10 killing in nangaparbat

Once-vibrant mountaineering industry staggers from killing of 10 climbers

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's once thriving mountaineering industry is reeling from the killing by militants of 10 foreign climbers, a massacre likely to drive away all but the hardiest adventurers from some of the world's tallest and most pristine peaks.

A tour company present during the attack said gunmen dressed as police ordered tourists out of tents at the 4,200-meter (13,860-foot) base camp of Nanga Parbat, the country's second highest peak, late on Saturday night, then shot them and a Pakistani guide.

The attack on the last peak over 8,000 meters (26,400 feet) in the western Himalayas has been claimed by both the Pakistani Taliban and a smaller radical group.

The foreign victims included two citizens from China, one from Lithuania, one from Nepal, two from Slovakia, three Ukrainians, and one person with joint US-Chinese citizenship.

Manzoor Hussain, president of the Alpine Club of Pakistan, said at least 40 foreigners including citizens from Serbia, Italy, Ireland, Denmark and the United States, among several other nationalities, were evacuated from a higher camp.

A group of Romanians is believed to be scaling the mountain from another side. Some other groups booked for climbs this summer have already cancelled, one company said.

Hussain said the attack was a “fatal blow” for his efforts to attract more climbers to the Hindu Khush, Karakoram and western Himalayan ranges, home to many unexplored summits.

“We are still in shock, we've had to apologise to so many mountaineers across the world,” said Hussain, who described the attack as appalling and said he was devastated.

Geographically, Pakistan is a climbers paradise. It rivals Nepal for the number of peaks over 7,000 meters and is home to the world's second tallest mountain, K2, and three more that are among the world's 14 summits higher than 8,000 meters.

In more peaceful times, northern Pakistan's unspoilt beauty would be a major tourist draw, bringing sorely needed dollars to a nation that suffers repeated balance of payments crises.

Mountaineers, many from China, Russia and Eastern Europe, are among the last foreigners who regularly visit Pakistan for leisure. Tourism has been devastated since 2007 by militant attacks and fighting between the Taliban and the army in once popular tribal valleys such as Swat in the northwest.

The number of expeditions had also dwindled, but before the attack some 50 groups were expected this year in the remote Gilgit-Baltistan region, a stop over on the historic Silk Road.

That has changed following Sunday's massacre, which sparked protests on Monday in Chilas, the closest town to the base camp, which depends on climbing for income in the summer.

“I haven't slept since yesterday, it's a very sad situation,” said Ghulam Muhammed, whose company Blue Sky Treks and Tours guided five of the climbers killed at the base camp.

Blue Sky is based in the town of Skardu, which is heavily reliant on the income brought by outsiders.

“I am very worried, now business is finished, today two or three have cancelled, it is difficult now,” said Muhammed, who was in the capital Islamabad to speak to embassies and family members of the victims. “In Gilgit-Baltistan, a lot of the economy is from tourism - the money goes to transporters, hotels, markets, porters guides and cooks.”

HIPPY TRAIL

In reality, the tourist industry last thrived in the 1970s, when the “hippy trail” brought Western travellers through the apricot and walnut orchards of the Swat Valley and Kashmir on their way to India and Nepal.

Years of war in Afghanistan helped end the overland route to Asia, and Pakistan's tourism never really recovered.

While the attack on foreign climbers was a first, it did not come entirely out of the blue. Gilgit-Baltistan's Shia population has suffered a number of sectarian killings by radical Sunni groups over the past year, including one that claimed responsibility for killing the climbers.

“We have been warning the government,” Hussain said. “Security was beefed up, and there were checks on the road, but we wanted security parties for the mountaineers as well.”

musharraf case 2013

BB murder case: Challan submitteded against Musharraf

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigative Agency (FIA) on Tuesday listed former military ruler General (retd) Pervez Musharraf as the main accused in the Benazir Bhutto murder case and submitted a challan against him in Rawalpindi’s Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC), DawnNews reported.

The FIA presented a four-point charge sheet against Musharraf in the ATC, accusing him for hatching a conspiracy, in connection with the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

Benazir was assassinated in a gun-and-bomb attack outside Rawalpindi’s Liaquat Bagh on Dec 27, 2007. She was killed after addressing an election campaign rally in the city.

The charge sheet submitted today contained the statements of four witnesses, including two American reporters, as well as Benazir’s own statement.

Moreover, the charge sheet also leveled terrorism accusations against the former president.

The challan stated that the statement of the American established Musharraf as the prime accused in Benazir’s murder.

