1. President agrees to two-year extension to COAS: report in the News, July 16

ISLAMABAD: The president has reportedly given his concurrence to extend the tenure of incumbent COAS for a minimum two year period, which could even be extended to three years effectively turning into a full new term, a highly reliable source told The News.

According to the source, the announcement to this effect could be made as early as within the next 72 hours. Great significance is also being attached to the ‘unscheduled’ meeting between President Asif Ali Zardari and Chief of Army Staff Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani at the Presidency around 3pm Thursday afternoon. The army chief had also held a meeting earlier in the day with Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, who, according to an informed insider, has been a strong advocate for extending Gen Kayani’s term and may ultimately have succeeded in what was described as, “turning his boss slowly in the wind”.

Meanwhile, as expected, the official version is describing the army chief’s call-on on the president as being related to an exchange of views on national security matters in the backdrop of the ongoing visit of the Indian foreign minister but as another highly informed insider put it, “the army has already given its viewpoint exhaustively to the president, the prime minister, the foreign minister and all relevant stakeholders and the COAS does not have to dart to the president and the PM to brief them a little while before the Indian FM is scheduled to call on them”.

However, sources said the army chief was not keen vis-a-vis any extension in tenure. They said he would consider if he receives the offer.

Political pundits had been predicting, and apprehending, some unsavoury ‘power’ games in the event of the Presidency desiring a change in military leadership in the midst of the ongoing war on terror and particularly so with the all important American allies also placing their bets on the professional calibre of the current man in the khaki saddle.

According to sources, the announcement could be made right after the wrapping up of the India-Pakistan ministerial dialogue and if that happens then it would, according to a political analyst, not only give a favourable fillip to the otherwise flailing fortunes of the president but also harbour significant consequences both for the political and the judicial landscape of the country. http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=30094

2. Shadow boxing for peace: No common ground found: By Baqir Sajjad Syed in Dawn, July 16

ISLAMABAD, July 15: Hope and despair both reigned supreme on Thursday as Pakistan and India failed to agree on anything but that they would continue to talk.

The Pakistan-India trust-building dialogue ended in a deadlock as the two sides failed to come up with a clear roadmap for sustainable engagement or a consensus on confidence-building measures.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna, both of whom had been mandated by their prime ministers to bridge the trust deficit between the two countries, held protracted discussions, but failed to agree on anything tangible.

At the end of the day the two appeared before the media for a much-delayed press conference with only vague assurances — to remain engaged; in addition the Indian minister extended an invitation to Mr Qureshi to visit New Delhi.

A source at the meeting described the discussions as very intense and attributed the deadlock to the inflexibility of the Krishna-led Indian delegation that refused to discuss issues of concern to Pakistan. Their excuse was that they did not have the mandate to do so.

The Indians, sources said, were more interested in discussing the trial of Mumbai attacks’ suspects in Pakistan; following the leads that emerged from US terror suspect David Headley; crackdown on alleged India-specific terrorism infrastructure in Pakistan; ‘increased’ infiltration across the Line of Control; and putting an end to the hate propaganda being churned out by Jamaatud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed.

However, they were disinterested in discussing the issues close to the Pakistani delegation — the Kashmir dispute and human rights situation in the occupied Valley; Siachen and issues pertaining to peace and security, particularly the strategic restraint regime.

The Indian side, it appeared, wanted a roadmap for the trust-building process on their own terms.

However, the Pakistanis, who were equally focussed on their own wish list, told the Indians that they could not pick and choose issues and would have to look at the entire spectrum of irritants.

So great was the gap between the two sides that Dawn has learnt that the Indians were not ready to agree to a timeline for the trust-building process, keeping it open ended and putting off Pakistan’s concerns indefinitely.

The stalemate because of the intransigence could not end even after two rounds of discussions spread over more than six hours. In fact, the talks which were supposed to end in the afternoon allowing the two ministers to address a press conference at two in the afternoon extended till late evening; they finally spoke to the media after eight at night.

In between, they also dropped in on th
e prime minister and president as scheduled.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s conversation with Mr Krishna articulated his desire for peace. The Pakistani leader had, along with his Indian counterpart, laid the foundation for renewing contacts after the break precipitated by the Mumbai attacks.

“The existing environment of goodwill in Pakistan for fostering friendly relations with India needs to be built upon through concrete measures to address all the outstanding issues between the two countries, lest it gets eroded with the passage of time,” Mr Gilani said, adding that the ball was now in India’s court.

It was in this context that while Mr Qureshi, in his talk to the media, acknowledged Indian concerns about terrorism and offered cooperation in this respect, he emphasised the importance of the “rest of outstanding issues” and the larger picture.

Mr Qureshi, nevertheless, put up a brave face. He denied that the talks had hit a dead end. Instead he referred to the complexities and difficulties of the bilateral relations and expressed hope that democracy and the Indo-Pakistan political leadership would be able to salvage the process of re-engagement.

