Pakistan : Terrorist Wahabi Islamic Rep Pakistan 7

[Naresh]

.

[url="http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012/01/13/tory_13-1-2012_pg5_14"][center][size="6"][color="#006400"]‘75% population lives below poverty line’[/color][/size][/center][/url]



ISLAMABAD: The ‘Feminisation of Poverty’ can be defined as the increase in proportion and severity of poverty in women-headed households (WHHs) and the rise in women’s participation in low-paying, urban and informal sectors economic activities.



[color="#FF0000"]About 75 percent of the population in Pakistan lives below the poverty line and a large majority of this population comprises of women and girls,[/color] said Tahira Adbullah, a prominent human rights activist and development worker at a Public Talk organised by the Institute of Strategic Studies, Islamabad.



Welcoming the speaker and the guests, General Institute of Strategic Studies, Islamabad Director Ashraf Jehangir Qazi said that Ms Abdullah is a true fighter of human rights in Pakistan that the status quo holders abhor her efforts and that societies live because of people like Ms Abdullah.



He was of the view that more and more people are recognising the fact that poverty is a denial of human rights and that women are at the receiving end in homes. Women are viewed in terms of relationships and are not viewed in terms of their own identity. The situation is worse in traditional societies.



Ms Abdullah gave an insightful and comprehensive overview of the deteriorating social effects of poverty within Pakistan, especially on women. She began by saying that successive governments in Pakistan have manoeuvred the poverty figures and a census has not been carried out in Pakistan since 1998. In order to change the poverty figures, head count goal posts and definitions were changed, and also the rupee-dollar exchange rate was changed. Ms Abdullah was of the view that the work done by Dr Mehboob ul Haq and his centre has greatly contributed in undertaking very credible studies on poverty, development and socio economic issues.



Ms Abdullah said that besides the rise in women’s participation in low-paying urban and informal sectors economic activities, agricultural non-remunerated work is also an indicator of feminisation of poverty. She was of the view that women experience poverty differently, and are ‘worse off’ than men in terms of poverty. Women’s very real contribution to the national economy is still not counted in the gross domestic product of the country. According to Ms Abdullah, the Federal Bureau of Statistics data on women’s employment (released through Labour Force Surveys) does not accurately capture rural women’s work in agriculture, nor women’s work in non-formal and unorganised sectors of urban economy.



According to the government of Pakistan over 70 percent of rural women work in agriculture and livestock and over 3/4th urban female labour force works in the non-formal sector.



Ms Abdullah said that women continue to suffer from inadequate remuneration, skills training, legal protection, social protection and security, health and maternity benefits under labour laws and right of unionisation etc. She highlighted the fact that home-based women workers (64 percent of entire female work force) are not counted, rather they are exploited by both contractor and middleman, and are deprived of labour rights. She said that there was a continuation of gendered division of labour and ‘ghettoization’ of women’s work.



She was of the view that there is an urgent need to address this alarming feminisation of poverty through social security and protection measures and by asserting ownership such as land, property and livestock (through inheritance, gifts and joint title deeds).



Speaking about the suffering of women in the society, she said that although guarantees are ensured in the constitution of Pakistan, such as Articles 25, 27, 34, 35, 37 of the 1973 Constitution, provisions ensuring gender equality and affirmative action for women, recognising need to redress existing inequalities, [color="#FF0000"][size="5"]women continue to suffer from poverty and continue to be victims of the patriarchy and feudalism in the country.[/size] She spoke about how the [size="5"]Jirgas and Panchayats continue to sanction and legitimise customs like Vani and honour killings, and how women have lack of access to justice and decision-making – which leads to the legislated inequality of women and minorities in the society.[/size][/color] The event was concluded after an enlightening question and answer session.



Cheers

[Guest]

Any news about coup ?



Zardari is back , Army is having hizzy fits?



One option left they can boom in India and unite country behind Army.



Today on Radio, US congressman® was saying that US state department tried everything , to stop his meeting with Northern alliance. But we went ahead and met Northern Alliance leaders.

It means US/Democrats are going against India and Northern Alliance and pampering Pakistan Army. Same old Clinton policy

[ravish]

Nareshji,



It is a very interesting and informative article. Sadly there is nothing for us to rejoice at the expense of Pakistan in this particular case. We are almost in the same state and our poor are not much better than their counterparts in Pakistan.



