Taking care of circular debt once and for all: Govt to float Rs 100 billion Sukuk bonds in May: Daily Times

By Sajid Chaudhry

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Finance is planning to float Rs 100 billion Islamic Sukuk Bond in May 2010 to meet its growing financial needs as well as to retire the mounted circular debts before June 30, 2010, official sources informed on Tuesday.

Pakistan Investment Bonds (PIBs) and Sukuk Bonds are in permanent debt and this time the government wants to raise money from Islamic banking system to finance power sector circular debts once and for all, the sources added.

In the initial proposal the Ministry of Finance suggested floating Islamic paper with one-year maturity period. However, now they are considering other options because the central bank is already floating treasury bills with one-year maturity. The non-interest bearing bond launch on the pattern of PIBs and Islamic banks acts as a primary dealer. The cut-off yield of upcoming Sukuk Bond will be equal or slightly above the average 12.7 percent yield of PIBs.

The investment made in the Islamic Bonds (Sukuk) would enable the investors to get a good return on their investment upon completion of the term to be fixed under the scheme.

The government of Pakistan is a sovereign guarantor of upcoming Islamic paper. Finance Ministry official informed a local newspaper that “it’s a reserve backing paper and Islamic banks can keep this paper to fulfil State Bank statutory liquidity requirement.” Islamic banking system has very limited options of interest-free investment. The official sources informed that the circular debt position as of February 2010 was that Pakistan State Oil (PSO) receivables stood at Rs 109 billion and its total liabilities were estimated at Rs 112.52 billion.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Taking care of circular debt once and for all: Govt to float Rs 100 billion Sukuk bonds in May: Daily Times

Why Insurgency in Balochistan Cannot Succeed: FPJ

by Shahid R. Siddiqi

Balochistan, Pakistan’s south western province, has evoked much interest among players of regional politics. The US, India, former Soviet Union and even Afghanistan have toyed with the idea of Balochistan becoming an independent state in their geo-strategic interests.

Located very close to the oil lanes of the Persian Gulf and having a common border with Iran and Afghanistan, Balochistan is strategically very important. Commanding almost the entire coast of the country – 470 miles of the Arabian Sea, and boasting of a deep sea port recently completed with Chinese assistance at Gawadar, Balochistan comprises 43% of Pakistan’s total area but is home to just over 5% of the population, 50% of whom are ethnic Pashtuns.

A tribal society, Afghanistan has always been ruled autocratically by sardars (tribal chiefs), some 250 of them, who have kept their people backward, illiterate and deprived. Mainly three sardars of Bugti, Marri and Mengal tribes have been in revolt against the federation from time to time in their bid to maintain the status quo by blocking the federal government’s efforts of development or democratization. Although they held positions of power as chief ministers of their province from time to time, they neither did anything significant for their people nor did they remain part of the political process. To perpetuate their despotic rule, they decided to part ways with the federation. Other moderate sardars either chose to side with the federation or stayed neutral.

Reluctance of successive federal governments to promote genuine federalism for fear of compromising national unity in the belief that ‘a strong center would guarantee a strong federation’ proved a fallacy. The dissidents used this to inflame nationalist sentiments and demands for greater provincial autonomy and control over the province’s natural resources turned into a demand for independence.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Why Insurgency in Balochistan Cannot Succeed: FPJ

Foreign portfolio investment : KSE hits $100m mark in March: Daily Times

By Tanveer Ahmed

KARACHI: The foreign portfolio investment (FPI) hit $100 million mark in March, which is the highest monthly inflow in the current financial year.

Despite political and security concerns, the Karachi Stock Exchange attracted net buying of $100 million so far during the current month. Currently the foreigners have flooded the local stock market in recent weeks.

“The abnormal flows, is the result of renewed interest of fund managers in frontier and emerging markets,” Topline Securities analyst Farhan Mahmood said and added that the increasing role of foreign trade can be judged from the fact that their share in the total volumes in March 2010 was 15 percent as compared to the average 9 percent in 2009.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Foreign portfolio investment : KSE hits $100m mark in March: Daily Times

IMF holds back cash to Pakistan: Asia Times

By Syed Fazl-e-Haider

KARACHI - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has deferred for an indefinite period disbursement of the fifth, US$1.2 billion, installment of funds to be paid to Pakistan under their $11.3 billion standby agreement. This came after the government failed to meet the condition of tabling draft value-added tax (VAT) legislation in the four provincial assemblies.

Critics say the proposed VAT will increase inflation, erode consumers' purchasing power and dampen demand. The government has left the issue with legislators who will adopt, reject or amend the VAT bill. Local business communities have strongly opposed the imposition of VAT, saying it will harm every sector of the economy. However, the rupee "will come under pressure if the IMF money is delayed for more than a month", The News quoted Sayem Ali, an economist at Standard Chartered Bank, as saying. That would drive up the cost of imports.

The Washington-based IMF has postponed its scheduled March 31 executive board meeting, which was to review Pakistan's economy and approve payment of the fifth tranche.

The legislative bottleneck is the presentation of a draft law on VAT to the Punjab assembly, according to Dawn. The government has already submitted the draft law to the National Assembly and to the provincial assemblies of Sindh, North-West Frontier Province and Balochistan.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: IMF holds back cash to Pakistan: Asia Times

SBP Quarterly Report on State of Pakistan’s Economy: The News

By Saad Hasan

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has raised the fiscal deficit forecast for the current financial year 2009/10 (July-June) to between 5.0 and 5.5 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) from the targeted 4.9 per cent in the wake of high defence spending and low revenue collection.

The SBP in its Second Quarterly Report on the State of Pakistan Economy maintained its GDP forecast for FY10 at between 2.5 and 3.5 per cent, but lowered its projection for the current account deficit to 3.2 to 3.8 per cent from the previous estimates of 3.7 to 4.7 per cent.

“The fiscal outlook appears especially challenging,” the SBP said in its Second Quarterly Report (October-December) for FY10 on the State of Pakistan’s Economy. “Existing rigidities in current expenditures have been exacerbated in FY10 by the strong build-up in domestic and external debt, and rising military spending on anti-terrorist operations.”

The growing energy sector circular debt and the government’s controversial policy of paying higher-than-market price to farmers for certain commodities also contributed to widening of the fiscal deficit, the bank said.

Analysts say that keeping the fiscal deficit target at 4.9 per cent remains one of the key conditions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under its $11.3 billion Standby Agreement with Pakistan.

Hamad Aslam, head of research at BMA Capital Management, however, said that the widening of fiscal deficit would have little impact on the Standby Agreement with the IMF. “In practice these numbers have been shared with IMF officials so it won’t0 be much of a problem for the governmentÖ But, the rising current expenditure on the large government machinery should be bothering the IMF.”

For more on this article, please click on the following link: SBP Quarterly Report on State of Pakistan’s Economy: The News

Pakistan Railways losing Rs 3m every hour: BilourStaff Report: Daily Times

LAHORE: The Pakistan Railways is incurring losses of almost Rs 3 million per hour, Railways Minister Ghulam Ahmad Bilour said on Monday.

Talking to journalists at the Railways Headquarters, he said that eight or nine freight rails were currently operating from Karachi. “It is because the department lacks locomotives...otherwise nearly 30 freight rails would be operating,” he said. He said that everyone compares the Pakistan Railways with the Indian railways system, but few mention the comparative budgetary spending on the railways in both countries. He said that a requisition of Rs 28 billion was sent to the government, but it released only Rs 14 billion, and that too in two instalments. “On the other hand, the budget of the Indian Railways is Rs 282 billion,” he said.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Pakistan Railways losing Rs 3m every hour: BilourStaff Report: Daily Times

UN delays Benazir murder report at Zardari’s request: The News

UNITED NATIONS: Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday accepted a request from President Asif Zardari to delay the release of a report on the assassination of his wife, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, until April 15.

UN spokesman Martin Nesirky made the announcement just two hours before a three-member UN commission that investigated Benazir’s death was scheduled to hold a press conference to discuss the report’s findings. Nesirky said he did not know why President Asif Ali Zardari made the request, which was received at the UN overnight.

But presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar said the country had requested the delay so the commission could attempt to question two heads of state who, he said, had called Benazirbefore her death warning her of “serious threats to her life.”

He declined to say which heads of state he was referring to, saying it would be unethical. It was unclear why the commission had not spoken to them. “This can make the report more credible,” he told the AP in Islamabad.

