The number of Chinese companies in Pakistan has plummeted to about 60, involved in 122 projects, from about 145 private businesses in 2003.
Pakistani authorities have detected extensive massive misuse of the FTAs signed between the countries, involving importers who submit wrong "certificates of origin" to clear non-Chinese made goods from Pakistani ports. The extent of this misuse has yet to be determined.
Pakistan army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani on Tuesday escaped an attempt on his life when Taliban militants fired rockets at an area in South Waziristan tribal agency shortly after his visit to the troubled region. The militants fired at least four rockets in Laddha area as soon Kayani left the
area, Geo News reported.
A media team covering the army chief's visit had to hide in a bunker.
No casualties were reported in the incident.
Soon after the attack, security personnel retaliated with gunfire, the channel reported.
There was no official word on the incident.
+1Gagan wrote:Point #1 to be noted: The good Jernail was probably miles away when some ISI Kernail gave the signal to the talibs to begin the fireworks.
Point #2 to be noted: The Journalists were there to witness first hand the fireworks, and they had to hide in bunkers and soil their salwars.
1+2= That is one certified 'attempt against his life' badge to add to the list of accomplishments of Kayani. But as I see it, Mushy had at least 3 to his credit, so Kiyani has some way to go to climb the sympathy ladder in the west.
:Nicolas Sarkozy launches attack on Pakistan over terrorist safe havens
Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, launched a fierce attack on Pakistan during his visit to India, accusing Islamabad of allowing terrorist groups to form safe havens in its territory.
Dean Nelson in New Delhi 2:21PM GMT 07 Dec 2010
Mr Sarkozy said terrorist groups were free to launch attacks on India and Nato troops in Afghanistan from Pakistan. …………………..
He said: "It is unacceptable that India's security can be threatened by groups of terrorists acting from neighbouring countries.
"It is unacceptable for Afghanistan and for our troops that the Taliban and al-Qaeda find safe haven in the border regions of Pakistan. We know the price that the Pakistani people are paying for terrorism. But it is unacceptable for the world that terrorist acts should be masterminded and carried out by terrorist groups in Pakistan," he said.
The Pakistani authorities must "step up their efforts and show that they are resolute in combating these criminals," he added, and pledged unlimited counter-terrorist co-operation with India. ………………….
Telegraph
The writer is Professor Emeritus of Poakology, Sociology and Anthropology at Algoma University, Canada. He can be reached at [email protected]While the factors singled out in such explanations have no doubt contributed to the dismal record of economic and social development in South Asia, I would suggest that there is yet another and more fundamental impediment to material progress in the region. This impediment consists of the uniquely South Asian phenomenon of structural inequality built into the fabric of the entire subcontinental society. Although the mainstream social science literature on development bypasses this deep-rooted structural feature of the subcontinental South Asian society, it is well recognised in the writings of politically active intellectuals and socially conscious academics, particularly those who have lived and worked in any of the south Asian countries.
It is significant to note that Jawaharlal Nehru was strongly convinced that India will never be genuinely free unless its leaders addressed the country’s age-old problem of inequality going back to Vedic times. In his 1929 presidential address to the Lahore session of the Indian National Congress he observed, “Great as was the success of India in evolving a stable society, she failed in a vital particular, and because she failed in this, she fell and remains fallen. No solution was found for the problem of inequality. India deliberately ignored this and built up its social structure on inequality.”
That structural inequality observed by Nehru was obviously a reference to the unique caste system of the subcontinent, which, combined with the evolving class system of the urbanising industrial cities, remains pervasive and heavily in place even today. After independence Indian legislators placed certain clauses in the preamble of the constitution prohibiting discrimination on the basis of caste, but this remains no more than a paper declaration. In Pakistan the existence of the caste system is altogether denied on the ground that in its philosophical rationale and ritual practices it is a distinctly Hindu institution. However, it is impossible to visualise Muslims of the subcontinent in isolation from their Hindu ancestral and cultural heritage, the people with whom they have lived in close contact for centuries.
The building blocks of the caste system of inequality — the hereditary division of labour, the zaat endogamy, restrictions on intermixing, and status hierarchies — are as well established and strong in Muslim Pakistan as in Hindu India. There is also the matter of retribution for crossing the caste boundaries illustrated so poignantly in the now world-famous case of Mukhtaran Mai. A young woman of Pakistan’s southern Punjab village belonging to the lower kami zaat, Mukhtaran was gang-raped by upper zaat Mastoi men because they suspected her brother to be consorting with a girl of their lineage. I have no systematic data but it will be no surprise if beliefs in caste superiority are also behind the increasing incidence of honour killings in Pakistan as the traditional patterns of gender segregation becomes less practical to enforce under changing economic and demographic pressures.
Indo-Pak talks
Sir: I am writing in reference to Dr Hasan-Askari Rizvi’s article, ‘Countering terrorism through Indo-Pak talks’ (Daily Times, December 5, 2010). He has brought forth several debatable points.
One, that India’s so-called coercive diplomacy after the 2001 Indian parliament attack failed to produce the desired results for India. On the contrary, it did induce quite a few important changes in Pakistan. General Musharraf gave a solemn assurance, not only to India, but also to the world community, in an address that was telecast on January 12, 2002, where he said that Pakistani soil would not be used for terrorist attacks against India. On the same day, Pakistan did declare Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and Jaish-e-Mohammed as banned terrorist organisations. These were the two terrorist outfits that jointly executed the Indian parliament attack.
