Bill on Balochistan lands in US congress

WASHINGTON: A bill has been tabled in the US House of Representatives calling upon Pakistan to recognize the right of self-determination for Balochistan.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) introduced a House Concurrent Resolution that the Balochi nation has a historic right to self-determination.

The bill states that the Balochi people “have the right to self-determination and to their own sovereign country; and they should be afforded the opportunity to choose their own status.”

“The Balochis, like other nations of people, have an innate right to self-determination,” says Rohrabacher. “The political and ethnic discrimination they suffer is tragic and made more so because America is financing and selling arms to their oppressors in Islamabad.”

Reps. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) and Steve King (R-IA) have also signed on as original co-sponsors of the bill.

Rep. Rohrabacher is Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. 

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Telenor Gets Majority Stakes in VimpelCom, Drops Arbitration Claims

Telenor Group, in a latest development, has bought 234,000,000 VimpelCom preferred shares from Weather Investments for US$374,400,000, to increase its voting rights at VimpelCom from 25.01 percent to 36.36 percent and to become majority stake holder in VimpelCom, said a statement issued by the Telenor Group.
Just to recall, Mr. Naguib Sawiris and his family last year bought 29.63 percent stakes in VimpelCom through Weather Investments in exchange of Orascom Telecom.
Weather’s shares in VimpelCom, after this transaction, will come down to 18.28 percent.
In connection with this new buyout of shares, Telenor has withdrawn all its claims against Altimo Holdings & Investments Ltd., Altimo Cooperatief U.A. and VimpelCom in the pending arbitration proceeding, and will work to expand the VimpelCom Board to eleven members.
Check below the previous and present voting rights of various groups in VimpelCom:

It merits mentioning here that Mobilink is currently fully managed by VimpelCom, which is now majorly owned by Telenor Group, also the parent group of Telenor Pakistan, creating a potential situation for conflict of interest in Pakistan and Bangladeshi markets.
To put in simpler words, 5 out of 11 directors at VimpelCom board (who directly manages Mobilink) come from Telenor International, a group that also controls Telenor Pakistan.
This translates into a proposition according to which Mobilink and Telenor Pakistan will be owned by same group (Telenor International) at a parent group level.
The outcome can potentially form a cartel in Pakistan which may not be favorable for competitors such as Ufone, Warid Telecom and CMPak.
Though Competition commission of Pakistan had approved the deal, but this new transaction may arise new situation for the industry, especially when 3G auction is round the corner.
In a related news, Telenor wants to drop its Indian joint-venture partner Unitech after the Supreme Court revoked their mobile licences in the country and is seeking a new local partner. Telenor said it would seek indemnity and compensation from Unitech.
And Unitech has replied by threatening counter legal action.

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Electricity projects on top of Ahmadinejad’s agenda

“Pakistan attaches high priority to its relations with Iran,” said Minister for Water and Power Syed Naveed Qamar, add-ing that the three projects would help ease energy crisis. - File photo

ISLAMABAD: Talks between Pakistan and Iran during the forthcoming visit of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will mainly focus on cooperation in energy sector.

“Pakistan and Iran have agreed to complete at fast pace projects for importing electricity to enhance bilateral relations in the field of trade, energy and economy,” Iranian Ambassador Alireza Highighlian told Minister for Water and Power Syed Naveed Qamar here on Tuesday.

At present three electricity import projects are under way, the first of them is of 35MW which will be enhanced later to 70MW.

While matters relating to importing 100MW have been finalised and the project is ready for groundbreaking, the two countries have moved forward on another 1,000MW project.

The issue of tariff for the projects is in negotiations stage.

The ambassador said he was satisfied with the pace of progress, adding that Iran was keen to invest in various other projects.
The minister said that cooperation in various fields of economy would enhance bilateral relations.

“Pakistan attaches high priority to its relations with Iran,” he said, add-ing that the three projects would help ease energy
crisis.

