AFGHANISTAN –UNITED STATES

1. Maulvi Fazlullah Group in Nuristan, Afghanistan, has started collecting taxes from people as the American Army has left and there is no government writ in this region adjacent to Pakistan. The Maulvi Faqir Group from Kunar and the Maulvi Fazlullah Group from Nuristan were carrying out attacks on Pakistan’s security forces and the US deliberately distanced itself from the issue. (Ummat) 

2. In his column, Nazir Naji writes about the gathering of allied forces near the Pak-Afghan border and the Maulvi Fazlullah Group. He says that it became clear from the Swat operation, that TTP and Maulvi Fazlullah had been cultivated by the US. Naji writes that after the Pakistan Army pushed back Maulvi Fazlullah from Swat, he and his associates have regrouped in Afghanistan and have been attacking not only Pakistani security personnel at the border but cross the border to harass locals in villages by destroying homes and schools. He says in North Waziristan operate in Afghanistan on behalf of Pakistan while American loyalists attack Pakistan. He is of the opinion that the US would adopt a strategy similar to that used in Libya and Syria, with more consolidation with other nations. (Jang)

3. Diplomatic sources have informed Nawa-i-Waqt that the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be reaching Islamabad on October 20th along with a large delegation. During her visit, she will try to make up for the aggressive statements issued against Pakistan by military generals and will adopt a soft tone. She will meet PM Gilani and the Foreign Minister. As per the information obtained by Nawa-i-Waqt, she will also meet COAS Gen. Kayani, opposition leader Chaudhary Nissar Ahmad and Asfandyar Wali Khan. Sources have said that the main purpose of her visit is to settle details for US President Obama’s Pakistan visit in January. (Nawa-i-Waqt)

4. In Al Qalam Weekly, Naved Masood Hashmi says the US is targeting ISI and claims that it is actually preparing to label the ISI as a terrorist group. He says that when the US issued anti-ISI statements, the Pakistan government came into action, held an APC and passed a resolution; but the US continued with its drone attacks. Hashmi comes to the conclusion that the US issued anti-ISI statements to convey to Pakistan that they have no significance in front of America. ….He says that under Musharraf, the government put names of hundreds of Mujahideen in the Fourth Schedule and harassed them at police stations. He writes that even today, activists of the Al Rehmat Trust and former jihadis, who had taken part in the Kashmir jihad, were harassed by the Ghala Mandi police station. He is of the opinion that if the time comes when Pakistan has to fight against an American invasion, Mujahideen would be on the frontline and the liberals and seculars will be either siding with the US or spying for the US. (Al Qalam Weekly, 14 October to 20 October)

5. Former chief of Pakistan Army Gen (Retd) Mirza Aslam Beg said that the US had failed in Afghanistan. He claimed that many military aircrafts were ready in Israel to fly the US Army out of Afghanistan; he also claimed that once their war equipment was safely out of Pakistan, the entire Army would be withdrawn. Beg further said that Taliban were in complete control of Afghanistan. (Ummat)

6. Ausaf Edit says tribals have claimed that US officials had imposed a curfew in the Garbaz area of Khost and had started search operations. It says that the US was increasing pressure on Pakistan in the name of the Haqqani Network and the Quetta Shura as it is disturbed by the increased Sino-Pak ties and wanted to establish Indian supremacy in the region. (Ausaf Edit, 18 October)

INDIA

1. Talking to Khabrain, JuD chief Professor Hafiz Mohammad Saeed said that Pakistan needed to review the option of use of power against India to restrain it from building dams on Pakistani rivers. He said that without solving the Kashmir issue, water and electricity crises in Pakistan could not be solved. He alleged that India wanted to sell to Pakistan electricity that had been generated from Pakistan’s own rivers in J&K. He said that the Pakistan government was promoting the agenda of a one-sided relationship with India. Saeed claimed that opening up Pakistani markets to India would be harmful for Pakistan. He accused India of constructing illegal dams behind the dialogue process and accused the Pakistani government of deceiving the community by not accepting facts. (Khabrain)

