New trouble looming over Chinese-Australian mining deal Australian politicians called for an inquiry into the country’s foreign investment laws as state-owned Aluminium Corporation of China is pursuing a $19.5 billion purchase of Rio Tinto’s mining assets in Australia. The Chinalco-Rio Tinto deal has caused significant suspicion among Australian officials that there are higher political motives […]
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – The promised reinstatement of Pakistan’s chief justice defused a protest movement threatening the U.S.-allied government, but it could still spell trouble for the country’s struggling president. The army is said to have directed President Asif Ali Zardari to defuse the developing showdown with opposition leader Nawaz Sharif and lawyers leading a column […]
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — It was a signal moment in Pakistan’s political development: A huge demonstration forced the restoration of a dismissed chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, a symbol of democracy and the rule of law. The army did not stage a coup, but insisted that the government accept a compromise. The deal between President Asif […]
The preamble to the Constitution of Pakistan binds the state ‘to exercise its powers and authority through the chosen representatives’ who, in turn, are bound to fully observe ‘the principles of democracy, freedom, equality, tolerance and social justice as enunciated by Islam’. The constitution is, thus, violated whenever martial law is imposed, which indeed it […]
China’s international investment losses exceed $80 billion China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), the country’s exclusive manager of almost $2 trillion foreign exchange reserves, has lost more than $80 billion in its diversification into global equities. Details of SAFE’s holdings are only disclosed to the top Chinese leadership, a fact that makes exact estimates […]
Musadiq Sanwal reports live from Islamabad as the second lawyers’ Long March arrives in the capital. Meanwhile Muhammad Badar Alam, Bureau Chief of the Herald, provides the latest news from Lahore. While lawyers and political activists of the PML-N march on, they will have updates from the protests, the word on the street, and stories […]
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif is fanning provincialism in the country and only the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) is an insignia of federation, Benazir Income Support Programme Chairwoman Farzana Raja said on Saturday. Talking to reporters, she said former Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif had started Rs 2 roti scheme in the […]
WASHINGTON: The United States regards as many as 70 per cent of the insurgents operating in Afghanistan and Pakistan’s tribal areas as ‘reconcilable’ and the new US strategy for the region may reflect this, diplomatic sources in Washington told Dawn. On Friday, the Commander of US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, Gen. David Petraeus, and […]
WASHINGTON: Former president George W. Bush recast the US relationship with India, forging closer ties. Could President Barack Obama do the same for US policy towards its nuclear-armed rival Pakistan? Upon taking office January 20, Obama ordered a sweeping review of the US strategy for fighting the war in Afghanistan, and US military and diplomatic […]
WASHINGTON: Former president George W. Bush recast the US relationship with India, forging closer ties. Could President Barack Obama do the same for US policy towards its nuclear-armed rival Pakistan? Upon taking office January 20, Obama ordered a sweeping review of the US strategy for fighting the war in Afghanistan, and US military and diplomatic […]
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Army Chief Ashfaq Kayani is unlikely to launch a military takeover to end an ongoing political crisis threatening the one-year-old civilian government, according to the United States’ top military officer. ‘He is committed to a civilian government. He is committed to the democracy that’s there,’ Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs […]
NEW YORK: Overwhelmingly, Pakistanis are worried about the impact of extremism on their country and people, says a new survey conducted by PEW (IRI) global research. In 2008 72 per cent said they were concerned about Islamic extremism in their country, and over half — 54 per cent — said they were very concerned, the […]
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