Prices soar for modern Pakistani art
At a newly established art gallery in Pakistan's southern city of Karachi curious visitors sneak inside - hours before the formal opening of an art show.

They are looking for paintings by Mansoor Aye, who died earlier this year, or by the elderly and frail Tasadduq Sohail.
In Pakistan's increasingly speculative art market, posthumous sales of better known painters can bring windfall profits.
But even these early birds at the Ocean gallery are disappointed.
Like most art exhibitions around the country these days, nearly all the paintings carry red tags - meaning they are sold.

Pakistan's art market has gone crazy over the past year, with prices multiplying 10 to 20 times over. And famous artists are not the only beneficiaries.

In the nearby Unicorn gallery, a fresh art school graduate declines an attempt by a collector to reduce the price of her oil-on-canvas portrait of a woman from $580 to $450.
This is in sharp contrast to veteran painter Tasadduq Sohail who hardly received more than $50 for a painting until he was 65.

But then in 2006, one of his works was sold for $32,000 at an international auction.
"It is not easy to haggle with young artists these days, they know they will find buyers," says Seemah Niaz, the curator at Unicorn.
"They don't even have to display their work at the galleries, because buyers often visit their studios to make deals," she says.
Major buyers often do not even find it necessary to look at what they are buying.

So why such an indiscriminate rush now for modern Pakistani art?
One reason is that the traditional art collector has been replaced by speculators from the corporate sector.

"Many investors in the stock market and real estate sectors have realised that investment in art is comparatively more reliable and secure," says Zohra Hussain, the owner of Karachi's oldest gallery, Chawkandi Art.

"What's more, liberal bank credits and low interest rates during the last few years have enabled people to shovel larger amounts of money into art."
All this when recently the Pakistani economy was growing at over 8% a year.

"The trend started in the West, and the oil-rich Arab sheikhdoms took a fancy to it," says journalist and veteran art critic Akbar Naqvi.

"Since the Arabs did not have a model of their own, they started extending patronage to artists in Iran and South Asia to decorate their galleries."
An equal interest in South Asian art by Indian and Pakistani expatriate communities in the West created incentives for major Western auction houses to start offering South Asian art at their sales.

Some of these auction houses, like Sotheby's, Christie's and Bonhams, have extended their operations to Dubai in the last few years.

The boom for Indian art arrived much earlier than that for Pakistani art and some works of Indian masters have fetched nearly $500,000 at recent international auctions.
Works of Pakistani masters are now following suit. A lapis lazuli mosaic in metal by Ismail Gulgee was sold for $336,000 at Bonhams' Dubai auction in March.
"Auction sales do not reflect the actual worth of an artist, but they do place him in a certain price slot so that people are willing to pay corresponding prices for his or her subsequent works," says Zohra Hussain.

In other words, the net worth of today's artist is based on his or her economic viability rather than aesthetic credibility.
"A great artist is the one who sells, it is a simple theory of supply and demand," says Mansoor Halim, an art collector and executive vice president of ACE Securities business firm.

The last thing we need is an

India-Pakistan war

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Disturbing news from the border area between India and Pakistan where clashes between the two countries' troops have broken out.

With so much conflict in the world, it is sometimes easy to forget that the Line of Control that divides Kashmir is one of the world's most problematic troublespots. Pakistani militants have been fighting for the liberation of Kashmir, whose population is predominantly Muslim, since it was placed under India's jurisdiction at independence sixty years ago.

The issue is so controversial that India and Pakistan have gone to war over Kashmir twice in the past, and five years ago the two countries, which now have their own nuclear weapons arsenals, came close to renewing hostilities, but were pulled back from the brink of a potential nuclear war following the last minute intervention of the Bush administration.

So it is deeply worrying to see that the two sides have again been involved in border skirmishes. This time the issue that prompted yesterday's exchanges was a new bunker the Indians have constructed close to the Line of Control. The Indians insist the bunker is located in their area of jurisdiction, while the Pakistanis disagree.

The clashes erupted when Pakistani trooops went to inspect the bunker, and an Indian soldier was killed when the two sides opened fire on each other.

It is easy to imagine yesterday's incident spiralling out of control into all-out war, so it is reassuring that both sides have immediately agreed to hold urgent talks to resolve the dispute. The last thing the world needs at the moment is another war, let alone one between two nuclear powers.

Pakistan must tame its intelligence service

Worried about the Russians to their north and the Indians to the south, the generals who have ruled Pakistan for most of its 60 years of independence fashioned a powerful tool: Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) became one of the world's most powerful spy services.

Now, decades later, Pakistan's new government is trying to rein in the ISI. This effort might not succeed, but the world should hope it does. Among other vital issues, Canadians have a stake in ISI's not-so-secret support for Afghanistan's Taliban guerrillas. ISI patronage of the Taliban is killing Canadian and allied soldiers and ordinary Afghans

Military influence stretches deep into Pakistan's business sector, as into politics. If the armed forces operate in some ways as a parallel government, then within the military, ISI in turn sometimes seems like a law unto itself, supporting Islamic terrorism in Kashmir and India, among other activities. And ISI worked with the U.S. to build up the Taliban against Soviet domination of Afghanistan.

When the U.S. abruptly changed its view of the Taliban, after Sept. 11, 2001, so did Pakistan, officially. Although President Pervez Musharraf made some efforts to be a good ally, ISI kept right on aiding the Taliban. Today Pakistan's northwestern tribal areas shelter and nourish Taliban terror in Afghanistan.

That's the context in which Yousaf Raza Gilani, prime minister in Pakistan's new elected government, announced last week that the ISI would now report to the interior ministry, not the armed forces. It was no coincidence that the move came just before Gilani flew off to meet with U.S. President George W. Bush, whose administration has grown steadily more vocal about the ISI.

Pakistan's military high command and Musharraf, now nominally a civilian, did not welcome the change, and the government soon rescinded the announcement, apparently after ominous pressure from the armed forces. The struggle continues.

Bush Praises Pakistan Just Hours After U.S. Strike

President Bush on Monday praised Pakistan’s commitment to fighting extremists along its deteriorating border with Afghanistan, only hours after an American missile strike destroyed what American and Pakistani officials described as a militant outpost in the region, killing at least six fighters.
Mr. Bush, meeting with Pakistan’s prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, at the White House, sought to minimize growing concerns that Pakistan’s willingness to fight extremists was waning, allowing the Taliban and Al Qaeda to regroup inside Pakistan and plan new attacks there and beyond.

