PAKISTAN: MP CALLS ON FAITHFUL TO JOIN TALIBAN IN AFGHANISTAN

PAKISTAN: MP CALLS ON FAITHFUL TO JOIN TALIBAN IN AFGHANISTAN

Quetta, 30 May (AKI) - (by Syed Saleem Shahzad) - As brutal clashes continue between the US-led coalition forces and the Taliban in southern Afghanistan, across the border in neighbouring Pakistan, Maulana Noor Mohammed a respected Muslim scholar, leader of the hardline religious party, Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Islam and member of Pakistan's national assembly has called on Muslims in Pakistan to actively support the Taliban militants in their fight against the American forces. In an exclusive interview, Noor Mohammed told Adnkronos International (AKI) that there was enough of an historical basis for Pakistan to rally such support for the Taliban.


The Taliban movement appears to be resurgent in southern Afghanistan, carrying out fierce attacks on US-led coalition forces as well as on Afghan National Army positions. Some analysts believe that the hardline movement is once again in a position to regain power in Afghanistan, as long as it can secure the same level of support it received from neighbouring Pakistan in the mid-1990s, when the students from Pakistani Islamic seminaries flooded into Afghanistan to reinforce the Taliban.

The US-led campaign in Afghanistan, compelled many pro-Taliban forces in Pakistan to remain neutral and not express their support for a long time. However ever since the Taliban began its spring offensive, many of its former patrons have defied this and started a heated debate on whether or not Pakistan should support the Taliban movement in 2006, arguing that the Muslims of the sub-continent have a long history of supporting Muslim movements, especially in Afghanistan.

The elderly and respected Muslim scholar, Maulana Noor Mohammed is one such person.

A member of Pakistan's national assembly from Quetta, the capital of the restive Baluchistan province, Noor Mohammed is also a member of the hardline religious party, Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Islam (JUI). The JUI is led by Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the head of Pakistan's parliamentary opposition, the six-party religious alliance MMA.

Although the JUI and its leadership in Baluchistan have specified that they want to keep their distance from the Taliban movement and one the groups leaders Maulana Sherani even insisted that no Taliban should be allowed within party ranks, Maulana Noor Mohammed insisted that firm support for the Taliban should be order of the day.

"The JUI has a centuries-old legacy of backing reformist movements and movements which were launched against oppression," said Maulana Noor Mohammed, while sitting in his office in Quetta.

"After the partition of British India, the Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Hind was transformed into the Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Islam and the leadership finally came into the hands of Maulana Fazlur Rehman," he said.

"You can see what this whole legacy was all about. Jihad and the fight against oppression and the support for Muslim movements. This is what the JUI constitution speaks for," said Noor Mohammed.

"To strive for the safeguard of Islam, Islamic tenets and the heart of Islam...to provide support to Muslims in occupied territories and to support Muslim minorities in non-Muslim majority areas," he said reading from the JUI constitution.

"Now is there any mention that JUI would support Muslim movements only in Pakistan?," Noor Mohammed queried:

"In the past the Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Hind launched a Caliphate movement for the Muslims of Turkey. When the British attacked Afghanistan [in the early 1900s], we supported the Afghan rulers and sent our leaders like [theologian and freedom fighter ] Ubaidullah Sindhi who stayed there [Kabul] for 7 years and worked for the liberation of Afghanistan," he said. "Afghan rulers always appreciated the role of the Deoband scholars [such as Ubaidullah Sindhi] for the liberation of Afghanistan," he added.

Deoband is a powerful Islamic school which was established more than 150 years ago in India. It was developed as a reaction to the British colonialism in India, which they believed was assimilating the Islamic religion. The Deoband school promotes a radical brand of Islam which is said to have inspired the Taliban in Afghanistan.

"Similarly we had a role when the former USSR invaded Afghanistan and our leader Maulana Mufti Mehmood issued a religious decree in favour of the Afghan jihad and even when the Taliban emerged we supported them," he said.

"So the question is why not now when Bush and his allies have launched a wicked crusade against Muslims," he said. "Should we not support the Taliban movement because a mean [Pakistani President] General Musharraf is our ruler and he has turned the Pakistan Army into a US force which captured 600 Muslim Mujahids [Muslim warriors who fights to defend or expand Muslim lands] and handed them over to the US?" he questioned.

"The six parties religious alliance should take a clear policy about the Taliban movement - whether it supports the Taliban or not," he said. "When the Americans threatened to invade Afghanistan we formed Pakistan-Afghanistan Defense Council, so now what is the point of retreating?" he asked.

"I have spoken to the MMA leadership and have asked for debate in the upcoming session of the MMA on announcing clear support for mujahadeen all over the world, including the Taliban," he said. "The six parties religious alliance MMA and the mujahadeen are the opposition force of the day against Bush and his allies. Those who have another opinion on the MMA's role other than that, are simply Bush's allies," Noor Mohammed insisted.

Frustration mounts between US, Pakistan

Frustration mounts between US, Pakistan

Congress pressures Pakistan to give more information about possible proliferation, upsetting already-delicate ties.

By David Montero | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN - One of the central relationships forged after 9/11 has hit a rough patch. The latest irritant between Washington and Islamabad came last week as US lawmakers urged Pakistan to wring more information from disgraced nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, alleging that he may yet hold the blueprint to some of Iran's nuclear secrets.

Earlier this month, Islamabad officially closed its investigation. While Mr. Khan remains under house arrest, Pakistani officials say they've given Washington all the details they could get out of him - though that information has never been made public.

"Some question whether the A.Q. Khan network is truly out of business, asking if it's not merely hibernating. We'd be foolish to rule out that chilling possibility," said Republican legislator Edward R. Royce in a statement at the Subcommittee on International Terrorism and Nonproliferation hearing. "Vigilance and greater international pressure on Pakistan to air out the Khan network is in order."

So far, the tough talk is coming only from Congress, suggesting that the White House may be more keenly aware of the many demands already placed on Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf, including the pursuit of Al Qaeda suspects, the curbing of cross-border attacks into Afghanistan, and the development of good governance to keep radical Islam at bay. Some analysts say that the demand for access to Khan risks pushing an already delicate relationship to the point of overburn at a time when Pakistan is warming up to Iran.

"Even if the US gets access to Khan, he might not be able to give information on [Iran]. Khan has never been to Iran," says Hasan Askari Rizvi, a defense analyst in Lahore, Pakistan. "If you apply pressure, you may not get the information you want. The US will have to determine its priorities."

Interrogating Khan is a wish that Islamabad has never granted: Washington has always had to go through the Pakistani military to get to Khan, cherished as a national hero. Some say that's the problem, that Khan has never been pressed hard enough. Pakistan authorities, however, defied Congressional demands last week, saying Khan would never be given up.

"The government of Pakistan does not allow direct interrogation of Khan," says Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, spokesman for the Pakistani military. Pakistan's foreign minister, Khurshid Kasuri, recently told a parliamentary session that Pakistan would not "take dictation from anybody on our national interests."

Some saw double trouble in these words. For not long after he spoke them, Mr. Kasuri and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz were busy feting Iran's foreign minister, who came to Islamabad with visions of building a $7 billion gas pipeline.

Other signs of a deepening relationship between the two Islamic republics include:

• a proposed joint investment company to boost bilateral trade up to $1 billion;

• the ratification of a bilateral preferential trade agreement by the Iranian Parliament;

• a new Iranian center in Pakistan to provide artificial limbs for quake victims;

• Pakistan's opposition to a military option in the Iranian nuclear controversy.

Washington's relationship with Islamabad, meanwhile, is under greater strain as the US and its allies in Afghanistan face stepped up attacks from the Taliban. Islamabad remains extremely sensitive to claims that the insurgency operates from across the border in Pakistan. Earlier this month, Col. Chris Vernon, chief of staff for British forces in southern Afghanistan, told the Guardian newspaper, "The thinking piece of the Taliban is out of Quetta in Pakistan. It's the major headquarters. They use it to run a series of networks in Afghanistan."

Nor has Washington's courtship of Pakistan's nemesis, India, helped matters. The US has offered a civilian nuclear deal to India while flat out refusing one to Pakistan.

It's all led to dampening of relations that some analysts say are now at their lowest point since 9/11.

"Pakistan's real gripe is with the Americans. In recent months an angry Musharraf has quietly, but deliberately defied them. Relations between the two countries have not been so poor since 9/11," writes noted journalist Ahmed Rashid in a recent edition of Pakistan's The Daily Times.

For analysts like Mr. Rashid, pursuing Khan now would be tone deaf at a time when Islamabad is in no mood to do Washington any favors or jeopardize its ties to Tehran.

"[Officials in Washington] don't understand the regime in Pakistan," contends Ayesha Siddiqa, an independent defense analyst in Islamabad. "It's a rent-seeking establishment, providing a service to the United States, like regimes in the Middle East. But ... beyond a certain point, [the Pakistanis] have a mind of their own."

Some see it differently, pointing out that the views recently expressed in Congress do not necessarily represent those of the Bush administration. "The US administration and the Pentagon understand the limits of what Pakistan can do, but the Congress does not," says retired Lt. Gen. Talat Masood, a political analyst in Islamabad. Mr. Masood says that Congress, being influenced more by public opinion, has unrealistic expectations that threaten relations with Pakistan.

