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Saturday, February 8, 2014
Pakistan rowers win gold, silver medals
KARACHI:
Pakistan dominated the U16 junior girls’ doubles event at the Association of School Rowing in Asia (ASRA) Championship 2014 after winning gold and silver medals in Dubai on Friday.
Pakistan sent a 60-member squad for the ASRA Championship, which includes 18 boys and 42 girls from eight different schools.
The Pakistan girls’ team, consisting of 42 rowers, proved their mettle on the opening day when Convent of Jesus and Mary (CJM) took the gold medal in the doubles’ scull event, while CAS followed them in second place to grab the silver.
CJM continued to impress in other events as they finished second in the juniors girls’ quad category as another participant from the school went on to clinch the bronze medal in the single scull girls’ competition, according to Pakistan Rowing Federation vice-president Abdul Rehman Babai.
Babai stated that Pakistan began their campaign on a fierce note, and he expected two more medals on day two.
He added that Pakistan had also qualified for the final races in the junior girls’ single scull event, while The Lyceum School carried on the momentum by booking their place in the finals of the seniors’ girls’ and boys’ fours categories.
Hassan Currimbhoy, who is aiming to win the seniors’ single scull competition on Saturday, has been reputed as the favourite for Pakistan, as stated by the vice-president.
“Our rowers will do better on the second day,” Babai told The Express Tribune. “Currimbhoy will be the favourite as he competed in the Asian Junior Championship earlier, so he has the confidence and the experience.”
Published in The Express Tribune, February 8th, 2014.
Shahzeb murder case: SHC rules to remove Sikander Jatoi's name from the ECL
KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) ruled on Saturday to remove Sikander Jatoi’s name from the Exit Control List (ECL), Express News reported.
Sikander Jatoi is the father of Shahrukh Jatoi, who was accused of murdering Shahzeb Khan. Under the Anti-terrorism Act, Shahrukh was sentenced to death but was later pardoned by the victim’s family.
Following the murder, Shahrukh fled to Dubai and his father was arrested and his name was put under the ECL.
Now that Shahrukh is not convicted of murder, Sikander, through the counsel of his lawyers requested the SHC to remove his name from the list.
Background
Shahzeb Khan, 20, was gunned down on the night of December 24, 2012. Shahzeb, son of DSP Aurangzeb Khan, was reportedly murdered after he had an altercation with one of the suspects’ servant who had allegedly misbehaved with the victim’s sister.
Court battle: German court rejects JS Bank’s claims
ISLAMABAD:
A German court, following a hearing on January 21, has quashed its own injunction and rejected the claims of JS Bank Limited against Transparency International EV and ordered JS Bank to bear the costs of the proceedings.
According to a press release, earlier Transparency International was facing in December 2013 an injunction from the German court, which was issued at the request of JS Bank and intended to restrain Transparency International from making or disseminating certain allegations concerning the bank in relation to a letter published on the website of Transparency International Pakistan.
Transparency International is an association under the German law which is legally, organisationally and financially distinct from its national chapters which, among others, include Transparency International Pakistan.
According to reports in December, JS Bank had won a preliminary injunction against Transparency International in Germany, restraining the latter from claiming and/or distributing or, respectively causing others to claim and/or distribute, with reference to JS Bank and its purchase of Pakistan operations of HSBC Bank, that HSBC received any payment regarding this transaction and that such payments may have been illegal as falsely claimed by TI Pakistan in a letter to the Governor of the Bank of England subsequently published on the Pakistan website.
In case of non-compliance with this injunction, Transparency International may face a fine of up to 250,000 euros or imprisonment. This preliminary injunction was granted by the District Court of Berlin without hearing Transparency International.
Later, Transparency International filed an objection against the injunction and a hearing took place in January.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 8th, 2014.
Bilateral trade: Industry wary as govt prepares to give market access to India
LAHORE:
At a time when dialogue with India to boost trade ties is one of the top priorities of the government, the industries have once again strongly objected to opening the country’s market for Indian companies, as Islamabad gears up to grant non-discriminatory market access (NDMA) to Delhi.
Following the Indian Show in Lahore starting February 14, the government may offer NDMA to India, a more open status than the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status.
“In a recent meeting with leading businessmen of the country, Commerce Minister Khurram Dastgir shared privately that they have decided to accord NDMA status to India without demanding reciprocal facility from the Indian side,” said a source present in the meeting.
“This announcement will be made when a high-powered delegation of Indian diplomats, politicians and businessmen visits Lahore next week.”
The pharmaceutical industry is one of those at the forefront in raising voice against the opening of Pakistan market. The MFN or NDMA status may bode well for other industries, but for the pharmaceutical sector it will be disastrous on many counts, it says.
The industry believes that it will completely nullify the heavy investment and technology transfer that have taken place so far, destroy the employment base of four million people, pave the way for foreign pharmaceutical companies operating in the country to shift their plants to India and make the country fully dependent on the neighbour.
“The onslaught of cheap, substandard Indian drugs will force the pharmaceutical industry to close down and in the long run Pakistan’s 180 million people will be held hostage to Indian politics and industry, which is known for shutting down the peace process,” said Asif Akhai, Chief Executive of Akhai Pharmaceuticals.
Sharing his views on NDMA, Akhai said “the first and foremost issue concerns the quality of Indian drugs. Since we don’t have a vigilant regulatory framework, it would be really difficult for us to completely check the quality of Indian drugs. Any spurious products could result in a big mayhem. So we have to have effective and standard regulatory frameworks before even thinking of giving access to Indian companies.”
Meanwhile, export of Pakistan’s cement, which has a huge demand in the Indian market, has dropped in the first six months of fiscal year 2013-14 due to the non-tariff barriers (NTBs) imposed by Indian authorities despite all the efforts of the PML-N government to smoothen and enhance bilateral trade, industry sources say.
Statistics revealed that cement exports to India stood at 786,672 tons in 2007-08, which steadily dropped to 482,215 tons in 2012-13.
Talking about the stance of the auto industry on trade with India, Pakistan Association of Automotive Parts and Accessories Manufacturers (Paapam) Chairman Usman Malik said the dynamics and economies of scale in both the countries were quite different.
India manufactures around two million vehicles a year while Pakistan produces just 150,000 vehicles. Furthermore, the law and order situation and scarcity of utilities mean there can’t be a level playing field for the two.
Moreover, Pakistan’s auto industry was not prepared for the phase-out of the negative trade list as the government had not carried out administrative and organisational changes in the internal systems to prepare for the Indian challenge, he added.
Malik suggested that the authorities should be careful about taking such decisions and this was definitely not the right time. Indian NTBs were unreasonable and unfair and this was the reason Pakistan’s exports were nominal despite being awarded the MFN status years ago, he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 8th, 2014.
Iran-Pakistan ties: Boosting bilateral cooperation for improved trade, security
A delegation from an Iranian think tank exchanged views on bilateral cooperation with their Pakistani counterparts at the Institute of Strategic Studies (ISS) Islamabad earlier this week.
The three-member delegation from the Institute of Political and International Studies (IPIS), Tehran, which is affiliated with the ministry of foreign affairs, discussed emerging regional and global scenarios at a bilateral dialogue, the eleventh in the series.
ISS Director Najam Rafique highlighted the fact that despite our geographical location, commonality of heritage, and the potential to cater to each other’s needs, trade relations between the two countries remain underdeveloped.
There are reports that Iran plans to completely seal off its eastern border with Pakistan and Afghanistan by 2015, he said. Mentioning, a report by the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan, the speaker stated that data on the patterns of bilateral trade between Pakistan and Iran from 2008-2011 reveals that exports decreased from $399 million in 2008-09 to $161 million in 2010-11, indicating a decrease of 59.4%. This indicates the absence of meaningful economic cooperation which testifies to the absence of political will.
ISS Research Fellow Qasim Mustafa reiterated that, in South Asia, terrorism has disrupted regional cooperation. He expressed the concern that terrorism had emerged as a regional challenge by exploiting internal weaknesses of regional sates, especially when key states are engaged in pursuing its conflicting geo-political interests and are busy in fighting proxies of their powerful global masters through other means.
Furthermore, due to conflicting geo-political approaches the states fail to utilise their common regional framework of cooperation against terrorism, he stated. “As a result, terrorism expands its outreach and impact, and emerges as a major internal as well as regional stability and security challenge.”
Mustafa also highlighted the fact that terrorists do not recognise borders. “They only collaborate for shared ideologies, exploit social, economic and political inequalities and fight against certain governing systems or ways of life.”
He proposed that common human security policies at the national and regional level should be developed, bilateral relations to build trust where regional states, do not use terrorist elements for geo-strategic interests need to be improved and an effective regional cooperative framework to fight terrorism should be implemented.
IPIS Director General Dr Mostafa Tork Zahrani stated that many problems that we face today in the region can be traced back to the 9/11 incident. “Social movements get violent when other non-state actors step in and radicalise it for their ends.” Social movements are born when the government does not value its people and their issues are not addressed, he added.
