The First Vice President of Afghanistan Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum hinted at Pakistan for fueling violence and insurgency in the country.
Dostum is a smart fellow; he says what is common sense and common knowledge...
In his statement following a widespread demonstration in capital Kabul after the beheading of women and a child by the alleged Islamic State militants, Gen. Dostum said “It is certain that a number of Taliban and Madrasa Mullahs are not involved behind the incidents and ill-fated plans but the spy agency of our southern neighbor is having a critical role in bloodshed and violence in the country.”
He was apparently gesturing towards Pakistan as the ‘southern neighbor’ of Afghanistan but he warned that the terrorist groups will not suffice by having a grip in Afghanistan only and insisted that they are looking to expand in Central Asia, Russia, China, Turkey and even in Europe.
In the meantime, Gen. Dostum said the recently emerged Islamic State terror group was likely involved in the growing violence across the country, calling the emergence of the terror group as a sophisticated and a major game.
He also thanked President Barack Obama for extending the military presence of United States in Afghanistan and urged that the American forces should continue to their military operations in the country in a solemn and precise way in a bid to eliminate terrorism from the country.
Gen. Dostum also added that latest rally by the Afghan people demonstrates their frustration and hatred against terrorism and horrible acts by them including stoning to death, beheadings, suicide attacks and explosions.
MOGADISHU -- In a fresh twist that may signal diplomatic row on the horizon, Somalia’s Federal Government has officially objected to Kenya proposal to construct security wall along its border, Garowe Online reports.
Of course they do...
During a weekly cabinet meeting in Mogadishu on Thursday, Somalia Interior Minister Abdirahman Odawa unveiled that Mogadishu wrote to Kenya about its concerns on the unilateral counter-terror strategy.
Kenya is planning to push ahead with the ambitious project to keep Al Shabaab threats at bay on key border point.
Somali Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke conveyed Somalia’s objection to Kenya wall project over the course of his recent trip.
Remarks coincide with Kenya’s controversial move in which it is demolishing colonial posts along its border with Somalia.
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ISTANBUL – The radical group of Islamic State (ISIS) in Sinai vowed in a new video to carry out suicide attacks against Israel soon, without defining the time and place of the alleged operations.
Yeah, yeah. You and what army?
The video clip, which has been circulated by ISIS loyalists on the social media, focused at the beginning on the war against the Egyptian military, while threatened Israel at the end, saying they “will reach the Jews wherever they were”.
After quoting some speeches of Islamic prophet, a masked gunman expressed the group’s desire to attack Israel at an unspecified time.
"Not now, but soon. Very, very soon, when Allah gives us a sign. Which he will, when he wills it. Which he hasn't done yet, but when he does, the sons of apes and monkeys will be sorrier than they ever have been."
The 14-minute video has been published under the banner “And Then They Will Be Vanquished”, mainly addressing the Egyptian army which has recently launched a military operation against jihadists in the Sinai area.
Then is not now. And not soon, either.
The jihadi speaker called on Egyptian soldiers either to repent or to be killed for attacking Muslims (Jihadis) in Sinai, claiming “the army is trying to push Egyptians to defend Israel”.
That's because the last time the Egyptian army got Israel mad, Israeli tanks stopped just short of Cairo. The Sinai, where ISIS in Sinai lives, is between Israel and Cairo.
The speaker militant pointed out that jihadists have not forgotten Israel although the focus is on fighting the Egyptian government, vowing “Islamic State will ‘soon’ resume its attacks on Jews.”
I think I said yeah, yeah once before, but the sentiment bears repeating.
"The Islamic State will lead the (Islamic) nation to rebel and uproot you (the Jews),” he added, vowing the Egyptian regime, “we will break into the territory of ‘tyrants’ (in reference to the Egyptian regime).”
“The (Egyptian) apostate army has failed to carry out its mission,” the militant said.
As the speaker goes on, the video showed civilians allegedly killed by the Egyptian army, beside showing destroyed tanks and dead Egyptian soldiers.
