Afghan and Pakistan in joint fight

British Prime Minister David Cameron called on Afghanistan and Pakistan on Thursday to make a joint effort against insurgents in the two countries' border zone. He also expressed confidence that Afghan forces will be able to hold their own after the majority of foreign troops leave at the end of 2014. Cross-border fighting and the stalled Afghan peace process were the main topics of discussion at a three-way meeting in Kabul between Pakistani Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Cameron. The British, U.S. and Afghan governments have long criticized Pakistan for not doing enough to stop cross-border attacks. Many insurgents groups are based in safe havens in Pakistan's lawless tribal areas along the Afghan border. Islamabad also charges that insurgents cross the border from the Afghan side and attack Pakistani security forces. "The terrorists that are trying to wreck Afghanistan are by and large the same terrorists that are trying to wreck Pakistan," Cameron said. "We should be together in one single fight." Britain's involvement could help America's effort to push Pakistan to crack down on the safe havens and also to use its connections with some Taliban leaders to promote peace talks. Relations between Pakistan and the United States have been rocky at best, with their lowest point coming late last year after American airstrikes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers near the border. Britain also sees the border areas as a main base for terrorists planning attacks against the West, although Cameron said that less than half of terrorist plots against Britain now originate from Pakistan's border regions — down from two-thirds as recently as 2010. Three men were charged Wednesday in London with travelling to Pakistan for terrorist training. "We are making progress, and this is our fight as much as your fight and the Pakistanis' fight," Cameron said. Pakistan's Ashraf, who took office last month, and Karzai were also holding separate talks together. His spokesman, Akram Shaheedi, said the prime minister also plans to push the Afghan government to stop militants from its country from infiltrating Pakistan. Ahead of the visit, Shaheedi said Pakistan supports peace talks with the Afghan Taliban, but the outcome should not adversely affect the country. The Taliban has refused peace talks with Karzai, calling him a puppet of the United States. Instead, they have held talks directly with American officials. They broke off talks earlier this year, saying the U.S. reneged on a promise to release Afghan prisoners from Guantanamo Bay. The talks have so far shown no signs of restarting. Pakistan is seen as key to breaking this impasse because of its historical ties with the Taliban. "The peace process is the most important of our pursuits for Afghanistan. It remains the highest priority," Karzai said. Karzai said having talks among the leaders of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Britain was Cameron's idea and that there had been minister-level meetings among representatives of the three countries. "Today is the first time that we are sitting at the high-level of the leaders," Karzai said. "The purpose of the meeting is to find an effective way to battle against terrorism and what role Pakistan can play now in the security situation in the region and the peace process." The Kabul talks marked the end of Cameron's two-day visit to Afghanistan, intended to guide decisions on how fast Britain will withdraw its 9,500 troops before international forces leave by the end of 2014. In separate talks with Karzai, Cameron discussed the drawdown. He also planned to stress the need for "credible, inclusive and nationwide" presidential elections in 2014, his spokeswoman said, on customary condition of anonymity in line with policy. Cameron also met in Kabul with the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. John Allen, who gave him a positive message on the country's overall security picture as they discussed recent violence in northeastern Afghanistan. Allen said the process of handing security duties to local forces was progressing well, though the Afghan army still needs to improve its command and control capabilities, Cameron's spokeswoman said. Cameron rejected claims Afghanistan could be mired in violence once foreign troops withdraw, insisting local forces are prepared to handle insurgents. Taliban fighters should "be in no doubt that there is a very clear and strong plan to transfer lead security responsibility from very capable (NATO-led) ISAF forces, including British forces, to very capable Afghan forces," he said. "I am content that they will be able to defeat an insurgency and that Afghanistan will have a secure future," Cameron added. "Of course we would make even further progress if there were to be successful political talks and if the insurgency was to come to an end on that way." Although fighting has not abated in the south, it has escalated in the east where coalition forces have focused their efforts against insurgents. NATO said two of its service members were killed by roadside bombs in eastern Afghanistan. It provided no other details, but the killings brought the death toll among foreign troops to 27 so far this month and 242 this year. In other violence on Thursday, a roadside bomb in northwestern Faryab province killed eight civilians and wounded six others, a spokesman for the governor said. They were in a mini-bus headed on a shopping trip one day ahead of the start of the holy month of Ramadan. Cameron also discussed the issue of "green-on-blue" killings on Wednesday in Helmand, southern Afghanistan, where British forces are mainly based. The term refers to the targeting of NATO troops by Afghan members of the security forces. There has been a rash of such killings in the last years. He and Karzai also signed an agreement for 90 British military officials to staff an Afghan army officer training academy to be opened near Kabul. A total of 30 Danish, Australian and New Zealand soldiers also will staff the center, due to open before international forces leave at the end of 2014. "I believe this is an important step for the Afghan people, this means having a stronger Afghan army, which is better trained, equipped and skilled," Karzai said. ___

Peshawar roads in total chaos

Dawn.com

Chaotic traffic in the provincial capital is causing road users a lot of stress but the relevant authorities have yet to put in place a reliable, effective traffic management system. Soon after its formation, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government announced construction of 11 overhead bridges and underpasses to manage traffic, but work could begin on two overhead bridges and two underpasses only. Work on two overhead bridges on GT Road and Courts Road has disrupted the entire traffic system to the misery of motorists, who usually cover a distance of 15 minutes in one hour during rush hours. However, traffic police are pessimistic about traffic management in view of the construction of two main overhead bridges in the city. Some traffic sergeants deployed on different roads told Dawn that overhead bridges or flyovers could bring positive change to traffic system but the problem was very complex in Peshawar mainly due to massive roadside encroachments and presence of illegal vehicles on the roads. They said a strong will was required to resolve the problem as local politicians didn’t let police take action against those responsible for messy traffic. “We launched campaigns against illegal vehicles, horse-driven carts and encroachments in collaboration with the relevant town municipal administrations but had to abandon them due to political interference,” a police officer said. He said four years ago, the government had announced 11 projects, including overhead bridges and underpasses, but it avoided them and work was initiated simultaneously on the two overhead bridges, two underpasses on University Road, sewerage lines and footpaths in different areas, which caused problems to motorists and pedestrians as well. For effectively controlling traffic chaos, the officer stressed the need for increasing traffic police manpower, closure of illegal bus and wagon stands, removal of encroachments, specification of designated bus stops, removal of illegal vehicles from Peshawar and grant of full authority to police to proceed against rule violators. According to the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) officials, no action against thousands of illegal vehicles plying the city roads was the major reason for traffic jams. They said despite a decision, the government could not restore the magisterial powers of the transport department to check traffic violations but all powers were with police officials, who generated money by not taking action against traffic rule breakers. However, RTA secretary Naseem Bacha told Dawn that the authority regularly examined route permits with transporters and responded to overcharging complaints. He said currently, there were 526 permit holder buses, 1146 minibuses on Peshawar roads but the actual number of vehicles might be higher. “The taxis with permit are 3,065 and 10626 auto-rickshaws only in Peshawar but the actual number is around 50,000,” Mr Shah said, adding that the rest of all rickshaws illegally plied the roads. The SSP traffic said police were doing best to regulate the traffic but the ongoing construction work had its impact on movement of the vehicles, saying traffic engineering had main role in the system. Peshawar Development Authority deputy director Shakeel said work on the Arbab Sikandar Khan Khalil overhead bridge at Gulbahar had been in progress and would be opened for traffic on August 14. He said its stipulated time was 24 months but the PDA completed it almost in 14 months. He said work on the Mufti Mehmood overhead bridge near Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly was also in progress and it would be completed until December 2013. He said there were some hurdles near Radio Pakistan building and Livestock Department, saying after completion of the projects, major issues of traffic in Peshawar would be solved. He said the groundbreaking ceremony of another overhead bridge at Phase III Hayatabad would be held on August 14, while two underpasses were also being constructed for pedestrians on Tehkal and Abdara roads. In charge of PDA traffic engineering Siraj Anwar said his department had planned the construction of overhead bridges after finalisation of their feasibility reports but the most important thing for solution to the problems was political will. He said enforcement of laws was basic things but there seemed no enforcement of traffic rules in Peshawar. Mr Siraj suggested that encroachments, illegal vehicles, especially auto-rickshaws, be removed for smooth flow of traffic.