ISS Director General Dr Rasul Bakhsh Rais pointed out the dangers of extremism and emphasised that Afghanistan has always been internally divided and this weakness created space for outside intervention.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 8th, 2014.
Lauding negotiations: Kabul welcomes peace talks in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD:
The government of Afghanistan has welcomed the initiation of dialogue between the Pakistani government and Taliban mediators, and expressed hope that Islamabad would extend its help in the Afghan reconciliation process.
Negotiators nominated by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif met in Islamabad on Thursday for the first time and emphasised that “both sides should halt activities which could damage peace talks.” Both sides also agreed to hold talks within the parameters of the Constitution of Pakistan.
Afghan Foreign Ministry’s acting spokesman, Ahmed Shakib Mustaghni told reporters in Kabul, “We welcome the peace process and beginning of talks in Pakistan.” He added his country was hopeful that Pakistan will also cooperate with Afghanistan to initiate its peace talks with the Afghan Taliban as well.
“We have always insisted that for peace to prevail in the region it is not only important for Pakistan to start talks with the Taliban but it is also important for Afghanistan that Pakistan extends sincere cooperation in beginning talks in Afghanistan,” Shakib said.
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Meanwhile, the Afghan High Peace Council also welcomed talks between Pakistan and TTP and urged the Afghan Taliban to follow in the footsteps of Pakistani Taliban and start talks with Afghan peace negotiators.
“We welcome the beginning of the peace process and wish for its success,” senior member of the High Peace Council, Habibullah Fauzi told The Express Tribune via phone from Kabul on Friday.
“The peace council wants Afghan Taliban to come to the negotiation table and resolve differences through dialogue as Afghans are fed up with the war and bloodshed,” maintained Fauzi, who served as a senior Afghan diplomat in Islamabad during the Taliban rule.
Fauzi added peace in both countries is in the interest of the region especially when foreign troops are working on an exit from Afghanistan.
In response to a question about Pakistan’s role in the Afghan reconciliation process, Fauzi said Afghans believe Pakistan has a very important role in the matter.
“President Hamid Karzai and the High Peace Council have always attached importance to Pakistan’s key role in Afghan peace,” he stated.
The peace council’s spokesperson, Shahzada Shahed, also reiterated his government’s stance and urged the Afghan Taliban to take heed from the Pakistani Taliban.
“The Afghan Taliban should have courage and show readiness for talks with the Afghan government and the High Peace Council,” he told the country’s media personnel.
Afghan Taliban have so far refused to talk to President Karzai’s government stating he has no power to take independent decisions.
On Thursday, they rejected a New York Times report which suggested talks between the Afghan Taliban and the Kabul regime have begun and are currently under way in an undisclosed location.
“We reject the false New York Times report and believe it to be a propaganda effort to malign the Islamic Emirate,” Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 8th, 2014.
Matrimony without borders: Explanation sought over delay in issuing passports
PESHAWAR:
The Peshawar High Court has sought comments from the director general of immigration and passports, ministry of interior over a case of three foreigners who have not been issued passports after marrying Pakistani nationals.
A two-member division bench comprising Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel and Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan was informed by the petitioners’ counsel Muhammad Sadiq Qureshi that Chinese national Ruxiangul Maikurban had married Pakistani citizen Muhammad Zahid, a resident of Peshawar, around 15 years ago.
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Qureshi further informed the bench that his client, after getting married, had applied for a Pakistani passport but authorities adopted delaying tactics and are yet to issue it. The petitioner wants to return to her home country but is facing travel issues as a result.
The counsel further told the bench his two other clients, Maulvi Abdul Haq of Mardan and Noor Muhammad of Peshawar, are Afghan citizens who married Pakistani women. They have also applied for Pakistani passports to travel to their home country.
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After hearing preliminary arguments from the counsel, the court issued orders to relevant officials of the federal government and sought explanation in writing as to why the petitioners have not been issued their passports till now.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 8th, 2014.
How important is trade with India?
The writer served as deputy chairman of the Planning Commission from 2010 to 2013
There is a lot of noise on how the only thing that will save Pakistan is trade with India. The donors have spent over $10 million to buy out all our leading intellectuals so they produce worthless studies that state the conclusion that they want — that trade with India will be good for us. They have another $10 million plus to spend on this subject. So whatever you read by people, know that it is not freely written.
Do not get me wrong! I am all for trade with not only India, but with everyone. As an economist, how can I disagree with openness? That is the fundamental tenet of economics that has been established since the times of Adam Smith and David Ricardo in the late 18th century. But openness means trade with all. Indeed, Pakistan should be open to trade with all, including India.
But the rhetoric is that it will be a panacea for Pakistan. Fantastic numbers are quoted with no basis because there can be no basis of a situation that has not happened. Besides we have possibilities of trading with everyone else. Why is our trade/GDP ratio not growing even though we have openness with many other countries, such as Iran, Afghanistan, Central Asia and the Gulf? There are some structural impediments that are not letting trade work and they will be there even if we do trade with India.
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Yet, a large number of conferences, op-eds and media headlines are yelling all manner of grandiose claims on trade with India. An amount of $10 million will buy you a lot of claims on the subject. Interestingly enough, while we are spending $10 million dollars on this subject (and it is our money since it comes from aid committed to us), we have no money to study energy, governance, pricing, deregulation and many other such subjects. All our bets are on one issue — trade with India — which I find very surprising as a policy analyst. Policy must seek a multipronged approach for building an economy and society.
Let us look at the issue a little more closely. India is a large country with many states, some larger than even our Punjab. There are no trade barriers there. So, one would expect that all of its states would benefit from the union of India. All states will be growing at the same rate and converging to the same level of welfare. Over 60 years, equalisation would have taken place.
In a recent paper, Cherodian and Thirlwall look closely at the data and after much econometrics found that “regional differences in gross state domestic product per head in India have continued to widen”through the last six decades. Even if they control various policies and other state controlled variables, as well as resource endowments, they find that disparities are widening. They find that without state reform and development efforts, Indian integration or trade within India is not enough to get the poor regions to catch up with the richer regions.
If trade has not helped the poor Indian states to catch up with the rich, why is there such grand expectation of it for us? Why are we willing to postpone domestic reform and wait for trade with India?
Economics 101 affirms that openness is important. It opens up a highway. But the highway is only useful to someone with a nice car, with a smooth powerful engine, a good driver and gasoline in the tank, and passengers ready to travel. If we have a poor quality car (poor governance), amateur driver (nonprofessional, non-research government), no energy, and all the passengers living of SROs, why do we expect the car to move well on the highway? We can continue to ask for more openness but let us not forget domestic reform.
In fact, domestic reform must be our priority number one!
Published in The Express Tribune, February 8th, 2014.
Blame game: Lawyers, doctors fight over report
FAISALABAD:
Eight people were injured on Friday in a brawl between some lawyers and doctors at the Samundri tehsil headquarters hospital after some lawyers said a false medical examination report had been issued.
The doctors denied the allegation saying that it was the lawyers who wanted them to issue a false report.
The argument turned ugly and police had to be called to stop the lawyers and the doctors. No one was arrested in the end.
Police said Advocate Ahmad Raza Qasoori had visited the hospital seeking treating for some injuries on the hand. He had also sought a medical examination report.
He told the doctors that he had had a fight with some rivals, who had attacked him and left him injured. He said he needed a medical examination report to file a case against them.
The altercation started after Dr Saeed Wahla and Dr Ahmad Qazi issued a report saying that the injuries could be self-inflicted.
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Witnesses told police that the lawyer started shouting at the doctors, accusing them of issuing a false report. He demanded that he be issued another medical certificate. The doctors refused to re-issue a medical examination certificate. Some witnesses said some others doctors came over and told off the lawyer. They said some of the paramedics pushed the lawyer out of the doctor’s office.
The lawyer, they said, called some of his colleagues and friends, who attacked the doctors and whoever tried to stop them. They punched and kicked several doctors.
The lawyers also damaged windowpanes and equipment at the emergency ward. Eight people, including Dr Wahla, paramedics Naveed Arshad and Muhammad Rafiq, and lawyers Malik Shakeel, Irshad Ahmad Shaad and Chaudhry Majid- were injured.
Assistant Commissioner Saba Adil visited the hospital along with a heavy police contingent. The situation was brought under control after Adil talked to both sides.
Later, doctors and paramedics in the outdoor patients department and the emergency ward stopped working for the day and protested against the police for not arresting the lawyers.
Hospital’s account
Talking to The Express Tribune, Medical Superintendent Muneer Ahmad Naz blamed the lawyers for starting the scuffle.
He said the medical examination certificate was based on facts, but the lawyer wanted the doctors to change it to be used against his rivals. He said Dr Wahla had filed a complaint with the police.
Afzaal Ahmad Cheema, president of the Rural Doctors’ Association, accused the Samundri station house officer of supporting the lawyers.
