Pakistan ranked fifth most unstable country

Pakistan is the world’s fifth most unstable country, better only than Iraq, Somalia, Afghanistan and Sudan in that order, says the US State Department. The department’s Global Peace Index (GPI), released on Wednesday, reports that Pakistan’s overall score deteriorated steadily for the second successive year and it slid three places into the bottom five. Pakistan’s overall rank now is 145 on a list of 149 countries. All South Asian nations occupy the lower half of the regional table, headed by Nepal, in 82nd place. India, although better than Pakistan, is also in the red zone and is ranked 128. Israel rose two places to 144th in the 2010 index. Now it is one place ahead of Pakistan.Ongoing internal conflicts and related security concerns in Afghanistan and Pakistan contribute to their low rankings. Embroiled in conflict and instability for much of the past two decades, Afghanistan remained far from peaceful during 2009. A sharp rise in Pakistan’s GPI indicator of the number of people killed in internal conflict and upward shifts in scores for the potential of terrorist acts, the likelihood of violent demonstrations and the homicide rate underline the extent to which the country became embroiled in violence that verged on civil war in 2009. Frequent suicide bombings and attacks by religious insurgents occurred throughout the year and across the country. Major offensives by the army against Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan in Swat valley and in South Waziristan forced more than two million people to flee their homes. Conflict also increasingly afflicted Balochistan, parts of Punjab, Sindh and Gilgit-Baltistan in 2009. The report notes that Pakistan’s score and rank did not fall further in part because of an improvement in the measure of relations with neighbouring countries, albeit from the lowest possible level, and a slight rise in political stability. The report points out that “overall, government level relations between India and Pakistan are much stronger than in the past, and the fact that India’s recent general election resulted in another government led by the Indian National Congress party means that Indian policy towards Pakistan will remain stable.” The report notes that when he reinstated Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, who was sacked in 2007, President Asif Ali Zardari “addressed the key source of recent political tensions, resolving a stand-off between the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) and Mr Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party.”

Will Afghanistan's Military Ever Be Fit to Fight?

Times.com When a fuel tanker overturned on Highway 1 outside Kandahar earlier this year, the villagers saw it as a gift from Allah. They flocked to the leaking tanker with pots, pans, even plastic bags, to steal the leaking gasoline. Several Afghan army jeeps screeched up, and the soldiers jumped out, pushing away the villagers. But not to protect the fuel: the Afghan soldiers simply wanted it for themselves. At a nearby base, American and Afghan officers were watching the scene from a guard tower. Outraged by the looting, an Afghan captain named Nasser grabbed his M-16 and charged out to confront the soldiers. When the soldiers argued back, the captain fired a few warning shots. A stray bullet sparked the gasoline, and the tanker exploded into a colossal fireball. The smoke clouds, U.S. Lieutenant Rajiv Srinivasan later blogged, "blackened the sky like a tornado moving from the ground up."Exhausted after arranging the medevac by helicopter of eight dead soldiers and countless injured, Srinivasan then had the bad luck to be hit by an Afghan army truck speeding around the base. As Srinivasan wrote in his blog, all his pent-up frustrations spilled out. He yanked the Afghan out of the truck and slammed him to the ground, yelling, "We're out here busting our asses for you, and you repay us by setting your own soldiers on fire and running me over with your trucks!" This tale is typical of the myriad frustrations the U.S. and its NATO allies face in trying to cobble together an Afghan national army out of nothing. Yet the success of the Obama Administration's full-throttle assault against the Taliban in its spiritual heartland of Kandahar hinges on getting the Afghan army on its feet and marching. And so does the likelihood of getting U.S. and NATO troops home anytime soon. It is a nearly impossible mission. Nine out of 10 Afghan enlisted recruits can't read a rifle-instruction manual or drive a car, according to NATO trainers. The officers' corps is fractured by rivalries: Soviet-era veterans vs. the former mujahedin rebels who fought them in the 1980s, Tajiks vs. Uzbeks, Hazaras and Pashtuns. Commanders routinely steal their enlisted men's salaries. Soldiers shake down civilians at road checkpoints and sell off their own American-supplied boots, blankets and guns at the bazaar — sometimes to the Taliban. Afghans, not surprisingly, run when they see the army coming. Recruits tend to go AWOL after their first leave, while one-quarter of those who stay in service are blitzed on hashish or heroin, according to an internal survey carried out by the Afghan National Army (ANA). One NATO major from Latvia, stationed in the north, complained to a TIME video team that when a battalion's combat tour was extended, three Afghan officers shot themselves in the foot to get medevacked out. As of April, the army had 119,400 troops; the plan is to reach 171,600 by October 2011, by which time U.S. soldiers will be heading back home. In the rush to get fresh recruits out of the barracks, basic training has been slashed from 10 weeks to eight. (In the U.S. Army, basic training lasts at least 14 weeks.) In trying to meet NATO deadlines for an Afghan troop buildup, Antonio Giustozzi, an Afghanistan expert at the London School of Economics, writes in a recent report, there is "the risk of churning out grossly unqualified soldiers or, as some are beginning to argue, cannon fodder." That's not a lot to show for the estimated $26 billion that the Pentagon says it has pumped into creating the Afghan security forces. And the cost is rising by another $1 billion every month. The man in charge of spending all this money is three-star general William Caldwell, a wiry Southerner with a lopsided grin and the energy of an entire army platoon. NATO officials, diplomats and military experts in Washington all say Caldwell has brought dynamism and focus to his enormous task since he took charge in late 2009. There is a new urgency: President Obama has pledged to start drawing down some U.S. forces from Afghanistan by the summer of 2011. Given a green light by the Pentagon, Caldwell has brought in hundreds more NATO trainers, many of them from the special forces. He is diversifying the Afghan army so that it is less reliant on NATO for logistical backup. His team is perfecting safeguards to make sure that Afghan commanders do not steal their men's salary, by sending the money electronically to soldiers' bank accounts. Recruitment is up, and the attrition rate — estimates of it range from 20% to 25% — is down from nearly 40% in 2002, according to the International Crisis Group. This is mainly because Caldwell raised the starting wage of a private to $165 a month, plus $45 for combat pay, which is enough for an Afghan to feed his family. It is also a notch higher than what the Taliban is paying its fighters.

Swat Valley — an eclipsed heaven

Dawn.com Life in present day Swat is brimming with innumerable insecurities. People have come back to their homes after going through ordeals of displacement, migration, helplessness, and closure of business and disrupted livelihood. Quite a few development initiatives are being undertaken in the area. But contrary to general impression, the situation in Swat is critical when it comes to people having chances of exercising their basic rights. Though the area has been declared safe, people are still in a state of confusion to appreciate it altogether. Independent reporting of public sufferings and grievances is almost non existent. It is feared that Taliban followers are hidden there under the disguise of civilians. People assume that they are being watched both by security forces and dormant militants. They are coerced to be ostentatious in their love for the country. The sentiment is painted everywhere with limestone, while a show of the national flag is mandatory to prove their allegiance to the state of Pakistan. People visit the graves of those brave stalwarts who scarified their lives while resisting Taliban hegemony. “It is hard to forget how Taliban butchered members of our tribal Jirga and how we were ignored by the government as no one came to console us, let aside rescue us from the wrath of savage Taliban,” said one aggrieved elderly man who lost eight family members during a scuffle with Taliban. The area still lacks roads, making life of poor villagers unbearable and expensive. In an emergency, they have to pay a large amount of money to private vehicle owners to carry their patient to nearby hospital, if there exists any. Somewhere in far off areas, dispensaries do exist but without technician, lady health visitor and above all medicine. In other words, health facilities, if any, are not available to the general public. Taliban were against girls’ education, hence girls who had to abandon their studies are experiencing long stretched period of depression, desolation and deprivation. Humanitarian development organisations like European Commission and Action Aid are assisting people in the rehabilitation process. Some vocational centres have also been set up that are providing young girls with an opportunity to sit together, discuss their issues, console one another and learn new skills of weaving and embroidery. All the schools that were destroyed, mostly of girls, have been replaced by Unicef with tent schools that are rendering the most invaluable thing to the people of Swat, i.e. education. Though people are busy in harvesting wheat crop and fruit plucking, they take time out to voluntarily undertake construction of roads and water channel expansion. There is a revolutionary zeal among the general public to avert further deterioration of their social fabric. They share the same experiences of miseries, sufferings and homelessness; therefore they are united in rebuilding their society with renewed energy, freshness and a progressive attitude. “Those were the most horrible days of my life when I was caught between the devil and deep sea. On the one side, there was the threat of Taliban and security forces and on the other side I could not muster up the courage to leave my ancestors’ home all alone and deserted. Since centuries, we have been living in our homes which we never vacated even once before the current catastrophic displacement. I hope the Taliban never come back to regain our region. I pray for peace and prosperity in my area,” said 85-year-old Chamman Gul of village Khararai, Union Council Matta. People of Swat are know to be the most mannered and hospitable people in Pakistan. They are very cooperative, trustworthy and friendly with anyone visiting their land. The scenic beauty of Swat is indescribable and awesome. The Swat river dances through all parts of the valley and enriches its soil. It is the responsibility of national and provincial governments to take lead in bringing peace and stability in Swat. The prevalent suffocation, fear, alienation, deprivation and under development necessitate a comprehensive development package for the people of Swat. Its tourism industry has sustained the most grave and irreparable loss. Magnificent hotels and restaurants are either closed or deserted. Hotels and restaurant owners are offering subsidised packages for tourists but people are still afraid to visit the area. It is disturbing that both national and international media failed to support the people of Swat in rehabilitation and resettlement process. Very few journalists are interested in visiting Swat independently and those who accompany the security forces are prone to be influenced by them, hence they are left with little chance of looking at the situation from people’s perspective. The media has a role to unearth the mysteries of development, rehabilitation and security. It will be a great help to people of Swat if the independent media takes up their cause of bringing life to normalcy.

