Parlimantary speech | Khawaja Asif reply to Imran Niazi

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Tax details of PM Nawaz Sharif

Tax returns of Sharif Group of industries & Prime Minister Sharif: pic.twitter.com/zfh7Y5hBel

— Maryam Nawaz Sharif (@MaryamNSharif) May 16, 2016

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Ramzan Sugar Mill and RAW | Busting the propoganda

Ramzan Sugar Mill & 'RAW' from GenialMalik on Vimeo.



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Is Pakistan ready for a take-off?

By Ahsan Iqbal

Published: January 19, 2016

The latter half of the 20^th century has seen many countries successfully emerge as regional powerhouses. Unfortunately, Pakistan has been struggling to make this happen despite being endowed with rich resources. In the 1960s, Pakistan was touted as a rising economic power like Japan but its progress was derailed due to the 1965 war. In the early 1990s, Pakistan again captured the attention of the world when it took the lead in pioneering economic reforms in South Asia. However, this dream once again proved to be short-lived as the country plunged into a decade of political instability. Governments lasted no more than two years, and eventually the country was caught in the talons of martial law. In 2013, the Western media was calling Pakistan the most dangerous country in the world. Just two years later, due to economic reforms and security-related measures taken by the government, Pakistan is being projected as an emerging economic success story by the same media. Today, we are again poised for an economic take-off. The improving security situation, improving economic indicators and the establishment of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) offer many opportunities for the country. The million-dollar question is whether we will seize this moment for an economic take-off or will once again squander it.

China-Pak investment: PML-Q refuses to support changes in CPEC

There cannnot be a better analogy to understand Pakistan’s trajectory than learning from the concept of ‘take-off’ in aviation. In order for a plane to successfully take off, besides having a clear runway and favourable weather conditions, in the tug of war between opposing vertical and horizontal forces of lift versus weight, and thrust versus drag, the forces of lift must prevail over weight and the power of thrust must prevail over drag. During a take-off, all the weight on the aircraft must also be stable, otherwise the take-off can turn into an accident. The aircraft cannot take off if its engines are not working in sync to provide the required thrust. An aircraft can land with one of its engines shut down, but it can never take off without all engines working together. If all these conditions are not met, the plane can’t take off successfully.

This example is instructive in understanding Pakistan’s potential for a take-off. Firstly, we are a nation of 200 million people, of which almost two-thirds consists of the youth, with heightened aspirations and expectations. Our institutions are weak due to a fractured political history featuring long shadows of various martial laws. Moreover, due to the lack of investment in human capital over a prolonged period means that we still have high levels of illiteracy, disease and poverty. This translates into a heavy weight of social underdevelopment that has to be lifted. We need an extraordinary force of lift to overcome the drag and downward pull and achieve a successful take-off. We possess a rich endowment base. However, this can only be harnessed effectively by adopting the right strategies and implementation mechanisms with a clear focus on the economic agenda. Additionally, just as an aircraft can’t take off if the runway isn’t clear and is not of the desired length, countries also need to ensure that their policies are sound and provide a consistent and stable span for take-off. Finally, equally important is the favourability of the socio-political weather, as political thunderstorms and social jolts are capable of subverting take-offs.

China-Pakistan Economic Corridor: Lines of development – not lines of divide

The nation’s institutions must work harmoniously to produce the positive synergy required for an economic take-off. It is absolutely critical that all national institutions align themselves with a national vision and function with harmony to overcome the inertia of forces of the status quo to ensure a national take-off. Pakistan is an evolving society in which new power centres are emerging alongside traditional structures of power. After the Eighteenth Amendment, provinces have assumed added responsibilities and roles. Coordination between the federal government and provinces for realising the national development agenda has become critical. The media, the private sector and civil society are new and powerful players in national affairs. The judiciary has assumed a new role in the wake of Judges Restoration Movement. The role of parliament and the legislatures has become critical for effective democratic governance. The civil and military bureaucracy play a key role in our context.

