OCTOBER 7, 2011: Friday - Important News and Analysis Items
SC blames federal, Sindh govts for Karachi bloodshed
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court announced on Thursday an overarching judgment on the law and order situation and target killings in Karachi and criticised both the federal and Sindh governments for their failure to ensure peaceful economic activity in the city. It termed the “unimaginable brutalities” a result of a turf war aimed at keeping socio-political control over the city. (Read More)
Apple ‘genius’ Steve Jobs dead
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 6: Apple founder and visionary Steve Jobs died on Wednesday from cancer aged just 56, a premature end for a man who revolutionised modern culture and changed forever the world’s relationship to technology through inventions such as the ipad and iphone. (Read More)
Pakistanis alone did not create Haqqanis: US
WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said that the Pakistanis have a point when they say that Pakistan alone did not create the Haqqani network, which is now killing American soldiers in Afghanistan.
Also on Sunday, the former US military chief, Admiral Mike Mullen, said that attacks on US soldiers in Afghanistan had caused him to blame Pakistan for backing the militants who were behind those attacks. (ReadMore)
Steve Jobs told us what we needed before we knew: By Guardian UK
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Steve Jobs saw the future and led the world to it. He moved technology from garages to pockets, took entertainment from discs to bytes and turned gadgets into extensions of the people who use them. (Read More)
Military ruler says Egypt in a critical phase
CAIRO: Egypt’s military ruler said on Thursday the country was going through a critical period, particularly on the security and economic fronts, and called for national unity to achieve a democratic state under civilian rule.Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, delivering a televised address to mark the 1973 war against Israel, also said disagreements and mistrust have plagued the period following the uprising that ousted former President Hosni Mubarak in February. (Read More)
India may rue the day it backed Afghan regime
NEW DELHI: India’s decision to underwrite and, in effect, guarantee Hamid Karzai’s feeble Afghan government is not wholly lacking in logic. In a strategic pact signed on Tuesday, the two countries pledged to co-operate on trade and counter-terrorism, and Delhi agreed to train and equip Afghan security forces. With US and Nato forces edging towards the exit in 2014, it follows that Delhi, the region’s military and economic (Read More)
Syria: threat of armed uprising grows
BEIRUT/WASHINGTON: An armed insurrection inside Syria looks set to gather momentum after the failure to pass a UN resolution against president Bashar al-Assad’s regime, according to dissidents in two key Syrian cities. (Read More)
Nato says Libya mission not to end soon
BRUSSELS, Oct 6: Nato ministers said on Thursday that the bombing campaign in Libya, now in its seventh month, will continue until armed resistance to the new pro-western regime ceases.
US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta — speaking at a meeting of Nato defence ministers dedicated mainly to Afghanistan and Libya (Read More)
Afghanistan urged to ‘demonstrate responsibility’
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan urged the Afghan authorities on Thursday to demonstrate responsibility in the complex situation in the region. “At this defining stage when challenges have multiplied, as have the opportunities, it is our expectation that everyone, especially those in position of authority in Afghanistan, will demonstrate maturity and responsibility. This is no time for point-scoring, playing politics or grandstanding,” Foreign Office spokesperson Tehmina Janjua said at a press briefing (Read More)
LPG price drops by Rs12 after PDL suspension
ISLAMABAD: The price of liquefied petroleum gas has declined by Rs12 per kg across the country as the Petroleum Development Levy (PDL) imposed on LPG has been suspended by the Lahore High Court.
Analysis and Opinions
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Family planning and Islam - By Asghar Ali Engineer
MANY people, especially women, have asked me if family planning is permissible in Islam. They say the imams and ulema say the Quran prohibits family planning and quote a verse which says, “And kill not your children for fear of poverty — We provide for them and for you. Surely the killing of them is a great wrong” (17:31). (Read More)
An electrifying failure by Sakib Sherani
THE acute power crisis gripping Pakistan’s cities, towns and villages is a colossal failure of governance. Given that it is estimated to cost three to four per cent of GDP a year in direct costs alone (such as output loss), larger than the estimated losses from terrorism, the power crisis is by far the biggest constraint facing the economy — and has been for three years, if not more.
However, its pernicious effects have spread far beyond the economy, as it tears into the social fabric and the daily routine of 20 million Pakistani households each and every unrelenting day (and night). (Read More)
The IK factor By Cyril Almeida
IT looks and sounds almost biblical. Pestilence has descended on Lahore, swaths of the country have plunged into darkness, life as we know it may be coming to an end soon.
Thank God for the politicians and comic relief.
Less ‘après moi, le déluge’ — after me, the deluge — and more ‘nous sommes le déluge’ — we are the deluge — our pols are up in arms again. (ReadMore)
Implementing the resolution By Khali Aziz
AN initial salvo relating to Pakistan’s alleged links with the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network was fired on Sept 12 by US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta who threatened that the US would attack the Haqqani network if Pakistan failed to act.
Later, Adm Mike Mullen, the most senior US military leader, poured more oil on the fire by remarking at a special hearing in the US Senate: “….the Haqqani network [is] a potent part of the insurgency battling American forces in Afghanistan”, and a “veritable arm” of Pakistan’s ISI. (Read More)
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