Annie gets hitched

                   Pop Singer Annie is a young talent in Pakistan and now she gets married

So congrats Annie Khalid! News is that last week the pop star tied the nuptial knot with a certain Dubai-based businessman named Malik Noureed Awan.

Both the bride and the groom have known each other for quite some time and recently decided to turn their friendship into an official relationship. All the very best Annie K. You’ve finally found your Mahiya!

AQ

Reasons for Coke Studio’s lacklustre performance

There were a few reasons why this time round Coke Studio didn’t impress the way its first couple of editions, in particular, bowled over everyone. For starters, the choice of tracks seemed more personal (either artists’ personal choice or someone else’s) without keeping in mind what could strike a chord with the audience.

One example of it is Meesha Shafi’s rendition of the Faiz Ahmed Faiz poem Dasht-i-Tanhai originally (masterfully) sung by the legendary Iqbal Bano. The producers of the show did not take into account that a literary work of art set to music has totally different requirements than, let’s say, folk or classical music. She uttered the words, names of flower saman and gulab with such harshness that it defied their meaning. No different was the treatment to the word honton (lips) where she simply didn’t take into account the mellow vowel sound. The song didn’t need to be sung intensely with eyes closed and every facial muscle pulled. It needed understanding of the words employed in the poem.

Then Gumby’s absence as the erstwhile drummer was sorely missed. There was a definite non-existent thumping sound of his drums aptly used for the folk-ish as well as classical patterns of the songs. In this edition, the drums were one-dimensional. Lastly, a majority of the tracks lacked vocal and instrumental variation and were monotonous. The inclusion of the Chakwal Group was a little mind-boggling. If they had been made part of the venture, they should’ve been asked to come up with a number that would’ve highlighted their abilities. Instead they did easy-to-perform numbers.

Farhan Khan’s sitar rendition, if you are a sitar listener, was ordinary. He is a talented musician, make no mistake. He should’ve indulged in fusion and a bit of a jugalbandi type of thing. His act came across as something as if the producers of the show wanted to introduce the sitar to TV audiences.

Even the likes of Sanam Marvi and Farid Ayaz Qawwal sounded repetitive, as did Atif Aslam. As for the younger, louder musicians, well guys keep working hard. You might get another shot at Coke Studio.

AQ

After Belgium and Germany, Smart NICs to be launched in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: National Registration and Database Authority (Nadra) will issue a new Smart National Identity Card (NIC) which will be the safest and secured as it cannot be replicated, Chairman Nadra Tariq Malik said

Talking to a private news channel, Malik said that a chip will be fixed in the card which would help government to provide facilities like health, life insurance and donation in case of disaster in the country.

He said that the new smart card will be distinguished from the earlier one as it will have thirty six features.

Nadra Chairman said that Germany and Belgium had made experience of smart NICs and now Pakistan was in a position to launch such a card.

He said price of the new card would not exceed the price of the prevailing card.

Earlier on Friday while briefing the Cabinet about the features of the Smart NIC, The Chairman  has said that the new card would help the holders of the card access the entitled cash disbursement programmes, financial transactions, branch-less banking, health insurance, life insurance and electronic voting.

Malik said Pakistan was preparing identity management system for Nigeria and civil registration program for Sudan was also in progress.

He said Nadra had prepared driving license of Bangladesh, passport of Kenya, refuge system of United Nation and Pakistan poverty support card for World Bank.

Nadra was among fifty top class identity companies in the world, he stated.

AQ

Mukherjee set to be elected president

NEW DELHI: Powerful politician Pranab Mukherjee looked set to be elected India's new president on Sunday and analysts said the canny veteran could play a key role in steering the nation through testing times.

Mukherjee, 76, a loyalist of the ruling Congress party, was the overwhelming favourite for the post of head of state after drawing broad support over rival Purno A. Sangma, 64, a former parliamentary speaker.

Despite his belief, expressed last month, that "this office is to be offered and not to be sought", Mukherjee has made a robust effort to win the support of diffident Congress allies and opposition politicians on the left.

The Congress-led alliance has claimed Mukherjee will win around 70 percent of the total vote.

The president is chosen by 4,896 state and parliamentary lawmakers and Mukherjee's success would mark a welcome victory for the embattled Congress, which is struggling with a string of graft scandals and a slowing economy.

The lawmakers cast their votes late last week and results from the counting were due at 5:00 pm local time (04:30 PST) on Sunday.

Famously just five-feet (152 centimetres) tall, Mukherjee -- who uses a stool to be seen over podiums -- has long been Congress's firefighter, leaving many wondering how the party will cope without its "political Mr Fixit."

But analysts say he may be called on to play an even more influential role as president. Under the constitution, the prime minister wields most of the executive power but the president can play a vital part in forming governments.

Mukherjee, who resigned as finance minister to seek the presidency, could "be the kingmaker", said analyst T.K. Tripathi.

With the upsurge of regional parties in an increasingly fractious political landscape and the possibility of a hung parliament after the 2014 elections, he could have a pivotal role in deciding the next government, analysts say.

"It's in this turbulent scenario Mukherjee as a president will be able to steer the ship of the state. He's a troubleshooter," said Sanjay Kumar, analyst at India's Centre for the Study of Developing Societies.

