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Pakistan Questions Safety of US Nukes

Pakistani nuclear weapons safety has been in the news lately. There are widespread concerns being expressed in the Western media about the possibility of Pakistani nukes falling in to the hands of Al-Qaeda or the Taliban or their alleged sympathizers. Even Mohamed El-Baradie of IAEA has chimed in on this issue. However, the Pakistani nukes are not the only ones making the news recently. The US nuclear weapons safety and handling procedures have also raised concerns, especially since the news of… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on February 15, 2008 at 5:00pm — 1 Comment

Pakistan Elections Dominated By Feudals

As Pakistanis go to the polls on Feb 18, 2008, the role of the feudal class in Pakistan as power brokers is getting scrutiny from the world media. Some Pakistani feudals and politicians, including Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi of PPP, Syed Fakhr Imam of PPP, Imran Khan (Tehreek Insaf), and others argue that the feudal influence is overrated. They say the feudal power is declining and represents more of a mindset than reality. However, the media men traveling through rural Sind and rural Punjab… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on February 14, 2008 at 6:53am — 2 Comments

ISI Election Cell De-activated?

Is Military Brass Cooling To Musharraf?

By Riaz Haq

Haq's Musings



General Kayani's Orders

Pakistan's Army Chief Gen. Kayani has initiated a number of changes that establish a divide between the uniformed army and Mr. Musharraf, say senior Pakistani officers. Last month, Gen. Kayani, 55 years old, issued an order barring officers from any unauthorized meetings with Pakistani politicians, including the president.… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on February 13, 2008 at 6:30am — 1 Comment

RAND Report: US Strategy Counterproductive

RAND Report: US Policy in Muslim World Counterproductive

By Riaz Haq

http://riazhaq.blogspot.com



The RAND Corporation, a highly respected non-profit policy research

institute in the United States, says in its latest report on the

ongoing War on Terror: "Large-scale U.S. military intervention and

occupation in the Muslim world is at best inadequate, at worst

counter-productive, and, on the whole,… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on February 11, 2008 at 8:59pm — 1 Comment

Poll: Musharraf Hits New Low

Poll: Musharraf Hits New Low

By Riaz Haq

http://riazhaq.blogspot.com



A new poll in Pakistan conducted by the US-based International

Republican Institute shows President Musharraf's opposition receiving

support from 72% of respondents. Only 15% of the poll participants

approve of Mr. Musharraf, lowest ever positive rating registered for

him to date. The sympathy wave for PPP in the wake of Benazir… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on February 11, 2008 at 10:32am — No Comments

Does Pakistan Face Debt Crisis?

A number of Pakistani economists and newspaper columnists are fretting

about what they call "Pakistan's Debt Crisis". They claim that

Pakistan's national debt has risen dramatically over the last 8 year.

Putting in perspective, it seems to me that they are raising an

unnecessary alarm. While it is true that Pakistan's total external debt

has increased by about 10% since 1999, it is also true that Pakistan's

GDP has more than doubled.

Here are the facts:

In… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on February 9, 2008 at 7:43am — 2 Comments

Scotland Yard: Benazir Killed By Blast, Not Bullet

Early reports in New York Times and Times Online

indicate that Scotland Yard's conclusions support Pakistan Government's

findings on the cause of Benazir Bhutto's death. Investigators from

Scotland Yard have concluded that Benazir Bhutto, the… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on February 7, 2008 at 9:42pm — No Comments

ISI Role in Pakistan Elections

Rigging Allegations

The allegations of poll rigging are getting louder as Pakistan approaches

the Feb 18, 2008 parliamentary elections. When you hear the opposition

politicians, particularly from PPP and PML-N, describe the details of

alleged rigging in Pakistani and world media, it seems that they have a

great deal of personal knowledge and expertise in

this specialty, the kind of depth that can only come from having engaged… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on February 7, 2008 at 12:42pm — No Comments

New Deal: Roti, Kapra Aur Makan

Food, Clothing And Shelter For All

Pakistan Peoples Party has revived "Roti, Kapra Aur Makan For All", first

successfully introduced by Late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in the late 1960s

as a popular slogan, and made it a part of its platform for the

upcoming elections in Pakistan. These planks by the PPP elicit a range

of reactions among Pakistanis ranging from strong enthusiasm to total

skepticism. Among the poor and the… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on February 6, 2008 at 10:11am — No Comments

Pakistan Economy Hits Rough Patch

The recent political turmoil with Bhutto's return and her tragic

assassination in Oct-Dec 2005 period is taking its toll on Pakistan's

economy. Weaker textile exports, rising food prices, and ongoing energy

crisis have caused the government to scale down its growth target for

the fiscal year ending June 2008.







Immediately after… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on February 5, 2008 at 4:05pm — No Comments

Bhutto's Book Release Hastened Before Elections

Bhutto's Book Release Hastened Before Elections

By Riaz Haq

http://riazhaq.blogspot.com



Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's posthumous book

titled "Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy and the West" is being

released February 12,2008, exactly 6 days before the crucial voting in

Pakistan. Ghost-written by Mark Siegel, Washington lobbyist and

Bhutto's personal friend, the book was originally… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on February 5, 2008 at 8:36am — 2 Comments

Conspiracy Theorists on Internet Outage

Iran has been completely cut off. Israel, Iraq and Lebanon are not affected at all.

