MUZAFFARABAD, Feb 14: AJK Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider said on Sunday that a comprehensive security plan for the protection of foreigners, particularly the Chinese, executing mega development projects in Kashmir would be devised within three weeks in consultation with the government, Wapda and other construction companies. Mr Haider was talking to journalists on his return from Chattar Klas, located some 20 kilometres south of Muzaffarabad, where Interior Minister Rehman Malik, Wapda Chairman Shakil Durrani…
Posts published in February 2010
NEW DELHI: Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram said on Thursday ‘Azad’ Kashmir is an Indian territory and “we should facilitate the return of Kashmiris who have crossed over the Line of Control (LoC) for some reasons”. Talking to reporters, he confirmed an amnesty scheme for militants who had gone to ‘Azad’ Kashmir and said India was ready to “welcome” them if they are ready to return after giving up militancy. “The idea is accepted… This…
MUZAFFARABAD, Feb 10: Declaring 2010 as ‘judicial year’, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) High Court Chief Justice Ghulam Mustafa Mughal on Wednesday announced several decisions for easy and speedy dispensation of justice as well as revival of the trust of public in judiciary. In his maiden interaction with the media after assuming the office on January 1, Justice Mughal said he had decided to introduce the concept of self-accountability from the upper level instead of…
Islamabad, Feb 10: Human rights and political activists from Gilgit-Baltistan on Wednesday criticised the government for what they called inaction and indifferent attitude towards the landslide-hit people of Hunza-Gojal. Briefing mediapersons about the landslide that hit Atabad in Hunza and killed 19 people and severed communication links between China and Pakistan, at the National Press Club, leaders of Gilgit-Baltistan Human Rights Advocacy Network (GBHRAN) and Progressive Youth Front (PYF) said that despite lapse of over…
A month after a landslide in Upper Hunza killed 20 people and left 1,500 others homeless, the fate of the victims has largely been forgotten. Their suffering is far from over. The Gojal tehsil remains cut off from the rest of the country, since the river was dammed as a result of debris tumbling into it after the landslide and has risen into a lake blocking the Karakorum Highway. About 75 households trapped beyond this…
ISLAMABAD, Feb 9: City police mounted intelligence and vigilance around the Kashmir House to arrest the people, including two ministers of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, nominated in a murder case, sources told Dawn. According to the sources, a team of police officials had been deployed around the house and checkposts also established to arrest the accused the moment they would come out from the building. However, chance of their presence there is meagre, the sources…
QUETTA, Feb 9: The community of Hindus in Quetta has called upon the Balochistan government to curb the rising cases of kidnapping for ransom and robbery being perpetrated against its members. Addressing a press conference on Tuesday with Minorities Minister Basant Lal Gulshan, a leader of Quetta Hindu Panchayat, Shyam Kumar, said the deteriorating law and order situation had served to heighten the vulnerability of the community. He said the Hindus were a peace loving…
GILGIT, Feb 8: The government of Gilgit-Baltistan was yet to get Rs5 billion pledged by the centre to run its affairs following promulgation of the Empowerment and Self-Governance Order, 2009, officials said. A senior administration official told Dawn on condition of anonymity that the amount was part of a transition plan so that the new order could be implemented in letter and spirit. He added, the funds were meant to run the affairs of Governor,…
By Zulfiqar Ali Khan HUNZA, Feb 8: The main bridge on Karakoram Highway (KKH) linking Pakistan and China near Gulmit and Shishkat villages, would submerge within 24 days in the lake formed on Hunza River due to the blockade of the river, said an official of the Frontier Works Organisation. Naseem Hassan, spokesman for the FWO, in a briefing to Gilgit-Baltistan Legislativ Assembly Speaker Wazir Baig and Chief Secretary Babar Yaqub Fateh Muhammad at the…
ISLAMABAD: A leader of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Azad Kashmir, was killed at a polling station at the FG Model School in F-6/2 during the by-elections on a vacant seat of legislative assembly when activists of a rival political party opened fire on their opponents on Sunday evening, police said. The victim, Captain (retd) Tariq Mehmood, son of Abdul Aziz, of Protha, Khoi Ratta, Azad Kashmir, was the administration officer of the Jammu Kashmir…
By Khaleeq Kiani ISLAMABAD: The filling of Mangla Dam’s additional 2.33 MAF (million acre feet) storage capacity built at a cost of more than Rs90 billion and construction of cheap hydropower projects of about 4,500MW are in jeopardy because of non-implementation of the dam’s up-raising agreement and three provinces’ opposition to allocation of water for Azad Kashmir. Background discussions with government officials and documents available with Dawn suggest that the controversy has resulted in cancellation…