Continued on Page 7 ISLAMABAD: President Mamnoon Hussain administering oath of office to Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani as Chief Justice of Pakistan at a ceremony held at Aiwan-e-Sadr on Thursday. Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif is also present. Big breakthrough in Brussels EU grants GSP plus status to Pakistan Products get duty free access to 27 EU countries Gates open to over $1b exports in one year President, PM congratulate nation LIAQAT TOOR ISLAMABAD—Pakistan gained a big breakthrough in Brussels on Thursday as European Union granted Generalised System of Preferences Plus (GSP Plus) sta- tus allowing duty free access of Pak products, particularly tex- tile to 27 countries. In a meeting of European Union Parliament, Pakistan got the concession with 406 mem- bers in favour against 162 nega- tive votes. The European Parliament approved the Single Delegated Act under which ten countries including Pakistan are entitled to GSP Plus Scheme. The Act will come into force from 1st January, 2014. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had given special task to Governor Punjab Chaudhry Sarwar to work with the EU members for this momentous achievement. According to experts in trad- ing sector, Pakistan can boost exports to over $ 1 billion dol- lar in one year and this momen- tum will continue enabling the country to boost exports to $ 4 to 5 billion which will result in increased economic activities generating employment for tens of thousands jobless persons. A press release of Foreign Office said Pakistan embassies in the European capitals, the Ministry of Commerce and Governor Punjab have worked incessantly to bring about the passage of the Act. “We are grateful to the Eu- ropean Commission and mem- ber countries of the European Union for their unstinting sup- port at every step of the process and to the European Parliament for the adoption of the Single Delegated Act. The EU initia- tive to grant GSP Plus will supplement the Government’s efforts to revive economy. It is our expectation that with the implementation of the Single Delegated Act, Pakistan’s trade with EU will receive a substan- tial boost, particularly in the tex- tile sector. It will also help gen- Continued on Page 7 Shahbaz meets Singh; wants Pak, India to resolve differences NEW DELHI—Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Thursday met Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and visited Delhi Metro’s busiest Rajiv Chowk station. The meeting was held in Indian Prime Minister House in New Delhi. During the meeting, they exchanged views over Pak- India relations and discussed confidence building measures. Energy, information tech- nology and other sectors came under discussion in the meeting. Shahbaz conveyed message of best wishes on behalf of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to the Indian PM during the meeting. He also invited the Indian prime minister to visit Pakistan. Special advisor to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatmi was also present in the meeting. The Indian prime minister welcomed Shahbaz Sharif at his arrival and lauded the development projects launched by the Punjab govern- ment. Talking to media persons after meeting, Shahbaz Sharif said that India and Pakistan can combat poverty if both the sides resolve their differences. He said he came in India with best wishes to enhance bilateral re- lations. Later, Shahbaz Sharif also visited the Patel Chowk Metro station. After taking the Metro ride, Shahbaz Sharif said he had a great time and said Delhi Metro was of great benefit to travellers. Keen to ease the power situ- ation in Punjab, Shahbaz would be visiting the Timarpur-Okhla Solid Waste Management Project in Jasola and the New Picture on Back Page KARACHI: The Board of Governors of Dadabhoy Institute of Higher Education conferred honorary PhD degree on Mr. Zahid Malik, Editor-in-Chief, Pakistan Observer. He is receiv- ing it from Senator Raja Zafarul Haq, Leader of the House in Senate of Pakistan who was the chief guest at the convocation. Left is Mr. Abdullah Dadabhoy, Chairman and VC of the Institute.—Photo by Sultan Chaki AMANULLAH KHAN KARACHI—Zahid Malik, Edi- tor-in-Chief of Pakistan Ob- server was honoured by Dadabhoy Institute of Higher Education with honorary PhD degree in Philosophy at the 6th Convocation 2013 held in Karachi on Thursday. The PAF Convocation Hall, packed to capacity gave a standing ovation on the oc- casion when the degree of Doc- torate in Philosophy was con- ferred on Zahid Malik Present on the occasion in- cluded Abdullah Dadabhoy, Chairman of Abdullah Dadabhoy Institute for Higher Education, Abdullah Hussain Haroon, former Ambassador of Pakistan to United Nations and the Rector of the Institute Dr. Altaf Hussain. The honorary degree has Zahid Malik awarded PhD degree Give rights of the people before due date expires: Hussain Haroon Continued on Page 7 Army to play role in uplift of Balochistan: Gen Raheel Attends passing out parade of Baloch recruits QUETTA—Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General Raheel Sharif stressing the need for sustain- able development of Balochistan said that the Paki- stan Army was committed to play its role in socio-economic uplift of Balochistan. “As many as 20,000 youth from Balochistan have been re- cruited in Pakistan Army since 2010 that shows the utmost dedi- cation of Armed forces for the rising of geographically largest province of the country,” he said during a passing out parade of Baloch recruits held here on Thursday in the EME center Quetta. Chief Minister Balochistan, Dr Abdul Malik Baloch, Com- mander Southern Command, Lieutenant General Nasser Khan Janjua, members of provincial cabinet, Chief Secretary Balochistan Babar Yaqoob Fateh Mohammad were also present. The COAS stressed that de- velopment and prosperity of Balochistan will contribute to- wards a peaceful and progres- sive Pakistan, adding Army would continue to play its part in the uplift of the province.” My visit to Balochistan soon after taking over the command of Pak Army reflects my affection to the province and its people,” he maintained. He noted that Army in view of getting more recruitment from the province of Balochistan relaxed its rules and Continued on Page 7 Continued on Page 7 Govt requests special court to initiate case against Musharraf ISLAMABAD—The federal gov- ernment on Thursday submitted a petition in the special court to initiate hearing of a case of high treason against former military ruler Pervez Musharraf. Federal secretary Shahid Khan filed an application in this regard in the office of the regis- trar of special court in Islamabad. The application submitted that a case may be initiated against Musharraf under article Continued on Page 7 BD executes Abdul Quader Mollah DHAKA—Bangladesh on Thursday hanged Abdul Quader Molla, a top Jamaat-e-Islami leader making him the first per- son to be put to death for mas- sacres committed during the country’s 1971 war of indepen- dence. “The execution has been carried out,” deputy law minis- ter Quamrul Islam told AFP, adding that Abdul Quader Molla, 65, a senior leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, was hanged at 10.01 pm (1601 GMT) in a jail in the capital Dhaka. The hanging took place just hours after the country’s Supreme Court dismissed Molla’s appeal for a final re- view of his death sentence, removing the last legal op- tion against his execution. The wife and children of 4 soldiers martyred in NWA blast TARIQ SAEED PESHAWAR—A remote con- trolled bomb explosion targeting a security forces convoy in the North Waziristan Agency (NWA) Thursday afternoon led to the martyrdom of four sol- diers and serious injuries to seven others. Military sources said. Reports reaching here from Miran Shah the NWA headquar- Continued on Page 7 MOSCOW—Russia reserves the right to use nuclear weapons in response to a conventional strike and sees them as a “great equal- izer” reducing the likelihood of aggression, a senior Russian of- ficial said Wednesday. While Russia amended its military doctrine years ago to al- low for the possibility of using nuclear weapons first in retalia- tion to a non-nuclear attack, the statement by Deputy Prime Min- ister Dmitry Rogozin reflected Moscow’s concern about prospec- Russia may answer conventional attack with nukes tive U.S. conventional weapons. Weapons that have been de- veloped in the United States under the so-called “prompt glo- bal strike” program would be capable of striking targets any- where in the world in as little as an hour with deadly precision. Russia, which has lagged far behind in developing such weapons, has described them as destabilizing. Without naming the U.S., Rogozin told lawmak- ers in comments carried by Rus- Continued on Page 7 Sindh LB polls on Jan 18 ISLAMABAD—Chief Secretary Sindh assured the Election Commission of Pakistan Thursday that Local Govern- ment elections would beheld in the Province on the 18th of January, 2014, the date al- ready fixed by the Supreme Court. The assurance was given to the Commission at a meeting here Thursday which was also attended by Secretary Local Government Sindh. The Commission is likely to issue the Election Schedule on 18th December, 2013 Earlier a meeting of the ECP and Sindh government representatives was Continued on Page 7 Suicide attackers hastening way to hell: Saudi Imam RIYADH—Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti, Sheikh Abdul- Aziz Al al-Sheikh has said that those who kill themselves with explosives are criminals and are hastening their way to hell, media reported on Thursday. In an interview with Saudi-owned newspaper, al- Sheikh said that killing oneself is a grave crime and a grave sin. He has condemned suicide bombings as grave crimes, reiterating his stance in unusually strong language. “Their (suicide bombers) hearts have veered away from the right path, their minds have been invaded by evil,” Govt decides to provide gas to industrial sector: Dar ISLAMABAD—A meeting was held Thursday in the Ministry of Finance with the Finance Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar in chair to review the overall power and gas situation in the country in the backdrop of shortage of gas in the country. The meeting was attended by Federal Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Mohammad Asif and Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Mr. Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. Senior officials of the Ministries of Finance and Water and Power were also present on the occasion. During the meeting it was decided that it should be ensured that natural gas is provided to the industry so that it remains unaffected as it would protect the interest of employees working in the industrial sector.—INP US new sanctions to block Iran’s trading activities WASHINGTON —Under pressure from Congress to demonstrate that it is not easing up on sanctions on Iran’s oil sector or on its nuclear and missile programs, the Obama administration on Thursday announced an expanded list of Iranian companies and individuals that it said it would target to block their trading activities around the world. The administration’s announcement came shortly before Wendy Sherman, chief American negotiator on the Iran agreement, was scheduled to testify on the nuclear accord with Iran and the sanctions issues to the Senate banking committee. On Tuesday, Secretary of State John Kerry came under sharp criticism from Demo- crats and Republicans on Capitol Hill, who are threaten- ISLAMABAD—Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani on Thursday took oath as Chief Justice of Pakistan, replacing Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary who retired on Dec 11. President Mamnoon Hussain administered the oath to the new Chief Justice at a simple but impressive ceremony at Aiwan-e-Saddar. The oath taking ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, former Chief Jus- tice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry,Judges of the supreme Justice Tassaduq Jillani takes over as CJP SC to continue to play its role to safeguard Constitution court, Chief Justice Federal Sharia Court and Chief Justices of High Courts. Prime Minister Azad Jammu and Kashmir Abdul Majeed , Speaker National As- sembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Chief Minister Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah and envoys of various countries were also present. President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif congratulated Jus- tice Jillani after he was sworn. In remarks during hearing first case as Chief Justice, Tassaduq Hussain Jilliani, said the Supreme Court would con- tinue to play its role to safeguard the constitution of Pakistan. Attorney General Munir A Malik greeted Justice Jillani for assuming the charge of head of the apex court. The AG also as- sured the newly appointed Chief Justice of full cooperation. Munir A Malik further said the entire nation expected from Justice Jillani that he would be Continued on Page 7 Continued on Page 7 Karachi blast kills 1 Ranger, injures five IRFAN ALIGI KARACHI—One Rangers per- sonnel was killed and five oth- ers were injured in a remote- controlled bomb blast in Karachi on Thursday. The blast took place in Landhi near a Rangers mobile. It was reported that three to five kilogrammes of explosives were planted in a motorcycle near the vehicle. Two of the Rangers person- nel were in critical condition. The injured were taken to Jinnah Hospital. Police and Rangers cordoned off the area. Continued on Page 7 Picture on Back Page
Transcript
Continued on Page 7
ISLAMABAD: President Mamnoon Hussain administering oath of office to Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani as ChiefJustice of Pakistan at a ceremony held at Aiwan-e-Sadr on Thursday. Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif is alsopresent.
Big breakthrough in Brussels
EU grants GSP plusstatus to PakistanProducts get duty free access to 27 EU
countries Gates open to over $1b exports inone year President, PM congratulate nation
LIAQAT TOOR
ISLAMABAD—Pakistan gaineda big breakthrough in Brusselson Thursday as European Uniongranted Generalised System ofPreferences Plus (GSP Plus) sta-tus allowing duty free access ofPak products, particularly tex-tile to 27 countries.
In a meeting of EuropeanUnion Parliament, Pakistan gotthe concession with 406 mem-bers in favour against 162 nega-tive votes.
The European Parliamentapproved the Single DelegatedAct under which ten countriesincluding Pakistan are entitledto GSP Plus Scheme. The Actwill come into force from 1st
January, 2014.Prime Minister Nawaz
Sharif had given special task toGovernor Punjab ChaudhrySarwar to work with the EUmembers for this momentousachievement.
According to experts in trad-ing sector, Pakistan can boostexports to over $ 1 billion dol-lar in one year and this momen-tum will continue enabling thecountry to boost exports to $ 4to 5 billion which will result inincreased economic activitiesgenerating employment for tensof thousands jobless persons.
A press release of ForeignOffice said Pakistan embassiesin the European capitals, theMinistry of Commerce and
Governor Punjab have workedincessantly to bring about thepassage of the Act.
