She was burnt alive

Here is a letter,published in the frontier post of ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF PAKISTAN...........COUNTRY OF CHAMPIONS OF ISLAM,FORT OF ISLAM. The Frontier Post bY Muhammad Ashraf Khan 0345-8912524 It is sad and gloomy story of my younger daughter Saeqa. She was 20. She met a fatal incident about 10 days back when she was burnt alive by an influential family of my village Munasa, Tehsil Dheer Kot, Azad Kashmir. My village is situated at a distance of 160 kilometres from Islamabad and 35 kilometres from Muzaffarabad, Capital of Azad Kashmir on way to Bagh and Rawalakot. You may have listened about Kohala Bridge. My village is just six kilometres from Kohala. My daughter Saeqa was misbehaved in a dark night 10 days back. I being a paralyzed person kept listening her cries while she was facing cruelty of an influential person namely Kazim Khan and his two sons. They played with her for an hour and before leaving my house they set her ablaze. They even locked her in a room and there was no person to rescue her from that late night operation. However, her cries forced some villagers to come to her rescue. She was severely wounded. They shifted her to the Combined Military Hospital, Muzaffarabad where she was kept under treatment for next one week but she lost her life. She was laid to rest at Munasa. I could not see her off personally because I was unable to move. Local people demanded arrest of theculprits but again their influence helped them to save their skins from police chains. They are still free and threatening me as well as my other family members. They are being backed by the white collar criminal elite of Azad Kashmir headed by the present ruling party. My family members approached the Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir Raja Farooq Haider to make sure arrest of culprits but till date he was unable to do so. They are still at large. They are addressing press conferences while I am unable to move from my death bed. I take this opportunity to just ask all justice loving people to come forward not only for allowing law of the land to take its course of action but to save my remaining family as well. Saved from: http://www.thefrontierpost.com/News.aspx?ncat=le&nid=1686&ad=19-06-201 Dated: Saturday, June 19, 2010, Rajab 06, 1431 A.H

Get tough with Pakistan’s army

THE UNITED States and NATO cannot endure an open-ended military commitment in Afghanistan. But they know — or should know — that there can be no hope of ending the war unless Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency stops arming, funding, and training Afghan insurgent groups.President Obama must recognize the necessity of persuading Pakistan’s military leaders, who control the ISI, to stop playing a double game with America. This can be done. Washington has valuable carrots to offer and credible threats to make. To succeed, however, Obama must be willing to play hardball. There is no point applying pressure on Pakistan’s civilian government. Whatever its flaws, the government of President Asif Ali Zardari is aligned with the United States on fighting Islamist extremists. Zardari’s wife, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, was assassinated by Pakistani extremists. Rather, it is the army chief of staff, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, himself a former head of the ISI, who has the power to end the agency’s backing for the Taliban. Pakistan originally sponsored the Taliban in the mid-90s as a proxy force that could ensure Afghanistan would be friendly to Pakistan and not be absorbed into an Indian sphere of influence. Anxiety about India’s role in Afghanistan remains the driving force behind the ISI’s support for the Taliban. Recent attacks on India’s embassy and Indian nationals in Afghanistan point to the Pakistani military’s continuing obsession with Indian designs on Afghanistan. And when Kayani held high-level meetings in Washington this March, he reportedly objected to a plan for India to train Afghan soldiers under NATO auspices, offering instead to have Pakistan train them. Obama’s leverage over Kayani is this same fixation on India. Obama should make a few things clear to the general: that America knows the extent of the ISI’s backing for the Taliban; that Pakistan’s army will not keep getting money and weapons from Washington if it goes on backing groups that kill American soldiers; and that if Pakistan does not end all support for its Taliban proxies, the US will seek India’s assistance in stabilizing Afghanistan. Then, if Kayani makes the right choice, Obama can use America’s growing influence with India to help reduce tensions with Pakistan. This is the key to a stable future for that part of Asia. To extract American troops from Afghanistan without leaving behind a crucible for new calamities, Obama will have to master the craft of balancing power.

Obama Blasts Republicans For Blocking Vote On Jobless Bill

President Barack Obama on Saturday used his weekly radio address to blast Republicans for blocking attempts to allow votes on legislation that would extend jobless benefits and raise the liability for oil companies that harm the environment. Obama, in a twist to his frequent business-as-usual criticism of Washington, said he is disappointed to see a "dreary and familiar politics get in the way of our ability to move forward on a series of critical issues that have a direct impact on people's lives." Republicans, along with some Democrats, on Thursday voted to defeat ending debate on a bill that would extend jobless benefits and renew a series of tax credits implemented in 2009. Attempts to vote on a bill that would raise a liability cap for oil companies from $75 million, a figure considered outdated and low, have also been blocked. Obama said Americans deserve a simple up-and-down vote. He said more than 100 of his nominees to work in a host of federal positions are also awaiting Senate approval. Obama's call for a spirit of greater cooperation comes as he is set to meet with a group of bipartisan senators at the White House next week to discuss energy and climate legislation. He realizes there will be differences, but said the public deserves to see that Republicans and Democrats can at least sit down together and discuss important issues. Obama said passage of the jobless bill is necessary to help Americans who lost jobs through "no fault of their own." He added, "It would provide relief to struggling states that would help save the jobs of thousands of teachers and cops and firefighters." Republicans used their weekly radio address to criticize Obama's response to the Gulf oil catastrophe. Sen. Roger Wicker (R., Miss.) said the country needs to continue to learn "more and more disturbing information about gross negligence on the part of BP--and about some proposals from the Obama administration that will do more harm than good." Wicker pointed to Obama's Oval Office address to the nation on the Gulf oil disaster earlier in the week as a basis for criticism. He said Obama used a third of the speech to address advocating a new national energy strategy. He added, "Now is not the time to push a controversial, job-killing, partisan agenda through Congress." Wicker also criticized Obama's decision to put a six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf, saying it's a third wave of the disaster. "If left in place, the moratorium will permanently eliminate thousands of jobs and drive up the cost of energy for all Americans," he said. Obama has said he wants a presidential commission to look quickly into whether deepwater drilling can continue safely. Wicker also blasted Democratic proposals to increase oil clean-up fees. He said the proposals would take the country in the "wrong direction." Democrats plan to "raid those funds to pay for unrelated programs," he added. Wicker's comments come as the Republican Party encountered intense pressure for comments Rep. Joe Barton (R., Texas) made at a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing with BP PLC (BP, BP.LN) Chief Executive Tony Hayward. Barton apologized to the chief executive for the way the White House was treating the company. He said he found it shameful that the White House asked the company to set aside $20 billion to compensate Gulf residents whose economic livelihoods were affected by the disaster. Barton later apologized for the comments after heavy pressure from Republican leadership.

Handicrafts by Swati women next on display at Lok Virsa

ISLAMABAD—A unique display of handcrafted products by valiant women of Swat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the name of “Reviving Livelihood through Handicrafts in Post-conflict Areas” is being organized at Islamabad. Giving details, Khalid Javaid executive director Lok Virsa informed that the opening ceremony will take place at Lok Virsa Heritage Museum, Garden Avenue, Shakarparian, Islamabad on Saturday, 19 June 2010 at 6.00 p.m. Ms Sitara Ayaz, minister for culture and social welfare, government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will be the chief guest. The other prominent speakers will include Director UNESCO Dr. Warren Mellor, CEO Heritage Foundation Mrs. Yasmeen Lari and executive director Lok Virsa. The event is being organized by Heritage Foundation, UNESCO and UK Aid in collaboration with Lok Virsa. According to the organizers, the project “Reviving Women’s Livelihood in Swat” was initiated in mid February 2010. focusing on capacity building within mohallahs, 500 women have been trained in twelve Karavan Mini Craft Centres established in union councils of Islampura, Mingora, Barikot, Saidu Sharif, Charbagh and Landikus. 327 women have been trained to make highly salable embroidery products within their homes, 110 women in khaddi (looms) for home-based handloom production and another 53 women for making handmade yarn. All 500 women have been provided the required tools and equipment including sewing machines, khaddis and charkhas, as well as toolkits to enable them to produce quality products. As part of the programme assistance greater outreach has been provided for the revival of one khaddi centre in Islampura, one vocational training centre in Odigram, a women’s sewing centre in Landikus and one pottery centre in Charbagh. For ensuring sustainability and regular income, linkages to urban consumer markets are being developed such as permanent outlets in Islamabad and Karachi, capacity building of local representatives for promoting sales and establishment of permanent green women centre in Islampura.

