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PML-N may change role in opposition after 18th Amendment Bill is approved

April 5, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Islamabad, Apr 5(ANI): Pakistan’s political scenario is likely to undergo a change in the years to come, if the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) shifts from being a ‘friendly’ opposition to a ‘responsible’ one after the 18th Amendment Bill is approved.

According to reports, the PML-N’s major concern in the bill is the removal of the restriction on a third term as a premier.

Differences also cropped up between the coalition government over many issues, such as the reinstatement of judges and the federal cabinet formula, and the PML-N withdrew from the coalition and joined the judiciary’s campaign, The Daily Times reports.

PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif had ruled out joining the federal cabinet, saying his party has no intentions of joining the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) led government.

Denying reports of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani asking him to join the cabinet and become a federal minister after the 17th amendment were abolished, Sharif had said the PML-N would continue to play the role of a ‘responsible’ opposition.

“After the 18th amendment bill is passed, the government should start concentrating on providing relief to the common man,” Sharif had said.(ANI)

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Election Commission issues notification for assembly elections in three states

September 19, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Sep. 18 (ANI): The process for forthcoming Assembly elections in Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh will begin formally with the issuance of notification on Friday.

The prospective candidates would be able to file their nomination papers till September 25.

The prospective candidates can file nomination papers to the Returning Officer or to the Assistant Returning Officer from Friday till September 25.

The assembly elections in three states are expected to be a litmus test for all major parties after the Lok Sabha elections.

The vote-counting will take place on October 22.

It is notable that all the three states that are ruled by Congress, which shares power in Maharashtra with NCP as a major coalition partner.

Maharashtra has a 288-member Assembly, Haryana a 90-member House and Arunachal Pradesh Assembly has 60 members.

There are 2,061 polling stations in Arunachal Pradesh, 12,894 in Haryana and 82,028 in Maharashtra. (ANI)

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Pakistan got 970-mn dollars and not 3-bn dollars from US

September 17, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Islamabad, Sep 17 (ANI): The United States has provided 970 million dollars in aid to Pakistan since the PPP-led Government came to power and not three billion dollars as claimed by US Ambassador Anne Patterson, a Pakistani Finance Ministry official has said.

The statement of US Ambassador to Pakistan, Anne Patterson, about giving 3 billion dollars assistance to the Zardari Government even surprised the top economic managers of the country. They were completely clueless about the figure of 3 billion dollars floated by the US.

“Out of the total 970 million dollars funding, a major chunk of 550 to 600 million dollars was in shape of the Coalition Support Fund (CSF) as it was the money which was spent by Pakistan on military’s movement and it took several months for clearance from the US authorities,” The News quoted a a senior official of the Finance Ministry, as saying.

The US has provided less than one billion dollars to Pakistan since the PPP-led government came into power, he said.

The US provided 497 million dollars in shape of CSF in May 2009. Earlier, the US provided around 100 million dollars on the same head a couple of months back – at the end of last financial year.

Around 300 million dollars were provided through USAID during the last financial year. Recently, the US authorities provided over 100 million dollars for the internally displaced persons (IDPs) of the Malakand Division.

“The US ambassador should provide details of 3 billion dollars assistance given to Pakistan during the last one and a half years period,” the official said.

Official sources pointed out that Pakistan was bearing the borrowing cost owing to delays in payments from the US related to the CSF. (ANI)

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Karzai unlikely to claim Afghan election victory soon

September 17, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Sep.17 (ANI): With accusations of vote fraud piling up around Afghanistan’s presidential election, incumbent Hamid Karzai is unlikely to claim victory any time soon.

At the very least, a national electoral complaints commission investigating fraudulent voting will take weeks to determine how much of Karzai’s officially declared 54.6 percent of the vote will be tossed out, reports the Christian Science Monitor.

At the other extreme, a potential need for a runoff vote could end up stretching Afghanistan’s political turmoil into next spring – presenting President Obama and other NATO leaders with an unsettled and deteriorating climate just as crucial policy decisions are under review.

Marvin Weinbaum, a former State Department intelligence specialist in Asian affairs now at the Middle East Institute in Washington, said:. “We face a possible constitutional crisis that, if not resolved, becomes a disaster for us, and a partner [Karzai] acting in ways that in effect raise questions as to whether he should be in there or not.”

