Bharat Rakshak

"When it comes to Pakistan, the first word that comes to the mind of the Chinese is "iron brother".

highest civilian award 'Nishan-e-Pakistan'

a 19-gun salute and a guard of honour

all three services chiefs, high level civil, military officials, diplomats and ministers were present on the occasion

Gagan wrote:Each chai-nese visit is accompanied with 'gifts' for its munna.
Wonder what gifts Li biladhel is going to bring out of his hat?

Rajdeep wrote:Don’t make us punching bags: Pakistani artistes

Abhijeet Sawant: When we have stopped almost all kind of associations with Pakistan, then why not this? We don't play cricket with them, we don't have any other exchange with them. When we are building pressure on them from all quarters, then why not music as well? We are much more patient and respectful towards them than they are towards us. If they too decide to ban Indian artistes, I don't think that's going to make much of a difference. India is a growing market and we have talents from many countries coming here, but when it is a matter of self-respect, I think we should take a stand.

Kunal Ganjawala: I don't think they should be allowed, because they don't procure the correct permission to work in India. A lot of them come on tourist visas and then they work here and take the earnings from this country, which is absolutely wrong. The rules are not strong enough. A lot of Indian producers make them record in Dubai and London and release their songs here. They should not be allowed recourse to funds here, which is the tax payer's money. I don't see why they should be getting work here, period.

If Indian artistes are also banned there, it shouldn't make a difference to us because we have a very big industry. They have everything to gain from us, but we have nothing to lose. I've had many offers to go and perform in Pakistan but I have turned down each of them. I'm not interested in making money in a country which has shed blood of innocent people from many countries, including us. They are only causing us harm. Since the Partition that country has been cancerous.

Abhijit Bhattacharya: What is there in a poor country like Pakistan to offer us? They don't have a film industry, no theatres, no concerts or events. Not even cricket matches. So it has to be one way only. Ghulam Alis and Rahat Fateh Alis are totally dependent on us and our embassy and Indian money by hawala.

Palash Sen: Euphoria was denied a visa to go and perform in Pakistan last year. This is a problem with the governments, the common people have very little say in it. It's not the common man's call, it is the governments' call. It's a political issue. As a fellow artiste I don't think any artiste should be banned from playing anywhere. I would just want to ask our government as to what is the policy like - they are allowed to come and perform here but we are not allowed to go to Pakistan? I think the two governments should talk about this. What is the agenda behind these decisions, people like us will never get to know.

As per details, the agreements were signed by officials of the two countries at a ceremony held at Aiwan-e-Sadr after talks between President Asif Ali Zardari and the Chinese Prime Minister‚ Li Keqiang.The two leaders witnessed the signing ceremony.The agreements include those on economic and technical cooperation‚ boundary management system‚ Sino-Pak Border Posts and their Management System‚ satellite navigation‚ and establishment of Confucius Institute at Karachi University.

Karachi - A convoy of Chinese engineers narrowly escaped a bomb attack in Karachi Tuesday. The low-intensity explosion took place near Shireen Jinnah Colony when the convoy was passing through the red-zone. Police said the bomb, carrying 10 kilos of explosive material, was concealed in a plastic container lying in the bushes by the roadside. They said the Chinese engineers were the target but fortunately they remained safe. he bomb was detonated remotely, but Bomb Disposal Squad experts said the wires of the detonator were not done properly and the bomb went off automatically when the convoy passed by. According to a senior police official, the convoy was being escorted by Rangers officials. After the incident, a massive contingent of law enforcers reached the spot and cordoned off the entire locality. No case was registered till the filing of this report.
Meanwhile, a scrap dealer and his son were wounded in an explosion their shop in Rehri Goth.

anupmisra wrote:Now a new term by Uncle Li for pakiland: Iron Brother

View from McLeod Road: Why the Sino-Pak alliance is economically worthless

Pakistan would do well to stop having unrealistic expectations of assistance from its giant neighbour.

By Farooq Tirmizi
Published: May 22, 2013

KARACHI:

Pakistan’s leaders love using laughably outrageous metaphors in describing the country’s relationship with China, yet the truth is that this so-called alliance means almost nothing positive for the Pakistani economy.

All of Islamabad – indeed all of Pakistan – appears to be bending over backwards in laying out the red carpet to welcome Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. But the fact of the matter is that China will give Pakistan almost nothing, and this two-day trip is really only being made by the Chinese premier to avoid slapping Islamabad in the face completely, after having made his first trip abroad a three-day visit to India, in a key signal about the real shifts in Chinese foreign policy.