Nesirky said the commission informed Ban that “all relevant facts and circumstances have been explored and the report is now complete and ready to be delivered.” The three-member commission is led by Chile’s UN Ambassador Heraldo Munoz. The other members are former Indonesian attorney general Marzuki Darusman, now a member of the National Commission of Human Rights, and Ireland’s former deputy police commissioner Peter Fitzgerald, who headed the initial UN inquiry into the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri in 2005.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: UN delays Benazir murder report at Zardari’s request: The News

Pakistan Arrests a Top Crime Official: NYT

By JANE PERLEZ

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The Supreme Court ordered the arrest of a senior white-collar crime official on Tuesday, and threatened to send the nation’s top anticorruption official to jail if he did not swiftly seek the reopening of corruption cases in Switzerland against President Asif Ali Zardari.

The dramatic arrest in the magisterial courtroom renewed the confrontation between the Chief Justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, and the civilian government. The battle has simmered since last December when the court effectively restored corruption cases, many stemming from the 1990s, against thousands of politicians, including Mr. Zardari, and asked the government to inform the Swiss judiciary that Pakistan wanted to continue to pursue cases against the president.

As president, Mr. Zardari is granted immunity from prosecution under the Constitution. But Mr. Chaudhry appeared to question the inviolability of the president’s immunity during Tuesday’s hearing, saying that Mr. Zardari or his legal representative had yet to claim immunity before the court.

Mr. Zardari served 11 years in jail on charges of corruption that he and his lawyers have always insisted were politically motivated, noting that he was never convicted of anything. His supporters and others have accused Mr. Chaudhry of waging a campaign against the president and using the bench to meddle in politics.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Pakistan Arrests a Top Crime Official: NYT

India and Pakistan Feud Over Indus Waters: WSJ

By AMOL SHARMA in New Delhi and TOM WRIGHT in Lahore

A feud over water between India and Pakistan is threatening to derail peace talks between the two neighbors.

The countries have harmoniously shared the waters of the Indus River for decades. A 50-year-old treaty regulating access to water from the river and its tributaries has been viewed as a bright spot for India and Pakistan, which have gone to war three times since 1947.

Now, the Pakistanis complain that India is hogging water upstream, which is hurting Pakistani farmers downstream. Pakistani officials say they will soon begin formal arbitration over a proposed Indian dam. At a meeting that started Sunday, Pakistan raised objections to new Indian dam projects on the Indus River and asked for satellite monitoring of river flows.

"Water I see emerging as a very serious source of tension between Pakistan and India," said Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Pakistan's foreign minister, in an interview Friday. He said he has raised the issue with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

A senior Indian government official denied India is violating the treaty. He blamed Pakistan's water shortage on changing weather patterns and the country's poor water management. He called the strident rhetoric from Pakistani officials a "political gimmick…designed to place yet one more agenda item in our already complex relationship." Indian officials declined comment on the record.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: India and Pakistan Feud Over Indus Waters: WSJ

Karzai Talks to the Enemy, but Is the U.S. On Board?: Time

For the past eight years, Afghan rebel leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar has been a phantom presence on the edges of the Afghan insurgency. His Hezb-i-Islami militia — said to number between 2,000 and 3,000 fighters, and which operates independently of the Taliban — has carried out scores of ambushes on coalition forces in the northeastern mountains of Afghanistan and has claimed credit for two attempts on the life of President Hamid Karzai.

But now, it seems, the veteran warlord wants to come in from the cold — as a peace broker between Karzai and the Taliban. Hekmatyar last week dispatched a 10-man delegation to Kabul to name an offer: If NATO agreed to withdraw its forces from Afghanistan starting by this summer, Hezb-i-Islami would cease hostilities and urge the Taliban to do the same. The mid-2010 withdrawal demand is flexible, according to delegation spokesman Mohammad Daoud Abedi, who told journalists in Kabul that the deadline "is a start. This is not the word of the Koran that we cannot change it." (See pictures of medical-evacuation teams in Afghanistan.)

During President Barack Obama's surprise visit to Kabul on Sunday, he was briefed by Karzai on his efforts to bring insurgents like Hekmatyar into truce talks. The White House says it favors "reintegration" of mid-level commanders but has expressed doubt over Karzai's offer to extend a peace accord to senior leaders of the insurgency.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Karzai Talks to the Enemy, but Is the U.S. On Board?: Time

China keen to replace India in Peace Pipeline deal: Press TV

China is showing keen interest in investing $2.5 billion in Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline project in order to meet the country's energy demands.

Islamabad has started negotiations with Beijing over the purchase of technical equipment to be used for extending the gas pipeline to China, Mehr News Agency quoted informed sources in Pakistan's oil ministry as saying.

China's interest in the extension of the pipeline came after Islamabad's reluctance to cooperate with New Delhi on the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) project allegedly due to India's delay in developing the Peace Pipeline project.

Based on the incoming reports, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said it was possible to change the name of the project from Iran-Pakistan-India to Iran-Pakistan-China project.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: China keen to replace India in Peace Pipeline deal: Press TV

Beijing’s $2.5 to extend Iran Pakistan pipeline to China: Rupee News

ISLAMABAD (Online) – China has expressed keen interest in investing $2.5 billion in Pak-Iran gas pipeline project while Islamabad has also started talks with Beijing to purchase technical equipments to be used for laying down the pipeline.

According to sources within the Petroleum Ministry, China is interested to see the project is extended to its territory and a delegation would visit Pakistan in the second week of next month to discuss these matters. After inclusion of China, Pakistan would get an amount of $200 to $500 million annually as transit fee.

The sources maintained the talks were underway as Pakistan had raised no objection over inclusion of China in the gas pipeline project.

Rupee News has always supported the Iran-Pakistan-China pipeline over the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki seems to suggest that this is in the works. This development is a win-win situation for Pakistan, Iran and China.

Linking Iran, Pakistan and China via pipeline is natural process of hooking up the ECO allies with China. Expanding trade with China is a natural consequences of the deep military and economic relations between the two countries.

Exporting Iranian gas to China will aid energy starved China and help Pakistan get access to Iranian energy resources.

Pakistan should set up LNG plants in Lahore and Karachi and sell gas in cylinders in the open market as a commodity. If Delhi wants to buy the gas cylinders, it is up to Delhi. If it doesn’t, plenty of other countries will.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Beijing’s $2.5 to extend Iran Pakistan pipeline to China: Rupee News

Pakistani Scientists Express Concern Regarding Monsanto Deal

By Shahid Husain

KARACHI: Pakistan’s top scientists on Saturday expressed concerns regarding government’s plans to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with giant American multinational Monsanto for the introduction of “insect-resistant” Bt-cotton, saying that it could harm the interest of growers.

“There is a need to get sound, critical and scientific input from experts in the country before signing such a deal,” Dr. Anwer Naseem, chairman National Commission on Biotechnology, told The News. “I have no idea whom the government has consulted.”

The government plans to sign a deal with Monsanto next month aimed at introducing Bt-Cotton and other advanced seed technologies in Pakistan.

Naseem, who has been the chairman of Biotechnology Commission for the last 28 years, said that the deal raises many questions, including the levels of resistance in these cotton varieties. “This has been reported from India as well... one needs to look at agreements reached and the way in which the issue has been examined by our experts.”

Dr Abid Azhar, deputy director general of AQ Khan Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, University of Karachi, also expressed concerns about the Monsanto deal.

“It has to be ensured that the interests of growers and farmers are not compromised in any deal that is to be agreed upon between the government and the multinational companies.”

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Pakistani Scientists Express Concern Regarding Monsanto Deal

Prices of locally-assembled cars continue to rise: The News

By Hina Mahgul Rind

KARACHI: At the beginning of every year the local auto assemblers tend to increase the car prices on pretext of rupee depreciation against yen and dollar, rise in steel prices and Complete Knock Down (CKD) and various other reason.

The year 2010 dawned with the popular Pak Suzuki revising its prices up by Rs10,000 to Rs25,000 on its various models in January. Indus Motor Company increased its prices by two per cent or Rs20,000 on the popular 1300cc XLi and Rs30,000 for the GLi in February 2010. Honda kept with the trend and upped the price tags by Rs20,000 to Rs35,000 on its various models.

Atif Zafar Auto Analyst at JS Research says that the rising prices of raw materials, utilities, and other inputs along with the weakening rupee has forced the auto assemblers to pass on the cost pressure to consumers.

He said that the price increase of local assemblers would not have much affect on the auto sales because Toyota and Honda cars are usually for people who can bear the price. However the increase in the prices of 800cc and 1000cc cars affects the middle-income groups.

