China media rap 'aggressive' Pentagon report

BEIJING: China's state media on Wednesday criticised a Pentagon report on Beijing's expanding military capabilities as unprofessional and aggressive, saying US demands for transparency were unrealistic.

In the report released Monday, the US Defence Department said China's military build-up in the Taiwan Strait had “continued unabated” despite better ties with the China-friendly government in Taipei, in power since 2008.

The Pentagon said Beijing was ramping up investment in a range of areas including nuclear weapons, long-range missiles, submarines, aircraft carriers and cyber warfare.

China's foreign and defence ministries have so far unusually refrained from reacting to the report, but the state-run media carried a barrage of comments from experts.

“The report is not exactly professional. It uses ambiguous terms without solid proof,” Ni Feng, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the China Daily.

Zheng Yongmian, director of the East Asian Institute at the National University of Singapore, told the Global Times that the report had an “overly aggressive tone”, though other experts said the rhetoric had “softened”.

Military ties between the United States and China were suspended by Beijing months ago after Washington agreed on a 6.4-billion-dollar arms package with Taiwan that included helicopters, missile defences and mine-sweepers.

China considers Taiwan, where the mainland's defeated nationalists fled in 1949 at the end of a bloody civil war, to be part of its territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary.

Meng Xiangqing, a professor at the National Defence University, told the Global Times: “The interfering nature of the report remains unchanged. It will surely draw discontent from China over its exaggeration of its military power.”On calls for China to improve its military transparency, with the Pentagon saying billions of dollars are spent but not included in the publicly released budget, experts said Beijing could never meet Washington's standards.

“Anyone who understands basic international politics knows there is no absolute transparency, especially between non-allies,” Shi Yinhong, a scholar on international relations at Renmin University, told the China Daily. – AFP

Karzai must fight graft or lose support: Sen Kerry

KABUL, Afghanistan: US Sen. John Kerry told the president of Afghanistan that his efforts to battle corruption were crucial if he wants to retain the support of US taxpayers at a time when more American troops are dying in the war.

Kerry's two meetings with President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday came at a time when US lawmakers are increasingly doubtful that the military effort can succeed without a serious campaign against bribery and graft that have eroded the Afghan people's trust in their government.

''I think that in the next days, the government of Afghanistan's response to anti-corruption efforts are a key test of its ability to regain the confidence of the people and provide the kind of governance that the American people are prepared to support with hard-earned tax dollars and with most importantly, with the treasure of our country _ the lives of young American men and women,'' Kerry told reporters.

''If we have knowledge of things that we know are happening and the (Afghan) government doesn't respond to it, it's going to be very, very difficult for us to look American families in the eye and say, 'Hey, that's something worth dying for.'''

Last October when Kerry was in Kabul, he played an instrumental role in persuading Karzai to accept a run-off vote after a fraud-plagued presidential election. This trip comes just days after the arrest of one of Karzai's top advisers, Mohammad Zia Salehi, for allegedly accepting a car in exchange for his help in exerting pressure on Afghan officials to ease off in another corruption case.

US officials see Salehi's arrest as a test case of Karzai's willingness to fight corruption and are waiting to see if the president will impose restraints on corruption probes being conducted by the Major Crimes Task Force and the Sensitive Investigative Unit, which are mentored by US and British law enforcement officials.

''I'm not going to stand up and defend for one instant a policy that is based on supporting a corrupt government _ if that's what it wound up being,'' Kerry said. ''But that's the test right now, that's why I'm here. I think President Karzai and his government need to understand that there is no patience for endless support for something that doesn't meet higher standards with respect to governance.''

Kerry said he believes Karzai knows the American public is tiring of the nearly nine-year-old war that has claimed the lives of more than 1,200 US service men and women. He knows that Republicans and Democrats alike are anxious about what is happening and not happening in Afghanistan, Kerry said.

At a recent hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which Kerry chairs, the panel's ranking Republican, Richard Lugar of Indiana, said there was a ''lack of clarity'' about US war goals. And Richard Holbrooke, the Obama administration's special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said that while there were ''significant elements of movement forward in many areas,'' he does not yet see a ''definitive turning point in either direction.''

