DUBAI // Plans by UAE supporters of Pervez Musharraf to fly to Pakistan to protest against his arrest have been put on hold.
Members of his All Pakistan Muslim League based in Dubai had planned to leave this weekend, but have been told by senior party officials in Pakistan to delay their trips until he is granted bail.
"We were ready to go this Thursday as it is a long weekend for us in the UAE but we have been told to wait," said Tabish Zaidi, a member of the party's central working committee in Dubai.
"He has already been given bail in one case and we are just waiting for the courts regarding the situation regarding the other two cases."
Mr Musharraf returned to Pakistan at the end of March to contest last month's elections after four years of self-imposed exile. But he was banned from taking part by the courts and is under house arrest on charges that he unlawfully detained judges in 2007.
Mr Zaidi denied media reports in Pakistan that a secret agreement had been made by Saudi Arabia or the UAE to allow Mr Musharraf to return to Dubai.
"Mr Musharraf has been very clear from the start that he will not leave Pakistan until he has cleared his name," he said. "The media reports that he is coming back to Dubai are not true."
Three senior members of the UAE branch of his party are already in Pakistan to coordinate the planned protests, Mr Zaidi said.
"We are ready to go when it is required for us to do so," he added.
"But we have been told there needs to be more groundwork done within Pakistan before we can do anything larger scale. We do have some members going to Pakistan over the next few weeks so there will be people there if required."
The initial plan was to protest before Ramadan but that may now not be possible.
"It would have been ideal to go before Ramadan but if we end up going during the holy month then that would be fine," Mr Zaidi said. "The key thing for us is that Mr Musharraf gets a fair trial. Nothing has been proven against him."
The All Pakistan Muslim League boycotted the general election on May 11 but still won two seats - one in the national assembly and one in the provincial assembly.
Mr Musharraf denies charges he failed to provide adequate security for the former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, before her assassination in 2007.
The Taliban have sent him death threats and a car bomb was defused by police close to his home on the outskirts of Islamabad last month.
Mr Musharraf came to power in a military coup in 1999. He was president from 2001 until 2008.
nhanif@thenational.ae
COMPANY PROFILE
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Building boom turning to bust as Turkey's economy slows
Deep in a provincial region of northwestern Turkey, it looks like a mirage - hundreds of luxury houses built in neat rows, their pointed towers somewhere between French chateau and Disney castle.
Meant to provide luxurious accommodations for foreign buyers, the houses are however standing empty in what is anything but a fairytale for their investors.
The ambitious development has been hit by regional turmoil as well as the slump in the Turkish construction industry - a key sector - as the country's economy heads towards what could be a hard landing in an intensifying downturn.
After a long period of solid growth, Turkey's economy contracted 1.1 per cent in the third quarter, and many economists expect it will enter into recession this year.
The country has been hit by high inflation and a currency crisis in August. The lira lost 28 per cent of its value against the dollar in 2018 and markets are still unconvinced by the readiness of the government under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to tackle underlying economic issues.
The villas close to the town centre of Mudurnu in the Bolu region are intended to resemble European architecture and are part of the Sarot Group's Burj Al Babas project.
But the development of 732 villas and a shopping centre - which began in 2014 - is now in limbo as Sarot Group has sought bankruptcy protection.
It is one of hundreds of Turkish companies that have done so as they seek cover from creditors and to restructure their debts.
Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
Gender pay parity on track in the UAE
The UAE has a good record on gender pay parity, according to Mercer's Total Remuneration Study.
"In some of the lower levels of jobs women tend to be paid more than men, primarily because men are employed in blue collar jobs and women tend to be employed in white collar jobs which pay better," said Ted Raffoul, career products leader, Mena at Mercer. "I am yet to see a company in the UAE – particularly when you are looking at a blue chip multinationals or some of the bigger local companies – that actively discriminates when it comes to gender on pay."
Mr Raffoul said most gender issues are actually due to the cultural class, as the population is dominated by Asian and Arab cultures where men are generally expected to work and earn whereas women are meant to start a family.
"For that reason, we see a different gender gap. There are less women in senior roles because women tend to focus less on this but that’s not due to any companies having a policy penalising women for any reasons – it’s a cultural thing," he said.
As a result, Mr Raffoul said many companies in the UAE are coming up with benefit package programmes to help working mothers and the career development of women in general.
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