Pakistan : Terrorist Wahabi Islamic Rep Pakistan 7

[Naresh]

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[url="http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=57320&Cat=9&dt=7/12/2011"]Pakistan’s external sector - Dr Ashfaque H Khan - Tuesday, July 12, 2011[/url]



Pakistan’s external balance of payments improved significantly in 2010-11 on the strength of the robust exports and remittances, and strong inflows on account of the Coalition Support Fund and flood-related grants. In his budget speech, the finance minister made special mention of the performance of the external sector, in particular exports and remittances.



The finance minister has chosen to discard the neutrality that behooves him as a technocrat in favour of politically partisan reflections on economic matters. I would like to display the other side of the picture. Indeed, the minister should have a contingency plan ready for him to be able to meet the emerging challenges on the external sector in the current fiscal year.



It is a fact that Pakistan’s external sector has performed impressively. It is also a fact that exports and remittances have posted stellar growth. But it is also beyond dispute that the performance of the external sector is based on windfall gains and one-off developments, which are not likely to be repeated in the current year. This article reviews the performance of the external sector, quantifies the contribution of the one-off development in exports and examines the mysterious growth in remittances. Most importantly, it raises questions over the surplus of the current account balance.



After six years, Pakistan witnessed a current account surplus of $205 million in July-May 2010-11, owing to strong growth in exports and remittances. The political leadership and technocrats-turned-politicians would celebrate this as a grand success of their policies. But we need to go behind these numbers and find the reasons for the surplus in current account.



Any student of economics would know that saving-investment gap is identically equal to the current account gap (S-I=X-M). A surplus in current account means savings have exceeded investment. Pakistan’s savings rate is not only low but it declined sharply to 13.8 percent in 2010-11, from a peak of 20.8 percent in 2002-03. A decline of 7 percentage points in eight years. A surplus in current account in 2010-11 means the saving rate has exceeded investment. In other words, investment has declined sharply to sink below the already low savings rate. In fact, investment declined to a 40-year low at 13.4 percent of the GDP in 2010-11, against the savings rate of 13.8 percent, posting a current-account surplus of 0.4 percent of GDP.



Only four years ago (2006-07), the investment rate had reached an all-time high of 22.5 percent of the GDP but experienced a decline to 13.4 percent in 2010-11 – a fall of over 9 percentage points in just four years. Such a sharp reduction in investment should be a matter of serious concern for the economic managers as it does not augur well for economic growth, job creation and poverty alleviation in the medium term.



Achieving a current-account surplus by drastically reducing investment is a bad idea. The people of Pakistan will pay a heavy price for this surplus in terms of low economic growth, more unemployment and more poverty. Should we celebrate the success in the external sector? I leave it to the finance minister and his economic team to decide.



Let me turn to exports. Pakistan’s exports were up 27.4 percent, to reach $22.8 billion in the first eleven months (July-May) of the last fiscal year. Textile manufacturers alone contributed 62 percent to the surge in exports. The contribution of textile manufacturers stems largely from the unprecedented surge in cotton and textile manufactures’ prices in the international market.



Pakistan’s overall exports increased by $4.1 billion on account of the price effect alone. If Pakistan’s exports in terms of quantity are calculated on the basis of last year’s price, the overall exports are estimated to have been reduced by over $4 billion, of which, textile manufacturers gained $3.2 billion on account of the surge in their prices. In other words, textile manufacturers contributed 78 percent to the additional gain in exports owing to the unprecedented increase in cotton prices in the international market.



This was a windfall gain, [color="#FF0000"]a one-time development,[/color] and not likely to be repeated this year. In fact, cotton prices have already started declining sharply in the international market. Furthermore, since the global economic recovery is fragile, the international demand for Pakistani exports is likely to remain weak in the current fiscal year. Hence, a weak external demand, declining cotton prices, domestic energy constraints and a deteriorating law and order situation, particularly in the major growth centres of the country, may keep exports growth flat or even negative in the current fiscal year.



[color="#FF0000"]The mysterious growth in remittances is also a matter of serious concern.[/color] Pakistan received $11.2 billion’s remittances in 2010-11, posting a growth of 25.8 percent. The Philippines, a major recipient of remittances, is witnessing a declining trend in these for the past one year. Their recent numbers suggest that remittances could increase by 3.9 percent in 2011 to reach $20 billion. It is well known that Filipino workers are in high demand in the Middle East (Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait and other countries). These are countries where Pakistan’s expatriates also work. [color="#FF0000"][size="5"]How come remittances are growing by 3-4 percent in the Philippines and 26 percent in Pakistan? Is it not a mystery? The State Bank of Pakistan should look into this mysterious development.[/size][/color]



There is nothing to celebrate the success of the surplus in the current account. The surplus has been achieved by drastically reducing investment. Exports have performed impressively on account of a one-off event [color="#FF0000"]and the extraordinary growth in remittances is at best a mystery.[/color] Indeed, the external balance of payments is likely to come under pressure owing to adverse domestic and external developments.



The writer is principal and dean of NUST Business School at the National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad.



