DailyTimes
We must take note of the fact that the Christians of Punjab have been attacked for the fourth time in two months for alleged desecration of the Holy Quran. Normally the media responds to frequency of occurrence by ignoring the topic, but in this case alarm must be raised before the terrorists virtually take over our lives.
A village in sub-district Sambrial in Sialkot has experienced the torching of a local church after clerics on mosque loudspeakers accused a Christian of causing a few pages of the Quran to fall into the drain. The holy pages were carried on the street by a child in the form of a “sipara”, which fell from her hand as a Christian boy allegedly brushed past her.
A mob soon gathered, beat up the Christians of the village, and burned the church. Christians, alarmed by the possibility of a mass murder of their co-religionists, took out a protest demonstration in Sialkot but were allegedly fired upon by the police. The protest wanted to point out that the siege of the village by a fanatic mob should be lifted to save people’s lives.
The Christian community in the area is understandably perturbed and is venting its anger on the Christian ministers at the provincial and federal levels. They want them to resign after mobs burned and killed in Gojra and Bahmani Wallah near Lahore. A similar fate for the Christians of Chichawatni was avoided by citizen committees this month.
When Pakistani scholars assert that Pakistan is in the grip of extremism, they are pointing to two locations where it is gestated and spread around: the madrassa and the mosque. Alas, both places are free of activists carrying the moderate message of the state. Equally sadly, the Christian community has lost all faith in the state and is demanding repeal of the Blasphemy Law. The government has weakly conceded only “procedural changes” while admitting that the mischief lies in the Law.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
5,000 Uzbek militants hiding in Waziristan
ISLAMABAD: The government informed a Senate committee on Saturday it had credible evidence that there were more than 5,000 Uzbek militants hiding in North and South Waziristan.Briefing the Senate Standing Committee on States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON), FATA Additional Chief Secretary Habibullah Khan said these militants were known to travel through Balochistan as well. He also said there was evidence that US, Israel and India were involved in nurturing the insurgency in FATA.To questions, he said Taliban warlord Mangal Bagh was still threatening people through his FM radio station in the Khyber Agency. He said Bagh had threatened khasadars to cease their duties or have their families killed, adding this had resulted in around 800 khasadars refusing to perform their duties. Referring to the senior Taliban leadership, he said both Hakimullah Mehsud and Qari Hussain were dead, denying media reports that the two Taliban leaders were still alive.Next meeting: In response, the committee expressed surprise over why the government had not taken up the issue of alleged interference in FATA with the governments of the countries concerned. It also decided to invite Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Interior Minister Rehman Malik to its next meeting for a briefing on the security situation in FATA and on the government’s plan to control militancy in the troubled areas. It also suggested a thorough reform and development package for FATA, with “time-bound” reforms, to remove the sense of deprivation among the people.FATA had been neglected and exploited by past administrations, leading to this situation, the region could become another Darfur if the government did not take timely steps to remedy the situation. The committee also suggested the government announce a compensation package for the people of FATA, saying they had rendered great sacrifices in the war against terrorism. It said extending facilities and privileges to FATA would help restore durable peace in the troubled areas and bring an end to the exploitations of the past. SAFRON Minister Najumuddin Khan said there should be an investigation into the budget utilisation for the Tribal Areas.
Wildcat oil well in pukhtunkhwa(NWFP) to start production soon
It is very rightly said that North West Frontier Province is blessed with natural resources; its north is rich in mineral, marble, forest and water resources while its southern parts have vast plains replete with plenty of oil, and gas and uranium deposits.
The latest discovery of oil and gas in the Nashpa block in Karak where second well may become operational even before Eid will enhance the daily oil production of the Karak-Kohat zone of the block by 4,000 barrels and gas production by another 20,000 million square feet (MMSCF).
An official engaged with the project said the well was nicknamed Wildcat for being located in Salkhani Forest area, is about to be completed during the current month.
He said the entire country has been divided into different zones in which Zone-1 is the high-risk zone with high investment requirements; hence the wellhead value is on high side. The gas and oil fields in NWFP are mostly in Zone-1 and 2.
The official, who wished not to be named as he is not supposed to reach media on the project, said the Nashpa Block covers 979.69 sqkm and forms the southern part of Kohat plateau. The block is located in district Mianwali and Attock of Punjab province and district Kohat, Karak and North Waziristan, he said.
He added that besides large uranium mine, the gas has also been recently discovered in Shakardara, Gurguri Makori and Nashpa banda areas.
The most recent discovery in Zone-1 is the Salkhani Wildcat well on which 4,500 meters drilling has been completed and as hoped by the project officials it may be made operational within the next two weeks.
First well in the Nashpa structure has already been functional with the daily production of 3,000 barrels oil and 10 MMSCF gas.
The official said, the second well, that is Wildcat will produce 4,000 barrels oil daily while its daily gas production may be around 20 MMSCF.
He said that after the commencement of the Wildcat the total daily production of the two wells may go up to 7,000 barrels, while their gas production will be around 30 MMSCF.
He went on to add that further study was going on in the area and after the completion of the second well drilling at the distance of one kilometre would initiated forthwith.
The official quoted the in-charge of the project and said that the well will start functioning till Eid.
The well-head wise data of the Nashpa structure shows that during the year 2008 the Chanda well (Shakardara in Kohat) produced 1,464,000 billion barrels (BBLS) oil, while its gas production remained 5,856 MMSCF, Manzali well (Karak) produced 180,072 BBLS oil and its gas production was 18,000 MMSCF and Makori well (Karak)’s oil production during the year stood at 599,874 BBLS, while its gas production was 7,096 MMSCF. The entire yearly oil and gas production of the structure remained 2,243,948 BBLS and 30,952 MMSCF respectively.
The latest discovery on one hand pleased the government circles as it will increase oil and gas production in the province, but it saddened the locals on the other as they said they were not being afforded their constitutional rights and facilities in return for the oil and gas being extracted from the area.
Hajat Shah, social worker, councilor Isam Gul, Malik Fazal Rahim, Subedar Major (Retd) Nadir Khan, Malik Aziz Khan, Farid Khan and other residents of Speena Banda, Alwargi, Shaheedan and Nashpa Banda, the catchment areas of the well, while talking to The News, raised a number and objections and grievances with regard to the project and said that from the very beginning they were denied their rights.
The said their land was acquisitioned for the project on lesser lease prices than other wells in the project. Similarly, their requirements were squarely ignored by the official they at the concernment of the project. They, however, added that talks for the lease of land on appropriate price readjustment were still underway.
Hajat Shah also referred to the Article 158 that reads “Priority of requirements of natural gas the province in which a wellhead of natural gas is situated shall have precedence over other parts of Pakistan in meeting the requirements from the wellhead, subject to the commitments and obligation as on the commencing day.|”
The locals said as per the obligations and commitments reached before the commencement of the well the authorities will have to provide gas to the localities falling in the five kilometre radius of the well free but so far they did not get any intimation in this regard.
About other facilities as pledged by the project authorities they said no hospital was built in the areas to treat those affected by the radiation from the well and no school and drinking water facility has been provided to them.
They also sought relevant technical training, skill optimising and employment opportunities enabling them to run the project in the future.
The latest discovery of oil and gas in the Nashpa block in Karak where second well may become operational even before Eid will enhance the daily oil production of the Karak-Kohat zone of the block by 4,000 barrels and gas production by another 20,000 million square feet (MMSCF).
An official engaged with the project said the well was nicknamed Wildcat for being located in Salkhani Forest area, is about to be completed during the current month.
He said the entire country has been divided into different zones in which Zone-1 is the high-risk zone with high investment requirements; hence the wellhead value is on high side. The gas and oil fields in NWFP are mostly in Zone-1 and 2.
The official, who wished not to be named as he is not supposed to reach media on the project, said the Nashpa Block covers 979.69 sqkm and forms the southern part of Kohat plateau. The block is located in district Mianwali and Attock of Punjab province and district Kohat, Karak and North Waziristan, he said.
He added that besides large uranium mine, the gas has also been recently discovered in Shakardara, Gurguri Makori and Nashpa banda areas.
The most recent discovery in Zone-1 is the Salkhani Wildcat well on which 4,500 meters drilling has been completed and as hoped by the project officials it may be made operational within the next two weeks.
First well in the Nashpa structure has already been functional with the daily production of 3,000 barrels oil and 10 MMSCF gas.
The official said, the second well, that is Wildcat will produce 4,000 barrels oil daily while its daily gas production may be around 20 MMSCF.
He said that after the commencement of the Wildcat the total daily production of the two wells may go up to 7,000 barrels, while their gas production will be around 30 MMSCF.
He went on to add that further study was going on in the area and after the completion of the second well drilling at the distance of one kilometre would initiated forthwith.
The official quoted the in-charge of the project and said that the well will start functioning till Eid.
The well-head wise data of the Nashpa structure shows that during the year 2008 the Chanda well (Shakardara in Kohat) produced 1,464,000 billion barrels (BBLS) oil, while its gas production remained 5,856 MMSCF, Manzali well (Karak) produced 180,072 BBLS oil and its gas production was 18,000 MMSCF and Makori well (Karak)’s oil production during the year stood at 599,874 BBLS, while its gas production was 7,096 MMSCF. The entire yearly oil and gas production of the structure remained 2,243,948 BBLS and 30,952 MMSCF respectively.
The latest discovery on one hand pleased the government circles as it will increase oil and gas production in the province, but it saddened the locals on the other as they said they were not being afforded their constitutional rights and facilities in return for the oil and gas being extracted from the area.
Hajat Shah, social worker, councilor Isam Gul, Malik Fazal Rahim, Subedar Major (Retd) Nadir Khan, Malik Aziz Khan, Farid Khan and other residents of Speena Banda, Alwargi, Shaheedan and Nashpa Banda, the catchment areas of the well, while talking to The News, raised a number and objections and grievances with regard to the project and said that from the very beginning they were denied their rights.
The said their land was acquisitioned for the project on lesser lease prices than other wells in the project. Similarly, their requirements were squarely ignored by the official they at the concernment of the project. They, however, added that talks for the lease of land on appropriate price readjustment were still underway.
Hajat Shah also referred to the Article 158 that reads “Priority of requirements of natural gas the province in which a wellhead of natural gas is situated shall have precedence over other parts of Pakistan in meeting the requirements from the wellhead, subject to the commitments and obligation as on the commencing day.|”
The locals said as per the obligations and commitments reached before the commencement of the well the authorities will have to provide gas to the localities falling in the five kilometre radius of the well free but so far they did not get any intimation in this regard.
About other facilities as pledged by the project authorities they said no hospital was built in the areas to treat those affected by the radiation from the well and no school and drinking water facility has been provided to them.
They also sought relevant technical training, skill optimising and employment opportunities enabling them to run the project in the future.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Sept. 11 terror attacks is remembered in New Jersey, New York
NEW YORK -- It was hazy, wet and windy today, a far cry from the clear, bright and sunny day eight years ago. But they came anyway.With familiar rituals of grief and a new purpose to honor those who rushed into danger to help, the nation today marked the eighth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
The attacks at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and in western Pennsylvania killed almost 3,000 people, brought down a symbol of American economic prowess and tore a hole in the area's identity. Nearly a quarter of those who died were New Jersey residents.
At Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan, relatives and friends of the victims of the World Trade Center attack visited a partially built, street-level Sept. 11 memorial plaza that had not been there a year ago.
The memorial, to be partially complete by the 10th anniversary in 2011, will include two square pools evoking the towers' footprints, with victims' names surrounding them and waterfalls cascading down the sides. Moments of silence were observed at 8:46 a.m., 9:03 a.m. -- the precise times that jetliners struck the north and south towers, and again at , 9:59 a.m. and 10:29 a.m., the times each tower fell.
"Eight years ago, countless people played a part in history by doing something to help another person," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said as he opened the service under a driving rain. "Each act was a link in a continuous chain that kept us from falling into cynicism and despair."
Bloomberg reminded the crowd that this year, Sept. 11 was declared a national day of service and remembrance in honor of those volunteers and encouraged listeners to remember the victims by performing service for those left behind.
"While there is pain in remembering the loss, there is sweetness in remembering their lives," he said.
Over the drone of flute and cello music, the reading of victims' names by family members and volunteers was punctuated by poetry read by local, state and national politicians.
Vice President Joe Biden read a selection by poet Mary Oliver.
"Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine," he said. "Meanwhile, the world goes on."
Mothers, fathers, sons and daughters -- some barely old enough to remember their parents -- made their way through the alphabet of 9/11 victims. Many spoke in monotones until reaching the names of their own loved ones, choking back tears and sending messages of love to lost relatives.
Bergen County resident Laura Weinberg was making her first trip to the New York ceremony after losing her husband, Richard Aronow, in the attacks.
"I had trouble coming to the city in September," Weinberg said. "I was able to come back here because the flashbacks are more under control."
But she said the pain of her loss is much more enduring than a single day.
Some family members still don't feel comfortable heading to New York or attending any memorial.
Elizabeth Mattson, whose husband, Robert, died at the World Trade Center, tries to make Sept. 11 a positive day each year. She attends Mass in the morning in her hometown of Rockaway Township, then spends the day with her family, doing things her husband enjoyed.
"We'll go out and hit golf balls or other stuff he liked to do,'' Mattson said. "He was a happy, upbeat guy. So we try to keep everything upbeat, try to keep a positive attitude. But, I'll admit, it's not always so easy to deal with this day."
Mattson did not attend today's ceremony. She has made it to Ground Zero a few times, but never on the anniversary.
"That would be too difficult. I don't know how people do it. Instead, we just try to keep it simple," said Mattson, whose adult children, Jean and James, usually commemorate the day with her.
George and Dotty McLaughlin of Matawan, whose son, George Jr., died, also use the anniversary to visit the places he loved. Sometimes that means trips to New York City, other years it's spending time at their house in Ocean City.
The younger McLaughin, 36, who lived in Hoboken, was the couple's only son and the middle of their five children.
"We gain strength from our son because we know he's watching over us," Dotty McLaughlin said today at the 9/11 memorial at the Mount Mitchill Scenic Overlook in Atlantic Highlands.
The chilly rain and strong winds caused some New Jersey communities to postpone or even cancel their services, but most moved forward.
In West Orange, Essex County Executive Joe DiVincenzo dedicated a $30,000 addition to the 9/11 memorial at the Eagle Rock Reservation. The addition pays tribute to the flight crews who perished in the attacks.
The original memorial honored police officers and firefighters who died that day.
