U.S. Daydreaming - Asian Pacific Leadership

On 20 July, 2011 while addressing an audience of students, opinion-makers and other citizens of South India at the Anna Centenary Library Chennai, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton desired, India to lead Asia Pacific & Asia. In this connection, she said that the United States today exhorted India to be more assertive and play the proactive role of a leader in Asia and also to shape the future of the Asia Pacific in 21st century. The questions arise whether Hillary Clintons’ dream of portraying India as future Asian leader would be materialized and come true or otherwise would be proved as her “Daydream”.

In fact American leadership probably habitual of seeing daydreams and normally forget the presence of others global, regional nuclear and economic powers like Russia, China, Korea, Japan and Pakistan. Hillary probably failed to memorize that China is that economic power which in 2008 provided 700 billion U.S. dollars as rescue plan to bail out troubled American’s banks to stabilize the U.S. and global financial markets and restore investor confidence on U.S crumbled economy.

But on contrary to it on Jan 6, 2010 the U.S. Defense Department announced the approval of a plan of Lockheed Martin Corp. to sell Patriot III missiles to Taiwan. Although it was a step to implement the huge-scale arms sales package announced by the George W. Bush administration in October 2008. But such a move has been carried out by the U.S. authorities just one month after Barack Obama`s visit to China which of course tarnished the China-U.S. ties. In fact, the U.S. side is fully aware that the Taiwan issue is related to China`s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and involves China`s core interests and the national sentiment of 1.3 billion Chinese people. On that moment, China reacted strongly to the U.S. administration`s $6.4 billion arms sale to Taiwan stating that relations between the two countries would be greatly impaired. In this context in an angry tone Chinese’s concerned official said it would "punish" certain U.S. companies involved in the arms sale to Taiwan with sanctions. He also indicated that it would "partially" stop bilateral military exchange programs with the U.S., as well as halt talks on strategic security, arms control and anti-proliferation that were scheduled to take place soon.

Here, I would also like to mention about President Obama’ visit to India when in 2010, he announced $10 billion trade deals with India and claimed that the deal will create 53,670 U.S. jobs. He brought some of the changes in export rules to make it easier for U.S. companies to do business with the nation of 1.2 billion people. US is also relaxing control on India`s purchase of "dual use" technologies that could be used for civilian or military purposes, have been top priorities for the business community. The commercial deals include the purchase of thirty three (33) 737s Boeing by India`s Spice Jet Airlines; the Indian military`s plans to buy aircraft engines from General Electric; and preliminary agreement between Boeing and the Indian Air Force on the purchase of 10 C17s. Indian has also been promised that U.S. and her allies like U.K and France will support Indian permanent membership in UN Security Council. It is pity on American and western allies that a country being supported for UN security council membership which has multiple external problems like water disputes, border issues with the neighbouring countries in addition to her domestic security, ethnic and human rights violations against Sikhs, Maoists and Kashmiries. It is also added here that 155 nuclear proliferation cases have been registered so far in India which is a record in world history.

Now again in 2011, in another move U.S. Sectary of State during her visit to “New Delhi’ and at the occasion of ASEAN Summit, has tried to pitch India against China while declaring India as potential regional leader of Asia Pacific. In this regard Mrs. Clinton gave a clear message to Beijing: don’t get too big for your britches because not only are we still around but we have a partner who can lead other regional states in a coalition to oppose your hegemonic ambitions. All this clearly shows that U.S without deputing India as her watchdog is not interested to flee away from this region. She might also delay her exit plan from Afghanistan. Therefore, there is a need to devise some strategy to counter American and Indian joint venture which may push the world in “Third Global War’. Therefore, it is suggested that China and other dialogue partners should reconsider the status of India and U.S. since both these countries are striving hard for their hegemony over Asia and Asia Pacific which definitely would not be acceptable to others members countries.

Pakistan also showed concerns over Hillary Clinton’s recent statement. In this connection on Jul 24, 2011 newly appointed, world youngest foreign minister of Pakistan, Hina Rabbani Khar while addressing the journalists at Lahore air Port Said that bilateral ties and not a one-sided relation with the US is required. She also categorically stated that Pakistan requires that worlds support, but at the same time stated that the country will not accept anyone’s hegemony in the region.