Very recently the Prime Minister has highlighted the shortcomings once again . It is true that the situation in India is better than in Pakistan in comparative terms but if we take the economic resourcefulness of India , our poor should have been much better place than where they are today.



As you are aware several new schemes have been started in the last few years to address the problems of malnutrition of children and reduction of infant mortality rate. If we are able to reduce corruption and misuse of developmental funds by even 50%, we will be able to make remarkable improvement in the situation.



You will agree that we are politically and economically a more stable nation than Pakistan. Therefore, if some sincere effort is made to improve the condition of the poorest of the poor, the situation is certainly going to improve. Even in situations where money has been sanctioned for rural development projects, it has been observed that the funds have not been spent. Thus the jobs that were expected to have been created for the execution of the project never materialized. As a consequence the prospective job seeker could not avail of the opportunity to earn money. This chain needs to be broken then only the engine for rural development will gain momentum.



Unfortunately, some petty political considerations have also hampered the implementation of developmental projects aimed at eradication of poverty. Since most of major developmental schemes in India are sponsored by the Central Government, it s implementation gets slowed down in some of the States where opposition party Governments are in power. They ensure that no credit goes to the Central Government at their expense. This is indeed a sad state of affairs.

[rhytha]

ravish-ji, falling into the same equal-equal gap are'nt you! Why does a post/article on TSP needs to be compared with the situation in India where there is none needed.



This is TSP thread, lets discuss problems within India in other threads created for it.

[ravish]

Sorry for the mistake. Can you please shift it to the correct place. I do not have the expertise.

[ravish]

The civilian government in Pakistan has been cornered both by the judiciary and the powerful military. The Pakistan Supreme Court’s contempt notice on the Prime Minister and its direction to the PM to appear in person before the apex court may have far reaching political consequences .



Unlike in the past , today the Pakistan judiciary appears to have the full backing of the powerful Army Corps Commanders. As we all know during the past few weeks , due to memo gate affair , the relation between the Army and the civilian government had been far from normal. In the past, if such a situation had arisen the Army would have overthrown the Civilian regime. However, keeping in view the prevailing internal situation particularly the economic condition in the country, the Army do not want to get involved in directly handling the situation. They are preferring the civilian set up to remain in place , so that they are not directly blamed for anything.



The order of the Supreme Court of Pakistan may prove to be helpful to the Army, as it may result in the replacement of the Prime Minister and may be the President without any direct military action. It will be quite interesting to follow the developments in Pakistan during the next few weeks.

[Naresh]

.

[url="http://www.geo.tv/GeoDetail.aspx?ID=32151"]Makers of substandard cardio drugs held[/url]



LAHORE : Police have arrested the owners of pharmaceutical companies manufacturing the drugs using which scores of cardiac patients in Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC) Lahore died, Geo News reported.



Cases have been filed against the drug makers.



Sources said that medical experts had suspected five medicines — Solprin, Zafnol, Concont, Cardiovascin and Isotab — were provided to the cardiac patients registered with the PIC.



They said the patients taking the medicines were brought to hospitals with symptoms of a sudden drop in platelets and white blood cells and bleeding from different body parts. They said initially they took the symptoms as that of dengue.



More than 150 patients are reportedly under treatment in different city hospitals.



According to details collected from different city hospitals on Saturday, cardiac patients Khurshid Bibi, Ahmad Bashir, Gull Hussain, Ijaz, Nawaz, Aslam and Javed died in the Mayo Hospital while Ghulam Murtaza and Muhammad Amin breathed their last in the Services Hospital and Combined Military Hospital (CMH), Lahore.



Sources further said that the Punjab Health Department had ordered the pharmaceutical companies manufacturing and supplying the affected medicines to withdraw all stocks from hospitals and the market. They said the department had also ordered health EDOs and medical superintendents to immediately stop use of medicines and seal stocks and instructed drug inspectors to withdraw medicines from the registered patients.



However, it was learnt that no cardiac patient died of drug reaction at the PIC because its OPD patients were admitted to public and private hospitals close to their localities.



