63 replies to this topic

[Jazba-e-Kashmir]

Jazba-e-Kashmir, on 14 June 2013 - 04:22 AM, said:

Hasb-e-Haal on the issue:
http://www.zemtv.com...13th-june-2013/



I was planning of opening an account in Pakistan for investment plans, but i can say loud and clear there is no point of this when the government has implented FAILED FINANCIAL policies!
This will SCARE OFF Overseas Pakistanis, investors and Pakistanis themselves of the extreme ascending price hikes!

I'd rather invest in agriculture; cattles and harvesting fields with various crops all 4 Seasons.

To hell with the taxes, they will NEVER be helpful for a social welfare society and people never gain anything good from them anyway!
It'll only, as it ALWAYS HAS, BENEFITTED the rich, corrupt, influential and careless idiots.

With all respect, i can give only this following advice to Pakistanis:
Work hard, earn a lot and don't pay taxes, instead give, donate and contribute to the poor people yourselves, of your incomes.
No need of looking at politicians for any help, they can go f''k themselves and their own bloody condemned incompetent filthy families!

Peace

Agarr: Overseas Pakistanis, investors - and their views about Budget 2013-2014:
http://www.zemtv.com...15th-june-2013/

[KudosBot]

Is LNG the answer?


By completely ignoring the Iran-Pakistan (IP) Pipeline in this week’s budget announcement, this government has followed in the footsteps of its predecessors by using IP as a smokescreen for doing the square root of zilch on the energy front – or so it would seem. With the UN and US sanctions looming over the pipeline, the cons beat the living daylight out of the pros on the IP front. However the million – rather the two billion – dollar question is, what is being doodled on the Islamabad drawing with regards to answering the energy - and more specifically the gas – question?

IP’s alternative was always thought to be the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) Pipeline, but with the A in TAPI being the biggest concern, that project doesn’t seem like being materialised any time soon – if at all. Any gas pipeline from the opulent Central Asian zone would need to traverse the volatile North of Afghanistan, before it enters Pakistan, while any commercial activity with Iran is accompanied with the dreaded “S” word. Petroleum Policy 2012, and the new prices for foreign excavating firms, would result in an increase in exploration activities, but that process would take a lot of time, and we need a short-term solution to the gas troubles.

With pipelines seemingly being buried under the political pressure and terroristic threat, there seems to be only one feasible way of importing gas without ringing any global alarm bells: LNG.

I was fortunate enough to have a little chat with renowned political scientist, game and economic theorist Farrukh Saleem on Friday and his take on IP’s exclusion from the budget was pretty interesting. In addition to the sanctions and the fact that we have no money to import IP gas at $15 per unit, he categorically stated that pipelines are a thing of the ‘60s and ‘70s. When one considers the volatility in the region, pipeline construction does seem like being too much of a risk for the government to take. And hence it is actually the construction of LNG terminals that supersedes the construction of pipelines in terms of feasibility in our neck of the woods.

LNG, liquefied natural gas, is a convenient and useful means of transporting natural gas over long distances and purpose built ports are terminals exclusively built for LNG import. LNG imports in Pakistan are scheduled to kick-start this year with the government expecting to import around 2bcm (billion cubic metres) of LNG this year. This gas would be acquired on the spot market and would be received at Port Qasim. With discussions already going on with the US and Qatar regarding LNG import, international supply contracts are said to be allocated for around 8bcm in the near future. And if the recent noise being generated in the Petroleum and Natural Resources ministry is anything to go by, newly appointed Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi seems to be pretty keen on LNG import.

Recent developments reveal that we are also having talks with India regarding import of 400 million cubic feet of gas per day, through a pipeline being built from Jalandhar to Wagah via Attari. LNG will be gasified by the Indian side, and then pumped into the pipeline. However, with so many other bones of contention between the two countries, this would be another pipeline constructed under the backdrop of political ramifications – just like most other bilateral or multilateral pipelines.

The safest option for the time being does seem like LNG import, and the government needs to focus on constructing more LNG terminals to facilitate the import. Performance on the energy front is what this government is going to be judged on five years from now, and LNG import would be a good path to start taking baby steps on.


- See more at: http://www.pakistant...h.E0sMsUlH.dpuf

[Jazba-e-Kashmir]

Dr. Danish: you people are truely lambs and goats; you people really want to suffer cruelty

http://www.zemtv.com...m-se-mukhatibh/


Jitniy mehangaiy bharey giy, main utna khush hu ga. Kion key, iss sabh kiy awam zimedaar hai :
Hasan Nisar
http://www.zemtv.com...ai-hasan-nisar/

[KudosBot]

PML-N MPA beats up bus hostess in Sargodha

SARGODHA: Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) MPA Nighat Sher allegedly beat up a bus hostess for taking too long to serve water, SAMAA reports on Sunday.

