DAILY BUSINESS NEWS AND IN BRIEF:30.06.2011

Brief News:

SBP de-schedules Mybank after merger into Summit Bank
Change of IMF chief not to affect Pak-Fund negotiations
Pakistan tells US to leave ‘drone’ air base
‘US operations have crippled Qaeda’
Mehran attackers had inside support: Navy
Six Rangers personnel charged with murder
Revenue share under 7th NFC Award
UK supermarket to sell Pakistani mangoes

US Troops to vacate Shamsi base soon: Ahmed Mukhtar
ISLAMABAD, June 29: Pakistan has asked the United States to withdraw its forces from the Shamsi airbase. It will be vacated soon, while the Ghazi airbase has already been handed over to the Pakistan Air Force.
This was stated here on Wednesday by Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar. Talking to a group of journalists, he said the Americans had started moving equipment and materials from the Shamsi airbase which had been leased to the UAE. The Ghazi airbase located in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has already been vacated.
The Shamsi airbase in Balochistan has been used by the Americans for supplies to ISAF forces in Afghanistan and for launching drone attacks in tribal areas.
(According to AFP, a US embassy spokeswoman said there were no US military personnel at the Shamsi base.)
A defence ministry official told Dawn that the government had decided to get the base vacated because of a significant reduction in the flow of US funds and the growing trust deficit between the two countries.
The defence minister admitted that trust deficit had grown significantly, especially after the May 2 US Abbottabad raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound.
“One year ago they (Americans) thought differently; now they are not recognising the sacrifices and cooperation of the Pakistanis,” he
said.
About the Abbottabad operation, he said: “They (Americans) have demoralised the whole nation only to kill one man.”
Chaudhry Mukhtar said the policy on war on terror needed to be revised because of the rising cost of military operations against militants on the western border and also because the US might further delay or reduce financial support for Pakistan. “Although the eastern border is currently quiet and tensions are at the border with Afghanistan, we need deterrent at the east and ISAF can take care of the western side,” he said.
The minister said the country was facing serious social impact of the war. He said that 3,000 youths who had been trained by terrorists were in the custody of armed forces, but the serious issue was their prosecution.
The youths have been arrested during military operations in Swat and other areas.
“We are still not clear which courts will hear their cases,” the minister said. He accused the US of not cooperating with Pakistan in plans to rehabilitate these youths, envisaged after the first Afghan war and the post-9/11 war.
Chaudhry Mukhtar said the trust deficit could be reduced if both Pakistan and the US took the matter seriously. “It cannot be done unilaterally.”
He said that negotiations should be held with saner elements on both sides of the border to bring peace to the region. “We will have to sit on the table to end the war and the US also has to do that. If the US wants peace with good Taliban they will have to talk in a room and not engage at mountain tops.”
Chaudhry Mukhtar claimed that the US had not even given Pakistan the required quantity of equipment, including the military hardware, while the quality of equipment supplied was also not up to the mark.
“Even the helicopters they (Americans) have supplied have not been A-class equipment which was promised at various stages of negotiations; and not to speak of their number,” he said.
However, he said, the US had agreed to provide three P-3 Orion surveillance aircraft. Pakistan lost three such aircraft; two were destroyed during a terrorist attack on the PNS Mehran in Karachi and another plunged into sea.
Answering a question, the minister said that widows and children of Osama bin Laden would be repatriated to their home countries in 10 days.
“One of his (Osama) wives will go to Yemen and others to their native countries.” However, he added, the government had not received any
formal request from any foreign country for their return.
Chaudhry Mukhtar rejected the US claim that Mulla Omar is in Pakistan. “First of all, it is absurd to say that Mullah Omer could have taken refuge in Pakistan, but still it is obvious that he would have left Pakistan after Bin Laden’s killing.”