“We are grateful to the Eu-ropean Commission and mem-ber countries of the EuropeanUnion for their unstinting sup-port at every step of the processand to the European Parliamentfor the adoption of the SingleDelegated Act. The EU initia-tive to grant GSP Plus willsupplement the Government’sefforts to revive economy. It isour expectation that with theimplementation of the SingleDelegated Act, Pakistan’s tradewith EU will receive a substan-tial boost, particularly in the tex-tile sector. It will also help gen-
Continued on Page 7
Shahbaz meets Singh; wantsPak, India to resolve differences
NEW DELHI—Punjab ChiefMinister Shahbaz Sharif onThursday met Indian PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh andvisited Delhi Metro’s busiestRajiv Chowk station.
The meeting was held inIndian Prime Minister House inNew Delhi. During the meeting,they exchanged views over Pak-India relations and discussedconfidence building measures.
Energy, information tech-nology and other sectors cameunder discussion in the meeting.Shahbaz conveyed message ofbest wishes on behalf of PrimeMinister Nawaz Sharif to the
Indian PM during the meeting.He also invited the Indian primeminister to visit Pakistan.
Special advisor to the PrimeMinister on Foreign Affairs
Tariq Fatmi was also present inthe meeting. The Indian primeminister welcomed ShahbazSharif at his arrival and laudedthe development projectslaunched by the Punjab govern-ment.
Talking to media personsafter meeting, Shahbaz Sharifsaid that India and Pakistan can
combat poverty if both the sidesresolve their differences. He saidhe came in India with bestwishes to enhance bilateral re-lations.
Later, Shahbaz Sharif alsovisited the Patel Chowk Metrostation. After taking the Metroride, Shahbaz Sharif said he hada great time and said DelhiMetro was of great benefit totravellers.
Keen to ease the power situ-ation in Punjab, Shahbaz wouldbe visiting the Timarpur-OkhlaSolid Waste ManagementProject in Jasola and the New
Picture on Back Page
KARACHI: The Board of Governors of Dadabhoy Institute of Higher Education conferredhonorary PhD degree on Mr. Zahid Malik, Editor-in-Chief, Pakistan Observer. He is receiv-ing it from Senator Raja Zafarul Haq, Leader of the House in Senate of Pakistan who wasthe chief guest at the convocation. Left is Mr. Abdullah Dadabhoy, Chairman and VC of theInstitute.—Photo by Sultan Chaki
AMANULLAH KHAN
KARACHI—Zahid Malik, Edi-tor-in-Chief of Pakistan Ob-server was honoured byDadabhoy Institute of HigherEducation with honorary PhDdegree in Philosophy at the 6thConvocation 2013 held inKarachi on Thursday.
The PAF ConvocationHall, packed to capacity gavea standing ovation on the oc-casion when the degree of Doc-torate in Philosophy was con-ferred on Zahid Malik
Present on the occasion in-cluded Abdullah Dadabhoy,Chairman of AbdullahDadabhoy Institute for HigherEducation, Abdullah HussainHaroon, former Ambassador ofPakistan to United Nations andthe Rector of the Institute Dr.Altaf Hussain.
The honorary degree has
Zahid Malik awarded PhD degreeGive rights of the people before due date expires: Hussain Haroon
Continued on Page 7
Army to play role in upliftof Balochistan: Gen RaheelAttends passing out parade of Baloch recruits
QUETTA—Chief of Army Staff(COAS), General Raheel Sharifstressing the need for sustain-able development ofBalochistan said that the Paki-stan Army was committed toplay its role in socio-economicuplift of Balochistan.
“As many as 20,000 youthfrom Balochistan have been re-cruited in Pakistan Army since2010 that shows the utmost dedi-cation of Armed forces for therising of geographically largestprovince of the country,” he saidduring a passing out parade of
Baloch recruits held here onThursday in the EME centerQuetta.
Chief Minister Balochistan,Dr Abdul Malik Baloch, Com-mander Southern Command,Lieutenant General Nasser Khan
Janjua, members of provincialcabinet, Chief SecretaryBalochistan Babar YaqoobFateh Mohammad were alsopresent.
The COAS stressed that de-
velopment and prosperity ofBalochistan will contribute to-wards a peaceful and progres-sive Pakistan, adding Armywould continue to play its partin the uplift of the province.” Myvisit to Balochistan soon aftertaking over the command of PakArmy reflects my affection tothe province and its people,” hemaintained.
He noted that Army in viewof getting more recruitmentfrom the province ofBalochistan relaxed its rules and
Continued on Page 7
Continued on Page 7
Govt requestsspecial court to
initiate caseagainst MusharrafISLAMABAD—The federal gov-ernment on Thursday submitteda petition in the special court toinitiate hearing of a case of hightreason against former militaryruler Pervez Musharraf.
Federal secretary ShahidKhan filed an application in thisregard in the office of the regis-trar of special court inIslamabad.
The application submittedthat a case may be initiatedagainst Musharraf under article
Continued on Page 7
BD executes AbdulQuader Mollah
DHAKA—Bangladesh onThursday hanged Abdul QuaderMolla, a top Jamaat-e-Islamileader making him the first per-son to be put to death for mas-sacres committed during thecountry’s 1971 war of indepen-dence.
“The execution has beencarried out,” deputy law minis-ter Quamrul Islam told AFP,adding that Abdul QuaderMolla, 65, a senior leader of theJamaat-e-Islami party, washanged at 10.01 pm (1601
GMT) in a jail in the capitalDhaka. The hanging took place
just hours afterthe country’sSupreme Courtd i s m i s s e dMolla’s appealfor a final re-view of hisdeath sentence,removing thelast legal op-
tion against his execution.The wife and children of
4 soldiersmartyred inNWA blast
TARIQ SAEED
PESHAWAR—A remote con-trolled bomb explosion targetinga security forces convoy in theNorth Waziristan Agency(NWA) Thursday afternoon ledto the martyrdom of four sol-diers and serious injuries toseven others. Military sourcessaid.
Reports reaching here fromMiran Shah the NWA headquar-
Continued on Page 7
MOSCOW—Russia reserves theright to use nuclear weapons inresponse to a conventional strikeand sees them as a “great equal-izer” reducing the likelihood ofaggression, a senior Russian of-ficial said Wednesday.
While Russia amended itsmilitary doctrine years ago to al-low for the possibility of usingnuclear weapons first in retalia-tion to a non-nuclear attack, thestatement by Deputy Prime Min-ister Dmitry Rogozin reflectedMoscow’s concern about prospec-
Russia may answerconventional attack
with nukestive U.S. conventional weapons.
Weapons that have been de-veloped in the United Statesunder the so-called “prompt glo-bal strike” program would becapable of striking targets any-where in the world in as little asan hour with deadly precision.
Russia, which has lagged farbehind in developing suchweapons, has described them asdestabilizing. Without namingthe U.S., Rogozin told lawmak-ers in comments carried by Rus-
Continued on Page 7
Sindh LB pollson Jan 18
ISLAMABAD—Chief SecretarySindh assured the ElectionCommission of PakistanThursday that Local Govern-ment elections would beheldin the Province on the 18th ofJanuary, 2014, the date al-ready fixed by the SupremeCourt.
The assurance was given tothe Commission at a meetinghere Thursday which was alsoattended by Secretary LocalGovernment Sindh.
The Commission is likely toissue the Election Schedule on18th December, 2013 Earlier ameeting of the ECP and Sindhgovernment representatives was
Continued on Page 7
Suicide attackershastening wayto hell: SaudiImamRIYADH—Saudi Arabia’sGrand Mufti, Sheikh Abdul-Aziz Al al-Sheikh has said thatthose who kill themselves withexplosives are criminals andare hastening their way to hell,media reported on Thursday.
In an interview withSaudi-owned newspaper, al-Sheikh said that killing oneselfis a grave crime and a gravesin.
He has condemned suicidebombings as grave crimes,reiterating his stance inunusually strong language.
“Their (suicide bombers)hearts have veered away fromthe right path, their minds havebeen invaded by evil,”
Govt decidesto provide gasto industrialsector: DarISLAMABAD—A meeting washeld Thursday in the Ministryof Finance with the FinanceMinister Senator MohammadIshaq Dar in chair to reviewthe overall power and gassituation in the country in thebackdrop of shortage of gas inthe country.
The meeting was attended byFederal Minister for Water andPower Khawaja MohammadAsif and Federal Minister forPetroleum and Natural ResourcesMr. Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.Senior officials of the Ministriesof Finance and Water and Powerwere also present on theoccasion. During the meeting itwas decided that it should beensured that natural gas isprovided to the industry so that itremains unaffected as it wouldprotect the interest of employeesworking in the industrialsector.—INP
US new sanctionsto block Iran’strading activitiesWASHINGTON —Underpressure from Congress todemonstrate that it is noteasing up on sanctions onIran’s oil sector or on itsnuclear and missile programs,the Obama administration onThursday announced anexpanded list of Iraniancompanies and individuals thatit said it would target to blocktheir trading activities aroundthe world.
The administration’sannouncement came shortlybefore Wendy Sherman, chiefAmerican negotiator on theIran agreement, was scheduledto testify on the nuclear accordwith Iran and the sanctionsissues to the Senate bankingcommittee.
On Tuesday, Secretary ofState John Kerry came undersharp criticism from Demo-crats and Republicans onCapitol Hill, who are threaten-
ISLAMABAD—Justice TassaduqHussain Jillani on Thursdaytook oath as Chief Justice ofPakistan, replacing JusticeIftikhar Muhammad Chaudharywho retired on Dec 11.
President MamnoonHussain administered the oath tothe new Chief Justice at a simplebut impressive ceremony atAiwan-e-Saddar.
The oath taking ceremonywas attended by Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif, former Chief Jus-tice Iftikhar MuhammadChaudhry,Judges of the supreme
Justice Tassaduq Jillanitakes over as CJP
SC to continue to play its role to safeguard Constitutioncourt, Chief Justice FederalSharia Court and Chief Justicesof High Courts.
Prime Minister AzadJammu and Kashmir AbdulMajeed , Speaker National As-sembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq,Chief Minister Sindh SyedQaim Ali Shah and envoys ofvarious countries were alsopresent.
President MamnoonHussain and Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif congratulated Jus-tice Jillani after he was sworn.
In remarks during hearing
first case as Chief Justice,Tassaduq Hussain Jilliani, saidthe Supreme Court would con-tinue to play its role tosafeguard the constitution ofPakistan.
Attorney General Munir AMalik greeted Justice Jillani forassuming the charge of head ofthe apex court. The AG also as-sured the newly appointed ChiefJustice of full cooperation.
Munir A Malik further saidthe entire nation expected fromJustice Jillani that he would be
Continued on Page 7
Continued on Page 7
Karachi blastkills 1 Ranger,
injures fiveIRFAN ALIGI
KARACHI—One Rangers per-sonnel was killed and five oth-ers were injured in a remote-controlled bomb blast in Karachion Thursday.
The blast took place inLandhi near a Rangers mobile.It was reported that three to fivekilogrammes of explosives wereplanted in a motorcycle near thevehicle.
Two of the Rangers person-nel were in critical condition.The injured were taken to JinnahHospital. Police and Rangerscordoned off the area.
Continued on Page 7
Picture on Back Page
SALAHUDDIN HAIDER
DENYING any kind oftension between hiscounty and Pakistan,
British HighCommissionerto Islamabad,A d a mThomson hassaid that, onthe contrary,ties betweenthe two Statesare extremelycordial, tradeand investment prospects look-ing brighter, and similarities onAfghanistan issue negates thatimpression comprehensively.
Meeting a select group ofjournalists in Karachi Wednes-day, he expressed ignoranceabout MQM and Altaf Hussain
issue, explaining however thatBritish system is unique becauseinvestigation agencies are notunder government control.
They would do whatevertheir professional competence,and ethics demand, and also onthe basis of evidence they wouldmanage, emphasizing at thesame time that the ScotlandYard, which is also called Lon-don Metropolis police, has en-vious reputation of unearthingthe criminals, even if takes longsometime.
Asked whether the arrest ofthe two important, high profilefunctionaries of the party, hav-ing international headquarters inLondon, did prove that someconcrete evidence has been col-lected against them, he repliedthat he was completely unawareof the case details and not in a
position, therefore to comment.One of these two was Tariq
Mir, a leading functionary. Theywere bailed out by a court after30 hours of detention, but or-dered to appear before it afterone month. Whether they werealso questioned about allegedmoney laundering and murder ofDr Imran Farooq, have not beenspelled out.
The envoy returning homeat the week-end after complet-ing 4 years of assignment in Pa-kistan, said his stay here hadboth plus and minus points. Hisfailings were there too, but hewas lucky to have been a wit-ness to see a smooth and historictransfer of power from one ci-vilian government to another.
Saying that Pakistan wasimportant country, and Britainwas collaborating with it on
combating terrorism, he stressedthat . Relationship between thetwo governments are strong, andso is the case with military-to-military relationship.
