Friday, September 5, 2014
China: Xi stresses adherence to China's political path ahead of legislature anniversary
President Xi Jinping on Friday said China must promote socialist democracy through the improvement of the system of people's congresses, as the National People's Congress (NPC), the top legislature, celebrates its 60th anniversary.
While hailing the system of people's congresses as China's fundamental political system, Xi said "In new situations, we should hold high the banner of people's democracy, while adhering to and improving the system of people's congresses as required by the times."
"We should keep to the socialist path of political development with Chinese characteristics and continue to promote socialist democracy," he said at a conference to mark the aniversary, which falls on Sept. 15.
China's socialist political system has proved itself feasible, efficient and has vitality because it was developed in the country's social soil, Xi said, adding that any system should be designed and developed according to a country's actual conditions and situations.
"China needs to draw lessons from the achievements of foreign politics, but the foundations of our system should absolutely not be given up," Xi said.
Copying another country's political system is not feasible and will even ruin the future and fate of China, he said.
ADVANCING SOCIALIST DEMOCRACY
The development of socialist democracy is a must for modernizing the country's "governance system" and "governance capability," he said.
"The key to developing socialist democracy is expanding rather than weakening our advantages and characteristics."
He stressed China must stick to the CPC's core role that exercises overall leadership and coordinates all efforts to ensure effective governance of the country and prevent engendering "a host of dragons without a head" or "a heap of loose sand," Chinese sayings which mean a country is leaderless or not united.
All power of the country must belong to the people, ensuring their power of voting as well as democratic decision-making, management and supervision in accordance to law, he said.
Politicians making boundless promises during elections with no responses to people's demands after the elections should be avoided, he added.
"We must stick to and improve the system of multi-party cooperation and political consultation led by the CPC so as to prevent parties being at strife and jostling each other (for positions)," he said.
Regional autonomy of ethnic minorities should also be followed and improved to consolidate socialist ethnic relations that feature equality, solidarity, mutual aid and harmony rather than estrangement and conflicts.
China must strengthen self-governance at the grass-roots level to prevent phenomenon that the people seem to have power but are actually powerless, he said.
He also noted the system of "democratic centralism" which helps forge united forces to administer and govern the country and avoids impeding of each other and internal conflicts.
People should unswervingly stick to the CPC's leadership, ensure people's master status and promote the rule of law in their efforts to enhance the system of people's congresses, Xi said.
The President called for efforts to improve legislative work to provide legal support to China's development and major reform measures.
The country should deepen reform on its judicial system, expand channels for the public to supervise the use of power, and establish an effective system to curb corruption, Xi said.
Chinese leaders Li Keqiang, Yu Zhengsheng, Liu Yunshan, Wang Qishan and Zhang Gaoli were also present at Friday's conference, which was presided over by top legislator Zhang Dejiang.
U.S. - Atlantic City’s Next Gamble
By NELSON JOHNSON
ATLANTIC CITY — NUCKY JOHNSON’S town can still throw a party. Tens of thousands of fans recently flocked to Atlantic City for two free concerts on the water’s edge, first by Blake Shelton and then by Lady Antebellum. With casinos shutting their doors, leaving thousands jobless, these are just the type of fun events that the resort city needs if it is to survive. But some businesses misbehaved. Several casinos charged concertgoers $50 for parking, five to 10 times the usual rate. Some people in this city never miss the opportunity to sacrifice long-term vision for a fast buck.
Since the arrival of casino gambling in 1978, Atlantic City has squandered one opportunity after another. Much of the city looks as drab and dreary as it did before the casinos opened. Many buildings abandoned in the early 1970s — the last time the resort hit bottom — still haven’t found a use. The people in City Hall can’t decide whether to let them stand or knock them down, creating more empty lots. For large portions of the city, it’s as if gambling never happened.
For 20 years Atlantic City had most of the nation’s gamblers to itself, but the city’s leaders failed to exploit that position by diversifying the local economy. Huge casino profits and tax revenues rolled into town like tidal waves of cash. Some casino operations reinvested in the city better than others, but City Hall frittered away many millions on salaries and contracts with power brokers’ pals. No thought was given to a serious citywide capital improvement program.
The easy money generated complacency, and now we’re paying for it. There are more than 60 places to gamble east of the Mississippi, not counting online. Vacationers don’t have to travel to Atlantic City to visit a casino, and they won’t, unless we give them more reasons to come.
