2. Nawa-i-Waqt edit on Istanbul conference and the deals stuck on the sidelines of the summit between Pakistan, Turkey and Afghanistan says if Afghan President Karzai stops playing into the hands of America and if Pakistani leaders show some courage, Iran could also be included in this pact and a larger Islamic bloc could be established. (Nawa-i-Waqt Edit)

3. MQM Chief Altaf Hussain said that his party would stand by Afghan brothers for restoring peace in the region. (Baad-e-Shimal)

INDIA-MFN STATUS
1. Federal Information Minister Firdous Ashiq Awan said that trade with India and the Kashmir issue were two separate issues; she said that the decision to bestow MFN status to India was in the interests of Pakistan. She also said that the decision was not against the philosophy of the father of the nation. Awan also said that China did not scrap trade relations with India because of its border dispute. (Jasarat)

2. Former President of CCI, Tariq Saeed, and joint President of CACCI, SM Munir, President of the Indo-Pak Chambers, Iftekhar Ali,  and others leaders of trade and commerce have welcomed Pakistan  granting MFN status to India; they said that trade relations with India will help to reduce the acrimony between the two countries. (Jasarat)

3. Reacting to Pakistan granting MFN status to India, JuD chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed in a strongly worded statement said the decision was taken to weaken the roots of Nazarya-e-Pakistan. This could affect not only the Kashmir liberation movement but also Pakistan’s security. He said that the main decision should be to liberate Kashmir and to end Indian control from Pakistan’s rivers. He said that the people cannot accept this decision. Another JuD leader Hafiz Abdul Rahman Makki said that India had dreams of being victorious over Pakistan by getting a hold on its rivers to turn Pakistan into a desert. (Jasarat, Nawa-i-Waqt)

6. Chairman of Sunni Ittehad Council Sahabzada Fazal Karim has termed the decision as a betrayal to the Kashmiris. (Jasarat, Nawa-i-Waqt)

7. PML-N former senator Rafique Rajwana said that this decision had been taken at the behest of America and that relations with India could not be normal until the Kashmir issue was resolved.

8. JI Chief Syed Munawar Hassan has said that India does not like to play cricket with Pakistan, neither does it invite the Pakistani cricket team to India. He criticized that perhaps the cabinet was not aware that Kashmiris commemorated ‘black day’ just 4 days ago. He said that this decision will give a boost to terrorism and that it had been taken under US pressure as the US wants India to be supreme in the region. (Jasarat, Nawa-i-Waqt)

9. Liyaqat Baloch, JI General Secretary said MFN status to India will damage the Kashmir issue. He said that trade with India was poisonous for Pakistan’s economy and security. Baloch said that India will inflict irreparable damage to the Pakistani economy in the guise of trade. (Jasarat)

10. Due to fear of the Chinese Army, India has decided to increase its army by 1 lakh troops and has approved a budget of Rs. 640 million. (Baad-e-Shimal)

INDIA-LOC
1. Daily Dharti says that the Pakistani Army had laid landmines near the LoC during tensions between India and Pakistan. But since the last month, landmine explosions have claimed three innocent lives. The daily says that as tensions between India and Pakistan had dissipated considerably, these landmines should be removed more so since the people who had fled from the LOC area are now returning. Edit says that the government should ask the Army to do the needful immediately. (Daily Dharti Edit)

UNITED STATES
1. Ittehad-e-Ulema of Afghanistan (Alliance of Ulema of Afghanistan) have issued a Fatwa according to which the struggle to oust American forces from Afghanistan has been termed as jihad on the same lines as the jihad that was fought against USSR. A meeting of the IUA was held yesterday under the presidency of Sheikh Abdullah Zakiri and Ulema from various districts of Afghanistan participated. The meeting said that the Afghan people as well as the neighbouring countries supported the insurgents and that the US should accept its defeat. . (Nawa-i-Waqt)

TERRORISM & EXTREMISM
1. Punjab Interior Ministry has given details about foreign prisoners in the Lahore Central Jail Kot Lakhpat. Amongst the foreign prisoners, 51 are Indians. These Indians have completed their sentences, but they haven’t been released as their documents are not in order. . (Kawish)

2. Lahore High Court CJ, who is hearing an appeal to set Binderpal Singh and Kawal Banu Kaur free, issued a notice to the federal government seeking to know the efforts undertaken by it to set free foreign prisoners in the Adiala Jail. (Kawish)

3. JuD will distribute meat of sacrificed animals on Eid-ul-Azha to one lakh flood-affected families in Sindh. JuD chief Hafeez Saeed has appealed to the well-to-do people to take part in the Qurbani campaign. (Ummat, Nawa-i-Waqt)

POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS
1. Railway Minister Ghulam Ahmad Bilour has offered to resign but he was prevented from doing so. Bilour said that for the first time in the 40 years of his political life, he had been maligned. He also said that the Finance Ministry was not giving funds for Railways. Following Bilour’s outburst, the PM has convened a special meeting on Railways. (Kawish)

