Private armies on frontline of Pakistan war: AFP

By Sajjad Tarakzai – 4 hours ago

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) — Six months ago, Fahimuddin was a Pakistani businessman and local councillor. Today he heads a private militia using rocket launchers, guns, grenades and daggers to repel Islamist attacks.

Fed up with kidnappings, bombings and rising fears of militancy around Pakistan's northwest city of Peshawar, the 40-year-old packed up a prosperous property business and took matters into his own hands.

He formed a lashkar, a traditional militia raised by tribesmen in this part of the world for centuries, armed and mobilised temporarily to settle disputes.

It's a dangerous business. Fahimuddin says his men kill assailants. He says he survived two car bombs and escaped a kidnapping attempt, but nothing deters him from staying to flush out Islamist radicals.

"How can I leave my family, my village and my children? I will fight all those who attack my village whether they are Taliban, Lashkar-e-Islam or anyone else," he said at his home in Bazed Khel where Peshawar runs into Khyber.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Private armies on frontline of Pakistan war: AFP

Pakistan navy needs submarine, aircraft, says Naval Chief : Online News

ISLAMABAD: Chief Pakistan Navy Admiral Noman Bashir has said that the Pakistan navy needs aircrafts and submarines and negotiation to buy submarine and aircraft from Germany is underway.

Pakistan navy would chalk out future strategy after evaluating the future challenges, he said this while talking to media men after convocation of Bahria University on Saturday.

Pakistan navy cannot be strong without submarine and aircraft and we are holding talks with Germany in this respect but so far nothing has been finalized, he said. The world, he said, has become global village and Pakistan navy is ready to meet any challenges in future.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Pakistan navy needs submarine, aircraft, says Naval Chief : Online News

Pakistan set to break India’s maximum trees plantation record: The Daily Mail

By Ali Imran

ISLAMABAD—The Ministry of Environment is all set to break world record of tree maximum tree plantation in a single day, set by India last month.
“We have planned to set up a new record for Guinness Book of World Record of planting maximum number of trees in 24 hours,” Federal Minister for Environment Hameed Ullah Jan Afridi told newsmen during a briefing on Friday.
Some 300 planters will be engaged in the tree plantation event, at Keti Bander in Thatta District, some 150 kilometers south-east of Karachi.
In this GWR event, planned for July 15, 2009, Pakistan is set to break earlier record of planting 447,874 trees set by India in June, 2009.
The interesting features of the world record attempt are that the planters have to plant trees under natural light, without using any machinery in 24 hours, which means, a single planter has to plant 1,300 plants, to beat the record.
“This is indeed a gigantic task, for which special arrangements are being made on the site,” the Minister said national media will be encouraged to cover the event, in order to ensure its authenticity at national and international levels.
To a question, he said, the event will be monitored by independent monitors and adjudicators deputed by the Guinness World Record.
He termed it one of the major events of the National Year of Environment 2009, saying it was planned to develop forest resources through international competition.
“This activity, on one hand, will achieve the national objective of increasing forest cover, and on the other hand, it will raise awareness among masses besides creating a soft image of the country in the world,” he added.
The Minister said that in view of global significance of mangrove forests, particularly in the context of the Tsunami of 2005, the GWR event will be held in the Mangrove areas on the coastal islands of Sindh, which are presently devoid of vegetation.
This is in accordance with present Government’s resolve to rehabilitate Mangrove forests of Sindh by all means, in partnership with Sindh Forest Department, international and national NGOs and private sector.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Pakistan set to break India’s maximum trees plantation record: The Daily Mail

Summary of the Pakistan Economic Survey 2008-2009: OPFBlog

Tough times, tough decisions ahead; GDP growth 2pc; public debt crosses 7 trillion mark; external debt $51 bn; official inflation 23pc; real poverty 30pc

By Khalid Mustafa

The government has missed virtually every main macro-economic target set in the budget 2008-09 for the outgoing fiscal. This includes the projected 5.5 per cent GDP growth, 12 per cent inflation, Rs1,250 billion revenue and per capita income of 1,085 dollars, reveals the Economic Survey for 2008-09 released here by Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance Shaukat Tarin.

