Terroristan - July 27, 2018

[anupmisra]

Rapistan update:

Seven-year-old girl sexually assaulted
https://www.dawn.com/news/1424287/seven ... -assaulted

4 relatives arrested in case of minor girl's rape, murder in Karachi
https://www.dawn.com/news/1424479/4-rel ... in-karachi

[anupmisra]

Dimmy's Naya Pakhanistan thread, anyone?

[Falijee]

Winning Candidates Of Paki Election Ignore E.C.P Query

How much did you spend: ECP asks winning election candidates
August 1, 2018

The Election Commission has told winning candidates in the general election to submit details of their election expenses by Aug 4.
In a statement on Wednesday, the commission said the returns should be filed to the returning officers who will issue notifications of the candidates’ victory.If a candidate does not give the ECP these details, no notification of their victory will be issued, the ECP said.No candidate has so far submitted details of their election expenses, according to the commission.

In all "normal "countries this is a requirement before you are officially confirmed as a winner. The expenses need to be audited and certified by an accounting firm to ensure transparency ( funds spend are within limits, supporting docs available for expenses claimed etc etc ). And if you do not comply within the time limit , you are penalized . Doubt that this standard procedure will be complied with . Specially , when charges of "election being rigged" are floating around !!!

[rsingh]

Ex PM in jail and they want Indian PM to attend the hera-pheri? It is not done. NaMo will never accept this.

[Peregrine]

S&P BSE SENSEX

Index Current : 37,165.16 - Pt. Change : -356.46 - % Change : -0.95

Market Capitalization of BSE Listed Co. (Rs.Cr.) 1,52,81,839 - 1$ /: 68.3566

Market Capitalization : US$ 2,235.606 Billion

PSX

CURRENT INDEX : 42330.32 - CHANGE : -479.72 - % CHANGE : -1.12%

Market Capitalization : Rs. 8,699,038,490,026 – 1 $ / Rs. 124

Market Capitalization : US$ 70.154

Note : BSE : PSX :: 31.867 : 1

Cheers

[Peregrine]

Fresh circular debt piles up to Rs566bn

ISLAMABAD: The fresh flow of circular debt has built up to Rs566 billion in addition to old stocks of about Rs500bn parked in a special purpose vehicle, accumulating the total liability to about Rs1.066 trillion.

Cheers

[Falijee]

cyril almeida
‏ @cyalm
34m34 minutes ago

cyril almeida Retweeted Mateen Haider

Problems for him maybe, but what is the legal problem it would create for the state?

cyril almeida added,
Deep State Shuts Off Ganja From His "Friend" Mamnoon

Mamnoon might "talk" election and Immy . Deep State may not like it !

[anupmisra]

The drama is now transitioning from ludicrous to bizarre.

'Opposition' parties resolve to bring their own prime minister, NA Speaker

The leaders of various political parties attending the multi-party conference (MPC) have announced that they will approach the parliament for the formation of a government with their own chosen representatives.

According to the draft, prepared by Senate opposition leader Sherry Rehman and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Mushahid Hussain, the parties have decided that the prime minister shall be appointed from the PML-N, the speaker of the National Assembly from the PPP and the deputy speaker from the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA).

she announced that they would "fight the puppet government"

ANP leader Mian Iftikhar Hussain strongly asserted that they are "stepping into the battlefield with the aim of winning"

It seems in pakhanistan no one goes away quietly. If this drama were to continue, no wonder none of the global leaders were willing to attend. Attend what?

https://www.dawn.com/news/1424493/oppos ... na-speaker

[Falijee]

Paki Agent Robin Raphael Still Willing To Do Pakistan's "Dirty Work"

Inside the Secret Taliban Talks to End America’s Longest War
Daily Beast
Aug 2, 2018

If the United States’ longest foreign war actually draws to a negotiated close, a significant amount of credit will go to a former U.S. Army colonel and a former senior U.S. diplomat. (AKA A Paki Agent !)

In November, Chris Kolenda and Robin Raphel boarded a plane to Doha, Qatar, for a conversation with Taliban representatives. It was the beginning of a quiet channel, never authorized by U.S. officials—who neither paid them nor asked them to carry any messages—that proved to be instrumental in convincing the Trump administration, and particularly senior Pentagon and U.S. military officials, that there was a real chance to broker an end to the war.

Sponsored by Saudi Arabia and Pakistan

Kolenda, an Afghanistan veteran himself, had been here before. He had been part of an ultimately fruitless attempt during the Obama administration to talk with the Taliban. But this time, talking with the Taliban in Doha, “I was struck by what I detected was a much higher level of seriousness about bringing the conflict to a close than I saw in 2011,” Kolenda told The Daily Beast. This "movie" has been played before as well . The details are in Steve Coll's latest book !

That seriousness was manifested through Taliban leaders showing pliability about the future of the U.S. troop presence. Despite their strident public position that U.S. troops must withdraw, the Taliban communicated to Raphel and Kolenda that there were circumstances under which they can envision living with a continued American military presence. And they again vowed that an Afghanistan open to Taliban political participation would not host a foreign terrorist presence, satisfying the central U.S. objective of the 17-year war. Pakistan and the Taliban cannot be trusted. Nothing short of a pro Pakistan and an anti - India Govt is acceptable to the sponsors of the Taliban !

From Kolenda’s perspective, all that meant the Taliban were willing to live with the core interests—no terrorism, stability under an inclusive and legitimate government, human-rights protections, curbing the narcotics trade—that the U.S. had been futilely fighting to secure.

But skepticism in Washington about the Taliban ran high, as did habituation to such a long war. Kolenda and Raphel encountered it when briefing administration officials after their trip. During a follow-up visit in Doha in January, which Cotta-Ramusino couldn’t attend, the Americans urged the Taliban to make a public statement that signaled their willingness for diplomacy on terms the U.S. could accept.

Within the Trump administration, there was also strong skepticism that the Taliban could deliver on the promises they heard via Kolenda and Raphel. For years, U.S. officials have held that the Taliban are a decentralized umbrella group of factions, rather than a united force. The impact of that conventional wisdom is to render diplomacy pointless, since it was unknown if Taliban interlocutors actually spoke for anyone else. A procession of military officers, for the better part of a decade, have preached fracturing the Taliban through “reconciliation” efforts, despite their dismal track record.

Everyone involved in the process emphasizes that it has barely begun. Every hard question about the future course of Afghanistan, and the U.S. presence within it, remains untested by the likely arduous diplomacy ahead. That diplomacy must contend with the scars of two generations of war in Afghanistan.

But it’s diplomacy among combatants. It’s not fighting indefinitely with little more than gestures at maybe finding a way out of conflict through training Afghans and gradually withdrawing, as if the Taliban are irrelevant to the future.“It’s our responsibility and our duty to pursue a diplomatic solution to this conflict and the way things have evolved in the last year or so, it’s clear there is an opportunity. It’s our responsibility to seize it,” Raphel said. “We can’t stand by and let it pass, considering the number of Afghans, Americans, and others who have died in this war.”

And for Kolenda, the process ahead represents the closest thing the U.S. can call victory: an accord on the future of Afghanistan to secure war aims left over from the 9/11 attacks. “You’ve got to put personal animosities aside and look at what’s in the national interest,” Kolenda said. “It’s not easy to do. It’s not easy to put aside those personal feelings. But you’ve got to do it, in order, essentially, to win a war through a negotiated outcome. It’s an obligation.”

With Raphael involved in the talks, not sure if she represents US interests or Paki interests !

[Peregrine]

X Posted on the PESW Thread

Chinese and American Loan augments Terroristan's Reserves!

Foreign exchange: In a major relief, SBP's reserves surge 15% to $10.35b

KARACHI: In an interesting turn of events, the foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank have increased by a massive 14.86% on a weekly basis, according to data released on Thursday.