Saudi Arabia Gives OK To Israeli Attack On Iran

Saudi Arabia has given its go-ahead to Israel to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities, according to the 12 June edition of the Times UK. As the UN Security Council imposes stronger sanctions on Iran, Saudi military sources announced that Riyadh has agreed to allow Israeli attack planes to fly over Saudi airspace that they may shorten the distance for an attack on Iran. According to a US diplomat, “They [the Saudis] have already done tests to make sure their own jets aren’t scrambled and no one gets shot down. This has all been done with the agreement of the [US] State Department.” Riyadh has already carried out tests to make certain Saudi military interceptors are not scrambled, and missile defense systems are not activated, during an Israeli mission. Once the Israelis are past Saudi airspace, the Kingdom’s air defense systems will default to full alert. “The Saudis have given their permission for the Israelis to pass over - and they will look the other way,” confirmed a US military source in the region. Despite tensions between Israel and Saudi Arabia, they both share a mutual loathing of the Ahmadinejad regime and both fear Iran’s nuclear potential. “We all know this. We will let them [the Israelis] through - and see nothing,” said one anonymous source. The four main targets for any raid on Iran would be the uranium enrichment facilities at Natanz and Qom, the gas storage development at Isfahan and the heavy-water reactor at Arak. Secondary targets include the lightwater reactor at Bushehr, which could possibly produce weapons-grade plutonium when complete. The targets lie as far as 1,400 miles (2,250km) from Israel; the outer limits of their bombers’ range, even with aerial refueling. An open corridor across northern Saudi Arabia would significantly shorten the distance. An Israeli air strike would involve multiple waves of bombers, possibly crossing Jordan, northern Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Aircraft attacking Bushehr, on the Gulf coast, could swing beneath Kuwait to strike from the southwest. Passing over Iraq would require permission from Washington DC. So far, the Obama Administration has refused to give its approval as it pursues a diplomatic solution to curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Military analysts say Israel has held back only because of this failure to secure consensus from America and Arab states. Military analysts doubt that an airstrike alone would be sufficient to knock out the key nuclear facilities, which are heavily fortified and deep underground or within mountains. But if the latest UN sanctions prove ineffective, the pressure from the Israelis on the USA to approve Jewish military action will intensify. Israeli officials refused to comment yesterday on details for a attack on Iran, which Netanyahu has refused to deny. In 2007, Israel was reported to have used Turkish air space to attack a rumored nuclear reactor being built by Iran’s main regional ally, Syria. Although Turkey publicly protested against the “violation” of its air space, it is thought to have turned a blind eye in what many saw as a dry run for a strike on Iran’s far more substantial and better-defended nuclear sites. Israeli intelligence experts say that Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan are at least as worried as themselves and the West about an Iranian nuclear arsenal. Each also worries about Israel's extensive nuclear arsenal and its willingness to employ it against neighboring countries Israel has sent missile cruisers and at least one Israeli nuclear missile submarine through the Suez to be deployed into the Red Sea, possibly to attack Iran. Israeli newspapers reported last year that high-ranking officials, including former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, met with their Saudi counterparts. Meir Dagan, the head of Mossad, also met with Saudi intelligence for their assurance that Riyadh would turn a blind eye to Israeli jets violating Saudi airspace en route to an attack against Iran. ___

Pashto poet living miserable life

PESHAWAR: Noted Pashto poet Akmal Lewanay was once the lifeline of almost every political gathering of the Awami National Party but nowadays he is living a miserable life at his home, suffering from acute paralysis for the last two years. Besides reciting his revolutionary poems at the public meetings of ANP or other literary gatherings, Akmal Lewanay also used to sell books and magazines outside these functions, which was the sole source of income for the 63-year-old poet from Katlang area of Mardan. “I have rented a shop at Katlang bazaar for the books and magazines but hardly shift these selling items to the literary or political functions to Peshawar or other far-flung areas of the province,” the paralysed Akmal told The News in Peshawar, where he had come for medical treatment. Author of three books, Akmal Lewanay was not only liked by the audience in the ANP political gatherings but also the nationalist leaders sitting on the stage often requested Akmal to recite his famous poems on the occasions. “I had actively participated in the meetings and rallies led by Baacha Khan and Wali Khan but when Abdul Wali Khan and other nationalist leaders were jailed, I read out a revolutionary poem at a public gathering in Mardan, presided over by Begum Nasim Wali Khan.” He recalled that the poem had received much praise from the audience and on the request of Begum Nasim he had been reciting such poems at almost all political gatherings of the party across the province. However, the erstwhile energetic poet has been confined to his hometown for the last two years, as he cannot move without support of a walking stick. “I have been suffering from paralysis since 1991 but for the last two years it has affected my legs,” he added. He said he was neither receiving any stipend from the provincial government nor has he any expectation from the ANP-led government. “I have not been affiliated with the nationalist movement for any worldly gains but composed poetry and struggled as per my conscience and ideology,” he said, adding that he was receiving stipends from the Pakistan Academy of Letters (PAL). Akmal Lewanay is also known for his comic poetry in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Afghanistan and has got published three books titled ‘Tortum’, ‘Chapawona’ and ‘Lewantoob’. He also has to his credit an unpublished collection of comic poetry and wants to publish it at the earliest.

Obama to challenge Ariz. immigration law

Obama administration officials have decided to file a suit to block a much-disputed Arizona law cracking down on illegal immigration, according to several news reports. The decision to intervene was confirmed by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in an interview last week with an Ecuadorian journalist. "President Obama has spoken out against the law because he thinks that the federal government should be determining immigration policy," Clinton said in the interview. "And the Justice Department, under his direction, will be bringing a lawsuit against the act." "But the more important commitment that President Obama has made is to try to introduce and pass comprehensive immigration reform," she said. "That is what we need. Everyone knows it, and the president is committed to doing it." When asked whether Clinton misspoke, Mark Toner, the director of the State Department's press office, told Bloomberg News: "The secretary's words stand for themselves." A Justice Department spokeswoman said the department "continues to review the law." But other administration officials said the decision to intervene has been made, only the details of the suit need to be worked out. The Arizona law gives local police greater power to check the legal status of people they stop and makes illegal immigration a state crime. Opponents fear the law will lead to racial profiling. The law has sparked boycotts and protests, both around the country and in Boston. On May 5, the Boston City Council passed a resolution urging that business ties be cut with Arizona in protest over the law. Mayor Thomas M. Menino joined the council, saying he would consider canceling city contracts with Arizona companies that support the law. The controversy has even carried over into Boston's sports scene. Demonstrators gathered outside Fenway Park this week to protest the arrival of the Arizona Diamondbacks, in town for a three-game series against the Red Sox.

Value to Big Powers May Not Be Enough to Save Kyrgyzstan

MOSCOW — A year and a half ago, the world’s great powers were fighting like polecats over Kyrgyzstan, a landlocked stretch of mountains in the heart of Central Asia. The United States was ferociously holding on to the Manas Air Base, a transit hub considered crucial to NATO efforts in Afghanistan. Russia was so jealous of its traditional dominance in the region that it promised the Kyrgyz president $2.15 billion in aid the day he announced he was closing Manas. With the bidding war that followed, Kyrgyzstan could be forgiven for seeing itself as a global player. And yet for the past week, as spasms of violence threatened to break Kyrgyzstan apart, its citizens saw their hopes for an international intervention flicker and die. With each day it has become clearer that none of Kyrgyzstan’s powerful allies — most pointedly, its former overlords in Moscow — were prepared to get involved in a quagmire. Russia did send in several hundred paratroopers, but only to defend its air base at Kant. For the most part, the powers have evacuated their citizens, apparently content to wait for the conflict to burn itself out. The calculus was a pragmatic one, made “without the smallest thought to the moral side of the question,” said Aleksei V. Vlasov, an expert in the politics of post-Soviet countries at Moscow State University. “We use the phrase ‘collective responsibility,’ but in fact this is a case of collective irresponsibility,” he added. “While they were fighting about whatever — about bases, about Afghanistan — they forgot that in the south of Kyrgyzstan there was extreme danger. The city was flammable. All they needed to do was throw a match on it.” Kyrgyzstan may have unraveled anyway, but competition between Moscow and Washington certainly sped the process. To lock in its claim on the base after the threat of expulsion, the United States offered President Kurmanbek S. Bakiyev $110 million to back out of his agreement with Russia, which had already paid him $450 million. Congratulating itself on its victory, Washington raised the stakes by announcing the construction of several military training facilities in Kyrgyzstan, including one in the south, which further irritated Moscow. This spring, the Kremlin won back its lost ground, employing a range of soft-power tactics to undermine Mr. Bakiyev’s government. Mr. Bakiyev was ousted by a coalition of opposition leaders in April, and conditions in Kyrgyzstan’s south — still loyal to the old government — hurtled toward disaster. “Let’s be honest, Kyrgyzstan is turning into a collapsing state, or at least part of it is, and what was partially responsible is this geopolitical tug-of-war we had,” said Alexander A. Cooley, who included Manas in a recent book about the politics of military bases. “In our attempts to secure these levers of influence and support the governing regime, we destabilized these state institutions. We are part of that dynamic.” Last week, as pillars of smoke rose off Osh and Jalalabad, citizens begged for third-party peacekeepers to replace local forces they suspected of having taken part in the violence. Roza Otunbayeva, the head of Kyrgyzstan’s interim government, asked Moscow for peacekeepers, and when that request was denied, for troops to protect strategic sites like power plants and reservoirs. She asked Washington to contribute armored vehicles from the base at Manas, which she said would be used to transport the dead and wounded, she told the Russian newspaper Kommersant. So far, Moscow and Washington have responded mostly with humanitarian aid pledges — late on Friday, Russia’s Defense Ministry said that Ms. Otunbayeva’s request was still under consideration. The United States, overextended in Afghanistan and Iraq, has neither the appetite nor the motive for a new commitment. Russia, the more obvious player, sees the risks of a deployment outweighing the benefits. Russian troops would enter hostile territory in south Kyrgyzstan, where Mr. Bakiyev’s supporters blame Moscow for his overthrow, and Uzbekistan could also revolt against a Russian presence. Mr. Vlasov, of Moscow State University, said: “Who are we separating? Uzbeks from Kyrgyz? Krygyz from Kyrgyz? Kyrgyz from some criminal element? There is no clearly defined cause of this conflict. It would be comparable to the decision the Soviet Politburo made to invade Afghanistan — badly thought through, not confirmed by the necessary analytical work.” If the explosion of violence was a test case for the Collective Security Treaty Organization, an eight-year-old post-Soviet security group dominated by Russia, it seems to have failed, its leaders unwilling to intervene in a domestic standoff. In any case, neither the Russian public nor its foreign policy establishment is pressing the Kremlin to risk sending peacekeepers. “If you send them, you have to shoot sooner or later,” said Sergei A. Karaganov, a prominent political scientist in Moscow. “Then you are not a peacekeeper, but something else.” Though it seems that the worst of the violence has passed, great challenges remain. Beyond the immediate humanitarian crisis is an unstable state at the heart of a dangerous region. The Ferghana Valley, bordering Afghanistan, is a minefield of religious fundamentalism, drug trafficking and ethnic hatreds. If Kyrgyz-style violence should radiate across borders in Central Asia, the result could be a rise in Islamic militancy that would directly threaten Russia and the United States. The failure of international institutions last week should alarm both capitals. President Obama and President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia began their relationship with the crisis over the Manas base, and as they grope toward tentative collaboration in the post-Soviet space, Kyrgyzstan has dominated their conversation. Now, Kyrgyzstan needs help building a stable government that knits together the north and the south. Dmitri V. Trenin, director of the Carnegie Moscow Center, suggested that NATO should be working with the members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization to develop a mechanism for collective action. The next time a Central Asian country is wobbling at the edge of a precipice, he said, someone must be prepared to accept responsibility. “You can abstain from a local conflict in Kyrgyzstan,” Mr. Trenin said. “You can close your eyes to it — it’s bad for your conscience — but you can live with it. It something happens in Uzbekistan, you will not be able to just let it burn out.”

