LAHORE: Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani Sunday said if Raymond Davis issue is to be resolved through Qisas/Diyat then in that case role of Saudi Arabia could not be ruled out, Geo News reported. Talking to senior columnists at PM House, Gilani said the government would not take any decision against the dignity and sovereignty of the country in Raymond Davis case. He said he in process of taking into confidence the Ulema and Mashaikh to deal with the menace of terrorism. The Prime Minister said that no institution other than the Parliament could change or amend the Constitution. “The Constitution clearly determines the role of all state institutions which work within their ambit and are bound to follow the Constitution.” The Prime Minister said that all institutions were passing through the process of evolution and they would identify their role with the passage of time. “Soon after PPP came into power, the country was faced with multiple challenges like global recession, energy crisis, terrorism and floods which consumed enrgies of the government but we would overcome these challenges”, he asserted. He said that he would invite all political parties to be on the same page on the security as well as economic issues, adding that he would take requisite initiatives to bring all religious as well as political parties on the table to discuss security challenges to the country. The prime Minister said that the policy of reconciliation has played vital role in creating political harmony in the country and it helped in the passage of constitutional amendments including the 18th as well as 19th amendments, and NFC Award, adding that efforts for political harmony would continue. Regarding security issues, Gilani said that the government would not allow the misuse of any law which might undermine the constitutional rights of citizens or lead to injustice.
Written on March 6, 2011 | Posted in
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ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari has held religious intolerance responsible for the assassinations of Salman Taseer and Shahbaz Bhatti, saying a small but increasingly belligerent minority is intent on undoing the very principles of tolerance upon which our nation was founded in 1947, according to the President’s oped published in Washington Post. He wrote: “Two months ago my friend Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab, was cut down for standing up against religious intolerance and against those who would use debate about our laws to divide our people. On Tuesday, another leading member of the Pakistan People’’s Party (PPP), Shahbaz Bhatti, the minister for minority affairs and the only Christian in our cabinet, was murdered by extremists tied to al-Qaeda and the Taliban.” Zardari said that these assassinations painfully reinforced his slain wife Benazir Bhutto’s words and served as a warning that the battle between extremism and moderation in Pakistan affected the success of the civilized world’’s confrontation with the terrorist menace. “A small but increasingly belligerent minority is intent on undoing the very principles of tolerance upon which our nation was founded in 1947; principles by which Pakistan’’s founder, Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, lived and died; and principles that are repeated over and over in the Koran. The extremists who murdered my wife and friends are the same who blew up the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad and who have blown up girls” schools in the Swat Valley.” President Asif Ali Zardari asserted: “We will not be intimidated, nor will we retreat,” adding, such acts will not deter the government from our calibrated and consistent efforts to eliminate extremism and terrorism. It is not only the future of Pakistan that is at stake but peace in our region and possibly the world. He said Pakistan’s nation is pressed by overlapping threats. “We have lost more soldiers in the war against terrorism than all of NATO combined. We have lost 10 times the number of civilians who died on Sept. 11, 2001. Two thousand police officers have been killed. Our economic growth was stifled by the priorities of past dictatorial regimes that unfortunately were supported by the West. The worst floods in our history put millions out of their homes.” Zardari said the religious fanaticism behind Pakistan’s assassinations is a tinderbox poised to explode across Pakistan. The embers are fanned by the opportunism of those who seek advantages in domestic politics by violently polarizing society, he added. “If Pakistan and the United States are to work together against terrorism, we must avoid political incidents that could further inflame tensions and provide extremists or opportunists with a pretext for destabilizing our fledgling democracy.” He said the Raymond Davis incident in Lahore, which directly resulted in the deaths of three Pakistani men and the suicide of a Pakistani woman, is a prime example of the unanticipated consequences of problematic behavior. “We need not go into the legal, moral and political intricacies of this case. Suffice it to say that the actions of Davis and others like him inflame passions in our country and undermine respect and support for the United States among our people. We are committed to peaceful adjudication of the Davis case in accordance with the law.” He termed as counterproductive the threats to apply sanctions to Pakistan over the Davis affair by cutting off Kerry-Lugar development funds that were designed to build infrastructure, strengthen education and create jobs. “It is a threat, written out of the playbook of America’’s enemies, whose only result will be to undermine U.S. strategic interests in South and Central Asia, he added. President Zardari said in an incendiary environment, hot rhetoric and dysfunctional warnings could start fires that will be difficult to extinguish.
