Friday, March 28, 2008
سازش ایک انتہائی گھٹیا کام ہے ۔ ہم نے جو کام بھی کیا دیانتداری ، توکل اور اللہ کے بھروسہ پر کیا یہ سب کچھ قوم کے سامنے ہے۔خلیل الرحمن رمدے
لاہور۔ سپریم کورٹ کے معزول جج خلیل الرحمن رمدے نے کہا ہے کہسازش ایک انتہائی گھٹیا کام ہے ۔ ہم نے جو کام بھی کیا دیانتداری ، توکل اور اللہ کے بھروسہ پر کیا یہ سب کچھ قوم کے سامنے ہے ۔ آج پی یو جے کی تقریب حلف برداری کے موقع پر گفتگو کرتے ہوئے انہوں نے صدر پرویز مشرف کے خلاف سازش کی باتوں کی تردید کرتے ہوئے کہا کہ ہم نے صرف انصاف کیا ہے ۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ 9 مارچ کو نئی قوم نے جنم لیا وہ عدالتی بحران ، عذاب یا زحمت نہیں بلکہ ایک نعمت ثابت ہو ا اس بھٹی سے ایک نئی قوم نے جنم لیا ہے جسے ہر کوئی خراج تحسین پیش کر رہا ہے ۔ مجھ سمیت ساتھی ججوں نے جو کردار ادا کیا وہ قوم کی قربانیوں سے کہیں کم ہے ۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ عدلیہ کی آزادی کی وکلاء تحریک میں صحافیوں ، سول سوسائٹی اور زندگی کے ہر شعبہ نے خون پسینے سے اس تحریک کو سینچا جس کے ثمرات سامنے آرہے ہیں ۔ اس تحریک کے نتیجے میں پوری قوم میں احساس ذمہ داری پیدا ہوا اور ایک نئی قوم بن کر سامنے آئی ہے ۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ سازش گھٹیا قسم کا کام ہے اگر گھٹیا پن کا مظاہرہ کرنا ہوتا تو انصاف کی طرف نہ جھکتا بلکہ جھکاؤکسی طرف ہوتا ۔ اس موقع پر پی ایف یو جے کے صدر سید ہما علی اور دیگر نے بھی خطاب کیا
معمولی سطح کے امریکی اہلکار قومی لیڈروں کو امریکی سفارتخانے میں طلب کر کے ملاقاتیں کر رہے ہیں جو قومی وقار، سفارتی آداب اور پروٹوکول کی خلاف ورزی ہے ۔
٭۔ ۔ ۔ مقتدر سیاسی قیادت کو خبر دار رہنا چاہیے ، پرویز مشرف اسی وجہ سے عوامی نفرت کا نشانہ بنے ہیں، انہوں نے امریکہ کی بے دام غلامی اختیار کر رکھی ہے
لاہور۔ امیر جماعت اسلامی پاکستان قاضی حسین احمد نے کہا ہے کہ معمولی سطح کے امریکی اہلکار قومی لیڈروں کو امریکی سفارتخانے میں طلب کر کے ملاقاتیں کر رہے ہیں جو قومی وقار، سفارتی آداب اور پروٹوکول کی خلاف ورزی ہے ۔ نئی حکومت کے لئے نیک خواہشات رکھتے ہیں،اچھے کاموں کی تحسین اور غلطیوں پر متوجہ کریں گے ۔ ان خیالات کا اظہار انہوں نے جامع مسجد منورہ میں نماز جمع کے اجتماع سے خطاب کرتے ہوئے کیا ۔قاضی حسین احمد نے کہا کہ تیسرے درجے کے امریکی اہلکار مقتدر سیاسی قیادت پر اثر انداز ہونے کے لئے آئے ہیں ۔ ان کی کوشش ہے کہ پرویز مشرف کو زواخذے سے بچایا جائے ، ججوں کی بحالی کو روکا جائے اور نئی حکومت کو دہشت گردی کے خلاف نام نہاد جنگ جو اصل میں دہشت گردی میں تعاون اور اپنوں کے خلاف جنگ ہے ، میں تعاون جاری رکھنے پر آمادہ کیا جائے ۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ حکومت کی تشکیل سے قبل امریکی اہلکاروں کی آمد سے پاکستان کے امریکی کالونی ہونے کا تاثر ملتا ہے کہ کوئی بھی تھرڈ لیول کا امریکی اہلکار کسی بھی وقت آکر صدر، وزیر اعظم سمیت اعلی عہدے داروں اور مقتدر سیاسی قیادت سے ملاقات کر سکتا ہے ، ان پر اثر انداز ہو سکتا ہے ۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ بعض لیڈروں نے بکنگ اور گفتگو کے ریکارڈ ہونے کے ڈر سے امریکی اہلکاروںسے امریکی سفارتخانے میں ملاقاتیں کی ہیں ، انہیں قوم کو بتانا چاہیے کہ وہ کیا راز کی باتیں ہیں جو قوم سے چھپائی جا رہی ہیں ۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ قومی سطح کے لیڈروں کو غیروں کے بجائے اپنوں پر اعتماد کرنا چاہیے اور کسی بھی لیڈر کے لئے یہ مناسب نہیں کہ وہ معمولی اہلکاروں سے امریکی سفارتخانے میں جا کر ملاقات کرے ۔انہوں نے کہا کہ یہ عوامی مینڈیٹ اور قومی وقار کے منافی اقدام ہے ۔ قاضی حسین احمد نے کہا کہ مقتدر سیاسی قیادت کو خبر دار رہنا چاہیے کہ پرویز مشرف اسی وجہ سے عوامی نفرت کا نشانہ بنے ہیں کہ انہوں نے امریکہ کی بے دام غلامی اختیار کر رکھی ہے ۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ نئی حکومت کو اس سوچ اور پالیسی کو خیر باد کہنا چاہیے اور قوم بھی اپنی آزادی و خود مختاری کی حفاظت کے لئے چوکنا رہے ۔ قوم سیاسی قیادت پر نظر رکھے کہ وہ امانت میں خیانت کی مرتکب نہ ہواور عوامی امنگوں اور خواہشات کے برعکس کوئی اقدام نہ کرے۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ نئی حکومت پرویز مشرف کی پالیسیوں پر فوری نظر ثانی کرے اور تمام فیصلے پارلیمنٹ میں کرنے کے اعلان پر عملدرآمد کو ممکن بنایا جائے ۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ ہم نئی حکومت کے لئے نیک خواہشات رکھتے ہیں اور چاہتے ہیں کہ وہ لوگوں کی توقعات پر پوری اترے اور اپنے لوگوں کے خلاف جاری جنگ کو فوری طور پر ختم کرنے کا اعلان کرے۔
لاہور۔ امیر جماعت اسلامی پاکستان قاضی حسین احمد نے کہا ہے کہ معمولی سطح کے امریکی اہلکار قومی لیڈروں کو امریکی سفارتخانے میں طلب کر کے ملاقاتیں کر رہے ہیں جو قومی وقار، سفارتی آداب اور پروٹوکول کی خلاف ورزی ہے ۔ نئی حکومت کے لئے نیک خواہشات رکھتے ہیں،اچھے کاموں کی تحسین اور غلطیوں پر متوجہ کریں گے ۔ ان خیالات کا اظہار انہوں نے جامع مسجد منورہ میں نماز جمع کے اجتماع سے خطاب کرتے ہوئے کیا ۔قاضی حسین احمد نے کہا کہ تیسرے درجے کے امریکی اہلکار مقتدر سیاسی قیادت پر اثر انداز ہونے کے لئے آئے ہیں ۔ ان کی کوشش ہے کہ پرویز مشرف کو زواخذے سے بچایا جائے ، ججوں کی بحالی کو روکا جائے اور نئی حکومت کو دہشت گردی کے خلاف نام نہاد جنگ جو اصل میں دہشت گردی میں تعاون اور اپنوں کے خلاف جنگ ہے ، میں تعاون جاری رکھنے پر آمادہ کیا جائے ۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ حکومت کی تشکیل سے قبل امریکی اہلکاروں کی آمد سے پاکستان کے امریکی کالونی ہونے کا تاثر ملتا ہے کہ کوئی بھی تھرڈ لیول کا امریکی اہلکار کسی بھی وقت آکر صدر، وزیر اعظم سمیت اعلی عہدے داروں اور مقتدر سیاسی قیادت سے ملاقات کر سکتا ہے ، ان پر اثر انداز ہو سکتا ہے ۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ بعض لیڈروں نے بکنگ اور گفتگو کے ریکارڈ ہونے کے ڈر سے امریکی اہلکاروںسے امریکی سفارتخانے میں ملاقاتیں کی ہیں ، انہیں قوم کو بتانا چاہیے کہ وہ کیا راز کی باتیں ہیں جو قوم سے چھپائی جا رہی ہیں ۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ قومی سطح کے لیڈروں کو غیروں کے بجائے اپنوں پر اعتماد کرنا چاہیے اور کسی بھی لیڈر کے لئے یہ مناسب نہیں کہ وہ معمولی اہلکاروں سے امریکی سفارتخانے میں جا کر ملاقات کرے ۔انہوں نے کہا کہ یہ عوامی مینڈیٹ اور قومی وقار کے منافی اقدام ہے ۔ قاضی حسین احمد نے کہا کہ مقتدر سیاسی قیادت کو خبر دار رہنا چاہیے کہ پرویز مشرف اسی وجہ سے عوامی نفرت کا نشانہ بنے ہیں کہ انہوں نے امریکہ کی بے دام غلامی اختیار کر رکھی ہے ۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ نئی حکومت کو اس سوچ اور پالیسی کو خیر باد کہنا چاہیے اور قوم بھی اپنی آزادی و خود مختاری کی حفاظت کے لئے چوکنا رہے ۔ قوم سیاسی قیادت پر نظر رکھے کہ وہ امانت میں خیانت کی مرتکب نہ ہواور عوامی امنگوں اور خواہشات کے برعکس کوئی اقدام نہ کرے۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ نئی حکومت پرویز مشرف کی پالیسیوں پر فوری نظر ثانی کرے اور تمام فیصلے پارلیمنٹ میں کرنے کے اعلان پر عملدرآمد کو ممکن بنایا جائے ۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ ہم نئی حکومت کے لئے نیک خواہشات رکھتے ہیں اور چاہتے ہیں کہ وہ لوگوں کی توقعات پر پوری اترے اور اپنے لوگوں کے خلاف جاری جنگ کو فوری طور پر ختم کرنے کا اعلان کرے۔
صوبہ سرحد میں اب تک ٢٣ سیاسی شخصیات کو وزیراعلیٰ بننے کا اعزاز حاصل ہوا ہے