It has been found that Americans leadership always behaves immaturely prior to Indian visit. For example on July 19, 2011 Kashmiri leader Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai, has been arrested by the FBI and declared his connection with ISI. The American and Indian intelligence agency have deliberately launched a joint media campaign against ISI. In that, they claimed that Mr., FAI and Osama bin Laden might have the same ISI handlers but in reality Mr. Ghulam Nabi was fighting for the restoration of human rights in Kashmir which have been acknowledged by UNO in 1954. In most of the think tanks and opinion builders circle, the arrest of KAC’s leader has been taken as Hillary Clinton’s gift to India. Kashmiri masses all over the globe have condemned Mr. Fai’s arrest and demanded his release and liberation of Kashmir under UN Resolutions. In fact the arrest of innocent Kashmiri leader reflects the true face of so called American democracy and civilized society.

It is also notable that a Bill regarding aid to Pakistan though rejected but was moved in the congress during Hillary Clinton stay in India where she demanded that Pakistan should try the culprits of Mumbai attack. Interestingly, the culprits of Mumbai attack has been either killed or already behind the bar in Indian Jails. The timing itself dictate the motives behind the presentation of Bill in the congress, which simply means undue pressure tactics on Pakistan and pleasing Indian leadership on all cost. At the end, I must say that U.S. if interested in “one to one” relationship with Pakistan then she has to mend her ways, forego double standards, minimizing undue Indian role in Afghanistan, stop supporting separatists’ movements in Balochistan and condemned Indian nuclear proliferation policies and hegemonic design. She has to reconsider the policy of global war on terror because negotiations with Taliban are only the solution. At the end I will say that U.S. should pay some attention to improve her economy rather than instigating India just for the sake of capturing a huge market to meet her ultimate objectives.

Close Pakistan's ISI from the Inside

By Steve Clemons

Jul 25 2011, 12:14 AM ET

The best places to meet the world's most interesting national security and foreign policy personalities are no longer Washington or London or Paris. Rather, highest on the list are Beijing, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Doha.

Many years ago, I met Lt. General Asad Durrani in Beijing thanks to a conference organized by Australia's Monash University. We have been acquainted and communicating since. I remember arriving late to the conference and rushing in as the brash, younger-than-I-am-now upstart and sitting down at one of the lunch tables of ten. I quickly met everyone and heard that Durrani was a general from Pakistan. That's all I knew.

I asked him quickly not having known that he was essentially Pakistan's Karla, or George Smiley, depending on your perspective, "Do you think President Musharraf really doesn't control the ISI?" Several faces went white at the table. A jaw dropped. Durrani's eyes narrowed and he slowly said, "It may be in General Musharraf's interests to pretend he has little control over the ISI." This is pure Durrani -- layers, meaningful, informed, and no one's flack.

Then I realized looking at bios that he was the former chief of the ISI -- and our accidental bluntness and candor has glued us together since.

Tonight, General Durrani sent me an essay he wrote, with very light editing by me. These are his words, his insights into how Pakistan sees the Taliban and Afghanistan -- as well as its competition with the US in the region.

I have permission to post the entire essay which I am doing. I think that those interested in understanding the other side of the complex and stressed US-Pakistan relationship need to read a bit about the history of the ISI in the words of one of their own.

When I last met General Durrani at a conference organized by Al Jazeera in Doha, he said to me:

Steve, it is very hard for me to overstate to you the enthusiasm for which Pakistan's generals have for the Taliban.

Durrani is not a booster for the Taliban; he is a hard core realist -- and his view is that Pakistan's generals prize the Taliban for its ability to give them "strategic depth". Whether you agree or not, his assessments are very much worth reading in full.

So, the rest from Lt. General and former ISI Chief Assad Durrani:

The ISI: AN EXCEPTIONAL SECRET SERVICE

by Lt. General Asad Durrani

When Smashing Lists, a relatively unknown website, declared Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, the ISI, the best of its kind, it gladdened my heart but also had me worried.

Soon after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, I met an old colleague, a Special Forces officer recently inducted in the ISI. He whispered in my ears: "we have decided to support the Afghan resistance". Understandably. With the "archenemy" India in the East and now not a very friendly Soviet Union on our Western borders, Pakistan had fallen between "nutcrackers".

