Pakistan today (August 25) banned an umbrella group of Taliban militants blamed for a wave of attacks and suicide bombings, including a strike on the house of a provincial legislator’s brother early this morning that killed ten people.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik announced the ban on Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, an umbrella group of militants headed by Baitullah Mehsud, that operates in the North West Frontier Province and adjoining tribal areas.

Malik said the ban would help the government curb militants activities throughout the tribal belt bordering Afghanistan.

The announcement came just hours after the Taliban attacked the home of Awami National Party (ANP) legislator Waqar Ahmed Khan’ brother in the Kabal sub-district of Swat valley in the NWFP. The leader’s brother was killed in the attack, along with his two nephews and seven security guards.

Militants separated women and children from the men before attacking the house with rockets and automatic weapons. They later demolished the house with explosives. Khan was not home at the time of the attack.

Local Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was carried out in retaliation for military operations against militants that are supported by the ANP, which heads the NWFP’s coalition government. He warned of more such attacks across Swat.

Meanwhile, a notification issued by the interior ministry said the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan had been banned along with the Lashkar-e-Islam, Ansar-ul-Islam and Amar Bil Maroof Wa Nahi Aneelmunkar (promotion of virtue and prevention of vice force).

Malik said the Pakistani Taliban had been outlawed for their involvement in a series of suicide attacks. He pointed out that the groups had themselves claimed responsibility for several suicide bombings.

According to the notification, they were all banned for involvement in terrorist activities. It said that all those who provided shelter or financial support to members of these groups would face action under the Anti-Terrorism Act.

The bank accounts and assets of Taliban members and organisations linked to them would be frozen, the notification said.

Malik said the government had so far not banned the Pakistani Taliban as authorities were trying to hold peace talks with the group. Malik, yesterday (August 24), rejected the local Taliban’s offer of a unilateral ceasefire, saying militants should first surrender their arms if they were serious about peace talks.

Despite a peace deal signed by the NWFP government and the local Taliban in May, the Swat valley has witnessed a fresh spurt in violence since the last week. Over 50 militants and 10 security personnel were killed in fresh clashes in Swat, where the Taliban are led by Baitullah Mehsud’s deputy Maulana Fazlullah.

Mehsud, who is based in the lawless South Waziristan tribal region, was blamed by former President Pervez Musharraf of masterminding the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto. Mehsud had denied the charge.

Over a thousand people have died in a wave of suicide attacks carried out by the Pakistani Taliban in the wake of the military operation against militants holed up in the Lal Masjid in Islamabad in July last year.

(PTI)

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Obama, 47, who will become the first black presidential nominee, had said on Sunday that he will try to convince voters he is just a normal middle class American despite his exotic upbringing and Republican claims he is an elitist.

“You’ll find out, ‘he’s pretty much like us,’” Obama told supporters referring to himself, days after lambasting his Republican rival John McCain for being unable to say how many homes he owns with his multi-millionaire wife.

Though the Democratic National Convention is Obama’s moment in the spotlight, his former foe Hillary Clinton will be watched almost as closely, under intense pressure to unify Democrats after their bitter nominating clash.

As Republicans picked at the wounds of their marathon battle, a Democratic official said on condition of anonymity that Clinton was expected to release her haul of delegates, leaving them free to vote for Obama in Wednesday’s symbolic roll-call vote.

The former first lady will host a reception for her delegates piled up in a countrywide string of primaries and caucuses in the first six months of this year, a day after addressing the convention tommorow night.

Republicans however are attempting to play on the anger of Clinton supporters who feel their heroine was deprived of her rightful spot as the nominee, or even a vice presidential nod, partly through sexism.

A hard-hitting McCain political ad said Clinton had been passed over for “speaking the truth” about Obama’s political agenda during their acrimonious battle.

(Agencies)

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Iran launched a submarine production line to ensure its forces are equipped to maintain the security of the strategic Strait of Hormuz waterway, a vital oil shipping route, Iranian Defence Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said on Monday (August 25). Iran, embroiled in a stand-off with the West over its nuclear ambitions, has previously said it could respond, if attacked, by closing the strait at the southern end of the Gulf and through which about 40 percent of the worlds traded oil passes.

The United States, whose navy Fifth Fleet is based in the Gulf state of Bahrain, has vowed to keep shipping lanes opened. The West accuses Tehran of seeking to build nuclear warheads but Iran, the world’s fourth largest oil producer, insists it aims is to master technology to make electricity. Washington has not ruled out strikes if diplomacy fails to end the row.