پشاور ۔ صوبہ سرحد میں اب تک 23سیاسی شخصیات کو وزیراعلیٰ بننے کا اعزاز حاصل ہوا ہے جن میں پاکستان بننے سے پہلے ڈاکٹر خان صاحب 1939ء سے 1947ء تک صوبہ سرحد کے تین مرتبہ وزیراعلیٰ بنے اور پاکستان بننے کے بعد بائیس اگست 1947ء سے بائیس اپریل 1955ء تک صوبہ سرحد کے پہلے وزیراعلیٰ خان عبد القیوم خان تھے جبکہ وہ سرحد اسمبلی کے چھٹے اور ساتویں وزیراعلیٰ بھی رہے ۔23اپریل 1955ء کو سردار عبد الراشد خان نے صوبے کے آٹھویں وزیراعلیٰ کی حیثیت سے حلف اٹھایا اور وہ اٹھارہ جولائی 1955ء تک صرف تین مہینوں کے لئے اس منصب پر رہے ۔انتیس جولائی 1955ء کو سردار بہادر خان صوبہ سرحد کے نویں وزیر اعلیٰ بنے اور چودہ اکتوبر 1955ء تک اپنے فرائض سرانجام دیتے رہے ۔صوبے کے دسویں وزیراعلیٰ مولانا مفتی محمود تھے انہوں نے یکم مئی 1972ء سے پندرہ فروری 1973ء تک صوبہ سرحد کی بھاگ دوڑ سنبھالی ۔صوبے کے گیارہویں وزیراعلیٰ عنایت اللہ خان گنڈا پور تھے انہوں نے اکیس مئی 1974ء سے انیس فروری 1975ء تک اپنے فرائض انجام دیئے ۔تین مئی 1975ء کو نصر اللہ خان خٹک کو صوبے کا 12واں وزیراعلیٰ بنایاگیا جن کی حکومت انیس اپریل 1977ء تک رہی ۔اپریل 1977ء کو اقبال خان جدون کو صوبے کا 13واں وزیراعلیٰ بنایاگیا جن کی حکومت صرف تین ماہ کی مدت پر پانچ جولائی 1977ء تک رہی ۔سات اپریل 1985ء کو ارباب محمد جہانگیر خان خلیل نے صوبہ سرحد کے 14ویں وزیراعلیٰ کی حیثیت سے حلف اٹھایا اور انتیس مئی 1988ء تک صوبے کے وزیراعلیٰ کے عہدے پر فائز رہے جبکہ اسی دن انتیس مئی 1988کو لیفٹیننٹ جنرل فضل حق نے صوبے کی بھاگ دوڑ سنبھالی اور وہ دو دسمبر 1988ء تک صوبے کے پندرہویں وزیراعلیٰ رہے اس کے بعد نئے آنے والے وزیر اعلیٰ آفتاب احمد خان شیر پاؤ تھے جن کی حکومت دو دسمبر 1988ء سے چھ اگست 1990تک رہی ۔صوبہ سرحد کے 17ویں وزیراعلیٰ میر افضل خان نے نومبر1990ء سے انیس جولائی 1993ء تک صوبے پر حکومت کی ۔جولائی 1993ء کو مفتی محمود عباس صوبے کے 18ویں وزیراعلیٰ بنے اور اکیس اکتوبر 1993ء صرف تین ماہ کے لیے اس عہدے پر فائز رہے ۔پیر صابر شاہ صوبہ سرحد کے 19ویں وزیراعلیٰ تھے ان کی حکومت بیس اکتوبر 1993ء سے پچیس فروری 1994ء تک تھی ان کے بعد آفتاب احمد خان شیر پاؤ کو دوبارہ اس منصب کی ذمہ داری سونپی گئی اور ان کی حکومت چوبیس اکتوبر 1994ء سے بارہ اکتوبر 1996ء تک رہی ۔اس طرح وہ صوبہ سرحد کے بیسویں وزیراعلیٰ کا اعزاز حاصل کیا ۔راجہ سکندر زمان نے صوبہ سرحد کے 21ویں وزیراعلیٰ کی حیثیت سے حلف اٹھایا اور وہ بارہ نومبر 1996ء سے دو فروری1997ء تک اس عہدے پر فائز رہے ۔فروری 1997ء کو سردار مہتاب احمد خان عباسی نے صوبہ سرحد کے 22ویں وزیراعلیٰ کی حیثیت سے حلف اٹھایا جن کی حکومت بارہ اکتوبر 1999ء تک قائم رہی ۔انتیس نومبر 2002ء کو اکرم خان درانی نے صوبہ سرحد کے 23ویں وزیراعلیٰ کی حیثیت سے حلف لیا اور وہ اکتوبر 2007ء تک صوبہ سرحد کے وزیراعلیٰ رہے اس طرح وہ قیام پاکستان سے لیکر اب تک پہلے وزیر اعلیٰ تھے جنہوں نے پانچ سال تک صوبہ سرحد پر حکومت کی ۔جبکہ اٹھارہ فروری 2008ء کے انتخابات میں عوامی نیشنل پارٹی نے پہلی مرتبہ بڑی تعداد میں اکثریتی نشستیں حاصل کیں اور اس پارٹی نے آئندہ وزیراعلیٰ کے عہدے کے لئے سابق وفاقی وزیر اعظم خان ہوتی کے صاحبزادے امیر حیدر خان ہوتی کو نامزد کیا ہے ۔اب دیکھنا یہ ہے کہ نئے وزیراعلیٰ امیر حیدر خان ہوتی جو ایک نوجوان قیادت کی حیثیت سے اس عہدے پر فائز ہونگے جن کے سامنے صوبے میں دہشت گردی سمیت بے شمار مسائل کا سامنا ہے وہ ان مسائل سے کس طرح نبردآزما ہوتے ہیں ۔
جس طرح ایگزیکٹو آرڈر کے ذریعے معزول ججز کی نظر بندی ختم کی گئی اسی طرح ایگزیکٹو آرڈر کے ذریعے ہی ان کو بحال کیا جانا چاہیے ۔ عتزاز احسن
اسلام آباد۔ سپریم کورٹ بار ایسوسی ایشن کے صدر بیرسٹر اعتزاز احسن نے کہاہے کہ وکلاء اور سول سوسائٹی تحریک کے مثبت نتیجے کا وقت آگیا ہے اور الیکشن میں جیتنے والی پارٹیوں کو ملنے والے ووٹ اور عوام اور وکلاء کی امانت ہیں جس کے بدلے میں عدلیہ کی بحالی ضروری ہے ۔ ان خیالات کا اظہار انہوں نے جمعہ کے روز قومی امن رابطہ کونسل پاکستان کے مرکزی چیئرمین سفیر امن احمد عمران شاہین کی زیر قیادت ملاقات کرنے والے وفد سے گفتگو کرتے ہوئے کیا وفد میں سیکرٹری جنرل عبدالعزیز تنولی، مصروف مجید ، کامران بلوچ ، شیراز سعید و دیگر شامل تھے انہوں نے کہاکہ عدلیہ کی بحالی کی تحریک سے وکلاء اور سوسائٹی کے لوگ نہ تو سیاست چمکا رہے ہیں نہ وہ سیاسی لیڈر ہیں ان کا مقصد صرف اور صرف عدلیہ کی بحالی ہے انہوں نے کہاکہ عدلیہ کی بحالی کسی غیر ملکی آقا کے اشارے یا امریکی ڈکٹیشن کے تحت نہیں ہو گی بلکہ جس طرح ایگزیکٹو آرڈر کے ذریعے معزول ججز کی نظر بندی ختم کی گئی اسی طرح ایگزیکٹو آرڈر کے ذریعے ہی ان کو بحال کیا جانا چاہیے انہوں نے کہاکہ صدر مشرف ہمارے کردار پر انگلیاں اٹھانے کے بجائے اپنے گریبان میں جھانکیں ۔ اعتزاز احسن نے کہاکہ نئی حکومت کیلئے صدر مشرف کی پالیسیاں جاری رکھنا ممکن نہیں وہ طاقت کے بجائے مذاکرات کو ترجیح دے گی انہوں نے کہاکہ امریکی پالیسی سے پاکستان بری طرح متاثر ہوا اور دہشت گردی بڑھی جس کے خاتمے کیلئے حقیقتاً حکومت عوامی توقعات پر پورا اترے گی اور سیاسی جماعتیں ملکی مفاد میں ہی طرز عمل میں تبدیلیاں لا کر ملکی سلامتی اور استحکام کیلئے کام کریں گی
دہشت گردی کے بارے میں حکومت کی پالیسی کو پارلیمنٹ میں زیر بحث لایا جائے ۔نائب خطیب لال مسجد کی پریس کانفرنس
اسلام آباد ۔ مرکزی لال مسجد کے نائب خطیب مولانا عامر صدیق نے نئی حکومت کو مبارکباد دیتے ہوئے مطالبہ کیا ہے کہ دہشت گردی کے بارے میں حکومت پاکستان کی پالیسی کو پارلیمنٹ میں زیر بحث لایاجائے انہو ں نے حکومت سے مدارس اور مساجد کے تحفظ کو یقینی بنانے کا بھی مطالبہ کیا ہے اسلام آباد میں پریس کانفرنس سے خطاب کرتے ہوئے انہوں نے کہا کہ سابقہ حکومت کی جانب سے مساجد و مدارس کو پامال کیا گیا نئی حکومت اس تقدس کی بحالی کیلئے اقدامات کر تے ہوئے مسجد مدرسہ کے تحفظ کو یقینی بنائے انہوں نے کہا کہ ملک میں ایجنسیوں کے کردار کو کم جائے لال مسجد آپریشن کے بعد بھی ظلم و زیادتی کا سلسلہ جاری ہے اس آپریشن کے بعد بھی لال مسجد سے وابستہ ١٠ افراد لاپتہ ہوئے ہیں انہوں نے کہا کہ دہشت گردی کے خلاف جنگ کی پالیسی پر نظر ثانی کے لئے اسے پارلیمنٹ میں پیش کیا ہے انہوں نے مولانا عبدالعزیز کی رہائی جامعہ فریدیہ کی بحالی اور جامعہ حفصہ کی از سر نو تعمیر کا مطالبہ بھی کیا ہے
دہشت گردی کے خلاف جنگ ہماری اپنی جنگ ہے جس سے ہماری عوام متاثر ہو رہی ہے ۔آصف علی زر داری
پاکستان میں جمہوری حکومت سے ہر ممکن تعاون جاری رکھیں گے ۔رچرڈ باؤچر
امریکی نائب وزیر خارجہ اور پیپلز پارٹی کے شریک چیئر مین کی ملاقات کے بعد صحافیوں سے گفتگو
اسلام آباد۔ امریکہ نے کہا ہے کہ وہ پاکستان کی جمہوری حکومت کی مکمل حمایت کرے گا تا کہ ملک کو محفوظ اور معاشی لحاظ سے مضبوط بنایا جائے پیپلز پارٹی کے شریک چیئر مین آصف علی زر داری سے ملاقات کے بعد امریکہ کے نائب وزیر خارجہ رچرڈ باؤچر نے مشترکہ پریس کانفرنس سے خطاب کرتے ہوئے کہا کہ نئی حکومت کے قیام کے بعد امریکہ اس کی حمایت کرے گا اور اسے مختلف میدانوں میں مدد فراہم کرے گا ایک سوال کے جواب میں انہوں نے کہا کہ دہشت گردی کے خلاف جنگ کا اصل مقصد پاکستان افغانستان اور دوسرے ممالک کو دنیا کا محفوظ ترین خطہ بنانا ہے اور امریکہ اسی مقصد میں کامیابی حاصل کر نے کے لئے پاکستان اور افغانستان کے ساتھ مل کر کام کر رہا ہے اس موقع پر آصف علی زر داری نے کہا کہ پاکستان کے عوام مہمان نواز ہیں اور امریکہ کے ساتھ مذاکرات اور باہمی تعلقات کے خواہاں ہیں انہو ںنے کہا کہ ہم امریکہ سے طویل المعیاد اور تعمیری تعلقات چاہتے ہیں ایک سوال کے جواب میں انہوں نے کہا کہ دہشت گردی کے خلاف جنگ ہماری جنگ ہے جیسا کہ ہمارے اپنے لوگ اور بچے دہشت گردی کا نشانہ بن رہے ہیں ایک اور سوال کے جواب میں آصف علی زر داری نے کہا کہ ہم ہر قیمت پر پاکستان کی خود مختاری کا تحفظ کریں۔
امریکی نائب وزیر خارجہ اور پیپلز پارٹی کے شریک چیئر مین کی ملاقات کے بعد صحافیوں سے گفتگو
اسلام آباد۔ امریکہ نے کہا ہے کہ وہ پاکستان کی جمہوری حکومت کی مکمل حمایت کرے گا تا کہ ملک کو محفوظ اور معاشی لحاظ سے مضبوط بنایا جائے پیپلز پارٹی کے شریک چیئر مین آصف علی زر داری سے ملاقات کے بعد امریکہ کے نائب وزیر خارجہ رچرڈ باؤچر نے مشترکہ پریس کانفرنس سے خطاب کرتے ہوئے کہا کہ نئی حکومت کے قیام کے بعد امریکہ اس کی حمایت کرے گا اور اسے مختلف میدانوں میں مدد فراہم کرے گا ایک سوال کے جواب میں انہوں نے کہا کہ دہشت گردی کے خلاف جنگ کا اصل مقصد پاکستان افغانستان اور دوسرے ممالک کو دنیا کا محفوظ ترین خطہ بنانا ہے اور امریکہ اسی مقصد میں کامیابی حاصل کر نے کے لئے پاکستان اور افغانستان کے ساتھ مل کر کام کر رہا ہے اس موقع پر آصف علی زر داری نے کہا کہ پاکستان کے عوام مہمان نواز ہیں اور امریکہ کے ساتھ مذاکرات اور باہمی تعلقات کے خواہاں ہیں انہو ںنے کہا کہ ہم امریکہ سے طویل المعیاد اور تعمیری تعلقات چاہتے ہیں ایک سوال کے جواب میں انہوں نے کہا کہ دہشت گردی کے خلاف جنگ ہماری جنگ ہے جیسا کہ ہمارے اپنے لوگ اور بچے دہشت گردی کا نشانہ بن رہے ہیں ایک اور سوال کے جواب میں آصف علی زر داری نے کہا کہ ہم ہر قیمت پر پاکستان کی خود مختاری کا تحفظ کریں۔