Aside from a runoff vote, which could be declared if investigations show Karzai’s total falling below 50 percent, some parties are calling for a coalition government, while others support the idea of a nonpolitical transitional government.

That debate has crystallized in a row between foreign officials over the best way to address Afghanistan’s political predicament. Peter Galbraith, a senior US official working in Kabul as the deputy special UN representative for Afghanistan, abruptly left the country after clashing with his boss, Kai Eide, over what path forward to advocate.

Galbraith favors a larger recount of votes, even if it leads to a runoff between Karzai and his main political rival, Abdullah Abdullah, and an extended period of political uncertainty. (ANI)

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Congress screens aspiring candidates for polls in Maharashtra

September 12, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Mumbai, Sep 12 (ANI): Congress party has begun shortlisting candidates aspiring for party’s nomination for the October 13 assembly elections in Maharashtra.

Congress party, which is running a coalition government with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Maharashtra for the second term in a row, is yet to sort out hiccups on seat sharing with its ally.

As the days for nominations to open on September 18 draws close, state Congress party leaders went in a huddle in Mumbai to screen aspirants seeking ‘ticket’ to contest polls on the party symbol.

“I have given my profile, I have told about major problems in our area including drinking water and irrigation and people do not get benefited from the policies of the government,” said Anil Chandra Kumar Gupta, an aspirant from Tiroda seat of Gondia district.

Congress party, which also heads the central coalition, is on a high after its good performance in the April-May general elections. (ANI)

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Mafia may be behind Berlusconi’s sex scandal, claims coalition partner

September 12, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Sept 12 (ANI): Responding to the sex scandal engulfing Silvio Berlusconi, Umberto Bossi, the key coalition partner in the Italian PM’s government, said he believed Mafia had orchestrated all the dirty activities.

“I think everything has been put in place by the Mafia,” Bossi, the leader of the Northern League, said as he arrived at an event in Pian del Re in the north of the country.

He added: “We have introduced very tough laws against the Mafia.

“I already said to Berlusconi, ‘Look out because the Mafia is involved in that; the Mafia organises prostitution’. I am convinced that the Mafia organised this thing here.”

On Thursday, for the first time, Berlusconi admitted that Giampaolo Tarantini, a businessman, had brought “beautiful women” to his parties but denied that he had ever paid for sex, reports The Times.

In May, Berlusconi’s estranged wife, Veronica Lario, had announced that she wanted a divorce from the premier after accusing him of being “not well” and obsessed with young women.

She was apparently furious over his attendance at the 18th birthday party of an aspiring lingerie model, Noemi Letizia.

Later an escort, Patrizia D’Addario, claimed that she and another prostitute had sexual intercourse with the prime minister at his official residence in Rome following a private party. (ANI)

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PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti hurt in car mishap

September 10, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Doda (J and K), Sep.10 (ANI): Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti suffered minor facial injuries on Thursday when her car was involved in an accident.

The mishap occurred soon after she told a PDP workers’ convention that the spate of fatal road accidents in the Chenab valley region reflected the devastation, exploitation and neglect of the poorest of the poor in the state.

The PDP president said the huge loss of life caused by road accidents in Doda region could not be delinked from the fact that the condition of roads was the result of deterioration of geological and ecological conditions.

She also used the occasion to criticise the ruling National Conference-Congress coalition government in the state for not doing enough on power projects.

She urged the state government to focus on a return of control of natural resources to the state so that they are utilized for the betterment of our people.

She also touched on the subject of education, calling on the state government to take steps to usher in improvements in this sector. (ANI)

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Sharifs soften stance against Musharraf trial under Saudi pressure

September 7, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Islamabad, Sep 7 (ANI): The Sharif brothers and top leadership of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) are believed to have softened their demand for the trial of former President Pervez Musharraf owing to international pressure by his guarantors, including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Well-placed party sources said that the PML-N central leadership would take the party hierarchy into confidence about the pressure for softening their anti-Musharraf stance and to chalk out the party’s new plan of action to prepare it for next elections at party’s scheduled CEC meeting in Murree on Monday.

Sources attach great importance to Nawaz Sharif’s visit to Saudi Arabia in next few days where apart from performing Umrah he is expected to meet the Saudi high-ups in the backdrop of Musharraf’s recent visit to the Kingdom and his meeting with the King Abdullah.

