At least four Palestinian activists were killed on Monday in a gun battle with Israeli soldiers along the border of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, the deadliest such incident in months, medics said. The incident, which reportedly involved horses, came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was mulling in the face of increasing US pressure whether to ease a crippling blockade imposed on the territory, according to senior officials.The bodies of the four activists killed on Monday had explosives belts around them and two of the bodies were torn to shreds by explosions, the medics said after retrieving the remains.At least another 12 Palestinians were wounded in the fighting near the Nahal Oz crossing with Israel east of Gaza City, they said. The crossing, through which all fuel crosses into the territory, was shut following the clash. An Israeli army spokesman said that troops, backed by tanks and helicopter gunship, opened fire after they saw gunmen on the Gaza side of the border placing explosives near the border fence. The activists arrived in the area in trucks that also transported five horses loaded with explosives. Palestinian witnesses said that some of the gunmen had been riding horses. A military source said that the incident appeared to be an attempt to seize Israeli soldiers, like during a June 2006 attack in which activists seized serviceman Gilad Shalit in a deadly cross-border raid. Shalit remains in captivity and Israel and Hamas have negotiated for months via indirect talks through Egypt on a prisoner exchange that would see hundreds of Palestinians released in return for the soldier. There was no immediate claim for Monday’s attack from any armed Palestinian group in Gaza. Israel has faced growing international calls, including by main ally Washington, to lift the blockade on the impoverished territory where the vast majority of the 1.5 million population depends on foreign aid. Monday’s incident was one of the deadliest since the end of the war that Israel unleashed on the territory in response to rocket fire on December 27 and that ended with mutual ceasefires by Hamas and Israel on January 18. The ceasefires have largely held despite violations by both sides. Since March, Hamas has made a move to halt other groups from firing rockets into Israel, detaining some activists after they violated the ceasefire.Meanwhile, a delegation from the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas arrived in Egypt on Monday for talks on reconciliation efforts with the rival Fatah faction, a security official said. The delegation, which includes former foreign minister Mahmud Zahar, crossed into Egypt from Gaza ahead of the scheduled arrival in Cairo later on Monday of exiled Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal, the official said.The delegation is due to hold talks on Tuesday with Egyptian intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman, the main go-between in the Palestinian reconciliation efforts, the official MENA news agency reported.
source: thenews.com
Hamas delegation in Egypt for unity talks
|
Turkish European Union bid
|Most effective way to promote inter-faith harmony is to not try to suppress their traditions, but to open up opportunities’CAEN, France: US President Barack Obama urged Europe on Saturday to reach out to Muslims around the world as he again disagreed with French President Nicolas Sarkozy over Turkey’s bid to join the European Union. Obama, who was praised this week for a speech seeking a new beginning in Western relations with the Islamic world, was asked about France’s opposition to Turkish EU membership and its ban on Muslim veils in schools. “I’ve said publicly that I think Turkish membership of the EU would be important,” Obama told reporters at a joint news conference with Sarkozy before they attended commemorations for the 65th anniversary of the D-Day landings in northern France.“Now, President Sarkozy, as a member of the EU, has a different view,” he said. “What the US wants to do is just to encourage talks and discussions where Turkey can feel confident that it has a friendship with France, with the United States, with all of Europe and to the extent that it defines itself that it has an opportunity to be a part of that,” he explained. “In all of this, I think that Europe and France have a role to play just as the United States does, to send a signal to Muslims around the world that we welcome and want their participation in a world community that is peaceful, that is prosperous, that is developing in favour of all people.” Sarkozy insisted that he and Obama agreed on the general principle of friendship with Turkey, but said France would continue to oppose Turkish membership of the European Union. “We want Turkey to be a bridge between East and West,” Sarkozy said. “I told President Obama that it’s very important for Europe to have borders. For me Europe is a force of stability in the world and I cannot, allow that force for stabilisation to be destroyed,” he said. Turkey began EU membership talks in 2005, and has begun negotiations in 10 of the 35 policy areas that candidate countries must bring into line with EU rules. France and Germany lead opposition to its membership. If negotiations succeed, Turkey, with 76 million people, would be the first major Muslim country. Albania with 3.6 million people is also a candidate. The two leaders also differed on Obama’s call for powers like France to lift bans on Muslim women wearing religious headscarves in state schools and certain government jobs. “I won’t take responsibility for how other countries are going to approach this. I will tell you that in the United States, our basic attitude is that we’re not going to tell people what to wear,” Obama said.“My general view is that most effective way to integrate people of all faiths is to not try to suppress their traditions, but rather to open up opportunities,” he explained. Sarkozy said he had found Obama’s speech “remarkable” and that he agreed on the need to end what he called the “clash of cultures between East and West”, but again said France would go a different way. “Civil servants must not wear any outward sign of their religion, whether they are Catholics, Jewish, Orthodox, Protestants or Muslims,” he said. “The second thing is a young woman can wear a head scarf provided that’s a decision they took freely and not been forced on them by their family or their entourage,” he said. “France is a country where everybody can enjoy the convictions, but women are respected as is their autonomy.” The Muslim veil is a very sensitive issue in France, where several women’s rights groups attacked Obama’s speech. One feminist organisation called it a “slap in the face for millions of women”.
