Gondal warns Shahbaz against misuse of funds

Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentary leader in the Punjab Assembly Zulfiqar Gondal has urged the Punjab chief minister to refrain from misusing the development funds allocated in the provincial budget 2012-13 for various sectors on the PML-N’s election campaign. Speaking at the chamber of opposition leaders on Thursday, he said, the Punjab budget was a mere eyewash in which no relief was given to the poor, alleging that Shahbaz Sharif kept billions of rupees with him to run his party’s election campaign. Last year, he said, he had allocated Rs 9 million for the use of his helicopter while in this budget Rs 39 million were earmarked which he said consolidated their doubts that he would recklessly use the helicopter for his election campaign. He said the PML-N leadership’s blaming the federal government for load shedding was abstruse as his own government could not add a single megawatt of electricity to the national grid during the last four and a half years. Answering a question, Gondal said the Sharif brothers will not hold local body elections because they know the results will not be in their favour. He demanded the government to present a complete report regarding the Services Hospital fire in the House.

Mehdi Hassan laid to rest in Karachi

Funeral prayers of Ghazal maestro Mehdi Hassan was held on Friday amidst thousand of mourners. His Funeral prayers were held in an open ground near Noorani Mosque at the area of Ancholi in Karachi. Speaker National Assembly Nasir Ahmad Khoro, MQM, Pakistan People Party leaders and many singers, actors and stage drama actors, admirers and friends also attended the funeral prayer. After funeral prayers he was buried in Shah Muhammad Shah graveyard.

China open to political proposals on Syrian conflict

China is open to proposals on convening an international conference on Syria or establishing a contact group on Syria, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said here Thursday. Spokesman Liu Weimin made the remarks at a regular press conference when asked to comment on proposals raised by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Kofi Annan, the joint UN and Arab League special envoy for Syria. As killings have been reported almost every day in Syria, Lavrov proposed an international conference on Syria last Saturday. He said the international conference on Syria should become the "only framework" toward resolving the crisis in Syria and the only platform to implement the UN Security Council resolutions on Syria. Also last week, Annan proposed an international contact group to bring together key world countries to bring an early end to the Syrian conflict. "China advocates the international community adhering to the general direction of seeking a political resolution to the Syrian conflict," said Liu. He called on the international community to provide full support for Annan's mediation efforts and promote the implementation of relevant UN Security Council resolutions as well as Annan's six-point plan. "China is willing to maintain contact with all relevant parties on the above proposals," he said. China has repeatedly said that it has no intention of siding with any Syrian party, and the Syrian people have the right to decide Syria's development path and political system, Liu said. As long as consensus is made among different parties in Syria through political dialogue and can be accepted by all Syrian parties and the international community, China will be open to it, he noted. On one hand, China hopes Annan's mediation efforts will make more progress as soon as possible. On the other hand, China calls for patience and international solidarity, given the complicated situation in Syria, said the spokesman. He reiterated that international actions on Syria should be conducive to easing tensions in the country, promoting a political resolution to the issue and maintaining peace and stability in the Middle East region. He again urged all Syrian parties to cooperate with the UN Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS), put an end to all forms of violence and protect civilians, so as to defuse tensions at an early date. "China disapproves of one-sided sanctions or pressure in the settlement of the Syrian conflict," he added.

MEHDI HASSAN:Mujhey tum kabhi bhi bhula na sako ge

Legendary classical singer Mehdi Hassan, who captivated millions of fans across the world, passed away on Wednesday after a long illness. Mehdi, also known as Shahenshah-e-Ghazal (King of Ghazal Singing), died in a private hospital. He had been suffering from multiple lung, chest and urinary tract conditions. Mehdi Hassan had been under treatment at hospitals for a while and there had also been reports of shifting him to India. He was admitted at the Aga Khan Hospital for the past couple of weeks after he had developed a chest infection and other related problems. He passed away after he was shifted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Mehdi Hassan was born in a well-known family of musicians at Luna village, India, in 1927. His family migrated to Pakistan after 1947. He had been awarded Tamgha-e-Imtiaz, Pride of Performance and Hilal-e-Imtiaz by the Pakistani government. Talking to the media outside the Aga Khan Hospital, Asif Mehdi, a son of Mehdi Hassan, said his father had a number of complications and had been admitted for treatment for a month. He said keeping in mind the age factor, his father was getting weak and suffering from a number of health problems, including with lungs and chest. Stating the arrangements for the funeral were to be finalised soon, Asif said his brothers would reach Karachi shortly. President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani paid glowing tribute to the legendary singer. The president said Mehdi Hassan was an institution in himself and would always remain a beacon for the young artistes to learn from his mastery of singing. Prime Minister Gilani said, “Mehdi Hassan is an icon, who mesmerised the music lovers not only in Pakistan but also in the Subcontinent for many decades.” Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan and Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah have also offered condolences to the bereaved family. MQM chief Altaf Hussain Altaf Hussain said the void created by his departure would never be filled and the nation had lost a great asset. He said Mehdi Hassan was the most towering personality in the field of ghazal singing in the world and he strengthened brotherly relations between the people of Pakistan and India with his unmatched singing. PTI Chairman Imran Khan, Khyber Pk Chief Minister Amir Haider Khan Hoti, ANP Sindh President Senator Shahi Syed, Sindh Minister for Social Welfare Begum Nargis ND Khan, Advisor to Chief Minister Haleem Adil Shaikh and people belonging to different walks of life expressed grief over the death of Mehdi Hassan and offered condolences to the bereaved family. Expressing his sorrow, film star Nadeem Baig said Mehdi Hassan’s demise was a big loss, adding that a voice like his might never be heard again. “I had been humming one of Hassan’s songs in the morning today and it was later that I had heard about his demise,” the renowned actor said. He added that he was blessed to have had the opportunity to perform on his songs in films. Nadeem also recalled that the maestro had encouraged him to sing and promised to teach him. Ghazal singer Tina Sani said Mehdi was a legend even during his lifetime. “I have no words except for God bless him,” said Sani. She said the Shahenshah-e-Ghazal had given the world a legacy and he was a ‘passport’ for the people like her when they went abroad to perform. Shahenshah-e-Ghazal Mehdi Hasan, also known as Khan Sahib, was quite possibly the most prolific ghazal singer the country and the sub-continent ever had. The maestro’s voice was as legendary as it was magical. He was the recipient of the Tamgha-e-Imtiaz by General Ayub Khan, Pride of Performance by General Ziaul Haq in 1985 and the Hilal-e-Imtiaz by General Pervez Musharraf. In 1979, he was awarded the Saigal Award in India and the Ghorka Dakshan Bahu Award by Nepal in 1983. He had collected innumerable accolades and awards over the course of his career, which also includes nine Nigar awards, six of which were won in a row and also the Lifetime Achievement Award from the PTV Karachi in 2001. Khan Sahib was especially known for his clarity of pronunciation and his absolute command over Urdu lyrics and the finesse, with which he delivered them, was unlike any other. His smooth and rich vocals had cast a very strong and very important influence on the popularity and development of ghazal in the subcontinent. Mehdi Hasan was equally popular in Pakistan, India and Nepal. The former Indian prime minister AtaI Bihari Vajpayee was among his ardent admirers and had especially invited him over to sing at his residence in 1978. Once during the course of a performance in the court of Nepalese King, Khan Sahib forgot the lyrics, but the King Shah Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev paid him tribute by prompting the lyrics for him. Born in Luna, India, in 1927, his family ancestry consisted of proficient classical musicians since fifteen generations hailing from Kalawant. His father Ustad Azeem Khan tutored him on his initial music lessons based on the style intricacies of dhrupad, khayal, thumri and dadra. His father and uncle, Ustad Ismail Khan, were accomplished classical singers and his uncle had also had a profound impact on his musical training. Mehdi Hassan’s talent wasn’t unnoticed for he had given his first solo performance at the age of five at Mahraja Barodi’s palace and had also been appreciated by the Maharaja of Jaipur. Mehdi Hasan and his family have seen their fair share of struggles. When 20, Mehdi and his family migrated to Pakistan. The family was hard-pressed financially and Mehdi Hasan took up job as a mechanic in Khushab for livelihood. It was in 1952, after the family had moved to Karachi, that Mehdi got his first break on Radio Pakistan with debut ghazal was “Gulon mein rang bharay baad e nau bahar chalay”, composed by his elder brother Ghulam Qadir. He had initially sung thumris on radio, which inevitably got the attention of music personalities. Rafiq Anwar and ZA Bukhari played a great role in kick-starting his career by providing him with opportunities to sing on the radio. “Mujhey tum kabhi bhi bhula na sako ge”, “Ranjish hi sahi”, “Hum chaley iss jahan sey”, “Ko baku phel gaye baat shanasai ki” and others are among his famous songs and ghazals. Parallel to his thumri renditions, Mehdi Hasan tried his hand at ghazals spurred by his passion for Urdu poetry. During this time, names such as Begum Akhtar, Ustad Barkat Au Khan and Mukhtar Begum were well established in the ghazal arena. Over the years, the Pakistani film industry had benefitted from innumerable hits during his career as a playback singing through 1960s to late 1980s. Mehdi Hasan was a truly gifted artist. The late Parvez Mehdi and Talat Aziz were his famous students who learnt from the great maestro. Over the time, Mehdi Hasan had made the poetry of Ghalib, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Qateel Shifai, Ahmed Faraz, Daagh, Parveen Shakir, Mir Taqi Mir, Saleem Kauser, Bahadur Shah Zafar and others come alive with his unique vocals. Khan Sahib performed all across the globe. But in 1980s, he began to wane his playback singing and performances due to ailing health. General Pervez Musharraf had declared that all the expenses for his treatment would be incurred by the government. He had even been invited to India by Atal Bihar Vajpayee for treatment. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting was also willing to pay all medical expenses for the treatment of Ghazal maestro, but in 2004 his sons Asif and Arif claimed that they received no grants save for the amount given by Pervez Musharraf that was stolen soon after. They also said that they were not the beneficiary of the concerts held in their father’s honour to raise funds for his treatment. The sad demise of Mehdi Hasan brings to close a golden chapter in the music history of the subcontinent.

