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Kala Dhaka – the new home for Swat Taliban?

2010-04-11T04:29:00.000+05:00

* NWFP police chief says neither jirga effective nor Levies deputed in Kala Dhaka

By Iqbal Khattak

PESHAWAR: Kala Dhaka is the new base for the Taliban, who fled last year’s military operation in Swat and other districts in Malakand, NWFP police chief Malik Naveed told Daily Times.

“It (Kala Dhaka) is creating problems for us,” he expressed concern over the new base of the Swat Taliban who could make a comeback if not contained now.

Problems for the police chief are surfacing in Hazara division where the Taliban carried out three attacks in the last two months, targeting a foreign non-governmental organisation’s office, and two police stations in Mansehra and Balakot.

Kala Dhaka is part of PATA where the government’s writ has not been established yet as neither a jirga is effective nor do the Levies Force operate there. The new base makes the Taliban’s job easier to launch selective attacks against key Hazara districts such as Mansehra, Abbottabad and Balakot. The inaccessible tribal area qualifies for a military operation only if Swat and other districts in Hazara division are saved from militancy, experts argued.

Out of control: “A lot of Swat (Taliban) people have gone to Kala Dhaka where a jirga is not effective and neither the Levies Force has been deputed to check these people,” Naveed said.

Asked if he felt there was a need to conduct an operation in Kala Dhaka, he said, “The military is contemplating...”

Despite expressing concern over the new Taliban base, Naveed, however, appeared confident in crushing militancy in the province after “disrupting” the Taliban’s supply lines and command and control structures.

“They believed they are invincible... we proved it wrong. The militants have a leadership crisis. They are killing their own wounded comrades to leave no trail behind,” he added.

Around 591 policemen have sacrificed their lives in the war on terror since 2001 and a wide-scale desertion in Swat posed a significant danger for a complete collapse of the police system in the province. However, critics credit Naveed for mobilising the public and keeping the force united against the Taliban.

Naveed referred to some Taliban attacks as a “survival game”. He said there had been no differences among the Taliban earlier “but they are in disarray” now. Besides help from the US to equip the NWFP police, Naveed still has a “shopping list” for his force. “I need more armoured personnel carriers, mobile phone trackers and special lights.”

Enraged people protest against power outages

2010-04-11T04:28:00.001+05:00

LAHORE (updated on: April 10, 2010, 23:08 PST): Lahore witnessed severe protests on second consecutive day as hundreds of traders and citizens burnt tyres and shouted slogans against unannounced prolonged power outages, Aaj News reported on Saturday.

The protesters staged a sit-in at Ravi Road for more than four hours and suspended the traffic. They raised slogans against the government and democracy. They also raised slogans against the prolonged load shedding.

They said that they have no concern to any constitutional amendment, adding that the democratic government has manifold their problem of load shedding, inflation and others. They criticized the government for prolonged power outages.

Protestors were holding placards inscribed with condemnation notes.

Meanwhile, trader organizations of Lahore have given 48 hours ultimatum to LESCO for overcoming the prolonged load shedding. They warned that they would block Lahore city if the load shedding was not overcome.

Couldn’t she just find a nice Indian boy?

2010-04-11T04:21:00.001+05:00

Now the Shiv Sena has a problem with Indian tennilebrity Sania Mirza marrying Pakistan’s cricket captain Shoaib Malik. To quote the right-wing Hindu party’s octogenarian chief Bal Thackeray: “Had [Sania’s] heart been Indian, it wouldn’t have beaten for a Pakistani. If she wished to play for India, she should have chosen an Indian life partner.” No surprises there.

It kind of reminds me of a comedy sketch in BBC’s Brit-Asian show Goodness Gracious Me. An Indian boy decides to come out of the sandooqcha with his British boyfriend to his middle-class Indian parents. They drop hint after hint to the clueless parents, who keep missing the lobs like Maria Sharapova on clay, until the gay couple declare the full nature of their relationship. The parents forbid him from being gay. Desperate for his parents to accept him, the boy goes up to them and says: “Look, I’m still the same person.” The mother hisses to her son: “You couldn’t have found a nice Indian boy?”

