* Kh Asif says PML-N will support finance bill
* PPP, PML-N agreed on impeaching president but have differences over mechanism
* Both parties trying to find middle ground in stances

LAHORE: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) – partners in the ruling coalition – achieved consensus on increasing the number of Supreme Court (SC) judges on Friday.

Following a meeting between PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, PML-N leader Khawaja Asif told reporters that the two parties were in agreement over impeaching President Pervez Musharraf but had failed to agree on a strategy to remove him from power.

Full support: The PML-N agreed to fully support the finance bill, PML-N leader Khawaja Asif told reporters after the meeting. He said that both parties were in complete agreement over the reinstatement of the sacked judges. “We don’t have complete understanding between us,” Reuters quoted him as saying. “One or two more rounds of talks will be held to narrow down the differences,” he added.

However, to questioning, he said that the PML-N ministers would not rejoin the federal cabinet until the sacked judges had been reinstated to their pre-November 2, 2007 status.

Meanwhile, quoting PML-N sources, ARY TV said that the SC judges’ strength would be increased on a “give-and-take” basis. It reported that the PML-N leadership had said that it would not support the PPP’s constitutional package if its demands were not met. It quoted sources as saying that the PML-N had stressed during the meeting that the sacked judges should be reinstated according to the Murree Declaration, as had been promised to the nation.

Asif also told reporters that the PPP and the PML-N were agreed on impeaching the president but had differences over how to go about it, staff report adds.

The PML-N’s Shahbaz Sharif, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Khawaja Asif and Ishaq Dar, in addition to Nawaz Sharif, also attended the meeting, which lasted over four hours. The PPP’s Raja Riaz Ahmed, Jahangir Badar, Azizur Rehman Chan and others, meanwhile, accompanied Zardari.

Friday’s meeting marked the second round of talks between the leaderships of both major coalition parties. Zardari and Nawaz had conducted their first round of talks at the latter’s Raiwind residence on Wednesday, which had ended without any results.

Middle ground: Khawaja Asif was quoted by Geo News as saying that both the PPP and the PML-N were sincere in the respective stances, but would attempt to find middle ground to bridge the gap. He said the next round of talks would not be held until July, as Zardari was going abroad. Zardari had left the meeting early because the PPP co-chairman was expected in Naudero, he added.



* NWFP govt peace envoy says new policy includes talks, administrative and financial measures
* Says long- and short-term measures will address cross-border movement by militants

PESHAWAR: The federal government is changing its stance from a strictly military approach to a soft multi-pronged political approach to tackle growing militancy with a new policy linked to both shor-and long-term gains against militants, the NWFP government’s peace envoy said on Friday.

“The previous policy (of a purely military solution) has changed and a holistic approach has been adopted to make gains against militancy,” Afrasiab Khattak, the peace envoy for the NWFP government, told Daily Times. “The new policy is one which the political parties had discussed before coming into power and it ... includes negotiations (with militant groups), administrative and financial measures,” Afrasiab added.

The ANP freed hardline cleric Maulana Sufi Muhammad from prison and inked a peace deal with pro-Taliban rebel cleric Maulana Fazlullah to encourage calm and order in the militancy-plagued Swat district. However, the peace deals have raised tensions between Pakistan, Afghanistan and the United States, with the latter two saying that such steps can “export militancy to Afghanistan” through cross-border movement.

Cross-border movement: “Both short and long-term measures will address cross-border movement (by militants),” Afrasiab, who is also ANP NWFP president, said. A senior official with the government, requesting anonymity, said that the military approach had ‘aggravated’ the situation. He said the problem could only be resolved through a solution that would bring the local population onboard.

Similarly, development and security expert Khalid Aziz said that militancy had ‘grown’ because of a “flawed Pakistan-United States security policy based on a military approach” that failed to work towards winning the hearts and minds of the people. “This approach has changed. The federal and NWFP governments have realised that the time has come to either engage the militants in peace negotiations or face a difficult governance situation,” he told Daily Times.

A high-level meeting between NWFP Governor Owais Ghani and Prime Minister’s Adviser on Interior Affairs Rehman Malik on Thursday also decided political agents in every tribal region would form jirgas. They decided that these would consist of elected members, ulema and high-ranking tribesmen. “The meeting maintained that issues related to FATA would be resolved through peaceful means. The law abiders would be protected while the lawbreakers would be dealt with under the law of the land,” a communiqué released after the meeting stated.

Former FATA security chief Brigadier (r) Mehmood Shah, when asked about the new policy, said: “It cannot be only talks and it cannot be only use of force. There should be a mix of both to keep order in tribal and settled areas.”



* NWFP minister says govt will honour peace deal in ‘letter and spirit’ to ensure stability

MINGORA: The NWFP government and the Swat Taliban resumed talks on Friday when Forests Minister Wajid Ali Khan secretly met Taliban leaders and assured them that their reservations would be addressed.

Wajid Khan met several Taliban leaders, including Ali Bakht, Haji Muslim Khan, Maulana Amin, Mahmood Khan and Nisar Khan in the Deouli area of Swat and asked them to continue peace talks. According to sources, the Taliban complained that their colleagues were still imprisoned and the army was still occupying the area. The Taliban also said that their reservations should be addressed by June 23 or there could be consequences.

Khan requested the Taliban to continue negotiations so that all issues could be settled through dialogue and assured the Taliban that he would convey their reservations to the provincial government. The local Taliban had ended contact with the government on June 17 to protest at the government’s delay in releasing 50 Taliban prisoners.

Peace deal: NWFP Senior Minister Bashir Bilour said the NWFP government would honour the peace agreement with the Taliban “in letter and spirit” to ensure stability and prosperity. Clause IV of the peace deal says prisoners would be released after “reviewing cases against them”. Under the deal, the NWFP government has conceded to a gradual withdrawal of all security forces from the Swat district.



* Leaflets threaten to blow up vehicles and houses of those dealing with coalition forces

KARACHI: Taliban have warned transporters in Karachi against supplying oil to coalition forces in Afghanistan, in leaflets distributed and displayed in Shireen Jinnah Colony on Mauripur Road.

Oil trucks are parked in the Shireen Jinnah Colony, located near the Kemari Harbour and the Karachi Port Trust. Security and transport companies officials said similar leaflets were distributed in parts of the NWFP.

Workers from transport companies, asking not to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the Urdu leaflets threatened to blow up the vehicles and houses of those doing business with the coalition forces, but did not specify if the warning was from local or Afghan Taliban. A senior truck owners’ association official said the leaflets named the Afridi, Shinwari and Khyberi transport companies. “The All Pakistan Oil Tanker Owners Association does not supply oil or any other goods to Afghanistan,” said Akram Khan Durrani, the organisation’s general secretary.

Sindh Home Secretary Arif Ahmed Khan said transporters would be given protection if they contacted the government. On May 9, three men abducted Shoukat Afridi – whose company deals with NATO forces – from Clifton Town. A police source said he had been taken to the Tribal Areas. His brother Taj Afridi declined to comment, but said negotiations with the kidnappers were underway.



* US govt-run Census Bureau says global population growing by about 1.2pc per year

WASHINGTON: The world’s population will reach 7 billion by 2012, even as the global community struggles to satisfy its appetite for natural resources, according to a new projection by the United States government.

There are 6.7 billion people in the world today. According to projections released on Thursday by the Census Bureau, part of the US Department of Commerce, the US ranks third with 304 million people, behind China and India.

According to Carl Haub, a demographer at the Population Reference Bureau, the world’s population surpassed 6 billion in 1999, meaning that it would only take 13 years to add a billion more people. By comparison, the number of people did not reach 1 billion until 1800, while it did not reach 2 billion until 130 years later.

“You can easily see the effect of rapid population growth in developing countries,” said Haub, adding that medical and nutritional advances in developing countries led to a population explosion following World War II. Cultural changes are slowly catching up, with more women in developing countries going to school and joining the work force. That is slowing the growth rate, though it is still high in many countries.

Population growth: The global population is growing by about 1.2 percent per year. The Census Bureau projects the growth rate will decline to 0.5 percent by 2050. By then, India will have surpassed China as the most populous country.

The Census Bureau updates projections each year on a variety of global demographic trends, including fertility and mortality rates and life expectancy. US life expectancy has surpassed 78 years for the first time, the National Centre for Health Statistics announced last week.

The new Census report comes amid record high oil and gasoline prices, fuelled in part by growing demand from expanding economies in China and India. “There is no consensus on how many people the Earth can sustain,” said William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank. He said it depends on how well people manage the Earth’s resources.

Today, industrialised nations use a disproportionate share of oil and other resources, while developing countries are fuelling population growth. There are countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East where the average woman has more than six children in her lifetime. In Mali and Niger, two African nations, women average more than seven children.

“There’s still a long way to go in the developing world,” said Frey, adding, “A lot of it does have to do with the education of women and the movement of women into the labour force.” In the US, women have an average of around two children, which essentially replaces the population. Much of the US population growth comes from immigration.



ISLAMABAD: To enhance local production of urea by 40,000 tonnes, the stakeholders suggested the government to ensure additional gas supply from SNGPL during summer, officials in the ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (MINFAL) told Daily Times here Friday.

Apart from above additional gas supply, the officials said the production of 40,000 tonnes of urea would be achieved if at the same time the SSGPL delayed its schedule of shutdown. Increase in local production of urea would help the government to save precious foreign exchange earning that it is spending on its import. Urea is an important input and extensively used in the production of agriculture crops. During peak times of season, the prices of urea and DAP always witness spike and that was why the government is planning to increase its local production, the officials maintained.

The current energy crises across the country have badly affected all sectors of the economy including agriculture.

In the present scenario of price hikes and food security, it has to be realised that agricultural development is more important than any other sector. Population pressure on land is growing and land and water resources are becoming scarce and agriculture productivity is generally stagnating. During the year 2007-08, the performance of agriculture sector was below the expectations. Against the target of 4.8 percent growth, only a paltry growth of 1.5 percent was achieved.

Fertilizer is the most important and expensive input used in agriculture sector andincrease in fertilizer prices necessitated attention of the government.

Productivity of all crops in Pakistan has remained below global standard as the unaware farmers continue increasing the fertilizer use without paying attention to other aspects like the quality of soil and seeds.

Agriculture experts said that blindly adding fertilizers could not ensure higher yield. Fertilizers are nutrients and their fair addition in soil does increase the productivity, experts told Daily Times.

According to the food and Agriculture organisation data, Pakistan was gradually becoming more dependent on fertilizer imports as the consumption of different fertilizers had increased at much higher pace than the local production.

Pakistan was self-sufficient in urea (nitrogen fertilizer) in 1990 when its total production of 1.119 million tonne was higher than domestic demand. By year 2000 the production of urea increased to 2.053 million metric tonnes but the consumption stands at 2.254 million metric tonnes, depicting a deficit of 200,000 metric tonnes.



KARACHI: The current account deficit of the country increased by 81.19 percent to $12.957 billion during the first eleven months of the current financial year from $7.151 billion during the same period of the last year.