The Nation quoted sources as saying that Saudi authorities have already conveyed to the Sharifs to take soft stance on Musharraf’s trial as the Kingdom regards him needy for help and cooperation as they were while out of power.

The meeting, sources further said, would discuss and evolve a comprehensive strategy to hold party’s elections but after pushing it through an intense process of restructuring and reorganization at grass root level in all parts of the country.

The CEC meeting would decide about the election timeframe either by the end of this year or early next year.

The meeting would also take host of political issues for consideration including PML-N, PPP relations, law and order situation in Balochistan, fate of Local Bodies and implementation of Charter of Democracy by the PPP-led coalition government, they added. (ANI)

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Samajwadi Party targets opportunistic Congress, but says will support UPA

August 21, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Agra (Uttar Pradesh) Aug.21 (ANI): Concluding a three-day National Conference here on Friday, a sulking Samajwadi Party leadership accused the Congress of being “opportunistic” and announced a mass agitation programme against UPA government, but ruled out withdrawal of outside support to it for now.

Having lost in four Assembly seats where bypolls were held in Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party in a resolution also targeted the Mayawati Government in the state, saying it and the UPA were pursuing “anti-people” and “anti-national” policies.

It said that the Samajwadi Party had supported the Congress-led coalition at the Centre to weaken communal forces.

“But the government after announcing revolutionary steps to end unemployment, educational reforms and foodgrains support in 100 days, had done nothing so far in this regard,” it alleged, while announcing the agitation against the Centre and UP government in January next year.

However, party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, asserted that “there is no question of withdrawing support from UPA as of now.

“We will take to the streets against both Congress and BSP. We will launch a ‘Jail Bharo’ agitation between January 19 and 23, 2010 against BSP, during which both me and Kalyan Singh will court arrest,” Yadav told reporters on Friday.

The political and economic resolution cleared by the party’s national executive made no reference to SP withdrawing support from the UPA.

Asked about the results of bypolls to four assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh, where two seats were wrested from it, Yadav said, “this is not the people’s verdict. State government officials ensured BSP’s victory. They had arrested our cadre to ensure our defeat.”

The results are being seen as a setback for the party, which is trying to regain its position in the state after the 2007 assembly polls and the recent general elections.

“We want to make people aware why there is a need for an agitation against BSP in Uttar Pradesh. During this period, our party workers will hold meetings with the people at grassroot levels where they will highlight the weaknesses of the BSP government in UP,” Yadav said.

He also cited the ongoing farming season as a reason for the timing of the agitation.

The SP lamented India “kowtowing to foreign powers and sacrificing the country’s economic interests”.

The government, the party resolution alleged, had failed to boost agricultural production, control prices, take action against food adulteration, tackle unemployment and give Indian languages their rightful place in official and court work.

It criticised the US and other developed countries for their “double standards” on the issue of greenhouse emissions.

It also referred to the alleged attempts by China to disturb the flow of Himalayan rivers which could result in environmental disaster for India. (ANI)

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Swaraj alludes to Raje’s possible expulsion from the BJP

August 21, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Shimla, Aug.21 (ANI): Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, on Friday indirectly hinted that former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje could be removed from the party on grounds of indiscipline.

Without directly confirming plans to remove Raje, Swaraj alluded at a press conference held here that: “The BJP has removed the party’s state level leadership in those states where it performed poorly in the (state and general) elections.”

In this context, she also gave the examples of B.C Khanduri who was replaced as the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand by Ramesh Pokhriyal, Om Mathur who was replaced by Arun Chaturvedi as the BJP’s Rajasthan unit president and Krishnapal Gurjar coming in place of Atam Prakash Manchanda as president of the BJP’s Haryana unit.

Raje is expected in the national capital New Delhi today, and is likely to meet Leader of Opposition and senior BJP leader L.K.Advani at his residence on Saturday.

It maybe recalled that last week when she was asked by the party to step down as the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajasthan State Assembly, Raje had in a show of strength sent more than 60 MLAs and MPs to the national capital to convince the BJP”s central leadership that she enjoyed the full support of the state unit, and therefore, there were no grounds for her removal as Leader of Opposition.

Swaraj also justified the expulsion of Jaswant Singh from the party, saying it was necessary to restore and maintain the party’s ideological stance.