The development came after China announced that it would immediately give a $2-billion loan to Pakistan, a move meant to arrest the slide in official foreign currency reserves and provide much-needed breathing space to the new government.

According to officials in the Ministry of Finance, the loan will be categorised as official bilateral inflow. Over $1 billion has already been transferred to the State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) accounts.

On July 27, the foreign currency reserves held by the SBP were recorded at $10,349.7 million, up $1.34 billion compared with $9,010.7 million in the previous week.

The central bank attributed the increase to official inflows.

Overall, liquid foreign reserves held by the country, including net reserves held by banks other than the SBP, stood at $17,079.7 million. Net reserves held by banks amounted to $6,730 million.

Earlier, the reserves had dipped to alarmingly low levels, forcing the SBP to let the rupee depreciate massively on four separate occasions since December 2017, sparking concerns about the country’s ability to finance a hefty import bill and meet debt obligations in coming months.

In April, the SBP’s reserves had increased $593 million due to official inflows. Pakistan also raised $2.5 billion in November 2017 by floating dollar-denominated bonds in the international market in a bid to shore up official reserves.

A few months ago, the foreign currency reserves surged due to official inflows including $622 million from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and $106 million from the World Bank. The SBP also received $350 million under the Coalition Support Fund (CSF).

In January, the SBP made a $500-million loan repayment to the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), China.

Cheers

[Falijee]

Election Night Fiasco Needs To Be Explained By The Paki Authorities - DAWN Editorial

ECP must explain
Editorial
August 02, 2018

THE ECP appears more interested in lashing out at critics of its disastrous performance after the close of polling hours on July 25 than investigating the shambolic vote counting and results transmission processes that so delayed the announcement of preliminary election results.

When counting of votes is also engineered to achieve the desired result , delays and confusion is inevitable

On Tuesday, ECP secretary Babar Yaqoob held an extraordinary news conference in which the ECP appeared to all but declare war on political parties and candidates who have cried foul since election night.

As an autonomous, constitutional body tasked with organising and conducting elections in the country, the ECP ought to be careful in the language it uses about political parties and election candidates.

The so-called autonomy is on paper onlee. In reality, the ECP works on the "direction of Deep State" !

Arguably, it is the ECP itself that is disrespecting the democratic process, as Mr Yaqoob alleged political parties calling for en masse resignation of senior ECP officials are doing.

Three problems in particular demand a full and transparent explanation.

One, the alleged unlawful exclusion of some polling agents from polling stations in various parts of the country. Two, either the failure of the Presiding Officer in numerous polling stations to issue Form 45 in a timely manner or the failure of the ECP to distribute Form 45, which lists the votes won by each candidate at the polling-station level, in adequate numbers to the POs. And three, the alleged collapse of the electronic Results Transmission System after the close of polling hours.

The alleged failure of the RTS on the night of the election because of overload on a system that had been deployed for the first time, according to the ECP, is still shrouded in mystery.

Again, when "fixing" is required, the RTS System itself needs to be "fixed" to achieve the desired result

The RTS is a system designed to send, via a smartphone app, results from a polling station to the Returning Officer in the constituency and to the ECP headquarters simultaneously. The very purpose of the RTS is to act as a check on the RO, who has in the past been accused of manipulating constituency-level results.

The alleged collapse of the RTS once again effectively gave control of the election results at the constituency level to the ROs. The failure of the RTS on election night has been denied by Nadra and other officials. The ECP ought to clarify what happened.

As has happened in the past, when Imran Khan is "out of power" and is supposedly disgraced ( like Nawaz), the true picture might come out

PS. Pakistan needs a good "Khomeni type revolution" to cleanse the accumulated dirt of 70+ years

EXAMPLE OF ELECTION FIASCO !

Stamped ballot papers found from Gizri school in Karachi
The Express Tribune
Aug 3, 2018

KARACHI: A student of the Government Secondary School Gizri found more than a hundred stamped ballot papers from his desk on the first day of school after the summer vacations.

Earlier in the last week, dozens of stamped papers were recovered from a garbage heap in Qayyumabad.

After they heard the news, various PPP leaders, including its Karachi president Saeed Ghani, Memon, Waqasi, PS-111 candidate Barrister Murtaza Wahab and Waqar Mehdi reached the school to ascertain the facts.“Not a single ballot paper [found from the school] is stamped in favour of the PTI, which has rigged and won the election,” said Memon, while speaking to The Express Tribune.

The PPP leader claimed that dozens of ballot papers had also been found from a garbage dump in Dehli Colony.He asserted that discoveries of ballot papers indicated how election results were manipulated in favour of the PTI.

PPP leader Saeed Ghani with the ballot papers. PHOTO: EXPRESS

[Falijee]

ECP Shenanigans Detailed In The Below Piece

RTS controversy likely to haunt ECP, Nadra for a long time
DAWN
Aug 2, 2018

It appears that there is some sort of a "civil war" between NADRA and the so-called autonomous ECP , each blaming the other . But as usual, nothing is going to come out in the end !

[Falijee]

This May Very Well Explain, Why No Foreign Dignitaries Have Been Invited To " Imran's Coronation"

'Opposition' parties resolve to bring their own prime minister, NA speaker
August 02, 2018

The leaders of various political parties attending the multi-party conference (MPC) have announced that they will approach the parliament for the formation of a government with their own chosen representatives.The meeting was held in Islamabad on Thursday in the wake of the alleged rigging during the July 25 elections.Upon the conclusion of the meeting, it was announced that a draft had been prepared by a 16-member committee, outlining the decisions that had been taken by the parties in consensus.

According to the draft, prepared by Senate opposition leader Sherry Rehman ( Sherbanoo has "all of a sudden" become very politically active . Not sure, if she still has a "reputation" of being active in the other dept as well ) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Mushahid Hussain, the parties have decided that the prime minister shall be appointed from the PML-N, the speaker of the National Assembly from the PPP and the deputy speaker from the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA).

Rehman, while addressing the media, said that the parties have already rejected the election results, adding that "the mandate taken by the opposition was rigging-laden".Speaking on behalf of all the parties, she announced that they would "fight the puppet government" and lodge a protest within and outside the parliament.

Will she be again been seen marching with Ex Pm Gilani side by side

The PPP leader added that the parties would jointly release a white paper within a few days and that a working committee had already been formed for this.

"Nadra has admitted that the RTS system was not faulty but was rather jeopardised. The level at which the elections were rigged, with one organisation having been given the right to run the process, is unacceptable," she declared.

Moreover, Hussain said that the committee would decide the future course of action and that a meeting in this regard would be held on Friday at Rehman's office.

ANP leader Mian Iftikhar Hussain strongly asserted that they are "stepping into the battlefield with the aim of winning" and expressed confidence that they would succeed in forming a government.

"In a first for the country, all the parties have come together to reject the unjust elections," said PML-N stalwart, Ahsan Iqbal.

So, there is a forecast for rain on August 11, 2018, which may spoil Imran's Big Day . So, it is good , that due to the "rain forecast", the foreign dignitaries were " not invited" . They did not want to "wet themselves" due to inclement weather in Isloo

[Falijee]

Unwanted Advice From An IMF Insider : The (IMF) Will Want Transparency Before It Lends A Single Dollar To The Pakis

IMF and CPEC debts
POSTED IN FULL
Khurram Husain
Aug 2, 2018

AND so it begins. The outlines of the shape of things to come are now appearing before us, starting with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s latest remarks given in an interview that IMF “tax dollars” should not be used to bail out Pakistan’s Chinese lenders.

On the very same day that this interview was given, a blog post appeared on the website of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, ( Madame Jalebi's outfit !) written by Mark Sobel who worked at the IMF as a “representative” of the United States government.

Sobel’s post adds some more meat to the words uttered by Pompeo during the interview. He flags CPEC as a new ingredient in Pakistan’s economic mix, then adds a few words of caution. “While CPEC holds forth the prospect of boosting the Pakistani economy, especially if investments are sound, the terms and conditions of much of the lending are opaque, and interest rates on some loans may be higher than Pakistan can afford.”