The price rise follows demand for opening imports of used cars. All Pakistan Motors Dealers Association president H M Shahzad says that the price increase by local auto manufacturers is unjustified.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Prices of locally-assembled cars continue to rise: The News

World’s slums grow despite rapid economy growth: UN: The News

RIO DE JANEIRO: Almost a quarter of a billion people moved out of slum conditions in the past decade, driven by rapid economic growth in emerging giants India and China, but the number of people living in them continues to rise, the United Nations housing agency said on Friday.

The number of people living in shantytowns increased by 55 million to 827.6 million as population growth and migration from the countryside outstripped the effect of upward mobility in cities, the UN’s biennial report on cities found.

“The situation has improved over 10 years, but alas over the same period, the net increase of the urban poor is 55 million,” Anna Tibaijuka, the executive director of the UN Habitat program, said in Rio de Janeiro.

The Brazilian city will next week host the World Urban Forum, a five-day UN conference on the state of the world’s cities, where more than half the global population now lives.

Some 227 million people escaped slum conditions from 2000 to 2010, meaning that countries easily surpassed their collective target under the UN Millennium Development target, the report said.

Tibaijuka played down the achievement of beating the Millennium goal of pulling 100 million people out of poverty, calling it “totally inadequate.” The Millennium goals include cutting extreme poverty, reducing child mortality and fighting epidemics by 2015.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: World’s slums grow despite rapid economy growth: UN: The News

Pak Suzuki increases prices: The News

KARACHI: The Pak Suzuki Motor Company (PSMC) on Saturday again increased the prices of its various models by Rs10,000 to Rs15,000.

This is the second time within two months that the popular PSMC has increased its prices, which are applicable from March 29, 2010. Previously, the company had raised its prices by Rs10,000 to Rs15,000 on January 26.

According to auto analyst it is expected that in the near future prices will further rise. Shafiq Shaikh spokesperson PSMC said that under unavoidable circumstances the company has to pass on a minor production cost to the consumers owing to increase in prices of international steel sheets and increases in wages and utility prices.

He added that still the company is bearing most of the cost pressure despite the depreciating rupee and other inflationary conditions affecting the economy that have pushed up the CKD (complete knock down) and the local vendor parts costs.

The price tag on all Suzuki Mehran models have been raised by Rs10,000. Now Mehran VX, VXR, VX CNG, VXR CNG are tagged Rs4,29,000, Rs480,000, Rs474,000 and Rs524,000 respectively.

The 1000cc Alto prices have been increased by Rs12,000. Now Alto VXR will cost Rs6,25,000, Alto VXR CNG will cost Rs674,000. Similarly prices of all Alto models were also jacked up.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Pak Suzuki increases prices: The News

Auto financing picks up, but banks remain cautious: The News

By Hina Mahgul Rind

KARACHI: After a two-year gap, banks have started reviewing their policy on auto finance and have slightly increased auto financing with stringent conditions, said Atif Zafar, auto analyst at JS Research.

Car sales were improving and one of the reasons was that auto finance along with restoring economic confidence had reduced interest rates and seasonal effects, he added.

Auto finance was at its peak during 2006-2007 and its share in car sales was 70 per cent to 75per cent, however in the later years it was almost stooped due to higher interest rates, and most importantly, auto finance default rate was very high and recovery rate was very low which forced banks to do critical review of their auto finance product, he said.

After this some of the banks completely stopped auto financing and some opted very stringent policy, entertaining their reliable customers only. At present its share in the sales is 30 per cent.

The current market scenario of consumer car financing shows that only few of the banks are doing car financing and some of the key players are Meezan Bank, Dubai Islamic, Faysal Bank, MCB Bank, HBL and Bank Alfalah. On the other hand, Citibank, UBL Ameen and Standard Chartered Bank and leasing companies had completely stopped this product, said a market source.

At present, interest rates at which banks are extending auto finance ranges between 17 and 22per cent. Initially, minimum equity was 30 per cent but banks have reduced it to 20 per cent to attract more customers.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Auto financing picks up, but banks remain cautious: The News

NWFP traders reject VAT: The News

By Riaz Khan Daudzai

PESHAWAR: The trade and business community of NWFP on Saturday rejected the Value Added Tax ordinance and set a 15-day deadline for the federal government to implement the relief package announced by Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani for the militancy hit areas in the province.

Addressing a news conference the Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) president and the representatives of the small traders spurned the revised the package of the prime minister.

SCCI president Riaz Arshad said that the SROs issued on March 10 regarding the incentives have added to the confusion surrounding the prime minister package.

He said that under the original package there was 100 per cent exemption from Federal Excise Duty in the most-affected areas whereas under the SROs the same has been exempted by 50 percent in district of Charsadda, Peshawar, DI Khan, Batagram, Lakki Marwat, Swabi and Mardan which remained most-affected areas. He said that package had also exempted of Sales Tax on electricity bills the manufacturing units, but the relief was taken back in the SRO issued on March 10. He said that even today the small traders received the power bills carrying all kinds of taxes exempted in the package.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: NWFP traders reject VAT: The News

Pakistan second Khushab reactor in initial operation stage: HT

The second nuclear reactor at the Khusab is in its initial stage of operation, a leading US-think tank said today based on the latest Google imagery of the nuclear reactor of Pakistan.

"GoogleEarth recently posted satellite imagery from GeoEye featuring the Khushab nuclear site in Pakistan".

"Imagery dated December 31, 2009 shows what appears to be steam distorting the view of some of the cooling tower fan blades for the second plutonium production Khushab reactor," said Paul Brannan of the Institute for Science and International Security, a Washington-based think tank.

"This would indicate that the second Khushab reactor is at least at some state of initial operation," Brannan said in a press statement that also released the latest Google Earth pictures of the Khushab reactor.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Pakistan second Khushab reactor in initial operation stage: HT

CIA could face prosecution due to U.S. drone raids in Pakistan: Digital Journal

Officers for the Central Intelligence Agency may face legal action from Pakistani authorities because of attacks by United States unmanned aerial vehicles.
Islamabad, Pakistan - Due to the U.S. government’s refusal to offer legal grounds for the CIA’s drone raids in Pakistan, many CIA officers may face prosecution for war crimes, according to AFP. Since the U.S. President was elected more than one year ago, military drone bombings have increased in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Many important officials in the international community are impatient with Washington ignoring the denouncement of the CIA’s bombing raids in Pakistan, Afghanistan and other parts of the world, reports Press TV.
U.S. State Department lawyers and members of other government agencies worry that the Obama administration has not stated a rationale for the drone strikes but Kenneth Anderson, a law professor at American University, told a congressional panel on Tuesday that drone attacks are legal under international law.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: CIA could face prosecution due to U.S. drone raids in Pakistan: Digital Journal

Pak-US strategic talks push Karachi stocks 183 points up: Daily Times

KARACHI: The Karachi stock market witnessed a bullish trading session on Wednesday as investors went for across-the-board buying.

Analysts said the US-Pakistan strategic talks in Washington, which are expected to resolve the energy crisis in Pakistan and make agreements for export of Pakistani products to the US, did the trick.

The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) 100-share index gained 182.92 points or 1.84 percent to close at 10,146.27 points as compared to the previous session’s 9,936.35 points. The KSE 30-share index closed at 10,475.66 points with a gain of 207.20 points. The KMI 30 closed at 15,260.99 points with a rise of 247.68 points.

Analysts said the market opened in the green zone and remained in the buoyant momentum throughout the trading session amid intense foreign interest in oil and gas, bank and fertilizer sectors on strong valuations. Healthy volumes were traded during the session reflecting growing confidence among investors.

The market turnover went up by 117.91 percent and traded 160.30 million shares as compared with the previous session’s 73.56 million shares. The overall market capitalisation was up by 1.44 percent and traded Rs 2.876 trillion as against Rs 2.835 trillion. Out of total 411 companies, 239 closed in the positive zone, 152 in negative and 20 remained unchanged.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Pak-US strategic talks push Karachi stocks 183 points up: Daily Times

Pakistan faces tough task rejuvenating battered Swat: Reuters

Nearly a year after a Pakistani army offensive cleared the Taliban from Swat, government efforts to stabilize the region through economic rehabilitation have yielded limited results.

While small businesses are recovering from two years of fighting, massive state funding is needed to create jobs and industries in the former tourist hub where militants blew up hotels, houses and girls' schools and beheaded tribal elders.

Only that, officials say, will prevent the Taliban from returning to recruit residents disillusioned with a government widely perceived as corrupt and inefficient.

"This is by far the most important drive to keep the Taliban away," chief regional minister Amir Haider Khan Hoti told Reuters recently.

