U.S.: Afghan attacks way up since truce

By NOOR KHAN, Associated Press WriterWed Sep 27, 1:05 PM ET

A U.S. military official said Wednesday that American troops on Afghanistan's eastern border have seen a threefold increase in attacks since a recent truce between Pakistani troops and pro-Taliban tribesmen that was supposed to have stopped cross-border raids by the militants.

The peace agreement, which followed a June 25 cease-fire, also has contributed to the Taliban's resurgence, the U.S. official said, requesting anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Since the truce, ethnic Pashtun rebels are no longer fighting Pakistani troops but are using the North Waziristan border region as a control hub for launching attacks in Afghanistan, the official told The Associated Press.

Also Wednesday, Afghan security forces killed 25 suspected insurgents during a clash in the country's south, while a suicide bombing targeting a NATO convoy wounded one civilian, officials said.

Insurgents attacked a police checkpoint in southern Helmand province's Garmser district, the NATO-led force said. In the ensuing clash, "at least 25 insurgents" were killed, according to the alliance.

The suicide attack in neighboring Kandahar province wounded a civilian and damaged a military vehicle, police official Abdul Ali Khan said.

An explosive also hit a military vehicle in western Herat province, wounding three Italian soldiers with the NATO force and their Afghan translator, the Italian Defense Ministry said.

The violence came hours before Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf were to join President Bush for dinner at the White House.

Karzai and Musharraf have been at odds recently over each country's efforts to hunt terrorists and to stop them from crossing their shared border, especially in tribal areas, and wage attacks in Afghanistan.

Cross-border incursions also were likely to be high on the agenda.

Pakistani tribal elders brokered the truce between Pakistan's government and militants and an accord was signed Sept. 5, ending years of unrest in the tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

Under the deal, the militants agreed to halt attacks on Pakistani forces in semiautonomous North Waziristan and to stop crossing into nearby eastern Afghanistan to attack U.S. and Afghan forces, who are hunting al-Qaida and Taliban forces there.

But the agreement appears to have empowered Taliban infiltrators rather than slowing the incursions, with the number of attacks in eastern Afghan provinces rising threefold since July 31, the U.S. official said.

Southern Afghanistan is bearing the brunt of clashes and suicide bombings, the worst outbreak of violence since the U.S.-led invasion ousted the Taliban-led regime in late 2001. Militants have increasingly resorted to the use of roadside and suicide bombings against foreign and Afghan government forces.

A suicide bomber killed 18 people outside a provincial governor's compound in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province on Tuesday, and a bomb attack on a NATO patrol just outside Kabul killed an Italian soldier and a child.

Violent extremists have also been targeting Afghan officials, including eastern Paktia province's governor — a friend of Karzai's — who was killed in a Sept. 10 suicide bombing. A women's rights activist, who was the Kandahar provincial director for the Ministry of Women's Affairs, was killed Monday in a drive-by shooting.

The head of Australia's defense force, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, said that once the threat of the Taliban and other insurgents has been curbed, the focus must turn to rebuilding "to create circumstances where we can give the people of Afghanistan hope for the future."

Houston said in the capital of Canberra that this was achievable, but will likely take a long time.

"It's probably going to take in the order of 10 years," he said.

In eastern Afghanistan, U.S.-led coalition troops detained an alleged bomb-maker and "terrorist cell leader" in Kunar province, a coalition statement said.

The suspect manufactured improvised explosive devices, planted them and planned attacks against coalition and Afghan troops, the coalition said.

The alleged bomber, whose identity was not disclosed, was detained in an operation south of Kunar province's capital of Asadabad, the statement said. No coalition or Afghan troops suffered casualties.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard said his country's elite combat troops risked becoming overworked in trouble spots around the world, in his latest comments defending his decision to withdraw them from Afghanistan.

Australia is sending 400 more troops to Afghanistan, mostly military engineers to work on reconstruction projects in the south, doubling the size of its deployment there. But it is withdrawing about 200 Special Air Service troops and commandos who have been in Afghanistan for the past year.

___

Associated Press writer Jim Krane in Kabul contributed to this report.

Human Rights Watch says abuses common in Pakistani Kashmir

Rights group says abuses common in Pakistani Kashmir
(Reuters)

21 September 2006

ISLAMABAD - A US-based human rights group on Thursday accused Pakistani security forces of using torture and other rights abuses in Pakistan’s part of Kashmir.

