The Pakistani Blog

Rationalizing Americans' Will to Attack America: Economistan

2010-06-03T12:29:00.000-07:00

America is all abuzz these days with the Times Square bombing plot by the US national Faisal Shahzad with Pakistan increasingly coming under fire for the reason that Faisal went to Pakistan to get explosives training. What the US has failed to recognize is that not all terror incidents can be traced to Pakistan. What about the case of the American born US Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan who killed 13 US Army personnel and ended up wounding 30 people before he was finally shot down? The only major similarity of interest between Faisal and Nidal was that both of these US nationals were living a privileged life in the US or what the US people are programmed to call as the so called "American Dream". Now we have to find out exactly how this "American Dream" turned out to be an " American Nightmare". Is it because Muslims are unfairly victimized in the US or discriminated against or is it because Muslims find themselves under severe scrutiny along with harassment through a constant barrage of anti-Muslim comments or sentiments from the general public? Is the US media playing a major role in alienating the American Muslim population or the fault lies with the right wing extremist Christians omnipresent in the continental United States? Do these right wing Christian extremists consider this war on terror as another crusade against Islam or a war which is against all acts of terror including those by their fellow Christians like Timothy McVeigh and those by the IRA and the Basque separatist movement in Spain where all are equally....

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Rationalizing Americans' Will to Attack America: Economistan

War or peace on the Indus?: Business Recorder

2010-04-15T13:43:00.000-07:00

JOHN BRISCOE
ARTICLE (April 15 2010): Anyone foolish enough to write on war or peace in the Indus needs to first banish a set of immediate suspicions. I am neither Indian nor Pakistani. I am a South African who has worked on water issues in the subcontinent for 35 years and who has lived in Bangladesh (in the 1970s) and Delhi (in the 2000s).

In 2006 I published, with fine Indian colleagues, an Oxford University Press book titled India's Water Economy: Facing a Turbulent Future and, with fine Pakistani colleagues, one titled Pakistan's Water Economy: Running Dry. I was the Senior Water Advisor for the World Bank who dealt with the appointment of the Neutral Expert on the Baglihar case.

My last assignment at the World Bank (relevant, as described later) was as Country Director for Brazil. I am now a mere university professor, and speak in the name of no one but myself. I have deep affection for the people of both India and Pakistan, and am dismayed by what I see as a looming train wreck on the Indus, with disastrous consequences for both countries.

I will outline why there is no objective conflict of interests between the countries over the waters of the Indus Basin, make some observations of the need for a change in public discourse, and suggest how the drivers of the train can put on the brakes before it is too late.

Is there an inherent conflict between India and Pakistan? The simple answer is no. The Indus Waters Treaty allocates the water of the three western rivers to Pakistan, but allows India to tap the considerable hydropower potential of the Chenab and Jhelum before the rivers enter Pakistan.

The qualification is that this use of hydropower is not to affect either the quantity of water reaching Pakistan or to interfere with the natural timing of those flows. Since hydropower does not consume water, the only issue is timing. And timing is a very big issue, because agriculture in the Pakistani plains depends not only on how much water comes, but that it comes in critical periods during the planting season. The reality is that India could tap virtually all of the available power without negatively affecting the timing of flows to which Pakistan is entitled.

Is the Indus Treaty a stable basis for co-operation? If Pakistan and India had normal, trustful relations, there would be a mutually-verified monitoring process which would assure that there is no change in the flows going into Pakistan. (In an even more ideal world, India could increase low-flows during the critical planting season, with significant benefit to Pakistani farmers and with very small impacts on power generation in India).

Because the relationship was not normal when the treaty was negotiated, Pakistan would agree only if limitations on India's capacity to manipulate the timing of flows was hardwired into the treaty. This was done by limiting the amount of "live storage" (the storage that matters for changing the timing of flows) in each and every hydropower dam that India would construct on the two rivers.

While this made sense given knowledge in 1960, over time it became clear that this restriction gave rise to a major problem. The physical restrictions meant that gates for flushing silt out of the dams could not be built, thus ensuring that any dam in India would rapidly fill with the silt pouring off the young Himalayas.

This was a critical issue at stake in the Baglihar case. Pakistan (reasonably) said that the gates being installed were in violation of the specifications of the treaty. India (equally reasonably) argued that it would be wrong to build a dam knowing it would soon fill with silt.

The finding of the Neutral Expert was essentially a reinterpretation of the Treaty, saying that the physical limitations no longer made sense. While the finding was reasonable in the case of Baglihar, it left Pakistan without the mechanism - limited live storage - which was its only (albeit weak) protection against upstream manipulation of flows in India.