The MPA, traveling by a private bus from Islamabad to Lahore, asked bus hostess Iqra Nawaz to bring her water. She complied, but the MPA was furious over some delay and beat her up.

Passengers of the bus intervened and demanded a legal action against the MPA. On this, the driver took the bus to alocal police station.

But the lawmaker managed to lodge a complaint against the girl, accusing her of making death threats.
The bus hostess was later arrested by the police. – SAMAA

[Jazba-e-Kashmir]

KudosBot, on 16 June 2013 - 11:27 AM, said:

PML-N MPA beats up bus hostess in Sargodha

SARGODHA: Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) MPA Nighat Sher allegedly beat up a bus hostess for taking too long to serve water, SAMAA reports on Sunday.

The MPA, traveling by a private bus from Islamabad to Lahore, asked bus hostess Iqra Nawaz to bring her water. She complied, but the MPA was furious over some delay and beat her up.

Passengers of the bus intervened and demanded a legal action against the MPA. On this, the driver took the bus to alocal police station.

But the lawmaker managed to lodge a complaint against the girl, accusing her of making death threats.
The bus hostess was later arrested by the police. – SAMAA

news-video:
http://www.zemtv.com...i-pitayi-kardi/

[KudosBot]

Again Punjab Government Ignore Faisalabad!!!!!

Metro for Rawalpindi & Multan in the upcoming Punjab budget !

Shame on M.P.A"s & M.N.A"s of Faisalabad.
..

[noxiouspython]

Aoa


Population wise, which city is bigger? Faisalabad - Rawalpindi - Multan?

w/salaam

[KudosBot]

Breaking News
Giddu Thermal power kay six units are under fire
Sindh aur Baluchistan kay rehnay walo have fun with garmi

Currently rural areas of Sindh and Baluchistan are in trouble

[rungroot]

KudosBot, on 16 June 2013 - 04:16 PM, said:

Breaking News
Giddu Thermal power kay six units are under fire
Sindh aur Baluchistan kay rehnay walo have fun with garmi

Currently rural areas of Sindh and Baluchistan are in trouble

not good at all.  

I foresee a punjabi versus sindhi/"mohajir"/balochi crap starting very soon.

The governments are very deeply divided after this election to begin with.

[KudosBot]

Ziarat Attack: PMLN, Judiciary Have a Lot to Answer

Acts of violent terrorism have, sadly, ceased to shock us Pakistanis. The last few years have desensitized us to such an extent that we do not bat an eyelid when news of a new atrocity filters in, which is why, it may seem strange to the casual observer, the excessive reaction witnessed in the aftermath of an attack on an unoccupied colonial era building in a small holiday resort in Balochistan.

The attack on the summer residence of Pakistan’s founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah (Quaid-e-Azam), did not claim any lives, but inflicted a new kind of pain. In the years since the US invasion of Afghanistan and the subsequent fallout we have faced, Pakistanis have seen their homes and bazaars attacked, their mosques and schools bombed, their armed forces and civilians brutally massacred, their children made homeless and attacked by US government drones and an assortment of other terrorist outfits alike sentence long , but seems un-dissectable. None of them shook the nation’s resolve. Pakistanis dusted themselves off and carried on. From an enemy’s point of view, a new strategy was needed.

This particular attack was different as it was designed to inflict damage to the nation’s spirit, to the ideology which serves as the foundation for Pakistan’s existence. The target itself was symbolic, as was burning the Pakistan flag and replacing it with one belonging to the terrorist outfit that carried out the attack.

Attacks on Pakistan’s ideology have a history. The refusal to accept the ‘Two Nation Theory’, which proclaims Hindus and Muslims as two separate people with contrasting cultures, traditions, and customs, has long been an active policy employed by our ‘peaceful’ neighbours. Already nursing the wounds of the partition of India some 60 odd years ago, Pakistan’s troubles bring a lot of pleasure to the opponents of this theory and help placate the nearly 150 million Indian Muslims in the face of communal tensions at home. A ‘failed Pakistan’ is a warning to India’s Muslims that they must behave and continue to be subservient to the Hindu dominated system. It is no wonder then, that official government reports place Indian Muslims at the bottom of the social ladder, lower than even the ‘Dalits’ or ‘Untouchables’ as they’re known.

