Terroristan - 29 September 2017

sudhan · Post by **sudhan** » 05 Oct 2017 20:55

saip wrote:There is a vacuum bulb explosion at a 'shrine' Only 7 got their 72 so far.
Dawn

Sigh.. the number has more than doubled. This country is truly cursed..

Peregrine · Post by **Peregrine** » 05 Oct 2017 21:18

Trump ready for any steps if Pakistan doesn't mend its ways: US defence secretary

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump is prepared to take "whatever steps necessary" against Pakistan if it does not "change its behaviour" and continues to support terror groups, defence secretary Jim Mattis has said.

Mattis also warned Pakistan of global "diplomatic isolation" and losing its Non-NATO ally status if it failed to take action against safe havens to terrorists on its soil.

"If our best efforts fail, President Trump is prepared to take whatever steps necessary," Mattis told members of the powerful House Armed Services Committee during a Congressional testimony on South Asia and Afghanistan on Wednesday.

He was asked a series of questions by Congressmen who expressed their frustration on Pakistan not taking actions against terror groups.

Without much elaboration, Mattis said the US has "enormously powerful number of options" if Pakistan does not follow through and be a better promoter of stability in the region.

"Right now, I would like to think we will be successful," Mattis said. "With the growing consensus against terrorism, they'll find themselves diplomatically isolated."

"There is an awful lot of advantage to Pakistan of coming online with the international community, and we have to stay focused there, but the penalties are just as significant as the advantages if they choose to go a different direction," he said.

"But for right now, the US needs to try one more time to make this strategy work with them by, with, and through the Pakistanis," he said.

When Congressman Rick Larsen asked if revocation of non-NATO allies status is on the list of possibilities against Pakistan, Mattis said, "I'm sure it will be."

Mattis's tough talk on Pakistan, came as Pakistan Foreign Minister Khwaja Asif is visiting the US as part of efforts to rebuild bilateral ties frayed after President Trump accused Islamabad of sheltering terror groups.

President Trump announced his Afghanistan and South Asia policy in August in which he adopted a tough policy against Pakistan.

In a meeting with the Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Asif defended his country's role in the war against terrorism.
He claimed that Pakistan has pursued a zero-tolerance and indiscriminate approach in its campaign against all terrorist and militant groups.

However, Mattis told lawmakers that while the US is adopting "a whole of government approach" on Pakistan, it is also aligning NATO countries on this.

"What you're going to see is 39 nations all in the NATO campaign working together to lay out what it is we need Pakistan to do," he said.

"What we are doing right now is we are aligning what department of treasury, department of defence, the intelligence committee, department of state, say, this is what we must ask Pakistan to do to change its behaviour," he added.

The Trump administration, he said, is going to use a whole government international effort to align the benefits and the penalties if those things are not done.

"Pakistan has lost more troops in this fight against terrorist than nearly any country out there. And yet at the same time, as you know, there's been some parsing out where some terrorists have been allowed safe havens. We're out to change that behaviour and do it very firmly," Mattis asserted.

As part of this, Mattis said there would be exchange of high-level visits between the two countries.

Mattis said he and the secretary of state Rex Tillerson will soon visit Islamabad.

"We're not going to back off. It will start with assistant secretaries coming out of Washington and the National Security staff members going into Pakistan soon followed by the secretary of state," he said.The USA has been "Talking the Talk". Will they "Walk the Walk?"

"I will go in and we have (NATO) secretary general Stoltenberg's very clear support for this in his advocacy as the secretary general of NATO. So we're going to continue to build this up in an international way with a whole of US government argument for the Pakistanis to work in their own best interest and ours," Mattis said.

After holding talks with Asif, Tillerson yesterday said that the US is concerned over the future of the government in Pakistan and wants to ensure long-term stability in the country.

Inviting Tillerson to visit Islamabad to continue their talks, Asif said that a broad-based and structured framework for dialogue would best serve the two countries' mutual interests.

Amber G. · Post by **Amber G.** » 05 Oct 2017 21:51

What's up?

Kulbhushan Jadhav mercy plea takes horrific turn, Pakistan Army says good news will be delivered soon

The Pakistan Army today while talking about the mercy plea of alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav said that the officer’s mercy petition is now in its final stage and also that ‘Good news will be delivered soon,’ as reported by CNN News 18.

Falijee · Post by **Falijee** » 05 Oct 2017 22:20

"Sufi Dargah" Target Of Attack In Balochistan

At least 18 killed in suicide blast at shrine in Jhal Magsi, Balochistan

At least 18 people, including a police constable, were killed and more than a dozen injured in an explosion at Dargah Pir Rakhel Shah in Fatehpur, a small town in the Jhal Magsi district of Balochistan, DawnNews reported.

Deputy Commissioner Jhal Magsi Asadullah Kakar confirmed the death toll, saying the deceased include an assistant sub-inspector of police and three children.

