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2012-05-16
PESHAWAR – The University of Peshawar has beefed up security after the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) governor directed it to protect professors who received threatening letters from the Taliban, police said. Mujeeb ur Rehman of the English Department and Sarfraz Khan of the area studies centre received death threats from the Taliban May 1, because of reports that controversial writer Salman R...
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2012-05-16
ISLAMABAD – The Federal Ministry of Water and Power May 16 issued notice of an immediate increase in the electricity tariff averaging more than 16%, media reported. Customers will have to pay an additional Rs. 0.71 (US 1 cent) to Rs. 2.12 (US 2 cents) per unit of electricity and the average price per unit of electricity went up from Rs. 7.58 (US 8 cents) to Rs. 8.83 (US 10 cents) per uni...
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2012-05-16
BISHKEK – Productivity, labour skills and trade were identified by the World Bank (WB) at a May 15 roundtable as areas Kyrgyzstan should work on to boost its economic development. The roundtable with Kyrgyz officials discussed the need for economic reforms, according to a World Bank statement. “There is still much room for the private sector to grow and provide jobs and economic gro...
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2012-05-16
BISHKEK – Officials from 11 Kyrgyz government agencies and ministries heard reports May 15 about terrorist threats in Kyrgyzstan and elsewhere in Central Asia and discussed counter-terrorism co-operation during the fourth session of the Inter-Departmental Co-ordinating Commission of the government’s Anti-Terrorism Centre. Participants resolved to strengthen security for strategic buildin...
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2012-05-16
ISLAMABAD – The Supreme Court (SC) May 16 issued a contempt of court notice to Interior Minister Rehman Malik for violating the court’s orders in the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) corruption case, media reported. The SC said the minister changed the investigating team without first seeking court approval, Geo News reported. The court directed Rehman to explain his position in the next ...
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2012-05-16
KARACHI – Two men were killed and seven others injured May 16 across Karachi, media reported. Unknown attackers fatally shot a member of a political party in the Bangla bazaar area, Orangi Town, media reported. Separately, shootings wounded two people near the Karimabad bridge and the Sea View area. A hand grenade attack on a hotel near the Quaidabad bridge in Shah Latif Town kil...
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2012-05-16
BISHKEK – More than 15 Kyrgyz NGOs have formed ‘For Parliamentarism,’ a council to monitor parliament and ensure deputies behave constructively, media reported. “Parliamentarism is possible only when citizens are active,” said Nurbek Toktakunov, representative of the NGO Precedent. Dinara Oshurakhunova, director of the For Democracy and Civil Society Coalition, announced the council’...
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2012-05-16
BISHKEK – The Kyrgyz Parliamentary Defence and Security Committee May 14 approved a plan to increase border security by economically strengthening certain border regions, the parliamentary press office told Central Asia Online. Prosperity in the border regions will encourage residents to stay there, contributing to security, First Vice Prime Minister Aaly Karashev told the committee. The...
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2012-05-16
PESHAWAR – Militants in two southern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have warned NGOs to stop their activities or face attacks, media reported May 16. The militants sent letters to various NGOs in Dera Ismail Khan and Tank, The Express reported. The NGOs reported the threats to police. Also, the militants directed well-to-do residents of Lakki Marwat and Bannu to start paying monthly...
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2012-05-16
KABUL – Afghanistan will start pumping oil within months, an official said May 16, as part of the nation's efforts to tap underground resources estimated to be worth billions of dollars. China National Petroleum Corporation and its Afghan partner, the Watan Group, will start extracting oil in five months, initially producing 5,000 barrels a day, mining ministry spokesman Jawad Omar told ...
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2012-05-16
DUSHANBE – Blind Tajiks May 15 received the first Tajik-language Korans printed in Braille, IslamNews.tj reported. The 20 copies distributed in an Islamic Centre of Tajikistan (ICT) ceremony were published jointly by the centre and the Dushanbe Society for the Blind, with government support, said Saidmukaram Abdukodirzoda, chairman of the ICT Council of Ulema. The ICT plans to publi...
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2012-05-16
UNITED NATIONS – Corruption hampers efforts to seize Russia-bound narcotics in northern Afghanistan, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in a May report, Opiate Flows through Northern Afghanistan and Central Asia: a Threat Assessment. “Northern Afghanistan is one of the safest regions of the country, but it seizes very little opiates relative to its importance in pr...
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2012-05-16
PESHAWAR – About 90% of the seven tribal areas and Frontier Regions are under government control because of successful action against the militants, and activities to revive public life are gearing up as a result. “I must say, apart from North Waziristan Agency and some parts of South Waziristan Agency, the remaining FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas) is clear now and the governm...
