ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari shaking hands with Egyptian President Dr Mohamed Morsi before their meet-ing at the Presidency.

Continued on Page 7

1965 War heroM M Alampasses away

ISLAMABAD —Air Commodore(Retd) Muhammad MahmoodAlam, Sitara-i-Jur’at (with Bar),a veteran of 1965 and 1971 warsand world renowned ace pilot of

PAF, after prolonged illness,breathed his last at PNS Shifa(Hospital), Karachi Monday. Hewas 78.

Air Chief Marshal, TahirRafique Butt, Chief of the AirStaff, Pakistan Air Force has ex-pressed his grief on the sad de-

ISLAMABAD—President Asif AliZardari has said that Pakistan iskeen to build a close and strongrelationship with Egypt and thetwo countries should work to-gether closely for the commongood of the Ummah and forpeace in the region.

He was speaking at a lun-cheon he hosted in Islamabad onMonday in honour of the Egyp-tian President Dr. MohammadMorsi. It was attended amongothers by Prime Minister RajaPervez Ashraf , former PrimeMinister Syed Yousuf RazaGilani, former Federal Ministers,Senators, former members ofNational Assembly and serviceschiefs. The President said Paki-stan is keen to further strengthenrelations with Egypt at all levelsand in all fields. He said therewas great deal of goodwill be-

tween peoples of the two coun-tries and there is need to employit for taking forward our relation-ship to new heights.

The President pointed outthat the Muslim and the Arabworld is facing great challengesand witnessing changes also. Theglobal challenges and changesare also having impact in our partof the world.

Recently the Arab world hasbeen witnessing the Arab spring.He said at this difficult time, theMuslim Ummah must shun dif-ferences and forge unity. It istime for unity and time for fol-lowing the teachings of our greatreligion, which preaches peaceand amity.

He said Pakistan and Egyptare two important countries of theIslamic world. Pakistan appreci-ates Egypt for supporting the

causes of the Muslim Ummah andits efforts for promoting regionalpeace and stability.

President Zardari said thetwo countries must work to-gether to end the bloodshed inSyria and to find a peaceful so-lution to the crisis. Pakistan be-lieves that Syria’s territorial in-tegrity and sovereignty must berespected. He said outside in-terference would only compli-cate a complex situation andwill have serious consequencesfor the neighbouring countries.The drive for peace in Syriamust be led and owned by theSyrian people.

The President said Pakistanis ready to play its role in findinga peaceful solution of the Syriancrisis. Meanwhile, Pakistan andEgypt have signed five Memo-

New dimension to bilateralism

Pakistan, Egyptsign five MoUsZardari says Pak ready to help end Syrian crisis

Continued on Page 7

TARIQ SAEED

PESHAWAR—The terrorists attackat the Peshawar judicial complexwhich led to bomb blasts as wellas firing between the securityforces and the attackers forhours on Monday, eventuallyended with the killing of sixpeople and serious injuries to 35others including lawyers and thePolicemen. A female judge wasamong those who sustained se-rious injuries.

The eyewitness and the Po-lice officials said some terroriststried to enter the heavily guarded

judicial complex that is usuallycrowded with hundreds of law-yers and other people coming fortheir cases. They were inter-cepted by the security guardspresent on the main gate compel-ling the attackers to blow the ex-

plosive material playing hell inthe area.

Independent sources as wellas some official sources said theattackers were several and a fewof them managed to enter thecomplex holding some hostage

that prompted the security forcesincluding the Army come intoaction against the intruders whowere overwhelmed by the forcesafter hours of clash.

Independent sources said atleast six people succumbed totheir injuries while aroundthirty others including lawyersand policemen sustained seri-ous injuries.

A female judge KulsoomAzam was also injured during thefighting and was taken to LadyReading hospital along with oth-ers for treatment. A security offi-

Terrorists attack Peshawar Judicial Complex

6 people die, 35 injuredin bomb blasts, firing

Picture on Back Page

ISLAMABAD—The SupremeCourt of Pakistan on Mondayordered that Rehman Malik beindicted for contempt of court.

During proceedings of thecontempt of court case againstthe former interior minister, theapex court declared that the re-ply submitted by Rehman Malikwas unsatisfactory and he hadinterfered in the proceedings.

The Supreme Court orderedthat proceedings to indictRehman Malik should com-mence after seven days. The at-torney general was appointed asthe prosecutor in the case.

Earlier, Rehman Malik in-formed the court that he had sub-mitted an unconditional apologyand left himself at the mercy ofthe court. Chief Justice IftikharMuhammad Chaudhry repliedthat an apology was a confession

and it was up to the court to ac-cept it or not.

Rehman Malik requestedthat the case should not be ad-journed till Tuesday as he had totravel to Uzbekistan. The chiefjustice asked Malik under whatdesignation was he travelling toUzbekistan.

Speaking to the media fol-lowing proceedings, RehmanMalik said he has been stoppedby the Supreme Court from trav-elling to Uzbekistan.

Meanwhile, Supreme Court(SC) has rejected new inquiryreport carried out by Punjab Po-lice in Badami Bagh incident.

During the hearing of suomotu case of Badami Bagh inci-dent Chief Justice of Pakistan(CJP) Iftikhar MuhammadChaudhry remarked “judicial in-

SC orders indictment ofMalik in contempt case

Stops him from travelling to Uzbekistan

Continued on Page 7

KARACH—A former senior mili-tant who was allegedly involvedin the murder of US journalistDaniel Pearl has been arrested .

A spokesman for the Paki-stani Rangers paramilitary forcesaid Qari Abdul Hayee, who isbetter known as Asadullah, hadbeen detained in a raid in Karachi.

Asadullah used to be the chiefof the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ)group in the southern province ofSindh and is said to have been in-volved in several terror acts.

He was also “in the picture”about the murder of Mr Pearl inFebruary 2002, the Rangersspokesman said, without elaborat-ing.

Pearl, 38, was the South Asiabureau chief for The Wall StreetJournal when he was abducted inKarachi on January 23, 2002,while researching a story about Is-lamist militants.

A graphic video showing himbeing beheaded was delivered to

the US consulate in the city nearlya month later.

Pakistani police blamedPearl’s kidnap and murder on agroup of Islamic militants headedby Ahmed Saeed Sheikh, who isalso known as Sheikh Omar.

The British-born extremistwas arrested with three others andconvicted in June 2002 of Pearl’smurder.

Seven co-accused were sen-tenced in absentia, and two ofthem were later killed in encoun-ters with the police.

Court documents said themen masterminded Mr Pearl’skidnapping in an attempt to winfreedom for al Qaeda memberswho were imprisoned atGuantanamo Bay. Omar and threeothers who were jailed for lifelodged appeals that remain pend-ing in Pakistan.

LeJ also planned a suicideattack on a hotel near Karachi

Pearl terror suspect held

Ishaq Dar canbe consensuscaretaker PM:Babar AwanISLAMABAD—Former leaderof Pakistan People’s Party, DrBabar Awan has said that therecan be consensus on SenatorIshaq Dar’s nomination asCaretaker Prime Minister.

Talking to media men hereon Monday, Dr Awan notedthat Ishaq Dar is a capable andhonest person. He stated that ifIshaq Dar comes up as acandidate for headingcaretaker setup, he would casthis vote in Ishaq Dar’s favour.

He further stated that after20th amendment, theappointment of Governors onpolitical basis is unconstitu-tional. —Online

PPP proposes 3names for Punjabcaretaker CMMUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—Pakistan PeoplesParty Punjab (PPP) hasformally proposed three namesfor the slot of Punjab caretakerchief minister.

The nominees includeformer District Nazim LahoreMian Amir Mahmood,renowned lawyer and humanrights activist Asma Jahangirand Ex-Chief Secretary HafeezRandhawa and all three nameswere sent to Chief MinisterPunjab.

Talking to media‚ theopposition leader in PunjabAssembly Raja Riaz Ahmadsaid that these names have beenselected on the basis of theirimpartiality and honesty.

Raja Riaz said that thesenames have been sent through aletter to the Chief Minister.

ECP meetingreviews generalelections processISLAMABAD—A meeting ofElection Commission ofPakistan (ECP) was held hereon Monday to review the issuesahead of the upcoming generalelections under the chair ofChief Election Commissioner(ECP) Fakhruddin G. Ibrahim.

During the meeting, theElection Commissioner Sindhpresented a report regardingdelimitation of Karachiconstituencies.

The meeting also reviewedprogress of political parties’intra-party elections.

Disgruntled leader of thePPP Ms Nahid Khan’sapplication for registration ofPakistan People’s Party (PPP)was also included in theagenda.

Nahid Khan has filed anapplication for registration ofPakistan People’s Party (PPP)as a political party with theECP under the provisions ofPolitical parties Order 2002with her name as a president

Continued on Page 7

College principalgunned down in

LiaquatabadIRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—Principal of DJ Sci-ence College Syed Sibt-eHussain Jaffery was gunneddown near Sindhi Hotel inLiaquatabad. The deceased wasaffiliated with Jafferia DisasterManagement, an NGO.

Following the murder of thePrincipal, angry protestors tookto streets and blocked trafficmovement Ancholi, Rizvia andother areas where Shia Muslimslived in majority. Majlis-eWahdat ul Muslimeen had an-nounced three day mourning onthe sad demise of the principal.

Meanwhile, Sindh ChiefMinister Syed Qaim Ali Shah,asked the Inspector General ofPolice to submit a report on themurder of the principal and takesteps for early arrest of the kill-ers. On the other hand, a sub-in-

Continued on Page 7 TTP suspendstalks with govt

STAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—The PakistaniTaliban have suspended peacetalks with the government,claiming that they are “not seri-ous” in the peace initiative

According to a private TVchannel on Monday, the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)spokesperson Ehsanullah Ehsansaid that the militantorganisation has suspended talkswith the authorities and claimedthat the army and governmentwere not serious in conductingpeace dialogue and talks.

Earlier last month the pro-scribed militant group, whichhas waged war against the statesince 2007, had announced itswillingness for conditionalpeace talks with the country’stop three politicians as guaran-tors for the dialogue.

QUETTA—Balochistan Gover-nor Zulfiqar Magsi on Mondaydissolved the provincial assem-bly on the advice of Chief Min-ister Nawab Aslam Raisani.

A notification has also beenissued in this regard. Accordingto the notification, AslamRaisani will remain asBalochistan’s chief minister tillthe appointment of a caretakerchief minister.

Balochistan Assembly be-came the first provincial assem-bly to be dissolved ahead of thegeneral elections. Earlier, Chief

Minister Aslam Raisani sent anadvice to Governor Zulfiqar

Magsi to dissolve the provincialassembly. Raisani advised theprovincial governor to dissolvethe assembly as per the under-standing reached during hismeeting the Prime Minister RajaPervez Ashraf on Saturday.

Meanwhile, political crisis inthe province deepening with eachpassing day as confusion over theappointment of caretaker chiefminister continues to persist.Speaker of the provincial assem-bly has allotted opposition seatsto 23 members. Speaker had ear-

Governor dissolvesBalochistan Assembly

Continued on Page 7

STAFF REPORTER

I S L A M A B A D — F o r m e rPrime Minister Shaukat Azizrecorded his testimony to LalMasjid commission viavideo link from London onMonday.

According to details,Shaukat Aziz said that LalMasjid issue had gone beyondthe reach of civil administra-tion, therefore, ChaudhryShujaat Hussain advised anoperation.

He said that Ch. Shujaat,Ejaz ul Haq and Tariq Azeemfrom government were hold-

ing dialogue with Lal Masjid ad-ministration, but after finding no

solution the military operationwas launched.

When the commissionasked if the interior ministryforwarded you any summary,Aziz replied with ‘no’, how-ever, he added the operationplan was changing in accor-dance with the emerging cir-cumstances.

The commission inquiredif they asked them to surren-der their weapons otherwisethey would get killed; Azizreplied that he has no infor-mation about it because mili-tary authority conducted theoperation.

Shaukat Aziz records testimonyto Lal Masjid Commission

UN expertsdemand end to

Israeli settlementsGENEVA—Israel must immedi-ately begin withdrawing its set-tlers from the Palestinian territo-ries, UN experts told diplomatsMonday, even as the new Israeligovernment appeared set tostrengthen the hand of the Jew-ish settler lobby.

Israel must act to “immedi-ately and without preconditionscease the settlement activity andto initiate a process of withdrawalfrom the settlements,” ChristineChanet told the UN HumanRights Council in Geneva, la-menting a “rampant annexation”of Palestinian territories. Chanet,of France, was presenting a re-

Continued on Page 7

Continued on Page 7

BHC restoresTariq Magsi as

opposition leaderQUETTA—The BalochistanHigh Court (BHC) Monday can-celled the notification of MaulanaAbdul Wasay’s appointment asleader of the opposition in the

Continued on Page 7 Continued on Page 7

Continued on Page 7

PML-N, JUP-Nto cooperate in

electionsSALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Senior Vice PresidentJamiat-e-Ulema Pakistan (JUP)Shah Muhammad AwaisNoorani, Chairman SupremeCouncil Pir Ijaz Ahmad Hashmiand Central General SecretaryQari Zawar Bahadur called onPunjab Chief MinisterMuhammad Shahbaz Sharif atModel Town Monday and dis-cussed overall political situationof the country and matters relat-ing to cooperation in generalelections.

Agreeing on cooperation ingeneral elections between Paki-

Continued on Page 7

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—Mutahida QaumiMovement (MQM) has gainedimpressive mileage by winningthe support of Gabol commu-nity, representing a huge popu-lation of Sindhi Baloch centu-ries old inhabitants in the prov-ince of Sindh in general andKarachi in particular.

The joining of MQM byNabil Gabol especially at thiscritical point of time when thecountry is set to go to the pollswould certainly have multi-di-

mensional impact especially incountering the negative propa-ganda of the critics painting theimage of MQM as an ethnic partyrepresenting a particular commu-nity living in Sindh. In fact join-ing o people who hail from dif-ferent communities will one onhand give a positive standing toMQM while it would certainlyhelp creating and forging unityamong different segments of thesociety.

In this regard the positive thepositive conduct of MQM withthe people within and outside

MQM deserves appreciation be-cause it helped in winning theconfidence of the people in thismetropolis which is dire need ofa cosmopolitan culture to accom-modate every one coming to thiscoastal city to earn bread andbutter for their families.

Actually it is the need of thehour for every one to lend astrong support for creation ofunity and harmony among thepeople in the larger national in-terest and for the sake of Paki-stan. Speaking on the occasion

MQM gains mileageby winning Gabols

Continued on Page 7

58 uplift schemescompletedunder DDP

OUR CORRESPONDENT

SAHIWAL—As many as 58schemes were completed sofar under District Develop-ment Programme to providebasic facilities to the public.Overall 163 schemes weretaken up in this programmewith the cost of 418 millionrupees. These schemes per-tained to education, health,sanitation, provision of drink-ing water and roads.

District CoordinationOfficer Zulfiqar AhmadGhumman while reviewingthe progress directed offi-cials concerned to completeall pending schemes till 25thof this month which mostlyrelated to roads and needonly TST. Chairing a meet-ing in his office which wasalso attended by EDO(F&P) Saqib Ali Ateel anddistrict officers of relevantdepartments, he showed hisdispleasure over the pa-thetic condition of main cityroads and directed TMA toimmediately repair theseroads. He also directed lev-elling of the grounds ofZafar Ali Stadium andQuaid-e-Azam stadium sothat sports competitionscould be resumed usingthese facilities.

Widow shot deadover engagement

disputeSHER GONDAL

MANDI BAHAUDDIN—Awidow was shot dead overengagement dispute here onMonday. Reportedly, Afaq,a resident of Chak Mamuriin jurisdiction of Police Sta-tion Sadar, shot dead awidow namely Taj Bibi of thesame village. Police reachedplace of occurrence andmoved the dead body toDHQ Hospital for autopsy.On complaint by son of thewidow, police have regis-tered an FIR under the rel-evant law and further inves-tigation is in progress.

Meanwhile in another in-cident in Police StationPahrianwali, one person wasshot dead over a minor dis-pute. During a volleyballmatch at village Sethal aquarrel took place among theplayers. Some playersopened indiscriminate fire asa result of which Ijaz diedwhile two other were injured.Police have registered a caseagainst four accused includ-ing Shehzad, Afzal, Waqasand Bashir, residents ofSethal. Further investigationis in progress.

BASHIR AHMAD RAHMANI

HAFIZABAD—PPP ex-MPAand ex-President, DistrictHafizabad, Malik FayyazAhmad Awan who has re-cently dissociated from PPPand joined Pakistan MuslimLeague (N) has declared thathe has no lust of power and hequit PPP due to his reserva-tions over alliance of PPP with,what he alleged, Qatil League.Addressing a press confer-ence here, he said that hejoined the PML (N) after resign-ing from MPA seat as well asprimary membership of thePPP, without any condition.

He particularly referred tothe local leaders of PML (Q)and said that he has time and

again intimated President AsifAli Zardari, Faryal Talpur andother party leaders that hecould not go along with thelocal leaders of PML (Q). Re-plying to a question, thatthere was general perceptionin the city that he had joinedthe PML (N) to secure his seatas graph of PML (N) has goneup in the area due to failure ofPPP federal government in theresolution of problems ofmasses, he said that there wasno truth in the perception.

He said his father lateFazal Hussain Awan, MNA,and his family remained as-sociated with the PPP since1977 and they worked for theparty honestly and with com-mitment and he did not want

mud-slinging on the partyand its high command. Re-plying to a question, HajiJamshed Abbas Thahem,General Secretary DistrictPML (N) who was alsopresent at the press confer-ence said that it was his ear-nest desire that Malik Fayyazshould be awarded PML (N)ticket to contest election fromPP-105 but added that finaldecision would be made bythe high command.

*****Four armed bandits

stormed the house of a villagerin Mona Jhaal, locked all theoccupants in a room and madeoff with cash amount of Rs.25,000 and gold ornamentsworth thousands of rupees.

According to police source,four bandits intruded into thehouse of Saif Ullah, son ofMuhammad Mansha in MonaJhaal and looted all the belong-ings of the poor villager. Thepolice are investigating.

*****Two girl students of

Panjhatha village were ab-ducted by three youngmenof the same village forcibly.The Kassoke police haveregistered a case againstBabu Tahir Iqbal, MuhammadAhmad Chohan and an uni-dentified youngman and areinvestigating. According toreport lodged by MuhammadNawaz, his daughter KousarBibi (14) and her friendHusseena Bibi (15) were re-

turning to their houses fromschool when the accusedbundled them forcibly in a carand sped away.

*****The local commuters

have protested against exor-bitant rise in the fare by thetransporters in collusion withthe traffic police and theThefare between Hafizabad andLahore is being charged atRs. 200 against Rs. 106 fixedby the RTA. Similarly, farebetween Gujranwala andHafizabad is being chargedRs. 70 and Pindi Bhattian Rs.80. The commuters have ap-pealed to the DCO and SPTraffic to order remedial mea-sures to provide relief to thecommuters.

Kicked off PPP for differences with local PML-Q leaders: Fayyaz

Urs of HazratShah Ruknuddin

Aalam beginsMULTAN—The 699th Urs cel-ebrations of great saint ofsub-continent Hazrat ShahRuknuddin Aalam began hereon Monday. Vice ChairmanPakistan Tehreek-e-InsaafMukhdoom Shah MehmoodQureshi, Sajada Nasheen(spiritual head) of the shrinegave bath to the grave ofShah Ruknuddin Aalam withArq-e-Gulab (rose water).

Addressing on the occa-sion, Mukhdoom ShahMehmood Qureshi paid atribute to saint Hazrat ShahRuknuddin Aalam. Hestressed the need for dis-semination the teachings ofgreat saint to promote peace,unity and stability in thecountry. He urged the peopleto follow the saint’s teach-ings in order to end.—APP

Earthquakesturn water into

gold: studyISLAMABAD—Water in faultsvaporizes during an earth-quake, depositing gold, ac-cording to a model issue ofthe journal Nature Geo-science, Live Science re-ported here. The model pro-vides a quantitative mecha-nism for the link between goldand quartz seen in many ofthe world’s gold deposits,said Dion Weatherley, a geo-physicist at the University ofQueensland in Australia andlead author of the study.

When an earthquakestrikes, it moves along a rup-ture in the ground - a frac-ture called a fault. Big faultscan have many small frac-tures along their length, con-nected by jogs that appearas rectangular voids. Wateroften lubricates faults, fillingin fractures and jogs.

About 6 miles (10 kilome-ters) below the surface, underincredible temperatures andpressures, the water carrieshigh concentrations of carbondioxide, silica and economi-cally attractive elements likegold. During an earthquake,the fault jog suddenly openswider. It’s like pulling the lidoff a pressure cooker.—APP

Swat tourismrestored: MD

STAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—Managing Di-rector Pakistan Tourism De-velopment Corporation MirShah Jahan Kithran Mondaysaid that terrorism and lawand order situation badly af-fected tourism activities inSwat. He said that after tak-ing charge as Managing Di-rector PTDC he took Rs. 130million special grant from thefederal government and re-stored tourism. Addressing apress conference here, he saidthat reconstruction and reno-vation of PTDC hotel inMalamjaba is hanging in bal-ance after historic 18th amend-ment in the constitution, how-ever, he added that a compre-hensive plane is beingchalked out to do work on itfrom the resources of PTDC.

He further informed thatPTDC Motel in Kalam hasbeen opened for tourists andconduct of Snow festival inMalamjaba in collaborationwith Pak Army was part of ef-forts to restore tourism activi-ties in the area. Shah Jahansaid that efforts are underwayto construct PTDC motels onall important resorts in Swatto attract tourists. He said thatPTDC was at the verge of col-lapse due to security situa-tion in the country, but he hastaken special grant from thefederal government and putthe department on its feet. PakArmy, PTDC hold ski cham-pionship.—APP

ISLAMABAD—Mainly dryweather is expected in mostparts of the country whilepartly cloudy weather condi-tions are likely to prevail inmost parts of Kashmir duringnext 24 hours. Pakistan Me-teorological Department re-ported that continental air iscurrently prevailing over mostparts of the country. InKhyber Pakhtunkhwa, mainlydry weather is expected inmost parts of the province,however light rain may occurat a few places of Malakanddivision during next 24 hours.

In Sindh and Balochistan,mainly dry weather is ex-pected in most parts of theprovinces while cloudyweather conditions with lightrain is likely at few places inGilgit Baltistan during next 24hours. The Multan Met of-fice has forecast partly cloudyweather for Multan and itssuburbs during the next 24hours. On Monday, the maxi-mum and minimum tempera-ture was recorded as 29.7degrees celsius and 16.5 de-grees centigrade, respec-

Dry weather likelyacross country

tively. Humidity was re-corded as 80 per cent at 8 amand 48 per cent at 5 pm.

Fair/ partly cloudy

weather has been forecast forTuesday in the metropolis,said a weather report on Mon-day. According to the report,the minimum and maximumtemperature is expected to re-main in the range of 18 to 20and 32 to 34 degree celsius,respectively. It said mainlydry weather is likely to pre-vail elsewhere in the region.According to KP Met officesunny weather conditions areexpected in most parts of theprovince in next 24 hours.

An official of the provin-cial Met office told APP hereon Monday, mostly sunnyweather is expected in thecapital city.—APP

PESHAWAR—Provincial Infor-mation Minister Mian IftikharHussain Monday formallybade farewell to the local jour-nalists at a farewell luncheonand highly praised their co-operation and support to theANP led coalition govern-ment in Khyber Pakthunkhwa.“I received the maximum co-operation and help from thejournalist community of theprovince who did not discon-nect their relations with himdespite huge militancy relatedproblems. I have no words tothank them”, he told the jour-nalists while addressing themat the farewell gathering.

Leader of the house andleader of opposition in KPhave kept alive their rich tradi-tions by agreeing on a consen-sual name for the caretaker CMand expressed the confidencethat the matter at the centreand in other federating unitswould also be settled amica-bly according to the constitu-tion. For the first time in thehistory of the country, he saidthat leaders of the political par-ties were engaged in nominat-ing the caretaker setup in thefederation and the provincesas no such environment pre-vailed in the past, adding thisall was made possible due to

the 18th amendment.He did not agree that a

deadlock persisted overnomination of the caretakerPrime Minister and expressedthe hope that the matterwould be resolved with con-sensus during the secondphase when the matter re-ferred to the parliamentarycommittee. It would be unfor-tunate if the matter was sentto the election commission,he said, adding, if the ChiefElection Commissioner hasto choose the final name forthe caretaker PM slot whynot the parliamentary com-mittee does the same work.

He said both the PPP andPML-N had played positiveand constructive role in keepthe democracy intact andfoiled all such attempts to de-rail it during last five years. Hewas confident that electionswould be held on time and de-nounced all such speculationsand rumors to this effect. Ifelections could be held in Af-ghanistan and Iraq where civilwars were going on why notin Pakistan, he added.

He also referred to the ef-forts he made for launchingthe province’s own TV chan-nel “Abaseen TV” during lasttwo years but all in vain as

the matter is still pending forissuance of license by the fed-eral government. If the federalgovernment issued the li-cense, the KP government canput it on air in one month timeas all the infrastructures inthis regard was completed. Healso mentioned aboutstrengthening of the Informa-tion Departments across theprovince saying KP informa-tion department got the maxi-mum attention of his govern-ment. KP FM Channel hasbeen setup to convey the mes-sage of the government toevery nook and corner of theprovince.—APP

PPP, PML-N played constructiverole to keep democracy intact: Iftikhar

NAZIR SIYAL

LARKANA—Honour killinghas claimed two lives in-cluding a young school girlin Ratodero and anotherman was gunned in Larkanacity on Monday morning.According to details, Un-known armed men openedindiscriminate firing overAhmed Ali Magsi at LahoriMohalla rice canal Regula-tor in the limits of Waleedand Civil Lines police sta-tion. The incident is said tobe an outcome of an old en-mity. In the second incidentnephew killed his uncle dueto domestic dispute, toldpolice.

A young girl Alia Abro(20) was shot dead in front

of her home and young manZulfikar Ali Dayo was killedover Karo Kari at MotanpurMohalla of Ratodero city,some 25 kilometres fromLarkana.

The dead bodies re-mained lying at s treet inRatodero city for severalhours. The incident createda panic in the city. No ar-rest has been registered.

Meanwhile, ASP IbrarHussain, in a press confer-ence, claimed to arrest a cardriver and his accomplices,who kidnapped two villagersfrom Dhamrah police stationjurisdiction, Larkana, late lastnight. He told that police cor-doned off the area inRatodero tehsil and arrestedcar driver Asghar Ali, resi-

dent of village Dakhan GarhiYaseen tesil of Shikarpur dis-trict. The kidnappers ab-ducted two villagersMashooq Ali, son of HajiMohammed Ramzan Shahaniand Master Seengar Ali, sonof Naban Khan Shahani ofvillage Lal Khan nearDhamrah police jurisdictionlate night and took them toRatodero and Shikarpur dis-trict.

Later, the criminals carreached police picket and di-verted to village Khatiyannear Mirpur and attempted toescape, but were arrested.Driver Asghar Ali committedthat it was his first abductioncase, while his accomplicesincluding Sheroo, Nadir Ali,Illahi Bux Dhahani escaped.

RAWALPINDI—The PunjabEducation Foundation hasplanned to provide gratiseducational facilities to twolakh poor and deserving chil-dren in next five years underits public private partnershipmodel. The purpose of thisinitiative is to open the doorsof quality education to theeconomically deprived chil-dren especially the girls whocouldn’t go to schools dueto lack of resources and ac-cess.

Chairman, Punjab Educa-tion Foundation, Raja Anwarstated this while presidingover the district coordinationmeeting of various schoolsof northern region partneredwith the PEF under its foun-dation assisted schools

programme, at a local hotel,on Monday. At the outset,PEF Chairman observed thatpublic private partnership inthe field of education hasgreatly helped the poor com-munities in Punjab as it cata-lyzed to break the shacklesof poverty through qualityeducation.

“It’s important to notethat the foundation was al-ready giving free educationto 13 lakh deserving studentsin Punjab and 52 percent ofthem are females.” While un-derscoring the importance ofpromoting knowledge-basedsociety for national develop-ment, he said that shoulder-ing the educational expendi-tures of about 11 lakh deserv-ing students in Punjab, un-

der the umbrella of FAS, is aclear proof of its huge suc-cess and service to the poor.His also disclosed that De-partment for InternationalDevelopment of the UnitedKingdom has agreed to pro-vide financial support worth70 million pounds for a pe-riod of five years to the PEFfor further extending thegratis educational programs.

PEF Chairman told thatinitiatives like anti-corporalpunishment program, librarybooks and co-curricular ac-tivities have helped to de-velop a confident generationof youngsters. He told thatcomplaint cell has been setup in the FAS program to im-mediately solve the issuesrelating to the partners. He

announced that upper ceil-ing of A plus, A & B categoryFAS schools has been in-creased from 500 to 750 stu-dents while the upper ceilingof 750 has also been in-creased to one thousand stu-dents to accommodate themaximum number of deserv-ing students.

Similarly, FAS partnersare allowed to give admis-sions to deserving 5-16 yearsold out of school children andfor this purpose, they arepermitted to construct addi-tional class rooms withinthree months. The DCM wasalso addressed by DMD-Fi-nance Salman Anwar Malik,Director-FAS NadeemMasood and Additional Di-rector Iftikhar Rabbani.

PEF to provide 2 lakh kids gratis educational facilities

Two shot dead forkaro kari in Larkana

QUETTA: JUI-F leader Maulana Abdul Wasay addressing a press conference.

DR M RAMAZAN RANA

TAXILA—Speakers at a func-tion organized here said thatonly equipping youth witheducation salvage the coun-try and it is high time that allout resources and opportuni-ties should be provided to theyouth, to save them fromspoiling. The function wasorganized at Federal Collegeof Science and Commerce atWah Cantt to mark the annualday. Deputy District OfficerSocial Welfare Zafar HussainShah speaking on this occa-sion has said that educationis the only catalytic factor thatcan change destiny of anynation and the young genera-tion should equip itself withlatest knowledge in the fieldof science and technology tomake Pakistan a prosperousand progressive country.

Mr Shah said that it wasunfortunate that the extremistsand anti-social elements areshowing the dark side of thepicture, due to which some ofthe youth deviate towardssabotage activities , which ispushing them into the dark. Hesaid that the entire nationwould have to face these chal-lenges and best way of doingso is that the country musteducate its youth in befittingmanner. He said that promo-tion of education was the onlyway for countering challengeslike terrorism, religious extrem-

Education only cansalvage Pakistan

ism, poverty, illiteracy and un-employment. He stressed theneed for doing everything pos-sible to assist deserving andneedy students to meet thecost of their education. He saidPakistan cannot go side byside of other nations in the glo-bal village if it does not giveattention towards quality ofeducation.

President Youth WelfareSociety Asif Mehmood Malikspeaking on this occasion ex-pressed concern saying that atpresent only 1.8 percent of thenational GDP is being spent oneducation. Unfortunately, eventhis limited budget is not wellspent by the provinces. In thepast two years, 11 per cent and12 per cent of the allocated bud-get was not spent and under-spending was equivalent toRs17.78 billion and Rs23.21 bil-lion in 2010-11 and 2011-12, re-spectively. In 2011-12, the un-spent amount was more thantwice the total spending of thefederal government on primaryand secondary education. Hesaid that ensuring access toeducation to all children be-tween the ages of 5 years and16 years under article 25-A re-quires great political will, plan-ning and resource mobilization.Chairman Al- Falah educationfoundation Najzm Iqbal on thisoccasion said that that the pro-motion of quality education canbring about positive change insociety.

QWP activists join ANPStaff Reporter

PESHAWAR—Noted political workersand activists of Qoumi Wattan Party(QWP), Khalid Bakhtiar Khan Umerzai,Arsala Khan Umerzai and Lali JanUmerzai along with their families andsupporters announced joining ANP hereMonday. They announced their deci-sion in a function held here in ChiefMinister’s House. Those present on theoccasion were included provincial jointsecretary, ANP, Aimal Wali Khan and

MPA Shakeel Bashir Umerzai. They welcomed the newentrants into their party fold and wore traditional red capson their heads. Speaking on the occasion, joint secretaryANP, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Aimal Wali Khan said thattheir party is the representative of Pakhtuns. He said dueto the great sacrifices of Bacha Khan and Khan AbdulWali Khan, dynamic leadership of Asfandyar Wali Khanand Pakhtuns’ friendly policies of the provincial govern-ment had united Pakhtuns under the red flag of the party.He said development schemes initiated during the presentgovernment has no precedent in past, adding ANP will nottake rest till putting Pakhtun nation on the path of progressand development. Awami National Party Central PresidentAsfandyar Wali Khan and Provincial President SenatorAfrasiab Khan Khattak Monday strongly condemned thesuicide attack on Judicial Complex here The two leaders, ina statement here, expressed grief and sorrow over the lossof lives in the incident, which was an inhuman act. Theysaid that terrorists were killing innocent people after theirfailure on every front.

S Punjab Province top of PPP manifestoISLAMABAD—Senator Maula BakhshChandio Monday said that theBhawalpur South Punjab Province wason the top of the manifesto of PakistanPeoples Party (PPP). “PPP-led govern-ment has taken and would carry on allpossible measures to settle down thelongstanding demand of the people ofSouth Punjab to create a new provinceaccording to their desire”, he told APP.Chandio stated that PPP laid the foun-

dation of Bhawalpur South Punjab province on the daywhen this idea was floated for the first time at NationalAssembly’s floor and later on, a parliamentary commis-sion on the formation of new provinces was constitutedfor giving real shape to the idea. The senator said that theSouthern Punjab Province was inevitable and it would comeinto being sooner or later. He expressed the hope that thePPP would come into power again with a huge margin onthe basis of its performance and good governance andwould provide South Punjab’s people their legal rights.Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Punjab president MianManzoor Ahmed Wattoo on Saturday said that the bill forthe creation of south Punjab province will be presented inthe Senate before March 16 and will also be approved bythe National Assembly. “Those who oppose the creationof south Punjab province will face massive defeat in elec-tions,” he said while addressing a press conference at thePPP Punjab Secretariat. He said the PPP alliance with thePakistan Muslim League – Quaid (PML-Q) was movingpositively forward. He claimed the two ruling coalitionparties were prepared to field strong candidates for theupcoming general elections. “The PPP and the PML-Q willfield suitable candidates to win seats.—APP

Gas pipeline project to ensure prosperityISLAMABAD—Provincial InformationMinister Sharjeel Memon said that Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project wouldbring prosperity for the people of thisregion. He said that the government hadmade this agreement for the people ofthis region. Talking to a private televi-sion channel, he said that the govern-ment had taken many steps to maintainlaw and order situation and control ter-rorism. He said that NFC award was the

achievement of the federal government. He said that floodsplayed havoc in different parts of the country and de-stroyed the infrastructure. Sharjeel Memon said that de-spite global recession in the past years, Pakistan had madeprogress in different sectors. Kashmala Tariq of PakistanMuslim League Hum Khyial Group said that there wasneed to focus on good governance to provide relief to themasses. She said that credit goes to all the political partiesfor the completion of the constitutional tenure of the gov-ernment. She said that there was serious need to stream-line the affairs in different sectors including energy. Sena-tor Haji Adeel said that the government with the help ofArmy had brought peace back in Swat and Malakand ar-eas. He said that the government after coming into powerhad to face many challenges like terrorism and floods. Re-plying to a question he said that Khyber Pakhtunkhawagovernment had spent huge amount for the establishmentof new educational institutions in the area. He said thatfocus was also given to meet the demand in the energysector. Rana Sanaullah of Pakistan Muslim League Nawazsaid that Punjab government made efforts for the welfareof the people of the province.—APP

779 graduates conferred degreesFAISALABAD—As many as 779 gradu-ates of The University of Faisalabad(TUF) and University Medical & Den-tal College (UMDC) have been con-ferred degrees and medal during the 3rdconvocation of the University held here.Chairman Board of Governors TUF MianMuhammad Hanif awarded degrees andmedals to graduates of the Universitywhile Vice Chancellor University ofHealth Sciences Lahore, Maj.Gen. (R)

Prof Dr Muhammad Aslam awarded degrees to the gradu-ates. Mian Muhammad Rasheed Vice Chairman Board ofGovernors TUF and Prof Dr Zakir Hussain Vice Chancellor(VC) Government College University Faisalabad (GCUF)were also present on the occasion. Addressing the convo-cation, Mian Muhammad Hanif congratulated the gradu-ates. He said, TUF was set up to help the common man tohave access to higher education. The university will con-tinue its services to achieve the objectives of quality andprofessional education, he said. Prof Dr Muhammad Aslam,Vice Chancellor, University of Health Sciences (UHS)Lahore while addressing the convocation, appreciated theservices being rendered by Madinah Foundation in edu-cation and health sectors. He said that the University hadrapidly grown in a short span of time. He appreciated per-formance of TUF and UMDC in the fields of research anddevelopment. While congratulating the graduates, he ex-pressed his hope that they would utilize their skills andknowledge for the welfare and economic wellbeing of thepeople. Prof Dr Abdul Karim Baloch Pro Rector of the Uni-versity briefed about the performance of the Institutionand said that the University is imparting education to morethan 2200 students in different disciplines including HealthSciences, Engineering and Technology, Management Stud-ies and Arts and Social Sciences. Faculty and staff mem-bers who rendered dedicated services to TUF and UMDCfor ten years were also awarded medals and prizes.—APP

SWABI—Two persons includ-ing father and daughter werekilled whereas wife and twochildren were seriously in-jured as roof of a house cavedhere at Jalbai village. Accord-ing to details, Muhammad Ijazs/o Lal Khan was sleepingwith his family when pillar ofa room collapsed andresultantly the roof fell downin the wee hours on Monday,killing father and five yearsold daughter Sonia on thespot. Three years old sonNasir and two years oldTanzeela sustained seriousinjuries in this incident.

Sargodha: Two young menwere killed in separate incidentsin Kotmomin police limits hereon Tuesday. According to po-lice sources that a farmerMuhammad AshrafDindar,resident of MohallaAhmed Khan was in his housewhen some assailants later iden-tified as Abid s/o Nazar alongwith their accomplices enteredand resorted to indiscriminate

firing.Ashraf was injured seri-ously while the accused fledfrom the scene. He was shiftedto THQ hospital in serious con-dition but failed to survive.

Quetta: A man was killedwhen a speedy vehicle hithim on National Highwaynear Nasirabad district onlate Sunday night. Accordingto police, the victim identifiedas Muhammad Arif wascrossing the road when avehicle hit him due to overspeeding. As a result, he diedon the spot. The body of thedeceased was handed overto the heirs after completionof legal formalities. Policewere looking into the matter.