[center][size="5"]Remittances : [color="#FF0000"]Betting - Extortion – Heroin – Money Laundering – Terrorism Etc., Etc., & Etc.?[/color][/size][/center]



Cheers

[Guest]

[quote name='Arun_S' date='11 July 2011 - 01:58 AM' timestamp='1310329216' post='112152']

How ironic, US investing in mango farms. knowing how Zia Ul Haq was dispatched to hell by a mango crate that was loaded on the plane that crashed.





[url="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/14/arts/14iht-idbriefs14C.1.13692151.html"]Mohammed Hanif's 'A Case of Exploding Mangoes'[/url]



[url="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/14/arts/14iht-idbriefs14C.1.13692151.html"]http://www.nytimes.c...1.13692151.html[/url]



Are we going to get these Mangoes, TAX FREE?

May these mango crates are for ARMY









26 May 2011

[url="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13561282"]The unloved US investment in Pakistan[/url]

By Aleem Maqbool BBC News, Southern Punjab

[/quote]

[Guest]

Suspected US Drones Kill 38...

[Naresh]

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[url="http://www.newslinemagazine.com/2011/07/struggling-to-understand-the-cia-isi-relationship/"]Struggling to Understand the CIA-ISI Relationship[/url]



Last month, to no one’s surprise, the US Senate unanimously confirmed David Petraeus as the next CIA director. Admired as much for his political savvy as his battlefield successes, the outgoing commander of international forces in Afghanistan is often depicted as a sure-fire presidential candidate. Here in Washington, the general can seemingly do no wrong.



Within the Pakistani military establishment, however, he is more reviled than revered. According to the New York Times, security officials do not regard Petraeus as a friend; Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has referred to him contemptuously as a “political general.” And they have surely not forgotten his David Kilcullen-esque prediction – made back in 2009, as advancing Taliban forces edged closer to Islamabad – that the government could fall in two weeks.



One might therefore assume that with Petraeus at the helm of the CIA, repairing the agency’s troubled relationship with its Pakistani counterpart will not get any easier.



Maybe. Though not necessarily. When it comes to assessing CIA-ISI ties, there are no safe assumptions.



Given the secrecy that shrouds the intelligence relationship, few know exactly what is going on. And even when we think we do, we often discover we don’t. Last month, Pakistan’s interior minister announced that the CIA was “not operating” in Pakistan – only to be contradicted a few weeks later by US officials who contended that Americans (read: CIA personnel) remain stationed at Shamsi airbase.



What we do know, in the aftermath of the Raymond Davis and Osama Bin Laden imbroglios, is that the relationship is beset by tension. Pakistan has demanded the names of American spies in Pakistan, ordered US military forces out of the country, arrested CIA informants, and shuttered intelligence-sharing centres. America has countered by publicly voicing long-harboured suspicions (previously expressed in classified government documents and revealed earlier this year by WikiLeaks) that the ISI colludes with militants. “It’s fairly well-known,” stated Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen this spring, “that the ISI has a long-standing relationship with the Haqqani network.”



Then there is the vitriolic public opinion. Americans allege ISI complicity in all manners of nasty business, from the sheltering of Bin Laden to the murder of journalist Saleem Shahzad. Meanwhile, in Pakistan, the views of Shireen Mazari – [color="#FF0000"]who recently screamed, “Who do you think you are, you bloody CIA agent?”[/color] at a man who inadvertently bumped his chair into hers in an Islamabad restaurant (a man who appeared Western, but was not necessarily American, much less a CIA agent) – are by no means representative of the broader population. Yet the perception of a shadowy, all-encompassing CIA presence dominates popular culture. Recall those black-suited, dark alley-lurking, sinister-looking men featured in the music video for Shehzad Roy’s hit song “Laga Reh.”



To be sure, such perceptions are rooted in fact: The ISI is no angel, while the CIA has enjoyed a considerable presence in Pakistan. Still, rational thinking is one of demonisation’s first casualties. Americans (inside and outside the Beltway) have railed against the ISI’s arrests of Pakistani CIA informants in the Bin Laden raid. They forget, however, that their own government punishes those who aid foreign states, including close allies. (Jonathan Pollard, a former US naval intelligence analyst, has languished in prison since 1987 for allegedly sharing secrets with Israel.) Meanwhile, Pakistanis decry the use of CIA-managed drones, despite their having taken out the likes of Baitullah Mehsud and Ilyas Kashmiri – militants who threaten the Pakistani state and its people.



Undergirding public opinion in both nations is a common refrain: America needs Pakistan more than Pakistan needs America. Perhaps this is why the ISI has threatened to sever its ties with the CIA, while the CIA has never done so. Or why US public pronouncements about the ISI are much more conciliatory than Pakistan’s about the CIA. While the Davis crisis raged, the CIA issued this soothing statement: “The agency’s ties to the ISI have been strong over the years, and when there are issues to sort out, we work through them. That’s the sign of a healthy partnership.” Such language is rarely used when Pakistani intelligence officials speak publicly about the CIA.



