Pakistan in Media

Profile

2010-10-08T09:41:00.000+05:00

By Prof. Humayun Ghauri

“The two things that can satisfy the soul are a person and a story; and even a story must be about a person.” opines G.K Chesterton. Today I intend to explore the profile of a person; Professor Dr Nizamuddin the vice chancellor, University of Gujrat. He is a legend in his own life time. His life is a progress and not a station. He conjures up great visions and is perpetually on the move; always in practice; scaling ever new heights.

He keeps his associates and affiliates also on the move, towards achievements; towards pinnacle of glory. His motto appears to be in Browning’s words “the best is yet to be”.

Read at Logic is Variable

Skill to fight

2010-09-16T10:52:00.001+05:00

Read the story of Pakistani women fighter pilots here.

At Thatta Kedona

2010-09-11T16:47:00.002+05:00

Ten years ago Thatta Kedona project started aiming to fight poverty and to support poor women living in the countryside near Gogera in the district Okara. The products of Thatta Kedona project have earned a great reputation both inside and outside Pakistan, thanks to the voluntary efforts of designer and scientist Dr. Senta Siller. The main products are handcrafted dolls dressed in the garments of the different provinces of Pakistan and of minority groups such as the Kalashi and the Makrani.

In the past ten years there has been much talk in both national and international organizations, and in smaller circles, about supporting women living in the countryside. The key words in these discussions were 'women empowerment' 'tender training.' A lot has been written about this.

Read about Thatta Kedona development here.

High Quality Tire Chains

2010-09-10T22:36:00.009+05:00

Commuting is an essential part of our lives and so is the movement of commercial goods from one place to the other. These movements become challenging and difficult once you happen to be moving on your passenger or commercial vehicle(s) in snowbound areas. The difficulties posed by the snow covered roads can only be correctly imagined only by the ones who have the personal experience of undertaking the drive through snow bound roads. The vehicle has got to be good and reliable and so has got to be its tires. But, most importantly, the tire chains have got to be the best.

Poor or average quality tire chains can save you some money but these will lead you to a big trouble once put to test. You have got to have total steering control which is all dependent on the quality of tire chains your vehicle is equipped with. Cheap steel alloy chains won't work. You must have the Pewag line high quality nickel manganese tire chains which are mostly made in Austria. Their assembly is done in Austria, Czech, and USA. Unlike the steel alloy chains mostly coming from polluting industry, these nickel manganese tire chains come from the industries which are environment friendly. Easytrekking.com offers high quality tire chains from the manufacturers of the best tire chains in the world. Unlike the steel alloy chains, these nickel manganese tire chains last longer, don't break and don't rust . These Pewag line tire chains are costlier than the ordinary steel alloy tire chains but are a lot more reliable, dependable, durable and, above all, safer. For the budget minded people, Easytrekking.com offers the Glacier V-Trac tire cables. These cables give far better traction than the ordinary cobra cables. The variety of tire chains includes Tire Chains by Tiresize, V-Trac Cables, SLIMTec TT5 Chains, Sportmatic SMX, Chains, Brenta-C Chains, All Square Chains, Titan Grip Chains, Tractor Chains and Equipment Chains. Installation movies on the site are very educative.

Besides offering high quality tire chains, they also offer outdoor gear items like Tents, Sleeping Bags, Cots, Backpacks, Spot Tracking Device and Backpacking Watches. Easytrekking.com has an efficient and friendly customer service. They are, but only, a click away from you.

Dolls makers from accross the world

2010-09-07T13:16:00.000+05:00

The idea behind the Dolls of the World took birth in Pakistan when Thatta Kedona - a self help project - started in small Punjab village Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka in Pakistan and NGO Anjuman-e-Falah-e-Aama (AeFeA) was registered in 1999. The rest is history as they say.

AeFeA has grown multidimensional over time. Now AeFeA cooperates with six local NGOs all over Pakistan from Karachi to Hunza and in many countries around the globe. In Pakistan, the project also enjoys cooperation of prestigious educational institutions – Bahaud Din Zakriya University Multan, Indus Valley School for Art and Architecture, Karachi, School of Visual Art, Lahore, Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi – interested in heritage, culture and or agriculture.

Women from other countries heard about the success of the project in Pakistan through DGFK newsletters and other media channels as well as through word of mouth (mostly from diplomatic corps housewives) and invited Dr. Senta Siller - Mother of Dolls - to start similar projects in their countries. In Cameroon, three independent NGOs -- Akwatinnighah (1998), Akaanhong (2002) and Center of Appropriate Technology in (2001) are working where over 90 persons are involved in handicrafts and appropriate technology with support from Bamenda University of Science Technology, Bamenda.

Tanto Mejor Por La Paz, Saboya is working in Colombia in cooperation with four independent local NGOs or similar organizations since 1999. Over 60 persons are busy in handicraft with collaboration from Dept of Environment Technology National University in Bogate and AeFeA.

Besides, AeFeA has networked with International Dolls Museum Flateyri and University of Reykjavik in Iceland and Benaki Museum Greece. In UAE-Dubai, AeFeA is participating in Global Village Expo every year since 2001. In Germany, besides most German senior experts coming to Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka, Dolls of the World project has support from Institute for Planning and Consulting, Potsdam.

This international community of like minded people has come a long way. Sky is their limit.

Tags: Networking, Doll Makers, Thatta Kedona, Dr. Senta Siller

Flood 2010

2010-09-05T13:27:00.001+05:00

If flood comes, where should the animals go? Read the story here.

Why telecommuting trend is not picking up

2010-09-01T12:03:00.001+05:00

Advances in information and collaborative technologies have recently resulted in changes in work practices. Emerging technological phenomenon called telecommuting (or telework) is changing focus from physical presence at the primary work site to what an employee can deliver. While the concept of telecommuting has been in existence for some time, the technological tools available today are making it possible to practice it more productively. The trend has steadily grown over the past two decades in the developed world.

Why telecommuting trend is not picking up in Pakistan, find out here.

Booking of Tickets Online

2010-08-15T12:06:00.001+05:00

All of us are fond of entertainment. Entertainment is the only means to enjoy ourselves after a period of hard work and stress. Concerts, sports, and theater are good means of entertainment. Buying tickets for these events has become a hassle by itself detracting us from attending these events of our likings. Internet booking has solved this problem but for the fear of being cheated about or excessively charged. Ticket America is the most reliable online source to buy the tickets for seats of your choice for the events you want to attend. It offers a safe and easy way to buy the tickets for the world's top events, be those College Basketball, Cubs, Red Sox, Boston Celtics events etc. Licensed ticket broker, Ticket America will get you the top quality event tickets with ease and convenience at the most competitive prices. They will get you the seats of your choice for high demand and sold out events. The service is available for any event taking place anywhere in America or abroad, no matter, whether the venue or gathering of the event is small or large.

Whether it is Sacramento Kings, Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, Memphis Grizzlies or any other event, just visit the website of Ticket America, book your ticket(s) with ease and enjoy yourself. Their customer service is friendly, responsive and responsible. They are only a click away from you. They offer 100% money back guarantee if their staff is at fault which is certainly very seldom/rare. Their good repute and service have earned them a large number of returning customers.

63 Years of Independence and the Worst Floods

2010-08-15T11:20:00.000+05:00

Pakistan celebrated its 64th anniversary of independence on 14th August. Truthfully speaking, there is nothing much to celebrate, no important landmarks of achievements to be proud of. These days the country is facing floods, the worst ever in its history. Over twenty million people have been affected by these floods. Every tenth Pakistani stands victim of these floods. They say that more is yet to come. Short of these floods, the country has been fighting war on terror since 9/11. Corruption and nepotism continue to be on the increase ever since inception of Pakistan. The poverty is on the increase which is causing more and more people to become corrupt and criminals. Rulers and the rich continue to lay hands on more and more wealth.

The situation is so bad that the response to the appeals for donations has been abysmal, not that the people don't want to help their flood affected brethren but because they don't trust the government and other agencies collecting donations and doubt if these donations would be delivered to the right people in need. Notwithstanding all this, we claim to be independent. Are we?

How much you give?

2010-08-13T14:34:00.001+05:00

Ploy of WikiLeaks

2010-07-27T18:23:00.003+05:00

Wikileaks claimed by the publishers to be genuine set of thousands of confidential papers pertaining to the intelligence agencies including ISI of Pakistan have certainly created a big alarm the world over. The papers allege a direct connection between Taliban and the ISI, and, that too, planning against USA. However, the ground realities negate the same. How could there be a back door covet relationship between the two opposing belligerents who happen to be leaving no opportunity to kill and capture each others men even if it is at the cost of collateral damage?

These leaks are indeed a great ploy which has been orchestrated by the vested quarters who stand gain out of this drama. All this has been planned to put Pakistan under pressure. It is not going to do any good to the relationship between Pakistan and the U.S. The trust deficit which already exists between the two is likely to be further widened.

Please Be Serious

2010-01-12T10:38:00.001+05:00

Point here is that Hamid Mir, and other anchormen must work on a fine balance and responsibility to the people who are watching them. My suggestion: Hamid Mir, please be serious while you use your anchor power. Read the story here.

Zardari’s anger

2009-12-30T19:19:00.001+05:00

The feeling of instability shaking the country has developed into what seems like a full-fledged quake. President Asif Ali Zardari’s extraordinary address at his wife’s death anniversary has left all of us wondering what lies ahead – and quite what Mr Zardari meant in the first place. His fiery attack on forces who he alleged were conspiring against the country and its institutions echoes the words used previously by lawyer Kamal Azfar before the Supreme Court. It is hard to say if this is the result of pre-planning or simply chance. The fact that Mr Zardari chose not to spell out who these forces may be simply adds to the mystery behind his rant. Many of those who witnessed it now must be wondering with more gravity as to the ability of Mr Zardari to head the state. Certainly, the paranoia many close to him say he suffers from seems to be growing by the day. What is more, he appears to be unable to handle the running of the state with anything resembling the poise or maturity expected of the president. His latest outburst will only add to the growing unease with his presence in the highest office of state. Pakistan faces enough problems as it is without complications being created by ramblings that in many ways make very little sense.

We do not quite know who the president’s closest advisers are. But certainly his aides have been unable to offer him wise advice. A major issue for Mr Zardari has been that of his image. His performance at Garhi Khuda Bux did nothing to add positively to it. Indeed the speech may raise more questions than it answers about quite what the president is trying to achieve. What we do know is that new national divisions have been opened up; fingers have been quite unnecessarily pointed and the possibility of all the components making up the system being able to work smoothly together has been further reduced. Yet, the fact is that today Pakistan needs all its institutions to work in harmony. At the moment, as furious debate rages over the contents of the unexpected address we seem to have moved even further away than before from any possibility of smooth sailing. The question that needs to be asked now is if there is any possibility at all of salvaging the situation and avoiding the upheaval that appears to loom ever closer. There have been suggestions that the president, the prime minister, the army chief and perhaps other key players should sit together and thrash out matters. The proposal is a sound one but such a scenario seems unlikely. The wisdom from the presidency that could have brought this about seems missing and this brings us perilously close to calamity with each passing day.

source

Zardari’s attack on his unnamed enemies

2009-12-30T19:13:00.001+05:00

President Asif Ali Zardari’s speech in Naudero on the second death anniversary of Benazir Bhutto has stirred a countrywide debate over the targets of his hostility. He did not mention in clear words whether it was the Army, the media or the opposition that was threatening democracy. Many, however, see it as a subtle attack on the Army after the reports pouring out of the Presidency suggest Zardari’s growing negativity about the establishment.

In a situation when the Army as an institution has regained its respect and there is absolutely no sign of the military’s attempt to destabilise the democratic set-up, any effort by the president to make key changes in the Army top command would be extremely dangerous for the system. Last year, the government’s abrupt shifting of the ISI under the Interior Ministry was unacceptable to all and sundry, including the media, which resulted into the immediate cancellation of the government’s notification.

Perhaps foreseeing the dangers ahead, different views were being expressed in the media as a reaction to the president’s speech such as, “There are only so many possibilities about where the threat Mr Zardari keeps referring to can come from. With his public comments, Mr Zardari may in fact be alarming the persons in those institutions that they could be the target of impending attacks themselves and, therefore, need to strike before they are struck against. Our advice: put up or shut up. The president is supposed to be a symbol of the federation, a unifying force rather than a hyper-partisan figure fuelling conspiracy theories. More presidential, less political - that’s what the county needs from Mr Zardari.”

Five Americans detained in Pakistan

2009-12-28T12:19:00.003+05:00

Police are trying to determine whether five Americans detained in Pakistan had planned to attack a complex that houses nuclear power facilities.

The young Muslim men, who are from the Washington DC area, were arrested in Pakistan earlier this month. Pakistani police and government officials have made a series of escalating and, at times, seemingly contradictory claims about the men's intentions. US officials have been far more cautious, but they, too, are looking at charging the men.

A Pakistani government official alleged on Saturday that the men had established contact with Taliban commanders and had planned to attack sites in Pakistan. Earlier, however, local police accused the five of intending to fight in Afghanistan after meeting militant leaders.

The men allegedly had a map of Chashma Barrage, a complex that along with nuclear power facilities houses a water reservoir and other structures, said Javed Islam, a senior police official in the Sargodha area of Punjab province where the men were arrested.

He stressed that they were not carrying a specific map of a nuclear power plant, but a map of the whole Chashma Barrage. The detained men had also exchanged emails about the area, Islam claimed. "We are also working to retrieve the deleted material in their computers," he said.

Pakistan has an arsenal of nuclear weapons, but also has nuclear power plants for civilian purposes.

Any nuclear activity in Pakistan tends to come under US scrutiny after the main architect of its atomic weapons programme, Abdul Qadeer Khan, was accused of leaking sensitive nuclear secrets. But, as militancy has spread in Pakistan, officials have repeatedly insisted that the nuclear weapons programme is secure.

A Pakistani police official, Nazir Ahmad, told the Associated Press that the force would ask the courts to charge the five men with collecting and attempting to collect material to carry out terrorist activities in the country. If convicted, the charges carry a sentence of from seven years to life in prison, he said.

Officials in Pakistan and America say they expect the suspects eventually to be deported back to the US, but charging the men in Pakistan could delay that process. The country's legal system can be slow and opaque.

In an interview with the Associated Press on Saturday, Punjab province's law minister, Rana Sanaullah, claimed the men had established contact with Taliban commanders. He said they planned to meet the Pakistani Taliban chief, Hakimullah Mehsud, and his deputy, Qari Hussain, in the tribal region before going on to attack sites inside Pakistan. The nuclear power plant "might have been" one of the targets, Sanaullah alleged.

FBI agents have been granted some access to the men, who are being held in Lahore, capital of Punjab province, and are looking into what potential charges they could face in the US. Possibilities include conspiracy to provide material support to a terrorist group.

The five were arrested in Sargodha earlier this month, but are being held in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province.