Depalpur: Some armedbandits plundered cash, goldornaments, weapons and mo-biles on gunpoint here the otherday. According to policesources, Muhammad Akram,Mushtaq, and five unknownarmed outlaws stormed into thehouse of Muhammad ArshadR/O Awan Uttar.—APP

BASHIR AHMAD RAHMANI

HAFIZABAD—District Zakatand Ushr Committee has re-leased an amount of Rs.1,45,29,000 to 586 Zakat Com-mittees as maintenance al-lowance to the poors, Ch.Nasruallah Bhatti Chairmansaid here.

He said that besides Vo-cational Training InstituteKolo Tarar, Sukheke, PindiBhattian and Hafizabad wereprovided Rs. 50,30,000 forproviding stipends to thestudents, Rs. 4,20,500 forpoor and deserving patients’treatment in the DHQ Hos-pital Hafizabad, Rs. 1,35,600for religious Madrissas andRs. 10,91,800 for scholarshipto poor students in 29 edu-

cation institutions.*****

Villagers of Shori Chatha,Chak Kharal, Dohata andKhooiwala have protestedagainst the indifferent atti-tude of the administration fornot repairing the narrow anddangerous bridge on SemNullah which was linkingthese villages with each otherand Hafizabad city. Led byCh. Asif Chadhar, the pro-testers said that 30-year-oldbridge is in dilapidated con-dition and has become dan-gerous for human lives. Theysaid that they had submittednumerous applications to theDCO and members of assem-blies for the past five yearsbut they paid deaf-ear to theirgenuine demand. They de-

manded that either newbridge be constructed or theexisting bridge be properlyrepaired to avoid any mishap.

*****An electricity transformer

installed in MohallahDostpura near Soligin bridgewas lifted away by unknownthieves resultantly electricityremained suspended for sev-eral hours. The dewellerstaken out a rally to protestagainst the theft of the trans-former and blocked the roadnear Ghora Chowk by burn-ing tyres for more than onehour. The protesters allegedthat WAPDA employees werealso involved in the theft.However, Incharge TrafficPolice rushed to the spot anddispersed the demonstrators.

KHAIRPUR—One-Day Semi-nar on “Gender Equity andPoverty” was held at AllamaI.I Kazi Hall, Shah Abdul LatifUniversity, (SALU) Khairpuron Monday, The seminar wasjointly organised by USAID,Aurat Foundation and Insti-tute of Gender Studies SALU,Khairpur.

Vice Chancellor SALUProf Dr. Parveen Shah pre-sided over the seminar.ProfDr. Mohammad NawazChand of Department ofEconomic SALU, was thechief guest, Syed PirMohammad Shah SSPSukkur and Dr. Imtiaz Pirzadaof Department of EconomicsUniversity of Sindh,Jamshoro were honorary

chief guests.Addressing the seminar,

Dr. Parveen said that womencomprising a big portion of thepopulation around the globehave been deprived of eco-nomic development andsocio-cultural spheres of thesocietal development. Shesaid, in Pakistan the women’saccess to property, educationand employment remain con-siderably lower as comparedto men and Pakistani societyis predominantly patriarchal.Women participation in soci-ety is low in percentage.

Dr. Parveen said despitethe improvement of Pakistanliteracy rate the educationalstatus of Pakistani women islowest in the world and the

literacy rate of urban womenis more than five times thanthe rate of rural women. Shefurther said, women are be-ing recognised as the agentof change in the world arenaand are entering and excel-ling in the field of education,economic development, poli-tics and administration.

The V.C said that keepingin view the gender equity, theInstitute of Gender Studieshas been established atSALU, Khairpur aimed at as-sisting infrastructure devel-opment by establishing com-puter lab and introducingshort courses for male andfemale students with specialfocus on female participationin the society.—APP

KARACHI—US Consul Gen-eral Michael Dodman and theSindh Governor, Dr. Ishrat UlEbad, recognized fifty Sindhstudents who received UnitedStates Agency for Interna-tional Development (USAID)-funded scholarships underthe Merit and Needs-BasedScholarship Program andimplemented by the HigherEducation Commission of Pa-kistan. The Program providesfull scholarships to talentedbut financially needy Paki-stani students.

“Your academic successinspires the next generation.We expect great things fromyou–today I see future com-munity leaders, inventors,educators, business execu-tives, and parliamentarians.The key to a strong, prosper-ous, and peaceful Pakistan liesin your capable hands,” saidU.S. Consul General MichaelDodman, who spoke with 50scholarship recipients fromSindh after they describedhow the scholarship has en-riched their lives and openeddoors of opportunity.

The Merit and Need-Based Scholarship Programawards scholarships for uni-versity study to academicallytalented, financially needy Pa-kistani students. Overall, morethan 1,250 talentet but eco-nomically disadvantaged Pa-kistani students have received

Merit and Needs Based Schol-arships under this USAID pro-gram, with 571 of those stu-dents coming from Sindh.

The program targets stu-dents going to governmentschools in rural or remote ar-eas like northern Sindh. Stu-dents can pursue study inagriculture (Master’s orBachelor’s degrees) at one ofthe Sindhi partner universi-ties, which include the Insti-tute of Business Administra-tion, Karachi; Institute ofBusiness Administration,Sukkur; Institute SZABIST,Karachi; and Sindh Agricul-ture University, Tandojam.The scholarships fund notonly the cost of tuition, butalso books, transportation,and other expenses associ-ated with full-time study.Most of the scholarship re-cipients have found jobswithin six months of complet-ing their degrees.

The USAID Merit andNeeds-Based ScholarshipProgram is just one part of acomprehensive U.S. educa-tion assistance program forPakistan, which includesbuilding or rehabilitatingmore than 850 schools;launching new degree pro-grams in education at 90teacher colleges and univer-sities; and operating the larg-est Fulbright academic ex-change program in the world.

Shutdown noticeSTAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—The PeshawarElectric Supply Company(PESCO) here Monday is-sued power shutdown noticefor Peshawar and Mardandue to maintenance work.According to a spokesman ofPESCO, power supply willremain suspended from 132KV Peshawar University’sgrid station on March 21 from8.30 am to 2.30 p.m andresultantly consumers of 11KV Circular Road, AcademyTown, Abdarasirbagh,Igriculture, Achini-I.II. KTHfeeders will face inconve-nience.

Likewise, power supplywill remain suspended from132 KV Peshawar City’s gridstation on March 20 from 8am to 1 p.m and resultantlythe consumers of 11 KVSikandar Pura feeders willface inconvenience. From 132KV Rehman Baba grid sta-tion on March 19 & 21 from 8am to 1 p.m, the power sup-ply will remain suspected,resultantly the consumers of11 KV Ring Road feeders willface inconvenience.

Power supply will remainoff from 132 KV Haripur gridstation on March 18 from 9a.m to 3 P.M and resultantlythe consumers of 11 KVKhan Pur, KTS-I, SNK,Shimla Project, Town-I,Baldher, T&T Colony feed-ers will face inconvenience.From 132 KV Hussai grid sta-tion on March 19, 21, 23 from8 am to 2pm, power supplywill remain suspected andresultantly the consumers of11 KV Ismaiala, Kalu Khan,Bakhshali, Shabaz Ghari,Musa Khat, Rlustam, KarnalSher, Yar Hussian, Dobian.

US, Sindh Govt honourscholarship recipients

6 killed, three injuredin separate incidents

Rs 1.45 crore releasedfor 586 Zakat committees

Seminar on gender equality, poverty held

BANNU: Students of Postgraduate College Bannu stage a demonstration against demolishing Ghazali Hostel.

ISLAMABAD: Akiran Kono, Charge d’Affaires of Japan to Pakistan and Marc-Andre’Franche, Country Director, UNDP, Pakistan exchanging documents after the signingceremony held at the Election Commission of Pakistan.

I S L A M A B A D —Pres iden tPeoples Lawyer ForumFATA chapter Shah FahadAnsari has said that PakistanPeoples Party (PPP) hasstrong roots in FATA and thePPP leadership had alwaysraised voice for the rights ofFATA.

Talking to APP hereMonday, he said that exten-sion of Political Parties Act2002 will provide an oppor-tunity to the people ofFATA to join mainstreampolitical parties and makeprogress.

He said that for the firsttime people of FATA wouldfreely engage in the politi-cal process and would playan active role in national de-velopment.

Shah Fahad said allow-ing political parties to takepart in FATA politics wouldremove the sense of depri-

PPP maintain’s strongroots in FATA: Fahad

vation among the locals byproviding them opportu-nity to choose their repre-sentatives themselves.“Shaheed Zulfikar AlliBhutto was the only leaderof Pakistan who had visitedFATA at Tehsil levels andtried his best to understandand resolve their issues”,he added.

He lauded the comple-tion of constitutional termof the government andtermed it as the collectiveachievement of the politicalparties.

He said that PPP-ledgovernment had promotedpolitics of reconciliation inthe country.

He said that during thetenure of PPP governmentthe democratic norms hadtaken roots while in the pastdemocratic culture couldnot promoted.—APP

HYDERABAD: Rescue workers shifting a body of woman to civil hospital after it wasfound in Indus River Latifabad.

ISLAMABAD—The Govern-ment of Japan decided to ex-tend a grant of 183 millionJapanese Yen (approxi-mately US$ 2 million) to theIslamic Republic of Pakistanthrough the UNDP to sup-port the electoral process inPakistan. The grant will fundpolling staff training, devel-opment of elections resultsmanagement, and voter edu-cation and public outreach,a statement of Japan’s em-bassy issued here on Mon-day said. Through these ac-tivities, the project aims tostrengthen capacity of theElection Commission of Pa-kistan and to enhance par-ticipation of the general pub-lic in the elections, includ-ing women and the youth.

The notes to this effectwere signed and exchangedbetween Akira Kono, Charg‚

Japan provides $ 2m to support ECP in electionsd’Affaires of Japan to Paki-stan and Marc-Andr‚Franche, Country Director,UNDP, Pakistan.Mohammad Afzal Khan, Ad-ditional Secretary, ElectionCommission of Pakistan wasalso present to witness thesigning. In his remarks at thesigning ceremony, Mr. Konodescribed that the next elec-tion would be another land-mark in the history of democ-racy in Pakistan.

He continued that “it isessential that both the au-thorities and the people inPakistan play their roles inorder to make the upcomingelections credible, transpar-ent and inclusive”. Further,he expressed his hope thatthis project will be effectivelyimplemented by the ElectionCommission of Pakistan andthe UNDP, in close coordina-

tion with other partners. Heencouraged every stake-holder in Pakistan to work forcredible, transparent, and in-clusive elections.

By doing so, he stated,Pakistan can show to theworld that the country hascompleted yet another stageof consolidating its democ-racy and he would like to seethat today’s agreement willhelp Pakistan to achieve thisgoal. It was earlier reportedthat United Nations Develop-ment Programme (UNDP) inPakistan handed over the firstset of voter education mate-rial to the Election Commis-sion of Pakistan (ECP) inpreparation for the upcominggeneral elections. Accordingto a statement issued here,Voter education kits includ-ing stickers, posters, t-shirts,caps, pens and badges have

been sent to the provincial,regional and district field of-fices of the ECP to supportthem in their significant workof reaching out to voters.Country Director, UNDP Pa-kistan Marc-Andr’ Franchesaid that this is a part of demo-cratic culture, which in turnis crucial for sustainable hu-man development.

He said that together withthe ECP and other partners,UNDP is working to increasethe number of voters in theseelections particularlywomen, first time voters andminority groups. UNDP sup-ported the ECP to train morethan two hundred of its re-gional and district officers onvoter education earlier thisyear. This is the first time inthe ECP’s history that its of-ficers have been trained onsuch a crucial issue.—APP

The waythey shift loyalties

AS general elections are fast approaching, political birds have startedmigrating to different directions ditching their mother parties apparently for the sake of personal interests. The process started a few

months back when some of the elected representatives resigned from theirassembly seats and joined other parties but now it has gained momentumand expectedly the trend would continue in the days to come.

Individuals change political parties the world over mainly because ofserious policy differences but this happens rarely and those doing so givecogent and acceptable reasons for their decisions. However, in this part ofthe world particularly in Pakistan political individuals change their loyaltiesfrequently and without any solid reason, making mockery of the entire sys-tem. Ironically, this is happening despite verbal claims by almost all partiesthat they abhor the practice and in fact, change of loyalty or voting againstparty line attracts loss of the seat but the provision would take effect after thenext election. However, despite all this, almost all parties are welcomingpeople from other political parties in their folds, which shows that neithersuch individuals nor the parties concerned have any respect for principles.Parties have their own ideologies and manifestos and it is quite evident thatthose joining a party agree to its programme but ditching the party for findinggreener pastures is unfortunate. Internal differences are also no exception asthese persist amongst all parties and institutions around the world but if youbelieve in democracy then decision of the majority is binding on you. Leav-ing a party for personal, transitory or short-term gains shows that these indi-viduals have no pricking of conscience and their only motive is moneymakingand enjoying perks and privileges. Obviously, the prime motive of welcom-ing such people is the search for electables but the practice is indicative ofdegradation in political environment and unscrupulous politics. We hope theelectorate would take notice of the abhorring trend.

If oil rich UAEgoes for solar power

THE oil-rich Abu Dhabi on Sunday officially opened the world’s largest Concentrated Solar Power plant, which cost $600 million to build

and would provide electricity to 20,000 homes. The 100-MW Shams-I willsave 175,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide every year, equivalent to taking15,000 cars off the road.

The project is significant in that Abu Dhabi is the wealthiest of theseven states making up the federation of the United Arab Emirates and sitson proven oil reserves totalling 98.2 billion barrels, which are the world’sseventh largest besides having a large wealth of gas. The establishment ofthe plant, which is largest of its kind in the world, is reflective of the far-sightedness of the leadership of the UAE as it is understood that traditionalenergy reserves are to deplete one day, however large they might be. Thisshould also serve as a lesson for Pakistan, which is facing acute energyshortages now and according to the Planning Commission even if all powerprojects are completed within their envisaged deadlines, load-shedding inthe country will still be there till 2019-20. One fails to understand what thePlanning Commission and other relevant institutions have been doing overthese years of darkness and why they could not plan for the future. Politicalexpediencies and corruption apart, it is also a fact that different institutionsset up exclusively for some specific objectives are not fulfilling their coreresponsibilities and as a consequence the country has to suffer. BesidesPlanning Commission that has become a mere tool in the hands of vestedinterests, institutions like Alternative Energy Development Board too haveto be blamed for their inaction. To overcome energy shortage, Pakistanneeds to develop its indigenous energy resources like hydropower, solarand wind. Pakistan lies in an area of one of the highest solar insulation inthe world with potential to produce electricity, which could be provided tooff-grid communities in the northern hilly areas and the southern and west-ern deserts. We can also save significantly by introducing solar cookers,geysers and streetlights. All this will help in both reducing the import offossil fuels and dependency of people on fuel wood, which in turn willprovide some respite for the dwindling forest reserves of Pakistan.

Lahorites come to rescueof Joseph Colony

THOUGH the unfortunate incident of Joseph Colony brought collective shame and embarrassment for the entire nation but it was denounced,

openly condemned and people belonging to all sections of the society cameforward to extend all the humanitarian assistance to the affected Christiancommunity. Political, religious and social welfare leaders also visited thesite and assured full support and cooperation to the uprooted poor people.

However what was more encouraging was that the large heartedLahorites demonstrated their unparalleled sympathy and hospitality to theuprooted people, offered them all necessities of life including food itemsand a tent city was established to provide shelter. Religious leaders alsocame forward and played their role by emphasising that Islam is a religionof humanity and preaches tolerance, peace and mutual co-existence of allsects and communities. In the meanwhile, there were reports that the inci-dent was the handiwork of land mafia under the pretext of blasphemy toget the area vacated and there is need that the causes of the unfortunatehappening be investigated and truth brought to the notice of the public.Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif who visited Joseph Colony on Sun-day made the welcome announcement that all the damaged houses will berepaired before March 23, the Pakistan Day, and handed over to the af-fected families so that they too could join the celebrations of the Day. Whilethe Chief Minister deserves appreciation for helping the Christian commu-nity, there were many other philanthropists including the Real Estate ty-coon Malik Riaz who had offered to rebuild the colony and extend otherassistance. These types of noble gestures show how the people take care ofthose in distress and are hard proof of the bright face of Pakistan.

Objectives behind India’s arms buildup

Fine feathers makefine birds.

Nojustificationfor tearingIraq apart

The invasion of Iraq 10 yearsago this week triggered a bitter civil war, which destroyed

the fabric of the country, killed hun-dred of thousands of people, andembedded sectarian politics into theheart of the Arab world. The trag-edy of Iraq is all the more poignantbecause all the reasons that USPresident George W. Bush pre-sented to justify toppling Iraqipresident Saddam Hussain turnedout to be false.

At first, Bush blamed Saddamfor supporting Al Qaida after the9/11 attacks on the World TradeCentre and the Pentagon. In fact,Saddam had nothing to do with AlQaida, and was brutal in suppress-ing any kind of radical Islamist ac-tivity. This did not stop the nest ofneoconservatives in the Bush ad-ministration like Vice-PresidentDick Cheney and Defence Secre-tary Donald Rumsfeld from lin-ing up Iraq as a target within a fewweeks of the attack on the WorldTrade Centre. Bush then usedweapons of mass destruction(WMDs) that Saddam was al-leged to have as a justification forinvading Iraq. For some time thiswas the dominant justification,and the Bush administration wona variety of UN resolutions thatinsisted that Saddam had nuclearand chemical weapons.

At various times, Bush alsoclaimed that the purpose of the in-vasion was to promote democracyin the Middle East, and he addedthat Saddam’s terrible human rightsrecord was another justification forregime change. But what finishedany remaining credibility ofAmerica was the miserable failureto have any plan for the rebuildingof Iraq after the invasion. The StateDepartment had planned to put in50 Arabic-speaking former diplo-mats to ease the process of rebuild-ing Iraqi civil society, but all of asudden Bush gave that responsibil-ity to the Defence Department,which had no plans. As a result, Iraqhad to endure the disastrous pro-consuls of Jay Garner and PaulBremer, who had no idea of that todo the with the country they weregiven. Sectarian politics took off,and the years of civil war startedvery soon after. The only peoplewho have profited from all this arethe American security companiesand military suppliers, who madefortunes out of the billions pouredinto the US military effort in Iraq.Ironically, one other entity that hasbenefited from the Iraq debacle wasthe Iranian government, which sawits major rival in the region de-stroyed by the Americans, and itsproxies taking a dominant place inIraqi politics. — Gulf News

*****

Grammarfools

There are few things more aggravating, to a certain kindof mind, than a wrongly

placed apostrophe. The seeminglyinnocuous punctuation mark drivesotherwise calm people to fury. Thelatest battle in this long war is be-ing fought on the South Coast,where Mid Devon district councilhas infuriated local grammarians byremoving the symbol from all streetsigns. Beck’s Square will becomeBecks Square; St George’s Wellwill no longer belong to St George.The Plain English Campaign hascalled the move “nonsensical”.

Councillors should have fore-seen the row. When Waterstone’sbecame Waterstones, spoof picturesappeared on the Internet showinga homeless apostrophe, with a signsaying: “Will denote contractionsor possessives for food.” It’s hardnot to feel sympathy, though, sinceapostrophe misuse is so wide-spread, not merely on grocers’ signsbut in professional writing. Thecouncil must have grown tired ofseeing apostrophes where theywere not called for and nonewhere they were. Still, it is a de-feat. Mid Devon has given up thepunctuation struggle; another re-doubt has fallen. Languagechanges, yes, but apostrophes arevital. After all, they’re the differ-ence between “Don’t worry aboutdinner, I’ll eat our son’s” and“Don’t worry about dinner, I’lleat our sons.” — The Telegraph

MEDIA WATCH

— Proverb

India is land of appalling poverty, and also land of insurgencies. Instead of allocating for

the social sector to alleviate themiseries and woes of the people,India is spending billions of dollarson military build up and buying so-phisticated weapons from all overthe world. The twin objective is tocontinue repression on its peopleand to satiate its desire to dominatethe region. When people take up thearms against repression and the in-justices of the Indian governmentor if there is any incident of terror-ism, India blames Pakistan withoutinvestigating the matter. RecentlyIndian Government has started in-sinuating Pakistan for its involve-ment in CRPF camp attack inSrinagar through a media cam-paign. Two militants hiding auto-matic rifles and grenades in cricketkit opened fire on a paramilitarycamp on the Indian side of Kash-mir on Wednesday, killing five In-dian personnel and wounding five.

Local media reports said thatHizbul Mujahideen claimed re-sponsibility for the attack, in whichthree civilians were also wounded.Tensions have been running high inSrinagar since last month, when In-dia hanged Afzal Guru who was ac-cused of masterminding the attackon Indian parliament in 2001. In-dian Home Secretary R.K. Singhalleged “prime facie evidence sug-gests that the militants who at-tacked the members of the CentralReserve Police Force were from

Pipeline politics

HURMAT GROUP OF PUBLICATIONSZahid Malik

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Sunday Magazine

Sadia Zahid MalikEditor

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While centrality of Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline to theenergy-starved Pakistani

economy is beyond doubts, the tim-ing of its inauguration seems in-triguing. Just last year, the FinanceMinistry announced that privateinvestors were not ready to partici-pate in the project and it could notbe undertaken without taxing con-sumers or seeking financial assis-tance from Russia and China. Inthis situation, one is left guessingas what prompted the governmentto embark upon the project, par-ticularly when it had already en-tered the last week of its tenure.Ever since its inception, Iran-Pa-kistan Gas Pipeline Project has re-mained shrouded in controversies.Initially, the project was proposedby India, in 1989, to fuel its bur-geoning industry with cheaper Ira-nian gas. It was at the wish ofTehran that Pakistan, from wherethe gas pipeline would pass, wasalso included in the project.

Those were the days when In-dia-Pakistan rivalry was on its ze-nith due to the spiraling militancyin Occupied Kashmir. Islamabadwas also not in good terms withTehran as both sides had crossedinterests in Afghanistan. TheShiite-Sunni strife was on the risein Pakistan and even Iranian dip-lomats and engineers were killedinside Pakistan. Therefore, re-sponse from Pakistan was alsolukewarm. However, Pakistan’saggravating need for energy andcontinuing insistence from Irannecessitated signing of the deal.Pakistan and Iran signed agree-

ment on the project in 1994. Simi-larly, Iran signed agreement withIndia over the project in 1999. Ear-lier, Iran announced in April 2008to include China in the project and,in 2010, it also invited Bangladeshto join the project. However, the In-dian decision to withdraw from theproject in 2009 on security and pric-ing issues almost hamstrung the is-sue. Coming on the heel of opposi-tion from Western and Arab coun-tries, the deal seemed to have to-tally collapsed. Despite persistentdemand from the Iranian side toundertake the project and an-nouncement by the Russian energygiant, Gazprom, in 2012, to extendfinancial and technical support inlaying the pipeline, the fresh UNand American sanctions againstIran over its nuclear program didnot allow Islamabad to go aheadwith the deal.

Pakistan has always enlisted theproject as one of its major optionsfor addressing its energy crisis.However, despite its promises andrepeated announcements, Islamabadnever took any practical step to ini-tiate the project. Tehran has beeninsisting for the last many years thatit has completed its part of theproject and it also offered financialassistance to Pakistan to lay its por-tion of the pipeline. In July 2011, theIranian government announced thatin absence of implementation, Pa-kistan will have to pay a penalty of$ one billion to Tehran per day tillcompletion of the project for notmeeting its obligations. Besides USpressure and the UN sanctions, therehave also been several other factors,which have held back implementa-tion of the project. During the visitof Saudi Deputy Finance Ministerto Pakistan in April 2012, reportshad appeared in media that the king-

dom had offered alternative projectsplus financial assistance to Pakistanif it abandoned the project.

Rivalries between Iranians andthe Arabs date back to the pre-his-toric Achaemenid and Sassaniandynasties of Iran. Both ethic rivalshave always tried to edge out eachother from the regional map ofpower game. This rivalry is persis-tent even today and neither Arabsnor Ajams [Iranians] are ready toleave ground to each other in theregion. During the Afghan war, andmore so after emergence ofKhomeini factor in regional poli-tics, this rivalry took a new turn andsigns of the war of interests be-tween the two sides can be vividlyseen in Pakistan and Afghanistan.Apart from Saudi Arabia, otherArab states are also equally contrib-uting to this conflict and one of itsmanifest shapes is the tension be-tween Iran and the United ArabEmirates over Abu Musa and twoother islands in Hormuz Straight.

However, while these interna-tional factors can be rubbished as hy-pothetical, there are certain palpablethreats on the ground, which arehampering execution of the project.For example, the Shiite-Sunni rival-ries in Pakistan would never allowany such transaction with Iran. Howwill Lashkar-e Jhangvi and otherSunni extremist groups allow Paki-stan to enter such deals with Iran? Ifthese groups cannot tolerate Shiitepilgrims traveling to Iran, how willthey allow an Iranian company to laythe pipeline in Pakistan? Let alonethe Pakistani fanatic groups, the Ira-nian Jundullah outfit will also notlet the project go scot-free.

Baloch militancy is also a po-tential threat to the pipeline projectbecause Baloch separatist groupswould never allow execution of

across the border; theywere probably from Paki-stan”. Pakistan, however,rejected the remarks madeby R.K. Singh, statingthat such statements couldroil the spirit of the dia-logue between the twocountries. In a statement

issued on Wednesday, the ForeignOffice also rejected the statementmade by Defence Minister A.K.Antony in the Rajya Sabha accus-ing the Special Services Group ofPakistan Army of beheading two In-dian soldiers on the Line of Controlon January 08, 2013.

Pakistan has called upon theGovernment of India to carry outa thorough investigation into theincident before leveling such ac-cusations which are counterpro-ductive and serve no purpose. Un-fortunately, India is on a buyingspree for sophisticated weaponsand arming itself to the teeth withthe objective of dominating theSouth Asian countries and be-yond. India’s defence personnelare involved in bribes and kick-backs and accusing Pakistan ofattack on CRPF base is meant todeflect the attention of Indianmasses from the above scandal.“Detectives raided the home ofIndia’s former air force chief S.P.Tyagi on Wednesday as part of aninvestigation into alleged bribespaid to secure a $748 million con-tract for 12 Italian helicopters,Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI) spokeswoman DhariniMishra said. The helicopter pur-chase came under scrutiny fromItalian investigators looking intoallegations the group had brokenthe law by paying bribes to for-eign officials, leading to the ar-rest of Finmeccanica’s bossGiuseppe Orsi, who quitted from

his post after his arrest, deniedany wrongdoing and his lawyercalled his arrest “unjustified”.

Italian prosecutors suspect thatkickbacks worth around 10 per centof the deal, or 50 million euros ($68million), were paid to Indian offi-cials to ensure AgustaWestland wonthe contract, according to Italianmedia reports. Cash was allegedlyhanded to a cousin of the former In-dian air force chief with moremoney funneled via a web ofmiddlemen and companies in Lon-don, Switzerland, Tunisia andMauritius. India has become theworld’s biggest arms and defenseequipment buyer in recent years andis expected to spend $80 billionover the next 10 years to upgradeits military. Arms deals in Indiahave often been mired in contro-versy, however, with allegationsthat companies have paid millionsof dollars in kickbacks to Indian of-ficials. In the 1980s, Prime Minis-ter Rajiv Gandhi’s government col-lapsed over charges that the Swed-ish gun manufacturer Bofors paidbribes to supply Howitzer fieldguns to the Indian army.

Following the Bofors scandal,India banned middlemen in all de-fense deals. The case is also a majorembarrassment for Prime MinisterManmohan Singh’s government,which has been buffeted over thepast year by a string of corruptionscandals ahead of national electionsscheduled in the first half of nextyear. From the shady deals it is ob-vious that corruption in Indian de-fence forces is rampant, and to makemore money senior officers makearms deals, which tends to escalatethe arms race in South Asia, as Pa-kistan is forced to increase its de-fence budget to maintain the balancein the region. After signing civilnuclear agreement with the US, In-

dia is poised to acquire nuclearplants to enhance its capability tomake more nuclear devices, and willhave the capacity to increase fromits current production capacity of sixto 10 additional nuclear bombs ayear to several dozen per year. Indiais to jointly build a surface-to-airmissile with the second biggestweapons supplier Israel and hopesfor such collaborations with theother countries.

In 2009, the USS Trentonn, thegiant American landing platformdock, was inducted in Indian navyfor which order was placed by In-dia for Rs 215 crores in 2007. It wasre-christened INS Jalashwa. Theacquisition of the INS Jalashva wasmeant to enormously boost thesealift capability of the IndianNavy. It is equipped with four land-ing mechanised craft and can carryup to 1,000 troops along with ve-hicles, tanks, artillery, ammunitionand tracked landing vehicles. Indiahas also increased its defence bud-get, and is poised to spend at least$50 billion on installation ofnuclear power plants, which willenhance its capacity and capabilityto increase it nuclear arsenal. In2010, New Delhi had allocated $11billion to build and buy six new-generation submarines in what willbe one of the biggest military con-tracts that India has signed. Withthese additions to the arsenal of In-dia, the neighbors are likely to feelnervous, which will result into armsrace in the region. All Saarc coun-tries are wary of India’s hegemonicdesigns, as it has either dispute overland or over what is called waterterrorism of India. In fact, India hasbecome the source of instability inthe region especially South Asiancountries.—The writer is Lahore-basedsenior journalist.

any economic undertaking inBaloch areas, which can benefit‘Punjab.’ Three Chinese engineerswere killed in a massive bomb ex-plosion the day Gwadar Deep SeaPort was completed in 2004, whichwas a clear message to foreign in-vestors that Baloch militants areaverse to such development activ-ity in their area. Besides, if thegovernment claims that RAW isinvolved in terrorist activities inBalochistan, then how the enemywould allow Pakistan to go aheadwith such a gigantic project.

It cannot be expected that thegovernment was oblivious to thesestark realities. However, if it hasventured into the project despitethat, it can more be a political movethan a step of economic develop-ment. While on its exit course, andwith no hopes for its return topower, the government, by inaugu-rating the project, in fact, wantedto cook a trouble for the next gov-ernment, which it can cash in thedays ahead. The move would moresuit the government if predictionsabout Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz coming into power in thenext general elections come true.The new government, which willface serious economic problems,would risk relations with the UnitedStates, the international communityand the Arab states if it goes headwith the project. If not, PakistanPeoples Party will obtain an issueto exploit and tell people that whileits government inaugurated theproject, the new government failedto complete it. The party has thusput such a burden on shoulders ofthe new government, which it itselfcould not carry for the last fiveyears. End—The author is an Islamabad-based freelance journalist.

Mohammad JamilEmail: mjamil1938@hotmail.com

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Abdul Hadi MayarEmail: hadimayar@yahoo.com

Voice of the People

For the past five years of civilrule, common man has foughttooth and nail to gain better

living but every demand of commonman in this regard is met with stiffopposition from the capitalist rulingclass at all levels. The economy isstagnant, with unemployment atrecord levels. Pakistan today evenlags behind Bangladesh, Sri Lanka,and Nepal. In every corner of thecountry, a portrait of hunger has nowemerged. Food prices all over thecountry are skyrocketing and manypeople are going hungry. Agricul-ture, the most important sector of theeconomy, has been severely affectedby abnormal price hike of energy,fuel, fertilizer, seeds and machinery.

Across the country, the numberof hungry and homeless people israpidly growing. The unprecedentedrecession has pushed millions ofmore children into poverty. Tens ofmillion children are “food insecure,”and their parents often don’t knowwhere the next meal will come from.

Pak economy at crossroadPTI &

youngstersKHURRAM SHAHZAD AWAN

People of Pakistan are looking fornew hope for the development oftheir own financial resources andalso in lieu of the socio-economi-cal development in Pakistan. Paki-stan Tehreek e Insaaf is new hopefor the people of Pakistan. If welook at the past some politicianscame in the political scenario tochange the fate of the people butthey were trapped by the bureau-cratic and establishment barriers.Imran Khan is a popular leader inthe present political scene but theproblem is that how he can over-come the political opponents?

A large number of youngstershave changed their minds as theythink that Imran Khan is just mak-ing the people fool as first he al-ready favored the fake referendumof General Pervez Musharraf. Itwas the crucial mistake of ImranKhan. People think that a personwho once supports the dictator cannever ever be the true politicalleader because a worst democracyis better than the best dictatorship.Now the political field is open, howImran will grab the attention of theyoungsters in the upcoming elec-tion. It is a big question mark be-cause a large percentage of peopleis looking for the answer fromImran Khan and Tehreek-e-Insaaf.—Islamabad

The Capital’sexclusive Zone

KHALID IDREES

The town planner who designedIslamabad Master Plan divided thearea included in the Plan into dif-ferent Zones. These Zones are dis-tinguished from one another prima-rily by the use to which the area cir-cumscribed under a particular Zonecan be utilized. Thus there are resi-dential Zones, commercial Zones,industrial Zones and Zones whereno residential, commercial or indus-trial activity is permitted. Over theyears the CDA with the connivanceof the political administrations, bothmilitary and civilian, that have mis-governed us have played havoc withIslamabad Master Plan. But atpresent I shall not dwell on the im-plications which violations of theMaster Plan have caused.

Right now I want to draw atten-tion to another very special and ex-clusive Zone that the powers that behave managed to create in Islamabadsince last several years. It neither hasany legality nor was it envisaged inthe Master Plan of Islamabad. WhatI have in mind is the informal but anexclusive Zone comprising E 7 andE 8 Sectors of Islamabad that hasbeen established by Pakistan Navyand Pakistan Air Force since last sev-eral years. Citizens not serving in thearmed forces of Pakistan are not al-lowed entry in this Zone as a matterof routine. Until one year ago com-mon citizens would be allowed en-try in this Zone from the designatedentry points after depositing theirCNICs which they could retrieve atthe time of exiting the Zone. Sinceabout one year this so called “ facil-ity “ has been withdrawn because, ac-cording to the authorities, commoncitizens do not deserve this.

The above-referred so calledZone has been created in the nameof security. Now, preventing commoncitizens from entering this Zone tan-tamount to abridging their right offree movement guaranteed by theconstitution. Further this adds to thealienation between the armed forcesand common citizens. I recall thespirit of genuine camaraderie thatexisted between the people and thearmed forces until the mid sixties.Unfortunately since early seventies,camaraderie of the sixties began tobe replaced by a feeling of alienation.This is not the place to go into thewhys and wherefores of this trans-formation in the general public’s per-ception. However, suffice it to saythat measures like creating exclusiveareas for the armed forces wherecommon people are denied access,albeit in the name of security, alien-ate people from the armed forces.

This is particularly so when theoverall security situation of thecountry far from ideal. People havenow become aware that it is taxpay-ers money that is being spent to pro-vide security to only a special cat-egory of persons at the cost of leav-ing the majority “ exposed “ to thedangers. The realization is becom-ing strong that this is blatantly un-just situation which should not beallowed to continue. It is time thatthose who wield the decision-mak-ing apparatus do away with the bla-tantly discriminating security dis-pensations for the selected few. Be-fore it is too late let us institute in-clusive security arrangements anddo away with the exclusive arrange-ments which are in vogue at present.—Islamabad

ECP, the beacon lightHAMID MAKER

THE position that the Chief Election Commissioner and ECPhave taken to implement Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution

of Pakistan and their fearless and upright stand have earned theECC respect and revived the people’s hope. We know that he car-ries a heavy burden on his old and frail shoulders, but his strengthlies in his integrity and honesty and the support of the citizens andthe Supreme Court of Pakistan. Fakhruddin G Ebrahim must actaccording to the dictates of his conscience, hold the elections onschedule, irrespective of the consequences and ensure that they aretransparent, free and fair. We fully support the ECP and urge himnot to compromise on his principals and disqualify all those who donot meet the conditions laid out in the Constitution of Pakistan,without fear or favour. It is also up to the citizens to play their con-stitutional role, as responsible citizens and vote for only those can-didates who have a proven and clean track record. If we fail to doso, then the fault will not be in our stars but in ourselves.—Karachi

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Pilgrimsunder threatCHANGEZI SANDHU

As Pakistan is sweltering in the heatof terrorism in spite of a lot sacrific-ing for some decades, sectarian kill-ing is also its part. People of somereligious sects are victim of sectar-ian killing throughout Pakistan. AsBalochistan is a land way for Shiapilgrims to visit the Shrines of reli-gious celebrities in Iran thereforethey are being targeted during thetravel. Similarly, approximately 19Shia pilgrims were killed in a carbomb attack in Mustang on 30 De-cember 2012 at morning. Fourwomen were wounded in this attackon a caravan on Quetta, Tafton high-way, some kilometers from the pro-vincial capital. Official said,”19people had been killed on the spotand 25 others wounded.

An eyewitness told the pilgrimshailed from Lahore, Jhang, RahimYar Khan, Khaniwal and other dis-tricts of Punjab. If look into the sec-tarian killing of Shia pilgrims inBaluchistan, we come to know thatseven hundred shia and fourteen hun-dred people from different tribes havebeen targeted in Baluchistan. Accord-ing to the report, the Mustang areahas become the most insecure for theShia pilgrims.

As many as twenty-six Shia pil-grims from Hazara community werekilled on 20 September, 2011 in anattack in the same district. More thanAlmost one hundred Shias have beenkilled in January 2013 and most ofthe people belonged to Hazara tribe.Following these attacks, the govern-ment had decided to provide escortto buses carrying pilgrims but the at-tacks couldn’t be stopped. Both pro-vincial and federal governments arenot taking effective steps to providethem to secure their lives. No doubt,anti-Pakistan elements are playing avital role in such killing to disablePakistan and occupy Balochistan dueto natural resources. All flesh knowsthat it is an ample example of worldconspiracy. But our state actorsshould play an active role to fail theirconspiracies by removing sectariankilling and terrorism etc.

Our government should first ne-gotiate with the terrorist parties andthen take effective steps to uprootthem from our land. Some people sayArmy and our agencies are involvedin this killing in Balochistan due totheir interests and they are creatinghurdles in its prosperity and stability.But strictly speaking, it is out of mymind how that is that possible? Ter-rorism is prevailing so rapidlythroughout Pakistan. I request to mygovernment to show patriotism andtry to eradicate such elements other-wise they can prove much dangerousfor our country.—Islamabad

Importanceof vote

S MUSHTAQ GHUMMAN

It is an admitted fact that the right tovote is the mainstay of representativedemocracy as it carries in itself apower of change. Right to vote ,be-ing a formal expression of preferenceby a citizen for a candidate, is re-garded as the sheer manifestation ofhis aspirations. By dint of this pre-cious right, people express their willthrough their elected representativesin every modern democratic systemof the world. So, the role ofelectorate(citizens having right tovote) is of great significance as far asthe policy-making is concerned.

