No one interfering in Govt. affairs: Musharraf

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

ISLAMABAD: US Assistant Secretary of State, Richard Boucher called on President Pervez Musharraf and apprised him of the reservations of Muslim League-N and People’s Party, while President Musharraf asserted that no interference was being done in matters of government from his side instead all support and assistance was being provided.

President Pervez Musharraf, in the meeting with the US Assistant Secretary of State, Richard Boucher, said that the miscreants would not be allowed to take any part of the country hostage. He said that the Khayber Agency operation was the demand of the ground reality.

Richard Boucher in the meeting said that Pakistan was a key-ally in war against terrorism, which has brought several victories. He said that the US supported lasting and multi-dimensional ties with Pakistan for which cooperation would be kept continued with the new government also. Richard Boucher said that the maintenance of law and order at Pak-Afghan border was the joint responsibility of concerned parties.

8 die in H-Kashmir violence

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

SRINAGAR: Seven militants and an Indian soldier have been killed in two days of fierce fighting in held Kashmir, Indian army said Wednesday.

The gun battle took place in Kupwara district, near the Line of Control, an army spokesman said.

"The two days of fighting has left seven militants dead," he said, adding an army officer was also killed.

"The operation is still going on in the area," the spokesman said.

China urged to be bigger peacemaker

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

BEIJING: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday urged China to match its growing economic and political clout with more funding and troops for peacekeeping operations to meet growing international crises.

China, a relative latecomer to global peacekeeping, has about 1,800 peacekeepers deployed abroad, making it the second largest contributor after France from among the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.

“This is an area where China stands tall,” Ban said in a speech given to students at Beijing’s Foreign Affairs University.

“You are one of the UN’s leading member states, and you now rank among our top 10 contributors of both funds and peacekeeping forces. China will need to rise even higher in both rankings if we are to meet growing global challenges,” Ban said.

China last year agreed to send a 315-member engineering unit to Sudan’s strife-torn Darfur, where international experts say the conflict between insurgent groups, the Sudanese government and state-backed militias has killed 200,000 people and driven millions from their homes.

Names of eight returned candidates published

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

ISLAMABAD: Chief Election Commissioner Justice (retd) Qazi Muhammad Farooq on Tuesday published the names of eight returned candidates in the by-election held on June 26, 2008, in their respective constituencies.

The returned candidates for the NWFP Assembly include Muhammad Taimur Khan, Sardar Shamhoon Yar Khan, Dr Muhammad Khalid Raza Pir Zakori Sharif, Muhammad Anwar Khan, advocate, Taj Muhammad Khan Tarand, Sher Shah Khan and Badshah Salih.

All these seven returned candidates won the by-polls in NWFP Assembly constituencies. The name of one more contestant, Khanzada Khan, has been published as returned candidate who had won the NA-11 National Assembly constituency polls.

In June 26 by-polls, Muhammad Taimur Khan secured PF-20 Charsadda-IV seat of the NWFP Assembly, Sardar Shamhoon Yar Khan won the PF-45 Abbottabad-II seat, Taj Muhammad Khan Tarand secured the PF-59 Battagram-I seat, Dr Muhammad Khalid Raza Pir Zakori Sharif won the PF-75 Lakki Marwat-II seat, Sher Shah Khan had won the PF-81 Swat-II seat, Muhammad Anwar Khan, advocate, secured the PF-91 Upper Dir-I seat and Badshah Khan won the PF-92 Upper Dir-II seat. The only contestant whose name has been published as a returned candidate is Khanzada Khan who had secured NA-11 Mardan-III National Assembly seat.

Lawyers continue protest for judges’ restoration

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

LAHORE: Lawyers in the provincial capital continued their token boycott of courts to press for the restoration of the deposed judges here on Tuesday.

The Lahore High Court Bar Association and the Lahore Bar Association observed a token strike for one hour following the decision of the Pakistan Bar Council. Meanwhile, Save the Judiciary Committee continued its protest camp in the compound of the LHCBA in which a large number of lawyers participated.

President SJC Abdul Rashid Qureshi, Mian Jamil Akhtar and other lawyers in the camp vowed to continue their struggle till the reinstatement of the judges, demanding of the ruling coalition to complete this task as soon as possible.

Downslide continues on LSE

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

LAHORE: The Lahore stock market continued its downward drive for the fourth trading day on Tuesday as the LSE 25-share index lost 38 points to close at 3,830 amid lack of investors due to political uncertainty.

There were 89 active shares, out of which six increased, 43 declined and 40 remained unchanged. Trading volume totalled 2.8 million shares, a marked improvement over Monday’s turnover of less than 0.7 million. Oil and Gas Development Co was the volume leader with a turnover of 0.634 million shares, which was almost equal to the entire trading volume a day earlier.

Ironically, even after an increase of four times in trading, it was still many times below the average daily volume on the market. In normal days, even the top volume leader exceeded this turnover.

Investors are staying away from the market which has not been allowed to operate on fundamentals and is either influenced by manipulators or the regulator.

“I have never seen such tinkering with the market in my life before,” said an old market player having an experience of 30 years.

The gloom had spread all over the market and there was no buoyancy in any of the sectors. Mutual funds were the lone gainers among scores of losers. Investment and commercial banks gave in to the pressure of bears. None of the large banks could gain value.

Cement companies were in the red and technology and communications firms were under the firm grip of bears. All refineries and fertiliser companies fell while the trend in the oil and gas marketing sector was mixed. However, all exploration companies were under immense pressure.

India’s trade deficit widens to record

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

NEW DELHI: India’s trade deficit widened in May to a record $10.77 billion as the pace of export growth slowed and oil import costs surged, official data showed on Tuesday, helping the rupee fall to a 15-month low.

Analysts said the surge in global oil prices would keep pressure on the deficit and rupee in months ahead with demand for oil products in Asia’s third-largest economy seen remaining robust despite a hike in fuel prices.

“The rise in the oil import bill was expected as global prices have surged. The market was anticipating a high trade deficit and current account deficit,” said D K Joshi, principal economist at domestic ratings agency CRISIL. Data released by the Commerce and Industry Ministry showed India’s export growth slowed to a 14-month low of 12.9 per cent in May, sharply down from expansion of 36.6 per cent in April due in part to slowing sales in key markets like the United States.

Exports in the month stood at $13.78 billion, up slightly from $12.21 billion a year ago, while imports grew by an annual 27.1 per cent to $24.55 billion, driven mainly by oil purchases, which surged by 50.8 per cent to $8.47 billion.

Global crude oil prices rose almost 16 per cent in May to $130 a barrel at the end of the month. On Tuesday, oil was trading at just over $142 a barrel.

The trade deficit in May widened from $7.1 billion in the same month a year ago, and was up from $9.87 in April 2008. The rupee eased to a 15-month low of 43.440/450 to a dollar at 1030 GMT, sharply lower from Monday’s close of 43.0250/0300 as rising prices of crude intensified concerns over the trade deficit and the stock market fell sharply.

The local unit has lost more than 9 per cent so far in 2008. For the first two months of the 2008/09 fiscal year, the deficit stood at $20.64 billion, higher than $13.92 billion in the same period of last year.

“In the first five months of the calendar year, India’s trade deficit has amounted to $41 billion, more than 60 per cent higher than $25.5 billion deficit for the same period of 2007,” Robert Prior-Wandesforde, an economist with HSBC, said in a report.

“At this rate, the country is heading for a triple-digit trade deficit in calendar 2008, equivalent to about 10 per cent of GDP.” But other analysts said the depreciating rupee would help revive export growth and improve profit margins of software exporting firms.


http://www.thenews.com.pk/

Musharraf Okayed US strikes targeting Osama

WASHINGTON: Pakistan has given America the right to launch an immediate predator drone strike on Osama Bin Laden if he is located in the Tribal Areas, without first notifying Islamabad, The Washington Times reported on Wednesday.

President Pervez Musharraf granted this exception to other limits on United States counter-terrorism operations in Pakistan ‘early’ in the war against Al Qaeda, launched in Afghanistan in October 2001, the Times said, citing “a knowledgeable official”.

Islamabad does not allow US military ground forces on its soil, limiting the US presence in Pakistan to ‘scores’ of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and paramilitary operatives, the Times noted, even though the Al Qaeda chief is widely thought to be holed up in the Tribal Areas.

But military officials believe that if Bin Laden’s exact location were determined, a missile-equipped predator drone could be airborne or redirected in flight “in a matter of minutes”.

Special Operations forces, by contrast, would have to be assembled, briefed and then flown to the location by helicopter, a time-consuming and risky process, the paper said.

Pakistan embassy spokesman Nadeem Kiani declined to comment on the purported deal, but said that Pakistan stands ready to move against Bin Laden if he ever found inside the country.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default...-7-2008_pg1_11

__________________
Marwatone.

* OGRA says no price fixing mandate
* Petroleum Ministry insiders say govt will have to identify price monitoring body

ISLAMABAD: The government is at a loss over which authority is responsible for regulating CNG prices following an Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) statement that it has no mandate to fix CNG station operational costs.

Sources within the Petroleum Ministry said OGRA had issued a letter to the ministry claiming that it was only authorised to issue CNG station licenses, not determine operational costs.

Monitoring body: The sources said that the government will have to determine which authority should be tasked with regulating CNG prices since OGRA appeared to have distanced itself from the CNG price hike. They said the CNG filling station owners could fix their own prices after determining operational costs. In a recent statement, the All Pakistan CNG Dealers Association announced operational costs of Rs 3.2/kilogramme.