The speaker also pointed out that the jihadis will soon raise the flag of Islamic State over the Cairo Tower –a famous landmark in Egypt’s capital.
Two weeks ago, the radical group circulated another video on the social media, showing a masked militant speaking in Hebrew with an Arabic accent vowing all the Jews and the Israeli state with a “big war soon”.
On October 23, ISIS released a videotape showing one of its militants speaking in Hebrew, vowing to carry out suicide attacks against Israelis, adding they “will eradicate Jews from Jerusalem”.
#2
Somehow I have this image of Sisi talking to Bibi. You know Bibi I don't have any idea where these bad guys are but I know all the good guys are right here. You wouldn't happen to know who these guys at coordinates x,y are would you?
Dubai: Al Houthi militants are recruiting children from orphanages and shelters in Yemen, warned the Minister of Human Rights in Yemen.
Izz Al Deen Al Asbahi, Minister of Human Rights in Yemen, said Al Houthis and forces royal to ousted former president of Yemen Ali Abdullah Saleh, are targeting and militarily equipping orphaned children living in shelters and orphanages.
Al Asbahi revealed during a seminar organised by the internationally-recognised Yemeni government in Riyadh on Wednesday to discuss the Al Houthi attacks that the militants are also using schools and hospitals to store weapons.
Since Al Houthis overthrew the government on September 21, 2014, a total of 3,074 civilians have been killed, including 400 children and 381 women, said the minister according to the website 24.ae.
He also said 7,347 were injured by the rebels, out of which 719 were children and 514 were women. Additional crimes committed by Al Houthis ranged from kidnapping, torturing and arresting, to name a few.
Al Asbahi also revealed that Al Houthis and Saleh’s loyalists are using civilians, whom they have arrested as human shields by placing them in areas, which are heavily targeted militarily.
Al Asbahi said according to families and witnesses, Al Houthis and Saleh’s forces are stationed at the top of Al Harran Mountain in the Dhamar province of Yemen.
They are also storing all their weapons at the Al Harran garden management’s headquarters, which they are also using as an illegal jail.
Meanwhile, Yemeni security sources revealed on Thursday that forces royal to the government captured dozens of Al Houthis in Taiz, while the popular resistance forces killed 11 Al Houthi militants during an ambush in Al Daleh.
According to Yemen Now (in Arabic) website, the Saudi-led Arab Coalition forces bombed Al Houthi military vehicles in Taiz.
It was also reported that seven Al Houthis were killed and 13 were injured in clashes with forces loyal to the legitimate army in Taiz.
In the province of Shabwah, 15 members of Al Houthi militia were killed in clashes with the popular resistance army.
Manama: Kuwait has arrested six more Egyptians for using their social media accounts to insult the country and incite their fellow citizens to hold protests and demonstrations.
“The security authorities have arrested six Egyptian nationals on the charge of abusing their Facebook accounts to post and disseminate insults and abuses targeting Kuwait, its institutions and its citizens,” the interior ministry said. “The suspects also used their social media accounts to incite the Egyptian community, call for strikes and fuel feelings of hatred following the brawl that has recently occurred inside and in front of a shopping mall in Hawalli.”
The ministry said the remarks and calls on the social media blatantly violated the laws and public order, undermined security, put the lives of citizens and expatriates at risk and stalled public and private interests.
The suspects who were identified by the national security agency were named as Ahmad Al Sayyed Mohammad Farah, Ahmad Jaber Ahmad Abdul Salam, Mohammad Faraj Ali Salim, Tariq Abdul Hameed Abdul Hakeem Abdul Hameed, Mohammad Al Shawadfi Abeed Al Shawadfi, and Abdul Rahman Mohammad Abdul Rahman Ahmad.
They were all referred to the relevant authorities for investigation, the ministry added.
“The ministry stresses it is fully determined to continue exerting all efforts not to allow any acts or activities that might undermine public security and order and warns everyone against abusing social media. All people are equal before the law and justice will take its course unhindered,” the ministry said.