Based on these fundamentals and lessons from our history, in order to ensure Pakistan’s take-off, it is critically important that all stakeholders, institutions and players join hands for a team effort. Political differences must not come in the way of the pursuit of national goals. Vision 2025 has been developed through elaborate and extensive consultation of all stakeholders. It has been approved with the consensus of all political parties represented in the governments of our federation, with the PML-N at the Centre and Punjab, the PTI and the Jamaat-e-Islami in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the PPP in Sindh and the nationalist parties in Balochistan. The nation has declared its aspirations and intent to join the league of newly emerging economies with the goal to be among the top 25 economies of the world by 2025. In order to reach this goal, we will need to achieve an annual growth rate of over seven per cent. Though this may seem daunting, with the great dividend of the CPEC in our grasp, this goal is achievable. However, to realise this dream we need to follow the rules of a successful take-off — maintaining favourable political weather, ensuring a smooth platform of consistent policies, and working together as a united, determined and focused nation.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 20^th, 2016.

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Life of Khurram Dastagir Khan

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We own no business in INDIA . Says Hussain Nawaz Sharif

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A good year for the PML-N

LAHORE: 

The start of 2015 was a time for reflection for the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). The ruling party assessing the financial and political losses caused by the 126-day-long sit-in by the Pakistan Thereek-e-Insaf (PTI) in front of the parliament. The PTI ended its sit-in after the December 16 massacre in Peshawar. It then appeared that the PML-N was struggling to keep things under control.

By the end of the year, the PML-N appears more comfortable with the political situation. Analysts say it is a rare moment in the country’s history; all three tiers of a democratic government (federal, provincial and local government) are in place.

Politically speaking, it was a good year for the PML-N. The party swept local government and Cantonment Board elections. It also won four out of five National Assembly seats in the by-polls this year.

In the NA-137 by-election in Nankana Sahib, PML-N’s candidate Shazra Mansab won comfortably by polling 77,890 votes. His opponent Ijaz Shah got 39,363 votes.

In NA-108 Mandi Bahauddin, PML-N’s candidate Mumtaz Ahmad Tarar defeated the candidate fielded by the PTI by over 28,000 votes. Tarar took 70,638 votes. His opponent, Muhammad Tariq, obtained 42,029 votes.

Riazul Haq, an independent candidate, won the NA-144 Okara by-polls and later joined the PML-N.

The by-election in NA-122 Lahore was arguably the most anticipated event of the year. Sardar Ayaz Sadiq of PML-N defeated Abdul Aleem Khan of the PTI in a close contest. Sadiq was once again elected speaker of the National Assembly.

The PML-N also won four out of six Provincial Assembly seats where by-election was held. Mumtaz Quraish won the by-election in PP-24 DG Khan, Mahmoodul Hasan in PP-196 Multan and Chaudhary Akhtar in PP-100 Gujranwala. In PP-16 Attock, Jehangir Khanzada, son of slain home minister Shuja Khanzada, secured victory in the by-poll. The PML-N candidates were defeated by the PTI’s Nasir Cheema in PP-97 Gujranwala and Shoaib Siddiqi in PP-147 Lahore.

What’s next?

PML-N central leader Hamza Shehbaz said the party had shown that it wanted to resolve people’s problems. He said those who did staged sit-ins had wasted time and resources. He said by 2017, the PML-N government will have overcome the load shedding crisis.

All’s well for democracy in Pakistan

Analyst Hasan Askari Rizvi said while all three tiers of democracy were formally place in Pakistan, the country was being governed in a very personalised manner.

“The question is that is National Assembly being strengthened as an institution? Does the prime minister or the chief minister go to the assembly? Are decisions made inside the assembly or outside? We have seen that the prime minister rarely goes to the parliament and same is the case with the Punjab chief minister.”

He said it remained to be seen how things would change with the elected local governments. “Democracy has definitely strengthened in 2015. However institutions need to be strengthened and we hope this happens in the future,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 30^th, 2015.

http://tribune.com.pk/story/1018521/a-good-year-for-the-pml-n/

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PILDAT survey | Performance Analysis of Pakistan Railways

PerformanceAnalysisofPakistanRailways.pdf

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WSJ report on How Pakistan’s National Health Insurance Program Will Work ?