Afghan refugees: Incentives fail to expedite repatriation of Afghans

Despite offering incentives, repatriation process of Afghan refugees is going with slow pace as around 41,000 individuals of total 1.7 million registered Afghans have returned to their country under the UNHCR’s facilitated voluntary repatriation programme so far this year. However, UNHCR spokesperson Duniya Aslam Khan said that last year total 35,000 refugees had returned in the same period. She said that there were multiple factors owing to which refugees did not want to go back to their country. Security situation and tribal feuds were major factors, she said. The UN agency said in a press release issued here Wednesday that of the total returned Afghans from Pakistan this year, 23,664 refugees went back from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 8,578 from Balochistan, 2,883 from Sindh and 5,916 from Punjab, including Islamabad. Nearly one third of these refugees have returned to their homes in northern Afghanistan, particularly the provinces of Baghlan, Jowzjan, Balkh and Takhar. About 26 per cent of the repatriated Afghans went to the eastern provinces of Kunar, Nangarhar and Laghman. There were also a significant number of Afghans returning to Ghazni, Kabul, Logar and Parwan provinces in central Afghanistan. To facilitate return of Afghan refugees, UNHCR operates three voluntary repatriation centres in Pakistan with two in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The press release said that UNHCR was also helping communities in Pakistan that hosted large numbers of refugees. The UN agency said that 3.7 Afghans had returned from Pakistan since 2002. “Refugees Affected and Housing Areas (RAHA) was designed to enable the local communities, which have hosted refugees, to benefit from the support to ensure that the extra burden on social services and utilities does not result in a lower standard of living for the residents of those villages and towns that have so generously welcomed Afghan refugees,” it said. The spokesperson said that the UN agency was taking certain steps to expedite voluntary repatriation process from Pakistan. She said that it had been decided that return programme would not suspended in the upcoming winter and would continue throughout the year.

The Balochistan tangle

As the acutely disturbing situation in Balochistan fails to get any better, it arouses widespread concern across the country. Official circles, political as well as military, judicial authorities, the media and intellectuals and even the common citizens, are getting increasingly worried about the shape of things to come. Reports of a foreign hand at work, discontented chieftains stirring trouble while sitting abroad, the militants who have sought refuge from the army action in Fata and other vested interests wanting to keep the pot boiling – these are, indeed, confusing reports that demonstrate how complex the situation is. There has been a lot of talk about these challenges and the sense of deprivation of the local population being the cause of disturbances and, of course, of solutions. Yet hardly does it seem that the issue has been thought through. Beyond asserting that the problem calls for a political approach and not an armed action, nothing of substance that could really turn the corner has happened. On Tuesday, both Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and Director-General Military Operations Maj-General Ashfaq Nadeem Ahmad, went to the National Defence University to address the participants of a workshop on “Balochistan situation – Perceptions and realities and the way forward”. Mr Ashraf’s apprehension that the sore might spread to the country at least created the feeling that he realized the urgency with which the issue needed to be tackled. His intuition appears to be guiding him correctly as he invited the disaffected elements to come forward and talk over their grievances to the government, telling them “The entirety of Pakistan is yours.” Like quite a few other government functionaries, including former Interior Minister and now Advisor Rehman Malik, the Prime Minister also referred to the Balochistan woes as “foreign abetted”. Yet, it is evident that the government has been unable to prove or come to grips with the troublemakers. And one reason why the local rogue elements do not lend credence to the official utterances is that the previous commitments have shown little of benefit coming to the ordinary man. Be it the President’s apology, the Haqooq-e-Aghaz-Balochistan Package or the Gwadar Port, there has been no change for the better in his life. Unless radical steps are taken to give him affordable facilities of education, health, travel, etc. there is little scope of any reconciliation occurring. The DG MO has conveniently denied that any military operation was going on in the province and advocated a political solution. At the same time, he asserted, contrary to the evidence that the Supreme Court says it possesses, that most of the missing persons were either in Ferrari camps or in Afghan jails. Before anything else this confusion, perhaps, needs to be clarified.

14 Shia killed in Orakzai

Daily Times

A bomb blast killed 14 passengers, including a woman and three children, on board a pick-up in Orakzai on Wednesday, officials said, adding that the vehicle was carrying Shia passengers. "It was a remote-controlled bomb planted on the road. The bomb exploded near a pick-up van carrying passengers," senior administration official Zakir Hussain said of the incident in Sepoy village, Orakzai district. Shias have been targeted in the region for a long time, with Taliban militants exploiting Sunnis’ sentiments to gain influence in this strategic region, experts say. Eight people were killed on the spot and six died in hospital in the nearby city of Kohat, Hussain told Daily Times by phone. The dead included three women, two 11-year-old boys and a three-year-old girl, he said. All the victims were part of the same clan or same extended family. "It was a militant attack, the aim was to create panic in the area by killing ordinary people," Hussain said. He said that the victims were Shias, but ruled out a sectarian motive because it happened in a Shia-controlled area. Doctor Muhammad Naeem of Kohat District Hospital confirmed the toll and said an 11-year-old boy with serious injuries was transferred to Peshawar for specialist care. Meanwhile, a faction of the Pakistan Taliban claimed responsibility for the bomb attack, a spokesman for the group said. "We targeted them because they were Shias, and they are enemies of Islam," Muhammed Afridi, spokesman for the Darra Adam Khel faction of the Pakistan Taliban told Reuters by telephone. Sunni militants loyal to al Qaeda and the Taliban have carried out high-profile attacks on members of the Shia community in the past. "This appears to be part of a series of attacks by militants against one particular sect," said Khushal Khan, a senior government official in Orakzai. Orakzai is one of seven districts in the tribal belt on the Afghan border that is home to Taliban and al Qaeda strongholds. Washington has dubbed the area the most dangerous region on Earth. The government ordered the military to move against the militants in Orakzai two years ago, however, the situation still remains unstable there and Taliban continue to target Shias on the main Kurram-Kohat highway through Orakzai.

Pakistan: Who will name foreign hands?

THE FRONTIER POST

Even the prime minister has spoken up. He too has said that the unrest in Balochistan is "foreign-abetted". But he also has not named the foreign hands involved? Why this secrecy? Shouldn't those vile hands be identified specifically when they are playing so maliciously with the very territorial integrity of this nation and its solidarity and cohesion? Shouldn't our people know of this? Shouldn't the world be told of this? Why indeed this newly-wed damsel-like shyness to call her bridegroom by name? Is it because the names are too big that the rulers dread to name? But does anyone in Islamabad have an idea how hurtfully this stupidity of theirs is damaging Pakistan nationally and internationally? Off and on, someone in Islamabad whispers inaudibly that the Indian intelligence agency RAW is involved. But is that all? What base does it use to infest Balochistan and fan the separatist sentiments in Balochistan? What else if not Afghanistan? And could the Indian spy agency employ our western neighbour as the springboard for its vile activities in Balochistan all surreptitiously? And could it be acting all alone? We must be kidding ourselves. It has to have the local or foreign collusion in Afghanistan to carry out from there its subversion and infestation in bordering Balochistan. Our own hierarchs could be coy and reticent to our people. But not the objective realities. For years, the US viceroy and real effective power in Afghanistan after its US-led invasion and occupation was the American intelligence agency CIA. It indeed had conducted the invasion and was berthed by the Bush administration in Afghanistan to administer the occupied country thereon. Not a leave could flap on the security front in Afghanistan without the consent and acquiescence of CIA. For reasons known to it, the CIA at once shunted aside the Pakistani establishment, especially the ISI, and embraced alien agencies hostile to Pakistan. RAW was one of them, which had a free hand to subvert Balochistan as well as Pakistan's tribal and adjoining settled areas. But that was not all. In one fatal "terrorist" strike, several Chinese engineers and technicians building the key Gwadar port, which the American have been eyeing covetously all along, were killed and wounded. The Pakistani investigators must have found the hands responsible for this carnage. But they did not make their finding public, while the thinking public has still been pointing the finger at the CIA for that deadly attack. In any case, contrary to the general expectation that on completion the port would be handed over to the Chinese to operate, Pervez Musharraf, then ruling the roost, contracted it out to the Singapore Port Authority at throwaway terms and conditions. This he is widely believed to have done at the behest of the Americans. Pertinently, the Baloch dissidents, snuggled up in the warm laps of American spooks and lawmakers advocating deviously Balochistan's secession from Pakistan, have been giving out telltale utterances. When Balochistan secedes, they promise, they would not allow the gas pipeline from Iran pass through Balochistan to Pakistan. And the Gwadar port they would hand over to America. Anyway, our own spooks are still to tell the nation who were the merchants in human loyalties, who started descending on Balochistan in the mid-2000s with bags brimming with greenbacks. They were hawking to buy every Baloch youthful loyalty at the running rate of $10,000 per head plus a lot of goodies later on. This is a widely known fact in Balochistan, even though not much spoken of for the reasons not hard to fathom. And surely the government's ears and eyes must be knowing all about those merchants in human loyalties and their trading. Yet neither Musharraf ever dared to speak out nor our spooks have ever alluded to it, not even now. Why indeed are they so mum about something that they should have blared out at the top of the voice from the rooftop? They must take a lesson or two from the Indian establishment. With loud-mouthed surmises and allegations, it has successfully demonised the Kashmiris' palpably indigenous uprising for freedom as Pakistan-sponsored terrorism and India's own homegrown terrorism as Pakistan-abetted. And likewise the US administration officials, congressmen and intelligence community have peddled fictions so dexterously that the world has come to believe that everything is okay with Afghanistan except the Afghan insurgents' safe havens in Pakistan from where they crawl out and attack the Afghan and NATO forces. Someone in Islamabad has to break this silence fast and cry out the home truths. A lot is at stake in Balochistan for this nation's security and stability. A lot of foreign interference is occurring there to hurt us grievously, with Afghanistan serving as the nestling place of hostile alien agencies. And it is sinful not to tell the world what actually is happening there. Both Quetta and Islamabad must speak of it, but specifically and persistently, not vaguely or generally.