Power of education is the real gold in Afghanistan

Amid all the dark news from Afghanistan, every now and then a sliver of light slips through the cracks. Afghanistan, it turns out, is rich in minerals. Trillions rich. It's going to become the Saudi Arabia of lithium, they say. Thanks to vast stores of that resource, plus iron, copper, cobalt and gold, this impoverished, war-torn nation could become a wealthy nation. No more wars, no Taliban, no heroin, no Osama bin Laden. Too good to be true, right? The deposits are real enough, but the question remains: Can a country without mining infrastructure and populated by people who've never known prosperity or possessed the collective memory of self-direction (70 percent of Afghans are under age 30) put its resources to constructive use? Although the potential is "stunning," according to Gen. David Petraeus, the sidebars and footnotes to this heartening story are full of caveats and "yes, buts." There's also potential for corruption, for fights between the central government and the provinces, for conflict along the border with Pakistan, where some of the richest deposits are located, and for a resurgent and enriched Taliban. Moreover, turning deposits into a functioning mining industry will take decades. But speculation naturally leads to the hope that Afghanistan could begin to fund its own reinvention and liberate other nations, notably ours, from that burden. The key, it seems, lies in educating the rising generation of Afghans -- in the liberal arts as well as in the technologies needed to advance this new economic potential. There is hope there, too, not least because of the American University of Afghanistan (AUAF), the nation's only private, nonprofit university. The school was launched with the help of a substantial grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development and built on 48 acres in Kabul. Instruction commenced in 2006, and the first class graduated last month. The school has 500 students, 20 percent of them women, and it hopes to expand to 800 students next year and to 2,000 in five years. Most Afghans can't afford the tuition -- 70 percent receive financial aid -- and are being educated in large part through American donations. Some of those donors attended a dinner in Washington recently to hear from students and to honor former first lady Laura Bush for her support of the university. A new fundraising project is underway for the Laura W. Bush Women's Resource Center, which will be the cornerstone of a new library and student services building with classrooms, conference space and an auditorium. And you thought all she did was sit and smile. The dinner, held at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, was attended by many of those who have worked in the private sector to help bring opportunity to Afghans, especially women. In attendance, to name but a few, were C. Michael Smith, university president; Leslie M. Schweitzer, chair of the Friends of the AUAF; Said T. Jawad, Afghanistan's ambassador to the United States; and Caroline Hudson Firestone, who has dedicated herself to helping Afghan women and is the author of "Afghanistan in Transition." It was one of those events familiar to Washingtonians where philanthropists and government officials convene to sip wine and, if the spirit moves the crowd, to write checks. If inspiration is the lubricant that compels luckier Americans to share prosperity, then this particular evening was rich. The highlight was the testimony of five students who trekked from Afghanistan to report on the results of American generosity. More than once, they urged the audience: "Don't feel sorry for us, be there for us." Each spoke variously of escaping the Taliban, losing family members, living as refugees in Pakistan. All spoke of feeling safe on the campus, of free speech, of open dialogue with professors and mutual respect -- all miracles we take for granted. But one young woman stood out. Masooma Habibi, a graduate of Goldman Sachs's 10,000 Women program at the AUAF, founded an Internet-related consulting business in Kabul and employs nearly two dozen people. Her head covered, she spoke softly in somewhat halting English. The AUAF is "like a dream," she said. When Americans educate an Afghan, "you are playing with life, so thank you." We knew just what she meant. It seems at times too much to hope that Afghanistan might ever become a stable country, where men and women could lead prosperous, peaceful lives. The key to that kind of future clearly lies in education. There's more to mine in Afghanistan than minerals. And there's gold in these students.

Amnesty International and FATA

By Zar Ali Khan Musazai. In a recent Report issued by Amnesty International regarding Human Rights situations in FATA concern was shown that nearly 4 million people in FATA live under Taliban rule where they suffer human rights abuses from both militants and the Pakistani Army. As if Hell Fell on ME, a report based on interviews with nearly 300 people, says millions live in a, human rights free zone, where militants torture and kill women aid workers and men without beards. Pakistani soldiers have also committed serious violations, including indiscriminate artillery fire and extrajudicial executions, as the army swept across the tribal belt over the past year, the report said. FATA is a buffer between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Pakistan termed it its geography but till this very day since its creation in 1947, she has done no good to this part of the world. Political freedom has been closed for the people of this area. Political parties act has not been yet extended to FATA. On Aug. 14, 2009 incumbent President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari announced abolition of FCR and extension of Political Parties Act but soon retreated back for the known reasons pressurized by military establishment not to dare intervene into the affairs of FATA. As for as we know, there are reasons for pushing FATA into hell, the foremost is that area in question is still not having any constitutional status as to whose part is it? The second is that Pakistani establishment has been in its control to use it against Afghanistan and to take into hands who rules the Kabul. People at helm of affairs in Islamabad have no interest in those living in FATA (Native People of FATA) rather they have their own interest in FATA. We see that FATA has been used for the terrorism for the last nearly 30 years. Religious extremism was promoted by the establishment. Seminaries were constructed and people were encouraged to participate. Politics was termed as a forbidden flower for the people of FATA. They were told that they were different from those living both sides of them. But actually people who at their west and east are of the same ethnicity, Pashtun. They were also told that they were more brave and courageous than others and they had a unique culture. Many a times they were presented as the soldiers having no formal salary out of the national kitty which is supposed to be filled by the alms getting on the very name of tribal people. Actually people of FATA have never been antagonistic to any country or people. They have always remained as peaceful and secular people. In Tirah valley of Khyber Agency so many people are living who are Sikh, by religion. More than 30 thousands Christians have been also residing in FATA but there has never been an incident of killing, abducting or abusing each other. They have all rights what a tribesman and woman have except some what the FCR has taken from them. This is an excellent example of tolerance and secularism. People in Tirah go to the funeral prayers of their sikh brethren and have a good relation ship and no one counts him or her as alien. They have never scorned at them for being different from what they practice. Now we have to come to the facts as to what are the reasons that turned the situations sour. Due to an area like a black hole having no know how about politics and political parties’ presence the religious extremism was promoted and encouraged by the state sponsored agencies for the reasons already mentioned above. Political Agent was imposed on them to decide about their future. Militants from across the world and Punjab were invited by establishment to FATA and a farce like situations was developed in which several actors have been performing their respective acts. Militants were handed over the guns and weapons while on other players started getting fund from international community to apparently wipe out terrorists. In this whole drama the marginalized people of FATA has no role. They and their land are just used for the stage and getting money. Pakistani establishment is a fund starved one and would be using all means and tactics to get the dollars to fill the pockets and have an occasion to loot and plunder with both hands and the recent report of Transparency International also supported our view. The report of Amnesty International should open the eyes of international community giving fund to the cheaters and robbers on the heads of tribal and FATA. People are hostage and they have been terrorized to the extent that no one in FATA could dare to discuss this issue and go to the bottom of the awful tale of the FATA residents. Most of the tribal have left for comparatively safer places to take shelter. Those who are still there are at the mercy of terrorists and military alike. More than 50000 innocent tribesmen and women were sacrificed for the sin they had not committed. About 3500 pro peace political people, tribal Malakan and influential were ruthlessly beheaded and assassinated Fund is coming and drowned the drain. Neither terrorism was wiped out nor did miseries of people come to an end. Now it is the responsibility of the Pakistan government to do something for the betterment of the people in FATA because it has been getting the fund on its name but no one knows where it goes. (The writer is a social and political worker and currently is Chairman Tribal NGOs Consortium, FATA and can be reached at email tncfata@gmail.com, www.tncfata.blogspot.com

Pakistan's SC seeks list of loan write-off beneficiaries from 1971

ISLAMABAD : Supreme Court of Pakistan on Friday sought the list of loan write-off beneficiaries from 1971, Aaj News reported. According to the details, a three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry resumed hearing of suo moto case of Rs 54 billion write off loan on Friday. Chief Justice said that those who have not returned national capital will be sent to jail.

U.S. showed Pakistan evidence on militant faction

The United States has presented evidence to Pakistan that a militant faction aligned with the Taliban and based in Pakistan orchestrated brazen attacks last month in Afghanistan, a top general said on Wednesday. The United States has long pressed the Pakistani military to crack down on the so-called Haqqani faction in the North Waziristan tribal region, which borders Afghanistan, but Islamabad has so far balked at doing so. General David Petraeus, who oversees the Afghan war as head of U.S. Central Command, told a Senate hearing that he, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff raised Haqqani links in a recent meeting with Pakistan army chief Ashfaq Kayani. “We have shared information with him about links of the leadership of the Haqqani network located in North Waziristan that clearly commanded and controlled the operation against Bagram air base and the attack in Kabul, among others,” Petraeus said. Suicide bombers carrying rockets and grenades launched a brazen predawn attack on the base on May 19, killing an American contractor and wounding nine U.S. troops. About a dozen militants, many wearing suicide vests packed with explosives, were killed, the Pentagon said at the time. A day earlier, a suicide bomber attacked a military convoy in Kabul, killing 12 Afghan civilians and six foreign troops. Bagram is the main base for the U.S.-led troops in Afghanistan, with the largest airfield in the country. It was used by the former Soviet Union during its invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s. The Pentagon has expressed confidence that Pakistan will eventually mount an offensive in North Waziristan, but said Islamabad would decide on the timing. The Haqqani network has long been described by U.S. forces as one of their biggest enemies in Afghanistan. But there are strategic reasons for Pakistan’s hesitancy to attack the Haqqanis. Pakistan sees the group as a strategic asset that will give it influence in any peace settlement in Afghanistan so Islamabad will want those militants on its side. The United States has increased pressure on Pakistan to act in North Waziristan following a botched May 1 car-bombing in New York’s Time Square that U.S. investigators have blamed on the Pakistani Taliban. But Pentagon officials have said they understood the Pakistani military was already stretched by operations in other tribal areas.