Obama to meet with prime minister of Pakistan

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama planned to meet Tuesday with the prime minister of Pakistan, one of a series of private sessions for discussions ranging from international to economic concerns.
Obama was to confer with Pakistan's new leader, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, according to Obama's campaign. President George W. Bush met with Gilani on Monday at the White House and praised Gilani as a reliable partner in confronting extremism.
U.S.-Pakistan relations have been strained by the war in Afghanistan and questions about the whereabouts of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, who some believe may be hiding along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. The U.S. has been pressuring Pakistan to take action against strongholds of Taliban and al-Qaida fighters believed to be in that nation's frontier.
Obama has called for increasing U.S. troop strength in Afghanistan and has said that as president he would take unilateral action if bin Laden were found to be in Pakistan, a statement that angered Pakistanis when Obama first made it last year.
Obama made the point again earlier this month, saying "if Pakistan cannot or will not act, we will take out high-level terrorist targets like bin Laden if we have them in our sights."

Heavy Fighting Erupts Along India-Pakistan Border in Kashmir

The Indian Army has claimed that Pakistani troops infiltrated to its side of the line of control in Kashmir on Monday and fired at its border post killing an Indian soldier. Pakistani officials have denied their troops crossed the border and blame India for border provocations. The two sides have since exchanged fire for over twelve hours.

In the latest allegations of ceasefire violations along the Kashmir border, the Indian army said Monday that a group of Pakistani troops infiltrated to its side of the line of control that divides Kashmir between the two nuclear neighbors. Pakistan disputes that version of events and says Indian troops wanted to establish a forward observation post on the border and they objected.

Despite recent skirmishes and complaints about violations, a ceasefire has largely held on the line of control in Kashmir since 2003. Up until that time India and Pakistan regularly exchanged heavy fire. Nearly a dozen Muslim rebel groups have been fighting since 1989 for Kashmir's independence from India or its merger with Pakistan.

Nothing hypocritical about touring India & not Pakistan.

Blasts in India do not trigger the kind of security concerns that they do in Pakistan's case, says Cricket Australia while insisting that it cannot be accused of hypocrisy if it opts to play in India but refuses to tour Pakistan for the Champions Trophy.

Australia tour India in October and would be carrying out a security inspection in the country next month to assess the situation.CA spokesman Peter Young said it was a routine exercise and cited the example of the 2005 London bombings after which the Aussies did a security check before deciding to stay back for completing the Ashes series."We only go where security advice tells us is safe. The same question was asked about the London bombings during the '05 Ashes tour when we did not go to Pakistan in March," CA's general manager of public affairs Peter Young was quoted as saying by 'The Australian'."As far as London was concerned we kept the team out of there until security advice was emphatic that it was safe. We go through the same process every tour. It's as simple as that," he added. PTI

It is only a question of time before the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, the Jaish-e-Mohammed, the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Al Qaeda itself set up their own outfits or sleeper cells in India consisting only of Indian Muslims so that these too could be projected as indigenous Muslim organisations of India and not as Pakistani or Arab organisations. The pan-Islamic jihad in India to support Al Qaeda's pan-Islamic objectives is sought to be given an Indian facade with the encouragement of the ISI.

Another step in ISI-sponsored Indianisation of jihad?

`Indianized Jihad'


A new variety of terrorism has come out of nowhere to become India's No. 1 security nightmare, and neither of the two main national parties has any fresh ideas on dealing with the threat.
That was very evident in the political reaction to last week's orgy of violence.

A group called the ``Indian Mujahideen'' claimed responsibility for the July 26 blasts that killed 49 people in Ahmedabad, the main commercial center of the western Indian state of Gujarat.
The little-known group shot to notoriety in November last year by attacking courts and lawyers' chambers in three cities in Uttar Pradesh, India's most-populous state.It struck again in May 2008 when nine explosions killed at least 63 people in India's tourist city of Jaipur in Rajasthan.

The emergence of Indian Mujahideen marks a dangerous turn in the Islamic militancy that threatens the country.

Until now, India's main challenge was to cope with ``imported'' operatives and materials, with security agencies pinning most attacks on Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish- e-Mohammad, and Bangladesh-based Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami.

By comparison, the new organization appears to be more of a homegrown challenge. If it has links to al-Qaeda affiliates overseas then those are yet to be proven.

Bush hails Pakistan as strong ally
51 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush says Pakistan is a strong ally in the fight against terrorists and committed to securing its border with Afghanistan.
The president appeared on the South Lawn on Monday with Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. The visit came at a tense moment in ties between the country, with calls from U.S. officials for Pakistan to stop militants from staging cross-border attacks on U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
In words meant to bolster the U.S.-Pakistan relationship, Bush said Gilani has made a "very strong commitment" to securing the dangerous border region.
Gilani said he wants the people of the United States to know that vast majority of Pakistanis want peace, and want to cooperate with the U.S.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's White House visit Monday comes amid increased calls by senior U.S. officials for Pakistan to stop militants from staging cross-border attacks on U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
The prime minister may have his own issues to raise in his talks with President Bush: Gilani visits Washington at a tense moment in ties between the countries..........

The issue of rogue elements within Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was expected to top the agenda in the meeting between Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and US President George W Bush in Washington on Monday. But any hopes that Pakistan's political leadership will clip the wings of the premier agency involved in regional counter-intelligence operations on three fronts - Afghanistan, Iran and India - are bound to be dashed. This is illustrated by the decision on Saturday by the newly elected government in Islamabad to place the ISI and the Intelligence Bureau under the control of the civilian Ministry of Interior, removing them from under the umbrella of the military. But just 24 hours later, under intense pressure from military headquarters in Rawalpindi, the government reversed the decision, saying it was a "misunderstanding". Asif Zardari, co-chairman of the Pakistan People's Party, the leading party in the ruling coalition, had argued in favor of the transfer, saying it would mean that countries would no longer be able to say that Pakistan's intelligence agencies were beyond government control. A senior strategic analyst associated with a Pakistani strategic think-tank told on condition of anonymity that the security agencies were concerned over the foreign links of some cabinet members, prominent among them being Rahman Malik, the advisor to the Ministry of Interior. In an article on Gilani's visit on Sunday, the Washington Post noted that the US administration's patience with Pakistan's inability to end cross-border infiltration into Afghanistan was running out. The newspaper said the premier and his aides "should expect a testy reception on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue", meaning the White House and the US Congress. "I'm not sure they're ready for what they're walking into," a senior administration official told the Post. A senior Pakistani security official told, "Washington appreciates that intelligence operations are not a clean business. Sometimes there is a need to engage the miscreants and terrorists, and in the course intelligence agencies do turn a blind eye to their activities and give them rope, but ultimately they are taken to task. "The same game happened with commander Nek Mohammad [1] of South Waziristan and with Abdullah Mehsud [2]. There was a time when the security agencies engaged them, and of course they were active in that period, but then at a suitable time they were eliminated. This is the standard modus operandi which all professional intelligence services use," the security official said. Pakistani security officials had said the decision on the ISI had aimed to remove it from the "war on terror" business and empower another institution, the Frontier Corps, with a new intelligence wing established to coordinate directly with the American security apparatus. Under a plan the US government has already devised, about 100 US officials would train Frontier Corps officials and supervise their functions and the corps intelligence in each corps headquarters would look after counter-intelligence issues. Apart from intelligence matters, one of the purposes of trying to place the ISI under the control of the Ministry of Interior was to get control of its massive financial resources and covert business operations. "The military would never tolerate any move which would compromise its position on security issues, especially when the country faces threats from all over the region. This episode started by the Pakistan People's Party government is the beginning of a rift between the establishment and the government," commented one observer.