That's a gamble, given that Khan may have nothing substantive to say. Giving up Khan is also a huge political risk for Pakistan, since it would only add fodder to the claim that Pakistan is America's stooge, analysts point out. Plus, if Khan sings, he may implicate some of those in power. "It's suicidal to hand him over," says Siddiqa.

What is needed instead are better measures to build trust, analysts say. A recent US proposal to generate economic activity in Pakistan's tribal areas, where the Taliban are said to be growing in popularity, is a concrete step in the right direction, points out Masood. He says more bilateral trade and education assistance are the needed antidotes to the current tensions.

Trust, he and others add, cannot be managed so long as the current relationship remains one of demand and follow. "Even if [Pakistan] follows the US verbatim, there will still be so many frustrations," says Masood. "Raising the expectations too high can spoil the relationship."

India's GDP grows by 8.4% (9.3% in Jan-March quarter)

India's GDP grows by 8.4%

May 31, 2006 13:17 IST

India's GDP grew by a robust 8.4 per cent in 2005-06, compared to 7.5 per cent in 2004-05, according to official data.

For the January-March quarter, the economy grew by 9.3 per cent, compared to 8.6 per cent in the year-ago period, mainly on the back of a healthy 5.5 per cent growth in the agriculture sector.

The farm sector had registered a dismal 1.5 per cent growth in the year-ago quarter. Besides growth in agri sector, electricity, gas and water supply improved by 6.1 per cent, compared to 1.4 per cent a year ago.

GDP in the first quarter of FY06 grew by 8.5 per cent, in the second quarter by 8.4 per cent and third quarter by 7.5 per cent, according to the revised estimates released by the government.

It had earlier estimated that the economy had grown by an aggregate 7.9 per cent after the first three quarters of 2005-06. But the figure has since been revised upwards.

Pakistan's FSB has 40 people and 1 computer

Business Recorder

Get serious about statistics
EDITORIAL (May 29 2006): When there is a will to implement a decision at the top, progress towards it (though still slow by private sector standards) is fast. Otherwise, the 'file' moves at a snail's pace. For an illustration, the restructuring of the country's statistical system, instead of being placed on fast track, has become a victim of the listless trend.

For years there has been all round criticism of the data collection methodology as well as the credibility of government statistics. Responding to the criticism and realising the shortcomings of the existing system, the decision to restructure the system was taken a year ago.

Approval was accorded to a proposal to reorganise and make the statistical system more responsive to national requirements with increased autonomy as a pre-requisite to enhancement in its credibility. To have better co-ordination and also ensure more acceptability it was also decided that the new set-up, comprising Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS), Population Census Organisation (PCO) and Agriculture Census Organisation, be merged with the statistical division of the Ministry of Finance to create an autonomous Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). However, all the planning is still on paper awaiting action, while the downward drift continues.

Usually public cynicism was focused on inflation figures. Failure to change the base year every 10 years in fact lowered the annual growth numbers. Using a 20 years old base figure instead of 10 leads to inconsistency and wrong comparison. Since September 2005, FBS has not released Large Scale Manufacturing figures, says the SBP's quarterly report. Obviously, there is no serious attempt to knock doors and obtain production figures.

Analysts in the brokerage firms are doing a better job at collating sectorial data for LSM.

At a seminar organised by the Central Bank, of data providers and data users, the officers of FBS painted a dismal picture of the organisation. For 26 years, dozens of statisticians have remained in the same grade. In comparable time a section officer climbs promotional ladder to become an Additional Secretary. There is neither pay nor pride in the job.

FBS has lost more than 50 percent of its statistician who were in Grade 17, due to meagre resources, and is now a headless organisation, with 18 officers using only one computer (PC). It is without a Director-General since the retirement N.A. Larik. Directors who were empowered to release monthly and quarterly data are not allowed to do so. There were 146 persons in the National Accounts Office in 1986.

Now it has only 40 which includes support staff such as peons and sweepers. No pride nor respect has resulted in turning the Statistics Division into a parking lot for the discard in the bureaucracy. Nine secretaries in 10 years tells the whole picture.

The law requires all citizens and companies to provide the demanded data, on time and accurately, to the relevant federal and provincial statistical bodies without manipulation or demur. The confidentiality of the submitted returns is guaranteed. Hindrance attracts penal provisions such as fines and even jail term under the existing law. Trade bodies are providing their production figures to the Ministry of Industries regularly. CBR has the sales tax, excise and customs monthly receipts of the same companies.

FBS has only to do the patchwork between the two sets of production data. Further, why are the provincial industries departments sitting on their haunches? Somebody, needs to kick them to do their duty as required by law to collect the production figures. Inadequate data leads to faulty conclusions. It hinders proper planning. We are now linked to the outside world with Pakistan dollar bonds trading abroad.

International creditors are cruel with those who do not provide accurate and timely data about the performance of the economy.

Changing the name to PBS will not improve the quality of statistics being collated. Inducting professionally qualified persons and empowering them to overhaul and restructure the statistical system to collect data and undertake surveys at the national level to measure our success or failure is needed. The data base and data collection points must be large enough to truly reflect the national picture - good or bad. Timely release of accurate data virtually obliges both government and private entities to take correct economic decisions to the benefit of the economy at large.

Pakistani Taliban take control of Waziristan

Saturday, May 27, 2006

Pakistani Taliban take control of Waziristan

TANK: When the Pakistan Army’s front line, in their war against terrorism, moved away and the Talibans took control of his home town, Baidar decided that it was time to leave.

“The government is helpless. The Talibans, not the religious students but militant Taliban, are in complete control there, “ said the 30 year old Waziristan tribesman. Baidar closed down his medical store in Bazaar at Wana, the main town in South Waziristan, and moved to Tank, just across the boundary in NWFP.

“The businessmen and the educated people are in real danger of being killed by the Talibans on suspicion of being informers of the America government,” said Baidar, who unlike many others, dared to give his name.

In the words of President Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistan Army has defeated and chased Al- Qaeda out of South Waziristan in all the encounter that took place between late 2003 to early 2005.

Now the focus has switched to North Waziristan, where more than 300 militants have been killed since the middle of 2005. A few of them are the leading members of Al Qaeda, such as an Egyptian wanted for the 1998 bombings of US embassies in East Africa, but most of the 75 or so foreigners killed were from Chechnya or Islamist guerrillas from Central Asia.

In an interview with Avt Khyber TV on May 19, an independent Pashto-language channel, President Musharraf said that the operations against Al -Qaeda have been very successful, but then he contradicted his statement by saying, “Extremism and Talibanisation are spreading and now the focus has shifted from terrorism to extremism.”

“If you say there is peace, I would agree with you that there is no trouble but if you ask whether there is any government I would not agree,” said a member of the Mehsuds, the other dominant tribe in South Waziristan, who had also moved to NWFP to escape the tyranny of the Talibans. The old social order has vanished from the towns and villages of Waziristan, a region populated by some of the most disobedient tribes on Pakistan’s side of the Pashtun Belt.

As the military campaign has moved towards the north, political assassinations have became common in the south. Unknown gunmen have started to ambush administrators, pro-government tribal elders and journalists and force them to flee with their families to the settled areas of NWFP. “Almost all Malakan (pro-government tribal elders) have left Waziristan,” said Baidar.

A power vacuum has opened the door for militant Muslim clerics, dubbed Pakistani Taliban by the media. President Musharraf said that they have no single leader, although they may have ties with Mullah Mohammad Omar, the Afghan Taliban chief. Residents say that his men roam around Wana with rocket launchers mounted on the back of their pick-up trucks.

“We have brought peace in Waziristan. We have eliminated excesses, oppression, robberies and drugs from Waziristan,” said Omar during a telephonic interview with Reuters. The militants have also opened offices and set up check posts in Wana’s main market, to collect fees from vehicles entering the towns. They have also set up a court to conduct summary trials. Executions have become rare since the clerics increased the fine for murders, although a man convicted of killing his son was shot dead in front of a crowd of 150 tribesmen in late March.

A veteran of the Mujahideen Guerrilla War against the Soviet Occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, Omar later fought with the Taliban and met Al-Qaeda Chief Osama bin Laden.

Now, after being granted an amnesty and being paid to stop causing trouble in 2004, Omar has openly admitted of recruiting fighters to send them across the border to fight the US and Afghan forces.

He has also accused President Musharraf of “allying with the infidels”. Critics say the government erred by giving militant leaders too much respect, and by buying them off.

“These deals gave legitimacy to these people and that’s why they are now expanding their influence,” said Rahimullah Yusufzai, a newspaper editor and expert on tribal affairs. “Much of the Talibanisation was spread by the militants who were handed out massive bribes,” stated a Daily Times editorial in May.

According to the Intelligence and government officials, majority of the deeply conservative and largely illiterate people support the self-styled Taliban of Waziristan, which is worsening the situation. These Talibans advise men to grow beards and veil their women, ban the cameras, and are trying to stop people from watching television or listening to the music. President Musharraf cited a report he had received of televisions being set ablaze in Malakand. He said, “This is a Talibanised mindset. It has spread and needs to be stopped. Now we are in a different ball game...h

The government is trying to set up councils of respected tribal elders and administrators, but will take time. In the meantime, President Musharraf says military operations must go on, although the critics fear Pakistan will suffer from the backlash for years to come.