Meanwhile, Punjab Health Secretary Jehanzeb Khan has constituted a high-powered probe committee.



Cheers

[Naresh]

.



[url="http://www.sbp.org.pk/ecodata/D-Debt-Liabilities.pdf"]Pakistan : Government Domestic Debt and Liabilities[/url]



December 2010 Pak Rs. 5,497.4 Billion



December 2011 Pak Rs. 7,050.7 Billion



Annual Increase Pak Rs. 1,553.3 Billion



At Today’s SBP Rate of Pak. Rs. 90.3744 = US $1 = US$ 17.2 Billion



Pakistan’s Daily Domestic Debt Increase = Pak Rs 4.2556 Billion



[center][size="7"][color="#006400"]PAKISTAN PARINDABAD![/color][/size][/center]



Cheers

[Naresh]

.

Economic Indicators from the Land of the Pure and Home of the Terrorists



[url="http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012/02/05/story_5-2-2012_pg5_9"]1. Load shedding may worsen in summer[/url]

* Government plans to generate 3,090MW by end of 2013



ISLAMABAD : The entire country is confronting ruthless power load shedding during the ongoing winter season and it looks like the problem will further intensify in the coming summer season.

[url="http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012/02/05/story_5-2-2012_pg5_10"]2. Unemployment surges as textile units shift to B’desh[/url]

* Local textile workers lose out, allied employers receive big blow



KARACHI : Around 60,000 workers and 200,000 families of indirect employments have lost their jobs due to relocation of export oriented textile units to Bangladesh.

Cheers

[Naresh]

.

[url="http://www.sbp.org.pk/ecodata/CenGovDebt.pdf"]Pakistan Central Government Debt (Domestic + External)[/url]



December 2010 Pak Rs. 09,299.4 Billion



December 2011 Pak Rs. 11,179.0 Billion



Annual Increase Pak Rs. 1,879.6 Billion



At Today’s SBP Rate of Pak. Rs. 90.3744 = US $1 = US$ 20.8 Billion



Pakistan’s Daily Domestic + External Debt Increase = Pak Rs 5.1496 Billion



[center][color="#006400"][size="7"]PAKISTAN PARINDABAD - EVEN MORE![/size][/color][/center]



Cheers

[Naresh]

.



[url="http://tribune.com.pk/story/337852/5-killed-in-parachinar-suicide-blast/"]26 killed, 36 injured in Parachinar blast[/url]



PESHAWAR : A blast in the Parachinar area of Kurram Agency on Friday [color="#FF0000"]killed 26 people and injured 36.[/color] The death toll was confirmed by a list posted at the hospital where the bodies and injured were shifted after the blast.



Earlier reports had said that the blast was a suicide attack, but officials from the area said that the nature of the blast was not clear as yet.



Local officials said that the blast site was where a budget market is set up every Friday.



“A bomb exploded in the main bazaar of Parachinar. We are collecting details,” local government official Shahab Ali Shah told AFP.



“It was a suicide attack,” a senior Pakistani security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.



Fazal Saeed, leader of a breakaway faction of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack.



[color="#FF0000"]“We have targeted the Shia community of Parachinar because they were involved in activities against us,”[/color] he told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location.



[color="#FF0000"]“We also warn the political administration of Parachinar to stop siding with the Shia community in all our disputes.”[/color]



Other officials could not confirm whether a suicide bomber was responsible.



“We don’t have exact details about the nature of the blast,” said the top administration official for the region, Mohammad Anees.



Seven shops were also destroyed as a result of the blast.



The injured were shifted to the Agency Headquarters hospital.



Cheers

[Arun_S]

[url="http://www.samachar.com/Pak-angry-over-Balochistan-resolution-in-US-Congress-mcsuLUbijha.html"]Balochistan self-determination resolution tabled in US Congress, Pak angry[/url]

PTI | Feb 18, 2012, 08.18PM IST

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's top leadership reacted angrily today to a resolution introduced in the US Congress seeking the right to self-determination for Baloch people, with prime minister [url="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Yousaf-Raza-Gillani"]Yousuf Raza Gilani[/url] describing the move as an attack on the country's sovereignty.