Yet this language, as with public perceptions, reflects present ground realities. Both sides are indeed making concessions and patching up problems. According to US media reports of recent days, Pakistan has now removed its freeze on visas for American intelligence officers, and is allowing CIA staff to re-enter the country. Meanwhile, the United States (at least for now) no longer launches lethal drones from Pakistani territory.



Despite this progress, the CIA-ISI relationship will remain rocky. Given the level of mutual mistrust, it cannot be any other way. And in the post-Abbottabad affair era, the one corrective capable of restoring trust and goodwill – intelligence-sharing leading to the apprehension of high-level Al-Qaeda terrorists in Pakistan – no longer seems achievable.



The best-case scenario is that the spy agencies’ relations, much like the broader bilateral relationship, will precariously plod along, delicately defusing any new tensions that flare up. As Washington begins its phased military withdrawal from Afghanistan, expect the next tussle to revolve around the role of the Haqqani network – toward which the CIA and ISI favour drastically different policies – in political reconciliation efforts.



Alas, this “muddle-through” state is far from assured. Imagine another unilateral US military raid on Pakistani soil, conducted without consulting the ISI. Or a terrorist attack on US soil, traced back to Pakistan-based extremists. Neither scenario is far-fetched. [color="#FF0000"]The first one could cripple CIA-ISI ties, while the second could topple the spy relationship altogether.[/color]



Or maybe not. Making predictions about the future trajectory of this opaque relationship is an even more inexact science than venturing assumptions about its current state.



Michael Kugelman is the South Asia program associate at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC



Cheers

[Naresh]

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[center][color="#FF0000"][size="5"]INDIAN LEADERSHIP EXONERATES THE TERRORISTANI PAKISTANIS AND BLAMES MUMBAI’S UNDERWORLD![/size][/color][/center]



[url="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Mumbai-blasts-Is-underworld-behind-the-return-of-terror/articleshow/9216890.cms"][center][color="#006400"][size="6"]Mumbai blasts : Is underworld behind the return of terror?[/size][/color][/center][/url]



NEW DELHI : The security establishment was scrambling on Wednesday for any specific inputs that would give indications of who may have been behind the serial blasts that interrupted the past few months of lull from terror.



Sources were veering around to the opinion that the likelihood of underworld involvement was very high because of a host of factors. One official pointed out that the underworld has been "hyperactive" in recent weeks in Mumbai. There have been a number of reports about various developments in the underworld such as the killing of journalist J Dey and attacks on Dawood Ibrahim's brother's driver.



Among the recent inputs is also the possibility of a patch-up between some factions. Another analyst speculated that the simultaneous blasts required a fairly good network in Mumbai as well as strong local support. He said it was likely that the blasts were executed by the underworld, financed by someone else.



The attacks came just three days after the Centre issued a warning to Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Kolkata about the possibility of a Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) conspiracy to target these cities. However, sources are not willing to give much credence to this particular warning, which was based on inputs from BSF.



BSF may have got its inputs from Bangladeshi sources. The security establishment was scrambling for any specific inputs that would give indications of who may have been behind the serial blasts.



A third angle that is being closely looked at is the possibility of the involvement of Kashmiri terrorist groups. The blasts came on July 13, which is observed as Kashmir Martyrs Day to commemorate the killing of 22 Kashmiris by the Dogra forces in 1931. In the present phase of militancy that started in the late 1980s, Martyrs Day has been appropriated significantly by the separatists and terrorist groups.



One top official said the degraded capabilities of Kashmiri militant groups in recent times defy the logic of them carrying out multiple blasts in Mumbai. However, the official said possibility of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), which remains a very powerful terror group, carrying out the attack to coincide with July 13 cannot be ruled out.



Sources said they are seriously examining the possibility of Pakistan backed groups, especially the LeT, carrying out the attack to divert attention away from the domestic woes of Pakistan, and to warn that the Kashmir issue was far from over. If that were the case, then the Indian Mujahideen, or other LeT affiliates in Mumbai, may have been used for carrying out the attack, they said.



Cheers

[HareKrishna]

[quote name='Naresh' date='12 July 2011 - 09:07 PM' timestamp='1310484559' post='112173']

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[url="http://www.newslinemagazine.com/2011/07/struggling-to-understand-the-cia-isi-relationship/"]Struggling to Understand the CIA-ISI Relationship[/url]



[/quote]

Simple

Brother,brother,but the cheese is on money

[Guest]

INDIAN LEADERSHIP EXONERATES THE TERRORISTANI PAKISTANIS AND BLAMES MUMBAI’S UNDERWORLD!

Mumbai blasts : Is underworld behind the return of terror?

Moron Singh want to protect people from his birth country. He can't sleep when terrorist are in custody. Dead Indians are good citizens for Congress Party.

They have to protect scamsters first.

[Guest]

[url="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/US-exposes-ISI-subversion-of-Kashmir-cause-FBI-arrests-US-based-lobbyist/articleshow/9289454.cms"]US exposes ISI subversion arrests US-based lobbyist of Kashmir cause; FBI [/url]

WASHINGTON: Federal authorities on Monday arrested a prominent US-based pro-Pakistan activist associated with the Kashmiri separatist movement, accusing him of funneling money from the Pakistani spy agency ISI to lobby US decision-makers.