Poverty breeding extremism in tribal areas

The Express Tribune News Network.

A sense of deprivation and poverty are responsible for extremism and radicalisation in the tribal areas. There is need to address their socio-economic problems and empower them economically and politically by including them in legislation and consultation process of policy making. This was the crux of a seminar organised by the Fata Research Centre (CRC) for the launch of a research report titled, “Extremism and Radicalisation: An Overview of the Social, Political, Cultural and Economic Landscape of FATA” here on Tuesday, said a press release issued by the centre. The report was aimed at seeking public view on conflict in Afghanistan and war against terrorism and extremism in Fata. Further, it zeroed in on the social, political, cultural, economic, infrastructure and gender issues among communities to determine the factors that lead to the spread of extremism in the region. For the study, some 200 interviews were conducted while 2,000 survey forms were distributed amongst the participants from the seven agencies of Fata and the six frontier regions (FRs). A majority (72%) of the research respondents were aged 22 to 50 years, followed by 17% aged 16 to 21 years, while 11% of the participants were aged 50 or above. The study reveals that after the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 by NATO, and its spread to the Fata region in 2003, different views emerged on extremism and radicalisation. There is a consensus on resting focus on youth to harness peace and development activities in the region as a large number of people (89%) stressed the importance of youth role in bringing prosperity to the region. Unemployment among the youth is one of the key socio-economic issues of the area that ultimately finds linkages with issues like insecurity and extremism. Among the respondents, 67% totally and 11% partially, were of the view that youth did not have adequate employment opportunities. About peace and security, 53%, reported concerns over the persisting security situation in the region, while another 25%, also partially agreed that the peace and security situation is comparatively worse than in the rest of the country, while 20% contrasted the statement. Majority (61%) of the people reflected that empowerment of women through provision of health and education facilities is imperative for development. The view is contrasted by some 24% who see no role of women in development; the remaining partially either agreeing or disagreeing. However, the reflection on empowerment was relative with tribal traditions in which women are exclusively treated and their mixing with male counterparts is highly discouraged. More than three-quarter (76%) of the respondents were of the view that the activities of political parties need to be enhanced in their areas. Only 20% among the respondents disagreed on the extension of political party activity in Fata, while 4% of respondents were unable to present their view on the matter. About 94% of respondents considered poverty a major issue of the area. Only 3% of respondents who do not mull over poverty as a major problem, while 1% who did not respond. Majority of the respondents (68%) see no improvement in economic stipulation of their areas, while a fraction of respondents believe that the economic conditions have been improved during the past five years. Majority among the respondents (81%) noted existence of corruption and misuse of power by government officials and only 14% among the respondents denied the notion.

Politicians, the country is going to dogs

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) on Tuesday expressed concern at looming dangers for the democratic dispensation in the country and called upon the political parties to realise their responsibility to avert threats to democracy. The HRCP Policy Planning Committee, the highest policy making body of HRCP, urged the political parties to ensure a smooth transfer of power and to beware of those who wanted to install a democratic façade without elected representatives and democracy without the electoral process. HRCP said in a statement that, “the political parties must realise the gravity of the situation and the challenges it poses to the sustenance of the democratic dispensation. They must know that their present attitude is not helping. Endemic corruption and poor governance have lost political parties considerable support and half-baked and misdirected policies for short-term gains are also harming the political process. The political parties must know that tendency to either be passive spectators or indulge in meaningless fighting among themselves is not going to lead to positive developments. The present contentious issues can neither be resolved through force nor judicial action alone. The stakes are high for all and unpredictability at this juncture is aggravating the state of lawlessness, ethnic and sectarian killings as well as impunity for those killings. This is a watershed moment for the country and there is little doubt that we have reached the edge of the precipice. The answer to the challenges for democracy lies in expressing confidence in the electoral process and in the establishment of a consensus caretaker setup. HRCP hopes and expects that the political parties will realise their responsibility and will not become party to any scheme to take away the people’s right to elect their representatives.”

Politicians, the country is going to dogs

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) on Tuesday expressed concern at looming dangers for the democratic dispensation in the country and called upon the political parties to realise their responsibility to avert threats to democracy. The HRCP Policy Planning Committee, the highest policy making body of HRCP, urged the political parties to ensure a smooth transfer of power and to beware of those who wanted to install a democratic façade without elected representatives and democracy without the electoral process. HRCP said in a statement that, “the political parties must realise the gravity of the situation and the challenges it poses to the sustenance of the democratic dispensation. They must know that their present attitude is not helping. Endemic corruption and poor governance have lost political parties considerable support and half-baked and misdirected policies for short-term gains are also harming the political process. The political parties must know that tendency to either be passive spectators or indulge in meaningless fighting among themselves is not going to lead to positive developments. The present contentious issues can neither be resolved through force nor judicial action alone. The stakes are high for all and unpredictability at this juncture is aggravating the state of lawlessness, ethnic and sectarian killings as well as impunity for those killings. This is a watershed moment for the country and there is little doubt that we have reached the edge of the precipice. The answer to the challenges for democracy lies in expressing confidence in the electoral process and in the establishment of a consensus caretaker setup. HRCP hopes and expects that the political parties will realise their responsibility and will not become party to any scheme to take away the people’s right to elect their representatives.”

PM Ashraf in Afghanistan for trilateral summit

Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf left here Thursday for Kabul to meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai and participate in the trilateral summit, also to be attended by British Prime Minister David Cameron. The Prime Minister who is visiting Kabul on a day-long official visit, was accompanied by Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, Advisor to the PM on Interior Rehman Malik and Minister of State for Commerce Abbas Ahmed Afridi. Talking to reporters prior to his departure at the Chaklala Air Base, the Prime Minister said his first visit to the “brotherly” neighbouring country Afghanistan on the invitation of President Karzai would help strengthen relations between both the countries. PM Ashraf said the agenda of his visit to Afghanistan is focused on bilateral ties, political stability in Afghanistan and efforts to counter terrorism in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Answering a question on trilateral summit, Prime Minister Ashraf said he would also discuss important issues with Prime Minister Cameron including measures to check terrorism and extremism in the region. He termed the visit “very important” in the current circumstances and hoped for a positive outcome. He said Pakistan as a frontline state had rendered enormous sacrifices to ensure peace in the region. He also said Pakistan was not only fighting its own war but was also contributing for the sake of global peace. He said the forbearance and persistence of the Pakistani nation was exemplary and added that the sacrifices must be acknowledged by the international community.

NAB court issues summons to Sharif brothers

The summon-notices were issued by Rawalpindi’s accountability court on Wednesday. An accountability court in Rawalpindi summoned the records from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) over three alleged corruption references against Sharif brothers. The three references include the alleged corruption cases of Hudaibia paper mills, Ittefaq Foundry and Raiwind farm. The court also issued summon-notices to PML-N leaders Shahbaz Sharif and Nawaz Sharif for July 28. The petition to open corruption references against the Sharif brothers was filed by the Chairman NAB Fasih Bukhari in the court of administrative judge Chaudhry Abdul Razzaq.

Bomb kills 12 Shiites in Pakistan

http://www.usatoday.com

A minibus carrying Shiite Muslims hit a roadside bomb in northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing 12 of them in the country's latest apparent sectarian attack. The incident took place shortly after the victims left Spai, a predominantly Shiite village in the Orakzai tribal area, said local government official Jamil Khan. They were headed for the nearby district of Kohat, he said. Pakistan is a majority Sunni Muslim state, and most Sunnis and Shiites live peacefully together. But the country has a long history of sectarian attacks by extremists on both sides. Attacks by Sunni militants on Shiites have been on the rise over the last year, especially in southwestern Baluchistan province. The Sunni-Shiite schism over the true heir to Islam's Prophet Muhammad dates back to the seventh century.