Written on March 5, 2011 | Posted in
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PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ameer Haider Khan Hoti has turned down offer of lending up to US$ 650 million from Asian Development Bank for reconstruction of damaged irrigation, transport and education sectors due to 2010 floods keeping in view long term interests of the government and the people and stressed less reliance on foreign loans for betterment of economy and damages reconstruction. It merits a mention here that ADB, in connection with reconstruction of damages in aforementioned sectors, has shown interest in provision of loan worth US$ 650 million with one percent mark up for 32 years and finalization of procedural action till March 31. The Chief Minister stressed dependency on available resources and turned down the loan apparently carrying soft conditions. Keeping in view future financial constraints of the province, the Chief Minister bid adieu to the loan with thanks.
Written on March 4, 2011 | Posted in
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OTTAWA: Demand for water in agriculture and energy production could spike in the coming decades while catastrophic floods and droughts strike more often, a water conference in Canada is to hear this week. “At unpredictable times, too much water will arrive in some places and too little in others,” said Zafar Adeel, chair of UN Water which coordinates water-related efforts of 28 United Nations organizations and agencies. Within a generation, water demand in many countries is forecast to exceed supply by an estimated 40 percent. In other parts of the world prone to flooding, catastrophic floods normally expected once a century could occur every 20 years instead. Meanwhile, spending on technologies and services to discover, manage, filter, disinfect and desalinate water, improve infrastructure and distribution, mitigate flood damage and reduce water consumption by households, industry and agriculture is expected to rise to a trillion dollars annually by 2020. Some 300 scientists, policy-makers and economists will release these and other research findings as well as proven new tools, ideas and best practices for optimizing water management at a Canadian Water Network international conference in Ottawa. The event kicks off on February 28 and runs through March 3. Conference speaker Hans Schreier of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver will present research buttressing the need for flood-prone areas to brace for more frequent disasters. He pointed to Canadian insurance data showing claims resulting from extreme weather increased 20-fold in the past 30 years and flood-related claims now exceeding fire and wind insurance claims every year. Schreier called for improved road and street designs to minimize rainwater runoff. “Until now, all we”ve ever done in urban environments is to drain everything into rivers and lakes,” he said. But curbs, drains and impermeable surfaces could be replaced where possible with grassy shoulder depressions that collect and absorb rainwater while directing excess runoff into constructed wetlands or storm water retention ponds. This would mitigate flood damage, but also polluted runoff normally drained via pipes into lakes and rivers would be instead filtered and cleaned as it sinks through the ground, helping compensate the extensive loss of wetlands to development. Other low-cost innovations might include home driveway designs and materials that allow most precipitation to be absorbed instead of running onto streets and roads, he said. Another topic to be discussed at the conference is the impact of water shortages on businesses that rely on “virtual water” or the amount of water used in production of items. A desktop computer, for example, requires 1.5 tons (1,500 liters) of water; a pair of denim jeans up to 6 tons; a kilogram of wheat 1 ton; a kilo of chicken 3 to 4 tons; a kilo of beef 15 to 30 tons. Nicholas Parker, chairman of the Cleantech Group, said: “What people don”t often realize is how much water there is in everything we make and buy, from t-shirts to wine.” One proposal is to list water used on product package labels to inform consumers and encourage conservation, said Adeel, noting that annual global trade in “virtual water” now exceeds 800 billion tons, the equivalent of 10 Nile Rivers. As developing countries gain wealth, their citizens” demands for food and energy, which both require a lot of water to produce, will skyrocket, Adeel warned. (AFP)
Written on February 28, 2011 | Posted in
