President Obama Is Handing a Strong Economy to His Successor

By PATRICIA COHENDEC

Departing occupants of the White House rarely hand off an improving economy to a successor from the opposing party.

When Barack Obama was waiting in the wings after the 2008 presidential election, for example, the economy was in a severe downward spiral: Employers reported cutting 533,000 jobs that November, the biggest monthly loss in a generation. But according to the government’s report on Friday, Donald J. Trump can expect to inherit an economy that has added private sector jobs for 80 months, put another 178,000 people on payrolls last month and pushed the unemployment rate down to 4.6 percent today from 4.9 percent the previous month. Wage growth, though slower, is still running ahead of inflation, and consumers are expressing the highest levels of confidence in nearly a decade.

The Federal Reserve is confident enough about the economy’s underlying strength that it is now set to raise the benchmark interest rate when it meets later this month.

The jobless rate for November, the lowest since August 2007, “is a testimony to how strong employment growth has been,” said Jim O’Sullivan, chief United States economist at High Frequency Economics. Jason Furman, now chairman of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, remembers the transition eight years ago, when he was crammed into his office with a circle of key officials as the latest jobs numbers from the Labor Department landed.

“It was an utterly terrifying time, the likes of which none of us had ever seen in our lifetimes,” Mr. Furman recalled. Fearing that “the economy was following the same trajectory that it did at the beginning of the Great Depression,” everyone was focused on how to “rapidly slow the bleeding and figure out how to get the economy growing again.”

By contrast, Mr. Furman said, “the economy today is healthy and it’s improving.”

For all the improvements, tens of millions of Americans understandably feel that the recovery has passed them by. Those without skills are relegated to low-paying positions without steady schedules, security and benefits. Breadwinners who once held well-compensated manufacturing jobs are angry about being forced to settle for lower-wage service jobs — or no jobs at all.

Profound anxiety, particularly among the white working class, about the ability to reach or comfortably remain in the middle class is one of the factors that helped propel Mr. Trump to the White House.

Pockets of weakness also surfaced in the latest jobs report, which showed that more people dropped out of the labor force last month than joined it. Manufacturing jobs declined further, and there are still plenty of part-time workers who would rather be full time. And while the official jobless rate for high school graduates fell to 4.9 percent, it is more than twice the rate for college graduates.

“There is a bifurcation of the work force,” Jonas Prising, chairman and chief executive of the ManpowerGroup, one of the largest recruiters in the United States. People who are able to take advantage of advances in technology, globalization and other shifts that favor those with the right skills for the nation’s advanced services are thriving.

Continue reading the main story

The Labor Picture in November

UNEMPLOYMENT RATE

SHARE OF

POPULATION

1-MONTH

CHANGE

1-YEAR

CHANGE

NOV.

5.0

%

Employed

59.7

%

Unch.

+

0.3

pts.

Labor force

(workers and

unemployed)

62.8

–

–

0.1

pts.

+

0.2

4.8

4.6

‘HIDDEN’

UNEMPLOYMENT

4.6%

1-MONTH

CHANGE

1-YEAR

CHANGE

4.4

In millions

NOV.

D

J

F

M

A

M

J

J

A

S

O

N

Working part

time, but want

full-time work

5.7

–

–

3.7

%

–

6.8

%

UNEMPLOYMENT

DEMOGRAPHICS

1-MONTH

CHANGE

1-YEAR

CHANGE

NOV.

People who

currently want

a job§

5.5

†

–

1.6

%

+

3.7

pts.

White

4.2

%

–

–

0.1

pts.

–

0.2

Black

8.1

–

0.5

–

1.3

Hispanic

5.7

Unch.

–

0.7

UNEMPLOYMENT BY

EDUCATION LEVEL

1-MONTH

CHANGE

1-YEAR

CHANGE

†

†

†

Asian

3.0

–

0.3

–

0.9

NOV.

Teenagers (16-19)

15.2

–

0.4

–

0.4

Less than

High school

7.9

%

+

0.6

pts.

+

1.1

pts.

DURATION OF

UNEMPLOYMENT

High school

4.9

–

0.6

–

0.5

1-MONTH

CHANGE

1-YEAR

CHANGE

Some college

3.9

+

0.1

–

0.5

In weeks

NOV.

Bachelor’s or higher

2.3

–

0.3

–

0.2

Average

26.3

–

3.3

%

–

5.7

%

Median

10.1

–

1.0

–

5.6

TYPE OF WORK

1-MONTH

CHANGE

1-YEAR

CHANGE

In millions

NOV.