But township resident Deborah Calimano, a flight attendant said flight crews -- the true first-responders -- should also be included.
Today, DiVincenzo unveiled a 3-foot-tall granite pedestal with a bronze pilot's cap resting on top. Engraved on the pedestal are the names of the 33 pilots and flight attendants who lost their lives.
In Somerville, more than 40 people gathered in front of the 9/11 memorial at the Somerset County Courthouse as the names of the 39 county residents killed in the attacks were read by Freeholder Director Rick Fontana.
Trish Straine MacGregor, 40, of Oceanport, made her first visit to the Mount Mitchill memorial today to mourn her husband, Jimmy Straine, 36, a Cantor Fitzgerald employee killed at the World Trade Center.
She said she spent many of the previous anniversaries in the company of a support group while watching television coverage of the ceremony in New York, keeping her two children out of school.
Now remarried with two more children, she said she still meets with members of her support group on the anniversary, but doesn't spend as many hours with them.
Her oldest sons, Finn, 10, and Charlie, 8, who was born six days before his father died, now go to school on the anniversary.
"Life moves forward," she said. "You can still find happiness. You hold onto your memories and your love, but Jimmy would never want me to be in a black hole, sad."
The attacks at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and in western Pennsylvania killed almost 3,000 people, brought down a symbol of American economic prowess and tore a hole in the area's identity. Nearly a quarter of those who died were New Jersey residents.
At Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan, relatives and friends of the victims of the World Trade Center attack visited a partially built, street-level Sept. 11 memorial plaza that had not been there a year ago.
The memorial, to be partially complete by the 10th anniversary in 2011, will include two square pools evoking the towers' footprints, with victims' names surrounding them and waterfalls cascading down the sides. Moments of silence were observed at 8:46 a.m., 9:03 a.m. -- the precise times that jetliners struck the north and south towers, and again at , 9:59 a.m. and 10:29 a.m., the times each tower fell.
"Eight years ago, countless people played a part in history by doing something to help another person," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said as he opened the service under a driving rain. "Each act was a link in a continuous chain that kept us from falling into cynicism and despair."
Bloomberg reminded the crowd that this year, Sept. 11 was declared a national day of service and remembrance in honor of those volunteers and encouraged listeners to remember the victims by performing service for those left behind.
"While there is pain in remembering the loss, there is sweetness in remembering their lives," he said.
Over the drone of flute and cello music, the reading of victims' names by family members and volunteers was punctuated by poetry read by local, state and national politicians.
Vice President Joe Biden read a selection by poet Mary Oliver.
"Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine," he said. "Meanwhile, the world goes on."
Mothers, fathers, sons and daughters -- some barely old enough to remember their parents -- made their way through the alphabet of 9/11 victims. Many spoke in monotones until reaching the names of their own loved ones, choking back tears and sending messages of love to lost relatives.
Bergen County resident Laura Weinberg was making her first trip to the New York ceremony after losing her husband, Richard Aronow, in the attacks.
"I had trouble coming to the city in September," Weinberg said. "I was able to come back here because the flashbacks are more under control."
But she said the pain of her loss is much more enduring than a single day.
Some family members still don't feel comfortable heading to New York or attending any memorial.
Elizabeth Mattson, whose husband, Robert, died at the World Trade Center, tries to make Sept. 11 a positive day each year. She attends Mass in the morning in her hometown of Rockaway Township, then spends the day with her family, doing things her husband enjoyed.
"We'll go out and hit golf balls or other stuff he liked to do,'' Mattson said. "He was a happy, upbeat guy. So we try to keep everything upbeat, try to keep a positive attitude. But, I'll admit, it's not always so easy to deal with this day."
Mattson did not attend today's ceremony. She has made it to Ground Zero a few times, but never on the anniversary.
"That would be too difficult. I don't know how people do it. Instead, we just try to keep it simple," said Mattson, whose adult children, Jean and James, usually commemorate the day with her.
George and Dotty McLaughlin of Matawan, whose son, George Jr., died, also use the anniversary to visit the places he loved. Sometimes that means trips to New York City, other years it's spending time at their house in Ocean City.
The younger McLaughin, 36, who lived in Hoboken, was the couple's only son and the middle of their five children.
"We gain strength from our son because we know he's watching over us," Dotty McLaughlin said today at the 9/11 memorial at the Mount Mitchill Scenic Overlook in Atlantic Highlands.
The chilly rain and strong winds caused some New Jersey communities to postpone or even cancel their services, but most moved forward.
In West Orange, Essex County Executive Joe DiVincenzo dedicated a $30,000 addition to the 9/11 memorial at the Eagle Rock Reservation. The addition pays tribute to the flight crews who perished in the attacks.
The original memorial honored police officers and firefighters who died that day.
But township resident Deborah Calimano, a flight attendant said flight crews -- the true first-responders -- should also be included.
Today, DiVincenzo unveiled a 3-foot-tall granite pedestal with a bronze pilot's cap resting on top. Engraved on the pedestal are the names of the 33 pilots and flight attendants who lost their lives.
In Somerville, more than 40 people gathered in front of the 9/11 memorial at the Somerset County Courthouse as the names of the 39 county residents killed in the attacks were read by Freeholder Director Rick Fontana.
Trish Straine MacGregor, 40, of Oceanport, made her first visit to the Mount Mitchill memorial today to mourn her husband, Jimmy Straine, 36, a Cantor Fitzgerald employee killed at the World Trade Center.
She said she spent many of the previous anniversaries in the company of a support group while watching television coverage of the ceremony in New York, keeping her two children out of school.
Now remarried with two more children, she said she still meets with members of her support group on the anniversary, but doesn't spend as many hours with them.
Her oldest sons, Finn, 10, and Charlie, 8, who was born six days before his father died, now go to school on the anniversary.
"Life moves forward," she said. "You can still find happiness. You hold onto your memories and your love, but Jimmy would never want me to be in a black hole, sad."
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Amnesty plan ready for Balochistan
ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to withdraw cases against Baloch leaders and grant general amnesty to political prisoners and those who are in exile or allegedly involved in anti-state activities.
Sources associated with the Balochistan Committee of Pakistan People’s Party said recommendations of the committee had been approved by President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.
‘We have presented the report to the president and the prime minister and it will be announced by Mr Zardari very soon,’ the committee’s head, Senator Raza Rabbani, said.
He refused to give details of the report and said it was the prerogative of PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari to make them public.
A source in the presidency confirmed that the president and the prime minister had approved amnesty to Baloch leaders, including those belonging to the Bugti tribe.
Some of Bugti tribe leaders, including Bramdagh Bugti, grandson of Nawab Akbar Bugti, have been accused of being involved in anti-state activities in Balochistan and other parts of the country.
Addressing a joint sitting of parliament, President Zardari had expressed his desire that Baloch leaders should be given general amnesty so that their grievances could be addressed and they could be brought into the political mainstream.
He had said: ‘Ways and means may be explored for the voluntary return of exiles and grant of general amnesty to political prisoners.’
Mr Zardari had stressed that an enabling environment needed to be created to facilitate the return and rehabilitation of displaced persons in Balochistan who fled their homes recently. ‘Give them the autonomy they have been demanding for 60 years,’ he said.
The president said he had visited Balochistan and felt bitterness of the past there as they (Baloch people) felt deprived and neglected. ‘We need to bring together the federating units in a spirit of mutual accommodation. Let us not give an excuse to our enemies to exploit the deprivations of the people of the province.’
In a recent meeting with Balochistan Governor Nawab Zulfiqar Magsi, the president said the government was determined to remove sense of deprivation among the Baloch people and address financial problems of the province.
Mr Zardari said the government had already announced special measures and packages for Balochistan. ‘People of Balochistan will be brought into mainstream of national life at par with people of other provinces in terms of development in light of the recommendations of the parliamentary committee on Balochistan,’ he said.
Sources associated with the Balochistan Committee of Pakistan People’s Party said recommendations of the committee had been approved by President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.
‘We have presented the report to the president and the prime minister and it will be announced by Mr Zardari very soon,’ the committee’s head, Senator Raza Rabbani, said.
He refused to give details of the report and said it was the prerogative of PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari to make them public.
A source in the presidency confirmed that the president and the prime minister had approved amnesty to Baloch leaders, including those belonging to the Bugti tribe.
Some of Bugti tribe leaders, including Bramdagh Bugti, grandson of Nawab Akbar Bugti, have been accused of being involved in anti-state activities in Balochistan and other parts of the country.
Addressing a joint sitting of parliament, President Zardari had expressed his desire that Baloch leaders should be given general amnesty so that their grievances could be addressed and they could be brought into the political mainstream.
He had said: ‘Ways and means may be explored for the voluntary return of exiles and grant of general amnesty to political prisoners.’
Mr Zardari had stressed that an enabling environment needed to be created to facilitate the return and rehabilitation of displaced persons in Balochistan who fled their homes recently. ‘Give them the autonomy they have been demanding for 60 years,’ he said.
The president said he had visited Balochistan and felt bitterness of the past there as they (Baloch people) felt deprived and neglected. ‘We need to bring together the federating units in a spirit of mutual accommodation. Let us not give an excuse to our enemies to exploit the deprivations of the people of the province.’
In a recent meeting with Balochistan Governor Nawab Zulfiqar Magsi, the president said the government was determined to remove sense of deprivation among the Baloch people and address financial problems of the province.
Mr Zardari said the government had already announced special measures and packages for Balochistan. ‘People of Balochistan will be brought into mainstream of national life at par with people of other provinces in terms of development in light of the recommendations of the parliamentary committee on Balochistan,’ he said.
Poverty Rate Rose in 2008, Census Finds
NewYorkTimes
In the recession, the nation’s poverty rate climbed to 13.2 percent last year, up from 12.5 percent in 2007, according to an annual report released Thursday by the Census Bureau. The report also documented a decline in employer-provided health insurance and in coverage for adults.
The rise in the poverty rate, to the highest level since 1997, portends even larger increases this year, which has registered far higher unemployment than in 2008, economists said.
The bureau said 39.8 million residents last year lived below the poverty line, defined as an income of $22,025 for a family of four.
In another sign of both the recession and the long-term stagnation of middle-class wages, median family incomes in 2008 fell to $50,300, compared with $52,200 the year before. This wiped out the income gains of the previous three years, the report said.
Adjusted for inflation, in fact, median family incomes were lower in 2008 than a decade earlier.
“This is the largest decline in the first year of a recession we’ve seen since the Census Bureau started collecting data after World War II,” said Lawrence Katz, an economist at Harvard University, referring to household incomes. “We’ve seen a lost decade for the typical American family.”
The share of American residents who said they lacked health insurance throughout the entire year remained steady, at 15.4 percent, or 46.3 million people. But the total masked some more worrisome trends that are helping to drive the debate over a national health care overhaul.
Continuing an eight-year trend, the number of people with private or employer-sponsored insurance declined, while the number of people relying on government insurance programs including Medicare, Medicaid, the children’s insurance program and military insurance rose.
The share of children who were uninsured declined, to 9.9 percent from 11 percent in 2007, apparently because of the federal government’s special efforts to insure low-income children. But at the same time, the share of adults aged 18 to 64 without health insurance rose, to 20.3 percent in 2008 from 19.6 percent in 2007.
In a speech Thursday to promote his health care overhaul, President Obama referred to the census survey and said that things had grown worse since September 2008. “Over the last 12 months, it’s estimated that the ranks of the uninsured have swelled by nearly six million people,” he said.
The accuracy of the census numbers, which are collected each spring for the previous year as part of the Current Population Survey, is subject to debate. Family incomes in the poverty area do not include the value of food stamps, money received through tax credits or unreported income. On the other side, the poverty threshold has not been adjusted over the years to reflect the rising relative costs of housing and medical care and does not take account of large regional differences in the cost of living.
Whatever the flaws, which remain similar every year, “we think the C.P.S. data present a very good measure of the trends over time,” David S. Johnson, chief of the housing and household economic statistics division of the Census Bureau, said Thursday in an audio news conference.
Because unemployment has climbed so much more sharply in 2009 — averaging 9 percent, compared with an average of 5.8 percent in 2008 — “the real spike in poverty is going to be in the ’09 numbers, which we get next year,” said Sheldon Danziger, a professor of public policy at the University of Michigan and co-editor, with Maria Cancian, of the coming book “Changing Poverty, Changing Policies” (Russell Sage Foundation).
In the recession, the nation’s poverty rate climbed to 13.2 percent last year, up from 12.5 percent in 2007, according to an annual report released Thursday by the Census Bureau. The report also documented a decline in employer-provided health insurance and in coverage for adults.
The rise in the poverty rate, to the highest level since 1997, portends even larger increases this year, which has registered far higher unemployment than in 2008, economists said.
The bureau said 39.8 million residents last year lived below the poverty line, defined as an income of $22,025 for a family of four.
In another sign of both the recession and the long-term stagnation of middle-class wages, median family incomes in 2008 fell to $50,300, compared with $52,200 the year before. This wiped out the income gains of the previous three years, the report said.
Adjusted for inflation, in fact, median family incomes were lower in 2008 than a decade earlier.
“This is the largest decline in the first year of a recession we’ve seen since the Census Bureau started collecting data after World War II,” said Lawrence Katz, an economist at Harvard University, referring to household incomes. “We’ve seen a lost decade for the typical American family.”
The share of American residents who said they lacked health insurance throughout the entire year remained steady, at 15.4 percent, or 46.3 million people. But the total masked some more worrisome trends that are helping to drive the debate over a national health care overhaul.
Continuing an eight-year trend, the number of people with private or employer-sponsored insurance declined, while the number of people relying on government insurance programs including Medicare, Medicaid, the children’s insurance program and military insurance rose.
The share of children who were uninsured declined, to 9.9 percent from 11 percent in 2007, apparently because of the federal government’s special efforts to insure low-income children. But at the same time, the share of adults aged 18 to 64 without health insurance rose, to 20.3 percent in 2008 from 19.6 percent in 2007.
In a speech Thursday to promote his health care overhaul, President Obama referred to the census survey and said that things had grown worse since September 2008. “Over the last 12 months, it’s estimated that the ranks of the uninsured have swelled by nearly six million people,” he said.
The accuracy of the census numbers, which are collected each spring for the previous year as part of the Current Population Survey, is subject to debate. Family incomes in the poverty area do not include the value of food stamps, money received through tax credits or unreported income. On the other side, the poverty threshold has not been adjusted over the years to reflect the rising relative costs of housing and medical care and does not take account of large regional differences in the cost of living.
