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Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe ― Albert Einstein
NEWS Thursday, 14 November, 2013
521 Top oFFICerS FaCe rISK oF deMoTIon!
Fazl To BreaK The ICe In TalKS wITh TalIBan g
Announces forming jirga comprising tribal elders and top leaders from FATA including the PTI
ISLAMABAD
ISLAMABAD
TAHiR niAZ
As many as 521 officer of BS-21 and BS-20 belonging to different occupational groups are facing a risk of demotion to their previous scales as the Senate body on cabinet secretariat and Capital Administration and Development (CAAD) believes that the law division gave ‘wrong’ interpretation of the Supreme Court judgment in Orya Maqbool Jan case. According to details, the meetings of central selection board (CSB) held on 11-14 and 27 in February, 2013, recommended the promotion of 601 officers of various occupational groups and excadre posts from BS-20 to 21 and BS-19 to BS-20 including the 80 BS-20 officers of Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS) Group. The promotion case of Orya Maqbool Abbasi, commonly known as Orya Maqbool Jan, a BS-20 officer of the PAS, was deferred in the said meetings due to his not earning the mandatory performance evaluation report for the year 2011, as he was superseded in the CSB meetings held on 3 October and 23-24 October 2011.
MiAn ABRAR
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N a bid to break the impasse in the peace talks between the government and the new leadership of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), JUI-F chief Fazlur Rehman on Wednesday announced to form a broad-based jirga comprising of tribal elders and top leaders from all political parties belonging to FATA including the Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf (PTI) to convince the Taliban insurgents to agree on peace talks. The move reflects that the gov-
ernment has sought help from Maulana to break the frozen dialogue. Fazl, surprisingly, has announced to include PTI elders in jirga to send a goodwill gesture to Imran Khan whose relations have not been good with Maulana in the recent past. In a statement, Maulana Fazl said the JUI-F would soon reconvene tribal jirga of FATA to help government jump start peace process stalled in the wake of US drone attack. However, no specific date has so far been fixed for the jirga. Fazal said the drone strike halted peace process with the Taliban, however,
(eCC MeeTIng)
no ban on exportS of onion, tomato ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT
With the hope of reduction in prices of commodities like onion and tomatoes after arrival of fresh crops in the country, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) on Wednesday decided not to impose a ban on the exports of such items. The meeting of ECC was held under the chairmanship of Federal Minister for Finance Senator Ishaq Dar
at Prime Minister’s office here on Wednesday. Senator Dar expressed satisfaction over the positive development as the large scale manufacturing increased by 12.8 percent during the month of September. This sector has experienced a growth of 8.4 percent during the first quarter of the financial year 2013-14, mainly because of the proactive approach of the government in liquidating the circular debt resulting in increase genera-
there was a dire need to seek new ways to resume the dialogue process. “The tribal jirga convened in February 2013 in Islamabad was backed by the national leadership. This time round, we will go back to the jirga to take its members into confidence and seek new ideas for moving forward,” said the statement. He said without involving the people of FATA, there could be no effective mechanism for talks with the Taliban. He said the jirga would help the government guide its efforts for reconciliation. A third party would not be allowed to hijack their
tion. Consequently, growth in the large scale industrial sector experienced an increase of 6 percent in June 2013 which gradually increased to 12.8 percent in September because of the addition of 1700 MW in the national grid. The meeting was informed that foreign remittances have reached $5.2 billion in the first quarter of the FY 2013-14, 6.3 percent more than the corresponding period last year and the foreign direct investment has increased by 85 percent in the first quarter of this financial year. “This speaks volumes about the seriousness of the PML-N government in the economic uplift of the country,” the finance minister said. Senator Dar, expressing concern over the inflation and
national bid to seek peace and reconciliation, he added. In an exclusive talk with Pakistan Today, JUI spokesperson Jan Achakzai said the jirga was being convened to break the ice in the dialogue process. Achakzai said new ideas would be explored during the jirga which would later contact the Taliban for taking into consideration their concerns,” he added. Asked if it was a step back or a step forward in talks, Achakzai said the government had used couriers to convey its message to the Taliban leadership. “A messenger can only convey
price-hike in the country, said: “it was mainly due to increase in international fuel prices and expressed the hope that there will be lesser adjustments in the future. The government is sensitive to the hardships of the people of this country and was on average providing a subsidy of around Rs 2.2 billion every month just to lessen the burden of the rise in fuel prices on the common man. The ECC also decided to appoint ADB as the transaction adviser (TA) in the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project. The finance minister said that “involving a credible financial institution as the transaction adviser will ensure greater transparency in the deal”.
a message and anyone has a right to refuse any messenger. But no one can refuse regarding anything to a jirga which is our tradition,” he added. When asked, Achakzai said the federal government was fully on board over the jirga. “We are very much a part of the government, so the jirga is being convened by the government,” he added. He said the move was aimed at resolving all differences between the government and the Taliban for which all tribal elders besides political parties, especially PTI, would be a part of the jirga.
no peace talks till Taliban ‘cool down’ ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Defence Production Rana Tanvir Hussain said Wednesday the government will wait for an appropriate time to restart peace talks with Pakistani Taliban which he said could take a few months. “Taliban are angry at the moment. Therefore, peace talks are not possible until they calm down,” he said while speaking to BBC in an exclusive interview. Tanvir said he looks forward to an attempt to be made in a couple of months. “Military action will be used as the last option as we want to give peace a chance,” he said. “Despite the Taliban’s
rejection, we will continue pursuing the path of negotiations.” The statement came after Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Monday told the National Assembly that the government virtually shelved, for now, its plan to revive a disrupted peace effort with Taliban insurgents. Replying to a question, Rana Tanvir said the new TTP chief is a man with a reputation of having extremist views but let us hope peace talks with him are productive this time around. He also said extremist groups support talks with the government, adding that they wanted to be inducted in the national mainstream. AgEnciES