Fine, the Shiv Sena hardly represents benign, traditional, passive-aggressive parents. The punchline, on the other hand is an ace. (No more sports metaphors I promise, not even the very tempting one about Sania playing for ‘love’.)

But the question really isn’t about Hindu nationalism, or it isn’t just. Certainly, the far-right party’s brickbats hurled the way of Shah Rukh Khan would suggest that the Shiv Sainaks have it in for Pakistan-lovin’ Indian Muslims. Here’s the catch: would the reaction have been the same if Mahendra Singh Dhoni decided to marry Naseem Hameed?

Let’s take Bollywood films as a rough social gauge. They would have us believe love conquers the most recalcitrant of parents and transcends societal norms. Poor and rich. South and North. Police officer and the mafia don’s baby girl. But when it comes to cross-border love, the wilting Pakistani girl melts into the arms of her Indian saviour. Take the 1991 film Henna starring Rishi Kapoor and Zeba Bakhtiar (the Kapoors even bagged a bland Pakistani actress for the role!): Kapoor lands across the border and charms a dewy-complexioned Kashmiri in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Cut to 2004, when Shah Rukh Khan stutters his way into the affections of the Pakistani Priety Zinta and carries off his bride 20 years late into the Indian sunset. Male chauvinism meets nationalistic chauvinism? I doubt if any if these films would’ve resonated with the Indian masses had the genders been reversed.

This also explains why the response on the Pakistani side has been so laudatory. “Parliamentarians hail Sania-Shoaib engagement” says one headline; the “FM felicitates Shoaib, Sania” says another. The latter goes on to quote Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureishi: “I would like to say mubarik to the couple…. This and other steps taken by civil society actually strengthens the hands of the Foreign Office.”

My favourite by far is the Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) President Dilawar Abbas, breathlessly hoping Sania will play for Pakistan because “Asian women traditionally follow their husbands, which is why I’m hopeful that someday she would be inspired by Shoaib to play for Pakistan.” There you have it: traditional Asian brides following meekly in the footsteps of their consorts. I doubt if the mini-skirt wearing Mirza would be able to play for Pakistan, let alone want to.

In Dubai – where the couple plans to settle – Sania Mirza gets to keep her wardrobe and her passport; her identity doesn’t have to be consumed by her marriage. But when she’s checking in her wedding trousseau at the Dubai airport, she’ll find it hard to leave behind the baggage of history, nationalism, and gender.

Energy, poverty alleviation govt’s top priority: Gilani

2010-04-11T04:15:00.002+05:00

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani on Saturday said that following the passage of the 18th amendment the top priority of the PPP government is energy and poverty alleviation.

While speaking to the media before landing at London enroute Washington he said that article 58-2 (B) has become irrelevant after the dissolution of assemblies has to be ratified by the Supreme Court within 15 days.

Zardari on cusp of losing major powers

2010-04-11T04:15:00.001+05:00

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari was Friday on the threshold of losing much of his power as constitutional reforms move through parliament.

In a unanimous vote of lawmakers present, the lower house of parliament late Thursday approved a 102-clause bill that reverses moves by successive military rulers to weaken Pakistan's 1973 parliamentary constitution.

The bill will move Monday to the upper house of parliament, or Senate, where it is easily expected to achieve the necessary two-thirds majority, then pass to Zardari to sign and pass into law.

The amendments will effectively make Zardari a titular head of state who can only formally appoint heads of the armed forces, dissolve the national assembly and appoint provincial governors on the advice of the prime minister.

The bill's formulation and passage has been hailed as a rare feat of cross-party consensus in the fractious and bitter world of Pakistani politics, but analysts warn that it has little practical benefit in a country crippled by problems.

