Farhana Azim said that First lady, Begum Fauzia Gilani has fulfilled the Government’s commitment to utilize all possible resources to maximize the social service activities in the country for welfare of the needy people.
She said that Pakistan Girls Guide Association could play a vital role to achieve the desire results.
National Commissioner of Pakistan Girls Guide Association expressed gratitude to Begum Gilani for extending financial support to the Organization and said that it would help to increase the social service activities of the Organization.
ISLAMABAD: Lack of renovation of dilapidated bridge of G/7-2 has added to the miseries of the residents of the area.
The bridge was damaged in the rainy season during the month of August last year due to torrential rains but no action has been taken towards its renovation and reconstruction despite the fact it is located at the distance of a few furlong from CDA Head Office. The residents of the area have abandoned to use this bridge for fear of any untoward incident being the bridge near to collapse.
Residents of the area including pattern in chief of welfare committee and Khatib Jamia Masjid appealed to the chairman CDA to take immediate measures for renovation of this bridge as it may cause loss to lives if repair work is not done at war footing.
Residents of the area including pattern in chief of welfare committee and Khatib Jamia Masjid appealed to the chairman CDA to take immediate measures for renovation of this bridge as it may cause loss to lives if repair work is not done at war footing.
According to the foreign media reports, Russia and China, who vetoed a similar resolution in the Security Council, voted against the resolution.
"Today, the U.N. General Assembly sent a clear message of the people of Syria: the world is with you," U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said in a statement. Assad "has never been more isolated. A rapid transition to democracy in Syria has garnered the resounding support of the international community. Change must now come."
Earlier on Thursday, senior Russian diplomat Gennady Gatilov was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying that the draft is very close to the U.N. Security Council resolution that Russia and China vetoed on Feb. 4.
At the time, Russia had expressed concerns about the draft text, saying it feared the resolution would lead to the kind of military intervention and regime change seen in Libya after last year’s council action intended to protect civilians from attacks by forces loyal to long-time leader Moammar Gadhafi.
"Having experienced the 3/11 nuclear disaster, I changed my way of thinking. The biggest factor was how at one point, we faced a situation where there was a chance that people might not be able to live in the capital zone including Tokyo and would have to evacuate," Kan told foreign media in an interview on Friday.
"If things had reached that level, not only would the public have had to face hardships but Japan’s very existence would have been in peril", he added.
That was the fear that convinced Kan, in office for less than a year when the March 11 triple disaster struck, to declare the need for Japan to end its reliance on atomic power and promote renewable sources of energy such solar that have long taken a back seat in the resource-poor country’s energy mix.
"While many technological measures can be taken to secure safety at nuclear power plants, such measures on their own cannot cover great risks," he said. "I came to think that the safest way is to build a society that does not have to depend on nuclear power plants, and that this is possible." Kan, 65, stepped down last September after seeing his ratings sink below 20 percent due to perceived policy flip-flops and dissatisfaction with his handling of the Fukushima crisis.
Kan’s defenders, though, say a key cause of his downfall was his call to wean Japan from nuclear power -- a stance popular with the public but opposed by many including politically powerful utilities.
Kan, a fiery former civic activist known for his short temper, stressed during an hour-long interview that his priority now is promoting renewable energy rather than political maneuvering, and he steered clear of any criticism of his successor, Yoshihiko Noda.
After the March 11 accident, three reactors at the Fukushima plant suffered meltdowns and radiation spewed widely through eastern Japan, forcing tens of thousands of residents to evacuate from near the plant and contaminating food and water. The reactors were stabilized by December. The Fukushima crisis destroyed the myth that atomic energy is safe, cheap and clean and prompted Japan to scrap a plan to boost its share of electricity demand to more than half by 2030.
The government is now crafting a new mid-term programme.
But critics have questioned whether Noda, a stolid former finance minister keen on fiscal reform, is really committed to reducing reliance on atomic energy and introducing reforms that would help give renewable energy a bigger share.
"It is not true that things have not moved forward (under Noda) ... There have been dramatic changes," Kan said. "The Noda administration is proceeding basically with what I was thinking at that time (of the accident) although there are various forms of resistance such as from some businesses. Noda and the nuclear minister are steadily proceeding with reform."