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KAACHI: Governor Punjab Sardar Latif Khan Khosa and Interior Minister Rahman Malik called on President Asif Ali Zardari at Bilawal House here on Monday. Overall political situation in the Punjab province after the decision of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) to relieve the PPP ministers from the provincial cabinet was discussed during the meeting with Governor Khosa. Khosa informed the president that he had received a summary from the Punjab Chief Minister on Monday advising him to relieve the seven Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) ministers from the provincial cabinet. Zardari said that the PPP would uphold the law and advised the Governor to proceed in accordance with the Constitution. Pace of progress on developmental projects, rebuilding of damaged infrastructure and the prevailing law and order situation in the province also came under discussion during the meeting. The president informed the Governor that during his visit to Japan last week he sought Japanese assistance in rebuilding roads and bridges destroyed during the last year’’s floods in Punjab like its help to rebuild the damaged infrastructure in the Khyber Pakhtukhwa. Interior Minister Rahman Malik briefed the President about the overall law and order situation in the country. (APP)
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Imagine if Hurricane Katrina struck all the states from Florida to Massachusetts and massive floods washed away homes and businesses, destroyed roads and bridges, and devastated the lives of tens of …
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TOKYO, Feb. 23 (AP) – (Kyodo)-;Japanese Emperor Akihito offered his condolences Wednesday to visiting Pakistani President Asif Zardari on the floods that caused heavy damaged in Pakistan last …
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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan must spend millions of dollars now on rebuilding areas devastated by the floods to avoid massive loss of life and jobs in the future, a top United Nations disaster official said …
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Pakistan must spend millions of dollars now on rebuilding areas devastated by last summer's floods to avoid massive future loss of life and jobs, a top United Nations disaster official said. …
Written on February 22, 2011 | Posted in
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ISLAMABAD: Highlighting the economic situation of the country, President Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday emphasized upon the need for greater international support by way of facilitating trade at this critical time. “We have prioritized trade, not aid, to overcome our financial difficulties, the President said. “We need preferential market access to support our economy from the adverse impacts of ongoing struggle against militancy and to rehabilitate and reconstruct damaged infrastructure due to devastating floods,” he added. The President was talking to a US Congressional delegation comprising: Senator Robert Corker, Senator Bernard Sanders, Senator Christopher Coons and Senator Joseph Manchin,which called on him here at the Aiwan-e-Sadr on Saturday. US Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter was also present along with other officials. Pakistan side included: Secretary General to the President, M. Salman Faruqui, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ms. Hina Rabbani Khar, Senator Syeda Sughra Imam, MNA Ms. Farahnaz Ispahani, Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir and Spokesperson to the President Farhatullah Babar. Matters relating to Pak-US bilateral relations, war against militancy, Reconstruction Opportunity Zones (ROZs) and security situation in the region came under discussion during the meeting. The President urged the visiting delegation to use its influence to secure enhanced market access and more trade for Pakistan. He said that geo-strategic location of Pakistan provides the country an unparalleled advantage of transit trade. The members of the delegation appreciated the country’’s struggle against militancy and assured the US continued support in this regard to the people and the Government of Pakistan. The President also reiterated his call for expediting passage of ROZs legislation to create economic opportunities for the people who are worst hit due to scourge of militancy. Talking about regional situation, the President said that a stable, peaceful and prosperous region was what the country has always longed and worked for. In reply to a question about Pak-India talks, Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir said that the Foreign Secretaries of the two countries recently had a fruitful meeting and the two sides had agreed to resume full spectrum of dialogue. The first meeting will be scheduled in New Delhi next month, he said. The delegation thanked the President for meeting. They also stressed the need for long-term and multifaceted relations between Pakistan and the United States to further consolidate existing mutual relations and cooperation.
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