source:thenews.com
China revies production of JH-17 strike aircraft
|China revives production of JH-7 strike aircraft
Monday, June 08, 2009By Kaleem OmarChina is now spending upwards of $ 60 billion a year to modernise its military, with the eventual aim of giving it power-projection capability far beyond its borders. In typical fashion, however, Beijing is not rushing pell mell into this endeavour, but is proceeding with due deliberation one step at a time, so as not to alarm its neighbours. Unlike the United States, China is also not given to throwing its weight about in its dealings with other countries and tends to err, if anything, on the side of caution. Such caveats aside, however, the fact remains that China is becoming stronger and stronger militarily with each passing year and recently announced plans to build its first aircraft carrier battle group. The US has 12 such battle groups, so its going to be a long time before China achieves conventional military parity with America. Such larger issues aside, China has, meanwhile, decided to revive production of its JH-7 strike aircraft. British and French engine manufacturers are vying with each other to provide China with engine technology to support the potential additional production of 170 upgraded JH-7s.First produced in the mid-1990s, the JH-7 met with limited success because the aircraft maker, Xian Aircraft Co., Xian, Shaanxi, China, experienced difficulties in manufacturing the powerplant, the WS9 turbofan engine. The WS9 is a version of the Rolls Royce Spey Mk202 that the company builds under licence.A report in the American weekly military journal Defence News quoted industrial and government sources as saying that China is now planning additional production of the JH-7. According to the report, discussions have been going on with Rolls Royce plc, London, and France’s Societe Nationale d’Etude et de Construction de Monteurs d’Aviation (Snecma), to build engines for the attack aircraft.Jean-Paul Bechat, president of Snecma, was quoted as saying that his company was having regular discussions with the Chinese authorities about the possibility of fitting the M53 engine to a variant of the JH-7 aircraft. The M53 powers the French Mirage 2000 fighter aircraft.Another Snecma official familiar with the Asian market was quoted as saying that discussions with China had so far centred on the technical feasibility of replacing the JH-7’s existing engine with the “slightly more powerful” M53. A Chinese official was quoted as saying that China is building the JH-7. He said the Chinese Navy’s aviation arm is is buying the JH-7. Bringing the JH-7 into widespread service within the Naval Air Force would boost the service’s capabilities, the Chinese official was quoted as saying.A European industrialist was quoted as saying that the People’s Liberation Army’s Naval Air Force could produce an additional 50 to 70 aircraft, and the PLA Air Force may purchase some 100 planes. Some of the planes to be built will be improved variants of the aircraft, dubbed the JH-7A. The JH-7, a two-seat, twin-engine, attack aircraft, is in limited service with the Naval Air Force. According to the Defence News report, the naval JH-7 is equipped with standoff anti-ship missiles and would be used primarily for maritime strike missions.In addition to talks with Snecma, Chinese officials are also discussing the Spey Mk202 with Rolls Royce. Under the terms of a deal concluded in the late 1970s, Rolls Royce has provided several dozen Spey engines to China, with the intention that the Xian Aero-engine Co. was to manufacture the engine under licence as the WS9, says the Defence News report.A source was quoted as saying that discussions with the British company now focus on Rolls Royce providing further support and sub-components to Xian to support a production run of the WS9. Rolls Royce may also provide a number of additional complete second-hand Spey engines. “We have a long standing relationship with China,” Gary Atkins, a Rolls Royce spokesman, was quoted as saying.With regard to the Chinese Spey/WS9, Atkins was quoted as saying, “We have been supporting this project in a number of ways, ever since China acquired a batch along with the manufacturing technology.”According to the Defence News report, there remains considerable political sensitivity surrounding the sale of military equipment to China, which remains subject to a European Union arms embargo, though this covers only weaponry and complete weapons systems.The Snecma official was quoted as saying that since the discussions with Chinese officials had so far been of a technical nature, his company had not sought approval from the French government. He added, however, that if business discussions get underway, Snecma would first have to get French government approval for any sale.