US told to consider Pakistan’s constraints
ISLAMABAD: The Army on Wednesday asked US commanders to be mindful of its ‘concerns and constraints’ before publicly lashing out at its counter-militancy efforts.
“Our concerns and constraints must be taken into consideration before making any statement questioning our commitment to fighting militancy,” said ISPR chief Maj-Gen Athar Abbas in a rejoinder to statements made at their testimonies before US Senate’s Armed Services Committee by Lt-Gen John Allen, nominated as the next commander of US and Nato forces in Afghanistan, and Admiral William McRaven, designated to lead Special Operations Command.
Gen Abbas said: “We reject the allegations levelled by senior US military officials… casting aspersions on the desire and capability of Pakistan Army to fight militancy.”
Admiral McRaven, speaking on Pakistan’s reluctance to launch military offensive against the North Waziristan-based Haqqani network, had said it was “both a capacity issue and potentially a willingness issue”. He added: “I don’t think it (the mindset) is likely to change.”
Gen Allen had said Pakistan looked to be “hedging” against a possible US withdrawal by not acting against the Haqqanis.
The statements by American commanders expressing doubts about intentions of Pakistani commanders in the fight against militants are indicative of the rapid deterioration in military ties between the US and Pakistan in the aftermath of May 2 raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound.
The army, Gen Abbas said, is engaged in active operations against militants in three of the seven agencies in the tribal belt, whereas in the other agencies it was intensely involved in consolidation and stabilisation of the areas regained from militants.
Separately, another senior military official criticised the US for pushing Pakistan for action against Haqqanis and other militant groups at a time when it was holding negotiations with the Afghan Taliban.
“Our plate is too full,” he cautioned, adding that if the troops were further thinned down to start new operations reversals of gains made against militants could begin.
The official regretted that military strategists in Washington did not grasp the ground situation. “It is not just about kinetics (active military operations); in Pakistan’s case the army has to back the operations with consolidating and stabilisation because the civilian infrastructure is virtually non-existent in those areas.”
He said Pakistan Army cannot resort to indiscriminate use of force against its own people in tribal areas and would take tribes on board before acting against militants.


Massive hike in gas tariff on the cards
ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to increase natural gas tariff by 15 per cent for domestic consumers and between 18 per cent and 96 per cent for different categories with effect from Friday (the first day of the new financial year) and spread uniform gas loadshedding across the country starting early winter.
Petroleum Minister Dr Asim Hussain confirmed to reporters on Wednesday that a gas tariff rationalisation plan would be submitted to an emergency meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet on Thursday for approval.
In the absence of Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, who is currently in the United States on holidays, Water and Power Minister Syed Naveed Qamar is expected to preside over the meeting. Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani is reported to have given green signal for the tariff increase during a meeting he had with the petroleum minister earlier in the day.
Authentic sources told Dawn that the petroleum ministry had recommended to the ECC to increase natural gas prices for all domestic consumers by 15 per cent, 18 per cent for industrial consumers, 36 per cent for power sector, including Wapda, KESC and independent power producers, and about 96 per cent for fertiliser feedstock for older plants.
The summary also seeks to gradually eliminate all cross-subsidies in gas tariff. Also, the prices for transport sector through compressed natural gas (CNG) would be increased to 65 per cent of petrol price from the current 45 per cent.
The proposal was immediately rejected by CNG stations’ association.
The sources said the overall objective of the gas price rationalisation was to bring in uniformity in fuel prices and remove all subsidies so that full cost of gas was recovered from consumers.
Officials said the increased gas prices would not be notified on June 30 as required under the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) law in view of a case pending with the Sindh High Court against proposed increase in prescribed prices. They said the court was expected to take up the case on July 1 and decide the matter to pave the way for Ogra to provide prescribed prices for the gas utilities that would be reflected in consumer tariff in a matter of two-three days.
Dr Asim said the government planned to increase gas rates by 10-15 per cent for domestic, 15-20 per cent for industrial and 100 per cent for fertilizer sector on the advent of the next financial year. He said the notification to this effect would be issued after the SHC disposed of the case.
In what seems to be a departure from the current government policy of providing maximum gas to the province it produces, Mr Hussain said the loadshedding this winter would be uniform in all the provinces. He said the two-day loadshedding would also be applied this winter to the CNG sector and industry in Sindh.
This change in policy, however, has a caveat. The gas saving of about 200 million cubic feet per day (MMCFD) achieved through closure to the CNG sector and industry in Sindh would be diverted to the Karachi Electric Supply Company to ensure uninterrupted electricity supply by the KESC.
He said the gas contracts with four IPPs (independent power producers) were expiring on June 30 and a summary had been sent to the ECC, whether the supplies should continue or not. He added that personally he was against provision of gas to IPPs which should be run on furnace oil.
He did not agree with a suggestion that gas saved in Sindh would be diverted to other provinces.
Abdullah Ghias Piracha, chairman of the All Pakistan CNG Owners Association, said the agreement to supply 152mmcfd of gas to four IPPs was ending on June 30 and the gas thus saved should now be supplied to the CNG sector to end its two weekly closures.


Mohammed Saleem Mansoori