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Japan, India seal $15 billion currency swap deal

mehak — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 22:35:12 GMT

NEW DELHI: Japan and India struck a $15 billion currency swap deal Wednesday that could bolster the sagging rupee as Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda made a lightning 36-hour trip to New Delhi.

The currency swap was part of a host of agreements signed by India and Japan, which is seeking to forge closer partnerships in the Asian region as a counterweight to China’s growing might.

The swap, under which Japan could lend India dollars to defend the rupee, which has fallen 15 per cent this year, is an expansion of a $3 billion accord that expired earlier this year.

"Japan and India will expand their currency swap from a current $3 billion to $15 billion,” Noda told a news conference in the Indian capital late Wednesday.

The agreement could help India cope with the rapid withdrawal of funds by overseas investors amid global financial turmoil.

"It makes a lot of sense for our two countries to expand their swap agreement for the stability of global currency markets,” Japanese government spokesman Nori Shikata told reporters in New Delhi.

Japan, which has some $1.2 trillion in foreign exchange reserves, struck a similar currency swap accord with South Korea in October. India has some $300 billion in foreign exchange reserves.

Pakistan and India agree to extend nuclear pacts

mehak — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 22:31:24 GMT

ISLAMABAD: Senior Pakistani and Indian officials agreed on Tuesday on extending pacts on reducing risks of nuclear accidents and pre-notification of ballistic missile tests.

"The two sides agreed to recommend to their foreign secretaries to extend the validity of the ‘Agreement on Reducing the Risk from Accidents Relating to Nuclear Weapons’ for another five years,” the Foreign Office said in a statement issued at the conclusion of sixth round of expert-level talks on nuclear confidence-building measures (CBMs).

The meeting held after a break of four years, according to a source, also agreed to extend the ‘Agreement on Pre-Notification of Flight Testing of Ballistic Missiles’ by five years.

The flight testing notification agreement is valid till February next year.

But this agreement has not been mentioned in the statements issued by Islamabad and New Delhi.

Both sides discussed their security concepts and nuclear doctrines with focus on nuclear ‘restraint and responsibility’.

Islamabad’s proposal for a strategic restraint regime and fissile material cut-off treaty were also discussed, but sources said there was no noticeable progress on the issues.

Existing nuclear and conventional CBMs were reviewed and proposals for additional measures were swapped.

The CBMs reviewed at the meeting included hotline between the foreign secretaries; the ceasefire put in place along the LoC since November 2003 and the agreement on advance notification of military exercises.

The two sides discussed ideas on preventing incidents at sea involving the navies of both countries.

Court decisions being dismissed: Nawaz Sharif

mehak — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 22:29:17 GMT

PESHAWAR: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Wednesday said that the decision of the courts are being dismissed and national security is at stake, while national security institutes are being closed one after another, DawnNews reported.

While addressing the Provincial Council Meeting of Muslim League-N in Peshawar, Mian Nawaz Sharif said that, former president Pervez Musharaf is responsible for the destruction of the tribal areas.

Moreover he said that 35,000 people were killed by drone and terrorist attacks. Pakistan’s independence and sovereignty is being violated, he added.

Nawaz said that if he is given the opportunity again, he will work for the development of the country.

PTI JALSA KARACHI

mehak — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 18:16:04 GMT

KARACHI: Pakistan’s former cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan brought at least 100,000 people into the streets of Karachi on Sunday in a massive rally that increases pressure on the civilian government and cements his standing as a political force.

Khan is riding a wave of dissatisfaction with the government of President Asif Ali Zardari, who co-chairs the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), and is facing challenges from the military, the supreme court and political opponents after a year of cascading crises.

Police estimated the rally had been attended by between 100,000 and 150,000 people. Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI), or Pakistan Movement for Justice, estimated the crowd at more than 500,000.

Even at the lower estimate, it is among the largest political rallies held in Karachi in recent years. Khan, in a rousing speech punctuated with patriotic musical refrains, pledged, if elected, to curb Pakistan’s endemic corruption.

"We need a government that changes the system and ends corruption, so we need the PTI to come to power,” Khan told the crowd. "The first thing we need to do is end corruption.”

"I promise we will end big corruption in 90 days,” he added.

Khan’s massive rally comes at a time of crisis in Pakistani politics. Tensions are rising between Pakistan’s civilian leaders and its generals over a memo that accused the army of plotting a coup after the US raid that killed Osama bin Laden in May.

There are signs that Pakistan’s powerful army is fed up with Zardari and wants the supreme court or early elections to force him from office. The army chief dismissed any rumours of a coup, however, as "speculation”.

