Tuesday 31 July 2012

PAKISTAN-DAILY BRIEF NEWS: LATEST NEWS UPDATE: 01.08.2012

PAKISTAN-DAILY BRIEF NEWS: LATEST NEWS UPDATE: 01.08.2012: Pakistan has moved away from strategic depth approach: Olson WASHINGTON: US ambassador-designate to Pakistan Richard Olson on Tuesd...

LATEST NEWS UPDATE: 01.08.2012



Pakistan has moved away from strategic depth approach: Olson

WASHINGTON: US ambassador-designate to Pakistan Richard Olson on Tuesday said Islamabad has moved away from the old concept of finding strategic depth in Afghanistan as he stressed encouragement for the positive development in the South Asian country’s strategic thinking.
Appearing in his confirmation hearing, Olson, who until recently served as a senior diplomat in Kabul, cited to Capitol Hill Pakistani actions as well as the avowed policy statements by its leaders to move away from the old thinking.
“On the question of, this has been a doctrine that Pakistanis over the years have talked about strategic depth and, one of the ideas that Afghanistan represents strategic depth against a potential conflict with India.
“My sense is that the Pakistani military and Pakistani government has moved away from that.”
The Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar has made some public comments about moving away from the doctrine of strategic depth,” he noted, when Republican Senator on the Foreign Relations Committee Bob Corker sought Olson’s views on the issue.
Senator Corker from Tennessee raised the issue when he referred to the question of Pakistan’s (past) quest for strategic depth in the region and concerns about Indian influence in Afghanistan.
In his reply, the ambassador-designate also referred to Pakistan’s military steps toward that end.
“Chief of the Army Staff Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has redeployed his forces internally to deal with the internal threat, and heavily towards the border (with Afghanistan) to deal with the threats emanating from that region.”
“So, I think there is a basis at a strategic level for some further discussion with the Pakistanis. I think these are frankly positive developments that we would like to encourage, as Pakistan looks to its strategic position.”
The comments came days after Pakistan’s Ambassador to Washington Sherry Rehman strongly advocated to a major security forum that Pakistan has no desire to treat Afghanistan as its strategic backyard.
In his comments, Olson also underlined that “it is important that discussion (on such issues) take place against the context of some predictability in the overall (US-Pakistan) relationship.”
As ambassador, the career diplomat said, he would hope to bring to the relationship some sense that the US wants to replace a transitional relationship with a long-term ties with Pakistan.
In this respect, he noted that the US assistance for Pakistan help demonstrate that “our relationship is not short-term but long-term.”
Senator John Kerry, who presided over the hearing as chairman of the influential panel, said Pakistan has suffered grievously in the fight against terror.
Kerry saw realisation in both Islamabad and Washington that both sides stand to gain from a middle ground on issues and cooperative ties.
In reference to Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States Sherry Rehman’s diplomatic efforts, Kerry, the former Democratic presidential candidate described his meeting with the envoy in positive light and welcomed the reopening of key Pakistani ground lines of communication into landlocked Afghanistan.

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·       Olympic: Pakistan to clash with Argentina




Business News:
EXCHANGE FOR CURRENCY NOTES:

U.S.A              95.65
S.Arabia         25.50
U.K                 150.37
Japan              1.2233
Euro               117.49
U.A.E                26.04



BULLION RATES IN RUPEES PER 10 GRAMS
KARACHI
Gold Tezabi (24-ct)    Rs 49,157
Silver Tezabi              Rs 805.71

OGRA hikes POL, CNG prices
ISLAMABAD: The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) has issued a notification of POL and CNG price hike effective from today for the next fortnight.
Earlier, the government on the advice of Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) had approved an increase in the prices of petroleum products.
According to the notification, the price of petrol has been raised by Rs7.67 per litre to Rs93.79, diesel by Rs4.58 to Rs101.79 and HOBC has become expensive by Rs7.64 per litre to Rs120.16.
The price of Kerosene oil has been raised by Rs4.64 per litre to Rs92.83.