Pentagon Claims Afghan Strategy Working Despite Problems

Official says progress is beginning to prove validity of President Barack Obama's strategy for defeating Taliban The Pentagon claimed Thursday that progress in some areas of Afghanistan is beginning to prove the validity of President Barack Obama's strategy for defeating the Taliban and related groups. The claim came after Defense Secretary Robert Gates expressed concern that news reports from southern Afghanistan, where the effort has run into significant challenges, are painting a more negative picture than is justified. Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell acknowledges that the situation in the southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar has been difficult, with slower progress than had been expected. But he says the fact that there has been some progress in ousting the Taliban, improving security and beginning to help the Afghan government assert its authority in several towns is significant. "I think we are beginning to see a proof of concept in some areas. The areas where our strategy has been employed the longest have improved the most," he said. Morrell told a news conference the Taliban's momentum in Northern Afghanistan has been reversed, and there has been progress in several towns in the West and in the difficult Eastern region, where insurgents can easily seek refuge across the Pakistani border. Even in the South, where journalists traveling with American forces have reported on distrust among local residents, attacks by tenacious Taliban units and other problems, Morrell says the U.S. Marines have been expanding security in a series of towns. "What they are effectively doing is creating a contiguous zone of security where farmers can move, people doing commerce can move freely, and business can be done, people can go to school. Now, we're far from perfect. We got a long way to go in each of those places. But this notion that there has not been progress made is an erroneous one," Morrel said. Morrell included the major town of Marja in his list of improved areas, even though he acknowledged "there is still too much intimidation" by Taliban forces there. He also said that in spite of some high-profile attacks, there have been improvements in security in the capital, Kabul. Experts say it is normal to have an uneven mosaic of progress and problems in a counterinsurgency campaign. Officials have acknowledged slower-than-expected progress in Kandahar City, a key Taliban stronghold, and have also said success in the city is essential for success overall in Afghanistan. On Wednesday at a Senate hearing, Secretary Gates appealed for patience, noting that the new strategy has only been in place for a few months and all the troops needed to implement it have not yet arrived. In answer to a reporter's question Thursday, Morrell echoed the secretary's call for people to give the strategy a chance to work. "Ultimately, Steve, it's up to us to prove it conclusively, and we're perfectly prepared to do that. We just want to make sure that the time is provided to do it," he said. Morrell and other officials note that the president's next strategy review is six months away, and his deadline for starting what is expected to be a gradual withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan is more than a year away. Officials say they expect to be able to prove more conclusively that their strategy is working by the end of this year, and to meet the president's deadline in July of next year.

Taliban nexus

EDITORIAL Daily Times For years the Afghan Taliban have been considered an ‘asset’ in Pakistan’s establishment circles. They were trained and funded by the state so that we would not have an ‘enemy’ to deal with on our western border. But recent events should force the establishment to rethink its policy of nurturing them. A nexus between the local Taliban and their counterparts in Afghanistan has by now become obvious. More than 30 Pakistani troops are missing after an attack by the Afghan Taliban on a border checkpost between the Mohmand and Bajaur agencies. The Taliban have claimed that they are holding some Pakistani soldiers captive. This is quite alarming. It seems as if we are looking at another Frankenstein’s monster. After the US invasion of Afghanistan and the overthrow of the Taliban, the Northern Alliance came to power. Musharraf adopted a dual policy when it came to handing over militants to the Americans. The Afghan Taliban were protected while members of al Qaeda were caught and subsequently handed over. Now that the endgame in Afghanistan is on the cards, a process of reconciliation has begun in Afghanistan whereby the Karzai government is offering to negotiate with the Taliban. But the militants have so far refused the Afghan government’s offer, keeping in view that they are far stronger than the weak government in Kabul. The local Taliban have already disrupted peace in the country with their terrorist attacks both against the security forces and civilians. The Pakistan Army has conducted successful military operations in Swat and South Waziristan. Another one is ongoing in Bajaur, where the local Taliban have suffered heavy casualties. An unprecedented attack by the Afghan Taliban on a border checkpost is indicative of the emerging nexus between them and the Pakistani Taliban. They must have intervened at the behest of the local Taliban in order to put pressure on the army. Pakistan must now reverse its ‘strategic depth’ policy, which has proved disastrous. This attack by the Afghan Taliban on our forces leaves room for scepticism whether they would ever prove to be an asset for Pakistan. Even in 2001 the Afghan Taliban paid no heed to Pakistan’s advice to hand over Osama bin Laden to the US, so putting our trust in them again will probably backfire. The Taliban are no one’s friends but themselves. The US has presented evidence against the Haqqani network to Pakistan regarding their attacks inside Afghanistan, but to help eliminate the terror networks operating from our soil, the US should provide us with advanced attack helicopters. We have suffered heavy losses during the military offensives and if we are to launch one in North Waziristan, additional military equipment and funds are required. Another worrying aspect vis-à-vis the terrorist nexus is the emergence of the Punjabi Taliban, a loose terror network that is spread all over the country. This group is not only in cahoots with the Pakistani Taliban but they also have suspected links with al Qaeda. It is about time that the so-called assets of the state like the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Tayyaba are disbanded and crushed. These groups have enjoyed state patronage for years. Pakistan has suffered enough at the hands of its skewed foreign policy goals. We cannot afford to do so anymore. Enough is enough. Let our soil be finally cleansed of our sins of the past

Afghan vows to use Japan's aid effectively

Afghan President Hamid Karzai promised Thursday to use Japanese aid effectively to restore peace and stability in his country, as he sought to allay Tokyo's concerns that its support may be wasted on his corrupt and faltering government. Tokyo announced in November a five-year pledge of $5 billion to help the war-torn nation strengthen its police force as well as support agriculture and infrastructure projects. The Japanese have abandoned a refueling mission that supported troops in Afghanistan and now only offer humanitarian support. Japan is one of Afghanistan's biggest donors, but there has been no indication additional aid will be forthcoming on Karzai's five-day visit. Instead, Karzai is seeking to convince Tokyo that his government will use money already promised well. "I guarantee Mr. Prime Minister that Afghan people would do their best to have their money spent in Afghanistan for the best purposes of development and stability in Afghanistan," Karzai said in a joint news conference after holding talks with Japanese Prime Minster Naoto Kan, who took office earlier this month. Karzai is the first foreign leader to meet with Kan. The comments came a day after Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada warned Afghan Finance Minister Omar Zakhilwal that Kabul must tackle the problems of security, corruption and flagging public support "so that (Japanese) taxpayers' money is effectively used." On Thursday, Karzai and Kan discussed the Afghan government's recent efforts to strengthen governance and improve security, as well as implementation of Japanese aid measures. Kan said that Afghanistan is key to world peace and pledged Tokyo's continuing support. But he stressed the need for the Afghan government to improve security and fight corruption. "I certainly hope that $5 billion would be used to benefit the Afghan people and the global peace, and I offered to continue our support to achieve the goal," Kan said. Over the past nine years, billions in aid and the presence of international forces have failed to decisively turn the tide of the war, and the Afghan government continues to struggle to assert its authority over wide swaths of the country. Widespread corruption in Karzai's administration is believed to have attracted Afghans into the insurgency. Karzai met with Emperor Akihito earlier Thursday. He is also scheduled to speak at a seminar, pray at Hiroshima's peace park for the victims of the U.S. atomic bombing and visit Japan's ancient capital of Nara before leaving Sunday.

