Bringing the house down: PML-N turns up the heat in National Assembly


The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Monday created a ruckus loud enough to force the National Assembly proceedings to end prematurely.
Sporting black armbands, the opposition party’s members outnumbered the treasury benches, and the remaining members of the ruling coalition seemed overpowered by the high-voltage protest on the floor of the house.

Hours before the demonstration began in the lower house, PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif warned the premier to step down or face a relentless protest movement.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, who has attended nearly every NA session, except of course when on foreign visits, opted to sit out of this one.
However, he did make an appearance in the Senate, which met for the first time since the newly-elected Senators took oath, giving his Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) a massive presence in the upper house.
Most of the federal ministers too, stuck with the premier in the Senate. Seats allotted to ministers in the front row of the National Assembly remained vacant.
The desk-thumping, booklet-tearing demonstrations erupted when petroleum minister Dr Asim Hussain rose to respond to a question. PML-N’s Sohail Zia Butt failed to acknowledge Hussain’s stature and mocked: “Who is this man? He cannot answer my question.”
Anti-government slogans such as “go Gilani go” reverberated through the house then and the minister soon realised that any attempts to seek attention by speaking louder would be futile.
Booklets provided to MNAs containing the agenda for the session were torn and tossed towards the general direction of the speaker. Abid Sher Ali turned the heat up a few notches by raising slogans standing right in front of the speaker’s chair.
When Deputy Speaker Faisal Karim Kundi offered the floor to a female MNA from the PML-N to answer a question, she retorted: “prior to that, I would like to speak on the Supreme Court’s decision.”
Kundi, however, cut her short saying “No, you cannot discuss that. Thank you very much.” And the microphone went dead before the PML-N parliamentarian.
The next slogan, “Alvida, Alvida, Gilani Alvida” was delivered with more pomp and was accompanied by multi-coloured placards that the protestors drew from their bags. The placards read: “Adlia Mazboot, Pakistan Mazboot” (Strong judiciary, strong Pakistan).
The deputy speaker refused to let the opposition discuss the SC verdict on three more occasions and the question “hour” lasted only 20 minutes.
Other items on the agendas were the Drug Regulatory Ordinance 2012 and a bill to further amend the Chartered Accountants Ordinance, 1961.
Left with little options, Kundi adjourned the unruly session which lasted for about 35 minutes, from 6:25 to 7 pm.

Head-on collision?

IT has taken only a matter of days for the Supreme Court judgment against Prime Minister Gilani to translate into a full-blown political confrontation.

So long as ministers and other senior figures on either side of the parliamentary divide were sniping at each other, the matter could have been contained. But yesterday, Nawaz Sharif upped the ante by demanding the resignation of the prime minister, and if that was not forthcoming the PML-N supremo pledged to launch a protest movement. At the moment, the PML-N’s game-plan is not clear: does it hope to use the protest movement to build pressure for early elections or is this just an attempt to shed the last vestiges of the ‘friendly opposition’ tag with elections on the horizon? Using the SC-government tussle over the Swiss letter for electoral ends is not without risks. It isn’t clear if a pro-judiciary-type movement can be fashioned out of this particular issue as it was several years ago when Gen Musharraf had tried to shut Chief Justice Chaudhry out of office. The earlier campaign helped the PML-N to unexpected success in the 2008 elections but this time round the matter is less clear-cut. The PML-N brain trust will be furiously calculating the potential gains versus the risk that a protest movement which doesn’t catch the imagination of the public could pose to the PML-N at the next election.
So far, the more sensible route to follow appears to be the one suggested by Prime Minister Gilani. The prime minister’s suggestion in the Senate yesterday that everyone wait for the SC’s full judgment was obviously laced with self-interest. Delay has been a central part of the PPP’s strategy in its troubles with the court. However, the pledge inside parliament by the prime minister that if he were de-notified he would accept the verdict and go home is one that the opposition ought to take seriously and hold him to. After all, the PML-N has the right to ask the speaker of the National Assembly to refer the matter of Mr Gilani’s disqualification to the Election Commission and if the final judgment of the SC clarifies the ambiguity of the short order, the matter should be settled relatively quickly.
Yet, the sensible path is not always the one treaded by the political class here. After four years of relative calm, with a general election at most a year or so away, the PML-N’s and the PPP’s calculations may lean towards confrontation at this point in time.
Perhaps if the full judgment of the SC were issued soon, some of the uncertainty may be lifted and matters could settle down again.

Mohamed Abd El Ghany/ REUTERS

Tens of thousands of Egyptians demanded on Friday that their military rulers stick to a pledge to hand over power by mid-year after a row over who can run in the presidential election raised doubts about the army's commitment to democracy.

Hundreds of Islamists protest in Egypt against Mubarak’s old guard

Edmund Blair and Tamim Elyan, Reuters  Apr 27, 2012


CAIRO — Hundreds of Egyptian Islamists protested in Cairo on Friday against what they said was a bid to bring back deposed president Hosni Mubarak’s old guard after his last prime minister was allowed to stand in the presidential election.

But exposing divisions less than a month before an historic vote that marks the final step in a turbulent transition from army rule, youth movements and other activists who led the anti-Mubarak revolt last year did not join the demonstration.

The April 6 movement said it would not take part in protests that pressed for demands of a single group or party and the turnout was a fraction of the previous week when tens of thousands took to the streets.