Nonfarm payroll,

12-month change

EMPLOYMENT

Nonfarm

145.1

+

0.1

%

+

2.1

%

+2

%

Goods

0.1

19.6

+

+

0.1

Services

125.5

+

0.1

+

1.8

Agriculture

2.4

+

5.0

+

0.6

+1

AVERAGE WEEKLY EARNINGS

Rank-and-file

workers

1-MONTH

CHANGE

1-YEAR

CHANGE

NOV.

0

O

D

J

F

M

A

M

J

J

A

S

N

$890.62

–

0.1

%

%

+

2.2

%

Figures are seasonally adjusted, except where noted. *Hispanics can be of any race. †Not seasonally adjusted. §People not working who say they would like to be. Includes discouraged workers and those who cannot work for reasons including ill health.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

By The New York Times

For others, the prospects do not look good. “There used to be part of the work force that had well-paying jobs that were low or unskilled,” Mr. Prising said. “Those kinds of jobs are very difficult to find today.”

The deal that Mr. Trump made with the heating and cooling company Carrier this week to keep 1,000 manufacturing jobs from moving to Mexico from Indiana is emblematic of the kind of actions he said he would take as president to help blue-collar workers.

But there are limits to the power of persuasion. Betsey Stevenson, an economist at the University of Michigan and a former economic adviser to Mr. Obama, said that manufacturing, while still a driving force in the economy, employed fewer and fewer people. More than 80 percent of jobs are now in the service industry, Ms. Stevenson said, and Mr. Trump should be thinking more about how to match workers with those jobs.

“The economy is in a great place, and his biggest challenge is continuing that,” she said.

Some economists worry that the Federal Reserve is too focused on fears of future inflation and that it should hold off on any increase in rates until conditions have improved further. “There’s no reason to pre-emptively slow the economy down, given that we’re starting from less than full employment,” said Elise Gould, an economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute in Washington. “Right now, the priority should be keeping the economy on track and moving it forward.”

Such pleas are unlikely to win the day. At last month’s meeting of the Federal Reserve, members concluded that the case for an increase in the benchmark rate had been “strengthened,” and that they would be ready to move “so long as incoming data provided some further evidence of continued progress.”

Many employers are having a harder time finding and retaining workers.

“Recruiting is a tough issue right now in skilled and semiskilled industries,” said Robert A. Funk, chairman and chief executive of Express Employment Professionals, a staffing agency based in Oklahoma City. He mentioned a particular need for workers in accounting, information technology, call centers, warehousing and office and professional services.

Mr. Funk said employers often complained about being unable to find employees with a strong work ethic who met the minimum requirements. “Drug screening is a real challenge in many parts of the country,” he said. “Only 30 percent can pass a drug screen in the state of Washington,” where marijuana is legal.

At the same time, employers have been reluctant to raise wages to a level that might lure back sidelined workers. The result has been that the country has 5.5 million job openings, a near-record level, but still relatively anemic labor force participation rates.

“The challenge out there now is finding workers and keeping the workers you have,” said Steve Rick, chief economist at CUNA Mutual Group. Those shortages, whatever the cause, are likely to push wages higher next year, he said.

“People are feeling good not only about their current income but their future income,” Mr. Rick said.

Whatever the economy’s current failings, Mark J. Rozell, a political scientist at George Mason University in Virginia, said it was nonetheless better than the ones most incoming presidents have faced in the last half-century. “Trump can be thankful that his predecessor is handing him a fairly strong situation,” Mr. Rozell said, “especially when compared to many past party transfers of power.”

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Tense ties kept Obama from visiting Pakistan

A ‘complicated’ US-Pakistan relationship kept outgoing President Barack Obama from visiting Islamabad, according to a presidential spokesman, even though the American leader had wanted to do so.

“At one point in his presidency, I do recall President Obama expressing a desire to travel to Pakistan,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters at a news briefing on Thursday.

Obama’s perception of Pakistan

“For a variety of reasons, some of them relating to the complicated relationship between our two countries at certain times over the last eight years, President Obama was not able to realise that ambition,” he said when asked why the outgoing president had never visited Pakistan while in office.

The question was prompted by reports that President-elect Donald Trump expressed keenness to visit Pakistan in a telephone conversation with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. In the phone call which took place on Wednesday, Trump also lauded Pakistan as a ‘fantastic country with fantastic people’.

