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Sunday, December 4

J&K’s business organizations sign agreement on establishment of Joint CCI

ISTANBUL: In a major development towards enhancing Cross-Line of Control (LoC) cooperation in Jammu and Kashmir, ten major business organizations including the heads of four major Chambers and Federations of Industries from both sides of divide have decided to form a formal, inclusive and properly elected apex Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The first ever written and signed agreement on first non-governmental cooperation between different organisations of mutual interest from both sides of the Line of Control between Jammu and Kashmir was arrived at after a three-day long meeting held in Istanbul, Turkey from November 26 to 28.

The agreement was reached between Presidents and other elected representatives of the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), the Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI), the AJK Chamber of Commerce and Industry (AJK CCI), the Federation Chambers of Industries Kashmir (FCIK), the Federation of Industries Jammu (FIJ), the Gilgit-Baltistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (G-B CCI), the Merchants Association Ladakh, the associations and councils of Cross Line of Control (LoC) traders from all four trading points (Tetrinot-Chakan-da-Bagh on Poonch-Rawalakote route and Salamabad-Chakothi on Srinagar-Muzaffarabad routes) and the Intra-Kashmir Trade Union.

The Istanbul meeting was facilitated by Conciliation Resources, a London based organisation, with assistance of its regional partners Centre for Peace, Development and Reforms (AJK) and Indus Research Foundation (Jammu).

First of its kind of civil society initiative to put in place a formal structure of cooperation was in inherent desire of the stakeholders to compliment a series of India-Pakistan Confidence Building Measures on reviving ties across the Line of Control between both sides of Jammu and Kashmir.

New Delhi and Islamabad had allowed first Cross-LoC Contact in 2005 by launch of bus service between Srinagar, on Indian side, and Muzaffarabad, on Pakistani side, of Jammu and Kashmir. Cross-LoC trade was launched in October 2008 and further tourism and cultural exchanges were agreed upon in July 2011.

While acknowledging the fact that a Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry was agreed upon by three constituent Chambers in October 2008 which could not realise its full potential due to its limited scope of consultations, the participant representatives of different Chambers decided to organise the new body in an inclusive, participatory and sustainable manner.

The inaugural president of the Joint Chamber Zulfiqar Abbasi representing AJK Chamber (at Mirpur in Aazad Jmmu and Kashmir) informed the meeting that he could not transfer the Chair to next region (Jammu and Kashmir) after initially stipulated period of one year in absence of scope for any consultative process to do so.

To emerge as a formally constituted, properly elected and fully representative body of industry and trade organisations drawn from all regions in both, Indian and Pakistani, sides of Line of Control the meeting discussed and agreed that the Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry shall represent not only interests of the ongoing Cross-LoC trade but also work towards other possibilities of cooperation across the Line of Control with larger objective of building peace and trust between the regions.

Following are the broad contours of nine-point agreement which was signed by 17 participants representing all Chambers, Federations of Industries and associations of Cross-LoC traders:

The Jammu and Kashmir Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (J&K JCCI) shall be comprised of 44 members equally drawn from both sides of Line of Control. Further, the agreement clearly spelled out breakup of membership between all partner organisations.

The eight members of the General Body will be reserved for the cross LoC traders, four from each side (Tetrinot-Chakan-da-Bagh and Salamabad-Chakothi trading points) and the J&K JCCI shall integrate the Joint Federation of Cross-LoC Traders after its proper establishment.

A proper constitution and terms of association for the J&K JCCI shall be drafted by a ten member committee before March 31, 2012 and approved by Executive Committee before April 31, 2012. The ten-member committee shall be drawn from constituent partners in equal numbers from both sides of LoC.

The President shall be elected by the defined Electoral College and will assume office January 1 each year and Presidency will rotate between the sides of LoC on early basis. Honouring the agreement reached between the founding members of the J&K JCCI in 2008, the Presidency of the J&K JCCI will be transferred to a member from the Valley of Kashmir who will be elected by the 11 members of the aforementioned Electoral College in the Valley of Kashmir.