Karzai urges more international support for Afghanistan

Afghan President Hamid Karzai called Thursday for greater international cooperation to stabilise his war-torn country and defeat Islamist militants, during the latest round of talks on the future of Afghanistan. Representatives from 29 countries gathered in Kabul for the day-long conference, just weeks after NATO agreed at a summit in Chicago to stick to plans to withdraw the bulk of 130,000 foreign combat troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014. The conflict in Syria is also expected to feature prominently in meetings between foreign ministers on Thursday -- including those from Britain and Russia. The Taliban militia leading a 10-year insurgency against Karzai's government have begun this year's annual fighting season with a series of attacks which saw US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta admit last week that violence was rising. Karzai said the help of neighbouring countries and international powers was vital to economic growth and peace in his impoverished country. He also called on Pakistan, one of the historic sponsors of the Taliban, directly to support nascent efforts to end the 10-year war in Afghanistan. "Support from these global powers and our neighbours is very important to Afghanistan and to the continued progress of Afghanistan towards stability and economic development," Karzai told delegates. "Cooperation of all of us countries in the region, the neighbours, and our allies and NATO that will bring stability not only to Afghanistan but the much-needed relief from terrorism and radicalism and violence." He also sought to reassure neighbours, Iran in particular, that strategic partnership deals signed by Kabul with several Western powers, particularly the United States, to govern relations beyond 2014, would not damage ties. But Iran, a sworn enemy of the United States that welcomes NATO's departure from its eastern border, alluded to the Kabul-Washington pact by saying it adds to security concerns among Afghanistan's neighbouring countries. Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said the deal and efforts to establish foreign military bases in Afghanistan ran counter to peace efforts and "could turn this country once again into scene of security rivalries". Karzai is keen to broker a peace deal with the Taliban, but the militants publicly refuse to talk to his government. Earlier this year, it also announced that it had pulled the plug on nascent contacts with the Americans in Qatar. The president said the head of the Afghan High Peace Council would soon visit Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, but gave no dates, and urged Islamabad to support peace efforts. Afghanistan's relations with Pakistan have been clouded by mutual blame for Islamist violence plaguing both countries. Karzai has consistently called on Pakistan to demolish terror sanctuaries in its semi-autonomous tribal belt. Last week, Panetta also warned that the United States was running out of patience with Pakistan for not eliminating safe-havens of the Pakistan-based Haqqani network and other militants who attack US troops. Islamabad denies any support for Haqqani activities and says it is doing everything possible to fight terrorism, saying no country has suffered more. British Foreign Minister William Hague said he would use talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of the conference to press Moscow to use its influence to rein in the Syrian regime. Monitors say more than 14,100 people have been killed in the 15-month uprising against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and Moscow, long an ally of Damascus, has refused to halt weapons sales. A row blew up Wednesday between Washington and Moscow over arming the rivals in the Syrian conflict after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she had information that Russia was sending attack helicopters to Assad's regime. Lavrov insisted Russia was supplying "anti-air defence systems" to Damascus and accused the United States of supplying arms to the Syrian opposition. The next talks on Afghanistan will be in Tokyo next month and will focus on ways to ensure social progress -- governance, economic prospects, health and education.

Malik Riaz’s tirade

EDITORIAL:DAILY TIMES

A virtual storm has overtaken the country as a result of the tirade launched by property tycoon Malik Riaz in his press conference following his appearance before the Supreme Court (SC) in the Arsalan Iftikhar case. Although Malik Riaz’s written statement submitted before the SC had levelled serious charges of being blackmailed by Arsalan Iftikhar out of millions of rupees in cash and other benefits, his demeanour before the court gave no hint of what was to follow. In his press conference, Malik Riaz shifted his line of attack from the son to the father, from Arsalan to the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry. Malik Riaz posed three questions directly to the CJP. First, he asked the CJP to tell the nation how many times he had met him in the darkness of the night? Second, was Arsalan not present in these meetings? Third, how many times had the CJP met Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani at Malik Riaz’s partner Ahmed Khalil’s residence, where the sitting registrar of the SC was also present? According to Malik Riaz, a sitting judge of the SC also used to participate in these meetings. Why did the CJP not take suo motu notice then, and only after the media broke the news, asked Malik Riaz. When did the CJP come to know of Arsalan’s wrongdoings, he asked? (Aitzaz Ahsan has stated that he had informed the CJP of the rumours swirling about Arsalan’s business dealings six months ago.) Malik Riaz says a mutual friend of his and the CJP told the latter about the blackmailing of his son but the CJP refuted this and labelled Malik Riaz himself a blackmailer. These statements are startling enough, but Malik Riaz then descended to some wild and incredible assertions. He said the CJP should not have taken up cases against him, implying that since he was being blackmailed by his son, justice would be compromised. He claims the FIA was ordered to implicate him in a murder case, without clarifying who might be interested in such a step. The FIA is controlled by the federal government, the top leaders of the ruling party, President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani being Malik Riaz’s friends, according to his own admission. Who then could have so ordered the FIA? In the next breath Malik Riaz exonerates by implication both the PPP-led federal government and the military from any responsibility for this ‘tsunami’ by declaring there is no ‘third party’ behind the controversy. Though he claims he did not bribe anyone, but was blackmailed, in the next breath he admits his son-in-law did pay bribes! Last but not least, and possibly the piece de resistance, he asserts that the judiciary is not free but being run by a ‘don’, i.e. Arsalan Iftikhar! He ends by promising more startling revelations “in due time”. In response to the diatribe of Malik Riaz, the CJP has taken suo motu notice of the press conference, set up a three-member bench to charge Riaz with contempt, and called a full court meeting of the SC on June 15. No one is in a position presently to ascertain the truth or otherwise of Malik Riaz’s charges, but the fact remains that a distinction needs to be made between what appear prima facie to be serious allegations against the CJP and his son, and wild statements that do not stand up to logic or scrutiny. Both serious allegations and wild statements however have dragged the judiciary into the mud. Whatever the CJP and the SC do in their defence and in defence of the respect and dignity of the judiciary, the taint of accusation will be difficult to jettison or wash clean. It would be in the interests of justice, the respect and dignity of the judiciary, and the country if the CJP were to contemplate stepping aside or at the very least going on leave until the whole matter is cleared up. The charges are too serious and the personage being attacked, the CJP, too important to allow the affair to be expediently dealt with. The truth must be brought out without fear or favour, and all those involved receive their just desserts according to their guilt or innocence as determined by a thorough investigation and final pronouncement by the apex court to salvage something of its battered image. *

Lahore: Girl allegedly gang raped by police

dunyaTv

A court bailiff raided the Factory Area police station and recovered the girl. As per details, the girl along with her brother was going to Walton in a rickshaw when they were stopped by police personnel at a check post on the pretext of checking. Police reportedly misbehaved with them. Later, the officials took them to police station and asked them to deposit Rs 50,000 bribe. Over refusal to pay, the girl was allegedly raped by four police personnel identified as Maqsood, Shehzad, Amin and Munawar. A court bailiff – upon complaint filed by victim s brother - raided Fatory Area police station and recovered the girl. A case has been registered against the policemen, however, no arrest has been made.