The National Assembly of Pakistan (i) did not see the detailed agreement containing the secret clauses (ii) The Agreement was ramroded in the Paki legislature !

With this in mind, he offers some ideas on what the Fund can do when approached by the new Pakistani government. After listing some of the standard policies required for stabilising the macroeconomic situation, he says “[t]he Fund must also ensure that its resources are not used to bail out unsustainable Chinese CPEC lending. The Fund needs to have at its fingertips comprehensive data on all CPEC lending — its terms, maturities and parties involved. Chinese lending should be on realistic terms and consistent with Pakistan’s sustainability. Otherwise, China should reschedule or write down its loans, sharply reducing the value of its claims.”

The details should be dug out by IMF "auditors". The Pakis cannot be trusted to provide anything except Sialkoti Statistics and Lahori logic

In short, before a bailout for Pakistan, the Fund should first pore over the details of all Chinese loans and liabilities incurred by the government of Pakistan, draw up a detailed debt sustainability analysis and, where necessary, ask the Pakistani authorities to first seek a rescheduling of these terms from the Chinese before any bailout can be arranged.

The IMF is NOT in the business of bailing out Chinese debt !

Former finance minister Miftah Ismail is quoted by Reuters saying that these loans are not as big as imagined by the Western countries, and that their “weighted average interest rate” is two per cent. “These are not loans that will break our back,” he is quoted as saying. “He told Reuters that ministry of finance calculations showed that for the next five years, Pakistan’s total annual debt repayments and profit expatriation by Chinese companies would be below $1 billion.”

Words are cheap. His words should not be relied on. As Pres Reagan once said, trust but verify !

Fair enough, but a few questions arise. How come the Planning Commission put out a figure closer to $3bn a year or so ago? And when the IMF and government authorities discussed the impact of CPEC outflows on the country’s foreign exchange reserves, one of the answers given by Dar’s team was that we can always borrow more from the Chinese, using CPEC as a base (the exchange is briefly described in one of the review documents from the facility signed in 2013). And, while we’re at it, let’s also ask why Pakistan’s external debt service requirements leap to $45bn next year as projected in the Fund’s last post-programme monitoring report (that data is provided to them by the government, so it cannot really be said that the Fund is exaggerating).

So the Fund will indeed have a leg to stand on should Pakistan approach them for a bailout (I’m still hedging in case a third option materialises out of thin air at the last minute). And there is a precedent for what Sobel is saying. In 1998, the Fund had asked Pakistan to first reschedule its Eurobonds before expecting any disbursements, under the logic that private lenders to the government should be asked to shoulder some of the burden of bailing it out of its external sector difficulties. Dar was the finance minister then too, and he struggled with fulfilling this requirement, and complained loudly that the Fund was attaching political conditions.

The Pakis took the US for a ride at least for 50+ years. Now, it appears that the Chinese have been taken for a ride as well . So, the IMF wants to make sure, that the Pakis do not take the IMF for a ride with their big "verbal salvos" and bankrupt the Fund itself. The Pakistaniyat factor

In the end, those bonds were indeed rescheduled, which incidentally was the first ever Eurobond rescheduling undertaken by any government, but only after the coup. Then Fund resources were unlocked, and a stingy standby arrangement was agreed to with very tough conditions on the fiscal and monetary side.

The other suggestions Sobel makes include tough upfront conditions on revenues and interest rates, as well as greater flexibility on the exchange rate. Then he adds a little trouble to the mix: “The IMF should explore seeking the support of the Pakistani opposition.”

This has never happened in the 70+ history of Pakistan . First of all, the real govt is always the Deep State. And it has its own agenda to grind, leave aside the "welfare" of the populace !

What is this? Could the Fund really ask the new government to first obtain the approval of the opposition parties in parliament before any disbursements can begin? Would this approval be easy to obtain for the PTI government?

Is the PTI govt, the legit govt ?

Again, there is a precedent. In 1994 when the Moeen Qureshi interim government was negotiating a facility, the Fund required them to first submit written affidavits from the leadership of both major political parties (Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto) saying they agree to abide by the terms of whatever agreement is negotiated by the interim government. The idea was to broaden the political ownership of the programme, and demanding buy-in from the main political parties was one way to do this.

Of course, this time it won’t be an interim government making the approach, but the Fund could still say that lack of political ownership has stymied implementation of past programmes and broader ownership needs to be demonstrated before any disbursements can begin. That would put the PTI government in the position of having to work with the opposition at the very outset of its term. Will Imran's ego allow him to seek cooperation from the opposition. It will be the Deep State who will advice Imran on this . !

It is still possible that the new government could find a third way forward and none of this will come to pass. A bailout from another source could still come, though at best it will delay the decision by a few months. Bailing out chronic sufferers of external sector deficits is tiresome work, even for the closest of friends. But the first contact that the new government has with global bodies will be a crucial test.

It seems that Imran Khan's Naya Pakistan is of to a bad start

[Falijee]

Neither Here Nor There " : The Paki Populace Has Firmly Rejected "Veteran" Politico Ch. Nisar

Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan takes an important political decision
Aug 2, 2018

RAWALPINDI – Chaudhry Nisar has on Thursday has taken an important political decision.He has decided to contest by-poll from the constituency which would be vacated by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Sarwar Khan.

( Jeep symbol again )

Earlier, Nisar suffered humiliating defeats in NA-59 and NA-63 in General Elections 2018.On the other hand, Nisar visited different areas of his constituency and thanked people for their support.

Looks like he is out of favor with Deep State, even after so many years of "selfless service" to their cause

[Peregrine]

Imran Khan’s opportunity with America - Michael Kugelman

At first blush, it’s easy to dismiss any notion of a struggling US-Pakistan relationship improving under a government led by Imran Khan.

This is, after all, a figure who has resorted to relentless anti-American messaging. He has threatened to shoot down American drones, and he has lambasted Pakistan for using “American money” to fight “America’s war” against terrorism.

He has opposed the idea of targeting terrorists with force, and he has expressed sympathy for the Taliban insurgency that America is fighting in Afghanistan.

A populist politician in Pakistan, once in power, can’t be expected to eliminate this rhetoric, which plays well on the Pakistani street but not in the corridors of power in Washington.

And yet, amid these obstacles, there lies an opportunity for US-Pakistan relations. And Khan is well qualified — perhaps even uniquely qualified — to capitalise on it.

Related: The man who sold Pakistan

For the US, relations with Pakistan are always seen through the lens of Afghanistan. One reason the US government hasn’t walked away from Islamabad despite all the tensions and frustrations of recent years is that it desperately wants Pakistan to help it pursue its goals in Afghanistan.

From Washington’s perspective, Pakistan hasn’t been terribly helpful, mainly because it has not addressed America's concerns about Afghan insurgents allegedly based in Pakistan. And for years, American troops have tried but failed to tame the militants that Washington accuses Pakistan of harbouring.

But now, a dramatic shift in US policy is underway. After nearly 17 years, US officials are finally realising that the war cannot be won militarily, and that seeking a negotiated outcome is the only viable Plan B.

America’s new Plan B for Afghanistan has always been Pakistan’s Plan A — or at least Islamabad has stated as much publicly. Until now, the two countries’ plans had never been in alignment.

Washington has now agreed to pursue direct, bilateral talks with the Taliban. A round of exploratory negotiations reportedly took place in recent days, when a US government delegation led by America’s top South Asia diplomat, Alice Wells, met with Taliban representatives in Qatar.

America’s top ask of Pakistan is now something on which Islamabad — and Khan in particular — can not only deliver, but will presumably be keen to deliver on. And that ask is to convince the Taliban that now is the time to formally commit to peace talks to end the war.

Khan would not support any action that could be construed as doing America’s bidding. And yet cooperation with Washington on Taliban reconciliation talks should be an easy sell for him, and for two reasons.