The survey states that Pakistan’s GDP growth has been estimated at 2 per cent for the current fiscal as against the original 5.5 per cent target, which was then revised to 3.5 per cent and further clipped to 2.5 per cent as agreed with the IMF. Likewise, the inflation target was fixed at 12 per cent by the government in the budget for the current fiscal, which in reality stood at 22.3 per cent in the first 10 months of 2008-09. “Per capita income in dollar terms rose from the finalised figure of $1,042 last year to $1,046 in 2008-09, showing a marginal increase of 0.3 per cent.” However, in last year’s Economic Survey the target of per capita income was $1,085, which has come down to $1,042.

The revenue target was fixed in the budget at Rs1,250 billion and was irrationally revised upward by the government to Rs1,360 billion, then revised downwards to Rs1,300 billion and yet again reduced to Rs1,180 billion, which also seems impossible to achieve.

However, Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance Shaukat Tarin said during a press conference here on Thursday that the country’s real GDP grew by 2 per cent in 2008-09 against a target of 4.1 per cent.

He said that the 2 per cent economic growth was a result of four shocks, which include macro-economic imbalances, external trade shocks, the global economic crisis and domestic security issues. He mentioned that when the present government took charge, Pakistan’s balance of payments, current account deficit and trade deficit were in the danger zone, but have now improved after joining the IMF programme. He said that the government had consolidated the economy in the current fiscal and was now ready for a growth-oriented budget to be announced on June 13.

He was also asked why the government has not included the 17.2 per cent poverty figure of 2007-08 worked out by the Centre for the Poverty Reduction and Social Policy Development (CPRSPD) and validated by the World Bank. In response, Tarin said that while the WB has validated the 17.2 per cent poverty figure there are indications that in the last quarter of 2007-08, poverty surged and we have initiated the rapid survey to this effect which would come up with a final poverty figure after a three-month period.

However, he said that estimates are that the poverty figure would stand at over 30 per cent during the last fiscal year. He also argued that people are committing suicide and selling their kids because of poverty, so obviously the poverty figure of 17.2 per cent needed to be closer to reality.

To a question he said that the FBR needs to be reformed in such a way that maximum revenue could be collected in the next fiscal and to this effect structural reforms are being implemented and the World Bank’s team is already in town for talks on this very important issue. He said that the government would not forget the fault lines and put its house in order to increase the revenues of the country.

On the issues of change in methodology in the construction sector and drastic cut in last year’s growth from 5.8 per cent to 4 per cent which was done apparently to bring the reasonable growth of 2 per cent close to the target agreed with the IMF, he said this government is crystal clear in its facts about growth and does not believe in the manipulation of figures. However, he said that Pakistan has asked the World Bank and IFCs to come forward and help the government to make the Federal Bureau of Statistics independent which will report not to the Ministry of Finance, but to the National Assembly.

He said that the country’s debt has increased to over $51 billion by the end of this fiscal and total public debt has increased by Rs1.367 trillion in the first 9 months of 2008-09 to Rs7.3 trillion, up by 23.2 per cent in nominal terms.

The increase in total public debt is shared between rupee and foreign currency in a ratio of 40:60. The rise in debt is mainly because of depreciation in the Pak rupee. The total domestic debt is positive at 3.7 trillion at end-March, 2009 which implies a net addition of Rs484 billion in the nine months of the current fiscal.

Mentioning taxation, he said: “I will not tax the people who are already paying, rather I would tax those who are not in the tax net.” He said that the government would levy taxes on real estate and the services sector. However, two other sectors which include the stock exchanges and the agriculture sector would be included in the tax net the next time. To a question as to why the economic mangers have failed to bring the agriculture sector into the tax net, which grew by 4.7 per cent, he said he is ready to tax this sector, but he will be subjected to martyrdom on the next day. In the last 62 years, no one had dared to impose taxes on the agriculture sector because of the the strong lobbies in the country. However, he assured that in the years to come this sector will be brought under the tax net.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Summary of the Pakistan Economic Survey 2008-2009: OPFBlog

Lessons from the Lawyers' Movement: Ali Wyne

By Ali Wyne

Although the battle in Swat has understandably captured international attention, it is more a commentary on Asif Zardari's unusual incompetence than it is a reflection of Pakistan's systemic challenges. One can better understand those challenges by considering the outcome of the lawyers' movement.