Pakistan: Politics and polio

HERE’S a suggestion for Pakistani politicians. For just a couple of days, forget the usual political rhetoric. Take a break from bashing each other or America, railing against a clash of institutions, or making predictions about political developments over the next few months. Instead, focus on a problem that is of real and immediate relevance to ordinary Pakistanis: the serious threats to the campaign for the eradication of polio. Tuesday’s shooting in Karachi of a UN doctor working on polio immunisation followed the refusal over the last couple of days of the Taliban and some tribal leaders to allow polio vaccinations in parts of Fata, where the problem is most acute. If the immunisation campaign that ends today is extended by a few days, and if all major political parties focus on the issue, with the JI, the JUI and the PTI joining hands with the PML-N and the ruling coalition, there is a decent chance that something will give. This will not do away with opposition to polio vaccination overnight. But it should give health workers, local officials and supportive clerics more ammunition to negotiate with those who are resisting, and it might encourage parents to take risks to get their children immunised. At the very least it will demonstrate that our politicians are concerned with more than just politics. The mistrust of polio immunisation should not be dismissed as being entirely ignorant or unjustified. Dr Shakeel Afridi and the CIA did no favours to the project when they used a fake vaccination programme to try to track down Osama bin Laden. Other elements of the US-Pakistan relationship, particularly drone attacks, are being positioned as reasons to block the state-run campaign. None of this is helped by long-held suspicions among some communities that polio vaccination is un-Islamic or designed to weaken Muslims. In this scenario, what is needed is high-profile messaging that can counter deeply ingrained perceptions. Given the threat to the lives of campaign workers, the problem is also one of the state’s failure to protect them and, in Fata, of it no longer having control of chunks of territory. But the containment of polio cannot wait for better policing or the restoration of the state’s writ in the tribal areas. In the immediate term, what could help is rhetoric that approves of vaccination and positions the issue as one that should not be held hostage to politics and American policies. But it will go unnoticed as long as it isn’t coming from the top of the food chain. At this point, it is worth giving persuasion from the highest levels a try.

US Congress approves Bill against Haqqani network

US has been considering formally designating Haqqani network as a foreign terrorist organization.

Congress is stepping up the pressure on the Obama administration to slap the terrorist label on the Haqqani network, a militant group responsible for plotting and launching attacks from Pakistan against U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan. By voice vote Tuesday, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives approved a bill that would require the secretary of state to report to Congress on whether the Haqqani network meets the criteria to be designated a foreign terrorist organization and if not, to explain why. The report is due within 30 days of the president signing the measure. The administration has sanctioned top individuals of the Haqqani network, but it is still reviewing whether to label the entire organization. That delay has frustrated members of Congress. Republican Rep. Mike Rogers, chairman of the Intelligence Committee, added an amendment to the bill stating that it was the sense of Congress that the Haqqani network meets the definition of a terrorist organization and they should be designated as one. "The Obama administration has been considering formally designating the Haqqani network as a foreign terrorist organization under U.S. law but has yet to act," said Republican Rep. Tim Griffin during a brief House debate. Last week, the State Department defended its effort. "We ve been very aggressive about sanctioning their top individuals, and we ve seen that as the most effective way to go about this. But the review is ongoing, and is actively ongoing," department spokesman Patrick Ventrell told reporters. The measure now heads to the Senate, which approved a similar bill sponsored by Republican Sen. Richard Burr last December. The Haqqani network, largely operating in eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan, is affiliated with both the Taliban and al-Qaida. U.S. officials say it represents one of the biggest threats to Afghanistan stability because it is believed to use Pakistan as a rear base for attacks on American and coalition troops in Afghanistan. The House vote comes just weeks after the United States and Pakistan ended a rancorous seven-month standoff with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton apologizing to Pakistan for the killing of 24 Pakistani troops last fall and in return securing the reopening of critical NATO supply lines into Afghanistan. Throughout the uneasy relationship between the United States and Pakistan, American officials have pressed Islamabad to crack down on the extremist Haqqani network. The bill states that "nothing in this act may be construed to infringe upon the sovereignty of Pakistan to combat militant or terrorist groups operating inside its boundaries." In May, the Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate Intelligence committees wrote to Clinton asking her to act immediately in labeling the Haqqani network a terrorist group. The four leaders said that based on meetings with U.S. and Afghan officials in Afghanistan, "it was clear that the Haqqani network continues to launch sensational and indiscriminate attacks against U.S. interests in Afghanistan and the group poses a continuing threat to innocent men, women and children in the region." The four noted that it had been six months since the State Department had undertaken its "final formal review" of the Haqqani network. "The Haqqanis have continued to attack U.S. troops and the U.S. embassy in Kabul during that period," the lawmakers said. The letter also noted that the Obama administration may have been reluctant to act while Marc Grossman, the special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, was trying to negotiate a reconciliation agreement with the Taliban that may have included or affected the Haqqani network. Last year, the top U.S. military officer accused Pakistan s powerful intelligence agency of backing extremists in planning and executing the assault on the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan and a truck bomb attack that wounded 77 American soldiers. In his last congressional testimony before retirement, Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, insisted that the Haqqani insurgent network "acts as a veritable arm" of Pakistan s Inter-Services Intelligence agency. The House also passed a bill that would strengthen economic and security ties between the United States and Israel. The bipartisan legislation, which was approved by voice vote, would reaffirm the U.S. commitment to Israel and American support for the Mideast ally s right to self-defense. The bill would extend current loan guarantees to Israel that expire later this year and authorizes the transfer of obsolete or surplus defense material from the United States to Israel. The bill reiterates U.S. support for a negotiated two-state solution to resolve the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians.

US set to lose 2 million jobs

http://rt.com//blockquote> The Pentagon will see massive cuts over the next decade to adjust the ever-expanding US deficit. A new study reveals, however, that the immediate impact of those adjustments could cost 2 million Americans their jobs in the next year alone. The Aerospace Industries Association released the findings of a report on Tuesday that suggest that the automatic cuts in federal spending slated to kick in on January 2 have the potential of being far more damaging than imagined. The author of the report, Dr. Stephen Fuller of George Mason University and Chmura Economics and Analytics, suggests that while the Obama administration-endorsed sequestration goes about as scheduled, more than 2 million Americans will see their jobs eradicated in just 2013. "If they are allowed to occur as currently scheduled, the long-term consequences will permanently alter the course of the U.S. economy's performance, changing its competitive position in the global economy," the report warns. The expected cuts are touted as a necessary means to adjust the country’s growing deficit by way of decreasing Defense Department spending. This latest analysis reveals, however, that it isn’t just those with direct ties to the Pentagon who will be jobless. While the future of the Aerospace Industries Association — a trade group with close ties with the Pentagon — is obviously at stake, Dr. Fuller’s report says that it will be more than just military men and women made jobless by the cuts. In addition to lay offs coming to defense contractors and others with close DoD ties, the study suggests that as many as 600,000 federal workers will lose their jobs. Dr. Fuller adds that the automatic cuts, if triggered next year, could cause the US to see it’s gross domestic product drop by $215 billion in 2013, in turn plummeting consumer confidence and perhaps paving the way for years of irreversible damage. As the Associated Press reports, however, the federal government has not outlined specifics of the sequestration plan, suggesting that there is indeed some degree of uncertainty in the AIA released report. Later this week, the US House of Representatives is expected to vote on a measure that, if passed, could force President Barack Obama to put forth specific details about where the cuts will occur. "The federal agencies haven't said what they would cut back," Dr. Fuller tells the AP. "They don't have too many choices because most of their budget is payroll, where the Defense Department has more choices because most of its budget isn't payroll."

60% of Saudi citizens live below poverty line

Despite being world’s biggest crude exporter, sixty percent of the people in Saudi Arabia live below the country’s poverty line, a Saudi newspaper reported.

In an article published by the Okaz daily, Saudi journalist, Khaled al-Harbi wrote that while Saudi Arabia earns 1,500 billion riyals (around 400 billion dollars) a year, the average salary of an ordinary Saudi citizen should not be 1,500 riyals (around 400 dollars). According to official figures released by Consultative Assembly of Saudi Arabia (Shura), about 22 percent of Saudi citizens - at least 3 million citizens - live below the poverty line. Activists in Saudi Arabia have repeatedly criticized Riyadh for spending vast sums on buying arms from the West and not helping the millions living in poverty. In 2010, Riyadh purchased over 60 billion dollars worth of weapons from the United States, which Washington lauded as the largest arms deal in history. Saudi Arabia is the world's biggest oil exporter, with the black gold accounting for 90 percent of the country's exports.