Trade deficit during this period stood at $13.840 billion, higher by 55.36 percent than $8.908 billion last year. Deficit on trade of goods and services combined shot up to $19.938 billion, up by 51.52 percent from $13.158 billion last year.

The deficit on the income side stood at $3.583 billion, up by 6.10 percent from $ 3.377 billion last year.

Current transfers, including workers remittances of $5.904 billion, during this period stood at $10.688 billion, helping to reduce the current account deficit, which could have been much higher otherwise. Seeing this trend it can be safely predicted that the country will suffer a current account deficit of over $14 billion in the whole year.

It has been extremely difficult for the new government to cover this deficit, as the inflow of investment from abroad, which helped the previous government meet country's foreign exchange demand in the recent years, has declined this year.

The previous government relied on foreign direct investment and investment in stocks from abroad to meet its foreign exchange requirements.

This year both portfolio and foreign direct investment have declined. Net foreign investment dropped by 37.2 percent to $3.943 billion in July-May 2007-08 from $6.280 billion in July-May 2006-07.

Foreign direct investment fell by 14.1 percent to $3.881 billion this year from $4.520 billion last year. Portfolio investment was a mere $62.2 million compared to $1.760 billion last year.

The poor law and order situation and the shortage of energy supplies have hampered flow of investment into the country, particularly in the manufacturing sector. Even when the previous government "attracted record foreign direct investment" hardly anything was invested in the manufacturing sector.

While the political government, which has recently taken over, is trying to improve the law and order through negotiations, it has admitted it would not be able to overcome the energy crisis for a long time. This inability of the government is likely to act as a barrier for foreign as well as local investment.


http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default...012:34:21%20PM



JEDDAH: Saudi officials said yesterday that the Kingdom has no “magic wand” that will resolve the skyrocketing oil prices.

Addressing a press conference ahead of tomorrow’s International Energy Conference here, Deputy Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said: “There are political, economic and regulatory factors involved.

“The soaring oil prices require immediate intervention by everyone. Combined solutions are needed where roles are defined.”

Echoing a commonly held view that market speculation has at least as much of a role in current pricing as supply, the prince said that no single factor is in play and that it is in Saudi Arabia’s interests to see a stabilization of the market.

He attributed much of the cause of this current crisis to “subjective circumstances” and warned that people should not be “overly optimistic” that anything but “temporary solutions” could be reached.

Ibrahim Al-Muhana, a ministry consultant, said tomorrow’s meeting of principal producing and consuming nations is important to identifying the causes and the solutions to the current troubles. “The emergence of new players has made it difficult for us to put our fingers at a clear reason (for the current problems),” he said, attributing the shift of speculation from the US subprime crisis to commodities trading as one reason for the rise in the prices of a range of commodities, not just oil.

Al-Muhana said it was obvious right now that all market forces are in harmony so it must be something outside the supply-demand formula that is causing the hike in prices. Financial factors contributing to the hike included a weak dollar and high demand on the euro in addition to the American subprime crisis.

“The fluctuation in the oil market is what made the king call the meeting,” he said.

Prince Abdulaziz said that there is cooperation among Saudi Arabia, OPEC, the International Energy Forum and the International Energy Agency to present a working paper to the meeting.

However, Saudi officials did not reveal any details about what they intended to propose at the meeting.

To combat the rise in prices, Saudi Arabia announced recently it would increase its production capacity by three million barrels per day to 12.5 million bpd by 2009. Saudi Aramco recently announced plans to build new refineries with French Total and US Conoco in order to meet the shortage of oil derivatives. Al-Muhana acknowledged that there is a link between the shortages of refiners and rising oil prices but said that this link is not a major factor.

OPEC President Chakib Khelil, who will attend the Jeddah oil summit, said yesterday it was illogical and irrational to ask the organization to increase output so as to take the pressure off soaring prices.

“Saudi Arabia decided to hold this meeting... in order to determine the causes behind rising oil prices,” he said. “The principal objective of the Jeddah meeting is to clarify positions regarding the reasons behind this rise,” the Algerie Presse Service quoted Khelil as saying. The Jeddah meeting comes days after oil prices jumped to new record highs just short of $140 per barrel, sparking fresh concerns that soaring energy costs will both stoke inflation and depress the global economy.

Khelil said that “just because car and computer prices were high, would one ask their producers to make more?” In London yesterday, Brent North Sea crude for August rose $2.86 to settle at $134.86 per barrel.



JEDDAH: Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali Al-Naimi announced yesterday that Saudi Arabia would increase its daily output to 9.7 million barrels next month, pumping an extra 200,000 barrels to world markets.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said last Sunday that the Saudi minister had told him the plan to increase production by 200,000 bpd. “He quoted me right, that’s old news now,” Al-Naimi told reporters in Jeddah. Asked if Saudi Arabia would increase output more than that figure, Al-Naimi said: “We’ll be giving out new information within the next two days.” He was apparently referring to the International Energy Conference that opens at Jeddah Hilton tomorrow.

In addition to members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), leading non-OPEC producers such as Russia, Norway, Mexico and Brazil as well as major consumers like the United States, Britain, Germany, France, Japan, China, India and South Africa will be attending the conference.

“The conference will discuss the situation in the international oil market and how producers, consumers, oil companies and international organizations can cooperate to deal with unjustifiable hike in prices and propose suitable solutions,” an official statement said, reiterating the Kingdom’s concern over increasing oil prices. The statement emphasized Saudi Arabia’s plan to invest about $90 billion in oil and gas projects during the next four years to increase production capacity and improve refining facilities. The new projects would further increase the Kingdom’s oil output to 12.5 million bpd by 2009. OPEC President Chakib Khelil, who will attend the Jeddah oil summit, said yesterday it was illogical and irrational to ask the organization to increase output so as to take the pressure off soaring prices. “Saudi Arabia decided to hold this meeting...in order to determine the causes behind rising oil prices,” he said.

The Jeddah meeting comes only days after oil prices jumped to new record highs just short of $140 per barrel, sparking fresh concerns that soaring energy costs will both stoke inflation and depress the global economy.

Khelil said that just because computer or car prices were high, “would one ask their producers to make more?”, insisting again that oil was being driven higher by factors other than supply alone — most notably speculation and a falling dollar.

He also noted that high tax levies on fuel in some countries such as France and Britain were also to blame, with all these issues to be discussed at the Jeddah meeting. OPEC pumps about 40 percent of the world’s oil supply.
Iran, a major OPEC producer, said increased oil output would not be able to bring down skyrocketing prices. “Increased oil production does not have such an impact that it would decrease prices because enough oil exists in the global market,” Iranian Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari was quoted as saying by the Mehr news agency. “Just compare 300,000 (barrels per day) with about 86 million (bpd), which are the market’s need! What would be the effect?” Nozari asked rhetorically.

German Economy Minister Michael Glos, meanwhile, called for closer cooperation between oil producers and consumers to curb prices. “The increase in oil prices amounts to transfer of wealth from oil importing countries. This has powerful effects on the global economy,” he said and stressed the need for more energy efficiency, more investment in energy and the right energy mix including atomic power.


http://www.arabnews.com/

National Assembly approves Finance bill and Increase in SC judges

June 22, 2008

ISLAMABAD: National Assembly has approved 2008-09 current fiscal year budget which also includes the consensus on the increase in the number of Supreme Court judges.

No protest was registered till the approval of the increase in the number of judges from PML-N however the member of PML-N Ayaz Meer later, raising the disagreement, said that this is the first ever example in the history of the world to increase SC judges by approving finance bill.

Three police officers arrested in Lahore

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June 22, 2008

LAHORE: Three police officers have been apprehended including ASI on bribing dacoits at police check post in the Sherakot locality of Lahore here on Sunday.

The police mobile squad, headed by ASI Javaid Iqbal, stopped a vehicle at police check post, recovered Rs. 49 thousands and artilleries from dacoits and started dealing out amongst one another instead of taking action against bandits.

Meanwhile, DSP Nawankot Rana Javaib reached on the spot and arrested 3 police officers and registered case.


http://www.geo.tv/6-22-2008/19644.htm

10,000 British soldiers unfit for frontline: report

June 22, 2008

LONDON: More than 10,000 British soldiers are unfit for frontline duty as the pressure of supplying troops for years of conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan takes its toll on the army, the Sunday Telegraph reported.

The newspaper said the Ministry of Defence admits that 8,500 soldiers from the 59,000-strong "Field Army" – units such as tank, artillery and infantry regiments --- are classified as unfit to serve at the front. When other soldiers classified as unfit from the overall 101,800-strong army are taken into account, the total figure is likely to exceed 10,000, said the newspaper, which is traditionally close to the armed forces.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced Monday Britain was sending an additional 230 troops to Afghanistan, which will boost its contingent to 8,030 by early next year -- its highest level since operations began in 2001.

British troops are stationed in violence-hit southern Afghanistan, where they are fighting Taliban extremists. Nine British soldiers, including the first British woman killed in action in Afghanistan, have lost their lives in the past two weeks. US commanders have repeatedly called for other NATO countries to shoulder the burden of operations in the lawless south.

Patrick Mercer, a lawmaker from the opposition Conservatives and a former army officer, told the Sunday Telegraph that British soldiers were exhausted.

"The problem is that incessant operations are wearing down the troops' resilience," he said. "They are not being given the time between operational deployments to catch their breath, let alone to recover from the effects of exhaustion, illness and wounds. "There are not enough combat troops in the army for the job they are being asked to do."

16 kidnapped Christians released in Peshawar

June 22, 2008

PESHAWAR: The 16 Christian hostages, abducted from Peshawar, have been handed over to political authorities in Bara district here on Sunday.

These Christians were kidnapped from Academy Banarasabad (Peshawar) on Saturday, as they were on the way to join a religious carnival.

The Lashkar-e-Islam organization in Khyber Agency released captives to the political authorities however, the spokesman to Lashkar-e-Islam has denied the allegation of abduction saying that the local people had handed over these 16 Christians to them.

http://thenews.jang.com.pk/updates.asp?id=48016

Benazir’s assassination case

Sunday, June 22, 2008

RAWALPINDI: The Anti Terrorism Court (ATC) No 1 here on Saturday declared local Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud and his five other accomplices the main accused in Benazir murder case, RA Bazar and Civil Lines suicide attacks. The court also declared them proclaimed offenders and ordered freezing their moveable and immoveable properties.

The court also directed the authorities to submit a separate challan of Aitzaz Shah, the underage accused, to ensure justice.

The court reserved judgment after the completion of the debate on bail application of the three accused and fixed July 14th for the next hearing.

The five main accused in Benazir murder case including Aitzaz Shah, Sher Zaman, Rafaqat, Abdul Rashid and Hasnain Gul were produced before the court amid tight security.

Naseer Ahmed Tanoli, Ghulam Garkhan Balouch and Shahzeb represented Aitzaz Shah, Sher Zaman and Abdul Rashid while Sardar Ishaque Khan, advocate, represented the government.

