Bharat Rakshak

The government of Pakistan's Punjab province has allocated millions of rupees in its budget for fiscal 2013-14 for the largest centre of the Jamaat-ud-Dawah, considered a front for the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Besides a grant-in-aid of over Rs 61 million for the JuD centre known as 'Markaz-e-Taiba', the provincial government has allocated Rs 350 million for setting up a "Knowledge Park" at the centre and other development initiatives.

Details of the allocations were presented in budget documents tabled in the Punjab Assembly yesterday by the PML-N government led by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.

One document stated: "Grant-in-aid to chief administrator Muridkey Markaz (is) Rs 61.35 million." The JuD's centre is located at Muridkay on the outskirts of Lahore.

In his budget speech in the assembly, Finance Minister Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman announced that the provincial government "intends to establish a Knowledge Park in Muridkey".

He said the government had allocated Rs 350 million for the park and several other initiatives in Punjab.

Shortly after the UN Security Council designated the JuD, a front for the LeT in the wake of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, the Punjab government took over the centre in Muridkey.

At that time too, Punjab was ruled by the PML-N. Since then, the government has allocated money in its annual budget for the administration of the centre in Muridkey.

In 2009-10, the government provided more than Rs 82 million for the administration of JuD facilities.

In fiscal 2010-11, Chief Minister Sharif, using his discretionary powers, allocated two separate grants for JuD facilities. The government granted Rs 79.77 million for six organisations at Markaz-e-Taiba and a special grant-in-aid of Rs 3 million for the JuD’s Al-Dawa School System in several districts of Punjab.

Officials have said in the past that the allocations were needed to continue "welfare services" provided by the JuD’s schools, dispensaries and hospitals across the province of 90 million.

In the past, the Punjab government defended its decision of allocating money to the JuD by saying the grants had been awarded for the administrator of the Markaz-e-Toiba.

There is no formal ban on the JuD and its chief, Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, lives freely in Lahore despite a 10-million dollar bounty offered for him by the US.

LONDON: Britain and America shocked Pakistan and its allies at the 23rd regular session of the United Nations Human Rights Council’s general debate in Geneva on 7 June when the two countries clearly supported nationalist leader Mehran Marri, Balochistan’s representative to the UN, who spoke against the recent elections and alleged that Pakistan was committing rights abuses in Balochistan.

SSridhar wrote:shyamd, AFAIK, there is nothing that I have seen in open literature that spoke of any such visit. The Pakis, for sometime now, have been concentrating on Russia, which is quite understandable as well in not only the overall Af-Pak context but also in the Balochistan context.

ISLAMABAD : The Pakistan Peoples Party on Tuesday sought a clear-cut policy from the government on the multi-billion dollar Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project and the energy crisis.

Former federal minister Syed Naveed Qamar cautioned the government about the consequences of scrapping the project and said Pakistan would have to pay billions of rupees to Iran if it did not fulfill its obligations.

The government must complete the project before December 2014 or face penalties, he said

Addressing the National Assembly, Qamar asked “Will the US pay our fines?” and then answered his own question: “nothing like this will happen.”

The project is vital for Pakistan as it is the only solution to the energy crisis, Qamar said while advising the government to pursue the project.

He also urged the government to formally announce its policy on the IP gas pipeline in clear terms as there were many suspicions. “The government should decide whether to please the US and Saudi Arabia or to implement the IP gas pipeline project in the national interest,” he added.

The security forces also claimed to have killed at least four attackers as a search operation is ongoing in the area.

"I have done my diploma in civil engineering but failed to find a job. At most of the places Islamic religious leaders have passed decrees (fatwas) to consider Muslims first for jobs," said Dilraj, a refugee. All the males among them have good literacy level. They all have studied up to Class XII and a few of them even have M Sc degree.

Anujan wrote: The problem with selling LNG is that next they will ask for credit and then loan forgiveness. If we cut the gas off, everyone will go "Jeeehaaaarrddd!! Plebiscite to determine where LNG wants to go!! Solidarity of pindi channa gas with natural gas!!!"

India on Wednesday expressed concern at millions of rupees allocated by the government of Pakistan’s Punjab province to Jamat-ud-Dawa, saying New Delhi would “carefully” analyse the matter before taking it up with Islamabad.

“I have seen the budget provision that have been made for the Markaz-e-Taiba [the largest centre of the Jamat]. It’s only a budget that has been presented. {What does Salman Kurshud mean by that ? He isn't aware of the earlier gifts of such funds through the budget. He isn't aware of the state support, especially the ruling PML-N in the Punjab, or LeT/JuD. Is he fit enough to be our Foreign Minister ?} We have time on our side and we will look into it carefully,” External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said here.

‘Will take up the matter with Pakistan’

Mr. Khurshid, who is on a two-day visit to Iraq, said: “As advised by the agencies concerned, we will take up the matter with Pakistan.” Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the parent body of the banned terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba that carried out the 2008 attacks, has been allocated Rs. 61 million in the budget for the current fiscal.

