Pakistan marks 60th anniversary
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6945206.stm



Celebrations are taking place across Pakistan to commemorate the 60th anniversary of independence from the UK and the creation of the country.

President Musharraf marked the anniversary by staunchly defending sovereignty and calling on the nation to unite against terrorism.

Pakistan is celebrating on Tuesday and India marks independence one day later.

The violent partition of 1947 saw 10 million people cross borders in one of history's largest mass migrations.

'Sabre-rattling'

Fireworks lit up the sky and crowds filled the streets as clocks struck midnight in the capital, Islamabad.

Dawn then sounded with 21-gun salutes across the country and millions took to the streets on a national holiday.

Both President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz launched strong defences of national sovereignty to mark the day.

In comments released by the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan, President Musharraf fiercely rejected allegations that his anti-terrorism platform was for the benefit of the US.

"We are not confronting terrorism for America, we are doing it for ourselves," he said.

"I see everything from Pakistan's point of view. Now if Pakistan's point of view suits America, all right."

Gen Musharraf denounced as "sabre-rattling" suggestions by some US politicians that America should use military force if necessary against al-Qaeda in Pakistan without Islamabad's consent.

"I am 200% sure that these [comments] are neither at official nor at government level," he said.

Gen Musharraf said al-Qaeda and other militant organisations using Pakistan's border areas posed a threat to the country that must be tackled.

"It is time that the entire nation rises against them," he said.

The president said that national elections this year would be free and fair, ensure economic stability and would be held in a free media environment.

Mr Aziz vowed to stop any "foreign power" from violating the country's borders as he attended a traditional flag-hoisting ceremony in Islamabad, adding that nuclear weapons were "symbols of our national honour".

Prisoner exchange

Correspondents say that this year's celebrations have been more low-key than usual because of tighter security created by the threat from Islamic militants.

The mood was sombre and serious, with security forces on high alert after weeks of unrest and bloodshed.

The BBC's Dan Isaacs in Islamabad says that people who did attend celebrations were under no illusions that the months ahead are going to be turbulent.

Crowds waved flags and set off firecrackers in the capital, but spirits were dampened somewhat by a torrential downpour that quickly turned the streets and grass verges into a muddy swamp.

Later in the day a minute's silence commemorated the hundreds of thousands of people who died in rioting when Pakistan was carved out of British India.

To herald the celebrations in both countries, Pakistan allowed 134 Indian prisoners to return home on Monday, mostly fishermen or people who had strayed across the border.

India formally handed over 72 Pakistani prisoners on Tuesday as it prepared to mark its Independence Day.

Is the date same as India?

Moviez, did you go out and celebrate with your imaginary friends?

Allah ho akbar !!!!

60 YEARS OF PAKISTAN: A ROLE MODEL FOR DEVELOPMENT
http://www.telegraphnepal.com/news_det.php?news_id=1834

Kathmandu: Gone are the days that countries in the region looked towards the far- developed and democratic West searching for a role model.

If it is India for Democracy then Pakistan is for Development, both our neighbors with similar cultural values and traditions as well.

However, India’s claim that it is a role model for democracy for the underdeveloped countries-has of late been proved damn wrong and is more so a farce claim because India is fighting insurgencies running throughout length and breadth of the country waged by groups that are facing discriminations since ages and simultaneously finding it difficult to mainstream the world’s majority poor living there.

“And point to be noted is that India’s development has been achieved largely at the cost of its neighbors”, say experts. It is widely believed in Nepal that when a tree grows taller and taller and takes deep roots underground, the said tree thus caps the possibility for the growths of smaller trees which ultimately die a premature death. This fits into Indian designs and contemplations that the country has acquired since the advent of Nehru in Indian politics.

Nepal, the country reeling under the ever increasing political instability- has remained unable to carry out development activities because of the increasing fight among the India affiliated political parties who virtually run under the instructions of their political masters seated in India’s capital New Delhi. The instability in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka has also the origin in India, say some others.

Then there is Pakistan- just a leap across India that was formed only sixty years back, which has proved all critics wrong by becoming a role model for development.

High rising buildings, newly constructed modern road infrastructures, industrial growth, education facilities, health facilities across the length and breadth of the country and the growing economy, above all, does prove that Pakistan is a nation on the move.

“Of the total 160 Million population, the country has 100 million population below the age of twenty-five and growing middle class, there are lots of prospects”, says Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.

This the Pakistani Prime Minister said while meeting a delegation of Nepalese Journalists only last week.

With per capita income of more than a thousand dollar per year and in average two mobile communication sets per family, we are the country on the move, he beamingly said.

“However, some international write-ups that are mostly biased, take Pakistan as a vulnerable state and poverty rampant seems to have been penned without adequate knowledge about the country, Mr. Aziz- responding to a query posed by this scribe responded.

He added, “We would be happy to greet those writers in our territory prior to making their views public about Pakistan, if they wish so”.

“On the one hand we are fighting terrorism and narcotics trade originating from Afghanistan- the largest drug producer and on the other hand we have to raise the livelihoods of our people, the task is difficult yet not impossible”, Shaukat added.

“We have improved our relations with India in the last eight years, Pakistan is more focused on improving economic activities between the two countries rather than continuing the age-old standoff”, he added.

Pakistan is of the opinion that if issues creating fissures between the two countries are solved amicably then neither India nor Pakistan will be in the loosing side, Mr. Aziz added. It would be for both a “win-win” situation, he added.

Similarly, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri talking to the journalists said, “Private funding in media has seen an exponential growth over the past few years-there are more than fifty different TV channels”. “Pakistan’s media is as vibrant as any where in the world”, the Pak FM adds.

The country that provides home to the huge contingent of refugees approximately 3 million, originating from across the western border –Afghanistan, is finding it difficult to make their livelihood better with a meager support from the UN and considerable negative impact on its economy, however, is still welcoming the refugees perhaps not doing wrong to its age old hospitable tradition.

Thus for the Nepalese on the one hand, there is India- just across the ever shrinking Nepali border courtesy India again, and on the other, there is also Pakistan just a leap across India that has ever since its formation facing innumerable difficulties such as guarding their bravely acquired Independence first from the British Raj and the ruling Hindu elites in the pre-partisan India to choose between as a role model.

60 YEARS OF PAKISTAN: A ROLE MODEL FOR DEVELOPMENT
http://www.telegraphnepal.com/news_det.php?news_id=1834

^ What a badly written article. The author seem to wandering in his own dream world.

Is it true that India has MORE muslims than Pakistan?