Welcome to Washington

When Gilani begins his first official visit to the United States at the White House on Monday, the welcome is likely to be a little more heated than he might wish, reports Jim Lobe of Inter Press Service. Pakistan, which is beset by both a thriving Taliban insurgency and its worst inflation in about 30 years, has become a serious source of frustration and anxiety to top US policymakers who have become increasingly direct in blaming Islamabad for the deteriorating situation in neighboring Afghanistan. "No question ... that some extremists are coming out of parts of Pakistan into Afghanistan," Gilani's White House host, Bush, told reporters this month after Afghan President Hamid Karzai charged that Islamabad's intelligence agency was aiding the insurgency. "That's troubling to us, troubling to Afghanistan, and it should be troubling to Pakistan," he noted, adding that Washington would investigate Karzai's allegations. Top US military officials, including both the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen, and the head of North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces in Afghanistan, General David McKiernan, have also publicly expressed growing frustration with Pakistan. According to a London Times report, Mullen reportedly warned privately during a visit to Islamabad this month that Washington would take unilateral military action if Pakistan did not move more aggressively to stanch the flow of fighters across the border into Afghanistan. Nor is it just the incumbent policymakers who are complaining. Both major presidential candidates, Democratic Senator Barack Obama and Republican Senator John McCain, have echoed Bush's complaints as concern about Afghanistan has gained prominence in the election campaign. In a major policy address on the eve of his current trip to Afghanistan and other overseas destinations, Obama took an even more hawkish position than those of both the administration and McCain, reiterating a controversial threat he first made early this year that Washington would not "tolerate a terrorist sanctuary" inside Pakistan. "We must make it clear that if Pakistan cannot or will not act, we will take out high-level terrorist targets if we have them in our sights," he declared, suggesting that such targets might include indigenous Pakistani Taliban leaders, such as Baitullah Mehsud, as well as al-Qaeda chiefs who are believed to be sheltered by their Taliban hosts in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Such threats and complaints have put Gilani in an extremely difficult position. His government, which was already weakened by the withdrawal of former premier Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (N) from the ruling coalition two months ago, now faces a growing economic crisis due to skyrocketing food and fuel prices and shortages in water and electricity that have spurred protests and even outbreaks of violence in some of Pakistan's biggest urban areas. Despite a brief offensive late last month by the paramilitary Frontiers Corps and police, the Pakistani Taliban forces appear to have tightened their siege of Peshawar, capital of the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP). This growing influence and control of the Pakistani Taliban and its allies both within FATA and beyond has contributed to the sense in Washington that the new government has no strategy for dealing with the insurgency. "The Taliban is moving forward in a very calculated way," Pervez Hoodbhoy, a prominent Pakistani commentator, told an audience at the Middle East Institute in Washington this month. He warned that the insurgency's ambitions to replace secular and tribal law with sharia, or Islamic law, extended far beyond the Pashtun-dominated regions of the country. Although much of Pakistan's "establishment is in denial", he said the Taliban's latest moves should be seen as a "stepping stone to the rest of Pakistan". Even if his government were inclined to take on the Taliban, however, it is not clear that Gilani could get the support or cooperation of the powerful Pakistani military which, under General Ashfaz Kiani as with his predecessors, has reportedly shown little interest in pursuing the kind of aggressive counter-insurgency strategy that Washington believes is necessary. US officials have grown increasingly disenchanted with Kiani, whose replacement of President Pervez Musharraf last autumn had fueled hopes that he could persuade the army that it faced a greater threat from the Taliban and its al-Qaeda allies than from India. But, to date, Kiani has followed in Musharraf's footsteps by quietly negotiating ceasefires with the militants while building up the military's conventional forces. "It has no intention of fighting a US proxy war in the tribal territories," according to retired Brigadier F B Ali. "It also knows that the US will continue to pay it large subsidies to ensure the safeguarding of the US supply lines to Afghanistan [and the country's nuclear weapons]." Indeed, Washington's willingness to continue paying such subsidies was very much in evidence last week when the New York Times reported that the Bush administration wanted to use US$227 million of a $300 million military aid package approved by Congress this year to help the Pakistani military buy equipment, such as helicopters and reconnaissance aircraft, useful for counter-insurgency, to upgrade some of its F-16 fighter jets instead. While the State Department said the F-16s could be used to combat terrorism, some analysts dismissed that notion, suggesting that, by approving such a shift, Washington was effectively undermining its efforts to persuade the military that counter-insurgency should be its top priority. For his part, Gilani is expected to appeal for more economic assistance, which his government has long argued is critical to defeating or containing the insurgents in any event. Washington has provided some $10 billion in aid to Pakistan since 2002, but almost all of it has been military assistance. On the aid issue, he will receive a particularly a favorable reception from Democrats, including Obama, who recently endorsed a pending proposal in Congress to triple non-military aid for Pakistan to $1.5 billion a year, much of it targeted at FATA. The administration has also conceded the case for more assistance but has not yet made a specific proposal. On the Taliban, Gilani will plead, above all, for patience and no doubt warn against any unilateral military action by the US, for which there is a growing clamor, particularly in the aftermath of the Taliban attack this month close to the border in Afghanistan in which nine US soldiers were killed.

But paradoxically, U.S. officials’ “do more” chorus harps on. Speaking Friday in Australia, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Pakistan needs to do more to prevent Taleban militants from launching attacks into Afghanistan from its territory.

“We understand that it’s difficult, we understand that the northwest frontier area is difficult, but militants cannot be allowed to organize there and to plan there and to engage across the border,” Rice said. “So yes, more needs to be done.” Sorry, you have got it fairly wrong, Ms. Rice. It would only be easy for Pakistan to “do more” to stop Pashtun fighters intent on engaging U.S. forces from crossing the border if Pakistan’s leaders were willing to destroy their own country for the sake of the United States and its misbegotten plans.

For a thousand years no one has been able to subdue the independent-minded tribal warriors of northwest Pakistan, not even the British Empire at the height of its power when the proverbial sun never set on the Union Jack. Ms. Rice should read Winston Churchill’s war chronicles from his days in the region as a soldier war correspondent to learn what the tribal people did to the invading British troops and their local collaborators. Perhaps this was the reason why the British devised a special system of political administration to govern the tribal areas.

After independence in 1947, Pakistan approved an article of the Constitution that provided semiautonomous status to the northwest areas of the country, allowed its inhabitants to live according to their own culture and tribal traditions, prohibited the Pakistani army from initiating any kind of military action in the area, and required that local problems be solved through tribal councils. Later constitutions included similar articles that retained these provisions.