He did, however, take a swipe at politicians on both sides of the aisle for bickering rather than cooperating in the wake of the accident. "The Japanese people have acted calmly and were patient in their response to the accident," he said. "But as for whether politicians fully cooperated at the time of the accident and thereafter, unfortunately that’s not the case."
Kan stopped short of floating a target date for when Japan should exit nuclear power entirely, although he noted that reality on the ground was moving ahead of policy. All but three of Japan’s 54 reactors are off-line mostly for maintenance, and the government has yet to persuade wary local authorities that it is safe to resume operations.
"I believe that most people will seek a society that does not rely on nuclear power if we can show them specifically that (non-nuclear) energy can realistically be supplied," Kan said.
"Japan can strengthen its energy supply system outside of nuclear and fossil fuel while moving forward with energy conservation ... It is possible for Japan to become the model of a society that does not rely on nuclear power."
“As Secretary (Hillary) Clinton has said, we share Pakistan’s desire to transition our relationship from aid to trade. We strongly believe that a relationship based on private sector investment and trade will be more stable and mutually beneficial in the long term,” Office of the State Department Spokesperson said in response to a question taken at the daily breifing following the Pakistani envoy’s call for expansion in trade cooperation.
Spokesperson Victoria Nuland was asked at a daily Press briefing if the U.S. Administration was currently advocating for Congress to extend Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) status to Pakistani textiles.
“Pakistan currently is already a beneficiary of the GSP program, which provides tariff relief, including for a limited number of textile products, for many countries. We continue to work with Congress to find ways of extending additional trade preferences to Pakistan,” the State Department response said.
In her remarks to a gathering of experts at the US Institute of Peace,Ambassador Rehman argued that Islamabad wants to move its economic relations with the United States to greater trade, away from dependence on assistance.
The European Union recently okayed a preferrentail trade program for Pakistani products and Ambassador Rehman that hoped Washington would also assist her South Asian country in economic revival with a trade initiative of its own in the face of $ 78 billion losses it has suffered due to issues related to lingering Afghan conflict and it’s own fight against militancy. (APP)
The Shenzhou-9’s three crew members will board the Tiangong-1 after the docking is completed, living there and conducting scientific experiments.
An evaluation of the program was carried out following a previous rendezvous by the Tiangong-1 and the unmanned Shenzhou-8 spacecraft, showing that all relevant systems are in good condition and are ready for a manned docking, the Xinhua news quoted the spokesman.
The orbiting Tiangong-1 is ready to accommodate the astronauts, and the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft and its carrier rocket, the Long-March II-F, are undergoing final checks, the spokesman said.
The Tiangong-1 went into space on Sept. 29, 2011, docking with the Shenzhou-8 spacecraft to complete China’s first space docking mission just over a month later.(APP)
He said that all available resources are being utilized to find the perpetrators of the crime.Replying to another question, he said that deployment of FC in any area of the province was made after the demand or request of the provincial government.
To a question, he claimed that separatist groups of Balochistan had established their camps in the neighboring countries.He said that some foreign elements or forces are playing games in this region. (APP)
He said that all available resources are being utilized to find the perpetrators of the crime.Replying to another question, he said that deployment of FC in any area of the province was made after the demand or request of the provincial government.
To a question, he claimed that separatist groups of Balochistan had established their camps in the neighboring countries.He said that some foreign elements or forces are playing games in this region.(APP)
Interior Minister Rehman Malik told the newsmen that the interior ministers of three countries have been given the mandate to develop a framework of trilateral cooperation particularly in the areas of counter terrorism, counter-narcotics and border management within six months.
He said any destabilization in this region would also affect the whole world, and the world should realize this fact.
To a question, the Interior Minister said Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran are faced with the challenge of terrorism, and they must join hands to fight this menace. (APP)
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"The Taliban is a very broad group. Our primary enemy in that part of the world is al-Qaeda.
The Taliban elements, the terrorist elements that support al-Qaeda are also our enemy," Panetta said at a Congressional hearing.
"And there are some elements, obviously, of the Taliban that support al-Qaeda. And those are the ones that we’ve been targeting," Panetta said in response to a question at hearing on budget of the House Committee on Armed Services.