He also warned that the Taliban’s influence was spreading from tribal areas to the neighboring areas. In Tank, armed men roam the streets at night on motorcycles. They’re Taliban, townsfolk mutter in fear. “It is just like cancer. It is bound to spread if not properly treated,” said a senior security officer in Peshawar. reuters

A.Q. Khan's family not allowed to meet him.

Mystery of Pakistan's cloistered scientist

By Gordon Corera
BBC security correspondent

AQ Khan is allowed few visitors these days.

The large house in a plush district of Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, that was once his home is now his prison.

Dr Khan has been confined to house arrest since his confession in February 2004 that, as the man who had helped deliver the nuclear bomb to his native Pakistan, he had gone on to transfer nuclear secrets and technology to an array of countries around the world.

Next to the main building sits a guesthouse in which Dr Khan used to entertain his friends and contacts, including many of the Western businessmen who worked closely with him.

Now, the guesthouse is the site of the security detail that monitors Dr Khan's movements and ensures there is no unauthorised contact between him and the outside world.

One of the few people who had been allowed to visit regularly was his daughter Ayesha.

But for the past five weeks, she has been unable to enter her father's house.

No other family members are allowed to visit.

Investigation 'over'

The BBC has also learnt that other measures have been put in place to tighten security.

These include a gate that has been covered up so that no-one can look into the garden and which ensures that Dr Khan cannot look out.

In recent months, other friends and former associates of Dr Khan have been instructed not to talk to journalists or anyone else about him after previously being allowed to do so.

The timing for the tightening of security is mysterious.

It comes at almost exactly the same moment that Pakistani officials announced their investigation of Dr Khan was over.

They also released the last of his former staff who had been held by authorities for more than two years.

Pakistani officials say they have shared all the information they have with international investigators, including those from the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The matter is closed, Pakistani officials say, hoping that the world may one day slowly forget about the man the government in Islamabad once feted as a national hero.

Iranian question

Meanwhile, the US has been quietly but consistently pressing for greater access to Dr Khan.

The CIA would like to talk to him direct but Pakistan has resisted, saying instead that questions have to be passed through Pakistani intelligence officers who will then return with the answers.

The official line is that Pakistan should be trusted with the investigation and anything else would be a violation of national sovereignty.

But the suspicion has always been that the authorities are resistant to direct questioning for fear that Dr Khan might suggest Pakistani government or military officials knew of his transfers of nuclear technology to North Korea, Iran or Libya.

The US wants to talk to Dr Khan not primarily to answer the question of Pakistani government involvement but rather to see if the scientist could reveal more about his support for Iran's nuclear programme.

The US particularly wants to know whether Iran is peaceful in intent, as Tehran claims, or geared towards making nuclear weapons, as Washington argues.

In the case of Libya, Dr Khan supplied a nuclear weapons design and investigators wonder whether he could have done the same with Iran.

Confirmation of any such transfer would be highly useful for the US but would also cause embarrassment for President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan.

But the mystery remains as to why security would be tightened at the house and visits restricted at this time.

Dr Khan himself remains isolated, his health reportedly deteriorating.

Trapped with him are the secrets regarding what exactly he did, why he did it and precisely who helped him.

IRAQ: PAKISTANIS ARRESTED NEAR BASRA WITH LARGE ARMS CACHE

IRAQ: PAKISTANIS ARRESTED NEAR BASRA WITH LARGE ARMS CACHE

Basra, 24 May (AKI) - Three Pakistanis arrested in southern Iraq in recent says were in possession of large quantities of arms and explosives, says the police chief of al-Zubayr, Ahmad Ali. He told Adnkronos International (AKI) that the border police had tipped them off that "some infiltrators had entered the country illegally and were based in al-Zubayr [south of Basra]. "Our investigators soon identified three non-Arabs in the area and after several days of surveillance, it emerged that three Pakistanis had entered illegally across the Iranian border and were in possession of large quantities of arms and powerful explosives."
"This confirmed out suspicions that they were involved in criminal activities" Ali noted, adding that the three Pakistanis "are being interrogated to discovered who financed and sent them."

Virginia Jihad Network trial update

Jurors Hear Clashing Profiles of Accused Jihad Network Member

By Jerry Markon and Mary Beth Sheridan
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, May 23, 2006; B06

The last man charged as a member of the "Virginia jihad network" went on trial yesterday, with prosecutors saying Ali Asad Chandia trained at a terrorist camp and helped a foreign terrorist group, while defense attorneys portrayed him as a kindly third-grade teacher who did nothing wrong.

Chandia, 29, is accused of helping Lashkar-i-Taiba acquire an electronic autopilot system and video equipment for use on model airplanes. The group, which the U.S. government has designated a terrorist organization, is battling the government of India and runs terrorist camps in Pakistan. Prosecutors said Chandia trained at one of those camps in late 2001 or early 2002, although they acknowledged that they have no eyewitnesses to that.

"He is a radical Islamic jihadist who glorified the use of lethal violence against non-Muslims whether they be in India or the United States," Assistant U.S. Attorney David Laufman said in opening statements at Chandia's trial in U.S. District Court in Alexandria. He said a search of Chandia's College Park home found materials praising the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, including "images of our fellow citizens jumping from the burning towers to their deaths." Chandia was indicted in September.

Defense attorney Marvin Miller said that Chandia, who teaches at a Muslim school in Maryland, is "a scholar in his Islamic faith." He denied that Chandia trained at a Lashkar camp, saying he was in Pakistan to attend his brother's wedding.

"He is not on trial for what he thinks -- or he shouldn't be. And he is not on trial for what he believes," Miller told the 10-woman, four-man jury, which includes two alternates. "He is on trial for you to decide whether or not he did anything."

The trial brought back some of the emotion surrounding what prosecutors called the jihad network case. Over the past several years, 10 Muslim men have been convicted of training for holy war against the United States or inspiring others to do so. The training included playing paint ball in the Virginia countryside, and some of the defendants attended Lashkar camps in Pakistan.

Federal officials have described the case as one of the most important domestic terrorism prosecutions since Sept. 11, but some Northern Virginia Muslims have accused prosecutors of targeting their religious community.

About a dozen supporters of Chandia's were in court yesterday. One Maryland man, Steve Lapham, briefly disrupted jury selection by yelling: "I object to these show trials against my Muslim American neighbors!" As court security officers led him away, he added: "It's a joke!"

Tanweer Ahmad, whose daughter attends Dar al-Huda school in College Park, where Chandia works, said in an interview that he views the case as "just the government, again, trying to play on people's fears."

Chandia is charged with four counts of providing or conspiring to provide material support to Lashkar. If convicted, he faces up to 60 years in prison. Also named in the indictment is Mohammed Ajmal Khan, a British national whom prosecutors called a top Lashkar official. He is serving a prison term in Britain for terrorism offenses.

Prosecutors said Chandia traveled to a Lashkar office in Lahore, Pakistan, in November 2001 shortly after resigning from his job at a Costco store. He is accused of working with other defendants to help Khan obtain equipment for the group. The equipment allegedly included 50,000 paint balls and components of an "electronic automatic pilot system" that can be installed on a small remote-controlled airplane using Global Positioning System coordinates.

It is unclear whether any of the equipment was used by Lashkar -- or if any was intended for use in the United States. "Nobody knows where it is. It's never been seen," Miller told the jury.

Jamaat-ud Daawa(Lashkar-e-Toiba) kidnapping of Christian children and selling them into slavery

Reunited: boys saved from slavers Marie Colvin, Lahore

A SENIOR member of an Islamic organisation linked to Al-Qaeda is funding his activities through the kidnapping of Christian children who are sold into slavery in Pakistan. The Sunday Times has established that Gul Khan, a wealthy militant who uses the base of Jamaat-ud Daawa (JUD) near Lahore, is behind a cruel trade in boys aged six to 12. They are abducted from remote Christian villages in the Punjab and fetch nearly £1,000 each from buyers who consign them to a life of misery in domestic servitude or in the sex trade. Khan was exposed in a sting organised by American and Pakistani missionaries who decided to save 20 such boys and return them to their homes. Using a secret camera, they filmed him accepting $28,500 (£15,000) from a Pakistani missionary posing as a businessman who said he wanted to set up an operation in which the boys would beg for cash on the streets. Khan was observed driving from the meeting with a knapsack full of cash to the JUD headquarters at Muridke, near Lahore. The base was funded by Osama Bin Laden, the Al-Qaeda leader, in the late 1990s and the JUD’s assets were frozen last month by the US Treasury after it was designated a terrorist organisation. The US State Department declared the JUD a front for another organisation, Lashkar-i-Toiba, a terrorist group banned in Pakistan which joined with Al-Qaeda in an attempt to assassinate President Pervez Musharraf in 2003. Khan, who regularly stays at the JUD’s base, broke his promise to hand over the 20 boys on receipt of the cash and took the Pakistani missionary’s assistant hostage while he checked that the dollars were genuine. The boys were eventually freed in a dishevelled and malnourished state after being locked in a room for five months during which they suffered frequent beatings. Last week I accompanied six of the boys on journeys of up to 15 hours to their homes, where they were greeted with astonishment and jubilation by families who had given them up for dead. The mother of Akash Aziz, who was kidnapped as he played with his friends after school, was so astonished that she could barely move or speak at first. The undercover missionaries have demanded the prosecution of Khan and an investigation into his work for the JUD, which claims to have created a “pure Islamic environment” at Muridke. Hafez Muhamed Sayeed, its leader, was accused of inciting riots in Pakistan this year with speeches denouncing western “depravity” after a Danish newspaper published cartoons of the prophet Muhammad.