In the process, the Obama administration's law enforcement brigade also blew open the Pakistan and its spy agency's two-decade long subversion of the so-called Kashmir cause.



The FBI swooped down on the Virginia residence of Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai, a well-known representative of Kashmiri separatists in the US and detained him on charges of ''participating in a long-term conspiracy to act as agents of the Pakistani government in the United States without disclosing their affiliation with the Pakistani government as required by law.''



Or simply put, he served as a frontman for ISI's Kashmir agenda.



Another individual, Zaheer Ahmed, like Fai a US citizen, was also similarly charged, but he is at large and believed to be in Pakistan, according to US authorities.



Fai has been a familiar and prominent figure in Washington DC for nearly two decades, lobbying Kashmiri separatist cause as executive director of the Kashmiri-American Council (KAC) and dallying with senators and congressmen. US authorities now say the KAC was just an ISI front, funded by Pakistan's spy agency.

His linked with SAJA, India-unity..... what a big catch.

[rhytha]

Why My Father Hated India - By AATISH TASEER





Ten days before he was assassinated in January, my father, Salman Taseer, sent out a tweet about an Indian rocket that had come down over the Bay of Bengal: "Why does India make fools of themselves messing in space technology? Stick 2 bollywood my advice."



My father was the governor of Punjab, Pakistan's largest province, and his tweet, with its taunt at India's misfortune, would have delighted his many thousands of followers. It fed straight into Pakistan's unhealthy obsession with India, the country from which it was carved in 1947.



Though my father's attitude went down well in Pakistan, it had caused considerable tension between us. I am half-Indian, raised in Delhi by my Indian mother: India is a country that I consider my own. When my father was killed by one of his own bodyguards for defending a Christian woman accused of blasphemy, we had not spoken for three years.



To understand the Pakistani obsession with India, to get a sense of its special edge—its hysteria—it is necessary to understand the rejection of India, its culture and past, that lies at the heart of the idea of Pakistan. This is not merely an academic question. Pakistan's animus toward India is the cause of both its unwillingness to fight Islamic extremism and its active complicity in undermining the aims of its ostensible ally, the United States.



The idea of Pakistan was first seriously formulated by neither a cleric nor a politician but by a poet. In 1930, Muhammad Iqbal, addressing the All-India Muslim league, made the case for a state in which India's Muslims would realize their "political and ethical essence." Though he was always vague about what the new state would be, he was quite clear about what it would not be: the old pluralistic society of India, with its composite culture.



Iqbal's vision took concrete shape in August 1947. Despite the partition of British India, it had seemed at first that there would be no transfer of populations. But violence erupted, and it quickly became clear that in the new homeland for India's Muslims, there would be no place for its non-Muslim communities. Pakistan and India came into being at the cost of a million lives and the largest migration in history.



This shared experience of carnage and loss is the foundation of the modern relationship between the two countries. In human terms, it meant that each of my parents, my father in Pakistan and my mother in India, grew up around symmetrically violent stories of uprooting and homelessness.



But in Pakistan, the partition had another, deeper meaning. It raised big questions, in cultural and civilizational terms, about what its separation from India would mean.



In the absence of a true national identity, Pakistan defined itself by its opposition to India. It turned its back on all that had been common between Muslims and non-Muslims in the era before partition. Everything came under suspicion, from dress to customs to festivals, marriage rituals and literature. The new country set itself the task of erasing its association with the subcontinent, an association that many came to view as a contamination.



Had this assertion of national identity meant the casting out of something alien or foreign in favor of an organic or homegrown identity, it might have had an empowering effect. What made it self-wounding, even nihilistic, was that Pakistan, by asserting a new Arabized Islamic identity, rejected its own local and regional culture. In trying to turn its back on its shared past with India, Pakistan turned its back on itself.



But there was one problem: India was just across the border, and it was still its composite, pluralistic self, a place where nearly as many Muslims lived as in Pakistan. It was a daily reminder of the past that Pakistan had tried to erase.



Pakistan's existential confusion made itself apparent in the political turmoil of the decades after partition. The state failed to perform a single legal transfer of power; coups were commonplace. And yet, in 1980, my father would still have felt that the partition had not been a mistake, for one critical reason: India, for all its democracy and pluralism, was an economic disaster.



Pakistan had better roads, better cars; Pakistani businesses were thriving; its citizens could take foreign currency abroad. Compared with starving, socialist India, they were on much surer ground. So what if India had democracy? It had brought nothing but drought and famine.



But in the early 1990s, a reversal began to occur in the fortunes of the two countries. The advantage that Pakistan had seemed to enjoy in the years after independence evaporated, as it became clear that the quest to rid itself of its Indian identity had come at a price: the emergence of a new and dangerous brand of Islam.



As India rose, thanks to economic liberalization, Pakistan withered. The country that had begun as a poet's utopia was reduced to ruin and insolvency.



The primary agent of this decline has been the Pakistani army. The beneficiary of vast amounts of American assistance and money—$11 billion since 9/11—the military has diverted a significant amount of these resources to arming itself against India. In Afghanistan, it has sought neither security nor stability but rather a backyard, which—once the Americans leave—might provide Pakistan with "strategic depth" against India.