“Politicians don’t come to dead ends. They extract hope from hopelessness. The spirit is to move on,” were some of his conciliatory words, offering a glimmer of hope for millions in both countries.

Mr Krishna’s main message at the media interaction focussed on what his country needed to move forward — the best trust-building measure would be effective action against terrorists targeting India and the expeditious trial of Mumbai suspects.

TERRORISM: The Indian external affairs minister said he was going back with the promise that Pakistan would do all possible to deal with terrorism.

“I’m going back with the assurance from the highest level that information shared during Home Minister P. Chidambaram’s visit here and the leads that have emerged from Headley’s interrogation by the FBI and Indian investigators would be investigated. If these could help unravel the conspiracy and go after the culprits it could be the biggest confidence-building measure,” he said.

On India’s involvement in sabotage activities in Balochistan, Mr Krishna said that ever since this issue was first raised by Pakistan at Sharm El Sheikh last year no evidence had been shared with Delhi. He said the Indian government would look into the proofs, if provided.

KASHMIR: Shah Mehmood Qureshi, at the joint press conference, said he had raised the issue of human rights violations in occupied Kashmir, imposition of curfew in the Valley, and the use of brute force to quell the recent unrest.

However, he was snubbed by Mr Krishna sitting by his side, who plainly said there were enough mechanisms within India to look into human rights violations and it was not for Pakistan to raise them.

He instead alleged that infiltration across the LoC designed to promote unrest in the Valley had risen considerably.

Responding to Mr Krishna’s allegation, Mr Qureshi said encouraging infiltration was not the official policy of the government or any of its intelligence agencies. However, he said, India should firmly deal with individuals, if any, found violating the LoC and that Pakistan would extend full cooperation.

The foreign minister suggested that issues like infiltration and ceasefire violations could be best addressed through better coordination between field commanders and regular exchanges between the directors-general of military operations of the two countries.

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/shadow-boxing-for-peace-no-common-ground-found-670

3. Who’s who on the fake degrees list: By Usman Manzoor in The News, July 16

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz tops the list of fake degree holders as so far eleven of its parliamentarians have been caught by Higher Education Commission (HEC) for possessing fake degrees. The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) is second with seven.

Others include PML-Q with five, Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal has four, Awami National Party and PML-F have one each, two from Fata MPs and other parties and independents share six fake degree holders among them.

According to a report of Higher Education Commission dated July 14, 2010 (copy available), out of the ten MNAs having fake degrees, two are from PML-N, three from PPP, two from the Fata and one each from PML-Q, MMA and PML-F.

These MNAs include Syed Muhammad Salman Mohsin, Mazhar Hayat of PML-N; Hayatullah Khan Tareen, Nasir Ali Shah and Mir Hamayun Aziz of PPP; Syed Akhundzada Chitan and Syed Javed Hussain from the Fata, Ghulam Dastagir Rajar of PML-F, Molvi Rozziuddin of MMA and Mir Ahmadan Khan of PM-Q.

The Senators having fake/non-recognized degrees include Israrullah Khan Zehri of BNP-A and two independents Nawabzada Muhammad Akbar and Wali Muhammad.

Nine out of fourteen MPAs from Punjab hail from PML-N. These include Yasir Raza Malik, Shafiq Ahmad Gujar, Saima Aziz, Muhammad Safdar Gill, Zulfiqar Ali, Sardar Meer Badshah Khan Qaiserani, Afshaan Farooq, Farah Deeba and Shamaila Rana.

The three PML-Q legislator having fake degrees are Samina Khawar Hayat, PML-Q, Seemal Kamran and Syeda Majida Ziadi. While Wasim Afzal Gondal and Safina Saima Khar are from PPP in Punjab Assembly who have fake degrees so far declared by the HEC.

In Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa Assembly two members of MMA Kiswar Kumar and Gulistan Khan have fake degrees while the PPP and the ANP have only one such member so far. They are Haji Sher Azam Khan Wazir and Syed Aqil Shah. One independent member Abdul Qayyum Khan has also been declared to be a fake degree holder by the HEC.

The MPAs from Balochistan Assembly having fake degrees include Haji Ali Maddad Jattak of PPP, Abdul Samad of JUI, Shama Parveen Magsi of PML-Q, Rubina Zafar Zehri of Like-minded group and Nawabzada Tariq Mugsi, an independent member.

However, MPs with suspected degrees include Senator Ms Ratna Bhagwandas, MNAs Dewan Syed Ashiq Hussain Bukhari, Mir Amir Ali Khan Magsi, Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah, Ramesh Lal and Nauman Islam Shaikh. MPAs from Sindh Assembly including Nadeem Ahmed, Haji Muzaffar Ali Shujra, Nusrat Bano Seher Abbasi and Salim Khursheed Khokhar and MPA from Balochistan Muhammad Bakhtiar Khan Domki. HEC sources say that the degrees of these MPs have been challenged in the courts therefore the universities have not verified these degrees on the basis of cases being sub judiced. http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=30097