DG ISI extended for one year

Lahore, Pakistan:- Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani on Tuesday extended service of Director General Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), Lieutenant General Shuja Pasha, for one year. Summary in this regard was sent to the Prime Minister 15 days ago which was accepted.

Pasha was scheduled to retire from service on March 18, 2010.

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DG ISI extended for one year

Designers showcase collection at Fashion Week

Elegance and grace marked the fourth day of Lakmé India Fashion Week (LIFW) where renowned designer Vikram Phadnis showcased his summer collection in the western city of Mumbai.

Models showcased the collection, wearing georgette, chiffon, jersey, crepe and linen.
Phadnis aptly named the collection ‘Summer Resort’, which consisted of cream panelled swing tops, layered blouses, laced dungarees, bermuda summer jackets and puff-sleeved smocks.

Sequinned skullcaps and golden-coloured sneakers worn by the models set the mood for the evening.
Lakmé Fashion Week, organised twice a year, is being held from March 5-9 and involves events like media seminars, business-to-business meetings and a buyers’ forum, apart from the regular fashion shows.

The event also provides a platform for fresh designers through the Gen Next and Emerging Designer shows. Around 64 designers are showcasing their creations in this season of the fashion week.

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Designers showcase collection at Fashion Week

India’s Gandhi says coalition intact after bill row

NEW DELHI: The head of India’s Congress party said on Tuesday its ruling coalition was intact, despite a key ally breaking ranks to abstain as a bill to reserve a third of parliamentary seats for women was passed by the upper house.

Already under fire over issues such as food inflation and a proposed hike in fuel prices, the government has been hit by two days of turmoil trying to push through the legislation.

While the Congress-led coalition still has a majority, the stand-off may give the government less breathing room over key pending economic legislation.

Sonia Gandhi, seen as the country’s most influential politician, was asked by reporters whether she was confident in the stability of the government.

“I think so. One can never tell. I am not not an astrologer. I wish our former partners remained with us,” she said, according to the Press Trust of India.

The bill was passed in an evening vote after a raucous day in the upper house of parliament, but it still needs the approval of the lower house.

“It is a historic occasion, which calls for celebration,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in the upper house where the bill was supported by a majority of opposition parties.

Two regional parties pulled their support on Monday, and on Tuesday the Trinamool Congress party, one the government’s most influential allies, abstained to protest at Congress’ handling of the bill and said it would do the same in the lower house.

The Trinamool Congress party, whose leader, Mamata Banerjee, is the railways minister, said Congress had not properly consulted its ally on pushing through the bill in the upper house in the face of strong opposition from some regional parties.

Detractors say the legislation will be passed at the expense of other disenfranchised minorities such as Muslims, or benefit women already in privileged classes.

Trinamool faces an election in its stronghold state of West Bengal next year where about 20 percent of voters are Muslims.

The women’s bill is a test for Congress, which sees the quota as a cornerstone of its election-winning platform of inclusive growth, but which might lose some political capital needed to push economic reforms and maintain high growth.

The bill, which was first introduced in 1996, is intended to speed up women’s empowerment in a country where women lag far behind on many social and health indicators. Women lawmakers and activists shouted “we have made it” outside parliament.

Seven lawmakers were suspended on Tuesday and physically evicted from the house, and the sessions adjourned several times as those against the bill besieged the speaker of the house to shout slogans and stall the debate.

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India’s Gandhi says coalition intact after bill row