Afghan mineral wealth may be at least $3 trillion

Afghanistan is gearing up to award contracts to mine one the world's largest iron ore deposits buried in a peaceful province of the nation that has at least $3 trillion in untapped minerals, the country's top mining official said Thursday. Geologists have known for decades about Afghanistan's vast deposits of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and other prized minerals, but a U.S. Department of Defense briefing earlier this week put a startling, nearly $1 trillion price tag on the reserves. Afghanistan's Minister of Mines Wahidullah Shahrani called that a conservative estimate. He said he's seen geological assessments and industry reports estimating the nation's mineral wealth at $3 trillion or more. For Afghanistan, a war-torn, landlocked country with virtually no exports, it is a potential windfall, although formidable obstacles remain including lack of investment, infrastructure and adequate security in most of the nation. "The ministry has been working closely with the international organizations, including the World Bank, the U.S. Geological Survey and the international mining and finance community for some time to ensure all of the Afghan people benefit from our rich natural resources for decades to come," he said. Shahrani plans to travel to Britain next week to present 200 foreign businessmen with information about the estimated 2 billion tons of iron ore at Hajigak in Bamiyan province, where the Taliban and other insurgents have no significant presence. The project is to be bid on this fall with contracts awarded late this year or early next year, he said. Critics of the war in Afghanistan have been skeptical that the dollar amount of the country's untapped minerals was being promoted at a time when violence is on the upswing and the international community is hungry for positive developments in the nearly 9-year-old war. They argue that if impoverished Afghanistan is seen as having a bright economic future, it could help foreign governments persuade their war-fatigued publics that securing the country is worth the fight and loss of troops. But Shahrani insisted that the release of the information, first reported earlier this week by The New York Times, followed months of work to assess the mineral deposits, sometimes with the aid of data compiled by the former Soviet Union when it was fighting in Afghanistan. A. Rahman Ashraf, senior adviser to the minister of mines, said that during decades of conflict, an Afghan geologist safeguarded data about the mineral reserves at home. He said the geologist, who has died, gave the information back to the government in 2002 and that since then, it has been used to help make modern assessments of the deposits. Shahrani said the Ministry of Mines and the U.S. Geological Survey had been sharing information for months. "We were just waiting for the exchange of information from Washington to Kabul," Shahrani said. Shahrani added that the ministry recently completed a business plan to restructure, reform and modernize the ministry and improve oversight to international standards. He said those efforts coupled with new minerals and hydrocarbon laws will work to improve the transparency and efficiency of mining in the nation. Still, without increased security and massive investment to mine and transport the minerals, it could take years for Afghanistan to bank the rewards. A rail line, for instance, is needed before any iron ore could be transported from Bamiyan. And there's always the potential that such a discovery could bring unintended consequences, such as corruption and competition among nations for access to the resources. In November, two U.S. officials familiar with intelligence reports alleged that Afghanistan's former minister of mines, Mohammad Ibrahim Adel, accepted $20 million after a $3 billion contract to mine copper was awarded in late 2007 to China Metallurgical Group Corp. The former minister has denied having taken any bribes and said the contract went through all legal channels. Aynak, a former al-Qaida stronghold 21 miles (35 kilometers) southeast of Kabul, is thought to hold one of the world's largest unexploited copper reserves. Mining the copper could produce 4,000 to 5,000 Afghan jobs in the next five years and hundreds of millions of dollars a year to the government treasury, Shahrani said. Craig Andrews, a lead mining specialist for the World Bank, said Aynak was expected to start producing copper within two to three years. Production of iron ore at Hajigak could begin in five to seven years, and possibly sooner, he said. Andrews noted that studies show that every mining job creates five to 10 other jobs. "Clearly, these mines will have a huge economic stimulus effect on not only the national economy, but the region in which they are located in," Andrews said. "I think when people have jobs and they have an income, they have a stake in the future and the future does not include insecurity. I think once the communities are anchored in an economy that gives them jobs money and income they would be less inclined to support the Taliban or other insurgent groups." He said the government, however, must guard against raising the expectations of the Afghan public. Otherwise, "people are going to go off and pick up a rock and think that they can go to the bank," he said. "Unfortunately the business doesn't operate that way. It takes a lot longer."

In Pakistan Poverty claims two more lives

Poverty claims two more lives LAHORE: Unable to cope with miserable living conditions, two people committed suicide in Punjab and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) in separate incidents on Thursday. According to a private television channel, Shabbir – who hailed from Lahore – was working for a private company in AJK’s Kotli area. On Thursday, when he did not show up for work, his work colleagues began searching for him with the help of police. When they reached the house where Shabbir had rented a room, they found his body hanging from a fan, the channel reported. According to police, he was a resident of Muhallah Shalimar Road in the Chahmeran area, Lahore, the channel reported. Separately, a man committed suicide in the provincial metropolis’ Ravi Road area after failing to get rid of outstanding loans. Twenty-five-year-old Nadeem – a resident of Sadique colony – who worked as a commission agent at a vegetable market had borrowed money from several people. Nadeem had to face a number of financial losses due to which he had been unable to return the money he had loaned. After being increasingly harassed by the people he owed money to, Nadeem hanged himself, seeing it as the only solution. The deceased, who was an orphan, was supporting four younger brothers and sisters.

Pakistan's spy agency is said to collaborate with the Taliban

Pakistan's powerful intelligence agency not only funds and trains Taliban insurgents fighting U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, but also maintains its own representation on the insurgency's leadership council, claims a new report issued by the London School of Economics. Assertions that Pakistan's intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence, continues to nurture links with the Afghan Taliban are not new. But the scope of that relationship claimed by the report's author, Matt Waldman, is startling and could prove damaging to the fragile alliance Washington is trying to foster with Pakistan, its military establishment, and its weak civilian government led by President Asif Ali Zardari. Waldman, a fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, based his assertions on interviews with nine Afghan Taliban commanders as well as with Afghan and Western security officials. The report claims that it is official Pakistan governmental policy to support the Taliban's insurgency in Afghanistan, and that the ISI has a strong voice on the Quetta Shura, the Afghan Taliban's leadership council, named after the southern Pakistani city believed to serve as the council's haven.

World Bank cancels 750,000 million dollar aid for Pak istan

The World Bank (WB) has cancelled an aid of 750,000 million dollar to Pakistan after the government failed to initiate necessary measures to utilise the money. The aid, which was provided by Japan on behalf of the World Bank, was to be used for the development of mineral resource sector.A World Bank team visited Pakistan in April 2008 to gauge the progress made over the project, following which Pakistani authorities demanded the deadline of the project to be extended till March 2009. However, even after the extension, authorities failed to initiate the project, forcing the World Bank to cancel the aid.

'For Neda' tells story of symbol of Iran's post-election protests

Music posters still hang on the walls; stuffed animals decorate a twin bed in the corner of the room. Clothes lie neatly folded in the closet.Neda Agha-Soltan's bedroom in Iran remains practically untouched since the day she died. A little more than a week away from the one-year anniversary of her death on June 20, 2009, Neda's family refuses to forget their daughter's spirit. Journalist Saeed Kamali Dehghan traveled to Tehran to interview Neda's relatives in their home for a new documentary on her life and her tragic death. HBO's new documentary, "For Neda," tells the personal story of the woman who unwittingly became the symbol of the post-election reform movement in Iran when her death was captured on a cell phone video and shown around the world. "She is any girl, anywhere, but this just wasn't anywhere," the film's producer and director, Antony Thomas, told CNN. "I wanted to show the people who demonstrated, whatever happened, that their courage has not been forgotten." Not able to find a professional camera crew that would accept the assignment, Kamali Dehghan, a print journalist who had never handled a movie camera before, took a two-day crash course and smuggled a camera into the country. "I was ready to be arrested in Tehran at any moment. When I rang the bell to their home, I thought an officer could arrest me at anytime," he told CNN. Explored through the life of Neda, the film examines the repression and inequality that women in Iran have struggled with since the arrival of the Islamic regime. "She was a hero, but she was not superhuman; she was a hero like millions of other girls in Iran," Kamali Dehghan said. Speaking out for the first time since Neda's death, her father, Ali Agha-Soltan, describes his youngest daughter as a woman with "no fear in her body." Her brother, Mohammed, is still mourning the loss of his best friend. He has not cut his hair or shaved since she died. Neda's picture adorns the front of his mobile phone. Neda's mother's, Hajar Rostami, describes her daughter as a rebellious girl who never outgrew her independent streak. She argued with her schoolteachers about having to wear the mandatory head covering, or hijab, in class. Growing up in Tehran, Neda enjoyed the latest Western fashions, singing and dancing, all forbidden to women in public. "She had this freedom to be herself in that family. They have respect for women's rights, so Neda could be herself in that family. She didn't have to play a role; she didn't have to pretend," Kamali Dehghan said. The HBO film will debut in the U.S. at 9 p.m. ET Monday, but the network allowed Voice of America's Persian service to broadcast it in Farsi into Iran last week through its satellite TV channel and its website. Voice of America said attempts to show the film were interrupted by Iranian authorities jamming the satellite signal. Voice of America viewers also complained of electrical outages during the time slot. On Friday, the Islamic republic aired its own investigative documentary into the death of Neda titled "Intersection." In the film, the government points the finger at the People's Mujahedeen Organization of Iran for Neda's death. The PMOI is a Marxist group advocating the regime's overthrow that the government often has blamed for post-election violence. Prepared for a censorship attempt, HBO and Thomas decided to post the full documentary on YouTube and worked with tech specialists to convert the 70-minute film into a small enough file to play on Iranian mobiles via a Bluetooth connection. Thomas and Kamali Dehghan said they've received thousands of e-mails from inside Iran since the HBO film has been seen around the world. But the most important approval, Thomas said, was from Neda's family, who still lives in Iran. "We can't leave Iran; she is still here," Neda's mother told Kamali Dehghan. "She is there, still in that room, still in that house."

Kandahar leaders give go-ahead for offensive, Karzai says

Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan, were in Kandahar Sunday to sell their plan of an upcoming military operation in the province. And according to Karzai, the meetings were successful. After a meeting with about 300 people Karzai said the leaders have given him the green light to start a military operation in the province that was once a Taliban stronghold. With McChrystal in the front row, Karzai delivered a full-court press to the group of leaders Sunday, trying to get their support. The group sat on carpets and cushions on the floor as they listened to Karzai passionately talk about increasing security and ending corruption. He also had a strong message for the Taliban. "First I call on the Taliban for peace. Do not kill your country men and children. Do not kill innocents," Karzai said. "Separate yourself from al Qaeda and the terrorists." Karzai did not say when the upcoming military operation but did say American soldiers would have a role in it.