Najjar attended at the inauguration of a submarine production line, which Iran’s ISNA news agency said was a “semi-heavy” class of submarine called Qaim. The submarine, ISNA said, could “carry and fire various kinds of torpedoes and subsurface missiles, as well as transport special operations personnel.”

Military experts say Iran rarely reveals enough detail about its new military equipment to determined its efficacy but say the Islamic Republic, despite having much less fire-power than U.S. forces, could still cause havoc in Gulf if it was pushed.

The experts say Iran’s navy has three Russian Kilo class submarines and other smaller submersibles, including the Qadir which was added to Iran’s fleet.

(Agencies)

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Addressing newspersons after a meeting of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), Sharif said that they have requested the former judge to contest the presidential elections.

The former Prime Minister said that Saeed us Zaman Siddiqui is a “non-partisan person”.

Siddiqui was the Chief Justice when Musharraf was deposed as Prime Minister in a military coup in 1999. He was forced to step down from his post after he refused to endorse Musharraf’s actions.

(PTI)

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According to officials, the aircraft was flying from Tablones, Chiquimula to the capital city.

Salazar said the aircraft burst into flames when it hit the ground, complicating the rescue. Ambulances and fire vehicles were hampered by the lack of road access to the site.

Victims were being flown to Guatemala City hospitals, Salazar said, adding that at the moment it was not possible to identify them.

(AP)

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The Federation Council voted 130 for the resolution with none against, according to voting figures flashed up on a screen in the chamber,  sources said.

The lower house, or State Duma, was due to approve a similar resolution later in the morning.

“We will look today at the appeals from the peoples of  Abkhazia and South Ossetia to recognise the independence of these republics, I think that all these decisions will be accepted,” said Duma speaker Boris Gryzlov. 

The non-binding resolutions could either signal Medvedev’s intentions or be intended to strengthen his hand as he negotiates the status of Russian forces in Georgia with the West.

(Agencies) 

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He says things got to the point where she threatened to stop passing him rumours because they kept cropping up in his books. The 61-year-old novelist said he got into writing because he wanted to bring storytelling back to literature.

In a talk at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, the author said that his second novel, ‘Midnight’s Children’, would have never existed if not for his upbringing in India.

Rushdie says his ‘Midnight’s Children’ was set in his home and his school, but says the main character is not him.

(Agencies)

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“The promises made to us were not honoured by the PPP,” Sharif, a former Pakistan Prime Minister Sharif told a packed press conference.

The six-month-old coalition has been tethering on the brink of collapse following sharp differences between Sharif and PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari on the issue of reinstatement of judges sacked by the then President Pervez Musharraf in March last year.

“The PPP has forced us to withdraw support and sit in the opposition,” the 59-year-old leader said.

However, he said, PML(N) will act as a “constructive opposition” and will continue efforts to bring genuine democracy in Pakistan.

PML-N also announced the candidature of former Pakistan Chief Justice Saeed-uz Zaman Siddiqui for Presidential elections on September 6.

Sharif accused Zardari of violating an agreement on fielding a non-partisan candidate for the post of President if it was not stripped of sweeping powers to dissolve the parliament and dismiss the Prime Minister.

The PPP has fielded Zardari as its candidate for the President’s post.

Siddiqui was the Chief Justice when Sharif was deposed as Prime Minister by Musharraf in a 1999 military coup. He was forced to step down from his post after he refused to endorse Musharraf’s actions.

“We, therefore, feel that these repeated defaults and violations have forced to us to withdraw our support from the ruling coalition and sit on the opposition benches,” the two-time former premier said.

The split between the two main parties in the ruling coalition had been expected for some time as the PPP had repeatedly failed to honour its agreements with the PML-N to reinstate the deposed judges.

The two parties were also divided on the issue of providing indemnity to Musharraf following his resignation last week shortly before the National Assembly was to take up impeachement motion against him.

Sharif had set today as the deadline for restoring the deposed judges through a parliamentary resolution, but Zardari said no timeframe could be set for this purpose.

The PML-N was also upset by Zardari’s comments that the PPP’s agreements with it restoring the judges were not holy scripture and could be altered to suit the evolving political situation.

Zardari has also said that Musharraf was “welcome to stay” in Pakistan and parliament would decide on granting him indemnity, remarks that have infuriated Sharif.

Accusing Zardari of going back on his word, Sharif said soon after the coalition government was firmed up, it was decided that the judges would be restored within 30 days but nothing had happened.

