International

UN deploys helicopters to aid flood-stricken in Pakistan

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) is deploying helicopters to feed the victims Pakistan’s deadly floods which the world body says has so far affected some 4.5 million people.

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Ghaibana Namaz-i-Janaza held for Mian Iftikhar Hussain’s son in N.Y.

NEW YORK, July 26 : A large number of Pakistanis living in and around New York Sunday participated in the Ghaibana Namaz-i-Janaz for the son of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Information Mian Iftikhar Hussain. The prayer was held at Makki Masjid in Brooklyn, a borough of New York City, where people from all walks of life expressed their outrage at the killing of innocent people in their homeland.

Mian Rashid Hussain, the only son of the provincial minister, was shot and killed allegedly by terrorists in Nowshera on Saturday, The gathering prayed to Almighty Allah to shower his infinite blessings upon the departed soul and grant courage to the family members to bear this immense loss with equanimity.
Speaking on the occasion, ANP Senator Zahid Khan, who is currently on a visit here, said the terrorist were killing “our innocent children, but they cannot change our policies against terrorism through theses tactics.
“We will fight against terrorism but we will never surrender to terrorism,” he added. Among those who participated in the prayer were ANP’s General Secretary in USA Siddiq Ali and Information Secretary Abdullah Abid.

Speaker, National Assembly calls for enhanced Pak-Japan relations

GENEVA, Jul 23 : Speaker, National Assembly, Dr. Fehmida Mirza called for greater interaction and people to people contact with Japan and Belarus.She mentioned this during her separate meetings with Takahiro Yokomichi, the Speaker of the House of Representatives of Japan and Anatoly Rubinov, Chairman of the Council of the Republic of Belarus on the sidelines of the Third World Speakers’ conference being held here.In her meeting with the Japanese Speaker, she expressed gratitude for Japanese support to the Friends of Democratic Process and sought the early fulfillment of further commitment of support. The two speakers discussed various issues of mutual concern.

During her meeting with the Chairman of the Council of the Republic of Belarus, Madam Speaker called for joint economic ventures between the two countries especially in the areas of agricultural product manufacturing.
The Third World conference is being attended by a vast number of Speakers of Parliaments from across the globe.

Islamabad focus on education as key to progress, harmony: Haqqani

WASHINGTON, July 23 : Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States Husain Haqqani has said education is a key focus in Islamabad’s broad policy framework aimed at long-term progress and prosperity of the country. “This focus will help greatly in promoting peace and socio-political coherence in the society as well as eradicating violent extremism from the Pakistani soil,” he stated.

The envoy was speaking at a conference on education at the Capitol Hill, organized by a known non-governmental organization ‘Children Uniting Nations.’ Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi also attended the conference.
In his speech, Haqqani observed that less than one per cent of the amount spent on global defense would be enough to put every child into school.
The government has formulated education plans both at the school and higher levels.
“By embarking on the mainstream educational reforms, the government plans to acheive economic development across the board and empower the people at grassroots,” he told the gathering. Towards this end, initiatives are being taken by the provinces through encouragement of public-private partnership.
Citing a study by the Brookings Institution, Ambassador Haqqani informed the gathering as educational attainment of a society increases, its susceptibiity to conflict and violence decreases.
Similarly, he said, an increase of one year of schooling is estimated to reduce the risk of conflict by nearly four per cent.
In her remarks, Speaker Nancy Pelosi appreciated the work being done in Pakistan and other parts of the world in the field of education.
Other participants included the first ladies of Capvert, Rwanda and ambassadors of Malaysia and Cameroon.

Qureshi leads delegation to ASEAN Regional Forum meeting

HANOI, Vietnam, July 24 : ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) concluded its deliberations here with the assurance by the participants to adopt the Hanoi Action Plan to make sincere efforts and measures to build a peaceful, stable and prosperous region. Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi led Pakistan’s delegation to 17th ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), within the framework of the 43rd ASEAN ministerial meetings.

