US wants to spy on China, Pakistan and Afghanistan through its presence in Kabul, says Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs

US  wants to spy on China, Pakistan and Afghanistan through its presence in Kabul, says Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs


Senate body,  directs Foreign Office to submit report on US aims, designs in region



US  wants to spy on China, Pakistan and Afghanistan through its presence in Kabul, says committee

ISLAMABAD, Sept 17: The Senate Standing Committee on Foreign, Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan Affairs has directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to submit an analytical report encompassing the possible aims and objectives of the US permanent presence in Afghanistan, urging that Islamabad and Kabul should jointly prevail upon the United Nations to ensure complete withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan.

The committee that met in Islamabad with Senator Haji Mohammad Adeel in the Chair observed that Washington has political ambitions in the region and wants permanent presence in Afghanistan to spy on China, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The committee suggested that a joint Pak-Afghan Parliamentary committee should be set up for consultation and oversight of their security and defence issues for post-2014 scenario.

The meeting was attended by Senators Dr. Mohammad Jehangir Badar, Farhatullah Babar, Mushahid Hussain Syed, Syeda Sughra Imam and Senator Molana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri as Members and Senator Afrasiab Khattak as a special invitee. The meeting was also attended by Acting Secretary, Additional Secretary (Afghanistan) and Director General, NASA from the Foreign Office.

The meeting deliberated on the recent visit of the Parliamentary delegation to Kabul in which members shared their experiences regarding current situation of Pak-Afghan relations.

Senator Haji Adeel told the participants said that the delegation achieved remarkable breakthrough in terms of people to people contacts and had heart-to-heart communication with Afghan people during its visit to Kabul.

The Afghan President and other senior leaders extended a very warm welcome to the Pakistan delegation. He further said that “Afghans understand Pakistan people’s mindset very clearly.” He provided copies to the participants of Joint Declaration of Pak-Afghan Defence Committee’s Dialogue that was held on Sept 10-11 in Kabul.

He stated that Pakistan freed 27 Afghans, who he said, have now reportedly rejoined fight on different locations/war fronts in Afghanistan.

Senator Mushahid stressed the need for having perception of US aims and designs with the presence of over 20,000 foreign troops at nine bases in Afghanistan after evacuation. He stated that it was a very unique delegation comprising different political parties of opposition & government and that it was first dialogue on defence, security and military issues. He said that we have institutionalized the dialogue. He further observed that the said visit dispelled the compression-that-India is prevailing in Afghanistan. He said that both Taliban and the U.S. are waiting for elections in Afghanistan. He informed that a Pakistan-Afghanistan People’s Association was formed doing the visit with Senator Afrasiab Khattak as the Chairman and Senator Dr. Jehangir Badar as Secretary-General.

First festival of this Association will be held in Kabul on 26th, 27th and 28th Oct, 2013.

Senator Afrasiab Khattak stated that the delegation had very cordial and meaningful talks at Kabul and there was no blame game. He said that Afghans have a lot of expectations from Nawaz government for restoration of peace in Afghanistan. Senator Dr. Jehangir Badar stated that visit to Kabul was very timely.

He opined that stability of Afghanistan and Pakistan is inter-twined. Senator Farhatullah Babar stated that the said visit was a path-breaking. He proposed that on 23rd Sept. 2013, on occasion of visit by Afghan delegation to Pakistan, a Pak-Afghan Joint Parliamentary Committee should be formed to establish a hotline between the two neighbours to tackle post 2014 and immediate post-2014 problems.

He also emphasized Border Management issues which often harm people to people contacts. Thirdly, he said that people’s Festival on 26th Oct. should be institutionalized and comprise of intellectuals, writers, poets and journalists which will have a multiplayer effect.

“We should evolve an institutional mechanism for regular exchange of intellectuals between the two countries,” he stressed. He said it was very reassuring to know that Pakistan has no danger from India in Afghanistan. He said in post-2014 scenario, Pakistan will have a dominant and strategic role. He suggested that a joint Pak-Afghan Parliamentary Commission should improve oversight of their respective security establishments for post-2014 scenario. Senator Abdul Ghafoor Haideri and Senator Sughra Imam also expressed their point of on view on the Pak-Afghanistan relations and the US influence in the region.