Lawyers’ rebuttal
Rana Naveed Irshad, the former Samundri Tehsil Bar Association president, denied that the lawyers had started the scuffle. He blamed Dr Qazi for the incident. He said Dr Qazi refused to issue a correct certificate, humiliated Qasoori and later told some paramedics to push him out. He said Qasoori was actually hurt during a fight with some rivals. He said the tehsil bar association would observe a three-day strike to register their protest. He demanded that the doctors responsible for the incident be arrested. He said Qasoori, too, had moved a complaint against the doctors.
Report sought
Police told The Express Tribune that District Coordination Officer Noorul Amin Mengal had formed a four-member inquiry committee. The committee comprising the district officer (coordination), the District Bar Association president, the Health executive district officer and the Saddar superintendent of police would submit its report in 24 hours.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 8th, 2014.
Who is Imran Khan?
The writer is a lawyer and Central Deputy Secretary Information of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
Imran Khan is what he is. A segment of self-styled liberals of Pakistan will keep on waging a war of propaganda against him by portraying him negatively. The latest evidence, proved to the satisfaction of their judgment, would be the fact that militants reposed trust in Imran to negotiate on their behalf, along with four religious figures, to secure a peaceful settlement for their insurgency. Another band of critics, representing parochial political interests, has already unleashed a vortex of Imran-bashing to foster uncertainty at a time when the dialogue process has started, regardless of the fact that he had been a staunch advocate of the ‘give peace a chance’ demand.
There is also a third element in this affair; the militants reportedly were a little confused over nominating Imran as their representative as he did not satisfactorily fulfil their criteria of being religious. Now that Imran has shown his inability, the militants have also voiced their disappointment over his decision to opt out of their nominated committee. Indeed, the militants were rightly confused over Imran’s suitabilityof acting as their representative. But then, the counter-argument, as reportedly debated by the militants, was that they were nominating him as their representative in order to achieve the objective of achieving peace and not to enforce (their own brand of) Sharia. Here, they seem to have struck the right note.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, (PTI) under the chairmanship of Imran, stands for restoring peace in the country through a negotiated settlement between the state and insurgents. It considers dialogue as one of the solutions, a preferable one. When the PTI chairman says that the militants are our own people, he is simply narrating a fact as both the leadership and the rank and file of militant groups are Pakistanis, who have taken up arms against the state. They are a mix of all ethnic and linguistic groups of Pakistan. Narration of facts should not enrage Imran bashers, who mainly belong to a segment which calls itself the educated liberal class. Sometimes, the Nato supply blockade is also clubbed with their propaganda. Nato supplies have been blocked because successive Pakistani governments have claimed that the US undertakes drone strikes without their consent which amounts to violating our sovereignty. Militant groups draw their inspiration from anti-US hatred, which also serves as a major source of motivation for their leadership and foot soldiers. The PTI has refused to let repeated US violations of our sovereignty go un-responded, especially when a US drone strike sabotaged the much-needed dialogue process giving a clear signal that the US would dictate what we can or cannot do to resolve our internal matters. The insurgency that we face has become stronger and more violent with increased US dictations. Therefore, checking or limiting US dictates on our sovereign state is a pre-requisite to dealing with the insurgency, if not for other reasons. Then there are many resolutions of our legislatures coupled with an order of judicature requiring stoppage of drone strikes.
Whatever has emerged during the formation of committees to initiate the peace process has proved the fact again that Imran is neither ‘Taliban Khan’ nor any other Khan. He is what he is: he is Imran Khan who has his own vision of making Pakistan a modern, democratic, independent, corruption-free and a welfare-oriented state.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 8th, 2014.
Women power: Where women lead and men follow
KARACHI / DADU:
People call her Badshah Zaadi (princess). The name seems apt, seeing the respect she commands when solving problems faced by her community. Living in Bagri Muhalla of Dadu district, 65 year old Badshah Zaadi is an unexpected activist.
She has set a precedent by leading mobs, staging sit-ins and blocking off roads against injustice her people go through at the hands of government or local influential people. This bravery and boldness led her to win the councilor’s seat in the 2001 local government elections. She is a leader of sorts in her community, and even the men are led by this strong woman.
“When two minor girls from our community, begging on the road, were kidnapped a few years ago, we protested and blocked the National Highway. This pushed the local politicians and district administration to intervene and our girls were released. The same thing happened when our Mandir (temple) was demolished. Since then, no one has harassed us,” she says proudly, puffing away at the hookah.
“There are 800 plus registered voters from my community in this neighbourhood. Before I got elected, our people used to live in tents and makeshift houses. We had no drinking water, nor did the government provide us with sanitation. Men and women would go in nearby bushes for open defecation. Soon after I got elected as a councilor, I provided all these facilities to my people. The government has now built around three dozen houses as well,” she adds, as a group of men of her community stand by, nodding their heads in affirmation.
Badshah Zaadi belongs to the Bagri community (scheduled caste Hindus) which is considered matriarchal, where women mostly head the family and are more empowered than their male counterparts.
The empowerment of Bagri women can be measured from the fact that their men cannot dare to even inquire if their women fall in love with anyone. “If any man comes to meet a Bagri woman, her husband can leave the house but dare not argue. This is so unlike other communities in Sindh where women are killed under the pretext of Karo Kari,” says local journalist Wali Chandio.
In every sphere of life, the women of this community make key decisions. They manage financial matters, look after the kitchen and control everyday expenditure. Without the consent of these women, their men cannot make decisions regarding marriages of their children. It seems the role of the men in this community is confined to assisting their women.
“Much is written about discrimination against women, focusing on women being victims of widespread prejudice and being harassed, tortured, and killed under the pretext of Karo Kari. But hardly anyone notices the Bagri community which is liberal and unique in its fabric,” says Dr Lal Chand Ukrani, President PPP Sindh Minority Wing. It is fascinating that the Bagris are a peaceful community and not a single incident has ever been reported in which they have killed or threatened anyone, according to Ukrani.
“Bagris are one of the indigenous communities like Bheel, Menghwar and Kohli, but they (Babris) are nomadic and keep travelling in search of livelihood,” he says, adding that there are many tribes among the Bagris, and a majority of them have no personal property in Sindh.
“Some of them have now started living permanently at one place. Such folks may have purchased houses and land,” he said.
Most of the women and children of this community leave their houses for begging in the morning which is a major source of their income. Some of them cultivate the agricultural land. The Bagri women equally partake in the cultivation, and are the focal persons from the community when it comes to dealing with the landlords and marketing the products in the nearby towns. The men only work in the fields.
Papu and Reeta are both hardly 17 years old. The couple tied the knot about three months ago. Both sell balloons, but Reeta keeps all the money with her as she wants to purchase a plot. “We believe God has given barkat in women’s hands, which is why we rely on them to run the routine matters. This is the practice being followed in our community for centuries. Our forefathers did it too,” says Pappu.
Professor Dr. Najma Noor Phulpoto, Chairperson Sociology department Shah Latif University, said that since women have been breadwinners in Bagri community, their dominancy is a natural factor. “Bagri males are not so active; their women work hard and contribute majorly to running the house.”
However this peaceful community is often misunderstood due to their religious beliefs and uniqueness. “We are not allowed to use utensils at hotels. Our people prefer to take their own plates, cups and glasses whenever they travel,” says Moti Mal. “It is a common perception that Bagris eat wild cats and porcupines, and that lizard is their favourite dish, which is why Muslims do not prefer to share food and water with them,” says Wali Chandio. Moti Mal confirms that Bagri community used to eat reptiles, but now most of them have given it up. “There was a time when people of our community used to celebrate whenever they caught a wild cat or monitor lizard, but now they mostly eat chicken and vegetable.”
Published in The Express Tribune, February 8th, 2014.
Women’s exclusive: Wagon service to be launched in twin cities
RAWALPINDI:
A transport service exclusively for women will be launched in the twin cities on February 17.
A public-private partnership, the 12-fleet wagon service named “Tabeer” will be run in collaboration with two firms, Al-Abrar Associates and Zong.
Briefing the media about the new service on Friday, the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) Secretary Awais Manzoor Tarar said that the women in the twin cities face immense hardships at bus stops during peak hours causing frustration among them.
He said that the initiative will enable the women to reach their destination on time. “The vans will provide a safe and dedicated service to the women of the twin cities,” he said.
The exclusively branded vans will be run on route No-1 from Haider Road Saddar to Pak Secretariat Islamabad via Railway Station, Mareer Chowk and Faizabad on Muree Road.
It will also commute on 19-kilometer-long route No-7 from Haj Complex to Swan Camp via Golra Morr, Kohinoor Mills, Pirwadhai Morr, Churr Chowk, Cheering Cross, Racecourse Ground, MH Chowk, Railway Station Kamran Chowk, district courts and Morgah Morr.
The project will be self-sustainable and the revenue required for continuation of the project will be generated by branding of the vans. “This project (branding) will not only generate revenue but also provide employment to conductors who will be female,” said Tarar.