Many youths who spurred on protests against Mubarak, putting national pride before religion, have struggled to turn street activism into an organized political force and fret about the dominance of Islamists in Egypt’s new political arena.

Suspicions over the army’s intentions were fuelled in the past week when Ahmed Shafiq, Mubarak’s last prime minister who like every president for the past six decades has held a top military post, was first thrown out of the race and then reinstated hours before the final list was declared.

Thousands turned out in Egypt’s second city of Alexandria and hundreds in other cities for the Islamist-led protest.

The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s biggest Islamist group that already dominates parliament, called for the demonstration to prevent “a delay in handing over power in June and to protest at the attempt to revive the corrupt former regime.”

Generals who have ruled Egypt since Mubarak’s overthrow last year have pledged to hand over power by July 1 to a new president. Thirteen candidates are running for the top job, whittled down from 23 in a tumultuous nomination process.

The four leading candidates can be broadly split between the Islamist camp and liberal-minded candidates who both served in office under Mubarak. The outcome is unpredictable with many voters undecided ahead of what will be Egypt’s first real presidential vote in its history, analysts say.

The vote is set for May 23-24, with a run-off scheduled in June for the top two vote-getters. No candidate is expected to seal a first round win with more than 50 percent of the votes.

Confusion over who is eligible to run has highlighted the fragility of the democratic transition in the Arab world’s most populous nation and raised questions about whether and to what extent the army will meddle in politics after its hand over.

Adding to uncertainty, the president is set to take office without clear powers because a row between Islamists and liberals over the make-up of an assembly to draw up a new constitution means it almost certainly won’t be written in time.

“Down with military rule” and “Speak out and don’t be afraid the (army) council must leave,” protesters chanted, surrounded by vendors selling flags, trinkets, snacks and drinks in the square that was the centre for the uprising against Mubarak.

DISQUALIFICATION

“The disqualification of Shafiq and his return raises concerns that there is some sort of arrangement,” said Mohamed Abu Taleb, a 43-year-old accountant, protesting in Tahrir.

Though the army may welcome having one of its own again as president, it might lead to fresh street protests that could again bring the military back onto the streets and into the frontline of politics.

“Anything that would affect the handover would be really incendiary here. I think our sense is that the military are not at that point,” said one Western diplomat.

Two other leading Islamists and Mubarak’s spy chief were also among those excluded. They were not given a reprieve.

Shafiq’s bid was briefly halted by a law drawn up by Islamists who swept up seats in a parliamentary election. They wanted to exclude candidates who were top officials in Mubarak’s era. Shafiq challenged the constitutionality of the rule and was allowed to resume his campaign, while a court reviews the law.

Islamists are angry after their top contenders were thrown out. The Muslim Brotherhood has been forced to field a reserve candidate, Mohamed Mursi, after its first choice was ejected over a conviction in Mubarak’s era when the group was banned.

Backers of a hard-line Salafi preacher are also angry that their candidate was thrown out of the race, when his deceased mother was found to have U.S. citizenship. Election criteria demand both parents hold only Egyptian nationality.

The backers of Hazem Salah Abu Ismail have stayed in the square since last week, accusing the committee charged with assessing candidates of targeting Islamists. Abu Ismail’s supporters made up the biggest contingent in Tahrir on Friday.

Alongside Mursi and Shafiq, the other main contenders are Amr Moussa, the former head of the Arab League and one-time foreign minister, and Abdel Moneim Abol Fotouh, who was expelled from the Brotherhood when he announced a bid for the presidency at a time when the group said it would not field a candidate.

A poll in March, before the nomination turmoil, indicated Moussa was ahead. But his support has dipped from a few months ago. Mursi has the benefit of the Brotherhood’s broad and disciplined network behind him, while Abol Fotouh has been building wider support, spanning liberals to Salafis.

Shafiq is expected to pick up votes from Egyptians who would like to see a more gradual transition in Egypt and see his military background as an asset in restoring order to a nation convulsed by protests and with an economy in tatters.

The Brotherhood has now more political representation than any time in its 84-year history. Seeking to capitalize on its unprecedented political gains, it has demanded to lead the formation of a new cabinet to replace the army-appointed one.

Rejecting parliament’s latest call for him to quit, army-appointed Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri said parliament had legislative powers but that the interim constitution did not give it powers to force out the government.

Mohsin Raza/REUTERS

A PIA air plane was forced to land after a passenger threatened that he could hijack the plane.

Bad week for Pakistan airlines: Hijack threat forces Pakistan plane to land

KARACHI — An airliner was forced to land shortly after takeoff in Pakistan on Friday after a passenger made a hijack threat, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) officials said.

This is the second time this week that a Pakistani airline has made the news; earlier this week, a Boeing 737 crashed near Islamabad, killing all on board.

PIA flight PK-586 turned back to its port city of Karachi after an airline hostess informed the captain that a passenger had threatened to hijack the plane, reported The Times of India.

The domestic flight carrying more than 50 passengers and five crew was on its way to the eastern city of Bahawalpur, a spokesman for the national flag-carrier said.

“Soon after the plane took off a passenger on board warned the staff that he could hijack the plane,” Sultan Hasan told AFP.

“The captain was informed of the situation, who returned the plane back after getting the nod from the control tower.”