Whatever the flaws, which remain similar every year, “we think the C.P.S. data present a very good measure of the trends over time,” David S. Johnson, chief of the housing and household economic statistics division of the Census Bureau, said Thursday in an audio news conference.
Because unemployment has climbed so much more sharply in 2009 — averaging 9 percent, compared with an average of 5.8 percent in 2008 — “the real spike in poverty is going to be in the ’09 numbers, which we get next year,” said Sheldon Danziger, a professor of public policy at the University of Michigan and co-editor, with Maria Cancian, of the coming book “Changing Poverty, Changing Policies” (Russell Sage Foundation).
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
4 Militants Held in Fatal Attack on Christians in Pakistani Town
NewYorkTimes.com
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Police officials said Wednesday that four militants belonging to two banned groups had been arrested and accused of involvement in the killings of Christians and riots in a Punjabi town on Aug. 1.
At least seven people were killed when armed mobs of Muslims attacked a Christian colony in Gojra, a shabby town in Punjab Province, over a claim that a Koran had been defiled.
More than 100 houses belonging to Christians were burned, and dozens of people were wounded in the riots, which sent shock waves across the country.
A private advocacy group, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, called the attacks “barbaric” and a “comprehensive failure by the government to protect minorities.” Pakistan is overwhelmingly Muslim; non-Muslims make up only about 5 percent of the population. Christian Pakistanis are often treated as second-class citizens.
Giving details of the arrests on Wednesday, Ahmad Raza Tahir, the highest ranking police official in the Faisalabad region, where Gojra is located, said that three of the men who were arrested belonged to Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, a banned Sunni extremist group known for violence against Shiite Muslims and others. The fourth man, he said, belonged to Harkatul Jehad al-Islami, a banned extremist group with close ties to the Taliban. All four, he said, were trained in Afghanistan. Mr. Tahir criticized local politicians and clerics for not helping to avert the violence.
Rights groups have maintained that the attacks were planned and coordinated, with announcements made through mosque loudspeakers on July 31, urging Muslims to “make a mincemeat” of Christians.
Concerns about the rise of militancy in Punjab, the most populous and prosperous of Pakistan’s provinces, have increased in recent months. The southern part of the province — with rampant poverty and a large number of religious schools — is considered fertile ground for a militant brand of Islam.
A commission investigating the Aug. 1 violence has taken statements from victims, police officers and intelligence officials, and is expected to report its findings in less than two weeks.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Police officials said Wednesday that four militants belonging to two banned groups had been arrested and accused of involvement in the killings of Christians and riots in a Punjabi town on Aug. 1.
At least seven people were killed when armed mobs of Muslims attacked a Christian colony in Gojra, a shabby town in Punjab Province, over a claim that a Koran had been defiled.
More than 100 houses belonging to Christians were burned, and dozens of people were wounded in the riots, which sent shock waves across the country.
A private advocacy group, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, called the attacks “barbaric” and a “comprehensive failure by the government to protect minorities.” Pakistan is overwhelmingly Muslim; non-Muslims make up only about 5 percent of the population. Christian Pakistanis are often treated as second-class citizens.
Giving details of the arrests on Wednesday, Ahmad Raza Tahir, the highest ranking police official in the Faisalabad region, where Gojra is located, said that three of the men who were arrested belonged to Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, a banned Sunni extremist group known for violence against Shiite Muslims and others. The fourth man, he said, belonged to Harkatul Jehad al-Islami, a banned extremist group with close ties to the Taliban. All four, he said, were trained in Afghanistan. Mr. Tahir criticized local politicians and clerics for not helping to avert the violence.
Rights groups have maintained that the attacks were planned and coordinated, with announcements made through mosque loudspeakers on July 31, urging Muslims to “make a mincemeat” of Christians.
Concerns about the rise of militancy in Punjab, the most populous and prosperous of Pakistan’s provinces, have increased in recent months. The southern part of the province — with rampant poverty and a large number of religious schools — is considered fertile ground for a militant brand of Islam.
A commission investigating the Aug. 1 violence has taken statements from victims, police officers and intelligence officials, and is expected to report its findings in less than two weeks.
Obama: 'No one should go broke because they got sick'
WASHINGTON -- President Obama told Congress on Wednesday that while he is not the first president to take up the cause of health care reform, "I am determined to be the last."
President Obama is delivering an address to a joint session of Congress to present the most detailed description of his idea of health reform.
Obama has been criticized as the health care debate has devolved into rancorous town hall meetings and a partisan split over reform plans. Obama has also faced a split in his own party over how to best go about reforming the nation's health care system.
"Well the time for bickering is over. The time for games has passed. Now is the season for action," Obama said. "Now is when we must bring the best ideas of both parties together, and show the American people that we can still do what we were sent here to do. Now is the time to deliver on health care."
While much of the debate over health care has been over a government-backed public option, Obama said that's not the only problem plaguing the system.
"Those who do have insurance have never had less security and stability than they do today," he said of Americans who have lost their insurance when they have lost their jobs or have had their coverage dropped when they have suffered an illness.
Obama will say that there is agreement on about 80 percent of what needs to be done, "but what we have also seen in these last months is the same partisan spectacle that only hardens the disdain many Americans have toward their own government."
"Instead of honest debate, we have seen scare tactics," he will say.
Obama was tweaking his pivotal health care address right up until the last, top aides said. He worked on the speech late into Tuesday night in the White House residence, bringing a new draft for his staff to work through Wednesday morning, they said. He even took a first draft of the speech to Camp David this weekend.
Obama's address to Congress will be carried live on CNN and CNN.com/Live beginning at 8 p.m. ET.
In his address Obama gave details "that every American needs to know" about his plan.
If you already have health insurance through your job, Medicare, Medicaid, or the VA, nothing in his plan will require you to change the coverage you already have.
The plan would bar insurance companies from dropping or refusing coverage for a pre-existing condition.
"As soon as I sign this bill, it will be against the law for insurance companies to drop your coverage when you get sick or water it down when you need it most," Obama said.
And it will eliminate "some arbitrary cap" on the amount of coverage over a year or a lifetime.
"No one should go broke because they got sick," Obama said.
Speaking to those who don't already have coverage, Obama said his plan calls for a new "insurance exchange," to allow individuals in small business to shop for health insurance at competitive rates.
"If you lose your job or change your job, you will be able to get coverage," Obama said. "If you strike out on your own and start a small business, you will be able to get coverage."
Because Democrats enjoy majorities in both houses of Congress, Obama could get a plan passed if Democrats vote as a solid block. And while he has said he wants a bipartisan solution, White House officials have said the administration is prepared to push through a plan without Republican support.
Obama also attacked "bogus claims spread by those whose only agenda is to kill reform at any cost," addressing the so-called "death panels" and that reforms would insure illegal immigrants.
"And one more misunderstanding I want to clear up -- under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions, and federal conscience laws will remain in place," he said.
Rep. Charles Boustany, a lawmaker from Lousiana and a cardiothoracic surgeon, will be delivering the Republican response to Obama's address.
Boustany will agree that a lot of work is needed to lower the cost of health care for Americans, but will argue the bill Democrats proposed in July will further bog down the system, without offering much help.
"I read the bill Democrats passed through committee in July. It creates 53 new government bureaucracies, adds hundreds of billions to our national debt, and raises taxes on job-creators by $600 billion," Boustany will say according to released excerpts from his response. "And, it cuts Medicare by $500 billion, while doing virtually nothing to make the program better for our seniors."
Several administration officials said Obama will make a strong push for a public option but will not draw a line in the sand over a government-run insurance plan.
The public option is a government-funded, government-run health care option, similar to Medicare. Under the plan, people would pay premiums 10 percent to 20 percent less than private insurance.
That leaves the door open for Congress to come up with another option, such as a co-op or a "trigger," in which a public option would kick in only if insurance companies fail to make reforms within a defined period.
"The president still believes the public option is the best way to bring choice and competition," the senior administration official said. "It's how we bring security and stability to hundreds of millions of Americans."
A second senior administration official said that while the president will use the speech to reach out to Republicans in hopes of a last-minute bipartisan compromise, he also plans to get tough with the other side by challenging them to step up and meet him halfway instead of letting things continue as they are.
"The defenders of the status quo are bankrupting America," the administration official said of Republicans.
The address will be Obama's second speech to the full Congress since he took office in January. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid formally invited Obama to make the address, as required.
Several officials also said that scheduling the high-profile speech also prodded Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Montana, to edge closer to securing a deal with the "Gang of Six" senators on his panel. Baucus to unveil health care bill next week
The senior administration official noted that even luminaries in the Republican party are acknowledging that there is a "health care crisis," citing former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.Palin gets tough on health care proposals
That same senior administration official said both Democratic and Republican lawmakers now believe "something has to get done" because doing nothing "would be a political failure."
The speech, analysts said, will probably be one of the most important to date.
"Wednesday night's health care speech may be one of the toughest he has faced," CNN contributor David Gergen said.
Obama has issued broad reform ideas, but has left most of the specific legislative details to leaders in Congress, who have faced sometimes contentious negotiations.
A recent CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll showed Americans are evenly split over whether to support or oppose Obama's health care plan.
Six in 10 younger Americans support the plan; six in 10 senior citizens oppose it.
President Obama is delivering an address to a joint session of Congress to present the most detailed description of his idea of health reform.
Obama has been criticized as the health care debate has devolved into rancorous town hall meetings and a partisan split over reform plans. Obama has also faced a split in his own party over how to best go about reforming the nation's health care system.
"Well the time for bickering is over. The time for games has passed. Now is the season for action," Obama said. "Now is when we must bring the best ideas of both parties together, and show the American people that we can still do what we were sent here to do. Now is the time to deliver on health care."
While much of the debate over health care has been over a government-backed public option, Obama said that's not the only problem plaguing the system.
"Those who do have insurance have never had less security and stability than they do today," he said of Americans who have lost their insurance when they have lost their jobs or have had their coverage dropped when they have suffered an illness.
Obama will say that there is agreement on about 80 percent of what needs to be done, "but what we have also seen in these last months is the same partisan spectacle that only hardens the disdain many Americans have toward their own government."
"Instead of honest debate, we have seen scare tactics," he will say.
Obama was tweaking his pivotal health care address right up until the last, top aides said. He worked on the speech late into Tuesday night in the White House residence, bringing a new draft for his staff to work through Wednesday morning, they said. He even took a first draft of the speech to Camp David this weekend.
Obama's address to Congress will be carried live on CNN and CNN.com/Live beginning at 8 p.m. ET.
In his address Obama gave details "that every American needs to know" about his plan.
If you already have health insurance through your job, Medicare, Medicaid, or the VA, nothing in his plan will require you to change the coverage you already have.
The plan would bar insurance companies from dropping or refusing coverage for a pre-existing condition.
"As soon as I sign this bill, it will be against the law for insurance companies to drop your coverage when you get sick or water it down when you need it most," Obama said.
And it will eliminate "some arbitrary cap" on the amount of coverage over a year or a lifetime.
"No one should go broke because they got sick," Obama said.
Speaking to those who don't already have coverage, Obama said his plan calls for a new "insurance exchange," to allow individuals in small business to shop for health insurance at competitive rates.
"If you lose your job or change your job, you will be able to get coverage," Obama said. "If you strike out on your own and start a small business, you will be able to get coverage."
Because Democrats enjoy majorities in both houses of Congress, Obama could get a plan passed if Democrats vote as a solid block. And while he has said he wants a bipartisan solution, White House officials have said the administration is prepared to push through a plan without Republican support.
Obama also attacked "bogus claims spread by those whose only agenda is to kill reform at any cost," addressing the so-called "death panels" and that reforms would insure illegal immigrants.
"And one more misunderstanding I want to clear up -- under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions, and federal conscience laws will remain in place," he said.
Rep. Charles Boustany, a lawmaker from Lousiana and a cardiothoracic surgeon, will be delivering the Republican response to Obama's address.
Boustany will agree that a lot of work is needed to lower the cost of health care for Americans, but will argue the bill Democrats proposed in July will further bog down the system, without offering much help.
"I read the bill Democrats passed through committee in July. It creates 53 new government bureaucracies, adds hundreds of billions to our national debt, and raises taxes on job-creators by $600 billion," Boustany will say according to released excerpts from his response. "And, it cuts Medicare by $500 billion, while doing virtually nothing to make the program better for our seniors."
Several administration officials said Obama will make a strong push for a public option but will not draw a line in the sand over a government-run insurance plan.
The public option is a government-funded, government-run health care option, similar to Medicare. Under the plan, people would pay premiums 10 percent to 20 percent less than private insurance.
That leaves the door open for Congress to come up with another option, such as a co-op or a "trigger," in which a public option would kick in only if insurance companies fail to make reforms within a defined period.
"The president still believes the public option is the best way to bring choice and competition," the senior administration official said. "It's how we bring security and stability to hundreds of millions of Americans."
A second senior administration official said that while the president will use the speech to reach out to Republicans in hopes of a last-minute bipartisan compromise, he also plans to get tough with the other side by challenging them to step up and meet him halfway instead of letting things continue as they are.
"The defenders of the status quo are bankrupting America," the administration official said of Republicans.
The address will be Obama's second speech to the full Congress since he took office in January. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid formally invited Obama to make the address, as required.
Several officials also said that scheduling the high-profile speech also prodded Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Montana, to edge closer to securing a deal with the "Gang of Six" senators on his panel. Baucus to unveil health care bill next week
The senior administration official noted that even luminaries in the Republican party are acknowledging that there is a "health care crisis," citing former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.Palin gets tough on health care proposals
That same senior administration official said both Democratic and Republican lawmakers now believe "something has to get done" because doing nothing "would be a political failure."
The speech, analysts said, will probably be one of the most important to date.
"Wednesday night's health care speech may be one of the toughest he has faced," CNN contributor David Gergen said.
Obama has issued broad reform ideas, but has left most of the specific legislative details to leaders in Congress, who have faced sometimes contentious negotiations.
A recent CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll showed Americans are evenly split over whether to support or oppose Obama's health care plan.
Six in 10 younger Americans support the plan; six in 10 senior citizens oppose it.
Karzai defends Afghanistan election as honest
KABUL (Reuters) - Incumbent Hamid Karzai defended last month's Afghan presidential election as honest on Wednesday, a day after returns showed him set to win in a single round and a U.N-backed panel ordered a partial recount.
The standoff has alarmed Western leaders who have risked their own political capital to send troops on what is becoming an increasingly unpopular mission.