The arrests bring the number of those held by the Kuwaiti authorities in five days to ten.
On Friday, four Egyptians, including one woman, were arrested after they called for staging a protest rally in front of their embassy in the capital Kuwait City.
The four expatriates used social media to post abusive expressions and to insult Kuwait and its institutions and citizens, the interior ministry said in a statement.
The detainees posted messages on various platforms inciting the Kuwaiti community to hold a demonstration in front of the Egyptian embassy in Kuwait.
“The suspects sought to incite hatred following the brawl between expatriates and Kuwaiti citizens that had broken out recently in a shopping centre in Hawalli,” the statement, carried by Kuwait News Agency (Kuna) said on Friday evening. “What the four did was a blatant violation of the law and a transgression of the public order that puts the lives of Kuwaiti citizens and expatriates at risk and stalls public and private interests.”
The ministry named the four Egyptians as Waleed Mahmoud Ahmad Al Suwaisi, an employee at the interior ministry, Yasser Abdul Aziz, a religion teacher at the ministry of endowments and Islamic affairs, Mustafa Mahmoud Mahfoodh, a controller in a company, and Mona Ali Shahata, an employee at a kindergarten.
The suspects were referred to the relevant investigation authorities, and the ministry said that it would be relentless in its endeavours to prevent any action that may disrupt public order and security.
An Egyptian expatriate was killed and two others — an Egyptian and one Kuwaiti citizen — were seriously injured in the brawl that broke out between Egyptian workers and two Kuwaitis in an electronics shop in Rihab Mall.
Reports said nine Kuwaitis and 15 Egyptians were implicated in the scuffle that erupted when Kuwaiti clients argued with Egyptian salesmen in an electronics shop over the price of a PlayStation.
According to the reports, Egyptians in nearby shops joined in the fight while the Kuwaitis were helped by friends.
The Egyptian was killed when a Kuwaiti used his car to hit a group of Egyptians.
The police said that those involved in the scuffle, including the car driver, were arrested.
However, several Egyptians have been critical of their embassy in Kuwait, alleging it was slow in its reaction to the incident.
Two weeks ago, Kuwaiti authorities said they were deporting 18 Egyptians and five Syrians for their involvement in a brawl in an industrial area. The police said no Kuwaiti was involved in the scuffle.
Kuwait has been following a zero-tolerance policy towards public fights and scuffles or disruption of public order.
While Kuwaitis implicated are fined or jailed, expatriates are deported promptly without the need for a court order.
The head of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) air force on Wednesday dismissed charges that Arab coalition air power caused regular civilian casualties in Yemen's war, saying warplanes used precision weapons and raids needed multiple approvals.
Amnesty International has asked the United Nations to investigate allegations that humanitarian law has been broken during the seven-month-old war, in which U.N. figures show more than 5,600 people have been killed.
The human rights group has said the vast majority of civilian casualties in Yemen have been caused by the Saudi-led coalition. It has said that violations of international humanitarian law have also been committed by the Iranian-allied Houthis, the coalition's adversary in the conflict.
In an interview with Reuters at the Dubai Airshow, Major-General Ibrahim Nasser Al Alawi said coalition planes had complete command of the skies and so could focus their efforts on supporting ground forces fighting the Houthis.
"As an air power player in the allied forces we are running almost 98 percent precision (weapons) and with small calibres, especially when it comes to civilian areas like cities," he said, in a rare public comment by a senior coalition officer.
"I can say there are three to four different layers for approving these targets, just to make sure that civilians (are unharmed) - and going with a small calibre you are really controlling collateral damage."
"We are a professional air force, the Saudis the same, the allied forces they are all the same."
"We only drop professional ordnance, not barrel bombs!"
Saudi Arabia has since March led the campaign to restore state authority after Houthi fighters took control of much of Yemen a year ago. The UAE is a leading member of the coalition, which won control of the skies in the first few days of the war.
Britain said on Tuesday it would halt arms exports to Saudi Arabia if investigations found Riyadh had breached international humanitarian law in the Yemen war.
