Trouble breaks out at G20 summit

Trouble has flared as world leaders gather in the US city of Pittsburgh for the G20 summit.

Reports said riot police used pepper gas and fired rubber bullets at protesters on a march near the venue.

Demonstrations were widely expected and thousands of extra police are on duty. The previous G20 meeting, in London in April, was marred by clashes.

Economic stability, financial regulation, climate change and bankers' bonuses are set to top the G20 agenda.

The clashes are thought to have begun after hundreds of protesters tried to march, without permission, towards the convention centre where the summit is being held.

'Party over'

With many major economies beginning to climb out of recession - attention will turn to when and how to withdraw government stimulus packages.

Cracking down on bankers' bonuses has popular appeal with the public, it is expected that an agreement will be reached on how that might be achieved.

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said G20 countries had reached a consensus on the "basic outline" of a proposal to limit pay and bonuses by the end of 2009.

Each country would set their own standards, he said, but that these would be overseen by the G20's Financial Stability Board - made up of central bankers and regulators.

Earlier, Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling warned bankers that the "party was over" and they must realise that the world has changed.

Balance growth

A spokesman for the White House said that financial regulatory reform was the most important agenda item for summit, but that addressing global economic imbalances was also a priority.

President Barack Obama has led a campaign to smooth out imbalances in the flow of global capital to try to secure greater long-term economic stability.

The US proposal calls on economies such as China, Brazil and India to boost domestic consumption in order to lower their trade surpluses.

Meanwhile the US and Europe would encourage more saving to reduce long-term budget deficits.

Director of the US president's National Economic Council, Larry Summers, said that a "balancing global growth approach" of said that there would have to be changes in

"The US can't, should not and won't continue to experience the consumption-led growth driving very high volumes of imports and lending impulse to the rest of the world economy," he told the BBC.

"That's not a sustainable financial situation for the US and that's why we're in the process of adjusting."

Other discussions will involve the continuation of talks over whether countries such as China, India and Brazil should have greater say on the board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

bbc.co.uk

Balochistan CM Raisani sacks minister

SOURCE: DAWN.COM

QUETTA: Balochistan Chief Minster Nawab Aslam Raisani has sacked provincial Food Minister Mir Ali Madad Jatak of the Pakistan People’s Party, with immediate effect.

A spokesman for the Chief Minister’s Secretariat announced the decision on Thursday night without giving any reason. ‘The chief minister has removed Mr Jatak from his office,’ he told Dawn, adding that he had not been authorised to provide details.

After the removal of the food minister the strength of the PPP-lead coalition cabinet has fallen to 47.

Zakat Minister Agha Irfan Karim of the PPP announced late in the night that he would quit the provincial cabinet in protest against the removal of Mr Jatak.

‘I will resign as a protest against the decision of the chief minister,’ he told reporters on telephone.

According to sources, Mr Jatak was sacked because of his ‘continuous violation of the party and cabinet discipline’.

They said the chief minister and several members of his cabinet had taken notice of Mr Jatak’s statements in the media against the coalition government and provincial leadership of the PPP.

In a statement published in Thursday’s newspapers, Mr Jatak criticised the chief minister and said his government was ‘without any power and is being run by bureaucracy’.

He also said that he had formed a group for political change in the coalition government and the new chief minister would be from the PPP.

The sources said the chief minister had taken the decision of Mr Jatak’s removal after consultations with coalition partners.

It has been learnt that a PPP minister without portfolio will take over the charge of the food ministry on Friday.

Mir Madad Jatak was elected MPA on a PPP ticket. Chief Minister Raisani included him in his cabinet as food minister, but his differences with the provincial PPP leadership after Senate elections led to his removal from the cabinet.

Mr Jatak accused the chief minister of working against the PPP in the province. ‘I am thankful to the chief minister for my removal from the cabinet as I was a powerless minister,’ he remarked.

'It is better to sit outside the cabinet than work as a powerless minister,' he told Dawn, adding he had already indicated that Mr Raisani, who had been elected on a PPP ticket, was working against the interest of the PPP, giving importance to the bureaucracy and ignoring ministers.

He said he would consult his group before taking any decision.

SOURCE: DAWN.COM

Senate triples US aid to $1.5 billion

SOURCE: DAWN.COM

The US Senate on Thursday approved a compromise legislation to triple non-military aid toPakistan,

President Barack Obama told an international summit inNew York.

‘How nice that the US president could announce it personally,’ US special envoy Richard Holbrooke later told a briefing while emphasising the importance of the announcement made at the Friends of Democratic Pakistan summit.

President Asif Ali Zardari also stressed the significance of Mr Obama’s gesture, telling the reporters that it reflected the confidence the international community had in the new democratic set-up in Pakistan.