"Our goal is to make sure that they never again can establish a safe haven in Afghanistan from which to conduct attacks on this country, and that remains our primary goal," he said.
Panetta was responding to a question from Congressman Mac Thornberry.
"Vice President Biden has said that the Taliban is not our enemy. And I have a quote here says, that supports that. Do you agree or what -- do you believe that the Taliban is our enemy in Afghanistan? And if they are our enemy, can we leave a secure and stable Afghanistan without addressing the Taliban and their safe havens in Pakistan?" he asked.
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The merchant vessel, whose name was not revealed, opened fire at a group of Indian fishermen Wednesday off the Indian state of Kerala. But the Italian government said the merchant vessel had foiled a pirate attempt to hijack it.
Local TV footage showed fishing villagers mourned the two killed, carrying their bodies through a crowd of angry people.
A fisherman who witnessed the shooting said they were not even aware where the bullets were coming from when two of the fishermen were gunned down by machine guns.
About 36 Indian policemen and Coast Guards have boarded the merchant ship as the local authorities said they were not informed about any perceived threat of pirates beforehand.
However, the Italian embassy in New Delhi said the guards opened fire in self-defense after giving warning to the fishermen in accordance with international protocol.
Last year’s protests in Bahrain were part of the wider Arab Spring movement that resulted in the toppling of long-standing regimes in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Yemen and has led to fighting and humanitarian suffering in Syria. In Wednesday’s statement, the secretary-General reiterated his earlier call on Bahraini authorities to do everything possible to expedite the implementation of the recommendations of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry, especially its provisions aimed at effective confidence-building measures. (APP)
The Foreign Office earlier said the trilateral mechanism was important for Pakistan as it would discuss matters pertaining to cooperation in counter-terrorism, curbing transnational organized crime, including drug and human trafficking, and border management.
The formal trilateral summit would be held on Friday. The three leaders will address a press conference at the end of talks.(APP)
The formal trilateral summit would be held on Friday. The three leaders will address a press conference at the end of talks.(APP)
The Prime Minister welcomed the distinguished delegates from the SAARC countries and said it was indeed a great pleasure for Pakistan to have the opportunity of hosting the 6th SAFTA Ministerial Council and its earlier meetings.
The Prime Minister recalled and termed the signing of the Agreement on South Asian Free Trade Area in January 2006 as a momentous event in the history of SAARC and said, “We have undertaken an initiative, which, I believe, can open up a huge opportunity for achieving much greater economic integration among countries of the region.”
“Regional economic integration, in my view, is the most viable mechanism in the contemporary world,” he added.
The Prime Minister said in today’s world every country is struggling to transform the emerging challenges of globalization into opportunities for fostering development and economic prosperity.
“Regional trading arrangements are seen as an effective regime to encounter the global challenges through greater economic cooperation and engagement. The emergence of regional groupings across the world in recent times clearly demonstrates the need for forging deeper integration in our region,” he added.
The Prime Minister said it was now widely recognized that regional trade agreements can complement the broader objectives of multilateral trade liberalization processes.
He said a vast majority of existing regional agreements are established among geographical neighbours, as in the case of SAFTA, adding, this is because such proximity provides inherent advantages in terms of greater and faster integration.
“SAFTA has also provided us with an enabling institutional framework to increase the existing low levels of intra-SAARC trade - around 5% in comparison to the trade share of the regional trade of the European Union at 67 percent, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) at 62 percent and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) at 26 percent,” he added.
The Prime Minister said the potential benefits of a successful free trade agreement are multiple, and will not be restricted to increased trade alone.
“In fact it is not an exaggeration that the achievement of the core objectives of SAARC itself - economic growth, social progress and cultural development including the promotion of the welfare of the people of South Asia, will depend, to a great extent, on the economic and other benefits that will result from implementation of SAFTA. It is, therefore, imperative that we build on the momentum by implementing decisions taken by bodies formed under SAFTA,” he stressed.
The Prime Minister said the establishment of South Asian Free Trade Area depends critically on the ongoing negotiations, adding, there are several vital issues that are to be successfully negotiated within the specified time-frame.