When asked to comment on the conversation, Earnest said: “I’d refer you to the president-elect’s team for more of a description of what the president-elect may have communicated to the prime minister of Pakistan … [but] obviously, President Obama’s conversations with his counterpart in Pakistan have been an important priority.”

Pakistan’s place in Obama’s world

While admitting that Pakistan-US ties had not always been smooth over the last eight years, the White House spokesman said Washington nevertheless sees the relationship as vital. “Obviously is an important relationship. There have been areas where the United States and Pakistan have been able to effectively coordinate our efforts.”

Commenting on Trump’s reported interest in visiting Pakistan, Earnest added: “Ultimately, when President Trump begins planning his overseas travel, he’ll have a range of places to consider, and Pakistan would certainly be one of them.” “One thing we do know is that it sends a powerful message to the people of a country when the President of the United States goes to visit.”

Pakistan’s alarming disconnect

By Farhan Bokhari

When senior figures from United States President-elect Donald Trump’s team began tempering down enthusiasm over last week’s phone call between the incoming US president and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the latter should have asked himself if there were lessons to be learnt.

Members of the Trump team came out in their response after senior officials around Sharif began playing up the significance of the chat. Some even chose to share explicit details over who said what, disregarding the time-tested protocol of remaining nuanced and balanced when key leaders touch base either in person or over the phone.

This episode has once again highlighted a frequently-recurring problem with the Pakistani establishment. Too often, leaders of successive governments have taken it upon themselves to practically brag about their foreign linkages, all meant to highlight such relations as a source of strength, while Pakistan’s internal outlook has continued to be in disarray.

Often, the reference to a leader’s “personal relationship” in foreign lands has been meant to highlight the leader’s ability to prevail in favour of Pakistan on vital policy matters. The historical reality, however, could not have been more different than the impression often bandied about. While Pakistan’s often self-serving rulers have promoted themselves as best suited to serve their country by virtue of rubbing shoulders with foreign leaders, a reality check has often thrown up a different story.

Since Sharif’s election as Prime Minister in 2013, Pakistanis have practically been inundated with relentless propaganda over China’s largest-ever planned investment in the South Asian country, set to revolutionise Pakistan. But few have ventured out to press for a badly-needed reality check. The glaring and powerful reality of Pakistan’s internal gaps that have driven down the country’s outlook needs to be fundamentally acknowledged for the challenge at hand.

Notwithstanding China’s goodwill in undertaking a large-scale investment in energy and infrastructure projects in Pakistan, a central question remains unanswered: Exactly how far is Pakistan geared up to improve its own outlook to stabilise the country internally? Three inter-related and chronically unresolved internal issues have time and again pulled down Pakistan’s outlook significantly.

First, a failure by the country’s political class to create the space for accepting issues that ordinary Pakistanis are grappling with, has indeed created a disconnect between the ruling structure and the mainstream. Consequently, as ordinary Pakistanis have suffered, the ruling structure appears to neither care about the plight of the mainstream nor has shown any willingness to take badly-needed emergency action to benefit the country’s mainstream.

Second, the disconnect between the ruling elite and those who are locked in the mainstream has principally undermined the extent to which the economy has been shaped to serve the people. It is therefore not surprising that as members of the mainstream frequently lament and resent their daily plight over issues such as frequent power cuts or shortages of gas supply, the response to their plight has been short of popular expectations. It should also not be surprising that Sharif’s government has gone out of its way to support visibly fancy projects, as some of Pakistan’s urban areas have seen the arrival of new fancy bus projects and wider highways. Meanwhile, essential public services such as government-provided health care and education continue to be neglected.

Finally, it is no secret that Pakistan remains surrounded by one of the world’s toughest security environments. Barring a small strip of territory along the border with China, the remaining frontiers by and large remain surrounded by varying degrees of tension. However, guarding the frontiers remains the domain of Pakistan’s army with ruling civilian politicians typically remaining on the sidelines. Tragically, little has been done by way of mobilising the public to the point where Pakistanis will not only learn to embrace the country’s national interest in a meaningful way, but will also become aware of a comprehensive set of responsibilities that every individual in the country needs to embrace. However, inspiring Pakistanis to rally around a national cause will remain an elusive dream unless the public’s faith in their leaders increases rapidly.

Achieving these objectives will be easier said than done. A comprehensive change across Pakistan is unlikely to set in unless the quality of leadership improves vastly. It is indeed essential to arm Pakistan’s leaders with sufficient moral authority so that the public rallies behind them in times of need.