Kandahar operation will take longer

The top commander in the largely stalemated Afghanistan war acknowledged Thursday that a crucial campaign to secure the region of the country where the Taliban insurgency was born will take longer than planned because local Afghans do not yet welcome the military-run operation. The operation to secure the Kandahar region will unfold more slowly and last longer than the military had planned, Gen. Stanley McChrystal said. The slower pace of the make-or-break operation reflects the reality that the Taliban is not a hated occupier in Kandahar, and the residents McChrystal is trying to protect do not universally want his help. "I do think it will happen more slowly than we had originally anticipated," McChrystal said. McChrystal predicted he can still demonstrate a turnaround in the war by year's end, as U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said this week is necessary to sustain public backing for a war now in its ninth year. Kandahar is Afghanistan's second-largest city and a key to the success of President Barack Obama's revamped war strategy, which focuses on turning local allegiances against the Taliban and toward the U.S.-backed central government in Kabul. Kandahar was always the place where that strategy was most starkly challenged, since the Taliban is a daily presence in neighborhoods and carries a significant level of popular support. A military and civilian campaign to neuter the Taliban began in the Kandahar region this spring, and had been expected to ramp up in June and largely conclude by August. It will now probably stretch far into the fall. "It will take a number of months for this to play out, but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing," McChrystal told reporters on the sidelines of a NATO meeting taking stock of the war. "I think it's more important that we get it right than we get it fast," he said. McChrystal said he has underestimated the amount of time needed to get local support, but the overall plan for Kandahar remains the same. NATO forces, working alongside Afghans, are reaching out to local business and political leaders and holding rap sessions known as shuras. McChrystal said he would attend a shura planned by Afghan President Hamid Karzai in the Kandahar region within a few days. "It's a deliberate process," McChrystal said. "It takes time to convince people." As recently as this week, military leaders had insisted there was no delay. McChrystal will update NATO defense ministers on the war, nearly a year to the day after he took over as senior commander. Gates was pressing NATO allies to provide more military advisers to train Afghan forces. The alliance should comply, NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said. NATO said it needs another 450 instructors to bring its training mission in Afghanistan to full strength. Some countries have dragged their feet and failed to dispatch as many police and army trainers as they pledged last year, generally blaming logistical issues for the shortfall. The Afghan army is expected to grow this year to 134,000 troops and the police to about 109,000 members. Plans call for the security forces to reach 300,000 by October 2011. The U.S.-led international force currently numbers about 122,000 troops. They face an estimated 25,000 to 30,000 insurgents. The two-day meeting of defense ministers from NATO's 28 member nations — and those from 18 other allied countries contributing troops to the 122,000-strong NATO force in Afghanistan — is intended to pave the way for the alliance's summit next November in Lisbon, Portugal.

Gore Daughter Karenna Separated From Husband

As Karenna Gore became the third member of the Gore family dynasty to pull back the curtain on her foundering marriage, friends of the once-golden Upper East Side-couple say they're saddened by the news, but not surprised. Wednesday, the 36-year-old Gore and her husband since 1997, Andrew Schiff, confirmed to various media outlets that they had been separated for several months and were in couples counseling. But friends wonder if they'll be able to find enough common ground to save their struggling marriage. "It's very sad," says one friend of the couple, who notes that a certain "tipping point" seems to have occurred in the Gore family when it comes to marital woes. In May 2009, Karenna's younger sister, TV writer Kristin Gore, filed for divorce from her husband; and a little over a year later, the girls' parents Al and Tipper Gore announced their separation. "I fell out of my chair" when he learned that the former Vice President and his wife were separating, says the friend, adding news of Karenna and Andrew's split was "not a surprise for me... I'm not saying they didn't love each other, but they got married so young, and I think what kept them together was their action-packed lives." Schiff is former doctor-turned-biotech venture capitalist. Gore was the Youth Outreach Chair for her father's campaign and got a $200,000 advance to write a book that grew out of her political activism called: "Lighting The Way: Nine Women Who Changed Modern America." The couple also managed to find time to raise three children. "There was always a next thing: an election, another child, a book, an Academy Award [which her father won for his documentary on global warming, "An Inconvenient Truth."]," the friend explains. "Once the music stopped, it was just them." However, another source close to the family tells Gatecrasher: "They are in marital counseling. They are working on things." The future said the source is "TBD: to be determined." Another confidant describes the couple as "lovely people, but restless souls--Karenna especially. I think she's always been looking for a place [IN THE SUN]for herself," the friend adds. "I think finding fulfillment in addition to raising a family is very difficult." In other Gore family news, Montecito Journal columnist Richard Mineards tells Gatecrasher that his lead column story today reports on the $8.75 million five-bedroom, nine-bathroom Spanish style mansion in Santa Barbara that the Gores purchased shortly before their split was made public. Mineards >sayse was told that the house, which sits on 1.5 choice acres in Montecito (home to Oprah Winfrey, Rob Lowe, John Cleese and Kirk Douglas,) was acquired "with the specific intention of giving Tipper a suitable home for herself after they announced their separation." Kalee Kreider, spokeswoman for the Gore family,tells Gatecrasher: "Neither the Gores nor the Schiffs intend to comment on reports today."

US soldiers charged with corruption in Afghanistan

Surghar Daily Two US soldiers and two other American nationals working for an Afghan contracting company have been charged in a money laundering and bribery case dating back to 2004. Charles Finch, 44, of Hawaii is accused of taking a 50,000-dollar bribe in exchange for influencing the awarding of a Pentagon trucking contract to AZ Corporation, an Afghan contracting firm, while based at Bagram, north of Kabul.His roommate at the air base, first sergeant Gary Canteen, 41, of Delaware, is accused of using his bank account to cover up the nature and source of the payment. "The indictment alleges that the owners of AZ Corporation, brothers Assad John Ramin, 40, and Tahir Ramin, 32, both of Pennsylvania, offered the bribe to Finch," a Justice Department statement said. The bribe was allegedly paid through the business account of Canteen, who passed on a portion of the funds to Finch. "According to the indictment, shortly after the money was delivered to Canteen, Finch recommended the award of the contract to AZ Corporation, which was awarded the contract," the Justice Department said. The brothers were charged in 2008 and 2009 for taking bribes in a similar contracting case involving the building of bunkers and barriers at Bagram.

Pentagon Acknowledges Downing of US Helicopter in Afghanistan

The Pentagon says the rare downing of an American helicopter in Afghanistan reflects the increased operations by both NATO and Taliban forces, and a spokesman says the attack on a supply convoy in Pakistan Wednesday was serious but will not significantly affect the Afghanistan effort. Taliban forces shot down the U.S. military helicopter during an operation in southern Helmand Province, one of the key areas where additional American troops are pouring in and operations are intensifying. Helmand and neighboring Kandahar have been the scenes of intense fighting in recent weeks, including a series of insurgent attacks this week in which 17 NATO troops have been killed, most of them Americans. Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman says it is rare for a U.S. helicopter to be shot down, but argues that one such incident does not indicate a trend or suggest any change in the strategic situation. He also says the United States never predicts casualty levels, but he acknowledges the higher operational tempo will likely result in more difficult weeks like this one. "We have active operations going on in Afghanistan. And we have more forces there than we've ever had in the past. And it is a period of time in which you'll see the Taliban try to conduct their own operations," said Whitman. "While we conduct our operations carefully and try to mitigate the risk in all of our operations, the fact of the matter is that we have taken some casualties. We've taken quite a few this week. It's been a tough week," the spokesman added. Also on Wednesday, gunmen attacked a commercial convoy of U.S. supplies while it sat at a truck stop in Pakistan, killing at least seven people and burning more than 50 containers of supplies. The convoy was part of an extensive contracting program that the U.S. military says transports about half the supplies for American troops in Afghanistan through Pakistan. Pakistani officials say the figure is even higher. But Whitman notes there are several other routes, including an air hub in Kyrgyzstan and overland routes through Russia. "It's not an insignificant attack," he stressed. "I don't want to try to minimize the fact that this was a very vicious attack on a large convoy. But in terms of impact on our operations, you can see that we have, obviously, a lot of redundancy built into our operations," said Whitman. Demands on the supply lines have increased sharply with the surge of U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan, which still has several thousand more troops to go.