We therefore had to take our chances to rollback the occupation; but did we have any against a 'superpower', and the only one in the region at that? Soon after the Soviet withdrawal, as the Director General of Military Intelligence, I was assigned to a team constituted to review Pakistan's Afghan Policy. That, followed by a stint in the ISI, provided the answer.

The Afghan tradition of resisting foreign invaders was indeed the sine qua non for this gamble to succeed. American support took two years in coming but when it arrived, US support was one of the decisive factors. The ISI's role -- essentially logistical in that it channelled all aid and helped organise the resistance- turned out to be pivotal. In the process, from a small time player that undertook to punch above its weight, rubbing shoulders with the best in the game, the Americans, catapulted the Agency into the big league. Unsurprisingly, the ISI became a matter of great concern not only for its foes.

Cooperation amongst secret services, even within the country, is not the norm. It took a 9/11 for the US to create a halfway-coordinating mechanism. Between the CIA and the ISI, however, communication and coordination worked out well as long as the Soviets were in Afghanistan. The shared objective -- defeat of the occupation forces -- was one reason; respect for each other's turf, the more important other.

The CIA hardly ever questioned how its Pakistani counterpart dispensed with the resources provided for the Jihad or for that matter how it was conducted. And the ISI never asked if the American providers were over invoicing the ordnance or undermining the Saudi contribution. It did not mean that they trusted each other.

Differences, however, surfaced as soon as the Soviets withdrew. To start with, some of the key ISI operatives were vilified, allegedly for having favored the more radical of the Afghan groups. The charge that the Agency was infested with rogue elements is thus an old one. Twice these vilification campaigns led, under American pressure, to major purges of ISI's rank and file. If these episodes ever led to changes in policy is another matter. In the early 1990s, we in the ISI understood this shift in American attitude as a big-brother's desire to establish hegemony, but more crucially -- now that the Soviet Union after its withdrawal from Afghanistan had ceased to exist -- to cut this upstart service to size.

The CIA was clearly at odds with our declared objective to help the Mujahedeen lead the new dispensation in Kabul, especially if individuals like Hikmatyar were to play an important part in it. And the US was indeed unhappy with Pakistan's efforts to seek Iran's cooperation after the Islamic Republic had made peace with Iraq. But what seemed to have caused the most anguish amongst our American friends were the prospects of an increasingly confident ISI, vain enough to throw spanners in the work of the sole surviving superpower.

These apprehensions were not entirely ill-founded as the Iraq-Kuwait crisis of 1990-91 was soon to show.

Sometimes in 1992, General Brent Scowcroft, former national security advisor to US Presidents Ford and George H.W. Bush, reportedly conceded that the ISI's assessment of Saddam's forces was closer to the mark than their own, which highly exaggerated Saddam's capacity. Now, if anyone else in the business too was to broadcast its account every time the CIA "sexed-up" a threat to suit American objectives (next time on Iraq's WMD holding for example), some pre-emption was obviously in order.

Soon thereafter the ISI was cleansed of the old guard, most of them ostensibly for their infatuation with the "Jihadists" in Afghanistan and Kashmir. These purges must have served a few careers but when it came to taking decisions and making policies, the new guard had no choice but to put its shoulder behind the Taliban bandwagon. The Militia was now, like it or not, the only group with a chance to reunify the war torn country; the inviolable and in principle the only condition for Pakistan's support for the "endgame", with no ideological or geo-political caveats.

Initially the Americans and the Saudis too had wooed Mullah Omar, though for a different reason: their interest in a pipeline that was to pass through territories under the Taliban control. If Pakistan should have ceased all support when this militant regime rejected its advice -- on accommodating the Northern Alliance or sparing the Bamyan Statues, for example -- remains a moot point.

After all, post 9/11 the Taliban did agree to our request to extradite Osama bin Laden, albeit to a third country. That was rejected by the US for reasons not for me to second-guess.

The ISI was thereafter subjected to another purge in the hope that the refurbished setup would put its heart and soul behind the new decree: 'chase anyone resisting the American military operations in Afghanistan all the way to hell'. That came to millions on both sides of the Pak-Afghan borders; likely to be around long after the US troops had gone home, with some of them turning their guns inwards as one must have noticed. Under the circumstances, neither the ISI nor other organs of the state had any will to operate against groups primarily primed to fight "foreign occupation". If they also had the right to do so, or how this intrusion was otherwise to be defined, can be discussed ad-infinitum. Pakistan in the meantime has to fight a number of running battles.

