2. Sri Lanka and Pakistan have agreed to increase their intelligence sharing, sources said. (Ummat)

3. Daily Intekhab editorial says the improving relations between Russia and Pakistan hint at an important change in Pakistan’s foreign policy. Pakistan has always been a close ally of the US and Russia is not in the list of friends.  American ideology to establish its supremacy over the world has failed and the cold war between the east and the west has also ended. Today, new centres of power have come up as power sharing has been shifting from west to east. It has become necessary therefore for regional countries to cooperate with each other and it is good that Pakistan has also refurbished its relations with Russia and other regional nations. (Daily Intekhab Edit)

4. Daily Pak editorial is on Chinese defence minister’s visit to India.  The daily notes that the Chinese Defence Minister denied the presence of PLA in AJK and said that some circles were spreading such rumours for vested interests. Edit says that India-China defence ministers’ dialogue indicates that in the current age of trade, despite disputes, no country could stay isolated. The gulf between Russia and Pakistan is also about to shrink with COAS Gen. Kayani visiting Moscow soon. For economic progress, countries will have to forget their reservations mistakes and come close. (Daily Pak Edit)

UNITED STATES
1. 67% of Pakistanis have termed China as their best friend and America as their worst enemy, according to the Geelani Research Foundation Gallop Survey. Only 7% accepted America as a friend whereas India got only 4% votes in the opinion poll. (Jang)

2. Syed Badar Saeed writes US is adamant about the operation in North Waziristan as North Waziristan is the stronghold of the Hafiz Gul Bahadur Group which is pro-Afghan Taliban and pro-Pakistan. He says that the Gul Bahadur Group had an agreement with the Pakistan Army since 2007, and at the behest of the Pakistan Army, it fought against the Uzbek group in North Waziristan. Haqqani Network was patronizing the Gul Bahadur Group and even the Mullah Nazir Group joined it along with other small groups.  Saeed writes that now, the Gul Bahadur Group has become strong and it is strongly anti-American. He had spoken to a member of a jihadi group who told him that the operation in North Waziristan will be dangerous for Pakistan. The spokesperson of the Hafiz Gul Bahadur Group, Mufti Abu Haroon said that in case of such an operation against them, there would be a series of suicide blasts in which big cities of Pakistan will be targeted. Saeed writes that RAW and Mossad had planned to create an insurgency-like situation in Pakistan in which religious hatred is used. According to this plan, on one hand, people will target each other in sectarian and religious clashes, and on the other hand, militant groups will be angered by the operation in North Waziristan, so they will target government buildings and other installations. Saeed writes that looting and bank robberies will increase. (Urdupoint)

INDIA
1.  JI (AJK) Chief Abdul Rashid Turabi said that the revenge for the fall of Dhaka could be taken in the form of freedom of Kashmir. He urged Pakistani forces to free Kashmir from Indian occupation in order to settle the scores with India.  He added that due to wrong policies of the leadership, the Kashmir issue was being put on the back-burner which was against Pakistan’s security. (Daily
Jang welcomes Indian Trade Minister Anand Sharma’s statement that Pakistan should put one step forward and India would put two. Almost everyone accepts that to control political and economic problems, India and Pakistan will have to improve bilateral relations and confidence between each other. Edit says without settling core issues, building confidence would not be possible. Edit says that India being a bigger nation should have a big heart and should remove all reservations Pakistan has. (Jang Edit)

2. Speaking in the National Assembly, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said that the Pakistan government will not take a step back from its principle stand on the Kashmir dispute. She added that Pakistan had always wished to resolve the Kashmir problem as per the UN resolutions and Kashmiri aspirations. Khar added that Pakistan had taken up the issue of mass graves in J&K on an international level. She said that Pakistan would continue to provide consular, political and moral support to Kashmiris though a sincere and serious dialogue will continue with India. (Daily Dharti)

DEFENCE
1. Pakistan Navy has added PC-3 Aircraft to its fleet. (Jang)

2. Some officials at the Kamra airbase had contacts with terrorists, sources said. There is a possibility of a court-martialling them. It has come to light with help of two CCTV footages that terrorists entered the airbase and conducted a meeting sitting at a table. (Khabrain)

