TEHRAN: President Asif Ali Zardari attending the inaugural session of the 16th NAM Summit.

Continued on Page 7

ISLAMABAD—While an-nouncing the verdict of DrArsalan Iftikhar case, theSupreme Court of Pakistan(SC) ordered to retreat thecase from National Account-

Suddle commission to probe Arsalan caseability Bureau (NAB) andform a new investigating com-mission headed by ex-policeofficer Dr Shoaib Suddle.

The court has also is-sued notice to attorney gen-

eral over his inappropriateactions.A special bench of the Su-preme Court, comprising Jus-tice Jawad S Khwaja and Jus-

Continued on Page 7

No bomb seekingwill pursue

energy: KhameneiDUBAI—Iran has no interestin nuclear weapons but will

Pak students face expulsionfrom a London varsity

TAJAMUL GURMANI

LONDON—London Metro-politan University is one ofthe most popular universi-ties for the prospective stu-dents aiming to study in UKfrom Pakistan. Its popular-ity amongst the local Paki-stani students can begauged from the fact that itis a regular advertiser in allthe leading newspapers ofthe country and was one ofthe first international uni-versities to open its re-gional office in Pakistan.

The British governmenthas stripped London Met-ropolitan University of itsright to sponsor visas for

overseas students, leavingthousands of students fac-ing possible deportation.

London MetropolitanUniversity had its HighlyTrusted Status — which al-

lowed it to sponsor visas forstudents from outside theEuropean Union — revokedby the UK Border Agencyon Wednesday over allegedfailings in its procedures.

The move means currentoverseas students have 60days to enrol on a courseelsewhere, with more than2,000 students facing depor-tation if they fail to find an-

other university, accordingto the National Union ofStudents (NUS).

The union warned of“catastrophic” effects onBritain’s industry for edu-

cating students from over-seas, which was estimatedlast year to be worth

GBP14 billion.Almost 300,000 non-EU

foreign students were en-rolled in Britain in the 2010-11 academic year.

The university said onits website: “The implica-tions of the revocation arehugely significant and far-reaching… Our absolutepriority is to our students,

Picture on Back Page

QUETTA—Three persons in-cluding an Additional Ses-sions Judge were killed in afiring incident at MuneerMengal Road here onWednesday.

According to details, thesession judge,Zulfiqar Naqviwas en route tohis office along with his gun-man Abdul Shakoor and driverAbdul Ghafoor at about 8-00am, when he came under se-vere gunfire attack at some dis-tance from his residence lo-cated in GOR Colony. All threemen died on the spot while theattackers remained present onthe spot for 15 minutes and af-ter the confirmation of theirdeath they managed to flee

Sessions judge among3 shot dead in Quetta

from the scene.The three injured were

rushed to nearby hospitalwhere they succumbed toinjuries, according to the po-lice sources. Police hasstarted investigation.

Initial re-port sug-gested that

the incident is a result of tar-geted killing and the attack-ers used Kalashnikov.

A large number of law-yers and judges reached athospital and staged a pro-test and demanded arrest ofkillers.

On the other hand,Balochistan Bar Association

CJ LHC formslarger bench in

Zardari dualoffice caseSALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Chief JusticeLahore High Court (LHC)Umar Ata Bandial on Thurs-day constituted a five-judgelarger bench to hear the dualoffice case against PresidentAsif Ali Zardari.The benchcomprises Justice Bandial,Justice Nasir Saeed Sheikh,Justice Sheikh Najmul Hasan,Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Jus-tice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah.

The petition against AsifZardari holding dual officeshad been filed by AdvocateAzhar Siddique.AdvocateSiddique had contended thatthe court in its May 12, 2011judgment had ruled that heshould not use the highestoffice for political purposes.

Nine die as twoIndian MI-17choppers collideJAMNAGAR—Nine defencepersonnel, including fiveofficers, were on Thursdaykilled when two MI-17choppers of Indian AirForce collided mid-air justafter takeoff from an airbase here.

“Nine IAF personnel —five officers and four otherranks — have been killed inthe crash near Sarmat firingrange, 15 kms fromJamnagar city,” an IAFspokesperson said in NewDelhi.

The Russian-madechoppers were on a trainingsortie and the crashoccurred about five afterthey took off at 12 noonfrom the Jamnagar air base,he said.—INP

18 Taliban killedin Bajaur AgencyBAJAUR AGENCY—At least18 Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP)Taliban militants includingtwo key commanders werekilled in clash with Pakistanarmy in Bajaur Agency,lawless tribal region alongwith Afghan border, militaryofficials said on Thursday.

According to militaryofficials, Swat Talibancommanders Khateer andTarabi were among 18terrorists killed in Batwararea of Bajaur Agency nearwar-turned neighboringcountry.

28 militants and foursecurity personnel werekilled on August 25 in thesame region where Pakistanarmy is engaged in combat-ing terrorists who havekilled thousands Pakistanis.Pakistan army has launcheda massive operation inBajaur.—Online

19 dengue casesconfirmed inPunjabLAHORE—At least 19dengue cases have beenconfirmed in Punjab, while1,127 suspected cases havebeen reported.

According to a reportby the provincial healthdepartment, five denguepatients have been admit-ted in the Mayo hospital,six at the General Hospitaland one each at the GangaRam and Nawaz Sharifhospitals.

The report adds that outof the 1,127 cases, 81 havea high probability of beingconfirmed as denguepositive.

Meanwhile, PunjabChief Minister, ShahbazSharif has imposed a banon children wearing half-sleeve shirts and shorts toschool.—INP

Continued on Page 7

Continued on Page 7

WASHINGTON—The UnitedStates placed sanctions oneight Pakistanis it called lead-ers of the Pakistan-based mili-tant group Lashkar-e-Taiba(LeT) on Thursday, one ofthem allegedly a key plannerfor the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

“The individuals targetedtoday include LeT membersbased in Pakistan who areinvolved in the outfit’s pro-paganda campaigns, finan-cial networks, and logisticsupport networks,” the USTreasury said in a statementon Thursday.

US imposes sanctionson 8 LeT leaders

Alleges Sajid Mir as key planner of Mumbai attacks

Continued on Page 7

The eight included SajidMir, a long-time LeT recruiterwhom the US Treasury calledthe “project manager” for theNovember 2008 attacks thatkilled 166 people in Mumbai.

Mir was also behind therecruitment of four “opera-tives” in the US state of Vir-ginia in the 2000s, the Trea-sury said.

Mir “cleared them forLeT’s militant training, anddirected them to monitor andresearch US target sites.”Second on the list wasAbdullah Mujahid, called

LeT’s “senior paramilitarycommander for Afghanistan”since around mid-2008.

Also on the list areAhmed Yaqub, called LeT’schief for Bangladesh andNepal operations; HafizKhalid Walid, who runs theLeT political bureau; AmirHamza, a propagandist andcentral advisory committeemember; Qari MuhammadYaqoob Sheikh, head of theLeT ulema (clerics) wing;Abdullah Muntazir, called anLeT media official, and Talha

TEHRAN—President Asif AliZardari on Thursday said thatPakistan and India mustmake determined efforts andmaintain focus to steer thedialogue process in a pro-ductive and result- orientedmanner.

“We have covered a lotof ground but we still haveto go a long way,” PresidentZardari remarked during hismeeting with Indian PrimeMinister Dr ManmohanSingh here on the sidelinesof the 16th Summit of theNon-Aligned Movement.

The President said that

Zardari for making Pak-Indiadialogue process productiveKeenly looking forward to Singh’s visit

it was important to move be-yond reiteration of positionsto more substantive results.

He said that Pakistanwas committed to pursuingthe process of dialogue andengagement with India.

He said Pakistan waskeenly looking forward to thevisit of Prime MinisterManmohan Singh at an earlydate.

Foreign Minister HinnaRabbani Khar later describedthe meeting between the twoleaders as “good.”

“There is an ample proofthat the political leadership

of the two countries is com-mitted to improving and nor-malizing ties with eachother,” she told APP at theConference Centre.

Ms Khar said that Paki-stan believed that it was theright approach and the re-quirement of the times andemerging regional situationto have better ties with all thecountries, particularly thosein the region.

“It is important that weare able to move past thechallenges of the past and

Earlier story on Page 15

Continued on Page 7

ISLAMABAD—The FederalFlood Commission (FFC)Wednesday said that allmain rivers Indus, Jhelum,Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej wereflowing normal. According todaily FFC report, the reser-voir elevations indicates thatTarbela and Mangla dams areat elevations of 1533.88 feetand 1179.90 feet respectively,which are 16.12 feet and 62.10feet below their respectiveMaximum Conservation Lev-els of 1550.00 feet and1242.00 feet.

The combined live stor-age position of Tarbela,Chashma and Mangla reser-voirs is 9.140 MAF as com-pared to last year’s 11.635

MAF. According to FloodForecasting Division (FFD),Lahore, yesterday’s troughof Westerly Wave overKashmir has moved awayeastwards. Weak SeasonalLow lies over NorthernBalochistan. Monsoon cur-rent is penetrating into lowerparts of the country upto4000 feet.

Yesterday’s Monsoonlow over NortheasternMadhya Paradesh (India)has become less marked,however, an upper air circu-lation lies over SouthernRajasthan (India). Theweather system is beingclosely monitored by the Pa-kistan Meteorological De-

partment. The Flood Fore-casting Division (FFD),Lahore predicted scatteredthunderstorm/rain with mod-erate to heavy falls at one ortwo places is expected overSouthern and SoutheasternSindh (Karachi, Hyderabadand Mirpur Khas Divisions)during the next 24 hours.

Isolated thunderstorm/rain may also occur overKhyber Pakhtunkhawa,Punjab, NortheasternBalochistan and Kashmir in-cluding upper catchments ofRivers Indus, Jhelum, Chenab,Ravi and Sutlej during the sameperiod. Significant rainfallevents reported during thepast 24 hours include.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Rapid devel-opment in the field of infor-mation and communicationtechnologies has broughtenormous advantages andopportunities as well as newrisks and threats in the formof cyber disputes andcybercrimes. Though a com-prehensive policy and an ef-fective legal mechanism isrequired to regulate the wholeactivity in the cyber worldhowever, unfortunately,growing number of users ofICT in Pakistan are operatingin a legal vacuum since thelapse of the Prevention and

Control of Cyber Crimes Or-dinance in 2009.

In this backdrop speak-ers at a roundtable held at theInstitute of Policy Studies,Islamabad, emphasized effec-tive legal mechanism as wellas general awareness aboutcybercrimes and its concomi-tant dimensions and urgedthe government departmentsto enhance its capacity todeal with situations that mayundermine the security of in-dividuals as well as organi-zations, the nation and thestate. It may be mentionedthat many such incidents likehacking of the websites ofthe Supreme Court of Paki-

stan, President House andother key state institutionshave already been takenplace.

The session was chairedby IPS National AcademicCouncil member and seniorIPS associate Commodore(Retd) Khalid Iqbal and ad-dressed by Wahaj-us-Siraj,CEO Nayatel and convenerof Internet Service ProvidersAssociation of Pakistan(ISPAK), Tariq Bilal Advo-cate, Special ProsecutorFIA’s cybercrime wing,Khalid Rahman, DG-IPS andNadia Khadim Advocate. Itwas attended by a number ofICT experts.

Pak cyber crimesordinance 2009 lapses

All major rivers flowing normal

ISLAMABAD—The DeputySpeaker National Assembly,

Faisal Karim Kundi has saidthat Pakistan attaches greatimportance to its relations

with Australia and wanted tofurther strengthening the bi-lateral relations through en-hanced parliamentary tiesand economic cooperation.He expressed these viewswhile talking to 9-MembersAustralian Parliamentary del-egation led by Senator JohnHogg President of the Sen-ate who called on him in Par-liament House. The DeputySpeaker said that Pakistanand Australia have similarviews on global and regionalissues and both the countriesshared democratic values andlong standing links throughCommonwealth.

He said that the parlia-

mentarians of both the coun-tries could play an importantrole in building the bridgesof understanding and coop-eration between the twocountries. He stressed theneed for frequent exchangeof parliamentary delegationbetween the both countries.He was of the view that fre-quent interaction betweenparliamentarians and busi-ness communities would fur-ther lead to betterment of re-lations between states. TheDeputy Speaker said that de-mocracy in Pakistan wasgaining strength and thegovernment has set its pri-orities for the welfare of the

people of the country. Hesaid that provisions of edu-cation, healthcare, jobs andsocial amenities were the toppriorities of the democraticgovernment.

The Deputy Speaker alsoapprised the delegation aboutthe functioning and organiza-tional setup of the NationalAssembly. He said that thepresent parliament had maderecord legislation includinghistoric 18th, 19th and 20thconstitutional amendments.He said that Opposition in thepresent parliament had playeda very constructive and posi-tive role and most of the leg-islation passed by present

parliament with consensus.The Deputy Speaker said thatPakistan was facing variety ofchallenges at present how-ever, with the support ofpeople of Pakistan andfriendly countries like Austra-lia will overcome these chal-lenges. He said that the worlddemocratic forces should ex-tended support to strengthendemocratic institutions in Pa-kistan. He appreciated the roleof Australia for restoration ofdemocracy in Pakistan.

Senator John Hogg saidthat Pakistan is an importantcountry of the region and Aus-tralia values high its relationswith Pakistan. He said that Aus-

tralian government is also keento further strengthening rela-tions between both countries.Senator John Hogg expressedsatisfaction over the democraticprocess in Pakistan. He empha-sized the role of democracy forthe social and political welfareof the masses.

He desired for globalstable democratic societythroughout the world. Mr.John Hogg appreciated therole of PAC in the incumbentparliament. He expressed hisoptimism that the next electionin Pakistan will be held in freeand transparent manner andthat the transition of powerswill further strengthen the on

going democratic process inPakistan.

Senator John Hogg andother members of the delega-tion also praised the role ofPakistan in the war againstmilitancy and said thatpeople of Australia highlyacknowledged the sacrificesrendered by Pakistan in waragainst terrorism and extrem-ism. The delegation alsothanked Deputy Speaker forwarm welcome and hospital-ity extended to them. Themeeting was attended byMNAs Eng. Khuram DastgirKhan, Ms. Shazia Marri,Noor Alam Khan and KhuramJehangir Wattoo.—NNI

Aussies parliamentary delegation meets Deputy Speaker NA

Both countries’ MPs can further build up bridges of coop

OUR CORRESPONDENT

QUETTA—Despite 48 hoursgovernment ultimatum givento doctors to stop their strike,OPDs and general operationtheatres of public hospitalsremained shut consecutivelyfor 30th day acrossBalochistan including theprovincial capital Thursday.In spite of release of the kid-napped doctor Dr GhulamRasool Kakar and 48 hoursgovernment deadline, theprotesting doctors continuedtheir protest for the 30th day.

Patients coming from in-terior parts of the provincefaced severe hardship due toprotesting doctors and clo-sure of OPDs and general

Quetta OPDs, Operationtheatres remain shut

operation theaters. PakistanMedical Association contin-ued its protest for the 30thconsecutive day and hascalled for arrest of the culpritsinvolved in doctors kidnap-ping and refund of the ran-som paid for doctor’s release.The patients have appealedfrom the government to takemeasures to stop the protestof the doctors, due to whichthey are facing severe diffi-culty.

Meanwhile, President PMADr. Sultan Tareen has said thatthe doctors have handed overa charter of demand to the sec-retary health, adding that theywould continue the protestdemonstration until their de-mands are met.

Three killed,16 injured inroad mishap

MURREE—At least threepersons were killed and 16others sustained injurieswhen a passenger coachskidded off the road and fellinto a deep ravine here onThursday.

According to rescuesources, the ill-fated coachwas traveling from Murree toRawalpindi. The accidentoccurred at an area called 22-mile near Murree. The deadand injured were shifted tonearby hospital.—INP

55-year-oldman heldmarrying

7-year teenOUR CORRESPONDENT

ROJHAN—Police arresteda 55-year-old man after hegot married with a seven-year-old girl in Rojhan areaof Rajanpur here on Thurs-day. The seven-year old girl,Halima, was married off byher father who also wantedto marry with the old man’sdaughter. The girl was freedfrom forced marriage after hermother appealed to the po-lice. The case was registeredagainst Nikah Khwan andother witnesses.

Health Departput on dengue

red alertSTAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—The provincialgovernment of KhyberPakhtunkhwa on Thursdaydirected to the Health De-partment and all other insti-tutions to take preventivemeasures against the pos-sible spread of Dengue virus.

As per details, the mea-sures have been taken af-ter identification of Den-gue Virus patients inPunjab and Sindh prov-inces, therefore, al l theHealth Department andhospitals in KP have beenput on red alert to controlthe Dengue virus. The KPHealth Department has alsostarted precautionary mea-sures to control the possiblethreats of Dengue Virus whilespecial wards have been setup for Dengue patients. Thespecial direction has beengiven to doctors and Paramedical staff in KP to eradi-cate the Dengue Virus.

HYDERABAD: Sessions Court is seen deserted during the strike called against the murder of a sessions judge in Quetta.

FAISALABAD: Perviez Iqbal Kamoka of PML (N) is being escorted by police personnelas he arrives for hearing.

Saif inspectsdrinking water

projectsSTAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—Chairman, Dis-trict Development AdvisoryCommittee (DDAC), districtLakki Marwat, AnwarSaifullah Khan MPA has saidthat their family is ready foraccountability by the peopleand vowed to continue themission of the welfare anddevelopment of the district.Talking to different delega-tions, he said that develop-ment fund is the sacred trustof whole constituency andits each penny is being spenton the welfare of the people.

On this occasion, he in-spected ongoing drinkingwater schemes in Ahmadzaiand assured the people thatit would be completed soonto make it operational. Thecompletion of the scheme, hesaid will cost Rs.3 million andwill provide drinking water tothousands of people. Hesaid that during the politicsof last 40 years, his family hadnever let the Marwat aloneand has always taken mea-sures for their developmentat every place and front.

The second name of poli-tics, he said is the service ofthe people, adding they willcontinue it with the same zealand spirit. He urged thepeople to identify politicalhypocrites and do not believein their hallow slogans. Theseelements, he said are neitherprogressive, nor people-friendly and they protect onlytheir own interest.

Govt tocomplete

tenure: BhattiBASHIR AHMAD RAHMANI

HAFIZABAD—Federal Minis-ter for Works, Ch. LiaquatAbbas Bhatti has said thatpresent federal collation gov-ernment will complete its 5year constitutional tenureand general election wouldbe held in fixed time. Ad-dressing Sui gas supplyschemes in village ChahMasso in Union CouncilSukheki completed with thecost of Rs.2 million, he saidthat Sui gas facility has beenprovided in all the villages ofUnion Council Sukheki withthe cost of Rs.140 million.

He said that the federalgovernment had spent onebillion of rupees in constitu-ency NA-103 during last fouryears for providing Sui gasfacility in rural areas and Suigas facility has been pro-vided in 200 villages of theconstituency so far and Suigas pipes were being laid in150 villages constituencyNA-103 and pipes layingwork would be completedwithin next tree months. Heasked to the workers of PML(Q) to prepare for upcominggeneral election. He said thatall promises made during theelection campaign had beenfulfilled.

31,000 candidatesappearing in MA,

M Sc examsSTAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—More than31,000 students comprising ofaround 6,000 regular and25,000 private candidates areappearing in MA/M.Sc exami-nation of University ofPeshawar started on August29. A total of sixty-five exami-nation centers have been setup for them with twenty-sixregular and thirty-nine for pri-vate candidates. Meanwhile,an information/ complaint cellis being made operational atControllerate of examinationsto look into (address) thegenuine problems of the stu-dents round the clock.

The Vice Chancellor Uni-versity of Peshawar Prof. Dr.Qibla Ayaz, Deans of facul-ties, and Controller Examina-tions Prof. Dr. Rasheed Khanas well as the designated in-spection staff are paying sur-prise visits to various exami-nation centers in order toensure transparency in theexam. It is worth mentioninghere that MA/ M.Sc exami-nations are being conductedin a conducive environment.

ISLAMABAD—The HumanRights Commission of Paki-stan (HRCP) launched onThursday the report of afact-finding it had con-ducted in Balochistan. AnHRCP mission had visitedthe province from May 15to 19 in order to assess theimpact of the recent mea-sures by the governmentwith respect to the provinceand to hear suggestionsfrom the stakeholders on away out of the lingering cri-sis there.

The fact-finding mis-sion met members of the ex-ecutive, representatives ofpolitical parties, civil societyorganisations, relatives ofmissing persons, religiousand ethnic minority commu-

nities, businessmen, lawyers,journalists, teachers, stu-dents and senior govern-ment officials. The team heldmeetings in Quetta, Mastungand Pishin. HRCP CoreGroup coordinators in dis-tricts Bolan, Chaghi, Gwadar,Harnai, Jafarabad, JhalMagsi, Kalat, Lasbela,Mastung, Naseerabad,Nushki, Panjgur, Pasni,Pishin, Qilla Abdullah, QillaSaifullah, Sibbi, Turbat, Zhoband Ziarat travelled to Quettaand briefed the fact-findingteam on the prevailing situa-tion in their respective areas.

Chairperson Zohra Yusufled the five-day (May 15-19)fact-finding team that alsocomprised HRCP provincialvice-chairpersons Tahir

Hussain Khan (Balochistan),Sher Muhammad Khan(Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) andAmarnath Motumal (Sindh),HRCP Executive Councilmembers Asma Jahangir,Zahoor Ahmed Shahwani andHabib Tahir, journalists ArifaNoor and Amir Mateen, nov-elist Muhammad Hanif andacademic Prof. AzizuddinAhmed. HRCP Secretary Gen-eral I.A. Rehman, HussainNaqi and Najam U Din fromHRCP Secretariat and HRCPQuetta office coordinatorFarid Ahmed were also partof the fact-finding mission.

The mission was of theconsidered opinion that ifthere was a genuine will andcommitment to find solutions,the numerous challenges in

Balochistan could be ad-dressed. It was plain to seeby that the strategy that thegovernment had pursued inthe province had notworked. Maintaining thesame course was about theworst thing that could bedone if the objective was toimprove the situation. Thefact-finding team made thefollowing observations: Inmany fundamental respectsthe situation had notchanged in Balochistan sinceHRCP’s last fact-finding mis-sion to the province in 2011.Enforced disappearancescontinued in Balochistan asdid dumping of bodies andimpunity for the perpetrators.Frontier Corps and intelli-gence agencies were gener-

ally believed to be involvedin enforced disappearance ofpeople. In some cases theirinvolvement had beenproved beyond doubt.

Failure to punish the per-petrators or to probe that in-volvement in a meaningfulway was aggravating the situ-ation. The law and order situ-ation had worsened and sec-tarian killings increased in alldistricts. However, there weresome positive changes, eachwith a caveat, which offeredhope for improvement inBalochistan’s situation. TheSupreme Court hearings inQuetta had certainly had apositive impact, although itremained to be seen if the im-pact would endure. The mis-sion found youth and politi-

cal activists were more willingto talk and more keen to en-gage in efforts to resolve thecrises politically. Sincerityand reciprocity were neededto avail the opportunity. Therewas keen awareness thatchange was vital and a lot ofpeople looked towards theforthcoming elections to de-liver that change. If free andfair elections were held pro-gressive elements were ex-pected to participate. Somenationalists might not contestbut others would. If the na-tionalists became part of thegovernment things were gen-erally expected to improve.However, lawlessness madepreparation for the electionsdifficult for nationalist parties,many of which had constitu-

encies in insurgency-hit dis-tricts. There were apprehen-sions that elections might berigged and demands weremade for national and inter-national monitors for the elec-tions. Law and order had pre-vented many parliamentariansfrom visiting their constituen-cies. As of now, the peopleonly got a chance to go to elec-tions once every decade.There was a general feelingthat if there was genuine de-mocracy Balochistan’s woescould have been minimised.

There were multiple layersof violence and tension inBalochistan. Law and orderwas a problem that cast a longshadow on all aspects of life.The crime wave that had en-gulfed urban Balochistan and

the main highways was ei-ther a mark of collusion orutter incompetence of theauthorities. The govern-ment, law enforcement andsecurity agencies had com-pletely failed to deal withmilitant / insurgent, sectar-ian and criminal elements.

Kidnappings for ransomhad become a profitable en-terprise. No perpetrator hadbeen arrested or tried. It wasdifficult to see how the kid-nappers could operate de-spite heavy security de-ployment. The conclusionthat most people reached inBalochistan was that thecriminals had not been ar-rested because they en-joyed the patronage of theauthorities.—NNI

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan report

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Me-teorological Department hasforecast rain/thunderstormfor Sindh, Kashmir and GilgitBaltistan during the next 24hours. According to the syn-optic situation, seasonal lowlies over NorthwestBalochistan. A shallowtrough of westerly wave stillpersist over northern parts ofthe country.

Monsoon currents arecontinuously penetrating inNortheastern parts of thecountry and southeasternparts of Sindh. In Punjab,Khyber Pakhtunkhwa andBalochistan, mainly hot anddry weather is expected dur-ing the next 24 hours.

The chief amount of rain-fall during the last 24 hours was

Rain, thunderstormlikely: Met office

Murree 38 mm, Mithi 12, Chorr10, Noorpurthal 08, Kakul 07,Bhakkar 05, Rawalakot 04,

Lahore (PBO) 03, Sukkur &Hunza 02, Bahawalnagar, Kotliand Mianwali 01 mm. Mean-while, the Karachi Met officehas forecast a partly cloudy/cloudy weather with chancesof thunderstorm/rain in the me-tropolis for next 24 hours. Themaximum temperature will re-main in the range of 33 to 35degrees celsius.—APP

Genuine will needed to solve Balochistan problems

BoGs meetingStaff Reporter

PESHAWAR—Governor KhyberPakhtunkhwa Barrister, MasoodKausar said a good teacher can producdbrilliant students who can replace theirteachers. This he said in a meeting withthe Board of Governors of Institute ofManagement Sciences here atGovernor’s House. The meeting wasalso attended by Qazi Muhammad Asad(Minister for Higher Education KPK),Mr. Ghulam Dastgir Akhtar Chief Secre-

tary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Dr. Muhammad Mohsin Khan(Secretary BOG/Director (Acting) Institute of ManagementSciences Peshawar and many other high officials. TheGovernor said that he wanted fairness in the selection pro-cess free from political and all kind of other influences .Hesaid academic institutions are very sacred which shouldbe protected from corruption, favoritism and other evilsand should not be established only to earn money. “Manystudents could speak English fluently but they could notdraft even a simple application and asked to take actionagainst such institutions which do not fulfill the standardcriteria and basic requirements for an academic institutionto be established” he emphasised. He said we don’t con-sult relevant experts in an official process which results indefective output of our efforts and said that people shouldbe placed in their appropriate places to maximize the effi-ciency of their work. Governor said taking a decision is notdifficult but taking a correct decision is difficult and askedto apply mind judiciously and with rationality before tak-ing a decision. He said selection on merit in academic insti-tutions should not be ignored as its ignorance destroysthe whole nation. The Governor said we are facing manyissues but we should work with national consensus toovercome all the problems.

Speedy rehab directedStaff Reporter

PESHAWAR—Chief Minister KhyberPakhtunkhwa, Ameer Haider Khan Hotihere has directed the authorities con-cerned to expedite rehabilitation and de-velopment work on roads and bridgesaffected by flash floods and torrentialrains in the province. Presiding over ahigh level meeting in Chief MinisterHouse, he emphasized on utilizing allavailable resource to ensure the comple-tion of projects within stipulated time

limit. Secretary Communication, Engr. Zahid Arif, PrincipalSecretary to Chief Minister, Waqarul Hassan, Project Direc-tor, Sohail Bin Qayum, Deputy Director, Engr. MuhammadAyub and officials of the related departments were presenton the occasion. The meeting was told that government ofJapan would furnish Rs.14.5billion for the rehabilitation andconstruction of flood effected roads and bridges in the prov-ince. The meeting was further told that Communication andConstruction Department has been assigned the task offour-year rehabilitation program in which 11 heavy bridges,353 rural bridges and 96 important roads would be con-structed in the province. The Chief Minister was informedthat Country Director Japan has initiated the project by in-augurating Rs.70 million Batal Stan Gali Bridge. Speaking onthe occasion, the Chief Minister appreciated Governmentof Japan for their extended cooperation and support for theconstruction of infrastructure damaged by devastatingfloods. He also directed to increase the pace of work onthese public welfare projects and said that no compromisewould be made on the quality of construction work.

Only speculationStaff Reporter

PESHAWAR—Provincial Minister for In-formation Main Iftikhar Hussain termedthe reports about operation in NorthWaziristan Agency against militants asspeculation which contained no reality.Talking to media, Mian Iftikhar Hussainsaid that the government and the mili-tary have not taken any decision tolaunch operation in North WaziristanAgency. “We do not aware of any op-eration but just hearing about it since

long,” Mian Iftikhar maintained.”I don’t know why suchbaseless rumors about operation in NWA circling in theair,”he added. He said it was a prerogative of the govern-ment and the military to take a decision in this regard.Certainly the military would take the government of KhyberPakhtunkhwa on-board before going for any offensiveagainst the militants, he said adding attack on Kamra wasa reaction to the proposed operation in the NWA, he said.“There is no truth in such reports that an operation hasalready been launched,” Mian Iftikhar added. “Yes we wantoperation in North Waziristan Agency and all those areasand countries of the world where militants have presence,”he remarked. The Minister advocated that we also supportholding dialogue with militants outfit shunning militancy,for the maintenance of peace in order to avoid collateraldamage. Mian Iftikhar has reiterated the resolve to renderany kind of sacrifice for survival of the country. He saidthat the country was facing terrorism for the last severalyears, adding that their struggle to eradicate it would con-tinue with the support of the people. He said that terrorismwas not only the problem of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ratherpeople from across the country are confronting it. He saidthat they confronted terrorism from the day one and wouldcontinue fighting it through support of the people. Mianalso confirmed that a positive change has been witnessedin the province and the routine life continued.

Malakand in mini-LarkanaStaff Reporter

PE S H AWA R—Khyber PakhtunkhwaMinister for Finance, Eng.Muhammad Humayun Khan has saidthat the people of Malakand (mini-Larkana) by repeating its traditionwould again elect PPP candidateswith overwhelming majority. He wasaddressing a gathering in OdegramBanda near Dheri Jolagram, the otherday. On this occasion, Haji KakaiKhan along with elites of his commu-

nity announced joining PPP and reposed full confi-dence in the leadership of Eng. Muhammad HumayunKhan. They also assured all out support to him in fu-ture. The provincial minister said, during the last fourand a half year tenure of their government more thanRs. 166.40 million has been spent on various develop-mental schemes in Union Council Dheri Jolagram. Theschemes he added, included the construction of linkroad from Dheri Jolagram to Rangmala Piran with anestimated cost of Rs. 50 million, payment of streets Rs.30 million and purchase of land for graveyards of ShahDheri and Jolagram with Rs. 4.7 million and Rs. 3 mil-lions respectively. Referring to the demands of the area,the provincial finance minister announced provisionof Rs. 150 million for the construction and metaling ofroads from Dheri to Odegram Banda and Giro Shah. Healso assured that the rest problems would be resolvedon priority basis to ensure provision of basic ameni-ties of life to the common people.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

QUETTA—Chief SecretaryBalochistan Babar YaqoobFateh Mohammad said gov-ernment is fully cognizantabout the situation in theDera Bugti and assured tobring the deprived district ofthe country into the main-stream. “It is wrong impres-sion that Dera Bugti is a nogo area,” he said this duringmeeting with the MNA MirHamdan Khan Bugti-led del-egation of Buti tribes and dis-trict officials at Dera Bugti.

He paid one-day visit tothe Sui and Dera Bugti alongwith strong delegation of se-

nior bureaucrats to review thesecurity situation and pace ofwork on uplift schemes in thedistrict. Additional Chief Sec-retary Planning and Develop-ment Meeran Jan Kakar,Home Secretary NaseebullahBazai, Inspector General Po-lice Umer Khitab, Secretary Fi-nance Dostain Jamaldini, Sec-retary Education MunirAhmed Badini, SecretaryHealth Asmatullah Kakar andSecretary Public Health Engi-neering Abdullah Khan werein the government delegation.

Chief Secretary afterholding detailed meetingswith the tribal elders and dis-trict officials on the prevail-

ing situation and upliftschemes observed that offi-cials deputed in the DeraBugti district were not per-forming their duties, whichhas hampered the develop-ment process in the area.“Dwellers of the Dera Bugtihave been suffering, just be-cause of the sheer negligenceon the part of governmentofficials and other employ-ees in various departments inthe district,” he deploredadding it is high time to real-ize our responsibilities tochange the destiny of thepeople of the Balochistan.Chief Secretary expressinghis displeasure.

DERA GHAZI KHAN: Peasant stage sit-in protest against high price of electricity.

RAZA NAQVI

ATTOCK—The diabetes isalarming in Pakistan as itamong 7thnumbers in theworld ranking about Diabe-tes disease where diabetespatients have been reachedto 7.1 million till the statis-tics of 2010 and such figurewould be increased to 13.8million in next 20 years till2030. It was disclosed bythe medical experts in themedical seminar on the topic“burden of diabetes & insu-lin therapy” arranged by thePakistan Medical Associa-tion (PMA) Attock chapterhere at a local hotel in Attockcantonment on Thursday.

The President PMA,Attock district DrMuhammad Aslam Khan

Marwat, who is also local re-nowned medical specialists,has informed that new ap-proach of the initiation of In-sulin that it should be startedat the first stage soon afterdiagnose of the diabetes in-stead of taking OralPolytherapy. As unneces-sary delay initiation of insu-lin creates many others medi-cal problem among the dia-betics patients due to lack ofInsulin particularly naturalresistance power against thediseases, he said.

As in the tradition treat-ment, about 8 years taken inthe start of insulin therapy asearlier the medical specialistand patients both prefer tocontrol the diabetes throughdiet, exercise and oral dia-betes control tablets, Dr

Marwat Informed. The insu-lin is the oldest and best medi-cation treatment and mosteffective at lowering the gly-caemia and provides bettercontrol of diabetes and im-proves beta cell functioningbesides helping in reducingthe risk of macro vascular andmicro vascular complication,he said. He further said thatstudies revealed that reluc-tance of diabetic patients intaking Insulin therapy in ma-jor reasons in the delay ininitiation of Insulin therapy.

Briefing the figures, hesaid that 59 percent patientsare concerned about insulininitiation and 57 percent areworried that such insulinwould be remain for theirwhole life if they started itonce, he said.

Pakistan among 7 countriessuffering diabetes disease

Dera Bugti to broughtin mainstream: CS

IUB announcesBA, BSc andB Com results

B K TAHIR

BAHAWALPUR—The IslamiaUniversity of Bahawalpur hasdeclared the BA/BSc andB.Com Annual Examinations2012 here in a ceremony. TheVice-Chancellor, the IslamiaUniversity of Bahawalpur,Prof. Dr. MuhammadMukhtar was the chief gueston the occasion. The passpercentage of the B.A An-nual Examination-2012 re-mained 43.58 % as 5711 can-didates have been declaredpassed out of the appeared13105 candidates. The passpercentage of the B.Sc An-nual examinations- 2012 re-mained 47.95% as 2046 can-didates were declared suc-cessful out of 4267 candi-dates.