So, this time around as well, it is not any "rogue elements" in the ISI but the complexity of the crisis that necessitates selective use of force; essentially against the "rogue groups", some of them undoubtedly planted or supported by forces inimical to our past and present policies. (Thanks to the Wikileaks, we now know a bit more about the "counter-terrorism pursuit teams".)

If our political and military leadership also had the gumption to support the war against the NATO forces -- in the belief that some of the present turmoil in the area would not recede as long as the world's most powerful alliance was still around -- does not seem very likely. If, however, a few rebels in the ISI had in fact undertaken this mission, they may be punching above their weight, once again.

Indeed, the ISI suffers from many ailments, most of them a corollary of its being predominantly a military organisation and of the Army's exceptional role in Pakistani politics. But that is of no great relevance to this piece which is basically about the Agency's role in the so-called "war on terror"; a euphemism for the war raging in the AfPak Region.

Epilogue: I do not know what all the ISI knew about Bin Laden's whereabouts before he was reportedly killed, or when the Pakistani leadership was informed about the US operation on that fateful night. But the fact that we denied all knowledge or cooperation -- even though the military and the police cordons were in place at the time of the raid, our helicopters were hovering over the area, and the Army Chief was in his command post at midnight -- explains the Country's dilemma.

If its leadership was to choose between inability to defend national borders and complicity with the US to hunt down one person who defied the mightiest of the worldly powers, it would rather concede incompetence.

Indian Black Money Deposits in Swiss Banks crosses US$ 1.4 Trillion , largest from any Nation in the World

This is an Article written by the Once India’s MP Kuldip Nayar, exposing the facts of the Indian Black Money ,and the Hipocracy of these western countries , which makes laws for International Money laundering and other things , But factually the biggest Market of all the Plundered and looted Wealth of the Developing Nations , whethere India , Pakistan or any other Developing country, they provide safe Heaven for the criminals of National and International repute . And encourage them to loot and Plunder their National Wealth , so the economies of these countries can benefit from the money kept in their Banks. While the Poor People of these Nations live under the Poverty line and dont have excess to food for even One time of a Day.

Now as the Writer Narrates his Personal experiences and observances are as follow :

” I do not think there is any top civil servant or a leading politician in South Asia without the blemish of having a foreign bank account. But the pressure in India on the Manmohan Singh government to bring back the black money stashed abroad has been relentless. But instead of taking any concrete action, the government seems to be trying its best not to let the gamut of black money come to light. Therefore, it is understandable why it is seeking clarifications on the Indian Supreme Court’s indictment: “The issue of unaccounted monies held by nationals and other legal entities in foreign banks is of primordial importance to the welfare of the citizens.”

It had warned the government not to presume that the money hidden in Switzerland was a result of tax evasion. It could be money that has been laundered after being earned from gun-running, drugs, terrorism, etc. The government is yet to give a justification why it has taken the route of entering into double taxation pacts with foreign countries in order to have the names of the tax evaders. Black money from India in Swiss banks, according to the Swiss Banking Association report in 2006, amounted to as much as $1,456 billion. The amount is reportedly more than the deposits of all other countries put together. And it is 13 times the country’s total foreign debt. With this amount, it is estimated, some 450 million people in India could get Rs 100,000 each.

After clearing its foreign debt, India will be left with a surplus almost 12 times larger than its total foreign debt. If this surplus is invested, the amount of interest will be more than the annual budget of the central government. So even if all taxes are abolished, the central government will still have a cushion. My calculations are on the basis of the 2006 figures given by the Swiss Bank Association. The amount must have risen considerably since then.

Expressing lack of faith in investigations this time the Supreme Court has constituted a Special Investigation Team headed by two retired SC judges to probe all black money-related cases. The court itself is supervising the pace of investigation. While announcing the verdict, the court has observed that “politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen are known to park their funds abroad and then try to get them into the country through foreign institutional investors’ route”.

Very pinching remarks but every word is true. I wonder if there would be any effect on the government which has shown little agility to pursue the cases of black money abroad.

The government has been caught on the wrong foot. It received some time ago as many as 26 names from Germany under the double taxation treaty. Berlin had got hold of names of hundreds of beneficiaries and had offered them to the country. New Delhi could not afford to say no. But why is Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee saying that the names of beneficiaries cannot be disclosed? The SC has overruled the contention and has asked the government to make the names public. Still the government does not seem ready to comply.

