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Posts published in December 2014

Danger to media: Editorial in Dawn, November 29th , 2014

THERE is much to criticise in the conduct of vast sections of the media and especially the level of editorial influence many owners of media houses exercise. But let it also be clear that the prosecution of the Jang group ownership and senior employees on charges of hurting religious sentiment smacks of persecution.  Consider that the controversial content that Geo Entertainment aired earlier this year had already been dealt with by the regulators, the channel…

GB court verdict threat to press freedom : report in Dawn, November 29th, 2014

KARACHI: The president of the Council of Pakistan News­paper Editors (CPNE), Mujibur Rehman Shami, and the president of the All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS), Hameed Haroon, have, in a joint statement, expressed dismay at what they called unlawful conviction of Mir Shakeel ur Rehman, the Editor-in-Chief of the Jang-Geo media group and associated media persons, by an anti-terrorism court in Gilgit-Baltistan.   They said that the conviction was incompatible with press freedoms enshrined in Article…

G-B all set for interim cabinet of technocrats

By Shabbir Mir  in The Express Tribune, December 27th, 2014. GILGIT: Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) is all set to introduce a non-political interim government to ensure free and fair elections are held next year.   Speaking in Darel Valley, G-B Interim Chief Minister Sher Jehan Mir said on Friday that cabinet members would be free of political affiliations. He added they would be selected once the amended governance order is made available to him.   One of…

The Elusive Chinese Dream: By Jefferey N Wasserstrom in the NY Times, Dec 27, 2014

( The writer, a professor of history at the University of California, Irvine, is the author, most recently, of “China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know.”) In 1989, Chinese cities were rocked by huge protests, most notably the Tiananmen Square crackdown, while in Europe, the Berlin Wall fell and talk of a global Marxist-Leninist extinction began. Many observers, both in China and abroad, assumed that the Chinese Communist Party was on its…

Four killed in construction accident at Neelum-Jhelum project site:   : AFP in The Express Tribune, December 25th,  2014

MUZAFFRABAD: Four people, site for a major dam project in Kashmir, officials said. including a Chinese engineer, were killed on Wednesday when a wall collapsed at a construction The accident happened at the Neelum-Jhelum hydropower project intake site 40 kilometres north of Muzaffarabad, the capital of the Pakistan-administered Kashmir.   “Four workers including a Chinese engineer were killed when a wall collapsed,” Sayed Asif Gardezi, a local administration official, told AFP.   He said a…

China highways bleeding money:  AFP report, dec 25, 2014

BEIJING: China is losing more than $10 billion a year from its expressways, state media reported on Wednesday, despite levying hefty tolls on the world’s largest highway network.   China spent 431bn yuan ($69bn) on building, maintaining and operating highways in 2013, but only took in 365bn yuan from tolls, the China Daily reported, citing the Ministry of Transport.   For years the building of roads, high-speed rail lines and other infrastructure projects helped China…

1,170 AJK signatories for amending constitution : Report in The Nation, Dec 23, 2014

MIRPUR (AJK): As many as 1,170 people representing all segments of the society have signed a petition seeking early amendments in the interim constitution of Azad Jammu & Kashmir to ensure more empowerment of AJK government. A civil society organisation namely Centre for Peace, Development and Reforms started the online petition calling on the governments of Pakistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir to amend AJK Constitution commonly known as Act 1974 and empower AJK Legislative…

New Balakot city — victim of cruel indifference by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government

By Khalid Mustafa in the News, December 22, 2014 ISLAMABAD: In 2005 a devastating earthquake hit Pakistan that wreaked havoc in the northern areas, AJK and some parts of KPK. Balakot city was totally destroyed. The world community offered $5.5 billion funding to rebuild the badly hit five districts of KPK and 4 districts of AJK. The government of Pakistan prepared a special plan to develop new Balakot city in Mansehra district for which it…

Will the dream materialise?: by Iftekhar A Khan   in the News, December 22, 2014

The writer is a freelance columnist based in Lahore When the prime minister visited China in November and signed pacts of $45.6 billion investment in development projects, the nation had a good reason to be euphoric. Of the committed investment, $33.8 billion is allocated for power generation and $11.8 billion for developing roads and transportation network. Pakistan and China signed the China-Pak Economic Corridor Agreement, under which China would develop a four-lane road infrastructure from…

Chinese president to visit Pakistan in Feb

  By Abdul Manan in The Express Tribune, December 22nd, 2014. ISLAMABAD: China’s President Xi Jinping is to visit Pakistan in February 2015 along with the heads of dozens of companies, members of a Chinese delegation told the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz at a meeting on Sunday.   The delegation, led by Vice Minister of the International Department of the Committee of the Communist Party Chen Fengxiang, has called on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Punjab…

Ex-NATCO MD Zafar Iqbal to join politics

By Shabbir Mir in The Express Tribune, December 16th, 2014. GILGIT:  Renowned bureaucrat and former managing director of government-sponsored Northern Areas Transport Corporation (Natco), Zafar Iqbal, announced his ambition to step into active politics on Monday.   Iqbal made the announcement to a gathering of select political figures from various parties of Gilgit. They included Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) regional chief Hafizur Rahman, former Gilgit-Baltistan legislative assembly speaker Wazir Baig, former senior minister Muhammad Jafar,…