KHUZDAR: Members of a family busy in rehabilitation work in their house destroyedby the flood.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD/PESHAWAR—Interior Minstry has orderedthe deportation of unregis-tered Afghan migrants fromthe country. As per details¸earlier news related to thisissue was published onWednesday, which revealedthat the Interior Ministry di-rected to the unregisteredand illegally residing Af-ghan refugees to leave thecountry by 31 December.

After which the InteriorMinistry and provincial affairsdepartment clarified its positionon the issue by stating that allillegal residents both Afghanisor other nationals should leavethe country immediately and

PML-N to facepeoples’ wrath on

new provinces: Wazir

no delay in this regard will beentertained.

The Home Department ofKhyber Pakthunkhwa Gov-ernment here Thursdaywarned the unregisteredafghan refugees and illegallyresiding foreigners to imme-diately leave Pakistan other-wise strict legal action wouldbe taken against them. Ac-cording to a press release ofHome Department here, allthe afghan refugees, who donot possess POR Cards andother travelling documents,should leave Pakistan other-wise, they would be arrested.

As for as Afghan refu-gees carrying POR Cards isconcerned, have also beenwarned to windup their activi-

OUR CORRESPONDENT

CHICHAWATNI—A man haskilled his mother and four sis-ters for honor in the city in thewee hours of Thursday andfled from the scene. Accord-ing to Ghaziabad Police Sta-tion, the accused intoxicatedall five women with alcoholicdrug and subsequently,slaughtered them with sharp-edge weapon while they werein deep slumber.

Police said the incidenthas been occurred in village29-11-L and the accusedKhalid Hussain left the scenesoon after the gory incident,adding the man seemed tohave killed his mother andfour sisters for honor. Theages of four sisters were un-der 18 to 25 years.

Son kills mother, 4sisters for honour

Police took the bodies incustody and began investi-gations. The deceased in-clude mother Irshad Bibi andsisters Nazia, Shazia, Sajidaand Khalida. The localpeople told that the motheris believed to have illicit rela-tionship with influentialpeople of the area.

Meanwhile Unidentifiedmiscreants gunned down ad-ditional sessions judgeZulfiqar Naqvi along with hisdriver and security guard whenthey opened fire on his car inGOR Colony near Saryab Roadon Thursday. The BalochistanBar Association, in protest,announced a two-day strikeacross the province. As Naqvileft his residence with hisguard and driver and nearedrailway tracks.

Girl escapesforced marriage

OUR CORRESPONDENT

VEHARI—A young girl es-caping forced marriage withan old man in the city, fledhome one day before themarriage and took recourseto the court on Thursday.District and Sessions JudgeVehari Syed Hamid HussainShah referred the matter fortaking girl’s statement to thecourt of a civil judge andhanded her over to DarulAman (Shelter Home). Thecase will be heard on Sep-tember 12. The girl allegedthat her father wanted to sellher off to an old man, addinghe also threatened to throwacid on her in case she de-clined to get married.

KARACHI—Pakistan’s HighCommissioner in SingaporeSyed Hasan Javed has writtena book to promote learning ofChinese language titled ‘Chi-nese Made Easy’. The bookhas been printed by the Para-mount Publishers, Karachi tofacilitate promotion of Conver-sational Mandarin(putonghua). The governmentof Pakistan had accorded per-mission for his book as per civilservant s’ rules, to get it printeda few months ago.

The book is available forpurchase Online and at Para-mount Publishers’ Office and

Pak HC writes Chineselanguage learning book

outlets in Karachi, Islamabad,Lahore, Faisalabad, Peshawarand Dubai, says a press re-lease received here today fromSingapore. It is a Self Help kitbook with 8 unique featureswhich is likely to make it themost sought after learningMandarin book. It is the firstof its kind in Pakistan and alsoin the world. It has Chinesecharacters, Pinyin, Englishtranslation, Urdu pronuncia-tion, Urdu translation andRoman Urdu. The two otherfeatures are its rich vocabu-lary and specific needs basedlessons. The book keeps the

learners’ and Users’ perspec-tives to make it of maximumutility as a travellers’ compan-ion, a beginner’s guide, ashopper’s catalogue or anofficial’s reference book.

The book is a multi-me-dium tool to study SpokenMandarin in a hundred les-sons with daily use as well assituation specific vocabulary.It took Mr. Javed two years toprepare this book, due to hisbusy official schedule.Through this book, Chineseand other foreigners wouldalso be able to learn simplespoken Urdu.—NNI

CHINIOT: Gypsy children see carrying pots as they collect drinking water from differ-ent houses in the area of Satelite Town.

Illegal Afghanis urgent deportation orderedties and business by Decem-ber 31, 2012 and start prepa-ration for their home countrybecause no afghan refugeewould be granted permissionto stay in Pakistan after De-cember 31 this year. The HomeDepartment while clarifying anews item regarding grantingtime to the unregistered Af-ghan refugees for their vol-unteer repatriation till Decem-ber 31, 2012 attributed it toGovernment of Pakistan,made it clear that no relaxationin extension in time has beengiven to unregistered and il-legal afghans refugees be-sides others foreigners andwarned all of them to leave thecountry.

“This refugee card I have

is powerless,” said KhwajaMeerajuddin, who fled toPakistan in 1992 from Kabul,as violence erupted in Af-ghanistan when the civil warbroke out in 1991. Twentyyears later, Meerajuddin stilllives in uncertainty, becausehis status as refugee autho-rized by the Government ofPakistan, in collaborationwith United Nation’s RefugeeAgency (UNHCR) and theAfghan Government, expiresin just six months. “Earlierthis year, they refused to re-new our visas, and now ourrefugee status will end inDecember 2012 too,” saidMeerajuddin as he showedthe card issued to him by theNational Database Regula-

tory Authority in Pakistan(NADRA).

According to the migrant,who lives with his wife, hermother and two sons in a threeroom upper portion of a housein Islamabad, their family visawas not renewed; and nowhis bank account, his cellularphone subscription and hisrental agreement can be can-celled because the card is notrecognised as an authoriseddocument by the private sec-tor, since the interior ministryhas not communicated aboutit. “Only the police recognisethis card, but even they some-times harass us and ask formoney even though we areregistered,” addedMeerajuddin.

STAFF REPORTER

P E S H A W A R — K h y b e rPakthunkhwa Minister forLabour, Sher Azam KhanWazir said on Thursday thatpeople of South Punjab andBahwalpur would reject thePML-N’s double standardpolitics on new provinces inthe upcoming general elec-tions. “People are matureand they will reject the poli-tics of negativity, hallow slo-gans and confrontation inthe upcoming general elec-tions,” he said while talkingto media persons here.

The Minister said PML-N had passed a unanimousresolution in support ofcreation of South Punjaband Bahwalpur provincesin Punjab Assembly andnow its leaders are oppos-

ing formation of parliamen-tary commission on newprovinces constituted forthis purpose. This doublestandard politics wouldserve no purpose but itwould create disappoint-ment among the people ofSouth Punjab andBahawalpur he added.

Due to negative politicsof PML-N, he said, Sharifbrothers were facing politi-cal isolation and were limitedonly to Punjab province. Hesaid violation of Charter ofDemocracy will prove veryexpensive for Sharif broth-ers in upcoming generalelections. Wazir said Paki-stan Peoples Party has com-pleted homework for thenext general election and itwill win it with overwhelm-ing majority.

Scrap most controversialprovinces’ body

WEDNESDAY’S developments were a clear pointer to the factthat the country was heading towards another serious crisis overthe issue of creation of new provinces and it would be incur-

ring great loss if sanity did not prevail among the quarters concerned.The provincial assembly of Punjab, which is the most relevant institutionas far as division or split of the province is concerned, unanimously re-jected the Commission constituted by the Speaker National Assembly,demanding that a National Commission in the true spirit of the earlierresolution of the Assembly be constituted. In a clear sign of defiance, theCommission decided to ignore wishes and aspirations of the forum thatrepresented Punjab and vowed to move ahead with its own agenda.

We firmly believe that the Parliamentary Commission, which had al-ready become controversial from the day of its inception, has become morecontroversial following its categorical rejection by the Punjab Assemblyand there was hardly any justification to proceed further without address-ing the grievance of the province concerned. Not to speak of the oppositionPML(N), saner voices even in PPP and its allies and other parties are alsoopposing the way the matter of creation of new provinces is being handled.After Chief Minister Balochistan Nawab Aslam Raisani who opposed cre-ation of new provinces and instead stressed the need for strengthening theexisting ones, Speaker of Sindh Assembly Nisar Khuhro too has describedfederal commission as illegal saying that it was violation of the provincialautonomy. People from the concerned regions too have serious reserva-tions as Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi has questioned compositionof the Commission while Riaz Hussain Pirzada was more vocal in declar-ing that the move would create more hatred than resolving any problem.While no one would oppose creation of new provinces if it was necessi-tated by administrative and economic considerations, even then the timingis not ripe. We don’t agree with the Chairman of the Commission SenatorFarhatullah Babar, who is a man of integrity, soft-spoken and humble. Butthere are fundamental issues including unilateral composition of the bodywhich also runs contrary to the declared policy of reconciliation of the PPPCo-Chairperson and President Asif Ali Zardari to take all forces along.There is urgent need to scrap the Commission, otherwise it would becomeyet another divisive factor in the already polarized society. In the absenceof consensus and exclusion of creation of other provinces, the Commissionwould rightly be seen as a tool to clip wings of Punjab alone.

SEAL’s book tocause dent to Obama

A US Navy SEAL, in his first hand account of the raid on Al-Qaedachief hide out in Abbottabad, has claimed that Osama bin Laden was

unarmed and already dead with a bullet to his brain when the troopsentered his bedroom. In his book ‘No Easy Day’, he also denied nu-merous reports that Bin Laden had a weapon and resisted when theSEALs entered.

These are initial leaks of the book and hopefully it would revealmore when published next month but his claim would generate morecontroversies about what actually happened on the fateful day. Therewere already reports including the one carried by this newspaper onthe basis of investigations done by its Peshawar Editor that Osamahad natural death and Abbottabad operation was just a drama to reappolitical dividend. The way the attack was mounted is not convinc-ing, as there are serious loopholes in the entire episode. In fact, Presi-dent Obama portrayed the operation to kill Osama as crowning of theanti-terrorism campaign ostensibly to take advantage in presidentialelections. Different narrations and statements emanating from Wash-ington afterwards also indicated that the attack had political orienta-tion and now account of the Navy SEAL confirms that. Similarly, theclaim that Obsama’s body was thrown into sea is also doubtful as noone knows his body might be there in some mortuary in some far-flung area of the United States. Anyhow, the new book would stripPresident Obama of the credit he is trying to get and his rival wouldsurely exploit the situation during presidential election campaign.

The fanatic Indianwho killed 97 Muslims

THE Indian Supreme Court will earn recognition of independence byits verdict giving sentence to a former Minister of Gujerat State for

her role in country’s worst anti Muslim riots. Human rights groups sayabout 2,500 people, mostly Muslims, were hacked, beaten or burned todeath in Gujarat state in 2002.

Witnesses said that Maya Kodnani, who became a minister in thestate government five years after the riots, identified Muslim targets tobe attacked and at one point fired a pistol. She resigned from the gov-ernment when she was arrested in 2009 but remained a member of thestate’s legislative assembly. While in our view the real culprit was StateChief Minister Narendra Modi with whose complicity, the fanatic In-dian politician is responsible for massacre of 97 Muslims but the ver-dict is a proof of anti-Muslim hatred in certain parts of India. HoweverModi, who is aspiring to be the future Prime Ministe, had earlier beencleared of the charges of massacre due to insufficient evidence. Giventhe background, the verdict of the trial court re-ignited memories ofthe post-Godhra anti-Muslim violence. Whether it is anti-Sikh riotsof 1984, or the Maharashtra, Assam or Gujarat riots, it is unfortunateand a blot on the face of the nation. What a tragedy that the Indianmedia exploited an event in Pakistan and described it as a land ofextremists when a stray case of maltreatment with a minority girlwas blown out of proportion without noticing that even Muslim womenhad also been targeted by criminals and on the contrary it is just giv-ing a hard news of conviction of a fanatic Indian lady. It is time thatPakistani Media and NGOS should also take notice of human rightsviolations in our neighbourhood and the Indian government shouldensure that security and honour of Muslims is not trampled.

Barack Hussein Obama is acharmer. Ever since he wonthe Iowa primary and

showed that he could reach acrossracial divisions, millions — includ-ing this columnist - were entrancedby the man and his story. Fused toa campaign team that was fiercelyloyal to him, it was a forlorn effortby John McCain and Sarah Palin,who were unable to stop theObama tsunami from overwhelm-ing them in 2008.In the early stagesof his candidacy, Obama wasshunned by those who for decadeshave made a comfortable life forthemselves in Democratic admin-istrations and in those parking lotsfor retired officials eager to resumegovernment work, the thinktanksthat dot Washington and NewYork. Almost all of them rooted forHillary Clinton, because of loyaltyto the man who had given so manyof them high-level jobs during1993-2001,Bill Clinton.

It was only when it becameclear that Barack Obama was go-ing to win the nomination and thePresidency that they shifted to hisside, but with a caveat. This was thatthey were unwilling to abandon theClintonite policies that they hadimplemented two terms back, andthat therefore, Candidate Obamawould need to jettison his own poli-

Will Obama rediscover himself?

Kayani’s war

As soon as he ceasedto be mad he becamemerely stupid. Thereare maladies we mustnot seek to curebecause they aloneprotect us from othersthat are more serious.

The war on terror has taken aheavy toll of more than40,000 precious lives, cost

the national exchequer more than68 billion dollars and deprivedcash starved Pakistan of millionsof dollars worth of property, equip-ment and the armed forces of pre-cious weapon systems like the P3COrions or AEW&C aircraft. It isironical that the doubting Thomasamong us still question whetherthis is our war? Like ostriches webury our heads in sand in the sightof clear & present danger from theterror attacks pretending this is notour war. Finally, when rather be-latedly, on Independence Day2012, the Chief of Army Staff inhis address to the Pakistan Mili-tary Academy Kakul declared thewar on terror to be Pakistan’s war,knives were out to assail his opin-ion. A number of TV anchors andcolumnists, in a state of shock ruedthat it was a misperception.

Renowned columnist KhaledAhmed, in his weekend Op-Ed‘General Kayani’s war’ went tothe extent of naming populist de-cisions by General Kayani, whichaccording to him “were front-loaded with defiant challenge butwere always followed by realis-tic retreat that appeared like cow-

Mr Ryan’smisleading

speech

YOU are entitled to theclearest possible choice because the time for choosing

is drawing near,” vice presidentialnominee Rep. Paul Ryan told theRepublican National Convention inTampa in his hard-hitting accep-tance speech Wednesday night.“So here is our pledge: We will notduck the tough issues we willlead.” Those are fine words; wehave heard the sentiment before,including from the incumbentpresident. But if Mr. Ryan and MittRomney want credit for not duck-ing, and if they truly believe thatvoters are entitled to the clearestpossible choice, it would behoovethe candidates to offer more detailsabout what, precisely, voters arechoosing.

That, however, wasn’t on Mr.Ryan’s agenda. Instead he offereda speech that was part introductionof himself and his small-town ori-gins, part testimonial to his runningmate and — in largest part — aslashing and, in many elements,misleading indictment of PresidentObama as both a spent force and athreat to American freedom. Mr.Romney and Mr. Obama havestarkly different visions about therole of government, but to carica-ture the president’s vision as “agovernment-planned life, whereeverything is free but us” insultsvoters who surely know better.Emblematic of the liberties Mr.Ryan took was his depiction of thehometown auto plant whose shut-tering he implicitly blamed on Mr.Obama — even though the plantclosed before the president wasinaugurated.

A convention speech is not abudget submission, even when, aswith Mr. Ryan, it comes from thechairman of the House BudgetCommittee. But a party that claimsto be willing to make hard choicesought to be prepared to spell someof them out. Mr. Ryan offered onlythe bare assertion that federalspending of 20 percent of the grossdomestic product is “enough” —despite the aging of the populationand Mr. Romney’s vow to keepdefence spending alone at 4 percent.Mr. Ryan has been an intellectualleader of his party on fiscal issues,and Mr. Romney’s decision to addhim to the Republican ticket rep-resented an opportunity to focusthe debate on this urgent matter,“before,” as Mr. Ryan saidWednesday, “the math and themomentum overwhelm us all.” Mr.Ryan skewered the president in hisspeech for creating and then walk-ing away from a bipartisan debtcommission that, he said, “cameback with an urgent report.”

We’ve expressed similar frus-trations, but omitted from Mr.Ryan’s self-serving rendition wasthe uncomfortable fact that Mr.Ryan served on that very commis-sion but was unwilling to follow thebrave lead of the Republican sena-tors on the panel who supported its“urgent” recommendations. Willthe Romney-Ryan ticket endorsethem now? Mr. Ryan’s selectionprompted a serious discussion ofMedicare reform but also usheredin a depressingly predictable seriesof “Mediscare” charges andcounter-charges.

Mr. Ryan stooped to some ofthat Wednesday night, assertingthat “the greatest threat to Medi-care is Obamacare,” although thehealth care law began the hard taskof reforming the program. He as-sailed Mr. Obama for having“funnelled” $716 billion out ofMedicare, without mention that hisown budget assumed cuts of pre-cisely that magnitude.

Mr. Ryan described Mr. Rom-ney as a man prepared “to meet se-rious challenges in a serious way,without excuses and idle words.”Mr. Romney’s appearance beforethe convention Thursday night is anopportunity to demonstrate that se-riousness — matching rhetoric withsubstance appropriate to the mag-nitude of the task the next presidentwill face. — The Washington Post

cies and followthose of BillClinton, once hegot elected. BarackObama did not letthe Clintonitesdown. As severalpost-election bookshave pointed out,he distanced him-self from the loyal-ists who hadcrafted his victoryalmost as soon asthe election resultscame in. In place of

the idealistic, mostly young, TeamObama, the new President of theUnited States surrounded himselfwith Team Clinton,led by the formi-dable Hillary. The present Secretaryof State must be savouring her re-venge over Obama backers such asSamantha Rice, who have beenshunted to forgotten corners of theadministration that they helped bringto office. The only prominent Obamabacker who was given a substantivepost has been Susan Rice, who is aclose friend of Shirin Taher-Kheli, aUS national with roots in the Sub-continent who has always taken thePakistan army’s line on Kashmir, andwho was particularly close to Gen-eral Pervez Musharraf, who is in hisown way as much a maestro in han-dling people as Obama.

This columnist is no friend ofMusharraf, but has to admit that heswiftly and skillfully diverted thewrath of the Bush administrationaway from Pakistan when the Talibanfacilitated the attack on the US whichtook place on 9/11 (2001) by shelter-ing and provisioning Osama binLaden. In weeks, Musharraf gaineda decisive voice in US military op-erations in Afghanistan and during2003-06 especially, was able to re-place several anti-Pakistan elementsin Kabul with those friendly toIslamabad. If Pakistan is today still a

major player in Afghanistan, most ofthe credit has to go to PervezMusharraf. Although derided as“Busharraf”, the fact is that callingBush “Mushbush” instead would bemore accurate. The then US Presidentand Vice-President were completelysold on a strategy that - as in the 1980s- placed Pakistan at the centre of thesituation in Afghanistan.

Musharraf was expert at convey-ing an image that won the support ofthose he was seeking to neutralize.His successors have failed to accom-plish this task, with the result thatPakistan has been getting a very badpress while essentially being not allthat different societally from what itwas during Musharraf’s time in of-fice as CEO of Pakistan. The genialgeneral stood by the military and gaveit cover, even while making adjust-ments to ensure continued interna-tional support. In his steadfastness tohis (uniformed) base, PervezMusharraf distinguishes himself fromBarack Obama, who jettisoned hisfollowers when it was clear that hewould be the next President of theUS. Since 2009, President Obama hasimplemented a policy of “ClintonLite”, surrounded as he by those closeto the former president. As a conse-quence, he has followed the policyof giving a free pass to those in thefinancial sector who are guilty ofcheating millions of investors of tril-lions. Indeed, Treasury SecretaryTimothy Geithner was complicit inseveral of the steps that led to the2008 crisis, but because he was afavourite of Wall Street, Obama chosehim. The only true “Obamian” in acrowd of Clintonites in the ObamaCabinet is Janet Napolitano, who hasdone a superb job at the Departmentof Homeland Security in preventinga terrorist attack on the US.

Although he has had wide expo-sure to Asia in his youth, once in of-fice, Barack Obama has shifted to theEuropeanism of the Clintons, plac-

MEDIA WATCH

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ardice topeople.” He re-counts the re-lease of CIA op-e r a t i v eRaymond Davis;his decision onMay 2011 to feel“unrealisticallyenraged by thekilling of Osama

bin Laden in Abbotabad and turn-ing on the government in powerafter it took the correct posture”; inresponse to the Salala incident onNovember 26, 2011, flying “off thehandle and stopping the NATO sup-ply route through Pakistan”. Khaledclaims that “Not only is the armyopenly in exclusive charge of thecountry’s foreign and securitypolicy, it is clearly the real powerin Pakistan behind the façade of de-mocracy”. Blaming the Army Chieffor letting the Difa-e-PakistanCouncil loose on the country afterhis own volte-face on the NATOroute, the erudite scholar concludesthat “General Kayani is thus themost powerful man in the country,paradoxically enjoying the reputa-tion of an army chief who believesin non-interference in the demo-cratic process.”

These detractors of Pakistan donot wholeheartedly participate inthe war on terror with the plea thatit is the sole domain of PakistanArmy, forgetting that it is a na-tional effort. Those elementsblaming the Army, as an institu-tion to have absolute control on itsdirection and conduct are highlymisinformed. It was the Parlia-mentary Committee on NationalSecurity, none of whose members

belong to any of the armed forces,that after long deliberations, cameto the informed decision that therules of engagement with the USneed to be redrawn, drone attacksmust cease and Pakistan needs torevisit the concessions regardingthe Ground Lines of Communica-tion (GLOC), commonly known asNATO supply routes.

It must be understood that theelimination of terrorism, anywherein Pakistan is the nation’s responsi-bility. Decisions have to be taken bythe civilian government after weigh-ing all options. Whether in Karachior in NWA (North WaziristanAgency), operations will be under-taken in line with Government’s di-rections and in line with nationalimperatives. Pakistan Army is butone of the implements, which thegovernment can employ to combatterrorism along with other law en-forcement agencies.

Instead of mudslinging and cast-ing aspersions at an institution en-gaged unreservedly in defending thehomeland, cognizance must be takenof appreciation of the threat facingPakistan. As demonstrated by the at-tack on PAF Base Minhas at Kamra,elements of Tehrik-e-Taliban Paki-stan (TTP), firmly entrenched inNWA have extended the range oftheir terrorist activities throughoutPakistan. The level of sophisticationand expertise acquired by the terror-ists is visible proof that they haveaccess to insider information.

There are strong indications tosuggest that the harbingers of doomand gloom in Pakistan have been in-filtrated by hostile agencies to tar-get Pakistan’s strategic interests.There should not be two opinions

on the need that the TTP needs tobe neutralized; sooner rather thanlater; NWA or anywhere theirmodules are located. The attacksby the Kamikaze style suicidebombers has become ever morelethal because along with the willto sacrifice their lives, the perpe-trators of the heinous acts areequipped with state-of-the-arttechnology, weapons which canwreak havoc and penetrate thebest defended targets. Their de-termination, level of expertise andmotivation through training en-able them to achieve a modicumof success, which was not avail-able before, when they were con-tent to target buses, cars and streetconvoys. The attack on GHQ, Pa-kistan Naval Base Mehran andlately the air base at Kamra de-pict the new found confidence ofthe terrorists.

A slandering campaign againstthe Army Chief by writers likeKhaled Ahmad is driven by vestedinterests and is directed to tarnishArmy’s commendable record incombating terrorism. The extent ofinvolvement of the Army is evidentfrom the ratio of the officers andenlisted men, who have embracedshahadat. The number of officers’sacrifice of their lives is indicativeof the fact that the army is leadingfrom the front. Those who findfaults with Pakistan’s involvementin the war on terror should providesolutions to resolve the imbrogliowe are faced with.—The author, a retired PAFGroup Captain, served as Air &Naval attaché at Riyadh and iscurrently a columnist, analyst andTV talk show host.

Marcel Proust—French writer

ing exaggerated faith in NATO asan instrument of policy, especiallyin Asia, a continent that has uglymemories of European colonialism.He went along with Hillary and BillClinton when the two decided towithdraw US backing from HosniMubarak, and to attack MuammarKaddafy militarily, even thoughboth had accommodated the strate-gic concerns of NATO fully,Mubarak for three decades andKaddafy since 2003.The conse-quence has been that no sensibleleader in the Arab world has anyfaith in the US or in the EU, beingmade aware of the fickle nature ofsuch support by witnessing the kill-ing of Kaddafy and the incarcera-tion of Mubarak.

As for India, while BarackObama supported India’s case for apermanent seat in the UN SecurityCouncil while in Delhi, he has thusfar not repeated this suggestion atUN headquarters in New York, noris he likely to do so. Under Obama,effective cooperation between Indiaand the US has stalled, even thoughin Sonia Gandhi and ManmohanSingh, this country has the most pro-US administration ever seen since1947. Given the disconnect betweenwhat Barack Obama talks and whathe follows in practice, it would berash to believe that India-US rela-tions would blossom during a sec-ond term in office. Unless, that is,Barack Obama finally found thecourage to cast away the Clintoncloak that he has covered himselfwith since 2009 and returns to hisown base, his own team. Should thathappen a second innings for BarackObama may be the game changerthat so many of us thought his firstterm would be.—The writer is Vice-Chair,Manipal Advanced ResearchGroup, UNESCO Peace Chair &Professor of Geopolitics, ManipalUniversity, Haryana State, India.

Sultan M HaliEmail: sm_hali@yahoo.com

M D NalapatEmail: mgnalapat@gmail.com

GeopoliticalGeopoliticalGeopoliticalGeopoliticalGeopoliticalnotes from Indianotes from Indianotes from Indianotes from Indianotes from India

Voice of the People

Can Hezbollah survive fall of Assad?

The Syrian government has triedmany times to transfer its crisis to Lebanon, but it has failed

to cause a real explosion that wouldlead to another Lebanese civil war. Ithas, however, succeeded in incitingsmall outbreaks of violence that havepushed the country to the verge of abreakdown for the past 17 months.

Clashes in the northern Lebanesecity of Tripoli between Sunnis andAlawites have intensified in recentdays but this time the Lebanese Armyintervened to stop the fighting. Some-thing fundamental has changed: theShiite militant group Hezbollah, longSyria’s powerful proxy in Lebanon,has become a wounded beast. And itis walking a very thin line betweenprotecting its assets and aiding acrumbling regime next door.

It seems that the Lebanese Armyhas finally received political cover,mainly from President MichelSuleiman and Prime Minister NajibMikati, to confront Hezbollah and its

allies and to put an end to the vio-lence. On Sunday, 18 armed menfrom a family with links to Hezbollahwere arrested by the Lebanese Army.Two trucks and a warehouse full ofweaponry were confiscated.

Today, Hezbollah is regarded bythe Arab street as an ally of a dictatorwho is killing his people. Losing re-gional popularity is one thing, butlosing its constituency at home issomething Hezbollah cannot tolerate.Parliamentary elections are scheduledfor 2013, and Hezbollah prefers notto take any risks. It will do whateverit takes to maintain its control inLebanon. So will Iran. Iran is doingits utmost to prolong Mr. Assad’s rulein Syria, and it would likely do muchmore to hang on to Lebanon. Tehrancan’t afford to lose both.

The erosion of Hezbollah’s con-trol started with the arrest on Aug. 9of Bashar al-Assad’s friend and ad-viser, the former Lebanese Informa-tion Minister Michel Samaha, in con-nection with a seizure of explosivesthat were to be used in northern Leba-non. Lebanese authorities jointlycharged him and the Damascus-based

Syrian national security chief, Gen.Ali Mamluk, with plotting “terroristattacks” and the assassination of po-litical and religious figures in Leba-non. While none of Syria’s allies inLebanon spoke in defence of Mr.Samaha, a reaction came from thestreet a few days later. A Shiite fam-ily whose son was abducted in Syriabegan a wave of random kidnappingsof Syrians; rioters blocked the roadto the Beirut airport; dozens of Syr-ians were abducted, and their shopswere vandalized.

The political storm that followedMr. Samaha’s arrest subsided imme-diately. Hezbollah did not commenton the arrest, but in a speech follow-ing the events, its chief, SayyedHassan Nasrallah, told the public thathe and his party were incapable ofcontrolling the street, hinting at morechaos to come. The Lebanese gov-ernment, which is still dominated byHezbollah, has failed to address sev-eral basic domestic issues like publicservices and security. Many commu-nities, including Shiites in the southand in Beirut’s southern suburbs,have taken to the streets in the past

Finding faults in others

If it is the matter of loyalty, Pakistani Hindus are as loyal as otherPakistani citizen. Often many

Hindus prove to be more loyal thantheir Muslim counterparts who havelinks with India. It would not be anover exaggeration that Hindus havereason to maintain links with Indiabecause their holy places are locatedin India, which are, of course, sacredto Hindus all over the world. If a Mus-lim feels spiritually charged after pay-ing homage to holy places why Hin-dus are being treated as from a dif-ferent world. In Pakistan the minori-ties have full freedom and there hadnever been any question or restric-tion in the past.

However, the fact cannot be ig-nored that India never accepted Pa-kistan from inner core of her heartand is trying her level best to disinte-grate Pakistan so that the country canbe annexed to the Indian union. Thosewho participated in the struggle forindependence before partition onlyknow how difficult it was to achievePakistan. In fact, India considers thatcreation of Pakistan encouraged sev-

Loyal Hindus of Pakistaneral separatist movements in differ-ent Indian states and in case Pakistanis disintegrated, separatist movementwould automatically die down. In arecent incident of concern, a Jatha of250 Pakistani Hindus from Jacobabadapplied for Indian visa to pay pilgrim-age at holy places in India. Islamabadwas suspicious that India would notallow them to return back after theircompletion of pilgrimage. In the sameregard, Pakistan’s Interior MinisterRehman Malik termed it as con-spiracy against Pakistan and said thatminorities could not leave the coun-try without the permission of the In-terior Ministry. The Minister publiclyannounced that he would not let theHindus proceed beyond Jacobabadunless he was satisfied they wouldnot take asylum in India.

It is pertinent to mention herethat these Hindu families were onlyvisiting India for pilgrimage and tosee their families there but thereseems misunderstanding as if theseHindus were migrating fromJacobabad to India. In the latest de-velopment, Islamabad has de-manded from the Indian High Com-mission (IHC), Islamabad to justifythe reasons for issuing 250 visas.The issue was resolved after assur-ance from the Hindu Jatha that they

Mountingdeath & silence

IQBAL HADI ZAIDI

As a Pakistani in general and liv-ing overseas in particular it is quitebut natural to be very concernedabout safety and security of Karachisbecause generally speaking it issuch a big city that some one ofsomeone does live there and thuseach one of us would like to knowas to what is the latest on this countin the metropolis.

Today Tuesday 28th August,2012 morning when I visited thesites of all our English dailies I amnot only amazed but also puzzledto note that there is no consistencyso far as report on Karachi is con-cerned. Firstly two newspapers didnot carry any news on the issue likeFrontier Post and Tribune which isgood in a sense that when there isno violence so what to report andhence their silence not only pleasedrather over pleased me becauseeach day I have read that at least afew if not more are killed inKarachi but since none was killedyesterday so there is no news to-day and this is what not only I butyou and rest of my Pakistanis toowish to learn.

I had thought to write a verypleasing note after reading the twoesteemed dailies which are quitepopular and well read both withinthe country and overseas but alasmy all happiness has been shatteredand instead I am at least punchedif not gunned to know that it is nottrue what I had felt. The truth, notconceived by Frontier Post and Tri-bune as I clarify, is that manypeople had been killed in Karachiwhich has been reported in otherfive dailies though their figuresvary but still it proves that Karachihad not been quiet in any case.

I am appalled to note the reac-tion of those who matter. In mostcases I notice that Interior Minis-ter Malik Rehman flies fromIslamabad to Karachi and holds apress conference flanked by IGPolice and other high officials fromthe concerned law enforcing agen-cies. How much does it cost to ournational exchequer? What had hap-pened had he not gone there? Whattangible results he gets when heflies to Karachi? He issues state-ments and even announces that spe-cial investigation teams have beenconstituted to deal with the situa-tion. He also says aloud that comewhat may, those playing havoc willnever ever be spared and insteadnetted. At times he announced somecompensation for the families ofthose who’s dear and near is killed.President and Prime Minister willoffer condolences and the day isgone exactly like those who aregone forever.

When Karachi will be free ofkilling, may I dare ask, but whomPresident, PM, Interior Minister,Governor, CM, IG or even you?—Kuwait

Not animpossible task!

HIRA TARIQ

Smoking refers to the inhalationand exhalation of fumes from burn-ing tobacco in cigars, cigarettes andpipes. The most common methodof smoking today is through ciga-rettes. Smoking is restricted orbanned in almost all public placesand cigarette companies are nolonger allowed to advertise on TV,radio, and in many magazines. Al-most everyone knows that smok-ing causes many health problemswhich shorten your life by 10 yearsor more. By smoking you can causehealth problems also for thosearound you e.g. family members,coworkers and others who breathethe smoke. Smoking is also harm-ful to the unborn fetus. Most adultswho started smoking in their teensnever expected to become addicted.

A lot of people think that theyneed cigarettes in order to copewith stress or nerves but smokingdoes not really relax you at all orhelp you cope with unpleasant situ-ations. Like heroin or other addic-tive drugs, the body and mindquickly become so used to the nico-tine in cigarettes that a person needsto have it just to feel normal. Lungcancer is a vital cause of cancerdeaths in males followed by mouthcancer. Tobacco smoke can alsocause gum disease, tooth decay andbad breath.

It is difficult to get rid of thisdeadly habit but not impossible. Ifyou decided to quit smoking sothere are many benefits related toyour health. You will almost cer-tainly notice that your breathing ismuch improved and your lungs arefunctioning much freely. Yoursense of smell and taste improvewithin hours of your last cigarette,The risk of a heart attack gets loweras each cigarette free day passesand you will notice that you sleep

much better than before and awakenfresh. Another benefit of quittingsmoking will also save the moneywhich you were burning to destroyyour health. It would be almost im-possible to handle this temptationof nicotine. However, try to divertyour mind. You will also have toface the withdrawal symptoms likeheadache, irritation and coughing.All these are positive signs of quit-ting smoking. Drink water to avoidthem and make your hands andmouth busy. You may feel anxietyduring the initial phases of quittingsmoking. Exercise is the best wayto handle the problem.—Via email

Fee exemptionDR ABDUL GHAFFAR PAKEEZ

With due respect it is stated that ac-cording to W.H.O the disabled com-munity is the 15% or in other wordsalmost twenty seven million of thetotal population of Pakistan. This isthe colossal segment of the popula-tion whose 60% people are at age ofeducation. Pakistan is a signatory ofUnited Nation’s Convention onRights for the Persons with Disabil-ity (UN-CRPD), according to whicheducational opportunity for all disablecommunity is the foremost rightpromised by the govt. of Pakistan.Disable community in Pakistan is amarginalized fraction of society dueto non-skillness and illiteracy. Andbehind this state of downcastness themajor role is played by the high ex-penses on education.