She told reporters here on the last day of the three-day ‘Chintan Baithak’ of the BJP that Jaswant Singh, as a political leader with over three decades of experience, had deliberately sought to denigrate India’s first Home Minister Sardar Vallabhai Patel and his achievements and had showered wholesome praise on Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the Founder of Pakistan in his latest book “Jinnah India Partition Independence”.

“It was very difficult, but necessary to expel Jaswant Singh. It was a very tough decision to remove a colleague of last thirty years,” she said.

Countering Jaswant Singh’s statement of Thursday evening that Patel was the country’s first Home Minister to ban the BJP’s parent organization – the Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh (RSS) shortly after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi in January 1948, Swaraj said: “It was (Jawaharlal) Nehru’s intention to ban the RSS, and not Patel’s.”

Recalling a letter that Patel had written to Nehru, Swaraj said that Patel wrote: “I have been following the investigations, and there is no iota of evidence against the RSS.”

She also emphasized that coalition politics in India was here to stay to fight the “hegemony” of the Congress party.

Historically, she said that Shyama Prasad Moorkerjee, was the first person to initiate coalition politics in the country with the formation of the Jana Sangh in the 1950s. The aim then was to counter the Congress, and that tradition continues, she said.

She confirmed that three-day Chintan Baithak had thoroughly discussed the pro’s and con’s of coalition politics. (ANI)

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ISAF troops in Afghanistan need to get rid of their seige mentality

August 13, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Kabul, Aug.13 (ANI): For the vast majority of troops at the International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF) headquarters, Afghanistan remains an enigma, a threatening land lying beyond the concertina wire of the base.

When ISAF troops venture out from their base into the “red zone” (i.e. the comparatively safe streets of Kabul) they are prepared for combat.

Barreling through the crowded streets of a city that has been called a comparative “safety zone” by those fighting in the south, they jam the phone signals of average Afghans with their ECMs (electronic counter measures) and jam the roads with their convoys.

Defeat takes the form of thousands of casualty-phobic troops ensconced behind the walls, sand bags, and blast barriers of a well-protected safety bubble.

One would think that the coalition vehicles driving around Kabul in combat posture and menacingly waving 50 caliber machine guns at Afghans were storming a Taliban sangar (trench) in Helmand, not competing with rush hour traffic.

The only Afghan most ever meet is the Hazara carpet seller on base who serves authentic Afghan food once a month. And the only coalition soldiers most Afghans meet are encased in armor-plated vehicles or flak jackets.

Only a small percentage of “fobbits” (those who live in forward operating bases or FOBs) actually interact with average Afghans due to hyper-protective S.O.P. (standard operating procedures) meant to lessen their risks from interaction with Afghans.

ISAF troops suffer from a siege mentality that led the United States dangerously close to losing the war in Iraq in 2005 and 2006. U.S. forces in Iraq were more concerned with force protection than protecting the center of gravity in Iraq, the Iraqi people.

It was only when Generals Petraeus and Odierno pushed their troops out of the bases and into the streets of Iraq that they began to make headway in the counterinsurgency.

This meant more meetings with Iraqi people, who began to feel that the Americans were protecting them.

For the most part, the coalition has ceded the countryside of the south and parts of the east to the enemy, who took advantage of the vacuum left by enemy troops in 2003 when the U.S. was focused elsewhere.

The White House’s fear of engaging in grassroots nation building allowed the Taliban to fill the void. Pro-government khans and mullahs were executed, villagers cowed into submission, and “vanguard” groups sent onto the next province to lay mines and kill “infidel collaborators.” With no visible coalition presence outside of the provincial capitals, the Taliban swarmed the countryside.

Much the same thing happened in Afghanistan in the 1980s under the Soviets, who controlled the major roads and cities and remained safe in their bases for fear of sustaining casualties.

The U.S. Marines’ recent efforts to clear and hold territory in Helmand Province represent a welcome break from this barracked mentality.

It is only by establishing a reliable coalition presence in contested places like Helmand that the coalition can show the Afghans that they are there to stay and protect them. (ANI)

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Ruling UPFA wins Jaffna, but loses Vavuniya in Lanka post-war polls

August 9, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Colombo, Aug.9 (ANI): President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) has won Jaffna but lost Vavuniya in the first polls after the civil war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) concluded in May this year.