With several undersea cables cut within days, the rest of the Middle East,

North Africa and South Asia including India and Pakistan are having

serious Internet problems. Is all of this just a coincidence? These

questions are being raised in various ways and reported by Jerusalem

Post and CNN on the causes of this massive outage. Many find it

difficult to accept the ostensible reason:… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on February 4, 2008 at 8:35am — No Comments

Cricket Super Bowl in South Asia?

Super Bowl XLII

As New England Patriots meet New York Giants for Super Bowl XLII tomorrow,

there is the usual annual excitement among the football fans planning

for Super Bowl parties around the country. In addition to being a great

sporting event, Super Bowl has also become a gigantic commercial

extravaganza for a whole range of businesses. For example, the media

are the big beneficiaries of the multi-million dollar TV… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on February 2, 2008 at 11:15am — No Comments

Internet Woes Persist in Pakistan As Second Cable Snapped

The Falcon cable, owned by FLAG (Fiber-Optic Link Around the Globe)

Telecom, was snapped on Friday morning, according to a BBC report.



This is the second undersea cable that has gone down in two days. This

latest cable is believed to lie alongside SWM4 undersea that snapped

earlier.

The cause of the latest break has not been confirmed but a repair ship has been deployed, said owner Flag Telecom. FLAG is a

28,000km (17,400 mile) long submarine communications… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on February 1, 2008 at 4:02pm — No Comments

Emaar Chairman Bullish on Pakistan

Talking with CNBC today, Mohamed Ali Alabbar, Chairman of Dubai-based

Emaar Properties, said he believes Pakistan represents a great

investment opportunity for his company as it goes global. He said Emaar

sold a major project yesterday within hours of launch in Pakistan.



A massive real estate project valued at $43b by Emaar is underway in

Pakistan to develop two island resorts near Karachi. This is Emaar's

single largest project and supersedes the $26.7… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on January 31, 2008 at 4:11pm — 6 Comments

OPEN Joins Force With MIT To Encourage Entrepreneurship in Pakistan

By Adil Najm

www.pakistaniat.com



Sofizar, which works on “click fraud” and “web analytics Solutions” (maybe we at ATP

should be talking to them!) describes itself as “a Carlsbad, CA based

internet marketing company with development and operations based out of

Lahore” won the 2007 MITCEF-OPEN Business Acceleration Plan (BAP).…

Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on January 31, 2008 at 7:23am — No Comments

Web Disruption in Pakistan, Middle East, India

Internet services have been disrupted in parts of the Middle East after

damage to an undersea cable in the Mediterranean. There was disruption

to 70% of the nationwide network in Egypt, a government official told

Reuters. There was also disruption in the United Arab Emirates (UAE),

Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, reported the Associated Press. India also

suffered up to 60% disruption, a national industry body told Reuters

news agency.…

Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on January 30, 2008 at 12:34pm — 1 Comment

Merchant of Death Eyes Pakistan

Philip Morris International, the international unit of the US tobacco

giant often described as a merchant of death, is building a new massive

cigarette plant in Pakistan.

Philip Morris is expected to spin off PMI as an independent company to be unconstrained by the U.S. tobacco

regulations and out of reach of American litigators. Importantly, its

practices would no longer be constrained by American public opinion,

paving the way for broad product… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on January 29, 2008 at 4:34pm — 4 Comments

Pakistan's Political Class And The War Of The Elite

Ayesha Siddiqa, the well known author of "Military, Inc." has written a

very insightful piece for BBCUrdu.com, arguing that Pakistan is ruled

by a small elite that disregards the wishes and the best interests of

its average people. I absolutely agree with Ayesha Siddiqa, that

Pakistan has been and still is ruled by a small elite consisting of

feudal lords, military officers, industrialists, and bureaucrats (and,

I add, some nefarious clerics colluding with… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on January 29, 2008 at 9:58am — 3 Comments

Thinking About Tomorrow

Wall Street Journal Jan 28, 2008

How will technology change the way we shop, learn and entertain ourselves? How will it change the way we get news, protect our privacy, connect

with friends? We look ahead 10 years, and imagine a whole different

world.



Let's get this out of the way first -- in the next 10 years, no one will travel to work by jet pack or have robot maids that serve dinner. But technology will continue to…

Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on January 28, 2008 at 9:45pm — No Comments

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    Blog Posts

    Pakistanis' Insatiable Appetite For Smartphones

    Samsung is seeing strong demand for its locally assembled Galaxy S24 smartphones and tablets in Pakistan, according to Bloomberg. The company said it is struggling to meet demand. Pakistan’s mobile phone industry produced 21 million handsets while its smartphone imports surged over 100% in the last fiscal year, according to …

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    Posted by Riaz Haq on April 26, 2024 at 7:09pm

    Pakistani Student Enrollment in US Universities Hits All Time High

    Pakistani student enrollment in America's institutions of higher learning rose 16% last year, outpacing the record 12% growth in the number of international students hosted by the country. This puts Pakistan among eight sources in the top 20 countries with the largest increases in US enrollment. India saw the biggest increase at 35%, followed by Ghana 32%, Bangladesh and…

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    Posted by Riaz Haq on April 1, 2024 at 5:00pm

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