Sherry Rehman meets Aafia’s lawyer

Ambassador Sherry Rehman today met with Ms Tina Foster, Dr. Aafia Siddiqui’s lawyer.

Ms Foster apprised the Ambassador of her client’s situation and discussed with her various options to ease Dr Siddiqui’s conditions of incarceration, and in the longer term, her repatriation to Pakistan.

Ambassador Rehman assured Ms Foster that the Pakistan embassy took its responsibility to protect the rights of Pakistani citizens, including Dr Siddiqui, very seriously and will continue to ensure that no Pakistani citizen is deprived of these rights.

The ambassador informed Ms Foster that the embassy and the Pakistan consulate general in Houston were in regular contact with FMC Carswell prison authorities and that she had asked the authorities to provide Dr Aafia Siddiqui appropriate medical care. Ambassador Rehman also thanked Ms Foster for trying to uphold Dr Siddiqui’s rights.

The ambassador also informed Ms Foster that the government of Pakistan engaged a high level team of three attorneys at considerable expense to provide the best possible legal defence for Dr Siddiqui.

The embassy also helped re-establish telephonic contact between Dr Siddiqui and her family in Karachi and also interceded on her behalf to try to ensure that her various other concerns, including those relating to her health, were addressed. The embassy will continue to play this role while also exploring various options to facilitate Dr Siddiqui’s eventual repatriation to her own country. The ambassador also assured Ms Foster that she intended to visit Texas and to meet with Dr Siddiqui.

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JUI to hold public meeting in Karachi today

All arrangements of JUI’s ‘Islam Zindabad Conference’ have been completed in Karachi.

The arrangements of Jamiat Ulma-e-Islam (JUI) have been completed in the ground adjacent to Mazar-e-Quaid.

The stage of the procession was completed on Thursday while JUI workers have decorated the venue with 70,000 chairs while 15000 extra chairs have also arranged.

The conference will begin at 3:30pm after Jumma prayer.

JUI chief Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman, leaders of Wafaq-ul-Madaris Arabia and others will speak on this occasion.

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London Olympics ethics commissioner quits

A member of the body that oversees the sustainability of the London Olympics has resigned.

A commissioner of the sustainability watchdog for the 2012 London Olympics resigned Wednesday in protest at the involvement of Dow Chemical, because of its links to the 1984 Bhopal disaster.

Meredith Alexander said she was stepping down from her unpaid position on the Commission for a Sustainable London 2012 (CSL), which monitors sustainability at the Olympics and Paralympics.

“I don t want to be party to a defence of Dow Chemicals, the company responsible for one of the worst corporate human rights violations in my generation,” Alexander said in a statement.

Dow is a major sponsor of both the London Games and the International Olympic Committee, and has stepped in to fund a high-tech “wrap” around the stadium.

“I think the responsible thing to do would be for Dow to withdraw from the wrap contract. Otherwise London 2012 is undermining its aim to be the most sustainable Games ever and showing contempt for the Bhopal victims,” Alexander added.

The London Olympics organisers, LOCOG, said in December that Dow s name would not be on the wrap during the Games or on five  test  panels either.

India is strongly opposed to the company s involvement with the Games.

Dow is now the parent company of Union Carbide, whose pesticide plant leaked gas into Bhopal in 1984, killing tens of thousands of people in the world s worst industrial accident.

The company has said all liabilities for the disaster were resolved after Union Carbide settled with the Indian government in 1989 by paying $470 million to the Bhopal victims.

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Pakistan not buying Iranian oil: Asim Hussain

Pakistan is not buying Iranian oil, oil minister Asim Hussain, said on Wednesday at an event in India’s capital.

Iran, one of the world’s biggest oil suppliers and a member of OPEC, has faced problems over its oil sales to major Asian buyers as international sanctions aimed at crimping its nuclear programme affect payments.

On Monday, the European Union banned imports of oil from Iran and imposed a number of other economic sanctions, joining the United States in new measures.

Iran’s Mehr news agency reported in November that the Islamic nation had halted oil exports to Pakistan after a refiner failed to obtain financing due to sanctions.

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PTEA Calls to overcome gas crisis

Pakistan Textile Exporters Association (PTEA) chairman Rana Arif Tauseef has demanded the government to pace up its efforts to overcome gas crisis and ensure uninterrupted gas supply to the industrial sector.

In a press statement issued here on Wednesday, he said that textile industry was on the course of a total collapse due to gas and electricity load shedding in Punjab.

He said that the industry in Punjab had remained totally closed for the last 35 days as the SNGPL authorities had resorted to load shedding for indefinite period. This outage has resulted in decline of textile exports by 159.5 million dollars in October and 193.9 million dollars in November and 225 million dollars in December last year.

Expressing disappointment over declining trend in textile exports, Rana Arif said that textile sector was the backbone of national economy as it had direct contribution to domestic production and foreign exchange earnings.

Gas shortages together with electricity loadshedding have created immense problems for the industries and cast negative impacts on the production process as well and export of value added textiles, he added.

The PTEA Chairman urged the government to accelerate its efforts to overcome gas crisis.

