DINA for the issue of December 22, 2011

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D A W N I n t e r n e t N e w s A l e r t
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December 22, 2011 Thursday Muharram 26, 1433
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The DAWN Internet News Alert (DINA) is a free daily news-service
from Pakistan's largest English language newspaper, the Daily
DAWN.

We encourage comments & suggestions. We can be reached at:

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(c) Pakistan Herald Publications (Pvt.) Ltd., Pakistan - 2011

The link at the end of each extract can be used to access the
complete story on DAWN - the Internet Edition.


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EC ordered to complete rolls by Feb 23
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By Our Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD, Dec 21: The Supreme Court ordered the Election Commission on Wednesday to complete the process of preparing fresh electoral rolls by February 23 next year -— a gigantic task involving removal of 37 million invalid names from the old list.

"There will be bloodshed if the next general elections are held on the basis of bogus votes as no political party will accept the results. Will the ECP take the responsibility for holding such elections," asked Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, who heads a three-judge bench hearing a petition filed by Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan...

http://www.dawn.com/2011/12/22/ec-ordered-to-complete-rolls-by-feb-23.html


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President in Islamabad
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By Shamim-ur-Rahman
KARACHI, Dec 21: President Asif Ali Zardari arrived in Islamabad from Karachi on Wednesday night after a three-day stay at Bilawal House here following his return from Dubai.

The President has undertaken the journey to the federal capital to meet a high-profile delegation from China and also leadership of the People's Party, sources in PPP said...

http://www.dawn.com/2011/12/22/president-in-islamabad.html


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No control over operations of Army, ISI: govt
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By Nasir Iqbal
ISLAMABAD, Dec 21: All eyes are focussed on the Supreme Court as it is set to take up the memo case again on Thursday.

In a late night development on Wednesday which added yet another twist to the memo scandal, the federal government, through the Ministry of Defence, conceded before the Supreme Court that it had no operational control over the armed forces as well as the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)...

http://www.dawn.com/2011/12/22/no-control-over-operations-of-army-isi-govt.html


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Parliamentary committee opens probe
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By Ahmad Hassan and Amir Wasim
ISLAMABAD, Dec 21: Opposition PML-N members in the Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS) sought to dissociate themselves from the committee's proceedings when it formally launched a probe into the memo controversy on Wednesday, but later agreed to participate in the meeting.

Briefing reporters after presiding over a meeting of the PCNS, its chairman Senator Raza Rabbani said the committee had formally launched its probe into the memo controversy and recorded preliminary statements of Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir and Defence Secretary Lt Gen (retd) Naeem Khalid Lodhi...

http://www.dawn.com/2011/12/22/parliamentary-committee-opens-probe.html


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ISPR denies Pasha's ME trip
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By Our Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD, Dec 21: In a belated rebuttal to British newspaper Independent's blog posting on ISI chief Lt-Gen Shuja Pasha's alleged trip to Arab countries for soliciting support for a coup back home, the military's public affairs wing on Wednesday dismissed the claim as 'false' and unverified.

"Contents of the article are strongly and categorically denied. A legal notice is being served to the newspaper to retract the story and apologise," ISPR's rejoinder said...

http://www.dawn.com/2011/12/22/ispr-denies-pashas-me-trip.html


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Confident Nawaz treads a tricky path
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By Badar Alam
KARACHI: Appearance matters a great deal in politics and going by the appearance, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif looked to be on top of his game on Wednesday in an informal session with a group of journalists.

He has put on weight, but now exudes more of a well-thought-out innocence than the vacant look that characterised him during the 1990s...

http://www.dawn.com/2011/12/22/confident-nawaz-treads-a-tricky-path.html


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New rules of engagement with US needed: Gilani
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ISLAMABAD, Dec 21: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Wednesday that Pakistan wanted new rules of engagement with Washington which must guarantee respect for the country's sovereignty and an assurance of "no Abbottabad-like unilateral action in future".

