* CDA to enforce environ laws soon
* Environment Directorate to be authorised to issue tickets for violation
* Fine amount to range from Rs 100-Rs 100,000
By Fazal Sher
The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has notified Environmental Protection Regulations 2008 and will enforce them shortly to check growing environmental violations in the metropolis, CDA Environment Protection Cell (EPC) Deputy Director Sajjad Shah told Daily Times on Tuesday. Continue reading »
Prior to Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani’s departure for the US, a detailed meeting on Pakistan-US relations covering security matters was at the Prime Minister’s House and it was attended among other key officials, by the army chief and the director-general of the ISI. Asif Zardari, the man now with the last word on most key government decisions was also present In the said meeting. His political appointee, the National Security Advisor – a retired general, security analyst well-known to the Bush team and to President Pervez Musharraf and Gilani’s fellow traveller to the US – was also present. Continue reading »
Asif Ezdi
Since public attention has been focused on the havoc wreaked by eight years of the Musharraf dictatorship on the institutions of state, the dismal record of his foreign policy has largely escaped notice. The India-US nuclear deal, now in the final stages of its completion, is just one of the many foreign policy debacles that the country owes to Musharraf. When President Clinton visited India and Pakistan in March 2000 shortly after Musharraf’s military coup, the British weekly Economist wrote: Continue reading »
Is the new political setup really so naïve and clumsy as we are being made to believe by absurd acts of bungling, such as those relating to the prime minister’s broadcast on national television and the whole “control of the ISI-IB” episode? It simply cannot be so, which leads one to assume that such actions hide a more devious intent. For one, both these incidents show an undermining of the office of the prime minister – elected by the people and their representatives in Parliament. It is as if the unelected political string-pullers want to keep the prime minister weak and powerless. Continue reading »
A diet rich in oily fish, which contains omega 3 fatty acids, may be why middle-aged men in Japan have fewer problems with clogged arteries than white men and men of Japanese descent in the United States, a study has found.
Continue reading »
FOLLOWING the announcement of admission policy 2008, the Punjab University on Tuesday announced the admission procedure.
According to a press statement, the decision was taken at a meeting of the Admission Committee under the chairmanship of Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran. Continue reading »
By Ansar Abbasi
Country’s security establishment, often working quietly behind the scene and more often working at odds with elected political power players, has started raising serious doubts about the competence and even credentials of the present ruling set-up, implicitly warning that things may not go on for long if they do not improve.
Continue reading »
Strange as it may seem, it has emerged upon reflection that what is happening in Pakistan, may be chaotic from a practical perspective, but there is gradually emerging a pattern of clearly designed goals behind the PPP-led administration policies. It would seem that Zardari by intelligent use of the opportunistic circumstances has ensured the attainment of three fundamental goals to keep himself in power and by a corresponding strangulation of potential adversaries’ capacity to challenge. Continue reading »
These are defining times for Pakistan and powerful international players like the US, and call for cool reflection on how best to cooperate meaningfully toward mutual advantage rather than drift and diverge to incapacitate ourselves Continue reading »
In 2007 alone, the US diverted 54 million tonnes of maize to produce bio-ethanol. Even the EU used 2.85 million hectares to grow rapeseed oil and other crops for bio-fuels Continue reading »
WAJID NAEEMUDDIN
ARTICLE (July 29 2008): By the time this appears in print, the much heralded meeting between US President Bush and Pakistan PM Gilani will probably have taken place. At the moment one can only marvel at the baggage (I do not mean the bags and suitcases, the extra large entourage accompanying the PM is carrying) the Pak team carries. Continue reading »
ITRAT BASHIR
LAHORE (July 29 2008): The Punjab government is planning to float bonds worth Rs 10 to Rs 15 billion in the domestic market for funding of provincial projects. Punjab Finance Department sources told Business Recorder on Monday that the government had decided to raise money through bonds after it lost the World Bank Budgetary Support Loan of US $300 million (around Rs 22 billion) for the current fiscal year. Continue reading »
Once again, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA), on the approval of the federal government, announced an extraordinary increase in fuel products for the fifth time. The prices of gasoline, high octane, blended fuel, kerosene and high-speed diesel were increased by Rs10.97, Rs11.25, Rs8.20, Rs7.23 and Rs9.50 per litre respectively. Continue reading »
Anjum Niaz
“The prime minister is here,” announced an American protocol officer in a flat voice. We made a spirited dash outside. Up in the sky that sunny afternoon in June, our hearts thumped with national pride as we saw streaking across the blue sky a big white bird. As it began its descent, we could see clearly the Pakistani flag fluttering atop the plane, holding high the crescent and the star. The sight swelled our pride. Continue reading »
It’s not democracy’s fault. So something has to be wrong with Pakistani politicians. Consider the magnificent blunder of removing an army chief midair and ordering the pilot to land in India. Or – even better – picking Saturday night to neutralize one of the formidable spy agencies of the world, the ISI. Continue reading »