Read next: Is Imran Khan really Pakistan’s Donald Trump?

First, such a move serves Pakistan’s interests. It would represent a step toward ending a war that has destabilising spillover effects in Pakistan (from cross-border terror to refugee flows and drug trafficking).

And it could get Pakistan closer to one of its desired endgames in Afghanistan: a post-war arrangement under which the Taliban enjoy a degree of political influence.

Second, helping push for Taliban reconciliation talks would be in line with Khan’s own personal preferences. One of his consistent positions in recent years is that militants — in both Pakistan and Afghanistan — should be targeted with negotiations, not force.

Additionally, Khan has infamously telegraphed his sympathies for the Afghan Taliban by praising their fight as a “holy war” justified by Islamic law.

All of this should give Khan good standing among the Taliban, increasing the possibility that the insurgents would listen to his government.

In effect, Khan’s perceived soft side for militants, rightly considered by many to be a liability, can also be an advantage. The qualities that inspire the moniker “Taliban Khan” could actually help serve US and Pakistani interests in Afghanistan — and, in the process, help boost US-Pakistan ties.

None of this is to say that a Khan-led government cooperating with Washington on Taliban reconciliation issues would magically make the bilateral relationship warm and fuzzy.

Washington’s “do-more” drumbeat, its fixation on the Haqqani network, its unhappiness about the alleged presence in Pakistan of India-focused terror groups — and above all its allegations against Pakistan of sponsoring various US-designated terrorists — these will all remain major irritants in the US-Pakistan relationship.

But for now at least, the Trump administration has set aside those tension points. The Taliban peace talks issue —something on which both the US and Pakistan now see eye to eye — has been placed on the policy front burner.

And herein lies the opportunity for Khan: he can capitalise on one of the few shared goals in the US-Pakistan relationship and help reinvigorate a sputtering partnership.

On the same topic: A window of opportunity?

To be sure, this could all come crashing down. The Taliban could well shrug off Pakistan’s requests. Yes, there’s reason to believe Pakistan’s outreach to the insurgents has already worked to an extent; the Taliban’s recent decision to declare and honour a brief ceasefire can be attributed in part to Islamabad’s efforts.

Still, at the end of the day, the insurgents have little incentive to seriously commit to peace talks to end a war that they firmly believe they’re winning. That incentive structure remains in place no matter who may try to convince them to step off the battlefield.

But, at this moment at least, Pakistan’s incoming prime minister has a golden opportunity to cooperate with America to help bring a bloody and interminable war in Afghanistan to a merciful end.

Time will tell whether he chooses to seize it, and, if he does, if such a decision will pay off — and bring some badly needed relief to a region where peace and stability have long been elusive.

Cheers

[anupmisra]

Note : BSE : PSX :: 31.867 : 1

Kufr, that's 1:3.1867. Have you forgotten the malsic : yindoo mark up?

[anupmisra]

PB-26 Quetta-III winner is 'non-Pakistani', Quetta DC tells court

Kohzad's Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC) was blocked by National Database Regulatory Authority (Nadra) ahead of elections on suspicion of him being an Afghan refugee

Kohzad was an "intruder in a Pakistani family"

Kohzad had been unable to prove his Pakistani nationality

Ask him to blow something up. That will be proof enough.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1424486/pb-26 ... ells-court

[anupmisra]

Pakistan Stock Exchange falls in red with benchmark KSE-100 index losing 480 points

The euphoria is over? Naya Pakhainstan, Gaya Toiletistan.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1424491/pakis ... 480-points

[Falijee]

Imran Will Be "Monitored' Under The So-Called " Khan Meter "

Pakistani techie launches ‘Khan Meter’ to monitor PTI’s 100-day plan
August 2, 2018

LAHORE – Inspired by the practices in Egypt and the US, (I.O.W. it has been "wholesale" plagiarized, like the PhD thesis submitted by UN Amb Maleeha Lodhi !) a Pakistani activist has launched ‘Khan Meter’ to track the promises made by in waiting prime minister Imran Khan during his election campaign to put the country on right path leading to development.

The “Khan Meter,” a creation of a Pakistani social entrepreneur named Salman Saeed, aimed at documenting and monitoring the Khan’s first 100-day plan, an agenda unveiled by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on May 20 with a pledge to implement it within the first 100 days of the government if the party is voted to power. The major purpose is to keep the leaders of the country on their toes.

The Khan has "promised" 10 Million jobs and 5 Million homes in 100 days

The project is very much similar to Obameter, launched by a fact-checking website PolitiFact.com, to hold then US president Barack Obama to his massive 500 campaign promises. The idea was, later, adopted by Egypt-based activists to monitor the performance of former president Mohammad Morsi.

The website has enlisted the promises made by Imran Khan, whose party has won a majority of seats in the National Assembly, by dividing them into seven categories – governance, federation, economy, agriculture, water, ( Pakistan is being Saudi-ized and India is "stealing" Paki waters ) society and security.

Every category has different indicators to evaluate the campaign pledge of the PTI chief, who is set to take oath as prime minister in August with a tough task, during the first 100 days.

Unveiling the plan on May 20, Imran Khan said: “These 100 days reflect the path for which the country was made”. Now, his party is set to make government in Center and the performance will decide his political future.

The joint opposition is fielding a parallel candidate for PM post. So, it is not a "sure thing" yet for the Kaptaan

Kaptaan Offers "Snake Oil" To The Bhooka Nanga Pakis

10 million jobs, 5 million homes: PTI unveils first 100-day plan as Pakistan prepares for polls

[Falijee]

Sarkari Paper Confirms NADRA - ECP Civil War . Re. Election Fiasco

NADRA’s lie to make election controversial proven fake news as multiple eyewitnesses confirm RTS app actually crashed

-"Daily Pakistan" ( Sarkari and Deep State "rag") sides with ECP . Says that RTS crash is actual not fake news
-"Respected" DAWN writes that ECP lies about RTS and the system did not crash per NADRA . Therefore results were "manufactured" to achieve desired results

Although both are Paki Newspaper , in this particular case, DAWN is more believable , due to the details it provides to support the "rigged election" case

[mappunni]

Pakis Can Still "Migrate" To Places Like DJibouti, Rwanda And Zimbabwe

List of countries offering e-visa to Pakistanis


PS: No European, North or South American nation is on that "coveted list". A possible reason might be that these countries have been victims of Pakistaniyat

Was in Spain, France, Italy and Greece on vacation. My observations :
Madrid : Many stores selling trinkets run by Beggardeshis - Legal I assume since they are actual stores. Lots of illegal beggardeshi and Porkistanis selling aqua (water), umbrella, etc at all the touristy locations. The minute they see the cops arriving in patrol cars, they just melt with the tourist crowd.

Barcelona : OMG. Many many Porkistani cab drivers with big beards, totally detested by the locals. Once again a ton of Porkistanis selling trinkets all over the place, The Guell - Selling water, jewellery trinkets, once again do the same melting trick. Beggardeshis run small corner stores. Found a restaurant called Taj Mahal near the Barcelona marina and looking closer at the sign it was an Indian-Pakistani food.. In the US Porkistanis put Indo-Pak when the restaurant is owned either by Porkistanis or Beggardeshis.

Marseille : Lots of French cops all over the place could not find any of the illegal Porkistanis walking around. Found a so-called Indian restaurant called Jaipur near the Marina, once again selling sialkoti biryani and Lahori kebab -- a big giveaway.

Rome : Lots of Beggardeshis running stores and so called Indian restaurants.

Athens : Really feel sorry for the Greeks. Athens is infested by thousands of Illegal Porkistanis, we found them begging in metro stations, sitting in squares. I actually manage to video the scumbags abusing the locals in chaste Punjabi mixed Urdu at Monastiraki Square in Athens. The scumbags where exhibiting Porkistaniat by ogling and teasing locals as well as the tourists.