2. Former Sindh Interior Minister, Zulfikar Mirza has again called MQM a terror outfit. He said that MQM was an enemy of Pakistan as it wanted to break up Pakistan. He said that the PPP government wanted to stay in power for its entire term, and that was why it wanted to appease MQM in every possible way. (Ibrat)

3. In a telephonic address to a public rally in Ghizer, former President Musharraf said that he would return to Pakistan on 23rd March 2012 and requested all to welcome him at the airport. He vowed to start a movement to save Pakistan as soon as he returns. (Baad-e-Shimal, Sada-e-Haq)

4. In his column, Nazir Naji says PML-N’s anti-government rallies in Punjab should be considered as government rallies as PML-N is the ruling party and not the opposition in Punjab. (Sada-e-Haq)

5. Chief of the Sindh United Party Shah Mahmood Shah met PML –N leader Nawaz Sharif in London. The two discussed political developments in Sindh and agreed on the joint struggle. Shah denied any plans to join PML-N. He said that after passing on Sharif’s message to other Sindhi nationalist leaders like Qadir Magsi, Rasool Palejo and Safdar Saraiki, he will meet Sharif again. (Ibrat)

6. Lawyers would observe November 3rd as a black day to mark the emergency rule imposed in the country on November 3, 2007 by then President Gen Musharraf and the detention of Chief Justice of Pakistan, Iftekhar Chaudhary along with his family. (Khabrain)
ECONOMY-WATER- ENERGY
1. Revenue authorities at Thatta, Sindh, have cleared land for the Darwat Dam, and in the process, evicted locals from the project area saying that the land belonged to the government. This move is seen as a signal that there would be no compensation payments. The government has been working on the project for the past year; the project includes 25,000 acres of barren land in the Jhingri area. Tribes like the Shar are the original occupants of this land; over 200 villagers have documents to support their claims; but the revenue officials have stuck to their guns. Thatta district Revenue Department has claimed that the land earmarked for the upcoming Zulfikarabad is also government land.  As a result anger is building up. (Kawish, 2 November)

2. Ausaf editorial is on Supreme Court directive to send cases of corrupt Railways officials to the NAB and to repair rail engines which have broken down for a while. The daily appreciates former Indian Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav saying that he made the Indian Railways a profitable institution. It laments that Pakistan has no Mahathir Muhammad, who can achieve a turnaround in its economy.  (Ausaf Edit, 2 November)

3. Ummat says Finance Minister Abdul Hafiz Sheikh’s claim that Pakistan had rejected stringent IMF conditions is an attempt to cover the discomfiture caused by IMF’s refusal to release the last instalment of the long approved loan, and by the US refusal to intervene on Pakistan’s behalf. It says that Pakistanis would be happy if the government stopped taking loans from outside and starts exploiting internal resources instead. Edit says that the real reason why Pakistan was refused the last instalment of this approved loan is bad administration and the government should not feel ashamed in accepting it. (Ummat Edit)

4. Nawa-i-Waqt editorial on Pakistan’s refusal to accept IMF’s stringent condition for the loan says this has been reported differently by different sources and that the facts would emerge very soon. Edit says that the government should manage the economy without foreign debts. (Nawa-i-Waqt Edit)

5. Pakistan and Turkey have agreed to upgrade the proposed Turkey-to-Pakistan train project. PM Abdullah Gul has proposed that the journey be reduced from 16 days to 11 days. A world conference will be called in 2012 to make investors aware of the project. Gul, however, would like to give a final shape to the venture in 6 months. (Urdupoint, 2 November)

SINDH
1. Karachi city government has fired 1500 employees working on contract basis citing reasons of fund shortage. (Kawish)

2. A new ordinance was being worked out to continue with the Nazim and Commissioner systems in Sindh and also to split Karachi into three districts. MQM and PPP have also agreed on doing away with talukas but differences persist within the PPP over the agreement. (Ibrat)

3. Ibrat asks whether the new civic system being worked out by PPP and MQM would benefit Sindhis. It says that before finalizing anything, Sindh civil society should be consulted. (Ibrat Edit)

POK NEWS/KASHMIR
1. Due to the ongoing strike of young doctors in AJK, patients were suffering. The government wanted to accept legitimate demands of the doctors but the President of the Pakistan Medical Association (AJK) and DG, Heath were standing in the way. (Ausaf, 2 November)

G-B NEWS
1. Baad-e-Shimal ticks off CM Mehdi Ali Shah for his absence along with key ministers at the 64th Independence Day of Gilgit-Baltistan. They ostensibly left the city to attend the funeral of Nusrat Bhutto but the PPP leadership should have allowed important personalities to attend Independence Day function and as a mark of respect to Nusrat Bhutto, the function could have been a low key affair. (Baad-e-Shimal Edit)

2. A statement issued by MQM (Gilgit zone) states that the government should ensure equal distribution of aid received from China for flood-affected people. If aid is not distributed immediately, it will be spoiled since it has been kept in the open at Sost, the statement said. (Ausaf, 2 November)