Tue, 31 Jul 2012

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POL prices to increase at midnight
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MOHAMMED SALEEM MANSOORI

Monday 30 July 2012

LATEST NEWS UPDATE:31.07.2012




Pakistan to push for intelligence sharing at U.S. talks

DUBAI: Pakistan's spy chief will call for an end to U.S. military drone strikes in its tribal areas bordering Afghanistan and push for a sharing of technology and intelligence during a visit to Washington this week, the country's interior minister said.

But indications are that Islamabad's demands for a halt to drone attacks may receive a less-than-sympathetic hearing from top Obama administration officials.

Pakistani Lieutenant-General Zaheer ul-Islam's visit to meet CIA director General David Petraeus will be his first since he became head of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in March and follows a thaw in relations between Pakistan and the United States.

Pakistan, however, continues to insist that U.S. drone strikes -- which it says are a breach of its territorial sovereignty -- must end.

"We will push for no drones. If we (Pakistan and the U.S.) are partners, we should sit together and have a common strategy. However, in this regional war there has been no common strategy against a common enemy," Interior Minister Rehman Malik told a news conference in Dubai.

"I hope the visit of the director of the ISI will have good results. There is some dialogue going on as we speak," he said.

The United States has given no sign it is willing to halt the drone strikes.

In fact, U.S. officials signal there will be little, if any, change in U.S. counter-terrorism activity in Pakistan and the region.

"Let's not lose sight of the issue here. Al-Qaeda and its militant allies are violating Pakistan's sovereignty by using its territory to plot and carry out attacks," a U.S. official said. "Aggressive counterterrorism operations are what's frustrating al-Qaeda and pushing their leadership to the brink."

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also reiterated U.S. concerns about the extent of Pakistan efforts to confront militants -- including the Haqqani network and the Pakistani Taliban, known as the TTP -- in loosely-governed tribal areas along the country's mountainous border with Afghanistan.

"Everyone wants the Pakistanis to accept more responsibility for taking on al-Qaeda, TTP and the Haqqanis. The problem is they have yet to show the capability -- or willingness -- to take effective action" in Pakistan's tribal areas, said the U.S. official.

The official added that while there was "always room for dialogue on how to defeat terrorist entities in the region," Pakistani authorities "need to offer some concrete ideas on how it does more against the violent Haqqanis, rather than point fingers."

But Pakistan's Malik told journalists: "Both countries have to find a midway (pont) ... This of course means intelligence-sharing. Also, give us the technology and we will use it. The U.S. has given us F-16 (fighter jets). Are we misusing it?"

Malik gave no further details, but Pakistan has long asked the United States to provide its military with its own drones for use in its tribal areas. AGENCIES

Judges in rare bid to pacify legislators

ISLAMABAD: Feeling the heat of the much-criticised remarks made by some judges, including the chief justice, over the role of the opposition in parliament during the passage of the new contempt law, the Supreme Court on Monday tried to pacify the parliamentarians and said the court always sought wisdom from them.
“They (parliamentarians) are not against us. We seek wisdom from them and when during the proceedings we read the debate made in the two houses we learn about the discussion on every aspect of the law,” observed Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry who heads a five-judge special bench hearing a set of identical petitions challenging the Contempt of Court Act, 2012.
On July 27, members of the treasury benches in Senate had expressed concern over the judges’ remarks and said the judiciary should exercise restraint in dealing with the parliament.
Earlier, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan of the PML-N had, in a hard-hitting statement, described the remarks as disappointing, unfair, unjust and beyond comprehension.
Although the opposition had walked out of the house during the vote count before the passage of the contempt law, its members had participated in the debate, the chief justice recalled.
“Some of the speeches by treasury members like Raza Rabbani and Aitzaz Ahsan were the best; even Senator Haji Mohammad Adeel spoke so well though he did not have a legal background,” Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jilani said.
“Although certain parts of Haji Adeel’s speech were very critical towards the judiciary, that’s the right of the parliamentarians,” Justice
Jawwad S. Khwaja said, adding that Articles 68 and 69 of the Constitution barred the judiciary from looking into whatever was said on the floor of parliament. “Like us they also enjoy the constitutional protection,” he said.