Initial reports suggested that the explosion took place when the dhamaal — a devotional dance performed at shrines — was being performed after evening prayers.Balochistan Home Minister Sarfaraz Bugti told DawnNews that "if he [the attacker] had managed to enter the dargah, the death toll would have been much higher."Answering whether the government was aware of looming terror threats, Bugti said, "We are in a war zone. We [share] a porous border with Afghanistan. Keeping all these factors in mind, our security forces ensured a peaceful Moharram and they will continue to fight terrorism in Balochistan." The Balochi populace are followers of the Zikri sect which is anathema to the hard core Wahabis !

Rakhel Shah, who is said to have been influenced by his brother's spiritual way of life, was for a time a disciple of Sufi Abdul Sattar of Dargah Jhoke Sharif, which is located in lower Sindh. After spending some time there, Rakhel Shah returned to Fatehpur to live a life of asceticism and charity.
The shrine was built in his devotion.

Falijee · Post by **Falijee** » 05 Oct 2017 22:27

Paki Student "Dreams Big" !

17 year old Pakistani Science student, Muhammad Shaheer Niazi aims to win a Nobel Prize
New York Times

Electric Honeycombs Form When Nature Gets Out of Balance

Physicists knew of this phenomenon decades before Muhammad Shaheer Niazi, a 17-year-old high school student from Pakistan met the electric honeycomb. In 2016, as one of the first Pakistani participants in the International Young Physicists’ Tournament, he replicated the phenomenon and presented his work as any professional scientist would. But he also developed photographic evidence of charged ions creating the honeycomb, and published his work Wednesday in the journal Royal Society Open Science.

Mr. Niazi hopes to further explore the mathematics of the electric honeycomb, and in the future, dreams of earning a Nobel Prize. In nature — and in the electric honeycomb — Mr. Niazi points out, “nothing wants to do excess work,” but he’s getting started early anyway.

Good for the young kid and kudos to him !. Hope for his sake that he does not belong to the Ahmedi persuasion like Dr Abdus Salam

Falijee · Post by **Falijee** » 05 Oct 2017 22:44

Another Paki Journalist Faces Fabricated" Terrorism And Defamation Charges"

Pakistani journalist faces terrorism and defamation charges for article critical of regional government
Committee To Protect Journalists.
October 4, 2017 6:17 PM ET

New York, October 4, 2017--Authorities in Pakistan should drop charges against journalist Shabbir Siham, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan's northern Gilgit-Baltistan region summoned Siham for a hearing on October 7 on accusations of fabrication and extorting a regional minister in violation of Pakistan's Anti-Terrorism Act, according to news reports and to Saeed Ahmed, the manager of the Islamabad-based Journalist Safety Hub, which provides support and training to at-risk journalists. He also faces charges of defamation under the Pakistan Penal Code, the reports said.

According to the news site Dawn, Gilgit-Baltistan regional authorities brought charges against Siham after he wrote an unflattering column about members of the regional legislative assembly.Critics say Pakistan's Anti-Terrorism Act, which includes language defining terrorism as "creat[ing] a sense of fear or insecurity in society," is too sweeping and has broad potential for abuse. While "Big and Real" Terrorists,( Maulana Ghazi and Hafiz Suar ) are "freely roaming" the streets of Isloo and La-whore and openly preaching their message of hate. !

"Shabbir Siham should not be punished for his reporting on issues of national interest, and he certainly has no business on trial in an anti-terrorism court," said Steven Butler, CPJ's Asia program coordinator, from Washington D.C. "Pakistani authorities should immediately drop the charges against him and stop trying to intimidate journalists into silence with excessive legal charges." Hope that this "naming and shaming" of Pakistan works, and hope that the "authorities" concerned do not make things hard for the journalist's family !

Siham's court notice, which a local judge signed on September 28, warned that the journalist could be tried in absentia, according to the document, which CPJ has viewed. If convicted, Siham could face up to 14 years in prison, Ahmed told CPJ.

CPJ was unable to locate contact information for Raja Shahbaz Khan, the local administrative judge who signed Siham's court summons. The Chief Court in Gilgit-Baltistan did not immediately respond to CPJ's emailed query.

Siham, who is based in Islamabad, told CPJ he wrote an article in November 2016 for the English-language Daily Times newspaper in which he said some members of the Pakistan Muslim League from Gilgit-Baltistan were involved with a gang in human trafficking and prostitution, though he did not name specific members. In response, the regional government registered a legal case accusing him of fabrication, according to Dawn.After the article was published, the region's information director approached Siham in Islamabad and asked him to stop writing on the topic, while gang members from Gilgit-Baltistan showed up at his home and attempted to bribe him with money to stop writing about it, Siham said. They then threatened to kill the journalist when he refused their offers, he said. GB is under "lot of unrest" and the populace has grievances against the Fed Govt in Isloo. !

Pakistani authorities have used anti-terror laws to target journalists before. In the Gilgit-Baltistan region, authorities charged two journalists under the anti-terror law last year; one was arrested and the other went into hiding, CPJ documented.

