KARACHI: The imposition of 25 per cent regulatory duty on potato exports and making its import at zero per cent have yet to make the vegetable cheaper in domestic markets. The government issued two statutory regulatory orders (SROs) on May 2 to fix regulatory duty on potato exports at 25pc. On the same day, another SRO was issued stating that no regulatory duty and other levies would be charged on import of 200,000 tonnes of potatoes from May 5 to July 31. The government is trying to keep duty-free import of potato till July 31 to curb prices in Ramazan, starting from end of June.
Islamic officials condemn kidnapping of Nigerian schoolgirls
DUBAI: Islamic scholars and human rights officials of the world’s largest Muslim organisation on Thursday denounced the mass kidnapping of Nigerian schoolgirls by the militant group Boko Haram as “a gross misinterpretation of Islam”. The statements from a research institute and human rights committee of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) echoed denunciations of the radical Islamist group by religious leaders and officials in Nigeria and several Muslim countries. Boko Haram says it wants to establish a “pure” Islamic state in Nigeria and its leader Abubakar Shekau declared in a video on Monday that “Allah has instructed me to sell … on the market” the more than 200 girls abducted from their school on April 14.
Abu Hamza lost hands in Pakistan army experiment
NEW YORK: British hate preacher Abu Hamza told his US terror trial Thursday that his hands were blown off during a Pakistan army explosives experiment in Lahore in 1993. The device was prepared by an Arab with the same name as an expert alleged to have taught al Qaeda recruits in Afghanistan in 2000-01. Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, 56, better known in Britain as Abu Hamza al-Masri has pleaded not guilty in New York to 11 kidnapping and terror counts that pre-date 9/11. He is charged over the 1998 kidnapping in Yemen of 16 Westerners, conspiracy to set up a jihad training camp in Oregon in 1999, of providing material support to al Qaeda, of assisting the Taliban and of sending recruits for terror training in Afghanistan.
Cargo ship sinks, 12 missing near Hong Kong: officials
HONG KONG: Twelve crew members from a Chinese cargo ship are missing after it collided with a container vessel and sank just outside Hong Kong waters on Monday, authorities said. “There are 12 people missing,” a fire department spokesman told AFP, adding the vessels collided in the early hours of the morning near Po Toi Island which lies on the southern edge of Hong Kong waters. “Two cargo ships collided and one of them sank,” a police spokeswoman told AFP.
Kashmiri students forced to raise anti-Pakistan slogans in Indian hostel
Three Kashmiri students from a private university in India’s Greater Noida city of Uttar Pradesh were allegedly beaten up and forced to shout pro-Indian and anti-Pakistani statements at the common hostel they were staying at, according to a report on The Hindustan Times website. At least six students, who were allegedly intoxicated, forced their way into the room of the Kashmiri students attacking them and made them shout anti-Pakistan slogans. Around 150 students staged protests on Monday, claiming that their university administration and local police had turned a deaf ear to their grievances and had failed to respond on time to their complaints when the incident took place.
More than 2,100 confirmed dead in Afghan landslide
KABUL: Afghan officials gave up hope on Saturday of finding any survivors from a landslide in the remote northeast, putting the death toll at more than 2,100, as the aid effort focused on the more than 4,000 people displaced. Officials expressed concern that the unstable hillside above the site of the disaster may cave in again, threatening the thousands of homeless and hundreds of rescue workers who have arrived in Badakhshan province, bordering Tajikistan. “More then 2,100 people from 300 families are all dead,” Naweed Forotan, a spokesman for the Badakhshan provincial governor, told Reuters.
Peace, stability in Ukraine only if Int’l law prevails
VOLODYMYR LAKOMOV
Ambassador of Ukraine talks to Centreline and Diplomatic News Agency (DNA)
Please share with our readers your views about the March 16th referendum?
The so-called “referendum” of March 16th 2014 was a political farce orchestrated by Russia – lacking in political legitimacy, conducted in a crying violation of fundamental international laws. Neither Ukraine nor the international community has recognized this travesty of plebiscite. Ukraine appreciates the support of the international community. It will be unrelenting in pursuit of restoring Crimea’s legitimate status as integral part of Ukraine.
The Perspectives of the Central Asia, South Asia Regional Electricity Market
By Sirojidin Aslov
The development of the Central Asia South Asia Regional Electricity Market (CASAREM) is envisaged as a phased development of institutional arrangements and infrastructure to link Central Asias power resources with South Asia’s energy shortages and growing energy demand. The improved electricity interconnections offer an opportunity to alleviate energy poverty and contribute to stability and growth in Afghanistan, and boost inter-dependent prosperity in all the countries involved. The proposed CASA-1000 project will facilitate the first electricity trade of 1,300 megawatts (MW) of existing summertime hydropower surplus from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in Central Asia to Afghanistan and Pakistan in South Asia.
Pakistan–European Union relations: prospects and challenges
DNA
Introduction
The Centre for Pakistan and Gulf Studies (CPGS) is a non-partisan think tank established with a vision to Innovate future prospects for peace and security in the region and beyond through intellectual discourse and contribute ito sustainable social, political and economic development. To this end, CPGS has organized this roundtable discussion under the initiative the Centre has embarked upon, i.e., ‘CPGS Foreign Policy Roundtable Series’ , with an aim to review the foreign policy of Pakistan towards its partner states and the major powers of the World. ‘Pakistan-China Relations – Prospects & Challenges’ is the fourth roundtable of the series; the first was on ‘Pakistan-U.S. Relations:
SERENA HOTELS – CENTRELINE PARTNERSHIP
ISLAMABAD: Serena Hotels and Centreline magazine have joined hands for mutual collaboration. Aziz Boolani, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Serena Hotels East and South Asia, and Ansar Mahmood Bhatti Editor-in-Chief /CEO of Centreline magazine posing for a photo with the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). As per the MoU, Centreline shall now be available in the following Serena Hotels properties countrywide. Islamabad Serena Hotel, Faisalabad Serena Hotel, Quetta Serena Hotel, Serena Shigar Fort, Serena Khaplu Palace, Gilgit Serena Hotel, Hunza Serena Inn and Swat Serena Hotel.