There was widespread agreement within and outside of Pakistan that Iftikhar Chaudhry's reinstatement as chief justice marked the beginning - albeit fragile and uncertain - of the country's democratization. In reality, however, it reaffirmed the need for (at least) three basic principles to inform Pakistan's political development. First, the rule of law is little more than a rhetorical construct if leaders violate it to maintain power and opponents support it to achieve power. Second, tactics matter. The lawyers' movement helped to bring Zardari to power by opposing Pervez Musharraf; now it is boosting Nawaz Sharif's clout by opposing Zardari. If it does not recalibrate, it may well continue to elevate the very opposition figures who will undermine the rule of law once they acquire power. Third, the divides that must exist for representative institutions to emerge - whether between leaders and opponents, or bureaucrats and activists - lose their meaning if those on either side are rewarded for subordinating principle to ambition.

It is useful to go back ten years in Pakistani history.

Recent events notwithstanding, Musharraf and Chaudhry were once close allies. On January 26, 2000, Chaudhry swore a new oath of office affirming Musharraf's decision to suspend Pakistan's constitution; he was subsequently appointed to the Supreme Court. Four months later, he joined the court's 11 other justices in declaring that the general's takeover through force was legal. On April 13, 2005, Chaudhry was one of only five justices to oppose petitions that challenged Musharraf's constitutional amendments and validate Musharraf's right to serve concurrently as army chief and president; less than a month later, he was appointed chief justice.

The relationship between the two soured when Chaudhry ruled against the government's privatization of Pakistan Steel Mills Corporation. Musharraf's subsequent actions - firing Chaudhry on March 9, 2007, declaring a state of emergency on November 3rd when his presidential eligibility was challenged, and sacking Chaudhry again after the Supreme Court had reinstated him - turned Pakistanis against him, thereby emboldening Zardari and Sharif. The two formed a coalition government shortly after Musharraf resigned, only to have it collapse a week later. Sharif claimed that Zardari had reneged on their agreement to restore the judges whom Musharraf had deposed during emergency rule.

Zardari did not vocally support the lawyers' movement while pressing for Musharraf's ouster, because he recognized that an independent judiciary could examine the October 5, 2007 National Reconciliation Ordinance that immunized all government officials who served between 1986 and October 12, 1999, when Musharraf took office. Nonetheless, Zardari supported the movement to the extent that it weakened the general and improved his own political prospects.

Pakistanis began pressuring him to reinstate Chaudhry shortly after he took office. Zardari heeded those calls not to advance democracy, but to maintain power (indeed, many suspect that he preconditioned his decision on receiving protection from Chaudhry's "judicial activism"): only a month into his presidency, after all, his approval rating had fallen to 19%.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Lessons from the Lawyers' Movement: Ali Wyne

Pakistan misses export target by over $4.5bln: Dawn

ISLAMABAD: With the rising cost of business and a slowing economy, Pakistan has missed its’ export proceeds target by a staggering $4.5 billion, suggesting a rapid shrink in the domestic market during the outgoing fiscal year, Dawn has learnt.

Contracting manufacturing growth, a main indicator of exports, is rendering thousands jobless, many of whom are already under pressure due to high inflation, lawlessness and uncertainty.

Provisional figures obtained by Dawn showed that due to a dip in export proceeds as well as substantial cuts in imports volume, the country’s trade deficit narrowed by 21 per cent to $16.49 billion in the outgoing fiscal year 2008-09 as against $20.914 billion last year.

Export proceeds dropped to $17.57 billion for the year 2008-09 from $22.1 billion target set for the same year. After witnessing successive shortfalls at the start of the year, the government projects export proceeds at $19.1 billion with a shortfall of $3 billion by the end of June.

Despite this downward revision, the government not only missed the revised export proceeds target but also fell short of last year’s export proceeds of $19.052 billion by eight per cent owing to policies undertaken during the year under review.

Analysts believed the greater cost of borrowing from banks, and low consumer demand in the international market for Pakistani products (particularly in the USA and EU) were to blame.

Pakistan’s exports to major markets USA, Germany, Japan, UK, Hong Kong witnessed negative growth.

With the massive decline in the oil price and some other essential commodities, the import bill dropped to $34.06 billion during the outgoing fiscal year 2008-09 as against $39.966 billion last year, showing a decline of 17.57 per cent.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Pakistan misses export target by over $4.5bln: Dawn

Pakistan buys less palm oil in June -trader: Reuters

ISLAMABAD, July 9 (Reuters) - Pakistan's June palm oil imports slid below 100,000 tonnes on a lack of demand and an uncertain international market, but buying has picked up in July, an industry official said on Thursday.

Demand had been been in a lull for the past three months, particularly in the northwest, where troops were battling Taliban militants, Rasheed Janmohammad, vice-chairman of the Pakistan Edible Oil Refiners' Association, said.