Zardari had then promised, during talks with him in Dubai that the judges will be reinstated on May 12 and Sharif said he had made an announcement to this effect at a press conference in Lahore.

This date too passed without any action forcing Sharif to pull out nine ministers belonging to his party from the government, which was sworn in on March 31.

Sharif, who was deposed as premier in a military coup by Musharraf in 1999, said his party would “nor rest” till the judges were restored.

(PTI)

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After news that Delaware Senator, Joe Biden, had been chosen as Obama’s running mate, the seating arrangements for the Delaware delegation were upgraded on the convention floor. Delaware delegates will now be seated closer to the podium and close to the Illinois delegation, Obama’s home state. Workers from Delaware on Sunday moved their placards into place.

Barack Obama’s wife Michelle arrived in Denver for the gathering on Sunday, hoping to help her husband gain momentum in the presidential race. She and the couple’s daughters landed at a small general-aviation terminal at Denver International Airport. They were met by the Democratic Governor of Colorado, Bill Ritter and his wife, Jeannie.

They hugged and chatted briefly after the plane landed. Obama, hoping to become America’s first black president, campaigned through swing-state Wisconsin, then flew home to Chicago to work on the acceptance speech which he will deliver before 75,000 partisans on the convention’s closing night.

Speaking about Biden, he said he hoped convention viewers would conclude he was “sort of like us.” “He comes from a middle-class background, went to school on scholarships. He and his wife had to figure out child care and how to start a college fund for their kids. You’ll find out he’s pretty much like us,” he said. His former rival, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, offered a ringing endorsement as she addressed a meeting in California.

“It is time,” she said, “for us to have a president again who believes that every person is entitled to be given the chance to fulfil his or her dreams and that is what Senator Obama will do as our president…. so I am asking you to work as hard for Senator Obama as you worked for me.”

As the Democrats prepared to launch their four-day celebration, about 1,000 demonstrators set out to steal the show, shutting down streets en route to Denver’s Pepsi Convention Centre. The Sunday march was the first of at least five protests planned in the coming days by the group Recreate 68. The group is non-violent but its name brings echoes of the protests that became riots during the Democratic National Convention 40 years ago in Chicago.

Anti-war activist Ron Kovic, a paralysed Vietnam veteran whose story was chronicled in the book and movie “Born on the Fourth of July,” led the march in his wheelchair and promised Sunday’s protest was only the beginning. “They will not take our liberties away from us,” he said. “We will not be silenced”. Police patrolled on bicycles and on foot, but the march and protests were generally peaceful.

It wasn’t immediately clear if there were any march-related arrests, however there were arrests related to convention events for disturbing the peace, interference with police and trespassing. Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, who lost her son in the Iraq war and staged a month-long protest at the gates to the Texas ranch of President George W. Bush in 2005, said Obama was not the peace candidate he tried to portray himself to be.

“I think that a true anti-war peace candidate would be calling for bringing our troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan, no war in Iran.  Obama has said that he would take no option off the table for dealing with Iran…. He’s called for increasing the military industrial complex, not decreasing it, so he is not a peace candidate,” Sheehan said.

(With inputs from agencies)

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Suicide bomb attacks by women and girls have become increasingly common in Iraq this year. U.S. forces say al Qaeda Sunni Arab militants favour female bombers because they can escape detection by police reluctant to search women.

Female suicide bombers attacked Shi’ite pilgrims during two annual rites in recent weeks, killing dozens. Many attacks by female suicide bombers have taken place in Diyala.

“The surrender of the suicide bomber indicates that the Iraqis are continuing to reject al-Qaeda and its practices,” U.S. military spokesman for north Iraq Major Jon Pendell said.

Iraq has become far less dangerous over the past year, but militants are still able to carry out devastating bombings.

A male suicide bomber killed 25 people at a dinner banquet in western Baghdad’s Sunni Arab Abu Ghraib district.

(Reuters)

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The film ‘Land, Gold, Women’ follows the fictional story of 17-year-old Saira Khan, who is being forced into an arranged marriage. The teenager, who has an English boyfriend, does not wants to marry her father’s choice. 
 
He is distraught over his daughter’s refusal to marry an approved suitor and takes matters into his own hands, according to a report in the Sunday Mercury. 

The movie stars two British soap stars - Chris Villiers and child actor Ali Zahoor. They are joined by newcomer Neelam Parmer as Saira. The film has been produced by Mumbai-based Avantika Hari and Vivek Aggarwal.  
 