“It’s a delicate situation because the European Union imposed an embargo on military exports to China in 1989 which is still in place,” the Snecma official said. He said that any export contracts for this type of engine to China would also have to go through the European Union’s code of conduct for arms exports regulations.The official said that it was likely that China would want to put new engines on the JH-7 in the 2004-2006 time frame, but that these dates were not fixed. China would insist on at least having full repair and maintenance capacity for these engines, he said. Ideally, what they would want “is step by step to reach 80 per cent capacity of building the M53 engine themselves, 10 or 15 years down the road.”Meanwhile, in another development, Russia and China have clinched a deal to have more Su-27SK fighters assembled at a Chinese aviation plant for China’s Air Force.The $ 1.4 billion deal involves a contract for the fighters to be assembled at the Shenyang Aircraft Making Factory in Shenyang, Liaoning province.The contract was signed by Chinese defence officials and managers of Russia’s chief arms exporter, Rosvoorouzhenie. It is not known how many Su-27SK fighters will be assembled under the deal, but the contract reportedly bans the Chinese from exporting any of these jets.A press report said that Ivan Skrylnik, spokesman for Rosvoorouzhenie, refused to give details about the deal, as did Yuri Chervakov, spokesman for AVPK Sukjoi, which develops and manufactures Sukhoi fighters. Both companies are based in Moscow. The Russian government was said to have welcomed the cash deal as it would inject liquidity into Russia’s defence industry and keep employees of AVPK Sukhoi and its subcontractors busy for years.The SU-27SK is an export version of the Russian Air Force’s basic SU-27. The SU-27SK began production in 1991. It has a maximum range of 3,680 kilometres, a maximum speed of 2,125 kilometres per hour and can carry up to eight air-to-air missiles. Though described by Rosvoorouzhenie as an advanced aircraft, the Su-27SK is today not quite in the same class more advanced models, such as the French-made Mirage 2000-5s or modified F-16s operated by the Taiwanese and Japanese air forces, respectively, according to Konstantin Makienko. Deputy head of the Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST) in Moscow. Paradoxically, the fact that the Su-27SK is inferior to the Mirage 2000-5 and even Sukhoi’s own Su-30MKK fighter could turn into a positive development for AVPK Sukho, Makienko was quoted as saying.“Sooner or later the Chinese will have to upgrade these planes to modern requirements, such as the ability to attack ground targets. This means that Sukho will sign new deals to carry out these upgrades,” Makienko was quoted as saying. Russia and China concluded a $ 2 billion deal in 1996 to have the Shenyang Aircraft Making Factory assemble 200 Su-27SKs from kits provided by AVPK Sukhoi’s Komsomolsk-om-Amur Aviation Production Association, according to CAST figures. China also signed a deal in 1990 to procure 20 Su-27SKs and four Su-27UBK combat/training fighters.In another development, a group of Chinese officials visited Moscow in August 2000 to negotiate the purchase of Russian-built A-50 early warning aircraft. The visit came in the wake of the failure of a similar deal between Beijing and Israel for Phalcon early warning aircraft.The talks focused on an advanced version of Russia’s A-50 early warning and control aircraft, dubbed A-50E, for which the Scientific Production Corporation’s Moscow Scientific Research Institute of Instrument Engineering (MNIIP) has already developed an advanced radar system. An MNIIP official was quoted as saying that the Chinese were interested in buying several A-50E aircraft.The Chinese became interested in buying the A-50E in the autumn of 2000 after then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Baruk sent a letter to then-Chinese President Jiang Zemin in July that year informing him of the Israeli decision to back out of the $ 250 million Phalcon sale. Barak’s decision, which was prompted by heavy American pressure to kill the deal, was made during the US-sponsored peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders at Camp David in July 2000.
