WASHINGTON (Online) – Pakistan’s Army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayaniis a powerful political factor in his country, Obama administration’s point man for Afghanistan and Pakistan has said.

“He (Kayani) is an enormously powerful political factor in the country. And we have extensive discussions with him,” Special US Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke told the popular Charlie Rose Show in an interview. “General Kayani, first of all, he is a very powerful person and a very important fact never this equation,” he said.

“He was head of the ISI. He also went to Fort Leavenworth Command and Control College and is proud to say he is a member of the Fort Leavenworth Hall of Fame (in Kansas). Among general officers, I have known, he is a remarkable strategic thinker. He’s very smart,” Holbrooke said in response to a question.

http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online//Politics/15-Aug-2010/Kayani-a-powerful-political-factor-in-Pak-US

2. £300m earthquake aid ‘misused by Zardari’: by Dean Nelson in The Daily Telegraph

Islamabad: More than £300 million in foreign aid for victims of the 2005 Pakistan earthquake has been diverted by President Asif Zardari’s government to other causes, officials have told The Daily Telegraph.

They now fear that the alleged diversion of funds will deter donors from giving further aid after the country’s devastating floods.

According to senior officials, schools, hospitals, houses and roads planned with money given by foreign governments and international aid groups remain unbuilt almost five years after the earthquake which killed 80,000 and left four million people homeless.

International donors gave £3.5 billion to rebuild vast swaths of Pakistan’s Kashmir and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provinces after the earthquake destroyed the region’s infrastructure.

However, senior Pakistani officials Saturday said more than £300 million given in aid has yet to be handed over to the country’s Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA).

Earthquake reconstruction directors were first told their budgets were being cut in March 2009 when 12 billion Pakistan Rupees (£90 million) was diverted from their budget to other government projects. They were told: "When we have the money we will pay you," said one senior official. "All the money was given by Western governments, but they said ‘we have so many other problems,’" he added.

In June this year, ERRA staff were told their 2010-2011 budget of 43 billion Pakistan Rupees (£322 million) had been but down to just 10 billion Rupees (£75 million).

In Balakot, where 5,000 of the town’s 25,000 people were killed in the earthquake, thousands of families were told their entire town would be rebuilt six miles away because it stood directly in the ‘red zone’ directly above the fault line.

But despite promises that the new town would be completed by last month, not a single new road has been completed nor a building construction begun on the site of "New Balakot".

When the Telegraph visited the "new town" this week mechanical diggers stood rusting and security guards said there had been no work on the site for more than a year. Officials said contractors had not been paid since April and were still owed £22.5 million. www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/7944792/300m-earthquake-aid-misused-by-Zardari.html

3. PML-Q for distribution of goods thru’ army

LAHORE, Aug 15: Foreign and domestic relief funds to assist the flood victims should be distributed through the Pakistan Army as the incumbent rulers lack credibility, demands PML-Q (Like-Minded Group) Information Secretary Mian Asif.

In a statement issued here on Sunday, he alleged that the rulers were planning to misappropriate the relief funds to be collected in the name of relief assistance to the disaster-hit people. He said both the federal and provincial governments had failed to provide relief to the flood victims despite the passage of over two weeks.. http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/local/lahore/pmlq-for-distribution-of-goods-thru-army-680

4. Pakistan floods affecting 20 million; cholera outbreak feared

By Griff Witte in the Washington Post, Aug 15

ISLAMABAD– Pakistan on Saturday sharply increased its estimate of the number of people affected by this summer’s catastrophic floods to 20 million, and the United Nations said that 6 million of those victims lack access to food, shelter and water.

U.N. officials confirmed the first cholera case among survivors.

Revising an earlier official estimate that 14 million people had been affected by the floods, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani said Saturday that 20 million — nearly 12 percent of the population — had been displaced. His televised remarks were among the few official acknowledgments of Pakistan’s Independence Day, which passed amid general gloom.

About 1,600 people have died during the floods, which began nearly three weeks ago and threaten to have a long-term impact on Pakistan’s development and stability.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/14/AR2010081400427_pf.html

5. Homeless and hungry attack aid convoys:  By Malik Tehseen Raza in Dawn, Aug 15

MUZAFFARGARH: Riots erupted at several flood-affected places on Friday when starving people attacked vehicles carrying relief goods, forcing the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) and International Organisation for Migration (IOM) to suspend their work.

Sadar police officials told Dawn that the authorities were informed by PPAF and IOM officials that their convoy carrying relief goods had been attacked and vehicles looted near Jadeywala on the Mahmood Kot Road.

PPAF coordinator Mohammad Kamran said the organisation had suspended its relief operation after the attack. Similar attacks were reported on vehicles of the Strengthening Participatory Organisation (SPO) and IOM.

Up to 2.5 million people have been affected in Muzaffargarh district. http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/19-homeless-and-hungry-attack-aid-convoys-480-hh-02

6. Gilani accepts Nawaz proposal on relief panel

ISLAMABAD, Aug 14: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and PML-N chief Mian Nawaz Sharif agreed on Saturday to set up a ‘credible national body comprising men of integrity’ to ensure transparency in the collection, management and distribution of relief funds among the flood-affected.