“Most incidents of politically motivated torture recorded by Human Rights Watch involved the ISI, or the police acting on the military’s behalf,” Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report, referring to the military’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

HRW issued a similar report on Indian Kashmir last week in which it said that rights abuses continued there unchecked.

In the 71-page report on Pakistani Kashmir, HRW noted that there had been a reduction in infiltration of Islamist militants into Indian Kashmir, but it was still taking place.

“Most of those interviewed were of the view that though the level of infiltration had decreased substantially since 2004, there have been no indications that the Pakistani military or militant groups had decided to abandon infiltration as policy.”

The report said the Pakistani military still maintained a close relationship with the militant groups in Kashmir.

It said last year’s devastating earthquake in the region was used an “opportunity to craft a new image for the militant groups rather than as an opportunity to disband them”.

Charities linked to militant groups took a high profile in relief work after the devastating earthquake that killed more than 73,000 people last October.

Pakistan’s government swiftly rejected the report.

“It is heavily biased and it contained factual errors,” Junior Minister for Information Tariq Azeem Khan told a news conference. “We totally reject this report.”

India and Pakistan have fought three wars -- two of them over Kashmir -- since winning independence in 1947.

South Asia’s nuclear rivals embarked on a peace process in 2004 aimed at resolving all disputes, but progress has been slow.

Talks were put on ice after a series of bomb blasts on commuter trains in Indian commercial hub, Bombay on July 11 in which more than 180 people were killed.

But, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh agreed to resume the process at a meeting in Cuba earlier this month.

US helicopters intrude into N. Waziristan

US helicopters intrude into N. Waziristan

By Our Correspondent


MIRAMSHAH, Sept 19: Six US helicopters violated Pakistan’s air space by intruding into Lawara Mandi area of the North Waziristan Agency on Tuesday morning, officials and residents said.

Eyewitnesses said that the US helicopter gunships had intruded into Lawara Mandi area, about 55 kilometres west of Miramshah after militants attacked allied forces in Pipali area of Afghanistan, close to Pakistani border.

They said that the helicopters violated Pakistan’s air space more than six times in the area, but did not take action. Pakistani security forces did not react against helicopters.

The sources said that constant air space violations by US helicopters triggered tension and senior military officers flew in helicopters from Miramshah to assess the situation.

Girl gang-raped for ‘acquiring education’

Girl gang-raped for ‘acquiring education’

‘Influential’ accused at large even after 20 days By Nadeem Shah MULTAN: The Kabirwala police have failed to arrest the accused of a gang-rape case who are said to be the henchmen of a minister of state. According to details, Ghazala Shaheen Bathi of a low caste came to her village Chak Sher Khan near Kabirwala to inform her parents that she had passed her Master’s in Education from the Bahauddin Zakariya University on August 25. The news of her success spread in the village in no time, which instigated the minister’s people and the tribal elders of the upper caste Miralis –- an offshoot of the Hiraj clan. On the same night, 12 Mirali tribesmen, including five to six armed men of the minister, forced their way into her house and severely beat up her father Muhammad Hussain, a retired militaryman, with boots, iron rods and the butts of guns. Some of the accused were dressed in police uniform. They allegedly kidnapped Ghazala and her mother Mumtaz Mai and dragged them for about one kilometre while thrashing them all the time. Both of them were kept in the private custody of the abductors and gang-raped for 12 days. On September 5, locals informed the police about the kidnappers’ hideout where the girl and her mother were being detained. Sources said Kabirwala DSP Daud Hussain raided the place and allegedly provided a chance to the alleged kidnappers to escape with the abductees. However, the people caught one car, which was carrying the women and her mother and overpowered three of the accused — one was identified Nazar Muhammad while the other two were allegedly the minister’s guards. When they all were taken to the Kabirwala police station, the police did not allow Mumtaz Mai and her daughter to meet with their relatives. The DSP arranged a press conference in which he stated that the case was an outcome of old enmity and nothing had happened to the girl and her mother. The Kabirwala hospital medical report has confirmed that both the victims were gang-raped. However, police have released a guard and another person who were arrested during the raid. Other accused, particularly Muhammad Nawaz, who is said to be the right-hand man of the minister, Nazar Muhammad, Abbas, Azhar, Wajid and Ghazanfar, Muhammad Ali and others are still at large. When contacted, Kabirwala Sadar SHO Mehboob Rabbani denied the minister’s involvement in the case and said there was no pressure on them in apprehending the accused. He said neither the minister was backing the accused nor the accused were his henchmen. “We are trying to nab the other accused.” Police officials told human rights activists during their visit to the victims that it was a result of an old enmity, while the girl and her mother had run away from their house on their own. The victim family told newsmen that they were receiving threats from the influential landlords and politicians.