How Pakistan’s National Health Insurance Program Will Work

Pakistan’s government launched a national health insurance program for its poorest households Thursday, marking the start of the most-ambitious public health project in the country’s history.

The Prime Minister’s National Health Program will from Thursday cover families that make less than $2 a day through a gradual rollout. In the first phase, over 3 million families will get health insurance in 23 districts, with the ultimate aim to cover 22 million households across the country, officials said.

“This is another step towards the welfare state that we promised to create when we came into power,”said Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

The Pakistani government already subsidizes health care to varying degrees in public hospitals, but officials acknowledge these facilities are unable to handle the patient load or achieve public health targets.

The government said earlier this year that it wouldn’t be able to meet the United Nation’s targets for child and maternal mortality rates that formed part of the Millennium Development Goals, which had a deadline of 2015. Critics have blamed Pakistan’s low health spending and inadequate management as key factors in the poor health provision. Between July 2014 and March 2015, Pakistan spent just 0.42% of its GDP on health. The U.S. government spends about 8.3% of GDP on healthcare.

The new insurance program will cover treatment at both public and private hospitals. Private hospitals that sign up will then be offered loans on easy terms to upgrade their facilities, officials said, without providing further details about interest rates and conditions.

Saira Afzal Tarar, minister of state for health Services, regulations and coordination, said most Pakistanis pay out of pocket for treatment. “There is treatment at government-run hospitals, but there are long lines. Those who don’t have a recommendation have to wait months for treatment,” Ms. Tarar said at the launch ceremony in Islamabad. “With this [health insurance] card, you’ll be able to go to the hospitals where you weren’t allowed to even go to the front door. Now, you’ll be treated there with dignity and respect.” Ms. Tarar said.

The national health program, with an initial funding of 9 billion Pakistani rupees ($86 million) will pay for the treatment of the types of illnesses identified by the government as critical: heart disease, diabetes and related illnesses, cancer, kidney and liver diseases, complications from infections like HIV and Hepatitis, road accidents, and burn injuries. Officials said coverage can be extended to other conditions considered life-threatening.

The government said Thursday that the program will be run in partnership with provincial governments, which will share the financial burden. Beneficiaries will receive insurance cards, after selection from a database of low-income Pakistanis set up in 2008 for a separate cash support program.

The coverage includes 50,000 rupees for general treatment, and 300,000 rupees for serious illnesses. Mr. Sharif said on Thursday that the government is making arrangements for an emergency fund that would extend coverage to 600,000 rupees for cases that require longer treatment.

Officials on Thursday didn’t provide specific timelines for the rollout of the next phase, which is expected to cover another 3.3 million households. The finance ministry said earlier this year that the program aims to cover 22 million families.

The finance ministry, quoting World Bank data and 2008 population estimates, said last year that if living on $2 a day is taken as the poverty line, over 60% of the population would fall in that category.

http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2015/12/31/how-pakistans-national-health-insurance-program-will-work/

 

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Ch Nisar in action | 2 dismissed ,foreigner deported on violating rules and regulations

http://www.dailywaqt.com/12-21-2015/images/528.gif

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THE SOUTH ASIA CHANNEL

Actually, Pakistan Is Winning Its War on Terror

With cozy ties between extremists and Islamabad on the decline, militants now face a more resolved and committed effort to eliminate them.

• BY SAMEER LALWANI
• DECEMBER 10, 2015
• 
  
• 

During the separate visits of the Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif to Washington in recent months, observers dismissed the prospect of meaningful changes in Pakistan’s security policies or in the U.S.-Pakistan relationship. On the surface they may not be wrong, but in seeking major breakthroughs or transformations, incremental yet consequential choices are often overlooked.

The recent revelations that the San Bernardino shooters had extremist ties to Pakistan might appear to confirm the narrative that Pakistan is consumed by a downward spiral of extremist violence. But over the past year, Pakistan has quietly made some important, costly, and under-appreciated strides in its counter-militancy efforts. Individually, none are groundbreaking, but together they point in a more promising direction for Pakistani society, regional stability, and the U.S.-Pakistan relationship.