Mr Sharif said it was gratifying for him that Mr Gilani had accepted his proposal regarding the commission.

Mr Gilani hinted at the names of the likes of retired justices Rana Bhagwandas, Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim and Nasir Aslam Zahid to be nominated after getting their acceptance.

In their two-hour discussion, the prime minister was assisted by Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira, Food and Agriculture Minister Nazar Mohammad Gondal and Water and Power Minister Raja Parvaiz Ashraf, while Mr Sharif was accompanied by Senator Ishaq Dar.

Addressing a joint press conference at the PM House auditorium after the meeting, the two leaders said they would appeal to the rich to come forward to help the millions of their compatriots in distress.

www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/gilani-accepts-nawaz-proposal-on-relief-panel-580

7. Musharraf not to come to Pakistan this year

By Hussain Kashif in the Daily Times, Aug 16

LAHORE: Former president Pervez Musharraf, now residing in England, will not visit Pakistan on the launch of his newly-formed party, the All-Pakistan Muslim League (APML) in September as decided earlier, Daily Times learnt on Sunday.

According to sources close to the former president, Musharraf had decided to steer his party from London as its headquarters and he would not come to Pakistan during the current year because of some formidable challenges and serious risks he would be exposed to here.

The sources said a core team of legal and political experts was busy in finalising the manifesto of his newly-formed party and the party would be launched after Eid-ul Fitr in London as well as in Pakistan, Dubai and the US.

About the requirement of a party office in Dubai, the sources said Dubai and London were common places as well as political hubs for exiled or self-exiled politicians and other personalities to meet their supporters, adding therefore the party office in Dubai would be a special venue for Musharraf to meet his fans.

Regarding a party office in the US, the sources said the former president had some close friends and number of fans in Dallas and these people wanted to run a party chapter there, playing an active role in Pakistani politics through their financial, moral and political support to the party. http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010816story_16-8-2010_pg7_27

8. Govt, IMF to review economic situation on Aug 23: By Khaleeq Kiani in Dawn, Aug 16

ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to go ahead with a scheduled review of economic situation with International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Aug 23 in Washington to take the international community into confidence over the fiscal and economic challenges posed by the devastating floods across the country.

A senior finance ministry official told Dawn on Sunday that the scheduled interaction with IMF would help the authorities to compare initial estimates of losses caused by the countrywide floods with the IMF and share fresh proposals to overcome economic challenges.www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/19-govt%2C-imf-to-review-economic-situation-on-aug-23-680-hh-19

9). 3,700 projects come to a halt in quake-hit areas

ISLAMABAD, Aug 15: The work on 3,700 projects of health, education and infrastructure sectors in earthquake-affected areas of Azad Kashmir and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has come to a halt following the government’s decision to drastically curtail funds for Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (Erra).

Informed sources told Dawn on Sunday that the government decision to cut financing to Erra would also affect the tendering process of another 1150 projects in the two regions – AJK and KP – devastated by the 2005 earthquake. The total cost of these ongoing and new projects under the tendering process had been estimated at Rs32 billion, they said.

The decision has also led to an uncertain future for about 50,000 contractors, more than 1000 consultants and more than 500 suppliers who provide material, equipment and vehicles to Erra and Nespak (National Engineering Services of Pakistan).

Informed sources said the prime minister’s secretariat had asked Erra and Nespak to take over assets worth billions of rupees from relevant agencies by Aug 20, identify surplus assets by Sept 5 and finalise auction and disposal of surplus assets by Oct 10. A six-member committee has been constituted to complete this task before the 5th anniversary of the 2005 earthquake.

The sources said the work costing Rs6.5 billion in the education sector with around 600 facilities on which 50 per cent physical work had been completed in AJK and Rs5.5 billion worth of 700 schemes with 50 per cent progress in KP would remain incomplete. Moreover, another 330 schemes in the AJK and KP worth Rs1.5 billion having more than 50 per cent and less than 75 per cent progress would go to waste.

Another 100 schemes in the education sector that were near completion would remain incomplete because of the government’s move.

In the health sector, around six projects costing around Rs100 million were near completion, but would remain unfinished because of the non-availability of funds while another 70 federal government-funded projects worth Rs2.5 billion at different stages of completion would not be completed. http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/national/3%2C700-projects-come-to-a-halt-in-quakehit-areas-680

10. Anwar elected unopposed AJK speaker

By Raja Riaz in Dawn, Aug 16

LAHORE: The People’s Muslim League nominee, Chaudhry Anwarul Haq, was elected unopposed as speaker of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly, as no one else filed nomination papers for the slot.

The seat was vacated after the passage of a no-confidence motion against Shah Ghulam Qadir of the ruling Muslim Conference. About three weeks ago, the assembly also elected Sardar Attique Ahmad Khan as its new leader of the House, replacing outgoing prime minister Raja Farooq Haider.http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010816story_16-8-2010_pg7_2