The first phase will require $1 billion, he said. It's a daunting task for the government, which will be hard-pressed to extract money from a sluggish economy battered by the steep cost of fighting Taliban insurgents.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Pakistan faces tough task rejuvenating battered Swat: Reuters

U.S. and Pakistan seek to reverse mistrust: Money Control

U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday that United States wanted a new relationship with Pakistan but was realistic of the challenges ahead in reversing decades of mistrust.

"It is the start of something new," said Clinton at the beginning of two days of meetings. "Our countries have had our misunderstandings and disagreements in the past and there are sure to be more disagreements in the future as there are between any friends or family members."

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi also looked for improved ties with Washington, a close ally in fighting against militants as the United States battles the Taliban in neighbouring Afghanistan.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: U.S. and Pakistan seek to reverse mistrust: Money Control

US says it is open to nuke deal with Pakistan: TOI

WASHINGTON: Amid reports of massive 16-20 hour power outages across Pakistan causing public unrest, the Barack Obama administration has indicated it is open to Islamabad's plea for a civilian nuclear deal akin to the US-India agreement, notwithstanding continued disquiet about Pakistan's bonafides on the nuclear front.

The first indication of a possible policy shift by US, which had till now rejected Pakistan's entreaties for a nuclear deal, came in an interview the US ambassador to Islamabad, Anne Patterson, gave to a Pakistani-American journal in which she said the two sides were going to have "working level talks" on the subject during a strategic dialogue on March 24.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: US says it is open to nuke deal with Pakistan: TOI

US Envoy In Pakistan Terms 'Silly' Indian Army Chief's Remark': RTT

(RTTNews) - United States Ambassador to Pakistan Anne Patterson has termed a recent remark of Indian Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor as 'silly' but did not elaborate the remark.

Patterson is reported to have made the comment in an interview with Pakistan-based newspaper "The Dawn," but the daily did not elaborate the remark of Gen Kapoor that came in for the U.S. envoy's rather harsh criticism.

The 'silly' remark of the U.S. envoy comes at a time when Pakistan is engaged in a strategic dialogue with the U.S. and as the former nudges India to resume the composite dialogue process, stalled in the wake of the November 2008 Mumbai attacks.

It is being speculated that Patterson was referring to an old remark of Gen Kapoor wherein he had said (without naming Pakistan) that India should be ready with a plan to launch "highly-mobile 'battle groups'...adequately backed by air cover and artillery fire assaults, for rapid thrusts into enemy territory within 96 hours".

For more on this article, please click on the following link: US Envoy In Pakistan Terms 'Silly' Indian Army Chief's Remark': RTT

Pakistan rupee gains sharply to close at 4-mth high: Reuters

KARACHI, March 25 (Reuters) - The Pakistani rupee gained sharply on Thursday to close at a near four-month high, thanks to increased dollar inflows and easing demand from importers, dealers said.

The rupee PKR closed at 83.67/72 to the dollar compared with 84.10/13 on Wednesday.

"There have been some good dollar inflows in recent days which have supported the rupee," said a dealer at a foreign bank.

Another dealer said the strengthening rupee had also forced exporters to sell dollars more aggressively in the interbank market, further improving supplies of the U.S. currency.

"Dollar supplies are currently more than the demand and the market is anticipating more inflows as well, and this has resulted in more dollar selling by exporters who fear losses in case the rupee gains further," said the dealers.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Pakistan rupee gains sharply to close at 4-mth high: Reuters

"Pakistan Has the Freest Press in the Developing World"

Saad Sarwar

There are reports in the media, that the US has plans to reign in Pakistani Media by earmarking $50 million dollars for the year 2010 to be spent on different media outlets in Pakistan. The need was felt by the US after the Kerry Lugar aid bill was harshly criticized in the Pakistani media due to the tough conditions attached to it. The US thinks such criticism was unjustified and now thinks that bribing Pakistani media outlets with such handsome doling of cash would effectively gag the media about raising issues of Pakistani national security that may be averse to the US plans in the region.

One western diplomat in Islamabad is quoted as saying about the Pakistani media in a Financial Times article, “Whatever you might say otherwise, it is the case that Pakistan’s civil society, courts and the press are all among the freest in the developing world”. He further adds, “This is a strength which we may not like in this particular case because the islamists are using it to their advantage, but it is a strength”.

The US government is already using Voice of America to run its propaganda campaign in Pakistan using its alliance with a leading Pakistani channel GEO TV which airs such programs. It is also reported that Express TV is next in line for such kind of alliances with the US organization. The US champions itself as a promoter of freedom all around the world while at the same time taking steps to curtail the freedom of media all over. The situation in Pakistan is a case in point. This is not the first time the US has publicly taken steps to curtail the freedom of media in Pakistan to change the public opinion averse to the US. After the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, the US told the then Pakistani President Musharraf to take action to stop people from criticizing the US to which Musharraf had no answer but to tell the US that it is not possible to do so.

Most countries around the world monitor foreign media takeovers or alliances to ensure that national security is not compromised by foreign indoctrination. In the US, no foreign national is allowed to own a TV network. This rule created difficulties for the Australian billionaire TV magnate Rupert Murdoch to start his famous right wing Fox TV Channel in the US. To bypass the rule the billionaire applied for a US citizenship which he got and brought the Fox Channel to the US. Even starting a homegrown channel for broadcast on cable is difficult in the US if it doesn’t conform to the mainstream American values. This can be adjudged from the story of the Muslim TV network called Bridges TV which had to find 10,000 cable customers willing to subscribe to it before such a channel could be aired.
Pakistan should also have some laws and regulations which limit and deny such foreign acquisitions/interference in critical areas like oil companies, essential mineral resources and more importantly the media, thereby ensuring Pakistani media is free of foreign interests and solely dedicated to the welfare of the Pakistani nation. It is also important that Pakistani Supreme Court take a suo moto notice of such dole-outs which are designed to curtail the freedom of media in Pakistan by the US government.

Not only the Pakistani media but the Pakistani judiciary is also under increasing fire from some elements in the US press. The article in the WSJ by US attorneys David Rivkin and Lee Casey also implies that the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan should be under the Executive branch of Pakistan rather than the judiciary acting as an independent pillar of the State. They also fail to notice that unlike the US which has a presidential style of government, Pakistan is a parliamentary democracy with the Prime Minister holding the seat of power instead of the President of Pakistan which is mainly a ceremonial position, just like the Queen of England. These efforts to undermine the judiciary of Pakistan by these right wing elements in the US press are designed to curtail the hard won freedom of another important pillar of the Pakistani State namely the judiciary. Pakistan has struggled hard to gain the freedom of Media and Judiciary that it has attained to a degree today and many Pakistanis have paid a heavy price during the process. It is imperative now to preserve these two critical pillars of the state at all costs for the Pakistani society and nation to be seen as a beacon of freedom all over the world and the struggles of the media and judiciary through tough times they went through is not forgotten.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: In the Name of Freedom: United States of America Taming Pakistani Media: Economistan.com

In the Name of Freedom: United States of America Taming Pakistani Media: Economistan.com

Saad Sarwar

There are reports in the media, that the US has plans to reign in Pakistani Media by earmarking $50 million dollars for the year 2010 to be spent on different media outlets in Pakistan. The need was felt by the US after the Kerry Lugar aid bill was harshly criticized in the Pakistani media due to the tough conditions attached to it. The US thinks such criticism was unjustified and now thinks that bribing Pakistani media outlets with such handsome doling of cash would effectively gag the media about raising issues of Pakistani national security that may be averse to the US plans in the region.

One western diplomat in Islamabad is quoted as saying about the Pakistani media in a Financial Times article, “Whatever you might say otherwise, it is the case that Pakistan’s civil society, courts and the press are all among the freest in the developing world”. He further adds, “This is a strength which we may not like in this particular case because the islamists are using it to their advantage, but it is a strength”.

The US government is already using Voice of America to run its propaganda campaign in Pakistan using its alliance with a leading Pakistani channel GEO TV which airs such programs. It is also reported that Express TV is next in line for such kind of alliances with the US organization. The US champions itself as a promoter of freedom all around the world while at the same time taking steps to curtail the freedom of media all over. The situation in Pakistan is a case in point. This is not the first time the US has publicly taken steps to curtail the freedom of media in Pakistan to change the public opinion averse to the US. After the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, the US told the then Pakistani President Musharraf to take action to stop people from criticizing the US to which Musharraf had no answer but to tell the US that it is not possible to do so.