The passenger was detained and handed over to security personnel for questioning, PIA said, and the plane was searched and found safe.

According to The Times of India, the passenger told security he had been fighting with the hostess and had no real intention of hijacking the plane.

Gilani no longer eligible to hold office: Nawaz Sharif

By Web Desk

Published: April 27, 2012

Earlier during the day, PM Gilani challenged PML-N to move no-confidence motion against him.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif reiterating his demand for Yousaf Raza Gilani to step down as the Prime Minister of Pakistan after having been convicted by the Supreme Court, said Gilani is no longer eligible to hold office. “Gilani should have mercy on the country’s system and step down from his illegal post.”

Nawaz threatened that Gilani will face “unexpected consequences” if he does not step down. He was addressing an emergency press conference called after a party meeting held in Lahore.

“The speeches of Gilani or any of his ministers do not hold any importance anymore… After Supreme Court’s April 26 order, the country has been running without any government,” he added.

The party chief added that he has nothing personal against Gilani and that his party is only trying is bring the country’s looted money back. “The Supreme Court wants to bring back the money which had been looted from Pakistan, and that is why, it passed the order. And anyone who refuses to comply with that order should be punished.”

Setting a clear policy for his party, and thereby warning the ruling government, said that his party will lodge its protest in all forms and at all levels and that even the possibility for a long march could not be ruled out. “The time for change has come,” in an ominous sign.

Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, PML-N’s provincial presidents and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif were also present at the press conference.

Khan said, “Gilani is not the prime minister now, nor is he an elected MNA.”

After Prime Minister Gilani was convicted in the contempt of court case on Thursday, the PML-N as well as other parties called on him to resign from his post. They consider him to have been disqualified from the house, hence ineligible to hold the Prime Minister’s seat.

The Supreme Court found Gilani, who had been elected unanimously to the post of Prime Minister four years ago, guilty of contempt of court for refusing to reopen graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari and gave him a symbolic sentence of 37 seconds detention in the courtroom.

Gilani, during the National Assembly session on Friday, challenged Nawaz to bring a no-confidence motion if “he thinks he can dissolve the government”.

The prime minister has so far refused to step down from his post. Instead, he has put his faith in the authority of Speaker of National Assembly Dr Fehmida Mirza to decide his fate.

Gilani Refuses to Step Down

Posted Friday, April 27th, 2012 at 6:25 am

Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani refused Friday to step down from office, a day after the Supreme Court found him guilty of contempt of court for not reopening corruption cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.

Mr. Gilani told parliament Friday that only its lawmakers could remove him from office. He said his only offense was “protecting the constitution.”

The court gave Mr. Gilani only a symbolic sentence of less than a minute's detention, sparing him a possible jail term of up to six months. But the verdict sparked widespread protests across Pakistan Thursday, during which demonstrators chanted and waved his pictures and said it was shameful he had been convicted.

Mr. Gilani's lawyer said his client asked him to appeal the judgment. He said his client was convicted on a charge for which he was never indicted.

The conviction triggered an immediate debate about Mr. Gilani's status as prime minister. Some legal experts say the fact that he was sentenced to a prison term, even for less than a minute, makes him ineligible to sit in parliament for the next five years.

Opposition leaders, including former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, called on Mr. Gilani to step down, saying they will no longer accept him as the country's prime minister.

Thursday's guilty verdict is the latest development in what has been an ongoing battle between the court and the prime minister over the status of corruption cases dating back to the 1990s.

Prosecutors accuse President Zardari, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and others of laundering millions of dollars through Swiss bank accounts. Ms. Bhutto, President Zardari's wife, was assassinated in 2007.

Charges against Mr. Zardari and the others were dropped after a 2007 amnesty agreement, but the court struck down the deal in 2009 and has been battling to reopen the cases ever since.

Prime Minister Gilani had refused to cooperate, arguing instead that the president has legal immunity while in office and that reopening the cases would be unconstitutional

 

Pakistan's Premier Gets 30-Second Sentence for Contempt

Pakistan's Supreme Court sentenced Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to a symbolic 30 seconds in detention after convicting him of contempt of court, a ruling that left the premier in power and appeared to mark a step down by the nation's highest judges.

The court found Mr. Gilani had failed to follow an earlier ruling to reopen investigations into allegations that President Asif Ali Zardari had received kickbacks from a Swiss company in the 1990s. It said Mr. Gilani served the symbolic detention while attending court on Thursday. The court ruled he would be punished "with imprisonment till the rising of the court today."

The court, under Pakistani law, could have sentenced Mr. Gilani to up to six months in jail for contempt, a ruling that would have led to his immediate removal as prime minister. By deciding not to send him to jail, the Supreme Court cleared the way for the current government to survive through a five-year term, in what would be the first full tenure in Pakistan after a long history of governments unseated by military coups.

 The justices "did not want to push the government any further. They stopped short of undermining the system," said Muhammad Waseem, a professor of political sciences at the Lahore University of Management Sciences.

A senior member of the ruling Pakistan People's Party said the government was considering calling early elections, possibly between October and December, ahead of the end of its full term in March.

The Election Commission of Pakistan could strike Mr. Gilani off as a member of the National Assembly after the conviction, but the process would likely take months. In such an event, the PPP could appoint another prime minister.

