ISLAMABAD: Major General (r) Rashid Qureshi, the spokesman for President Pervez Musharraf, suffered a paralysis attack on Wednesday.

Qureshi was admitted at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), where he was stated to be in a stable condition. PIMS Assistant Director Dr Farrukh told Daily Times that while Qureshi was brought to the hospital in a serious condition, he had recovered. He said that doctors performed necessary medical tests including CT Scan on the presidential spokesman. He said that Qureshi could be discharged from the Emergency Department in a day or two.



* Latest violence leaves one dead, 63 others injured

NEW DELHI: Kashmir Valley turned into a battlefield for a third day on Wednesday as hundreds of youth fought pitched battles with police and paramilitary forces protesting against the transfer of forestland to Hindu cave shrine of Amarnath.

Clashes: The latest clashes left a civilian, Farooq Ahmed dead, and 65 others wounded, including 15 members of Indian police and paramilitary forces and four Hindu pilgrims, police said. Most government offices, businesses and schools in Srinagar were forced shut.

Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad issued an appeal for calm and vowed no accommodation for Hindu pilgrims would be built until further notice.

“I request all to maintain peace and brotherhood,” Azad told a news conference, and promised an “all-party meeting to reach a consensus on how to deal with the issue”.

Meanwhile, a document issued by the six-member action committee constituted by the Hurriyat Conference against the land transfer has stated that under the garb of providing facilities to the Hindu pilgrims, the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board is planning to construct dams on Lidder and Indus rivers to generate power for the shrine.



ISLAMABAD: Renowned European non-governmental organisation Institute of Peace and Development (INSPAD) has announced a Peace Award 2008 for former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. INSPAD is working for conflict resolution, human rights, social justice, inter-faith and cultural dialogue, sustainable development and religious peaceful co-existence in Europe and Pakistan.



ISLAMABAD: By-elections for five National Assembly and 23 provincial assemblies seats are being held today (Thursday) following a Supreme Court decision staying election in NA-123 constituency. The Lahore High Court had barred PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif to run for the polls in the constituency. The polling will start at 8am and will continue until 5pm.



* Justice Leghari says decision could have been reached in minutes had Nawaz appeared in court, Nawaz’s lawyer rules out appearance

By Masood Rehman

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday stayed by-elections in NA-123 (Lahore) until final disposal of the federation’s petition against the disqualification of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif by the Lahore High Court (LHC).

A three-member bench of the SC, comprising justices Muhammad Moosa Leghari, Syed Zawwar Hussain Jaffery and Muhammad Farrukh, also issued notices to respondents before adjourning the proceedings until June 30.

Appearing on notice, Attorney General Malik Muhammad Qayyum told the court that there were no Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) judges in the superior courts, as all the incumbent judges had taken oath under the constitution. Qayyum requested the court to stay elections in NA-123 for the time being.

Deputy Attorney General Raja Abdur Rehman, who filed the petition, argued that under Article 225 of the Constitution, only an election tribunal had the jurisdiction to hear and dispose of objections related to election matters. Only a contesting candidate or voter could file a petition, he added, saying that petitioner Khurram Shah was neither a contesting candidate, nor a voter from NA-123. Rehman said the LHC had violated the constitution by depriving Nawaz of the right to contest the by-elections and requested the court to strike down the LHC order.

Decision in minutes: However, Justice Leghari observed that they could have reached a decision within minutes if the person who wanted to contest the election was before the court and ordered Nawaz to appear in court. AFP cited Nawaz’s lawyer as saying that Nawaz would not come as he opposed judges appointed by President Pervez Musharraf.

Following the SC’s issuance of a stay order against polling in NA-123, the Election Commission (EC) announced the postponement of by-elections in the constituency.

On June 23, a full bench of the LHC disqualified Nawaz Sharif from contesting the June 26 by-election.



MINGORA: Local Taliban on Wednesday announced that they would conduct decisive peace talks with the government today (Thursday). NWFP Environment Minister Wajid Ali Khan also confirmed the meeting. Spokesman Muslim Khan told reporters after a shura (council) meeting that even though the peace deal was intact, the Taliban would not hesitate to retaliate against government attacks. On Wednesday, the Taliban killed one security worker and injured another three in an attack on a checkpost. They also occupied one girls’ school and set fire to another eight. Khan admitted to the checkpost attack, but denied any involvement in the school arson. Militants also planted a remote control bomb near a security forces convoy at the Shah Dherio area but a bomb disposal squad defused it.