Since the U.S.-led coalition forces toppled the Taleban regime, occupied Afghanistan, and arm-twisted Pakistan into sending its army to the tribal areas, Pakistan’s entire Pashtun belt has been ablaze. However, unbeknownst to the bumbling strategists of the Pentagon, the Pashtun people follow a tribal code which emphasizes living and dying with honor, and revenge is the warp and woof of tribal life. The numerous civilian causalities in mostly Pashtun areas in neighboring Afghanistan at the beginning of the U.S.-led occupation kindled sentiments of revenge in the hearts of the Pashtun fighters of tribal Pakistan, who are often wrongly identified as Taleban by the Western media, and they started to infiltrate into the country to fight the U.S. troops and their allies.

The first gift a Pashtun child gets from his parents is not a toy but a real gun. And then his next task is to track down an enemy to try out his weapon. When that child becomes a man, he is not allowed to marry until he masters marksmanship. I have been to a Pashtun wedding party where we returned hungry because the bridegroom could not hit the target dangling from a tree over the bride’s home. The whole day the groom kept aiming at the target with his Kalashnikov, but night fell, the wedding was called off, and he was asked to return the next year after perfecting the art of riflery. Ms. Rice, these are the people the United States has come to fight, for whom it’s a Godsent gift to have the “infidel” forces in their cross hairs.

What better enemy could they hope for than invaders who openly call themselves crusaders? Clearly, no one can stop them from crossing the long porous border between Afghanistan and Pakistan until the U.S. ends its occupation of the country. Pakistan’s leaders can only “do more” if they prioritize the United States’ interests over their own country’s, which would be a totally illogical move akin to sati.

These are interesting times for Pakistan cinema. A bunch of new filmmakers are experimenting with different genres, working on fresh ideas

Pakistani directors try out new genres

Director Mehreen Jabbar during an interview outside the premiere of 'Ramchand Pakistani' during the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival on April 28, 2008 in New York City. (Photo by Scott Wintrow/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival)
Link to this page (Copy): http://www.jamd.com/image/g/80900902
Tags: Mehreen Jabbar USA New York City more...

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When film director Omar Ali Khan wanted artificial blood for Pakistan's first GenNow slasher flick, Zibahkhana , he inventively mixed gelatine with food dye to suit the shoestring budget. The effect though was both real and repulsive. The story of four urban teenagers who take a shortcut to a rock concert through a forest only to face creepy blood-dripping zombies and other ghoulish creatures wowed the young home audience and the critics abroad. Zibahkhana , sub-titled Hell’s Ground — though the literal translation means, The Slaughterhouse — became the talking point of countless horror film festivals and even scalped two international awards.

These are interesting times for Pakistan cinema. A bunch of new filmmakers are experimenting with different genres, working on fresh ideas. Like Zibahkhana , director Muhammad Saife Hasan’s Victoria ka Ticket , inspired by writer Rohinton Mistry’s short story, isn't the usual Lollywood masala. And director Mehreen Jabbar's Ramchand Pakistani is based on the true story of a Pakistani Dalit boy and his father who spend five years in a Gujarat jail for accidentally crossing the border.

Equally interesting is the way money was rustled up for Ramchand Pakistani . Producer Javed Jabbar — "I also produced and directed Pakistan's first English film, ‘Beyond the Last Mountain’, in 1976 which was also shown in the first Bombay film festival," — reveals that the initial contribution came from home.

"But that apart, a group of 19 friends, ranging from IT professionals, biscuit company owners, hoteliers, even an editor, put their money into a film for the first time. Two commercial firms provided the rest," says Jabbar, who also served as a minister in Pervez Musharraf's government. The overall cost, director Mehreen says, is in the range of 700,000 US dollars (Rs 3 crore).

But the returns have been promising. The catalyst was Shoaib Mansoor's Khuda Ke Liye (2007) that dealt with the predicament of Muslims in the post 9/11 world and earned both critical acclaim and box-office dividends. Also released last year, Zibahkhana too has already recovered its cost. "I have even sold the rights for USA, UK and Japan," says Omar, 46, who grew up admiring Christopher Lee's Hammer movies and Ramsay horror flicks. Ironically, he also runs the finest website on Indian horror films. Ramchand Pakistani is scheduled for release across the border on August 1. "We have got the censor certificate but we want to publicise the film properly before releasing it in India," says Mehreen.

For an industry that enjoys doing action and romantic fantasies, involvement with realism is a relatively new feature. According to Javed, "It is part of a creation of contemporary Pakistani identity". Omar offers a slightly different take. "I just wanted to have fun. I set a cat among the pigeons because I wanted to do something that rips the system apart. This is my love letter to the slasher flicks I grew up with."

Power crisis hits Indian states


Authorities in the western Indian state of Maharashtra have announced tough measures to deal with a power crisis.
The state's 250,000 industries will now get power only five days a week and malls and government offices have been told to reduce energy consumption. Scanty rains, growing demand for power and lack of new power plants has led to shortages in others parts of India too.
The southern states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are also reeling under severe power shortage.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7524925.stm

Pakistan: nuke deal to spark arms race

PAKISTAN launched a full-scale diplomatic offensive against India's nuclear deal with Washington yesterday, warning it would provoke a new atomic arms race between the two South Asia rivals and harm non-proliferation efforts.

In a move causing major concern in New Delhi, the new civilian Government in Islamabad sent a letter to more than 60 nations that are members of the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Nuclear Suppliers Group, including Australia, outlining its concerns about what it sees as attempts to steamroll approval of the deal through the two bodies.
The letter addressed to more than 60 nations comes less than two weeks before the 35-nation IAEA board is expected to approve a so-called safeguards agreement setting up rules for inspecting some of India's civilian nuclear facilities.
Approval of the safeguards deal is key in India's efforts to gain access to legal imports of nuclear fuel and technology from the 45-nation NSG.
The Bush administration signed a radical deal to supply India with nuclear fuel but needs approval, first from the NSG and then the US Congress.
The NSG bans exports to nuclear weapons states like India and Pakistan that have not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and do not have full safeguard agreements allowing the IAEA to inspect their facilities. But the NSG is ready to consider a waiver for India, in part due to lobbying from Washington.
Moving to block consensus and stall a process that both India and the US are seeking to expedite, Pakistan warned the deal "threatens to increase the chances of a nuclear arms race in the sub-continent".
The agreement, unveiled in 2005, will allow the US to sell nuclear plants and related technology to India once it has separated its civil and military programs and accepted a certain level of UN inspections.
Islamabad warned the deal was "likely to set a precedent for other states which are not members of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and have military nuclear programs".
Predominantly Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan have fought three wars since 1947.
Relations have improved considerably since the start of a peace process in 2004. But progress at the talks has been slow and deep distrust remains between the two rivals, which developed their nuclear arms in secret.
Pakistan's intervention yesterday came as a battery of New Delhi's top envoys were fanning out across the world following the Indian Government's spectacular win in a no-confidence motion in parliament this week brought by opposition parties who were against the deal.
Scores of India's most senior officials have embarked on urgent missions aimed at ensuring rapid approval of the so-called safeguards agreement by the board of the IAEA when it meets in Vienna on August 1, and the "clean exemption" agreement that is due to be rushed through the NSG immediately after that.
There is consternation in the Indian capital that the move by Pakistan - clearly aimed at appealing to those countries most concerned about nuclear proliferation, including the likes of Australia, Canada and New Zealand - could seriously upset their calculations and cause major problems in trying to get US congressional approval of the final draft of the deal before President George W.Bush leaves office.
Last night, Washington's ambassador in New Delhi, David Mulford, said the Bush administration had the ability to "persuade" Pakistan to "co-operate". There seems little doubt Islamabad's intervention will be high on the agenda when new Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani arrives in Washington next week to see Mr Bush.
Given the extent to which Pakistan is tied to Washington after receiving $10 billion in aid over the past few years, its scope for independent initiatives is considered by most analysts to be limited.
Indian hopes the Bush administration would be able to strong-arm Islamabad were boosted by a report in the The New York Times outlining plans to shift nearly $US230 million ($240million) in aid to Pakistan from counter-terrorism programs to upgrading Islamabad's ageing F-16 attack planes.