Unfortunately, in a country likePakistan, having representative de-mocracy, right to vote has not beenduly exercised since its inception.There are multiple causes behind theexploitation of this valued right. But,the root cause is the lack of aware-ness and proper education. The citi-zens are unaware of the importanceas well as the future implicationsabout the use of this right. This is why,from the general elections of 1970 upto the elections of 2008, the averageturn out has been 55%. Apart fromthis feudal lords, spiritual leaders andother influential entities have usurped

Is Iran ready for a deal?

For the first time since 2009,there may be signs of a breakin the deadlock over Iran’s

nuclear program. Iran entered the lat-est talks with a slightly softened po-sition. That is good news, but theUnited States will have to change itsnegotiating strategy to take advan-tage of it. Economic sanctions arebiting hard in Iran. Meanwhile, itsstrategic position is crumbling be-cause of the turmoil in its ally Syriaand the rise of militant SunniIslamism throughout the ArabMiddle East. Together, these forcesseem to have forced Iran to recon-sider its own bargaining position.

So rather than strengthen sanc-tions another notch, America shouldgive Iran a little tit for tat: begin ne-gotiating directly, and put on the tablethe prospect of lifting sanctions, oneby one, as bargaining chips. TheUnited States should shift from try-ing to further intimidate Iran to try-ing to clinch an agreement. The sanc-tions have given America leverage,and we should use it to seek a deal

that would finally restrict Iran’s abil-ity to make bomb fuel, rather thanratchet up the pressure in the hopesof getting either a broader deal nowor a total surrender later.

The problem with just standingtough is that it is likely to backfire;Iran is understandably nervous, andif it thinks America is intransigent,it might double down on its nuclearprogram, speeding it up past a pointof no return. Hints of progress wereseen at the round of talks inKazakhstan last month. The UnitedStates, negotiating together withRussia, China, Britain, France andGermany, proposed only small stepsthat would slightly ease American-imposed restrictions (allowing Iranto again trade in gold and silver, andto obtain spare parts for civilian air-craft), while insisting on stringentdemands that Iran give up its abil-ity to highly enrich uranium anduse it to build nuclear weapons.Somewhat surprisingly, Iran saidthe proposal was welcome but notenough — and that it would re-spond in a few weeks. That con-trasted with its previous pattern offlatly rejecting the other side’s pro-posals. The new pressures on

Tehran, its milder tone in the talksand its past signals that it might con-sider restricting enrichment levelssuggest that Iran may be ready forproductive bargaining. So the UnitedStates should be open to that possi-bility when talks resume in thecoming days, and make new pro-posals to determine how serious theIranians are. Since 2003, Washing-ton has relied on sanctions to bringIran to the international bargainingtable. But the Bush and Obama ad-ministrations have done more sanc-tioning than negotiating — partlybecause putting pressure on Iran ispopular in America, while makingdeals with Iran is not. Rather thanpushing for a negotiated solution tothe crisis, Washington has oftenseemed to be holding out for Iran tosimply capitulate.

Iran’s leaders already suspectthat America’s real goal is to over-throw their Islamic republic; at thesame time, their citizens bitterly re-sent the sanctions, and generallysupport the idea of an Iranian nuclearprogram. Their leaders rememberthe Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, whenSaddam Hussein violated interna-tional law by using chemical weap-

Vali Nasr

People who have beenmiddle class who are nowstruggling to put food on thetable are feeling an enor-mous amount of stress.Things are going to gettough. The people don’t

know what they are going to do. Thepoor households are selling every-thing they possibly can – theirclothes, pots, and even their houses.Their domestic relationship is be-coming extremely strained.

In fact, Pakistan is composedof two distinct groups: the rich andthe rest. And for the purposes ofinvestment decisions, the secondgroup doesn’t matter; tracking itsspending habits or worrying overits savings rate is simply a wasteof time. All the action in theeconomy is at the top: the richest10 percent of households earn asmuch as the bottom 80 percent puttogether; they possess as muchwealth as the bottom 90 percent;and with each passing year, agreater share of the nation’s wealthis flowing through their hands andinto their pockets. It is this seg-ment of the population, almostexclusively, that holds the key tofuture growth and future returns.Rest of the population is merely

Views From Abroad

Existentialism and resistance

Existentialism is a philosophical concept invariably seekingand stressing the assertion of

subjectivity and egoistic individual-ism of a man in life. So subjectivityis the essence of existentialism. Sub-jectivity, if subservient to the Abso-lute Ego of God Almighty, is synony-mous with ‘khudi’. Intuitionalism, theunderlying principle of mysticismand sufism, is quintessentially a partof existentialism. So existentialism,the doctrine determining the dynam-ics of a mystic or a political move-ment, should be construed as a foun-tainhead of consciousness, whichentails recognition of freedom and re-sponsibility as indispensable part ofsubjective assertion.

Thus existentialism, as a vibrantdoctrine of life, forms the cornerstoneof the resistance movement in Kash-mir. Existentialism, as a drivingcanon and lustrous lemma, will al-ways remain juxtaposed to our resis-tance manoeuvre. And subjectivity inself-assertion and objectivity in ap-praisal and analysis will be concomi-tant. Necessitarian quietism helps in

attaining perfection in mystic intro-spection and meditation. However, inresistance politics, it turns out to be aquietus which benumbs the revolu-tionary ideas and emotions and pa-ralyses the resolve to resist anythingundesirable.

The doctrine of existentialismwill continue to invigorate the resis-tance movement of Kashmir. In re-sistance politics it is the indefatigablewill and resolve of an ideologuewhich perpetually revitalizes his sen-timents and emotions and imbues andinspires him with hope and confi-dence to march towards the cherishedgoal of Azadi. Doctrinist MaqboolButt, the resistance icon, was a pro-ficient journalist and political geniusoverwhelmed by exuberant and ebul-lient love for resistance struggle.Maqbool, as an adept and ideal mili-tant strategist, could, through empha-sis on the doctrine of existentialism,instil self-confidence and optimisminto the hearts of his compatriots.

His leadership charisma, flair andfinesse taught him to adopt all the vi-able modes of political manoeuvreand guerrilla tack and knack to fa-cilitate rejuvenation, reinvigorationand reanimation of freedom aspira-tions and emotions of Kashmiris.Failure of Operation Gibralter and

subsequent inconclusive Indo-PakSept. 1965 war proved an eye-openerfor Maqbool Butt, who, as highly in-doctrinated freedom ideologue, pro-pounded the theory of a sustainedindigenous and endogenous guerrillawarfare in Kashmir. So it was para-digm shift in the conventional modeof peaceful democratic resistance.Adversaries who could not compre-hend his philosophy of armed resis-tance would jeer, sneer and scoff athis militant demeanour.

Escapism and defeatist mindsetof his adversaries could not deterhim from darting into Kashmir inJune 1966 along with his equallyresolute companions maj.Amanullah and Aurangzeb (aliasTahir). At Nadihal, Baramullah,there was an encounter with Indiansecurity personnel; Aurangzeb diedas a martyr and Maqbool was ar-rested and lodged in Srinagar cen-tral jail where ‘special court’, onAug. 17-1968, passed a death sen-tence against him. However, hismilitant dexterity and adroitness fa-cilitated his escape from the prisonon Dec. 9-1968; and, after travers-ing the inhospitable mountains for16 days, he along with his two col-leagues reached Muzaffarabad onDec. 25, 1968 to embark on a haz-

this right as well. Fictitious represen-tation based upon empty slogans,bombastic speeches and immatureleadership is the outcome of this un-due influence. The Universal Decla-ration of Human Rights, under Ar-ticle 21,also throws light on impor-tance of right to vote as it is statedthat useful exercise of this right is theprerequisite for free, fair, impartialand transparent elections. It has beenrightly said by former U.S. PresidentLyndon B Johnson that” a man with-out a vote is a man without protec-tion”. So, this is the right, the use ofwhich, determines the future courseof actions.

In a nutshell, keeping in view thecoming elections, citizens must knowthe worth of their inestimable right ie, right to vote as even a single votecan be decisive. There is dire need ofawareness in this regard. So, the po-litical parties and various NGOs con-cerning Human Rights must playtheir pivotal role in educating themasses regarding the effective use ofthis right as it is the essence of thedemocratic dispensation.—Lahore

Save women’srights

ABUBHAKAR BHEEL

The shackles of conservative ap-proach toward the conduct withwomen and girls are crumbling acrossthe globe. After having a frustratedattempt in 2003, the woman activistshave achieved to get a resolutionpassed in UN assembly that wouldbar the unfair conduct with womenand girls on the grounds of traditions,customs and religion. Although Iran,the Vatican and Russia, who report-edly were denounced as unholy alli-ance by diplomats of western bloc,had some apprehensions over thehard language and the terms relatedto abortion and inclusion of forciblesexual intercourse into the definitionof rape, yet it was settled at the elev-enth hour.

The step must be celebrated butby keeping in view the fact that it isyet to deliver the justice under theaforesaid declaration to the endpoints. The women in Saudi Arabia,Iran and some other countries areundergoing the unacceptable limita-tion at domestic as well as state level.The growing numbers of Gang rapesin South Africa and India is appall-ing. It is stated ironically the samepage of news paper was carrying thenews of acceptance of resolution andrape of Swiss female tourist in India.Though the enactment of Acid lawsand gargantuan support for Malala’scause augur better situation in Paki-stan, the NGO’s reports over thewomen’s condition in her remote andbackward areas are god-awful.

Is not it embarrassing to see thewomen’s position in most of the Is-lamic countries? It was Islam andteaching of our beloved holy Prophet(PBUH) who had revolutionized therole of females in society. At presentinstead of standing by their rights andbecome the bastion of equal status towoman, we are making others to takeus on the issue. No one is expectedto transgress the limits prescribed byinjunctions of Islam but contempo-rary era entails some reforms.

There are some suggestions thatwould help realize and cure the prob-lems. Neither women’s rights can bewell secured, nor they can stand fortheir protection unless they are awareof the violation of their steps. Aware-ness and literacy rate should be con-sidered in earnest. Secondly it is in-cumbent on the government to bringthe domestic laws in conformity withthe aforesaid declaration. A furtheraspect, not covered by declaration, offemale inmates in prison also requiressincere attention.—Via email

ardous task to emphasize his styleof struggle with added resolve.Simla agreement of 1972 which de-barred Pakistan from providing anymaterial help to freedom zealots ofKashmir and also the Indira-Abdullah accord of 1974 whichsymbolized Sheikh Abdullah’s cyni-cism and abject capitulation forcedMaqbool Butt to re-assert with hisexistential militant doctrine. ThusMaqbool’s doctrine of existentialismand propensity for patriotic initiativemade him feel restless. So he, whilerejecting these ignominious agree-ments re-entered Kashmir valley inMay 1976 to reorganize the revolu-tionary cadres here for a sustainedarmed struggle. He was again arrestedand lodged in Tihar jail where he,after having faced every sort of or-deal, for long eight years, had to facegallows on Feb. 11, 1984 to becomethe proud protomartyr of Kashmir.

Our doctrine of existentialism,monotheistic introversion and in-domitable volition and valour willinevitably make us emerge victoriousin the protracted struggle for Azadi;Insh-e-Allah. No power on earth canforce us to abnegate, relinquish andwaive our right to self-determination.We have reposed our trust in omnipo-tent Allah Almighty.

ons and was never punished for it.Iran’s leaders concluded that theywere vulnerable to aggression bytheir better-armed Arabneighbours, and that internationalagreements offered no protection.

In other words, insecuritydrives Iran’s nuclear ambition, andit leaves Iran’s supreme leader,Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, con-vinced that if he were to give upIran’s nuclear program entirely, asLibya did in the last decade, hewould only invite the fate ofMuammar el-Qaddafi. That logic— if Iran is going to face sanctionsanyway, better to face them withthe bomb than without — has pro-duced a saying in Tehran thesedays: “Better to be North Koreathan Iraq.” Still, Iran’s leaders andcitizens clearly want the sanctionslifted, and they may now be sig-nalling a way out of the deadlock.It’s time for the United States totest the leaders’ real intentions andoffer them a path to rejoining theinternational community. Thewriter is dean of the School of Ad-vanced International Studies atJohns Hopkins University.— Courtesy: The New York Times

consumers of their products. Thecapitalist political class has sever-ally and collectively plundered thehuge resources of the nation, whilethe poor masses go hungry, is nomore news.

Rulers of Pakistan are respon-sible for all this. PPP has given noth-ing to people except for price hike,unemployment, loss of institutions,lawlessness, ethnic and regional con-flicts, drone attacks and dead bod-ies during their five year rule.Pakistan’s economy is severely dis-rupted by these devastating fiveyears of so called democracy. Withthe collapse of a central authorityand mounting regional and ethnicconflicts created by the PPP, the de-livery of services collapsed, and thepopulation was pushed to hungerand poverty.

The richest people are goinghome with a bigger share of nationalwealth than ever before, while thepoor end up with even less; the taxa-tion system is such that the poor —through indirect taxes — are subsi-dizing the lifestyle of the rich, whodo not pay direct taxes on their as-sets. Any efforts to restructure thetax system fail because of politicalexpediency in a fragmented parlia-ment. The common man can not ar-

range two square meals for his fam-ily whereas the properties of poli-ticians and their foreign bank ac-counts are increasing with eachpassing day.

The government is not improv-ing public-sector efficiency andtransparency and not at all readyto implementing a public financial-management-reform strategy andinstalling information-managementsystems, and developing and sus-taining human and institutional ca-pacity remains a challenge. It isdepending merely on more andmore debts from internal and ex-ternal sources instead of some per-manent policy formulation. In viewof this dismal economic picture ifthis situation continues to persistthen the day is not far when thecountry’s economy will go bank-rupt making it impossible for thepeople to survive?

The country could be savedby getting rid of artificial and cor-rupt leadership. This country des-perately requires excellent, posi-tive and valuable leadership. Theday it does; this country will im-prove within very short time.Let’s pledge that we shall makeefforts to perform our duties hon-estly and faithfully.

How often I see friends andcolleagues reeling under theweight of resentment: even

I have been through instances whereI have found myself resenting someones action or insult, resenting aninterference or harm that has hap-pened to me.

I have found that resentmenteats you up, bit by bit, day byday, and finally kills you. If weare to maintain spiritual fresh-ness, we must determine to for-

give everyone who hurts us andrefuse to nurse a grudge.

Grudges become glooms. I readthis about a Japanese boy who learnedto handle resentment well: A fewyears after World War II, a ChristianJapanese boy at a public contest an-nounced that his subject would be “The Sacredness of Work.”

Some people smiled at hischoice, but when they heard his story,their smiles turned to tears. His par-ents and home were burned to ashesin the atomic bomb explosion atNagasaki. He was the eldest of thethree surviving children, and togetherthey knelt in the ashes of their homeand prayed to know what to do.

One of them said, “I know—wecan work.” So they set to work, gath-

ering bits of tin and boards, and soonthey had built a little hut in which tolive. They could have nursed theirgrudge and become gloomy; insteadthey forgave, forgot, and went towork. No one who wants to main-tain spiritual freshness can afford tonurse a grudge. It will poison bothspirit and body.

As one doctor put it: “Grudgesput the whole physical and mentalsystem on a war basis instead of on apeace basis.” Walter Alvarez, who isboth a medical doctor and counsel-lor, says: “I often tell patients theycannot afford to carry grudges ormaintain hates.

Such things can make them illand tire them out. I once saw a mankill himself inch by inch, simply by

Resentment..!thinking of nothing but hatred for arelative who had sued him. Withina year or two he was dead.” Agrudge or a resentment is sand inthe machinery of living. You knowwhat sand does to machinery, itspoils the smoothness of an oiledaction till the piston or machineryfinally breaks, or gets stuck andcreates untold damage.

Here is a prayer for you if youare going through a period of re-sentment: ‘O LORD teach us howto get this Resentment out of oursoul and also out of our body. Helpus to decide that it is the Oil ofLove, not the Sand of Resentment,that shall go into the Machinery ofOur Life day by day. Amen.—Email: bobsbanter@gmail.com

Azam InqilabiEmail: mahazmediacell@gmail.com

Shaukat M ZafarEmail: smzafar101@gmail.com

FU JING IN BEIJING

PRODI said that the challenge of urbanization is contingent on the new leaders’ determination to reduce provincial differences across China, adding that the dis-

parity in incomes between large cities such asBeijing, Shanghai and less developed areas suchas Guizhou and Gansu province, are substantial.“This great movement toward urbanization mustbe completed by a process of greater equality ofincome across different regions,” he said. Worldleaders ponder future of partnership: The rapidpace of urbanization has imposed huge pressureson Chinese cities and their infrastructures, accord-ing to the European Commissioner for the Envi-ronment Janez Potocnik. However, the move of-fers a unique opportunity to improve the lives ofthe future city dwellers, or “urban billion”. As the2010 Shanghai Expo put it, to create a “BetterCity, Better Life”.

One of the most important lessons we havelearned in Europe is that cutting air pollution doesnot necessarily mean cutting economic growth,”said Potocnik, who added that it is definitely pos-sible to decouple economic growth from pollu-tion growth. For Potocnik, that realization is animportant starting point for any country consider-ing policies to tackle poor air quality: “The mea-sures being taken by the Chinese authorities toreduce vehicle emissions are very similar to ourpolicies in Europe, and we have cooperated in thisarea for many years by sharing expertise and bestpractices.”

As part of that cooperation, Europe and Chinahave become strategic partners in the promotion

of sustainable urbanization, a point emphasizedwhen Li Keqiang and Jose Manuel Barroso, thepresident of the European Commission, signed theJoint Declaration on Urbanization in May 2012.Environmental issues: Jean-Marie Le Guen, amember of the Foreign Affairs Committee of theFrench National Assembly, said China’s new lead-ers have the experience to meet the challenges fac-ing them.

Le Guen said he had noticed that Xi Jinping

Global Commonality!

World leaders ponder future of partnershiphas already forged a strong relationship with thepeople, one that will generate trust and hope, andthat France welcomes the Chinese government’sintention of boosting internal consumption. “Webelieve it is a necessary step in satisfying the needs

of the Chinese people in terms of education andhealthcare, while maintaining sustained growthover the long term,” he said.

The environmental issue also should be oneof the main concerns for the future. France is verywilling to cooperate with China to mutually pointtheir economies in the direction of sustainability.“Given its unquestionably central role in inter-national relations, we are looking forward to afruitful collaboration with China, so that it canfully play its role in a peaceful and constructiveenvironment,” said Le Guen. World leaders pon-der future of partnership: China’s economy is now

so deeply entwined with the rest of the world,and the US in particular, that the country’s eco-nomic influence, through global investment, theinternationalization of the renminbi and the riseof the domestic market, can only be expected to

grow during the coming years, according to Pe-ter Ho, professor of Chinese economy and de-velopment at Delft University of Technology in

the Netherlands. “With that economic rise, therewill be an increase in political, social, and cul-tural influence as well,” he said.

Ho said there are numerous, almost daily, ex-amples on weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twit-ter, and other social media, where instances ofcorruption and social inequity are highlighted andgo viral almost instantaneously. “From these caseswe can clearly see that China is undergoing a fun-damental normative change. As such, a change

in the style of governance is imperative forChina’s long-term, stable development. The otherside of this story is that we should never forgetthat socioeconomic and political changes take along time to take effect, and China will be noexception.” China will always walk a tightropein this regard; the country needs to change andrespond to calls for change, but it also needs tochange in accordance with the possibilities de-termined by time and place, he said.

China’s leaders have also been urged to en-gage with the rest of the world. Van Rompuy saidhe had already met Xi and Li before their eleva-tion to the highest office, and they exchanged viewson a wide-ranging agenda, but particularly on glo-bal issues. “I appreciated Xi Jinping’s knowledgeof the EU’s way of working and his clear supportfor the improvement of the EU-China StrategicPartnership,” said Van Rompuy, who noted that athis meeting with Li Keqiang, the two men sharedthe opinion that the EU and Chinese economiesare so closely intertwined that cooperation is es-sential to promote growth and jobs.

“As China continues to develop and emergeas an economic power, its political role assumesan even more important significance in today’sworld,” said Van Rompuy, adding that the EU hasconstantly supported China’s transition toward therole of an active and responsible global player.Economic imbalances, climate change, terrorism,nuclear proliferation and food security are just afew of the challenges that will require coordinatedglobal cooperation. “China has a key role to playwithin the international community in addressingthem. Increased power goes hand in hand with in-creased responsibility,” said Van Rompuy, “I amlooking forward to working together with the new

Chinese leadership.” Moving up the scale: HugoSwire, a member of Parliament and minister ofstate at the British Foreign Office, said the UK iscommitted to boosting national prosperity throughtrade and investment and that China will clearlyplay a crucial role. “China is changing at a rapidpace and opportunities will increase as theeconomy rebalances,” said Swire.

He was confident that the products in whichthe UK excels - luxury goods and cars, advanced

machinery and educational services - will eas-ily meet the demand from China’s expandingmiddle class. Swire said Chinese companies arealso going global and operating successfully inthe UK. According to the UK Ministry of Com-merce, the country was the fifth-largest destina-tion for Chinese investment last year. “We willcontinue to encourage more; we want to moveup that scale from fifth to first, and we’re work-ing on it,” said Swire.

Prodi echoed Swire’s view and urged China’sleaders to prioritize Europe as an economic part-ner because the EU is generally more open thanthe US when it comes to accepting Chinese in-vestment and exports. Prodi said he had met LiKeqiang twice in recent years. “He has a veryopen, direct personality, is a specialist in eco-nomic affairs and has deep political experience,”he said.

Li’s grasp of the importance of good rela-tions between the EU and China was crucial.“He (Li) understood how important it is, not onlyfor Europe, but also for China, for us to havestrong relations,” he said. Dacian Ciolos, theEuropean commissioner for agriculture and ru-ral development, said the world faces a com-mon challenge in terms of food security andensuring agricultural productivity and competi-tiveness, while minimizing the impact on theenvironment.

Ciolos said the EU and China can learn a lotfrom each other and share ideas on the optimumdevelopment of rural areas and a balanced ru-ral-urban development, in addition to increas-ing investment into agricultural research. Mean-while, Maire Geoghegan-Quinn, European com-missioner for research, innovation and science,said research and innovation are key to sustain-able growth and jobs and a higher quality of lifein the future, both for the EU and China.

“We see the government of China as beingvery committed to developing the dialogue,” shesaid. Geoghegan-Quinn expects to see realprogress this year and in 2014 in ensuring thatresearch bodies and industry in China and theEU can better cooperate to develop the real in-novations that people need. She said that Chinahas a strong science and technology base and isone of the world’s leading nations in the regis-tration of patents and the knowledge-basedeconomy: “One of the hurdles we must over-come is the creation of the right environment toboost innovation.” “Of course, partnership is atwo-way street,” he said.

—Courtesy: China Daily

I appreciated Xi Jinping’s knowledge of the EU’s way of working and his clear support for theimprovement of the EU-China Strategic Partnership: Predi

For example, if the EU and China can create common standards for different products it will be easier for them to market thosetechnologies, a factor that would provide greater incentives for industry to invest in them. “The development of those conditionswill be something we can discuss in our dialogue on cooperation in innovation,” she said. Van Rompuy also said China’s confi-

dence in, and support of, the process of European integration - especially now, during the ongoing debt crisis - has been of greatimportance to the EU and has further promoted cooperation between the trading bloc and China.

LAWRENCE SUMMERS

EUROPE’S economic situation isviewed with far less concernthan was the case six, 12 or 18months ago. Policymakers in Eu-

rope far prefer engaging the United Stateson a possible trade and investment agree-ment to more discussion on financial sta-bility and growth. However, misplaced con-fidence can be dangerous if it reduces pres-sure for necessary policy adjustments.There is a striking difference between fi-nancial crises in memory and as they actu-ally play out. In memory, they are a con-catenation of disasters. As they play out,

the norm is moments of panic separated bylengthy stretches of apparent calm. It waseight months from the Korean crisis to theRussian default in 1998; six months fromBear Stearns’s demise to Lehman Broth-ers’ fall in 2008.

Is Europe out of the woods? Certainlya number of key credit spreads, particularlyin Spain and Italy, have narrowed substan-tially. But the interpretation of improvedmarket conditions is far from clear. Restric-tions limit pessimistic investors’ ability to

Far less concern

Europe’s hair-trigger economyshort European debt. Regulations enablelocal banks to treat government debt as risk-free, and they can fund it at the European

Central Bank (ECB) on better-than-marketterms. The suspicion exists that, if neces-sary, the ECB would come in strongly and

bail out bondholders. Remissions some-times are followed by cures and sometimesby relapses. A worrisome recent indicatorin much of Europe is the substantial ten-dency of stock and bond prices to move to-gether. When sentiment improves in healthycountries, stock prices rise and bond pricesfall as risk premiums decline and interestrates rise. In unhealthy economies, however,as in much of Europe today, bonds are seenas risk assets, so they are moving, likestocks, in response to changes in sentiment.

Perhaps it should not be surprising thatEurope still looks to be in serious trouble.Growth has been dismal; the euro-zone gross

domestic product has been below its 2007level for six years, and little growth is fore-cast this year. For every Ireland, where thereis a sense that a corner is being turned, thereis a France, where questions increasinglyarise about the political and economicsustainability of policy. The controversysurrounding the decision by the Europeanauthorities to bail out Cypriot bank deposi-tors suggests the degree of fragility in Eu-rope. The idea that converting a small por-tion of deposits into equity claims in aneconomy with a population of barely morethan 1 million could be a source of systemicrisk suggests the hair-trigger character of thecurrent situation.

Everything is compounded by politicaluncertainty. Italy’s last election was incon-clusive even by Italian standards. Scandalsand staggeringly high unemployment aretaking their toll in Spain. France is muchcalmer about its situation than are manyoutside observers. And Germany’s primaryconcern is avoiding turmoil ahead of its fallelections. Given a choice, all would almostcertainly prefer some kind of macroeco-nomic unorthodoxy to the breakdown oftheir monetary union. But there is a seriousrisk that as nations pursue their parochialconcerns, the political and economic situa-tion will deteriorate beyond repair. Contin-ued structural reform in the most troubledeconomies is essential, and the work of build-ing a more satisfactory institutional founda-tion for the euro must go on. Critical to suc-cess will be recognition of the paradox thatin economic policy, as in so much of life,what is good for one is not good for all.

—Courtesy Reuters

RAMESH THAKUR

THE invasion of Iraq by the UnitedStates, Britain and Australia began 10 years ago on March 20.In Britain, The Guardian has re-

ported that Foreign Secretary WilliamHague has written to senior members of gov-ernment to ask that they not discuss the le-gality of the war. The Liberal Democrats,in coalition with the Conservatives, havebeen consistent in their arguments then andsince that the case for war was contrivedand that the war was waged in violation ofinternational law. They are expected to ig-nore the advice. “Ours not to reason why,ours but to kill or die” may serve as the mottofor the defense forces, but it is not accept-able for a modern accountable democracy.

I wrote several articles in these pagesbefore, during and after the war in 2003:“U.S. test of U.N. relevance”, Feb. 9; “U.S.bears costs as U.N. is challenged,” March12; “The United Nations: More relevantnow than ever,” March 23; “War vindicatesU.N. stance,” April 27; “End of the oldworld disorder?,” May 10; “Humor’s rolein war survives,” May 19; “ContradictoryU.S. triumph,” June 1; “Why India said ‘no’to U.S,” July 17. All were highly critical ofthe U.S.-led war in which Australia andBritain played deputy sheriffs with unbridledbraggadocio. None required or used anyspecial insider information beyond an in-telligent analysis of publicly availablesources.

A public lecture I gave at AustralianNational University on the eve of the warwas attended by a capacity audience of 400people — impressive for a talk by a for-eign-based noncelebrity in a city of just300,000 people. The public anger of the timemay have subsided, but public disquiet overhow governments manipulated facts andused evidence to justify the illegal war hasnever been assuaged. Does it really matterto look back in sorrow and anger at divisiveevents and passions from 10 years ago? Forthe sake of democracy it does. Democracywas distinctly un-faddish among fellow stu-dents in the 1970s. I was in Delhi in 1975when Indira Gandhi abrogated democratic

Powers chisel own ethics!

Leaders we can trust againliberties and checks on government powerfor two years. We take democracy for grantedwhen we have it, but we sure miss it whenwe lose it.

Democracy seems to be under growingthreat even in the West, from governmentsthat have used the war on terror as an ex-cuse to trample on civil rights, from othersthat have pushed antidiscrimination mea-

sures in an assault on human rights (espe-cially free speech) that transfer more pow-ers to government-appointed technocrats andtribunals, and from citizens increasingly dis-enchanted by parliamentarians who refuseto listen. Democracy relies on a social com-pact between citizens and representatives.Trust once broken between them can be verydifficult to rebuild. This does not mean thatgovernments have to be slaves to publicopinion as in the quote attributed variouslyto a Frenchman during the upheaval in Parisin 1848 and to Benjamin Disraeli in the U.K.:“I must follow the crowd, for I am their

leader.”If democracy meant just that, we would

have government by plebiscite. Instead weelect representatives based on an assess-

ment of party policy platforms and the qual-ity of their judgment. In my lifetime, noth-ing broke the trust between people and theirgovernment in some of the world’s lead-ing Western democracies more than the

2003 Iraq War. The yearning for account-ability remains undimmed. There is grow-ing cynicism and anger, and not just inAfrica, that Kenya’s president-elect, UhuruKenyatta, is being pursued doggedly by theInternational Criminal Court while thosewho committed the “supreme crime” of ag-gression against Iraq in 2003 walk free andsome are still feted at international gather-ings. The American, British and Austra-lian governments brushed aside the publicas ill-informed and dismissed the UnitedNations as lacking in cojones.

—Courtesy: Japan Times

The President was represented by Vice President Namadi Sambo.

Enemy common - approach variation

Rules and exceptions in Indonesia’s counterterrorismALI WIBISONO

INDONESIA’S counterterrorism debate hastaken an interesting turn lately as it examinesthe compliance (or noncompliance) of the police counterterrorist unit Densus 88 in the “fight

against terrorism”. The media reported that Densus88 killed five suspected terrorists in the scarcelydeveloped island of Sumbawa in West NusaTenggara as they were said to be resisting arrestwith bombs strapped on their bodies. The follow-ing day, the head of the National CounterterrorismBody (BNPT) Ansyaad Mbai definitively stated thata network called Mujahidin Indonesia Timur wasoperating in Poso, Makassar and Bima, and that theytrained in Poso and Bima. Another report told howthe people in Poso were terrorized by the state’scounterterrorism effort and came all the way toJakarta to report their case to the National Commis-sion on Human Rights and Nahdlatul Ulama. Mus-lim political leaders seem to be keen to take this

allegation of human rights abuse as evidence of thetargeting of Islam in counterterrorism policy andthe issue soon demands evaluation and, if neces-sary, the dissolution of Densus 88.

As we set our gaze on Poso and environs, wecannot help but remember that Muslim-Christian

violence waned in Maluku between 1999 and 2004.These conflicts would never have resulted in thou-sands of lost lives had the security forces acted de-cisively to stop them before they got out of hand.Indonesians discussing these conflicts often use theword “omission”, implying the ambivalence of se-curity forces towards civilian violence.

The breakdown of regulatory order in Maluku’ssecurity forces, the military and the police, was oneof the factors in the violence as it was the security

forces who were doing most of the killing. As thesecurity forces became unreliable, civilians on bothsides took illegitimate security measures by form-ing militias, attacking their neighbors and burningtheir homes to the ground. Violence never com-pletely dissipated after the reconciliation that fol-

lowed up to February 2002 with the signing of theMalino agreement. It was a ceremonial reconcilia-tion that revealed no truth: nobody admitted thatthey or anybody else was responsible for the vio-lence. Officers have since been transferred, dishon-orably discharged and sanctioned, but illegitimateways of seeking security are already embedded inthe collective memories of both security officers andpower holders.

With this historical baggage in mind we are now

looking at new violence in Poso. But unlike 1999-2002, violence in Poso is now talked about withinthe framework of “terrorism”, a discourse that re-sults from a decade of securitization of terrorismand normalization of counterterrorism. In May 2012,the Indonesian Police announced that Central

Sulawesi was a bomb and firearm making centerand training area for terrorists. With Surakarta andPapua, Central Sulawesi frequently appears as acounterterrorism site. The discovery of bombs, ex-plosives, and guns are often showcased in policepress conferences, complemented by some kind ofhistoriography of the perpetrators as graduates ofan Islamic boarding school, having spent life in thesouthern Philippines or been involved in the con-flicts in Central Sulawesi. Questions of how bomb

materials and guns get into the hands of certain in-dividuals, or how a militant training camp operatesrelatively freely in Sulawesi seem to fade in thebackground of kill-or-capture operations on someunknown individuals we can only assume are ter-rorists.

Questions about crime prevention, clean andtransparent criminal justice, stringent border patrolsin other words normal duties of security forces seemto have become less popular than issues labeled as“terrorism”. Instead, the exceptional measures ofarresting without charge, torture during interroga-tion, killing of suspects are normalized or, at best,treated as mere misconduct of certain unscrupulousminorities. For the past decade the Indonesian ter-rorism debate has become increasingly difficult forordinary civilians to evaluate. This was reflected inAnsyaad’s opinion that disillusioned terrorism re-searchers are no different from terrorists, acting asif they were lawyers of the terrorists.

—Courtesy: Jakarta Post

Indeed, bringing up all the units in the police to the level of professionalism of Densus 88 is worthpursuing so that other crimes in society can be prevented as promptly and as decisively as that ofterrorism. More than an instrument of counterterrorism, Densus 88 is a symbol of exceptionalism.

A police officer walks in front of a bus station where an anti-bailout banner isplaced outside the parliament in Nicosia.

This could come from a German economy pre-pared to reduce its formidable trade surplus, fromeasier European monetary policies that spur growthand competitiveness, or from increased deploymentof central funds such as those of the European Invest-ment Bank or perhaps other sources.

The key task will not be to reopen old wounds, butrather, in an age of growing mistrust of government and

rising public awareness in Western societies of thepreciousness of each human life, to look to how

people’s faith can be restored in the processes andinstitutions that send our soldiers to foreign battlefields.

airport where US soldiers werestaying in December 2002, butthe bomb exploded while it wasbeing prepared and killed oneof Asadullah’s associates in-stead. In 2003, the group sentparcel bombs to police officers,injuring many people.—Online

Pearl terrorsuspect held

From Page 1

mise of the iconic legend and anational Hero M M Alam. TheAir Chief further said that anychronicles on the World’s Avia-tion Hall of Fame or accomplish-ments of Pakistan Air Forcewould remain incomplete with-out the mention of Air Commo-dore (Retd) M M Alam. A dar-ing fighter pilot, Top Gun of hisown class, war hero, scholar parexcellence, a patriotic Pakistaniand a committed professional, MM Alam was an icon and a rolemodel not only for the PAF air-men but also for the Muslimsacross the world.

M M Alam, was born on 06July 1935 in a well educated fam-ily of Calcutta, British India.Having completed his secondaryeducation from GovernmentHigh School, Dhaka, in 1951, MM Alam joined PAF in 1952 andwas granted commission on 2ndof October, 1953. During his ser-vice career, Alam underwentmany courses including FighterConversion Course, F-86F Fa-miliarization Course, Fighter

Leader Course, PAF Staff Col-lege Course, Orientation Train-ing Course-USA and Royal Col-lege of Defence Studies Course– UK.

His major appointments in-cluded Air Gunnery & TacticalInstructor at Fighter LeaderSchool, Officer Commanding No11, No 5 and No 26 Squadrons,Director Operation Research,Assistant Chief of the Air Staff(Flight Safety) and AssistantChief of the Air Staff (Plans) atAir Headquarters. He also servedin Syria on deputation.

During Indo Pak war in1965, Squadron Leader M MAlam, while Commanding No 11Squadron at Sargodha, shot down02 and damaged 03 Indian AirForce aircraft on 6th September,1965. On this act of outstandingbravery and heroism, he wasawarded with Sitara-i-Jur’at (gal-lantry award). 7th September1965 is the day when M M Alamrewrote the history of Air War-fare by setting new records whiledefending Pakistan’s Airspace

against the aggressors.He shot down 05 Hawker

Hunter fighters of Indian AirForce, in air-to-air combat byshooting down five Indian air-craft in less than sixty seconds,the first four within a span of 30seconds only. For such an aweinspiring feat of gallantry, M MAlam was again awarded Sitara-i-Jur’at (with Bar). Govt of Pa-kistan also paid him a befittingtribute by naming one of theprominent roads in Gulberg,Lahore after his legendary name.

Funeral prayers for NationalWar Hero M.M. Alam were heldat PAF Base Masroor on Mon-day. Governor Sindh Dr Ishrat UlEbad, Chief of Air Staff, AirChief Marshal TahirRafiqueButt, Corps Commander Lieu-tenant General Muhammad EjazChauhadry, and senior officersfrom tri services attended the fu-neral prayers.

After the burial floralwreaths from Chiefs of ArmyNaval and air staffs were laid onthe grave.

1965 War heroM M Alam passes away

From Page 1

port of a fact-finding missioncommissioned by the council thatdeemed that the settlements wereleading to Palestinians’ humanrights “being violated consis-tently and on a daily basis.”

The report, published at theend of January, sparked angryreactions from Israel, which atthe time slammed it and the Hu-man Rights Council that com-missioned it as “one-sided andbiased.” —AFP

UN expertsFrom Page 1

quiry is got conducted only forthe sake of face saving.

The officer against whomjudicial commission recom-mended action in Gojra incidentremained posted at his place.When recommendations havenot to be implemented then whywe should provide our inquiryofficer. Judicial officer has to facehumiliation when the recommen-dations of judicial commissionare not implemented.

The CJP gave these remarksin reply to the demand made byAdvocate General (AG) Punjabthat judicial inquiry be held intothe incident and then factual situ-ation would come to light.

Justice Gulzar Ahmad ob-served no one including police istrying to ascertain real causeswhich led to Joseph Colony ar-son attack. We go back after con-ducting hearing.

AG Punjab told the court noevidence has been found onhanding over the possession of

SC orders indictment ofMalik in contempt case

From Page 1

area to some one else after get-ting it evacuated.

CJP remarked every thingwill become clear who is inter-ested in Joseph Colony plot.

The court observed the blas-phemer be punished but the pun-ishment be not awarded to thewhole community,. RamshaMasih case and this incidentbrought defamation for the coun-try. Punjab government and po-lice failed to conduct transparentinquiry into the incident. Punjabgovernment told in its reportCCPO did not reach the scene .

CJP remarked the responsi-bility of the incident has beenshifted to the shoulders of CCPOin the report. IG Punjab KhanBeg said that he was kept igno-rant about the incident and it wasjob of the SHO.