Hamid Karzai 'has lost belief with US strategy in Afghanistan'

Sources close to Amrullah Saleh, the former head of intelligence services who resigned last weekend, claim Mr Karzai has lost confidence in the ability of Western forces to protect Afghanistan, and rather believes turning to Pakistan is the best chance of ending the Taliban insurgency. According to The Guardian, Mr Saleh, who was highly regarded within western circles, said Mr Karzai had long though this, but he became convinced around the time of the Afghanistan election which was blighted by fraud. "There came a time when [Karzai] lost his confidence in the capability of the coalition or even his own government [to protect] this country," an aide told the newspaper. Mr Saleh is also said to be concerned about Mr Karzai's attitude towards Pakistan, which has softened in recent months.His comments came as Robert Gates, the US defence secretary said support for the war in Afghanistan would evaporate before the end of the year if there is no significant breakthrough in the fight. Mr Gates said "stalemate" and the loss of "young men's lives" would not be tolerated unless the nations leading the eight-year battle against insurgents can show they were "making some headway" in the next six months. The pressure for success in Afghanistan was building as the death toll mounts with almost 300 British fatalities and more than 1,100 American, including four yesterday.Speaking in London, the US defence secretary warned that people should be prepared for a "high level of violence" in what he expected to be a "very difficult summer"."The one thing none of the public will tolerate is the perception of stalemate in which we're losing young men." Mr Gates said he expected to see signs of progress "by the end of the year" but cautioned that there were "no illusions" about quick victories. "In virtually all of the coalition countries, the publics are going to expect to see some progress this winter, some sign that we are moving in the right direction. "If we are making progress and it's clear that we have the right strategy then I think the people will be patient," Gates said.

Cameron hints at Afghanistan exit on visit to Kabul

www.timesonline.co.uk David Cameron said that he does not want British troops to stay a day longer than necessary as he flew into Afghanistan for the first time as Prime Minister today. On arrival - his fifth visit to the country - he gave his broadest hint yet that 10,000 UK troops would start to return home next year. Speaking at a press conference next to President Karzai, Mr Cameron said that this was ‘the vital year’ and the British public expected to see progress. A huge US-led military offensive is expected in the autumn, amid faltering attempts to get members of the Taleban to lay down their arms. "This is the vital year. This is the year when we have to make progress - progress for the sake of the Afghan people, but progress also on behalf of people back at home who want this to work," Mr Cameron said. "Nobody wants British troops to be in Afghanistan for a moment longer than is necessary," he added. "We should be asking all the time: 'Can we go faster?'" The Prime Minister touched down in Kabul hours after a bomb killed at least 39 at a wedding in the southern province of Kandahar, the single highest death toll from an incident since September. The visit also comes after a particularly difficult week for coalition forces with 23 international soldiers killed, including one British soldier in Helmand and four US servicemen killed when a Nato helicopter was shot down by insurgents. Mr Cameron admitted that not enough progress had been made in bringing security to Helmand, where the British have until recently been overseeing the military operation. He also said the initial justification for Nato forces going into Afghanistan no longer held true - “Clearly we have got rid of the terror training camps which were the reason we were there in the first place” - but said that Britain needed to continue to help the Afghan Government take responsibility for its own security. Mr Cameron also announced that he is committing an extra £67 million to help UK forces in Afghanistan counter the threat from home-made bombs. The funding will allow a doubling in the number of British teams dealing with improvised explosive devices (IEDs), which have become the Taleban’s most lethal weapon. He said: “My biggest duty as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is to our Armed Forces, to make sure that they have all the equipment and all the protection they need to do the absolutely vital job that they are doing here in Afghanistan. “I’m pleased to announce today that we will be spending an extra £67 million on countering the IED threat and actually doubling the number of British teams that are there to counter the threat from these explosive devices.” He added: “I’ve described this year - and the President, I know, agrees - in terms of the Nato mission in Afghanistan as the vital year. This is the year when we have to make progress - progress for the sake of the Afghan people, but progress also on behalf of people back at home who want this to work.” Mr Cameron said: “For me, the issue of Afghanistan is the most important foreign policy issue, the most important national security issue for my country.” He added: “I think there is progress being made, and we discussed that in our meeting, particularly progress that has been made in terms of driving al-Qaeda both out of Afghanistan and actually seriously damaging its interests in Pakistan. “It is through that prism of national security that I want to see this whole issue. Our overriding focus must be to help the Afghans and to help Afghanistan to take control of its own security and its own destiny. That should be our focus - a relentless focus on building up the Afghan National Army and helping the construction of a good and decent police force.” Mr Cameron said that alongside the Nato-led military surge which has been under way for six months, there must be a “proper political settlement”. He welcomed last week’s Kabul peace meeting - or jirga - at which Mr Karzai discussed proposals to encourage elements of the Taleban to rejoin the political mainstream. Mr Cameron flew in from Abu Dhabi, transferring from the airport in Kabul to the presidential palace by helicopter for meetings with Mr Karzai. The Prime Minister is being accompanied by Peter Ricketts, the new National Security Adviser, and Sir Jock Stirrup, chief of the defence staff. Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, and William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, are both visiting European capitals, which means that George Osborne is today the most senior government figure in the UK in the event of a major domestic incident. The coalition Government has been conducting a “deep dive” assessment of the military and aid effort in Afghanistan, now in its eighth year. Aides stressed that Mr Cameron’s visit was part of the reappraisal process and that the Prime Minister would concentrate on “taking stock”. However, with a US offensive planned in the Taleban heartland in the autumn and President Obama’s promise that some US troops will return home from July 2011, Mr Cameron has an opportunity to signal a corresponding drawdown of British troops. Mr Cameron has repeatedly said that he does not view the British military commitment as open-ended. In November he talked about imposing a “tight internal timetable”, while in April he said that Britain would put everything into the fight “this year and next year”. Mr Cameron has repeatedly said that he does not view the British military commitment as open-ended. In November he talked about imposing a "tight internal timetable", while in April he said that Britain would put everything into the fight "this year and next year". Asked whether he expected to send more soldiers to Afghanistan, he replied: "The issue of more troops is not remotely on the UK agenda. "We have just had quite a significant uplift, not just in terms of UK troops but also of US troops. In Helmand there are now over 20,000 US troops and 10,000 UK troops. I think it is important to let them get on with the very important work of delivering greater security in Helmand and making sure we have the right force density - the right number of troops - together with the Afghan national security forces throughout the province."

Undoing the past

thenews.com The chief justice's praise for parliament for undoing a change in the phrasing of the Objectives Resolution under the late General Ziaul Haq which removed the word 'freely' in the context of the right of religious minorities to practise their belief is welcome. Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry's observation represents the willingness of the court to look at both the pros and cons of the 18th Amendment and to offer applause where it is due. The whispered insinuations of bias obviously have no place. What is astounding is that the 'error' made by parliament in the Zia era, a period of 11 long years that will go down in history as the darkest phase for the minorities and many other vulnerable groups, had gone apparently 'unnoticed' for so long. This does not say much for the calibre of our legislators, the legal advisers of successive governments or indeed civil society. Perhaps it is a matter of priorities. No one who sat in parliament apparently saw the need to defend the position of minorities as significant. But there is another matter here. The removal of one word alone is insufficient. There is much else that is controversial as far as the set of laws we live our lives by is concerned. The Objectives Resolution is among such legislations. The time has come to consider the merits and demerits of Pakistan as a 'theological' state, which defines who is a Muslim and who is not and relegates non-Muslims to the status of lesser citizens through a set of provisions. The matter of citizenship has become secondary. Only a Muslim can hold the posts of president and prime minister. The exclusion of non-Muslims from the office of prime minister comes under the 18th Amendment. What one hand gives the other snatches away. It is time to examine the issue of minorities in our state far more closely. The nature of the Pakistani state needs to be defined. We must all remember that it was created as a place where all minorities would be safe and free from the kind of injustice the Muslim minority faced in a united India. Our politicians need to discover courage and principle. The Objectives Resolution, the blasphemy laws and many other measures that remain on the books must be looked at carefully. The chief justice's generous praise of parliament should encourage it to move further forward and work towards building a stronger and more united society. This after all is what the Founder of the State envisaged. It may still not be too late to move towards this goal.