Addressing a meeting of Afghan and Pakistani parliamentary delegations at the Prime Minister's House, he said in case any credible and actionable information was available with Washington, it must be shared with Islamabad before any action...

http://www.dawn.com/2011/12/22/new-rules-of-engagement-with-us-needed-gilani.html


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PPP deliberates on Zardari's reply in memo case
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By Khawar Ghumman
ISLAMABAD, Dec 21: The memo scandal apparently continues to control the nerves of PPP leaders. Following the submission of affidavit by Chief of Army Staff Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and PML-N chief Mian Nawaz Sharif's rejoinder to objections raised on his petition by the government and former ambassador Husain Haqqani, two main respondents in the case, the PPP leadership held a closed-door meeting at Prime Minister's House on Wednesday evening.

According to sources, those who attended the PPP meeting included Leader of the House in the Senate, Nayyer Bokhari, the party's chief whip in the National Assembly, Syed Khurshid Shah, federal Ministers Mir Hazar Khan Bajarani, Naveed Qamar and Manzoor Wattoo, PPP information secretary Qamar Zaman Kaira, MNA Sumsam Bokhari, former law minister Babar Awan and Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq...

http://www.dawn.com/2011/12/22/ppp-deliberates-on-zardaris-reply-in-memo-case.html


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Pakistan faces flood threat, says study
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By Khaleeq Kiani
ISLAMABAD, Dec 21: Pakistan has been warned of frequent floods of disastrous nature — like the ones that battered the country in 2010 and 2011 — in the Indus river owing to rapid glacier retreat and shifting of monsoonal zones by about 100 kilometres towards northwest regions.

In a recent communication it sent to the government, the Asian Development Bank called for continuous focus on flood preparedness instead of an episodic and temporary reaction to the post-flood situation. The communication is based on assessments of a research and consultation carried out by a task force set up by the Friends of Democratic Pakistan (FoDP)...

http://www.dawn.com/2011/12/22/pakistan-faces-flood-threat-says-study.html


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Detainees' lawyer to move SC over mysterious deaths
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By Malik Asad
ISLAMABAD, Dec 21: The death of two terrorism suspects in mysterious circumstances at a Peshawar hospital has compelled the counsel for other arrested persons in the same case to think of approaching the Supreme Court as he fears the lives of remaining detainees may be in danger.

Those who died for unexplained reasons at the Lady Reading Hospital were earlier acquitted of involvement in audacious terrorist attacks on the GHQ and ISI's Hamza camp in Rawalpindi, but were later booked on various other charges of terrorism...

http://www.dawn.com/2011/12/22/detainees-lawyer-to-move-sc-over-mysterious-deaths.html


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UK given four weeks to free US-held man
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LONDON, Dec 21: British judges on Wednesday gave the government four weeks to obtain the release of a Pakistani man held in US custody in Afghanistan — a ruling that could make for prickly discussions between British officials and their American counterparts.

The ruling comes nearly a week after the UK-legal charity Reprieve won its habeas corpus petition claiming that Yunus Rahmatullah's detention lacked sufficient cause or evidence, and that British forces violated international law when they handed him over to American troops nearly eight years ago...

http://www.dawn.com/2011/12/22/uk-given-four-weeks-to-free-us-held-man.html


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Van cylinder goes off: six killed
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By Our Correspondent
GUJRANWALA, Dec 21: Six people, among them two women, died and 15 others suffered injuries when the gas cylinder of a Lahore-bound van exploded near Eminabad on G.T. Road on Wednesday.

The injured were taken to the DHQ hospital where four of them were stated to be in serious condition...

http://www.dawn.com/2011/12/22/van-cylinder-goes-off-six-killed.html


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Karachi Stocks Down 74.06 Points:
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KARACHI, Dec 21: At close of trading, the KSE-100 index was at 11263.98, down 74.06 points.
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Forex Update:
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KARACHI, Dec 21: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at 90.6 to the US Dollar in the open market.
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