LAHORE: The United States State Department and Pentagon have welcomed Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s statement on rooting out militancy in FATA, saying it could form a solid basis for overcoming insurgency in the region, Dawn News reported on Wednesday. According to the channel, US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher said earlier that the change in government had not changed the nuclear command and control system in Pakistan. Washington still reposed confidence in Islamabad’s ability to handle the country’s nuclear set up, he added. But other State Department and Pentagon officials voiced concern over the insurgency in FATA. The channel quoted the Pentagon assistant secretary of Defence as saying that sending US troops into FATA would be a major mistake.



* Meeting chaired by Gilani says terrorism and extremism gravest challenges to Pakistan’s security
* COAS to take lead on when to employ military force, including Frontier
Corps, LEAs

By Zulfiqar Ghuman and Sajjad Malik

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Wednesday approved a military operation to clear the Tribal Areas of militants.

Government and defence sources said that Gilani approved the use of force during a high-level meeting at Prime Minister’s House that reviewed progress on the war on terrorism and the state of law and order in the NWFP and Tribal Areas.

Challenges: Meanwhile, a press release from the government said that the meeting had unanimously agreed that terrorism and extremism were the gravest challenges to national security.

It decided that the government would continue negotiations with local elders to isolate hardcore militants. The chief of army staff (COAS) would take the lead on deciding when to employ military force, including the Frontier Corps (FC) and the law-enforcement agencies (LEAs). However, the NWFP governor and chief minister could also employ the FC and LEAs to maintain law and order.

The COAS would decide the quantum, composition and positioning of military effort and would decide on the level of liaison, contact and co-operation with the ISAF in Afghanistan and keep the government informed about operations.

Co-ordinator: According to the press release, the NWFP governor would be the chief co-ordinator for all activity in FATA, and would liaison with the government, important political leaders and the local military commander. All agreements with tribes in FATA will be backed by an enforcement mechanism, with the government reserving the right to use force in case of violation of agreement.

The meeting also decided that the tribes would be responsible for stopping militants’ cross border movement and expelling foreign militants.



* Project construction scheduled to begin in July, expected to the completed by 2009

KARACHI: A Dubai-based business group will set up a cement manufacturing plant named Galadari Cement (Gulf) Limited, near Karachi, its CEO Badaruddin Fakhari told Daily Times on Wednesday.

He said that the project was planned seven to eight years ago but work on it was halted due to some reasons. Now the project has been started again and the construction of plant would start by next month and would complete by the end of November 2009, he added.

The CEO said that the business group would initially invest Rs 3 billion and is likely to invest another Rs 17 million after its completion. He said that company would also sell shares in the market in early 2009.

Badaruddin Fakhri further said that besides providing employment the cement plant would also increase government revenue by up to Rs 1 billion. He said that French machinery would be installed for cement production, which would produce 3300 metric tonnes on daily basis. The company would also export cement, he added.

Bilal Hameed, an analyst of cement sector, said that the overall production of the company would be 990,000 tonnes annually that would increase the cement supply locally as well as at international level. The high prices in the local market are also expected to come down after this plant is set up, he added.

Muhammad Shahid Farooqui of Karachi Cement Dealers Association said that as cement production is already low in Pakistan, the new company’s 3300 tonnes production on daily basis would not be able to help meet the country’s requirement. If the company initially does not export the cement, it might boost supply in the country.

Although Pakistan produces around 90,000 tonnes cement per day, but because local manufacturers export cement in large volumes and do not sell their product in local market, a shortage of cement in the local market persists, he said.

“The government does not have any control on local manufacturers, as they have created a fake cement shortage in the local market, otherwise we have a surplus of cement production,” he added.




KARACHI: Pakistan and Spain have signed an Air Service Agreement (ASA) recently in Madrid aimed at enhancing passenger and commercial air traffic between the two countries, Civil Aviation Authority statement issued said.

