UK to start talks with armed Syria opposition: Downing St

UK to start talks with armed Syria opposition: Downing St

LONDON: Britain is to begin talks with armed opposition groups in Syria as it seeks to help end the violence, Prime Minister David Cameron's office said Wednesday. The government has authorised officials to have contacts with military representatives of the groups, Downing Street said, although government sources stressed the initiative was about political dialogue, not providing weapons.

Drug authority bill adopted PML-N aborts anti-militants call in NA

ISLAMABÆD:Amid confusing signals over the possibility of a military operation against Taliban bases in

North Waziristan in the wake of the shooting of Swat’s schoolgirl activist Malala Yosufzai,the Pakistan Muslim League-N aborted on Tuesday a new govern-ment-backed resolution in the National Assem

by calling for action against militants.But before fiery and sionate move,period of comparative cordiality when the PML-N conceded to the deletion of a single word from a government bill seeking

the establishment of a new drug regulatory authority,leading to its unanimous adoption, after government support enabled a similar passage of a PML-N member’s private bill seeking to abolish discretionary quotas in public sector housing schemes in Islamabad.As the PPP-led coalition failed to achieve a house consensus on the resolutionwhich a source said only called for “practical measures”against militants in general terms in reaction to the Oct 9 shooting claimed by Taliban, the move was given up even without the draft being moved or read out before the house was prorogued after a 12-day session.Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan,the leader of opposition in the house, who took the floor

twice over the issue, repeatedly accused the government of not implementing most of the previous unanimous parliamentary resolutions and said the new one was being brought as a precursor to a

military operation in Waziristan while Swat’s fugitive Taliban leader Maulvi Fazlullah, who is generally

considered as the mastermind of the Mingora attack, was living in Afghanistan.But PPP chief whip and

Religious Affairs Minister Khursheed Ahmed Shah rejected the charges, noting that there was no mention of Waziristan in the resolution,and offered the PML-N to make any changes in the draft, or move one of their own.But the PML-N was in no mood to buy the idea as it appeared getting closer to an anti-operation stance taken by the Defence of Pakistan Council of hard-line rightwing groups and Imran Khan’s

Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf. And the ruling coalition also was hesitant to move a resolution without a consensus of all parties in parliament, amid reports of apparent dithering even by military commanders after initial expressions of a resolve to act in concert with an international outcry against the attack.

TRADE-OFF ON BILLS:Earlier, in an apparent trade-off in leg is lative business, the government backed 

Vaccinator killed in Quetta attack By Our Correspondent

QUETTA: A vaccinator died when a team of polio vaccinators came under attack near here on Tuesday.

The attack took place near Rindgarh on the outskirts of the city.The All Pakistan Paramedical Staff Federation has con demned the attack anddemanded arrest of the killers.Addressing a press conference, president of the federation Abdul Samad Raisani reminded the government of its responsibility to provide security to teams engaged in anti-polio campaigns to ensure success of the vaccination programme.Officials said the attack highlighted resistance to the country’s immunisation campaign, adds AFP.The shooting happened a day after a three-day campaign was launched across the country, senior government official Tariq Mengal said.A team of male and female vaccinators was engaged in a door-to-door campaign to administer polio drops to children below five years of age when unidentified gunmen on a motorcycle shot dead a male volunteer, he said.”We are investigating if the deceased had any dispute with the attackers or the shooting was carried out by opponents of the campaign,”

Australia to honour Tendulkar

NEW DELHI: Indian cricket great Sachin Tenckilkar

is set to receive a rare civic honour from long-time on-field rivals Australia.Prime Minister Julia Gifiard said here on Tuesday during her first visit to India as Australia’s leader that Tendulkar was to be made an honorary member of the Order of Australia.

The diminutive 39-year-old batsman has scored more runs in Test and limited-overs cricket than any other player and is adored by fans in India and across the cricket world. He already has received the highest praise possible for a cricketer in Australia, with the great batsman Don Bradman reportedly telling his wife before he died that Tendulkar reminded him of

himself.Gillard told reporters Tendulkar helped strengthen thebond between Australia and India.