At his first meeting with Karzai on Tuesday, Kerry said the Afghan president noted issues he wants the US to address, including reducing the American footprint in the nation and refraining from setting up programs or institutions that should be handled by the Afghan government. More urgently, Karzai expressed concern about Pakistan's involvement in Afghanistan, Kerry said.

A statement released by the Afghans said Karzai recently sent a letter to President Barack Obama saying the war strategy needed to be reviewed. Without mentioning neighboring Pakistan, Karzai wrote that there needs to be more focus on the ''roots and sanctuaries'' of terrorism outside Afghanistan instead of only fighting the war in Afghan homes and villages.

Kerry said the US shared Karzai's concerns about insurgents who direct attacks from across the border in Pakistan.

''Look, we are still dismantling and/or fighting threats, or thwarting them, that have come from the same people that attacked us in 2001,'' Kerry said. ''And we still know that they're out there _ some of them here, most of them in western Pakistan, to the best of our knowledge, some in the Arabian Peninsula and in Africa _ and they continue to threaten. And you just can't take that lightly. So that's where we are.''

Karzai has become increasingly vigorous in exerting his authority in affairs of his nation.

Just as Kerry was arriving, the Afghan government surprised the US by ordering tens of thousands of private security contractors to cease operations in Afghanistan by the end of the year. The US and its allies rely heavily on security companies to guard supply convoys, installations and development projects.

But complaints have mounted that the firms are poorly regulated, reckless and effectively operate outside local law. – AP

US has no doubt about govt’s credibility: ambassador

ISLAMABAD: US Ambassador to Pakistan Anne Patterson claimed on Tuesday that Washington had no doubts about the credibility of Pakistan government.

“We have confidence in government’s ability to deliver,” the ambassador told reporters at the embassy.

The US has committed $76 million for flood-affected people and its total assistance, in cash and kind, amounts to $87 million. Nothing worthwhile, however, has been given bilaterally to the government.

She said the US would funnel its assistance through a variety of mechanisms including the government and local and international NGOs.

She spoke about recent projects for which Islamabad has received cash assistance. The ambassador asked the government to improve its tax collection.

“The tax collection should increase, there are a lot of wealthy people who do not give sufficient taxes, they should contribute”.

Some sectors in the country have been saying that international aid is not being given directly to the government because of reservations about transparency in its utilisation.

These fears have emanated from reported misuse of international assistance after the massive earthquake which hit northern parts of the country in 2005.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi hit out at the media the other day for continuously reporting on the issue of transparency and expressed fears that the criticism could hurt world’s confidence in the government.

Ms Patterson said it was too early to gauge the full magnitude of the disaster.

She also downplayed reports that extremist groups were winning over the victims through their relief efforts, while the international efforts remained inadequate and slow.

“To be blunt, I think these stories about extremist organisations being the only players out there are greatly exaggerated,” the ambassador said.

Saudis seek help to track down fugitives

KARACHI: The Saudi government has sought Pakistan’s help in tracking down its 28 most wanted citizens who it says pose a threat to its security.

The Saudi government has sent a letter to the interior ministry which contains photographs and information about the people, including their last known destination.

According to the letter, the last destination of three of the 28 fugitives was Pakistan.

The ministry had circulated the letter to the provincial home departments, asking them if any of the men was in their custody or if they had information about their presence.

The three Saudi nationals who were last said to be in Pakistan are: Turki Hadi Saad-ul-Atifi-al-Attaili, Abdullah Omar Saeh-al-Qarshi and Fawaz Aliz-Jaman-al-Masoodi-al-Qaibi.