‘Balochistan Liberation Army’, which attacked the Quaid’s residency in Ziarat yesterday, has always enjoyed India’s patronage, which includes overt diplomatic support and covert material and monetary support. Baloch terrorist leaders, including Brahamdagh Bugti (BRP) and Hyrbyair Marri (BLA), are frequent visitors to Delhi and Kabul. Based in Western capitals of Switzerland and England respectively, both have, on various occasions, publicly defended accepting ‘support’ from India for their struggle to ‘free Balochistan’. India’s presence in Afghanistan serves to facilitate the flow of arms and funds to these and various other terrorist groups active in Pakistan – a fact acknowledged earlier this year by the current US Secretary of Defence, Chuck Hagel, who said in a talk on Afghanistan, at the Cameron University in Oklahoma in 2011, that India has been using Afghanistan as a base against Pakistan.

“India has, over the years, financed problems for Pakistan on that side of the border, and you can carry that into many dimensions.”

Pakistan’s former President, Pervez Musharraf, while speaking to a forum organized by retired servicemen last year, said that certain politicians were supporting separatists for political benefits. “The chiefs of Bugti, Marri and Mengal (tribes) are involved in the prevailing condition of Balochistan. The Balochistan Liberation Army is a terrorist organisation, which is targeting non-locals in the province. The present government has failed to tackle the province’s issues,” Musharraf said.

“Shahzain Bugti, Talal Bugti and others have contacts with foreign elements. Not a single inch of the country would disintegrate in the presence of Pakistan Army,” he continued.

He also said that an overwhelming majority of Balochistan’s population had rejected the separatists, saying: “Only four per cent of the population of the country lives in Balochistan, and the majority of that population is in favour of Pakistan. Just three to four thousand people are involved in terrorism and those are supported by foreign elements,” he added.

Pakistan is in the midst of a brutal war, imposed on it by the enemies at its borders and their agents within. It is, therefore, baffling when some of the leading journalists and anchors on Pakistan’s media defend the actions of Indian-funded terrorists on Pakistan’s soil, and instead, term it a result of the alleged ‘extra-judicial-killings’ in Balochistan – in which the security agencies are said to have abducted, tortured and dumped by the roadside bodies of political workers belonging to some of these barbaric terrorist organizations. Is Pakistan’s media part of the ‘many dimensions’ India is financing; the dimensions Chuck Hagel confirmed? Looking at some of the stuff that comes out of Hamid Mir’s mouth, for example, you’d have to be a fool to think otherwise.

Then there’s our respected judiciary, which has not executed a single terrorist in the last decade, despite holding – but then subsequently releasing – thousands. How can it, when the Chief Justice leading it, used to be a lawyer of, and most likely, still is a close friend, of the families of these terrorist leaders! A judicial system that releases those caught smuggling large cache of weapons from Afghanistan, as in the case of Shahzain Bugti. A judge so under the influence of the current ruling political party that he carried out his entire reinstatement campaign in vehicles borrowed by the now Prime Minister – who coincidentally is also very close with the Bugtis. Talal Bugti, father of Shahzain, who was caught red handed, is a frequent guest at the Sharif family home in Raiwind. More tellingly, Changez Marri – brother of Hyrbyair Marri (BLA) – is a parliamentarian on the ticket of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz. A third brother – Balach Marri – is said to have been the mastermind of the current Balochistan insurgency. Balach was responsible for a number of attacks on gas pipelines and military installations in Balochistan. He was killed near BLA’s Afghanistan base in 2007 – which is used to channel funds and arms into Pakistan.

With Pakistan’s politicians, judiciary, and media abetting these terrorists, it is small wonder that just days after PMLN takes charge of the country’s politics, an attack of such audacity is carried out. Perhaps they act – safe in the knowledge that those trusted to protect the country and its people from enemies; will instead protect them, the enemies of the state, as they have done in the past.

[KudosBot]

Interior Minister: Patronizing Terrorists?


The murderer of the slain FIA prosecutor – Chaudhary Zulfiqar Ali, has been arrested from Islamabad, according to police sources.

Mr. Zulfiqar Ali was investigating the murder of Mrs. Benazir Bhutto, the former PM of Pakistan. He was also involved in the investigations of the 2008 Mumbai attacks in which 166 people were killed.

The deceased was shot down in Islamabad on  3rd May. In the ensuing response by his bodyguard, one of the attackers got injured.

The injured attacker has been identified as Abdullah Omar, the son of an army colonel who was court martialled after his ties with Al-Qaida were discovered.

“Abdullah Omar was part of the team that ambushed Chaudhary Zulfiqar near his residence in Islamabad on 3rd May,” senior police officer, Jamil Hashmi, told the correspondent of a media outlet.

