SRINAGAR: Clearing all confusion, National Conference patron Farooq Abdullah on Monday said that he would recommend his party that his son Omar Abdullah should be the new Chief Minister of Indian held Jammu and Kashmir.

“The time has now come. I will recommend to the party that it should consider Omar Abdullah for the Chief Minister’s slot. I thought over the issue during the night,” he said.

Now the state should have a younger Chief Minister because there are a lot of things to do, the 72-year-old leader said.

However, Omar said that the informal contacts have been established with the Indian National Congress and that he would now go to Delhi and talk to Congress leaders seeking their help to form the government.

“A decision has been taken that my name will be put forward at the Legislature Party meeting of National Conference for the post of Chief Minister,”

Omar told reporters after emerging from his father’s residence.

He said there should be no difficulty for holding talks with Congress and seeking its support. The veteran NC leader said he would concentrate on national politics and also help strengthen the party.
Omar said the senior Abdullah would visit Delhi soon to formally begin talks on formation of an alliance. NC bagged 28 seats in the 87-member held Kashmir assembly with Congress notching up 17.-SANA

ISLAMABD: Planning Commission Deputy Chairman, Mr. Salman Farooqi has said that Pakistan was planning to set up Special Economic Zones in Thar area so that in future surplus energy from Thar Coal reserves might be used in the close vicinity without incurring transmission line losses. In his inaugural address, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission, Mr. Salman Farooqi said that the Thar Coal Board had already been constituted in this regard.

He there was need for bringing together policy planners from the energy, environment, health and transportation sectors from all SAARC Member States to deliberate and discuss recent developments in their respective countries and analyze how these developments would impact the sectoral policies.

He said that SAARC countries need sufficient energy, good health, pollution free environment and better transport system, and to address all these issues, appropriate integration and correlation was required at policy making level.

Deputy Chairman said that Pakistan was already working on how to reduce dependence on imported fuel and to increase reliance on domestic resources like water and coal reserves.

He said that last year US$ 11bn were spent on import of oil which was equal to 65 percent of the total export of Pakistan. This was one of the major reasons Pakistan had to go to IMF for financial assistance, he added. He was of the view that Pakistan, by harnessing its water and coal resources, could not only meet its domestic energy requirements, but also export the surplus energy to the Indian States adjacent to Thar area of Pakistan.

Deputy Chairman gave a brief overview of Bhasha Dam that would produce 4500 MW of electricity and other 28 small dams being planned to be constructed with the help of private investment. In Pakistan, he stated, 40 percent of total power generation was being carried out by private sector.

He stated that one of the major roles of the Planning Commission was to encourage private sector investment and it had already constituted a Task Force on Private Sector Development. Mr. Farooqi said that Pakistan was encouraging private sector to invest in alternative energy resources and informed that Pakistan’s first wind power plant would start working in the next three weeks.

Mr. Farooqi underlined the need to assess all the sectoral national policies like energy, environment, health and transport and to come up with an integrated energy policy aimed at minimizing all negative effects resulted from dis-aggregated sectoral policies including energy policy.

In his welcome address, Mr. Hilal A. Raza, Director SAARC Energy Center, Islamabad, informed that this Conference was one of the six program activities of the SAARC Energy Center for this year aimed at learning from experiences of SAARC member states in cross-sectoral implications of energy use that had grown at a high rate during the last decade as result of economic upturn of South Asia.

He said that it was estimated that energy consumption in South Asia would double in ten years and such a growth merited prudent assessment of its implications on other sectors of the economy.

Dr. Toufiq Raza, President Global Environment and Energy in the 21st Century urged the planners to examine the linkages and develop coordinated policies for energy, transportation, and many aspects of human health. He said it was important to ensure that policies in one of these sectors do not adversely affect those designed to achieve improvements in the other sectors.

