“Yes, the President‑elect does support the legislation that you (Kerry) were part of, Vice President‑ elect (Joseph) Biden and Senator (Richard) Lugar also. We want to try to begin to some extent to separate our military aid from our non military aid.”

“The tripling of non‑military aid is intended to provide resources that will both support the Pakistani people and also give some tools to the democratically elected government to try to start producing results for the people of Pakistan,” she told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at her confirmation hearing.

The former first lady appeared for her hearing exactly a week before the Obama Administration takes charge on January 20.

Clinton was asked by Senator Kerry if she could affirm that the new administration remains absolutely committed to the Biden‑Lugar measure (now likely to be named Kerry‑Lugar) that seeks to enhance economic assistance for Pakistan to $ 1.5 billion annually over a number of years.

On the military aid aspect of the legislation, she said, the Administration wants to “look hard and see whether we can condition some of that on the commitment for the counter‑insurgency, counterterrorism missions.”

“So we certainly are inclined to support, where appropriate, the legislation you are referring to,” she added.

The New York senator, who has been a member of the influential panel, told her fellow lawmakers that Pakistan faces the complex problem of extremism but its government is determined to curb the menace. 

“Pakistan has a particular complexity because of its nuclear weapons capacity. But the democratically elected government has been saying a lot of the right things with respect to the threat posed by extremists and terrorists particularly along the border and in the FATA region in Pakistan.”

“So, I am hopeful that we will have a very active, positive relationship with the new Pakistan government. I know that there is a lot of work being done by the outgoing Administration to deepen ties between our country and various institutions in Pakistan,” she stated in answer to a question from a member of the panel.

At the same time, she reminded that the menace of violent extremism is a complicated problem in the region.

“But this is a tough problem. It is a very complicated problem.  It has many dimensions to it. As you pointed out, the relationship with India, the relationship with Afghanistan. The role that Iran and others are playing in that region.”

“We have to approach this with the same level of attention and comprehensive understanding that our military is attempting to do as it ramps up our troop commitment in Afghanistan and works more closely with the government of Pakistan to protect them from violent extremists as well as to root out al‑Qaeda and other remnants of the terrorists network so that they don’t find safe haven in Pakistan to plan attacks against us or any other country.” 

Chairman Senate Kerry, who has succeeded Vice President‑elect Joseph Biden, underscored the need for supporting Pakistan in overcoming its economic challenges.

He raised his concern on a number of counts with respect to pursuance of the war on terror in Afghanistan and pointed out the need for clear definition of the U.S. goals. He suggested a review of the terms like war on terror and their possible replacement with counter‑insurgency.

Clinton sounded agreeable to chairman of the panel Senator John Kerry’s call for examining efficacy of targeting and taking out suspected terrorists in tribal areas along Pakistan‑Afghanistan border in the face of counterproductive impact of such actions on hearts and minds campaign. -APP

Yousuf Raza Gilani’s remarks will likely anger New Delhi, which says the dossier provides evidence that Pakistani militants staged the November slaughter of 164 people.

Pakistan has detained some suspects alleged linked to the attacks and admitted the only gunman who survived was Pakistani.

But it has remained careful not to characterize the dossier as anything approaching proof of Pakistani involvement.

In his late Tuesday statement, Gilani said Pakistan was still examining the dossier.

He also urged “pragmatic cooperation” between the countries. -AP

“We, as a nation are confronted with many challenges of severe nature that demand from us observing complete unity in our ranks at every level and demonstrate responsible behaviour and restraint.

The internal conflicts, like the one we are facing in Hangu, are highly detrimental to our national cause and unity”, he added.  Indeed, the Governor said, it is the need of the hour that both the factions must lay down arms and let the normal administrative process work to restore peace and resolve the grievances of the respective people.

“Observing patience and accommodation is the best way to put the things on the right track”, he said.

The Governor also expressed grief and sorrow over the loss of precious lives and said that it is unfortunate that emotional and irresponsible actions led to such a big tragedy, although, on the government’s part every possible measure was taken to maintain peaceful and harmonious atmosphere on Aushura.  He assured that no effort will be spared to protect the life and property of the citizens.

Owais Ahmed Ghani expressed sympathies with the members of the bereaved families and prayed for courage on their part to bear the irreparable loss.  He also prayed for eternal peace of the departed souls and early recovery of the injured.

He has concerns over some steps of provincial government the Governor said adding but he follows the legal and constitutional course to convey these concerns.