Most countries around the world monitor foreign media takeovers or alliances to ensure that national security is not compromised by foreign indoctrination. In the US, no foreign national is allowed to own a TV network. This rule created difficulties for the Australian billionaire TV magnate Rupert Murdoch to start his famous right wing Fox TV Channel in the US. To bypass the rule the billionaire applied for a US citizenship which he got and brought the Fox Channel to the US. Even starting a homegrown channel for broadcast on cable is difficult in the US if it doesn’t conform to the mainstream American values. This can be adjudged from the story of the Muslim TV network called Bridges TV which had to find 10,000 cable customers willing to subscribe to it before such a channel could be aired.
Pakistan should also have some laws and regulations which limit and deny such foreign acquisitions/interference in critical areas like oil companies, essential mineral resources and more importantly the media, thereby ensuring Pakistani media is free of foreign interests and solely dedicated to the welfare of the Pakistani nation. It is also important that Pakistani Supreme Court take a suo moto notice of such dole-outs which are designed to curtail the freedom of media in Pakistan by the US government.

Not only the Pakistani media but the Pakistani judiciary is also under increasing fire from some elements in the US press. The article in the WSJ by US attorneys David Rivkin and Lee Casey also implies that the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan should be under the Executive branch of Pakistan rather than the judiciary acting as an independent pillar of the State. They also fail to notice that unlike the US which has a presidential style of government, Pakistan is a parliamentary democracy with the Prime Minister holding the seat of power instead of the President of Pakistan which is mainly a ceremonial position, just like the Queen of England. These efforts to undermine the judiciary of Pakistan by these right wing elements in the US press are designed to curtail the hard won freedom of another important pillar of the Pakistani State namely the judiciary. Pakistan has struggled hard to gain the freedom of Media and Judiciary that it has attained to a degree today and many Pakistanis have paid a heavy price during the process. It is imperative now to preserve these two critical pillars of the state at all costs for the Pakistani society and nation to be seen as a beacon of freedom all over the world and the struggles of the media and judiciary through tough times they went through is not forgotten.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: In the Name of Freedom: United States of America Taming Pakistani Media: Economistan.com

22 oil, gas discoveries made in 2 years, NA told: The News

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Syed Naveed Qamar on Monday informed the National Assembly (NA) that a total 59 onshore and offshore exploration wells were drilled in the country from January 2008 onwards.

Responding to a question during the question hour session, he said 22 oil and gas discoveries were made during the period. Out of these 18 were under appraisal, whereas four discoveries had been initially appraised having a reserve of 3.27 million barrels of oil and 404 billion cubic feet of gas.

He said the government had granted 126 exploration licenses to different companies for exploration of petroleum in Pakistan. Present indigenous production of crude oil is 66,390 barrels per day (BPD) which is processed at local refineries in Pakistan, he added. Qamar said in order to meet the demand of petroleum products, Khlifa Coastal Oil Refinery Project with a capacity of 250,000 BPD and Byco Petroleum Pakistan limited Refinery project with capacity of 115,000 BPD are proposed to be set up near Hub, Balochistan.

To another question of Qudsia Arshad, the Minister said in order to ensure that the maximum benefit of the subsidy went to the low income consumers, it was decided to allow the lower price benefit of only two preceding slabs for any particular consumer. He said that in this way, the consumers falling in first three slabs were not affected by this mechanism whereas through economic measures high gas consumption was discouraged.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: 22 oil, gas discoveries made in 2 years, NA told: The News

Pakistan Returns Free Helicopters to US: AOLNews

WASHINGTON (March 15) -- Less than a year ago, the United States rushed four Russian-built Mi-17 helicopters to Pakistan after an urgent request from the country's senior leadership. Now those helicopters, which were offered at no cost to the government of Pakistan, are being returned to the United States after a serious crash that resulted in at least one fatality.

A Pentagon spokesperson told AOL News that Pakistan has decided not to keep the helicopters. "Pakistan has recently informed us of its intent to return the helicopters in accordance with the lease agreement," the spokesperson said.

The helicopters, which were intended to bolster Pakistan's military in the country's restive North West Frontier province, were transferred from a U.S. training unit to Pakistan's military last year under what was technically deemed a lease agreement. However, Pakistan was not asked to pay for their use. Though the lease was for a fixed 11-month term, it was expected that Pakistan would likely extend the lease given its high demand for helicopters.

But in February one of the leased helicopters crashed as a result of a problem with the tail rotor, killing at least one person on board. That crash prompted Pakistan to request that the helicopters, at least one of which was more than two decades old, be returned to the United States.

A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department confirmed the request to return the helicopters was received but referred further queries to the Pentagon, which referred detailed questions on the issue to the government of Pakistan. A spokesman for Pakistan's Embassy in Washington did not respond to e-mail or phone messages requesting comment on the issue.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Pakistan Returns Free Helicopters to US: AOLNews

Death by debt: The News

By Dr Ashfaque H Khan
This is my fourth article on this subject in the last seven months. What prompted me to write yet another article on the same subject in a short span are the numbers pertaining to external debt and liabilities (EDL) and public debt released by different government agencies for the first half (July – December) of the current fiscal year. These numbers are worrisome and need to be brought to the notice of the general public.

It is well-known that high and rising debt burden constitutes a serious threat to growth and development. It is a major impediment to macroeconomic stability and thus to growth, employment generation and poverty alleviation. It is also a discouragement to foreign investment because it creates uncertainty about the government's policy and thus generates a high risk environment for doing business in the country. High and rising debt burden also puts pressure on exchange rate, thus causing sharp depreciation with attendant difficulties for price stability. This also becomes a source of discouragement for government to undertake wide-ranging structural reforms in the various sectors of the economy.

Pakistan has witnessed serious debt crisis in the 1990s and accordingly experienced deterioration in the macroeconomic environment, leading to deceleration in investment and growth and the associated rise in unemployment and poverty. The last two years have taken Pakistan back to the decade of the 1990s. Faltering of growth, persistence of large fiscal and current account deficits and sharp depreciation of exchange rate have already produced unsustainable debt burden. Accordingly, Pakistan has become heavily dependent on external financial support from the IMF, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank and bilateral sources. Its excessive reliance on external financial support has compelled Pakistan to compromise on its national security.

It took six/seven years of hard work to bring the economy out of the difficulties of the 1990s. Pakistan's public debt was brought down from over 100 per cent of GDP in 1998-99 to 55 per cent by end-June 2007, the external debt reduced from 66 per cent of GDP to 28.2 per cent, debt servicing which used to be over 72 per cent of our total revenue declined to 35 per cent and debt servicing and defence spending which was over 100 per cent of total revenue was brought down to 54 per cent during the same period.

In short, the country's debt burden was reduced to one-half in just six/seven years. The reduction in debt burden released resources to be spent on people and infrastructure. Consistent with empirical evidence, the decline in debt burden led to the acceleration in economic growth, job creation and poverty reduction. Pakistan emerged as one of the four fastest growing economies in the Asian region; it created 13 million jobs and reduced the poverty by one-half during the period.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Death by debt: The News

Alleged spymaster has StratCom ties: Omaha

By Matthew Hansen
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

A military official who allegedly ran a secret spying network in Afghanistan and Pakistan has ties to the Bellevue-based U.S. Strategic Command.

Michael Furlong works as a civilian employee for the Joint Operations Warfare Center, a San Antonio-based center that reports to StratCom.

Furlong is now being criminally investigated by the Pentagon after he reportedly organized a group of private contractors who helped hunt for suspected militants on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

It’s unclear who, if anyone, coordinated or supervised Furlong’s work, which allegedly involved hiring ex-CIA agents and former Special Forces officers to gather intelligence on suspected militants.

A U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Furlong directed a defense contract to gather information about the region that could be shared with military units. After military officials suspected that he was using Defense Department money for an off-the-books spy operation, defense officials shut down that part of the contract, the official said.

The story was first reported by the New York Times, which quoted unidentified military and business sources as saying that Furlong hired subcontractors who had former U.S. intelligence and special forces operatives on their payrolls. The newspaper said some of the information collected by the contractors was used to track down and attack militants.

“The story makes some serious allegations and raises numerous unanswered questions that warrant further review by the department,” Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said Monday.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Alleged spymaster has StratCom ties: Omaha

Pakistan 3G merger call: FT

By Farhan Bokhari in Islamabad

Published: March 16 2010 02:00 | Last updated: March 16 2010 02:00

Pakistan's telecoms market will have to consolidate before the government can even consider a planned push into third-generation technology, according to the head of the only European operator in the country.

Telenor, the Norwegian telecoms group, said that there was not enough profit per phone user to justify having five mobile groups in Pakistan and operators would have to consider mergers or acquisitions in order to see significant growth.

Jon Eddy Abdullah, Telenor Pakistan's chief executive, told the Financial Times: "Most markets are [divided between] three players. Three seems a very good number. Five is too many."