The key to the future lies in the past. Atlantic City was built on “spectacles”: crowd-drawing events from free concerts, boxing matches and beauty contests to art shows, beer festivals and basketball tournaments. Founded in 1854 as an experiment in social planning, it was the first city in America conceived solely as a resort. With the singular purpose of providing leisure-time activities for visitors, it has no other reason to exist.
Yet implicit in this experiment is that vacationers’ tastes are forever changing and so, too, must Atlantic City. Keeping the experiment flourishing, by perpetually reimagining an up-to-date resort economy, requires each generation to develop a new vision.
In the 19th century, Atlantic City wasn’t so much the “world’s playground” as Philadelphia’s watering hole. Excellent railroad service made it easy for Philadelphia’s immigrant factory workers to break away from the staid City of Brotherly Love. The resort reached the zenith of its popularity in the ’20s. To quote one old-timer, “Prohibition didn’t happen in Atlantic City.”
Boss of the city throughout this era was Enoch “Nucky” Johnson (no relation to me). He dominated political and social life from 1911 to 1941, when he went to jail for tax evasion. Nucky understood that repeat business by vacationers was indispensable. Unlike Nucky Thompson, the character based on him in HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire,” Johnson ruled with a velvet hammer. His power was such that he never needed violence to get his way. (Still, I can picture him handling the money-grubber demanding a $50 parking fee for a free concert. It wouldn’t happen a second time.)
Despite being a corrupt autocrat, Johnson had the foresight to invest in the future. During Prohibition, while the bars, nightclubs and hotels were rolling in cash, he knew it couldn’t last forever and rallied the city to construct a first-rate entertainment venue in the form of the Atlantic City Convention Hall, now known as Boardwalk Hall. Although the city saw a steady decline in visitors following the repeal of Prohibition, the venue remained a draw, as it does today.
Unfortunately, Johnson also left behind a community so acculturated to political bossism that when the “Organization” finally collapsed in 1971, the city was rudderless. Machine politics was replaced by an endless free-for-all among hapless politicians hoping to be the next boss. (Few succeeded; some went to jail.) Those who did make it into office used the city’s payroll to swell the ranks of their supporters. Today the city has one of the highest ratios of government employees to population in the country. With so many tax dollars going to salaries, there’s little left for anything else. Despite its corruption, Johnson’s machine didn’t bloat City Hall’s payroll and delivered essential municipal services in a competent manner. That’s not true today.
City Hall is where innovative ideas go to die. There has yet to materialize a sustained effort to rethink the city’s role in the national economy and rebuild it into a safe, clean, first-rate resort. Any attempts at “planning” are smothered in the cradle by petty political interests.
It’s not hopeless. There’s more to Atlantic City than casinos. While gambling revenue is plummeting, retail and restaurant profits are rising. Hiding in plain sight are splendid assets: the mighty Atlantic Ocean, beautiful beaches, easy access by one-fourth of the nation’s population, the Boardwalk, modern convention facilities, an excellent international airport 10 miles away, institutions of higher learning eager to help, and finally, a skilled work force to make things run smoothly.
We just need a City Hall that can free itself from Nucky Johnson’s legacy of corrupt patronage, while embracing his example of creative foresight.
Russian Foreign Ministry: NATO Statements on Ukraine Endanger Progress in Peace Process
The gist and tone of the statements made by NATO-members on the situation in Ukraine risk to hamper progress in the peace process and escalate tensions in the violence-torn country, Russian Foreign Ministry said Friday in a statement, commenting on the results of the NATO summit in Wales.
“The gist and tone of statements on the situation around Ukraine and the announced plans of NATO countries to conduct a joint drill with Ukraine on its territory before the end of this year are bound to escalate tensions, threaten the start of progress regarding a peaceful settlement in Ukraine and contribute to the deepening of the split in Ukrainian society,” the ministry said.
Moscow accused the North Atlantic Treaty Organization of supporting neo-Nazi and extremist forces in Ukraine, particularly the Right Sector.
“Moreover, they testify to NATO’s unreserved support for Kiev’s neo-Nazi and extremist forces, including the Right Sector,” the statement says.
Moscow also stated that NATO adopted a line towards eastward expansion, the plan which has been nurtured for a long time, while “the Ukrainian crisis became merely an excuse for the start of their implementation.”
Russia will examine in detail the specific decisions of the summit, but is not surprised by the results.
“The alliance established in the Cold War era as a military and political bloc cannot change its genetic code by definition. Its strategic course on interfering in the affairs of foreign states did not emerge yesterday or today. It logically flows from NATO’s search for its role and place in the global security system under the conditions of the absence of a coalition military confrontation,” the ministry’s statement says.