Canada’s Afghan aid legacy under fire

Is Canada’s aid legacy in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province living up to the high hopes it raised? Not to hear some longsuffering residents tell it. They complain that key projects in the Taliban insurgency’s heartland haven’t made the material difference in their lives that they had been led to expect. People worry that the flow of water from the partly restored Dahla Dam and its irrigation canals may dry up over the summer, and they point to decrepit school buildings, the Star’s Paul Watson found on a recent tour. His series of reports in the Saturday and Sunday papers raise questions about the long-term sustainability of high-profile “signature” Canadian aid projects into which Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government has sunk $70 million or more. And chillingly, Watson writes in today’s paper that despite Canadian efforts to help shore up the justice system, some Afghans are so disillusioned with official corruption that they are turning back to tribal courts and even to the Taliban for redress. Granted, the Kandahar projects are merely part of Canada’s broader $2 billion aid program in Afghanistan over the past decade. That aid is credited with helping to reduce water losses in the Dahla system and with boosting key crop yields, with sending 8 million children including millions of girls to school and with vaccinating more than a million against polio, among other major gains. Looking ahead, Ottawa intends to provide $227 million more through 2017 for mother and child health care, schooling and human rights. But as Watson discovered, the silt-choked Dahla Dam reservoir and its irrigation system still need major work. Some of the 52 schools we built or renovated show signs of shoddy construction. And the legal system remains weak despite our push to train judges and lawyers. It’s too early to take the view that we have “moved on.” Nothing is easy in Afghanistan. The insurgency plus corruption and waste have dogged projects, limiting the hoped-for benefits in terms of local development, security and stability. Afghanistan is a harsh aid environment, and gains can soon be reversed. But even so, Canada ought to acknowledge residual ownership for “signature” projects that have yet to fully deliver. Rather than declare mission accomplished, Ottawa should face up to the problems and pool funds with our American and other allies to help the Afghans finish what we have begun. There’s still plenty to do.

From Kabul to Istanbul: The rickshaw circus

A Canadian man and his German girlfriend are braving the Taliban to take a rickshaw on one of the world’s most dangerous road trips to bring the circus to children in Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan. Adnan Khan, 41, and his anthropologist sweetheart have embarked on the punishing 8,000-kilometre trip to Istanbul that demands a police escort and hoisting the rickshaw onto trucks to navigate the trickiest stages. Their purpose is twofold: raise money for a charity that uses circus training to lift the spirits of children in war-torn Afghanistan and to spread those circus skills along the way, to brighten the lives of refugees and orphans. Adnan left Kabul by road on July 11 as 25-year-old Annika Schmeding flew to Islamabad, after eight months in the Afghan capital, to prepare the way. Accompanied by Afghan police, Adnan drove to the eastern town of Jalalabad, then onto the border with Pakistan’s tribal belt. Washington considers the tribal belt the global headquarters of al Qaeda, and a den of Taliban and other militants plotting attacks in Afghanistan and against the West. It has not seen Western tourists in years. Nor does the three-wheel rickshaw, painted yellow, green and white with a jazzy “Rickshaw Circus” on the side, and sporting a brass clown horn, go unnoticed in terrain synonymous with kidnapping, suicide bombings and ambushes. “I finally got the rickshaw to the Pakistani side. It took hours. It was quite funny. A policeman told me ‘I haven’t seen a carnet de passage (the document needed for tourists to cross the border) in years,’” Adnan told AFP by telephone on Monday. His next task was speeding the rickshaw to Pakistan’s northwestern city of Peshawar, where Osama bin Laden kept a house during the 1980s war against Soviet troops in Afghanistan, and onto the capital Islamabad. “The local tribal police force is going to have a guard travel with me,” he said, adding that he would be rushing to make Tuesday’s first show. The trip has been months in the planning. Khan and Schmeding expect to spend two months winding their way through Pakistan, Iran and Turkey — averaging 300 kilometres a day in six hours — in temperatures that can reach 50 degrees Celsius. The couple are determined to raise as much money as possible for the Afghan Mobile Mini Circus for Children (MMCC), which was recently forced to close a school in the western city of Herat and sack staff because of a shortage of funds. “We realised that MMCC is very good at running their programmes, but not really good in terms of publicity. So we wanted people to know that there’s been an actual social circus running in Afghanistan for about 10 years,” said Khan. The journalist, who lives in Istanbul but has been coming to Afghanistan regularly for the past 10 years, spoke as girls sang, juggled tennis balls and skittles, and boys danced around the rickshaw and jumped high into the sky. Organisers say the circus encourages concentration, discipline and stimulates intellectual development. “When they learn how to juggle and they go on stage, they get so much more self-confidence. They learn to express themselves. They learn how to trust, to share,” said Schmeding. Since 2002, the charity says it has reached more than two million children in a country where singing, dancing and cultural shows were banned by the Taliban regime, which was brought down in the 2001 US-led invasion. Besides children, the MMCC also puts on shows for grown ups designed to raise public awareness of basic hygiene, malaria and anti-personnel mines. “One thing is the educational message in it. Another one is to have the children being entertained,” said David Mason, the founder and co-director of MMCC. “In Afghanistan, entertainment has another mission. It’s therapy, collective therapy,” he added. Since 1979, Afghanistan has been largely at war. The 1980s saw the mujahideen fight to evict Soviet troops, then came civil war between 1992 and 1996, until the Taliban took power and the 9/11 attacks prompted the American invasion in 2001. Since then, a deadly Taliban insurgency has grown with each passing year, killing more than 3,000 civilians in 2011, according to the United Nations, which is a record. In Pakistan and in Iran, the rickshaw circus will stop every three days in a large town, where they will work with children in orphanages, hospitals and refugee camps. “It will be nice to raise some money for MMCC as they desperately need it. But the awareness is more important,” said Khan.

Benazir Bhutto: SC constitutes larger bench

DunyaTv

The Supreme Court has constituted five members larger bench to look into the matter. The Supreme Court on Tuesday heard a case regarding registration of second FIR in Benazir Bhutto murder case.The apex court has decided to constitute a five member larger bench to look into the matter.Hearing of the case has been adjourned for indefinite period of time.

Karachi: UN polio vaccination doctor attacked near Sorabh Goth

Gunmen opened fire on a UN vehicle in Karachi Tuesday, wounding a driver and a foreign doctor working on a polio immunization campaign, officials said. Local police said two young Afghan men opened fire on the vehicle in the Soharb Goth neighborhood of eastern Karachi. “A foreigner was wounded critically while his driver sustained superficial wounds,” senior police official Shahid Hayat told AFP. Police said the foreign doctor had been traveling to a polio vaccination camp, when the vehicle was attacked. “One of our drivers and one of our staff were hurt, but currently they are both stable,” an official from the United Nations’ World Health Organization (WHO) told AFP from Islamabad. Pakistan kicked off a three-day polio vaccination campaign on Monday.

Polio campaign troubles imperil 350,000 Pakistan children

Pakistan on Monday postponed a polio immunisation campaign in parts of its tribal belt, jeopardising the health of more than 350,000 children after the Taliban banned inoculations. Local Taliban and Pakistani warlord Hafiz Gul Bahadur, whose followers are fighting Western troops in Afghanistan, banned the vaccinations in the northwestern region of Waziristan to protest against US drone attacks. They have condemned the immunisation campaign, which began nationwide on Monday, as a cover for espionage. Pakistani doctor Shakeel Afridi was jailed for 33 years in May after helping the CIA find Osama bin Laden using a hepatitis vaccination programme as cover. Fighting between government troops and local warlord Mangal Bagh also made it difficult to innoculate all children in Khyber district, officials said. "The campaign has been postponed in North and South Waziristan and Bara (district) of Khyber," Mazhar Nisar, in charge of the polio monitoring cell at the prime minister's secretariat, told AFP. Officials in Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan, said a meeting of tribal elders to discuss immunisation had been postponed due to a military curfew. In Khyber, administration official Irfanullah Wazir told AFP that the target was to vaccinate 200,163 children, but conceded the campaign would be affected in parts of Bara and the Tirah valley, where 111,556 children need the drops. "We will make every effort to reach the maximum children in those areas, with the help of security forces and lashkars (pro-government tribal militias)," Wazir said. Fawad Khan, director of health services in the tribal belt, told AFP last week that at least 160,000 children in North Waziristan and 80,000 in South Waziristan would be affected if polio drops are not administered. Pakistan says 34 million children under five will be targeted in the three-day polio immunisation campaign from Monday to Wednesday. The prime minister's office said 22 vaccination points had been established on the Afghan-Pakistani border, but expected that a "substantial proportion" of children in Bara, South and North Waziristan would not be accessed. The Lancet medical journal has said vaccination problems led last year to Pakistan's highest number of polio cases in a decade, 198, compared to 144 in 2010. Polio remains endemic only in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria. The highly infectious disease affects mainly the under-fives and can cause paralysis in a matter of hours. Some cases can be fatal.