New Afghan Foreign Minister:Taliban plan attacks from Pakistan, says Spanta

Taliban plan attacks from Pakistan, says Spanta
KABUL, May 21: Leaders of the Taliban movement and Al Qaeda are living in Pakistan where they organise attacks in Afghanistan, the Afghan foreign minister said on Sunday, in the latest in a war of words between the neighbours.

“We know that the ideological leadership and also political leadership or military leadership of the Taliban and also other international terrorist groups ... are living in Pakistan,” Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta told a news conference.

Asked if militant attacks against Afghan and US-led troops were orchestrated in Pakistan, he said: “Exactly, that is the case.”

Spanta, who became foreign minister last month, said he would travel to Pakistan in coming weeks and ask Islamabad to “decisively” campaign against the militants.

He said Afghanistan wanted friendship with Pakistan and that was only possible with mutual respect and security.

Spanta said that both Afghanistan and India were victims of terrorism and organised crime and needed close relations. But he said Pakistan need not be alarmed by the close ties between New Delhi and Kabul.

“Common risks, whether terrorism or organised crime, threaten both countries and for this reason the two countries should cooperate, strategically and defensively,” he said.—Reuters

Congo virus outbreak suspected in Pakistan's Kashmir

Congo virus outbreak suspected in Pakistan's Kashmir

20 May 2006 14:13:35 GMT

Source: Reuters

By Abu Arqam Naqash MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan, May 20 (Reuters) - Health officials in Pakistan's Kashmir said on Saturday authorities were testing for a suspected outbreak of the potentially deadly Congo virus among survivors of last October's devastating earthquake. The suspected cases were found in Nauseri village, 40 km (25 miles) northeast of Muzaffarabad. "We suspect an outbreak of Congo virus in the area and we have dispatched a special team there to assess the situation," Sardar Mahmood Ahmed Khan, district health officer in Muzaffarabad, told Reuters. "We received three persons with symptoms suggesting they had contracted the viral haemorrhagic fever," Khan added. Congo virus is found in many countries in Africa, Europe and Asia and belongs to the same family as the deadly Ebola virus found in Africa. Doctors say people contract the virus from direct contact with blood or other infected tissues from livestock, and they can also become infected from a tick bite. Rashad Akhundov, an official with the International Committee of the Red Cross in the capital of Pakistani Kashmir, said eight patients suffering from high fever and altered consciousness had been referred to the aid agency's health centre in the city. "We cannot confirm Congo fever but they have been transferred from Muzaffarabad and are on their way to Islamabad," Akhundov said.

Pakistan sheltering Taliban, says British officer

Pakistan sheltering Taliban, says British officer

Declan Walsh in Kandahar
Friday May 19, 2006

A senior British officer accused Pakistan of allowing the Taliban to use its territory as a "headquarters" for attacks on western troops in Afghanistan as insurgents struck on multiple fronts yesterday.

In one of the worst 24-hour periods since they were ousted from power in 2001, the Taliban launched two suicide bombs, numerous firefights and a massive assault on a village in Helmand province, where 3,300 British soldiers are being deployed. The violence, which started on Wednesday night, caused 105 deaths including 87 Taliban, 15 police, an American civilian and a Canadian woman soldier, according to the highest estimates. British forces were not involved.

Colonel Chris Vernon, chief of staff for southern Afghanistan, said the Taliban leadership was coordinating its campaign from the western Pakistani city of Quetta, near the Afghan border. "The thinking piece of the Taliban is out of Quetta in Pakistan. It's the major headquarters," he told the Guardian. "They use it to run a series of networks in Afghanistan."

The Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, echoed these comments by accusing Pakistan of arming the insurgents. "Pakistani intelligence gives military training to people and then sends them to Afghanistan with logistics," the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press news agency quoted him as saying.

Col Vernon said the Quetta leadership controlled "about 25" mid-level commanders dotted across the Afghan south, one of whom was captured last month. He declined to name him.

The unusually forthright British criticism, reflecting sentiments normally expressed in private by western commanders, drew a furious denial from the Pakistani military.

"It is absolutely absurd that someone is talking like this. If the Taliban leadership was in Quetta we would be out of our minds not to arrest them," said a spokesman, Major General Shaukat Sultan. "They should give us actionable intelligence so that we can take action."

The clash reflects growing tensions between Pakistan and the west as Nato prepares to assume command of southern Afghanistan from the US on July 31.

About 7,000 troops from Britain, Canada and the Netherlands are deploying to Helmand, Kandahar and Uruzgan provinces, while another 1,000 Americans and Romanians will be stationed in Zabul.

Kandahar has suffered the worst upheaval, much of it apparently aimed at unbalancing the Nato mission before it can settle down. Canadian troops have been pummelled with a string a suicide attacks, roadside bombs and an axe attack on an officer during a village meeting.

On Wednesday a suicide bomber rammed into a UN vehicle near the main coalition base at Kandahar airport, killing himself and injuring the driver. Col Vernon said he had tightened security on the road after similar attacks in March by "imposing Northern Ireland procedures". On Wednesday night hundreds of Taliban fighters assailed Musa Qala village in northern Helmand, sparking an eight-hour battle that officials said left 40 militants and 13 police dead.

Having convulsed the volatile south, the guerrilla summer offensive now threatens the rest of the country. Yesterday suicide bombers struck in the normally peaceful cities of Herat in the west and Ghazni to the north, killing an Afghan motorcyclist and a US police trainer.

"This is the worst things have been since the fall of the Taliban," said a western source in Kandahar.

Across the border, worried British and Canadian diplomats are pressing the Pakistani government to take a tougher approach to the Taliban. Although Pakistan forces have killed or arrested hundreds of al-Qaida suspects since 2001, it has detained only a handful of Taliban officials. The last big catch was spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi, who was arrested in October 2005 after his mobile phone was traced to Quetta.

"Clearly the Taliban are at large in Baluchistan, operating in Quetta. Obviously that's a cause for concern," said a British diplomat in Islamabad. "There's no evidence of a serious network of Taliban camps but it's easy for them to take cover in Afghan refugee camps."

The 930-mile border, most of it barren mountains and desert, is notoriously porous. Maj Gen Sultan said that it was impossible for Pakistani officials to discriminate between ordinary Afghans and Taliban insurgents.

Col Vernon did not say whether Mullah Omar, the Taliban's leader, was also sheltering in Quetta. Relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan worsened sharply in March after Afghan allegations that Omar, Osama bin Laden and more than 100 Taliban leaders were hiding in Pakistan.

The Taliban fight has also become a propaganda war. The insurgents regularly paste "night letters" - threatening tracts against "collaborators" - on walls and doors in southern villages. A Taliban radio station has also started operating in Helmand, where the British troops are being deployed. Nato commanders are retaliating, pushing local media to publicise their successes. Domestic pressure means western journalists are also coming under scrutiny.

Pakistani Government committed to Islamization of all laws

Gov't committed to Islamization of all laws: Pak minister

A religious affairs minister in Pakistan has told the upper house of Parliament that the government was committed to Islamization of all laws.

Replying to a query by Senator Maulana Rahat Hussain of the opposition Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal during a question hour Wednesday evening, the minister said the government was alive to fulfillment of its constitutional obligation to work for Islamization of all laws.

He said that the federal Sharia Court had examined more than 2000 laws, federal as well as provincial, and had directed amendments in about 350 laws to bring these in line with Islamic injunctions.

The constitution of Pakistan says that no law shall be enacted repugnant to the Islamic teachings enshrined in the Holy Quran and sunnahs of the Holy Prophet (PBUH).

Article 227 and 31 of the constitution make it clear that the state's religion is Islam and mandates measures to be taken to enable Muslims, individually and collectively, to lead lives in accordance with Islamic principles, the minister said.

Hindu/Christian pro-LeT rallies were stage managed

Minorities slam pro-Jamaatud Dawa rallies in Sindh

By Mohammed Rizwan

LAHORE: A leading Christian organisation in Punjab has condemned the pro-Jamatud Dawa rallies by Christians and Hindus in Sindh, particularly haris of Thar, saying that it was an ‘establishment-sponsored’ ploy to glorify the JD.

“We have nothing to do with Jamaatud Dawa or any of its subsidiaries, and we see it as a ploy to steer JD clear of hot waters,” said National Commission of Justice and Peace (NCJP) Executive Secretary Peter Jacob.

The US State Department put the JD, and its welfare wing Idara-e-Khidmat-e-Khalaq, on its watch list recently, which resulted in a handful of Christians and Hindu peasants gathering in front of the Hyderabad and Karachi Press Clubs to show their support for the party, on Monday and Tuesday. Sources say these peasants were absolutely illiterate and yet they were carrying placards and banners written in English, adding that they were most probably paid to hold the placards and banners.

“These are age-old tactics used to paint minorities as if they are in favour of religious organisations, but this is not the case,” said Jacob, adding, “In the past too, we had so-called leaders in the Christian community who were thick with state organisations and religious parties, and brought a bad name to Christians. A similar thing is happening now.” “I demand the government stop manipulating minorities for its benefit,” he said.