Also on Friday, the Petroleum Ministry issued a statement saying that it had not fixed the CNG sale price. The statement clarified that the price notified by OGRA of Rs 388.32 per million BTU was only for gas supply. It said the notified price, in addition to taxes, determined the input gas price for CNG stations.

The ministry added that OGRA and the government were responsible for this price. It said that the owners of CNG stations added their own expenses and thus were responsible for the ultimate sale price.



* AQ Khan says army knew of shipment
* Presidency slams ‘false statement’

ISLAMABAD: North Korea received centrifuges from Pakistan in a 2000 shipment supervised by the army during the rule of President Pervez Musharraf, Dr AQ Khan said on Friday.

Khan told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that the uranium enrichment equipment was sent from Pakistan in a North Korean plane that was loaded under the supervision of Pakistani security officials.

Khan said the army had “complete knowledge” of the shipment of used P-1 centrifuges to North Korea and that it must have been sent with the consent of President Musharraf.

“It was a North Korean plane, and the army had complete knowledge about it and the equipment,” Khan said. “It must have gone with his (Musharraf’s) consent.”

Talking to Geo TV later on Friday, Khan said the US news agency had twisted his statement. “I never said or implied that the army supervised any shipment to North Korea,” Khan said. It was Musharraf who implied that while mentioning the incident in his book, he added. If the shipment was made as Musharraf says, then how could an army chief be unaware of the transfer, Khan asked.

Presidency: Musharraf’s spokesman, Rashid Qureshi, rejected Khan’s claims. “I can say with full confidence that it is all lies and false statements,” he said. An FO spokesman said Dr Khan issue is a closed chapter.



ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Abdul Hameed Dogar on Friday took suo motu notice on a report about a government move to commute death sentences of around 7,000 condemned prisoners into life imprisonment.

The CJP served notices on Attorney General Malik Qayyum and the law and interior ministries to submit their written replies to the SC within one week. SC Deputy Registrar (Judicial) Muhammad Bashir Janjua said the matter would be heard on July 14.

The federal cabinet approved Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani’s initiative to commute all death sentences into life imprisonment on July 2.

On the occasion of the birthday anniversary of former premier Benazir Bhutto, Gilani had announced that his government would make recommendations to President Pervez Musharraf to commute the death sentences of thousands of prisoners to life imprisonment as a birthday tribute to Benazir.

However, the move has aroused some opposition within the coalition government and among a section of the public.


* Leaked WB report says biofuels pushed up food prices by 75%
* Diverted grain from food to fuel, sparking financial speculations in grains

LAHORE: Biofuels have forced global food prices up by 75 percent - far more than previously estimated - according to a confidential World Bank report cited by The Guardian on Friday.

The leaked study argues that production of biofuels has distorted food markets in three main ways. First, it has diverted grain away from food for fuel, with over a third of US corn now used to produce ethanol and about half of vegetable oils in the EU going towards the production of biodiesel. Second, farmers have been encouraged to set land aside for biofuel production. Third, it has sparked financial speculation in grains, driving prices up higher.

“Rapid income growth in developing countries has not led to large increases in global grain consumption and was not a major factor responsible for the large price increases.” Even successive droughts in Australia, calculates the report, have had a marginal impact. Instead, it argues that the EU and US drive for biofuels has had by far the biggest impact on food supply and prices.

“Without the increase in biofuels, global wheat and maize stocks would not have declined appreciably and price increases due to other factors would have been moderate,” says the report. The basket of food prices examined in the study rose by 140 percent between 2002 and this February. The report estimates that higher energy and fertiliser prices accounted for an increase of only 15 percent, while biofuels have been responsible for a 75 percent jump over that period.

The assessment completed in April is based on “the most detailed analysis of the crisis so far” and “emphatically contradicts the US government’s claims that plant-derived fuels contribute less than 3 percent to food-price rises”, according to The Guardian.

Citing unidentified “senior development sources”, the newspaper said the report was not published to avoid embarrassing United States President George W Bush.

The news comes at a critical point in the world’s negotiations on biofuels policy. Leaders of the G8 industrialised countries meet next week in Hokkaido, Japan, where they will discuss the food crisis and come under intense lobbying from campaigners calling for a moratorium on the use of plant-derived fuels.


PESHAWAR: Taliban have abducted two journalists and a local who entered a militant stronghold in Mohmand Agency. The militants detained freelance reporter Pir Zubair Shah Wazir and photographer Akhtar Soomro in Ziarat village late on Thursday. Taliban spokesman Dr Asad said: “Our council will meet and decide what to do”. “If we find there is contradiction in statements of the two men then we will continue investigation for longer time.” Agency’s chief official Ahmed Jan said a jirga has been formed to secure the release of the journalists.



PESHAWAR: The offensive in Khyber Agency will continue until the writ of the government is restored in the region, NWFP Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani said on Friday. Security forces are carefully pursuing the operation, which is against criminals and militants and common people need not worry, the governor told reporters. He said that a security policy had been devised, but it could not be revealed at the moment. He said protecting people was the government’s responsibility and the government would therefore conduct more such operations, if need be.


* Official says temporary halt to facilitate jirga talks with LI chief
* Operation to resume if Mangal does not accept govt’s demands

PESHAWAR/BARA: The government on Friday suspended its security operation against suspected militants and criminals in the Khyber Agency for 36 hours to allow Afridi tribesmen to meet Mangal Bagh and conduct peace talks.

“The operation has been suspended until Saturday morning on the request of the tribal jirga and we have relaxed the curfew in Bara to facilitate locals,” Khyber Agency Chief Administrator Tariq Hayat Khan told Daily Times. He said that Afridi elders had approached him on Thursday and offered to conduct negotiations with Lashkar-e-Islam chief Mangal Bagh to help restore peace in the area.

Khan said the government had provided the jirga members with a list of demands for Bagh, adding that these included surrender of all weapons along with a guarantee that Bagh would not challenge the state’s writ.

“The jirga was not sent by the government. The Afridi tribesmen initiated it on their own as they were worried that the security operation could continue indefinitely until all the set goals had been achieved,” he added.

The 18-member Afridi jirga left for Tirah Valley on Thursday to conduct negotiations with Mangal Bagh, tribal sources said. It returned on Friday evening, chief tribal negotiator Haji Amal Gul told Daily Times. “There has been progress (in talks) but we cannot share with media,” he added. He said the jirga would brief Khan on the talks with Bagh on Saturday (today).

Operation to resume: “If our goals can be achieved through peaceful means, we will certainly pursue them. But, rest assured, we will continue the operation as long as our demands are not met,” Khan said, prior to the jirga’s return.

He said security forces had destroyed 16 militant compounds during the past six days of the operation, adding that they had also identified 14 other such compounds. He said the remaining centres would also be destroyed if the jirga failed to convince Bagh to surrender to the government.

Due to relaxation in the operation, Bara Bazaar was open on Friday, and several cars were observed on the roads for the first time since the operation was launched on June 28. Authorities also relaxed the curfew from 8am to 5pm. Local residents used this time to purchase essential commodities, said local trader Daud Khan Afridi.

The government ordered the military operation in Khyber Agency following challenges to Peshawar security from Mangal Bagh’s organisation and other criminals.



* PM tells US team increased intelligence sharing, sophisticated intelligence assets needed to enhance ability to take on terrorists

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and the United States need to increase co-operation in counter-terrorism efforts through increased intelligence sharing, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Friday.

“The supply of sophisticated intelligence assets to Pakistan will enhance our capacity to take action against terrorists,” he told a three-member United States Congressional delegation.

He said his government, in consultation with its coalition partners, had adopted a three-pronged strategy to fight terrorism, including resorting to military means if peace agreements were violated. Pakistan would never allow its soil to be used for staging attacks against another country, he added.

Fencing of border: Referring to Afghanistan, he said Pakistan was making full efforts to prevent cross-border infiltration, adding that fencing was also being considered as an option.

He said that frequent visits to Pakistan by various US congressional delegations were reflective of America’s support of the newly elected government and thanked the delegation for Congress’ keen interest.

On the sacked judges issue, the premier said that his government had already taken concrete steps to reinstate the sacked judges, saying they had already been freed from house arrest and paid their suspended salaries. The number of Supreme Court judges has also been increased from 16 to 29, he added. “As soon as the modalities are sorted out, the judges will be reinstated through a constitutional package,” he said. He said the coalition government’s main priorities were reviving the economy and restoring law and order.

The bipartisan delegation — comprising Congressmen Gene Green, Mike McCaul and Henry Cuellar — congratulated the premier on the new democratic government, saying this would strengthen the partnership between the two countries.


ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani assured Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Shahbaz Sharif on Friday that the federal government was sincere in its efforts to reinstate the sacked judges, proof of which came in the form of the issuance of their pending salaries. Sources privy to the meeting said Gilani told Shahbaz during a meeting at Prime Minister’s House that the judges would be reinstated at all costs. Gilani also asked the Punjab CM to relax the movement of wheat to areas where the commodity was in short supply. He said the import of wheat already in progress should be sped up to ensure that all supplies arrive by the end of November. He said that there was need to follow the policies of the previous government and stressed the need for employing modern technology for the assessment of all crops to avoid future shortages.



* Taliban spokesman says talks likely with NWFP govt tomorrow

MINGORA: A new elite force would be raised for the maintenance of law and order in Swat district, while talks between the NWFP government and Taliban are expected to start from Sunday (tomorrow), Malakand Range Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police Tanvirul Haq Sipra said on Friday.