The three-way struggle between the nation's government, judiciary and powerful military has destabilized the country and detracted from efforts to fight militancy and stave off an economic deterioration.

Pakistan might have to ask the International Monetary Fund for a new borrowing program because of its high debt and balance-of-payments deficit, local media reported this week. A Ministry of Finance official declined to comment.

The country borrowed over $11 billion from the IMF following a 2008 balance-of-payments crisis. The program ended last year with IMF officials saying they were disappointed at Pakistan's failure to institute reforms, including increasing taxes on its wealthiest citizens.

The judiciary in Pakistan plays a more activist role than in many Western countries. In 2008, street protests by Supreme Court lawyers, led by the current chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, helped restore democracy after nearly a decade of military rule.

After the PPP-led government came to power in 2008, Mr. Chaudhry pushed for the reopening of graft cases into politicians who had been covered by an earlier amnesty, including Mr. Zardari.

Lawyers for Mr. Gilani argued the prime minister couldn't reopen a criminal case against Mr. Zardari because Pakistan's constitution grants the president immunity from criminal prosecution.

The government will continue to ignore the earlier ruling that orders action to be taken against Mr. Zardari, who is also co-chairman, with his son, of the PPP, the senior party politician said. Mr. Zardari has denied the charges against him.

The government's position looks less precarious than late last year when rumors of a likely military coup were swirling around Pakistan.

The army was embarrassed last year by the U.S. raid on a Pakistan garrison town in May that killed Osama bin Laden. Then, allegations surfaced that government officials had sent a memo to Washington just after the raid, urging the U.S. to help to push Pakistan's military to give up its role in domestic politics.

In December, Mr. Zardari traveled to Dubai for surgery following a small stroke, sparking rumors he was going into exile ahead of an army takeover. But the coup didn't happen and Mr. Zardari returned home after treatment.

The Supreme Court in December ordered a judicial commission to probe what was quickly called "Memogate," but the affair has fallen off the front pages of Pakistan's newspapers in recent months. The court turned instead to Mr. Gilani's refusal to reopen graft investigations into Mr. Zardari.

Lawyers say many of Pakistan's politicians are corrupt and must be held accountable. Government officials retort the courts have overstepped the limits of their role.

A report this month by the International Commission of Jurists, a Geneva-based nongovernment organization of judges and lawyers, said Pakistan's top courts were wielding unusually wide-ranging powers, stepping into areas usually reserved for government.
The report noted that Chief Justice Chaudhry often launched legal proceedings on his own initiative based on articles he had read in Pakistan's newspapers, introducing a "certain element of chance to the practice which is hardly compatible with the rule of law."
Others argue the judiciary is only trying to go after politicians who for years have amassed illicit wealth.
The charges against Mr. Zardari involve allegations he and his late wife, Benazir Bhutto, a former prime minister who was assassinated in 2007, received kickbacks from a Swiss company in the 1990s.
A Swiss court in 2003 found them guilty but the verdict was overturned on appeal. Swiss prosecutors, with help from Pakistan's government, continued to build a case.
Mr. Zardari spent 11 years in jail in Pakistan in the late 1990s and early 2000s on graft charges, none of which led to conviction. When not in jail, Mr. Zardari lived in exile with Ms. Bhutto around the world. He denies any wrongdoing and says the accusations are politically motivated.
In 2007, then-President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, a military dictator, declared amnesty on graft charges against hundreds of people, including Ms. Bhutto and Mr. Zardari. Pakistan's government wrote to Swiss authorities saying it no longer wanted to cooperate in investigating Mr. Zardari. Swiss prosecutors subsequently closed the case.
But the Pakistan Supreme Court in 2009 overturned the amnesty and ordered the government to write to Swiss authorities asking for the graft investigation to be reopened. The PPP has declined to do so, citing Mr. Zardari's immunity as president under the constitution.

Pakistan Answers India With Missile Test

Pakistan tested an intermediate-range, nuclear-capable ballistic missile on Wednesday, following a long-range missile launch last week by rival India.

The test was timed to showcase Pakistan's capabilities after India's test last week, said Talat Masood, a retired Pakistan army general.

"It's a sort of competition that's been going on," Mr. Masood said. "I'm sure these missiles are always ready for firing."

Pakistan's army said it had successfully launched the Hatf IV Shaheen-1A missile to an impact point in the Arabian Sea. The missile, which can carry nuclear and conventional warheads, has a longer range than previous versions, the army said in a statement. "The improved version of Shaheen-1A will further consolidate and strengthen Pakistan's deterrence abilities," it said.

An earlier version of the missile was deployed in 2003 and has a range of 466 miles, according to Reaching Critical Will, a New York-based nongovernmental organization that promotes disarmament.

Pakistan's longest-range nuclear-capable ballistic missile, the Hatf VI Shaheen-2, can travel about 1,240 miles, which would reach well into Indian territory, according to data cited by Reaching Critical Will. Much about Pakistan's ballistic-weapons program remains secret, however. "Despite frequent media reports, the capabilities of Pakistan's nuclear weapon delivery systems, and the current status of their technical development and operational readiness is unclear," the report added.

Indian and Pakistan often time missile tests and military exercises so they become a show of force to the other side.

India's test last week, however, was seen in part as a message to China. The test garnered global attention because of the ability of the missile, the Agni-V, to travel 3,100 miles before impact, well beyond the 1,860-mile range of earlier versions.