Unfortunately, Sharif has indeed lost his moral authority in the wake of the so called ‘Panama leaks’ scandal that has haunted him in recent months. Revelations suggesting that Sharif’s three children used offshore companies listed in Panama to siphon off billions of rupees outside Pakistan for purchasing luxurious properties in London, has only triggered a sense of distrust about the establishment in the minds of the masses. An investigation by Pakistan’s Supreme Court into the ‘Panama leaks’ is still ongoing and may ultimately help settle the matter. In the meantime, members of Pakistan’s mainstream have every business to ask if their lives will ever begin to change for the better, in a country that remains dominated by vested interests.

Eventually, the mother of all of Pakistan’s dilemmas remains just one. As long as Pakistan’s leaders remain beholden to foreign soils on matters ranging from ownership of their overseas properties and business interests to support on the policy front, life for the mainstream will not change. With a de facto status quo surrounding key areas of policy-making, Pakistan’s future outlook will remain unchanged. And for mainstream Pakistanis, the phone call between Trump and Sharif will likely be devoid of meaning unless accompanied by a new progressive policy direction.

Pakistan - How Russia got a warm-water port without firing a shot.

By Ahmed Rashid

After decades of hostility, Russia and Pakistan are gingerly trying to improve relations. Russia is cautiously wooing Pakistan in a bid to temper Islamabad's support for the Afghan Taliban and to end the civil war in Afghanistan, which is threatening Central Asia - the soft underbelly of Russian influence in the former Soviet Union territories.

Pakistan faces increasing isolation in the region - spurned by India, Afghanistan and Iran, and criticised by the US and NATO countries - because of its continued harbouring of the Afghan Taliban. At present, it is solely dependent on Chinese economic and political support.

It is not surprising, therefore, that Pakistan is desperately keen to rebuild relations with Russia. Islamabad would like to use warmer ties with Moscow to counter US and western pressure and be able to boast of more than one ally in the region.  

Closer military cooperation

The actual signs of an improved relationship between Pakistan and Russia are still scant. In September 2016, 70 Russian and 130 Pakistani special forces held their first joint military exercises in Cherat, in northern Pakistan, home of Pakistan's Special Forces. India had asked Russia to call off the exercise following the 18 September militant attack on an Indian army base which New Delhi blamed on Pakistan, but the Russians declined. 

The military games went ahead and senior army officers from both countries visited the exercise.

Soon after, Pakistan offered Russia the use of Gwadar, its new Chinese-built port on the Gulf, which is close to Iran and opposite Oman. From Tsarist times, Russia has always wanted a port in the ''warm waters'' of the Gulf. When the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, Pakistan was convinced that the Russian dream was to have a base on Pakistan's Gulf coastline. Ironically, Pakistan is now offering the same facility.

However, Gwadar port is yet to become fully operational and it is surrounded by insurgencies in Afghanistan and Balochistan province. Its capacity is being enhanced by a Chinese-built network of roads that will eventually connect to the Chinese border in northern Pakistan. 

Use of the port by foreign ships is still some way off, and Pakistan has not made it clear if it would allow Russian warships to dock there. The Chinese navy has already been granted landing rights at the port.

Russia has also agreed to sell helicopters to Pakistan, lifting its decades-old arms embargo against Islamabad, while India is now looking for arms from Western nations such as the US and France.

Historic divisions over Afghanistan

However, while the Pakistani government is playing up its new relationship with Moscow, the Russians are reacting cautiously, especially because of their long-standing relationship with Pakistan's archenemy, India.

Russia cannot afford to annoy India, which is the largest market in the world for its arms and military aircraft. Historically, India was one of the few non-aligned Asian countries that sided with the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Both Russia and India are also providing Soviet-era arms and helicopters to the government in Kabul.

Earlier in March 2016 Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif made overtures to Russia for President Vladimir Putin to visit Pakistan, but the Russians said that they do not believe there was enough substance on the agenda to justify such a visit - a clear snub to Islamabad and a warning to do more to curtail the Taliban, who have twice captured the city of Kunduz that borders Central Asia.

No Russian president has ever visited Pakistan, but as long as the Taliban threaten Central Asia it is unlikely that a Russian leader will do so.

Afghanistan remains a key Russian interest. In April, Zamir Kabulov, Russia's special envoy to Afghanistan, criticised the format of the peace talks that Pakistan was trying to bring about between the Kabul government and the Afghan Taliban. Russia was not happy it was sidelined in the talks, which included China, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Taliban.