He was told that Prime Min-ister David Cameron’s accusa-tion sometime back that Paki-stan was exporting terrorism,had caused consternation in thiscountry, and then former primeminister Yusuf Reza Gilani hadprotested over Cameron’s deci-sion to be in Islamabad after vis-iting Kabul. The high commis-sioner said he did not recall anysuch bitterness, and in factNawaz Sharif had met Cameronat the Commonwealth summit inSri Lanka only recently.
Saying that terrorism andradicalism is number one prob-lem for Pakistan now, he said,his country were examining
training Pakistani security of-ficials in latest techniques ofdealing with the terrorists. Pa-kistan should take care aboutradicalism. Likewise UK isproviding more aid to Pakistanthan to any other country in theworld. Visa reforms have beenintroduced for Pakistanis, stu-dents, businessmen etc, andcultural road map is there too.
He was happy that NADRAwas like a jewel of Pakistan, andwas doing a tremendous job.Headmitted that there was someconcern in England about richersections of population avoidingtaxes. The British aid is tax pay-ers money, and criticism is of-ten based on the fact that themoney given to Pakistan, is notbeing properly utilized. Thetaxation rate will have to be in-creased in Pakistan.
British HC praises ties with Pakistan,unaware about Altaf case
ISLAMABAD—Legislatorssitting both in treasury andthe opposition benches inthe National AssemblyThursday urged the govern-ment for making collectiveefforts to counter terrorismand maintaining peace incountry.
Participating in a debateagainst law and order situa-tion, Sheikh Rashid said thatserious steps should be takento improve law and order situ-ation.
He was of the view thatsectarianism was also a bigthreat to our peace and all thepolitical and religious leaders
Legislators urge collective effortsto ensure peace in country
should have to play their duerole to unite the nation on theissue.
Tehmina Daultana said thatgovernment is taking all mea-sures to ensure peace in thecountry and all political partiesshould have to support thegovernment’s steps.
She said that law and ordersituation in Punjab is compara-tively better than other prov-inces. Government is raisingvoice against Drone attacks onevery forum, adding that it wasdictator Musharraf, who en-gaged the country in Americanwar against terrorism, sheopined.
Imran Zafar said that terror-ists had no religion and the ter-rorism should be eliminatedfrom country on priority basis,adding that politicians shouldhave to avoid to interfere inKarachi’s targeted operation.
She said that the budget tocontrol terrorism in the countryshould also be increased and thepolicies of dictators should notbe followed in the country.
He said that sectarianismshould be avoided in the coun-try and the nation should haveto stand united as a Muslim andPakistani. Nabeel Gabol saidthat law and order is a seriousissue and collective efforts re-
quired to overcome this chal-lenge.
He said that MuhammadNawaz Sharif become thePrime Minister thrice after sac-rificing a lot and urged the gov-ernment to take steps for main-taining peace and urged thenation to support.
He also urged the govern-ment to arrange an in-camerabriefing on current law and or-der situation. Dr ShireenMazari stressed implementingdecisions mandated by AllParties Conference. She saidpolice force must bedepoliticized for getting goodresults.—APP
SARWAR AWAN
ISLAMABAD—The Chairpersonof Prime Minister’s BusinessLoan Scheme for Youth, Ms.Maryam Nawaz has said that100,000 families will benefitfrom the loan scheme in the cur-rent financial year.
The Chairperson said thiswhile talking to youngsters dur-ing her visits to National Bankand First Women Bank branchesto oversee the process of distri-bution of forms of Youth Busi-ness Loan scheme.
She met the youngsterswho had come to get forms andinquired if they were facingany problem. The Chairpersonsaid that sufficient number of
Maryam visits banks to oversee forms distribution
Loan scheme to benefit onelakh families, to create jobs
forms have been made avail-able at 400 branches of Na-tional Bank of Pakistan andFirst Women’s Bank through-out the country.
Talking about the prob-lems, if they (youth face anyproblem during the loan pro-cess), she advised them thatthey could register their com-plaints at the toll-free number0800-77000.
Highlighting the benefits ofthe loan scheme Maryam Nawazsaid it would further create em-ployment opportunities for thou-sands of people as the businessof loan seekers would expand.
Talking to the people on theoccasion she said, “We havemaintained a high level of trans-
parency at all levels of the YouthBusiness Loan scheme.”
She took round of thecounters at NBP branch inSaddar and FWB branch inCommercial Market where ap-plication forms were being pro-vided to aspirants for getting fi-nancial assistance to establishtheir own businesses.
Administration of the banksbriefed the Chairperson aboutfacilities being extended toyouth regarding the Prime Min-ister scheme, saying that unin-terrupted process of applicationforms’ issuance is underway.
She also interacted with per-sons lined-up in queues for theapplication forms, who ex-pressed satisfaction over the ar-rangements made by bankbranches in this regard.
Maryam Nawaz directedthe banks’ administration thatthere should be no shortage offorms and each and every indi-vidual visiting banks for thepurpose must be entertained,adding “No negligence will betolerated.”
Chairperson of PrimeMinister ’s Business LoanScheme for Youth, Ms.Maryam Nawaz hinted that insecond phase the governmentwould also launch ‘Qarz-e-Hasna’ scheme after the YouthBusiness Loan, aimed at miti-gating sufferings of down-trodden segments of the soci-ety.
Senatorappreciates PR for
prompt repliesI S L A M A B A D — S e n a t o rKulsoom Perveen on Thursdayappreciated Minister for Infor-mation, Broadcasting and Na-tional Heritage, Pervaiz Rashidfor comprehensive replies to thequestion in the Senate.
‘The minister has replied thequestion satisfactorily which isappreciable’, she remarked dur-ing question hour in the Senatesession when the minister wasreplying to the queries of themembers on number of issuesregarding his Ministry.
After the Minister had as-sured to look into the matter ofdistribution of public sector ad-vertisements to regional news-papers, the member praised theminister and his commitment tothe cause of regional papers andlanguages.
Earlier, the Minister had as-sured the House to ensure properdistribution of advertisements tosmall and regional newspapersfrom Balochistan.
The Ministry is already pro-viding 25 percent quota of ad-vertisements to regional news-papers and this amounts alsoexceeds keeping view theirproblems.—APP
Arms smugglingbid foiled, FCofficial held
WAH CANTT—Hassanabdalpolice Thursday foiled a bid tosmuggle huge quantity of armsfrom Peshawar to Punjab andarrested two members of interprovincial gang of arms smug-glers including an official ofFrontier Constabulary.
Talking to newsmen hereon Thursday Sub divisionalPolice officer DSP Iqbal Shahhas said that on a tip off, a po-lice party stopped a car bearingNo. ICT-JE-176 near Burhaninterchange on GT road. Dur-ing search, the police recoveredhuge quantity of arms and am-munition from hidden parts ofthe vehicle including 3 pistols,3700 rounds of different weap-ons including 900 rounds of 30bore pistol, 1,000 rounds of 9MM pistol, 166 rounds ofKalashnikov and 780 rounds of303 bore gun.
He said that two smugglerswere also arrested who wereidentified as Nisar Khan andMohammad Javaid. He said thatJavaid is serving as constable inFrontier Constabulary (FC)Peshawar.
A case has registered againstthe accused.Multan: Over two thousandscitizens,students, governmentemployees, and local function-aries rallied to boost publicawareness of corruption and itsharms to the society. The rally,held under the auspices of direc-torate of regional anti- corrup-tion establishment, started fromMultan Arts Council and endedat Kalma chowk.
The participants, includingDCO Multan Zahid SaleemGondal, Director Anti-Corrup-tion Chaudhary Nasir and oth-ers carried banners andplaycards inscribed with slogansfor elimination of corruptionculture.—APP
Govt to start PYIPfrom January’
FAISALABAD—Punjab Infor-mation Technology Board(PITB) Joint Director HR ChMaqsood Ahmad said thePunjab government will launchan internship programme‘Punjab Youth Internship Pro-gram (PYIP)’ for youth ofPunjab to provide skill develop-ment to youth of Punjab fromJanuary.
Addressing a seminar atFaisalabad Chamber of Com-merce and Industry (FCCI) hereon Thursday, he urged represen-tatives of private sector foronline registration at the PYIPwebsite and put their demandsof internees there.
He also elaborated that theinternship programme wasbased on 80:20 share, 80% in-ternees will be accommodated inthe private sector and 20% ingovernment departments.
The government of Punjabwill pay Rs 12,000 as stipend toeach internee for a period of sixmonths. Diploma and MastersDegree holders of age between16-30 years were eligible for thisinternship, he added.
During his welcome ad-dress, Engineer Suhail BinRashid President FaisalabadChamber of Commerce and In-dustry (FCCI) said the Punjabgovernment had initiated theprogram from January to pro-vide youth with advance skillsand help them to equip them-selves with practical experienceand professional competenciesfor better employability.—APP
RAWALPINDI: Chairperson Prime Minister’s Programme for Youth, Maryam Nawaz visiting a bank branch to check theprogress of distribution of forms of Youth Business Loan.
FAISALABAD: Workers of CNG sector hold during a demonstration against closure ofCNG supply in the winter season.
BATGRAM: Students presenting national songs during a cer-emony organized by ‘Save the Children’.
ISLAMABAD—Federal Secretaryfor Ministry of Overseas Pakistanisand Human Resource Develop-ment (OP&HRD) Munir QureshiThursday termed the overseas Pa-kistani as roaming ambassador ofthe country, in an inauguration cer-emony of ‘OPF NADRA SwiftCentre’ at OPF head office.
Apprising the importance ofoverseas Pakistanis, he empha-sized that the following segmentof the society is asset and a sourceof great foreign exchange for thecountry.
Munir Qureshi informed theparticipants that as many as sevenmillion Pakistanis are residing in115 countries across the world inwhich 52 percent of the overseasPakistanis are working in MiddleEast, 30 percent in Europe and 18percent in the United States ofAmerica (USA) etc.
Iftikhar Babar, Managing Di-rector Overseas Pakistanis Foun-dation (OPF), said that it is OPF’stop priority to facilitate overseasPakistanis at maximum level un-der one roof and trying to extend
Overseas Pakistanis areambassadors of country
the radius of its services in vari-ous fields such as education,health and housing schemes etc.
OPF has already started FreeBus Service for Overseas Paki-stanis at Benazir Bhutto Interna-tional Airport and this OPF &NADRA Swift Centre will deliverNational Identity Card for Over-seas Pakistanis (NICOP), PakistanOrigin Card (POC) and OPFMembership Card within a short-est span of time on the sameday.—APP
ISLAMABAD—Speakers at aseminar highlighted the impor-tance of historiography and thefledgling discipline of transla-tion studies in the modern world.
The seminar titled, “Trans-lation Studies and Historiogra-phy” was organized by the Cen-tre of for Languages and Trans-lation Studies (CeLTS), Univer-sity of Gujrat at the main cam-pus of University of Gujrat(UOG) Hafiz Hayat Campus,Gujrat.
Faculty members andM.Phil scholars of the historydepartment and translation stud-ies attended the seminar.
Speaking on the occasioneminent scholar ProfessorSahibzada Ahmad Nadeem saidthat the historians benefitted alot from different translatedworks. He pointed out some in-teresting facts in this regard, and
Importance of historiography,translation studies highlighted
stressed upon a meticulous ap-proach in the translation of his-torical events.
Dr Ali Komail Qazalbashof Allama Iqbal Open Univer-sity talked about the Persian tra-ditions of translation andstressed upon more translationworks.
Dr. Tanvir Anjum ofQuaid-e-Azam UniversityIslamabad read a scholarly re-search paper on the PoorbiHindi translation of the HolyQuran and discussed the meth-ods and techniques used by thetranslator Shah Fazal-ur-Rehman Ganj Murad Abadi.
The coordinator of CeLTSGhulam Ali highlighted the aimsand objectives of the centre andbrought to light future plans. Hesaid that the centre was deter-mined to produce authentic andskilled translators.—APP
ISLAMABAD—Incharge Minis-ter Sheikh Aftab Ahmad has toldNational Assembly (NA) previ-ous audit reports have pointedout financial irregularities inBenazir Income Support Pro-gram (BISP) which need to beinvestigated.
“I have no objection if aninquiry committee is constitutedin this respect”, he added.Amount of stipend under thisprogram has been increased, hestated.
To a question from DrShireen Mazari he said sims arenot active in the border areas.
Replying to a question fromSheikh Rohail Asghar MNA,Parliamentary secretary Shah
Audit reveals financialirregularities in BISP
Nawaz Ranjha told the housepictures of national leaders areput on display in Pakistan Tele-vision Corporation. I will con-duct inquiry if any picture hasbeen removed, he added.
Minister for railwayKhawaja Saad Rafiq told gov-ernment was endeavoring hardto enhance revenue and scaledown railway deficit. Railwayhas earned revenue amountingto Rs 2.42 billion from June toOctober, he pointed out.
