Pakistan Views

A Shanghai shipyard has completed the first of four frigates for delivery to Pakistan, the China Daily reported on Saturday, in the first such order from China by the Pakistani Navy. The deal is a “catalyst” for co-operation on construction of other vessels, the paper said, citing Pakistan Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Muhammad Afzal Tahir. He will attend a launch ceremony for the F-22P frigate in Shanghai on Monday. The fourth and last vessel will be completed at Karachi shipyard in 2013, to fulfil a pledge to transfer Chinese shipbuilding technology that was part of the April 2005 agreement to build the frigates.”They will be deployed for the defence of our maritime interests and to meet our commitments in other aspects of maritime diplomacy,” the paper quoted Admiral Tahir as saying.It noted that Pakistan had previously procured such military hardware from Western countries, including Britain and France. The F-22P is a modification of a Chinese frigate that uses a Russian-designed main gun rather than a Chinese model. It will be armed with eight surface-to-air missiles and eight surface-to-surface missiles, according to an entry in the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia. Admiral Tahir met China’s Minister of Defence and the navy chief during his visit to Beijing this week.Last March, China’s navy participated, for the first time, in a multilateral naval exercise near Karachi, that also included the US, British, Turkish and French navies. Pakistan will host a similar exercise next March, the PN chief said.
China is developing its shipbuilding industry to rival yards in South Korea and Taiwan. This month, a Shanghai shipyard delivered the country’s first-ever liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier, four months behind schedule.

The Met Department said the dry weather is expected to remain dry in the most parts of the country in next 24 hours.
However, downpour is also expected in some areas alongwith the windy weather in Azad Kashmir, private TV channel reported.
According to Met department, Azad Kashmir and the abutting mountainous areas are expected to receive gales accompanied with drizzle as well.
According to Met department, in the next 24 hours, the mercury is expected to be at 38 degree centigrade Celsius in Karachi, Lahore 33, Islamabad 30, Muzaffarabad 29, Quetta 33, Sialkot 31, Abotabad 24, Dera Ismail Khan 33 and Multan and Dera Ghazi Khan are expected to have 34 degree centigrade at Celsius.

Pakistan has asked India to investigate thoroughly and immediately the causes of death of Pakistani national Khalid Mehmood in Indian jail and intimate Islamabad along with his medical report. Khalid Mehmood, a resident of Lahore district died under mysterious circumstances in Gurgaon jail in the suburb of Delhi on Feb. 12. An official of Pakistan High Commission while briefing newsmen here said India had refused to provide, despite repeated requests, details of over 500 Pakistani prisoners languishing in Indian jails. Pakistan High Commission has written letters to Indian External Affairs Ministry for providing consular access to about 200 prisoners but the reply is still awaited. Similarly, High Commission has also sent travelling documents of 150 prisoners for their repatriation to Pakistan but there was no response from Indian side so far, the official said. The official further said India was requested to provide names and details about 48 Pakistani nationals in jails across Indian Punjab as reported by a section of Indian Press. To-date, there is no response. The High Commission has asked in the latest correspondence with the Indian authorities to immediately probe death of Khalid Mehmood and provide details to Pakistan along with his medical report, the official said.

Pakistan and Afghanistan, important but struggling US allies in fighting militants, received mixed reviews in a US State Department review of worldwide human rights conditions last year. Pakistan and Afghanistan share a long and often lawless border that has provided al Qaeda and affiliated Taliban fighters refuge from which they stage suicide bombings and other attacks on the two Muslim South Asian countries. Pakistan was engulfed in political turmoil late last year as President Pervez Musharraf deposed judges, suspended courts and detained lawyers and opposition leaders during some six weeks of emergency rule. “Despite President Musharraf’s stated commitment to democratic transition, Pakistan’s human rights situation deteriorated during much of 2007,” said the annual report released on Tuesday. “At the end of the year, there still were 11 suspended judges and three lawyers under house arrest, and media outlets were required to sign a code of conduct that prohibited criticism of the government in order to operate,” it said.
The report did not cover Pakistan developments since the end of last year, including February elections which were won by opponents of Musharraf. The opposition parties have agreed to form a government and have vowed to reverse Musharraf’s dismissal of the top judges. The State Department said Afghanistan had made “important progress” since the draconian Taliban were deposed after a US military invasion in 2001.
The Taliban, which hosted Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda when they launched the Sept. 11 attacks, have regrouped in parts of the country and continue to confront a fledgling Afghan army that is backed by some 50,000 Nato and US troops. “Afghanistan’s human rights record remained poor due to a deadly insurgency, weak governmental and traditional institutions, corruption and drug trafficking, and the country’s two-and-a-half decades of conflict,” said the report. The insurgency caused more than 6,500 deaths from suicide attacks, roadside bombs, and combat-related violence last year, in a dramatic increase from 2006, it said. “Abuses by national security forces continued, including arbitrary arrest and detention, official impunity, and torture,” said the report. However, the report said the Afghan government was working to extend its rule to more of the country and to professionalize its army and police. To curb abuses, rights training had been introduced for soldiers and police, it said.