A CRISIS meeting of Pakistan's new coalition Government has been warned that it could lose control of the North West Frontier Province, which is believed to hold most of its nuclear arsenal.
The warning came yesterday from the coalition leader, who, although he is part of the new Government, is regarded as having the closest links to al-Qa'ida and Taliban militants sweeping through the region.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman bluntly told his colleagues: "The North West Frontier province is breaking away from Pakistan. That is what is happening. That is the reality."
This came just days before new Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's scheduled meeting with US President George W. Bush to discuss al-Qa'ida and Taliban sanctuaries in Pakistan.
Reports last night said Maulana Fazlur Rehman, regarded as having unparalleled insight into the mood of the three million tribesmen in the NWFP, and leader of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, was backed in his assessment by members of the coalition Government from the Awami National Party, which rules in the province's capital, Peshawar.

They, too, told the meeting of jihadi militant advances throughout the province, with their influence extending to most so-called "settled areas", including Peshawar.
Yesterday, the army was reported to have abruptly ended an operation in the Hangu district, close to Peshawar, after threats by militant leaders.
Maulana Fazlur Rehman and the ANP members blamed the worsening situation on "President (Pervez) Musharraf's eight-year policy to deal with the issue through the barrel of a gun, and the alliance with America".

The crisis meeting resolved to pursue dialogue with the jihadis, a policy derided by US and NATO-led forces in Afghanistan.
It also declared itself to be implacably opposed to US or other forces entering Pakistani territory to deal with the growing jihadi militancy.
Analysts in Islamabad believe the warning about the situation in the NWFP will prompt renewed concern about the security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, speaking in Australia, suggested the restive border region was the source of a surge in Taliban-related violence in Afghanistan, and said Pakistan needed to do more to prevent attacks.

"We understand that it's difficult, we understand that the North West Frontier area is difficult, but militants cannot be allowed to organise there and to plan there and to engage across the border," Dr Rice said.
"So, yes, more needs to be done."

Al-Qa'ida's operational commander in Afghanistan, a 53-year-old Egyptian named Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, was interviewed on Pakistani television yesterday and claimed the organisation's strength in Afghanistan was growing so rapidly it would "soon occupy the whole country".
He claimed that "the morale of our fighters in Afghanistan is very high and they are putting up a tough fight against US troops".

He also claimed responsibility in the interview for a terrorist attack on the Danish embassy in Islamabad.
The fact of the interview, as much as what he said, is seen as indicating an important new stage in the crisis.

"The bad guys are even popping up and giving television interviews: that's a reflection of what's happening," one foreign diplomat in Islamabad said last night.

A leading think tank warned this week about the Taliban's use of a media strategy to exaggerate their strength and undermine confidence in the Afghanistan Government.
The International Crisis Group says the administration and its backers must counter this propaganda if they are to defeat an insurgency "that is driving a dangerous wedge between them and the Afghan people", in a report entitled Taliban Propaganda: Winning the War of Words?
The Taliban now publicise their messages, warnings and claims of battle successes through a website, magazines, DVDs, cassettes, pamphlets, nationalist songs, poems and mobile telephones.
Audacious tactics such as the Kandahar jailbreak last month and the April assassination attempt on President Hamid Karzai show that the intent is to grab attention.
"The result is weakening public support for nation building, even though few actively support the Taliban," the report says.
It says the international community should also examine its own actions, adding the benefits of military action are outweighed by the alienation they cause.
"The Taliban is not going to be defeated militarily and is impervious to outside criticism," the ICG says.
"Rather, the legitimacy of its ideas and actions must be challenged more forcefully by theAfghan government and citizens."

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The Jamia Hafsa women have made a conscious choice to be part of a violent and radical campaign. But this choice represents the failure of Pakistani feminism to formulate an equally compelling, competing discourse that could truly empower them.

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Failure of Pakistani feminism
The pictures of burqa-clad, baton-wielding women of Jamia Hafsa have made it to the newspapers and TV channels across the globe. For those Pakistanis who do not support their militant brand of vigilante justice (and there are many), these women are a bold and taunting illustration of the increasing Talibanisation of Pakistani society. Questions abound. But the most important one has not been asked: why would these women choose a militant and radical brand of Islam, one that ultimately preaches the subservience of women, as their vehicle to political action? Answering this question, and analysing why these women have launched a campaign that so brazenly challenges the state reveals important truths about the state of Pakistani feminism and its failure to provide a political and ideological discourse that could avert this very scenario.It is important to pay close attention to the extremist discourse that has attracted these women. According to newspaper reports, the women of Jamia Hafsa are not just from Islamabad; most belong to religiously conservative families from all over Pakistan. The fact that they have travelled and live without their families in the madrassah represents the legitimising power that religious conservatism has provided them.By donning the burqa and adopting the radical and fundamentalist interpretations of Islam espoused by the Lal Masjid establishment, they have rid themselves of the shackles of familial restriction in a way previously unknown to them. While it is true that the power they wield with the burqa and the stick is ultimately designed to impose an order that would all but eliminate their power in the public sphere, it is nevertheless heady and intoxicating in its ability to transform these women from being the receivers to becoming the perpetrators of violence.

This analysis is not meant to illustrate the viability of radical Islam as a vehicle towards women’s empowerment. If anything, I have taken pains to show the tragedy of how the Lal Masjid clerics have manipulated the powerlessness of women to further a grotesquely extremist agenda whose ultimate goal is to subjugate these women even more. The purpose is to show how current discourses in Pakistan on women’s empowerment have to tread beyond the comfortable confines of hotel symposia and rallies; they need to develop strategies that engage the vast swathes of excluded women.