Some media reports have also highlighted Abdullah’s involvement in an attack on Parade Lane Mosque, frequented by army officers, in 2009.

Reportedly, Mr. Abdullah is hospitalized in a critical condition, as the gun shot penetrated his lower spine. Police officials have designated his hospital room as a ‘sub jail’ while he is undergoing treatment.

Intrusion by the Higher Ups

It is believed that the Interior Ministry is taking a special interest in Abdullah’s case, to ward off the involvement of the premier intelligence agency.

Sources closer to the military believe that the accused of Parade Lane Mosque is allegedly involved in other major attacks as well; on the GHQ, Camp Hamza, et cetera.

The intrusion of Chaudhary Nisar, the Interior Minister of Pakistan, in this case, is blocking the path of the intelligence personnel, who can dig out concrete evidence by taking the suspect in custody.

The legal authority given to the agencies allows them to keep the suspect in custody for at least 3 months. Marking the accused would give them a chance to bust the entire terror cell, if the government doesn’t intervene in the due process.

[rungroot]

KudosBot, on 16 June 2013 - 06:50 PM, said:

Ziarat Attack: PMLN, Judiciary Have a Lot to Answer

Acts of violent terrorism have, sadly, ceased to shock us Pakistanis. The last few years have desensitized us to such an extent that we do not bat an eyelid when news of a new atrocity filters in, which is why, it may seem strange to the casual observer, the excessive reaction witnessed in the aftermath of an attack on an unoccupied colonial era building in a small holiday resort in Balochistan.

The attack on the summer residence of Pakistan’s founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah (Quaid-e-Azam), did not claim any lives, but inflicted a new kind of pain. In the years since the US invasion of Afghanistan and the subsequent fallout we have faced, Pakistanis have seen their homes and bazaars attacked, their mosques and schools bombed, their armed forces and civilians brutally massacred, their children made homeless and attacked by US government drones and an assortment of other terrorist outfits alike sentence long , but seems un-dissectable. None of them shook the nation’s resolve. Pakistanis dusted themselves off and carried on. From an enemy’s point of view, a new strategy was needed.

This particular attack was different as it was designed to inflict damage to the nation’s spirit, to the ideology which serves as the foundation for Pakistan’s existence. The target itself was symbolic, as was burning the Pakistan flag and replacing it with one belonging to the terrorist outfit that carried out the attack.

Attacks on Pakistan’s ideology have a history. The refusal to accept the ‘Two Nation Theory’, which proclaims Hindus and Muslims as two separate people with contrasting cultures, traditions, and customs, has long been an active policy employed by our ‘peaceful’ neighbours. Already nursing the wounds of the partition of India some 60 odd years ago, Pakistan’s troubles bring a lot of pleasure to the opponents of this theory and help placate the nearly 150 million Indian Muslims in the face of communal tensions at home. A ‘failed Pakistan’ is a warning to India’s Muslims that they must behave and continue to be subservient to the Hindu dominated system. It is no wonder then, that official government reports place Indian Muslims at the bottom of the social ladder, lower than even the ‘Dalits’ or ‘Untouchables’ as they’re known.

‘Balochistan Liberation Army’, which attacked the Quaid’s residency in Ziarat yesterday, has always enjoyed India’s patronage, which includes overt diplomatic support and covert material and monetary support. Baloch terrorist leaders, including Brahamdagh Bugti (BRP) and Hyrbyair Marri (BLA), are frequent visitors to Delhi and Kabul. Based in Western capitals of Switzerland and England respectively, both have, on various occasions, publicly defended accepting ‘support’ from India for their struggle to ‘free Balochistan’. India’s presence in Afghanistan serves to facilitate the flow of arms and funds to these and various other terrorist groups active in Pakistan – a fact acknowledged earlier this year by the current US Secretary of Defence, Chuck Hagel, who said in a talk on Afghanistan, at the Cameron University in Oklahoma in 2011, that India has been using Afghanistan as a base against Pakistan.

“India has, over the years, financed problems for Pakistan on that side of the border, and you can carry that into many dimensions.”

Pakistan’s former President, Pervez Musharraf, while speaking to a forum organized by retired servicemen last year, said that certain politicians were supporting separatists for political benefits. “The chiefs of Bugti, Marri and Mengal (tribes) are involved in the prevailing condition of Balochistan. The Balochistan Liberation Army is a terrorist organisation, which is targeting non-locals in the province. The present government has failed to tackle the province’s issues,” Musharraf said.

“Shahzain Bugti, Talal Bugti and others have contacts with foreign elements. Not a single inch of the country would disintegrate in the presence of Pakistan Army,” he continued.

