Pakistan (20)
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) in a statement on Tuesday issued a directive to all telecommunications companies to stop late night mobile phone packages, on the grounds of “violating social norms and values” of the country. The late night packages offered by almost every telecom company in Pakistan are a tool to encourage consumption during off-peak hours, in line with similar packages being offered globally. The packages, which offer nominal rates for calls and texts, are hugely popular among the youth in the country. “We have received a number of complaints from the Supreme Court of Pakistan, the Standing Committee of the Parliament, senators, MNAs and subscribers regarding the promotion of vulgarity through such advertisements and have therefore asked CMOs to immediately discontinue such packages and to present compliance reports,” said PTA Chairman Farooq Awan. ‘Rash decision’ say experts This ban is drawing criticism for being ill-thought out and against consumer rights. Waseem Hashmi, Manager Coordination and Outreach at the Consumer Rights Commission of Pakistan called the ban an infringement of personal freedom and rights. “The issue has not been taken up internally yet, but it is a rash decision and we do not support such rash decisions,” he said. Calling the…
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WASHINGTON: Nearly a week after he chaired a Congressional hearing on Balochistan, US Congressman Dana Rohrabacher introduced a resolution in the US House of Representatives calling upon Pakistan to recognise the Baloch right to self determination. The motion, which has been co-sponsored by House Representatives Louie Gohmert and Steve King, highlights Balochistan’s troubled past with the centre after the creation of Pakistan. According to the text, ‘revolts’ in 1958, 1973 and 2005 “indicate continued popular discontent against Islamabad’s rule, and the plunder of its vast natural wealth while the province remains the poorest in the country.” It is US policy to “oppose aggression and the violation of human rights inherent in the subjugation of national groups as currently being shown in Iran and Pakistan against the aspirations of the Baloch people,” said the motion. In a definitive spin to the current tension, the resolution asserts that the people of Balochistan that are “currently divided between Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan, have the right to self-determination and to their own sovereign country,” adding that they should be afforded the opportunity to choose their own status among the community of nations. In a statement from his office, Rohrabacher, who is also the Chair of…
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Some years stand out because they change the course of history and some because they change us. 2011 has been a year which has invariably accomplished both. It’s changed the way we think about our society, about politics, about the possibilities for social change.Without meandering into hyperbole, it’s safe to say that it’s been an extraordinary year, full of tragedy and tumult that could rank it with 1968 and 1945 as an era-defining 12 months.It began with the revolution in Tunisia, which sparked a struggle and resistance that has swept through the world like wildfire.The phenomenon came to be known as the Arab Spring, had millions of Egyptians, Syrians, Bahrainis and Libyans rise up against Western-backed dictators and agendas that have condemned people to poverty and repression for decades.The revolutions in the Middle East in turn inspired workers the world over, spreading to the occupations of hundreds of public squares in Spain, and fanning the winds of workers’ struggle in Greece and eventually to the streets of New York as a global wave of resistance threaded its way to the US in the form of the Occupy movement, rallying against the inequalities endemic to the system.The Occupy movement has shaken…
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ISLAMABAD: A nine-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry resumed the hearing of the Memogate scandal case on Tuesday, 27 Dec, 2011.Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani submitted a reply to the Supreme Court regarding Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Babar Awan’s press conference. In the reply, the prime minister said that the press conference by leaders of his party was not meant to offend the apex court or its judges, and can not be taken as contempt.The Chief Justice had said that the press conference was very significant in this case.Attorney General Maulvi Anwar-ul-Haq told the court that the former ambassador of Pakistan to the US, Hussain Haqqani had presented his resignation on November 16 in national interest. The memo exists, the attorney general added, but the government only considers it a ‘piece of paper’.Moreover, Anwar-ul-Haq added that the Supreme Court should let the parliamentary committee complete its investigation.The Chief Justice questioned that if the memo was merely a piece of a paper then, what was the task of the ‘parliamentary investigation committee’?He said the courts cannot just stop working because of the committee and the nation stood united against any compromise on the…
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