Pakistan must cure itself of the Taliban

Many believe the Talibanisation of Pakistan is well under way and impossible to reverse

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There are roughly 500 Taliban commanders, every one of whom is known to the Pakistani authorities. The reason that they have not been captured is simple: Islamabad believes it can use them for its own purposes. This illusion has now become dangerously obsolete.
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The Taliban have given an ultimatum to Pakistan: leave Peshawar within five days or face the consequences. That a band of terrorists can tell a democratically elected government to quit its own territory says a great deal about the power of the Taliban. Far from being beaten and on the run, as we are constantly being told, the Taliban are stronger than ever.
The ultimatum was issued this past week by Baitullah Mehsud, a prominent leader of the Taliban. Mehsud's men are already in Peshawar, the largest city of the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) and birthplace of al-Qaeda. Peshawar is also the administrative centre for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) of Pakistan. The Taliban have been in total control o

f Fata for almost a decade. Peshawar will be the jewel in their crown. And if Peshawar goes, the rest of Pakistan would not be far away.
The NWFP government rejected the "five-day ultimatum" and is now bracing itself for the consequences. The city, my friends tell me, looks like a garrison town. Armoured vehicles belonging to the Pakistan Frontier Corps occupy key positions. Paramilitary forces and anti-terror units patrol the streets. Nevertheless, Taliban warlords freely roam the city in pick-up trucks. Abductions and hit-and-run raids have become routine facts of life.
I fear for Pakistan. Commentators in Islamabad are talking openly about losing Peshawar. Many believe the Talibanisation of Pakistan is well under way and impossible to reverse.
The problem is that Islamabad has no coherent policy towards the Taliban. It has tried to appease them, to buy their loyalty, has bombed their villages and schools and, when required, used them as its proxy. Even peace treaties, such as the one made in September 2006, have been half-hearted. During the election campaign, both the People's Party and the Muslim League emphasised the Taliban problem required a political rather than a military solution. After the elections, politics was abandoned in favour of military operations. The newly elected government of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani seems too preoccupied with internal political feuding to realise that it has a full-blown rebellion on its hands.
Pakistan's predicament is that of the war on terror. The only secure solution must deal with the totality of the social conditions underpinning the problem. There is no military solution that does not exacerbate social problems, thus fuelling the instability in which the Taliban can thrive. The war on terror has merely extended the agony it was meant to obliterate.
The Taliban may look invincible, but they are nothing more than a marauding band of zealous puritans. A typical "Taliban commander" is a warlord with fewer than a hundred armed men. He pays them with money earned from drugs or extortion. He takes over an area, ruthlessly imposes taxes, administers summary and brutal justice, and declares himself the ruler. He murders his opponents and kidnaps others for ransom. Any Pakistani soldiers captured are slaughtered in the most barbaric way.

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There are roughly 500 Taliban commanders, every one of whom is known to the Pakistani authorities. The reason that they have not been captured is simple: Islamabad believes it can use them for its own purposes. This illusion has now become dangerously obsolete.

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It is not sufficient, however, merely to defeat the Taliban. Candidates to replace them will not be hard to find in territory that has never been equitably incorporated into the nation state. And as a nation, Pakistan, having diverted so much aid and development to the military Establishment, has little to offer the Fata territories. This is the underlying conundrum that makes not only crushing the Taliban, but also sustaining Pakistan so difficult.
The Taliban are a Pakistani problem, created and nourished by Pakistan itself. To defeat the Taliban and defeat them truly, Pakistan must find a way to cure itself.

http://www.newstatesman.com/religion/2008/07/pakistan-taliban-peshawar

Bush uses anti-terror funds to strengthen Pakistan air force

· Congress ringfenced cash to fight ground insurgency

·White House says upgrade of F-16s helps border fight

The Bush administration faced Congressional criticism yesterday for diverting funds from Pakistan's faltering fight against the Taliban and al-Qaida to pay instead for upgrades of its US-built F-16 combat planes.
With increased fighting in Afghanistan, much originating with forces based in Pakistan's north-west, members of Congress questioned how the switch to the planes, intended mainly as a counter to the Indian air force, would contribute to quelling the insurgency.

Speculation in Washington varied on the White House's motive, ranging from an incentive for Pakistan to pursue insurgents, to helping Lockheed.
A state department official said the timing was dictated by a need to pay Lockheed by the end of July. "This shift comes about as a result of a request from the Pakistan government, partly because of their cash-flow problems and partly because they are re-evaluating the equipment they need to fight the war on terror. Nato forces use F-16s right across the border ... in Afghanistan for similar purposes; and frankly, Pakistan has already used its F-16s in sorties against terrorist targets," an official said. "So it's a legitimate use, and it supports a democratic government."

Pakistan to stage Champions Trophy amid security fears

Pakistan retains int'l cricket tournament despite security concerns.
July25 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan finally retained its position as the host of an international cricket event scheduled in September even though doubts persisted over security situations in country, a Pakistani newspaper reported on Friday.
"The Champions Trophy will stay in Pakistan," The News quoted Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Nasim Ashraf as saying after the International Cricket Council (ICC) ended a teleconference in Dubai on Thursday.
The ICC's final decision also ended the speculations that the ICC could move the tournament venue from Pakistan to other countries due to security fears.
The Champions Trophy, the year's biggest one-day tournament, is scheduled to be held in Pakistan from Sept. 11 to 28. The tournament involves top eight nations including Pakistan.
However, Australia, England and New Zealand have raised concerns about security situations in Pakistan as the country was fighting against militants in northwestern tribal regions and has seen a spate of suicide attacks over the past year.
The ICC is expected to send security teams to Pakistan to finalize effective plan for the event, The News said.

Polio detected in Pakistani Taliban stronghold: officials
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Polio resurfaces in region of Pakistan.A case of polio was found in a seven-month-old girl in northwestern Swat valley, where regular vaccinations cannot took place due to ongoing unrest, officials said.

The military has been fighting militants led by a pro-Taliban cleric in the scenic area since October. The clashes have prevented inoculation teams from reaching children in some parts of the valley.

Threats to health workers and fighting between government security forces and militants have disrupted vaccinations in about half of the Swat Valley since September 2007.
A Swat-based pro-Taliban cleric, Maulana Fazlullah, had reportedly opposed polio vaccination, saying it was a Western conspiracy to render Muslims infertile.

Last year, armed Fazlullah supporters took control of most of the scenic valley in Pakistan's volatile northwest before the army moved in and forced them into the mountains.