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Two years since Benazir Bhutto's assassination

2009-12-28T11:26:00.002+05:00

Two years on from Benazir Bhutto’s tragic assassination, the country still awaits closure on the case. No doubt, the transition from Musharraf’s dictatorship to the democratic dispensation created difficulties in investigating the murder, persuading the government to rely on a UN commission to look into the incident. But the mandate of this inquiry is unlikely to answer the crucial question of who was responsible, and therefore delay, if not thwart, the ends of justice. In our culture, speaking ill of the dead is frowned upon, but the unenviable task of objective analysis of a leader such as Benazir Bhutto’s political career cannot be avoided.

Eunuchs to collect taxes!

2009-12-28T11:22:00.001+05:00

Rare it is for the Supreme Court of the nation to bring a hint of a smile to our faces, but the suggestion that eunuchs be appointed as collectors of taxes and of loans from defaulters is worthy of our consideration. The court has advised that the government devise a strategy which would enable the eunuch community to earn an honest living rather than engaging in begging or prostitution or dancing at weddings. It would appear that in parts of India this strategy is employed with some success, and there is no reason to believe that we could not match India’s achievements in this respect. The court heard that the social welfare and health departments of Sindh were already involving the eunuch community in the polio vaccination programme and it would be but a small step to see them engaged in loan and debt recovery.

Unsurprisingly the eunuch community has greeted the court’s suggestion with some delight. They would seek to replicate the model used in India, where eunuchs are paid a percentage, 4 per cent, of whatever is recovered. The eunuch group is given the address of the defaulter or debtor and then proceeds to sing, dance and bang drums outside his house until he pays up. Bona-fide tax collectors accompany the eunuchs to ensure that fiscal proprieties are strictly observed and that the exchequer benefits appropriately. Such is the fear of the eunuchs that they are finding considerable success in this new line of work. Our own eunuchs may be attracted by the thought of the sums they may be helping to recover – and 4 per cent of a billion rupees is enough to guarantee some much-extended singing, dancing and general raising of an embarrassing ruckus. Levity aside, this is an eminently sensible and humane suggestion coming down from the legal heights and we see no reason why this marginalised community should be denied an opportunity to turn their skills to good and profitable purpose. It may stretch credulity to imagine that they would be employed to recover defaulted loans valued in billions of rupees, but there are other more modest sums which could be pried from the pockets of defaulters. There is no reason either why they should not deploy their charms in an attempt to net some of the bigger fish – as no man is completely above embarrassment.

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Judging the judgement

2009-12-25T20:18:00.000+05:00

Those personally affected by the judgement of the Supreme Court setting aside the ignominious NRO and re-opening cases that were hushed up under it have reacted with yet more ignominy that consists of doing everything that the country has been harmed by in the sixty-three years of its existence. They have defied the court. They have tried to pit institution against institution. They have sought to fan the flames of ethnicity. They have threatened to amputate the limbs of those in the media who expose their corruption. They have done everything except the one honourable thing for them to do; to resign and face the courts. What they have done and are doing may be despicable, but it is not unexpected. It is in perfect harmony with the character shown and the deeds done by this lot for the past two years that they have been in power. The same cannot be said about some others whose integrity and commitment to the ideals of justice and good governance we do not doubt: they have been in the forefront of the struggle for human rights and for a democratic Pakistan. Some of them were vigorously active in the judiciary's struggle against a brutal dictatorship. That is exactly why we find it ironic that they now have chosen to judge the SC judgement in a manner that has little to set them apart from how Musharraf and his minions saw the present judiciary or how Zardari and his henchmen are trying to defame it. They have found the judgement biased, as targeting specific individuals, as persecuting a particular party, as going beyond the pale. And what have they to offer in the way of argument? Precious little. Having a problem with a short order and with the unanimity of the judges (or wondering why the judges were not divided on the issue?) who passed the judgement amounts to actually nothing. Asking why Musharraf was not mentioned in the judgement takes guts though. For the question is being hurled at a judiciary that made history fighting that man in uniform, while some of these critics were, at least for a while, busy trying to make people see that the struggle was one man's quest for glory and had little to do with the independence of the judiciary. This question is apparently also being posed to defend those who actually committed the affront of blocking the reinstatement of the judges, of aiding and abetting the former dictator's escape from the country after they had presented him with the guard of honour. If it is not easy today to bring Musharraf to justice, the accusing finger has to be pointed at Zardari and his men and not those who still cause Musharraf enough worry not to return to the country. And playing the Musharraf card does nothing but adds to the nervous shrieks of those who were his loyal partners then, and are in power now. How does that serve the cause of democracy?

Post-judgement (NRO) politics

2009-12-20T21:19:00.001+05:00

If the post-judgement political situation degenerates into a conflict between the PPP-led government and the opposition spearheaded by the PML-N, Pakistan can return to a highly dangerous internal confrontation. Such a state of affairs will turn the whole effort to check corruption and misuse of state authority into a head-on collision between the government and the opposition

Most political circles are celebrating the Supreme Court judgement on the NRO without realising that it is yet another example of the civilian-political government finding its political future in jeopardy because of extra-parliamentary developments. If the military is not the key player this time, the superior judiciary has relied on its constitutional powers to deny the moral basis to the civilian government, which could be the beginning of the end of the present political arrangements. Parliament is marginal to determining the future of the government or at least that of President Asif Ali Zardari.

Road to confrontation

2009-12-20T21:12:00.001+05:00

The prime minister, by coming out in support of an evidently sinking President Zardari, would seem to have put loyalty ahead of wisdom. Despite the growing signs that power is slipping away from the PPP government as NAB asserts a new-found independence and courts follow the directions chalked out by the SC in its landmark ruling on the NRO, the PM has signalled he could be opting for the path of defiance. By suspending the interior secretary for preventing the defence minister from leaving for China and by refusing to reappoint Tariq Khosa as the DG FIA, Mr Gilani has made it clear that he is not willing to accept the court’s rulings. So, we have here a script for potentially open confrontation. Aspects of this are comic. But the whole thing could end in a terrible tragedy as institutions engage in an ugly clash. We have seen this happen before. The maturity and selflessness that could have averted this is not being seen.

The way out is simple: the president must step down; others in the government who are NRO beneficiaries must follow. Most citizens would favour this approach. The widespread acclaim for the SC ruling has made this quite apparent. The court too is a powerful one and has repeatedly demonstrated that it is not ready to play the role of a rubberstamp. We have then a situation totally different to that which has existed at any time in the past. But the approach taken by the PM suggests we will have only more uncertainty. When he accuses others of acting against the interests of the state, Mr Gilani does not realize that he himself is doing so by failing to respect institutions within it and allow them to perform their role. Indeed neither he, nor the president, seem to recognize the dangers they are exposing their country too. Further instability is the last thing we need at the present time. Yet this is what could lie ahead if the present dangerous dance proceeds without check.

So, who can act as a voice of restraint and wisdom? We have at the helm of the state a man who himself is accused of serious crimes. The role traditionally assigned to the president, as a mediator and as an individual able to help iron out wrinkles in the system, cannot come into play this time. Those who surround him themselves seem to favour battle rather than the use of good sense. The PM too has opted to side with the president’s camp. This may be a decision he may come, in time, to regret. It is to be seen if from within the PPP any voices of wisdom will be heard. Certainly, there are people who realize where we are headed, and that to put on the brakes once the descent down a slippery slope begins is no easy matter. Only if they step in swiftly can further mayhem be warded off and the chances of the democratic order remaining intact raised.

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Star alongside your favorite actors

2009-12-20T19:44:00.000+05:00

Ever since the advent of screen viewing, watching TV, video movies, movies on the bigger screens and now via internet like youtube have become a universal source of entertainment. Making a movie or becoming a part thereof has been my dream unfulfilled to date. This has been so for obvious reasons of being unable to financially afford it, the fear as to whether I have the talent to become a star etc etc. However, now the time has come for me and many like me to fulfill this dream. Yoostar has made it possible. Buying the Yoostar system enables you to be part of any movie. You can choose your favorite movie and your favorite star therein, choose the role of your choice, play the role and become part of that movie. You can then share the same with your friends and family.

Yoostar has taken a big leap forward in social entertainment. It's indeed a new experience of fun. The Yoostar system offers the tools with which you can turn your home into a movie studio. Specially-designed web cam, green screen and stand, remote control, and Yoostar software easily enable you to play the role of your favorite actors. All you have to do is to plug it in to the USB port of your home computer (PC). There is a set of scenes which accompany the Yoostar system. Besides, you can purchase hundreds of more well known and popular scenes and download the same from Yoostar's vast library. Having recorded your performance, you can upload it to Yoostar.com which is available online 24/7 multiplex having an audience of millions. You can share your performances with your near and dear ones and watch others' performances. You can even participate in contests. The Yoostar widget facilitates you to embed your performances on your favorite social networking sites, like Facebook and Myspace. However, if you want to retain your privacy, you can keep these performances to your self or restrict it to a few of your choice. You can buy Yoostar from any of the leading stores or buy it online. It's only a click away.

Surge in troops for Pakistan, not Afghanistan!

2009-12-07T19:58:00.002+05:00

It is not possible for President Obama to declare a surge against Pakistan. After all, we are allies, and we are not supposed to be fighting on their soil. Why did it take so long to finally endorse the troops requested by General McChrystal?

The excuse came in the form of waiting for Afghan election results, despite the fact that the US knew well in advance that Karzai had no serious competitor. And, as reported earlier, the only possible man who could have had a chance at winning was pressured by the US to withdraw. See U.S. pressured Abdullah Abdullah to withdraw from presidential race.

This afternoon, we heard Richard Holbrooke say: 'no country is more important to our success than Pakistan', during an interview with Fareed Zakaria. He also spoke of the hostility faced by Secretary of State Clinton during her recent visit to Pakistan. We wondered about the same animus in our report: Pakistan: 'Kerry-Lugar bill is unacceptable' - who is the real enemy?

According to all indications, al-Qaeda is no longer operating in Afghanistan. And the number of 'dangerous' Taliban has been reduced to less than one hundred men. The question has already been posed: do we need another 30,000 men to take out 100 men?

Climate Change

2009-12-07T19:11:00.001+05:00

Today 56 newspapers in 45 countries take the unprecedented step of speaking with one voice through a common editorial. We do so because humanity faces a profound emergency.

Unless we combine to take decisive action, climate change will ravage our planet, and with it our prosperity and security. The dangers have been becoming apparent for a generation. Now the facts have started to speak: 11 of the past 14 years have been the warmest on record, the Arctic ice-cap is melting and last year’s inflamed oil and food prices provide a foretaste of future havoc. In scientific journals the question is no longer whether humans are to blame, but how little time we have got left to limit the damage. Yet so far the world’s response has been feeble and half-hearted.

Climate change has been caused over centuries, has consequences that will endure for all time and our prospects of taming it will be determined in the next 14 days. We call on the representatives of the 192 countries gathered in Copenhagen not to hesitate, not to fall into dispute, not to blame each other but to seize opportunity from the greatest modern failure of politics. This should not be a fight between the rich world and the poor world, or between east and west. Climate change affects everyone, and must be solved by everyone.

Army’s real estate business!

2009-12-07T19:09:00.000+05:00

ISLAMABAD: Amongst a horde of unsavoury legacies left behind by General (retd) Musharraf is the controversial Defence Housing Authority (DHA) Ordinance that may well spark a confrontation between the PPP and the PML-N members of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Defence, which is scheduled to meet on Tuesday to decide the fate of this ordinance.

Sources told The News that a fundamental difference existed between the two sides on the key issue i.e. should the Army have the right to engage in real estate business of making housing societies etc and should the elected members give a legal cover to such commercial endeavours of the military through an act of parliament.

A source said the PPP members were said to be backing this proposed bill to give sweeping powers to the top management of the DHA so as to please the top military command. But the PML-N MNAs were strongly opposed to this idea to give legal right to the Army to further expand its “real estate” business by getting a legal status through an act of parliament. Sources said the PML-N MPs were of the view that it made no sense to allow sweeping powers to any military-run real estate management authority without making its top management answerable to the civilian leadership and institutions.

Govt to protect the NRO beneficiaries

2009-12-07T19:05:00.000+05:00

ISLAMABAD: While the government may have leaked its intentions of not defending the infamous National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), it clearly has no plans to abandon the NRO beneficiaries.

An impotent and toothless new law has been hastily drafted to protect the NRO tainted, whose cases would reopen instantly if the Supreme Court strikes down the NRO, as widely expected, in the high-profile cases being taken up by the 17-member bench today (Monday).

The proposed law, planned to be introduced any day as an ordinance, has been finalised at the highest-level meetings. Sources said a copy of the proposed draft had also been handed over to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), which apparently seemed to be on board.

America not to pursue Taliban leaders in Pakistan

2009-12-07T19:01:00.001+05:00

WASHINGTON: Defence Secretary Robert Gates said on Sunday that the United States would not pursue the Taliban leaders in Pakistan and that it was up to Islamabad to address the threat posed by the militants on its territory.

His comments followed a report the White House had granted authority to the Central Intelligence Agency to expand a bombing campaign in Pakistan by unmanned aircraft to strike the Taliban and Al-Qaeda figures.

“Pakistan is a sovereign government. We are in a partnership with them. I think at this point it’s up to the Pakistani military to deal with this problem,” Gates told CBS News’ “Face the Nation.”

He said the United States has helped Pakistan improve security arrangements for its nuclear arms and is “comfortable” the weapons are secure. “We are comfortable with the security of their weapons,” he said. “We have a good relationship with them. We’ve actually given them assistance in improving some of their security arrangements over the past number of years. This is not a new relationship. And I think just based on the information available to us that gives us the comfort,” he said.

1.4 million blind people in Pakistan

2009-12-06T17:38:00.000+05:00

Around 45,000 of the 1.4 million blind people in Pakistan are children aged under-15. Many more children suffer from 'low vision', which means a significant vision defect even with glasses. Others suffer because they do not have spectacles or the underlying error that prevents them from seeing properly has not been diagnosed. About 10,000 of the children who are blind suffer from cataracts. Simple surgery would give them the incomparable gift of sight. But with only around 4,000 such surgeries taking place annually on children the burden of blindness continues to grow. We have a number of charities engaged in wonderful work to combat blindness. Some now have clinics or hospitals in dozens of cities. Eye specialists from within the country and beyond it contribute to their efforts. But there is clearly even more to be done.

The awareness about blindness and the toll it takes on families needs to be built so that more can be done to bring light back to lives or prevent it from going out in the first place. Children who are blind and others who suffer defects in sight need to be assessed so that those who could benefit from surgery or other treatment can be identified. There is also a need for greater effort to ensure that children who suffer from blindness or low vision are not excluded from education. At present the majority of the disabled remain outside classrooms. For those with moderate vision, the government has supported suggestions that schemes be put in place to enrol them in mainstream schools. These children will after all be leading lives alongside sighted people. They need to learn to manage and develop the ability to earn. They must be able to live independently and survive as productive members of society, rather than remaining dependent into adulthood on families that are often impoverished and who struggle to support them.