Governor of Punjab has issued anotification about fee exemption ofdisable students of Punjab. Accord-ing to this notification all educationalexpenses including boarding and allother dues in the public universitiesof Punjab are omitted. This is a stepof lenity.

We also salute the act of munifi-cence by Federal Govt of Pakistan ofissuing the identity cards for disabledpersons. This is lending the hand oflenience and alterativeness for disablecommunity. In the continuation offavour we demand from the FederalGovt. of Pakistan for the issuance thesame provision about fee exemptionin all universities, colleges, schoolsand vocational training centres allover Pakistan. This will prove a mile-stone in the progress and prosperityof disable community.—Nurpur

Where isMullah Omar?

F Z KHAN

As the United States has issued awarning to its citizens travelling toPakistan in the wake of possible ter-ror threats in the country, the topAmerican general, John Allen, whois commander of the US and NATOforces in Afghanistan, said in an ar-ticle published on Tuesday that theTaliban leader, Mullah Omar, washiding in Pakistan along with hiscommanders. The article focused onthe recent increase in the attacks onthe US troops from the Afghan se-curity forces, which the Talibanclaim the responsibility for. “Omarlives in Pakistan, as do many of hiscommanders. From that safe vantagepoint, they’ve sent hundreds ofyoung, impressionable, largely spiri-tual and helpless youths to theirdeaths and detention in Afghanistan.For this, they must forfeit their honorand any claim to Islamic virtue.”

The point is whether MullahOmar and others are really in Paki-stan? If yes where? Do the Ameri-cans know? If they know, why don’tthey pin-point? Earlier they havebeen giving ambiguous statementsabout OBL’s presence along theborder areas of Afghanistan butnever hinted of his presence in oraround Abbottabad. Despite satel-lite-watch, hi-tech ground gadgets,surveillance and detection facilitiesthey remain unable to determine theOBL’s or that of Mullah Omar’sexact abode. They have beenclaiming of the presence of QuettaShoora, which the time proved thatit existed nowhere.

Pakistan arrested MullahDadullah who has now reportedlybeen killed in drone attack. Thequestion is whether the Americansare keeping it as a secret? Whatfor? Is Pakistan not willing to dis-mantle the hideouts of terrorists,who are posing threat to its ownsecurity? It means there is lack of

Why lose temper?DR GHAYUR AYUB

Talking in a TV talk show about the car run on water-kit, DrPervez Hoodboy endlessly abused the proprietor of the kit,

Agha Waqar calling him fraud, illiterate in science and suggestedhe (Waqar) should be sent to prison. In response, Agha Waqarstayed cool and did not respond in kind. Irrespective of who wasright and who was wrong, Dr Hoodbhoy had no right to insulthim every time he opened his mouth. In doing so, he downgradedhis own personality in ethics and decency. While discussing sci-ence Dr Hoodbhoy should control his temper and do not portrayhimself socially ignorant and ethically uneducated.—London

Islam places great emphasis oneach individual taking account ofone’s actions. Setting aside some

time during the end of the day toevaluate ourselves and work on ourweaknesses is highly commendableand is one of the best methods to-wards improving oneself. On the flipside of that, there are people whotake it upon themselves to evaluatethe faults in others instead of them-selves. Maybe they cannot find anyfaults in their own actions, so theytry to do accounting of the self forothers as well. In any case, concern-ing ourselves with the faults of oth-ers is highly looked down upon inIslam. There are verses in the Qur’anwhich speak to this specifically anda large number of traditions from thebooks of Hadith that confirm this.

Now, there are sincere peoplewho will let people know in privatethat they are going on the wrongpath and try to guide them the bestway possible. Imam Ali (peace beupon him) says concerning suchsincere individuals, “Let the bestperson in your estimation be thatperson who points out to you yourfaults and shortcomings and pre-sents them to you as a gift.” Fault-finding as a sin does not apply tothem as they are practicing Amr Bil

Ma’ruf and Nahi Anil Munkar inthe correct way. Occupying oneselfwith finding fault in others can leadto many evils. Islamteaches us to over-look the sins andmistakes of others,just as God over-looks our sins andmistakes and doesn’tmake them public.

On the firstlevel, just seeing orknowing someonecommitted a sin isnot enough to accusethem. You can see abrother walk into abar and assume hewent in to have an al-coholic drink, when in reality hecould have just needed to get somewater to take some medicine with.We are not all-knowing, and shouldnot pretend to be.

Imam Ali has said, “Accept theapology of your Muslim brother,and if he has not any, invent onefor him yourself.” If there could bea reasonable explanation whysomeone apparently did a sin ormade a mistake, we should acceptit and move on. This is one reasonwhy finding fault in others is a dan-

gerous action. In verse 11 of SuraHujarat, God says, “O you whobelieve, let not (one) people laugh

at (another) peopleperchance they maybe better than they,nor let women(laugh) at (other)women, perchancethey may be betterthan they; and donot find fault withyour own people norcall one another bynicknames; evil is abad name after faith,and whoever doesnot turn, these it isthat are the unjust.”This verse brings to

light one of the other reasons whyfinding fault in others is a terribleact, which is that it can lead to ani-mosity and humiliation for peoplein the community.

Those who do such an actionare called unjust by God, and right-fully so. This action can tear aparta community in a very short periodof time. Imam Muhammad al-Baqir(peace be upon him) has said, “It iscompulsory for every Muslim toconceal even seventy great faults ofhis fellow Muslims (in order to save

Views From Abroad

READERS

Email:editorial@pakobserver.net

are requested to typetheir letters legibly withdouble spacing and only onone side of the paper.

—Editor

would positively return to Pakistan.Suspicion from Pakistan was undes-ired but natural due propagandaagainst Pakistan by Indian agenciesthat Hindus from Pakistan are seek-ing asylum in India due to religiouspersecution.

In fact, the embarrassing situa-tion was created after media reportsthat the Hindus had no plans to re-turn from India on the ground thattheir shops and houses were raidedand their daughters converted to Is-lam. It is on record that India mediainternationally blamed Pakistan forviolating rights of Hindu minority. Amedia report claimed that sevenHindu families from Jacobabad, com-prising 90 members left for India dueto lack of safety and security in Sindhprovince. Serious allegations havebeen leveled on Pakistani Hindus thatsix months back, at least 52 Hindufamilies from the Jacobabad area mi-grated to India.

If we peep into history, soon af-ter independence India carried outpropaganda and instigated Hindupopulation in Pakistan to migrate toIndia. It is pertinent to mention herethat Pakistan scheme ensured fullprotection of minorities. Quaid-e-Azam in an interview to Reuter’sCorrespondent on 25 October 1947

said. “As for the two nation theory,it is not a theory but a fact. Thedivision of India is based on thatfact and what is more, that fact hasbeen proved beyond doubt by theugly and deplorable events of thepast two months, and by the actionof dominion of India in pulling outHindus from Pakistan. How thenit can be said that there is one na-tion?” What ever, the case may be,the Pakistani Hindus are loyal citi-zens. Pakistan is their land and theyare sons of the soil. No one on theearth can compel them to migrateto any country.

The minorities must also under-stand that although the law and or-der situation in Pakistan is undercontrol but not as good as shouldhave been. There are foreign agentseverywhere. It is high time that be-side businesses, Hindus and otherminorities must join governmentservices including Armed Forcesand Police so that not only the coun-try can develop and prosper in realsense but minorities are representedin every walk of life. The Pakistanination needs to be cautious of blackpropaganda by Indian and USCyber Commands which is usingmedia and mobile SMS to createmisunderstanding between the loyalcitizens of Pakistan.

few months to protest increasingpower outages.

Mr. Assad may not yet realizethat he is a dead man walking, butHezbollah does. That does notmean, however, that the party willchange its stance on Syria as thePalestinian militant group Hamashas done. If it did, it would lose itssupply lines from Iran. SoHezbollah’s main objective is toavoid a full explosion before theparliamentary elections. After all, anelection victory would allowHezbollah to maintain its politicalcontrol over Lebanon democrati-cally. Tehran would also prefer toavoid any war that would forceHezbollah to get involved namely,a war with Israel.

That could lead to the party’slosing both its weapons and its sup-porters. Hezbollah has an interestin keeping the violence at a simmerfor the moment, but the longer Mr.Assad stays, the greater the risk thatsectarian tensions will boil over inLebanon. The writer is the editor ofNOW Lebanon.— Courtesy: The New York Times

intelligence sharing viz the mutualtrust. Why? Are the over 40,000deaths of Pakistani people and sol-diers not enough to prove of theirsincerity?

Americans are trying to divertthe real issue of threat from withinAfghanistan, that too not from theTaliban, but from their own trainedAfghan security forces, whose per-sonnel, though individually, are fre-quently targeting their American col-leagues. An Afghan is Afghan, ei-ther Taliban or ANA personnel. Heis unpredictable when it comes tochallenging his honour and pride.Pakistan has nothing to do with itnor does it house Mullah Omar orany other. If these people are in Pa-kistan and Americans really knowit, they need to share it with Paki-stan so that it could catch them orexpel them in order to save the coun-try from ruining at the hands of anendless war on terror, which theAmericans started and is now oursin the words of Pakistan army chief,Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kayani.

If by all means Mullah Omar islistening and he is reportedlyagainst the deaths of civilians andattacks on Pakistan security forces,he should himself come out andleave the country for its people’ssake, please.—Islamabad

Poor workand services

HASHIM ABRO

I had the opportunity to travel alongwith several roads in my home dis-trict Larkano and also in a few otherdistricts such like Qambar/ ShahdadKot, Shikapur Sukkur, Ghotki dur-ing Eid holidays. The roads are, in-deed, in the worst condition. Therelevant department- Sindh High-ways Department which is respon-sible for construction and mainte-nance of the entire provincial roadsnetworks – has neither maintainedthose roads nor improved the envi-ronment by Roadside plantation. Nodoubt, the Chief Engineers and oth-ers might have improved the envi-ronment as per practice in their of-fice files/ records.

Besides, the roads which areunder construction, poor and sub-standard material is being used inthere but the officers concerned bothEngineers and Chief Engineers areshowing criminal negligence.Somewhere one can find planning,designing, construction and mainte-nance of the roads utterly faulty butno one comes to evaluate and moni-tor the pace of work and ensure thequality in the repair, maintenanceand construction of various roads.

Similarly, I also had the oppor-tunity to visit a few existing facilitieswhere very important officers arehoused in but those are decrepit con-ditions. Regrettably, the under con-struction buildings also afford a lookof ruins. Take an example of Gov-ernment Pilot School Larkano wherenew classes and laboratories are be-ing constructed. It seems that depart-ment concerned called Buildings De-partment which is responsible forconstruction and maintenance ofbuildings including allied services forall the Departments of Sindh Gov-ernment, is in deep slumber. Qualityand durability of public service build-ings is not their concern but organizedcorruption.

From the prevalent circum-stances in the province, one can logi-cally conclude that the entire systemappears to have collapsed in the prov-ince. This is why; the corrupt bureau-crats and technocrats are mocking thegovernment and betraying the state.Is there anyone to take notice ofcriminal negligence and corruption ofthe bureaucrats and technocrats anddirect them in clear and loud wordsto show their commitment to trans-parent and accountability and nocomprise on quality and durability ofthe public service roads and buildingsin the province?—Islamabad

his prestige).” He has also said,“The worst form of betrayal is thedisclosure of confidential infor-mation.” Hurting the reputation ofa fellow Muslim is a grievous act,because sometimes it can be theonly thing a person has. Allahcould have made it easy for oth-ers to know our true reality, buthe has hidden our sins and flawsfrom others. Maintaining the goodreputation of our fellow Muslimsis essential for the community, asit helps maintain mutual respectand allows the community moveforward. Finally, a big reason fornot prying into others faults is thatit takes away from one’s own self-improvement and can in fact takeone’s soul even lower.

Those insincere people whofind fault with others without look-ing at their own are truly a poison-ous element in society. Not only dothey corrupt their own soul, butthey sow the seeds of animositywithin the community and causepublic humiliation and embarrass-ment. We should of course makesure that we do not have such ashortcoming in us, but we shouldalso try to stay away and not givecredence to these types of peoplein our communities.

Have just returned from awedding at Hyderabadwhere my wife and I had a

lovely time.We were put up at an officers

mess and though the rooms werelarge, comfortable and spaciousthere were things that didn’t go likeclock work; like we noticed the firstnight, that the air conditioner didn’twork, nor did the intercom, but theview from the balcony was beauti-ful, the coffee brought with militaryprecision in the morning was a de-

light and generally we came back re-laxed and refreshed.

My cousin, who had put me up,asked me as we left, how the stay was,“Just fantastic!” I said. Not for thelife of me would I tell him about thoselittle problems, because in general wehad a whale of a time.

Of course, complaints in them-selves are not bad things. I realize thatsomething has to be addressed beforeit can be fixed, and I believe that thereare times when dissatisfaction shouldbe expressed.

What’s more, I realize that weall have different temperaments.Some people naturally see the glasshalf full, some see it half empty andsome just see that they will probablyend up washing it. Some people arenaturally more accepting while oth-

ers complain quickly. But a tendencyto constantly look at what is wrongcan become a habit. And habits cantake over. I just don’t want to be-come a person who spends a lot oftime just complaining. I find thatif I fill my mind with the little ir-ritants of life, I have no room, orenergy, left for anything that nur-tures and feeds my spirit.

No room for genuine apprecia-tion. No room for understanding. Noroom for enjoyment. No room forfond memories. No room for storinga list of things that bring pleasure.

I actually believe there is muchto feel good about. Like a humoristrightly said, “The next time you feellike complaining, remember that yourgarbage probably contains better left-overs which thirty percent of the

Winner or whiner..!people in this world would love toeat!” I want to leave room in mymind for a long gratitude list that Ican readily recall when I need aboost.

I want to notice what’s goodand right about the world. And Iwant to fill my heart and head withthat which brings some joy so thatI may go to bed each evening con-tented.

Attitudes are habits. Like tele-vision producer Barbara Gordonsays, “While others may argueabout whether the world ends witha bang or a whimper, I just want tomake sure mine doesn’t end with awhine.” I can’t put it any better thanthat. What kind of person are you:A whiner or a winner?—Email:bobsbanter@gmail.com

Hanin Ghaddar

Afshain AfzalEmail: afshainafzal@yahoo.com

The Spirit Of Islam

Atif Noor Khan

FAIK TUNAY

APPROXIMATELY two years have passed sincea flotilla of six ships, including the Turkish MaviMarmara, set sail carrying hundreds of activists protesting the Israeli blockade of Gaza. Be-

fore reaching their desti-nation the ship wasboarded by Israeli navalcommandos and nineTurkish activists werekilled in a confrontationon board. The eventmarked a sharp deteriora-tion in Israel-Turkey rela-tions, although not an ir-reversible one.

After the MaviMarmara incident, Turkeycanceled a handful of mili-tary and security coopera-tion projects, but thesewere not sizeable. Israeli-Turkish trade was negativelyaffected by the incident, but not critically. In essence,relations between the two nations were genuinelyshaken, but not to the degree that has been reported inthe media. There is no doubt, however, that the key tofully repairing relations between Israel and Turkey liesin finding a just solution to the Israeli-Palestinian con-flict. Turkey and Israel have a great deal of commonground from which to start working together on this

issue. Both countries share similar military and strategicinterests in the region, and their relationship has oftenproved to be mutually beneficial. For example, Turkey needsIsraeli technology to combat violent domestic attacks fromthe PKK (Kurdistan Worker’s Party), and Israel has longseen Turkey, with its secular democratic stance and mili-

tary alliance with the UnitedStates and Europe, as a natu-ral regional partner.

Even in the face of theMavi Marmara episode, coop-eration between the two stateshas continued. After the firein Israel’s Carmel forest in late2010, just months after the flo-tilla incident, Turkey sentplanes to help extinguish theblaze. On this occasion, PrimeMinister Recep TayyipErdogan made it clear that re-cent sanctions were againstthe government of Israel, notthe Israeli people or Jews. In

fact, this worsening of relations does not reflect a change inattitude by the majority of Turks toward the Jewish commu-nity in Turkey or Jews in general, but rather a growing disap-proval of the policies of Israel toward the Palestinians. TheMavi Marmara incident was only the tipping point.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has always been a stum-bling block for Turkey. This conflict has been an importantone for Turkish Muslims, but recently the issue has gained

significance for a few reasons. irst, personalities matter. Withthe election of Erdogan as Prime Minister and the appoint-ment of Ahmet Davudoglu as Foreign Minister, Turkey hasbecome more active and outward-looking, seeking to re-assert its historic hegemony in the Middle East. This hasbeen particularly true in the wake of the Arab Spring and thecollapse of the Mubarak regime in Egypt. And if Turkeydesires to be the premier player in regional politics, then thekey regional dilemma – the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – de-mands its involvement.

Second, as Turkish Muslim society has grown moreconservative in recent years, greater importance has beengiven to one of the most important issues for Muslims – thePalestinian struggle. Most religious Turks have a problemwith Israel for what they see as denying Palestinian rightsto statehood. But it bears repeating that the criticism ofIsrael is political, not religious or ethnic.

In light of these facts, I believe that the key to puttingrelations between the two countries back on track is theestablishment of an independent Palestinian state, side byside with Israel, with Jerusalem as the capital of both coun-tries. Moreover, in the short term, restarting the Israeli-Pal-estinian peace process will ease relations even before aPalestinian state is established. I am not pessimistic aboutthe future. I believe that ultimately what governs relationsbetween states is self-interest. Historic cooperation betweenTurkey and Israel has proved mutually beneficial, and re-mains in the interests of both countries. It is clear that a freeand independent Palestine would remove the main obstaclebetween Turkey and Israel and allow for a return to theclose bonds of the past.— Courtesy - The Arab News.

Palestine central to Israel-Turkey relations

Tensions rise in Northeast AsiaMICHAEL RICHARDSON

JAPAN and South Korea, alliesof the United States since WorldWar II, are supposed to be partof an Asia-Pacific counterbal-

ance to China’s growing power andits expansive maritime and islandclaims in East Asia’s seas. Instead,an upwelling of nationalism as theregion marked the Aug. 15 anniver-sary of the end a war that devastatedthe region, showed how fragile rec-onciliation is, even among nominalfriends, decades after the fightingended. Today, it seems that ultra-na-tionalism among the leading localcontestants in Northeast Asia —China, Japan and South Korea — isgaining strength, raising the risk ofarmed conflict.

The rhetoric was certainly stri-dent as China demanded that Japanimmediately and unconditionally re-lease 14 activists who had sailed fromHong Kong and landed on the dis-puted Senkaku Islands in the EastChina Sea. Japan had no sooner de-ported the 14, when a group of Japa-nese nationalists landed on theSenkakus at the weekend despite anofficial ban, sparking anti-Japaneseprotests across China and addingfuel to the bitter dispute betweenAsia’s two biggest economies overownership of the islands — and theaccess to valuable fisheries and sea-bed oil and gas reserves that goeswith them. Japan administers the un-inhabited Senkakus in the teeth ofopposition from Chinaand Taiwan. Beijing saysthey belong to China andthat its citizens have ev-ery right go there. It callsthem the Diaoyu Islands.The Global Times, part ofa newspaper chain pub-lished by the ruling Chi-nese Communist Party,said that Japan now hadto make a choice: “Createconditions to reduce ten-sions over Daioyu, orhead into a full confron-tation with China. What-ever Japan’s choice,China will respond ac-cordingly.”

Renewed tension with Chinacame just a few days after SouthKorea’s President Lee Myung Bak in-flamed another offshore disputewhen he became the first South Ko-rean leader to land on the rocky is-lets it calls Dokdo in the sea between

South Korea and Japan. The latterclaims ownership of the islets, call-ing them Takeshima, even thoughthey are garrisoned by South Korea.In response, Japan recalled its am-bassador to South Korea and can-celled a planned meeting of the twocountries’ finance ministers.

Both China and South Korea alsoused the anniversary of the endingof World War II in Asia to protestagainst the visit of two Japanesegovernment ministers to YasukuniShrine, which commemorates theJapanese who died in the fighting andits aftermath, including 14 class-Aconvicted war criminals. In separatestatements, Seoul and Beijing calledon Japan to atone fully for its brutaloccupation of parts of China beforeand during the War, and for its 1910-1945 colonization of Korea. Theseissues have flared up before, butnever in unison in a cascade of ten-sion. What accounts for the surge ofvitriol?

Politics has a lot to do with it.China, Japan and South Korea are allfacing critical elections later this year.Being strong in defending offshoreclaims in the name of national prideand integrity is seen as a way to seekre-election or the appointment of can-didates approved by outgoing incum-bents. If this analysis is correct, itholds out hope that calmer seas willprevail once the politicking season isover. Yet jingoism cannot beairbrushed away. It is strongly en-trenched in both China and South

Korea where tapping into anti-Japa-nese sentiment is guaranteed to gar-ner public support.

Some close observers of Japan,where pacifism has prevailed since1945, are also warning that virulent na-tionalism there is gaining a stronger

foothold as the views of previouslymarginal rightwing politicians con-verge with those of younger lawmak-ers and voters concerned aboutJapan’s economic future and itseclipse by China. Sheila Smith, a Ja-pan specialist at the Council on For-eign Relations in New York, has justreturned from several weeks in Japan.Smith believes that the last seriousclash over the Senkakus, in 2010 aftera Chinese fishing trawler rammed twoJapan Coast Guard vessels, trans-formed thinking in Japan about thedefense of its offshore islands. Shesays it stimulated for the first time aserious popular response that willmake it more difficult to contain andmanage tensions with China over theSenkakus in future.

Underlying the nationalism is anintensifying struggle for resource con-trol and strategic advantage betweenChina and Japan, the world’s secondand third largest economies respec-tively after the U.S. The Senkakus arepart of Japan’s southern-most prefec-ture of Okinawa, a sparsely populatedisland chain. Key U.S. bases there helpJapan contain the expansion of Chi-nese naval power in the Pacific. Themain island, Okinawa, is the hub of U.S.air power in the region.

The Global Times last monthcalled on the Chinese government toconsider challenging Japan’s rights toOkinawa Prefecture on the groundsthat it only became officially part ofJapan in 1879 after centuries of pay-ing tribute to Chinese emperors. The

U.S. returned Okinawa, in-cluding the Senkakus, tothe administrative controlof Japan in 1972. Just lastmonth, Kyodo newsagency reported fromWashington that a seniorU.S. State Department offi-cial, whom it did not iden-tify, had reaffirmed that ifJapanese forces defendingthe Senkakus came underforeign attack, the U.S.would be obliged to con-sider military intervention insupport of its ally.Against this background,

China is unlikely to try torisk taking the Senkakus by

force in the immediate future. Instead,it will maintain its claim, build itsstrength and keep challenging Japan’scontrol. Michael Richardson is a vis-iting senior research fellow at the In-stitute of South East Asian Studies inSingapore. —Courtesy - Japan Times.

JOBY WARRICK

OSAMA bin Laden hid in his bedroom for at least15 minutes as Navy SEALs battled their waythrough his Pakistani compound, making no attempt to arm himself before a U.S. commando

shot him as he peeked from his doorway, according tothe first published account by a participant in the now-famous raid on May 2, 2011. The account, in a book byone of the SEAL team leaders, sheds new light on the al-Qaeda chief’s final moments. In the account, bin Ladenappears neither to surrender nor to directly challenge theSpecial Forces troops who killed his son and two associ-ates while working their way to his third-floor apartment.A White House narrative of the raid had acknowledgedthat bin Laden was unarmed when he was killed but sug-gested that he posed a threat to the U.S. commandos.

The depiction of an apparently passive bin Laden isamong dozens of revelations in the book, “No Easy Day,”which chronicles the raid in minute and often harrowingdetail, from the nearly disastrous helicopter crash in theopening seconds to the shots fired into bin Laden’stwitching body as he lay apparently dead from a gun-shot wound to the temple. The book also has providedfresh fodder for partisans in the long-simmering contro-versy over the Obama administration’s handling of theraid’s aftermath. Author Matt Bissonnette’s account,written without Pentagon or White House approval, isbeing published at a time when the administration is crack-ing down on unauthorized leaks while also fending offaccusations that it sought to exploit the success of theraid by offering unusual access to filmmakers.

Republicans have sought to diminish PresidentObama’s most significant counterterrorism achievementby accusing the White House of selectively leaking de-tails about the raid to ensure a favorable portrayal of thepresident. Republican presidential nominee Mitt Rom-ney has decried such leaks as “contemptible” and calledfor an independent investigation. The White House has

denied authorizing the release of classified information forpolitical gain. Bissonnette, who retired last year, writesthat the commandos knew that their successful missionwould be exploited for political purposes. “We just gotthis guy re-elected,” Bissonnette quotes one of his SEALcomrades as saying of Obama in the hours after the teamreturned to its base in Afghanistan.

At the same time, Bissonnette credits Obama for hav-ing the courage to order the raid, and he describes beingimpressed by the president’s understated speech announc-ing the al-Qaeda leader’s death to the world. “None of uswere huge fans of Obama,” Bissonnette writes in the book.“We respected him as the commander-in-chief of the mili-tary and for giving us the green light on the mission.” In a“CBS Evening News” clip from a segment of “60 Minutes”scheduled to air Sunday, Bissonnette said the book wasnot intended to be political. “You know, if these crazies oneither side of the aisle want to make it political, shame onthem,” he said. “This is a book about September 11th andit needs to rest on September 11th, not be brought into thepolitical arena.”

The book, which Bissonnette wrote under the pseud-onym Mark Owen, is scheduled for publication next week.A copy was obtained by The Washington Post. The bookpresents what is by far the most intimate account of thehigh-stakes assault on bin Laden’s hideout, from the weeksof training by the SEALs at a secret base in North Carolinato the team’s race to return to Afghanistan ahead of Paki-stani military jets that were scrambled to intercept the in-truders. It also provides fresh and often colorful details ofa mission that has been reconstructed repeatedly over thepast 16 months, from bin Laden’s personal grooming andhousekeeping to the frantic efforts to verify the al-Qaedaleader’s identity as he lay in pool of blood near wailing andshell-shocked family members. Bissonnette asserts in anauthor’s note that he revealed no classified information inthe book. He says he took “great pains to protect the tac-tics, techniques and procedures” of U.S. Special Forcesteams and to conceal the identities of his active-duty com-

rades.Still, his decision to write an unauthorized account has

drawn criticism from Pentagon officials who decried thebreak with a time-honored tradition of secrecy by the eliteSEAL unit that carried out the raid. Officials were “livid”over the book when they learned of it, according to a mili-tary contractor who has worked for U.S. Special Opera-tions Command and who spoke on the condition of ano-nymity. But on Wednesday, as news media published thefirst excerpts from the book, such criticisms were conspicu-ously absent. Defense officials, who received a copy ofthe manuscript Saturday, declined to take issue withBissonnette’s account and gave no signals that they in-tend to take punitive action against him. Unlike the CIA’sstrict censorship requirements for its officers, the Navyhas no rule requiring former service members to submit abook to authorities for pre-publication review.

Administration officials privately expressed surpriseover details that they said contradicted official after-actionreports about the raid. But a spokesman for the WhiteHouse’s National Security Council declined to challengethe author or his narrative. “As President Obama said onthe night that justice was brought to Osama bin Laden,‘We give thanks for the men who carried out this opera-tion, for they exemplify the professionalism, patriotism andunparalleled courage of those who serve our country,’?”said the spokesman, Tommy Vietor. In the book, Bissonnettesays he was motivated to write in part to clear up inaccura-cies in official and published accounts of the raid. His ver-sion of events is largely consistent with the amended ac-counts offered by White House officials in the days afterbin Laden’s death.

The author describes weeks of training, using elabo-rately produced, full-scale models of bin Laden’s com-pound. He describes seeing CIA surveillance video of afigure believed to be bin Laden — a man dubbed “thePacer” because of his habitual strolls inside the compound’shigh walls. A CIA officer assigned to the case assured theSEALs that she was “one hundred percent” certain that

the mysterious stroller was bin Laden, though WhiteHouse officials would later acknowledge doubts aboutwhether the intelligence was reliable.

The question of whether the terrorist leader wouldbe killed or captured came up in briefings, Bissonnettewrites. At one point, a government lawyer — perhaps aWhite House or Defense Department official — makesclear that “this wasn’t an assassination,” the author says.

“If he is naked with his hands up, you’re not goingto engage him,” Bissonnette quotes the lawyer saying.“I am not going to tell you how to do your job. Whatwe’re saying is, if he does not pose a threat, you willdetain him.” But according to the book, the SEALs de-cided to take no chances as they confronted the dark-bearded man who peered at them from his doorway onthe villa’s third floor. By then, the raid was 15 minutesold and the occupants of the house had long been alertedto the presence of the team after multiple shootouts andthe explosions from door-breaching charges on the lowerfloors. Crouching a few feet behind the point man in theassault team, Bissonnette knew that his team could bewalking into an ambush because bin Laden “had plentyof time to strap on a suicide vest or simply get his gun.”

The lead SEAL fired at the man, who disappearedinto the dark room behind him. Cautiously entering theroom with guns drawn, the SEALs saw bin Laden lyingat the foot of a bed with two women standing over him.He had been shot in the head and blood was poolingbeneath him. Bissonnette and other SEALs fired morerounds into bin Laden’s chest to make certain he wasdead. Only later, during a search of the room, did hediscover a pair of guns on a shelf near the door wherebin Laden had been standing. Both were empty,Bissonnette wrote.

“He hadn’t even prepared a defense,” the retiredSEAL recalled. “He had no intention of fighting. He askedhis followers for decades to wear suicide vests or flyplanes into buildings, but he didn’t even pick up hisweapon.”— Courtesy - The Washington Post

Ex-SEAL’s book says Osama bin Laden made no attempt to defend himself in raid

Who speaks forreform in Islam?

VOICES OF MODERNITY ARE SILENT

HOW little we know about holy Islam. Whenthose poor wretches who were imprisoned atAbu Ghraib were pictured for all the world tosee naked with underpants on their heads, we

were told that the naked male Islamic body must never beseen in public. Yet we have been seeing naked male Islamicbodies for years. Often with their hands tied behind theirbacks and their heads chopped off. Their assailants weredevotees of Islam, often very zealous. Few Westernerscommitted those atrocities, and if they were caught, theywere punished. Then, too, we were told that mosques wererevered places of worship in Islam, and they must not besubject to attack or used in acts of violence. Alas, for years,mosques have been blown up. Their inhabitants have beengunned down, even impaled on sharp blades. Those werenot the acts of unbelievers or of warriors from the godlessWest. Rather, they were the acts of the faithful, often mem-bers of the same sect or tribe. Just this weekend inLibya — now freshly liberated from Moammar Gadhafi, hisbody perforce treated roughly — ancient and veneratedshrines of the majority Sufi persuasion were destroyed. InTripoli at the crack of dawn on Saturday, the centuries-oldSidi Al-Sha’ab shrine was flattened by bulldozers. Twoseparate government security forces stood by idly. Theday before in the city of Zlitan, Libya’s most revered Sufimosque was vandalized and an adjoining library had itspriceless collection of theological treatises torched. Theattackers were fellow Libyans. No Westerner was in sight.

The leader of Libya’s new congress, Mohamed al-Magariaf, condemned the violence and sought answersfrom the heads of the Interior and Defense ministries as towhy their forces did not intervene. In fact, they seemedcomplicit in the destruction. Now Interior Minister FawziAbdel Aal has resigned in a huff, and other newly electedmembers of the congress, which is pretty liberal by Arabstandards, have compared the weekend’s destruction tothe destruction of Afghanistan’s great statues of Buddhaby the Taliban. The whole controversy thrusts into ques-tion how stable the government is. A coalition of mostlyliberals won heavily in elections held earlier this summer,but they have yet to name a Cabinet. The religious partiesthat did not do well in the elections may be ready to make amove on the government.

Why do the religious parties tolerate the desecration ofsacred places such as mosques and libraries containingholy treatises? Supposedly, the desecrators were from theSalafi school of Islam. Most Libyans follow Sufi teachings.The Salafis derive their strength from the Arab Gulf coun-tries. Most of northern Africa is Sufi. Is this a power struggleby members of Islam from outside the region aided by theLibyan Ministries of the Interior and Defense? Do powerstruggles in holy Islam involve destroying one another’splaces of worship? The Sidi Al-Sha’ab mosque was centu-ries old and is unlikely to be restored. It looks to me, frompictures, that it was reduced to rubble. The problem withIslam, as I see it, is that it has never reformed itself to accordwith the modern world. Of all the major religions, it looks notto the future but to the past. —Courtesy - The WashingtonTimes. [R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr. is founder and editor-in-chiefof the American Spectator and an adjunct scholar at theHudson Institute. He is the author most recently of “TheDeath of Liberalism” (Thomas Nelson, 2012)]

A Syrian defector’smission

DAVID IGNATIUS

SYRIA’S most prominent military defector saysthe key to political transition there is to providea “safety net” that convinces Alawites theywon’t be massacred if they break with President

Bashar al-Assad. “My main work is to convince theAlawites that they do not have to commit suicide alongwith the regime,” said Manaf Tlass, a former general in theSyrian army who left the country in July. He spoke Tues-day at a location in France, where he has taken refuge. Itwas his first in-depth interview since he broke with Assad,who was once his close friend. Tlass said that before therecan be a political transition, there must first be a channel oftrust between the opposition Free Syrian Army and recon-cilable members of the military who are ready to break withAssad as Tlass did. Without such links, he said, Assad’soverthrow would plunge the country into a period of anar-chic violence, and Syria’s chemical weapons would be upfor grabs. “Today, many Alawites are not happy with what’shappening on the ground, but where is the safe zone forthem?” he said. “Alawites need to know that there’s astrong side that will guarantee their safety if they defect.”

Though Tlass is a Sunni Muslim, he commanded aunit of the Special Republican Guard, which is about 80percent Alawite, the ethnic minority from which Assad andhis inner circle are drawn. Tlass, 49, spoke movingly abouthis break from Assad, who, he said, has so bloodied hisname that he will never be able to rule Syria effectivelyagain. It began in the spring of 2011, when protests werespreading and Tlass offered to meet with demonstrators.He told Assad about an April meeting in Darayya withyoung rebels, whose fathers were silent but obviouslyproud. “This is the revolution of the fathers through theirchildren,” Tlass warned, noting that such a conflict would

be impossible to win by force.Assad was a changeable, uncertain man, increasingly

swayed by the harder line of his family, especially hisbrother Maher and his cousin Hafez Makhlouf, who headsthe internal branch of Syrian intelligence. “If you imposepower, people will be afraid, and they will step back,”Makhlouf admonished Tlass. Tlass says that by May 2011,his counsel of outreach was ignored and his contacts werebeing arrested after he met them. This was the case even inRastan, a town in central Syria where his father was born.After Tlass tried to make peace there, he was scolded byMakhlouf. Tlass stopped commanding his army unit afterthat.