Nawaz for immediate abolition of amends in Constitution

2009-12-29T19:34:00.002+05:00

PML-N chief Mian Nawaz Sharif has called for immediate annulment of the amendment made by the dictator in the constitution, adding that the non-democratic ways of the government is affecting democracy in the country. While talking to media in Lahore, Nawaz said that PML-N is sincere with the constitution adding that democracy is not in danger in the country and ‘N’ would be the first one to cross the way of anyone…

eafood exports fall by 11.95pc in 5 months

2009-12-29T19:33:00.001+05:00

ISLAMABAD (APP) - Seafood exports during the first five months of current financial year witnessed negative growth of 11.95 percent as compared to the exports of corresponding period of last year.
Fish and fish preparations exports during July-November (2009- 10) were recorded at $81.339 million as against the exports of $92.376 million recorded in July-November (2008-09), according to Federal Bureau of Statistics.
Fish exports during November 2009 also declined by 10.66 percent as compared to the exports of October 2009. Fish exports during November were recorded at $22.180 million as against exports of $24.826 million recorded during October 2009.
As against the exports of $21.494 million registered in the same month of last year, fish exports during Nov 2009 registered positive growth of 3.19pc, the FBS data revealed.
The overall food group exports during July-November (2009-10) declined by 22.45 percent when compared to the corresponding period of last year. Food exports during the period were recorded at $1.127 billion against the exports of 1.454b recorded during last year.

Home » Business Business RSS Feeds Oil dips towards $78 per barrel

2009-12-29T19:32:00.001+05:00

Oil eased toward $78 on Tuesday, after hitting a five-week high a day earlier. U.S. crude for February delivery fell 28 cents to $78.49 a barrel in thin pre-holiday trade. It settled up 72 cents on Monday, after touching $79.12, the highest since November 23. Heating oil futures led gains in the oil complex as forecasters called for colder weather in the United States, the world's largest energy consumer.

Afghan soldier shoots US, Italian troops: NATO

2009-12-29T19:29:00.000+05:00

An Afghan soldier opened fire on foreign troops wounding one American and two Italian soldiers in western Afghanistan on Tuesday, NATO and military sources said. A spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed the US soldier had been wounded, but few other details were available. "I can confirm that an incident occurred today in western Afghanistan. I confirm an Afghan soldier opened fire on Italian and US forces," he said. Another military official, who asked not to be identified, confirmed that two Italians had also been wounded in the shooting by an Afghan army soldier.

Death toll at Karachi suicide blast hits 40

2009-12-29T19:24:00.001+05:00

The death tally, in suicide blast at the mourning procession in connection with Ashura, has mounted to 40 people while as many as another 95 persons sustained injuries here at MA Jinnah Road in Karachi on Monday, report said. According to MLO Civil Hospital Dr. Karrar Hussain, a total number of 38 dead bodies have been deposited at hospital so far. The blast struck the city’s main Ashura procession when the suicide

Pakistan face improbable task on final day

2009-12-29T19:16:00.001+05:00

MELBOURNE: Pakistan's bid to script an improbable win in the first test against Australia looked all but over as they ended day four 170-3 with the target still 252 runs away. Pegged on the back foot, the tourists will look to anchor down and salvage a final day draw.

They would, however, take confidence in the fact that two of their most competent batsmen, Mohammad Yousuf and Umar Akmal (easily the most reliable in the side with only three tests under his belt), are at the crease offering gritty resistance. Yousuf stood on an assured 45 off 70 balls while Akmal raced a flowing 27 from 34 balls punctuated with five boundaries. Pakistan's survival and any hopes of sneaking to victory, however slim they may be, will depend on how long the 19-year-old bats.

Leaving Afghanistan

2009-12-29T19:13:00.000+05:00

Many concerned observers instinctively oppose withdrawing US/Nato troops from Afghanistan in the belief that a bloodbath must follow, a resumption of the post 1989 warlord frenzies after the Soviet forces left and the US lost interest.

Dishing out expensive Stingers was one thing, dispensing rebuilding funds was quite another. But in America wasting billions on weapons traditionally is a leniently treated affair while even thinking of channelling large sums towards benefits for average people — such as a national healthcare system — meets fierce resistance from elites and the populist right.

For Afghanistan a reconstruction splurge was never in the offing. Whatever humanitarian aid reached the shattered country after 1989 became ripe pickings for ‘tolls’ and bribes. A cut-throat struggle raged for several years after Najibullah’s overthrow which only the Taliban stemmed by imposing its repulsively medieval form of law and order.