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The beast within

2009-12-06T17:36:00.000+05:00

The terrible aftermath of the Rawalpindi carnage is now before us. Among the 40 dead are children and the elderly. Devastated families organise funerals and try to find ways to cope with their grief. They will, like the thousands of other victims of terror, never fully recover from death that took place so mercilessly and with so little reason. It is of course ironic that the killing took place during Friday prayers – marring an occasion that is most sacred to Muslims. The men behind it clearly have no faith, no morals and no humanity. Yet, despite this, condemnation from our religious leaders has been muffled. We have not heard the kind of outcry that would be expected. Such acts of course can never be condoned. We should all ask ourselves what we can do to protest against them more strongly and urge all those with any kind of influence in society to do the same. We have heard too from people who insist that 'agents' linked to RAW carried out the act. They base their reasoning on the argument that no Muslim would carry out such pure evil. This thinking is flawed. The premise on which it is based has proven to be false again and again. The killers, who grabbed people by their hair, shot them at close range while they still stood on prayer-mats and hurled grenades into the rows of worshippers, come from among us. There is every reason to believe they are not Muslim – on the basis that no true believer would be capable of such brutality, for Islam preaches tolerance and peace and love for all. But they are not outsiders planted by enemies. This is a reality we need to accept so that we can combat it.

There is now a growing sense that the militants may have links to the security apparatus. There have been unconfirmed reports that former police or army personnel could be involved. This is something that needs to be examined in some depth. It is possible that the brainwashing that in the past used 'jihad' as a motive has somehow become distorted and is now being used against the state of Pakistan. Over the past years we have seen many terrible scenes of death. The time has come to contemplate what can be done to ensure a better future. We must consider a programme to de-brainwash the affected. We must reach into madressahs and consider what is happening there. The issues of poverty, illiteracy, unemployment and frustration must be addressed. These are giant ones and cannot be tackled overnight. The question is whether our government has the ability, the competence and the will to chalk out a plan to solve these problems and, by doing so, raise the hope that we can escape the violence that has overwhelmed us.

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Army would defend, protect and preserve Pakistan at all costs

2009-12-06T17:31:00.002+05:00

RAWALPINDI: Chief of the Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani on Saturday reaffirmed that the Army would defend, protect and preserve Pakistan at all costs.

He said this while offering condolences to the bereaved families. The nation, including the Army, stands united in sharing their grief, he said. Having met and talked to these families, he praised their exemplary strength of faith at this moment of trial. ìThis intrinsic strength is a true reflection of the will and resilience of the nation, he said.

The COAS attended funerals of some of Shaheeds of the Friday's tragic terrorist attack, in which officers, soldiers, elders, children and civilians lost their lives. The COAS thanked the nation for their wholehearted support and sympathy at this hour of grief. This spontaneous and overwhelming show of solidarity by the nation with the Army is a treasure, which we deeply value and cherish,î he said.

Pakistan is our motherland. It is the bastion of Islam. We live and die for the glory of Islam and Pakistan. Our faith, resolve and pride in our religion and in our country is an asset, which is further reinforced after each terrorist incident, Gen Kayani said.

The COAS concluded by reaffirming his conviction in the will of the nation to fight all odds. He said the Army, with the help of the people of Pakistan, will Inshallah protect and preserve our core values and interests in a dignified and chivalrous manner.

Rawalpindi Carnage

2009-12-05T18:02:00.000+05:00

In a highly tragic incident 36 innocent people including 17 children, 10 civilian, 9 Army personnel embraced shahadat when terrorists attacked a mosque in Parade Lane, Rawalpindi. Reportedly 4 terrorists approached a mosque inside officers residential colony in Parade Lane, Rawalpindi Saddar and hurled grenades on Namazies followed by indiscriminate firing. Meanwhile two suicide bombers entered the Mosque and blew themselves killing 35 Namazies who were offering Jumma prayers. Security forces personnel in the area responded immediately and 2 other terrorists were killed in exchange of fire.

Read the names of all martyrs here.

Al Qaeda in Quetta, Pakistan

2009-12-05T13:11:00.001+05:00

PESHAWAR: A US diplomat said here on Friday that some al-Qaeda figures were hiding in Balochistan as the so-called Quetta shura of Afghan Taliban also included members of the Osama bin Laden-led terrorist organisation.

E Candace Putnam, the US Consul General in Peshawar, said American intelligence reports indicated al-Qaeda’s close links not only with the Afghan Taliban but increasingly also with the Pakistani Taliban. She felt all this was in the knowledge of the Pakistani authorities but they may not want to say it openly. “We have to assume that your government and security forces know this,” she told a select group of journalists at the heavily-guarded US consulate.

Putnam said al-Qaeda was working and integrating its activities with the Afghan Taliban, TTP, LeT, Jaish and other groups in the region.

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Use of drones in Pakistan to be expanded: NYT

2009-12-05T13:09:00.000+05:00

WASHINGTON: The White House has authorised the CIA to expand the use of unmanned aerial drones in Pakistan to track down and strike the suspected Taliban and al-Qaeda members, the New York Times reported on Friday.

The Times, citing unnamed sources, said that authorisation to expand the CIA drone usage in Pakistan’s tribal areas came this week, coinciding with President Barack Obama’s announcement on Tuesday of sending 30,000 more US troops to Afghanistan.

Washington is also talking with Pakistani officials about using the drones to strike in Balochistan, the Times reported. Analysts, intelligence agents and foreign officials have widely reported that the Taliban fighters use Balochistan as a base.

Islamabad publicly opposes their use as a violation of its sovereignty, but analysts say that Pakistani officials give their use tacit support.

Criticism of the strikes in Pakistan has lessened in public since a US drone attack killed Pakistan’s much-feared Taliban warlord Baitullah Mehsud on August 5.

NRO and Swiss Accounts' Documents

2009-12-04T16:47:00.001+05:00

The lengths politicians will go to in order to save themselves are astonishing. Still more astounding is their lack of regard for dignity – whether their own or that of their nation. Since the NRO controversy broke out in full earnest last month, the episodes involving desperate efforts by those affected by the scuttling of the law to prevent the wheels of justice moving freely have accelerated. The latest such incident has unfolded in Geneva, where the Pakistani high commissioner to the UK, accompanied by a former deputy attorney general, took away a carton-load of documents related to cases under the NRO. The two men had flown into Switzerland for the purpose; and in scenes played out by Geo TV – which would have been comic had they not been tragic in terms of the crimes of corruption committed by the powerful – refused to answer questions about what they were doing.

However, there is nothing very mysterious about this. As this newspaper and Geo TV have reported, a visit was paid to a Swiss lawyer who held the documents pertaining to corruption cases against Pakistani politicians. These cases had been dropped from the Swiss courts on the orders of the Pakistan government under then president Pervez Musharraf when he put the NRO into effect. We all know that President Asif Ali Zardari is the key person behind all this. Quite apart from his alleged corruption – of which ample evidence is said to exist even if the Swiss documents have been destroyed – one must also wonder at his frightening lack of acumen. Evidently Mr Zardari has failed to realize that actions such as the one in Geneva mean only that he is held in still greater contempt by the people of Pakistan. More and more among us wonder how we can continue with a man around whom so much controversy swirls as our head of state. The brave efforts to defend the president, essentially on the basis of the fact that he was democratically elected, are waning in view of his total inability to change his image or to learn from past mistakes. Indeed, by misusing the powers he possesses, to dispatch government officials to seize materials from lawyers, Mr Zardari demonstrates what appears to be a complete unwillingness to change his ways. It is also obvious that the president is a scared man. Perhaps he sees the net closing in around him. He has in fact been helping to draw it tighter through antics such as the Grand Document Snatch in Geneva. One day we may laugh at these events. Today we must mourn at being governed by leaders who think only of themselves and are willing to do almost anything to save their own necks.

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SC larger bench for NRO

2009-12-04T16:37:00.001+05:00

ISLAMABAD: The Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, would take up the pending petitions challenging the controversial National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) on December 7.

A 17-member larger bench has been constituted to hear the NRO cases. The larger bench will be headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

Other members of the bench are Justice Javed Iqbal, Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan, Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday, Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, Justice Tassadduq Hussain Jillani, Justice Nasirul Mulk, Justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmed, Justice Ch Ijaz Ahmed, Justice Muhammad Sair Ali, Justice Mahmood Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui, Justice S Khawaja, Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain, Justice Rahmat Husain Jafferi, Justice Tariq Parvez and Justice Ghulam Rabbani.

Former military dictator General (retd) Pervez Musharraf promulgated the NRO to grant amnesty in corruption cases to former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and her husband Asif Ali Zardari, now the President of Pakistan.

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Loans worth over Rs100 billion written-off

2009-12-04T16:34:00.003+05:00

Chaudhrys, Saifullahs, Jatois, Legharis, Tawakals, Saigols,Jams, generals; some cases were genuine.

ISLAMABAD: In a country where over 40 per cent of the population is said to be languishing under the poverty line with families surviving on less than $2 a day, the shameful revelation of the filthy rich getting loans worth over Rs100 billion written-off owing to their formidable clout is shocking the nation. And this shameful list carries some of the biggest names of our power elite.

Pakistan Taliban regrouping outside South Waziristan

2009-11-27T16:23:00.001+05:00

Reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan - Since the Pakistani army launched a long-awaited offensive last month to destroy the Taliban in South Waziristan, many militants have fled to nearby districts and begun to establish new strongholds, a strategy that suggests they will regroup and remain a potent threat to the country's weak, U.S.-backed government.

Pakistani Taliban militants have escaped primarily to Kurram and Orakzai, districts outside the battle zone but still within Pakistan's largely ungoverned tribal areas along the Afghan border, villagers there say. The military lacks a significant presence in much of these areas, making them an ideal environment for the Islamic militants to regroup.

Newly arrived militants have terrorized Pashtun residents and replenished their coffers through kidnappings and robberies, villagers said during interviews in the Kurram and Orakzai districts. With AK-47s and rocket launchers slung over their shoulders, the militants have begun patrols through the new territory and have set up checkpoints.

Abdullah Shah Mehsud, the most wanted militant arrested

2009-11-27T12:18:00.001+05:00

ISLAMABAD: Security forces have apprehended a most wanted terrorist Abdullah Shah Mehsud with Rs 10 million head money from Tank (the head money has been paid to the informer) during the operation Rah-e-Nijat in South Waziristan.

Our Miramshah correspondent adds: Meanwhile, the security forces sought tribesmen help in arresting 19 most wanted militants in NWA and also announced reward for the informers. Tribal sources said pamphlets were dropped from a plane at about 4 pm in different areas of the North Waziristan announcing the reward.

The militants on whom head money announced included Hakimullah Mehsud, (Rs50 million), Qari Hassain, (Rs50 million), Wali Rehman, (Rs50 million), Commander Gurguray, (Rs20 million), Mazloom Yaar, (Rs20 million), Azam Tariq spokesman (Rs20 million), Noor Samad, (Rs20 million), Maulvi Shamim, (Rs20 million), Commander Muhammad Ismail, (Rs20 million), Jalil Mahsud commander, (Rs20 million), Sher Azam commander, (Rs20 million), Shah Faisal Mehsud, (Rs20 million), Nisaruddin, (Rs20 million), Azmatullah Barmand, (Rs20 million), Commander Anwar Kulachi, (Rs10 million), Khan Saeed commander, (Rs10 million), Commander Asmatullah (Rs10 million), Abdul Wahab commander (Rs10 million) and Abdullah Shah (Rs10 million).

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3m perform Haj

2009-11-27T12:14:00.000+05:00

ISLAMABAD: Around three million Muslims from all over the globe Thursday performed the Haj, one of the most sacred and cherished religious obligations, in the prescient of the Holy Kaaba at Makkah-tul-Mukarma, Saudi Arabia.

They converged in Makkah in a dignified manner by wearing “Ahram”, reciting the praises of Allah Almighty and offering various supplications to Him with their hands raised, in accordance with the practice of the Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him).

Local and international TV channels telecast live Haj transmission from Makkah, covering Manasik-e-Haj including Waqoof-e-Arafat, Khutba-e-Haj and prayers of Zuhar and Asr. Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Sheikh delivered the Haj sermon from Masjid-e-Nimra. In his address, the Mufti praised the oneness of Allah Almighty and highlighted various aspects of life of the Holy Prophet (PBUH).

The Mufti said the current situation of the Islamic world could be changed only if the Ummah gets a sincere and pious ruler. He urged the Ummah to follow true teachings of Islam and footsteps of the last Messenger of God to achieve success in the world and hereafter.

He said Muslim Ummah is facing a number of challenges and enemies of Islam are hatching conspiracies against our religion to defame its followers in the world. The Grand Mufti said Islam is the religion of peace, harmony and brotherhood and it has nothing to do with terrorism and extremism. He underlined the need of greater unity among Muslims to tackle the challenges confronted by Ummah.

Reactions to Balochistan package

2009-11-26T16:07:00.000+05:00

Some Baloch nationalists had delivered themselves of a rejectionist message even before the Balochistan package was presented in a joint session of parliament the other day. The rest have now joined the chorus. In case anyone is jumping to any conclusions, it needs to be stressed that negative or indifferent reactions to the package are not confined to those from the province. The main opposition party, the PML-N, sat stoically throughout the presentation, clarifying later that it considered the package only a set of proposals and would respond when debate gets under way at another joint session after Eid. Other parties too have reacted rather less than enthusiastically. The only positive sounds have come, unsurprisingly, from the government, from President Asif Ali Zardari downwards. But is this divide unexpected? If not, why not?

US, India want Pakistan to do more

2009-11-26T16:04:00.001+05:00

WASHINGTON: The US and India on Wednesday welcomed the indictment of seven men by an anti-terror court in Rawalpindi in connection with the Mumbai attacks, but said a lot more needed to be done to curb such attacks. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he welcomed Pakistani steps to rein in extremists, but called for more action, while the US said the indictment was an “important step”. Pakistan has pledged it would do what is necessary to bring the perpetrators of these attacks to justice,” a State Department official said. “...but a lot more needs to be done to make sure these types of attacks don’t emanate anywhere from Pakistani soil,” the official added. afp

Pakistan sees spread of Talibanisation in India

2009-11-26T15:47:00.001+05:00

ISLAMABAD: There is the potential for spread of the trends of Talibanisation in India and it would be in mutual interest of India and Pakistan to sincerely cooperate with each other to eliminate the menace of terrorism from region.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik said this on Wednesday in a telephonic interview to a private television channel. He said Muslims are second largest population group in India and are facing suppression. He said the Indian leadership should realise this situation could be exploited any time by vested interests.

Zardar's thunderous speech devoid of vision

2009-11-26T15:39:00.001+05:00

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari created history on Wednesday evening when he addressed a public meeting in Karachi by sitting in his fortified Presidential Palace in Islamabad while warning that he was neither scared of death nor afraid of being consigned to gallows. The president used blistering language and it appeared from the tone and tenor of his speech that the policy of reconciliation had been done away with.

Political observers are of the opinion that the tone and tenor of the president did not match the exalted office he was currently holding. The presidential podium has been used to hurling threats and fanning political divide while the office of the president, as a symbol of the Federation, is expected to stay above the political divide. Ever since Asif Zardari has assumed the highest office, the presidential palace has become the hub of petty political activities and wheeling-dealings.

Have a heart, you are the president, Mr Zardari!