Amber G. · Post by **Amber G.** » 05 Oct 2017 22:51

^^^ To put the things in perspective, IYPT ( International Young Physicists’ Tournament) is not exactly a IPhO or Intel Talent search. India did/does not even take part in it. (Many advanced nations do not ) This young man's entry was the *first* entry from Pakistan (*in all the years of IYPT*) - Singapore team won the event, per their website.

Yes, the recreation of old experiment may be interesting but it is not like this achievement comes like winning a medal in International Math Olympiad.. (In IMO type contests most of young students from terroristan routinely get zero).. This young man AFAIK was not in any Pakistani team in such other prestigious contests.

Wish that young man all the best but for Pakistani student, to make a big deal is over-blowing a bit. ..
Some problems from this 2018 contest..

1. Invent Yourself
Construct a simple seismograph that amplifies a local disturbance by mechanical, optical or electrical methods. Determine the typical response curve of your device and investigate the parameters of the damping constant. What is the maximum amplification that you can achieve?
2. Colour of Powders
If a coloured material is ground to a powder, in some cases the resulting powder may have a different colour to that of the original material. Investigate how the degree of grinding affects the apparent colour of the powder.
3. Dancing Coin
Take a strongly cooled bottle and put a coin on its neck. Over time you will hear a noise and see movements of the coin. Explain this phenomenon and investigate how the relevant parameters affect the dance.
4. Heron's Fountain
Construct a Heron’s fountain and explain how it works. Investigate how the relevant parameters affect the height of the water jet.
5. Drinking Straw
When a drinking straw is placed in a glass of carbonated drink, it can rise up, sometimes toppling over the edge of the glass. Investigate and explain the motion of the straw and determine the conditions under which the straw will topple.
...<snip>

Falijee · Post by **Falijee** » 05 Oct 2017 23:45

^^^
Amber G- ji:
Thanks for your clarification. Now I know that it is not a "big deal" in the scheme of things

Falijee · Post by **Falijee** » 05 Oct 2017 23:54

"Umpire" Rules .Says That It Is Not A "Big Deal"

Court fiasco result of 'lack of coordination': DG ISPR
The Express Tribune

The mismanagement caused outside the accountability court in Islamabad earlier this week was a result of “incoordination” between law enforcement agencies and civil administration and not a “clash between institutions”, director Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) has said. Matter laid to rest !

On the removal of the clause relating to Khatm-e-Nabuwwat (finality of the prophethood) from the Election Bill, Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor said that the military, like every Pakistani, has never and will never compromise on the sanctity of the Prophet (PBUH).

Maj Gen Asif reiterated that there was no organised infrastructure of any terrorist organisation in Pakistan. What about BLA, TTP and ISIS

“Four hostile intelligence agencies ( RAA and Khad come to mind, who are the other two? Iran and Massa ) are planning to carryout a major terror attack in the country to affect the gains made in the war on terror,” he said.

Amber G. · Post by **Amber G.** » 06 Oct 2017 01:10

Falijee wrote:^^^
Amber G- ji:
Thanks for your clarification. Now I know that it is not a "big deal" in the scheme of things

Actually it is MUCH worse ... even per typical Paki-standard..
This young man (according to his Linkedn profile) boasts about his - biggest achievement (other that one mentioned) is "Completed O"Level by obtaining (6* and 2 A's). A* in Math, A* in Add maths, A* in physics, A*chemistry, A* biology, A* Islamaiat, A in English, A in Pakistan studies.
NOTHING even mildly impressive but only a Pakistani student will boast about..

And yes, he participated (or won something ) in Kangaroo Math Competition..
No I am not making it up, a typical question in KMC in Pakistan is:
What is 1+3+5+7+9+11+13+15 = ?^2 (No I am not making it up - you don't even have to add.. just count that there are 8 terms so answer will be 8^2)
Link: http://kangaroo.org.pk/upload/ikmc/down ... 90a569.pdf
***
Pakistan's establishment is notorious (now most of the colleges in US know that) for BS'ing
achievements of their "stars". Any person familiar with international admissions (or trying to recruit bright international students for scholarships) will tell you that. It is worse than most think. (generally one gives zero weight to their grades/recommendation from Pakistani sources )

Falijee · Post by **Falijee** » 06 Oct 2017 01:10

Pakistan to Launch Its First Space Satellite Soon

This Wednesday, Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) announced at World Space Week 2017, that Pakistan’s first remote sensing satellite called PRSS-1 will be launched in March 2018.

PS: India has launched more than a hundred since 1975 !

Falijee · Post by **Falijee** » 06 Oct 2017 01:15

Pakistan Among Top 10 Internet Economies in the World

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) produces an annual report titled “The Information Economy Report” which highlights the internet economy of the world.

In terms of people using the internet, Pakistan became one of the top 10 economies using the Internet. India remains the 1st, Iran 7th, Bangladesh 10th while Pakistan comes at 9th position.