The rupture came in July 2011, when Assad summonedhim and asked why he wasn’t leading his troops. Tlasssaid he responded that the president and his men weren’tsincere about compromise. “You are making me a liar. Youand Syria are committing suicide,” he recalls saying. Assadresponded that such counsel was “too simple,” and thathe was moving to the “security option.” “You are carryinga heavy load — and if you want to fly, you have to dropthat load,” Tlass says he told Assad at that last meeting.“But it seems the heavy load — the family, the inner circle— has won.”

Tlass says he thought at first that he could stay inDamascus, in silent opposition to the hard-liners’ policies.But as the violence increased to countrywide slaughter,he says, “my conscience could not bear it anymore.” Hebegan thinking by the end of last year about how to flee.The former general still has the rugged good looks thatmade him a charismatic military leader, which has led someto speculate that he might play a role in a Syrian transition.But Tlass says he doesn’t want any position in a futuregovernment and is focused only on his “road map” foravoiding sectarian strife. He’s probably wise to disavowpolitical ambition, as his wealth, secular lifestyle and promi-nent background (his father was defense minister) makehim a target for a populist, Islamist opposition movement.

I first met Tlass a half-dozen years ago in Damascus,which may be one reason he decided to speak out andgive the interview. When I asked him what he would say toAssad if he could send him one more message, he wasovercome by emotion for a moment and left the room.When he returned, he said: “How can anyone think he isprotecting his country when his air force and tanks arehitting his own territory?” —Courtesy - TWP.

KABUL—Taliban gunmenshot dead Afghanitan’s east-ern Ghazni province’s coun-cil chief Sahib Shah Qazi, lo-cal officials said.

The shooting took placein the evening in theNawabad area of the prov-ince while Qazi was on theway home from work, provin-cial governor Musa Akarzadasaid. “One of his bodyguardswas also injured in the attackand was taken to a nearbyhospital in the city,” he said.

Ghazni’s provincial councilchief shot dead by Taliban

A witnesses said that thegunmen were “in a car andopened fire on the provin-cial council chief and es-caped the area.” Ghazni po-lice said that they havestarted investigations intothe incident.

Sahib Shah had alreadyescaped a number of life at-tempt attacks in the past. Hehas worked for nearly a yearas the provincial council chiefin the province.

The Taliban claimed re-

sponsibility for the incident.Insurgents frequently targetprovincial officials who havelinks with the government.

On August 9, gunmenshot dead a leading lawyerof Ghazni province whoworked in the AttorneyGeneral’s office.

The shooting took placewhen the head of the Attor-ney General’s Appeals De-partment Haji Sahar Gul wastraveling from his home tohis office.—INP

WASHINGTON—Obama ad-ministration officials con-firmed Wednesday that themilitary operations com-mander of the Taliban-alliedHaqqani militant networkwas killed by a U.S. drone-fired missile last week in Pa-kistan.

Badruddin Haqqani wasthe third-ranking official ofthe militant group, which theadministration considers themost potent threat to U.S.efforts in Afghanistan, andthe most senior memberkilled to date. His father,Jalaluddin Haqqani, foundedthe network and remains its

US confirms killing ofHaqqani leader in Pakistan

titular head, and his brother,Sirajuddin, is its currentleader.

Afghan officials had pre-viously said that Badruddinwas killed in one of at leastsix reported drone strikessince Aug. 18 in NorthWaziristan, but U.S. officialshad said they were still try-ing to confirm the report.

“We now believe he isdead,” an administration of-ficial said on condition ofanonymity to discuss intelli-gence matters. A spokesmanfor the CIA, which operatesthe drone program in Paki-stan, declined comment.

Following that attack,the administration publiclyescalated allegations of di-rect ties between theHaqqani network andPakistan’s Inter-Services In-telligence agency, andwarned of an escalation ofdirect action against the Af-ghan militant group’s havenin North Waziristan.

This month’s dronestrikes mark the most sus-tained attacks since Pakistanagreed on July 3 to reopenits border crossings for thetransit of supplies to U.S. andNATO troops in Afghani-stan.—INP

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Federal Minis-ter for Textile IndustryMakhdoom Shahabuddin,while holding an interactivesession with members of Ex-ecutive Committee of WorldSaraiki Congress, has said thatcreation of a separate Saraikiprovince is the only way for-ward to satisfy the grievancesof neglected masses of Saraikiregion.

The Federal Minister saidthat it was not a political slo-gan rather a sincere move onthe part of Pakistan PeopleParty to address the sense ofdeprivation of the people ofSaraiki region. He added thatfederation would be strength-ened by the creation of newSaraiki province. He said thatalthough it was an uphill task

‘Creation of Saraiki provinceonly way forward’

that required considerablehomework, broader consen-sus and utter consolidationyet Saraiki people were equallyempowered by strong will anddetermination to achieve thatgoal.Various members of Ex-ecutive Committee also ex-pressed their views about thecreation of separate province.

Vice President of PPPSouth Punjab Pir HaiderZaman Qureshi said that fi-nancial Injustice was the ma-jor cause of this move andwished that Saraiki provincewould be created before thenext general elections. Chair-man of World Saraiki Con-gress Dr. Ghazanfer Mehdisaid that since 1947 upperPunjab had usurped 1700 bil-lion dollars of Saraiki regionthat needed to be paid back.He said that both the federal

and provincial governmentshave been allocating only Rs.20,000/- per annum for thepromotion of Saraiki languageand culture that reflects seri-ous injustice to Saraikipeople.

He demanded the creationof a high level commission forthis propose.

Aurangzeb Khan, MazherArif, Sabtain Raza Lodhi, Pir.Muhammad Yahya Khan,Khurram Shahzad, SaqibMehdi, Khursheed Ahmed,Shafiq ur Rehman and JamilAsghir Bhatti while express-ing their views declared thecreation of separate Saraikiprovince the basic need of thehour. It was also decided inthe meeting that a series ofseminars and conferenceswould be launched through-out the Pakistan soon.

BEIJING—Pakistan’s Am-bassador to China, MasoodKhan has said that microblogging has proved an ef-fective channel for the Chi-nese people to know moreabout Pakistan.

The Ambassador saidthis in an interview withPeople’s Daily Online,China’s biggest online news-paper with over 200 millionhits per day.

He said, the Pakistan Em-bassy opened an exclusiveChinese language Weibo mi-cro blog account on People’sDaily Online on August 13 toreach out to the Chinese citi-zens, giving them better in-formation about Pakistan’seconomy, trade and cultureas well as about Pakistan-China relations.

The fact that thousandsof Chinese citizens were at-

Micro blogging – effective tool fordeepening Pak-China ties: Masood

tracted to this micro blog in ashort time shows the feelingthat Chinese people have to-wards Pakistan, he said.

In response to a ques-tion, the Ambassador saidthat Pakistan and China haveenjoyed close relations dur-ing the past 61 years andstressed on the need to fur-ther enhancing these friendlyties among the people of twocountries.

He said the new Weibomicro blog would allow Chi-nese netizens to use newmedia in their own languageto keep a close link with thePakistan’s Ambassador andthe Embassy. This, he said,would increase exchangeand understanding betweenthe peoples of the two coun-tries, while being an authen-tic source of informationabout Pakistan.

The Ambassador saidthe Embassy of Pakistan hascreated more opportunitiesfor the Chinese people toknow more about Pakistan.For this purpose, famousuniversities in China includ-ing Tsinghua, Peking,Sichuan and Fudan Univer-sities have set up Pakistanculture research centers.

However, he emphasized,the best way to learn moreabout Pakistan is to step intothe country. Pakistan is abeautiful land, its people arediligent and warm-hearted,and above all they like andrespect the Chinese people.

He said in Pakistan thereis an increased trend of learn-ing the Chinese language.Many leading schools in thecountry are teaching Chineseto thousands of studentsacross the country.—INP

IVORY COAST: Pak Army personnel giving training about different skills to youngsters arranged by TMU-1(Pakistani peacekeeping troops deployed under UN mission) in Yamoussoukro City.

KhameneiFrom Page 1

keep pursuing peacefulnuclear energy, SupremeLeader Ayatollah AliKhamenei told heads of statefrom developing countries inTehran.Iran, hosting a summitof the 120-nation Non-AlignedMovement (NAM), is hopingthe high-profile event willprove that Western efforts toisolate it and punish it economi-cally for its disputed nuclearprogramme have failed.

“Our motto is nuclear en-ergy for all and nuclear weap-ons for none,” Khameneitold the assembled heads ofstate.—Reuters

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Textile Industry Makhdoom Shahabuddin holding an interactive session withmembers of executive committee of world Saraiki congress.

US imposesFrom Page 1

Saeed, also in teacher andmedia relations for the group.

The US has labelled LeTa “terrorist group” and saysit has links to the Taliban, theHaqqani network, and alQaeda.

The sanctions forbid USindividuals and companiesfrom undertaking any trans-actions with the eight andfreeze any assets they mayhave in the United States.

“Attacking LeT’s facilita-tion networks is particularlyimportant, since charitabledonations LeT raises in Paki-stan – its primary revenuesource – are used to fuel LeT’smilitant operations,” saidDavid Cohen, Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and fi-nancial intelligence.—AP

Suddle commissionFrom Page 1

tice Arif Khilji, passed thejudgment Thursday.

During today’s proceed-ings, Dr Arsalan was presentin the court while Malik Riazand his lawyer did not attendthe ruling.

The court ordered to forma new investigating team un-der Dr Shoaib Suddle toprobe the matter as the peti-tioner had told that attorneygeneral’s letter was not inaccordance with the court’sorder. The court granted ju-dicial power to the commis-sion and instructed topresent report in 30 days.

The order also statedthat the truth was kept hid-den from the court that IrfanQadir had served as counselto Malik Riaz in the past. Onthis, Zahid Bukhari said thatSardar Ishaq had also servesas his lawyer.

The court said that ob-jections were raised overNAB, attorney general andthe joint investigation team(JIT) in the review petition.During the process, lawyersof the parties leveled seriousallegations against eachother while Arsalan Iftikharexpressed his dissatisfactionover NAB and said that un-biased probe could not be ex-pected from the bureau.Arsalan’s counsel also al-leged that NAB chairmanenjoys close contacts withMalik Riaz.

The SC on Tuesday hadreserved its judgment on DrArsalan’s review petitionchallenging its June 14 orderrelating to allegations of abusiness deal between himand real estate tycoon MalikRiaz.

The bench had stoppedthe JIT from investigatingArsalan Iftikhar’s case on Au-gust 2. Arsalan’s counsel SardarMuhammad Ishaq completedthe arguments on Tuesday af-ter which Zahid Bukhari, thecounsel for Malik Riaz Hussain,gave counter arguments. ZahidBukhari expressed serious res-ervations over a press noteagainst the record of the Su-preme Court’s registrar in whichhe (the registrar) had stated thatinvestigation against ArsalanIftikhar had not been stopped.He said the statement given bythe registrar was against thefacts.—INP

Zardari for making Pak-Indiadialogue process productive

From Page 1move into a new era of coop-eration and being able to re-solve our disputes,” she said.

The foreign secretaries ofthe two countries are meet-ing at Islamabad in Septem-ber to review the secondround of dialogue processthat resumed after a gap oftwo years, following theMumbai attacks.

Foreign Minister HinaRabbani Khar, Interior Min-ister Rehman Malik, PPPChairman Bilawal BhuttoZardari, Indian Foreign Min-ister S M Krishna, Indian Ex-ternal Affairs Secretary, In-dian National Security Ad-viser and Pakistan’s Ambas-sador to Iran Khalid Babarwere present during the meet-ing.

It was the second meet-ing of President Zardari withDr Manmohan Singh in ayear. They last met at New

Delhi during PresidentZardari’s day-long privatevisit to India in April.

The President recalledthe meeting and said he wasdeeply touched by the warmhospitality extended to himin New Delhi and AjmerSharif.

The President appreci-ated the Indian PrimeMinister’s vision for a peace-ful and prosperous SouthAsia.

The President said Paki-stan desired to have friendly,cooperative and goodneighbourly relations withIndia, as it had a deep inter-est in promoting peace andstability in the region.

President Zardari saidthe South Asian region hadenormous potential and thecooperation between the twocountries was imperative to

exploit this potential. The two leaders also

noted the substantive im-provement in their bilateral,economic and trade relations.

The President expressedsatisfaction at the completionof the second round of theresumed dialogue process,that would culminate with theforeign ministers meeting inIslamabad in September.

Meanwhile, PresidentAsif Ali Zardari and Presi-dent of Tajikistan EmomaliRahmon on Thursday dis-cussed bilateral ties, coop-eration in trade and energysectors and vowed to makethe forthcoming quadrilateralsummit in Islamabad a suc-cess.

President Zardari andPresident Rahmon, besidesdiscussing the bilateral tiesspanning over a decade,agreed to further strengthenand make the relationshipmore meaningful.

They also discussed re-gional situation and the wayforward to address the is-sues of common concern.—APP

condemned the killing ofZulfiqar Naqvi and announcedto boycott court proceedingsin the province. Tahafuz-E-Azadari Council has also an-nounced three days mourningover the incident and appealedto the chief justice of Pakistanto take suo motu notice of thetarget killing.

The police, Levis andother security personalsreached the spot and cor-doned off the area and startedsearch operation, however noarrest was made.—SANA

Sessions judgeamong 3 shot

dead in QuettaFrom Page 1

Pak students faceFrom Page 1

both current and prospec-tive, and the University willmeet all its obligations tothem.

”Immigration ministerDamian Green told BBC ra-dio that after an audit last-ing six months, the BorderAgency found “a serioussystemic failure where it ap-pears that the universitydoesn’t have the capacity tobe a proper sponsor”.

He said that a quarter ofstudents there lacked per-mission to stay in the coun-try, while there was insuffi-cient evidence that studentsspoke English and no proofthat half of those enrolledhad been attendinglectures.But he sought to re-assure prospective studentsthat “this will not be repli-cated across the universitysector”.The governmenthad formed a task force toassist current studentswhose visas are set to be re-voked, he added.The NUSlabelled the move political,linking it with promised im-

migration quotas brought inby Prime Minister DavidCameron’s government.

It said it had contactedCameron to “express angerat the way decisions havebeen made in recent weeksand to reiterate the poten-tially catastrophic effects onhigher education… as anexport industry”.

A Border Agency spokes-man said: “The latest audit re-vealed problems with 61 percent of files randomlysampled. Allowing LondonMetropolitan University tocontinue to sponsor andteach international studentswas not an option.“These areproblems with one university,not the whole sector.” Lon-don Metropolitan is in the top20 British recruiters of inter-national students, with 6,000EU and non-EU overseas stu-dents in 2010-11, according togovernment figures.It said itwas working closely withbodies including the BorderAgency to try to resolve theproblems.

Scientistsshould focuson field work

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Vice Chancellorof the University of Veteri-nary and Animal Sciences(UVAS) Prof.Dr Talat NaseerPasha has urged the scien-tists to focus on field workwith the collaboration of lo-cal industry.

He was speaking at ameeting with SME Develop-ment Centre Chief ExecutiveSiddiq-ur-Rehman in his of-fice in the varsity on Tues-day.

He said that the universitywas equally focusing on smallfarmers and providing themwith training and other ser-vices free of cost to boost thelivestock sector across theprovince. He said the univer-sity had launched “24/7 Exten-sion Services” to provide emer-gency help to farmers on theirdoorsteps round the clock.

Siddiq-ur-Rehman saidthat Pakistan’s academia couldpush the national economyupwards by developing thesolution-based products tofulfill the industry needs andenhance exports.

Published by: Zahid Malik from 33-Queens Road, Lahore and printed by Gauhar Zahid Malik at Barex Printers.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Chief Justice ofPakistan Iftikhar MuhammadChaudhry has said that democ-racy is still working becausethe rule of law is being main-tained in the country.

Speaking to representa-tives of the Karachi Bar and

Sindh Bar Council, he said thatrepetition of mistakes wouldharm the current democratic set-up. “Law enforcement agenciesare not doing their jobs effec-tively, the government shouldprovide protection to thepeople,” said the chief justice.

He further added that, “De-mocracy has given people the

freedom to speak. Pakistan willprogress if we work with dedi-cation and commitment.”

The chief justice lamented onsecurity of lawyers and judges asmiscreants have targeted them.Justice said under the constitu-tion, it is the duty of state to pro-tect life, property, dignity andhonour of its citizens.

Democracy workingdue to rule of law: CJPLaments law enforcement agencies are not doing their job

Wasan likely tobe reappointedSindh Home

MinisterKARACHI—Former InteriorMinister Sindh Manzoor HussainWasan is likely to be reappointedto the slot. The decision to thiseffect was taken in a meeting be-tween President Asif Ali Zardariand Premier Raja Parvez Ashrafon Wednesday, sources said.

The Chief Minister SindhSyed Qaim Ali Shah was in-formed about the decision; he ap-preciated the decision and has ap-pointed Muhammad YounasDhaga as new secretary interiorfor Sindh. —Online

Passport scam

FIA team failsto record Asad’s

statementISLAMABAD—A two-memberteam of the Federal InvestigationAgency (FIA) returned fromLondon on Thursday without re-cording the statement of AliAsad, the central character in thepassport scam.

According to the InteriorMinistry, the team has submitteda report regarding the scandal, inwhich it said that it was unableto record Asad’s statement.

The team also said that sev-eral meetings were held to assistBritish officials in locating Asadand arrest him, but they did notwork out either. Sources say thatthe investigation into the scandalmay need more time to com-plete.—INP

Altaf inquiresafter health ofAllama Qadri

STAFF REPORTER

LONDON—Founder and Leaderof Muttahida Quami Movement(MQM) Altaf Hussain tele-phoned the prominent religiousscholar and head of the Jamaat-i-Ahl-i-Sunnat Pakistan AllamaShah Turab-ul-Haque Qadri andinquired about his health.Allama Qadri has been suffer-ing from kidney complaints forseveral days.

Praising the religious ser-vices of the ailing Allama Qadri,Mr Hussain said that people likehim were the true source ofknowledge. He prayed for re-covery of Allama Qadri. He alsoappealed the people to pray forhis health.

President takesnotice of SessionsJudge’s murder

ISLAMABAD—President Asif AliZardari has expressed grave con-cern on the killing of SessionJudge in Quetta demanding im-mediate probe into the gruesomeincident.

President Zardari has di-rected Interior Minister RehmanMalik to probe the incident andreport to be presented at the ear-liest.—Online

QUETTA: Chief Justice Balochistan High Court Justice Qazi Faez Isa condoles with father of Additional Sessions JudgeQuetta Zulfiqar Ali Naqvi who was killed by unidentified gunmen along with his driver and security guard at GRO Colonyon Thursday.—INP photo

KABUL—Kabul residents onThursday staged a demonstra-tion announcing their supportfor a jihad decree issued bypeople of eastern Kunar prov-ince in the wake of allegedcross-border shelling from Pa-kistan.

The demonstrators in thecentral capital asked the gov-ernment to distribute weaponsto them so they could join thepeople of Kunar against Paki-

stan forces. Over the past 18months, Pakistani forces havebeen allegedly firing missilesand rockets into border areas ofKunar. So far 100 people havesuffered casualties and nearly1,500 families have been dis-placed.

In Kabul, more than 1,000people, who took part in thedemonstration, asked theUnited Nations Security Coun-cil, the Organisation of Islamic

Cooperation, EuropeanUnion, the US and humanrights organisations to con-demn the attacks andPakistan’s interference intoAfghanistan’s affairs.

Organized by the NationalParticipation Front (NPF), thedemonstration started at 9amfrom the Labi Jar square ofKhairkhana Maina localityand culminated at SalimKarwan square.—INP

Cross-border shelling

Kabul residents backanti-Pak Jehad call

Govt paying Rs250bsubsidy on power

PM directs for recovery of duesSHARAFAT KAZMI

ISLAMABAD—Prime MinisterRaja Pervez Ashraf has saidgovernment has been subsidiz-ing an amount of Rs.250 billionannually despite financial con-straints, to reduce the burden onconsumers.

The Prime Minister madethese observations while chairinga meeting on power sector atMinistry of Water and Power onThursday.

The Prime Minister urgedthe Ministries of Petroleum, Fi-nance and Water and Power towork together and ensure that gapbetween demand and supply of

power is minimized. The PrimeMinister said he had great hopesfrom the Secretaries’ Committeeformed by the government togive recommendations to im-prove the power situation in thecountry. The Secretaries’ Com-mittee consists of Federal Secre-tary Finance, Federal SecretaryPetroleum and Federal SecretaryWater and Power.

The Prime Minister said thatthe Secretaries’ Committeeshould ensure uninterrupted sup-ply of fuel for optimal generationfrom power plants and also comeup with doable suggestions toimprove the entire energy chainfrom generation to distribution.

This subsidy works out on aver-age to Rs.3.50 per unit. Unfortu-nately, this relief has not attractedthe appreciation from the public,the Prime Minister observed.

The Prime Minister directedNEPRA to work out an upfronttariff for investors interested inalternative energy projects likewind and solar energy.

This would help the investorin making his decision to investin this sector without goingthrough complicated and com-plex procedures for seeking tar-iff in each case. The Prime Min-ister said that there should be zerotolerance for those who do notpay their electricity bills.

Hina for immediateend to drone strikes

TEHRAN—Foreign MinisterHina Rabbani Khar has called onthe US to immediately end its“unlawful” and “counter-produc-tive” assassination drone strikesin her country.

The foreign minister madethe statement in an interview withPress TV, after arriving in the Ira-nian capital Tehran for the 16thsummit of the Non-AlignedMovement (NAM).

“You see Pakistan’s positionis clear today and has been clearin the past. Our position is thatthis is something which iscounter-productive. It is unlaw-ful. It is illegal, and therefore they

must cease. This is what the par-liament of Pakistan has clearlysaid,” Rabbani Khar said.

“We are in close discussionwith the US to find differentways and means to be able toachieve the same objectives, asfar as the US is concerned,” Kharadded, calling on Washington toimmediately end its drone attacksin Pakistan’s territories.

The killing of Pakistani ci-vilians, including women andchildren, in drone strikes hasstrained relations betweenIslamabad and Washington,prompting Pakistani officials tosend warnings to the US admin-

istration over the assaults. Ten-sion between the two sides inten-sified after the US launchedairstrikes on two Pakistani mili-tary checkpoints near the Afghanborder in November 2011, kill-ing 24 Pakistani soldiers.

The UN and the Pakistanigovernment have condemnedthe US use of combat drones asa blatant violation of interna-tional law.

Washington claims that theunmanned aircraft target mili-tants and their strongholds, butvictims of such attacks havebeen predominantly civilians.—Online

Fee waiver fordisabled studentsLAHORE—Chief Minister ofPunjab, Shahbaz Sharifannounced on Thursday thattuition fees for disabledstudents would be waived in allpublic sector schools andcolleges, as well as a twopercent quota would beestablished for them ingovernment services. A groupof representatives from variousdistricts of the province cameto meet the chief minister. Atthe meeting, Shahbaz Sharifsaid that the existing standardsof cancer research in Pakistanmust be improved. —INP

LeJ leaderdetainedLAHORE—The Law Enforce-ment Agencies (LEAs) havedetained Malik Ishaq, theleader of banned outfitLashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), fromAllama Iqbal InternationalAirport Lahore on Thursday onhis return from Saudi Arabiaafter performing Umra.According to Punjab police andPunjab public prosecutiondepartment’s record, Ishaq isinvolved in more than 40 casesin which 70 people had beenkilled with majority of thedeceased belonging to the Shiacommunity.—INP

PhD degree inComputer ScienceSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Lecturer Univer-sity of Education M.AkramUllah has been awarded a PhDdegree in subject of ComputerSciences by presenting histhesis entitled “Formal Designand Verifications in ParallelFile Systems” to ComsatsInstitute of InformationTechnology, Islamabad underthe supervision of Dr. NasroMin Allah. M.Ikram Ullah asfirst PhD scholar of computerscience in UoE, is serving inAttock Campus and hisresearch papers on FormalMethods has been published inmany national and interna-tional journals.

Stray bulletinjures a personQUETTA—A man sustained se-vere injuries when a stray bullethit him in the provincial capitalhere on Thursday.

As per details, DostMuhammad Munir Mengal wasgoing on road when suddenly hewas struck by a stray bullet fromunknown direction as a result hesustained severe injuries.

On getting information po-lice reached the spot and rushedhim to hospital for medical Aid.

It merits mentioning herethat several persons sustainedinjuries in aerial firing incidentsin the last couple of days. Thepublic circles have appealed tothe IG police and CCPO Quettato take stern action against thosepersons who are involved inaerial firing to avoid any unto-ward incident.—Online

CANBERRA—Three Austra-lian soldiers serving withNATO have been killed by aman wearing an Afghan armyuniform in Afghanistan, bring-ing the total of foreign soldierskilled in “insider” attacks to 15during August alone.

Australia’s acting defencechief Air Marshal MarkBinskin said that the incidentoccurred inside a patrol basenear Tarin Kowt inAfghanistan’s southernUruzgan province.

“Three Australian soldiersfrom the 3RAR task groupwere shot and killed when anindividual wearing an AfghanNational Army uniformopened fire with an automaticweapon from close range,” he

Uniformed Afghan killsthree Australian troops

told reporters in Canberra.Australian officials also

announced that a further twotroops had died in a helicoptercrash in another southern Af-ghan province Helmand onThursday.

That raises to 38 thenumber of Australian lives lostsince Australia first sent troopsto Afghanistan in 2001.

The insider attack inUruzgan prompted AustralianPrime Minister Julia Gillard tohead home early from a re-gional Pacific leaders’ confer-ence in the Cook Islands.

“This is news so trulyshocking that it’s going to feelfor many Australians like aphysical blow,” Gil lardsaid.—INP

ABOUT 30 years ago we learned thatstraight legged sit-ups were bad foryou because it caused back pain. But

aren’t lying or hanging leg raises the samething as the straight legged sit-ups – done inreverse? Aren’t you using the same muscles,whether you raise your legs and keep yourupper body still or raise your upper body andkeep your legs still? Great looking abs are agoal for both men and women, but lying orhanging leg raises may becontributing more to yourback pain then you think. Tounderstand why this exercisemay not be so good for yourback, you need to under-stand the basic bio-mechan-ics. Learn which musclesmove what body part.Anatomy and physiologyteaches you that a muscleattaches at two ends. Whenthose two endpoints or at-tachment points move closertogether you get musclecontraction. It is the contrac-tion of the muscle that pullsthe endpoints closer andmoves your body. When thetwo end points move furtherapart, the muscle stretchesand relaxes.

FYI…when one muscle contracts – anopposing or opposite muscle stretches or re-laxes. Every muscle has an opposing muscle.For joint stability and staying pain free it isimportant to exercise both the contracted andopposing muscle, otherwise you get muscleimbalance.

Look at the bicep muscle, for an example.It attaches at the top of your shoulder andjust below the crease of your elbow. Whenyou bend your arm, or do a bicep curl, the twoendpoints move closer together, and themuscle is in a state of contraction. When youstraighten your arm the two points move fur-

ther apart and the bicep muscle stretches orlengthens. Every muscle in the body workson this same “pulley” principle, includingyour eye muscles. Look at your chestmuscles. The pec’s attach along the side ofyour sternum and run diagonally into thetop of your shoulder. Now imagine as youlower the bar when doing bench press, thetwo end points move further apart. The pecmuscles are stretching, but as you push the

bar off your chest, the twoendpoints move closer to-gether. This causes the pecmuscles to contract. Themuscles primarily responsiblefor raising the legs are thepsoas muscles, NOT the ab-dominal muscle. The commonname for the psoas muscle isthe ‘hip flexor.’ The hip flexorattaches at the upper/insideportion of your thigh muscleand sits beneath your abs andintestines. It runs up and at-taches to your spinal column,more specifically your lumbarvertebra and disc. Thesemuscles are commonly over-looked for being a primarycause of back pain, but as youstart examining which muscles

move your body, you will quickly see howthey can be the problem.

The abdominal muscles attach at thebottom of your ribs and run down past yourbelly button and attach to the pubic bone.Remember a muscle contracts when the twoendpoints come closer together. To proveto you that lying or hanging leg raises don’tspecifically work the abdominal muscles letme get you to lie flat on your back as if youwere performing a leg raise. Place your righthand at the top of your pubic bone and yourleft hand on the bottom of your rib cage.Now slowly raise your legs up to the ceiling,no more than 90 degrees.

Why leg raising hurt your back

ISLAMABAD: Acting President Syed Nayyer Hussain Bokhari accompanied by members of the Upper House exchanging views with Senator JohnHogg, President of the Australian Senate at Parliament House.

ISLAMABAD: Former Information Minister Muhammad Ali Durrani, Ambassadorof Palestine Hazem Hussein Abu Shanab, Deputy Head of Mission Saudi EmbassyJassim Al-Khaldi, Ambassador of Poland and others at a farewell reception in honourof the Palestinian Envoy hosted by Centre for Political Stability and Development.—PO photo Sultan Bashir

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Higher Edu-cation Commission (HEC)has approved Memoran-dum of Understanding(MoU) with Tertiary Educa-tion Commission (TEC)Mauritius in the meeting of27th of the Commission re-cently held at Islamabad.

The proposed MoUaims at strengthening exist-ing bilateral cordial relationsand increasing the level ofcooperation in different aca-

demic and technical fields.Through the MoU, both thecountries would mutually ex-change high level Faculty(Senior lecturer, associateprofessors and professors) tobring the Pakistani and theMauritian universities closerto one another through vari-ous academic programs in-cluding teaching, examina-tions, undertaking researchetc.

Both the organizationswould mutually cooperate inthe identification and selec-

tion of experts to carry outspecific academic projects.They would also provide anopportunity for their stu-dents to follow collaborativeMPhil/ PhD programmes inMauritius and Pakistan andto improve capacity of fac-ulty especially in scarcityareas. Under the proposedprogram, the candidateswould get opportunity to getregistered with higher edu-cation institutions of boththe countries. The organiza-tions would also facilitate

linkages between institu-tions in the respective coun-tries for skill upgrading in ar-eas of finance, quality assur-ance, policies and planningin higher education and e-governance.

The identified thrust ar-eas for mutual collaborationand cooperation include In-formation technology, infor-mation science, informationcommunication, biotechnol-ogy, environmental science,environmental engineering,marine sciences, oceanogra-

Pak, Mauritius to extend coop in higher education

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Acting Presi-dent Syed Nayyer HussainBokhari has said that Paki-stan highly values its rela-tions with Australia as it is animportant country and devel-opment partner for Pakistan.While speaking in a meetingwith visiting Australian Par-liamentary delegation led byPresident of Australian Sen-ate the Hon John Hogg. It ispertinent to mention that thedelegation is on six days visitto Pakistan on the invitationof the Acting President.

The Acting President saidthat we highly appreciatetimely support extended bypeople and government of

Australia in the form of floodrelief assistance in the pastyears, during earthquake in2005 and also for internallydisplaced people of Swatand Malakand in 2009-10.The Acting President saidthat Pakistan appreciatesAustralia’s enhanced coop-eration in the fields of edu-cation, agriculture and voca-tional training and this co-operation must continue forour mutual benefit.

The Acting Chairman Sen-ate Sabir Baloch stressed theneed for strengthening Parlia-mentary relations as well asenhancing people to peoplecontacts belonging to diverseareas. Talking on this occa-sion, Leader of the House

Jehangir Badar said that Paki-stan-Australia relations shouldbe cemented further from poli-tics to economy and fromfriendship to brotherhood. Hesaid that we look forward forlearning from Australian expe-rience in strengthening ourdemocratic institution and de-mocracy as well as for boost-ing our economy through de-velopment in every sector inPakistan.

Reciprocating the Presi-dent of the Australian Sen-ate, Mr. John Hogg said thatParliament to Parliament re-lations are very crucial forgenerating conducive envi-ronment for building rela-tions seamlessly in other ar-eas.

Enhanced interaction imperativeto boost Pak-Australia relations

He said that we supportPakistan fully in its fightagainst war on terror and willcontinue to assist Pakistan innot only stemming the tide ofterrorism but also addressingthe root causes of terrorism inorder to eradicate this menacefor once and all. Senator Johnstressed the need for closecontacts between Parliamen-tarians via face to face contactsand through use of moderntechnology like videoconferencing, usage offacebook and twitter in orderto develop deep and lastinglinkages and networks for shar-ing each other’s experiencesfor strengthening of democ-racy and democratic traditionsin their respective countries.

SHARAFAT KAZMI

ISLAMABAD—Widening gapof civic facilities and develop-ment between rural and urbanareas of the capital city wouldbe bridged as the president ofPakistan has assured his fullsupport for provision of re-sources for rapid developmentactivities. Those sectors ne-glected in the past would alsobe transformed though provi-sion of quality services to bringthem at par with the posh ar-eas of the city. While address-ing a charged Eid millAN re-ception in honour of the Paki-stan Peoples party Islamabadchapter the Leader of PakistanPeoples Party Faisal Sakhi Butt

said that one of the moderncapital and the only plannedcity of Pakistan is lacking farbehind in provision of the ba-sic civic amenities as we haveyet to introduce a proper sys-tem for the transportation, dis-posal of waste, provision por-table water and protection andconservation of environment.

The function was at-tended by Party workers ,women wing , PSF, PLF,labour bureau, peoplesYouth , and notables fromTarnol, Sangjani, Golra,Noon, Shah Allah ditta, andother area of Islamabad. Hereiterated that the process ofdevelopment of the moderncapital in accordance with

the aspirations of the peoplewould not be allowed to bederailed and all conspiraciesagainst democracy would bediscouraged.

Faisal Butt said that own-ership of the people wouldmake Islamabad a city of fu-ture as the government is con-templating on the agenda tointroduce the local govern-ment system mainly with theview to create a sense of be-longing among the residentsof the city and makingIslamabad a hub of develop-ment and economic activitiesis one of the priority of the pro-gressive agenda of the gov-ernment to make the federalcapital a modern metropolis.

Gap of facilities between ruraland urban areas to be bridged

ISLAMABAD: Chief Guest Federal Minister for Water & Power Chaudhry AhmadMukhtar, Turkish Ambassador to Pakistan Babur Hizlan, Armed Forces Attache ofTurkey Lt Col (AF) Cengiz Hakan, Haji Adeel Sheikh, Waqas Akram and Chief of NavalStaff Admiral Muhammad Asif Sandilla cutting the cake on the occasion of 90th Anni-versary of the Victory Day of Turkey, at Turkish Embassy.—PO photo

phy, food technology, busi-ness studies, medical sci-ences ,manufacturing/tex-tile engineering, Regional &international studies,bioinformatics, social sci-ences and humanities, pro-duction, direction & TVJournalism, textile technol-ogy, print-making, culturalstudies, tourism, hospitalitymanagement, translationstudies, Arts/Performingand Fine Arts , text bookwriting and curriculum de-velopment.

I S L A M A B A D — S p e a k e r sstressed for dialogue, under-standing, cooperation, har-mony to remove misunder-standing among different faiths.They were addressing at na-tional conference on “DialogueCulture and Peace Building”organized by Organization forResearch and Education (ORE)here on Thursday.

They said that all religionsteach peace, brotherhood, pro-tection of others’ rights and pro-

mote tolerance. State Ministerfor National Harmony AkramMasih Gill, addressing on theoccasion expressed his commit-ment to continue efforts aimedat promoting interfaith harmonyand creating understandingand accommodation among dif-ferent societies.