Mobs burn villages, slaughter Uzbeks in Kyrgyzstan

OSH, Kyrgyzstan – Kyrgyz mobs burned Uzbek villages and slaughtered their residents Sunday as ethnic rioting engulfed new areas in southern Kyrgyzstan. The government ordered troops to shoot rioters dead but even that failed to stop the spiraling violence. More than 100 people have been killed and over 1,000 wounded in the impoverished Central Asian nation since the violence began Thursday night. Doctors and rights activists say that toll is far too low because wounded Uzbeks are too afraid of being attacked again to go to hospitals. Thousands of Uzbeks have fled in panic to the border with Uzbekistan after their homes were torched by roving mobs of Kyrgyz men. Some Uzbek women and children were gunned down as they tried to escape, witnesses said. Fires set by rioters have destroyed most of Osh, the country's second-largest city, and looters have stolen most of its food. Triumphant crowds of Kyrgyz men took control of most of Osh on Sunday while the few Uzbeks still in the city of 250,000 barricaded themselves in their neighborhoods. The rampages spread quickly Sunday to Jalal-Abad, another major southern city, and neighboring villages, as mobs methodically set Uzbek houses, stores and cafes on fire. The rioters seized an armored vehicle and automatic weapons at a local military unit and attacked police stations around the region trying to get more firearms. Police and the military appeared to be on the defensive across the south, avoiding clashes with mobs. The riots are the worst violence since former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was ousted in a bloody uprising in April and fled the country. The Uzbeks have backed the interim government, while many Kyrgyz in the south had support the toppled president. Interim President Roza Otunbayeva blamed Bakiyev's family for instigating the unrest in Osh, saying it was aimed at derailing a constitutional referendum on June 27 and new elections scheduled for October. A local southern official said Bakiyev supporters attacked both Kyrgyz and Uzbeks to ignite the rioting. From his self-imposed exile in Belarus, Bakiyev issued a statement denying any role in the violence and blaming the interim authorities for failing to protect the population. Bakiyev was propelled to power in 2005 on a wave of street protests, but his authority collapsed amid growing corruption allegations, worsening living conditions and political repression. Otunbayeva asked Russia for military help Saturday to quell the violence, but the Kremlin refused, saying it would not meddle in an internal conflict. Russia did send a plane to deliver humanitarian supplies and evacuate some victims. Kyrgyzstan hosts both U.S. and Russian military air bases, but they are in the north, away from the fighting. The U.S. Manas air base in the capital, Bishkek, is a crucial supply hub for the coalition fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan. A Pentagon spokesman said the interim government had not asked for any U.S. military help. The U.S. Embassy in Kyrgyzstan voiced a deep concern about the raging violence and called for the "immediate restoration of order and a respect for rule of law." It said it was discussing humanitarian aid with the interim government. The government in Uzbekistan criticized the "unlawful actions" against Uzbeks in Kyrgyzstan but was not likely to cross the border and intervene. In Jalal-Abad on Sunday, thousands of Kyrgyz men brandishing sticks, metals bars and hunting rifles gathered at the city's horse racing track and marched out to burn Uzbek property while frightened police stayed away. Uzbeks felled trees on the city's main thoroughfare, trying to stem their advance. Kyrgyz mobs killed about 30 Uzbeks Sunday in the village of Suzak in the Jalal-Abad region, Talaaibek Myrzabayev, the chief military conscription officer in Bishkek, told The Associated Press. Another Uzbek village, Dostuk, was burned by Kyrgyz assailants, but the casualties there were not known, he said. Ethnic Uzbeks also ambushed about 100 Kyrgyz men Sunday on a road near Jalal-Abad and took them hostage, he said. Vehicles on the main highway near Jalal-Abad repeatedly came under fire from unidentified gunmen. In the nearby village of Bazar-Kurgan, a mob of 400 Uzbeks overturned cars and killed a police captain, local political activist Asyl Tekebayev said. Residents said armed Kyrgyz men from elsewhere were flooding into the village to retaliate. In 1990, hundreds were killed in a violent land dispute between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in Osh, and only the quick deployment of Soviet troops quelled the fighting. With no Russian troops in sight, the interim government announced a partial mobilization of military reservists up to 50 years old. "No one is rushing to help us, so we need to establish order ourselves," said Talaaibek Adibayev, a 39-year old army veteran who showed up at Bishkek's military conscription office. The official casualty toll Sunday rose to at least 80 people dead and 1,066 wounded, with more than 600 hospitalized, the Health Ministry said. The figure didn't include the 30 Uzbeks killed near Jalal-Abad or other deaths there. Witnesses saw bodies lying in the streets of Osh on Saturday, and more scattered inside the many burned buildings in Uzbek neighborhoods. As Uzbek refugees, mostly women and children, fled the city toward the border, witness said many were shot at and killed. Maksat Zheinbekov, the acting mayor of Jalal-Abad, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that Bakiyev's supporters had triggered the riots by attacking both Uzbeks and Kyrgyz. The fertile Ferghana Valley where Osh is located once belonged to a single feudal lord, but it was split by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin among Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The Stalinist borders rekindled old rivalries and fomented ethnic tensions. Both ethnic groups are predominantly Sunni Muslim. Uzbeks are generally better off economically, but they have few representatives in power and have pushed for broader political and cultural rights. Kyrgyz residents interviewed by AP Television News in Osh blamed Uzbeks for starting the rioting with attacks on students and Kyrgyz women. Ethnic Kyrgyz from neighboring villages then streamed into the city to strike back, they said. "Why have them Uzbeks become so brazen?" said one Osh resident, who gave only her first name, Aigulia, because she feared for her safety. "Why do they burn my house?" Aigulia said her house was destroyed by Uzbeks overnight and all her Kyrgyz neighbors had to run for their safety. She said the area was still unsafe, claiming Uzbek snipers were shooting at them. A Kyrgyz man, Iskander, said he and others burned Uzbek property to avenge their attacks. "Whatever you see over there — all the burnt restaurants and cafeterias — were owned by them and we destroyed them on purpose," he told APTN. "Why didn't they want to live in peace?"

Pakistani students held hostage in Kyrgyzstan, one killed

ISLAMABAD : Several Pakistani students were held hostage by extremists in Kyrgyzstan and one of them was shot dead, Aaj News reported on Sunday. Foreign Office spokesman said the government is now in contact with the Pakistani ambassador in Kyrgyzstan and will help recover the students held hostage in Kyrgyzstan. Motives behind the abduction and other relevant details regarding the incident are not immediately known.

U.S. Military Intelligence Puts Focus on Afghan Graft

NEW YORK TIMES WASHINGTON — The military’s intelligence network in Afghanistan, designed for identifying and tracking terrorists and insurgents, is increasingly focused on uncovering corruption that is rampant across Afghanistan’s government, security forces and contractors, according to senior American officials. Military intelligence officers in Afghanistan are scouring seized documents and interrogating captured fighters and facilitators — but not just to learn about insurgent networks that plan attacks, plant roadside explosives and send out suicide bombers. They are also looking for insights on how to combat a widespread perversion of authority by Afghan power brokers, which senior officials describe as “a plague” on the American-backed effort to build an effective and competent government and win the support of the Afghan people. It is a remarkable but perilous military undertaking in a sovereign country, particularly in a place of conspiracy theories and constantly shifting alliances, where it is hard to know who can be trusted and where many people are historically skeptical of what they see as intrusiveness by outsiders, this time by the Americans. The United States and its NATO allies may find themselves following leads that point to the top levels of government, because even close family members of President Hamid Karzai have been accused of engaging in the drug trade and enriching themselves with lucrative business deals. American contractors are among those accused of wrongdoing, and some in the United States government have been known to look the other way rather than upset Mr. Karzai. The new military anti-corruption effort is a joint operation with Afghan law enforcement and judicial authorities. But on Saturday, The New York Times reported that some in Afghanistan, including one of Mr. Karzai’s former top intelligence aides, complained that the Afghan president himself was increasingly mistrustful of the United States and had talked of cutting his own agreement with the Taliban. A central goal in the Obama administration’s counterinsurgency campaign in Afghanistan, which is commanded by Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, is to win over the country’s population. That goal requires persuading the Afghan people to support the central government in Kabul and not shadow Taliban governments that exist in many provinces. To that end, anti-corruption efforts are every bit as important as killing or capturing militants, if not more so, according to senior officers involved in the effort. “Where once our whole network was to capture and kill Al Qaeda and the Taliban, now the information we’re trying to get is the information for the networks of corruption and government and influence,” said a senior American military officer in Afghanistan. “The intelligence we were focused on before was just to drive the next target we were going to get,” he said. “Now our targeting is much more focused on the government: How do you control for corruption? How does the process work for security contracts?” Top NATO officials in Afghanistan drove the creation of a new anti-corruption task force last October, and it has already succeeded in forcing out a number of provincial security officials suspected of significant wrongdoing, many of whom have been brought to trial. The task force, whose senior NATO leader is Maj. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, the alliance’s director of military intelligence in Afghanistan, gathered information that allowed Afghan officials to arrest, try and convict a border police commander who was pocketing salaries from ghost personnel on his payroll as well as stealing money meant for widows of officers killed in action. Other provincial-level police chiefs have been removed from their posts because they were involved in corrupt activities uncovered by the task force’s intelligence operations, although they were not brought to trial because of a lack of the kind of evidence that could be presented in Afghan courts, officials said. These actions, while still limited in scope, have served as “a shot across the bow” of the security ministries, said another senior American military officer. “The word is out that we are going to continue to look at corrupt behavior in the police and that we have an effort under way,” the officer said. “In a counterinsurgency fight, we cannot afford to have abusive behavior by police, and we cannot afford to have corrupt behavior by police.” That officer, like other the others who discussed the effort, spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of military intelligence operations. The military is focused on battling corruption at the local and provincial levels in ways that illustrate a commitment to good governance for the population to see in their day-to-day lives. Yet, Pentagon officials acknowledge that this localized effort must be supported by a more senior-level, political decision by the Obama administration on how to deal with corruption at the uppermost echelons of the Afghan government. American military officials have worked closely with Afghan law enforcement authorities and developed information that local prosecutors have used in newly established trials at the detention center for detainees accused of corruption or drug charges. Ultimately, this kind of information could also be used to help the Afghan government weed out corrupt governors. American officers are cognizant that some Afghans may make false accusations to use the anti-corruption effort to take down political opponents. The antidote for such abuse, officials say, is to demand multiple sources of information, with multiple sources of confirmation, before making taking action. “It’s a lesson we learned from Iraq — to ‘mass’ intelligence against one individual,” said the senior American officer. “We mass the analysts, we mass the interrogators and we mass the exploiters of the information before making a move.” Weeding out corruption is not the only significant adjustment of military intelligence activities in Afghanistan as the Defense Department shifts the bulk of its attention from Iraq. In Iraq, a relatively well-educated and high-tech society with a similarly well-organized insurgency, American troops seized computer hard drives and cellphones that provided a trove of information about militant networks, including detailed accounting of foreign fighters flowing into the country. In Afghanistan, by contrast, there is a much lower level of technical sophistication with far fewer computers, hard drives and other communications equipment to exploit. In addition, insurgent networks in Afghanistan are far more fractured and decentralized than in Iraq. More than 90 percent of detainees from recent security sweeps in Afghanistan are from their local areas, and are not foreign fighters or insurgents from other districts within Afghanistan. Thus, they have little information about the broader insurgent network that can be exploited. Interrogations of these recent detainees yield a “good news, bad news” version of events, officials said. According to senior American officers, many detainees expressed deep frustration at the Taliban leadership in exile inside Pakistan. These detainees — even the group aged 35 to 55 and who are in leadership ranks of the provincial insurgency — tell interrogators that they are short of money and tired of taking orders from leaders who remain at a safe distance from the fight. At the same time, these detainees still express a lack of confidence in the Kabul government, and remain unwilling to reintegrate and stop fighting, officials said. The troop increase ordered to Afghanistan by President Obama has brought with it increases in the intelligence-gathering and exploitation effort, as well. The American military operation in Afghanistan is operating with significantly increased numbers of sophisticated surveillance aircraft and a growing number of analysts to exploit the widening stream of information. The number of American military and civilian interrogators has doubled since last summer, to about 75 people, a senior military officer said. And “fusion cells” — teams of people who gather and assess information from the battlefield to quickly pinpoint a likely target for a follow-on raid — have been pushed from the large headquarters in Kabul out to military outposts across the country.