The other most wanted men, who were last reported to be in Yemen, are: Ahmad Abdul Aziz Jasrabi, Ahmad Abdul Aziz-al-Sawai, Basim Muhammad, Basam Ibrahim, Band Sehal Shaban, Turki Saad Muhammad, Samir Swelam, Hussain Saleh Zafar-al-Behri, Saad Qabid, Gahliz Samir, Abdul Rehman Abdul Aziz, Abdul Salam Abdul Aziz, Abdul Aziz Muhammad Ahmad-al-Salmi, Abdullah Ahmad Moiz-al-Hasni, Abdullah Suleman, Abdullah Abdul Hadi, Abdullah Ali Muhammad Al-Swaid, Abdul Majid Faisal Muhammad-al-Jaberi, Faleh Shanan, Muttab Saeed Muhammad-al-Omeri, Mojab Muhammad Jamal-al-Attati, Hashim Muhammad Ibrahim-al-Hindi, Wafa Muhammad Mubarak-al-Jaberi and Walid Jerbu.

Proposed committee under attack in SC

ISLAMABAD: The yet to be formed eight-member parliamentary committee (PC), which is envisaged to allow parliament to play a role in the nomination of judges, came under fire in Court Room One on Tuesday.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry observed that a high court judge would be condemned forever if the committee disapproved his name for elevation to the Supreme Court, adding that the judiciary could not afford litigation on such issues.

The chief justice made the observation during the hearing of several petitions against the 18th Amendment.

He said if findings of the committee were justiciable then judiciary, being an important organ of the state, could not afford such litigation.

The observation was made when Advocate Shahid Hamid, representing the Punjab government and pleading in favour of the committee, argued that the committee would have to record sound reasons for refusing to confirm a nomination made by the judicial commission.

“What harm will it pose if PC makes a wrong decision and the same is referred to the court for adjudication,” the counsel said, adding that the exercise of power by the PC would remain a justiciable act as much as the exercise of similar power by the president or the prime minister under the previous system of appointment.

Justice Saqib Nisar came to the rescue of Mr Hamid and said that perhaps the counsel wanted to establish that the process of justiciability would be a check on the arbitrariness of the PC.

“The PC must record reasons for vetoing a recommendation which would be justiciable,” Justice Nisar said, adding that even though a strong judiciary had emerged today the old system of appointment of judges was non-transparent and marred with nepotism and favouritism.

But Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday expressed doubts about the functioning of the PC and asked how could recommendations made by such a huge judicial commission with chief justice as its head and two senior-most judges as its members be subjected to scrutiny by the PC.

The bench also expressed the view that roles of the prime minister, the most important pillar in the parliamentary form of governance, as well as the chief justice, had been reduced under the new method of appointments.

“Thinking loud, do you think we are doing a service to the parliamentary system by rendering the office of the prime minister, who runs the entire show as the head of the government, a mere post office,” the chief justice asked.

The bench was also critical about the absence of any guiding principle for the functioning of the PC and said the amendment was also silent on the justiciability.

Justice Shakirullah Jan recalled that the Constitution was also silent on the justiciability factor in the now substituted method of the appointment of judges, rather the concept came through the 1996 Al-Jihad Trust case.

“The appointment has been made broad-based in view of past experiences,” Justice Shakirullah Jan observed, saying that the prime minister himself, being a member of the parliament, had delegated his powers to the PC.

The guidelines submitted by the Punjab government, Shahid Hamid replied, would ensure harmony between the functioning of the JC and the PC saying the PC was necessary to provide bipartisan support to the one elevated as a judge in the superior judiciary.

Earlier on the looming judicial crisis in Balochistan, Justice Asif Saeed Khosa observed that the Balochistan High Court was emptied not by others but by a decision of the Supreme Court, explaining that when constitutional functionaries functioned they were aware of many things but sometimes difficult decisions had to be taken in the interest of the system.

Had the earlier system of appointment of judges been absolutely fine, there would have been no need of the 1996 Al-Jihad Trust case, Justice Asif Khosa observed. He said there was definitely something wrong and the need was felt for rectifying it.

Justice Khosa, however, conceded that the personal choices or favouritism on the part of the chief justice was very minimal in the old system, rather the ruling parties of the day used to exert influence in such appointments.

Aid arrives, but too slowly, says UN

GENEVA: International aid is starting to arrive for flood-hit Pakistan, but too slowly for relief agencies which are running out of resources to deal with the disaster that has hit millions, according to UN agencies.