He said that there is needto further work on the promo-tion of interfaith and harmonyin the country. Akram Gill saidthat religious scholars, media

and civil society have to playtheir role in promoting harmonyand mutual respect among allfaiths, cultures.

He appreciated the orga-nizer for holding such a dialogueand said its need to be contin-ued in future. Raja Zafar ul Haq,Leader of Pakistan MuslimLeague (PML-N) said that theculture of dialogue should bepromoted from home, addingthat Islam is religion of peace,tolerance and harmony.—APP

All religions teach peace, brotherhood

ISLAMABAD—A four-memberdelegation of the US Embassyled by Charge d Affairs Rich-ard E. Hoagland called onChief Election Commissionerof Pakistan Justice (R)Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim andmembers of the Election Com-mission here Thursday.

Hoagland appreciated thesteps taken by the ECP tostrengthen electoral norms inPakistan, expressing supportfor the electoral reforms andstrengthening democracy inPakistan, said an ECP press re-lease.

Expressing his satisfactionat the formation of the Com-

mission by political consen-sus, Hoagland resolved to fur-ther develop the internationalcommunity linkages with thedemocratic institutions in Pa-kistan.

CEC thanked the delega-tion and informed that the Elec-tion Commission was givingfinishing touches to the prepa-ration being made for holdingfree, fair and credible electionsupto the expectations of thenation and the internationalcommunity. The delegationwas also informed that the ECPattached top priority to havefriendly relations with interna-tional community.

US Embassydelegation visits ECP

Two die inroad accidents

ISLAMABAD—Two personswere crushed to death here onThursday after being hit byvehicles, a police spokesmansaid. Around 80-year-old pe-destrian Saif ur Rehman washit by unidentified vehiclenear Zero point while he wascrossing the road. He re-ceived critical injuries anddied on the spot.

Meanwhile, Arshad Khanresident of Dhok HasuRawalpindi was hit by a truck(P-2484) near Sabzi Mandi re-sulting his instant death.Polcie have arrested the er-rant driver Zahid and also im-pounded the truck. Bothdead bodies were shifted tohospital.—APP

Shifa committed toprovide standard

medical careISLAMABAD—Shifa Interna-tional Hospital is committedto provide the highest qual-ity medical care to all pa-tients in a compassionatemanner by an outstandingteam of healthcare profes-sionals. Addressing a recep-tion held here in honor ofmedia persons on Thursday,Chairman and CEO of ShifaInternational Hospital, Dr.Manzoor H. Qazi said thatbest healthcare system hasbeen introduced in the hos-pital to serve the patients.

He said the most critical in-gredient for the success of ahealthcare institution is the ex-pertise of its medical staff. “Weare proud to have the besttrained qualified and experi-enced group of consultants.”

He said large majority ofconsultants are trained andboard certified in their special-ties and sub specialties fromabroad. In addition to provid-ing excellent care to their pa-tients, these consultants havebeen very actively involvedin setting up hospital sys-tems, policies and procedureson the same lines and qualityas any state of the art foreignhospital. He said the hospitalhas been established to pro-vide the highest quality ofmedical care to the people ofPakistan. —APP

Local artistsparticipate in anti-dengue campaign

ISLAMABAD—Local artists ofRawalpindi, IslamabadThursday applauded Anti-Dengue campaign launchedby Rawalpindi Arts Council(RAC) on the directions ofCommissioner Rawalpindidivision, Imdad Ullah Bosal.

The artists visited antiDengue stall set by theCouncil and watched posterexhibition, said a press re-lease issued here. On the oc-casion, Resident Director RAC,Waqar Ahmed invited the art-ists to attend events organizedby the Council on Sunday. Hesaid that artists can play a vitalrole to succeed anti Denguecampaign.—APP

NCHD to organizewalk to mark World

Literacy DayISLAMABAD—National Com-mission for Human Develop-ment (NCHD) would organizea walk on September 8, tohighlight the significance ofeducation for developmentand prosperity of the coun-try in connection with WorldLiteracy Day.

A senior official of theCommission told APP, thatthe walk to be led by NCHDChairperson Dr. Nafisa Shahwould begin from ChinaChowk and terminate at Pa-rade Avenue infront of theParliament House.

The walk would be par-ticipated by teachers andstudents representing differ-ent schools, colleges, uni-versities and other civic so-ciety.—APP

RAWALPINDI: Students chanting slogans outside press club during a protest demon-stration against shifting of government Pak Islamia Girls Elementary School fromSaddar area.

RAWALPINDI: Director Colleges Dr. Muhammad Ashraf leading an awareness walk on dengue at Government GirlsCollege, Dhoke Kala Khan.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The health au-thorities have been asked totake preventive measures toprotect the residents of Fed-eral Capital from the denguevirus. According to citizens,active monitoring and surveil-lance of natural mosquito isnecessary during these daysto check spread of the denguevirus. They urged the staff ofdepartments concerned of theFederal Capital for proper solidwaste disposal and improvedwater storage practices, includ-ing covering containers toprevent access by egg layingfemale mosquitoes.

Dr Waseem Khawaja ofPakistan Institute of MedicalSciences (PIMS) said thatmosquitoes breed primarily inman-made containers likeearthenware jars, metal drumsand concrete cisterns used fordomestic water storage, as wellas discarded plastic food con-tainers, used automobile tyresand other items that collectrain water. He said that den-gue is a mosquito-borne infec-tion, which in recent years hasbecome a major public healthconcern. He said the denguefever is a severe, flu-like illnessthat affects infants, childrenand adults.

Meanwhile, Commis-

sioner Rawalpindi haslaunched operation againstscrape vendors, tyre marketsand CNG Stations here theother day.

In order to ensure pre-ventive measures for theDengue Virus, CommissionerImdad Ullah Bosal raidedCNG stations, scrap vendorsand tyre shops and demol-ished two warehouses ofscrape goods for presence ofwater in old things. Mean-while, commissioner also is-sued Challan notices againsttwo tyres Shops in TawakalMarket situated at Babu LalHussain Road for placingtyres outside their shops.

Dengue preventive measure in twin cities

Health authorities asked totake steps to protect citizens

ISLAMABAD—The ClimateChange Minister RanaFarooq Saeed Khan said thatPakistan can immensely ben-efit from the Clean Develop-ment Mechanism (CDM) forclimate change mitigationand adaptation. He said thatCDM, which is a reward sys-tem for reducing carbon di-oxide emissions in the atmo-sphere, offers massive eco-nomic and environmentalbenefits for a country likePakistan, if climate changemitigation and adaptationprojects are implemented inthe country.

He expressed these viewsat a press conference heldtoday here at the CommitteeRoom of the Ministry of Cli-mate Change. Earlier, theMinister Rana Farooq SaeedKhan launched the CDMGuide Book for Pakistan andinaugurated the CDM Cell atthe Ministry. On this occa-

sion, the United Nations In-dustrial DevelopmentOrganisation’s (UNDIO)country representative in Pa-kistan Engr. Shadia YousifBakhait was also present.

The Minister said that theCDM Guide Book for Paki-stan will contribute positivelyto the public and private sec-tor in promoting the under-standing of CDM portfolio.He said at a time when Paki-stan accounts for more or less0.5 percent of the total carbonemissions and ranked amongtop 10 countries reeling un-der the worst kind of climatechange impacts, climatechange mitigation and adap-tation are inevitable to tackleglobal warming effects. “Toachieve this, CDM providesgreat opportunity for the cli-mate change-vulnerable Paki-stan under which Pakistan canapply for selling carbon cred-its in the international market

by implementing the CDMprojects to not only achieveeconomic gains but also miti-gate climate change impactson different social and eco-nomic aspects,” the ministertold the press conference.

On this occasion, the Cli-mate Change MinistrySecrtary, Mahmood Alam, saidthat invaluable CDM guidebook for Pakistan has beenpresspred under a CDMprogramme that is been jointlyimplemented by the Ministryand UNIDO with the Norwe-gian support aiming at ‘Turn-ing Potential into Projects’. “Iam sure that guide book willbe instrumental in actualizingthe national CDM potentialsfor reducing green housegases on the one hand andearning carbon credits throughselling of certified emission re-ductions in the carbon marketon the other”, the secretarytold the media.—Online

Clean dev mechanism to tackleclimate change: Farooq

CJCSC callson PM

ISLAMABAD—General khalidShameem Wynne ChairmanJoint Chiefs of Staff Commit-tee (CJCSC) called on PrimeMinister Raja Pervez Ashrafat Prime Minister ’s househere on Thursday.

General Wynne briefedthe Prime Minister on over allsecurity situation, profes-sional preparedness andmatters pertaining to threeservices.

The Prime Minister ex-pressed confidence in lead-ership of armed forces andsaid that people of Pakistanare proud of their defenseforces.—NNI

Construction ofSixth Road flyover

starts next weekRAWALPINDI—Formal workon construction of SixthRoad fly over would startfrom next week. To this ef-fect, an alternative traffic planhas been prepared, which willbe approved in a meeting ofcommissioner office on 1stSeptember.

SE of Punjab motorwaydepartment Farhat Babar hassaid that machinery has beenshifted to the sixth road,which will be used in con-struction.

The construction work isestimated to be completed in120 days and RS 1042 millionhave been allocated for thisproject.—Online

NPC demandsaction against

harassment by policeISLAMABAD—President Na-tional Press Club FarooqFaisal Khan has demanded ofthe Punjab government totake notice of the harassmentof journalists by the policeat Rawalpindi press club.

In a joint statement thepresident and general secre-tary national press club havedemanded of the Punjabgovernment to take seriousof illegal entry of cops ofBannu police station inRawalpindi Press club andharassment of journalistspresent there.

They said that the policepersonnel along with thecomplainants entered thepress club without permis-sion to arrest a journalist,whose case is yet to be en-quired by SP City

They said that the policemust have taken monetarygratitude from the complain-ants.—Online

Radio Pakistan toBroadcast bed-timestories for children

ISLAMABAD—All mediumwave and FM-93 stations ofRadio Pakistan will startbroadcasting bed-time sto-ries for children from Satur-day.

Radio stations in all prov-inces will prepare 10-minutestories in local languages andbroadcast them to revive theculture of telling stories tothe children to inspire theircreativity.

The languages in whichthese stories will be broad-cast on daily basis includeUrdu, Punjabi, Pashto,Sindh, Balochi, Seraiki,Balti, Shina, Hindko, Brahvi,Dhatki, Potohari, Pahari,Gojri, and Khowar. It hasbeen decided that these sto-ries will be put on air dailyat 7:20 p.m.—INP

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Islamabad po-lice have nabbed 12 outlawsincluding 5 proclaimed of-fenders (POs) involved incrime of heinous nature in itsspecial crackdown againstoutlaws, a police spokesmansaid.

On a tip off, Sub Inspec-tor Shams Akbar and ASIIshfaq from CIA police ar-rested three accused duringpatrolling namely Ibrhaim ,Thair Shah and Umer Farooqbesides recovering twoKalashnikovs, one 12 boregun and 20 cartridges fromtheir procession. ASIMuhammad Tariq from Sihala

police station arrested an ac-cused namely Mursleen andrecovered one 30 bore pistolfrom him.

Sub Inspector AbdulGhafoor from Secretariat po-lice station arrested TahirShah and recovered 120 gramhashish from him. AssistantSub Inspector Zulfaqir Alifrom ShehzadTown police ar-rested two accused DaulatKhan, Ibrar and recoveredstolen property from theirpossession. In compliance ofdirections from SSPIslamabad Yaseen Farooq re-garding crackdown againstproclaimed offenders andcourt absconders, IslamabadPolice nabbed five pro-

claimed offenders wanted topolice for their involvementin crime of heinous nature.

SSP IslamabadMuhammad Yaseen Farooqhas issued directions to makethis campaign further effec-tive as the performance of in-charges of each would be fur-ther reviewed in this regard.He said that no one is abovethe law and arrest of thosebeing at large after their in-volvement in crime of hei-nous nature should be en-sured for the safety to thelives and property of the citi-zens. He warned the policeofficials that sluggish atti-tude in this regard would notbe tolerated.

12 outlaws including fivePOs nabbed in capital

IS L A M A B A D —Addit ionaland District Session CourtIslamabad while issuing thenotices to government andrespondents has adjournedthe hearing of ‘Blasphemy’accused girl Rimsha ‘s caseadjourned till tomorrow (Sat-urday) September 01. Duringthe course of hearing thequestions have been raisedabout girl’s age and whethershe is mentally impaired.

Additional and District

Session judge Jawad Abbashearing the case of a girl ac-cused of blasphemy has de-layed a bail hearing after a law-yer challenged a medical re-port putting the girl s age at14. The judge said Thursdaythat the hearing would beconducted on Saturday whilehe seeks clarification on howthe report was conducted.

A medical report submit-ted Tuesday put her age at14, which makes her a minor.

But a lawyer representing theman accusing the girl of burn-ing the Quran challenged thereport. However the counselfor Rimsha Tahir Naveed toldthe court that the medicalwas conducted by a 14prominent doctor’s team. Thestrict security was taken inthe premises of the court andinternational media, Christiancommunity and other peoplewere present on the occa-sion.—SANA

Blasphemy accused girl’s caseadjourned till tomorrow

Increase in feesby Punjab Board

resentedRAWALPINDI—The Studentsand parents have stronglyresented increased examina-tion fee for Matric and Inter-mediate registration fee pro-cessing and language fee.After the govt approval, Sec-ondary Education boards inPunjab have increased exami-nation fee for Matric and In-termediate registration feeprocessing and language fee.

The decision of PunjabBoards committee would beaffective from year 2012supplementary examination.Under this decision, class 9thand 10th examination fee forscience group has been in-crease to Rs 700 from Rs 600,for arts group the new fee isRs 650 raised from Rs 550. Inthe same way fee for privateMatric and combined sciencegroup fee has also been in-creased.

All Pakistan PrivateSchools Management Asso-ciation of Divisional Presi-dent Ibrar Ahmed Khan hassaid Punjab boards have ex-ponentially increased exami-nation fee to cover for theboard losses. —Online

Rawalpindidoesn’t get Large

City PackageRAWALPINDI—The garrisoncity could not get Large CityPackage during the currentfinancial year 2012-13 whichhas put question mark onvarious developmentprojects.

However, Rawalpindi gotRs500 million during financialyear 2010-11 and 2012-13 un-der the said package.

Sources said that someprojects including CricketStadium Road, Airport Road,Jamia Masjid to Holy FamilyHospital and Tipu Road toRahimabad Road has beenpending due to Large CityPackage.—INP

Editor-in-ChiefWeekly Pulse appears

before SC todayI S L A M A B A D —Edi to r - in -chief, Weekly ‘Pulse’,Mohsin Jameel Baig will ap-pear before the SupremeCourt today (Friday) to re-spond to the show-causenotice based on a news dis-seminated by the magazine.According to details, Weekly‘Pulse’ published an itemabout Arsalan Iftikhar Casereferring to Registrar of Su-preme Court.

In the item, it was men-tioned that Registrar SupremeCourt transgressed from hispowers and sought informa-tion through e-mail from thehotels of London in whichArsalan Iftikhar stayed andthe malls where he shopped.

As a result, the apex courtissued show-cause noticesto Mohsin Jameel Baig andEditor Production Weekly‘Pulse’ Samar Rao. The apexcourt summoned MohsinJameel Baig on July 9 for giv-ing explanation about thenews however, due to hisprivate appointments in Lon-don, he could not appear be-fore the court on the date.

It merits mentioning herethat Arsalan Iftikhar is ac-cused of receiving money formaking his visits to Londonand shopping there from theson-in-law of real estate ty-coon Malik Riaz.—Online

Int’l Botanyconference from

September 1ISLAMABAD—The Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) incollaboration with the Paki-stan Botanical Society (PBS)will host 3rd InternationalConference on Botany fromSeptember 1 (Saturday).

Almost 200 scientists andfaculty members of universi-ties, across the country andabroad (Oman, Turkey, SaudiArabia, France) will partici-pate in the conference.

These scientists in theirlectures, poster presenta-tions and panel discussionswill elaborate recent trends intheir relative fields of exper-tise, including Physiology,Ecology, Eco-physiology,Microbial Interactions, PlantTaxonomy, EconomicBotany, Molecular Biology,Plants and Environment, Ag-riculture Agronomy, Horti-culture, Plant Breeding andGenetics. Almost 300 stu-dents from different univer-sities of the country have sofar registered for the confer-ence.

The conference will helpPakistani students and sci-entists to get an opportunityof sharing views and exper-tise with internationally re-nowned scientists.

In addition, this confer-ence will highlight the recenttrends in various branches ofbotanical sciences. The Pa-kistan Botanical Society(PBS) is one of the leadingsocieties that aims to culti-vate, promote and dissemi-nate the knowledge of all thebranches of plant sciences.

The first InternationalConference was organized bythe society in Faisalabad in2008, followed by the secondin Lahore.—APP

NADRA refutesillegal issuance of500,000 CNICSs

to aliensISLAMABAD—NADRA hasrefuted statement about theauthority issuance of Com-puterized National IdentityCards (CNICs) to 500,000aliens. NADRA spokesper-son said that statement ofSenator Talha Mehmoodabout NADRA’s issuance ofComputerized National Iden-tity Cards (CNICs) to 500,000aliens has been misreportedin a section of media onWednesday 29 August 2012.

The authority said that itis the National Alien Regis-tration Authority (NARA)(not NADRA) that has, un-der the law, a mandate to reg-ister the aliens present in Pa-kistan. Moreover, contraryto the reports of media, nodocumentary evidence waspresented in support of thisblame on NADRA to theChairman of Senate’s Stand-ing Committee on InteriorTalha Mahmood during thecommittee’s meeting.

Also, during his visit toNADRA Headquarters onAugust 30 2012, SenatorTalha Mahmood showed hisfull confidence in NADRA andits transparency of pro-cesses, the spokesmansaid.—Online

05:0001:3005:15

08:45

Zohr

August 31

TWO-day open house tolearn how we can make afifference in yourchildren’s life, organizedby the Quest EdutainmentCentre, at House No. 277-C, Street 6, Sector F-10/3,Islamabad, 11 a.m.-9 p.m.

September 4

CONFERENCE on‘Pakistan’s Internal Chal-lenges and Response’ or-ganized by the IslamabadPolicy Research Insti-tute’ (IPRI), at House No6, Street 63, IsmailZabeeh Road, Sector F-8/4, Islamabad, 10 a.m.-12:25 p.m.

ISLAMABAD: Mian Manzoor Ahmad Wattoo, Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan addressing apress conference after the All Parties Conference attended by almost all AJK political leadership including PresidentSardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan.

MUZAFFARABAD: Tentage village on river bank may cause a mishap and needs attentionof authorities concerned.

Former militants’ families complain of woes

HAMEED SHAHEEN

R AWA L P I N D I — Ve t e r a nKashmiri leader and ex-Presi-dent/Prime Minister of AzadKashmir Sardar MuhammadAbdul Qayyum Khan has ob-served that the whole globe isgoing conflict-laden day by day,the latest one he described theSyrian turmoil in the MiddleEast, already hit by unsolvedPalestine complexity.In his exclusive talk on Thurs-day with Pakistan Observer inhis residence here reclining onhis sofa-chair, the seasonedKashmiri leader suggested thatthe Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,Turkey, Iran and Jordan shouldform a quartet to tackle the Syr-ian malaise. “Strategically it

Quartet should jointly seekSyria solution: Qayyum

would be more pragmatic if thesolution to Syrian crisis comesour via this quartet as it is notshort of any sagacity needed togo into the depths of Syriancomplex conflict.

Explaining a question hesaid that once the conflict likethat of Syrian one goes out of theregional bounds then more com-plicacies creep in and solutionsbecome difficult. That situationneeded to be avoided. “I believethat Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran,and Jordan are capable enoughto drive in soluble-influence intothe heart of conflict. Egypt is animportant country of the regionthat should also be included insolution seeking efforts”, he fur-ther suggested.

Answering another ques-

tion the senior Kashmiri leadersaid that from Central Asia toKashmir, the entire region hascome under intense global in-fluence because of the mutuallyconflicting interests of the eco-nomic powers. Other countriesincluding Pakistan must keepthis sensitivity under constantreview process. The Afghansituation is reflective of thewhole scene, he explained.

Explaining a Pakistan Ob-server point Sardar Sahib saidthat there was at present agreater need of national intellectstorming sessions at all levels,drawing inspiration from Paki-stan ideology. About Kashmirand its related aspects he saidthat he would give a separate in-terview after September, 2012.

NEW DELHI—Strengtheningthe capability of its troops tosuppress the ongoing liberationstruggle in occupied Kashmir,the Indian Army is buying 20man-portable, mini unmannedaerial vehicles (UAVs) that canbe deployed to gather intelli-gence and mount surveillance inthe occupied territory.

Indian Army, which is buy-ing 20 mini-UAVs, are beingbought by the Udhampur-basedNorthern Indian Army Com-mand. Earlier, this month, it is-sued a tender open to global origi-

India buying UAVs fromIsrael to suppress movement

nal equipment manufacturers.The tender for the 20 mini-

UAVs has been issued by theUdhampur based NorthernCommand of the Army. “TheUAVs should be able to remainairborne for at least 60 min-utes,” officials said.

The Northern Army Com-mand said the mini-UAVs wouldaugment the Israeli UAVs thatover three lakh troops in Jammuand Kashmir already use.

The mini-UAV that the In-dian troops will get will weighless than 10 kg and can be trans-

ported on the shoulders of atrooper. The mini-UAV willhave cameras, including an in-frared one, for night use. It alsocomes equipped with recordingdevices and sensors for mount-ing surveillance. ‘We haveasked for mini-UAVs that canbe assembled by the troopsthemselves within 20 minutesand deployed for about an hourover a specific area of aboutfive-km radius,’ the reports said.

The mini-UAVs will be pro-pelled by an electric motor andhence it will be literally noise-

free once it attains a height of500 metres above ground level.This will help it avoid detection.The ceiling for this flying ma-chine will be 1,000 metresabove ground level. It will havea cruise speed of about 40 knotsor over 70 kmph.

Indian armed forces are atpresent using about 100Searcher-II and 60 HeronUAVs, both from the Israelistable. India is also in the pro-cess of developing indigenousUAVs such as Nishant andRustom.—NNI

SRINAGAR—Families offormer Kashmiri militants,which returned to Kashmir un-der a so-called rehabilitationplan, say they are living a mis-erable life and allege that thestate authorities have failed torehabilitate them.

Former militants said theywere facing financial problemsand unemployment crisis, asthey had no source of incometo feed their families.

Most of the former mili-tants have returned with their

wives and children. JavaidAhmad, a resident of northKashmir’s Kupwara district,said he was thinking of “selling”his kidney to earn some moneyto sustain his family.

“Our families will go madhere,” said Javaid, who nowworks as a bus driver inSrinagar. He now earns Rs3,000to sustain his family of six.Saira, Javaid’s wife, who isfrom Karachi, regrets coming toKashmir and wants the govern-ment to allow them to visit Pa-

kistan at least twice a year sothat they can meet their fami-lies.

“If it will not allow us to go(to Pakistan) twice a year, thenwe will not stay here. We willgo back, at any cost,” said Saira,who has two daughters and twosons. Muhammad Ashraf Mir-Gilkar, a resident of Srinagar,who returned home after twodecades with his Pakistani wifeand four children this winter,earns nothing and had to sell hiswife’s ring to buy her a sewing

machine and a fan. “I told mychildren that if nothing changes,we all may have to consumepoison,” said Ashraf.

Ashraf’s miseries have beencompounded because hisdaughter has not been allowedad-mission in a school. “TheBoard authorities are sayingthey don’t have the permissionto admit her in Class XII,” hesaid.

The returned families havenow formed an organisationcalled the Return Families Fo-

rum to press for their demands,which includes proper residen-tial accommodation and em-ployment options. “We wereinvited to Kashmir. But nowthere is nothing for us,” said theforum president AhsanKashmiri.

Ahsan (52) had left Kash-mir in 1990. He returned underthe rehabilitation policy twomonths ago, but says situationfor them here is dire. He leadsmore than 100 families underthe banner.

“We contacted the govern-ment indirectly over these is-sues, but we have not got anyresponse so far,” he said.

The state’s rehabilitationpolicy was approved in No-vember 2010. The policy ismeant for all those who hadcrossed the Line-of-Controlfor arms training between1989 and 2009 in Pakistan, buthad not indulged in militantactivities and were ready toreturn, surrender and settle asnormal citizens.—Online

SRINAGAR—In occupiedKashmir, the All PartiesHurriyet Conference (APHC)Chairman, Mirwaiz UmarFarooq has appealed to theworld community to play itsrole in finding out whereaboutsof thousands of innocentKashmiris, gone missing in thecustody of Indian troops.

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq in astatement in Srinagar on theoccasion of the InternationalDay of the Disappeared, today,said that the world was ob-serv-

Mirwaiz asks world tohelp trace missing persons

ing the Day but in the occupiedterritory families of the disap-peared persons were waiting fortheir near and dear ones. He saidthat so far more than 10,000Kashmiris had been subjecteddisappearance.

The APHC Chairman saidthat the disclosure of massiveunnamed graves was ampleproof of the authorities’ heinouscrimes. He added that hundredsof innocent people of Kashmirhad been languishing in the jailsof India and the occupied terri-

tory without fundamentalamenities and the internationalhuman rights organisations andthe world community shouldtake notice of it.

Mirwaiz urged India to re-peal all the black laws, whichgive unbridled powers to Indiantroops to commit gross humanrights violations in the occupiedterritory with impunity. He em-phasized that withdrawal of thetroops was a prerequisite to im-prove the rights situation in oc-cupied Kashmir.—INP

SRINAGAR—The puppet au-thorities in occupied Kashmirhas said that the DNA profilingof al-least 2156 bodies in un-marked graves at 38 sites innorth of Kashmir will takeyears, citing huge requirementof resources including forensicfacilities and economic cost fornot under-taking the exercise.

The authorities also claimedthe exercise can act as a triggerpoint or event for causing “se-rious law and order” distur-bances in the Kashmir Valley.

This was revealed by theadministration in its ‘ActionTaken Report’ submitted to theState Human Rights Commis-sion regarding its judgment on16th of September last on un-marked graves in three northerndistricts of Kashmir.

In its judgment, the IHK

Unmarked mass graves

DNA profiling could triggerdisturbance: IHK authorities

HRC had said that the personsburied in unmarked graves invarious villages of Baramulla,Bandipora and Kupwara dis-tricts shall be identified by allavailable means and techniqueslike DNA profiling, physicaldescription, dental examination,distinctive medical characteris-tics, finger prints, carbon dat-ing, forensic pathology andother available means.

“The State Government con-stituted an Empowered Commit-tee under the Chairmanship ofPrincipal Secretary to the Gov-ernment, Home Department, fortaking follow up action on thereport and recommendationsgiven by the Commission and itwas examined on 20-10-2011,”the authorities said

Referring to action taken onthe recommendations, the ad-

ministration in its reply said theEmpowered Committee ob-served that steps required to betaken for the implementation ofthe recommendations will callfor huge requirement of re-sources in terms of forensic fa-cilities, availability of profes-sional expertise and the eco-nomic and social cost thereof.

“While DNA profiling fa-cilities within the State are non-existent, only limited facilitiesexist in rest of the country,” gov-ernment said, adding, “As mostof the graves are almost twodecades old, the time taken forthe DNA profiling in each casewould vary depending on thekind of sample extracted fromthe dead body (blood, hair,teeth, bone marrow, etc) butwould require a minimum pe-riod of 7 to 10 days.”—Online

SRINAGAR—In occupiedKashmir, the Association ofParents of Disappeared Per-sonsstaged a silent protest at PartapPark in Srinagar to mark theInternational Day of Disap-peared, today.

An APDP spokesman in astatement in Srinagar said that alarge number of people includ-ing the friends and family mem-bers of those who had been sub-jected to enforced disappearancehad participated in the protest,which was led by the Associa-tion leader, Parveena Ahangar.

The protestors then pro-ceeded towards the site inNarabal, which had been acquiredfor con-struction of a monumentfor the disappeared persons andthose buried in unmarked gravesof the occupied territory.

The demonstrators on theoccasion appealed to the Am-nesty International, Asia Watchand Human Rights Council ofthe United Nations to constitutea team to conduct probe into theenforced disappearances of overeight thousand persons duringthe custody of army and policeand those buried in hundreds ofunmarked graves in the territory.

A protest rally led by theJKLF Chairman, MuhammadYasin Malik was taken out atChhatro Gul in Kangan, today, on

Probe into disappearancesby int’l team demanded

Protest rally held to observe disappearance daythe world disappearance day. Theparticipants of the rally calledupon the world community to payheed to the worst kind of humansufferings in the territory.

Veteran Kashmiri Hurriyetleader Syed Ali Gilani in hisstatement urged the world com-munity to play its role in findingout where-abouts of thousands ofinnocent Kashmiris, gone miss-ing in the custody of Indiantroops.

On the other hand, promi-nent human rights activists in-cluding Khurram Pervez in astatement said that India and itsoccupation authorities were notinvestigating the discovery ofunmarked graves, because theydid not want to lift the lid onthe heinous crimes perpetratedby Indian army and paramilitaryforces in Kashmir.

The puppet Chief MinisterOmar Abdullah during an inau-guration of sports stadium inBandipora had to leave podiumwithout making a speech afterpeople raised pro-freedom slo-gans.

Indian Army, as per mediareports, is buying portable miniunmanned aerial vehicles fromIsrael to strengthen the capabil-ity of its troops to suppress theongoing liberation struggle inoccupied Kashmir.—NNI

Azadi slogansforce Omar toleave podiumIn Bandipora

SRINAGAR—In occupiedKashmir, the puppet ChiefMinister Omar Abdullah dur-ing an inauguration of sportsstadium left podium withoutmaking a speech in Bandiporaafter people raised pro-freedomslogans demanding actionagainst personnel involved incustodial killing of a Bandiporayouth.

The inauguration of asports stadium turned tenseand Omar Abdullah left thespot without making speech.The protesters were demand-ing stern action against theIndian troops who kil ledHilal Ahmad Dar in a fakeencounter at Aloosa in Julythis year.

Omar Abdullah was accom-panied by so-called AssemblySpeaker, Mu-hammad AkbarLone, puppet ministers R SChib, Nasir Aslam Wani andQamar Ali Akhoon.

Eyewitnesses said thatwhen Deputy Commissionerstarted his speech peopleraised pro-freedom slogans.This forced Omar Abdullah toleave the stadium in a huffwithout delivering speech.On the other hand, Indian po-lice resorted to brute force todisperse a procession of taxioperators at Civil Secretariatin Srinagar.—INN

846 Indiansoldiers have

died in Siachensince 1984

NEW DELHI—For the firsttime ever, the government hasannounced the number of Indiansoldiers who have laid downtheir lives in the Siachen sec-tor, ever since the Indian armymade its first headlong rush tosecure that strategic area in thesummer of 1984.

Defence Minister A KAntony, in a written reply to aquestion in the Lok Sabhastated, “A total of 846 armedforces personnel have made su-preme sacrifices on the Siachenglaciers since 1984.”

This includes deaths due tothe extreme climate and terrainconditions, which causes morecasualties in that sector thanbattle. Hypoxia, high altitudepulmonary edema (or “altitudesickness” in mountaineeringlexicon), avalanches and cre-vasses have taken a heavy tollon Indian lives.

Early in this high-altitudewar, New Delhi decided not todifferentiate between those whodied in combat and those whowere swept to their deaths in anavalanche. “(Environment-re-lated) death during the courseof duty on Siachen glaciers istreated as a ‘battle casualty’ andenhanced compensation is paidto the next of the kin,” Antonytold the Lok Sabha.

“Operation Meghdoot”,the military nickname for op-erations in Siachen, began onApril 13, 1984, when the In-dian Air Force helicopters air-lifted a platoon of hardyhillmen from the KumaonRegiment onto the SaltoroRidge, which overlooks theSiachen Glacier from the west.Building up quickly, more In-dian troops moved onto thethree main passes on theSaltoro Ridge — Bilafond La;Sia La; and Gyong La.—NNI

Kashmir virtually aprison: Mehbooba

SRINAGAR—Pro-India PeoplesDemocratic Party (PDP) Presi-dent Ms Mehbooba Mufti hassaid for any forward movementin the resolution of the Jammu& Kashmir problem it was nec-essary to lift the siege aroundthe state which has virtuallyimprisoned it in the wake of thepartition of the country.

She was talking to the Brit-ish High Commioner Sir JamesBevan, Sir Bevan was accom-panied by Alex Bamford, FirstSecretary, Political, BritishHigh Commission, New Delhi.

Mehbooba told the visitingenvoy that there had to be a strongelement of creativity and positiveapproach to find a solution to thefestering Kashmir problem thathad held hostage all post indepen-dence generations.

Mehbooba said the PDP’sroad map which has been pre-sented in the shape of its self ruledocument reflects fragmatism andcreativity and is anchored in thefriendship between India and Pa-kistan. The two countries can ob-viously not wish each other awayand will therefore have to addressthe mutual problems in the intrestof the people of South Asia.—NNI

Terrorist attackfoiled in

MuzaffarabadMUZAFFARABAD—Policeaverted terrorist plot here andapprehended the perpetratorsalong with 7 kg explosive and180 feet explosive wire.

More revelations are beingexpected from the captured ter-rorist. Public and social circleshave congratulatedMuzaffarabad police on the suc-cessful operation. According tothe details, on the direction ofSSP Raja Shafqat TanweerMuzaffarabad

IHC Mohamed Parvezalong with Murad HussainShah, Mansoor Gillani andKashif raided and arrestedMohammed Israr son of AmeerMohammed of Bara agency andfoiled the terrorist plans.

The terrorist is being inter-rogated and new revelation isexpected. People ofMuzaffarabad have congratu-lated police on the successfuloperation and have expectedthat police vilgence will con-tinue in future.—Online

Rioting casehearing against

Aalam adjournedSRINAGAR—A lower courthas adjourned hearing in acase of rioting against MasratAlam Bhat, the MuslimLeague chairman, as the ac-cused was not produced beforethe court.

“The case was listed beforethe court but was adjourned thematter for production of the ac-cused (Masrat Alam) on the nextdate of hearing,” said advocateShabir Ahmad Bhat, the coun-sel for Masrat Alam.

Earlier in a similar case per-taining to an FIR registeredagainst Bhat by police stationKothi Bagh under section 188,148, 147 and 336 against Masraton May 8, the hearing was ad-journed by the chief judicialmagistrate as the accused wasnot produced before thecourt.—NNI

ATIQ-UL-AMIN KHAN

MIRPUR (AJK)—PakistanPostal Services Department isdetermined for the dispensationof its most swift services, to thepeople across Azad Kashmir,Gilgit-Baltistan, besides rest ofthe country, including thosedwelling in the remote areas, har-monious to the need of the mod-ern age.

This was told by RajaMuhammad Munir, PostMaster Genera l , Federa lCapi ta l , Azad Jammu &Kashmir and Giglit-BaltistanCircle, while talking to theaudience during his surprisevisit for annual inspection ofMirpur General Post Officeand other subordinate postoffice branches in variousparts of this district here lateWednesday.