بجلی کے بحران ، مہنگائی ، بیروز گاری و دیگر قومی ایشوز کا حل حکومتی ترجیحات میں شامل ہے ، سید یوسف رضا گیلانی
عوام کو فوری ریلیف کی فراہمی کیلئے جلد ہی جامع ٹھوس پروگرام کا اعلان کیا جائے گا
تمام معاملات میں حکمران اتحاد کو اعتماد میں لیں گے ، پائیدار معاشی ترقی کو یقینی بنائیں گے
وزیراعظم کا چیئرمین سینٹ اور عوامی وفود سے ملاقات میں اظہار خیال
وزیراعظم سید یوسف رضا گیلانی نے کہاہے کہ نئی حکومت کو مختلف قومی چیلنجز بالخصوص بجلی کے بحران ، بیروز گاری ، مہنگائی ،امن و امان سے متعلق اہم، مسائل کا سامنا ہے عوام کی مدد اور حمایت سے ان قومی چیلنجز سے عہدہ برآ ہوں گے عوام کو فوری ریلیف کیلئے جلد ہی جامع پروگرام کا اعلان کیا جائے گا عوام کی معاشی اور اقتصادی مشکلات کاحل حکومتی ترجیحات میں شامل ہے ۔ ان خیالات کا اظہار انہوں نے چیئرمین سینٹ محمد میاں سومرو اور ملتان کی اقلیتی برادری کے وفد سے الگ الگ ملاقاتوں میں کیا چیئرمین سینٹ نے ان سے وزیراعظم ہاؤس میں ملاقات کی جس میں ملک کی سیاسی صورتحال سمیت نئی حکومت کو درپیش چیلنجز سے متعلق امور پر تبادلہ خیال کیا گیا وزیراعظم نے اس اعتماد کا اظہار کیا کہ قومی چیلنجز پر قابو پا لیں گے قومی مسائل کا حل حکومتی ترجیحات میں شامل ہے تمام معاملات میں حکمران اتحاد کو اعتماد میں لیاجائے گا وزیراعظم نے کہا کہ وہ قومی اسمبلی سے اعتماد کا ووٹ لینے کے بعد عوام کو ضروری ریلیف کی فراہمی سے م تعلق جامع پروگرام کا اعلان کریں گے پائیدار معاشی و اقتصادی ترقی اور قومی پیداوار میں اضافے کیلئے طویل المدتی حکمت عملی وضع کی جائے گی اس ضمن میں معاشی و اقتصادی ماہرین کی تجاویز کا خیر مقدم کیا جائے گا چیئرمین سینٹ محمد میاں سومرو نے سید یوسف رضا گیلانی کو وزارت اعظمیٰ کا عہدہ سنھبالنے پر مبارک باد دی اور نئی حکومت کیلئے نیک تمناؤں اور خواہشات کا اظہار کیا چیئرمین سینٹ نے اس توقع کا اظہار کیا ہے کہ جمہوری سیٹ اپ عوام کی توقعات پر پورا اترتے ہوئے اداروں کو مستحکم کرے گا ملتان کی اقلیتی برادری کے وفد سے ملاقات میں وزیراعظم نے کہاکہ اقلیتی برادری ملک کی معاشی و سماجی ترقی میں اہم کردار ادا کررہی ہے اقلیتوں کو قومی دھارے میں لانے کیلئے نئی حکومت موثر اقدامات کرے گی وزیراعظم نے اس عزم کا اظہاربھی کیا کہ حکومت ترجیحی بنیادوں پر عوام کو زندگی کی بنیادی سہولتیں ان کی دہلیز پر فراہم کرے گی
تمام معاملات میں حکمران اتحاد کو اعتماد میں لیں گے ، پائیدار معاشی ترقی کو یقینی بنائیں گے
وزیراعظم کا چیئرمین سینٹ اور عوامی وفود سے ملاقات میں اظہار خیال
وزیراعظم سید یوسف رضا گیلانی نے کہاہے کہ نئی حکومت کو مختلف قومی چیلنجز بالخصوص بجلی کے بحران ، بیروز گاری ، مہنگائی ،امن و امان سے متعلق اہم، مسائل کا سامنا ہے عوام کی مدد اور حمایت سے ان قومی چیلنجز سے عہدہ برآ ہوں گے عوام کو فوری ریلیف کیلئے جلد ہی جامع پروگرام کا اعلان کیا جائے گا عوام کی معاشی اور اقتصادی مشکلات کاحل حکومتی ترجیحات میں شامل ہے ۔ ان خیالات کا اظہار انہوں نے چیئرمین سینٹ محمد میاں سومرو اور ملتان کی اقلیتی برادری کے وفد سے الگ الگ ملاقاتوں میں کیا چیئرمین سینٹ نے ان سے وزیراعظم ہاؤس میں ملاقات کی جس میں ملک کی سیاسی صورتحال سمیت نئی حکومت کو درپیش چیلنجز سے متعلق امور پر تبادلہ خیال کیا گیا وزیراعظم نے اس اعتماد کا اظہار کیا کہ قومی چیلنجز پر قابو پا لیں گے قومی مسائل کا حل حکومتی ترجیحات میں شامل ہے تمام معاملات میں حکمران اتحاد کو اعتماد میں لیاجائے گا وزیراعظم نے کہا کہ وہ قومی اسمبلی سے اعتماد کا ووٹ لینے کے بعد عوام کو ضروری ریلیف کی فراہمی سے م تعلق جامع پروگرام کا اعلان کریں گے پائیدار معاشی و اقتصادی ترقی اور قومی پیداوار میں اضافے کیلئے طویل المدتی حکمت عملی وضع کی جائے گی اس ضمن میں معاشی و اقتصادی ماہرین کی تجاویز کا خیر مقدم کیا جائے گا چیئرمین سینٹ محمد میاں سومرو نے سید یوسف رضا گیلانی کو وزارت اعظمیٰ کا عہدہ سنھبالنے پر مبارک باد دی اور نئی حکومت کیلئے نیک تمناؤں اور خواہشات کا اظہار کیا چیئرمین سینٹ نے اس توقع کا اظہار کیا ہے کہ جمہوری سیٹ اپ عوام کی توقعات پر پورا اترتے ہوئے اداروں کو مستحکم کرے گا ملتان کی اقلیتی برادری کے وفد سے ملاقات میں وزیراعظم نے کہاکہ اقلیتی برادری ملک کی معاشی و سماجی ترقی میں اہم کردار ادا کررہی ہے اقلیتوں کو قومی دھارے میں لانے کیلئے نئی حکومت موثر اقدامات کرے گی وزیراعظم نے اس عزم کا اظہاربھی کیا کہ حکومت ترجیحی بنیادوں پر عوام کو زندگی کی بنیادی سہولتیں ان کی دہلیز پر فراہم کرے گی
ملک کے سول اداروں سے پاک فوج کے افسران کی واپسی کا عمل شروع ہو گیا
منصوبے کے تحت6 میجر جنرلز، اور 8 بریگیڈیئرز سمیت 72 افسران کو مختلف سول اداروں سے واپس بلا لیا گیا
فوجی افسران کی سول اداروں سے واپسی کا عمل شروع ہو گیا ۔ منصوبے کے تحت6 میجر جنرلز، اور 8 بریگیڈیئرز سمیت 72 افسران کو مختلف سول اداروں سے واپس بلا لیا گیا۔آئی ایس پی آر کی پریس ریلیز کے مطابق جی ایچ کیو میں ہوئے فیصلے کے مطابق سول اداروں سے 20 مارچ تک اپنے ہاں تعینات فوجی افسران، جونیئر کمیشنڈآفیسرز اور جوانوں کی واپسی کا لائحہ عمل طلب کیا گیا تھا، تاکہ وہاں روز مرہ کے معمولات متاثر نہ ہوں۔ 20 مارچ تک ملنے والے لائحہ عمل کے تحت ابتدائی مرحلے میں 6 میجر جنرلز، اور 8 بریگیڈیئرز سمیت 72 افسران کو مختلف سول اداروں سے واپس بلا لیا گیا ہے۔ یہ افسران یکم مئی کو اپنے فوجی محکموں میں رپورٹ کردیں گے۔ آئی ایس پی آر کے مطابق46فوجی افسران کو ، جن میں جونیئر کمیشنڈ آفیسرز، نان کمیشنڈ آفیسرز اور جوان شامل ہیں،ان کے سول محکموں نے متبادل نہ ہونے کی بنا پر ریلیز نہیں کیا ہے،یہ افسران دوسرے مرحلے میں وسط اگست 2008 تک سول اداروں سے چلے جائیں گے۔آئی ایس پی آر ترجمان کے مطابق مختلف محکموں میں 32 افسران ایسے ہیں جورواں یا اگلے سال ریٹائر ہورہے ہیں، ور انہیں ان کے محکموں نے ریٹائرمنٹ کے بعد دوبارہ ملازمت دیئے جانے کی سفارش کی ہے ۔ ترجمان کے مطابق ان محکموں سے کہا گیا ہے کہ اس کے لیے وہ وزارت دفاع کے توسط سے جی ایچ کیو سے این او سی حاصل کریں ۔ یاد رہے کہ ملک کے سول اداروں سے پاک فوج کے افسران کی واپسی کا حکم چیف آف آرمی سٹاف جنرل پرویز اشفاق کیانی نے جاری کیا تھا ،جس پر عمل درآمد شروع ہو گیا ہے
فوجی افسران کی سول اداروں سے واپسی کا عمل شروع ہو گیا ۔ منصوبے کے تحت6 میجر جنرلز، اور 8 بریگیڈیئرز سمیت 72 افسران کو مختلف سول اداروں سے واپس بلا لیا گیا۔آئی ایس پی آر کی پریس ریلیز کے مطابق جی ایچ کیو میں ہوئے فیصلے کے مطابق سول اداروں سے 20 مارچ تک اپنے ہاں تعینات فوجی افسران، جونیئر کمیشنڈآفیسرز اور جوانوں کی واپسی کا لائحہ عمل طلب کیا گیا تھا، تاکہ وہاں روز مرہ کے معمولات متاثر نہ ہوں۔ 20 مارچ تک ملنے والے لائحہ عمل کے تحت ابتدائی مرحلے میں 6 میجر جنرلز، اور 8 بریگیڈیئرز سمیت 72 افسران کو مختلف سول اداروں سے واپس بلا لیا گیا ہے۔ یہ افسران یکم مئی کو اپنے فوجی محکموں میں رپورٹ کردیں گے۔ آئی ایس پی آر کے مطابق46فوجی افسران کو ، جن میں جونیئر کمیشنڈ آفیسرز، نان کمیشنڈ آفیسرز اور جوان شامل ہیں،ان کے سول محکموں نے متبادل نہ ہونے کی بنا پر ریلیز نہیں کیا ہے،یہ افسران دوسرے مرحلے میں وسط اگست 2008 تک سول اداروں سے چلے جائیں گے۔آئی ایس پی آر ترجمان کے مطابق مختلف محکموں میں 32 افسران ایسے ہیں جورواں یا اگلے سال ریٹائر ہورہے ہیں، ور انہیں ان کے محکموں نے ریٹائرمنٹ کے بعد دوبارہ ملازمت دیئے جانے کی سفارش کی ہے ۔ ترجمان کے مطابق ان محکموں سے کہا گیا ہے کہ اس کے لیے وہ وزارت دفاع کے توسط سے جی ایچ کیو سے این او سی حاصل کریں ۔ یاد رہے کہ ملک کے سول اداروں سے پاک فوج کے افسران کی واپسی کا حکم چیف آف آرمی سٹاف جنرل پرویز اشفاق کیانی نے جاری کیا تھا ،جس پر عمل درآمد شروع ہو گیا ہے
US wants successful society in Pakistan: Boucher
ISLAMABAD : United States wants to see a successful society in Pakistan and it looks forward to support democracy and democratic process in the country, US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Richard Boucher said Friday.“ I have told all the political heads of Pakistan that US wants to support democracy and democratic government in Pakistan,” Richard Boucher told newsmen in a joint press conference with PPP Co-Chairman Senator Asif Ali Zardari here.