Fortunately, Congress Secretary-General Rahul Gandhi, has said that the money stashed abroad belongs to the poor and must be brought back to India. He has said that once his family takes up a matter, it carries it to the logical conclusion. The nation waits for the results.

The Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies in the National Democratic Alliance have said that they have no money abroad. This statement should act as a pressure on the Congress and its allies. Some of the allies may begin to keep distance from the Manmohan Singh government. It has no option except to make the 26 names public. Then the fat will be on fire ” .

A dangerous Saudi affair

Life in Saudi Arabia is good – oil rich, tax free incomes, multiple servants, big villas and security. Even labourers, remark on the improved quality of life in Saudi as compared to Pakistan. For them this is an opportunity to support their families in the relative security of the Kingdom.

It seems Pakistani expat workers are satisfied with life. Even migrant labourers who I have conversed with personally say life is better in Saudi than in Pakistan, and the incomes they receive give their families back home a fighting chance. Personally, I’ve had good experiences and memories of living in the Kingdom for many years. But let’s face it – there is a conflict between personal gain and ethical integrity when it comes to Saudi Arabia.

One can witness a pervasive sort of racism, a form of Saudi supremacy that views other types of Arabs and particularly the South Asian expats (who are mostly labourers) as inferior and mere ‘commodities’ who can be bought and sold ruthlessly. Expats are not human beings but a commodity to be bartered and acquired.

Connected to racial supremacy is an attempt to insulate the regime from criticism by using the cloak of religion. Saudi textbooks are filled with references to hate; the Islamic Studies curriculum in the country is simply barbaric. I’ve experienced first-hand being taught by an Islamic Studies teacher in one of the most prominent private schools in Riyadh, about the dangers of having non-Muslims as friends and about the evil conspiracies hatched by Christians, Jews and Shias.

In Pakistan, Saudi petro-dollars have funded factories of hate in the form of the madrassa system. ‘Petro-Islam’ is a nightmare scenario – capitalism and a dangerous ideology locked in a tight embrace. It is because of the sheer amount of money behind this austere and dangerous theology that it can easily overwhelm the moderate elements in any given society.

Little attention is given in Pakistan about the treatment of Pakistani labourers. If the Saudis will not speak about the suffering of these people then why should we remain silent? It is understandable that Pakistanis within Saudi cannot protest, but why do Pakistanis living outside who have witnessed first-hand the harsh treatment of their fellow citizens choose to remain silent? The Gulf countries practice a modern day equivalent of slavery, and our media should be more vocal about it, instead of weaving tales about Mossad and RAW.

The treatment of Pakistani labourers as sub-humans is deeply pervasive. The underlying logic of this treatment is that a non-Saudi can never be an equal; they are always meant to serve. Pakistanis like to criticise Europe’s hostility to immigrants but the anti-immigration feeling in Saudi Arabia is deeply toxic and yet it is never scrutinised.

A famous Pakistani defence of Saudi Arabia is that it is an ‘Islamic country’ and ergo a good place to raise the kids. But there is very little ‘Islamic’ about the country – in my time in Saudi, I talked to converts to Islam who travelled from as far as America and the UK to see for themselves the ‘Islamic’ Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Privately, they reveal a story of disillusionment and profuse disappointment.

Many were shocked by what they see in Saudi. They talk about a hypocrisy running deep within the society. Whilst the elite enjoy a hedonistic lifestyle of drinking and private nightclub-style parties, the religious police make life hell. I once saw a mullah in a GMC reverse on one of the main roads in Riyadh just to tell a woman to put her burqa on properly.

I find we are confused about our reaction to the prospect of a ‘Saudi Revolution’. When Mubarak was toppled and Ben Ali fled, the reaction amongst Pakistanis was positive, after all these dictators were merely pawns of the West. But talk about Saudi, and again there is that sense of unease and discomfort. After all, for all their faults the Saudis still do some great work. Many Pakistanis and indeed Muslims around the world have a sense of deep respect in regards to the provision of the Hajj. Indeed, the Saudis have continually done a fantastic job in improving facilities, crowd control and should be given credit for handling such a difficult event with efficiency.