Pakistan Post to introduce swift servicesto remote areas: PMG-AJK region

He was apprised by theMirpur GPO Chief Post MasterMuhammad Nawaz of the intro-duction of the recently-launcheddifferent type of about 36 swiftpost services to the clients in thelight of the swift services intro-duced across the nation, includ-ing AJK and GB, by the Paki-stan Postal Services Depart-ment.

The services included Ex-press Post, Saving Bank,Benazir Income Support Pro-gram (BISP), Swift transfer ofmoney through Western Unionand others.

The Post Master Generaladvised his subordinates toserve the clients with a mis-sionary zeal and encouragemore trust and confidenceamong the masses over theservices being extended by thePakistan Post, in this era of

competition.He expressed satisfaction

over the customers-friendlyenvironment available at theGeneral Post office and sev-eral of the subordinatebranches.

It may be added that ac-knowledging the importanceof competition in any of thefield, the Pakistan Postal Ser-vices Department, launchedvarious of its projects to en-sure the quick transfer anddelivery of the art iclesbooked by it, especially dur-ing last ten years under thespirit to provide most betterand swift services to themasses as compared to itscontemporaries both in theprivate and public sectors in-cluding the scheduled banksand the financial institutions,according to the observers.

Sustaineddialogue vital tobetter Pak-Indiarelations: Rana

NAGROTA—India and Pakistanmust get into a sustained dialoguefor better relations between thetwo countries because the im-proved Indo-Pak relations onlycan ensure stability in this sub-continent, said Devender SinghRana, Political Advisor to ChiefMinister while addressing publicmeetings at Nagrota and Tadahere. Rana said: “The improvedIndo-Pak relations are most ben-eficial for the people of Jammuand Kashmir particularly thosestaying in the border areas.”

“This can be achieved by aconsistent, sincere dialogue pro-cess where both sides give confi-dence to each other by just notwords but deeds to build a bond oftrust and mutual confidence.” Ask-ing for opening of more traderoutes between the two sides ofKashmir Rana said: “The peopleto people contact must be pro-moted along with cultural, educa-tional and economic exchange.”

Rana said that Omar Abdullahhas been a strong votary of betterIndo-Pak relations. Emphasisingthe role played by the J&K Na-tional Conference and its leader-ship Rana said: “J&KNC has al-ways played a pivotal role in thepast for better Indo-Pak relationsand shall continue to do so in thefuture as well in the interest of thetwo countries and for the welfareof the people of J & K.—NNI

Pak-India civilsocieties

disappoint MirSRINAGAR—Jammu and Kash-mir Liberation Front (H) Chair-man Javaid Mir has expresseddissatisfaction over the role ofIndian and Pakistani civil soci-ety on Kashmir issue.

In a statement issued here,Mir said civil societies of bothcountries had ignored the sacri-fices given by people of Kashmir.“Their conscience should prickthem and save precious lives inKashmir,” Mir said.—NNI

“If you have alwaysdone it that way, it is

probably wrong.”

— Charles Kettering

KARACHI: Edward W Birgells USAID’s Regional Direc-tor Sindh receiving a commemorative plaque from RashidRahman Mir President ICAP and Azhar Saeed CoP ASP-AiD here on Thursday.—PO Photo Javed Iqbal

Continued on Page 14

Forex reservesplunges to$14.764bnSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Country’s for-eign exchange reserves haveplunged by $ 419 million tomore than $ 14.764 billion ason August 24, 2012 on for-eign payments.

According State Bank ofPakistan here Thursday, theforeign exchange reservesheld by the Central Bankdropped to $ 10.327 billionwhile reserves held by banksalso decreased to about $4.437 billion during the week.

Externalinflows $2bn

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The FinanceMinistry is banking on exter-nal inflows of $2 billion, esti-mated in the budget to averta balance of payment crisisin the current fiscal year, aswell as International Mon-etary Fund (IMF)programme.

He said that he did notsee the country going into anew IMF programme in thecurrent fiscal year if esti-mated $400 million in budgeton account of Coalition Sup-port Fund (CSF) and $800million each from the sale of3G licenses and payment byEtislaat for PTCL PakistanTelecommunication Com-pany Limited (PTCL) weredisbursed.

The official said that thedisbursement of $2 billionexternal inflows would in-crease the country’s foreignexchange reserves to $17 bil-lion, placing it in a comfort-able position despite $4.5 bil-lion current account deficitprojected for the current fis-cal year.

The country would havearound $13 billion foreignexchange reserves by the endof the current fiscal year ifeverything went according tobudgetary estimates.

However, he said, unusualincrease in petroleum prices ininternational market as well asnon-disbursement of $2 billionCSF funds, auction of 3G li-censes and PTCL payment byEtislaat would deplete the for-eign exchange reserves to be-low $10 billion and put pres-sure on external account.

M M ALAM

KARACHI—USAID’s Re-gional Director Sindh EdwardW. Birgells has stated thatalmost since the inception ofPakistan, US Government,through USAID had beenworking with various (local)professionals to strengthenPakistan’s economy, educa-tion system, energy sector &other areas key to Pakistan’sdevelopment. He was speak-ing at MoU signing cer-emony between Azhar SaeedChief of the Party USAID-funded Assessment &Strengthening Program - As-sociates in Development(ASP-AiD) & RashidRahman President Instituteof Chartered Accountants ofPakistan (ICAP) here onThursday.

Birgells pointed out thatMoU with ICAP was yet an-other example of the long-term commitment of the USGovernment to supportPakistan’s development pri-

Aid can’t work withoutrecipient’s vision: Birgells

orities: “We have helpedbuild IBA, LUMS & manyother key educational insti-tutions in the country thatprepare professionals for Pa-kistan. Today, we are offi-cially launching cooperation

with ICAP, country’s premierorganization responsible formaintaining the standards ofthis important profession.We believe that by strength-ening ICAP we will lay a

Continued on Page 14

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Against abackdrop of increased vola-tility in international foodprices and energy supply,due in part to water avail-ability, a new World Bankreport calls for greater inter-national cooperation on80% of the world’s riversthat cross national bound-aries.

“Overcoming barriers tointernational cooperation onriver basins is critical for fu-ture food, energy and watersecurity” says the new re-port released this week atWorld Water Week in

WB for int’l cooperation on river basins to ensure food, water securityStockholm.

With water scarcity in-creasing in many parts of theworld, governments must findways to maximize the use ofwater for multiple, often com-peting uses: growing popula-tions requiring food security;rapid urbanization increasingdomestic and industrial de-mand; the ever-increasingneed for clean electricity; tour-ism and recreation; and envi-ronmental management, thereport says.

“Within a nation, any twoof these multiple interests canbe at odds,” said World BankVice President for Middle Eastand North Africa Inger

Andersen.“Add international

boundaries and the complex-ity grows substantially. Thekey challenge - and opportu-nity - for riparian nations is tomanage perceptions of risk,and benefit from lessons ofexperience where cooperationhas worked demonstrably,benefiting countries and sup-porting their efforts to reducepoverty and protect the envi-ronment.”

The new World Bank re-port, Reaching Across theWaters: Facing the Risks ofCooperation in InternationalWaters reviews the experi-ence of cooperation in five

international river basins(Eastern Nile, Ganges, Niger,Syr Darya, and Zambezi), fo-cusing on the perceptions ofrisks and opportunities bydecision makers as they con-sider prospects for coopera-tion on international waters.

Today, 40% of the world’spopulation lives in interna-tional basins which accountfor 80% of global river flow.Despite this and the provenbenefits of cooperation, suchas reduced chances of con-flict, improved riversustainability, and access toexternal markets, 166 of theworld’s 276 international ba-sins have no treaty provisions

covering them.Moreover, many multilat-

eral basins are subject to bi-lateral treaties that precludeparticipation by other ripariancountries.

“It’s well known that co-operation on internationalwaters brings economic, en-vironmental, and social ben-efits,” said World Bank Wa-ter Anchor Manager JuliaBucknall. “Less known arethe reasons for which coun-tries that know this still do notcooperate. This report offersa first step in understandingand therefore overcomingsome of these reasons, whichhave much to do with percep-

tions of risk.”If a country cannot find a

way to compensate for or con-trol risk, the report says, it maychoose not to enter into a co-operative agreement. Thereare five general categories ofrisk perceived by decisionmakers:

Capacity and Knowledge:Confidence in ability to nego-tiate a fair deal; havingenough and the correct infor-mation and knowledge to doso.

Accountability and Voice:Deliverability of benefits bythe regional entity and co-riparians, often related totrust; having a say in deci-

sion-making in the governingstructures of the regional en-tity.

Sovereignty and Au-tonomy: Ability to act in thebest interest of the countrywithout constraints; makingdecisions independently.

Equity and Access: Fair-ness of (relative) benefits tocountry, including timing ofbenefits and costs and ob-taining/ retaining fair accessto river.

Stability and Support:Longevity potential of agree-ment; in-country support ofagreement, including likeli-hood of ratification. The re-port also adds lessons for

partners working on interna-tional cooperation on rivers:

There is no one-size fitsall approach especially inmatters of regional programs,institutional arrangements,and agreements. Managingany one given perceived riskwill likely require a diversityof interventions.

Long-term time commit-ment is needed to build co-operation. “By 2025, it’s esti-mated that nearly two-thirdsof countries will be water-stressed,” said Bucknall.“We don’t yet feel it, but thestress is coming. If we don’tstart managing our water bet

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—All commercialbanks have been advised tosupport machinery and qual-ity upgradation schemes ofthe textile sector enablingthis leading industry to com-pete in the export market.

The State Bank of Paki-stan (SBP) has issued in-structions to banks/ develop-ment finance institutions(DFIs) regarding processingof claims for provision of“Mark-up Support” and “In-vestment Support” to textileindustry under the Technol-ogy Up-gradation Fund(TUF) Scheme of the FederalGovernment. This scheme,which has been notified bythe Ministry of Textile Indus-try (MINTEX), will encour-age investment for up-grada-tion of machinery and tech-nology in textile industry.

Banks/DFIs shall processthe claims for “Mark-up Sup-port” and “Investment Sup-

Banks to support textileindustry upgradation

port” from Textile Industry,duly registered with Ministryof Textile Industry (MINTEX).However, they have been in-structed to forward the eli-gible claims after their scru-tiny along-with Certificate ofCommissioning of machinesand commercial operationsissued by MINTEX, sepa-rately for each Support,strictly in compliance with theterms and conditions pre-scribed in ministry’s notifica-tions / TUF Scheme, to theoffices of SBP-BSC.

Under the scheme, theclaims for ‘Mark-up Support’may be submitted on ‘FormTUF-I’ along-with the docu-ments / papers prescribed inclaim form. Only Loans dis-bursed on or after 01-09-2009,are eligible for Mark up Sup-port. Maximum amount ofloan eligible for calculatingsubsidy will be up to C&Fvalue of eligible machinery/technology mentioned in LCretired through bank loan.

Under the scheme, theFederal Government may re-imburse 50% of mark-up sub-ject to a maximum of 5% p.a.,whichever is less. However,one company registered as aseparate legal entity will beeligible for a maximum mark-up support of Rs 50 millionper annum for each sub-sec-tor.

Mark-up Support shall beadmissible on the principalamount of loans outstandingon reducing balance on dailyproduct basis, as per OriginalRepayment Schedule. TheSupport shall not be extendedto the borrowers having non-performing loans, classifiedunder SBP Prudential Regula-tions unless the same are re-scheduled / restructured by thefinancing bank(s). Further it willalso make the borrowers ineli-gible for availing the supportduring remaining period of theloan if any of their loans (long /short term) are classified afterintroduction of this support.

URUMQI (China)—A num-ber of Pakistani leadingbusiness companies willtake part in five-day 2ndChina-Eurasia exhibition,beginning in Urumqi fromSaturday. This will be agood opportunity for thePakistani businessmen topromote their products inChina and to other Asiacourtiers as well, said a se-nior official of the China-Eurasia Expo Secretariat.

The expo will serve as aplatform of diplomacy be-tween China and the Eur-asian states and a channelthat promotes ChinaXinjiang region’s coopera-

Pakistan takes part inChina-Eurasia exhibition

tion with its neighboringcountries particularly Paki-stan, Russia, Kazakhstan,Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, India,Afghanistan and Mangolia,President Asif Ali Zardariwas the main foreign digni-tary who had participated inthe first expo held Septemberlast year.

He lauded the Chinesegovernment by for hosting theChina-Eurasia Expo that hasbuilt economic bridges be-tween Europe and Asia, theEast and the West. More than20,000 domestic companieswill participate in the eventthis year, together with busi-ness people from more than

40 countries and regions, topromote economic and cul-tural relations betweenChina and its neighboringcountries. According toChen Ji, Deputy SecretaryGeneral of the China-EurasiaExpo Secretariat, the expo willprovide provide a good op-portunity to develop inter-action among the business-men from Asia and Europe.The exhibitors from Pakistanand other countries will dis-play their products for thefive days at Urumqi and holdspot sales as well as bookorders during the last twodays of exhibition, said aPakistani official.—INP

Sindh Govt to install 50 MWwind power generating unit

Rates of commoditiesLAHORE—AgricultureMarketing InformationService Punjab (AMISP)issued rates of agricultureproducts in local market onThursday. As per details,following are the per 100kg rates of differentagriculture products inLahore market: Maizeminimum Rs 1800 andmaximum 2300, Rice SuperKarnal Basmati (New)minimum Rs 9500 andmaximum Rs 10500, RiceBasmati (old) minimum Rs11000 and maximum Rs12000, white sugar mini-mum Rs 5180 and maximumRs 5180, white gram (local)minimum Rs 10500 andmaximum Rs 10500, RedChili Whole (Dry) minimumRs 180 maximum Rs 200,Cauliflower minimum Rs4000 and maximum Rs 4500,Onion minimum Rs 2800and maximum Rs 3000.—APP

PQ activityKARACHI—Three shipscarrying containers, LPG andchemical were allotted berthson Qasim InternationalContainers Terminal, SSGCTerminal and Multi PurposeTerminal on Wednesday.Meanwhile four more shipsscheduled to load/offloadcontainers, diesel oil andfurnace oil are also arrived atouter anchorage of PortQasim during last 24 hours.Berth occupancy was 85% atthe Port Qasim on Thursdaywhere total number of nineships namely MV. Verdi, MV.AMS Pegauses II, ShipphireII, Outrivaling-2, SFL Kent,MV. Harsanadi, Came Lot,Olympic Serenity and FujiGalaxy are currently occupy-ing berths to load/offloadcontainers, cement, rice corn,chemical, LPG, furnace oiland edible oil respectivelyduring last 24 hours.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Over 100 foreignand local exhibitors arescheduled to participate in10th International Plastic andn Packaging Industry Exhibi-tion 2012 being held from 4-6September 2012 at KarachiExpo Centre.

Like every year, the Inter-national Plastic and Packag-ing Industry Exhibition –Plasti &Pack is receiving tre-mendous response from theleading international and lo-cal companies. Carrying for-ward the momentum of ninesuccessful editions, the 10thPlasti and Pack 2012 will

19 countries to participatein plastic, packaging expo

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Sindh Govern-ment has signed an MoUwith WIKOV WIND A.S, aCzech Republic company forthe power generation of 50MegaWatt (MW) at the windcorridor in Gharo JhimpirDistt Thatta.

The MoU was inked byD.G,Sindh Board of Invest-ment Muhammad Riazuddinand Czech Republic com-pany head Martin Wichterlein the presence of Chief Min-ister Sindh Syed Qaim AliShah, Minister for FinanceSyed Murad Ali Shah andMinister for InformationSharjeel Enam Memon andothers.

A high level investmentdelegations from Czech Re-public also witnessed the

ceremony. Addressing theceremony Sindh Chief Min-ister said that Sindh isblessed with natural re-sources like wind and coalwhich not only can fulfill itsown energy requirementsbut also the whole country.

“Sindh is the first prov-ince to take lead in powergeneration through wind andit has the potential of gener-ating 50 thousand MW ofpower through wind incoastal belt of the province”he added.

Syed Qaim Ali Shah saidthat previous governmentsdid not generate even asingle MW and it was PPPgovernment under ShaheedMohtarma Benzair Bhuttowhich initiated power gen-eration projects in Badin butunfortunately this important

project was shelved byNawaz Sharif government.

“If that project had notbeen abandoned the countrywould not have been facingthe present energy crisis, “headded. He said that generat-ing power through wind is anovel idea and the credit forthis goes to President Asif AliZardari who has taken keeninterest in it.

The Chief Minister Sindhsaid that investment friendlypolices of Sindh governmentare attracting more and moreforeign investment in the prov-ince, which also reflects theconfidence of inventors on thegovernments initiatives.

Later talking to Mediapersons the C.M. informedthat a foreign company wantsto invest in Power generationthrough coal in Badin district.

showcase the latest productrange from plastics process-ing, printing and packaging,including injection molding,Slitting and winding, shrink,stretch wrapping, solventless laminators, Industrialcompressors, mono andmulti-layer blown film linesand petrochemicals.

While the 9th Interna-tional Food, Beverage Pro-cessing & Packaging Indus-try Trade Fair – IFTECHfood+Bev tec PAKISTAN2012 is all set to enthrall thebuyers and visitors from apower pack display ofGermany’s superlative fillingand bottling technology

along with a special displayof the latest labeling solu-tions for food and pharma-ceutical industries.

World’s leading Italiantechnology supplier of injec-tion and compression mold-ing is also a major attractionof the event. Along withthese, food and beverageprocessing lines, bakery andconfectionery equipment,milk and value added prod-uct processing, meat pro-cessing, material handlingequipment, inspection anddetection instruments andslaughterhouse equipmentsare also on the display list ofIFTECH 2012.

Cotton conferenceStaff ReporterISLAMABAD—InternationalCotton Conference wouldbe held here on September3 (Monday) aiming toenhance per acare crop output by overcoming pestattacks particularly deadlyCotton Leave Curl Virus(CLVC) which destroystanding crops on millionof acres per annum in thecountry. An official in theMinistry of Textile Indus-try told media here Thurs-day that the conferencewould be held here atNational AgricultureResearch Council whereagri-scientists from USAwill deliver lectures, sheertheir experiences andpresent their papers on astrategy for controlling theCLVC in Pakistan. He saidthat the agri-experts wouldalso share there experi-ences and introduces theirresearch outputs andmanagement methodolo-gies to increase per acarecrop in the country.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The Punjab Rev-enue Authority (PRA) has seta target of collecting SalesTax on services to the tuneof Rs 100 billion per annumin the next five years. TheAuthority may also add threemore services, restaurants,franchises and non-classifiedadvertisements in newspa-pers and periodicals to itsambit from September 01,2012.

The PRA started collect-ing sales tax on services fromJuly 2012, and it has a targetof collecting Rs 40 billionduring the first year. We have

Punjab sets Rs 100bn ST targetreceived Rs 2765 million onaccount of sales tax on ser-vices for July 2012 and thecollection is still underprogress, as the date for sub-mitting returns and deposit-ing tax has been extended tillAugust 31, 2012, said thePRA Chairperson IftikharQutab, while briefing themembers of the Lahore Eco-nomic Journalists Associa-tion (LEJA).

All the provincial taxesand levies would also be col-lected gradually by the PRAin the next three years, whichat present, are being col-lected by different provin-cial departments to facilitate

the taxpayers to deal withonly one government au-thority instead of many, headded.

The PRA will also getover Rs 3 billion from theSindh Revenue Board (SRB)and also some reasonableamount from the FBR thisyear as well, as both are de-ducting Punjab GST as well,he disclosed.

Iftikhar spoke in detail onthe philosophy of the salestax and its introduction invarious parts of the world,the development of the salestax to its present shape in themodern day i.e., Value AddedTax (VAT).

Prime Minister Raja Parvez Ashraf chairing a meeting to review power situation at Ministry of Water and Power.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Pakistan Industrialand Traders AssociationsFront (PIAF) Thursday an-nounced its candidates for theupcoming LCCI electionsscheduled for September 19and 20’ For the Corporate Classthe candidates are: TanvirAhmad Sufi from Sufi Group,Iftikhar Bashir Chaudhry, Chair-man Lahore Township Indus-trial Area, Ibrar Ahmad fromleather and chemical sector andTashraf Javaid. For AssociateClass, the PIAF candidates are:Rizwan Khalid from Urdu Bazar,former Chairman Plastic Manu-

PIAF announces itscandidates for LCCI polls

facturers Association SM Tariq,Trade leader Irfan Iqbal Sheikhand Nasir Hameed Khan.

The candidates were final-ized by the PIAF ParliamentaryCommittee met here Thursdayunder the chairmanship ofCommittee Chairman MianAnjum Nisar and attended bythe PIAF Chairman EngineerSohail Lashari, former LCCIPresidents Mian Shafqat Ali,Mohammad Ali Mian formerSenior Vice President SheikhMohammad Arshad and LCCIExecutive Committee membersbelonging to PIAF.

Speaking on the occa-sion, PIAF parliamentary

Committee Chairman MianAnjum Nisar said that whileselecting the candidates forLCCI elections, both the tradeand industry were given duerepresentation. He said thatall the candidates were se-lected with the consensus ofall the committee membersbecause the PIAF is a demo-cratic body and in democracythe decisions are made withconsultation. Mian AnjumNisar said that the PIAF can-didates along with Founderscandidates will jointly contestupcoming LCCI polls form theplatform of PIAF-FoundersAlliance.

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—The LahoreChamber of Commerce andIndustry (LCCI) Thursdayurged the Chairman Fed-eral Board of Revenue toimmediately withdraw SRO564(I)/2012 as the whole-salers are facing deeptroubles due to restrictionto claim only 90% of theirinput tax.

The LCCI PresidentIrfan Qaiser Sheikh saidthat the value addition ofthe wholesalers is not morethan two to three percentand if availability of inputtax to them is restricted upto 90 per cent and they areforced to pay 10 per centas output tax they wouldbe out of business.

He said, “It is not only

LCCI wants withdrawal of SRO 564(I)/2012the business community thatwould be suffering due tothis unjustified SRO but thegovernment would also belosing a huge amount of rev-enue as a result of closure ofbusinesses.”

The LCCI President saidthat huge amounts of inputtax would be stuck up withthe government which willrender their businessesuncompetitive at this point intime when they were alreadyfacing multiple internal andexternal challenges.

Irfan Qaiser Sheikh saidthat it is very unfortunate thatthe wholesalers would be al-lowed to seek refund after along period of 14 months thatwould be opening up offloodgates of corruption.

The LCCI President saidthat this unjust and unfair tax

regime would ultimately re-sult in closure of businessesand resultantly the graph ofunemployment would go upfurther.

Irfan Qaiser Sheikh saidthat he had already receiveda number of complaints forthe businessmen that due tothis SRO their returns havebeen blocked.

He said that the businesscommunity was unable tounderstand the logic behindthe implementation of anti-business policies at the timeof economic meltdown.

He said that if the presentgovernment was interested inthe smooth running of busi-nesses it should take theconcerned stake holders intoconfidence before implemen-tation or issuance of anybusiness policy or SRO.

Irfan Qaiser Sheikhurged the Chairman FBR towithdraw the SRO 564(I)/2012 issued on 26. 5. 12 inthe larger interests of theeconomy of the country andbusinesses.

He said that it is verystrange that at this point intime when the neighboringcountries were facilitatingtheir businessmen, the bu-reaucracy in Pakistan is do-ing the other way round.

He said that the gov-ernment knew well that dueto an acute electricityshortage, the businessconditions in the countryare very difficult and con-ducive business atmo-sphere is in dire need butthe government alwayscomes up with an anti-business policy.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Farmers Associ-ates Pakistan (FAP) havestrongly resented the prob-lem of shortage of water be-ing faced by the farmers ofSindh for their irrigationneeds and indifferent atti-tude of the Sindh and Fed-eral governments towardssolving this issue at the ear-liest.

FAP in a specially con-vened meeting by its Presi-dent Dr. Tariq Bucha stronglyobjected to the indifferenceand apathy of both the gov-ernments in the prevalentdrought conditions in UmerKot, Badin and Khairpur Mirand demanded that both theFederal and Provincial Gov-ernments should take up im-mediate steps to resolvethese problems of farmers.

FAP members further re-

FAP resents water shortagebeing faced by Sindh farmers

iterated their demand for bothFederal and Provincial Gov-ernments to immediately takeup building of reservoirswithout which situation willfurther continue to deterio-rate in Sindh. FAP membershoped that Government willtake serious note of this pre-dicament of the farmers ofSindh enabling them to fulfilltheir irrigation needs ad-equately and on time.

Furthermore, the FAPPresident implored the Gov-ernment to immediately takeup the alternative steps forthe availability of water bylining of existing canals andkhalas, introduction of mod-ernized irrigation systems inSindh to meet the water re-quirements of the farmers andbuilding of new reservoirs.

Likewise he also remindedthe Punjab Government to takeup with the Federal govern-

ment to immediately start build-ing of reservoirs in Punjabwhich besides meetingPunjab’s water requirementswill also generate additionalelectricity e.g. around 21 MAFwater such as from Akhori onNanda Kas River located inAttock (3.6 MAF), Sanjwal onJabba Kas River located inAttock (3.6 MAF), DhokPathan on Soan River locatedin Attock (8.50 MAF, 516MW), Rohtas on Kahan Riverlocated in Jhelum (5.75 MAF),Thal Reservoir on Indus Riverlocated in Khushab (1.60 MAF,52 MW), Chiniot Reservoir onChenab River located inChiniot (1.40 MAF) and themost viable and ignoredKalabagh Dam (6.1 MAF, 3600MW) besides Bhasha Damwhose cost has alreadyswelled to USD 12.6 Billionwhich no funding agencyagrees to provide.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Pakistan Hard-ware Merchants Association(PHMA) has condemned therising extortion and murderincidents by “Bhatta” mafiain Karachi and demanded ofthe government to take strictaction against the miscreants.

Central Chairman of Pa-kistan Hardware MerchantsAssociation Sardar UsmanGhani while strongly con-demning the activities ofBhatta mafia, said that theywere killing innocent busi-nessmen but governmentwas playing the role of silent

‘Bhatta’ mafia

PHMA concerned over risingextortion, murder incidents

spectator on this sensitiveissue. “Government shoulddecide that what shouldbusiness community pay ex-tortion or tax?”

He said that not onlyHardware Merchants Asso-ciation but business commu-nity across the countrystrongly protests this act ofterror and demanded of theFederal Interior MinisterRehman Malik to take imme-diate action against these el-ements and protect the busi-nessmen of Karachi who arenot only providing thousandof jobs to people but alsocontributing to the nation

exchequer a huge amount ofmoney in shape of taxes andduties.

Ghani said that the busi-ness community deservesappreciation in highest termsas they are continuouslypaying their dues to the gov-ernment despite multiple in-ternal and external chal-lenges, they are facing forthe last many years. A num-ber of times the HardwareAssociation has invited theattention of Interior MinisterSenator Rehman Malik to-wards this sensitive issue butall the appeals always fell ondeaf ear.

Japanese exploreinvestment

opportunitiesin Pakistan

FAISAL KHAWER BUTT

SIALKOT—The DirectorSouth-West Asia Division ofMinistry of Foreign Affairs ofJapan Mr. Makoto Matsudahas said that Japan had warmand cordial trade relationswith Pakistan since it cameinto being but their wasample room to furtherstrengthen their bilateraltrade and economic ties. Hesaid this while addressinglocal business community atSialkot Chamber of Com-merce and Industry (SCCI)on Thursday.

The Deputy DirectorSouth-West Asia Division ofMinistry of Foreign Affairs ofJapan Mr. Yasushi Nakagawaand Head of Economic andDevelopment Section of Em-bassy of Japan Mr. NaoakiKamamoshida also accompa-nied him while President SCCINaeem Anwar Qureshi, VicePresident Rahat Chand, DrNoman Idress Butt, DrMaryam Noman, MianMuhammad Anwar, FarooqMeyer and others were alsopresent.

USAID to provideAMR meters to

DISCOsSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The UnitedStates Agency of Interna-tional Development(USAID), in its continuingefforts to assist the powerdistribution companies(DISCOs) in loss reductionsand revenue enhancements,is launching an AutomaticMeter Reading (AMR)project for the high lossDISCOs of Pakistan. TheUSAID Power DistributionProgram has finalized all thepreparations for includingmanufacture of the AMRmeters, with installation forthe eight month projectplanned to begin in January2013.

“This project will providehighly accurate electronicmeter readings with very littlehuman intervention, usingcomputer technology totransmit readings via GSM/GPRS and Radio Frequencyand will demonstrate how theapplication of this technol-ogy can result in improvedrevenue and reduced lossesand theft for the DISCOs,”said Dick Dumford, ChiefTechnical Advisor ofUSAID’s Power DistributionProgram.

Samsunglaunches newmobile phone

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Samsung Elec-tronics, a market leader andaward-winning innovator intelecommunications andconsumer electronics hasnow introduced the fascinat-ing C3780 -A mobile phonethat knows how to do busi-ness with its Optical Track-Pad, a 2.4 inch large LCD anda 3MP camera that optimizesyour business experience.

Samsung’s GT C3780 Ex-change Active Sync keepsyou on top of all your workfrom the office and on the go.To ensure you don’t forgetto have a little fun, the mo-bile comes with native appsfor social networking siteslike facebook and twitter, aswell as instant messagingservices, including Chat Onand other major portals, in-cluding YouTube.

This innovative devicecomes with a 2.4 inch LCDScreen, 36MB memory withMicro SD, 3 Mega Pixelcamera, a variety of connec-tivity options throughEDGE, Micro USB and USB2.0 connectors, BT 3.0 wire-less connectivity, a power-ful User Interface and Webbrowser, KIES PC Applica-tions, and ability for numer-ous video and audio play-back sources.

Samsung Pakistan’sManaging Director, Mr.John Park said; “We haveconsistently built upon ourground breaking technol-ogy to bring a wide rangeof Samsung Mobiles withenhanced social networkingcapabilities and amazing ex-periences. The C3780is de-signed for the entrepre-neurs and socially activeindividuals”.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—A regional riceindex and commodities ex-change could help calm worldrice price fluctuations andensure farmers get a fair pricefor their rice, according to aworking paper by the AsianDevelopment Bank (ADB).

Commodities Exchange:Options for AddressingPrice Risk and Price Volatil-ity in Rice, which was pro-duced out of the recentASEAN Rice Trade Forum,suggests futures and op-tions could be traded on ex-isting commodities ex-

changes based on a regionalrice index representative ofthe most exported and con-sumed grades of rice.

Top exporters could alsoestablish domestic commodi-ties exchanges, allowing farm-ers to obtain a better price byselling their most popular lo-cal rice grades directly on themarket, rather than througha middleman.

For rice trading to besuccessful, essential build-ing blocks need to be put intoplace, including warehouses,price dissemination systems,and education of market par-ticipants.

Warehouses would givefarmers the option of storingtheir rice and selling it whenthey feel prices are right,while knowledge of priceswould help them plan theircrops.

Price volatility in the ricemarket has been linked to thekind of opaque bilateral trans-actions that currently domi-nate the market.

Using a commodities ex-change, government agen-cies could instead act asaggregators for local ricefarmers and hedge the pricerisk using the regional riceindex.

An exchange could alsoprovide an alternative plat-form to bilateral agreements,bringing much needed trans-parency in price discovery,thereby reducing price vola-tility.

In the medium-term,ASEAN could also developan investment plan thatwould help build needed in-frastructure, establish a sub-regional commodities ex-change in the GreaterMekong Sub-region, pro-vide market information andintelligence, and offer pro-grams to develop farmingskills.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Indian commer-cial attaché Arvind Saxenahas assured Pakistani busi-ness community of introduc-ing a businessmen-specificflexible visa policy very soonand said a six-month visa willbe issued with three entriesto the PAAPAM Managingcommittee members.

At a luncheon meetinghosted by the Pakistan As-sociation of AutomotiveParts Accessories Manufac-turers (PAAPAM), he statedthat the association’s chair-man, former chairman and theall Managing committeemembers will be facilitatedand they would have the fa-cility of visiting India thrice

India visa relaxation for PAAPAMin six months, without intima-tion to any governmentagency including police.

He agreed with the pro-posal by members ofPAAPAM to ease India visaprocedure for the whole busi-ness community to increasepeople to people contact. Hesaid that Pakistani business-men were always facilitatedwhenever they intended tovisit their counterparts in In-dia and over 5000 business-men have been issued visasin the last six months alone.

On the issue on Non-Tar-iff Barriers (NTBs), the Indiandiplomat made it clear thatPakistani businessmenshould not be afraid of IndianNTBs which were not at allPakistan specific and were

debatable.Speaking on the occasion,

PAAPAM Chairman NabeelHashmi, said that PAAPAMwas seeking for technical col-laborations with Indian com-panies for high tech auto partsmanufacturing in Pakistan. Hesaid that PAAPAM was look-ing forward to develop con-tacts with Indian manufactur-ers, besides analysing the pos-sibility of joint ventures withthem.

The decision of Indiangovernment for allowing in-vestments in India is a posi-tive step, but the proceduresare not clarified for Pakistaniinvestors, which should beflexible if the step was takenhonestly for enhancing tradein the region, he said.

Investment in oil,gas sector

essential to tackleenergy crunch

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—There areabundant untapped reservesof gas and oil available inSindh, Balochistan and otherpart of the country whichneed to be explored to endthe existing energy crisis inthe country.

Yassar Sakhi Butt, Presi-dent Islamabad Chamber ofCommerce and Industry(ICCI) hails the PetroleumPolicy 2012 and said that itwould boost incentives forinvestors to push oil and gasexploration and productionto overcome the country’senergy crunch as well as en-sures the economic interestsof different stakeholders.

He expressed deep con-cern over underutilization ofthese resources which havenot been exploited due to tech-nological backwardness andlack of innovative policies aswell as due to political issues.Therefore, he urged the Gov-ernment to explore these oil andgas resources to make thecountry self-reliant in energysector, he emphasized.

He stressed that all thestakeholders of the con-cerned areas may be invitedto sit together and put an endto the uncertain situationprevailing for the industrywhich need a boost by ad-dressing our energy needs.

China needs$373b for energy

saving goalsBEIJING—China needsabout 2.4 trillion yuan ($373billion) of green investmentif it is to meet its energy con-servation targets under afive-year plan ending 2015,the Chinese cabinet said.

The spending will reduceChina’s energy consumptionper unit of gross domesticproduct by 16 percent by2015 and save an equivalentof 670 million tonnes of coal,said a document from theState Council released hereon the government website.

The government did notsay who would fund the in-vestment. After decades ofbreakneck, but filthy economicexpansion, China wants tomove onto a greener growthpath. A key goal is to consoli-date energy-intensive sectors,such as steel and metal-smelt-ing, and shut those with out-dated technology.

“According to prelimi-nary calculations, investmentof 2.37 trillion yuan is neededto implement the energy-sav-ing projects under the five-year plan,” the report said.—Newswire

FPCCI delegationleaves for India

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—A delegationunder the leadership of HajiFazal Kadir Khan Sherani,President, the FPCCI left forIndia today with the aim toexplore the opportunities andenhance the bilateral tradebetween Pakistan and India,the two neighborly coun-tries.

