By Simon Denyer in the Washington Post BEIJING — China’s Communist leaders promised legal reforms on Thursday that could give judges more independence from interference by local officials but will leave the party essentially above the law, after a high-level meeting that had been billed as a pivotal moment in the country’s legal history. After a four-day closed-door session, the party’s elite Central Committee pledged to promote “the socialist rule of law with Chinese…
Posts published in October 2014
By EDWARD WONG in The NY Times, Oct 24, 2014 A well-known Tibetan religious leader, Khenpo Kartse, has been sentenced by Chinese officials to two and a half years in prison, according to reports from International Campaign for Tibet, an advocacy group, and Radio Free Asia, which is financed by the United States government. The sentencing took place two to three months ago in a court in the Chamdo area of the Tibet Autonomous…
By Shahbaz Rana in The Express Tribune, October 21st, 2014. ISLAMABAD: Amid fears of financial embezzlement by civil aviation authorities in the execution of projects, the government has conditionally cleared New Gwadar International Airport at a revised cost of Rs26.6 billion – which is three and a half times higher than the original price. The clearance was given ‘in principle’ by the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) – the body having the mandate to approve…
The writer is Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad. He is a political economist Narendra Modi was sworn in on the 26th of May as the 15th Prime Minister of India, and Bharatia Janata Party’s (BJP) Hindu nationalist philosophy unveiled itself within days. It seems that Modi has different ‘aspirations’ to those of his predecessors: to capitalize all of Kashmir and bury it under the dreams of an extremist Hindu nationalist…
The writer is a political economist and a television anchorperson This article must be read as follow up of “Kashmir, Lines Drawn with Blood” printed in The Nation on February 6, 2011. Narendra Modi has deliberately escalated the Line of Control and Working Boundary in Kashmir. India, an imperial state by nature has extended this heat to China by building a road along the Tibetan Border. The roots of this forward policy lie in Hindutva…
MUZAFFARABAD: The federal government has posted retired Squadron Leader Abid Ali Khan as the new chief secretary of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). Mr Khan, who was recently appointed by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government as secretary sports and culture from his earlier assignment as commissioner Hazara division, has replaced Khizar Hayat Gondal, who was posted as AJK’s chief secretary in July last year. He has now been posted as federal secretary. The AJK Services and…
By Shabbir Mir in The Express Tribune, October 16th, 2014. GILGIT: As the tenure of the Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) government draws to a close, the fate of the Local Government Bill 2014 hangs in the balance. The bill was passed unanimously by the G-B legislative assembly on August 18, but has yet to reach the governor’s office where it will be signed by the governor and made into a law. “The bill hasn’t yet reached us,”…
MUZAFFARABAD: Flash floods triggered by rain have damaged both public and private infrastructure worth Rs10 billion in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), officials said on Thursday. Naeem Shiraz, a senior member of the Board of Revenue in AJK, and the State Disaster Management Authority secretary Akram Sohail said the Rs10 billion figure was realistic as compared with the exaggerated claims in the media reports. “A five-member committee has been formed at the tehsil level to…
ISLAMABAD: Chairman of Senate Defence Committee, Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, has said that Indian Prime Minister Modi’s Pakistan policy shows a mindset based on aggressive, hawkish policies rooted in the past, which are endangering efforts for regional peace and prosperity. Senator Mushahid Hussain was chairing a session on GlobalGeo-strategic Environment in Post 2014 during an international conference organized by the School of Politics and International Relations (SPIR) with the collaboration of Konrad Adenaur Stiftung, here.…
LAHORE: A group of Gilgit-Baltistan residents on Thursday staged a demonstration to demand the release of Baba Jan and 11 other activists sentenced for life imprisonment by the Anti-Terrorism Court in Gilgit on Sept 25 and withdrawal of cases against them. The protest was organised by the Free Gilgit-Baltistan Twelve Committee outside the Lahore Press Club and attended by members of the Awami Workers Party, including veteran leftist Farooq Tariq. Addressing the protesters,…
By Shabbir Mir in The Express Tribune, Oct 3, 2014 GILGIT: College professors and lecturers boycotted classes and went on strike across Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) on Thursday in protest against delays in promotions. The strike was announced after the government failed to implement the demands of the G-B Professors and Lecturers Association (G-BPLA) to promote faculty members who have been working in colleges for decades. However, according to a student leader at Government Degree College…