British-Pakistani terrorist Omar Khyam was trained in an ISI camp

British defendant in terror plot trial tells of gradual conversion to militant jihadist

· Attitude hardened after visit to training camp
· 'Soft, kind and humble' Taliban impressed him

David Pallister
Friday September 15, 2006

A 24-year-old British Muslim told the Old Bailey yesterday about his ideological journey from schoolboy to militant jihadist. Omar Khyam, a defendant in the fertiliser bomb terror trial, described how he became radicalised after a visit to a Pakistani training camp for militants fighting in Kashmir and a trip to Afghanistan to meet the Taliban.

At the time no one around him talked of attacks in Britain, he said. "I was born here and felt allegiance," he said. He supported England at football. But after the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and of Iraq in 2003, he said that attitudes among some of his friends hardened: "For the first time I began hearing that Britain should be attacked."

Mr Khyam was arrested in 2004 after fertiliser explosive was found in a storage depot in west London. The prosecution allege he was a member of a British terror cell linked to al-Qaida, which discussed bombing nightclubs and other targets in the UK.

Mr Khyam, his brother Shujah Mahmood, 19, Waheed Mahmood, 34, and Jawad Akbar, 23, all from Crawley, West Sussex, Salahuddin Amin, 31, from Luton, Anthony Garcia, 24, of Ilford, east London, and Nabeel Hussain, 21, of Horley, Surrey, deny conspiring to cause explosions likely to endanger life between January 1, 2003 and March 31, 2004.

Mr Khyam, Mr Garcia and Mr Hussain also deny a charge under the Terrorism Act of possessing 600kg (1,300lb) of ammonium nitrate fertiliser for terrorism.

As the defence case began, Mr Khyam told the jury that his grandfather had served in the British army and came to the UK in the 1970s. Many of his family were in the Pakistani military or ISI, the intelligence service. He said he went to a predominantly white school, was captain of the cricket team and did well in his GCSEs.

He became more interested in religion as a teenager at college in Surrey, attending meetings of the radical group al- Muhajiroun, where violent videos of the wars in Chechnya and Bosnia were shown. He also started to learn about fighting in Kashmir between India and Pakistan with the ISI recruiting and training irregular mujahideen.

On a family visit to Pakistan in 1999 he sought out and talked to groups active in Kashmir, he said. Back in Britain, he wanted to dedicate himself "to helping Kashmiri Muslims, and go to Pakistan for military training".

In January 2000, aged 18 and studying for his A-levels, he ran away to Pakistan and joined an ISI-run training camp for militants in the mountains above Rawalpindi. He had told his mother he was going to France to study but arranged for a letter explaining his real movements to be sent home.

"They told me everything I needed to know for fighting guerrilla warfare in Kashmir," he said. This included training with AK47 rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns as well as reconnaisance and sniper techniques. He left only after his family used their contacts in the ISI to find him and he was summoned from the mountains for an emotional reunion with his grandfather.

Although concerned for his safety, most of his family, except his mother, were happy with his actions.

In June 2001, having enrolled at the Metropolitan University in north London for a computer course, he returned to Pakistan for a friend's wedding. In one of the militant group's offices he saw bags of fertiliser which he took to be part of their "arsenal". He then visited Kabul and was impressed by the Taliban. "They were soft, kind and humble, but harsh with their enemies."

The attacks on the US on September 11 2001 triggered intense discussions among British Muslims. Mr Khyam's reaction was: "I was happy. America was, and still is, the greatest enemy of Islam. They put up puppet regimes in Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt ... but obviously 3,000 people died so there were mixed feelings."

The Qur'an forbids the killing of women and children but some eminent Muslim scholars decreed that the attacks were permissible, he said.

After a few months of debate, and seeing the defeat of the Taliban, he said he had come to the conclusion that it had been tactically unwise. "I think we would be working better in our own [Muslim] countries, trying to establish an Islamic state," he said.