Still, it is possible that a genuine reconstruction effort might have averted the brutal blooming of the Taliban, who foolishly played host to Osama bin Laden. Najibullah had offered Pakistan and the US a neutral arrangement but both ignored him.

Ten Afghan civilians killed in military operations: Karzai

2009-12-29T19:10:00.002+05:00

KABUL: Ten civilians, mostly school children, have been killed during Western military operations in eastern Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai's office said Monday, citing “initial reports”.

Karzai condemned the killings which his statement said took place in Kunar province, bordering Pakistan, on Saturday.

“Initial reports indicate that in a series of operations by international forces in Kunar province... 10 civilians, eight of them school students, have been killed,” the statement said.

“President Karzai strongly condemns the operation which caused civilian deaths and has appointed a delegation to investigate the incident,” it said.

Terrorists out to destabilise Pakistan: Sharif

2009-12-29T19:10:00.001+05:00

LAHORE: Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has strongly condemned the suicide attack on the main Ashura procession in Karachi on Monday afternoon.

Speaking to the media in Lahore, the PML-N chief said the blast in Karachi was yet another attempt by terrorists to destabilise the country and that 'they are enemies of Islam and Pakistan.'

Sharif added that the amendments made by military dictators in the 1973 constitution must be immediately abolished in order to restore some form of stability in Pakistan. –DawnNew

Sindh shuts down, mourns Karachi catastrophe

2009-12-29T19:08:00.001+05:00

KARACHI: Shops and businesses remained closed across Sindh as people in Hyderabad, Khairpur, Nawabshah, Sukkur, Badin, Dadu, Mirpurkhas and other parts of the province mourned the devastating suicide attack on the main Ashura procession in Karachi.

In Karachi itself, the blast left a devastating effect. The death toll rose to 40 and dozens more remain injured in hospitals.

Majority of shops and markets were closed in the city as fire-fighters were still battling to extinguish the flames that engulfed several markets set ablaze by angry mobs.

On Monday evening, a suicide bomber attacked the main Ashura procession on Karachi's Mohammad Ali Jinnah Road. Thousands of people were moving along the traditional Ashura route when a suicide bomber blew himself up towards the front end of the procession.

In the ensuing melee, several people fled from the scene in a state of panic, while others continued to march towards the Hussainian-Iranian where the procession was to culminate.

After the blast, angry mobs roamed the streets setting fire to nearly 1500 shops and markets. The mobs also torched several vehicles, including police mobiles. — DawnNews

Destabilising Karachi amounts to destabilising Pakistan’

2009-12-29T19:06:00.000+05:00

KARACHI: Interior Minister Rehman Malik appealed for calm on Tuesday in Karachi, where shop owners surveyed gutted premises a day after a suicide bomber killed at least 40 people and triggered a city-centre riot.

The bombing of a Shia procession in Karachi underscored multiple security challenges facing Pakistan.

“I appeal to the people of Karachi to remain peaceful. This is the economic hub of Pakistan,” Rehman Malik told reporters after attending the funeral of a paramilitary soldier who authorities said pounced on the suicide bomber.

“Anybody trying to destabilise Karachi is actually destabilising Pakistan,” Malik said.

Malik had also ordered a thorough inquiry into the incident

Signature was taken on blank paper: Kasab

2009-12-25T03:02:00.001+05:00

NEW DELHI: Ajmal Kasab, under-trial in Mumbai terror attacks, on the fourth consecutive day today denied all charges framed against him in the case. He told the 26/11 trial judge M L Tahiliyani in Mumbai that his signature was taken on a blank sheet of paper by police with regard to his confessional statement. “The confession recorded by magistrate was not read out to me and it does not contain the truth," he said. He again told the special Mumbai court that he did not arrive in Mumbai by fishing trawler, Kuber but by Samjhauta Express. He also denied that he had talked to Abu Hamza from satellite phone. “If I had talked to him, then my voice would have been recorded,” he said. When asked about Abu Ismail, Kasab asked “who is he, I do not Know...I was not with him”.