He claimed that timings of the service would strictly be monitored. “There will be a complaint number in each van for passengers to lodge their complaints,” said the RTA secretary adding that the passengers will pay the same fare as they do in public transport.
Tarar said that each van will carry 16 passengers and the service will be available from 7am to 7pm.
He said that the vans will ply on alternative routes if the Muree Road is blocked for construction of an elevated bridge for the metro bus project.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 8th, 2014.
Magazine burnt over Hindu terror claims
NEW DELHI: Protesters burned copies of an Indian magazine on Friday in protest of an article that linked a string of deadly attacks on Muslims to a Hindu nationalist leader close to India’s main opposition party.
The Caravan, a monthly that covers politics and culture, published the article in its February edition based on interviews with Swami Aseemanand from the jail where he is awaiting trial for militant attacks around India that killed more than 100 people between 2006 and 2008.
In the interviews, Aseemanand said Mohan Bhagwat, who leads Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), India’s largest Hindu nationalist organisation, which has close ties to the Bharatiya Janata Party, sanctioned the attacks.
Most BJP leaders have been members of the RSS – considered the ideological incubator for Hindu nationalism.
The RSS has denied the allegations against Bhagwat and said the interviews were fake. Since the magazine’s publication, Aseemanand has denied making the comments.
A senior editor at the magazine said over 100 protesters gathered outside its offices and staffers were facing disruptions.
Hindu hardliners accused the magazine of working with the Congress party government. “We’re protesting because the magazine is hand-in-hand with Congress,” said Vishnu Gupta, president of a group called Hindu Sena.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 8th, 2014.
Cellular subscribers cross 132 million mark
KARACHI:
The total number of mobile phone subscriptions in the country crossed 132 million at the end of November 2013 – the latest month for which data is publicly available, according to the statistics released on Pakistan Telecommunication Authority’s (PTA) website.
The overall cellular mobile teledensity reached 73.5% at the end of November, increasing by more than one percentage point from 72.3% as of September 2013 – the last time PTA published telecom statistics.
The five telecom operators combined added 1.9 million new users in the first two months of the fourth quarter of calendar year 2013.
The industry’s total subscriber base reached 132.3 million at the end of November, up from 130.4 million at the end of September.
The new additions to the industry didn’t change the market position of any of the five telecom operators. However, Telenor Pakistan and China Mobile Pakistan (Zong), in terms of net addition, led the industry in the first two months of the last quarter of 2013.
Telenor added 674,106 new subscriptions to its network that reached 33 million at the end of November while Zong sold 626,802 new connections to reach 23.7 million subscribers.
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Similarly, Mobilink added 352,866 new subscriptions to its network in October and November to finish at 37.7 million users. Meanwhile, Ufone added 201,335 new subscribers to its network to finish at 25 million users.
The industry added these new subscriptions at a rate of more than 30,000 connections a day during October and November.
However, this rate is likely to slow down in December and onwards as all the operators are bound to sell new connections through the biometric verification system.
PTA had directed all mobile operators to complete the deployment of biometric devices at their Customer Support Centres and franchises in Karachi by November 30 and all over the country by December 20, which they already did.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 8th, 2014.
Peace initiative: Maulana Aziz strikes a discordant note
ISLAMABAD:
One of the Taliban intermediaries, Maulana Abdul Aziz, has refused to attend future meetings with government negotiators until the implementation of Sharia law is on the agenda.
“I’ll remain part of this [Taliban intermediary] committee — but, yes, I will not sit for future talks until my demands are met,” Aziz told journalists in Islamabad on Friday after a meeting of his Shura in Lal Masjid.
“Peace talks may be delayed because the government wants the talks within the limits of the Constitution but the Taliban believe only in the Holy Quran and Sunnah,” he added.
The government’s four-member negotiating committee met with the TTP intermediaries on Thursday, where the first demand of the former was that the talks would be held within the purview of the Constitution.
“Our first demand to the Taliban is submission to the Constitution of Pakistan,” Irfan Siddiqui, the coordinator of the government committee, had said after the three-hour session.
But Maulana Aziz reiterated that the people the government is trying to have a dialogue with do not believe in the Constitution. “I will not take back my demand for the enforcement of Sharia law. If Maulana Samiul Haq and the Taliban want to kick me out of the committee, they can.”
Irfan Siddiqui rejected the idea of implementing Sharia, saying that it cannot happen even in the tribal areas, which has made these talks useless, he said.
But Maulana Yousaf and Prof. Muhammad Ibrahim claimed they would convince Maulana Aziz to attend future meetings. “We will keep Maulana Aziz with us at all costs,” Prof. Ibrahim told The Express Tribune.
Echoing Maulana Aziz’s views, TTP central spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said the Taliban wouldn’t be waging a war against the government if they followed a law or a Constitution other than Islamic Sharia.
Talking to the BBC on Friday, he said the real purpose behind holding dialogue with Pakistani government was to enforce Islamic Sharia in the country.
“The war we are fighting is for enforcement of the Sharia […] and we will be holding talks with the government for the same objective,” he said. Asked how Sharia can be enforced when there is also a constitution in place, he replied: “This is simple because the party we are holding peace talks with claim they are Muslim and Pakistan was created in Islam’s name [...] so this task shouldn’t be difficult for any Muslim.”
He said that a meeting with the Taliban intermediaries was due in next four to five days in which future course of action would be directed to them.
The Taliban intermediaries have agreed to recommend a ceasefire to the nine-member Political Shura of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) overseeing the peace talks with the government.
“We [both the committees] have unanimously agreed upon a ceasefire. The Taliban committee will convey the government’s proposal of a truce to the TTP’s top Shura,” JUI-S spokesperson Maulana Yousaf told The Express Tribune.
“The Taliban committee agreed with this proposal as we all believe that there should be no activity by either side that can potentially harm peace efforts,” Rahimullah Yousafzai, a member of the government committee, told The Express Tribune. “Only with a ceasefire can these talks yield a lasting peace agreement.”
They also suggested to the Taliban intermediaries to ask the TTP leadership to include a couple of members from their Political Shura for more productive results.
Doubting the success of talks
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief in an interview to Bloomberg predicted that negotiations will start, but then there will be about three to four big explosions and the negotiations will be called off.
“We hope dialogue succeeds but the way it’s being set up is not the way we think it should be done. It has to be transparent and open.” Khan also disagreed with the TTP’s interpretation of Sharia law.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 8th, 2014.
National carrier: PIA racks up Rs87m in losses daily, Senate told
ISLAMABAD:
The upper house of parliament was informed on Friday that the financially stricken national flag carrier, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) was incurring losses worth Rs87 million on a daily basis.
The Senate was informed that a staggering Rs0.5 million a month was being paid to 214 employees – with over a dozen of them bagging more than one million each in salary and benefits.
While responding to a question, Sheikh Aftab, Minister of State for Parliamentary affairs said that the airline suffered Rs33 billion losses during 2012 – while losses amounting to Rs31 billion were reported during the first nine months of financial year 2013.
Defending the government’s report card, Aftab claimed that the PML-N inherited the carrier when it was bleeding cash – with losses worth Rs110 million a day which were reduced to Rs87 million a day. The minister explained that the government has injected Rs16 billion out of which Rs11.75 billion has been released so far as equity in PIA.
photo 52_zpsc1bf9d75.jpg
MFN status
Minister for Commerce Khurram Dastgir Khan informed the House that Pakistan has not yet given Non-Discriminatory Market Access (NDMA) and Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India.
Dastgir said both countries have made commitments and negotiations are under way on the issue. He‚ however‚ said that market access has been agreed between the two countries on reciprocal basis.
To another question‚ the minister said during the meeting of commerce ministers in New Delhi last month both sides also agreed to enhance operational hours at Wahga-Attari land route.
Peace talks
Former interior minister Rehman Mailk said Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), Malik said the on-going peace talks with the Taliban were in violation of the Constitution unless the group is removed from the list of proscribed organisations.
The PPP lawmaker said that the Taliban have used the negotiations merely as a ruse to buy time to regroup in the past and peace agreements with militant groups signed in 2004, 2005 and 2008 could not hold.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 8th, 2014.
Continuing operation?: TTP Mohmand cast doubts on govt sincerity
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Mohmand Agency on Friday alleged that the government was continuing its operation against them under the garb of dialogue.
In a press statement issued on Friday with the signature of Omar Khorasani, the TTP claimed two of its activists were killed by security forces, after being kidnapped on January 20 and January 22 from Peshawar.
“This incident took place at a time when the peace talks between the government and the TTP have started,” the statement ran.
It appeared the government wanted to ‘cheat’ them once again as it had arrested their ex-spokesman Haji Muslim Khan and killed their chief Hakimullah Mehsod in the past, the statement said.
The statement added that under the circumstances, they were forced to review if it was possible for them to participate in such talks.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 8th, 2014.
