Socks Are Optional As Pakistan Grapples With Power Cuts

NPR - Tuesday 21st May, 2013

Protesters march against the prolonged power outages in Faisalabad, Pakistan, on April 11. The country faces power outages of more than 18 hours a day in some parts of the ...

Pakistans Ahmadis Face Rising Persecution Violence

Radio Free Europe - Tuesday 21st May, 2013

report on religious freedom is the Ahmadiyya community, or the Ahmadis. The Ahmadis consider themselves Muslim, but that is a view rejected by mainstream Islamic sects. And in Pakistan, as RFE/RL correspondents Daud Khattak and Frud Bezhan report, Ahmadis have come under assault not only from extremist religious groups but also from the government. Pakistan’s minority Ahmadi sect has ...

Chinese premiers Pakistan trip expected to deepen all-weather partnership

Global Times - Tuesday 21st May, 2013

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's first visit to Pakistan since he took office in March is expected to cement the all-weather partnership between the two countries.Li is due to arrive in Islamabad Wednesday after he concludes an official visit to India in a four-country tour which will also take him to Switzerland and Germany.Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Song Tao said earlier that China hopes ...

Pakistan college offers tribute to Rabindranath Tagore

India Today - Tuesday 21st May, 2013

A leading college in Pakistan has organised a tribute to Rabindranath Tagore to mark the centenary of his winning the Nobel Prize for literature, with participants offering renditions of his poetry in song and recitation.The tribute was organised by the Department of History at Forman Christian College and the Ewing Literary Society on Monday.Tagore was the first non-European and first South ...

Pakistans new government must put development before debt repayment | Nick Dearden

The Guardian - Tuesday 21st May, 2013

Pakistan's people had voted for last week , the debt payments the country is scheduled to make in the next two years will largely decide that government's economic policy. That is, unless the government decides to put its people ahead of those repayments. Given the scale of ...

6 Pakistani fighter jets to escort Chinese PM’s aircraft

National Turk - Tuesday 21st May, 2013

In order to ensure safety of visiting Chinese Prime Minister , six JF-17 fighter jets of Pakistan Air Force (PAF) will escort Chinese Premier Li Keqiang aircraft after it enters Pakistan air space on ...

Voices in Danger In Pakistan state brutality makes journalism a dangerous business

The Independent - Tuesday 21st May, 2013

Umar, a 32-year-old reporter for the Pakistani paper The News, had been on his way home in Islamabad at 3am during Ramadan in September 2010 when two unmarked cars nearly drove him off the road. A dozen men in commando fatigues grabbed him, accused him of running over a pedestrian and forced him into one of the vehicles. They covered his face, handcuffed him and drove him around for an ...

New Pakistan govt may consider importing electricity from India

Times of India - Tuesday 21st May, 2013

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's new government will seriously consider importing 1,000 MW of electricity from India as part of a short to medium-term strategy to end power outages, according to a media report today. ...

Pakistans Imran Khan to leave hospital

West Australian - Tuesday 21st May, 2013

ISLAMABAD (AFP) - Pakistani politician Imran Khan is to leave hospital on Wednesday, his party and medics said Tuesday, two weeks after breaking bones in his back in a fall at an election rally.The 60-year-old was ordered by doctors to remain immobile in a hospital bed with fractured vertebrae and a broken rib after falling from a hoist raising him to the stage at a rally just days before the ...

Analysis How to avoid a fourth year of serious flooding in Pakistan

IRIN - Tuesday 21st May, 2013

Copyright IRIN 2013. All rights reserved. This material comes to you via IRIN, the humanitarian news and analysis service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the United Nations or its Member States. The boundaries, names and designations used on maps on this site and links to external sites do not imply ...

Pakistan PM-elect calls for Taliban talks

Asia News Network - Tuesday 21st May, 2013

Pakistan's prime minister-elect Nawaz Sharif Monday called for peace talks with Pakistani Taliban militants at war with the government, potentially charting a course that could put him at odds with the country's powerful army. Speaking to the newly elected members of national and provincial assemblies belonging to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), he said that Taliban offers to ...