SSridhar wrote:Pakistan's Punjab Government Allocates Millions for JuD - New Indian Express

abhijitm wrote:After watching floods in north India pakis must be throwing up their nuts all over.

abhishek_sharma wrote:The dark side of foreign policy: Khaled Ahmed

An important book questions Pakistan's view of the world, and the state that shapes it

11:34 AM Afghan, Pakistan envoys clash at UNSC meet:
Top diplomats from Afghanistan and Pakistan engaged in verbal sparring during a discussion on cross-border terrorism and presence of terrorist safe havens, at the United Nations Security Council.

"The fact remains: so long as terrorist sanctuaries continue to exist in Pakistan's soil and some elements continue to use terrorism as an instrument of foreign policy, peace will not prevail, neither in Afghanistan, nor in the region," Afghan Ambassador to the UN, Zahir Tanin, told the 15-member body during a special Security Council discussion on Afghanistan, on Thursday.

"We also are very concerned with ongoing border shelling; this constitutes a serious threat to Afghan sovereignty and the prospect of friendly relations between our two countries," Tanin said referring to the recent exchange of fire across the Af-Pak border.

Pakistani Ambassador to the UN, Masood Khan, later was sharper in his response.

"I reject most emphatically Ambassador Tanin's argument -- root, trunk and branch -- that terrorist sanctuaries exist in Pakistan and some elements continue to use terrorism as an instrument of foreign policy," Khan said.

"No, sir, this is not true; and you know this is not true. And this is not good diplomacy. By using such arguments, you cast aspersions on our sincerity," he said

"In Pakistan, we do not operate as elements, but as a whole, as one state. All institutions of the state have consensus that terrorism is a threat to both Pakistan and Afghanistan and therefore both countries should work together to eliminate this scourge," Khan said.

Anujan wrote:

abhishek_sharma wrote:The dark side of foreign policy: Khaled Ahmed

An important book questions Pakistan's view of the world, and the state that shapes it

The article is excellent. Please read it.

ISLAMABAD : The Supreme Court on Friday declared the 1% increase in general sales tax (GST) introduced as part of the budget 2013-14 null and void, Express News reported.

PESHWAR: A suicide bomber blew himself up at a local seminary during Friday prayers, killing at least three people and injuring dozens more, Geo News reported.

Heavy contingent of police rushed to the spot and cordoned off the area, following the incident.

DSP Chamkani, Shaukat Khan confirms that the explosion at the Madrasah Hussainia was caused by a suicide bomber who entered the seminary through the back door.

According to reports, gunshots were also heard before the explosion, which took place in the outskirts of the provincial capital.

As far as images go, there are other choices. If we wish to be current, we could use photographs of graveyards: those where the Hazaras lie buried; others where the bodies of the 15 determined, confident young women students of the Sardar Bahadur Khan Women’s University in Quetta were laid to rest by distraught relatives as well as those where ten more persons killed in the subsequent attack on the Bolan Medical Complex have been interred. The Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has claimed responsibility for this act of insanity. It is impossible to understand why this evil force is not acted against. Who prevents this from happening and why? These too are questions that need answers.

Perhaps the barren mountains of Chaghai, where the country’s nuclear bomb was tested in 1998, could also be considered for a place of honour when images from Balochistan are required. In the interests of preserving the truth, besides this picture the text should say that the Baloch people still ask why the millions spent on developing this weapon could not have been used to alleviate some of their misery, while from Chaghai itself vague reports still come in of the effects of radioactivity on livestock and humans. Any investigation into this has not happened; it has not been allowed to happen – with even those journalists attempting to look into accounts from the area swiftly scared off. This, of course, raises own suspicions.

Narad wrote:So a jumma chumma blast?? Score is likely to increase as there were at least 300 shiates attending the gathering.

two attackers were prevented from entering the complex while one managed to enter the Imambargah

belonging to the Shia sect

six to seven kilograms of high intensity explosives and four kilograms of pellets were used in the blast

krishnan wrote:

11:34 AM Afghan, Pakistan envoys clash at UNSC meet:
"I reject most emphatically Ambassador Tanin's argument -- root, trunk and branch -- that terrorist sanctuaries exist in Pakistan and some elements continue to use terrorism as an instrument of foreign policy," Khan said.

SSridhar wrote:Peregrine ji, if even a 1% raise is declared 'null & void' by the SC, then where is the scope for comprehensive tax reforms that the IMF has been demanding for five years now ?

As an aside, who is ruling TSP today ? Is it the SC or the Parliament or the PA ?

He further questioned why would people look up to the parliament if the rulers kept imposing taxes on them.

Responding to the AG’s plea, Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry observed that the federal government should collect increased rates of taxes but only after getting its decision approved from the parliament through an act.

The chief justice said the Ogra would have to justify before the court the collection of 9% tax besides 16% GST.

abhishek_sharma wrote:The dark side of foreign policy: Khaled Ahmed

An important book questions Pakistan's view of the world, and the state that shapes it

Khan knew that the ISI's support of the "charismatic" mujahideen was based not on any strategic analyses, but on "reverse indoctrination", something that haunts the GHQ in Rawalpindi, where the army chief may at times be scared of his own officers. Soon, the army chiefs of Pakistan became convinced that if they tried to get rid of the non-state actors-turned terrorists they could get killed.