CJP remarked IG could notbe exonerated from this incident.Don’t give false statement beforethe court. Every police officer istrying to save him. No progress

has been made in this case andwe are standing there still fromwhere we had started this case.We could not bring to light theroot cause of the incident . If weask sessions judge to hold inquirythen the persons responsible forthis incident and facts wouldcome to open tomorrow.

He further remarked that itwas not the job of IG to sit in air-conditioned room; It was his re-sponsibility to look into the mat-ter personally.

Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeedremarked If police wanted itcould avert the incident by block-ing the avenues.

AG told the court federalgovernment has not appointed IGpolice in the province so far. SPInvestigation told the court blas-phemous act has been commit-ted in Badami Bagh incident. FIRlodged against the a c c u s e dSawan Masih is correct. Thehearing of the case was adjournedtill March, 25. —Agencies

spector of police was gunneddown in Pak Jamhooriya Colonynear Kala Pul. The victim waslater identified as Zakir Hussain.

One unidentified waskilled in Machchar Colonywhile another was shot in GhasMandi area.

Police had arrested a dacoitin injured state while his accom-plice died in an alleged policeencounter in Raees AmrohwiColony in Orangi Town.

An unidentified man wasgunned down in Kunwari Colonyin Manghopir area.

Unidentified armed men onmotorcycle killed owner of a tyrepuncture shop in Gharibabadarea. Police recovered a body of22-year old girl. Marks of torturewere visible on her body. It wasshifted to hospital for necessarylegal procedures.

Rangers conducted a targetedoperation in Ali Brohi Goth inLandhi. The operation was alsomonitored from air through chop-per. Rangers had cordoned off theentire area at dawn and carrieddoor-to-door search operation.

Rangers recovered a cache ofillegal weapons from the arrestedsuspects from the area.

Police had conducted a tar-geted operation in Meeran Nakain Liyari and held 3 criminals ofAmeen Buledi gang. The AmeenBuledi gang was wanted in sev-eral cases especially extortionand grenade attacks in MukkaChowk near MQM headquarters,Nine Zero.

College principalgunned down in

LiaquatabadFrom Page 1

The well-informed sourcesin PPP confided to this scribe thatex-District Nazim Lahore MianAmir Mahmood’s name for theslot of Chief Minister in Punjabproposed by the opposition leaderin Punjab Assembly was ashrewd move to put pressure onPML-N to neutralize the pressurein the center.

As for as the nomination ofAsma Jahangir is concerned, itis also political maneuveringsince Asma’s name was also pro-posed by the PML-N for the slotof the Prime Minister so thiswould be a difficult task to rejecther name proposed once by thePML-N itself.

PPP proposesFrom Page 1

PPP. The PPP as a politicalparty under the chairmanship ofBilawal Bhutto Zardari has yetnot got it registered with the Elec-tion Commission but contestedthe elections under the banner ofPPP Parliamentarians (PPPP)that was registered withMakhdoom Amin Fahim as aparty president to take part in theelections.—INP

ECP meetingFrom Page 1

KARACHI—The government isstriving to make available edu-cational facilities at the doorstepfor everyone in the country. Thiswas pointed out by the Governorof Sindh, Dr. Ishrat ul EbadKhan, here at the GovernorHouse on Monday.

He was speaking at the re-union of the alumni from theprovince of Sindh under theHigher Education Commission-USAID Merit and need-basedScholarship Programme. Morethan 550 students from the fourinstitutions of higher learning ofSindh province benefitted fromthis very programme.

The Governor lauded thesuccessful collaboration of theHigher Education Commission

(HEC) and the USAID and alsoappreciated the efforts put in bythe youngsters. He also praisedthe role of the US towards de-velopment in socio-economicsphere including education,health and agriculture.

Dr. Ishrat was of the viewthat the collaboration of the HECand the USAID in the realms ofhigher education would prove tobe quite beneficial. He hoped thatsuch a cooperation would con-tinue in the years to come.

The Consul General of theUnited States in Karachi,Micheal Dodman, expressedpleasure at the success of theUSAID-HEC scholarshipprogramme. He was of the viewthat such initiatives would help

towards improving the standardof living of the youngsters andproviding them with the oppor-tunities to excel.

It was pointed out that threecentres for advance studies set upin the realms of agriculture, en-ergy and water in collaborationof the USAID and HEC. TheChairman of the HEC, Dr. JavedLeghari, spoke of the commit-ment of his organization towardsthe promotion of higher educa-tion in the country.

He also appreciated theHEC-USAID scholarshipprogramme and said that itwould enable the youngsters toacquire higher education andserve the society in an effectivemanner.—APP

Government striving tospread education

KABUL—Afghanistan — Af-ghan political parties unitedagainst President Hamid Karzairecently opened talks with theTaliban and U.S.-declared terror-ist Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, hop-ing to broker peace ahead of nextyear’s exit of international com-bat troops and a presidential racethat will determine Karzai’s suc-cessor, Taliban and oppositionleaders have told The AssociatedPress.It’s the first confirmationthat the opposition has opened itsown, new channel of discussionsto try to find a political resolu-tion to the war, now in its 12thyear. And the Taliban too seemto want to move things forward,

even contemplating replacingtheir top negotiator, two seniorTaliban officials told the AP.

Reaching an understandingwith both the Taliban andHekmatyar’s Islamist militantgroup, Hezb-e-Islami, wouldgive the opposition, which ex-pects to field a consensus candi-date in next year’s presidentialelection, a better chance at cob-bling together a post-Karzai gov-ernment.

The alternative to a multi-party government after the 2014elections, many fear, could sig-nal a return to the internecinefighting of the early 1990s thatdevastated the capital, Kabul.But

with ongoing back-channel dis-cussions and private meetingsbeing held with Taliban interlocu-tors around the world, it’s diffi-cult to know exactly who’s talk-ing with whom. Early last year,Karzai, who demands that anytalks be led by his government,said that his administration, theU.S. and the Taliban had heldthree-way talks aimed at movingtoward a political settlement ofthe war.

The U.S. and the Taliban,however, both deny that suchtalks took place. Hekmatyar’sgroup has held talks with both theKarzai government and theUnited States.—AP

Anti-Karzai parties talk to Taliban

COURT NOTICE

In the Court of Mr.Muhammad Saleem Sb,Judge Banking Court-III,12-B Allah Shafi Chowk

Pul Bararan Road Multan.

Suit No.386/2013M.C.B Ltd ConsumersBranch Multan —PlaintiffVersusAnees Ahmed Sindhu S/OBashir Ahmed Sindhu R/OGeneral Bus Stand H.NO-348Mohallah Tughlaq TownMultan. —DefendantProclamation U/S 9 (5) Fi-nancial Institution Recov-ery of Finances Ordinance46 of 2001WHEREAS the aforesaidplaintiff has instituted a suitagainst you and others for re-covery of Rs-270574/53-alongwith mark up/interestand costs etc claimed to bepayable by you Proclamationu/s 9(5) Ordinance 46 of 2001to the above is hereby issuedrequiring you to make within30 days of this proclamation,an application for leave todefend the suit.

Taken notice that on yourfailure to file such applicationwithin time specified abovethe Banking Court shall passa decree as prayed for in theplaint. Next date for furtherproceedings, in the case hasbeen fixed on 27.03.2013.

Given under my hand andthe seal of the court, this 15th

day of February, 2013

Seal of the CourtJudge Banking Court III

Multan

COURT NOTICE

In the Court of Mr.Muhammad Saleem Sb,Judge Banking Court-III,12-B Allah Shafi Chowk

Pul Bararan Road Multan/Camp, Court Sahiwal.

Suit No.28/2013M.C.B Ltd Branch Car For USahiwal —PlaintiffVersusNuman Anjum S/O AnjumSaleem R/O H.NO-304 NaiAbadi Sahiwal. —DefendantProclamation U/S 9 (5) Fi-nancial Institution Recov-ery of Finances Ordinance46 of 2001WHEREAS the aforesaidplaintiff has instituted a suitagainst you and others for re-covery of Rs-656614/-alongwith mark up/interestand costs etc claimed to bepayable by you Proclamationu/s 9(5) Ordinance 46 of 2001to the above is hereby issuedrequiring you to make within30 days of this proclamation,an application for leave todefend the suit.

Taken notice that on yourfailure to file such applicationwithin time specified abovethe Banking Court shall passa decree as prayed for in theplaint. Next date for furtherproceedings, in the case hasbeen fixed on 22.03.2013.atSahiwal.

Given under my hand andthe seal of the court, this 7th

day of March, 2013

Seal of the CourtJudge Banking Court III

Multan

85% of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed AlNahyan Road completed in Waziristan

randum of Understanding and anExecutive Programme for coop-eration in different fields.

President Asif Ali Zardariand his Egyptian counterpart Dr.Mohamed Morsi witnessed thesigning ceremony held at Aiwan-e-Sadr here on Monday.

MoU for cooperation in thefield of Money Orders and Inter-national Postal Services wassigned by Secretary Postal Ser-vices Javed Iqbal Awan andEgyptian Ambassador to Paki-stan Saeed Hindan.

The MoU for Cooperation inthe field of Merchant Shippingwas signed by Secretary Portsand Shipping Dr. Khawar Jameeland Egyptian Ambassador.

Secretary Board of Invest-ment of Pakistan Shahid Rashidand the Egyptian Ambassadorsigned the MoU between BOIand General Authority of FreeZones and Investment of Egypt.

Secretary Information andBroadcasting Agha Nadeem andthe Egyptian Ambassador signedthe MoU between Middle EastNews Agency and AssociatedPress of Pakistan.

Document for 3rd ExecutiveProgramme for Scientific andTechnological Cooperation be-tween Pakistan and Egypt for2013 to 2015 was signed by Sec-retary Science and TechnologyAkhlaq Ahmad Tararr and theEgyptian Ambsssador.

Chief Executive Officer ofSmall and Medium EnterprizesDevelopment Authority of Paki-stan Sardar Ahmad NawazSukhera and Secretary-Generalof Special Fund for Developmentof Egypt Dr. Ghada Wali signedthe MoU for cooperation be-tween the two organizations.

Later, those signing the docu-ments had a group photo with thetwo Presidents.—INP

Pakistan, EgyptFrom Page 1

WAZIRISTAN—85 percent ofwork has been completed on con-struction of the UAE-fundedSheikh Khalifa bin Zayed AlNahyan Road, currently under

construction in South Waziristan,Director of UAE Project to As-sist Pakistan (PAP), AbdullahKhalifa Al Ghafli, said.

The building of theUS$38.01 million-road, one ofthe largest and most importantprojects in Pakistan, is under thedirectives of President His High-ness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed AlNahyan to develop andmodernise infrastructure in

Pakistan’s remote and poor re-gions, Al Ghafli added in a state-ment.

As the first paved road inSouthern Waziristan and a stra-

tegic corridor between Pakistanand Afghanistan, the SheikhKhalifa bin Zayed Road will en-hance the transport system in theregion’s rough terrain by linkinga large number of its cities andvillages to major cities.

With half of it in mountain-ous areas, the 50-km SheikhKhalifa bin Zayed Al NahyanRoad features five bridges and itsheight ranges between 4600 and

8600 feet. Al Ghafli added thatwork is underway on the strate-gic highway between Wana andAngoor Ada in South Waziristandespite the region’s rough geog-

raphy and harsh weather condi-tions. All engineering teams andconsultants intensified work toimplement the project on time inaccordance with the best interna-tional standards of excellence.

“The UAE, under its wiseleadership has always been at thefirst responder to meet the needsof the population in Waziristanin line with the directives andinitiatives of President His High-

ness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed AlNahyan to assist the friendlypeople of Pakistan by a numberof development and humanitar-ian projects,” Al Ghafli said.

Under the directives of Presi-dent His Highness SheikhKhalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, theProject to Assist Pakistan (PAP)is currently carrying out 28 de-velopment and humanitarianprojects worth US$54.5 millionin South Waziristan alone, henoted. These include two col-leges for males and females, aUS$5.1 million modern modelschool for 1200 students. Educa-tion assistance also included3000 school bags for male andfemale students.

PAP is also building the 50-bed Sheikha Fatima bintMubarak Hospital, dedicated tothe treatment of women, childrenand the elderly, and is rehabili-tating three current 50-bed hos-pitals at a cost of US$4.3 million.The UAE’s healthcare projects inthe region will serve 35000 in-habitants in the region, accord-ing to the official.

Twenty projects worthUS$2.1 million are under con-struction by PAP in Waziristan toprovide pure drinking water fromwells and purification and pump-ing stations which will servearound 6500 households. PAPalso gave out 5000 food parcelsand large quantities of dates torefugee and poor families in SouthWaziristan, Al Ghafli added.

Balochistan Assembly and re-stored Tariq Magsi as oppositionleader.

Earlier a petition was filed inthe BHC by Tariq Magsi chal-lenging the notification issued bythe provincial assembly speaker.

It is worth to mention herethat late on Sunday night, thespeaker Balochistan Assemblyhad notified Senior ProvincialMinister Maulana AbdulWasay as leader of the opposi-tion in the provincial assem-bly.—INP

BHC restoresFrom Page 1

lier said that Maulana AbdulWasay of JUI-F would be noti-fied as the opposition leader buthis notification was withheld fol-lowing tough resistance by somemembers of the assembly.

On the other hand, the PML-N is claiming that it has the sup-port of 40 members of the pro-vincial assembly.

While 19 provincial minis-ters, who have resigned, haveformed an alliance and theyhave refused to accept MaulanaWasay as the oppositionleader.—INP

GovernorFrom Page 1

cial said the area was reverber-ated with heavy firing after theexplosion as the attackers werestill hiding in the premises of thecomplex.

“ The security forces cor-doned off the area. Pak ArmyJawans also reached on the siteof the blast and started operationagainst the attackers who werehiding in the complex” anotherofficer said.

Assistant CommissionerPeshawar said the terrorists triedto enter the courtroom of Addi-tional Sessions Judge KulsoomAzam. Additional IG MasoodAfridi claimed there were twosuicide bombers; one blew him-self up while the other was shotdead by the police.

The Additional IG said theterrorists came from backside ofthe building and started firing onthe policemen after they werespotted by police. He said threepolicemen sustained wounds

from the firing of terrorists dur-ing the encounter and wereshifted to hospital. The court-room of the Additional Sessionjudge was damaged in the attackand windowpanes of nearby of-fices were smashed.

The dead includes AbdulMajeed, Syed Jalal, Ashfaq andan unknown. The Additional IGsaid judicial complex was the tar-get of the attackers and wascleared.

He said situation was undercontrol and Khyber Road wherethe judicial complex was situatedwas opened for traffic.

Mian Iftikhar Hussain,Khyber Pukhtunkhwa Informa-tion Minister told reporters thatthe incident was an attempt todestroy peaceful atmosphere forelections.

The Khyber PukhtunkhwaBar Council gave strike call onTuesday against this gory inci-dent. The Khyber Pukhtunkhwa

Governor, EngineerShaukatullah has strongly con-demned the suicide attack at Ju-dicial Complex Peshawar onMonday.Describing it a worstheinous act of terrorism ex-pressed deep shock and sorrowover the loss of innocent preciouslives.

”The heinous crime of sabo-tage and terrorism, the Governorsaid, has deeply hurt every citi-zen and deserves to be con-demned by all.”Expressing his deep sympathieswith members of the bereavedfamilies, the Governor said thatthe elements involved in the hei-nous crime will not remain atlarge and will be brought to jus-tice. The Governor lauded cou-rageous role and sacrifices of thejawaans and officers of securityforces in combating the terroristsand said that the nation will al-ways feel proud of their exem-plary sacrifices.

6 people die, 35 injuredin bomb blasts, firing

From Page 1 of joining MQM at a press con-ference former PPP leader NabilGabol who carries a pre-partitionpolitical legacy to his politicalstanding hails from a familywhich served Karachi even be-fore creation of the country.

His grand father was electedas the first member of the legis-lative house of the Bombay-Karachi residency in 1927. Ac-cording to Nabil Gabol his grandfather defeated Sir AbdullahHaroon in the election. He waselected mayor of Karachi in1956. His uncle Sattar Gabol was

also a known political figure andelected to the National Assembly.Nabil Gabol who remained withPakistan Peoples Party for morethan 25 years has now joinedMQM with a strong commitmentto serve what he called the de-prived people of Sindh andLayari in particular by joininghands with MQM which he feels

is the only party in Pakistanwhich represents the masses fromgrass roots level to middle classof the society.

MQM Chief Altaf Hussainand his party workers gave a bighand to welcome Nabil Gabolinto their fold which is a goodomen for peace and stability ofKarachi, Sindh and Pakistan.

MQM gains mileageFrom Page 1

stan Muslim League-N andJamiat-e-Ulema Pakistan, a com-mittee was found on the occasioncomprising Khawaja SaadRafique, Hamza Shahbaz Sharifand Zaeem Hussain Qadri ofPML-N. JUP Committee com-prised Pir Ijaz Ahmad Hashmi,Qari Zawar Bahadur and Dr.Javed Awan of JUP. It was agreedin the meeting that as PML-N andJUP are the founder parties ofPakistan, they will jointly blockthe way of looters and corruptelements in general elections.

Welcoming the harmony andcooperation in general electionsbetween PML-N and JUP,Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif said“Pakistan is facing serious chal-lenges like terrorism and extrem-ism and is passing through a criti-cal phase. The forthcoming nextgeneral elections are of criticalimportance in the history of thecountry.” He said these electionsare for the survival of the countryand he is confident that people willbring forward a sincere and hon-est leadership in general elections.

PML-N, JUP-Nto cooperate in

electionsFrom Page 1

SHARAFAT KAZMI

ISLAMABAD—The CapitalDevelopment Authority De-fenders have greeted SyedTahir Shahbaz on his restora-tion as Chairman CDA by Su-preme Court of Pakistan andhas declared it delightsome forthe authority.

Chairman of the Defendersgroup Zia-ur-Rehman Toor,President Hamayun Akhter,General Secretary ArshadChohan, Doctor MazherHussain, Fazal-e-Mabood,Tauqeer Nawaz, WajoodLashari, Safder Bukhari andother office bearers of CDA

Defender group receivedChairman CDA here at CDAHeadquarters on Monday andpresented him bouquet.

CDA defenders assuredSyed Tahir Shahbaz of theirfull cooperation and supportfor his vision of develop-ment.

They said that as Chairmanof the authority his efforts toeradicate corruption and assur-ance of merit in the organiza-tion are commendable.

They said that CDA offic-ers are very optimistic thatSyed Tahir Shahbaz will leadthe organization towards itslost glory.

PUC solidaritymoot tomorrow

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—In the context of in-tolerance, sectarian violence andthe Joseph Colony arson, Paki-stan Ulema Council is conven-ing a National Solidarity Con-ference on March 20.

More than 35 representa-tives of religious and politicalparties and non-Muslimgroups have confirmed theywill attend the conference at2.00 pm, Pakistan UlemaCouncil’s Central SecretaryGeneral Sahibzada ZahidMahmood Qasmi said.

“Pakistan’s religious andpolitical forces will have to unitefor the security and solidarity ofPakistan.

CDA Defenders fullsupport to Chairman

ISLAMABAD: Chief of Army Staff, Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, exchanging views with General Mohammad Abdul Fatah el-Sisi, Commander- in-Chief of the Egyptian Armed Forces and Minister of Defence and Military Production during meetingon the sidelines of Egyptian President’s visit at the Aiwan-e-Sadr.

PESHAWAR: Security personnel inspecting the suicide jacket of an attacker after terrorists stormed the Judicial Complexon Khyber Road on Monday.

12 militants killedHANGU—At least twelve mili-tants were killed at Maomozaiin the fresh skirmishes betweensecurity forces on Monday. Ac-cording to Media reports, Secu-rity forces have raided atMaomzai in the hideouts of mili-tants. Suddenly they started fir-ing resistance resultantly twelvemilitants were killed while threehideouts were also destroyedfully.—Online

Primary schoolsbombedMOHMAND AGENCY—Sus-pected militants bombed twogovernment primary schools inMohmand Agency, officials toldon Monday, in the latest attackon government educational in-stitutions. According to officialsources, two government pri-mary schools were partiallydamaged when explosivesplanted by the extremists wentoff with a blast in Tehsil Saafiof Mohmand Agency. No casu-alty was reported as a result ofblast while security forces cor-doned off the area after the ex-plosion and initiated investiga-tion, sources added.—Online

Bugti murder caseQUETTA—Two important char-acters in the Akbar Bugti-mur-der Case, namely former FederalInterior Minister Aftab KhanSherpao and former ProvincialInterior Minister, Mir ShoaibNausherwani have demanded ofthe Anti-terrorism Court (ATC)to shift the case to a Trial Court.Judge of Anti-terrorism CourtMuhammad Ismail Balochheard the case here on Monday.Former Federal Interior Minis-ter Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpaoand former Provincial InteriorMinister Mir ShoaibNausherwani appeared beforethe court and stated that theyhave filed a petition inBalochistan High Court to shiftthe case to a trial court, there-fore, hearing of the case shouldbe deferred. As a result, hear-ing of the case was adjourned tillApril 3.—Online

FC recovers450kg of heroinDALBANDIN—Frontier CorpsBalochistan raided in the area ofChaghi and recovered hugecache of heroin worth of millionrupees on Monday. Upon receiv-ing secret information, FClaunched operation in the hillyarea of Chaghi near the shrineof Sultan Baba and recovered450 kg Morphine pack in plas-tic bag. However no arrests weremade. The Frontier Corpsclaimed that the seized heroin isin best quality and worth of mil-lion rupees in international mar-ket.—Online

Pak citizen dies atMunabaoJAISALMER—A senior citizenof Pakistan died at Munabaorailway station while returningto his country by Thar Express.The incident happened when 70-year-old Ishra Ram’s health sud-denly deteriorated on his wayback to Pakistan. Ishra Ram wastaken to a primary health centreat Gadra Road, some 35 kmaway from Munabao, but hecould not be saved. Incidentally,there was no doctor available atthe station. If Ishra Ram had re-ceived treatment from a doctorat the station, he probably couldhave been saved. Later, the bodywas sent to Pakistan by TharExpress. The 70-year-old hailedfrom Bhawalpur . He had cometo Jodhpur on a 30-day visa.Ishra Ram was undergoing im-migration check atMunabao.—INP

ISLAMABAD—All effortswill be made to complete theNeelum Jhleum Hydroproject , Golen Gol andDubair Khawar hydroprojects within the stipulatedtime frame and resolve the is-sues related to any project.

Secretary Water andPower, Sikander Ahmed Raigave this assurance whilechairing a meeting with vis-iting Joint Supervisory Mis-sion (JSM) of lead financersof three hydro power projectshere on Monday, said a pressrelease.

The consortium includesrepresentatives from IslamicDevelopment Bank, SaudiFund Development, KuwaitFund Development andOpec.

The meeting was also at-tended by Additional Secre-tary Ministry of Water andPower, Chairman Wapda andsenior officials of NeelumJheluim project, Golen Goland Dubair Khawar projectand ministry of Water andPower.

Secretary water andPower said that the ministryhas also allocated the fundsfor the projects and financialsupport of the donors wouldhelp to complete the projectin time.

He said that the progresson three projects being re-viewed and monitored regu-larly.

The country is facing en-ergy shortage and t imelycompletion of these projectswould help to bridge the gapbetween demand and supply.

He also thanked the del-egation for visiting Pakistanto review the progress of theprojects.

Earlier, the ChairmanWapda briefed the JSM thatKhan Khawar hydro project of72 MW and Allai KhawarProjects of 122 MW have beencompleted.

While the remaining threeprojects of 1205 MW would becompleted as per their sched-ule.

Dubair Khawar projectwould be completed by June

this year. Neelum Jhelum Hy-dro project of 969 MW by 2016and Golen Gol project of 106MW would be completed by2015.

He also informed that thegovernment has recently ap-proved Rs 24 billion forNeelum Jhelum Project.

He said that 47 % work ontunnel boring has been com-pleted on Neelum Jhelumproject. The JSM appreciatedthe progress on three projectsand stated that the consortiumof financers would continue itssupport for energy projects.

The JSM would also visitthe si tes of al l the threeprojects to review theprogress. —APP

Ministry assures timely completionof 1,205 MW hydro power projects

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—Muttahida QaumiMovement (MQM) Chief AltafHussain said that no one shoulddie because of poverty. No oneshould be left without educationbecause of lack of financial re-sources. MQM’s governmentwould make education up tomatriculation free and it wouldbe the responsibility of the gov-ernment to provide completehealthcare facilities to the poorpeople without any cost.

He was addressing a hugegathering in Gama Stadium inMirpurkhas on the occasion ofthe 29th Foundation Day of theMQM. A large number of peoplebelonging to different walks oflife and workers and office-bear-ers of the MQM were present.

He said that the MQM wouldestablish a just and equitable sys-

tem in Pakistan that would givespeedy justice to the poor peoplewho do not have the resourcesto hire expensive lawyers.Across the board accountabilitywould be done and loan default-ers, looters of national wealthand bribe-takers would be givenexemplary punishment.

He said that MQM did notsell party tickets at the time ofgeneral elections and no one canpoint finger at the MQMMNAs, MPAs and Senatorsfor any corruption. MQMawards tickets purely on thebasis of merit and totally freeof cost.

He said that the peoplewould ask as to how the MQMwould implement its revolu-tionary policies keeping inview the fact that the countrywas heavily burdened withforeign debt. He said that the

Altaf promises ‘just,equitable system’ if elected

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—The Lahore HighCourt (LHC) on Monday, reject-ing assurance from President AsifAli Zardari that he would not takepart in political activities, said itsruling with respect to cessation ofpolitical activities in the Presi-dency was not being imple-mented.

The court asked the Presidentto follow the court’s previous or-ders on dual offices, otherwise, thecourt would deliver verdict if thePresident did not desist from hisinvolvement in politics. A five-judge full bench of the LHC,headed by Chief Justice Umar AtaBandial, has been hearing the pe-tition seeking contempt of courtproceedings against PresidentZardari for not complying with itsMay 12, 2011, judgment declar-ing political activities by the Presi-dent unconstitutional.

The court adjourned the hear-ing until March 29. The benchadded that the president shouldadopt an honest approach in thepetition, adding that if the presi-

Contempt petition

LHC rejects Zardari’sassurance on political activities

dency failed to respond positively,the bench would rule on the mat-ter accordingly. The court was toldon several occasions by the de-fence counsel that the Presidentdoes not take part in political ac-tivities and that the party presidentMakhddom Amin Fahim is lead-ing the party. The court howeverrejected the argument and urgedthe President to take decision withhonesty.

The petitioner’s counsel sub-mitted news clippings regardingthe political activities of the Presi-dent Asif Ali Zardari during hisrecent stay in Lahore. AdditionalAttorney General argued beforethe court and rejecting his argu-ments, the Chief Justice of theLHC gave remarks that despite theassurance of the federal govern-ment, newspapers and all televi-sion channels covered thePresident’s political activities. Onthis, the federal government’scounsel said Pakistan peoplesParty (PPP) chairman BilawalBhutto chaired all the politicalmeetings in Lahore. The court saidif it did happen so why the Presi-

dent did not contradict the newsreporting of television channelsand the newspapers? Thepresident’s counsel respondingthis query said the newspapers andtelevision channels were not readyto publish or broadcast the con-tradicting statements of the presi-dent. He said if the presidenttalked about the creation of South-ern province in Punjab and in say-ing such there was nothing politi-cal stance on this issue. The coun-sel further made it clear that thePPP would not take part in gen-eral elections rather PPP-P wouldcontest the upcoming generalelections. On this argument, thecourt asked him whether the of-fice-bearers of the PPP were alsothe office-bearers of PPP-P and onthis query the counsel sought thetime to submit the detailed infor-mation on this. Earlier during thehearing, federation’s counsel, Barris-ter Wasim Sajjad, submitted an ap-plication requesting the adjournmentof proceedings.The court resumedthe hearing of the petition seekingcontempt of court proceedingsagainst President Asif Ali Zardari.

NEW DELHI—Slamming theItalian Ambassador over the ma-rines issue, the Indian SupremeCourt on Monday said that theyhad lost trust in him.

An angry SC said, “We do nottrust the Italian envoy anymore.”

Coming down heavily onDaniele Mancini when told thathe had complete immunity underthe Vienna Convention, the SCsaid, “A person who comes to thecourt and gives undertaking hasno immunity.”

The Supreme Court also re-strained the envoy not to leave thecountry till further orders. “Allauthorities shall take appropriate

steps on order restraining the Ital-ian envoy from leaving the coun-try,” SC said.

The apex court had on March15 restrained the Italian Ambas-sador from leaving the countrywithout its permission, taking ex-ception to his government’s re-fusal to send back the marines.

However, the Indian SCstopped short of holding the en-voy in contempt.

Meanwhile, the marines casehas been adjourned till April 02.

Italy reneged on its undertak-ing to send back its marinescharged with the killing of twoIndian fishermen off the Kerala

coast last year, leading to a stand-off between New Delhi andRome.

The Italian government hadon March 11 sent a ‘Note Verbale’to the Indian government inform-ing it that the two will not be sentback. Earlier, on January 18, theapex court had turned down theItalian government’s plea that theIndian courts had no jurisdictionin the case and had held that thetwo marines should be tried by theCentre by constituting a specialcourt to conduct their trial.

Harish Salve, who quit as Ital-ian government’s counsel, feelsthat Mancini breached a solemn

undertaking given to SupremeCourt which can take actionagainst the envoy including send-ing him to jail.

Salve said he feels that theAmbassador will find it “veryhard” to explain in the court whyhe went back on the undertaking.

The two marines,Massimiliano Lattore andSalvatore Girone, were allowedby the apex court to go to Italy tocast their vote in the elections thereafter the Italian Ambassador hadgiven an assurance to send themback. The Indian government ismulling various options includingdeclaring the Italian Ambassador

Indian SC slams Italian envoy,dismisses his immunity plea

as persona non-grata and down-grading of relations.

It has already asked its Am-bassador-designate to ItalyBasant Kumar Gupta not to pro-ceed to Rome as a review of theentire gamut of ties with Italywas underway by the govern-ment.

If this comes through, therewill be no Ambassador-level rep-resentation between the twocountries.

The two marines were onboard Italian vessel ‘EnricaLexie’, when they shot dead twofishermen off the Kerala coast onFebruary 15, last year.—INP

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Pakistan MuslimLeague Nawaz would not acceptany caretaker set-up in the prov-ince of Sindh if it was an-nounced without taking thePML-N, Pakistan MuslimLeague Functional, NationalPeople’s Party, Awami Tehreek,Sindh Tarraqi Pasand Party,Sindh United Party and PakistanSunni Tehreek.

PML-N Sindh chapterspokesperson Ismail Rahu saidthis while exclusively talking to

Pakistan Observer.Pakistan Observer also con-

tacted PMLF Sindh chapterGeneral Secretary Imtiaz Shaikhand Nusrat Sahar Abbasi to notetheir comments on the emergingcontrovarsaries as the PM-NSindh spokesperson had repeat-edly quoted PMLF as majorstakeholder. However, PMLFleaders Imtiaz Shaikh andNusrat Sahar Abbasi declinedto talk to Pakistan Observer de-spite repeated efforts.

It was likely that the SindhChief Minister and the opposi-

tion leader from MuttahidaQaumi Movement Syed SardarAhmed would announce thename of interim Chief Ministerof Sindh. However, the PML-Nand PML-F along with all alliesincluding Sindh nationalistgroups would commence vehe-ment protest against the deci-sion and would also movecourt against the decision.

It was the right of thePML-F to get its lawmakerdeclared as the oppositionleader in Sindh ProvincialAssembly.

‘PMLN to reject interim CMemerging from PPP-MQM pot’

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Sindh Local BodiesMinister Agha Siraj DurraniMonday tortured a secretary ofhis ministry Shaukat Jhokio forallegedly refusing to sign a listof appointments.

A case has been registeredagainst Agha Siraj Durrani andZulfiqar Dehar among 11 peopleon the complaint of ShaukatJhokio, whereas, a case againstthe victim was also registered onthe complaint of the section of-ficer in Aram Bagh police sta-tion.

According to the police, the

Siraj Durrani torturesSecretary; cases

lodged against bothcase against Jhokio was regis-tered for allegedly interveningin the government affairs.

On the other hand ShaukatJhokio along with medico-legalreports reached the police sta-tion to have the case registeredagainst the minister. The caseagainst Durrani was registeredunder torture among variousother clauses.

Talking to media, ShaukatJhokio claimed that the localbodies minister came to his of-fice and asked him to sign adocument carrying appointmentlist and on refusal he startedbeating him.

US reassuresPoland over missile

defence changesWARSAW—U.S. officials visit-ing Warsaw tried to reassure Po-land on Monday that the cancel-lation of the final stage of a Eu-ropean missile defense systemwill not sideline the country andwas not made to appease Rus-sia. U.S. Defense SecretaryChuck Hagel announced lastweek that plans to place long-range missile interceptors inPoland in the next decade arebeing abandoned and that inter-ceptors will be placed in Alaskainstead due to the threat fromNorth Korea.

But U.S. defense and politi-cal officials on a previouslyscheduled visit to the Polish capi-tal said shorter-range interceptorswould still be based in Poland aspart of NATO’s missile defensesystem in Europe.

The Obama administrationhas planned to put medium-rangeinterceptors in Redzikowo, innorthern Poland, in 2018, as partof the NATO system. They aremeant to protect Europe from at-tacks from Iran. WendySherman, U.S. undersecretary ofstate for political affairs, said thePolish site “will go forward asscheduled.”—AP

looted national wealth would berecovered and spent on publicwelfare projects. No one wouldbe able to evade tax if an MQMgovernment came in power.

Speaking about the injus-tices committed againstwomen, he said that the evilcustoms of karo kari and mar-riage with the Holy Quranwould be abolished. Those whothrow acids on women shouldbe given harsh punishments.He said that the MQM’s gov-ernment would allocate 50 per-cent reserved seats for womenin provincial and national as-semblies. He said that 50 per-cent jobs in government andsemi-government institutionswould be reserved for womenin order to lift their economicstatus. MQM would introduceland reforms and a limit would beset on maximum land-holdings.

PEOPLE who eat meals or snacks whilewatching TV, playing games or readingtend to consume more calories in a sit-

ting, and especially later in the day, accord-ing to a review of two dozen past studies.

“Some studies have in-dividually shown this be-fore, but the evidence hasnever been put together,”said lead author EricRobinson from the Univer-sity of Liverpool, UK.

According to Robinson,distracted eating could in-crease the amount of foodconsumed by up to 50 per-cent.

On the other hand, sum-moning memories of whatwas eaten in a previous mealdecreased the amount offood eaten later.

“Even though we makedecisions about what andwhen to eat with apparentease all the time, these deci-sions are actually very complex and can beeasily disrupted,” Suzanne Higgs, a study co-author and psychologist at the University ofBirmingham in the UK, told Reuters Healthin an email.

The researchers broadly categorized eat-ing patterns as “attentive,” such as sittingquietly and recording what was eaten duringa meal, or the exact opposite, “distracted.”Distracted eaters do not pay close attentionto food and are not as aware of how muchthey have eaten.

Robinson and his colleagues searched thescientific literature and found 24 studies con-ducted between 1997 and 2011 that met their

main criterion of involving an experimenterwho actively manipulated participants’ at-tention, memory and awareness of eatingfood. All of the studies were tightly con-trolled and monitored, but each had differ-

ent methods of manipulatingparticipants’ attention andawareness.

For example, in one study,adult men and womenwatched television while eat-ing. In another, participantssnacked on pistachio nuts andexperimenters immediatelyremoved the nut shells fromview.

The experiments rangedin size from 14 participants to122, and 18 of the 24 studieswere done with university stu-dents as subjects. Nearly all ofthe men and women in theexperiments were normalweight, rather than overweightor obese.

The analysis suggests sta-tistically significant differences betweenparticipants who ate attentively and thosewho ate while distracted, Higgs said.

On average, eating while distracted in-creased the amount eaten by about 10 per-cent, compared to not being distracted. Butit also increased the amount a person ate at alater meal by more than 25 percent.

In contrast, enhancing memories of foodconsumed at an earlier meal reduced theamount consumed at a subsequent meal byabout 10 percent.Enhancing awareness of thefood being consumed at the current meal didnot, however, change how much people ateat that meal.

Distracted eaters likely totake in more calories

ISLAMABAD: CDA staffers busy in planting saplings at the greenbelt during spring plantation campaign in Federal Capital.

ISLAMABAD: Students participating in tug of war at Roots Junior Olympic.

Musical evening portrays mystic poetry, traditions

ISLAMABAD: Traditional singer performing on the stage during Dialogue Through Tradi-tion Bearers ‘Mystic Music’ organized by PNCA and the Aga Khan Cultural Service Paki-stan in collaboration with the Embassy of France .

ISLAMABAD—A musicalevening featuring centuriesold mystic poetry in Afghani-stan and Pakistan was orga-nized here late Sundayevening at Pakistan NationalCouncil of Arts (PNCA).

The tradition bearers ofAfghanistan, Chitral, Hunzaand Peshawar comprisedyoung artists, who performedhistoric epic tunes with dif-ferent instruments presentingdiverse music traditions ofthe region.

The event was arrangedby Aga Khan Cultural Ser-vice Pakistan (AKCSP) incollaboration with the em-bassy of France in Pakistanto bring together master mu-sicians and tradition bearersfor exploring shared valuesof the mountain communitiesliving both in region.

The musical perfor-mances included perfor-mances of Ustad Ali Goharwith his team, Wakhi Music

Tradition, Pashtu Folk Music,Music from Chitral Rubab tra-dition of Afghanistan andMystic Sufi Music fromHunza and Chitral.

Ustad Ali Gohar the lastmaster drummer of ‘Safrofamily of Hunza’ performedtogether with Shamsulo thegreat grandson of ‘Budul’ andyoung master ‘surania playerKarim’.

Like all the other tradi-tional cultural events, thisevent started with the tunecalled ‘Bo Te Hareep, fol-lowed by epic tunes ‘AshurJaan’ and ‘Doshi KeDandoshi’. Ashur Jaan cel-ebrates human nature of leg-endry mythical charactercalled Kisar (Caesar) which isplayed in GB, Chitral, Ladakhand Tibet with various inter-pretations. Doshi KeDandoshi, describes amother’s feeling who lost heryoung intelligent Doshi on thewedding day.—APP

SHO Koral suspended forpartial role in land dispute

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The Roots Jun-ior Olympiad 2013 kicked-offwith a bang at Roots Millen-nium Schools, Capital Cam-pus, G-11/3. A two day megaevent was inaugurated spon-soring several competitionsand over 800 plus Participantsfrom different RMS campusesnationwide took part in 20 ex-citing competitions includingLive Art, Debating, Dramatics,Chess, Gaming, Table Tennis,Wall Climbing, Photo Essay,Fashion, Singing and CreativeWriting. The Millennial JuniorOlympiad is an initiative of theambitious and enthusiastic stu-dents of Roots MillenniumSchools, Islamabad. It is aplatform on which participantstudents from across countryhave registered and the plat-form allowed them to provetheir mettle within various do-mains of co and extracurricu-

Roots Junior Olympiad heldlar activities.