The judge, after completion of arguments, reserved judgment regarding the bail of the three accused. Meanwhile, the court after perusal of the medical report of Aitzaz Shah declaring the accused underage, directed the authorities to submit a separate challan of the accused for juvenile justice.

Former premier and PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto was martyred in a suicide attack soon after addressing a public rally in connection with the election campaign at Liaquat Bagh in Rawalpindi on December 27 last year.

http://thenews.jang.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=119827

__________________
Time is the longest distance between two places.

And now a white European Qaeda?

* US officials believe Al Qaeda has completed recruiting Western would-be terrorists

By Khalid Hasan

WASHINGTON: United States intelligence officials fear that a new breed of Al Qaeda-linked terrorists, all white Europeans, may have been trained at camps in Pakistan’s Tribal Areas to carry out operations in Europe and elsewhere.

According to ABC News, dozens of these potential European terrorists have been dispatched to plan attacks against Europe and possibly the United States. The men are said to come from Britain, the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Romania and Estonia. Some European recruits may have already gone operational. Two of the suspects arrested in a September 2007 plot to kill American soldiers in Germany were native Germans, and it is being investigated to discover whether they were Pakistan-trained. An April 2008 report alleged that an increasing number of European nationals had attended training in Pakistan and were later involved in, or suspected of, terrorist offences in European Union countries.

Successful: US intelligence officials believe that Al Qaeda has successfully completed its major goal of recruiting and training Western would-be terrorists. “Al Qaeda is improving the last key aspect of its ability to attack the US: the identification, training and positioning of operatives for an attack in the homeland,” according to a February Threat Assessment report from the director of National Intelligence who said that his agency had “seen an influx of new Western recruits into the Tribal Areas since mid-2006.”

It is argued that white European terrorists, assuming they exist, are going to be more difficult to detect and would be easily able to enter Europe and the US. “They’re recruiting operatives from Europe. Why? If you’re from Europe, it doesn’t require a visa to fly to the United States,” Mike McConnell, director of National Intelligence, said in a speech in March. “So if you can get a disgruntled person in Europe to come to Pakistan to be trained in how to buy something commercially – hydrogen peroxide – (and) use it in a particular way, you could have mass casualties in the United States greater than 9/11,” he said.

Intelligence officials told ABC News that the administration was trying to target key Al Qaeda leaders in the tribal regions with Predator attacks and recently killed one leader who had helped co-ordinate European operatives.

Adjustment with Feb 18 poll losers possible: Zardari

* PPP co-chairman says he and Nawaz might end up in Landhi Jail if Musharraf not ousted

LAHORE/LARKANA: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari has said that adjustments could be made with the parties who lost the February 18 elections “if they talked to him”, a private television channel reported on Saturday.

In an interview with Business Plus, Zardari said that political opponents should not be considered personal enemies as “we have to work for the country and save it from the dangers it faces”. He said that it was under this idea of welfare of the country that he had held out a hand of reconciliation towards Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement.

He said that all political parties want to see those people in office who share the party’s viewpoint on various issues, and said he hoped that the PML-N ministers who have resigned would rejoin the federal cabinet by next month.

Separately, addressing a press conference at Bhutto House in Naudero on slain PPP chairwoman Benazir Bhutto’s 55th birth anniversary, Zardari said that some hidden anti-democratic forces were still trying to weaken the present coalition government.

Landhi Jail: He said the PPP is trying to formulate a strategy with other coalition parties to remove President Pervez Musharraf.

“I have told Nawaz Sharif that if we fail to remove [President Pervez] Musharraf, we both might end up in Landhi Jail,” Zardari said, adding that he had held negotiations with Nawaz for two days to settle differences. daily times monitor/gm khuhro

LHC bench refuses to hear pleas on Sharifs’ eligibility

Staff Report

LAHORE: A Lahore High Court (LHC) bench that was hearing petitions seeking the disqualification of the Sharif brothers from contesting the by-elections on Saturday requested Chief Justice Syed Zahid Hussain to form a new bench to hear the petitions.

The LHC bench consisting of Justices Fazale Miran Chauhan, Hasnat Ahmad Khan and Ahsan Bhoon made the request when PML-N lawyer Khawaja Mahmood raised objections against the bench. Mahmood said that the bench should not hear the petitions, as one member of the bench was a relative of PML-Q President Shujaat Hussain, a political rival of Sharif brothers. He said that another member of the bench was a former associate of Senator Dr Khalid Ranjha.

Entertaining the request, the LHC chief justice formed a new three-member full bench to hear the petitions seeking the disqualification of PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and his brother, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, from contesting the by-elections.

The new LHC bench comprising Justice Abdul Shakoor Paracha, Justice M Bilal Khan and Justice Syed Shabbar Raza Rizvi will start proceedings on the petitions from Monday (tomorrow). The petition against Nawaz Sharif was moved by Noor Elahi, who is contesting the by-elections against the PML-N chief as an independent candidate from NA-123, Lahore, while the petition against Shahbaz Sharif was moved by voter Khurram Shah and freelance journalist Shahid Orakzai, who challenged his election from PP-48 Bhakkar and his candidature for PP-10, Rawalpindi.

Political pressure could delay US-Iraq security deal

* Both sides at odds on issue of US troop immunity from Iraqi courts
* Bush says US committed to respecting Iraq’s sovereignty

WASHINGTON: It may take quite some time for Washington and Baghdad to reach a security deal on the future US military presence in Iraq amid rising political resistance in Iraq to any loss of sovereignty.

Given strains in the Iraqi political scene, exacerbated by US elections in November, President George W Bush Thursday told Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki the United States was committed to a deal fully respecting Iraqi sovereignty, according to Gordon Johndroe, a White House spokesman.

Thrashed out in tough closed-door dealing over the past several weeks, the deal is edging forward with some compromises. But there are lingering disagreements on key issues of the text, which would set up a legal framework for US military presence in Iraq after the UN mandate expires later this year.

According to Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, Baghdad and Washington set a deadline of late July to get a deal done. But they remain at odds on the issue of US troops’ immunity from prosecution in Iraqi courts, a traditional pillar of a Status of Forces Agreement.

The parties also differ on the number of bases US soldiers would have in Iraq long-term - Washington wants about 50 - and on the freedom to conduct operations and to arrest and detain Iraqis. “The current situation poses a dilemma for the Iraqi government. It wants to restore its full sovereignty as soon as possible, while maintaining a coalition presence until Iraqi forces are able to assume the country’s security responsibilities,” said Nazar Janabi, a fellow at The Washington Institute and a specialist on Iraqi and Middle Eastern security issues.

“They’re not anxious to put us out, what they’re anxious to do is to reassert their own sovereignty partly for domestic reasons, so they need to win some of these arguments and show their population that they’re not kowtowing to the United States,” added Michael O’Hanlon, a defence analyst at the Brookings Institute.

Maliki is under rising pressure from Shia forces to limit the US reach. Iran in turn has thrown itself into the debate, opposing any security agreement between Washington and Baghdad. Steve Simon of the Council on Foreign Relations said, “Because of their experience with the British, who at one time occupied Iraq, there’s a tremendous sensitivity among Iraqis about being under foreign domination.”

In an effort to get a deal, the United States has made concessions. According to Zebari, they have dropped their demand for immunity for US subcontractors in Iraq, a highly sensitive issue after the killings of 17 civilians in September 2007 in a shootout in Baghdad by agents of US private security contractor Blackwater.

Iraq in turn has ceased demanding that the United States commit to protect Iraq from domestic and foreign threats. Experts have their doubts about whether a deal can be struck by July. “Iraqi politicians are engaged in a rhetorical campaign against such an agreement, making it nearly impossible to finalise a deal by this summer,” said Nazar Janabi.

If that happens, once the UN mandate expires, either it could be extended, or a temporary deal could be reached, noted O’Hanlon. Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein Chahristani, in an interview with The Guardian, suggested that might be the course, and that Iraq would like a short-term deal: “only short, for one or two years”.

O’Hanlon said, “The option we really don’t have is getting all the US forces out by the end of December - we couldn’t do it even if we wanted to.” afp


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__________________
Regards

Aarwaa

Pakistan is ruled by three As - Army, America and Allah.

Soldiers killed in Afghan blasts

Five foreign soldiers have died in two bomb attacks in Afghanistan.

Four US-led troops were killed by a roadside bomb in the southern province of Kandahar, and a Polish soldier died in an attack in the south-east.

The deaths bring to 17 the number of coalition soldiers killed in Afghanistan over the past two weeks.

June has been one of the deadliest months for Western forces since they began military operations against the Taleban in 2002.

The nationalities of the soldiers who died in the incident in Kandahar were not immediately known. Two other soldiers were seriously wounded in the attack.



Some 14,000 soldiers serve in the US-led coalition in Afghanistan, mainly involved in operations against Taleban and al-Qaeda militants.

The Polish soldier died in Paktika province when a bomb exploded under a patrol vehicle. Four other Polish troops were injured.

They are members of the separate, 50,000-strong Nato force in the country.

Deadly month

Earlier this week Nato and Afghan forces said they had driven many Taleban fighters from the area during a major offensive in Kandahar province.

The operation was in response to a jailbreak staged by the Taleban from Kandahar prison earlier this month, during which at least 350 insurgents were freed.

Kandahar is one of the key battlegrounds of the current rebel insurgency against Afghanistan's government and troops from Nato and a US-led coalition.

Afghan officials say 56 Taleban and two Afghan troops died in the fighting on Thursday, in Arghandab district near Kandahar city, but there was no independent confirmation.

The latest incident comes a day after two other US-led soldiers were killed in separate attacks elsewhere in the country.

Nine British servicemen have also been killed since the start of June.

The BBC's Martin Patience in Kabul says that in recent months the Taleban have switched their tactics using roadside bombs and suicide attacks to increasingly deadly effect.

__________________
Devil-may-care

JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia may increase its oil production beyond a planned 200,000 barrel-a-day increase in July if the oil market requires extra supplies, said Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali Al-Naimi at the Jeddah Energy Meeting yesterday.

“I would like to state that for the remainder of this year Saudi Arabia is prepared and willing to produce additional barrels of crude oil above and beyond the 9.7 million barrels per day which we plan to produce during the month of July, if demand for such quantities materializes and our customers tell us they are needed,” he said. The Kingdom’s capacity will be 12.5 million barrels a day by the end of 2009 and may rise to 15 million after that if necessary, he said.

According to the minister, Saudi Arabia has identified a series of future crude oil mega-increments totaling another two-and-a-half million barrels per day of capacity that could be built if and when crude oil demand levels warrant their development. “Among these prospective programs are a 900,000 barrel-per-day increment in Zuluf, a 700,000 barrel-per-day increment in Safaniyah, a 300,000 barrel-per-day increment in Berri, a 300,000 barrel-per-day increment in Khurais and a 250,000 barrel-per-day increment Shaybah,” said Al-Naimi.

