Reform the International Monetary System
Mr. Zhou Xiaochuan
The governor,
The People’s Bank of China
The Vision Foods
The outbreak of the current crisis and its spillover in the world have confronted us with a long-existing but still unanswered question,i.e., what kind of international reserve currency do we need to secure global financial stability and facilitate world economic growth, which was one of the purposes for establishing the IMF? There were various institutional arrangements in an attempt to find a solution, including the Silver Standard, the Gold Standard, the Gold Exchange Standard and the Bretton Woods system. The above question, however, as the ongoing financial crisis demonstrates, is far from being solved, and has become even more severe due to the inherent weaknesses of the current international monetary system.
Theoretically, an international reserve currency should first be anchored to a stable benchmark and issued according to a clear set of rules, therefore to ensure orderly supply; second, its supply should be flexible enough to allow timely adjustment according to the changing demand; third, such adjustments should be disconnected from economic conditions and sovereign interests of any single country. The acceptance of credit-based national currencies as major international reserve currencies, as is the case in the current system, is a rare special case in history. The crisis again calls for creative reform of the existing international monetary system towards an international reserve currency with a stable value, rule-based issuance and manageable supply, so as to achieve the objective of safeguarding global economic and financial stability.
I. The outbreak of the crisis and its spillover to the entire world reflect the inherent vulnerabilities and systemic risks in the existing international monetary system.
Issuing countries of reserve currencies are constantly confronted with the dilemma between achieving their domestic monetary policy goals and meeting other countries’ demand for reserve currencies. On the one hand,the monetary authorities cannot simply focus on domestic goals without carrying out their international responsibilities；on the other hand,they cannot pursue different domestic and international objectives at the same time. They may either fail to adequately meet the demand of a growing global economy for liquidity as they try to ease inflation pressures at home, or create excess liquidity in the global markets by overly stimulating domestic demand. The Triffin Dilemma, i.e., the issuing countries of reserve currencies cannot maintain the value of the reserve currencies while providing liquidity to the world, still exists.
When a national currency is used in pricing primary commodities, trade settlements and is adopted as a reserve currency globally, efforts of the monetary authority issuing such a currency to address its economic imbalances by adjusting exchange rate would be made in vain, as its currency serves as a benchmark for many other currencies. While benefiting from a widely accepted reserve currency, the globalization also suffers from the flaws of such a system. The frequency and increasing intensity of financial crises following the collapse of the Bretton Woods system suggests the costs of such a system to the world may have exceeded its benefits. The price is becoming increasingly higher, not only for the users, but also for the issuers of the reserve currencies. Although crisis may not necessarily be an intended result of the issuing authorities, it is an inevitable outcome of the institutional flaws.
II. The desirable goal of reforming the international monetary system, therefore, is to create an international reserve currency that is disconnected from individual nations and is able to remain stable in the long run, thus removing the inherent deficiencies caused by using credit-based national currencies.
1. Though the super-sovereign reserve currency has long since been proposed, yet no substantive progress has been achieved to date. Back in the 1940s, Keynes had already proposed to introduce an international currency unit named “Bancor”, based on the value of 30 representative commodities. Unfortunately, the proposal was not accepted. The collapse of the Bretton Woods system, which was based on the White approach, indicates that the Keynesian approach may have been more farsighted. The IMF also created the SDR in 1969, when the defects of the Bretton Woods system initially emerged, to mitigate the inherent risks sovereign reserve currencies caused. Yet, the role of the SDR has not been put into full play due to limitations on its allocation and the scope of its uses. However, it serves as the light in the tunnel for the reform of the international monetary system.
2. A super-sovereign reserve currency not only eliminates the inherent risks of credit-based sovereign currency, but also makes it possible to manage global liquidity. A super-sovereign reserve currency managed by a global institution could be used to both create and control the global liquidity. And when a country’s currency is no longer used as the yardstick for global trade and as the benchmark for other currencies, the exchange rate policy of the country would be far more effective in adjusting economic imbalances. This will significantly reduce the risks of a future crisis and enhance crisis management capability.
III. The reform should be guided by a grand vision and begin with specific deliverables. It should be a gradual process that yields win-win results for all
The reestablishment of a new and widely accepted reserve currency with a stable valuation benchmark may take a long time. The creation of an international currency unit, based on the Keynesian proposal, is a bold initiative that requires extraordinary political vision and courage. In the short run, the international community, particularly the IMF, should at least recognize and face up to the risks resulting from the existing system, conduct regular monitoring and assessment and issue timely early warnings.
Special consideration should be given to giving the SDR a greater role. The SDR has the features and potential to act as a super-sovereign reserve currency. Moreover, an increase in SDR allocation would help the Fund address its resources problem and the difficulties in the voice and representation reform. Therefore, efforts should be made to push forward a SDR allocation. This will require political cooperation among member countries. Specifically, the Fourth Amendment to the Articles of Agreement and relevant resolution on SDR allocation proposed in 1997 should be approved as soon as possible so that members joined the Fund after 1981 could also share the benefits of the SDR. On the basis of this, considerations could be given to further increase SDR allocation.
The scope of using the SDR should be broadened, so as to enable it to fully satisfy the member countries’ demand for a reserve currency.
Set up a settlement system between the SDR and other currencies. Therefore, the SDR, which is now only used between governments and international institutions, could become a widely accepted means of payment in international trade and financial transactions.
Actively promote the use of the SDR in international trade, commodities pricing, investment and corporate book-keeping. This will help enhance the role of the SDR, and will effectively reduce the fluctuation of prices of assets denominated in national currencies and related risks.
Create financial assets denominated in the SDR to increase its appeal. The introduction of SDR-denominated securities, which is being studied by the IMF, will be a good start.
Further improve the valuation and allocation of the SDR. The basket of currencies forming the basis for SDR valuation should be expanded to include currencies of all major economies, and the GDP may also be included as a weight. The allocation of the SDR can be shifted from a purely calculation-based system to a system backed by real assets, such as a reserve pool, to further boost market confidence in its value.
IV. Entrusting part of the member countries’ reserve to the centralized management of the IMF will not only enhance the international community’s ability to address the crisis and maintain the stability of the international monetary and financial system, but also significantly strengthen the role of the SDR.
1. Compared with separate management of reserves by individual countries, the centralized management of part of the global reserve by a trustworthy international institution with a reasonable return to encourage participation will be more effective in deterring speculation and stabilizing financial markets. The participating countries can also save some reserve for domestic development and economic growth. With its universal membership, its unique mandate of maintaining monetary and financial stability, and as an international “supervisor” on the macroeconomic policies of its member countries, the IMF, equipped with its expertise, is endowed with a natural advantage to act as the manager of its member countries’ reserves.
2. The centralized management of its member countries’ reserves by the Fund will be an effective measure to promote a greater role of the SDR as a reserve currency. To achieve this, the IMF can set up an open-ended SDR-denominated fund based on the market practice, allowing subscription and redemption in the existing reserve currencies by various investors as desired. This arrangement will not only promote the development of SDR-denominated assets, but will also partially allow management of the liquidity in the form of the existing reserve currencies. It can even lay a foundation for increasing SDR allocation to gradually replace existing reserve currencies with the SDR.
New enemies – The Petrodollar and The Petroeuro
By: Syed Haroon Haider Gilani
As the dollar is steadily dropping against the EUR after the end of fighting in Iraq, Washington appears to be deliberately worsening the dollar’s fall in public comments. What is taking place is a power game of the highest geopolitical significance, the most fateful perhaps, since the emergence of the United States in 1945 as the World’s leading economic power.
Growers, Processors and Exporters of Pakistani Basmati and Non Basmati Rice
The dollar is a fiat currency today that means according to Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed., “money that is made legal tender by the decree, or fiat, of the government but that is not covered by a specie reserve.” At the end of World War II, an agreement was reached at the Bretton Woods Conference which pegged the value of gold at $35 per ounce and that became the international standard against which currency was measured. But in 1971, Richard Nixon took the dollar off the gold standard and ever since the dollar has been the most important global monetary instrument and only the United States can produce them. Currently, if any country wishes to obtain dollars from its sole producer with which to buy oil, it can do so only by selling its goods, resources or services to the US, taking out a loan from a US bank (or the World Bank – functionally the same thing), or trading its currency on the open market and thus devaluing it. The US is in effect importing goods and services virtually for free, its massive trade deficit representing a huge interest-free loan from the rest of the world.
A Canadian columnist, Paul Harris narrates it in these words, “Trade between nations has become a cycle in which the U.S. produces dollars and the rest of the world produces things that dollars can buy. Nations no longer trade to capture comparative advantage but rather to capture needed dollars to service dollar-denominated foreign debts and to accumulate dollar reserves in order to sustain the exchange value of their domestic currencies. In an effort to prevent speculative and potentially harmful attacks on their currencies, those nations’ central banks must acquire and hold dollar reserves in amounts corresponding to their own currencies in circulation. This creates a built-in support for a strong dollar that in turn forces the world’s central banks to acquire and hold even more dollar reserves, making the dollar stronger still. This phenomenon is known as “dollar hegemony,” which is created by the geopolitically constructed peculiarity that critical commodities, most notably oil, are denominated in dollars. Everyone accepts dollars because dollars can buy oil. The reality is that the strength of the dollar since 1945 rests on being the international reserve currency for global oil transactions (i.e., “petro-dollar”). The U.S. prints hundreds of billions of these fiat petro-dollars, which are then used by nation states to purchase oil and energy from OPEC producers (except presently Iraq and, to some degree, Venezuela). These petro-dollars are then re-cycled from OPEC back into the U.S. via Treasury Bills or other dollar-denominated assets such as U.S. stocks, real estate, etc. The recycling of petro-dollars is the price the U.S. has extracted since 1973 from oil-producing countries for U.S. tolerance of the oil-exporting cartel. Cóilín Nunan, in his article, “Petrodollar or Petroeuro? A new source of global conflict” asserts the situation, “at present, approximately two thirds of world trade is conducted in dollars and two thirds of central banks’ currency reserves are held in the American currency which remains the sole currency used by international institutions such as the IMF. This confers on the US a major economic advantage: the ability to run a trade deficit year after year. It can do this because foreign countries need dollars to repay their debts to the IMF, to conduct international trade and to build up their currency reserves. The US provides the world with these dollars by buying goods and services produced by foreign countries, but since it does not have a corresponding need for foreign currency, it sells far fewer goods and services in return, i.e. the US always spends more than it earns, whereas the rest of the world always earns more than it spends. This US trade deficit has now reached extraordinary levels, with the US importing 50% more goods and services than it exports. So long as the dollar remains the dominant international currency the US can continue consuming more than it produces and, for example, build up its military strength while simultaneously affording tax cuts. Getting a share of this economic free lunch has been one of the motivations, and perhaps the main motivation, behind setting up the euro2 . Were the euro to become a reserve currency equal to, or perhaps even instead of, the dollar, countries would reduce their dollar holdings while building up their euro savings. Another way of putting this would be to say that Euro zone countries would be able to reduce their subsidy to American consumption and would find that other countries were now subsidising Euro zone consumption instead.”