source: thenews.com
US to extend extra $200million aid to Pakistan
|ISLAMABAD - The United States Wednesday announced to extend an extra $200 million in emergency aid to Pakistan for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and said it would not leave Pakistan in lurch.After meeting President Asif Zardari, US Special Envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke told a joint news conference with the President and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi that the United States was seeking an additional US $200 million to help the IDPs.He said the US government was set to provide an additional $200 million in urgent humanitarian assistance to aid IDPs in NWFP.Holbrooke said, “Today, the US President has asked me to inform you and your government that he has requested the Congress to allocate an additional 200 million dollars for Pakistan. Our delegation has come at very short notice at the personal instructions of President Obama,” the US envoy said.“He sent our team to Pakistan to do several things, first to show our concern to the people of Pakistan and to the world and secondly to show our concern for the internal refugees,” he added. He assured that US would provide additional assistance to the government of Pakistan in the hour of need.Referring to US assistance of $310 million, which he said was half of the world assistance, Holbrooke urged the international community to extend more help and cooperation to Pakistan in that regard. He said special efforts had been made to involve Pak-American community in relief efforts for IDPs and announced that 15 lady doctors were coming to Pakistan very soon to work in IDPs’ camps.Responding to a query about the use of American weapons by the terrorists in restive areas of Malakand, he said it was a common phenomenon that during insurgencies such weapons were used.About the military action in Swat and Malakand, he said Pakistan and US had same perception on the issue, and the action taken by Pakistan was necessary and essential.Replying to another question, he said people living in the camps were fed up with militancy and extremism and wanted to get rid of these elements.Ambassador Holbrooke said that reconstruction phase would be very important and critical and assured full American support in that phase. “I hope people of Pakistan will understand our country’s leading role in responding quickly in this hour of need. President Obama is personally involved in it as US really cares for Pakistan,” he added.President Asif Ali Zardari said that Pakistan was committed to defend its territory from militants. “We are committed to defend and wherever there is threat, we will follow it,” President said in response to a question about military action in Waziristan and other areas.
source:nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Politics/04-Jun-2009/N-PPP-to-scrap-17th-Amend-US
Poli In Shandur(In the Northern Pakistan)
|Polo in Shandur
Witness this truly unique event. Join International tourists’ and thousands of Pakistanis who travel from all over the country to enjoy polo on the world's highest Polo ground at Shandur. This is the most exclusive polo match in the world.There is a traditional polo tournament between the teams of Chitral Village and Gilgit village during July each year. The tournament is held on Shandur Pass itself, the highest polo ground in the world at just under 4000 meters. It is a highly competitive event that is rooted in tradition. The festival includes folk music and dancing. The game is commonly played to music and a big drum.
Polo in Shandur Valley
In 1936 the first polo tournament took place at Shandur organized by a British Political Agent, Major Cobb. He was fond of playing polo under a full moon, and had the polo ground here named, "Moony Polo Ground".The tournament at the Shandur Pass is a special occasion for the people of Northern Pakistan. It is a place unique and exotic in itself, decorated by small wild flowers, herbs, beautiful green plateau surrounded by the most fantastic mountain scenery in the world. Amongst the horse loving people of Chitral, Gilgit in the Hunza Valley, the game is still played in its original form, on ground that is as hard as the men and horses that play this most exciting game.We will travel to Shandur via Pakistan International Airlines into Gilgit and onto Chitral in jeeps plus drivers to the Shandur Valley where we will sleep under the stars in tents, as there are no hotels available and await the excitement of the chukkas between Chitral and Gilgit. It is the most exciting polo match that you will ever encounter. For our clients not wishing to sleep under canvas we can arrange helicopter flights from a beautiful hotel in Gilgit.
source:tour-pakistan.com/polo-in-shandur.html
Pakistan ups reward for Taliban chief
|Pakistan ups reward for Taliban chief
CA Online and wire service
01/06/2009
Pakistan Update Home Page
ISLAMABAD – Pakistan has increased its reward for Swat valley Taliban chief Maulana Fazlullah to US$600,000, a ten-fold increase in the bounty the government offered initially.
Officials acted after Pakistani Taliban leaders warned of more bomb attacks in cities in retaliation for a government offensive in the north-west. Authorities in Peshawar have banned public gatherings a day after at least 10 people died in two separate attacks.
On May 27, at least 24 people died in a bomb attack in Lahore which targeted a police station and intelligence agency offices. As fighting continued in Swat on May 30, the army said 28 militants had been killed and seven arrested over the last 24 hours. The army also said five soldiers and two civilians were injured in clashes. The figures cannot be independently verified.
The Taliban leader is the architect of a nearly two-year uprising in the Swat valley aimed at enforcing Sharia law. Interior Ministry officials said Maulana Fazlullah is behind "various subversive activities". The price on his head is payable dead or alive, officials said. Interior Secretary Syed Kamal Shah told Pakistan's APP news agency that the increase in the reward was made to "accelerate the efforts" to arrest him.
