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Posts published in January 2010

Rise in lake level endangers Gojalis: By Zulfiqar Ali Khan in The Dawn, Jan 22

HUNZA, Jan 21: The rapid rise in the level of the artificial lake, formed on the Hunza River, due to the devastating landslide of Jan 4 at Atabad has endangered thousands of people in the area. Lt-Gen Najeeb of Army Engineering Corps and Maj-Gen Shahid Niaz of the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) visited the sites and assured to breach the block to release the water in 45 days. The local people, however, are showing their…

An elusive package: edit in the Daily Times, Jan 21

The walkout by two ministers from the Balochistan Assembly session on Monday in protest against the killing of two Baloch students at a protest rally in Khuzdar last week and condemnation of the killings by senators of both the treasury and opposition benches once again focuses minds on the plight of the Baloch. When the PPP government presented a package for Balochistan, a province that has been fighting for its rights since the inception of…

‘FC running parallel govt in Balochistan’ : The Dawn, Jan 21

By Saleem Shahid and Amanullah Kasi QUETTA: Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani has accused the Frontier Corps of running a parallel government in Balochistan. In a statement issued here on Wednesday, the chief minister said that FC’s attitude had harmed the ongoing reconciliation process and, as a result, the situation had worsened. “The FC has established a government paralled to the provincial government,” he said. He urged the federal government to direct law-enforcement agencies in…

Sindhi nationalists intensify efforts for single platform

By Habib Khan Ghori  in The Dawn, Jan 21 KARACHI: Several Sindhi nationalist parties frustrated by what they view as a ‘change’ in the Pakistan People’s Party’s original agenda have intensified their efforts to form a single platform to launch a joint political struggle for the rights of the province and its people. Shah Mohammad Shah, head of the Save Sindh Movement (SSM) — part of a five-party alliance — and Saleem Jan Mazari of…

Discontents in Gilgit-Baltistan: The Daily Times, Jan 21

By Aziz Ali Dad The writer is associated with a rights based organisation in Islamabad. The announcement of the Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self-Governance Ordinance in September 2009 gave some hope to the optimists that it would pave the way for democratic governance and political rejuvenation of the moribund governance structure and stagnant political culture of Gilgit-Baltistan. Sceptics, however, dubbed it as an eyewash to hide the real mechanics of power, which are under the direct…

External debt to rise by 43pc in five years: The Dawn, Jan 11

By Khaleeq Kiani ISLAMABAD Pakistan’s total external debt is likely to grow alarmingly by more than 43 per cent over the next five years, to about $73 billion in 2015-16 from about $50.76 billion early this year. According a report released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the debt will increase by about 13 per cent, or $6.4 billion, to $57.1 billion by the end of the current fiscal year and is estimated to increase…

‘N’ demands GB governor slot: The Nation, Jan 11

By Maqbool Malik ISLAMABAD – Lobbies representing different political parties have intensified their efforts to secure the prestigious position of Gilgit-Baltistan’s woman governor to be appointed by the President Asif Ali Zaradri, TheNation reliably learnt on Sunday. According to the informed sources, apart from smaller political parties, the major players PPP and the PML-N have stepped up their efforts to secure the slot. Sources said both the PPP and PML-N have shortlisted names of their…

GB package termed ‘compromise on Kashmir’: The Dawn, Jan 11

ISLAMABAD, Jan 10: Leaders of various political parties and other stakeholders from Azad Kashmir on the platform of the All Parties National Alliance (APNA) on Sunday termed the reforms package for Gilgit-Baltistan as insufficient and tantamount to “compromise on Kashmir”. In a meeting held here at the National Press Club (NPC), the APNA, which included the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), Jammu Kashmir People’s National Party, Jammu Kashmir Liberation League and Jamaat-i-Islami, called upon the…

Spreading terror: editorial in The Dawn, Jan 8

FOR the most part, Azad Jammu and Kashmir managed to escape the violence that has engulfed Pakistan in recent years. But the last six months or so have seen a spike in terrorist activity, the most recent being Wednesday’s deadly suicide attack outside a military barracks in Tararkhel. Security forces in AJK were earlier targeted by a suicide bomber in June last year, an incident that claimed the lives of two soldiers. Then, in November,…

Around 700 jihadis waiting to strike in J&K: The Times of India, Jan 8

NEW DELHI: Wednesday’s fidayeen attack in Srinagar which finally ended on Thursday was not a one-off strike. It was part of a plan supported by the Pakistani military to step up terror in Jammu and Kashmir so as to avoid an increased engagement against the al-Qaida-Taliban group. As many as 700 fully-trained terrorists are waiting in the wings to stage attacks in J&K with their “masters” in Pakistan directing them to open “other fronts” as…

Tamil Tiger video killing is genuine, declares the UN

By Catherine Philp, Diplomatic Correspondent, and James Bone in the Times, Jan  8 New York   A leading United Nations expert called yesterday for a war crimes inquiry in Sri Lanka after his investigation concluded that a video showing soldiers summarily killing Tamil prisoners last year was authentic. In a damning report citing top scientific experts, Philip Alston, UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Killings, dismissed the Sri Lankan Government’s claims that the footage shown by Channel…