Musharrafs UAE supporters prepare to fly to Pakistan for protests

The National - Tuesday 21st May, 2013

Pervez Musharraf 's supporters in the UAE are preparing to fly to Pakistan to hold protests backing the former president. Talks between senior members of Mr Musharraf's All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) have taken place this weekend in Pakistan and included some based in the UAE. "We are currently trying to lay the groundwork to allow for Mr Musharraf's supporters in the ...

Nawaz Sharif calls Pakistani Taliban for peace talks

India Today - Tuesday 21st May, 2013

Pakistan's presumptive prime minister Nawaz Sharif called for peace talks with Taliban militants at war with the government on Monday, potentially charting a course that could put him at odds with the country's powerful army.Nawaz Sharif said 'terrorism' was one of the most serious problems plaguing the country and any offer by the Pakistani Taliban to talk 'should be ...

Tempers flare in Pakistan as heat wave continues

The Globe and Mail - Monday 20th May, 2013

Supporters of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) political party of cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan gather during a protest against the killing of Zara Shahid Hussain, a leading member of the PTI, outside the mausoleum of Mohammad Ali Jinnah in Karachi May 20, 2013. (AKHTAR ...

India’s domestic woes dwarf Pakistani overtures for peace

The Globe and Mail - Monday 20th May, 2013

Pakistan's prime minister-elect Nawaz Sharif has been at pains to reach out to India since his election nine days ago, inviting its leaders to visit and assuring the citizens of his country's historic enemy that peace is a top priority.But India, while politely appreciative, has too much going on at home to be very interested in Mr. Sharif and his ...

Benazir death Pervez Musharraf gets bail on way out of Pakistan

Times of India - Monday 20th May, 2013

Benazir Bhutto assassination case. Judge Chaudhry Habibur-Rehman of the anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi granted bail to Musharraf against two surety bonds of Rs 10 lakh each. In the morning, the judge had reserved his decision after hearing arguments by lawyers of both sides. The judge announced his decision in the afternoon. During the arguments, Musharraf 's lawyer Salman Safdar said ...

Pakistan switches off ACs in govt offices bans socks for staff

Times of India - Monday 20th May, 2013

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has told civil servants not to wear socks as the country turns off air-conditioners amid a chronic power crisis and soaring temperatures. The government has turned off all air-conditioning in its offices as the country endures blackouts of up to 20 hours a day in some places. "There shall be no more use of air-conditioners in public offices till such time that ...

Imran Khans party wrests MQMs Karachi bastion

Times of India - Monday 20th May, 2013

Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) on Monday beat its candidate by a big margin in the re-polling held in 43 polling stations in Pakistan's violence-plagued city of Karachi. PTI's Arif Alvi secured 77,659 votes to beat MQM's Khushbakht Shujaat who polled 30,365 votes, according to the Election Commission of Pakistan. The repoll in 43 ...

Murder of PTI Senior Official Zara Shahid Hussain Rocks Karachi

The World - Monday 20th May, 2013

Fahad Desmukh in Karachi tells anchor Marco Werman about the murder of Zara Shahid Hussain – a senior official with the PTI party — which had performed well in last week’s vote. Hussain worked for Imran Khan, the leader of the PTI and a former cricket star who is convalescing from a campaign trail ...

Two Pakistani Nationals Extradited to District of Columbia to Face Charges Involving Illegal Pharmaceutical Shipments

FBI - Monday 20th May, 2013

WASHINGTON-Two Pakistani nationals have been extradited to the United States to face charges alleging that they operated Internet sites that illegally shipped pharmaceuticals from Pakistan and the United Kingdom to customers in the United States. Sheikh Waseem Ul Haq, 40, and Tahir Saeed, 51, are accused of operating Internet sites that, since late 2005, illegally shipped $2 million in ...

Pakistan’s M.Q.M. Denounces Imran Khan in Karachi Protest

International Herald Tribune - Monday 20th May, 2013

ISLAMABAD -- Supporters of an influential Pakistani political party took to the streets of Karachi on Monday to protest against cricket-hero-turned-politician Imran Khan, who has accused it of killing one of his senior staff a week after a general ...

Russians kill 2 suspected terrorists following shootout

Middle East Times - Monday 20th May, 2013

Russian police said they killed two suspected terrorists and captured a third in a shootout outside Moscow Monday. RIA Novosti said the men had recently returned from the border area ...