JD however said the people of Thar had an ‘age-old’ association with the party, and the rallies were a natural show of support. “We have been working with the desert communities of Thar that consist of Hindus and Christians, who felt the need and demonstrated in our favour,” said Yahya Mujahid, a JD spokesman from Karachi.

“Putting JD on the watch list was not a welcome decision for religious parties, and the Jamaat-e-Islami and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam have expressed their solidarity with JD, although verbally,” said Mujahid when asked why JD’s natural religious allies were not holding the rallies. “I don’t think the minorities of Punjab will come out for JD because there are no big development efforts by JD there,” he added.

SBP concealing external debt data

SBP concealing external debt data

COMMERCE REPORTER
LAHORE - State Bank of Pakistan is concealing the latest data of Pakistan’s external debt and liabilities, it was learnt on Wednesday.
On Tuesday the SBP has issued old data of external debt and liabilities for July to December 2005 period and did not release the latest statistics relating to debt and liabilities from January to April 2006 period of the current financial year.
It was learnt that the external debt and liabilities have mounted further with the launching of $800 million global bonds and inflow of new loans, released by multilateral donor agencies from July 2005 to April 2006 period of this fiscal.
A few months ago the SBP has issued external loans and liabilities data, relating to July to December 2005 period and instead of giving latest picture of external debt, the SBP has issued same data on Tuesday.
According to available data, Pakistan’s external debt has declined by 430 million dollars in six months of the ongoing financial year. The total external debt and liabilities stand at 35.245 billion dollars by December 31, 2005 as against 35.675 billion dollars in June 2005.

Declassified CIA report shows Pakistan transferred nukes to Syria and got missile technology from China

Declassified CIA report.


Despite these efforts, in 2004 Chinese entities continued to work with Pakistan and Iran on
ballistic missile-related projects and firms in China provided dual- use missile-related items, raw
materials, or assistance to Libya and North Korea. Chinese entity assistance has helped Pakistan
achieve domestic serial production of solid-propellant SRBMs and has supported Pakistan's
development of solid-propellant MRBMs. Chinese-entity assistance also helped Iran move
toward its goal of becoming self-sufficient in the production of ballistic missiles.

Former Pakistani Army Chief Mirza Aslam Beg told Iran to attack Israel

Iran Sought Advice in Pakistan on Attack

By KATHY GANNON
ASSOCIATED PRESS

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) -

Pakistan's former army chief says Iranian officials came to him for advice on heading off an attack on their nuclear facilities, and he in effect advised them to take a hostage - Israel.

Retired Gen. Mirza Aslam Beg said he suggested their government "make it clear that if anything happens to Iran, if anyone attacks it - it doesn't matter who it is or how it is attacked - that Iran's answer will be to hit Israel; the only target will be Israel."

Since Beg spoke in an interview with The Associated Press, echoes of his thinking have been heard in Iran, though whether they result directly from his advice isn't known.

Mohammad Ebrahim Dehghani, an Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander, was quoted last week as saying that if "America does make any mischief, the first place we target will be Israel." The threat was disavowed the next day by Brig. Gen. Alireza Afshar, deputy to the chief of Iran's military staff, who said it was Dehghani's "personal view and has no validity as far as the Iranian military officials are concerned."

And on Tuesday, Israel's vice premier, Shimon Peres, warned that "Those who threaten to destroy are in danger of being destroyed."

In the AP interview that took place several weeks before these threats were exchanged, Beg said a delegation from the Iranian Embassy in Pakistan had come to his office in January, seeking advice as Western pressure mounted on Iran to abandon its nuclear effort. Beg said he offered lessons learned from his experience dealing with India's nuclear threat.

He said he told the Iranians, whom he did not identify, that Pakistan had suspected India of collaborating with Israel in planning an attack on its nuclear facilities. By then, Pakistan had the bomb too. But both countries had adopted a strategy of ambiguity, he said, and Pakistan sent an emissary to India to warn that no matter who attacked it, Pakistan would retaliate against India.

"We told India frankly that this is the threat we perceive and this is the action we are taking and the action we will take. It was a real deterrent," he recalled telling the Iranians.

He said he also advised them to "attempt to degrade the defense systems of Israel," harass it through the Hamas government of the Palestinian Authority and the Hezbollah movement in Lebanon, and put second-strike nuclear weapons on submarines.

Although analysts are divided on how soon Iran might have nuclear weapons, Beg said he is sure Iran has had enough time to develop them. But he insists the Pakistani government didn't help, even though he says former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto once told him the Iranians offered more than $4 billion for the technology.

Ephraim Asculai, a former senior official with the Israel Atomic Agency Commission, said he didn't think Beg's remarks reflected official Pakistani policy.

Asculai said he believed Iran learned more from Iraq than from Pakistan, recalling that as soon as the 1991 Gulf War broke out, Saddam Hussein fired missiles at Israel, even though it wasn't in the U.S.-led coalition fighting Iraq.

Beg became army chief of staff in 1988, a year after Pakistan confirmed CIA estimates that it had nuclear weapons capability. He served until 1991 and now runs his own think tank. He speaks freely and in detail about the nuclear issue, but many critical blank spots remain and the subject remains one of great sensitivity, clouded by revelations in 2004 that A.Q. Khan, who pioneered Pakistan's nuclear bomb, sold nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea.

The bigger picture has also changed radically. Pakistan is now a U.S. ally in the war on terrorism, and Asculai said "Pakistani government officials have often suggested that they would be willing to have ties with Israel under certain conditions."

In the AP interview, Beg detailed nearly 20 years of Iranian approaches to obtain conventional arms and then technology for nuclear weapons. He described an Iranian visit in 1990, when he was army chief of staff.

"They didn't want the technology. They asked: 'Can we have a bomb?' My answer was: By all means you can have it but you must make it yourself. Nobody gave it to us."

The United States imposed sanctions on Pakistan in 1990, suspecting it was developing a nuclear bomb. In 1998, confirmation came with Pakistan's first nuclear weapons tests.

Although Beg insisted his government never gave Iran nuclear weapons, Pakistan now acknowledges that Khan sold Iran centrifuges to produce weapons-grade uranium, though without his government's knowledge.

In a televised confession Khan insisted he acted without authorization in selling nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea, saying the proliferation took place between 1989 and 2000.

Khan has been pardoned by President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, and Pakistan has refused to hand him over to the United States or the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency for questioning.

According to Beg, Iran first sent emissaries to Pakistan in the latter years of its 1980-88 war with Iraq with a shopping list worth billions of dollars, mostly for spare parts for its air force. It offered in return to underwrite the development plan of Gen. Zia-ul Haq, then Pakistan's ruler.

"Gen. Zia did not agree," he said.

Much of what Beg says cannot be independently confirmed, and the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency did not respond to repeated requests for comment on Beg's version of events.

Another angle on these early contacts comes from Tanvir Ahmed, Pakistan's ambassador to Iran from 1987-1989. He said he had a rare meeting with Iran's nuclear inner circle in January 1988.

"It was the only time I was allowed in the inner sanctum of the nuclear discussions. I was asked to a lunch. ... they wanted to know whether Pakistan would help them on the nuclear side. They never said they wanted nuclear weapons. They said they wanted to master the nuclear cycle," Ahmed recalled.

Ahmed said he told them it was unlikely, but promised to relay the request to Zia. He said Zia told him: "You gave them the right answer."

London Bombing: UK bomber got 200 calls from Pakistan

UK bomber got 200 calls from Pakistan
ISLAMABAD, May 11: British and Pakistani investigators are focusing on almost 200 phone calls made from Pakistan to one of the London bombers in a bid to uncover his links to Al Qaeda, security officials here said on Thursday.

One of the bombers may have also travelled to Waziristan, they said.

A British official report published on Thursday said two of the attackers, Mohammad Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer, were in Pakistan from November 2004 to February 2005 and likely had contacts with Al Qaeda and received “operational training”.

British Home Secretary John Reid told parliament after the release of the report that Khan and Tanweer are “likely to have met Al Qaeda figures” during their visit to Pakistan.

“There were a series of suspicious contacts from an unknown individual or individuals in Pakistan in the immediate run-up to the bombing: we do not know their content,” he said.—AFP

Educated Muslims found to have supported September 11 attacks

Educated Muslims found to have supported September 11 attacks

By Khalid Hasan

WASHINGTON: A Gallop poll survey of eight Muslim countries has shown that those who applauded the 9/11 attacks tended to be better educated and more affluent. They were not necessarily more religious that other Muslims. The poll found that those who regularly attended the mosque were no more likely to back terrorism than those who did not. This also held true of Muslims who believed religion to be important in daily life. According to a Washington Post report, about 25 percent of all Muslims with a higher-than-average income supported the 9/11 attacks, more than the less affluent and the poor Muslims did. Among high school or college graduates, 44 percent held extremist views, compared with 38 percent of less educated Muslims. The unemployed were no more likely to back terrorism than those who worked full time. Extremists were only half as likely as moderates to believe that the US would allow people in the Middle East to fashion their own political future.