Kabulov called the talks inefficient and said Russia wanted to create a new format.

Nevertheless, Islamabad and Moscow are moving away from their years of hostility. In the 1980s, the Soviet Union occupied Afghanistan while the Afghan Mujaheddin were armed and financed by Western intelligence agencies and Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence. The Mujaheddin fought the Russians to a standstill, forcing it to withdraw from Afghanistan in 1989.

Throughout the 1990s, as Pakistan continued to support the Taliban regime in Kabul and the separatist uprising in Indian Kashmir, Russia remained wedded to its close ally, India.

The key to warmer ties is an end to the continuing civil war in Afghanistan. Both China and Russia feel threatened by this war, and by the number of young men from their Muslim populations who are joining militant groups. In an important development, Russia, China and Pakistan are due to hold a tripartite meeting to discuss the common threats they face in Afghanistan. Russia will host the meeting and Pakistan has already called it a watershed moment.

Russia and Pakistan also now share a common threat - that of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS), which is recruiting youngsters in Russia, Central Asia, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The two nations may have a long way to go before relations actually warm up.

Ahmed Rashid is the author of five books on Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia. His latest book is Pakistan on the Brink.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2016/12/russia-pakistan-slowly-move-embrace-161203083811644.html

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Govt failed to implement NAP: Bilawal Bhutto

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government had failed to implement the National Action Plan (NAP).

Addressing a meeting of party workers from southern Punjab in connection with the PPP’s 49th Foundation Day celebrations at the Bilawal House in Bahria Town on Friday, he said that the government had badly failed to implement the NAP as per its due spirit.

He said that rulers in Raiwind were not ready to even talk against terrorism, leave alone fighting terrorism.

Bilawal Bhutto strongly criticised the government for spending huge exchequer on metros when a great number of people of the country were deprived of healthcare and education facilities.

He also said that metros could be constructive after providing basic necessities to the masses across the country.

He also chanted slogans against the interior minister, saying that such slogans were being chanted in the hub of the ruling party’s city, so the Sharif should be warned about the situation that could emerge after December 27. He warned that he would change his current slogan of “Go Nisar Go” into “Go Nawaz Go” if his four demands were not accepted before December 27. 

Criticising the ruling Sharif brothers’ policies, he said that the people who live in Raiwind, as well as Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, had no interest in resolving the problems of the general public.

http://paktribune.com/news/Govt-failed-to-implement-NAP-Bilawal-Bhutto-277739.html

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چار مطالبات نہ مانے گئے تو کراچی سے پشاور تک گونوازگو کا نعرہ لگے گانوازشریف نے وزیر داخلہ نہ ہٹایا تو وزیراعظم کیخلاف تحریک چلائیں گے۔

چیئرمین پیپلزپارٹی بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے کہا ہے کہ 2018کےالیکشن کےبعدہرجگہ پیپلزپارٹی کاجھنڈا لہرائے گا، صدر اور وزیر اعظم ہاوُسز پربھی پیپلز پارٹی کے جھنڈا لہرایا جائے گا، ساتھ ہی انہوں نے وزیراعظم کو خبردار کیا ہے کہ اگر وفاقی وزیرداخلہ کو نہ ہٹایا گیا تو تحریک چلائیں گے۔
چیئرمین پیپلزپارٹی بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے حکومت کو ایک بار پھراُس کی ناکامی کا احساس دلاتے ہوئے کہا ہے کہ جھنگ کے ضمنی انتخاب میں کالعم تنظیم کی جیت سے نیشنل ایکشن پلان ختم ہوگیا اب تمام لوگوں کی ذمے داری ہے کہ پی پی پی کے چار مطالبات منوائیں ساتھ ہی انہوں نے حکومت کو متنبہ کرتے ہوئے کہا کہ اگر ستائیس دسمبر تک حکومت نےمطالبات نہ مانے تو کراچی سے خیبر تک احتجاج ہو گا۔
لاہور میں یوم تاسیس کی تقریب سے خطاب کرتے ہوئے بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے لاڑکانہ سے الیکشن کا اعلان لڑتے ہوئے کہا کہ وقت کا تعین پارٹی کرے گی پیپلز پارٹی وفاق کی سب سے بڑی جماعت ہے اور دو ہزار اٹھارہ کے الیکشن کے بعد ہر جگہ پیپلزپارٹی کا جھنڈا لہرائے گا اور عوام کی طاقت سے وہ وزیراعظم بنیں گے صدر، وزیراعظم اور تمام وزرائے اعلیٰ کے گھروں میں پیپلزپارٹی کا جھنڈا لہرائے گا۔
بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے عمران خان کو ایک بار پھر پسندیدہ چاچا قرار دیتے ہوئے کہا کہ اسے تنگ نہ کرو و رو رہا ہےخیبر پختونخواہ دہشت گردی کی سونامی میں ڈوب رہا ہے خیبر پختونخوا کے لوگ غیرت مند لوگ ہیں کسی کو گالی نہیں دیتے۔