“We today talked with Mr.Zardari over plans and programmes of the new coalition government. We have very consistent message for everyone that there is a real opportunity for the people of the country and we look forward to support them,” he added.
Speaking on the occasion PPPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari said that we have had very constructive dialogue with Mr.Boucher. We have brought into his notice that people of Pakistan have spoken and the new parliament is ready to work as per peoples’ aspirations.
“People of Pakistan are as always hospitable and willing to engage people of US in dialogue because democracies make better friends than dictatorship,” Zardari said.
He said that Pakistan had a long relationship with the US through all the times and he has been assured by Mr.Boucher and Americans from around the world that their country was looking forward friendship and wanted better relationship with people of Pakistan.
“I feel happy to announce that US has been very encouraging and we are going to work together,” Zardari added.
In reply to a question about financial aid to Pakistan,
Mr.Boucher said that we had been giving full support to people of Pakistan because success of Pakistan is very important for them.
“We have plans for the future too, and we have to look the areas where we have to move ahead and we can support,” he said, adding, “we should be expanding our support and this government would also extend its cooperation.”
In reply to another question, Boucher said,the terrorists
are plotting and planning attacks against innocent people of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Europe and United States therefore we have to make arrangements to deal them.
“ We recognize that military means are not only necessary so we are also providing education and economic opportunities. We have programme to work out with future Pakistani government for development of tribal region,” Boucher added.
Senator Asif Ali Zardari, in reply to a question said, PPP’s definition about war against terrorism is same that of Pakistani people.
“ We think it is Pakistan’s war and not of any one else today it is in our streets, it’s in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, we will have to protect Pakistan’s sovereignty and the soil,” he said.
Boucher said,” I fully agree, it is the right of every Pakistani to live safely and comfortably in their homes.”
He said, we have to move together to stabilize Pakistan and to help Pakistanis to avail economic opportunities safely. We hope for a successful society in Pakistan, he added.
To a question about discussing the issue of war against terror in Pakistani Parliament, Boucher said, “Obviously it is a big national issue. We would fully expect of the political leaders of the country to discuss it if they want to make their decision how to pursue the war on terror.
“ And, I think that we could see something that we could support, therefore a multifaceted approach is required,” he added.
Boucher hoped that US Congress would pass legislation to support reconstruction and development of tribal areas of Pakistan.
President’s spokesman contradicts press reports
ISLAMABAD : A spokesman of the President House Friday dismissed the reports in a section of press regarding delay in the swearing-in of the new federal cabinet.Maj. Gen. (Retd) Rashid Qureshi terming the report, “totally baseless and wrong” told APP that “No summary has yet been received by the Presidency from the Prime Minister Secretariat”.
“How it can be refused or rejected since it has not been received, as conjectured by a section of the media,” Rashid Qureshi said.
He said the reports appeared to be part of a well thought out disinformation campaign by certain vested political interests to create differences.
The spokesman regretted that some section of the media was being continuously fed untrue and speculative information.
He said, “The President House had never delayed or impeded the political process or government formation.”
He recalled that the general election was held on schedule despite the rumours about their delay. He said again it was speculated that the session of the National Assembly would not be summoned or the new Prime Minister would be not be sworn in. However all these baseless reports have proved wrong.
116 MPAs of 15th NWFP Assembly sworn in amid tight security; Speaker, Deputy Speaker elected
PESHAWAR: As many as 116 members of the 15th NWFP Assembly were Friday sworn in under the 1973 Constitution at the inaugural session of the Provincial Assembly that was presided over by senior MPA elect Arbab Ayub Jan.The house unanimously passed a resolution demanding of the government to conduct inquiry into the murder of Benazir Bhutto by the United Nations. Abdul Akbar Khan of PPP moved the resolution. It also paid great homage and tributes to the leadership of the former Chairperson of PPP who sacrificed her life for the supremacy of parliament, judiciary and media.The oath was administered in three languages Urdu, English and Pushto. At the outset of the proceedings, Israrullah Khan Gandapur sought attention of the chair about the oath and asked whether we are taking oath under the PCO or the 1973 Constitution.
The Speaker ruled that the oath is being administered under Article 65 of the Constitution read with article rules number 6. The Governor has summoned the session under article 109 of the Constitution. However the mover was adamant on his point of order while referring to the text of the oath.
Anwar Saifullah Khan MPA elect from two constituencies from Lakki Marwat was the lone absentee from the oath taking. The NWFP Assembly is consisted of 99 general seats, 22 women reserved seats and three minorities.
After recitation from Holy Quran, Attiqur Rehman from Hangu and Qalbe Hassan from Kohat drew attention of the hose towards ongoing unrest in their districts where according to them curfew has been imposed following bloody clashes between the Katchai and Mishti tribes. To protest their grievances, both the MPAs said that they are not taking oath today as a protest and walked out of the assembly Hall.
However, the chair directed Bashir Ahmed Bilour, Pervez Khattak and Rahimdad Khan to bring back the MPAs in the house. After some they ended their boycott and took oath of their office.
Since no member of the house filed papers for contesting the election of Speaker and Deputy Speaker, therefore the nominees of PPPP Karamatullah Khan Chagarmatti and ANP’s Khushdil Khan were elected unopposed against these coveted posts.
Hafiz Akhtar Ali of MMA offered dua for the slain leader of PPP Benazir Bhutto and prayed to Allah Almighty to rest her soul in eternal peace. The house also prayed for eternal peace of assassinated MPA late Pir Muhammad Khan who died in a bomb blast at the residence of Amir Muqam, PML (Q) candidate Asfandyar Amir Zeb who died in blast at Swat during electioneering, Alhaj Ayaz Khan Malang died of cardiac arrest and Farid Khan who died from his own pistol while cleaning it.
Mian Iftikhar Hussain of ANP objected over the assembly proceedings held before the oath taking and said how point of order could be raised when we have not taken the oath of the office. He said the members could raise their point of order and problems after the oath was administered. A number of the MPAs raised point of order before oath taking and referred to problems of their areas mostly related to law and order situation.
After the oath taking, the MPAs signed the roll of honour constituency wise starting from PF-Peshawar-I.
The MPAs elect had worn black ribbons around their arms with photo of slain Benazir Bhutto to protest her killing during election campaign on December 27 last at Liaquat Bagh Rawalpindi.
Some of the enthusiastic PPP legislators shouted slogans of ‘Jiay Bhutto’, after the oath was administered, which was followed by the ANP law makers who shouted slogans of Baacha Khan Zindabad and then the JUI (F) MPAs also resorted to slogans in favour their party leaders.
Attiqur Rehman independent MPA from Hangu was the first stood up on a point of order in the house soon after recitation from Holy Quran painted extremely dismal law and order picture of his home district Hangu where curfew is imposed for the last couple of days following eruption of tension between rival ethnic factions.
He said, the government has failed to maintain its writ in the district and army troops have been called in to control the situation despite the fact pact have been inked with the parties.
He announced on the floor of the house that he would not take oath today as a protest against lawlessness in his district and walked out of the assembly hall.
Taking the floor, independent member Qalbe Hassan hailing from Kohat also took to task the provincial government for its failure to maintain public order in Katchai and Mishti area of Kohat district where fighting was on between two rival groups for the last couple of days.
He said lot of blood has been shed in these areas and there was nobody to control the situation. He also walked out of the assembly hall as a protest and declined to take oath today.
Taking the floor Parliamentary leader of ANP Bashir Ahmed Bilour said the new coalition government in the province would settle all the matters with consensus and mutual understanding of which improving law and order situation will top the priority list. He said ANP believed in non-violence and late Khudai Khidmatgar was the staunch propagator of the same philosophy.
Speaker while congratulating the MPAs over their elections as member of the house said, that they should pray to God Almighty to give them the strength and the courage to solve problems of the poor people “We are not the ruler we are the servant of the people”, he said.
Newly unopposed elected Speaker Karamattullah Khan Chagarmatti and Deputy Speaker Khushdil Khan will take oath of their offices on March 29 (Saturday). No candidate from the opposition parties had filed papers for contesting against these slots by scheduled time i.e. 1200 noon Friday ( March 28).
Pakistan strongly protests with Dutch government, ambassador summoned to Foreign Office
ASSOCIATED PRESS SERVICE
ISLAMABAD, Mar 28 : Pakistan on Friday lodged a strong protest with Netherlands on the issue of release of Dutch Parliamentarian Geert Wilder’s film defaming Islam. The ambassador of the Netherlands in Islamabad was called to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by Additional Secretary (Europe) and a strong protest lodged with him on the internet release of the film.
The ambassador was told that the Government of Pakistan strongly condemned the release of the defamatory film which deeply offended the sentiments of Muslims all over the world and which was expected to result in expressions of strong abhorrence and outrage.
The Additional Secretary further underlined that insult to other religions could never be justified on the basis of freedom of expression and ran counter to the efforts of those individuals and countries that were building bridges between religions and civilizations.
Referring to Foreign Secretary’s earlier meeting with the Dutch Ambassador on the subject, the Additional Secretary stated that it was incumbent upon the Dutch Government to take all necessary measures in order to minimize the impact of the incident and to prosecute Geert Wilder for defamation and deliberately hurting Muslims’ sentiments.
The Additional Secretary underlined that Article 137 of the Dutch penal code prohibits defamation and incitement to hatred.
The Dutch Ambassador termed the release of the film on the internet as an extremely unfortunate and a despicable act, something the Dutch Government has strongly condemned.
He referred to the statement of the Dutch Prime Minister which was issued immediately after the release of the film and said that the statement underlined that the film had no other purpose but to cause offence.
The Dutch Government strongly rejected the message of the film which was to equate violence with Islam.
The Ambassador also referred to the Dutch Government’s earlier efforts to block the release of the film on television channels and to repeated negotiations with Geert Wilder impressing upon him not to release the film.