2009-11-26T15:36:00.000+05:00

WASHINGTON: When an elected head of the state, who is also the head of the largest political party of the country, the Supreme Commander of the country’s armed forces and (at least on papers) the man with his finger on the country’s nuclear button, cannot venture out of his bunker in the presidency, a five-star prison of sorts, and attacks a TV channel, a newspaper editor or a talk show anchor, he must be seriously in trouble or scared to death with insecurity.

Army capable of fighting terror war

2009-11-26T15:29:00.001+05:00

PESHAWAR: Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has said the nation is fighting the war against terrorism like a solid rock and every citizen has matchless spirit of making his contribution in efforts to curb the menace faced by the country.

He expressed these views while addressing the convocation of the seventh batch of the Khyber Institute of Technical Education (KITE) here on Wednesday. Corps Commander Lt-Gen Muhammad Masood Aslam, high ranking officials, tribal elders and students of the KITE were present on the occasion.

Pashmina Fans

2009-11-26T14:34:00.001+05:00

I am big Pashmina fan. Even the name (that comes from pashm in Persian) sound musical to me and I love that gauzy weave. Just touching soft and warm Pashmina tells you what it is! Pashmina products are all time trendy and stylish. People of class from all over the world use these products - shawl, scarf and many more.

Given my interest, one of the best places I have found to shop for Pashmina is Spencer's Pashmina. Neatly laid out and user’s friendly site has a great collection of Pashmina products. Explore and find what they are offering and how. They have something for everyone. Imagery of the products is good and it gives a feeler of how one will look wrapped in one of those shawls.

What is more, their custom dye option makes them stand out from the rest. Ask for color you want and Spencer's Pashmina will deliver exactly the same.

Some of their shawls are already on my wish list.

British Council's "Next Generation Report on Pakistan"

2009-11-25T12:08:00.000+05:00

The British Council's "Next Generation Report on Pakistan" provides perhaps the clearest picture of how our younger generation thinks and feels about their homeland. Its measured tones and careful analysis make uncomfortable reading despite both positive and negative paths being detailed. The sampling of the surveys that underpin the report is broad and its conclusions derived from data which is comprehensive. The report identifies something called the 'demographic dividend' which is a period where there is a favourable ratio of potentially productive young people, to old. The window of opportunity to exploit this began in 1990 and we have done nothing to take advantage of it since; and the window will close in 2045 (by when society will be aging rapidly) giving us thirty-five years to turn the tide. Alongside the possible opportunity there is demographic disaster which will only be averted by aggressive and sustained action by successive governments. The research indicates that one-third of the growth experienced by East Asian economies in their boom years can be traced to this demographic structure; and if we are able to harness it effectively we could see economic growth increase by as much as one-fifth by 2030.

Our young generation is politically disillusioned. They are very loyal and strongly nationalistic but only 10 per cent have any faith in the key institutions of state – national and local governance, the police and the courts. In terms of identity 75 per cent see themselves as Muslims first and secondly as Pakistanis with just 14 per cent seeing themselves primarily as a citizen of Pakistan. Democracy gets short shrift with 33 per cent seeing it as the right system for us and another 33 per cent preferring some form of Sharia. A majority are critical of the way Pakistan has been manipulated by the international community for most of its life. Despite attempts at optimism, there is little cheer in the report, especially when it is laid alongside the failure of virtually every government we have had to address the issues it identifies and which have been there from the beginning. We cannot throw up our hands and claim ignorance because this particular elephant in the living room has been standing there for over sixty years. Either we invest in our young generation now or we wither and fail in thirty-five years time — our choice is that stark.

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Blackwater’s secret war in Pakistan?

2009-11-25T12:03:00.001+05:00

At a covert forward operating base run by the US Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) in Karachi, members of an elite division of Blackwater are at the centre of a secret programme in which they plan targeted assassinations of suspected Taliban and al-Qaeda operatives, “snatch and grabs” of high-value targets and other sensitive action inside and outside Pakistan, an investigation by The Nation has found.

The Blackwater operatives also assist in gathering intelligence and help direct a secret US military drone bombing campaign that runs parallel to the well-documented CIA Predator strikes, according to a well-placed source within the US military intelligence apparatus.

The source, who has worked on covert US military programmes for years, including in Afghanistan and Pakistan, has direct knowledge of Blackwater’s involvement.

He spoke to The Nation on condition of anonymity because the program is classified. The source said that the programme is so “compartmentalised” that senior figures within the Obama administration and the US military chain of command may not be aware of its existence.

The White House did not return calls or email messages seeking comment for this story. Capt John Kirby, the spokesperson for Adm Michael Mullen, Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told The Nation, “We do not discuss current operations one way or the other, regardless of their nature.”

A defence official, on background, specifically denied that Blackwater performs work on drone strikes or intelligence for JSOC in Pakistan.

“We don’t have any contracts to do that work for us. We don’t contract that kind of work out, period,” the official said. “There has not been, and is not now, contracts between JSOC and that organisation for these types of services.”

The previously unreported programme, the military intelligence source said, is distinct from the CIA assassination programme that the agency’s director, Leon Panetta, announced he had cancelled in June 2009. “This is a parallel operation to the CIA,” said the source. “They are two separate beasts.”

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Wrong scanners bought

2009-11-25T11:59:00.001+05:00

SLAMABAD: The Interior Ministry is buying scanners to be installed at roads to check explosives being brought into cities by terrorists but ironically, the selected models lack the vital capability of detecting explosives from a distance (as in other available models) and this critical deficiency could make all the difference between an apprehended shipment or another bomb blast right in front of one of these very scanning posts, sources told The News.

The News was told that two scanners were purchased from China, to be used by Customs, to detect smuggled items, including drugs and explosives.

Interior Ministry sources said security agencies had demanded seven scanners having the specific capability of detecting explosive material, which cost Rs 5 billion and these also had complete Excess Control System (ECS) whereas the inferior systems were being bought for a much higher price tab of Rs 9 billion.

The sources also said that the purchased scanners are not human friendly and their radiation levels were too dangerous for human body.

According to technical experts, jots or particles of explosive materials are unstable and continuously puff out in the air. They say that specially made scanners, recommended by the security agencies, catch particles and alarm the operator from a distance of over 400 yards regarding the presence of explosive material.

They said that unfortunately the scanners purchased could detect the dangerous explosive only after the vehicles would pass close by them and thereby explosive could explode in the very ascertainment process.

The sources said that the Islamabad police demanded seven explosive detecting scanners with ECS to install on seven sensitive entry points of the capital city, including the Red Zone.

The estimated cost of the complete system, including seven explosive scanners was Rs5 billion but the people involved in the deal rejected the proposal of the actual requirement and decided to purchase unrelated scanners on over-estimated price, allegedly, for kickback and commission.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik when contacted said that the scanners, imported from China were multi purpose as they had the capability of detecting explosive material as well as narcotics hidden in vehicles. He denied any commission or kickback was involved in the deal.

The minister said a shipment of two huge scanners has reached Pakistan, which would be installed at major roads of the Capital, adding, while a consignment of mobile scanners would arrive soon.

He said that mobile scanners would be provided to all provinces. The minister expressed ignorance about the quality and type of scanners, and said, “The quality and type of scanners was finalized by a board of experts of atomic energy commission (AEC) while the deal and financial matters were settled by the Planning Division.”

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Rs9 billion financial scam at the Bank of Punjab (BoP

2009-11-25T11:30:00.002+05:00

ISLAMABAD: Sheikh Afzal, the main accused in the Rs9 billion financial scam at the Bank of Punjab (BoP), on Tuesday revealed before the bench of the Supreme Court that he paid Rs35 million to Parliamentary Affairs Minister Dr Babar Awan for winning the case in the apex court.

Sheikh Afzal, an absconder in the BoP scam, was recently arrested by the FIA from Malaysia along with his son Haris Afzal and was produced before a three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

The bench was hearing the Rs9 billion BoP scam. The BoP had granted a loan of Rs9 billion to the Haris Steel Mills (HSM), Lahore without fulfilling legal requirements and consequently the steel mills defaulted on the loan. The Bank of Punjab then filed a petition against the HSM.

Sheikh Afzal admitted to having given Rs5 million as fees to a senior advocate of the Supreme Court and minister for parliamentary affairs Dr Babar Awan besides giving him Rs35 million for assuring him to win the case.

It is pertinent to mention here that earlier former attorney general Sardar Latif Khosa was removed from his office after being charged with taking money for a favourable court verdict during the tenure of Justice (retd) Abdul Hameed Dogar.

The arrest of Sheikh Afzal became possible after the Supreme Court issued orders to the government to produce the accused in the court come what may. This is the biggest achievement of the judges led by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry since their restoration following a popular movement. It perhaps never happened in this country that the accused of such a huge fraud was made to submit to law and agreed to pay the embezzled amount. This task was beyond imagination during the tenure of Abdul Hameed Dogar as chief justice when such people got away scot-free.

After the court hearing, Sheikh Afzal disclosed a list of top lawyers to the newsmen who extorted millions of rupees from him to clear his loan default cases from the courts.

He alleged that Dr Babar Awan took Rs40 million, Sharifuddin Pirzada Rs10 million, Malik Muhammad Qayyum, the then attorney general, Rs20 million and Ali Waseem, the son of Waseem Sajjad, Rs7.5 million.

Afzal said Dr Babar Awan took Rs5 million as fee and Rs35 million for getting a favourable verdict from the then Islamabad High Court.

In addition to these leading lawyers, Afzal said he had given Rs400-500 million to Hamesh Khan, former BoP president, Rs30 million to Aziz Ahmed, BoP Control Risk Manager, Rs50 million to Haroon Aziz, Rs10 million to Shoaib Qureshi, Rs40 million to Saleem Mirza, treasury head of the bank, Rs5 million to Fazil Asghar who helped him escape despite being on the Exit Control List (ECL).

Earlier, Shiekh Afzal tendered an apology to the court and submitted to surrender in the case by satisfying the Bank of Punjab in its claim against him.

He regretted over his loot and plunder but requested that his family members including his spouse and children should not be humiliated who were not involved in the fraud case.

He said his wife and 18-year-old son Hamza were also arrested from the Lahore airport. He confessed to getting Rs8 billion loan from the Bank of Punjab, adding 40 per cent was taken by his elder brother, Seth Yaqoob.

The court was informed that Sheikh Afzal had deposited $6 million to his son’s account in Dubai, besides depositing Rs2.5 billion to his wife’s account.

Sheikh Afzal’s son Haris Afzal, a BBA student, also told the court that he was ready to furnish all accounts and properties purchased on his name by his father.

During the course of the proceedings, Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry asked Dr Danishwar Malik, prosecutor general of the NAB, if there was any criminal case against Haris Afzal, son of Sheikh Afzal. Dr Danishwar replied in negative at which the court observed that it was an injustice with the family members.

The court ordered the release of Haris Afzal, however, directed to put his name on the ECL besides surrendering his passport to the NAB. The court directed Haris Afzal to extend his maximum cooperation to the NAB in the investigation process.

The court also allowed protection to Seth Nisar, elder brother of Shiekh Afzal, who wanted to return to Pakistan and pay the money.

His counsel, Advocate Wasim Sajjad, submitted before the court that Seth Nisar, who was abroad, wanted to return to Pakistan and ready to pay the amount being claimed against him.

He further submitted that earlier the court was misguided that Seith Nisar, brother of Sheikh Afzal, Chief Executive Haris Steel Mills, and Sheikh Munir had flown out of the country on October 24 despite being on ECL since 2000.

“His name was removed from the ECL on April 15, 2009 and he had taken Rs400 million as debt from Sheikh Afzal,” Wasim Sajjad added, requesting the court to ensure protection to Seth Nisar.

The court accepted the request and directed Wasim Sajjad to produce Seth Nisar before the court on December 2 and adjourned the hearing.

The court directed the NAB not to harass any family member of Sheikh Afzal, but allowed to take the due action for recovery of the defaulted money. The court also directed the NAB to expedite efforts for extradition of Hamesh Khan, who is an absconder in the case and in the US.

The court praised the role played by officials of FIA, particularly Azam Khan, the FIA DG, and the Foreign Affairs Ministry in the arrest of Sheikh Afzal from Malaysia.

Khawaja Haris, counsel for Bank of Punjab (BoP), and AK Dogar, counsel for Seth Yaqoob, also appeared before the court.

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Baloch nationalists reject package

2009-11-25T11:22:00.001+05:00

LONDON: Exiled Baloch leaders on Tuesday rejected the Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan package on the grounds that it doesn’t go far enough to meet their main problems.

Hyrbyair Marri, the London-based leader of the powerful Marri tribe, remains staunchly opposed to any compromise with the government. He called Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan package a “mockery and a cruel joke” with the people of Balochistan and said it falls short of Baloch expectations and was only an exercise in buying more time.

He told The News: “This package is misleading. It’s another trap set for us to convince us that the federation pains for us and wants the solution of our miseries.

Marri said President Zardari and his government may have good sentiments but they were powerless and the real powers rest with the military establishment. “If Zardari is so powerful and omnipotent then why is he expecting the UNO to find killers of his wife Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto? Why doesn’t he have faith in the courts and institutions of his own country?

Mir Suleman Dawood Khan, the current Khan of Kalat, said the government failed to take all stakeholders on board and didn’t consult those it didn’t like.

“Baloch nationalist parties were not consulted and only allies of the current government were informed about it a few days ago.”

Noordin Mangal, who regularly speaks at the UN forum, said the package doesn’t address the real problems of the Baloch people.”

Mumtaz Alvi adds: Three leading Balochistan tribes - Marris, Mengals and Bugtis ñ on Tuesday billed the Balochistan package as a political gimmick and charged that it was like rubbing salt into the wounds of the Baloch people.

When contacted by telephone for comments, late Akbar Bugti’s son and President of Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP) Talal Bugti charged that the package was prepared by the invisible forces and not by Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani’s team or a parliamentary committee.

“The prime minister in his address to the parliament’s joint session said the FC would remain in Balochistan, which means, no change in the status-quo. If they are not serious, which I believe, we have the option to knock at the doors of the United Nations,” Talal warned.

Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) Vice-President Sajid Tareen, while talking to The News from Quetta, noted what had been announced in the package had never been the demand of Balochistan’s people.

“Our stand remains unchanged that the federating units must be treated as per the 1940 Pakistan Resolution,” he said.

Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri was not available for comments.

“We don’t believe in dialogue anymore, as it has been non-productive. We are not politically active as several other parties are,” said a source close to the veteran Baloch leader, who is chieftain of the Marri tribe.

Muhammad Anis adds: The package could not satisfy the people of Balochistan, as it had nothing significant for them, Senator Dr Abdul Malik of the Balochistan National Party (BNP) said while talking to media persons after the announcement of the package.

Senator Hasil Bazinjo said the package carries most of the old things and there is nothing new in it. “The Baloch people want practical steps, not announcements,” he added.

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Possibility of limited war in S Asia

2009-11-24T17:12:00.000+05:00

NEW DELHI: Indian Army chief General Deepak Kapoor said on Monday that the possibility of a limited war under a nuclear overhang was still very much a reality in South Asia.