Come now, how ever could the Saudis do that? Doesn't one generally save that sort of accusation for the Joooz?
Alawi, commander of the UAE Air Force and Air Defence, said coalition warplanes were helping ground forces to try to take the capital Sanaa and other major cities from the Houthis.
"The whole airspace belongs to the allied forces ... so militarily I don't think you can ask much more than that," he said. "Now it is up to the Yemenis to recapture their cities like the capital Sanaa or Saada and practise their government."
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Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al Jubeir voiced support on Wednesday for peace talks on Yemen's conflict which the United Nations says will take place this month in Geneva.
Getting a little bogged down? No "exit strategy"?
"We hope they will be successful," Al Jubeir told reporters after a summit of Arab and South American countries in Riyadh. "We support these negotiations and hope they will achieve peace, security and stability in Yemen," he said.
Addressing the summit late on Tuesday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that his special envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, "intends to convene a new round of peace consultations in Switzerland... this month".
He did not give a specific date but said both the Yemeni government and the Houthis have committed to attend.
Ould Cheikh Ahmed said last week that he was "very optimistic" negotiations would start between November 10 and 15.
But on Monday in the Saudi capital, Yemen's Foreign Minister Riad Yassin said the Houthis' recapture on the weekend of positions in southern Yemen shows they are "not serious" about the peace talks.
But, rather, that they're serious about kicking coalition ass...
Qatar said on Wednesday that one of its soldiers fighting with a Saudi-led coalition in Yemen has been killed - Qatar's first reported casualty in the conflict. Foreign Minister Khalid bin Mohammed Al Attiyah announced the death on Twitter, without saying how or when the soldier was killed.
The state-run Qatar News Agency identified the soldier as Mohammed Hamed Suleiman.
Meanwhile, pro-government forces on Wednesday killed 13 rebel fighters in an ambush in Yemen's south after the insurgents took back several positions in the area, a military source said.
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North Korea's elderly comeback kid Choe Ryong-hae is believed to have been demoted again and undergoing reeducation. Rumors had circulated that Choe has been purged since his name was omitted from from the roster of a committee preparing for the funeral of Marshal Ri Ul-sol, who died last Saturday.
A source Thursday said Choe (64) was not purged but dismissed from his post as Workers Party secretary. Reeducation is a milder punishment for senior officials who have made "mistakes." As in Maoist China or the Soviet Union, they are sent to collective farms, factories or coal mines so they can reflect on their misconduct.
"Re-education" means he was shot with rifles instead of with an anti-aircraft gun?
There is speculation that Choe is being brought to book for the shoddy work for the construction of a power plant that was supposed to be a prestige project for young leader Fat Boy Kim Jong-un.
Making His Enormity look bad? Yup, that'll get you "re-educated"...
Defectors here said people like Choe would typically be sent to a collective farm in Pyongyang, which is directly managed by Kim's family. Kim Heung-kwang of defector group North Korea Intellectuals Solidarity said elite prisoners are usually put to work farming crops or pigs. Officials usually return to their posts after six months to two years.
Choe has been promoted and demoted several times during his high-flying career, surviving probably because he is the son of a revered partisan who fought alongside nation founder Kim Il-sung.
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[AnNahar] The United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... voiced alarm on Wednesday over moves by European countries to cut development aid in a bid to free up funds to support the large influx of refugees.
Finland, Norway and Sweden -- traditionally generous aid donors -- are all preparing major cuts in aid to poor countries in budgets now before their parliaments, while Denmark has approved a major decrease in foreign aid.
The Netherlands is also looking at shifting funds from development assistance to refugees inside the country.
U.N. Secretary General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon called on governments to confront Europe's worst refugee crisis since World War II "without lessening the commitment to vitally needed official development assistance."
"Resources for one area should not come at the expense of another," he said in a statement.
Ban said shifting funds from development aid to refugee assistance was "counter-productive" and would reduce opportunities for millions of people worldwide seeking to build better lives in their home countries.
