Suicide Bomber Kills 18 Soldiers in NW Pakistan

 Suicide Bomber

PESHAWAR, Pakistan - A suicide bomber in a school uniform attacked soldiers during morning exercises at a Pakistani army training camp Thursday, killing at least 18 troops and wounding more than 20 others, police said.

The attack in the northwest town of Mardan showed that despite years of army operations against their hideouts along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan, Taliban and al Qaeda-linked fighters retain the ability to strike back. It was one of the worst attacks on security forces in recent months.

Senior police official Abdullah Khan confirmed the death toll and said some of the wounded were in critical condition.

Despite his apparent disguise, the bomber's ability to get his explosives into the facility undetected signaled a failure on the part of the military. Such army areas are usually heavily guarded, though an attack on the same training facility in 2006 killed 35 soldiers.

Troops quickly cordoned off the area and even police had a difficult time getting through.

No particular militant group immediately claimed responsibility Thursday, though the Pakistani Taliban have staged such attacks in the past.

The army has staged multiple offensives in Pakistan's northwest aimed at taking out the Pakistani Taliban in recent years. Its efforts against the group, which is distinct from but linked to the Afghan Taliban, appear to have been largely successful — but violence persists.

The U.S. has encouraged Pakistan to eliminate militants hiding on its soil in the belief that the stability of the nuclear-armed Muslim nation is critical to preventing terrorist groups from finding safe havens from which to plan attacks on the West.

Washington also needs cooperation from Pakistan to ensure progress in the war in neighboring Afghanistan.

Pakistan cabinet resigns

    Yousuf Raza Gilani

  A slimmer ministerial team will be appointed in its place, according to Yousuf Raza Gilani, the country's prime minister, who received the resignations on Wednesday.

     However, the plans to reduce the number of cabinet ministers and junior ministers from 60 to 40 have been criticised by analysts as a political stunt rather than real economic reform.

     "This move may be good for politics or to make headlines but not really for the economy as the government has to make a more concerted effort in order to build up its credibility," said Asif Qureshi, director at Invisor Securities.

     "It's an eye wash. We actually need to see something, as in what and who is being inducted." Pakistan was already struggling with a debt crisis even before its struggling economy was lashed by monsoon rains last year, causing an estimated $10bn of damage.

     Foreign aid has been slow in coming, because of concern about the government's ability or inclination to push through financial reform.

US aid to Pak linked to Davis’ release

 Raymond Davis

WASHINGTON: US lawmakers threatened Tuesday to cut aid to Pakistan unless it freed an American detained in a murder case, as Washington intensified pressure on its uneasy war partner.

      The United States has already warned that high-level dialogue would be at risk unless Pakistan releases US diplomatic employee Raymond Davis, who said he was acting in self-defense when he shot dead two men in Lahore last month.

      Three members of the House of Representatives drove home the point on a visit to Pakistan, telling Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani starkly that the US Congress was working on its budget and looking for areas to cut.

      "It is imperative that they release him and there is certainly the possibility that there would be repercussions if they don't," Representative John Kline, a Republican from Minnesota, told reporters on his return.

      "It's entirely possible that a member of Congress would come down and offer an amendment to cut funding for Pakistan based on their detaining Davis," Kline said.

     "My guess is there would be a lot of support for such an amendment, frankly, because of the outrage of detaining an American with diplomatic immunity," he said.

      Asked if aid would be at risk if Davis stayed behind bars, Representative Buck McKeon, who heads the House Armed Services Committee, said: "It very well could be."

      Davis was arrested on January 27 after shooting the two Pakistanis, saying he feared they would rob him. A third Pakistani was run over and killed by a US consulate vehicle that had come to assist Davis, according to police.

      The incident has set off protests in Pakistan, where anti-US sentiment already runs high. Shumaila Faheem, the wife of one of the two men who was gunned down, committed suicide on Sunday by taking poison pills.

      Many observers have questioned whether Davis was an ordinary diplomat. Pakistani police said he traveled around with loaded weapons and a GPS navigation system.

      "This case exposes a kind of dark side of this relationship between Pakistan and the US, which is what feeds a lot of the suspicions," said Shuja Nawaz, director of the South Asia Center at the Atlantic Council think tank.

      Nawaz was not surprised by US officials' adamance on freeing the American, saying: "There are so many layers to this story, on who he was and what he was doing, so clearly they don't want him out of their sight."

      Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declined to meet Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi at a weekend conference in Munich, in a show of displeasure over the case, foreign diplomats in Washington said.

      US officials have told Pakistan that the Davis case "has to be resolved before we can move to a higher level of discussion," one diplomat told media on condition of anonymity.

      Officials stressed that the United States has not suspended contact with Pakistan, a key partner in the US war effort in Afghanistan and international campaign against extremism.

     "We continue to engage the Pakistani government at the highest levels to seek resolution of this case," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told media.

      "We continue to stress that the US diplomat has diplomatic immunity and should be released," he said.

