Tag: Leader

DHARAMSHALA - The Dalai Lama announced on Thursday he would step down as political head of Tibet's exiled government, but continue to push the Tibetan cause in his key role as its spiritual figurehead. In a speech on the anniversary of a failed uprising in 1959 against Chinese rule, the Dalai Lama said he would seek an amendment allowing him to resign his political office when the exiled Tibetan parliament meets next week.
"As early as the 1960s, I have repeatedly stressed that

ISLAMABAD - Former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Wednesday built a strong case against his own party's government and came out with his vision to take the country out of the decades-old crisis situation including the issues in the fields of energy, food and law and order. Qureshi, in an hour-long discourse with the media at the National Press Club, deliberated upon the issues being faced by the common man and said only a "clean and honest" leadership could take the country

KARACHI - A prominent religious scholar and leader of the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ), Maulana Ahmed Madni, and his son were gunned down by unidentified men in Karachi on Saturday. Police said two men riding a motorcycle opened fire at Madni's vehicle in New Karachi area.
The religious scholar's son Abu Bakar, died on the spot, while Madni died on way to the hospital. New Karachi DSP told Pakistan Today that the murder could be an act sectarian violence. Madni was the

LAHORE - PPP Punjab senior leader Raja Riaz was named the leader of the opposition in the Punjab Assembly on Wednesday after PML-Q's Chaudhry Zaheeruddin resigned from the post, saying his party always respected other parties' mandate.
Early in the day, outgoing opposition leader Chaudhry Zaheer submitted his resignation with the PA speaker. Soon after that, Raja Riaz and several other PPP-backed MPAs called on Speaker Rana Iqbal and submitted two applications. The PPP's two

FAISALABAD - Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) Lawyers Forum Divisional Organiser Mian Abdur Rauf advocate has said Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) ruled the country a number of times, but failed to address the people's problems. "It is due to the fact that the leaders of both these parties are incompetent, corrupt and devoid of vision," he said. "Under the prevailing circumstances, only Imran Khan can steer the country out of the current crisis," he

TUNIS/MUSCAT/MANAMA - Tunisian Prime Minister Muhammad Ghannouchi resigned on Sunday, as security forces clashed with protesters in Tunis demanding the removal of some ministers of his interim government. "I have decided to quit as prime minister," Ghannouchi told a news conference, saying that he thought carefully before taking the decision which was supported by his family.
"I am not running away from responsibility. This is to open the way for a new prime minister. I am not

ANKARA - Necmettin Erbakan, the mentor of political Islam in Turkey and the country's first Islamist prime minister, died after a protracted illness Sunday, aged 84, aides said. "Turkey has lost one of its most valuable people... Let him rest in peace," Erbakan's long-time associate Oguzhan Asilturk said on NTV television.
Erbakan, who in recent years headed the small Felicity Party, was hospitalised in Ankara in early January due to what was announced as a foot infection, NTV

LAHORE - Punjab Assembly leader of the opposition Chaudhry Zaheeruddin has issued show-cause notice on the house members elected on the Pakistan Muslim League Quaid (PML-Q) tickets in 2008 with bicycle as their election symbol, and who have been disloyal to their original party to form a 'Lota' bloc (a bloc of turn coats).
Parliamentary leader of the Unification Bloc, PML-Q dissident group, Dr Tahir Ali Javaid, said Zaheeruddin had no authority to issue notices. According to a

ATHENS - Greek police clashed with protesters on Wednesday as around 100,000 workers, pensioners and students marched to parliament in protest at austerity policies aimed at helping Greece cope with a huge debt crisis. Riot police fired scores of rounds of teargas and flash bombs at protesters hurling petrol bombs, choking the main Syndagma square with smoke and sending crowds of striking protesters running for cover.
Public and private sector employees' 24-hour strike grounded

ADEN/SANAA - The leader of Yemen's secessionist Southern Movement was arrested in Aden and shots were fired at a demonstration in Sanaa on Sunday as unrest hit the impoverished Arab country for a ninth consecutive day. Thousands of people also staged sit-ins in the cities of Ibb and Taiz, demanding the departure of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who renewed his call for opposition parties to pursue a dialogue with the government.
Saleh, a US ally battling a resurgent al Qaeda wing

TEHRAN - Iran Monday blocked access to opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi's house to prevent him attending a rally in support of Arab revolts and also deployed anti-riot police in parts of Tehran, reports said.
Witnesses said anti-riot police on motorbikes armed with riot shotguns, tear gas, batons, paintball guns and fire extinguishers were deployed in parts of the capital to prevent gatherings which could turn into anti-government demonstrations. Police blocked access to the

KHARTOUM - Sudanese security services on Thursday arrested prominent government critic Mariam al-Mahdi, daughter of the premier whom President Omar al-Bashir ousted in a 1989 coup, as a crackdown on the opposition gathered pace. Mahdi was arrested in Khartoum as she went with a group of activists to petition the security forces for the release of protesters detained nearly two weeks ago, a member of her Umma party said.
"The minute we stepped out of the car they arrested her,"

TUNIS - Tunisia's Senate was called on Wednesday to grant wide powers to the interim president struggling to restore order to the country following the overthrow of ex-leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Caretaker Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi told the upper house ahead of a vote on the measure to follow the lead of the lower house of parliament which on Monday authorized interim president Foued Mebaza to rule by decree.
"We are coming under social pressure because of the

LAHORE - The opposition MPAs in Punjab Assembly asked the Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal to take notice of fake signatures on an application moved by the PML-Q forward bloc members claiming separate status.
The opposition members under the leadership of Chaudhary Zaheer, who is leader of the opposition in Punjab Assembly, visited the speaker office and apprised him of the issue relating to fake signatures.

ISLAMABAD - Unidentified men on Friday thrashed Pakistan Muslim League (PML)-Likeminded Senior Vice-President Syed Kabir Ali Wasti, his brother Saeed Wasti and the driver near Faizabad Bridge. According to details, Wasti and his brother Saeed were on their way to Rawalpindi from Islamabad when they were intercepted by a black Parado, bearing green number plate.
"Four to five persons came out of the vehicle and started beating Kabir Wasti while his brother and the driver tried to

NIAMEY - Niger's junta leader called on voters for a massive turnout on Monday to close the door on military rule by electing a new, civilian president to head one of the world's poorest countries. The Sahelian country's 6.7 million registered voters must choose between three former allies of deposed ex-president Mamadou Tandja and a longtime opponent of the former leader.
The new president will have the task of leading one of the world's top uranium producers out from under the

ASTANA - Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev on Monday unexpectedly rejected a plan to hold a referendum on prolonging his rule until 2020, saying that he would instead call early presidential polls. The announcement stunned Kazakhstan after parliament earlier this month agreed the controversial referendum should go ahead but also came after rare criticism of the ex-Soviet state by its Western ally the US.
The referendum was backed by the ruling Nur-Otan party which sees