The summary was drafted in light of the decision taken by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani at a meeting on Wednesday at the Prime Minister House.

Spokesman for the president Farhatullah Babar told The News that the Presidency received the summary, along with the advice of Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, and President Asif Ali Zardari signed and sent it back to the Prime Minister House.

After the signing of the summary, the Ministry of Law will issue a formal notification for the appointment of Justice Saqib Nisar and Justice Asif Saeed Khosa of the Lahore High Court as judges of the Supreme Court while Khalilur Rehman Ramday as ad hoc judge of the apex court for one year.

The president, on the advice of the prime minister, also appointed the following 22 additional judges in the Lahore High Court (LHC) and nine additional judges in the Sindh High Court (SHC):

Additional LHC judges: Mian Shahid Iqbal, advocate; M Farrukh Irfan Khan, advocate; Mamoon Rashid Shaikh, advocate; Shaukat Umar Pirzada, advocate; Waqar Hassan Mir, advocate; Yawar Ali Khan, advocate; Muhammad Khalid Mahmood, advocate; Ch Shahid Saeed, advocate; M Anwar Bhour, advocate; Ijaz Ahmad, advocate; Sardar Muhammad Shamim Khan, advocate; Hassan Raza Pasha, advocate; Syed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, advocate; Muhammad Anwaarul Haq, advocate; Muhammad Qasim Khan, advocate; Shahid Hameed Dar, advocate; Ch Muhammad Tariq, advocate; Mazhar Iqbal Sidhu, advocate; Rauf Ahmad Shaikh; Shaikh Ahmad Farooq; Muhammad Naseem Akhtar; Syed Akhlaq Ahmad

Additional SHC judges: Nisar Muhammad Shaikh; Syed Zakir Hussain; Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, advocate; Salman Hamid, advocate; Zahid Hamid, advocate; Muhammad Tasnim, advocate; Muhammad Ali Mazhar, advocate; Imam Bux Baloch, advocate; Abdul Hadi Khoso, advocate.

The case has further strained relations between Paris and Tehran. France awaiting a verdict for Clotilde Reiss, a French national held in Tehran, while Iran has demanded the liberation of Kavakand and accused France of bowing to US demands in the matter.

Kakavand was arrested in March 2009 at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris on an international arrest warrant issued by the USA. He subsequently spent five months in prison before being released on bail. The US is demanding, and expecting, his extradition for having purchased electronic products over the Internet from US firms in violation of a US embargo on exporting goods to Iran.

The Paris court is soliciting a “technical opinion” from a wing of the Ministry of Defence in order to determine the nature of the goods Kakavand bought in the US and sent to Iran.

The case will be reopened on March 31.

The matter went largely unnoticed by Paris until the arrest of French national Clotilde Reiss on July 1 in Iran. The young academic was accused by Iranian authorities of acting against Iranian national security during anti-government protests. She is currently under house arrest in the French embassy in Tehran where she awaits the conclusion of a long drawn-out trial. Her last court appearance for which was on Jan. 16.

Marion Gaudin, a FRANCE 24 correspondent covering the Kakavand trial at the Paris appeals court, said, “Iranian justice has been dragging its feet on making a decision on Clotilde Reiss; perhaps Iran is waiting to see how the Kakavand case pans out.”

The destiny of both Reiss and Kakavand are closely tied to diplomatic tensions between France and Iran. The two nations have found themselves at political and legal loggerheads, with insults and accusations on both ends. In Dec. 2009, Iranian authorities called for the liberation of Kavakand, accusing France of “acting under pressure from the US.”

Kavakand’s own lawyers are similarly concerned about the role of the US  in the affair. FRANCE 24 correspondent Catherine Nicholson, also covering the trial, cited Kakavand’s barrister, Diane François, as saying that an extradition to the US would be illegal by French law. Should the French courts approve the extradition, François intends to bring the case to the supreme court, according to Nicholson.

Both France and Iran eagerly await the court’s decision. If Kakavand is extradited to the US, he may face up to 20 years in prison.

President Barack Obama’s administration also expressed concern about Iran’s alleged human rights abuses and warned Latin American countries to “think twice” about ties with what it calls a major exporter of terrorism.

With a year-end deadline, the administration signaled that time is running out for Iran to seize its offer of diplomatic engagement for resolving nuclear and other issues.

In the last few days it has raised the specter of a fourth round of UN sanctions, which will require the full support of its five negotiating partners — Britain, France and Germany as well as Russia and China.

Russia and China have been more reluctant to impose sanctions on Iran but have become increasingly critical of Tehran.

“The offer of constructive engagement remains on the table, and we urge Iran to take concrete steps toward this course,” the White House said in a statement.

But the White House said Iran must heed the demands of the United Nations, including those of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

“If Iran continues to fail to bring its nuclear program into full compliance with the requirements of the United Nations Security Council and the IAEA, there will be consequences,” the White House said.