In addition, low intake in rural areas during the wheat harvesting season and a lack of confidence in the global market accounted for the slower buying, he said.

"There has been less buying of palm oil crude, RBD palm oil and palm olein...it was less than 100,000 tonnes (in June)."

Pakistan's palm oil imports fell 15.49 percent to 126,951 tonnes in May from the same month in 2008, and were 25 percent lower than April, official data showed.

Pakistan, the world's fourth-largest importer of vegetable oil, buys a mix of refined and crude palm oil from Malaysia and Indonesia, the world's biggest producers.

It consumes about 3 million tonnes of edible oil a year, but produces only 500,000-800,000 tonnes of cottonseed, rapeseed and sunflower, relying on imports to meet about 80 percent of demand.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Pakistan buys less palm oil in June -trader: Reuters

Pakistan becomes third largest rice exporting country: TDAP: The Nation

ISLAMABAD (APP) - Chief Executive of Trade Development Authority Of Pakistan (TDAP) Syed Muhaibullah Shah has said that Pakistan becomes the third largest rice exporting country in the world.
Talking to CNBC he said that Pakistan is the 12th largest rice producer in the world, however, due to best marketing and value addition, the country has achieved this position in the international markets,. He pointed out that country’s rice exports remained the second largest foreign exchange earner for the country after cotton.
“This is a great achievement and country’s rice sector achieved this position despite global recession, financial crunch and a very tough price competition in the international markets,” he added.
He said that the rice exporters adopted best strategy and explored new markets all over the world.
He advised the rice exporters to focus more on Asian and African markets to increase their exports. He pointed out that purchasing power in Asia is increasing and these markets could be more attractive for rice exports in future. “We should also focus the African markets, which have huge potential for our commodities mainly for rice exports”, he added.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Pakistan becomes third largest rice exporting country: TDAP: The Nation

Pakistan's 2008/09 remittances at record $7.8 bln: Reuters

KARACHI, July 10 (Reuters) - Pakistan received a record $7.811 billion in remittances from overseas nationals in the 2008/09 fiscal year that ended on June 30, the State Bank of Pakistan said on Friday.

The amount, the highest ever in a financial year, was 21.08 percent higher than the $6.451 billion remitted in 2007/08, the central bank said in a statement.

The largest inflow of remittances during the year came from the United States, with $1.74 billion, followed by the United Arab Emirates with $1.69 billion, the central bank said.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Pakistan's 2008/09 remittances at record $7.8 bln: Reuters

Pakistan’s Inflation Slows, Giving Room for Rate Cut : Bloomberg

By Michael Dwyer

July 9 (Bloomberg) -- Pakistan’s inflation slowed to a 16- month low in June, giving the central bank scope to reduce interest rates to prop up a faltering economy.

Consumer prices in South Asia’s second-largest economy rose 13.13 percent from a year earlier after gaining 14.39 percent in May, the Federal Bureau of Statistics said on its Web site today. That matched the median 13.1 percent forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of nine economists.

Pakistan’s economy has ground to a near halt as the global recession erodes exports and investment and Taliban insurgents launch terrorist attacks in response to an intensified military campaign against Islamic extremists. The $146 billion economy may expand as little as 0.8 percent in the year to June 2010, according to HSBC Holdings Plc, the weakest pace since 1952.

Security concerns may “hamper growth over the coming year as investors and consumers further rein in spending,” said Frederic Neumann, an economist at HSBC in Hong Kong. “The good news is that the central bank can begin to relax and start cutting interest rates, which should eventually nurse a recovery.”

State Bank of Pakistan Governor Syed Salim Raza has already begun reducing borrowing costs, slashing interest rates in April for the first time since 2002. The central bank is due to release its next monetary policy statement in Karachi at the end of this month.

‘Toughest Decision’

Pakistan was forced to turn to the International Monetary Fund for a $7.6 billion rescue package in November after its foreign reserves shrank 75 percent in a year to $3.45 billion, its current-account deficit widened to a record and inflation soared to a three-decade high.

Former Governor Shamshad Akhtar raised the central bank’s policy rate by the most in more than a decade on Nov. 12, a move she described as “the toughest decision of my life,” in order to secure the IMF bailout.