British government has recently enacted a legislation to prevent the scourge. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has set up a separate unit to coordinate action and rescue British citizens lured or taken forcibly to the Indian sub-continent for marriage against their will.

Hari, 28, decided to make a film about honour killings after reading about crimes that had been  committed in the UK and abroad. “I’d never heard about these so-called honour killings until I came to the UK to study. It was then that I read about cases and was shocked. The more I  researched it, the more I wanted to do a film about it,” he said.

“It seemed that only people of Asian background were responsible for this type of crime, but as I delved into it, I discovered that it was a global problem. It’s not just Hindus, Sikhs or Muslims. It happens in Italy, Africa, South America and the Middle East, and we highlight this in the film. I decided to base the film around an Indian family because I understand the culture.” 

(Agencies)

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Taliban spokesman Maulvi Omar announced the truce on Sunday after consultations between the militants and a tribal jirga or council to pave the way for talks with the government.

Taliban has accepted the jirga’s request that militants should suspend all actions against security forces, he said, adding they were ready to hold talks with the government if operations against them were halted.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik, however, said the government would not consider the ceasefire until the Taliban laid down their arms. He said more troops had been sent to intensify operations in the tribal areas, where 550 militants and 16 civilians had been killed so far.

Reiterating the government’s resolve to establish its writ across the country, Malik said, “We will not back down from our principled decision”.

The Pakistan People’s Party-led coalition had so far favoured political engagement and economic development to tackle militancy in the North West Frontier Province and the adjoining semi-autonomous tribal areas, with the use of military force being considered as a last option.

A recent spurt in violence by the Taliban, including three deadly suicide bombings last week that killed over 100 people, has spurred a crackdown on the militants, especially in the Swat valley of the NWFP and Bajaur Agency.

Malik said the security forces had busted a network of suicide bombers on the basis of information provided by a would-be suicide attacker who was arrested after the deadly attack near an ordinance factory complex in Wah cantonment on Thursday.

The Pakistan Army too said it was unaware of any ceasefire with the Taliban. An army spokesman said no decision has yet been taken to stop the anti-militancy operation in Bajaur Agency.

“The operation will continue till the targets are achieved,” he said.

The security forces launched a major operation in Bajaur earlier this month. The army says over 200 militants have been killed but the Taliban have denied this and claimed that they had inflicted heavy losses on the army. Thirty civilians, including women and children, have also been killed during the clashes.

(Agencies)

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The Boeing 737-200, chartered by an Iranian company and  bound for Tehran, crashed soon after take-off, a spokeswoman for Manas airport, 30 km (20 miles) from Bishkek, said.  Emergencies Minister Kamchibek Tashiyev said 90 people  were on board and 25 of them survived. But  residential  Adviser, Tokhon Mamitov told reporters that the number of survivors was less.

“We think approximately 15 or 17 people have been saved and we need to confirm but unfortunately it seems the rest of the passengers died,” Mamitov said.

Officials said they would release a full list of dead and survivors early on Monday (August 25).

A health ministry spokeswoman said 18 people were taken  to Bishkek hospitals. She did not say whether there were any more survivors.

He did say whether the pilot was injured and in hospital or in a state of shock at the airport.

Officials said  83 passengers and seven crew were on board the Boeing 737-200 and 51 of the passengers were nationals of China, Turkey, Iran and Canada.

A government official told reporters that 17 teenagers, a basketball team from a local sports school, were on board. He said seven of them survived and were in hospital. 

The crash site, close to the Manas airport runway, was sealed off by police but airport employees who had seen the wreckage said all the fuselage was destroyed by flames with only the tail still intact.

Transport Minister Nurlan Sulaimanov said the plane, built in 1979, was in good shape and had been inspected only two months ago.  
        
Prime Minister Igor Chudinov said that according to initial reports, the plane suffered from a sudden loss of pressure, causing the pilot to request an emergency landing.

(Agencies)

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The injured included French and Italians. Five Austrians and three Swiss were among the missing. The avalanche occurred at dawn, an Italian police official said earlier on Sunday. 

Among those injured, four had left hospital while another three were still being treated. 

France’s Minister of the Interior, Michelle Alliot Marie, visited the injured at Chamonix hospital, where they are being treated. ”Only the most seriously injured remain here like the one I just spoke to,” she said after visiting injured mountaineer, Nicolas, in his hospital bed. ”There are a dozen people who have disappeared, probably buried by the avalanche,” she added.