It was the most divergentand spectacular event which wasfully enjoyed by everybody.This mega event introduced themost innovative and groundbreaking ideas.

The event was greatly ap-preciated by the guests andhighly acknowledged and thestudents loved it. It was a hugesuccess that brought smiles onthe faces of our shining stars.The participating campuseswere RMS Wahid campus F-10/2, RMS Emaar Campus, RMSPrimary Section F – 8/4, RMSHigh School F–8/4 and RMSCapital Campus, Islamabad.This dynamic platform offereda thrilling encounter between thebest of the best with a diversearray of captivating activities.The students of tier 4 till 7 par-ticipated in 28 categories.

The two days mega eventcommenced on Friday with anopening ceremony followed by

Qirat, Naat and Wiz Quiz Com-petition, Short Skit and Puppetrywhich proved to be highly en-gaging for the participants. Ath-letics, especially the Tug of Warwas the center of attraction foreveryone and all the participantstried to give their best. The daytwo was all about entertainmentwith amazing performances pre-sented by all the campuses. Ex-hilarating dance shows wereexhibited.

The external and internalfashion judges as well as the on-lookers present at the fashionshow expressed amazement atthe highly developed aestheticalskills of the participating stu-dents enhanced by their teach-ers .

The Theme of RMS PrimarySection, F-8/4, “From Junk toFunk” and “Rock Stars” fromCapital Campus were the showstealers. The dance performersgave the event a highly chargedatmosphere.

ISLAMABAD—Station HouseOfficer (SHO) of Koral PoliceStation was suspended for hisfailure to control the dispute be-tween land mafia groups and alsohis favorable attitude to one ofthem, a police source said onMonday.

According to details, SHO ofKoral police station MehrMunawar was suspended andnew Inspector Chaudhry Arshadhas assumed the charge of SHO’soffice. Police source said thattwo separate FIRs had been reg-istered at Koral police station overthe complaints of two parties whoalleged each other for demolish-ing their property and injuring

their workers in firing. It is tomention that Islamabad- G.TRoad and its adjacent areas re-mained closed for hour on lastevening due to this tension be-tween two groups.

According to the first FIRregistered on the complaint ofMalik Mudassar Ali, it has beenalleged that Malik IshratHussain along with his accom-plices came in Loi Bher areaand demolished his site officebesides kidnapping his workersSaeed Ahmad, MuhammadAkram, Shahid Hussain, Fahad,Javed Iqbal, Safdar Hussain,Waseem Akhtar, Bilal Ayuband Karamat Ali.

On the other hand, MalikIshrat Mehmud also lodged re-port with Koral police station al-leging Mudassar Ali and MalikDeen for demolishing his houseand injuring his worker FidaHussain through firing.

Following these complaints,the source said that IGPIslamabad Bani Amin Khan in-tervened into the matter anddoubted the role of SHO Inspec-tor Mehr Munawar.

He immediately ordered tosuspend him and asked Inspec-tor Ch. Arsahd to report himwithin 48 hours after investigat-ing into matter, the source main-tained.—APP

Sufi musicalnight mesmerises

audienceISLAMABAD—The stunningperformance of Qurban Niaziand his companions mesmerizedthe audience at a sufi musicalnight held at Rawalpindi ArtsCouncil on late Sunday evening.

The event was arranged atRAC’s auditorium featuring folksinger Qurban Ali Niazi, hiscompanions sang poetry of fa-mous sufi poets including Sul-tan Bahu and Bulleh Shah.

A large number of peoplebelonging to differentt walks oflife attended the event, whereasQurban Ali Niazi was accordeda gold medal on the occasion topay tribute to his services for thepromotion of sufi music.

Senator Najma Hameedand MPA Advocate RajaMuhammad Hanif were theguests of honor, while JapanEmbassy Consular ToshikazuIsomura, Naheed Manzoor andRAC resident director WaqarAhmed were also present on theoccasion.

Speaking on the occasion,Senator Najma Hameed saidholding of sufi music night is thebest way to promote the mes-sage of tolerance and brother-hood given by sufi poets.

MPA Advocate Raja Hanifsaid that said he is thankful toRawalpindi Arts Council for or-ganizing this event and he hopedthat such functions will be heldin the future as well so as tospread the message of sufi po-ets.

Naheed Manzoor said,“Sufi poets are messengers ofpeace and love, and they repre-sent true face of our society, theypromoted tolerance in a complexsociety centuries ago and nowour society needs same messageand spirit.—APP

PNCA to holdIkebana

workshopISLAMABAD—Pakistan Na-tional Council of the Arts(PNCA) in collaboration withthe Embassy of Japan wouldorganize an Ikebana Workshop(Japanese art of flower arrange-ment) from March 21-28.

Professor of Ikebana, AsifaAtaka, who studied this art fromone of the leading flower ar-rangement schools in Japan,Ikenobo has been specially in-vited from Karachi to conductthis workshop.

The workshop will be heldat PNCA’s National Art Gallery(PNCA), without any registra-tion fee.

However, flower arrange-ment equipments and materialswill be brought by the partici-pants as per the requirements ofthe workshop or as instructed bythe Ikebana expert. Registrationforms are available on Embassywebsite; www.pk.emb-japan.go.jp.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Judge SupremeCourt of Pakistan, JusticeNasirul Mulk has said that itwas the primary responsi-bility of the government andthe security agencies to takeeffective steps to control ter-rorism.

He expressed these viewsat the graduation ceremony onthe conclusion of a week-longcolloquium on “Modern In-vest igation and EvidenceGathering Techniques in aChanging Criminal Justice

Security primary responsibilityof government: Justice Mulk

and Counter TerrorismWorld” held here at the Fed-eral Judicial Academy (FJA)on Monday.

He said, “Those of uswho are associated with thejustice system in this countryin whatever capacity can alsocontribute in our own way inthe efforts to curb terrorism.An efficient and effectivecriminal justice system canbring to justice those in-volved in terrorist activities.”

Speaking on the occa-sion, Peter Heyward, HighCommissioner of Australia to

Pakistan said that the cost ofterrorism to Pakistan had beengreat.

These incidents continueto occur, with huge impactsnot only on life and propertybut also on the stability andeffective functioning of soci-ety, he said.

“These are high stakesand it was key that all partsof the justice system are fullyable to apply the rule of lawto those who would seek toundermine it. It is to this endthat we are holding this col-loquium.”

SHARAFAT KAZMI

ISLAMABAD—The NationalUniversity of Science and Tech-nology conferred the honorarydegree of Doctor of Philosophyon the Egyptian President Dr.Mohamed Morsy at a specialconvocation in Islamabad onMonday.

The degree was awarded toEgyptian President in recogni-tion of his achievements andsignificant contribution towardspromotion of peace and har-mony in the world and strength-ening bilateral relations with theMuslim countries specially Pa-kistan.

Prime Minister Raja PervezAshraf as Chancellor of the

NUST awards doctoratedegree to Morsi

University conferred the de-gree on the Egyptian President.

Speaking on the occasionDr. Mohamed Morsy said Is-lam dictates on the Muslims toseek knowledge and get en-lightened by the science. Hesaid our Prophet (PBUH) hasordered us to seek knowledgeeven if it were in China.

He urged the new genera-tion to get scientific knowledgedespite challenges.He saidMuslim scientists made manyachievements in the field ofscience. He said European phi-losophers also appreciated theirsuccesses.

Prime Minister RajaPervez Ashraf speaking on theoccasion lauded the struggle of

Dr. Morsy for democracy.He said Pakistan is looking

forward to new vistas of coop-eration with Egypt in variousfields including agriculture,health and higher education.

The Prime Minister ac-knowledged Dr. Morsy’s con-tributions as a leading politicianand a learned academic.

He expressed gratitude toPresident Morsy on behalf ofPresident, the government andthe people of Pakistan, for hismaiden visit to Pakistan.

He expressed the confi-dence that this visit will serveas a basis to further deepen, di-versity and strengthen bilateralrelations between Pakistan andEgypt.

ISLAMABAD: Ahmed Nawaz, a student of Mass Communication, NUML, after winningANPSC 2013 with Rector Maj Gen (R) Masood Hasan and DG Brig Azam Jamal.

RAWALPINDI: Labourers busy in their work for laying sewerage pipeline along 6thRoad Flyover.

ISLAMABAD: Activists of PPP and MPA Faiza Rasheed chanting slogans during the rally on the end of 5-year democraticgovernment.

ISLAMABAD: A person on the way along with his bicycle loaded with pots for filling waterin capital.

RAWALPINDI—Pollen allergypatients have been asked to takeall possible preventive measuresto avoid medical complicationsin this high risk season.

A private physician, DrAslam said here on Monday thatwhen some allergy producingparticles enter the nose and comein contact with the internal lin-ing of the nose then swelling andinflammation in the nose startsand the patient suffers fromsymptoms like sneezing, nasalitching, watery nasal dripping,watering of eyes and mild sorethroat.

He said the different typesof substances producing allergyare pollen grains of flowers, dustparticles, outdoor and indoormolds or fungus, insect venomof bee, animal dander like

Pollen allergy patients askedto take preventive measures

sloughed off skin, saliva andexcreta of dog or cat secretionsand excretions of birds, bodyparts and excreta of insects likecockroach, foods like milk, egg,fish, prawns, beef, mutton,chicken, peanuts, and somedrugs like penicillin, sulfa drugsand insulin.

He said, the citizens af-flicted with pollen allergyshould adopt extra preventivemeasures during the spring sea-son when pollen count rangeshighest especially in mid Marchin twin cities of Rawalpindi andIslamabad.

The number of allergy pa-tients goes up in every pollenseason especially during the lasttwo weeks of March because ofincrease in population andspread of existing paper mul-

berry trees.He said that single most im-

portant step one can take is toavoid pollen in the allergy sea-son. Those who can afford toleave should do so, and remainaway from high pollen concen-tration areas. The patientsshould avoid unnecessary expo-sure to irritants.

He also asked the patients todesist from eating spicy food,use of perfumes, walking in gar-den and using carpets on thefloor, while they should wearface mask, use wet cloth fordusting and use vacuum cleanerinstead of broom.

He advised the people not toopen the windows of the vehiclesand use sunglasses when they arein the open and apply fresh wa-ter in eyes and nose.—APP

RAWALPINDI—District Elec-tion Commissioner (DEC)Zahid Subhani on Monday saidaround 50,000 local and inde-pendent observers would moni-tor the upcoming electionsacross the country, which wouldhelp ensure holding of free, fairand transparent polls.

Talking to APP here, he saidthe Election Commission of Pa-kistan (ECP) would issue ac-creditation cards to these ob-servers selected from different

50,000 observers to monitorupcoming elections

parts of the country. Besides, acall centre would be set up wherethe observers could contact andreport any violation of electionrules and regulations.

The DEC said close circuittelevision (CCTV) cameraswould also be installed at sensi-tive polling stations to avoid anyuntoward incident and ensureconduct of elections in a smoothmanner.

This time, he said the num-ber of polling stations in the

Rawalpindi district would bedoubled, increasing the numberfrom 1100 to 2200.

The commissioner said thevoters’ list has been updated,while the teams of election com-mission are visiting door to doorto include name of each and ev-ery eligible person in the finallist, adding “the team will con-tinue to register missing eligiblevoters name in the list till theannouncement of the electiondate.”—APP

Repair of Rashid Minhas Road demandedRAWALPINDI—Rashid MinhasRoad from Mareer Hassan toMareer Chowk and GawalmandiRoad, which was dug aboutthree months ago to lay waterpipelines, still could not be re-paired, adding to already severetraffic problems.

Expressing their annoyanceon the situation, residents andcommuters said that the con-cerned Cantt Board officials andproject director have turned

blind eye towards the dilapi-dated condition of road. Theysaid that the road onGawalmandi was already in badcondition while the digging hadmade it even worse.

They further said thatRashid Minhas Road was dug tolay water pipelines and was tobe repaired immediately afterthe completion of the pipelineproject while the road could notbe repaired just because of the

negligence of the concernedauthorities.When contacted,Project Director, Khanpur phaseIII project said that the recentrains had delayed the repairingof the road after completion ofthe pipeline project.

The residents demanded ofthe Station Commander andCEOs of the Cantt Board to visitthe area to witness the conditionof the road and order earlycompletion of the road.—INP

Cattle pensmake ChaklalaCantt residents’life miserable

RAWALPINDI—The residentshave expressed concerns overthe increasing cattle pens in dif-ferent parts of Chaklala Canton-ment Board (RCB), which cre-ate stinking smell and excruci-ate environment.

Residents talking to INP la-mented that they have been fac-ing worrisome situation due toexistence of cattle pens in vari-ous areas of Chaklala Cantt in-cluding Mareer Hassan, DhokeCharagh Din, Qaziabad, DheriHassanabad, Tahli Mohri,Raheemabad, Jhanda Chichi,Bakra Mandi, Chungi No 22,People’s Colony and other areas.They said that the cattle farmswere spreading many skin andrespiratory diseases due to poorsanitation arrangements in them.

They alleged that the own-ers of cattle farms shift their ani-mals from city to cantonmentareas so as to evade crackdownon cattle pens in residential ar-eas. The concerned Cantt boardand city administration authori-ties were not taking any seriousaction against them due to thepolitical interference.—INP

ISLAMABAD—Supreme Court(SC) while suspending trans-fer orders of chairman CDA is-sued stay order on this count andordered that Tahir ShahbazShahbaz and Tariq Pirzada willcontinue to perform duties aschairman CDA and chief com-missioner respectively.

A 3-member bench of SCpresided over by Justice JawadS Khawaja took up the case forhearing Monday.

Secretary establishment toldthe court that chairman CDAwas transferred under the verbalorders of Prime Minister (PM).Principal secretary of PM whiledelivering the orders told us thatTahir Shahbaz had repeatedlyrequested PM for his transfer,she added.

On inquiring from the court,chairman CDA told that he hadnot made any such request. Hewas transferred on March, 16and on the same day he met sec-retary establishment but he wasnot informed about his transfer,he further said. .

SC suspends transferorders of CDA chairman

Tahir Shahbaz further toldthe court that “ I had said this ifsome thing was done against therules and regulations then Iwould not care for my office.

As per report presented bysecretary establishment, transferorders of 25 officers of grade,19,20 and 21 were issued on thelast day of the incumbent gov-ernment. PM is competent au-thority to issue transfer orders ofthe officers of grade 21 andabove.

Chief Commissioner TariqPirzada told the court he hadnever expressed desire to holdthe post of CDA chairman norhad he ever taken interest init.

Secretary establishment toldthe court that further actionwould be suspended on thetransfer orders which have notbeen implemented so far.

The court while directingprincipal secretary of PM andCDA chairman to file compre-hensive reply put off hearing ofthe case till Tuesday.—Online

AIOU to hold3-day ‘grand

competition’ forstudents

ISLAMABAD—Allama IqbalOpen University (AIOU) isholding a grand competitionamongst the students of the Uni-versity who won 1st prize ineach category in the competi-tions held in their respective re-gion/cities. This will be a threeday program and begins onTuesday 19th March, 2013).

This was announced by SyedZia-ul-Hasnain, Director, Direc-torate of Students Advisory &Counselling Services, AIOU.

Vice-Chancellor, AIOUProf. Dr. Nazir Ahmed Sangiwill preside over the openingsession on 19th March in BegumNusrat Bhutto Auditorium of theUniversity. Competitions in-cludes essay (English & Urdu),Qira’t, Naa’t, Cultural Show,Flower exhibition for 19thMarch while Milli Naghma,Speech (English & Urdu),Flower Exhibition and stallscompetitions will be held on20th March.—INP

Play Landturns intopasture

ISLAMABAD—Due to sheernegligence of Capital Develop-ment Authority, the Play Landsituated near Maraghzaar Zoohas turned into a pasture forgoats.

Although CDA does not al-low keeping livestock in the fed-eral capital, more than 20 goatsare found grazing in the PlayLand daily. So far, CDA has nottaken any action to resolve thematter.—Online

10 incidentsof murder in

capital inone week

ISLAMABAD—Putting a ques-tion mark on the performance ofIslamabad police, 10 incidentsof murder have occurred in thefederal capital, including fiveblind murder cases during thelast one week.

According to details, threemurder cases occurred in the ju-risdiction of Koral police sta-tion. One murdered person hasbeen identified by his familywhile two bodies are still uni-dentifiable.

Koral police recovered deadbody of a person from BurmaPull area who was murdered bystabbing in stomach, while thepolice recovered another bodyfrom Korang Nullah on Wednes-day.

Another dead body ofnearly 50-year-old person wasrecovered in the jurisdictionof Golra Morr police station,who could not be identifies sofar.

Meanwhile, body of a 13-year-old girl was recovered froma gutter of a primary school inSector I-9/1.

The girl was abductedfrom Mangu Town of BharaKahu. In the meantime twoother persons were killed in thejurisdiction of Tarnol policestation and Sabzi Mandi policestation.—INP

Faulty streetlightsirk Dhok Ratta

residentsISLAMABAD—Residents ofDhok Ratta Union Council No1 have expressed grave concernsover out of order streetlights inthe area, holding the TMA offi-cials responsible for the situa-tion.

Ali Imran, a resident, talk-ing to INP said that the streetsand roads of the area plunge intodarkness with the sunset everyday. He said anti-social elementsand drug pushers took advantageof the darkness and stole valu-ables from homes.

Ashfaq Khan, another resi-dent, said the darkness causedby dysfunctional streetlightsalso increased possibility of roadaccidents. He said the TMA of-ficials did not even bother tovisit the area.

In an application submittedwith the TMA Rawal Town,Malik Muhammad Iqbal saidstreetlights in 14 streets of thearea are out of order, demand-ing early repairing or replacingof the streetlights.—INP

ISLAMABAD—Islamabad Po-lice apprehended 10 culpritsfrom separate places and re-covered, 5 bottles of wine, car,120 Kg chars, heroin, 04 pis-tol and various stolen itemsfrom their possession, thespokesman said.

According to police, ASIof Nilofer Police Station OmerHayat during patrolling ar-rested accused MuhammadArbab and recovered 30-borepistol, four round from him.

Industrial Area police sta-tion apprehended accusedMuhammad Asif while ASI ofCIA arrested Waseem Abbasand recovered Mehran car bear-ing number Plate LWA - 0812,three lacks 50,000 along withbogus registration book andthey also recovered 120 kg ofchars from accused Syed Imran.

ASI Muhammad Rees of

10 outlaws nabbed,5 bottles of wine

recoveredShalimar Police station ar-rested accused Hayat Khan in-volved in several crime casesand recovered stolen itemsfrom him.

ASI Imran Haider ofMargalla Police station duringpatrolling arrested accusedMuhammad Qasim and recov-ered five bottles of wine whilealso arrested MuhammadAsghar and recovered 30-borepistol from him.

Police have registeredseparate cases against themand started thorough investiga-tion.

Meanwhile, Inspector Gen-eral of Police Islamabad BaniAmin Khan and SSP IslamabadYasin Farooq has applauded theperformance of CIA, ASIs, andpatrolling officers have been di-rected to further tighten the se-curity.—Online

Drive againstunder-aged

driversRAWALPINDI—RawalpindiTraffic Police has decided tolaunch operation against under-aged drivers.

The decision has been takenin the wake of escalation in paceof loss of life of underage driv-ers due to overspeeding and onewheeling.

Necessary directives havebeen issued to all wardens, of-ficers and sectors incharge toshow no leniency towardsunder aged drivers and theybe challanned and theirmotor cycles be impounded.

The parents have beenadvised not to allow theirchildren to drive vehiclesand motorcycles unless the li-cense is issued to themand they become fully cogni-zant of the driving norms.—Online

ISLAMABAD—The Capital De-velopment Authority would auc-tioning around 1096 grown treesfrom the site of under-construc-tion International CricketGround at Shakarparian.

The Environment Wing ofthe CDA has already publicizedthe auction plan to attract theinterested parties.

Among the trees to be auc-tioned included sheesham, mul-berry, salts and ply species be-sides others and the size of thetotal wood to be auctioned hasbeen measured at 7952.75 cubicfeet.

The auction has beenscheduled in the first week ofApril to be held at the site.

The construction of interna-tional cricket ground was ap-proved last year when an MoUwas signed between the CDAand the Pakistan Cricket Board.Under the agreement, 30 percent

CDA to auction 1,096trees at Shakarparian

of the revenue to be generatedfrom the facility would go to theCDA and rest to the PCB.

The cricket ground hadbeen planned over 35 acres ofland with a sitting capacity ofaround 50,000 people. Besides,cricket ground, a cricket acad-emy had also been planned at thesite.

For the trees existing atcricket ground site, the Author-ity had estimated the price of Rs1,390,000. Besides, another auc-tion of dried mulberry trees hadbeen scheduled during the firstweek of April against the esti-mated cost of Rs 315,000.

The environmentalists hadalready been criticizing the CDAfor carrying out the constructionactivities in the eco- friendlyShakaparian area like Pak-ChinaFriendship Centre, CulturalComplex, Art and Craft Villageand under-construction parade

ground as these would damagethe environmental beauty of thearea.

Earlier, subsequent to thecriticism from the environmen-talists, the CDA had to shelvethe dualization of the GardenAvenue project as it involvedmassive cutting of trees.

In his comments, a seniorCDA official said the trees areonly removed if they impede thedevelopment projects being ex-ecuted under the Master Plan ofIslamabad.

He claimed that the CDAusually plants 10 saplingsagainst a tree chopped down topave ground for any develop-ment project. Exemplifying 7thand 9th Avenue projects, he saidthe CDA had carried out mas-sive tree plantation alongsideboth of the road to compensatefor the damage caused to thecity’s environment.—APP

Lack of fencealongside nullahposes life risks

RAWALPINDI—Lack of fenceon seasonal nullah located in lastbus stop of Tench Bhatta hastriggered grave concern amongthe residents of area.

Fence on the nullah standsbroken since long and severalminor traffic accidents havetaken place due to heedlessnessof the concerned quarters to-wards arranging repair work orerection of new fence on thenullah.

The residents said that theirchildren have to go to other sideof the nullah to attend theirclasses as their schools are situ-ated in that locality. Every daytwo or three incidents take placewhere their school going chil-dren get injured being slippeddown to depths of nullah due toabsence of fence.

“We accompany our chil-dren to school lest they shouldslip from the broken fence andplunge into the bottoms ofnullah, said a group of parents.

The motorcyclists are thereal victims of torn out fence ofthe nullah as they have to facedire consequences when theyslip from the fenceless banks ofnullah and plunge into deafen-ing pits of nullah.—Online

SudaneseAmbassador callson IIUI President

ISLAMABAD—The Ambassador ofSudan in Pakistan, Shafie AhmedMohamed called on Prof. Dr.Ahmad Yousif Al-Draiweesh, Presi-dent, International Islamic Univer-sity, Islamabad (IIUI) and discussedmatters related to bilateral interest.

Speaking on theoccasion,Dr.Ahmad Yousif Al-Draiweesh said that good educa-tional relation with Sudan is toppriority of (IIUI). He said (IIUI) iscommitment to provide qualityeducation to the students of Islamiccountries especially Sudan anduniversity will continue its effortsin this regard. He added that (IIUI)is always trying to find new waysto expand educational relationswith Islamic countries.—APP

April 12

FOLK Mela will commencein Lik Virsa, Shakar Parian,on April 12. Skilled work-ers, craftsmen, folk singersand artists will participate inthe celebrations.

Continues

THE Japanese Embassyand the Rawalpindi ArtsCouncil have arranged anexhibition of photo panelstitled “Contemporary Ja-pan caught by Lens” at3pm on Thursday atRawalpindi Arts Council,Stadium, Road,Rawalpindi. The exhibi-tion will remain open tillMarch 29 from 9am to4pm daily except holi-days.

05:50 01:3005:00

08:00

Kashmir exports 90% apple, requirement rising: MirJAMMU—Stating that agriculture sector has beenincentivized, the Minister for Agriculture Produc-tion Ghulam Hassan Mir has said that Kashmir val-ley is proud to cater to the 90% apple requirementof the Indian population.

“It is our duty to launch latest post-harvestprojects under private and public sector to full fillthe demand of the market which would help thegrowers as well,” he said while replying to the dis-cussion on demand of grants of his department.

He said that three cold stores are functioning invalley and four more are in pipeline. He said thatthe turnover on account of export of fruits of thestate has reached a level of Rs 4200 crores as ondate.

Saying that there is tremendous demand of high-density fruit plants among the farmers, the Minis-ter called upon all the legislators to motivate theeducated youth of their respective areas for the de-velopment of high- density nurseries of fruit plantsfor which the horticulture department is providingincentives under various centrally sponsoredschemes.

He said Government has launched multipronged

strategies to promote agriculture and its allied sec-tors on scientific lines. He said as agriculturebeing the backbone of State’s economy, all theresources are being pooled to give fillip to pro-duction and productivity.

The Minister said that the Department hasshifted its focus from the cultivation of foodgrains to total diversification in agriculture pro-duce.

The Minister said that high income generat-ing crops like fruits, flowers, vegetables, medici-nal plants and allied activities like sericulture havebeen incentivized and encouraged. He said thiswill increase agriculture income and help to gen-erate gainful employment in farm sector.

Mir said that the present Coalition Govern-ment has given special focus to this importantsector by exempting tax on most of the agricul-ture inputs for the benefit of farmers.

He said that to make agriculture and its al-lied sectors profitable, thrust has been given tointroduction of latest agri-techniques and use offarm machinery in farm sector to lower the pro-duction cost.

He said in this direction Kissan Melas-cum-Farm machinery exhibition are being held at dis-trict level in first phase and now directions hasbeen passed to conduct such melas at Panchayatlevel to make farmers aware about latest tech-niques and its utilization at their doorstep.

The Minister said that first time a mechanismhas been adopted for close coordination betweenresearch and extension departments of SKUASTwith agriculture and its allied sectors to perco-late the benefit of new crop and fruit plant re-search to common farmers.

He said that stress is being given to revivalof indigenous varieties of the State, adding thatSKUAST-K has launched a pilot project forMuskbudej and Kambad for its revival as it hashuge market potential at national and internationallevel. He said that steps are being taken to bringother indigenous varieties under this ambit.

With the strenuous efforts of agriculture de-partment, Mir said Seed Replacement Rate (SRR)of the State has gone up over the last four yearsfrom 10% to 24.78% in Paddy and from 10.79%to 29.77% in wheat and efforts are on to reach

the level of 33%, the national benchmark.Saying that saffron is heritage cash crop of

the J&K, the Minister said that an ambitious Na-tional Mission for the rejuvenation of saffron inthe State, with an investment of Rs 372.18 croreshas been launched.

It is expected that production of saffron woulddouble in the State by the end of four years. Hesaid under the mission more and more areas arebeing covered under the saffron cultivation andSKUAST-K has been asked to find the feasibil-ity of other areas in valley where this heritagecrop would be cultivated for boosting the ruraleconomy.

Mir said that Department of Agriculture,Jammu has taken up market intervention for thelast two years to prevent distress sale of their food-grains produce by farmers. He said AgricultureDepartment Jammu facilitated an all-time highprocurement of 92,499.45 quintals of wheatgrains and 36,118.95 qtls of paddy grains by FCIwith the active involvement of the CAPD De-partment.

The Minister said the Chakroi Seed Multi-

plication Farm is being developed and upgradedat a cost of Rs.30 crores in Jammu Division forproduction of high quality Basmati seeds of tra-ditional variety of R S Pura.

Besides in order to further increase the pro-duction/ productivity of local Basmati variety ofR S Pura, measures are also being taken undervarious Centrally Sponsored Schemes likeRashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, National Food Se-curity Mission and Macro Management of Agri-culture. So far an amount of Rs 11.5 crore standsutilized on this account, he added. The Ministersaid under Command Area Development, 16projects are under execution in J&K State withtotal command area of 1,68,922 hectares, out ofwhich 69,536 hectors have been covered by wayof construction of field channels and field drains.

Saying that Sericulture continues to be a sub-sidiary occupation for rural families of the State,the Minister said annually 900 MTs of cocoonare being produced to generate an income of Rs11.93 crore for silkworm rears. The income gen-eration has shown an increase of 24% over theprevious years.—NNI

MUZAFFARABAD: Chairman Prime Minister inspection Commission Sahibzada Muhammad Ashfaque Zaffar ata civic event.

Shinde’s dictatorialmindset harmful for

Kashmir, IndiaSRINAGAR—Jammu andKashmir Awmi National confer-ence (ANC) has asked UnionHome Minister, Shushil KumarShinde, “to study the chequeredhistory of J&K to know that dic-tatorship had never succeededin striking roots in the state asits people would always preferto sacrifice their lives than toshow allegiance to any Hitler”.

In a hard hitting statementissued from Delhi, Party’s se-nior Vice President, MuzaffarShah, said the union Minister’s“dictatorial mindset” was im-mensely harmful for both Kash-mir and India.

He was referring toShinde’s refusal to return themortal remains of Parliamen-tary attack convict, MohammadAfzal Guru, hanged in Delhi’sTihar jail in a hush hush man-ner on February 9.

The ANC Leader con-demned the fidayeen attack ona CRPF camp at Bemina inSrinagar. He also condemnedthe killing of an innocent civil-ian, Altaf Ahmad, at the city’sSaidpora (Zoonimar) locality.

“The target firing on thecivilian at Saidpora, where nolaw and order problem hadarisen, reflects a dictatorialmindset for which there is noroom in a democracy,” Shahsaid accusing the Union HomeMinister of letting loose wan-ton use of force against innocentcivilians in the state.—NNI

NEW DELHI—In what looksto be a tit-for-tat move, Indiapassed a resolution against Pa-kistan whose National Assem-bly adopted a resolution con-demning the hanging and burialof former Kashmir militant,Afzal Guru, in New Delhi lastmonth.

Both the Houses of the Par-liament outrightly rejected thePakistani resolution and unani-mously asked the neighbouringcountry to not interfere inIndia’s internal affairs and de-sist from acts of support for ter-ror elements.

In identical resolutionsmoved by Presiding officers

India passes counter-resolutionon Kashmir dispute

Speaker Meira Kumar in LokSabha and Chairman HamidAnsari in Rajya Sabha — boththe Houses asserted that the en-tire State of Jammu and Kash-mir, including Azad Kashmir,“is and shall always be an inte-gral part of India”.

Emphasising that any at-tempt to interfere in India’s in-ternal affairs will be met “reso-lutely and with complete unity”of the nation, Parliament askedPakistan to fulfill its commit-ment not to allow terrorismfrom its soil if it wants peacefulrelations with India.

“This House totally rejectsthe Resolution passed by the

National Assembly of Pakistanon March 14,2013,” said theresolutions adopted unani-mously by both the Houses af-ter concern was expressed overthe development.

Pakistan’s National As-sembly on Thursday passed aresolution condemning thehanging of Parliament Houseattack convict Afzal Guru anddemanded that his body be re-turned to his family. Pakistan’sresolution had also expressedconcern at the situation cre-ated in Kashmir valley by theexecution. It had demandedGuru’s body be handed overto his family.—NNI

Governor forsustainable

harnessing of water,energy resources

JAMMU—Dr Jonathan Craig,Senior Vice President, eni, Italy,and Chairman, MPRG, UCL,London and Prof. Bindra Thusu,Senior Research Fellow, Uni-versity College, London, bothof whom are Visiting Professorsin the Jammu University, calledon Governor NN Vohra here.

They were accompanied byProf G M Bhat, Head, Depart-ment of Geology, University ofJammu.

Dr Craig, Prof. Bindra andProf. Bhat briefed the Governor,who is the Chancellor of theJammu University, regardingthe arrangements and other de-tails of the International Confer-ence on “Sustainable ResourceDevelopment in the Himalaya”which is being organized jointlyby the Geological Society ofLondon and Jammu University,at Leh in July 2014. Over 200delegates from various parts ofthe globe are likely to partici-pate in this 3-day Conferencescheduled to commence on 7thJuly, 2014. Delegates from vari-ous Government organizationsand reputed institutes and uni-versities within the country willalso be participating in the de-liberations.

The Governor while inter-acting with the Visiting Profes-sors emphasized the need forsustainable development of var-ied resources in Himalaya, par-ticularly the energy and waterresources to meet the presentand future requirements of thegrowing economy, with a focuson producing clean energy toprotect the environment andecology. —NNI

Execution ofAfzal Guruagainst law

SRINAGAR—Current News Ser-vice (CNS): breaking his silenceafter a long time, former presidentof State Congress, GhulamRasool Kar has revealed that hehad written a three page letter tothe President of India seekingclemency for Sopore youthMohammad Afzal Guroo.

“I will release that letter atan appropriate time and peoplewill come to know about mythoughts regarding Kashmir andAfzal Guroo,” Kar told local newsgathering agency CNS and addedthat people of Jammu and Kash-mir are facing severe hardshipsand repression has engulfed them.

Ghulam Rasool Kar termedthe execution of Afzal Guroovery unfortunate and said that itwould have better if he wouldhave not been executed.

“I had told the people whoare at the helm of affairs thatAfzal Guroo should be sent toPakistan to ensure the release ofSarabjit Singh from the Pakistanprison.—NNI

SRINAGAR—The Jammu andKashmir police was warnedtwice about the possibility of amajor attack in the Valley lessthan a month after Parliamentattack convict Afzal Guru washanged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail.

The suicide attack that cameon Wednesday last in which twomilitants and five CRPF jawanswere killed, and 10 people in-jured, was significant for tworeasons, Kashmir Watch quoteda report by Manan Kumar &Ishfaq-ul-Hassan as saying.

One, this is the first time inthree years that Kashmir hasseen a suicide attack. Two, thisis only the second time in the24-year history of Kashmiristruggle in the Valley that localyouth have participated in a sui-cide mission. Security forcesidentified one of the two terror-ists as a resident of Sopore.

This contradicts home sec-

A dead Guru fires up KashmiriFidayeen to kill and be killed

retary RK Singh’s statementthat both terrorists responsiblefor the attack were from Paki-stan.

The attack has therefore re-vived fears that arms strugglemay return to the Valley follow-ing Guru’s hanging.

The warnings to the J&Kpolice, issued by the MultiAgency Centre (MAC), one ofthe arms of the IntelligenceBureau, were based on informa-tion that members of the UnitedJihad Council, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Taibaand the Hizbul Mujahideen holda meeting on February 13, fourdays after Guru was hanged. Atthe meeting, all present vowedto avenge Guru’s hanging.

The Hizb claimed respon-sibility for Wednesday’s attack.The fidayeen, masquerading ascricketers, entered the J&K Po-lice Public School playground

in Bemina at 10.45am andmingled with the crowd. Theyhad concealed AK-47 assaultrifles and grenades in thekitbags they were carrying.

“The CRPF party (at theplayground) was waiting to bedeployed for law and order du-ties when they were attacked,”VS Yadav, inspector general ofCRPF, Kashmir, said. TheCRPF retaliated and the twowere gunned down in 30 min-utes.

The toll could have beensignificantly more if the schoolhad been open. It was shut be-cause of a strike called by pro-freedom leaders who are de-manding that Guru’s mortal re-mains be returned to his family.

Sources blame the govern-ment decision to hang Guru forthe attack and caution that moreattacks can happen if the senti-ment stays.—NNI

Bilal, Sajjaddenounce India’s

brutal tacticsSRINAGAR—Senior leader ofAll Parties Hurriyet Confer-ence, Bilal Ghani Lone, has saidthat India cannot suppress thefreedom movement of Kashmiripeople through arrests, harass-ment and other barbaric means.

Bilal Ghani Lone in a state-ment in Srinagar welcomed thepassage of a resolution by thePakistan’s National Assemblysupporting the Kashmiris’struggle for right to self-deter-mination. He termed it as a rightstep in right direction.

The senior APHC leadercondemned the use of bruteforce against the people by In-dian police and paramilitaryforces in Langate and other ar-eas of the territory.

Kashmiri leader, SajjadGhani Lone in a statement is-sued in Srinagar while denounc-ing the arrest spree expresseddispleasure at the clampdown ofHurriyet leaders and activists inthe territory and said that disal-lowing dissent was not onlyundemocratic but also danger-ous.—KMS

SRINAGAR—IHK chief minis-ter Omar Abdullah, perhaps ina bid to offset widespread per-ception that he had approved ofparliament attack convict AfzalGuru’s hanging, suffixed ‘sahib’with Afzal’s name in the assem-bly drawing angry reaction fromNational Conference’s coalitionpartner, the Congress, on Sun-day.

“It’s unfortunate that thePakistani parliament and POKassembly adopted a resolutionagainst the hanging of AfzalGuru and the head of our stategovernment has equally glori-fied him,” said J&K ministerSham Lal Sharma, a CongressMLA from Akhnoor. Ministerof public health engineering,

Omar draws flak from Congresson calling Afzal as ‘sahib’

Sharma said leaderships at boththe Centre and the state shouldbe on the same page on Afzaland his hanging should not evenbe discussed since it was a Su-preme Court decision.

Jammu & Kashmir willhold assembly elections in 2014and Afzal’s hanging is fast be-coming a rallying point and anemotive issue between the sepa-ratists and the mainstream par-ties. Omar was speaking on thereturn of mortal remains ofAfzal.

Revealing competitivepopulism on Afzal, Omar re-leased his letter to Prime Min-ister Manmohan Singh, askingfor the bodies of Afzal andMaqbool Bhat, JKLF’s founder-

member, hanged in 1984 andburied in Tihar Jail, to be re-turned.

Political observers werequick to point out that Omar’sletter was released after PDPleader Mufti MohammadSayeed released his letter to PMseeking the return of Afzal’sbody. Mufti described Omar’ssuffixing “sahib” with Afzal asa political stunt.

NC sources said Omar hasdecided not to contest electionsfrom Ganderbal and would pre-fer Amira Kadal seat. Conven-tional wisdom has it that AmiraKadal is safe for the party as theseparatists impose completeboycott of polls in Srinagar citywhich helps NC win.—INP

JAMMU—Claiming that Na-tional Conference and Con-gress share same views onArmed Forces Special PowersAct (AFSPA), NC’s Addi-tional General SecretaryShiekh Mustafa Kamal hassaid Army is the major bottle-neck in the process of peacein the State.

