Pakistan News update
news update
UK parliamentary committee urges US-Taliban talks
Apr 2nd
US Marines from 1st Battalion 8th, Bravo patrol during an operation near Zalmabad village in Musa Qala district of Helmand province on January 23, 2011. PHOTO: AFP
LONDON: The United States must hold direct talks with the Taliban if it is to have any hope of ending the Afghan war, an influential British parliamentary committee said on Wednesday.
The Foreign Affairs Committee said the military campaign was not working and urged the British government to use its influence in Washington to convince it to engage fully in direct talks with Taliban leaders. “An Afghan-led, but US driven, process of political reconciliation More >
Human Development Report 2010: 51% of Pakistanis deprived of basic education, health
Apr 1st
The country’s overall HDI ranking is now 125 among 169 nations. DESIGN: ANAM HALEEM
ISLAMABAD: Over half of Pakistanis are deprived of basic education and health facilities and live below a respectable standard of living, reveals a United Nations report.
According to the United Nations Human Development Report 2010, launched on Tuesday, as many as 51 per cent of the population is living in multidimensional poverty and 54 per cent is suffering from intense deprivation. Another 11.8 per cent of the population is at the risk of multidimensional poverty.
The statistics have been measured by the Multidimensional Poverty Index which includes indicators of More >
Fighting back, Qaddafi forces seize eastern town
Apr 1st
Men hold up posters of Muammar Gaddafi in Tripoli on March 2, 2011. PHOTO: REUTERS.
TRIPOLI: Forces loyal to Muammar Qaddafi have recaptured a town in Libya’s mostly rebel-held east, rebel military officers said on Wednesday, in an attempt to break the momentum of a popular rebellion against his 41-year-old rule.
Forces sent by the Libyan leader had seized back Marsa El Brega after violent clashes with rebels who had controlled the town 800 km east of the capital Tripoli, the rebel officers told Reuters.
“It’s true. There was aerial bombardment of Brega and Qaddafi’s forces have taken it,” Mohamed Yousef, an officer More >
‘New Delhi rolls back army downsizing plan’
Mar 31st
Anomalies revealed in India’s outlay for defence may have effect on growth and development of its fighting arms.
NEW DEHLI: A closer look at the outlay for defence in the union budget 2011-12 reveals some anomalies that could have a far-reaching effect on the growth and development of India’s fighting arms.
While accepting the 11.6 per cent increase in the defence outlay over last year’s revised estimate figures as adequate, experts say there are worrying trends in spending that need to be corrected.
On the revenue side, salaries and allowances have gone up by nearly Rs50 billion over the revised estimates. In fact, More >
Saudi needs bolder steps to avoid protest contagion
Mar 31st
Saudi children celebrate as they greet the convoy transporting King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz. PHOTO: AFP
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s elderly rulers need to do more than simply spread state largesse if they want to insulate the top oil exporter from Arab protests reaching the kingdom’s borders.
Last week, King Abdullah handed out benefits worth $37 billion to Saudis in an apparent bid to curb rising dissent and head off any repeat of protests that gripped the Middle East while he was abroad for three months for medical treatment.
The handouts, to be spent on social measures from housing to unemployment, study grants and More >
Beijing to trial mobile tracking system: report
Mar 30th
The commission made the announcement in a statement posted on its website on Monday but it was later removed.
BEIJING: A system designed to track the location of millions of mobile phone users is to be tested in Beijing, sparking concerns over privacy, state media reported Thursday.
The information platform will enable authorities to check on the location of China Mobile’s more than 17 million users in the capital, the Global Times newspaper said, citing the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission.
The commission made the announcement in a statement posted on its website on Monday but it was later removed, the newspaper More >
The confident and courageous Çetinkaya
Mar 30th
This turbo-charged Turkish race car driver talks about her life from hairpins to handbrakes.
Few of us have actually experienced the rush of motorsports and know what it really feels like to race at mindbogglingly high speeds under trying conditions. Burcu Çetinkaya, however, can tell you all about it. The Turkish racecar rally driver has made her mark in the male-dominated sport, and is currently touring Pakistan with the aim of inspiring motorsports enthusiasts in the country.
On rallying
The star sportswoman became interested in racing while attending a rally at the age of 12 and eventually took up the sport when More >
Christians protest all over Pakistan
Mar 29th
Pakistani Christian protestors demonstrate against the killing of slain minorities minister Shahbaz Bhatti ,in Lahore on March 2, 2011. Gunmen shot dead a Catholic Pakistani government minister in broad daylight on March 2, claiming a second high-profile victim among beleaguered opponents of an Islamic blasphemy law. PHOTO: AFP
DASKA: The hundreds of the Christians on Thursday took out agitational rallies in Sialkot, Daska, Sambrial, Pasrur, Chawinda, Badiana, Satrah and surrounding areas to protest the brutal assassination of Federal Minister for Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti in Islamabad.
The protesting Christians were holding agitational banners and placards and they also chanted anti- terrorism slogans.
In Sialkot, More >
Zardari in Karachi: ‘This is an ideological war’
Mar 29th
President promises to elect one of murdered minister’s family members on his post
KARACHI: Condemning murder of federal Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti, President Asif Ali Zardari said on Wednesday that the killing was a manifestation of the continuity of the same ‘mindset’ which had assassinated Pakistan Peoples Party founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto.
Addressing legislators of the Sindh Assembly at Bilawal House, he said that terrorists wanted to ‘defame’ Pakistan by committing such crimes and wrongly portray Pakistan as an ‘intolerant’ country. “But we will continue Shahbaz Bhatti’s mission by electing one of his family members on his seat,” he More >
Baffled and bruised: Who is to blame?
Mar 28th
A woman mourns Bhatti’s death. PHOTOS: AFP/AFP/MUHAMMAD JAVAID/QAZI USMAN
ISLAMABAD:The second high profile murder in the federal capital in barely two months left the country baffled and even more bruised. With the assassination of Federal Minister for Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti, civil society and leaders seemed clueless over the state of security and were left with only one avenue—to condemn the act.
As different questions boggled the mind of the common man, political parties and civil society representatives condemned the assassination, blaming the “security apparatus and religious fanatics for the act”.
Worker’s Party Pakistan (WPP) in a statement issued here on Wednesday warned More >