3. Bodies of 6 security personnel, kidnapped from Bajaur a few days ago, have been found.. (Kawish, Daily Pak)

4. Interior Minister Rehman Malik said that a terrorist plan was foiled with the arrest of four suspected terrorists. He admitted that there was a terrorist threat to all provinces; there reports of a terrorist entering Quetta. (Jinnah)

TERRORISM/EXTREMISM
1. A conspiracy to allow foreign terrorists to infiltrate into Pakistan involving PIA officials has been exposed. ‘Waqt News’ received a tip off about 16 Bangladeshis who had booked PIA tickets on 28th March 2012 to come to Pakistan on 3rd April 2012. The PIA flight reportedly reached Faisalabad-Bahawalpur via Dubai but PIA provided them clearance without taking them to the immigration counter. A PIA official escorted them out. On 4th April, the data of 75 people was updated in PISCES, but 5 people were not mentioned in the data. When Pakistan Embassy in Dhaka was contacted to collect more information about these Bangladeshis, it was revealed that it had not issued visas to these 16 Bangladeshis.  (Nawa-i-Waqt)   

2. JUI Chief, Sunni Ittehad Council Chairman, and MNA Sahebzada Fazl-e-Karim said that increasing incidents of terrorism, suicide attacks and target killings in which Ulema and innocent people were killed were a conspiracy to term Pakistan a failed state. (Jang)

3. Maulana Muhammad Mansoor Ahmed writes that 7th September 1974, which is ‘Yaom-e-Khatm-e-Nabuwat’, is a historical day.  On this day, Qadiyanis were declared as non-Muslim minority in Pakistan; since then, they had been trying to project themselves as victims. He writes that Qadiyanis controlled all modern communications and now they were trying to convince that Pakistan’s Ulema had created a negative propaganda against them. (Al Qalam Weekly, 31 August to 6 September)

POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS
1. Talks failed to take off once again between PPP and PML-N.  PPP proposed to hold elections between March 15th and April 15th but PML-N is insisting on polls in December or January. PPP is also planning to talk to all parties including PTI on the caretaker government set up. (Ibrat)

2. Speaking to PML-N workers in UK, Punjab CM Shahbaz Sharif said that PML-N’s doors are open for MQM. He said that the PPP government had given nothing but unemployment, chaos, inflation and load shedding. Sharif said that the meeting with MQM will help to decide the right direction.  He said alliance with PTI is not possible at this time.  (Nawa-i-Waqt, Ausaf)

3. PTI president Javed Hashmi ruled out an alliance with PML-N or any of the ruling alliance parties. He also said PTI is not yet decided over an alliance with Sheikh Rashid. (Daily Pak)

4.  PTI Chief Imran Khan will carry out a peace march on 6th October with more than a lakh people to Waziristan. (Daily Intekhab)

5. JI Chief Syed Munawar Hassan said that no opposition party will accept elections under the supervision of President Zardari as they don’t expect free and fair elections from PPP. He said JI was in contact with PML-N and PTI and a decision on poll alliances would be taken soon. (Nawa-i-Waqt)

6. Qudratullah Chaudhary opines that there is no possibility of MQM leaving PPP for PML-N, but if  PML-N wins in the next elections, MQM can come close to it. (Daily Pak)

7. Mehar brothers have announced joining PPP. (Daily Hazara News)

ENERGY/WATER/ECONOMY
1. AJK government has vowed to produce 4000 MW of electricity in the next five years. (Daily Dharti)

KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWAH (NWFP/FATA)
1. Due to operation against extremists in Bajaur, displaced families from Salarzai have been living in despair in Yusufabad and Khar. These families are without food and their children and elderly are suffering from health problems. These displaced people are not getting any aid from the KP government. (Ummat)

PUNJAB
1. There are 26,600 police personnel in Lahore but only 6000 are on for law and order duty; the rest are deployed on VIP duties. Police should be withdrawn from protocol and VIP duties and all of them should be deployed for maintaining law and order. (Nawa-i-Waqt Edit)

SINDH
1. Target killings in Karachi have claimed 11 more lives. (Ibrat)

2.PPP (Shaheed Bhutto) took out rallies and sat on a token hunger strike in Jacobabad; the activists were protesting against the killers of Murtaza Bhutto not being arrested till now. The protestors also demanded protection for Hindus. Activists said that the government is busy protecting its tenure and has forgotten to address problems of the common man. They also said that Sindh’s interests were being jeopardized for the sake of power. (Kawish)