[anupmisra]

Pakistan election sees rise of anti-blasphemy party

A relatively new anti-blasphemy party whose leader has reportedly vowed to nuke the Netherlands should he ever come to power did surprisingly well in Pakistan's elections last week, which were tainted by the rise of extremist groups.

Islamic fundamentalist parties fielded more than 1,500 candidates

TLP polled over 2.23 million votes in the national assembly elections, its first general election, and more than 2.38 million provincial votes, election commission website data shows.

TLP's strong showing is of particular concern to Pakistan's Ahmadi community, which has long been targeted by extremists.

Allah-o-Akbar Tehreek was backed by Hafiz Saeed, the man accused of masterminding the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people. Saeed has been designated a terrorist by the United Nations and has a $10-million bounty on his head...None of the party's candidates won seats but they did register more than 435,000 national and regional votes.

Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) is a radical Sunni group that frequently spouts hatred against Pakistan's Shiite minority community, considering them heretics. "If we get power in the evening and if a single Shia is alive by the morning in Pakistan then change my name," leader Muhammad Ahmed Ludhianvi told an election rally. Its candidates ran as independents and were known to have won at least one seat, in the Punjab assembly.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/ar ... party.html

[Falijee]

Asst Commissioner Shot Dead In Imran's Naya Pakistan

Additional assistant commissioner shot dead in Tank
02 Aug, 2018

TANK (92 News) – Unidentified gunmen gunned down Additional Assistant Commissioner Karamatullah Kundi in district of Tank.As per details garnered, the additional assistant commissioner was killed by unidentified gunmen when his vehicle was ambushed near main market Daman Plaza.
He was on his way to office from home when his vehicle was ambushed by unidentified attackers. The accused sprayed bullets on the vehicle of Karamatullah and fled from the scene. The police reached to the spot and started to conduct search operation.

-Tank is near Dera Ismail Khan
-D.I. Khan is the home turf of Diesel ( Maulana Fazl)
- There is no love lost between the Maulana and Imran Khan
- The Pashtuns of KP Province are up in arms against the Fed Govt of Pakistan. The AAC represents the Federal Govt

[Falijee]

Made In China Items For Paki Independence Day !

Be Pakistani, buy Chinese
The Express Tribune
Aug 2, 2018

LAHORE: Most of the merchandise people are purchasing to celebrate Independence Day is not manufactured in Pakistan, but neighbouring China.

Traders of the biggest paper and products market of Punjab, Urdu Bazaar, have also set up exclusive stalls selling Independence Day related merchandise. Muhammad Aslam, a trader in Urdu Bazaar, told The Express Tribune that besides traditional local items, traders have imported huge quantities of decoration products from China. These products are specially designed and manufactured for Pakistan’s Independence Day and are being supplied to the entire country from Lahore Urdu Bazaar.

“Earlier, local craftsmen prepared flags, buntings, badges, caps and other decorative items for Independence Day, but now all vendors are selling Chinese merchandise due to a price war. Except flags and buntings, most products that have been put on sales are of Chinese origin,” he added.

Local businessmen have been complaining about Chinese dumping shoddy items, not that Paki made items are superior quality

Rehman Habib, a shopkeeper buying different decorative items to sell at a makeshift kiosk in the Kasur area, complained about the increase in price of various Independence Day related products. He pointed out that shopkeepers and traders were blaming currency depreciation and the increase in petroleum products prices for the hike. “I understand that rupee has depreciated substantially against the greenback, but the rate of price increase in wholesale market is far beyond the dollar-rupee exchange rate, which is really unjustified,” he concluded.

Remains to be seen what the Kaptaan can do anything about this

[Peregrine]

IHC orders expunging of remarks against ISI

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday ordered to expunge IHC’s Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui’s remarks, inter alia, regarding manipulation of the judicial proceedings by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) from his order passed on July 18.

IHC’s division bench comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb allowed the country’s premier intelligence agency petition, requesting the court to expunge several paragraphs from the order of Justice Siddiqui wherein he asked the army chief and the top spymaster to stop meddling in the affairs of other departments, besides expressing concerns over manipulation of judicial proceedings.

The order came after Islamabad’s Advocate General Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri informed the bench that IHC Chief Justice Muhammad Anwar Khan Kasi has denied the allegations levelled against him by the other judge.

He said the IHC’s top judge has rejected the allegations of interference of the ISI in the judicial proceedings, especially, in the constitution of benches.

The AG informed the bench that Chief Justice Kasi through the IHC registrar has conveyed him that no one has ever approached the IHC regarding the constitution of the benches, adding he never allowed any interference of any person or institution in the judicial proceedings.

No prestigious institutions, IHC judge tells ISI

In addition, Jahangiri said, Justice Kasi has never taken instruction from any quarter while working as sessions judge or after his elevation to IHC.

Subsequently, the bench accepted the Intra-Court Appeal (ICA), expunged the remarks from the order sheet and disposed of the case.

Earlier, the ISI through the Ministry of Defence secretary and federation through the Ministry of Interior had approached the IHC against Justice Siddiqui’s order passed on July 18.

Assistant Attorney General Khawaja Muhammad Imtiaz filed the appeal and stated that the single-member bench while hearing a habeas corpus petition unnecessarily dragged the premier intelligence agency in the controversy.

Among other things, Justice Siddiqui had specifically observed how cases are marked to different judges on the directions of such elements.

“Everyone knows how proceedings are manipulated, from where strings are pulled and when power wielded and manoeuvred to achieve desired results,” he stated.

“It is a matter of great concern that even benches are constituted and cases are marked to different benches on the direction of such elements.”

The order added that “to remain like a silent spectator is against the oath made by every judge provided by the constitution,” he said, adding in case of failure the Pakistani nation and history will not remember the judges with good names.

In the intra-court appeal (ICA), Ahmed stated that Justice Siddiqui’s remarks are “not only unsubstantiated and unfounded but also [constitute a] direct attack/allegation on the appellants, the institution of Pak Army, judiciary” and specifically the IHC’s chief justice and other judges.

Earlier, petitioner Mohammad Iftikhar Raja, who had filed the petition before the IHC, said his brother Rabnawaz was abducted by the spy agencies.

However, when produced before Justice Siddiqui on July 18, Rabnawaz stated that he went to Vehari on his own. On the other hand, Raja said that his brother was under immense fear and belied before the court.

In a written order, Justice Siddiqui had said abduction of people from different walks of life had become a routine in Islamabad, but instead of performing their statutory duty the police came up with a stereotyped stance that persons might have disappeared on their own.

The judge had said such statements were always made in those cases in which allegations were levelled against the intelligence agencies, adding that it was a sorry state of affairs and a challenge to the state.
Petitioners had requested the court to set aside relevant paragraphs of the impugned order, declare that no abduction was carried out by any law enforcement agency and respondents’ petition be dismissed with cost.

Cheers

[Peregrine]

Be Pakistani, buy Chinese

LAHORE: Most of the merchandise people are purchasing to celebrate Independence Day is not manufactured in Pakistan, but neighbouring China.

Traders of the biggest paper and products market of Punjab, Urdu Bazaar, have also set up exclusive stalls selling Independence Day related merchandise. Muhammad Aslam, a trader in Urdu Bazaar, told The Express Tribune that besides traditional local items, traders have imported huge quantities of decoration products from China. These products are specially designed and manufactured for Pakistan’s Independence Day and are being supplied to the entire country from Lahore Urdu Bazaar.

Another trader, Naseem Ahmad, highlighted that the massive influx of inexpensive and attractive Chinese merchandise has left little room for local manufacturing.

“Earlier, local craftsmen prepared flags, buntings, badges, caps and other decorative items for Independence Day, but now all vendors are selling Chinese merchandise due to a price war. Except flags and buntings, most products that have been put on sales are of Chinese origin,” he added.