The court subsequently ordered Musharraf to be present in the next hearing scheduled for July 2.

FIA’s special prosecutor, who wasn’t present at the court today, was also summoned to appear at the July 2 hearing.

nawaz shrif visit kabul

Nawaz likely to visit Kabul next week

 

LAHORE: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is likely to visit Kabul next week to meet President Hamid Karzai in a bid to involve him effectively in efforts to make the Afghan Taliban agree to holding talks for peace in the region.
“We have learnt through reliable sources that Mr Sharif is scheduled to visit Afghanistan next week where he will primarily discuss with Mr Karzai the core issues relating to talks with Taliban,” Muhammad Asim Makhdoom, Central Information Secretary of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Samiul Haq), told Dawn on Friday.
Maulana Samiul Haq had been formally contacted and requested by Mr Sharif to use his influence in bringing Taliban to the negotiating table.
PML-N leader Senator Tariq Azeem confirmed that the prime minister might visit Kabul soon.
“Yes, the prime minister has formally accepted the invitation extended by Mr Karzai recently. He (Mian Sahib) has decided to go there and dates of the visit are yet to be confirmed,” Mr Azeem added. The two leaders, he said, would discuss various issues, including talks with Taliban, in a broader spectrum.
The JUI-S leader said that although Mr Sharif had earlier requested Maulana Sami to play a role in arranging talks between Taliban and the Pakistan government, but later kept quiet.
In the meanwhile, the US forces killed Waliur Rehman, an important leader of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, in a drone attack which, he said, shook Taliban’s trust in the Pakistani initiative.
He said his party firmly believed that the Taliban could be brought to the negotiating table if the PML-N government succeeded in getting the US drone attacks stopped immediately.
“Since the US and Pakistan are seeking talks with the Taliban, we will have to ensure that drone attacks are stopped first. Therefore, the new government will have to be serious if it really wants to resolve the issue,” Mr Makhdoom said.
Talking to Dawn, JUI chief Maulana Samiul Haq said Afghan President Hamid Karzai was a helpless man and not in a position to resolve the issue.
“In this case the actual party are Americans and Mr Sharif should talk to them if he is really interested in resolving the issue. Mr Karzai has no power to take a decision on such important issues,” he said.
He said the killing of Waliur Rehman in a US drone attack had shattered the trust of the Taliban leaders and the PML-N government would have to reassure them by forcing the US to stop drone attacks before any talks could be held.

fauzia kauri leveling fale aligation

PTI accuses Fauzia Kasuri of leveling “false allegations”

 he Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) on Thursday issued “factual clarification” regarding grounds on which Fauzia Kasuri took the decision of parting ways with the PTI and accused her of leveling “false allegations” against its leadership.

The clarification, issued on the PTI’s official website, said the party has highest regards regarding efforts she had made for the party. However, it added that it was the party’s right to clarify some “erroneous” statements made by Kasuri lately.
Announcing her decision at a press conference in Islamabad on Wednesday, she had alleged that the Tehrik-i-Insaf has been “held hostage by a mafia.”
In a point by point clarification, the party not only denied her claim of being a founding member of the PTI but also revealed that Fauzia Kasuri failed to abandon her US nationality in time to contest the intra-party elections, held on March 21.
The party later refused to hold intra-party polls again according to rules and regulations upon Kasuri’s demand of a re-election to accommodate her.
The clarification further said that Kasuri was satisfied with the fourth place she was placed on the PTI women priority list in Punjab for the National Assembly, finalised on March 31.
It said expectation was that the PTI would win enough NA seats in Punjab to accommodate a number of the women on the priority list.
It was only after the election results came out when Fauzia Kasuri started her “campaign of maligning the party and the women selected by the leadership for the reserved seats,” the clarification added.

michael jacksone daughter attempted suicide

Michael Jackson's teen daughter attempted suicide: mother

 

LOS ANGELES: Michael Jackson's daughter Paris was rushed to a California hospital early on Wednesday after a possible ...

nawaz shrief change to anti terrorism

Nawaz Sharif has rare chance to give anti-terrorism policy

ISLAMABAD: As Mian Nawaz Sharif readies to form government for the third time, he should ensure that this time at least, he does not let go a rare opportunity to balance the civil-military divide, by formulating a comprehensive national counter-terrorism policy, a credible study has observed.

There is a stark difference in the challenges Sharif faced in the past and the ones that stare him in the face in 2013, specially trying to counter terror with PTI’s Chairman Imran Khan’s government in Khyber Pakhtunkhawa.