Falijee · Post by **Falijee** » 06 Oct 2017 01:23

First You Destroy Houses In The Name Of "Fighting Terrorism", Then You Beg For Grants To Give To The Innocent Persons Whose Home You Destroyed

FATA Gets 10 Billion for Rebuilding After Being Ravaged by Terrorism

World Bank has also promised support for FATA. The bank approved a grant of $114 million in support for families affected by militancy-related violence, for improving child healthcare and establishing systems for emergency response safety.

How much of the "114 Million" will go to the Awaam and how much of the amount will go in the pockets of the Paki Bureaucracy is anybody's guess

Falijee · Post by **Falijee** » 06 Oct 2017 04:23

Dengue fever claims another life in Peshawar, toll mounts to 44

No one was "booked", this time for deliberate release of dengue fever carrying mosquitos in the near environs !

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 06 Oct 2017 05:00

This Wednesday, Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) announced at World Space Week 2017, that Pakistan’s first remote sensing satellite called PRSS-1 will be launched in March 2018.

http://suparco.gov.pk/pages/rsss.asp?rssslinksid=1

The satellite is envisaged to be designed, developed and launched in a low Earth orbit by 2015/16, through cooperation/ collaboration with reputed international satellite manufacturers.

In other words, they are buying a satellite from China Great Wall Industry and paying them for a launch. A gallon of green paint will be their contribution to the collaboration.

Falijee · Post by **Falijee** » 06 Oct 2017 05:38

"Disgraced" DNC Staffer Boasts Of His Paki ( Deep State ) Connections

Report: DNC Staffer Imran Awan Bragged He Could Have People Tortured

A Tuesday report by the Daily Caller’s Luke Rosiak suggests indicted Democratic IT aide Imran Awan sent cash to a relative in Pakistani law enforcement and once bragged he could have people taken in and beaten at his request.

Rosiak reports Awan’s stepmother, Samina Gilani, claims the disgraced IT staffer and his brother have been paying a cousin, Pakistani police officer Azhar Awan. The Daily Caller confirmed Azhar has been in contact with Imran via Facebook, which is especially concerning given casual boasts Imran Awan made to co-workers. This probably, confirms indirectly that he may have passed "sensitive information", which he may come across, and information that he may have "stolen" to his contacts in Pakistan !

wan, whose arrest while boarding a plane to Pakistan – where he had already sent hundreds of thousands of dollars – made headlines in August, is under indictment in a land-fraud conspiracy. He is also suspected of stealing, along with several family members, thousands of dollars of electronic equipment from his role as tech staffer to several congressional Democrats including former Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Separately, three woman have come forward to claim Awan abused them, keeping them as “slaves” in his Fairfax, Virginia, home.

While the ordinary criminal elements of Awan and his family’s list of alleged misdeeds are concerning, some are more troubled by the possibility he could have compromised government security with his access to the systems of congressmen and women he worked for. While there is no clear evidence of classified information leaking, reports of “terabytes” of members’ data being stolen abound.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 06 Oct 2017 05:48

https://t.co/S3uGh484Rm
Pakistan Is Inviting Its Favorite Jihadis Into Parliament