CNG dealers plan indefinite strike from Dec 30

2009-12-25T03:01:00.002+05:00

ISLAMABAD: CNG dealers have announced an indefinite strike across the country from Dec 30 in protest against the government’s decision to raise CNG prices and curtail gas supplies to CNG stations. Transporters have also announced their support for the strike. Addressing a press conference after a meeting of CNG dealers who had gathered in Islamabad on Wednesday, CNG Association of Pakistan chairman Ghayas Paracha said the government was bent upon destroying the CNG sector. It is not only a matter of CNG stations, the government will have to consider the overall impact of its decision which could lead to the collapse of the entire industry,” he added. He said the government had gone back on its commitment made in 1992 that the price difference between CNG and petrol would be 50 per cent. “They wanted to encourage CNG at that time and made us invest in the new field. We took the risk of importing equipment. Some parts are now being manufactured in the country. We will not allow the price of CNG to be near that of petrol,” Mr Paracha said. There are about 2,500 CNG stations in Punjab and the NWFP and 542 in Sindh and Balochistan. More than 2.5 million vehicles are operating on CNG. Dealers said that an investment of Rs185 billion had been made in the CNG sector. Mr Paracha said that any further increase in CNG prices would severely affect the industry which provided jobs to half a million people. He said the CNG price would go up to Rs57 per kilogram after the 13.6 per cent increase in electricity tariff from January. The government has already raised the tariff by six per cent in October. The dealers also criticised an offer made by the textile sector at a recent meeting with officials to buy all CNG stations. “Instead of getting into the CNG business, the textile sector should focus on giving up subsidies and grants given to it by the government,” they said. They said that even Rawalpindi Chambers of Commerce and Industry president Kashif Shabbir had stated that the decision to increase the CNG price was not helpful of any sector. Immediately after the dealers’ call for strike, office-bearers of the transport association announced complete support for the strike.

SC refuses to accept Rehman Malik’s verbal statement

2009-12-25T03:00:00.001+05:00

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Thursday stopped Interior Minister Rehman Malik from making a speech inside the court and ordered him to submit a written reply to a contempt of court charge. Rehman Malik appeared before the apex court without a lawyer and tried to personally explain his position with regard to the allegations that he violated the apex court order by changing the investigative team probing into allegations of corruption in Pakistan Steel Mills. ‘You should go and file a written reply to the show cause notice as required under Supreme Court rules,’ Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhary told the interior minister before adjourning the hearing for one month

Suicide attack on Imambargah in Rawalpindi

2009-12-25T02:52:00.002+05:00

RAWALPINDI: A suicide bomber has struck an Imambargah in Rawalpindi, police sources said. The blast took place at the enterance to the Imambargah. Initial reports suggest that at least two people have been killed in the attack. Three others were wounded including a policeman. Security has been heightened across the country during the month of Muharram in wake of the recent upsurge in militant attack

Zardari breaks all records of keeping foreign gifts

2009-12-24T03:18:00.000+05:00

SLAMABAD: President Asif Zardari has set a new record within a year by taking one-third of all the expensive gifts presented to all Pakistani presidents and prime ministers. Of the gifts totalling Rs160 million, Zardari has taken gifts worth Rs62 million during the first year of his presidency.

In his foreign visits so far, Zardari has been given 27 gifts worth Rs62 million,which is one-third of the accumulated cost of the 3,039 gifts, which were given to presidents and prime ministers in three decades.

Zardari is said to have got two BMWs and two foreign manufactured Toyota Jeeps as gift by Libyan leader Colonel Qadafi during his visit to Libya, which he took to his home, after paying a sum of only Rs9.3 million as retention cost.

These shocking figures were produced before the Senate standing committee on cabinet division by the cabinet secretary on Monday during a presentation to its members. Zardari is now richer by Rs50 million within one year in the presidency, without doing a single rupee irregularity as this all was done under the law as he paid 15 per cent of the total cost of two BMWs and two jeeps and retained them.

Today's Cartoon.....

2009-12-24T03:16:00.001+05:00

SBP list submitted in court includes Nawaz period

2009-12-24T03:14:00.000+05:00

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday gave a final warning to those who have managed to get their loans written off from financial institutions during the last 38 years and directed the State Bank to furnish a list of loan defaulters right from 1971 to date.