India advances, but many women still trapped in dark ages

The birth of a girl, so goes a popular Hindu saying, is akin to the arrival of Lakshmi – the four-armed goddess of wealth, often depicted holding lotus flowers and an overflowing pot of gold. That should assure pride of place for women in Indian society, especially now the country is growing both in global influence and affluence. In reality, India’s women are discriminated against, abused and even killed on a scale unparalleled in the top 19 economies of the world, according to a new poll by the Thomson Reuters Foundation. The survey, polling 370 gender specialists, found Canada to be the best place to be a woman amongst G20 nations, excluding the European Union economic grouping. Saudi Arabia was the second worst, after India.It’s a miracle a woman survives in India. Even before she is born, she is at risk of being aborted due to our obsession for sons,” said Shemeer Padinzjharedil, who runs Maps4aid.com, a website which maps and documents crimes against women. “As a child, she faces abuse, rape and early marriage and even when she marries, she is killed for dowry. If she survives all of this, as a widow she is discriminated against and given no rights over inheritance or property.” Many of the crimes against women are in India’s heavily populated northern plains, where, in parts, there is a deep-rooted mindset that women are inferior and must be restricted to being homemakers and childbearers. In addition, age-old customs such as payment of hefty dowries at the time of marriage and beliefs linking a female’s sexual behavior to family honor have made girls seem a burden. The poll results – based on parameters such as quality of health services, threat of physical and sexual violence, level of political voice, and access to property and land rights – jars with the modern-day image of India. India had a female prime minister, or head of government, as long ago as 1966. Well-dressed women in Western attire driving scooters or cars to work is now an everyday sight in cities. Women doctors, lawyers, police officers and bureaucrats are common. Millions Aborted But scratch under the surface and the threats in India are manifold – from female foeticide, child marriage, dowry and honor killings to discrimination in health and education and crimes such as rape, domestic violence and human trafficking. Indeed, a girl’s fight for survival begins in the womb due to an overwhelming desire for sons and fear of dowry, which has resulted in 12 million girls being aborted over the last three decades, according to a 2011 study by The Lancet. This has led to a decline in the number of women in proportion to men in many areas, resulting in a rise in rapes, human trafficking and, in certain cases, practices such as “wife-sharing” amongst brothers. In fact, the curse of dowry continues even after marriage. One bride was murdered every hour over dowry demands in 2010, says the National Crime Records Bureau. Some are “stove burnings” where in-laws pour kerosene, the commonly-used cooking fuel of poorer homes; over women and set them alight, making it appear accidental. “The courts are flooded with cases of gender-related crimes,” said retired Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju. He said honor and dowry murders should be punished with death. “These are not normal crimes. These are social crimes because they disrupt the entire social fabric of the community. When you commit crimes against women, it has a lasting impact.” Experts say child marriage remains among the biggest hurdles to women’s development in India and has a domino effect. Almost 45 percent of Indian girls are married before they turn 18, says the International Center for Research on Women. A child bride will drop out of school and is more likely to have complications during child birth. One in five Indian women, many child mothers, die during pregnancy or child birth, the United Nations says. Their babies, if they survive, are more likely to be underweight and suffer stunting due to poor nourishment. Many will be lucky to survive beyond the age of five. In the narrow, crowded alleyways of Sapara slum on the outskirts of Delhi, 15-year-old newly married Aarti has never been to school and says she was married off because her father has tuberculosis and couldn’t work or afford to look after her. “I said no, but my mother said my father was sick, so I had no choice,” Aarti said, wearing the traditional bright red bangles of new Hindu brides. “I spent my time doing domestic chores. I like to play with dolls … but my grandmother has taken them away now. She says I don’t need them anymore.” TWO INDIAS Indian authorities have also struggled to combat rising crimes against women, including domestic violence, molestation, trafficking and rape. Reports of women being snatched from the streets and gang-raped in moving cars are frequent in Delhi and its neighborhood. Newspaper reports are full of stories of trafficking and sexual exploitation. In many cases, violence against women has a level of social acceptability. A government survey found 51 percent of Indian men and 54 percent of women justified wife beating. India has robust gender laws, but they are hardly enforced, partly because a feudal mindset is as prevalent among bureaucrats, magistrates and the police as it is elsewhere. Politicians are also unwilling to crack down on customary biases against women for fear of losing conservative votes. “The inheritance law was reformed in 2005, bringing women’s legal equality in agricultural land. In reality, however, less than 10 percent women own some kind of land,” said Govind Kelkar from land rights group, Landesa India. “This is starker as 84 percent of rural women are engaged in agricultural production. There is policy silence on the implementation of laws for women’s rights.” Some gains are being made, primarily by instituting gender-sensitive laws and social schemes as well as boosting the number of girls in primary schools, the workforce and village politics, experts say. More than two decades of economic liberalization has also helped empower women, and as India has opened up, Western ideas of equality have permeated towns and cities. The country’s top political positions are held by women, including the head of the main ruling party, Sonia Gandhi, and the country’s outgoing president, Pratibha Patil. “There are two Indias: one where we can see more equality and prosperity for women, but another where the vast majority of women are living with no choice, voice or rights,” said Sushma Kapoor, South Asia deputy director for U.N. Women. Gender experts say the challenges are immense, given India’s vast population of 1.2 billion, its diversity, and geographical spread. But they add they are not insurmountable. Tiny pockets show positive change by giving women opportunities such as access to higher education, vocational training and finance – tools that should transform the perception of women as burdens to assets. A new Oprah Winfrey-style television talk show called “Satyamev Jayate” (Truth alone prevails), hosted by popular Bollywood actor Aamir Khan, has in recent weeks focused on issues such as foeticide, and dowry and honor killings. The shows have won wide acclaim and stirred debate in the media, but experts say the efforts to increase awareness in Indian society as a whole need to be sustained. “Laws alone can only play 20 percent of the role in empowering women in this country,” said judge Katju. “Eighty percent of the role will be played by education, by changing the mindset, the mentality of men who are still to a large extent feudal-minded which means they regard women as inferior.”

Russia defends weapons sales to Syria, says U.S. arming rebels

Russia's foreign minister on Wednesday defended his country's sale of arms to Syria and accused the United States of supplying rebels with weapons to fight against the government. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday Washington was worried Russia may be sending attack helicopters to Syria and described as "patently untrue" Moscow's argument that its arms transfers to Syria are unrelated to the conflict there. "We are not violating any international law in performing these contracts," said Sergei Lavrov, in response to a question about Clinton's comments at a news conference during a visit to Iran. "They are providing arms and weapons to the Syrian opposition that can be used in fighting against the Damascus government," he said on Iranian state television, speaking through an interpreter. Russia is one of Syria's principal defenders on the diplomatic front and, as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council with the power to veto resolutions, has stymied efforts by Western powers to pressure President Bashar al-Assad into stepping down. Lavrov said Russia's position was based on concern for the Syrian people and the country's integrity, rather than personal preference for Assad. "I have announced time and again that our stance is not based on support for Bashar al-Assad or anyone else ... We don't want to see Syria disintegrate." Russia is resisting Western and Gulf Arab pressure to take a harder line against Assad, rejecting calls for sanctions and proposing a conference bringing together global and regional powers including Iran. Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said the Syrian crisis could not be resolved by external powers. "The Islamic Republic of Iran has announced many times: the issue of Syria needs to be dealt with in Syria by Syrians, not through the interference of others" The United States says it does not believe Iran, Assad's closest regional ally, is ready to play a constructive role in Syria, where the United Nations says government forces have killed more than 10,000 people since March 2011.

U.S. troops return to Afghanistan's "lost province"