3.Jiye Sindh Tehrik condemned the killing of 2 Sindhi youth in Karachi. It said that this government is of no use to Sindh as it is in the interests of outsiders. . (Kawish)

4. Jeelani sect took out a 28 km long rally in favour of Hindus braving heavy rains. (Jang)

5.Aziz Jamali says with so much confusion around PPP and its alliance partners in Sindh, there is uncertainty whether the new LG ordinance will see the light of the day.  PPP seems scared that if it didn’t accept MQM’s demands on the local government system, it may withdraw its support to the Sindh government; in fact, MQM had given such hints by reaching out to PML-N. Jamali says there were some in PPP who felt that even if MQM broke away at this juncture, it would not affect PPP position in the public. Zardari believed that all alliance parties must stand with the government until the elections. Jamali opines that MQM is trying to pressurize PPP for the upcoming elections. He says there is another school of thought which feels that this move may weaken MQM. (Ibrat)

6. Abdul Khalid Junejo compares the condition of Sindhi Hindus to what had happened in 1947; he claims that this situation was as dangerous as the split of Sindh, the influx of outsiders into Sindh or tribal clashes in Sindh’s interiors. Junejo says all these are aimed at weakening Sindh so that it could be taken over. He says that Sindhis would have to give up narrow outlooks and cooperate to fight divisive forces. (Awami Awaz)

BALOCHISTAN
1. Supreme Court has sought a final report from the Balochistan government today in the missing persons’ case. The bench summoned the Interior Secretary, the defence secretary and the law secretary to depose over the deteriorating law and order situation in Balochistan.  CJP Iftekhar Chaudhary said that target killings were increasing in Balochistan and that they were sitting on a volcano. He said that if the IG FC was unable to handle the situation, he should tell the court. (Nawa-i-Waqt, Daily Pak, Ausaf)

2. Ausaf editorial on SC observations on Balochistan says no other institution appears to be serious to resolve Balochistan’s issues. The situation has deteriorated as target killings of minority religious sects are taking place. Already 46 Shia and 20 Sunni Ulema had been killed in Balochistan. (Ausaf Edit)

3.Nawa-i-Waqt edit is on Baloch scene. Jamhuri Watan Party chief Talal Bugti said that a superficial leadership was being created to hijack elections in Balochistan. He alleged that the corrupt leadership under the umbrella of the President wanted to win elections through money looted from the public. Bugti appealed to PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif to hold an all party meeting on the issue of Balochistan. He said that Punjabis were in majority in the Army and if the Army carried out an operation in Balochistan, Punjab will get defamed. Edit writes that PML-N and nationalist parties should take Bugti’s statements seriously as enemies like India also have eyes on Balochistan. (Nawa-i-Waqt Edit)

POK/ G-B NEWS
1. Gilgit-Baltistan CM Mehdi Shah said that the situation in GB was more difficult than in 1965 and that they had to remain united.  (Ausaf)

2.Provincial Finance Minister Muhammad Ali Akhtar said that Chief Secretary and Secretary Finance were not ready to understand his recommendations. He said that unless the rights under Rules of Business were forced, no one would listen to anybody. Akhtar added that due to wrong planning, development and non-development funds were not being used in the right direction and that corruption is on a high note. (Baad-e-Shimal)

3. IG Police Gilgit-Baltistan Osman Zakaria said that stringent action would be taken against those spreading unrest. He said people will not be allowed to accuse the police of being sectarian. (Baad-e-Shimal)

4. Baad-e-Shimal welcomed the resolution passed by legislative assembly condemning terrorism in Pakistan. The resolution reflects the voice of the people. The edit noted during the debate on the motion, MNA Nawaz Khan Naji said that the federal and provincial governments were not fully committed to counter terrorism. This is a serious charge  (Baad-e-Shimal Edit)

6.Mosque Board in Gilgit has come forward to restore peace in Gilgit.   CM and Chief Secretary have been requested to provide financial support to the Mosque Board and peace committees to make their peace efforts succeed. (Baad-e-Shimal)

7. Baad-e-Shimal criticised the non-payment of salaries to municipality workers for the past two months. They are threatening to go on a strike. The administration must settle the issue and prevent the strike. (Baad-e-Shimal Edit)