In order to realize these objectives, the Pakistani army has led the U.S. in a dance, in which it had to be seen to be fighting the war on terror, but never so much as to actually win it, for its extension meant the continuing flow of American money. All this time the army kept alive a double game, in which some terror was fought and some—such as Laskhar-e-Tayyba's 2008 attack on Mumbai—actively supported.



The army's duplicity was exposed decisively this May, with the killing of Osama bin Laden in the garrison town of Abbottabad. It was only the last and most incriminating charge against an institution whose activities over the years have included the creation of the Taliban, the financing of international terrorism and the running of a lucrative trade in nuclear secrets.



This army, whose might has always been justified by the imaginary threat from India, has been more harmful to Pakistan than to anybody else. It has consumed annually a quarter of the country's wealth, undermined one civilian government after another and enriched itself through a range of economic interests, from bakeries and shopping malls to huge property holdings.



The reversal in the fortunes of the two countries—India's sudden prosperity and cultural power, seen next to the calamity of Muhammad Iqbal's unrealized utopia—is what explains the bitterness of my father's tweet just days before he died. It captures the rage of being forced to reject a culture of which you feel effortlessly a part—a culture that Pakistanis, via Bollywood, experience daily in their homes.



This rage is what makes it impossible to reduce Pakistan's obsession with India to matters of security or a land dispute in Kashmir. It can heal only when the wounds of 1947 are healed. And it should provoke no triumphalism in India, for behind the bluster and the bravado, there is arid pain and sadness.

—Mr. Taseer is the author of "Stranger to History: A Son's Journey Through Islamic Lands." His second novel, "Noon," will be published in the U.S. in September.



http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424...08294.html

[Naresh]

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[url="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/8648589/Pakistani-spies-operating-in-Britain.html"][center][size="6"][color="#006400"]Pakistani spies 'operating in Britain'[/color][/size][/center][/url]



Pakistani spies have been operating a front organisation in London to exert political pressure on the government, it was claimed on Tuesday.



Details of the organisation emerged as two alleged spies were charged in the United States of failing to disclose their affiliation with the Pakistani government.



They are accused of secretly promoting Pakistani interests in the long-running conflict between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan over the disputed border region of Kashmir, using millions of dollars of covert funding.



Their arrest came as relations between the US and Pakistan continue to deteriorate in the wake of the killing of Osama bin Laden.



Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai, 62, a US citizen from Fairfax, Virginia, and Zaheer Ahmad, 63, a US citizen who has been living in Pakistan, were charged with conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign power in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act.



According to an affidavit filed in the US, Fai serves as the director of the Kashmiri American Council, a non-governmental organisation in Washington that was founded in 1990.



The centre describes itself in educational materials as a “not-for-profit organisation dedicated to raising the level of knowledge in the United States about the struggle of the Kashmiri people for self-determination.”



But the affidavit alleges that the KAC is actually one of three “Kashmir Centers” that are run by “elements of the Pakistani government, including Pakistan’s military intelligence service, the Inter-Services Intelligence Agency (ISI).”



The two other “Kashmir Centers,” it said, are in London and Brussels. A Scotland Yard source said they were liasing with US authorities but had not made any arrests.



Neil MacBride, US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said Mr Fai was accused of a “decades-long scheme with one purpose – to hide Pakistan’s involvement behind his efforts to influence the US government’s position on Kashmir.”



Mr MacBride added: “His handlers in Pakistan allegedly funneled millions through the Kashmir Center to contribute to U.S. elected officials, fund high-profile conferences, and pay for other efforts that promoted the Kashmiri cause to decision-makers in Washington.”



A Scotland Yard source said they were liaising with US authorities but had not made any arrests.



Fai and the KAC have received at least $4 million, from the Pakistani government since the mid-1990s through Ahmad and his funding network, according to the affidavit.



Fai was arrested but Ahmad remains at large and is believed to be in Pakistan. Both face a potential sentence of five years in prison if convicted.



According to a statement by the US Department of Justice, a confidential witness told investigators that he participated in a scheme to obscure the origin of money transferred by Pakistan’s ISI to Fai to use as a lobbyist for the KAC in furtherance of Pakistani government interests.



A second confidential witness told investigators that the ISI created the KAC to issue propaganda on behalf of the government of Pakistan with the goal of uniting Kashmir, half of which is in India.



This witness said the ISI’s sponsorship and control of KAC were secret and that ISI had been directing Fai’s activities for the past 25 years.



The affidavit alleges that four Pakistani government handlers have directed Fai’s US activities and that Fai has been in touch with his handlers more than 4,000 times since June 2008.



The statement said Fai asked for $100,000 from the Pakistani government in 2009 for contributions to members of Congress.



The US Department of Justice said there was no evidence that any elected official who received financial contributions was aware that the money originated from any part of the Pakistani government.



When questioned by the FBI in March 2007, Fai allegedly stated that he had never met anyone who identified himself as being affiliated with the ISI.



Cheers

[Naresh]

.