Nearly 800,000 refugees and migrants have reached Europe by sea this year and hundreds of thousands more have crossed borders, many of whom are fleeing the war in Syria.
A group of Swedish charities last week denounced their government's proposed 60 percent cut in aid to pay for the record influx of migrants.
"If development aid is siphoned off, then people facing extreme poverty or war will see any chance of improving their lives sharply diminished," the signatories, which included the Lutheran Church, said.
Sweden, a country of 9.8 million, is expecting to receive up to 190,000 asylum seekers this year -- putting it among the European states with the highest proportion of refugees per capita.
[AlAhram] Swedish police started checking trains for migrants on Thursday, imposing the first large-scale border controls in two decades, a move criticised by one opposition party as ending a tradition of openness and by others as being too little too late.
Officers waited at Hyllie station south of the city of Malmo, the first stop in Sweden on a route from Denmark, checked passengers' papers and led about 50 people away in the space of one and a half hours.
The controls by a Nordic state that touts itself as a "humanitarian superpower" underscored how the flow of refugees into the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... is straining its prized system of open internal borders close to breaking point.
Parents with toddlers and young children, some of them wrapped in blankets, waited by the track waiting to be processed.
"We take the ones who want asylum here in Sweden and get them to Malmo on buses," said one police officer.
"The rest are sent back on trains to where they came from. If that's Copenhagen, then that's where we send them back to."
Many of the migrants appeared reluctant to get off trains at first, but eventually obeyed the police, who carried standard-issue arms and wore bright yellow vests. No scuffles broke out.
The Centre Party, a member of the centre-right opposition alliance, has criticised the decision by centre-left Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, saying it ends an open-door tradition.
Other rightist parties have said the measures are not enough to help Sweden deal with up to 190,000 asylum seekers this year - double the previous record from the early 1990s.
Lofven said it was impossible to know whether border controls would lower the number of asylum seekers as that was only one of factor dictating the flow into Sweden.
"However, the hip bone's connected to the leg bone... it is important that we get order at the borders so that we can control them," he told local news agency TT.
It is a truth once again becoming universally acknowledged, that a country that takes control of its borders remains viable. The corollary is, of course, obvious.
Until Thursday, the half-hour ride over the Oresund Bridge separating Denmark and Sweden had no checks, under the European union's border-free Schengen agreement.
At one point, police escorted 20 people, mostly men, from a train. The group was asked whether they sought asylum and after one refugee appeared to translate, most raised their hands. Five youths refused, saying they wanted to move on to Norway.
[AlAhram] Iraqis at a Czech detention centre for migrants have begun a hunger strike amid fears of being sent back home, police and a local priest said Thursday.
"The first 20 men started on Tuesday morning," and by mid-Thursday the number had grown to 60, said Mikulas Vymetal, an evangelical priest helping the migrants.
Military aged young men? Send them home.
Protesters Razad Fazal and Yasin Beelhaadj vowed in a Thursday statement to continue their hunger strike, asking to be set free.
Around 100 people are detained at the centre, located in Drahonice, west of Prague, police said. It is one of four facilities where migrants are detained to prevent them from running away before being returned to the EU state from which they arrived.
Some Afghanis, Paks and Moroccans have joined the Iraqis in the protest, police said. Two protesters cut their hands on Wednesday evening, according to local media.
"They are afraid they will be deported to Iraq" after Czech authorities had extended their stay at the centre, said Vymetal.
The interior ministry said the fears were based on "untrue information". In line with EU rules, the Czech Republic returns migrants who enter the country without first making an asylum request there to their first EU port of call.
Katerina Rendlova, spokeswoman for a Czech police unit in charge of foreigners, told AFP that the protesters had refused asylum in the Czech Republic. Like many others, they would prefer to head to Germany and other western European countries.
"We are now trying to identify them, but they are being completely uncooperative, they don't want (to receive temporary) travel documents" as they fear this might lead to extradition, she added.
Tell them to start blabbing or face being shipped to Mauritania. That'll loosen their tongues...