Foreign Office Special Secretary and Pakistan’s future envoy to Iran, Noor Muhammad Javedani on the occasion said that a harmonious atmosphere between Pakistan and Afghanistan is developing, adding that Islamabad is receiving positive signals from Kabul.

nawaz sharif meet shah abdullah and Crown Prince

Makkah 2nd August Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif holding a metting with The KIng Of Saudia Arabia Shah Abdullah

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Makkah 2nd August Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif holding a metting with The Crown Prince Of Saudi Arabia Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud

Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif arrives in Jeddah

jeddah 1st August Governor of Makkah Prince Khalid Al Faisal worm receiving receiving to Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif who was arrived i Jeddah for offering Umrah Prayer

complete text, Resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Fakhruddin G Ebrahim

Justice (R) Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim
Chief Election Commissioner

I took oath of office of the Chief Election Commissioner on23rd July 2012, approximately
nine months prior to the General Elections. I did not seek this high office, but in fact
accepted the same with reluctance, upon persuasion from senior members of Parliament
that I was the only person on whom the members of the opposition and the govemment
could both agree upon. ,
Now, the transition from one elected civilian government to another has been completed
for the first time in the sixty six year history of our great country. It is belated and has
come with much sacrifice. Too many have fallen at the hands of terrorists - political
workers, teachers, lawyers, joumalists, members of police and armed forces, government
servants and ordinary men and women have all paid a high price. Even children have not
been spared. Aimal Khan, age 6 was shot along with his father, a candidate for elections,
when they came out from their neighborhood mosque after Friday prayers during the
campaign. These are the true heroes of our democratic struggle.
In the performance of professional duties, I have done my utmost to hold true to
democratic values, the dictates of my conscience and the commands of the Constitution. I
am proud that the Election Commission has acted without fear or favor and strived to
create as level a playing field as was possible. Despite personal threats and even brazen
gun attack on my family - I quietly stood firm against those forces who first tried to derail
and then delay the 2013 Elections.

I was appointed through a consultative process by the last Parliament. My constitutional
term ends in 20t7. However, in my humble opinion, the newly elected members of
Parliament should have the opportunity to forge new consensus and choose a new Chief
Election Commissioner. This will also allow the next Chief Election Commissioner
sufficient time and opportunity to prepare and lead the Election Commission for the
general elections of 2018.
Therefore, in accordance with Article 215(3) of the Constitution, I hereby resign from the
office of the Chief Election Commissioner of Pakistan.
Pakistan Zindabad.
Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim

To: Mr. Asif Ali Zardari
President, Islamic Republic of
Pakistan
Islamabad.

cc: Mr. Mian Muhammed Nawaz Sharif
Prime Minister, Islamic Republic of Pakistan
Islamabad.
Mr. Ishtiak Ahmad Khan
Secretary, Election Commission of Pakistan.
ELECTION COMMISSION OF PAKISTAN
Election House, Constitution Avenue, G-5/2, lslamabad
Islamabad.

taliban attack dik jail

Pakistani Taliban free over 248 inmates in DI Khan jailbreak

neither removed any high ranking officer 

nor was any one reprimanded over the attack.

                                      Federal govt summons report of attack on central jail DI Khan 

ISLAMABAD, July 30  The federal government has summoned report of the attacks on the central jail Dera Ismail khan by hundreds of militants.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government neither removed any high ranking officer nor was any one reprimanded over the attack.

Chief Secretary and the IG police Gilgit-Baltistan were removed over the Nanga Parbat incident. The incident of Dera Ismail khan central jail is being termed as the extraordinary incident of terrorism.

In the incident at least 12 persons were killed including five police officials and after the attack the militants managed to take over 250 prisoners with them.

However, the concerned institutions are silent over the issue of security and no officer has so far been held answerable of the incident.

When one of the main parliamentarians of the ruling party was asked over the incident, he tried to avoid giving comments, saying that the authority of the provincial government of the PTI to take action in the matter.

It is mentioning here that it does not come in the purview of the federal government to take action against officers of the law enforcement agencies and the administration in a district and only the Chief Minister of the province can be contacted and the federal government would have definitely contacted the provincial government of the KPK over the incident.  

===============  

PPP demands to make public vital information

Islamabad July 27, 2013: PPP has reiterated its call for making public details of payments of Rs 480 billion made to settle the circular debt saying that information merely about the amount paid to each power

producer was meaningless unless it is also accompanied with critical

information about the oil supplied, the power produced and the

capacity utilized by each power producer.

Following public criticism the Finance Ministry announced on July 23 that “details of payments of Rs. 480 billion to settle the circular debt of Rs. 503 billion are now available on the official site of the ministry”.

“The figures of payments made to each producer do not allay suspicion that billions have been paid to power producers against electricity that was never produced and to oil suppliers against shipments that were never made”, said Senator Farhatullah Babar in a statement issued

from the Party’s media office today

Doubts linger because payments have been made to the private power producers and other entities in the energy sector without carrying out third party pre-audit by independent technical and professional

accounting bodies, he said and demanded that all facts be laid bare.

The reports of over 50 billion rupees of unjustified overpayments together with the reports of internal differences of opinion within the Finance Ministry are disturbing that calls for a thorough probe, he said.