But on the issue of faith, some Pakistanis are naive in thinking that a Muslim country can never be unjust with another Muslim country; they refuse to accept that in the reality of real politick there is no ‘Islamic Ummah’.

It is this sense of moral unease we have when we talk about Saudi Arabia that has haunted Pakistani hearts and minds. On the one hand, we receive great remittances from Pakistani workers who are employed in the Kingdom, but on the other hand everyone knows that they are discriminated against and have little or no rights. But yet again the response is that those Pakistanis living and working in Saudi Arabia should be grateful that they even have a job because of the deteriorating economic conditions back home. In this cold, utilitarian world where money talks, it is impossible that the Pakistani government will fight for its citizens rights in front of the Saudi Royal family.

The old adage, ‘Don’t bite the hand that feeds you’, comes to mind. Pakistan is trapped in an abusive marriage (or maybe a delusional affair?) when it comes to Saudi.

Today the Kingdom is launching a great counter-revolution trying to contain the ‘Arab Spring’ by buying off Arab militaries, supporting dictators, issuing fatwas against the protestors and involving the Pakistani security forces in controlling protests in Bahrain which has become a stage for its great feud with Iran. Pakistan is very much a supporter of tyranny in the greatest political awakening of the 21st century, and this will hurt only Pakistanis in the end.

Ahmad Ali Khalid is a freelance writer and blogger based in the UK. He can be reached at ahmadalikhalid@ymail.com
The views expressed by this blogger and in the following reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Dawn Media Group.

Ministry says Malik did not allege any country in Karachi unrest

A spokesman for the Interior Ministry on Monday clarified that Interior Minister Rehman Malik did not allege any country, including Israel, for involvement in Karachi unrest.

He said that some of the electronic and print media had misinterpreted the minister’s statement.

He clarified that the federal minister stated only that “some weapons of Israeli origin have been recovered by law enforcers in Karachi from some of the criminals.”

The spokesman said that a section of media has misreported the minister’s statement

Building case against drones: Campaigners seek ex-CIA legal chief’s arrest

British human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith of the campaign group Reprieve, and lawyers in Pakistan are seeking an international arrest warrant for John Rizzo, who was until recently acting general counsel for the American intelligence agency, for approving drone attacks that have so far killed hundreds of people in Pakistan.

According to a report published in The Guardian on Friday, the lawyers are also building cases against other individuals, including drone operators interviewed or photographed during organised press facilities.

An FIR, the first step in seeking a prosecution of Rizzo in Pakistan, is expected to be formally lodged early next week at a police station in the capital, Islamabad, on behalf of the relatives of two people killed in drone strikes in 2009.

The report will also allege Rizzo should be charged with conspiracy to murder a large number of Pakistani citizens.

Now retired, Rizzo, 63, is being pursued after admitting in an interview with the magazine Newsweek that since 2004 he had approved one drone attack order a month on targets in Pakistan, even though the US is not at war with the country.

Although US government lawyers have tried to argue that drone strikes are conducted on a ‘solid legal basis’, some believe the civilians who operate the drones could be classified as ‘unlawful combatants’.

While Stafford Smith of Reprieve estimates the drones caused around 2,500 civilian deaths, others say the number is closer to 1,000. US sources deny large numbers of civilian deaths and say only a few dozen “non-combatants” have been killed.

Gas pipeline to reach border next year: Iran

(8 hours ago) TodayA handout picture released by the official website of the Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei shows him (R) meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (L) and his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari in Tehran on July 16, 2011. – Photo by AFP

TEHRAN: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Saturday that Tehran was hopeful of completing its section of the Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline by the end of next year.

“Construction of the pipeline to export Iranian gas to Pakistan is under way, and we hope it will reach the frontier by the end of 2012,” he said of the multi-billion-dollar project after a meeting with President Asif Ali Zardari.

President Zardari, who arrived in Tehran on a day-long visit, held two rounds of talks with President Ahmadinejad — first delegation-level talks and then a one-on-one meeting.

The two leaders also reviewed progress on a proposal for the transmission of electricity from Iran to Balochistan.

Angry Nawaz calls for censuring legislator

An angry Nawaz Sharif on Saturday referred the matter of Anjum Aqeel Khan, a PML-N member of National Assembly, to a disciplinary committee of his party to propose action against the legislator for putting his party in an extremely embarrassing position not only by escaping from police custody but also by ignoring his directives to surrender before the police, a spokesman for the party told Dawn.