U.S. troops returned to the area in Afghanistan they call the "dark side of the moon" this week, a remote Hindu Kush region that controls several access routes to Kabul and where the coalition suffered one of its biggest reverses in the decade-long war. This part of Nuristan province, in the mountainous far east of Afghanistan, could be the target of a planned Taliban offensive, coalition commanders say. Carrying "speedballs" - black body bags packed with mortars, ammunition and heavy machine guns - a company of U.S. soldiers landed by helicopter on a narrow ridge and trudged up to a tiny Afghan army post overlooking icy peaks and plunging river valleys, as hostile as breathtaking. With U.S. intelligence pointing to a possible attack by as many as 1,800 Taliban, the soldiers set up weapons over a backyard-sized square, while Afghan army soldiers in camouflage and plastic sandals pointed out fires and torchlight in the distance in the chill night air. "We'll get some eyes overhead to check it out. If it's Taliban, we'll get a plane up in the morning and drop a bomb on it," said U.S. Major Jared Bordwell as some of his men from the 1-12 Infantry Regiment dropped down in the dust and tried to get some sleep. American soldiers withdrew from Nuristan, or the "land of light", after around 300 insurgents overran an isolated combat outpost near Kamdesh village - below where Bordwell's men were huddled - on October 3, 2009, killing eight soldiers and wounding 22. The former U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, decided in 2010 to give up remote combat outposts and shift American troops to protect larger population centers. But it was through here that the Taliban shifted men and weapons for a suicide assault on Kabul's diplomatic and government quarter in April, circling beyond the reach of U.S. and Afghan army positions to the south in neighboring Kunar province, coalition commanders say. With Nuristan now a Taliban staging post and haven, the province is a vital pocket for U.S. forces based in Kunar, with only a few hundred Afghan soldiers and police over an area of 5,800 square km. "Nuristan remains for me a challenge, a black hole. My line in the sand stops at the Kunar and Nuristan borders," said Lt-Colonel Scott Green, a wiry former Ranger who oversees Nuristan. But he will not be in the region for long - NATO troops are due to be withdrawn from north Kunar by October. Green and his men, who are based in Kunar and in Nuristan temporarily, will be among those withdrawn. So his reduced-strength 1st battalion has to counter insurgents while simultaneously building Afghan capability and "retrograding" - closing up U.S. bases - all within months. It is one of the most hostile areas in war-torn Afghanistan in a landscape that is equally hostile. Taliban and al Qaeda fighters pass through easily, from either Pakistan or from bases located out of easy NATO reach inside a 4 km-wide border buffer zone. As many as 2,500 Taliban are thought to be in the province, controlling most districts, and around 300 are foreign, mostly Pakistanis or Chechens, Afghan commanders say. The insurgents control what few roads there are and have three ways to move deeper into Afghanistan, through either the Kunar, Waygal or Parun valleys, which then wind down into provinces nearer to Kabul. UP AT DAWN The next day, Bordwell's soldiers were up in their body armor and crouched over guns at 4 a.m. to repel a dawn attack that did not happen. Then, they started to coach Afghan soldiers in everything from weapons care to their own health. The sand-bagged positions became insufferably hot as the sun rose, while the translucent mountain stone underfoot flaked and crumbled to a glittering dust that glued itself to weapons and bodies, as unstable as the province's security. "Tell them to drink water. They will get dehydrated in body armor," said one U.S. officer to a nodding Afghan interpreter. Bordwell's soldiers have come back to Kamdesh under a shift this year in NATO's strategic focus from the Taliban's southern heartlands to target supply routes and havens in the east, and also to back a former enemy turned warlord ally. The fighting season began early this year in what has been called Afghanistan's "lost" province after the Taliban turned against former Hezb-e Islami insurgent and local strongman, Mawlawi Sadeq, who has aligned his militia with the government. Sadeq, still listed on U.S. government 'capture or kill' lists, turned up with seven other local elders to attend a 'shura' meeting with Bordwell and the accompanying U.S. mentor to Afghan forces, Lt-Colonel Rocky Burrell. "We are happy with you guys coming here and listening to our problems. Our government is not doing anything," said the aging warlord. "If you are able to support us with heavy weapons it will be very good. I don't think there would be any bad guys anymore." AIRSTRIKES AND GEMS Burrell, a veteran of years of U.S. special forces operations in Guatemala, Panama, El Salvador and Colombia, says securing Nuristan would probably take thousands of Afghan soldiers that the government does not have, even though it is one of the country's most mineral-rich provinces. An Afghan militia member, Mohammad Ghazi, arrived at the post to have a bullet wound on the back of his head treated by U.S. medics and warned local people were deeply worried about the American pullout from Kunar and the entire country in 2014. "There are a lot of Taliban around. If the (U.S.) supports the Afghan government it will be very good in future. If not, it will be worse," Ghazi said. As the hours passed, Bordwell called air strikes on Taliban fighting positions, with Apache helicopter gunships firing incendiary white phosphorous rockets into caves on a mountainside thought to hide an insurgent gun position. As forest fires continued to burn from the strikes, a U.S. warplane dropped two bombs on a ridge across the valley, while soldiers hurled mortar shells onto river rapids where Afghan troops believe the Taliban like to gather. TALIBAN CONTROL Green acknowledged the Taliban controlled most of the districts within his nominal Nuristan command, which he sees from his north Kunar battalion command at Forward Operating Base Bostick as a line of snow-covered peaks on the horizon. "I would not disagree with that. The hard part is that while you can say they are Taliban-controlled, that's only because there is such a limited (U.S. security) presence up there," he said. Outside, the thump of outgoing 120mm mortar fire shook his headquarters, a low collection of white-washed huts beside a river flanked by vaulting, folded hills known as "rocket ridge". The terrain was proving as difficult for the Taliban as for the NATO-led coalition, Green said. The infamous Nuristan rebel commander Dos Mohammad - who led the attack on Combat Outpost Keating in the 2009 Battle of Kamdesh - had now reportedly moved south into Kunar, he said. "There's good and bad there for us. The good is he's out of Nuristan. The bad is he's a guy who made a name at COP Keating for rallying insurgents and overrunning U.S. bases," Green said. There were signs, though, in northern Kunar - another long-time insurgent supply route and stronghold - that were cause for hope ahead of the American pullback, Green said. Insurgents have been mostly pushed away from the flashpoint Saw Valley in the south, a traditional Taliban supply inroad, and divisions between different militant groups in other areas that led to an insurgent crossfire. Green was confident security by Afghan forces would be possible in parts of his command within the two years before NATO's combat exit, but said securing all of Nuristan would remain difficult. "I think we can transition in Kunar," he said. "But if we were to try and expand without increased combat power there, then yes, I do think that we would be spread so thin that it would start to break."

Pakistan: Fort Monroe rape case

The case of rape of five girls by personnel of Border Military Police during their visit to Fort Monroe, Dera Ghazi. Khan, is a shocking example of prevalence of criminality and indiscipline among those whose duty it is to provide security to the people. It is reflective also of double standards followed by tribal elders and rural jirgas, who are ever so willing to sanction so-called honour killings in the name of tradition and protect rapists. The girls, it may be recalled, had gone from Lahore and Bahawalpur to the resort town last week accompanied by a male relative, who is a DG Khan resident. They were stopped at the resort entrance by border military police (BMP) personnel on the pretext of terrorism related suspicion and taken to a BMP station where three members of the force and two others sexually assaulted the young women. Apparently, the BMP men had expected the victims to disappear quietly next morning for fear of inviting social stigma. But the victims and their male companion insisted on seeking justice. Once again, the BMP personnel misused their authority to force the girls and their relative to sign a statement of reconciliation. Creditably for the victim party, however, they still wouldn't let the heinous crime pass without holding the culprits to account. They lodged a complaint with the BMP Commandant in DG Khan, who after preliminary investigation got the case registered against the five accused. Instead of surrendering, the men fled taking refuge with some tribal elders. In so doing they lent credence to the victims' story. Those men had no reason to flee if the crime hadn't taken place. The BMP men gave in after the Commandant's hectic negotiations with the tribal leaders harbouring them. Two other suspects remained absconding until at least four days after the incident. Since the case was splashed on TV screens and newspapers pages all across the country, the government machinery also spurred into action. Chief Minister's advisor on women affairs Begum Zakia Shah Nawaz met the girls and assured them that they would get justice. Meanwhile, the Home Secretary appointed the BMP Commandant as inquiry officer. The DCO though is quoted as saying that the administration faced difficulties in determining the girls' identity because they did not possess computerised national identity cards. He asked the media for help with identification. Identifying the rape victims so openly is not a good idea. In fact, the administration's concern ought to be protecting their identity. The focus should be on what happened rather than who the victims might be. The perpetrators of this heinous crime deserve and must be given exemplary punishment.

Pakistan chief justice’s son ran judiciary like a don

Let Us Build Pakistan Business tycoon Malik Raiz asked three questions from Chief Justice Iftikar Muhammad during a news conference. Riaz holding the Quran in his right hand asked: 1. Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry should reveal how many times I (Malik Riaz) have met you in the middle of the night? Was Arsalan Iftikhar not a part of these meetings, does he not know me? The sitting Registrar was also present during several of these meetings. 2. How many meetings were held at the residence of Ahmed Khalil between the Chief Justice and Prime Minister and was there not an acting judge of the Supreme Court present during one of the meetings? 3. How long did the Chief Justice know about this case and why did he wait till media reports to take suo moto notice. Malik Riaz said that he was blackmailed and did not pay any bribes. He described Arsalan Iftikhar as ‘Don’ adding that he was the one running the judiciary. SANA Real estate tycoon and the developer of Bahria Town, Malik Riaz, on Tuesday levelled horrendous allegations against Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, in his row with the son of the chief justice, Dr Arsalan Iftikhar. Addressing a crowded news conference with reference to the Dr Arsalan Iftikhar suo moto case, Malik Riaz, while holding a pocket-sized Holy Quran in his right hand, asked three questions from the chief justice. “I have come with Holy Quran just like the chief justice did while taking suo moto notice,” he said, adding he would share more evidence with media in the due course of time. He asked the chief justice to tell the nation on Holy Quran as to how many times they had met during the night and if his son Dr Arsalan Iftikhar did not know about it? Was he and the sitting registrar of the Supreme Court were not present in these meetings? He further asked the chief justice to disclose how many times he and the prime minister met at the residence of his partner Ahmed Khalil. “Place this Holy Quran in front of you and tell the people, for how long have you not known about this? Why did you not take a suo moto then? Why did you take a suo moto only after the media broke the news?” When asked of repercussions that may arise following such a news conference, Malik Riaz replied that he did not care if he was charged with contempt or sent to prison. He said a person putting everything at stake was never afraid of jail or death. “Call me in contempt of court or send me to jail. I’m ready to die. I’m not afraid of the jails,” he added. Terming Dr Arsalan a ‘don’, Malik Riaz said he was running the judiciary, adding he did not go to the Supreme Court to purchase justice but to get justice. “Our cases were not heard in the Supreme Court properly,” he alleged. He said the chief justice knew about the business dealings and should have taken suo moto action before the media broke this news. Answering a question, he maintained that he had been blackmailed as a businessman and said, “I did not bribe anyone but was blackmailed. Blackmailers were assigned to follow me and I did not bribe anyone, my son-in-law did. Answering another question, Malik Riaz said he would not demand judicial reference against the chief justice, adding that he had not accused the chief justice of anything and respected him. He also denied that he had backing of President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. “President Zardari had refrained me from doing so,” he added. He said in 2007, he worked for restoration of the judiciary and wrote columns in support of the chief justice during the Musharraf era. He said he even offered a bulletproof car to the chief justice for the safety of his life but he refused. He said he faced investigation of NAB, FIA, MI and other institutions for sixteen years. Malik Riaz had to leave in the middle of press conference amid a hue and cry that he should also disclose names of journalists on Holy Quran who had benefited from him. “I do not need to answer all the questions,” he remarked after keeping mum for minutes and requested his legal counsel to answer questions of the journalists but he also declined. Najam Sethi’s name is being rumoured as one of those journalists who were bribed by Malik Riaz.