To facilitate the above processes the participants requested Conciliation Resources to provide assistance and agreed that Ershad Mahmud (Executive Director, Centre for Peace, Democracy and Reform, Mirpur) and Zafar Choudhary (Honourary Director, Indus Research Foundation, Jammu) would act as liaison with Conciliation Resources in this regard to supervise the implementation of the agreement.   (sana)


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No threat of judicial, military coup: Gilani

Saturday, December 3

PPP accuses Nawaz of subverting democracy

ISLAMABAD: Central leader of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Babar Awan Thursday alleged that PML-N President Nawaz Sharif by calling President (Zardari) a traitor had tried to play the same game that led to (the creation of) Bangladesh.

Babar Awan said this at a press conference held hours after Nawaz Sharif appeared before Supreme Court where proceedings of the memogate scandal were initiated as a result of Constitutional petitions submitted by Nawaz Sharif and others.

Commenting on the formation of a body to look into memogate scandal, Awan said Executive was the only institution in the country, which could set up such a commission under the constitution.

Information Minister Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan, Khursheed Shah and Qamar Zaman Kaira were also present at the press conference.

“We will not allow the supremacy of the Parliament to be wiped out,” Babar Awan vowed. He, however, added that he believed there was no political personality in the country who could be called a traitor.

He asked Nawaz Sharif if he had filed any petition for indicting Musharraf under Article 6. “What is stopping Sharifs from filing a case of treason against coup detat of October 12, 1999?”

He said it had become clear today as to who wanted disintegration of the country.

‘Today a decision was announced without hearing the point of view of the federation,” Babar Awa regretted.

Khurshid Shah on the occasion said ‘those who don’t run away and stay in the country and fight in the democracy can’t be intimidated by use of article 6'.

Information Minister Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan alleged that the protocol department of Supreme Court received PML-N leaders.

Babar Awan said the present government raised the national flag in Swat, resolved NFC issue, vacated two cantonments in Balochistan through consensus.


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Munter condoles loss of troops lives

Clinton regrets Pak pull-out from Bonn conference

Q forward bloc divided over PTI option

LAHORE: The PML-Q forward bloc in the Punjab Assembly, which is considered the linchpin of the Shahbaz Sharif government, is divided over whether to continue supporting PML-N or join Pakistan-Tehreek-e-Insaf.

The public show of Imran Khan in Lahore on October 30 not only affected the national political horizon but also made many independent pressure groups to redesign their future course. The PML-Q forward bloc, which claims to have the support of 50 members in the Punjab Assembly, is still considered a strong pillar behind the ‘minority government’ of Shahbaz Sharif.

They have changed their political alignments with PML-Q and shifted their loyalties to the PML-N, thinking that future belonged to it. For the last four years, they remained steadfast with the PML-N, braving all legal hurdles and political upheavals, including the Governorís Rule in Punjab.

Dr Tahir Ali Javed, who is the group head, repeatedly said that that they had shifted their loyalties towards PML-N not because of any portfolios or other attractions but because of its principled stance on certain issues.

Insiders claimed that the PML-N leadership, admitting their services had promised them to award them party ticketin the coming polls. Though PML-N had promised them the party tickets, many within PML-Q forward bloc members believed that the political dynamics in their rural constituencies was quite different from what it was in the urban areas. These are more of cast and clan oriented, with political parties having almost insignificant influences or role to play. Throughout these past four year, most of the PML-Q members, despite supporting PML-N, were found complaining against the Punjab government for not properly accommodating their rightful demands, unlike their own MPAs. Even their political opponents from the PML-N in the constituencies were being given preferences on many counts. Many of the members complained that the forward bloc had become almost insignificant as they had not held any meeting for the last one year. He claimed that the members who were quite close to the CM were being accommodated while the rest of the majority was being ignored.

Nevertheless, October 30 public gathering and later the decision of Shah Mahmood Qureshi to join the PTI changed the mindset of many within PML-Q forward bloc ñ a majority of whom belong to the South Punjab. They are giving the earlier decision a second thought.

