13 October Daily News & Analysis

Daily Summary News and Analysis               Details on www.cssnewspaper2.blogspot.com

US cannot abandon Pakistan relationship: Clinton
WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday the United States cannot abandon Pakistan but that the South Asian nation must help solve Afghanistan’s difficulties or it will “continue to be part of the problem.” (Details)

With new threats, US Army must reinvent itself: Panetta

The US Army won’t be fighting conventional wars against columns of tanks in the future and will have to prepare for new threats from cheaper high-tech weaponry, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Wednesday. (Details)

Cabinet comes up with old formula to cope with power crisis
The federal cabinet again approved on Wednesday a formula to resolve the energy crisis that has failed earlier — two weekly days off, business closure at sunset and staggering of industrial holidays — to overcome increasing electricity shortfall during peak hours. Details)
Pakistan faces threat of water scarcity

By Amin Ahmed: ISLAMABAD: The United Nations has placed Pakistan among the ‘water hotspots’ of Asia-Pacific region, saying that the country is facing major threats of increasing water scarcity, high water utilisation, deteriorating water quality and climate change risk. (Details)

Ban on fissile material production opposed

UNITED NATIONS: Some powerful states had changed the strategic environment of the South Asian region, Pakistan complained to the world body on Tuesday and said it opposed banning production of fissile material used as fuel for nuclear weapons. (Details)

Ten killed in slew of attacks targeting Iraq police

BAGHDAD: Iraqi officials say 10 people have been killed in a string of attacks targeting security forces in Baghdad. Two police officials say a suicide attacker blew himself (Details)

Alleged plot to assassinate Saudi ambassador: Biden warns Iran of ‘serious consequences’

WASHINGTON, Oct 12: US Vice President Joe Biden warned Iran on Wednesday that it would have to face ‘serious consequences’ for allegedly plotting to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States. US President Barack Obama called the plot a “flagrant violation” of US and international law but allowed his deputies to do most of the talking. (Details)

Clinton calls Iran plot ‘dangerous escalation’

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday denounced an alleged Iranian plot to kill the Saudi ambassador in Washington as a ‘dangerous escalation’ by Tehran and called for international condemnation. (Details)

Millions suffer as BlackBerry disruptions enter third day

NEW YORK, Oct 12: A three-day disruption to BlackBerry services spread to North America on Wednesday, frustrating millions of users of the Research In Motion (RIM) devices just two days before rival Apple’s new iPhone 4S goes on sale. (Details)

‘He gave joy and pleasure to millions of music lovers in India and abroad’ 
MUMBAI: The Indian singer and composer Jagjit Singh, who won generations of fans by reviving the traditional genre of “ghazal”music, died on Monday in a Mumbai hospital at the age of 70. (Details)

Kidnapped journalist returns

MIRAMSHAH, Oct 12: A journalist kidnapped by suspected militants about two months ago reached home here on Wednesday, after a deal was struck between the kidnappers and a jirga, sources said. (Details)
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Civil war in Syria? By Gwynne Dyer
BACK in 1989, when the communist regimes of Europe were tottering towards their end, almost every day somebody would say `There`s going to be a civil war.` And our job, as foreign journalists who allegedly had their finger on the pulse of events, was to say: `No, there won`t be.` (Details)
Drainage crisis in Indus basin By Azhar Lashari
THE recent floods in Sindh have triggered a debate in the media about the role of the Left Bank Outfall Drain (LBOD) in exacerbating the disaster in the south-eastern districts of the province. Much has been said and written about how the LBOD, meant for the drainage of excessive irrigation water from Nawabshah, Sanghar and Mirpurkhas districts into the Arabian Sea, has turned out to be a recurring cause of flood disaster since the 1999 cyclone in (Details)
After the SC verdict BY I.A Rehman

AS expected the Supreme Court decision on the killings and disorder in Karachi has had a mixed reception. While most commentators have welcomed the court`s (Details)
Movement in the making By Hina Mahmood

Approaching Zuccotti Park, the sound of drumbeats in the air, I could see hundreds of protesters, picketing on its lawns, a few blocks from Ground Zero in New York. (Details)

THE INDEPENDENT : Robert Fisk: Democratic governments don't deal with terrorists – until they do

In three decades, the Israelis have freed 7,000 prisoners in return for 19 Israeli prisoners (Details)

7 October: News & Analysis

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)