Why Al – Qaeda is claimed to be strengthening in Sahel Region.
Research by: Syed Haroon Haider Gilani
The Sahel, a vast region bordering the Sahara Desert and including the countries of Mali, Niger, Chad and Mauritania, is increasingly referred to by the U.S. military as “the new front in the war on terrorism”. There are enough indications, from a security perspective, to justify caution and greater Western involvement. However, the Sahel is not a hotbed of terrorist activity.
The US in the past years has enormously expanded its military presence in Africa. Under the cover of the US Neocon made ‘War on Terror’ the US military with the illegal help of murderous ‘Jackals’ – assisting the global banks and their multinationals – have abandoned a lot of military bases in Europe and Asia, and relocated them to ‘protect’ nearly all oil and natural gas resources in Africa.
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In this region, few things are exactly what they seem at first glance. Mauritania, which calls itself an Islamic republic, harshly suppresses Islamist activities of any kind, while Mali, a star pupil of 1990s neo-liberal democratisation, runs the greatest risk of any West African country other than Nigeria of violent Islamist activity.
With the cover of the UN for instance – the Chinese, which were not allowed to buy US Unocal in tactical revenge, have been forced to – for the most – leave the oil rich Darfur region in Sudan, for years their oil base in Africa. So called ‘Royal’ Dutch SHELL already for decades has been ‘killing and drilling’ for profit: in Africa their main victim is oil-rich Nigeria where they ‘helped’ exterminating the Ogoni people and hang famous writer and poet Ken Saro Wiwa and some of his people.
The Pan-Sahel Initiative, according to a November 7, 2002, news release by the Office of Counterterrorism, U.S. Department of State, was “a State-led effort to assist Mali, Niger, Chad, and Mauritania in detecting and responding to suspicious movement of people and goods across and within their borders through training, equipment and cooperation. Its goals support two U.S. national security interests in Africa: waging the War on Terrorism and enhancing regional peace and security.” It was in 2005 superseded by the larger-scope Trans-Saharan Counterterrorism Initiative, which in turn was incorporated into the United States Africa Command in 2008.
The US ‘Robber Barons’ for the past years have focused on Uganda, Djibouti, Senegal and Sao Tomé y Principe, where heavily armed but flexible, small scale ‘jumping off points’ exist and more are built for the ‘oil protecting’ US ‘Rapid Deployment Forces’. The small archipelago of Sao Tomé y Principe is strategically placed in the oil rich Gulf of Guinea, sub-Saharan Africa’s major oil producing area.
The US Navy and Air Force, and collaborating states with warships, even submarines and reconnaissance air planes – like from the British & Dutch Navy – are squandering billions of the taxpayers money to surround Africa and occupy the coastal waters: ‘to protect it against Terror’. In realspeak meaning: protecting the interests of the criminal multinational Shylocks in Africa.
Sahel
The Sahel or Sahel Belt (from Arabic ساحل, sāḥil, shore, border or coast of the Sahara) is a semi-arid tropical savanna and steppe ecoregion in Africa, which forms the transition between the Sahara to the north and the slightly less arid savanna belt to the south, known as the Sudan (not to be confused with the country of the same name).
The Sahel runs 2,400 miles (3862 km) from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the east, in a belt that varies from several hundred to a thousand kilometers (620 miles) in width, covering an area of 3,053,200 square kilometers (1,178,800 square miles). It is a transitional ecoregion of semi-arid grasslands, savannas, steppes, and thorn shrublands lying between the wooded Sudanian savanna to the south and the Sahara to the north. The countries of the Sahel today include Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan, and Eritrea.
Mauritania
August 4th 2005, the alarms in Washington and Tel Aviv went off at 5 ‘o’clock yesterday morning; a “Red Alert’ heralding the latest country now fighting the multinational’s interests and occupation. More will follow: as a bloody harvest of the violence the US Neocons have been sowing, and many will be killed by the people they earlier have trained to do the killing for them. Now the guns have turned around, and some chickens are coming home to roost.
The multinationals have been using the former pro-American and pro-Israel Ould Taya regime to treat the West African state of Mauritania and it’s three million inhabitants like all their other ’sources of income’ – and thus without any form of consideration or respect for anything called human rights or humanity. It’s the oil and gas wealth of Mauritania which makes the coup ‘unacceptable’ to the inhumane so called ‘New World Order’, and they’ll start to kill and destroy. How important the country and this part of the world is in the global reconfiguring of the US multinational’s energy needs which was shown during the NATO conference on 17-19 OCTOBER 2004, NOUAKCHOTT, MAURITANIA. The Mauritanians on the other hand want peace, freedom of religion and the ownership of the natural resources of Mauritania which – like in most countries – is siphoned of for the wealth of the Neocons and their multinationals.
Looking at the immediate action undertaken by the American forces and their many international and local collaborators in Africa, Mauritania will soon further be plagued by the fake US/Israeli ‘War on Terror’, resulting in the growing of the guerilla resistance in the North African and Sahel States too.
Absolutely NONE of the mainstream ‘information’ sources can be trusted. NONE whatsoever!
In the Arab world – apart from Jordan and Egypt – Mauritania was the third country which under US neocon pressure opened up diplomatic ties with Israel, (‘Holocausting’ the Palestinians doesn’t matter?) – a deed unheard of in real muslim states with which the 100% Muslim population didn’t agree. According to the Israeli information paper Ha’aretz, in a comment on the coup in 2003: ‘recognizing Israel as a state by Ould Taya was one of the main reasons for the coup.’
Mauritania in the Neocon’s profitable fold, and first to be expected, is the gathering of American/Israeli forces in the coastal waters and in the countries surrounding Mauritania, where neighboring and collaborating US-allies Niger and Morocco will play a decisive role. The small airport of Atar in central Mauritania may be used for the attack, which is bad, because I have friends living there too.
Meanwhile we can expect a lot of fake stories about ‘terrorism’ and other atrocities in the area, many times staged by the US/Israeli ‘Special Forces’ and resulting in the lies spread as ‘news’ by the followers of Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels in the usual neocon mainstream media. Especially the deceptive international propaganda megaphones one should never believe: like AP, UPI, AFP, Bloomberg, Reuters ANP, BBC, CNN, FOX etc. etc. which are linking and will continue to ‘link’ the new military rulers to ‘al Qaida’.
Ominous, and foreboding another American/Israeli holocaust of this country too, was the declaration yesterday by the US State Department, condemning the coup, interfering with the internal affairs and asking for a “peaceful return for order under the constitution and the established government of President Tai’a,”
To this blunt statement, made by US State Department spokesman Tom Casey, Washington added ”that the US would continue to deal with the old President, and sees no need for further Constitutional action.”
One must conclude that ‘unconstitutional action’ should be feared.
In Mauritania many opposition figures were arrested by former president Ould Taya’s troops, a move he explained by pointing at received US intelligence ”that al-Qaida was recruiting and training Mauritanians to fight in Iraq.” Which of course is absolute drivel and untrue, but the same dirty excuse as is used by oppressive dictators in all US supported Neocon ‘colonies’. Let us first find the wealth hidden under the soils and waters of Mauritania.
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Raw Materials and Oil rich Mauritania
Contrary to what happened in South America, for example, the nationalization of mines in most African countries has been limited in scope and formal in content. Many fields are still the exclusive property of the Western mining or steel enterprises which have been present for decades. The joint venture has, however, become the most prevalent form of ownership following nationalization or state participation in the capital of local mining enterprises which were full subsidiaries of foreign groups, especially Westerns.
Mauritania has extensive deposits of iron ore, which account for almost 50% of total exports. Plans to exploit the high-grade iron ore deposits at Kedia, near Zouîrât, began in 1952 with the formation of the privately owned Mauritanian Iron Mines Company (Société Anonyme des Mines de Fer de Mauritanie–MIFERMA).
MIFERMA (Societe Anonyme des Mines de Fer de Mauritanie), an iron-ore mining consortium set up by French, British, Italian and German steel capital was established when Mauretania was a source of cheap raw-materials, was being integrated through the colonial system, and through French imperialism into the world capitalist economy. With support from the World Bank, the French government, and the Mauritanian government, MIFERMA (owned by French, British, Italian, and West German steel interests) began operations in 1963 and shipped its first iron ore to Europe in 1963. MIFERMA has made enormous profits from its operations but it was not allowed by its European Owners and investors to invest these profits in more mining projects in other areas of country which might make a greater contribution to economic development.
By 1966 MIFERMA had invested the equivalent of some US$200 million in mining facilities at Kedia, port facilities at Nouadhibou, and a rail line to carry the ore to port for export. All the investment was not for the public or the country but for the infrastructure required to take the wealth of the country out to Europe.