he notorious jihadi Hafiz Saeed has apparently had a change of heart. Like many extremists in Pakistan, the 67-year-old firebrand used to rage against democracy. But earlier this month a new political party, controlled in all but name by Saeed — the leader of the militant organization Lashkar-e-Taiba, and the alleged mastermind of a string of horrific massacres in India, including the killing of 166 people in Mumbai nine years ago — peacefully contested its first by-election for national parliament.Bearded party workers from the Milli Muslim League wandered the streets of Lahore in hi-visibility jackets. Posters of Saeed were plastered across the city, in direct contravention of a ruling by the Election Commission, which does not recognize the MML as a party. The candidate backed by the MML, Yaqoob Sheikh, himself designated a terrorist by the U.S. Treasury in 2012, notched up an unexpectedly high 5 percent of the vote for the former National Assembly seat of recently ousted prime minister, Nawaz Sharif. (
Well-meaning supporters of the strategy argue that not all extremists can be killed or locked up. Some point to the IRA in Ireland or Islamist radicals in Indonesia as proof that political engagement can defang terrorist groups. Others ask why the political transition now seen as the inevitable path of the Afghan Taliban should not also apply to Pakistan’s own jihadis.But deradicalization is tricky at the best of times, and the conditions that made it work elsewhere in the past simply don’t apply to Pakistan today. Most of all, it needs a state willing to threaten nonstate actors with something they would rather avoid (a military offensive) while proffering the reward of something they want (political influence). In Pakistan, neither condition is fulfilled. In fact, the “mainstreaming” project appears just as likely to strengthen jihadi militants as quell them — and you don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist to wonder whether that isn’t really the point.
Lashkar-e-Taiba has never carried out an attack within Pakistan — at least one that’s made the press. Rather, it has served as a proxy for the military in its asymmetric war with India, particularly in the disputed territory of Kashmir. According to David Headley, one of the Lashkar-e-Taiba members involved in the 2008 attack on Mumbai, the ISI provided “financial, military, and moral” support for the operation.The army proved how effective it can be in a recent sustained assault on the jihadis it doesn’t like — those who carry out attacks within the nation.
But none of the circumstances that have historically shielded Lashkar-e-Taiba from a similar military crackdown have changed — in fact, some of them have become more entrenched. The belligerent tone of Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, has fuelled the military’s hard-wired belief that it must retain all its assets in the 70-year-old conflict.Meanwhile, the ever-expanding charitable works of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, which the armed forces have supported by granting it permission to work in parts of the country that international nongovernmental organizations and other local organizations cannot reach, have softened public opinion. A popular actor congratulated Hafiz Saeed after the Lahore by-election, praising him as a “righteous man.” While much of Pakistan’s civilian elite share the condemnatory line of its English-language newspapers, read by 2 percent of the population, the broader public tends to a less harsh view. Just 36 percent of the population holds an unfavorable opinion of Lashkar-e-Taiba, compared to 60 percent for the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, according to a 2015 Pew survey.
If the army has no clear incentive to wholly “deradicalize” Lashkar-e-Taiba at this point in time, it has more than enough to present its old strategic asset as newly defanged in order to ward off international pressure. America has reduced its aid to Pakistan for housing, in the words of U.S. President Donald Trump, “the very terrorists who we are fighting.” Allies closer to home have recently shown signs of losing patience with its tolerance of favored jihadi groups.At last month’s BRICS summit among five of the world’s most rapidly developing nations, a statement was issued condemning — for the first time — Lashkar-e-Taiba and its affiliates by name as a threat to regional stability.The transformation might, moreover, yield strategic fruit. Th. The country’s former military dictator, Pervez Musharraf, referred to Jamaat-ud-Dawa as a “very fine NGO” in an interview earlier this year. Military officials point out that if the MML submits to the requirements of Pakistan’s Constitution, whether they “wear beards or not, they would not be stopped [from forming a party] anywhere in the world.”
The Pakistan army may find that its strategy backfires in another way. The whole point of using militants against India is to maintain a facade of plausible deniability. But bringing Saeed into the system puts all that at risk. After Lashkar-e-Taiba militants shot up the Indian parliament in 2001, 800,000 troops massed the border as India and Pakistan — two nuclear-armed nations — nearly went to war. The Pakistani state denied it had anything to do with the attack. That excuse was thin at the time. Repeating it now would wear it to vanishing point.

Gagan · Post by **Gagan** » 06 Oct 2017 06:10

Pakistan is all set to launch it first International standard satellite
They have decided to name it

Pakistan International Space Satellite 1

Gagan · Post by **Gagan** » 06 Oct 2017 06:12

Ahem!
For stable civilian government to emerge in El-Bakistan, Half-is-suar will have to become PM of Bakistan

Only then will the Faujis think 100 times before doing a coup

arun · Post by **arun** » 06 Oct 2017 06:23

sudhan wrote:
saip wrote:There is a vacuum bulb explosion at a 'shrine' Only 7 got their 72 so far.

Dawn
Sigh.. the number has more than doubled. This country is truly cursed..

Death toll in this round of Green on Green Intra-Mohammadden belief motivated slaughter by way of the IED Mubarak variant of the IEDology of Pakistan has climbed to 20:

At least 20 dead in suicide blast at Jhal Magsi shrine

Amber G. · Post by **Amber G.** » 06 Oct 2017 06:53

@OfficialDGISPR just said that the schools in #FATA are better than those across Pakistan. Is this really

true?

Amber G. · Post by **Amber G.** » 06 Oct 2017 06:59

Pakistan is the only regional countries to witness an increasing number of HIV cases... (per DAWN: https://www.dawn.com/news/1361879/)
>>Karachi is identified as one of the top cities globally with a rise in HIV prevalence

Amber G. · Post by **Amber G.** » 06 Oct 2017 07:01

Aditya Raj KaulVerified account
@AdityaRajKaul: No Pakistan Channel reporting suicide blast in #Balochistan. Instructions from Pakistan Army to Pakistan media?

Amber G. · Post by **Amber G.** » 06 Oct 2017 07:21

Gerard wrote:
This Wednesday, Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) announced at World Space Week 2017, that Pakistan’s first remote sensing satellite called PRSS-1 will be launched in March 2018.

Allow me to post the picture from official Govt of Pak:

(#Pakistan’s first optical remote sensing satellite PRSS-1 is set to be launched in 2018.
~Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission)<link>

saip · Post by **saip** » 06 Oct 2017 07:52

Launched by who? And built by who?

Kashi · Post by **Kashi** » 06 Oct 2017 08:01

^^ Certainly not Pakistan.

sum · Post by **sum** » 06 Oct 2017 08:38

Surely iron brother. No one else will even bother to entertain SUARco

Amber G. · Post by **Amber G.** » 06 Oct 2017 08:41

^^^ Three guys figuring out how to use the red-steps (why they are near the bus door? Do space week buses always have such steps)?? True they will move a few meters up but will they reach to upper atmosphere? What's with the sign on the bus and mural on the building?
And GoP can not find any other photo for the tweet?

