DAILY BUSINESS NEWS IN BRIEF: 4th AUGUST,2011

Mullen’s decision to skip Pakistan signals stalemate in ties.
ISLAMABAD: Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen skipped Pakistan during his possibly last visit to the region before retiring, signalling the continuing stalemate in military relations between the two countries because of differences over counter-terrorism strategies.
The admiral visited Afghanistan last weekend and afterwards went to Iraq without a stopover in Pakistan, which would have been normally part of his trip to the region.
“We were just informed that he wouldn`t visit Pakistan. We are not aware of any reasons,” a US military official said.
Admiral Mullen, whose tenure as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff ends next month, acknowledged before embarking on the visit to Afghanistan that the military relationship, which once formed foundation of bilateral ties, was passing through a difficult phase.
However, the admiral did speak to Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani before leaving for Afghanistan. It is understood that he may have explained to him the reasons for omitting Pakistan from his itinerary.
The apparent snub by Admiral Mullen, who was once criticised for being too soft on Pakistan military, was the latest expression of US military establishment`s concerns about the contentious issues that have soured the relationship.
Earlier in July the US suspended $800 million in military aid to Pakistan, which constitutes one third of the total security assistance coming from Washington.
Pakistani military officials read Adm. Mullen`s not visiting Pakistan as an expression of displeasure over their refusal to review the decision of sending back American military trainers after the May 2 US raid in Abbottabad.
But, the chairman himself during media interviews indicated that he differed with Pakistani commanders over the timeframe for certain military operations.
For quite some time the US has been pressuring Pakistan to launch a full-scale offensive against the North Waziristan-based Haqqani network.
He had said that his main worry as he left the office was continued presence of safe havens in areas along the border from where Al Qaeda affiliates were planning to launch attacks beyond the region.
Though the continuing impasse in military relations bodes ill for normalisation of ties, military officers say they are encouraged by US envoy Marc Grossman`s statement that Washington will take Pakistan along in its reconciliation efforts in Afghanistan.
After his meeting with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Wednesday, Mr Grossman was quoted in a statement issued by the PM`s office as having said the US did not contemplate any reconciliation process in Afghanistan without Pakistan.
The prime minister said it was extremely important for Pakistan to have a sovereign, stable and prosperous Afghanistan as it was in the best interest of the country and the region.
Mr Gilani said he was pleased that his idea of three Ds (Dialogue, Development and Deterrence) was being considered by the international community as a way forward to achieve security and stability through economic development.
Responding to the apprehensions expressed by Mr Gilani that Pakistan might again suffer the negative fallout of the Afghan crisis, Ambassador Grossman assured the prime minister that the US would not commit the same mistake of abandoning Pakistan.
President to hold talks with political forces on Karachi situation
ISLAMABAD: The coalition partners in Sindh government authorised President Asif Ali Zardari to hold negotiations with political forces for bringing peace to Karachi by taking appropriate administrative and law and order measures.
The coalition partners took the decision in three back to back meetings held here at President House on Wednesday on the situation in Karachi.
Spokesperson to the President Farhatullah Babar said that the decision authorising the President to hold political negotiations was taken at the first in the series of meetings of the Sindh cabinet comprising of provincial ministers belonging to PPP, ANP, PML-Q and PML-Functional and chaired by President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani.
The meeting reiterated the government's resolve to restore peace in Karachi at all costs and to bring the culprits to justice regardless of their affiliations, if any.
The meeting that lasted for over two hours was attended among others by Federal Minister for Interior A. Rehman Malik, Federal Minister for Commerce Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Senator Dr Babar Awan, Chief Minister Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah, and members of Sindh cabinet belonging to all coalition parties in the province.
Matters concerning law and order situation, coalition matters and performance of various provincial ministries were discussed during the meeting.
The President during the meeting called upon all the political forces to complement the government's efforts in bringing peace and normalcy to the city and to bring the criminal elements to justice.
He said, "we believe in taking along all the political forces on the issues of national importance and would continue to do so in future also. He said Karachi was not only the economic hub of the country but also a factor of social and political stability and had international significance.
The President called for emergent administrative, political and law and order measures to bring peace to Karachi.
Addressing the coalition partners the President said, "We have to resolve this issue ourselves and at the earliest keeping in view the importance of this city and its role in the economy of the country.
The representatives of coalition parties also spoke on the situation in Karachi and put forth various suggestions to address problem of peace and security in the city.
Home Minister Sindh Manzoor Hussain Wasan and Chief Minister Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah briefed the meeting about the recent situation in Karachi and the steps taken so far to restore peace.
Briefing the meeting, Chief Minister Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah said that police and rangers were fully prepared and motivated to maintain peace in Karachi.
The President said that the meeting was very important which could be gauged from the fact that the issue was being debated almost simultaneously in the National Assembly and he had convened it in the month of Ramadan at a short notice. Fateha was also offered for innocent people who have lost their lives during the recent wave of killings in Karachi.
Farhatullah Babar said that the larger meeting of coalition partners was followed by another meeting of the President with the PPP Ministers in the province during which not only the subject of peace in Karachi was taken up further but the performance of various PPP ministers was also reviewed.
On a question by the President about the implementation of his previous directives to release funds for strengthening the provincial police the provincial finance minister informed that the first instalment of Rs 450 million from five billion rupees package for revamping Sindh police had been released.
The President directed that the remaining amount should also be progressively released to meet the police demands for vehicles, APCs, bullet proof jackets, helmets, weapons and other accessories, he said.
Yet another smaller meeting, the third in the series, was held soon thereafter to further fine tune the proposals in the first meeting to carry out negotiations with all political forces and take other measures for bringing normalcy to Karachi.
The meeting presided over by the President was attended by Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Federal Minister for Commerce, CM Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Senator Babar Awan, Home Minister Manzoor Hussain Wassan, Minister for Finance Syed Murad Ali Shah, Minister for Works Zulfiqar Ali Mirza, Minister for Law Muhammad Ayaz Soomro, Minister for Irrigation Jam Saifullah Khan Dharejo, Minister for Local Government Agha Siraj Khan Durrani and Spokesperson to the President Farhatullah Babar.



BRIEF NEWS:
 Altaf Hussain calls army intervention
 6 more killed as rangers conduct search operation
 Reconciliation process in Afghanistan
 Karachi violence continues to dominate National Assembly
 SC takes notice of government’s failure to remove PCO judges






Business News

Thu, 4 August 2011 07:46:00 +0000

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MOHAMMED SALEEM MANSOORI