Cameras to ensure around-the-clock monitoring

GILGIT: Cameras have been installed along Attabad’s landslide lake to monitor developments in the next 24 hours as lake-water remained just two metres away from the spillway.

Force Commander Gilgit- Baltistan, Major-General Qamar Javed Bajwa, on Wednesday said that close circuit cameras linked to FCNA, Gilgit and the GHQ had been fitted along the lake so that officials could keep tabs on any important developments. He said water in the lake had almost reached the spillway, so such monitoring was necessary. Officials said that the on-site measurement of the lake had been abandoned

The truth about drone attack fatalities

Three US researchers, Matthew Fricker, Avery Plaw, and Brian Glyn Williams have written a paper on US drone attacks in Fata. It contradicts the widely held view in the media and academia that the attacks lead to large-scale civilian casualties. Their paper titled ‘New Light on the Accuracy of the CIA’s Predator Drone Campaign in Pakistan’ will be published in the Sentinel, the magazine of the US Military Academy’s Combating Terrorism Centre.

Fake degrees continue to pile up

The Lahore High Court (LHC) disqualified PML-N MPA Rizwan Naurez Gill from Sargodha on Friday for taking part in elections with a fake bachelors degree.

A petition challenging Gill’s eligibility was filed in the court by Dr Nadia Aziz, a former MPA of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

59% unhappy with 8pm market closure

More than half of all Pakistanis appear to be unhappy with the recent decision of the government to shut down all shopping areas at 8pm.

According to a Gilani Research Foundation survey carried out by Gallup Pakistan, 59 per cent of the people were unhappy with the decision while  40 per cent seemed to be unaffected by this decision.

Fowl play: alleged spy pigeon held in India

A pigeon is being kept under armed guard by Indian police on charge of espionage for Pakistan.

The pigeon was found by a local resident in the Indian state of Punjab and was taken to a police station 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Amritsar, media reported on Friday.

Most of the street children are boys: NGO

KARACHI: Seventeen-year-old Tanveer Abbas is learning photography at a training institute where he had also been offered a job.

It therefore comes as a surprise to learn that Tanveer is a ‘street child’. He is one of the 14,000 children who found a way to escape a life of drudgery with the help of Initiators Human Development Foundation, an NGO working for the rights of street children for the last 10 years.

10 things I hate about Karachi

1. Social niceties have gone out the window. The shock on people’s faces when you say ‘thank you’ and ‘please’ is comparable to a kid telling his mother he doesn’t want any Eidi. Dying men lie on the streets, and starving children huddle as Karachiites glance at them and walk on without giving a damn.

Twitterverse stunned by arrival of Rehman Malik

Pakistani Twitter users have expressed ’shock and awe’ at the latest VIP addition to their Twitterverse, as Interior Minister Rehman Malik has joined the micro-blogging site following a nationwide ban on Facebook.

Malik said his son told him that if he couldn’t get on Facebook, where he has his own page which hosts pictures of dignitaries and has 691 fans, he should Tweet.

Hunza lake expected to spill by May 28

The Chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Retired Lt General Nadeem Ahmed said water outflow from the Hunza lake is expected to spill over on May 28.

According to the National Disaster Management Authority,  2050 cusecs water is entering the lake due to melting glaciers while the water release is 197 cusecs.

Landslides are also expected as the water level in the lake has increased to 3.1 feet in the last 24 hours.

Dynamics of a N Waziristan operation

Once again the media is buzzing with news about American pressure on Pakistan to carry out an operation in North Waziristan Agency. Every visit by American generals gives rise, rather confirms this speculation. Pakistan has said that it will choose the timing itself, that is amounting to agreeing to carry out the operation.

If we look at the ground situation prevailing in Fata and Pakhtunkhwa, the army is overstretched. Stiff resistance is being faced in Orakzai Agency. Tirah valley in Khyber Agency will be a big thorn when the time comes to clear it. And parts of Mohmand and