[url="http://www.dunyanews.tv/print_news_eng.php?nid=30847&catid=2&flag=d"]Next stop ‘Closure’, predicts Rail Minister[/url]



Addressing a news conference in Lahore, somber-wearing Railways Minister Ghulam Ahmed Bilour said diesel stocks would run out within two days, and the train service would be halted across the country. He said that despite approval of a special; package for the Railways, the Finance Ministry was not releasing the approved funds. The minister, however, didn’t disclose what took him so long to come in the open.



It is learnt the Federal Government has paid the Railways Rs 32 billion over some time for payments under various heads. Nonetheless, trains condition has only gone from bad to worse.



[center][media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbi2UJa3cG4[/media]



[SIZE="5"]PEOPLE REACTION ON CLOSURE OF PAKISTAN RAILWAY 6 OPERATIONAL TRAINS[/SIZE][/CENTER]

[Naresh]

.



Pakis branching into Scandinavia?



[url="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14252515"]Norway : Blast near prime minister's office in Oslo[/url]



A large explosion has hit near government headquarters in the Norwegian capital Oslo.



The blast is thought to have caused damage to the offices of Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and a number of other official buildings.



Initial reports suggested Mr Stoltenberg was unharmed.



At least eight people were injured in the city centre explosion, local media reports. No-one has said they were behind the attack.



Television footage from the scene showed rubble and glass from shattered windows in the streets - smoke was around some buildings. The wreckage of at least one car was in street.



All roads into the city centre have been closed, said the NRK newspaper.



Oistein Mjarum, head of communications for the Norwegian Red Cross, said his offices were close to the blast.



"There was a massive explosion which could be heard over the capital Oslo."



Mr Mjarum said there were fires burning in the 17-storey prime minister's building.



Eyewitness Ole Tommy Pedersen said he was standing at a bus stop about 100m away from the blast.





"I saw three or four injured people being carried out of the building a few minutes later," Mr Pedersen told AP.



He said there was a cloud of smoke billowing from the lower floors.



An NRK journalist, Ingunn Andersen, said the headquarters of tabloid newspaper VG had also been damaged.



"I see that some windows of the VG building and the government headquarters have been broken. Some people covered with blood are lying in the street," Associated Press news agency quoted him as saying.



"It's complete chaos here. The windows are blown out in all the buildings close by."



Cheers

[Guest]

Pakis branching into Scandinavia?

This is Christian terrorism.

[Naresh]

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[center][/center]



Cheers

[Naresh]

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[url="http://www.newsweekpakistan.com/the-take/364"][center][size="6"][color="#006400"]The Real War With India[/color][/size][/center][/url]



If we want to compete, we need to invest more in higher education.



Javaid R. Laghari



It’s hit an all-time low. Pakistan’s commitment to the higher education sector has been scaled back by 10 percent at the same time that India has raised its higher-education budget by 25 percent. This reduction is in addition to the 40 percent cut imposed last year. [color="#FF0000"]This shortsightedness imperils economic growth by stunting prospects of a viable middle class.[/color]



India has a population six times the size of Pakistan’s. [color="#FF0000"]Its GDP, at $1.8 trillion, is 10 times larger than ours.[/color] Its growth rate is 8.5 percent, ours is 2.4 percent. Its value-added exports, at $250 billion, [color="#FF0000"]are more than ours by a factor of 15;[/color] and [color="#FF0000"]its FDI, at $26 billion per year, dwarfs ours by a factor of 22.[/color] India is set to surpass Japan to become the world’s third largest economy by 2014. This has all been made possible, in no small measure, because of India’s human capital. Pakistan needs to take a leaf out of their book to realize the possible.



The World Bank identifies several key factors to achieve and sustain economic growth: education, a skilled workforce, information and communication technologies, and innovation. These are the veritable pillars of a knowledge economy. Likewise, the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report 2010-2011 lists higher education and training, technology readiness, and innovation as essential for competitiveness.



Catching up to the rest of the world must start now. And there is much ground to cover. For Pakistanis between the ages of 17 and 23, access to higher education is at 5.1 percent—one of the lowest in the world. [color="#FF0000"](India is at 12.2 percent and aiming for 30 percent by 2020.)[/color] Pakistan has 132 universities for a population of 180 million and a student population of about 1.1 million. India has 504 universities with an enrollment of over 15 million (its enrolment target is 40 million by 2020). Pakistan has approved funding for two new universities. Over the next five years, India will have established 29 universities and 40 other institutes. Pakistan can today produce about 700 Ph.D.s every year (up from a dismal 200 in 2002) while India can produce 8,900 and China some 50,000.



It’s the middle class that makes the difference. India’s represents 32 percent of the total population and is growing at 1 percent annually. By investing heavily in education and entrepreneurship, they hope half the population will qualify as middle class by 2040. Pakistan’s middle class is about 12 percent of the population, and struggling as more and more people slip below the poverty line each year.