The event, comprising of a retreat session and a plenary session, was attended by foreign ministers and heads of delegations of 27 ARF participants.
The Foreign Minister delivered a formal statement in the retreat session, where he touched upon issues of regional and global importance.
During the Forum, the ministers exchanged views on international and regional issues of common interest, reviewed the process of cooperation in the past year and mapped out future direction of the forum for the years to come.
The ARF participants agreed and adopted the Hanoi Action Plan to implement the ARF Vision Statement, which contains concrete and practical goals and measures to build a peaceful, stable and prosperous ARF area by 2020.
The ministers also adopted a list of 17 cooperative activities for the period of 2010-2011.
The forum closed with the issue of a Chairman’s Statement on outcomes of the forum.
On the same day, ASEAN Foreign Ministers witnessed the signing ceremony of the Instrument of Accession to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) by Canada and Turkey; and signed with the TAC High Contracting Parties the Third Protocol amending TAC to allow for the accession of EU to the Treaty.
Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi also signed the Instrument of Accession to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) from Pakistan’s side

Kaira for responsible and coherent information and communication systems

LONDON, July 24, – Pakistan and the United Kingdom (UK) can share their experiences and expertise in the field of strategic communications to promote the objectives of public diplomacy for creating better understanding between the people of two countries. This was stated by Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira in a meeting with Mark Lund, Chief Executive, UK Central Office of Information (COI) here on Saturday.

The Minister was given a presentation on the working of various sections of the COI. He also visited specialized units of the organization to see the operational aspects of communication strategy and planning.
The minister showed interest in modern tools of communications, which being effective for younger generation, could be used in communicating messages for positive behavioural change, including the ones aimed at countering terrorism.
Kaira said that besides helping counter terrorism operations through security forces, the international community must also give due attention to ideological and psychological aspects of terrorism .
He said that effective communications through variety of media could play a vital role in this connection.
Deliberating on the capacity building of media in Pakistan, Kaira said that since media has seen a significant expansion and transformation in the past few years and there is a growing awareness about the role and responsibility of information sharing and media, policies and laws were being reviewed in Pakistan to cope up with new reality emerging from the change.
He added that the well developed practices in the UK in the realm of information and communications management could be of great help in developing coherent practices in Pakistan as well.
The Minister also met the British Parliamentarians of Pakistani origin, including Lord Nazir Ahmed, MP Rehman Chishtie and MP Khalid Mehmood.
In the meeting, matters pertaining to overseas Pakistanis came under discussion. The Minister acknowledged and appreciated the positive role of British-Pakistani community towards the development of country of their origin and discussed at length ways and means to solve problems faced by them effectively.
A 10-member delegation of Higher Education Commission currently visiting the UK, also met the Minister . The Federal Minister discussed with them benefits of exchange programmes at several levels for forging better understanding through public diplomacy.

Pakistani Sufi performers win praise from leading US newspaper

NEW YORK, July 22 : Not only Pakistani folk singers and musicians won the hearts of New Yorkers on Tuesday, the opening day of the first-ever Sufi Festival here, their stirring performance in the City’s Union Square won a rave review in a prestigious American newspaper. The New York Times headline ‘Songs of the saints, with love, from Pakistan’ says it all. The three-day festival was organized as a direct response to the car bomb plot in Times Square and recent bombings in Pakistan.