“After the appeal of the Secretary General of the UN, which seems to have been heard, we are moving in the right direction... donors, the international community is being mobilised,” said Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on Tuesday.

The appeal for $460 million launched on Aug 11 by the United Nations has received 35 per cent of required financing, she said, adding that it had reached just 20 per cent on Monday morning.

However, the $161 million received so far was far from sufficient to cope with the historic floods which, according to Pakistani authorities. had directly affected 14 million people in the south Asian country.

“There is progress, but that does not mean that it is perfect,” said Ms Byrs, noting for instance that only 13 per cent of required funding for health provisions had been met.

The World Food Programme warned that “food stock for September is under significant pressure”.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the UN Children’s Fund (Unicef), Marco Jimenez, said a lack of funds would lead to a delay in assistance, which in turn could lead to “an increased risk of a new wave of deaths caused by waterborne diseases”.—AFP

Water flow rises at Sukkur, falls at Guddu

SUKKUR/HYDERABAD/ DADU: Water level at Sukkur and Kotri barrages was showing a rising trend on Tuesday while it has dropped at Guddu Barrage.

Kotri Barrage control room said that water flow at Guddu barrage upstream was recorded at 10,56,998 cusec at 8pm on Tuesday against a discharge of 10,76,728 cusec on Monday.

At Sukkur Barrage, upstream water flow was recorded at 10,21,220 cusec. At Kotri Barrage a flow of 329,907 cusec of water was recorded.

In a daily briefing at Sukkur Barrage, Sindh Irrigation Minister Jam Saifullah Dharejo ruled out possibility of any threat to Sukkur Barrage or Sukkur city, adding that there would be no need to make a breach at Ali Wahan dyke.

He said that all the right and left bank dykes were being vigilantly guarded round the clock and the assessment of flood losses will be made once the water level comes down to its pre-flood position.

He said that plenty of water had passed over to Balochistan districts of Jafferabad and Dera Allahyar thus paving way for peaceful conditions for Jacobabad and Kashmore districts.

According to him, Jacobabad and Shikarpur cities were quite safe and there was no flood threat to these towns.

However, with the passage of floodwater from Sukkur Barrage to Kotri, pressure was mounting on Naushahro, Nawabshah, Hyderabad and Thatta and Irrigation Department’s priority was to save the people of these cities, he added

Mr Dharejo said that water in huge quantity was reaching from Taunsa and Panjnand to Guddu and Sukkur Barrages, which had increased also with the latest spell of rains in the upcountry and melting of snows on the mountains.

Meanwhile, reports from Jacobabad revealed that the Shahbaz Airbase was safe. A similar situation was reported from Thull where conditions were becoming normal and people had started to return to their homes.

Meanwhile, ugly scenes are being witnessed day and night during the distribution of food at different relief camps of Sukkur and Rohri and at a number of places police used batons on camp inmates to save food being looted from the distributing vans.

There is mismanagement and lack of coordination among different tiers of administration and the result is that at some of camps cooked food does not reach in time making the people to suffer and frustrate, while at some camps food is available in excess of actual need so much so that, at sometimes the authorities had no other way to dispose it of but to throw it.

Meanwhile, an erosion of stud was reported at Bhanote bund which was denied by the assistant executive engineer Sibtain Shah. He said that some portion of small stones whose layer was pitched on the stud has fallen. He said that such layer is pitched only to beautify the stud. “Our actual stud is safe”, he said.

In Dadu district, at least 20 villages have been hit by floods while water has inundated Lal Bag area near Sehwan town and Khanpur area.

Water level at Dadu-Moro bridge rose to 132.3RL on Tuesday while it reduced from 8.3 feet to 8.0 feet at LS embankment near Dadu town. Likewise, water level at Moundar has reduced from 4.1 feet to 3.9 feet.

Leakages have been reported in RBOD-11 near Sehwan town, while flood water inundated Lal Bag area of Sehwan town. Water level rose in kutcha area of Khanpur. Allah Dino Mallah village had also been inundated forcing the people to abandon their homes and move to safe places.