Al-Qaeda and Taliban forces in Pakistan’s northwest frontier region pose a direct threat to the Islamabad government, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned here Sunday. The presence of the Islamic extremists in the tribal region is not just “a nuisance” to Pakistan, but “is potentially a threat to their government,” Gates told an international security conference in this southern German city.
Gates, who has been calling for NATO reinforcements to defeat the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in neighbouring Afghanistan, suggested the time had come for a Pakistani anti-insurgency sweep on its own side of the Afghan border.
Pakistan has dismissed US claims that Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar were operating from its northwestern tribal areas. Washington has placed multi-million dollar rewards on the two men’s heads.
A top Al-Qaeda operative, Abu Laith al-Libbi, was recently killed in a suspected US missile strike in Pakistan’s north Waziristan tribal area early this month.
The Islamic extremist Taliban militia ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001 and gave sanctuary to bin Laden, who masterminded the September 11 attacks in the United States.
A US-led invasion in October 2001 ousted the Taliban from power in Afghanistan, but they have regrouped and are putting up increasingly stiff resistance to NATO-led international forces.

National Crisis Management Cell (NCMC) Saturday warned all provincial governments, chief commissioner of Islamabad and the police department that three alleged suicide bombers belonging to Baitullah Mehsud group have entered various cities from Dera Ismail Khan and Tank.
NCMC wrote in a letter that these alleged suicide bombers can launch attack in any city; accordingly, the security arrangements should be made still stricter.
According to the NCMC letter, all three bombers have short moustaches; one of them is aged 15/16 years with blonde hair a

Pakistan has arrested 11 Indian fishermen for fishing illegally in Pakistani waters, the Maritime Security Agency (MSA) said on Friday.
Two fishing boats of the fishermen were also seized on Thursday, it said.
The boats were found fishing illegally inside the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Pakistan, a MSA statement said.
The Indian fishermen have been warned time and again not to indulge in illegal fishing, but they repeatedly enter our EEZ to take advantage of our rich fish resources at the mouth of Indus delta
Upon reaching Karachi, the apprehended fishermen will be handed over to Docks Police station for further legal action, the statement said.

Partial phases of solar eclipse are visible in a portion of southeastern Australia and in New Zealand.
The path of totality is only in Antarctica and some of the far South Atlantic Ocean near the Falkland and South Georgia Islands. The duration of the eclipse was 1 hour and 11 minutes, which was not seen in Pakistan.
According to met office, Pakistan will see partial moon eclipse on February 21, 2008.

Severe cold wave continues country wide as several roads have been blocked due to snowfall adding the miseries of the people.
Heavy snowfall continued for third day in mountainous areas of district Mansehra and Balakot.
Continuous snowfall and land sliding closed parts of Kaghan Road whereas links also closed in other mountainous areas and galliyat.
Heavy snowfall in Shawal, Razmik and adjacent areas in North Waziristan agency and Koh-e-Safaid and Cenre Kurram mountain ranges in Kurram region closed roads in the area, sources said.
Incessant rains and snowfall in Parachanar and North Waziristan have disrupted power supply system in the region.
The rain and snowfall spell continued in Azad Kashmir and Muzzafarabad and met office predicted more rains and snowfall in next 12 hours.

Karachi Poultry Wholesales Association has announced Rs24 per kilogram reduction in the price of Broiler chicken and Rs40 per kg in chicken meat, in view of the decline in demand of chicken. This was decided at a meeting of KPWA here on Monday.
After the announcement, price of Broiler chicken declined to Rs50 per kg from Rs74 while the rate of chicken meat reduced to Rs86 per kg from Rs126.