Gilani condemned the resolution moved in the [url="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/US-House-of-Representatives"]US House of Representatives[/url] by Congressman [url="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Dana-Rohrabacher"]Dana Rohrabacher[/url] yesterday.



Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a function in Karachi Port, he said: "We condemn it as it is against our sovereignty".



In a statement, foreign minister [url="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Hina-Rabbani-Khar"]Hina Rabbani Khar[/url] took strong exception to the resolution on Balochistan, which has witnessed a spike in violence by nationalist groups that are seeking greater autonomy and a say in the exploitation of the southwestern province's abundant natural resources, including minerals and gas.



Khar said though the resolution was an isolated move by a few individuals, it "was contrary to the principles of the UN Charter and international law".



The resolution was also against the "very fundamentals of the longstanding Pakistan-US relations", she said.



She pointed out that Pakistan's national assembly or lower house of parliament had unanimously adopted a resolution condemning a recent hearing on Balochistan by the US foreign affairs sub-committee on oversight and Investigations.



The national assembly resolution had "clearly represented the legitimate reaction of the people of Pakistan", she said.



Khar described Rohrabacher's resolution as "an unfriendly and irresponsible attempt by a few individuals in Washington" to create distrust between the people of the US and [url="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Pakistan"]Pakistan[/url].

[Naresh]

.

[url="http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=92976&Cat=2"][center][size="5"][color="#006400"]90pc Pakistanis are poor : economist Call for agricultural reforms for poverty eradication[/color][/size][/center][/url]



LAHORE: Agricultural reforms are crucial for poverty eradication while education and skill development can also play a role in this regard.



According to the World Bank estimates, [color="#FF0000"]53 percent population in the country has been living below the poverty line while economists opined that 90 percent Pakistanis were now poor.[/color] These views were expressed by the participants in the Jang Economic Session on ‘How poverty eradication is possible in rural areas.’



The participants were Punjab Vocational Training Council Chairman Faisal Ijaz Khan, former provincial labour minister Ashraf Khan Sohna, Economist Farah Naz Naqvi, industrialist Almas Haider, and Working Women Organisation Executive Director Aima Mehmood.



Faisal Ijaz Khan said that according to the World Bank, [color="#FF0000"]Pakistan poverty figures had reached to 53 percent from the last year’s 49 percent[/color] and the national agenda was needed to counter it. He said the dropout rate in 64,000 colleges in the Punjab was 6.3 million and such students could be provided vocational training for their jobs. He said 70 percent population was below 29 years of age and the Punjab needed 1.3 new job opportunities annually. He said postgraduates were not getting jobs.



Ashraf Khan Sohna said people in Pakistan were not well-to-do and they were suffering from poverty and ignorance. He said rural population was yet to decide that it should get rid of ignorance first or poverty.



He said a limited family was vital to control poverty and urged politicians to avoid getting votes by keeping the rural population ignorant. Farah Naz Naqvi said the government alone could not control poverty and suggested building infrastructure to control it. She said public-private partnership was needed for poverty eradication, adding that the government should support the private sector with skill development. She called for making agro-based policies for poverty eradication in rural areas.



Almas Haider said inefficient use of capabilities and time was also included in the category of poverty. He said poverty rate was high in less educated areas so that rural population was trapped in poverty. He said the government could develop skills in 2 million population with Rs72 billion budget annually which was less than the BISP budget.



He said the BISP stipend was not helping reduce poverty, adding that if the same amount would be spent on skill development 2 million population would come out of poverty. He said successive government did not present poverty eradication budget. He said presently only on percent population was well-to-do in Pakistan.



Aima Mehmood said 48 percent rural population was living below the poverty line while 37 percent were literate out of which only 10 percent were women. She said rural population had limited chances of skill learning. She said 10 million females were linked with agriculture sector and lack of agricultural reforms was also a reason of poverty in the country.



Cheers

[Naresh]

.

[url="http://www.dawn.com/2012/02/22/ug-lee-american-takes-on-the-pti-trolls.html"]Ug Lee American takes on the PTI trolls[/url]



Michael Kugelman



For the first time since announcing my intention to become Pakistan’s first American president, I confess that I am worried.