This vulnerability was driven home when India chose to fill Baglihar exactly at the time when it would impose maximum harm on farmers in downstream Pakistan. If Baglihar was the only dam being built by India on the Chenab and Jhelum, this would be a limited problem. But following Baglihar is a veritable caravan of Indian projects - Kishanganga, Sawalkot, Pakuldul, Bursar, Dal Huste, Gyspa... The cumulative live storage will be large, giving India an unquestioned capacity to have major impact on the timing of flows into Pakistan. (Using Baglihar as a reference, simple back-of-the-envelope calculations, suggest that once it has constructed all of the planned hydropower plants on the Chenab, India will have an ability to effect major damage on Pakistan.

First, there is the one-time effect of filling the new dams. If done during the wet season this would have little effect on Pakistan. But if done during the critical low-flow period, there would be a large one-time effect (as was the case when India filled Baglihar).

Second, there is the permanent threat which would be a consequence of substantial cumulative live storage which could store about one month's worth of low-season flow on the Chenab. If, God forbid, India so chose, it could use this cumulative live storage to impose major reductions on water availability in Pakistan during the critical planting season.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: War or peace on the Indus?: Business Recorder

KSE 100-share index recomposed: Dawn

2010-04-01T13:48:00.000-07:00

KARACHI: The Karachi Stock Exchange (Guarantee) Limited has recomposed KSE 100-Index, effective from April 1, 2010.

According to KSE 11 companies, namely Security Papers Ltd, Pakistan Cables, TRG Pakistan, Murree Brewery Company, PEL, Grays of Cambridge, Shifa International, PACE Pakistan, NetSol Technologies, Pakistan Telephone Cables and Clariant Pakistan have been included in the Index.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: KSE 100-share index recomposed: Dawn

Renexus of Malaysia ready to invest US$ 500m in Pakistan: APP

2010-04-01T13:46:00.000-07:00

ISLAMABAD, April 1 (APP): Renexus, a renowned Malaysian company is willing to invest around US$500 million in Pakistan for building water treatment plants on Built, Own and Operate (BOO) basis.This was stated by John Klerr, Executive Chairman of Renexus during his meeting with Acting High Commissioner for Pakistan in Malaysia, Dr. Imtiaz Ahmad Kazi in Kuala Lumpur today.

Renexus deals in water treatment plants, construction infrastructure development and information and communication technology, says a press release received here today from Malaysia.
While giving detaild of the investment proposal, Klerr said that the Renexus was ready to build water treatment plants at various locations in Pakistan, specially in the province of Punjab aimed at providing potable water for public as well for industrial use.
According to the proposal, he said that Renexus will arrange all the required funding to built, own and operate the water plants and sell the water in bulk to the government-related agencies, who in their turn, would effect the distribution to the end user and collect utility charges.
The Acting High Commissioner suggested Klerr to increase the scape of their investment to other areas in the country like Province of Balochistan, Sindh and NWFP and Industrial city of Karachi which are also facing shortage of safe and clean water.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Renexus of Malaysia ready to invest US$ 500m in Pakistan: APP

Japan gives $260m loan for power sector: Dawn

2010-04-01T13:44:00.000-07:00

ISLAMABAD: Japan has extended a soft loan of $260 million (23.3 billion yen) to Pakistan for the National Transmission Lines and Grid Stations Strengthening Project, which will cost Rs29.339 billion.

This is the first Japanese loan under the Official Development Assistance (ODA) based on the Pakistan Donors’ Conference hosted by Japanese government in April 2009 where a maximum of $1 billion in aid was pledged over a period of next two years.

Notes to this effect were signed and exchanged between Ambassador of Japan Chihiro Atsumi and Secretary Economic Affairs Division Sibtain Fazal Halim here on Wednesday.

The exchange of notes was followed by the signing of the loan agreement by EAD Additional Secretary Hassan Nawaz Tarar and the Chief Representative of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in Pakistan, Tomoharu Otake.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Japan gives $260m loan for power sector: Dawn

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

2010-03-30T21:47:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-30T21:45:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-30T21:43:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-30T21:41:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-30T21:39:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-30T21:37:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-30T21:35:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-30T21:30:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-30T20:52:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-29T11:12:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-29T11:09:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-29T10:57:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-29T07:53:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-29T07:52:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-29T07:50:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-29T07:49:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-29T07:48:00.001-07:00

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

2010-03-29T07:43:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-25T13:41:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-25T13:39:00.000-07:00

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