Preliminary election results issued on Tuesday gave Karzai more than 54 percent of valid votes tallied, putting him above the 50 percent threshold needed to avoid a runoff with his closest rival, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah.
But the independent Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC), appointed mainly by the United Nations, said it had found "clear and convincing" evidence of fraud and ordered a partial recount.
On Wednesday, Karzai praised the conduct of the vote.
"The president praised the (election officials) for holding the election with honesty and impartiality despite all the difficulties," the presidential palace said in a statement.
Abdullah says Karzai's backers have attempted to steal the August 20 election by stuffing ballots on a massive scale.
Early vote tables, which have been removed from the election commission's website without explanation, showed whole villages in which Karzai received every single ballot cast, sometimes with exactly 400 or 500 votes.
For now, Western officials have put their confidence in the watchdog ECC, which can overturn the result and must sign off on the outcome before it is final.
Diplomats say they are uneasy but resigned to the possibility of the U.N.-backed body reversing a result released by Afghanistan's own election authorities.
The West originally hailed the vote as a success, largely because the Taliban failed to disrupt it. Those assessments have became increasingly muted as evidence of fraud has mounted.
Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari played down concerns about the Afghan election and said in a BBC television interview he would be present if Karzai is sworn in for a new term.
MOURNING FOR MASOOD
In central Kabul, hundreds of people gathered to mourn the death of Tajik anti-Taliban hero Ahmed Shah Masood who was killed on September 9, 2001, by al-Qaeda -- a crucial rallying day for half-Tajik Abdullah who was part of Masood's inner circle.
Addressing the rally, Abdullah made no direct mention of the election but played up his link to the iconic commander.
"Masood fought for this country and died for this country," said Abdullah, whose supporters have threatened to hold protests if their election concerns were not heard. "He fought to bring peace and security to this country."
Speaking alongside Abdullah in a city festooned with Masood posters, ex-president and key ally Burhanuddin Rabbani added: "The election result must be cleaned or Afghanistan will face chaos and big challenges."
Karzai, an ethnic Pashtun who draws much of his support from his ethnic heartland in the south, did not attend the ceremony.
Locking Afghanistan into a further period of uncertainty, the ECC has ordered Afghan officials to recount results from polling stations where one candidate received more than 95 percent of the vote or more votes were cast than the expected maximum of 600.
Election officials say that could take weeks or even months.
British ambassador to Afghanistan Mark Sedwill said it was too early to judge the authenticity of the vote before the ECC had finished its process of screening ballots for fraud.
"We have to see the result of their investigations," he told BBC radio. "We always knew there would be fraud in this election, a lot of irregularities, I'm afraid that was inevitable, and we talked about that before the election."
Facing an increasingly skeptical public opinion over its role in Afghanistan, Britain on Wednesday offered to host a global conference to set targets for handing over security commitments from foreign troops to Afghan forces.
RAID FREES REPORTER
Before dawn, NATO troops stormed a Taliban hideout in the north of the country to release New York Times reporter Stephen Farrell of Britain and his Afghan colleague Mohammad Sultan Munadi who were kidnapped by insurgents at the end of last week.
Farrell was freed but Munadi was killed in the rescue, along with a British soldier and at least one civilian.
The two had been headed to cover the aftermath of a NATO air strike called in by German troops that killed scores of people. The strike took place in an area controlled by the Taliban and fueled anger among its mainly Pashtun local people.
NATO has confirmed that some civilians may have been killed and ordered a formal investigation into the air strike -- the deadliest incident involving German troops since World War Two.
The German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung quoted a senior NATO officer as saying that, according to preliminary NATO findings, the German officer who called in the air strike did not have the right to give the order.
The standoff has alarmed Western leaders who have risked their own political capital to send troops on what is becoming an increasingly unpopular mission.
Preliminary election results issued on Tuesday gave Karzai more than 54 percent of valid votes tallied, putting him above the 50 percent threshold needed to avoid a runoff with his closest rival, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah.
But the independent Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC), appointed mainly by the United Nations, said it had found "clear and convincing" evidence of fraud and ordered a partial recount.
On Wednesday, Karzai praised the conduct of the vote.
"The president praised the (election officials) for holding the election with honesty and impartiality despite all the difficulties," the presidential palace said in a statement.
Abdullah says Karzai's backers have attempted to steal the August 20 election by stuffing ballots on a massive scale.
Early vote tables, which have been removed from the election commission's website without explanation, showed whole villages in which Karzai received every single ballot cast, sometimes with exactly 400 or 500 votes.
For now, Western officials have put their confidence in the watchdog ECC, which can overturn the result and must sign off on the outcome before it is final.
Diplomats say they are uneasy but resigned to the possibility of the U.N.-backed body reversing a result released by Afghanistan's own election authorities.
The West originally hailed the vote as a success, largely because the Taliban failed to disrupt it. Those assessments have became increasingly muted as evidence of fraud has mounted.
Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari played down concerns about the Afghan election and said in a BBC television interview he would be present if Karzai is sworn in for a new term.
MOURNING FOR MASOOD
In central Kabul, hundreds of people gathered to mourn the death of Tajik anti-Taliban hero Ahmed Shah Masood who was killed on September 9, 2001, by al-Qaeda -- a crucial rallying day for half-Tajik Abdullah who was part of Masood's inner circle.
Addressing the rally, Abdullah made no direct mention of the election but played up his link to the iconic commander.
"Masood fought for this country and died for this country," said Abdullah, whose supporters have threatened to hold protests if their election concerns were not heard. "He fought to bring peace and security to this country."
Speaking alongside Abdullah in a city festooned with Masood posters, ex-president and key ally Burhanuddin Rabbani added: "The election result must be cleaned or Afghanistan will face chaos and big challenges."
Karzai, an ethnic Pashtun who draws much of his support from his ethnic heartland in the south, did not attend the ceremony.
Locking Afghanistan into a further period of uncertainty, the ECC has ordered Afghan officials to recount results from polling stations where one candidate received more than 95 percent of the vote or more votes were cast than the expected maximum of 600.
Election officials say that could take weeks or even months.
British ambassador to Afghanistan Mark Sedwill said it was too early to judge the authenticity of the vote before the ECC had finished its process of screening ballots for fraud.
"We have to see the result of their investigations," he told BBC radio. "We always knew there would be fraud in this election, a lot of irregularities, I'm afraid that was inevitable, and we talked about that before the election."
Facing an increasingly skeptical public opinion over its role in Afghanistan, Britain on Wednesday offered to host a global conference to set targets for handing over security commitments from foreign troops to Afghan forces.
RAID FREES REPORTER
Before dawn, NATO troops stormed a Taliban hideout in the north of the country to release New York Times reporter Stephen Farrell of Britain and his Afghan colleague Mohammad Sultan Munadi who were kidnapped by insurgents at the end of last week.
Farrell was freed but Munadi was killed in the rescue, along with a British soldier and at least one civilian.
The two had been headed to cover the aftermath of a NATO air strike called in by German troops that killed scores of people. The strike took place in an area controlled by the Taliban and fueled anger among its mainly Pashtun local people.
NATO has confirmed that some civilians may have been killed and ordered a formal investigation into the air strike -- the deadliest incident involving German troops since World War Two.
The German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung quoted a senior NATO officer as saying that, according to preliminary NATO findings, the German officer who called in the air strike did not have the right to give the order.
Curfew imposed in Khyber Agency
PESHAWAR: Security forces have imposed a curfew in Khyber Agency while check posts have been handed over to Khazdar Force.After haphazard firing and mortar shells, security forces have decided to impose curfew for an indefinite period of time. All the roads linking from Tehsil Bara have been closed.During operations, security forces arrested more than 30 suspects and started initial investigations.Police have also been kept on high alert as activists of banned militant outfits could try to flee from the area. Mortar shells and aerial firing also continued in Budh Pir, Shahahb Khel, Kokri and other areas.
Govt will address Baloch grievances’
ISLAMABAD: The government is determined to remove the sense of deprivation among the Baloch people and address the province’s financial problems, President Asif Ali Zardari said on Wednesday. Talking to Balochistan Governor Zulfiqar Ali Magsi who met Zardari at the Presidency, the president said the government had already announced special measures and packages for Balochistan. The people of Balochistan would be brought at par with the people of other provinces in terms of development in light of the recommendations of the parliamentary committee on Balochistan, he said.Magsi discussed the province’s law and order and various development projects.Gilani: Magsi later met Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani who said the government would ensure the development of Balochistan to bring it at par with other provinces.The prime minister said the government would take all measures to provide all facilities to the Baloch people.Gilani said the parliamentary committee on Balochistan had completed its deliberations and the government would soon make a decision on its proposals.
Afrasiab taken aback at PML-N demand on Pakhtoonkhaw
PESHAWAR: Awami National Party (ANP) Provincial President Senator Afrasiab Khatak Wednesday said the demand for changing their province’s name is their right and nobody should fume over the name of Pakhtoonkhaw.Addressing Peshawar Press Club here, he said the president and premier of the country is pronouncing Pakhtoonkhawa as the name of the province at all forums, which led this name to be popular.Afrasiab said the Parliament’s Constitutional Committee made headway on various constitutional matters including he name of NWFP province, adding the objections to any constitutional matters should be raised in the committee.Khatak said the demand of referendum on the name change of the province is unwarranted, adding the decision of the constitutional in this connection would be accepted.He underscored that his party would not withdraw from the demand of Pakhtoonkhaw at any cost, adding he would not mind if the province is named Afghania.
Obama about to pull the 'trigger' on health care?
WASHINGTON -- President Obama's speech to Congress Wednesday on health care reform will probably be one of the high-noon moments of his presidency.Surrounded by liberals demanding a government-run public option and centrist Democrats -- along with Republicans -- who want to dump the option, Obama just might have his finger on something that can get him through this health care showdown: the "trigger" option.
The idea would give insurance companies a defined period to make changes in order to help cover more people and drive down long-term costs. If those changes failed to occur within the defined period, a trigger would provide for a public option to force change on the insurance companies.A public option is a government-funded, government-run health care option, similar to Medicare. Under the plan, people would pay premiums 10 to 20 percent less than private insurance.But the question remains about whether Obama will side with liberals in making a strong play for the public option. Though he has voiced his support, he has signaled over the past months that it's not the only option that could work."I continue to believe that a public option within that basket of insurance choices would help improve quality and bring down costs," Obama said Monday.One of the bipartisan "Gang of Six" on the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, has been actively negotiating with the White House.The six met Tuesday to consider a plan by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Montana, to drop the public option and tax the priciest insurance plans. The plan would also take a look at using health care co-ops."If [co-ops are] going to end up just the way we've known co-ops for 150 years in America, the answer is 'yes,' because they're consumer-driven, and all the consumers benefit from it," Sen. Chuck Grassley, a Republican on the Finance Committee, said on CNN's "American Morning" on Tuesday. "They're organized by members. There's no federal government running the co-ops."Snowe has been pushing the idea of a safety net, or "trigger," for a public health care option as part of a key compromise. A source familiar with her negotiations with Obama said that's one of the things they're talking about.
Throughout the health care debate, Snowe has shied away from radical changes to the nation's private insurance system."We obviously want to protect those who currently have good health care. ... They want to preserve it. They want to maintain it," Snowe said in July. "We don't want to interfere with that, nor do we want to interfere with the doctor-patient relationship."The trigger idea is backed by a former GOP leader.
"We recommend that after about five years, if the insurance companies don't clean up their acts, then there's sort of a trigger where certain things happen, and we think that's a step in the right direction," said former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, a Republican from Kansas.Even though Snowe's trigger could win over Senate centrists, like Nebraska Democrat Ben Nelson, congressional liberals have said in no uncertain terms: no public option, no deal."I say there is no option but a public option," Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Maryland, said in June. "For those who say we need a trigger, I say, 'be careful; you could be shooting down health care.' "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, has said throughout the health care debate that a public option is pivotal to passing health care reform, a point she reiterated last week.
"Any real change requires the inclusion of a strong public option to promote competition and bring down costs," she said in a news release. "If a vigorous public option is not included, it would be a major victory for the health insurance industry."Pelosi predicted that any bill without a strong public option will not pass the House."Eliminating the public option would be a major victory for the insurance companies who have rationed care, increased premiums and denied coverage," she said.
But on Tuesday, one of the more outspoken members of the fiscally conservative "Blue Dog" Democrats said he will oppose any bill that includes the option."A government-run public option is the wrong direction for health reform in this country," Rep. Mike Ross, D-Arkansas, said in a statement. "If House leadership presents a final bill that contains a government-run public option, I will oppose it."Analysts wonder whether, in the end, Democrats will harm themselves politically."What a politician says in September and what they do in November or December are often two different things," said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics. "Because they come to terms with reality."And the reality is, the trigger might be the last best hope of getting a few Republicans on board. Still, liberals argue that the trigger gives the insurance industry another pass.But after those rowdy town halls in August, a bipartisan health care deal may be out the window.
The idea would give insurance companies a defined period to make changes in order to help cover more people and drive down long-term costs. If those changes failed to occur within the defined period, a trigger would provide for a public option to force change on the insurance companies.A public option is a government-funded, government-run health care option, similar to Medicare. Under the plan, people would pay premiums 10 to 20 percent less than private insurance.But the question remains about whether Obama will side with liberals in making a strong play for the public option. Though he has voiced his support, he has signaled over the past months that it's not the only option that could work."I continue to believe that a public option within that basket of insurance choices would help improve quality and bring down costs," Obama said Monday.One of the bipartisan "Gang of Six" on the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, has been actively negotiating with the White House.The six met Tuesday to consider a plan by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Montana, to drop the public option and tax the priciest insurance plans. The plan would also take a look at using health care co-ops."If [co-ops are] going to end up just the way we've known co-ops for 150 years in America, the answer is 'yes,' because they're consumer-driven, and all the consumers benefit from it," Sen. Chuck Grassley, a Republican on the Finance Committee, said on CNN's "American Morning" on Tuesday. "They're organized by members. There's no federal government running the co-ops."Snowe has been pushing the idea of a safety net, or "trigger," for a public health care option as part of a key compromise. A source familiar with her negotiations with Obama said that's one of the things they're talking about.
Throughout the health care debate, Snowe has shied away from radical changes to the nation's private insurance system."We obviously want to protect those who currently have good health care. ... They want to preserve it. They want to maintain it," Snowe said in July. "We don't want to interfere with that, nor do we want to interfere with the doctor-patient relationship."The trigger idea is backed by a former GOP leader.