Sipra told a press conference at the Mingora Press Club that after the creation of the force, police would not need the help of the Frontier Constabulary or other departments. He said that around 1,500 personnel would be deployed at seven centres to be set up in Swat.

He said that the number of police stations in Swat is being increased from nine to 22, and the number of policemen, which at present stands at 1,500, will also be doubled.

He said that Swat would be divided into rural and settled area administrations, with each area headed by an officer of the senior superintendent of police (SSP) rank. The number of Deputy Superintendents of Police (DSPs) is also being increased from four to 10, with each DSP responsible for two police stations.

Meeting: Meanwhile, the NWFP government and Swat Taliban are expected to hold talks on Sunday.

Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan said that senior provincial minister Bashir Ahmed Bilour and Minister for Forests Wajid Ali Khan have contacted the Swat Taliban leadership for the meeting.


QUETTA: A bomb fixed on a motorcycle exploded outside a bank in Quetta on Friday, killing a five-year-old girl and injuring 12 others, including five policemen, police told Daily Times.

The explosive-laden motorbike was parked outside a private bank on Manan Chowk, Jinnah Road. Around two-dozen banks and offices of insurance companies and cellular companies are situated in the area. “The deceased girl was a beggar, she succumbed to her wounds during surgery in the Quetta Civil Hospital,” Police chief Muhammad Akbar told Reuters. The girl’s father was also injured in the blast, according to staff report. The injured policemen included four traffic constables. Separately, a blast damaged the boundary wall of a school in Kohlu, APP reported. Two electricity towers were destroyed in the Kohlu and Rakhni areas. A gas pipeline was blown up in Dera Bugti. A large section of the pipeline was destroyed, suspending the gas supply to the plant.


http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?date=7/5/2008

__________________
Regards,
P.R.

Obama comes under fire

Sunday, July 06, 2008

WASHINGTON: US presidential candidates historically steer to the political middle once nominated, but Democrat Barack Obama’s unabashed grab for centrists American voters has further opened the door to Republican claims his message of change only applies to the positions he has taken in the past.

Perhaps most damaging was on Thursday’s statement in North Dakota, where he said he would reassess his stand on the Iraq war after he visits the front later this summer for briefings from American military commanders. Republicans tried to play that as an expedient political flip flopa signal Obama was moving away from his vow to withdraw all combat troops within 16 months of taking office, a defining issue of his campaign.

Obama quickly said that wasn’t the case but the Republicans rushed in with a critical broadside.

There appears to be no issue that Barack Obama is not willing to reverse himself on for the sake of political expedience,” said Alex Conant, a spokesman for the national Republican Party. Obama’s Iraq problem undermines the central premise of his candidacy and shows him to be a typical politician.”

But that’s not all. Obama has spoken out for the death penalty and against strict gun control. He’s backed new rules allowing government eavesdropping on terror suspects and called for giving more government money to religious groups that tackle social ills.

As with the war, critics on the right accuse Obama of adopting those positions in a cynical sprint to the political centre even a bid to plant his flag in territory typically held by Republicans.

But supporters say the Illinois senator is tacking smartly centre ward, driven on a course set by his fundamentally moderate political philosophy.

Others see a bit of both at work since Hillary Rodham Clinton suspended her campaign last month when Obama racked up the delegates need for nomination.

While Republican John McCain, too, is shifting to the centre, Obama’s recent tacticsthe issues he’s chosen to centrepiece and what he’s said about them stand in far greater contrast.

It’s a bit of a tightrope walk, but Obama appears to be relying on a safety net increasingly solid Democratic Party support coupled with a significant national distaste for the Republican administration of President George W Bush.

The latest Gallup Tracking Poll shows the Democrat ahead by only four percentage points, 47-43, perhaps reflecting voter confusion or refusal to wholeheartedly back him because his positions appear in flux.

The most important thing in politics is your brand,” says Matthew Dowd, a former strategist for President George W Bush. Obama’s brand is that he will be a different kind of politician. It’s a brand he’s built up over that past year and a half. But he’s dented that brand in recent days.”

That’s certainly been the case with the left wing of the Democratic Party, particularly over the candidate’s change of heart over punishing telecom companies that spied on Americans’ phone and internet communications for the Bush administration.

Obama initially said that he would block a reauthorisation of the Patriot Act, the bundle of anti-terrorism measures first passed by Congress after the Sept 11 attacks, if it forbade prosecution of those communications companies.

Currency exchange robbed of Rs 10 million

Sunday, July 06, 2008

LAHORE
AT least 10 robbers armed with sophisticated weapons Saturday stormed Premier Exchange Company in broad daylight, held the inmates hostage and fled with Rs 10.25 million cash with the alleged connivance of Garden Town police.

The robbery took place at Premier Exchange Company known as Farrukh Money Exchanger located at Gul Plaza, Barkat Market, in Garden Town police limits at around 9:50am.

Garden Town police station is located at a distance of 1 kilometre from the crime scene but the SHO and SP Model Town police division arrived at the scene of the crime after 45 minutes when robbers had fled. A message was aired on wireless after over half an hour which annoyed police high-ups. Rescue Emergency 15 service system also remained busy as usual and the victims contacted it after an effort lasting 20 minutes.

Cashier Asim told The News that he was in the cash locker room when six people - four of them were wearing helmets - barged into their office at around 9:50am. He said they held the manager, a peon, and two tailors of a next-door shop hostage at gunpoint and forced him to open the door. Asim said that he resisted but the robbers warned him that they would kill his colleagues if he did not open the door. He then opened the door and four men collected each and every penny of foreign and local currency worth Rs 10.25 million and a cell phone. The robbers safely fled from the office and warned the victims that they would shoot anyone who chased them.

The victims informed Farrukh, the owner of Premier Exchange, about the incident and he reached there within six minutes from his residence in Johar Town.

Farrukh told The News that after he reached his office, a sub-inspector in plainclothes along with around 20 cops in uniform arrived at the crime scene and started interrogating him and his employees instead of chasing the robbers. Farrukh said he repeatedly requested policemen to air the message on wireless and follow the robbers but they bluntly ignored his request.

In the meantime, an acquaintance personally knew informed SP Model Town Dr Abid of the robbery who arrived at the spot 45 minutes after the robbery and confirmed that the message was not aired on time. However, the SP said that he had suspended a sub-inspector and other cops who arrived at the crime scene but did not take any action. He also assured the victim of recovery of looted money. It is learnt that Garden Town SHO Rana Amjad arrived at his office 40 minutes after the robbery. The SHO instead of following the robbers offered an excuse that he was on patrol duty at night and woke up after informed about the robbery.

Farrukh held Garden Town police responsible for the robbery and warned that he would become a criminal if he was not provided justice. He has appealed to Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and IGP to take immediate action against the accused officials and ensure recovery and arrest of robbers.

Later, traders staged a strong protest demonstration at Barkat Market, and condemned police failure to chase the robbers. They also demanded immediate recovery of money and arrest of dacoits. A case has been registered at Garden Town police station.

Balochistan’s development top priority: PM

Sunday, July 06, 2008

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Saturday said that Balochistanís development was the top priority of the government.

Talking to Chief Minister of Balochistan Nawab Mohammad Aslam Raisani at the PM House here, he said more funds were being provided for bringing the province at par with the developed parts of the country.

The prime minister said that he had provided extra budgetary funds of Rs 3 billion from his own funds to facilitate the development process in the province. Further, he said Rs 3 billion had been provided to Balochistan as arrears of gas royalty.

Gilani said that directives had been issued against all those federal government employees who were reluctant to serve in Balochistan. He assured the chief minister that steps would be taken to secure the interests of the ship-breaking industry at Gaddani.

He advised that alternate sources of energy, particularly solar energy, should be utilised to meet the power shortage in the country.

“The provincial government should take measures for using solar energy in all government buildings in the province,” he told the Balochistan CM.

He also said that one third of the imported wheat would be channelled through the Gwadar Port to make the port functional.

Nawab Mohammad Aslam Raisani thanked the prime minister for taking personal interest in the development of the under-developed province. The chief secretary Balochistan also attended the meeting.

Shahbaz links literacy to educational standard

Sunday, July 06, 2008

Karachi
The literacy rate could only be enhanced by improving the standard of education and introducing the latest methodologies in the education sector, Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif has said.

“There is a dire need to bring about changes to the current system of education in the country besides improving the condition of State-run educational institutions,” he said during a visit on Saturday to Sindh Madrassatul Islam and Fatima Jinnah Girls High School.

Sharif said that there were some 60,000 government schools in Punjab and 44,000 in Sindh, but they were not producing the desired results. He said that according to the policies of the present government, government schools in urban and rural areas would be upgraded, and the Punjab government was working on this project on a priority basis.

Polio affected student gets good news

Sunday, July 06, 2008

A polio-stricken candidate applying for admission to the Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) MBBS programme has been given the green signal by a special medical board for intake into any medical college under the DUHS, provided she proves her merit for admission.

The medical board was constituted by DUHS Chancellor (and Sindh Governor) Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan to review Ayesha Pirachaís case, after she was reportedly denied an opportunity to appear at the regular DUHS admission test held on June 29 for the new sessions of the MBBS BDS programmes.

On Friday, Piracha appeared before a medical board comprising senior doctors and specialists from the Liaquat National Hospital (LNH), Dr Ziauddin Hospital, Karachi Medical and Dental College (KMDC), and the Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH).

In its recommendation, the medical board has also suggested that it is preferable that an attendant remain present with Ms Piracha during her studies keeping in view possible hardships during education due to her disability.