That would allow New Delhi to strike deep into Chinese territory, although Beijing's nuclear missiles and conventional armed forces remain far ahead of India's.

India has testy relations with both Pakistan and China. Beijing has close ties with Pakistan, whom it has helped to develop military and civilian nuclear capabilities.

Pakistan, which can't match India's spending on conventional forces, has been racing to increase its nuclear arsenal. The nation now has over 100 warheads, according to some estimates, putting it slightly ahead of India.

The neighboring countries each exploded nuclear devices in May 1998, drawing international condemnation and pushing the U.S. to temporarily impose economic sanctions on both nations. Since then, the U.S. has rewarded India's nonproliferation record by agreeing in 2005 to allow U.S. companies to sell nuclear fuel to India for nuclear energy.

The U.S. has declined to offer the same kind of deal to Islamabad, given Pakistan's history of selling nuclear secrets. Pakistan remains reliant on Chinese help for its nuclear program.

Pakistan Braces for Showdown Between PM and Supreme Court

Posted Wednesday, April 25th, 2012 at 8:45 am

 

Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani says he will face the country's Supreme Court Thursday, when it is set to announce the verdict in a contempt case against him.

Mr. Gilani told his Cabinet on Wednesday that he will appear before the court. Information Minister Rehman Malik then said the entire Cabinet would accompany the prime minister to Thursday's hearing in a show of support.

Mr. Gilani was charged in February for defying a Supreme Court order to reopen an old corruption case against President Asif Ali Zardari.

If convicted, the prime minister faces up to six months in prison and removal from office.
The development is the latest in an ongoing battle between the court and the prime minister over the status of corruption cases dating back to the 1990s.

Prosecutors accuse President Zardari, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and others of laundering millions of dollars through Swiss bank accounts. Ms. Bhutto, President Zardari's wife, was assassinated in 2007.
Charges against Mr. Zardari and the others were dropped after a 2007 amnesty agreement, but the court struck down the deal in 2009 and has been battling to reopen the cases ever since.

Prime Minister Gilani has refused to cooperate, arguing instead that the president has legal immunity while in office.

Pakistan's Untold Economic Story
Growth could hit 4% this year, and the Karachi Stock Exchange has doubled in four years.

ABDUL HAFEEZ SHAIKH

For more than a decade, Pakistan has partnered with the United States to combat the extremism and militancy that threatens the stability of our region and the world. This fight has taken an enormous human toll on our people, with over 37,000 civilians killed and more than 5,000 police and soldiers lost. In addition to the enormous human tragedy, this struggle has directly and negatively impacted our economy and the development of our nation.

We have witnessed the loss of more than $100 billion of foreign investment, a tightening of our financial markets, and a freeze on the progress of many social programs. But that trend has now dramatically reversed, and there is an emerging story of a new Pakistan strategically located at the crossroads of the world's most dynamic economies, ready to take its place as a critical emerging market.

We have a consumer base of more than 170 million, a young and educated work force, and a culture of entrepreneurship. The opportunity for our economy to grow is immense. People in the West may not be aware, but the positive change that is sweeping Pakistan as we speak has profound economic and political consequences for the future.

Pakistan was not immune to the global financial crisis, which struck just as we began the transition from a military dictatorship to a thriving democracy. The new, democratically elected government inherited staggering domestic challenges, rising commodity prices, financial turmoil, and a severe energy crisis resulting from years of mismanagement and poor planning associated with the priorities of dictatorship. Natural disasters further complicated our recovery.

Bloomberg

Workers at the Aisha Steel Mills Ltd. plant in Karachi, Pakistan.

Yet over the last four years, the Pakistani government has taken difficult but important steps to get our economy back on track. This year real growth in gross domestic product is likely to reach 4%, nearly double last year's rate. During the first nine months of fiscal year 2012, tax collections have surged by 24%, remittances from Pakistanis abroad by 21% (to $9.7 billion), and our exports by 5.5% over last year's base of $25 billion.

Inflation and consumer prices were down in March, easing pressure on small and medium-size companies. The Karachi Stock Exchange KSE100 Index now stands at 14,000, having been at 6,000 in 2008. Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves increased to $18 billion in 2011, the largest in history, and our financial obligations are declining. In 2015, Pakistan's annual repayment to the International Monetary Fund will be a quarter of its 2012 obligation.

Six months ago, Pakistan granted Most Favored Nation trading status to India, a paradigm-shifting policy change driven by the business sectors on both sides of the border. With its complete implementation and the concomitant reduction of India's nontariff barriers, this decision has the power to reconfigure the region's economic landscape and dramatically increase its stability. Today, bilateral trade between India and Pakistan stands at $2.7 billion per year. Business chambers in both countries predict that figure could quadruple to $10 billion by 2015.

Pakistan is committed to promoting an investor-friendly environment. We offer the most liberal investment policy regime in the region, including incentives such as the full repatriation of capital, capital gains, dividends and profits. We have signed Business Investment Treaties with many nations and are currently in the final stages of negotiating such a treaty with the U.S.

Investing in any emerging market has its challenges, but Pakistan is poised for growth. For the first time in our history, a democratically elected government will complete a full five-year term next year. Our judiciary is independent and upholding the rule of law. Our military is working with our civilian government to protect our borders and keep militancy and extremism in check. Our civil society is expanding, and our media are robust and uncensored.

