Musharraf declared fugitive as Bhutto murder trial ends in Pakistan
SANTIAGO, Chile (CMC) –Prime Minister of Jamaica Andrew Holness has called for deepening cooperation ties between Caribbean and Latin American countries. In delivering the keynote address at the headquarters of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Holness, who is on his first official visit to Chile, also gave his backing to the Caribbean debt relief proposal. “I am convinced that the path to prosperity must be forged through expanded trade and investment, and deeper regional cooperation between countries,” said Holness. He also recognised the contribution that ECLAC has made to Latin American and Caribbean economic development, “as a beacon of thinking in the region,” and indicated that Jamaica has followed this school of thought based on the structural change of economies, productive transformation, and equality at the centre of development. “We reaffirm our commitment to the ideas and principles of ECLAC,” said the Jamaican leader, fully endorsing and backing ECLAC’s proposal for debt relief for English-speaking Caribbean nations. “Jamaica supports and encourages this proposal,” he said, referring to the initiative first presented in late 2015 that contemplates the creation of a regional resilience fund to finance measures for climate change adaptation and mitigation. Holness also endorsed the organisation’s assessment of growing evidence that the Caribbean public debt has reached unsustainable levels, creating a situation that compromises the sub-region’s economic growth if it is not specifically addressed, according to ECLAC. “I am here to fully endorse that assessment,” Holness said.
(jamaicaobserver.com) PAKISTAN-One of the most controversial trials in Pakistani history has ended with the former military dictator Pervez Musharraf declared a fugitive and his property ordered confiscated after he failed to show in court over the assassination 10 years ago of Benazir Bhutto. Two high-ranking police officials were sentenced on Thursday to 17 years in prison but the verdict, while bringing some closure to a process many had thought would never conclude, stops short of sentencing anyone for the murder. The police officials were found guilty only of negligence and mistreatment of evidence, and five accused militants were acquitted. By failing to bring its most prominent suspect, ex-president Musharraf, to justice, the anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi set “a dangerous precedent,” said Saroop Ijaz, a lawyer and researcher with Human Rights Watch in Pakistan. “This is a farce. Musharraf is in plain sight. And he regularly appears on television.” Musharraf, who is accused of conspiring to murder the former prime minister, has been in self-imposed exile in Dubai since 2016, when he left the country after a period in house arrest, after the ministry of interior lifted his travel ban. “10 years later and we still await justice. Abettors punished but those truly guilty of my mother’s murder roam free,” one of Bhutto’s daughters, Aseefa, said on Twitter. Bhutto’s son, Bilawal, called the result “disappointing and unacceptable”. In a move that surprised some observers, the court also acquitted five suspects linked to the Pakistani Taliban (TTP), who had been accused of being involved in the conspiracy to kill Bhutto. “The acquittal of al-Qaida/Taliban terrorists against whom evidence has been provided is most surprising and raises several questions. On its face it seems a triumph of al-Qaida militants,” Bhutto’s party, the PPP, said in a written statement. The PPP claims that Musharraf himself was behind Bhutto’s murder. He has denied the allegations. (Theguardian)