The board also suggested that the student preferably join psychology or pathology for specialisation after MBBS studies.

According to the admission rules for government-run medical colleges in Sindh, the candidate has to appear in a pre-admission entry test, which will now be held separately for Piracha

__________________
Time is the longest distance between two places.

ISLAMABAD: A suicide blast near Melody Chowk area has left 19 people dead including 15 policemen and over 40 have been injured.

The IG Islamabad has termed it a suicide attack, Police has cordoned off entire area, according to Geo News correspondent, the blast occurred in front of Aabpara police station after the Lal Masjid conference. Body parts were scattered in the area and ambulances reached the site of the blast.

Nearly 40 injured have been shifted to Islamabad’s Poly Clinic hospital and most of the injured include policemen. Emergency has been declared in all the hospitals of Islamabad.

Bomb disposal squad has reached the site of the blast. According to information, Reserve police personnel were targeted in the blast and the dead include policemen from Islamabad and Punjab. Death toll is expected to mount considering the intensity of the blast.

Deputy Commissioner Islamabad, Amir Ahmed Ali along with other senior officials has reached the place. Station House Officer Sehala, Inspector Sarwar has also been killed in the blast.



Source: http://www.geo.tv/7-6-2008/20415.htm

__________________
Regards,
P.R.

ISLAMABAD: The three organisations that were running parallel governments in Khyber Agency have been disbanded, bringing normalcy to the area, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Interior Rehman Malik said on Sunday.

He was updating Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on the security situation in the agency and arrangements made to guard a demonstration outside Lal Masjid on Sunday, at Prime Minister’s House. Federal Water and Power Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf and Adviser to the Prime Minister on Religious Affairs Hamid Saeed Kazmi also attended the meeting.

Malik comments came as the Khyber Agency political administration lifted the curfew from Bara Bazaar following a request by the jirga.

Malik told Gilani that the authorities had been directed to ensure potable water for the people gathered at the mosque, adding that he had visited the mosque to monitor the situation. He said police were asked to avoid using force against the demonstrators. At least 19 people, including 15 policemen, were killed and dozens injured in a suicide bomb attack outside Aabpara police station. The attack came on the first anniversary of the bloody ending of a siege at Lal masjid.

Gilani told the meeting that the government believed in resolving all issues through dialogue and force should only be used as a last resort.

Kazmi briefed Gilani on the salient features of the next year’s Hajj policy. He said that some amendments might be made to the previous policy to facilitate the Hajj process.

Ashraf talked about the steps being taken to tackle energy shortage. He also briefed the prime minister him about his recent visit to Sindh.

Gilani directed the Water and Power Ministry to expedite efforts to end load shedding by the end of next year in line with the government’s pledge.



* Curfew lifted from Bara Bazaar after govt-jirga talks

PESHAWAR: Security forces will stay in Bara as long as the government’s objectives of peace and security are not achieved, Khyber Agency Political Agent (PA) Tariq Hayat said on Sunday.

Hayat was talking to reporters after talks with a 35-member Afridi tribe jirga.

In the meantime, he added, the government and tribal jirga would keep in contact and discuss various options on how to bring lasting peace to the region.

The Khyber Agency political administration also lifted the curfew from Bara Bazaar following a request by the jirga.

The jirga, led by Haji Amal Gul, held talks with PA Hayat at his office in Peshawar, following which the PA ordered the opening of the market to facilitate residents. Hayat said that the tribal elders had been assured that all the jirga’s demands in accordance with the law of the land, Shariah and local norms and traditions would be accepted.

The government also formed a three-member committee, consisting of the Bara assistant political agent, the Jamrud tehsildar and the Bara naib tehsildar to continue negotiations with the Afridi tribe, he said.


LAHORE: Police officials arrested four men on Sunday in two separate incidents, seizing explosives and ammunition, satellite channels reported. Rajanpur Police foiled a plot to blow up a school van and arrested an alleged terrorist along with his accomplice in the Dajal area of Rajanpur district, Express News reported. According to the channel, one of the alleged terrorists, Abdul Rehman, belongs to Balochistan and is suspect in various terrorist attacks across the country like blowing up railway tracks in Sindh and Balochistan. The other, Shafeeq, hails from Punjab. Bomb disposal squad was called on the site to defuse the explosives seized from the men, the channel added. Meanwhile, Faisalabad police arrested two people and seized weapons during a search of a suspicious car in Civil Lines area of the city, Samaa TV reported. According to the channel, the police, on a tip-off, stopped a car in the Civil Lines area and seized about 10,000 bullets, 10 pistols, 5 rifles, a repeater gun and other weapons. Faisalabad Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Operation Aslam Tareen told the channel that the two arrested men, namely Niaz Hussain and Mujahid Hussain had disclosed during initial investigation that they had brought arms from the Tribal Areas of Dara and Khyber Agency and intended to supply them to criminals in various areas. The channel quoted Tareen as saying that the men claimed complicity of many police officials in the supply of arms to the criminals.



ISLAMABAD: Adviser to the Prime Minister on Interior Rehman Malik on Sunday announced a Rs 5 million reward for anyone able to help identify the suicide bomber that carried out an attack on the same day on police personnel at Melody Market. On behalf of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, Malik also made announced that in addition to departmental financial support, the family of each victim would be given additional compensation of Rs 300,000. During his visit to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), he said that the upper part of suicide bomber’s body had been recovered from the crime scene and that a sketch would soon be released for identification purposes. Earlier, talking to reporters during his visit to Melody Market after the incident, he condemned the attack. He inspected the crime scene and issued directions to law enforcement officials about investigating the incident.



* Bomber targeted groups of over 50 policemen near Melody Market
* Rehman Malik says attacker appeared to be 35-37 years old
* Lal Masjid spokesman condemns attack

ISLAMABAD: A suicide bomber on Sunday killed 19 people in an attack targeting policemen deployed at a rally observing the first year anniversary of an army raid on the capital’s Lal Masjid.

Dozens of dead and injured policemen lay on the ground in pools of blood after the blast — which occurred at 7.50pm at Melody Market, about one-and-a-half kilometres from the Lal Masjid — their blue uniforms ripped to shreds by the force of the explosion, an AFP photographer at the scene said. “The whole event at the mosque went smoothly but then the suicide bomber targeted the security,” Adviser to the Prime Minister on Interior Rehman Malik told reporters at the scene of the latest apparent revenge attack for the storming of the building. He said it was not a security lapse, as the blast occurred after the culmination of the rally. Of the 19 dead, 15 have been identified as policemen. According to AFP, the blast targeted a group of over 50 policemen and over 20 cops were wounded in addition to the dead.d.

A policeman at the Aabpara Police Station told Daily Times that the explosion occurred after one an inspector had finished a count of the cops inside the compound. The police station is only a few yards from the blast site.

“A young man walked into the police contingent and apparently blew himself up,” a senior security official told AFP on condition of anonymity. “The blast happened 15 minutes after the protest rally dispersed. A heavy contingent of police was at a main crossing several hundred metres from the mosque and they were targeted in the attack,” he added. After the blast, a traffic intersection in the area was splattered with blood. Body parts were scattered as far as 50 metres from the scene. Shattered glass also covered the area, Reuters reported. Television footage showed bearded students running towards the scene and ambulances bringing the wounded to hospitals.

“We were playing cricket in a nearby park when we heard a blast. There were several policemen on the ground,” witness Shaqeel Ahmed told AFP.

Attacker age: Rehman Malik said that based on eyewitness accounts, the attacker was a man appearing to be “35-37-years-old”. He said police have found the “upper part” of the bomber’s body but did not give more specifics. He said the nation has to think on “who is destabilising our country” and take action, AP reported. “We have to take them out from our ranks,” he said. “We have to combat them.”

Malik also said that a joint investigation team had been constituted to probe into the attack. Condemning the blast, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani ordered an inquiry, state media said. “Such incidents are against the teachings of Islam and do not serve any purpose,” it quoted him as saying.

Imtiaz Khan, the casualty medical officer at Federal Government Services Hospital, said at least 36 injured people were admitted there, nearly all security officials. He said two had died, while 12 were in critical condition.

Denounced: Meanwhile, Muhammad Amir Siddiq, a spokesman for the Lal Masjid, denounced the suicide attack and said he was not aware if any of those at the anniversary gathering were wounded. However, a member of the committee that organised the protest told AFP that none of the Islamic leaders involved in the protest was killed or injured.

“This is a very tragic and condemnable incident,” Siddiq told AP. He said the mosque held prayers for victims of the bombing after regular evening prayers. Interior Ministry Secretary Kamal Shah denied that the bombing was a result of poor security at the rally, during which many attendees called for the imposition of Shariah law in the country. Security arrangements made for the anniversary ceremony were “absolutely comprehensive,” Shah said, adding, “Nothing happened to the participants of the gathering.”

Additional Deputy Commissioner Islamabad Rana Akbar Hayat confirmed to journalists that initial evidence suggested that the police had been targeted. He said that over 4,000 security personnel had been deployed for the occasion.

The explosion followed recent threats of revenge from militants in FATA angered by a paramilitary operation against insurgents in the Khyber Agency, AP reported. It occurred just over a month after a suicide attack outside the Danish embassy that resulted in eight deaths.

Government forces besieged the Lal Masjid on July 3, 2007, after its administration launched an vigilante campaign in the capital and kidnapped several Chinese nationals. The storming of the mosque came on July 10, 2008 and sparked a wave of suicide attacks across the country, blamed on Al Qaeda and Taliban militants.