To a question from ShaziaMarri, he said locomotive beprovided to improve freighttrains services. Freight trainsrevenue has gone up despiteongoing crisis of railway en-
gines, he added.Responding to a question
from Sajid Ahmad, MNA, Rail-way minister said railway landhas been sold out at throw awayrates in Karachi, “ I will recoverthis land from land mafia, hevowed.
State minister Sara Afzaltold the house PMDC has in-dulged in business in thecountry. Foreign studentsdon’t come to Pakistan forstudies. Higher EducationCommission can not beblamed for it. National cur-riculum commission is beingconstituted to ensure uniformsystem of education in thecountry, she held.—Online
Petrol strikeenters 4th day
JHANG—The strike of petrolpump owners which continuedon fourth consecutive day herehas been causing acute problemsfor citizens. It may be recalledthat Jhang district adminis-teration has directed pump own-ers to sell petroleum products onfixed rates and stop overcharg-ing.
The administeration startedconducting raids at the pumpsand the owners decided to go onstrike. This strike has added tomiseries of everyone and petrolis being black marketed at Rs.200 per litre.
A number of ci t izenswhile talking to this scribesought attention of the gov-ernment of Punjab to inter-vene and streamline the mat-ter.—APP
STAFF REPORTER
LAHORE—The 2013 was anexciting year for Intel in theAsia Pacific region, as technol-ogy innovation from the regionmade possible devices with animmersive and personal com-puting experience, CountryManager Intel Pakistan Corpo-ration said. Talking to mediahere today, Naveed said, “Intelis proud to be a driving force
2013, an exciting year forIntel in Asia Pacific
behind this innovation. Creat-ing and extending computingtechnology to connect and en-rich lives has been Intel’s com-pany vision. This year Intelmade a leap forward by deliv-ering next generation proces-sors that changed the waypeople use and interact withcomputing technology from in-teractive signs, smart cars tosmartphones, tablets,Ultrabooks™ and servers. Intel
also continued its work to helptransform Asia into a globalpowerhouse through a focus oneducation, encouraging theadoption of 21st century skillsand investing in Asian start-upsand entrepreneurs across the re-gion.”
In 2013 Intel made smarter,he said, faster and more securecomputing possible through theintegration of revolutionarytechnology.
Govt to improve health indicatorsISLAMABAD—Minister of state for Na-tional Health Services, Regulations andCoordination, Saira Afzal Tarar on Thurs-day said that the government is strivingto improve health indicators of the coun-try. Addressing the participants of na-tional dissemination workshop on improv-ing the maternal and newborn health here,the minister said collective efforts are re-quired at all level to improve health andpopulation outcomes. She said that the
mortality of female is reported to be 66% higher for girls thanfor boys between the age of 1-4 and mortality rate for womenbetween the ages of 20-29 is about double that of men. Shesaid that population of Pakistan is growing at 1.7 percent peryear. Despite decreasing fertility in the 1990’s, total fertilityremains high at 3.8 children per woman. She added high fertil-ity continues to put an enormous burden on the health ofmothers resulting in high maternal mortality. Majority of ma-ternal are direct obstetrical deaths resulting from preventablecauses. The Minister said that high maternal and infant mor-tality is determined by maternal health and nutrition statusand availability of quality maternal health services. There hasbeen no change in the nutritional status of mothers and chil-dren in Pakistan during last decade. A quarter of newbornshave low birth weight and percentage of under-five year agechildren who are under-weight range between from 33-45%.Anemia remains prevalent among women at 40% and chil-dren less than five years with 62% as compared to men at21%. The poor nutrition status is as a result of repeated preg-nancies, inadequate food intake, and poor dietary habits re-sulting from low status of women limiting access to foodwithin the household. Increasing income or consumption pov-erty and slow progress in education, especially of women,further complicates this, she added.—APP
PM Youth Loan to be given on meritQUETTA—Coordinator for Prime Minis-ter Youth Business Program, MarviMemon Thursday said that PM YouthBusiness Loan would be given only onmerit. She said this during her visit toPishin, Zaranda, Ziarat and Harnai areaswhile addressing to gatherings of youth.She said “The loans of Prime MinisterYouth Program would be given to youthfor business purpose only on merit ba-sis”. She said that the Premier Mian
Nawaz Sharif has promised with youth before the generalelections 2013 that he would take solid measures to resolvethe issue of unemployment. She said that the governmenthas planned to give loans to 100,000 youths for launchingtheir own business. She said that release of business loanto more youth would be started in second phase of theprogram. “The applicant will get Rs 0.1 million to Rs. 02million loan for launching business in different categoriesincluding livestock, cold storage, agriculture, poultry farmsand others,” Marvi added. She said that 50 percent of thetotal funds allocated for PM Youth Business Loan Programwould be given to women to launch their own business,adding that women of Balochistan could also take benefit ofit. She said that five percent quota of the loan was ear-marked for disabled persons. She visited the differentbranches of the National Bank and talked with the youthwho were present there for applying for the loan. She toldthem the Pakistan Muslim League-N government was tak-ing practical steps for resolution of their problems. Officialsof PM Youth Program, Aqeel Anjum Hashmi and SardarNaqeeb Tareen were also present on the occasion. MarviMemon has scheduled to visit Sibi, Nasirabad and Jaffarabaddistrict in this regard on Friday.—APP
Strong democracy to ensure good governanceISLAMABAD—Senator Haji Adeel onThursday said that strong democracywould ensure good governance in thecountry. Talking with media outsidethe parliament, he said, “Continueddemocracy in the country can removeflaw in the democracy.” He said Pub-lic Account Committee (PAC) chair-man has been selected for the oppo-sition as such a move help promotegood governance. He said in the de-
mocracy, it was the responsibility of the opposition tokeep on eye on the performance of the government. HajiAdeel further said, if all the institutions work withintheir domain than there will be no confrontation. To aquestion he expressed the hope that new Chief Justicewould work according to constitution and law. Mean-while, Deputy Speaker, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assem-bly, Imtiaz Shahid Qureshi has said that the PTI govern-ment is following a comprehensive an effective policyfor ensuring transparency in development schemes andresolution of other collective problems of the people.He expressed these views while talking to a delegationfrom Shakar Darra district Kohat here Conference Roomof Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Thursday. Thedelegation led by Juma Khan was comprised of Brig(Retd) Mohammad Ali, Javed Khan, Abdul Qadir Khan,Haji Mohammad Hassan, Captain (Retd) Shah Jehan,Subedar (Retd), Jamaluddin and Mohabat Ali Khan. TheDeputy Speaker, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly saidthat each and every penny of the national exchequerwould be spent on the welfare of the people and ruledout any compromise in this regard. He said that work onthe construction of roads in Bakhtawara, Gurgara,Gariwan and Janak would be started after the release offunds.—APP
Pre-entry test for admissionSUKKUR—The Pre-Entry Test 2014 foradmission to MS/ M. Phil. and Ph.Dprogrammes was held at Shah AbdulLatif University, (SALU) Khairpur onThursday. Vice Chancellor, ShahAbdul Latif University, Khairpur ProfDr. Parveen Shah, visited the venuesof the test. Talking to appearing can-didates, Dr. Parveen Shah said that theresearch and innovation have pro-duced new avenues in the society. Dr.
Shah remarked that the advanced world’s developmentis an outcome of research and development. Dr. Shahsaid that during a short span of time, the Directorate ofPost Graduate Studies has been established, in order tostreamline the process of admissions and research atthe University. It may be pointed out that 950 candi-dates had applied for 450 advertised seats, while 750eligible candidates appeared in the 19 teaching depart-ments of the various faculties. The first merit list will bedisplayed in respective departments on December 16,2013. The classes of academic year 2014 for MS/ M.Philand Ph.D will commence from January 6, 2014. Pro-ViceChancellor, Prof Dr. Miandad Zardari, Dean, Faculty ofNatural Sciences, Prof Dr. Yasmeen Faiz Kazi, Dean, Fac-ulty of Social Sciences & Arts, Prof Dr. Syed AhmedHussain Shah, Dean, Faculty of Commerce & BusinessAdministration, Prof Dr. Ghulam Murtaza Maitlo, Direc-tor, Student Affairs, Prof Dr. Imdad Hussain Sahito, Di-rector, Post Graduate Studies, Prof Dr. Nisar AhmedKanhar, Media Coordinator Prof Dr. Taj MohammadLashari, and others were present during the visit.—APP
QUETTA—Balochistan ChiefMinister Dr Abdul MalikBaloch said corruption andmismanagement were themain hurdles in the progressand development of prov-ince.
“The government is tak-ing concrete steps to get ridof corruption and misman-agement,” he added.
He was speaking duringa briefing given by ChiefMinister Inspection Team(CMIT) here at the ChiefMinister’s Secretariat.
Regretting over massivecorruption made by formergovernments, he said theprovince had got around Rs600 billion in the past but nodevelopment work was vis-ible on the ground except indocuments.
Corruption main hurdle inBalochistan development
“Children are withoutschools and where there areschools they lack basic facili-ties that have caused hugedropout of students, spe-cially girls,” he said andadded that the health sectorhad also reached at theverge of destruction.
The Chief Minister saidif the funds were used trans-parently the provincewould have been giving adifferent picture today. Nocompromise would be madeon corruption as all re-sources of the province be-longed to its people, hepledged.
“ The resources will beused transparently for thebenefit of people and theprovince, and those in-volved in corruption, will be
made accountable,” headded.
Ordering an inquiry intothe under-construction high-ways in six districts, the ChiefMinister said if the CMIT re-quired more experts the gov-ernment would provide it.
Lamenting the perfor-mance of CMIT, he said only58 inquiries had been madeby it during the last fiveyears. He said the govern-ment was determined to makethe CMIT more effective andpowerful.
“It has to build up its ca-pacity and should not con-sider itself helpless rather itshould play an effective roleagainst corruption so that theprovince can be put on thetrack of development,” headded.—APP
QUETTA—Two young realbrothers died and anotherwas affected due to suffoca-tion caused by gas leakagehere on Thursday. Rescuesources said that due to leak-age gas filled in the room of ahouse located in AlimoChowk of Quetta. Three realbrothers present in the roomwent unconscious due tosuffocation and were rushedto Civil Hospital where doc-tors confirmed death of eight-year-old Attaullah andShoaib, 12, while Ahsanullahwas under treatment and ac-cording to hospital sourceshis condition was also seri-
Man kills wife over domestic disputes
Two real brothersdie of suffocation
ous.Sheikhupura—A mangunned down his wife overdomestic dispute here onThursday and escaped aftercommitting the crime. Policesaid that the accused resid-ing in Maison area, LahoreRoad locality of Sheikhupurawas in differences with hiswife over domestic issues.
The couple exchangedhot words after which thehusband opened fire at wifekilling her on the spot andfled away. The police regis-tered a case against the mur-derer and started search forhim.—INP
CHINIOT: Petrol pumps remained closed in the city due tostrike called by the Petroleum Dealers Association.
DIR LOWER: KP Senior Minister for Finance and Planning Sirajul Haq giving awayshield to a student during Talent Award show organized by Islami Jamiat Talaba.
ABBOTTABAD: Students protesting outside government girls degree college against alleged rape with several girlsby male staff of the college.
ISLAMABAD—The Senatewas informed Thursday thatdraft of Prevention of Elec-tronic Crimes Bill 2013 hasbeen prepared to curb cyberrelated crimes.
Minister of State for In-terior Muhammad BalighurRehman told the House dur-ing question hour that the billprepared by the Ministry ofInformation Technology willsoon be presented before theParliament for enactment. Hesaid five national responsecentres for Cyber Crimes arealready operational in Fed-eral Capital and the four prov-inces to counter thesecrimes.
He pointed out thatcyber crimes have witnessedan upward trend due to the
Ads being given fairly to press under balanced policy: PR
Prevention of electronic crimesbill to curb cyber crimes
latest technological ad-vancement and the responsecentres for cyber crimes areworking vigilantly to tacklethis menace. Their perfor-mance against grey traffick-ing has remained excellentduring the current yearwhich helped avert losses ofRs 1.5 billion.
The Minister of State toldthe House that NADRA hasundertaken a number of Over-seas projects, earning about17.30 million dollars. To aquestion, Balighur Rehmansaid that a mobile verificationsystem has been introducedat pickets in the federal capi-tal to control incidents of cartheft. He said that picketshave been established at allthe important entry and exit
points, besides patrolling hasbeen enhanced to curb thetheft incidents.
He said that 989 culpritswere arrested in car and bikestolen cases during the lastsix years. When asked aboutthe number of rape cases inIslamabad Balighur Rehmansaid that 103 rape cases wereregistered in the capital terri-tory during the last five years.He regretted that no culpritwas convicted in these casesand he has directed the con-cerned authorities to improveprosecution process to bringthe culprits of these inci-dents to justice.
Information MinisterPervaiz Rashid said that hewill direct the state-ownedmedia outlets to give proper
coverage to the province ofBalochistan. He saidBalochistan is geographi-cally an important provinceand there is a need to high-light its issues and activitiesat the national level. To asupplementary question, theMinister made it clear that noforeign company is allowedto own a media house in thecountry.