The three surface mines at Kedia had a rich ore content of 65 percent. Mined by explosives from the sides of tall rock formations, the ore was loaded on 100-ton trucks for transport to the railhead. There, the ore was also crushed and sorted. The ore was then loaded on the world’s heaviest trains (200 cars carrying a total of 20,000 tons, pulled by four locomotives, and averaging two kilometers in length) for transport to Nouadhibou for export. Normally, there was one trip daily in each direction along the 650- kilometer line. By the mid- 1970s, iron operations consumed about 40 percent of the country’s imports of fuel oil. At the same time, mining was responsible indirectly for about 25 percent of GDP because of its high consumption of public utilities (power and water), commerce, transportation, and services.
Investment of 200 Million dollar was being converted into 200,000 dollar a day as the prices of Iron Ore were ranging between average 10 $ a ton during 1960 – 66. If we calculate daily production of 20,000 tons at average price of 8 $ per ton, the entire investment of 200 million required 25,000,000 tons, equal to the production of 1,250 days or 3.42 years. While the Iron Ore had been being export by MIFERMA for almost 11 years.
In words of “Laurie Collier Hillstrom” as the 1060s progressed, U.S. steelmakers did make significant new expenditures on their (steel manufacturing) facilities (in expensions in Productions and upgrading). From 1945 to 1959, steel prices has jumped by 165 percent. Some facts about steel market during 1960s are:
- Huge uninterrupted increase in steel demand
- Massive infrastructure and industrial capacity building in the developed nations
- Emergence of developing industrial (European and American) nations.
These facts make it obvious that how much the wealth of Mauritania was looted by Westerns and the how brutally they exploited the rights of people.
In 1974 Mauritania nationalized the mining industry as a part of its effort to establish economic independence under the second development plan. With substantial assistance from Arab members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Mauritania bought out the European owners of MIFERMA. The Terms of Transfer of ownership to the newly formed SNIM kept the foreign expert personnel and managers on the job and maintained the supply of the Iron Ore to the former European owners of MIFERMA.
Oil in Mauritania
In 1998 Hardman Petroleum, in partnership with Dana Petroleum (operator), Woodside Petroleum and British Borneo Oil and Gas were awarded concessions offshore Mauritania. In June 2000, Dana Petroleum stated that they had identified a number of significant hydrocarbon leads in both shallow and deepwater prospects in blocks 1, 7 and 8. This is a Dana (80%), Hardman (18%) venture with a work programme that began in mid 2000 with a 4,000 to 5,000 kilometre 2D seismic survey.
The Chinguetti oilfield is an oil field located off the Mauritanian coast in 800 m water depth. It was discovered by the Australian firm Woodside Petroleum in 2001. It is named after the city of Chinguetti. It is operated by Woodside Mauritania on behalf of AGIP, Hardman Petroleum, Fusion Oil and Gas and Roc Oil. The development works under a PSC with the Mauritanian Government.
Relatively modest in size, originally estimated at 123 million barrels (19,600,000 m3), this deposit is nonetheless significant as the first commercial discovery of oil in the country, opening a new region for offshore petroleum exploration. Production of 75,000 barrels per day (11,900 m3/d) began in 2006 via an FPSO. Production declined rapidly after the start of production due to geological complexity. In November 2006 Woodside issued a statement cutting the field’s 2P reserves to 53 million barrels (8,400,000 m3). Woodside expect production of 20,000 barrels per day (3,200 m3/d) to 30,000 barrels per day (4,800 m3/d) in the next few years. The total development cost to first oil is said to be about US$750m. With today oil prices ranging 80 $ / barrel, it is value of only 9.375 million barrels of oil. Rest of about 122 million barrels is net profit which can be, according to the price of US$ 150 per barrel (2008) estimated around $ 18,300000,000 and according to current oil prices $ 9,760,000,000 while as proposed by Iranian and Venezuelan Presidents urged the prices of crude oil to be set at 200 $ a barrel inn 2008, hence if we consider it as near – future price of crude oil, the reserves can be valued at $24,600,000,000.
A smaller oil field, Tevet, was discovered in the same area in 2005, and will probably developed as a satellite – meaning that it will be exploited by wells tied back to Chinguetti’s platform. Two larger discoveries, Banda and Tiof, were also made off the coast of Mauritania, by the Woodside consortium in 2003.
In 2004, Woodside had agreed to invest US$ 600 million in developing the Chinguetti project. However, in February 2006, the Mauritanian government led by Ely Ould Mohamed Vall denounced amendments to an oil contract made by former authoritarian leader Maaouya Ould Sid’Ahmed Taya with Woodside Petroleum. The controversed amendments, which Mauritanian authorities declared that they had been signed “outside the legal framework of normal practice, to the great detriment of our country”, could cost Mauritania up to $200 million a year, according to BBC News.
Since 2004, some of the world’s biggest oil companies have set their sights on Mauritania. BG, Britain’s third-largest energy company; Premier Oil, an independent; and Australian heavyweights Woodside Petroleum, Hardman Resources and ROC Oil see the small country in western Africa as a new frontier in a world where finding oil is becoming increasingly difficult.
With prices crossing $50 a barrel and touching $100 a barrel, a lack of spare capacity in the world and huge demand from the U.S. and China, the incentive to find new oil has never been greater. In the current climate, even a relatively small player such as Mauritania becomes important in helping oil companies reach their goal of replacing used reserves while cooling oil prices. But just as in Nigeria, Angola and Equatorial Guinea, Africa’s other oil-rich countries; Mauritania is not an easy place to do business.
Hardman Resources that money could be made in Mauritania. In February 2004 the company sold part of its interests to BG for $132 million, just two months after paying $33 million for it.
Ted Ellyard, managing director of Hardman Resources, says that since making its acquisition in 2003, its acreage has grown in value thanks to significant oil finds. “We had very strong interest from a number of companies in different countries, including Japan and Europe,” he said. “BG came in with the best price and there are tangible oil and gas reserves. There is probably a lot more value there than what BG paid.”
Mauritania also has reserves of natural gas. Preliminary estimates indicate the country has 1 trillion to 3 trillion cubic feet in recoverable gas reserves, the equivalent of Australia’s annual gas production. Those reserves would be enough to develop a liquefied natural gas project to supply the U.S. and Europe. But Ellyard points out that Mauritania has at least one important advantage over its competition in the gas business. “The competitive advantage would be with gas because it has a shorter transport route than Nigeria and it could supply North American markets,” he said.
NATIONAL RECONCILIATION ORDINANCE 2007(full Text)
The National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), termed as most notorious act of Constitution, was issued by the former president of Pakistan General (retd) Pervez Musharraf on October 5, 2007.
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It granted amnesty to politicians, political workers and bureaucrats who were accused of corruption, embezzlement, money-laundering, murder and terrorism between 1st January 1986 and October 12th 1999, the time between two Martial Laws. The NRO states:
“Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in sub-section(1), the Federal Government or a Provincial Government may, before the judgment is pronounced by a trial court, withdraw from the prosecution of any person including an absconding accused who is found to be falsely involved for political reasons or through political victimization in any case initiated between 1st day of January, 1986 to 12th day of October, 1999 and upon such withdrawal clause (a) and clause (b) of sub-section (1) shall apply.”
The current Chief Justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, suspended this ordinance on October 12, 2007. But he was soon dismissed after Musharraf abrogated the constitution on November 3, 2007. The new Chief Justice, Abdul Hameed Dogar revived the NRO on February 27, 2008. Let us have details of it below;
AN ORDINANCE to promote national reconciliation
[Source: Text obtained from Associated Press of Pakistan website. http://www.app.com.pk/en/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=18069&Itemid=2 on October 5, 2007. Converted to pakistani.org xml format and converted to html using pakistani.org xsl by Shehzaad Nakhoda.]
WHEREAS it is expedient to promote national reconciliation, foster mutual trust and confidence amongst holders of public office and remove the vestiges of political vendetta and victimization, to make the election process more transparent and to amend certain laws for that purpose and for matters connected therewith and ancillary thereto;-
AND WHEREAS the National Assembly is not in session and the President is satisfied that circumstances exist which render it necessary to take immediate action;
NOW, THEREFORE, in exercise of the powers conferred by clause (1) of Article 89 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the President is pleased to make and promulgate the following Ordinance;-
| 1. | Short title and commencement.
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| 2. | Amendment of section 494, Act V of 1898. In the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (Act V of 1898), section 494 shall be renumbered as sub-section (1) thereof and after sub-section (1) renumbered as aforesaid, the following sub-section (2) and (3) shall be added, namely:-
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| 3. | Amendment of section 39, Act LXXXV of 1976. (1) In the Representation of the People Act, 1976 (LXXXV of 1976), in section 39, after sub-section (6), the following new sub-section (7) shall be added, namely:-
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| 4. | Amendment of section 18, Ordinance XVIII of 1999. In the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999 (XVIII of 1999), hereinafter referred to as the said Ordinance, in section 18, in clause (e), for the full stop at the end a colon shall be substituted and thereafter the following proviso shall be added, namely:-Provided that no sitting member of Parliament or a Provincial Assembly shall be arrested without taking into consideration the recommendations of the Special Parliamentary Committee on Ethics referred to in clause (aa) or Special Committee of the Provincial Assembly on Ethics referred to in clause (aaa) of section 24, respectively. |
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| 5. | Amendment of section 24, Ordinance XVIII of 1999. In the said ordinance, in section 24,-
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| 6. | Amendment of section 31A, Ordinance XVIII of 1999. In the said Ordinance, in section 31A, in clause (a), for the full stop at the end a colon shall be substituted and thereafter the following new clause (aa) shall be inserted, namely:-
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| 7. | Insertion of new section, Ordinance, XVIII of 1999. In the said Ordinance, after section 33, the following new section shall be inserted, namely:-
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Corruption cases against President Zardari set to reopen
LAHORE: Over 100 corruption and criminal cases involving important Pakistani politicians including President Asif Zardari, which had been settled earlier under a controversial presidential ordinance promulgated by Musharraf in February 2008, would automatically reopen on November 28, thus creating more problems for an already embattled Pakistani President.