Earlier on Sunday, madrassa students from across the country thronged outside the Lal Masjid amid tight security by thousands of police who erected barbed wire barricades and spot-searched individuals.



* British journalist Yvonne Ridley says woman being held in solitary confinement for 4 years

ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani woman has spent the last four years, and remains to this day, in solitary confinement at the United-States run Bagram airbase detention facility in Afghanistan, British journalist and peace activist Yvonne Ridley told reporters on Sunday.

“Today I am crying out for help, not for myself but for a Pakistani woman neither you nor I have ever met. She has been held in isolation by the Americans in Afghanistan and she needs help,” Ridley said.

Ridley said she first learnt about the woman while reading a book by Guantanamo ex-detainee Moazzam Begg. Ridley added that one of the four Arabs who escaped from the Bagram cell in July 2005 also told a television channel that he had heard a woman’s cries and screams in the prison but never saw her. “I call her the Grey Lady of Bagram because she is almost a ghost, a spectre whose cries and screams continue to haunt those who heard her,” she said.

The woman is registered as Prisoner number 650 and the US officials can’t deny the fact, Ridley said. “I demand that the US military free the Grey Lady immediately. We don’t know her identity, we don’t know her state of mind and we don’t know the extent of the abuse or torture she has been subjected to,” Ridley said.

This would never happen to a Western woman, she added.

Taliban captured Ridley in September 2001 for entering Afghanistan without legal documents. Ridley was freed after 11-day detention and later embraced Islam in June 2003. Pakstan Tehreek-e-Insaaf Chairman Imran Khan was also present at the occasion. Khan demanded the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government ask the US to provide details of the woman.

The woman could be Dr Aafia Siddiqui who was picked from a Pakistani airport few years back, Khan said, adding that keeping any one in illegal detention was violation of human rights.

The Foreign Office denied knowledge of the alleged detention of a Pakistani woman, ARY TV reported.

FO spokesman said the allegation would be looked into.



GILGIT: Heavy floods triggered by lightning inundated many villages at various points of Gilgit-Baltistan as Karakuram Highway got blocked in Jutal and Thalichi area, police officials said.

Many reports disclosed that floods washed away a large area in Sher Qila village of Ghizer district as people ran out of homes to save their lives.

In Jutal and Thalichi points huge boulders erected blockade, which stopped all traffic.

Police reports added that the floods affected crops, orchards, irrigation channels and many houses. The water flow in rivers and streams was high and electricity was suspended for some time in the region.

The passengers were stranded while Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flights were not operated due to bad weather conditions.



DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates has cancelled almost $7 billion of Iraqi debt, including interest and arrears payments, making it the first Gulf Arab state to pardon in entirety debt owed by Baghdad.

The UAE’s official news agency WAM said the principle debt owed by Iraq totalled $4 billion. A UAE diplomatic source told Reuters the total sum that would be forgiven would be almost $7 billion.

“The UAE state’s decision to cancel the debts accumulated by Iraq is an expression of brotherhood and solidarity between the two countries and is to help the Iraqi government carry out its reconstruction and rehabilitation plans,” WAM quoted UAE President Sheikh Khalifah Bin Zayed Al Nahayan as saying.

The United States has pressed Arab governments to support Iraq’s recovery by joining Western nations in forgiving their share of Iraqi foreign debts that add up to $80 billion.

Washington also wants Arab capitals to establish high-level diplomatic representation in Iraq.

In a step towards easing Baghdad’s diplomatic isolation, the UAE appointed Abdullah Ibrahim Al Shehhi as its new ambassador to Iraq on Sunday during a visit by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

The move came a month after the UAE’s Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed al-Nahayan became the first Gulf Arab foreign minister to visit Baghdad since the US-led invasion in 2003.

Maliki, who is also due to visit Bahrain, welcomed the move, which he said would help his government to “restore security and stability” by lifting a major financial burden.



ISLAMABAD: For a world hoping democracy will provide the stability nuclear-armed Pakistan needs to save it from militants and chaos, the first 100 days of the new civilian government haven’t been very reassuring.

The transition, after eight years of military-led rule under President Pervez Musharraf, an important United States ally in its war on terror, is happening at the worst of times. Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-chairman Asif Zardari is struggling to fill the void left by the assassination of his wife in December, the two-time prime minister Benazir Bhutto, whose party won the election in February and took the reins of government on March 29.

There are fears within PPP that Zardari has chosen a losing path in a three-way power struggle with Musharraf and old rival Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister Musharraf overthrew.

Although Musharraf has so far resisted calls for his resignation, he could quit in coming months, just as the Bush presidency that has helped prop him up draws to a close.

Once that happens, most analysts reckon the last vestiges of a post-election alliance between Zardari and Nawaz will disappear and Pakistan will enter a fresh phase of instability.

“It is distracting the government from focusing on some grave challenges, the economic challenges, but mostly the challenge from pro-Taliban militants,” said Lisa Curtis, a South Asia analyst at the Heritage Foundation in Washington.

Militants have extended influence over large swathes of the northwest, alarming western allies suffering rising casualty rates in Afghanistan due to the alleged flow of militants from Pakistan.

The West is also uneasy with the new government seeking peace deals with militants, due to the fear of Al Qaeda plotting attacks in Europe and North America from sanctuaries in Pakistan.

But a crackdown on militants in the Khyber Agency on the outskirts of Peshawar could be a forerunner to stronger action against militant factions in Waziristan and Swat. General Ashfaq Kayani, who replaced Musharraf as army chief last November, apprised civilian leaders of the scale of the militant threat, and pledged to take orders from them, while keeping authority to determine the type and size of force used.

The politicians will have to weigh risks of provoking another wave of suicide attacks by militants whose bombers have killed hundreds of people across Pakistan after the army stormed Islamabad’s Red Mosque to crush an armed movement last July. Urgent action is also needed to steer Pakistan’s fast growing economy away from the rocks, and the government is seeking to borrow billions from allies and multilateral lenders.

Inflation is running at over 20 percent, the rupee is at an all-time low, currency reserves are rapidly dwindling, and the stock market is in intensive care with a ban on short selling and a daily limit set to allow it to fall no more than 1 percent.

Electricity cuts of several hours a day are the norm across Pakistan, due to the failure to build new power plants. Looming over everything else is a constitutional crisis resulting from Musharraf’s use of emergency powers last November to purge the Supreme Court of judges who might have ruled his re-election, by a pliant outgoing parliament in October, illegal.

The defeat of Musharraf’s allies in February’s election had left him vulnerable to attacks from the new parliament, but none came.

Instead cracks have occurred in the coalition. Nawaz pulled his party out, because Zardari broke a promise to swiftly reinstate judges who could have provided a short cut to ousting Musharraf.

By backtracking, Zardari has squandered goodwill, lost trust, and left people guessing his intentions. Zardari hasn’t stood for election and remains outside the orbit of the parliament. He guides his nominee Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani from behind the scenes, and they are often accused of leaving coalition partners in the dark.

“It’s not so important to be popular. But it’s very important to be credible and meet some aspirations of the people,” said Talat Masood, a retired general turned analyst.

Masood also believes Zardari will fail to win people’s support for the war on terror unless he keeps Nawaz on board to sell the policy to the people of Punjab, Pakistan’s richest and most populous province. Zardari’s hesitancy over reinstating the judges stems from fear that some are pro-Nawaz, and once Musharraf is dealt with, they could come after him by reviving corruption cases he has already spent years in jail for without ever being convicted. Bush’s support for Musharraf has also constrained Zardari, who sees US backing as crucial to Pakistan’s future.

Analysts say the US and the Pakistani army would prefer Musharraf to stay put, at least until the civilian’s show they can run the country and carry on the war on terror. Zardari has tried to buy time by proposing a constitutional package that will reduce Musharraf to a figurehead role, and de-fang the judiciary to protect his interests. Critics have accused Zardari of letting drift set in when the government should be in overdrive to tackle the crises. Less harsh judges see a difference between drift and transition.

Even dictators have struggled to manage Pakistan, as the Muslim nation reeled from crisis to crisis during the 61 years since its formation out of India’s partition in 1947. “We’ve got to hold our breath,” said Stephen Cohen, a South Asia analyst at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

“I would give this new government a considerable period of time, much longer than 100 days to get organised,” he added.




* EU wants G-8 to agree to halve greenhouse emissions by 2050
* Bush says Washington to set targets only if large emerging economies, such as China, also on board

TOYAKO: Prospects that the G-8 would reach a meaningful agreement on how best to fight global warming at their annual summit dimmed on Sunday as leaders began arriving in northern Japan with a raft of global problems on their minds.

Climate change is high on the agenda of the July 7-9 summit of rich nations at a luxury hotel in Toyako, Hokkaido, and of a Major Economies Meeting on July 9 that brings the G-8 together with eight other countries including China, India and Brazil. Global inflation driven by soaring food and fuel prices and African poverty will also be discussed, along with issues as wide-ranging as Zimbabwe’s election crisis and North Korea’s nuclear programme.

Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, who arrived in Hokkaido needing a successful summit to bolster limp ratings, wants to add momentum for UN-led talks on a new framework beyond limits agreed under the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. Those negotiations are due to conclude in Copenhagen in December next year.

But wide gaps among Group of Eight members and between advanced and developing countries have raised doubts about the chances for progress beyond last year’s summit in Germany, where G-8 leaders agreed to “seriously consider” a global goal of halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

“I don’t think we’re expecting a deal. That will come under the United Nations’ auspices in Copenhagen next year,” Canada Environment Minister John Baird told reporters en route to Japan, adding, “What we hope is that we can get some momentum toward a solid progress on climate change.” The G-8 comprises Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, Canada and the United States.