Asked about Osama bin Laden, he said. "In Afghanistan he won people's hearts and minds. People love him all over the region. There are pictures of him all over the place in Pakistan."

During 2002 and 2003, Mr Khyam became actively engaged in collecting "money and equipment" in the UK to be sent to Pakistan for the mujahideen. He also made further trips to the country. "I wanted to help out in the cause," he said.

Mr Khyam said he did not think that two men he dealt with in Pakistan were members of al-Qaida, as alleged by the American supergrass Mohammed Junaid Babar. Asked by his counsel, Joel Bennathan, whether one of the men had ever advised him, or told him, to carry out an attack on the UK, Mr Khyam replied: "No".

The hearing continues.

Pakistan's Textile export earnings shrink(China, India and Bangladesh gain)

Textile export earnings shrink
By Sabihuddin Ghausi
KARACHI, Sept 14: While the local textile market is flooded with cheap products from China and Thailand, export prospects of Pakistan’s textile industry in coming months remain pretty uncertain, causing sleepless nights to the textile barons.

“The industry has been upgraded with heavy investment, the government has given rebates, subsidy and concessions in financing and cotton crop prospects are not that bad, but we do not see light at the end of the tunnel,” moaned a well-known leader of the textile industry who does not want to be named because he is frequently consulted by the government on business affairs.

After almost 21 months of lifting of textile export quota barriers and ushering in of a virtual free flow trade system since the beginning of 2005, Pakistan faces a twin menace. An open price-war in the most affluent markets –- the US and the EU -— has put Pakistan under tremendous pressure by China, India and Bangladesh. In the domestic market, cheap clothing, apparels and home textiles from China and Thailand are attracting a large number of buyers.

In this liberal trade environment, Pakistan’s textile industry, according to market analysts, made gains only in quantity terms. It means that the industry exported a big quantity of textile products to get too little money. “This is the reason that Pakistan’s textile industry continues to ask for one concession after another,” an official of a government agency replied when asked to quantify in money terms the rebate and concessions on bank financing being offered to the textile industry in the current fiscal year.

Figures for the money to be doled out to the richest people of Pakistan -— textile barons -— vary from Rs25 billion to Rs40 billion after the government announced to continue six per cent research and development (R&D) rebate to garments and knitwear in the current fiscal year. Fabrics and home textiles are also being given three and five per cent R&D rebates. Bank loans given to textile mills are being swapped with the long-term finance facility for export-oriented units at seven per cent. In addition, textile exporters are being given export refinance at much reduced rate.

“Nowhere in the world is export refinance offered,” reminded State Bank Governor Dr Shamshad Akhtar to the textile business in Faisalabad last week. She disclosed that 3,000 cases of fraudulent R&D rebate had been detected. Neither the State Bank nor any government agency nor any trade body that offers a certificate to the exporter has come out with facts and figures to disclose as to who were the businessmen involved and how much money was involved.

Bankers, officials and textile industry leaders say that a total amount of about Rs450 billion has been invested in the modernisation and improvement of production techniques of the textile sector. Textile machinery worth about $4 billion (Rs240 billion at rate of one dollar equal to Rs60) was imported in the last four years. At least a sum of $1 billion (Rs60 billion) was invested in import of supporting machines and electric generators. About Rs100 billion was invested in civil work.

Figures gathered from various sources revealed that banks provided a total sum of Rs188.50 billion assistance to the textile sector during December 2000 to March 2006. In the five-year textile vision drawn up by former commerce minister Razak Dawood to upgrade Pakistan’s textiles for open competition in the world market after phasing out of textile export quotas in 2005, five sectors were declared as priority areas. These were stitching (apparels), knitting, finishing, knit processing and woven processing.

Out of total Rs188.50 billion, these five priority sectors received only Rs43.19 billion. The woven processing sector was given Rs22.12 billion in the last five years, followed by Rs7.5 billion to stitching, Rs6.33 billion to knitwear, Rs5.42 billion to knitting and Rs1.76 billion to finishing. All these priority sectors are labour intensive and value-added, which need least capital to give maximum employment and big amount of foreign exchange.

The traditional five sectors of textile are capital intensive with relatively less employment opportunities and were given Rs145.26 billion in the last five years. The spinning sector claimed the highest amount of more than Rs96 billion followed by weaving jet air Rs26.57 billion, polyester fibre Rs9.26 billion, weaving water jet Rs1.81 billion and weaving Rs1.48 billion.