He also said that an overwhelming majority of Balochistan’s population had rejected the separatists, saying: “Only four per cent of the population of the country lives in Balochistan, and the majority of that population is in favour of Pakistan. Just three to four thousand people are involved in terrorism and those are supported by foreign elements,” he added.

Pakistan is in the midst of a brutal war, imposed on it by the enemies at its borders and their agents within. It is, therefore, baffling when some of the leading journalists and anchors on Pakistan’s media defend the actions of Indian-funded terrorists on Pakistan’s soil, and instead, term it a result of the alleged ‘extra-judicial-killings’ in Balochistan – in which the security agencies are said to have abducted, tortured and dumped by the roadside bodies of political workers belonging to some of these barbaric terrorist organizations. Is Pakistan’s media part of the ‘many dimensions’ India is financing; the dimensions Chuck Hagel confirmed? Looking at some of the stuff that comes out of Hamid Mir’s mouth, for example, you’d have to be a fool to think otherwise.

Then there’s our respected judiciary, which has not executed a single terrorist in the last decade, despite holding – but then subsequently releasing – thousands. How can it, when the Chief Justice leading it, used to be a lawyer of, and most likely, still is a close friend, of the families of these terrorist leaders! A judicial system that releases those caught smuggling large cache of weapons from Afghanistan, as in the case of Shahzain Bugti. A judge so under the influence of the current ruling political party that he carried out his entire reinstatement campaign in vehicles borrowed by the now Prime Minister – who coincidentally is also very close with the Bugtis. Talal Bugti, father of Shahzain, who was caught red handed, is a frequent guest at the Sharif family home in Raiwind. More tellingly, Changez Marri – brother of Hyrbyair Marri (BLA) – is a parliamentarian on the ticket of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz. A third brother – Balach Marri – is said to have been the mastermind of the current Balochistan insurgency. Balach was responsible for a number of attacks on gas pipelines and military installations in Balochistan. He was killed near BLA’s Afghanistan base in 2007 – which is used to channel funds and arms into Pakistan.

With Pakistan’s politicians, judiciary, and media abetting these terrorists, it is small wonder that just days after PMLN takes charge of the country’s politics, an attack of such audacity is carried out. Perhaps they act – safe in the knowledge that those trusted to protect the country and its people from enemies; will instead protect them, the enemies of the state, as they have done in the past.

Well Sanguine, what say you about this???

[KudosBot]

Mushy was right about this guy, PMLN Long March was Nawaz's way to save Cheap Justice so he wouldnt open any corruption cases on PMLN, 100's of cases of Nawaz corruption are on STAY ORDER as requested by pmln... Gues what now he will finish all cases...


PMLN Has alread failed now them self... We dont even need a coup they will soon be finished....

[KudosBot]

My Name Is Cheap Justice....And I Am Not a Terrorist..........I only protect the terrorists!




PMLN ki Nighat Shaikh ne agar 2, 4 thappar maar bhi diye bus hostess ko tu kya qayamat aa gai?

Ab itni c baat pr mein Sua Mota nahi le sakta.... Wese bhi, i am sure ghalti PMLN ki MPA ki nhi ho gi. aur saboot kya hai k us ne thappar maray? Musafiron ki gawahi na kaafi hai.

And P.S., jab tak mein yaani mein Cheap Justice zinda hoon, PMLN k sab gunah maaf hain!

Huhuhuhahahaha!

[KudosBot]

‘Pakistan’s survival hinges on educating its people’

Karachi

Pakistan’s survival hinges upon educating our people; every single child who is left illiterate is a travesty, said the CEO of the Dawood Public School on Sunday.

Addressing the media during the Dawood Public Open Day Festival, Sabrina Dawood said: “It is the right of every human being and, therefore, it is crucial that we all should work towards helping the society and raise awareness of the importance of education.”

She said: “We as a nation are in dire need of leaders and professionals in every field; more researchers, doctors, writers, philosophers, inventors, scientists, artists, economists, environmentalists – the list goes on. This can only be achieved if we can enlighten the minds of others; channel our youth towards higher education and specialisation.”

About the DPS A-level programme, she said: “The Dawood Public School has commenced its A-level programme in the interest of propelling young women on their academic journey towards higher education. Within these walls we hope to illuminate fertile minds to imagine and conceive, and to create hope for a better future for our country and for the world.”

Around 500 female students, along with their parents, from all over the city gathered at the DPS to explore the A-level programme offered during the school’s Open Day Festival.

The DPS offered an opportunity to gain insight into all major universities around the country through direct career counselling for O- and A-level students.

Over the course of the day, the DPS staff gave over 50 presentations and interactive demonstrations, and was on hand to answer all questions relating to courses in the faculties of science, commerce and humanities.