He said the Kingdom would press ahead with its planned investments in the refining sector “which over the next five years total some two million barrels per day of new refining capacity both in Kingdom and abroad.” He referred to the shareholders agreement Saudi Aramco signed with Total of France for the 400,000 barrel-per-day export-oriented refinery in Jubail. “It is a facility which will be configured to process Arab Heavy crude, and will therefore help to close the gap between existing refinery configurations and global crude oil slate,” said Al-Naimi.

He termed the investments as massive. “They will over the next five years total some $129 billion between the upstream and downstream segments of the industry. We are putting our money where our mouth is,” he said, adding: “The Kingdom has undertaken these projects and investments in the interest of global markets and in order to meet the needs of consumers around the world.”

Al-Naimi felt record prices were not reflecting the true state of market supplies. The price of a barrel of crude has doubled from about $70 to nearly $140 over the past year.

“Between the second quarter of 2007 and the second quarter of 2008, global demand rose by an estimated 800,000 barrels to 1.2 million barrels per day.

“At the same time, global oil supplies rose between 1.4 and 1.6 million barrels per day, substantially more than the increase in demand.”

He added that forward cover — a key market measure for how long oil inventories would last if production stopped — had increased from 52 days to 54 days over the past 12 months.

“Clearly something other than supply and demand fundamentals is at work here, and a simplistic focus on supply expansion is therefore unlikely to tame the current price behavior,” Al-Naimi said.

Al-Naimi said this was not the time to cast blame, point fingers or play a waiting game. “This is the time to stand up, step up and be part of the solution. The challenges before us require commitment, cooperation and a lot of courage. The issues at stake are too big and too complex for any one entity to resolve, for any one sector of our industry to tackle alone.”

He assured the world’s oil ministers that there were enough petroleum resources. “Yes, there are enough petroleum resources, both conventional and nonconventional, to meet oil demand for many, many decades to come,” said Al-Naimi. “What is required over the long-term is not more oil in the ground, but rather the assets to bring it to the surface, to process it, and to supply it to markets around the world.”



JEDDAH: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown yesterday offered to open his country’s energy markets to oil-producing states and urged them to reinvest some of the $3 trillion additional revenue realized from the current oil boom. “They can invest in UK energy production, including wind, solar and a new wave of nuclear power stations,” the prime minister said in an address to the Jeddah Energy Meeting.

Brown, who followed the inaugural address by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdulah, said his government plans, to be published in the coming week, would put a price tag of 100 billion pounds for the UK to meet its share of an EU target to generate 20 percent of energy from renewables by 2020. “Much of this could come from the sovereign wealth funds of Gulf states,” he said.

The premier said that major oil producing countries had accepted for the first time that prices were too high, but he declined to predict what level they would reach. Agreement had been secured with members of the OPEC that record crude prices of almost $140 a barrel were causing damage and investment was needed to increase supply, he added.

Brown, who also had a meeting with Foreign Minister Prince Saudi Al-Faisal, held out the prospect of a fall in the price of oil after the landmark meeting here attended by 35 oil producing and consuming countries, some of them represented by high-level ministerial delegations.

“The reason I am here is that I am worried about the price of petrol; I’m worried about gas and electricity bills, I’m worried about how millions of people are being affected in their standard of living,” Brown later told reporters.

Brown said Britain had entered into commitments with Saudi Arabia to develop environment-friendly carbon capture and storage technology; with Qatar to explore the possibility of a new joint energy fund; and with the UAE to work on opportunities in nuclear energy.

A decision on an 800 million pound Norwegian investment in the Scira wind farm project off the British coast is expected soon.



JEDDAH: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah yesterday announced a $1 billion energy initiative for poor countries and Saudi Arabia’s decision to allocate $500 million in soft loans to help developing countries carry out energy and other projects.

Opening a conference of oil producers and consumers at the Jeddah Hilton, King Abdullah blamed speculators, high fuel taxes and increased consumption by developing economies for soaring oil prices.

King Abdullah also announced that Saudi Arabia had increased its daily production from nine million to 9.7 million barrels in the past few months. “We are ready to meet additional energy requirements of world markets in the future,” he added.

He urged developed nations and Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to join the Kingdom in an effort to soften the effects of soaring prices on the world’s poor.

Delegates from 36 countries and executives of 25 oil companies attended the meeting.

“The Kingdom’s oil policy since the establishment of OPEC has been based on adopting a fair price for petroleum in a manner that does not harm either producers or consumers,” the king said. “We have been keen on preserving the interests of the entire world as we are keen on preserving our national interests, and because of that policy we have faced many attacks, and we have endured some harm because of that,” he told the delegates.

Dispel rumors

“Although OPEC has no role in determining the price of oil, we have seen people pointing the finger to blame the organization alone,” the king said and urged the summit’s delegates to uncover the truth and dispel rumors to get the real and full reasons for the rising prices.

“There are several factors behind the quick and unjustified increase in oil prices recently. They include the frivolity in the market of speculators for selfish interests, the rise in consumption in a number of developing economies and increasing taxes on petroleum in a number of consuming countries,” the king said.

“Your mission is to rule out biased rumors and to find the real causes for the increase in prices and how to deal with that development clearly and transparently, and to disclose the outcome to all the nations of the world, so as not to treat the innocent as wrongdoers and only then will the truth survive.”

Displaying the leadership of a compassionate nation, King Abdullah put forth a five-step plan to protect poor people across the world from the potential harm of soaring energy and commodity prices.

“I call for launching an ‘Energy for the Poor’ initiative. Its aim will be to enable the 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.”

He also called on OPEC’s Ministerial Council to commit $1 billion to a parallel initiative and he pledged Saudi Arabia’s unflagging support for both efforts.

He also took immediate action on behalf of the Kingdom. “I announce the allocation of $500 million in soft loans through the Saudi Fund for Development in order to finance energy and development projects in poor countries,” the Saudi leader said.

King Abdullah asked the delegates to form a working group under the umbrella of the International Energy Forum’s General Secretariat to implement conference recommendations and monitor developments in the oil market. The Kingdom was ready to support the group with any needed materials and manpower so that it could successfully carry out its mission, he added.

The king cautioned delegates and their competing constituencies that putting individual agendas in front of global well-being could lead to disaster. “In this critical hour, the international community must rise to the level of responsibility,” said King Abdullah. “Cooperation must be the cornerstone of any effort, and we all must have a comprehensive, profound and humanitarian vision in our perspective of the present and future. Such a vision must be liberated from selfishness and transcend to fraternity and solidarity. This is the secret of success,” the king concluded.

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ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly (NA) on Sunday passed the 2008 finance bill amid criticism from coalition partner Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on increasing the number of Supreme Court (SC) judges to 29 through the bill.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) did not vote over clause 18 of the bill. Clause 18 deals with increasing the judges’ number.

Finance Minister Naveed Qamar said clause 18 was included in the finance bill following an agreement between the leadership of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the PML-N, adding that PML-N leader Ishaq Dar had drafted the clause. PML-Q MNA Attiya Inayatullah said that her party would abstain from voting on clause 18.



LAHORE: The number of Supreme Court (SC) judges has been increased following consultation with coalition partner Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Information Minister Sherry Rehman said on Sunday. According to ARY One, Sherry – responding to PML-N’s reservations on the increase in the number of SC judges – said a senior PML-N leader had not only proposed the increase in the finance bill but had also endorsed it. She said she did not want to vitiate the atmosphere through a “battle of words”. daily times monitor

* US secretary of state credits Musharraf for democracy’s return
* Issue of judiciary will be worked out by Pakistanis
* Afghanistan’s threats of cross-border action ‘not wise’

WASHINGTON: President Pervez Musharraf has made a number of mistakes, United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in an interview aired on Sunday.

Rice said further that the imposition of the state of emergency on November 3, 2007 was Musharraf’s mistake.

The secretary, however, added that the US has worked with the president and credited him with bringing civilian rule back to Pakistan and putting the country on a different course.

Free judiciary: She said that an independent judiciary is important to democracy, adding that it is best that the people of Pakistan work out the issue of judiciary.

“An independent judiciary is critical to democracy. There are some issues because this one is highly politically charged in Pakistan,” Rice said in the interview with CNN.

“We have always believed that after the elections this (issue of judiciary) will be worked out in course between Pakistanis and it is best that this be worked out between Pakistanis.”

Asked whether President Musharraf should resign, Rice said this is a Pakistani matter. “This is clearly a Pakistani matter, he is the president of Pakistan and we will treat him as the president of Pakistan.”

Talk: The secretary said that threats by Afghanistan to pursue Taliban insurgents across the border into Pakistan were “not wise”.

Rice instead called for co-operation between the two nations after Afghan President Hamid Karzai angered Pakistan when he threatened cross-border action as a right of “self-defence” against Taliban forces. “I think it’s probably not wise to talk about Afghan cross-border operations,” Rice said.


“The PML-Q accepts that the sacked judges should be restored and sitting judges be retained,” she said, but added that the coalition government’s move to raise the judges’ number through the finance bill was an attempt to bypass the Senate.

PML-Q MNA Riaz Hussain Pirzada said the opposition was disappointed over the procedure adopted by the government to increase the judges’ number. The NA adopted 51 of 76 recommendations from the Senate. The government has withdrawn seven clauses from the finance bill, while six were amended during reading of the bill.



* PPP co-chairman says remnants of dictatorship do not want coalition to succeed
* Says certain parties have hijacked judges’ issue

NAWABSHAH: A worker of assassinated Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairwoman Benazir Bhutto will soon be installed as president, PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari said on Sunday, adding that the office is a ‘privilege’ of the PPP and Sindh.

“The day is not far when a follower of Benazir will become the president of the country. The Presidency is the right of the PPP and Sindh,” Zardari told a press conference at Zardari House.

He said the PPP was fighting a war for Pakistan’s survival, and they had rendered many sacrifices for the cause of democracy.

Remains of dictatorship: Zardari said he was aware that remains of the dictatorship still exist and that they are continuously conspiring to create divisions in the PPP and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) alliance.

“I know well that there still are remnants of the dictatorship that want to destabilise the coalition government. They don’t want the assembly to complete its tenure, and don’t want the PPP’s alliance with the PML-N to succeed,” he said.

Zardari said that a solution to the Kashmir issue was the very basis of the PPP’s manifesto and the Simla Accord concluded by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was the beginning of such a solution. The present government would continue talks with India on the basis of the accord, he added.

The PPP co-chairman said PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif was his compatriot in the journey for democracy.

Vested interests: He said the restoration of the sacked judges had become a political issue, adding that certain political parties have hijacked the matter for their vested interests, which had consequently turned it into a political issue. A decision on the issue will therefore be taken after careful consideration and reviewing all legal and constitutional aspects, he added.



* LI and AI offer conflicting accounts of casualties
* Five Khasadars kidnapped from Jamrud

PESHAWAR: Around 10 people were killed and more than 30 others injured as clashes between two rival militant groups continued for the second consecutive day in the Khyber Agency’s Tirah Valley on Sunday, locals said.

The Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) and the Ansarul Islam (AI) groups, however, have given conflicting accounts of the casualties.