Business contracts have been consistently honored and the return on investment for many investors has been enormous. And though the last decade has taken a toll on our economy and our infrastructure, our resilience is evident and turning the tide. We are building infrastructure and expanding our energy capacity, we are modernizing our agriculture sector, we are a leader in telephone access, our textile sector is one of the largest in the region, and our information-technology companies are some of the best in the world.

This is the new Pakistan.

Mr. Shaikh is Pakistan's minister of finance.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303592404577363903670333254.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Pakistan on Siachen: Change of heart or tactical shift

Hardboiled strategic experts habitually trash any innocent desire for peace with Pakistan as too ambitious an idea that even runs the risk of being labelled as anti-national.

It is out of place to argue with these custodians of national security; in their opinion, probably Mahatma Gandhi too was naive for following the path of non-violence resolutely. Often, the nascent desire for peace is bulldozed with the age-old cynical refrain that ‘peace is not possible with Pakistan’. Trust deficit between India and Pakistan is a reality; once we acknowledge this ugly truth, however, a worse dilemma confronts us: without a genuine peace process, is it possible to bridge the gulf of deep mistrust? The mindset hostage to the historical hatred seems to have made the peace process a chicken-and-egg paradox: what comes first, peace process or overcoming the overwhelming trust deficit?

The majority of peace-seekers in the Indian subcontinent consider the ‘redeployment’ of forces on the Siachen glacier absolutely doable. This understanding originates from the belief that the so-called highest battlefield — the real foe for the soldier is the extremely hostile weather; more Indian and Pakistani soldiers have succumbed to the inhospitable conditions than to bullets — lacks any real strategic importance. Hope that the resolution of Siachen is a possibility also stems from the notion that since India and Pakistan are embroiled in the conflict due to deep mistrust, just a little push in the present relatively relaxed atmosphere may help the two realise the futility of a military engagement in Siachen. Contrary to expectations that the resolution of Siachen, overdue for more than two decades now, can provide impetus to the jammed India-Pakistan peace process, few strategic experts believe it’s not a ‘low-hanging fruit’ that can be plucked first.

Without questioning the prudence of these strategic experts, who like to make us believe that holding the present military positions at a whopping cost of both men and material is of paramount importance to India’s strategic interests, these fixed minds need to pounder over some most pertinent questions. If even Siachen is irresolvable, what else can be resolved between India and Pakistan? And for how long can mere trade and people-to-people contact sustain the spirit of detente in the subcontinent? By propounding an obscure logic, does this closed mindset not confirm the criticism of American strategic expert Stephen Cohen: ‘This combat over a barren, uninhabited netherworld of questionable strategic value is a forbidding symbol of their lingering irreconcilability?’

Ironically, a section of the strategic community in India believes in the dictum that what Pakistan proposes will inevitably negate India’s core interests. An avalanche burying an entire battalion headquarter of the Pakistani army may have hastened the demands of unilateral withdrawal of the Pakistani army from the glacier in that country. Even Pakistan’s army Chief General Ashfaq Kayani, after snow devouring 130 of his soldiers, conceded that Siachen is a ‘difficult front’ and is now in favour of ‘armies should be pulled from the area.’

Pakistan is battling hard for its very existence and peace overtures to India might be a desperate attempt to stabilise its rocking boat. In this backdrop, it becomes very difficult to ascertain whether Pakistan’s change of heart is strategic or a mere tactical shift. Yet India’s options are very limited. India cannot remain insulated to the increasing political instability in its immediate neighbourhood; growing chaos in Pakistan will certainly impact India’s stability.

It is of little consequence whether Pakistan’s peace proposals are a tactical manoeuvring or if that state has undergone a permanent change of heart. However, what matters the most is the fact that Pakistan, including its army, has finally realised that without a friendlier relationship with India, its very survival is at peril. India, instead of remaining fixed in an atmosphere of mistrust, should as a confident nation engage Pakistan in securing South Asia’s future. What shape the resolution of Siachen looks like in the future should not be the real worry; consolidation of the peace process has to be the actual concern. Why should India lock itself in the ‘despair of possibility’, diplomacy is the art of making impossible a possible.Peace with Pakistan is not a choice; securing future of the sub-continent is a moral obligation.


http://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/column_pakistan-on-siachen-change-of-heart-or-tactical-shift_1680306

Balochistan:

What if they get Stingers?

April 23, 2012

With the resource-rich Balochistan province fast turning into a battlefield for international players, the country’s top leadership as well as security agencies are extremely worried over the possibility of insurgents getting Stingers from outside and repeating the history of Mujahideen who forced the world’s second greatest military power, the USSR, to flee Afghanistan in the late eighties with the help of this lethal weapon.

Defence analysts and military strategists agree on the point that it was the Stinger missiles provided by the US to Afghan fighters which turned the tables on the Soviet army which did not show any sign of receding in the first five years despite assistance from the US and Pakistan by other means.

