Loud Thinking

Archive for August, 2013

SHAME ON THE WORLD BANK..!

Today, the daily “The News” reported that World Bank is pushing Pakistan to grant Most Favoured Nation (MFN) to India.

I advise the WB to mind its own business and if there is so much pain in the WB’s tummy then it would be better for the WB to advise India, to behave like a good civilised neighbour with Pakistan; and as a gesture of goodwill, just allow Pakistani TV channels reception in India.

India and the US must know that India can not have cake and eat it too, meaning that “one cannot or should not have or want more than one deserves or can handle”

PAKISTAN PAINDABAD

LOOK AT MR. ISHAQ DAR WHO CAN NOT THINK BEYOND IMF WB ADB

PAKISTAN HAS MORE RESOURCES THAN ANY COUNTRY OF THE WORLD

JUST READ THE DAWN NEWS PUBLISHED TODAY:

Pakistan said to have large reserves of shale gas, oil.

ISLAMABAD: In a major development, the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the American federal authority on energy statistics and analysis, has estimated fresh recoverable shale gas reserves of 105 trillion cubic feet (TCF) and more than nine billion barrels of oil in Pakistan.

These estimates of recoverable hydrocarbon reserves are many times larger than so far proven reserves of 24 TCF for gas and about 300 million barrels for oil. Pakistan currently produces about 4.2 billion cubic feet of gas and about 70,000 barrels of oil per day.

A government official said the new estimates appeared to be ‘very very encouraging’ but it had not been shared with the government of Pakistan. He said the shale gas had seen tremendous developments in the United States and a couple of other countries were trying to use the latest technology. Pakistan, he said, was also encouraging exploration and production companies to venture into the fresh horizon.

According to a June 2013 estimates of the EIA based on surveys conducted by Advanced Resources International (ARI), a total of 1,170 TCF of risked shale gas are estimated for India-Pakistan region –584 TCF in India and 586 TCF in Pakistan.

In case of Pakistan these estimates are backed by proven studies and verified technical data “The risked, technically recoverable shale gas resource is estimated at 201 TCF, with 96 TCF in India and 105 TCF in Pakistan,” said the EIA.

The EIA also estimated risked shale oil in place for India/Pakistan of 314 billion barrels, with 87 billion barrels in India and 227 billion barrels in Pakistan. “The risked, technically recoverable shale oil resource is estimated at 12.9 billion barrels for those two countries, with 3.8 billion barrels for India and 9.1 billion barrels for Pakistan,” the EIA said.

The southern and central Indus basins are located in Pakistan, along border with India and Afghanistan which are bounded by the Indian shield on the east and highly folded and thrust mountains on the west.

The lower Indus basin has commercial oil and gas discoveries in the Cretaceous-age Goru Fm sands plus additional gas discoveries in shallower formations. The shales in the Sembar Formation are considered as the primary source rocks for these discoveries.

The EIA said that while oil and gas shows have been recorded in the Sembar Shale on the Thar Platform, no productive oil or gas wells have yet been drilled into the Sembar Shale.

About the resource assessment, the EIA said that within 31,320 sq miles of dry gas prospective area, the Sembar Shale in the lower Indus basin had a resource concentration of 83 billion cubic feet per square mile. Within the 25,560 square mile wet gas and condensate prospective are, the Sembar shale has resource concentration of 57 BCF per sq. miles of wet gas and nine million barrels per square mile of condensate. Within the 26,700 square miles oil prospective area, the Sembar Shale has a resource concentration of 37 million barrels per square mile.

No Law (except in Islamabad Capital Territory & Sindh) in Punjab, KPK, Balochistan, GB & AJK, for poor students free education, in private schools.

Late last year Pakistan’s National Assembly passed a law for compulsory free education of 10% poor children in the near vicinity of private schools of Islamabad.

This year in February 13, the Sindh Provincial Assembly also passed the same law for compulsory free education of 30% poor children in the near vicinity of private schools in the entire Sindh Province. I had specifically requested for this 30% figure to President Asif Ali Zardari and it was very kind of him that he accepted my proposal.

It is very strange that no such law has been passed by the Provincial Assemblies of Punjab, KPK, Balochistan, GB and AJK governments.

Here, it must be noted that millions of school going age children are not able to join the schools in Pakistan, due to various reasons; and if these millions are ignored today, our future is guaranteed to be ruined tomorrow.

Already, Pakistan is the lowest ranked country in the field of education in the SAARC region.

No Law (except in Islamabad CT & Sindh) in Punjab, KPK, Balochistan, GB & AJK, for poor students free education, in private schools.

Late last year Pakistan’s National Assembly passed a law for compulsory free education of 10% poor children in the near vicinity of private schools of Islamabad.