"We recommend that after about five years, if the insurance companies don't clean up their acts, then there's sort of a trigger where certain things happen, and we think that's a step in the right direction," said former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, a Republican from Kansas.Even though Snowe's trigger could win over Senate centrists, like Nebraska Democrat Ben Nelson, congressional liberals have said in no uncertain terms: no public option, no deal."I say there is no option but a public option," Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Maryland, said in June. "For those who say we need a trigger, I say, 'be careful; you could be shooting down health care.' "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, has said throughout the health care debate that a public option is pivotal to passing health care reform, a point she reiterated last week.
"Any real change requires the inclusion of a strong public option to promote competition and bring down costs," she said in a news release. "If a vigorous public option is not included, it would be a major victory for the health insurance industry."Pelosi predicted that any bill without a strong public option will not pass the House."Eliminating the public option would be a major victory for the insurance companies who have rationed care, increased premiums and denied coverage," she said.
But on Tuesday, one of the more outspoken members of the fiscally conservative "Blue Dog" Democrats said he will oppose any bill that includes the option."A government-run public option is the wrong direction for health reform in this country," Rep. Mike Ross, D-Arkansas, said in a statement. "If House leadership presents a final bill that contains a government-run public option, I will oppose it."Analysts wonder whether, in the end, Democrats will harm themselves politically."What a politician says in September and what they do in November or December are often two different things," said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics. "Because they come to terms with reality."And the reality is, the trigger might be the last best hope of getting a few Republicans on board. Still, liberals argue that the trigger gives the insurance industry another pass.But after those rowdy town halls in August, a bipartisan health care deal may be out the window.
Greek national kidnapped from Kalash museum
CHITRAL: Gunmen kidnapped a Greek national from his residence in Kalash valley after killing his guard early on Tuesday morning.
Police said the Greek national (identified only as Athunasius) was sleeping in his room inside the Kalash museum when about 20 masked men broke into the building and whisked him away.
A policeman deployed for his security was killed when he put up resistance.
Mr Athunasius has been living in the valley for 15 years and working on a project for development of the Kalash community. He worked for the construction of a three-storey building to preserve and promote the unique culture of area.
The building also housed a primary school where Mr Athunasius worked as a teacher.
The government had deployed five policemen for his security, but at the time of the incident only two of them were said to be on duty, the others having been sent on leave.
Another teacher of the school, Ajmer Khan Kalash, was also inside the building, who was tied to a pillar by rope.
The valley is adjacent to the Nooristan area of Afghanistan and it is believed that Mr Athunasius has been taken to Nooristan.
The funeral prayer for the slain policeman was offered in the Shahi Masjid ground and he was laid to rest in his village Kosht in upper Chitral.
Chitral’s new DPO Mohammad Jafar Khan and district nazim Maghfirat Shah attended the funeral.
Pukhtunkhwa Province: What’s in a name?
What’s in a name?
PML (N) guru LUHAR Nawaz Sharif’s referendum proposal on Frontier province’s renaming is though itself evasive and eyewash, reeking as it does of sheer political expediency and lack of courage to take a clear-cut position on the contentious issue. But the ANP clan’s own reaction is crude, churlish and a vulgar show in theatrics. Do the Pakhtuns really need just a name change of an abode for their recognition or identification? Aren’t they known worldwide for their valour and bravery, for their independence-mindedness and intolerance of subjugation, for their inviolable code of honour and dignity, and for their unrivalled hospitality and congeniality? And haven’t they commanded this repute in all the ages and through all the times, generations after generations? Doesn’t history recall with awe the victories of their redoubtable warriors and heroes on the battlefield and their chivalry off the battlefield? Aren’t their venerated poets’ verses still recited with delight alike by literary buffs and critics as also ordinary poetry lovers here at home as also abroad? And aren’t their saints remembered with reverence widely for their message of human love and affection, compassion and mercy, and brotherhood and humanity? Aren’t their eminent personalities’ accomplishments in statecraft and swordsmanship, professions and vocations, trades and skills, and arts and crafts residing warmly in the people’s living memories near and afar? But what then is in a name? A country or a province acquires fame not for its name but for its people’s quality of life, their toils and labours and what they produce in their factories and on their farms. A city is known not for its nomenclature but for its civic services. A hospital gets its reputation not what is written on its signboard but from the standard of its healthcare facilities and devotion of its doctors, paramedics and staff to serve the ailing public. And a school makes its name for the quality of its teaching and standards of its education. What has the ANP clan put in by way of performance to give plausibly a name change to the province? It is now in a headlong chase to hit the second year in rule. What has it accomplished in these two years? Lawlessness and criminality are still raging ferociously, keeping the entire province in their vicious grip. The provincial metropolis of Peshawar is virtually emptied out of big businessmen, traders and industrialists, all having migrated to other places for fear of being kidnapped for ransom. Sick industries are lying sick unattended and uncured, and collapsed industrial estates are still lying in ruins, all crying for revival. No policy has the clan unfolded to salvage the rotten state schooling and public healthcare systems. Nothing has it put in place for the fructification of tremendous Pakhtun youth talent and potential. Having the field day on the clan’s watch is only its ineptitude and mismanagement, with its klansmen setting an all-time-record in sleaze and corruption. The clan is showing itself for being incorrigible devotees of the goddess of wealth, possessed of a rapacious passion for self-enrichment. Spicy stories are feverishly making the rounds of the grapevine, speaking of their honchos’ stunning money-minting by means foul in heaps and mounds. They are building to themselves palatial homes even overseas, with a special craze for establishing their households in the Gulf states. Their offspring they are sending out to India and other select destinations for higher education. And if the clan’s predecessor priestly orders employed their spurious piety and calculated religiosity as a camouflage of their avaricious money-making errands, the clan is using its pretentious Pakhtun championship and secularism to this effect for the same moneymaking pursuit. But its pretences to both Pakhtun nationalism and secularism stand exposed, all torn to shreds by its acts over these times in rule. By caving in to the “fanatical” Swati thugs and their allied imposters for quite a time until the clan was retrieved by the army, the klansmen have conclusively demonstrated that neither are they secular as they deceptively style themselves to be nor are they the kind of true Pakhtuns they project themselves to be. Indeed, by hitting a demeaning retreat with their tails between the legs in the face of those marauding thugs, they even have insulted the glorious name of Pakhtuns reputed to keep fighting on even a giant but surrendering not in any event. So the clan can earn not a name in history by manipulating a name change for the Frontier. That repute takes what this clan definitely has not in it. What a misfortune of this swindling pack!
PML (N) guru LUHAR Nawaz Sharif’s referendum proposal on Frontier province’s renaming is though itself evasive and eyewash, reeking as it does of sheer political expediency and lack of courage to take a clear-cut position on the contentious issue. But the ANP clan’s own reaction is crude, churlish and a vulgar show in theatrics. Do the Pakhtuns really need just a name change of an abode for their recognition or identification? Aren’t they known worldwide for their valour and bravery, for their independence-mindedness and intolerance of subjugation, for their inviolable code of honour and dignity, and for their unrivalled hospitality and congeniality? And haven’t they commanded this repute in all the ages and through all the times, generations after generations? Doesn’t history recall with awe the victories of their redoubtable warriors and heroes on the battlefield and their chivalry off the battlefield? Aren’t their venerated poets’ verses still recited with delight alike by literary buffs and critics as also ordinary poetry lovers here at home as also abroad? And aren’t their saints remembered with reverence widely for their message of human love and affection, compassion and mercy, and brotherhood and humanity? Aren’t their eminent personalities’ accomplishments in statecraft and swordsmanship, professions and vocations, trades and skills, and arts and crafts residing warmly in the people’s living memories near and afar? But what then is in a name? A country or a province acquires fame not for its name but for its people’s quality of life, their toils and labours and what they produce in their factories and on their farms. A city is known not for its nomenclature but for its civic services. A hospital gets its reputation not what is written on its signboard but from the standard of its healthcare facilities and devotion of its doctors, paramedics and staff to serve the ailing public. And a school makes its name for the quality of its teaching and standards of its education. What has the ANP clan put in by way of performance to give plausibly a name change to the province? It is now in a headlong chase to hit the second year in rule. What has it accomplished in these two years? Lawlessness and criminality are still raging ferociously, keeping the entire province in their vicious grip. The provincial metropolis of Peshawar is virtually emptied out of big businessmen, traders and industrialists, all having migrated to other places for fear of being kidnapped for ransom. Sick industries are lying sick unattended and uncured, and collapsed industrial estates are still lying in ruins, all crying for revival. No policy has the clan unfolded to salvage the rotten state schooling and public healthcare systems. Nothing has it put in place for the fructification of tremendous Pakhtun youth talent and potential. Having the field day on the clan’s watch is only its ineptitude and mismanagement, with its klansmen setting an all-time-record in sleaze and corruption. The clan is showing itself for being incorrigible devotees of the goddess of wealth, possessed of a rapacious passion for self-enrichment. Spicy stories are feverishly making the rounds of the grapevine, speaking of their honchos’ stunning money-minting by means foul in heaps and mounds. They are building to themselves palatial homes even overseas, with a special craze for establishing their households in the Gulf states. Their offspring they are sending out to India and other select destinations for higher education. And if the clan’s predecessor priestly orders employed their spurious piety and calculated religiosity as a camouflage of their avaricious money-making errands, the clan is using its pretentious Pakhtun championship and secularism to this effect for the same moneymaking pursuit. But its pretences to both Pakhtun nationalism and secularism stand exposed, all torn to shreds by its acts over these times in rule. By caving in to the “fanatical” Swati thugs and their allied imposters for quite a time until the clan was retrieved by the army, the klansmen have conclusively demonstrated that neither are they secular as they deceptively style themselves to be nor are they the kind of true Pakhtuns they project themselves to be. Indeed, by hitting a demeaning retreat with their tails between the legs in the face of those marauding thugs, they even have insulted the glorious name of Pakhtuns reputed to keep fighting on even a giant but surrendering not in any event. So the clan can earn not a name in history by manipulating a name change for the Frontier. That repute takes what this clan definitely has not in it. What a misfortune of this swindling pack!
Afghan refugees creating socio-economic problems
PESHAWAR : For more than three decades Pakistan had been hosting the largest number of Afghan refugees on its soil in a unique gesture of Islamic brotherhood and regional harmony. Pakistan’s this courtesy not only won acknowledgement in the region but also across the globe. This large chunk of refugees had to leave their homeland due to the then USSR in 1979 plunging a peaceful country into chaos also threatening solidarity and security of its neighbors. Though, being a hospitable neighbour, Pakistan welcomed Afghan brothers to its soil and extended them all possible assistance and hospitality. But, the people of Pakistan did not know they would suffer a lot due to large influx of Afghan refugees. Pakistani people today face variety of issues due to prolonged Afghan unrest, like narcotics, militancy and Kalashnikov culture. “Nobody in Pakistan knew about subversive activities like blasts, suicide bombing and taking life of innocent people,” an independent analysis said. They put extra load on Pakistan’s economy and the employment opportunities for local people continued shrinking. Though, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had arranged temporary camps for the refugees, but the Pakistan government had to bear the major brunt of their stay in the country. Though they were earlier restricted to these camps but large number among them gradually shifted to settled areas with many getting Pakistan’s Identity Cards and Passports. Side by side small cities their focus had also been big cities like Peshawar, Lahore, Islamabad, Quetta and Karachi and also started their own businesses. According to an independent economists, these Afghan refugees dominated the businesses specially in NWFP due to their expertise in the illegal trade and businesses. Some experts view that most of these migrants have been found involved in illegal activities like drug peddling, arms smuggling and incidents of terrorism in the country. The country passing through the terrible phase of war against terrorism is also more or less linked to Afghan problem and settlement of Afghan and exotic fighters. Like some previous governments, Cabinet members of the present government like Minister for States and Frontier Regions Najamuddin Khan is critical of such a long stay of Afghan refugees in the country. “Though we bore the associated problems but now the issue seemed to be aggravating more than the past,” Najamuddin said. “The government never budge from its stance to cater to the needs of a such large number of refugees. But as normalcy is returning to Afghanistan, these refugees ought to be repatriated without any delay,” he added. He said the international community should play its role and ensure early return of these people to their homeland. Referring to related problems, he pointed out, the Afghan people residing in different parts of the country especially in NWFP have sprawled their businesses to the deprivation of local people. Under the current situation when the whole nation is united in fighting against terrorism, a number of Afghan nationals have been nabbed or killed in military operations in restive parts of NWFP. “Presence of refugees population also served as safe heaven for terrorists and extremists elements from Afghanistan,” he added. He also described the response from international community as less encouraging, particularly when the country was already facing economic problems. He strongly recommended to have strict check on Afghans coming back to pakistan after repatriation to their country. “They daily cross into Pakistan for the business or other purposes.” The decades long civil war among the warlords and presence of Taliban insurgents was another problem. But, Pakistan faced this challenge with commitment and resilience and waited the situation in Afghanistan to improve. According to the UNHCR representative Asif Shahzad, presently over 1.7 million registered Afghans refugees are living in Pakistan and it was estimated that over one million refugees remained in camps in Peshawar and Balochistan. In addition to it, an unknown but substantial number of Afghans are known to live in Pakistan’s urban areas. It was decided by the Tripartite Commission including Pakistan, Afghanistan and UNHCR to close three of the camps established after September 11, 2001, early in 2004. Now, whatever the case, there is dire need for the Afghan government to call back their residents as in changing scenario, Pakistan could not be able to further host them and suffer in the name of courtesy. Dwellers of these camps had shifted to Pakistan in several waves starting from the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. The last refugee wave - nearly 300,000 Afghans—reached Pakistan after September 11, 2001 attacks. Conditions for Afghan refugees in Pakistan differ greatly. Some still live in tents, others in mud house settlements that look like the villages they left behind. International agencies like UNHCR and WFP have been contributing to the government efforts to meet the needs of Afghan refugees. Largest number among them; 1.5 million refugees; were repatriated in 2002, with Pakistan still carrying the load of hundreds of thousands refugees.
College closure: Future of 430 students at stake
PESHAWAR: The closure of Cadet College, Razmak in North Waziristan has put the future of around 430 students at stake, as the government is still indecisive about reopening the prestigious institution.
The college was closed in haste by the government in June last and the students and teachers were escorted out the restive tribal area, only to be kidnapped by militants and then freed through the intervention of a jirga.
Government and military officials at that time had argued that the students and teachers of Cadet College, Razmak were not safe as militants affiliated with Baitullah Mahsud could target the government and army installations in the area after a military operation was launched against them in the adjoining South Waziristan.