Even after investment of such a huge amount, Pakistani textile exporters find themselves hard pressed because what they feel “cost of doing business in Pakistan too high”. After getting rebates for R&D, swapping of high cost loans with subsidised rate loans, the textile mill owners now want a cut in utility cost. Gas and electricity rates are too high for the industry and a fresh look on the matter is the demand.

Pakistan denied due trade benefits for post-9/11 role

Pakistan denied due trade benefits for post-9/11 role

By Muhammad Yasir KARACHI: The incident of 9/11, which triggered the metamorphosis of global politics and economics, forced many Muslim countries, particularly Pakistan, to change policies in order to survive in a changed world. Ironically, despite all its efforts in war against terrorism, Pakistan could not maintain its good image in the eyes of western world, particularly in USA. Moreover, Pakistan’s status of being a frontline state in US-led war against terror did not help the country in acquiring reciprocal economic assistance and trade facilitations. Delays in the issuance of visa, hurdles in marketing of goods and services, complications in security, customs, shipping and cargo processes are some of the major grievances that Pakistani businesses have been suffering since 9/11 incident. Many exporters reported they had lost deals with importers of western countries, which assumed that Pakistani products were suspicious, making market access difficult in these countries. On the contrary, the business community of the country had been hopeful that as frontline state in the war against terrorism, the US and its allies would offer a trade corridor to Pakistan to enhance its exports. President Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) Chaudhry Muhammad Saeed said that post 9/11 policies were not fruitful for the country in terms of trade benefits. “We (Pakistan) were not given the status of free market and quota free access in the developed countries similar to that granted to Jordan, which we were expecting as a key ally of USA in war against terrorism,” he said. “Pakistan was anticipating strong economic ties with USA by signing Business and Investment Treaty (BIT) but due to lack of confidence and negotiation on the business laws and procedures, it has not materialised so far.” FPCCI chief told The News that the mega industrial projects of Reconstruction Opportunity Zones (ROZs) could not be constructed at the Pak-Afghan border owing to lack of peace in the region and other notable apprehensions between two states. “Pakistani private sector can not get the needed economic benefits from USA.” He pointed out that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has increased up to $3.57 billion at the back of privatisation of national assets during the past four years. “Foreign exchange remittance surged to four billion dollars per annum as the foreign capital is being transacted legally through banks,” he mentioned. Chaudhry Saeed pointed out that in absence of viable and sustainable business activities the local investors started investment in the capital market and real estate leading to speculation in these sectors. Speculation in turn leads to vicious boom-bust cycles, which greatly affects the socio-economic plight of common citizen. President Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Mian Shafqat Ali was of the view that the country was not provided special trade packages and other concessions that it deserved for its post 9/11 role. “USA did not do lavished aid on Pakistan as it should have given to the country instead it withdrew its one billion dollar loan for Pakistan and has given free trade market access only to the earth quake affected areas,” he pointed out. Bilal Mulla Central Chairman of Pakistan Readymade Garment Manufacturer and Exporter Association (PREGMEA) said the value added export of the country declined sharply during this year instead of surging owing to the tarnished country image of Pakistan. “Our exports have increased in previous years but if we glance at our trade deficit then we find our country at ground level,” he said.

Faltering exports, slow growth in manufactures

Faltering exports, slow growth in manufactures
By Sultan Ahmad
Pakistan’s exports are faltering with the textile exports being more critically affected in a period of increasing global competition.

It is witnessed simultaneously with the fall in growth in the manufacturing sector to 8.6 per cent in the last fiscal year, compared to 12.6 per cent the year preceding that and 14 per cent in the year before that, according to the Economic Survey of Pakistan.

A total investment of $3.47 billion has been made on the import of textile machinery between 1999-2000 and last year and that includes $598 million, $700 million and $654 million during the last three years.

In addition, a great deal of money has been spent in local currency in the construction of buildings and other facilities for the expansion of the industry, raising the total investment to$6 billion.

The APTMA leaders have been talking of investing $5 billion in the machinery for modernisation and expansion of the industry to face diverse challenges of the post quota world.

Before the quota expired, they were assured markets for Pakistan as well as other developing countries. The textile leaders were then bragging they would do far better in a quota-free world, but now the reality is proving to be contrary.

Like Pakistan, China began developing its textile industry from 1990 and from the year 2004, China exported textiles for $95.29 billion, while the Pakistani textile export was $9.5 billion—just one-tenth of China’s exports.