Bajaur’s Barang area Hospital lacks staff, equipment

KHAR: The residents of Barang tehsil in Bajaur Agency have demanded of the government to provide medical staff and equipment to the Rural Health Centre (RHC). Villagers told The News that three doctors, two paramedics and two Class-IV workers had been working in the health facility since 2003. Only the in-charge of the hospital, Dr Niaz Bahadur, medical technicians, two nurses and Class-IV employees were, however, performing their duties regularly. They lamented that most of the gynaecology cases were being handled by the midwives because of the non-availability of lady doctor at the hospital. They added that an ambulance and generator had been approved by the government but still not provided to the RHC. A cleric, Mufti Muhammad Tayyab said he called on the political agent of Bajaur Agency and agency surgeon to resolve the problems of the hospital but to no avail. He said that the ambulance approved for the hospital was being used by staff of the Khar Headquarters Hospital. Pakistan People’s Party leader Sher Khaistam said the seriously ill or injured patients often died while being shifted to other hospitals. A tribal elder, Malik Hazrat Noor said the residents contacted the political agent and agency surgeon several times and discussed the issue but nothing was done so far. “Some 18 vacant posts of Class-IV have not yet been filled which indicates the lack of seriousness of the health authorities about improving the situation,” he lamented. Medical Superintendent Dr Niaz Bahadur said that he had discussed the matter with agency surgeon but no steps were taken to resolve the problems. When contacted, Additional Agency Surgeon Dr Zakir Hussain said Lady Doctor Mursha and Dr Shah Muneer were appointed two years ago. He disclosed that he had already warned them to regularly perform their duty at the hospital. “Now the only option left with us is to transfer or dismiss them,” he added. To a query, he admitted that the ambulance was being used by the medical staff of the Agency Headquarters Hospital though it had been approved for the RHC Barang tehsil.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa govt may present Rs300b tax-free budget on Saturday

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government is likely to present a tax-free budget of approximately Rs300 billion for the financial year of 2010-11 with 40 per cent increase in the Annual Development Programme (ADP). Provincial Minister for Finance Engineer Mohammad Hamayun Khan disclosed this while talking to this news agency. The budget would be presented in the provincial assembly on Saturday (June 12). Under the Seventh National Finance Commission (NFC) award, the resources of the province have been increased and the annual budget for financial year 2010-11 may be nearly Rs300 billion, said the minister. A large chunk of the development budget would focus on the development of social sector with priority on the provision of health and education sectors. He said the development of infrastructure is also the priority of the provincial government. The finance minister said the government is making efforts to create employment opportunities and announce a people-friendly budget. Regarding increase in the resources of the province, he said, under the Seventh NFC award the share of the province in the federal divisible pool has been increased and they would now receive 14.62 per cent of the federal resources. Similarly, he said, an amount of Rs15 billion would be paid from the undivided divisible pool under the head of expenses in the war on terror. Regarding the revival of the industrial sector, the minister said that before the budget the provincial government had consulted the business community and their input has also been included in the budget document. However, he said, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani has already announced a big package for the economic revival of the province. The provincial minister for finance said the resources of the province would be utilised for exploitation of the hydropower potential of the province. He said the production of hydropower would not only help overcome the prevailing energy crisis but would also create a permanent mean of revenue for the province. He said a handsome amount would be sanctioned for the exploitation of the hydropower potential. He said some schemes in this regard had already been approved while some others were in the process of the feasibility studies. The energy and power, he said, is important sector and its development is the dire need of the province. He said the first instalment of Rs25 billion under the head of the outstanding net hydel profit would be received in the first week of the next financial year. The minister said the provincial government is taking keen interest in the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the militancy and terrorism-affected Malakand division. In this regard, he hoped that the federal government and donor agencies would extend complete cooperation to the provincial government. Regarding burden of 50 per cent increase in the salaries of the government employees, the minister said the matter was under consideration at the provincial level.

More Active Sun Means Nasty Solar Storms Ahead

The sun is about to get a lot more active, which could have ill effects on Earth. So to prepare, top sun scientists met Tuesday to discuss the best ways to protect Earth's satellites and other vital systems from the coming solar storms. Solar storms occur when sunspots on our star erupt and spew out flumes of charged particles that can damage power systems. The sun's activity typically follows an 11-year cycle, and it looks to be coming out of a slump and gearing up for an active period. "The sun is waking up from a deep slumber, and in the next few years we expect to see much higher levels of solar activity," said Richard Fisher, head of NASA's Heliophysics Division. "At the same time, our technological society has developed an unprecedented sensitivity to solar storms. The intersection of these two issues is what we're getting together to discuss." Fisher and other experts met at the Space Weather Enterprise Forum, which took place in Washington, D.C., at the National Press Club. Bad news for gizmos People of the 21st century rely on high-tech systems for the basics of daily life. But smart power grids, GPS navigation, air travel, financial services and emergency radio communications can all be knocked out by intense solar activity. A major solar storm could cause twenty times more economic damage than Hurricane Katrina, warned the National Academy of Sciences in a 2008 report, "Severe Space Weather Events—Societal and Economic Impacts." Luckily, much of the damage can be mitigated if managers know a storm is coming. That's why better understanding of solar weather, and the ability to give advance warning, is especially important. Putting satellites in 'safe mode' and disconnecting transformers can protect electronics from damaging electrical surges. "Space weather forecasting is still in its infancy, but we're making rapid progress," said Thomas Bogdan, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)'s Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colo. Eyes on the sun NASA and NOAA work together to manage a fleet of satellites that monitor the sun and help to predict its changes. A pair of spacecraft called STEREO (Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory) is stationed on opposite sides of the sun, offering a combined view of 90 percent of the solar surface. In addition, SDO (the Solar Dynamics Observatory), which just launched in February 2010, is able to photograph solar active regions with unprecedented spectral, temporal and spatial resolution. Also, an old satellite called the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE), which launched in 1997, is still chugging along monitoring winds coming off the sun. And there are dozens more dedicated to solar science. "I believe we're on the threshold of a new era in which space weather can be as influential in our daily lives as ordinary terrestrial weather." Fisher said. "We take this very seriously indeed."

Now, five 'suicide bombers' walk free in Pakistan over absence of 'evidence'

In yet another case of militants walking free in Pakistan due to lack of evidence against them, an anti terrorist court here has acquitted five persons accused in various suicide bombings. The special court released Fasihullah, Imdad Hussain and Qasim Mushtaq, who were arrested for their alleged role in the suicide attack targeting the Islamabad district courts in March last year. Two other accused Tehseen Abbas and Faisal Mushtaq, who were accused of plotting the Aabpara Chowk bomb blast, were also set free by the court, The Daily Times reports. Last week, a local Peshawar court had acquitted four terror suspects after the prosecution failed to prove their involvement in blowing up of three government schools in the Nowshera District of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. Security officials had arrested four persons for destroying three schools, including a girls' school, in February, but the anti-terrorism court in Peshawar dismissed the case against all four accused, saying there is not enough evidence to prove their involvement in the destruction of the school buildings. Dozens of terror suspects have succeeded in getting bail from the Peshawar High Court in the last two months due to 'lack of evidence' them.

Obama pledges $400 million for Palestinians

President Obama pledged an infusion of $400 million in aid for housing, school construction and business development in the Palestinian territories Wednesday, saying after a one-on-one meeting with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas that the situation in Gaza is "inherently unstable." Obama had planned the White House meeting to talk mainly about the Middle East peace process. But in the aftermath of a deadly May 31 Israeli assault on an aid flotilla bound for the Gaza Strip, the two leaders ended up focusing instead on the blockade of Gaza and its effects on the people who live there. "We agree that Israelis have the right to prevent arms from entering into Gaza that can be used to launch attacks into Israeli territory," Obama told reporters after his meeting with Abbas in the White House. "But we also think that it is important for us to explore new mechanisms so that we can have goods and services, and economic development, and the ability of people to start their own businesses, and to grow the economy and provide opportunity within Gaza." The meeting between Obama and Abbas was scheduled before the attempt by activists to break Israel's naval blockade of Gaza ended in the deaths of nine of them during the takeover by Israeli commandos, provoking international outrage. In response, Israeli officials announced Wednesday that they would relax some border restrictions on Gaza, allowing in some snack foods and spices that had previously been off limits for delivery. Palestinian leaders dismissed the change as inconsequential because it does not allow more urgently needed items, such as fabric, fishing equipment, spare parts and electronics. The Obama administration's promise of aid includes money to increase access to clean drinking water, create jobs and build schools and affordable housing. State Department officials called the projects "a down payment" on the U.S. commitment to improving life in Gaza. Last year, U.S. officials pledged a total of $900 million for Gaza and the West Bank, but acknowledged the difficulty of distributing the funds, especially because Hamas controls Gaza and is considered a terrorist organization. The aid announced Wednesday may be distributed through organizations performing relief work, State Department officials said. Abbas said he saw Wednesday's aid pledge as a positive sign for Gaza and the West Bank. "This is a positive signal of the United States that the United States cares about the suffering of the people in Gaza and about the suffering of the Palestinian people," Abbas said. Yet he also emphasized the need to lift what he called the "Israeli siege of the Palestinian people" by opening all crossings into Gaza and ending the ban on building materials and humanitarian supplies. No amount of international aid will solve that problem, Obama suggested. Just as the status quo in Gaza unsustainable, he said, "the status quo with respect to the Middle East is unsustainable." "It is time for us to go ahead and move forward on a two-state solution that will affirm the needs of Israeli citizens and will affirm the needs of Palestinians who are desperate for a homeland," Obama said.