Military Targeting in Tribal Regions

First, the Pakistani army has pursued more comprehensive military operations in the tribal areas than initially expected. Though it has not directly targeted the Haqqani Network as the United States hoped, Pakistan has actively targeted a wide array of militant groups, not just the Pakistani Taliban (TTP).

Hafiz Gul Bahadur, the leader of the TTP and a long-time government tactical ally based in North Waziristan, may have only been displaced to Afghanistan during the early phases of the military’s operation, but the Pakistani army has made his life difficult. It reportedly targeted him,sidelined him operationally from his organization, and then eliminated some of his remaining commanders in airstrikes last fall. Once a potential prospect for reconciliation, Khan Syed Sajna, a former leader of the TTP in South Waziristan, was targeted by a Pakistan Army intent on accepting onlyunconditional surrenders. Sajna was consequently killed in a U.S. drone strike in late November. The state has also cracked down on potential TTP splinter groups like Jamat ul Ahrar and the Sheheryar Mehsud group, both of which have recently carried out attacks against a provincial government official and a Christian church.

Quietly expanded target sets may have resulted from lessons learned, deliberate strategy, mission creep, or failed efforts to flip breakaway factions. But the result is that Pakistan is more directly targeting the Taliban.

Kinetic Operations Against Former Assets

Second, Pakistani security forces have expanded their counter-militancy operations, not only against assets once under state purview that have now turned rogue, but also against a wider range of sectarian militant groups. Pakistan adopted a strategy of leadership-targeting, or “decapitation” against the once formidable Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a sectarian militant group with strong links to the Sunni extremist political group, Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat. Over the past year, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi leadership – once described as “untouchable” and “invincible” – has been systematically wiped out in a series of extra-judicial killings, possibly because it was drifting towards the Islamic State.

In February, the death of Usman Saifullah Kurd – the mastermind behind attacks on hundreds of Hazaras and Shia over the past decade – “[broke] the back” of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi in Balochistan. Several months later, a major police raid killed its leader, Malik Ishaq, his two sons, and 11 other militants. Other Lashkar-e-Jhangvi militants were captured during targeted raids based on specific intelligence in October. And a third leader, Haroon Bhatti, wasarrested in late October and then killed in a staged encounter with Lahore police (effectively an extra-judicial killing) two weeks ago. As a retributive response to Malik Ishaq’s killing, Punjab Home Minister Shuja Khanzada, a retired Army Colonel, was assassinated in a suicide bombing along with sixteen others. Despite this, the state proved willing to stomach the consequences of the fight, and showed that it is willing to take on powerful and influential groups – like LeJ – once afforded de facto protection by the Pakistani government.

A substantial amount of recent research suggests that leadership-targeting can be effective, and yield security improvements under certain conditions. Security officials anticipate substantial fragmentation of the targeted group “after elimination of first, second, third and fourth line leadership.” This decapitation campaign already seems to be correlating with a significant drop in sectarian violence. Since 2012, annual sectarian incidents and casualties are down by about 50 percent or more nationwide, and by approximately 75 percent in Balochistan, where Laskhar-e-Jhangvi’s violence has wreaked considerable havoc.

The counter-sectarian campaign could expand beyond Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.The Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS) estimates that the state has conducted 20 major search operations that have netted nearly 100 key leaders from the militant-linked Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat party. Chipping away at sectarian groups is important, because they feed other militant organizations like al Qaeda, TTP, Jaish-e-Mohammed, and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

Denial of Social Space

Third, Islamabad has augmented the military’s kinetic actions by denying extremist and militant groups of the social space they have utilized and operated in for decades. It has begun to seriously enforce regulations on hatespeech, on the misuse of mosque loudspeakers or amplifiers to prevent public incitement, and on weapons sales. Tempering sectarian mobilization with these tools was not new, but its enforcement is.

Even independent assessments identify progress, albeit slow, on the government’s National Action Plan, which was formulated in January to crack down on terrorism. Thousands of incendiary clerics have been arrested for preaching sectarian hatred and distributing banned literature; some have even been successfully prosecuted. Shops have been closed and materials confiscated for hate speech inciting violence. The glorification of terrorism has been banned. This may be producing a deterrent effect. Some observers point out that Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat has not been able to hold a conference in an urban area for the past eight months.

