Pakistan heading for unfortunate situation: Nawaz

Opposition leader Nawaz Sharif has blamed the Pakistan government for the political turmoil in the country set off by a court order barring him from elected office and warned Islamic extremists could exploit the unrest.

Sharif, in his first interview since the ruling on Wednesday, accused President Asif Ali Zardari of "declaring martial law on democracy," a charge echoing the complaints that forced former military ruler Pervez Musharraf to give up the presidency last year.

Sharif's interview with The Associated Press on Friday came amid a surge of political squabbling that is sure to distract the government of this nuclear-armed country from grappling with the Taliban and al-Qaida threat spreading from the tribal areas along the frontier with Afghanistan.

Pakistan also is in the middle of a tense time with neighboring India over the deadly militant attack on Mumbai, and Sharif said Zardari's pro-Western government isn't going to be able to face any of its key tasks if it continues to wage political war on him.

"It cannot concentrate on the very big issues we are confronted with," he said. "We have issues going on in the tribal area, we have this big issue in the Swat area, and we have a very ugly situation on our eastern border after the Bombay (Mumbai) killings."

The political uproar set off by the court ruling against Sharif is lining up influential civic groups led by disgruntled lawyers with Sharif's increasingly popular Pakistan Muslim League against Zardari. It's a confrontation that will also feed worries about military intervention, a frequent result of political turmoil in Pakistan.

"I think we are heading for some sort of unfortunate situation," Sharif said at his villa near Lahore, without elaborating. "There are a lot of forces — the militants, the extremists — they are all there to take advantage."

The Supreme Court ruling upheld a ban on Sharif from contesting elections because of a past criminal conviction related to the 1999 military coup that ended his second term as prime minister and put Musharraf in power.

Sharif's brother also was disqualified from continuing as head of the provincial government in Punjab, the nation's biggest and most populous region. Zardari ousted the government there and installed a loyalist as governor.

Parliament was not a priority for some MPs

The 14th Lok Sabha came to an end on Thursday and all eyes are now on the General Elections.

Even though the 14th Lok Sabha was one of the most acrimonious but there were many MPs who just did not made it a habit to attend its sessions on a regular basis.

Quite a few MPs revelled in giving the House a miss during the 14th Lok Sabha.

On top of the absentee list was Govinda Arun Ahuja who was busy romancing his first love - Bollywood - and forgetting that he had business in Parliament.

Dharmendra was more interested in his son's career than welfare of the neglected Bikaner constituency.

Shibu Soren was in and out of jail and stayed away from Parliament while Mamata Banerjee fought the Nano and the Tatas but didn't want to take on her opposition in Parliament.

So is there any self-introspection among the MPs?

"I promise my constituency people and my party that of next time I get a chance I am going to do better and better," Samajwadi Party MP Akhilesh Yadav said.

The above list is of just a few of the famous absentees. But there is a comprehensive list of people with less than 30 per cent attendance during the 14th Lok Sabha.

It includes Ateeq Ahmad (20 per cent), Babu Lal Marandi (29 per cent), Dayanidhi Maran (10 per cent), Dharmendra (24 per cent), Govinda (12 per cent), MH Ambareesh (27 per cent), Mamata Banerjee (18 per cent), Mohammad Shahabuddin (24 per cent), Pappu Yadav (four per cent) and Shibu Soren (14 per cent).

It is an appalling figure and therefore some MPs have taken a pledge to improve it.

"Public wants the MPs to attend Parliament," BJP MP Shahnawaz Hussein said.

In the barely pass list are also some notables. Sonia Gandhi had an attendance percentage of 36, HD Deve Gowda 39, Priya Sunil Dutt 46, Navjyot Singh Sidhu 45 and Jaya Prada at 43.

But the Class of 2004 was not without the good boys and girls. Eighty-year-old Abdul Rehman Antulay headed the group that registered a 95 per cent attendance.

Pawan Bansal, Krishna Tirath and Sajjan Kumar also belonged to this club of exemplary MPs.