He said that this was an individual act for which the Dutch people as a whole should not be blamed.
The Dutch Government will now institute a criminal investigation into the affair and that Wilder would have to bear the consequence of his actions.
ISLAMABAD, Mar 28 : Pakistan on Friday lodged a strong protest with Netherlands on the issue of release of Dutch Parliamentarian Geert Wilder’s film defaming Islam. The ambassador of the Netherlands in Islamabad was called to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by Additional Secretary (Europe) and a strong protest lodged with him on the internet release of the film.
The ambassador was told that the Government of Pakistan strongly condemned the release of the defamatory film which deeply offended the sentiments of Muslims all over the world and which was expected to result in expressions of strong abhorrence and outrage.
The Additional Secretary further underlined that insult to other religions could never be justified on the basis of freedom of expression and ran counter to the efforts of those individuals and countries that were building bridges between religions and civilizations.
Referring to Foreign Secretary’s earlier meeting with the Dutch Ambassador on the subject, the Additional Secretary stated that it was incumbent upon the Dutch Government to take all necessary measures in order to minimize the impact of the incident and to prosecute Geert Wilder for defamation and deliberately hurting Muslims’ sentiments.
The Additional Secretary underlined that Article 137 of the Dutch penal code prohibits defamation and incitement to hatred.
The Dutch Ambassador termed the release of the film on the internet as an extremely unfortunate and a despicable act, something the Dutch Government has strongly condemned.
He referred to the statement of the Dutch Prime Minister which was issued immediately after the release of the film and said that the statement underlined that the film had no other purpose but to cause offence.
The Dutch Government strongly rejected the message of the film which was to equate violence with Islam.
The Ambassador also referred to the Dutch Government’s earlier efforts to block the release of the film on television channels and to repeated negotiations with Geert Wilder impressing upon him not to release the film.
He said that this was an individual act for which the Dutch people as a whole should not be blamed.
The Dutch Government will now institute a criminal investigation into the affair and that Wilder would have to bear the consequence of his actions.
Gilani, Naval chief discuss country’s defence needs
ASSOCIATED PRESS SERVICE
ISLAMABAD, Mar 28 : Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Friday said Pakistan’s defence policy is based on peaceful coexistence in conformity with the prevailing geo-strategic environment and national aspirations. The Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Mohammad Afzal Tahir called on Prime Minister at PM Secretariat and congratulated him on assuming the office of prime minister.Referring to economic importance of sea routes, the Prime Minister said Pakistan Navy has an important role to play in protecting sea lanes and routes besides the coastline of the country. He said security of trade routes was necessary for country’s economic security.
The Prime Minister said Pakistan is a peace-loving country but believes in maintaining a minimum credible deterrence to ensure peace and stability in the region.
Admiral M. Afzal Tahir apprised the Prime Minister that Pakistan Navy is fully capable to defend country’s territories and stands fully prepared to face emerging challenges.
Pakistan believes in strong, credible defence: Gilani
ASSOCIATED PRESS SERVICE
ISLAMABAD, Mar 28 : Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani Friday said Pakistan believes in maintaining a credible minimum deterrence to ensure peace and stability in the region. Gilani was talking to Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, who called on him at PM Secretariat to felicitate him on assuming the office of the Prime Minister.The Prime Minister said Pakistan was a peaceful country and its defence policy was based on peaceful coexistence.He said as a responsible nuclear state Pakistan believes in maintaining a credible minimum deterrence to ensure peace in the region.The Prime Minister said the armed forces have an important responsibility to protect the security and territorial integrity of the country.
He appreciated the role of armed forces during national calamities.
The Chief of Army Staff said defence of the country had been made impregnable by adopting innovative training and induction of modern equipment.
Chinese Vice Minister calls on President Musharraf’
ASSOCIATED PRESS SERVICE
ISLAMABAD, Mar 28 : President Pervez Musharraf Friday highlighting Pak-China relations said Pakistan cherishes its long-standing friendship with China and confident that it would continue to gain strength in future to serve the best interests of the two countries and the region.He was talking to Liu Hongcai, Vice Minister of the International Department of Communist Party of China who is leading a five-member delegation for the 9th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP) being held in Islamabad from Friday to Sunday.
President Musharraf said that relations with China form the bedrock of Pakistan’s Foreign Policy.
President Musharraf thanked the Chinese leadership for their expression of goodwill and solidarity for Pakistan.
The President thanked the Chinese Government for its cooperation in socio-economic field. He emphasized the need for increase in trade and investment ties with China.
President Musharraf said that Pakistan is firmly opposed to any attempts to undermine China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The Chinese Vice Minister expressed thanks for Pakistan’s support.
He also congratulated the Chinese government on holding the forthcoming Beijing Olympics and said that Pakistan was happy that it had been chosen as one of the venues for the Olympic Torch Relay.
Conveying warm greetings from President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, Vice Minister Liu Hongcai complimented the President on the successful completion of election and said that China had always stood by Pakistan and will continue its support and cooperation in future.
Liu said that Pakistan and China friendship is etched in the hearts of the two peoples.
These relations have withstood the changes in global and regional environment and were strategic in character, marked by high level of mutual trust and all round cooperation, he said.
He said the cooperation will be further consolidated in future.
Mr. Liu lauded President’s special contribution to promote this friendship between the two countries.
Referring to Pakistan’s important role in the fight against terrorism and extremism Liu said that both countries shared similar views to deal with this scourge.
ISLAMABAD, Mar 28 : President Pervez Musharraf Friday highlighting Pak-China relations said Pakistan cherishes its long-standing friendship with China and confident that it would continue to gain strength in future to serve the best interests of the two countries and the region.He was talking to Liu Hongcai, Vice Minister of the International Department of Communist Party of China who is leading a five-member delegation for the 9th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP) being held in Islamabad from Friday to Sunday.
President Musharraf said that relations with China form the bedrock of Pakistan’s Foreign Policy.
President Musharraf thanked the Chinese leadership for their expression of goodwill and solidarity for Pakistan.
The President thanked the Chinese Government for its cooperation in socio-economic field. He emphasized the need for increase in trade and investment ties with China.
President Musharraf said that Pakistan is firmly opposed to any attempts to undermine China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The Chinese Vice Minister expressed thanks for Pakistan’s support.
He also congratulated the Chinese government on holding the forthcoming Beijing Olympics and said that Pakistan was happy that it had been chosen as one of the venues for the Olympic Torch Relay.
Conveying warm greetings from President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, Vice Minister Liu Hongcai complimented the President on the successful completion of election and said that China had always stood by Pakistan and will continue its support and cooperation in future.
Liu said that Pakistan and China friendship is etched in the hearts of the two peoples.
These relations have withstood the changes in global and regional environment and were strategic in character, marked by high level of mutual trust and all round cooperation, he said.
He said the cooperation will be further consolidated in future.
Mr. Liu lauded President’s special contribution to promote this friendship between the two countries.
Referring to Pakistan’s important role in the fight against terrorism and extremism Liu said that both countries shared similar views to deal with this scourge.
The war everyone forgot
NOAM CHOMSKY
IRAQ remains a significant concern for the population, but that is a matter of little moment in a modern democracy. Not long ago, it was taken for granted that the Iraq war would be the central issue in the presidential campaign, as it was in the midterm election of 2006. But it has virtually disappeared, eliciting some puzzlement. There should be none.
The Wall Street Journal came close to the point in a front-page article on Super Tuesday, the day of many primaries: "Issues Recede in '08 Contest As Voters Focus on Character." To put it more accurately, issues recede as candidates, party managers and their public relations agencies focus on character. As usual. And for sound reasons. Apart from the irrelevance of the population, they can be dangerous.
Progressive democratic theory holds that the population — "ignorant and meddlesome outsiders" — should be "spectators," not "participants" in action, as Walter Lippmann wrote.
The participants in action are surely aware that on a host of major issues, both political parties are well to the right of the general population, and that public opinion is quite consistent over time, a matter reviewed in the useful study, "The Foreign Policy Disconnect," by Benjamin Page and Marshall Bouton. It is important, then, for the attention of the people to be diverted elsewhere.
The real work of the world is the domain of an enlightened leadership. The common understanding is revealed more in practice than in words, though some do articulate it: President Woodrow Wilson, for example, held that an elite of gentlemen with "elevated ideals" must be empowered to preserve "stability and righteousness," essentially the perspective of the Founding Fathers. In more recent years the gentlemen are transmuted into the "technocratic elite" and "action intellectuals" of Camelot, "Straussian" neocons of Bush II or other configurations.
For the vanguard who uphold the elevated ideals and are charged with managing the society and the world, the reasons for Iraq's drift off the radar screen should not be obscure. They were cogently explained by the distinguished historian Arthur M Schlesinger, articulating the position of the doves 40 years ago when the US invasion of South Vietnam was in its fourth year and Washington was preparing to add another 100,000 troops to the 175,000 already tearing South Vietnam to shreds.
By then the invasion launched by President Kennedy was facing difficulties and imposing difficult costs on the United States, so Schlesinger and other Kennedy liberals were reluctantly beginning to shift from hawks to doves.
- In 1966, Schlesinger wrote that of course "we all pray" that the hawks are right in thinking that the surge of the day will be able to "suppress the resistance," and if it does, "we may all be saluting the wisdom and statesmanship of the American government" in winning victory while leaving "the tragic country gutted and devastated by bombs, burned by napalm, turned into a wasteland by chemical defoliation, a land of ruin and wreck," with its "political and institutional fabric" pulverised. But escalation probably won't succeed, and will prove to be too costly for ourselves, so perhaps strategy should be rethought.
As the costs to ourselves began to mount severely, it soon turned out that everyone had always been a strong opponent of the war (in deep silence).
Elite reasoning, and the accompanying attitudes, carry over with little change to commentary on the US invasion of Iraq today. And although criticism of the Iraq war is far greater and far-reaching than in the case of Vietnam at any comparable stage, nevertheless the principles that Schlesinger articulated remain in force in media and commentary.
It is of some interest that Schlesinger himself took a very different position on the Iraq invasion, virtually alone in his circles. When the bombs began to fall on Baghdad, he wrote that Bush's policies are "alarmingly similar to the policy that imperial Japan employed at Pearl Harbor, on a date which, as an earlier American president said it would, lives in infamy. Franklin D Roosevelt was right, but today it is we Americans who live in infamy."
That Iraq is "a land of ruin and wreck" is not in question. Recently the British polling agency Oxford Research Business updated its estimate of extra deaths resulting from the war to 1.03 million — excluding Karbala and Anbar provinces, two of the worst regions. Whether that estimate is correct, or much overstated as some claim, there is no doubt that the toll is horrendous. Several million people are internally displaced. Thanks to the generosity of Jordan and Syria, the millions of refugees fleeing the wreckage of Iraq, including most of the professional classes, have not been simply wiped out.
But that welcome is fading, for one reason because Jordan and Syria receive no meaningful support from the perpetrators of the crimes in Washington and London; the idea that they might admit these victims, beyond a trickle, is too outlandish to consider.
- Sectarian warfare has devastated Iraq. Baghdad and other areas have been subjected to brutal ethnic cleansing and left in the hands of warlords and militias, the primary thrust of the current counterinsurgency strategy developed by General Petraeus, who won his fame by pacifying Mosul, now the scene of some of the most extreme violence.
One of the most dedicated and informed journalists who have been immersed in the shocking tragedy, Nir Rosen, recently published an epitaph, "The Death of Iraq," in Current History.
"Iraq has been killed, never to rise again," Rosen writes. "The American occupation has been more disastrous than that of the Mongols, who sacked Baghdad in the 13th century" — a common perception of Iraqis as well. "Only fools talk of 'solutions' now. There is no solution. The only hope is that perhaps the damage can be contained."