PTI letter ‘defamatory and false’, says Sehgal
ISLAMABAD:
In response to a letter sent by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) spokesperson to the interior minister, Ikram Sehgal has said the majority shareholders of Wackenhut Pakistan and Security and Management Services (SMS) have reacted very strongly to what they term a ‘defamatory and outrageous’ claim.
The PTI spokesperson, in the letter, claimed foreign security companies were operating in Pakistan while posing as local companies under some internal arrangement and sought an explanation from the government on the matter. A report on the letter was published in The Express Tribune on February 7, 2014.
Sehgal – who is a majority shareholder of both the security companies – said this claim was ‘blatantly false’. He said the shares bought back from G4S were in Pakistan only and not worldwide as the PTI spokesperson maintained.
Sehgal also said that the ‘insiders’ who the PTI spokesperson cited as sources in the letter were in actuality “motivated interests who cannot compete with his companies and have repeatedly used this bogey to smear their reputation”.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 8th, 2014.
Day of mourning observed in various cities of Sindh
KARACHI / HYDERABAD / SUKKUR: A day of mourning was observed in many parts of Sindh including Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur on Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s (MQM) call, Express News reported on Saturday.
On February 7, MQM had announced that a day of mourning would be observed today (Saturday) to register their protest against the killing of a party worker in Karachi.
Shops started to open in Karachi at around 2pm after the MQM Rabita Committee asked business owners in Sindh to reopen their establishments.
Most shops and businesses were closed and attendance at schools was low in Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur. Public transport was not operating and there was little traffic on roads in all three cities.
Karachi Transport Ittehad (KTI) had announced on February 7 that it would keep its vehicles off the road on Saturday.
Petrol pumps throughout the cities were also closed today.
Black cloths were hung outside MQM offices in Sukkur today as a sign of mourning.
‘Extrajudicial killings’
Unidentified men had allegedly kidnapped Muhammad Salman on February 3. His mutilated body was found a day later from the Shah Latif Town of Landhi.
Addressing a press conference, MQM leaders had claimed that Salman was a victim of extra judicial killings by the LEAs. They had demanded registration of a case against police chief Shahid Hayat for failing to tackle the situation.
“Since last year, 45 of our workers have gone missing, 40 went missing since the operation started. Ten activists have been victims to extrajudicial killings,” MQM leader Haider Abbas Rizvi had said.
He said that the party had no other way except to protest and observe days of mourning.
79 police officers killed in Karachi operation so far: Report
KARACHI: According to a 5-month report on the Karachi targeted operation, 79 police officers have been killed so far since the start of the operation, Express News bureau chief Karachi Aslam Khan reported on Saturday.
The report was presented to the Inspector General of Sindh Police.
The targeted operation started in Karachi after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif visited the metropolitan in September in a bid to devise a strategy to curb violence.
With the provincial government on board, the prime minister had given a go-ahead to the paramilitary force to conduct raids and arrest criminals with the help of the police. Subsequently, the operation began on September 7.
The report stated that in September last year, 15 police officers were killed during the operation, 12 in October, 11 in November and 11 in December, further adding that in 2014 25 police officers lost their lives in January during the operation and five in February so far.
No of police officers killed so far in Karachi operation from Sept'13 to Feb'14
Also, 15,671 suspects were arrested while a total of 804 encounters and 10,254 raids have taken place up till now, the report said.
Security officials have also recovered 282 kilogrammes of explosives, 167 hand grenades and explosive devices, and seven rocket and rocket launchers so far, the report added.
In addition, the report also said that 3,430 pistols, 84 kalashnikovs, three light machine guns and four suicide jackets were also seized during the operation up till now.
Pakistan, Sri Lanka abstain as ICC board passes controversial revamp
SINGAPORE: Cricket’s world body Saturday passed a wide-ranging and controversial shake-up of its governance and structure despite strident protests that it gives too much power to the “Big Three” of India, England and Australia.
The dominant trio seemed to be the big winners after the proposals were approved by the necessary eight out of 10 full members at a hastily convened International Cricket Council (ICC) board meeting in Singapore.
Sri Lanka, Pakistan and South Africa had all opposed the revamp when it was debated last month, but South Africa’s Chris Nenzani voted in favour at Saturday’s meeting. Sri Lanka and Pakistan abstained.
In the revamped ICC, India – which contributes 80 percent of global revenues – and fellow powerhouses England and Australia will have permanent seats on a new, five-member executive committee.
The committee will make recommendations to the decision-making body, the ICC board, which will be chaired by India’s N Srinivasan from the middle of this year.
Revenues will be distributed according to countries’ contributions – financial, sporting and historical – but the seven non-”Big Three” members will be boosted by a new Test Cricket Fund.
The Future Tours Programme, designed to guarantee series for all Test teams, will be changed with a series of binding, bilateral agreements to be struck between members.
And the World Test Championship, which was due to debut in 2017, has been scrapped, with the one-day Champions Trophy continuing in 2017 and 2021. The Test championship was deemed unworkable, a statement said.
The representatives of South Africa, Pakistan and Sri Lanka did not give details about their positions as they left the meeting, although Sri Lanka’s Nishantha Ranatunga said he would hold discussions with his board.
“Pakistan and Sri Lanka believed that they needed more time to discuss the amendments to the resolutions with their respective boards,” said ICC president Alan Isaac.
“There is a hope that when we come back at the next meeting that they will able to also support the resolutions.”
India’s Srinivasan and Australia’s Wally Edwards declined to comment, but their fellow “Big Three” member, England and Wales Cricket Board chairman Giles Clarke, called it “a very good meeting”.
“There was general agreement and (it was) all very satisfactory,” he told AFP.
The approval came as some surprise given the loud opposition which has erupted in the cricketing community to the original proposals made by the three influential countries.
Ahead of the meeting, a leaked document detailed South Africa’s reaction to the original proposal, which it called “extremely disappointing and indeed hurtful when originating from three great cricketing nations”.
Pakistan great Imran Khan said the plan smacked of colonialism, while Lord Harry Woolf, author of a report which urged greater distribution of power at the ICC, called it “alarming” and “entirely motivated by money”.
“I don’t see how if we had this to consider we could see it as anything but a retrograde step,” Woolf told Britain’s Daily Telegraph.
“It is giving extraordinary powers to a small triumvirate of three people, and everybody else has got no power to say anything or do anything,” the former Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales said.
“It seems to be entirely motivated by money.”
Anti-corruption group Transparency International expressed “serious concern… the intention to entrench a privileged position for ‘The Big Three’ appears to be an abuse of entrusted power for private gain”.
Sri Lanka had also complained that the proposals violated the ICC constitution by not distributing revenues equally between members.
Despite the concerns, Isaac said it was important that cricket’s most influential countries now had a greater stake in the ICC, rather than be at risk of drifting away.
“It’s been very important I think for ICC to have more commitment from those three members,” he said.
“They would say to you I think that in the past they’ve tended to concentrate on matters in their own country and perhaps not always spent the time helping, leading the ICC.
“So their original proposal was really part of a commitment to get more involved in the leadership of the ICC.”
Several of the proposals still need to be adopted by the ICC’s Full Council, and they will be drafted by various committees before being submitted for approval.
Youth Festival: Donkeys take stage ahead of games
LAHORE:
A ‘beauty contest’ among donkeys was held on Friday in Defence as part of the Punjab Youth Festival.
MPA Mian Naseer was the chief guest. MPA Yasmin Sohal was also present and gave prizes to the owners of winning donkeys.
Donkey Nashaee Times owned by Chaudhary Jabbar won the beauty contest.
As many as 30 animals wearing glitter and colourful ‘clothes’ were paraded.
Chotay Bantu of Mian Kashif was runner-up and Sher-i-Lahore of Sakhi Muhammad was third.
Donkeys also competed in a cart race from Defence to Walton bus stop.
Sher-i-Lahore won the race, followed by Wehshi Haseena of Arshad Ali. Reema owned by Muhammad Javed took the third position.
Speaking on the occasion, Mian Naseer said the government had given opportunities to the general public to excel in various fields during the festival.
“The festival not only promotes all kind of events but also gives new face to traditional sports,” he said.
The athletics competition between special people continued on Friday at Punjab Stadium.
In men’s blind race, Zahid Mahmood stood first. In the girls’ category, Huma Ashraf was the winner.
The event attracted special children from education centres from Lahore, Sheikhupura, Kasur, and Kahna.
Children took part in 100-metre race and Shahzad Maqbool of Sharakpur was declared winner while Muhammad Bilal of Iqbal Town was placed second and Zaheer was third.
In girls’ category, Huma Ashraf was the winner of top honour while Rabia Islam of Government College University took the second position and Saima of Sangla Hills was third.
In the boys’ blind 100-metre race, Zahid Mahmood of Johar Town took the first position, Abdul Shakoor of GCU was declared second while the Punjab University’s Ziauddin was third.
In the wheelchair race, Fahd Ishaq took the first position, Faisal Murtaza was second and Nawaz Rashid was third.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 8th, 2014.
