Transporters’ plunder meets an end in Bhara Kahu riots

By Vidya Rana

* Police violence spills over from Punjab into Capital 
* Road links with Murree, Kashmir severed after Murree Road blockade 

ISLAMABAD: Following a violent protest, bullet injury to an 18-year-old college student, arrest of three dozen locals, involvement of prime minister and blockade of Murree Road near Bhara Kahu for more than 10 hours, locals have succeeded in pressurizing the district administration to withdraw a 17 percent increase in public transport fares on Thursday. 

The saga started in the morning rush hours when local transporters started charging new fare from the commuters for a ride from Bhara Kahu to Aabpara Chowk. Previous fare was Rs 18 while the new fare was Rs 25. Students started the arguments with the transporters, which soon turned into a brawl, ultimately involving local residents and business community of the area. 

Local police chipped in the farce and as the mob grew, an outnumbered police resorted to indiscriminate baton charge thus provoking more reaction from locals who started throwing rocks at police. As the protests grew violent and traffic on both sides of the Murree Road started piling up, more police force was called in by the administration along with Assistant Commissioner Aasim Ayub. His alleged abusive remarks, as the locals put it, ignited the whole scene. Finding AC under duress, police resorted to aerial firing resulting in injury to more than a dozen locals while a young college student was shot in the chest by a frenzied policeman. 

Mohammad Nafees, 18, a college student was rushed to PIMS, where doctors are confirming his condition as stable. The boy is still in surgical ward after  operation, his lung is badly affected, said the doctors at PIMS. 

Following the police hit, the area became a battleground and both the protestors and police kept playing cat and mouse game throughout the day. Police remained busy in shelling teargas at them while protestors kept throwing stones and bricks at the police besides setting ablaze tyres on the road, which also resulted in minor injuries to about six policemen. 

The area was engulfed with white smoke of teargas and Murree/Kahsmir remained cut off from the rest of the country, as this road remains the artery linking Punjab with the Kashmir. Armoured vehicles also arrived on the scene but of no use as protestors stood their ground. 

In the process, protestors got hold of few policemen, roughed them up by tearing their uniforms off. Realizing gravity of the situation, higher authorities called for Rangers deployment in the area, but even Rangers remained silent spectators. 

Meanwhile, rounds of negotiations took place between the locals and the city administration to not only get the area cleared and but also redress grievances of the locals with regard to police action and increased fares.

Article Source: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010%5C03%5C19%5Cstory_19-3-2010_pg11_1

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US should follow up words with actions, says Qureshi

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Daily Times

* FM says it's time for Washington to 'walk the talk'
* Upcoming dialogue will provide good opportunity to rebuild confidence, trust

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Thursday the need to rebuild trust with the US is key to upcoming talks, and called on Washington to follow up words with action.

"My message to the US is that the time has come to walk the talk," Qureshi told press conference in Islamabad. He said Pakistan had delivered "too much", and it was now time for the US to start delivering.

Qureshi and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are scheduled to lead talks in Washington next week aimed at boosting the economy and security of Pakistan.

"I believe our forthcoming dialogue will provide a good opportunity to rebuild confidence and trust on both sides," said Qureshi. "We need to build comfort on all sides ... we want these talks to be broad based and that is why I am proposing a completely different format for interaction between the two countries."

Qureshi said the Pakistani foreign minister and US secretary of state should meet annually, while the Pakistani foreign secretary and US special envoy Richard Holbrooke should hold talks twice a year.

Sectoral engagements: "I am also proposing 10 tracks of sectoral engagements," said Qureshi.

He said his engagements in Washington would "contribute to a better understanding of each other's position... we expect the
US to understand our concerns both in the realm of security and economic development".

Qureshi said Pakistan was no longer considered a safe haven for terrorists, as they were now fleeing to other areas.

The minister said there was a link between regional stability and Pakistan's eastern borders. He said Pakistan was not oblivious to what was happening on the eastern border, and "Pakistan cannot close its eyes to India's large-scale weaponisation". He said Pakistan did not want talks for the sake of talks with India, and Islamabad wanted dialogue with New Delhi to be result-oriented. agencies

Article Source : http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\03\19\story_19-3-2010_pg1_4

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The nuclear threat

The Nation

WHILE fears of a nuclear holocaust in the subcontinent, occasionally expressed by political observers, could be dismissed as speculative in nature, it would be sheer foolhardiness to treat, with the same indifference, Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir's warning that New Delhi was preparing for an atomic war. His recent visit to India, interacrtion with its leadership and his diplomatic training would have persuaded him to reach such a scary conclusion. Besides, India's military and political high command has not been found wanting in adopting a threatening tone when accusing Pakistan on the flimsiest charges.

Mr Bashir's observation would also immediately call to mind the idea of a limited nuclear war, heard from across the border some time back. However, the Indians would be well advised to ponder over the implications of this thesis. The world has radically changed since the Americans ruthlessly and needlessly bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki out of existence. Before voicing the 'limited-nuclear-war' concept, had they consulted the US their friend, the world's mightiest nation in terms of military muscle, and indeed nuclear muscle, whether it would at this time of nuclear spread, dare risk using an atomic weapon against a country even suspected of having the bomb and the delivery capability, they might have had sobering second thoughts.

India's aggressive posture has come more in evidence since it gained global recognition for its growing economic strength and, more particularly, since the Americans began to look with favour on it because of economic and commercial advantages and perceived strategic compulsions. The US has already begun to draw the economic dividend out of the rising needs for Western goods of the Indian increasing middle classes, now well over 200 million. The expanding commercial relations in the various fields, particulary through the sale of nuclear equipment and knowhow, hold the prospects of additional benefits. However, the understanding that India could play an important role in helping stave off the Chinese threat to the Americans' unrivalled global dominance would, more likely, turn out to be a pie in the sky than a realistic prospect. It would, undoubtedly, be suicidal for India to incur Beijing's hostility that this posture would provoke. And the recent boast of General Deepak Kumar that India could defeat both China and Pakistan in a matter of hours is no more than a megalomaniac wish that he could have uttered to gladden the hearts of hawks in the US administration. Yet the alarming pugnaciousness that is latent in the General's threat could not be viewed with equanimity, either in Beijing or in Islamabad. After all, one witnesses people able to fulfil their death wish every day. And nations have not been unknown for entertaining suidical tendencies in the annals of history.

Anyway, whatever the real intentions of the Indians about the nuclear threat, there is no room for relaxation. Not only should Pakistan be well prepared for such an eventuality but also take the international community in confidence about its apprehensions.

Article Source : http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Opinions/Editorials/07-Mar-2010/The-nuclear-threat/1

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