A purported LI commander told Daily Times by telephone that the LI had killed around 12 AI men, while also admitting the death of four LI men.

However, an AI spokesman said the AI had killed 18 LI men, adding that only five AI activists had been killed in the fighting.

The clashes erupted on Saturday when the LI attacked the Sandpal area in the Tirah Valley. Sandpal is considered to be an LI stronghold in the Khyber Agency.

Local sources said activists of Bara-based warlord Haji Namdar had also joined the LI.

The locals said AI men had been expelled from Sandpal to Shlobar, where the activists of Haji Namdar and the LI had surrounded them.

Officials from the Khyber Agency political administration were not available for comment.

Kidnapped: Unidentified gunmen kidnapped five Khasadars (tribal policemen) from Jamrud, Dawn News reported.



KARACHI: Muslim, Sikh and Christian scholars of Pakistan and leaders of secular political parties have demanded that the government declare the birth anniversary of Hazrat Fatima, daughter of Hazrat Muhammad, last apostle and prophet (SAW), as women’s day in Pakistan.

Muslims celebrate the birth anniversary of Hazrat Fatima on 20th of Jamadi ul Awwal, the sixth month of Islamic calendar every year across the world.

The demand to mark the day as women’s day in Pakistan came at a seminar that was hosted by the Fight Against Intolerance, Terrorism & Hatred (FAITH) Forum.

The speakers at the seminar held at Arts Council of Pakistan late Saturday night included FAITH Chief Senator Abbas Kumaili, Sindh Deputy Speaker Shehla Raza, Provincial Environment Minister Askari Taqvi, MPA Raza Haider, Hafiz Adnan Nizami, Bishop L Stephen, Sardar Ramesh Singh, Maulana Faisal Azizi and others.

President Jafaria Alliance and FAITH Senator Allama Abbas Kumaili underlined the significance of women in the society and denounced the current approach. “Islam holds women in high esteem and strongly opposes the western mindset that negatively exploits women,” asserted Kumaili.

The Islamic dress code and Islamic limitations for women in their relations with men lay the foundation of a morally good society in which women can progress by utilizing their skills.

“The west has betrayed women by selling them as a publicity tool or ad material in the commercial market,” he said.

Kumaili further said that Hazrat Fatima is a role model for all women of the world. He urged the women to follow her footprints to restore their prestige and respectful status in society.

He recalled that Hazrat Fatima, also known as Zahra (SA), was a great lady, highly respected in Islam, whose mother Khadija (SA), was Prophet Mohammad (PBUH)’s first wife and the first woman who embraced Islam soon after the first revelation to her spouse.

“The Holy Prophet (PBUH) said that I am not pleased unless Fatima (AS) is pleased and that she is leader of all women in paradise,” he said.

Sindh Deputy Speaker Shehla Raza highlighted the teachings of Hazrat Fatima (AS), saying that her personality is considered a great and sacred role model for mothers.

She added that Hazrat Fatima (SA) was an example for women of the world to lead a good life as a daughter, a wife and a mother. “She healed the wounds of her father by looking after him when he suffered torture at the hands of Mecca’s unbelievers,” she stated.

Raza said that Hazrat Fatima was Hazrat Ali’s ideal wife and was an ideal and loving mother to her children. She recollected that the PPP’s slain chairwoman, Benazir Bhutto, also called Hazrat Fatima her ideal and role model.

MQM MPA Raza Haider quoted the Hadith of Holy Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) who said that Fatima (AS) is a part of me and whoever enrages her, enrages me and whoever harms her, harms me. He said that his leader Altaf Hussain underlined the need for religious harmony among all schools of thoughts.

Sardar Ramesh Singh said that Hazrat Fatima (AS) was the role model for all women of the world.


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__________________
Regards,
P.R.

* PPP co-chairman takes PM into confidence about his meetings with PML-N

Daily Times Monitor

LAHORE: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari met Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani at Prime Minister’s House on Monday to discuss the possibility of expanding the federal cabinet, Dawn News reported.

The channel quoted PPP sources as saying that Zardari and Gilani discussed the names of new ministers and their portfolios. The sources said that expansion of the federal cabinet was likely to be announced on July 4 or after Zardari’s return from his foreign tour.

PML-N: The two leaders also discussed relations with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the proposed constitutional package. Zardari talked with Gilani about his meetings in Lahore with PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif. The situation in the tribal areas and relations with Afghanistan also came under consideration in the meeting, which lasted for one hour, Dawn News added.

According to Geo News, the country’s overall situation, cabinet’s expansion, constitutional package and the ongoing talks with the PML-N were also discussed, and sources were quoted as saying that a decision was taken to table the constitutional package in the National Assembly next month.


* Peace committee member warns of war if agreement scrapped

By Akhtar Amin

PESHAWAR: Though peace agreements between the government and militants are not ideal they are positive and should be honoured, NWFP Environment Minister, who is also a key member of peace talks committee, Wajid Ali Khan said on Monday.

“The NWFP government is trying its best to honour peace agreements with Swat militants. If these agreements were scrapped there would again be war between security forces and militants.”

Khan was speaking at a “Peace Accords - Expectations and Reservations” Women Workers’ Helpline meeting. Khan said militants had been stopped from bombing CD and barbers’ shops and girls’ schools, and carrying out suicide bombings. The Aurat Foundation’s Tariq Khan said however such attacks were ongoing.

The NWFP minister said peaceful militant campaigns for Shariah law were their right, and neither un-Islamic, adding the provincial government is optimistic about talks in Swat and Dir. Provincial labour unions secretary-general Farman Ali echoed this, saying the government should honour genuine demands.



LAHORE: The Australian government is considering sending counter-terrorism experts to Pakistan to contain the spread of extremism, according to an ABC Online report released on Monday. It quoted Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith as saying that extremism and the movement of insurgents into neighbouring Afghanistan were a problem for Pakistan, and that the Australian government was in the early stages of discussing the matter with Pakistani officials. “I had a conversation with the Pakistani foreign minister in Paris at the donors’ conference,” Smith said, adding the issue was of acute interest to the international community.


* Taliban spokesman claims group abducted 10 pro-govt tribesmen

LAHORE: Militants loyal to Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud captured Jandola, a town at the entrance to the South Waziristan tribal region, on Monday after a battle with pro-government tribesmen, police said.

At least six people, four tribesmen and two militants, were killed in the fighting for control of the town, the gateway to Waziristan, they said. “The Taliban have taken over Jandola,” and taken seven tribesmen hostage, the area’s police chief, Barkat Ullah, told Reuters.

Tribesmen: A Taliban spokesman said nine people, including seven tribesmen, had been killed and the Taliban had abducted 10 pro-government fighters.

Dawn News reported that the Taliban kidnapped nine members from the Nemat Khel tribe, and that the death toll in clashes between tribesmen and Taliban had risen to nine. The channel quoted its sources as saying that the clashes started when the Baitullah Mehsud-led Taliban attacked the house of Turkistan group Deputy Commander Mir Baz Khan in the Saragarh area, Jandola.

Baz Khan is also the chief of a peace committee in the region, the channel said, adding that that a member of the Mir Baz group was killed and three injured in the attack. The Turkistan group claimed that two attackers from the Mehsud group were killed when they returned fire.

LAHORE: Shahbaz Sharif, Punjab chief minister and president of the PML-N, has said that he will not appear before the election tribunal even if he risks losing the Punjab government, a private television channel reported. Talking to Express News on Monday, Shahbaz said those who gave the verdict disqualifying PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif had also supported a dictator at the time of the PML-N government’s dismissal in 1999, the Lal Masjid operation and the imposition of emergency on November 3, 2007. He said he would not appeal to the SC against the Lahore High Court verdict.



LAHORE: The PPP is disappointed by the disqualification of PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif from contesting the by-elections, PPP leader Farhatullah Babar said on Monday, adding that it was a conspiracy against democracy. He said the PPP had taken the position that petitions against Nawaz Sharif were not maintainable. However, he said the court decided otherwise and PPP was disappointed because of it. PPP Lahore President Azizur Rehman Chan said he was disappointed by the decision and that all political leaders should be allowed to participate in the elections.



ISLAMABAD: The PML-N on Monday rejected the Lahore High Court decision to disqualify PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif from contesting the by-elections scheduled for June 26. PML-N spokesman Siddiqul Farooq told Daily Times that they reject the so-called judgement passed by a ‘kangaroo’ court. “This court has not only declared Nawaz ineligible but has also ‘hanged a sword’ on Shahbaz,” he said. Farooq said the verdict had been written by “someone else” and proved the veracity of the PML-N’s stance on the restoration of the judiciary to its pre-November 3, 2007 position. staff report



* Nawaz’s lawyer refuses to argue case before PCO judges g Petitioner’s counsel says Shahbaz declared qualified under law ‘repugnant’ to constitution

Staff Report

LAHORE: A full bench of the Lahore High Court on Monday disqualified former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif from contesting the by-election scheduled for June 26.

The bench consisting of Justices Abdul Shakoor Paracha, M Bilal Khan and Syed Shabbar Raza Rizvi also turned down a request to prevent Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif from standing in the by-elections and forwarded a petition seeking Shahbaz’s disqualification to the election tribunal.

The bench directed the Election Commission of Pakistan to have the appeal against Shahbaz’s candidature adjudicated upon while allowing him to continue in office.

The bench held ex-parte proceedings against Nawaz and Shahbaz, as despite the issuance of notices both failed to appear in court personally or through counsel.

Nawaz’s lawyer: Nawaz’s lawyer Ashtar Ausaf Ali remained present during the proceedings but refused to argue the case, claiming that both PML-N leaders would not appear before judges who had taken oath under the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO).

Noor Elahi, who is contesting the by-election against Nawaz as an independent candidate from NA-123, Lahore, had submitted the petition against him, pleading that Nawaz could not be allowed to contest the elections because “he is dishonest, a defaulter and a convict”.

Shahid Orakzai and a voter Syed Khurram Shah had filed the petition challenging the election of Shahbaz from PP-48, Bhakkar and his candidature from PP-10, Rawalpindi. The petitioners said Shahbaz had stormed the Supreme Court during the PML-N’s second stint in government and thus stood disqualified.

Shahbaz qualified: Counsels for petitioners Dr Qazi Mohyuddin and Raza Kazim pleaded that the question of qualification had not been decided by the election tribunal as the judges had opposing opinions on the matter. Shahbaz had though been held qualified under Section 14(6) of the Representation of the People’s Act 1976, Kazim said.

He said the provision was repugnant to the constitution and asserted that a candidate could not be allowed campaign for polls without scrutiny.

When asked by the bench what the legal position is now that Shahbaz had been declared a member of the Punjab Assembly and had assumed the post of chief minister, Kazim said he had also raised the qualification question before the returning officer – which was the proper stage for doing so – but his objection had yet to be decided on. He said the full court should decide on the pending objection first.

He said the court should not rely on the NRO or any other pardon in making its decision. Senior lawyers Ashtar Ausaf Ali, Akram Sheikh and Khawaja Harris who had moved applications to become party to the case raised different objections, including that the petition against Shahbaz was not properly argued, the time period to raise an objection against his candidature had expired and that petitioner Khurram Shah was not a voter of the constituency and could therefore not raise objections.