A Tribute to Ahmad Faraz:

Faraz returns top award

Noted poet Ahmad Faraz has returned a prestigious award conferred on him by the government, in response to what he called “denial of In a letter issued to the media on Saturday, Faraz [said]: “… The conferment of an award like the Hilal-i-Imtiaz is a great honour for any man of letter has always deemed it as such. “However, I have also been concerned that this honour had been shown to me by regime that had denied the people their basic democratic rights. In accepting the award I had hoped that as promised the democratic rights of people would soon be restored,” Faraz observed. Taking umbrage at the actions being taken in Balochistan and Waziristan, the poet said: “Unfortunately, the sanctity of the Constitution and the norms of democratic governance continue to be trampled under the boots. The regime lately has also been fighting the people and shedding their blood. “As I helplessly watch the happenings (in Balochistan and Waziristan) my heart bleeds in pain and anguish but I also nurtured a secret hope that things will soon improve and we will not slip into a situation like 1971″ … Digging deep on the reason behind returning the award, Faraz said: “My conscience will not forgive me if I remained a silent spectator of the sad happenings around us.” The News (23 July, 2006) reported.

Remarks on net; Playing with life

Well PTV had broadcasted the above news which it corrected after a few hours. The latest is that he is still alive but in a grave condition.

oh!!! Allah unhein sehat aur zindagi ata farmaye. Ameen.PS can you change your subject line?

Famous Pakistani poet Ahmad Faraz is critically ill in a Chicago Hospital of Kidney Failure. He is 77. He has been compared with Allama Iqbal and Faiz Ahmed Faiz and is considered as one of the best poets of current times.May Allah help him

Geo fuss: Playing with life

GEO Pakistan
Ahmed Faraz alive, still receiving medical treatment
Updated at: 1807 PST, Thursday, July 17, 2008 CHICAGO: Renowned poet Ahmed Faraz is alive and still under medical treatment at a local hospital here, said his physician Tahir Rohail, brushing aside the earlier report of his death aired by state TV.He said Ahmed Faraz is seriously ill at a hospital in Chicago where necessary medical treatment is being provided to him.


GEO Pakistan
Legendary poet Ahmed Faraz passes away
Updated at: 1722 PST, Thursday, July 17, 2008 CHICAGO: Renowned poet and literary figure of Pakistan Ahmed Faraz died of kidneys failure here at a local hospital on Thursday.He was under treatment at a hospital in Chicago.

NATO Forces in Afghanistan Return Fire Towards Pakistani Tribal Region

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"The worst thing that would happen is that Pakistanis will start disowning this war and will start sympathizing more with the militants than the Americans or NATO," said Military analyst Talat Masood.

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Islamabad16 July 2008
Newhouse report - Download (MP3) Newhouse report - Listen (MP3)

NATO forces in Afghanistan say they have fired on militant positions inside Pakistan after coming under rocket attack. The border region has experienced a surge in violence in recent months, raising tensions among Afghan, U.S. and Pakistani officials over who is to blame. In an interview with VOA's Barry Newhouse in Rawalpindi, Pakistan's Army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas says he would welcome more NATO forces patrolling the Afghan side of the border.

A NATO statement says troops in Afghanistan's Paktika province received multiple rocket attacks from militants inside Pakistan, and responded with artillery and attack helicopters. The incident took place near Pakistan's Waziristan region, a Taliban stronghold where locals have reported seeing more NATO troops along the border in recent days. The troop movements have raised alarm within Pakistan and caused politicians to issue stern warnings against NATO incursions across the border. But Pakistan Army Spokesman Athar Abbas tells VOA that the troop movements are not what he called an "ominous buildup.""The information from the other side was that this is a routine relief and rotation of the troops," said Athar Abbas. "They are replacing the units on the border and they are reinforcing some parts where they have received attacks from militants."A NATO spokesman told VOA there is no abnormal buildup of troops in the region, but acknowledged increased activity because of the time of year and recent developments in the area. Pakistan's army says it has around 60,000 security forces manning 1,000 posts along the 2,600-kilometer Afghan border. It says in Afghanistan, there are about 100 such security posts. General Abbas says NATO forces have indicated they want to create more security posts along the border - a move he said the Pakistani military would welcome. But he insisted that NATO forces will not be allowed to operate in Pakistani territory.

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Coalition forces expect it. Al-Qaeda and the Pakistan Taliban expect it: the war in Afghanistan will soon spill over into Pakistani territory. Washington is banking on Islamabad helping out from its side, but the militants have other ideas. -

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Militants ready for a war without borders

Last week, US Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Admiral Mike Mullen paid a sudden visit to Pakistan during which he revealed to Pakistani leaders and military officials the possibility of surgical strikes on Taliban and al-Qaeda networks operating in the border regions and that coalition forces in Afghanistan would not hesitateto conduct hot-pursuit raids into Pakistan.

Mullen urged Pakistani leaders to play their part from their side. He pin-pointed the North and South Waziristan tribal areas as a focal point.

But regardless of how sincerely the Pakistani army fights against the Taliban, the fact is that the Taliban have already staged a virtual coup in North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) bordering Afghanistan.

They have established a reign of terror against which the state writ is powerless. In all districts, the Taliban have taken security officials hostage to press their demands that a strict Islamic code be enforced. Many officials have been killed when the Taliban's wishes have not been granted. As a result, the middle and lower members of the security forces are effectively non-functional and answer to the Taliban's call across NWFP.

This has left the secular and relatively liberal government of the province, led by the Awami National Party, with no choice but to form "defense committees" at the district level to organize civilians against a complete Taliban take-over. Across the border, a similar situation exists in Ghazni province, close to the capital Kabul, where, apart from the provincial headquarters, the Taliban call the shots in all districts once dusk descends - the district administrations and the police simply give up control, giving the Taliban freedom of movement.

Afghan NATO force hits targets inside Pakistan

Wed Jul 16, 2008 10:16am EDT


KABUL (Reuters) - NATO forces in Afghanistan attacked targets inside Pakistan with artillery and attack helicopters after coming under rocket fire from across the border, the alliance said on Wednesday.
Tension is high along the border with a sharp rise in attacks in eastern Afghanistan coming from inside Pakistan that Afghan and NATO officials blame on de-facto ceasefires between the Pakistani military and militants in its lawless tribal belt.
ISAF forces "received multiple rocket attacks from militants inside Pakistan, July 15," the force said in a statement.
"The troops identified a (compound) as the point of origin of the attacks and responded in self-defence with a combination of fires from attack helicopters and artillery into Pakistan."
It was not clear when ISAF troops launched the strikes and spokesmen for the force were not immediately available for comment. Most ISAF troops in eastern Afghanistan are American. ISAF and the Pakistani military "coordinated their operation closely from the outset. The Pakistani military agreed to assist and search the area if the border firing continued".

