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  • Khawaja Asif says majority of KP issues ‘resolved’

    Holding a press conference today, Khawaja Asif said that speedy work is underway on energy projects in all the four provinces, while the government will support all projects in Karachi.

    Asif also assured center’s support for any project the KP government wishes to initiate.

    Speaking about load-shedding, he said that it is persisting at places where there is no recovery, however following the rains it will now be reduced. The minister added that so far 2000 MWs of electricity has been induced in the national grid.

    Regarding the Pak-China Economic Corridor, he said ‘this is not the name of some road, but a collection of different projects’.

  • Defector from Pakistani intelligence helped US in hunt for Bin Laden: officials

    The officials’ accounts come after the publication of a controversial new report by US journalist Seymour Hersh in which he claims to have uncovered a secret deal between the two countries that resulted in the killing of the terror chief in 2011.

    The White House has flatly rejected Hersh’s claims that Pakistan was told in advance about a 2011 special operations raid that killed Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

    A source — who was a serving senior military official at the time of the raid — told AFP on Tuesday that the defector was a “resourceful and energetic” mid-ranking intelligence officer whose efforts were critical to the success of the raid.

    Read more: Kayani and Pasha knew of OBL presence in Pakistan & helped US: claim by US journalist

    Hersh’s report quotes a senior US source as saying a “walk-in” approached the then-CIA station chief in Islamabad in 2010 promising to lead them to bin Laden.

    However, the Pakistani military source told AFP the defector had no knowledge his target was bin Laden but was instead given a task that would verify his identity. The source declined to elaborate on what that task was.

    “This guy was inducted at a much later stage only to carry out the ground confirmation,” the source said. “The US needed a ground confirmation which they couldn’t have done without relying on a responsible person.”

    He added that the defector did not belong to the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), the country’s main spy agency, but another branch, and was now residing in the United States.

    Another former official, ex-ISI chief Hamid Gul, told AFP he was also aware of the defector.

    “That is in my knowledge, that someone defected,” he said. “There was too big a reward, he became a mole and agent to put in practice their plan.”

    According to Hersh’s report, the US learned that Pakistani authorities had bin Laden in their custody and were hoping to use him as a shield against Al-Qaeda and Taliban attacks.

    Later, Hersh reported, the US convinced Pakistan to stage a fake raid to kill bin Laden that would be a boost for US President Barack Obama — then in his first term — while also allowing the Pakistanis to deny having anything to do with the killing.

    Both former Pakistani officials, however, and several other serving officials, have dismissed the allegation that such a deal had been agreed.

    After a 10-year manhunt, bin Laden was tracked down to Abbottabad, a garrison town north of Islamabad where Pakistan’s military academy is headquartered, sparking allegations authorities were colluding with the terror group.

    Qazi Khalilullah, Pakistan’s foreign ministry spokesman, meanwhile told AFP Tuesday the government investigating Hersh’s account.

  • Five million Syrians at high risk of explosive weapons: study

    The global charity examined 78,000 violent incidents in Syria’s war between December 2012 and March 2015 and found that more than 80 percent involved highly destructive weapons like rockets, mortars and bombs, rather than light arms.

    “Syria will inherit the deadly legacy of explosive weapons for years,” said Anne Garella, Regional Coordinator of Handicap International.

    The conflict is in its fifth year, having killed more than 220,000 people, according to a U.N. estimate. More than 1.5 million people have been injured, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an organisation that monitors the war.

    Diplomatic efforts aimed at finding a political solution have gone nowhere.

    A range of insurgent groups have been battling the Syrian military and allied fighters. U.S.-led air forces have been bombing ultra hardline Islamic State militants since last summer.

    The Handicap International study found that three-quarters of the incidents it recorded took place in populated areas like larger towns and cities.

    “This suggests that belligerents have no intention of effectively distinguishing between civilians and combatants — which constitutes a violation of international humanitarian law,” said the group, which provides aid to disabled people in conflict and disaster zones.

    The heavily-populated western provinces of Aleppo, Deraa, Homs, Idlib and Rural Damascus were the most affected, the study found. The research was based news reports, social media and data from the United Nations and non-governmental organisations. – Reuters

  • Extra ballot papers printed for “VIP” constituencies, claims Imran

    According to details, Tehreek-i-Insaf claimed that polls were rigged in an organized manner by getting thousands of extra ballots printed prior to General Elections 2013.