"It’s time for a change and only PTI and Imran Khan can bring about that change,” said a school teacher. She was wearing a PTI cap and had come with her two brothers.

Several recent polls have shown Khan is Pakistan’s most popular politician. He is especially favoured in urban areas.

"He is riding a wave of popular politics right now,” said Mutahir Ahmed, a professor of International Relations at the University of Karachi. "There is a lot of frustration among ordinary people, as well as political workers right now, which he is cashing on.”

On Oct 30 Khan staged a similar rally in Lahore that observers said pulled between 100,000 and 200,000 people, then one of the largest political rallies ever in Pakistan.

"He has … managed to bring people out on the roads, and this is a big achievement, especially in Karachi, where three months back people were not ready to come out of their houses because of rampant violence and killings,” Ahmed said.

But popularity doesn’t always translate into political power. The majority of Pakistan’s voters are rural, where feudal relationships determine generations of political loyalty.

Khan, for all the enthusiasm shown for him among young people and the urban middle class, has yet to demonstrate the party machinery that the PPP and the Pakistan Muslim League-N faction have had decades to perfect.

In the last 15 years, the PTI has only briefly held one seat in parliament, Khan’s. Most analysts say Khan could score an upset of 20 to 30 seats in parliament, but that’s not enough to give him the premiership. It is enough to make him a major political player, however or even a kingmaker.

"It’s too premature to get into speculation of whether he becomes prime minister or not but the chances of his party getting into parliament look very good,” said security analyst Imtiaz Gul.

He also has a touchy relationship with the United States, Pakistan’s ally and aid donor. He says that if elected prime minister, he would end cooperation in the fight against militants based in tribal areas, end the covert campaign of bombings by US drones and refuse all US aid, which totals some $20 billion since 2001.

Relations with the United States have reached a crisis point because of a Nov 26 cross-border incident in which Nato aircraft killed 24 Pakistani troops. Pakistan has since shut down Nato supply routes into Afghanistan and demanded an apology.

Nato’s full report on the incident, which Pakistan has already rejected based on media leaks, is expected to be released on Monday. It reportedly faults both sides in the incident.

Khan’s anti-American stance is often thought to reflect the views of the security establishment, which includes the powerful army and its Directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

The US ambassador to Pakistan, Cameron Munter, however, said in November that he didn’t see Khan as anti-American.

"Imran Khan is, as far as he tells me, for the same kind of values that we think are important,” Munter said on a popular talk show on Nov. 22. "He says he’s for democracy, he’s for governance that’s clean, he’s for economic growth. We’re all for those things.”

Christmas

mehak — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 15:04:27 GMT

IT’S been a tough autumn and the opening months of 2012 look set to be equally difficult. Finally, however, it’s Christmas and most of Europe is taking a much-needed break from work, stress and professional obligations.

Most European politicians, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, are locking up the office, leaving their woes behind and heading off on holiday with family and friends. Having been in the eye of the euro storm for the last year, Merkel certainly needs the break. But so do millions of ordinary Europeans who have spent the last 12 months wondering if the euro and the European Union are going to survive.

We still don’t know for sure. The last EU euro rescue package has left markets unimpressed. Britain appears to be treading a lonely path to life outside the EU. Greece and Italy are scrambling to put their financial houses in order. But for the next few days, Europe will take time off.

I like Christmas — and I like this time of the year. This is indeed a time for family get-togethers, hope and celebration of life.

Of course, it’s dark and cold and the nights are much longer than the days. Over the years, tawdry commercial overtones have come to tarnish the spirit of Christmas. Special decorations and Xmas discounts start appearing in shops as early as October in some cities. And it’s true that not everyone buys into the spirit of give and take and love and forgiveness that is supposed to mark the anniversary of the birth of Jesus.

Demonstrations by unhappy workers in Brussels on Thursday brought parts of the city to a standstill. People on the move live in fear of strikes at airports and railway stations at Christmas. And governments across Europe are braced for similar unrest as they continue to implement stringent austerity measures But I cannot help but be moved by the ‘season of goodwill’. The little girl lurking inside me likes how even the most unimpressive cities take on an aura of light and beauty at this time of the year. I love brightly lit-up Christmas trees, the glitter and shine of Christmas decorations, mysterious presents and even the Father Christmas and Santa Claus look-a-likes that appear out of nowhere in crowded shopping malls.

The truth is: Father Christmas and I go back a long, long way. It’s probably religiously incorrect to say so in modern-day Pakistan, but I remember a time when men with beards were a rarity in the country except for the appearance in December of a motley group of Santas.