However, the court said it was their (parliamentarians) right to express their point of view but it should be made with decency in a respectable manner without being personal.
“The thing this country needs the most is to relive our values,” the chief justice observed. He acknowledged that things had started improving which was evident from the fact that members of civil society had approached the Supreme Court by filing petitions against the
new contempt law. Pakistan Bar Council Vice-Chairman Lateef Afridi, representing the council, said the tension between the executive and the judiciary was not new in Pakistan; the difference of opinion between the two institutions had a long history and existed even in India.

“This sort of a cold war is not something new.”
“It’s kind of a hot war,” Justice Khwaja said.
The chief justice observed that it was a good thing that awareness was being created among people about their rights and they had started taking interest in parliamentary debates and judicial proceedings. “These are the issues which at the end of the day strengthen democratic order in the country,” he said, adding that discussions and debates even among people and in the media were healthy signs, a sign of changed attitude and a method to understand and evolve consensus.
Mr Afridi explained that the new contempt law was the product of a peculiar circumstance and, therefore, it should be considered against this background. Unfortunately, he said, democracy was in its infancy in Pakistan and so was the judiciary because dictators had ruled the country for more than half of its history.
Citing a number of examples from the judicial history of India, the counsel said the underlining need was to create an impression as if the Supreme Court was playing the role of a doctor and cases were brought to it like a patient for treatment.
When Justice Khilji Arif Hussain observed that people had become aware of their rights, Mr Afridi retorted that the message should be that the patient being taken to the doctor was not for killing but for treatment unless amputation of a limb was necessary because of a cancer.
Since the court had no option but to strike down the entire law for being inconsistent with the fundamental rights, he said the government should be asked to promulgate an ordinance to repeal the new contempt law and then introduce an amended law in parliament.
Advocate Shakoor Paracha, who represented the federation, informed the court that the federal government had stopped him from submitting any written statement and asked him to argue the case only on legal points.
He will commence his arguments on Tuesday.
When Shahid Orakzai was arguing the case, the chief justice observed that every person against whom a judgment was passed became the enemy of justice system. Only those people liked the judges who had received a favourable verdict in a case, he said.

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·       Pakistan to push for intelligence sharing at U.S. talks
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·       Altaf threatens to reveal names patronizing bhatta mafia
·       MQM slams govt, ANP stages Senate walkout
·       Head constable among 4 killed in Karachi
·       President Zardari orders end to unannounced power cuts
·       Petrol Pumps closed amid expected price hike

Business News:
EXCHANGE FOR CURRENCY NOTES:

U.S.A              95.45
S.Arabia         25.45
U.K                 150.06
Japan              1.2177
Euro               117.34
U.A.E             25.99


BULLION RATES IN RUPEES PER 10 GRAMS
KARACHI
Gold Tezabi (24-ct)    Rs 49,028
Silver Tezabi              Rs 797.14

  Tue, 31 Jul 2012

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Crude mixed in Asia ahead of Fed, ECB meetings
SINGAPORE: Crude was mixed in Asia Tuesday as wary traders looked to meetings this week by the Federal Reserve and

-
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TOKYO: The yen was mixed in Asian trade on Tuesday amid speculation that Japanese officials may launch another rou

-
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HONG KONG: Asian markets were generally higher Tuesday, their third consecutive positive session, amid continued h

-
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-
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ISLAMABAD: In an apparent bid to break the back of an already inflation-buffeted nation, the Oil Gas Regulatory

-
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LAHORE: Federal Minister for Petroleum, Dr Asim Hussain Monday warned the nation of acute shortage of natural gas

-
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KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Monday decided to fully utilize large network of over 10,000 branches

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HONG KONG: Asian markets rose for a second straight session Monday on hopes for new rounds of central bank stimulu

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-
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TOKYO: The euro weakened in Asian trade on Monday following gains late last week on the back of comments from Euro

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LAHORE: Thunderstorm and heavy rains affected transmission lines of the Muzaffargarh power plant by disrupting 1,7

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WASHINGTON: New figures released on Friday by the White House predict this year s federal budget deficit will end

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MOHAMMED SALEEM MANSOORI