The Londoner

ISLAMABAD : Federal Minister for Industry & Production Manzoor Ahmed Watto o has said that a ten year tax holiday has been granted to Gwadar Port Authority and the export processing zone (EPZ) established there. Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, the minister said only fifty per cent of the products manufactured at the Gwadar EPZ and the industrial areas of Gwadar port authority could be exported. ‘They will have to sell the remaining fifty per cent products to the local consumers,’ Mr Wattoo said. The export processing zone at Gwader would have all the facilities which are available to other EPZs in the country he added. Mr Wattoo said that the plots for investors would be given in consultation with the government of Balochistan. He said that Gwadar is the port of the future and a gateway to trade with Central Asia. Read the full article here . HOME

QUETTA: The Balochistan government is likely to declare Gwadar as the winter capital of the province. 'A decision has been taken in principle and the plan is likely to be approved with the next provincial budget,’ sources told Dawn, adding that officials concerned were working on details of the proposal. ‘The decision will have a far-reaching impact on the economy of Balochistan, particularly of Makran,’ the sources said. Balochistan Assembly Speaker Mohammad Aslam Bhootani confirmed that the proposal was being actively considered. ‘If the government takes a final decision to make Gwadar the winter capital of the province, economic activities in the port city will get a big boost,’ he said. Read the full story here .

Essentially a fishing village, Gwadar is an Arabian Sea port in that province. The port was built by China. In Washington's dream scenario, Gwadar becomes the new Dubai of South Asia. This implies the success of TAPI. For its part, China badly needs Gwadar as a node for yet another long pipeline to be built to western China. And where would the gas flowing in that line come from? Iran, of course. Whoever "wins," if Gwadar really becomes part of the Liquid War, Pakistan will finally become a key transit corridor for either Iranian gas from the monster South Pars field heading for China, or a great deal of the Caspian gas from Turkmenistan heading Europe-wards. To make the scenario even more locally mouth-watering, Pakistan would then be a pivotal place for both NATO and the SCO (in which it is already an official "observer"). To read the full article please click here .

Umar Gul took a wicket first ball, Shahid Afridi took two in his first two balls, and Australia imploded bizarrely after a flying start from Shane Watson. From 42 for 0 in four overs Australia went to 73 for 5 and 108 all out, a target Pakistan chased down easily after an early wobble. Australia had fielded almost a second XI, and played like that. The first innings of the match was as frenetically eventful as the second was assured and sedate. Gul's 4-0-8-4 was just one run off the best-ever figures in Twenty20 internationals. Afridi followed his double-wicket maiden with another wicket and nine more runs in the next two overs, as the Australian batsmen kept playing for the non-existent spin. The collapse was just as spectacular as Watson's onslaught on Shoaib Akhtar and Sohail Tanvir. It was ironically a missed inside edge by Aleem Dar that started the slide. No less a bizarre innings would have been fit for a day when the match started one-and-a-half hours after the toss whi

Kamran Akmal hit an aggressive century to overshadow Shane Watson's hundred as Pakistan beat Australia by seven wickets in the fifth and final match at Sheikh Zayed Stadium here on Sunday. The 27-year-old wicket-keeper batsman struck an unbeaten 116 and added a Pakistan record of 198 for the fourth wicket with Misbah-ul-Haq (76 not out) to help his team chase a challenging 251-run target with three overs to spare. Watson's 116 not-out was the cornerstone for Australia's 250-4 in 50 overs. Despite the defeat, Australia took the five-match series 3-2 after winning the second match by six wickets, the third by 27 runs and fourth by eight wickets. Pakistan won the first match by four wickets. Read the full story here .

It's gang up on Pakistan time.The US Secretary of State, Mrs Clinton, has declared it "poses a mortal threat to the security and safety of our country and the world" and now Gordon Brown has joined the party, flying to Kabul and Islamabad to show that he too regards the two neighbours as one region and making that the centrepiece of his so-called "new" Afghan policy in the Commons yesterday. There was, he claimed, a "chain of terror" stretching from the mountainous border between Afghanistan and Pakistan to the capitals of the world. If this reminds you of the language of the Raj, when the North-West Frontier obsessed our administrators and took up a disproportionate part of our military resources, so it should. Just as the British failed to control the area in Victorian times, so we are back in the same exercise again, only this time we're demanding that the Pakistanis act as the redcoats bringing order to the wild tribal lands. Now leave aside th

DAGGAR: A major military operation was launched against Taliban militants in Buner district Tuesday, DawnNews reports. The operation aims to eliminate militants who had faked their exit from the area, Director-General ISPR Athar Abbas told DawnNews, adding that the operation in Lower Dir has been completed. The operation in Buner was launched at 04:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Abbas said. He said that militants in the area had refused to heed the government's warnings and had been kidnapping young boys for recruitment into the Taliban's ranks. Both the Frontier Corps and regular army forces are taking part in the operation, Abbas added. Read the full story here.