The agreement would liberalise traffic rights between the two states. Accordingly, various airlines of both the countries can operate unlimited passengers and cargo services between different cities of each state. Airlines of both the countries can avail co-terminal rights on limited frequencies on any two points of call in each state. The code share agreement has also been agreed, the statements said.

Previously the air service agreement was restricted to operations of single airline with 03 weekly services and one destination in each state.

Further, the ASA text has been modified in the light of recently concluded horizontal agreement with European Union and bi-lateral agreement with UK.



* Two-day 17th JEC meeting to kick off on June 28
* Pakistan to negotiate importing 1,100MW electricity
* Discussions on IPI likely

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Iran are scheduled to hold the 17th session meeting of the Joint Economic Commission (JEC) in Tehran on June 28-29 where the two sides would discuss the issue of power and gas import from Iran, sources told Daily Times on Wednesday.

Finance Minster Syed Naveed Qamar will lead the Pakistan delegation in the meeting.

The sources said that Pakistan would negotiate the import of 1,100 megawatts of electricity from Iran during the meetings. Pakistan plans to import 100 MW for the Gwadar Port and 1,000 MW for other parts of the country, they added.

The two sides will also review the status of the power import project and devise measures to expedite the process.

Iran had conveyed to Pakistan earlier that it wanted to set up hydro power plants in Pakistan and the two countries are negotiating setting up a 65 MW hydropower plant at Sehra in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), the sources said.

They said that Pakistan is presently facing power deficit of around 4,000 MW and it would need to add 6,000 MW to the national grid in a year to end load shedding in the country.

Pakistan’s total power generation stood at 12,750 MW on Tuesday against 16,500 MW demand.

Pakistan is working on various options to meet the growing power demand. The authorities are considering setting up thermal and hydro power plants or importing electricity from Iran and Tajikistan.

Iran has offered Pakistan to with additional 1,000 MW besides 1,100 MW on which the two countries are going to hold dialogue in Tehran.

Pakistan is already importing 35 MW per day from Iran at the rate of 3.2 cents per unit for Balochistan. The sources claim that the imported electricity is cheaper compared to the electricity produced by Independent Power Producers (IPPs). However, Pakistan would need to develop infrastructure to import more electricity from Iran.

IPI: Sources said that although Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline project is not on agenda of the meeting, the two sides would hold informal discussion on the project.

Pakistan supports early signing of the project but it is being delayed due to India, they said. Pakistan and Iran have finalised the draft of Gas Sales Purchase Agreement (GSPA) of the $7.4 billion IPI project. Pakistan and Iran are still to resolve the issue of transit fee for the transmission of gas from Iran to India via Pakistan.

The Iranian president has constituted a four-member committee to mediate between Pakistan and India to resolve the issue of transit fee. The committee may update the Pakistani authorities about the progress made by India regarding the issue, the sources said.

Pakistan, Iran and India are to hold talks on the IPI gas pipeline project next month in India.



KHOST: United States-led coalition and Afghan forces killed up to 35 Taliban after the militants attacked two towns in eastern Afghanistan overnight, a police chief said on Wednesday.

About 100 Taliban attacked the towns of Gomal and Sarobi in Paktika province overnight, but fled when they were engaged by Afghan police supported by coalition troops, said provincial Police Chief Nabi Jan Mullah Khail.

Coalition air strikes then killed 35 insurgents who were hiding after the attacks, he said. But the US military said “approximately 22” militants were killed by coalition air support after the attacks.

“When coalition air support arrived, the 22 militants who attacked the district centres were positively identified and killed,” the statement added. Elsewhere in Afghanistan, US-led coalition forces killed several militants and detained another 12 in the southern Afghan province of Helmand on Tuesday, the US military said.



TEHRAN: Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned the United States on Wednesday it would face a “tragedy” if it attacked the Islamic Republic.

“We advise US officials to be careful not to face another tragedy,” Mohammad Hejazi, a senior commander of the elite Guards, was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency. “Our last word is that if you want to move towards Iran, make sure you bring walking sticks and artificial legs because if you came you will not have any legs to return on,” he said. Hejazi’s comments followed market talk of a military strike against the country’s nuclear sites.