Almost 59% of Pakistanis are still illiterate

Friday, May 12, 2006

Almost 59% of Pakistanis are still illiterate’

By Irfan Ghauri

ISLAMABAD: The government’s claims that the Education Sector Reforms Programme (ESRP) has improved the literacy situation in the country have been negated by a report, prepared by the Asian South Pacific Bureau of Adult Education, Daily Times learnt.

In 2001, the government finalised the Education Sector Reforms (ESR) Action Plan 2002-2006 under the ESRP. The plan aimed at increasing the overall literacy rate from 49 percent in 2000-01 to 60 percent by 2005-06; the primary school enrolment rate from 66 to 76 percent; middle school enrolment rate from 47.5 to 55 percent; the secondary school enrolment from 29.5 to 40 percent and higher education enrolment from 2.6 to 5 percent. The report, however, ranks Pakistan last among the 14 developing countries in the Asia Pacific in terms of educational improvement. “Two out of every three Pakistani adults are illiterate; 45.3 percent people have no access to early childhood care and education; 40.3 percent have no access to primary schools and 76.1 percent to secondary school” said the report.

Asian South Pacific Bureau of Adult Education is a network of 200 organizations and individuals involved in formal and non-formal adult education and is partner in the Global Campaign for Education. The report also covers improvements in the education sector in 2005. It shows that 58.9 percent of the Pakistani population is still illiterate. The report said that Pakistan’s primary school teachers are overworked and under- trained as there is only one teacher for 51 students at an average. To substantiate the report, a Education Ministry official said, “We badly missed all targets set under the ESR plan. It is unlikely that we could meet the targets.”

Pakistani students caught plagiarizing(Students of High Energy Physics)

From TFT: 12-May Plagiarism could affect Pak-Swiss research ties
Ali Waqar The scandal has shaken PU and put a dampener on HEC's PhD programme in natural sciences

LAHORE: At a time when Pakistan is seeking increased educational and technical exchanges with Switzerland, plagiarism by four PhD students at the Punjab University (PU), all faculty members, of an article written by the former Director-General of the Geneva-based Centre Européen pour la Recherche Nucleaire (CERN), has put the ongoing Islamabad-CERN collaboration in doldrums.

Sources at the Higher Education Commission (HEC) say CERN has written a letter (dated May 3, 2006) to concerned officials in Islamabad and Lahore and warned that the unacceptable behaviour of PU faculty members would mar relations between Pakistan and CERN.

Ironically, during a recent visit to Islamabad of Swiss foreign minister, Pakistan and Switzerland agreed to work together for greater economic and development cooperation and increase educational and technological exchanges.

Also, President Pervez Musharraf, during his January 2006 visit to Switzerland, paid a special visit to CERN Headquarters. He was accompanied by five government ministers as well as the current and former presidents of Pakistan’s Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC). Incidentally, Pakistan’s cooperation with CERN was started by former PAEC President, Dr Ishfaq Ahmad.

During that visit, chairman PAEC and CERN DG, Robert Aymar, signed an addendum to the 2003 Protocol Agreement covering the supply of additional equipment for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). They also signed a letter of intent aimed at strengthening scientific and technical co-operation between CERN and Pakistan. The document envisaged an extension of the existing partnership not only in new accelerators, detectors and information technologies, but also in educating and training scientists and technical experts.

The report of these documents is available in the national and international press and also on the CRN Courier-International Journal of High Energy Physics-Volume 46, Number 2. According to the reports, CERN and Pakistan relations developed in 1994. There are currently 75 Pakistani physicists and engineers taking part in three major CERN projects: CMS, ATLAS and the development of the Computing Grid for the LHC (LCG).

“This incident of Pakistani students plagiarising a paper from a Switzerland-based research institute will definitely affect relations between Pakistani and Swiss research organisations,” an observer told TFT.

Senior PU teachers declare recent cases of plagiarism a matter of shame for the well-reputed university. Expressing deep concern over the incident, they told TFT that the scandal could hamper Pakistan’s ties with reputed research organisations all over the world. They have urged the PU and HEC administrations and the government of Pakistan to take strict action against the plagiarists.

John Ellis, advisor to the CERN Director General for relations with Non-Member States, in a special letter to the HEC Chairman, Prof Dr Attaur Rehman, and the PU Vice- Chancellor, Lt-Gen (Retd) Arshad Mahmood, has confirmed plagiarism by PU students of an article written five years ago by Professor CH Llewellyn Smith of Oxford University.

Sources say some responsible PU authorities drew CERN’s attention to the fact that the four PhD students – Rashid Ahmad, M Saeed Alam, Sohail Afzal Tahir and Maqsood Ahmad – from PU’s Centre for High Energy Physics (CHEP) had copied parts of Professor Llewellyn’s publication word for word and submitted it as a new paper titled ‘The Benefits of Basic Sciences’. This paper was published in the names of the abovementioned teachers in the September 2002 edition of the online magazine ‘Science in Africa’.

John Ellis’ letter reads: “According to my personal reading of both articles, about 90 percent of the article by PU faculty members is identical, word for word, with large segments of the earlier article by our former DG. I see no original idea or synthesis in the later article by your [PU] faculty members…Prof Smith’s article contains 19 references to pervious academic literature, whereas the article by your members refers to no other articles, whether authored by Prof Smith or anybody else.”

The letter also recalls that under the leadership of Prof Smith when he was DG-CERN, a successful collaboration was established with Pakistan. This cooperation is channelled through the National Centre for Physics and supported by PAEC, HEC, and other Pakistan government agencies. “We were pleased recently to host a visit by your President Musharraf. It would be most regrettable if this incident were to mar relations between Pakistan and CERN,” the letter concluded.

The editor of “Science in Africa”, Dr Janice Limson, on the reports of the publication of the plagiarised article in the magazine, has maintained that “Science in Africa” does not condone or support plagiarism. “We are in touch with authorities at Punjab University, Pakistan, where an investigation of the plagiarism allegation against the authors is being conducted. The article will remain on this site for the time being to facilitate the investigation, following which, it shall be removed,” the editor said.

More importantly, it has been discovered that the director of CHEP, Prof Dr Fazal-e-Aleem and three of the teachers accused of plagiarising Dr Smith’s article are also being accused of plagiarising a 1999 coursework paper of the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada. They allegedly turned the thesis into a research paper and presented it in an international conference in Italy in 2003.

Dr Aleem, who is also working as Director-General of the School of Physical Sciences and has been heading the Doctorial (PhD) Programme at PU for the last four years, not only reproduced the coursework but also wrote to the university vice-chancellor to thank him for presenting Dr Aleem with an “Incentive Award” for producing such a “significant research paper”.

An HEC official told TFT that serious action would be taken against these cases soon. He said HEC had already defined plagiarism and circulated a new booklet, which contained detailed policy guidelines. This booklet was sent to all varsities in the country in March 2006. In fact, HEC chairman Dr Attaur Rahman recently issued a directive to the PU regarding plagiarism, asking the vice-chancellor to strictly check the practice. University authorities circulated this directive to all departments.

The directive says: “Plagiarism includes using published work without referencing (the most common), copying course work essays, collaborating with any other person when the work is supposed to be individual, taking another person’s computer file/programme, submitting another person’s work as one’s own, the use of unacknowledged material published on a website, purchase of model assignments from whatever source, copying another students’ results and falsifying results.”

PU Registrar, Prof Dr Muhammad Naeem Khan says authorities are seriously concerned about the menace of plagiarism. “We have zero tolerance for plagiarism in research publications,” he said. “PU has taken strict action against these allegations and an investigation is underway; qualified researchers are on the job.”

Khan says PU has never spared plagiarists, giving the example of a recent case when a research officer of the Centre for South Asian Studies was fired on plagiarism charges. He had reproduced an Indian author’s book by his own name. Similarly, the varsity also rejected the research work of one candidate because it contained excerpts of an article published in a foreign journal.

Chris Patten in the Wall Street Journal: Pakistan to blame for Afghanistan's problems