India’s political leadership is putting out all the right signals. India has a Knowledge Commission headed by a world-renowned expert serving as an adviser to the prime minister; a Ministry of Human Resource Development, and a strong and centralized University Grants Commission. New Delhi alone is spending 3.5 percent of GDP on education, with 1.03 percent, or $11.5 billion, on higher education alone. This federal allocation is in addition to the states financially supporting university budgets, in some cases covering up to 80 percent of their costs. Pakistan is spending only about 1.3 percent on education and 0.22 percent on higher education.



Sixty-four years ago, Pakistan and India started out evenly enough in terms of education and skilled-workforce levels. India has overshot us and is now competing with the big boys, swiftly and dedicatedly catching up with the developed world in higher education, science, technology, innovation, and research. Pakistan cannot afford to be left behind. We cannot allow security threats, the financial and ideological allure of Islamist radicalism, and bad governance to defeat us. Shoring up higher education and innovation are the solutions that will yield tangible, long-lasting benefits. Yet we are only capable it seems of dialing down attention to areas that can guarantee our success. Pakistan must push to improve and expand higher education. With so much at stake and so much we can do, this is the wise way forward.



Laghari is chairman of Pakistan’s Higher Education Commission and can be reached at jlaghari@hec.gov.pk



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[Naresh]

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[url="http://www.dawn.com/2011/07/25/mullen-sees-%e2%80%98very-difficult%e2%80%99-time-in-us-pakistan-ties.html"]Mullen sees ‘very difficult’ time in US-Pakistan ties[/url]



WASHINGTON : The top US military chief warned Monday that US-Pakistan military-to-military ties were at a “very difficult” crossroads, allowing that a path to progress on that front was not yet clear.



President Barack Obama’s administration recently suspended about a third of its $2.7 billion annual defense aid to Pakistan in the wake of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden near the country’s main military academy.



But it assured Islamabad it is committed to a $7.5 billion civilian assistance package approved in 2009.



“We are in a very difficult time right now in our military-to-military relations,” Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen told a press briefing billed as his last before retirement.



Despite the strain, Mullen said “I don’t think that we are close to severing” those ties. And the retiring admiral said he hoped the two nations would soon find a way to “recalibrate” those ties.



Still, Mullen acknowledged : “we need to work through the details of how this (recalibration) is going to happen.”



Top US officer Mullen has suggested that Pakistan’s army or Inter-Services Intelligence agency likely killed journalist Saleem Shahzad, who had reported about militants infiltrating the military.



On a visit to Washington, Pakistan’s former military ruler Pervez Musharraf staunchly defended the army and ISI. He denied any Pakistani support for bin Laden, who apparently moved to the garrison town of Abbottabad while Musharraf was in power.



US officials have long questioned Pakistani intelligence’s ties with extremists, including Afghanistan’s Al-Qaeda-linked Haqqani network and the anti-Indian movement Lashkar-e-Taiba that allegedly plotted the grisly 2008 assault on Mumbai.



Admiral James Winnefeld, nominated to be the number two US military officer, [color="#FF0000"]described Pakistan as a “very, very difficult partner.”[/color]



“We don’t always share the same worldview or the same opinions or the same national interest,” Winnefeld told his Senate confirmation hearing last week.



Obama has nominated General Martin Dempsey as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Dempsey is due to succeed Mullen, who is retiring at his term’s end September 30.



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[Naresh]

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From : Deaf N Dumb :



Just relax people, You know Pakistani people you are one of them, we will sell out mother for money literally.. do you think all this explosive material comes form sky, foreign elements are sponsoring the terror in Pakistan but all the material is readily available here. just the other day I was watching terrorists interviews on TV-One and these guys who have explosive (used in mining) shops are selling it to just anyone...this is the state of affairs in our beloved country, no accountability no oversight and a free hand to everyone....how a country lets any foreigner enter without any due process, we have more rogue foreigners here than any other country.



Pakistan is becoming a freaking C.unt-ry not a country anymore, [color="#FF0000"]Jis ko ana hay aao aor chodo mujhey[/color]



Its you, me, him, they are all in it, all have a hand in it, Two feet beard, prays 5 times a day but will sell explosive to anyone who pays double the price.



I hate to say but Allah hates us too, we a freaking human joke



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[Naresh]

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[url="http://www.thenews.com.pk/NewsDetail.aspx?ID=19566&title=Musharrafs-APML-in-tatters"]Musharraf's APML in tatters[/url]



NEW YORK : Despite the fact that Pervez Musharraf had very cordial and encouraging meetings with some US Congressmen and senators and was assured of some support in his mission to return to Pakistan next March, he had to face strong criticism from his own friends and political supporters of his party, the APML.



His close confidant for the last nine years and former chairman of Pakistan Cricket Control Board, Dr Nasim Ashraf, has resigned from all positions and basic membership of the party. He was the top boss of his party in North America with the title of Chief Coordinator of APML in North America. Dr Ashraf had established 11 chapters of APML - eight in USA and three in Canada.



The reasons for his resignation are not known and all efforts to reach Dr Nasim Ashraf failed. He did not respond to phone calls. However, Pervez Musharraf did attend the wedding of Dr Nasim Ashraf's daughter in Virginia on July 22 before he left USA.



