Jan 312009
LARKANA: Sindh National Front chief Mumtaz Ali Bhutto said on Friday that Fatima Bhutto would run for NA-207 in the next general elections.Outsourcing security-Ayesha Siddiqa
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Jan 312009
THE lashkars in the tribal areas are being touted as a great military plan to counter the Taliban. The governor of the Frontier province, Owais Ghani, for instance, was of the view that the lashkars would create minimal social disturbance, because the battle would appear to be waged by the local population rather than foreign forces.
The plan has been endorsed by Centcom commander Gen Petraeus who probably views this strategy as workable. Since it is being used in Iraq, it is being employed in Pakistan’s tribal areas as well. Continue reading »
Jan 312009
By Dushka H. Saiyid
THAT the world changed with the departure of Bush was borne out by Obama’s words at his inaugural address when he said, “Our founding fathers … drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man … those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience’s sake.”
This is what distinguishes the western civilisation from what the Taliban and Osama are selling: it underscores the supremacy of the rule of law, and its cornerstone, that everyone is innocent till proven guilty. It was a rejection of rendition, water-boarding and other euphemisms for the torture of prisoners, incarcerated for years without trial. It is not difficult to fathom why the US, and Britain under Blair, lost their moral leadership of the world.
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Jan 312009
Reducing justice to a crude pantomime devoid of equity and education to an expression of un-Islamic elitism, these groups rely on the most decrepit aspects of human nature to assure their own ascendancy
Early this week, the Taliban in Swat issued summons to over forty politicians asking them to appear before the sharia courts they have set up in the valley. As the Taliban have entrenched their power in the area, their courts have been busy carrying out public floggings, executions and amputations. Continue reading »
Jan 312009
The flat rate increase in the unit price of electricity beyond a certain limit should suffice to induce conservation of domestic electricity consumption, but we are also short of water. What is more, India’s continued violations of the Indus Water Treaty are likely to increase our shortages
I read the same newspapers that all citizens of this country do, but when I venture forth from home, it seems that either nobody else does or nobody else cares. The country has petrol reserves for only six days but there is no reduction in traffic; supply of natural gas is insufficient to meet demand, a fact frequently advertised through the media, but all public offices have gas heaters on, even when they don’t really need them. In my house, heaters are turned on only for guests or my grandchildren. Continue reading »
Jan 302009
Cutting calories may improve memory among healthy elderly men and women, a new study from Germany hints. In the study, researchers found that people who cut their calorie intake by approximately 30 percent performed better on standard memory tests after just three months.
“Our study may help to generate novel prevention strategies to maintain cognitive functions into old age,” Dr. A. Veronica Witte and colleagues from University of Munster wrote in the latest issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Continue reading »
Jan 302009
Are you a social butterfly, or do you prefer being at the edge of a group of friends? Either way, your genes and evolution may play a major role, US researchers reported.
While it may come as no surprise that genes may help explain why some people have many friends and others have few, the researchers said, their findings go just a little farther than that. Continue reading »
Jan 302009
A pundit, so-called, is meant to clarify things, to throw some light where darkness reigns. But I am confused myself and seek an answer to some very confusing questions.
My preferred Chief Justice of Pakistan, and like me the chief justice of choice of a vast number of Pakistanis, is Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry. If chief justices were to be chosen in an election he would win hands down, leaving all rivals far behind.
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Jan 302009
LAHORE: Pramod Muthalik, chief of Hindu extremist party Sri Ram Sene, claimed on Thursday to have prepared a ‘squad of suicide bombers’ to support the Indian Army in dealing with the local Muslim community. Continue reading »
Jan 302009
By Murtaza Ali Shah
LONDON: A crucial conference here today (Friday) will highlight the daunting problems Pakistani students face in relation to obtaining entry clearance and new Points Based System (PBS) for studies in the United Kingdom universities.
Thousands of Pakistani students aspiring further education in various disciplines apply every year to the UK educational institutions, considered one of the best in the world, but various factors have combined to frustrate their ambitions. Post 9/11 security measures, Pakistan’s political instability, declining security situation, linkage of Pakistani nationals to terror related outrages worldwide including 7/7 bombings in the capital here, Britain’s stringent immigration system and further tightening up of student visa regulations have caused grave concern to career conscious and qualified Pakistani students and education consultancy firms alike. Continue reading »
Jan 302009
HYDERABAD: Consul General of Japan Akinori Wada met Sindh University Jamshoro Vice Chancellor Mazharul Haq Siddiqui on Thursday morning, telling him that in Japan many universities were offering courses in English language.
He said the Japanese government was launching a study programme for foreign students and also a studentsí exchange programme. The purpose of his visit, he said, was to meet the students and share views about students programme in Japanese universities. Continue reading »
Jan 302009
By Faryal Najeeb
KARACHI: The local real estate market remains untouched by the global recession, which shows no sign of easing and in fact has further threatened the world economy, because Pakistan does not practice house-building loans.
An expert in the housing and construction industry commented that the whole world, especially the west and UAE, was badly affected after the real estate sector collapsed. Continue reading »
Jan 292009
By Bakhtawar Mian
The government is planning to link the Hassan Abdal-Mansehra Expressway with Gwadar and also with China and Central Asian republics at a cost of Rs20 billion to boost economic activities in the region.
The Asian Development Bank will provide Rs18 billion for the project while the government would provide Rs2 billion for land acquisition, communications ministry spokesman Javed Chaudhary told Dawn on Wednesday. Continue reading »
Jan 292009
By Sajid Chaudhry
Governor State Bank of Pakistan, Salim Raza, hinted further depreciation of the rupee by Rs 2 to Rs 3 against US dollar after burden of financing furnace oil import would be shifted on the interbank market.
However, he hoped this would only be a short-lived depreciation and rupee would come back to Rs 79 to Rs 80 per dollar. Continue reading »
Jan 292009
Every forest today is infested with the Taliban who are equipped with the most modern weaponry and a brutal extremist agenda to terrorise its people. Everyday brings in more of these marauders from the hills and the mountain passes. This valley is under siege
One often hears politicians of
every stripe nauseatingly proclaim every time they are near a microphone or a television camera how “every inch of Pakistan’s sovereign territory will be defended with every ounce of our blood.” Continue reading »