One of the survivors, mountaineer Nicolas said the avalanche had struck very quickly. ” It was very  unexpected, we were swept away, it went very fast, it was a few seconds, maybe a minute,” he said.

French rescue forces have suspended their search for  the missing climbers due to hazardous conditions. 

Mont Blanc is the highest peak in the Alps, spanning the border between Italy and France.

(Agencies) 

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Alejandro Aguilar (ah-gee-LAHR) was one of the event’s coordinators and he said the annual event proceeded well.

“It’s a traditional event that has taken place since the time of the Tlaxcalteca ancestors. One can say it’s  from Spanish influence but it takes place here in Huamantla  and it occurs perfectly well,” he said. “There are always the injured which there always has to be.”

Fewer people were injured this year than last year when 23 were injured and one man died. Officials credit increased security including 500 emergency personnel and 20 ambulances that were on hand.

Among the injured was an on-duty Red Cross paramedic who was gored in the head by a run away bull. Municipal police shot the bull to death.

The annual festival was held in the colonial town of Huamantla (wah-MAHN-tlah), 05 miles from Mexico City. 

Thousands of people lined the streets of Huamantla as 24 bulls were let loose in five streets in a festival held since 1953 in Tlaxcala (teh-lawx-KAH-lah) state, the cradle of Mexican bull fighting. Spectator Sergio Alvarado said he especially enjoyed  watching the large animals.

“The good thing, the pretty thing is when the bulls charge, when they play, when something can be done with the bulls,” he said. 

The festival has yet to achieve the status of Spain’s  San Fermin bull running, which was made famous by Ernest Hemingway’s novel “The Sun also Rises,” a semi-autobiographical account of an alcohol-fueled visit to the event by a group of squabbling British and American friends in the 1920s.

(Agencies)

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The bomber blew up his explosives-laden vest as police and members of the Sunni Awakening group sat down to dinner in the Abu Ghraib district, about 30 kms west of Baghdad, the interior ministry official said yesterday. 

The attack took place at around 8:30 pm local time, he added.

Awakening groups began in the western province of Anbar when Sunni tribal leaders turned on their former Al-Qaeda allies in 2006.  Since then hundreds of such groups have sprung up across Iraq, supported and paid for by the US military. 

Al-Qaeda has frequently warned that members of Awakening groups will be specially targetted because of their  cooperation with the US military in fighting the jihadists. 

In other violence in Iraq yesterday, three bomb attacks and a shootout claimed the lives of nine people and wounded more than two dozen, security officials said.

The bloodletting comes about a week before the start of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, when violence tends to spike in Iraq. 

Four Iraqi soldiers were killed and eight others were wounded when a roadside bomb blasted their patrol in the town of Bala Druz, near the restive city of Baquba which has long struggled against Al-Qaeda. 

In Baquba itself, two policemen were killed and six others including a woman were wounded in a shootout when insurgents fired at a police patrol, a defence ministry official said.

(Agencies)

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And according to one commentary on the research, current models of climate change have not taken this extra source of greenhouse gas into account.

Scientists have long known that organic carbon trapped inside a blanket of frozen permafrost covering one fifth of the world’s land mass would, if thawed, release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

But until now they simply did not have a good idea of how much carbon is actually locked inside this Arctic freezer.  To find out, a team of American researchers led by Chien-Lu Ping of the University of Alaska Fairbanks examined a wide range of landscapes across North America.

They took soil samples from 117 sites, each to a depth of at least one metre, in order to provide a full assessment of the region’s so-called “carbon pool.” Previous estimates of the Arctic carbon pool relied heavily on a relative handful of measurements conducted outside of the Arctic, and only to a depth of 40 centimetres.

The study, published in the British journal Nature Geoscience, found that the stock of organic carbon is considerably higher than previously thought, 60 percent more than the previously estimated.

This is roughly equivalent of one sixth of the entire carbon content in the atmosphere.
And that is just for North America. The size and mix of landscapes in the northern reaches of Europe and Russia are about the same, and probably contain a comparable amount of carbon-dioxide producing matter currently held in check only by the cold, the study said.

PTI

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It was so in demand that today it was listed as out of stock by both booksellers. The Random House Publishing Group released the memoir in the summer of 2007, several months after Biden announced his candidacy for president.

But, like so many campaign works, “Promises to Keep” was no more successful than its author, who dropped out of the race in January 2008.

A year after it came out, “Promises to Keep” was not yet available in paperback, a sign that the publisher had given up on the book.