The FPCCI delegationis composed of President,Mr. Dawood Iqbal Pakwala,Begum Salma Ahmed, VicePresidents, SheikhNasiruddin, Chairman Fairsand Exhibition, FPCCI, Mir

Nasir Abbas DG(IA), Mr.Saif Asif Khan Director(R&D), Mr. Faisal Joseph(F&E) and other renownedbusinessmen and businesswomen. The FPCCI will alsoparticipate in Made in Paki-stan Expo 2012 which will beheld in Mumbai, India, from31st August to 5th Septem-ber 2012.Pakistani exhibi-tors in Expo 2012 are fromthe textile sector, spices,melamine crockery, onyx/marble handicrafts, herbalcosmetics, plastics prod-ucts, ladies and gents fash-ion design and garmentsetc.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—National Forumfor Environment and Health(NFEH) and the Federation ofPakistan Chambers of Com-merce and Industry (FPCCI)organized a talk by globalvice president of the Interna-tional Union for the Conser-vation of Nature (IUCN)Javed Jabbar on “An Intro-duction to IUCN and Envi-ronmental Challenges in Pa-kistan” Tuesday afternoon.

Speaking on the occa-sion, Javed Jabbar said thatenvironment departmentshould be retained at federal

NEFH, FPCCI organizestalk on environment

level. He noted that the pro-vincial environment ministrieswere not connected with thefederal government and thatthey remained one of the leastfunded government depart-ments. “While they have theyhave established a ministry ofclimate change in the centre,a federal environment minis-try should have remained.”

He said Pakistan facesbigger environment chal-lenges as compared to othercountries on the globe. Paki-stan faces conceptual, struc-tural, operational and finan-cial environmental chal-lenges.

Jabber said more disasterrelating machinery wasneeded in Karachi to avertany possible cyclone. Jabbaradded that Pakistanis tendedto focus on the services in-dustry but did not botherunderstanding how it af-fected the environment, andthat the government neededto forge a partnership withthe business, agriculture,and services sector to bringabout changes.

Referring to Zulfikarabadproject, he said smaller localtowns should be developedfirst before touching magecity.

stronger foundation for theentire profession”. Furthercommenting on the MoUBirgells added that it was sig-nificant because it would ac-complish critical goals nec-essary to ensure strong pro-fessional training of char-tered accountants whilestrengthening ICAP’s abilityto regulate adherence to pro-fessional financial standards.He hoped it would enableICAP improve the quality ofaudit & non-audit servicesthroughout Pakistan.

Holding that financialmanagement & accountingformed the backbone of anybusiness or organization,Edward Birgells said thatthose systems tracked theflow of funds, ensured thatenough capital was availablefor operations & provided

information necessary for themanagement decisions &planning: “I cannot imaginea successful organizationwithout strong financial man-agement – without strong ac-counting professionals in it”.Birgells told that ASP-AiDwould help ICAP introduceinternational standards in theprofession of chartered ac-countants: “We will also beassisting ICAP to play astronger role in monitoring &strengthening the profession& promote good governancein the public, private & non-profit sectors. This, in turnwill pave the way for in-creased flow of investmentsinto the Paksitani businesses& the overall growth of thecountry’s economy. But atthe end of the day, no assis-tance can be effective with-

out a strong ownership & vi-sion of the recipient organi-zations. USAID is proud tosupport this goal, as well asICAP’s effort to achieve highstandards of excellence inaccountancy & auditing pro-fession through quality edu-cation, rigorous but fair regu-lation, safeguarding of pub-lic interest & value-addedservices for economy & busi-ness in Pakistan”.

President ICAP RashidRahman Mir, speaking on theoccasion informed that ICAPsince its establishment in1961 had made concentratedefforts to achieve high stan-dards of excellence in accoun-tancy & auditing professionthrough quality education,regulation & providing valueadded services for economy& business in Pakistan.

Aid can’t workFrom Page-13

ter, we will soon find our-selves facing even greaterfluctuations in food and en-ergy availability.”

The World Bank and part-ners have recognized thevalue of supporting countries’desires for cooperative actionin shared international wa-ters, beginning with the 1960Indus Waters Treaty.

Interest and involvementin international waters hasonly grown since. There were123 World Bank-fundedprojects with activities relatedto international waterwaysbetween 1997 and 2007, 40 ofwhich were financed by Glo-bal Environment Facility (GEF)grants. The amounts commit-ted to transboundary projectswere $6.2 billion in mostly IDAand IBRD funding and $273.5million in GEF grants.

The tradition of supporthas extended over the years-from engagement in the Industo Mekong, the Baltic Sea andDanube, the Aral Sea, theGuarani Aquifer, and to theSenegal, Niger and the Nile.

WB forinternational

From Page-13

KARACHI: President FPCCI Fazal Qadir Shirani presenting a shield to Javed Jabbar,Global VP of IUCN on the occasion of “A talk on environmental challenges.” GulzarFeroz, Dr. Kaiser Waheed, Naeem Qureshi and Siddique Shaikh also seen in the pic-ture.

Regional rice exchange can helpsteady global prices: ADB

Romney’s big nightTAMPA, FLA—Republican Mitt Romneyis stepping up for the most importantspeech of his life, to an audience of mil-lions, after a rousing warm-up from arunning mate who vowed the days ofdodging painful budget choices will endif voters toss President Barack Obamafrom office. Having grasped the nomi-nation on his second try, after yearsspent cultivating this moment, Romneywill use his speech Thursday night to

introduce himself to a large portion of voters and claw foradvantage in a race that could scarcely be any closer. Therewas no shortage of advice for Romney from armchairspeechwriters on all sides. Jeb Bush, the brother and sonof former presidents, said it was critical for the normallyreserved GOP nominee to connect with people on an emo-tional level — even if he’s never going to be “a new-agekind of guy.” “Where it matters is connecting with otherpeople’s concerns,” Bush said in a round of morning talkshow interviews. Only then, he said, will be voters be readyto hear the candidate’s case. As part of his introduction,Romney appeared prepared to discuss his Mormon faith inmore direct terms than usual, a direction signaled by run-ning mate Paul Ryan on Wednesday night in several allu-sions to the duo’s differing religions but “same moral creed.”The Wisconsin congressman, a deficit hawk who’s becomethe party’s darling since joining the ticket, offered a prime-time testimonial setting up Romney’s turn on the stage inthe Republican National Convention’s finale.—AP

Egyptian leader’s first Iran visitDUBAI—Egyptian President Mohammad Mursi arrived in Tehran on Thurs-day, the first Egyptian leader to visitIran since its Islamic revolution in 1979.Iranian state television broadcast livepictures of Mursi’s red-carpet welcomeat Tehran’s Mehrabad airport. He wasto attend a summit of the Non-AlignedMovement that concludes on Friday.Iran has presented its tenure of themovement as the failure of the United

States to isolate it from the rest of the world, a message itsmost powerful figure, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, will presshome in an address to around 35 visiting heads of stateon Thursday morning. Diplomatic relations between Cairoand Tehran broke down immediately after Iran’s revolu-tion over Egypt’s support for the overthrown Shah andits peace agreement with Israel. As president, Mursi hasso far refused to address the issue of whether ties wouldbe upgraded with Iran, but has indicated he would pursuea more balanced foreign policy. Analysts say Mursi’s briefvisit is designed to avoid any snub to Iran but improvingrelations with Tehran in the near future would send thewrong message to the United States and Israel. Last week,Mursi spoke of forming a contact group to resolve thecrisis in Syria, comprising Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabi andTurkey, an initiative the Iranian leadership is keen to pur-sue.—Reuters

Opp unable to overcome Syrian crisisUNITED NATIONS—The oppositionSyrian National Council has failed toovercome internal divisions and is notup to the challenge of overthrowingPresident Bashar al-Assad, a promi-nent former member of the group hassaid. Assad, in a rare television inter-view, said he would need more time todefeat the rebels and dismissed talk ofa Western-imposed buffer zone on Syr-ian territory as unrealistic. Basma

Kodmani, who resigned from the Syrian National Councilthis week, said the group was not doing enough to backthe increasingly violent 17-month-old revolt against thegovernment in Damascus and needed to be replaced by anew political authority. “My sense was that the SNC wasnot up to facing the increasing challenges on the groundand was not up to the performance I would have liked it tobe,” she told Reuters in a telephone interview from Parison Wednesday. Kodmani, one of the few women in theSNC, headed its foreign affairs bureau. The SNC wasformed in Istanbul last year to guide a democratic transi-tion if Assad fell but has been accused by some of beingdominated by Islamists. “The groups inside the councildid not all behave as one in promoting one nationalproject,” Kodmani said. “Some have given too much at-tention to their own partisan agendas, some to their per-sonal agendas sometimes. That resulted in a major weak-ness in connecting closely with the groups on the groundand providing the needed support in all forms.”—Reuters

Rice hits Obama foreign policyWASHINGTON—Condoleezza Ricenever addressed President Obama byname, but the former secretary of statedelivered a sharp rejection of his foreignpolicy tonight, charging that the WhiteHouse had forsaken past and potentialallies, leaving the world to wonder,“Where does America stand?” “Whenour friends and our foes, alike, do notknow the answer to that question,” shetold the Republican National Conven-

tion, “the world is a chaotic and dangerous place.” Ricepicked up on a theme laid out earlier tonight by Sen. JohnMcCain who warned that “if America doesn’t lead, our ad-versaries will, and the world will grow darker, poorer andmuch more dangerous.” Rice criticized the president fortaking a backseat to NATO during the battle for Libya andnot doing more to stop the bloodshed in Syria. “We cannotbe reluctant to lead,” Rice told fellow Republicans, whowelcomed her to the stage with enthusiastic applause. “Andyou cannot lead from behind. Mitt Romney and Paul Ryanunderstand this reality, that our leadership abroad and ourwell-being at home are inextricably linked.” “Our adversar-ies must have no reason to doubt our resolve becausepeace really does come through strength,” said Rice, whowas secretary of state in President George W. Bush’s ad-ministration. —AP

Ghana ruling party meetsGHANA—Ghana’s ruling NationalDemocratic Congress met Thursday andwas expected to endorse President JohnDramani Mahama for December elec-tions following the death of John AttaMills last month. Mills had been set torun for re-election in the December votebefore he died on July 24 at age 68. Noofficial cause has been given, but therehave been unconfirmed reports that hesuffered from throat cancer. Some 2,000

delegates, including Mahama and former president JerryRawlings, were attending the congress in Kumasi in south-central Ghana, traditionally a stronghold of the oppositionbut where the NDC is seeking to make inroads. Mahama,who had been vice president before Mills’s death, wassworn in to serve out the remainder of the late leader’s term,as dictated by the west African nation’s constitution. Mills’sdeath upended the presidential race in a country that re-cently became a significant oil producer and is praised as astable democracy in an often turbulent region. The transi-tion has so far gone smoothly. —Reuters

TEHRAN—The 16th headsof state summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (Nam)began at the OIC Conven-tion Centre in Tehran Thurs-day morning. Prime MinisterSheikh Hasina joined theopening session with otherworld leaders including In-dian Prime Minister DrManmohan Singh, AfghanPresident Hamid Karzai, Pa-kistan President Asif AliZardari, Sri Lankan PresidentMahinda Rajapaksha andIraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki.

The meeting was inau-gurated by an openingspeech of Supreme Leader ofthe Islamic Revolution Aya-tollah Seyed Ali Khamenei.The summit is being held af-ter a two-day experts meet-ing and a foreign ministerial

Hasina attendsopening NAM session

meeting of the Nam memberstates that also lasted fortwo days.

The summit guest list in-cludes UN Secretary-GeneralBan Ki-moon and new Egyp-tian President MohammadMursi, the first Egyptianleader to visit Iran since itsIslamic revolution in 1979.Nam is an internationalorganisation of states consid-ering themselves not formallyaligned with or against anymajor power bloc. It is also thelargest grouping of countriesoutside of the United Nations.

The Nam member statesrepresent nearly two-thirds ofthe United Nations’ membersand comprise 55 percent of theworld population, particularlycountries considered to bedeveloping or part of the thirdworld.—UNB

LONDON—The govern-ment has stripped a Lon-don university of its rightto sponsor visas for over-seas students, leavingthousands of students fac-ing possible deportation.London Metropolitan Uni-versity had its HighlyTrusted Status — whichallowed it to sponsor visasfor students from outsidethe European Union — re-voked by the UK BorderAgency on Wednesdaynight over alleged failingsin its procedures.

The move means cur-rent overseas studentshave 60 days to enrol on acourse elsewhere, withmore than 2,000 studentsfacing deportation if theyfail to find another univer-sity, according to the Na-tional Union of Students

Thousands face varsityexpulsion at visa status loss

(NUS). The union warned of“catastrophic” effects onBritain’s industry for educat-ing people from overseas,which was estimated lastyear to be worth £14 billionand in which almost 300,000non-EU foreign studentswere enrolled in 2010-11.

The university said onits website: “The implica-tions of the revocation arehugely significant and far-reaching... Our ABSOLUTEPRIORITY is to our stu-dents, both current and pro-spective, and the Universitywill meet all its obligationsto them.” Immigration minis-ter Damian Green told BBCradio Thursday that after anaudit lasting six months, theborder agency found “a se-rious systemic failure whereit appears that the universitydoesn’t have the capacity to

be a proper sponsor”.He said that a quarter of

students there lacked per-mission to stay in the coun-try, while there was insuffi-cient evidence that studentsspoke English and no proofthat half of those enrolledhad been attending lectures.But he sought to reassureprospective students that“this will not be replicatedacross the university sec-tor”.

The government hadformed a task force to assistcurrent students whose visasare set to be revoked, headded. The NUS labelled themove political, linking it withpromised immigration quotasbrought in by Prime MinisterDavid Cameron’s govern-ment. It said it had contactedCameron to “express anger atthe way decisions have been

made in recent weeks and toreiterate the potentially cata-strophic effects on highereducation... as an export in-dustry”. A Border Agencyspokesman said: “The latestaudit revealed problems with61 percent of files randomlysampled. Allowing LondonMetropolitan University tocontinue to sponsor andteach international studentswas not an option. “These areproblems with one university,not the whole sector.”

London Metropolitan isin the top 20 British recruit-ers of international students,with 6,000 EU and non-EUoverseas students in 2010-11, according to governmentfigures. It said it was work-ing closely with bodies in-cluding the Border Agencyto try to resolve the prob-lems.—AFP

TOKYO—Japan’s best-known toilet maker onWednesday unveiled a“poop-powered” motor-cycle that can travel as faras 300 kilometres (180 miles)on a tank filled with animalwaste. Billed as the world’sfirst waste-powered ve-hicle, the three-wheeler hasa toilet in place of a regularseat and huge paper roll atthe back.

But as a young femalemodel climbed aboard for atest drive Wednesday, toi-let giant TOTO was quickto point out that she wouldnot supply the “gas”. “Thebiogas it uses as fuel is notmade from human waste.It’s made from livestock

Animal waste drivenmotorbike rolls out

waste and sewage,” KenjiFujita, a company spokes-man, told reporters in a To-kyo suburb.

“We hope to raiseawareness among custom-ers about our green cam-paign through develop-ment of environmentally-friendly products such aswater-saving showerheadsand water-saving toilets,”Fujita added. The company— which makes toiletsequipped with an array offeatures including heatedseats, water jets with pres-sure and temperature con-trols, and ambient back-ground music — has noplans to commercialise themotorcycle.—AP

BAGHDAD—Iraq’s Kurdistan is ready to restart negotia-tions with Baghdad to end apolitical crisis, focusing ona long-delayed oil law tohand regional authoritiesmore say in managing energyresources, Iraq’s DeputyPrime Minister Rosh Nuri al-Shawish, a Kurd, said. Thepositive tone from Shawishsignaled the Shi’ite-led cen-tral government and self-governed Kurdistan may beedging towards easing theirdispute over oil, territory andpower-sharing that is strain-ing Iraq’s uneasy federalunion.

“Approving this draftand adding some amend-ments which are agreed onby all parties ... is the properway to resolve this,” thedeputy prime minister, one ofthe go-betweens for talks

Iraqi Kurds to talk overcrisis, oil law: Dy PM

between Baghdad andKurdistan, said in an inter-view. Shawish said Kurdishofficials had met with thehead of the Prime MinisterNuri al-Maliki’s Shi’ite Na-tional Alliance, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, for preliminary talks,and the atmosphere had im-proved enough for them tosee room for progress.

Shawish told ReutersKurdistan believes the oildisputes can be resolvedthrough an amended 2007draft of an oil and gas law,which all parties had agreedto previously. Kurdistan hastested Baghdad’s resolve formonths by signing dealswith foreign oil majors, suchas Exxon and Chevron, con-tracts the central governmentrejects as illegal and part ofa Kurdish push for more au-tonomy.—Reuters

COOK ISLAND—The world’s largest marine park, a vastswathe of ocean almosttwice the size of France, hasbeen unveiled by the CookIslands at the opening of thePacific Islands Forum. PrimeMinister Henry Puna saidthe 1.065 million squarekilometre (411,000 squaremile) reserve is “the largestarea in history by a singlecountry for integrated oceanconservation and manage-ment”. Puna said protectingthe Pacific, one of the lastpristine marine eco-systems,was the Cooks’ major con-tribution “to the well-beingof not only our peoples, butalso of humanity”.

“The marine park willprovide the necessaryframework to promote sus-tainable development bybalancing economic growthinterests such as tourism,fishing and deep sea miningwith conserving corebiodiversity in the ocean,”he said. The park was un-veiled as the Pacific Islands

World’s largest marine park unveiled

Forum (PIF) opened with aspectacular Polynesian wel-coming ceremony.

Heralded by traditionaldrummers and blaring conchshells, leaders of the 15-nationgrouping were carried to thesummit venue in the CooksIslands’ capital Avarua on lit-ters, while flag-waving localscheered enthusiastically.While some leaders such asAustralian Prime Minister JuliaGillard looked somewhatsheepish as they were pa-raded aloft before the crowd,Puna burst into song aftergreeting them, delighting thelocals with an impromptulounge tune.

Gillard and her NewZealand counterpart John Keywore garlands of flowersaround their necks, before aspear-carrying chieftain in aheaddress decorated withshells and feathers performeda customary welcoming cer-emony. Dancers in grass skirtsadded to the Polynesianpomp for an event organiserssaid was one of the largest in

the nation’s history, rivalledonly by a visit from QueenElizabeth II in 1974.

“This is certainly the big-gest thing to happen here fordecades,” one official at theceremony told AFP. The CookIslands protected zone will bethe largest single marine parkin the world, taking in the en-tire southern half of thenation’s waters. The 15 is-lands have a combined land-mass of 240 square kilometres(93 square miles) — barelylarger than that of Washing-ton DC — but its waters in-clude environmentally valu-able coral reefs, seagrass bedsand fisheries.

Marea Hatziolos, theWorld Bank’s senior coastaland marine specialist, said theCook Islands’ initiative was awin for both the environmentand the country’s economy asit would help save fish stocksand promote tourism.“There’s definitely an eco-nomic dimension to this, apartfrom protecting biodiversity,”she told AFP. —AFP

CANBERRA—Australia calls ita “closing-down sale” forpeople smugglers: Asylum-seekers in rickety boats arereaching its shores in recordnumbers ahead of a tougherdeportation policy starting inSeptember. For many migrants,the price of haste may bedeath. About 150 people wereaboard an overcrowded,wooden fishing boat that sankoff the Indonesia coast as itheaded for a remote Australianisland. Only 45 people hadbeen rescued by Thursdaynight, and the captain of onerescue vessel believes he sawbodies in the water. The emer-gency was the latest createdby a growing human smug-gling trade in which thousandsof would-be refugees fromcountries including Afghani-stan, Iran and Sri Lanka attemptdangerous sea voyages fromIndonesia to Australia.

Australia’s center-left La-bor Party government an-nounced plans this month todeter future arrivals by deport-ing new asylum seekers who

Asylum-seekersmake beeline escape

arrive by boat to the Pacificatoll of Nauru or to Australia’snearest neighbor, Papua NewGuinea. The government saysthey will be held in tent campsfor as long as they wouldspend in refugee camps if theyhad not paid people smugglersto take them to Australia. Thenew approach will begin whenthe Nauru camp opens in Sep-tember, but meanwhile the rushis on. More than 1,900 peoplehave arrived in Australia inAugust — the highestmonthly total on record — inhopes of accelerating a refu-gee claims process that cantake years.

The numbers have beensteadily climbing: More than9,800 asylum seekers have ar-rived this year, more thandouble the total for all of 2011.“People smugglers are runninga closing-down sale,” HomeAffairs Minister Jason Claresaid. A Labor governmentclosed the camps after winningelections in 2007, a year whenonly 339 asylum seekers ar-rived by boat.—Reuters

LONDON—Chocolate mightnot be the healthiest thingfor your waistline - but re-search suggests it may pro-tect against stroke. A studyfollowing more than 37,000Swedish men showed thoseeating the most chocolatewere the least likely to havea stroke. It follows on fromother studies that have sug-gested eating chocolate canimprove the health of theheart. However, researchersand the Stroke Associationwarned the findings were notan excuse to overeat choco-late. Everyone taking part inthe study was asked abouttheir eating habits and theirhealth was monitored for adecade.

They were split intofour groups based on theamount of chocolate, withthe bottom group eating, onaverage, no chocolate eachweek and the top group

Chocolate can bestroke shield

having 63g (2.2oz) - slightlymore than an average bar.Comparing the top and bot-tom groups showed thoseeating the most chocolatewere 17% less likely to havea stroke during the study,published in the journalNeurology.

Flavonoids One ofthe researchers, ProfSusanna Larsson, from theKarolinska Institute in Swe-den, said: “The beneficialeffect of chocolate con-sumption on stroke may berelated to the flavonoids inchocolate. “Flavonoids ap-pear to be protectiveagainst cardiovascular dis-ease through antioxidant,anti-clotting and anti-in-flammatory properties.

“It’s also possible that fla-vonoids in chocolate may de-crease blood concentrationsof bad cholesterol and re-duce blood pressure.”—BBC

BEIJING—A gas explosionat a coal mine in southwestChina has killed 19 minersand trapped dozens more,state media reported Thurs-day. The Xiaojiawan coal minein Sichuan province’s coal-rich Panzhihua city explodedWednesday evening with 152miners inside, Central ChinaTelevision said. Rescuers re-covered the bodies of 16 min-ers who died from carbonmonoxide poisoning, CCTVsaid. Three other miners diedat a hospital after being pulled

19 dead in Chinacoalmine blast

to the surface, CCTV said. Itdid not provide details on thecause of death of those min-ers. CCTV said 28 miners re-mained trapped. The mine isowned by Zhengjin Industryand Trade Co Ltd and theowners are in police custodyfor investigation, the Panzhihua city government said ina statement posted on its of-ficial microblogging site.

Coal mine accidents arecommon in China, wherework safety rules are oftenignored.—AP

140 missing inIndonesia coastboat overturn

C A N B E R R A — R e s c u e r swere searching for scores ofasylum seekers Thursday, aday after their boat sank offthe Indonesian coast. Sixpeople were rescued, butmore than 140 remainedmissing. The emergencywas the latest in a series cre-ated by a growing humansmuggling trade in whichthousands of would-berefugees from countries in-cluding Afghanistan, Iranand Sri Lanka travel fromIndonesia to Australia inovercrowded fishing boats.More than 90 died when twoboats sank within a week inJune and more than 300have lost their lives makingthe perilous journey acrossthe Sunda Strait betweenIndonesia and the Austra-lian territory of ChristmasIsland since last December.

In the latest incident, aboat reportedly carrying 150asylum seekers sank off themain Indonesian island ofJava on Wednesday.—AP

Morsi slamsSyrian regime

CAIRO—Egypt’s PresidentMohammed Morsi hascriticised Syria’s regime, call-ing it “oppressive,” during avisit to Syria’s key ally Iran.Morsi’s visit to Iran onThursday was the first by anEgyptian leader to the Is-lamic Republic in three de-cades. It represents a majorthaw in relations between thetwo countries since Morsi,an Islamist, became presi-dent in June in the aftermathof the country’s 2011 upris-ing.

But the two countries re-main divided over Syria’s cri-sis. Shia Iran backs the Dam-ascus regime while there iswidespread sympathy inEgypt for the rebels seekingto oust President BasharAssad. Morsi was attendinga summit of the 120-memberNonaligned Movement.Egyptian officials have saidthey do not expect top-levelbilateral meetings with theirIranian counterparts.—AP

Rescues as Isaacfloods outsideNew Orleans

NEW ORLEANS—Isaac’swhistling winds lashed thiscity and the storm dumpednearly a foot of rain on itsdesolate streets, but the sys-tem of levee pumps, wallsand gates appeared to with-stand one of the stiffest chal-lenges yet. To the north andsouth, though, people had tobe evacuated or rescued asIsaac lingered over Louisi-ana. The rain fell almost con-stantly for more than a day,flooding neighborhoods in arural part of the state and inneighboring Mississippi.Officials had to respondquickly because the waterswere rising fast — even asIsaac meandered slowlynorthward Thursday on apath toward Arkansas.

President Barack Obamadeclared federal emergenciesin Louisiana and Mississippilate Wednesday, allowingfederal aid to be freed up foraffected areas. Along theshores of Lake Ponchartrain,officials sent scores of busesand dozens of high-watervehicles to help evacuateabout 3,000 people as risingwaters lapped againsthouses and left carsstranded.—Reuters

BEIJING: Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (R) and German Chancellor Angela Merkel attend a welcoming ceremonyat the Great Hall of the People.

BIPIN DANI

OBSERVER

CORRESPONDENT

DUBAI—The InternationalCricket Council (ICC) hashired the services of UK-based expert, Dr.CraigRanson to recommend onhow the injuries to the play-ers can be minimised. Thiswas revealed by the ICC’snew CEO, DavidRichardson.

Speaking exclusively,David Richardson said, “hisreport is likely to be readyby next year”.

“The assignment alsoincludes the research on useof helmet by the players.This job was entrusted toDr. Ranson a few monthsago and at that time theSouth African wickekkeeperMark Boucher was not seri-

ously injured on his eye”,Richardson added.

Mark Boucher was notwearing helmet and the eyeinjury forced thewicketkeeper to retire frominternational cricket.

Dr. Craig Ranson hasbeen working with theCardiff Metropolitan Uni-versity and his research in-terest includes sports injurysurveillance and preventionprogrammes.

Dr. Ranson is a Bachelorof Science (Physiotherapy),and has obtained a PostGraduate Diploma in SportsPhysiotherapy and Doctor ofPhilosophy. He has alsobeen a consultant physio-therapist to the WalesRugby Team and also con-sultant to the Sports Medi-cine Department, Universityof the West Indies.

Dr Ranson has alsostudied the areas of lowerback injury in fast bowlers,athlete musculo-skeletalprofiling and injury surveil-lance and he has a growinglist of scientific publications.He is a ‘Gold’ accreditedmember of the UK Associa-tion of Chartered Physio-therapists in Sports Medi-cine (ACPSM).

“”Dr. Ranson will submithis report to the ICC’s medi-cal committee, being chairedby Dr. Peter Rex Harcourt”,Richardson added. Theother members of this com-mittee are Dr. NicholasPeirce, Dr. AkshaiMansingh, Dr. Peter Blanchand Dr. Sohail Saleem.

India’s sports medicineexpert, DSr. Anant Joshicompleted my 2 year termlast year.

ICC hires UK-doctor to studyplayers’ workload, research on

injury prevention

2nd phase of AllPak Nishan-e-Haider hockey

LAHORE—The 2nd Phase of8th edition of All PakistanNishan-e-Haider FloodlightHockey Tournament, Depart-mental Round, will be heldfrom August,31 at Moti UllahHockey Stadium,Bahawalpur.

The week long event isbeing organised by DistrictHockey AssociationBahawalpur on behalf of Pa-kistan Hockey Federation, inwhich departmental teams ofNational Bank Of Pakistan,Pakistan Steel, Port QasimAuthority, Army, Pakistan AirForce, WAPDA, Railways,Police and NADRA Sialkotwill participate, said a spokes-man of PHF here on Thurs-day.

He said for the smoothconduct of the event, thePHF has appointed followingPanel of technical officials:-

Tournament Director,Zahid Iqbal, Tournament of-ficer, Muhammad Zahid, Um-pires manager, Rashad AliKhan. Judges, Iftikhar Ahmed,Waqar Alvi, Muhammad Asif,Aamir Hameed, Qaiser Hero,Waqar Ali, MuhammadArshad, Aslam Qureshi &Iftikhar Ahmed.

Umpires of the event are,Haider Rasool, RanaMuhammad Liaqat, RanaMuhammad Sajid, Atif Malik,Muhammad Mushtaq.—APP

Lahore to Gujratcycle race

LAHORE—Pakistan CyclingFederation in collaborationwith Punjab Cycling Associa-tion is organizing NationalLevel Road Cycle race fromLahore to Gujrat on Septem-ber 2 to celebrate Indepen-dence Day.

“We could not organizethe event in the month ofRamadan on the occasion ofAugust 14 and delayed it forcertain time period for theease and comfort of the rid-ers,” said a spokesman ofPakistan Cycling Federationhere on Thursday.

He said all the affiliatedunits of the PCF includingProvincial Cycling Associa-tions are taking part in thiscompetition. The race willstart from Punjab Stadium at09.00 A.M.

A handsome cash prize willbe awarded to the first six po-sition winners, he added.Saeed Iqbal Khan, Vice Presi-dent, Pakistan Railways SportsBoard will flag off the riders.All the arrangements are be-ing finalized to hold the eventin a smooth manner.—APP

COLOMBO—Pakistan off-break bowler Saeed Ajmalwas picked on Thursday forthe International CricketCouncil (ICC) Test team ofthe year.

Australian captainMichael Clarke was selectedskipper of the team domi-nated by South Africans.

South African fast bowlerDale Steyn figures in the teamfor the fifth year in a row, withteam-mates Hashim Amla,Jacques Kallis and VernonPhilander also making thegrade. A fifth South African,AB de Villiers, was named12th man.

The team, picked by afive-member panel and takinginto account performances ina 12-month period that endedon August 6, was an-nounced by the world gov-erning body in Colombo.

Amla, Kallis and SriLankan Kumar Sangakkarawere picked for the third suc-cessive year, while the En-gland duo of Alastair Cookand Stuart Broad appear forthe second year in a row.

Former West Indies skip-per Clive Lloyd, who chairedthe panel, said it was a toughjob picking the side.

“The team has a strongbatting line-up, while thebowlers are a tough combi-nation of pace and spin whocould dismiss any line-up onany surface,” Lloyd said inan ICC statement.

“The selectors did utilisea vast amount of statisticsfrom the period under obser-vation, but we also took intoaccount all other factors likethe opposition, pitch condi-tions, match situation etc.

“But when you have only12 places to fill from a biggroup of world-class players,

Saeed Ajmal pickedfor ICC Test team

there will always be a few whowill miss out.”

ICC chief executiveDavid Richardson, who an-nounced the line-up, added:“Those selected can be jus-tifiably proud of theirachievements and are welldeserving of the recognitionthey receive as great cricket-ers of their era.

“The quality of Testcricket played over thecourse of the year has beenexceptional and I did notenvy the selectors in their

task of selecting the best.“Congratulations to

those who have made it.They make a formidableteam.”

ICC Test team of the year:Alastair Cook (ENG), HashimAmla (SA), Kumar Sangakkara(SL), Jacques Kallis (SA),Michael Clarke (AUS, captain),Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WI),Matt Prior (ENG, wicketkeeper),Stuart Broad (ENG), SaeedAjmal (PAK), Vernon Philander(SA), Dale Steyn (SA). 12thman: AB de Villiers (SA).—AFP

Pakistan vsAustralia

second one-day teams

ABU DHABI—Teams andmatch officials for the sec-ond one-day internationalbetween Pakistan and Aus-tralia to be played at AbuDhabi Stadium here on Fri-day.

Australia (from):Michael Clarke (capt), DavidWarner, George Bailey, DanChristian, Xavier Doherty,Callum Ferguson, DavidHussey, Michael Hussey,Mitchell Johnson, GlennMaxwell, Alister McDermott,James Pattinson, StevenSmith, Mitchell Starc, Mat-thew Wade.

Pakistan (from):Misbahul Haq (captain),Nasir Jamshed, MohammadHafeez, Azhar Ali, AsadShafiq, Umar Akmal, KamranAkmal, Shahid Afridi, SohailTanveer, Aizaz Cheema,Saeed Ajmal, Imran Farhat,Shoaib Malik, AbdurRehman, Junaid Khan,Anwar Ali.—APP

K A R A C H I — P a k i s t a npaceman Mohammad Asifsaid Thursday he will pursuean appeal against a seven-year ban imposed on him bycricket’s governing body overthe 2010 spot-fixing scandal.

The 29-year-old was jailedby a London court in Novem-ber last year after being foundguilty of conspiring to cheatand conspiring to accept cor-rupt payments over no-ballsbowled deliberately duringthe 2010 Lord’s Test againstEngland.

Team-mates Salman Buttand Mohammad Aamer havealso been released after be-ing sent to prison in the samecase. The InternationalCricket Council (ICC) bannedthe trio from playing all cricketfor five years. Asif ’s sevenyear sanction includes a two-year suspended portion.

Asif said his appeal in theSwitzerland-based Court of

Asif set to pursue appeal on banArbitration for Sport (CAS)had been put on hold due tothe criminal proceedingsagainst him in England.

“I had filed the appeal

when I was banned by the ICC(in February 2011) and now I

have decided to pursue myappeal through my counselRavi Gill and hope that a dateis given to me very soon,”Asif told AFP from London.

Once considered a fast-rising talent, Asif twice faileddope tests, in 2006 and 2008,the second during the inau-gural Indian Premier Leagueseason which ended in a one-year ban. He was also de-tained in Dubai for 19 days inJune 2008 for possession of abanned drug.

Asif said he was practis-ing hard and played a clubmatch in England on Monday,taking a hat-trick and winningthe man-of-the-match award,and was keen to resume hisinternational career.

“I hope that I will get a fairresult from the CAS and thenhopefully able to revive mycareer,” said Asif, who has yetto return home since beingreleased from prison in May.

LONDON: South Africa’s flagbearer runner Oscar Pistorius leads his team during the Opening Ceremony for the2012 Paralympics.

Paralympics:First day ofcompetition

LONDON—Eleven days oftop-class sport for athleteswith disabilities got underway on Thursday on the firstfull day of the LondonParalympics, with 28 goldmedals up for grabs, amongthem cycling and swimming.

At the Velodrome on theOlympic Park in east London,five medals were to be con-tested in the men’s andwomen’s individual pursuit,while there were 15 finals atthe Aquatics Centre after aday of swimming heats.

Judo and powerlifting alsohad finals but shooting wasset to provide the first gold,with Britain’s Di Coates —aiming for her fourthParalympic gold in eightGames — favourite in thewomen’s 10m standing air rifle.

The day’s programmealso includes heats in ar-chery, equestrian, goalball,table tennis, sitting volley-ball and wheelchair basket-ball.

Britain’s Nyree Kindredset a new Paralympic recordin the second heat of thewomen’s 100m backstroke S6in 1min 27.96secs in a race thatincluded the world recordholder Mirjam de Koning-Peper, of the Netherlands.

Kindred, 31, a veteran ofthree previous Games, wonthe event at Athens in 2004.The event’s final takes placeon Thursday evening.