EU: Activists and the European Union want the G-8 to agree to the 2050 goal discussed in Germany and set 1990 as the base year, and say advanced nations should set their own firm mid-term goals for reductions by 2020.

Japan wants the leaders to agree to the 2050 goal but without specifying a base year. US President George W Bush, who was to meet Fukuda after arriving in Hokkaido, insists Washington will only set targets if large emerging economies such as China are on board as well. “Will the effort to be announced by the G-8 be convincing enough to get the emerging countries to say ‘OK, we’re ready now to come on board’? If we can get that in writing at Toyako, we’ll have done our job,” said a French official. But an aide to French President Nicholas Sarkozy said he was not optimistic about reaching an agreement on the issue.

Analysts and diplomats have said the G-8 leaders were likely to craft a fuzzy agreement on a long-term goal to allow Fukuda to save face, but that real progress will likely have to wait until a new US president takes office in January.



http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp

__________________
Regards,
P.R.

Suicide bomb attack in Afghan capital kills 40

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A suicide car bomb ripped through the front wall of the Indian Embassy in central Kabul on Monday, killing some 40 people in what appeared to be the deadliest attack in Afghanistan's capital since the fall of the Taliban, officials said.
The massive explosion damaged two embassy vehicles entering the compound near where dozens of Afghan men line up every morning to apply for visas.

The embassy in the last several days beefed up security by installing large, dirt-filled blast walls often used by military forces. But the power of the explosion, which reverberated throughout Kabul, still crumbled a front wall, and several shops across the street were destroyed. Smoldering ruins and wounded Afghans covered the street.

"Several shopkeepers have died. I have seen shopkeepers under the rubble," said Ghulam Dastagir, a shopkeeper wounded in the blast.

Najib Nikzad, an Interior Ministry spokesman, said the blast killed 40 people. Earlier, Abdullah Fahim, the spokesman for the Ministry of Public Health, said the explosion killed at least 28 people and wounded 141. The Interior Ministry said six police officers were killed, as were three embassy guards.
In Delhi, Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said four Indians, including India's military attache, were killed in the attack.

The explosion, on a busy, tree-lined street near Afghanistan's Interior Ministry, appeared to be the deadliest attack in Kabul since the fall of the Taliban in 2001. It was the deadliest in Afghanistan since a suicide bomber killed more than 100 people at a dog-fighting competition in Kandahar province in February.

President Hamid Karzai condemned the attack and said it was carried out by militants trying to rupture the friendship between Afghanistan and India.

The Interior Ministry, meanwhile, hinted that the attack was carried out with help from Pakistan's intelligence service, saying that "terrorists have carried out this attack in coordination and consultation with some of the active intelligence circles in the region."

In Delhi, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said the attack would not deter the mission from "fulfilling our commitments to the government and people of Afghanistan." The Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, said Pakistan condemned the attack and terrorism in all forms.

Shortly after the blast a woman ran out of a Kabul hospital screaming, crying and hitting her face with both of her hands. Her two children, a girl named Lima and a boy named Mirwais, had been killed.

"Oh my God!" the woman screamed. "They are both dead."

Afghanistan's Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta visited the embassy shortly after the attack, ministry spokesman Sultan Ahmed Baheen said.

"India and Afghanistan have a deep relationship between each other. Such attacks of the enemy will not harm our relations," Spanta told the embassy staff, according to Baheen.

Militants have frequently attacked Indian offices and projects around Afghanistan since launching an insurgency after the ouster of the Taliban at the end of the 2001. Many Taliban militants have roots in Pakistan, which has long had a troubled relationship with India.

When the Taliban ruled Afghanistan in the late 1990s, the Islamic militia was supported by Pakistan, India's archrival. Pakistan today remains wary of strengthening ties between Afghanistan and India.

The U.N.'s envoy to Afghanistan said that "in no culture, no country, and no religion is there any excuse or justification for such acts."

"The total disregard for innocent lives is staggering, and those behind this must be held responsible," Kai Eide said.

The U.N. sent an e-mail to its staff advising them to stay off Kabul's roads because of reports that a second suicide car bomber was in the city.

The embassy attack was the sixth suicide bombing in Kabul this year. Insurgent violence has killed more than 2,200 people — mostly militants — in Afghanistan in 2008, according to an Associated Press count of official figures.

While Afghanistan has seen increasing violence in recent months, Kabul has been largely spared the random bomb attacks that Taliban militants use in their fight against Afghan and international troops.

In September 2006, a suicide bomber near the gates of the Interior Ministry killed 12 people and wounded 42 others. After that blast, additional guards and barriers were posted on the street.

In two separate bombings Monday against police convoys in the country's south, seven officers were killed and 10 others were wounded, officials said.

In Uruzgan province, a roadside bomb killed four police on patrol and wounded seven others, said provincial police chief Juma Gul Himat.

In the Zhari district of Kandahar, another roadside blast killed three officers and wounded three others, said district chief Niyaz Mohammad Sarhadi.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force, meanwhile, said one of its soldiers died Sunday in an attack in the south.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2...bul-bomb_N.htm

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KARACHI: One person was killed and dozens others injured in a series of five blasts that ripped through different areas of the busiest city of the country on Monday.

Two explosions occurred here in Banaras area. One of the blasts happened in a pile of garbage while the other one at a footpath near Banaras chowk, injuring 16 people. They were shifted to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, sources said.

Enraged people took the streets and started pelting stones at moving vehicles.

The third explosion ripped through a mini truck in North Nazimabad area of Shahra-e-Noor Jehan near Sohail mosque. Five persons were injured, police sources said. However, Chhipa sources said 8 persons were taken to hospital.

There are reports of the fourth blast in Hyderi area near a children’s school.

Police mobiles have reached the blasts’s sites while ambulances are shifting the injured to local hospitals.

The fifth blast occurred here in a motor cycle in Qasba colony area, killing one person.

Police and Rangers have been put on high alert in the city following the series of blasts.

Emergency has been declared in local hospitals.


Source: http://www.geo.tv/7-7-2008/20489.htm

__________________
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P.R.

Bomb blasts rumour creates panic in Lahore

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Lahore
Following the bomb blasts in Karachi, the Punjab metropolis also remained abuzz with rumours of bomb blasts for quite some time on Monday night causing fear among the citizens and forcing them to rush for safety to their homes.

While the people watch in horror the situation in Karachi after six bomb blasts telecast by the electronic media, the rumours of bomb blasts and police cordon of certain areas in Lahore caused extra alarm which forced early shut down of markets and official quarters.

The blast and police raid rumours could not be confirmed but it followed by panic and alarm among the people as a number of calls were made to the offices of newspapers and media organizations to ascertain the facts. People also called up to their relatives and dear ones to ensure their safety and reminded them to reach homes early.

Many people were frightened after market places in certain areas suddenly gave a deserted look. The City police representatives said there was no genuine cause for the people to be alarmed in the provincial metropolis but certain elements created fear by spreading rumours of blasts in the city causing additional alarm to the people who were already feeling scared by the media reports about the Karachi blasts.

One hour... Seven blasts... five locations Shock, anger and confusion

Tuesday, July 08, 2008


Karachi
Abdul Azeem, a resident of Hafiz Mill (Gali No.1, Hasrat Mohani Colony of Pak Colony) was among those who were seriously injured as a result of the series of blasts Monday evening in the city.

His younger brother, Abdul Aleem, told The News that Azeem came home after duty at a local textile factory. “He was about to enter the house when an unidentified vehicle parked just outside blew up,” he said. Aleem was about to leave the house himself for prayers at 7:35pm, but had to rush to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital (ASH) with Azeem to ensure medical treatment for the latter.

He said that his elder brother’s left eye was seriously damaged by shrapnel from the blast. “Even though doctors are trying their best, it is quite probable that he will lose sight in his left eye,” he said.

Azeem also added that residents of the area confirmed that the vehicle used for the blasts did not belong to any of them. He further said that the explosion in the unidentified vehicle damaged houses numbered B-10 and B-11. Later, when two unidentified people on an unknown motorbike lobbed a hand grenade in the area, the resulting explosion almost destroyed houses D-426 and D-427. Five men, three women and eight children were injured, and the perpetrators of the blast fled.

Local businessman Imran Ali Khan informed The News that he was busy shopping for his children near Bacha Chowk when the first blast occurred. “Within no time, I heard a second blast and after a short interval of time, two more blasts occurred,” Khan said, adding that children, bystanders around pushcarts and bus conductors were among those injured.

Twelve-year-old Mohammed Azam was injured in the blast that occurred near Shahrah-e-Noor Jahan. Azam told The News that he was playing close to the truck which blew up. The truck belonged to his uncle, Abdul Rehman, who worked at a private company. Rehman had parked his vehicle at the same spot for the past few years. On Monday, he had parked it there a few minutes before the blast.

Azam’s father, Lal Muhammad, said that the truck was empty and had nothing loaded in it. According to Muhammad, between the time Rehman parked his vehicle and came inside the house, someone probably placed a timed device under the vehicle. The device exploded soon after it was placed there.

The uncle of four-year-old Sami Ullah, son of Inanyat Ullah, told The News that Sami was wounded at Qazba Mor when he was going to a nearby shop to purchase groceries. “His father went to offers prayers, and so the elders at home asked him to go and purchase groceries. When Sami Ullah reached the corner of the road, something hit him in the chest,” the uncle said. Sami Ullah was taken to the ASH. He seemed distraught and was crying continuously, as people around him kept inspecting his wounds.