ANNEXED AFGHAN TERRITORIES BE MERGED WITH FATA

Some political leaders had been raising the controversy of annexed territories of Afghanistan by the British colonial rulers for which Baloch should not be blamed as they had no hand in keeping the territories of Afghanistan with Balochistan. Rather General Yahya Khan should be blamed for not merging the annexed territories of Afghanistan with nearby FATA or Waziristan. Neither Baloch had claimed on the annexed territories of Afghanistan, nor they are interested in the resources of that territory for any reason. It is a fact that Baloch nationalists never fought for Parliamentary seats in northern Balochistan, mainly in former Afghan territories, allowing the Pakthuns to retain their seats in the assemblies. On the contrary, the Pakhtuns are a serious economic burden on Balochistan as they are exploiting our resources and taking tens of billions of rupees every month on the pretext of development funds and administrative expenditure. For the past half a century, the Mulla had monopolized the development spending and keeping the portfolio of Planning and Development for the disadvantage of Baloch areas, to be precisely specific. Billions and billions are being spent on constituencies of Mullas and at the cost of the Baloch people and their rich resources. It must be stopped by merging the annexed territories of Afghanistan with FATA till such time both Pakistan and Afghanistan settle all their outstanding issues and disputes, including territorial disputes. All the Government servants, including doctors, engineers, judges of the superior courts and others should be asked to report to the FATA Secretariat to serve their Pakhtuns sparing Balochs. It is a good decision that the National Assembly is forming a commission demarcating the boundaries of the new provinces, including Seraiki Province, and the same commission should be asked to re-demarcate the former Afghan territories and merge it with FATA if the local residents were reluctant to remain with KPK for economic and social reasons. The same commission should re-demarcate the boundaries of existing provinces merging Dera Ghazi Khan, Dera Ismail Khan, whole of Jacobabad District and its surrounding historical Baloch territories with Balochistan and merging the Annexed Afghan territories with FATA. The Commission should be asked to create natural and national provinces by re-demarcating the provincial boundaries on ethnic, cultural and linguistic basis and to the satisfaction of Baloch and Seraiki people. It is regrettable that some vested interests in the pay of the security establishment are trying to create differences between the Balochs and Pakhtuns in Balochistan. Off and on they raise non-issues at the behest of their masters as they had no scope in politics as Mullas had been recruited permanently to serve the establishment in Balochistan, if not in KPK. The JUI is well entrenched in Balochistan politics as it is getting billions of funds to invest in their respective constituencies ousting PMAP and others. PMAP and ANP is no match to power and influence of the JUI in the present context. Generally, people are not taking the politics of PMAP seriously as it never addressed the serious issues and resorted to slogan mongering using catchy slogans for the lumpen elements in some cities. Long ago, it deviated from serious politics and failed to address serious political and constitutional issues. Second rank PMAP leadership is totally blank unable to understand the political, social, economic and other issues of the masses. It was due to the brain drain as most seasoned political workers preferred to go on sideline if they had not changed their loyalties. They created a vacuum in the ranks of party workers and depending on people who lack basic knowledge about the area, politics, economics and social issues. That is why, no individual is authorized to issue a statement and their views are dispatched to the newspaper offices through a centralized Press release issued from the Central Party office. Even journalists are barred from covering their meetings asking them to print what the Party office provide them material through a Press release. It is the level of confidence on the provincial leadership, not to speak of the district leadership.

Pakistan: Moody's downgrade: big surprise?

Downgrading of Pakistan's foreign and local currency bond ratings by one notch to Caa1 from B3 by Moody's Investors Service last week may not be surprising for those who have been watching the recent developments in country's economy closely. As is usually the case, the fresh assessment was claimed to be made on the basis of deterioration of certain key macroeconomic variables including worsening of country's balance of payments (BoP) position over the past year, the looming large repayments due to the International Monetary Fund, dwindling foreign exchange reserves and the institutional weaknesses stemming from political instability and constrained government finances. The main driver of Moody's one notch downgrade of the country's bond rating was the increasing strain on its external sector position as a result of a rising trade deficit and a decline in capital inflows. Weak government finances, structural inflationary pressures and domestic political uncertainties were also adding to Pakistan's vulnerabilities and other risks, thereby compounding the downward pressures on sovereign creditworthiness. In order to justify its action to downgrade Pakistan's credit rating, Moody's Service depended largely on the previous year's (2011-12) data which indicated several deteriorating trends in all the key areas of the economy. As part of the new rating action, Moody's has also revised Pakistan's foreign currency country ceiling to B3 from B1, foreign currency deposit ceiling to Caa2 from B3, and local currency bond and deposit ceilings to B1 from Baa2 and Ba2 respectively. The considerable change in the local currency ceilings reflect a downward assessment of Institutional Strength to "Very Low" from 'Low' in the assessment of sovereign risk. It needs to be remembered that Moody's is one of the three largest credit rating agencies in the world and the downgrade of Pakistan's foreign and local currency bond ratings from B3 to Caa1 - equal to the lowest rating Pakistan had ever gotten, cannot be easily dismissed and would have a considerable negative impact on the economy. Although, Pakistan's debt had generally been classified as "junk" but the position, in terms of ratings, was never as bad as declared in its latest report. Moody's highest-ever rating for Pakistan was B1 from November 2006 to May 2008 which was downgraded to B3, shortly before IMF rescue package for Pakistan came into effect. The rating agency had also downgraded Pakistan from B2 to B3 on the very day that Pakistan had conducted five nuclear weapon tests on May 28, 1998. Pakistan's downgrading to the new level of Caa1 shows that Moody's is now highly pessimistic about the prospects of the country's economy, particularly about its external sector. The present rating, in fact, is so poor that the country's debt rating has to go up seven notches in order to reach the lowest level of investment grade. Needless to say, that such an inferior rating by a highly reputed agency could be very harmful for the economy. In particular, foreign investors would avoid the country, external borrowings would be highly expensive and it would be more difficult for domestic banks to open LCs for imports. If the situation worsens further, foreign banks could demand cash for trade transactions which would be costly in financial terms and, in a way, humiliating for the country. All of this could have a negative impact on exchange rate, inflation, growth rate, employment and poverty level, etc. While Moody's has declared its new assessment, it could be plausibly argued that its action to downgrade our rating was rather hasty and ill-conceived. It is certainly a bit of a surprise that rating downgrade has been announced at a time when oil prices in the international market have dropped significantly, relations with the US have improved somewhat, exports to the EU countries could increase under the new policy regime, and home remittances are rising consistently. All these factors would have a positive impact on the external sector and reduce the risk of insolvency in the near future. Although, political tensions in the country are still high but unanimous agreement on the new Chief Election Commissioner suggests that the key players would prefer the system's continuity and shun direct confrontation. It also needs to be mentioned that Standard & Poor's has not changed Pakistan's credit rating so far and maintained its stable outlook. However, all of this does not mean that the country's economy is out of the woods. The government has already defaulted in its domestic sovereign obligations to the IPPs and could face problems in the foreign debt repayments in the next couple of years due mainly to the huge amount of principal and interest due for payment to the IMF. Whatever the future of the economy, authorities of the country, in our view, instead of disputing or worrying too much about the justification of Moody's latest move, need to concentrate wholeheartedly on reducing the vulnerabilities of economy through a bold reform process. If such a route is adopted, not only would our economy improve, the Moody's and others would also be forced to reassess Pakistan ratings.

PML-N turned into petition league

Dawn.com

Senior Advisor to the Prime Minister on Interior Rehman Malik on Monday said that PML-N had turned into ‘Petition League’ and fulfilled all its desires through petitions. Addressing the public meeting after inaugurating passport office, he said that the government of Shahbaz Sharif was running on stay orders for the last four and a half years. He said that Pakistan People’s Party believed in the ballot and not the bullet. He hoped that general election would be held on time. Quoting the statement of Nawaz Sharif, he said that the PML-N chief had said that it would be rebellion to contest elections under the patronage of Pervez Musharraf, but still contested the elections under his (Musharraf’s) patronage. “It is a matter of astonishment that no FIR had so far been registered against Pervez Musharraf in Punjab,” he observed. “I salute to Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani who served the poor people and rendered valuable services in his respective area,” he added.