Mehdi Hassan biography

Mehdi hasan was born in a small village Luna in Rajasthan India 1927 to a renowned singer of that time, Ustad Azeem Khan. The family migrated to Pakistan after migration and was hit by financial crisis on their arrival. Mehdi hasan had to repair bicycles and work as a mechanic to make ends meet but all the hardships were unable to discourage his love of music. Mehdi Hassan got a chance to sing Ghazals and songs at Radio Pakistan Karachi in 1952, where his uncle Ismael Khan was established as a music director. He also got a chance to sing for some Karachi made movies but failed to make any progress. In 1964 his ghazal for a film Farangi, “Golon mein rand bharay” gave him a major break and he never looked back after that. He gave playback to all the film heros of the 60’s and 70’s. He was acknowledged as the king of Gazals the world over after singing some of the most memorable Ghazals like “golon mein rang bhare” “daikh tu dil ke jan” and “ranjish hi sahi. He was not only bestowed with all the highest civil awards in Pakistan but also received the Saigol Award in India in 1979 and the Gorkha Dakhshin Baho Award in Nepal in 1983. Mehdi Hassan stopped singing in the late 80s due to illness but his world famous Ghazals and evergreen film songs make him immortal in the world of music.

Rich tribute paid to Mehdi Hassan

DUNYA TV

Celebrities and fans in Pakistan and India were saddened by the death oh of the legendary singer. Renowned musicians, singers, intellectuals and experts in Pakistan and India expressed their views about the life and services of the legendary singer Mehdi Hassan who passed away on Wednesday. The singing community and other celebrities mourned the death of a great singer who enthralled a generation by his inscrutably great voice. Noted artists from both countries including Hariharan, Adnan Sami and Gulzar paid glowing tributes to the departed soul. The others who paid tribute to Mehdi Hassan include Ghulam Ali, Hamid Ali Khan and Talat Aziz.

Mehdi Hassan passes away

Shahensha-e-Ghazal and great singing legend of Pakistan, Mehdi Hassan after a long period of ailment passed away here on Wednesday. A couple of days ago, ailing ghazal legend Mehdi Hassan was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of a private hospital here after suffering from multiple health problems, according to his son Arif Hassan. Hassan had multiple lung, chest and urinary tract ailments which were being treated by specialists. Hassan, 84, was born into a family of traditional musicians at Luna village, Rajasthan, in 1927 before his family migrated to Pakistan after 1947. Hassan, who has a huge following in the subcontinent, cut back on his performances in the late 80s due to illness. Considered one of the most successful ghazal singers of Pakistan, Mehdi Hasasn was trained in classical music by his father Ustad Azeem Khan and his uncle Ustad Ismail Khan who were both well respected classical musicians. Hassan tried different styles of music and there was a time in Pakistan's film industry known as Lollywood when a production was considered incomplete without his voice. Due to his remarkable commercial and artistic success, he was titled Shahenshah-e-Ghazal (The King of Ghazal singing). He also played the role of a cultural ambassador and visited India several times. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani expressed grief and sorrow over the said demise of legendary singer Mehdi Hussan. Prime Minister has said that Mehdi Hassan was an icon who mesmerized the music lovers not only in Pakistan but also in the sub-continent for almost many decades.

Pakistan: 1.5m child labourers in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa

The Express Tribune

As many as 1.5 million children are currently involved in child labour in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, an Islamabad-based child rights organisation has said on the eve of the World Day Against Child Labour. “Of the total number, 60,000 children are below the age of 10 years. A majority of [these] children are working in automobile shops,” Jehanzeb Khan, regional manager of the Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC), said at a press conference at the Peshawar Press Club on Monday. The International Labour Organization (ILO) launched the World Day Against Child Labour in 2002 to focus attention on the global extent of child labour. Each year, the day is marked on June 12. Khan said that the ratio of child labour in Pakistan has increased as compared to other countries in the region and 2.6 million children are out of school in the country. The government, he said, continues to ignore the problem. “The government’s lack of seriousness on the issue of child labour can be gauged from the fact that no data is available since 1996,” he said, citing a survey conducted by the government in collaboration with the UN Children’s Fund in that year according to which there were 10.2 million child labourers in Pakistan. “The present government has already declared education as a fundamental right of every individual under Article 25-A of the Constitution,” he said, adding that it is essential to sensitise people of the importance to the right to an education. Under the 18th amendment, he said, child rights fall under the domain of provinces. However, he called on the government to formulate law and take administrative measures to curtail child labour in the country. “The government can implement its efforts by increasing the minimum age of employment under the Employment of Children Act 1991 from 14 to 16 years, thereby allowing children to avail their fundamental right to education,” he suggested. Furthermore, he said, enforcement of policy and legislative initiatives at the grassroots can be ensured by establishing a strong implementation regime. “The Employment of Children Act 1991 is not being enforced comprehensively, owing to inadequate administrative structure.”

Rs 342mn spent on Dr Arsalan: Malik Riaz

DUNYA TV The written statement of real estate tycoon Malik Riaz, which he submitted in the Supreme Court on Tuesday, stated that he spent a total amount of Rs 342 million on chief justice s son Dr Arsalan Iftikhar. Malik Riaz wrote in the statement that Dr Iftikhar had assured that he would help resolve the pending cases in the court but did not get any relief despite the money spent. “Dr Arsalan Iftikahr not only cheated me, my son-in-law but also committed fraud, extortion, and other offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act and the offences falling under the NAB ordinance,” he stated. The document revealed the amount Malik Riaz paid for the two trips Dr Iftikhar had made to London – two with his family and the other with a friend. Riaz further added that he gave Rs 327 million in cash to the chief justice’s son on different occasions. He also asserted that purpose of narrating the facts in the issue was neither to ridicule or disrespect or hatch conspiracy against the Supreme Court - but -was to voice genuine grievances. He made it clear in his statement that neither the prime minister, nor the president or any political member was involved in the matter. The statement also said that sou moto notice by the CJP was not legal as there was no infirmgement of fundamental human rights, It said a new bench must have been constitued after the withdrawl of CJP Iftikhar Muhhamd Choudry. It said Supreme Court of Pakistan was not a investigating authority. Malik said in the statement the he respects the apex court and necer maligned the court, adding no politics was involved in the issue. Details of expenses incurred upon Dr Arsalan s foreign visits. First family visit. Rs 8860,579/- Second visit Rs 692,949/- Third family visit Rs 5,947,726/- Various payments in installments Rs 327,000,000/- Grand Total: 342, 501,254/-

U.S. pulls negotiators from Pakistan, no supply deal

The United States is withdrawing its team of negotiators from Pakistan without securing a long-sought deal with Islamabad to allow trucks to again supply NATO troops in neighboring Afghanistan, the Pentagon said on Monday. The decision is the latest sign of troubled ties with Islamabad and was announced just days after Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the United States was reaching the limits of its patience because of the safe havens Pakistan offered to insurgents. Pakistan's envoy to the United States had warned that Panetta's comments last Thursday in Kabul were unhelpful to efforts to narrow the differences between the two countries and came at a critical moment in negotiations. Pentagon spokesman George Little said the decision to withdraw the negotiating team was not imposed by Pakistan. He said the team of negotiators had been there for about six weeks and deserved a rest. "I believe that some of the team left over the weekend and the remainder of the team will leave shortly," Little told reporters. "This was a U.S. decision." Pakistan closed ground supply routes through its territory last year to protest a cross-border NATO air attack that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. As a result, NATO has turned to countries to the north of Afghanistan for land routes as the U.S.-led alliance begins a withdrawal of its forces from the country next year. But resupplying troops in Afghanistan through the northern route is about 2-1/2 times more expensive than shipping items through Pakistan, a U.S. defense official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. Little acknowledged that securing a deal with Pakistan remained a priority and said the team of negotiators could return at any moment. In the meantime, military officials attached to the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad would be able to discuss the matter with Pakistani officials. "We will continue to work through the (ground supply route) matter with Pakistan. And the members of the team that are leaving, or have, left are prepared to return to Islamabad at any moment to continue discussions in person," Little said.