      Clinton still met in Munich with General Ashfaq Kayani, the head of Pakistan's powerful army, and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari held talks on Monday with the US ambassador, Cameron Munter.

      President Barack Obama's administration has put a focus on combating anti-Americanism and reducing the allure of extremists in Pakistan.

    Congress in 2009 approved a five-year, $7.5-billion aid package meant to build schools, infrastructure and democratic institutions as Pakistan ended a decade of military rule.

      In October, the Obama administration proposed another $2 billion in assistance for Pakistan's military, often seen as the key power center in the country.

   Nawaz, the analyst, said the administration would need "powerful gestures," including compensation for the families of the shooting victims, to help rebuild public sentiment in Pakistan.

      But Nawaz said Pakistan's leaders also had themselves to blame for letting the case drag on, saying it had become a "political kickball" between the central government in Islamabad and the Punjab provincial authorities.

Mehdi Hassan braving illness

KARACHI – Infections have gripped legendary Pakistani Ghazal singer and a former playback singer for Lollywood, Mehdi Hasan (84), as he was taken to hospital for treatment for two times during the last two weeks.
     

Arif Mehdi son of Mehdi Hasan told The Nation on Monday that Mehdi Hasan was not well, as he was hospitalised twice during the last couple of weeks.
 

     He said, “Three days back he was taken to home from Aga Khan Hospital, while last time he was taken to the emergency of Aga Khan Hospital on January 30th, where doctors declared that he was suffering from urine and chest infections.”
 

     It is pertinent to mention here that Mehdi Hassan has fourteen children, nine of whom are boys and five of whom are girls, while Arif Mehdi is one of them. Mehdi Hassan stepped down from playback singing due to his severe illness in the late 80s. Later his illness compelled him to be departed completely from music. He is spending his life in Karachi.
 

     Arif Mehdi said that his father is not allowed by his physicians to talk with the media, as he is not in position to talk freely. Mehdi Hassan claims to be the 16th generation of hereditary musicians hailing from the Kalawant clan of musicians.
 

     Mehdi Hassan had his musical grooming from his father Ustad Azeem Khan and uncle Ustad Ismail Khan who were both traditional Dhrupad singers.
 

     He has been the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions: the Tamgha-i-Imtiaz granted to him by Gen Ayub Khan; the Pride of Performance bestowed on him by Gen Ziaul Haq; and the Hilal-i-Imtiaz conferred by Gen Pervez Musharraf.
 

     Besides the Nigar Film and Graduate Awards from Pakistan, he was presented the Saigal Award in Jalandhar, India, in 1979, whereas the Gorkha Dakshina Bahu Award was given to him in Nepal in 1983.

Karachi Literature Festival: Tumhara Bollywood, ya hamara Lollywood?

KARACHI: For all its directionless meanderings over the 1980s and 1990s, Lollywood is not entirely dead and has a bright future. This was the general opinion expressed by film critics, directors, producers, writers, and just plain old enthusiasts of the big screen at a session held under the banner of the Karachi Literature Festival organised by the Oxford University Press and the British Council.

     Everyone was eager to show that there was still life in Lollywood that would take on Bollywood at its own game. But sadly, what came across the most, was that Lollywood had a great past and was still just hoping for a great future.

     Javed Jabbar simplified it for everyone. If something done fifty years ago was still being talked about, then it was good cinema that deserved to be classified as literature. Take films made in the 1960s and 1970s that people still talk about: Badnaam, based on a story by Manto, Saiqa, based on a novel by Razia Butt, Aik Gunah aur Sahi, again Manto, Heer Ranjha by Waris Shah and Umrao Jaan Ada among others.

     The ever-prepared Jabbar almost hogged the limelight, which wasn’t a bad thing since he had a lot to say, and didn’t pull any punches. Muniba Ahmed moderated and Rachel Dwyer and Asif Noorani were pannelists. Their discussion proved to be an ambitious attempt at saying that cinema was also a part of literature and as such, it needed to be revived.

     Having said that, Jabbar made it clear that film and print were independent mediums and it was unfair to expect adapted screenplays to stay true to the actual storyline. It would be hard to persuade people that cinema was true literature, because literature is usually the work of a single mind and collaborative art is not generally accepted as literature. As such, cinema, where 50, 100 or even more people are involved in the making of a film, is almost the anti-thesis of creativity.

     Dwyer pointed out another change in trends – readers and viewers no longer seem to feel that literature had to be sad or weepy to be considered good. “The youth, it seems, feel that literature can be good and still make us happy,” she remarked.

     Jabbar praised progressive Indian attitudes towards film-making where the trend is towards presenting dissenting points of view. “The break-up of Pakistan in 1971 has sadly not been the subject of a single film to date,” he said, giving an example.

     The decision to ban Pakistani films after the 1965 war was the worst decision that could have been made. Jabbar gave examples of films that had actually done good business in India until this.

Dwyer was overshadowed by Jabbar for the better part of the discussion but she did say that cinema was an integral medium now since it was overwhelming other cultures.