Step forward: TTP talks move to Miranshah
NOWSHERA / ISLAMABAD: Jamaat-e-Islami leader Professor Mohammad Ibrahim and Jamiat Ulema Islam-Samiul Haq group (JUI-S) spokesperson Maulana Yousaf Shah reached Miranshah on Saturday to speak to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leadership, Express News reported.
Professor Ibrahim is a member of the TTP-appointed committee for peace talks and Shah is the coordinator of the committee. They arrived in Miranshah in a helicopter provided by the interior ministry today.
Earlier today, Shah told Express News that peace talks will continue once TTP’s stance on the Constitution of Pakistan and Shariah law is known.
He stated that the Taliban leadership had not informed the TTP committee about their position on conducting dialogue within the parameters of the Constitution yet, further adding that the peace talks will progress once the TTP’s stance is known.
On February 6, in the first round of talks between the government-nominated team of negotiators and Taliban-nominated intermediaries, it was proposed that talks will be held within the parameters of Constitution. It was agreed that all dialogue will be held within the parameters of Pakistan’s Constitution.
A day later, however, the Lal Masjid prayer-leader Maulana Abdul Aziz, who is one of the members of the TTP committee, had announced that he has parted from the peace talks.
He added that the negotiations may be delayed because the government wants the dialogue to be conducted within the limits of the Constitution but the Taliban believe only in the Quran and Sunnah.
He would remain part of the TTP’s three-man delegation led by fellow cleric Maulana Samiul Haq, unless told otherwise, but would not come to the negotiating table, he had further stated.
The committees
The four-member committee appointed by the government comprises Adviser to the Prime Minister on National Affairs Irfan Siddiqui, former ISI official Major (retd) Muhammad Amir, senior journalist Rahimullah Yousufzai as well as Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader and former Pakistan ambassador to Afghanistan Rustam Shah Mohmand.
The three-member committee named by the TTP includes Jamaat-e-Islami leader Prof Mohammad Ibrahim, JUI-S chief Maulana Samiul Haq and Maulana Abdul Aziz.
Friday, February 7, 2014
Top US diplomat for Europe says sorry for cursing the EU
WASHINGTON: Washington’s new top diplomat for Europe, Victoria Nuland, apologised on Thursday to EU counterparts after she was caught cursing about the European response to the crisis in Ukraine in a bugged phone call.
“F*** the EU,” Nuland allegedly says in what appeared to be a recent phone call with US ambassador to Kiev, Geoff Pyatt, which was somehow intercepted and uploaded onto YouTube accompanied by Russian captions.
US officials, while not denying such a conversation took place, refused to go into details, and pointed the finger at Russia for allegedly bugging the diplomats’ phones.
“Let me convey that she has been in contact with her EU counterparts, and of course has apologised,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
While Psaki said she had no independent details of how the conversation was captured and uploaded onto the social networking site, she added: “Certainly we think this is a new low in Russian tradecraft.”
White House spokesman Jay Carney alleged that the fact that it had been “tweeted out by the Russian government, it says something about Russia’s role.”
Nuland, who took over late last year as assistant secretary for European affairs, and Pyatt appear to discuss President Viktor Yanukovych’s offer last month to make opposition leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk the new prime minister and Vitaly Klitschko, deputy prime minister. Both men turned the offer down.
Nuland, who in December went down to Independence Square in Kiev in a show of support for the demonstrators, adds she has also been told that the UN chief Ban Ki-moon is about to appoint a former Dutch ambassador to Kiev, Robert Serry, as his representative to Ukraine.
“That would be great I think to help glue this thing and have the UN glue it and you know, fuck the EU,” she says, in apparent frustration at policy differences.
“We’ve got to do something to make it stick together, because you can be pretty sure that if it does start to gain altitude the Russians will be working behind the scenes to try to torpedo it,” Pyatt replies.
Psaki sought to downplay any tensions with the European Union over Ukraine, which has been rocked by weeks of protests by pro-democracy protestors.
Demonstrators were angered by Yanukovych’s sudden decision last year to abandon moves to sign an association accord with the EU, and instead solicit a financial aid package from former Soviet master, Russia.
Psaki said the United States, which is mulling possible sanctions on Ukraine if it cracks down on the protests, has “been working closely” with the EU.
“If we have frustrations, we express those privately as well. But it’s important to know how closely we work with them and how aligned we are on this issue.”
She also disputed Russian allegations that Washington was meddling in Kiev’s internal politics.
Nuland is heard saying of Klistcho, “I don’t think Klitsch should go into the government. I don’t think it’s necessary. I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
“I think Yats is the guy who’s got the economic experience, he’s got the governing experience,” she adds.
But Psaki said it should be “no surprise that US officials talk about issues” adding it was a “private diplomatic conversation.”
“It doesn’t change the fact that it’s up to the people on the ground. It is up to the people of Ukraine to determine what the path forward is.”
The phone tapping was an ironic twist on a spying scandal which soured relations with the EU last year, after it was revealed that US intelligence agencies had been gathering data from European leaders’ phones.
Nuland meanwhile met Thursday in Kiev with Yanukovych, who told her that he wanted to quickly adopt constitutional changes called for by pro-Western demonstrators.
Twitter notes 22% jump in account information requests from governments
As social media network Twitter reported a year on year 26 per cent growth in timeline views, it noted that governments were increasingly requesting Twitter for information on accounts.
In its half yearly transparency report of June – December 2013 notes that information requests jumped 22 per cent to 1,410 requests from the corresponding time period last year.
Pakistan is among the 10 new countries who requisitioned information pertaining to Twitter accounts, bringing the total number of countries seeking information to 46. Pakistan made no removal requests in the period under review.
Twitter said it only releases an indicative range of the information requests it receives if the requests are fewer than 10. From Pakistan, the social media reported it had received requests about less than 10 accounts. Of these, Twitter said it complied with none of the requests.
In comparison, India made 19 information requests about 27 accounts and Twitter complied with only 32 per cent of the requests. It also received two court orders for removal of defamatory content. They received six requests from the government and 54 accounts were specified of which Twitter complied with 13 per cent of requests. Twitter also withheld 13 tweets in India.
Eight countries including Saudi Arabia requested emergency closure requests only.
United States remained the top requester with 69 per cent requests followed by Japan 23 per cent and Saudi Arabia five per cent.
However, it was France with the highest removal requests with 306 with 146 accounts specified. Twitter said it complied with 35 per cent of the requests and withheld 133 tweets.
2 police officers killed in DG Khan shootout
DERA GHAZI KHAN: Two police officers were killed in a shootout between security forces and suspected criminals in Dera Ghazi Khan, Express News reported on Friday.
According to initial details, police conducted raids on information of wanted criminals hiding in the area.
The suspects opened fire when the police entered the area. The shootout left two policemen and a member of Chotu gang dead.
The dead include Senior Superintendent of Police.
Two elite force personnel killed in Khanewal blast
KHANEWAL: At least two elite force members were killed and several others injured in a suicide blast in Khanewal on Friday evening, Express News reported.
There were conflicting claims regarding the nature of the incident.
According to the Express News correspondent Shakeel Anjum, two elite force vans were parked on the 84 bridge in Khanewal when two suspects riding motorcycle stopped near them and the suicide bomber blew himself up.
The second suspect has been arrested.
According to another account of event, police were tipped off about movement of the suspected terrorists. When they tried to intercept them, they opened fire. Three suspects were killed in the exchange of fire, while one blew himself up.
The target of the blast is yet to be determined.
Ambiguity: Govt demand to hold talks only within Constitution may cause delay, says cleric
ISLAMABAD: Announcing that he has parted from the peace talks, Lal Masjid prayer-leader Maulana Abdul Aziz on Friday said that the government-TTP peace talks may be delayed because the govt wants the talks within the limits of the Constitution but the Taliban believe only in the Quran and Sunnah, Express News reported.
He was speaking to the media in Islamabad.
He insisted that the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) team of negotiators was formed with good intentions, and pointed out that the government’s demand to hold negotiation within the parameters of the Constitution will only delay the process.
“The peace process can move forward only if it is according to the Quran and Sunnah,” Aziz stressed, adding that if the government means Islamic laws when it mentions the Constitution, there would be no problem.
“That should be the law in Pakistan and until the committee brings this point on the agenda I won’t be part of negotiations,” he told reporters on Friday.
He said he would remain part of the TTP’s three-man delegation led by fellow cleric Maulana Sami-ul-Haq, unless told otherwise, but would not come to the negotiating table.
“I won’t participate in talks until they include a clause about the imposition of Islamic law,” he said.
Aziz said that even the lawmakers in Pakistan do not know anything about Islamic law.
MQM announces Saturday as day of mourning
KARACHI: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Rabita Committee held a press conference on Friday evening to announce a day of mourning on Saturday, Express News reported.
‘The day of mourning’ is being observed to highlight the extra-judicial killings of MQM workers in Karachi, said senior MQM leader Haider Abbas Rizvi.