What Ails Afghanistan?
By CHRIS PATTEN
May 10, 2006; Page A18
Four and a half years after the fall of the Taliban, Afghanistan is still highly unstable. And it seems to be getting worse rather than better. Every few days now, the resurgent Taliban carry out another deadly attack on school children, aid workers, or local or international security forces. It is a grim return on the outside world's huge investment in Afghanistan. Yet while the international community has done an enormous amount to help the country recover from its failed-state condition, it has resisted tackling the problem at its very root -- Islamabad. Truth is, Afghanistan will never be stable unless Pakistan's military government is replaced with a democracy.
* * *
Pakistan's primary export to Afghanistan today is instability. On the most basic level, attacks in Afghanistan, including suicide bombings, are often planned and prepared at Taliban training camps across the border. Islamabad claims to be doing all it can to stop this infiltration. But President Pervez Musharraf's protests ring hollow when he has done so little to address the concerns raised by his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai, that Taliban leaders are operating out of sanctuaries in Pakistan.
One needs only to look at the military's close relations with religious radicals to understand how unreliable a partner it is in stabilizing Afghanistan. Militant Islamist groups that Mr. Musharraf banned under the international spotlight following 9/11 and the 7/7 London bombings still operate freely. Jihadi organizations have been allowed to dominate relief efforts in the aftermath of the October 2005 earthquake. The military has repeatedly rigged elections, including the 2002 polls, to benefit the religious parties over their moderate, democratic alternatives.
In short, Pakistan is ruled by a military dictatorship in cahoots with violent Islamist extremists. The military has no interest in democracy at home, so why does the outside world expect it to help build democracy next door?
If we are really going to get to the core of Afghanistan's instability, therefore, we must tackle Pakistan. Above all, this means returning the country to democratic rule. After seven years under the military, this is not an easy task, but some institutions are still surviving -- just. The judiciary, for example, has been badly degraded under Mr. Musharraf and his army colleagues; but there is enough left to give hope for some kind of gradual resuscitation.
Moderate political parties are also struggling to hang on; down but not yet out, they could recover relatively quickly if given a democratic chance. Pro-dictatorship voices regularly argue that those parties were highly corrupt and that it was their corruption that justified the 1999 coup that brought Gen. Musharraf to power. But they refuse to condemn or even acknowledge the military's large-scale, institutionalized corruption.
So much has been grabbed by the military that it will take years just to catalog it. The military has acquired vast tracts of state-owned land at nominal rates; its leaders dominate businesses and industries, ranging from banking to cereal factories. Their control of the economy has grown so great it will present an enormous challenge to any future democratically elected government.
That civilian government, when it comes, will also be moderate in character and far more inclined to tackle, in earnest, the scourge of Islamic radicalism. Even in the rigged 2002 election, the religious parties polled only 11% of the vote. A fully free and fair race will squeeze out radical forces that have thrived under military rule and which play havoc with Pakistan's weak neighbor to the northwest. In addition, unlike the military, which always thrives in a hostile environment, a civilian government will have a stronger interest in peace with India. And who wouldn't sleep safer knowing that Pakistan's nuclear bomb was in democratic hands?
Democratic governance would also bring a much-needed opportunity to overhaul the country's education system. As the state system has consistently failed young people for decades, madrassas have taken up the slack, with the most extreme religious schools helping to radicalize tens of thousands of Pakistanis -- and Afghans -- filling heads with intolerant visions of Islam, far from the mainstream of South Asian Muslim society. The country needs a properly funded, state-run, secular education system.
Bringing all this about is an enormous task, but demilitarizing and deradicalizing Pakistan is truly the key to bringing about stability in Afghanistan and the wider region. Governments now working so hard to support Afghanistan will only be spinning their wheels until they make Pakistan a top priority and apply maximum pressure on Islamabad to ensure the 2007 elections are actually free and fair, by applying clearly defined benchmarks and insisting on competent international observers. As long as the military and the madrassas rule just across the border, Afghanistan will never find peace.
Lord Patten, former EU commissioner for external relations, is chairman of the International Crisis Group and chancellor of Oxford University.

Daily Times: Pakistan faces major drought, crisis

EDITORIAL: A tough summer ahead

If our weather experts are right, Pakistan’s agrarian economy is on the brink of shock treatment, leading to water and energy shortages, and, needless to say, a massive politicisation of the natural causes behind it. It happened in 1970 when a cyclone hit East Pakistan, eventually leading to Pakistan’s break up. It happened to governments in the 1990s, and it is bound to happen this time too. Only this time the political problems are mounting and will mix explosively with Nature’s inclemency. The opposition is going to squeeze the last drop of political advantage out of the trouble that lies ahead, and the government is going to be hard pressed to keep the distressed population from thinking negatively about it in the run-up to the 2007 election.

Warning has been received of a possible drought in the country with no signs of significant rainfall over the next two months. The water levels, while rising in some dams because of a fast glacier-melt, are already low in the major dams of Tarbela and Mangla; and in Sindh and Balochistan the signs of a big drought are beginning to manifest themselves. When the dry spell hits the rest of the country in the coming months, crop estimates will have to be drawn down and preparations made to import significant amounts of food next year. The sugar-cane was already short and Pakistan has become a net importer of sugar; now the rice crop, to be planted in the next few months, too may be affected.

Pakistan was hit by history’s biggest earthquake last year and there was much suffering because of the inclement weather in the quake-hit region, but, over-all, the rains were lower by 40 percent; and our mountains received 25 percent less snow. There is no forecast for rains in the next two months and hopes pinned on this year’s monsoons should be tempered by the fact that the eastern winds have been tapering off for the last decade or so. We will have to rely more on gas-based electricity production in the coming months while our major indigenous source of gas in Sui in Balochistan is subject to an unprecedented local unrest disrupting supplies as never before in history.

The national economy is single-crop. We depend on cotton for our survival, but this crop too is going to be damaged by the drought, affecting Punjab the most where 80 percent of it is grown. The estimate from the government is that the coming drought will hit over a million people in Sindh and Balochistan, but we know that in the 1998-2001 drought, 2.21 million people suffered in Sindh and Balochistan. All forecasts can be proved wrong if the drought breaks and there is rain enough to fill our dams, but if that doesn’t happen, we should be ready for a very tough summer in which all sorts of crises will break over the country, not least political ones feeding on natural calamity.

The oil price shock is in the process of being passed on to the citizens while the opposition cries foul questioning the government’s “manipulation” of the duties on imported oil. As people come under pressure from rising prices across the board no one listens to economic analysis. Last time there was drought-related famine in Sindh and Balochistan it gave rise to deep national grievances among the population. The government was found wanting in addressing the crisis in Balochistan where the death of livestock was followed by migration of tribes from their traditional habitat. The triumphalism of having become a nuclear power in 1998 faded away under the national crisis. Sadly, the pain inflicted in Balochistan was isolated and forgotten, but this time emotions are high in the province and when famine comes in the wake of the drought people will expect to be looked after.

At this moment of impending calamity Pakistan finds itself in a crisis of national cohesion. The provinces — barring Punjab — are alienated from the centre on a variety of issues and there is a kind of insurrection going on in Balochistan and the Tribal Areas. On the political front, there is a hostile clerical government in the NWFP which feels paranoid about Islamabad, a deeply divided coalition in Balochistan, while in Sindh there are subsurface rivalries within the ruling coalition facing a very hostile Karachi-based clerical opposition. In Islamabad the ruling party itself is riven with disputes among its squabbling politicians as the “combined opposition” gathers strength to stage a grand nation-wide protest in September. If the drought is long-drawn out and the government can’t save the population from suffering under it, Pakistan could yet enter a dangerous period of instability. *

US air strike wounds at least 3 Pakistanis

US air strike wounds at least 3 Pakistanis

May 8, 2006 — ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - U.S. helicopter gunships wounded at least three Pakistani laborers in a missile strike against suspected Taliban fighters in the South Waziristan tribal region on Monday, according to security officials.

The three were brought to the Pakistani bordertown of Angoor Adda from a nearby mountain where they had been mining for minerals, but another eight men were unaccounted for, said the officials, who requested anonymity.

The attack came on the heels of criticism by a senior U.S. official of Pakistan's efforts to stop Taliban fighters crossing into Afghanistan to attack U.S. and Afghan forces.

Security officials said the attack was launched during the early afternoon on the slopes of a mountain called Khawaja Khizer.

Military and government spokesmen could not be immediately contacted, and it was unknown whether the U.S. side had consulted Pakistani forces before carrying out the attack inside Pakistani territory.

Henry Crumpton, the U.S. State Department's coordinator for counterterrorism, said in Kabul on Saturday; "Has Pakistan done enough? I think the answer is 'no'."

"Not only al Qaeda, but Taliban leadership are primarily in Pakistan, and the Pakistanis know that," Crumpton said, adding that eliminating militant safe havens in Pakistan's tribal lands was crucial.

Crumpton's comments were a rare public admonishment of Pakistan by a member of the U.S. administration, and were a sign of growing frustration with the Taliban's resurgence since late last year.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai had also implored Pakistan to do more, shortly before President George W. Bush visited both countries along with India in early March.

Bush called for the security forces on both sides of the border to enhance their intelligence sharing and coordination.

Copyright 2006 Reuters News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Daily Times: KSE is a joke

LATE NEWS: ‘Casino mentality’ casts doubt on the rise of KSE

KARACHI: Three years ago it was the world’s best performing index, and Pakistan’s stock market has grown more than tenfold since the end of 2001.

But the astronomical increase has prompted stakeholders and analysts to wonder whether the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) can sustain that growth, while lax regulation has raised questions about money laundering. “There is no difference between the stock market and a casino and the gain we see all seems fictitious and engineered,” said Abid Sulheri, of Pakistan’s Sustainable Development Policy Institute, an independent economic watchdog.

Former World Bank vice president Shahid Javed Burki last month warned that Pakistan was facing symptoms that preceded the 1994 Mexican financial crisis. These include a big current account deficit, weak banking system and what he called excessive speculative business activity. Separately a Merrill Lynch report late last month advised investors to slash their holdings in Pakistan’s stock market by two-thirds. The words of caution come at a time when the KSE is worth a total of $56 billion - 25,000 times what it was when the market was founded in 1950.

In 2003, its growth of 110 percent made it the biggest gainer in the world. In the following year it increased by 65 percent and in 2005 it further rose by 55 percent.

Independent economists and watchdogs however attribute this rise to reckless speculation, coupled with allegations that some groups have been manipulating the market.

“The Pakistani market is a sheer speculative market and governed by some groups or influential individuals having inside information,” said Qazi Masood, professor of public finance at Pakistan’s Institute of Business Administration.