* Govt also presents demands for grants for 1996-97 and 1999-00 fiscal years
* Minister says Rs 40bn spent on wheat subsidies

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly (NA) approved on Monday supplementary grants worth Rs 201.137 billion and charged expenditures on these supplementary grants worth Rs 190.088 billion for the federal government during the financial year ending June 30, 2008.

The government also presented demands for grants and appropriations for the 1996-97 and 1999-00 fiscal years in the NA for approval.

Finance Minister Naveed Qamar assured the House that the present government would make sure that government departments do not exceed their budgetary allocations in future.

Qamar said a proper mechanism to approve supplementary grants would be evolved for the next fiscal budget.

“We shall not resort to supplementary grants as we are doing this time. In future, we shall ensure that these grants are first evaluated by the House Committees, grants curtailed to the minimum and scrutinised thoroughly before being brought to the House,” he said.

Wheat subsidy: The minister said there sometime occur unforeseen situations like floods or other natural calamities that require supplementary grants.

He said Rs 40 billion were spent last year as subsidy on wheat despite a bumper crop, all due to the government’s bad economic policies, adding that Rs 36 billion were spent on the oil differential.

He said excess expenditures during the last year were the result of bad policies and planning. Qamar assured the House that the government would make all possible effort to maintain the budget deficit at 4.7 percent.

A schedule of authorised expenditures in the 2008-09 fiscal, a supplementary schedule of authorised expenditures in the 2007-08 fiscal and an excess schedule of authorised expenditures in the 1996-97 fiscal and 1999-00 fiscal were also presented in the House.

Members of the House objected to the extra expenditures incurred by various ministries despite their unsatisfactory performance.

Member of the NA Kishan Chan Parwani said the list shows additional expenditure of Rs 15 million for minorities, but nothing substantial was factually done for their welfare.

Opposition members had criticised the performance of Pakistan Railways in respect of booking of tickets, the condition of the rail tracks, the meals served and the inquiry service.

“The Railways is a white elephant and we need to first devise a mechanism to improve its performance,” said parliamentarian Riaz Fatyana.

Fatyana mentioned the delay in laying another rail track from Lodhran to Lahore and said the project had not been completed after a lapse of many years.

Opposition member Riaz Hussain Pirzada said the excess demands negate the supremacy of parliament and speak of the negligence of the government departments towards rules and regulations.

He said appointments on contract and payment of hefty salaries on these contracts are some of the reasons for such supplementary demands.

He said it was a shortcoming of our system that officials charged with corruption are re-appointed on contract after retirement.

“This practice not only affects the performance of institutions but also puts extra burden on the national exchequer,” Pirzada said, mentioning the appointments of the attorney general and the Federal Board of Revenue chairman.

NA Speaker Fehmida Mirza thanked both the treasury and opposition members for their co-operation in the passage of the first budget of the coalition government.

Also on Monday, Hamza Shahbaz, son of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, took oath as a member of the NA. He was elected unopposed in the by-election.



* Ali from Quetta says he crossed border to engage in jihad, not to conduct suicide attacks

KANDAHAR: Afghan authorities paraded two alleged Pakistani militants before the media in chains and handcuffs on Monday in a fresh attempt to highlight cross-border infiltration by insurgents.

The governor of southern Kandahar province said the two men were would-be

Taliban suicide bombers, but one of the Pakistanis told reporters he had only entered Afghanistan to fight US-led and NATO-led forces. The public display comes just over a week after Afghan President Hamid Karzai sparked a major diplomatic row by threatening to launch attacks on militants based on Pakistani soil. Jihad, not suicide bombing: “I came to Afghanistan for jihad but am not a suicide bomber,” the alleged militant, identifying himself as Ali Ahmad in his 20s from Quetta, told reporters at a press conference in Kandahar.

He said he was a student at a religious school in Pakistan and was encouraged to fight in Afghanistan by a fellow student who managed to escape arrest.

The second Pakistani national, his hands and feet tied with chains and introduced as Abdul Zahir, did not speak at the news conference, which was hosted by provincial Governor Assadullah Khalid. The two were arrested on Saturday in the Afghan border town of Spin Boldak along with their Afghan guide as they were on their way to the troubled Zehri district of Kandahar, Khalid said.

“The two Pakistani suicide bombers along with their Afghan guide were arrested two days ago. One of them, Ali Ahmad, has confessed,” Khalid said, despite Ahmad’s denial. Helmand arrest: Separately, four men, including three Pakistanis, were arrested in a station wagon filled with explosives in the neighbouring province of Helmand, provincial intelligence chief Muhammad Naeem said.

Karzai’s government has been fighting back against a wave of recent activity by the Taliban, including an embarrassing mass jailbreak by militants in Kandahar earlier this month. In the wake of the prison escape, Karzai said that the Kabul government would be justified in striking militant hideouts in Pakistan. Islamabad summoned the Afghan ambassador to protest against the comments. Afghan and NATO troops launched a major operation last week against insurgents holed up in villages outside the city, the birthplace of the Taliban movement. Afghan officials said 56 militants were killed.



* India wants delivery point at border with Pakistan, says Oil secy

NEW DELHI: Officials from India, Pakistan and Iran will meet next month in Tehran to take forward a $7.6 billion project to pipe Iranian gas to the South Asian nations, India’s oil secretary said on Monday.

India had missed a meeting in September, citing issues with its neighbour and triggering a pledge from Iran and Pakistan to press ahead without Indian participation.

Now however, “bilateral issues have more or less been resolved,” MS Srinivasan told reporters, adding that he expected Pakistan to support India’s stand on the delivery point for the gas.

Iran had said the delivery would be at the Iran-Pakistan border, while India wants it to take place further east at the India-Pakistan frontier, Srinivasan said.

“In our bilateral talks with Pakistan on April 24, Pakistan said they have no problem with our stand and they will also attend the trilateral meeting and they will help us,” he told reporters.

Analysts say New Delhi wants to reduce the risk of supplies being cut during times of tension between the two long-time rivals.

India and Pakistan are desperate to tie up future energy supplies to fuel their fast-growing economies, but the United States has tried to discourage any deal with Iran in the past because it alleges Tehran of building nuclear weapons.

Work on the pipeline is due to begin next year and could be finished by 2012.

It would initially transport 60 million cubic metres of gas (2.2 billion cubic feet) daily to Pakistan and India, half for each country. The pipeline’s capacity would later rise to 150 million cubic metres.

Srinivasan also said there would be no extension of the deadline for bids for its latest oil and gas-asset licensing round beyond the end of June. The deadline has been extended three times already, the latest in May.



* Fethullah Gülen voted top intellectual
* Top 10 winners all Muslim

LAHORE: Does the movement inspired by Fethullah Gülen represent a modern brand of Islam, or a subtle attempt to infiltrate religion into secular Turkey? According to a report published in The Guardian, a hitherto largely unknown Turkish Islamic scholar, Fethullah Gülen, has been voted the world’s top intellectual in a poll to find the leading 100 thinkers.

The report says Gülen, the author of more than 60 books, won a landslide triumph after the survey - organised by a British magazine, Prospect, and Foreign Policy, a US publication - attracted more than 500,000 votes. It said the top 10 individuals were all Muslim and included two Nobel laureates, novelist Orhan Pamuk, who is also Turkish, at No 4, and Iranian human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi, at 10th place.

The report said the organisers were surprised by the result, who attributed it to a sustained campaign by Gülen’s followers, known as the Gülen Movement, after Turkey’s biggest-selling newspaper, Zaman, publicised the poll. Prospect’s editor, David Goohart, admitted to not having previously heard of Gülen and said his supporters had “made a mockery” of the poll. But he said the result flagged up significant political trends in Turkey. “The victory of Gülen draws attention to the most important conflict in Europe, played out in Turkey between the secular nationalist establishment and the reforming Islamic democrats of the AK [Justice and Development] party,” he said.

The report said the AKP, which is allied to Gülen, is contesting a case brought by Turkey’s chief prosecutor to shut it down and ban it from politics for allegedly trying to usher in Islamic rule, in breach of the country’s secular constitution.

A Gülen supporter, Bulent Kenes, who is editor-in-chief of Today’s Zaman newspaper, denied the poll had been hijacked. “There are many people who promote Gülen’s ideas, which contribute to world peace by urging international dialogue and tolerance.” The Guardian report said Gülen, 67, is known for a modernist brand of Islam. He was cleared of trying to topple the state in 2006 after being charged over footage in which he apparently urged civil service supporters to await his orders to overthrow the system. He said the film had been doctored.

Gülen, who has lived in the US since 1998, is credited with establishing a global network of schools that preach Islam in a spirit of tolerance. He has been praised in the west for promoting dialogue and condemned Osama bin Laden as a monster after September 11.

ISALAMABAD: The world’s largest copper and gold producing Australian company, with an investment of $1 billion, will launch a mega project— Reko Dik Copper-gold— near Saindak in Balochistan by 2010.

The project would help the government to produce 0.3 million tonnes of copper annually, thus bringing the country for the first time on the list of major copper producing countries of the world. Senior officials told Daily Times here Monday that in the same vein, Duddar lead-zinc deposits in Balochistan are being developed and expected to commence production by end 2008. The expected production from these deposits is 100,000 tonnes of zinc concentrates and 33,000 tonnes of lead concentrates, the export of which will bring precious foreign exchange.

Officials in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural resources further informed that development of Thar coal field in Sindh, containing 175 billion tonnes of coal, which are of best quality lignite deposits in the world, on completion would be used for power generation and gasification. Similarly all the non-glamorous minerals, having immense socio-economic benefits would be fully utilised. The abundantly available gypsum deposits would be utilised for producing gypsum plaster to partially replace cement in housing sector. Reclamation of saline-sodic soils and treatment of low quality tube wells water through the application of gypsum would bring socio-economic impacts in rural areas, generate gainful employment and improve crop yield.

Phosphate rocks of NWFP would be exploited to set up Phosphatic fertilizer industries, dimension stones, precious and semi precious stones industries along with the establishment of other mineral based industries to meet the increasing demand of various sectors of the economy.

In the annual budget 2008-09, the federal government has earmarked Rs 221.9 million for minerals (non-fuel) sector. Major projects to be carried out during 2008-09 include: feasibility study gasification of Thar coal worth Rs 104 million, national coal policy worth Rs 22.7 million, exploration and evaluation of coal fields of Chamlang-Bala Dhaka, Bahlol and parts of Ghazi Basin in Balochistan worth Rs 10.9 million and establishment of project monitoring and evaluation cell worth Rs 18 million.

Pakistan is blessed with rich and diversified mineral potential due to favourable geological environment. The government has been and is still nurturing environment to build the mineral sector as a potent factor in the national economy. The officials further said that potential of the country in this sector is widely recognised but the sector is not developed. The government made the development of the mining industry as ‘priority sector’ in various five years plans, but none of these efforts were materialised. Adequate institutional, human, research and development and other relevant infrastructure have been established for improvement of this sector but they remain under-utilised.

http://dailytimes.com.pk/

__________________
Regards,
P.R.

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.

