. He is scheduled to be hanged on April 1. Ansar Burney said he expected to receive an appeal for clemency from Singh's family this week. He said he would urge President Musharraf to convert Singh's sentence to life imprisonment.

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Sarabjit Singh to be hanged on April 1: Cheema

Tuesday, March 18, 2008 ISLAMABAD: Indian national Sarabjit Singh, sentenced to death for involvement in four bomb blasts in Pakistan in 1990, would be executed on April one, Interior Ministry Spokesman Brig (Retd) Javed Iqbal Cheema said Tuesday. “He would be hanged on the exact date (April 1) and there would be no delay in his hanging,” Cheema told a weekly media briefing. Sarabjit, in Pakistan custody for last 17 years, had been convicted of involvement in bomb blasts in Lahore and Multan that killed about 14 people. In March 2006, the Supreme Court of Pakistan rejected Sarabjit’s plea for clemency. President Pervez Musharraf on March 3 this year rejected the mercy petition of Sarabjit, whose actual name according to Pakistan is Manjit Singh.

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Controversial Darrell Hair reinstated by ICC as Test umpire

Tuesday, March 18, 2008  DUBAI: The reinstatement of Darrell Hair to the full international panel of umpires was the most surprising outcome of the International Cricket Council's two-day meeting in Dubai, which finished today. Hair has been undergoing what the ICC call "rehabilitation" since his decision to penalise the Pakistan team five runs for ball-tampering during the Oval Test of 2006 resulted in the first forfeited match in Test history. An ICC spokesman said: "The board have decided that he can he can be appointed to matches involving full member countries once more." David Morgan, the incoming ICC president, said yesterday that Hair would be assigned to a full international programme. "Mr Hair is a very good and a very competent umpire," he told reporters. "He has had time away from the coalface and umpired other activities." However, Morgan would not comment on whether Hair would be assigned to matches involving Pakistan, saying only that the allocation process would be handled by the ICC's operations manager David Richardson. The Pakistan board are understood to be opposed to Hair's return, and it seems likely that this will be only a partial reprieve in which Hair officiates in selected matches – ie. those not involving sub-continental teams. Today's press conference also revealed that there would be no sanctions taken against Zimbabwe Cricket, despite financial anomalies in their accounting which have been investigated by KPMG. According to Ray Mali - the South African who is coming to the end of his term as ICC president – "no individual or individuals have been singled out as having benefited from the finances in any way". Instead, Mali explained, the problems – or "irregularities" – resulted from the seizure of important documentation by police and banking authorities. This ruling is unlikely to please the England and Wales Cricket Board, who are scheduled to host the Zimbabwean team twice next summer. The press conference also included details of Inder Singh Bindra's appointment as "principal advisor" to the ICC. He will have a major role in the "promotion and development of the game", with special attention to the American market. He will also "assist host boards with the smooth functioning of ICC events". Morgan said that Bindra had been appointed after the realisation that "the image of the ICC could be improved, and so could relations between members". Meanwhile, Imtiaz Patel, the man picked out as the ICC's preferred candidate to succeed Malcolm Speed as chief executive, has made it clear that this is far from being a done deal. "I am humbled that the ICC has stated that it will invite me to fulfil such an important role within cricket, a sport that has a very special place in my heart," he said in a statement. "I enjoy a most rewarding and happy career in my current role as CEO of SuperSport, which is a dynamic organisation within a wonderful international group. "I will therefore be considering my position very carefully during the coming weeks and will be engaging in discussions with the ICC during this period."

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India urges Pakistan to grant clemency to Sarabjit

Lets see what the Pakistan government does. Its important to note that a cricket fan who lost his passport in India was killed in Jail by the Indian Authorities. Do we come under pressure and release Sarabjit?

India urges Pakistan to grant clemency to Sarabjit

Tuesday, March 18, 2008  NEW DELHI: India on Tuesday made an appeal to Pakistan to grant clemency to Sarabjit Singh on humanitarian grounds as members in the Lok Sabha made a strong plea to the government to step up efforts to save the Indian national from the gallows. Amid demands that Sarabjit be saved from death, Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee made a suo motu statement in the House, saying the government had no formal intimation from Pakistan and the matter about the 'death warrant' had come to the notice through media reports. Indian High Commission in Islamabad has sought details from the Government of Pakistan about reports of black warrant against Sarabjit, he said. "According to press reports, the black warrant has been issued and the sentence will be carried out on April one," Mukherjee said about Sarabjit, who is facing death sentence for allegedly carrying out bomb blasts in Pakistan in 1990. Noting that India and Pakistan had put in place certain institutional arrangements to improve the situation of prisoners of the respective countries, he said "it is in this context and in the same spirit that we appeal to the Government of Pakistan to treat Sarabjit Singh's case with clemency on humanitarian grounds." Members, cutting across party lines, voiced concern over reports that Sarabjit was going to be hanged on April 1 and wanted the House to pass a resolution urging Pakistan not to hang him. Pakistani media reports on Sunday said President Pervez Musharraf had rejected Sarabjit's mercy petition and the death warrant has been received at Lahore's Kot Lakhpat jail of Lahore where he has been languishing for the past 17 years. The External Affairs Minister's statement came in the backdrop of intense demands that the government act to save Sarabjit from death.

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