According to the BBC, the turnout for the polls has been low and ballots are still being counted in the southern province of Uva.

The local elections came a day after the defence ministry said it had arrested the new head of the Tamil Tigers, Selvarasa Pathmanathan.

According to preliminary results, the UPFA secured 13 of the 23 seats available in Jaffna on Saturday. he Tamil National Alliance, a fractious but broadly pro-LTTE parliamentary grouping, came second with eight seats.

In Vavuniya, where turnout was 52 percent, the UPFA was pushed into third place, winning only two seats. The TNA came first with five of the 11 seats on the council, followed by a moderate Tamil grouping.

It was generally believed that the government would do well, having a broad coalition led in the north by a powerful and stridently anti-Tiger Tamil party, and having promised a “northern spring” of major development projects that would gradually return the region to normality.

As a result of its victory in the war, the government is expected to have done well in the Sinhalese-dominated southern province of Uva. (ANI)

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Israel says it is clueless about US deadline on settlement freeze

July 12, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Jerusalem, July 12 (ANI): Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon has said the Benjamin Netanyahu government has no knowledge of any six-month deadline given by the US for freezing settlement construction in the West Bank.

“We have no knowledge of this whatsoever,” The Jerusalem Post quoted Ayalon, as saying.

Earlier a Lebanon daily had quoted French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, as saying that if Israel failed to stop all Jewish construction in the West Bank within six-months, the US would end support for peace talks.

Kouchner reportedly expressed his fear that Israel’s “stubbornness, intentional foot-dragging and acquiescence to the Israel lobby” would convince the Americans to pull out of peace discussions altogether.

The French foreign minister was in Beirut on Friday for talks with senior Lebanese officials, including Hizbullah legislator Nawaf Musawi.

The meeting with Musawi was aimed at facilitating a new coalition government led by Prime Minister-designate Sa’ad Hariri. Hariri’s government is likely to include Hizbullah representation, though the Shi’ite group was defeated in national parliamentary elections.

Israel is opposed to Hizbullah joining the government.

Netanyahu’s advisor Mark Regev responded to the Kouchner-Musawi meeting by warning that “if Hizbullah joins the Lebanese government, then Lebanon as a country will be responsible for any Hizbullah aggression against Israel. That has to be clear.”

Kouchner’s meeting with a Hizbullah lawmaker is the latest in a string of European meetings with the group, which the US and the European parliament have recognized as a terrorist organization.

“Hizbullah is part of the parties that participated in the recent parliamentary elections. It is natural to meet with its representatives,” Kouchner told reporters.

“Lebanon is a democratic country; democracy implies we meet with opposition figures as well.” (ANI)

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Implement sharia in Pak or face bloody revolution: Lal Masjid head

July 11, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Islamabad, July 11 (ANI): The head of Pakistan’s radical Lal Masjid, Abdul Aziz, has threatened the Pakistan Government of launching a ‘bloody revolution’, if the Zardari-led coalition fails to enforce an Islamic system in the country through parliament.

Addressing the Second Shuhda-e-Lal Masjid Conference at the Lal Masjid, Aziz said the government has not been able to make any progress in the probe into the Lal Masjid Operation, which took place two years ago, the Daily Times reports.

Demanding the operation to be declared extra-judicial, Aziz clarified that his release was not part of any deal with the government.

Speaking on the occasion, member of the NWFP assembly Mufti Kifayatullah demanded the government cease its military operation in the province and initiate a dialogue with the Taliban.

He alleged that Pakistan Army was ‘killing its own people at the behest of the US’.

Strict security arrangements were put in place this time around, considering last year’s conference where many policemen and civilians were killed in a suicide attack. (ANI)

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Resentful Afghans unlikely to welcome, support government, foreign troops or Taliban

July 3, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Lashkar Gah (Afghanistan), July 3 (ANI) Incoming American forces are likely to continue to face a hostile Afghan population, even as they seek to reverse their military losses to a resurgent Taliban.

So hopeless is the prevailing situation in the landlocked country; that observers say that Afghan civilians are unlikely to take sides or offer unconditional support to either the foreign troops, the Afghan Government or the Taliban.

Villagers in some districts have taken up arms against foreign troops to protect their homes or in anger after losing relatives in air strikes, the New York Times quotes several community representatives, as saying.