The current students were also available to lend some practical advice and they gave campus tours to the visitors.

DPS A-level Principal Huma Thaver emphasised the importance of education. She said: “Education is not only the salvation of any society but of humanity as a whole.”

Thaver said: “With the conviction that women can and should make a difference in the world, DPS A-level opens its doors to all young women who are motivated and want to unleash their potential in just about every field imaginable.”

In addition to the programme, there were stalls of other organisations such as the Aman Foundation and the Awareness Pakistan. Various games and food stalls were also set up for the entertainment of the students.

http://www.thenews.c...ing-its-people?

[rungroot]

^^^ no sh!t...

[Jazba-e-Kashmir]

Jazba-e-Kashmir, on 16 June 2013 - 12:19 PM, said:

news-video:
http://www.zemtv.com...i-pitayi-kardi/

Bushostess and passengers' statement:
http://www.zemtv.com...gers-statement/


______________________________________________________________________


how the bugdet has destroyed life of common man:
http://www.zemtv.com...-of-common-man/


30 billion subsidies to sugar mills, - 10 rupee increase in Sugar price:
http://www.zemtv.com...t-mega-scandal/

[KudosBot]

PML-N govt supporting US war on terror: Mushahid

ISLAMABAD - An otherwise lackluster session of the Upper House of parliament on Monday returned lively with the members of the opposition benches reiterating their demands to the PML-N government to frame national strategies to counter terrorism and cyber war against Pakistani people waged by the US government and urging the government to bring the security establishment under the “civilian command” and under the “ambit of the law”. The House also had a brief debate over the Federal Budget 2013-14 and the members from the treasury and opposition members came up with their proposals to improve the finance bill. It was Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, who dropped a bombshell by claiming that after coming into power, the PML-N had decided to support the US war against terrorism – a policy the PML-N had been opposing during the past 13 years. He said though the PML-N had opposed the past governments’ policy of engagement with the US in the war on terror, but after coming to power they took a u-turn and were now supporting the same cause. “The PML-N has mentioned $1.2 billion under the coalition support fund (CSF). Accepting this amount is evidence that the (PML-N) government has assured the US of its cooperation in the war on terror,” he said. The PML-Q secretary-general termed the budget “anti-people which reflected the government’s policies of the status-quo”. He also outlined his six-point proposals for the finance minister, stating that a special fund should be set up for the victims of drone strikes and money should be allocated in the budget for the drone strikes-affected families and the injured. Mushahid said special funds should also be allocated in the budget under a programme to provide life insurance to working journalists, who he said were working in difficult conditions. “Rather than giving the FBR access to online accounts of bank account-holders, the FBR should be given access to the Swiss accounts and off-shore bank accounts in which ill-gotten money had been kept abroad in Switzerland and elsewhere.” Mushahid said Pakistani internet and phone users were a victim of the cyber aggression of the US which had launched a surveillance programme under the National Security Agency (NSA) to monitor all email and phone communications of Pakistanis while their email accounts were being hacked. He said a cyber strategy should be framed to counter the US cyber aggression against Pakistani people and funds should be allocated in the budget to formulate a strategy to counter that. The PML-Q leader also called for allocation of funds to evolve a counter-terror strategy as the country was facing terrorism. He said a counterterrorism strategy should be formed taking all stakeholders, including civilian and military branches, on board. He also called for revival of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS) which had contributed a lot under the leadership of Raza Rabbani. Usman Saifullah Khan of the PPP said difficult times needed difficult decisions. However, he lamented it was missing from the budget 2013-14. He said rather than increasing the general sales tax (GST), the government should have imposed a tax of Rs 10,000 each to the 32,000 potential tax evaders identified by the FBR which could have resulted into an additional Rs 32 billion into the national exchequer. PPP’s Khwaja Karim said the initiatives taken for youth by the federal government should be for all provinces and there should be no discrimination. He also demanded the GST increase be withdrawn. He said parliamentary democracy should be cemented and the civil-military coordination should be improved. Humayon Mandokhel said the GwadarPort's handing over to China was a good step and it would help the country become self-reliant. He said the facility of mortgage for housing sector would help revive the economy, adding that talks should be the way forward for resolution of the Balochistan problem and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif should talk to Baloch national leaders.

- See more at: http://www.pakistant...h.YgJGAm2y.dpuf



Reign in the establishment or go to hell!


Islamabad - Demanding rectification of the “establishment”, Mahmood Khan Achakzai said that if the establishment was not reformed, the government and its salary could “go to hell.”