Not only President Asif Ali Zardari but most of his confidants and top political and bureaucratic aides had benefited from the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) which President General Pervez Musharraf had promulgated before the 2008 general elections on February 2, 2008 to allow many top politicians to take part in the elections. However, the recent decision of Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani under the opposition parties’ pressure not to enact the NRO with effect from February 2, 2008, would automatically reopen all the cases which had been settled after that date as per a recent decision by the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
After a high level meeting of the ruling alliance at the Presidency on November 4, 2009, the PPP government decided not to bring the ever-controversial National Reconciliation Ordinance to the parliament for a vote. This is clearly a reversal on the part of the government but one which could have been avoided had the ruling party consulted its allies beforehand. It is quite apparent that the NRO as a bill was brought to the relevant committee of the National Assembly without even making sure that all the numbers needed were in hand.
According to analysts, the withdrawal will not put an end to the dangers that the NRO represented to the map of power brought about by the 2008 elections. After the debacle caused by an aggressive withdrawal of the PPP’s major allied party Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) from the pro-NRO consensus, the next crisis in the offing is the march of the opposition to a no-confidence vote. The Sharif-led PML-N, whose chief had threatened to start a Long March against the NRO, is no longer averse to the thought of a mid-term change, whether through a new general election or through the ‘minus-one’ formula under a ‘national government’, possibly with Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani in the driving seat.
On March 5, 2008, five cases (ref Nos 14/2001, 6/2000, 13/2001, 41/2001 and 23/2000) against President Asif Ali Zardari were closed down. These cases ware about assets beyond known source of income, illegal construction of a polo ground at the Prim e Minister’s House and loss of national exchequer, alleged corruption and corrupt practices in the Green Tractor scheme, corruption and corrupt practices in the SGS case and corruption and corrupt practices in the ARY Gold case. Between 1988 and 1996, Zardari played a key if often behind the scenes role during the premiership of Benazir Bhutto; and became a victim of an alleged revenge campaign during Nawaz Sharif’s stay in Islamabad as Premier. Zardari served as a Member of the National Assembly twice (1990-1993 and 1993-1996) and was appointed the Federal Minister for Environment as well as Minister for Investment during that period. But many political analysts saw him as a liability for his wife, and the PPP.
Zardari has spent almost 11 years in prison for charges ranging from corruption to murder, in spite of not being convicted in any of them. And all these cases were eventually withdrawn in February 2008 under the NRO, thus paving way for him to become the Pakistani President in place of Musharraf.
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Billions in US aid never reached Pakistan army
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The United States has long suspected that much of the billions of dollars it has sent Pakistan to battle militants has been diverted to the domestic economy and other causes, such as fighting India. Now the scope and longevity of the misuse is becoming clear: Between 2002 and 2008, while al-Qaida regrouped, only $500 million of the $6.6 billion in American aid actually made it to the Pakistani military, two army generals tell The Associated Press.
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The account of the generals, who asked to remain anonymous because military rules forbid them from speaking publicly, was backed up by other retired and active generals, former bureaucrats and government ministers. At the time of the siphoning, Pervez Musharraf, a Washington ally, served as both chief of staff and president, making it easier to divert money intended for the military to bolster his sagging image at home through economic subsidies.
“The army itself got very little,” said retired Gen. Mahmud Durrani, who was Pakistan’s ambassador to the U.S. under Musharraf. “It went to things like subsidies, which is why everything looked hunky-dory. The military was financing the war on terror out of its own budget.”
Generals and ministers say the diversion of the money hurt the military in very real ways:
- Helicopters critical to the battle in rugged border regions were not available. At one point in 2007, more than 200 soldiers were trapped by insurgents in the tribal regions without a helicopter lift to rescue them.
- The limited night vision equipment given to the army was taken away every three months for inventory and returned three weeks later.
- Equipment was broken, and training was lacking. It was not until 2007 that money was given to the Frontier Corps, the front-line force, for training.
The details on misuse of American aid come as Washington again promises Pakistan money. Legislation to triple general aid to Pakistan cleared Congress last week. The legislation also authorizes “such sums as are necessary” for military assistance to Pakistan, upon several conditions. The conditions include certification that Pakistan is cooperating in stopping the proliferation of nuclear weapons, that Pakistan is making a sustained commitment to combating terrorist groups and that Pakistan security forces are not subverting the country’s political or judicial processes.
The U.S. is also insisting on more accountability for reimbursing money spent. For example, Pakistan is still waiting for $1.7 billion for which it has billed the United States under a Coalition Support Fund to reimburse allies for money spent on the war on terror. But the U.S. still can’t follow what happens to the money it doles out.
“We don’t have a mechanism for tracking the money after we have given it to them,” Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Mark Wright said in a telephone interview. Musharraf’s spokesman, retired Gen. Rashid Quereshi, flatly denied that his former boss had shortchanged the army. He did not address the specific charges. “He has answered these questions. He has answered all the questions,” the spokesman said. Musharraf took power in a bloodless coup in 1999 and resigned in August 2008.
The misuse of funding helps to explain how al-Qaida, dismantled in Afghanistan in 2001, was able to regroup, grow and take on the weak Pakistani army. Even today, the army complains of inadequate equipment to battle Taliban entrenched in tribal regions. For its part, Washington did not ask many questions of a leader, Musharraf, whom it considered an ally, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office report released last year.
Pakistan has received more money from the fund than any other nation. It is also the least expensive war front. The amount the U.S. spends per soldier per month is just $928, compared with $76,870 in Afghanistan and $85,640 in Iraq. Yet by 2008, the United States had provided Pakistan with $8.6 billion in military money, and more than $12 billion in all.
“The army was sending in the bills,” said one general who asked not to be identified because it is against military rules to speak publicly. “The army was taking from its coffers to pay for the war effort — the access roads construction, the fuel, everything. … This is the reality — the army got peanuts.”
Some of the money from the U.S. even went to buying weapons from the United States better suited to fighting India than in the border regions of Afghanistan — armor-piercing tow missiles, sophisticated surveillance equipment, air-to-air missiles, maritime patrol aircraft, anti-ship missiles and F-16 fighter aircraft.
“Pakistan insisted and America agreed. Pakistan said we also have a threat from other sources,” Durrani said, referring to India, “and we have to strengthen our overall capacity. “The money was used to buy and support capability against India.”
The army also suffered from mismanagement, Durrani said. As an example, he cited Pakistani attempts to buy badly needed attack helicopters.
Pakistan asked for Cobra helicopters because it knows how to maintain them, he said. But the helicopters were old, and to make them battle-ready, the Pentagon sent them to a company that had no experience with Cobras and took two years, he said.
As a result, in 2007, Pakistan had only one working helicopter — a debilitating handicap in the battle against insurgents who hide, train and attack from the hulking mountains that run like a seam along the Afghan-Pakistani border.
The army was also frustrated about not getting more money. Military spokesman Gen. Athar Abbas said the U.S. gave nothing to offset the cost of Pakistan’s dead and wounded in the war on terror. He estimated 1,800 Pakistani soldiers had been killed since 2003 and 4,800 more wounded, most of them seriously. The hospital and rehabilitation costs for the wounded have come to more than $25 million, Abbas said. Pakistan’s military also gives land to the widows of the dead, educates their children and provides health care.
“These costs do not appear anywhere,” he said. “There is no U.S. compensation for the casualties, assistance with aid to the grieving families.”
Even while money was being siphoned off for other purposes on Pakistan’s end, the U.S. imposed little control over or even had specific knowledge of what went where, according to reports by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. The reports covered 2002 through 2008.
The reports found that the Pentagon often ignored its own oversight rules, didn’t get adequate documents and doled out money without asking for an explanation. For more than a year, the Pentagon paid Pakistan’s navy $19,000 a month per vehicle just for repair costs on a fleet of fewer than 20 vehicles. Monthly food bills doubled for no apparent reason, and for a year the Pentagon paid the bills without checking, according to the report.
Daniyal Aziz, a minister in Musharraf’s government, said he warned U.S. officials that the money they were giving his government was being misused, but to no avail.”They both deserved each other, Musharraf and the Americans,” he said.
A review of export of IRRI 6 during 1999 – 2009
By: Syed Haroon Haider Gilani
www.thevisionfoods.com
After wheat, rice is the most important food grain crop of Pakistan and is the major foreign exchange earner. Rice occupies about 11% of the total cropped area in the country, yielded 5024.8 thousand tons from area of 2519.6 thousand hectares during 2004-05 (GOP, 2005-06). Pakistan contributes about 11% in total world rice export and on an average 1/3rd of the total national rice production is exported every year which accounts for 5.7% of the total value added in agriculture and 1.3% to GDP.
1999 – 2000 crop season
In 1999, The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) has estimated that the global output of rice was 535 million tonne and by the year 2025, the world’s demand for rice is likely to rise to 880 million tonne. Rice crop was second to cotton as foreign exchange earner In 1997-98, Pakistan exported rice worth over US$550 million and all-out efforts were being made to increase the export to $700 million and first then to one billion. It was not difficult to achieve these targets provided with increase per acre yield and improvement in the quality of exportable rice.
To improve the quality and sale at high price per unit, the Government had made some structural and administrative changes in monitoring the purity of exportable rice. These changes involved analysis of rice of different varieties by the Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REACP) and fixing the minimum export price. The REAP had proved its performance by checking the quality of brown rice exported to Europe in 1996-97. The confidence of rice importers in quality of Pakistani rice was gradually building up and exports were steadily increasing.