About the advertise-ment policy, Pervaiz Rashidsaid government ads arefairly being given to both thenational and regional pressunder a broad-based com-prehensive and balancedpolicy. He said quota of over25 percent is allocated to thelocal and regional newspa-pers.—INP
ETP ordersre-election in PK 90
PESHAWAR—Election TribunalPeshawar (ETP) judgeZiauddin Khattak on Thursdaycancelled notification for win-ning of APML candidate andordered to hold re-election inseven polling stations of PK 90Chitral-2 constituency ofKhyber Pakhtunkhwa Assem-bly. APML candidate GhulamMuhammad was declaredelected from PK 90-2 constitu-ency in May 11 general polls.But his rival PPP candidateSardar Hussain filed petition inElection Tribunal Peshawaragainst victory of GhulamMuhammad. The petitioner lev-eled allegations of rigging inseven polling stations of theconstituency on this the ETPformed a team for investigatingthe matter.—INP
Major reshufflein PESCO
PESHAWAR—Peshawar ElectricSupply Company (PESCO)Thursday notified major re-shuffle in the company to im-prove services, facilitate con-sumers.
A press release issue heresaid that PESCO has made ma-jor transfers and posting ofSEs, Xens, SDOs and Rev-enue Officers. It said thatNadeem Anwar SE HazaraCircle (BPS-19) has beenposted as Chief Engineer Op-eration.
Fazli Rabbi has beenposted as SE Swat Circle on,Bakht Zada SE has been postedat PESCO Headquarters,Raqibaz Khan has been postedas Assistant Manager Const:Bannu sub-division, Sadiq UrRehman has been posted asAssistant Manager RevenueKohat Division, Shafqat UllahKhan has been posted as As-sistant Manager RevenueHangu Division.—APP
PESHAWAR—Acting Chair-man, National AccountabilityBureau (NAB) Rear Admiral(R) Saeed Ahmad Sarganahas said that a committee un-der his chairmanship is ac-tively pursuing mega corrup-tion cases pending since long.
Talking to media men onthe eve of a seminar on ‘Therole of civil society in elimina-tion of corruption’ here Thurs-day, he said that beside en-forcement their main focus ison awareness and preventionaspect of NAB strategy tocontrol corruption with thehelp of civil society. Governor(KP) engineer Shaukatullahwas the chief guest.
Acting Chairman NABsaid that under preventionregime, NAB has so far scru-tinized projects worth Rs16,00 billion and saved Rs 3,00billion by removing loopholesin these projects.
He said that NAB is mak-ing all out efforts to createawareness in the societyabout the ill-effect of corrup-tion, saying that NAB hasestablished 4000 characterbuilding societies in educa-tional institutions and NABis planning to establish Anti-Corruption Committees at Dis-trict, Tehsil and Union Coun-cil level through new localgovernment bodies to involveall segments of the society infight against corruption.
for arranging so many activi-ties for the awareness ofmasses about the ill-effects ofcorruption.
Speaking on the occa-sion, Secretary Social Welfare& Women Development Govtof (KP) Mr. Azmat HanifOrakzai, who is the architectof the “Right to InformationAct, 2013” passes by (KP)Assembly disclosed that inthe global ranking “Right toInformation Act” of (KP) gov-ernment stood No. 3 best lawamong 92 laws of the worldby securing 143 marks out of150 in the RTI rating method-ology which he said is a greatachievement. The rating wasdone by Center for Law andDemocracy Canada.
He said the law has a pro-vision for protection ofWhistle Blowers, and it willensure transparency, fair playin the public and private sec-tor by making the public of-fice holder accountable to thesociety.
Ms. Faryal Ali Gohar,Goodwill Ambassador for theUnited Nations said that who-soever is a silent spectatorand did not raise voice cor-ruption, malpractices and in-justice in the society wasequally corrupt because hewas making corruption to souland intellect. He urged uponthe society to blow whistle forthe rights of vulnerable seg-ment of the society.—APP
PESHAWAR—The InspectorGeneral of Police KhyberPakhtunkhwa, Nasir KhanDurrani has suspended sixpolice officers including aDeputy Superintendent ofPolice (DSP) on dereliction ofduty and misuse of author-ity in different cases.
He also ordered regis-trat ion of criminal casesagainst the DSP, Inspector,ASI said a press release is-sued from Central PoliceOffice (CPO) here onThursday.
The action against thepolice officers has been takenon the complaint ofMusharraf Bibi, resident ofChamkani, Peshawar. In herapplication submitted to theInspector General of Police(IGP), she has complainedagainst the police of keepingher husband in illegal con-
KP Police chief suspendssix officers including DSP
finement and forced him topay a certain amount ofmoney.
The IGP directed DIGEnquiry and Inspection toprobe into the matter andsubmit his finding report tohim. The DIG Enquiry andInspection in his report hasheld responsible the DSPChamkani and ASI of PSChamkani. In light of theinquiry report the IGP sus-pended the then DSPChankani and ASI of PoliceStation Chankani with im-mediate effect and has or-dered registration of crimi-nal case against both ofthem.
Similarly in another casea woman was abducted fromthe jurisdiction of Police Sta-tion Risalpur, Nowshera. De-spite a heinous crime, localpolice made a simple entry indaily diary and enquiry wasinitiated. Father of the ab-ducted woman nominatedaccused in FIR to the Inspec-tor, but the Inspector did notarrest the nominated ac-cused.
In light of the inquiryreport the IGP suspendedthe inspector and ashowcause notice has alsobeen served on him and thethen SHO police stat ionRisalpur. The IGP directedthe District Police OfficerNowshera to consti tute ateam under his supervision,comprising senior officersto make efforts to recoverthe lady within period of 15days .—APP
ISLAMABAD—Cold and dryweather is expected in mostparts of the till December 17,after which a weak rain spellis predicted which will con-tinue for 2-3 days.
Pakistan MeteorologicalDepartment has predicteddense fog in the plains ofPunjab from Thursday.
Met. Office further elabo-rated that during next fewdays the intensity and dura-tion of fog is likely to increasein the plains of Punjab(Lahore, Gujranwala,Faisalabad, Sahiwal) andPeshawar divisions. Theplains of Gujranwala andLahore divisions are ex-pected to be the center ofdense fog during next fewdays.
Current Fog spell in theplains of Punjab will con-tinue with variable intensityand occasional gaps till thefirst good spell of winter rainsin the country.
An official of Met Officetalking to APP said,isolatedrain of Wednesday will re-duce infectious diseases andpeople will get relief from soarthroat and cough.
New rain spellfrom Dec 17
“Such light rain has noaffect on crops”, he added.Met Office has also predictedcold and dry weather in mostparts of
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa dur-ing next 24 hours. Morningfoggy conditions are expectedto prevail over few plain areasof Peshawar division. Whilein Sindh and Balochistan,dryweather is expected.
In Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan also,cold and dryweather will prevail. Mainlycold and dry weather is ex-pected in most parts of thecountry. However, light rain(with light snowfall over thehills) is expected at isolatedplaces of Gilgit-Baltistan.Foggy conditions wouldprevail at scattered placesover plains of Punjab andPeshawar division in next 24hours.—APP
Free eye campsPE S H AWA R—Comprehen-sive Health Services FATAon Thursday arranged three-day free eye camp for provid-ing health care facilities topatients of far flung areas attheir doorsteps. The endeav-our was a part of FATA HeathServices commitment to miti-gate the suffering of ailingcommunity unable to affordmedical treatment expenses.
The camps were arrangedin areas of Akhurwal andZargun Khel of FR Kohatwherein a highly qualifiedteam of medical professionalsexamined 606 patients.—APP
Supreme task of SC isjustice at lower level
JUSTICE Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary has called it a day as ChiefJustice of Pakistan and his colleagues gave him a befitting farewell,which he really deserved because of his role in, what is called, judicial
activism. At the full court reference held on the last day of his service, theoutgoing CJP once again talked about missing persons, human rights andpublic interest while the incoming Chief Justice rightly emphasized theneed to discourage frivolous petitions, preventing the misuse of jurisdictionby vested interests and allowing all state organs to play their role within theparameters of the authority spelt out by the Constitution.
While occupying the prestigious chair in the Court Room No. 1 of theapex court, Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani has relayed positive signalsabout role and functions of the Supreme Court. No doubt, it was because ofthe courageous and assertive style of working by the outgoing CJP that thejudiciary is now taken as a serious player in state affairs but there can be notwo opinions that the real job of the Chief Justice of Pakistan, the SupremeCourt and Chief Justices of High Courts is to reform the institution of judi-ciary in a way to ensure speedy and inexpensive justice to people, whichhas become a dream in the country despite claims by successive leaders ofthe judiciary and the government. Justice Tassaduq has a point when heemphasizes the need to discourage frivolous petitions as these have con-sumed a lot of time and energy of the Supreme Court at the expense of itsreal job. Taking suo moto notices of instances of corruption, irregularitiesand misuse of power has had deterrent effect but it is not all that the peopleexpect from the judiciary. Corruption cannot be eliminated from the societyuntil and unless it is first wiped out from the judiciary where, in most of thecases, justice is sold and cases do not move an inch without palm-greasing.Similarly, most of the judges, even those of High Courts seldom care towind up cases and allow them to drag on for years making mockery of theslogan of speedy justice. Judges complain of piling up of cases but in asense they themselves are responsible for the phenomenon as they hardlytake interest in expediting disposal of cases because of the inter-connectedvested interests of the bench and the bar. SC remained totally unconcernedabout plight of ordinary people and litigants during the last several yearsand therefore, we hope that the new Chief Justice, who is serious, sober,soft spoken and non-controversial, would pay attention to this aspect.
Foreign policy is not basedon just pious wishes
ACCORDING to a report appearing in this newspaper, India is all set tosupply Afghanistan with all types of military hardware, helicopters,
‘technicians, trainers and surveillance equipment at the instance of Presi-dent Hamid Karzai. This is being seen by strategists as a major blow to theefforts and wishes of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to normalize relationswith Karzai Government.
It is unfortunate that President Karzai is not reciprocating the good-will gestures of the Pakistani leader who has made generous offers ofconnecting the two countries through motorways and railways besidesundertaking mega development projects in the neighbouring country. Butthis is in line with inner thinking of Karzai, who entered into a strategicdefence accord with India a few months back, which surely has anti-Pakistan dimensions. India already has significant presence in Afghani-stan and is misusing it against Pakistan but the new deal, if materializes,would mean a strong collusion to destabilize Pakistan, as it is quite un-derstandable that surveillance equipment and so-called Indian ‘techni-cians’ would be carrying out anti-Pakistan activities on the volatile DurandLine. No doubt, Prime Minister Sharif has pious intentions and wantsnormalization of relations both with Kabul and New Delhi for the greatergood of the region but he is rebuffed and rebuffed badly. He started peaceoffensive vis-à-vis India even before assuming power but so far his olivebranch has not received reciprocal response. Our Foreign Office shouldbase the foreign policy on ground realities to reflect maturity and prag-matism instead of having an over-simplistic view of the situation.
Daunting task beforenew Chairman PAC
OPPOSITION leader in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shahhas been unanimously elected as Chairman of the all powerful Public
Accounts Committee (PAC) of the National Assembly. The Committeeserves as a watch dog of utilization of public money by government depart-ments by going through the Audit Reports of the Auditor General of Paki-stan and takes action over misuse or unauthorized utilization of funds.
Though there was pessimism in certain quarters that Syed KhursheedShah may not be able to deliver as head of the PAC for different reasons buthis election is in line with the Parliamentary tradition that Opposition leaderheads of the Committee. The PAC as representative of all political parties isa very powerful body and we are convinced that Khursheed Shah being atowering politician, enjoying respect of political leaders and fully cogni-zant of the role of Chairman would ensure that public money was utilizedjudiciously and those indulging in corrupt practices were taken to task. Hehas a daunting task ahead because it is a fact that billions of rupees are eatenaway by the corrupt officials and there have been numerous cases in thisconnection pending in the courts and under investigation. Unfortunatelymajority of the corrupt elements had gone scot free in the past due to legaland other lacunae in the system. Public accountability has been regarded asan important pre-requisite for effective delivery of public service by theGovernments all over the globe. For the stability of any society it is impera-tive that there is a compact system of accountability in place. The PublicAccounts Committee (PAC) signifies one of the essential constituents ofParliamentary syrstem that is the culpability of Public money. Thoughthere are different institutions in Pakistan to check corrupt practices andensure transparent utilization of public money but unfortunately they havenot been able to deliver to the expectation of the people. It is so becausepolitical and other pressures are utilized by the corrupt officials to savetheir skin and thus they walk away with the plundered national wealth.Being leader of the opposition, we hope that Syed Khursheed Shah wouldput his foot down and set healthy precedent that the corrupt were brought tojustice and plundered money recovered from them.