It was not only the attendance that mattered. Errabelli Dayakar Rao of the Telegu Desam Party had a 100 per cent attendance record.

But it was of hardly any use because his debate records show he never aksed any question or took part in any discussion.

There's a saying 'absence makes the heart grow fonder' and with almost 11 per cent of MPs earning an attendance of less than 50 per cent, it's hard to say if the Speaker or fellow parliamentarians grew any more fond of them.

What's certain though is that the voters will not remember them fondly.

(Data provided by PRS Legislative Research. Data till December 2008)

Govt wakes up, to stop auction of Gandhiji's items

After a public furore, the government has decided to acquire Mahatma Gandhi's personal belongings including his iconic glasses which were to auctioned in New York early March.

The government is still exploring options as to how to go about the process. Gandhiji's grandson Tushar Gandhi has already been trying to get those items back.

Five personal belongings of Gandhiji including, spectacles, glasses, sandals, a pocket watch and some utensils are slated for auction in New York on March 4 and 5.

Now the Indian government is expected to make a formal request to return them citing honour and respect for Indian sentiment.

But if this request is unheard, then the government hopes to convince some organisation to buy them and gift them to India. The government is also toying with the idea of buying them at a reserve price.

The Indian mission in New York and Washington has already been briefed about it.

But what is intriguing is that even after the auctioning of Gandhiji's letters by Christies in London in 2007 had to be withdrawn following loud protests and an appeal from India, the government has been caught unawares over the this one.

"It was a national shame that somebody that we refer to as Father of the Nation and his personal belongings are being auctioned off in a foreign land. This kind of concern should be for every national heritage," says Tushar Gandhi.

Especially so since the Minister of Culture Ambika Soni has been proposing for some time a law prohibiting auction of belongings of leaders like Gandhiji.

The government's worry now is understandable as in the election season Gandhiji is a powerful emotion.

Pak flip-flop continues, navy doubts 26/11 confession

Pakistan on Friday sacked the special public prosecutor Sardar Ghazi in the Mumbai terror attack investigation case and in another major development Pakistani Navy chief Admiral Noman Bashir said that they were not sure whether Mumbai attackers had travelled to Mumbai by sea.

"India has been claiming from Day I that they used the sea route but we don't have any evidence," Admiral Noman Bashir said.

But it isn't evidence from India but Pakistan that Admiral Noman Bashir seems to doubt. Just two weeks after the Interior Minister Rehman Malik detailed the sea route Kasab and the other nine terrorists took giving the number of boats used, Admiral Bashir's remark seems to contradict Malik.

If there's no evidence that Kasab and the nine other terrorists took the sea-route then why did Pakistan Interior Minister name three boats, arrested the engine-seller for boats used by the terrorists and seized bank accounts of men who bought them.

The Admiral may still be unsure over whether Kasab and the attackers came to Mumbai by sea but not about whose fault it is.

"They (Mumbai attackers) dodged a navy that is 10 times the size of Pakistan Navy and a coast guard that is 12 times Pakistan Coast Guards. So you can imagine," Admiral Bashir added.

In India, External Affairs Minister of State and Information and Broadcasting Minister of State Anand Sharma was quick to take a dig at the Pakistani see-saw.

"This multiple speak, duplicity and denial creates confusion. We cannot say for them. they have to decide and speak in one voice," said Anand Sharma.

Sharma's words were followed closely by a barb from Home Minister P Chidambaram.

"Well I don't wish to receive any certificate of appreciation or criticism from the Pakistan Navy. I am sure that somebody will deny tomorrow what the Pakistan Navy has said," said Chidambaram.

Whatever the reason, Admiral Bashir's statement has left many wondering both in Islamabad and New Delhi.

Is Pakistan preparing for another turnaround in the 26/11 investigations, or is it more evidence of the growing fissure between its political and military establishment?

Conspiracy behind mutiny, says Dhaka

The morning after the mutiny ended on Thursday, family members and relatives gathered at the gates of the Bangladesh rifles headquarters in Dhaka seeking news of their loved ones

The mother of Major General Shakeel Ahmed - among the first to be killed in the mutiny - along with his wife was in the crowd. Major General Shakeel Ahmed was the boss of BDR. His body was shot seven times.