The presidential palace's current occupant, Pratibha Patil, 77, India's first woman president, has kept a low profile and cut a conservative figure with her sari pulled over her hair.

Mukherjee, who speaks English with a heavy Bengali accent and is affectionately called "Pranabese" by his colleagues, was born in a West Bengal village and worked as a teacher and journalist before entering parliament in 1969.

The workaholic politician is married with two sons and a daughter. He is a staunch champion of "inclusive growth" -- that India's teeming poor should share in its rapid development.

While he commands cross-party political respect, his performance as finance minister was panned when he failed to push through controversial measures to open up India's still largely closed economy.

His exit from the ministry has fired investor hopes that the government could embark on long-awaited market reforms such as fully opening up the giant retail sector to foreign investment to ease India's food-chain supply problems.

Pakistan must revamp police: think tank

WASHINGTON: Faced with mounting violence, Pakistan needs to push ahead reforms of its police force, which lacks the training, equipment and political will to be effective, a new study said.

In a lengthy report, a commission set up by the New York-based Asia Society called for Pakistan to step up police training and carry out structural reforms to boost the force's skills and reduce corruption.

"High crime rates throughout the country, relatively low conviction rates of prisoners on trial and heightened concerns about instability spilling over from Afghanistan indicate that there is an urgent and critical need to invest in and reform Pakistan's law enforcement infrastructure," the report said.

The study, due to be released on Monday, said that criminals and extremists have increasingly colluded and evaded a police force hampered by "severe deficiencies" in technology and training.

Pakistan's military and Inter-Services Intelligence agency have historically been major centers of power. But the report said the police hold primary responsibility for law and order.

"Shifting all the blame onto the police force -- whether done by the public, media or government -- is unfair and unproductive," the report said.

Pakistan's police system "simply is not structured to reward good behavior, as merit-based opportunities for professional advancement are scarce, low pay is the norm and a lack of support and resources compels even many well-intentioned officers to misuse their authority in order to survive," the report said.

Hassan Abbas, the commission's project director and a professor at the National Defense University in Washington, said international assistance could help. Britain and the United States have both been assisting police reform.

"However, the overall funding for these projects is no match for the resources provided to Pakistan for anti-terrorism operations throughout the last decade, very little (if any) of which ever reached police institutions because it was so largely geared toward the defense sector," he said.

"Both are important needs, but a balanced approach is needed to help Pakistan tackle internal and external challenges more effectively."

Pakistan has received more than $18 billion in US aid, mostly for its military, since it agreed to support the US-led war in Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The country in recent years has been torn by violence, with extremists carrying out attacks in major cities, militant cells holed up in lawless border areas and an ethnic insurgency raging in Balochistan.

Pakistan's then military ruler Pervez Musharraf in 2002 issued orders to set clear rules for the police, but the reform quickly lost steam.

The Asia Society study called for the implementation of the 2002 reforms, along with an overhaul of hiring practices, improvements in working conditions and the establishment of an independent authority to assess complaints of police misconduct.

The commission recommended the training of anti-terrorism investigators at each police station, along with special units with direct access to data from private cellular telephone operators.

The report also called for training on protecting the rights of women, children and minorities -- a frequent source of concern -- and efforts to recruit more women police officers.

Separately, the study called for special efforts to recruit local youth as police in Balochistan, the southwestern province where insurgents rose up in 2004 to demand greater autonomy.

The report said that police should be put in charge of investigating charges of extrajudicial killings in Balochistan and that Pakistan should restrict the roles there of the paramilitary Frontier Corps and intelligence agencies.

AQ

Security forces blitz militant hideouts in Orakzai

PESHAWAR: Pakistan’s security forces’ fighter jets pounded militant hideouts,  killing a dozen militants and injuring another five in various areas of Orakzai agency on Sunday, DawnNews reported.

Three militant hideouts were destroyed in the attacks.

The airstrikes targeted four hideouts in the remote Ghaljo and Dabori areas of the northwestern Orakzai tribal region, military officials said. The locations were being used by members of the Pakistan Taliban.

The death toll could not be independently verified and militants often dispute official figures.

Power shortfall rise to 5,005 MW

ISLAMABAD: The power crisis has intensified once again, as the shortfall has risen 5,005 megawatts.

Citizens braving the scorching heat of summer and fasting in this holy month of Ramazan will have to undergo further increase in the duration of loadshedding and frequent power breakdowns.

Energy Management Cell spokesman attributed this swelled up shortfall to short supply of furnace oil to power stations besides the closure of the Chashma-I and Chashma-II plants. He said that PSO has cut down the supply of furnace oil due to non-payment and power stations were currently receiving 20,000 tons of furnace oil instead of 38,000 tons.

This has brought the countrywide power production to 12,000 megawatt only, while the demand peaks at 17,500 MW, he said.

Power shortfall went up by 650 MW due to the closure of Chashma-I and Chashma-II. Prolonged and unannounced loadshedding for 13 hours in the cities and for 16 hours in the rural areas are being carried out to meet the increasing shortfall, while the people will have to keep fast without sehri and pass sleepless dark nights due to power outage.

AQ