Karzai, Pakistan and the Taliban?

If you still thought things hadn’t dramatically changed on the Afghan chessboard ever since U.S. President Barack Obama announced plans to begin pulling out from mid-2011, you only need to look at President Hamid Karzai’s recent utterances, or more accurately the lack of it, on the Taliban and Pakistan, the other heavyweights on the stage. For months Karzai has gone noticeably quiet on Pakistan, refusing to excoriate the neighbour for aiding the Taliban as he routinely did in the past, The Guardian quoted a source close to the country’s former intelligence chief Amrullah Saleh as saying. Karzai, in fact, has lost faith in the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan and is increasingly turning to long-time Taliban supporter, Pakistan, to end the deadly insurgency, it said. Saleh and interior minister Hanif Atmar resigned this week, which Karzai’s office said was because of lapses that led to a Taliban attack on a peace jirga last week in Kabul. But Saleh himself told Reuters in an interview that he had quit because he opposed Karzai’s orders for a review of Taliban insurgents in detention, part of moves the president has launched to reach out to the hardline Islamists in a bid to end the nine-year war. The jirga, packed with tribal elders and notables considered loyal to Karzai, endorsed his plan to seek negotiations with the insurgents who have virtually fought U.S.-led NATO forces to a bloody stalemate nine years after they were ousted So is this what a final settlement would look like in Afghanistan as the United States pulls back ? An unlikely partnership between Karzai, Pakistan and the Taliban? Quite a change from the time when Karzai and former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf levelled harsh accusations against each other. The one problem though in this new game is that the Taliban don’t seem to be playing their part, despite the best entreaties from Kabul. Indeed they have unleashed a torrid spell of attacks beginning from the time the jirga opened in a big tent in the west of the capital. The Taliban weren’t invited to the peace council; not that they were going to attend even if they were invited. Instead they showed up as a three-men suicide bomber squad dressed as women in a burqa. The attack was foiled, but not before rockets landed barely 100 metres from the tent just as Karzai was speaking. Then a suicide bomber killed at least 40 people, a quarter of them children and wounded 77 in a particularly savage attack on a wedding party in southern Kandahar province. That was followed by a report about the public execution of a seven-year-old boy in neighbouring Helmand province. The child was accusing of spying for U.S. forces and hanged from a tree. And on Friday came another attack, this time a roadside bomb blowing up a minibus killing nine people, mostly women and children, again in Kandahar province. You would have to ask under what law, however orthodox, can you justify the execution of a child? Some people are also pointing to the lack of response of the Afghan people to the savage acts of the past week. Nobody took to the streets to protest the attack, for example on the wedding party, or the public hanging of the child. For the sake of the argument, imagine U.S.-led forces bombing a wedding and killing 40 people . Surely there would have been protests and they would be every bit justified. As NightWatch intelligence pointed out, the attack on the wedding party violates Taliban leader Mullah Omar’s code of conduct published last year, but there is no outrage or punishment mechanism, it seems, for rogue Taliban operations.

Pakistan ISI backs Taliban

A new report has suggested that Pakistan's intelligence agency is supporting the Taliban in Afghanistan, providing them with funds and training. The report released Sunday by the London School of Economics (LSE) says that support for the Taliban is the "official policy" of Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) and the body provides funds and sanctuary for the militant group on a larger scale than previously thought. LSE, which is deemed a leading British institution, also suggests that support for the Taliban "is approved at the highest level of Pakistan's civilian government." "Pakistan appears to be playing a double-game of astonishing magnitude," said the report's author, Matt Waldman, after allegedly speaking to several militants in Afghanistan as well as Western and Afghan security officials. Almost all of the Taliban militants interviewed in the report believed that the ISI was represented on the Quetta Shura, the Taliban's supreme leadership council based in Pakistan. "Interviews strongly suggest that the ISI has representatives on the (Quetta) Shura, either as participants or observers, and the agency is thus involved at the highest level of the movement," the report said. The report also claimed that Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, along with a senior ISI official, has allegedly visited some senior Taliban prisoners in Pakistan and promised to free them. A spokesman for Pakistan's ISI called the claims "rubbish" and part of a malicious campaign against the country.

Karzai seeks support for Kandahar operation

Afghan President Hamid Karzai sought support Sunday for the NATO campaign to ramp up security in the key southern city of Kandahar and increase his government's influence in a Taliban stronghold rife with violence, crime and corruption. Karzai flew to Kandahar for only his second trip in recent years to the city — the biggest in the south and spiritual birthplace of the Taliban. Karzai, who was born in the outskirts of Kandahar, is to have two meetings — one with about 50 tribal and provincial leaders and another with several hundred area residents. Many of them are skeptical of the campaign, which has already begun in the area. Insurgents have responded with a rash or attacks against those who support the government and its international partners. So far this month, at least 39 international troops have been killed in Afghanistan, including 27 Americans. Six Afghan police officers and three NATO service members died Saturday in separate roadside bomb blasts. The six police were killed near Kandahar, according to the Interior Ministry. In addition, 39 insurgents were killed Saturday in two operations — one in Kandahar province and the other in Uruzgan province, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. On the eve of his visit, Karzai met in the capital of Kabul with Afghan security officials and the top U.S. and NATO commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who accompanied the president to Kandahar. Aides described the Saturday meeting as a "decision brief" where the president was briefed on all aspects of the Kandahar security campaign. Karzai spokesman Waheed Omar said the president was expected to announce a few development projects for Kandahar in a move to gain public support for his government. NATO and Afghan officials have taken pains to avoid describing the Kandahar operation as a military offensive, a term that has made the half million residents wary about what was to come. Omar said Karzai would call the campaign a "process of stabilization" to bring better governance, services and new development to the area. He said Karzai also would discuss results of this month's national conference, or peace jirga, which endorsed his efforts to reach out to the Taliban. Karzai was also expected to reiterate his call to the opposition to lay down their weapons, renounce violence, accept the Afghan constitution and break ties with al-Qaida and other terrorist networks. "This is Karzai's only second visit to Kandahar in the last couple of years," said Tony White, spokesman for the chief NATO civilian official. "This process of reaching out to Kandahar can only be led by the president. It can't be led by us. It's important for him to address the senior leadership — tribal and religious — and show his support for the effort." White said Kandahar was isolated and disconnected from Kabul. "Karzai can't get it back into the fold without the (the local leaders)," White said. "We anticipate that he will reassure them that there's no military offensive planned." A spokesman for McChrystal, Lt. Col. Tadd Sholtis, said the visit was "about Afghans taking leadership and ownership of the effort in Kandahar." "Security is an important part of it but also the crucial governance piece and also some of the major development efforts," he said. As part of the effort to accelerate a political solution to the war, the United Nations announced that a U.N. committee is reviewing whether certain people could be removed from a blacklist that freezes assets and limits travel of key Taliban and al-Qaida figures. That was a recommendation of this month's peace jirga. "De-listing was one of the clear messages coming from the peace jirga," Staffan de Mistura, the top U.N. representative in Afghanistan, told reporters Saturday. "The U.N. is listening to what the peace jirga is saying. Some of the people in the list may not be alive anymore. The list may be completely outdated." A committee is expected to complete its review at the end of the month and give its recommendations to the U.N. Security Council, which will make the final decision on whether to remove any names off the list. The U.S., Britain and France, who maintain troops here, wield veto power on the council and would have to agree to changes on the list. "If we want the peace jirga to produce results, we need to keep momentum," de Mistura said. "The aim is not war, it is reconciliation. And reconciliation ... can only take place through constructive inclusion." The peace jirga also supported the release of some Taliban prisoners in U.S. custody at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and at Bagram Air Field north of the Afghan capital. As a goodwill gesture to the militants, Karzai promised to make the detainee issue a priority and de Mistura said the U.N. supported efforts to release prisoners detained without legal basis.