Telenor entered Pakistan five years ago and is the second largest cellular phone operator after Mobilink, a subsidiary of Egypt's Orascom Telecom . Pakistan's other operators are Ufone, Warid Telecom and Zong.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Pakistan 3G merger call: FT

US Defence official hired freelance spies: The Australian

WASHINGTON: A US Defence Department official set up a network of private contractors in Afghanistan and Pakistan to track and kill suspected Islamic militants, reports said yesterday.

The official, Michael Furlong, hired contractors from private security companies that employed former CIA and Special Forces members. These people gathered intelligence on the whereabouts of suspected Islamic militants and the location of insurgent camps, a report said. The information was then sent to military units and intelligence officials in Afghanistan and Pakistan for use in strikes.

The New York Times report said that while it has been widely reported that the CIA and the military were using unmanned drones to attack al-Qa'ida operatives, some US officials said they were troubled that Mr Furlong seemed to be running an off-the-books spy operation. They were not sure who supervised his work.

The paper noted it was considered illegal for the military to hire contractors to act as covert spies. It was also possible Mr Furlong's network had been improperly financed.

In Pakistan, the secret use of private contractors may be seen as an attempt to get around the government's prohibition on US military personnel operating in the country, the report said.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: US Defence official hired freelance spies: The Australian

Pakistan Mud Volcanoes: NASA

Along the coast of Pakistan, the tectonic plate underlying the Arabian Sea is diving beneath the Eurasian continent. This process—subduction—typically creates volcanoes, but the volcanoes that rise from this arid landscape are not the typical kind. Instead of lava, ash, and sulfur dioxide, these volcanoes spew mud and methane. On rare occasions, the gas plumes spontaneously ignite, shooting flames high into the sky.

This natural-color image shows the most dramatic group of mud volcanoes in the area, known as the Changradup Complex. The tallest volcano, Changradup I, is about 100 meters (330 feet) high, and it has a 15-meter- (49-foot-) diameter mud lake in its crater that periodically overflows. Some of these overflows have darkened the northwestern flanks. A second crater emerges from the southern flanks of Changradup, but it is not currently active.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Pakistan Mud Volcanoes: NASA

Nordex interested in Pakistan's wind energy: EVWIND

Nordex has shown interest in investing in energy sector in Pakistan to help overcome shortage of emergency in the country. A delegation of the company visited Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB).

The Nordex Modern Generation Limited, one of the ten top serial producers of the wind turbines in the world, has shown interest in investing in wind energy in Pakistan to help overcome shortage of emergency in the country.

A delegation of Nordex visited Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) Headquarters to discuss investment opportunities in the Alternative/ Renewable Energy (ARE) Sector in Pakistan.

Mr. Arif Alauddin, Chief Executive Officer AEDB in a briefing to the delegation apprised them of the immense potential in the ARE Sector in Pakistan. He said that available ARE potential, the current energy shortages in the country and lucrative incentives that the Government of Pakistan offers, provide unique opportunities for investment in Pakistan.

He said that in the wind power sector alone, Pakistan possesses an estimated potential of generating 350,000 MW of electricity. Responding to questions relating to the national ARE policy, Mr. Alauddin said that the Short Term Policy, 2006 encompasses only three technologies i.e. wind farm, solar power and small hydro.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Nordex interested in Pakistan's wind energy: EVWIND

Afghanistan's new great game: The undeclared wars within the war: DW

Author: Chris Kline
Editor: Rob Mudge

Conventional Western public opinion regards the war in Afghanistan as a struggle between NATO and extremist Islamic militants. Since assuming office Barack Obama has redefined the conflict by calling it the Af-Pak war.

The US president's redefinition is recognition that the Taliban's nerve center, as well as al Qaeda's safe haven are across Afghanistan's border in neighboring Pakistan. In the forbidding tribal territories, Waziristan especially, another dimension of the same fierce conflict is underway with more Pakistani troops thrown into the fray than the whole of NATO deploys on its side of the Northwest Frontier.

But unlike Afghanistan where NATO allows journalists free access to combat operations, the Pakistani military remains media-averse and highly secretive of its own internal counter-insurgency efforts. On the surface of things, however Pakistan is NATO's and particularly Washington's staunch ally in the regional and global campaign against terror. It's a role for which Islamabad in dire economic straits is rewarded handsomely with a massive combined US economic and military aid package it could not do without.

But as British author Moni Mohsin, a lifelong student of Pakistan points out "Pakistan is also the only US ally, America frequently bombs with drone missile strikes, which sometimes kill terrorists and just as often kill civilians."

And While Islamabad is at pains to denounce the Predator missile attacks and adamantly insists it does not authorize them, Mohsin told Deutsche Welle that there is tacit Pakistani government approval for the strikes. Yet when the attacks are publicized it only helps to feed the ever present anti-American propaganda in Pakistan's right wing media "which in turn becomes a pro-Talibanization as far as the public is concerned."

The prevalence of anti-US sentiment in popular culture is something the Pakistani army and the all powerful military intelligence service or ISI, seem to thrive on and encourage although they are ostensible allies of the West, in presumably the same struggle. The underpinning complexity of such duality is at the essence of what routine western analysis of South Asia often fails to pinpoint.

At the core of this double game, is Pakistan's traditional enmity with India, the dominance of the armed forces and its spymasters in Pakistan's national and political life and a long standing rapport with the Taliban and other radical groups which it has not only supported but also created in some cases.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Afghanistan's new great game: The undeclared wars within the war: DW

Local bourse breaches 10,000 points barrier: GEO

KARACHI: Bulls grew further strong Friday leading the local equities market beyond the psychological barrier of 10,000 points – a level witnessed by the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) after a period of 19 months.

Upbeat activity continued at the share market right from the beginning of the first session and pushed through till the end of the second session on the last trading day of the week.

For more on this article, please click on the following: Local bourse breaches 10,000 points barrier: GEO

Pakistan Army Digs In on Turf of the Taliban: NYT

By JANE PERLEZ and PIR ZUBAIR SHAH

MAKEEN, Pakistan — From a forward base in the bare brown foothills of the soaring mountains of South Waziristan, Pakistani soldiers fired artillery at insurgents sheltering in scrub across the valley. Smoke blotted the sky as the soldiers set ablaze houses once used by the Taliban to hide caches of heavy weapons.

In the Makeen bazaar, where the former leader of the Pakistani militants, Baitullah Mehsud, was once king, the army has flattened the jerry-built stores, including the ice cream parlor, scotching any idea of easy return.

Here in the heartland of the Pakistani Taliban, the army has fought for five months to claw back territory from its indigenous enemy. A rare trip under military escort revealed that the battle had turned into a grinding test of wills with no neat resolution in sight.

The Pakistani Army has, at least for the moment, gained the upper hand by taking the war to the Taliban in these barren mountains rather than retreating behind successive peace deals, as it once did. But it is not claiming victory.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Pakistan Army Digs In on Turf of the Taliban: NYT

Saudi Arabia lifts ban on Pakistan seafood: The News

KARACHI: Adviser to Sindh CM Sharmila Faruqui said that Saudi Arabia lifted a ban from import of Pakistani seafood.

Talking to a delegation of seafood exporters at her Sindh Secretariat Office on Friday, she maintained that matters related to export of Pakistani seafood had been finalized with Saudi government officials and Pakistan waters fish and other marine products were being exported to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states.

The adviser mentioned that several countries had issued health certificates to Pakistan regarding fish, prawn and other marine products. She added that Pakistani seafood were free from cholera microbe or any other epidemic disease while in the past a propaganda was launched that Pakistani seafood were contaminated with cholera microbe but later laboratory tests conducted by Gulf states and other countries had dispelled it and now export of Pakistani seafood was going on to these countries.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Saudi Arabia lifts ban on Pakistan seafood: The News

Pakistan navy test fires missiles, torpedoes: AFP

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan on Friday successfully test fired new missiles and torpedoes from ships, submarines and aircraft in the Arabian Sea, the navy announced.

"Pakistan navy fleet today tested its fire power in the north Arabian Sea to assess lethality, precision and efficacy of its weapon system," it said.

The navy did not disclose range or technical details but said "this included successful firing of a variety of missiles and torpedoes from the ships."

The tests included anti-surface missiles from an F-22P frigate, acquired recently from China, air-to-surface missiles from P-3C aircraft and sub surface-to-surface missiles from Agosta 90B submarines that originate from France.