AS IF HELL FELL ON ME.THE HUMAN RIGHTS CRISIS IN NORTHWEST PAKISTAN

Amnesty International Full PDF report Link: http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/RMOI-86A2WE/$File/full_report.pdf The Taleban came here and settled here. Now they have a dispute with the government, and the government started taking actions against them. If we stand with the government the Taleban will hit us. If we stand with the Taleban the government will target us. If we don't stand with any of them, you can see how bad our situation is. It's going from bad to worse. Northwest Pakistan has been in the grip of a human rights and humanitarian crisis since 2004, when groups broadly aligned with the Taleban movement of Afghanistan began asserting control in the seven 'agencies' that comprise the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), and adjoining areas in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP). The mountainous terrain of FATA borders Afghanistan, adjoining the NWFP, which also shares some of its border with Afghanistan. (The NWFP was renamed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in April 2010, but NWFP persists among officials, locals and observers, and is used in this report to avoid confusion.) Based on Amnesty International's conservative analysis of credible, publicly available information, more than 1,300 civilians were killed in the course of the conflict in northwest Pakistan in 2009. The Pakistan-based Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS), and the International Institute for Strategic Studies, have both estimated more than 11,000 casualties. PIPS estimated that at least 1,565 civilians were killed in insurgent attacks alone in FATA and NWFP in 2009.2 Given the lack of information from many areas of northwest Pakistan, it is quite likely that the true number of civilians killed is significantly higher. In total, more than 8,500 people have died in the violence in northwest Pakistan in 2009, a sharp escalation from the previous year.3 Multiple accounts of battles and conflict zones provided to Amnesty International would suggest that this ratio of casualties understates the harm to civilians, but more detailed analyses must await better information, particularly from the Pakistani military. What is indisputably clear is that the range and ferocity of the conflict has risen considerably in the past two years.

Tribal Pakistan is a 'rights-free zone', Amnesty

bbc.com Millions of Pakistanis live in a "human rights-free zone" in the country's north-west, Amnesty International says. Residents of tribal areas face Taliban abuse and get no protection from the government, the rights group alleges. In a report, it says the Taliban secured their rule by killing elders and torturing teachers and aid workers. Over one million people have been displaced by fighting between the Pakistani military and the Taliban in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. Some 1,300 people were killed in the conflict during 2009. 'Abandoned' The 130-page Amnesty report, As if Hell Fell on Me, was based on nearly 300 interviews with residents of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and the surrounding areas. "Nearly four million people are effectively living under the Taliban in north-west Pakistan without rule of law and effectively abandoned by the Pakistani government," said Claudio Cordone, Amnesty's interim secretary-general. A teacher quoted in the report, who fled the Swat valley with his family in March 2009, described how the Taliban operated. "[The Taliban] took over my school and started to teach children about how to fight in Afghanistan. They kicked out the girls from school, told the men to grow their beards, threatened anybody they didn't like." The teacher said the government failed to protect them. "What's the point of having this huge army if it can't even protect us against a group of brutal fanatics?" Amnesty has documented what many civilians in north-west Pakistan have often been scared to openly say, the BBC's Aleem Maqbool reports from Islamabad. The report talks of systematic human rights abuses by the Taliban and accuses militants of increasing the likelihood of civilian casualties by dispersing themselves among civilians during clashes with government forces. But it also accuses the Pakistani army of not doing enough to avoid civilian casualties in its operations against militants, and the government of neglecting the basic needs of the millions of people living in the frontier regions close to Afghanistan. Amnesty has appealed to both the Taliban and the Pakistani government to end human rights abuses in north-west Pakistan. It has also called on Islamabad to reform the Pakistani constitution, which excludes the Fata from the legal and parliamentary system of the country. There was no immediate comment from Pakistan's government.

Gulf residents angry about BP and claims process

The financial toll of the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico escalated Wednesday as BP's stock plummeted to a 14-year low and fishermen, businesses and property owners who have filed damage claims with the company angrily complained of delays, excessive paperwork and skimpy payments that have put them on the verge of going under.
The oil company captured an ever larger-share of the crude gushing from the bottom of the sea and began bringing in more heavy equipment to help in the effort, including a production ship and a tanker from the North Sea that will allow the system to process larger quantities of oil and better withstand tropical storms.
The containment efforts played out as investors deserted BP amid fears that the company might be forced to suspend dividends, end up in bankruptcy and find itself overwhelmed by the cleanup costs, penalties, damage claims and lawsuits generated by the biggest oil spill in U.S. history.
Shrimpers, oystermen, seafood businesses, out-of-work drilling crews and the tourism industry all are lining up to get paid back the billions of dollars washed away by the disaster, and tempers have flared as locals direct outrage at BP over what they see as a tangle of red tape.
"Every day we call the adjuster eight or 10 times. There's no answer, no answering machine," said Regina Shipp, who has filed $33,000 in claims for lost business at her restaurant in Alabama. "If BP doesn't pay us within two months, we'll be out of business. We've got two kids."
An Alabama property owner who has lost vast sums of rental income angrily confronted a BP executive at a town meeting. The owner of a Mississippi seafood restaurant said she is desperately waiting for a check to come through because fewer customers come by for shrimp po-boys and oyster sandwiches.
Some locals see dark parallels to what happened after Hurricane Katrina, when they had to wait years to get reimbursed for losses.
"It really feels like we are getting a double whammy here. When does it end?" said Mark Glago, a New Orleans lawyer who is representing a fishing boat captain in a claim against BP.
BP spokesman Mark Proegler disputed any notion that the claims process is slow or that the company is dragging its feet.
Proegler said BP has cut the time to process claims and issue a check from 45 days to as little as 48 hours, provided the necessary documentation has been supplied. BP officials acknowledged that while no claims have been denied, thousands and thousands of claims had not been paid by late last week because the company required more documentation.
At the bottom of the sea, the containment cap on the ruptured well is capturing 630,000 gallons a day and pumping it to a ship at the surface, and the amount could nearly double by next week to roughly 1.17 million gallons, said Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, who is overseeing the crisis for the government.
A second drilling vessel that will arrive within days is expected to greatly boost capacity. BP also plans to bring in the tanker from the North Sea on Monday to help transport oil and an incinerator to burn off some of the crude. The tanker is currently used to shuttle oil from North Sea rigs to the shores of Scotland, and its deployment in the Gulf has been part of the broader plan to expand the amount of crude brought to the surface once a new and improved cap-and-collection system is installed over the leaking well.
The government has estimated 600,000 to 1.2 million gallons are leaking per day, but a scientist on a task force studying the flow said the actual rate may be between 798,000 gallons and 1.8 million.
Crews working at the site toiled under oppressive conditions as the heat index soared to 110 degrees and toxic vapors emanated from the depths. Fireboats were on hand to pour water on the surface to ease the fumes.
Allen also confronted BP over the complaints about the claims process, warning the company in a letter: "We need complete, ongoing transparency into BP's claims process including detailed information on how claims are being evaluated, how payment amounts are being calculated and how quickly claims are being processed."
The admiral this week created a team including officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help with the damage claims. It will send workers into Gulf communities to provide information about the process. He also planned to discuss the complaints with BP officials Wednesday.
Under federal law, BP is required to pay for a range of damage, including property losses and lost earnings. Residents and businesses can call a telephone line to report losses, file a claim online and seek help at one of 25 claims offices around the Gulf. Deckhands and other fishermen generally need to show a photo ID and documentation such as a pay stub showing how much money they typically earn.
To jump-start the process, BP was initially offering an immediate $2,500 to deckhands and $5,000 to fishing boat owners. Workers can receive additional compensation once their paperwork and larger claims are approved. BP said it has paid 18,000 claims so far and has hired 600 adjusters and operators to handle the cases.
The oil giant said it expects to spend $84 million through June alone to compensate people for lost wages and profits. That number could grow as new claims are received. When it is all over, BP could be looking at total liabilities in the billions, perhaps tens of billions, according to analysts.
BP stock dropped $5.45, or 16 percent, Wednesday — easily its worst day since the April 20 rig explosion that set off the spill. In the seven weeks since then, the company has lost half its market value.
The latest slide came after Interior Secretary Ken Salazar promised a Senate energy panel to ask BP to compensate energy companies for losses if they have to lay off workers or suffer economically because of the Obama administration's six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling.
Calculating what is owed to victims of the spill has proved challenging.
David Walter owns an Alabama company that makes artificial reefs that anglers buy and drop in the Gulf to attract fish, but state regulators stopped issuing permits for the reefs on May 4 because of the oil spill — effectively killing off $350,000 in expected business.
When Walter called a claims adjuster working for BP, he was told to provide four years of invoices for May, June and July along with tax returns for those years. Walter said he sent the forms by overnight mail, but the adjuster assigned to his case changed offices and could not be found. The documents were lost.
After making more inquiries, Walter said, he was instructed to gather the same documents and this time go to a claims office. There, an adjuster told Walter he would be eligible for only a $5,000 payment since his tax returns showed a technical business loss when depreciation was factored in.
"I said that's not fair because if you say that, then I have to go out of business and I lose everything," Walter said. He is now working with an accounting firm to calculate his losses.
Not everyone had complaints about the claims process.
Bart Harrison of Clay, Ala., filed his first claim on Wednesday morning for lost rental income on his coastal property and expected to have a check for $1,010 within a few hours. The only documentation required was tax returns and rental histories for his units, which were both easy to provide.
"The guy I talked to was knowledgeable and respectful. It seemed like he really wanted to write a check and please me since it was my first time in," Harrison said.

