The Londoner

By SHAMSHAD AHMAD Last month, addressing a meeting of Pakistan's corporate leaders organised in Karachi by the Management Association of Pakistan, US Ambassador Anne W Patterson expressed "surprise" over what she called the deepening anti-Americanism in Pakistan, especially in the middle class. She chastised those who opposed American engagement in Pakistan because they, according to her, had a limited understanding of how the US "economic assistance and financial interactions" had changed the everyday lives of Pakistanis in real and positive ways." Ambassador Patterson also suspected that those in Pakistan "who come up with the most fanciful conspiracy theories do so in an attempt to distract the public from the true causes of extremism and poverty." She warned that the increasingly prosperous middle class would be the first to suffer because extremists were gaining ground. "Extremists have gained ground during the past two years," she

ISLAMABAD, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf Saturday dismissed as baseless rumors of his resignation and said that the rumors had created panic among the people. "I have not decided to resign. I will remain in Pakistan. I do not have any house outside Pakistan. Rumors about my resignations are rubbish," Musharraf told a group of senior reporters in a program broadcast live on TV channels. "Someone reported that a plane has landed in Islamabad to take me out of Pakistan. But where is the plane?" he said. "Someone was saying that the forces have surrounded my house. Someone said that I will leave the country within 48 hours. But now ask those reporters about the credibility of their reports," he said while referring to reports in the media. "Stop and confront those who are spreading the rumors," Musharraf said. "I am an elected president of Pakistan under the constitution. I will judge if I have any value

By LARRY ROHTER The morning after claiming the Democratic nomination, Senator Barack Obama spoke to skeptical members of a pro-Israel lobby and made a pledge that some of them found pleasantly surprising: “Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided.” That statement generated a storm of controversy in the Middle East, with one Kuwaiti daily calling it “a slap in the face” to Arabs. And over the last 24 hours, as Mr. Obama and his campaign have sought to explain his initial remarks, and suggested that an undivided Jerusalem would be hard to achieve, they have been accused of backtracking, which has generated a new round of criticism, this one here at home among Jewish groups. Taken together, the remarks, which Obama aides and surrogates maintain do not express any shift of position, play to one of the main criticisms that Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, has made of his likely rival in the November election. On the campaign trail, Mr

Tom Baldwin in Washington If Barack Obama was taking on John McCain in a global election he would already be on his way to the White House. A recent worldwide poll showed him beating the Republican by more than three to one. In Europe, his margin of victory would be even greater: Mr McCain would get only 6 per cent of the vote in Germany, where a government spokesman has waxed publicly about the attraction of Mr Obama's “mixture of Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy”. Just about the whole of France is backing Mr Obama. He is, in the words of Jack Lang, the former Socialist Culture Minister, “the America we love ... the youth and racial mix of an America under transformation and in movement”. As waves of euphoria swept across the Atlantic this week after Mr Obama's victory in the Democratic primary, a message on the “Brits for Barack” Facebook group declared: “We did it!” However, in reality, it is not up to them to do it. Mr Obama won the tightest nomination fight in living

The University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir was established in 1974 at Muzaffarabad, Azad Kashmir, Pakistan. The University of Azad Jammu & Kashmir is a multi-campus and multi-discipline university. It consists the Main Campus, based at Muzaffarabad, and four University Colleges. The Main Campus is a spectral combination of Basic Sciences and Humanities. The Science group includes Department of Botany, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics, Zoology, Computer Sciences and Information Technology and the Institute of Geology while Kashmir Institute of Economics, Department of English, Law and Art and Design make up the Humanities group. Also located at Muzaffarabad is Kashmir Information Resource centre. The Constituent Colleges are located at District Headquarters. These colleges, in contrast to the Main Campus, specialize in particular fields of studies. For instance, the University College of Agriculture Rawalakot offers degrees in Agriculture, the University College Kotli offers specializa

Azad Kashmir Regiment, one of the six infantry regiments of Pakistan Army. Its Regimental Center is located at Mansar, Attock District, Punjab. The Azad Kashmir Regular Forces was not raised by any decision or order by any government, the regiment "raised itself" when World War II veterans in the valley of Kashmir and the Northern regions of Pakistan took up arms to defend their land from the Indian Army's invasion and occupation of Kashmir of 1948. Bands of armed veterans formed themselves into ad hoc platoons, companies and battalions led by retired officers and NCOs. They gave their units names such as "Bagh Battalion" (the battalion from the town of Bagh) and fought valiantly in the 1948 conflict. After cease-fire was declared, these battalions joined together to form the Azad Kashmir Regular Forces (AKRF). The AKRF had its own intake and training structure, separate from the Pakistan Army. It was the military element of the Azad Kashmir Government. Uniforms

Baltistan (Urdu: بلتستان) , also known as بلتیول (Baltiyul) in the Balti language, is a region in northern Pakistan, Kashmir, bordering Xinjiang Autonomous Region of China. It is situated in the Karakoram mountains just to the south of K2, the world's second highest mountain. It is an extremely mountainous region, with an average altitude of over 3,350 m (11,000 ft). It is inhabited principally by Balti Muslims of Tibetan descent who converted from Tibetan Buddhism prior to the 16th century. Baltistan was an independent state but was occupied by the Raja (King) of Kashmir in the nineteenth century. Karakorum Highway and IndusBaltistan is often called "little Tibet". The adjoining territory of Baltistan forms the west extremity of Tibet, whose natural limits here are the Indus from its abrupt southward bend in 74 45 E., and the mountains to the north and west, separating a comparatively peaceful Tibetan population from the fiercer Aryan tribes beyond. Muslim writers about