The UN slammed one of the centres -- Bela-Jezova northeast of Prague -- as "degrading" last month over poor living conditions. Despite improvements, refugees said last week they still felt like prisoners there, complaining about police violence and a lack of information.
The refugees and migrants are charged for their stay -- the Czech rights watchdog said last month that a four-member family staying at Bela-Jezova had to pay the equivalent of 1,075 euros ($1,154) for 30 days.
#1
four-member family staying at Bela-Jezova had to pay the equivalent of 1,075 euros ($1,154) for 30 days
Jeepers! That's cheaper than the Motel 6 ($38/nite) and I bet it includes food! But it's not very progressive to actually charge them.
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[AnNahar] Austrian authorities on Thursday said they had smashed a people-trafficking gang believed to have transported 1,800 migrants to Vienna since February. A total of 17 people are under investigation, 11 of whom have been incarcerated Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! The group was charging 250-300 euros ($270-320) per person to bring them from Serbia and Hungary, raking in more than 500,000 euros, Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner said. Police have so far seized around 50,000 euros and have also impounded six vans used for transporting the migrants, each of while held 10-15 people.
The gang would also use another vehicle to go ahead of the vans to check the coast was clear, and had rented apartments in Vienna so drivers could rest between trips, said Franz Prucher, police chief in Lower Austria state.
Austria has become a major transit route for hundreds of thousands of migrants and refugees heading for northern Europe this year. It stepped up checks for people-smugglers after the bodies of 71 migrants including four children were found in an abandoned truck on a motorway near Vienna in August.
"The smugglers will continue to keep us busy in the coming months," Mikl-Leiter told a news conference, calling for the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... to establish "legal routes to Europe".
The Germans pride themselves on their frankness, which should make this interesting. A taste:
[AlAhram] A unilateral decision by the interior minister to reverse course on a central plank of Germany's asylum policy has forced Chancellor Angela Merkel to edge away from her open-door welcome to refugees and raised questions about her leadership.
Critics say her accommodating message in August that "we can do this" - responding to wrenching scenes of refugees faced with border closures and popular hostility in trying to enter some EU states - have spurred migrants to pour into Germany in ever larger numbers, overwhelming the resources of local authorities.
Tensions within Merkel's conservative bloc worsened this week after it emerged that Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere tried to tighten controls three weeks ago without informing Merkel or her chief of staff, Peter Altmaier, whom she charged with overseeing the government's handling of the refugee crisis.
At issue is de Maiziere's decision to reapply, from Oct. 21, European rules obliging migrants to request asylum in the first EU country they arrive in, overturning a government decision in August to waive the so-called "Dublin rules" for Syrians.
Germany has taken in the great majority of migrants in a record-breaking flood into Europe of migrants escaping wars and deprivation in the Middle East, Africa and Asia that is likely to exceed 1 million people by year-end.
The initially enthusiastic reception given migrants reaching Germany, Europe's largest and strongest economy, has cooled as local authorities increasingly struggle to house the newcomers.
Technically, de Maiziere was not obliged to flag the closing door to his superiors as it fell under his operational remit. But, by acting unilaterally, he has fed discord within the broad governing coalition of conservatives and Social Democrats (SPD), and undermined Merkel.
"De Maiziere dupes Merkel," ran a headline in Thursday's edition of the daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
Compounding Merkel's woes, Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, a veteran political heavyweight with cult status in the conservative wing of her Christian Democrats (CDU), has backed de Maiziere on the need for steps to stem the refugee flow. Both men have their own reasons for asserting themselves.
[AlAhram] European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... and African leaders on Thursday approved a 1.8-billion-euro action plan they hope will help stem an unprecedented and politically explosive flow of migrants across the Mediterranean.
[Dawn] PESHAWAR: Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has said that recent statement by military commanders about the National Action Plan (NAP) should not be viewed as a warning but should be taken in “a positive sense”.
Talking to media personnel here before attending a tribal jirga on Thursday, he said that apex committees were the appropriate forums to discuss national issues, including implementation of NAP.
