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ISLAMABAD:
A crucial meeting of the
Friends of Pakistan forum will
be held in Abu Dhabi today
(Monday) to assist Pakistan in
coming out of its economic
crisis. “There are no plans
of cash assistance,” Foreign
Office spokesman Muhammad
Sadiq told Daily Times. The
forum will decide the agenda
of a foreign minister-level
meeting to be held later.
Tariffs: Sources told Daily
Times the Pakistani delegation
would ask the US to expedite
legislation on FATA
Reconstruction Opportunity
Zones and to make its
Generalised System of
Preferences (GSP) more
favourable for Pakistan. The
delegation will also ask the
EU to include Pakistan in its
GSP.
FTAs: It will also ask EU and
Japan for free trade
agreements (FTAs) and broader
investment in various sectors.
Pakistan will ask the US and
Canada for one million tonnes
of wheat on deferred payment.
Gulf states: The Pakistani
delegation will seek $4-5
billion worth of oil on
deferred payment from Saudi
Arabia, UAE and Kuwait, and
will ask Saudi Arabia for
fertiliser on deferred
payment.
Pakistan will seek investment
from the Gulf states in its
energy sector and ask the Arab
countries to relax
restrictions on the export of
manpower.
The Pakistani delegation will
ask Chinese companies to
invest in large projects in
Pakistan.
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Predator
strikes have Pak approval: WP
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WASHINGTON: For the second
time in the last few days, the Washington Post
has stated that there is a secret deal between
Pakistan and the United States whereby
Predator strikes in Pakistan’s tribal
territories are to continue, while
Islamabad’s public stance remains one of
denial and protest at the strikes.
According to the report published on Sunday,
“The officials described the deal as one in
which the US government refuses to publicly
acknowledge the attacks while Pakistan's
government continues to complain noisily about
the politically sensitive strikes.”
The report said that the US and Pakistan
reached a ‘tacit agreement’ in September
on a “don't-ask-don't-tell policy that
allows unmanned Predator aircraft to attack
suspected terrorist targets in rugged western
Pakistan”.
However, there appears to be an understanding
in place that US troops will not physically
carry out operations in Pakistani territory
akin to the September 3 attack, which caused
uproar across the country.
What is interesting about the said arrangement
between Washington and Islamabad is that the
government has claimed the contrary in
parliament and continues to make public
protests whenever a Predator strike takes
place. This, according to one observer,
amounts to the government having misstated
facts to parliament, which has issued a
declaration condemning Predator strikes.
According to the report, President Zardari
said in an interview to the newspaper that he
receives ‘no prior notice’ of the air
strikes and that he disapproves of them. But
he said he gives the Americans ‘the benefit
of the doubt’ that their intention is to
target the Afghan side of the ill-defined,
mountainous border of Pakistan's Federally
Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), even if that
is not where the missiles land. He said the US
‘point of view’ is that the attacks are
“good for everybody. Our point of view is
that it is not good for our position of
winning the hearts and minds of people”.
The Post quoted a senior Pakistani official as
saying that the US-Pakistani understanding
over the air strikes is ‘the smart middle
way for the moment’. He said unlike the
Pervez Musharraf government, the present one
‘is delivering but not taking the credit’.
The report continued, “Along with the
stepped-up Predator attacks, Bush
administration strategy includes showering
Pakistan's new leaders with close, personal
attention. In September, and senior military
and intelligence officials have exchanged
near-constant visits over the past few
months.”
Zardari also told the newspaper, "We
think we need a new dialogue, and we're hoping
that the new government will understand that
Pakistan has done more than they recognise"
and is a victim of the same insurgency the
United States is fighting. Current and former
US counterterrorism officials said improved
intelligence has been an important factor in
the increased tempo and precision of the
Predator strikes.
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NWFP
lawyers go on strike today
PESHAWAR: The NWFP Bar Council Sunday announced
holding a province-wide boycott of the superior as
well as subordinate judiciary today (Monday) in
protest against Pakistan Bar Council’s decision of
suspending the licence of a lawyers’ leader, Abdul
Lateef Afridi. The council termed the decision of the
PBC as illegal and unconstitutional, adding it was
aimed at sabotaging the lawyer movement. The council
added the anti-lawyer forces must bear in mind the
fact that such tactics could not shatter lawyers’
resolve rather give a boost to their movement.
Meanwhile, from Peshawar High Court Bar Association
Abdul Lateef Afridi told ‘The News’ by phone that
they were political people and committed to democracy
and establishment of a durable democratic order in the
country and opposed to the military rule at all costs.
“Therefore, we, in fact, don’t want to create a
situation in which anti-democratic forces are
benefited but the so-called members of the PBC are
acting as the agent provocateurs,” he said.
He added that the lawyer community wanted the
independence of judiciary, “but people at the PBC
are hell-bent on provoking the lawyers to hold
country-wide demonstrations.” Afridi went on to
inform that he tried his level best to convince the
legal fraternity not to hold countrywide boycott of
the courts but they were concerned enough about the
decision of the PBC and decide to go for a strike
today (Monday).
“In fact I am not appearing before the Supreme Court
and still continuing my protest against the judges who
took oath under the Provisional Constitution Order of
November 3, 2007,” he said.
He added the PBC decision of suspending his licence
was reaction to the issuing of show-cause notice to
PBC Vice Chairman, Said Rahman, by PHCBA some days
back. Afridi said that members of the PBC were elected
by the provincial bar councils and NWFP Bar Council
had already expressed its un-confidence against Said
Rahman.
“Said Rahman has lost the mandate of his electoral
college and he has no moral justification to hold the
office anymore,” he said. The PHC chief termed the
members of the PBC as the renegades of the lawyers’
movement, adding that they could not cancel his
licence of the Supreme Court.
He said during the recent election of Supreme Court
Bar Association, the group having the espousal of
bigwigs of PBC were defeated by more than 100 per cent
margin despite the fact that they tried their best to
buy the loyalties of lawyers by offering them every
possible incentive.
“They could not win even a single seat in the SCBA
election and they have no moral mandate to act against
the wishes of the majority of the lawyers who are
fighting for the establishment of the rule of law in
the country,” he said.
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