Despite the calm after the end of the violence, on Friday morning Dhaka witnessed another round of high drama as the army tanks rolled into the BDR headquarters to search the entire complex.

As the list of army officers found dead increased and emotions ran high, there were rumours of the army acting on it's own. It took Home Minister Sahara Khatun's public announcement to clear the doubts.

She made clear that the Bangladesh army were acting on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's commands.

Till Friday evening, 42 more army officials posted in BDR were found dead from a mass grave inside this compound, taking the death toll to 125.

During the day, Prime Minister Hasina clearly indicated that the killing of army officers during the BDR mutiny was an act of sabotage, a conspiracy as the government claimed.

The government promised to hunt down the instigators of the bloody mutiny.

Minister (Bangladesh Local Development), Jahangir Kabir Nanak said, "There will be no mercy for those who killed."

Meanwhile, more than 300 BDR soldiers have been arrested across the country, as the civilian government hunts for those who plotted and funded the violent mutiny.

Tendulkar to join Lara and Warne at Madame Tussauds

Cricket maestro Sachin Tendulkar will be the latest sporting great to be featured at the internationally-renowned Madame Tussauds in London when a new wax figure of the Mumbai-born batsman joins the A-list line up in April.

Tendulkar follows in the famous footsteps of Bollywood greats Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan and will join other cricket legends Brain Lara and Shane Warne to become the very first Indian sports personality to be portrayed, the waxworks museum said in a statement Friday.

The cricketing legend has already had a sitting with the Madame Tussauds studios team who last week travelled to Mumbai to capture a catalogue of reference photographs and hundreds of precise measurements.

The information they collected at the two hour session at the Taj Lands End Hotel will prove invaluable as the sculptors and hair and make up artists get to work on his figure.

"We are delighted to confirm our next Indian superstar is going to be Sachin Tendulkar; his achievements on the cricket pitch are phenomenal and he is one of the biggest names in international sport," says Liz Edwards, Madame Tussauds PR manager.

"The Bollywood stars we have included over the past ten years have proved enormously popular with Asian guests and film fans from all over the world. We know Sachin will be just as popular for sports fans from home and abroad and are looking forward to introducing the real Sachin to his wax double soon."

Tendulkar, the Mumbai Indians Captain will be featured in typical celebratory "on the pitch" pose after another century marked in the scorebook.

He will be dressed in his cricket whites which he has donated.

The figure will be created at Madame Tussauds studios in West London at a cost of 150,000 pounds.

The cricket star will join the ranks of sporting greats, including David Beckham, Mohammed Ali, Tiger Woods and Jesse Owens, in Madame Tussauds interactive Sports Zone.

There will also be a cricketing challenge around the introduction of the figure, where guests can test their cricketing skills against the 'masterblaster'.

McCullum steals last-ball thriller for Black Caps

Brendon McCullum hit a single off the last ball to lead New Zealand to a thrilling five-wicket win over India in the second Twenty20 international at Wellington on Friday to seal the series 2-0.

McCullum held his nerve in a nailbiting final over from Irfan Pathan to guide New Zealand past India's total of 149-6, finishing with an unbeaten 69. The home team finished on 150-5.

New Zealand's chances of winning looked slim when they needed nine runs off the last three balls but McCullum kept his cool, smacking two successive boundaries to level the scores before chipping the final delivery over the infield to seal the win.

McCullum, who also made an unbeaten half-century in New Zealand's seven-wicket win over the Twenty20 world champions in Christchurch on Tuesday, produced another great innings when his team needed it most.

The wicketkeeper-batsman faced 55 balls and struck eight boundaries and a six. The only other New Zealanders to pass 20 were opener Jesse Ryder (26) and Ross Taylor (27).

Yuvraj Singh top-scored for India with 50 off 34 deliveries, featuring three sixes and three fours, but received little support apart from captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (28 not out) and opener Virender Sehwag (24).