Pakistanis love to proclaim China as our “all-weather friend. In his last visit to China, former Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani described the relationship as “higher than mountains, deeper than oceans, stronger than steel and sweeter than honey.”

On this trip, Premier Li described the relationship as “a tree, now exuberant with abundant fruits”.

This was not him being poetic. It was delivering a message that nobody in Pakistan seems to have gotten: that China’s ties with Pakistan are not some eternal alliance of friends, but a strictly utilitarian relationship in which Beijing uses Islamabad occasionally to scare the living daylights out of the United States and India to get what it wants in its negotiations with Washington and New Delhi, and then abandons Pakistan once that transaction is completed. ....................

Clicky

Rajdeep wrote:Mobile services shut in Pakistan ahead of Chinese PM's visit
............

ramana wrote:SSridhar, Have you read Saleem Shahzad's
"Inside ALQ and Taliban"?
If so what do you think of it?

ASLAMABA D, May 22: With an ‘amiable’ government in place, Saudi Arabia is expected to extend a bailout package of about $15 billion to Pakistan’s highly indebted energy sector by supplying crude and furnace oil on deferred payment to enable it to resolve the chronic circular debt issue.A senior government official said the Saudis had been taking reasonable interest in helping out the incoming PML-N government led by Nawaz Sharif.They had extended a similar special package to Pakistan soon after it went nuclear in 1998 and faced international economic sanctions.
Between 1998 and 2002, Pakistan received $3.5 billion (Rs190 billion at the exchange rate at that time) worth of oil from Saudi Arabia on deferred payment, a major part of which was converted into grant.According to the official, as soon as the PML-N emerged as the majority party after the May 11 elections, the Saudi ambassador in Islamabad sought a briefing on the country’s oil requirements from the foreign ministry before calling on prime minister-designate Nawaz Sharif in Raiwind, Lahore.
He was immediately provided a position paper, the official said.Pakistan expects about 100,000 barrels of crude oil and about 15,000 tons of furnace oil per day from Saudi Arabia on deferred payment for three years. The amount involved works out at about $12-15bn.The facility can be utilised to reduce loadshedding in the short term and provide an opportunity in the medium term to restructure the power sector by minimising subsidies, eliminating circular debt, ensuring recovery from the public sector and reducing system losses to bring it to a self-sustainable level.“During the package period, the PML-N government can resolve the electricity crisis and develop hydropower projects through a combination of public and private investments and bagasse-based power production by the sugar industry,” he said.He said the arrangement for oil supplies on deferred payments could be further discussed during Mr Sharif’s first visit to Saudi Arabia soon after assuming the office of prime minister early next month.Pakistan’s total crude oil import is about 400,000 barrels per day and 30,000 tons of furnace oil. Its total oil import bill stands at about $15bn per annumThe official said a request for 100,000 barrels of oil and 15,000 tons per day of furnace oil had already been passed on through the Pakistan-Saudi Arabia Joint Ministerial Commission.A meeting of the commission could be convened soon after the new government assumed charge, an official said.The Saudi rulers had not taken any interest in the issue earlier ostensibly because of the chill in their relationship with the PPP government.Large political delegations taken to Saudi Arabia by the PPP government were cold-shouldered, an official said, adding that warming up of diplomatic relations with Iran and the UAE and cancellation of hunting facilities for Saudi royals had also annoyed the kingdom.The official said the breathing space provided by the likely Saudi package could also be used for renegotiating gas price with Iran for the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline to bring it down to a sustainable level.Under the gas sales and purchase price agreement, any party may seek revision of the rates in view of the cost of alternative import options one year ahead of the first gas flows scheduled to take place in December 2014.The official ruled out any possibility that the Saudi oil package could be used to persuade Pakistan to stay away from the Iranian gas import. He said the project had reached an advanced stage and involved international agreements and, therefore, backtracking was no option, but the development could give leverage to Pakistan to secure lower gas prices.