Obama looking for 'whose ass to kick'

cnn.com
President Barack Obama bluntly defended his administration's response to the undersea gusher fouling the Gulf of Mexico on Monday, telling an interviewer he has met with experts to learn "whose ass to kick." "I was down there a month ago, before most of these talking heads were even paying attention to the Gulf," Obama told NBC's "Today" show in an interview that aired Tuesday. "A month ago I was meeting with fishermen down there, standing in the rain talking about what a potential crisis this could be."
A variety of critics have accused Obama of being too cerebral in his reaction to the undersea gusher now fouling the Gulf of Mexico, of failing to put the full force of the administration and of putting too much trust in oil company BP. NBC's Matt Lauer asked Obama about the criticism that he should spend more time in the Gulf instead of with experts and "kick some butt."
Obama told NBC his deliberations have been more than academic.
"I don't sit around talking to experts because this is a college seminar," Obama continued. "We talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers, so I know whose ass to kick."
The disaster was uncorked by an explosion aboard the offshore oil rig Deepwater Horizon on April 20 that killed 11 workers. The rig sank two days later, and estimates of the amount of oil pouring into the gulf from the undersea blowout grew rapidly in the following week.
Obama made a May 2 visit to the Coast Guard command center in Venice, Louisiana, warning during a rain-spattered news conference that the problem may take "many days" to solve. The Coast Guard and the Department of the Interior, which oversees offshore oil drilling, were already heavily involved with well owner BP in trying to corral the leak.But by then, conservative commentators -- some of whom had defended the Bush administration's lackluster response to 2005's Hurricane Katrina -- were billing the disaster "Obama's Katrina," and complaints about the pace and the amount of muscle the White House has put behind the cleanup have come from a handful of Democrats as well.

North Korea leadership changes strong on family ties

cnn.com
Dramatic changes in North Korean leadership this week appear to be paving the way for an eventual transfer of power from leader Kim Jong Il to his youngest son, analysts say.

Jang Song Thaek, Kim's brother-in-law and long thought to be Kim's right-hand man, was promoted to vice-chairman of the powerful National Defense Commission at the Supreme People's Assembly, the communist nation's parliament, on Monday, the state-run Korean Central News Agency report.

Jang's appointment is crucial, according to Kim Sung-han, a professor at Korea University in Seoul, because he's seen as providing a support network for Kim's son and his nephew, Kim Jong Un. Not only is Jang family, but he's a top official in the military as the vice-chairman of the NDC.
His appointment signifies the power succession process is taking place and that he plays a key role as "liaison between the party and the military," said Kim Sung-han.
Parliament also named Choe Yong Rim as the country's new premier Monday, replacing Kim Yong Il. It was not immediately known why Kim, elected to the post in 2007, was removed in favor of Choe."The Prime Minister used to work with Kim Jong Il's father, Kim Il Sung. He is very close to the Kim family," said Han Park, a professor at the University of Georgia. "That has some succession implications.
"So, the fact that young Kim Jong Un, the presumed successor, is the son of Kim Jong Il and grandson of Kim Il Sung -- so that kind of legitimacy of authority stems from the family, as opposed to the person's capability or leadership ability," Park said.

Pak military provided Rs 110 billion more than bud estimates

Pakistan is planning to buy more fighter jets, surveillance planes and submarines and the nation's military has been allocated billions of rupees over and above the defence budget for making such high-end weapon purchases.
A part of the special funding for the defence will also go to provide more sophisticated weapons to the military for undertaking counter insurgency operations against Taliban militants in the country's restive north west.
Islamabad last week hiked defence spending for 2010-11 to Rs 442.2 billion ($ 5.18 billion) up from Rs 342.9 billion allocated in the last fiscal.
Besides the defence budget of Rs 442.2 billion for 2010-11, the government has allocated Rs 110 billion out of budget estimates for the Armed Forces Development Plan, ongoing anti-militancy operations and a key defence initiative.
The aim of this initiative is to enable the military to acquire fighter jets and surveillance aircraft, submarines and other weapons and technology to effectively counter external threats and terrorism.
Pakistan recently received upgraded F-16 fighter jets, P-3C Orion maritime reconnaissance and helicopter gunships from the US. But under new plans Islamabad wants to buy more submarines and other weapon systems.
Last year too, the government on the insistence of the military also provided an additional Rs 49 billion to meet the expenses of anti-militancy operations.
But now a whopping Rs 110 billion is being provided for military.
Media reports said, a sum of Rs 60 billion has been reserved for the Armed Forces Development Plan, which is aimed at equipping the armed forces with the latest technology and weapon systems. Islamabad has been reserving funds for the Armed Forces Development Plan for the past few years and the average annual allocation has been about Rs 100 billion.

Nato supply trucks torched by militants

Suspected Taliban gunmen torched 50 Nato supply trucks on the outskirts of Islamabad last night , killing at least seven people, in the most audacious assault yet on the military supply chain in Afghanistan.

Militants have regularly ambushed western supply convoys near the Afghan border, but this was the first attack near the Pakistani capital.

Police said at least 10 gunmen struck just before midnight at a depot in Tarnol, on the Grand Trunk Road that links Rawalpindi with Peshawar. They opened fire on the trucks, killing drivers and security personnel, before setting them alight.

Police arrived, sparking an exchange of fire, and the attackers escaped to the west on motorbikes and in small pickup trucks. At first light, six hours later, flames were still licking through the hulks of charred military vehicles and fuel tankers. Plumes of thick black smoke rose into the sky near the capital.

The assault called into question security arrangements in the capital, whose streets have become clogged with police and military checkposts since the Taliban stepped up their assault last year.

Police officers combing the area said they had arrested 26 suspects. "We are still trying to find out what happened," said Shah Nawaz, the police chief at Tarnol station.

Pakistani police often indiscriminately arrest people after major incidents only to release them later. The interior minister, Rehman Malik, ordered an inquiry within three days.

The convoy originated in the port of Karachi, 700 miles to the south, and was due to climb over the Khyber Pass into Afghanistan. Over 75% of military supplies for western troops in Afghanistan and 40% of fuel needs pass through Pakistan.

The supplies include food and vehicle but not usually weapons or ammunition, which are ferried by air.

Ambushes on Nato convoys in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, have declined in recent months following concerted army operations in the nearby Khyber and Orakzai tribal areas.

The last attack was in April when militants torched a dozen trucks and killed four police in northern Punjab, between Islamabad and Peshawar.

Many of the Nato supply runs are managed by trucking families from the tribal belt, particularly Waziristan and Khyber. A police source in Karachi said they ensured safe passage by paying protection money to militant groups on the 1,200-mile route.

However, it is impossible to pay off every group along the road. "When you reach here, it's a free for all," said Rahimullah Yusufzai, a veteran journalist in Peshawar. "You can't pay everyone off; and some groups are ideologically committed and won't take money."

The attacks are a costly irritant to Nato and an embarrassment to Pakistani security forces, although they have a limited impact on western military supplies due to the high volume of traffic.

Still, the US has started to explore new trucking routes through Central Asia, although these may require compromise with Russia, the regional power.

Ambassadors laud Pak Army’s successful operation in Swat

MINGORA: The ambassadors of 13 Islamic countries visited Swat on Tuesday and highly lauded the successful military operation by the Pakistan Army against militants.
The ambassadors of Libya, Malaysia, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkey, the UAE, Brunei Darussalam and Indonesia visited Mingora Circuit House where they were received by the in-charge of Operation Rah-e-Rast, Major General Asfaque Nadeem, who briefed them about the latest security situation and the sacrifices made by the Pakistan Army for the establishment of the government’s writ in Swat and Malakand. The visiting dignitaries were also briefed about developmental projects and the reconstruction and rehabilitation programme.
The foreign dignitaries were warmly received by the people of Swat when they arrived at Wadodia Hall, Saidu Sharif. The Wadodia hall had been decorated with flags of the Islamic countries.
The ambassadors said that relations between Pakistan and their countries are deep-rooted, friendly, and that they will continue to support Pakistan. They said that Pakistan and their countries enjoyed very close, friendly and strong relations, which, they added, would further grow with the passage of time

NATO helicopter shot down in Afghanistan; 4 killed

KABUL, Afghanistan – A NATO helicopter was shot down in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing four troops, the alliance said.
The helicopter was brought down by hostile fire in volatile Helmand province, NATO said in a statement. It gave no other details.
Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi claimed responsibility on behalf of the insurgents, saying militants shot down the helicopter with two rockets.
Helmand provincial government spokesman Daoud Ahmadi said the attack occurred about midday in Sangin province.
Both U.S. and British troops are operating in Helmand, part of a band of provinces across southern Afghanistan that are the Taliban's heartland.
United States troops have been building in the south as part of President Barack Obama's surge strategy to try to bring an end to the nearly nine-year-old insurgency.
Obama last December ordered some 30,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, and most of them are due to be deployed in the south.
U.S. commanders are planning a major operation in Kandahar that they hope will turn the tide of the war in time for American troops to begin withdrawing on Obama's stated timetable starting in July 2011. Helmand province abuts Kandahar.
Insurgents have stepped up attacks ahead of the Kandahar operation. The spike in violence has killed 28 NATO troops this month, including Wednesday's casualties.