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Kashmiris observe Indian Republic Day as Black Day

Jammu and Kashmir people living both sides of the Line of Control and rest of the world observed the Indian Republic Day, black day to draw the world attention against the continued long illegal and forcible Indian occupation of Jammu and Kashmir.
Kashmiris observe the Indian Republic Day as ‘black day’ every year to mark strong indignation and protest against the continued long Indian subjugation of the occupied Jammu and Kashmir as well as against the massive human rights abuses in the Indian-held Jammu Kashmir valley.
Observance of the ‘black day’ is also aimed at apprising the world community of the continued hostile attitude of India denying Kashmiris their legitimate right to self-determination and deviating all international norms escaping from the peaceful solution of the much delayed Kashmir issue.
In AJK, preparations are afoot to hold protest rallies and demonstrations against Indian occupation of the Himalayan State of Jammu and Kashmir, in all ten districts of the liberated territory.
The day will also mark complete solidarity with the freedom-loving people of Indian occupied Jammu Kashmir in their just and principled struggle for freedom and for the achievement of their legitimate right to self-determination.
The protest rallies are scheduled to be arranged by various social, political and public representative organizations representing people of all spheres of life including lawyers, journalists, members of the business community, laborers, students, women and social and political workers.
In Mirpur, major protest rally, to be followed by a big procession of people of all walks of life, to observe the Indian Republic Day as black day, will be held at the District Courts premises under the auspices of National Events Organizing Committee, General Secretary of the committee told reporters here Thursday.
The city elders representing all segments of the  civil society  will highlight the importance of early peaceful settlement of the Kashmir problem besides registering protest against the continued forcible and illegal Indian occupation of Kashmir, according to the program.
And in occupied Jammu Kashmir, the day will be marked with a complete strike across the held valley on this occasion, said a report.
Life will come to stand still following complete boycott of the duties and other routine activities of daily life by the Kashmiris belonging to all walks of life across the occupied state, the report added.
People belonging to all shades of public opinion at both sides including AJK and occupied Kashmir, will stage anti-India and pro-freedom rallies and demonstration besides taking out processions under the auspices of various political, religious, social and human rights organizations in all small and major towns and cities to register protest against the inhuman attitude by the Indian forces.

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LHC rejects Khurram Rasool Bail plea

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday rejected an application requesting for a protective bail for former PM’s adviser Mian Khurram Rasool.

Two-member bench of LHC heard the petition and summoned NAB officials.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court had ordered the FIA to arrest the prime minister’s former media coordinator Khurram Rasool who is wanted in a multimillion rupee LPG scam. The apex court has ordered that Rasool be arrested by Jan 27.

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Sindh Lawyers boycott courts for indefinite period

The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) and Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) jointly called for a strike on Thursday against the killing of three lawyers at the Pakistan Chowk in Karachi on Wednesday.

The lawyers boycott court proceedings and staged a sit-in at the MA Jinnah road, Karachi, to protest the killings.

President Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Yaseen Azad said, the government has failed to contain target killings of lawyers, and added, the authorities had failed to provide security to the members of the legal fraternity.

According to the SCBA president, so far 24 lawyers had fallen prey to targeted killings in Karachi since 2011 while police have been unable to arrest any of the murderers.

He said lawyers would boycott court proceedings across the country in protest of unabated killings of lawyers.

On Wednesday, three lawyers including a former member of managing committee of Karachi Bar Association, Kafeel Jafari, Shakeel Jafri, and Badar Munir were killed while another lawyer Babar Ali, was injured when gunmen opened fire on their vehicle at the Pakistan Chowk area, police sources said.

Governor Sindh, Dr. Ishratul Ebad Khan has condemned the incident and directed concerned officials for immediate arrest of those involved in the incident.

Dr. Ishrat expressed solidarity with the lawyer community and assured that every possible effort would be made to bring the accused to justice.

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Three more gunned down in Karachi

Three people were gunned down in the fresh incidents of sectarian killings in Karachi here on Thursday.

While Two armed robbers were arrested after a an encounter with police on Thursday in Defence area of Karachi while a DHA security man also lost his life.

According to the police, a teenager was shot dead by some unidentified men near Askari Imam Bargah at Dastagir number 9.

Another 25 years old man was killed near Sabzi mandi.

Earlier, two dacoits entered in a bungalow situated at Khayaban-e-Bahria in Defence. The residents managed to call 15 meanwhile DHA security men also reached the spot.

However, a man was killed while two dacoits were arrested after the encounter.

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ADB agrees $400mn deal for Uzbek gas plant

The Asian Development Bank said Wednesday it has approved a loan and political risk guarantee of up to $400 million for a project to build Uzbekistan’s largest-ever petrochemical plant.

The ADB said the Surgil Natural Gas Chemicals Project would produce gas for commercial use and for conversion into chemical intermediates used in the plastics and textiles industries.

The project in the Karakalpakstan region will have annual supply capacity of about 4.5 billion cubic metres (157.5 billion cubic feet) of natural gas, it said in a statement, adding it is expected to be operational in early 2016.

Developer and operator Uz-Kor Gas Chemical is a joint venture between state-controlled National Holding Company Uzbekneftegaz and a consortium of South Korean firms — Honam Petrochemical Corporation, the Korea Gas Corporation and STX Energy.

The Manila-based ADB said it would provide a 13-year loan of up to $125 million and a 13-year guarantee of up to $275 million.

It said the project’s total cost was about $4 billion, with further financing to come from the Export Import Bank of Korea, Korea Trade Insurance Corporation, China Development Bank, National Bank of Uzbekistan, European export credit agencies and international commercial lenders.

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