There are more official photos: HOW?? (Pakistan Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO))

Amber G. · Post by **Amber G.** » 06 Oct 2017 08:53

sum wrote:Surely iron brother. No one else will even bother to entertain SUARco

Check the official photo from the event:“#Pakistan #Space SUPARCO & China CASC to launch PRSS-1in 6/2018 for monitoring CPEC projects https

sum · Post by **sum** » 06 Oct 2017 08:57

Wonder if atleast paint for the logo in this "indigenous project" is from TSP (like for their missiles/JF17) or even that is not happening here?

Amber G. · Post by **Amber G.** » 06 Oct 2017 08:58

^^^ But I just noticed, US/Paki flag on Pakinaught .... what gives???

hnair · Post by **hnair** » 06 Oct 2017 09:21

Being a space scientist in Pakistan is like being one of those handicrafts board member in India. nice, non-controversial sized budgets with zero targets to achieve

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 06 Oct 2017 09:30

I wonder why SUPARCO is following ISRO's terminology by calling their's as PRS (like IRS)? After all, their missiles are named after Islamic heroes, aren't they? Why are they mimicking a kafir in space science? Or, have they realized that they were glorifying the savage Turks (Ghaznavi and Ghori) and Pashtun (Abdali), who looted, plundered and massacred their own ancestors living in the parts which are currently Pakistan? Or, have they run out of heroes? Inquiring minds want to know.

hnair · Post by **hnair** » 06 Oct 2017 09:41

SSridhar wrote:Or, have they run out of heroes?

Mumtaz Qadri didnt poke their erudite space analyst Salman Taseer with an AK47 for nothing. He was merely calling attention about his name being available for future satellites

Gagan · Post by **Gagan** » 06 Oct 2017 10:02

They wanted to name their space craft after Bin Laden, but someone rightly pointed out that they should reserve that name for their first commercial airliner, which they fully intend to produce right after the remote sensing spy satellite.

They might still name this PRS satellite, as Qadri in memory of his association with the world famous space analyst Suleman Taseer

As I've reported before, that they are planning to launch a space station called "Pakistan International Space Station"

So SUARCO makes the body of these mini sats, which look like the SROSS series.
PRS-1 might be built and launched by the Chinese though. The Pakis have eagerly wanted to do an == with India in the spy sat business, except that india has a wide range of spy sats in orbit

Peregrine · Post by **Peregrine** » 06 Oct 2017 14:12

Pakistan military admits ISI has links to militants

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's military on Thursday admitted that its Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) has links to "militants", saying this does not mean it supports terrorist organisations, while also asserting that Milli Muslim League — the political wing of banned Jamaat-ud Dawa — is free to contest elections.

Milli Muslim League, which draws support from Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed's JUD, was denied permission months ago from contesting bypolls by the Election Commission, which has so far refused to recognize it as apolitical party.

Answering a question about US claims of links between the ISI and militants, Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor, director general Inter-Services Public Relations, said, "There's a difference between support and having links. Name any intelligence agency which does not have links. Links can be positive, and the US defence secretary James Mattis did not say there was support. The narrative that I talked about is relevant here as well. We should not be a part of it. We have our own narrative."

Mattis had said on Tuesday that the US would try "one more time" to work with Pakistan in Afghanistan before President Donald Trump would turn to options to address Islamabad's alleged support for militant groups.

His comments likely caused concern in Islamabad, especially in light of General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, telling the Senate Armed Services Committee, that he believed ISI directorate, had ties to militant groups. "It's clear to me that the ISI has connections with terrorist groups," General Dunford said.

Addressing a press conference in Rawalpindi, Ghafoor said Pakistan's eastern border is unsafe because of India's "inappropriate reactions". He said 222 Pakistani civilians were killed along the line of control this year in ceasefire violations, more than any other year before.

"But India has also paid a price with our response and we will continue to respond if it does not act with restraint," Ghafoor said, describing the threats from India as perpetual. "We are a peaceful country and we do not want war with them, but we will defend ourselves and have the capability to do so...

War is not the solution, so we are talking to them at all levels to stop this," he said. Ghafoor said Pakistan was facing a strategic threat on the western border as well, forcing the country to keep the Army on the border. "Our western border also meets Iran.

Our deployment is not against Iran or Afghanistan but against the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan and other such non-state actors," he said. When asked why a press release was not issued after Wednesday's special corps commanders conference at Army's General Headquarters (GHQ), he said, "Silence is also an expression."

Cheers

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 06 Oct 2017 14:57

Pakistan warns India against targeting its nuclear installations

Pakistan Foreign Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif has warned that if India launched a surgical strike on the countrys nuclear installations, nobody should expect restraint from Islamabad either, the media reported on Friday.

