Reference: http://www.thenews.com.pk/

NEW DELHI: Pakistan and India on Friday have agreed to continue the ongoing dialogue process between the two countries.Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi who is on a four-day visit to India to further the peace process and hold talks on bilateral cooperation met his Indian counterpart Pranab Mukherjee in New Delhi on Friday.

Qureshi while talking to media after meeting with Pranab said that it was in the mutual interest of both the nations to maintain ceasefire.Pranab called for Pakistan’s cooperation in combating the menace of extremism. He said that terrorism was a threat to the democratic framework of India and Pakistan and asserted that both the countries needed to be “unambiguous” in addressing the threat.

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Reference: http://www.pakwatan.com/

LADAKH is a land of high passes on the borderland of India & Tibet. Ladakh is also known as ‘The Land of the Mystic Lamas’, ‘The Broken Moon land’, or ‘The Last Shangri-La’. It is also known as ‘Little Tibet’ because of the cultural & geographical similarities with Tibet.

At various times in the past Ladakh has been politically part of western Tibet and this influence is still prominent today throughout most of the region.

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Reference: http://www.economist.com/

A tale of detention and detente

A WHITE-BEARDED old man has returned to India, and to the glare of a hundred newspaper cameras, after 35 years in a Pakistani jail. Kashmir Singh was arrested in 1973 on spying charges and the Indian media, quick to cock a snook at their struggling neighbour, suggested a cruel injustice had been done to this travelling “salesman”. But speaking to journalists shortly after embracing his “still beautiful” wife and noting the astonishing number of motor cars about, Mr Singh disabused them of their indignation. Raging at the Indian government for leaving his family in poverty, he declared he had indeed been a spy. “I did the duty assigned to me as a spy,” he told journalists. “I did not open my mouth for 35 years.”

India and Pakistan have fought three wars and numerous near-wars in the past 60 years. Their jails are dotted with men arrested on spying charges. India says 600 of its nationals languish in Pakistani jails; Pakistan says India has 200 of its men. Though a peace process was launched in 2004, the two countries are still believed to conduct intelligence missions across the border and to make arrests on either side.

Mr Singh’s release was a sign of something better. Ansar Burney, Pakistan’s human-rights minister, had discovered Mr Singh’s plight himself. He had pleaded with President Pervez Musharraf for his release. At the border, the two men had hugged, and Mr Singh had wished that all Indians and Pakistanis would get on as well. Later, hearing of Mr Singh’s confession, Mr Burney said he was shocked. But his actions were nonetheless in line with the peace process that has improved ties and reduced suspicions on both sides. Indeed, the thaw may be happening even faster in Pakistan, perhaps because its other concerns—terrorism, political uncertainty—seem even more pressing.

Reference: http://www.thenews.com.pk/

NUZAFFARABAD: Kashmir Solidarity Day is being observed today (Tuesday) across the world to express solidarity with the people of the held Kashmir. This day was observed for the first time in 1990 and now this day is observed every year.This day will be observed to highlight the issue of Indian occupation of the Muslim majority state besides expressing full support to Kashmiris’ freedoms struggle against the Indian occupant army to ensure their right to self determination guaranteed by a UN resolutions over five decades ago.

Different religious, social and political organisations will hold rallies, public meetings and seminars across the country to highlight the significance of the day and the sacrifices rendered by the Kashmiri Muslims for freedom from India occupation during the last 50 years. In Lahore, Jamaat-e-Islami will take out a rally from Nasir Bagh to Masjid Shuhada in the morning. The rally will be joined by a rally of women and children from GPO Chowk to express commitment with Kashmiris’ freedom on behalf of Pakistani nation.

Besides, Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JD) will hold a public meeting titled Kashmir Solidarity Conference at Masjid Shuhada in the evening. Hafiz Muhammad Saeed and other leaders from noted religious and political organisations will address the rally. Liaquat Baloch and other JI leaders including the party’s Lahore Ameer, Hafiz Salman Butt, Chaudhry Muhammad Shaukat, Ziauddin Ansari, Malik Shahid Aslam and Rao Javed will lead the rally.The government has declared a public holiday today in connection with Kashmir Day. All educational institutions and government/private offices will be closed in this regard. Apart from that, extra curricular activities will be held by educational institutions and social organisations like debate competitions and quiz programmes to highlight the Kashmiri cause, while print and electronic media will air special programmes like talk shows and plays on the occasion.

Jamaat-e-Islami has already set up 20 camps in the City in this aspect, two in each of the nine towns of and the Cantonment area for the last two days. Kashmiri songs are being played, pamphlets renewing pledge Kashmiris’ freedom are being distributed and funds for Kashmir cause are being collected at the camps. The government has taken elaborate security measures for the two events in the City particularly in view of the ongoing wave of terrorism across the country. Several hundred police personnel have been deployed in all parts of the City and entry points to monitor miscreants while steps have been taken to ensure body search of the participants of the rallies and public meetings.

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India’s Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh always turns visionary whenever he is on a visit to the occupied Kashmir. But he usually goes there whenever he needs to communicate with his friend-in-uniform, Pakistan’s General Musharraf. This time again, he was on a daylong visit to Jammu last week, where he addressed local university students sharing with them his well-known “vision” of a Kashmir settlement. For him, Kashmir never was an issue and is in fact ready to become what he called a “symbol” of peace and cooperation between India and Pakistan.
Apparently, responding to President Musharraf’s blown-over call of “Mohabbat Zindabad” from Castro’s Havana last September, Manmohan Singh repeated a pledge he first made in 2005 that “borders (between India and Pakistan in Kashmir) cannot be changed, but they can be made irrelevant.” According to him, it was time for “a genuine effort to build peace and create the conditions for a historic reconciliation of hearts and minds in our region.”

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Chitta Katha Lake is in Shonter Valley of Azad Kashmir. It will spell bound anyone who will see it first time.The colors of lake water are so enchanting that you can’t believe your eyes.You can see a small boat in the picture too.

Reference: http://www.trekearth.com/

“Switzerland of Asia”, Kashmir is famous around the globe for its beauty, since ages. One of the Great Mughal Princess has praised its beauty by calling it a “Paradise on earth !”

The Valley of Kashmir is full of the mighty mountains, lush greenery, blossoms of pinks, whites, yellows and flowers of all the rarest varieties. Rainbows spread across the blue skies. Meadows are spangled with daisies, flower beds with pansies, primroses, hyacinths and daffodils grow all over. Almond, cherry, apples strawberries are in abundance. Rivers, Lakes, snow-caped mountains, dense forests, Hill stations you can’t think of any heavenly beauty which is missing in this piece of heaven !
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The national flag of Pakistan was designed by Syed Amir-ud-Din Kedwaii. It was adopted on August 11, 1947, three days before independence when the country was formed after the British-ruled Indian sub-continent was divided into two independent states, Pakistan and India. The Pakistan flag is based on one created in 1906; which represented the All-Indian Muslim League - a political organization established to represent the political rights of muslims in India. That flag had an entirely green base with a white crescent and star in the centre. The flag remained the same when Pakistan produced its first constitution in 1956 and officially became the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

A common name for the Pakistan flag is Sabz Hilali Parcham which is Urdu for Green Flag with the Crescent. Or Parcham-e-Sitara aw Hilal meaning The Flag of the Crescent and Star.

The national flag of Pakistan is now dark green in colour with a white bar, a white crescent in the centre and a five-pointed star. The significance of the colour and symbols used in the Pakistan Flag is as follows:

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