Analysts believe that keeping in view the 1,500 mile-long porous border with Afghanistan, the possibility of Stingers coming once again to Pakistan cannot be ruled out, especially in a situation when Balochistan is becoming a den of foreign forces sponsoring terrorism and promoting so-called nationalist leaders working against the framework of Pakistan. So far, these foreign forces have been providing funds and weapons to the militants. The danger is that if these forces are not checked and their presence not eliminated the likely future events may lead to a formerly East Pakistan-like situation. It is feared that if the security forces fail, Balochistan could quite easily become a focal point in Pakistan’s destabilisation.

Balochistan is in flames at the moment with military and political top brass having no clue to resolve the issue and from where to begin. Today the unfortunate province is placed at a point where kidnappings for ransom, target killings and other crimes are all-time high. In the recent past, Baloch nationalists have been accusing security forces of committing human right abuses and seeking more autonomy and more royalties for them. Many Balochs feel they have been cheated by successive governments whom they had accused of plundering their resources, like natural gas, coal and copper.

Highly-placed informed sources confided to TheNation that top PPP leadership has engaged the Baloch nationalists to bring home to them that if they don’t become part of the dialogue process to resolve the issue, Blochistan would be a battlefield for international players to destabilise the region. However, the response from them was not encouraging. They reportedly asked for military withdrawal and evacuation of army from cantonments, a demand which cannot be met in any case.

There is a strong realisation that as long as Pakistan army remains deployed in Balochistan, it would be difficult for the militants to achieve their objective of destabilising the region. This is perhaps why they (separatists) have been opposed to army deployment in the province, said a defence analyst seeking anonymity. The involvement of foreign powers in Balochistan insurgency is no secret any more. There have also been reports of the United States, India, Israel and Afghanistan collaborating to create unrest in the province. They are reportedly offering patronage to the militants engaged in acts of terrorism and sabotage.

The news of a map purportedly drawn by Americans has been making rounds in the world which showed Pakistan truncated to a smaller territory with some of its parts indicated as independent states or parts of neighbouring Afghanistan and India. Balochistan has, no doubt, become an attractive place for foreign powers due to its huge deposits of minerals like gold, copper, coal and gas. It is alleged that the US wants to get close to Iran and China by maintaining presence in Balochistan. It would be a source of pleasure for India that is why it is collaborating with the US to fuel insurgency in the province.There are reports of at least 17 camps situated in area from Chaman border to Khost in Afghanistan to train insurgents to fight in Balochistan.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik revealed a couple of months back that Baloch Republican Party chief Brahmdagh Bugti was operating terrorist training camps inside Afghanistan which were dismantled only after Islamabad passed on the information to Kabul. In the past, President Karzai had always denied the charge that Balochs living in Afghanistan were supporting any armed struggle in Pakistan.

Pakistanis were taken aback when US Congressman Dana Rohrabacher introduced a resolution in the US Congress calling upon Pakistan to recognise the right to self-determination of Baloch people. It was an open interference in Pakistan’s internal affairs. The resolution asserted that the people of Balochistan that are ‘currently divided between Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan, have the right to self-determination and to their own sovereign country’. It added that Balochs should be given the opportunity to choose their own status among the comity of nations.

It is also an open secret that CIA and Pentagon have been funding and arming anti-Iran terrorist outfit Jundullah which has concentration in Kharan region, and has been accused of carrying out terrorist activities in Iran.

The American disliking for construction of Gwadar Port and its opposition to establishment of a naval base there is also a known fact.Rehman Malik informed in-camera session that the government had proof of involvement of RAW, Mossad and CIA, although he never dared to make these proof public. Despite the fact that an in-camera proceeding of the joint session passed a unanimous resolution reflecting the will to address the issue, no concrete steps have been taken so far in this direction.

The implementation on on Aghaze Haqooq-e-Balochistan Package, announced by the federal government, is nowhere to be seen. Different committees were also formed in the past to resolve the issue, the most prominent among these being headed by Ch Shujaat Hussain with Syed Mushahid Hussain as one of its members. This committee submitted a 12-point formula to the Senate after having consultation with all stakeholders in Blochistan and representatives of those who now talk of independence.

The recommendations remained on paper only. The so-called Baloch nationalists are openly defying the authority of Pakistan government while sitting on the foreign lands. Brahmdagh is currently in Switzerland and Harbyar Marri is residing in London. Brahmdagh Bugti, grandson of slain nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Bugti, is on record having said that he would accept any help from India, Afghanistan and Iran to defend Balochistan. ‘’Punjab and Pakistan do not have right over our gas resources,” he once said, adding, “If anyone wants to take it by force, then we will resist it’’. He also said they were fighting to defend Balochistan and had the right to accept help from any country.

Mir Suleiman Dawood and some Baloch nationalist organisations have openly called for India’s assistance to separate Balochistan from Pakistan. On August 12, 2009, Khan of Kalat Mir Suleiman Dawood declared himself the ruler of Balochistan and also made announcement of a Council for Independent Balochistan representing all Baloch leaders.  A glance at the history of Baloch insurgency shows that shortly after creation of Pakistan in 1947, the army had to take on insurgents in Kalat who had rejected the King of Kalat’s decision to accede to Pakistan. A Baloch separatist movement was also witnessed during the 1960s, followed by a military operation in 1973. General Musharraf also had to use force to crush militancy which resulted in the death of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti in 2006.

The insurgency in the province continues unabated.There is also the issue of ‘forced disappearances’ in Balochistan. The Supreme Court is currently hearing the ‘missing persons’ case while many have already returned to their homes. The SC has ruled that the military must act under the government’s direction and follow the well-defined parameters set by the Constitution.