The picturesque Razmak Valley is located on the border between South and North Waziristan while the Cadet College is located in a military base. Keeping in view previous attack on the college by the militants from nearby Makeen town in South Waziristan in 2007 in which a science laboratory was damaged, the military authorities feared the militants could target it again. Hence, they had decided to close the college and asked students and the teachers to leave the area.
As no proper security arrangements were put in place for their security, Baitullah men kidnapped some of the students and teachers near the Bakkakhel area of FR Bannu. The Torikhel people, who live in Razmak area, later raised a 300-member tribal lashkar that raided villages in the nearby South Waziristan and recovered vehicles and luggage of the kidnapped students. Led by Abdul Halim Khan, a noted Torikhel elder-cum-militant commander of Hafiz Gul Bahadur-led militants, the lashkar warned Baitullah to release the students and their teachers or face the consequences.
The pressure worked and Baitullah decided to release the students and even met the cadets. Since June, the college has been closed and an entire academic year of the students could be lost. Parents of the cadets are seriously worried about uncertain future of their children.
A retired subedar of the paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC), Mohammad Iqbal is one among several other concerned fathers. He said he was hoping for a bright future for his son after getting him admitted to the Cadet College but was now a worried man as there is no indication when the college would reopen.
Sources told The News that NWFP Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani had constituted a committee to select a safe place where the college could be temporarily set up. One of the committee members, who wished not to named, told The News that they inspected three places including the newly constructed building of Government Degree College at Shankar in Mardan, Elementary College Charsadda and another building in Swabi district for accommodating the college temporarily. He said the committee was keeping its work secret as the Torikhel tribe was opposing shifting of the college from Razmak.
The member said the committee had sent its recommendations to the governor and was waiting for approval of one of the buildings to start classes. He said only three chapters of the course had been taught to the students of Grade VIII and IX while second-year classes were yet to be started.
The governor had ordered an inquiry against the officials who closed the college and then shifted the students to Peshawar without proper security. But neither an inquiry was conducted nor any official was punished for negligence.
The college was closed in haste by the government in June last and the students and teachers were escorted out the restive tribal area, only to be kidnapped by militants and then freed through the intervention of a jirga.
Government and military officials at that time had argued that the students and teachers of Cadet College, Razmak were not safe as militants affiliated with Baitullah Mahsud could target the government and army installations in the area after a military operation was launched against them in the adjoining South Waziristan.
The picturesque Razmak Valley is located on the border between South and North Waziristan while the Cadet College is located in a military base. Keeping in view previous attack on the college by the militants from nearby Makeen town in South Waziristan in 2007 in which a science laboratory was damaged, the military authorities feared the militants could target it again. Hence, they had decided to close the college and asked students and the teachers to leave the area.
As no proper security arrangements were put in place for their security, Baitullah men kidnapped some of the students and teachers near the Bakkakhel area of FR Bannu. The Torikhel people, who live in Razmak area, later raised a 300-member tribal lashkar that raided villages in the nearby South Waziristan and recovered vehicles and luggage of the kidnapped students. Led by Abdul Halim Khan, a noted Torikhel elder-cum-militant commander of Hafiz Gul Bahadur-led militants, the lashkar warned Baitullah to release the students and their teachers or face the consequences.
The pressure worked and Baitullah decided to release the students and even met the cadets. Since June, the college has been closed and an entire academic year of the students could be lost. Parents of the cadets are seriously worried about uncertain future of their children.
A retired subedar of the paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC), Mohammad Iqbal is one among several other concerned fathers. He said he was hoping for a bright future for his son after getting him admitted to the Cadet College but was now a worried man as there is no indication when the college would reopen.
Sources told The News that NWFP Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani had constituted a committee to select a safe place where the college could be temporarily set up. One of the committee members, who wished not to named, told The News that they inspected three places including the newly constructed building of Government Degree College at Shankar in Mardan, Elementary College Charsadda and another building in Swabi district for accommodating the college temporarily. He said the committee was keeping its work secret as the Torikhel tribe was opposing shifting of the college from Razmak.
The member said the committee had sent its recommendations to the governor and was waiting for approval of one of the buildings to start classes. He said only three chapters of the course had been taught to the students of Grade VIII and IX while second-year classes were yet to be started.
The governor had ordered an inquiry against the officials who closed the college and then shifted the students to Peshawar without proper security. But neither an inquiry was conducted nor any official was punished for negligence.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
As Vote Count Gives Karzai a Majority, a Recount Is Ordered
KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghan election officials declared that President Hamid Karzai had won a majority of the vote based on preliminary results announced Tuesday, even as the United Nations-backed commission serving as the ultimate arbiter of the elections said it had found “clear and convincing evidence of fraud” in a number of polling stations and ordered a partial recount.
Afghan election officials said that with votes from 91.6 percent of the polling places counted, Mr. Karzai had 54.1 percent, and his main challenger, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, had 28.3 percent. The tally, if certified, would mean that Mr. Karzai would be declared the victor without a runoff because he received more than 50 percent of the vote.
But international election officials and observers immediately cast doubt on those figures, warning that the new results were severely tainted by large-scale ballot stuffing. Hundreds of thousands of fraudulent votes are included in the count, they said — an amount that could prove to be the margin Mr. Karzai needs to win the election outright.
The United Nations-backed Electoral Complaints Commission, an Afghan and international panel, on Tuesday ordered a recount of ballot boxes where turnout was exceptionally high or where one candidate won 95 percent or more of votes at polling stations that had at least 100 ballots cast.
One Western official said that had the Afghan Independent Election Commission not decided on Monday to undo a decision it made the day before to enforce stricter safeguards, Mr. Karzai’s vote total would still be under 50 percent, forcing him into a second election against Mr. Abdullah.
The election commission had moved on Sunday to carry out precautions intended to catch a number of voting irregularities. But as it became clear that those safeguards would prevent Mr. Karzai from surpassing the 50 percent threshold, the decision was reversed Monday, and the election commission announced that it had no legal authority to exclude the ballots, the Western official said.
“He was below 50 percent when you exclude the obviously fraudulent votes,” said the official, who spoke anonymously according to diplomatic protocol.
Some United Nations staff members were so “disgusted” by the election commission’s refusal to enforce more reasonable safeguards that most of the normal complement of staff members who would have attended the commission’s news conference on Tuesday boycotted the event instead, said one staff member, who spoke anonymously because of the delicacy of the matter.
The election commission’s deputy chairman, Daoud Ali Najafi, denied any partisanship on Tuesday. He also rejected the suggestion that the commission was rushing out a result to show that Mr. Karzai was ahead, and insisted that all fraud would be investigated once the preliminary results were complete.
Reports of egregious fraud have marred the Aug. 20 presidential election and raised serious questions about the legitimacy of the Afghan political process as Mr. Karzai seeks a second five-year term.
The developments also put the Obama administration in a difficult position as it seeks to shore up domestic and international support for the expanding Afghan war. American officials have said little publicly about how they would respond to the vote-rigging accusations, but some Western and Afghan officials have said there was broad misconduct.
The complaints commission is investigating over 700 cases of suspected voting fraud that are considered serious enough to alter the result. But the task may take weeks, and the final results will not be certified until all complaints have been adjudicated.
The complaints commission is the ultimate arbiter of election results. But Western officials say they worry that any decision the commission makes that affects Mr. Karzai adversely will be met with accusations that foreigners are disenfranchising Afghans.
The Abdullah campaign denounced Tuesday’s tally as illegitimate. “We do not accept these results,” said Fazal Sancharaki, the campaign’s spokesman, who characterized the numbers as fraudulent. A Karzai campaign spokesman did not respond to a message seeking comment.
Nader Nadery, chairman of the Fair and Free Election Foundation of Afghanistan, the country’s largest election observer, said the election commission had issued a number of conflicting statements about the results that undermined the panel’s credibility.
“You cannot at all consider this result as final,” Mr. Nadery said of the figures released Tuesday.
Mr. Karzai made light of the problem of fraud in an interview published Monday in the French newspaper Le Figaro. “There was fraud in 2004, and there is today, and there will be tomorrow,” he said. “It is, alas, inevitable in a growing democracy.” He promised to accept the result whatever it would be.
According to the results released Tuesday, Mr. Karzai has 2,959,093 votes, or about 225,000 more than needed to top 50 percent of the preliminary tally released so far. Those numbers do not include results from more than 600 polling centers already excluded from the preliminary count.
Mr. Karzai enjoys a commanding lead over Mr. Abdullah, but if his final tally were to fall below 50 percent — after the complaints commission reviews all evidence of fraudulent voting — he would be forced to face off against Mr. Abdullah again.
Only months ago, polls showed that support for Mr. Abdullah was in the single digits. But he steadily gained strength as the campaign progressed — despite what he has described as coordinated efforts by Mr. Karzai’s government to throw the race to the incumbent through vast “state engineered” fraud.
Although Mr. Karzai has always been the strong front-runner in the race, he could be vulnerable in a second round if his predominance is shaken and political allies shift away from him.
Military Disputes Raid Account
WASHINGTON — United States military officials disputed a Swedish aid agency’s account of a raid by American soldiers at an Afghan hospital last week.
Capt. Jack Hanzlik, a spokesman for the United States Central Command, said Tuesday the soldiers were searching for an insurgent commander responsible for the detonation of an explosive device. The troops believed that the commander might be hiding in the hospital, in Wardak Province in east-central Afghanistan, he said.
“At no time did they threaten the patients or the staff, and at no time did they tie anybody up,” Captain Hanzlik said.
The Swedish agency, the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan, reported on Monday that American soldiers had stormed the hospital, broken down doors and tied up hospital staff members and visitors.
Afghan election officials said that with votes from 91.6 percent of the polling places counted, Mr. Karzai had 54.1 percent, and his main challenger, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, had 28.3 percent. The tally, if certified, would mean that Mr. Karzai would be declared the victor without a runoff because he received more than 50 percent of the vote.
But international election officials and observers immediately cast doubt on those figures, warning that the new results were severely tainted by large-scale ballot stuffing. Hundreds of thousands of fraudulent votes are included in the count, they said — an amount that could prove to be the margin Mr. Karzai needs to win the election outright.
The United Nations-backed Electoral Complaints Commission, an Afghan and international panel, on Tuesday ordered a recount of ballot boxes where turnout was exceptionally high or where one candidate won 95 percent or more of votes at polling stations that had at least 100 ballots cast.
One Western official said that had the Afghan Independent Election Commission not decided on Monday to undo a decision it made the day before to enforce stricter safeguards, Mr. Karzai’s vote total would still be under 50 percent, forcing him into a second election against Mr. Abdullah.
The election commission had moved on Sunday to carry out precautions intended to catch a number of voting irregularities. But as it became clear that those safeguards would prevent Mr. Karzai from surpassing the 50 percent threshold, the decision was reversed Monday, and the election commission announced that it had no legal authority to exclude the ballots, the Western official said.
“He was below 50 percent when you exclude the obviously fraudulent votes,” said the official, who spoke anonymously according to diplomatic protocol.
Some United Nations staff members were so “disgusted” by the election commission’s refusal to enforce more reasonable safeguards that most of the normal complement of staff members who would have attended the commission’s news conference on Tuesday boycotted the event instead, said one staff member, who spoke anonymously because of the delicacy of the matter.
The election commission’s deputy chairman, Daoud Ali Najafi, denied any partisanship on Tuesday. He also rejected the suggestion that the commission was rushing out a result to show that Mr. Karzai was ahead, and insisted that all fraud would be investigated once the preliminary results were complete.
Reports of egregious fraud have marred the Aug. 20 presidential election and raised serious questions about the legitimacy of the Afghan political process as Mr. Karzai seeks a second five-year term.
The developments also put the Obama administration in a difficult position as it seeks to shore up domestic and international support for the expanding Afghan war. American officials have said little publicly about how they would respond to the vote-rigging accusations, but some Western and Afghan officials have said there was broad misconduct.
The complaints commission is investigating over 700 cases of suspected voting fraud that are considered serious enough to alter the result. But the task may take weeks, and the final results will not be certified until all complaints have been adjudicated.
The complaints commission is the ultimate arbiter of election results. But Western officials say they worry that any decision the commission makes that affects Mr. Karzai adversely will be met with accusations that foreigners are disenfranchising Afghans.
The Abdullah campaign denounced Tuesday’s tally as illegitimate. “We do not accept these results,” said Fazal Sancharaki, the campaign’s spokesman, who characterized the numbers as fraudulent. A Karzai campaign spokesman did not respond to a message seeking comment.
Nader Nadery, chairman of the Fair and Free Election Foundation of Afghanistan, the country’s largest election observer, said the election commission had issued a number of conflicting statements about the results that undermined the panel’s credibility.
“You cannot at all consider this result as final,” Mr. Nadery said of the figures released Tuesday.
Mr. Karzai made light of the problem of fraud in an interview published Monday in the French newspaper Le Figaro. “There was fraud in 2004, and there is today, and there will be tomorrow,” he said. “It is, alas, inevitable in a growing democracy.” He promised to accept the result whatever it would be.
According to the results released Tuesday, Mr. Karzai has 2,959,093 votes, or about 225,000 more than needed to top 50 percent of the preliminary tally released so far. Those numbers do not include results from more than 600 polling centers already excluded from the preliminary count.
Mr. Karzai enjoys a commanding lead over Mr. Abdullah, but if his final tally were to fall below 50 percent — after the complaints commission reviews all evidence of fraudulent voting — he would be forced to face off against Mr. Abdullah again.
Only months ago, polls showed that support for Mr. Abdullah was in the single digits. But he steadily gained strength as the campaign progressed — despite what he has described as coordinated efforts by Mr. Karzai’s government to throw the race to the incumbent through vast “state engineered” fraud.
Although Mr. Karzai has always been the strong front-runner in the race, he could be vulnerable in a second round if his predominance is shaken and political allies shift away from him.
Military Disputes Raid Account
WASHINGTON — United States military officials disputed a Swedish aid agency’s account of a raid by American soldiers at an Afghan hospital last week.
Capt. Jack Hanzlik, a spokesman for the United States Central Command, said Tuesday the soldiers were searching for an insurgent commander responsible for the detonation of an explosive device. The troops believed that the commander might be hiding in the hospital, in Wardak Province in east-central Afghanistan, he said.
“At no time did they threaten the patients or the staff, and at no time did they tie anybody up,” Captain Hanzlik said.