Others have been moved to join insurgents out of poverty or simply because the Taliban’s influence is overtly pervasive.

Taliban control of the countryside is so extensive in provinces like Kandahar and Helmand that winning districts back will involve tough fighting and may ignite further tensions, residents and local officials warn.

The government has no presence in five of southern Helmand’s 13 districts, and in several others, like Nawa, it holds only the district town, where troops and officials live virtually under siege.

In rural areas, the local population has accepted Taliban rule and is watching the United States troop buildup with trepidation.

The southern provinces of Afghanistan have suffered the worst civilian casualties since NATO’s deployment to the region in 2006.

“Now there are more people siding with the Taliban than with the government,” the NYT quoted Abdul Qadir Noorzai, head of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission in southern Afghanistan, as saying.

“People are hostages of the Taliban, but they look at the coalition also as the enemy, because they have not seen anything good from them in seven or eight years,” adds Hajji Abdul Ahad Helmandwal, a district council leader from Nadali in Helmand Province.

Foreign troops continue to make mistakes that enrage whole sections of this deeply tribal society, like the killing of a tribal elder’s son and his wife as they were driving to their home in Helmand two months ago.

The infusion of more American troops into southern Afghanistan is aimed at ending a stalemate between NATO and Taliban forces.

The extra forces will be critical to create confidence among the locals and persuade insurgents to give up the fight.

In parts of Helmand and Kandahar, resentment and frustration are rampant.

“They come here just to fight, not to bring peace,” said Allah Nazad, a farmer.

Many do not side with the Taliban out of choice, however, and could be won over, community leaders said.

Fazel Muhammad, a member of the district council of Panjwai, an area west of Kandahar, said he knew people who were laying mines for the Taliban in order to feed their families.

He estimated that 80 percent of insurgents were local people driven to fight out of poverty and despair. Offered another way out, only two percent would support the Taliban, he said.(ANI)

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Gilani shrugs off Pak’s economic hardship, doubles MNA’s fund

July 1, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Peshawar, June 30 (ANI): In the times when Pakistan is facing severe economic hardships, the country’s Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has given a whopping windfall to all the lower house members by doubling their annual development fund to 20 million rupees.

He gave no reason for the hike, and made a single sentence announcement before the 19-day budget session.

“I announce to double the MNAs’ fund of one crore rupees,” the Dawn quoted Gilani, as telling the National Assembly on Tuesday.

It was not immediately clear if the 100 per cent increase in the fund would apply also to the 100 members of the Senate, who until now had been on a par with their lower house counterparts for these allocations.

The practice, continuing since late 1980s, has often been described by critics as a kind of political bribe to lawmakers.

However, former PM Shaukat Aziz stopped giving funds to the opponents of military president Pervez Musharraf.

Although the hike was greeted with desk-thumping from both ruling coalition and opposition, many questions are likely to be raised about the jurisdiction of such a move by Gilani when Pakistan was facing financial stringency.

The new move was neither mentioned by the government in the fiscal budget nor was it asked for in budget debates. (ANI)

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No peace with India until Kashmir issue is resolved: Pak PM

June 29, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Lahore, June 29 (ANI): Pakistan Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has said that it is not possible to have peace with India until the Kashmir issue is resolved, and added that Islamabad always wanted cordial relations with all neighbouring countries.

“I want to say again that Pakistan has always wanted to have cordial relations with all neighbouring countries, including Afghanistan, India and Iran, but talks between India and Pakistan without resolution of the Kashmir issue would be fruitless,” he told reporters here.

He said a solution to the Kashmir issue was the cornerstone of Pakistan’s foreign policy, the Online reported.

Commenting on the drone attacks in the northern areas, Gilani said they were an attack on the integrity of Pakistan and were forcing tribesmen to join extremist elements.

The Daily Times quoted him, as saying that the US was working towards understanding Pakistan’s view on the drone attacks.

Gilani said all anti-Pakistan elements were terrorists, and had no religion or geographical boundaries.

Replying to question about Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s statement on dialogue with the Taliban, he said that while Fazl was a coalition partner of the government, his views on the Taliban were a personal statement, and added the entire nation wanted peace by eliminating the terrorists forever.

Gilani said the Pakistan Army was taking decisive action against the Taliban in FATA and other tense areas, adding this was not the time for dialogue with extremists.