He also said the MQM supports the targeted operation that the prime minister had sanctioned to establish peace in Karachi, but he added that this operation continuously targets innocent MQM volunteers and other citizens.
“People are going missing and the list of the missing persons keeps on growing,” he said. “This is a worrying situation.”
He alleged there were 10 extra-judicial killings of MQM volunteers over the past one year, and that 45 MQM volunteers have gone missing since the beginning of 2013. He added that the party had filed petitions with the High Court; however, no action has been taken on these petitions.
The Karachi Transport Union has announced that it will comply with MQM’s request to hold off transport operations on Saturday.
Bilawal’s response
After the press conference Bilawal Bhutto tweeted that calling a strike will only lead to MQM losing good will among the people of Karachi.
Egypt army chief Sisi says he will run for president: Report
CAIRO: Egyptian army chief Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al Sisi, who deposed the country’s first freely elected leader, has said he will run for president, a Kuwaiti newspaper reported on Thursday.
The widely expected move is almost certain to increase political tensions and anger militants who have stepped up attacks on the state since Sisi ousted president Mohamed Mursi in July after mass protests against him.
It will also deepen concerns that military men will again dominate Egypt after a 2011 popular uprising raised hopes of a civilian democracy.
The newspaper, Al-Seyassah, quoted Sisi as saying in an interview that he had no alternative but to meet the wishes of the Egyptian people for him to run.
“I will not reject the demand,” said Sisi, who is seen as a decisive figure that can ease political turmoil that has hit Egypt’s economy hard.
“I will present this to the Egyptian people to renew confidence through free voting.”
There was no official confirmation that Sisi will contest elections expected within six months. A statement from Egypt’s military spokesman said comments that appeared in the Kuwaiti newspaper were not direct quotes from Sisi. But the spokesman did not deny that Sisi would run for president.
Mursi and his Muslim Brotherhood movement accuse Sisi of staging a coup and undermining democratic gains made since a popular uprising ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
After deposing Mursi, Sisi unveiled a political roadmap meant to lead to free and fair elections.
But under his watch, security forces have mounted one of the fiercest crackdowns against the Brotherhood and stifled dissent, drawing fire from human rights groups.
About 1,000 Brotherhood members have been killed in the streets and top leaders have been jailed.
The Brotherhood, which says it is a peaceful organisation, has been largely driven underground. But it is resilient and is likely to keep challenging Sisi.
Al Qaeda-inspired militant groups based in the Sinai have been waging an insurgency that has gained momentum since Sisi installed a government. Hundreds of security forces have been killed in the largely lawless peninsula.
The militants have also struck elsewhere, including Cairo.
Western diplomats say Sisi had resisted running for president until recently, fearful that managing Egypt’s multitude of problems would be a daunting task.
Saudi Arabia, the United Emirates and Kuwait, who are suspicious of the Brotherhood, showered Egypt with billions of dollars after Mursi’s fall.
That aid has kept the economy afloat through political upheaval and street protests which scared away investors and tourists. But the government has yet to come up with a long-term plan to boost finances.
Sisi has become deeply popular in Egypt. There are Sisi posters, T-shirts and even chocolate bars. He is portrayed as a saviour on state and private television channels.
But Sisi is aware that Egyptians, with the help of the army, have ousted two presidents in three years. If he fails to deliver, mass protests could erupt again.
“We will not play with people’s dreams or tell them we have a magic wand,” said Sisi in the interview with the Kuwaiti newspaper. “I will tell them let’s join hands and work together to build this country of 90 million.”
India investigates report of Huawei hacking state carrier's network
NEW DELHI: India on Thursday launched an investigation after a media report alleged that Chinese telecoms company Huawei had hacked into state-run telecoms carrier Bharat Sanchar Nigam, a senior government official said.
“An incident about the alleged hacking of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) network by M/S Huawei … has come to notice,” Killi Kruparani, junior minister for communications and information technology, said in a written reply to a question from a member of parliament.
“The government has constituted an inter-ministerial committee to investigate the matter,” the minister said on Wednesday, without giving details.
A senior government official said the decision to investigate came after a media report said Huawei had hacked a BSNL mobile base station controller. The official declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue.
BSNL declined to comment beyond the minister’s statement. A spokesperson for the communications and information technology ministry said he did not have details of the allegation.
A spokesperson for Huawei India denied any hacking.
“Huawei India denies such alleged hacking and continues to work closely with customers and governments in India to address any network security issue that may arise in technical and business operations,” spokesperosn Suresh Vaidyanathan said in a statement.
Vaidyanathan said Huawei, founded by a former officer of China’s People’s Liberation Army, fully complied with network security norms and regulations.
The Indian government has launched investigations in the past based on media reports.
Neighbors India and China fought a war more than 50 years ago and have a disagreement over their border. This is not the first time Huawei is facing scrutiny in India.
In 2010, India blocked for several months domestic carriers’ imports of Chinese telecoms equipment over suspicions that it might have spying technology embedded to intercept sensitive conversations and government communications.
The unofficial ban was lifted after the Chinese makers, who had said their equipment was safe, agreed to new equipment rules with tougher checks.
The United States has also flagged Chinese telecoms equipment as a potential security risk.
In 2012, a US panel urged American companies to stop doing business with Huawei and ZTE warning that China could use firms’ equipment to spy on certain communications and threaten vital systems through computerised links.
Sindh Assembly passes bill enabling law enforcers to procure weapons within a day
KARACHI: The Sindh Assembly on Friday unanimously approved the Sindh Emergency Procurement Bill 2014, Express News reported.
The bill enables law enforcement agencies to purchase weapons and other equipment for emergency situations within a day.
The Sindh Emergency Procurement Bill 2014 — which was passed on a temporary basis for the period of one year — permits law enforcers to bypass normal authorities on the basis of an emergency.
The procurement of weapons and equipment is a lengthy process and, when done through the normal authorities, it can take three to five months.
The assembly passed the bill to ensure the security of law enforcers.
UN poised to deliver aid to Syria's besieged Homs
DAMASCUS: The United Nations was waiting Friday for a promised pause in fighting around besieged rebel-held areas of Syria’s third city Homs to deliver desperately needed aid and evacuate civilians who want to leave.
Under a surprise deal struck by the UN on Thursday, the Syrian government agreed to a “humanitarian pause” in the fighting around the rebel-held enclave in the city centre to allow in food and medicines for the hundreds of civilians who have lived under siege for more than 600 days.
The relief supplies had been held up in a UN warehouse in a government-held area of the city just kilometres away while the negotiations for relief access dragged on for months.
Washington said that the aid convoy was expected to enter early Friday, although UN officials cautioned that the timing would depend on the agreed halt to fighting going into effect on the ground.
The rebel-held Old City and adjacent neighbourhoods have come under near-daily shelling since the army imposed a blockade in June 2012 after recapturing most of Homs in a counter-offensive launched that February.
At least 1,200 children, women and elderly people are among some 2,500 civilians who have been trapped under siege, surviving on little but olives, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says.
Their plight was on the agenda of long-awaited peace talks between the government and the opposition in Switzerland last month, but the talks broke up without a hoped for agreement on access for relief supplies.
It was left to UN representatives in Damascus to thrash out the deal with Syrian officials, who had long insisted that they would allow civilians to leave but would not allow aid to be taken in.
“Homs Governor Talal al Barazi and UN resident coordinator Yaacoub El Hillo have reached an agreement securing the exit of innocent civilians from the Old City and the entrance of humanitarian assistance for civilians who choose to stay,” the state SANA news agency announced on Thursday.
UN spokesman Farhan Haq said the Syrian government had agreed to a “humanitarian pause” in its bombardment of rebel positions.
SANA said “the relevant Syrian authorities will implement the deal by providing the necessary humanitarian assistance”.
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said: “We understand the operations will begin tomorrow, Friday morning, and will include a local humanitarian pause while the evacuations take place and while the food and other humanitarian assistance is delivered.”
In Geneva, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said food and supplies had been placed on the outskirts of Homs but they would not be delivered until safety is assured.
“They’re not going to travel by night, but the agreement for delivery is there, and that is what we are welcoming,” OCHA spokesman Jens Laerke said.
“You may only hear about the actual delivery when it has taken place. And that is simply to ensure the safety of our staff.”
In the first year of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad’s rule that erupted in March 2011, activists dubbed Homs the capital of the revolution.
But a bloody counter-offensive launched by the army in February 2012 saw it recapture much of the central city, which lies on a strategic crossroads on highways between Damascus and the north, and the interior and the Mediterranean coast.
The rebel-held Khaldiyeh and Baba Amr districts came under massive bombardment leading to the deaths of hundreds of civilians and foreign journalists, including acclaimed American war correspondent Marie Colvin.
The offensive confined the rebels to a small enclave in the city centre, which was further reduced in a new assault launched after pro-government forces recaptured the town of Qusayr in June last year, cutting off the rebels’ supply route to neighbouring Lebanon.