Just before the arrival of new crop 1999 – 2000, traders and exporters were worried due to the weak demand and arrival of supplies of fresh crop to hurt the prices of irri 6 rice in October 1999. Domestic prices of the IRRI-6 variety had fallen sharply in next days as the new crop had arrived while there was no improvement in demand. Pakistani exporters had cut their prices but there was no demand at that moment in International Market. The volume of Irri-6 rice exports from Pakistan has declined in 2000 by 50 percent, leaving the rice millers and growers in trouble. Market sources attributed the fall in exports to the poor quality. Total Irri-6 production was estimated at about 2.6 million tonnes per annum. Of this about 1.2 million tonnes were exported. That year only 0.6 million tonnes had been exported.
In March 2000, Iran has offered to import a further 60,000 tonnes of Irri-9 rice from Pakistan. The government of Iran made this offer during a visit to Iran of Pakistani Commerce Minister Razaak Dawood. The government of Iran had made the offer over and above its kW agreement with Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) for the import of 15,000 tonnes of Irri-9 cargo. That deal was closed at $229 per ton FOB Karachi, during the visit of a Pakistani delegation in the second week of January 2000. Also in Late March 2000, Rice exporters were fearing cancellation of Indonesian tender, issued last month for 50,000 tonnes of Irri-6. A leading rice exporter said that the time for opening of letter of credit (L/C) was due for March shipment this year, but 22 days have passed and no intimation has been made to the winner of the tender. Also international prices of Irri-6 had declined to $ 160 per tonne FOB and at this price export was not be feasible as Pakistani exporters could not compete with Chinese or Vietnamese who are selling quality rice at lower prices.
June 2000, The price of Pakistani rice rose in early June as fresh buying emerged due to a rice deal with Bangladesh and two overdue orders for Indonesia. However, foreign demand was still slow since Pakistan was quoting much higher prices than China. There had been a bit of activity because of a 12,000-tonne order from Bangladesh for Irri-6. By the time, Pakistan was holding about 400,000 tons of Irri-6 rice from the on-going season’s exportable surplus of 1.2 million tons. At the prevailing world market rate of about $150 a ton, the export value of rice stood at about $60 million. With only three months left for the start of next paddy season in October, growers and millers who were holding most of the rice were likely to be in a poor financial position to meet their input cost for the new crop.
2000 – 01 crop season
In December 2000, it was discussed at a meeting of Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP), chaired by the Export Promotion Bureau Chief that Pakistan would adopt a ‘country-specific strategy’ to achieve rice export target of US$630 million for the fiscal year which stood at $539 million during the year 1999-2000.
Pakistan’s rice exports to Afghanistan and Iran have been estimated at 13,264 tonnes during the current season between July to November 2000. For the first five months of fiscal 2000 – 01, the value for the export stood at more than Rs 94.699 million (US$1.63 million). Pakistan has exported 1.636 million metric tonnes rice worth more than US$358.7 million during July-April of the fiscal year 2000 – 2001. The export of Irri-6 was recorded at 1.125 million tonnes during the fiscal and the export of Irri-9 stood at 83,549 tonnes, during the same period. While rice crops had been severely damaged in traditional ‘rice bowl’ countries including Vietnam and other countries, farmers in Pakistan harvested for the second consecutive year bumper crop of around 2.2 to 2.4 in tons Irri-6 and Irri-9. The country was expected to have an exportable surplus of around 1.3 to 1.5 million tons after meeting domestic consumption of about 0.8 million tons to one million tons.
February 2001, Pakistan rice exporters had slashed export prices for the IRRI-6 rice variety to increase their share of the international market. In last week of February 2001, Pakistani traders were offering at $US73.01 a tonne compared to $144 last week in a bid to thwart cheaper rates offered by key rival Thailand. But there was pressure to further reduce the rates. International buyers were asking Pakistani exporters of rice to reduce prices. A major development was that , according to (then) Pakistan’s State Minister and Chairman Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) Tariq Ikram, Iraqi government had increased the quantity of Pakistani Irri-6 rice purchase from 24,000 tonnes to 40,000 tonnes along with its international tender for supply of Pakistani wheat from 37,000 tonnes to 100,000 tonnes.
March 2001, A four-member team of Pakistan’s leading rice exporters was expected to leave for Manila to participate in the 100,000 tonnes white rice tender floated by National Food Authority (NFA) of Philippines. Rice exporter’s delegation was waiting for a green signal from Pakistani Embassy in Philippines to leave for Manila. National Food Authority (NFA) of Philippines had floated a tender for supply of 100,000 IRRI-6 long grain white rice, allowing only China, Vietnam and Thailand to closing, date of March 8 2001. Meanwhile, Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) had asked Pakistani Embassy in Manila to immediately approach and to request Philippines government to allow Pakistan to participate in the bidding of 100000 tonnes of IRRI-6 rice.
May 2001, Rice prices in Pakistan had risen due to diminishing stocks and fears that the next crop would be delayed due to irrigation water shortages. Prices were on a bullish path as traders feared further delay in the arrival of the new crop and that was pushing them to hold back their stocks in the hope prices would increase further. Usual local demand had been boosted by exporters buying to meet their commitments. Prices of 100-kg bags of IRRI-6 varieties on the local market had moved up 30-35%. The high domestic prices were creating problems for exporters seeking to compete on the international market. Pakistan was quoting export prices of US$138/$140 per tonne against Vietnam’s US$123/$124 per tonne for the same variety of IRRI-6 rice.
2001 – 02 crop season
With the beginning of 2001 – 02 season in October 2001, it was feared that Pakistan would only be able to export about 40,000 tons from new crop Irri-6 rice in the new crop season that started on November 1, compared to 120,000 tons in the corresponding period previous year. Due to a steep fall in the export of Irri-6 rice, which brings in an average price of $177 per ton, the country has earned $7.8 million only as against previous year’s of around $21 million. Exports of rice from Pakistan had been not been affected by US air strikes over Afghanistan, according to our trade and shipment sources. Pakistan’s rice export has declined by 7.56 per cent to 651,262 tons during first six months of the current fiscal year. According to rice exporters in Karachi, the value of exported rice had also declined by 5.48 per cent to $174.926 million during July-December 2001. Previous year, Pakistan exported about 704,537 tons worth $185.074 million during the same period. According to rice exporters the reason for decline in overall rice export was drop in the export of Irri-6 due to price cut by China.
There had been a rush of shipments at the port and exporters were eager to load their consignments. A cargo vessel, Trade Fast, which had berthed at Karachi port in mid of October, had been flooded with rice consignments. The departure of the ship had been delayed for a day, due to technical problems. An earlier ship had been missed by rice exporters and, therefore, pending consignments were being loaded on Trade Fast.
In November 2001, Export of new crop rice having an estimated value between US$350 to $400 million in the world market was in doldrums as exporters were reluctant to enter into foreign contracts owing to highly volatile dollar/rupee parity. After 1 October’s free fall of dollar against the rupee when the dollar on a single day shed 140 paisa – or more than 2 per cent of its value in open market and threw off 50 paisa or about 0.8 per cent of its value in the inter-bank market, the parity between both currencies thereafter remained highly volatile. Despite the fact the dollar had made some recovery on Oct 24 at Rs61.70/61.80, on the very next day it fell to Rs61.45/61.55 for buying/selling respectively, the lowest level of the month. But on Oct 29, it again recovered to Rs61.65/61.75 for buying and selling against the rupee, respectively.
The Rice Exporters’ Association of Pakistan (REAP) sources said that the main factor for slow exports would be highly volatile dollar/rupee parity as well as War Risk Premium (WRP). “How could we compete in the world market if we have to include $5 per ton as WRP in our cost,” said the chairman REAP Abdul Rahim Janoo. Rice exporters were unable to enter into new deals with foreign buyers because of rapid fluctuation in dollar/rupee value and at the same time, demand from African countries has diminished. In last week of November, Sri Lanka has temporarily waived the import duty on rice and has issued licenses for the import of 33,000 tons of Irri-6 rice, having a shipment schedule up to December 10, 2001. In the past, Pakistan had been a major supplier of coarse rice to Sri Lanka, but with a bumper paddy crop in Sri Lanka during 2000-01 and an import duty of 35 per cent no export of Irri-6 took place.
During January 2002, International Rice prices, according to Jackson Son & Co, London, cash f.o.b. prices for Thailand parboiled 25 per cent broken rice is $156 per tonne, while for Vietnam 25 per cent broken it is $185. In case of India and Pakistan, parboiled IRRI-6 25 per cent broken is $128 and $145 respectively. During July-January 2001-2002, rice export volume dropped by 19.53 per cent or 186,911 tonnes to 770,361 tonnes against 957,272 tonnes during the same period last year. Pakistan was not be able to sell rice due to severe competition from India and Burma who are suppressing the market by selling rice at very low prices. The decline in the export of IRRI-6 has significantly contributed in the decline of overall rice export of the country.
Pakistan’s rice export had declined by 23 per cent or $52.86 million to $233.24 million during the first eight months of the fiscal year 2001-2002. According to export statistics, Pakistan’s rice exports stood at $288.11 million during July-February 2000-2001. During July-February 2001-2002, rice export dropped by 26.48 per cent or 310,189 tonnes to 887,072 tonnes in volume against 1.197 million tonnes during the same period previous year. President of the Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) Rahim Janoo told APP that country’s rice exports have declined due to shortage of Irri-6 and basmati in the local market and appreciation of Pak rupee. Rice exporters were in a classic catch-22 situation. After securing the right to bid in the Philippines’ next rice import tender for the first time in six years, they found rice prices at home too high and the staple in short supply.
“Our prices are very high and we have no rice to export…it’s a lost opportunity,” Haji Majeed, a rice exporter. The situation was a blow for exporters, who were struggling to make inroads into the world rice trade, particularly in the Philippines, one of the largest rice importers in Asia resulting the value of Pakistan’s rice exports fell by 20 per cent or US$67.1 million to about $266.68 million during the first nine months of the fiscal year 2001 – 02. According to statistics, Pakistan’s rice export was estimated at $333.68 million during July-March 2000-2001.