Following Crimea’s reunification with Russia in March 2014, NATO has been boosting its military presence close to Russia’s border. In particular, dispatching a number of warships to the Black Sea and reinforcing air patrolling missions in Baltic airspace.
Russia has repeatedly expressed concern over the increasing NATO military presence close to its borders.
Kurdish forces make gains on ISIS in Iraq as NATO leaders promise help
Kurdish forces backed by U.S. air cover made gains Friday against ISIS fighters in Iraq's Mosul province as NATO leaders concluded a summit in Wales, pledging to help defeat the radical Islamic forces.
The Kurdish fighters, known as the Peshmerga, retook several villages seized this summer in ISIS' lightning assault in Iraq as well as high ground overlooking plains on the approach to Mosul, CNN's Anna Coren reported.
"It is a duty of everybody who loves democracy and freedom and human rights to struggle against the terrorists," said Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Rowsch Shaways, a Kurd.
U.S. forces conducted four airstrikes Friday around Mosul Dam and in Irbil, destroying an observation post, several vehicles and three mortar positions, U.S. Central Command said.
In Kirkuk province, ISIS fighters kidnapped nearly 50 men from the village of Tal Ali after beating them, according to Kurdish security forces. ISIS ordered residents to fight the Peshmerga before leaving, the Kurdish officials said.
In Wales, President Barack Obama said NATO allies were committed to fighting ISIS.
"It's not going to happen overnight, but we're steadily moving in the right direction," Obama said.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said alliance members "stand ready to assist Iraq" in its fight against ISIS, but neither he nor British Prime Minister David Cameron suggested there are immediate plans to send combat troops.
"For Britain's part we don't rule anything out. We'll act on our national interest," Cameron said in response to a reporter's question about committing troops. "I think in terms of the sort of decisions you're talking about, we're not at that stage yet, and I think it's very important that what we do is part of a comprehensive plan."
In addition to conducting some 131 airstrikes against ISIS targets in the last several weeks, the United States has sent military advisers to Iraq to help with strategies to combat ISIS.
Canada -- a NATO member -- said Friday it also will send "several dozen" troops to Iraq to help advise that country's government on fighting ISIS, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's office said.
Obama Says US Will 'Degrade and Ultimately Defeat' ISIS Like Al Qaeda
The militant group, also known as ISIS, “poses a long-term threat to the safety and security of NATO members,” Obama said at a press conference in Newport, Wales. “We have a critical role to play in rolling back this savage organization.”
Watch more news videos | Latest world news The president advocated systematically “taking the fight to” ISIS in much the same way the U.S. combated al Qaeda. “You initially push them back, you systematically degrade their capabilities, you narrow their scope of action, you slowly shrink the space, the territory that they control, you take out their leadership, and over time, they are not able to conduct the same kinds of terrorist attacks that they once could,” Obama said, adding that U.S. combat troops would not be deployed to the region. “I don’t think that’s necessary for us to accomplish our goal,” he said. Instead, the American military will work to strengthen Iraqi and Syrian forces already on the ground. Obama also called for a “strategic communications effort so that we are discouraging people from thinking that [ISIS] represents a state, much less a caliphate.” “That’s not what Islam is about,” he added. Obama, in Wales for a NATO summit, joined British Prime Minister David Cameron on Thursday in pressing the alliance to stand firm against ISIS’ “brutal and poisonous extremism.” In a London Times Op-Ed, the leaders panned an “isolationist approach” and vowed that America and Britain “will not be cowed” by ISIS. “Whether it is regional aggression going unchecked or the prospect that foreign fighters could return from Iraq and Syria to pose a threat in our countries, the problems we face today threaten the security of British and American people,” they wrote. Obama, who has authorized over 100 airstrikes to aid Iraqi and Kurdish forces combating ISIS in Iraq, last week acknowledged “we don’t have a strategy yet” to confront the militant group in neighboring Syria.