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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.

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__________________
Regards,
P.R.

* Spokesman regrets Kabul’s claims Pakistan behind Karzai attack

ISLAMABAD: Foreign governments and militants are involved in the turbulent situation prevalent in the Tribal Areas, Foreign Office (FO) spokesman Muhammad Sadiq said on Thursday.

Addressing a weekly briefing, he regretted a statement by an Afghan intelligence agency spokesman who alleged that a Pakistani intelligence agency was involved in the April 27 attack on Afghan President Hamid Karzai. He urged the Afghan government to cease attempts to endanger bilateral relations.

He said that tripartite negotiations between Pakistan, Afghanistan and the UNHCR had agreed that all Afghans would be repatriated to their homes by December 21, 2009. He said the UN Office of Legal Affairs was reviewing Pakistan’s request for a UN probe into the death of Benazir Bhutto and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi would visit New York next month to discuss this. Qureshi was leaving for India today (Friday) for meetings with senior Indian officials, he added.

To questioning, he said the premier would be in Malaysia from July 4-8 to attend the D-8 summit.



* Japan says G8 to come up with 150 projects to develop troubled region

KYOTO: The Group of Eight countries pledged $4 billion on Thursday to develop the restive Afghan-Pakistan border, as North Korea’s nuclear disarmament dominated a meeting of foreign ministers here.

Host Japan said the G8 meeting would come up with around 150 projects to develop the troubled border region.

“The G8 has decided to provide support for the tribal people living in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan,” Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said after talks in the ancient Japanese capital Kyoto.

A joint statement by the G8 — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States — called for action to fight drug production and improve governance in Afghanistan. .

It was not immediately clear whether the $4 billion for the 150 projects would come from new funds or the $20 billion pledged earlier this month at a donors conference for Afghanistan in Paris.

Meanwhile, North Korea has handed over a long-awaited declaration of its nuclear programmes under a six-nation disarmament deal. The US said it would begin the process of removing North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism.

Militants kill 7, torch Malam Jabba ski resort

MINGORA: Suspected militants killed a PPP leader, a tribal elder, and their family members, in addition to destroying a police station, a girls’ school and a state-owned hotel in Swat on Thursday. Official sources said that suspected militants set fire to a PTDC Hotel in Malam Jabba and torched a girls’ school and a police station in Barikot. Militants also gunned down local PPP leader Abdul Akbar Khan, his wife, and two sons in Matta tehsil. Separately, suspected militants also killed a prominent tribal elder, his son and mother-in-law, AP reported. Taliban leader Ali Bakht denied his organisation’s involvement in the attacks, saying they went against the spirit of the peace accord.


* Senior provincial minister says Taliban, govt committed to peace deal
* Govt agrees to readjust security checkposts along major routes

PESHAWAR: There would be no early withdrawal of the army from the NWFP, Senior Minister Bashir Bilour said on Thursday.

“As long as the situation does not get better, we cannot pull out security forces,” he told reporters following talks with a Taliban delegation at the Officers’ Mess. The local Taliban had demanded in a May 21 peace deal that the army be withdrawn from the district.

Renewed commitment: “Both sides renewed their commitment to the peace deal and the implementation process will be stepped up,” Bilour said, referring to the meeting. According to sources, the release of 45 Taliban prisoners — the sticking point that had led to the freezing of contacts with the Awami National Party government by the Taliban — was at the top of the agenda for Thursdayay’s meeting. “We have assured the Taliban leaders that the remaining 45 prisoners will be bailed out as soon as possible,” Bilour added.

Concession: However, during the meeting, the government conceded to the Taliban’s demand that security checkposts along major roads and routes be readjusted after consultation among peace committee members.

Bilour reiterated that the government would enforce Shariah law within three months, adding that compensation would soon be paid to the victims.



WASHINGTON: Pakistan’s failure to put pressure on Taliban forces along its border with Afghanistan is “a concern”, United States Defence Secretary Robert Gates said on Thursday.

A 40 percent rise in violence in east Afghanistan in the first five months of 2008 “is a matter of concern, of real concern, and I think that one of the reasons that we’re seeing the increase ... is more people coming across the border from the frontier area,” Gates told a news conference.

He said, “The ability of the Taliban and other insurgents to cross that border and not being under any pressure from the Pakistani side of the border is clearly a concern.”

The issue “needs to be addressed with the Pakistani government”.

“It actually was not bad until a few months ago,” he said, when the Pakistani government began negotiating peace or ceasefire deals with a variety of militant groups in areas bordering Afghanistan.

“The pressure was taken off these people,” as a result of such deals, he added. And that has meant fighters are “now more free to cross the border and create problems for us,” Gates said.

Violence in the region is on the rise, despite the presence of a record 70,000 multinational troops in Afghanistan, some under US command, some under NATO.

NATO commanders in Afghanistan have expressed fears the Tribal Areas could become sanctuaries for militants engaged in cross-border attacks after Pakistan entered peace talks with the Taliban.

Pakistani officials have said the peace agreements state specifically that the militants should desist from crossing into Afghanistan to fight. agencies

Ruling coalition sweeps by-polls

* PML-N secures three seats in NA, six in Punjab and one in NWFP assemblies
* PPP wins two NWFP seats
* 26 injured in poll violence

LAHORE: The ruling coalition swept the by-elections on Thursday, winning most of the five national and 23 provincial assemblies’ seats, while 26 people were injured in election related violence.

Of the five NA seats, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)’s Captain (r) Safdar won from NA-52 by securing 54,917 votes; PML-N’s Haji Pervez defeated Ijaz Khan Jazi in NA-55 by securing 4,411 votes; PML-N’s Rana Afzal Hussain won from NA-131 (Muridke) by securing 67,887 votes; and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)’s Haji Khanzada Khan won from NA-11 (Mardan) by securing 21,781 votes.

Punjab: Similarly, in the by-polls held for vacant Punjab Assembly seats, the PML-N secured the most votes. PML-N’s Rana Shamim Ahmad won from PP-124 (Sialkot-IV) with 24,994 votes.

PPP’s Qasim Zia secured a landslide victory from PP-59. Rana Sanaullah of the PML-N won from PP-70 (Faisalabad), APP reported.

Similarly, PML-N’s Zaeem Qadari won from PP-154 by securing 3,228 votes. The PML-N’s Rana Muhammad Arshad secured victory from PP-171 (Nankana Sahib) by securing 22,669 votes, while an independent candidate won from PP-219 (Khanewal-II) by securing 22,669 votes.

Similarly, independent candidate Makhdoom Syed Haroon Ahmad won from PP-258 with 23,664 votes, while Zulfiqar Khosa of the PML-N defeated independent candidate Muhammad Khan Leghari from PP-243 (DG Khan) by receiving 8,186 votes against the 2,331 votes won by his rival. The PML-N’s Fida Hussain won from PP-277 (Bahawalnagar) by securing 34,282 votes. In Sindh, the PPP’s Syed Muhammad Bachal Shah won from PS-30 (Khairpur) with 27,883 votes.

NWFP: In NWFP, the Awami National Party (ANP)’s Taimoor Khan won from PF-20 (Charsadda-IV) with 8,351 votes, while the PML-N’s Syed Shamoon Yar Khan swept the PF-45 constituency by securing 23,441 votes. The ANP also won from PF-81 (Swat-II) with candidate Sher Shah Khan securing 7,644 votes. The PF-91 constituency was won by the PPP’s Anwar Khan advocate, who secured 14,724 votes. The PPP also won from the PF-92 constituency (Upper Dir) with candidate Badshah Saleh receiving 13,134 votes.

In Balochistan, PB-32 (Jhal Magsi) was won by independent candidate Tariq Magsi after securing 52,134 votes. Another independent candidate, Abdul Qadir Gilani won from PB-44 (Lasbela-I).

Violence: According to Express News, 26 people were injured in election related violence. It said that two people were injured when PPP and PML-N workers fired bullets in the air at a PP-277 polling station, adding that polling was suspended in the PP-219 constituency after several people were injured in a clash between two rival groups.

Polling was also suspended at polling stations of PP-171, PP-258, PP-247 and PF-59. The channel also reported that several people were injured in Faisalabad when rival groups clashed in the PP-70 and PP-61 constituencies.



PARIS: The president of OPEC, Algerian Energy Minister Chakib Khelil, forecast on Thursday that oil prices could rise to $150-170 a barrel during the northern hemisphere summer.

If there were real demand for extra oil, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries would do what was needed to satisfy it, he said, affirming that there was enough oil in the world for about the next 50 years. “I predict probably prices of $150 to 170 this summer. It (the market) will probably fall a bit towards the end of the year,” he said in an interview with the France 24 television channel.

Khelil said he did not expect prices to hit $200 a barrel, barring a major market crisis such as a halt in production in Iran. In that case, he added, prices could possibly surge to “$200, 300, 400.” In the short term, he said, “everything depends on the European Central Bank and a decision it could take to raise eurozone interest rates.” “At that time, I think the price of oil will increase.”

ECB policymakers are to meet July 3 when many analysts predict they will decide to raise their benchmark rate by a quarter of a point to 4.25 percent in the face of rising inflationary pressure.

A strong euro, and a weaker dollar, would drive up demand for oil, which is marketed in the US unit and becomes cheaper for holders of non-dollar currencies. Khelil also cited ‘threats against Iran,’ where US and European officials suspect that authorities may be trying to develop nuclear power for military purposes.

“If they (threats) increase, I think the price of oil will rise further this summer as it would coincide with stronger demand for gasoline (petrol), particularly in the United States.”

If a crisis halted production, in Iran, for example, a serious situation would result because no other country could replace Iranian output, he said. OPEC had the capacity to replace three million barrels per day at most, but Iran produced four million barrels per day.

He said the price of oil had risen, firstly because of the fall of the dollar, and secondly because of what he termed geopolitical problems in Iran, Iraq or Nigeria.

The dollar might fall further against the euro by 1.0-2.0 percent, which would probably push up the price of a barrel by $8. He affirmed that there was no problem of oil supply and that there was enough oil to meet world oil demand for about the next 50 years.

If more real demand were evident on the market, OPEC would take the necessary measures to satisfy it. Khelil said that the role of speculation in the rise of prices was no longer contested because even US senators were raising the matter. The problem was the extent of the effect of speculation on the market.



* Khosa says sacked and incumbent judges can co-exist if Nov 3 actions indemnified
* Other sacked LHC judges say not consulted on recommendations

LAHORE: Sacked Lahore High Court (LHC) Justice Asif Saeed Khosa has sent a 10-page proposal to the Law Ministry for the resolution of the ongoing judicial crisis, sources told Daily Times on Thursday.

Justice Khosa said in the document that President Pervez Musharraf’s November 3, 2007 measures could be indemnified and the sacked judges could be reinstated without disturbing the incumbent judges, they added.