During April 2002, In volume, rice export dropped by 29.75 per cent or 428,317 metric tons to 1.011 million tonnes during July-March 2001-2002 against 1.439 million tonnes during the same period previous year. Again the rice export had declined due to appreciation of the rupee against world’s most currencies and shortage of Irri-6 and Basmati varieties in the local market. The export of Irri-6 showed a shortfall of 429531 tonnes to 597463 tonnes during nine months of the current fiscal, compared to 1.026 million tonnes during the same period last year. Pakistan fetched an average price of $154 a tonne for Irri-6 during the period under review.
Exporters were of the opinion that Indian rice exporters had thrust their way into the world market by elbowing out Pakistani exporters, who were confronted with numerous problems that came in their way in making viable export contracts. According to reports appeared in Indian media, the Pakistani exporters were losing market share in the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia to rival India, where rice prices were significantly lower and the government had also lifted all restrictions on export of all food grains, including rice and wheat. Consequently, Pakistan after exporting 1.439 million tons of rice last year (July-March) had to witness a drastic fall of 29.8 per cent in over all rice exports this year (July-March) on exporting 1.011 million tons only. The fob price earned during nine months (July-March) through export of rice stood at $266.682 million as against $333.786 million fetched in the corresponding period previous year. This showed a fall of 20.1 per cent or $67.11 million less in foreign exchange earnings.
Mr. Zulfikar Thaver, convener of Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (USME), elaborated the problems that India was giving 18.75 per cent subsidy on export of every kilogramme of rice. As a result of indifferent attitude of the government, export of Irri-6 during the last nine months (July-March) declined by 41.9 per cent at 0.597 million tons as against 1.027 million tons recorded during the corresponding period last year. He said there was no logic to ban the cultivation of 386 (non-Basmati) rice and some other varieties which were fast growing and mostly used for blending with other superior varieties to meet buyer’s price constraint. “When India can export ‘Pusha Sherbati’ varieties under basmati then the 386 variety, which is much superior, could also be used for blending,” he added.
In May 2002, Pakistani rice exports were likely to fall to US$400 million mark during the fiscal year due to continued world recession after September 11 incidents. Only two months had been left in the fiscal year and the total rice export was estimated at only $363.61 million during the last 10 months. During 2000-2001, Pakistan exported rice worth $526 million. The Chairman of Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) Mr. Abdul Rahim Janoo in media report said that prices in the local market were very high while in the international market they were on the lower side this year. There is hardly any demand for Pakistani IRRI-6 and IRRI-9 due to high prices, he added. He pointed out that Vietnam, China and India are capturing market due to their lower prices. “The unit price of basmati is also good and we will be able to export about 600000 tonnes this year to compensate the losses of IRRI-6″, he hoped. Pakistan exported 1.387 million tonnes of rice during July-April 2001-2002, compared to 1.937 million tonnes during the same period previous fiscal.
2002 – 03 crop season
In July 2002, The less production of Irri-6 and Irri-9 rice besides a low demand of Pakistani rice in the African countries has declined its export about $ 84 million. The depleting stocks of rice in the country had marred the exports of rice as in first two months (July-August 2002) of fiscal 2002-03, it declined by 26.47 per cent. However, the rice exporters fetched better unit price on all varieties of rice exported from July 1, to August 24 to various countries, including UAE, Muscat, Bahrain, USA, UK, etc.
The total quantity exported from Karachi stood at 123,353.587 tonnes worth US$43,954,880.06 (FOB price) against 48,533,186.41 tonnes of previous year, short by 44,408 tonnes. “Despite shortage of rice stock in the country we are lucky because our prices in international market have improved as compared with our main competitors, India etc. The prices of all varieties have soared up by manifolds”, said Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (Reap) Chairman Abdul Rahim Janoo to Media. He said the average unit price of Super Basmati rose to US$570 from US$554.69 received from the international buyers last year. Besides, the prices of other varieties, including Basmati-385, blended rice, Irri-9, Irri-6 and Pk-386 soared substantially. “But due to shortage of stock it is feared apprehended that Pakistan.
During 2002 – 03, There had been very limited exports due to higher prices. Short supplies had raised export prices to $178-$180 a metric tonne, compared with $164/tonne in India. Country’s rice export had surged by 13 per cent to $627.214 million (1 $ = 58.96 Rs) during 2003-2004, breaking all previous records of rice exports. Rice export had also surpassed the export target of $600 million for 2003-2004. After harvesting bumper paddy crop of 5.5 million tons the country was then poised to make a record export worth over $1 billion owing to larger surplus quantity and better prices being fetched for the season 2005-06 crop.
To be continued………..
IRRI – 6 (MEHRAN 69) White Long Grain Rice
Research by:
Syed Haroon Haider Gilani
Rice in Pakistan
www.thevisionfoods.com
In Pakistan, Rice is an important food and cash crop, which is cultivated under diverse climate and it is the third largest crop after wheat and cotton. Rice, a highly valued cash crop, is grown over 10% of total area under cultivation in Pakistan, covering an area of 2.1 million hectares of which 1.1 million ha is in Punjab while remaining 1 million ha in other three provinces of Pakistan. Rice accounts for 5.5 – 6.1 % of valued added in agriculture and 1.1 – 1.3% in GDP. Basmati and non Basmati Rice are the two main types of rice grown in Pakistan. In 1947, the area under rice in Pakistan was arounds 8,56,000 hectares which in 1998 reached or 2.4 million hectares. The rice production during this period increased from 737,000 to 4.6 million tonne. Thus area increased by 3 times, but the production increased by 6 times. Although, increased area contributed to increased production but significant increase in per acre yield was brought about by the development of high yielding varieties, improved agronomic practices supported with fertilizers and plant protection measures.
Non Basmati Rice is majorly cultivated in Sindh, which comprises 44% of total rice production in Pakistan and Southern Punjab with IRRI varieties including IRRI-6 (Mehran 96) and IRRI-9 which are aimed for export only to Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Kenya, (largest importers of IRRI Rice from Pakistan),Indonesia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, West and North African region.
Although rice has a relatively low protein content i.e. about 8% in brown rice and 7% in milled rice versus 10 percent in wheat, brown rice (caryopsis) ranks higher than wheat in available carbohydrates, digestible energy (kilojoules [kJ] per 100 grams), and net protein utilization (NPU). Rice protein is superior in lysine content to wheat, corn, and sorghum. Milled rice has lower crude fiber content than any other cereal, therefore; it makes rice powder suitable for infant food. Although rice is low in riboflavin and thiamine (vitamin) but its carbohydrate and protein percentage available is sufficient to sustain the energy needs for an adult whereas, for growing children, rice needs to be supplemented by other protein sources (Hegsted, 1969; Juliano, 1985).
Rice has been rightly considered as the queen among cereals for its nutritional quality and higher digestibility. In Pakistan two types of rice i.e. coarse and fine varieties are grown. The fine varieties of rice possess a specific aroma characteristic and cooking characteristics due to which these are very much liked all over the world and fetches higher price in the market.
IRRI – 6: History of research, development and cultivation in Pakistan
Historically rice research in Pakistan was initiated in 1912 with the establishment of Agri. Research Station at Larkana,Sindh. However, rice varietal improvement was started in 1920. In 1938 Rice Research Station was established atDokri, Sindh and then station was upgraded to institute in 1970. In Punjab, rice research was initiated in 1926 with the establishment of Rice Research Station, Kala Shah Kaku. The station was upgraded into a mono-crop, multidisciplinary institute with a wider mandate in 1970. In NWFP, rice varietal improvement work was started at Agri. Research Institute, Tarnab, Peshawar in 1962. In 1964, rice research was shifted to Mansehra and D. I. Khan and then from Mansehra to Mingora Swat in 1975.
Keeping in view the production problems of rice growers in diverse climatic zones, several rice research facilities were opened in other areas. A National Coordinated Research Programme (NCRP) on rice was initiated in 1975. Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) acts as coordinating agency and integrates the research activities with a full time National Coordinator. The overall objective was to strengthen and coordinate rice related research and development activities in the country. Since 1975 NCRP on rice has been playing a vital role in rice improvement with the collaboration of its units.
Rice Research Institute (RRI), Kala Shah Kaku is mainly responsible for research and development of Basmati rice in the Punjab province and RRI, Dokri on IRRI rice in Sindh and Balochistan. IRRI 6 (Mehran – 69), a coarse rice variety, was officially released for cultivation in 1971 with the name IRRI 6 in the Punjab and Mehran – 69 in Sindh. The variety is an introduction from International Rice Research Institute. It became popular among the growers due to its high yield. It is 115 cm tall and matures in 115 days. It is grown into Zone III which is a large tract of land on the west bank of The Indus. It has an arid sub-tropical climate with 100 mm average rainfall and very high temperature, sometimes exceeding 50 degree centigrade during the rice-growing season, especially at the time of nursery growing. The climate is suitable for growing coarse verities.
Minerals present in rice like zinc, manganese, iron and copper play an important role in body regulatory functions other than cadmium and lead. A definite difference exists between varieties of brown and white rice in vitamins, minerals, and fiber and fat contents.
Quality Testing, Milling and processing of IRRI 6 at THE VISION FOODS
The paddy is cleaned to remove dust trash, stone and foreign matter and is de-hulled and milled by passing through “Stake sheller and McGill Laboratory Mill”(polisher) to obtain different fractions of rice i.e. Bran, Brown rice, white rice, polished rice and polishing. Rice is also ground by passing through “UDY Cyclone Mill” to get rice flour. The fractions and flour are analyzed for different physico-chemical and cooking quality characteristics.
