Istanbul, August 25
Pakistan today urged the release of billions of dollars of promised international aid for development projects as it argued that economic prosperity was the best way to counter extremism.

Speaking at an international gathering on ways to stabilise the nuclear-armed South Asian country, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that improving socio-economic development was key to addressing the security challenges Islamabad faces.

"Pakistan is determined to eliminate (extremism and terrorism) from its soil as they are alien to our ethos," Qureshi told a gathering of the Friends of Democratic Pakistan group.

"A strong Pakistan on the path to development and prosperity is the strongest bulwark against all such retrograde forces." The minister urged international donors to release aid totalling more than five billion dollars pledged at a conference in Tokyo in April, underlining that the need for resources to rehabiliate areas in northwest Pakistan where the army launched a massive operation against the Taliban in April.

"Pledges made at the Tokyo donors' meeting must be realised," he said.

Some 2.3 million people were dislocated as a result of the military push in the districts of Swat, Buner and Lower Dir after militants advanced perilously close to the capital. In July, the Pakistani army claimed to have cleaned the area of the Taliban threat, saying that it has killed more than 1,900 militants in the operation.

Qureshi said nearly half of the displaced had returned home, but stressed that rebuilding their livelihoods and the area's infratsructure was a "challenge".

The main focus in today's meeting was the Malakand Pilot Project, a comprehensive development programme that focusses on education and mechanisms to prevent Islamic extremists from taking hold again in the areas cleaned out by the army.

"Our partners in Friends of Democratic Pakistan can join and assist the government of Pakistan in this undertaking," Qureishi said.

Participants will also discuss ways of encouraging the private sector from the group's member countries to invest in Pakistan and increasing their partnership with the public sector.

The talks will also focus on preparations for the group's first summit planned to take place in New York in September that will be hosted by US President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Pakistani President Asaf Ali Zardari. — AFP

A series of exchange of ministerial-level visits have helped Australia and India to enter into several new strategic alliances, including the climate change, besides highlighting issues of common concern in an endeavour to further strengthen the bilateral relations.

A group of senior officials of the Australian government in an informal interaction with a select group of visiting Indian newsman, held that a series of initiatives, including strategic partnerships on issues like maritime security, climate change, carbon capture and storage, besides improving commerce and trade have been initiated during the past 18 months in which nine Indian ministers have visited Australia.

International education is a subject that will figure prominently when Australian Deputy Prime Minister J. Gillard, accompanied by two of her ministerial colleagues, will be visiting India from August 30 for four days.

Though Australia could not promise a firm date to weed out “dodgy colleges” from its international education programme, it has taken a series of measures to redress concerns expressed by its Indian counterparts.

Admitting that India has been the largest source for international students, the Australian officials maintain that stricter controls will be soon in place to weed out unwanted components, be it the providers or the phoney agents.

They do not agree that international education is linked to the skill and demand driven migration policy. Both are separate and we have explained it to our Indian counterparts. It is also made it clear to the students coming to Australia that their studies in Australia cannot guarantee them immigration. Immigration depends upon the demand for any particular category of skills that keeps on changing, they add.

Deputy Prime Minister Gillard, who also handles education and employment, said they had already introduced amendments to the Act that controls activities of education providers to international students. “All international education institutions have to re-register themselves. Bogus institutes will be weeded out. Already four of the private colleges have closed down. Special task force set up by the Prime Minister is also expected to give its first report by November this year;” he said.

Changes in the migration and visa policy have already been introduced.

Australians maintain that any changes in the education or migration policy will not affect any student with genuine interest in studies. Those who are well versed in English and have good financial support will continue to be admitted in Australian institutes.

Though major universities and TAFE institutions have done well in putting in place special programmes to help international students in general and Indian students in particular to adjust to new environs, some private colleges were proving to be the villains of the show.

Issue of subsidised transport facilities for international students in Victoria and New South Wales provinces has also been taken up and is likely to be sorted out soon, they said. In case of closure of any private college, they held, the Australian government was committed to adjust the students so affected in other colleges with similar courses thus saving them from any harassment.

The Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) has rejected the criticism by Muttahida Qaumi Moment’s chief Altaf Hussain against Nawaz Sharif that the latter was a party to the army operation against the MQM activists in 1992.

In an impassioned speech Monday to “celebrate” the “confessional” statements of two senior retired army officers absolving the MQM of planning to set up a separate state “Jinnahpur”, Altaf asked Sharif to admit that he at least did not stop the operation that he could as prime minister.

“Nawaz Sharif had no hand in the unauthorised crack down against the MQM that had been launched while he was in London,” Ahsan Iqbal, information secretary of the PML-N said in a rejoinder to Altaf's allegation. He said the then army chief, General Asif Nawaz, gave the go-ahead for the military operation without any political consultation.

Two retired military men, Lt General Nasir Akhtar, then corps commander of Karachi, and Brig Imtiaz, chief of civilian Intelligence Bureau (IB), in TV interviews said the claim that Jinnahpur maps were recovered during raids on MQM offices was incorrect. Altaf Hussain said the confession vindicated MQM's position, which has all along been branded as traitor depriving it the opportunity to become country's most powerful party.

The interviews and Altaf's euphoric response have spurred a heated debate in the country. Both have since refuted the inference drawn by Altaf from their statements. Brig Imtiaz said the recovery of maps was a 'drama" designed to divide the people. But, he said, the military establishment in Pakistan have always bypassed civilian governments on crucial decisions.

Gen Akhtar said the army had withdrawn the allegation within two days. Akhtar, however, has denied that the operation had been launched against the MQM and that it was triggered by the so-called maps. “This was an operation against criminals across Sindh province who had ran over the province creating serious law and order conditions,” Akhtar explained.