Let me explain what drives my despair. For each successive missive I have posted on this medium, my Facebook “likes” — that most crucial predictor of success — have plummeted ever more precipitously, from a high of 171 to the most recent [color="#FF0000"]lowly quantum of 13[/color]. I fear that the buzz surrounding my candidacy is dissipating. The [color="#FF0000"].0000045 per cent of Pakistanis who speak English, use the Internet, and engage Facebook[/color] are letting me down.



Worse, I’m being told that Pakistan’s establishment may shift allegiances by dumping me and throwing its weight behind that cheeky ex-cricketer who resembles a young Richard Gere. Fiddlesticks!



The rising momentum of this curious upstart, who attracts as much skepticism in Washington as a certain fellow does reverence, has prompted my advisers to urge me to do something heretofore verboten in US foreign policy: Defer to Pakistani public sentiment.



I hereby declare that, in the shared interest of our two great nations — and we all know that at least 1/450 of US and Pakistani interests are shared — I shall start to engage the Pakistani people. To wit, I shall respond to the grievances of those who pose the greatest threat to my candidacy: the PTI trolls.



I confess that when first confronted with this option, I thought I was being instructed to engage those adorable Norwegian gnomes — until I realised my staff had different trolls in mind.



My advisers have set up a live Internet chat on our campaign website (for fear of spawning hacker attacks, I shall not divulge the URL here), and invited the trolls to weigh in on my candidacy, with yours truly encouraged to respond. The live feed follows forthwith; we will keep it rolling so long as it is not interrupted by the loadshedding [color="#FF0000"]that theoretically stopped earlier this month[/color]:



Imran4ever: Ug Lee, ur drones r responsible 4 all our problems. Think of all that has afflicted us since your dastardly drones program began in 2004 — militancy, floods, earthquakes, JuniorJackStupidiscoGate, and the mediocre nihari I consumed last night. With no drones, we would have none of these horrors.



UgLeeAlltheWay: Tut tut, my dear Imran4ever! We suspended drones for much of December, and what did that bring you? Memogate and other monstrosities. And soon after we resumed the drones campaign, your cricket team and a brilliant filmmaker scored great successes. Now that we know that drones exist in Pakistan, we can both exult in their efficacy.



PTIoftheTiger: Ug Lee, we must rid Pakistan of its ills, and bring back clean politics and good governance. This must begin by expunging all vestiges of America’s malign influence, as embodied by your every move in Pakistan.



UgLeeAlltheWay: PTIoftheTiger, rest assured that the most unsavory elements of America are nowhere to be found in Pakistan these days. These elements are presently stalking our home front, as they fight for the right to become the next president of America. Whatever you see here in Pakistan is innocuous by comparison.



Trollwhocantspell: Ig Loo,your aid is a purse.



UgLeeAlltheWay: Trollwhocantspell, your observation is just slightly off the mark. In fact, our aid is a number of things — we recently launched a shampoo assistance program, and I have promised, as president, to ply Pakistan with pizza as well. Purse aid and other forms of accessory assistance are sure to follow. And in due course — to be exact, in 954 years, when US textile lobbies disappear — we’ll let you export those purses right back to America’s shores, tariff-free.



Peaceniktroll: Ug Lee, you are a pathetic hypocrite. You fault our Kaptaan for pursuing peace with militants instead of killing them, and then you go ahead and pursue peace with militants instead of killing them.



UgLeeAlltheWay: Oh, Peaceniktroll, enough of your claptrap! Do you really think —



[….Pause…]



PTIoftheTiger: We have expelled him from our midst! It even took less than 90 days. The tsunami has roared, our revolution is complete, and —



RanitheMuppetchatmoderator: Sorry for the delay. Pakistan’s next president had to take an urgent call from a critical funder in Langley, Virigina. He will return shortly.



UgLeeAlltheWay: Peaceniktroll, thanks for your effusive feedback. Our strategy is simple: if our drones fail to kill the same militant after 100 attempts, then we invite him to the negotiating table. I call this my 1 per cent doctrine. This was unnecessary in the case of foot-massage-loving, rooftop-reclining Beitullah Mehsood, but necessary with those elusive Afghan Taliban. You can also call it Fight, Miss, Talk, Build. And when —



[Live feed ends].



That [color="#FF0000"]power cut[/color] signals the end of our online engagement with the trolls. I now feel so much more connected with common Pakistanis.