“Take statement of the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) positively... it should not be considered a warning,” he said when asked about the press release issued after the corps commanders’ meeting in Rawalpindi on Tuesday.
“Apex committees exist and such issues can be discussed there,” he said, adding that the army chief could not issue directives to the prime minister.
The apex committees, comprising civilian and military leaders, have been set up at the federal level and in the four provinces to take decisions regarding terrorism and governance.
He said the government had tasked the army with restoring peace in Karachi, Balochistan and Fata and if bad governance was an issue and a hindrance to NAP’s implementation then an institution could send its proposals to the government.
Addressing the grand jirga convened by JUI-F to discuss problems being faced by the people of Fata, Maulana Fazl criticised some political parties and a group of Fata lawmakers for campaigning for integration of tribal areas with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
He said that some political parties were trying to sabotage the efforts of the grand jirga which had been mandated in 2012 to work for peace in Fata.
All major political parties like Awami National Party, Jamaat-i-Islami, Qaumi Watan Party, Pakistan Tehreek Insaf and other groups are in favour of merger of Fata with KP. The ANP has announced its support for a rally to be taken out on Nov 16 for Fata reforms.
The JUI-F chief said that any decision relating to Fata should be taken after consultations with tribal elders.
He said that tribal elders had reservations over the six-member committee set up by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to finalise recommendations about Fata reforms. Adviser to Prime Minister Sartaj Aziz is head of the committee.
The jirga asked Maulana Fazl to hold talks with the prime minister and convey its reservations over Fata issues to him.
A Russian engine is being installed in Pakistan’s JF-17 Thunder fighter jet which inspires hope for cooperation between the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex and the Russian engine maker, Russia’s Sputniknews quoting PAC official reported on Thursday.
The JF-17 is a lightweight, single-engine, multi-role combat aircraft developed jointly by the Paks and Chinese. It is used by the Paks for aerial reconnaissance, ground attack and aircraft interception. Supposedly equivalent, kinda, sorta, to an F-16 on a really bad day...
“As we know, a Russian engine is being installed on the JF-17 Thunder and we are looking forward to cooperate with the engine manufacturer in Russia,” the Pakistani official told RIA Novosti news agency on the sidelines of the Dubai Air Show. The PAC representative expressed interest in having Pakistani engine specialists undergo training in Russia and their Russian colleagues helping modernise the company’s engine-repair facilities in Pakistan.
The JF-17 all-weather multirole fighter, jointly developed by Pakistan and China’s Chengdu Aircraft Industry Corporation, is currently being modified with a Russian-made RD-93 engine.
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ISLAMABAD: Days after a corps commanders conference led by Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif expressed worries over government’s ‘inaction’ to match initiatives taken by the armed forces to secure long-term gains of the operations against terrorists, legislators in the Upper House of parliament on Thursday called upon all the institutions to work within their constitutional limits.
Speaking on points of order in Senate, the lawmakers recognised the sacrifices rendered by the security forces in the war on terror but maintained it was the responsibility of every citizen and institution of the country to protect the constitution.
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Senator Farhatullah Babar pointed out that government had backtracked on commitments regarding the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC); abolished Ministry of Human Rights and was still unable to appoint Foreign and Defence ministers which spoke volumes about poor governance on part of the government. However, he questioned the aptness of the ISPR statement on the issue as well. “Whether the announcement of government’s poor performance should come after corps commanders meeting? Isn’t it itself an example of poor governance?” he asked.
Babar said that the military leadership should have conveyed their concerns in private. He said that poor governance was there in civil departments, judiciary and armed forces as well. He said that the way adopted by army commanders to raise the issue was wrong.
He said that the army was fighting terrorism but there were questions which we never asked by anyone. “We never asked even about the names of foreign militants which the army every other day says it has killed in operations,” he said.
Leader of the Opposition Aitzaz Ahsan said he was the biggest critic of the government’s performance but would, along with other opposition parties, always stand by the government. He endorsed the allegation of poor performance by the government but said the ISPR did not have any right to criticise the prime minister in public.
