By Peter S. Green

Feb. 26 (Bloomberg) — The record U.S. budget deficit and debt should be viewed as a growing national security concern, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told lawmakers yesterday.

“We have to address this deficit and the debt of the U.S. as a matter of national security, not only as a matter of economics,” Clinton said in testimony to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and related programs. The panel was reviewing the U.S. foreign affairs budget for fiscal year 2011. Read more »

By Yousuf Nazar

The government had to take a U-turn and not only had to withdraw the notification of the appointment of the judges but has also yielded to the blackmail. But that does not change basic facts. The position of the Supreme Court and the so-called constitutional experts is wrong and/or politically motivated.  The constitutions and practices in the UK and India do not support the view that has been sold to the naive Pakistani public.  The Indian President and the Lord Chancellor in the United Kingdom are supposed to consult with the Chief Justice but can reject the recommendation of the chief justice. But even from the standpoint of Pakistan’s law, the position taken by Iftikhar Chaudhry is just political power play and has nothing to do with the principles or 1973 Constitution.We feel that we must put the record straight. So please read the following carefully. Read more »

From DAWN

[Note: Pakistan’s Low Tax to GDP Ratio is as important an issue as any for the country]

 Hillary urges rich Pakistanis to pay more tax

By Anwar Iqbal
Friday, 26 Feb, 2010

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (C) arrives with Senator John Kerry (D-MA) as Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) gestures before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington February 24, 2010. – Photo by Reuters.

 WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has urged wealthy Pakistanis to pay a larger share of taxes to reduce their country’s dependence on foreign aid. Read more »

February 26, 2010 

The finance minister Mr. Mukherjee said the economy is in a much better position now than it was a year ago, and added that growth may exceed the advance estimate of 7.2% for this fiscal year through March.

He said also that the government’s total expenditure will be 11.09 trillion rupees ($239 billion) in the next fiscal year, and that the fiscal deficit is likely to narrow to 5.5%–or 3.8 trillion rupees–from this year’s estimated 6.9% of gross domestic product. India plans to allocate 1.47 trillion rupees ($31.71 billion) for the defense sector for the next fiscal year. The government had earmarked 1.42 trillion rupees spending on defense for the current fiscal through March 2010, up from 1.06 trillion rupees in the previous year. India is upgrading its armed forces and plans to buy new vehicles, arms and fighter jets as part of the modernization exercise. Read more »

Comment by Yousuf Nazar 

The report of the News (25th Feb. 2010) is reproduced below: Read more »

Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2010/02/23 18:04:41 GMT 

Turkey’s army has warned of a “serious” situation after 40 senior military figures were arrested over an alleged plot to topple the government.

All top generals and admirals met at the military headquarters to evaluate the investigation, the military said.

Police were questioning the suspects over the so-called “sledgehammer” plot which reportedly dates back to 2003.

Former heads of the air force and navy were among those detained in raids in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir. Read more »

From the Wall Street Journal

February 24, 2010  

By GEETA ANAND

Pritam Singh, who farms 30 acres in Punjab, says the more desperate farmers become, the more urea they use. Overuse is stunting yields.

SOHIAN, India—India’s Green Revolution is withering.

In the 1970s, India dramatically increased food production, finally allowing this giant country to feed itself. But government efforts to continue that miracle by encouraging farmers to use fertilizers have backfired, forcing the country to expand its reliance on imported food. Read more »

This DAWN report needs no comment

DAWN, February 19, 2010 

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan said on Friday it will not examine evidence against intelligence agencies in the missing persons’ case.

A written order released to the media states that evidence and allegations of involvement of intelligence agencies in abducting people will be examined by an ‘appropriate forum at the relevant time.’
 
The written orders were released a week after the last hearing in the case, which was conducted by Justice Javed Iqbal, Justice Sair Ali and Justice Tariq Pervez.

The four-page order noted that police officials have expressed their inability to make further probes in certain cases regarding the missing persons’ due to alleged involvement of various intelligence agencies.