Asif's made the remarks on Thursday in response to Indian Air Force chief B.S. Dhanoa's statement on Wednesday that if India needed to carry out a surgical strike, his aircraft could target Pakistan's nuclear installations and destroy them, reports Dawn news.

The Foreign Minister while addressing a discussion at the US Institute of Peace here urged Indian leaders not to contemplate such actions it could have "dire consequences".

"Yesterday (Wednesday), the Indian air chief said we will hit, through another surgical strike, Pakistan's nuclear installations. If that happens, nobody should expect restraint form us. That's the most diplomatic language I can use," Asif said.

The foreign minister, who is in Washington on a three-day official visit, met US National Security Adviser Gen H.R. McMaster on Thursday, a day after he held wide-ranging talks with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

While both Islamabad and Washinton have described the Asif-Tillerson talks as "positive" and "useful", the Foreign Minister indicated that his meeting with McMaster was not as friendly as the earlier meeting.

"I will not be extravagant, yesterday's meeting went very well, today's meeting with Gen McMaster in the morning, I would be a bit cautious about it. But it was good. It was good. It wasn't bad," Asif said.

Peregrine · Post by **Peregrine** » 06 Oct 2017 15:15

The answer to our education woes

Though quality education is the most powerful weapon for change, successive governments in Pakistan have displayed a reluctance to equip the people with the power of effective education. Sadly, despite the importance of education in today’s globalised world, there are around 24 million out-of-school children in the country and the government does not have a feasible plan to immediately enrol them at schools.

Quality education undoubtedly provides the concrete foundation upon which a nation builds its socioeconomic and political future. So, how will Pakistan brighten its future with such a staggering number of out-of-school children? What is most alarming to note is that the incumbent government has dismally failed to evolve and execute a realistic national education policy.

Pakistan’s current political structure is based on a feudal democracy. Most legislators belong to the country’s aristocratic, plutocratic and feudal classes who employ massive wealth and influence to win highly flawed democratic elections. In such a feudal democratic system, dynastic lawmakers deliberately avoid providing critical and qualitative education to the people. Their major apprehension is that if the poor acquire a sound education, they will oust crooked politicians and permanently bar them from employing wealth to win elections.

According to the Article 25A of the constitution, the government is responsible for providing free and compulsory education to all children who are between the ages of five and 16. But since 1973, successive governments have systematically dragged their feet in terms of giving effect to this significant constitutional provision in order to keep the people in the dark and rule over them. Our unscrupulous leaders are acutely aware that uneducated people tend to become economically weak and intellectually ignorant. As a result, they help these politicians to continue embezzling the country’s depleting economic resources.

Successive governments have shattered the Quaid’s dream of developing a highly educated and skilled nation. A Charalatan and Hypocrite to Boot! The incumbent government should keep in mind that if it further delays the required educational reforms, Pakistan will continue to indefinitely knock on the doors of the US and international financial institutions for timely economic bailout packages for its underperforming economy.

In South Asia, Pakistan is among those developing countries that spend less than three percent of their GDP on education while India and Sri Lanka allocate more than three percent of their GDPs towards their educational sectors. In the 2017-18 budgets of the federal and provincial governments, only Rs902.7 billion was allocated to the educational sector.

According to various reports, a large portion of this amount either remains underutilised or goes to waste on account of the massive corruption that is inherent in the country’s educational structure. So, it is patently clear that the government cannot reform and update outdated syllabi of educational institutions, increase faculty capacities and build more learning centres with this insufficient budgetary allocation to education.

The country’s overall education ratio is also unsatisfactory. According to a recent report issued by the Institute of Social and Policy Sciences (I-SAPS), Pakistan has a literacy rate of only 58 percent. The report further states that there are 24 million out-of-school children in the country – the second largest number after Nigeria.

Under the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Pakistan was expected to attain the target of an 88 percent education ratio by 2015. However, it missed the target due to its political indecisiveness and laxity. Now, the government’s lingering inaction shows that the country will once again fail to achieve its educational objectives under the Sustainable Development Goals, which Islamabad is expected to meet by 2035.

What is pertinent to mention is that the party at the helm often exaggerates the country’s education ratio as a gimmick for political point-scoring. How can the government determine the education ratio without conducting impartial surveys, a timely population census and effective research on the country’s education? Our politicians and bureaucrats are clever enough at overstating educational facts and figures in order to convince the people about their false commitment to the crisis-ridden education sector.

We have so far adopted and tested flawed educational assessment measures. Those who are able to read and understand sentences in Urdu are also included among the country’s literate population. There are a large number of people who can read sentences in Urdu but have never attended schools and colleges to receive formal education. Highly industrialised and developed countries employ standard tools of measuring people’s educational abilities that test their power of reading and critical thinking.

The country is also grappling with chronic inequality with respect to male and female education. The female education ratio is merely 45 percent and 49 percent of the country’s girls of school-going age are out of schools as compared to 40 percent of the boys. The underlying reasons behind such low female education ratio include the prevalent patriarchal mindset, the conservative social structure, ill-conceived religious thoughts and the social insecurity of girls in society.