“We all know how Armyand other force personnel areinvolved in killing of civilians.How can a civilian killing bejustified? The army and otherforces are committing crimesin Kashmir. Army doesn’twant peace in Kashmir for theobvious reasons,” Kamal toldreporters outside Assembly.

He said if army wantspeace in Kashmir then theyshould not oppose the revoca-tion of contentious AFSPA.

Claiming that AFSPA hasnever served a purpose in Val-ley, Kamal said time has comefor Government of India (GoI)

Indian army commitscrimes in Kashmir: Kamal

to revoke this draconian Act.“AFSPA should at least be re-voked from the peaceful areas.If Army claims that peace hasreturned to Valley then whythey oppose its revocation? Ibelieve that AFSPA is notserving any purpose and itshould be revoked,” he said.

He said militants canstrike with or without AFSPAso it is wrong to say AFSPA isnecessary to maintain peace.

Asked why Congress is si-lent over AFSPA issue, NCleader said it is wrong andhailed Saifuddin Soz for takingup this issue with Union HomeMinister Sushil Kumar Shinde.Probably this was the firstt ime when any Congressleader from state has sup-ported NC on this grave issueand advocated its revoca-tion,” he said and assertedthat both the parties samesimilar views on this conten-tious issue.—NNI

NEW DELHI—Lok JanshaktiParty (LJP) President and mem-ber of Indian parliament, RamVilas Paswan, has called for re-pealing draconian laws, ArmedForces Special Powers Act(AFSPA) and Public Safety Act(PSA), to allow a democraticspace to the people of occupiedKashmir.

Ram Vilas Paswan speakingat a public meeting “Terroriz-ing to Counter Terrorism” orga-nized by Center for PolicyAnalysis in New Delhi said thatthe Kashmiris couldn’t be madehostage at the behest of the In-dian Armed forces.

Paswan urges democraticspace for helpless Kashmiris

Paswan was critical of In-dian Muslims who according tohim had been remained indiffer-ent to the sufferings ofKashmiris. Describing AFSPAand PSA as anti-people, he said,“These have been used againstpeople and have threatened theircivil liberties. I vehemently callfor repealing these Acts and weshould launch an agitation byassembling at Jantar Mantar andeven gherao parliament for get-ting this demand conceded.” Hesaid that the Indian parliamen-tarians and the civil societymembers had an obligation to-wards people of Kashmir.

Paswan criticized the au-thorities for putting Hurriyetleaders including, MirwaizUmar Farooq, Syed Ali Gilaniand Muhammad Yasin Malikunder house arrest. “This isagainst the spirit of democracyand cannot be allowed,” said theLJP leader who had written toHome Minister protestingagainst detention of Gilani inDelhi.

Paswan said that hearts andminds of people of Kashmircould not be won through hardmeasures. “Unfortunately, me-dia also does not play a posi-tive role. —KMS

DFP flaysauthorities for

illegallydetaining ShahSRINAGAR—The Jammu andKashmir Democratic FreedomParty (DFP) has castigated theauthorities for illegally detain-ing its Chairman, ShabbirAhmed Shah, under draconianlaw, Public Safety Act.

The DFP spokesman in astatement issued in Srinagartermed the assertion of the pup-pet administration as its frustra-tion where it had stated that noPSA had been slapped againstShabbir Ahmad Shah. Thespokesman deplored that the pup-pet authorities were aware aboutthe ill health of Shabbir Shah andthe treatment he needed, but theydeliberately shifted him to Jammuunder criminal conspiracy.

“Sheikh Abdullah failed tosuppress the determination ofthe people and Shah. OmarAbdullah is new to the politicsand he should learn from thehistory .—KMS

STAFF REPORT

MUZAFFARABAD—The PrimeMinister AJ&K Chaudry AbdulMajeed has denounced the Indianallegation of interference of Pa-kistan in Kashmir dispute sayingthat Pakistan was one of the ma-jor stake holders as determined byUNCIP resolutions. The PrimeMinister maintained it while ad-dressing the joint session ofAJ&K Legislative Assembly andAJ&K Council, presided over bythe speaker Sardar Ghulam SadiqKhan here on Monday.

AJK Assembly condemns India

Pakistan is major stakeholderin Kashmir dispute: Majeed

The AJ&K Premier camedown hard on the recent state-ment by Indian authorities andstated that againt Indian oppres-sion Kashmir were continuingtheir indigenous struggle forfreedom. He reiterated thatKashmiri leadership and theelected parliament were unani-mous on Kashmir cause irrespec-tive of their political differences.“Pakistan cannot be de-nied ofits significant role in Kashmirdispute; the people and the gov-ernment of Pakistan have alwaysextended diplomatic, moral and

political support to us and Indiamust not be oblivion of the factthat the people of Kashmir wantto accede with Pakistan forwhich they are struggling againstIndian tyranny”, he added.

The Prime Minister AJ&Kcongratulated the president ofPakistan Asif Ali Zardari and allthe members of Pakistani parlia-ment for unanimous resolutionspassed by National Assembly(NA) of Pakistan on KashmirCause. “ The resolution passedby NA would not only strengthenthe freedom movement of

Kashmiris against Indian oppres-sion but also exert pressure onIndia which would have greatimpact on Kashmir dispute”, heheld. Majeed congratulated PPPgovern-ment for completing itstenure in Pakistan and main-tained that PPP would achieveland slide victory in upcomingelections in Pakistan.

The minister Educationschools Mian Abdul Waheed,Member Assembly MuhammadHussain Sargala, Faisal Rathor,Javeed Ayub and Shazia Akbaralso addressed on this occasion.

I S L A M A B A D—Chai rmanJammu and Kashmir People’sFreedom League (JKPFL) hasstrongly denounced the LokSabha resolution on Kashmir asnot being in conformity with theorigin, history, and the currentsituation of Jammu and Kash-mir, saying, “the occupation ofJ&K by Indian forces in 1947has never been recognized byeither the Kashmiris or theUnited Nations Organization asa just moral and legal step; andit’s still a disputed matter pend-ing solution according to therelevant resolutions of the Se-curity Council.

And this view gained fur-

JKPFL urges UN to intervenein Kashmir situation

ther support and credibility withthe tireless struggle of theKashmiris during the last 23years, although India mademany efforts to interpret theunrest in Kashmir as a domes-tic question of center-state re-lations, or Pakistan backed ter-rorism, which it never was.”

He said that had the Statebeen demilitarized, plebiscitebeen held, the root cause of theregional and local tension wouldhave vanished; and both Paki-stan and India would have be-come prosperous and welfarestates to set example for otherpoor nations of this region. In-dia paid no heed to it, but

massed its seven hundredthousand military forces andparatroopers in so small anarea, with their jackboots tocrush the movement of free-dom in Jammu and Kashmir.

Muhammad FarooqRehmani said that since India’scurrent Kashmir policy hadstarted revolving round hang-ing, and killing of Kashmiris injails or sentencing them to life-term, besides subjecting themto atrocities and worst types ofrights abuses, ignoring even in-ternational concern over India’sactions, it had become neces-sary for the people, especiallythe youths to protect their

“If you try to dosomething and fail, you

are vastly better offthan if you had tried

nothing and suc-ceeded.”

LSE downs by59.87 points

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Bearish trend pre-vailed in Lahore Stock Ex-change on Monday as it shed59.87 points, following theLSE-25 index opened with4166.10 and closed at 4106.23points.

The market’s overall situa-tion also did not correspond toan upward trend as it remainedat 2.034 million shares to closeagainst previous turnover of2.295 million shares, showing adownward slide of 260,700shares. While, out of the total 88active scrips 7 moved up, 32shed values and 49 reminedequal.

Adamjee Insurance Com-pany Limited, Nishat Mills Lim-ited and Dewan Farooq MotorsLimited were major gainers ofthe day by recording increase intheir per share value by Rs 3.44,Rs 1.05 and Re 0.62 respectively.

Muslim Commercial BankLimited, Pakistan State OilCompany Limited and EngroCorporation Limited lost theirper share value by Rs 6.56, Rs4.03 and Rs 3.15 respectively.

PQ shipping activityKARACHI—Three ships C.VMaersk Utha, M.T DongCalypso and M.T AL-Soor-IIcarrying containers, chemi-cals and diesel oil wereallotted berths at QasimInternational ContainerTerminal, Engro VopakTerminal and FOTCO OilTerminal respectively at PortQasim on Sunday, 17thMarch. Berth occupancy wasmanaged at the Port at 50%on Sunday where seven shipsnamely C.V Maersk Utha,M.T Sea Gull-D, M.T BungaMelate Dua, M.T MightyOcean, M.T Dong Calypso,M.V Smart Jessica and M.TAL- Soor-II are currentlyoccupying berths to load/offload containers, cement,steel coil, palm oil, chemi-cals, iron ore and diesel oilduring last 24 hours. A cargovolume of 78,500 tonnescomprises 69,000 tonnesimports and 9,500 tonnesexports inclusive container-ized cargo carried in 1,200containers ( 700 imports and500 exports TEUs) werehandled at the Port duringlast 24 hours.—APP

Rates for conversionKARACHI—The followingrates will be applicable forconversion into rupees ofForeign Currency Deposits,Dollar Bearer Certificates,Foreign Currency BearerCertificates, Special U.S.Dollar Bonds and profitsthereon by all banks and forproviding Forward Cover onForeign Currency Deposits(excluding F.E. 25 deposits) bythe State Bank on March 19,2013. The rates are U.S.Dollar Rs 98.1203, JapaneseYen Rs 1.0327, Pound SterlingRs 148.4561 and Euro127.1738.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Emerging EastAsia’s local currency bondmarkets continued to expandin 2012, signaling ongoing in-vestor interest in the region’sfast-growing economies butalso raising the risk of assetprice bubbles, said the AsianDevelopment Bank’s (ADB)latest Asia Bond Monitor.

“Emerging East Asia ismuch more resilient than itused to be but governments

Flows into Asia bond markets raise risk of asset price bubblesstill need to be careful that thesurge in capital inflows doesn’tfuel excessive rises in assetprices and that they are preparedfor a possible reversal in theflows when the economies of theUS and Europe pick up again,”said Thiam Hee Ng, SeniorEconomist in ADB’s Office ofRegional Economic Integration.

By the end of 2012, emerg-ing East Asia had $6.5 trillionin outstanding local currencybonds versus $5.7 trillion at theend of 2011. That marked a

quarterly increase of 3.0% andan annual increase of 12.1% inlocal currency terms. The cor-porate markets, though smallerthan the government bond mar-kets, drove the increase, grow-ing 6.2% on quarter and 18.6%on year to $2.3 trillion.

Emerging East Asia is de-fined as the People’s Republicof China (PRC); Hong Kong,China; Indonesia; the Republicof Korea; Malaysia; the Philip-pines; Singapore; Thailand; andViet Nam.

Investors have been puttingtheir money to work in emerg-ing East Asia since the early1990s, but the flows have pickedup pace in recent years becauseof low interest rates and slow ornegative economic growth indeveloped economies whileemerging East Asia has enjoyedhigh growth rates and appreci-ating currencies.

Investment is increasinglycoming from overseas, with for-eign ownership in most emerg-ing East Asia local currency

bond markets increasing in thesecond half of 2012. In Indone-sia, for example, overseas inves-tors held 33% of outstandinggovernment bonds at the end2012, while foreign holdings ofMalaysian government bondshad reached 28.5% of the totalat the end of September 2012.

The fastest-growing bondmarket in emerging East Asia in2012 was Viet Nam, 42.7% big-ger than at end 2001, largely dueto the rapid expansion in thecountry’s government bond mar-

ket. The Philippine and Malay-sian markets grew 20.5% and19.9% respectively, while India’smarket expanded by a strong24.3% to $1.0 trillion. Japan stillhas the largest market in Asia at$11.7 trillion, followed by thePRC at $3.8 trillion.

Governments in emergingEast Asia are increasingly opt-ing to sell longer-dated bonds –another sign of strong marketconfidence in the economies ofthe region – which is makingthem more resilient to possible

volatile capital flows. This isparticularly the case in Indo-nesia and the Philippines. Ma-turities tend to be shorter in thecorporate bond markets of theregion.

ADB, based in Manila, isdedicated to reducing povertyin Asia and the Pacific throughinclusive economic growth,environmentally sustainablegrowth and regional integra-tion. Established in 1966, it isowned by 67 members – 48from the region.

STAFF CORRESPONDENT

ISLAMABAD—Ambassadors ofthe member countries of theEuropean Union based inIslamabad held a meeting witha delegation of the PakistanBusiness Council on Monday inIslamabad. The agenda for themeeting included the creation offavorable conditions in theCountry for promoting ForeignDirect Investment (FDI) as wellas greater market access to theEU markets for Pakistani ex-ports. Welcoming the PBC del-egation, Mr. Adam Thomson theBritish High Commissioner toPakistan spoke warmly aboutthe relations which the EUmember countries enjoy withPakistan.

PBC: Pakistan a safedestination for FDI

Speaking on the occasion theChairman of the PBC, Mr.Sikander Mustafa Khan statedthat despite all the difficulties thatPakistan was passing through, thecountry was still a safe destina-tion for FDI and offering returnscomparable if not better thanthose available in other emerg-ing markets. He further said thatPakistan’s investment regimewas the most favorable in the re-gion and did not like some re-gional competitors discriminateagainst foreign owned busi-nesses. On the issue of the GSPPlus market access to the EU, Mr.Khan hoped that Pakistan’s ap-plication for grant of greater mar-ket access would be looked uponfavorably by the EU.

During the subsequent ex-

change of views both sidesagreed that in Pakistan’s casethere were a number of lowhanging fruit when it came toimproving the business climatewithin the Country as well asgreater trade promotion betweenPakistan and the EU. The meet-ing ended on the note that bothsides would lobby with the nextgovernment in Islamabad to pro-mote Pak EU relations.

The PBC delegation besidesMr. Sikander Mustafa Khan in-cluded, Abdul Razak Dawood,Ali Habib, Asif Saad, AtifAslam Bajwa, Bashir AliMohammad, Ehsan Malik,Hussain Dawood, MianMuhammad Mansha, , SenatorOsman Saifullah and the PBCCEO Kamran Y Mirza.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The Competi-tion Commission of Pakistan(CCP) has issued show causenotices to the National Trans-mission and Dispatch Company(NTDC), Lahore Electric Sup-ply Company (LESCO),Faisalabad Electric SupplyCompany (FESCO) and MultanElectric Power Company(MEPCO) for, prima facie,abuse of dominance and collu-sion in the procurement of vari-ous categories of auto/powertransformers in violation of Sec-tion 3 and Section 4 of the Com-petition Act, 2010.

CCP received a complaintfrom “7Aays Corporation”wherein it was alleged that the

CCP issues show causenotices to NTDC, 3 DISCOs

NTDC, LESCO, FESCO, andMEPCO are abusing their domi-nance in the market of power/auto transformers by allowingmonopoly to MR-Germanymade on-load tap-changers(OLTCs) although there are othermanufacturers as well. CCP con-ducted an enquiry in the matter.

In terms of the Enquiry Re-port, it appears that the NTDC,LESCO, FESCO, and MEPCOare imposing an unfair tradingcondition on the suppliers oftransformers by unnecessarilyreferring to a particular brandi.e. MR Germany in the biddingdocuments (despite the fact thata complete International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC)specification exist for the same),by insisting that the bidders sup-

ply transformers equipped withMR Germany’s OLTC, and byrejecting the bids of the suppli-ers of transformers equippedwith any other brand of OLTC.

Due to this unfair tradingcondition the suppliers of trans-formers equipped with OLTCof any brand other than MRGermany are unable to competein the market. Hence it appearsthat NTDC, LESCO, FESCO,and MEPCO are abusing theirdominant position in the rel-evant market for procurementof various categories of trans-formers in violation of Section3(1) read with Section 3(2) andSection 3(3) (a) & (g) of theAct.

The show cause notices further

Continued on Page 14

STAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—MOL Pakistanhas signed a farm-out agreementwith Mari Petroleum CompanyLimited (MPCL) to acquire 30%interest in the Ghauri explora-tion block in Pakistan.

MOL has already a well-es-tablished presence in TAL Blockin KPK and Margala Blocks innorthern Pakistan. Ghauri blockis a promising exploration op-portunity, and lies close to MOLPakistan’s Margala blocks.Ghauri block is operated byMPCL with 35% interest; theother partner Pakistan Petro-leum Limited also has 35% in-terest. MOL is partner withMPCL in Karak block as well.

MOL to acquire 30pcinterest in Ghauri block

Ghauri block is in its firstexploration phase and the consor-tium intends to drill the first ex-ploration well this year. Based onevaluations, the potential hydro-carbon is oil and natural gas. Thetransaction is subject to the ap-proval of Pakistani government.

József Molnár, Group ChiefExecutive Officer commented:“In line with the explorationdriven growth strategy of MOL,we continuously monitor newupstream investment opportuni-ties. We are proud to deepen ourcooperation with MPCL, a well-known partner from severalprojects. We are pleased that wehave concluded this deal result-ing in the growth of our up-stream portfolio.

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—Bank Alfalahwill be joining hands with theAllWorld Network as the leadprogram sponsor for the Paki-stan Fast Growth 100 (Paki-stan100) Program.

The AllWorld NetworkInc., co-founded by ProfessorMichael Porter of HarvardBusiness School, launched thePakistan 100 in 2012. This isa pioneering effort to show-case and rank the most inno-vative and dynamic fast-growth private companies inPakistan.

Speaking at the Arabia500 awards ceremony inDubai, Atif Bajwa, CEO BankAlfalah said, “The medium-scale enterprise sector is theengine to fuel future economicgrowth by creating the nextwave of employment, drivingthe economy and fostering

Bank Alfalah joinshands with AllWorld

prosperity. SME developmentand entrepreneurship remainkey focus areas for the bank onbusiness and community fronts.We are excited by this opportu-nity of supporting such a uniqueglobal initiative that recognizesrising and established entrepre-neurs in Pakistan and beyond.This is another side of Pakistanthat must be – a forward-look-ing story of innovation, ambi-tion, and achievement.” Over80 Pakistan100 entrepreneurstraveled to Dubai for theArabia500 Awards.

Deirdre M. Coyle, Jr., co-CEO and co-founder ofAllWorld Network said,“AllWorld is thrilled that BankAlfalah has joined us in promot-ing and growing the Pakistan100program. We feel that their sup-port of the Pakistan100 onlyenhances their already solidreputation and commitment tothe SME community in Paki-

stan. When no one expectedmuch, the Pakistan100 brokeall AllWorld records forgrowth, transparency and com-petitiveness. They are the per-sonification of what everycountry dreams of having.Now with Bank Alfalah onboard we can only raise the barhigher and build Pakistan as aleading entrepreneurial na-tion.”

In the midst of challeng-ing political and economic cir-cumstances, the Pakistan100broke many AllWorld recordsin relation to 15 other countryrankings in the region, comingin only second to Turkey interms of entrepreneurialgrowth and transparency.Many of the companies havebeen founded in the last years,and have already grown to beindustry leaders. An average ofonly 42 years old, most Paki

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—Pakistan’s biggestrefinery BYCO with a capacity of1.2 million tons is set to go intoproduction to enhance current ca-pacity of 12.5 million tons to 18.5million metric tons shortly.

Byco’s newly completed120,000 (ie ~ 6.00 million tons perannum) bpd oil refinery, largest inthe country, successfully com-pleted its 72hour continuous per-formance test run at 60% of itscapacity over the week-end.

During the performance testrun operation the refinery pro-duced fully on-specification petro-leum products such as naphtha,kerosene, HSD and HSFO. Fol-lowing the 72 hour run the newlyconstructed refinery has com-pleted all critical tests which ren-der assurance to credible mechani-cal integrity and operability. As a

RAWALPINDI: Manzar Khurshid Sheikh, President, RCCI and others with Director Gen-eral Trade Organization.

Biggest refinery of the country comes on line

Refining capacity to jumpfrom 12.5m to 18m MTs

result, the refinery is ready in allrespects for production of petro-leum products.

Speaking on this momentousoccasion, Mr. Qaiser Jamal, CEO,Byco Oil Pakistan Limited, said,“We are thankful to Allah Almightythat this refinery project once a vi-sion has today been transformedinto reality. It is also a matter ofpride that project construction andproving trial run has all been doneusing indigenous expertise thusBOPL reposed huge confidence inpure Pakistani human resource.This has not only given exposureto our people but also saved con-siderable foreign exchange for thegovernment. We had to countermany detractors who, despite theirunrelenting efforts, failed to dimour spirits. The result, todayPakistan’s largest refining complexis ready to serve the Nation”.

This new refinery will greatly

enhance the domestic refining ca-pacity, taking the current capacityof ~ 12.5 million metric tons perannum to ~ 18.5 million metric tonsper annum and based on fullthroughput is expected to produceon an annual basis about 1.6 mil-lion tons HSFO, 2.4 million tonsHSD, 1.1 million tons of MSand0.8 million tons of LPG. It isvery important to note that as all ofthese products are deficit and there-fore, imported, the refinery willsubstitute imports by providing lo-cally refined petroleum products.This will substantially help saveforeign exchange for the Countryand help move towards self suffi-ciency in refining capacity. Head-quartered in Karachi, Byco is anemerging energy company en-gaged in the business of oil refin-ing, petroleum marketing, chemi-cals manufacturing and petroleuminfrastructure logistics.

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—Sheikh Ali BinAbdullah Thani J. Al-Thani,Chairman Pak-Qatar TakafulGroup inaugurated Doha villagefor flood victims in Pakistan.

The construction for 200families who had lost theirhomes due to the floods in 2010was completed under the nameof Doha village.. The projectincludes 200 residential homes,a mosque, a primary school, ahealth unit, shops and cleandrinking water and sanitationfacilities. Sheikh Ali BinAbdullah Thani J. Al-Thani,

Doha Village for flood victims openedChairman Pak-Qatar Family &General Takaful inaugurated theproject on February 27, 2013.

The Sheikh Thani BinAbdullah for Humanitarian Ser-vices (RAF) is one of manyfoundations established in Qatarconcerned primarily with hu-manitarian work for relief andsocial development, both locallyand internationally. The foun-dation is amongst a handful ofcharities that were focused onthe repopulation process of theaffected areas in Pakistan. TheFoundation allocated a signifi-cant sum for the repopulationand establishment of the “Doha

Village Project” in Sanjarpurvillage, Tehsil Sadiqabad in thedistrict of Rahim Yar Khan. To-tal area of the village is 11 Acresand total number of beneficia-ries is around 1600-2000. TheProject started in Oct, 2011 andended in July 2012.

Sheikh Thani, ChairmanPak-Qatar Takafukl Group said:“As soon as the features of thedisaster started to appear and be-gan to unfold its destructive ef-fects to the world that the Qataricivil society institutions rushedto rescue the victims and dis-tressed people. So, a campaignwas organized for collecting do-

Continued on Page 14

nations, and an amount of QR 40million was collected in one day.While RAF was leading the cam-paigners for collecting donations,its urgent help was successivelyreaching the affected regions inSwat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, andSindh, as field teams began dis-tributing food, essential suppliesand drinking water. This meansthat the breadwinners will goback to supporting their families,and this will lead to improvingtheir economic and living condi-tions, and enabling children andstudents to pursue their studiesamid special attention to theirhealth.”

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The practical partici-pation of the farming communityin the canal management yieldedpositive results and on-going pro-cess of reformation of canal sys-tem greatly helped in the achieve-ment of the target of food autarkyas well as effective maintenance ofthe irrigation network in Punjab.

General Manager Punjab Irri-gation and Drainage Authority(PIDA) Mian Maqbool Ahmadwhile presiding over a departmen-tal meeting at PIDA headquartersaverred this. Deputy General Man-ager (TM) Afzal Anjum Toor,

Deputy General Manager (Opera-tion) Mian Abdul Rashid, DeputyGeneral Manager (SocialMobilisation) Syed Shaiq HussainAbidi and the concerned field man-agers also attended the meeting.The meeting reviewed in detail theperformance of farming organiza-tions, preparation of election sched-ule for the formation of 67 FOs inLower Chenab Canal (West) AreaWater Board, the status of abianacollection, review of updatedguidelines to cope with the differ-ent socio-environmental issueswhile managing the irrigationprojects as well as revamping ofPIDA website.

Farmers participationyields positive results

ADB presidentsteps downafter 8 years

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Asian Develop-ment Bank (ADB) PresidentHaruhiko Kuroda steps down onMonday after eight years thathas seen ADB transformed intoa more relevant, responsive andresults-oriented institution, help-ing developing Asia-Pacificcountries reduce poverty andincrease standards of living fortheir people.

Under Kuroda, the Bank’slongest serving president, ADBhas grown as the region’s pre-mier development institution,said ADB statement receivedhere.

Its operations tripled from$7.4 billion in 2005 to $21.57billion in 2012 includingcofinancing, reflecting theregion’s growing demand fordevelopment finance.

To support this growth inoperations, he oversaw ADB’sfirst general capital increase in14 years, which tripled itscapital base to $165 billion,and two replenishments of theAsian Development Fund,which raised over $23 billionto help meet the needs ofADB’s poorest member coun-tries, it added. In 2008, ADBadopted a long-term strategicframework to focus its efforts onpromoting more inclusive andenvironmentally sustainableeconomic growth in Asia and thePacific, along with regional co-operation and integration.

1500 tonskinnow exported

from MultanOBSERVER REPORT

MULTAN—As many as 1500ton of value-added kinnow wasexported to other countries fromMultan, an exporter said onMonday.

Azam Sabri said on Mondaythat it was for the first time sucha big quantity of kinnow wasexported to Dubai, Singapore,UAE, Russia and Bangladeshafter passing through processingincluding washing in the city.

He informed that there wasbigdemand of the fruit in Eu-rope. Pakistani farmers couldearn a lot by exporting the fruitto the market, he said.

He informed that the fruitwas sold at low prices in thecountry. He added that StateBank imposed a ban on the ex-port of Kinnow to Iran whichresulted low prices in the coun-try. He lamented that the coun-try had lost one big market be-cause of the ban.

Rs 111b spent oneducation projects

in PunjabSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The Punjab govern-ment has spent an amount of Rs111 billion on different educa-tional projects during its five-yeartenure to improve and expand theeducational facilities for the stu-dents. Chairman Punjab Educa-tion Foundation Raja Anwarstated this while talking to a 10-member delegation of differentNGOs working in the field ofeducation in Punjab.

Asian marketsHONG KONG—Asianmarkets tumbled on Mondayand the euro sank as eurozonefears returned on news thatCyprus was planning to taxbank depositors as part of acontroversial bailout. WallStreet also provided a weaklead, with the Dow seeing itsfirst loss after a 10-day rally asdata pointed to ongoingsoftness in the US economy.Tokyo fell 2.71 percent, or340.32 points, to end at12,220.63, Sydney slipped2.05 percent, or 104.8 points,to 5,015.4, a two-week low,while Seoul ended 0.92percent lower, sliding 18.32points to 1,968.18. Hong Konglost 2.00 percent, or 449.75points, to end at 22,083.36 andShanghai shed 1.68 percent, or38.38 points, to 2,240.02.Investors have been spookedby news that Cyprus agreed toa levy of up to 10 percent onbank depositors as part of adeal with fellow eurozonecountries and internationalcreditors in order to qualify fora $13 billion bailout.—APP

Oil prices downSINGAPORE—Oil prices easedon Monday on eurozone fearsafter Cyprus said it planned totax bank deposits to winbailout cash while a US surveyshowed a dip in consumerconfidence, analysts said. NewYork’s main contract, lightsweet crude for delivery inApril, dropped $1.02 to $92.43a barrel in the afternoon andBrent North Sea crude for Maydelivery shed $1.20 to$108.62. Eurozone financeministers and the InternationalMonetary Fund on Saturdayagreed on a 10 billion-euro($13 billion) bailout deal forCyprus, the fifth eurozonemember to be saved frombankruptcy. Under the deal,deposits of more than 100,000euros ($129,000) will be hitwith a 9.9 percent charge and6.75 percent for anythingbelow that threshold. Theproposal must still be passedby parliament.—APP

Gold Tezab 51685.00Silver Tezabi 900.00

Gold Tezabi (24-Ct) 51090.00Gold 22 Ct 46710.00SilverTezabi 970.00Silver Thobi 895.00

USA 98.00 97.80

UK 148.09 147.79

EURO 126.50 126.25

Canada 95.76 95.56

Switzerland 103.95 103.73

Australia 101.59 101.38

Sweden 15.19 15.16

Japan 1.0350 1.0329

Norway 16.90 16.86

Singapore 78.35 78.19

Denmark 16.97 16.93

Omani Riyal 250.00 246.00

Saudi Arabia 26.13 26.08

Hong Kong 12.63 12.60

Kuwait 344.43 343.72

Malaysia 31.28 31.22

Newzeland 80.75 80.58

Qatar 26.92 26.86

UAE 26.68 26.63

KR WON 0.880 0.0878

Thailand 3.312 3.305

Citi statementon 2013 CCARplanned capital

actionsNEW YORK—Citigroup an-nounced that the Federal Re-serve Board (FRB) has ad-vised Citi that it has no ob-jection to the planned capi-tal actions requested by Citias part of the 2013

Comprehensive CapitalAnalysis and Review(CCAR). The planned capi-tal actions include a $1.2 bil-lion common stock buybackprogram through the firstquarter of 2014 and the main-tenance of current commonstock dividends ($0.01 pershare per quarter). Any repur-chases of common stock andcommon stock dividends re-main subject to approval byCitigroup’s Board of Direc-tors.

Michael Corbat, Citi’sChief Executive Officer said,“We are pleased that Citi willbe able to return additionalcapital to shareholders. Overthe past several years, wehave rebuilt Citi’s capitalbase and strengthened ourbalance sheet as well as shedassets and businesses notcore to our strategy. We re-main focused on our clientsand allocating our resourcesto where they can provide thebest returns and generateconsistent, high-quality earn-ings.”—Newswire

WBDC to holdthree-dayexhibitionSTAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—Women BusinessDevelopment Centre (WBDC)Peshawar in collaboration withWBDC Swat is going to orga-nize a Three-Day Exhibitiontitled ‘Spring Summer Collec-tion Launch’.

The Three-Day Exhibitionwill start from March 20 andwill continue till March 22,2013. The exhibition will beparticipated by incubates andrack holder of WBDC. Simi-larly, different designers fromPeshawar and artisans fromSwat will also participate anddisplay their products.

The timings of the exhibi-tion will be from 9:00am till5:00pm.

ISE index gains9.1 points

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The IslamabadStock Exchange witnessed abullish trend on Monday as theISE-10 index was up by 9.10points to close at 3386.7. A to-tal of 21,000 shares were traded,which were down by 13,000shares as compared to previousday’s trading of 34,000 shares.Out of 120 companies, shareprices of 34 companies recordedincrease and those of 86 regis-tered decrease. No company re-mained stable.

The share price of AbbotLaboratories increased by Rs.4.61, while that of PackagesLimited decreased by Rs. 11.95.

Fatima Fertilizer, P.T.C.Land Allied Bank remained thetop trading companies with6,000, 5,000 and 1,000 respec-tively.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Central DepositoryCompany of Pakistan Limited(CDC) has recently sent Physi-cal Account Statements to allSub-Account Holders of theCentral Depository System. Thesystem-generated statementsprovide details about the secu-rities position in Sub-Accountsin terms of balance available,and pledged etc.

Sub-Accounts are openedand maintained by Participants(brokers, banks and DFIs) whoperform securities transactionson behalf of their clients. CDChas advised all Sub-AccountHolders to carefully read theaccount statements and contacttheir Participant and CDC incase of any discrepancy.

The physical Account Bal-ance Statement has been sent to

CDC sends account statementto all sub-account holders

Sub-Account Holders as a one-time exercise for their informa-tion and reconciliation to helpthem better safeguard their in-vestment portfolio. This activitywas in line to the belief advocatedby CDC over the past many yearsthat an ‘Informed Investor meansSecured Investment’.

Talking about this activity,Muhammad Hanif Jakhura,CEO-CDC stressed that Trans-parency is not only the mostimportant need of PakistanCapital Market but also a corevalue of the Central DepositoryCompany. “From time to time,we have taken measures to en-sure that the Capital Marketfunctions on transparentgrounds. Although, the dispatchof physical account balanceswas a tedious and huge exercise,it was necessary for the benefitof Sub-Account Holders. Fur-

thermore, we have launchedmultiple channels for investorsto access their electronic secu-rities portfolio through our in-novative service-range CDCaccess.

I would strongly adviseSub-Account Holders to takeactive interest in protecting theirinvestments and subscribe toFREE-OF-COST CDC accessIVR, Web and SMS. They canalso subscribe to real time eAlertand monthly eStatement facili-ties by providing their emailaddress to their Participant tokeep updated about their ac-count activities at all times.”

Central Depository Com-pany of Pakistan Limited (CDC)is the only depository in Paki-stan handling electronic(paperless) settlement of trans-actions carried out at all threestock exchanges of the country.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—R&D Budgetshould be enhanced and fundsshould be pooled with PakistanScience Foundation (PSF) likeUS National Science Founda-tion (NSF), it was proposed bythe PSF Board of Trustees(BoT) during its 40th meetingon Monday.

PSF Chairman Prof. Dr.Manzoor H. Soomro, who alsoheads BoT, in a presentationapprised the newly constitutedBoT about PSF performanceduring 2012. The President hasre-constituted the 19-memberBoT under an Act of Parliamentafter the tenure of previousBoard was expired.

The board said pooling ofR&D budget with PSF on USNSF will help boost R&D ac-

Increase in R&D budgetproposed

tivities according to the needs ofthe country.

The Board appreciated PSFPerformance specially its re-search funding, science popular-ization and R&D Industry Link-age programmes. The Boardmembers said the role of PSFand mass media in promotion ofscience promotion is commend-able. The Board called for closercooperation of the Foundationwith mass media to popularizescience at grass root level.

The Board appreciated Min-istry of Science and Technologyrole and its patronization of PSFscience promotional activities.

The BoT lauded PSF na-tional and international collabo-ration programme to promoteR&D research and science in thecountry and emphasized theneed to further expand it.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Despite the in-volvement of USAID PowerDistribution System an-nounced in 2009 to increasethe capability of power man-agers and guide the power dis-tribution companies to de-crease the line losses and im-prove revenue collection, thegovernment showed its inabil-ity to manage as the govern-ment-owned power distribu-tion companies (DISCOs) putup a dismal performance in-creasing the losses fromRs.119 billion in 2008 to Rs.207 billion in 2012.

Dismal performance by DISCOs during last 5 yearsThese eight government-

owned power distribution com-panies include Quetta Electric-ity Supply Company (QESCO),Peshawar Electricity SupplyCompany (PESCO), HyderabadElectricity Supply Company(HESCO), Islamabad Electric-ity Supply Company (IESCO),Lahore Electricity Supply Com-pany (LESCO), FaisalabadElectricity Supply Company(FESCO), Multan ElectricityPower Company (MEPCO),Gujranwala Electricity PowerCompany (GEPCO).

According to sources,QESCO’s performance hadbeen worst during the period

under review as the recoveriesdeclined from 86 per cent in2008 to 36 per cent in 2012,PESCO was the second worstpower distribution that failed inimproving the recovery positionas the percentage of recoverywent down from 92 per cent in2008 to 68 per cent in 2012showing a decline of 26.2 percent. HESCO was also includedin the top three power distribu-tion companies that could notmuster improvement in recov-eries in the power losses thatjumped up to 10.2 per cent de-creasing from 77 per cent in2008 to 69 per cent in 2012.

The five companies almost

remained static as far as the re-coveries in losses are concerned:IESCO and LESCO from 98 to96 per cent; FESCO from 99 to98 per cent; MEPCO andGEPCO remained unchangedwith 98 per cent during the pe-riod under discussion.

PESCO topped the table inbad performance with purchaseof 13,101 units as against 8,528sold registering a loss of 4,573units with a loss percentage of35; KESE was second on thistable with purchase of 15,259units as against 10,279 sold reg-istering a loss of 4,980 unitswith a percentage of 33;HESCO maintained the overall

third position with purchase of4,679 units as against 3,381sold registering a loss of 1,298units with a percentage of 28;QESCO followed them withpurchase of 5,159 units asagainst 4,086 sold registering aloss of 1,073 units with a per-centage of 21.

The losses for the remain-ing DISCOS were 19 per centfor MEPCO, 14 per cent forLESCO, 11 per cent for GEPCOand FESCO, and 10 per cent forIESCO for the year 2012.

The overall (distribution +recovery) losses incurred by theeight government owned powerdistribution companies (DIS-

COS) and KESC are Rs.207,366million the break-up of which is:PESCO: (32,514+11275)Rs.43,789 million; KESC:(35,408+13,778) Rs.49,185 mil-lion; HESCO: (9,229+9,899)Rs.19,127 million; QESCO:(7,629+21,726) Rs.29,355 mil-lion; MEPCO: (17,114+2,705)Rs.19,818 million; LESCO:(16,069+6,078) Rs.22,147;GEPCO: (5,553+948) Rs.6,501;FESCO: (7,366+1,322) 8,688;IESCO: (5,645+3,113)Rs.8,559.

USAID Power Distribu-tion System was announcedby the then US Secretary ofState Hillary Clinton in 2009

as being among the UnitedStates’ efforts to support theGovernment of Pakistan inreforming the power sector.It should have helped theDISCOS to improve theircommercial performance interms of reducing losses, in-creasing revenues and im-proving customer servicesthrough the introduction ofnew technology and im-proved work practices forwhich i t was mandated,however, no serious effortswith sincerity were made bythe outgoing government toimprove the situation ofpower sector.

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—Engr TahirShamshad, Vice President (Tech-nical Coordination & BusinessPromotion, Disaster Manage-ment and Reconstruction Divi-sion) has taken over the chargeof Managing Director/Presidentof NESPAK. He has replaced Ar-chitect Asad I. A. Khan, who hasserved on the position for fouryears.

According to a notificationissued on March 15, 2013 by theMinistry of Water and Power,Islamabad, Mr. Tahir Shamshadwill look after the Company af-fairs. Tahir possesses an idealqualification combination whichinclude BE (Civil), MPhil (En-gineering Management) andother courses in Engineering,Planning, Management and re-lated subjects. Recently he hasalso attended a 10-day course atSingapore Civil Services Acad-emy. He carries 32 years of richand diversified experience of

Shamshad takes over asnew MD NESPAK

handling more than 200 projectscontrolled by NESPAK either in-dependently or in associationwith various International Con-sultants i.e. FEDCON of Thai-land, Swan Wooster of Canada,Montgomery Watson, Harza In-ternational L.P. of USA, CDMSmith of USA, Binnie, Black andVeatch. of UK., Air-Consult,Flughafen of Germany, Fichnerof Germany, Airport-De-Paris ofFrance, Leningnerpromex ofRussia, Bechtel of USA,Shankland & COX of UK &Kinhill of Australia.

