DINA for the issue of January 27, 2012

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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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January 27, 2012 Friday Rabi-ul-Awwal 3, 1433
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The DAWN Internet News Alert (DINA) is a free daily news-service
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DAWN.

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

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(c) Pakistan Herald Publications (Pvt.) Ltd., Pakistan - 2012

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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Gilani trashes perception of 'creeping coup'
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Monitoring Desk
DAVOS, Jan 26: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani rejected on Thursday a suggestion that democracy was under threat and a 'creeping coup' was taking place in Pakistan, asserting that the parliament, the civil society, media, intelligentsia and, above all, the nation wanted democracy to continue.

In an interview to the BBC's Nik Gowing at the World Economic Forum, Mr Gilani spoke on a wide range of issues being faced by the country...

http://www.dawn.com/2012/01/27/interview-in-davos-gilani-trashes-perception-of-creeping-coup.html


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Lawyers condemn Karachi killings
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Dawn Report
KARACHI, Jan 26: As lawyers boycotted courts and held protest meetings across the country on Thursday against the murder of three lawyers in Karachi the previous day, Sindh High Court Chief Justice Mushir Alam said the judiciary had to play an active role if other institutions failed to perform their functions.

It was the responsibility of the law-enforcement agencies to protect the life and property of every citizen, he said while addressing the general body meeting of the SHC Bar Association...

http://www.dawn.com/2012/01/27/lawyers-condemn-karachi-killings.html


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US wants Pakistan to drop IP project
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By Anwar Iqbal
WASHINGTON, Jan 26: The United States is working with Pakistan to help it deal with the consequences if it agrees to abandon the Iran pipeline project, says the US State Department.

"Pakistan is one of the countries that we're working with, primarily from the US Embassy" in Islamabad, the department's spokesperson Victoria Nuland told a briefing in Washington when asked if the United States was also urging Pakistan not to buy gas from Iran...

http://www.dawn.com/2012/01/27/us-wants-pakistan-to-drop-ip-project.html


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Attack on FC post near Sui claims six lives
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By Saleem Shahid
QUETTA: Gunmen killed five soldiers in a pre-dawn attack on a checkpost of the Frontier Corps in Dera Bugti district on Thursday.

The banned Baloch Republican Army claimed responsibility for the attack and said its men had taken away an FC man, along with weapons...

http://www.dawn.com/2012/01/27/attack-on-fc-post-near-sui-claims-six-lives.html


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Iranian forces kill six Pakistanis
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By Our Staff Correspondent
QUETTA, Jan 26: Iranian security forces shot dead six Pakistanis and injured two others on their side of the border near Gwadar on Thursday.

"Six Pakistanis were killed in the Chah-Bahar area inside Iran in firing by Iranian forces," Deputy Commissioner, Gwadar, Abdul Rehman Dashti told Dawn...

http://www.dawn.com/2012/01/27/iranian-forces-kill-six-pakistanis.html


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Nisar calls for consensus on new CEC
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By Ahmad Hassan
ISLAMABAD, Jan 26; Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said here on Thursday the Pakistan Muslim League-N would not support the 20th Amendment unless the government came up with a bill relating to the tenure of members of the Election Commission and reached an agreement with opposition parties on the appointment of a new chief election commissioner.

The 20th Amendment bill has been moved by the government to give constitutional cover to by-elections conducted by the CEC under an incomplete Election Commission. The Supreme Court told the government last week that if the amendment was not adopted by Feb 6, election of 29 MNAs and MPAs might be declared illegal...

http://www.dawn.com/2012/01/27/nisar-calls-for-consensus-on-new-cec.html


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Gilani's ex-aide Khurram Rasool gets jail term
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Dawn Report
RAWALPINDI / LAHORE, Jan 26: An accountability court in Rawalpindi sentenced Mian Khurram Rasool, former media coordinator to the prime minister, to four-year imprisonment on Thursday and declared him an absconder in a Rs71 million bank fraud case.