He said that delay in appointments of chairman of provincial public accounts committee, leader of the opposition, attacks on high court are some of the issues on which the provincial government should rethink its approach.

The governor said that expenditures of annual development plan have not yet been defined adding the coalition partners have not been given the due share in the provincial government.

Sulman Taseer said that he has conveyed his concerns to Punjab Chief Minister through a letter.

In response the Chief Minister said that he was doing right things in his opinion, he added.

He said that large scale transfers of public servants are made in the province frequently by ignoring the consultation of coalition partners.

To a question the governor said that he had never been involved in any conspiracy against the provincial government and he will never do the same in future.

“I have never thought about any charge sheet against the government because such move is made only to topple the government”, he said adding there are no such conditions in the province.

He however said that being the governor he has the right to meet with the politicians belonging to all the political parties including the PML-N.

To another question he said that Mian Shahbaz Sharif has the right to run the governance affairs of province as long as he remains the Chief Minister.

If by losing the support of MPs or through some judicial process Shahbaz Sharif is rendered disqualified, “I should not be held responsible for it,” the Governor said.

“The 17th Amendment also provides constitutional cover to some national institutions,” Babar said.

Any amendment in the Constitution requires two third majority of the house to pass and for this purpose PML (N) and PML (Q) could join hands in the parliament.

However, the modalities of cooperation are yet to be worked out by both the parties.

The PML (N) is also likely to approach other smaller political parties to garner their support for repealing the 17th Amendment.

It was also learnt that the party has not yet decided whether it will move the bill on the opening day of the session or on some other day.

The other issues likely to figure during the session are Israeli attacks on Gaza, Pakistan’s position in the aftermath of Mumbai attacks and its admittance that Ajmal Kasab is a Pakistani national.

Debate on President’s address to the joint sitting of the parliament on September 20 last year, will also continue.

Security and economic situation, power outages that led to rioting in some cities and the oil companies not passing on the benefits to the general public after recent plunge in oil prices in international market, are some other issues likely to be agitated by the political parties.

Meanwhile, sources told APP that Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has issued special instructions to the ministers and parliamentary secretaries to ensure their presence in the house throughout the session.

He has also asked them to come well prepared and “do their homework” during the Question Hour and be ready to answer the queries raised by the opposition on various issues.

In the last session, the opposition was particularly perturbed over the low turn out of the relevant ministers during the Question Hour.

Prime Minister Gilani, once scolded his ministers for not being able to answer questions, saying it was the responsibility of all cabinet members to reply to queries raised in the house.

He has set up good democratic traditions by coming to the house regularly and frequently answers questions.

The Prime Minister also takes the house into confidence by issuing policy statements on number of important issues.

Prior to the start of the session, parliamentary parties meeting of government and coalition partners and the opposition parties will also be held in the parliament.

The spokesman said “at this juncture when the new administration is about to take office, news story like the one by David Sanger is indeed most unfortunate and contrary to the facts.”

Pakistan is fully cognizant of its responsibilities as a nuclear weapon state and has taken all requisite steps to ensure the safety and security of its nuclear assets and materials, he said and added: Pakistan continues to accord high attention to these matters.

“We are prepared to continue to working closely with the international community on arms control and disarmament issues and engage with the US and other nuclear weapon states with a view to enhancing mutual trust and  confidence in relevant domains, including prevention of risks of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, on an equitable and non-discriminatory basis,” he said.

Approval for bringing amendments in the NAB law was given during a meeting at the presidency in which Law Minister Farooq Naek briefed Zardari on the NAB law and the amendments proposed therein. The president, however, urged a debate by the cabinet on the issue before incorporating the proposed amendments.

Sources said only corruption references of government officials will now be sent to NAB while parliament will hold the accountability of parliamentarians and politicians by constituting a special committee.

It was also decided that NAB Chairman Naveed Ahsan will be replaced and a new interim chairman will be named by Prime Minister Yousaf Gillani soon. It has been proposed that the NAB chairman be appointed with the consent of the opposition leader.

The sources said that according to the proposed amendments, all accountability courts will be abolished and cases will be tried in regular courts that work under the high courts.

The sources said it was also proposed that the NAB authority to send corruption references directly to the courts should be taken back and handed over instead to the Ministry of Law.

The sources said all those laws described as discriminatory by political parties since the promulgation of the NAB Ordinance will be removed under the new amendments proposed by the law minister.