Considering his strong back-ground of various engineeringand social sector projects, he wasalso chosen as Project Manager/Divisional Head to lead the con-sulting team for the reconstruc-tion and rehabilitation of 2005earthquake affected areas. Be-sides handling the major publicsector works under earthquakereconstruction, he also acted asfocal person for reconstructionprogram of more than 50 donors

& sponsors countries.Tahir also served on depu-

tation as DG (Infrastructure) /DG Flood Coordination/ JointSecretary Planning Commis-sion, Member Engineering andMember Planning, CDA. Hehas also been on the Boards ofseveral Federal GovernmentOrganizations as well as enjoysimpeccable reputation duringhis long outstanding career. Heis Member, Boards of Studies,Member Board of Faculty andAppellate Board of UET, Taxilaand teaches various manage-ment subjects as visiting facultymember in various universitiesand takes keen interest in Indus-try Academia Linkage. EngrTahir has been twice awardedCertificate of Appreciation bythe Prime Minister of Pakistanin recognition of his outstand-ing achievements. He is consid-ered to be an honest and effi-cient officer who strives hardto work within rules and regu-lations.

Nestle NESVITA promotes bone healthSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Nestle NESVITACalcium Plus announced ‘onMonday that it is supporting theInternational OsteoporosisFoundation (IOF) by promotingbone health and spreadingawareness about Osteoporosis.

During the ceremony held ata local hotel, the NestleNESVITA Brand Manager,Zahra Arshad, said that theawareness campaign will in-clude informational seminars onOsteoporosis. Through theseseminars, NESVITA aims toreach almost 15,000 girls in over100 colleges across Pakistan,communicating the importanceof daily Calcium intake, spread-ing awareness about Osteoporo-sis and conducting free bonemineral density tests.

Educational segments withnutritionist, Dr. Farzeen Malik,

informing people about the se-riousness of this disease, its pre-ventative measures and generalbone healthcare, will also beaired as part of the campaign.

“Osteoporosis is a seriousdisease which results in a highrisk of broken bones. With itslarge and growing population ofsenior citizens, Pakistan will seean increase in the number offractures due to Osteoporosis inthe coming decade and t:lrgentaction needs to be taken,” saidInternational OsteoporosisFoundation CEO, JudyStenmark. She added, “Womenare especially at risk with aroundone in three women over the ageof 50 going on to experience anOsteoporotic fracture. This iswhy the IOF welcomes effortsto raise awareness of early pre-vention strategies.”

Speaking at the event, Presi-dent Osteoporosis Society of

Pakistan, Dr. Akhter Ahmed,said, “Osteoporosis is a systemicdisease, which mostly manifestsin old age but starts when we areyoung. There are many modifi-able risk factors which, whenaddressed, can reduce the inci-dence of Osteoporosis.”

Among those present at theevent were renowned orthopaedicsurgeon and President Osteoporo-sis Society of Pakistan, Dr. AkhterAhmed, Managing Director NestlePakistan, Magdi Batato, BusinessExecutive Manager AmbientDairy, Amir Iqbal, Group BrandManager Ambient Dairy, FuadGhazanfar, Brand Manager NestleNESVITA, Zahra Arshad, andBrand Ambassador NestleNESVITA, Mahira Khan.

Nestle is a member of theIOF, which leads a global ini-tiative promoting the mainte-nance of bone, muscle and jointhealth as a worldwide priority.

STAFF CORRESPONDENT

ISLAMABAD—Xpress Money, theworld’s most dependable globalmoney transfer brand, today an-nounced its partnership withUfone, to expand its agent locationsin Pakistan. Ufone is a sub agentof Summit Bank, one of Pakistan’spremier financial institutions andone of Xpress Money’s foremostagent partners in the country.

In a statement, XpressMoney said the partnership willadd over 148outlets of Ufone toits network in key centers acrossthe country sprawling Islamabad,Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Lahore,Multan, Karachi, Faisalabadamongst others.

Rizwan Ali Hamdani-Country Manager, BusinessDevelopment, Xpress Money,said: “At Xpress Money, we are

Xpress Money, Summit Bankto offer remittance services

committed to provide conve-nient and faster remittance ser-vices to our customers. The part-nership with Ufone is a signifi-cant step in this direction. Byadding on more agent locationswe are enriching our services,which in turn will help expatri-ates send and receive moneyquickly and conveniently, pro-viding tremendous value-add onour existing services,” he said.

Summit Bank has broughton board Ufone as its Remit-tance Payout Agent in Pakistanrecently to boost the portfolio itoffers via Xpress Money. It hasrecently instituted morebranches at convenient locationswith extended working hoursand weekend operations.

“The syndicate betweenXpress Money and Ufone, willadd to the growth of organized

remittance, ensuring that moneysent by NRPs reaches their ben-eficiaries in a fast and securemanner. By addingauthorizedoutlets of Ufone to our networkacross prime regions throughoutthe country, Summit Bank is re-affirming its commitment to en-hance the customer experience.We have envisioned taking ourpartnership with both the com-panies to the next level of moneytransfer service,” said Mr.FarrukhMajeed – Head of HomeRemittance, Summit Bank.

With over 4,800 agent loca-tions in Pakistan, Xpress Moneyaccounts for channeling almost10% of the remittances to Paki-stan. A prominent receive market,with an impressive 16.29% yearon year growth, Xpress Moneyprovides cash-to-home, cash-to-account, cash-to-mobile.

stan100 entrepreneurs planto establish another com-pany in the next two years.

With a population ex-ceeding 180 million people,Pakistan is the sixth mostpopulous country in the world.It is a rapidly developing coun-try and one of the ‘NextEleven’ along with the BRICswith high potential to becomeone of the world’s largesteconomies in the 21st century.Further, the SME sector in Pa-kistan contributes 30 percentto the country’s GDP, employsmore than 70 percent of thenon-agricultural workforce,accounts for 35 percent of thevalue added in the manufac-turing industry and generates25 percent of export earnings.Information on Pakistan’slarger companies and con-glomerates is readily available.However, younger and smallercompanies suffer from a pro-found lack of visibility. Manysmaller and dynamic compa-nies, which may now only beemploying 20 people, couldgrow to 200 or 2,000 if theyhad global visibility and inves-tors. The Pak100 program willaim to highlight precisely theseenterprises through itsrankings.

Leading the 2012 Paki-stan100 was the number 1company e2e Supply ChainManagement, which grew1,918 percent between 2008and 2010, with 2010 rev-enues above $50 million and297 employees. Launched in2005, e2e has risen to be-come one of the most suc-cessful end-to-end logisticscompanies covering Paki-stan and Afghanistan.

Bank AlfalahFrom Page 13

Hidayatullah,Zafar appointeddirectors on SBP

central boardSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The Federal Gov-ernment has notified the ap-pointment of M/s. MuhammadHidayatullah and Zafar Masudas Directors on the CentralBoard of Directors of the StateBank of Pakistan (SBP) for aperiod of three years with im-mediate effect.

With these appointments,the SBP Central Board compo-sition consisting of eight inde-pendent Directors, Federal Fi-nance Secretary and Governor,State Bank of Pakistan has beencompleted.

The ten-member SBPBoard is comprised of Mr.Yaseen Anwar, Governor,State Bank of Pakistan (Chair-man of the Board), Mr. AbdulKhaliq, Acting Federal Fi-nance Secretary (Ex-officioMember), M/s. Mirza QamarBeg, Mehmood Mandviwalla,Shahid Ahmed Khan, M.Nawaz Tiwana, IskanderMohammed Khan, KhawajaIqbal Hasan, MuhammadHidayatullah and Zafar Masud(Members).

BANGKOK—Travel industryleaders will issue a rallying callfor politicians and governmentpolicy makers around the worldto start “Embracing the Com-plete Visitor Economy” at thePATA Annual Summit, whichtakes place Friday April 26 inBangkok.

Martin J Craigs, PATACEO said: “If you want thetravel and tourism industry tobe respected more, given morebudget from Governmentsources, and taxed less, weneed to make the case force-fully. You are invited to join thePATA Annual Summit to addyour voice to the uprising that’sunderway in the travel indus-try across the world.”

An impressive list of speak-

Travel and tourismneeds to get a boost

ers will add their weight to thecomplete visitor economyagenda. From Associations,Organisations and NGOs, TalebRifai, Secretary General of theUNWTO and speaker fromWTTC will be there; from Gov-ernment, Gloria Guevara,Former Secretary of Tourism,Mexico; Chen Tiejun, DeputyDirector General, Hainan Pro-vincial Tourism DevelopmentCommission; from the privatesector, Abid Butt, CEO BanyanTree Hotels and Resorts, RossJackson, Head of Cross-BorderBusiness, APCEMEA, VisaInc; Lothar R Pehl, SVP Op-erations and Global Initiatives,Starwood Hotels and ResortsAsia Pacific; Martin VerdonRoe, Global VP, Display Sales,

TripAdvisor; Pansy Ho, Man-aging Director, Shun Tak Hold-ings; Paul Griffiths, CEO,Dubai Airports, UAE; SorajakKasemsuvan, President, ThaiAirways International; AnitaMendiratta, Managing Director- CACHET Consulting/Leadconsultant of the CNN TASKGroup, and many more, will allcontribute their insights. TVanchor Monita Rajpal of CNNwill moderate.

Abid Butt, Chief ExecutiveOfficer, Banyan Tree Hotels &Resorts said: “Governments andthe public sector around theworld have recognised the im-portance of the visitor economywith reforms being introducedto enhance this economic com-ponent.—NNI

state that NTDC, by issuing therecommendation to purchase onlyMR Germany’s OLTC equippedtransformers, and FESCO,LESCO and MEPCO, by accept-ing this recommendation, haveprima facie entered into an arrange-ment for imposing a restrictivetrading condition in the market forsupply of transformers in violationof Section 4(1) read with Section4(2)(a) of the Act. It would be per-tinent to mention that curbinganti-competitive practices in pub-lic procurement is one of CCP’spriority areas of enforcement.CCP has previously prosecutedseveral instances of anti-competi-tive behaviour in the power.

CCPFrom Page 13

KARACHI: Anjum Amin Mirza, Director Corporate Services PIA addressing cargo managers. Also seen in the picture areShahid Khoso, General Manager Cargo and Saeed Khan, General Manager Passenger Handling Services.

SHC takes notice ofillegal encroachment

on PTCL landSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Sindh HighCourt (SHC) has today issued aninterim order in favor of Paki-stan Telecommunication Com-pany Limited (PTCL) regardingthe recent illegal occupation ofthe company’s land in MalirHalt, Karachi.

After hearing the case, thecourt agreed to PTCL’s submis-sion and directed its Nazir toinspect the property and preparea detailed report. The SHC hasalso directed the SHO, AirportPolice Station to lodge FIR andstrictly proceed according to thelaw as well as take all steps nec-essary to implement the ordersof the Court.

On Sunday, some armedmen illegally entered the saidPTCL property, displaced thesecurity guards of the companyand started illegal constriction.PTCL lodged a written com-plaint against the illegal en-croachers in Airport Police Sta-tion but no action was taken bythe concerned authorities.

It is pertinent to mentionhere that the aforementionedproperty is solely owned byPTCL and in the exclusive pos-session of the company.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The Foreign DirectInvestment which was $ 8.5bil-lion in 2008 has now come downto $500 million because of in-consistency in policies, repres-sive tax system, and want ofbusiness-friendly policies.

This was stated by formerFBR Chairman AbdullahYousaf. He said that althoughthere are a number of factorsthat could be blamed for thisunlikely situation but frequentchanges at policy level, re-gional instability and bureau-cratic hurdles are the major rea-sons of this decline. He saidthat we would have to look intothese issues to attract muchneeded foreign investment.

He called for increase in taxto GDP ratio to overcome theissue of fiscal deficit. He saidthat the phenomenal increase incountry’s overall debts fromRs.6 trillion in 2008 to Rs.14

FDI down to $500mfrom $8.5b

trillion in 2013 has also affectedthe economic activities to muchextent. He said that the heavygovernment borrowing and cur-rency devaluation could beblamed for huge debt that in-creases by more than Rs.63 bil-lion when the dollar gains Rs.1.

He said that out of total Rs.2trillion government revenues,58% goes to provinces underNFC award while out of remain-ing 42%, Rs. 1 trillion is utilizedfor debt servicing, Rs.600 bil-lion for defence and Rs.500 bil-lion are spent on public sectorenterprises including Railways,PIA, Pakistan Steel Mills andWAPDA etc.

LCCI office-bearers includ-ing LCCI President FarooqIftikhar, Senior Vice PresidentIrfan Iqbal Sheikh, Vice Presi-dent Mian Abuzar Shad, formerPresidents and Executive Com-mittee members spoke on vari-ous challenges being faced bythe economy.

Obama’s Mideast visitJERUSALEM—U.S. President BarackObama is due to make his first official visitto Israel and the Palestinian Territories thisweek, looking to improve ties after some-times rocky relations with both sides duringhis first term in office. Obama is not ex-pected to come with any new Palestinianpeace initiative and will spend most of histime in Israel, the closest U.S. ally in theMiddle East, where he will make a keynotespeech to hundreds of students. The Ameri-

can president will hold separate talks with both Palestinian Presi-dent Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu, who finally formed a new coalition on Friday after aJanuary election that weakened his grip on government. Here aresome of the issues that are likely to dominate the March 20-22visit Israel and the United States agree that Iran should never geta nuclear bomb, dismissing Tehran’s repeated assertion that itsatomic programme is peaceful. However, the two allies are atodds over how fast the clock is ticking down on the need forpreventative military action should diplomacy fail. Netanyahulast year set a “red line” for Iran’s nuclear programme, saying theIslamic Republic should not be allowed to obtain 240 kg (530 lb)of 20 percent enriched uranium. Israeli officials have warned thistipping point could be reached by the spring or summer of 2013,although experts believe Iran has since slowed its stockpiling of20 percent fissile uranium to ward off the threat of attack. Obamasaid on March 14 that Iran was still more than a year away fromdeveloping a nuclear weapon and repeated his assurance to Israelthat military force remained a U.S. option. Israeli officials, whosee Iran’s nuclear advances as an existential threat, make no se-cret of the fact that they would prefer to see the U.S. military,with its greater firepower, tackle Iran’s far-flung atomic installa-tions. Tehran is improving its defences and Israel worries thatsooner rather than later Israeli warplanes will not be able to de-stroy this infrastructure. This would mean its own military op-tion would be off the table, leaving Israel utterly reliant on Wash-ington.—Reuters

Yemen’s reform conferenceSANAA—Yemeni leaders trying to end politi-cal upheaval and separatist demands met tochart a new constitution on Monday, the scaleof their task underscored by protesters whomarched in their tens of thousands in the southto demand their own state. Stabilizing Yemen,a U.S. ally grappling with al Qaeda militants,southern secessionists and northern rebels, isan international priority due to fears of disor-der in a state that flanks oil superpower SaudiArabia and major shipping lanes. Yemen has

struggled to restore normality since President Abd-Rabbu MansourHadi was elected in February 2012 following a year of Arab Spring-style protests that forced his predecessor Ali Abdullah Saleh to stepdown after 33 years in power. Hadi, opening a so-called nationaldialogue conference expected to last six months, said the restivesouth was the main challenge facing the discussions. “Any attemptto impose a vision to deal with this (southern) issue by force willlead to big failure and big dangers,” he said. The conference wouldplace the first building blocks of a “new, unified, safe and free Yemen,”he added. The talks, promised under a Gulf-brokered deal and in-tended to pave the way for elections in 2014, are expected to coverreforms of the military that would reduce the influence of army fac-tions loyal to Saleh, still seen as a powerful politician. As about 565delegates from across the political spectrum were taking their seatsat the talks in the capital Sanaa in the north, tens of thousands ofdefiant demonstrators gathered in the southern city of Aden to de-mand secession. Flags of a once independent southern Yemeni countryfluttered from cars and buildings across the port city. Those who aretaking part as representatives of the Southern Movement do not rep-resent us. They represent themselves.” “The people of the south willcontinue their peaceful struggle for independence,” he added. SouthYemen emerged as an independent state, separate from North Yemen,when Britain withdrew in 1967 from areas it controlled along theArabian Peninsula’s southern coastline.—Reuters

Egypt averse to ink polls with IMFCAIRO—Egypt rejected on Monday any linkbetween stalled parliamentary elections andits drive to secure a loan from the IMF as itstruggles with a budget and foreign currencycrisis. Talks on Sunday between Prime Min-ister Hisham Kandil and a top InternationalMonetary Fund official produced no agree-ments on anything specific, but had paved theway for the arrival of an IMF technical teamsoon, the government spokesman said.Egypt’s Prime Minister Hisham Kandil at-

tends the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) inDavos. Egypt is seeking a $4.8 billion (3.17 billion pounds) loanfrom the International Monetary Fund to ease an economic crisisrooted in more than two years of political turmoil since the over-throw of president Hosni Mubarak. Government spokesman AlaaEl-Hadidi said Sunday’s talks with the IMF’s Director for theMiddle East and North Africa Masood Ahmed had covered theloan, which was agreed in principle last November but put on holdat Cairo’s request during violent street protests. “All the discus-sion was about financial support or the loan that Egypt aims toobtain from the Fund,” said Hadidi. “There is no link betweenthe loan and parliamentary elections.” The IMF has appearedreluctant to negotiate a full deal given Egypt’s current deep po-litical uncertainty. Elections to the lower house of parliament,which was dissolved in the middle of last year, were supposed tostart next month. However, a court cancelled President MohamedMursi’s decree calling the polls and a state appeal against theruling was postponed on Sunday for a week. The IMF has raisedthe possibility of a relatively small bridging loan to help tideEgypt over, and Ahmed was cautious on Sunday on the chancesof a loan materialising. “We agreed that our discussions wouldcontinue diligently over the coming weeks with the aim of reach-ing agreement on possible financial support from the IMF,”Ahmed said.—Reuters

Russia hostile to US Missile placementMOSCOW—A change in the United Statesplans for an anti-missile shield in Europe willnot prompt Russia to drop its opposition tothe system, a senior lawmaker allied to Presi-dent Vladimir Putin said on Sunday. AlexeiPushkov, Chairman of the Russian StateDuma Committee on International Affairs,attends a news conference in Moscow. U.S.Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said on Fri-day the Pentagon would add 14 new anti-missile interceptors in Alaska, among oth-

ers, after North Korea had threatened a pre-emptive nuclear strikeagainst the United States. To free up funds for that, U.S. officialssaid they were forgoing development of a new interceptor thatwould have been deployed in central eastern Europe and has beena focus of Russia’s concern that the shield would weaken itsnuclear deterrent. But Alexei Pushkov, head of the foreign com-mittee in the Russian parliament’s lower house, the State Duma,said the change would not dispel Moscow’s concerns about themissile shield the United States and NATO are developing inEurope. “It would be premature to say that something has funda-mentally changed,” said Pushkov, who is also member of theruling United Russia party’s parliamentary faction. “The UnitedStates is readjusting the missile defence system due to financialand technology issues issues not related to the Russian position,”he told Reuters. A Russian diplomatic source said Moscow waslooking into Hagel’s announcement and would comment in com-ing days. Cold War-era foes Moscow and Washington have longbeen at loggerheads over the shield in Europe and PresidentBarack Obama’s decision in 2009 to scale down plans of theBush administration only offered a short-lived respite.—AP

CARACAS—Moments after heregistered to run in Venezuela’sApril 14 election, acting Presi-dent Nicolas Maduro vowed togo on foot, unarmed, into thetoughest slums of Caracas andask the gangs there to lay downtheir guns. Venezuela’s actingPresident Nicolas Maduro (C)greets supporters as he leavesPetare neighbourhood inCaracas. Both Maduro and hisopponent, Henrique Capriles,have clashed over a top cam-paign issue: the daily murders,armed robberies andkidnappings that make theSouth American country one ofthe most dangerous in theworld.

“We’ll go like this, with ourchests bare!” Maduro cried atone recent campaign event,pulling open his Venezuelan-flag tracksuit top to reveal a redT-shirt emblazoned with the

Venezuela election rivals clash over crimeeyes of his late boss, HugoChavez. “We’ll go without fear,to tell these youths to stop thekilling, to give up the guns, tocome to Christ the Redeemer!”Fears about personal safety rou-tinely top polls of voters’ con-cerns in the country with theworld’s biggest oil reserves -despite the many programsstarted by Chavez during his 14-year rule aimed at bringingdown the homicide figures.

In a report last week, theU.N. Development Programsaid that only Honduras, El Sal-vador, Ivory Coast and Jamaicahad worse rates than Venezuela’s45.1 murders per 100,000people. The rate in the UnitedStates was 4.2. The Venezuelangovernment concedes the coun-try suffers more violent crimethan most of the region. But itaccuses opposition politicians ofexaggerating the problem and

shamelessly stoking fears to tar-nish Chavez’s socialist “revolu-tion.”

Capriles, a 40-year-old cen-trist state governor who accusesMaduro of exploiting the emo-tion over Chavez’s March 5death in an effort to win the elec-tion, kicked off a provincial tourover the weekend. He callsMaduro a poor imitation ofChavez and mocked his perfor-mance outside the electoral au-thority offices.

“Do you think Nicolas isgoing to solve the violence prob-lem? It’s not opening your jacketand saying ‘I’m Superman andI’m going to go I don’t knowwhere,’” Capriles said. “I’d liketo leave my house at 11, 12o’clock in the night, for my chil-dren to be able to go out and menot to be terrified. Can we dothat today? Can we live likethat? No.”

At the root of the country’scrime problem, experts say, is aproliferation of firearms anddrugs, and a weak justice sys-tem that means the majority ofoffenses go unpunished. Amonga spate of attacks on prominentvictims, a U.S. Major Leaguebaseball player and diplomatsfrom Mexico, Chile, Belarus andCosta Rica have been kidnappedin recent months.

The government says therewere 16,000 homicides nation-wide last year. Non-governmen-tal organizations put the figurehigher. The Venezuelan Vio-lence Observatory said its con-servative estimate for 2012 wasmore than 21,000 murders.Without detailed figures fromthe authorities, it is not possibleto crosscheck the numbers.

Stung by allegations that thesituation is out of control,Chavez’s administration re-

vamped the main investigativepolice unit last year, created sev-eral new public safety bodies,and said it cut the homicide ratein Caracas by 10 percent. Mostafflicted by the gangs of crimi-nals are poor r living inthe myriad shantytowns wherethe late president found his mostfervent followers. Voters seldomheld Chavez personally respon-sible for the high crime rate.Some viewed him almost as amember of the family, others innear-religious terms. Maduro istrying to forge the same emo-tional bond but lacks Chavez’scharisma.

On Sunday, he inaugurateda new sports facility in thecapital’s gritty Petare barrio,briefly taking to the court to playbasketball with a group ofyouths. There were wild cheerswhen he made a basket on histhird attempt. The acting presi-

dent blames violent crime on adecadent legacy left behind bycapitalist governments in theOPEC nation.

“They’ve given us these val-ues from birth through narco-TVshows, fashion linked sublimi-nally to drug consumption, fash-ion linked to pistols, and thecults of guns and of criminalgangs,” he said after he regis-tered his candidacy for the presi-dency. He accuses the opposi-tion of cynically allowing ban-dits to roam unchecked - for ex-ample, in Miranda state, whichincludes poor parts of Caracasand where Capriles is governor.

“You know why?” Madurosaid to the crowd. “Because theydon’t care about people’s lives.They prefer barrios that are fullof drugs and criminality so theycan continue stigmatizing thepeople like they have done forthe last 500 years.—Reuters

Car bomb kills10 near Somali

presidencyMOGADISHU—A car bomb ex-ploded near the presidential pal-ace in the Somali capitalMogadishu on Monday, killingat least 10 people in a blast thatappeared to target senior govern-ment officials, police said. Thesuicide attacker detonated ex-plosives while driving along aboulevard that runs between thepalace and the national theatre,a route lined by tearooms thatwere engulfed in fire momentsafter the blast, senior police of-ficer Abdiqadir Mohamud said.A public minibus driving alongthe road burst into flames.

Policemen walk past thescene of an explosion near thepresidential palace in Somalia’scapital Mogadishu. “The suicidecar bomber targeted a seniornational security officer whosecar was passing near the the-atre,” Mohamud told Reuters.“Most of the people who diedwere on board the minibus - ci-vilians. This public vehicle co-incidentally came between thegovernment car and the carbomb when it was hit. Litteredin the scene are human handsand flesh.”

Security in Mogadishu hasimproved greatly since a mili-tary offensive drove Islamistrebels allied to al Qaeda out ofthe city in August 2011. Butbombings and assassinations inMogadishu, blamed on mili-tants, still occur often. It was notclear who was behind Monday’sbombing. The al Shabaab insur-gent group that has claimed nu-merous similar attacks was notimmediately available for com-ment.—Reuters

Pope meetsArgentine presidentVATICAN CITY—PopeFrancis’ diplomatic skills arebeing put to the test in his firstaudience with a visiting head ofstate: Argentine presidentCristina Fernandez, with whomhe clashed over her socially lib-eral policies.

Fernandez calls on theformer Archbishop of BuenosAires Monday at his makeshifthome, the Vatican hotel on theedge of the Vatican gardens, aday before she and other worldleaders attend his installationMass in St. Peter’s Square.

Fernandez and her predeces-sor and late husband NestorKirchner defied church teachingto adopt a series of measureswith popular backing, includingmandatory sex education inschools, free distribution of con-traceptives in public hospitals,and the right for transsexuals tochange their official identities ondemand.—AP

ISTANBUL—Syria’s main op-position coalition began a pushMonday to form an interim gov-ernment to provide services topeople living in parts of thecountry now controlled by rebelforces. The effort is the mostserious yet by the forces oppos-ing President Bashar Assad toestablish a rival administrationand bring together all the fac-tions working to topple his gov-ernment.

They have no guarantee ofsuccess. Two previous attemptsto form an interim governmentfailed because of divisionswithin the group, the SyrianNational Coalition, and somemembers said before the meet-ing Monday that it was unclearwhether they would agree thistime. Many have also com-plained of insufficient interna-tional support for their initia-tive. But many said that mem-bers feel a new sense of ur-gency, as the amount of terri-tory under rebel control has ex-panded.

“What delayed this beforewas that there was no agree-ment on the importance offorming a government,” saidBurhan Ghalioun, coalition

Syrian opposition set toform interim govt

member and former head of itspredecessor, the Syrian NationalCouncil. “Now people are con-vinced that a government is nec-essary.” But in a stance thatcould frustrate their Westernsupporters, including the UnitedStates, coalition members dis-missed any possibility of nego-tiating with the current regimeand insisted they will talk onlywhen Assad has left power.Many believe the only way toaccomplish this is through con-tinued advances by rebel forces.

“There has to be a militaryvictory on the ground to con-vince the regime or some ele-ments in the regime” of the needfor change, Ghalioun said. “Thesolution is not an end to the vio-lence. This is linked to pushingthe regime toward steps to ademocratic system.” Despite re-peated failures to bring about anegotiated solution to the con-flict, the United Nations-ArabLeague envoy to Syria, LakhdarBrahimi, continues to push forone.

Two years after the anti-Assad uprising began, the con-flict has become a civil war, withhundreds of rebel group fight-ing Assad’s forces across Syria

and millions of people pushedfrom their homes by the vio-lence. The U.N. says more than70,000 people have been killed.Rebel progress against govern-ment forces since last summerhas expanded the areas con-trolled by rebel forces. Theynow run a large swath of terri-tory along Syria’s northern bor-der with Turkey as well as muchof the east, near Iraq. This hasgiven them control of much ofthe city of Aleppo, Syria’s larg-est, and one provincial capital,Raqqa.

Currently, rebel areas areadministered by an improvisedpatchwork of local councils andrebel brigades, many of who runbakeries, security patrols andcourts and prisons for criminalsand soldiers captured in battle.But more ambitious governmentservices, like electricity supplyand running water, are limited.In the last two months, variousmembers of the coalition, in-cluding its head, Mouaz al-Khatib, have visited these areas.Khalid Saleh, the Coalition’sspokesman, said these visitsmade many realized the neces-sity of an opposition govern-ment.—Reuters

CANBERRA—Australia willease restrictions on military en-gagement with Myanmar fol-lowing democratic reforms sincethe country’s ruling generals re-linquished their half-centurygrip on power in 2011, PrimeMinister Julia Gillard said onMonday.

During a visit to Canberraby Myanmar’s President TheinSein the first leader from theformer Burma to visit the Aus-tralian capital since 1974Gillard said restrictions wouldbe lifted on military humanitar-ian aid and peacekeeping, but anarms sales embargo would stayin place.

“What we’ve done today istaken a first step on defense re-lations between our two coun-tries. It is not fully normalizingdefense relationships,” Gillardtold reporters at a press confer-ence with Thein Sein atAustralia’s parliament.

Since Myanmar’s militarystepped aside and a quasi-civil-ian government was installed in2011, triggering a wave of po-litical and economic reforms,western governments have cau-tiously dropped or eased sanc-tions against the country.

But the government stillmaintains a constitution draftedby the generals and reserves aquarter of parliamentary seatsfor military personnel, while

Aussies relax armsban on Myanmar

barring Nobel laureate and op-position leader Aung San SuuKyi from the presidency. TheUnited Nations Special Rappor-teur on human rights inMyanmar last week warned thatprogress had been erratic inMyanmar, with around 250 po-litical prisoners still behind barsand 120,000 people internallydisplaced.

Gillard said Australia, a ro-tating UN Security Councilmember and close U.S. ally,would soon post a defenseattaché to its embassy inMyanmar, and would also pro-vide additional aid worth $20million to train the governmentin human rights. Thein Sein, aformer junta general who haswon praise for reforms since tak-ing power in March 2011, saidhis government was looking toresource powerhouse Australiafor investment and expertise inthe country’s fledgling resourcesector.

“We have to make sure thatthe extraction and exploitation ofthese resources is done properly,”he said. Shut off from most of theworld for decades, Myanmar isAsia’s poorest country. Gillard’sgovernment last year lifted tar-geted travel and financial sanc-tions on Myanmar outside mili-tary assistance, with aid set todouble to $100 million a year by2015.—Reuters

BEIJING—China has become theworld’s fifth-largest arms ex-porter, a respected Sweden-basedthink-tank said on Monday, itshighest ranking since the ColdWar, with Pakistan the main re-cipient. China’s volume of weap-ons exports between 2008 and2012 rose 162 percent comparedwith the previous five-year pe-riod, with its share of the globalarms trade rising from 2 percentto 5 percent, the Stockholm In-ternational Peace Research Insti-tute (SIPRI) said.

China replaces Britain in thetop five arms-dealing countriesbetween 2008 and 2012, a groupdominated by the United Statesand Russia, which accounted for30 percent and 26 percent ofweapons exports, SIPRI said.“China is establishing itself as asignificant arms supplier to agrowing number of important re-cipient states,” Paul Holtom, di-rector of the SIPRI Arms Trans-fers Programme, said in a state-ment.

The shift, outlined in SIPRI’sTrends in International ArmsTransfers report, marks China’sfirst time as a top-five arms ex-porter since the think-tank’s 1986-1990 data period. Chinese For-

China replaces UK in world’stop five arms exporters

eign Ministry spokesman HongLei, asked about the report, saidChina was a responsible arms ex-porter which strictly adhered to in-ternational law.

“On arms exports, Chinasticks to three principles. First, thatit is conducive to the recipientcountry’s justifiable self-defenseneeds. Second, it does not dam-age regional and global peace, se-curity and stability. Third, it doesnot interfere in other countries’internal affairs,” he told reporters.Now the world’s second-largesteconomy, China’s rise has comewith a new sense of militaryassertiveness with a growing bud-get to develop modern equipmentincluding aircraft carriers anddrones.

At the Zhuhai air show insouthern China in November,Chinese attack helicopters, mis-siles, unmanned aerial vehiclesand air defenses were on publicshow for the first time. “Pakistan- which accounted for 55 percentof Chinese arms exports - is likelyto remain the largest recipient ofChinese arms in the coming yearsdue to large outstanding andplanned orders for combat aircraft,submarines and frigates,” SIPRIsaid.

Myanmar, which has beenundergoing fragile reforms thatthe United States thinks could helpcounter Beijing’s influence in theregion, received 8 percent ofChina’s weapons exports.Bangladesh received 7 percent ofthe arms while Algeria, Venezu-ela and Morocco have boughtChinese-made frigates, aircraft orarmored vehicles in the past sev-eral years.

China does not release figuresfor its arms sales. Germany andFrance ranked third and fourth onthe arms exporter list. China fol-lowed only India in the acquisi-tion of arms, though its relianceon imports is decreasing as itramps up domestic production.

After decades of steep in-creases in military spending andcash injections into domesticcontractors, experts say someChinese-made equipment is nowcomparable to Russian or West-ern counterparts, though accu-rate information about the per-formance of Chinese weapons isscarce. China faces bans onWestern military imports, datingback to anger over its crushingof pro-democracy protests in andaround Tiananmen Square in1989.—Reuters

Policemen walk past the scene of an explosion near the presidential palace in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu.

KHARTOUM—About a dozenmembers of Sudan’s armedforces have gone on trial oncharges of trying to stage a coupagainst President Omar Hassanal-Bashir, a defense lawyer toldReuters late on Sunday. In No-vember, Sudan arrested itsformer spy chief and other se-nior military and security offi-cials after foiling what officialssaid was a plot to incite chaosand target leaders in the oil-pro-ducing African state.

Bashir has ruled Sudan for23 years, weathering multiplearmed rebellions, years of U.S.trade sanctions, an arrest warrantfrom the International CriminalCourt and the loss of most of thecountry’s oil with South Sudan’s2011 secession. But the allegedcoup attempt amplified a debateabout Bashir’s future and aboutwho might one day replace him.

A military court began thetrial on Thursday for about 12members of the armed forcescharged in the case, Hisham al-

Sudan top army membersheld for alleged coup plot

Ja’ali, a lawyer for the defen-dants, said. “The trial is still inits preliminary stages,” he said,adding that the trial of the armedforces members had been sepa-rated from that of the civiliansand others. The trial for civiliansand others has yet to start, Ja’alisaid.

High food prices in Sudancaused by the loss of oil - andwith it the source of foreign cur-rency used to import wheat andother staples - has stoked someprotests against Bashir since theSouth seceded in July 2011.Some Islamists inside the armyand the ruling National CongressParty have also complainedBashir and other senior leadershave abandoned the Muslim val-ues of the 1989 coup and haveconcentrated decision-making inthe hands of a few people.

But Sudan has avoided thesort of mass unrest and politicalturmoil that unseated rulers inneighboring Egypt and Libya.—Reuters

AMSTERDAM—Lawyers forKenya’s president-elect, UhuruKenyatta, will push the Interna-tional Criminal Court on Mon-day to drop charges against himafter the case against his co-ac-cused collapsed. The case againstKenyatta, on charges of crimesagainst humanity over bloodshedin the aftermath of Kenya’s 2007election, has been further com-plicated by his victory in a ballotwhich was held largely peace-fully this month.

The case is also an importanttest for the court, which was setup more than a decade ago as theworld’s first permanent warcrimes tribunal but has only se-cured one conviction. Kenyattaand former civil servant FrancisMuthaura were among six sus-pects initially charged by ICCprosecutors with orchestratingviolence after the 2007 election,when some 1,200 people werekilled.

But on March 11, prosecutorFatou Bensouda said the decisionof a key witness to recant testi-

Kenyatta lawyers pleadint’l court to close case

mony forced her to drop chargesagainst Muthaura. She said thatwould have no impact onKenyatta’s case, which wasclosely linked. The status confer-ence, or pre-trial hearing, wascalled by the judges in The Hagueat 3 p.m. (10:00 a.m. EST) tolook at the consequences of thewithdrawal of the charges againstMuthaura for the case againstKenyatta.Kenyatta’s lawyers will call forthe case against him to bedropped or at least postponed,said one lawyer who was famil-iar with the case but did not wantto be quoted by name.

“The collapse of the caseagainst Muthaura has a profoundimpact on the viability of theprosecution’s case againstKenyatta,” the lawyer said. Theprosecutions are based on a lotof the same evidence. Both menhave always denied any wrong-doing. Kenyatta, elected by a slimmargin, faces a big challenge inbridging Kenya’s ethnic divideseven without the court case.—AP

BIPIN DANI

OBSERVER

CORRESPONDENT

MUMBAI—No members ofShikhar Dhawan familywere present at PunjabCricket Association Sta-dium in Mohali on Saturdayto witness his dream-debutTest against Australia.

“It was his first Testmatch and we didn’t wanthim to play under pres-sure”, his father MahendraPal Dhawan said exclu-sively from his Delhi resi-dence minutes after thefirst day’s play.

“Shikhar’s wife and twochildren are in Australia.(Shikhar married to a di-vorced Aesha Mukherjee inlast October). We allwatched the match on TV

Shikhar Dhawan misses wifeand parents on his dream-day

appearance in debut Testhere”, the father added.

“We are all happy withhis performance today. It is aspecial momemts for all of us.Not only because of his Testappearance ton but TeamIndia’s strong position aftermy son’s very aggressivebatting. I am aware he wouldhave been out withoutfascing the ball in this match,but after all, he is a lucky tosurvive. We want him toscore not only a double hun-dred on Sunday, but also In-dia to win the Test match withbig margin and thus series”.

Shikhar Dhawan’s fatherdeals in plastic manufactur-ing items. “My son had nointerest in family business.He wanted to be the cricketer.Former India umpire RamBabu Gupta suggested us tokeep him under the watchful

eyes of coaches like TariqSinha and Madan Sharmaat Sonnet Clun and he reg-istered first century at theage of 12. He won Man ofthe Series in Under-19World Cup in Dhaka andsince then we were sureabout him playing in thenational team”.

“We are thankful to In-dia captain MahendraSingh Dhoni and selectorsfor giving him a chance andhe has proved them right”,the happy father added.Shikhar’s two sisters-elderShreshtha (married) andyounger (Sisity, nowstudying in USA) andmother, Sunayna are certainto be proud of Shikhar’sperformance. All are hopingfor his double ton tomor-row.

ISLAMABAD: Students participating in sports event during Sports Week of Islamabad Medical and Dental College.

DHAKA—The BangladeshCricket Board on Mondaybanned international umpireNadir Shah for 10 years af-ter a sting operation by anIndian TV channel foundhim apparently willing to fixmatches for cash.

Shah announced hewould appeal against thedecision, saying he hadbeen made a scapegoat, butthe move was welcomed bythe International CricketCouncil as underlining acommitment within the gameto root out corruption.