"While reassuring Pakistan navy's commitment of defending the motherland, this strike capability would also send a message of deterrence to anyone harbouring nefarious designs against Pakistan," the statement said.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Pakistan navy test fires missiles, torpedoes: AFP

How the CIA Uses Pakistan as a Launch Pad for Drones: Spiegel.de

By Hasnain Kazim in Islamabad

Pakistan may be the epicenter of the CIA's drone war against the Taliban, but there is massive resistance to the campaign from the Pakistani population. The US is forcing Islamabad to perform a difficult balancing act.

As so often, the sky is a radiant blue over Mir Ali, a small Pakistani town in the province of North Waziristan near the border with Afghanistan. Alerted by a buzzing sound, a few people come out of their houses. Spotting a small aircraft a few hundred meters away, they panic, and those who can flee into the next village. The craft is a Predator drone, an unmanned plane launched from a secret airbase in Pakistan and controlled remotely by the CIA in Virginia back in the US. "We panic because we live in constant fear of being hit by a rocket," says Haji Gul, one of the inhabitants of Mir Ali.

Almost every day now, Pakistani television shows footage of houses destroyed and villages devastated by drone attacks. One such attack in mid-January killed three people in Mir Ali, all of them allegedly members of an extremist militia.

However the rockets fired by these remote-controlled mini-planes do not only kill terrorists. Drone strikes have an indirect -- and sometimes also direct -- impact on everyone who lives in the affected regions along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Some of the locals are worried, others are angry. They fear for their lives now that the CIA's drone war is taking on ever greater dimensions and using Pakistan as a launch pad.

For it is here, in hidden airfields in Pakistan, that the drones are primed and launched. And it is mainly here that they carry out attacks, especially in North and South Waziristan, two regions that border Afghanistan and which are a stronghold of an unknown number of militant groups.

Controversial Campaign

Despite its success against the Pakistani Taliban, the use of drones by the Americans remains controversial in Pakistan. According to a Gallup poll, only 9 percent of Pakistanis are in favor of them. Two-thirds reject them outright.

There are several reasons for this. People living along the border with Afghanistan, for example, regularly complain that the rockets also kill civilians who have nothing to do with the insurgents. What's more, the Pakistani government feels the US has put it in a tight spot. Islamabad doesn't like foreign military activity on its territory -- at least officially. It claims America's actions constitute a violation of Pakistani sovereignty.

In a November 2009 interview with SPIEGEL, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani went so far as to describe the drone attacks as "counterproductive." "The political and the military leadership have been very successful in isolating the militants from the local tribes. But once there is a drone attack in their home region, they get united again," he said. "This is a dangerous trend, and it is my concern and the concern of the army. It is also counterproductive in the sense that it is creating a lot of anti-American sentiment all over the country."

For more on this article, please click on the following link: How the CIA Uses Pakistan as a Launch Pad for Drones: Spiegel.de

Pakistan proved right in Regi case: The News

By By Amir Mir
LAHORE: The arrest of the Jundallah chief Abdolmalek Regi by Iranian authorities hardly 24 hours after he had left an American military base in Afghanistan has vindicated Islamabad’s October 2009 stance that the anti-Shia renegade leader was no more hiding in Pakistan and was now operating from Afghanistan.

Regi, being Iran’s most wanted terrorist leader, had claimed responsibility for several major terrorist attacks carried out in Iran in the recent past, including the October 18 suicide bombing in Tehran. He was finally arrested along with his deputy after Iranian fighter planes intercepted a commercial flight over Persian Gulf which was travelling from Dubai to Kyrgyzstan and forced it to make an emergency landing at an unknown location. Informed circles in Islamabad say the most vital tip about the travel plans of Regi leading to his arrest actually came from Pakistan.

The Iranians have already recovered from him his Afghan passport, which according to Iranian Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi, had been supplied to him by the United States. The recovery of Afghan passport has also refuted the October 2009 Iranian claim that Abdolmalek Regi carries a Pakistani national identity card by the name of Saeed Ahmed, son of Ghulam Haider. Regi comes from the Regi tribe of the Baloch in Iran.

Jundallah, or “Army of God”, which is also known in Iran as the Regi group is a rebel anti-Shia Sunni militant group of Iranian Baloch, who claim to represent their minority’s rights in Iran’s southeast province of Sistan-Balochistan. The dedication of the Regi brothers to the cause of Jundallah can be gauged from the fact that one of them -- Abdolgafoor Regi - opted to sacrifice him by executing a suicide car bombing on December 28, 2008, against the headquarters of Iran’s joint police and anti-narcotics unit in the Saravan city. Before the arrest of the 30-year-old Regi, his hideout was believed to be cross-border, in the Pakistani Balochistan. In the wake of the October 18, 2009 suicide bombing in Tehran, Islamabad came under tremendous pressure from Tehran for the arrest and extradition of Regi. Addressing a press conference in Islamabad on March 20, 2009, the ambassador of Iran to Pakistan Mashallah Shakeri accused Pakistan of allowing its soil to be used against Iran and demanding concrete steps to contain its activities. Pakistan consequently maintained that its security agencies were making frantic efforts to dismantle the Jundallah network from Balochistan, adding Regi has already moved to Afghanistan after the June 15, 2008 extradition of his younger brother, Abdolhamid Regi (from Pakistan to Iran), who is now being tried by an Iranian court on terrorism charges.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Pakistan proved right in Regi case: The News

Americans Against Freedom of Judiciary in Pakistan: WSJ

Judicial Coup in Pakistan: WSJ

By DAVID B. RIVKIN JR. AND LEE A. CASEY

When U.S. President Barack Obama sharply challenged a recent Supreme Court decision in his State of the Union address, prompting a soto voce rejoinder from Justice Samuel Alito, nobody was concerned that the contretemps would spark a blood feud between the judiciary and the executive. The notion that judges could or would work to undermine a sitting U.S. president is fundamentally alien to America's constitutional system and political culture. Unfortunately, this is not the case in Pakistan.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, the country's erstwhile hero, is the leading culprit in an unfolding constitutional drama. It was Mr. Chaudhry's dismissal by then-President Pervez Musharraf in 2007 that triggered street protests by lawyers and judges under the twin banners of democracy and judicial independence. This effort eventually led to Mr. Musharraf's resignation in 2008. Yet it is now Mr. Chaudhry himself who is violating those principles, having evidently embarked on a campaign to undermine and perhaps even oust President Asif Ali Zardari.

Any involvement in politics by a sitting judge, not to mention a chief justice, is utterly inconsistent with an independent judiciary's proper role. What is even worse, Chief Justice Chaudhry has been using the court to advance his anti-Zardari campaign. Two recent court actions are emblematic of this effort.

The first is a decision by the Supreme Court, announced and effective last December, to overturn the "National Reconciliation Ordinance." The NRO, which was decreed in October 2007, granted amnesty to more than 8,000 members from all political parties who had been accused of corruption in the media and some of whom had pending indictments.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Americans Against Freedom of Judiciary in Pakistan: WSJ

GORDON DUFF: PAKISTAN’S IMRAN KHAN; LOOKING FOR “AMERICA” IN THE STRANGEST PLACES: Veterans Today

Traveling around Pakistan is a challenge for an American nowadays. It’s not the highways. It isn’t even that our second vehicle was “armed to the teeth” as we weaved through traffic and up and down superhighways and dusty back roads. The difficulty is the landscape itself, a land, at times, very American in appearance and yet strange and wondrous too. It was the similarities that scared us.

We were there as Americans for a series of lectures and meetings to discuss economics and regional politics at universities and “think tanks.” Pakistan, a country of poverty and wealth, a nation threatened like no other was much like looking in a mirror, perhaps a mirror into America’s future.

A couple of nights ago, author and economist Jeff Gates and I along with Editor Raja Mujtaba of Opinion Maker, the controversial open forum where academics, military leaders and political dissidents from that region fight it out daily on the internet, met with Pakistani political leader, Imran Khan.

Meeting Khan was important to us because he is the only political figure in Pakistan that is widely respected in Afghanistan, a nation that could, potentially, bog American down for years in a bizarre and indefinable combination of “counter-terrorism” and traditional tribal warfare. Only Khan is respected on both sides of the border, Khan and General Aslam Beg, former Army Chief of Staff in Pakistan.

That there is suspicion between Pakistan and Afghanistan is an understatement. Millions of Afghanis and Pakistanis are, not only ethnically identical, but members of the same tribes, even families. Today, up to 4 million refugees from Afghanistan live in Pakistan’s tribal areas. These refugees combined with elements of a Pakistani Taliban have created a drain on Pakistan’s resources, a breeding ground for religious extremism and provided safe havens for Taliban sects that are clearly extremist, terrorist and criminal in nature.