2. JuD, Pakistan Water Movement and other organizations have strongly reacted against the government’s decision to purchase electricity from India. Prof. Hafiz Abdur Rahman Makki, Saifullah Mansoor, Hafiz Khalid Walid and Dr. Abu Waqas have said that India was building dams on Pakistani rivers in J&K to produce electricity illegally and it wanted to sell the same electricity to Pakistan. They claimed that the Pakistan government was supporting Indian agenda. (Nawa-i-Waqt)

3. India is stealing 28000 cusecs of water from River Chenab and putting it in the Baglihar and Salal dams constructed on Chenab. USD 212 billion would be spent against Pakistan by constructing water and electricity projects on Pakistan’s rivers Chenab, Jhelum and Indus. (Khabrain)

4. Nawa-i-Waqt EDIT: Former federal minister Abida Hussain says the military leadership has backed Foreign Minister’s announcement of bestowing India with MFN status but when India had never accepted Pakistan’s existence, had bifurcated Pakistan in 1971, had refused to resolve the Kashmir issue as per the UN resolution and had captured Pakistan’s jugular vein Kashmir, how could the Pakistan Army, the guardian of the nation’s boundaries, support such an announcement. (Nawa-i-Waqt Edit)

DEFENCE –NUCLEAR SAFETY

1. Speaking at the passing out parade of the SPD Academy, the Director of Strategic Plans Division Gen (Retd) Khalid Ahmed Kidwai said that by 2013, Pakistan will complete training 8000 security personnel who will be deployed to secure Pakistan’s nuclear weapons. He said that over the last decade, Pakistan had taken many steps to ensure the safety of its nuclear assets. At this passing out parade, 200 personnel participated; they have been trained to secure nuclear weapons. (Jasarat, Ummat)

TERRORISM & EXTREMISM

1. Tanzimat-e-Madaris has said that the madrassas in AJK were working to enhance the literacy ratio and to promote unity; however, some elements were spreading negative propaganda against these madrassas. (Baad-e-Shimal)

2. Baad-e-Shimal EDIT says the security situation in the country has slightly improved with the arrest of terrorists in Islamabad and due to the SC taking suo-moto action in Karachi. It says that threats were still looming large in the country with foreign powers conspiring to create e sectarian clashes using local agents. (Baad-e-Shimal Edit)

POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS

1. Former chief of Pakistan Army Gen (Retd) Mirza Aslam Beg said that the departure of the current Pakistan leaders was very close. People would soon come out on streets to throw out these leaders and a national democratic government, on the Bangladesh model, would be formed with total support from all walks of national life. (Ummat)

ECONOMY- ENERGY

1. Jasarat writes about the financial crisis being faced by Pakistan Railways and says that it had planned to get engines from India, but India refused to give Pakistan the much-needed engines. (Jasarat Edit)

2. Editorials talk about problems being faced by Pakistan Railways that range from shortage of fuel, and impaired engines to no funds and no salaries to employees. It refers to President Zardari’s instructions to the government to pay pension and salaries to Railway employees and provide a loan of Rs. 6 billion for purchase of new engines, and says that the government had given Rs. 10 billion to the railways just a few months ago. But the situation only went from bad to worse. The government should first take an account of the earlier loan; otherwise it will only increase pressure on the public. The government should take immediate steps to ensure that this essential mode of public transport remains functioning, and think of other options to manage railways better. (Daily Intekhab Edit, Ummat Edit, Jang Edit)

ECONOMY- WATER

1. According to WAPDA, the Diamir Bhasha Dam will be completed in 5 years. (Awami Awaz)

2. An architect Sameefa Ahmad has said that the Diamir Bhasha dam will not be good for the environment. She has lodged her complaint with the environment body APA in Sindh. She said that big dams could not check floods and they were no guarantee that they would bring prosperity. Ahmad said the Diamir Bhasha Dam would not be able to withstand seismic tremors and could even bring famine for Sindh. She demanded that a public hearing be arranged on this dam in Sindh as people sitting in Islamabad could not estimate the extent of damages this dam could spell for Sindh. (Kawish)

3. During Musharraf’s times, this dam was portrayed as having 5.7 MAF of storage and 3360 MW of power generation capacity. Now, WAPDA is showing Bhasha Dam as having 8.1 MAF of storage and 4500 MW of power generation capacity. WAPDA has also claimed that the water stored and the power generated through this project will help Pakistan save USD 2.385 billion. (Kawish)