Army chief holds off generals seeking Pakistan PM's ouster
Nuclear Pakistan’s Spies Target India—and Their Own Prime Minister
Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence directorate is using terrorist brinkmanship to threaten India and undermine Nawaz Sharif. It’s time to stop this dangerous game. Just when you thought the world was dangerous enough, another crisis between nuclear-weapons-armed India and Pakistan is brewing, and now al Qaeda is adding fuel to the fire by calling for jihad in the subcontinent. Tensions have been growing all summer long, even though, ironically, things began on a positive high note: in June, newly elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who swept into power on a landslide, invited his Pakistan counterpart, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, to his inauguration. Behind this unprecedented gesture, however, darker forces were planning a different sort of event. A squad of heavily armed terrorists attacked the Indian consulate in Herat, Afghanistan, right on the eve of the inauguration. They planned to take Indian diplomats hostage and then execute them as Modi was took office. Fortunately the Indian security guards at the consulate killed all the attackers. The U.S. State Department publicly blamed Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, the group which attacked Mumbai in 2008. LeT is very close to the Pakistani military’s Inter Services Intelligence Directorate or ISI. LeT would not have taken such a highly provocative action without at least some advance nod from the Pakistani spies in the ISI and the generals who command them. LeT’s leader, Hafeez Saeed, lives openly in Pakistan, frequently appears on television denouncing the United States, and is the darling of the ISI. If there is another LeT attack like the one in Mumbai or the one in Herat, it will provoke the most serious crisis in years between India and Pakistan, and the more that can be done by the United States and other to prevent such a disaster the better. But it won’t be easy. On Wednesday, to complicate the situation further, Al Qaeda released a new videotape of its leader Ayman Zawahiri announcing the creation of a an al Qaeda franchise in India. Zawahiri made the tape in his hideout in Pakistan, no doubt, and many Indians suspect the ISI is helping to protect him. Zawahiri has longstanding links to LeT and to Saeed. The 55-minute video is Zawahiri’s first this year and threatens jihadist attacks across India. The domestic politics of Pakistan are central to this drama, and to this threat. One of the goals of the Herat operation was to discredit Sharif, who has no control over the ISI or the Pakistani army. Since he was elected in his own landslide victory last year, the army has become increasingly unhappy with Sharif. They are very upset that he has put the former army dictator Pervez Musharraf on trial for treason and did not just let him leave the country quietly. Musharraf ousted Sharif in a coup in 1999, and while the army doesn’t care that much for Musharraf, it does not like the judicial system holding a general accountable for coups. For them that sets a bad precedent. The army also was unhappy with Sharif’s reluctance to take on Pakistan’s own militant extremists, the Pakistan Taliban. Sharif wanted to talk to the Taliban, the army for once wanted to fight. Sharif ultimately gave in. Meanwhile, violence has surged along the line of control in Kashmir, the province disputed by India and Pakistan since 1947 and the cause of several wars. This week the Indian army discovered a tunnel built under the line to infiltrate terrorists into Kashmir. Routine diplomatic talks between India and Pakistan have been suspended because Modi called them off when Pakistani diplomats met with Kashmiri leaders, a practice previously tolerated by New Delhi. Sharif had been urging deescalating the Indo-Pakistan rivalry and cutting back on the arms race, positions the army hardliners find threatening. Sharif has been under siege—literally—in his office in Islamabad for the last couple of weeks, surrounded by an angry mob led by Pakistan’s famous photogenic cricket star and politician Imran Khan. Allied with a Canadian-Pakistani Islamic preacher, Khan has called for Sharif to resign. His movement has little nationwide popular support and there have been no demonstrations in other Pakistani cities backing his call, but it has kept Sharif preoccupied for weeks. Khan’s critics say he is being manipulated by the ISI to try to bring down Sharif or at least to neuter him. The army and the ISI were effective in neutering Sharif’s predecessor Asif Zardari. In fact that was a key goal achieved by the Mumbai attack in 2008. They want to neutralize Sharif by any means possible. In short, the Pakistani army and its ISI spies are once again playing with fire—with India, the LeT and Kashmir—in order to secure domestic gains against their civilian leaders. Sharif is a weak prime minister today, just as he was the last two times he held that position in the 1990s, but he is the elected leader of the country. He should be allowed to finish his time in office. The US should step up intelligence cooperation with India to prevent and deter attacks such as the ones in Mumbai and Herat. Even if a terrorist action cannot be foiled, the more information exchanged about Pakistani ISI involvement with LeT, the more likely the US will have credibility with New Delhi if a crisis does occur. The United States should also consider a unilateral step if another attack occurs, threatening to place Pakistan on the State Department list of states sponsoring terrorism. America would treat Pakistan as a pariah like North Korea. It certainly meets the criteria and has for decades. The first Bush administration seriously considered this measure in 1992, although such a step obviously would have immense consequences for U.S.-Pakistan relations. A more limited option would be to target specific sanctions against individual Pakistani officials involved in supporting terrorism, like members of ISI’s “S” branch that handles liaison with LeT, the Haqqani network and others. A targeted sanctions move against specific Pakistani military officials would send a strong deterrent message to the Pakistani army and could be a warning shot before putting Pakistan on the list of terror patrons. Finally there should be contingency planning between Washington and New Delhi about managing a future Indo-Pakistan crisis like the Mumbai crisis. This would be intended to create dialogue, not creat a platform to gang up on Pakistan. But in any case it would be prudent to plan for the worst.By Bruce Riedel