Among the other topswimmers beginning theirgold hunt were Jessica Longof the United States and SouthAfrica’s Natalie du Toit, whois competing in seven eventsbefore retiring from the sportshe has dominated for the lastdecade.—AFP

NEW YORK—Third seedMaria Sharapova cruisedinto the US Open third roundwith a 6-0, 6-1 rout of hap-less Spaniard LourdesDominguez Lino and nexttackles a Stanford Universitypsychology student.

Sharapova raced to vic-tory over the 31-year-oldDominguez Lino in just 54minutes with the Spaniardunable to hit a single winnerin the brutally one-sidedclash.

The 2006 champion nextfaces American collegeplayer Mallory Burdette, theworld number 252 who stud-ies psychology at Stanfordand is making her Grand Slamdebut.

“It’s a big stage for her.She will have the home sup-port behind her. She will be adifficult opponent,” saidSharapova.

Sharapova has droppedjust five games in her first twomatches at the US Open asshe looks to add the NewYork title to the French Openshe captured in June.

The Russian fired 30 win-ners past the World No. 78and accounted for 17 of heropponent’s 24 pointsthrough unforced errors.

Meanwhile, Triple USOpen champion KimClijsters’s career came to dis-appointing and lacklustreend on Wednesday whenshe slumped to a shock sec-ond-round defeat to Britishteenager Laura Robson.

Clijsters retires after second round

Sharapova moves intoUS Open third round

NEW YORK: Kim Clijsters waves to the crowd beforewalking off court following her defeat to Laura Robsonafter their women’s singles second round match.

Clijsters , the formerworld number one andfour-time Grand Slam titlewinner, lost 7-6 (7/4), 7-6(7/5) to the 18-year-oldworld number 89, who goeson to face China’s ninth

seed Li Na for a place in thelast 16.

Clijsters, who was alsothe 2011 Australian Openwinner, was on a 22-matchwinning streak in NewYork.—AFP

ABU DHABI—Australiancaptain Michael Clarkehopes his batsmen will con-tinue to show improvementagainst Pakistan’s spinnerswhen the teams clash in thesecond one-day interna-tional in Abu Dhabi on Fri-day.

Australia negotiated thehigh-profile Pakistan spin trioof Saeed Ajmal, Shahid Afridiand Mohammad Hafeez tothe best effect to win the firstone-day in Sharjah by fourwickets on Tuesday, takinga 1-0 lead in three-match se-ries.

And Clarke, 31, hopes hisbatsmen show improvementwith each game.

“Playing spin bowling isan area of our game that weneed to continue to improve.

It’s something that we’vefocused on when we’veplayed away from home,”said Clarke, who led the mod-est run chase of 199 with asedate 66.

George Bailey hit a pa-tient 88-ball 57 not out tosteer Australia home in the

Clarke expects more Pakistanspin in second one-day

49th over after Ajmal (3-30)and Hafeez (2-29) threatenedto catch Australia in a spinweb.

Clarke was delighted withthe opening win.

“Apart from myself, Ithink it’s everyone’s first timeplaying cricket here in thisheat in these conditions sothat’s why it’s more pleasingto have won,” said Clarkewho led Australia to a 3-2series win against Pakistanhere in 2009.

Australia considered theoption of bringing in left-armspinner Xavier Doherty orspinning allrounder SteveSmith for the Abu Dhabi game.

“There’s enough therefor both fast bowlers andspin (on the Abdu Dhabipitch). I’d love to see some-body in our top four go onand make a big score, make ahundred.

“I’ve got two starts and Ihaven’t been able to go on(to score a hundred).

I think heat is certainly afactor,” said Clarke, who alsomade 75 in Australia’s 66-run

win over Afghanistan inSharjah on Saturday. Clarkepraised Bailey for his respon-sible innings.

“The most pleasing thingwas that George was there atthe end. These days in one-day cricket, a lot is spokenabout your strike-rate.George wasn’t concernedabout how many balls hewas facing. He’s the T20 cap-tain and I know he’s lookingforward to hopefully winningthat World Cup in Sri Lanka.

“It’s a really positive signfor the T20 team that the cap-tain is in really good form lead-ing up to that tournament,”said Clarke of the WorldTwenty20 to be held in SriLanka next month.

Pakistan, meanwhile, willlook to improve their batting,after being bowled out in 45.1overs with left-arm seamerMitchell Starc taking a careerbest 5-42.

Captain Misbah-ul Haqsaid he was disappointedover his side’s batting failure,despite packing the XI withseven batsmen.—AFP

Participation inSports Festivalcrosses half a

millionLAHORE—The participationin the Neighbourhood andVillage level has crossed halfa million in just four dayssince the start of the PunjabYouth and Sports Festival atvarious centres of the prov-ince.

In Lahore alone around50,000 youngsters took partin 30 events contested today,Thursday among the Sportsand Youth DevelopmentCouncils while the figure ofparticipation in differentevents in other 36 districts ofthe province surpassed500,000 mark.

One of the major activityof the Neighbourhood andVillage level was witnessedat Iqbal Park Sports Complexwhere Chief Organizer PYFRana Mashhood AhmedKhan and Malik Riaz playeda badminton match besidesdisplaying their prowess inan contest of arm wrestling.Director General SportsBoard and Youth AffairsPunjab Usman Anwar wasalso present on the occasion.They also met the players ofdifferent indoor events in-cluding badminton, volley-ball, tug of war.

Cricket and some of theathletics events were alsoconducted on the outergrounds of the complex. In ath-letics, competitions were alsoheld in 100, 800 and 400 metresraces and shot put.—APP

ABOUT 30 years ago we learned that straightlegged sit-ups were bad for you because itcaused back pain. But aren’t lying or hangingleg raises the same thing as the straight leggedsit-ups – done in reverse? Aren’t you using thesame muscles, whether you raise your legs andkeep your upper body still or raise your upperbody and keep your legs still? Great lookingabs are a goal for both men and women, butlying or hanging leg raisesmay be contributing more toyour back pain then you think.To under-stand why this ex-ercise may not be so good foryour back, you need to under-stand the basic bio-mechanics.Learn which muscles movewhat body part. Anatomy andphysiology teaches you that amuscle attaches at two ends.When those two endpoints orattachment points move closertogether you get muscle con-traction. It is the contractionof the muscle that pulls theendpoints closer and movesyour body. When the two endpoints move further apart, themuscle stretches and relaxes.

FYI…when one musclecontracts – an opposing oropposite muscle stretches or relaxes. Everymuscle has an opposing muscle. For joint sta-bility and staying pain free it is important toexercise both the contracted and opposingmuscle, otherwise you get muscle imbalance.

Look at the bicep muscle, for an example.It attaches at the top of your shoulder and justbelow the crease of your elbow. When you bendyour arm, or do a bicep curl, the two endpointsmove closer together, and the muscle is in astate of contraction. When you straighten yourarm the two points move further apart and thebicep muscle stretches or lengthens. Everymuscle in the body works on this same “pul-

Why leg raises hurt your back

KARACHI: People enjoying drizzle at seaside on Thursday.

ley” principle, including your eye muscles.Look at your chest muscles. The pec’s attachalong the side of your sternum and run diago-nally into the top of your shoulder. Now imag-ine as you lower the bar when doing benchpress, the two end points move further apart.The pec muscles are stretching, but as youpush the bar off your chest, the two end-pointsmove closer together. This causes the pec

muscles to contract. Themuscles primarily responsiblefor raising the legs are thepsoas muscles, NOT the ab-dominal muscle. The commonname for the psoas muscle isthe ‘hip flexor.’ The hip flexorat-taches at the upper/insideportion of your thigh muscleand sits beneath your abs andintestines. It runs up and at-taches to your spinal column,more specifically your lumbarvertebra and disc. Thesemuscles are commonly over-looked for being a primarycause of back pain, but as youstart examining whichmuscles move your body, youwill quickly see how they canbe the problem.

The abdominal musclesattach at the bottom of your ribs and rundown past your belly button and attach tothe pubic bone. Remember a muscle con-tracts when the two endpoints come closertogether. To prove to you that lying or hang-ing leg raises don’t specifically work theabdominal muscles let me get you to lie flaton your back as if you were performing aleg raise. Place your right hand at the top ofyour pubic bone and your left hand on thebottom of your rib cage. Now slowly raiseyour legs up to the ceiling, no more than 90degrees. Did your hands come closer to-gether? I don’t think so!

KARACHI: A signboard pillar lying on Maripur Road needsattention of authorities.

KARACHI: City courts wear a deserted look during a strike by lawyers against killing ofan ASJ-III in Quetta.

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—Police is being pro-vided with modern mobilelocaters to counter crimes of ex-tortions, kidnapping more effec-tively and swiftly, said Addi-tional Inspector General (AIG)Sindh Police, Iqbal Mehmoodhere today.

Addressing a luncheonmeeting at Korangi Associationof Trade and Industry (KATI)Iqbal Mahmood said that Neigh-borhood Watch Program (NWP)initiated by KATI and PTA incollaboration with CPLC wouldbe fully supported by the policedepartment and vehicles and po-lice force would be duly pro-vided for this ambitious plan. Hesaid that police vehicles whichwere withdrawn from KorangiIndustrial Area (KIA) earlierwould soon be returned.

He also announced to en-hance police personnel forsmooth flow of traffic in KIA.He said that encroachments onRoad 5000 along National Re-finery would be removed withincouple of days. He instantly or-

Police to counter crimes withmobile locators now: AIG

dered SSP Police Korangi tocomply with the orders accord-ingly.

He said that due to targetkilling in the city about 175people have lost their lives sofar during current months whilethis figure was greater lastmonth. He said that target kill-ing usually starts after eight ev-ery evening. He revealed that asa result of this wave of violencein the city over 58 police offi-cials have lost their lives dur-ing the current year. He com-plained about less number ofpolice personnel in Karachi dueto which an effective crime con-trol in the city is becoming verydifficult. He said that out of29,000 police personnel about8,000 to nine thousand are onVIP protocol duty and as a con-sequence of shortage many im-portant places are difficult to bemonitored.

He hoped that police forcewould be enhanced soon andnew vehicles are being pur-chased. He said that CrimeMonitoring Cell (CMC) will beestablished in all seven indus-

trial estates of the city.Earlier, Patron In-Chief,

KATI, S M Muneer expressedhis concern over increasingcases of extortion and kidnap-ping for ransom which has madenext to impossible for the busi-ness community to continue itsbusiness peacefully. He said thatsome political parties are also in-volved in the extortion cases inthe city which is alarming.

He said that police officialscomplain that whenever theyapprehend any criminal theyimmediately get a call from in-fluential to release him. He la-mented those who are patroniz-ing criminals.

He said that initiative ofPTA-KATI programme ofNeighborhood Watch in collabo-ration with CPLC is a welcomemove and hoped that it wouldimprove law and order situationin Sector 7-A. Chairman KATIEhtesham Uddin demanded inhis welcome address to reinforcepolice patrolling in KIA so thatstreet crimes in the area shouldbe controlled. He further de-manded to enhance traffic police

in the area for smooth trafficflow. He said that honest anddutiful police officers should notbe transferred from KIA.

President All Karachi Indus-trial Alliance, Mian ZahidHussain while expressing hisgrave concern over ever increas-ing extortion in Karachi said thatBhatta Mafia is now sendingbullets and hand grenade alongwith ‘bhatta’ demand. He saidthat despite the lapse of sixmonths the Karachi Police is yetreceive mobile locaters.

He said that police should beequipped electronically so thataces of extortion and kidnappingshould be curbed effectively. Hesuggested the AIG to also equipall police stations in Karachiwith broadband and emailingsystem in order to improve theirefficiency. Chairman Law andOrder Committee, NadeemKhan and member ZubairChhaya also demanded of theAIG to return police vehicles toKIA which were withdrawn.They requested to provide infra-structure for Neighbourhoodwatch program in Sector 7-A.

KARACHI—The Higher Educa-tion Commission (HEC) hasrecognized the SindhMadressatul Islam University(SMIU) by giving it NOC/Rec-ommendation for awarding de-grees in various academic fields.

A Sindh Madressah state-ment here on Thursday said thatthe letter issued by the HEC onWednesday says that ‘after hav-ing evaluation of the feasibilityreport and inspection of physi-cal and academic infrastructureof the university, the HEC con-siders that the SindhMadressatul Islam UniversityKarachi meets the minimum re-quirements for degree award-ingstatus in the public sector.

Therefore, the ChairmanHEC has been pleased to grant

Sindh MadressahUniversity gets degree

awarding statusNOC to Sindh Madressatul Is-lam University Karachi, theHEC letter added.

“Sindh Madressatul IslamUniversity is the only universitythat has been recognized byHEC in a shortest period afterits establishment,” Dr.Muhammad Ali Shaikh, ViceChancellor of SMIU, said andmaintained that there are manyuniversities established beforeSMIU but these are still waitingfor recognition by HEC.

Dr. Shaikh appreciated thisact of HEC for the alma materof the Father of the NationQuaid-e-Azam Muhammad AliJinnah. Sindh Madressatul IslamUniversity was established inFebruary 2012, it was furtherstated.—APP

KARACHI—A delegation ofJamaat-e-Islami Karachi, headedby JI Karachi Chief MuhammadHussain Mehnati called on ChiefMinister Sindh Syed Qaim AliShah and urged to take solidsteps to curb extortion, targetkilling and terrorism in the me-tropolis.

Speaking on the occasion,Mehnati told the CM that themurderers of a JI leader AbdulRasheed Farooqi, who wasmartyred at North Karachi area,were still at large. He further saidthat a monument constructed inthe memories of Farooqui wasdemolished and the JI flag, hav-ing ‘Kalema e Tayaba’ was alsotorched.

He said that deterioratinglaw and order situation, risingextortion and failure of law en-

JI urges CM to take solid stepsagainst extortion, target killings

forcement agencies had createda serious havoc among the so-ciety particularly business com-munity.

On the occasion, Sindh CMassured the delegation that thestrong measures would be takento resolve the issues of law andorder and extortion. HE also as-sured the government that mur-ders of Farooqui would bebooked at every cost.

Later while talking to me-dia, Mehnati said that the del-egation conveyed the concernsof JI to the CM. HE said thatterrorists had converted the cityinto a slaughter house, while thelaw enforcement agencies andintensive institutions were en-joying the role spectator. Hesaid that extortion was on itspeak and business sector was

massively affected due to thesituation, he said adding that theongoing situation was call forthe government. He was of theview that politics of reconcilia-tion doesn’t means to provideterrorists with freehand to ruinthe metropolis. He said that thepolicy of reconciliation with ter-rorists had compromised the lossof a number of citizens’ lives andpositions and the peace ofKarachi.

He further said that JI hasstrong concerns over dialogueabout local government systemonly between two parties. JI hadplayed a leading role in the de-velopment of the city throughlocal government and all thestake holders of the city shouldbe taken onboard in this re-gard.—NNI

BIEK HSC Part Iresult announcedKARACHI—The Board of Inter-mediate Education Karachi(BIEK) on Thursday announcedthe result of HSC Part I AnnualExaminations Home EconomicsGroup.

As many as 351 candi-dates appeared in the exami-nation and of these 208 weresuccessful in all the seven pa-pers. An announcement saidthat the candidates will gettheir marks sheets after twoweeks.—APP

Minister injuredin road accidentLARKANA—Tauqeer Fatma,Sindh’s Minister for WomenDevelopment, got injured in acar accident in Bakrani area onThursday.

According to area police, aprotocol vehicle hit the car of theprovincial minister. The injuredminister was shifted to theChandka Hospital.—INP

Drizzle in cityKARACHI—Citizens of Karachiwere treated to some drizzling onThursday that turned the weatherpleasant after days of scorchingheat. Drizzling was reported fromthe city’s Malir, Gulshan-i-Iqbal,Shah Faisal Colony, Gulistan-i-Jauhar and North Karachi areas.Light rain was also experiencedon Shahrah-i-Faisal and otherparts of the provincial capitalwhereas heavy showers werealso reported from several locali-ties in the city.—INP

Centre notmandated to create

new provinces:Khohro

KARACHI—Speaker Sindh As-sembly, Nisar Khohro said onWednesday that only provincialassemblies, and not the federa-tion, are entitled to create newprovinces. “Formation of newprovinces by the federal govern-ment is tantamount to violationof provincial autonomy,” thespeaker said, while talking tomedia representatives after con-doling with PPP leader SaleemZia on his mother’s death.

“The federation has no rightto do so, only provincial assem-blies are mandated to create newprovinces in the country,” theveteran PPP leader said. Thespeaker said general electionswould be held on time afterwhich only people-elected partiescould form the government.—NI

Altaf inquires afterQadri’s health

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Founder and Leaderof Muttahida Quami Movement(MQM) Altaf Hussain has tele-phoned the religious scholar andhead of the Jamaat-i-Ahl-i-SunnatPakistan Allama Shah Turab-ul-Haque Qadri and inquired after hishealth.

Allama Qadri has been suffer-ing from kidney complaints for theseveral days. Praising the religiousservices of the ailing Al-lamaQadri, Hussain said that people likehim were the true source of knowl-edge. He prayed for the good healthand full recovery of Allama Qadri.He also appealed to the people topray for his health. Al-lama Qadrithanked Hussain for inquiringabout his health.

MQMdenounces

judge’s murderSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The Co-ordinationCommittee of Muttahida QuamiMovement (MQM) has stronglycondemned the firing on the carof the Additional Sessions JudgeZulfiqar Naqvi in GOR colonyin Quetta resulting in his deathalong with two other persons.

It said that the incident wasconnected with the wave of sec-tarian killings in the country con-tinuing for the past many days.The Co-ordination Committeesympathized with the grievingfamilies and prayed for the di-vineblessings for the people who losttheir lives in the bloody incident.

It demanded President AsifZardari, Prime Minister RajaPervaiz Ashraf, Federal InteriorMinister Rehman Malik andChief Minister BalochistanNawab Aslam Raisani to takenotice of the incident and bringthe perpetrators to book.

Dr Ishratchairs Ulema,LEAs officials

meetingKARACHI—Governor Sindh, Dr.Ishrat ul Ebad Khan, presided overa meeting of Ulema from variousschools of thought at the Gover-nor House here on Thursday. Themeeting was also attended by Di-rector General of Pakistan Rang-ers Sindh, Maj. Gen. RizwanAkhtar, IGP Fayyaz Leghari,Sindh Secretary Home YounusDhagha, Commissioner karachi,Roshan Shaikh and other officials.

A Governor House state-ment on Thursday said that theUlema and the officials of lawenforcement agencies were inunison regarding collaborationtowards maintenance of peace-ful atmosphere and effortsagainst terrorism.

It said that the DG Rangersbriefed regarding steps taken bythe Rangers for the maintenanceof law and order and spoke ofmaintenance of law and order apriority. DG Rangers said that hehas great respect for the Ulemaand the religious madressahs.

Governor Sindh lauded therole of the Ulema towards themaintenance of law and order inthe province. He said that the co-ordination between the Ulemaand concerned officials should bemade more effective. The Ulemaapprised of their suggestions andreservations on various issues in-cluding the law and order, thestatement added.—APP

Two morekilled in firing

KARACHI—Two people fellprey to fresh firing and violentincidents in various areas of theprovincial metropolis on Thurs-day. According to police, uni-dentified assailants opened firein Mirza Adam Khan road areaof Lyari, killing one person.

A body of a man was foundnear Crown Cinema on MaripurRoad. Signs of torture and bul-lets were found on the body ofthe deceased. Meanwhile, Rang-ers while blocking entry and exitroutes of Jehangir Road area car-ried out targeted operation,sources said.—INP

37 heldKARACHI—The Karachi police intheir on-going drive against crimi-nals, arrested 37 accused during thepast 24 hours. A police statementon Thursday said that those arrestedincluded eight absconders and oneproclaimed offender. In all, 22 pis-tols, one repeater and five mobilephones recovered from the posses-sion.—APP

KARACHI—Karachi ElectricSupply Company under an al-ready chalked out Rain Emer-gency Plan 2012 has alerted allits maintenance and safety teamsto remain geared up for the ex-pected rains forecast for the city.

KESC has also establishedclose liaison with City and Townadministrations for close moni-toring of current monsoon rainrelated incidents and deploymentof support teams and material atthe shortest possible notice.

Central and regional nervecentres have been established foreffective communication, coor-dination and control, while therespective segment heads wouldbe receiving hourly reports withrespect to the faults situation

KESC issues advisory for Karachiitesarising due to the rains and theirrespective rectification mea-sures. However, outages anddangers due to standing waterpools and wet electricity equip-ment and infrastructure shall re-main to pose a threat to the hu-man life, for which the public isadvised to keep themselvesaway from such imminent andevident danger sites.

Importantly KESC has ad-vised the citizens not to touchwater-soaked or fallen electric-ity wires, wet poles, and to stayaway from standing rainwaterpools. During rain they need toavoid touching electric poleswhich may be harmful. Citizensalso needed to refrain fromtouching wires, doorbells, etc

and electrical appliances withwet hands. Each monsoon sea-son, there are Kunda related fa-talities which are very unfortu-nate, since they can be easilyavoided. KESC strongly con-demns the illegal usage ofKundas, power theft, since suchunscrupulous elements, not alsocause losses to the utility butcreate a serious danger and riskfor their own-selves and thosein their environs.

KESC has asked the generalpublic to immediately inform theutility’s call centre 118 or on 021-99000 if and when they confronta rain-related emergency likestanding water around electricinstallations and poles or brokenand fallen wires.—NNI

TRICLOSAN, a high production volume ingredient used as a bactericidein personal care products such as

toothpaste, deodorant, and antibacterialsoap, has been linked to heart disease andheart failure in a new study. Yet the US Foodand Drug Administration (FDA) states that“Triclosan is not currently known to be haz-ardous to humans.”

What this means is thatuntil action is taken to getthis common additive out ofyour toiletries, you could beapplying a chemical withproven toxicity to yourbody multiple times a day.

Tricolsan impairsmuscle function and skel-etal muscle contractility, re-searchers report in a newstudy done at the Univer-sity of California Davis. Al-though the study was donein mice, researchers said theeffects of the chemical oncardiac function were “re-ally dramatic.”

After mice were ex-posed to one dose oftriclosan, heart muscle func-tion was reduced by 25 per-cent, and grip strength was reduced by 18percent. Fish were also exposed to triclosan– about the equivalent dose as would beaccumulated in a week in the wild – and thisled to poorer swimming performance. Re-searchers also exposed individual humanmuscle cells (from heart and skeletalmuscles) to a triclosan dose similar to ev-eryday-life exposure, and this, too, dis-rupted muscle function and caused bothheart and skeletal muscles to fail.

“Triclosan is found in virtuallyeveryone’s home and is pervasive in theenvironment. These findings provide

Soap you should never usestrong evidence that the chemical is ofconcern to both human and environmen-tal health.” Triclosan May Also Alter Hor-mone Regulation

This ubiquitous chemical is a chlori-nated aromatic compound and is used tohelp reduce or prevent bacterial contami-nation. It’s commonly added to many an-tibacterial soaps and body washes, tooth-

pastes and certain cosmet-ics, as well as furniture,kitchenware, clothing andtoys.

It would be wise to se-riously question purchasingANY product that containstriclosan as an ingredient onthe label, not only becauseof the new muscle functionfinding discussed above, butalso because of its potentialimpact on hormones.

A Toxicological Sci-ences study found thattriclosan affected estrogen-mediated responses, andmany chemicals that imitateestrogen are known to in-crease breast cancer risk.3Triclosan also suppressedthyroid hormone in rats, and

this is only one study in an accumulatingbody of research showing this chemicalto be a potent endocrine disrupter.

Exposure to triclosan disrupts thyroidhormone-associated gene expression infrogs, even at low levels (triclosan expo-sure at 0.15 parts per billion was enoughto disrupt a hormone-signaling system infrogs)4Triclosan decreases circulatingconcentrations of the thyroid hormonethyroxine (T4) in rats5

Even the FDA states that “animal stud-ies have shown that triclosan alters hor-mone regulation”.

LAHORE: President PML (N) Muhammad Nawaz Sharif talking to PML-N PresidentGermany Anjum Dar and Additional General Secretary Lahore Rana Muhammad Siddique.

LAHORE: Girls holding placards during awareness walk regarding Dengue organized by Health Department at QilaGojar Singh.

LAHORE: Residents of Sandah stage a demonstration against police outside PressClub.

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Punjab ChiefMinister, MuhammadShahbaz Sharif has said thatimplementation of the ongo-ing schools reforms road mapproject in the province withthe cooperation of interna-tional institutions is yieldingpositive results. He said thatbesides provision of qualityeducation, other educationalfacilities are also being pro-vided to the studentsthrough this organizedprogarmme of educationalreforms at school level. TheChief Minister said that pro-motion of education is histop priority and maximum re-sources would be providedfor this purpose. He said thatprovision of resources foreducation is not an expenserather it is a useful invest-ment. He said that coopera-tion between DFID UK, CIDAand Punjab government forachieving educational tar-gets is a welcome step.

He was presiding over ahigh level meeting held withregard to reviewing theprogress of ongoing PunjabEducation Reforms Roadmapin the province. British edu-

Shahbaz for implementation ofongoing schools reforms project

cationist Sir Michael Barbargave a detailed briefing aboutthe progress on educationalreforms programme. MemberNational Assembly SairaAfzal Tarar, head of DFID inPakistan George Tarkington,Chairman Planning & Devel-opment, Secretary Finance,Chairman Punjab Examina-tion Commission, ChairmanPunjab Text Book Board andMembers of DFID and CIDAwere also present on the oc-casion.

Addressing the meeting,Muhammad Shahbaz Sharifsaid that education is the keyto putting the country on theroad to progress and pros-perity by eliminating extrem-ism and terrorism. He saidthat keeping in view the im-portance of education,Punjab government has madethe promotion of educationits top priority.

The Chief Minister saidthat empowering the youthby equipping them with edu-cation is utmost essential forthe rapid development of thecountry. He said that com-prehensive strategy hasbeen adopted for improve-ment of education sector andspreading the knowledge in

every nook and corner of theprovince. He said that settingup of Daanish Schools in farflung and backward areas ofthe province for providingquality education to the chil-dren of poor families is a stepin this direction. ShahbazSharif said that Punjab gov-ernment is determined to pro-vide education to every childof the province. He said thatspecial enrollment campaignis going on throughout theprovince so that the childrendeprived of education couldbe equipped with education.He said that we have tomarch forward in educationalfield in an organized manner.Shahbaz Sharif said that de-sired results can be achievedthrough uplift of educationand collective wisdom andefforts.

He said that Punjab gov-ernment has ensured thestrict implementation of thepolicy of merit in the prov-ince and recruitments of allteachers and other depart-ments are being made onlyon merit basis.

Muhammad ShahbazSharif said that special atten-tion has been paid to the pro-vision of educational facili-

ties through reformsprogramme in schools. Hesaid that keeping in view thepresent crises of energy, aprogamme has been chalkedout for providing solar lightsto matric students in govern-ment schools under “Ujala”programme so that theyshould not face any problemin their studies duringloadshedding. While direct-ing to ensure provision ofpotable water and toilet fa-cility in schools, the ChiefMinister said that toilet facil-ity should be provided in girlschools on priority basis. TheChief Minister said that thetraining of teachers for capac-ity-building of teachers andpromotion of quality educa-tion is vital. He said thatPunjab government is payingfull attention to the trainingprogramme for teachers.While appreciating the per-formance of Project DirectorDr. Farah Masood in theprogramme of school re-forms, Shahbaz Sharifstressed upon the officers toplay their effective role formaking this programme asuccess. He warned that theofficers showing poor per-formance in the educationalreforms programme will notbe tolerated.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—By launching apost card campaign the ChildRights Movement Punjabhas urged the provincialgovernment to take immedi-ate steps to notify Child Do-mestic Labor (CDL) in the listof banned occupations un-der the Employment of Chil-dren (Amendment) Act2011.CRM showed its con-cern over the growing inci-dents of violence againstchildren working as domes-tic servants and has de-manded the provincial gov-ernment to take solid mea-sures to check and respondto the situation.

During the post card cam-paign starting from 30th Au-gust five thousand postcards will be sent, from dif-ferent segments of life i.eNGOs, parliamentarians, Civil

Ban on child domesticlabour in Punjab demanded

Society and Academia, toChief Minister Punjab MianMuhammad Shehbaz Sharifwith demand of immediateban on Child Domestic La-bor. CRM Punjab is a coali-tion of more then 27 organi-zations working for the pro-motion and protection ofchild rights.

CRM Member and ChildRights Activist IftikharMubarik shared that ChildDomestic Labour refers tosituations where children (upto 18 years) perform domestictasks, not in their own homesbut in the home of a third partyor ‘employer’ under exploit-ative circumstances. Thesechildren work behind closeddoors in the privacy of otherpeople’s homes. It is this lackof visibility that greatly in-creases the potential for ex-ploitation and abuse of thesechildren. He also shared that

the Child Domestic Labour iscontemporary form of slaveryand violation of UNCRC, ILOconvention 138, 182 and 189ratified by the Government ofPakistan. Its the responsibil-ity of state to make necessarylegislation for compliance ofthese international instru-ments and Initiate schemesfor rehabilitation of child do-mestic workers through edu-cation and skill training andmake social safety nets avail-able to families of CDWs.

Government should un-dertake programs that ad-dress holistic needs of com-munities, instead of traditionalprojects with short-term re-sults and little sustainablewhile by empowering womento find income generating op-portunities t will also helpthem break the cycle of pov-erty that encourages childlabour.

Ikram Ullah getsPhD Degree in

Computer ScienceSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Lecturer Univer-sity of Education M.AkramUllah has been awarded aPhD degree in subject ofComputer Sciences by pre-senting his thesis entitled“Formal Design and Verifica-tions in Parallel File Systems”to Comsats Institute of Infor-mation Technology,Islamabad under the super-vision of Dr. Nasro Min Al-lah.

M.Ikram Ullah as firstPhD scholar of computerscience in UoE, is servingin Attock Campus and hisresearch papers on FormalMethods has been pub-l ished in many nationaland international journals.

CDGL to observeanti-dengue day

on Sept 2STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Acting DistrictCoordination Officer, LahoreAhad Khan Cheema has saidthe City District GovernmentLahore will observe anti-den-gue day on September 2,Sunday and seminars to markthe day will be organized inall towns of the city.

Presiding a meeting re-garding dengue arrange-ments here at Town Hall, hedirected the officers con-cerned to monitor all officials’work who were participatingin anti dengue campaign.

He said that action will betaken against officers show-ing negligence in the cam-paign. He directed the offic-ers of LWMC, PHA andWASA to provide 5-employ-ees in each Union Council onAnti-Dengue Day for theelimination of dengue larva.

He directed EDO (Educa-tion) Pervaiz Akhtar to ar-range 1000 scouts on Sundayand as many as 100 scoutswould be posted in eachtown.

Acting DCO also directedDO (Social Welfare) Lahoreto ensure the participation of8000 volunteers on Anti Den-gue Day for the awarenessof people.

EDO (Health) and all As-sistant Commissionersbriefed the Acting DCO re-garding the process of elimi-nation of dengue larva.

Ahad Khan Cheema di-rected the DDO (Health) DGBTown to inspect the underconstruction plazas inIslampura area and to himselfmonitor the elimination pro-cess of dengue larva.

He also directed the DO(Cooperatives) Lahore tohave meeting with secretariesof 67 Housing Societies andensure the cleanliness in thesesocieties and a massive Anti-dengue campaign would becommenced in these societ-ies on coming Sunday.

Five housingschemes

declared illegalLAHORE—Lahore Develop-ment Authority has warnedthe prospective buyers thatfive illegal sub-divisions(schemes) were being devel-oped in the controlled areaof LDA without any formalapproval from the LDA.

These sub-divisions in-clude: Munir Garden, Niaz BaigRoad, near Thokar NiazBaig,Lalazar Garden, 80 feetPeeco Road, Margzaar Colony,Lahore, Mian Farm Houses nearT&T Housing Scheme,Raiwind Road , Green AvenueHousing Scheme,nearGulshan-e-Lahore HousingScheme, Khayaban-e-Jinnahand Yousuf Town, DefenceRoad, Lahore.

People have been re-strained to enter into any trans-action in their own interest andasked to verify the status ofapproval of private schemesfrom LDA prior to making anysort of investment.

Moreover, the ownersand developers of the saidillegal sub divisions alsowere warned to stop adver-tise, offer sale, purchase,transaction and execution ofdevelopment works, adver-tisements, etc to avoid legalaction.—APP

LDA employeesregularized

LAHORE—Lahore Develop-ment Authority (LDA) hasdeclared 203 officials as regu-lar employees of LDA sincetheir initial date of recruit-ment as work-charge employ-ees, as per LDA’s record.

According to thespokesman of LDA, previ-ously rendered service of theemployees would be contrib-uted toward pensionary ben-efits but they will not be en-titled for back benefits.

These employees includeNaib Qasid Helper,Chowkidar, Dumper Driver,and other employees ofgrade 1 to 11.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Vice Chancellorof the University of Veteri-nary and Animal Sciences(UVAS) Prof.Dr Talat NaseerPasha has urged the scien-tists to focus on field workwith the collaboration of lo-cal industry.

He was speaking at ameeting with SME Develop-ment Centre Chief ExecutiveSiddiq-ur-Rehman in his of-

Scientists should focuson field work

fice in the varsity on Tues-day.

He said that the univer-sity was equally focusing onsmall farmers and providingthem with training and otherservices free of cost to boostthe livestock sector acrossthe province. He said theuniversity had launched “24/7 Extension Services” to pro-vide emergency help to farm-ers on their doorsteps roundthe clock.

Siddiq-ur-Rehman saidthat Pakistan’s academiacould push the nationaleconomy upwards by devel-oping the solution-basedproducts to fulfill the indus-try needs and enhance ex-ports.

Small scale business de-velopment and close liaisonbetween the academic insti-tutions and industries wasalso discussed in the meet-ing.

LAHORE—The speakers ofGender Reforms Action Plan(GRAP) have proposedamendments in laws to en-sure 33 percent representa-tion of women on all boardsof statutory organizations,public sector companies aswell as special purposetaskforce and committees.

Project CoordinatorGRAP, Deputy SecretaryWomen Development De-partment and all Gender Spe-cialists posted in Civil Secre-tariat, Lahore attended themeeting held here onWednesday.

Secretary Women Devel-

GRAP wants laws that ensurefemale representation

opment Department IrumBukhari while presiding themeeting said the newly cre-ated Women DevelopmentDepartment had sought ap-proval of the competent au-thority on policy implemen-tation for public sector em-ployment and economic em-powerment of women. Thepolicy of Government of thePunjab announced by theChief Minister in March thisyear stipulated that all boardsof statutory organizations,public sector companies aswell as special purposetaskforce and committeesshall have at least 33% female

representation.Irum Bukhari said that the

Chief Minister, upon a sum-mary moved by Women De-velopment Department hasconstituted a committeeheaded by Secretary WomenDevelopment Departmentwith representatives of ad-ministrative departments asmembers which would rec-ommend amendments in rel-evant laws and rules for thepurpose of making 33% rep-resentation of women man-datory on all Boards of Gov-ernors, Board of Directorsetc, operating within the pro-vincial government.—APP