A senior sacked judge said Justice Khosa had given the document to the law secretary on June 9 when the latter had visited him at home to give him a cheque of his salaries. He said he did not know the contents of the document but knew it contained suggestions on the resolution of the judges’ issue. Justice Khosa declined to comment.

Other sacked judges: Other sacked judges denied Justice Khosa had consulted with them.

Justice Khawaja Muhammad Sharif, the most senior sacked LHC judge, told Daily Times that he had not been consulted, and none of the other sacked judges had known about the proposal. He said sacked chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had telephoned him and asked him if the sacked LHC judges had made such a move.

“I know nothing about the suggestions package,” sacked LHC Justice Sair Ali told Daily Times, adding that the proposal might have been Justice Khosa’s personal opinion and should not be linked to all the sacked judges. Sacked LHC Justice Saqib Nisar said he knew nothing about the proposal. “If someone has drafted such a document, he did not consult me.”

Justice MA Shahid Siddiqi also denied he was aware of the proposal and said he did not favour such a measure.



* US removes North Korea from terrorism blacklist
* Critics term move ‘big shame’

WASHINGTON: North Korea handed over a long-delayed account of its nuclear activities to China on Thursday, prompting a still-wary United States President George W Bush to ease some sanctions on a country he once branded part of an “axis of evil”.

Bush cautiously welcomed the action but warned North Korea, which tested a nuclear device two years ago, that it faced consequences if it did not fully disclose its operations and continue to dismantle its nuclear programmes and facilities. “If North Korea makes the wrong choices, the US and our partners in the six-party talks will respond accordingly,” he said in Washington shortly after the declaration was handed over to China.

“We believe we have the means by which to verify the completeness and accuracy of this document,” US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said as she travelled in Japan. “For instance, in order to verify the plutonium number that the North Koreans have given, we have been given documents, but we also are expecting access to the reactor core, to the waste pool,” she said, referring to the nuclear reactor at Yongbyon.

Black list: Responding to an unusual opening by the secretive communist state, Bush took a step toward removing North Korea from a US list of state sponsors of terrorism and issued a proclamation lifting some sanctions under the Trading with the Enemy Act.

But US officials acknowledged that the North Korean declaration, which came six months late, falls short of answering all concerns about Pyongyang’s atomic ambitions, especially on past proliferation activities.

Bush also welcomed an announcement by North Korea that it would blow up the cooling tower at Yongbyon, its main nuclear complex. In an unprecedented move, North Korea has invited Western media to record the event.

North Korea had already begun dismantling its nuclear facilities after talks among China, Japan, Russia, North and South Korea and the US.

Shame: Former US envoy to the United Nations under the Bush administration and now a harsh critic, John Bolton said, “This is a big shame. This is an agreement that almost entirely benefits North Korea. They’ve gained enormous international political legitimacy, while giving up essentially nothing in return.”

Experts said the declaration was a step forward, but seemed uncertain about who will make further concessions, and how much other countries are willing to trust Pyongyang. “Since this particular declaration has not included nuclear weapons or the exact number of warheads they have, that is a key concern,” said Lee Chung-min, a professor at Yonsei University in Seoul.

The latest phase of the nuclear disarmament deal had been due for completion by the end of 2007 but was delayed by wrangling over money, aid and the contents of the declaration.


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Regards,
P.R.

US withdraws N-bombs from UK: Report

Agence France-Presse
Saturday, June 28, 2008 (Washington)

The United States has removed its nuclear arsenal in Britain, ending its half-century deployment there and reducing its European nuclear presence to six locations in five countries, a report said.

The withdrawal follows the removal of nuclear weapons from the Ramstein Air Base in Germany in 2005 and Greece in 2001, according to the The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) Strategic Security Blog, citing unidentified sources.

The United States now has an estimated 150 to 240 B61 nuclear bombs scattered in Europe - at the US Air Force bases at Aviano AB in Italy and Incirlik in Turkey, and at four European bases, in Belgium, Germany, Holland and Italy, the blog said.

In November 2000, then president Bill Clinton authorised the Pentagon to deploy 110 nuclear bombs at the Royal Air Force Lakenheath air base, 113 kilometres northeast of London, the report said.

There were 480 atomic bombs in Europe at the time, it said.

President George W Bush updated the authorisation in May 2004 with an apparent order to remove the nuclear weapons from Ramstein, the blog said. The directive might have also authorised the pullout from Lakenheath, it said.

Asked by reporters if the reported withdrawal was true, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said: ''I haven't gotten that question since I've been secretary of defence, but I think I'm not supposed to talk about that.''

http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv...10:32:00%20AM#

Qureshi meets Manmohan, Mukherjee in New Delhi: ‘Pakistan asks for liberal visa regime’

* Pakistan, India settle IPI pipeline fee dispute
* Officials of two countries to meet on July 21-22 to push peace talks forward

By Iftikhar Gilani

NEW DELHI: Pakistan wants a more liberal visa regime and improved people-to-people contacts and economic co-operation with India, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Friday.

During a joint press conference with Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Qureshi announced that it was time to resolve the Jammu and Kashmir issue.

“I have come representing the coalition of political parties that feels that a positive movement toward peace and security and normalisation is in our mutual interest,” AP quoted him as saying. During his visit, Qureshi held meetings with Mukherjee, Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Petroleum Minister Murli Deora.

He told reporters that he and the Indian external affairs minister had discussed the composite dialogue process. He also extended a fresh invitation for Singh to visit Pakistan.

Both ministers announced that India and Pakistan sought to build a mechanism of co-operation between their planning commissions to address inflation and poverty. They said terrorism was a common threat and the joint anti-terror mechanism would strive to achieve results through the exchange of information.

The ministers also expressed a need for improved cross-Line of Control (LoC) confidence-building measures, including increased trade, bus and truck services. They also announced that they would co-operate in the fields of wind and thermal power generation, APP reported.

Pipeline: Qureshi, who also holds the petroleum portfolio, discussed the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) pipeline with Deora during a separate meeting on Friday. Following the meeting, both ministers announced that they had resolved the commercial differences holding up the pipeline.

“I am happy to report that as far as Pakistan and India are concerned, we have resolved all bilateral issues,” Qureshi was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India, AFP reported. “We have reached an agreement on the principles of charging transit fee. India remains fully committed to the project,” Deora added.

Peace talks: Also on Friday, Pakistan and India announced that they would hold foreign secretary-level talks on July 21-22 to launch the fifth round of their composite dialogue. Qureshi and Mukherjee announced that Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir would hold talks with his Indian counterpart, Shivshankar Menon, on Jammu and Kashmir, peace and security, and other confidence-building measures. Qureshi returned to Pakistan on Friday night, cutting short his three-day visit, after learning that his mother-in-law had died.

http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...8-6-2008_pg1_1

Paramilitary, commandos deployed to protect Peshawar from Taliban

* 1,500 personnel take positions on border with Khyber Agency
* Officials deny deployment signals imminent operation

By Iqbal Khattak

PESHAWAR: Around 1,500 additional paramilitary soldiers and police commandos were deployed on Friday along Peshawar’s border with the Khyber tribal region and its suburbs to protect the provincial capital from a possible Taliban attack, NWFP Police IG Naveed Malik told Daily Times.

“The deployment is a message that no unwanted person will be allowed to enter Peshawar to threaten the citizens’ lives and property,” the police chief added. Additional security officials were deployed at several police stations for joint patrol in sensitive areas, said a security official.

Operation: Official sources said deployment of extra security force in and around Peshawar was no way a signal of an operation against Mangal Bagh or any other group in Khyber Agency.

“But it was agreed that operation can be launched only if actionable intelligence is available,” the sources said on condition of anonymity. “The deployment is more of a show of force.”

http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...-6-2008_pg1_10

Taliban bring vigilante law to Peshawar

PESHAWAR: The Taliban are no longer at the gates of Peshawar, they’re inside, making their presence felt in the largest city in the NWFP.

Their brazen movement is a chilling demonstration of the political and military failure to resist a militant Islamist tide rolling in from the Pashtun tribal belt on the Afghan border.

“This speaks of a complete lack of control by the government over the situation,” said Mehmood Shah, a former tribal region security chief.

President Pervez Musharraf warned more than two years ago that Talibanisation, the spread of the militants’ puritanical culture, was the greatest threat that Pakistan faced.

These days Taliban fighters do not sneak in to Peshawar. They arrive in broad daylight on the back of pick-up trucks, brandishing automatic weapons, and threatening owners of music stores to close down. “They had long hair and flowing beards, and were carrying Kalashnikovs. They told me to close down the shop or face the consequences,” said Abdul Latif, a clean-shaven 20-year-old, whose video store received a visit from the vigilantes last week. “I asked police for help but they said they are helpless,” he said.

Even Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam chief Fazlur Rehman, a member of the ruling coalition known for his past support for the Taliban and opposition to Pakistan’s alliance with the US, has rung alarm bells.

“It’s just a matter of months before news comes that the entire NWFP has slipped out of control,” Fazl warned parliament. Officials said they (law enforcement agencies) were getting ready to go on the offensive within weeks to free Peshawar from the creeping insurgency, and an anti-terrorist force of 7,000 men had been raised.

“If we don’t take timely action, we will be facing a much bigger problem,” said Malik Naveed Khan, provincial police chief, whose cousin was killed by a suicide bomber two years ago. reuters

http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...-6-2008_pg1_13

‘Govt may use force for peace in Peshawar’

ISLAMABAD: The NWFP provincial government will not hesitate to use force for maintaining peace if its writ is challenged in the settled areas of the province, NWFP Senior Minister Bashir Ahmed Bilour said on Friday. “As far as the situation in FATA is concerned, it comes under the purview of the federal government and should be dealt with by Islamabad itself,” he told Voice of America. app

http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...-6-2008_pg1_14

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Aarwaa

Pakistan is ruled by three As - Army, America and Allah.

ICMAP starts internet-based lectures

LAHORE, Dec 18, 2007: The Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Pakistan (ICMAP) has introduced Internet-Based Distance Learning Programme (IBDLP) for the first time ever in any professional accounting body in the country.

Making this announcement here on Monday, an ICMAP spokesperson said the lectures would be available on CDs under the IBDLP. It would facilitate students in remote areas as well as those living abroad.

The spokesperson said the students would get an opportunity to interact with the counselors for guidance on a regular basis through internet. Two online tests would be conducted to assess the students overall progress on the course. On successful completion of IBDLP session and qualifying one of the two online tests, the students would become eligible to appear for the ICMAP examinations nationally and internationally.

He said the institute's major concern regarding distance learning was that the level of knowledge might not be optimised until they had been passed through the lectures.

Further, he said, the correspondence students were always looking for crash coaching classes to review the course by instructors. Understanding their utmost need, he said, the institute decided to facilitate the distance learning students in a way that should not affect the essence of distance learning course and at the same time optimum learning could also be assured.

He said the ICMAP had also been offering distance learning education through its correspondence course.

"In fact, it has served as the first Open University of Pakistan," he added. Dawn