Addressing a seminar on “Changing Nature of Conflict: Trends and Responses,” he said South Asia, along with West Asia, had emerged as “one of the epicentres of conflict and instability.” He said the situation would “worsen since there is neither any political nor diplomatic unity, nor any common ground to build a consensus to fight this new war.” Gen Kapoor said: “Territorial disputes, provocation by proxy wars, religious fundamentalism, radical extremism, ethnic tensions and socio-economic disparities are the hallmark of South Asia.”

He said sub-conventional conflicts might force nations to undertake interventions on “purely humanitarian grounds if the diaspora is under threat, sovereignty of nations being questioned, such as attacks on missions abroad, and national assets and foreign soil being used constantly for attack by state and non-state actorsî.

Speaking on the occasion, Indian Defence Minister AK Antony said the threat of nuclear weapons falling into the wrong hands was an “area of serious concern” and its consequences would be “unimaginable”.

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Military operation likely in Khyber Agency

2009-11-23T16:05:00.001+05:00

BARA: Another full-fledged military operation is anticipated as scores of soldiers equipped with latest weapons and backed by artillery guns arrived in different areas of Bara subdivision in Khyber Agency on Sunday.

Sources told The News that over 1,000 personnel of security forces, equipped with artillery guns and rocket launchers, were stationed in different areas of Bara Tehsil.The decision about deploying security forces and launching a fresh operation against the militants and miscreants, the sources added, was taken by the federal government after several incidents of bomb blasts in Peshawar and elsewhere in the province and killing of scores of innocent people.

Some sources disclosed that the operation would be launched in Khyber and Orakzai Agencies simultaneously to purge the two tribal regions of the militants and protect the provincial metropolis and other major cities from the insurgents’ onslaught.

It is believed that suicide bombers are being trained in the neighbouring Orakzai Agency and then sent to settled parts of the province, particularly the Peshawar city, via Bara in Khyber Agency. The sources added that fleeing militants from South Waziristan also used to sneak into Peshawar and other districts of the NWFP for subversive acts.

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How to clean up the bloody mess?

2009-11-23T16:02:00.000+05:00

Instead of stabilising the political system, giving a clean and effective government and supporting the Army and security forces to fight the menace of terrorism with full political backing and support, the arrogant and lop-sided governance style of President Zardari has messed up everything. Within a year he has reached the point where everyone is asking and discussing “what after him”. Musharraf took nine years to reach that stage when the Americans dumped him. Zardari was fast. He has now dug into his bunker and is ready to fight. But fight for what? Fight with his own self against his own failures?

Today’s mess is not for the Pakistan Army to clean, as it was 15 months ago. The Army has already played its behind-the-scene role to keep the system going. Today the failure is of the politicians and they should not blame anyone else, as is now becoming a habit in pro-Zardari circles. No one wants to destabilise the system. But the blunders and egocentricities of the PPP leadership is going to do that.

A very mischievous impression is being given that criticism of Zardari, and sidelining him, would mean another attack on Sindhi rights. He should be sidelined because he has failed as a politician and not as a Sindhi. He should pay for his acts of omission and commission, the rampant corruption unleashed all around and the failed policies that he has forced on everybody. All this has nothing to do with Sindh or the Sindhi card.

In fact, all reports from Sindh say people in Larkana and Nawabshah would be more than happy if the tyranny of these newly unleashed feudals is ended. The decades old servants and workers of Mr Bhutto’s ancestral homes would like to come back to their jobs and not live in wilderness any more.

The heavy onus of correcting the situation thus lies on the prime minister and the PPP, or whatever part of the organisation which can come out of the scare spell of the presidency. Gilani is considering many options, including his own resignation if he does not get his way. But right now the centre of power has shifted to his office and the presidency is in a lame-duck mode.

As a starter Gilani can slash his cabinet and remove all the tainted NRO hit ministers, advisers and ambassadors. In one go, he will boost his image and credibility and deliver a fatal blow to the one-man style of governance that has led the PPP into a corner in just two years.

The PM should then move with super speed to get the 17th Amendment repealed, get the competent and popular PPP leaders back into the party fold, take Mian Nawaz Sharif and others on board, even in his cabinet, as in the early days of the coalition. Get a political consensus on major issues, start a dialogue with moderates in the ranks of militants and then lead the country with a focus on ending the miseries of the poor harassed masses and crushing the militancy.

He should keep the president informed and on board if he wants to play along. But it should be clear that the buck would stop at the PM House. If this does not happen and Mr Zardari creates hurdles, plays his dirty tricks, unleashes his ‘Ghairat’ or ‘Izzat’ brigades against the PM, the media, the security establishment or all of them, he would be the one responsible for demolishing the system. No one else should then be blamed.

Crippled NAB bodes well for NRO beneficiaries

2009-11-23T15:53:00.001+05:00

ISLAMABAD: After the unveiling of the names of NRO beneficiaries, particularly the ruling class, the question striking every mind is how these big-wigs would continue to retain their present positions and status.

There is good news for these beneficiaries as the tamed and subdued National Accountability Bureau (NAB) fears that unless it is independently allowed to pursue corruption cases of the NRO beneficiaries on merit, acquittal of all the accused, despite the presence of concrete evidence, is imminent.

Sources in the NAB say reopening of the cases of the NRO beneficiaries would be meaningless if the bureau continues to be controlled by the government. In the absence of an independent accountability apparatus, the government would expect from the NAB prosecutors to lose or concede cases of corruption and misuse of authority against the powerful and the mighty in the present government.

The sources said the government has already made the NAB a completely impotent body by making it to dance to its tunes. The rulers have not only indicated to abolish the bureau but have also drastically cut its budget, besides inducting favourites.

Referring to a few corruption cases settled outside the NRO through the normal court processes in the present government, involving high-profile public office holders, the NAB sources said that in order to ensure honourable acquittals, the NAB was directed to make certain that its prosecutors did not pursue the cases on merit in the concerned courts. The friendly prosecution behaved as per the dictates of the rulers, which resulted in the desired results — honourable acquittal from corruption cases through normal court processes.

Analysts say if this could be proved it would be a gross obstruction of justice and a violation of laws and the Constitution. “The same formula is now expected to apply in the cases of all those important players, including federal ministers, key advisers and influential bureaucratic appointees, whose corruption cases would revive with the demise of the NRO,” a NAB source said, adding that despite the fact that the NAB has been used for political victimisation in the past, most of the corruption cases and the references made by the bureau have strong evidence to prove these cases in the court of law.

These sources said that without the NAB being administratively and financially autonomous, the dream of across-the-board accountability could never be fulfilled. The NAB even in the Musharraf government was not allowed to target pro-Musharraf politicians and his ministers despite massive corruption and mega financial scandals that had surfaced during his tenure.

However, under the present government the NAB has been made completely redundant and is not even allowed to probe massive corruption cases of the Musharraf era. Now, it is said the government intends to abolish the NAB and replace it with a new accountability commission, which would, however, remain under the strict control of the government.

Ironically, the draft accountability law that has recently been finalised by the government, if enacted in its present shape, would promote corruption instead of curbing it as it contains a permanent NRO for the politicians. It contains a controversial clause which says: “No case against the holder of a public office shall be registered, after three years of the expiry of his term or of his ceasing to hold office, of an offence under this Act which is alleged to have been committed during his tenure.”

The said clause was rejected by the committee but was mysteriously added in the final draft of the accountability commission, reportedly by a former law minister who still holds the strings although he has moved to a top parliamentary position.

Sources said that the new accountability commission is proposed to be placed under the Law Ministry, which would never allow it to function as an autonomous body. It would perhaps be used for political vendetta.

Interestingly even the PML-N members of the committee did not object to the Law Ministry’s proposed control over the future accountability commission. The NAB sources said that whether the NAB continues to exist or it is replaced by the new accountability commission, fair and across-the-board accountability could only be ensured by making it independent, both financially and administratively. One option could be to put it under judicial committee comprising some selected members of the superior judiciary and members of parliament belonging to all different shades of political parties.

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Inaction on the Competition Ordinance

2009-11-21T09:52:00.003+05:00

ISLAMABAD: The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has warned that it will cease to exist and its actions will become invalid in case the government fails to re-promulgate the Competition Ordinance on or before November 28.

Addressing a press conference here at the CCP office, Chairman CCP Khalid Mirza said that the commission had formally kick-started the required process by sending an official communication to the Ministry of Finance for taking steps to re-promulgate the Competition Ordinance 2009 till November 28, 2009.

He said that according to one legal opinion the president could re-promulgate the Competition Ordinance 2009 even after the cut-off date of November 28, 2009 but in that case the CCP would cease to exist after Nov 28 till the re-promulgation of the ordinance.

He said that the World Bank and the donors were closely watching Pakistan and inaction on the Competition Ordinance would hurt the already tarnished image of the country. He confirmed that strengthening the competition mechanism in Pakistan was one of the conditions of the World Bank under the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP-II) related lending.

He stressed that it was imperative to insert a clause in the re-promulgated ordinance to protect the decisions taken by the CCP during Feb 2, 2008 till date otherwise its action would become invalid.

The CCP, he said, had taken decisions in about 20 cases pertaining to various sectors, including cement, stock exchanges, educational institution, telecom, LPG, refineries etc whereas its proceedings were continuing against sugar, fertilisers, PIA, Takaful insurance etc.

A case of tolerance, inclusivity and democratic principles

2009-11-21T09:42:00.002+05:00

The first steps have been taken in the grand plan to take over America from the inside, and a small town has elected a Pakistani immigrant as its mayor. Haroon Saleem is an upstanding member of the community of Granite Falls where he runs a popular café, restaurant and bar. He stood for the mayoralty on a platform of honesty and responsibility and beat the incumbent mayor by taking around 60 per cent of the vote. The voters were clearly unimpressed by the previous mayor who submitted some doubtful travel expenses claims, failed to seek competitive bids for capital equipment and did not record his utility-bill payments in a timely manner. In small-town America slipups like that can cost you your mayoralty, so the voters gave Mayor Lyle Romack his marching orders and installed a Muslim immigrant who had made his way up the ladder of modest success and had the respect of most of the townspeople.

Haroon Saleem's tale is a classic. He went to America in 1979 to seek his fortune. He overstayed his visitor's visa and dodged immigration officials until 1987 when he got a lucky break from President Reagan, who extended an amnesty to unregistered immigrants. He became a 'legal', made an arranged marriage in 1992 and took American citizenship in 1995. He worked in the fast-food industry, gradually getting to the point at which he wanted his own business, saw the Timberline Café for sale and bought it. He was welcomed into the small community of which he is now mayor and for which he has plans. We wish well to Haroon Saleem in his new role at the cutting edge of our invasion forces. We also wonder how things might have turned out if the tale were reversed – an American immigrant coming here and trying to make his way. Would he have been welcomed? Accepted within a community where he might be the only representative of his faith? Perhaps elected a town nazim in rural Sindh or Punjab? We may be rightly suspicious of American motives when we view their foreign policies and how they impact on us, but Haroon Saleem offers us an object lesson in terms of tolerance, inclusivity and democratic principles.
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Conspiracy to besiege the country’s nuclear assets

2009-11-20T11:20:00.000+05:00

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Standing Committee on Human Rights was told on Thursday that American nationals were purchasing land in the suburbs of the capital, which could be a conspiracy to besiege the country’s nuclear assets.

MNA Javed Hashmi, who also heads the NA human rights body’s sub-committee on American private security firm Blackwater’s alleged presence in the country, said the US was purchasing land in the city’s suburbs, including Malpur, Sihala and the Simly Dam area.

“Influential people in Islamabad are renting out their houses to Americans,” he added. Talking to Daily Times, Hashmi said the sub-committee had not finalised its report, “but as per preliminary information, it is an established fact that Inter-Risk and DynCorp are training recruits in Peshawar”.

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Rs1,000 billion corruption swept under the carpet

2009-11-20T11:16:00.001+05:00

As if the news that we had dropped a further five places down the Transparency International corruption scale were not enough, there comes the (not unexpected) revelation of the writing off of billions of rupees as a consequence of the promulgation of the NRO. A report in this newspaper suggests that the figure could be as much as Rs1,000 billion, a number so incomprehensibly large that it beggars the imagination. The National Reconciliation Ordinance effectively cancelled the powers of the National Accountability Bureau (itself flawed and of doubtful provenance but something is better than nothing) and opened the gate for hundreds – perhaps several thousands – engaged in graft and corruption to walk away from their crimes. Those who did the walking were not the poor or needy; they were the rich and powerful, the movers and shakers at the top end of our society. In many cases there is powerful evidence of wrongdoing, much of it by politicians and the workers of political parties across the entire spectrum of our political entities and institutions. Whatever evidence there was has disappeared and will never be presented. A stratum of criminality at the heart of politics and governance once again escapes the rule of law.

The determination to resist any form of accountability is embedded at every level of governance and has become a defining national characteristic. Small wonder that the world sees us as something of a basket case, seemingly teetering on failed-statehood and forever in denial of our many flaws. They have only to read through the back issues of our newspapers for the last twenty years or so (which is as far back as archives go online) to see the rot at the core of the state, the venality that elsewhere would have brought down individuals if not entire governments. Unless and until there is a change in the culture of corruption we seem doomed to wallow very publicly in our own filth – and there is neither sign of nor incentive for change. Our rulers invest heavily in the status quo and perhaps have little real interest in educating or empowering the majority, because by doing so they may be in a position to challenge that artificial equilibrium. The iniquitous NRO was, according to some legal eagles, itself unconstitutional and discriminatory, a law applicable only to a tiny section of the population and not a law for all men and women everywhere. How many schools could have been built for Rs1,000 billion? Hospitals? Roads? Rural water supply systems? Vocational training centres? Until a majority decides to stand up and say ‘Enough’, NRO beneficiaries are going to be laughing as they dance towards their banks.

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Dreaded NRO list is out and official

2009-11-20T11:13:00.001+05:00

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) presented to the government on Thursday a list of 248 politicians and bureaucrats, who were alleged to have plundered hundreds of billions of rupees but were cleared by the NAB under the NRO.

Sources in the Law Ministry while sharing with The News the “complete list” of NAB’s NRO beneficiaries, explained that thousands other cases of NRO beneficiaries did not belong to the NAB but with the provincial governments because they were criminal cases and were not covered by the NAB law.

On top of the list is the name of President Asif Ali Zardari while his several close associates, both political and bureaucratic, including Rehman Malik, Salman Farooqi and his brother Usman Farooqi, Hussain Haqqani and Siraj Shamsuddin are also reflected.

IDPs from South Waziristan and winter

2009-11-19T09:26:00.001+05:00

As winter sets in over Waziristan, the over 300,000 people reported by the UN to have fled the area have now begun to move beyond the neighbouring districts of Dera Ismail Khan and Tank, where they have so far been based. With little prospect of being able to return to abandoned homes till after the snows melt away, IDPs are headed to larger cities in search of work to sustain them over this period. Some say they are also fearful of clashes breaking out in D I Khan, where persons from rival tribes have all sought shelter. It is also clear that the IDPs from South Waziristan have not received the level of help offered to those from Swat. Requests from international humanitarian agencies to be permitted to work with the IDPs have been turned down by authorities on the grounds of security.