Rana Farooq Saeed Khan, Federal Minister for Textile Industry said this while  addressing a gathering of traders, businessmen, industrialists and textile exporters in Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) here Sunday.
He termed textile as backbone of national economy and said that textile and Faisalabad are interdependent on each other. “Textile Ministry has been given to me as I belong to the city of textile” he said and assured that

he would try his best to develop textile industry on modern scientific lines in consultation with all stakeholders.
He said that textile sector was contributing a major share in foreign exchange earnings. However, there was still room to further increase its share, he added.

About prevailing energy crisis, he said that government was fully alive to it and serous efforts are being made to resolve this issue at the earliest. He said that a high level meeting has been convened at Islamabad on January 06 to discuss and resolve the burning issue of gas and electricity. “We would take appropriate decisions”, he said and assured that these decisions would also be implemented in its total earnest.

He also quoted his meeting with textile owners on December 26 last and said that most of the issues were settled in it. But riots erupted in the absence of credible links between him and textile sector. “All this happened at a time when situation was witnessing a positive improvement”, he lamented.

He said that government believes that textile is the major sector that could give immediate support to the national economy. He said that government was going to donor agencies to get only 4‑5 billion dollars.

“I assure government that textile sector alone could generate an additional income of 10‑20 billion dollars if complete infrastructure facilities were provided to the textile sector”, he said and added that he is striving hard for the revival of textile sector and in this connection Nishatabad Powerhouse has been put into operation to end  unscheduled load shedding of electricity.

He said that meeting of January 06 is exclusively dedicated to the issue of gas and electricity. “We would not only take appropriate decisions but also ensure 100% implementation of these decisions”, he asserted.

Federal Minister for Textile Industry Rana Farooq said that issues relating to the resolution of R&D (Research and Development), decrease in Banks’ markup and access to various international markets for Pakistan textile products are also in the pipeline and would be resolved without any further delay. He said that a representative of the business community would also be inducted in the Body of Directors (BODs) of FESCO (Faisalabad Electric Supply Company) to streamline the issues pertaining to the load shedding of electricity.

He asked representative of textile related organizations to attend a high level meeting of January 06 and give their positive suggestions in resolving the prevailing issues.

Earlier Mian Hamid Javaid president FCCI in his address of welcome explained the problems being confronted by the textile industry and demanded additional quota of electricity and gas to cater to the needs of its industries.
Mian Javaid Iqbal former president FCCI also addressed the meeting while a memento of the chamber was presented to Rana Farooq Saeed to acknowledge his personal efforts to resolve the issues being faced by the textile industry.
Senior Punjab Minister Raja Riaz Ahmad, Mian Muhammad Latif former chairman FIEDMC , Mian Muhammad Yousuf chairman Pakistan Textile Exporters Association , Ch Salamat Ali vice chairman Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers Association North Zone, Sh Ashfaq Ahmad chairman Faisalabad Dry Port Trust , Mukhtar Ahmad Sheikh chairman Faisalabad Garments City Company ,

Kh Shahid Razzak Sikka president Anjuman Tajran City Faisalabad , Azhar Majeed Sheikh chief Police Citizen Liaison Committee also attended the meeting besides leading industrialists Rana Mushtaq Khan, Mian Zahid Aslam, Rehan Naseem Bharara, Ch Muhammad Siddique, Mian Muhammad Idrees, Sh Muhammad Saeed, Muhammad Ayub Sabir and Ch Maqsood Elahi.

“ Mumbai attacks was a big incident which caused great damage and we need to get to the bottom of it to carve out a strategy so that such incidents do not recur”, Foreign Minister said while talking to the newsmen upon his arrival at the local airport.

“We all face the problem of terrorism and stressed the need to tackle the menace through a joint struggle”, he said.

He said Pakistan was pursuing a policy of maintaining friendly ties with all neighbouring countries i.e. Iran, Afghanistan, China and India. Friendly ties with India was in the interest of Pakistan and would ensure stability in the region, he added.

When asked whether Pakistan would revise its list of friends keeping in view the Indian attitude, Foreign Minister said: “List of friends does not change overnight.”

He said the Mumbai attacks paused the composite dialogue process between India and Pakistan but added that Pakistan was trying to ease the stress.

After heightening tensions in the wake of Mumbai attacks, Foreign Ministry had followed a three-point agenda. Firstly to avoid war for we believed it would bring destruction to both the countries. Secondly, to save Pakistan from isolation and thirdly to ensure internal stability. “We have reached near our objectives,” he added.

