‘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

Syria: military aircraft shot down by rebels claim

Syria's official media of the Syrian Air Force warplane near the Iraqi border "technical error"

Egyptian tribes against militants

Israel and the Gaza Strip border with Egypt's Sinai desert beduin local tribal chiefs in the area of government operations against Islamic militants has supported.

Vietnam: cleaning up hazardous substance for health

America in Vietnam, Agent Orange, a health hazardous substance to clean the affected area has launched a project to help.

Dallas: Dr. Fahmida Mirza, under treatment in Texas hospital

Learned from informed sources that the National Assembly Speaker Dr Fahmida Mirza are under treatment at a hospital in the city Dallas in Texas state of U.S.

The critical fact is not getting power, Chief Justice

Supreme Court, Ministry of Water and Power to pay for private power plants to submit a written response time sister.

Facebook started gamble with real money

Social interaction site Facebook has started gambling with real money.

Reason of attacks on Sikhs in America

After several years when I first came to New York one evening at Amsterdam Avenue line the way I know of a theater in Lincoln Center was asked if he was a Sikh.

Synai attack brought to the Mossad, the Muslim Brotherhood

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood said in a statement on its website on Sunday, Egyptian forces attack is blamed on Israel's Mossad intelligence agency.Israel's Foreign Ministry accused the 'spam' as is dismissed.

Olympics: Cameroon's seven players missing

African country of Cameroon Olympic squad officials say that seven players from their country to have disappeared in Britain.

What PPP would be able to save the second Prime Minister?

Supreme Court cases processed by the Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf NRO evocation of political experts, analysts aursyast analysts who closely Moreover, once the debate has that Departure of the Raja is near or PPP take advantage and will be saved own Raja from disqualification for five years.
Implementation of the NRO case against the president on Supreme Court cases do not write open letter to Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf was summoned 27th August.
Yousuf Raza Gilani in his case were not only prime minister to lose but Supreme Court for five years but stopped at the gates of Parliament.
Analysts and commentators thought near the biggest question is that Raja Pervez Ashraf the depreciation Primership will be leaving?
According to legal experts, this question is largely dependent on the behavior of Supreme Court that how much time does it matter.

The unique love story

Javed and Christina's story of love and marriage is nothing more than a movie.Javed grew up on the streets and footpaths of India

Gilgit: Bomb attack on passenger van, killing one person

Gilgit-Baltistan in northern Pakistan, officials say that a passenger van on a remote controlled bomb attack killed and five injured as a result.

Five militants were arrested from Multan

Pakistan city of Punjab province in Multan,police have arrested five people accused of relation with Taliban.

Lahore: Twenty people injured in two bomb blasts

Lahore, the capital of Punjab province of Pakistan in two successive explosions are at least twenty people were injured.

The restrictions on Iran by the U.S.

U.S. President Barack Obama against Iran's energy sector and financial companies have imposed more economic restrictions.More from U.S.