The Bangladeshi boardlaunched an inquiry afterthe private India TV chan-nel aired footage last Octo-ber which appeared to showthat the 49-year-old Shahwas willing to give LBW(leg before wicket) decisionson demand.

While the board did notpublish the findings of theinquiry, it said in a statementthat Shah “will not be con-sidered for BCB retainershipfor 10 years”.

“During this period hewill not be eligible for anyassignment under the juris-diction of the BCB,” itadded.

Shah, who has stood in40 one-day internationalsand three Twenty20internationals, was one of

BD umpire gets 10-year ban for fixingsix umpires caught in the un-dercover investigation, in-cluding three from Sri Lankaand two from Pakistan.

All of the six were subse-quently suspended by theirown boards but they haveconsistently refuted the alle-gations.

Speakingto AFP afterM o n d a y ’ sverdict, Shahsaid it was“part of con-s p i r a c yagainst me”.

“ D e f i -nitely I’ll talkto my lawyerand appealagainst thedecision,” hesaid.

“It’s a de-cision taken on the basis ofTV footage. It’s based on ca-sual talk sitting in a room inNew Delhi in July 2012.

“Do they have any proofthat I’ve taken money orgiven any decision inanybody’s favour? Is thereany record?”

A lawyer representingtwo of the Sri Lankan umpirescaught up in the same stingsaid he was pushing SriLanka Cricket for a speedyinquiry.

“We are asking for an in-

dependent inquiry,” lawyerPrathiba Mahanamahewa,who is acting on behalf ofGamini Dissanayake andMaurice de la Zilwa, told AFPin Colombo.

“You can’t act on the ba-sis of this video which wethink has been doctored.”

Pakistan’sboard has saidan internal in-quiry againsttwo of its offi-cials, includingformer Testu m p i r eN a d e e mGhouri, wouldbe finalisedshortly.

The allega-tions wereb r o a d c a s tonly days after

the final of the WorldTwenty20 tournament in SriLanka, knocking some of thegloss off one of the game’spremier events.

David Richardson, chiefexecutive of the InternationalCricket Council (ICC), saidthe ban on Shah reflected acommitment among thegames rulers “to root out cor-ruption from our great sport”.

“This decision also reit-erates cricket’s zero-toler-ance approach towards cor-ruption and should serve as

a reminder to all stakehold-ers, be they umpires, play-ers, curators or administra-tors of the risks and chal-lenges the sport faces,” saidRichardson.

“We can only beat thecorrupters by remainingvigilant and by followingthe procedures and proto-cols which are in place.”

Shah was among theumpires at the inauguralBangladesh Premier Leaguelast year, a local version ofIndia’s high-octane IPLTwenty20 tournament.

The competition wasmarred by corruption alle-gations and ended up withformer Bangladeshi interna-tional Shariful Haque beingindefinitely banned.

While ICC anti-corrup-tion officials help to policethe IPL, the internationalgame’s governing body hasexpressed concern aboutother leagues including theBangladesh tournament.

Cricket has been em-broiled in a number of cor-ruption scandals in recentyears.

Three Pakistani cricket-ers, including former captainSalman Butt, were jailed inBritain in 2011 after beingfound guilty of spot-fixingfollowing a newspapersting.—AFP

INDIAN WELLS—MariaSharapova beat CarolineWozniacki 6-2, 6-2 on Sun-day to win her second IndianWells WTA title in emphatic

Sharapova bests Wozniackito claim Indian Wells title

style.The 25-year-old Russian,

already projected to supplantAustralian Open championVictoria Azarenka at No. 2 in

world rankings by reachingher first final of the season,broke Wozniacki twice ineach set en route to the vic-tory in one hour and 21 min-

utes.The win in a match be-

tween former championsgave her a second title to gowith the Indian Wells crownshe claimed in 2006.

It was Sharapova’s firsttitle since her 2012 FrenchOpen triumph gave her a ca-reer Grand Slam, andstretched her streak ofyears with at least one titleto 11.

Sharapova put her footon the gas early with abreak in the first game anddidn’t let up, firing winnersoff both wings and pepper-ing Wozniacki with fouraces.

She broke Wozniackiagain in the seventh game,her only hiccup coming asshe served for the set at 5-2and made two errors to giveWozniacki a double breakpoint.

Sharapova saved bothwith backhand winners, thensealed the set with an ace anda forehand winner.

The Russian opened thesecond set with anotherbreak, Wozniacki a bit un-lucky with a double fault onbreak point as her secondserve bounced off the netcord.

Wozniacki worked hardto extend the rallies, but shecouldn’t penetrateSharapova’s serve, her con-sultation with her coach ineach set apparently givingher few new clues on how todo so.

Sharapova broke heragain for a 5-2 lead, andserved it out with a love gamepunctuated by a service win-ner on match point.

Wozniacki, a formerworld No. 1 who owns 20WTA titles, has still neverbeaten a top-three player ina final.—AFP

INDIAN WELLS: Maria Sharapova, of Russia, poses with the trophy after defeating CarolineWozniacki, of Denmark in their match at the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament.

COLOMBO—Two wickets intwo balls by left-arm spinnerRangana Herath in the last halfhour of play on the third daytilted the balance of the sec-ond Test towards Sri Lanka onMonday.

By stumps Bangladesh,who trailed Sri Lanka by 106after the first innings, were 158for four wickets – an overalllead of 52.

Mominul Haque scored anattractive half-century in thefirst innings and was unbeatenon 36 second time around withMushfiqur Rahim on seven.

Both batsmen would havebeen out before the close hadthe Sri Lankan fielders beensharper.

Mominul was put down atmid-on by Nuwan Kulasekarawhen he was on 30 and Angelo

Herath bags two late wicketsto boost Sri Lanka

Mathews missed Mushfiqur atslip also off Herath, who endedthe day with figures of threefor 45.

Mohammad Ashraful be-came Herath’s first victim whenhe was bowled for four by aquicker delivery in the secondover after tea when his offstump was sent tumbling.

A stand of 47 followed be-tween Jahurul Islam andMominul that carriedBangladesh to 143-2 beforeHerath struck twice in his 19thover.

He changed the complex-ion of the game by havingJahurul stumped by DineshChandimal for 48 when thebatsman lost his patience andcharged up the wicket.

On the next ball,Mahmudullah was beaten up

BD 1st innings: ......... 240S Lanka 1st innings: 346BD 2nd innings:Tamim b Eranga ............ 59Jahurul Islam b Herath . 48Ashraful b Herath ........... 4Mominul not out ........... 36Mahmudullah b Herath .. 0Mushfiqur not out .......... 7Extras: (lb 3, nb 1) ............ 4Total: (4 wickets) ......... 158Fall of wickets 1-91, 2-96, 3-143, 4-143Bowling: ........... O-M-R-WKulasekara ........... 7-0-21-0Lakmal ................... 8-1-24-0Herath ................. 23-7-45-3Dilshan ............... 19-3-40-0Eranga ................... 9-3-17-1Mathews ................ 3-2-8-0

by a tossed up delivery fromHerath and had his off stumpknocked out.

Mushfiqur survived thehat-trick ball and was lucky tobe there at the close.

Openers Tamim Iqbal andJahurul provided a strong startto help Bangladesh reach 93for one at tea.

On a surface which hadflattened out at the RPremadasa Stadium, Tamimand Jahurul batted confi-dently.

Tamim, who missed the firstTest through injury, was theaggressor in the partnershipreaching his fifty off 67 ballswith the help of one six andfour fours.

He was dropped on 12when Suranga Lakmal failed tohold a knee-high return catch.

A bowling change by SriLanka captain AngeloMathews brought about thedismissal of Tamim, who triedto cut a ball from ShamindaEranga but only succeeded inchopping it onto his stumpsto depart for 59.—AFP

Watson to continueplaying Tests

SYDNEY—Speculation aboutAustralian vice-captainShane Watson’s Test futurewas put to bed Monday withan announcement that he willreturn to India after serving

a one-match ban.The 31-year-old re-

turned to Sydney last Tues-day after he was droppedfor the third Test after fail-ing to prepare feedback onhow the team could improveand deliver it to manage-ment. Three other playerswere also axed.

Watson, whose wifegave birth last week, madeclear he felt the punishmentwas overly harsh and said hewould be considering his fu-ture, but has decided to battleon.

“Shane Watson will re-turn to the tour of India andwill fly out of Sydney tonightto join the Australian squadin India ahead of the fourthTest,” Cricket Australia saidin a brief statement.—AFP

Ten countries confirmparticipation in Asian

Snooker C’shipLAHORE—Ten countrieshave confirmed their partici-pation in the 29th Asiansnooker championship beingplayed from April 27 atKarachi.

“It is a matter of great sat-isfaction that Afghanistan,China, Hong Kong, Iran, In-dia, Mongolia, Philippines,Qatar, South Korea and SriLanka have confirmed theirparticipation in the show-piece event of the Asiansnooker,” said Alamgir AShaikh, President, PakistanBilliard and Snooker Asso-ciation here on Monday. Hesaid the event will concludeon May 3.

He said the champion-ship will help in elevating theexisting standards ofsnooker in Pakistan besidessupporting the cause of thegame at home.

“The participation of anumber of foreign countrieswill portray a better image ofthe country in the presentcircumstances when theforeing teams have declinedto visit Pakistan owing tosecurity concerns,” headded.—APP

Misbah blunderedby not batting

first: SadiqKARACHI—Former Testopener Sadiq Muhammadslammed skipper Misbah-ul-Haq for deciding to field firstinstead of batting in thirdOne-Day International atJohannesburg.

“Fielding first after win-ning the toss was mistake,”he said in a statement onMonday.

“Why Chase, why not seta target. No planning by thecoach. Here the coachshould have used his author-ity to tell Misbah to bat firstif he wins the toss,” he said.

“Like the second onedayer, Misbah again made ablunder by not batting firstafter winning the toss,” hemaintained. SadiqMuhammad alleged, “Thehomework of Dav Whatmore,captaincy and touring teammanagement had been verypoor in 2nd and 3rd ODI”.

“Coach and Captainthought after they won the2nd ODI by chasing, theywould do it again. Theyshould have realized that in2nd ODI match they werechasing a small total of un-der 200 runs, which is man-ageable by any team,” hesaid.—APP

LAHORE—Qatar Football As-sociation has agreed upon es-tablishing a long term partner-ship for the promotion and de-velopment of football in Paki-stan by providing technical andprofessional support to PFF invarious fields including YouthDevelopment, Training ofCoaches and development ofWomen Football.

Decision was taken at ameeting between Qatar Foot-ball Association headed by itsPresident Hamad Khalifa A.AAl- Thani, and President, Pa-kistan Football Federation,Faisal Saleh Hayat PFF at Foot-ball House here.

The Qatari Delegation

England, NewZealand 2nd

Test drawWELLINGTON—England’shopes of snatching a win inthe second Test against NewZealand dissolved in theWellington rain Monday,with the match declared adraw after the final day’s playwas washed out.

The clash at the BasinReserve ended with NewZealand at 162 for two in theirsecond innings, still 49 runsin arrears after the touristsset an imposing first inningstotal of 465 and enforced thefollow-on.—AFP

Qatar to help boost Pak footballcomprised of 8 members in-cluding Hassan Abdulla H.RAl-Thawadi (General Secre-tary, Qatar 2022 Supreme Com-mittee), Ali Mohamed N B Al-Naemi (Assistant General Sec-retary, QFA) and Tariq A. AzizAl-Naama (Dy. Chairman, As-pire Academy).

“Training and profes-sional facilities to the PakistanNational Team would be madeavailable in Qatar as and whenrequired.

QFA would also assist PFFin up grading its infrastructureand allied facilities vital to thedevelopment of football in Pa-kistan,” said a spokesman ofPFF on Monday.

He said a detailed presen-tation on the marketing strate-gies adopted by PFF was alsomade during the meeting. QFAagreed to further study theproposals given by the Mar-keting Consultant PFF SardarNaveed Haider Khan in orderto further stimulate the gamein Pakistan. The MarketingConsultant has also been in-vited to visit Qatar for furtherin depth studies of the propos-als.

The close and fraternal bi-lateral relations between PFFand QFA were furtherstrengthened as a result of thisfirst ever high powered visitof QFA Delegation.—APP

THE nutritional make up of fast foodencourages people to gorge on it unintentionally, increasing their risk of

obesity, research suggests.Experts at the Medical Research Council

found most fast food is verydense in calories - you onlyneed a small amount to bumpup your calorific intake.

They found that these“energy dense” foods canfool people into consumingmore calories than the bodyneeds. The research is pub-lished in the journal ObesityReviews.

A typical fast food mealhas a very high energy den-sity. It is more than one anda half times higher than anaverage traditional Britishmeal and two and a halftimes higher than a tradi-tional African meal.

The researchers con-cluded that a diet high in fastfoods will increase aperson’s risk of weight gain and obesity -even though they may feel that they are eat-ing no more than they would if they ate anaverage meal.

Researcher Professor Andrew Prentice,of the London School of Hygiene and Tropi-cal Medicine, said: “We all possess a weakinnate ability to recognise foods with a highenergy density. “We tend to assess foodintake by the size of the portion, yet a fastfood meal contains many more calories thana similar-sized portion of a healthy meal.

“Since the dawn of agriculture, the sys-tems regulating human appetite have evolved

Why fast food makesyou get fat

for the low energy diet still being con-sumed in rural areas of the developingworld where obesity is almost non-existent.

“Our bodies were never designed tocope with the very energy dense foods con-

sumed in the West and this iscontributing to a major rise inobesity.”

Professor Prentice drewparticular attention to theconsequences of a diet highin fast foods for children.

“Children have not yetdeveloped any of the learneddietary restraint that needs tobe exerted by anyone wish-ing to remain slim in the mod-ern environment.

“It’s surely a stark para-dox that the strategy used toachieve rapid weight gain inmalnourished children in Af-rica - the frequent offering ofenergy-dense foods - hasnow become the norm formany overweight children inaffluent societies.”

Dr Susan Jebb, of the MRC Human Nu-trition Research Centre, said: “In many out-lets, the choice is so limited that it’s virtuallyimpossible to select a combination of itemswith even a moderate energy density. “You’dneed to eat well below the portion size of-fered to avoid greatly exceeding recom-mended energy and fat requirements. “Fastfood companies could play a major part inhalting the rise in obesity if they adopted amore positive attitude to healthy eating suchas providing meals of lower energy density,appropriately marketed and with point-of-sale nutrition labelling.”

LAHORE: Girls taking interest in the pieces of art displayed at during an exhibition of“Glass Fusion Stained Glass” by Rukhsana and Saif Haq at Al-Hamra Hall.

LAHORE: Relatives of alleged suspects of Badami Bagh incident, demonstrating in support of their demands.

LAHORE: Journalists holding a demonstration in support of their demands.

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Punjab ChiefMinister MuhammadShahbaz Sharif has said ac-tion plan to implement anti-dengue campaign should beinitiated throughout theprovince while dengue larvaeradication campaign hasalso been launched at unioncouncil level. He said a cen-tral control room has beenestablished to collect com-plete relevant data. He saidall necessary drugs andchemicals have also beenmade available to ensureeradication of dengue larva.Chief Minister directed third-party monitoring of anti-den-gue arrangements for whichan effective institutionalmechanism should beevolved. Chief Minister con-stituted a committee, underthe chairmanship of ViceChancellor King EdwardMedical University, for insti-tutional mechanism of third-party monitoring. The othermembers of the committeeare, Vice Chancellor Informa-

tion Technology University,Additional Secretary Healthand Dr. Waseem.

He was presiding over ahigh-level meeting to reviewarrangements for anti-den-gue campaign at ModelTown Monday. SenatorPervaiz Rashid, ProvincialMinister for Education MianMujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman,Special Assistants KhawajaSalman Rafique, ZaeemHussain Qadri, leader of Pa-kistan Muslim League-NHamza Shahbaz Sharif,Khawaja Ahmed Hasaan,Members Punjab Assembly,Additional Chief Secretary,secretaries of various depart-ments and other concernedauthorities were present onthe occasion.

Muhammad ShahbazSharif said all possible stepsshould be taken to eradicatepossible outbreak of dengueas nothing is more importantthan protection of humanlives. He directed launchinganti-dengue campaign,throughout Punjab, in an ef-fective manner for which re-

fresher courses for the con-cerned staff should be ar-ranged. He said the work ofoutdoor and indoor vectorsurveillance should be initi-ated at union council leveland dengue larva should beeradicated by adopting aneffective mechanical meth-odology.

He said awareness aboutdengue virus has been madepart of the syllabus, while acompulsory question ondengue has also been in-cluded in examinations tocreate general awarenessamong the children aboutdengue virus.

Chief Minister directedthat special attention shouldbe paid to ensure sanitationarrangements at educationalinstitutions, while workshould be initiated to estab-lish a research and develop-ment centre, on war-footing,in order to permanentlyeliminate dengue virus. Hesaid the role of Institute ofPublic Health with regard toelimination of dengue virusis extremely important there-

fore recommendation formu-lated by Punjab governmentto run Institute of PublicHealth on modern linesshould be completely imple-mented, while Vice Chancel-lor King Edward MedicalUniversity should ensurethat recommendations ofPunjab government in thisregard are effectively imple-mented.

Chief Minister further or-dered strict monitoring ofgraveyards, tyre shops andwarehouses, besides ensur-ing removal of debris fromparks and other places. Hewarned that no negligencewould be tolerated in this re-gard. Chief Minister said that41 thousand volunteers, re-cruited last year, should alsobe mobilized for anti- denguecampaign.

Muhammad ShahbazSharif ordered that a vigor-ous public awareness cam-paign regarding arrange-ments for anti-dengue cam-paign should be launched, incollaboration with all seg-ments of the society.

Shahbaz for urgent implementation ofaction plan on anti-dengue campaign

Special childrenhonoured

LAHORE—The Special Edu-cation Department Punjaband Helping Hand for Reliefand Development (HHRD)are organizing a ceremonyfor special children atPunjabi Cultural Complexhere Tuesday.

Wheelchairs, whitesticks, walking frames andother helping equipments willbe distributed among thespecial children.

People from all walks oflife will attend the event.—APP

City Policehigh alert afterPeshawar blastLAHORE—Capital City Policehas beefed up security at sen-sitive installations and impor-tant locations in the wake ofblast in Peshawar on Mondaymorning. While talking tomedia persons, Capital CityPolice Chief, Additional IGMuhammad Amlesh said hedirected DIG (Operation) andall Additional SSP(Operation),including SDPOsand SHOs,to remain high alertto ensure foolproof securityin their respective areas.

He directed the police of-ficers to take effective pre-cautionary measures, espe-cially at crowded publicplaces, to prevent incidentsof terrorism and subversion.

CCPO ordered deploy-ment of plain clothes policewherever necessary. “Policeofficers were directed toutilise all the available re-sources and their best pro-fessional skills to maintainvigil against suspects anddubious elements”, he said.He has urged people to co-operate with police in thisregard. In case people findany unclaimed baggage,spot a shady character oractivity they must immedi-ately inform police emer-gency and Rescue 15.—APP

Japanesecounsellorvisits PU

LAHORE—Japan EmbassyIslamabad CounsellorToshikazu Isomura visitedPunjab University during hisvisit to the provincial me-tropolis here Monday.

Director Students AffairsPU Shahid Mahmood Gul re-ceived the dignitary at theDirectorate of Students Af-fair New Campus.

Speaking fluent Urdu, theCounsellor introduced thescholarship programme beingoffered by the Japanese gov-ernment for Pakistani stu-dents. The Japanese counsel-lor also spoke at length abouthis student days at the PunjabUniversity in 1985.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Punjab Chief Min-ister Muhammad ShahbazSharif has said that beautifulparks have been constructedthroughout the province forproviding recreational facili-ties to the people. He said thatjogging track, gym, childrenplay area, solar lights, canteenand walking tracks have beenconstructed in these parks.

He said that separate parkshave been constructed for la-dies where best recreationalfacilities have been provided.He said that Kalsoom NawazLadies Park spread over anarea of 44 kanals has been com-pleted in a record period ofthree months which is a giftfor the ladies of the area.

He was talking to the party

workers, media men andwomen after inauguratingKalsoom Nawaz Ladies Park atSabzazar today. Pakistan Mus-lim League-N leader MianMarghoob Ahmad, MPAMehar Ishtiaq Ahmad, DGPHA, a large number of partyworkers as well as children andwomen were present on thisoccasion.

Shahbaz Sharif expressedhis pleasure while inaugurat-ing the sixth ladies park inLahore constructed at a costof Rs.2.25 crore where best rec-reational facilities have beenprovided to the women. Ladiesgym, children play area, solarlights, canteen and joggingtracks have been constructedin this park.

He also congratulated DGPHA and his staff for con-

structing a best park. Reply-ing to a question of media men,he said that PML-N has pro-posed the names of best andhonest persons for caretakersetup in center and Punjabwhereas PPP is objecting overit unnecessarily. He said thatthe process of further consul-tation for caretaker setup isalso continuing in the party.

Earlier, when Chief Minis-ter arrived at Sabzazar Park, hewas accorded a warm wel-come. Women and childrenraised slogans; “ShahbazSharif—Zindabad”. The ChiefMinister inaugurated the parkand gave away certificates tothe PHA employees who dis-played outstanding perfor-mance. He also visited the parkand reviewed the recreationalfacilities.

Kalsoom Nawaz ladies parkat Sabzazar inaugurated

Makhdoom askspeople to electright politicians

LAHORE—Punjab GovernorMakhdoom AhmedMehmood has said that elec-tion of right people by thevoters could put the countryon the path to progress.

He was addressing thenewly-elected members ofthe Rahim Yar Khan DistrictBar Association.

He said that the parlia-ment wrote history when itrestored the 1973 Constitu-tion to its true spirit, addingthat the government had toface multiple challenges dur-ing its five year tenure.

Eulogizing the decision,he said the powers of thePresident and the Governorwere delegated to the parlia-ment for the first time in thehistory of the country.

Makhdum said that theIran-Pakistan gas pipelineproject would help overcomeenergy crisis in the country.

Punjab Governor assuredthe lawyers that 5 million ru-pees would soon be releasedto the district bars as per thepromise of the President AsifAli Zardari.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Senior VicePresident Jamiat-e-UlemaPakistan (JUP) MaulanaShah Muhammad AwaisNoorani, Chairman SupremeCouncil Pir Ijaz AhmadHashmi and Central GeneralSecretary Qari ZawarBahadur called on PunjabChief Minister MuhammadShahbaz Sharif at ModelTown Monday and dis-cussed overall political situ-ation of the country andmatters relating to coopera-tion in general elections.

Agreeing on coopera-tion in general elections be-tween Pakistan Muslim

League-N and Jamiat-e-Ulema Pakistan, a committeewas found on the occasioncomprising Khawaja SaadRafique, Hamza ShahbazSharif and Zaeem HussainQadri of PML-N and Pir IjazAhmad Hashmi, Qari ZawarBahadur and Dr. Javed Awanof JUP. It was agreed in themeeting that as PML-N andJUP are the founder partiesof Pakistan, they will jointlyblock the way of looters andcorrupt elements in generalelections.

Welcoming the harmonyand cooperation in generalelections between PML-Nand JUP, MuhammadShahbaz Sharif said that Pa-

kistan is facing serious chal-lenges like terrorism and ex-tremism and is passingthrough a critical phasetherefore forthcoming nextgeneral elections are of criti-cal importance in the historyof the country.

He said that these elec-tions are for the survival ofthe country and he is confi-dent that people will bringforward a sincere and hon-est leadership in generalelections. Senator PervaizRashid, Khawaja SaadRafique, Hamza ShahbazSharif, Sardar Ayaz Sadiqand Zaeem Hussain Qadriwere also present in the meet-ing.

PML-N, JUP-N strikemutual polls bargain

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Punjab Informa-tion Technology Board (PITB)has completed the revampingof the IT system of all Boardsof Intermediate and SecondaryEducation in the provincewhich has resulted in substan-tial improvement in the exami-nation system, admissionsand results compilation.

Giving details, ChairmanPunjab Information Technol-ogy Board Dr. Umar Saif saidthat after improvement of ITsystem during last one and ahalf years, successful online

PITB completes revampingof IT system in all boards

admissions of over 5.5 millionstudents from 13560 schoolsand 3452 colleges as well asprivate candidates have beenmade. He said that automatedallocation of exam centers tocandidates and generation ofroll number slips is being is-sued.

He said that it has alsohelped in third-party valida-tion and detection of errorsrelating to results tabulation,scanning of answer sheetsand compilation of results. Hefurther said that these impor-tant milestones could not havebeen achieved without con-

tinuous support of Chief Min-ister Punjab.

He said that administrationof all Boards of Intermediateand Secondary Education ofthe province have also ex-pressed satisfaction over themeasures taken by Punjab In-formation Technology Boardfor the introduction of new ITsystem and uploading of rel-evant data. Dr. Umar Saif alsothanked Chairman Planning &Development, Secretary Fi-nance, Secretary Higher Edu-cation and Secretary Informa-tion for their cooperation inthis regard.

PU launches staffdevelopment

trainingLAHORE—Punjab Univer-sity (PU) on Monday starteda two-week Staff Develop-ment Training Programme forthe non- teaching and admin-istrative staff members.

The training workshop isaimed at professional en-hancements courses in per-sonal grooming and manner-ism, social and interpersonalskills, leadership skills, gen-der diversity management,skills in office correspon-dence, report writing and fa-miliarization with rules andresponsibilities.

Acting Vice ChancellorPU Prof. Dr. Liaqat Ali inau-gurated the trainingprogramme which was at-tended by a large number ofstaff members who will gothrough extensive trainingand learn professionalknowledge.—APP

PEOPLE who eat meals or snacks whilewatching TV, playing games or readingtend to consume more calories in a sit-

ting, and especially later in the day, accordingto a review of two dozen past studies.

“Some studies have individually shown thisbefore, but the evidence hasnever been put together,” saidlead author Eric Robinsonfrom the University ofLiverpool, UK.

According to Robinson,distracted eating could in-crease the amount of foodconsumed by up to 50 percent.

On the other hand, sum-moning memories of whatwas eaten in a previous mealdecreased the amount of foodeaten later. Even though wemake decisions about whatand when to eat with appar-ent ease all the time, thesedecisions are actually verycomplex and can be easily dis-rupted,” Suzanne Higgs, astudy co-author and psycholo-gist at the University of Birmingham in the UK,told Reuters Health in an email.

The researchers broadly categorized eatingpatterns as “attentive,” such as sitting quietlyand recording what was eaten during a meal,or the exact opposite, “distracted.” Distractedeaters do not pay close attention to food andare not as aware of how much they have eaten.

Robinson and his colleagues searched thescientific literature and found 24 studies con-ducted between 1997 and 2011 that met theirmain criterion of involving an experimenterwho actively manipulated participants’ atten-tion, memory and awareness of eating food. All

Distracted eaters likelyto take in more calories

of the studies were tightly controlled andmonitored, but each had different methods ofmanipulating participants’ attention andawareness. or example, in one study, adultmen and women watched television whileeating. In another, participants snacked on

pistachio nuts and experiment-ers immediately removed thenut shells from view.

The experiments ranged insize from 14 participants to122, and 18 of the 24 studieswere done with university stu-dents as subjects. Nearly all ofthe men and women in the ex-periments were normal weight,rather than overweight orobese. The analysis suggestsstatistically significant differ-ences between participants whoate attentively and those whoate while distracted, Higgs said.

On average, eating whiledistracted increased the amounteaten by about 10 percent, com-pared to not being distracted.But it also increased the

amount a person ate at a later meal by morethan 25 percent.

In contrast, enhancing memories of foodconsumed at an earlier meal reduced theamount consumed at a subsequent meal byabout 10 percent. Enhancing awareness of thefood being consumed at the current meal didnot, however, change how much people ateat that meal.

Still, in light of the overall results, theauthors think that attentive eating techniquescould be incorporated into weight loss regi-mens as an alternative to intense calorie-counting.

KARACHI: Rangers officers visiting a torture cell discovered during search operation in the are of Landhi Ali Brohi Goth.

KARACHI: Women protesting against Uzair Baloch.

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah talking to a delegation of KarachiBar Association at CH House.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Defence Author-ity College for Women Ph-VIIIcelebrated women’s day tocommemorate the collective ef-forts of the women worldwide.The event was incorporatedwith Oath Taking Ceremony ofthe newly elected members ofStudents’ Council 2013.

Ms. Maleeha Faisal, Ex-ecutive Director Overseas Of-fice was the chief guest on theoccasion. She congratulated themembers of the Students’Council and advised them todischarge their onerous respon-

sibilities with courage, visionand fair play. First year students of theCollege kept audience spell-bound with their fiery speechesabout women role in society.Hiba Rasheed got first prize forEnglish whereas Shareea Javedwas decleared first for the UrduSpeech.

A visual presentation on the‘Role model of Muslim Women’was given by Asst Prof MrsRoohi Tayybai, which was fol-lowed by a simple and gracefulOath Taking Ceremony. The se-lected members of the Students’Council took the oath. Haya

Shah (B.A Final) took oath asthe President and FaryalQureshi (B.Com) as the vicePresident of the Council.

Earlier the Principal, Dr.Farhat Agha said that thecourses of studies and otheractivities at the college weredesigned to optimize develop-ment of intellectual, moral andphysical potential of students.

She said that all the edu-cational activities were fo-cused towards producing con-fident, self-reliant and forwardlooking individuals who couldcontribute positively for thesociety.

Women’s Day 2013 celebrated

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—Pakistan People’sParty Karachi Division GeneralSecretary Syed Najmi Alam hadcondemned targeted killing ofPPP activists particularly thosefrom Baloch ethnic origin.

Alam said that the terroristshad in particular targeted Balochworkers of the PPP and one die-hard activist of the PPP NabeelBaloch was gunned down in OldGolimar area last night. On theother hand, the terrorists hadmore than a dozen activists wereabducted from Pak Colony, Pa-kistan Quarters and Garden East

PPP condemns killings ofparty’s Baloch activists

areas and were killed after theywere subjected to physical tor-ture. The PPP workers thuskilled were kidnapped whilethey were moving their workplaces.

He said that the PPP hadoffered tremendous sacrificesfor the democracy and had al-ways preached for the peace andtranquility despite the fact thatmore than 500 activists werekilled during the tenure of PPP-led government.

The perpetrators wanted toderail the democracy at the be-hest of their foreign masters andhad killed many doctors, stu-

dents, religious scholars, law-yers, political workers and citi-zens in the city. However, themasses were aware of those thatwere behind in the manslaugh-ter of the innocent people in thecity.

He warned the perpetratorsto stop killing the innocentpeople or else the workers of thePPP would be compelled to re-taliate with the assistance of thecitizens.

He demanded of the lawenforcement agencies to ensurethe killers of Nabeel Balochwere arrested without fail andtaken to task.

Rs. 25 lakhfor KBA

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—A 15-member del-egation of Karachi Bar Associa-tion (KBA) called on the SindhChief Minister (CM) Syed QaimAli Shah Monday at CM House.

The CM lauded the role oflawyers for restoration andstrengthening of democracy inthe country.

He added that he himselfalso belongs to lawyers’ com-munity and struggled for democ-racy and restoration of constitu-tion and rule of law.

KBA President NaeemQureshi presented problemsfaced to Karachi Bar Associa-tion with regard to land for As-sociation members and grant forAssociation.

The CM listened to his prob-lems and announced grant ofRs.2500, 000 for the welfare ofthe Association.

Sindh Law MinisterMuhammad Ayaz Soomro,Sindh Social Welfare MinisterNargis N D Khan, Senior Spe-cial Assistant to CM RashidRabbani, Special Assistant toCM Waqar Mehdi and otherswere present.

Dozens ofsuspects arrestedKARACHI—Police have ar-rested dozens of suspects duringraids in different parts of city, af-ter two officials’ murders inKarachi. The security agenciesconducted raids, targeted opera-tions in different parts of the me-tropolis after cordoning off theareas in late hours of Sunday, andcontinued their search after mid-night. Many dozens suspectswere taken into custody and alarge quantity of weapons wasrecovered from their custodyduring raids in different parts ofSite area including Pak Colony.

A close aide of notoriouscriminal Arshad Pappu, whowas killed last night, Salmanwas also arrested by the secu-rity agencies from Pak Colony.

All arrested suspects havebeen moved to different policestations for further interroga-tion; it is expected that very im-portant information will be ex-tracted from those.—NNI

SuspendedCO Kandhkot

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—The Secretary Lo-cal Government Department,Mr. Ali Ahmed Lund has alsosuspended Israr Ahmed, ChiefMunicipal Officer and SanitaryInspector of Town Committee,Kandhkot due to death of littlegirl drowned in manhole inKandhkot Town and appointDirector General, MonitoringLocal Government to conductinquiry and report within 3 days.

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—The Finance De-partment, Government of Sindhhas clarified that Election Com-mission of Pakistan issued direc-tives and imposed ban on all kindof recruitments on January 22,2013.

Thereafter, Election Com-mission of Pakistan reviewedits directives regarding recruit-ments vide its notificationdated 08.02.2013, as “all va-cancies which were advertisedon or before August 31, 2012are outside the purview of theafore-referred Directive andmay be filled in all appoint-ments shall be made strictly inaccordance with the rules ap-plicable to such appointments

Appointment of DPAscompleted prior to ECP ban

and purely on merit”.According to further detail

Finance Department, Govern-ment of Sindh advertised vacan-cies of DPAs (BS-12) in FinanceDepartment got published inleading Newspapers i.e. English,Sindhi and Urdu on 11.2.2012,and Selection Committee con-ducted interview of the candi-dates applied for the post ofDPA’s (BS-12) December 10 to21, 2012 and Finance Depart-ment issued offer letters to theeligible candidates for appoint-ment on purely merit basis onJanuary 15, 2013.

As such the process of theappointment of DPAs was com-pleted prior to impose the ban onrecruitment made by ElectionCommission of Pakistan.

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—The Higher Educa-tion Commission of Pakistan(HECP) and USAID organizedjointly a reunion of USAID-funded Merit and Needs basedAlumni from province of Sindhat Governor House Karachi.

The purpose of the event wasto celebrate one of the most suc-cessful collaborative endeavorsby the USAID & HEC throughwhich over 550 young studentsof four higher education institu-tions HEIs of Sindh, benefittedfrom the program.

The ceremony was attendedby government officials, repre-sentatives of USAID civil soci-ety, corporate sector, donors andphilanthropists.

In their brief remarks, thestudents extended thanks to USgovernment and HEC for provid-ing them support in continuationof their higher studies in the dis-ciplines of business educationand agriculture at the leadingHEIs of Sindh. They shared theirsuccess stories and also vowed

Reunion of USAID-fundedMerit-based Alumni from SindhEbad asks young scholars to play role in economic prosperity

to play an active role for the socioeconomic development of theprovince and country.

Addressing on the occasion,Governor Sindh Dr Ishrat UlEbad Khan lauded the combinedefforts of HEC and USAID inarranging the event and carryingout this useful initiative.

He said that United Stateshas always contributed in socio-economic development of Paki-stan including health, education,agriculture, and economy and fi-nance sectors. Government hadalways laid great importance oncreating opportunities to makeeducation accessible at the door-step of every Pakistani. The sup-ports from the US authorities andthe unwavering commitment ofHEC had helped the governmenttowards achieving this goal.

The governor said thatawarding over 550 scholarshipsunder merit and need basedscholarship program was a com-mendable accomplishment andsuch useful endeavors would alsocontinue in future as well, hehoped.

He also emphasized over theyoung scholars to play their piv-otal role for the economic pros-perity of Pakistan.

US Consulate General,Karachi Michael Dodman ex-pressed his pleasure over thesuccessful event and especiallynotable achievements of merito-rious but financially deservingstudents from Sindh.

While expressing USgovernment‘s vision for develop-ment in Pakistan, he said that USfully realizes that a coordinatedand mutual efforts involvingGovernment of Pakistan wouldbe quite beneficial for the well-being of people of Pakistan.

He pointed out the success ofthe merit based scholarship pro-gram which was initiated in 2004in universities across all prov-inces of Pakistan.

He informed that the USAIDwas also supporting HEC’s causeof establishing high class educa-tional centers to build university-industry-government linkagesand address issues of nationalpriorities.

All TMAsabolished

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—The Spokesman ofLocal Government Departmenthad clarified that the Local Gov-ernment system 1979 had com-pletely been restored in the entireprovince.

All the TMAs had been abol-ished, District Municipal Corpo-rations, Municipal Corporations,Municipal Committees, DistrictCouncils, Town Committees andUnion Councils had been restoredvide order No. SO (A)/LG/4(37)/2011 dated 27-02-2013.

Since the TMAs had beenabolished therefore, the questionof retaining the officers inTMAs did not arise. All theTMAs officers concerned hadbeen relieved to report to SindhLocal Government Board forfurther posting.

LG Secretary takesnotice of postingsof 800 employees

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—The Secretary Lo-cal Government Department,Ali Ahmed Lund had taken se-rious view of news item pub-lished in a section of press andhad appointed Syed ShahMuhammad, an Additional Sec-retary Local Government as in-quiry officer to conduct inquiryfor alleged posting of (800) eighthundred employees in variousLocal Councils with the fakeorders, without approval of se-lection committee and SecretaryLocal government Department.Furthermore he had directed thatall such recruitments if mademay be cancelled with immedi-ate effect.

PPP terms Gabol aslame horse in politics

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—It could be a ma-jor setback for the PakistanPeople’s party that was wit-nessed on Sunday evening whenthe die-hard PPP leader fromLiyari, Nabeel Gabol officiallyannounced to have joined theMuttahida Qaumi Movement(MQM). However, the PPPleaders here in the province hadnot taken Gabol’s stance forparting ways with the PPP as theleaders said that Gabol had al-ready lost his credibility in hisconstituency, Liyari and wasunable to even enter his constitu-ency because the people ofLiyari had since long stoppedbelieving Gabol especially afterhis pro-operation stance againstthe people of Liyari.

Gabol had announced hisjoining of the MQM Sunday ina press conference he addressedalong with MQM Co-Ordina-tion Committee Deputy Con-vener Dr Farooq Sattar.

PPP Karachi Division Sec-retary Information LateefMughal said that the stanceGabol had showed was only forthe party ticket for contestingelections, which the PPP lead-ership had refused owing to hiscontroversial stances and evenplain criticism on the PPP’spoint of view especially on thePeople’s Amn Committee andon various occasions especiallyon TV talk shows, Gabol’s tilttoward the MQM was noticedand discussed within the partylines.

Mughal said that it was lessimportant that Gabol had quitthe PPP and joined the MQMbut it would be more importantto see in coming days whetherhe would stay with the MQM forgood or would take another turnin his coming political life.