“As per Trade Liberalization Programme under SAFTA, the Non-LDCs (Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan) would reduce their tariff to 0.5% by 2013, whereas the LDCs (Least Developed Countries) would reduce tariff to 0.5% by 2016,” he said, adding, “the SAFTA tariff Liberalization Programme also allows the member states to retain “Sensitive Lists” that are not offered for concessional treatment.”
The Prime Minister said, “We know that India has two separate Sensitive Lists one for NLDCs and other for LDCs. Since India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are NLDCs in the region, this makes Indian Sensitive List Pakistan-specific. The Indian Sensitive List for NLDCs has 861 but for LDCs it has only 25 items,” he added.
Gilani said, “We are also cognizant of the fact that the WTO trading arrangement is based on the principle of MFN, which implies non-discriminatory treatment among the member countries in terms of tariff as well as the number of tariff lines traded between the countries,” adding, Pakistan being the signatory to WTO is obliged to observe this principle.
“I recognize that the outstanding issues of negotiation are quite complicated and it is not easy to find a common ground for all negotiating parties. Despite such difficulties, we have got to work hard and work in a spirit of goodwill and accommodation, keeping in mind the time limit and the urgency of deepening economic integration in our region. I have full confidence in you and firmly believe that you would be able to conclude the negotiations successfully,” he added.
The Prime Minister, however, added that “On behalf of the government of Pakistan, I assure you of our fullest cooperation in our collective march towards prosperity and peace in the region”.
Earlier Commerce Minister, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, in his address said that the major aim of the forum was to promote economic cooperation between the member states.
He said that Prime Minister of Pakistan has declared the year 2012 as year of regional trade and economic connectivity.
In his remarks, the Secretary Commerce said that South Asia was the least integrated region in the world in terms of regional trade, while NAFTA, EU and ASEAN countries had a thriving trade among their members.
Present on the occasion were Minister for Commerce Bangladesh, Mr Ghulam Muhammad Quader, Minister for Economic Affairs Bhutan, Mr Lyonpo Khandu Wangehuk, Minister for Commerce India, Mr Anand Sharma, Minister for Industry and Commerce Nepal, Mr Lekh Raj Bhutta, Minister for Commerce Sri Lanka, Mr A Rishad Bathiudeen, Minister for Economic Development Maldives, Ms Aminath Shausan and Director General Commerce and Industries, Mr Mozammil Shinwari.
Minister for Commerce, Makhdoom Amin Faheem, Minister for Defence Production and Industries, Ch Pervez Elahi, Advisor to PM on Finance, Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh and other senior officials of the relevant ministries represented the Pakistani side. (APP)
Majid Shoukat Khan, who lived in the United States from 1996 to 2002 before returning to his native Pakistan, stands accused of helping to plan attacks on the United States and Indonesia, the Pentagon said Tuesday in a statement.
The 31-year-old, who was detained in Pakistan in 2003, is one of 14 high-value prisoners held under conditions of maximum security at the controversial US military-run prison.
He is accused of having conspired with Mohammed -- also being held in Guantanamo -- to blow up US gas stations and assassinate Pakistan's then-president Pervez Musharraf in a suicide bombing inside a mosque.
Military prosecutors also accuse him of delivering $50,000 in Al-Qaeda funds to a southeast Asia-based affiliate in Bangkok.
The funds were later given to another radical Islamist group which used them to carry out the bombing of a Jakarta hotel in 2003, killing 11 people and wounding at least 81 others, according to the US military.
Khan has been formally charged with "conspiracy, murder and attempted murder in violation of the law of war, providing material support for terrorism, and spying."
Prosecutors have recommended the charges be referred to a military commission for trial, with the maximum penalty being life imprisonment.
Khan is the seventh Guantanamo detainee to be formally charged since US President Barack Obama assumed office in January 2009 and the second to be referred to a military tribunal after Saudi Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, the alleged mastermind of the attack on the USS Cole in October 2000.
The five other detainees, including Mohammed, have been charged with planning the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington but are still awaiting trial by a military tribunal.
In a brief statement Khan's lawyers said they are "reviewing the charges and will represent Majid throughout this process. Majid is doing well considering these challenging circumstances." (AFP)
The agreement for the project was signed between Mr. Hiroshi OE, Ambassador of Japan to Pakistan and Mr. Ghulam Mustafa Juni, President of ADO on Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at the Japanese Ambassador’s residence in Islamabad.