He said that the situation was improving and tension had defused comparatively. He gave the credit for this to efforts made by Pakistan, suggestions put forward by it, and the important role played by some important countries.

He, however, added that it would be unwise to suggest every thing was all right. “Problem still exists and we need to get to the bottom of it to stop recurrence of Mumbai like incidents”, he said.

Pakistan today faces tough challenges and internal stability was a prerequisite to counter them.

To a question, FM said that Pakistan’s stance remains unchanged on Kashmir issue.

The Foreign Minister said Pakistan has an extradition treaty with US, but no such an agreement exists with India.

Responding to a question about Israeli attack on Gaza, he said that Israel should halt aerial and ground attack and resolve the issue through dialogue after restoring ceasefire status. “We believe the attack has no justification and should come to a halt immediately”, he added.

He said that Pakistan has condemned the Israeli aggression and added that Pakistan’s stance on the issue has a historical perspective and remains unchanged. “We stick to our stance that violence can not solve problems.”

“Today, we need to show solidarity and the Ummah should raise voice on this serious matter that involves human sufferings”, he added.

He said that Pakistan actively participated in the meeting of Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) that discussed the issue in detail. He said that the matter was also under discussion by other countries and at the UN forum adding that a resolution of Security Council of UN exists and the world body was now pondering over the ground attack issue today (Sunday).

The Foreign Minister contradicted reports regarding change in government or whether his name was under consideration for Prime Minister slot.

He said that UN has decided to form an inquiry commission to investigate the assassination of martyred PPP leader Benazir Bhutto.

He said that Shaheed Benazir Bhutto’s martyrdom was a national tragedy. Her martyrdom was a severe blow not only to Pakistan but the whole region, he added.

He said “Benazir Bhutto has left behind a vacuum that will hardly be filled and that is why it is our desire to get to the bottom of the facts behind the assassination of our leader”.

To a question on governance issue, the Foreign Minister said that civil institutions were weakened, some almost left dysfunctional, during last eight to ten years of rule by previous regime. He said that government was focusing on strengthening institutions in order to to bring political stability and to furthet improve governance.

He said that “improved governance needs liaison, harmony and compatibility among the three tiers of government including federal, provincial and local”.

Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that it has been agreed in principle between Iran and Pakistan that Iran will supply 1000 megawatt to the national grid and another 100 megawatt for Gwadar. The development took place during a meeting of Pakistan’s Water and Power Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf with his Iranian counterpart.

Foreign Minister, however, added that execution on the initiative needs transmission lines and lot of other things and will take time to complete.

He held demand and supply gap in electricity generation responsible for power crisis but added that loadshedding duration will reduce shortly as a decision has been made to take practical steps to enhance thermal power generation capacity in a high level meeting held two days ago.

He said that hydal power generation capacity reduces during winter times when water outflow at such facilities becomes low or zero. He said that after Tarbela, Ghazi Barotha was the only other hydal power project undertaken by the PPP government led by Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, then Prime Minister of Pakistan.

Stating that Water and Energy were their main targets during last China visit, FM said, we will pay another visit to China soon to take benefit from their expertise in building big dams, and energy generation technologies. We will also try to attract investment from China, he said but added that the initiatives taken today will take some time to materialize.

When asked about price of petrol and gas, he said that it was heartening to note the price of petroleum products falling in the international market. He added that government has reduced the price of petrol twice in the country, however, before looking into further reduction, government will also have to keep in view the overall fiscal position and the borrowing from IMF. We have to keep in view the target of bringing fiscal deficit down by June 30 and our resources generation effort while pondering over further reduction in price of petrol.

Briefing the President the Law minister gave the background of how the NAB law was enacted over a decade ago for the so called accountability of corrupt elements but had actually been misused for political ends.

He said that amendment to the NAB law could be made only with the approval of the President as NABO had been included in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution under the 17th amendment which states that the laws mentioned in it can be amended only with the approval of the President.

The President remarked that the proposed changes in the law should be discussed in the Cabinet for finalization before they are submitted to the Presidency.

The President remarked that the Pakistan Peoples Party was committed in the Charter of Democracy to amend the accountability law so that it could not be used for social and political engineering by vested interests.

The Charter of Democracy states that the politically motivated NAB will be abolish and replaced by a independent Accountability Commission whose Chairman will be appointed jointly by the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition with the advise and consensus of a joint parliamentary committee.

The meeting was also attended by Attorney General of Pakistan Sardar Muhammad Latif Khosa, Sherry Rehman, Minister for Information and the officials of the relevant ministries.