Of the total investment of $6 billion made in the textile sector 1999-2006, 47 percent was on spinning and 26.3 per cent in weaving and only five per cent on garments. Hence the earnings from the value- added in the industry are very small. Little can be earned from exporting low count yarn and a lot more from the garment sector, if only the investment on it was far more than the measly five per cent.

In addition new players have entered the textile export world and they include Vietnam, Cambodia, China and Eastern Europe, says Tariq Ikram, Chairman, Export Promotion Bureau. If Japan could develop a major textile industry without growing any cotton, other countries in the region could emulate it. Bangladesh is a notable example that has large textile exports without growing any cotton. Its women power is skilled and it keeps the industry thriving.

Our textile exporters keep on complaining against the high cost of production in Pakistan and high rates of electricity and gas and high wages in relation to productivity of labour and of lower prices of exports from India and Bangladesh, not to talk of China’s exports.

We keep on targeting far larger exports on paper. After we failed to achieve the exports of $17 billion last year and recorded the exports of $16.5 billion, we talked of achieving $25 billion exports per annum in three years and are now setting the goal of $40 billion exports in five years. But what matters is not ambitious targeting but actually achieving them, beginning with $18.6 billion exports this year, by removing all the road blocks in the way and the cobwebs that clog our vision.

Tariq Ikram says that Pakistan has to win the prize war in the region as our competitors like India, Bangladesh and China are sending their textile products at far lower prices. And he has called for a support programme for the textile industry for 12 to 24 months to win the prize war. And he wants the mindset against the textile industry to change and become more helpful.

The government is moving towards being helpful to the textile sector slowly and not with adequate promptness, complain the textile millowners.

The State Bank of Pakistan has reduced the export refinance rate by 1.5 per cent and the banks have been asked to charge only one per cent more to deliver the loan. But the exporters want a far lower refinance rate.

The Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet has approved a package of $25 billion to provide support to the textile industry, particularly in the area of research and development.

And now the State Bank has allowed a one-time refinance for the textile sector for loans for plant and machinery obtained after January 1, 2003. The scheme will not cover the spinning sector except for six specified processes.

While such relief is helpful to the textile industry, several of its segments are still hit hard by the high cost of production and are seeking relief for themselves. Among them are a large number of garment makers, closed power looms and many hosiery units. The official relief has to become adequate and more widespread to enable the industry to become more competitive against the major regional players.

The primary requirement for larger exports is an adequate exportable surplus. But the final official figures show that the growth in large scale-manufacturing (LSM) sector fell by 46 percent during the last fiscal year compared to the preceding year. Many segments of the LSM performed poorly with a growth rate of 10.68 per cent last year against the 15.6 per cent growth in the proceeding year.

And the textile sector recorded a growth of only 4.27 per cent against 24.7 per cent in the previous year. With a larger sector of the industry performing so poorly, the LSM growth has to be very disappointing.

The textile industry directly or indirectly provides employment for the largest number of workers. If the growth of such an industry is stunted, not only will the exports suffer but also employment. Certainly the industry would not want to be exporting more at a loss to itself.

If the last year was disappointing for the LSM sector, things did not improve in July, the first month of the new fiscal year. The non-textile sector output declined by 7.8 per cent in July compared to July last year.

Now the advisor to the prime minister on finance Dr Salman Shah has asked the bankers to help in finding new export markets and make larger exports possible. He wants them to bring in foreign investors as well.

The banks may be able to identify some new markets, but they cannot produce export items at competitive rates. The industrialists have to manufacture them with requisite assistance from the government.

It is time the value added in textiles is enhanced by exporting more of the quality products with the exporters acquiring a name and fame for their brands which they have to cultivate very diligently.