(PTI)

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According to a report in British newspaper the ‘Daily Mail’, President Sarkozy’s tender pat on Bruni’s belly, while the couple were on a holiday at the family villa in Cap Negre on the French Riviera, has fuelled the speculation.

The leading newspaper has also published photographs of the 53-year-old flamboyant French French President kissing his bikini-clad wife and touching her belly while on holiday in the Mediterranean sea this month.

In fact, rumours about Bruni’s having a baby with Sarkozy have been doing the rounds ever since the start of the couple’s 80-day whirlwind romance, which finally culminated into marriage this February.

Last month, in an interview to a lifestyle magazine, the 40-year-old French First Lady had said that she was not pregnant but she would like to try for a baby with Sarkozy, though her age could be a problem.

“I’m not pregnant and I regret it because I love it when I am. Will it happen? It is very difficult for me to say. However, it is more difficult when you are 40 than when you are 25,” she had said.

Bruni has a son from a previous relationship while Sarkozy has three sons from his first two marriages as well as two step daughters. However, the Elysee Palace has refused to comment on the matter.

(PTI)

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PPP Chairman Zardari said his understanding with the PML-N on reinstating the judges deposed by ex-President Pervez Musharraf during emergency rule last year was not “sacrosanct” and could be modified to suit the evolving political scenario.

Former premier Nawaz Sharif, the chief of PML-N who has set a Monday deadline for the sacked judges’ restoration, is reluctant to commit his party’s support for Zardari’s candidature for presidency unless the post is stripped of sweeping powers to dissolve Parliament and dismiss Premier.

Following Zardari’s comments on the understanding over the judges issue, a PML-N spokesman said efforts by a committee to draft a resolution for reinstating the deposed judges had become “irrelevant”.

Understandings between political parties cannot be “termed as agreements” and agreements and declarations between the PPP and PML-N on restoring the judges are not holy scriptures that cannot be “altered or modified” to suit political developments, Zardari told BBC Urdu in an interview.

Zardari refused to set a timeframe for restoring the judges. He also said the PPP had “no reservations” against Musharraf staying on in Pakistan following his resignation last week as the party does not believe in revenge.

In a separate interview with Newsweek, Zardari said Musharraf was “welcome to stay” in Pakistan and Parliament would decide whether he would get immunity from future prosecution. Though there was no agreement between the PPP and Musharraf before his resignation, there was “a general understanding that we are not looking to (get) into any messy fights,” he said.

Zardari said the future President could grant Musharraf a pardon. He also said he thought the President should not have the power to dissolve Parliament. The PML-N reacted angrily to Zardari’s comments, with party spokesman Siddique-ul-Farooq saying it appeared that the PPP wanted to get “maximum power”.

If agreements between political parties are not honoured they become “tools of deception”, Farooq said. The PPP had also not yet responded to PML-N chief Sharif’s query on whether the deposed judges would be reinstated by tomorrow, Farooq said. “There has been no feedback but they have made their response clear in Mr Zardari’s interview,” he told.

The PML-N would also not participate in the meeting of the committee drafting the resolution to be tabled in Parliament for restoring the judges as the process had now become “irrelevant”, Farooq said. “Since Mr Zardari has not fulfilled his promise and he has backed out, we are free to take our own decisions,” he said.

Even if the PML-N were to pull out of the ruling coalition, Zardari is widely expected to win the presidential poll with the backing of lawmakers of smaller parties like the Awami National Party, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, Jamaat-e-Islami and Muttahida Qaumi Movement and independent and tribal parliamentarians. 

A meeting of the ANP’s top leadership held today in Peshawar decided to back Zardari’s candidature even though the party had yesterday said it was not taken into confidence by the PPP about the choice of its presidential candidate.

The PML-N’s efforts to reinstate the deposed judges suffered yet another setback when Zardari said the PPP believed former Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had “become too politicised”.

Zardari held a two-hour meeting with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to discuss the future of coalition and key issues like the restoration of the judges. Sharif too held discussions with the top leadership of the PML-N at his residence in Lahore to chalk out his party’s future course of action.

Meanwhile, a close aide of Sharif, said the party leaders would meet tomorrow to decide whether to remain in the coalition government or not, besides discussing the issue of Musharraf’s successor. “General opinion in the party is infavour of parting ways,” Pervez Rasheed told. Another Sharif aide Javed Hashmi told the agency that he was willing to contest the presidential election.

(With inputs from PTI)

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