Pakistan needs aid for development of tribal areas

ISLAMABAD, June 8 (APP): Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani said Pakistan needs aid from the international community to carry out its social and economic development programme for tribal areas. In an interview to a Belgian newspaper Le Soir, the Prime Minister said, “after the successful military operations, we now need a social and economic development programme.” He said the government has already measured local needs and damages done by the insurgents and schools, bridges and public buildings have to be constructed and it is now that they have to win the hearts and minds of the people.
He said, “We have told the European Union that we will need its aid.”
“We are looking beyond terrorism. We are going for a long run relationship with Europe. For the tribal zones, where we are militarily involved, we don’t only need Europe, but the whole world,” he added.
The Prime Minister said the present military efforts weigh on the economy and “we need an exit strategy: the military is not a solution”.
“The army shouldn’t stay longer than necessary in these zones ·
unless to install the authority,” he added.
To a question, he said, “We control the strongholds of the insurgents of South Waziristan, Orakzai, Malakand and Swat.”
The militants are in retreat, looking for places to establish themselves, territories where they could demoralize the Pakistani security forces, he added.
He pointed out the reaction of terrorists is to attack civil populations - weak targets, but the government is certainly not losing the control of the territory.
“We can find them for example in Sindh or Punjab. But that doesn’t mean that they control Punjab.”
To a question about the attack in Lahore on the Ahmadi community, the Prime Minister said Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) took protection of the minorities to the heart.
“For the first time we have appointed a minister from a minority - a Christian - who is in charge of minorities. After the attack took place, I sent him together with the Minister of Home Affairs to Lahore,” he added.
He said the government had condemned the attacks. The terrorists have no religion, no frontiers, their only agenda is to destabilize the country and that is why they want to provoke sectarian violence, he remarked.
Prime Minister Gilani said the attacks did not have a religious significance as the terrorists want to use sectarian conflicts as aninstrument.
“Besides, we are tackling the laws that are discriminatory against minorities,” he added.
He said during the previous Musharraf government he was in 1prison. “I even heard on the television during my detention that we are a country with an energy excess.”

He said in 1994 Benazir Bhutto had introduced a programme of IPPs, independent electrical power plants, that were strongly criticized by the opposition.

“But without these IPPs, the situation would be even more serious. Yes, we have problems of energy supply caused by a bad planning, inherited from the previous regime.”

The Prime Minister said to have new power projects, the government needs a time of three years, even in short term.

“In the medium term we have planned at five years and the long term at more than twenty years. We have explored everything: coal, water, thermo, solar, nuclear energy and windmills. It will take time. But we don’t have a deficit of more than 2000 MW,” he added.

How the iPhone 4's super-LCD works

Once he got his demo working, Steve Jobs dazzled the crowd Monday with one of the iPhone 4’s snazziest features: an ultra-high-resolution display that puts to shame any other cell phone on the market.

With a resolution of 960 x 640 pixels, the iPhone 4 crams more graphical ability into a 3.5-inch diagonal space than any other gizmo on earth (at least that anyone is aware of). With a density of 326 pixels per inch, Jobs claims it's better than the human eye can even detect at a standard viewing distance. In other words, if Jobs is correct, you’ll have to hold the phone right up to your face to see the iPhone 4's pixels at all.
Jobs called it the Retina display, but that’s not a technical term, just a snazzy marketing name for the screen.
What’s really behind the technology?
For starters, it’s a simple function of shrinking pixel size, something that engineers have been working on since the dawn of LCD technology. By shrinking pixels down smaller than ever, more can be packed onto a surface, and as long as the gadget has the video processing capability to support all those pixels, you’re going to get an awesome-looking experience.
But iPhone 4 has more than just raw pixels. Apple is also touting its optical lamination process, which basically adheres the glass directly on top of the LCD so there’s no gap between the two. As Displayblog explains, this "improves sharpness and clarity of the display by eliminating light refraction, which is caused by the small distance between the glass surface and the LCD that exists on pre-4 iPhones."
Finally there’s IPS, an acronym Jobs threw out but didn’t really explain. IPS stands for in-plane switching, and it’s an older technology dating to 1996 that was designed to allow for wider viewing angles on LCD devices. IPS was pricey, so it didn’t really catch on back in the day, but Apple brought IPS back with the iPad and is now extending it to the iPhone 4. It works by arranging the crystal structure within the LCD such that the crystals are parallel with the glass screen above. Traditional LCD screens have crystals at odd angles, which decreases brightness and makes viewing at odd angles difficult, but IPS corrects that problem by creating order from the chaos. You can dig deep into the technical details of IPS with PCTechGuide.

Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkey agree to enhance cooperation against terror

Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkey on Monday reiterated that terrorism is a crime against humanity and agreed on various steps to decisively counter the lethal nexus of terrorism, extremism and narcotics.The understanding was reached at a trilateral meeting of the three countries in Turkey, which was attended by Turkish Foreign Affairs Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Afghan Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Zalmai Rassoul and Foreign Minister Mahkdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi.The ministers of Afghanistan and Pakistan also condemned the Israeli aggression on the Freedom Flotilla, and underlined their solidarity with the government and people of Turkey. They also paid their condolences to the people of Turkey and families of the victims.The three ministers also condemned the terrorist attacks in their countries resulting in the loss of lives, and paid tribute to sacrifices made by the security forces in defending their citizens.The meeting took place on the basis of the decision taken at the Third Trilateral Summit held in Ankara on 1st April, 2009 to supplement the trilateral summit process.Referring to the decisions taken at the fourth trilateral summit held in Istanbul on 25 January 2010, the ministers underlined the importance to improve relations among their respective countries at all levels.The three leaders also discussed the implementation of the decisions taken at the previous summit.

Peace in Swat

Dawn Editorial
On Thursday, a statement released by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan welcomed the restoration of peace in Swat, citing the reports of a fact-finding team. This is encouraging and testifies to the Pakistan Army’s efforts since the military operation was launched last year. However, lasting stability hinges on several factors and requires more than the efforts of the army alone.
First, the security forces must refrain from adopting a ham-fisted approach. No illegal practices should be associated with the army. Yet the HRCP fact-finding team says that the security forces were in some areas committing human rights violations. These include extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detentions and the forced displacement of families of suspected militants. This is counterproductive and must cease since it tarnishes the image of the army while alienating the local people.
Secondly, the role played by the army in maintaining peace must slowly but surely be handed over to non- military agencies such as the police. The task of infrastructure development and rehabilitation must also be entrusted to civi- lian bodies. That the army repaired and rebuilt over 200 schools is praiseworthy, for instance, but sends the signal that civilian organisations are not in charge. The confidence of the people will not be restored unless the region appears safe enough for the army to be seen to be taking a back seat.
Third, the region needs a more efficient justice system. This will not only restore confidence in the state but also reduce the need for illegalities such as arbi-trary detention and extrajudicial killings. Only 57 of the nearly 3,000 cases registered against suspected militants since May 2009 have so far been decided, and there have been three convictions. This is unsurprising since there is only one anti-terrorism judge for the seven districts of Malakand division. Such deficiencies must be addressed if peace in Swat is to be sustainable.