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This Day in History: Pakistan's Benazir Bhutto

Twenty-eight years ago today, Benazir Bhutto was sworn in as prime minister of Pakistan, becoming not only the first woman to head a Muslim country, but at the age of 35, its youngest.

 ​

Her charismatic father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, served as both Pakistan's president and prime minister, and founded the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). Born into a wealthy and educated family, Benazir was groomed by her father to be his political successor. A populist who was recognized internationally as an skilled diplomat and impressive leader, he ultimately was deposed in 1977 by his army chief General Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq. Ali Bhutto was tried and convicted of authorizing the murder of a political opponent in 1979. He was executed by hanging later that year.

Zia, an conservative Islamist, ruled Pakistan with an iron fist. Benazir Bhutto and her siblings spoke out often against the military government, becoming the de facto political opposition. Wary of her influence, Zia jailed Bhutto for several years. After her release, she lived in London in exile. By the time she returned to Pakistan in 1986, Benazir had become a beloved opposition politician, and frustration with Zia's dictatorship offered Bhutto the chance to politically challenge the military government.

By then, she had becpme a symbol of women's empowerment in a deeply religious society.

Benazir's first return from exile

She won the post of prime minister in 1988, running as a moderate Muslim, who pledged to provide basic services and education to Pakistan's poor and illiterate. And Bhutto made good on some of those promises, bringing electricity, housing and other necessities to parts of rural Pakistan.

But as a young and inexperienced woman in conservative Muslim country, she faced intense backlash by the political remnants of Zia’s dictatorship and conservative Islamist. Bhutto lost the 1990 election and was charged, along with her husband, of corruption. She returned to power in 1993, but lost her second term just three years later.

While in self-imposed exile in Britain and Dubai, she was convicted in 1999 of corruption and sentenced to three years in prison. She directed the PPP from abroad, she was reaffirmed its leader in 2002.

Five years later, Bhutto was determined to return to Pakistan to challenged the military government, then led by President Pervez Musharraf, who had granted her amnesty on the corruption charges. That very day she narrowly escaped an assassination attempt.

Less than two months later in December 2007, she was assassinated during a gun and suicide bomb attack after a political rally. She was 54 years old. http://www.voanews.com/a/this-day-in-history-pakistans-benazir-bhutto/3620102.html

“GO NISAR GO” WILL CHANGE INTO “GO NAWAZ GO” IF DEMANDS NOT MET, WARNS BILAWAL BHUTTO

“NAP has failed and Takht-e-Raiwind not ready even to talk againstterrorism leave aside fighting against terrorism,” PPP Chairman

LAHORE, December 2: Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party Bilawal Bhutto has warned Nawaz government that he would change his current slogan of “Go Nisar Go” into “Go Nawaz Go” if his four demands were not accepted before December 27. “I am fed up with what is happening. NAP has failed and Takht-e-Raiwind was not ready even to talk against terrorism leave aside fighting against terrorism,” PPP Chairman stated in his speech at the PPP’s Foundation Week celebrations organized by PPP South Punjab. Many thousands Jiyalas coming from different parts of South Punjab who raised full-throated slogans to welcome Chairman Bilawal Bhutto to the stage amid cultural tunes from Cholistan and other parts of Wasaib.
He said that NAB was made into Noon-league Action Plan, which ended up as Nakaam-league Action Plan. “I am grand-son of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, son of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and don’t forget that I am nephew of Shaheed Mir Murtaza Bhutto and Shaheed Shahnawaz Bhutto also,” said the PPP Chairman.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari repeated PPP’s four demands which include Parliamentary scrutiny of the security policy, democratic, investigations into the massive Panama Scandal through the legislation proposed by PPP together with other political parties, implementation of resolution about CPEC passed unanimously by an All Parties Conference presided over by former President Asif Ali Zardari and a democratic accountability of foreign policy and Foreign Minister.
He lashed out at the Nawaz League for spending the funding from the world for Balochistan, KPK and Sindh on Orange Line. “These funds should be spent on health, education and eliminating poverty not on lavish facilities,” he added.
PPP Chairman said that Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto laid down her life fighting the terrorists but Takht-e-Raiwind and its cronies are not even talking against terrorists instead of fighting. He said “Go Nisar Go” slogan is being raised from Takht-e-Lahore instead of Sindh, Balochistan, South Waziristan or elsewhere.