Achakzai sought the withdrawal of the army from FATA and claimed that Pakistan was interfering in Afghanistan. The Pakhtoonkhwa Awami Milli Party (PkMAP) chief blamed the armed forces for allowing militants in FATA and said the policy of good and bad Taliban needed to be stopped.

“The US government is not stupid in spending millions on drone strikes. It is true that we are interfering in Afghanistan. The entire world has become our enemy and the allegations levelled on us by the US government have proven to be true. Osama was caught from near the SSB Training Academy; we sold the nuclear bomb and neighbouring countries, including China are not happy with us,” he said

Achakzai added that he would quit the assembly if the “establishment” was not reined in three years.

The PkMAP leader was of the view that Colonel Imam, former intelligence officer, had confessed to training to 95,000 people.

“We need to keep US in confidence for talks with Taliban and it should be a part of the dialogue,” Achakzai further said.

“As long as dialogue continues, the drone attacks should remain suspended,” he stressed.

However, on a point of order, objected by a lawmaker, Achakzai took back his words “go to hell” for assembly.

The minister said that a high-level meeting has been convened on June 20 and a security policy would be announced on the very next day. He assured the House that Jinnah’s residency would be renovated within three to four months.

- See more at: http://www.pakistant...h.rp6s5MuX.dpuf

[KudosBot]

Additional Rs 60b required for cut in GST rate: Dar

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has said if the government could arrange Rs 60 billion from substitute sources, he was ready to reduce the slab of general sales tax (GST).

Participating in the meeting of Senate Standing Committee on Finance on Monday, the finance minister said if the tax revenue increased, the government would provide relief in taxes next year.

He said it was high time to decide whether the economy or politics were top be saved. “To increase tax net and to avoid tax evasion of Rs 200 billion, decisions would have to be taken with an open heart. We have to refurbish the damaged infrastructure. We need money for Bhasha Dam project and Metro Bus Service in Karachi. To save the country, we have to take decisions above the politics,” Dar added.

He said the committee formed to increase the salary of government servants had proposed a raise of 7.5 percent, but the government enhanced pay and pension by 10 percent.

The government also raised the amount for Benazir Income Support Programme to Rs 70 billion from Rs 40 billion.

Dar said collection of agricultural and income tax had been combined. “The agriculture tax is a provincial matter. At present, Punjab is getting Rs 700 million, while Sindh is obtaining Rs 300 million from agriculture tax.”

He said the government had reduced non-development expenses, adding that expenditure incurred by government functionaries and Prime Minister’s Office had been reduced by 30 percent.

The finance minister said that by increasing internal and external debt, the government could give benefit to the people, but at the end of day, Pakistan would pay very heavy cost for that.

Dar said that it was the duty of parliament to give positive proposals on budget.

“Poverty alleviation is only possible when the rich of the country pay taxes.”

On the occasion, Senator Ilyas Bilour gave the proposal to levy tax on every kind of property except one house and one shop.

Senator Kulsoom Parveen said it must be ensured that development funds allocated for Balochistan province were not be used in any other provinces.

Committee chairperson Nasreen Jalil said FBR did not present factual position and the increase in GST by one percent would increase the anxiety of the people.

She said no measure was suggested in the finance bill to prevent the electricity theft.

Senators Fateh Muhammad Hasni, Ilyas Bilour, Usman Saif Ullah, Haji Adeel, Kulsoom Parveen, Islamud Din Sheikh, Hamayun Khan Mandokhel, Talha Mehmood, Nuzhat Sadiq and Finance Secretary Waqar Masood and FBR Chairman Ansar Javed participated in the meeting.





- See more at: http://www.pakistant...h.n3R5IbYM.dpuf

[KudosBot]

Anyone heard about Metro bus lahore that its got flooded and is not working? Sad news about Model town underpass...

So now the buses are breaking down..no A/c and engine overheating this is why they should have bougt from germany and not cheap chinese crap buses i hope they learn their lesson..its time to only buy from European quality companies

[KudosBot]

PIA closes international operations from Faisalabad

FAISALABAD: The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has cancelled three of its international flights from Faisalabad Airport, inviting severe public criticism.

After closing down its final flight to Dubai, the Faisalabad Airport has become a deserted place, as the canteen contractor has also threatened to close down his business, while the employees of various agencies and companies affiliated with the airport have become increasingly insecure about their livelihood.