“Only one chance will be given to defaulters to return the loans and strict action will be taken against them without any discrimination,” Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry observed while heading a three-member bench of the apex court hearing a suo moto case of Rs 54 billion written-off loans.

“If anyone said that the court has crossed its limits we are ready to take the blame in the best interest of the nation,” the chief justice remarked, adding the court would look into the State Bank Circular 29 regarding writing off loans under Article 25 of the Constitution.

Guantanamo ‘hell on Earth’, says Somali detainee

2009-12-24T02:52:00.000+05:00

Wednesday, December 23, 2009
A Somali just home from eight years in the US jail at Guantanamo Bay told AFP the prison was “hell on Earth”, and alleged torture there had scarred some of his fellow inmates.

Mohamed Saleban Bare, who arrived in his hometown of Hargeisa on Saturday, said he was innocent of any charges that would have caused security forces to arrest him in Pakistan in 2001 and transfer him to the US jail via Afghanistan.

“Guantanamo Bay is like hell on Earth,” he said in an interview on Monday with an AFP reporter who visited him at his hotel in Hargeisa, capital of the northern breakaway state of Somaliland.

“I don’t feel normal yet but I thank Almighty Allah for keeping me alive and free from the physical and mental sufferings of some of my friends,” he said.

Sporting short hair and a long scrawny beard, Bare says he is in good physical health but looks dazed, speaks very softly and walks gingerly. Bare, 44, was among a dozen Guantanamo detainees from Afghanistan, Yemen and the breakaway Somalia region who were sent home at the weekend, bringing the number of detainees at the “war on terror” prison in Cuba to below 200.

He and another Somali, 45-year-old Osmail Mohamed Arale, were handed over to their relatives in Hargeisa by the International Representative Committee of the Red Cross in the presence of Somaliland authorities.

“Some of my colleagues in the prison lost their sight, some lost their limbs and others ended up mentally disturbed. I’m OK compared to them,” he said.

Bare said he was picked up in Karachi in December 2001, weeks after the United States launched its “war on terror” following the September 11 attacks on Washington and New York.

He claims he had been there for some time with several relatives who had fled the violence in Somalia and were hoping to find asylum in a western state. After about four months he was transferred to US military prisons in Kandahar and Bagram in Afghanistan, he said.

“At Bagram and Kandahar, the situation was harsh but when we were transferred to Guantanamo the torture tactics changed. They use a kind of psychological torture that kills you mentally,” he said.

This included depriving prisoners of sleep for at least four nights in a row and feeding them once a day with only a biscuit, he said.

“And in the cold they let you sleep without a blanket. Some of the inmates face harsher torture, including with electricity and beating,” he said. Bare was reluctant to answer questions about his alleged ties with Al-Ittihad Al-Islamiya, a Somali Islamist movement which produced many of the current leaders of the al-Qaeda-linked Shebab. “Guantanamo is a place of humiliation for Muslims. All the inmates are Muslims but they (Americans) claim the prison is for terrorists. Why don’t they arrest non-Muslims belonging to these so-called terror groups?”

“No human rights convention stands in Guantanamo. Interrogators force inmates to confess crimes they didn’t commit by torturing them and sullying their religion,” Bare said.

“They would desecrate the Holy Qura’an and raise the volume of their music during prayers,” he recounted. Bare said the US authorities had never told him why he was arrested.

“They used to ask many questions, most of them relating to my background like what I was doing in Somalia and about the people I know. It was all about suspicions and not a clear case,” he said.

US President Barack Obama has vowed to close down the controversial Guantanamo Bay detention facility by January with some of the inmates to be moved to a maximum-security prison in the state of I

Ponting fitness to be assessed tomorrow

2009-12-24T02:49:00.001+05:00

SYDNEY: Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting will try to prove his fitness on Thursday ahead of the Boxing Day Test against Pakistan.

Ponting was restricted to fielding practice on Wednesday at the MCG as his team mates had a session in the nets.

He is nursing a left elbow injury after he was hit while batting during last week’s third Test against the West Indies in Perth.

Ponting will bat in the nets on Thursday, and if he does not come through, opener Phil Hughes will take his place in the national squad.