Pakistan's heatwave and a deadly lack of energy policy

www.guardian.co.uk
From the whitewashed mansions of Clifton, Karachi, to the dusty village shacks in Gujar, Punjab, the two words heard most regularly on the lips of Pakistanis right now? Load-shedding, the political euphemism that is used by everyone – be they state official, liberal intellectual or housemaid – to discuss the country's long, daily blackouts. Power cuts and energy shortage are nothing new for the subcontinent; in six decades of being, Pakistan's infrastructure has never been able to cope with basic rate of growth and demand for energy – let alone been able to provide unlimited, uninterrupted electricity for its people. And yet, the country's current energy crisis is unprecedented: in the last two years it has become nothing short of a national disaster.
Just over a week since I arrived back in London – having spent six days criss-crossing the Punjabi province – and Pakistan is being held hostage to the most punishing heatwave in living memory. Record-breaking temperatures of 53C were recorded across the country last week, the death toll is consequentially rising even faster than the mercury. The heat is brutal, penetrative and unbearable to be caught outside in, but the real killer seems to be Pakistan's energy policy. Or, as it might be more accurately defined, the distinct lack of one.
Up to 12 hours of the day are routinely being endured without electricity across the country. Cities and villages take it in turns to have the lights turned out … to keep them on. Tolerating the current heat without power, without working fans, fridges, air conditioning (for those lucky enough to have afforded installation in the first place) and light, is not just a matter of inconvenience though: heatstroke, food poisoning and dehydration are killing in their hundreds while the death of livestock, paralysis of small and large business and the real threat to livelihoods and families is hurting further. The wealthy will switch on their generators to keep a running supply of power every time the electricity trips; the poor are simply left to swelter and suffer.
Foresight has rarely been a historic strength of Pakistani administrations, the last government failed to add a single megawatt of new power to the national grid under almost a decade of rule. The farcical current regime, led by Asif Ali Zardari, has been forced to scramble for a solution only to land itself between a rock and a nuclear place. An energy programme to tackle the problem long term, facilitated by the actual building of power plants and coal-mining projects (rather than through the financial aid pledged by Obama's administration), has been laid on the table by the Chinese government.
Given that the two countries would be co-operating in a civil nuclear programme to build several new nuclear power plants, the project has been met with the wholesale disapproval of the US government. China has cited the rules under its membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), which make it clear that no nuclear trade can be entered into with a country that has not signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. This, despite legislation being passed to enable similar nuclear trade between the US and India. Hypocritical twitchiness from the White House is nothing new. In this case, it does the US little favours in terms of its public perception from the region. Any attempt to block an essential power-generation deal between China and Pakistan will only be viewed with the same bitter contempt the public have for the daily US drone attacks to the country's tribal regions.
Pakistan consumed just 0.39% of the world's total electricity consumption last year, but energy providers such as Pepco (a nationalised company) are still unable to cope and meet the 4,000-5,000 megawatt shortfall in electricity needed to keep powering the country. No new dams have been built or planned for, although almost a third of the country's electricity is generated through hydropower. Meanwhile, the Thar coalfield in Sindh (the second largest province in Pakistan) contains an estimated 175 billion tonnes of deposits. If a Chinese-funded coal-mining power project is to go ahead, this could provide decades of cheap (albeit highly polluting) power. The country also has vast reserves of natural gas. And yet, with 65% of the country's supply delivered by thermal power – mostly generated through costly imported oil – no steps have been taken to switch to natural gas power production.
There is little doubt that Pakistan's ruling elite are to blame for short-sightedness, for being too greedily corrupt to install basic, decent utilities for the country's people. Now that moves could be made to correct this can only be a hopeful sign for the future. The Chinese policy, to offer trade and build projects rather than cash aid, is a sound one that further cements the historic relationship between the two countries. Unless the US has firm plans to propose a similar project, its intervention as a "special ally" is not only unwelcome but entirely unnecessary.

Karzai’s Isolation Worries Afghans and the West

New York Times
By ALISSA J. RUBIN
KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghan observers and Western officials are interpreting the forced resignations of Afghanistan’s two top security officials as another worrying sign of President Hamid Karzai’s increasingly impulsive decision making and deepening isolation from his backers, both within Afghanistan and abroad.
The two men who resigned over the weekend, Interior Minister Hanif Atmar and the intelligence director, Amrullah Saleh, had strong relationships with American and British officials and were seen as being among the most competent of his cabinet members, said several Western officials in Kabul. Mr. Saleh, in particular, had built an intelligence agency that the West had come to depend on in a region where reliable partners are hard to find, they said.
Their ready dismissals have left the sense that, in trying to ensure his own survival, Mr. Karzai will not hesitate to make decisions counter to the interests of his staunchest Western allies or the Afghan government as a whole, or even to make decisions that seem counter to his own long-term interests.
“This is the beginning of the unraveling of the Afghan government,” said Haron Meer, a political analyst and former aide to Ahmed Shah Massoud, the leader of the Northern Alliance, which fought the Taliban when they ruled Afghanistan.
“This is a signal that Mr. Karzai is oblivious about this situation,” he said. “Afghan people want a government where people are appointed based on merit, and instead he is doing the opposite. He is removing two of the best managers in his cabinet.”
To some, the forced departure of the two men is a troubling indication of the president’s mounting insecurity and his fear that even those closest to him are not looking out for him.
Compounding those fears is Mr. Karzai’s lack of faith in the Americans and his uncertainty about whether they will back him over the long term. That impression has been reinforced by President Obama’s pledge to start withdrawing troops in July 2011 and his administration’s arm’s-length relationship with President Karzai.
“The root of this is the perception that President Karzai got last year from the kind of cold reception that he got from the American administration, and that made him feel insecure,” said Ahmed Ali Jalali, who was Afghanistan’s interior minister from 2003 to 2005. He now teaches at the National Defense University in Washington.
The insecurity has left Mr. Karzai alternately lashing out in anger and searching for new allies, turning to Iran and elements within the Taliban. Both are antagonistic to American interests.
“He is trying to create new networks, new allies and contacts both inside the country and outside the country in case there’s a premature withdrawal, so a lot of this is more of a survival gesture,” Mr. Jalali said.
Since late March, the president has lashed out at the NATO coalition, accusing it of perpetrating fraud in the presidential election last year and for behaving in ways that made the Westerners seem almost like “invaders.” While the anger was glossed over in a visit to the United States in May, the distrust has remained, Western officials said.
At a peace convention, or jirga, last week, Mr. Karzai got an endorsement of his long-held plan to release Taliban prisoners. On Sunday, he issued a decree to release those held without enough evidence for trials, in an apparent effort to prove his bona fides to his enemies and show that he could deliver.
But such a move is highly controversial, both within the country and for the NATO coalition. Some of the Taliban held in Afghan and American detention have killed fellow Afghans; some have killed NATO troops.
Ostensibly Mr. Atmar and Mr. Saleh were forced to resign over security lapses during the jirga that allowed the Taliban to fire rockets at the opening ceremony. Beyond that, however, the two men and Mr. Karzai had a number of differences.
Mr. Saleh, whose National Directorate of Security runs detention centers that hold a number of detainees, was opposed to any casual release of Taliban fighters. In some cases his men died while capturing Taliban operatives with the assent of Mr. Karzai or his close aides, according to people close to the presidency.
Mr. Karzai appears determined to proceed anyway, without, in the view of his critics, getting anything in return. The move has heightened fears that he is grasping at straws in his effort to win political support from any quarter.
“It’s one thing if there is a grand bargain for peace that is endorsed by the Parliament, and on one side Karzai releases some Taliban and on the other side Afghanistan gets something,” said an Afghan businessman who closely watches politics, but who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he has business with Mr. Karzai’s government. “But what does he get for this? Nothing.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Karzai’s internal political support appears to be ebbing. During the election campaign, he garnered the support of Shiite Hazara leaders and the former commanders Karim Khalili and Hajji Muhammad Moheqiq, as well as the Uzbek commander Abdul Rashid Dostum.
All have since drifted away, and neither Mr. Dostum nor Mr. Moheqiq attended the peace jirga. While none of the former warlords are beloved in Afghanistan, Mr. Karzai had previously calculated that it was better to have them in the tent than outside it.
Now they are outside in any case, saying Mr. Karzai has failed to make good on promises to award their supporters powerful positions in the government in exchange for helping Mr. Karzai win re-election. While that is not Mr. Karzai’s fault — he tried, but many of his cabinet nominees were rejected — it has left him alone and reaching out to the Taliban.
“We don’t know what destination our government is going towards,” said Shukria Barakzai, a member of Parliament and a supporter of Mr. Karzai. “But unfortunately we are going backward, not forward.”

US audit says Afghan forces overrated: report

A US government audit has found deficiencies in the training of Afghan security forces, the Pentagon said Monday following a newspaper report that said their capabilities had been overrated.
The Financial Times said the findings of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction cast doubt on a 25 billion dollar effort to build up the country's security forces, a cornerstone of President Barack Obama's exit strategy.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman acknowledged that the audit, which has not been released yet, reviewed the adequacy of the training of the Afghan security forces and found "some shortcomings in there."
"I'm sure the command will be addressing it," he said.
General Stanley McChrystal, the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, immediately changed the method for assessing Afghan security forces upon being briefed on the audit findings, Susan Phalen, a spokeswoman for the auditors said.
However, she declined to say whether the audit found that the previous method had inflated the capabilities of the Afghanistan security forces.
Phalen said the report was in its final phase but was still under review.
The Financial Times said the report will say the standards used to appraise the Afghan military and police from 2005 until recently were woefully inadequate.
The old rating system measured forces on factors such as equipment and training rather than anything more accurately reflecting their fighting abilities, the audit will say, according to the FT.
"It became clear to us that the assessment wasn't giving a clear picture of the actual operational readiness of Afghan National Security Forces," said Colonel Dennis Devery, deputy director of the ANSF assistance bureau.The report looked at the surge in Afghan army units considered "fully capable" for combat. None met the standard before 2008, but 22 units were considered ready by May 2009.
"The system deliberately exaggerated the combat capacity of Afghan troops, and it disguised the true level of attrition and desertion," said Anthony Cordesman, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
A new assessment system is now in place, measuring troop units on their operational effectiveness.
Afghanistan's ability to take over responsibility for securing its borders and quelling the Taliban insurgency is seen as vital to Western plans to end engagement in a war NATO and its allies have been fighting since 2001.