Preparations to celebrate 71th Independence Day of Pakistan have started with great enthusiasm in the provincial capital. Special stalls with national flags, buntings, badges, caps, t-shirts stickers and other decorative items have been set up all over the city.

The provincial government, Metropolitan Corporation Lahore (MCL), educational institutions, art councils and trade bodies have also started planning Independence Day events.

The range of events include like flag-hoisting ceremonies, seminars, debate and poetry competitions, awareness walks, national and folk songs, dramas on the struggle for independence as well as photographic and paintings competitions.

Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), on Wednesday, displayed a huge national flag covering the entire building with green and white colours.

Allah Nawaz, who was looking to buy a national flag and buntings with his young son in Urdu Bazaar, said as the month of independence has started, his children have been demanding flags and buntings. “I am visiting Urdu Bazaar to buy a flag, buntings and some other decorative stuff to celebrate Independence Day with traditional zeal.”

He said although a few stalls had been set up in his neighbourhood, he preferred to visit Urdu Bazaar to find a good bargain. “Generally, makeshift kiosks in different areas of the city have a limited variety. At Urdu Bazaar, you can find a huge range of decorative products for Independence Day,” he maintained.

Mrs Shafique, another local who was trying to find a suit for her daughter in Anarkali Bazaar, pointed out that especially designed green and white colour dresses have become popular among girls over the last couple of years.

“Shopkeepers manufacture special dresses inspired from green and white colours of the national flag for Independence Day. Most of these dresses have special prints and patterns with crescents and stars among the green and white colours.” She said although these dresses are used only once on August 14, they are worth buying to express your love for Pakistan on Independence Day.

Rehman Habib, a shopkeeper buying different decorative items to sell at a makeshift kiosk in the Kasur area, complained about the increase in price of various Independence Day related products. He pointed out that shopkeepers and traders were blaming currency depreciation and the increase in petroleum products prices for the hike. “I understand that rupee has depreciated substantially against the greenback, but the rate of price increase in wholesale market is far beyond the dollar-rupee exchange rate, which is really unjustified,” he concluded.

Cheers

[Falijee]

Inshallah Democracy
‏ @idemocracyfilm
Feb 27

Will true #democracy ever come to #Pakistan? Director Mohammed Naqvi hopes to find out in Insha'Allah Democracy. Catch it at the #HRWFFLDN March 9 & 10 join the Q&A: http://bit.ly/HRWFFInshaAllah

Film about Mush - made by a fellow Paki admirer

( In the Documentary , Mush on a visit to US, meets with US Congressman and pleads for US covert action to install him back to power. Claims he is US ally !!!)
Snippets of the Documentary are "very interesting" !

[Falijee]

Najam Sethi's Take On Imran Khan
Good luck, Imran!
Najam Sethi, Friday Times
Aug 3, 2018

The Miltablishment, Judiciary, ECP and Media – “pillars of the state” – are entitled to pat one another on the back for successfully putting Imran Khan in office. Their task became doubly difficult after Nawaz Sharif defied expectations to return to the country and court arrest, triggering sympathy votes in Punjab that threatened to derail their carefully laid plans.

The opposition parties are rightly crying foul. They have demanded the resignation of the CEC and his associates for facilitating the theft of the general elections. The ECP’s explanation about the mysterious breakdown of the RTS system – denied by NADRA which put the system in place and monitored it — and the extraordinary delays in announcing the results hasn’t washed. Nor is it easy to stomach the fact that in many constituencies the lead of the winner is less than the number of rejected votes. The sharp rebuke from the ECP confirms a decidedly partisan sentiment in its ranks.

Clearly, those who thought that unprecedented pre-poll rigging would suffice to get “suitable results” were wrong. A last-minute intervention was necessitated in the dead of night on Election Day when the numbers seemed to be going awry. But that’s not the end of the story.

The “Independents” are now being corralled and branded. Small fry like the GDA, PMLQ, MQM, BAP, TLYRA, etc are being offered “sweetners” while the PPP is being whipped into submission. Asif Zardari, Feryal Talpur,Owais Tappi, Yousaf Raza Gillani, and a clutch of other Zardari cronies and PPP leaders have been read out the Riot Act by NAB and FIA: Cooperate or Else.

Still, it’s going to be a long haul for Imran Khan and Associates. The bare victories in Islamabad and Lahore will be buffeted every day for the next five years. Indeed, the project of putting Imran Khan in office will have to be updated by a project to keep him in office. Amidst this, the core objective of “Tabdeeli” will be very difficult to achieve.

For starters, Imran Khan will need help in assembling his teams in KPK, Punjab and Islamabad so that the core objective is kept firmly in mind. The refusal to appoint Pervez Khattak as CM of KPK suggests that the Miltablishment will retain veto power over critical appointments. The buzzwords in these quarters are “Neat, Clean and Obedient”. But a contradiction between means and ends is already palpable. The PTI has been stuffed with dirty “lotas” and traditional, status quo “electables” to bring Imran into office and keep him there by a carrot-and-stick policy. But “Tabdeeli” requires motivated ideologues to sacrifice self-interest and support hard decisions. The current intraparty spat over the CMships of KPK and Balochistan, or the resistance faced by Not-so-Neat-And-Clean Aleem Khan, or the visible power struggle between Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Jehangir Tareen for the coveted CMship of Punjab, is just the tip of the iceberg. The notion of public service or duty – central to the requirement of “Tabdeeli” — is alien to these folks.

The celebratory fireworks on the day Imran Khan is sworn in as Prime Minister will be followed by a different display of fire power. The Miltablishment, which has been tarred in the public imagination by its blunt political intrusions of late, may withdraw behind the curtain and let the “elected” government take responsibility for its actions. That would give the media and judiciary scope to redress their failing credibility by taking the government to task. Indeed, neither pillar of the state can afford to be pro-government for its own sake – the media for its commercial interests and the judiciary for its independence from the executive. This is bound to put several spanners in the works.

As if this isn’t enough, the job of putting the economy on track will provoke howls of protest from the very classes that have voted for Imran Khan. Currency depreciation will fuel inflation. Reduction in budgetary deficits will curtail public expenditures, consumer demand and employment. Plugging the balance of payments gap by curtailing imports and capital transfers will restrict commercial activity (SBP has already banned imports on open account save for essential raw materials). Increasing tax rates will be unpopular. Provincial bureaucracies and politicians will fight tooth and nail over any attempt to reverse the last NFC Award that flushed them with money, no less than any attempt to devolve power and funds to local governments, which are the preferred nurseries of the Miltablishment for nurturing “neat and clean and obedient” politicians.

The Miltablishment will also expect Imran Khan to exploit his “star” status to manage foreign policy productively. But it would be naïve to expect the two key players that impinge on us, India and the US, to overnight repose trust in him so long as he remains a proxy. The problem is that if Khan tries to cut loose from his key benefactor in pursuit of his own vision, he will feel the heat just like Nawaz Sharif did.

Good luck to Imran Khan!

A realistic analysis IMO .

[Falijee]

Details of Ganja Sharif In Jail, Per Friday Times !


Ordeal

The Man of Steel and his family are suffering a real ordeal in Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail, there are no two ways about it. They are convicted prisoners so don’t have the luxuries normally given to upper class on-trial inmates. Technically, there are supposed to be no air conditioners in the cell and convicts have to wear jail clothes like all other prisoners. But since The Man’s doctors have advised against such draconian measures, given the state of his health, he has an air conditioner and is allowed to wear his own clothes. But his daughter and son-in-law have no such luxuries. They live in ordinary cells with only fans for comfort in this hot, damp season. Convicted prisoners are also not allowed food from home but an exception has been made for The Man of Steel, on his doctor’s recommendation. So, with his private cook having been brought over from Lahore, and installed at a comrade’s home, he gets his bare preferences every day. The caretaker government is kept informed of everything, even The Man’s daily menu – paalak gosht and daal mash one day, lokee gosht and white rice the next. Getting privately food cooked into the prison is quite a palaver – the food is tasted for poison, certified and then sent to the prisoner’s cell. Good thing it’s in “hot pots” so that it doesn’t get cold. The Man is constantly worried about his daughter and son-in-law and sends the food to them once he has taken his share.

