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| Zardari to visit China on 9th as president |
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Friday, September 05, 2008
By Qudssia Akhlaque
ISLAMABAD: PPP Co-chairman and presidential hopeful Asif Ali Zardari, who is expected to win hands down on Saturday, is all set to embark on a visit to China within 72 hours of his election as the head of the state.
If all goes as expected, Asif Ali Zardari will go on his first foreign trip to China as the 12th president of the country on Sept 9, sources told The News on Thursday. Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN in Geneva, Masood Khan, who has been nominated as Pakistan’s new ambassador to China, also arrived here on Sunday. Reportedly, Masood Khan is here for consultations on the planned visit and there are indications that he may leave for Beijing ahead of Zardari’s arrival there.
Zardari was invited by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games last month and was to lead the delegation. However, he changed his plan due to a move by the ruling alliance to impeach President Musharraf. Instead, his son and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who was also invited by the CCP, represented the party at the opening ceremony.
Amid speculations that all is not so well on the Pakistan-China front, the planned Zardari visit would send a strong signal to Beijing and the world community of the high priority Pakistan accords to its relations with China. It also gains importance as Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had visited the US before China.
The planned Zardari trip may also be an attempt to blunt the growing criticism that there is a shift in the PPP government’s policy towards China and that it is distancing itself from Pakistan’s most-trusted ally.
Symbolically, too, the visit would have immense value, as the founder of the ruling PPP, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was the actual architect of the Pakistan-China relations. However, in substantive terms it is to be seen what comes out of the trip. As Pakistan is on the verge of an economic default, there are hints that Pakistan may be turning again to China for help. A top bureaucrat in Islamabad who has been dealing with China sounded confident that China could help Pakistan get over its economic difficulties. There are signals that as a goodwill gesture, China may bail out Pakistan financially as it has done twice in the last one year or so.
Brushing aside rumours that the Chinese were not too happy with Pakistan, as Beijing felt Islamabad was sidelining it, a former Pakistani ambassador to China noted: “China and Pakistan relations are too deep-rooted to be derailed.”
In a recent interview to a private TV channel, Zardari had underscored the importance Pakistan attached to its relations with China and pointed out that late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had laid the foundation of this relationship.
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Three killed as Sh Rashid escapes attempt on life
By Shakeel Anjum
RAWALPINDI: Awami Muslim League (AML) Chief and a candidate for NA-55 (Rawalpindi) by-election Sheikh Rashid Ahmad was wounded, while three people — a guard and two party workers — were killed when four gunmen more |
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12 soldiers killed in South Waziristan
ISLAMABAD: Twelve soldiers embraced martyrdom while two others were injured in a clash with militants during the ongoing operation Rah-e-Nijat in South Waziristan Agency (SWA), the ISPR said on Monday.
S more |
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Plan to attack five-star hotel foiled
By our correspondent
LAHORE: The CIA police here on Monday claimed to have foiled an attack on Americans staying at a five-star hotel and arrested six terrorists, including a suicide bomber.
Addressing a press conference, SS more |
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Govt taking court for a ride
By Ansar Abbasi
ISLAMABAD: She fought her case in the media. She won her battle in the judicial forum too. But still the government is bent on making an example out of her for refusing to follow the illegal dictates of her min more |
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Pakistan against arms race: Gilani
By Azeem Samar
KARACHI: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Monday said Pakistan does not want to be engaged in an arms race with any country.
Speaking as chief guest at the induction ceremony of second Chinese-m more |
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Punjab-Sindh water row Centre’s intervention sought
By our correspondent
ISLAMABAD: Tension between Punjab and Sindh over opening of the Chashma-Jhelum and Taunsa-Punjnad link canals has touched a new high as the former has sought the Centre’s intervention.
The Punjab has sai more |
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French, Dutch fight over giving LNG to Pakistan
By Khalid Mustafa
ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin and his team is all set to thwart the attempt of an unscrupulous combine of oil industry heavyweights and some functionaries of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Re more |
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Nine killed as no let-up in rains
By Nisar Mahmood
PESHAWAR: Nine people were killed and scores of others injured as heavy rains and snowfall lashed various parts of the country for the fourth consecutive day on Monday.
Reports from the Shangla district more |
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Malik orders NUML closure as protest enters 5ht day
ISLAMABAD: The protest of the students of the National University of Modern Languages (NUML) against thrashing of Professor Malik Tahir by Registrar Brigadier (R) Obaidullah Ranjha entered its fifth consecutive more |
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Malik insists no Blackwater in Pakistan
By Muhammad Anis
ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rehman Malik while responding to an accusation from a PML-N parliamentarian told the National Assembly that Blackwater was not providing security to the president and the prime mini more |
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FBR gets list of properties rented out to foreigners
By Hanif Khalid
ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has received list of properties from Foreign Office, which were in use of foreigners in Islamabad, Karachi, Peshawar and Lahore, but these were not shown in annual tax more |
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Repealing of 17th Amendment
By our correspondent
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has begun efforts to create consensus on repealing the 17th Amendment before presidential address to the joint sitting of the parliament.
The prime minis more |
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Three suspects held in Mohmand
By our correspondent
GHALLANAI: The security forces arrested three suspected persons during search operation in Safi subdivision of Mohmand Agency, official sources said Monday. The sources said the security forces carried out sear more |
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No presence of Blackwater, DynCorp in Pakistan, NA body told
ISLAMABAD: Secretary Interior Qamar Zaman again negated on Monday the presence of Blackwater, DynCorp or any other foreign security agency in the country. “Neither the Blackwater and the DynCorp nor any other s more |
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Govt urged to take up water issue with India
By Asim Yasin
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Q, Parliamentary leader in the National Assembly, Makhdoom Faisal Saleh Hayat while urging the government to take up the issue of ‘water terrorism’ with New Delhi, has question more |
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Avalanche kills 17 Indian soldiers in held Kashmir
HELD SRINAGAR: Seventeen Indian soldiers were killed on Monday in an avalanche that slammed into a group of 70 combat troops at a high-altitude warfare training camp in Kashmir, the army said on Monday.
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Taliban defiant as Afghans flee ahead of assault
KANDAHAR: The Nato commanders urged the Taliban to surrender as troops dug in on Monday for a major assault on their key stronghold in southern Afghanistan, sending thousands of residents fleeing.
The Ta more |
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Plea to freeze foreign accounts
By our correspondent
LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday ordered the federal government to submit a reply within four weeks on a petition seeking freezing of accounts in foreign banks and recovery of illegal assets accumu more |
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Attack on Sh Rashid
RAWALPINDI: The PML-N candidate for by-polls from NA-55, Malik Shakil Awan, has announced suspension of electioneering for a day to mourn the death of those killed in the attack on the office of his rival, Shei more |
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Indian forces to halt Kashmir rally outside UN office
HELD SRINAGAR: The held Kashmir authorities deployed thousands of police and troops on Monday to prevent a protest outside the UN office here over the recent killing of two teenage boys by Indian security force more |
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20 die in Afghan floods, avalanches
KANDAHAR: Twenty people have died in floods and avalanches triggered by some of the heaviest rain and snow in Afghanistan for 50 years, an official said on Monday. At more |
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ISSN 1563-9479 