Laboratory Tests of Pakistani Rice to detemine Mineral and Chemical composition
The determination of moisture content (105ºC/12hr), Ash content (550ºC/5hr), Crude fat in Soxhlet apparatus (solvent ether), Crude protein by nitrogen determination using the Kjeldhal’s method (N x 5.95) and Nitrogen free extract (NFE) by using formula and crude fiber is carried out according to their respective method given in AACC (2000).
Cooking quality is evaluated by volume expansion ratio and water absorption ratio. The volume expansion ratio is then calculated by dividing the volume of cooked rice by the volume of raw rice in the former whereas; by dividing the weight of cooked rice by the weight of raw rice .
The mineral content i.e. Fe, Cu, Zn, Mn, Pb and Cd are determined by using atomic absorption spectrophotometer (Perken Elmer) according to method given in AOAC (1990). Firstly, the samples are wet digested as reported by Richards (1969). The digested samples are transferred to 100ml volumetric flask and volume is made with distilled water and then filtered. Samples are then analyzed in Atomic Absorption spectrophotometer and estimation of each element is carried out.
Chemical Analysis of different Rice varieties of Pakistan
The results pertaining to chemical analysis are presented in Table 1 and 2 on the basis of varietal differences and milling fractions respectively, whereas, mineral estimate values are presented in Table 3. The mean values for the moisture content in different rice varieties (Table 1) ranged from 9.19 to 11.10%. The highest value for this parameter was observed in Sarshar and the lowest in Dr-83. In different milling fractions the moisture content ranged from 8.61to11.08% (Table 2) indicating the lowest in bran protein whereas while the highest moisture content was found in brown rice respectively. This moisture content is confirmed with the earlier results reported by Souci et al (1986) and Eggum (1979).
Crude protein content in different rice varieties ranged from 7.80 to 8.80% showing highest value of protein content was found in Sarshar and lowest in Irri-9 varities. While in different milling fractions the protein content ranged from 6.11 to 11.71%. The highest protein content was found in bran and the lowest in polished rice. The results obtained in the study are in line with earlier studies reported by Pederson and Eggum (1983), Eggum et al (1982).
The ash content in different rice varieties ranged from 3.16 to 3.79% obtained in Sarshar (highest) and in Dr-83 (lowest). In different milling fractions the ash content ranged from 0.54 to 6.04%. The highest ash content was found in bran whereas the lowest was found in polished rice. The findings of the present study are in accordance to the studies reported by Juliano (1985) and Willis et al. (1982). The ash content may be different in different milling fractions due to degree of severity during milling for the separation of bran.
Fat content in different rice varieties ranged from 5.16 to 6.14% the highest value of fat content was present in Irri-6 and lowest in Irri-9. While in different milling fractions the fat content ranged from 0.73 to 14.65% the highest in bran and the lowest in polished rice. The results of present study are in agreement with earlier results reported by Willis et al. (1982) and Juliano (1985) who also gave the fat range 0.9 to 1.97% in different milling fractions.
Crude fiber content ranged from 2.17 to 2.57% in different rice varieties showing highest value of fiber content in Irri-6 and the lowest one in Irri-9. Milling fractions showed the fiber content range from 0.21 to 8.38%. The highest fiber content was observed in bran and the lowest in polished rice and white rice. These results are comparable with the findings of Maningat (1981), Willis et al. (1982) with same results and Juliano (1985) who found the fiber content ranged from 0.2 to 11.4% in different milling fractions.
NFE values in different rice varieties ranged from 67.75 to 71.43%. The highest value of NFE was found in Irri-9 and lowest in Irri-6. Different milling fractions exhibited NFE value ranged from 61.21 to 81.19%. Maximum NFE value was found in polished rice and the lowest in polishing. These findings are confirmed with the earlier results reported by James and Mc Caskill (1983).
Mineral Content
The results pertaining to mineral contents during the study are presented in Figure 1 and 2 on the basis of varietal differences and milling fractions respectively. The highest iron content was found in Irri-6 (1.94%) and lowest was found in Irri-9 (1.37%). While in different milling fractions the highest iron content was found in bran (3.98%) and lowest was found in polished rice (0.44%). These results of iron in present study are in agreement with earlier findings as reported by various workers for Ash, Protein, Fat and Fiber showing similar pattern. The bran is relatively rich in minerals (Eppendorfer et al. 1983; Sotelo et al. 1990).
The highest zinc content was found in Irri-6 (2.97%) and lowest was found in Irri-9 (1.44%). While in different milling fractions the highest zinc content was found in bran (4.69%) and lowest was found in polished rice (1.12%). The results for zinc content are in line with earlier findings reported by Juliano (1980), Eppendorfer et al. (1983) and Sotelo et al. (1990) who reported higher zinc contents in bran and lowest in white rice.
Table 1. Chemical analysis of different Pakistani rice varieties
| Varieties | Moisture | Protein | Ash content | Fat Content | Fiber content | NFE |
| IRRI 6 | 11.04a | 8.77a | 3.67b | 6.14a | 2.57a | 67.75d |
| IRRI 9 | 10.01b | 7.80c | 3.43c | 5.16d | 2.17d | 71.43a |
| Sarshar | 11.10a | 8.80a | 3.79a | 5.80b | 2.47b | 68.14c |
| DR – 83 | 9.19c | 8.12b | 3.16d | 5.45c | 2.31c | 71.21b |
| Mean | 10.33 | 8.37 | 3.51 | 5.64 | 2.38 | 69.63 |
Table2. Chemical analysis of fractions obtained different Pakistani rice varieties
| Milling Fractions | Moisture | Protein | Ash content | Fat Content | Fiber content | NFE |
| Brown rice | 11.08a | 7.23c | 1.42c | 2.13c | 0.79c | 72.21c |
| White Rice | 10.93a | 6.64d | 0.66d | 0.97d | 0.21d | 80.96b |
| Polished rice | 10.99a | 6.11e | 0.54d | 0.73c | 0.21d | 81.19a |
| Bran | 8.61c | 11.71a | 6.04a | 14.65a | 8.38a | 47.58e |
| Polishing | 9.93b | 10.73b | 5.91b | 9.72b | 2.30b | 61.21d |
| Mean | 10.115 | 8.7525 | 3.2875 | 6.5175 | 2.775 | 67.735 |
The highest manganese content was found in Dr-83 (2.33%) and lowest was found in Irri-9 (1.57%). While in different milling fractions the highest manganese content was found in bran (5.12%) and lowest was found in polished rice (0.51%). The findings of present study are similar to earlier findings of Houston and Kohler (1970) and Eppendorfer et al. (1983).
The highest copper content was found in Irri-9 (0.92%) and lowest was found in Dr-83 (0.58%). While in different milling fractions the highest copper content was found in bran (1.69%) and lowest was found in polished rice (0.28%). The range of copper in different fractions of rice varieties is confirmed by the results of the Juliano (1990), and Eppendorf et al. (1983) and Sotelo et al. (1990).
The lead was not found in all fractions of rice cultivars by the procedure adopted. Since the presence of lead and cadmium are injurious to health, therefore present results suggested that rice cultivars can be safely consumed.
Cooking Quality
The means values of volume expansion ratio and water absorption ratio are given in Table 3-4.
Volume expansion ratio
The significantly highest volume expansion ratio was exhibited by Sarshar (3.15) while the lowest was observed in Irri-9 (2.68) (Table 3). The lowest volume expansion ratio was observed in brown rice (1.95) (Table 4). Volume expansion ratio in different milling fractions in present study is similar with earlier findings of Awan (1988). High variability in fractions was observed within and between varieties for volume expansion ratio. In Pakistan rice varieties with more volume expansion ratios are preferred generally.
Water absorption Ratio
The highest water absorption ratio was in Sarshar (2.31) while lowest was in Irri-9 (2.25). The lowest water absorption ratio was observed in brown rice (1.71) followed by white rice (2.51) and polished rice (2.65). The results in present study are in agreement with earlier studies reported by Awan (1988).
The results regarding volume expansion ratio and water absorption ratio showed significant variations among the rice cultivars. This indicates that the rice cultivars i.e. Sarshar and Irri-6 with higher ratio of volume expansion and water absorption capacity regarded as better in cooking quality than others.
Table3. Means of cooking quality parameters of different Pakistani rice varieties
| Varieties | Mean of Volume expansion Ratio | Means Volume absorption ratio |
| IRRI 6 | 2.74 | 2.30 |
| IRRI 9 | 2.68 | 2.25 |
| Sarshar | 3.15 | 2.31 |
| Dr – 83 | 2.99 | 2.30 |
| Mean | 2.89 | 2.29 |
Table4. Means of cooking quality parameters of different Pakistani rice varieties
| Varieties | Mean of Volume expansion Ratio | Means Volume absorption ratio |
| Brown rice | 1.95 | 1.71 |
| White rice | 3.22 | 2.51 |
| Polished rice | 3.50 | 2.65 |
| Mean | 2.89 | 2.29 |
INDIAN PROXY WAR – Attack on General Headquarters, Rawalpindi
India, backed by Israel has got a chance to lay hands on Pakistan under the cover of its operation in Afghanistan for Global War on Terror. It is now well know that Israel and India has planned, financed, trained and equipped insurgency, violence and unrest in North Western Pakistan. Today (October 10, 2009) an Attack accord on Army’s Headquarters in Rawalpindi. The details are:
http://www.thevisionfoods.com
Heavy firing heard near GHQ
RAWALPINDI: Heavy firing heard near GHQ, sources said.
Heavy firing, blasts near GHQ in Pindi
RAWALPINDI: Heavy firing has been reported near GHQ army Headquarters here in Rawalpindi, meanwhile, several loud explosions have also been heard, Geo news reported. Soldiers guarding army headquarters opened fire at a suspected suicide bomber in a vehicle on Saturday, a security official and media said.