Malala will need reconstructive surgery: hospital director

BIRMINGHAM: Malala Yousufzai is making progress in a British hospital, doctors said on Tuesday, as police turned away visitors claiming to be relatives.The 14-year-old girl, who was shot in the head by the Taliban in Mingora last week,was in a stable condition on her first full day in Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham after being flown to the city in

central England in an air ambulance.The hospital’s medical director David Rosser said she had had a “comfortable night”.“We are very pleased with the progress she’s made so far,” he told reporters. “She is showing every sign of being every bit as strong as we’ve been led to

believe.“Malala will need reconstructive stirgery and we have international experts in that field.” He said doctors at the highly specialised hospital — where British service personnel wounded in Afghanistan are treated —were beginning to plan for the complex procedures but they would not be 

Pakistan, Iran vow To Jointly pursue major projects

BAKU (Azerbaijan), Oct 16: President Asif Ali  Zardari on Tuesday called for speeding up work on joint projects like the Iran-Pakistan gas

pipeline, electricity transmission lines and rail and road

schemes.During a meeting between President Zardari and his

Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on the sidelines of the 12th ECO summit, the two sides discussed bilateral, regional and

international issues.From the Pakistani side, the meeting was also attended by Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, Senator Haji

Mohammad Adeel, mayatuflah Kakar and Ambassador to Azerbaijan Alamgir Babar.The president noted that relations with Tian were growing steadily and expressed a Iran desire for more collaboration in trade and investment,energy and connectivity to bring the two peoples closer.He said greater interaction between the leadership and the two nations would not only 

On the sidelines PTI refutes claims of consultation over caretaker setup

Refuting claims by Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) that it had consulted Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) over probable naines for a caretaker prime minister, PTI chair man Imran Khan said that PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and President Asif Ali Zardari have struck a deal to award each other five-year terms ‘to rule

over the masses.’Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, Khan said his party would foil the ‘nefarious designs’ of both PPP and PML-N.He added that if PTI could not form its government in the centre, they would prefer playing the role of an active opposition rather than join hands with either party in a bid to become part of a post-election setup.PTI central information secretary Shafqat Mebmood termed

the statements of Leader of the Opposition Chaudhary Nisar ALI Khan baseless, and said that PTI had not circulated the names of Shoaib Suddlle or Abdul Razzak Dawood for care taker prime minister,He added that when PML-N would contact the party for any consultation on the matter,PTI would hold party delibera

dons arid announce its stance public ally.Poor performance in Punjab Lamenting the deterioration of public services in Punjab,the PTI chairman lambasted the PML-N for performing worse than the PPP-led federal

government.Armed with figures, Khan said that while average growth rate of the country was 3,4%,

Punjab had grown by a mere 2.5% during the past four-and-a-half years.Taking a shot at the worsening 

‘Fleeing persecution’ 171 Bheel pilgrims to seek asylum in India: report After reaching Samenath Rajasthan, a group of Hindu ‘pilgrims’ from Sindh say they don’t want to go back

Dozens of Pakistani Hindu pilgrims who reached the Indian state of Rajasthan on Sunday say they don’t intend to return to their country, according to BBC Urdu Service.The “Thar Express” train,carrying 171 Pakistani Hindu pilgrims, chugged into the city of Jodhpur on Sunday.Although these Hindus are on

a pilgrimage trip (yatra), their leader said they would not go back to Pakistan.

The Sangathan (SLS), an Indian organization working for the welfare of Hindus, has appealed to the Indian government to issue “refugee visas”to these pilgrims.At the Jodhpur railway station, the Pakistani Hindus

were received by SLS volunteers who made arrangements for their lodging and food.

For years, the SLS has been working for the settlement of Pakistani Hindus in India.

According to a spokes person for the SLS, all 171 Pakistani Hindus — among them 32 women and children are residents of Sanghar and Hyderabad cities of Sindh province, They belong to the Bheel tribe.

Spy agencies under fire for Balochistan mess Speakers call for ‘open trial’ of Akbar Bugti’s killers, end to military operation and high-powered commission

The government should curtail the role of military and intelligence agencies and call off the military operation ii it wants a political solution to the festering Balochistan imbroglio,said speakers at a national

conference.Local politicians, nationalist leaders, rights campaigners and lawyers attended the conference organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) and moderated by its President Yasin Azad in Quetta on Sunday.They called for an open trial of the killers of Jamhoori Wattan Party (JWP) chief Nawab Akbar Bugtì who died in August 2006 more than eight months after a military operation was launched by

Gen Pervez Musharraf.They also demanded that the spiral of violence must stop and all missing persons recovered.Rights campaigners blame security agencies for the enforced disappearances in the volatile

Late, devastating monsoon Drenched by rains country Dbraces for more NMA confirms over 69 deaths so far unofficiaally is higher

Dozens of people were killed as torrential rains ravaged the country on Sunday, inundating large swathes of land as canals breached their banks, roofs collapsed and people were electrocuted in its aftennath.

