The Londoner

Former chief justice of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Supreme Court has sought provincial status for the two disputed territories of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B). Justice (retd) Manzoor Hussain Gilani, chairman of the Association for the Rights of People of Jammu and Kashmir, told  The Express Tribune that both G-B and AJK are parts of the disputed state of Jammu and Kashmir, under control of Pakistan. He said the present de-facto provincial arrangements in G-B and AJK need to be formalised in the Constitution. The lack of this formalisation has hampered the commitment of the Pakistani government, and retarded democratic growth of the areas, while denying them their legitimised status under the country’s constitution, he stressed. “Both territories need similar, simultaneous constitutional reforms to be empowered as ‘special territories of Pakistan akin to provinces’, with representation in all policy and decision-making institutions under the

Some 1,036 million dollars would be invested in Gwadar till 2018 on different projects related to improving basic road infrastructure and power projects on the basis of grant and interest-free loans. Talking to The News, Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal said the projects to be completed in Gwadar included Gwadar Coal Power Project (360 million dollars), new Gwadar Airport (260 million dollars), construction of breakwaters (130 million dollars), water treatment plant (114 million dollars), state-of-the-art hospital (100 million dollars), Free Economic Zones (35 million dollars), dredging of channels (27 million dollars) and technical and vocational institute (10 million dollars). He said all the projects in Gwadar would be completed on the basis of loans that have been converted into grants and interest-free loans so the cost of the overall basket can be reduced to a considerable level. The minister said the bidding process for the China-Pakistan Economic Cor

In a landmark ceremony, Pakistani authorities will formally hand over 2,281 acres of Gwadar Port’s free trade zone to the Chinese Oversees Ports Holding Company Ltd (COPHCL) on November 11 on a 43-year lease. The ceremony would be held in Gwadar on Wednesday and would be attended by the Chinese delegation headed by National Development and Reform Commission Vice Chairman Wang Xiaodao, who has already arrived in Pakistan. The Chinese delegation comprises of all top level officials of the Chinese government and leaders of private companies. The Pakistani delegation would be led by Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reform Ahsan Iqbal. A senior official of the ministry said that the event would also be attended by Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik and Federal Minister for Ports and Shipping Kamran Michal. The government has already declared Gwadar Port a free trade zone for the next 23 years. The officer said that in this regard, a high-level meeting of both authorit

By Sikander Hayat With the election of Modi , India has embarked on a mission to destabilise Pakistan . Indian Army has been told to use its intelligence agency RAW to create terror in Baluchistan, FATA and other parts of Pakistan by providing arms, money and intelligence support to terror groups all over Pakistan. BJP, RSS & SHIV SENA are busy killing Muslims in india over cow meat consumption and using the following discontent to turn India into a Hindu rashtra and at the same time they are using this hindu anger to inflict pain on Pakistan. Modi belongs to RSS which has never accepted the reality of Pakistan . Even during Bihar elections , people like Amit Shah were invoking Pakistan to consolidate hindutwa vote bank. The scheme failed miserably but that has not stopped Indian state from joining hands with Taliban Mullah Fazallulah t o spread terror in Pakistan. Appointing Mullah Fazallulah as the chief of of TTP was a very calculated move by Taliban

The Nitish Kumar-led grand alliance on Sunday looked set to form the next government in Bihar, possibly with a three-fourths majority, an outcome which was shaped by a combination of factors. The chief factor that swung what was all along seen as a close election in favour of the alliance was the consolidation of Yadav and Muslim votes as well as support from Kumar’s primary constituency of Kurmi voters. For the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the remarks by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat that time had come to re-look at the reservation policy just ahead of the poll turned out to be a self-goal for the party. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) leaders tried to counter this but by the time the defence came, it was too late. Yadav and other backward castes, who control about 60% of the Bihar electorate, benefit from the government’s affirmative action. Kumar’s clean image and his projection as the chief minister candidate also did the magic for  the grand alliance as

Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan, Sun Weidong has said that Gwadar is going to become an economic belt which would be connected with Middle East and Central Asia, bringing a great boost in economy of the region. He was addressing a gathering of media persons, businessmen, tribal elders and politicians, here on Thursday which was organised by Balochistan Economic Forum.  He said: "This year handling of capacity of Gwadar Deep Sea Port has been increased due to joint efforts of Pakistan and China. Gwadar is going to become economic hub of the region which would be connected with Middle East and Central Asia," adding that Gwadar should be connected with other parts of the world.  He said that Chinese companies have been working in different sectors in Pakistan including energy, fuel, establishing power generation plants, science, technology, agriculture and defence. "Chinese companies have been shifting Chinese technology to Pakistan which  would

FATA is a very strategically located area of Pakistan but has been a virtual war zone for last 30 years. First against the Russians & Then against the American, locals have sought to fight for their freedom. Later on, in last ten, years, areas has been taken over by terror groups like al Qaeda & Taliban. Pakistan military is currently conducting a huge military operation in FATA to eliminate Afghan & Indian funded terrorists.  The   Federally Administered Tribal Areas   ( FATA )  is a semi- autonomous   tribal region in northwestern   Pakistan , bordering Pakistan's provinces of   Khyber Pakhtunkhwa   and   Balochistan   to the east and south, and   Afghanistan 's provinces of   Kunar ,   Nangarhar ,   Paktia ,   Khost   and   Paktika   to the west and north. The Federally Administered Tribal Areas comprise seven   tribal agencies   (districts) and six   frontier regions , and are directly governed by Pakistan's   federal government   through a special