The experts point to the fact that private sector companies raised a record Rs 410 billion of credit from banks last year, despite the state bank’s efforts to curb borrowing by raising interest rates. In contrast, the floating of bonds, which are more stable than stocks, remains almost non-existent.

Recent sell-offs of several state-run giants, mainly in the energy sector, have also “artificially jacked up” the market, Masood added. Such initial public offerings now account for more than $17 billion of the market’s total. Burki last month also cited what he called a “casino culture” fuelled by easy credit in Pakistan. He further disputed an assessment by Shamshad Akhtar, the first woman to head Pakistan’s central bank, that Pakistani banks were in reasonably good shape.

Meanwhile Pakistan’s largely undocumented economy also provides opportunities for money laundering, analysts say. “There is no documentation of losers and gainers and this has made the stock market and the real estate business the most attractive venues now for whitening black money,” Sulheri said.

Small investors have often been the victims of this speculative trading. In March 2004, hundreds of them rioted after the exchange stopped them from selling their loss-making holdings for a week in a crashing market.

Investigations showed the market was being manipulated by “someone big” so they could buy shares cheaply from desperate small holders. Mutual funds, regarded as the safest investment mode for small investors, have not developed in Pakistani despite some being listed as far back as 1967, analysts say.

The funds account for a mere 2.5 percent of Gross Domestic Product in Pakistan compared to 28 percent in India. Analysts said strong regulation was also needed to steady the market. Reforms initiated in 1997 under the Asian Development Bank (ADB) assistance have not worked yet, they said.

“Despite the reforms and other measures the market has been not matured enough to lead investment - rather it is still led by speculators and collusion of the cartels making short-term profits,” Masood said. AFP

U.S.: Pakistan A Terror 'Safe Haven'

U.S.: Pakistan A Terror 'Safe Haven'

U.S. Counterterrorism Official Says Likely Bin Laden Is In Pakistan

(AP) The U.S. ambassador in charge of counterterrorism said Saturday that parts of Pakistan are a "safe haven" for militants and that Osama bin Laden was more likely to be hiding there than in Afghanistan.

Henry Crumpton lauded Pakistan for arresting "hundreds and hundreds" of al Qaeda figures but said that it needed to do more.

"Has Pakistan done enough? I think the answer is no. I have conveyed that to them, other U.S. officials have conveyed that to them," he told reporters at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul after talks with Afghan officials.

The chief spokesman for Pakistan's army, Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, dismissed Crumpton's assertion that Pakistan was not doing enough.

"It is totally absurd," he said. "No one has conveyed this thing to Pakistan, and if someone claims so, it is absurd."

Crumpton confirmed that Pakistan had captured Mustafa Setmarian Nasar, a top al Qaeda strategist with a $5 million bounty on his head — whom U.S. and Pakistani officials say was arrested in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta in November. Crumpton said that this showed that Pakistan is working to arrest al Qaeda leaders.

Pakistan has also launched repeated counterterrorism operations in its lawless tribal regions close to the Afghan border over the past two years, in which hundreds of militants and soldiers have died.

"Our expectation is that they will continue to make progress, and we know that it's difficult," he said. Pakistan "can't remain a safe haven for enemy forces, and right now parts of Pakistan are indeed that."

Crumpton said U.S. officials continue to believe that al Qaeda leader bin Laden is somewhere along the Afghan-Pakistani border, and more likely on the Pakistani side.

"If we knew exactly where bin Laden was, we'd go get him," Crumpton said. "But we're very confident he's along the Pakistan-Afghan border somewhere," he said.

He added that there was a "higher probability" bin Laden was hiding on the Pakistan side.

A senior security official in Islamabad said that Crumpton, during meetings with Pakistani intelligence and government officials this week, praised Pakistan for its efforts to hunt down militants.

"I am surprised that he praised us here, and is saying something else in Kabul," the official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record.

The official added that Gen. John Abizaid, the chief of the U.S. Central Command, praised and thanked Pakistan when he met with Pakistani leader Gen. Pervez Musharraf on Thursday.

Meanwhile, gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on a former regional Taliban leader in southwestern Pakistan on Saturday, killing him before fleeing, police said.

Mullah Samad Barakzai, who was head of the Department for Promotion of Virtue And Prevention of Vice in southern Helmand province during the Taliban's hardline rule, was standing near a seminary in Quetta when the assailants attacked him, said Qazi Abdul Wahid, an area police chief.

He said Barakzai, who is also known as Maulvi Yar Mohammed, had been living in Pakistan since the Taliban regime was ousted in late 2001 as a result of U.S.-led attacks.

The man had also distanced himself from the Taliban and had become a supporter of Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government, Wahid said.

"It seems that he has been killed by Taliban," he told The Associated Press.

Pakistan not doing enough on terrorism, U.S. says

Pakistan not doing enough on terrorism, U.S. says

Sat May 6, 2006 7:08 PM IST

By Yousuf Azimy

KABUL (Reuters) - Pakistan is not doing enough to help root out Taliban and al Qaeda leaders who have found safe haven in its lawless tribal lands along the Afghan border, a senior U.S. security official said on Saturday.

Most al Qaeda and Taliban leaders are in Pakistan, and while the United States did not know where Osama bin Laden was hiding, he was probably on the Pakistan side of the border, said Henry Crumpton, State Department coordinator for counterterrorism.

Pakistan, a vital U.S. security ally, has arrested hundreds of al Qaeda members and lost hundreds of its troops battling militants. But Afghan officials have complained insurgents were able to gather support and launch raids from the safety of Pakistani territory.

Violence has intensified in parts of Afghanistan in recent months to its worst level since U.S. and Afghan opposition forces ousted the Taliban in 2001.

"Has Pakistan done enough? I think the answer is 'no'," Crumpton told a news briefing in the Afghan capital, Kabul.

"Not only al Qaeda, but Taliban leadership are primarily in Pakistan, and the Pakistanis know that," Crumpton added.

Relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan deteriorated sharply this year when Afghanistan again said Taliban leaders were operating from Pakistan.

Pakistan rejects accusations it helps the Taliban.

Crumpton said eliminating militant safe havens in Pakistan's tribal lands was crucial.

"It's something we have to help the Pakistanis work through because it cannot remain a safe haven for enemy forces," he said.

"Right now, parts of Pakistan are, indeed, that."

The militants are fighting to oust foreign troops and the government. They have launched a wave of roadside and suicide bombings, attacks and assassinations in recent months.

"We are concerned by the increase in violence in the south and east," Crumpton said.

"We see the alliance of al Qaeda and elements of the Taliban, and, increasingly, narco-traffickers -- a confluence of allies -- is a cause for concern," he said.

More than 7,000 NATO troops, most from Britain, Canada and the Netherlands, are in, or soon arriving in, the dangerous Afghan south.

NATO will take command there from a separate U.S.-led force in July. The deployments will let the United States cut its Afghan force by several thousand, to about 16,500.

Critics say the NATO troops risk getting bogged down in a relentless insurgency, funded in part by the huge opium trade and sustained by havens in Pakistan.

UK Education: Indian pupils have best GCSE results, Pakistanis worst

Education
Indian pupils have best GCSE results

Proportion of boys and girls aged 16 who achieved 5 of more GCSEs (grade A*-C), 1999

GCSE performance
In 1999, a higher proportion of girls than boys in each ethnic group achieved five or more GCSEs at grades A*-C (or equivalent).

Indian pupils are more likely to get these qualifications than other ethnic group, with 66 per cent of Indian girls and 54 per cent of Indian boys doing so in 1999. This contrasts with only 37 per cent of Pakistani and Bangladeshi girls and 22 per cent of Pakistani and Bangladeshi boys.

Of those who achieved five or more A*-C grade GCSEs, only half of Black pupils achieved very high results (8 or more A*-C grades) whereas at least two-thirds of all other ethnic groups achieved this level.

Between 1997 and 1999 all ethnic groups, with the exception of Pakistani and Bangladeshis, saw a rise in achievement of five or more A*-C grade GCSEs by sixteen year olds. This meant that the gap between the lowest and highest achieving ethnic groups widened over this time period.

School exclusions
In 2000/01, Black pupils were more likely to be permanently excluded from schools in England than children from any other ethnic group.

The highest permanent exclusion rates were among children belonging to the ‘Other Black’ group (40 in every 10 thousand pupils) and Black Caribbean pupils (38 in every 10 thousand). This compared with 13 in every 10 thousand White children. The lowest rate of permanent exclusions was for Indian pupils (3 in every 10 thousand).

For all ethnic groups, the rate of permanent exclusions was higher for boys than for girls.

Highest qualification
In 2001/02 people from some minority ethnic groups in the United Kingdom were more likely to have degrees (or equivalent) than White people. Those most likely to have degrees were Chinese people, Indians, Black Africans and Other Asians.

Among men, Black Caribbeans were the least likely to have degrees (8 per cent). Among women, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis were the least likely to have degrees (7 per cent).

Despite some ethnic groups being more likely than the White population to have a degree, they were also more likely to have no qualifications at all.

In particular Pakistanis and Bangladeshis were most likely to be unqualified. Nearly half (48 per cent) of Bangladeshi women and 40 per cent of Bangladeshi men had no qualifications. Among Pakistanis, 40 per cent of women and 27 per cent of men had no qualifications.