Sunday’s downpour also raised the death toll, particularly in southern Punjab.The National Disaster

Management Authority (NDMA) put the overall death toll on Sunday at over 69, but warned that

it may rise as the meteorological department predicted more rains in the coming

days.Swelling death toll “The strong monsoon spell has claimed over 69 lives and left 70 injured,” NDMA chairman Dr Zafar Iqbal. Qadir told The Express Tribune. He added the strong but late spell of monsoon rains

Economy uncertain as elections loom

Pakistan is entering a historic election cycle with key vulnerabilities growing within the economy. Given the uncertainties involved in the election cycle, a danger that worries many people is a sharply deterio

rating economic situation in the midst of a noisy and chaotic transfer of power. Most eyes are on the foreign

exchange reserves these days. Does Pakistan have sufficient reserves to prevent a dramatic slide in the

value of the rupee over the course of the next nine to ten months?The government is confident that given the state of projected inflows and outflows, things will  remain broadly stable. According to figures provided by Finance Minister Hafeez Shaikh in an exclusive interview to Dawn, Pakistan has already paid $700 million in debt repayment to the International Monetary Fund this fiscal year, and “over the rest of

the fiscal year, we are to pay another $5.6 billion, which includes the IMP but also all other debt payments”.

The country’s foreign exchange reserves have been on a downward glide path since December of 2011,

when they touched a peak of just above $18 billion. Latest State Bank figures show total reserves at

just above $14.8 billion, with the downward trend continuing in spite of a $1.1 billion Coalition Support Fund (CSF) inflow on Aug 2.Even the total figure is misleading, since dose to $4.4 billion of that is kept with commercial banks,and a large fraction is “encumbered,” to use a banker’s jargon,meaning that it has been borrowed from the banks through complex instruments known as swaps and forwards. This encumbered

amount had touched a peak of around $2.5 billion at the start of 2012, but it’s unclear where it stands today.“Our forecast for external flows from our different partners, bilateral flows as well as commercial

transactions is 5 billion plus so I think the forex reserves are likely to remain more or less stable dur-

ing this year, and of course remittances are strong and exports with hopefully remain as they were last

year,” say Hafeez Shaikh. “I think the situation would be manageable.”But not everybody is convinced.

Salim Raza, former State Bank Governor, thinks that this number ought to factor in developments on

the trade front as well. “Where the Exchange rate may be by the end of this fiscal year will depend

importantly on how current account trends shape out, in the second half of the financial year,”he says.It’s not clear what sorts of assumptions the finance minister’s projections are built on, regarding the direction in which oil prices may move this year, or what will happen to food prices. “A current account deficit 

LCCI warning Fresh POL price hike may ignite tempers

The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has warned the government of a protest movement if any further increase is made in the prices of petroleum products.In a statement issued here on Saturday, President Irfan Qaiser Sheikh said the chamber in consultation with all trade and industrial associations would also launch movement against weekly price review of the petroleum products and the federal government would be responsible for any untoward situation.“The business community is unable to understand that under which law the government is making repeated upward in-

creases in the petroleum prices when it always purchases POL products for three months.”

He said the government should revisit its petroleum prices fixation formula and make it acceptable to business community that is the main stakeholder in all economic policies.Sheikh asked as to how a businessman would be able to calculate the prices of his merchandise when he is unaware of their in-

put cost. “It is not the electricity alone that has destroyed economic activity but the government itself is responsible for economic meltdown by taking steps like petrol price hike.”He said the LCCT had time and again asked the government to take all chambers of commerce onboard while taking industry-related decisions but to no avail.“If repeated increase in the fuel prices would be made, the entire economy would suffer and the same happened in Pakistan in the last many months as the repeated hikes in the

POL p1-ices had ruined the industrial and economic activities.”The LCCI president said only because of high

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