The opposition leader noted that members from the ruling party were perhaps afraid as no one came from PML-N to raise voice in the National Assembly when Mehmood Khan Achakzai took up the issue.
Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani reiterated that all the institutions should work within their ambit. He once again advised the government to call an in-camera session of parliament to discuss the issues relating to foreign policy and the national action plan (NAP). And in case government does not want to hold a joint session of parliament, Rabbani suggested, a special session of the Upper House be called behind the closed doors.
Rabbani said that the institutions should work within their limits and adhere to rules of business in their ‘modes of communication’.
Nauman Wazir from Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) said that government’s poor performance was evident and it had done nothing in FATA.
Professor Sajid Mir said that the army had always tried to rule from behind the scene and made efforts to control affairs of the government. Army should remain within its limits and try not to become ‘supervisor’ of the civilian government, he said.
Usman Kakar from the PkMAP said that the intelligence agencies were interfering in internal and external affairs of the country and the government should not compromise on supremacy of parliament.
Senator Mohsin Laghari said be it earthquakes or floods, army is called because civil institutions are not capable of fully shouldering their responsibilities. However, he said, army should not have talked about governance in the public.
The House also held discussion on the first biannual report on the implementation of National Finance Commission (NFC) award. Members emphasised the finalisation of new NFC award at the earliest. They said the new NFC award should transfer resources to the provinces not only on the basis of population and backwardness but also keep in view the sustainable development goals.
Senator Sherry Rehman said that it was unfortunate that one of the provinces had not nominated members for the NFC award so far.
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Tehran and Baghdad signed an 6-year agreement on November 11, aimed at exporting 25 million cubic meters per day (mcm/d) of Iranian gas to Iraq's Basra. The contract can be extended after 6 years. During this period Iraq is committed to intake 40 billion cubic meters of Iranian gas to be supplied to Basra, Shaha reported.
Iran and Iraq have already signed an agreement on delivering 25 mcm/d of Iranian gas to Iraq's capital, Baghdad. Then Iraq will import 50 mcm/d of Iranian gas in total.
Sound like sneaky deals to get around sanctions. Southern Iraq has plenty of oil and natural gas; they're trying to export that. It's like shipping coals to Newcastle.
Iran Oil Ministry’s information website Shana reported that the two sides are currently in negotiations to increase Iran’s gas export volume to Baghdad by 10 mcm/d in future.
In September, Azizollah Ramezani, the director for international affairs department for the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC), said that as per an annexation to the gas export deal, the volume of gas expected to be supplied to Baghdad City would increase to 35 mcm per day from 25 mcm.
The two sides have held talks about the Iranian side offering technical, financial, and executive training to Iraqi personnel.
In 2013, the two countries signed an agreement for the export of natural gas from Iran's South Pars gas field to Baghdad. The project has been long in the offing but had been delayed over security concerns in Iraq.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/13/2015 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Dubai: Al Houthi militants are recruiting children from orphanages and shelters in Yemen, warned the Minister of Human Rights in Yemen.
Manama: Kuwait has arrested six more Egyptians for using their social media accounts to insult the country and incite their fellow citizens to hold protests and demonstrations.
North Korea's elderly comeback kid Choe Ryong-hae is believed to have been demoted again and undergoing reeducation. Rumors had circulated that Choe has been purged since his name was omitted from from the roster of a committee preparing for the funeral of Marshal Ri Ul-sol, who died last Saturday.
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
[Dawn] PESHAWAR: Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has said that recent statement by military commanders about the National Action Plan (NAP) should not be viewed as a warning but should be taken in “a positive sense”.
Tehran and Baghdad signed an 6-year agreement on November 11, aimed at exporting 25 million cubic meters per day (mcm/d) of Iranian gas to Iraq's Basra. The contract can be extended after 6 years. During this period Iraq is committed to intake 40 billion cubic meters of Iranian gas to be supplied to Basra, Shaha reported.