Hagel’s Islamabad visit
It always seemsimpossible until it’sdone.
Africa’smilitantthreat
THE deaths of two Frenchsoldiers in the Central African Republic (CAR) have
reminded the world of the deadlyseriousness of France’s latest for-eign foray to confront Islamists intheir former colonies. Hundreds oftroops are still in Mali, where theyhave helped force insurgents outof their northern city strongholdsand into the desert. Now, a forceof about 1,500 has been deployedto the CAR, where an alliance ofrebels, known as Seleka, seizedpower in March. Communal fight-ing recently claimed many livesand the French have started to re-move weapons from fighters in abid to stop the violence.
While Britain and Americacontinue their disengagement fromoverseas incursions in Afghanistanand Iraq, it has fallen to the Frenchto take up the challenge posed bythe spread of militant Islam in Af-rica. Long the region’s self-styledpoliceman, France has experiencerestoring regimes or thwarting re-bellions. Over the past three de-cades, French forces have beendeployed in Congo, Rwanda, Chadand the Ivory Coast as well as Maliand the CAR. Foreign adventuresare a useful distraction for politi-cal problems at home and Presi-dent François Hollande certainlyhas plenty of those. But he hasbeen anxious to distance himselffrom the more unilateralist stanceof his predecessor, NicolasSarkozy. He exhibits a greater will-ingness to co-ordinate military ac-tion with local and African Unionforces, and recently hosted a sum-mit on peace and security on thecontinent. The big question iswhether the French should be leftto get on with it without externalmilitary back-up. For now, theyseem willing to take responsibil-ity. But if the threat from militantIslam in North Africa continues togrow, their Western allies mighthave to provide more than moraland logistical support. — The Telegraph
*****
Deal offersimportant newopportunities
THE agreement between Jordan, Palestine and Israel togo ahead with the massive
Red-Dead Conduit is an importantstep for all three nations in work-ing together, even if all sides havebeen downplaying the political im-plications of the deal and have pre-ferred to treat it as a necessarytechnical issue. Despite the disas-trous political situation in the WestBank and Gaza with continuingIsraeli occupation and building ofnew homes in the illegal colonies,the prospect of access to a newsource of lots of fresh water hasforced the three sides into agree-ment. Nonetheless, it would be amistake to regard the agreement asa confidence-building measure inthe context of the on-going peacetalks sponsored by the Americans.The plan has been a Jordaniandream for decades, as the countrywith few natural resources is des-perate for both power and freshwater. The idea is to build a pipe-line from the Red Sea to the DeadSea, which will use the natural fallof 400 metres to generate electric-ity in several power stations, witha desalination plant at the start ofthe pipeline that will give freshwater that will be shared betweenthe three states, and the brine fromthe desalination will flow into theDead Sea and slow its dangerouslyfast evaporation. The electricityand the desalinated water are theimportant parts of the projects, butan important byproduct is that thesalty water going into the Dead Seacould slow its rapid shrinking.Ruthless exploitation of the upperwaters of the Yarmouk and Jordanrivers has meant that 90 per centof their waters have been used foragricultural and domestic pur-poses, and as a result the Dead Seahas shrunk by 30 per cent in thepast 20 years, and it is predictedthat it could dry up completely by2050 if action is not taken. TheRed-Dead Conduit allows the threenations to cover up their failure tomanage their water resources,while at the same time providingan important new source of eco-nomic opportunity to all.— Gulf News
MEDIA WATCH
IN the first visit by a US de-f e n c e
secretary in nearly four years,Chuck Hagel flew from Kabul
to Islamabad and met Prime Min-ister Nawaz Sharif and other top of-ficials, including Pakistan Army’snew chief. The last Pentagon chiefto visit Pakistan was Robert Gatesin January 2010.
Hagel was accompanied by USAmbassador in Pakistan RichardOlson and US Acting Assistant Sec-retary of Defence Dr Peter Lavoy.The visit came in the backdrop ofrenewed tensions over the impedi-ments to the Ground Lines of Com-munication (GLOC) for transport-ing NATO supplies via Torkham.GLOC via Chaman in Balochistanremains open for transportation ofNATO logistics. The blockagecomes unofficially at the hands ofthe Khyber Pakhtunkhwa govern-ment, protesting the continued dronestrikes in the province.
Pakistan is seen as crucial topeace in neighbouring Afghanistanas it was a key backer of the hardliner1996-2001 Taliban regime in Kabuland is believed to have leverage withsome of the movement’s leaders.“Secretary Hagel met with PrimeMinister Nawaz on his visit to Wash-ington earlier this year and looksforward to continuing candid andproductive conversations,” Penta-
Reportedly, the visiting USDefence Secretary warned Pa-kistan over the blocked NATOsupply route to Afghanistan as
Islamabad raised the issue ofAmerican drone attacks on mili-tants in remote areas of the terror-hit nation. Hagel cautioned the Paki-stani Prime Minister that US lawmak-ers could withhold military assistanceif Islamabad failed to ensure securityfor the key supply route. The primeminister indicated that Pakistan wouldaddress the issue.
During his meeting with theprime minister, Secretary Hagel re-viewed shared concerns regarding theactivities of terrorist groups, includ-ing the Haqqani network, on Paki-stani territory. He also discussed therobust U.S. security assistance pro-gram designed to support the Paki-stani government’s struggle againstmilitants responsible for killing tensof thousands of Pakistanis. The sec-retary stressed that as ISAF (Interna-tional Security Assistance Force)forces draw down over the course of2014, US and coalition partners re-main resolved to not let militants de-stabilize the region. The Pakistanigovernment had previously blockedthe routes for seven months follow-ing US airstrikes that accidentallykilled two dozen soldiers on the Af-ghan border in November 2011.
In a post visit press release, Pen-tagon spokesperson Carl Woog in-forms that Secretary Hagel reviewedthe mutually beneficial bilateral se-curity relationship and reaffirmed the
strong U.S. commitment to fos-tering peace and security in theregion. The secretary also empha-sized the U.S. desire for a strong,long-term partnership with Paki-stan. He updated the prime minis-ter, minister of defense, and thechief of the army staff on U.S. andNATO efforts to promote stabil-ity in Afghanistan.
Secretary Hagel raised the impor-tance of keeping the ground supplyroutes out of Afghanistan open andthanked the prime minister for hisgovernment’s continued support.They discussed that while the GLOCsare open, noting goods are flowingthrough the Chaman gate, protestsand security issues on the Pakistanside have impacted ability of goodsto move through the Torkham gate.
The secretary’s visit follows the22nd Defence Consultative Group,held in Washington, DC on Novem-ber 21-22. The defense consultativegroup is responsible for establishingthe scope and character of bilateralsecurity cooperation and is a part ofthe strategic dialogue, which was re-energized during Secretary of StateJohn Kerry’s visit to Pakistan in Au-gust and reaffirmed by PresidentObama and Prime Minister Sharif onhis visit to Washington in October.
Post visit analysis depicts the USDefence Secretary had a clear plan onhow to deal with Pakistan. His warn-ing on withholding financial assistanceis an unambiguous reality check toPakistan’s to get its act together or elsethe support would be frozen. On theother hand, the Pakistani duo ofSharifs, the Prime Minister and theCOAS did not appear to have a de-
A common man’s party
INDIA has the largest MiddleClass in the world,which at 340million is comparable to the
population of the United States.However, since the Dawn of inde-pendence from the UK in 1947, thisclass has been less active politicallythan those higher and lower thanthem in economic status.The richensure that policies favourable totheir immediate interests remainuntouched,by giving vast amountsof money to politicians as well asto officials.The poor come out tovote in large numbers,although thusfar,their primary achievementseems to have been to make manypoliticians who came from poorfamilies super rich.
Whether it be Sonia Gandhi orMulayam Singh Yadav -or,indeed,the entire political classbarring the Left parties and outlierssuch as Defense Minister A KAntony or Gujarat Chief MinisterNarendra Modi - all have ensuredthat they and their friends and rela-tives climb from poverty to plentywithin a generation.Where once thebicycle was the only availablemeans of transport,these days thepreferred mode is by BMWs andAudis. Where once even a trainticket was too expensive unless inthe lowest class,these days the useof chartered aircraft is ubiquitousare.Of course,during the electionseason,the expensive clothes (al-though not shoes or watches) arepacked away,and an effort is madeto seem ordinary. Those bi-monthlyshopping visits to London get post-poned till after the votes get polled.Estate agents in London say that dur-
fined strategy to tackle the USDefence Secretary. The COAS,Raheel Sharif can be excusedsince he is still learning the ropesbut the senior Sharif; the PrimeMinister appeared to be awe-struck like a deer caught in theheadlights of a vehicle at night—completely befuddled.
This was a golden opportunityto read the riot act to the Pentagonhead, responsible for the controver-sial drone attacks in Pakistan to putan end to them as the people of Pa-kistan are protesting violently to dis-continue them. Apparently, living upto their reputation of barely mud-dling through, the Prime Ministerand his aides comprising a part timeDefence Minister and only a ForeignAffairs advisor in the absence of aproper Foreign Minister, missed agolden opportunity to convey theconcern of the Pakistani people.
The baffled body language ofthe Pakistani Prime Minister told asorry tale of Pakistan’s confusion intackling security issues. This is con-trary to the electoral promises of thePakistan Muslim League (N). Thepeople of Pakistan certainly did notvote them into power to remainclueless and tongue tied even whenopportunity presented itself. Thevisit to meet President Obama at theOval office had been equally squan-dered, when Mian Nawaz Sharif wasreading from notes during the dis-cussion and failed to put up a confi-dent and informed representation ofPakistan’s apprehensions and dis-tress over the US war strategy inAfghanistan and continued use ofdrones to target its prey in Pakistanbut causing severe collateral dam-age and mayhem.—The writer is retired PAF GroupCaptain and a TV talk show host.
ing past year,there has beena substantial increase in thenumber of Indians purchas-ing flats and houses in thatmetropolis and itsenvirons,perhaps as a placeof refuge should political ri-vals come to power
The growth of theMiddle Class became pro-nounced during the period
after 1992,the year when a nonde-script and hugely underrrated PrimeMinister, Pamulaparthy VekkataNarasimha Rao,took over as an ac-cidental PM and began a process ofeconomic liberalisation which oughtto have been started in 1980,the yearwhen Indira Gandhi was re-electedto power. Had her younger sonSanjay survived rather than perish inan air crash less than six months af-ter the 1980 Congress victory in theLok Sabha polls,India may have beena much more advanced economythan it is now. Sanjay Gandhi de-tested the socialism favoured by hisgrandfather and mother,and himselfset up a private company to manu-facture automobiles. In foreignpolicy,he was a critic of the SovietUnion,and ideologically much closerto Washington. It was fortunate forMoscow that Sanjay Gandhi waskilled,as otherwise,relations with In-dia may have ceased to be as closeas they were since the 1960s,a situa-tion which continued until the col-lapse of the Soviet Union in 1992.
A year earlier,India was the onlycountry in the world to officially wel-come the short-lived coup againstMikhail Gorbachev,something thatsoured relations between Delhi andMoscow not only when Gorbachevbriefly returned to power butafterwards,when Boris Yeltsin tookcharge of the Russian Federation.Indeed,in 1980,there were reportsthat a mysterious hand had filed awaythe control wires of the small aircraftthat Sanjay had been piloting themorning of his crash,so that after afew tugs on the control stick,the wiresconnecting that with the ailerons gave
way and the aircraft came hurtlingdown. Details of the condition of thewires leading up to the control rod(or joystick) of the aircraft were neverreleased.Sanjay Gandhi had manyenemies in India ad outside,so it isdifficult to identify those responsiblefor filing the control wires to athread,if indeed that was the cause ofdeath rather than an excess of exu-berance in piloting the high-perfor-mance aerobatic aircraft
It may be mentioned that SanjayGandhi’s was not the only death of asenior Congress leader which tookplace in suspicious circumstances.Years later,a dynamic Congressleader,Madhavrao Scindia,met hisend when his aircraft crashed somedistance from its destination. For abrief while,there were reports abouta faulty fuel gauge,that showed thefuel tanks to the full when in fact theywere half empty. Some muttered thatit was this alleged fuel gauge that wasthe cause of the crash,because thepilot was under the impression thathe had plenty of fuel in thetanks,when in fact they had becomeempty just before he crashed. As de-tails of this have not been madepublic,and it is anyway unlikely thatthe truth will ever emerge from thefog of official mishandling ofevidence,we will never know the ex-act circumstances behind the death byan air crash of one of the most char-ismatic and competent of politiciansin India, Madhavrao Scindia.