How can Pakistan economically compete with developing countries in Asia when a large number of its girls have been deprived of basic education? With a declining female literacy rate, the country will not be able to produce a responsible, committed and skilled generation in the future.

On account of a socio-economic disparity, the absence of the private sector in rural areas and a protracted political negligence, the country is also facing the issue of the rural-urban divide in terms of the literacy rate. The figure stands at 74 percent in urban areas and 49 percent in rural areas. Deprived of basic education, people from neglected rural areas are steadily migrating towards the country’s unruly cities in the quest for basic economic, health and education facilities. The uncontrolled migration toward urban centres has continued to cause socioeconomic, security, health and educational problems in our disorderly cities.

A large number of MA and MPhil degree-holders of public sector universities either possess little or no knowledge about basic theories and ideas of their fields. Since they lack requisite knowledge of their fields – mainly due to the incompetence of their teachers – many of these students resort to plagiarising research materials to prepare their final theses. This is a shameful act and the HEC has, so far, done little to prevent our research scholars from becoming ‘intellectual thieves’ by plagiarising research works of others.

According to data that is available on the matter, there are some 10,000 PhD degree holders in the country and the HEC wishes to produce 38,000 more scholars under its ambitious Vision 2025. Out of these 10,000 PhD scholars, a large number of them have cleverly used unfair means to obtain their degrees. More intellectual thieves are likely to be produced in the race to increase the quantitative level of higher education.

The practice of producing more PhD scholars has resulted in a low standard of higher education in the country. Owing to the lack of quality research, only seven Pakistan universities have been ranked in the top 300 universities in Asia by The Times Higher Education’s (THE) Asia University Rankings 2017.

The country’s entrenched educational backwardness is primarily responsible for 29.5 percent people who are currently living below the poverty line, the two percent population growth, the less than five percent economic growth, democratic instability and spiralling insecurity. The high level of illiteracy has presumably played an obstructive role in stopping resource-rich Pakistan from becoming an economic and military power in the world.

The government should awaken from its slumber and prioritise educational reforms. It should increase the education budget, update all outmoded syllabuses, train teachers with critical thinking methods, build more educational institutions and inhibit corruption within the education sector.

All these measures can easily be implemented if the country’s legislators and bureaucrats are bound by the constitution to send their children to public sector educational institutions in the country.

Comment missing from Para 5 : Please "Highlight" with Cursor enabling you to read!
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Falijee · Post by **Falijee** » 06 Oct 2017 16:57

"Friend Of Pakistan" Senator McCann Now Doubts That Pakistan Policy Will Change .

No nation has lost as many troops as India while battling terrorism, says Mattis hitting out at Pakistan

Washington: Pakistan can have strong economic benefits from India if it realises that the "tide has shifted" and stop providing safe havens to terrorists on its soil, US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis has said.Mattis told members of the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday that the Trump administration is being very clear and firm in what it expects from Pakistan and is using all aspects of the government to bring about the change, working internationally.[ US has given "one more chance" to Pakistan to mend its ways !

"There are a number of lines of effort being put together now in Secretary of Treasury's office, Secretary of State's office, my own office, the intel agencies. We are also working with Secretary General Stoltenberg to ensure that NATO's equities are brought to bear," Mattis said responding to a question on why would Pakistan change its mind on terrorist safe havens this time.

He said that the Trump administration believes that it would be highly difficult to sustain any stabilisation in South Asia, not just in Afghanistan, but certainly anywhere around Pakistan and India unless safe havens are removed.Mattis was responding to questions from lawmakers who wanted to know why the administration believes that Pakistan will change its behaviour this time.

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Trump has said that he would change the US approach to Pakistan, which continues to harbour militants and terrorists who target US service members and officials, said Senator John McCain, Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. "But we still do not know what specific steps the United States will take to convince or compel Pakistan to change its behaviour, or what costs we will impose if Pakistan fails to do so," McCain said

McCain, who is no friend of POTUS, and who is a powerful voice on behalf of Pentagon, and once a solid friend of Pakistan, is himself now beginning to have doubts about Paki sincerity

Pakistan, Mattis said has a "convoluted history" with terrorism. There can be little doubt that there have been terrorist groups that have used Pakistan as a haven for attacks outwardly, and not just towards Afghanistan.
"We've seen the attacks on India, as well. At the same time, probably few nations, perhaps none, have lost as many troops fighting terrorists as they have," he said.

Falijee · Post by **Falijee** » 06 Oct 2017 17:29

sbp-foreign-reserves-decrease-by-276-million

KARACHI – Foreign exchange reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has reached two-year low level after dropping below $14 billion.

The peak in the reserves of the SBP had been observed in October 2016 when its assets stood at $18.9 billion. However, it started falling following decline in exports and remittances.The government released about $8bn in the wake of debt servicing during fiscal year 2016-17 as it suffered a current account deficit of over $12bn.