Weekly EHTASABI AMAL Lahore ھفت روذھ احتسابی عمل لاھور

* Analyst says election will not prevent extremists’ push to gain influence WASHINGTON: To be credible, the January 2008 elections must be held in an environment where the constitution has been reinstated, politicians are free to campaign, the media is free to report, and all activists are freed from detention, according to a Heritage Foundation expert.Lisa Curtis, who is to be a member of the International Republican Institute election monitoring team, argues in a paper released this week that while an election will not immediately halt terrorist attacks in Pakistan, nor will it stop the extremists in their push to gain influence and territory in the northwest. She says a strong showing by the mainstream secular parties would demonstrate that the vast majority of Pakistanis do not support the extremist Islamic agenda. This could, in turn, strengthen the public mandate of any future premier acting to combat extremism and terrorism. Political stability in Pakistan and Islamabad’s prosec...

KARACHI: Former Supreme Court Bar Association president Munir A Malik has been allowed to go abroad for further treatment as his condition has stabilised. Malik was reportedly taken to the city passport office in an ambulance for a fresh passport, only to find that his CNIC has been blocked. According to sources close to him, the NADRA authorities of Sindh told the wards of the ailing lawyer that no action was taken by them. Malik’s well-wishers then approached the NADRA top brass and were told in response to bring some documents including the NIC of his mother so that this CNIC could be unblocked. ar qureshi

* President says he will keep close relationship with army as civilian president * Iftikhar wanted to remove him ‘illegally’ ISLAMABAD/SIALKOT: President Pervez Musharraf pledged on Tuesday to cooperate with whoever wins January’s crucial general elections, saying that he was not a “trouble creator”, AFP reported.Opposition leaders and former premiers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif have accused Musharraf of wanting to rig the polls in favour of parties that back him, although both have declined to boycott the elections.But Musharraf told Al-Jazeera’s English channel that he was willing to work with the victors of the January 8 polls.“I will try to work with anyone who comes to power after the elections,” Musharraf said in an interview broadcast on Tuesday. “I interact with people quite well, I am not such a trouble creator.”Although both Benazir and Nawaz are currently barred from serving a third term in office, neither has shown much inclination to let their parties cooperate with hi...