Defence budget debated in the Parliament; Stalemate between PPP and PML-N over judiciary continues; Taliban threatens to scrap the peace deal in Swat; Bush backs Karzai’s threat to pursue Taliban inside Pakistan
  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Whatsapp
  • Linkedin
  • Print
  • Pakistan’s defence budget was for the first time debated in the Parliament on June 17. Raza Rabbani, leader of the house in Senate stated that this was in accordance with the Charter of Democracy signed earlier between the two parties of the coalition government1. The differences between the coalition partners however continued over the issue of judiciary and on the question of impeachment of President Musharraf. This was even after Mr. Zardari and Mr. Nawaz Sharif held another round of meeting in Lahore on June 182.

    In other developments, the Taliban in Swat threatened to scrap the peace deal if the government did not enforce all the provisions of the deal within a week3. The warning prompted the government of NWFP to initiate efforts to save the peace agreement. Towards this end, Wajid Ali Khan, head of the provincial government’s implementation committee in NWFP, held talks with Taliban leaders at Dewlai on June 204. In a related development, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on June 18 in Washington stressed that the peace deals should not bestow ‘impunity’ to militants and that they should be subjected to appropriate counter measures5.

    Meanwhile, President Bush, addressing a joint press conference with British Prime Minister Gordon brown in London on June 16, supported Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s threat to pursue Taliban elements inside Pakistani teritory6.

    Top