Higher borrowing costs damped spending and investment in an economy already slowing amid the global downturn, which has reduced the nation’s overseas shipments and the amount of money that Pakistanis working abroad send home.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Pakistan’s Inflation Slows, Giving Room for Rate Cut : Bloomberg

Pakistan's forex reserves rise to $12.27 bln: Forbes

KARACHI, July 9 (Reuters) - Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves rose by $430 million to $12.27 billion in the week that ended on July 4, a central bank spokesman said on Thursday.

The State Bank of Pakistan's reserves edged up to $8.96 billion from $8.55 billion a week earlier, while reserves held by commercial banks jumped to $3.31 billion from the previous week's $3.29 billion, chief spokesman Syed Wasimuddin said.

He said reserves rose sharply after the central bank received $500 million from the Asian Development Bank on June 30, which were shown in the current data.

Foreign reserves hit a record high of $16.5 billion in October 2007 but fell steadily to $6.6 billion by November last year, largely because of a soaring import bill.

Pakistan agreed in November to an International Monetary Fund emergency loan package of $7.6 billion to avert a balance of payments crisis and shore up reserves.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Pakistan's forex reserves rise to $12.27 bln: Forbes

Made in Pakistan: Newsline

By Shahzeb Shaikha

It would come as a surprise to most Pakistanis that the country has an indigenous Unmanned Aerial Vehicle [UAV] industry. In fact, there are three private entities – East West Infiniti [EWI], Integrated Dynamics [ID] and Surveillance and Target Unmanned Aircraft [Satuma] – involved in the manufacturing of UAVs in Pakistan. In addition, three government enterprises, the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex [PAC], the Air Weapons Complex [AWC], and the National Development Complex [NDC] also produce UAVs.

The Pakistan government has repeatedly requested the US to send them drone technology, a request which, according to defense analyst Ayesha Siddiqa, has been persistently denied because “we always leak technology.” But what if Pakistan develops its own drones with a missile delivery system matching the American Predator?

At this point, the question of ‘what if’ doesn’t exist because Pakistan already possesses the capability to develop its own unmanned vehicles. But there is a big difference between producing unarmed UAVs, which Pakistan currently does, and the armed Predator drones which the US has been using in FATA.

Can Pakistan come up with a UAV carrying weapons?

Dr Hammad Bin Khaleeq, Satuma’s director in charge of mechanical design and manufacturing, Dr Haroon Javed Qureshi of EWI, and Raja Sabri Khan, CEO of Integrated Dynamics, all concur.

“It is possible,” Khaleeq tells Newsline. “It is not something beyond our capability. We only need to have support – financial support as well as time. These things don’t develop overnight.” He maintains that there have been huge amounts of investment from the government for the purpose of developing drones but state entities have failed to deliver the desired product. “Acquiring and integrating a weapon in drones is advanced and difficult. But it’s not out of our reach. If the government wants, the efforts can be put in.”

Qureshi confidently explains that if the drone project is headed solely by private enterprises, “I can assure you that my company, or, for that matter, Raja Sabri Khan’s Integrated Dynamics, or Satuma, can perhaps do it in three years. One has to keep in mind that all three companies have been in this particular business for 15 years and are well aware of the ground realities.”

However, Khan is sceptical about the three-year estimate. “I worked for Suparco from 1987 to 1997, before I started my own company. Right now, the only constraint in Pakistan developing a predator type drone is money,” Khan says. He also maintains that state enterprises lack will and passion, and agrees with Qureshi’s stance on the government backing commercial firms to develop such technology. Khan reveals that a minimum investment of $50 million would be required to initiate a drone project along the lines of the Predator, but it could take as long as eight years.

According to the three private enterprises the drone technology in Pakistan is nowhere near the American Predator. The Predator carries a Hellfire missile that Pakistan does not have. Instead, Pakistan has the Baktarshikan and the Tow anti-tank missile, which can strike as far as 3,000 yards. The maximum payload weight of the Tow missile is 100lb. The main difference between the Predator and Pakistani-manufactured drones is the wing load capability and the engine size. The Predator can carry far more payload weight [450lb] and can fly more than 20 hours, covering a distance of 3,700km. The missile capability depends on how much load the wing can carry. The current technology in Pakistan limits the companies in terms of how much load per square foot they can put on the wing.

“There is a thought process along these lines in Pakistan, but, as far as real work is concerned, nothing is being done. Several of the UAV programmes that are now being carried out will have the capability of carrying at least 150lb.” Khan goes on to emphasise that his company is not providing Americans with the drones being used in FATA, a common misconception.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Made in Pakistan: Newsline