Saturday, April 3, 2010
Great success for Pakistan: Qureshi
ISLAMABAD: The issue of mandatory screening of Pakistanis at American airports has been addressed successfully, Foreign Minster Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Saturday. “Today US congresswoman Sheila Jackson and American Ambassador Anne Patterson told me that America has decided to take back its decision of screening all Pakistanis,” Qureshi told a private news channel. He said God had enabled him to address the grievances of the people of Pakistan who faced problems at US airports. “It’s a great success and the government will give the nation more such good news,” he added. He said he was leaving for Saudi Arabia on Friday on the invitation of the Saudi government. Qureshi said a comprehensive agenda, covering relations between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, would be discussed. “Pakistan’s vision to strengthen bilateral relations and the visits of the Indian prime minister and Afghan president to the Kingdom will also be discussed,” he said. staff report
UN, Pakistan at odds over Benazir murder report
ISLAMABAD: The United Nations and the government were on completely different pages on Thursday, as the UN rejected Pakistan’s request to reopen the independent probe into the killing of Benazir Bhutto, saying there was no need for including any further information as the report was “complete”.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi insisted that the statements from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Afghanistan would provide valuable leads. “For example, if there is a puddle outside my office, and I tell you to be careful when you leave, how do I know? Similarly, it would give the report more credibility if the three important statements are also recorded. My sources tell me that three countries — Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Afghanistan — have important information. I believe only one country had been approached. What we are saying is simply, ‘Please don’t overlook the statements from these three countries, as these were the three countries that had important information and that is why they had warned Mohtarma (Benazir Bhutto). What we are saying is: please don’t overlook these three warnings,” Qureshi told our sources.
However, Qureshi was not ready to get into the debate as to the timing of the president’s “special request”, when his request came hours before the release of the report to ask for inclusion of these three countries.
Qureshi shrugged aside the query of the president’s timing several times, only to add that the president was neither asking for an indefinite delay nor was he stopping the report. But none of this is creating ripples at the UN where its spokesman, Martin Nesirky, said to journalists: “The commissioners have informed the United Nations that the report is complete.
“They believe they have finished their work and that there is no need to include any further information. It is for them to consider whether they need to change their report.” Responding to whether the commission would open investigations in the light of Pakistan’s assertion about including the three governments, Nesriky said: “The commissioners have seen a considerable amount of relevant information, including what has been in the news media in the recent days. After conferring in the light of the latest information, they continue to say that they have completed their work.”
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi insisted that the statements from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Afghanistan would provide valuable leads. “For example, if there is a puddle outside my office, and I tell you to be careful when you leave, how do I know? Similarly, it would give the report more credibility if the three important statements are also recorded. My sources tell me that three countries — Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Afghanistan — have important information. I believe only one country had been approached. What we are saying is simply, ‘Please don’t overlook the statements from these three countries, as these were the three countries that had important information and that is why they had warned Mohtarma (Benazir Bhutto). What we are saying is: please don’t overlook these three warnings,” Qureshi told our sources.
However, Qureshi was not ready to get into the debate as to the timing of the president’s “special request”, when his request came hours before the release of the report to ask for inclusion of these three countries.
Qureshi shrugged aside the query of the president’s timing several times, only to add that the president was neither asking for an indefinite delay nor was he stopping the report. But none of this is creating ripples at the UN where its spokesman, Martin Nesirky, said to journalists: “The commissioners have informed the United Nations that the report is complete.
“They believe they have finished their work and that there is no need to include any further information. It is for them to consider whether they need to change their report.” Responding to whether the commission would open investigations in the light of Pakistan’s assertion about including the three governments, Nesriky said: “The commissioners have seen a considerable amount of relevant information, including what has been in the news media in the recent days. After conferring in the light of the latest information, they continue to say that they have completed their work.”
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Google Site Is Blocked in China
SHANGHAI — Google’s search engine was apparently off limits for much of China late Tuesday, a sign that this country’s Internet censors may have decided to punish the company for its decision last week to move out of Beijing and operate an uncensored Web site from Hong Kong.
Users trying to access Google in Chinese and English were able to reach the home page of the Web site but unable to complete a search. The screen displayed an error message.
Some users in Shanghai said late Tuesday that they had occasional access to Google’s Chinese-language site, but mostly the site was inaccessible.
It was unclear whether Chinese censors shut down the site or whether there was simply a glitch in the system, but the widespread outage seemed ominous.
“It’s definitely the government,” said Duncan Clark, chairman at BDA Consulting in Beijing. “But we have to see if it’s sustained. Maybe they are just tweaking the filters.”
Beijing did not make any statements regarding Google, and the company, which is based in Mountain View, Calif., did not respond to a request for comment.
On a Web page that monitors the availability of its products in China, Google reported that its mobile search service had been “partially blocked” in China since Sunday. But that page showed no problems with its search engine there.
The incident is not surprising to analysts here. The so-called Great Firewall of China — the country’s powerful blocking system — has been known to cut off access to sites that run afoul of Beijing.
Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, which is owned by Google, have all been inaccessible here for much of the past year.
As of 11 p.m. Tuesday in Shanghai, Gmail, Google’s e-mail service, was still accessible.
Because Beijing seemed to be angered by Google’s strident comments last week and in January about the country’s strict censorship controls, many analysts believed it was just a matter of time before China’s sophisticated Internet filters blocked the Google site.
Last week, citing frustration with Chinese censorship controls and online attacks that seemed to be coming from China, Google officially pulled its Chinese-language search engine out of the country and relocated it to Hong Kong, which still operates like an independent state.
The move ended Google’s four-year experiment with operating a Chinese-language search engine from Beijing under Chinese censorship rules.
Shortly after Google’s announcement, the state-controlled Xinhua news agency quoted an unnamed official at the State Council Information Office calling the decision “totally wrong.”
Users trying to access Google in Chinese and English were able to reach the home page of the Web site but unable to complete a search. The screen displayed an error message.
Some users in Shanghai said late Tuesday that they had occasional access to Google’s Chinese-language site, but mostly the site was inaccessible.
It was unclear whether Chinese censors shut down the site or whether there was simply a glitch in the system, but the widespread outage seemed ominous.
“It’s definitely the government,” said Duncan Clark, chairman at BDA Consulting in Beijing. “But we have to see if it’s sustained. Maybe they are just tweaking the filters.”
Beijing did not make any statements regarding Google, and the company, which is based in Mountain View, Calif., did not respond to a request for comment.
On a Web page that monitors the availability of its products in China, Google reported that its mobile search service had been “partially blocked” in China since Sunday. But that page showed no problems with its search engine there.
The incident is not surprising to analysts here. The so-called Great Firewall of China — the country’s powerful blocking system — has been known to cut off access to sites that run afoul of Beijing.
Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, which is owned by Google, have all been inaccessible here for much of the past year.
As of 11 p.m. Tuesday in Shanghai, Gmail, Google’s e-mail service, was still accessible.
Because Beijing seemed to be angered by Google’s strident comments last week and in January about the country’s strict censorship controls, many analysts believed it was just a matter of time before China’s sophisticated Internet filters blocked the Google site.
Last week, citing frustration with Chinese censorship controls and online attacks that seemed to be coming from China, Google officially pulled its Chinese-language search engine out of the country and relocated it to Hong Kong, which still operates like an independent state.
The move ended Google’s four-year experiment with operating a Chinese-language search engine from Beijing under Chinese censorship rules.
Shortly after Google’s announcement, the state-controlled Xinhua news agency quoted an unnamed official at the State Council Information Office calling the decision “totally wrong.”
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