‘We have come a long way. The democracy has completed a full circle,’ he said. We have a message for the extremists:

‘There’s no place for them in the civilized world.’

The president said that at the FODP summit, the entire world recognised that ‘our struggle against terrorism must be fought not just on the battlefield, but in education, in health, in jobs, in trade, and above all for the hearts and minds of our people.’

He added: ‘A stable, prosperous Pakistan is the world’s greatest hope against the spread of extremism and terrorism.’

He said that the elected government provided ‘political ownership to the war against extremism and terrorism’ and involved the entire nation in this fight.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who addressed a joint news conference with Mr Zardari after the summit, endorsed the Pakistani leader, reminding journalists that ‘leaders from more than 20 countries’ expressed their confidence in the new set-up in Islamabad.

Mr Holbrooke later explained how the Kerry-Lugar bill passed through the US Senate. ‘We worked all night to ensure that the bill is approved unanimously,’ he said, adding that some Republican lawmakers had reservations which were removed.

‘The entire room burst into spontaneous applause as President Obama announced the approval of the bill,’ said Mr Holbrooke.

‘I am not suggesting that one bill changes history but it is an important step,’ he said, noting that ‘it’s for the first time in the modern era that the US Congress made a multi-year commitment’ to another country.

The legislation, known as the Kerry-Lugar bill, will bring about $1.5 billion a year to Pakistanfor each of the next five years, as part of a plan to fight extremism with economic development.

The bill, approved on a voice vote, had been agreed between the Senate and House sponsors of legislation passed separately in each chamber earlier this year. It also had the ‘full support’ of key members of the Obama administration.

Mr Holbrooke said that chairman of the House Committee on International Relations had informed him that the House would take up the bill next week and it would soon be sent to President Obama who would then sign it into a law.

Supporters of the legislation — an updated version of a bill backed by President Obama, Vice-President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, when they were seNators — say the measure aims to banish any doubts that Washington has made a long-term commitment to helping Pakistan.

The measure, which seeks to use economic development to battle the despair that can fuel extremism, comes at a time when President Obama has vowed to overhaul US strategy for Afghanistan and neighbouring Pakistan.

More pledges were met at the summit where, according to the British prime minister, almost all participants agreed to increase the pledges they had made earlier.

At an earlier FODP meeting in Tokyo in April this years, a host of donor nations pledged almost $6 billion to Pakistan but the IMG confirmed on Tuesday that only ‘a fraction of those pledges have so far realised.’

Although almost 26 countries participated in the summit and some — the US, Britain, France, Japan, Canada and others — sent their presidents or prime ministers, Pakistan’s two key allies chose not to do so.

Both China and Saudi Arabia only sent their UN ambassadors, although their foreign ministers were in town.

‘Canada has a longstanding and important friendship with Pakistan,’ Prime Minister Stephen Harper told the summit. ‘This meeting was a valuable opportunity for leaders to show our commitment to working with the government and the people of Pakistan as they seek to build a more secure future.’

President Zardari, President Obama and Prime Minister Brown co-chaired this first leaders’ meeting of the Friends of Democratic Pakistan. It was convened to demonstrate the international community’s continued support at the highest level for Pakistan’s civilian and democratically-elected government as it faces complex security, economic development and humanitarian crises.

The discussions centred on combating violent extremism, addressing energy shortages and fostering socio-economic development in Malakand and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. These have been the areas of focus of ministerial-level meetings of the Friends of Democratic Pakistan.

Prime Minister Brown, besides increasing Britain’s pledge to Pakistan, also announced a separate aid of 50 million pounds for the areas bordering Afghanistan.

The Friends of Democratic Pakistan first met in New York on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly in September 2008. The founding members include Pakistan,Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, theUnited Kingdom and the United States, as well as the United Nations and the European Union.

At the New York summit, the Asian Development Bank, which also participated in the meeting, agreed to set up a fund to help Pakistan overcome the energy crisis while the World Bank agreed to set up a separate fund for dealing with the economic crisis. The Pakistani government will make an integrated plan for dealing with the energy crisis, with the help of the ADB.

The participants vowed to support Islamabad’s political and strategic strategy for dealing with militancy.

They promised to enhance their support to Pakistan’s efforts to fight extremism.

They acknowledged Pakistan’s sacrifices in the war against extremists and ‘praised the brave armed forces of Pakistan,’ as Prime Minister Brown said.

They also recognised the recent operation in Swat and Malakand as a successful operation. They endorsed a plan presented before a ministerial meeting in Istanbul earlier this year.

The participants also agreed to strengthen Pakistani institutions, particularly in the tribal areas.

SOURCE: DAWN.COM