So as I painfully ride out this loadshedding on such a chilly night, I can confidently assure you (as I crank up my super-powered generator, reach for one of my many bottles of mineral water, and settle in with a good book about how to uncover hidden nuclear assets): Ug Lee feels your pain.



Michael Kugelman is the program associate for South Asia at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC. You can reach him at michael.kugelman@wilsoncenter.org



Cheers

[Guest]

http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news...16204.aspx

Four killed in attack on Pakistan police station

Four policemen were killed when suicide bombers blew themselves up in an attack on a police station in northwest Pakistan on Friday, officials said.

The three attackers, armed with hand grenades, also wounded four other policemen in the assault on the station in the city of Peshawar near the lawless tribal belt, a stronghold of Taliban and Al Qaeda-linked militants.

Back to wild west days

[Naresh]

Sale of unhygienic meat goes unchecked in Pindi

* Butchers slaughter unhealthy animals, inject meat with water



RAWALPINDI: Butchers in the city are jeopardising the people’s health by selling unhealthy and unhygienic meat while the practice goes on unchecked as the officials concerned are reluctant to take any action against the blatant violations of health and hygiene standards.

Cheers

[Naresh]

.

Trade deficit surpasses target of $14.5bn in 8 mths



* Reaches $14.599bn with four months of FY12 remaining



ISLAMABAD: The trade deficit target of $14.5 billion set for the July to June period of fiscal year 2011-12 has been surpassed in just eight months (July to February) period and reached $14.599 billion.



The State Bank of Pakistan, International Monetary Fund and other international financial institutions have already expressed their concern over the slow down in growth of country’s exports during January to June period of 2012 and had asked the country’s economic managers to make adequate arrangements for foreign exchange inflows to maintain foreign exchange reserves level at comfortable level, otherwise, the increasing trade deficit would have a negative impact on the country’s foreign exchange reserves as well as put pressure on the rupee against other major currencies.



According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics’ (PBS) provisional trade figures released on Monday, in international trade the country has posted a trade deficit of $14.599 billion during July to February period as compared with trade deficit of $10.337 billion recorded during the same period of last fiscal year, showing an increase of 41.23 percent. The country’s exports stood at $15.189 billion during July-February period of the ongoing fiscal year 2011-12 as against the exports of $15.263 billion in the same period of last fiscal year 2010-11, projecting a decrease of just 0.48 percent.



Imports of the country amounted to $29.788 billion during July to February period of the ongoing fiscal year 2011-12 when compared with imports of $25.600 billion in the same period of last fiscal year 2010-11, indicating an increase of 16.36 percent.



Exports of the country posted a negative 5 percent growth in the month of February 2012 with total exports at $2.034 billion as compared with exports of $2.141 billion in the month of February 2011.



Imports, on the other hand, witnessed a growth of 13.4 percent and amounted to $3.462 billion in the month of February 2012 as compared with imports of $3.053 billion in February 2011.



Trade deficit posted a huge growth of 56.58 percent during the month of February 2012 with a total deficit in trade at $1.428 billion as compared with trade deficit of $912 million in February 2011.



Exports of the country showed an increase of 4.15 percent in the month of February 2012, which totalled to $2.034 billion as compared with exports of $1.953 billion in January 2012. Imports of the country, however, posted a decline of 5 percent in February 2012 with total imports at $3.462 billion as compared with imports at $3.649 billion of the country in January 2012. Trade deficit also declined by 15.80 percent during February 2012, which amounted to $1.428 billion as compared with trade deficit of $1.696 billion in January 20112.



Pakistan is following export target of $25.8 billion this year and trends in exports are positive. Compared with exports, Pakistan’s imports have witnessed 17.7 percent growth mainly due to the increase in oil import bill, which was due to the increase in crude oil price, which has touched the mark of $124 per barrel.



Pakistan’s economic managers believe that due to the eurozone crisis Pakistan’s exports to EU will witness negative impact, however, they say that duty free market access on 75 Pakistani products in EU markets would help mitigate this negative impact and Pakistan’s exports will be on the rise.



Cheers

[Naresh]

.