With as many as 50 million people considering themselves “Taliban,” most non-extremist, differentiating between good and bad “Taliban” has been difficult and, in the case of American efforts, something approached with questionable intent.

Not that many years ago, the United States and Pakistan trained and armed the Mujahedeen, both Afghan and foreign fighters to overthrow Soviet dominance in Afghanistan. A generation later, our failure to demilitarize and rehabilitate these elements and the region has led to untold instability, world terrorism and a war against Pakistan supported by terrorist elements aided by massive funding and sophisticated weaponry and training whose origin can be traced with little difficulty to India and Israel.

Man or legend.

If a man describes “controversy” it is Imran Khan. Few people define the hopes of Islamic moderates as does Khan. This “Khan’s” empire, a “superstar” athlete of the cricket world, a sport unknown to most Americans, consists of that huge portion of the world our maps used to color pink, the regions we used to call the British Empire, a region covering 40% of the globe. When the British conquered the world they took their most beloved sport with them, cricket.

What if an American baseball pitcher won 30 games a year with an ERA of 2.0 and batted .400? Then surround him with controversy, a Muslim with a Jewish ex-wife, looks and charm and a reputed “way with the ladies” that keeps the tabloids stalking him and, oh, I forgot to mention this, make him the head of a political party. You will now begin to understand the enigma of Imran Khan

It gets worse.

He is Pashtu, a Pashtun, one of the same ethnic group Americans know as the Taliban, a group well out of the mainstream in Pakistani politics. In a country ruled by the “Europeanized” Punjabi and Sindh, a Pashtu political leader makes Barak Hussein Obama seem “mainstream.”

It gets worse still.

Khan is not only a controversial celebrity, but an outspoken reformer fighting government corruption. Khan is a friend of Americans but strong enemy of American influence in Pakistan and very critical for the west for its mistrust of Islam. He believes the west doesn’t know the difference between a Taliban extremist and a moderate Sufi cleric but can pick out a Methodist from a Lutheran in seconds.

Imagine an American sports hero who is an Oxford trained economist, sponsored the nation’s largest cancer center and is now building a university for those who would never otherwise see a higher education.

We had to meet this guy.

His political offices were moderate. We had visited political parties in Pakistan that looked more like Ivy League campuses. Khan’s party was used furniture, peeling paint and the sound of work, footsteps up and down stairs and a lot of noise. It was an election night in Rawalpindi. A seat in the national assembly was up for grabs and charges of election fraud had charged the air.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: GORDON DUFF: PAKISTAN’S IMRAN KHAN; LOOKING FOR “AMERICA” IN THE STRANGEST PLACES: Veterans Today

Pakistan’s nuclear profile: Sun2Surf

Ziad Haider

PAKISTAN encapsulates some of the key security challenges facing the international community. The presence of al-Qaeda and nuclear weapons on its soil under the overhang of conflict-prone ties with India remain critical geo-political concerns.

Although media coverage related to Pakistan has emphasised the militancy issue in light of the violence in Pakistan and the conflict in Afghanistan, analysing the full dimensions of Pakistan’s nuclear programme is essential to understanding its security profile. Pakistan’s nuclear engagement began in 1955 as part of the Atoms for Peace programme launched by the US. Thirty-seven Pakistani scientists trained at US atomic facilities and a small research facility was established in Pakistan with US assistance.

Yet following Pakistan’s defeat in the 1971 war with India, its nuclear ambitions were weaponised.

In 1972, President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto declared, “if India builds the Bomb, we will eat grass or leaves, even go hungry. But we will get one of our own.”

Two decades later in May 1998, in a series of tit-for-tat nuclear tests, India and Pakistan officially joined the nuclear club. Estimates suggest Pakistan has enough material for sixty to hundred bombs deliverable by attack aircraft and missiles.

To ensure proper command and control over this arsenal, in February 2002, the National Command Authority (NCA) was set up to formulate policy and exercise employment and development control over all strategic nuclear forces and organisations.

Under a presidential ordinance passed by Gen Musharraf in 2007, the president was to chair the NCA that was to include the prime minister as vice-chairman and senior cabinet and military officials. Last November, President Zardari handed his powers in the NCA to the prime minister though real control remains with the military.

Pakistan’s nuclear doctrine is geared toward ensuring a “credible minimum deterrent” against India. As a result of India’s conventional military superiority, Pakistan has refrained from adopting a no-first-use doctrine, ie it retains the right to use nuclear weapons in a conflict even if it has not been attacked with them. Pakistan has not articulated a formal nuclear doctrine; however, in January 2002, Gen Khalid Kidwai who chairs the NCA’s secretariat outlined general conditions of use: if India attacks Pakistan and conquers a large part of its territory; destroys a large part either of its land or air forces; proceeds to the economic strangling of Pakistan; or pushes Pakistan into political destabilisation or creates a large scale internal subversion.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Pakistan’s nuclear profile: Sun2Surf

Pakistan court blocks Baradar extradition: FT

By Farhan Bokhari in Islamabad

A Pakistani provincial high court yesterday blocked the extradition of captured Afghan Taliban leaders including Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, in an unexpected twist that threatens to undermine Islamabad’s commitment to hunt down islamist militants

Mullah Baradar, the Taliban military chief in Afghanistan, was captured by Pakistan’s intelligence agents assisted by the CIA, from the southern port city of Karachi earlier this month. On Thursday, a statement from the office of Afghan president Hamid Karzai announced an agreement with Pakistan for Mullah Baradar to be handed over to Afganistan.

The government - which has come under intense western pressure, especially from the US, to crackdown on Taliban militants in the country - could appeal to the supreme court to have the decision overturned.

Khalid Khawaja, a pro-islamist campaigner who has actively opposed Pakistan forging closer ties with the US and who filed the petition to the court said; “I feel encouraged as we can’t hand over our people to the US, Afghanistan or any other country”.

Judge Khawaja Mohammad Sharif issued his order in Lahore saying: “They [the Taliban] should not be handed over to any other country” and set March 15 as the next date for hearing the case.

In addition to Mullah Baradar, other Taliban militants named by Mr Khawaja among those arrested recently include Mullah Abdus Salaam, Mullah Kabir, Mullah Mohammad and Mullah Amir Muawiya.

Analysts said, Friday’s development underlined a tendency among islamists to use Pakistan’s increasingly robust civil society, the media and the courts to press their case.

“Whatever you might say otherwise, it is the case that Pakistan’s civil society, courts and the press are all among the freest in the developing world” said one western diplomat in Islamabad. “This is a strength which we may not like in this particular case because the islamists are using it to their advantage, but it is a strength”.

Lieutenant General (retired) Abdul Qayyum, a former Pakistani military commander, warned that handing over Taliban militants to a foreign country would provoke a backlash. “If these people are sent to Afghanistan, it is as good as sending them to America. We can’t hand over these people to an outside power. That will annoy Pakistanis even more so than before” he said.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Pakistan court blocks Baradar extradition: FT

US to spend $50 million on media in Pakistan: Examiner

Ibrahim Sajid Malick

The Obama administration plans to spend nearly $50 million on Pakistani media this year to reverse anti-American sentiments and raise awareness of projects aimed at improving quality of life, confirms a Washington insider.

After the Kerry-Lugar Bill debacle, the Obama administration had struggled with the idea of ‘branding’ aid and many within the State department and the USAID had argued that identifying projects may backfire.

“By announcing that a school was built and is being maintained – partly because of the aid received from America – you can alienate people,” said someone who had proposed not ‘branding’ the aid.

The US Special Representative to Pakistan and Afghanistan, Ambassador Richard Holbrooke believes that a substantial amount of monies spent on media- especially private TV channels will reduce tension and may even bring Pakistan-US relations back on the right path.

Senator John Kerry, the main architect of Kerry-Lugar bill also supports the idea of claiming credit for all “the good work being done to improve infrastructure, energy and education,” said a source in Senator’s office.

Reuters today reported that the Obama administration has sent lawmakers a plan for funding water, energy and other projects. Report said the US intends to spend $1.45 billion of earmarked for the Kerry-Lugar bill in fiscal 2010.

The trust deficit had surged after a well intended aid package focused to uplift Pakistan’s civilian society was trashed by a section of Pakistani media. Interviews with diplomatic sources in Washington, D.C. and media coverage of the KLB debacle had demonstrated growing frustration of the Obama administration.

Although American officials publicly praise military operation in South Waziristan, in private they sing a different tune; their assessment of ”alignment” is rather pessimistic. Stories leaked to media consistently allege that al-Qaeda leadership is still enjoying safe haven in Pakistan.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: US to spend $50 million on media in Pakistan: Examiner