“Hands waved overhead. Voices shouted lyrics and whooped with delight. Children were hoisted onto parents” shoulders. In the tightly packed crowd a few dancers made room to jump. T-shirts were tossed to fans from the stage,” was how Jon Pareles, the Times’ art critic, depicted the joyous mood at the concert in lower Manhattan.
“Yet in the songs that Abida Parveen was singing, saints were praised. They were Islamic saints, the poets and philosophers revered by Sufism, the mystical branch of Islam,” the Times noted. Thursday’s coverage the Times was in sharp contrast with sustained negative portrayal of Pakistan in the US print and electric media alike.
The concert was organized by Pakistani Peace Builders, an organization which was formed after the attempted bombing in Times Square by a Pakistani-American.
The group, spearheaded by Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Abdullah Hussain Haroon, seeks to counteract negative images of Pakistan by presenting a longtime Pakistani Islamic tradition that preaches love, peace and tolerance.
Critic Pareles wrote, “The music’s message was one of joyful devotion and improvisatory freedom. Ms. Parveen, one of Pakistan,s most celebrated musicians, was singing in a Sufi style called kafi.
Like the qawwali music popularized worldwide by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, kafi sets classical poems “about the love and intoxication of the divine, about seeking the spirit within” to visceral, handclapping rhythms and vocal lines that swoop and twist with passionate volatility.
“Ms. Parveen carried songs from serene, hovering introductions to virtuosic euphoria. Long, sustained notes suddenly broke into phrases that zigzagged up and down an octave or more; repeated refrains took on an insistent rasp and became springboards for elaborate leaps and arabesques; quick syllables turned into percussive exchanges with the band. Each song was a continual revelation, making the old poems fully alive. “While the crowd was there for Ms. Parveen’s first New York City performance in a decade, the rest of the program was strong.
The Soung Fakirs, from Sachal Sarmast Shrine in Sindh, danced in bright orange robes to devotional songs with vigorous, incantatory choruses. Akhtar Chanal Zehri, though he was introduced as a rapper, was backed by traditional instruments and seemed more of a folk singer, heartily intoning his rhythmic lyrics on a repeating note or two and, eventually, twirling like a Sufi dervish.
“Rafaqat Ali Khan, the heir to his family’s school of classical singing (khayal), was backed only by percussion, pushing his long-breathed phrasing into ever more flamboyant swirls and quavers.
The tabla player Tari Khan, who also accompanied Rafaqat Ali Khan, played a kinetic solo set that carried a 4/4 rhythm through variants from the Middle East, Europe, New York City and (joined by two more drummers) Africa.
There was also instrumental music from the bansuri (wooden flute) player Ghaus Box Brohi. “On the modernizing side, Zeb and Haniya, two Pakistani women who started their duo as college students at Mount Holyoke and Smith, performed gentler songs in the Dari tradition, a Pakistani style with Central Asian roots, with Haniya adding syncopated electric guitar behind Zeb’s smoky voice.
Under wooden flute and classical-style vocals the Mekaal Hasan Band plugged in with reggae, folk-rock and a tricky jazz-rock riff. But the lyrics quoted devotional poetry that was 900 years old, distant from the turmoil of the present” Meanwhile, the Pakistani troupe, drawn from the country’s four provinces, entertained New York’s diplomatic community at an event hosted by Ambassador Hasroon.
Several heads of diplomatic Missions accredited to the United Nations and senior UN officials were among a large number of the Pakistani community members packing the main hall of Roosevelt Hotel. The diplomats were treated to a wide variety of Sufi recitations by Abida Parveen and other celebrated Pakistani artists.

Obama vows to deepen cooperation with Pakistan in quest of Afghan’s peace,security

WASHINGTON, July 20 : U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday pledged to deepen cooperation with Pakistan as part of efforts to bring peace to insurgency-hit Afghanistan, which he stressed would not be allowed to become a safe haven for militants to launch attacks against America and its allies.Obama, addressing a White House Conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron, also hailed this week’s transit trade agreement between Pakistan and Afghanistan, saying the step will increase economic opportunity on both sides of the restive border.
The Kabul conference and Pakistan-Afghanistan agreement on economic opportunities will help create conditions needed for progress towards Afghans taking responsibility of their country.
He said the fight against Al-Qaeda and its terrorist affiliates is “not an easy fight,but a necessary one.”
“An even wider insurgency in Afghanistan would mean an even larger safe haven for Al-Qaeda and its terrorist affiliates to plan their next attack. We’re not going to let that happen.”
He claimed the United States has the right strategy.
“We’re going to break the Taliban’s momentum. We are going to build Afghan capacity so that Afghans can take responsibility for their future.”
“We are going to deepen regional cooperation with Pakistan,” he added.
The U.S. president called Tuesday’s Kabul conference as “historic, another major step-forward.”
“The Afghan government presented and its international partners unanimously endorsed concrete plans to implement President Karzai’s commitments to improve security, economic growth, governance and delivery of basic services.
“The Afghan government presented its peace and reconciliation plan, which the United States firmly supports. An agreement was reached on a plan in which responsibility for security in Afghan provinces would transition to Afghan security forces.
“In addition, Afghanistan and Pakistan reached an historic agreement to increase economic opportunity for people on both sides of the border,” he noted
“These are all important achievements and they go a long way towards help create the conditions needed for Afghans to assume greater responsibility for their country. Indeed over the coming years, the Aghans will take to lead in security and in July of next year we will begin to transfer some of our forces out of Afghanistan.”
The United States will remain a long-term partner for the security and progress of the Afghan people, Obama said.