     And if Pakistan hopes to beat India at its game, there can be a stronger medium than cinema.

Veena opens defensive innings with an attack

     LAHORE – Instead of seeking an excuse from the annoyed cinegoers and the general public in order to soothe their anger, Veena Malik, a controversial Lollywood actress who was last week thrown out of the famed Indian TV show “Big Boss, has further stiffened her neck by telling them “Do not you guys have anything else than to slate me?” She said this during a brief chat with this reporter at her residence on Sunday.
 

     “Some of my colleagues who are fighting for their survival are seeking a fake limelight in slamming me,” she said while complaining. During her talk, the actress said she did not expect this much denunciation by her own people as she had done nothing more an “immoral” thing than what she had done before (in Pakistani films).
 

     She said the critics should keep in mind her social works as well as friendly attitude. “It is very sorry to tell that 99 percent of my critics have not watched my show (Big Boss) but are criticising me,” she said and added that modern and liberal circles of Pakistan were appreciating her as she had portrayed a modern image of Pakistan. Veena Malik claimed to have propagated Islamic values, Pakistani culture and promoted Urdu language among her Indian house-mates during her stay in Big Boss Bungalow of India. She said every act of the show was scripted and she did not share the blanket with Ashmit by her own will. She said all the house mates shared their blankets and helped each others by massaging, washing cloths and cooking. She said Ashmit was her friend but it did not mean that she was in love with him. She further said the news about her proposal for marriage to Ashmit was totally bases on propaganda campaign.

PML-N gears up to push for snap polls

 Nawaz Sharif

ISLAMABAD: Attempts at assuaging the main opposition seem to have failed as the leadership of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has decided to initiate a push for dislodging the government and to seek fresh parliamentary elections ahead of the Senate polls in March next year.

     During a meeting with party members at the Punjab House on Tuesday, PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif said that he would use the administration’s failure to improve the ailing economy and to control “spiralling” corruption as a pretext for a campaign for holding snap elections. At least two key party officials confirmed to The Express Tribune that the group would set in motion a process to lead the country towards elections from July this year, immediately after the National Assembly passes the budget.

     The party has also finalised the plan to expel members of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) from the Punjab cabinet.

     If elections for the Senate are held under the current arrangement, the PPP would emerge with a majority in the upper house – meaning that the next administration would be under pressure in terms of legislation.

     The PML-N believes it can win the next elections and form the government. “That’s why we want fresh parliamentary polls ahead of the Senate elections,” an explained an official.

     “We are not in a hurry, but  will definitely give a call for dislodging the inefficient government,” said an official who attended the meeting.

     Last month, the PML-N set a 45-day deadline for the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP)-led federal government to implement a 10-point agenda it proposed for steering the country’s economy out of a deepening economic crisis.

     The deadline is set to end on February 23.

     The PML-N’s demands include cutting down on non-development expenditures, reducing the size of the cabinet and eradicating corruption from government departments.

There has been some development on the implementation, but the PML-N said it was too little too late.

     “The pace and the swiftness we wanted the government to act with, is missing. That is what’s bothering us the most and there is hardly any hope for any breakthrough,” the PML-N member said, declining to be named.

     According to the plan envisaged during the meeting, the party official added, the PML-N would wait till the deadline expires before kicking the PPP members out of the Punjab cabinet.

     “That will be the first step. Tougher things will follow,” he explained. “We will seek fresh elections this year.”

   Meanwhile, a statement issued by the party media office quoted Sharif as expressing disappointment in the progress of the talks with the government for implementing the reform agenda. “There is no ray of hope,” Sharif told his party stalwarts.

Musharraf will have to prove his innocence, says Awan

 

 Parvez Musharaf

RAWALPINDI: Law Minister Babar Awan has said that former president Pervez Musharraf will have to prove his innocence before the court in the Benazir assassination case.

     “Musharraf is to face the court and the court will decide his fate,” he told reporters during a visit to the Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry here on Tuesday.

     He said the judiciary was independent and it knew how to get its verdict implemented. “The PPP government always respects the judiciary and its decisions. It will also respect the court’s decision in the BB assassination case.”

     Answering a question about Intelligence Bureau’s former director general Ijaz Shah, the law minister said an accused could not stand in the ‘witness box’ before confessing his crime and turning a ‘crown witness’.

US denies suspending all high-level dialogue with Pakistan

     Raymond Davis

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has already cancelled one meeting and the diplomatic row threatens talks due later this month on the war in Afghanistan.

     The freeze comes as a damning US watchdog report reveals that aid money lavished on Pakistan – almost $4bn since 2009 – as part of a strategy to foster closer ties has failed to show any change.

     The case of Raymond Davis has convulsed Pakistan, opening a fresh seam of anti-American anger and unleashing a wave of speculation about what an American diplomat was doing driving alone in a Honda Civic through the streets of Lahore with a Glock handgun.

     Pakistan has so far refused to release Davis despite US insistence that he is entitled to diplomatic immunity.

     The US has warned Pakistan that it would consider cutting aid unless Davis is freed.