Nawaz should stop politicising judiciary

All Pakistan Muslim League Central Information Secretary Aasia Ishaq has said that Nawaz Sharif should stop politicising the judiciary as it will harm the country.According to the APML statement issued here on Monday, she said Nawaz Sharif and his party was spreading an impression that the country’s judiciary was functioning on his directions.“It is a time for an independent judiciary to take notice of the situation so that any political actor and producer cannot damage the image of the court,” she added.Aasia further said that Nawaz Sharif always preferred his family and personal interests and never worked for the betterment and development of the country.Moreover, All Pakistan Muslim League Central Vice President Sardar Ghulam Mustafa Khaskheli has said that everybody knows that foreign elements are behind the incidents of target killing in Quetta and Karachi but the question is that what the government is doing to root them out. According to an APML press release issued here on Monday, Sardar Ghulam Mustafa Khaskheli said frequent incidents of terrorism in Quetta and Karachi show the grim picture that state machinery and rulers were not serious to save the country from the clutches of terrorism. The writ of the government and rule of law has become a dream long lost. Target killers have plagued the society and the masses have been left at the mercy of criminals, he added.Target killing can be eliminated by taking indiscriminate action and shedding religio-political compromises, he added that elements involve in the killing of people should be taken to the task.Sardar Ghulam Mustafa Khaskheli said there was a rule of law prevailed during the Pervez Musharraf era, business community had no sense of insecurity which resulted in flourishing of industrialisation and investment, booming of economy and provision of employment to large number of people and strengthening of the country.Security forces took stringent action wherever the extremists and terrorists tried to challenge the writ of the government during Gen Pervez Musharraf’s rule and eliminated them but the present government is not utilising its full force, he added.

Swat summer festival comes to an end

The Express Tribune

Amid fireworks and cheers, the five-day Swat Summer Festival concluded in Kalam on Monday.

After another round of festivities and sports activities including tent-pegging, horse dances, gymnastics, acrobatics, karate display and horse, motorbike, boat and jeep races, Peshawar Corps Commander Lieutenant General Khalid Rabbani distributed prizes and souvenirs amongst the participants who secured top positions. “The success of the festival is proven by the huge number of tourists it attracted from across the country,” said Gen Rabbani, adding that it also a reminder that peace has been restored in Swat valley. “I invite tourists from the entire world to visit Swat without any hesitation and enjoy the spectacular and serene environment of the valley,” he said. He promised that another festival on the same pattern will also be organised next year. “At first, we were hesitant to come to Swat as we had heard many horror stories, but after we arrived, we realised that those were just stories. The valley is peaceful and the people are very hospitable,” Zubair Zahid, a tourist from Islamabad told The Express Tribune. He said that police officials can be seen deputed at every tourist spot, which provides a sense of security. Though the festival had officially ended, thousands of people could still be seen thronging the various tourist resorts in Swat. “The cool breeze on our cheeks and the spectacular sceneries you only see in pictures, everything is perfect here,” said Ayesha Anam, an eighth-grader from Karachi, as she sat on a charpoi along Swat River. With the staggering influx of tourists, local hoteliers and salespersons are having a field day. Seven-year-old Javed, who sells boiled eggs after school hours, said he has been earning around Rs200 to 300 every day since the festival started. “I hope the people keep coming,” he said.

Obama 'Won't Be Apologizing' for Bain Attacks on Romney

http://news.yahoo.com

Republicans continue to call on President Obama and his campaign to give an apology for questioning Mitt Romney's role at Bain Capital. They won't be getting one. "No, we won't be apologizing," the president said in an interview aired today. "Sometimes these games are played during political campaigns. Understand what the issues are here: Mr Romney claims he's Mr. Fix-it for the economy because of his business experience, so I think voters entirely legitimately want to know what is exactly his business experience."

One-on-one with President Obama: wavy.com

Speaking to NBC's Richmond, Va., affiliate station, WAVY-TV, Obama invoked a past White House occupant in an argument he has used for days on the campaign trail. "Harry Truman said 'the buck stops with me,' and I think understandably people are going to be interested in are you in fact responsible for this company you say is one of your primary calling cards for your wanting to be President," he said. On Thursday an Obama campaign manager upped the ante on Romney's final days at Bain Capital by suggesting the Republican candidate had either lied to the public or misrepresented "his position at Bain to the SEC, which is a felony," by saying he had left the company in 1999. Romney gave five network interviews to defend himself, stating the Obama campaign had gone "out of control."

One-on-one with President Obama: wavy.com

That spokeswoman doubled down on the attack today by stating there was no point in "arguing the semantics" of whether he was officially active at the firm during the time. "If you're signing an SEC document with your own signature that you're the president, C.E.O., chairman of the board and 100 percent owner of a company, in what world are you living in that you're not in charge?" Stephanie Cutter said on CBS. On ABC's "This Week," former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel put it another way: "As president of the United States you can't have a sign on your desk that says, 'Gone fishing,'" the Chicago mayor said. Emanuel and Cutter had come to represent the Democratic side in the row at the heart of the issue: Whether Romney could be held responsible for layoffs and outsourcing at Bain properties after he supposedly left to manage the U.S. Olympic Committee. On the other side of the table: Romney adviser Kevin Madden. "The reason there is a document in 2002 that had his signature is, during that transition from 1999 to 2002 where there was transfer of ownership to the new partners of Bain, that there was a duty to sign those documents," Madden said. "Even a bipartisan commission indicated Governor Romney left Bain in 1999." It is a fact that Romney remained at the company until at least 2002, according to SEC filings obtained by the Boston Globe. But some independent fact checking organizations have criticized the reporting of Romney's role at the time, stating there was no evidence to say he took part in any decision-making processes. Republicans have seized on those articles, demanding an apology from the Obama campaign. Madden repeated the call, but Cutter maintained it was out of the question. "Instead of whining about what the Obama campaign is saying, just put the facts out there and let people decide, rather than trying to hide them," she said. Cutter and Emanuel both referenced Romney's refusal to release any tax returns dating before 2010, which would shed light onto the nature of overseas holdings the candidate possessed. "You've learned in just one year about the Caymans, about the Bahamas, about Luxembourg, and about Switzerland, all where his tax and different accounts are," Emanuel said. "His tax - his tax filing looks more like the Olympic Village than it does like a middle-class family." Madden said Romney had "gone above and beyond" financial disclosure laws required of candidates, releasing "hundreds and hundreds of pages of financial disclosures with the FEC." On CNN, another Romney surrogate, Ed Gillepsie, said the candidate's departure for the Olympics was originally planned as a "leave of absence." "He ended up not going back at all and retired retroactively to February of 1999 as a result," Gillepsie said. The statement has set the liberal blogosphere ablaze, "Ed Gillepsie" and "#retroactively" holding positions in the top 10 U.S. Twitter trends as of press time.

95 %Pakistanis see themselves in trouble

Ninety five per cent Pakistanis believe they are in financial trouble and blame their government for the same, says a US survey. About 10 per cent blame banks and financial institutions, 32 per cent blame the world’s biggest scapegoat, the United States, while two per cent also blame the European Union. A large minority, 33 per cent, blame themselves for the situation they are in. The survey, by Washington’s Pew Research Institute, shows that 70 per cent Pakistanis in 2008 believed they were in “good personal economic situation.” It reduced to 51 per cent 2012, a 19 per cent decline in four years. In 2008, 41 per cent Pakistanis believed their country was in a “good national economic situation.” It reduced to nine per cent in 2012, registering 32 per cent decline in four years. Despite the problems they are facing, most Pakistanis continue to believe that they are better off in free market economy. In 2002, 50 per cent Pakistan believed in the free market, 60 per cent in 2007, 65 per cent in 2009, 64 per cent in 2010, and 48 per cent in 2012. But the figures do show a 12 per cent decline in their trust in the free market. In 2002, 49 per cent had little satisfaction with the country’s economic direction, which reduced to 29 per cent in 2003 but improved to 54 per cent in 2004. In 2005, it reduced to 57 per cent, and in 2006 to 35 per cent. It slightly improved to 39 per cent in 2007 but reduced to 25 per cent in 2008. The biggest fall came in 2009 when the Pakistanis’ confidence in their economic direction reduced to just nine per cent. In 2010, it improved to 14 per cent but again fell to six per cent in 2011 and improved to 12 per cent in 2012. Pakistanis who see their national economic condition as good have been reduced from 59 to nine per cent in less than five years. In 2002, 49 per cent said they had confidence in their national economic condition. In 2007 it improved to 59 per cent, but in 2008, it reduced to 41 per cent, in 2009 to 22 per cent, in 2010 to 18, in 2011 to 12. And in 2012 it hit the rock bottom with only nine per cent saying they see their national economic condition as good. Only 26 per cent Pakistanis believe the situation will improve. Twenty-three per cent say it will remain the same while 43 per cent say it will worsen. Only nine per cent Pakistani say their personal economic condition is better than the country’s. Asked how were they doing now compared to five years ago, 23 per cent Pakistanis said they were financially better off, 17 per cent said they were about the same and 57 per cent said they were worse off. Asked how was their standard of living as compared to their parents at the same age, 38 per cent said better, 16 per cent said about the same and 42 per cent said it was worse. Despite the hardships they face, an overwhelming number of Pakistanis, 81 per cent, believe hard work is the key to success. Only15 per cent say it is not.