Authorities have offered cash rewards for the arrest of 21 Taliban leaders, spokesman Muslim Khan said. Adverts listing the men, 18 with photos of the wanted, appeared in several newspapers May 28. Top Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud already has a US$5 million bounty on his head posted by the U.S.
Hakimullah Mehsud, the Taliban commander for the Orakzai and Khyber tribal regions, told the BBC that the attack in Lahore was in response to the army's operation in the Swat valley. He warned of further attacks on "government targets" in Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Multan and said residents there should "evacuate their cities".
source: centralasiaonline.com/en/articles/pak_090601_chief_reward_1/pakistan.php
Trekking why Pakistan
|Trekking Why Pakistan
Trekking in Pakistan is one of the famous adventure sports awaiting the trekking enthusiast in Pakistan. One who are fascinated by the unexplored. The mountain ranges of Pakistan offer breathtaking, enthralling trekking routes. In the vast amphitheatre of the Pakistani Hindukush, Pamirs, Himalayas and Karakoram, amongst them, they contain the world's densest concentration of high peaks (five out of 14 highest) in their fold, there are limitless possibilities for trekking tours, mountaineering, skiing, and river rafting tours. Within this alluring arena, the Baltistan region, occupy the central place, with special points of interest for the trekker.In Pakistan Trekking enthusiast can also explore the rugged beauty of the lofty mountains romancing the shimmering waterfalls cascading down in glee, like a merry village belle. Experience the thrill of sheer adventure by our trekking tours in Pakistan amidst the world’s most beautiful places.The Northern Areas of Pakistan are called Roof of the World . Nowhere in the world is such a great concentration of high mountains, peaks, glaciers, and passes except in Pakistan. Of the 14 over 8,000 meters high peaks on our earth planet, four occupy an amphitheatre at the head of Baltoro Glacier in the Karakoram Range: K-2 (8,611 meters, originally called Chogo-ri which in Balti language means 'king of the mountains,' of all the world's mountains second only to Mount Everest), Gashabrum-I (8,068 meters), Broad Peak (8,047 meters) and Gashabrum-II (8,035 meters). There is yet another, which is equally great, Nanga Parbat (8,126 meters), located at the western most corner of the Himalayas. There are 42 other peaks which are higher than all the highest peaks of the other continents. In addition to that, there are 160 peaks over 7,000 meters and 700 others over 6,000 meters. The Northern Pakistan is also home to some of the longest glaciers outside Polar region; Siachen (72 kilometers), Hispar (61 kilometers), Biafo (60 kilometers), Baltoro (60 kilometers) and Batura (64 kilometers). Besides the high mountains, Northern Areas' longest glaciers including the Godwin Austin, Abruzzin and Baltoro which meet at Concordia forms the largest glacial lake at a height of 4720 meters. Two more ranges, by unique comparison minor in size, thrust their sinews and limbs into the Pamir Knot: the Pir Panjal with its peaks of just over 20,000 feet, and China's celestial mountain, the Kun Lun. Where these ranges merge, they form what many regard as the most impressive landscape that sometime recalls Shangri-La. This concentration makes northern Pakistan a trekkers' paradise.The enchanting valleys of Hunza, Shigar, Khaplu, Ishkuman, Naltar, Gilgit, Skardu, Chitral, Dir and the glacial lakes like Kachura, Satpara, Lalusar, and Saiful Muluk add unmatched grandeur to the beauty of the rugged mountains. The Northern Areas with its flora and fauna; the wildlife which can be seen in the form of snow leopards, ibexes and urials; and the variety of people who live in these areas with their diverse cultural heritage and millennia-old civilizations form a paradise for the tourists, trekkers, and mountaineers from all around the world.The mountaineering & trekking season in Pakistan roughly runs between April and November, but some routes are only open for a couple of months, each year. Trekking in Pakistan is an unforgettable experience as it not only let you to experience the unexplored trails made by nature, but also bring the visitor directly in touch with the country and its people and helps you to appreciate the mountain environment. In almost every part of Pakistan, there is a variety of trekking adventure options awaiting the trekker, some soft, others not so. In this vast wonderland, trekking itineraries from one to four weeks or more provide endless opportunities for discovery for the trekker. We offer specialized travel packages. We have designed trips with you in mind - whether you are a novice with no trekking experience, but have a desire to trek or whether you are an experienced mountain walker looking for wider options. Our treks in Northern Areas range from easy adventures for the family to strenuous ones for those seeking high adventure! On our treks and climbs, we have very skilled and experienced "khurpa" who will take care of you at each step during tour trekking travel with us.
source:visitpakistanonline.com/Trekking/trekkingIntro.htm