Meetings between relatives are not allowed, except for a weekly hour or so, and when he first got there, The Man was very concerned about where his daughter had been lodged. At the first opportunity, he went to see her cell, and examined it closely.

The Man of Steel feels that the burden of his choices has been cast upon his daughter and son-in-law, and suffers from an acute sense of responsibility. That is why he hurried back from hospital to jail the moment he felt well enough.

[Falijee]

How The Brits View Imran Khan

The enigma inside a paradox wrapped in a conundrum
Catriona Luke
Aug 3, 2018

When Imran Khan was a guest on the BBC radio programme called Desert Island Discs in 1991, the record he chose to save from the waves was “Us and Them” from Pink Floyd’s album “The Dark Side of the Moon”. It was a classic anti-war song of the 1970s: “and the general sat, and the lines on the map they moved from side to side”

In the general elections of February 1997 there was a landslide victory that left the international media wrong-footed. PML-N under Nawaz Sharif won 136 of the National Assembly’s 217 seats. Benazir Bhutto’s PPP was left with just 17 seats, after being dismissed for “corruption” the previous November. Imran Khan’s newly-formed Tehreek-e-Insaaf failed to win a single seat, despite the fact that the BBC, anticipating that it would be a two-horse race between Imran and Benazir, had sent a film crew for a programme they entitled “Imran’s Final Test”.

t says a great deal for what Imran and Benazir had achieved as Pakistan’s two best-known representatives on the international stage. They were of a generation who were at ease in both the West and the East, who wanted a better world and, above all, who wanted a Pakistan that could flourish and be at ease with itself.

Imran had launched his party the previous April at the Holiday Inn in Lahore. The manifesto included freedom from political, economic and mental slavery; freedom from injustice, poverty, unemployment, homelessness, illiteracy. To this was added freedom from fear, freedom for women and freedom to generate wealth. “National self-esteem suffers when our leaders have to go begging for money. We have to conduct reforms on our country and stand on our own feet.”

Christopher Sandford’s 2009 biography describes Khan as a “loner”. Whatever goes on in Khan’s internal world, it emerges again and again as a kind of dark, moody fractiousness

Khan’s earliest political views appear in his cricketing biography of 1988 entitled All Round View. Aged 35, he writes: “My political views were influenced by my parents, in that I too am patriotic and anti-colonial. However, unlike my parents’ generation I am not anti-Indian. My generation did not witness the struggle to create Pakistan and the bloodshed at the time of Partition in 1947 […] The suspicion and animosity created by border disputes and two full-scale wars have been a great burden on both countries. In Pakistan defence spending accounts for 65 per cent of our budget, leaving hardly any room for much-needed expenditure on health and education, which barely amount to four per cent […] It may be naive to hope that one day India and Pakistan will have the kind of relationship envisaged by Jinnah [similar to that of the US and Canada], but it is essential for the development of both countries.”

He goes on to say that there are so many real problems in Pakistan that should be addressed: that the country has one of the highest population growth rates in the world and that if it continued there are going to be severe problems in the twenty-first century. Throughout the country healthcare and education were in a bad state. The country did not have the institutional infrastructures to limit corruption which flourished because bodies such as the police were badly paid.

Most interesting of all, given that it was written thirty years ago, are Khan’s views on national and regional government. “Politically the country seems to be drifting towards fragmentation. The minority provinces feel that they are being exploited by Punjab and the centre. The solution to this may well be decentralisation, breaking up the country into several smaller provinces, each of which runs its own health, education, welfare and law and order, rather like individual states in America”.

Next came Khan’s Indus Journey (1990) with photographs by Mike Goldwater, and the book is dedicated to “the dwindling forests and wildlife of Pakistan”. After Aitchison College, Imran was a boarder at the Royal Worcester Grammar School in England, where he took A levels and prepared for the Oxford university entrance exam. He completed the A level courses for economics and geography in nine months – very fast – and was admitted to Keble College, Oxford, to read geography. It didn’t work out and after two terms he switched to PPE – politics, philosophy and economics. At Oxford, instead of using the usual student method of transport which was a bicycle, he had an old Bantam motorbike which he would ride up and down the Banbury Road weaving in and out of imaginary bollards.

Christopher Sandford’s 2009 biography describes Khan as a “loner”. Whatever goes on in Khan’s internal world, it emerges again and again as a kind of dark, moody fractiousness. When in early 1984 he suffers a splintered shin, he recuperates in the home of an artist friend Emma Sergeant. She paints him, the very image of isolation, and the picture is reproduced in All Round View. Existential dark moods continue in Lady Annabel Goldsmith’s autobiography. When the Goldsmith family nearly die as their plane to Nairobi in the new year of 2001 comes within seconds of plunging to the ground, she records that Imran’s greeting to his wife Jemima when he flies in is: “Well, baby, I hear you had a little turbulence. I have always told you it is better to fly PIA”.

Lack of tact, discontent and fractiousness have perhaps gotten worse as the years have gone on. I have rarely seen pictures of Imran Khan smiling. Jemima Goldsmith recently tweeted at the early general election results in Pakistan: “22 years after humiliation, hurdles and sacrifices, my sons’ father is Pakistan’s next prime minister”. Yet Khan has had a privileged life. Political leaders can’t afford to be personally touchy or emotional about what the international or national media say or think.

It may be that it is a long habit in him because from childhood his experience was that the Niazis, his father’s side of the family, were a hard act to please. Zaman Park, named, says Christopher Sandford, for Imran’s great uncle Zaman Khan, and in the 1980s having so many Khans and Niazis in it that it was known as “Jurassic Park”, viewed cricket as “boring and uncompetitive … hardly anyone was ever physically struck”. On his mother’s side it was the military contacts that were celebrated, although in Indus Journey Khan recalls “an ancestor of mine, Haibat Khan Niazi was one of Sher Shah Suri’s leading generals, as well as being the governor of Punjab”. Imran’s maternal uncle Burki was a leading light in General Ayub’s ministry. And so the 1960s, he remembered from childhood, were a time of economic growth for Pakistan. In William Dalrymple’s long essay about Imran Khan, “Out for a duck” in The Age of Kali, Khan tells Dalrymple: “In the 1960s our exports were neck and neck with Hong Kong. Now our exports are barely a tenth of theirs.”

William Dalrymple writes about the formative influence of pirs and fortune tellers in Khan’s life. Yousuf Salahuddin, Imran’s old friend, tells him that when he was a young cricketer he went to see a fortuneteller in Spain who said that if he went into politics, he would be risking his life. In 1989 Dalrymple goes with Khan to visit the pir outside Lahore whom he has been consulting for three years.

Now, he has got his own personal (live -in pir(ni) !

Michael Palin visits Khan in Islamabad in May 2003. “Imran is in a meeting but three amiable dogs rise to greet us, tails wagging vigorously until that becomes too much of an effort and they collapse, bellies flat against warm stones or on their backs in the shade of the verandah, legs spread eagle in abandon.” As they talk, Basil Pao, Michael’s photographer takes a picture of Imran’s Labrador, which will later appear in Palin’s Himalaya (2004). “Solving the world’s problems with Imran Khan,” he writes the caption, as they sit on the terrace of Imran’s rented house in Islamabad. “His dog’s heard it all before.”

These last few weeks, the UK newspapers have been busy again with coverage of Imran Khan, four decades on from when they first noticed a stunning and intelligent cricket player. The Times wrote a generous editorial, noting the difficulties in Pakistan and wishing him well.

