ISLAMABAD // A Pakistani judge issued an arrest warrant Thursday for the ruling party's candidate for prime minister over allegations he illegally imported chemicals used to make drugs, injecting fresh uncertainty into efforts to replace the previous premier who was ousted by the Supreme Court.
The warrant was announced after the Pakistan People's Party nominated Makhdoom Shahabuddin, raising suspicion it was politically motivated and aimed at blocking the president's choice to replace Yusuf Raza Gilani. The anti-narcotic force is run by the army, another power center in Pakistan's chaotic polity and one that has at times allied with the judiciary to target elected governments.
Gilani was dismissed Tuesday because he refused to initiate a corruption case against President Asif Ali Zardari, the head of the PPP.
The order, which left the country without a Cabinet, was an escalation of a bruising power struggle between the government and activist judges, who critics say are unfairly prioritizing cases against the government. The arrest warrant is sign that tensions may continue, distracting the country even as its relations with the United States are facing major strains.
Shahabuddin, the outgoing textile minister and a veteran PPP lawmaker, was Zardari's first choice for the prime minister. The 65-year-old appeared defiant as he filed nomination papers ahead of a scheduled vote in the parliament on Friday. But by Thursday evening, two other People's Party stalwarts were being mentioned as likely replacement candidates.
The PPP has a majority in parliament, and together with its coalition partners should have the numbers to get their choice elected. General elections are scheduled for March next year, but most assume the political upheaval will ensure they will be brought forward to the fall.
The arrest warrant was issued by an anti-narcotics court judge in the northern city of Rawalpindi, according to an officer at the anti-narcotics force and a law ministry official.
Shahabuddin was accused over his role in a scandal over the import of a drug that can be used to make methamphetamine, said the officials, who didn't give their names because they were not authorised to speak to the media. He was health minister at the time.
Gilani's son also has also been linked to the case, which revolves around two Pakistani pharmaceutical companies that allegedly used political connections to obtain huge amounts of ephedrine in 2010. They are suspected of diverting it to people in the drug trade who could have used it to make methamphetamines worth billions of dollars.
Gilani's son, who was also issued with an arrest warrant on Thursday, and Shahabuddin have denied any wrongdoing.
Shahabuddin was asked about the arrest warrant after filing his nomination at the parliament. He replied with a line from a poem about not being afraid of "hostile winds" and thanked the PPP and its coalition partners for choosing him.
The PPP said two other candidates - lawmaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and outgoing information minister Qamar Zaman Kaira - also had filed papers in the event that Shahabuddin withdraws. Conflicting media reports said each candidate was gathering support within the party and its coalition partners.
The next prime minister will likely quickly face the same order from the Supreme Court to investigate Zardari as Gilani did, meaning tensions will continue to roil the fragile political setup. The Gilani government was widely criticized for exacerbating - or doing nothing - to address the massive economic and security challenges in the country. No one expects any changes under a new premier.
Shahabuddin comes from a wealthy, landowning family based in the central Pakistani district of Rahim Yar Khan.
His father had served as minister in the cabinets of two Pakistani governments. He also served as minister for finance and health in the current government.
Relations between Washington and Islamabad are strained over a host of issues, including blocked war supply lines to Afghanistan and Pakistan's links to the Afghan Taliban. The Obama administration has tried to work with Pakistan to get it more aligned to its goals, but has had little success. The country's northwest remains a haven for al-Qaida and associated international militant groups, while the country's ties to the Afghan Taliban mean it will have role in bringing them to the negotiating table, or preventing civil war when the U.S. withdraws its combat troops in 2014.
In violence Thursday, a bomb attached to a donkey-drawn cart exploded at a Sunni shrine in the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing two children, police officer Zafar Khan said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast. Taliban militants have often targeted such shrines in the past because they consider them a form of idol worship that is forbidden in their strict interpretation of Islam.
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T20 World Cup Qualifier
October 18 – November 2
Opening fixtures
Friday, October 18
ICC Academy: 10am, Scotland v Singapore, 2.10pm, Netherlands v Kenya
Zayed Cricket Stadium: 2.10pm, Hong Kong v Ireland, 7.30pm, Oman v UAE
UAE squad
Ahmed Raza (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Ashfaq Ahmed, Rameez Shahzad, Darius D’Silva, Mohammed Usman, Mohammed Boota, Zawar Farid, Ghulam Shabber, Junaid Siddique, Sultan Ahmed, Imran Haider, Waheed Ahmed, Chirag Suri, Zahoor Khan
Players out: Mohammed Naveed, Shaiman Anwar, Qadeer Ahmed
Players in: Junaid Siddique, Darius D’Silva, Waheed Ahmed
World Cup final
Who: France v Croatia
When: Sunday, July 15, 7pm (UAE)
TV: Game will be shown live on BeIN Sports for viewers in the Mena region
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
JAPANESE GRAND PRIX INFO
Schedule (All times UAE)
First practice: Friday, 5-6.30am
Second practice: Friday, 9-10.30am
Third practice: Saturday, 7-8am
Qualifying: Saturday, 10-11am
Race: Sunday, 9am-midday
Race venue: Suzuka International Racing Course
Circuit Length: 5.807km
Number of Laps: 53
Watch live: beIN Sports HD
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Gender equality in the workplace still 200 years away
It will take centuries to achieve gender parity in workplaces around the globe, according to a December report from the World Economic Forum.
The WEF study said there had been some improvements in wage equality in 2018 compared to 2017, when the global gender gap widened for the first time in a decade.
But it warned that these were offset by declining representation of women in politics, coupled with greater inequality in their access to health and education.
At current rates, the global gender gap across a range of areas will not close for another 108 years, while it is expected to take 202 years to close the workplace gap, WEF found.
The Geneva-based organisation's annual report tracked disparities between the sexes in 149 countries across four areas: education, health, economic opportunity and political empowerment.
After years of advances in education, health and political representation, women registered setbacks in all three areas this year, WEF said.
Only in the area of economic opportunity did the gender gap narrow somewhat, although there is not much to celebrate, with the global wage gap narrowing to nearly 51 per cent.
And the number of women in leadership roles has risen to 34 per cent globally, WEF said.
At the same time, the report showed there are now proportionately fewer women than men participating in the workforce, suggesting that automation is having a disproportionate impact on jobs traditionally performed by women.
And women are significantly under-represented in growing areas of employment that require science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills, WEF said.
* Agence France Presse
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Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
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U19 World Cup in South Africa
Group A: India, Japan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka
Group B: Australia, England, Nigeria, West Indies
Group C: Bangladesh, Pakistan, Scotland, Zimbabwe
Group D: Afghanistan, Canada, South Africa, UAE
UAE fixtures
Saturday, January 18, v Canada
Wednesday, January 22, v Afghanistan
Saturday, January 25, v South Africa
UAE squad
Aryan Lakra (captain), Vriitya Aravind, Deshan Chethyia, Mohammed Farazuddin, Jonathan Figy, Osama Hassan, Karthik Meiyappan, Rishabh Mukherjee, Ali Naseer, Wasi Shah, Alishan Sharafu, Sanchit Sharma, Kai Smith, Akasha Tahir, Ansh Tandon
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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