Pakistan probes jet crash amid criticism

Originally published: April 21, 2012 11:14 AM
Updated: April 21, 2012 12:52 PM
By The Associated Press

Photo credit: AP | The sister of a Pakistani man who lost his life in Friday's crash of a Bhoja Air Boeing 737 passenger plane cries over his coffin outside a hospital in Islamabad, Pakistan. (April 21, 2012)

Videos

Jet crashes in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan on Saturday barred the head of the airline whose jet crashed near the capital from leaving the country, vowing to investigate a tragedy that has revived fears about the safety of aviation in a country saddled by massive economic problems.

The Bhoja Air passenger jet crashed Friday evening as it tried to land in a thunderstorm at Islamabad's main airport, killing all 127 people on board. The second major air disaster close to the capital in less than two years, the crash triggered fresh criticism of an already embattled government, which faced questions over why it gave a license to the tiny airline just last month.

Sobbing relatives of those who died flocked to a hospital in Islamabad to collect the remains of their loved ones.

"We had no idea they would be called for eternal rest," said Sardar Aftaz Khan, who was trying to secure the release of the bodies of her mother, an aunt and a nephew.

Speaking after visiting the scene of the crash, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said that Farooq Bhoja, the head of Bhoja Air, had been put on the "exit control list," which bars him from leaving Pakistan. Such a ban is often put on someone suspected or implicated in a criminal case.

Malik said Bhoja had been ordered into protective custody and a criminal investigation launched into the crash, presumably running alongside the one being carried out by aviation authorities.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani also ordered a third probe, known as a judicial commission, into the accident.

Nadeem Yousufzai, the head of the Civil Aviation Authority, urged people not to speculate on the cause of the crash before all the evidence had been collected.

He said he had listened to a recording of the conversation between the pilot and the control tower and said the pilot was in a "happy" mood. He said the weather was bad, but noted that another plane landed safely at the airport five minutes after the crash.

He denied there was any "political pressure" in the awarding of the license to Bhoja Air, one of just three private airlines in Pakistan. The airline only recently received a permit and began flying last month after it lost its license in 2001 because of financial difficulties.

A representative for Bhoja Air, Jahanzeb Khan, declined comment on the travel ban against Farooq Bhoja and said the airline would discuss the case after the investigation was complete.

Malik, the interior minister, appeared to back up theories aired by some in the media that the age of the aircraft may have been a factor, saying the airline "seems to be at fault as it had acquired a very old aircraft."

"If the airline management doesn't have enough money it doesn't mean you go and buy a 30-year-old or more aircraft as if it were a rickshaw and start an airline," he said.

According to the Web site www.airfleets.net, the Bhoja jet was 32 years old and first saw service withBritish Airways in South Africa.

Thirty-two years is not especially old for an aircraft, and age by itself is rarely an important factor in crashes, said Nasim Ahmed, a former crash investigator.

Malik's comments — and the three official investigations — appeared to be part of a government effort to move quickly and deflect some of the criticism that it is likely to find itself under in coming days because of the crash.

Such is distrust of the state in Pakistan, few believe the government — which lurches from crisis to crisis, clinging to power in the face of a mostly hostile media, opposition and judiciary — has the will to hold politically connected people accountable or carry out credible investigations.

The violent storm that was lashing Islamabad when the accident took place has led some experts to speculate that "wind shear," sudden changes in wind that can lift or smash an aircraft into the ground during landing, may have been a factor. It may even have been a dangerous localized form of the phenomena, called a microburst. That can cause planes to lose airspeed suddenly or lift abruptly if a headwind suddenly changes to a tail wind during takeoff or landing.

Soldiers and emergency workers at first light began the grim task of looking for bodies and body parts among the debris from the Boeing 737-200, which was spread out over a one-kilometer (mile) stretch of wheat farms around five kilometers (three miles) from Benazir Bhutto International Airport.

The plane was flying from the southern city of Karachi to Islamabad when it crashed.

One soldier had a plastic bag over his hand and was picking up small bits of flesh. Another was using a stick to get at remains in a tree.

"We are collecting these so that the souls are not desecrated," one of them said.

The officers were also picking up personal effects of the passengers, making piles of documents, bank cards, gold and bangles.

The last major plane crash in the country — and Pakistan's worst — occurred in July 2010 when anAirbus A321 aircraft operated by domestic carrier Airblue crashed into the hills overlooking Islamabad, killing all 152 people aboard. A government investigation blamed the pilot for veering off course amid stormy weather.

Nasim Ahmed, the former investigator, said it appeared at this stage that the age and air worthiness of the plane were unlikely causes.

He said that a combination of factors during landing was probably to blame, possibly the weather or some form of unexpected incident that caused the pilot to lose vital awareness of the plane's location.

Ahmed said the accident highlighted long-standing weaknesses in Pakistan's aviation industry, which he said couldn't be separated from management problems in the Civil Aviation Authority, poor government oversight and corruption and nepotism in the state-owned Pakistan International Airlines.

In 2007, the European Union banned most PIA flights from its member's airports for eight months due to safety concerns.

"There are problems in the overall handling of the country, and the Civil Aviation Authority is not an isolated pocket of good governance," Ahmed said.