Politics in Pakistan - Army in the middle
A messy stand-off between the government, protesters and the army suggests that controlling Pakistan is harder than everSEIZING control of the state-controlled broadcaster used to be the prelude to military dictatorship in coup-prone Pakistan. The headquarters of the Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV) in the heart of Islamabad was one of the first buildings to be taken over by soldiers in 1999 when General Pervez Musharraf ousted Nawaz Sharif, the country’s then-prime minister who was re-elected in a landslide victory last year. The sight of troops piling back into that same office block on September 1st aroused feelings of déjà vu. This time the soldiers entered PTV only to remove protesters who had forced the channel off air. Even so, those who hoped Mr Sharif’s return to power would spell an end to military meddling have reason to be worried. The generals are again circling ominously around him. The demonstrators at PTV were largely made up of supporters of Tahir ul Qadri, a Muslim cleric with a large religious support base, and of Imran Khan, a famous cricket-player-turned politician. Mr Khan and Mr Qadri have been holding supposedly separate demonstrations in the heart of the capital since mid-August in an attempt to force out the government. Mr Khan has demanded the sacking of Mr Sharif, and a rerun of last year’s election. He claims he was robbed of victory, although no independent election observers seem to agree with him. The two men’s combined crowds have been modest by Pakistani standards. Numbers have peaked at around 50,000 on carnival-like nights of music and speeches, but fell far below that during a recent rise in tension. The aim of the assault on PTV appeared to be to stir up confrontation in the hope that this would tempt the army to step in and remove Mr Sharif. Mr Khan, with his fondness for cricketing references, had promised his supporters that a “third umpire” will come and send Mr Sharif back to the pavilion. Banners lauding the army surround Mr Qadri’s encampment. While thugs have struck police officers with bamboo staffs, soldiers have been treated respectfully. On August 28th the army did come out to umpire: Mr Khan and Mr Qadri were invited to a midnight discussion with the army chief, Raheel Sharif, who offered to act as a mediator between them and the government. (He had also been holding talks with Mr Sharif, who is not a relative.) On August 30th Mr Khan and Mr Qadri told followers to storm the prime minister’s official residence, prompting violent clashes with police. The following day the army told the government not to use force against the protesters. When military personnel asked them to stop smashing cameras and leave the PTV building, the 200 stick-wielding rioters swiftly complied. The generals certainly have motives to weaken or even destroy Mr Sharif, who has a big parliamentary majority. The prime minister has made no secret of his desire to impose civilian control over the army. He also wants to transform hostile relations with India, a policy the army opposes. Furthermore, a government source says that the generals are angry because Mr Sharif reneged on what they allege was a secret deal to let Mr Musharraf slip abroad to avoid being found guilty of treason in an ongoing trial. Lastly, the government has been at odds with the army over Geo, a television station. In April the army demanded that Geo be closed down after it accused the chief of its intelligence wing of ordering the assassination of one of the station’s journalists. Geo later apologised to the army for its reporting. Now come reports from some of the prime minister’s aides that the army has already made a grab for the portfolios of foreign and defence policy, and that Mr Sharif has ceded some authority in these areas. That is an infringement of the prime minister’s power. But it is not exactly a coup. The protesters’ efforts to draw the army further in have not worked; Mr Khan has been stung by allegations he has been dancing to the army’s tune and appears to have given up his street-fighting approach. And the signs are that even the generals appear to recognise that a military takeover would be bad for the army itself. The last time around, under Mr Musharraf, it was not up to the task. That is why, since Mr Musharraf’s ousting in 2008, the army has been trying to avoid taking overt control of politics. It worries that American financial assistance would be jeopardised by a coup. It has little interest in prolonging the turmoil on the streets of Islamabad at a time when it is engaged in a long-delayed assault on the Pakistani Taliban in the tribal areas of North Waziristan. The army also happens to support a few of Mr Sharif’s policies, including his efforts to wean the country off expensive energy imports. The generals back his efforts to boost economic growth, not just to pay the nation’s civilian bills but also its huge military ones. It is uncertain how much of a role, if any, the army played in fomenting the recent protests. Kamran Bokhari of Stratfor, an American security-analysis company, says Pakistan has a vast number of retired generals, who claim to speak for “the army” but who are in fact far removed from the real power around General Sharif and corps commanders. “There is no one script,” says Mr Bokhari. There are still politicians who want a greater army role in politics, but those who oppose interference have grown in strength in recent years. At a special joint session of parliament on September 2nd many spoke out in defence of democracy and against the unruly demonstrators outside the building. Pro-democracy voices also include some of the private news channels that have proliferated since 2002. The army is still by far the strongest institution that Pakistan has. But political power has become much more diffuse than it was on that night 15 years ago when the army needed only to seize control of one television station to take command of the entire country.