The Swedish agency, the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan, reported on Monday that American soldiers had stormed the hospital, broken down doors and tied up hospital staff members and visitors.
Monday, September 7, 2009
President Barack Obama Back to School Event
www.whitehouse.gov
The President: Hello everyone – how’s everybody doing today? I’m here with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. And we’ve got students tuning in from all across America, kindergarten through twelfth grade. I’m glad you all could join us today.
I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school. And for those of you in kindergarten, or starting middle or high school, it’s your first day in a new school, so it’s understandable if you’re a little nervous. I imagine there are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good right now, with just one more year to go. And no matter what grade you’re in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer, and you could’ve stayed in bed just a little longer this morning.
I know that feeling. When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn’t have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday – at 4:30 in the morning.
Now I wasn’t too happy about getting up that early. A lot of times, I’d fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever I’d complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and say, "This is no picnic for me either, buster."
So I know some of you are still adjusting to being back at school. But I’m here today because I have something important to discuss with you. I’m here because I want to talk with you about your education and what’s expected of all of you in this new school year.
Now I’ve given a lot of speeches about education. And I’ve talked a lot about responsibility.
I’ve talked about your teachers’ responsibility for inspiring you, and pushing you to learn.
I’ve talked about your parents’ responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and get your homework done, and don’t spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with that Xbox.
I’ve talked a lot about your government’s responsibility for setting high standards, supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that aren’t working where students aren’t getting the opportunities they deserve.
But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.
And that’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself.
Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide.
Maybe you could be a good writer – maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper – but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor – maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine – but you might not know it until you do a project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a Senator or a Supreme Court Justice, but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.
And no matter what you want to do with your life – I guarantee that you’ll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You’re going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You can’t drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You’ve got to work for it and train for it and learn for it.
And this isn’t just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. What you’re learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future.
You’ll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. You’ll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free. You’ll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy.
We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don’t do that – if you quit on school – you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country.
Now I know it’s not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork.
I get it. I know what that’s like. My father left my family when I was two years old, and I was raised by a single mother who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn’t always able to give us things the other kids had. There were times when I missed having a father in my life. There were times when I was lonely and felt like I didn’t fit in.
So I wasn’t always as focused as I should have been. I did some things I’m not proud of, and got in more trouble than I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse.
But I was fortunate. I got a lot of second chances and had the opportunity to go to college, and law school, and follow my dreams. My wife, our First Lady Michelle Obama, has a similar story. Neither of her parents had gone to college, and they didn’t have much. But they worked hard, and she worked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this country.
Some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you don’t have adults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job, and there’s not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don’t feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren’t right.
But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life – what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home – that’s no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That’s no excuse for not trying.
Where you are right now doesn’t have to determine where you’ll end up. No one’s written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future.
That’s what young people like you are doing every day, all across America.
Young people like Jazmin Perez, from Roma, Texas. Jazmin didn’t speak English when she first started school. Hardly anyone in her hometown went to college, and neither of her parents had gone either. But she worked hard, earned good grades, got a scholarship to Brown University, and is now in graduate school, studying public health, on her way to being Dr. Jazmin Perez.
I’m thinking about Andoni Schultz, from Los Altos, California, who’s fought brain cancer since he was three. He’s endured all sorts of treatments and surgeries, one of which affected his memory, so it took him much longer – hundreds of extra hours – to do his schoolwork. But he never fell behind, and he’s headed to college this fall.
And then there’s Shantell Steve, from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods, she managed to get a job at a local health center; start a program to keep young people out of gangs; and she’s on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college.
Jazmin, Andoni and Shantell aren’t any different from any of you. They faced challenges in their lives just like you do. But they refused to give up. They chose to take responsibility for their education and set goals for themselves. And I expect all of you to do the same.
That’s why today, I’m calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education – and to do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending time each day reading a book. Maybe you’ll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community. Maybe you’ll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or how they look, because you believe, like I do, that all kids deserve a safe environment to study and learn. Maybe you’ll decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn. And along those lines, I hope you’ll all wash your hands a lot, and stay home from school when you don’t feel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter.
Whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it.
I know that sometimes, you get the sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work -- that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star, when chances are, you’re not going to be any of those things.
But the truth is, being successful is hard. You won’t love every subject you study. You won’t click with every teacher. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right this minute. And you won’t necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.
That’s OK. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who’ve had the most failures. JK Rowling’s first Harry Potter book was rejected twelve times before it was finally published. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, and he lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, "I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."
These people succeeded because they understand that you can’t let your failures define you – you have to let them teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently next time. If you get in trouble, that doesn’t mean you’re a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to behave. If you get a bad grade, that doesn’t mean you’re stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying.
No one’s born being good at things, you become good at things through hard work. You’re not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don’t hit every note the first time you sing a song. You’ve got to practice. It’s the same with your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right, or read something a few times before you understand it, or do a few drafts of a paper before it’s good enough to hand in.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength. It shows you have the courage to admit when you don’t know something, and to learn something new. So find an adult you trust – a parent, grandparent or teacher; a coach or counselor – and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals.
And even when you’re struggling, even when you’re discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you – don’t ever give up on yourself. Because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.
The story of America isn’t about people who quit when things got tough. It’s about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best.
It’s the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wage a revolution and found this nation. Students who sat where you sit 75 years ago who overcame a Depression and won a world war; who fought for civil rights and put a man on the moon. Students who sat where you sit 20 years ago who founded Google, Twitter and Facebook and changed the way we communicate with each other.
So today, I want to ask you, what’s your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this country?
Your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. I’m working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn. But you’ve got to do your part too. So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don’t let us down – don’t let your family or your country or yourself down. Make us all proud. I know you can do it.
Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.
The President: Hello everyone – how’s everybody doing today? I’m here with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. And we’ve got students tuning in from all across America, kindergarten through twelfth grade. I’m glad you all could join us today.
I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school. And for those of you in kindergarten, or starting middle or high school, it’s your first day in a new school, so it’s understandable if you’re a little nervous. I imagine there are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good right now, with just one more year to go. And no matter what grade you’re in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer, and you could’ve stayed in bed just a little longer this morning.
I know that feeling. When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn’t have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday – at 4:30 in the morning.
Now I wasn’t too happy about getting up that early. A lot of times, I’d fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever I’d complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and say, "This is no picnic for me either, buster."
So I know some of you are still adjusting to being back at school. But I’m here today because I have something important to discuss with you. I’m here because I want to talk with you about your education and what’s expected of all of you in this new school year.
Now I’ve given a lot of speeches about education. And I’ve talked a lot about responsibility.
I’ve talked about your teachers’ responsibility for inspiring you, and pushing you to learn.
I’ve talked about your parents’ responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and get your homework done, and don’t spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with that Xbox.
I’ve talked a lot about your government’s responsibility for setting high standards, supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that aren’t working where students aren’t getting the opportunities they deserve.
But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.
And that’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself.
Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide.
Maybe you could be a good writer – maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper – but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor – maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine – but you might not know it until you do a project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a Senator or a Supreme Court Justice, but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.
And no matter what you want to do with your life – I guarantee that you’ll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You’re going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You can’t drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You’ve got to work for it and train for it and learn for it.
And this isn’t just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. What you’re learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future.
You’ll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. You’ll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free. You’ll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy.
We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don’t do that – if you quit on school – you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country.
Now I know it’s not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork.
I get it. I know what that’s like. My father left my family when I was two years old, and I was raised by a single mother who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn’t always able to give us things the other kids had. There were times when I missed having a father in my life. There were times when I was lonely and felt like I didn’t fit in.
So I wasn’t always as focused as I should have been. I did some things I’m not proud of, and got in more trouble than I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse.
But I was fortunate. I got a lot of second chances and had the opportunity to go to college, and law school, and follow my dreams. My wife, our First Lady Michelle Obama, has a similar story. Neither of her parents had gone to college, and they didn’t have much. But they worked hard, and she worked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this country.
Some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you don’t have adults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job, and there’s not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don’t feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren’t right.
But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life – what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home – that’s no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That’s no excuse for not trying.
Where you are right now doesn’t have to determine where you’ll end up. No one’s written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future.
That’s what young people like you are doing every day, all across America.
Young people like Jazmin Perez, from Roma, Texas. Jazmin didn’t speak English when she first started school. Hardly anyone in her hometown went to college, and neither of her parents had gone either. But she worked hard, earned good grades, got a scholarship to Brown University, and is now in graduate school, studying public health, on her way to being Dr. Jazmin Perez.
I’m thinking about Andoni Schultz, from Los Altos, California, who’s fought brain cancer since he was three. He’s endured all sorts of treatments and surgeries, one of which affected his memory, so it took him much longer – hundreds of extra hours – to do his schoolwork. But he never fell behind, and he’s headed to college this fall.
And then there’s Shantell Steve, from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods, she managed to get a job at a local health center; start a program to keep young people out of gangs; and she’s on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college.
Jazmin, Andoni and Shantell aren’t any different from any of you. They faced challenges in their lives just like you do. But they refused to give up. They chose to take responsibility for their education and set goals for themselves. And I expect all of you to do the same.
That’s why today, I’m calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education – and to do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending time each day reading a book. Maybe you’ll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community. Maybe you’ll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or how they look, because you believe, like I do, that all kids deserve a safe environment to study and learn. Maybe you’ll decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn. And along those lines, I hope you’ll all wash your hands a lot, and stay home from school when you don’t feel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter.
Whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it.
I know that sometimes, you get the sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work -- that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star, when chances are, you’re not going to be any of those things.
But the truth is, being successful is hard. You won’t love every subject you study. You won’t click with every teacher. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right this minute. And you won’t necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.
That’s OK. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who’ve had the most failures. JK Rowling’s first Harry Potter book was rejected twelve times before it was finally published. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, and he lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, "I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."
These people succeeded because they understand that you can’t let your failures define you – you have to let them teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently next time. If you get in trouble, that doesn’t mean you’re a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to behave. If you get a bad grade, that doesn’t mean you’re stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying.
No one’s born being good at things, you become good at things through hard work. You’re not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don’t hit every note the first time you sing a song. You’ve got to practice. It’s the same with your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right, or read something a few times before you understand it, or do a few drafts of a paper before it’s good enough to hand in.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength. It shows you have the courage to admit when you don’t know something, and to learn something new. So find an adult you trust – a parent, grandparent or teacher; a coach or counselor – and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals.
And even when you’re struggling, even when you’re discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you – don’t ever give up on yourself. Because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.
The story of America isn’t about people who quit when things got tough. It’s about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best.
It’s the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wage a revolution and found this nation. Students who sat where you sit 75 years ago who overcame a Depression and won a world war; who fought for civil rights and put a man on the moon. Students who sat where you sit 20 years ago who founded Google, Twitter and Facebook and changed the way we communicate with each other.
So today, I want to ask you, what’s your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this country?
Your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. I’m working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn. But you’ve got to do your part too. So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don’t let us down – don’t let your family or your country or yourself down. Make us all proud. I know you can do it.
Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.
Bara peace conditions
The Statesman
Named as ‘Biya daraghlam’, the Bara military operation entered into its 7th day on Monday. The security forces used Air Force jets and the gunship helicopters in remote parts of the tribal Khyber Agency to hit the training camps and the hideouts of the militants. Partly due to the operation getting prolonged but chiefly due to the strafing, a mediatory jirga comprising members of the local peace committee and tribal elders met the political tehsildar of Bara to see if the operation could be brought to an early end. Remarkable thing about the Bara parleys was that the political administration on its part did not show any indecent haste in initiating any move to slow down, put off or stop the operation. The administration told the jirga that before concluding any peace deal the militants will have to surrender 68 of their accomplices most wanted by the law enforcing agencies. Moreover, they will acknowledge the writ of the government and not use FM transmitters or publicly carry arms. The administration also told the jirga that as punishment for the breach of previous peace agreement and as surety for the future deal, the amount of fine had been enhanced from Rs30 to 60 million.
Bara was once the hub of peaceful trade activities. Visitors from outside envied the prosperity of the traders, the general rush on roadside stalls of food and drinks the activism of transporters. The entire stretch of road was so peaceful that a teenager in the middle of night could drive alone up to Bara and back. So sudden indeed has been the twist in the turn of events that a group of friends armed with guns would now think twice before travelling to Bara even at midday. The mediatory jirga should meet the government demands at the earliest so that the displaced persons can return home soon and celebrate the Eidul Fitr with their near and dear ones.
Afghan President Accuses US of Trying to Undermine Him
Afghan President Hamid Karzai says he believes the United States is denouncing his family and political allies in an effort to undermine his position.
In an interview with the French daily Le Figaro published Monday, Mr. Karzai said the United States is using "underhanded" tactics to undermine him.
He said he believed that recent U.S. criticism of his running mate, Mohammad Qasim Fahim, was actually aimed at him. He also said accusations that his brother is corrupt are unfounded.
Mr. Karzai also said there might have been incidents of fraud during last month's presidential election. But he dismissed them as "inevitable" in a newly created democracy.
Earlier Monday, a report in a major U.S. newspaper outlined allegations of massive vote fraud committed to help Afghan President Hamid Karzai win re-election.
The New York Times quoted unnamed Afghan and Western officials as saying Mr. Karzai's supporters created as many as 800 fake polling stations that produced hundreds of thousands of fraudulent votes.
The newspaper says the votes counted for Mr. Karzai at some polling stations may be 10 times higher than the number of people who actually voted.
Meanwhile, the Karzai campaign has accused other candidates of manipulating votes.
Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission says votes from nearly 500 polling stations across the country have been invalidated due to allegations of widespread fraud.
The commission also says it will have to clear 650 serious complaints before the results of the voting can be certified this month.
Partial election results show Mr. Karzai has 48.6 percent of the vote, while his main challenger Abdullah Abdullah has 31.7 percent. The count is based on returns from about 75 percent of the country's polling sites.
A candidate needs to win more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid a run-off.
Afghanistan's Electoral Complaints Commission has received more than 2,000 allegations of fraud or abuse from the August 20 presidential election. It says that some of the complaints, if true, would affect the final result.
Once there is a clear winner, international leaders are expected to convene a United Nations conference to discuss Afghanistan's future. A formal call for such a meeting has now been made by Britain, France and Germany.
In an interview with the French daily Le Figaro published Monday, Mr. Karzai said the United States is using "underhanded" tactics to undermine him.