These concerns are valid, but as a consequence men, women and children who have played no part in militancy suffer. Even the International Committee of the Red Cross, known internationally as a body that is neutral, has been prevented from visiting the conflict zone or even areas where IDPs are based. With the advent of winter certain to impose a prolonged period of displacement, it is vital that the situation be reviewed. Ensuring that the people of Waziristan receive adequate support goes beyond immediate humanitarian needs of the old, the sick, the very young or the vulnerable. Wining the trust of these people is of utmost importance and this could prove a vital factor in the future to ensure that victory in Waziristan over the militants is sustained and indeed built upon to guarantee the future of the territory.

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‘India’s N-sites ground zero for terrorists

2009-11-19T09:19:00.000+05:00

TORONTO : The Canadian media says a nuclear deal could be risky because of terrorist threats to India’s sites. They cite the recent alert at India’s nuclear facilities as a warning to the Canadian government that is keen to clinch the deal.

John Ibbitson of the Globe and Mail says: “India’s nuclear facilities have been placed on high alert, as evidence emerges that two men, one of them Canadian, might have scouted sites for the terrorist attack on Mumbai last year...

“Does Canada really want to help sell nuclear technology to a country that is the midst of such a volatile region, a country that in the 1970s appropriated our first foray into building Indian nuclear reactors to help fashion nuclear weapons, a country whose nuclear reactors would be an ideal ground zero for jihadists?”

Hasty and untimely withdrawal from Afghanistan could be disastrous

2009-11-19T09:16:00.002+05:00

LONDON: Pakistan warned the concluding 55th annual session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly against any hasty and untimely withdrawal from Afghanistan saying such move could be disastrous for the region.

The head of the Pakistani delegation Senator Syed Nayyar Husain Bukhari, while addressing the participants in Edinburgh on Wednesday, dispelled the Western misperceptions about Pakistan’s commitment towards ongoing war on terrorism.

He drew the world attention towards Kashmir issue as a perpetual source of regional insecurity and instability and urged them to persuade India to commence stalled negotiations on the resolution of this long- standing issue.

Keeping in view Pakistan’s legitimate security concerns, the Committee adopted two major amendments in the draft resolutions, which were related to insertion of a paragraph urging India and Pakistan to open a dialogue on Kashmir and deletion of a negative reference expressing ambiguity over Pakistanís stance towards extremists.

Instead, the Committee, while appreciating Pakistanís pivotal role, decided to acknowledge country’s increasing efforts to eliminate terrorism.

Rs1,000 billion corruption swept under the carpet

2009-11-19T09:12:00.001+05:00

ISLAMABAD: According to the official National Accountability Bureau (NAB) list, approximately Rs165 billion was written off because of the promulgation of the NRO and the subsequent act of making the NAB impotent but official sources claim that according to ‘actual’ calculations corruption cases of about Rs1000 billion were terminated.

These also include such cases where even the initial investigations had yet to begin. In just one case, a case of a highly influential individual involving a US$1.5 billion (Rs122 billion) plunder was terminated with the legal stroke of an illegal pen. In yet another case, the wife of an influential politician walked away scot-free and an amount of exactly Rs310 million was written off. There is a long list of cases in which complete immunity of billions of rupees was granted to a select segment of society.

Besides the NAB list of NRO beneficiaries given to the Law Ministry for presentation before the prime minister and then the National Assembly, hundreds of other political luminaries were given a clean slate in corruption cases without mentioning the word NRO and thousands of political workers involved in heinous criminal activities too got their records cleansed.

Taliban leader Maulana Fazlullah 'flees Pakistan'

2009-11-18T08:57:00.002+05:00

One of the most wanted Taliban leaders in Pakistan has escaped to Afghanistan and is planning new attacks on Pakistani forces, he has told the BBC.

Maulana Fazlullah founded the Swat Taliban to enforce a hardline version of Islamic law.

The government at first accepted his demands, but later accused the militants of reneging on a peace deal and sent troops into the valley.

Maulana Fazlullah was said by officials to have been wounded or killed in July.

Threats

"I have reached Afghanistan safely," Maulana Fazlullah told BBC Urdu.

"We are soon going to launch full-fledged punitive raids against the army in Swat."

Politics of the NRO

2009-11-18T08:41:00.001+05:00

It appears as if the MQM chief’s stand is a decisive one in the current political situation. This is attested by the fact that following his decision, not only is the NRO dead and buried forever but it also seems to have set the stage for the implementation of the minus-one formula

The other day the MQM supremo Altaf Hussain caused a political tsunami when in a mysterious call made in the dead of the night he announced not to support the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) bill and counselled Zardari to leave the presidency for the sake of democracy and along with his associates face cases in the courts. It left the Zardari government high and dry because it was banking on MQM’s support for the smooth passage of the bill. For President Zardari, Altaf was a Brutus who had stabbed him in the back. Visibly upset by this development, the PPP had negotiations with the MQM in Dubai, which however did not produce the kind of result that the PPP was looking for because though the MQM apparently made a summersault on Zardari’s resignation by claiming that it did not ask for his head, only surrender of the 17th amendment presidential powers, it refused to budge on the NRO. Resultantly, the government withdrew the NRO from parliament and Zardari is now struggling for his political survival. How do we explain the latest theatre in town?

Why has the establishment that had accepted the PPP government after Musharraf’s exit now turned hostile towards it? The explanation for this lies in Zardari’s personality and performance with which the establishment is not satisfied on several counts. First, there is lack of governance and the Zardari government appears to be utterly rudderless. Second, there is rampant corruption in which he and others are allegedly involved. To compound the matter he is not willing to show the door to the latter. Third, he is perceived as America’s man echoing his master’s voice as evidenced by the Kerry-Lugar Bill (KLB), which he tried to promote even though the establishment viewed it as an American instrument to get Pakistan’s nuclear programme capped and the Pakistan army and the ISI controlled. Fourth, the Zardari government has allowed the Americans to get themselves installed in Islamabad, which allows them space to indulge in espionage activities in Pakistan. Finally, Zardari is perceived as being soft on India.

Inside story of PPP CEC meeting

2009-11-18T08:25:00.001+05:00

ISLAMABAD: In the last fateful meeting of the party central executive committee, the old PPP guards surprisingly compared the present siege-like situation of President Asif Ali Zardari to that of late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who during his incarceration days was given similar sugar coated assurances about his survival by his party leaders, just as an ‘all is well and great’ report being given today by all the president’s men.

President Zardari was reportedly told point black by Nawab Yousuf Talpur that these were the similar sycophants who were nowhere to be seen when the time of trial came and ultimately their leader was hanged.

Apparently, Talpur’s bold utterances proved only a harbinger of more to come. According to sources, after a very long time some of the senior party leaders blasted the policies and failures of their own government, and much to their pleasant surprise, they found the president, also the party co-chairman, ready to listen to them uninterrupted and without giving them a put up or shut up call. Some of the senior party leaders were said to be dissatisfied with the briefing given to them on the NRO issue and the government plans to tackle it in the days to come.

Earlier, unlike the past traditions, CEC members were also asked to give approval for the long pending reshuffling of the cabinet. The CEC empowered the president to change the portfolios of the ministers but Mr Zardari hurriedly passed on these powers to PM Yousuf Raza Gilani, who might soon announce the changes in the portfolios of the ministers. One source said, MNA Sherry Rehman and Senator Raza Rabbani were likely to rejoin the cabinet.

TI reports Pakistan 42nd most corrupt country

2009-11-18T07:39:00.001+05:00

KARACHI: Corruption in Pakistan increased in one year of the PPP government and Transparency International ranked Pakistan 42nd among the world’s most corrupt countries against 47th last year.

Pakistan’s 2009 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) score was 2.4, ranking it at 42, TI Pakistan chief Adeel Gilani said while releasing the report here on Tuesday. Against this, Bangladesh has marginally improved its position also ranked 42nd against 38th last year. India has been at 84th position.

According to the Transparency International ranking, the higher the position of a country on the list the better is its integrity account and lesser corruption. Countries scored highest in the 2009 CPI are: New Zealand at 9.4, Denmark (9.3), Singapore and Sweden tied at 9.2 and Switzerland at 9.0, reflecting political stability and long established conflict of interest regulations.

According to Gilani, anti-corruption efforts in Pakistan had taken a 180-degree turn since the then-president Pervez Musharraf issued the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) in October 2007. The NRO, which granted immunity to politicians, military officers and bureaucrats charged with corruption, enabled the return home from exile of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

Pakistan on Fred Bremner

2009-11-17T11:37:00.001+05:00

Light Within on on Fred Bremner writes, “He was not a diplomat, historian or a journalist, yet his photographs and publications have become an important source of historic records of the cities, events, places and people in Pakistan.”

Rigging allegations in Gilgit-Baltistan elections

2009-11-17T07:55:00.001+05:00

The PML-Q and the MQM have made allegations of massive rigging by the PPP in Gilgit-Baltistan, where the ruling party swept the poll to 23 seats in the new legislative assembly for the region. The charges have been denied by the prime minister and other members of the winning party. This pattern of accusations and denials is of course not a new one. Disturbingly, the tensions between rival parties triggered clashes in Skardu as supporters pelted each other with stones. The losing parties have demanded re-elections on nine seats rather than on four, as announced by the Election Commission. The poll in Gilgit-Baltistan was monitored by neutral observers. A mission of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has noted the process was flawed. It has for instance stated the indelible ink to mark voters could in fact quite easily be removed and that the Benazir Income Support Programme may at times have been used unfairly. But the human rights body, with considerable experience in watching polls, does not appear to have found evidence of a large-scale attempt to alter the results.

As we have said before, there is only one way around this problem. Pakistan today urgently needs an autonomous and independent Election Commission, which is free of government control. The models for this used in other countries, including India, could help us work out how to set one up. The fact is that until this is done, every election will be followed by allegations of manipulation. After all the very nature of polls means there will always be winners and losers. One part of the democratic process is transparency and fair play at the ballot. This can be guaranteed only if the process is overseen by a body free from political affiliation and respected by all the major contestants. Otherwise we will continue to see the kind of unfortunate aftermath to polls that we are witnessing today in Gilgit-Baltistan.

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Missing persons case

2009-11-17T07:41:00.001+05:00

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Interior Ministry to submit before the court details pertaining to Pakistani citizens who have been handed over to foreign countries.

A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Justice Javed Iqbal, hearing the case of missing persons, observed that it will not give more time to the government for tracing the whereabouts of the missing people.

Sindh and beyond

2009-11-16T13:15:00.003+05:00

Peer Sa’een is Peer Sa’een. He is not here to serve us. We vote for him and will keep doing so, as it is our duty.

Vaderas, the de facto rulers of Interior Sindh, are generally untouchable. Nobody is there to challenge their licence to rule. As there is no other option but to woo voters to get elected, come every election season they appear for a little while and then vanish until the next polls.

Not being accountable to their voters, these landlords enjoy a status no less than that of a deity. It was after a visit to Nawab Shah and other far-flung areas of Interior Sindh, I realised that the vaderas are ruling the roost in 2009 as imperiously as their forefathers did centuries ago. The status quo is and will remain. Nobody knows until when.

The poverty-laced but hospitable Sindhis do not even think of questioning the deeds of their Sa’eens. The poor folks do so not because they are illiterate or penniless but rather because it is their tradition. To question the Pir Sa’een is considered no less than a sin; even the outsiders are not allowed to do so. “Peer Sa’een is Peer Sa’een. He is not here to serve us. We vote for him and will keep doing so, as it is our duty,” is the rule these people live by and are easily angered by queries on this matter.

CIA and ISI

2009-11-16T12:56:00.001+05:00

It has given hundreds of millions to the ISI, for operations as well as rewards for the capture or death of terrorist suspects. Despite fears of corruption, it is money well-spent, ex-officials say.

Reporting from Washington - The CIA has funneled hundreds of millions of dollars to Pakistan's intelligence service since the Sept. 11 attacks, accounting for as much as one-third of the foreign spy agency's annual budget, current and former U.S. officials say.

The Inter-Services Intelligence agency also has collected tens of millions of dollars through a classified CIA program that pays for the capture or killing of wanted militants, a clandestine counterpart to the rewards publicly offered by the State Department, officials said.

The payments have triggered intense debate within the U.S. government, officials said, because of long-standing suspicions that the ISI continues to help Taliban extremists who undermine U.S. efforts in Afghanistan and provide sanctuary to Al Qaeda members in Pakistan.

Official results of Gilgit Baltistan polls

2009-11-16T12:24:00.000+05:00

GILGIT: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Sunday notified the Gilgit-Baltistan poll results of 21 constituencies out of 23, confirming the lead of the Pakistan People’s Party that grabbed 11 seats.

The results of two constituencies, LA-3 and LA-17, were withheld, while death of a candidate caused postponement of elections from another seat. The ECP said the PPP won 11 seats, the PML-N got two seats, the PML-Q secured two seats, independent candidates grabbed four seats, and the JUI-F and the MQM got one seat each.

Meanwhile, no let-up was seen in the demonstrations, being organised by the PML-N and the MQM, accusing the PPP and the local administration of rigging the polls. They were demanding re-elections in certain constituencies.

New Concept of War

2009-11-15T20:50:00.001+05:00

War weaponry that might have started with one to one use of force and hurling of stones on adversaries have changed into attacks by precession guided and capable of mass destructions warheads launched across long distances through independently target able re-entry vehicles, camera fitted smart bombs or even nuclear warheads.

Soldiers in today's conventional armies are already making use of computer chips; global positioning systems, range finders, meteorological measuring and sophisticated fire control systems. What is more, "microwave cannons, plasma guns, sensing devices and even mechanical bugs that can swarm and explode around the enemy, body heat powered combat dresses and digital helmets are turning up" reads Defence Journal's report, which is making it difficult to draw a line between conventional and cyber wars. But this is not about how computer chips are serving soldiers in battlefields. It is about how computers and the Internet have become a new weapon in the military's arsenal that need not mobilize the physical forces; virtual battlefield, virtual warfare but no less seismic in any sense as far as their potentials to inflict casualties and loses are concerned. Read about new concept of war at Logic is Variable.

Criminal neglect in checking of explosives

2009-11-15T09:54:00.001+05:00

ISLAMABAD: While the pilferage of high explosives and detonators is risking the lives of the people, the authorities are showing a criminal neglect in checking the manufacture, distribution and use of these lethal mass killer products.

Documents reveal that the ISI found a blasting company in Qilla Saifullah a few months back being involved in the sale of high explosives to unauthorised persons. On the basis of the ISIís report, the company’s license was cancelled by the Ministry of Industries on the recommendation of the Interior Ministry. However, the Interior Ministry got back to the Ministry of Industries within 10 days and sought the revival of the license. The Industries Ministry revived the license, ignoring a three-page charge-sheet issued by the department of explosives against the same company. Minister for Industries Watto, however, expressed his unawareness about the case whereas the Interior Ministry spokesman was not available for comments.

Hersh claims US nuke team already in Islamabad

2009-11-15T09:48:00.001+05:00

ISLAMABAD: Pulitzer prize winning American journalist Seymour Hersh has claimed that an elite US special forces squad which operates covertly and includes terrorism and non-proliferation experts from the US intelligence community — the Pentagon, the FBI, and the DOE — is already present in Pakistan and could well be housed in the US embassy in Islamabad.