My mother has pictures of a serious little girl gingerly accepting a present from a friendly Santa. It was at the once mythical Metropole Hotel in Karachi — yes the very same building whose remaining façade now looks so shabby and sad.

The Metropole and the Palace Hotel vied with each other to hold the best children’s Christmas party. Spoilt as we were, my sister and I went to both sets of festivities, determined not to be excluded from the fun and games — and the presents handed out by Santa.Those parties are now history of course. Even private clubs which had the courage to organise special events for Christmas appear too afraid of the intolerant extremists to do so.

I have some sympathy for those who say we should distance ourselves from the practices of the subcontinent’s colonial past and instead celebrate and cherish our own religious and cultural traditions. But here’s the thing: Christians and Christianity are part of the Pakistani social fabric, contributing in myriad ways to the country’s economic, social and — when allowed — political life.

The Sufi traditions I grew up with are under threat and deemed unacceptable by an orthodox and conservative religious minority which seems to be calling the shots (quite literally) in today’s Pakistan. But the fact is that Christians are part of Pakistan’s history and culture. It’s the hardline version of Islam taking hold in parts of the country which is foreign.

In Pakistan’s case, the past really does seem to be another country. I remember a tolerant and happy land where people of all races, religions and ethnicity lived in peace together. Friendships, love affairs and marriages across ethnic and other ‘barriers’ were frequent. Girls were allowed to have fun. Boys did not think being a man required carrying a gun.

Like others in Europe, for years, I made it a point to head home every Christmas, my son and daughter in tow, loving every minute of being back with their grandparents. My open, generous and tolerant parents made sure my half-Spanish children had a taste of real Christmas even if they were in Karachi. We ate turkey and special puddings. There were presents galore and lots of love and laughter.

But times change. The country now marches to a stricter, more austere tune. Pakistan seems less enticing and attractive. Most years, I’d rather spend Christmas in Europe. My childhood fascination with Santa, however, remains alive. Some years ago, while covering a Nato meeting in northern Finland, I realised to my delight that I was in the town of Rovaniemi where, as legend has it, Santa Claus spends most of his time. There is even a Santa Claus Village for tourists to visit.

Disappointingly, I did not run into Santa or his little helpers. But the locals insisted he was around. So I left a nice card for him at the post office. He has not replied yet — but I have not lost hope.

Taliban ready to open political office: Afghan negotiator

sunny — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 04:52:14 GMT

KABUL: The Taliban are willing to open an office in an Islamic country, a step towards holding face-to-face peace talks with Afghanistan, a member of the Afghan government’s team of negotiators with the group said on Sunday.

After a series of failed attempts at talks by Afghans and their Western allies, in November Afghan President Hamid Karzai ruled out negotiations with the Taliban until the insurgent group had an address at which he could contact them.

"What we heard from senior Taliban commanders and their relatives, is they agreed on a political office,” Arsala Rahmani, a senior member of Afghanistan’s High Peace Council told Reuters on Sunday. "It would be better to establish one inside Afghanistan if the situation allows.”

"We agree and have always called for a political address for the Taliban either in Qatar, Turkey, Saudi Arabia or any Islamic countries and it is in our interest,” Rahmani said.

Last week, Afghanistan recalled its ambassador to Qatar hours after an Indian newspaper reported that arrangements had been put in place for a Taliban office in the Gulf state.

The report caused worry in Kabul that the Afghan government would be excluded from the peace process were another country used as a the base for talks.

The United States wants to seek a political settlement to an expensive, decade-long war, but Afghan officials insist that they must lead the process.

"Establishment of a political address of an office for the Taliban is very crucial and will have a great impact on the peace process,” Rahmani said.

"Since the Taliban have no address, it is important to create a political address where we could talk about peace agendas face to face,” he said.

The Taliban have not commented on the possibility of their opening an office. The High Peace Council was established by President Hamid Karzai in 2010 to build contacts with the Taliban, and ultimately to find a political settlement to the war.

The Taliban have rejected any peace deal and in September a Taliban suicide bomber killed Burhanuddin Rabbani, head of the government peace council.

Afghanistan accuses Pakistan of supporting the Taliban, and has said that the Rabbani’s killer was sent from the Pakistani city of Quetta. Karzai has said that "until we have an address for the Taliban” he would talk only to Pakistan.

Analysts say Pakistan, worried about growing influence of old rival Indian in Afghanistan, sees the Taliban as its best tool to try to secure a pro-Pakistani government in Kabul after foreign forces withdraw.