4. Nawa-i-Waqt EDIT urges that after inaugurating the Diamir Bhasha Dam, the President should announce inauguration of the Kalabagh Dam. (Nawa-i-Waqt Edit)

SINDH

1. Former Minister Zulfikar Mirza said that in Sindh, instead of PPP, it was MQM government by default. He said that despite being in majority, PPP was not able to take any decisions. He also claimed that 4 Sindh ministers had been pestering him not to expose the Sindh government. (Kawish)

2. Armed miscreants on a motorcycle shot to death 4 people in Karachi. Police is of the opinion that this was a target killing. (Kawish)

3. In Awami Awaz, Abdul Wahab Munshi says that people in Sindh had no other option but to vote for PPP. He says that Sindhis would like to vote for a PPP led by Zulfikar Mirza in the next elections. (Awami Awaz)

PUNJAB

1. Punjab Minister for Minority Affairs and Human Rights Kamran Michael presided over a meeting of the committee set up for protection and maintenance of minorities’ religious and educational property. It reviewed cases of illegal control and sale of property belonging to minority communities. (Nawa-i-Waqt)

BALOCHISTAN

1. In his column, Qurban Baloch says the federal government is attempting to usurp rights on Thar coal. He says that according to sources in the Petroleum Ministry, the government was out once again to stake its claims over Thar Coal; he claims that measures were being taken to usurp these rights by asking the Sindh government to give representation to the federal government in the Thar Coal board. However, the Sindh government had not yet responded to these demands. Baloch says that the federal government was framing policies according to which if any province has coal deposits of more than 1 billion tons, and where coal is being used for power generation or for transformation into gas, the federal government would have rights over such deposits. He claims that the federal government had also written a letter to the Secretary and DG of Natural Resources for Sindh, seeking federal government’s representation in the Thar Coal Authority board. He also says that there is not much progress on the gasification project because the company that was awarded this contract is busy in another country at present; there is also a funds constraint. According to Baloch, some Chinese and Russian companies had shown interest in Thar Coal projects and all the proposals had been forwarded by the federal government to Sindh. (Kawish)

POK NEWS

1. Federal government has issued a notification to release Rs 26 crores, a segment of the fund for August to the AJK government to overcome financial crisis. (Ausaf, 18 October)

2. Daily Dharti EDIT says that it’s quite surprising that the AJK government had decided to organize agitations from October 19th to 30th to unravel conspiracies against it. Edit says that after 10 years of Muslim Conference rule, the people were expecting a positive change with the PPP government. But this government has failed to do good for the people of AJK. It says that the government has been successful in consensus with other political parties so that it has no opposition. Edit says that instead, the government should concentrate on public welfare and problem solving, so that there would be no future conspiracies against it. (Daily Dharti Edit)

3. JI passed a resolution in its Shura session condemning increasing human rights violations in J&K and the atrocities of the Indian Army and police on Kashmiris to suppress the liberation movement. This resolution states that a weak Kashmir policy of the government was responsible for the Indian atrocities; JI resolution has also warned about Indian war exercises near the LoC and movement of Indian troops, claiming that India was playing a dangerous game against Pakistan at US behest. (Jasarat)

G-B NEWS

1. While speaking with Ausaf, chairman of the standing committee of Salaar International Customs Clearance Association, Hussain Ali said that the aid provided by China for the people of Gojal (Gilgit-Baltistan) will be cleared without any charges. He said that these 107 containers from China are meant for flood victims of Gojal and Hunza and asked the government not to impose any duty on them. (Ausaf, 18 October)

2. PM Gilani has instructed Gilgit-Baltistan CM to induct MQM into the government. (Baad-e-Shimal)

3. General Secretary of the People’s Graduate Forum, Wajahat Ali Gilgiti has alleged that corruption had taken place in the current ACSI tests (for recruitment). (Ausaf, 18 October)

4. Baad-e-Shimal edit says the PPP after coming to power in G-B had made many announcements but has yet to implement any. It says that the Diamir Bhasha Dam had only been inaugurated; it is still to be seen when it will be completed. (Baad-e-Shimal Edit)