Religious seminaries, their curriculum, and ties to foreign organizations and funders are increasingly scrutinized. Dozens of unregistered or suspect seminaries have been raided or forced to close. Meetings of civilian, military, and madrassa educational board leaders also offer a path for structural reform. The Federal Investigation Agency has exposed millions of dollars in domestic financing of terrorism, interdicted some foreign financing, and enlisted help from international partners to choke the flow of funds to extremist organizations. The Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the conviction of Mumtaz Qadri for the January assassination of former Punjab governor Salman Taseer sent an important signal and affirmed the right to criticize misuses of the blasphemy law (though not the law itself).

Finally, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority prohibitedmedia coverage of banned organizations, specifically LeT and Jamaat-ud-Dawa, though there appears to be confusion and bureaucratic infighting over this judgment. Even critics of government shortcomings acknowledge “the space for pro-extremist mindset has gradually shrunk.”

Hard Foreign Policy Choices

Finally, Pakistan has also assumed tough foreign policy stances that support its internal security national agenda. In April, the government made a decision to avoid getting roped into the conflict in Yemen. Such involvement in an almost explicitly sectarian conflict would have triggered internal divisions with Pakistan’s large Shia population and exacerbated its sectarian problem.

The decision was challenging for Pakistan to make. Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states openly pressured the Sharif government to intervene – a difficult request to fend off, given their historical financial support of Pakistan through oil discounts, soft loans (like a recent one worth $1.5 billion), and remittances from migrant laborers. One United Arab Emirates minister warned that Pakistan would pay a “heavy price” for this choice.

Pakistan’s military proved critical in the decision to stay out of Yemen, despite intense lobbying by religious parties like Jamaat-ud-Dawa. Part of Pakistan’s refusal may have been that Riyadh reportedly requested deployments of only Sunni soldiers from a military that is estimated to be up to 30 percent Shia. More assertive Pakistani leaders have begun to bothprivately and openly criticize Saudi, Iranian, and UAE funding of religious seminaries and sectarian groups.

Shortcomings and the Future

Pakistan’s decision to tackle militant and extremist organizations once considered too valuable or too dangerous is encouraging, but those expecting the resolve against former assets like Lashkar-e-Jhangvi to snowball into actions against groups like the Haqqani Network and LeT should not hold their breath. State counter-militancy efforts are still constrained by fears of loss of control, violent retribution since LeT’s military strength is orders of magnitude greater than LeJ’s, potential electoral costs in the PML-N’selectoral heartland in central Punjab, and loss of these groups’ utility in achieving foreign policy objectives in Afghanistan and Kashmir.

Even if Pakistan narrowly focuses on its sectarian militant problem, it has a long way to go. Worrisome patterns of extremism remain part of the national fabric, most recently evinced by reports that Tashfeen Malik, one of the shooters in the San Bernardino terrorist massacre, may have had links to radical groups in Pakistan. Sectarian mob violence continues, IS is feared to be making inroads, and many of the thousands of unregistered madrassas retain nontransparent financing, regressive curricula, and continue to function as terrorist recruitment centers. Additionally, the limits of the state’s capabilities – or willpower – may be exposed in an emerging showdown at Islamabad’s Lal Masjid. Maulana Abdul Aziz Ghazi – a known security threat who retains links to the Taliban and expresses support for IS – resumed delivering Friday sermons, and appears poised to resurrect a movement for Sharia law.

The feeders for many militant organizations are sectarian groups posing as legitimate political parties, and they cannot be wiped out kinetically. This challenge will require counter-narratives, counter-radicalization, and a range of social, political, and economic reforms. As noted analyst Huma Yusufargues, “Pakistan’s war against violent extremism will not be won in the battlefields, but in classrooms, madressahs, mosques, the offices of bureaucrats, and at police stations.”

 http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/12/10/actually-pakistan-is-winning-its-war-on-terror/

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