Catastrophe notwithstanding, Iraq remains a marginal issue in the presidential campaign. That is natural, given the spectrum of hawk-dove elite opinion. The liberal doves adhere to their traditional reasoning and attitudes, praying that the hawks will be right and that the United States will win a victory in the land of ruin and wreck, establishing "stability," a code word for subordination to Washington's will. By and large hawks are encouraged, and doves silenced, by the upbeat post-surge reports of reduced casualties.
In December, the Pentagon released "good news" from Iraq, a study of focus groups from all over the country that found that Iraqis have "shared beliefs," so that reconciliation should be possible, contrary to claims of critics of the invasion. The shared beliefs were two. First, the US invasion is the cause of the sectarian violence that has torn Iraq to shreds. Second, the invaders should withdraw and leave Iraq to its people.
A few weeks after the Pentagon report, New York Times military-Iraq expert Michael R Gordon wrote a reasoned and comprehensive review of the options on Iraq policy facing the candidates for the presidential election. One voice is missing in the debate: Iraqis. Their preference is not rejected. Rather, it is not worthy of mention. And it seems that there is no notice of the fact. That makes sense on the usual tacit assumption of almost all discourse on international affairs: We own the world, so what does it matter what others think? They are "unpeople," to borrow the term used by British diplomatic historian Mark Curtis in his work on Britain's crimes of empire.
Routinely, Americans join Iraqis in un-peoplehood. Their preferences too provide no options.
Noam Chomsky is a professor of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the author, most recently, of Hegemony or Survival Americas Quest for Global Dominance.
IRAQ remains a significant concern for the population, but that is a matter of little moment in a modern democracy. Not long ago, it was taken for granted that the Iraq war would be the central issue in the presidential campaign, as it was in the midterm election of 2006. But it has virtually disappeared, eliciting some puzzlement. There should be none.
The Wall Street Journal came close to the point in a front-page article on Super Tuesday, the day of many primaries: "Issues Recede in '08 Contest As Voters Focus on Character." To put it more accurately, issues recede as candidates, party managers and their public relations agencies focus on character. As usual. And for sound reasons. Apart from the irrelevance of the population, they can be dangerous.
Progressive democratic theory holds that the population — "ignorant and meddlesome outsiders" — should be "spectators," not "participants" in action, as Walter Lippmann wrote.
The participants in action are surely aware that on a host of major issues, both political parties are well to the right of the general population, and that public opinion is quite consistent over time, a matter reviewed in the useful study, "The Foreign Policy Disconnect," by Benjamin Page and Marshall Bouton. It is important, then, for the attention of the people to be diverted elsewhere.
The real work of the world is the domain of an enlightened leadership. The common understanding is revealed more in practice than in words, though some do articulate it: President Woodrow Wilson, for example, held that an elite of gentlemen with "elevated ideals" must be empowered to preserve "stability and righteousness," essentially the perspective of the Founding Fathers. In more recent years the gentlemen are transmuted into the "technocratic elite" and "action intellectuals" of Camelot, "Straussian" neocons of Bush II or other configurations.
For the vanguard who uphold the elevated ideals and are charged with managing the society and the world, the reasons for Iraq's drift off the radar screen should not be obscure. They were cogently explained by the distinguished historian Arthur M Schlesinger, articulating the position of the doves 40 years ago when the US invasion of South Vietnam was in its fourth year and Washington was preparing to add another 100,000 troops to the 175,000 already tearing South Vietnam to shreds.
By then the invasion launched by President Kennedy was facing difficulties and imposing difficult costs on the United States, so Schlesinger and other Kennedy liberals were reluctantly beginning to shift from hawks to doves.
- In 1966, Schlesinger wrote that of course "we all pray" that the hawks are right in thinking that the surge of the day will be able to "suppress the resistance," and if it does, "we may all be saluting the wisdom and statesmanship of the American government" in winning victory while leaving "the tragic country gutted and devastated by bombs, burned by napalm, turned into a wasteland by chemical defoliation, a land of ruin and wreck," with its "political and institutional fabric" pulverised. But escalation probably won't succeed, and will prove to be too costly for ourselves, so perhaps strategy should be rethought.
As the costs to ourselves began to mount severely, it soon turned out that everyone had always been a strong opponent of the war (in deep silence).
Elite reasoning, and the accompanying attitudes, carry over with little change to commentary on the US invasion of Iraq today. And although criticism of the Iraq war is far greater and far-reaching than in the case of Vietnam at any comparable stage, nevertheless the principles that Schlesinger articulated remain in force in media and commentary.
It is of some interest that Schlesinger himself took a very different position on the Iraq invasion, virtually alone in his circles. When the bombs began to fall on Baghdad, he wrote that Bush's policies are "alarmingly similar to the policy that imperial Japan employed at Pearl Harbor, on a date which, as an earlier American president said it would, lives in infamy. Franklin D Roosevelt was right, but today it is we Americans who live in infamy."
That Iraq is "a land of ruin and wreck" is not in question. Recently the British polling agency Oxford Research Business updated its estimate of extra deaths resulting from the war to 1.03 million — excluding Karbala and Anbar provinces, two of the worst regions. Whether that estimate is correct, or much overstated as some claim, there is no doubt that the toll is horrendous. Several million people are internally displaced. Thanks to the generosity of Jordan and Syria, the millions of refugees fleeing the wreckage of Iraq, including most of the professional classes, have not been simply wiped out.
But that welcome is fading, for one reason because Jordan and Syria receive no meaningful support from the perpetrators of the crimes in Washington and London; the idea that they might admit these victims, beyond a trickle, is too outlandish to consider.
- Sectarian warfare has devastated Iraq. Baghdad and other areas have been subjected to brutal ethnic cleansing and left in the hands of warlords and militias, the primary thrust of the current counterinsurgency strategy developed by General Petraeus, who won his fame by pacifying Mosul, now the scene of some of the most extreme violence.
One of the most dedicated and informed journalists who have been immersed in the shocking tragedy, Nir Rosen, recently published an epitaph, "The Death of Iraq," in Current History.
"Iraq has been killed, never to rise again," Rosen writes. "The American occupation has been more disastrous than that of the Mongols, who sacked Baghdad in the 13th century" — a common perception of Iraqis as well. "Only fools talk of 'solutions' now. There is no solution. The only hope is that perhaps the damage can be contained."
Catastrophe notwithstanding, Iraq remains a marginal issue in the presidential campaign. That is natural, given the spectrum of hawk-dove elite opinion. The liberal doves adhere to their traditional reasoning and attitudes, praying that the hawks will be right and that the United States will win a victory in the land of ruin and wreck, establishing "stability," a code word for subordination to Washington's will. By and large hawks are encouraged, and doves silenced, by the upbeat post-surge reports of reduced casualties.
In December, the Pentagon released "good news" from Iraq, a study of focus groups from all over the country that found that Iraqis have "shared beliefs," so that reconciliation should be possible, contrary to claims of critics of the invasion. The shared beliefs were two. First, the US invasion is the cause of the sectarian violence that has torn Iraq to shreds. Second, the invaders should withdraw and leave Iraq to its people.
A few weeks after the Pentagon report, New York Times military-Iraq expert Michael R Gordon wrote a reasoned and comprehensive review of the options on Iraq policy facing the candidates for the presidential election. One voice is missing in the debate: Iraqis. Their preference is not rejected. Rather, it is not worthy of mention. And it seems that there is no notice of the fact. That makes sense on the usual tacit assumption of almost all discourse on international affairs: We own the world, so what does it matter what others think? They are "unpeople," to borrow the term used by British diplomatic historian Mark Curtis in his work on Britain's crimes of empire.
Routinely, Americans join Iraqis in un-peoplehood. Their preferences too provide no options.
Noam Chomsky is a professor of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the author, most recently, of Hegemony or Survival Americas Quest for Global Dominance.
Dubai set to sustain 11pc GDP growth
DUBAI - Dubai’s real gross domestic product (GDP), which surged to a record Dh198 billion in 2007, is predicted to sustain an average growth rate of 11 per cent for the next eight years.
The main driver of this remarkable growth - outpacing the average growth rate forecast for the GCC - will be the non-oil sector, growing at a spectacular pace.
According to Hisham Abdullah Al Shirawi, Second Vice-Chairman, Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the key sectors fuelling the growth include tourism, retail, infrastructure, knowledge industry, transportation, logistics, manufacturing, professional and government services. He said Dubai’s GDP growth was higher than other Gulf countries and major global economies even in 2005. After growing at an average of around 8.5 per cent in 2003, 5.9 per cent in 2004, 6.8 per cent in 2005, and 6 per cent in 2006, GCC’s GDP growth averaged at 5.0 per cent in 2007. In 2020, the nominal GDP of GCC is projected to soar three-fold from $773 billion to roughly $2.3 trillion in 2020 at an average oil price of $70 per barrel, according to McKinsey & Company Middle East.
In contrast, the overall real GDP of the UAE is poised to record a slower growth rate of 6.4 per cent in 2008 and 6.1 per cent in 2009 compared to an eight per cent surge in 2007, economists said. However, nominal GDP -measured on the basis of current prices - will record almost the same growth trend as in 2007 at 15.7 per cent. Economists forecast that UAE’s nominal GDP will hit Dh805 billion and Dh960 billion in 2008- respectively up 6.4 per cent and 6.1 per cent in real terms and 15.7 per cent and 19.1 per cent in nominal terms.
Al Shirawi said Dubai’s non-oil foreign trade that surged 33 per cent to $185 billion in 2007 from $139 billion in 2006, also was poised for a sustained growth. In a presentation about Dubai’s remarkable growth at a two-day business convention yesterday, he highlighted Dubai’s ambitious economic targets under the strategic plan 2015.
He said the hospitality industry is expecting a real boom with its target of 100,000 rooms for 15 million visitors by the year 2015. Currently, there are 324 hotels, 33,731 rooms with occupancy rate of more than 85pc throughout the year as a total of seven million people used Dubai hotels in 2007 compared to 1.9m in 1996. Geared up for the air traffic boom is Dubai International Airport, which handled an average of 725 flights per day compared to 650 flights in 2006, reflecting a 10 per cent growth during 2007. Connected to 205 destinations through a network of 120
international airlines, the airport serviced 34 million passengers in 2007 thus recording a 19 per cent rise and is expecting 40 million passengers this year.
In 2007, Dubai’s non-oil exports surged a record 43 per cent in 2007 to Dh167.9 billion from Dh117.4 billion on the back of a remarkable increase in trade with Iran, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
The jump in total exports, including re-exports, underscored the buoyant economic growth of the emirate. Dubai’s exports have been growing by an average of more than 28 per cent annually during the past five years. In 2006, Dubai’s non-oil foreign trade grew 9.15 per cent to Dh523.5 billion compared with Dh479.6 billion in 2005 - the highest non-oil trade in the Arabian Gulf. Dubai’s non-oil foreign trade represents about 80 per cent of the UAE’s total trade. Dubai’s imports have also increased by 15.5 per cent, from Dh190.4 billion in 2005 to Dh219.8 billion in 2006.
Tibet monks won’t be punished: China
BEIJING - China will not punish a group of Tibetan monks for disrupting a government-organised foreign media tour of Lhasa and voicing support for the Dalai Lama, a senior official said in a bid to allay fears of repercussions.
Baema Chilain, vice-chairman of the Chinese-controlled Tibet Autonomous Region, also said ‘separatists’ were planning to disrupt the Olympic torch relay as it crossed Tibet, but he pledged to ensure the flame’s security in the region and on its planned ascent of Mount Everest, the official Xinhua news agency said.
About 30 monks at the Jokhang Temple, one of the holiest in Tibet, shoved their way into a briefing and spent about 15 minutes telling reporters the government was lying about recent unrest. They also rejected Chinese claims that Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, was behind the rash of protests.