“Our army is fighting very efficiently against the cowards who strike through ambushes. These anti-social and anti-Pakistan elements are working on foreign agendas,” he added. (ANI)

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Taliban and al Qaeda should be treated as criminals, not holy warriors

June 27, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, June 25 (ANI): The Taliban and al Qaeda should be treated more like criminals than holy warriors, according to a new book.

Today many of these terrorists are motivated more by greed than religion or ideology, according to the author Gretchen Peters, whose book, “Seeds of Terror: How Heroin is Bankrolling the Taliban and Al Qaeda,” was recently published by Thomas Dunne Books.

“They start to look more like Tony Soprano and his guys than holy warriors. They behave like criminals. They’re involved in the drugs trade, human trafficking, kidnapping, gun running…all sorts of criminal activity,” CBS News quoted Peters, as saying.

Peters is a former reporter and is considered an expert on the Taliban and the legendary Afghan drug lords who bankroll the Taliban and other terror groups by giving them billions of dollars in profits to protect their global heroin networks, money which is then used to fight US-led coalition forces.

A new strategy in the war in Afghanistan aimed at choking off the flow of money to the Taliban has been launched by dozens of agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration, who are now working on the ground in Afghanistan, CBS News reported.

The agents are using traditional drug fighting techniques such as sting operations to capture these drug lords and disrupt their heroin operations.

Several of these top Afghan drug lords have been brought to the United States to face trial on federal narco-terrorism charges. A unit of specially trained assistant US Attorneys from the Southern District of New York have prosecuted them, CBS News reported.

Peters called the strategy to go after the drug lords who are financing the Taliban and other terrorist groups, “a step in the right direction.”

It weakens the Taliban, disrupts their operations and their ability to fight US troops and their support of terrorism, she said. he author noted that although the drug lords have close ties with the Taliban, “a lot of these guys really don’t behave like pious Muslims. I mean, we heard stories of parties-alcohol-drenched parties lasting late into the night. Russian prostitutes, weekends, dirty weekends in Dubai,” she said. (ANI)

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Prakash Karat says people voted back Congress for a stable government

June 23, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New Delhi, June 23 (ANI): Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Prakash Karat has said the Congress party won the recently held general elections as a result of people’s concern for a stable and secular government.

Talking to reporters here on Monday, Karat said, “Congress party’s success is mainly due to the fact that people were concerned having a stable and secular government in the center. The divisive communal politics of the BJP was rejected by the people and this was to the benefit of the Congress party.”

Karat also accepted that the Third Front failed to create a viable and credible alternative to the alliances led by the Congress and the BJP.

“We failed to create an alliance at national level, which was viable and credible. We have recognised that,” he added.

Once seen as vital for any national coalition building, communist parties were left badly bruised in the general election, losing even in West Bengal, which they have ruled for more than three decades. (ANI)

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Persistent and serious human right violations continue in Zimbabwe: Amnesty

June 20, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Harare, June 19 (ANI): Zimbabwe continues to face human rights violations on a “persistent and serious” scale, as elements in the nation’s newly formed coalition are still using violence as a tool to crush democratic voices, Amnesty International has said.

“Persistent and serious human rights violations continue. Some elements of Zanu-PF see use of violence as a legitimate tool to crush political opponents and retain power and are paying only lip service to reforms, biding their time until the next elections,” The Telegraph quoted Amnesty International Secretary General, Irene Khan, as saying.

It is the human rights organization’s first visit to the country in a decade, but Khan says the virtually improved political climate must pave way for socio economic reforms.

“The human rights situation in Zimbabwe is precarious and the socio- economic conditions are desperate for the vast majority of Zimbabweans. The lack of clear commitment of some parts of government are real obstacles that need to be confronted by the top leadership of Zimbabwe,” she said.

Khan said the coalition between Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF and the Movement for Democratic change, after a violence-wracked election, had failed to reform the police, army or security forces.

The unity government led by aging dictator completely “ignores human rights concerns for the sake of political expediency,” she said.

Her comments clearly reflect how badly perceptions of Mugabe have changed since he was seen as a freedom fighter in the 1970s, when the then Rhodesia was ruled by Ian Smith’s racist government.

The “culture of impunity” in Zimbabwe persisted from that time, Khan said, when Amnesty classed Mugabe as a prisoner of conscience. (ANI)

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