Child Labour Day

As football fever spreads with the kick-off of the World Cup in South Africa this Friday, the United Nations labour agency today urged the world not to forget the plight of an estimated 215 million children who have to work for survival and miss out on education and sports. “Go for the goal – end child labour,” is the UN International Labour Organization’s (ILO) appeal to the international community ahead of World Day Against Child Labour, which will be marked on Saturday. The agency is calling particular attention to the target of eliminating the worst forms of child labour by 2016. “While billions are caught up in the excitement of the football World Cup, some 215 million children are labouring for survival. Education and play are luxuries for them. Progress towards ending child labour is slowing down and we are not on course to end its worst forms by 2016,” said ILO Director-General Juan Somavia. “We have to get the momentum going again. Let us draw inspiration from the World Cup and rise to the challenge with the energy, the right strategy and the commitment it takes to get to the goal,” he added. World Day Against Child Labour events will be held in more than 60 countries involving governments, employers, workers, and UN, civil society and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), according to ILO. The events range from high level policy debates, to football matches and other sporting activities, public debates, media events, awareness-raising campaigns, cultural performances and other public activities. Many of the activities will also focus new attention on the “red card campaign against child labour” initiative led by the ILO, including the publication of a resource kit produced in collaboration with FIFA that is aimed at using football to support work in child labour elimination projects. In Geneva on Friday the International Labour Conference will also discuss the ILO’s new global report on child labour. On the same day, hundreds of local schoolchildren will participate in a solidarity event organized by a community association. The World Day is taking place one month after more than 450 delegates from 80 countries met at a conference in The Hague convened by the Netherlands to agree on a road map to accelerate progress to reach the goal of eliminating the worst forms of child labour by 2016. Agreement on the road map came as the ILO’s third global report on child labour warned that the global campaign against the scourge is at a critical juncture. The report shows that global efforts to eliminate the worst forms of child labour are losing momentum, and warns that unless they are significantly stepped up, the 2016 target will not be reached. In a related development, Brazilian football star Robson de Souza, better known as Robinho, has lent his support to ILO’s campaign to eliminate the worst forms of child labour in Brazil. Robinho, who will be part of the Brazilian squad at the World Cup, has agreed to be the face of the national campaign that is being carried out by the ILO’s International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) in Brazil. The Brazilian Government has set 2015 as the goal to eliminate the worst forms of child labour in the South American country and 2020 for ending all forms of the problem.

Khyber Pukhtunkhwa unveils Rs294.2bn budget

PESHAWAR : Provincial Finance Minister Khyber Pukhthunkhwa Humayun Khan on Saturday presented Rs.294.2 billion balance budget for the year 2010-11 containing Rs. 69.3 billion annual development program, indicating 77 percent rise over the outgoing fiscal in the provincial assembly. The total revenue expenditures and income generation have been estimated at Rs. 294.2 billion for the next fiscal, said the provincial Finance Minister in his budget speech. Giving details of the receipts to be obtained in 2010-11, he said the province would receive Rs.123.4 billion from the central taxes, Rs.9.4 billion income expected from oil and gas royalty, Rs.6 billion net hydel profits apart from Rs.25 billion to be received by the province upto July 2010 as net hydel profit arrears. Rs.15.2 billion special grant expected to meet the growing challenge of terrorism while the provincial own receipts are expected to generate Rs.7.2 billion, he said adding, for the first time the province would get Rs.842 million from Malakand-III hydel power project, Rs.12.3 billion will be obtained from general sales tax on services and Rs.400 million from general capital income. The province expected to receive foreign loan to the amount of Rs.9.3 billion in 2010-11 while there was a provision of Rs.85.9 billion under the head of food trading. Referring to revenue expenditure for the year 2010-11, the Provincial Finance Minister said that of the total Rs.294.2 billion expenditures, Rs.127.9 billion have been set aside for the current revenue side that included Rs.9.4 billion for health and education, Rs.21 billion for police, Rs.11 billion for pension payment, Rs.51.9 billion for salaries and other miscellaneous charges to be incurred in the districts, and provision of Rs.150 million to Revenue and Estate for carrying out relief activities. Rs.2 billion have been earmarked for the subsidy on wheat, Rs.16.6 billion to go for O&M charges, Rs.5.9 billion allocated for investment and payment of arrears, Rs.9.6 billion would go to debt servicing, Rs.11 billion for capital expenditures, Rs.60 billion for the development program. He said that during next fiscal, the education department would make arrangements for provision of quality education and setting up of schools. 604 posts of teachers would be created in the new schools he said, adding, for education sector Rs.33.1 billion have been earmarked showing an increase of 32 percent over the outgoing fiscal. Similarly, he said Rs.2.9 billion have been allocated for setting up of 147 new colleges and libraries. Rs.5.9 billion have been allocated for the health sector in 2010-11 which is 48 percent more than the current year's allocation. The Provincial Finance Minister said his government has proposed to increase salaries of the government employees by 50 percent besides 15 to 20 percent increase in pension of retired officials. Hamayun Khan said following the announcement made by federal government in regard with increase in salary and pension, the government of Khyber-Pakhtunkwa has decided to implement the same decision in the province. Apart from increase in salary and pension, he added, it has also been decided to increase Medical Allowance up to 100 percent for employees of grade 1 to 16. The employees in grade 17 would be provided 15 percent of their basic pay as medical allowance. He also clarified that decision about increase in salaries would not be implemented on Police department. The Finance Minister said increase in salaries and pension of government employees would cost up to Rs. 22 billion annually. However, he went on to say, government decided to lift the burden while keeping in view increase of prices of essential commodities.

Is NATO to Blame for Russia's Afghan Heroin Problem?

Times.com It had to be one of the weirdest displays the Russian president had ever seen. Laid out on a table were a mound of walnuts, a chess set, an old tire and an anatomically correct dummy — all stuffed with little baggies of imitation heroin. Titled "The Deadly Harvest," the exhibit was meant to show the clever ways smugglers have of getting Afghan heroin into Russia, which has become the world's largest consumer of opiates from Afghanistan since the U.S. began its war there in 2001. President Dmitry Medvedev stared at the objects and shook his head grimly. Behind him, wearing equally somber expressions, stood a group of Russian officials who would spend the day, June 9, lambasting the U.S. and NATO for not doing more to stop these little baggies from getting into the hands of Russia's youth. On the international stage, Russia's Afghan heroin issue has become the country's favorite crusade, and has allowed Russia to enter a global debate about Afghanistan that had previously left it on the sidelines. Its basic point is a reasonable one: NATO has fueled drug production by refusing to destroy Afghan poppy fields, which it stopped doing last year in the hope of winning the support of opium farmers. Perhaps less reasonable is Russia's belief that its heroin problem is caused not by its porous borders or its abysmal treatment of addiction (methadone therapy is illegal in Russia) but by NATO's policy on drugs in Afghanistan. Yet that is what Russian officials contend, and this week they embarked on a campaign of coordinated fuming over the issue. On June 7, Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov was in Singapore for an annual defense conference, and he used his turn at the lectern to berate NATO's tolerance of poppy crops. At a Central Asian security summit in Berlin the following day, the chief of Russia's anti-narcotics agency, Viktor Ivanov, compared NATO to Dr. Frankenstein, suggesting that its Afghan drug policy was "giving birth to a monster." Then on Wednesday and Thursday, the Kremlin's information agency, RIA Novosti, held a conference on the heroin issue in Moscow. The exhibit of smugglers' tricks was its main attraction, and at the podium, some of the Russian speakers threatened to punish the coalition if it didn't change its approach to Afghan poppies. "Further assistance to the coalition must be predicated upon a more active position in the fight against drug production in Afghanistan," Russia's envoy to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, told the delegates, suggesting that NATO's vital supply route through Russia could be cut if the destruction of poppy fields didn't resume. In its way, Russia is making an important point. Between 2005 and 2009, Afghanistan's yearly opium output jumped from 4,000 to 7,000 tons, and it now accounts for more than 90% of global supply, according to the United Nations. Russian state statistics say that opiates such as heroin and morphine kill around 30,000 Russians every year, three times more than the total number of Soviets killed during their 10-year war in Afghanistan in the 1980s. And the U.N. also says that the $65 billion earned every year from the sale of opiates partly goes to finance terrorists around the world, including the Taliban militants that the U.S. is fighting in Afghanistan. But Russia is wrong to claim that NATO is ignoring the problem. NATO's March offensive in Marjah redoubled the crackdown on drug traffickers with the aim of cutting the Taliban off from its main source of funding, and U.N. data shows that Afghan opium production has fallen by about 15% since its peak in 2007. Russia insists that is not nearly enough, and has consistently offered the help of its own military alliance, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), in stemming the flow of drugs through Central Asia and the Caucasus. Russia and the CSTO — which was founded in 2002 as Russia's attempt to balance against NATO's influence and whose seven members include Armenia, Belarus and a few Central Asian republics — are the only ones advocating the wholesale destruction of poppy crops as a solution. The livelihoods of millions of Afghans depend on opium farming, and at the RIA Novosti conference on Wednesday, M.K. Bhadrakumar, India's former ambassador to both Afghanistan and the Soviet Union, said poisoning the fields would only "stoke the fire of mass anger." And Prince Abdul Ali Seraj, who represents a coalition of Afghan tribes, in his speech called on the international community to "hand something of equal value to the farmers, and that way take the opium away from them." But the last word on the matter seemed to come on Wednesday from the U.S. ambassador to Russia, John Beyrle, who said that the coalition would not take Russia's advice about destroying opium harvests anytime soon. So Moscow's latest push in the debate has not gotten far. Yet analysts say that for Russia's leadership, the act of pushing is an end in itself. "It is important for Russia to show that it will not be left at the margins of the Afghan issue," says Omar Nessar, head of the Institute for the Center of the Study of Modern Afghanistan in Moscow. He points out that sooner or later the Americans will leave, and Russia will be left to grapple with Iran over influence in Afghanistan. "This is the way it has chosen to make itself known, and indeed its criticism here is justified," Nessar says. Natasha Kuhrt of the Department of War Studies at King's College in London says Moscow is also seeking to create points of contact between NATO and CSTO. So far the CSTO has not been taken very seriously in the arena of geopolitics, and Russia has been desperate to bring in new members and bolster its prestige. To this end, "Russia needs to position itself as a competitor in the battle for Greater Central Asia," which includes Afghanistan, Kuhrt wrote in an essay published June 8 in the Russian Analytical Digest. "Russia would like to see the CSTO engage in 'global peacekeeping' as a way of legitimating this organization. In the best-case scenario, NATO would acknowledge the CSTO as a dialogue partner. Unfortunately NATO has been reluctant to accord such a role to Russia." NATO's attitude toward CSTO could help explain the venom with which Russia has gone after the alliance over its failure to destroy poppy crops, and its insistence that the CSTO could help stop the flow of Afghan drugs. It is not yet clear whether Russia will be given such a role in Afghanistan. But as the war drags on, similar footholds are likely to emerge, putting