ElBaradei sets conditions for presidential run

CAIRO — Egyptian dissident and Nobel laureate Mohamed ElBaradei said he would run for president if true democratic reforms were implemented, the official MENA news agency reported on Thursday.

"When the candidacy applications are open, I have the intention to run," ElBaradei said during an interview on the private satellite channel ON TV, MENA said.
But "if there is no real democratic system where people will be represented in the presidency and in parliament, then I will not be part of the decor and I will remain a political activist," he said.
ElBaradei, a former UN nuclear watchdog chief, also said he would be voting "no" in an upcoming referendum on constitutional amendments, calling instead for its postponement, or a new constitution altogether.
The military council which has ruled Egypt since president Hosni Mubarak was forced to step down in a popular uprising, formed a panel to pilot constitutional changes.
Egyptians are due to vote on the amendments on March 19.
The proposed changes will limit presidential terms to two and reduce them to four years. They will also ease restrictions on presidential candidates.
But ElBaradei said Egypt needs a constitutional assembly to write up a new democratic constitution.
"If we adopt these amendments, it would mean holding legislative polls within two months, and 80 percent of Egyptians, or the silent majority, won't have the chance to participate in a real parliamentary election," he said.
ElBaradei has repeatedly said polls should not be held until at least a year from now.

Investigation into minister’s murder turning away from Taliban

ISLAMABAD: Having failed to find Punjabi Taliban or other religious extremists, police have now been attempting to change the course of investigation into assassination of minorities minister Shahbaz Bhatti so that a neck is readily achieved that could fit the noose.

Bhatti was assassinated on March 2 in Sector I-8/3 after a visit to his mother’s house. Three or four persons, wearing shawls, stopped his official car and murdered him with Kalashnikov. After that, they fled easily.

Sources told Daily Times that a joint investigation team has assumed that the assassins have not used a stolen car in this case otherwise they would have dumped it somewhere in the twin cities, as is the practice adopted by terrorists in high-profile cases.

On the basis of this assumption, they said, the investigators have built another assumption that if the car is not stolen, it must have been parked in nearby locality – Sector I-8. They said that the killers, if religious, could not throw a pamphlet, reading that Punjabi Taliban have killed the minister, on road because it bore names of Allah and Prophit Muhammad (PBUH). They also believe that Taliban had not done the deed because they actually have refused to take refused to take responsibility and have not released an footage of the killing, as they are wont to. They said during investigation, the law enforcement agencies have found that Bhatti had allegedly grabbed a plot adjacent to FC College in Lahore and there was a property dispute with a party.

Another issue which has been found is that Bhatti had also allegedly grabbed 20 acres of land in Shahzad Town to settle Christians there eventuating in a property dispute with land owners.

During investigation, they said that joint investigation team has come to know that Bhatti started friendship with a nurse in 1995 and promised to marry her bit have not. On the day when Bhatti was assassinated, that nurse was present in his mother’s house.

They said the police have detected that Bhatti had sore relations with a man named Hector, who after having been in jail for sometime, got out a few days before the assassination. The police have involved him in investigation too. An officer of Ministry of Interior said reason behind Bhatti’s assassination can be enmity.

Pak working with US to ensure Davis' case doesn't impact ties

Pakistan said on Thursday that it was working with the US to ensure that the issue of suspected CIA contractor Raymond Davis, arrested in January for gunning down two men in Lahore, did not adversely impact bilateral ties, as it insisted that the case would be decided by the courts.. Faced wi th a volley of questions on Davis at the Foreign Office's weekly news briefing, its spokesperson Tehmina Janjua said the matter was sub-judice and it would be "a little early for me to say anything in this regard before" a hearing in the Lahore High Court on March 14 to decide the American's diplomatic status.

"As far as the foreign ministry is concerned, it is our responsibility to ensure that no relationship goes down to ground zero and our effort, and that we understand of the (US) State Department, is similar in this regard," she said.
Janjua refused to comment on the US administration's stand that 37-year-old Davis' arrest had violated the Vienna Convention and reports that the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia were involved in negotiations to resolve the matter.
"We have also seen reports to this effect in the media but as the situation stands right now, the case is sub-judice and it is best that we do not make any further comments on it," she said.
Pakistan and the US "continue to talk to each other" and Islamabad believes "we can sort out all issues bilaterally", Janjua said.
The Law, interior and foreign ministries are working together to address Davis' case in line with international and Pakistani law and global practice, she said.
The US-Pak relations have plunged to a new low after Islamabad rebuffed repeated demands from Washington for Davis' release on grounds of diplomatic immunity.
The Pakistani leadership, fearful of a public backlash due to rising anti-American sentiments, have insisted that the matter should be settled by the courts.
In response to another question about a senior Pakistan army officer's contention that a majority of those killed in US drone attacks were terrorists, Janjua said there had been no change in Pakistan's policy on the missile strikes by the unmanned spy planes.
"We continue to protest with the US with regard to civilian casualties that take place. In this context, the leadership has repeatedly raised this issue with the US leadership and all delegations from the US that visit Pakistan," she said.