Internal Affairs + News of Pakistan

[Pakistan (LaVoie)]

Pakistani Olymic Team Heads to Britain in the midst of Visa Scam Scandal

The Pakistan Olympic Team today departed for the 2012 Olympic Games in London despite uproar in the host nation following the uncovering of a Visa Scam by a British Newspaper. According to the investigation, a group of travel agents and politicians are involved in the scam which allows anyone to travel with the Pakistani contingent as support staff if they pay a certain amount of money.
Fake passports, travel documents, a visa for two months and a letter from the Pakistan Sports Board claiming that the person is part of Pakistan’s Olympic support staff can all be arranged for around one million Pakistani rupees (7000 pounds), it has been reported. Despite the crisis surrounding the departure of the team, the whole of Pakistan continues to stand behind its male and female athletes for the entirety of the games with likely medal prospects coming in the form of the Hockey, in which the men enter the games following victory in the Asian Games in China.

[Pakistan (LaVoie)]

Cross-Border Artillery Barrage Continues

The Pakistan Military today continued its artillery barrage of Taliban insurgents within the Afghan border despite international condemnation and deteriorating relations with neighbours, Afghanistan. An Artillery Brigade from the 7th Infantry Division based in Peshawar engaged known Taliban Strongholds within the Afghan border in the provinces of Nanghahar and Konar following clashes within Pakistan resulted in casualties for the Pakistani Army. The Pakistan Commander, Kamran Khan today claimed at a Press Conference in Islamabad that the Pakistan Military could not allow the Taliban Insurgents to use the International borders as a shield and inorder to fight the enemy effectively we must pursue them wherever they flee. Political experts believe this move will result in continued condemnation of Pakistan among the international community but also perhaps put the final nail in the coffin with Pakistan-Afghan relations.

[Pakistan (LaVoie)]

SSG Raid on BLA

Elite Special Forces Group, the SSG today launched a series of attacks on known Balochistan Liberation Army strongholds in the cities of Gwadar and Turbat resulting in the death of at least 15 terrorists belonging to the BLA. It is believed the raids have been planned for a number of weeks with a Press Release from Prime Minister, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf confirming that investigations into the hideouts following the raids have revealed a series of bombings were in the final stages of planning and would therefore prove a real threat to Pakistan. Ashraf also confirmed that some of those in the hideouts are believed to have Iranian nationality and called on both Iran and Pakistan to work together to eradicate these terrorists which pose a threat to the safety and security of the people of both Iran and Pakistan.

[Pakistan (LaVoie)]

Seven Killed in Bajaur Market

A bomb has killed at least seven people in the north-western Pakistani tribal region of Bajaur. The explosion that engulfed a market place at midday has injured at least 30 others with no group coming forward claiming responsibility for the attacks, however Bajaur does border with Afghanistan near known Taliban strongholds and many experts believe this could be a response to the securing of the border via artillery strikes conducted by the military last week. The government has promised to deploy more troops to the region in an attempt to stop the Taliban from operating in the region although with the Afghan border regions so unstable with the Afghan Military and Police so corrupt that little can be done to prevent the Taliban from operating relatively freely before crossing the border and striking in Pakistan.

[Pakistan (LaVoie)]

Islamabad Bid for Commonwealth Games?

Rumours are circulating throughout the government and media that preparations are being made for Islamabad to bid to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Any potential bid will not be decided until November 2015 with major competition expected to come from Durban, Singapore and Cardiff. Islamabad will hope to follow New Delhi who hosted the 2010 games with mixed reviews surrounding the facilities and atmosphere. Islamabad will hope to trump their Indian rivals by hosting a far more successful games. Glasgow will host the games in 2014 followed by Gold Coast City in 2018.

[Pakistan (LaVoie)]

Karzai Complains to UNSC

Afghan President Hamid Karzai today announced that he would be approaching the United Nations over the alleged infringement of Afghani national sovereignity by the Pakistan Military. The Prime Minister, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf today responded to allegations made by Karzai of the government sponsoring militant groups in order to justify repeated sovereignty violations "in a concerted effort to destabilize the Afghan nation." Ashraf claimed that Islamabad is in no way sponsoring any groups engaged in conflict with Pakistan, Afghanistan or the West and will continue to combat this menace in as effective way as possible. Ashraf also claimed that the Taliban continues to cower from the Pakistan military behind the border and called upon Karzai to put an end to this so that Pakistan would no longer need to secure its borders so as to maintain its security.

[Pakistan (LaVoie)]

Dassault Mirage III to be Retired

The 75 Variants of the Dassault Mirage III are to be retired from active service in the Pakistani Air Force following announcement made by the Defence Ministry today. The French designed aircraft originally entered service in 1968 but has undergone numerous updates since then and was often seen as the backbone of the Air Force. Despite recent upgrade from France and South Africa speculation has risen over the safety of the aircraft with numerous crashes involving them over recent years. Plans had already been made for the Mirage III to be replaced by 2015 by the more modern joint-project with China, the PAC JF-17 Thunder but these plans have been moved up. Numerous attempts have been made over the years to bring the Mirage IIIs to a modern standard but many of these including Project ROSE were cancelled due to high costs to these projects as well as the ageing airframes of the aircraft. Instead the Defence Ministry favoured new projects in which the aircraft could be built in Pakistan itself while retaining high quality designs via cooperation with the People's Republic of China. It is now expected that the Dassault Mirage III fleet will entered extended readiness until 2015 where it will be put into reserve entirely with the entry of new aircraft.

[Pakistan (LaVoie)]

All Schools to teach Chinese

In 2011 the government of the Sindh province announced plans to make Chinese compulsory in schools from 2013 but plans have now been announced for schools in all provinces to also provide Chinese language classes for all children from class Six. This policy continues the tradition of maintaining strong relations with the People's Republic of China which former Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani described as Pakistan's "best friend". Critics however say the policy is purely political and will need considerable investment in teaching staff and materials, and further stretch limited resources. Doubts have been raised over whether this ambitious project is even achievable in the short-term despite government promises that incentives will be offered to students taking Chinese in further education such as foreign scholarships. The policy now means that students will now have four compulsory languages to learn - English, Urdu, Sindhi and now Chinese resulting in speculation that students may be given an option after a year to choose between Chinese and English.