Last US troops pull out of Iraq

sunny — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 04:37:42 GMT

IRAQ-KUWAIT BORDER: The last US forces left Iraq and entered Kuwait Sunday, nearly nine years after launching a divisive war to oust Saddam Hussein, and just as the oil-rich country grapples with renewed political deadlock.
The last of roughly 110 vehicles carrying 500-odd troops mostly belonging to the 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, traversed the border at 7:38 am, leaving just a couple hundred soldiers at the US embassy, in a country where there were once nearly 170,000 troops on 505 bases. It ends a war that left tens of thousands of Iraqis and nearly 4,500 American soldiers dead, many more wounded, and 1.75 million Iraqis displaced, after the US-led invasion unleashed brutal sectarian killing. The last group of vehicles transporting US troops out of Iraq left the recently-handed over Imam Ali Base in Nasiriyah, southern Iraq, at 2:30 am to make the 350-kilometre journey south to the Kuwaiti border. They travelled across a mostly-deserted route, which US forces paid Shiite tribal sheikhs to regularly inspect to ensure no attacks could take place. Five hours later, they crossed a berm at the Kuwaiti border lit with floodlights and ringed with barbed wire, whooping and high-fiving in joy having left Iraq. “(It’s) a good feeling … knowing this is gonna be the last mission out of here,” said Private First Class Martin Lamb, part of the final “tactical road march” out of Iraq. “(It’s) part of history, you know — we’re the last ones out.” The withdrawal comes as the country struggles with renewed political deadlock as the Iraqiya bloc, which won March 2010 elections and drew most of its support from minority Sunnis, said it was boycotting parliament to protest Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s centralisation of decision-making. The bloc, which controls nine ministerial posts, has not, however, pulled out of Iraq’s national unity government led by Maliki. “We can no longer remain silent about the way the state is being administered, as it is plunging the country into the unknown,” the bloc, which holds 82 seats in the 325-member legislature, said in a statement on Saturday. Iraqiya said the government’s actions, which it claimed included stationing tanks and armoured vehicles outside the houses of the bloc’s leadership in the heavily-fortified Green Zone, “drives people to want to rid themselves of the strong arm of central power as far as the constitution allows them to.” Provincial authorities in three Sunni-majority provinces in north and west Iraq have all moved take up the option of similar autonomy to that enjoyed by Kurds in north Iraq, drawing an angry response from Maliki. Key political issues such as reform of the mostly state-run economy and a law to regulate and organise the lucrative energy sector also remain unresolved, to say nothing of an explosive territorial dispute between Arabs and Kurds centred around the northern city of Kirkuk. Sunday’s completion of the withdrawal brings to a close nearly nine years of the American military stationing troops in Iraq, beginning with a “shock and awe” campaign in 2003 to oust Saddam, which many in Washington believed would see US forces conclude their mission in Iraq within months. But key decisions taken at the time have since been widely criticised as fuelling what became a bloody Sunni Arab insurgency, in particular dissolving the Iraqi army and purging the civil service of all members of Saddam’s Baath Party, including lower-ranking members. The insurgency eventually sparked communal bloodshed, particularly after the February 2006 bombing of a Shia shrine in the predominantly Sunni city of Samarra by al Qaeda. More than 100,000 Iraqis have been reported killed in violence since the invasion, according to British NGO Iraq Body Count. The bloodshed was only quelled when then-US president George W. Bush ordered a “surge” of American troops to Iraq, and Sunni tribal militias sided with US forces against al Qaeda. Baghdad and Washington signed a 2008 pact that called for the withdrawal by the end of this year, and in the summer of last year, the US declared a formal end to combat operations while maintaining fewer than 50,000 troops in Iraq. The US embassy will now retain just 157 US soldiers, for training of Iraqi forces, and a group of Marines to secure the diplomatic mission. Attacks nationwide, meanwhile, remain common, but violence in Iraq has declined significantly since its peak. Iraq has a 900,000-strong security force that many believe, while capable of maintaining internal security, lacks the means to defend its borders, airspace and territorial waters. Some observers also fear a return to bloody sectarianism, doubt the strength of Iraq’s political structures, and feel that Maliki has entrenched his power base to the detriment of the country’s minorities.