“And we will be consulting closely with our partners to ensure those consequences are credible,” it said in a statement.

In a recent censure vote backed by China and Russia, the IEAA called on Iran to stop construction of its second uranium enrichment plant under construction near the central Shiite shrine city of Qom.

The nuclear watchdog has also called on Iran to come clean on its uranium enrichment plant at Natanz, which the West has long feared masks efforts to build a nuclear bomb.

Iran denies the charge, saying it seeks peaceful nuclear energy.

In an interview with Al-Jazeera English television, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the international community will now turn toward using “more pressure, like sanctions” against Iran as it fails to take confidence-building steps.

She cited in particular Iran’s balking at an IAEA proposal for Iran to ship abroad low-grade nuclear fuel so it can be further enriched and returned to refuel a Tehran research reactor.

The chief US diplomat also noted doubts over Iran’s intentions following the discovery of the secret plant near Qom as well as Tehran’s crackdown on peaceful protests against disputed presidential elections in June.

The White House echoed the “grave concerns” from the European Union.

EU leaders backed Friday new sanctions against Iran, warning that Tehran’s refusal to negotiate over its nuclear program must be met with a tough response.

“Europe’s position is very clear, we need sanctions, this decision has been taken,” French President Nicolas Sarkozy told reporters, after two days of talks among the EU’s 27 leaders.

The White House said meanwhile that “the United States also remains deeply concerned about the deteriorating human rights situation in Iran,” in the wake of disputed elections.

“We continue to call on the Iranian government to end the use of violence and persecution against those who seek to peacefully exercise universal rights, and to abide by its international obligations,” it said.

Speaking Friday at a forum on Latin American policy, Clinton warned countries like Venezuela and Bolivia to “think twice” about fostering ties with Iran because of its alleged support for terrorism.

In a sign of Iran’s push for closer ties with the mostly leftist governments thriving at the doorstep of the United States, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited Venezuela, Bolivia and Brazil last month.

A senior State Department official told reporters Clinton’s tough line reflected that patience with Iran was running out.

“The clock’s ticking,” the official warned on the condition of anonymity.

According to a report broadcast by a private cable TV channel here, Blackwater, was operating in Afghanistan and Pakistan under different names since 2006, a fact revealed by American media for the past several months.

It had now expanded its network in country’s economic hub by renting several houses in posh Defence and Clifton localities and operating under the name of Xe Worldwide.

The report also showed couple of houses in Defence and Clifton rented in recent weeks in its detailed report highlighting the activities of the organisation after it was thrown out of Iraq where it was accused by the Iraqi government of having engaged in anti-state activities.

Although government of Pakistan officials and United States Embassy had denied the existence of Blackwater in the country the news media and opposition parties were adamant that the organisation was firmly entrenched here and involved in subversive activities and accused it to be behind twwhe on-going acts of terrorism in Pakistan.

Federal Interior Minister, Rehman Malik, even went to the extent claiming that there was no existence of Blackwater in Pakistan and if proved otherwise he would resign.

He, however, never denied the existence of some private contractors working on behalf of the US government in Pakistan.  The organisation was found to be allegedly engaged in hiring retired ex-servicemen and disgruntled elements offering them attractive pay packages to de-stablise the country in the garb contractors employed by United States authorities to for logistical support and provide security to consignments from Karachi bound for United States armed forces in Afghanistan.

Pakistan’s new media reported that the organisation had acquired hundreds of acres land near Pataro, some 100 miles from here, supposedly to establish an Agriculture Research Institute.

Besides over heavy 300 vehicles currently in Gwadar Port are awaiting to be released and transported to unknown destinations in Pakistan.

Custom officials at Gwadar had not been allowed inspection of these vehicles that seemed strange. Backwater’s existence in Pakistan came to light earlier this year when United States citizen Craig Davis along with some other American citizens were hauled up by Pakistan’s security agencies following complaints from several quarters in a letter to the Interior Ministry demanding a thorough probe into their dubious activities especially in the troubled NWFP.

Davis was identified as operative of Creative Associates International Inc; a Washington- based United States firm believed to be one the wings of Blackwater.

Internal pressure and exposure of their activities forced Davis to leave Pakistan temporarily.

Now it is learnt the gentleman was back in Pakistan and resumed his “official” activities.

A longed-for public inquiry into Britain’s role in the Iraq war opens Tuesday, with former civil servants first to appear in hearings set to climax with Tony Blair taking the stand.

  
One-time top officials from the foreign and defense ministries will outline Britain’s policy towards Baghdad in the early 2000s as a five-member committee begins investigating what lessons can be learned from the US-led war.
  