The startling disclosure was made in Hersh’s candid interview with Pakistan’s most popular TV channel Geo News’ widely viewed current affairs programme ‘Meray Mutabiq’, hosted by Dr Shahid Masood. The programme was aired on Saturday late evening.

Seymour Hersh said that the Americans had been constituting such crack teams for various purposes and the team in question here was to deal with any eventuality including any fear of takeover by Taliban or any other ‘development’ with regard to Pakistani nukes.

Group Editor of The News Shaheen Sehbai taking part in the programme expressed the view that Musharraf’s remarks about President Asif Zardari, as attributed by Hersh, could not be casually ignored. He said it must be investigated why Musharraf accused Zardari of not being a patriot, because, according to Sehbai, Hersh had some inside information given to him in interviews with Musharraf and Zardari which he did not reveal in his report. But Sehbai said journalists always attribute information given to them by responsible people to “reliable sources” if these people ask them to refrain from quoting them directly.

Lucky NRO club members

2009-11-14T11:04:00.000+05:00

ISLAMABAD: The list of the NRO beneficiaries runs long but that of real lucky ones is a rather short one. Seven to be precise. These lucky gentlemen are taking it easy, enjoying life, travelling abroad and even visiting holy places. Why? Because they were fortunate enough to have their cases tied to President Asif Ali Zardari, who as per the Constitution cannot be called in any court as long he occupies the presidential office. Those implicated in cases involving the President therefore too will face the music only if and when the prime accused is tried in the court.

These lucky seven include five former federal secretaries and two politicians, according to the NAB list furnished for tabling in the National Assembly. The NAB list indicates that Zardari’s principal secretary Salman Farooqi, ex-principal secretary Saeed Mehdi, ex-chairman ADBP Badar-ud-Din Zaidi, ex-commerce secretary Aslam Hayat Qureshi, ex-chairman CBR AR Siddiqui, ex-agriculture minister Yousaf Talpur and Begum Nusrat Bhutto are co-accused in different cases with the president.

Explosives factory closed as ministry finally wakes up

2009-11-14T10:37:00.001+05:00

ISLAMABAD: The ministry of industries was jolted into action on Friday and it finally closed the explosives factory, three days after the seizure of 58,500 kg of high explosives in DG Khan, which were being driven across the country in a criminally casual and unguarded manner with the devastating load, an easy picking for terrorists.

To give an idea, this load was much larger than the total amount of explosives used in suicide attacks in the last four to five years, including the Marriott bombing. The minister for industries Mian Manzoor Wattoo told The News that he has ordered the immediate suspension of the licence of the explosives manufacturer, BIAFO, the sealing of the factory, and has also ordered an inquiry into the matter.

Wattoo, however, was not updated on yet another seizure on Thursday of a truckload containing 30,000 detonators in the tribal area adjoining DG Khan. These detonators were manufactured by another factory.

Leadership crisis

2009-11-12T22:05:00.002+05:00

No democrat would hold a brief for military dictators. But if a dispassionate analysis is made, one comes to the conclusion that elected leaders are also responsible in equal measure for having brought the country to the present pass.

Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) chief Mian Nawaz Sharif has said at an election rally at Chilas Rest House that the primary reason for all the problems of the country is frequent violations of the Constitution. One would agree with Mian Nawaz Sharif that all organs of the state must work according to the parameters defined in the Constitution and no one should overstep into the other’s domain. He is also right in demanding of President Asif Ali Zardari the annulment of the 17th amendment and withdrawal of 58(2)(b), and it should be done in days and not weeks and months. But Mian sahib has to be reminded that during his second stint as prime minister, PML-N leaders and workers had stormed the apex court. The treatment meted out to then chief justice Sajjad Ali Shah can only be described as despicable. Second, it has to be borne in mind that almost all leaders or parties on the political scene today have at one time or another aided and abetted dictators, despite claiming to be champions of democracy.

Of course, power has its own dynamics; and the key to social dynamics that Marx found in wealth, Freud in sex, Bertrand Russell found in power. It has to be mentioned that Hitler and Mussolini were also elected leaders who were instrumental in the death and destruction of millions of people before and during the Second World War. Arundhati Roy, in her article titled ‘The end of imagination’ wrote: “Fascism is as in the people as it is in the governments. It starts in the drawing rooms, bedrooms and becomes a national psyche.” In Pakistan also we see tendencies of fascism in some religious and even so-called democratic and liberal parties. Their leaders are devoid of clarity of vision and sense of proportion. Paul Johnson, author of several best-selling books, during his lecture delivered on November 1, 2007 said: “In statesmanship, personal self-restraint in the search for and exercise of power is a key lesson to teach.” Unfortunately, Pakistan has not been lucky to have genuine leaders after the demise of the Quaid-i-Azam.

Take Pakistan into confidence on Afghan strategy, PM asks US

2009-11-12T22:03:00.000+05:00

ISLAMABAD: The US must take Pakistan into confidence on its review of its Afghanistan policy and ensure that the intended military build-up should not affect Balochistan and other areas of Pakistan, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Wednesday.

During talks with a US Congressional delegation headed by John Tierney, Gilani said, “The US and ISAF forces should coordinate and improve the current level of intelligence-sharing with Pakistan to solidify the ongoing operation against militancy on both sides of the Pak-Afghan border.” He urged the US to channel its economic assistance through a transparent mechanism established by the Government of Pakistan.

Gilani also suggested that the US should release Dr Aafia Siddiqui, extend the Fulbright Scholarship Programme for Pakistani students beyond 2010 and allocate special scholarships for 500 children of those martyred and injured in operations against terrorists. staff report/app

Shoddy journalism

2009-11-12T20:48:00.001+05:00

Journalists lead dangerous lives in Pakistan. They are targeted by the terrorists whose actions they report and by politicians and bureaucrats whose failings and indiscretions they expose. All this is to be expected. What a working journalist may not expect, however, is to be stabbed in the back by one of his own, as has recently happened to Matthew Rosenberg, a journalist working for the Wall Street Journal. Mr Rosenberg has been accused in a local newspaper of having links to the CIA and Mossad and of acting in some undefined way as an agent of Blackwater. As if this were not enough to blight his life and career, he is further accused of having 'secret' meetings with Secretary Law and Order FATA Secretariat, Tariq Hayat Khan, and Additional Chief Secretary FATA, Habib Khan. Both are said to have 'fed' documents to Mr Rosenberg, thereby implicating them in his alleged espionage activities. The story is based upon information from a nameless source and has no supporting evidence. Mr Rosenberg has had to leave the country and is unlikely to be working here in the foreseeable future.

The editor of the Wall Street Journal has rightly and robustly sprung to the defence of his journalist and written to the editor of the newspaper that printed the story. The opening paragraph of his letter reads … "As a fellow editor I am writing to convey in the strongest possible terms our dismay and disgust over the slanderous falsehoods published on the front page of your newspaper on November 5th regarding our reporter Matthew Rosenberg." We might add 'grossly irresponsible' and 'unprofessional' to the list of printable adjectives that may be applied to this dangerous travesty of journalism. Accusations such as this, based on information from a single unnamed source are life-threatening in their gravity. At the very least there should one other corroborating source and preferably more than one where accusations as grave as this are made. The electronic media has recently reached a voluntary agreement to 'clean up its act'; and perhaps some sections of the print media need to do the same.

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Obama thinks Pak Army not targeting Afghan groups

2009-11-12T19:40:00.001+05:00

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama is still sceptical about Pakistan’s willingness to attack Taliban groups allegedly operating out of Quetta, who are involved in attacks across the border inside Afghanistan, Pakistan’s military operation against the Taliban militants in Waziristan notwithstanding.

Top US officials familiar with the situation room discussions on Pakistan and Afghanistan in the White House say: “Though Pakistan has mounted military operations in Fata, they are focused on the Taliban who are targeting the Pakistani government, not those who are running operations inside Afghanistan.”

Gilgit-Baltistan people vote for the first time

2009-11-11T18:09:00.000+05:00

The upcoming election in Gilgit-Baltistan will be the first since the territory was granted status as an autonomous region in August this year. Though the measure stopped short of making the area a province as its people demand – the Legal Framework Order built on the PPP's legacy in the area. The late Benazir Bhutto had introduced electoral reform here and her father had played a role in ushering mainstream politics into an area that had at the time been largely isolated from Pakistan. The PPP as such has enjoyed traditional strength in the area. But this could change as campaigning ends ahead of voting on November 12. The failure of the party to bring in new candidates and the loss of credibility of old guns who have frequently failed to keep promises may mean the party fails to secure a full hold over the 33-member Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly. Of these, 24 will be directly contested and nine – including six for women and three for technocrats – will be filled later. Though the significant population of Ismailis is seen by some analysts to give the PPP an advantage, many predict a hung house.

Other parties have been campaigning hectically too. The PML-N chief has made a personal trip up to the mountainous area, donned the traditional woollen cap to guard himself from the freezing winds and – rather oddly – portrayed himself as the true heir of the Bhuttos. The PML-Q, using posters on which the portrait of Pervez Musharraf appears, has also been active and – rather late in the day, the ANP has recently stepped up its efforts, apparently suddenly realizing it needed to play some part in an election being held in what it sees as its backyard. As always, some independent candidates will claim seats. The MQM, eager to expand its influence beyond urban Sindh, has fielded 19 candidates. Only the PPP, with 23, has more. Altaf Hussain has also spoken to people over giant television screens – a novelty in Gilgit which attracted much attention. So too did the MQM's message against sectarianism and extremism, in a region that has seen repeated Shia-Sunni violence. The MQM showing could prove extremely interesting, with other parties generally steering clear of the extremist question. Even before voting gets underway, there have been warnings about unfair means and neutral monitors have stressed the need for a fair, transparent process. We must hope this advice is taken and people genuinely allowed to determine who they wish to represent them.

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Nuclear fables

2009-11-10T07:23:00.000+05:00

An article published in the latest issue of The New Yorker has created quite a buzz in Pakistan. The subject of the article by Seymour Hersh is extremely sensitive, i.e. Pakistan’s nuclear weapons. According to Mr Hersh, the Obama administration is negotiating with the Pakistan government to help secure Pakistan’s nuclear weapons in case of a crisis. The article alleges that the Americans have a covert team ready to fly into Pakistan at a moment’s notice and defend our nuclear installations from attack and/or prevent them falling into the ‘wrong’ hands. Pakistan’s Foreign Office (FO) has denied these allegations and termed the article as “utterly misleading and totally baseless”, calling it “nothing more than a concoction to tarnish Pakistan’s image and create misgivings among its people.” The FO has also accused Hersh of making “several false and highly irresponsible claims by quoting anonymous and unverifiable sources.” Meanwhile, US Ambassador to Pakistan Anne Patterson has said that the US has no intention of seizing Pakistan’s nuclear weapons or material. Responding to reports published in the article that the Americans have been negotiating “understandings” with the Pakistani military about the security of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal, she said that these allegations are completely false.

US Embassy denies Hersh story

2009-11-09T17:15:00.000+05:00

ISLAMABAD: In response to allegations published in the press that the United States has been negotiating “understandings” with the Pakistani military about the security of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal, US Ambassador to Pakistan Anne Patterson issued the following statement: “These allegations are completely false. The United States has no intention to seize Pakistani nuclear weapons or material. Pakistan is a key ally in our common effort to fight violent extremists and foster regional security. We work cooperatively on a wide range of security assistance initiatives, including significant efforts focused on strengthening counterinsurgency capacities to foster stability. The United States has confidence in Pakistan’s ability to protect its nuclear programmes and materials, as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said during her recent visit to Pakistan.”

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Pakistan nuclear security plan

2009-11-09T17:11:00.001+05:00

NEW YORK: The Obama administration has been negotiating highly sensitive understandings with the Pakistani military, the influential magazine ‘The New Yorker’ says in a detailed report by world famous Pulitzer prize winning journalist Seymour Hersh, published in its latest issue.

“The Pakistanis gave us a virtual look at the number of warheads, some of their locations, and their command-and-control system,” Hersh quotes a former senior US intelligence official. “We saw their target list and their mobilization plans. We got their security plans, so we could augment them in case of a breach of security,” he said.

“We’re there to help the Pakistanis, but we’re also there to extend our own axis of security to their nuclear stockpile.”The secret understandings between the US and Pakistan would allow specially trained American units to provide added security for the Pakistani nuclear arsenal in case of a crisis, the report said.

PPP Searching for friends

2009-11-07T21:45:00.001+05:00

Suddenly the PPP whose prime minister was elected unanimously by parliament just over 19 months ago finds itself desperately short of friends. In a move that may deliver the PPP a very big blow, the MQM has warned that it could reconsider remaining a part of the setup. The party's leader, in a typically fiery address to a rally in Skardu, has stressed that for him principle is more important than the NRO. It is not quite clear when this turnaround came about, given that initially the MQM had not seemed too concerned over the moral dilemmas the law posed, but the stance taken now puts President Zardari in what is an extremely tight spot indeed. It is this that has compelled him to take rather desperate measures and find some way of retaining the NRO and the protection it offers. For all the government's brave words about revealing the full list of NRO beneficiaries and the denial by several politicians that they are among these, Mr Zardari and his aides are obviously acutely concerned about what an environment stripped of the NRO could bring. Legal opinion varies, but many experts agree that at least some cases against the president and others could be reopened. The idea of the ball being thrown to the courts may not go down with the presidency either.

It is possibly for these reasons that some kind of last ditch effort seems to be on to find friends. The meeting between the president and side-lined PPP leader Aitzaz Ahsan is just one manifestation of this. Mr Ahsan has reportedly been offered the post of attorney general or Punjab governor. Perhaps by bringing a respected leader of the lawyers' movement back to the PPP fold, Mr Zardari hopes to regain goodwill and end the state of isolation he finds himself in, with many members of his own party increasingly disgruntled. But the going will not be easy. The chorus of voices demanding the repeal of the 17th Amendment and the undoing of Article 58(2)(B) is rising. The president will almost inevitably find himself a toothless figure, even if he can retain his place at the presidency. The MQM will of course play a key role in this. It is one the party of Altaf Hussain is not unfamiliar with. One question is if its showdown with the president is prompted by other, behind-the-scene players who may be playing a part in the political soap opera that we now see unfolding before our eyes.

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Looking for Eyeglasses!

2009-11-07T16:21:00.003+05:00

Sooner or later in life, eyeglasses become an integral part of our body. The eyeglasses should be of high quality and these should look good on your face. Have a look at $ 8 Prescription Zeni Eye Glasses. The price is unbelievably low because they themselves manufacture and sell the eyeglasses directly to their customers. All of the eyeglasses have high quality stylish frame, thin and light 1.57 index lens, anti scratch coating, full UV protection, lens edge polishing and beveling, quality hard eyeglass case, microfiber lens cleaning cloth and full guarantee.

Zeni Optical offer frames for single vision lens, sun-sensor lens, tinted sunglasses lens, bifocal lens and progressive lens. The Holiday Fun Eyeglasses being offered by them are stylish and you ought to have at least one of these. While shortlisting, you must have a look at the New Arrivals. I have shortlisted Frame # 4930 which is for $ 29.95.