Polio may be returning as 'global' threat

The grave situation in Balochistan

THE FRONTIER POST

Fateh Ullah Khan Kundi

The Balochistan dispute had erupted with the inception of Pakistan with many ups and downs have taken place throughout the course of time but it never received much attention neither at home nor abroad. It is now to be determined whether this new found attention would do some good to the misery stricken Baloch people. Balochistan issue has been discussed threadbare in parliament and the media, at conferences and lately also in the courts. Pakistan's assertive judiciary has also jumped into the ring to address and resolve the miseries and concerns of Baloch people. Chief Justice of Supreme Court Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry travelled to Quetta about couple of weeks ago to hear petitions regarding the dizzy law-and-order situation in the province. This will no doubt provide him an opportunity to know firsthand the issues of human rights violations in Balochistan, the disappearances of Baloch nationalists and the killings of non-Baloch civilians, mainly settlers. This is one place where there is an immediate and foremost need for judicial activism to set things right for the sake of both Balochistan and Pakistan. In the US and even Europe now, politicians, academics, human rights activists and sections of the media have gradually started paying heed to the worsened security situation in Balochistan. Such efforts have thoroughly highlighted the issue on international forums. Consequently the issue has gained much attention and is a hot topic for discourse these days. The arrival of some leading Baloch separatists seeking asylum in Western countries including the late Akbar Bugti's grandson Bramdagh Bugti, Khair Bakhsh Marri's son Hyrbyair Marri and the Khan of Kalat, Mir Suleman Dawood and their efforts to internationalize the Balochistan issue is having an impact now. This has brought the Pakistani government under greater pressure with regard to the human rights situation in the province. One man who has helped focus attention on Balochistan in the West is Dana Rohrabacher, the 12th-term Republican Congressman from California who regardless of whatever feelings of homage and obeisance the Baloch people have for him hasn't done it for the love or by the way being compelled by his profound sympathy for the Baloch people or Balochistan but only and only for the sake of safeguarding the US interests in the region. The same Rohrabacher, once a speech-writer for President Ronald Reagan, frequently visited Pakistan in the 1980s at the time of the Afghan jihad. It wasn't uncommon to hear him singing praises of Pakistan for helping the US to prevail against the communists in Afghanistan. In his view, Pakistan had risked its own security to promote freedom in Afghanistan and vanquish the Soviet Red Army and communism. That is history as Pakistan is presently being reviled not only by Rohrabacher but numerous other Americans as an enemy that needs to be brought to its knees. Having described Pakistan as "a hardcore, two-faced enemy of the United States, " largely due to what for the Americans is its unhelpful policy in Afghanistan where the US military strategy is failing, it is obvious why he is promoting the cause of Balochistan's independence. The only palpable intent that constrained Dana upon submitting the controversial, non-binding resolution on Balochistan in the US House of Representatives in February was to punish and harm Pakistan. This move augmenting the existing distrust between Pakistan and the US has proved itself very heavy for the US. Rohrabacher, who according to media reports pronounced Baloch as "Bal-ook" during a recent news conference in Washington, is clearly lacking in knowledge about the Baloch and Balochistan. But it is also a fact that he helped remind many indifferent Pakistanis about the grave situation in their own backyard. In fact, Baloch who are angry with Pakistan are beginning to like Rohrabacher as they consider his initiative of some benefit for their cause. However, they will have to conceive that mere resolutions, particularly ones that have no chance to be adopted even by the US Congress and are being piloted for ulterior motives by outsiders, won't serve their cause. A better approach to highlight the issue among the masses would be to forge unity in their ranks and gain the sympathies of the people of Pakistan so that they could collectively enforce the powers sitting in Islamabad and Rawalpindi to tackle with the Balochistan crisis while fulfilling the wishes and and keeping aspirations of the Baloch people. Mistakes and excesses by successive Pakistani rulers, both civil and military, have turned the Balochistan situation into a crisis and never bothered to sit and chalk out a long lasting solution to it. This irresponsible way to handle the issue on the part of Pakistani government provided Pakistan's enemies an opportunity to infuriate the Baloch people and use the Baloch issue to force Pakistan to do their bidding in context of their international strategic agendas. The Supreme Court's intervention in Balochistan is to be welcomed, but it will mostly have a moral impact. Just like the apex court's initiative regarding the Karachi violence that couldn't bring any real change due to political realities on the ground, its move in the context of Balochistan may also fail to deliver on account of issues of Real politico. Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry surely knows a lot about Balochistan because he has a domicile from the province and has deep attachment to it. It was in Quetta that he received his early education, practiced law and presided over the Balochistan High Court as its chief justice. However, his good intentions need to be supplemented by all parties to the conflict to make an impact. One such party to the conflict is the intelligence agencies of Pakistan, which not surprisingly requested an opportunity to make a presentation to the Supreme Court on the Balochistan situation. The intelligence agencies have been blamed for many things in Balochistan and it would be right for the Chief Justice and his fellow judges to hear its side of the story.

Polio eradication setback: Another case surfaces in Khyber

The Express Tribune

Despite deadlines and determined calls for its eradication, polio is far from becoming history in Pakistan. Yet another case of type-1 poliovirus has surfaced in the Khyber Agency, the only tribal district in Asia where both type-1 and type-3 poliovirus are still prevalent. And in the absence of concrete anti-polio efforts, the disease can spread quickly through the region’s children and, in turn, the rest of the country. The National Institute of Health (NIH) confirmed the case from Khyber Agency on Sunday, raising the official national polio count to 22. This is the 9th case from Khyber Agency and the 7th from Bara Tehsil this year. The victim is 18-month-old Mudassir, a resident of Akka Khel area. The child had not received any dose of oral polio vaccines either through routine or supplementary immunisation activities. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) officials, extraordinary measures are needed to counter the spread of polio in Khyber Agency. They maintain that access is urgently needed to ensure that all children are vaccinated. The officials feel special counters set up at different transit points such as railway stations and bus stops are not enough to curb the plague. WHO’s senior coordinator for polio eradication, Dr Elias Durry, also feels special efforts need to be made to ensure that the virus does not spread. However, the prime minister’s focal person on the issue, Shahnaz Wazir Ali has repeatedly cited security concerns, saying many tribal areas cannot be accessed by polio teams due to the ongoing militancy.

The Arsalan affair

EDITORIAL:DAILY TIMES

Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry’s son, Dr Arsalan Iftikhar, has in a statement submitted in the Supreme Court (SC), strongly refuted any relationship, intimacy or acquaintance with real estate tycoon Malik Riaz, his daughter or son-in-law. The statement is a rebuttal of the allegations by Malik Riaz leaked to the media, that Arsalan had received Rs 400 million from him to influence the cases Malik Riaz faces in the SC, along with other benefits such as travel, accommodation abroad, shopping, etc. Dismissing the allegations as “baseless, frivolous and unfounded”, Arsalan argues that no “cogent and logical evidence” has been submitted to substantiate the accusations, and even the media persons who have been fanning the story admit they have no proof of the matter and therefore their statements should be dismissed as hearsay. If and when any cogent and admissible evidence is presented against him, Arsalan said he would furnish a comprehensive reply. Arsalan has prayed to the court to deal strictly with Malik Riaz according to the law for besmirching his name and dragging him into court. Arsalan stressed that whenever he had travelled abroad, it was always at his own expense. While the two-member bench hearing the case will no doubt take account of Arsalan’s refutation of the charges against him, it will have to wait until the ‘ailing’ Malik Riaz returns to the country and deposes, as he has promised, before the court. Strictly speaking, while the charge of besmirching Arsalan’s repute has weight, it cannot be said that it is Malik Riaz who has dragged Arsalan into court. It was the suo motu notice of the spreading scandal by none other than his father, the honourable CJP, that brought the affair into the legal domain. Initially the CJP seemed inclined to head the bench, attempting justifications by recourse to Islamic history examples, but then it seemed that better sense had prevailed and the CJP appropriately recused himself from the bench. Meanwhile Malik Riaz’s plea to constitute a larger bench to hear the case of immense importance with national level implications has been turned down by the CJP in his order of June 7. Other parties have by now also jumped into the fray. Barrister Zafarullah Khan of the Watan Party has petitioned the SC to issue a red warrant against Malik Riaz in order to bring him back to the country and present him before the court. That petition is still pending, but Malik Riaz’s counsel has stated that the ill Malik Riaz will return soon and depose before the SC. Musharraf’s All Pakistan Muslim League General Secretary Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif wants a commission (‘tis the season for commissions methinks) to be formed with former judges and heads of investigation agencies to probe the allegations against Arsalan. He thinks a probe by the SC would not be within the parameters of justice, implying a lack of confidence in the impartiality of his brother judges in a case involving the CJP’s son. The Pakistan Bar Council has similar views, arguing for the SC to distance itself from the case and hand it over to any investigation agency. These objections and reservations on the matter being dealt with by the SC constitute a vote of no confidence in the impartiality of the SC bench in such a sensitive matter having ramifications for the CJP himself. Whether these reservations are valid or not, and without imputing any partiality to the honourable judges of the bench hearing the case, the argument that since the case involves the CJP’s son, it may be considered too close to the SC for it to be appropriate for the SC itself to conduct investigations and hearings into it, is not without merit. While there are two opinions about the appropriateness of the CJP’s swift response through a suo motu notice of the Arsalan affair, since the matter is sub judice, it would not be in the fitness of things to say more than plead for a thorough, impartial, fair probe. This is critical for the reputation of the CJP, the SC, the entire superior judiciary, and indeed, for the country as a whole.

UN Worried Over Pakistan 'Rights Abuses'

http://www.rferl.org

The United Nations has voiced concern over allegations of "very grave" rights violations and forced disappearances during Pakistani military operations against insurgents and militants. At the end of her four-day visit to the country on May 7, UN human rights chief Navi Pillay said that she is concerned about allegations of grave abuses in the context of counterterrorist and counterinsurgency operations. She told journalists in Islamabad that such abuses "include extrajudicial killings, unacknowledged detention and enforced disappearances." Independent watchdogs have accused Pakistani security forces of mass arrests and extra-judicial killings in the southwestern province of Balochistan, where a separatist insurgency began in the in 2004. Pillay urged Islamabad to pass legislation on crucial issues such as torture, education, and women’s rights.