He also referred to the claim that the electric power company Pepco

provided reconciled accounts to the water and power ministry which then forwarded it to the finance ministry apparently to allay suspicions of any underhand deal.

He said that even if this procedure had been adopted it was a faulty

procedure without carrying out independent financial and technical audit.

Allowing the private producers of electricity and the powerpurchaser

to sit together behind closed doors and decide among them an issue for which the price is ultimately paid by the general public looks like ‘muk-muka’. An ordinary citizen should not be blamed if he sees in it an underhand deal between vested interests at public expense, he said.

He said that according to media reports the Asian Development Bank insisted and succeeded in making the audit of payments to power producers as part of the recent agreement with the IMF. If these reports are correct it is all the more necessary that the circular debt payments are subjected to a comprehensive third party audit by professional financial and technical auditors, he said.

He said that the 18th Amendment had specifically inserted Article 19-A in the Constitution that states that every citizen shall have the right to have access to information in all matters of public

importance. Complete information pertaining to the payments made to private power producers is a matter great public importance and must be made public. Doubts will linger as long as there is secrecy surrounding it, he said.

Farhatullah Babar said that reports about the banks keeping open on

the last Saturday of June despite weekly holiday in order to make the payments before the close of the last financial year on June 30 also raised questions.

He said that some power producers were also the unofficial advisors on energy who were interested only in the payment of unpaid bills instead of structural reforms.

The government has not been able to address critical issues involving

the gap between the cost power generation and sale, losses due to

theft and in transmission and distribution as is evident from its

inability to evolve consensus in the meeting of the Council of Common Interest (CCI) Tuesday.

As a result the circular debt will re-emerge to haunt the nation of

180 million people even as a few would have made hay as the sun shone brightly over their heads, he said.

PPP asks government to come clean on IPP payments

Claims of transparency will not be credible without making public relevant information

Islamabad July 22, 2013: The Pakistan Peoples Party has challenged the Finance Minister to come out clean on details of payments to the IPPs while disbursing the 322 billion rupees to them towards clearing the circular debt and make public the website on which this information is claimed to have been uploaded.

The Finance Minister in an interview published in local daily Monday claimed that payments to IPPs had been made transparently and the details had been placed on the web.

In a statement today from the Party’s Media Office Senator Farhatullah Babar said that a search of the web sites of Ministries of Finance and Water and Power and also of WAPDA and OGRA revealed that no such details had been placed. If the information is not placed on the website of the related ministries and departments, then where has it been placed, he asked adding “this has raised legitimate questions of transparency and accountability”.

He said that the information available on the web site of Finance Ministry about a July 2 meeting simply says that the ECC was informed that a sum of Rs.322 billion has been paid to the IPPs. It is a bare statement of fact known to every one he said. What was needed to be disclosed but has not been made public are the details about the power produced by each IPP, the time during which it was produced, the rate at which it was paid and the total amount paid to each power producer.

A detailed technical audit of the IPPs was an essential pre-requisite but no such audit was actually carried out before doling out billions to power producers, he said. Who knows if a game of favorites had been played out in the week during which hundreds of billions were paid out, Farhatullah Babar asked.

He said that in order to create an impression of transparency and accountability the web site of the Finance Ministry claims that the IPPs signed MOU pledging to fulfill certain conditions before payments were made to them. However, on closer scrutiny it becomes obvious that it is no more than a false impression.

The first condition which the IPPs are said to have agreed to, he said, is that all the thermal power plants exceeding 2000 MW capacity will be converted into coal fired plants.

It amounts to hood winking the people as there is hardly any thermal IPP of more than 2000 MW capacity. What is flaunted as a great achievement is in fact a ruse to create and sustain false hopes that plants using more expensive fuel are being remodeled so as to run on widely available cheap fuel of coal, he said. Seldom before a plain ruse had been so plainly advertised as a great achievement, he said.

The second condition claimed to have been agreed by the private power producers, according to the web site, is that they will optimally utilize the available plant capacities. However, in the absence of technical audit giving complete information about a plant’s available capacity, the optimal capacity that is desired to be achieved and the time frame within which it is to be achieved it is no more that a vague promise and a false hope he said. What legal force an open ended MoU has to make private producers achieve optimal capacities, or what penalties have been imposed in case they failed to do so, he asked.

A third condition claimed to have been agreed by the private producers is a one month extension allowed by them to PEPCO to make payments. This measure will only give a breather of one more month but will not address the issue of spiraling debt itself which will resurface again as long as the huge difference between the cost of power production and the price at which is sold persists, he said.

Senator Farhatullah Babar said that there is total absence of transparency and a veil of secrecy seems to have been woven around the payments of 322 billion rupees made to the private producers.

Doubts will linger and questions will continue to be asked until the shroud of secrecy is shredded and all relevant information uploaded on the web and the nation informed about where it is available, he said.