Indus Water Treaty now ineffective: int’l water expert



* Bashir Malik suggests Pakistan should build water reservoirs to avert severe water shortage in future



KARACHI: The Indus Water Treaty has now become ineffective as India is continuously violating all clauses of the treaty and Pakistan is not challenging them at any international forum by tacit approbation. International Water Expert Engr Bashir Malik, who has served United Nations and World Bank as chief technical adviser on Thursday said the cheapest and environment-friendly solution to water and energy crisis in Pakistan was the Kalabagh Dam, which could only be built by a patriotic and brave leader having the courage to break all the barriers in the best national interest.



Malik said Save Water Save Pakistan Forum would initiate a campaign to highlight water and energy crisis and their solution at national level for which they would have dialogues with the national leadership besides conducting seminars and conferences with the help of technical and legal experts. Pakistan remained undecided to appoint patriotic and real water management experts to take up its case before International Court of Arbitration (COA) against India over construction of hydropower project in violation of the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty.



Sindh Agriculture Forum (SAF) experts said the country is heading towards the worst water shortage in the next couple of years due to insufficient water management practices and storage capacity, they said.



Pakistan has right to oppose the Kishanganga project because its diversion will reduce 16 percent of the power generation capacity of the 969 megawatts (MW) Neelum-Jhelum power project on the same river downstream Muzaffarabad in Azad Kashmir, an official of the Ministry of Water and Power said.



Due to the poor handling of case with India as well as in COA, Pakistan could not gain points in favour of its case, only because of a team of jurists, not sincere from the start. A report by the Washington DC based Woodrow Wilson Centre described Pakistan’s water shortage as deeply troubling. He said Neelum-Jhelum power project case in COA, Pakistan would face a loss of energy of more than Rs 6 billion every year. Pakistan and India have agreed on the selection of two arbitrators each for the seven-member court of arbitration, but have failed so far to agree on the appointment of three arbitrators belonging to engineering and law to complete the adjudication forum for more than seven months now.



The Indus Water Treaty with India remained just on papers. India had diverted Pakistani water and constructed more dams, which would further worsen the water situation in Pakistan.



The Senate Committee on Food and Agriculture said underground water in Punjab province was going down due to provision of free electricity to Indian Punjab for tube wells. The farmers were taking excessive water through tube wells, which resulted in downward trend of water in Pakistan’s Punjab. The underground water level went down from about 70-100 feet to up to 1,000 feet and has been termed as a worsening situation. Under the treaty, three western rivers, Chenab, Jehlum and Indus are allocated to Pakistan and India is not allowed to build storages on them.



The mystery of allegedly involvement of former Indus Water Commissioner (IWC), Jammat Ali Shah to facilitate Indian authorities for building controversial Nimo Bazgo has yet to be resolved because of silence adopted by the Ministry of Water and Power. Preliminary report maintained that former water commissioner, Shah did not play his due role and remained silent about the Nimoo Bazgo Hydropower Project (built by India during 2002- 2009) and did not raise any objections during the Pak-India meetings at the level of Permanent Indus Commission of Indus Waters. staff report



Cheers

[Guest]

Pakistan is still around.

[Naresh]

.

Bin Laden’s Wives’ Stories of Post-9/11 Life Cast More Suspicion on Pakistan



Bruce Riedel, Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, Saban Center for Middle East Policy



Osama bin Laden’s wives have now told their story of the last decade of the al Qaeda’s leader’s life on the run. They were arrested by the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI) after the U.S. Navy SEALs left his hideout last May with his dead body. The wives’ tales have been released by the ISI through a trusted former Pakistani army general’s account for obvious reasons. The ISI wants to draw attention away from its own possible complicity in hiding bin Laden and toward other issues. But the details in the wives’ story actually only increase the question marks about possible ISI complicity.



High-value target No. 1, bin Laden was surrounded by his family in the villa in which he hid for six years inside the city of Abbottabad, Pakistan. Three of his wives, eight of his children, and five of his grandchildren were with him. The ISI has debriefed them all, and now it has allowed a retired Army officer access to the interrogation reports and to the hideout itself. It wants to portray bin Laden’s decade on the run after the fall of Afghanistan in the best possible light, suggesting he was ill and inactive, surrounded by family quarrels. Since the current director general of ISI, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, is about to be replaced, this may also be Pasha’s attempt to clear his own name from the charge that he was either totally incompetent for not finding bin Laden for years or complicit in hiding him.