Bilawal Bhutto warned that “Go Nisar Go” will change into “Go Nawaz Go” if all the four demands were not accepted before December 27, the martyrdom day of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto.
Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari, Former Prime Ministers Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Leader of the Opposition Syed Khursheed Shah, MNA Faryal Talpur, Senator Sherry Rahman, President PPP South Punjab Makhdoom Ahmed Mahmood, General Secretary Natasha Daultana, Information Secretary Shaukat Basra, PPP MNAs, MPAs and Senators were also present on the occasion.

https://ppppunjab.wordpress.com/2016/12/02/go-nisar-go-will-change-into-go-nawaz-go-if-demands-not-met-warns-bilawal-bhutto/

Pakistan - PM HOUSE, NOT FO RUNNING FOREIGN AFFAIRS, SHERRY

“Releasing that unabridged readout without permission represented a total breach of diplomatic norms and has placed Pakistan in a poor light”: The former Ambassador.

Vice President PPPP and former Ambassador to the US, Senator Sherry Rehman expressed shock and dismay over the government’s bizarre release of a readout of the phone call between President-elect Donald Trump and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
The phone call between the two leaders took place on Wednesday to discuss future prospects between the US and Pakistan.

The former Ambassador said, “Releasing that unabridged readout without permission represented a total breach of diplomatic norms and has placed Pakistan in a poor light”.

The government’s decision to release the readout in the manner that it did, drew a slew of criticism from former White House officials and the international media.

“There is no way that a trained Foreign Service Officer would release this kind of granular detail on their own, they are way too experienced for that. This huge faux pas has obviously been initiated by the PM’s office,” said Rehman.

The President-elect and the Prime Minister also received heavy backlash over the ignorance and recklessness revealed in the content of the readout. Foreign policy experts fear that it would have strong implications on US policy towards India and Pakistan.

“This has exposed the gaping hole in this government’s foreign policy machine and made it look even more enormous. The refusal to appoint a full time Foreign Minister has left a dangerous vacuum on a key ministry where too much is falling between the cracks. This has been one of the PPP’s key demands in order to protect Pakistan’s interests, but we fail to understand why no one is given this full time responsibility, especially considering the daily challenges Pakistan is facing in this vital ministry,” concluded the Senator.

https://ppppunjab.wordpress.com/2016/12/02/pm-house-not-fo-running-foreign-affairs-sherry/

Video Report -Putin delivers annual address to Federal Assembly in Moscow

Bilawal swears to shake Sharifs kingdom

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Wednesday said his party would take to the streets from December 27.

He said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif would not accept his four-point demands regarding Panama bill, accountability of PM, removal of Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar and appointment of a foreign minister. He said that the dictatorship of ‘Takht-e-Raiwind’ will be abolished. He was addressing workers on the party’s 49th foundation day at Bilawal House. His sisters Bakhtawar and Aseefa were also present.

Bilawal reached Lahore from Dubai overnight to take part in the party’s foundation day celebrations, which started from today (Wednesday). Punjab PPP senior leaders and workers led by Qamar Zaman Kaira gave him a warm reception.

Bilawal announced that he would not give his political rivals a chance to rig next general election. He hoped that he would come to power.

He said that he had worked to introduce a progressive but practical agenda.

He said that judiciary and other institutions are silent on the biggest corruption scandal of the world, the Panama leaks, in which the Sharifs are involved.

He said on one hand the judiciary sent PPP’s premier Yousaf Raza Gilani home for not writing a letter to the Swiss government, but on the other hand it is giving immunity to Nawaz Sharif despite his involvement in Panamagate case.

He also said, “Judiciary and other power institutions are silent against rulers but all laws are being practiced on us as… justice was not being given to Asia Bibi or Mukhtaran Mai.”

He praised Lahore for giving honour to the Bhuttos in the past and now to him. He also said he loved Lahore as it has more progressive people.

He said that district-level organisation of the party was underway and every possible step would be taken to bring democratic reforms.