SSridhar wrote:

ramana wrote:SSridhar, Have you read Saleem Shahzad's
"Inside ALQ and Taliban"?
If so what do you think of it?

ramana, sorry, I haven't read that.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and China on Wednesday agreed to jointly work on an economic corridor for enhanced connectivity, aimed at benefiting their people and the region in general.
Talks between the two close allies were held at the Presidency during the visit of Chinese Prime Minster Li Keqiang. President Zardari described his talks with Premier Li as “excellent” and added that “our discussions focused on economic corridor and improving connectivity between Pakistan and western regions of China.” Premier Li Keqiang said both sides have decided on a long-term programme – a strategic idea for the peace and stability of the world. “We hope by pushing forward connectivity, economic corridor will become a reality for the benefit of the two people,” Li said.
President Zardari said both the countries were determined to achieve the bilateral trade target of $15 billion and have agreed to speed up work on the projects identified under the Five-Year Development Programme. The trade between the two countries has for the first time risen over $12 billion. President Zardari said, “We have also decided to press ahead with the second phase of negotiations on China-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement and start work on the China-Pakistan Agriculture Demonstration Zone.”He said the two countries discussed various connectivity proposals, including fibre optics, road and rail links and energy projects. “We also discussed long-term plans about Pakistan-China economic corridor,” he said and pointed that Pakistan greatly values its brotherly relations with China. He said friendship with China has always been the cornerstone of our foreign policy. “Our friendship with China is rooted in national consensus. This friendship is not only between the governments but also between the two peoples. It is also time tested,” the president said. President Zardari said Pakistan believes that China was an important factor of peace and stability in the region and added that China’s economic progress was an example for many countries. He said Pakistan greatly values China’s economic support and assistance. Zardari said Pakistan was willing to stand with China and work together for a peaceful, harmonious and prosperous world.
M. He termed Pakistan-China friendship a valuable asset and said it was something not affected by change of a government and politics.He said the purpose his visit to Pakistan was to cement friendship between the two countries that has been nurtured by successive leaders and the people of the two countries. Premier Li said regular meetings between the leaders would help deepen and further consolidate their ties. He, however, stressed that consolidating the strategic cooperation needs to be backed by concrete actions and mentioned the witnessing of agreements on economic and cultural cooperation between the two countries.

Jhujar wrote:Pakistan, China pledge to stand united at all costs

Peregrine wrote:.
The Case of the 49 Terroristani Lotas

Cheers

Gunmen shot dead five people, including four prostitutes, in Pakistan's troubled Balochistan province Thursday morning, police said.

Elsewhere in the province, a car bomb blast killed 12 people, including six police officers.

ramana wrote:vivek, Its Shekhar Gupta. What else you expect from that moron? He once told KS garu"You South Indians want us Punjabis (Pakjabis and Indian Punjabis of which he thinks he is a fine specimen) to fight and finsh each other up"

Manu wrote:

ramana wrote:vivek, Its Shekhar Gupta. What else you expect from that moron? He once told KS garu"You South Indians want us Punjabis (Pakjabis and Indian Punjabis of which he thinks he is a fine specimen) to fight and finsh each other up"

Somewhat more stupid, as he is himself not a Punjabi but a Baniya.

Rajdeep wrote:Prostitutes gunned down in Pakistan's violence-plagued Balochistan province

Gunmen shot dead five people, including four prostitutes, in Pakistan's troubled Balochistan province Thursday morning, police said.

Elsewhere in the province, a car bomb blast killed 12 people, including six police officers.

ISLAMABAD, May 22: With an ‘amiable’ government in place, Saudi Arabia is expected to extend a bailout package of about $15 billion to Pakistan’s highly indebted energy sector by supplying crude and furnace oil on deferred payment to enable it to resolve the chronic circular debt issue.....

Between 1998 and 2002, Pakistan received $3.5 billion (Rs190 billion at the exchange rate at that time) worth of oil from Saudi Arabia on deferred payment, a major part of which was converted into grant.....

QUETTA: A powerful blast killed at least 12 people, of which eight were policemen, and injured 21 others in the Bhosa Mandi area of Quetta on Thursday morning.

Fayyaz Sumbal, the Deputy Inspector General Police, said unknown militants targeted the vehicle of police's Rapid Response Force (RRP) through a remote control bomb in Eastern Bypass area of Quetta.

He said militants had planted explosive materials in a car, which was parked on the roadside.

"When vehicle of RRF reached the spot, there was a huge blast," he said.

Sumbal said the strength of blast destroyed police vehicles and nearby buildings.

"More than 100 kgs explosives were used in the blast," an official of bomb disposal squad told Dawn.com. The injured were immediately rushed to civil hospital Quetta for medical treatment.

Emergency was imposed in hospital to ensure treatment to injured persons.

ramana wrote:The Quetta bomb blast could be militant activity as majority of killed are police. Interestingly its remote control and nost suicide bomb. Not Islamist attack.