US, Pakistan beginning to look more like enemies

You know a friendship has gone sour when you start making mean jokes about your friend in front of his most bitter nemesis. So it was a bad sign this week when the U.S. defense secretary joshed in front of an audience of Indians about how Washington kept Pakistan in the dark about the raid that killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden a year ago. "They didn't know about our operation. That was the whole idea," Leon Panetta said with a chuckle at a Q&A session after a speech in New Delhi, raising laughs from the audience. The Bin Laden raid by U.S. commandos in a Pakistani town infuriated Islamabad because it had no advance notice, and it was seen by Pakistan's powerful military as a humiliation. The U.S. and Pakistan are starting to look more like enemies than allies, threatening the U.S. fight against Taliban and al-Qaida militants based in the country and efforts to stabilize neighboring Afghanistan before American troops withdraw. Long plagued by frustration and mistrust, the relationship has plunged to its lowest level since the 9/11 attacks forced the countries into a tight but awkward embrace over a decade ago. The U.S. has lost its patience with Pakistan and taken the gloves off to make its anger clear. "It has taken on attributes and characteristics now of a near adversarial relationship, even though neither side wants it to be that way," said Maleeha Lodhi, who was serving as Pakistan's ambassador to the U.S. at the time of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks and was key in hurriedly putting together the two countries' alliance. The latest irritant is Pakistan's refusal to end its six-month blockade of NATO troop supplies meant for Afghanistan. Even if that issue is resolved, however, the relationship may be on an irreversible downward slide. The main source of U.S. anger is Pakistan's unwillingness to go after militants using its territory to launch attacks against American troops in Afghanistan. On the Pakistani side, officials are fed up with Washington's constant demands for more without addressing Islamabad's concerns or sufficiently appreciating the country's sacrifice. Pakistan has lost thousands of troops fighting a domestic Taliban insurgency fueled partly by resentment of the alliance with the U.S. Panetta's comments about the bin Laden raid may have been unscripted, but others he made while in India and Afghanistan seemed calculated to step up pressure on Pakistan. He stressed Washington's strong relationship with India — which Islamabad considers its main, historic enemy — and defended unpopular American drone attacks in Pakistan. He also said in unusually sharp terms that the U.S. was running out of patience with Islamabad's failure to go after the Pakistan-based Haqqani network, considered the most dangerous militant group fighting in Afghanistan. Many analysts believe Pakistan is reluctant to target the Haqqanis and other Afghan militants based on its soil because they could be useful allies in Afghanistan after foreign forces withdraw, especially in countering the influence of India. Pakistan lashed out at Panetta on Saturday and denied the country was providing safe havens for militants. Panetta "is oversimplifying some of the very complex issues we are dealing with in our efforts against extremism and terrorism," the Foreign Ministry said. "We strongly believe that such statements are misplaced and unhelpful in bringing about peace and stability in the region." A senior U.S. official described the relationship as "the worst it has ever been." "This is from Washington's point of view and from Pakistan's point of view, and even among the real well-wishers on both sides who are appalled and befuddled that we can't get past all of this and move beyond," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. After years of frosty relations caused by Pakistan's nuclear weapons program, Washington and Islamabad were thrust together on Sept. 11, 2001, when al-Qaida attacked New York and Washington. The U.S. demanded Pakistan support the war against bin Laden and his Taliban hosts in Afghanistan. The U.S. directed billions of dollars in aid to Pakistan and sought to convince Islamabad it was not simply interested in a "transactional" relationship based on counterterrorism cooperation, but wanted a long-term strategic partnership. U.S. officials have largely abandoned that argument over the past 18 months as the relationship has suffered repeated crises. "Because of the toxic atmosphere on both sides, the two countries cannot even work in a transactional way," said Lodhi, the former Pakistani ambassador. In January 2011, a CIA contractor sparked outrage when he shot to death two Pakistanis in the city of Lahore who he claimed were trying to rob him. Anger over the incident was still simmering when the U.S. killed bin Laden in May. In November, American airstrikes killed 24 Pakistani troops at two Afghan border posts. The U.S. has said it was an accident, but the Pakistani army claims it was deliberate. Pakistan retaliated by kicking the U.S. out of a base used by American drones and closing its border to NATO supplies meant for troops in Afghanistan. Negotiations to reopen the route have been hampered by Islamabad's demand for much higher transit fees and Washington's refusal to apologize for the deaths of the Pakistani troops. The U.S. has attempted to bridge the difference over money by offering to repave highways used by the supply trucks, said a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. But Pakistani officials have made clear the route will not reopen without some kind of apology. The U.S. has expressed its regret over the incident but has refused to apologize for fear it could open the Obama administration up to criticism by Republicans upset with Pakistan. A senior U.S. defense official, Peter Lavoy, arrived in Pakistan on Friday to participate in the negotiations. But Panetta's comments could complicate matters. Such statements do "water down the willingness to cooperate with the United States," said Imtiaz Gul, director of the Islamabad-based Center for Research and Security Studies. President Barack Obama showed U.S. anger over the supply issue at a NATO summit last month in Chicago by refusing a one-on-one meeting with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari. However, the U.S. and Pakistan both have reasons to walk the relationship back from the brink. The U.S. continues to receive some intelligence cooperation from Pakistan on militants and has been able to continue drone strikes in Pakistan's tribal region despite public protests, likely because of tacit agreement by Pakistani military leaders. Both could be threatened if the relationship heads farther south. Just as important is Pakistan's support on the Afghan war. Pakistan is seen as key to striking a peace deal with the Taliban and their allies in Afghanistan that will allow the U.S. to withdraw most of its combat forces by the end of 2014 without the country descending into further chaos. Pakistan is keen on freeing up over a billion dollars in frozen U.S. aid, which will only be released if it reopens the supply line. Also, Pakistan can ill afford to become a true enemy of the U.S. at a time when it is struggling to contain its own Taliban insurgency and right its stuttering economy. But politics on both sides make breaking the impasse difficult, particularly with U.S. elections this fall and Pakistani elections due early next year — possibly even sooner. Historically, Pakistan's army has steered the relationship with the U.S. But fearing public backlash in a country where anti-American sentiment is rampant, the generals have tossed the NATO supply line issue to Pakistan's weak and unpopular civilian government. The politicians are reluctant to do anything that could hurt their election prospects. "The longer Islamabad delays and dithers, the opinion in Washington is hardening," said Lodhi. "Time is the enemy of a reset in relations."

Ahmad Faraz: Governor, poets pay homage to late Faraz

To pay homage to the renowned poet, late Ahmad Faraz, Anjuman-e-Taraqi-e-Urdu Kohat arranged a Mushaira at Kohat wherein the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor, Barrister Masood Kausar was the chief guest. More than twenty prominent poets from across the country, besides a large number of their local counterparts, educationists, writers and elites of the city participated in the event. The Mushaira was a major event of the 2-day Kohat Cultural Festival arranged by the District Administration, Kohat. The Secretary of the Anjuman, Shahid Zaman conducted the Mushaira. The Governor who is the younger brother of the late poet, in his brief remarks on this occasion said that late Ahmad Faraz was a great asset for the country and being the towering personality of Urdu literature in particular, he influenced the countrymen in general and the Kohatians in particular to an extent that they not only used to but still consider him as one of their family members. Appreciating the Anjuman-e-Taraqi-e-Urdu and the Kohat administration, for remembering the great poet, the Governor said that late Ahmad Faraz is still alive because of his works in the minds and hearts of the people and the presence of such a large number of poets as well as other dignitaries is a clear depiction of this reality in this respect.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa budget

Dawn.com

IF the purpose of the 18th Amendment was to improve service delivery by devolving these responsibilities to the provinces then that purpose is clearly in jeopardy. For yet another year, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has announced a budget that channels resources into current consumption while health and education languish. Moreover, revenue mobilisation has been brought down by Rs70m with the revenue target at Rs7.88bn. Salaries of government employees will rise by 20 per cent, and 8,300 more government jobs will be created. Likewise, the Annual Development Plan will rise to Rs97.4bn, an all-time high. Some of the government’s pressures are understandable. The salary increase is made necessary by a similar announcement by the federal government in its budget. The provincial government cannot allow too large a difference between the salaries of its officials and those of the federal government, and is therefore constrained to follow suit. But what was the point of announcing a ‘laptop scheme’ of Rs1bn? And what good sense is there in budgeting this as a ‘pro-poor’ measure? Schemes for the poor are allocated a paltry Rs5.2bn, of which one-fifth is already eaten up by the ‘laptop scheme’. This is not in keeping with the spirit of the 18th Amendment. Neither is the lack of capacity to absorb incremental resources highlighted by the Rs9bn of unutilised foreign grants from last year’s pool of Rs16bn. The idea behind devolving services to the provinces was to improve service delivery by bringing the delivery mechanisms closer to the intended recipients. Instead it seems social services have become the victims of neglect given the political priorities of provincial governments. A four per cent allocation for education is to be lauded, but much more effort is required in this area. We understand it is election year, but a focus on governance cannot be allowed to waver on that account.

