ISLAMABAD: The US recognises the importance of its relationship with Pakistan and is not seeking to downgrade ties, says the State Department.
At a Wednesday afternoon briefing, the department’s spokesperson Jen Psaki rejected suggestions that a reduction in the Obama administration’s aid requests for Pakistan indicated Washington’s desire to downgrade its relationship with Islamabad.
The US aid to Pakistan “has been very extensive over the course of the last several years,” Psaki said.
The Secretary of State, John Kerry, was a very big advocate of this assistance to Pakistan when he was in the Senate, Psaki added.
Peshawar cop shot dead
Islamabad: A policeman was yesterday shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Peshawar, capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in northwest Pakistan. The assailants on motorcycles opened fire on the policeman deployed outside a church in Ahmedabad area, police said.
The policeman succumbed to his wounds at Lady Reading Hospital.
Development plans for Sindh
ISLAMABAD: With development outlay of Rs6.6bn for Sindh’s agricultural sector, the provincial budget 2013-14 encompasses 37 developmental schemes, including 24 ongoing and 13 new ones. Included in the uplift plans is Rs300m under foreign-funded schemes.
Among major schemes, the government has allocated Rs1bn for subsidy on tractors and another Rs450m for implements like laser land levellers and thrashers.
The on-going scheme on farm water management for lining of watercourses would get Rs1,465m whereas Rs1bn have been earmarked to build food grain storages at district and taluka levels.
Peak closed to trekkers
ISLAMABAD: The Gondogoro La, a roughly 6,000 metres high pass, has been closed. Sources said the army closed it to all trekking expeditions last month.
The peak, offering the finest mountain panorama in the world, had been shut for natural reasons such as avalanches and rock falls in the past.
Agencies