The insiders informed this correspondent that the forward bloc members in Punjab were of firm belief that their group had almost lost its significance and a majority of the members were keenly weighing their options in the changing political scenario.

Some members, on the promise of not naming them, claimed that they had started supporting Shahbaz Sharif government in Punjab at a time when they had to choose between PML-N and PPP. They stated they had now third option available in the shape of the PTI led by Imran Khan, and that they were seriously considering it.

Another member of the block claimed that the political situation in Punjab had changed and Imran Khan was growing his influence day by day. He stated that many of the heavyweights in his district had joined the PTI and he was also being contacted in this regard. He claimed that he was gauging the political situation and considering the PTI option as well. Another member claimed that many bigwigs in his district had either joined Imran Khan nor were they in contact with him. He stated the recent defeat of the PML-N candidate in Bahawalpur had proved last nail in the coffin as it had disillusioned many who were earlier aspiring for the party ticket.

A member from South Punjab strongly criticized the PML-N policy towards growing demand of separate province and the recent statement of Nawaz Sharif regarding making Bahawalpur division a separate state, claiming that the PTI was growing fast in this area. He stated the Nawabs of Bahawalpur, Jehangir Khan Tareen, Rafiq Haider Leghari and others had almost joined the PTI while many others were in contact with it. He stated that he himself was weighing the option and would decide his future political course within a short span of time.

When contacted, the group head Dr Tahir Ali Javed admitted that the group had not scheduled any meeting for the last one year. Nevertheless, he expressed his ignorance that most of the forward bloc members were in contact with the PTI. He claimed that the members with whom he was in contact had not shown any strong reservations against PML-N. However, he said there might be members who had different political dynamics in their constituencies and were weighing option of the PTI.

He was of the view that he did not like changing political affiliations so rapidly, so he was in no mood to join another party. He claimed that it was up to the members as to what kind of political decision they would take as he could not dictate anyone in this regard.


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Choi leads windy Chevron World Challenge

California: K.J. Choi jumped out of the blocks then stayed steady in gusting winds Thursday to seize the first-round lead of the Chevron World Challenge, three shots ahead of tournament host Tiger Woods.

Choi birdied the first five holes at the par-72, 7,052-yard Sherwood Country Club course.

The South Korean veteran then held on as the blustery winds picked up, with unpredictable gusts of up to 35 miles per hour (56 kph), to finish at six-under 66, with Woods and fellow American Steve Stricker sharing second on 69.

Sherwood, in rolling hills west of Los Angeles, missed the worst of the winds that battered southern California on Thursday, leaving more than 300,000 without power, creating traffic chaos and forcing school closures in some areas.

“I think it’s a blessing that the wind wasn’t as strong as they forecast,” Choi said. “I mean, if the winds really start to pick up at 40, 50 miles per hour (64-80 kph), we can’t really play. So it’s a blessing that it wasn’t that strong.”

The conditions made for a difficult day of golf, however. None of the 18 players in the field made it around without a bogey.

“It was tough just to grab the right club and commit to the shot because the wind was all over the place,” said Stricker, who joined playing partner Woods on 69 with a 40-foot birdie putt at 18.

“K.J.’s playing an amazing round because he’s got most of it in the wind,” said Woods, who played three groups in front of Choi and took advantage of the calm early conditions to birdie four of his first five holes.

“For him to play that well that early and then keep it going is one hell of a round.”

Choi, whose 2011 US PGA Tour season featured a career-high eight top 10s — including a victory at The Players Championship — said he gets plenty of practice playing in the wind in Dallas, where he has a US home.

“I’m used to practising in those conditions. I’ve become very comfortable in those windy conditions,” Choi said. “My mindset was just to try and make par and try to be patient.”

Woods, the 14-time major champion who hasn’t won in more than two years, finished with six birdies and three bogeys and said the conditions offered little chance to assess the state of his game.

“It was hard to tell anything out there because it was just dancing all over the place,” said Woods, who arrived in California confident that he could continue the solid form he displayed in a fortnight of competition in Australia.