WHO concerned at polio cases in Khyber

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has expressed concern over emergence of polio cases in Khyber Agency, saying that circulation of the virus will continue unabated as long as anti-polio programmes continue to miss a significant number of children either due to insecurity or poor quality campaign. “We need to administer oral polio vaccines to every child below five years of age to safeguard them against the crippling disease,” head of WHO Polio Eradication Section Dr Elias Durry told Dawn. Cases in Federally Administered Tribal Areas again demonstrate the mammoth risk of not reaching every child in Fata, he said. Khyber Agency last week registered its 8th case, most by any of the 10 infected districts/agencies in the country. Zabia, a 23-month-old daughter of Noor Jan, a resident of Akakhel tehsil of Tirah in Khyber Agency, was the latest case recorded in the agency where the world health agency says 150,000 children had not been immuised against polio. Zabia didn’t receive any dose of oral polio vaccine, as the area where she lived was not visited by any vaccination team since September 2009 due to insecurity. The WHO official said that environmental surveillance system had clearly proven persistent circulation of wild poliovirus in cities like Lahore and Rawalpindi in Punjab, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and children in these areas stood vulnerable to the virus. This is the 8th polio case reported from Khyber agency this year and the first from Tirah, while the other seven were reported from Bara. Khyber Agency is the only area in Asia having both the wild poliovirus-1 and ‘3’ types and posed a huge threat to the efforts of polio eradication in the country (and globally), especially when there is ongoing large-scale population movement from Fata, particularly Khyber Agency, to other parts of the country. “The essence of polio eradication is not only to have fewer cases, but to ensure that there is no virus circulating anywhere, including in environmental (sewage) samples,” he said. Dr Azam Wazir, agency health official, said that “May, June and July are peak months for spread of poliovirus and Bara being a high risk area we are making all-out efforts to rein in this crippling disease,” he said. He said that due to coordinated efforts the problem of inaccessibility was on the decline. “We are working in close liaison with various stakeholders and also encouraging participation of general public to overcome this menace,” he said. Meanwhile, the political administration arrested four health workers and withheld salaries of at least two others for dereliction of duty during the recent polio campaign in Jamrud and Landi Kotal. Officials said that they had also sent health teams to the far-flung areas of Bagh and Maidan in Tirah valley. They said that though actual figures of vaccination were not yet available, but the three-day campaign went smoothly and without any resistance from any quarter.

PPP rejects Punjab budget

The News

Pakistan People's Party Punjab Secretary Information Raja Amir Khan has rejected the Punjab Budget 2012-13 and termed it as fraud with the people. Commenting on the budget here on Saturday, he said the budget was not according to the actual expectations of the people. He said the people could not forget " laptop scheme" as billion of rupees of the national exchequer were looted through this scheme. He said the PML-N did not have ability as well as honesty for any project to be completed successfully. Criticising the Yellow Cab Scheme, he said the PML-N had embezzled billions of rupees as kick backs and commissions in the scheme when it was introduced first time. He expressed his apprehensions on the new schemes introduced in the budget and said it could not be successful as the PML-N leadership was not sincere with the masses.

Millions of Dollars of U.S. Gear to Combat IEDs Wasted in Pakistan

Millions of dollars of U.S. gear meant to combat the threat of roadside bombs is being wasted in Pakistan which refuses to let the equipment leave its customs warehouses. The U.S. procured 110 IED jammers for the Pakistani military at a cost of nearly $23 million in 2009 in an effort to ease the threat of the improvised explosive devices that have been the main cause of U.S. casualties in neighboring Afghanistan and taken a toll on Pakistan authorities as well. So far, not one of the jammers has been put to use, according to a report released Wednesday by the Government Accountability Office. The GAO report found that "55 jammers were still in Karachi awaiting release from Pakistani customs, and the remaining 55 jammers were being kept in storage in the United States until the initial 55 were released." Leaving the unused jammers in a Pakistani warehouse also raises the cost of the shipment since the U.S. must pay the storage fees, a GAO spokesman told ABCNews.com. The U.S. has had difficulty getting Pakistan to accept additional gear meant to help Pakistan reduce the IED threat. "Other U.S. procured counter-IED equipment under review and still in U.S. storage includes kits for use by combined explosive exploitation cells, explosive ordnance disposal items, and portable trace explosive detectors," the report states. Despite the frustrations of getting Pakistan to accept the equipment, the U.S. is buying more remote-controlled IED jammers for Pakistan at a cost of $12.1 million, as well as $64 million worth of route clearance vehicles, according to the GAO. Combating the construction and detonation of IEDs is a major concern for the U.S. military in Afghanistan. In 2011, 16,500 IEDs were discovered or detonated against U.S. forces in Afghanistan. More than 80 percent of those bombs were made from calcium ammonium nitrate, known as CAN, a fertilizer that is made in Pakistan and smuggled into Afghanistan. "Pakistan's ability to stem the flow of CAN and other IED precursors is a life and death issue for U.S. and coalition troops in Afghanistan," the GAO report said. Nevertheless, the two countries' ability to cooperate on the issue has actually worsened since the U.S. assassination of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. "U.S. agencies have encountered some challenges to providing assistance to Pakistan to counter IEDs, and events over the past 6 months have strained this important bilateral relationship," the GAO concluded.

FATA: Two more cases of polio confirmed

dunyaTv

Two more cases of polio have been reported in South Waziristan and Khyber agency.The recent cases have mounted the total number of polio cases to two in South Waziristan and eight in Khyber agency.The polio virus has been confirmed in twenty one-month-old Zabia in Bara Aka Khel area of Khyber agency and four-year-old Syed Mohsin in Tehsil Mirmal of South Waziristan.

China Signals Interest in Afghanistan

By JANE PERLEZ

In a sign of China’s growing interest in neighboring Afghanistan after the departure of the United States and NATO led forces, President Hu Jintao met the Afghan leader, Hamid Karzai, in the Great Hall of the People on Friday and announced a new strategic partnership between the two countries. Mr. Karzai was given special attention this week at the summit meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a group of six countries organized by China that includes Russia and Central Asian nations bordering Afghanistan. China is trying to ensure that a Muslim separatist group in a western region does not benefit from the Taliban when Western forces leave Afghanistan. In a joint statement, China and Afghanistan said they would step up cooperation in security and the fight against terrorism, as well as increase intelligence sharing. No specifics were given. A modest $23 million aid grant for unspecified projects that accompanied the new partnership indicated that despite concerns about the stability of Afghanistan after 2014, when most United States and allied troops are expected to be gone, China had no immediate plans to play a major development role. This was Mr. Karzai’s fifth, and most prominent, visit to China. No Chinese leader has been to Afghanistan since the 1958 visit of Prime Minister Zhou Enlai. China’s major worry is the prospect of a Taliban-dominated Afghanistan lending sanctuary to the separatist group, the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, led by ethnic Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking, largely Muslim people in the autonomous western region of Xinjiang . The group wants a breakaway homeland in Xinjiang. In official statements, the Chinese government refrains from specifying the threat of Afghanistan's harboring Uighur separatists, but an orderly transfer of power that would stop short of a Taliban takeover appears to be of uppermost importance for China. At a Foreign Ministry press briefing shortly after the warm welcome for Mr. Karzai, a spokesman said China supported a “step by step” process that allowed for a role by other countries after the withdrawal of Western troops. In efforts to work toward some semblance of stability in Afghanistan after the Americans leave, Chinese and American diplomats have been talking for more than a year about the shape of the post-2014 political landscape, American officials and Chinese analysts say. A new kind of Great Game, a competition for influence among Afghanistan’s neighbors, many of whom belong to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization or play a role in it, is a likely outcome from the Western withdrawal, the analysts say. China has already put down investment stakes in mineral-rich Afghanistan, signing an oil and gas deal late last year, and beginning development at a copper mine four years ago. But from the discussions between the United States and China, it was clear that China would not play any significant security role inside Afghanistan, a decision consistent with its noninterference policies abroad, the American officials and analysts say. The Chinese government has refused to contribute to a $4.1 billion fund for sustaining the Afghan Army after 2014, but has offered to train a small number of Afghan soldiers, particularly in antiterror techniques. In a show of cooperation with the United States, China admitted 15 young Afghan diplomats to the China Foreign Affairs University last month as part of a joint American-Chinese program. The State Department will also sponsor training for the Afghan diplomats. China’s main concern is about how post-2014 Afghanistan will affect China’s internal security, the analysts said. “China’s first concern is national security and to make sure the Uighurs don’t get more strength,” said Yun Sun, a Washington-based analyst specializing in China’s neighbors. “The official line is that the Uighurs get terrorist training in Afghanistan and Pakistan.” “China supports the international community in its efforts in Afghanistan, but stays away from direct military involvement,” Zhao Huasheng, director of the Center for Russia and Central Asia Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, wrote in a recent paper. China dislikes the Taliban because of their close relations with the East Turkestan group, but deals with the Taliban on a pragmatic basis, he wrote. Looking toward the uncertainties of post-2014 Afghanistan, China has already established some forms of communication with elements of the Taliban through the channels of the Pakistani military, said Sajjan Gohel, the international security director of the Asia-Pacific Foundation, a London-based group. “Beijing wants guarantees that the Taliban will not give sanctuary or support to the Uighur terrorists should they develop an open presence in Afghanistan after the troop handover,” Mr. Gohel said. The prospects of instability in Afghanistan have not discouraged China’s investments in big energy and mining projects. The China National Petroleum Company signed a deal in December to explore oil and natural gas in the Amu Darya River Basin, an area where the Soviet Union held concessions during its occupation. As part of the deal, the Chinese company pledged to build Afghanistan’s first oil refinery within three years. In 2008, the China Metallurgical Construction Company invested more than $3.5 billion in the Aynak Copper Mine in Logar Province in Afghanistan, not far from the Chinese border.