Indeed,there was another - andequally dynamic - Congress politi-cian, Rajesh Pilot, who too met hisend “accidentally”, this time in a roadaccident.While Scindia perished on1 October 2001,Rajesh Pilot died ayear earlier,on 11 June 2000,in a roadaccident with several unexplainedfactors,including why he was rush-ing back to Delhi (on whose sum-mons?) and what happened to thedriver of the bus that seemed almostto follow him around on the road untilit crashed into his vehicle. Anotherunnatural death was that of JitendraPrasada,a brilliant tactician from
Uttar Pradesh,who died around thesame time as Scindia,in 2001,ap-parently of a brain haemmorage.However,there was speculation asto why he was shifted from onehospital to another on that finalnight on 16 January,while therewere reports that an early blood testhad shown traces of botulin,whichwere absent in a second blood testat a different hospital,which gavehim a thorough stomach washeven though it was supposed to bea brain haemmorage rather thanfood poisoning.
The passing away of SanjayGandhi changed the course of theCongress Party,delaying economicliberalisation for twelve moreyears,while the unnatural deaths ofPilot,Scindia and Prasada took awaythree stalwarts from the CongressParty,making it a much tamer andpaler version of what it might havebeen had these three remained at thehigher levels of the party
Under Manmohan Singh,whohas proved a disaster in politics asmuch as in economic policy,theMiddle Class has become alienatedfrom the Congress Party. In Delhi,they have substantially gravitatedtowards the Aam Aadmi Party ledby Arvind Kejriwal, an honestformer bureaucrat. The shock suc-cess of the AAP in the just-con-cluded assembly elections in Delhihave shown the middle class thatthey can make a difference,if onlythey come out and vote. This islikely to ensure that the MiddleClass finally come out to vote inlarge numbers,thereby ensuring vic-tory for whatever party or leaderthey see as best for the nation.Theawakening of the Middle Class willbe the big story of the 2014 elec-tions in India,and for this,ArvindKejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Partydeserve a lot of the credit.—The writer is Vice-Chair,Manipal Advanced ResearchGroup, UNESCO Peace Chair &Professor of Geopolitics, ManipalUniversity, Haryana State, India.
GeopoliticalGeopoliticalGeopoliticalGeopoliticalGeopoliticalnotes from Indianotes from Indianotes from Indianotes from Indianotes from India
Voice of the People
Target killingABDUL MOHSIN
It is sad to see the increasing per-centage of target killings inKarachi. The people who die in tar-get killings are common people.The government has failed to con-trol these killings. Karachi is fi-nancial capital of Pakistan.
These target killings hit the fi-nancial capital badly and are serv-ing as speed breakers for ourprogress and prosperity. This prob-lem needs to be solved once andfor all. The citizens wants nothingbut peace in Karachi. I request theauthorities to bring peace inKarachi for the betterment of thenation and the country as a whole.—Karachi
America’sdrone warGULZAR NAYANI
Recently a documentary on thedrone strikes “ Unmanned:America’s Drone Wars” wasscreened at Institute of BusinessManagement , Karachi. It is theproduction of Jammaima Khanand the Brave New Film, in whichthey have portrayed the havoc ofthe US drone strikes constitutinga crime against humanity.
This documentary lets the uglytruth of drones out. We generallyhear from our mainstream media,that such and such number of mili-tants died in drone strikes; but thenumber of the innocent civilianswho lose their lives every day arenever let out. They cover it up byterming them as a collateral dam-age, which surely lessen the im-pact of the case. This movie de-picts the crime against humanityand conveys the unheard voice ofthe victims.
It has made it possible forNabeela and her family, who hadbeen a victim of the drones andwhose story had been told in thedocumentary, to stand in front ofthe US Congress to state their ac-count and call upon the US con-science to put a stop to the dronestrikes. Hope Nabeela could get asmuch attention as Malala did.—Via email
Corruptionin education
YOUNIS NAWAZ BHATTI
Somebody has rightly said thatvalue of anything is known onlywhen we are aware of its impor-tance, qualities, functions and re-sults; but unfortunately, we are anation that is willing to live a lifeof ignorance and illiteracy. Theleaders of the ruling and oppositionparties are only exploiting the is-sue of education for their politicalpurposes and benefits. Making thelaws and passing the bills to givefree education are just manipula-tions to hide the corruption in edu-cation. It is very clear that Educa-tion Ministry in Sindh and lowerdepartmental officers are respon-sible and also involved in thisshameful act. They are playing withour lives by darkening the futurei.e youth of Pakistan.
Media (both print and elec-tronic) should play a vital role topromote the voice of students overthe issue of corruption in educationat matriculation and intermediatelevels. I want to apprise the Presi-dent and the Prime Minister of thecountry that this is the initial stagewhere students get frustrated overcorruption in education and join il-legal and banned organizations todestroy the peace in Pakistan.
I am a promising academic ca-reer. From 1st to the 10th grade, Istood first in my school examina-tions, in every programme, espe-cially in District ScholarshipProgramme held in our DistrictNaushera Feroze in 2007. Theproblem started when I took my
A tribute to MandelaMUHAMMAD FAROUK
It is not easy to think for humanity while struggling for one’s own depressed and victimized community. The biggest reality about Mandela is that he was great fighter human; he channelized his spirit
from a narcissistic character to a national character of harmony for the entire human race and emergedas an epitome of grace and glory and an icon of forbearance and love for all – friends and foes. Heprioritised his people’s interests and converted all into national targets for every single individual tomajor political fraction of various communities. He averted errors by the strength of moral courage heearned with belief that African people are great, not his family, nor race, nor clan, nor creed, nor lust forpower or greed to be a billionaire. It is easy to comment a belief that a people is great but hard pill toshallow to prove practically. Mandela is the exponent of the message for entire mankind for sacrifice,tolerance, forgiveness, love for all – this made him the most revered person for all on this planet. Hesignificantly conquered the human genetic differences between greed and morality otherwise hisoptions to avenge from the Whites could have turned to justify all the dimensions in game of powerpolitics. His lessons are source of inspiration for leaders of the entire world to think for humanity,not for community. Universal codes must be implemented in letter and spirit by all to minimizeviolations of integrity and honour. Shaking the centuries old myths of myopia is not easy but heaccomplished the uphill task by working for humanity, not for community. He did his duty to hisnation and handed over a country with tolerance keeping the principles of human rights supreme.He always uttered for his nation not for one community or race or generation, “Let there be justicefor all. Let there be peace for all. Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all. Let each knowthat for each, the body, the mind and the soul have been freed to fulfil the objectives of being.”—Via email
Transparency factor in Afghan presidential polls
AFGHANISTAN’s presidential election, set for next Apriland already dogged by alle-
gations of fraud, is likely to be madeeven more complicated by a secondround of voting, a delegation of elec-tion experts have said. Afghanistan’sconstitution requires any outrightwinner to get more than 50% in aninitial poll, otherwise the top two votewinners must compete in a runoff.
With 11 candidates, includingpowerful ex-ministers, the brother ofthe incumbent, Hamid Karzai, andrelatives of the ousted royal family,most people working on the electionhave accepted that it will not be settledoutright, a delegation organised by theUS-based National Democratic Insti-tute found. “Virtually everybody,maybe with one exception, thoughtthat a runoff would be very likely,” saidPeter Manikas, NDI’s Asia director,
after meeting Karzai, all the candi-dates, election administrators, civilsociety activists and others involvedwith the poll. The first round is setfor 4 April, and the second roundshould be held two weeks after thefinal results of that ballot are an-nounced. Karzai’s term ends in lateMay, so in theory that provides adeadline for choosing his successor.
But setting up a second poll in acountry with a serious insurgency, andinfrastructure so weak that in some ar-eas ballots are transported on donkeys,makes that a very tight timetable.“There is concern about the timelinefor the runoff and the short prepara-tion time,” Manikas added. “[The in-dependent election commission] aregoing to have to, I think, revisit thattimeline and see what is realistic.”
Discussion of a second roundmay irritate Karzai, whose spokes-man has previously cited commentsby top US diplomats that they wereexpecting a second round of votingas evidence of American plans to in-terfere in the vote. The last presiden-
Views From Abroad
tial poll in 2009, which returnedKarzai to power, was marred by alle-gations of widespread fraud. A dis-pute between the Afghan leader andhis US backers over the results badlydamaged ties and has been followedby years of escalating tensions.
The NDI is mostly funded by theUS government, and the delegationwas led by the US ambassador, KarlInderfurth, a former assistant secre-tary of state who first visited Afghani-stan more than two decades ago. Butit also included a senior Filipino of-ficial from the Asian Network forFree Elections and a former Canadianmember of parliament.
The group said that overall theyfound “guarded optimism” that nextyear’s elections would be better runthan those held in 2009 and 2010,after a series of key reforms includ-ing a new legal framework. “Ifbroadly viewed by the Afghan peopleas inclusive and transparent, upcom-ing polls could play a pivotal role inadvancing stability and democraticdevelopment,” the group said in a
THE articles, columns andletters are published on thesepages in good faith. However,the contents of these writingsmay not necessarily match theviews of the newspaper.
—Editor
Arrogance vs self-esteemSELF-ESTEEM can have a big
part to play in how you feelabout yourself and also how
much you enjoy things or worryabout things. Self-esteem may soundlike a modern, even secular concept,and many might question whether ithas a place in Islam. After all, Islamteaches humility, not arrogance andso, surely, less self-esteem, the bet-ter. But while the hadith condemn ar-rogance, they do emphasize impor-tance of a healthy sense of self-worth.
In Islamic ethical theory, both ar-rogance and low self-esteem are con-sidered two sides of the same coin,since both result from an imbalancein the power of anger. Too much ofthe power of anger, and we mightbecome self-obsessed or arrogant.But too little of the power of anger,and we might suffer from self-hatredor timidity. Some people actually suf-fer from both. In situations wherethey are sure they are in control, theymay lord over others a person onlyacts tyrannically or arrogantly due toan inner sense of disgrace. However,in situations where they are less sureof themselves, they may exhibit adeep sense of insecurity – so muchso that they might avoid psychologi-cally intimidating situations, thus lim-iting themselves in life.
From a religious perspective,self-esteem is invaluable. But how dowe distinguish between self-worthand arrogance? It is narrated that AbuDharr once asked the Holy Prophet
(SAAW) whether it was arrogant forhim to want nice things for himself,such as a well-constructed handle forhis cane or a beau-tiful lace for hissandal. The HolyProphet (SAAW)replied that this wasnot arrogance, but,rather, arrogance iswhen we considerour honor to beworthier than otherpeople’s honor, orour blood to be wor-thier than otherpeople’s blood. Healso cautioned thatanyone with even aspeck of arrogancein their heart would not enter Para-dise without repenting first. But de-spite these dire warnings, people of-ten assume they are more entitled tothe blessings of Allah – whether dueto culture, nationality, language,wealth, social class, ancestry, pro-fession, or educational level. Notonly is such a way of thinking agrave sin, but it is also a false basisfor self-worth. Those who valuethemselves primarily on the basis ofexternal factors – such as wealth –lack true self-worth since true self-worth must come from within.
External factors can affect ourinner sense of worth. Genuine accom-plishments can make us feel betterabout ourselves, and lack of genuine
accomplishments can do the opposite.For this reason, it is suggested thatIslam emphasizes working (as op-
posed to living oncharity) not only toprevent peoplefrom burdeningsociety, but also tocultivate self-es-teem. Similarly,how we feel aboutourselves on theinside affects howwe behave on theoutside. A personwith a strong senseof self-worth willnot stoop to com-mitting animalis-tic, degrading, or
immoral actions. Hadith link self-worth with chastity –for both men andwomen – since people who respectthemselves will not demean them-selves with disrespectful relation-ships. In fact, self-worth is generallylinked to control over one’s desiresas is narrated from Hazrat Ali (RA)“When someone maintains his ownrespect in his own view, his desiresappear light to him.”
But despite the relationship be-tween external deeds and inner es-teem, self-worth cannot come fromexternal accomplishments alone.Some people appear extremely suc-cessful in society and yet, on the in-side, experience a deep sense of self-hatred they may not feel they deserve
to exist. Some people also acquirefame for the wrong reasons. Sowhile we should strive towardspositive accomplishments, we can-not rely on other human beings togive us self-worth if we lack a senseof self-worth, we will ultimatelyrefuse to believe their praise. Moreimportantly, we have to rememberthat, at any moment, we can loseeverything external.
We can lose our job, our home,our popularity, our families, or ourhealth. Therefore, basing our self-worth on transient things is ex-tremely dangerous – especially sinceAllah often tests us by taking thosethings we are most attached to. Los-ing worldly things can be particu-larly challenging for a person withlow self-worth since it forces us toface our selves. While some peopleare comfortable with their selves,others do whatever they can to avoidthem – turning to other distractions.The self can be a source of pain, es-pecially if someone suffers fromself-hatred or is experiencing loss orgrief. Nevertheless, sometimes – forinstance, during an illness – we areleft with nothing but our selves andAllah. If that does not happen to usin this world, it will definitely hap-pen to us in the grave. If we have adifficult relationship with our selves,those moments can be tortuous. Butif we have a peaceful relationshipwith our selves, these too can betimes of calm.
WE all love looking at oldphotos don’t we? Weshow our set of old snaps
to all and sundry, maybe trying totell people we were once young andinnocent and good looking! Theworst is when someone looks at anold pic of you and says, “Youlooked so nice those days!”