Over a thousand people have been missing for the last four years amid allegations of intelligence agencies kidnapping them as part of in relation to the war against terror. The Supreme Court took notice of the complaints and started a probe in 2006.

After assurance of progress from Attorney General Anwar Mansur Sohail, the apex court will now take up the case again next week. —DawnNews

An Open Letter to all Journalists  (courtesy pkpolitics.com)

This is an open letter to journalists written in good faith and it is based on the questions and comments from large number of citizens about the recent news related to plots and residential schemes for journalists.

Other than plots, several stories were revealed in past few months regarding the Secret Funds of Information Ministry and IB (Intelligence Bureau) for journalists and media entities. Read more »

The following is the full text of Charter of Democracy signed by Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif on May 14, 2006 in London. Read more »

By Yousuf Nazar

I hate to name people but I strongly feel that the media people should be held accountable too and should not be above criticism. I hope this will be taken in the same spirit. I can’t be accused of being pro-Zardari or pro-PPP given that I wrote (both in DAWN and the NEWS on 4th September 2008) that Zardari was his own worst enemy.

Now, please read this report by the News [Feb. 17, 2010] titled, “PM’s ‘last chance’ to mend ways with SC”, by Ansar Abbasi. Read more »

From The New York Times

February 15, 2010 

By PAUL KRUGMAN (Noble Laureate)

Lately, financial news has been dominated by reports from Greece and other nations on the European periphery. And rightly so.

But I’ve been troubled by reporting that focuses almost exclusively on European debts and deficits, conveying the impression that it’s all about government profligacy — and feeding into the narrative of our own deficit hawks, who want to slash spending even in the face of mass unemployment, and hold Greece up as an object lesson of what will happen if we don’t. Read more »

By Fatima Bhutto

Published 15 February 2010

Pakistan is far from being the country many of us think. Fatima Bhutto dispels a few myths.

Everybody seems to be an expert on the Islamic Republic of Pakistan these days. You can’t turn left without running into some pundit or pontificating layperson moaning heartily about Pakistan’s future, lording it with their imaginary Pakistan PhDs over all and sundry. Baron- esses, David Miliband, the fellow who reads the news - they’re all Pakistan wonks now.

Read more »

First let me reproduce part of story published by The News International on February 15, 2010.  The reporter is Rauf Klasra.

ISLAMABAD: Striking down his entire lot of nominees for appointment as judges of the Lahore High Court, the federal government has formally informed the Chief Justice, Justice Khwaja Sharif, that his list contained serious “flaws” and did not meet the set constitutional criteria. The government has also sent back a similar list, forwarded by the Sindh governor for his own province, it was reliably learnt. Though Punjab Governor Salman Taseer had recommended 19 of the original 28 nominees of the Chief Justice Lahore High Court, Justice Khwaja Mohammad Sharif, the federal government has, nevertheless, rejected all while citing different reasons.A source close to the Supreme Court, when contacted, said the matter of judges’ appointment is in court and soon everything will get crystal clear. He said whatever information about the nominees of judges was required under the Constitution was provided by the Lahore High Court chief justice. The criterion for selection of nominees for judges was also strictly followed. Whatever qualification the constitution provided for judges, such as competency, experience and good reputation, was ensured while finalising the list of nominees for judges.

SO far so good. But then the story goes on to quote the “SOURCE IN THE SUPREME COURT” to publish this highly political statement. This source should either come out openly and join politics. Or is it that the News publishes whatever it feels like and attributes it to sources. Now please read carefully the following part of the story. Read more »

By Bilal Qureshi

Saturday, February 13 10:56 pm EST

Every objective analyst who follows Pakistan has come to the same conclusion – Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry is becoming a serious threat not only to the country, but also to the entire democratic system that is already under tremendous stress. In fact, it is pretty much established that some behind the scene players in Pakistan are interested in seeing ‘favorable’ people take over the government and these forces are perhaps using the Chief Justice as a tool to achieve their nauseating objective.

Read more »