According to an eyewitness, the shooting began when a white Suzuki vehicle was intercepted by army personnel for routine checking at army checkpost near army headquarters on Mall Road, so the miscreants, sitting on vehicle, opened heavy and indiscriminate firing meanwhile, army soldiers have surrounded the vehicle and started retaliation. As many as five hand grenades have been hurled from the vehicle meanwhile, the entire area has been cordoned off and the roads leading to GHQ have been closed for traffic, sources said. The details said firing is still going on with gunmen who had tried to enter the tightly guarded sprawling headquarters in the city of Rawalpindi, near the capital, Islamabad.
Army commandos have kicked off search operation to locate some fled miscreants into areas adjacent to GHQ, witnesses said. Moreover, the miscreants are dressed in army uniform while army helicopters have began hovering over the firing spot. Witnesses also feared there might be heavy explosive materials inside the vehicle.
Four killed, two held outside GHQ
RAWALPINDI: At least four militants were killed and two were arrested amid firing between miscreants and army commandos outside army headquarters while the situation has been brought under control, army sources said. Some security personnel might be martyred during offensive, sources feared.
Search operation air surveillance at GHQ
RAWALPINDI: Firing has come to halt after one-hour long army operation outside army GHQ, Geo news reported on Friday morning, meanwhile, search operation and air surveillance is still continued. At least four terrorists were killed and two were arrested while a dead body of an unidentified person was also recovered form the encounter place, sources said. The miscreants have been overpowered and the situation is under completely control, spokesman ISPR Ather Abbas confirmed to Geo news.
According to details suspected militants attacked tightly guarded army headquarters on Saturday, as they were in a white Suzuki vehicle and were intercepted at army checkpost no 1, they opened fire and threw five grenades at a main gate, security officials and media said. ”They wore army uniforms and tried to enter the headquarters area but when they were stopped they opened fire and hurled hand grenades,” a security official told media.
Four terrorists were killed and two were arrested during one-hour long encounter, army sources said. The suspected militants had driven up to the gate in a white Suzuki van that was carrying explosives, the official said. Media sources said firing was still going on with the two or three gunmen for forty minutes after the attack was launched. Three blasts had been heard, they said. Soldiers sealed off roads leading to the headquarters and ahelicopter was hovering over the area.
All terrorists killed in GHQ gun battle: ISPR
ISLAMABAD: The spokesman Pakistan army Major General Athar Abbas has confirmed to Geo news that the situation outside army General Headquarters (GHQ) has been brought under total control meanwhile, all four terrorists who carried out gun onslaught at army checkpost, have been killed.
According to sources, four terrorists, driving a white Suzuki van and dressed in army uniform, opened firing and hurled hand grenades at army checkpost outside headquarters’ main gate, which security forces retaliated successfully, killing all four terrorists while two were arrested. Some security guards were also embrace martyrdom during offensive, Abbas said, adding, army commandos had cordoned off the entire area and search operation remained underway to locate other militants who might have fled through adjacent areas. The miscreants have been overpowered and the situation is under complete control just after one-hour long gunbattle, spokesman ISPR Athar Abbas confirmed to Geo news.
According to details suspected militants attacked tightly guarded army headquarters on Saturday, as they were in a white Suzuki vehicle and were intercepted at army checkpost no 1, they opened fire and threw five hand grenades at a main gate, security officials and media said. ”They wore army uniforms and tried to enter the headquarters area but when they were stopped they opened fire and hurled hand grenades and later were killed following a deadly gunbattle,” a security official told media. Four terrorists were killed and two were arrested during one-hour long encounter and four army men embraced martyrdom, army sources said. Media sources said firing continued with the two or three gunmen for forty minutes after the attack was launched. Three blasts had been heard, they said. Soldiers had sealed off roads leading to the headquarters and two helicopters remained hovering over the area.
4 army men killed in attack: ISPR
RAWALPINDI: The Director General of Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Athar Abbas has confirmed that four army personnel have been killed during the attack at GHQ on Saturday, Geo News reported.
Six army men martyred in GHQ onslaught
ISLAMABAD: Spokesman Pakistan armed forces and DG ISPR Major General Athar Abbas said Friday that six army personnel embraced martyrdom during gunbattle with suspected Taliban militant outside army headquarters in Rawalpindi, Geo news reported. This ISPR spokesman stated while giving details on the military-militants encounter during Geo news program Aaj Kamran Khan Kay Sath. He said the search operation cum air surveillance, with a view to locate the fled militants, are underway in areas adjacent to headquarters.
GHQ attack foiled
RAWALPINDI: Pakistan army has foiled the terrorists attack on GHQ and killed four terrorists whereas six army men embraced shahadat during the action completed within one hour. According to reports, four terrorists riding in a white car targeted check post near GHQ. They tried to move another check post when security guards intercept them. Security forces retaliated swiftly and effectively and killed four terrorists during an hour long action. Six security personnel had been martyred in the operation.
DG ISPR Major General Athar Abbas said terrorists wearing forces uniform and riding in a white Suzuki car attacked first check post with automatic weapons. On the resistance of security guards, they tried to move towards another check point. Four terrorists were killed during exchange of fire. The area has been cordoned off as search operation in underway in the area and situation is completely under control.
Two fleeing terrorists under siege in Rawalpindi
RAWALPINDI: Two terrorists who escaped after attacking GHQ have taken refuge in a security office near second GHQ check post, ISPR said Saturday. Security personnel have surrounded the office, ISPR added.
Earlier, six terrorists attempted to launch an attack on GHQ which was foiled by the security personnel. Four terrorists were killed while two escaped from the scene. Six security men were also martyred in the incident. The security men later found that the escaped terrorists took shelter in a nearby security office which is now surrounded by security forces.
The security forces have also raided a house in Islamabad, about 4 to 5 kilometers away from GHQ, where the terrorists had been residing before launching today’s attack, sources said. Security forces have arrested the owner of the house where the terrorists had planned the attack, sources added. The terrorists were believed to have been residing in this house for the last three to four months, sources said. Security uniforms, hand grenades and detonators have been recovered from the house, sources said.
6 security men martyred, 4 terrorists killed in failed GHQ attack
RAWALPINDI: The terrorists attack on GHQ has been foiled as four terrorists were killed and six security personnel martyred in the action whereas search operation for two terrorists still at large is underway. According to reports, terrorists in army uniform attempted to get entry into GHQ at 11:30 am on Saturday from gate no 1. When stopped by security officials, they reached at check post no 1 and opened fire on security men after taking positions after leaving the car. Four terrorists were killed and two fled during trade of fire between security officials and terrorists. Army gunship helicopters started hovering over the area for vigilance. The commandos seized the bodies of terrorists and shifted them.
DG ISPR Athar Abbas confirmed killing of four terrorists whereas six security officials were also martyred in the operation. Two terrorists managed to flee. Search operation is underway in the area to nab the two terrorists at large. All roads leading to GHQ have been sealed after the incident.
Terrorists hold 10-15 people hostage in security office
ISLAMABAD: About 4 to 5 terrorists in a security office near second GHQ check post are holding 10-15 people, including security and civil personnel, hostage after the attempted attack on GHQ, DG ISPR Maj. General Athar Abbas said on Saturday. Security personnel have surrounded the office, ISPR added.
Earlier, six terrorists attempted to launch an attack on GHQ which was foiled by the security personnel. Four terrorists were killed while two escaped from the scene. Six security men including a Brigadier Anwar and Lt. Col. Wasim were also martyred in the incident. Six terrorists in army uniform attempted to get entry into GHQ at 11:30 am on Saturday from gate no 1. When stopped by security officials, they reached at check post no 1 and opened fire on security men after taking positions after leaving the car. Four terrorists were killed and two fled during trade of fire between security officials and terrorists. Army gunship helicopters started hovering over the area for vigilance. The commandos seized the bodies of terrorists and shifted them.
The DG ISPR confirmed killing of four terrorists whereas six security personnel including Brigadier Anwar and Lt. Col. Wasim were also martyred in the operation. Two terrorists managed to flee. The security men later found that the escaped terrorists took shelter in a nearby security office which is now surrounded by security forces. The ISPR said that more than two terrorists are in the security office where several security personnel are held hostage.
Responsibility of Attack
KARACHI: Tahreek-e-Taliban (Ajmad Farooqi) group has claimed responsibility of attack on army headquarters. In a telephone call made to Geo News office, member of TTP group demanded
- Halt of operation in northern areas,
- Accountability of former President Pervez Musharraf,
- Return of black water and
- Closure of Western NGOs.
Condemns
President Zardari condemns GHQ attack
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari has condemned the attack at GHQ in Rawalpindi. President Zardari in his statement said such incidents could not weaken governments’ commitment against terrorism.
PM Gilani slams GHQ attack
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani slammed the attack at military headquarters in Rawalpindi.
Coal reserves of Pakistan are endagered to be sold on throw away Prices
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Thar coal Reserves
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These reserves estimated at 850 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas, about 30 times higher than Pakistan ’s proven gas reserves of 28 TCF. Dr Murtaza Mughal president of Pakistan Economy Watch in a statement said that these reserves of coal worth USD 25 trillion can not only cater the electricity requirements of the country for next 100 years but also save almost four billion dollars in staggering oil import bill. Just 2% usage of Thar Coal Can Produce 20,000 Mega Watts of Electricity for next 40Years ,without any single Second of Load Shedding. The coal power generation would cost Pakistan PKR 5.67 per unit while power generated by Independent Power Projects cost PKR 9.27. It Requires Just Initial 420 Billion Rupees Initial Investment, Whereas Pakistan Receives annually 1220 Billion from Tax Only. Chinese and other companies had not only carried out surveys and feasibilities of this project but also offered 100 percent investment in last 7 to 8 years but the “Petroleum Gang” always discouraged them in a very systematic way. But Petroleum lobby, is very strong in Pakistan and they are against any other means of power generation except for the imported oil. This lobby is major beneficiary of the increasing oil bill that is estimated above 15 billion dollar this year. Even GOVT is planning to Sell all these reserve to a company on a very low price. Think About This, How We Can Help Our Home Land .
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