“Pakistan is also encouraging Iranian investment in infrastructure projects,” he said.

The visit by the Iranian president would open up new avenues of cooperation, he added.

Ambassador of Tajikistan Zubaidullu Zabaidov also called on the Minister for Water and Power and discussed Casa-1000 project about import of 1,000MW electricity from that country through Afghanistan.

The Tajik ambassador stressed the need for introducing direct flights from Pakistan to Tajikistan in order to boost trade and tourism.

He invited the minister to participate in the Regional Economic Conference for Afghanistan to be held in Tajikistan next month.

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Ahmadinejad leaves Tehran for Islamabad’s trilateral meeting

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has departed for Pakistan to take part in a tripartite summit on regional cooperation and developments.

The two-day Islamabad summit will open on Friday with the participation of the Iranian president and his Afghan and Pakistani counterparts Hamid Karzai and Asif Ali Zardari. 

We hope that the Islamabad meeting would take bigger steps toward the promotion of regional cooperation and the restoration of peace and stability in the region, President Ahmadinejad told reporters before departure on Thursday. 

He said that all solutions put forward by extra-regional countries failed to contribute to the restoration of stability in the region. 

Iran’s chief executive said that foreign interference and military presence have aggravated the situation and called for a regional solution to re-establish security in the region. 

Ahmadinejad said that the people of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan need to join hands to confront insecurity, terrorism as well as plots hatched by enemies to sow division among regional countries and dominate the region. 

The two previous trilateral meetings were held in the Iranian capital, Tehran. 

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Pakistan, India sign three trade agreements

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and India Wednesday signed three trade agreements with pledges to adhere to all the accords in letter and spirit and build bridges of understanding to lead the two countries towards prosperity and stability.

The two sides signed agreements including Customs Cooperation Agreement, Mutual Recognition Agreement and Redressal of Trade Grievances Agreement to build confidence of the business community on both the sides.

The agreements were signed at the conclusion of bilateral trade talks between the Commerce Ministers of Pakistan andIndia.

Through the implementation of these agreements, the two countries will systematically address the issues related to non- tariff barriers.

Addressing a press conference Minister for Commerce Makhdoom Amin Fahim flanked by his visiting Indian Counterpart Anand Sharma said that Pakistan and India after their deliberations have agreed to continue the process of the normalization of trade relations between the two countries.

Indian Commerce Minister Anand Sharma said that India offers Pakistan a market of 1.2 billion people and both the countries can take benefit from each others' opportunities.

"We are here to build bridges between Pakistan and to India generate more resources", Sharma remarked.

Both the sides also reiterated to adhere to the roadmap drawn up by the Commerce Secretaries for full normalization of trade relations.

It has also been agreed that Pakistan will move from a Positive List to a small Negative List by February 2012 while the negative list is to be phased out and the timing for this will be announced in February at the time the list is notified.

Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2012

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Four names for new DG ISI under consideration

PM Gilani, COAS Gen. Kayani and ISI Chief Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha during a meeting at Prime Minister House in Islamabad.—AP/File photo

ISLAMABAD: The government mulls over assigning a new director general of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) as its current chief Lt-Gen Shuja Pasha’s tenure ends on March 18, DawnNews reported on Wednesday.

According to sources, the four names under consideration for the post are Maj-Gen Mohammad Asif, Maj-Gen Naushad Kiyani, Lt-Gen Zaheerul Islam and Lt-Gen Javed Iqbal.

Extending Pasha’s tenure is also on the cards, it added.

It is important to note that the tenure of the current DG ISI has been extended twice by the government.

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani will decide about the new intelligence chief after consultating military leadership.

Earlier, US Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter had shown his concern over the retirement of Pasha.

Munter had said appointment of the new ISI chief can affect bilateral ties of the war allies.

On the other hand, the US embassy in a statement hoped to maintain good relations with the next ISI chief.

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