Overseas Pakistani Friends

NEW DELHI: Anti-India elements in Pakistan are planning an attack on Indian computer networks after the Mumbai terror attacks; the Press Trust of India (PTI) quoted Indian intelligence agencies as saying on Tuesday. It cited sources in the Indian Home Ministry as saying that Pakistani hackers were trying out a dry run against Indian networks through [...]

NEW DELHI: India may be frustrated and even outwitted by Pakistan over the Mumbai attacks, after placing its faith in the support of the United States. New Delhi has responded to the attacks on its soil with a diplomatic offensive, trusting Washington and ultimately US president-elect Barack Obama to pressure Pakistan, but with Obama and the [...]

In 1961, when I went to Germany to study at the world-famous Technical University of Berlin, I missed two things very much: 1) friends with whom I could speak Urdu and 2) English books and newspapers. After a few days I found out that I could buy The Sunday Observer at the railway station. This [...]

HAPPYMON JACOB From a grand strategic point of view it is in India’s national interest to help Pakistan resolve its terrorism puzzle. The diplomatic aftermath of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks is being handled by the Indian government in an inept manner. Purposefully addressing the issue of terrorism in the region, and working to halt attacks against [...]

ISLAMABAD: The elder daughter of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto has written a rap song expressing her anguish over her mother’s death. The song, entitled ‘I Would Take the Pain Away’, and a five-minute video of clips and photographs of Benazir Bhutto has been broadcast on the state-run Pakistani television and posted on the video-sharing website [...]

Zero-emission vehicles not to be a novel concept for long TOKYO: “Please erase your image of electric cars being like golf carts,” a spokesman for Japan’s fourth-biggest automaker said before taking a zero-emission vehicle out for a spin. As mass-produced electric cars come closer to reality, their makers are trying to polish the image of what [...]

By Amjad Warraich LAHORE: The Punjab government plans to create a ‘Ravi district’ from the existing districts of Lahore and Sheikhupura, Daily Times learnt on Monday. According to Punjab Civil Secretariat and Board of Revenue sources, the Ravi district will consist of Shahdara area of Lahore district and Ferozwala tehsil, while some adjacent parts of Muridke [...]

Salman K Chima When General Musharraf seized power, I was not among those who welcomed him – although with Justice Tarrar as the President and Shariat Amendment Bill to the Constitution awaiting approval by the Senate, Pakistan was on the verge of being a theocratic state. Why did I oppose Musharraf? Because, his rule was undemocratic [...]

By Perwez Abdullah Karachi Thousands of people in Karachi live under High Tension Lines (HTL’s) unmindful of the danger this poses to their health, a senior researcher at the University of Karachi has said. In Defence Housing Authority, one of the city’s most upmarket localities, not only are houses constructed under HTLs but there is an entire [...]

By Mansoor Ahmad LAHORE: The incapability of the economic planners to act discreetly in time is pushing the Pakistan’s economy from recession to depression calling for out of book strategy to keep the economy moving. Economists point out that both the government and central bank have been ineffectively fighting to hold the inflation for the last 15 [...]

By Tariq Butt A “mini revolt” brewing in the PPP for months has started bursting out as a deeply frustrated couple — Safdar Abbasi and Naheed Khan — has launched a well-orchestrated attack on the leadership with several party leaders sharing their stand but falling short of coming out in the open. Senior PPP leaders privately agree [...]

* Burning coal can release toxic gases including Benzene, Toluene * Sheikh Zayed doctor says food toxicity major concern in country LAHORE: Coal used for barbeques sometimes releases toxic gases and vapours which are inhaled by customers and absorbed in the food and may cause serious health problems, experts have told Daily Times. With the drop in temperature [...]

If the Taliban keep blowing up schools and attacking ordinary citizens, in time they will lose the support of conservative Muslims and their support base in the country, especially if the US starts withdrawing from Afghanistan The first thing I write for this newspaper every year is a set of predictions for the year coming up [...]

This summer I was the lucky recipient of a very special birthday gift: a charter flight over Lahore. I recommend the experience to everyone, more so now, given the tale that is to tell. While approaching the Walton Airport runway – Walton is Lahore’s original airstrip and is the home of the erstwhile Lahore Flying Club [...]

Higher Education Commission (HEC) has closed down a wing, meant for looking after projects that were to be implemented with the help of foreign support, owing to unavailability of funds, an official in the Commission said here Sunday. The Federal Coordinating Unit, headed by Javed Masood, was established at HEC to supervise efforts for speedy completion [...]

January In the aftermath of Bhutto’s death Following a three-day shut-down, the benchmark index, the KSE100 index, of the Karachi Stock Exchange fell 4.7 percent. The rupee fell to its lowest level against the U.S. dollar since October 2001. The stock exchange has a history of recovering after political unrest. The Pakistan Railways suffered losses [...]

Government’s real challenges are reducing fiscal and current account deficit and increasing tax-to-GDP ratio By M. Sharif The year 2008 has passed into history leaving behind visible scars on the national economy, and the economies of the developed and emerging world. A cursory look at macroeconomic indicators of the country clearly indicates that gains made during the [...]

By Iftikhar A. Khan ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Gilani has said his Government was considering a proposal for granting voting rights to expatriate Pakistanis, and was studying the cases of other countries which had already provided this facility to their overseas nationals.   He was talking to James Shera, Former Mayor of Rugby, who called on him at [...]

By Shahid R. Siddiqi ON the demise of Soviet Union 18 years ago, US president George H.W. Bush announced the emergence of a New World Order. He said: ‘A hundred generations have searched for this elusive path to peace, while a thousand wars raged across the span of human endeavour’. And he claimed that in this [...]

One bearded gentleman who spotted one of these comedians boarding a flight, shouted after him, “You are going to hell. That is where you’re going.” The man ended up in London, which, despite its wet summers and double-decker buses, is not quite the site of that great bonfire in the sky With the exception of cigarettes, [...]