The PPP chairman said slain PPP chairwoman Benazir Bhutto never led a sit-in at any chowk or cursed political rivals, or attacked a national institution which is what PPP believed in.

A fresh charter and an agenda would be introduced which would be a progressive platform for the people of the country, he added.

Former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had founded the party in November 30, 1967.

Several rallies were conducted across the country by the party enthusiasts.

Former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly Khursheed Shah, Leader of the Opposition in Senate Aitzaz Ahsan, former information minister Qamar Zaman Kaira and Senator Sherry Rehman were among those prominent participants.

Earlier, several party leaders including Qamar Zaman Kaira, Nisar Khoro, Hamayun Khan, FATA PPP leader Akhundzada Chatan, Javed Mehmood and Ali Madad Jatak addressed the gathering.

http://dailytimes.com.pk/punjab/01-Dec-16/bilawal-swears-to-shake-sharifs-kingdom

Video Report -Bilawal Bhutto Views in Workers Convention

Bilawal Bhutto -NO Rights of the provinces in the CPEC ,and not on the National Action Plan.

Video Report - Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto meet Baloch Leaders

Donald Trump’s Call With Pakistan Was a Hypocritical Mess

Jeff Nesbit

His private words don't align with his public message

We finally have our first glimpse of what a Donald Trump foreign policy doctrine might eventually look like. Pakistan’s government released a readout Wednesday of a phone call with Pakistan’s prime minister, Muhammad Nawaz Sharif. It offers the first inside glimpse into Trump’s private talks with world leaders since his election victory.

Let’s start with the obvious. Roughly 96% of the total population of Pakistan is Muslim. In the phone call, President-elect Trump said that “Pakistanis are one of the most intelligent people,” according to the readout. Yet Trump, in December 2015, called for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States”—which would, of course, presumably cover almost all Pakistanis. These two things don’t add up. But that’s all right because this is just a get-to-know-you phone call between two world leaders.

Trump later modulated his “total ban” on Muslims to include only “extreme vetting” of any Muslim trying to enter the U.S. from “terror-prone regions where vetting cannot safely occur.” Trump promised that this would start on day one of his presidency because he can do this without any congressional oversight.

Pakistan is the country where Navy Seals—on orders from their commander-in-chief, President Obama—killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the 9/11 terror attack. This, by definition, puts Pakistan into Trump’s “terror-prone regions” category. So even the best and the brightest Pakistanis would, at a minimum, be subject to “extreme vetting” under the emerging Trump foreign policy doctrine.

Meanwhile, lurking in the background is this: Pakistan has more than 1.5 million refugees in its country, according to a recent study from Oxfam. It has the fourth highest number of refugees in the world, after Jordan, Turkey and the Occupied Palestinian Authority. Hundreds of thousands are refugees in Pakistan who have fled from the Afghanistan conflict.

In his phone call, Trump told Pakistan’s prime minister that he had a “very good reputation,” He reportedly added: “You are a terrific guy. You are doing amazing work which is visible in every way.” But, under the rules of engagement under the emerging Trump doctrine, Pakistan’s leader isn’t welcome in the U.S., along with any of the 1.5 million refugees in that country.

The Trump organization does business in Turkey. It might also wish to do business in Pakistan. This sort of global reach is one of the serious business conflicts of interest that Trump aides are trying to sort out between now and Dec. 15 when the president-elect has said that he’ll announce his plan to completely exit his business as he enters the White House.

Trump invited Pakistan’s prime minister to call him anytime before he is inaugurated on Jan. 20. “Your country is amazing with tremendous opportunities,” Trump said, according to the readout. “I am ready and willing to play any role that you want me to play to address and find solutions to the outstanding problems.”

What isn’t apparent here, though, is whether Trump was referring to business interests when he alluded to “tremendous opportunities”—or something else entirely that might be negotiated without anyone from Pakistan ever being allowed to set foot in the U.S.

According to the readout, when Pakistan’s prime minister invited the president-elect to visit his country, “Mr. Trump said that he would love to come to a fantastic country, fantastic place of fantastic people. Please convey to the Pakistani people that they are amazing and all Pakistanis I have known are exceptional people, said Mr. Donald Trump.”

What should be obvious here is that Trump’s words, in a private phone call, don’t align much with what he’s said in his public campaign rallies. So we’re left with this question: which one is the real doctrine? Is it the one that flatters a “fantastic people” who are “some of the most intelligent” in the world? Or is it the one that requires every one of these very same people to undergo “extreme vetting” before they can set foot in the U.S.?