These monks will not be punished, Xinhua quoted Baema Chilain as saying.
‘But what they said is not true. They were attempting to mislead the world’s opinion,’ he said. ‘The facts shouldn’t be distorted.’
More than two weeks of unrest in Tibet and western China, including a day of violence in Lhasa on March 14, and China’s response ahead of the Beijing Olympics in August have sparked international controversy.
China has hoped the Olympics will showcase the achievements of the world’s fourth-largest economy and its rise as a global power, but the games are becoming a lightning rod for criticism.
‘To our knowledge, some separatists from within and outside China are seeking to sabotage the Olympic torch relay within Tibet,’ said Baema Chilain.
‘We are confident and capable of ensuring the security of the relay and taking it to the top of the peak.’
The Chinese government blames the Dalai Lama and his followers for the violence and claims overall harmony, religious freedom and well-being in the Himalayan region.
Critics of China, however, say there is widespread discontent among Tibetans, including monks, who feel they are restricted religiously, their culture is being suffocated by an influx of Chinese to Tibet and they do not have sufficient autonomy.
The London-based Free Tibet Campaign said it had received unconfirmed reports from various Tibetan sources inside Tibet that three main monasteries in Lhasa-Ganden, Sera and Drepung-have been cut off since March 11 with no access to food, water and electricity.
‘The monks in those monasteries are being starved. The reports have said that Tibetan laypeople have attempted to bring food to the monasteries but have been denied access,’ it said.
Baema Chilain, the Tibet official, said the monks at the Ganden, Sera and Drepung monasteries as well as the Jokhang temple were being ‘temporarily confined to the premises as the authorities were investigating allegations that some of them led or participated in the violence’.
More than a dozen Western and Asian diplomats are to leave for Lhasa on Friday as part of a public relations exercise launched by China to limit the damage from the Tibet crisis, envoys said. They will visit for two days but have not been told what the itinerary would be.
Prosecutors had issued arrest warrants for 30 people in connection with the Lhasa violence, Baema Chilain said, adding they were sought for ‘endangering national security and committing severe criminal offenses’.
So far, 414 people had been detained, mostly ethnic Tibetans but also some members of the Han majority ethnic group that makes up more than 90 percent of China’s population, he said.
The government would provide interest-free or government subsidised loans to help businesses damaged in the Lhasa violence, Xinhua reported.
China says 19 people were killed in the unrest by Tibetan mobs, but the Tibet government-in-exile in Dharamsala, India, estimated there had been 140 deaths in the violence.
Baema Chilain, vice-chairman of the Chinese-controlled Tibet Autonomous Region, also said ‘separatists’ were planning to disrupt the Olympic torch relay as it crossed Tibet, but he pledged to ensure the flame’s security in the region and on its planned ascent of Mount Everest, the official Xinhua news agency said.
About 30 monks at the Jokhang Temple, one of the holiest in Tibet, shoved their way into a briefing and spent about 15 minutes telling reporters the government was lying about recent unrest. They also rejected Chinese claims that Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, was behind the rash of protests.
These monks will not be punished, Xinhua quoted Baema Chilain as saying.
‘But what they said is not true. They were attempting to mislead the world’s opinion,’ he said. ‘The facts shouldn’t be distorted.’
More than two weeks of unrest in Tibet and western China, including a day of violence in Lhasa on March 14, and China’s response ahead of the Beijing Olympics in August have sparked international controversy.
China has hoped the Olympics will showcase the achievements of the world’s fourth-largest economy and its rise as a global power, but the games are becoming a lightning rod for criticism.
‘To our knowledge, some separatists from within and outside China are seeking to sabotage the Olympic torch relay within Tibet,’ said Baema Chilain.
‘We are confident and capable of ensuring the security of the relay and taking it to the top of the peak.’
The Chinese government blames the Dalai Lama and his followers for the violence and claims overall harmony, religious freedom and well-being in the Himalayan region.
Critics of China, however, say there is widespread discontent among Tibetans, including monks, who feel they are restricted religiously, their culture is being suffocated by an influx of Chinese to Tibet and they do not have sufficient autonomy.
The London-based Free Tibet Campaign said it had received unconfirmed reports from various Tibetan sources inside Tibet that three main monasteries in Lhasa-Ganden, Sera and Drepung-have been cut off since March 11 with no access to food, water and electricity.
‘The monks in those monasteries are being starved. The reports have said that Tibetan laypeople have attempted to bring food to the monasteries but have been denied access,’ it said.
Baema Chilain, the Tibet official, said the monks at the Ganden, Sera and Drepung monasteries as well as the Jokhang temple were being ‘temporarily confined to the premises as the authorities were investigating allegations that some of them led or participated in the violence’.
More than a dozen Western and Asian diplomats are to leave for Lhasa on Friday as part of a public relations exercise launched by China to limit the damage from the Tibet crisis, envoys said. They will visit for two days but have not been told what the itinerary would be.
Prosecutors had issued arrest warrants for 30 people in connection with the Lhasa violence, Baema Chilain said, adding they were sought for ‘endangering national security and committing severe criminal offenses’.
So far, 414 people had been detained, mostly ethnic Tibetans but also some members of the Han majority ethnic group that makes up more than 90 percent of China’s population, he said.
The government would provide interest-free or government subsidised loans to help businesses damaged in the Lhasa violence, Xinhua reported.
China says 19 people were killed in the unrest by Tibetan mobs, but the Tibet government-in-exile in Dharamsala, India, estimated there had been 140 deaths in the violence.
UK press give thumbs-up to Sarkozy after visit
LONDON - The British press on Friday gave French President Nicolas Sarkozy a thumbs up for his performance during a two-day state visit to Britain.
Some newspapers questioned, however, whether the seeming improvement in Anglo-French relations was a blip on the radar screen or a genuine warming between the two countries, which have often not been on the best of terms.
Sarkozy, whose trip concluded Thursday, and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown vowed to turn their ‘entente cordiale’ into an ‘entente amicale’, referring to the 104-year-old ‘cordial relationship’ that has been strained in recent years.
‘Nicolas Sarkozy’s whirlwind state visit to Britain arguably marks a new high in the Anglo-French relationship since the second world war,’ The Guardian’s diplomatic editor Julian Borger wrote in a comment piece.
‘The question now is: can it last, or is it-despite the French president’s protestations to the contrary-just a ’one-night stand’.’
Brown and Sarkozy agreed to boost cooperation on tackling climate change, securing peace in Darfur, Myanmar and the Middle East, called for ‘restraint and dialogue’ in China over Tibet, and jointly said greater transparency was needed in the financial markets.
Sarkozy was also effusive in his praise of Britain’s economy in a speech to business and finance leaders at London’s Guildhall, praising the country’s economic successes.
‘Say what you like about the Sarkozys, they certainly made an impact,’ The Daily Mail said in an editorial.
‘But what has been achieved, behind the flummery and inflated promises of a new Anglo-French love-in? ... An entente formidable? Let’s wait and see.’
For The Independent, a stronger relationship between the two countries offered an opportunity for Britain within the European Union, where Britain has often been a reluctant player.
‘As the French President and his sizeable entourage left Britain last night, there will have been relief on both sides of the Channel that this state visit passed off as well as it did,’ the paper said in an editorial.
‘If only a fraction of what M. Sarkozy said in Britain is true, however, there is a real opportunity here to be seized. The French President offered a coherent vision of Europe which Britain should have the imagination to support.’
As energetic as Sarkozy’s own diplomatic agenda was, however, it was his glamorous new wife, former Italian supermodel Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, who stole the show, wowing Britain and drawing comparisons to Princess Diana as well as Jackie Kennedy.
The Independent carried an article headlined: ‘Crazy for Carla: How Britain went mad for France’s First Lady.’
Of Bruni-Sarkozy, Daily Telegraph columnist Andrew Gimson wrote: ‘Was it all a dream? Would we awake and find that Carla Bruni had melted into thin air, or at least that we had been guilty of exaggerating the charms of the wife of the President of France?’
‘That fear was set at rest by the sight of Miss Bruni arriving with her husband, Nicolas Sarkozy, in Downing Street, where they were greeted by Gordon and Sarah Brown.
‘Miss Bruni looked so pretty in purple, so vivacious and smiley and approachable.’
Some newspapers questioned, however, whether the seeming improvement in Anglo-French relations was a blip on the radar screen or a genuine warming between the two countries, which have often not been on the best of terms.
Sarkozy, whose trip concluded Thursday, and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown vowed to turn their ‘entente cordiale’ into an ‘entente amicale’, referring to the 104-year-old ‘cordial relationship’ that has been strained in recent years.
‘Nicolas Sarkozy’s whirlwind state visit to Britain arguably marks a new high in the Anglo-French relationship since the second world war,’ The Guardian’s diplomatic editor Julian Borger wrote in a comment piece.
‘The question now is: can it last, or is it-despite the French president’s protestations to the contrary-just a ’one-night stand’.’
Brown and Sarkozy agreed to boost cooperation on tackling climate change, securing peace in Darfur, Myanmar and the Middle East, called for ‘restraint and dialogue’ in China over Tibet, and jointly said greater transparency was needed in the financial markets.
Sarkozy was also effusive in his praise of Britain’s economy in a speech to business and finance leaders at London’s Guildhall, praising the country’s economic successes.
‘Say what you like about the Sarkozys, they certainly made an impact,’ The Daily Mail said in an editorial.
‘But what has been achieved, behind the flummery and inflated promises of a new Anglo-French love-in? ... An entente formidable? Let’s wait and see.’
For The Independent, a stronger relationship between the two countries offered an opportunity for Britain within the European Union, where Britain has often been a reluctant player.
‘As the French President and his sizeable entourage left Britain last night, there will have been relief on both sides of the Channel that this state visit passed off as well as it did,’ the paper said in an editorial.
‘If only a fraction of what M. Sarkozy said in Britain is true, however, there is a real opportunity here to be seized. The French President offered a coherent vision of Europe which Britain should have the imagination to support.’
As energetic as Sarkozy’s own diplomatic agenda was, however, it was his glamorous new wife, former Italian supermodel Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, who stole the show, wowing Britain and drawing comparisons to Princess Diana as well as Jackie Kennedy.
The Independent carried an article headlined: ‘Crazy for Carla: How Britain went mad for France’s First Lady.’
Of Bruni-Sarkozy, Daily Telegraph columnist Andrew Gimson wrote: ‘Was it all a dream? Would we awake and find that Carla Bruni had melted into thin air, or at least that we had been guilty of exaggerating the charms of the wife of the President of France?’
‘That fear was set at rest by the sight of Miss Bruni arriving with her husband, Nicolas Sarkozy, in Downing Street, where they were greeted by Gordon and Sarah Brown.
‘Miss Bruni looked so pretty in purple, so vivacious and smiley and approachable.’
Lhasa monks accuse China of lying over unrest
BEIJING - Tibetan monks stormed a news briefing at a temple in Lhasa on Thursday, accusing officials of lying about unrest and embarrassing Chinese authorities during a stage-managed tour by foreign reporters.
Authorities say calm has been restored since an anti-Chinese uprising erupted in the Tibetan capital two weeks ago. China says its security forces acted with restraint and that 19 people died at the hands of Tibetan mobs during the unrest.
But the Tibetan government-in-exile says 140 died in Lhasa and elsewhere, most of them Tibetan victims of security forces, arousing international protest soon before the Beijing Olympics.
On Thursday young monks at the Jokhang Temple, one of the most sacred in Tibet, stormed into a briefing by a temple administrator for a select group of foreign journalists, the first allowed into Tibet since the uprising.