The key character in the story is bin Laden’s last and youngest wife, a Yemeni girl named Amal that he married in 1999 just before the al Qaeda attack on the USS Cole in Aden harbor in Yemen. Amal was with bin Laden almost all of the rest of his life and was probably his favorite. In the ISI’s interrogations, she says he fled from Tora Bora in Afghanistan in late 2001 and moved to the Pakistani city of Kohat, near Peshawar, where he met with Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, the tactical mastermind of the 9/11 plot, at least once. KSM was captured in Pakistan’s military capital, Rawalpindi, on March 1, 2003. Bin Laden moved around Waziristan, Pakistan’s lawless frontier district in 2003, then to the Swat valley north of the capital of Islamabad for a few months. In 2004 he settled into a house in Haripur only 20 miles from the capital before moving to the Abbottabad hideout in 2005. There he was about 30 miles from the capital, an hour’s drive. So he was in Pakistan for almost 10 years, mostly in settled urban centers, not caves in the remote tribal boondocks.



Amal also claims he had a kidney transplant in 2002. The story is vague as to where the operation took place, some accounts say Karachi, others suggest outside of Pakistan. So he was in a hospital somewhere in Pakistan or traveling abroad right when the ISI was supposed to be hot on the chase. Amal suggests that life in the house became more difficult in early 2011, when bin Laden’s eldest wife, a Saudi named Khairiah Saber, arrived in the compound after living in Iran since 2001. Khairiah, along with one of bin Laden’s sons and several of his closest lieutenants, had gone west into Iran after the fall of Kandahar instead of east into Pakistan like most of al Qaeda. After a decade of house arrest, the Iranians let the al Qaeda exiles go in late 2010 under mysterious circumstances. Their release may have been an exchange for an Iranian diplomat al Qaeda had kidnapped or it may have been part of a gradual rapprochement between Tehran and al Qaeda (or both). Apparently, the two ladies did not get along.



[b]The picture that emerges is of a busy household and of a hideout that was well known to the al Qaeda core leadership, enough that the boss’s lost wife could find her way to it. Other information that has come out in the last month also shows that bin Laden communicated from the hideout with the leadership of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the so-called Army of the Pure that terrorized Mumbai in November 2008, killing six Americans, and with Mullah Omar, the head of the Afghan Taliban, NATO’s main enemy in Afghanistan. Both are very close to the ISI. The head of Lashkar-e-Taiba openly mourned bin Laden after his death and has been traveling around Pakistan since late last year holding massive rallies calling for jihad against America and India. The ISI is sponsoring his campaign. The Taliban also mourned bin Laden’s death last May.



Abbottabad is not your normal Pakistani city. It was founded by Sir James Abbott in January 1853 to be a garrison city for the British East India Co.’s army. It is still a military town. Three regiments call it home, as does Pakistan’s equivalent of West Point, the Kakul Military Academy, which is less than a kilometer from bin Laden’s hideout. It is so well guarded that in 2009 Pakistan held its first ever counterterrorism training exercise with China in Abbottabad because it was super secure. The head of Afghan intelligence has said he told then–Pakistani dictator Pervez Musharraf in 2006 that his sources believed bin Laden was somewhere near Abbottabad. Musharraf brushed him off.



In 2007, a former Pakistani ambassador and I were attending a conference in Doha. I asked where the ambassador thought bin Laden was hiding. The ambassador said probably in a safe house built by the ISI inside a military compound. After the SEALs found bin Laden, the country’s biggest English-language newspaper published an op-ed that said that the Army knew he was there for years. So many Pakistanis have suspected ISI complicity for years.



But we really still don’t know whether the ISI was clueless or complicit. Pasha says clueless. The wives’ accounts make that harder than ever to believe. One thing is certain: the commission that the Pakistani government formed to investigate the issue will not tell us the truth. Pakistan is charging the wives with illegal entry into the country and has destroyed the hideout. Many in the civilian government are scared to ask the Army for the truth. They know one journalist, Syed Saleem Shahzad, was murdered by the ISI last summer for getting too close to the answer.



Cheers