Both Sharif and Khan have an opportunity while balancing the tilt in which the United States ‘continually seeks the Pakistani military as its primary counter-terrorism partner.’ Washington on Thursday revealed that drones had killed four US nationals including in Pakistan.

This is best explained in ‘Drones-Myths and Realities in Pakistan’, the latest report and a ‘must read’ for all Pakistanis, by International Crisis Group (ICG).It asks Pakistan to define its cooperation with the U.S. in countering terrorism within the context of a comprehensive national counter-terrorism policy.

“As the country’s democratic transition continues, with a new government formed following the 11 May 2013 general election, representative civilian institutions should seize control of the national security debate and prioritise extending the rule of law to FATA, thus diminishing Washington’s perceived need to conduct drone strikes in the tribal belt”, says the report.

ICG clearly points out that the US has yet to end its dependence on the Pakistani military as its primary counter-terrorism partner. “This has resulted in inadequate assistance to civilian institutions, including police and other criminal justice actors, and also failure to apply conditions on security assistance even as the military continues to support anti-Afghanistan and India-oriented jihadi groups”, it notes.

Washington’s reliance on the military has also impeded a more robust dialogue on the urgent need for comprehensive political reforms in FATA.

“The U.S. would stand to gain by making the relationship conditional on performance and by supporting meaningful reform in FATA. Drone attacks may have killed scores of top al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders, but as long as FATA remains a lawless noman’s land, it will be a haven for an array of militant and criminal networks, and the U.S. drone program will have at best a controversial legacy”, says the ICG.

Secrecy has allowed hardliners in Pakistan’s military establishment and elsewhere in the polity to portray the program as a violation of national sovereignty, while maintaining plausible deniability about Pakistani consent. Above all, it has enabled the Pakistani state to sidestep responsibility for the real sources of militancy in FATA, which was a legal black hole long before U.S. drone strikes began in 2004.

Concluding its findings, the ICG says that the Obama administration looks to withdraw most of its troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014, U.S. reliance on remote targeted killings to disrupt militant networks in FATA will likely to continue, if not intensify.

Yet, with increasing domestic scrutiny, symbolised by the Senate Intelligence Committee’s rigorous hearing for John Brennan’s confirmation as CIA chief and the administration’s revelation of more details to the American public, the drone program could become more transparent in the second Obama term.

If not, it will continue to be exploited by hardliners in Pakistan to ignite anti-U.S. sentiment. Crucial steps would be to establish clear, rigorous and publicly available targeting guidelines in keeping with international legal principles of distinction and proportionality and to transfer control from the CIA to the Defense Department, with oversight by the Senate and House Armed Services Committees and appropriate judicial review.

imran khan assets

Nawaz Sharif’s 2013 plans to allow duty free import of hybrid cars to reduce CNG usage

It is one of those plans which are too good to be true however, Nawaz Sharif’s government will consider allowing duty free import of hybrid cars with engine power of upto 1800cc to discourage the use of CNG vehicles.

Furthermore, the government also plans to ban CNG so that gas can be supplied for domestic and industrial use.
Owners having CNG vehicles will be facilitated to import hybrid cars of upto 1800cc without paying any duty however, duty would be imposed if imported hybrid cars have engines larger than 1800cc.
Toyota Prius would be the most popular choice amongst buyers and Indus Motors had been previously testing a couple of hybrid cars to sell in Pakistan. If duty is removed, than they could penetrate the market with quite ease.
Important thing to mention here that Prius although gives a staggering 36 kmpl mileage, more than double of what Suzuki Mehran gives but the hybrid cars work with a combination of electric batteries and a petrol engine.
Electric batteries work in usually stop-and-go and slow moving traffic, they sort of push you into motion and as you speed up, the car switches to the petrol engine.

chnology has progressed so far that even if we import cars built with newer technologies, there’s no need for hybrid cars. VW Bluemotion Golf gives an astounding 30+ kmpl while the Bluemotion Polo gives an even better 34+ kmpl. Although the plan is very good but we believe that government shouldn’t only focus on hybrids but cars such as VW Bluemotion must also be allowed and local auto assemblers should be forced to introduce new technologies and small cars, Corolla and Civic aren’t the cars for Pakistan, Prius and CR-Z Hybrid are. The plan should have a broader perspective as hybrid cars have batteries and they are very expensive to replace and in traffic like ours, their life would be considerably shorter.