Ahmedi newspaper office raided, two arrested(For calling Ahmedis muslims)

Ahmedi newspaper office raided, two arrested

LAHORE: Police raided an Ahmedi newspaper office on Saturday and arrested a printer and a journalist, charging them with offences under the Anti Terrorism Act (ATA). Ahmedi representatives condemned the raid as harassment and an attack on press freedom. Chenab Nagar (Rabwah) police raided the Daily Alfazal and lodged cases under 298B and 298C of the Pakistan Penal Code, 16 Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) and 9 ATA against the arrested men. The journalist, Abdul Sattar Khan, was later released but the printer, Sultan Dogar, is still in detention. “The raid was part of the government’s campaign to confiscate hate-literature,” DSP Saeed Tatla said. According to the FIR, the newspaper preached Qadiyani beliefs, and the newspaper described Ahemdis as Muslims, which is against the law. Inspector Muhammad Yasir, SHO of Chenab Nagar police, said that the Punjab additional inspector general (Operations) had ordered them to confiscate four issues of Alfazal and take action against the editor, printer and publisher of the newspaper. “The publisher and editor are still at large,” he said. Daily Alfazal opened in 1911 and is one of the oldest newspapers in Pakistan. A press release from an Ahmedi organisation condemned the raid, terming it an attack on press freedom. It denied the newspaper was printing hate-literature, and urged the government to stop the harassment of the minority community. ali waqar

British Pakistanis join Taliban to fight against British troops

UK Muslims join Taliban to fight against British troops Michael Smith and Ghulam Hasnaim in Karachi

BRITISH Pakistanis have joined Taliban insurgents fighting the army in southern Afghanistan, according to intelligence briefings given to senior military commanders. The intelligence about their presence in Helmand province, where 13 British soldiers have died, is believed to have come from Pakistan, where the authorities have recently arrested suspects said to be involved in training Al-Qaeda and Taliban recruits. A Pakistani official confirmed yesterday there were a number of British Pakistanis known to be fighting alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan. “They come here quietly in twos and threes and then disappear. It’s difficult to trace them as they [also] carry Pakistani nationality,” the official said. A source close to the Taliban claimed two British Pakistanis had gone through Waziristan on their way to fight the British Army six weeks ago. A second Pakistan official said others had since gone into Afghanistan “in an individual capacity”. A second source close to the Taliban said “no more than 10” of its fighters were known to be British passport holders, but added: “There are a lot of Pakistanis [fighting with the Taliban] and one cannot say how many hold British passports.” News of British recruits among the Taliban suggests the war in Afghanistan, like that in Iraq, has become a magnet for extremists determined to fight western forces. It comes as the head of Scotland Yard’s anti-terrorist branch told the BBC that British Muslims were also taking part in the fighting in Iraq. Commander Peter Clarke says on the Al-Qaeda: Time to Talk? programme on BBC2 tonight that the number of British Muslims suspected of being involved in supporting terrorism runs into “thousands”. Asked if there was a “pipeline” to carry young British Muslims into Iraq, Clarke says there are “individuals who, with connections, managed to facilitate people’s travel” to Iraq to take part in the insurgency. He adds: “We know who some of them are.” British troops estimate they have killed more than 1,200 Taliban insurgents in the past three months. But there seems to be no shortage of recruits. Chechen, Syrian, Egyptian, Pakistani and Yemeni nationals are among the foreigners fighting for the Taliban, who train recruits in the Pakistani city of Quetta. “The Pakistan border is the problem and we know it is hard to close it all off, but the Taliban seem to have a conveyor belt of new recruits,” one source said. The British fighting has been fierce around the outposts at Sangin, Musa Qala and Nowzad in Helmand over the past few days, with RAF and US aircraft mounting repeated bombing raids. Ranger Anare Draiva, of the Royal Irish Regiment, was killed and another soldier seriously wounded in a Taliban attack on the Musa Qala base last Friday. In another clash, a 20-man British patrol sent to root out a group of Taliban holed up in a house half a mile from the Sangin base last week found themselves outnumbered. The British called in air support and waited while the target was demolished but there were far more Taliban than anticipated. The soldiers were overwhelmed and had to call artillery fire onto their own positions before dashing under Taliban fire back to their base. AMERICANS URGED TO CONVERT A Cailfornian man who has joined Al-Qaeda calls on other Americans to convert to Islam in a videotape released last night by the group’s deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, writes James Smith. The man is identified in the 41-minute film as Adam Yehiye Gadahn, thought to be 28 and from Los Angeles. The FBI believes he attended Al-Qaeda training camps in Pakistan and served as a translator. Al-Zawahiri appears at the beginning, urging viewers to listen carefully to the message, entitled: “An Invitation to Islam”. Gadahn, in a white robe and turban, says in English: “To Americans and the rest of Christendom we say, either repent [your] misguided ways and enter into the light of truth or keep your poison to yourself and suffer the consequences in this world and the next.” His nom de guerre, Azzam the American, is written next to him.