    “On an average, there were 3-4 percent extra ballots were printed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), but in the constituency of Nawaz Sharif’s son-in-law 16 percent extra ballot papers were printed,” he castigated. “Provincial election commissioner sent these thousands of extra ballots to different constituencies in Punjab.”

    Khan quoted former election commissioner Punjab as saying that he had no knowledge of it, adding that he thought no one will question him for whatever he does.

    The PTI chairman said that the election commission cannot decide about these matters and only the judicial commission will resolve it.

    Moreover, he said that the ‘party has just begun and some more names will be revealed with time’.

  • ADB to finance $6bn in Pakistan infrastructure projects

    Among the projects to be financed by the ADB are a 660-megawatt coal-fired power plant in southern Pakistan, while funds will also be allocated for projects related to health, education and highway construction.

    “(The ADB) agreed to finance US$6 billion for the next five years in Pakistan,” an economic affairs ministry statement said, adding that the funds would help Pakistan tackle a long-running electricity crisis.

    Along with the 660-megawatt plant, the funds will be used for several hydroelectric dams that will each generate between 100 and 300 megawatts.

    Pakistan is expected to see accelerating economic growth in the coming years, with the International Monetary Fund forecasting 4.1 percent expansion this fiscal year, followed by 4.5 percent growth next year.

    Ratings agency Standard and Poor’s meanwhile has upgraded the country’s credit rating outlook from stable to positive.

    But electricity provision continues to be a massive problem.

    Pakistan faces an annual power shortfall of around 4,000 megawatts in the peak summer months of June and July when temperatures can reach 50 degrees Celsius (120 Fahrenheit) in the country’s centre. -AFP

  • Pakistani cart man makes Sattu of Indian blockbuster ‘PK’

    A picture circulating on the social media features a man selling Sattu on cart with poster of Amir Khan and Anushka Sharma holding a glass of Sattu.

    Sattu is a drink popular in South Asia consisting of a mixture of ground pulses and cereals.

    One must give a try to ‘PK Sattu’ . Will you? After all, a cart man tried his best to let (unapproachable) Anushka and Amir try a Sattu glass, but through photoshop.

  • Air strikes hit Yemen capital, U.N. envoy arrives hours before truce

    Seeking to restore exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, an alliance of Gulf Arab nations has since March 26 been bombing the Iranian-backed Houthi militia and allied army units that control much of Yemen.

    Backed by Washington, the Sunni Muslim Saudi-led coalition worries that the Shi’ite Muslim Houthi rebels are a proxy for what they see as moves by arch-rival Iran to expand its sway in their backyard, with its huge oil wealth.

    Mauritanian diplomat Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said he had arrived to prepare for the humanitarian truce and jumpstart stalled political talks among Yemen’s civil war factions.

    “We are convinced there is no solution to Yemen’s problem except through a dialogue, which must be Yemeni,” the envoy was quoted by Houthi-controlled state news agency Saba as saying.

    Sanaa residents said there were three air strikes on a base for army contingents aligned with the Houthis in the north of the capital, sending up a column of smoke.

    In the southern port of Aden, witnesses said the alliance bombed Houthi positions and local armed groups were still fighting the rebels in the city and throughout Yemen’s south.

    Aden residents said four residents were killed in Houthi shelling and four anti-Houthi militiamen operating a tank were killed in an Arab air strike, one of the first reported incidents of friendly fire since the campaign began.

    On Monday, the Houthis and Saudi forces exchanged heavy artillery fire along the two countries’ rugged desert border.

    The ceasefire was set to take effect at 11 p.m. (04:00 p.m. EDT) to allow the shipment of food and medicine to the blockaded country, which aid groups warn faces a humanitarian catastrophe.

    Adrian Edwards, a spokesman for U.N. refugee agency UNHCR, said planes were poised to take off from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates bearing 300 tonnes of sleeping mats, blankets and tent material.

    “The UNHCR is making final preparations for a huge airlift of humanitarian aid into Yemen’s Sanaa, to take place over the next days if today’s proposed ceasefire comes into effect and holds,” he told a briefing in Geneva.

    As of Wednesday, the U.N. agency OCHA said 1,527 people have died in the Arabian Peninsula country’s conflict, among them 646 civilians, and 6,266 have been wounded.

  • Fresh Nepal earthquake kills dozens, triggers panic

    The earthquake was centered 68 kilometers (42 miles) west of the town of Namche Bazaar, close to Mount Everest and the border with Tibet, the U.S. Geological Survey said. It could be felt as far away as northern India and Bangladesh.