PRESIDENT IS BACK

sunny — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 04:29:28 GMT

KARACHI: The mystery surrounding President Asif Ali Zardari’s departure earlier this month came to an end on Sunday when he arrived back in the country in the early hours of Monday as suddenly as he left. The plane carrying the President landed at Air Force’s Masroor Base in Karachi past 1am, from where he was taken to his residence, Bilawal House. By Sunday evening, the rumours about his arrival back in the country were headlines. That the rumours had emanated from the presidency were evident from the fact that most of his aides were hinting at his return, but refused to either confirm it or speak on the record. Reports of security being bolstered at Bilawal House in Karachi were cited to prove that he would land there rather than in Islamabad. But by midnight, after his plane had taken off from Dubai, there was still no official confirmation of where the president was to land; it was only when his plane entered Pakistan airspace that it was confirmed that he was on his way to Karachi. President’s spokesman Farhatullah Babar told Dawn around midnight that the president would arrive at Karachi. According to Pakistan standard time, the president flew from Dubai at around 11:30pm. He was accompanied by his younger daughter Asifa Zardari, security guards and his doctor. His plane landed at PAF Masroor base, where he was received by PPP leaders. A close aide to the president also confirmed that Mr Zardari was feeling well, though he would rest in Karachi for a few days and chair party meetings before proceeding to Islamabad. It was on Dec 6, a national holiday, that President Zardari was suddenly flown to Dubai. The country was left wondering what had prompted the departure. The explanations ranged from serious illness to rumours of a soft coup to the idea that he had gone away to escape possible repercussions of the investigations into ‘memogate’. The reason for the rumours galore was the memo affair which had towards the end of last month had compelled the government to announce the resignation of Pakistan’s ambassador to the US, Husain Haqqani. Since American citizen Mansoor Ijaz had alleged that the PPP government had tried to collude with the American administration to rein in the Pakistan military, Haqqani had been fighting a losing battle. He resigned on Nov 22, but within days the Supreme Court accepted a petition to look into the issue and asked the president, the army chief, the IS head and Husain Haqqani to submit their replies on the controversy. With the SC order, the controversy got a new lease of life. Rumours and speculation Critics and some observers began to conjecture that the scandal would sweep up the PPP government. The conjectures intensified to the extent that the general consensus was that Asif Zardari was under immense pressure. Rumours and reports of his incoherent conversations with friends; colleagues and visiting dignitaries were the talk of the town as well as the country. Hence, when he was flown out, most people were willing to believe that the pressure had had an adverse effect on his health, though the exact illness remained a mystery. From heart disease to stroke to mental disorders, everything was mentioned. However, some analysts dismissed the reports that the president was seriously ill and instead claimed that he had left because he did not want to risk being in the country when the SC received the replies of the army chief and the ISI chief. According to this theory, the president feared that if the replies of the military officials implicated him in the memo controversy, it was better for him and for the party that he be out of the country to lead and strategise for the PPP. A third, more bizarre theory, which found few claimants, said he had left the country under a deal and would not return. Sadly, the lack of accurate information from the PPP about the president’s health and illness simply gave the rumours more credence. This lack of information gave his more vicious detractors the opportunity to argue that the president was unfit to continue as president because of his poor health. That the government became aware of the consequences of this campaign was evident from the phone calls that the president then made from his hospital bed to the prime minister and journalists. Within days he shifted to his residence in Dubai. However, a statement by the prime minister on Dec 12 that the president may need to rest for a couple of weeks then led to another round of speculation. Compounding the confusion were the replies submitted to the SC on Dec 15 in which the statements of the ISI chief and the COAS were contradictory to the federation’s: the military officers were of the opinion that the memo existed and needed investigation while the government argued that the SC should dismiss the petition. However, it is noteworthy that within a day the prime minister and the army chief held a lengthy meeting to dismiss the rumours of a confrontation between the army and the government while COAS Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani was even reported to have spoken to Zardari on the phone. Whether it was something the general said or just the magic of the treatment the president was receiving but a day after the call, Zardari felt well enough to return to the country. Analysts believe that while his return to the country will end one set of rumours, the whispers will not end completely. All is not well in Islamabad, it appears, and people may continue to closely watch the president’s movements, and his relations with the military leadership, to determine if the crisis emanating from the memo scandal was over.

ZARDARI CALLS KAYANI

sunny — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 17:17:49 GMT

KARACHI: Amidst a rapidly-shifting and charged political scenario, President Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday called the Army Chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani to discuss ‘security situation’ and the memogate issue, DawnNews reported. According to reliable sources the overall security situation of the country including memogate issue came into discussion in their first contact after Zardari’s illness. President’s spokesman Farhatullah Babar said the army chief inquired president’s health, conveyed his well wishes and prayed for early recovery from illness. Both military and political leadership agreed not to let memogate issued used for spar between the state’s institutions.

WELCOME STUDENTS FROM AROUND THE GLOBE

sunny — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 07:36:17 GMT

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