Nothing about the "shady side" of his personal life

[Peregrine]

X Posted on the Oil and Natural Gas Thread

Incoming govt to start laying TAPI pipeline

ISLAMABAD: In a bid to cope with the daunting challenge of energy shortages, the incoming government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) will have to immediately kick off construction work on the $10-billion Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (Tapi) gas pipeline project.

Former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had participated in the groundbreaking ceremonies held to begin construction of the pipeline in Turkmenistan and Afghanistan.

In Pakistan, the work was scheduled to commence in May this year, but the plan could not be pushed ahead as tenure of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government was going to end on May 31, 2018.

“Now, the new elected administration of PTI will start laying the Tapi gas pipeline in Pakistan,” a senior government official said.

State-run Inter State Gas Systems (ISGS) has the mandate to execute all oil and gas pipeline projects.

ISGS Managing Director Mobin Saulat told The Express Tribune that the pipeline construction had begun in Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. However, work had not yet been undertaken in Pakistan, he said, voicing hope that the incoming government would inaugurate the building of the gas pipeline. As Russia is planning to lay an offshore pipeline from Iran to India via Pakistan, the countries building the Tapi pipeline have approved an alternative plan to cut the time required for project implementation.

The project was targeted to be completed in 2021, but under the alternative plan, the participating countries would be able to complete it in 2020.

The Tapi steering committee comprising ministers of the four countries has approved the alternative plan.

The ISGS MD revealed that the government had proposed a new plan for laying the pipeline in the shortest possible time. Under the plan, pipeline will be laid in the first phase without installing compressors.

There will be free flow of gas from Turkmenistan through the pipeline without compressors. The pipeline will be of 56-inch diameter and one-third of gas flow will be possible in this process. Gas flow will start in about one and a half year.

He revealed that the pipeline had been divided into nine lots and successful bidders would be asked to work on different lots in an attempt to complete the project as quickly as possible.

At present, Pakistan is importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatar and Italy to tackle energy shortages. It is also in talks with different countries to ink more government-to-government LNG supply deals.

The US has given its full backing to the Tapi project that will not only meet energy needs of Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, but will also help ease tensions between the neighbours due to reliance on each other, the ISGS MD said.

Turkmenistan has huge gas reserves and a major chunk of them has gone to Russia that supplies the energy onwards to Europe. Turkmenistan has also been supplying gas to Iran whereas Afghanistan, Pakistan and India will be its new markets.

Turkmenistan will bear 85% of the $10-billion pipeline cost while Afghanistan, Pakistan and India will have 5% equity share each. The pipeline cost is in addition to the $15-billion capital injection required for developing a relevant gas field.

A gas sale and purchase agreement has already been signed in 2012 to establish the pricing mechanism under which gas price at Turkmenistan’s border will be around 20% cheaper than the Brent crude oil rate.

Comments : Ātaṅkavadīsthan will create hurdles by stopping the Flow of Natural Gas to India by resorting to attacks by its Terrorist. India must - if possible - get out of this project.

Cheers

[Aditya_V]

Why not rename as TAP line without the I?

[venug]

Comments : Ātaṅkavadīsthan will create hurdles by stopping the Flow of Natural Gas to India by resorting to attacks by its Terrorist. India must - if possible - get out of this project.

In fact one of their “experts” suggested this. He bemoaned that right now India has TSP’s balls via IWT, and we are many times string so cant hurt us. He said they should allow India access to Central Asia, Allow TAPI etc so that at the right time of their chosing they can use these to impose their demands on us.

We should not normalize anything. They think IK is Allah sent, he will get them out of this economic mess. BTW one “economic expert” said US cant do much wrt IMF loan to TSP as IMF is established to help economically weak countries and US can make noises but cant dictate to IMF what it cant do. So they are expecting IMF’s 12 B$ bail out anyway.

[habal]

You should know that pakistan has no intention of paying back IMF loans

[abhijitm]

Why not rename as TAP line without the I?

Entire project is not viable without big I.

[Arima]

Why not rename as TAP line without the I?

i would say "P" should be left out and consider laying pipe under sea if at all feasible.

[Falijee]

Another Karachi Recreation Spot Gobbled Up By Deep State In Name Of "Security"

Karachi’s new attraction ‘China Port’ is now a ‘no go’ area for public
Aug 3, 2018

The "forbidden area" photu !

KARACHI: Authorities played a ‘spoilsport’ for Karachiites after an order issued closing China Port for the public who had been making frequent sightseeing tours to the newly-discovered location.The spot had been drawing a lot of visitors after pictures of the fascinating Oyster Rocks started getting viral on the social media.As seen in the pictures circulating on Twitter and Facebook with horde of people roaming there, now a makeshift blockade of concrete barriers, wooden planks, old bushes have been placed that bar all vehicles from turning towards the sandy area to get on the path from the Marine Promenade leading to China Port.

Krachi is full of Mohajirs ( refugees) from India. They "support" Altaf Bhai's MQM . Altaf has been declared as an "Agent of India", specially after his famous speech in Dilli, when he said that the partition of India was one of the greatest mistakes in the history of mankind ! So, IMO, to declare this area a "no -go" makes sense. Krachi is "crawling" with RAA agents in every nook and corner of this vast city

Besides, a police van has also been deployed there with cops signalling every incoming motorist to turn away.
Reports quote Karachi Port Trust (KPT) as saying that security issues were cropping up after visitors in large numbers were making it to the spot and taking photographs (thus revealing the entire vicinity).

The pictures taken will be E mailed to India, and thus the security of Pakistan is compromised !

The place is not that far away from sensitive locations such as the Naval Dockyard, the Naval Academy PNS Rahbar, PNS Himalaya, etc, the reports cite as KPT official as saying.

Also known as ‘Oyster Rocks’, the spot is a about 2.5 kilometers long breakwater built by China ( Is there anything that the Pakis have learnt to built themselves !) to protect the South Asia Pakistan Terminal, but the citizens find it fascinating enough to spend time there with families. The Oyster Rocks strip was originally built to protect large freight ships from the hazards of a high tide, protect erosion of sand and the coastline. Probably by the Brits !

[Falijee]

US massively cuts Pakistan’s security aid, ends conditions
Aug 3, 2018

WASHINGTON: The United States (US) Congress has passed a $716.3 billion defense authorization bill, significantly slashing the security aid to Pakistan to $150 million per year. The security-related aids have been around $750 million to $1 billion until now. The bill, however, eased certain conditions that were linked with the financial assistance, including action against the Haqqani Network and the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

IMO, Massa will still keep the aid pipeline ( economic and military both ) still open as it cannot afford to completely let Pakiland go rogue when still have Amreeki soldiers in Afghanistan, and the danger of the "Bum" falling into wrong hands. So a stick and carrot approach is being followed ( more stick less carrots !) And the Pakis know this !

AFP adds: The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passed in the Senate a week after clearing the House of Representatives has been sent to the White House for Trump’s signature.The bill provides $69 billion in war funding known as overseas contingency operations, authorizes a 2.6 percent pay raise for members of the armed forces, and invests tens of billions in modernizing the Pentagon’s air and sea fleets and missile defenses.It notably prohibits delivery of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft to Turkey, a NATO ally with increasingly fraught relations with Washington, until Ankara can confirm it will not buy Russia’s S-400 anti-aircraft missile system. USA will "try" the same strategy with India , but not sure it will work !

The bill including provisions which allow for better assessment of risks to US national security from transactions involving foreign firms aiming to gain access to sensitive American technology.It also extends a restriction on US-Russian military cooperation, and authorizes $65 million to revamp the US nuclear arsenal by developing new “low-yield” nuclear weapons.

[chetak]

can anyone confirm if there is any truth to this

Mateen Haider@haider_mateen

#Indian external intelligence Agency #RAW station chief for #Afghanistan in #Kabul , #SureshMehra shot dead, he was key intelligence commander for planning terrorist attacks in Pakistan including subversive acts, from Kabul, #Election2018 pakistan hopefully would be peaceful.

11:26 AM - 17 Jul 2018