Pakistan: Aitzaz Ahsan suggests PM to reshuffle his cabinet
Pakistan: Phone record leak: Javed Hashmi, Saad Rafique deny conspiring
Pakistan: Nisar should apologize to Aitzaz over allegations: Zardari
http://abbtakk.tv/Pakistan Peoples Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari here on Friday demanded apology from Interior Minister Chaudhary Nisar over his allegations on Senator Aitzaz Ahsan.
China asks Zardari to help defuse Islamabad crisis
China has played an important role in breaking the impasse between the government and PTI as the latest efforts by PPP in resolving this crisis have been resumed on the calling of Beijing ahead of Chinese President’s visit to Pakistan. Zardari met Chinese Prime Minister among other leaders during his recent visit to Beijing. He was asked to play his role and convey the concerns of Chinese government over this tension that could jeopardize the visit of President Xi Jinping expected in next week who will announce a record investment of $32 billion in Pakistan, according to a PPP leader. Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif was also in China but on a separate visit. It was in this context that PPP leadership geared up efforts and named Senator Rehman Malik as point-man to negotiate settlements with PTI and PAT. Zardari who is overseeing this process will stay in Islamabad as long as the issue is resolved, according to the sources. As talks are in progress, China has also publicly expressed its concerns over this political tension urging Pakistan to resolve problems. “China is highly concerned about the situation in Pakistan,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said at a regular news briefing late Tuesday. “As a friendly neighbor, we sincerely hope all parties in Pakistan can proceed from the fundamental interest of the country and people, and resolve the problems through talks to maintain national stability,” he said. As Zardari returned from China Monday, he rang to different leaders for discussing the solution of the crisis. Included among them were Sirajul Haq, Mehmood Khan Achakzai, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and Maulana Fazlur Rehman. Maulana also highlighted the importance of the visit of Chinese President during his address to joint session on Tuesday. According to the insiders, PTI is likely to take back its resignations and Parliament will be made guarantor to ensure the implementation of recommendations to be made by the judicial commission set up to investigate the charges of election rigging. Zardari previously made headlines when went to Washington apparently on a private visit but had a ‘chance’ meeting with US Vice President Joe Biden on an Iftar dinner hosted by a Pakistani-American. As his visit started amid the brewing crisis with dates for long marches already announced with Imran Khan’s pledge not to return unless Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s resignation, it sparked debate coupled with speculations about the purpose of visit. Analysts thought it was aimed at seeking Washington’s intervention to save democratic dispensation. The impression was further strengthened after the disclosure of a PPP leader and Sindh Assembly’s deputy speaker Shehla Raza who said Washington was a guarantor of an agreement, part of NRO, under which army would not stage any coup for three –terms of democratic governments spanning 15-years.Umar Cheema
Pakistan: PPP warns legislators to stay alert of conspiracies against democracy
Pakistan: Aitzaz thanks PM Nawaz for apologizing over Nisar remarks
Pakistan-Punjab: As govt rides metro, rain sinks city
The Punjab government and the public have to suffer losses for delaying non-tangible projects like streamlining of underground drainage system every year.
Officials say the Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) and the Lahore Development Authority (LDA), city’s top civic agencies, have written to the chief executive office many times to allocate massive funds for the rehabilitation of city’s sanitation system but the government did not take the issue seriously.
“The government completed the metro bus project in 2012 just in 11 months to influence the public opinion in the May 2013 elections,” says the official.
“Despite knowing well about the miseries faced by the public in the monsoon rains, the government did not take any measure to address the issue.”Besides the metro bus project, the government also constructed underpasses, roads and overhead bridges but other civic projects are not on its menu, says the senior Wasa official.