Another staunch supporter of Pervez Musharraf since his days in power has also announced his complete dissociation with Musharraf and his party. Arshad Khan, a New Yorker, who held rallies to support Pervez Musharraf till recently, has publicly blamed Musharraf for making wrong decisions, promoting his relatives and those who can organise colourful evenings for him. "We cannot support his objectionable activities and wrong decisions any more. I have been supporting him for too long, even after he had resigned; but now I cannot take his nepotism, faulty decisions and struggle to capture power again," said Arshad Khan of New York's Pak-America Rabita Council. He also pointed out that Pervez Musharaf's public meeting in New York was a total failure as hardly 250 people came to listen to him.



Nasim Ashraf's resignation has caused gloom among APML supporters in New Jersey, Houston and other parts of USA. Imran Siiddiqi, who was made APML coordinator for Canada by Pervez Musharaf last week, however, claims that there is no rift or unrest in his party in Canada and he will do his best to resolve issues through dialogue among members. But sources say that other party chapters in Canada have not accepted Pervez Musharaf's decision to promote Imran Siddiqui from Ontario to the top party post.



Insiders have disclosed to The News that Dr Nasim Ashraf has informed Pervez Musharaf about his plan to quit politics completely. He plans to return to his medical profession after long absence. According to his family sources, Dr Ashraf plans to spend some time with a hospital in Abu Dhabi.



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[Naresh]

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Pakistan : A headache for the rest of the world



KARACHI : This is with reference to Sami Shah’s article of July 28 titled [color="#FF0000"]“The Pakistanisation of lunacy”[/color] Apart from the irony, occasional humour and touch of sarcasm in the article, what the writer is saying is generally true. And I say this notwithstanding that our so-called ‘Mullah Brigade’ likes to blame the rest of the world for all the problems that currently ail Pakistan.



If the rest of the world equates Pakistan with terrorism and mayhem, it is for good reason and doesn’t mean that there is worldwide conspiracy to defame our good name, contrary to what our saviours in khaki would have us believe.



Pakistan is reaping the harvest of the past 30 years or so of its cultivation of the forces of bigotry, doublespeak, intolerance and hypocrisy in all aspects of its existence : Religious, social, political as well as intellectual.



Such is our infamy that whenever there is a lunatic who blows himself up in a foreign land, we wait anxiously, our fingers crossed, hoping that the perpetrator is not one of us. Our country accounts for more suicide bombings than Iraq or Afghanistan and has more than its fair share of sectarian and other hate crimes.



We keep blowing up our schools so that our girls don’t get an education, keep silencing our moderates who preach tolerance and keep living in the false belief that the world is out to get us. The fact is that for most of the rest of the world, which in any case is moving ahead, we are not more than a headache that refuses to go away.



[color="#FF0000"]Shame on all 180 million of us.[/color]



Hasan Abidi



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[Naresh]

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[url="http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011/08/09/story_9-8-2011_pg1_2"]Massive surge in load shedding likely as IPPs face cash crunch[/url].



* IPPs demand payment of Rs 150bn immediately to continue operations



* Warn nonpayment will lead to closures, reducing generation capacity by 4,000MW



ISLAMABAD : The advisory council of the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) on Monday sent an SOS message to the federal government to immediately provide Rs 150 billion or the electricity shortfall will further increase by 4,000 megawatt, sources said.



At present, the total electricity generation in the country is estimated at 14,645 megawatt against a demand of 18,541 megawatt. In case, the IPPs are closed due to shortage of funds, this shortfall would increase from 3,896 megawatt to 7,896 megawatt with unprecedented load shedding in the country, sources in the power sector informed Daily Times.



Due to non-payment of dues, some IPPs have already closed down and country have lost 2,500 megawatt generation capacity and further closure of plants would result in massive increase in load shedding, sources added.



An emergency meeting of the advisory council of the IPPs was held under its chairman M Abdullah Yusuf. All the members unanimously voiced their concern over ever increasing overdue amount payable to them by PEPCO, which has reached Rs 210 billion as on August 8, 2011.



Moreover, Gul Ahmed Energy in the south is also shut for the last three weeks due to nonpayment of almost Rs 3 billion by the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC). This is causing defaults with their banks and also restricting the supply of power due to non-availability of fuel. The position has aggravated to the point that they will be forced to shut down their power plants within the next few days.



The members were particularly concerned about the present situation of load shedding which would be aggravated and would unduly create more hardships for the public, particularly during Ramazan.



The council requested the newly formed committee on power issues, headed by the finance minister and represented by the minister for water and power, minister for petroleum and natural resources, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission and the State Bank governor to immediately convene a meeting of all the IPPs to apprise the committee of their desperate situation.



The meeting resolved to asked the committee to immediately inject at least Rs 150 billion to save the IPPs from total closure within the next few days.



Failure to do this will cause immediate shortage of electricity for the consumers, said the council.



The sources in the power sector informed that mismanagement in the public sector is creating difficulties for the IPPs and these units have no option except to close their operations due to non-payment of their dues. In its failure to pay the IPPs on time, the federal government had to pay Rs 26 billion additional interest last fiscal year.



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