The grant will be utilized for the construction of two separate school buildings, both for girls and boys, fully equipped with furniture and required accessories.
This project will give an opportunity to the most vulnerable segment of the society in Layyah and its surroundings to provide their children good quality education on nominal fee. This project is expected to improve the education standards in the project area by educating approximately 125 students through 12 newly appointed teachers.
At the signing ceremony, Ambassador OE stressed that the provision of basic education to children is one of the priorities in Japan’s assistance policy towards Pakistan. He expressed his hope that this project would give children a chance to carve out their better future, and in addition, it would certainly strengthen the existing friendly relations between the people of Japan and Pakistan.
They said in this connection a meeting of PML-N dissident workers was held at the residence of Saranjam Khan which was attended by a large number of dissident PML-N workers and former office bearers.
Sources further said that Saranjam Khan and former provincial minister Abdul Subhan Khan, former MPA Rahim Khan Bacha, Shafarash Khan, Kamal Khan, Gulfaraz Khan, and Haji Humayan Khan on the the occasion resigned from the basic membership of the party.
They said that Saranjam Khan called a convention of the dissident party workers throughout the province on March 23 in which he along with his supporters will announce his future strategy.
The Cantonment Board Executive officer, Rana Manzoor Ahmed Khan said that the board has generated Rs 70.5 Million revenue while the expenditure remained Rs 230 Million in 2011, whereas the board registered 62 thousands water supply connections out of 1million population.
He said that the board has decided to increase the water supply charges to over come Rs170 million deficits and setup several teams to search illegal water supply connection .He said that the board also decided to take action against the consumers involved in using under ground water as it is illegal.
Being alert is the first order of business, said Shin Bet official Nimrod Firstenberg. Shin Bet is Israel’s internal security agency.
Firstenberg, who has been on the security teams of various embassies, gave a blunt warning: "You sleep with a gun and a flashlight under your pillow."
Israeli diplomats abroad are in a state of emergency, and even the kids are warned to stay alert, reported ynetnews.com.
An Israeli embassy car carrying the wife of a defence attache was targeted in a terror attack in New Delhi Monday while in Georgian capital Tbilisi, police defused a car bombing device attached to a vehicle belonging to a Georgian national working for the Israeli embassy. A day later, three blasts rocked Bangkok Tuesday and an Iranian was injured.
Veteran Israeli diplomat Eli Shaked suggested keeping a low profile.
"It affects everyone, from the children, who might not go to kindergarten or school...," he was quoted as saying.
Israeli diplomats have been told not to travel in cars in the immediate future, the media report said.
Shaked said diplomats should try to break their routine in order to "confuse the enemy".
"You do everything not to be where you’re supposed to be, in order to avoid the spot where (a terrorist) might be staking an ambush," he added.
"Even the young kids realize that something is off, and must be instructed to pay attention to what’s going on without panic and without scaring them," he said. "The goal is to lead a life as normal as possible in an abnormal environment."
A foreign ministry official said that Monday’s attacks were a "concrete warning" that more attacks are on the way.
"Vigilance is crucial; vehicles and routes are double-checked and triple-checked."
Former solicitor general Gopal Subramaniam, appearing for the state government, contended that Kasab was never tortured or maltreated and there has been no violation of his constitutional rights.
"At no point of time he was tortured or maltreated by the authorities and there has been no failure of constitutional rights given to him," he submitted before a bench comprising justices Aftam Alam and C K Prasad.
Subramaniam also submitted that death sentence, which has been awarded to Kasab, is a permissible means of punishment.
Referring to the entire sequence of events leading to the 26/11 attack, he submitted that if Kasab had not been caught alive, then it would not have been possible to know that outsiders were involved in the mayhem.
24-year-old Kasab had on Tuesday pleaded with Indian Supreme Court to commute his death sentence to life imprisonment.
Senior advocate Raju Ramachandran, who has been appointed amicus curiae by the apex court to defend Kasab, had told the bench that he was not a part of the larger conspiracy for waging war against the nation.
Stressing on Kasab’s age as an important factor to commute his sentence, he had pleaded for a lenient approach as he was drawn into it as a result of exploitation of religious faith and false ideology.