After back-to-back bogeys at 15 and 16 dropped him to two-under, Woods smacked in a birdie putt at 17 to get back to three-under. Had it missed, he said, it would have gone several feet past.

“Thank God it went in,” Woods said.

Americans Nick Watney, Jim Furyk and Rickie Fowler were tied on 71, the only other players to break par.

American Matt Kuchar got as low as four-under but was undone by a triple-bogey eight at the par-five 16th en route to an even par 72.

Australian Jason Day was three-under through 15 before back-to-back double-bogeys at 16 and 17. Nursing a sore right thumb after playing out of the trees at 17, he closed with a bogey that left him two-over.

Given the potential for disaster on the day, Woods was more than satisfied with his position.

“Anything under par is a good day today,” he said. (AFP)


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US senate ties strings to Pakistan military aid

Friday, December 2

NATO attack threatens war on militants: Pakistan

Telegram:  Pakistan, enraged by a NATO cross-border attack that killed 24 soldiers, could end support for the U.S.-led war on militancy if its sovereignty is violated again, the foreign minister said, warning that “enough is enough.”

The South Asian nation has already shown its anger over the weekend strike by pulling out of an international conference in Germany next week on Afghanistan, depriving the talks of a central player in efforts to bring peace to its neighbor.

“Enough is enough. The government will not tolerate any incident of spilling even a single drop of any civilian or soldier’s blood,” The News newspaper on Thursday quoted Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar as telling a Senate committee on foreign affairs.

“Pakistan’s role in the war on terror must not be overlooked,” Khar said, suggesting Pakistan could end its support for the U.S. war on militancy. Despite opposition at home, Islamabad backed Washington after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

The U.S. Embassy released a video statement on YouTube by Ambassador Cameron Munter in which he expressed regret for the attack. (http:/link.reuters.com/cyz35s)

“I would like to extend my most sincere condolences to the people and government of Pakistan, and especially to Pakistan’s men and women in uniform, for the tragic incident that took place on November 26 in Mohmand Agency,” he said, standing in front of U.S. and Pakistani flags.

“We regret it very much,” he added in Urdu.

He said the United States took the attack “very seriously” and pledged a “a full, in-depth investigation.”

“Pakistan and the U.S. have stood together for over 60 years,” he said. “We have weathered previous crises together. I’m certain we will weather this one too, and emerge, together, as stronger partners.”

White House spokesman Jay Carney said the investigation was still in its early stages and he made clear the administration thought it would be premature to consider whether or not to apologize to Pakistan until the probe is complete.

“We need to find the results of this investigation,” he told reporters in Washington. “We have offered our condolences. … I’m not going to prejudge actions we might take, what we might say, in the future.”

He confirmed there had been a suggestion from the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan for a taped message of condolences, presumably by President Barack Obama, but a decision was made to offer condolences instead on the president’s behalf.

But events seemed to be working against lowering tensions. Two Pakistani men were killed in Afghanistan early on Thursday and Pakistani border guards said NATO may have been responsible.

The officials said the two men, who were from the town of Chagai in the Pakistani province of Baluchistan, were gathering wood 30 km (19 miles) inside Afghanistan. They said NATO helicopters fired on their vehicle.

“I can confirm that the bodies of two residents of Chagai have arrived from Afghanistan,” said Chagai Assistant Commissioner Tufail Baloch. “But I do not have any information on how they were killed. It happened on Afghan soil so we don’t have many details yet.”

NATO officials had no immediate comment.

NATO helicopters and fighter jets attacked two military border posts in northwest Pakistan on Saturday in the worst incident of its kind since 2001.

The top U.S. military officer denied allegations by a senior Pakistani army official that the NATO attack was a deliberate act of aggression.

General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Reuters in an interview,”The one thing I will say publicly and categorically is that this was not a deliberate attack.

The incident has given the army, which has ruled Pakistan for more than half of its history and sets security and foreign policy, some breathing room after facing strong criticism from both the Pakistani public and the United States after Osama bin Laden was killed in a secret raid by U.S. special forces in May.