US targets businesses for evading sanctions on Iran
WASHINGTON: The Obama administration targeted a host of businesses across Europe and the Middle East on Thursday for evading sanctions against Iran, a signal that Washington aims to keep pressure on Tehran over its nuclear program.
The announcement marks the second time the United States has designated sanctions evaders since reaching an interim deal with Tehran in November.
Washington says it will continue to enforce existing sanctions until there is a more comprehensive deal to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
“We strongly believe that sustaining sanctions pressure will be critical,” a senior US Treasury official told journalists by telephone.
Under that agreement between Iran and six major powers, including the United States, Tehran agreed to curb sensitive nuclear activities in exchange for some limited sanctions relief, including the transfer back to Iran of $4.2 billion in oil funds held abroad.
Top administration officials insisted to lawmakers in Senate testimony this week that Washington would continue to enforce its existing sanctions on Iran.
Concerned about trade delegations, such as a visit to Tehran this week by 100 business leaders from France’s biggest firms, some members of Congress want the sanctions regime expanded despite the administration’s objections.
Iran says that its nuclear program is peaceful and denies Western and Israeli accusations that it is seeking the means and expertise to assemble a nuclear warhead. It also maintains that it is Israel’s reputed atomic arsenal that threatens peace.
The actions taken on Thursday prohibit companies and individuals from carrying out financial transactions under US jurisdiction.
Businesses and individuals targeted
The US Treasury said the targeted businesses and individuals operated in Turkey, Spain, Germany, Georgia, Afghanistan, Iran, Liechtenstein and the United Arab Emirates.
Some were helping Iran evade sanctions on oil exports as well as its efforts to acquire prohibited nuclear and military technologies, according to the Treasury. They included a Spanish firm that the United States said was helping Iran’s nuclear industry.
The United States targeted a Turkish citizen for allegedly helping Iran try to acquire and reverse engineer a “weapons-capable” speedboat. Washington also accused German firm Deutsche Forfait of helping “facilitate oil deals” with Iran.
Other violators named were associated with Iran-sponsored activities in Syria and Afghanistan, Treasury said in a statement.
Some US lawmakers are pushing for new sanctions laws to be imposed on the Islamic state, but the Obama administration has campaigned to hold off on new measures to give diplomatic efforts to settle the nuclear dispute a chance.
Senator Robert Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, made a 45-minute speech on Thursday arguing that the measure should move ahead with a sanctions bill that is stalled in Congress.
“I believe in the lessons of history that tell us Iran cannot be trusted to live up to its word without external pressure,” the New Jersey Democrat said on the Senate floor.
The Treasury last imposed Iran sanctions in December, shortly after the interim deal was struck, blacklisting several companies and individuals for supporting Iran’s nuclear program.
Alarm over 'Big Brother' Turkish internet curbs
ISTANBUL: Turkey drew fire Thursday over new internet curbs portrayed as protecting privacy and the young but which critics say will stifle free speech and accelerate a slide towards authoritarianism.
The measures passed by parliament late Wednesday are the latest step by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to sound alarm bells as he seeks to bring the judiciary and police to heel and contain a deeply embarrassing corruption probe.
The government has defended the measures but in Brussels, European Commission spokesman Peter Stano said the curbs in the aspiring EU member, including the blocking of webpages without a court order, raised “serious concerns” and need to be revised.
European Parliament chief Martin Schultz called it a “step back in an already suffocating environment for media freedom”, while EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule said that Turkey needed “more transparency and information, not restriction”.
“On the heels of protests last year and a corruption scandal, much of which has played out online, the timing … raises concerns that a defensive government is seeking to increase its power to silence critics and to arbitrarily limit politically damaging material online,” Human Rights Watch said.
Under the new restrictions, Turkey’s Telecommunications Communications Presidency (TIB) can demand that providers block pages deemed insulting or as invading privacy — and without the need for a judge.
The body will also be able to request users’ online communications and traffic information from hosting providers, which will have to retain data for up to two years.
Lawmaker Faruk Logoglu from the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) told AFP the measures were “nothing but a way to intimidate the people, to tell them ‘Big Brother is watching you’.”
The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has warned that the curbs could “significantly impact free expression, investigative journalism, the protection of journalists’ sources, political discourse and access to information over the Internet.”
Washington shared the OSCE concerns “on freedom of the media,” said State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki, adding there were also fears that “these proposed measures are not compatible with international standards on freedom of expression.”
Yaman Akdeniz, law professor at Bilgi University in Istanbul, said the curbs would have a “chilling effect” in a country where Facebook and Twitter are platforms for political discussion rather than just socialising.
“I would call it an Orwellian nightmare,” he told AFP. “Turkey has become a step closer to countries like Iran, Syria and China, rather than moving towards the European Union.”
But the Islamic-rooted government rejected the criticism, with Lutfi Elvan, transport and communications minister, calling the accusations “unjust”.
“What we want to do is to respond as quickly as possible when a person says their privacy has been compromised … while avoiding bureaucratic procedures,” Elvan said.
Erdogan, Turkey’s all-powerful leader for 11 years, is openly suspicious of the Internet, branding Twitter a “menace” for helping organise mass nationwide protests in June in which six people died and thousands were injured.
But President Abdullah Gul, who on Tuesday met Apple chief Tim Cook, has portrayed himself as an Internet fan, tweeting for example in 2011: “Anyone who wants it should be able to roam freely on the Internet”.
Human rights think tank Freedom House urged Gul to veto the new rules, saying they give “the government licence to censor the Internet whatever it doesn’t like and whatever it doesn’t want the public to know.”
But such a veto is far from certain, however, since Gul is a close ally of Erdogan — officially at least — and their Justice and Development Party (AKP) is facing important local elections on March 30.
“President Gul… has avoided using his authority in the past even in the most controversial issues,” Ozgur Korkmaz said in an editorial in the Hurriyet newspaper. “An exception for the Internet censorship law is highly unlikely.”
CHP lawmaker Emrehan Halici told AFP he hoped Gul would return the amendments to parliament, “but until now the head of state has in general approved all the mistaken laws adopted by the AKP”.
Covering the legendary Tufail Niazi
LAHORE:
Tufail Niazi was always known to be soft-spoken, despite his powerhouse vocals. When he sang, it was always with a sense of empathy. He was not eclectic with his performances, because he was never seeking to rile crowds like qawwals such as Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Instead, he always maintained a dignified elegance, like Mehdi Hasan.
There was something very unique about his prowess as a singer; it touched those areas of emotion which people can only dream to explore. He is well-known to the point that Muahmmed Rafi was once reported to have said: “People listen to me, but I listen to Tufail Niazi.”
http://i888.photobucket.com/albums/ac89/etwebdesk/etwebdesk001/etwebdesk001002/1_zpse388446f.jpg
In recent times, Abrar Ul Haq, Meekal Hassan Band, Asad Abbas, Arif Lohar, Abida Parveen, Ali Abbas and a number of other musicians have all tried to cover Niazi’s work. His son Baber Niazi, who lives in Islamabad, says that his father’s work was intriguing for many because he always maintained a balance. On one hand, he catered to the folk-oriented music, and on the other he brilliantly performed as a classical singer. He was one of the first singers to break traditional norms and mix raags.
Lollywood choreographer Pappu Samrat, whose grandfather Ashiq Hussain Samrat was friends with Niazi, covered the ephemeral song Charkha, in what was his first attempt at singing. Niazi has always been his inspiration as he greatly loved what his music came to represent. Pappu says he thinks his first song was a good attempt and he hopes to continue music.
The song was composed by veteran composer Ronaq Ali, who said that he had tried to make Niazi accessible to modern listeners when composing it. Ali says that he was surprised by how well Pappu handled the composition for a first attempt at singing.
“As a singer, Tufail Niazi is very difficult to cover technically, that’s why I feel not many songs of his have been covered. What I did was, I made it straight so it’s more accessible, but with the same colours,” says Ali.
Baber, Niazi’s son, reveals that the cross-over value and ability of his father’s music to connect with people globally is why many people continue to attempt to cover him, despite the daunting nature of the task. “We spent a lot of time with him till the very end, learning music. I think it’s very clear he is a very difficult person to cover as he changed the style of ghazals. In essence, he was a trendsetter,” says Baber.
Niazi’s three sons — Baber, Javed and Shahenshah — have carried on his legacy. Baber and Javed, who have been honoured with the Pride of Performance awards for their work, are now more associated with in the international circuit, where their specialties in music are still remembered.
“I think it’s actually funny how sarangi is finishing from Pakistan and the sitar from South Asia, whereas, in North America and Europe they are being preserved,” adds Baber.
He says the only way a true revival of classical or folk music can occur is through live music. Moreover, another way to ensure revival would be if the mainstream media channels improve the criteria and merit in the industry.
“Performing live is the life-line of classical music, because it allows you to have two hours to expand and explore. In recording, however, you have a lot more limitation. I remember during my father’s time the emphasis was on merit, people would have to go through a series of auditions and the standards were such that everyone would have to work hard,” says the maestro’s son.
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