Source: Daily Times

[KudosBot]

Rational people maximize utility, Pakistan govt maximizes stupidity

Now more than ever, Pakistani policymakers must tackle what has become a very pressing issue for the Pakistani economy: the irrational, unregulated allocation of subsidies. There is ample and extensive research on the subject of subsidies, yet little of that seems to be making its way towards policymaking in Pakistan, especially with the present PML-N government. Untargeted subsidies, such as the infamous Sasti Roti scheme, epitomize bad policy and pose awkward questions when Rs30 billion is spent subsidizing flour in a province which has an education budget of around the same. Most countries have more or less phased out the practice of untargeted subsidies – save for perhaps Egypt, which still provides subsidies to the tune of 12 per cent of GDP on fuel and food. This practice, however, still remains and thrives in Pakistan but must be brought about to an end.

Various areas of the Pakistani economy are beset with this irrational and unfair practice. Take the Utility Stores for example. You can be well educated, have a degree from a top-tier university, earn half a million a month and you can still walk into any Utility Store, buy sugar, flour, oil and whatever else you fancy at a government mandated subsidized rate. If you are a taxpayer, you’re just getting a tax-rebate of sorts. If you do not fall in the aforementioned category, and there are many, many in Pakistan who don not, you are in effect getting a payment of sorts from the government. It’s alright if you are earning big, we will still pay you for the effort of coming in and buying something from the Utility Stores.

The magnitude of the Utility Stores subsidies pale in comparison to the electricity subsidies that the government has been forced to give to consumers, on account of a spike in oil prices post 9/11 and Iraq War (Read: Frivolity). For the year 2010-2011, the PPP government meekly budgeted Rs115 billion and ended up spending more than three times the amount at Rs372 billion. Glaring policy failure meets inept planning.

In effect, the largest share of subsidy is going to the richest sections of society. A report on Pakistan’s electricity crisis published in 2011 by the World Bank states that the biggest beneficiariesof electricity subsidies are the richest households. The same report states that nearly 90 per cent of Pakistani households are net recipients of subsidies. Rational people maximize utility, the Pakistani government maximizes stupidity.

Like mentioned above in the Utility Stores case, if you pay tax, then you’re getting a rebate. If you’re not, you’re getting an out and out discount. And really, shouldn’t the point of any subsidy be to help the disadvantaged sections of a society?

This, however, begs a small question and I digress again but the prevailing situation of unsustainable subsidies in the electricity sector is the result of policy failures and bad governance. The subsidy is in effect the government subsidizing its own failures and inefficiencies. Is it then fair, from a philosophical standpoint, to pass on that inability to govern, lack of political and governmental expertise on to the population at large, especially given that Pakistan’s political history has never been stable enough for the process of political accountability to take place?

As a matter of pragmatism and necessity, tariffs must be rationalized with high consumption consumers paying much more than low consumption consumers. In Iran, for example, consumers consuming lower than 100KWh were charged just 270 Irani Rials ($0.027) per unit while those consuming above 600KWh were charged nearly 2,100 Irani Rials per unit back in 2010 when reforms were initiated.

Subsidies when administered properly and transparently can be a great tool in the alleviation of poverty. What are needed are subsidies that do not unnecessarily subsidize the rich and reduce leakages to the undeserving and the solution to that is to have targeted subsidies. Though administratively taxing is harder to implement on account of finding the right target populace, targeted subsidies can be a great way to maximize the marginal benefit from each rupee of subsidy. Countries all over the world have successfully cut expenditures whilst increasing income transfers to the poor through ending untargeted subsidies and substituting them with targeted subsidies. Whilst not a subsidy, the BISP is an excellent example of a targeted income transfer programme and it has greatly benefitted its recipients.

Which leaves us with a very important policy question, what kind of programme would be most effective in alleviating poverty? Should it be a GST exemption? Should we transfer money balances into recipients’ accounts? Or should we subsidize the price of essential commodities for the targeted population? Each has its own merits and demerits. Research has not given its final verdict on which is the most effective mechanism for helping the more vulnerable sections of society. On the subject of targeted versus untargeted subsidies, however, there is enough research to pass judgment on the respective efficiencies of the two systems.

Such reforms have historically been difficult to implement. Also given the Pakistani population’s love for big government, the government will find it difficult to implement sweeping reforms that might take away some of the more irrational subsidies from the population. Electricity price hikes are a prime example. Whether such reforms will go through or not will depend greatly on how the government manages the media. Irrespective, reducing the size of untargeted subsidies, especially in a constrained fiscal environment is necessary and the government must act on this without hesitation.

- See more at: http://www.pakistant...h.pYbQ55qS.dpuf

[Jazba-e-Kashmir]

female members of the Punjab Assembly know the rates of makeup, but don't care about the rates which the public suffers:

http://www.zemtv.com...-aatey-ki-nahi/

[KudosBot]

Electricity raies again 1.5 rupees per unit.