Author: Noc Team

The government has reached a secret understanding with the IMF under which the Reformed General Sales Tax will be imposed in the next fiscal budget, but will not be called the RGST or VAT, since the government may not be able to get the relevant financial legislation passed through the National Assembly.

What this simply means is that the economic mangers of the government, who held talks with an IMF team in Dubai and briefed them on the salient features of the next budget, have tried to fool the masses, urban based political players and business tycoons by leaking the false information that the RGST had been shelved. In reality, the official statement after the talks says discussions on the issue would continue in the weeks ahead and a fund mission would visit in July 2011. In essence, the economic managers have tried to camouflage a secret deal with the IMF.

In an interview, Grossman said the US “respected and recognised the sacrifice Pakistan had made in the war against terrorism”, but he remained non-committal on the question of drone strikes, wishing not to comment on demands by Pakistan that they should end.

Elaborating on the agreement brokered by Senator John Kerry earlier this week for joint action and intelligence sharing, Grossman insisted “joint meant joint” with neither country in the driving seat. Grossman said a step-by-step approach would be taken here as well “to see what we can do together.  We need to work together and identify the threat jointly.”

Grossman said there was convergence between the US and Pakistan on many issues including the Haqqani network, which has been a major irritant between the two countries, adding Pakistan and the US “see more clearly now than they did a week ago.”

Pakistan is focusing on building low-yield, tactical nuclear weapons which it can use in case of skirmishes at the border with India. After disclosures that Pakistan is building its fourth reactor at the Khushab military facility, fresh estimates made by security and intelligence officials here suggest that Pakistan now has the capability to add 8-10 such weapons in its kitty every year.

The news is a surprise, if not shock, to the government here. Its belief, based on assessment by top scientists, was that Pakistan was unlikely to undertake this sort of expansion as it did not have enough uranium. Pakistan is internationally acknowledged to have a nuclear arsenal of 100 weapons but the recent focus on low-yield, also known as tactical, weapons has become a source of worry for India.

Indian officials said the manner in which Pakistan has carried out work on the fourth reactor, of which there was no trace as late as 2009, suggest a constant supply or uranium and that this could only have been made possible by China. “The cost involved is too high and then, of course, the amount of uranium required. It’s too much for Pakistan to achieve without support from China,” said a senior government official.

At least five miners were killed and almost 46 workers trapped inside when a coal mine in Balochistan, 35km away from the Quetta collapsed after gas blast. Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation owned the mine. President Pakistan Central Mines Labour Federation Bakht Khan cleared the accident and terror a more death toll. Local workers started rescue operation on their own and recovered a dead body.

Top US security officials said they had no verification that Pakistani leaders knew that Osama bin Laden was in Pakistan, and in reality had seen information to the opposite. “I have seen no proof since the bin Laden attack that signifies that the top management knew bin Laden was there,” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen said.

Deputy Director of CIA Michael Morell met with DG ISI Lt. General Ahmed Shuja Pasha in Islamabad which they decided to carry on the combined action against Al-Qaeda and to limit the drone strikes on Pakistan earth.

Grossman would be meeting with President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and the military leadership. Marc Grossman arrived in Islamabad on Wednesday. This is Grossman’s second visit as part of attempt to cool tensions between the two countries after the United State action in Abbottabad.