Retreat over NRO

2009-11-04T19:18:00.001+05:00

After a high level meeting of the ruling alliance at the Presidency on Monday, the PPP government has decided not to bring the controversial National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) to parliament for a vote. This is clearly a reversal but one which could have been avoided had the ruling party consulted its allies beforehand. It is quite apparent that the NRO as a bill was brought to the relevant committee of the National Assembly without making sure that all the numbers needed were in hand.

The withdrawal will not put an end to the “dangers” that the NRO represented to the map of power brought about by the 2008 general elections. After the debacle caused by an aggressive withdrawal of the MQM from the pro-NRO consensus, the next crisis in the offing is the march of the opposition to a no-confidence vote. The PML-N, whose chief is determined to start a Long March on the ordinance, is no longer averse to the thought of a mid-term change, whether through a new general election or through the ‘minus-one’ formula under a ‘national government’, possibly with Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani in the driving seat.

The foreign hand

2009-11-04T19:08:00.000+05:00

Blaming external elements for events that take place in our country has long been a favourite pastime of leaders. Conspiracy theories centred around the notion of the 'foreign hand' follow many major incidents of terrorism or unrest across the country. Most of us have learnt through the years to look at such finger-pointing with at least some degree of scepticism. But in South Waziristan, it appears foreign nationals are genuinely present, working with the Taliban and bolstering them in various ways. As the military continues its advance into the core of the militant stronghold, laying a siege around the town of Srarogha and advancing towards Makeen, it has said some 600 to 800 fighters from countries outside Pakistan are now on the run across the tribal territory following the bombing of key hideouts. A senior military official has been quoted as saying that most of these individuals were Uzbek, though there were also some Chechens and Arabs. Accounts that suggest foreigners from Central Asian countries have been involved in various incidents of terrorism have come in from time to time. The argument goes that they are most likely to be willing to kill innocent children, women and men with little remorse or sense of guilt.

It is a disturbing matter for Pakistan that its territory should have become a point of convergence for militants. The presence of so many foreign militants also allows the US to regularly allege that the top Al Qaeda leadership is indeed based in that stretch of territory lying along the Pak-Afghan border. There is another issue to consider: are our borders really so porous that hundreds of people can enter, presumably without check, and conduct activities that threaten the safety of our country from within it? Where does the route of entry lie? Did the fighters from Central Asia all come in via Afghanistan or are there also other channels that allow them entry to our north? This is also a matter to be taken up with the governments of these countries and with Kabul. The kind of terrorism we encounter today needs to be dealt with in cooperation with our neighbours and indeed other nations affected by it. The authorities in Uzbekistan and elsewhere need also to stop the recruitment of militants and their travel across frontiers. They must detect how and why this happens. A wide-ranging effort is then needed to check the growth in militancy across the Muslim world. The sooner it begins the greater would be our chances of building a safer country in the near future.

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Schools & colleges shut down

2009-11-04T19:04:00.001+05:00

Some schools in Lahore and others elsewhere in Punjab have shut down once more after the latest bomb blast in the city, which injured 20. Others had never opened since the end of October, when schools across the country were closed following the attack on the Islamic University in Islamabad. The disruption in the life of students has been dramatic. Even during the days some schools opened, bomb drills and other similar exercises dominated thoughts. Attendance remained low and rumours of all kinds flew around campuses. Some schools called in security experts to talk to staff. With the talk of bombs and hostage-taking came fear. Accounts of 'incidents' at various schools added to this, even though it has been impossible to separate fiction from reality.

All this adds a new dimension to society. School administrators, teachers and parents ask how they are to cope with the situation and expect children to do the same without creating damaging paranoia. Security guards and cameras outside gates already contribute to this. One of the issues is that there is no way of knowing when things may change. The factors that give rise to extremism are buried deep in society. Already the very nature of society has changed. The toll on people is enormous. The extent is for the moment probably not fully recognized. But the hesitation to visit markets or parks or restaurants is everywhere. Combined with this we have a lack of hope on other fronts. Little that is positive seems to be happening. This lack of good news affects everyone. The absence of good governance and the lack of law and order adds to a national sense of loss. The question is whether we can find a way back to normalcy and how this will happen. For the moment there are few answers.

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Zardari can be impeached

2009-11-04T19:00:00.000+05:00

RAWALPINDI: Senior law and Constitution expert Senator SM Zafar on Tuesday said that if the report of Ansar Abbasi about the land scam, published in daily The News, was true, it could become impeachment material against President Asif Ali Zardari.

He was responding to a question at Geo News programme “Aaj Kamran Khan Kay Sath”. He said under the Article 43 of the Constitution, the president of Pakistan could not hold a profitable position.

He said according to the established world principle, the president resigns from other posts at the time of taking charge of the president office. While, he added, the report of Ansar Abbasi, published in daily The News, claimed that President Zardari was the director of a company, and had benefited rightly or wrongly from it.

Answering a question he said, the report of Ansar Abbasi could become impeachment material against President Zardari in future. He said if the report was correct, then it had impeachment aspect.

“If the president, according to the Article 47 of the Constitution, works against the Constitution, as I have mentioned the Article 43 which is also being violated. It also shows that if there are serious charges against the president, then it is impeachment material,” he remarked.

PML-N leader Senator Ishaq Dar while speaking in the same programme said that the nation wanted repeal of the 17th Amendment and after restoration of judiciary, repeal of the 17th Amendment was the main demand of the PML-N.

Senior analyst Hasan Askari said the U-turn on the NRO had badly damaged the PPP. He said the PPP had not taken other coalition parties into confidence over the NRO. He said President Zardari was taking unilateral decisions.

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Corruption cases to reopen involving top PPP politicians and bureaucrats

2009-11-04T18:56:00.001+05:00

ISLAMABAD: Over 100 corruption and criminal cases involving many top politicians and bureaucrats, which were settled under the controversial NRO after February 2, 2008, would automatically reopen after 25 days on Nov 28.

NAB documents and information collected from other sources reveal that not only President Asif Ali Zardari but most of his confidants and top political and bureaucratic aides benefited from the NRO after February 2, 2008, after the controversial ordinance had completed its constitutional life of 120 days.

The Presidency’s decision not to enact the NRO with effect from February 2, 2008 would reopen all the cases settled after that date as per the Supreme Court decision. Documents reveal that under the NRO reference (ref) 91/2004 against Rehman Malik, the present interior minister, for alleged misuse of authority, was closed down on March 3, 2008. On the same day, another case (ref 92/2004) against Rehman Malik for alleged receipt of two cars from Toyota Motors as illegal gratification on account of purchase of official vehicles was also closed under the NRO.

President, Army row over KLB persists

2009-11-04T18:53:00.002+05:00

Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) had informed the federal government about their objections to the KLB in early July 2009. The ISI DG wrote a detailed letter to the prime minister and informed him that the bill had objectionable language about Pakistan Army. He also stated that the main target of the KLB was the nuclear programme of Pakistan and the government should not accept any conditionality targeting the nuclear security of Pakistan.

The prime minister sent a copy of the said letter to the president and another to the Pakistani mission in Washington DC through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Pakistani mission in Washington DC gave a detailed response on the objections raised by the ISI DG on August 11, 2009 and assured the government that it will try its best to safeguard national interests.

Next day on August 12, the mission sent an advance copy of the KLB to the Foreign Ministry in Islamabad and the objections raised by the ISI DG were still present in the draft. The army waited for another month. The consolidated text of KLB was sent by the Pakistani mission on September 14, 2009. It repeatedly claimed in its assessments that Ambassador Husain Haqqani had tried his level best to safeguard national interest but not a single objection raised by the ISI DG was removed from the bill till the end of September 2009. The army came out with a press release on the KLB on October 7.

Top US officials have claimed in private conversations with this scribe that Ambassador Haqqani never informed the US Congress or the State Department about the objections of Pakistan Army on the KLB.

Has tabling of NRO been deferred?

2009-11-04T18:49:00.000+05:00

KARACHI: Notwithstanding the past midnight announcement of a presidential retreat on the NRO, President Asif Ali Zardari still wants Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to redouble his efforts to win parliamentary support for its passage, according to several political and official sources with direct knowledge of deliberations at the Presidency late on Monday night.

“President Zardari only agreed to defer the decision to table the NRO in the National Assembly so that the PPP might get its act together with other coalition partners on this issue,” according to a participant of the meeting.

The prime minister and other coalition partners who met the president had desired that he should forget the NRO in the best interest of democracy, but their plea met a strong resistance from the president.

Zardari after No to NRO

2009-11-04T18:45:00.001+05:00

The key indicators now out in the open include the shocking debacle for PPP on the NRO; the somersault of the MQM to oppose the NRO; a direct demand by Mr Altaf Hussain asking President Zardari to resign; the extra confidence in Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani to practically take over matters in his own hands; the emergence of Nawaz Sharif from his friendly opposition bunker; the significant stand taken by Fata MPs; the calm and cool but ever persuasive demeanour of the army chief to discuss “matters of national security” with the prime minister (not the president); the nervousness in some camps over the “messages and ideas” Lady Hillary Clinton has taken back to Washington; and the unusual multi-country tour of our ISI chief, starting with Saudi Arabia, which some government spokespersons hilariously described as a visit in which he had taken a message to the Saudi King from President Zardari.

What has already happened is known but what is likely to come is more important. All stakeholders agree, and this I can claim after meeting almost all of them in the last few days in Islamabad and Lahore, that President Asif Ali Zardari will have to either step down with dignity, hand over his presidential powers to the PM through a fast-track constitutional amendments process, or become a figure head and stay within his bunker for as long as he does not create any nuisance.

Some apologists for the presidency have already publicly indicated that Mr Zardari is seriously thinking about this course because that would keep him in the top most position, immune to the unpleasant hardships of defending himself in civil courts, a process he has endured for years, and wait for his time to strike back as a relevant PPP leader, with the active aid and presence of son Bilawal and daughters Bakhtawar and Assefa.

Hamid Karzai declared president of Afghanistan

2009-11-03T10:36:00.001+05:00

KABUL/ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan’s election commission on Monday declared Hamid Karzai elected as president after it called off a run-off following the withdrawal of his only rival.

The run-off, called after the first round in August was marred by widespread fraud, was to have been held on November 7. “The Independent Election Commission declares the esteemed Hamid Karzai as the president ... because he was the winner of the first round and the only candidate in the second round,” the commission’s chief Azizullah Ludin told a news conference.

Former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah withdrew from the race over the weekend, citing doubts about the credibility of the election process. “There is no second round,” the IEC’s chief electoral officer Daoud Ali Najafi told Reuters. President Asif Ali Zardari congratulated President Karzai after the election organisers declared him the winner, AFP reported. “I have great pleasure to extend to you my heartiest felicitations on your re-election,” he said.

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India involved in militancy in South Waziristan

2009-11-03T10:29:00.000+05:00

* Kaira says Islamabad to discuss matter with New Delhi

* Large quantity of Indian arms, literature recovered from Sherwan

ISLAMABAD: The government has found concrete evidence of New Delhi’s involvement in the militancy in South Waziristan and has decided to discuss the matter with the Indian government, Information Minster Qamar Zaman Kaira and Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Athar Abbas jointly said on Monday.

Kaira said Islamabad would discuss the issue with New Delhi, adding that Islamabad would still not deviate from the peace process aimed at resolving lingering disputes between the two countries.

Recovered: Abbas said large quantities of Indian arms and ammunition, literature, medical equipment and medicines had been recovered from Sherwangi near Kaniguram. He said the Foreign Office had been informed of the discoveries and the matter would be taken up through diplomatic channels with the Indian authorities.

Govt decides not to table NRO in parliament

2009-11-03T10:19:00.001+05:00

* MQM, ANP, PML-F refuse to support NRO

* Allies ask PPP to tap other means to deal with situation emanating from NRO’s withdrawal

ISLAMABAD: The government on Monday decided against tabling the controversial National Reconciliation Ordinance in parliament for approval.

In a statement issued by the Presidency after a high-level meeting of the ruling alliance, President’s Spokesman Farhatullah Babar said, “The meeting endorsed the position taken by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on the floor of the House on Monday and decided not to take the NRO to parliament.”

Prime Minister Gilani, JUI-F chief Fazlur Rehman, ANP chief Asfandyar Wali and MQM leader Dr Farooq Sattar held a meeting with President Asif Ali Zardari before the president addressed parliamentarians of the ruling coalition at a dinner meeting. He told them that he had mandated the prime minister to continue consultations with the political parties for a political conciliation.

‘Legal and constitutional’: Sources privy to the meeting told Daily Times that the allied parties asked the Pakistan People’s Party to withdraw the NRO and tap other “legal and constitutional” means to deal with the situation emanating from the withdrawal of the NRO.

They said opposition from some senior party leaders and allies led the government to “go on the back foot” regarding its stance on the NRO as the MQM, the ANP and the PML-Functional had refused to support the legislation during a vote in parliament. The sources said under immense public pressure, the JUI-F was inclined to abstain from voting, leaving the PPP in a dilemma to get the controversial law passed by parliament.

Earlier, addressing the National Assembly, Gilani said, “We have yet to determine what to do (regarding the NRO). We have not brought it to parliament (for approval)... we are considering it and holding consultations with our allies and other friends.” The prime minister said the government would not do anything that could derail the democratic system in the country.

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Talks between Zardari and Nawaz Sharif

2009-10-28T13:16:00.001+06:00

Nothing concrete was achieved at the talks held between President Asif Ali Zardari and PML-N Chief Mian Nawaz Sharif in Islamabad. There was no breakthrough on the NRO or any other decision that could be classified as significant. Some media reports suggest that the two men did little more than break bread together. But despite this, the dialogue is immensely significant. It has come at a time when rumour has been rife of change and possible military intervention. A meeting held recently between Mian Shahbaz Sharif and the army chief COAS fuelled talk of conspiracy and various scenarios were drawn up. Some at least watched and waited with bated breath. After all we are familiar with the way such things happen in our country. The Zardari-Nawaz meeting as such creates some sense of calm. It indicates that the two main political forces are not opposed to the idea of working together and sharing ideas on how this can happen. Indeed, the lack of discussion on the NRO is highly intriguing. Nawaz Sharif was expected to press for it to be repealed. That he did not apparently do so indicates he is keen to work with the president and perhaps also willing to let him and his key aides of the hook.

The issues brought up at the meeting included the 17th Amendment. The PML-N chief remains eager for this to be done away with, thus making it possible for him to again take charge as PM. An undoing of the clause would of course also reduce the powers held by the president and help restore the balance towards parliament. It appears that there has been a broad understanding, though possibly no firm commitment, that this will happen. Balochistan, militancy, the need for administrative reform and the need for political cooperation were also discussed. The many voices we hear criticizing politicians are once again describing this meeting as a failure. But it is perhaps unfair to do so. At this juncture, the ability of political parties to avoid falling into traps and to set democratic traditions has become paramount. Over the past few months we have been seeing how easy it is to stumble and fall, and repeat mistakes we have seen made on previous occasions. The indication that the political opposition is aware of the need to avoid this is welcome.

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