This year in February 13, the Sindh Provincial Assembly also passed the same law for compulsory free education of 30% poor children in the near vicinity of private schools in the entire Sindh Province.

It is very strange that no such law has been passed by the Provincial Assemblies of Punjab, KPK, Balochistan, GB and AJK governments.

Here, it must be noted that millions of school going age children are not able to join the schools in Pakistan, due to various reasons; and if these millions are ignored today, our future is guaranteed to be ruined tomorrow.

66 terror groups active in India: Govt

A TOI Report Published Today.

NEW DELHI: There are as many as 66 terrorist/separatist groups active across the country, including 34 in Manipur alone, the government informed the LokSabha on Tuesday. Most outfits active in Jammu & Kashmir and the hinterland are patronized by Pakistan-based parent outfits which extend them shelter, training, weapons and funding.

Minister of state for home RPN Singh stated in written reply to a question that at least five terrorist outfits – LeT, Indian Mujahideen, Hizbul Mujahideen, Harkat ul Jihadi Islami and Al Badr — have presence across the hinterland, particularly in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh. The government also said there were reports of anti-national and separatist activities from states like Tamil Nadu and Assam.

While five of the 66 terrorist/separatist groups listed by the MHA are operating in Jammu & Kashmir, with Lashker e Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen topping the list, 10 are active in Assam, four each in Meghalaya and Nagaland, two each in Tripura and Mizoram, and three in Punjab. Incidentally, the list shared with the Lok Sabha does not include Left-wing extremist outfits like the CPI(Maoist), banned under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. Though the list put the number of Manipuri insurgent outfits at 34, MHA officials later clarified that at least three of them have already surrendered.

According to Singh, the broad activities of these organizations included terrorism, secession, smuggling/production/circulation of fake Indian currency, terror financing, etc. The government has strengthened its intelligence apparatus, he said, with MAC operational on a 24×7 basis and real-time coordination between the Centre and states on security matters. The minister added that terror funding was being tracked and countered. While NIA has created a terror funding and fake currency cell, banking companies and financial institutions are required under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, to submit suspicious transaction reports (STRs), The Financial Intelligence Unit regularly alerts the law enforcement and intelligence agencies on these STRs.

“Some people believe holding on and hanging in there are signs of great strength. However, there are times when it takes much more strength to know when to let go and then do it.”

— Ann Landers

Justice is the quality of being fair; righteousness, equitableness, or moral rightness..

“For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”

Nelson Mandela (born 1918);
Former president of South Africa

Show Your Strength as a Leader

Competence can be established by virtue of the position you hold, your reputation, and your actual performance. But your presence matters too. If you want people to see you as a strong leader, do the following three things:
Feel in command. If you see yourself as an impostor, others will, too. Instead, believe in your abilities and you’ll project confidence, enthusiasm, and passion.
Stand up straight. Good posture does not mean the exaggerated chest-out pose known in the military as “standing at attention,” or raising one’s chin up high. It just means reaching your full height, using your muscles to straighten the S-curve in your spine.
Get ahold of yourself. Twitching and fidgeting sends the signal that you’re not in control. Stillness demonstrates calm.

Adapted by HBR from “Connect, Then Lead,” by Amy J.C. Cuddy, Matthew Kohut, and John Neffinger.

What is happening in Pakistan..!

Prisoner’s barracks are auctioned for the prison wardens..!

A letter published today by the daily “The Nation” titled “Eating at our own roots”

Hearing information about jail auctions surprised me. On a local TV talk show the host informed that in jails the prisoner’s barracks are auctioned and prison wardens take part in this auction, the price for a barrack may go into hundreds of thousands. One may ask what happens after this auction, is it for the safety and welfare of the prisoners? No, the prisoners are sold to the highest bidder and the prisoners in that barrack are put completely at the mercy of the winning warden; they can eat or sleep or even breathe only by his permission. If a prisoner cannot pay, his life is made one perpetual hell. If he pays well he can have luxuries; such as cell phone, drugs and even arms. So where does security come into all this and who is responsible for security while all the prison staff is collecting money and coming up with plans on how to line their pockets.
In this scenario the two jail breaks are easy to accept, when the fiber of a society is riddled with corruption such acts become common. The rot started immediately after partition, when loot and lust for evacuee property started, but mercifully many departments remained clean of graft. The rot was boosted by Z A Bhutto when he ‘nationalized’ all industry and put his inept cronies in charge who destroyed them. The disintegration has since then been gathering speed and everyone in a department happily eating away at the roots of our country, so who will catch the thieves?

DR ZAHEER ASGAHR KHAN,
Lahore, August 12.