Posts published in August 2012

GILGIT, Aug 12: Pakistan People’s Party has dissolved all its organisations throughout the Gilgit-Baltistan region with the purpose to reorganise the party. Sources told Dawn on condition of anonymity that the dissolution of the cabinets came as internal disputes among the office-bearers were on the rise. The sources said the matter was brought to the notice of high command which took the step and asked the party workers to get ready for reorganisation purely on…

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s second most strategically important Rs274 billion Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower project of 969 MW, has also landed into deep financial trouble endangering its scheduled completion in 2016, as its financiers have raised a number of issues to continue funding the project, a senior official at Ministry of Finance told The News. This shock has come from Middle Eastern donors after the World Bank and the Asian Bank refused to fund the Bhasha Dam unless a…

ISLAMABAD: Deputy Commandant, National Police Academy (NPA), Capt (R) Usman Zikria, Police Service of Pakistan (PSP) officer of BS-20, has been appointed as Inspector General of Police (IGP) of Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) on Friday in place of IGP Hussain Asghar who was suspended on the order of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, the Establishment Division sources said. Zikria, belonging to 19 CTP, has served in the Islamabad Police as Assistant Superintendent of Police, Superintendent of Police…

By Munawar Hasan in The News, Aug 11 LAHORE: Work on Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project (NJHP) has suffered a big blow due to lack of funding, sources said on Friday. The Chinese contractor has started suspending work on various sections of the project with the passing of the deadline that had been given for the release of Rs7.8 billion in funds. The contractor has told the Ministry of Water and Power about its inability to continue…

ISLAMABAD, Aug 10: The World Bank has reportedly offered funding to induce Pakistan to take up the Dasu power project in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and delay for 10 years the strategically more important Diamer-Bhasha dam in Gilgit-Baltistan. That appeared to be the crux of the proceedings of Senate Standing Committee on Water and Power here on Friday, even though top bureaucrats tried to satisfy the committee that Pakistan’s sovereign decision on the matter maintained focus on…

MIRPUR: Hundreds of people affected by the raising of Mangla Dam Project staged protests on Thursday after the government failed to give a schedule for completion of their rehabilitation. They staged a sit-in outside the office of Mangla Dam Resettlement Organisation (MDRO) and said they will not let the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) fill the dam to its highest level of 1,242 feet unless the 100,000 affected people are shifted to alternative residential…

MIRPUR:  Lawyers staged a protest demonstration outside the district courts on Thursday against the failure of the police in nabbing the men who attempted to murder Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) High Court Chief Justice Ghulam Mustafa Mughal. Brandishing black bands on their arms, the lawyers boycotted duties and accused the police of being inefficient for failing to arrest the accused even after a lapse of over nine months. They warned of widespread protests across…

By Shabbir Mir in The Express Tribune, August 9 GILGIT: To counter the growing threats of terrorism in Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B), intelligence sharing will be increased in the region. This was stated by G-B’s new police chief, Wazir Muhammad Ali Khan, during an exclusive interview with The Express Tribune here on Wednesday. “The role of intelligence agencies is very important and we are trying to expand it in order to become aware of threats beforehand,” said…

The Express Tribune, August 9 The Kashmir Association for Independent Radio Stations (KAIRS) elected its fist governing body in polls held in Islamabad on Tuesday, said a press release issued by the association. The chief executive officer of Rose FM radio station, Zafar Butt, was elected as president of KAIRS, Sardar Mehmood Iqbal from Voice of Kashmir (VoK) as vice-president, Umar Javed Shaikh from Geo-88 as general secretary, Sardar Mansoor Zareen from Vok as joint…

GILGIT: Four under-trial prisoners escaped from a jail in Astore district late Monday night. Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of police Ali Sher told The Express Tribune the four inmates fled through a hole they made in the roof of their cell. The prisoners also wounded a jail official by hitting him in the head with his pistol that they snatched from him during escape, said the official. Sher said that an extensive search operation has…