Awami National Party (ANP) Sindh leader Amin Khattak said that he was at the party office located at Bacha Khan Chowk when the first explosion occurred. “I thought a tyre had burst, but a party worker later informed me that a bomb blast had taken place near the office. I rushed outside to inspect the situation,” he said.

Khattak added that when he reached the scene, he saw a crater in the middle of the road. Several injured people were lying in the street and pleading for help. By the time other people rushed to help them, the second blast occured, he said.


http://thenews.jang.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=122931

Pakistan Will Fight Terrorism With Iron Fist, Says Gilani

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said Tuesday Pakistan had suffered more than any other from terrorism and that it would fight the scourge with an “iron fist”.

“The world is facing today the menace of extremism and terrorism which has affected our socioeconomic development,” he said in a speech to a summit of the D8 group of developing countries.

“Pakistan has suffered the most due to this curse,” he said, pointing to the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto last year which was just one of many acts of violence to hit the country.

Soaring prices of food and fuel could spark widespread political unrest, Malaysia’s Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Tuesday said at a summit of developing nations.

Abdullah said the inflation crisis had erupted as a global recession looms, spelling trouble for the D8 group meeting here Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey.

And he called on member nations to boost food production in a bid to avert conflict. “The price of oil has skyrocketed to levels never anticipated the price of food has increased beyond the normal abilities to pay by the poor, which form the majority of the world’s people,” he said in an opening speech.

“Our people in the D8 group of countries will be among those feeling the greatest pains arising out of the current international economic downturn,” Abdullah said.

“There is also the danger of the food crisis creating political unrest in many societies.”

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinijad, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani are attending Tuesday’s gathering. The other members are represented by ministers.

“However, such cowardly acts will never dampen our firm resolve to fight terrorism and extremism with iron fist,” he said.

Gilani also said Pakistan was committed to a peaceful resolution of the ongoing conflict with India over held Kashmir.

“We have made positive progress in recent years in our dialogue with India,” he said.

“We are seeking a peaceful resolution for all our outstanding issues including the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir in accordance with the aspirations of the Kashmiri people.

Six Killed North Of Baghdad

Tuesday, July 08, 2008


BAQUBA :Six people were killed north of Baghdad on Monday, two of them in a bombing in a women’s clothing store in the Diyala provincial capital of Baquba, medical and security sources said.

The blast in the city’s Al-Mafraq market had initially been reported as the work of a female suicide bomber but the US military said the woman died when she stepped on a bomb that had been planted in the store.

“Our reports indicate the woman killed was an innocent victim of a senseless attack,” the military said in a statement.

The US military could confirm only the one death but a medic at Baquba hospital said two people were killed and 14 wounded in the bombing.

Three other attacks in Diyala killed another four people, police said.

A roadside bombing in the Al-Rahima neighbourhood of north Baquba killed a woman, police said. Soon after the blast, residents fired in the air, leaving a second woman killed by a stray bullet.

And two members of anti-Qaeda fronts were killed by snipers, police added. One was murdered in Khan Beni Saad and the other in the Al-Hashmiyat neighbourhood of Baquba.





Tuesday, July 08, 2008


KARACHI: Locally-made bombs have been used in explosions according to the initial investigation of the seven bomb blasts in Karachi.

Talking with Geo News, a high-level officer of the bomb-disposal squad told that 2 kg to 2 ½ kg explosives were used in the bombs used in the blasts while all these bombs were lacally-made.

According to the bomb-disposal squad, a car bomb in Hasrat Mohani Colony, an area of Bara Board and all the four bombs in Banaras Colony were exploded through remote control and the grenade thrown from motor-cycle riders was also hand-made while the car used in blast had no number plate.

Meanwhile, Government of Sindh said that a report regarding some people coming from northern areas to Karachi was received from sensitive departments but no information was given in advance regarding terrorism on large-scale.

Pieces Of Suicide Bomber’s Head Found Near Lal Masjid

Tuesday, July 08, 2008


ISLAMABAD: Some pieces of the head of the suicide bomber have been found near Lal Masjid here and these are being identified through surgery while a combined investigation team is probing the incident.

Legs found from the place of incident have been sent for DNA test and the fingers have been sent to the data base department of NADRA so that the fingers can be identified through finger prints.

Besides, a combined investigation team, which includes officers from police, FIA, CID, special branch and sensitive departments, is investigating the incident.

Namaz-e-Janaza of the policemen, martyred in the suicide attack, was offered in Islamabad and Rawalpindi Police Lines on Monday morning after which the dead bodies were handed over to their heirs.


http://www.apakistannews.com/pieces-...l-masjid-73111

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Time is the longest distance between two places.

* Experts say US unilateral strikes on FATA ‘only a matter of time’

WASHINGTON: The United States is facing a major dilemma as ally Pakistan fights surging militancy fuelled by groups in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) who may also have a hand in Afghanistan’s worsening security crisis, experts said on Wednesday.

“The fact is that the civilian government and the country’s military establishment appear to be losing control of the situation,” warned a private US intelligence firm Stratfor in a report to clients after the twin attacks. It said there was a “national lack of acknowledgement that the country is being torn apart by religious extremism”.

US strikes: Stratfor predicted “it is only a matter of time before Washington escalates its unilateral military operations deeper into the Pakistani tribal territory”, a move experts warned could worsen “collateral” damage and fuel anti-Americanism.

As the new government of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani struggles to adopt appropriate policies to a series of political, economic and security crises, US President George W Bush is concerned the next major terrorist strike on the US may be planned in Pakistan. “Washington finds itself in a difficult position,” said Robert Hathaway of the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars.

Most people believe a long-term campaign to provide education, jobs and establishing a functioning set of governmental institutions in the FATA could help improve people’s lives and eventually ease the security crisis. “That’s a long-term strategy but the problem is here and now, and it’s not yet apparent that anyone either in Washington or in Islamabad really knows how to connect the two, the long-term solution with immediate problems,” Hathaway said. Hathaway blamed the Bush administration for failing to adopt a coherent policy towards Pakistan since the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.

“Seven years after 9/11, the US is worse off in Pakistan than it was, American interests in the region are worse off than they were, and Pakistan is worse off than it was,” he said. President Bush is scheduled to hold talks with Pakistani Prime Minister Gilani at the White House on July 28 on counter-terrorism and other key issues.



LAHORE: The government is taking all its partners along and there are no differences in the ruling coalition, a private television channel quoted Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani as saying on Wednesday. According to Geo News, Gilani discussed the country’s current political situation with PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari in a meeting at a local hotel in Dubai. The issue of an expansion in the federal cabinet and other affairs related to the party and government were also discussed. The channel said details of the meeting were being kept secret and media had not been allowed to cover the event. It said that a foreign delegation had also come to Dubai to attend the meeting.



* Gilani says problems in Afghanistan responsible for some of
Pakistan’s issues

KUALA LUMPUR:Stressing for joint and co-ordinated efforts in the war against terrorism, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Wednesday that the blame game would not serve the cause.

“We all have to fight against terrorism and extremism. And we should not put excuses, rather we should jointly fight this war,” Reuters quoted Gilani as telling reporters.

Referring to the Indian embassy bombing, he said: “The NATO forces are working there, if they themselves are denying [Pakistani involvement], there is no need to have an allegation or a blame game,” he said.

Afghan problems: Gilani also blamed the trouble in Afghanistan for some of Pakistan’s own problems, saying that an end to bombings would lead to more investment. He said he would soon address the nation to inform it of the government’s achievements during the past 100 days. To questioning on President Pervez Musharraf’s impeachment, he said the issue would be moved in parliament after the parties reached consensus on it. “Parliament has the right to take decision on it,” he added.



ISLAMABAD: The British High Commission (BHC) in Pakistan is planning to relocate its visa section to Dubai owing to security concerns, diplomatic sources said on Wednesday.

The sources said plans for such a move had been in the pipeline for quite sometime now due to rising threats by Al Qaeda and Taliban militants against Western citizens and installations in the country, but the process was expedited only after the terrorist attack on the Danish embassy in early June.

BHC spokesperson Aidan Liddle admitted that it had been proposed to move some of the office’s administrative staff to the UAE, but denied that the move was due to security concerns.

Liddle said it was an administrative issue and should only be treated as such. He added that the move was part of a plan to create visa hubs in various parts of the world where visa applications could be processed.



HANGU/LAHORE: Local Taliban in Hangu district ended the siege of a police station after successful talks with the administration on Wednesday, Geo News reported. The Taliban besieged the Doaba Police Station following the arrest of seven colleagues, according to Staff Report. They were demanding the release of their colleagues. There were 35 policemen in the besieged police station. The seven Taliban had been arrested after an encounter with police, Hangu Senior Police Superintendent Muhammad Idrees Khan said. District officials alleged that the Taliban had also abducted 15 officials, including security personnel, from various areas of Doaba tehsil. Army spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas told AFP that the army had sent one battalion to the area to deal with the situation.



* Fine of Rs 130 million, 13 AK-47 rifles if jirga members violate pact

PESHAWAR: The tribal jirga from Bara subdivision and the political administration of the Khyber Agency on Wednesday clinched a peace deal to end the government’s security operation in the region.

Under the agreement, the government would stop the operation, end curfew and free all detainees today (Thursday). In return, the tribesmen assured that they would not challenge the writ of the government and no one would be allowed to display arms in Bara Bazaar.