Two, India once again moved its troops to the border after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks in 2008. Indian troops were never moved after 26/11 because India decided to use other approaches to mount pressure on Pakistan especially since nationals from the US and other western countries were also massacred in the attacks. The recent WikiLeaks documents also confirm this fact.
Three, the equation between the Indian insistence on Pakistani action against terrorism and Pakistan’s single-minded obsession with Kashmir bears looking at. Terrorism, especially as a state policy, is universally condemned. Again, while courts of law may understandably take their own time due to procedural reasons, it is India’s perception that the Pakistani establishment is less than purposeful in engaging with India on the terrorism issue. Therefore, when one equates the resolution of the Kashmir issue with terrorism, it seems to connote that unless the Kashmir issue is resolved, terror will continue.
SUMMARY: On May 26, Codel Schiff — US Representatives Adam Schiff and Allyson Schwartz — met Pakistan People`s Party (PPP) Co-Chairman Asif Zardari, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, NSA Ambassador Mahmud Ali Durrani and Ambassador-designate to the US Husain Haqqani. {Bunch of High profile pakistani beggers}
Zardari thanked the Codel for USG (US government) support of credible national elections. As he has previously, he committed Pakistan to the war on terror, insisting this was Pakistans fight. He argued more needed to be done by the US and international community to promote economic development in the Frontier (Province).
Building on that point, Zardari suggested a new blend of USG assistance, increasing aid to “civilian forces” like the police and promoting civilian engagement.
Zardari advocated attacking the root cause of radical insurgency: economic under-development. He lobbied the Representatives to quickly take up and pass reconstruction opportunity zone (ROZ) legislation. There should be US tax breaks for companies producing “made in Pakistan products, noting that Pakistans textile industry would be more competition to other countries than to US manufacturers.
Without creating more jobs, Pakistan just could not match the Taliban`s reported USD 300 per month to tribals in the frontier regions.
He quickly added that military aid was still badly needed but more should also go to “civilian forces”, e.g., police.
USG assistance should support social development, e.g., more higher education scholarships to Pakistanis studying in the US All in all, he wanted to see more civilian engagement than military-to-military exchanges.
Zardari also said he wanted the UN (with support from the US and other western countries) to establish a compensatory fund for the families of the victims of terrorist acts.
More begging, this time for duty free access to US marketsNarad wrote:Begging continues
Pakistan needs greater trade access in the USA and EU markets in order to fight against terrorism, joblessness and corruption, said Javed Chinoy, Chairman Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association. “If we can overcome and win these internal wars, external threats will be much easier to handle and win, which will be beneficial for the whole world,” he said while speaking at the Career Development Centre for garment industry at Pakistan Readymade Garments Technical Institute facilitated by USAID.
He said the programme for skill training of garment units’ workers by USAID would be a milestone towards getting better price and quality of Pakistani products in the world markets. He argued small steps such as EU’s diluted duty free access {Suddenly, earlier response to begging have become small steps. BTW, why does a Pakistani think that the rest of the world is dutybound to provide them all sorts of assistance even as they go about unleashing terrorism all over the world ?} or the ROZs scheme would not be sufficient. These ROZs are designated in areas where even the senior government officials and ministers are not willing to go. {That was exactly the point. This Paki is trying to turn the concept of ROZ on its head. The very reason for ROZ to be located in FATA is to give them employment as demanded by Pakistan !} “What we need is to bring these ROZs and trade and duty concessions that go along with it to the cities {that is a back door approach for concessions beyond agreed} , where these unemployed and trained youth will be available. Even if Pakistan’s total value added exports to USA gets doubled due to this — from $4 billion to $8.00 — which is highly unlikely in the short run as we neither have the capacities to make it nor the trained human resource to handle it, the total duty impact to USA would be only $640 million.
KOHAT: A bomb in a market in a town in northwest Pakistan killed at least 12 people on Wednesday, police said.
Twenty people were also injured in the attack which took place in the crowded Tirah Bazaar.
It was planted in a small passenger bus parked at a bus stand, said police official Mohammad Jehangir, citing initial reports.
Television channels said the attack may have been carried out by a suicide bomber.
My best compliments to the iedia of Pakistanshravan wrote:Blast kills at least 15 people in market in Kohat in Pakistan's northwest.
ajit_tr wrote:Kayani escapes Taliban rocket attackPakistan army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani on Tuesday escaped an attempt on his life when Taliban militants fired rockets at an area in South Waziristan tribal agency shortly after his visitto the troubled region. The militants fired at least four rockets in Laddha area as soon Kayani left the area, Geo News reported.
Rahul, thanks. The Bush warning link is not working, though the link url is correct. May be, the story has been removed.Rahul M wrote:SS, I've added your links on pak admission of terror as state policy in opening post. please check and edit as required.
You mean IEDia of TSP? (notice the CAPS!)ramana wrote:From next year I want a new thread prompted by shiv's title
Iedia of TSP where we collate all the reports of IEDs in TSP in one place and not just in this thread where we lose the picture.