Pakistan urges international help to meet needs of dislocated people

UNITED NATIONS, July 15: Pakistan has urged the international community to make a “meaningful contribution” in addressing the long-term needs of the people who were dislocated from the country’s north-west following anti-militant operations there. “The dislocated people have voluntarily and freely returned to their homes, under a safe and sustained repatriation plan by the Government.Long-term development and creation of economic opportunities in the affected areas remains a challenge,” Ambassador Amjad Hussain Sial, the deputy permanent representative to the UN, said Wednesday.

Speaking in a debate on Humanitarian Affairs in the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), he thanked the United Nations and the international community for the assistance in helping the more than 2.5 million people who were displaced from Swat and surrounding areas as well as South Waziristan.
Sial told the 54-member ECOSOC, the economic arm of the United Nations, that Pakistan has suffered from varying nature of humanitarian emergencies including natural disasters, causing dislocation and loss of life and infrastructure.
The devastating earthquake of 2005; heavy rains and floods in 2007-2008; and the recent dislocation undertaken by the people in the country’s north-west had added to the challenges.
He also pointed out that Pakistan was hosting 2.5 million Afghan refugees, which was straining its economic infrastructure in terms of declining international material assistance for this population.
On broader humanitarian issues, the Pakistan delegate said climate change, more than conflict or international strife, was the primary trigger to natural disasters.Indeed, he said, the number of people affected by those disasters continued to grow.
There were no easy fixes, however, and the challenges must be met in a concerted manner that encompassed innovative thinking and reinvigorated efforts.Leadership played an important role, as shown in the steps outlined in the Secretary-General’s on the subject, Ambassador Sial said.
However, the report did not shed any light on any steps taken for equitable geographic representative in the work of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, nor did it contain any comments on the accountability of the United Nations humanitarian work.
To address new and emerging challenges, he suggested a number of solutions, including improving a coordination mechanism driven by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, tailored approaches that abandoned the “one-size-fits-all” attitude, and tapping into alternate means, such as increased local procurement of material resources and hiring local personnel to save funds.
Given Pakistan’s experience with natural disaster, he envisaged a devolved and decentralized mechanism for disaster preparedness and management.

Haqqani expects continued US engagement toward regional stability

WASHINGTON, July 12 – Asserting that Pakistan would not allow a handful of extremists to impose their agenda on his South Asian nation, Islamabad’s ambassador in Washington Husain Haqqani has voiced the hope for continued U.S. engagement toward regional stability. “We are sure lessons have been learned and there will be no walking away this time,” he told a Washington newspaper.
He was asked in an interview if Pakistan was concerned about the possibility of the United States and NATO pulling out of neighboring conflict-torn Afghanistan irrespective of the outcome of the ongoing fight against al-Qaeda.
“We hope that the U.S. and the international community will continue their cooperation to fight terrorism and work together to achieve peace and stability in Afghanistan,” Ambssador Haqqani said in an interview with ‘The Washington Examiner.’ Islamabad, he underlined, remains firm in its resolve to get rid of terrorists.
“Our message to the U.S. is that Pakistan is fully committed to fighting and defeating extremism and terrorists, and the fight against them would continue till their eradication,” he replied when questioned about Pakistan’s message to new US commander for Afghanistan Gen David Petraeus.
“We believe that a handful of militants and extremists would never be allowed to impose their vicious agenda on the people of Pakistan,” he added.
Pakistan will continue to work with the U.S. and Afghanistan until the terrorists are defeated, the envoy said. Haqqani also highlighted the country’s anti-terror efforts, saying Pakistani security forces have achieved tremendous successes in its military operations in Swat, Malakand division and in the tribal areas.
“Our people and security personnel have paid a huge price, in terms of human lives, in this fight. Limited numbers of military operations are being carried out against terrorists hiding in the North Waziristan agency. We have set up military posts in strategic areas,” he said.