The standoff between the West and Tehran has sparked fears of a military confrontation that would disrupt oil supplies. Last week a report said Israel had practiced for a possible strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities. Washington says it is focusing on diplomatic pressure to thwart Iranian nuclear work it suspects is aimed at making bombs but has not ruled out military action if that were to fail.

A senior Iranian official on Tuesday denied market rumours of an Israeli attack on one of Iran’s nuclear facilities, which Tehran says are part of a peaceful drive to generate electricity. The New York Times last week quoted US officials as saying Israel had carried out a large military exercise, apparently a rehearsal for a potential bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities. Many analysts say Iran’s nuclear sites are too numerous, distant and fortified for Israel to take on alone.

They say the US could unleash vastly superior firepower if it attacked Iran but that Tehran could strike back against its forces in Iraq and disrupt oil supplies vital to the world economy. Also on Wednesday, speaker of Iran’s parliament hit out at the European Union for imposing new sanctions despite diplomatic efforts to end the dispute.

The 27-nation EU on Monday agreed new punitive measures targeting businesses and individuals the West says are linked to Iran’s nuclear and ballistic programmes, ten days after world powers offered incentives to Tehran in a bid to resolve the row. “If you want to negotiate with Iran on the proposed package, why are you following the path of confrontation ... ,” speaker Ali Larijani, Iran’s former chief nuclear negotiator, said.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana handed Iran an offer on June 14 of economic and other benefits proposed by the United States, Russia, China, Britain, Germany and France to try to convince it to halt uranium enrichment. Iran has repeatedly ruled out suspending enrichment, which can have both civilian and military uses. Their refusal to do so has drawn three rounds of limited UN sanctions since 2006.

Iran has put forward its own package of proposals aimed at resolving the row, but diplomats say it ignores global concern about its enrichment programme.

http://dailytimes.com.pk


JEDDAH: World Bank President Robert Zoellick has backed Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah’s energy-for-the poor initiative and said the bank would work with Saudi Arabia to support the $1 billion program.

“We will work with the Saudi government to explore how best to support the initiative announced by King Abdullah to address the energy needs of the world’s poorest countries,” said Zoellick. “The combination of high fuel and energy costs is having a devastating impact on the poor, putting a huge burden on the one billion people who live on less than $1 a day and many of whom spend two-thirds of their income on food for their families and on energy and transport.”

King Abdullah announced the initiative while opening a meeting of oil producers and consumers at Jeddah Hilton on Sunday. He called on the Saudi Fund for Development to allocate $500 million in loans for the energy needs of developing countries.

“World Bank research suggests that high energy prices will result in economic growth in about 40 developing countries being between three and 10 percent lower than it would have been otherwise — affecting millions of people,” Zoellick said stressing the significance of the king’s initiative.

In his keynote speech at the energy summit, King Abdullah said: “I call for launching an ‘Energy-for-the-Poor’ initiative. Its aim will be to enable developing countries to confront the increasing costs of energy, and I call on the World Bank to organize a meeting as soon as possible for donor countries and regional and international financial institutions to discuss and activate this initiative.”

Suleiman Al-Harbash, secretary-general of the OPEC Fund for International Development, said King Abdullah’s directive to the Ministerial Council of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to commit $1 billion to the initiative would help more than 100 countries to carry out new energy projects.

He said an extraordinary meeting of OPEC’s ministerial council would be convened to approve the initiative.

“Once the $1 billion initiative is approved, the amount will be given to projects related to energy production in poor countries such as setting up power plants and building dams to generate electricity,” Al-Harbash said, adding that the beneficiaries would include African, Asian and Latin American countries.

“We have received applications for loans from several countries and we finance projects in association with other international funds such as World Bank, Islamic Development Bank, Saudi Fund for Development, Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development and Arab African Fund,” he explained.

Ever since its establishment in 1976, the OPEC Fund has provided $9 billion in loans to finance development projects in more than 100 countries, he said, adding that about 20 percent of the amount was allocated for energy projects. Saudi Arabia is the largest contributor to the fund with a stake of 35 percent.

http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1&sect...tegory=Kingdom

__________________
Regards,
P.R.