Gas imports: Pakistan to build offshore LNG terminal
By pakistan at 12 March, 2011, 3:00 am
ISLAMABAD:? Pakistan will set up an off-shore terminal to import 3.5 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per year, even as the government announced an indefinite extension of the two-day suspension of supply to compressed natural gas (CNG) stations. Both announcements were made by the petroleum ministry. The off-shore LNG terminal marks an end to the controversial onshore LNG gas import project, known as ‘Mashal LNG’, a project that was awarded to a company called 4Gas, but was struck down by the Supreme Court. The government is expected to begin the search for an appropriate site for the off-shore platform within a 22 nautical mile radius off the coast. “The offshore LNG import project is the quickest and the cheapest option compared to onshore and floating LNG imports projects,” said Faizullah Abbasi, managing director of the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC), one of two majority-government-owned gas distribution companies in Pakistan. Abbasi said the SSGC board of directors has already approved the venture.
Read More >>Taliban attack Bagram base near Kabul
By pakistan at 11 March, 2011, 8:58 pm
The notorious Bagram prison, north of Kabul Taliban militants have fired several rockets into the heavily fortified Bagram Air Field near Kabul, the main base for US-led troops in Afghanistan. The US Media Information Center has confirmed that there had been an assault on the Bagram airbase, north of the Afghan capital Kabul, a BNA correspondent reported.
Read More >>US to allies: ‘too much talk about leaving Afghanistan’
By pakistan at 11 March, 2011, 8:50 pm
Brussels: US Defence Secretary Robert Gates on Friday warned allies against an early withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, saying it would jeopardise the war effort just as the Taliban has lost the upper hand. US-led forces have “dealt a heavy blow to the Taliban insurgency” in the past year and pushed the insurgents “out of vital areas in the south and east,” Gates said at a meeting of NATO defence ministers. But he said hard-won gains against the insurgency could unravel if countries begin pulling out large numbers of troops too quickly for what he called political reasons. Gates, in Brussels after touring Afghanistan this week, did not say which countries were weighing a troop drawdown but he referred to “rhetoric” in some European capitals that he said called into question the resolve displayed at a NATO summit in Lisbon in November. “Frankly, there is too much talk about leaving and not enough talk about getting the job done right
Read More >>The regime’s culture — I
By pakistan at 11 March, 2011, 6:34 pm
Someone working in the Presidency remarked the other day, feigning incredulity, “Do you really think that you can influence decision-making through newspaper articles?” In other words, they cared a hoot for what the papers said. Not an unexpected reaction from the lot that inhabits the Presidency. They are not known for their erudition. They were put there to do nothing and they are doing it rather well. But it’s very unlike the approach of their icon, Benazir Bhutto (BB) , who in contrast, read voraciously and what is more, she had absolutely no reservations interacting with critics
Read More >>Earthquake jolts northwest Pakistan
By pakistan at 11 March, 2011, 1:30 pm
KARACHI:? A light earthquake of magnitude 4.8 jolted northwest Pakistan near the border with Afghanistan on Friday but there were no immediate reports of casualties. The quake struck at 4:32 pm with its epicenter in the Hindu Kush mountain range, chief meteorologist Mohammad Riaz told reporters. Tremors were felt in several cities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa including Peshawar, he added. The small quake hit a few hours after a devastating 8.9-magnitude earthquake hit Japan on Friday and triggered tsunami alerts across the Pacific Ocean. Pakistan was hit by a 7.6-magnitude earthquake on October 8, 2005 that killed more than 73,000 people and left about 3.5 million homeless, mainly in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir and parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Read More >>Radicalisation in Pakistan and Afghanistan | Voice Of Karachi
By pakistan at 10 March, 2011, 7:50 pm
People are not safe from killing, kidnapping, rape , and the production of narcotics has increased. Governors and ministers are being killed by terrorists in both the states
Read More >>Pakistan’s identity war — I
By pakistan at 10 March, 2011, 6:31 pm
Last month, I wrote an article for US publication Foreign Policy , arguing for the start of a peace process with militants in Fata and eastern Afghanistan and discussing the prospect of a referendum in the region to ask the population about their interest in a strict Islamist government. The plan also called for a hijrah (migration) of any hardline Islamists who yearn for strict Shariah and have romanticised notions of Taliban ‘justice’ to this semi-autonomous region and any moderates from those regions to choose to migrate to the mainland of either Afghanistan or Pakistan
Read More >>Redrawing the Map: the Balkanization of Pakistan « american in exile
By pakistan at 9 March, 2011, 6:42 pm
They are most concerned about a map he has drawn, which he has copyrighted, showing the Baloch areas of Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan joined as Free Balochistan (and reducing the size of Pakistan by 50%). …
Read More >>Redrawing the Map: the Balkanization of Pakistan @ The Most …
By pakistan at 9 March, 2011, 6:27 pm
They are most concerned about a map he has drawn, which he has copyrighted, showing the Baloch areas of Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan joined as Free Balochistan (and reducing the size of Pakistan by 50%). …
Read More >>The real agenda of the Pakistani Taliban
By pakistan at 9 March, 2011, 6:17 pm
This is with reference to an article by Ejaz Haider on these pages titled “What is the TTP’s real agenda?” (February 28). Pashtun society is classified into three categories: Pashtuns, Mian Mula (religious functionaries) and Kasabgars (artisans). The leadership in the society has mostly remained with the first category, the Pashtuns
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