    Buildings swayed in New Delhi, sending office workers scurrying on to the streets. Residents in the Indian town of Siliguri, near the border with Nepal, said chunks of concrete fell off one or two buildings.

    Nepal’s home ministry said the death toll from the quake had reached 19, with 981 injured.

    Five people were killed in Indian states bordering Nepal – one in Uttar Pradesh and four in Bihar, officials said, and Chinese media reported one person died in Tibet after rocks fell on a car.

    Nepal is still picking up the pieces from the devastation caused by last month’s 7.8-magnitude earthquake, the country’s worst in more than 80 years, which killed at least 8,046 people and injured more than 17,800.

    Hundreds of thousands of buildings, including many ancient sites, were destroyed and many more damaged.

    Mountaineers seeking to scale the world’s tallest peak have called off this year’s Everest season after 18 people died when last month’s quake triggered avalanches on the mountain.

    Dambar Parajuli, president of Expedition Operators’ Association of Nepal, said there were no climbers or Nepali sherpa guides at the Base Camp.

    “All of them have already left,” Parajuli said.

    In Lukla, the departure point for treks to Everest, buildings cracked and small landslides were triggered when the ground shook.

    Locals said three teenage school students were injured.

    Susana Perez from Madrid was on a 10-day trek with her husband to Island Peak in the Everest region and was about to reach Lukla.

    “We saw the mountain in front of us fall down – earth and rocks. There were some houses underneath but it was not clear if they were hit,” Perez said.

    In Kathmandu, people panicked and rushed outdoors when the tremors began around 12.30, Reuters witnesses said. The quake was followed by at least half a dozen aftershocks, including one as big as 6.3.

    Parents could be seen clutching children tightly, and hundreds of people were frantically trying to call relatives on their mobile phones.

    Shopkeepers closed their shops and the streets were jammed with people rushing to check on their families.

    “I’m heading straight home,” said Bishal Rai, a man in his 20s, who said he was trying to contact his family in the north of the capital.

    ASSESSING DAMAGE

    Medics and volunteers formed a human chain at a Kathmandu hospital to keep a path open for ambulances.

    A volunteer at the hospital said five or six injured people had been brought in, two on stretchers. So far, few ambulances had arrived, he said.

    Some aid and rescue teams, which were on their way back from Nepal, were considering whether to return to help.

    “There is a huge concern for the people who may be living in structures that did not prove earthquake sound,” said De Wojtek Wilk, CEO of the Polish Center for International Aid.
    Wilk said his last team of medics were currently on their way back from Nepal, but he was wondering whether to send them back on a return flight.

    Indian Air Force spokesman Simranpal Singh Birdi said one MiG 17 aircraft stationed in Kathmandu has been sent to Namche Bazaar to assess the damage.

    LEFT SHAKEN

    At least four people were killed in Chautara town in Sindhupalchowk district, north of the Nepali capital Kathmandu, a spokesman for the International Organization for Migration said.

    The new temblor also triggered at least three big landslides in the district, which suffered the heaviest death toll in last month’s quake.

    A district official there said 12 people had been injured.

    “The latest earthquake has left us shaken. I am still trembling,” said the official, Diwakar Koirala, when reached soon after the quake.

    Rhita Doma Sherpa, a nurse with the Mountain Medicine Center in Namche Bazaar, near the epicenter, said the quake caused cracks in several buildings, including a school, but she had not seen major damage.

    “It was lunchtime. All the kids were outside. Thank god,” she said.

  • Body of Philippine ambassador sent to Manila

    Engr. Khurram Dastgir Khan, Federal Minister of Commerce and an officer from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, are accompanying the senior officials of the Philippines and family member of the late Ambassador, on the special plane.

    A dignified ceremony with guard of honour, paying respects to the deceased Ambassador, was held at Noor Khan Airbase, Islamabad, before departure.

  • Pakistan to treat Afghanistan’s enemy as its own: COAS

    The Army Chief is currently accompanying Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on a one-day visit to Afghanistan. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz;  Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Syed Tariq Fatimi and Foreign Secretary, Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry are also a part of the delegation.

    According to Director General Inter-Services Public Relations Major Asim Salim Bajwa, the COAS said Afghanistan’s enemy will be treated as Pakistan’s enemy and vice versa.

    He said Pakistan’s relations with Afghanistan will be guided by three principles including strict adherence to policy of non-intervention. Besides, Pakistan would not allow its territory to be used against others.

    The COAS assured full support to Afghan-led reconciliation and assured making all efforts in this regard.