Fine: A source privy to the meeting told Daily Times that the jirga members would be fined Rs 130 million and 13 AK-47 assault rifles if the tribesmen violated any condition of the pact. The two sides have also agreed to form a 13-member committee, headed by the Bara political agent, to supervise the deal and ensure peace in the region. A statement issued by the Khyber Agency political agent said the political administration accepted the agreement after the Afridi tribes agreed to the points presented by the government.

Also on Wednesday, Mangal Bagh denied the involvement of his Lashkar-e-Islam in Tuesday’s attack on a security forces’ convoy in Khyber Agency, Online reported. In a statement, he said those responsible should be given exemplary punishment.



ISLAMABAD: About 3,000 Islamist women gathered at the radical Lal Masjid in the capital on Wednesday and vowed to raise their children for jihad, days after a suicide bomber killed 19 people after a similar rally on July 6. Chanting slogans of “jihad is our way”, burqa-clad women, some carrying babies, listened to fiery speeches from the daughter of the mosque’s jailed cleric on the eve of the anniversary of a raid on the complex in which more than 100 people died. “Our mujahideen laid down their lives for the enforcement of the Islamic system in Pakistan. We are left behind to carry forward their mission,” the daughter of cleric Abdul Aziz told the tightly guarded rally in the mosque compound. Several thousand men had attended a similar rally on Sunday to mark the anniversary of the commando raid that ended a weeklong siege that had begun when gunmen from the mosque clashed with police. Shortly after the Sunday rally ended, a suicide bomber attacked policemen who had been guarding the gathering killing 19 people, all but four of them policemen. But there was no trouble on Wednesday as the cleric’s daughter, who did not identify herself, told the crowd to steel their families for jihad. “We should prepare our children and men for jihad,” she said. The crowd responded with shrill chants of “We are ready” and “Al jihad”. The women present demanded, amongst others, a court trial of President Pervez Musharraf, reconstruction of the Jamia Hafsa, reopening of the Jamia Fareedia, release of Lal Masjid cleric Abdul Aziz and an end to the military operation in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. The organisers claimed around 5,000 women to have attended the five-hour conference but people present said the number did not exceed 3,000. The police had sealed off the area with barbed wire, roadblocks and pickets. Pedestrians had to go through several security checks to cross the area.



LAHORE: Taliban claimed to have killed two Indians and four others in an attack on the Indian Consulate in Jalalabad in Afghanistan, a private television channel reported on Thursday.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Geo News by telephone that his men attacked the Indian Consulate with bombs killing six men, including two Indian nationals, and injuring eight. According to the channel, the injured also include Indian nationals and Afghan security personnel.



KABUL: There has been a spike in mortar and rocket attacks from militants in Pakistan at United States and Afghan border outposts in Afghanistan, the top NATO commander said on Wednesday. US General David D McKiernan said he presumed that militants think they were safer because they were firing from the Pakistani territory. But McKiernan, who took command of the 40-nation NATO-led mission in early June, said US and NATO forces have been “returning fire”. “I’m not sure that’s the case, that they’re any safer, because we do return those fires,” in co-ordination with Pakistan’s military, said McKiernan. He did not have figures, but said “there definitely has been an increase (in cross-border attacks) since I’ve been here in the last 30 days”. McKiernan said the number of attacks had risen because militant groups had been free to operate in Pakistan’s Tribal Areas and cross the Afghanistan-Pakistan border unimpeded.



* Congressmen say plans for US operations response to Pakistan’s failure to disrupt terrorist training camps and cross-border attacks

WASHINGTON: United States commandos are prepared to stage raids into Pakistan’s loosely governed Tribal Areas to stem mounting Taliban attacks against US troops in Afghanistan and to disrupt resurgent Al Qaeda operatives’ efforts to map strikes against the US, a report published in The Houston Chronicle said on Wednesday.

Congressmen Gene Green, Michael McCaul, and Henry Cuellar, who recently visited Pakistan, told Chronicle in separate interviews that the plans for stepped-up US military operations were a response to Pakistan’s failure to disrupt terrorist training camps and cross-border attacks from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

The Bush administration is recalibrating US operations in the region because of a 40 percent increase in violent attacks against US-led forces in Afghanistan, that have pushed US casualties for the month of June beyond the monthly toll in Iraq, the lawmakers said.

The congressmen said they devoted much of their delegation’s meetings with President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani last Friday to urging additional action against militants in the Tribal Areas.

Joint operations: But the congressmen said Pakistani officials had rejected resumption of the joint US-Pakistani operations that ended in 2003, calling instead for additional US military assistance and intelligence co-operation to target seven or eight terrorist leaders operating in the Tribal Areas.

Pakistan’s ineffective campaign makes it “imperative that US forces be allowed to pursue the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Tribal Areas inside Pakistan”, McCaul insisted. “If we don’t do something now, they’re going to strike us again (in the US) and it is going to be from this area,” he said. Cuellar said that “either Pakistan does more or we will be taking things into our own hands”, adding, “If our troops are fired on, there will be hot pursuit into that territory.”

The lawmakers’ comments suggested that the Bush administration might have resolved bureaucratic turf battles, that the New York Times recently reported had delayed implementation of a secret administration plan to authorise US Special Forces to deploy teams into Pakistan’s Tribal Areas to track, capture or kill terrorist leaders.

Defence Department Spokesman Lt Col Mark Wright said US forces ‘’remain ready, willing and able to assist the Pakistanis and to partner with them to provide additional training and to conduct joint operations should they desire”.

The State Department did not respond to a request for comment. US Predator aircraft, pilot-less drones have carried out at least four missile strikes against suspected terrorists inside Pakistan so far this year, killing at least 45 people, according to the Washington Post.

US military commanders in Afghanistan have already exercised hot pursuit on a limited basis to chase Taliban fighters and Al Qaeda militants into adjacent Pakistani areas.



MIRANSHAH: The Pak-Afghan border has been completely sealed and criminals from both sides will not be allowed to cross borders, North Waziristan Political Agent Aurangzeb Khan said on Wednesday. The political agent’s warning came at a peace committee meeting held at the agency headquarters in Miranshah. The meeting reviewed and discussed law and order and was attended by high-ranking security officials, clerics and elders of the local Utmanzai tribe. Aurangzeb said no one would be allowed to disrupt law and order in the area. He said the government was satisfied with the co-operation extended by the tribal people. He urged tribal people not to allow foreign elements to enter their areas.



* $1bn WB loan to have 17% interest
* ADB funds for power projects

ISLAMABAD: The World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Programme (ADP) will give Pakistan $1.4 billion and $810 million in loans, respectively.

The WB’s $1.4 billion lending programme will support development in various sectors during the current fiscal 2008-09 year, a senior official in the Economic Affairs Division told Daily Times on Wednesday. He said anonymously that the lending programme consisted of $1 billion loan under the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and $400 million loan under the International Development Association’s (IDA) country assistance programme.

Interest: He said the $1 billion IBRD loan would be provided on market rate, elaborating that market rate loans had an interest rate of 17 percent. He added that the $400 million IDA loan would be a soft loan, which is likely to have one percent interest rate, and would be for technical assistance.

Sources in the Finance Ministry say Pakistan is facing problems to return WB loans as there is a condition that they will be returned in any currency (dollor or euro), which has a higher value.

The official said there was no money for mega power projects, such as Basha and Munda dams, in the lending programme.

A WB official said anonymously Pakistan was negotiating for mega power projects with the bank. The WB official said Pakistan had also asked the WB to finance three other reservoirs, including Tarbela-IV, Munda Dam and Kohala Dam, and that Pakistan would need $3 billion for these projects. The Water and Power Ministry held a meeting with a WB team in June in this regard. These projects will generate 3,000 megawatts of electricity daily.

He said that there was however an allocation for power distribution companies in the loan. He said the loan for power companies would bind Pakistan to end subsidy on electricity and that the WB had previously set December as the deadline to end electricity subsidy.

The official said the government was working to expand the Tarbela Dam under the name of Tarbela IV following WB’s suggestion it could be operational earlier than other big power projects.

The sources in the ministry said the visiting WB team was also informed that the construction of these new projects would reduce Pakistan’s dependency on oil imports.

Power projects: The ADB loan will be for power projects, and the inflows are expected to begin in September, an official told Reuters anonymously. “The facility to be implemented over the next 10 years has been negotiated with power distribution companies and the formal approval by the bank is expected in August,” the official said, adding that “disbursement is likely to start from September or October”.



* PML-N chief not likely to return to Pakistan any time soon

WASHINGTON: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Nawaz Sharif, currently in London to tend to his wife, who is recovering from surgery, is to travel to the United States later this month on a “private visit”.

Sharif, who is expected to meet Asif Ali Zardari, who is also in London, in the next couple of days, is not likely to return to Pakistan “any time soon”. The implications of this absence for the continuing political impasse on the judges’ issue will become manifest in the coming days. An informed source in London said that while there is no “give” by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on the judges’ issue, pressure from within the PML-N is mounting for rejoining the federal government. If the PML-N decides to quit the alliance and take to the opposition benches, its government in the Punjab will find it hard to survive, a risk the party is reluctant to take.

A compromise on the judges’ issue that the PPP could be willing to live with is the restoration of the judges with the exception of chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, accompanied by the retention of the post-November 3 judges, possibly in ad hoc positions. There will also be a tacit understanding that “settled issues” will not be reopened, including the National Reconciliation Ordinance. It is now generally agreed among the political heavyweights of both parties that the lawyers’ movement has lost its momentum after the inconclusive “long march” in Islamabad.



http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?date=7/10/2008

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Regards,
P.R.