Pakistan: TERRORIST ATTACK ON POLITICAL PROCESS

After long, the Awami National Party made an attempt to strengthen the on-going political process by organizing a public meeting in Kuchlak to mobilize public opinion ahead of the election process. Since it was a democratic party and got the right to approach the people to win over their support for its political programme. Enemies of the democratic forces and democratic polity obstructed this political process by attacking the public meeting with a time device killing nine people and injuring 22 others, including the Provincial ANP President and his wife, also a known political activist. A least known militant outfit claiming to be Lashkar Mujahideen-i-Islam had carried out the bomb attack killing and wounding score of political workers and activists. ANP had been the victim of terrorism in KPK and a serious suicide attack was made on party President only for not being a fanatic or not believing in fascist ideology. A strong section of Pakistani establishment hates the politics of liberalism, Baloch, Pakhtun and Sindhi nationalism, or Pakistani nationalism or patriotism and support the fascists and fanatic elements who are given a free hand to hold huge public rallies, public meetings in any part of Pakistan. The DPC meetings and rallies in all parts of Pakistan are a proved that the establishment is still supporting Jihadi elements and allowing Tsunami Khan to hold meetings and rallies anywhere in Pakistan as their politics suits the establishment and opposed to PPP, ANP and PML-N. All those political forces not supporting the Afghan Jihad are subject to terrorist attacks. It is the clear message conveyed to the political forces by bombing the ANP meeting. We believe that the bomb attack on the ANP public meeting is nothing but a terrorist attack on the political process in Balochistan and elsewhere disallowing the liberal and nationalist forces to play their destined role in Balochistan. On the contrary, religious, fanatics and obscurantist elements are allowed to do politics, retain their national and provincial assembly seats for more than a decade and others are not allowed to contact their own political constituents as it was disapproved by the establishment for strategic reasons. Such a policy will harm Pakistan, not benefit the country, it is our considered opinion and there must be a change in state policy by allowing the political forces to take the driving seat in the Pakistani administration and sending all the anti-democratic forces to take the back seat. Let’s politicians or men from representative democracy rule this country. The public servants merely should obey the orders from elected representatives governing Pakistan.

Pakistan:Power generation by provinces, private sector

According to a Business Recorder exclusive report, the federal government is considering ending the constitutional restriction of not allowing provinces and private sector to generate more than 50 MW without federal approval with the objective of enhancing generation capacity. This, according to informed sources, is being labeled as an out of the box solution to the ongoing crippling energy problem in the country. It is evident that this out of the box solution has not been well thought out at all. While granted that the provinces and the private sector should be allowed to produce electricity without a maximum limit but the power is to be distributed through the national grid which is under the control of the federal government. In other words work is required to draft agreements, after discussions with all stakeholders required to ensure the success of such a proposal. In the absence of such a policy this proposal is not so much an out of the box as out of the realm of possibility in the near future solution. Be that as it may, assuming that a draft is agreed the critical question is whether this alone would be able to resolve the crisis? The third-party audit on rental power projects undertaken by the Asian Development Bank concluded that the major problem with the energy sector is not one of generation, though total capacity generation was acknowledged to be lower than demand. However, it was argued that the shortfall should not have resulted in more than a couple of hours of loadshedding per day, but that of inability to operate at capacity. And this is due to the massive rise of circular debt premised on a 70 to 80 percent monthly utility bills collections with the federal and provincial governments the main defaulters, followed by influential private individuals as well as Federally Administered Tribal Areas. Circular debt thus continues to compromise the liquidity in the power sector thereby disabling Pakistan State Oil (PSO) from paying for the needed fuel imports. At present, five Independent Power Producers are in court seeking their due amounts from federal government entities. Additionally, massive distribution and transmission losses as well as theft of electricity also add to the woes of this sector. The power sector also complains that the price set for electricity is way below the cost of producing electricity - a cost that is rising commensurate with the rise in fuel in the international marketplace. Additionally, our energy mix is steadily tilting in favour of thermal generation (as a percentage of total energy produced) over other cheaper sources of fuel resulting in cost of production of electricity rising at a fast clip. Given this background the multilaterals led by the World Bank proposed a set of power sector reforms considered critical to resolving the energy crisis in 2008 under the Stand-By Arrangement with the International Monetary Fund, that Pakistan's government agreed to in writing in its Letter of Intent. The reforms included eliminating subsidies notably inter-disco tariff differential that is in effect a subsidy to the poorly performing discos, a conditionality that a political government, as expected, has been unable to meet. Ensuring 100 percent collections of utility bills could have been implemented but the government seems to have shied away from implementing this as well. The Sindh government as the single largest defaulter owes in excess of 50 billion rupees and federal minister Khurshid Shah who hails from Sindh was charged with the responsibility to discuss the issue with the Sindh Chief Minister. However, a meeting between the two has yet to take place on the matter. Distribution and transmission losses due to old equipment or deliberate theft in which the linesmen are complicit have also not been dealt with proactively with many in the power sector complaining that when they proceed to disconnect defaulters they are ruthlessly beaten up and no protection provided to them. Thus the power issue is serious but a large part can be dealt with through ensuring that the circular debt is eliminated through improved policing and discussions with large defaulters.

Pakistan: A beleaguered government

EDITORIAL:Daily Times

Prime Minister (PM) Raja Pervez Ashraf delivered a sobering message while inaugurating the Khan Khawar Hydropower Project in Bisham the other day. The PM pointed to the anomaly in our history that military dictators had remained in power for ten years at a time but no one stopped them from their unconstitutional actions, while the present elected government has been unnecessarily targeted. He asked the opposition parties to come forward for holding free, fair and transparent elections, this being the only process through which politicians could come to power. No effort should be made to destabilise the government, the PM argued, as there was a crying need for collective efforts to steer the country out of crisis. That is why, the PM continued, a consensus Chief Election Commissioner has been appointed because “we do not want any hanky panky in the polling process”. He then went on to discuss the energy crisis, arguing that increased hydropower generation promised the best solution for the country’s energy deficit. He reminded his audience that late prime minister Benazir Bhutto was criticised when she initiated the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) concept in her second term, a policy that clearly has proved its worth with the passage of time and prevented an even worse energy crisis by now. Apart from the Neelum-Jehlum, Dober, Kohala and Dasu hydropower projects, the government has also started work on Thar coal, the PM revealed. It must be conceded that the past four and a half years of an elected PPP-led coalition government have been some of the toughest for any elected government in our history. Not only has the government been under pressure if not siege from the cast of usual suspects, including the military and an overly assertive judiciary, the opposition has blown hot and cold in terms of cooperation with, and also stubborn resistance to, the present dispensation. The challenges faced by any government taking over after the traumatic assassination of Benazir Bhutto and the depredations left behind as a legacy by the Musharraf dictatorship would have tested the most resolute of political leaderships. The PM referred to the constant predictions of the fall of the government every other day, prognoses that were proved wrong over time. While this offers temptation to the government to play the ‘victim card’, and there may be weight in that contention, ultimately any government’s tenure is judged on the basis of its performance and delivery. While there is dissatisfaction on that count in the public, particularly over energy, the thrust of the right wing opposition inside and outside parliament has focused almost exclusively on the alleged corruption of the government and its leaders. No substantive evidence has been produced to back up this barrage of accusations, the public being primed by the media and opposition to believe the worst about this government and offer it no slack. Corruption is a red herring since no one can claim the moral high ground across the board in our present polity. Therefore the focus on corruption almost exclusively, is unlikely to yield any positive outcome, except for retaliatory accusations against each other, reducing the credibility of the political class as a whole with no solution. Arguably, those desirous of rooting out corruption from our system, if they are not indulging n mere point scoring and are sincere, should realise that only continuity of the democratic system can offer any hope of improvement of a cancer that has afflicted the sinews of state and society in every nook and cranny. Only persisting with democracy offers hope of betterment, cleansing of these Augean stables of corruption, and evolving in the direction of a better leadership. The speculation about an August 14 announcement of early elections in November, provided it carries the consensus of the parties across the board, may be a welcome relief from the present state of tension and crisis. Given Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s warning that the disqualification of another PM may derail democracy, perhaps sit is time for the Supreme Court to stay its hand and leave the fate of this government in the hands of the people through the ballot box.

Pakistan: Bannu old city police station attacked

Unknown armed men have attacked the old city police station in Bannu Monday morning, Geo News reported. According to police, miscreants have attacked the old city police station with hand grenades and firing while five gunmen have also entered the police station building. The area is of high importance as the investigating officers and their offices are situated in the same area. Police have cordoned off the area and Army help has been sought. Firing continued until the last report was filed.