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Posts published in March 2013

Court restrains appointments to AJK Shariat Court

MIRPUR: Azad Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Friday imposed restriction on appointment of judges to the Shariat Court. An AJK High Court bench in Muzaffarabad on Friday directed the authorities not to make any appointments till the final decision on the case. The three-judge bench, headed by senior judge Munir Ahmed Chaudhry with members, Justice Tabassum Aftab Alvi and Justice Sardar Abdul Hamid, issued the order on a petition challenging the induction of Justice…

Car registration debate fuels wrangling over G-B status

By Shabbir Mir in The Express Tribune, Mar 15 GILGIT: The Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) Assembly proceedings on Wednesday were dominated by a debate on whether the residents of G-B were Pakistani citizens or not. The discussion started after Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) legislator Mirza Hussain spoke about the amnesty scheme offered by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for registering non-custom paid (NCP) vehicles. Hussain said residents of G-B must not be forced to have their…

Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project: Officials opposing costly loan agreement removed

by Khaleeq Kiani  in Dawn, Mar 14 ISLAMABAD: Two days before the end of its five-year tenure, the government is likely to sign a $500 million commercial loan agreement with a foreign bank to finance the $2.8 billion Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project of 969MW capacity. According to an official, the agreement is being finalised at about eight per cent interest that works out to about 15 per cent after accounting for currency exchange despite the government’s…

Gilgit-Baltistan on the verge of bloodshed: by Manzoor Qadir in Daily Times, Mar 12

ISLAMABAD: After volatile Balochistan, the situation in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) has turned into a volcano that could erupt at any time, exposing hundreds of locals to violence, hatred and death, Daily Times has learnt from reliable sources. At present a great deal of unrest that is being witnessed among the residents of GB representing various religious sects, including Deobandi, Shia, Sunni and Ismaili, could disrupt the law and order situation, triggering large-scale violence in the northern…

Funds allocated for Bhasha dam being diverted: report in Dawn, Mar 10

ISLAMABAD, March 9: The construction of Bhasha dam seems to be getting off the government’s priority list as an amount of Rs6 billion allocated for the dam is now being diverted to Neelum-Jhelum hydropower project for which the government has to arrange Rs25bn by the end of the current fiscal year. Finance Minister Saleem H. Mandviwalla told journalists on Saturday that Rs10bn would be arranged through bank loans and the rest by making adjustments in…

Security on KKH to be enhanced

GILGIT, March 8: The Gilgit-Baltistan and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments have agreed on framing new standard operating procedure for ensuring security of travellers on Karakuram Highway, officials informed here on Friday. “Both sides have agreed to evolve a new mechanism to provide security to people travelling on the KKH,” Diamer district Magistrate Mohammad Ajmal Bhatti told Dawn. He said senior officials of the GB and KP governments held a meeting on the issue and considered…

Act of ‘disrespect’: Wrong map earns USAID heap of scorn

By Owais Jafri in The Express Tribune, Mar 9 MULTAN:  The projection of a wrong map of Pakistan by USAID officials during an event at the Multan Electric Power Company (Mepco) office has provoked much anger, both among Mepco engineers and the citizens of Multan. During a presentation at the inauguration of a planning and engineering computer centre at the Mepco office on Thursday, USAID officials projected a map which showed Azad Jammu and Kashmir…

Sectarian violence in G-B: Arrests of terrorists demanded: by Shabbir Mir in The Express Tribune, March 8

GILGIT: Locals have condemned a recent roadside bombing, that left two persons injured, and demanded the authorities to bring the culprits to task. While condemning the ongoing surge of terrorism in the area on Thursday, they also called for pre-emptive measures to prevent such actions in future. During a press conference,Ghulam Raza, a local, said, “We want the government to reveal identities of the terrorists. However, we do not accuse the government of being involved…

No NOC to India on Basha dam says Pak Foreign office: by Maqbool Malik in The Nation, Mar 8

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan on Thursday rejected reports that India wants Pakistan to seek NOC for construction of water reservoirs in AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan including Diamer-Basha Dam. “Pakistan doesn’t need any NOC from India regarding construction of dams,” Foreign Office spokesman Moazzam Ahmed Khan told the weekly press briefing. Under the Indus Water Treaty, India was however under an obligation to inform Pakistan if it wanted to carry out any water-related project on rivers allocated for…

GB cabinet reshuffle likely

GILGIT, March 7: Portfolios of all ministers would be changed in a first reshuffle in Gilgit-Baltistan cabinet and these would now be given to members in accordance with their capabilities, said spokesman for Chief Minister Mehdi Shah. The reshuffle is expected within next few days. He said that GB Governor Karam Ali Shah had asked the chief minister to reshuffle the cabinet as its members failed to serve masses. Meanwhile, according to an official handout,…

High-powered team to visit US to win support for Bhasha Dam: By Mehtab Haider in The News, Mar 7

ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to dispatch a high-powered delegation headed by Salman Farooqui, Secretary General to the President, to Washington DC for talks with the World Bank’s president and the US administration to review multi-billion dollar development projects and win support for Diamer-Basha dam, The News has learnt. A top aide of the Presidency said that the visit was to take place on March 11, 2013 but it was cancelled because the government was…