The al Qaeda leader had apparently been living in a Pakistani garrison town for years.

Pakistanis criticized the military for failing to protect their sovereignty and U.S. officials wondered whether some members of military intelligence had sheltered him. Pakistan’s government and military said they had no idea bin Laden was in the country.

Protests have taken place in several cities every day since the NATO strike along the poorly defined border, where militants often plan and stage attacks.

Pakistan military sources said Islamabad had canceled a visit by a 15-member delegation, led by the director general of the Joint Staff, Lieutenant-General Mohammad Asif, to the United States that was to have taken place this week.

In an apparently unrelated attack, a bomb blew out a wall of a government official’s office in Peshawar, the last big city on the route to Afghanistan, early on Thursday, police said. There were no reports of casualties.

Also in the eastern Afghan province of Logar, unknown gunmen abducted seven Pakistani engineers in Pul-e Alam, said provincial police chief Gulam Sakhi Rogh Lewanai.

The United States has long wanted Pakistan, whose military and economy depend heavily on billions of dollars in American aid, to crack down on militant groups that cross its unruly border to attack Western forces in Afghanistan.

More recently, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asked Pakistan to bring all militant groups to the negotiating table in order to stabilise Afghanistan.

The NATO attack makes Pakistani cooperation less likely.

NATO hopes an investigation it promised will defuse the crisis and that confidence-building measures can repair ties.

Critics say Pakistan has created a deadly regional mess by supporting militants like the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani network to act as proxies in Afghanistan and other groups to fight Indian forces in the disputed Kashmir region.

Pakistan says it has paid the highest price in the war on militancy. Thousands of soldiers and police have been killed.

“The sacrifices rendered by Pakistan in the war on terror are more than any other country,” Khar was quoted as saying. “But that does not mean we will compromise on our sovereignty.”(Reuters)


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US senate backs tough new Iran sanctions

WASHINGTON: The US Senate on Thursday unanimously approved harsh new economic sanctions on Iran, dismissing warnings that they risked fracturing global unity on isolating Tehran over its alleged nuclear weapons program.

Lawmakers voted 100-0 to include the measure, which aims to cut off Iran’s central bank from the global financial system, in a must-pass annual military spending bill expected to pass by late in the day.

The measure, crafted by Democratic Senator Robert Menendez and Republican Senator Mark Kirk, calls for freezing US-based assets of financial institutions that do business with the central bank, including foreign central banks that do so for the purposes for buying or selling petroleum or related products.

“This is the maximum opportunity to have a peaceful diplomacy tool to stop Iran’s march to nuclear weapons,” said Menendez.

“This is the right amendment, at the right time, sending the right message in the face of a very irresponsible regime,” Kirk said.

The vote came after an 11th-hour push from US President Barack Obama’s administration to convince impatient lawmakers to defeat the measure.

US officials have warned that depriving global markets of Iranian exports could send oil prices sharply higher, handing Tehran a windfall at a time when it has struggled to cope with painful international economic sanctions.

To address that concern, Kirk and Menendez’s measure says the sanctions would only apply if Obama determines that there is sufficient oil from other producers to avoid disrupting global markets, and enables him to delay them if he determines that to be vital to US national security interests.

Senate passage of the underlying military spending bill would trigger negotiations with the House of Representatives to blend the chambers’ rival versions of the bill into a compromise to be sent to Obama.

Earlier, Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman and Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David Cohen warned the plan risked alienating key allies and inadvertently lining Iran’s pockets.

“We all agree with the impulse, the sentiment, the objective, which is to really go at the jugular of Iran’s economy,” Sherman said in a frequently contentious hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“But there is absolutely a risk that, in fact, the price of oil would go up which would mean that Iran would, in fact, have more money to fuel its nuclear ambitions, not less,” she said.

“Now, more than ever, it is imperative that we act in a way that does not threaten to fracture the international coalition of nations,” Cohen said at a hearing just hours before lawmakers were to vote on the plan. (Reuters)


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