He said he believed that recent U.S. criticism of his running mate, Mohammad Qasim Fahim, was actually aimed at him. He also said accusations that his brother is corrupt are unfounded.
Mr. Karzai also said there might have been incidents of fraud during last month's presidential election. But he dismissed them as "inevitable" in a newly created democracy.
Earlier Monday, a report in a major U.S. newspaper outlined allegations of massive vote fraud committed to help Afghan President Hamid Karzai win re-election.
The New York Times quoted unnamed Afghan and Western officials as saying Mr. Karzai's supporters created as many as 800 fake polling stations that produced hundreds of thousands of fraudulent votes.
The newspaper says the votes counted for Mr. Karzai at some polling stations may be 10 times higher than the number of people who actually voted.
Meanwhile, the Karzai campaign has accused other candidates of manipulating votes.
Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission says votes from nearly 500 polling stations across the country have been invalidated due to allegations of widespread fraud.
The commission also says it will have to clear 650 serious complaints before the results of the voting can be certified this month.
Partial election results show Mr. Karzai has 48.6 percent of the vote, while his main challenger Abdullah Abdullah has 31.7 percent. The count is based on returns from about 75 percent of the country's polling sites.
A candidate needs to win more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid a run-off.
Afghanistan's Electoral Complaints Commission has received more than 2,000 allegations of fraud or abuse from the August 20 presidential election. It says that some of the complaints, if true, would affect the final result.
Once there is a clear winner, international leaders are expected to convene a United Nations conference to discuss Afghanistan's future. A formal call for such a meeting has now been made by Britain, France and Germany.
Sudanese journalist jailed after refusing to pay fine for wearing trousers
www.timesonline.co.uk
The Sudanese woman put on trial for wearing trousers was spared the lash yesterday but was sent to jail after refusing to pay a £130 fine imposed for indecency.
Lubna Hussein, 34, a widow whose trial exposed draconian Islamic laws in Sudan, was taken to prison in the same trousers that she wore when she was arrested with 12 other women at a Khartoum restaurant in July.
“I will not pay a penny, I’d rather go to prison,” she declared after hearing the verdict. She will serve a one-month sentence in Omdurman.
The judge, who was aware of the worldwide interest in the case, tried to be lenient. His punishment fell short of the maximum penalty under Article 152 of Sudan’s penal code, which prescribes 40 lashes and an unlimited fine for women dressed in an indecent or obscene manner in public.
Ten of the other women arrested with Ms Hussein had pleaded guilty to the charge of indecency already and been flogged. Unlike thousands of other women arrested in similar circumstance every year, Ms Hussein, a journalist who worked for the United Nations, refused to accept her summary punishment.
“Lubna has bravely sacrificed her freedom to free other women from the oppression of the law,” Ahmed Elzobier, one of Ms Hussein’s supporters, said. “She is not guilty but the police, the court and the Government are the guilty ones. Although Lubna is going to prison, the rest of her supporters will keep challenging these laws.”
The strict law was implemented in 1991 by President al-Bashir, two years after he took power in an Islamist-inspired coup. A peace agreement in 2005, signed between Khartoum and the southern rebels, enshrined human rights in the constitution, prompting campaigners, including Amnesty International, to call for the repeal of Article 152.
At the hearing yesterday dozens of men in traditional Islamic clothing confronted about 150 of Ms Hussein’s mostly female supporters.
As the women chanted “No to whipping!” the men shouted that women in trousers were prostitutes and demanded harsh punishment for Ms Hussein. Riot police intervened and about 40 women were arrested and later released. At least one woman was taken to hospital after being beaten.
Ms Hussein has been using the website Facebook to rally worldwide support.
Obama exhorts kids to pay attention in school
In a speech that drew fire even before he delivered it, President Barack Obama is telling the nation's schoolchildren he "expects great things from each of you."
"At the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world," Obama said. "And none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities."
The White House posted Obama's remarks on its Web site at midday Monday. He's scheduled to deliver the talk from Wakefield High School in suburban Arlington, Va., Tuesday. It will be broadcast live on C-SPAN and on the White House Web site.
Obama's planned talk has proven controversial, with several conservative organizations and individuals accusing him of trying to pitch his arguments too aggressively in a local-education setting. White House officials, including Education Secretary Arne Duncan, have said the allegations are silly.
In a Labor Day speech in Cincinnati, Obama mentioned his upcoming address. "I'm going to have something to say tomorrow to our children telling them to stay in school and work hard 'cause that's the right message to send."
"It's a sad state of affairs that many in this country politically would rather start an "Animal House" food fight rather than inspire kids to stay in school, to work hard, to engage parents to stay involved, and to ensure that the millions of teachers that are making great sacrifices continue to be the best in the world," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Monday. "It's a sad state of affairs."
In the prepared remarks, Obama tells young people that all the work of parents, educators and others won't matter "unless you show up to those schools, pay attention to those teachers."
Obama made no reference in his prepared remarks to the uproar surrounding his speech. Nor did he make an appeal for support of tough causes like health care reform. He used the talk to tell kids about his at-times clumsy ways as a child and to urge them to identify an area of interest, set goals and work hard to achieve them.
The president also warned students that if they quit on school, "you're not just quitting on yourself, you're quitting on your country."
Obama acknowledged that "being successful is hard," but told the students the country badly needs their best effort to cope in an increasingly competitive global economy.
"What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country," Obama says. "What you're learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future."
The president noted that he was raised by a single mother, who made him buckle down and work harder at times. He said he's glad she did.
Some conservatives have urged schools and parents to boycott the address. They say Obama is using the opportunity to promote a political agenda.
Schools don't have to show the speech. And some districts have decided not to, partly in response to concerns from parents.
Duncan's department has also taken heat for proposed lesson plans distributed to accompany the speech.
On Sunday, the secretary acknowledged that a section about writing to the president on how students can help him meet education goals was poorly worded. It has been changed.
"We just clarified that to say write a letter about your own goals and what you're going to do to achieve those goals," Duncan said on CBS' "Face the Nation."
Former Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush delivered similar speeches to students, the White House has said.
"At the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world," Obama said. "And none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities."
The White House posted Obama's remarks on its Web site at midday Monday. He's scheduled to deliver the talk from Wakefield High School in suburban Arlington, Va., Tuesday. It will be broadcast live on C-SPAN and on the White House Web site.
Obama's planned talk has proven controversial, with several conservative organizations and individuals accusing him of trying to pitch his arguments too aggressively in a local-education setting. White House officials, including Education Secretary Arne Duncan, have said the allegations are silly.
In a Labor Day speech in Cincinnati, Obama mentioned his upcoming address. "I'm going to have something to say tomorrow to our children telling them to stay in school and work hard 'cause that's the right message to send."
"It's a sad state of affairs that many in this country politically would rather start an "Animal House" food fight rather than inspire kids to stay in school, to work hard, to engage parents to stay involved, and to ensure that the millions of teachers that are making great sacrifices continue to be the best in the world," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Monday. "It's a sad state of affairs."
In the prepared remarks, Obama tells young people that all the work of parents, educators and others won't matter "unless you show up to those schools, pay attention to those teachers."
Obama made no reference in his prepared remarks to the uproar surrounding his speech. Nor did he make an appeal for support of tough causes like health care reform. He used the talk to tell kids about his at-times clumsy ways as a child and to urge them to identify an area of interest, set goals and work hard to achieve them.
The president also warned students that if they quit on school, "you're not just quitting on yourself, you're quitting on your country."
Obama acknowledged that "being successful is hard," but told the students the country badly needs their best effort to cope in an increasingly competitive global economy.
"What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country," Obama says. "What you're learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future."
The president noted that he was raised by a single mother, who made him buckle down and work harder at times. He said he's glad she did.
Some conservatives have urged schools and parents to boycott the address. They say Obama is using the opportunity to promote a political agenda.
Schools don't have to show the speech. And some districts have decided not to, partly in response to concerns from parents.
Duncan's department has also taken heat for proposed lesson plans distributed to accompany the speech.
On Sunday, the secretary acknowledged that a section about writing to the president on how students can help him meet education goals was poorly worded. It has been changed.
"We just clarified that to say write a letter about your own goals and what you're going to do to achieve those goals," Duncan said on CBS' "Face the Nation."
Former Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush delivered similar speeches to students, the White House has said.
Many adults cannot read, write.
PESHAWAR: People across the country will celebrate International Literacy Day today (September 8) with special focus on literacy needs. This year, International Literacy Day will put the spotlight on the empowering role of literacy and its importance for participation, citizenship and social development. Literacy and Empowerment is the theme for the 2009-2010 biennium of the United Nations. Public and private departments will mark the day with seminars, workshops and conferences to highlight the importance of literacy. On International Literacy Day each year, UNESCO reminds the international community of the status of literacy and adult learning globally. Despite many and varied efforts, literacy remains an elusive target: some 776 million adults lack minimum literacy skills which means that one in five adults is still not literate; 75 million children are out-of-school and many more attend irregularly or drop out. September 08 was proclaimed International Literacy Day by UNESCO on November 17, 1965. It was first celebrated in 1966. Its aim is to highlight the importance of literacy to individuals, communities and societies. Literacy is a cause for celebration since there are now close to four billion literate people in the world. However, literacy for all, children, youth and adults is still an unaccomplished goal and an ever moving target. Education is the main vehicle for socio-economic development but, unfortunately about half of adult population in Pakistan cannot read and write. Pakistan is sixth most populous country of the world. Due to rapid population growth and inability of the formal education system to bring all children into school, illiterate population has increased from 22 million in 1961 to 48 million by 2005. It is feared that by 2015, illiterate population in Pakistan may rise to 52 million. In the area of education, Pakistan is lagging behind other countries of South Asia, even lower than Nepal, Bangladesh and Maldives. Pakistan has been spending less on education as compared to other countries in the region. According to Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2008 by UNESCO, Pakistan is spending 2.4 per cent of its GDP on education against the UNESCO recommended norm of a minimum of 4 per cent and against 3.8 per cent spent by India, 7.5 per cent by Maldives, 4.7 per cent by Iran and 3.4 per cent by Nepal. Out of 2.4 per cent only 1.93 per cent of GNP is being spent on education in real terms and only 11 per cent of the total education budget is allocated for the higher education sector. The total education budget is needed to be increased to a minimum of six per cent as recommended by UNESCO for developing countries with at least one-third of it going to the higher education sector. Though, 16 major political parties of the country on February 5 this year had committed in a Joint Declaration on “Education For All in Pakistan” to increase the present allocation of the education budget from 2.4 per cent to 4 per cent of the GDP within the next three years. But the ruling coalition contrary to its claims after coming into power slashed 5.7 billion from the fourth quarter of the last year’s budget of Higher Education Commission (HEC). The unexpected cut in the HEC’s budget badly affected the universities which had no savings and even the salaries for the months of April and May 2008 had been paid after withdrawing money from Pension Funds, Students Fund, Reserve Fund and taking loans. Literacy is the ability to read, write, listen and comprehend, and speak a language. In modern contexts, the word refers to reading and writing at a level adequate for communication or at a level that lets one understand and communicate abstract ideas. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has drafted a definition of literacy as the "ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate, compute and use printed and written materials associated with varying contexts. Literacy involves a continuum of learning in enabling individuals to achieve their goals, to develop their knowledge and potential, and to participate fully in their community and wider society.
Pakistan has highest school dropout rate in world.
PESHAWAR: Pakistan has one of the highest school dropout rates in the world, thanks to corporal punishment. Beatings at school are considered culturally acceptable to ensure obedience, and legislation banning this practice is hence poorly implemented. According to a NGO advocating the rights of children, 35,000 high school pupils in Pakistan drop out of the education system each year due to corporal punishment.Such beatings at schools are also responsible for one of the highest dropout rates in the world, which stands at 50 percent during the first five years of education. It is said that culturally accepted form of child abuse also contributed to the high dropout rate among children and the fact that 70,000 street children were present in the country. Yet, despite growing awareness regarding the issue, many schoolteachers remain convinced that some degree of corporal punishment is necessary to instruct children. “The teacher needs to ensure obedience and ensure children receive proper guidance. For this, an occasional light beating or other physical admonishment is necessary,” Abdul Akbar, 40, who teaches at a boy's private school at Hayatabad, told The Frontier Post. The government of the NWFP had banned corporal punishment in primary schools in 1999. A year later, the governments of Balochistan and Punjab issued directives to all teachers not to use corporal punishment on children, and followed up with disciplinary action against three teachers. The Sindh government also issued similar orders in 2007. But the fact is that, despite a campaign at government level and awareness-raising efforts by NGOs, the directives remain poorly implemented. Most children at schools across the country, both girls and boys, are beaten. "The law, as it exists now, permits parents or guardians, including teachers, to beat a child in “good intent”. This prevented police from acting on complaints of physical abuse. It is also a matter of attitude. Teachers say they need to beat children to teach them, but there is a need to educate teachers and pupils about child rights. In 2005, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) with Save the Children and the Pakistan government, conducted the first in-depth survey to determine how many children were subjected to corporal punishment. All 3,582 children interviewed said they had been beaten at school. Seven percent said they had suffered serious injury as a consequence. It is widely believed the situation is even worse at the hundreds of unregulated seminary schools, or `madrasas’, scattered across Pakistan. The Pakistan Paediatric Association found last year that over 88 percent of school-going children surveyed reported suffering physical abuse. Experts believe inadequate teacher training, the lack of legislation banning corporal punishment and the perception that it must be used to teach children, are all factors behind the widespread existence of corporal punishment.
Four killed in drone attack in North Waziristan
MIRANSHAH: A US missile hit a house and a religious school in Pakistan's lawless tribal belt on the Afghan border Monday killing at least four people and wounding six others, security officials said.
'The strike targetted a madrassa and an adjoining house in Machikhel village in North Waziristan,' a Pakistani security official told AFP.
'At least four people were killed and six others injured,' the official said. Two other security officials in the area also confirmed that the missile was fired from a US drone. The identities of the victims were not immediately clear.
A local administration official said that the local tribesmen had cordoned off the destroyed house and madrassa and were searching for bodies.
Washington alleges Al-Qaeda and Taliban rebels who fled Afghanistan after the 2001 US-led invasion are holed up in the semi-autonomous tribal belt.
The US military does not, as a rule, confirm drone attacks, but its armed forces and the Central Intelligence Agency operating in Afghanistan are the only forces that deploy drones in the region.
Taliban warlord Baitullah Mehsud was killed in a US drone attack on August 5 in neighbouring South Waziristan tribal district bordering Afghanistan.
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