NATO troops build up on Pak-Afghan border

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* Villagers and officials say hundreds of coalition troops, tanks and APCs airlifted to border area * ISPR spokesman says media creating ‘unnecessary hype’ about troop movement * Pakistan Army deployed along border placed on high alert * Taliban spokesman says proximity makes it easier to kill more US soldiers

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MIRANSHAH: A build up of Western coalition forces on the Afghan border spread alarm among villagers in North Waziristan on Tuesday, as residents and officials said that the Pakistan Army was gearing up for “any eventuality”. Villagers and officials, requesting anonymity, said that hundreds of coalition troops had been airlifted to a border area near the Lawara village. “The coalition troops have started to strengthen their positions after setting up camp in the border areas adjacent to the Pak-Afghan border and US helicopters have been spotted hovering over target areas as support,” officials said.Reports from Afghanistan have said that helicopters have been transporting tanks and armoured personnel carriers (APCs) to Sarobagh and other landing strips in the Khost province, which neighbours the Tribal Areas.A villager said he could clearly see the troops. “They were brought by helicopters. They are at the zero point,” Akmal Khan, a resident of Lawara, told Reuters, referring to the disputed international boundary.The deployment is near Camp Tillman, a forward operating base for US forces.Unnecessary: Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Major General Athar Abbas played down concerns by saying it was probably a routine movement and the media had created “unnecessary hype”.According to APP, he told Dawn News that the movements were restricted to within Afghan territory and were in preparation for an exercise or operation there. “We closely monitor all such moves so nothing occurs too close to the border. Certainly, we have co-ordination and communication with each other,” he added. High alert: However, officials told Daily Times that the Pakistan Army deployed along the Pak-Afghan border has been placed on high alert in case of any infiltration. A spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan said there was no question of entering Pakistan. “Our mandate stops at the border,” spokesman Captain Mike Finney said. There was some “extra activity” on the border with troops searching for surviving insurgents after Sunday’s attack that killed nine US troops, he told AFP.Welcome: Meanwhile, Bajaur Taliban spokesman Maulvi Omar welcomed the build up on the border as a chance to kill more Americans. “It’s a gift that they’re coming here on our land and making it easy for us to kill our enemies, the enemies of Muslims,” he told Reuters.In a separate statement to The Associated Press, he criticised a statement by Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani that had acknowledged the presence of foreign fighters in the Tribal Areas. “We will consider Prime Minister Gilani our enemy if the NATO or Pakistani security forces attack us after his baseless claim,” he said.The new government has promised to do whatever it can to secure the border with Afghanistan. However, a series of incidents along the border, including drone aircraft missile attacks, have fuelled fears that the US military may be moving to a more offensive strategy in Pakistani territory.

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Tribesmen vow to defend frontiers

MIRANSHAH: Tribal elders in the North Waziristan Agency warned on Tuesday that tribesmen were ready to defend their country against a possible invasion by foreign troops. “More than three million tribesmen would fight along the Pakistani security forces if foreign troops enter the Tribal Areas,” said Malik Afzal Khan. The warning followed reports that a large number of United States and NATO troops were assembling in areas surrounding Pakistan’s Tribal Areas. haji mujtaba

Pakistan’s border controls are ‘real concern’: US

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LAHORE: Pakistan's security controls on its border with Afghanistan are a “real concern'” for the US, the State Department said on Tuesday, following an attack two days ago that killed nine US soldiers at a camp near the frontier, according to a Bloomberg report.

“There is a deep concern about cross-border infiltration into Afghanistan and then back [across] the border,'' State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told a briefing in Washington on Monday. Pakistan understands “the importance of engaging in the counter-terrorism fight”, he added. The soldiers were killed in Kunar province in north-eastern Afghanistan, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said in a statement. A group of about 200 gunmen raided a US post in the deadliest attack on US forces in Afghanistan in three years, the Associated Press reported.

The Pakistan government says it is combating extremism through the selective use of force and a strategy of economic and political development in the tribal regions. The US and NATO say Pakistan's policy of holding talks with militants in the Tribal Areas has led to increased attacks by Taliban and Al Qaeda

'No build-up of forces along Pakistan's border with Afghan'

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Islamabad, July 15 (PTI) The Pakistan Army today downplayed reports about a build-up of US-led coalition forces along the country's frontier with Afghanistan and said there had only been a "routine movement" of forces on the border.Residents of the restive North and South Waziristan agencies told television channels that they had seen about 300 Afghan and NATO troops being deployed within five kilometres of the Pakistan border. They also said the troops were backed by armoured vehicles, tanks and artillery.However, military spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas described the movement of the troops on the Afghan side of the border as routine."As far as our information is concerned, there was a routine movement of forces and vehicles on the Afghan side of the border, which is well within their side. This is a routine movement for some exercise or some operations there," Abbas told reporters."We closely monitor all such moves and there is nothing to be worried about. I think unnecessary hype has been created," he added.Reports suggested that the troops had been moved to occupy more than 15 new border posts that had been set up on the Afghan side of the frontier in Waziristan. The movement was apparently aimed at stopping the infiltration of militants from the Pakistani side. PTI

Western troop build-up sows alarm in Pakistan

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan (Reuters) - A build up of Western coalition forces on the Afghan border spread alarm among villagers in the Pakistani tribal region of North Waziristan, a known stronghold of Taliban and al Qaeda militants.
The deployment will add to a mounting sense of foreboding in Pakistan that U.S. ground troops could be ordered into Pakistan on covert missions or hot pursuit to eliminate militants fuelling an insurgency in Afghanistan that appears stronger than ever.
An intelligence official, who requested anonymity, and villagers said hundreds of coalition troops had been airlifted to a border area opposite the village of Lowara Mandi.
"The movement of troops started last night," the intelligence official said, adding that armoured vehicles and heavy weaponry had been brought in with them.

Demographics of Pakistan.

Official Name:
Islamic Republic of Pakistan
President:
Pervez Musharraf
Prime Minister:
Yousf Raza Gilani
Population:
152.53 million
Rate of population growth:
1.9%
Life expectancy:
64.10 years (males), 63.80 years (females)
Literacy:
53.0%** (rural 41.6% & urban 69.7%)
Land area:
803,944 sq. km. (310, 403 sq. miles)
Location:
South Asia: . Latitude: 23.35 N to 37.05 N . Longitude: 61 E to 76 E
Boundaries:
. South: Arabian sea . West: Iran . North west and north: Afghanistan . North-east: China . East: India
Pakistan's country code:
0092
Capital:
Islamabad
Physical feature:
. Highest point: K-2 (Mt. Godwin-Austin): 8,611 m. Lowest point: Sea level
Mountain Ranges:
Hindukush, Karakoram, Himalayas
National language:
Urdu
Regional language:
Balochi, Punjabi, Sindhi, Saraiki, Pushto
Official and business language:
English
Religion:
Islam
Monitory unit:
Pakistani Rupee

Pakistan can compete in milk production.


ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has got potential to easily compete with New Zealand and United Kingdom in milk production, however it needs to improve its yield.

Pakistan is the 5th largest milk producer, but its real potential remains far behind as its cows produce relatively less.

This was stated by Executive Director General, Investment Division and Board of Investment (ID&BoI) Major (R) Iqbal Ahmad while talking to UK Deputy High Commissioner Robert Gibson on Wednesday.Gibson was accompanied by British High Commission Trade & Investment Officer Jason Mumtaz. For more on this article, please click on the following link: Pakistan can compete in milk production: The News