The four-member committee, headed by Senator Raja Zafarul Haq, went into session at about the same time when the MNA from Islamabad “surrendered” himself at a police station in the capital after daylong negotiations between the party’s senior members and police officials.

The committee would send its recommendations directly to Mr Sharif. Other members of the committee are MNAs Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Hanif Abbasi and Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry.

Party sources said Mr Sharif was very upset over the incident that he believed had damaged his party’s image as the electronic media kept on running reports regarding the raids on possible hideouts of the MNA and arrest of the party workers involved in the attack on the Shalimar police station from where he had managed to escape on Friday night with the help of armed supporters.

“Yes, it was a very tough day for us. We were not in a position to face the media and defend the act of Anjum Aqeel Khan,” admitted the party spokesman. He said there was a feeling in the party that Mr Khan had committed a “blunder” because in addition to facing fraud charges originally brought against him, he now would also have to face charges under the Terrorism Act for the attack on police.

Minister: 70% Karachi killings by wives, girlfriends

Pakistan interior minister Rehman Malik has said over 70 per cent of the people reported killed in the recent violence in Karachi were in fact murdered by their “wives and girlfriends”. “If it is reported that 100 people are killed in targeted killings, investigations later revealed that only 30 were actual victims while the remaining 70 or more died at the hands of their wives or girlfriends,” Mr Malik said. “They definitely took advantage of the situation and killed them,” said the interior minister.

Daily life in Karachi remained paralysed on Thursday as, after a couple of days’ respite the violence that restarted Wednesday night with killings and arson forced transporters to keep their vehicles off the roads. Businesses also remained closed.

At least 12 people, including a Pakistan Ranger, were killed and 19 hurt in various incidents of firing in the city in reaction to Sindh senior minister Zulfiqar Mirza’s remarks against Muttahida Qaumi Move-ment (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain.

The interior minister apologised to the Urdu-speaking community, saying he was sorry and upset about Mr Mirza’s statement. He added that one should not forget or ignore the sacrifices rendered by the Urdu-speaking community in the making of Pakistan and said that after the passage of 65 years, such hurtful comments were unfair.

JI asks govt to have Malik’s head examined

The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) strongly reacted to the statement of Interior Minister Rehman Malik in which he claimed on Wednesday that of the 100 people killed in Karachi’s violence recently, over 70 were assassinated by their “wives and girl friends” instead of terrorists.

“Rahman Malik’s statement is extremely ridiculous and a manifestation of his mental instability. The government should send its interior minister to any mental diseases’ institute to get him treated,” a JI spokesman said in a statement. The JI spokesman strongly condemned the interior minister’s statement and said Malik always blamed the Taliban for each and every act of terrorism in the country, but he could not see terrorists who were playing with the lives of innocent people in Karachi.

Advising the government to send Malik to a psychiatrist for his treatment, he alleged that government did nothing for the heirs of those killed in the city and, instead, its top minister was ridiculing their irreparable loss, which was extremely condemnable.

News of the World Is No More 

News of the World hits newsstands for last time

Britain's News of the World hit the newsstands for the last time on Sunday, ending its 168-year history of scoops and scandal with the headline "Thank You and Goodbye."

In London, issues of News of the World are rolling hot off the presses for the last time, the paper shuttered as a result of a hacking scandal that extends to the British government. 

The newspaper that prided itself on being the first to break a story, even if it was rooted in salacious suspicion, is shutting down after 168 years, leaving its 270 person staff without jobs.

Dan Wootton, the Showbiz editor of News of the World, lamented the paper's demise. 

"I am so proud of my colleagues who have continued this week in absolutely trying and very personally and professionally difficult circumstances in such a professional manner," he said.

A statement on the paper's website blamed the demise on staff from previous years, apparently trying to distance current employees from the scandal. 

"We praised high standards, we demanded high standards but, as we are now only too painfully aware, for a period of a few years up to 2006 some who worked for us, or in our name, fell shamefully short of those standards," the statement said. "Quite simply, we lost our way. Phones were hacked, and for that this newspaper is truly sorry." 

hese arrests are just the tip of the iceberg in the growing allegations against News Corp., including reports that News of the World hacked into politicians' and celebrities' voicemail and allegedly hacked into families' voicemails of Britain's fallen soldiers.