However, a special court for banking offences in Lahore granted him interim bail hours after a division bench of the Lahore High Court had denied him protective bail for not appearing before the court...

http://www.dawn.com/2012/01/27/gilanis-ex-aide-khurram-rasool-gets-jail-term.html


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Sanctions not to affect plan for Iran gas: FO
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By Iftikhar A. Khan
ISLAMABAD, Jan 26: Pakistan made it clear on Thursday that US sanctions against Iran would not affect its stance on the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project

"There is no change in our stance and we are working to complete the project by 2014. We believe that this project is beyond the scope of relevant UN resolutions which we are obliged to comply with like all other UN member states," Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said at the weekly press briefing...

http://www.dawn.com/2012/01/27/sanctions-not-to-affect-plan-for-iran-gas-fo.html


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Political compulsions stopping govt from taking bold decisions on power sector
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By Khaleeq Kiani
ISLAMABAD, Jan 26: People in the government avoid talking about recovering the actual cost of electricity from consumers, not only because power rates will skyrocket but also because in that case consumers in Punjab will pay less than those in three other provinces and that may dent the popularity of the PPP and its coalition partners.

This was the crux of a background briefing to a group of economic journalists by a senior cabinet member who himself is not ready to discuss the issue in public...

http://www.dawn.com/2012/01/27/political-compulsions-stopping-govt-from-taking-bold-decisions-on-power-sector.html


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Punjab govt moves against buses found unfit for roads
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By Our Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD, Jan 26: Punjab government cancelled roadworthiness certificates of 4,826 substandard buses after a stringent vehicle inspection drive launched in the wake of an accident that claimed the lives of 35 schoolchildren in Kallar Kahar last year, according to its prosecutor general. The faulty vehicles have been taken off the road.

The provincial government launched the inspection campaign under the Motor Vehicle Ordinance 1960 on the order of Supreme Court that had taken suo motu notice of the Sept 27 accident, in which a bus carrying 105 schoolchildren, three teachers, headmaster and a servant skidded off the Motorway and fell into a ditch, killing 38 people. The 35 children who died belonged to Millat Grammar School, Faisalabad...

http://www.dawn.com/2012/01/27/punjab-govt-moves-against-buses-found-unfit-for-roads.html


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PCNS issues fresh summons for Ijaz
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By Ahmad Hassan
ISLAMABAD, Jan 26: The parliamentary panel investigating the memo scandal issued fresh summons on Thursday against American businessman Mansoor Ijaz, the central figure in the case, for Feb 10.

After hearing Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq, the 17-member Parliamentary Committee on National Security expressed satisfaction at arrangements made by the government to protect Mr Ijaz in the country...

http://www.dawn.com/2012/01/27/pcns-issues-fresh-summons-for-ijaz.html


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President, PM felicitate India
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ISLAMABAD, Jan 26: President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani felicitated India on its Republic Day on Thursday.

In a letter to his Indian counterpart Pratibha Devisingh Patil, President Zardari said: "On the occasion of the Republic Day of India, I wish to convey to Your Excellency and the people of India warm felicitations and good wishes of the people of Pakistan. I am confident that our two countries would continue to endeavour to develop friendly, good neighbourly and cooperative relations. We wish the people of India progress and prosperity. Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration."..

http://www.dawn.com/2012/01/27/president-pm-felicitate-india.html


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Trapped miners yet to be rescued
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By Our Correspondent
ABBOTTABAD, Jan 26: Fourteen workers trapped for over 30 hours in a mine in Batkanala village near Tarnawai, some 28km from here, could not be rescued till late Thursday night.

The phosphate mine collapsed on Wednesday night after a rockslide near its entrance...

http://www.dawn.com/2012/01/27/trapped-miners-yet-to-be-rescued.html


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Karachi Stocks Down 73.82 Points:
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KARACHI, Jan 26: At close of trading, the KSE-100 index was at 11875.93, down 73.82 points.
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Forex Update:
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KARACHI, Jan 26: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at 90.6 to the US Dollar in the open market.
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