Inquiry chairman John Chilcot, a former civil servant, said he was confident of producing a “full and insightful” account of the decision-making that led Britain to join the 2003 invasion against strong opposition at home and abroad.
  
An appearance by former prime minister Blair, who took Britain into the conflict, is likely to be the highlight of the inquiry, although he and other Labour government figures are not due to give evidence until next year.
  
Chilcot has said that nobody is on trial in the inquiry, held at a conference centre near parliament in central London, but has also vowed not to shy away from any criticism if the findings warrant it.
  
He and his fellow committee members have already met with families of some of the 179 British troops who died during the six-year conflict, who raised issues about whether they were properly equipped and trained.
  
The inquiry will also be looking into the justification for the war, principally the claim that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. These weapons were never found.
  
In addition, anti-war campaigners — who will protest outside the inquiry Tuesday — want a ruling on the legality of the conflict, which was carried out without explicit approval by the United Nations Security Council.
  
The first few weeks are intended to establish “a reliable account” of the main features of British involvement in Iraq between 2001 and 2009, when the war ended with the withdrawal of all but a handful of British troops in July.
  
Among the first witnesses to be called Tuesday is Peter Ricketts, who chaired the government’s top intelligence committee between 2000 and 2001 before taking a senior post at the Foreign Office (FCO) in 2001-03.
  
William Patey, head of the FCO’s Middle East Department in 1999-02; Simon Webb, head of operational policy at the Ministry of Defence in 1999-2001 and MoD policy advisor in 2001-04; and Michael Wood, FCO legal advisor in 1999-06, will also give evidence.
  
There have already been two official probes into elements surrounding the run-up to the invasion, but ministers had refused to hold a full inquiry until after the military deployment had ended.
  
Ahead of the opening, a report suggested Tuesday that the inquiry was incapable of addressing the key issue of whether the invasion was legal because of a lack of lawyers and judges on its six-member committee.

 
An unnamed senior judge told that analyzing the war’s legality was beyond the committee’s competence.

AFP – Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge war crimes court on Monday began final arguments in its first trial, bringing the regime’s prison chief closer to justice for the “Killing Fields” atrocities 30 years ago.

Kaing Guek Eav — better known as Duch — has apologised for his role in the horrors of the hardline communist regime, which killed up to two million people.

But civil lawyers representing victims argued Monday that Duch had failed to acknowledge the full extent of his guilt.

“Your honours must objectively, we say, review the evidence to determine whether or not what has been accepted by the accused amounts to full disclosure and the full truth,” lawyer Karim Khan told judges.

“In large and important material particulars, even today, the accused has sought to evade or minimise his role and the awful reality that was S-21 (prison) and the regime that operated there and the fate and suffering that befell so many civil parties that we all represent.”

The tribunal appointed civil party lawyers who represent the views of 93 of the regime’s victims, seeking a harsh decision from the court.

The prosecution is scheduled to begin presenting its arguments Tuesday.

Duch is expected to apologise again this week as his defence bids to lessen his sentence.

Since his trial began in February, Duch, 67, has repeatedly asked for forgiveness for overseeing the murders of around 15,000 men, women and children at S-21 prison, a former high school also called Tuol Sleng.

He is charged with crimes against humanity, war crimes, torture and premeditated murder, and faces a maximum term of life in prison by the tribunal, which does not have the power to impose the death penalty.

A verdict is expected early next year.

Hundreds of Cambodians attended the specially built courtroom on the outskirts of Phnom Penh on Monday, watching Duch, who sat behind a huge bulletproof screen to prevent possible revenge attacks.

This week’s proceedings will be broadcast live by all Cambodian television stations, court officials said.

Tuol Sleng prison was at the heart of the Khmer Rouge security apparatus and inmates were taken from there during Duch’s tenure for execution at nearby Choeung Ek, an orchard now known as the “Killing Fields.”

Led by “Brother Number One” Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge was responsible for one of the worst horrors of the 20th century, wiping out nearly a quarter of the population through starvation, overwork and execution.

Rising to power as a tragic spin-off from the US conflict in Vietnam, the movement emptied Cambodia’s cities to take society back to a rural “Year Zero,” purging city dwellers, intellectuals and even people who wore glasses.

The Khmer Rouge was ousted by Vietnamese-backed forces after a reign of terror lasting three years, eight months and 20 days, but continued to fight a civil war until 1998. Pol Pot died in the same year.

Duch has been detained since 1999, when he was found working as a Christian aid worker in the jungle, and was formally arrested by the tribunal in July 2007.

The court has faced controversy over allegations of interference by the government and claims that Cambodian staff paid kickbacks for their jobs.

The joint trial of four other more senior Khmer Rouge leaders is expected to start in 2011.

The court is also investigating whether to open more cases against five other former Khmer Rouge cadres after a dispute between the international and Cambodian co-prosecutors over whether to pursue more suspects.