‘About 30 young monks burst into the official briefing, shouting: ’Don’t believe them. They are tricking you. They are telling lies’,’ USA Today’s Beijing-based reporter Calum MacLeod said by telephone from Lhasa.
Hong Kong’s TVB aired television footage of the bold outburst in front of the foreign journalists, showing monks in crimson robes, some weeping, crowded around cameras.
They said they had been barred from leaving the temple since March 10, when demonstrations erupted on the 49th anniversary of an abortive uprising against Chinese rule that saw Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, flee into exile in India.
‘They just don’t believe us. They think we will come out and cause havoc-smash, destroy, rob, burn. We didn’t do anything like that-they’re falsely accusing us,’ said one monk. ‘We want freedom. The have detained lamas and ordinary people.’
Wang Che-nan, a cameraman for Taiwan’s ETTV, said the incident lasted about 15 minutes, after which police took the monks elsewhere in the temple, away from the journalists.
They told the journalists: ‘your time is up, time to go to the next place’, Wang said.
Reuters was not invited on the government-organised trip.
Chhime Chhoekyapa, secretary to the Dalai Lama, said the incident made clear ‘that brute force alone cannot suppress the long-simmering resentment that exists in Tibet’.
‘We are deeply concerned about the safety and well-being of the monks and appeal to the international community to ensure their protection,’ he said.
On Wednesday, US President George W. Bush urged Chinese President Hu Jintao to hold talks with the Dalai Lama.
Hu said China was willing to continue engaging in ‘contact and discussions’ with the Dalai Lama, but he must renounce support for independence of the Himalayan region and Taiwan, and ‘stop inciting and planning violent and criminal activities and sabotaging the Beijing Olympics’, Chinese newspapers reported.
‘Dalai clique’
China has blamed the ‘Dalai clique’ for the unrest and called him a separatist. The Dalai Lama denies he wants anything more than autonomy for his homeland and has condemned violence ‘from the Chinese side and also from the Tibetan side’.
Marches by monks in Lhasa turned within days into rioting in which non-Tibetan Chinese migrants were attacked and their property burned, until security forces filled the streets.
The protesting monks at the Jokhang Temple said on Thursday the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Dalai Lama was not behind the violence, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported.
He has said the Beijing Olympics in August are a chance for the world to press China on its rights record.
‘In order to be a good host to the Olympic Games, China must improve its record in the field of human rights and religious freedom,’ he told India’s NDTV news channel in an interview.
The protests spread to parts of Chinese provinces that border Tibet and have large ethnic Tibetan populations. China has poured troops into the region, many Tibetans have been arrested and serious unrest appears to have fizzled out.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang on Thursday again called for those involved in the Lhasa violence to give themselves up.
‘We urge those lawbreakers involved in burning, smashing and looting who are still at large to hand themselves in,’ he said.
Human Rights Watch said the United Nations human rights council should address the crisis in Tibet.
The group said Australia, the European Union, Switzerland and the United States raised abuses in Tibet at a session of the UN Human Rights Council, but China blocked debate, backed by Algeria, Cuba, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy left open the possibility he might not attend the Olympic opening ceremony.
‘We were shocked by what happened in Tibet and we made our great concern known, each in our own way,’ Sarkozy said at a news conference with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Washington said China had invited a US diplomat to join a government-organized trip by foreign diplomats to Lhasa on Friday and Saturday and the United States had accepted.
Authorities say calm has been restored since an anti-Chinese uprising erupted in the Tibetan capital two weeks ago. China says its security forces acted with restraint and that 19 people died at the hands of Tibetan mobs during the unrest.
But the Tibetan government-in-exile says 140 died in Lhasa and elsewhere, most of them Tibetan victims of security forces, arousing international protest soon before the Beijing Olympics.
On Thursday young monks at the Jokhang Temple, one of the most sacred in Tibet, stormed into a briefing by a temple administrator for a select group of foreign journalists, the first allowed into Tibet since the uprising.
‘About 30 young monks burst into the official briefing, shouting: ’Don’t believe them. They are tricking you. They are telling lies’,’ USA Today’s Beijing-based reporter Calum MacLeod said by telephone from Lhasa.
Hong Kong’s TVB aired television footage of the bold outburst in front of the foreign journalists, showing monks in crimson robes, some weeping, crowded around cameras.
They said they had been barred from leaving the temple since March 10, when demonstrations erupted on the 49th anniversary of an abortive uprising against Chinese rule that saw Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, flee into exile in India.
‘They just don’t believe us. They think we will come out and cause havoc-smash, destroy, rob, burn. We didn’t do anything like that-they’re falsely accusing us,’ said one monk. ‘We want freedom. The have detained lamas and ordinary people.’
Wang Che-nan, a cameraman for Taiwan’s ETTV, said the incident lasted about 15 minutes, after which police took the monks elsewhere in the temple, away from the journalists.
They told the journalists: ‘your time is up, time to go to the next place’, Wang said.
Reuters was not invited on the government-organised trip.
Chhime Chhoekyapa, secretary to the Dalai Lama, said the incident made clear ‘that brute force alone cannot suppress the long-simmering resentment that exists in Tibet’.
‘We are deeply concerned about the safety and well-being of the monks and appeal to the international community to ensure their protection,’ he said.
On Wednesday, US President George W. Bush urged Chinese President Hu Jintao to hold talks with the Dalai Lama.
Hu said China was willing to continue engaging in ‘contact and discussions’ with the Dalai Lama, but he must renounce support for independence of the Himalayan region and Taiwan, and ‘stop inciting and planning violent and criminal activities and sabotaging the Beijing Olympics’, Chinese newspapers reported.
‘Dalai clique’
China has blamed the ‘Dalai clique’ for the unrest and called him a separatist. The Dalai Lama denies he wants anything more than autonomy for his homeland and has condemned violence ‘from the Chinese side and also from the Tibetan side’.
Marches by monks in Lhasa turned within days into rioting in which non-Tibetan Chinese migrants were attacked and their property burned, until security forces filled the streets.
The protesting monks at the Jokhang Temple said on Thursday the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Dalai Lama was not behind the violence, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported.
He has said the Beijing Olympics in August are a chance for the world to press China on its rights record.
‘In order to be a good host to the Olympic Games, China must improve its record in the field of human rights and religious freedom,’ he told India’s NDTV news channel in an interview.
The protests spread to parts of Chinese provinces that border Tibet and have large ethnic Tibetan populations. China has poured troops into the region, many Tibetans have been arrested and serious unrest appears to have fizzled out.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang on Thursday again called for those involved in the Lhasa violence to give themselves up.
‘We urge those lawbreakers involved in burning, smashing and looting who are still at large to hand themselves in,’ he said.
Human Rights Watch said the United Nations human rights council should address the crisis in Tibet.
The group said Australia, the European Union, Switzerland and the United States raised abuses in Tibet at a session of the UN Human Rights Council, but China blocked debate, backed by Algeria, Cuba, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy left open the possibility he might not attend the Olympic opening ceremony.
‘We were shocked by what happened in Tibet and we made our great concern known, each in our own way,’ Sarkozy said at a news conference with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Washington said China had invited a US diplomat to join a government-organized trip by foreign diplomats to Lhasa on Friday and Saturday and the United States had accepted.
سرحد اسمبلی میں محترمہ بینظیر بھٹو کے ایصال ثواب کیلئے فاتحہ خوانی
پشاور-- سرحد اسمبلی کا اجلاس تلاوت قرآن پاک سے کیا گیا ۔اجلاس میں محترمہ بے نظیر بھٹو کے ایصال ثواب کیلئے فاتحہ خوانی کرائی گئی۔ اجلاس کی کارروائی پشو زبان میں جاری ہے۔
امریکی فوج کو جوہری مواد کی از سرنو فہرست تیارکرنے کاحکم
امریکی فوج کو جوہری مواد کی از سرنو فہرست تیارکرنے کاحکمواشنگٹن …امریکی وزیر دفاع رابرٹ گیٹس نے تائیوان کو بلاسٹک میزائل کے فیوززکی غلطی سے فراہمی پر فوج کو تمام جوہری ہتھیاروں اور اس سے منسلک جوہری مواد کی ازسر نو فہرست تیا ر کرنے کا حکم دیا ہے۔وزیر دفاع رابرٹ گیٹس نے تائیوان کا امریکا سے ہیلے کاپٹر بیٹری کے آرڈر پر بلاسٹک میزائل فیوزز کی فراہمی کا سخت نوٹس لیتے ہوئے نیوی کے ایڈمرلAdm. Kirkland H. Donald کو تحقیقاتی آفیسر مقررکرکے 60 روز کے اندر رپورٹ پیش کرنے کا حکم دیا ہے ۔تائیوان کو یہ بلاسٹک میزائل فیوزز دوہزار چھ میں مہیا کیے گئے تھے لیکن پینٹاگون فیوزز کی فراہمی کو ماننے کو تیا ر نہیں تھا ۔ تائیوان کو ان فیوزز کی فراہمی پر بیجنگ نے اپنے تحفظات کا اظہار کرتے ہوئے واشنگٹن سے شدید احتجاج کیا تھا جس پر امریکی صدر بش نے گزشتہ روزاپنے چینی ہم منصب ہو جن تاؤ کو فون کر کے امریکا کی اس غلطی کو تسلیم کیا۔اگست دو ہزار سات میں بھی پینٹاگون کی غلطی سے امریکی فضائیہ کاایک بم بار طیارہ جوہری ہتھیاروں سے لیس امریکا کی کئی ریاستوں کے اوپر سے گزرا لیکن جہاز کا پائلٹ اور دوسرا عملہ اس بات سے لاعلم تھا کہ وہ جس بم بار طیارے کو اڑا رہے ہیں وہ جوہر ی ہتھیاروں سے لیس ہے۔
سرحد اسمبلی کاافتتاحی اجلاس
پشاور........… سرحد اسمبلی کا افتتاحی اجلاس ارباب ایوب جان کی صدارت میں شروع ہوگیا ہے۔اجلاس میں شرکت کیلئے نومنتخب اراکین اسمبلی کی آمد کا سلسلہ صبح سے ہی شروع ہوگیا تھا۔ اجلاس میں سرحد اسمبلی کے آئندہ پانچ سال کے لئے ا سپیکر اور ڈپٹی ا سپیکر کا انتخاب کیا جارہا ہے،اجلا س میں نومنتخب 117اراکین بھی حلف اٹھائیں گے۔ اسپیکر کے عہدے کے لئے کرامت اللہ چغرمٹی کو نامزدکیا گیا ہے جن کے بلا مقابلہ منتخب ہوجانے کا قوی امکان ہے ۔ قومی اسمبلی کے برعکس سرحد اسمبلی میں اسپیکر اور ڈپٹی سپیکر کا انتخاب اس لئے بھی آسان اور غیر دلچسپ قرار دیا جا رہا ہے کہ یہاں کی کمزور اپوزیشن ان عہدوں کیلئے امیدواروں کو سامنے نہیں لائی۔ سرحد اسمبلی کے ا سپیکر بخت جہان خان کی جانب سے استعفیٰ دینے کے باعث ارباب ایوب جان نومنتخب ارکان اسمبلی اجلاس کی صدارت کررہے ہیں ۔جے یو آئی اورق لیگنے اپوزیشن بنچوں پر بیٹھنے کا فیصلہ کیا ہے۔اس موقع پر پیپلز پارٹی کے ارکان اسمبلی بازووں پر سیاہ پٹیاں باندھ کر اسمبلی آئے ہیں۔ افتتاحی اجلاس کے موقع پر سکیورٹی کے سخت انتظامات کئے گئے ہیں اور پولیس کی بھاری نفری تعینات ہے۔ا سپیکر کے انتخاب کے بعد ارباب ایوب جان سے نومنتخب ا سپیکر حلف لیں گے ۔
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
