Overseas Pakistani Friends

Pakistan continues to expand its nuclear facilities despite growing international concerns, US experts and former officials say. According to the Guardian, David Albright, previously a weapons inspector for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has said commercial satellite photos show two plutonium-producing reactors nearing completion at Khushab. “In the current climate, with Pakistan’s leadership under duress from daily acts of violence by insurgent Taliban forces and organised political opposition, the security of any nuclear material produced in these reactors is in question,” Albright has said in a report issued by the independent Institute for Science and International Security in Washington. Albright warned of a potential nuclear arms race with India. Another threat to nuclear security, he said, arose from territorial advances by indigenous Taliban. Besides the Khushab reactors, the report alleges, the Gadwal uranium enrichment plant is a vulnerable sit considering a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the Kamra complex in December 2007. Continue reading »

Myra Imran
For people, Margalla Hills is not only an excellent place for hiking but also provides an opportunity to watch rich and diverse flora and fauna of two important bio-ecological regions.

Those who prefer to hike before rush hours or early in the morning come across a wide range of animals and birds that are no doubt a treat to watch out in the wild. Hikers often report having spotted snakes on the winding track, monkeys, colourful lizards and a variety of birds.

Ask any regular hiker and she would tell you that it is not the physical activity that makes them come here but it’s the serene environment, fresh air and the chirping of birds that attracts them. “Being close to nature is a great feeling which makes me come here every day,” said Sabiha Arshad, who is a Trail III regular.
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By Shaheen Sehbai

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama’s 100th day prime TV time press conference on Wednesday night has created a grossly uneven playing field for President Asif Ali Zardari’s upcoming visit to Washington, as the candid and frank, almost brutal, observations of Obama have cut Zardari to a very small size besides giving the Pakistan Army much more importance than the Pakistani leadership would like to hear.

Likewise, the US president has also revealed some fundamental shifts in Pakistan’s India policy and the thinking of the Pakistan Army vis-a-vis India. Such a shift, willingly or unknowingly, has not yet been remotely reflected in the policies or statements of the civilian leadership of Pakistan. Obama’s assertion that the Pakistani civilian government was very fragile, without any capacity to deliver almost anything of consequence, was made in the same breath when he made several statements showing a superb degree of confidence in the Pakistan Army. It dug deep into the credibility and future of the civilian set-up, specially the fate of Zardari himself, who everyone in Washington knows, has been running Pakistan as a one-man show. So the criticism hits the Pakistani president right where it hurts.
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