Four technical sessions will be conducted during the Conference and at the end, a special group would formulate a set of recommendations with regard to policy making in a holistic manner. This effort is expected to result in integrated policy planning, including improved energy efficiency, and supporting other policy initiatives in the SAARC region. The conference was attended by the representatives of the SAARC countries and relevant government ministries/ divisions.-SANA

ISLAMABAD: The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is the world’s largest humanitarian organization which provides life-saving food in emergencies and nutritious supplements for millions of chronically malnourished people in 80 countries every year. Every day WFP distribute tones of food and other aid all over the world and have launched a global campaign aimed at ensuring the world’s 400 million hungry children are fed and educated. In Pakistan WFP runs a school feeding programme across the nation in over 3000 schools. Continue Reading

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly has passed the Finance Bill 2008 thus approving the federal budget for the financial year 2008-09 having total outlay of 2010 billion rupees. The House passed the Bill with amendments proposed by the government to give effect to the Bill from 1st of July this year. Finance Minister Syed Naveed Qamar moved the motion in the House to pass the bill that was adopted by the House. Further More Member of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Ayaz Amir has objected approval of the finance bill demanding the increase in the number of Supreme Court judges from 16 to 29 here on Sunday. Continue Reading

The government of Pakistan is celebrating the 55th birth anniversary of Benazir Bhutto with simplicity across the country today just to mark of respect and in recognition of her unparalleled services for the country. In Sindh and Balochistan official holiday was observed for the day. Paying rich tributes to the slain leader in the National Assembly on Saturday, the Prime Minister said Benazir Bhutto was a world class leader who played a vital role in bringing national reconciliation. The National Assembly observed two minute silence to pay reverence to Benazir Bhutto and homage to her meritorious services for the nation and the country. Dua was also offered for her departed soul. Continue Reading

ISLAMABAD: The World Bank Board has approved the Electricity Distribution and Transmission Improvement Project Loan in its meeting held on June 17, 2008 at a total cost of $ 256.852 million for Pakistan. The objectives of the project are to: (i) strengthen the capacity of the distribution and transmission networks to meet increasing electricity demand in the selected areas more efficiently and with better reliability and quality; and (ii) strengthen institutional capacity of the selected distribution companies and support other priority areas of the power sector reform. Continue Reading

PESHAWAR: Ghazala Khan, 17, often has dreams about Kabul, the capital of neighbouring Afghanistan, where her parents grew up. However, born to parents who reached adulthood and married in Pakistan, Ghazala is aware that Kabul is no longer what it may have been in the past, and is far from certain that she wishes to return. “I have cousins in Kabul whom I have never met. But then I also hear that the city is still full of broken buildings, that living costs there are very high and that there is a great deal of insecurity,” Ghazala said. She is torn between wishing to see the city her parents talk nostalgically of, and staying on in Peshawar, where she now has roots. Continue Reading

RAJOURI: After imposing ban on airing of Pakistani television channels in Jammu and Kashmir, Government of India (GOI) is contemplating to block the signals of all Pakistan and Muzaffarabad based radio stations in frontier districts of Poonch and Rajouri, authoritative sources told Rising Kashmir. They said that the Defense Ministry has directed All India Radio (AIR) to block all Pakistan and Muzaffarabad based radio signals in Poonch and Rajouri. “Defense Ministry has passed on strict directions to AIR and intelligence agencies to make sure that the radio signals along the Line of Control (LoC) are blocked. Orders in this regard have been issued with the instructions that immediate steps should be taken to implement these orders,” the sources added. Continue Reading

ISLAMABAD: The Australian Government will provide US$ 8.5 million to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in support of its programme in FATA and Balochistan. The agreement was signed by Australian High Commissioner Ms. Zorica McCarthy and WFP Representative Wolfgang Herbinger at a ceremony held in Peshawar. Honourable governor of NWFP Mr. Owais Ahmed Ghani was present on the occasion. The ceremony was also attended by members of the provincial cabinet, FATA secretariat and WFP officials. Continue Reading

Pakistan’s provincial government has signed a peace pact with Local Taliban. While some U.S. officials and senators call a “victory for Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda.” Pakistan has been cutting peace deals in the past also but critics including the western allies always have complained that in result of these deals or pacts militants regrouping and intensifying cross-border attacks on NATO forces in Afghanistan have been witnessed. All over the world this deal is being denounced as victory of Al-Qaeda; “While the deal sounds good, it’s likely to be implemented badly,”said Richard Clarke, an ABC News consultant and former White House counter-terrorism chief. “What this means is that the United States will continue to be threatened by Al Qaeda that has a safe haven where it can attract people from around the world, be trained and equipped and sent out to the United States and other countries around the world.” Continue Reading