Grrrrr, don’t I look nice any-more? But there are many who lookbetter now than their old photos.They are more confident, have a de-
termination in their eyes and a resolvein their chin. Time has changed theirlooks for the better.
Talk to these people and you willbe surprised at the story they tell. Itwas not ease and comfort that shapedtheir looks, it was not a trouble freepath that brings a smile to their eyes,nay, it was difficulties and problems,trouble and hardship that chiseledthose features.
Near where I live is a sculptor’sworkshop. Very often when I pass byI see him chiseling the features ofsome famous character he is sup-posed to sculpt.
His chisel is hard, and hits themarble with force; not for him agentle touch, not for him, smallnudges and touches. He hits with pre-
cision. The chips fall, and a faceemerges. And yet there are many ofus who pray for a life of ease andcomfort. Go into the shop of thesculptor again.
He gets many orders from richhouseholds. Pampered childrenwho’s fathers want a statue of them,to place in the garden or elsewhere.They come to visit the sculptor andsqueal with delight. “Look father howhandsome I look! How pretty I look!”
The father looks at the sculptorand winks at him and the sculptorknows that a bonus is in store. All hehas done is taken away the spoilt soft-ness from their faces and given themsquare jaws and resolute chins. Butwe don’t have to bribe the sculptor.We have to learn to allow the hard
Old photos..!knocks of life shape us.
We have to realize that theharder the knock the more weshould turn our faces to the chisel,not just to enhance our looks, butto build character. It’s character thatshapes us. Its character that revealstrue beauty!
I don’t know what you are go-ing through at present, whatever itis, face it like a block of marblefaces the master sculptor’s chisel.Watch the bits of laziness and fail-ure fall off and then look in themirror and see a determined, hand-some or beautiful you. Old photostell a lot about how you looked. Ihope you are one of those who lookbetter now..!—Email:[email protected]
statement detailing their findings.But they also admitted that
there had already been controversyabout a candidate registration pro-cess that had seen the field ofwould-be presidential contendersnarrowed down by half, with littletransparency about who was ex-cluded or why. Many candidates forprovincial councils, which will beselected at the same time, were alsobarred, with little or no explanation,and the voter registration cardsneeded to validate any candidacywere widely reported to be avail-able for sale on the black market.
“We are concerned that a num-ber of people who should have beeneligible candidates were excludedfrom the process and some who wereineligible were in fact included,”said Manikas, adding that there hadbeen a lack of transparency. “Itwasn’t a propitious start,” he told thenews conference. “It’s extremely im-portant to have observers at everystage of this process.”— Courtesy: The Guardian
matriculation examination. Everystudent and teacher at my school wasexpecting that I would again standfirst, but that didn’t happen and I gotB-grade. The students who got A-1grades belonged to some private in-stitutions. I and my teachers decidedthat we will get my papers re-evalu-ated, and after paying a visit to theconcerned Board, I asked a clerkwhere can I get the challan for pa-per re-evaluation.
To my surprise, he laughed at meand asked why I was wasting mytime and money. “Nothing will hap-pen; this is Pakistan,” he said. But Iignored him and after a few dayswhen I inquired about my papers, Iwas told that they have been lost.One of the officers then called meup and demanded one lac rupees tobetter my ranks. He informed methat no student is awarded A-1 un-less he pays for it.
Most of the private schools arefavoured by this corruption. Here, Iwant to ask the government of Paki-stan what the Education Ministerwas doing in Sindh. I memorizewords of Quaid-e-AzamMohammad Ali Jinnah, who saidonce: ‘Education is the matter of lifeand death for our country.’ But itseems that our Education Ministerhas listened it in this way: ‘Educa-tional corruption is the matter of lifeand death for our country.’
I request Chief Justice, Presidentand Prime Minister of Pakistan totake immediate action against thisstate of affairs; we, the future of Pa-kistan, would be able to play an im-portant role in progress and devel-opment of the country ‘our holyland’ only when we receive bettereducation.—Via email
Poverty: Themother of crimes
ISMA ANUM
Poverty is curse and it is said to bemother of crimes. It is in fact thatmost of the crimes that occur aredue to poverty. Low savings and ul-timate low investments result in lowincome, poor education, lack ofhealth facilities and unequal distri-bution of wealth and poor infra-structure.
The hunger and poverty is assum-ing alarming proportions in Pakistan.The situation in Pakistan is now sobleak that even some honest peoplewho hated corruption from depth oftheir beings, failed to keep their men-tal balance due to the pressure of pov-erty and resorted to crimes just tokeep their bodies and soul together.It is the time that the judges shouldnot only look at the crime committedby anyone rather he should find outthe cause that leads the committer tosuch an act.
People are committing suicidesjust because they could not getsomething to eat for their families.So far there were suicides becauseof unemployment and poverty buta new phenomenon has nowemerged; now the poor who cannotfeed their children are leaving theirchildren at charity homes or evenselling their children. The person,who is indulged to crimes and islabeled as a criminal by the soci-ety, merely due to poverty, mightbe a genius if he had been broughtup in a healthy environment.
The child who is despised as athief and is ill-treated by the soci-ety might have been an honest andrespected man if he had receivedsympathy by the society in the earlypart of his life. In my opinion, theirsins are less or no greater than thesins of the selfish and mean-mindedpeople who call themselves honestbut are constantly usurping the pub-lic money and taking it to outsidethe borders.
The solution to all these anti-social activities is in the creationof a sound economic and socialstructure. It is a duty of the gov-ernment to help those unfortunateones who cannot maintain a bal-anced life, by providing them withjobs so they could honestly earn to
A man who made history
IT was Friday the 9th March 2007when the history of Pakistanturned a new leaf and entered a
phase of new ideals when the stateorgans re-adjusted their six decadeold traditions. It was a single indi-vidual in CVs surrounded by Gener-als in uniform convincing and threat-ening the sole individual to surren-der or dance to the tune of the powerbastions as had been the tradition ofthe past. But it was the spur of a mo-ment that his big ‘NO’ immortalizedthe individual and the traditions ofpower despots gradually found theirway into oblivion.
This was nobody but JusticeIftikhar Mohammad Chaudhary, theChief Justice of Pakistan who addeda new chapter of judicial supremacyin the history of the country. One mayquestion the performance of JusticeIftikhar before and after the year2007, but the 9th March epic inscribedits account with Justice Iftikhar stand-
ing at the top. He was harassed, de-tained, assaulted, removed from thepulpit - the legacy the pious caliphs –where justice and only justice was theorder of the day, no matter whoso-ever is the complainant or the respon-dent. Justice Iftikhar stood alone atthe top and entire nation, the lawyers,the civil society, the intelligentsia andeven the evasive but vested interestspoliticians came out and the know-ingly most corrupt rulers had to yieldto the force of justice, collective willof the masses and the impossible be-came possible when the chief justicewas restored to office alongwith hiscolleague judges.
The justice-starved people startedlooking towards the Judge Sahib whostarted practically and often invokedthe arm of ‘suo-moto notices’ and thepublic – poor, innocent, naive andstarved in all respects - set high hopesand expectations from one man - notthe institution or the system. Every-body looked towards him to get hisgrievances redressed. Justice Iftikharrescued the oppressed through his pos-ture and position but could not changethe system as a whole. Despite hisqualities and judicial attributes, he was
unlucky to face the acrimony and non-corporation from the political (so-called democratic) governments in theimplementation of his judgements.The high profile pending cases of theadministration of justice were no doubttaken care of at the superior judiciarybut the plight of the poor masses atthe lower courts remained unchanged.The cases of litigation continue to lin-ger on through generations and liti-gants develop a habit and mindsetto take it as a pastime and spill outtheir lives and assets down the drain.Chief justice spared no time and nochance to bridle the bureaucracy butit was out of balance. Senior civilservants were forced to appear beforethe court to face humiliation and anaxe to their self-esteem.
Nobody was there to help thecourt in reaching the fair justice aseveryone was scared of the treatmentmeted out to him in the court. Thishumiliation of the state machinerydisillusioned everyone and resultantlyno tangible result of the judicial ac-tivism (in its positive sense) could beseen. The knowingly corrupt politi-cians are still enjoying their lifestyles;the delay in their cases seems to be
deliberate. The system remains un-changed. The post-restoration tenureof Justice Iftikhar created a splash inthe stagnant waters but the destiny ofthe ordinary people could not im-prove. The monsters of crime, terror,exploitation, social evils, corruptio,mismanagement, misgovernancecontinue to haunt the nation. Thelords, princes, wadheras, cheaters,corrupt politicians, land grabbers - allare free to go their way. It is a systemwhich a person even of the mettle ofJustice Iftikhar could not change.
We wish he or the Judiciary un-der him could have. All hopes andexpectations revolved around himand the institution of judiciary couldnot make any headway. Even thenJustice Iftikhar deserves a special pat,a special applause and appreciation,because he shook the invulnerablesand many sacred cows. He is grace-fully retiring from the high office ofthe Chief Justice of Pakistan aftermaking history. In the overall per-spective, he could not strengthen theinstitution but he himself became aninstitution. Let his successors con-tinue and strengthen the traditions setby Justice Iftikhar.
reach that specific level of well-being. A higher and sustained eco-nomic growth must be supple-mented by other poverty alleviationmeasures to reduce poverty. Thegovernment should play an impor-tant role by putting an end to pov-erty so to make a peaceful, eco-nomic and social environment. Ex-panding social safety nets, eradicat-ing corruption and improving gov-ernance are the building blocks forthe bridge that will lead Pakistaninto prosperity, Inshallah.—Via email
Reforms foreconomy
MUHAMMAD ASADULLAH
Economic condition of Pakistan isnot good. During last 5 years eco-nomic growth has declined to av-erage of 3% per annum. During thisperiod country added $20 Billion inits external debt and Pakistani cur-rency has lost its value 42%. Thisphenomenon has given way to un-employment and poverty; importantrevenue generating enterprises andvital source of national income likeRailways, PIA, Pakistan steel Millsand Oil and Gas DevelopmentCompany Limited have been de-stroyed because of the mismanage-ment and corruption of previousGovernment.
There are many factors that af-fect on economy of Pakistan. e.g.energy crisis, lack of education, cor-ruption and political instability. Toimprove economy Nawaz Govern-ment should control energy crisis,provide good education, increaseexports and reduce imports and alsomake good relations withneighbouring countries. Govern-ment should also introduce reformsin Railways and PIA. In China andEngland Railway is the biggestsource of income. If Governmentcould provide electricity and gas toindustries then industries can workproperly and can also increase theiryields. In this way Pakistan can im-prove its economy and remove pov-erty and unemployment.—Peshawar
Youth’s rolefor peace
HIRA LAST
Today’s youth is showing its poten-tial and playing its positive role inevery field of life. Whether it is poli-tics, sports, media, education or in-ventions; youth cannot be pushedback anyway. Youth played a vitalrole during general elections 2013.Now it is the time for youth to playits role for building peace in thecountry and to help rid the countryof violence, terror, lawlessness andcorruption. The wrong policies ofgovernment and violation of rulesand laws by everybody, especiallythe influentials, has gone beyond alllimits, hence the growing tenden-cies of violence and intolerance inthe country.
Revertion to spiritualism is theneed of the hour for the nation whichcan be very effective in changing thesituation of unrest and problems.Youth should come forward to bringa peaceful revolution in the country.They needs to bring peace in peace-ful ways without any weapons, pro-tests but with a message of love andfriendship for all.—Via email
JOHN LLOYD
INTERNATIONAL Anti-Corruption Day. Started adecade ago by the U.N.’s
General Assembly, whichstates on its website that “cor-ruption is a complex social,political and economic phe-nomenon that affects allcountries…[it] underminesdemocratic institutions, slowseconomic development andcontributes to governmentalinstability…[it] attacks thefoundation of democratic in-stitutions.” This all soundsgood except for the first part.
There are two escape tun-nels in that first sentence. Oneis that the issue is “complex”(so don’t blame anyone if ittakes time forever? to eradi-cate). The other is that “it af-fects all countries.” It does, butthere is a difference between
dangerous corruption and thelargely trivial amounts, some-times illegal, spent by Britishparliamentarians on their ex-penses or by Swedish cabinetmister Mona Sahlin, whocharged her government creditcard for a chocolate bar. Mostwere punished. Sahlin had towithdraw her bid for her party’sleadership, some British MPswere fired, fined or were given(short) prison terms.
Where countries with afunctioning democracy and civilsociety can keep corruptiondown (but never out), othersmust live with it as a major,sometimes overpowering, factof daily life. Eruptions againstcorruption tend to be massive,even violent. Acting as real-timedemonstrations of the U.N.’sdeclaration, the mass proteststhreatening the governments inUkraine and Thailand have cor-
ruption at the core of their com-plaints. The gatherings in Kievwere spurred by President ViktorYanukovich’s swerve from anassociation agreement with theEuropean Union toward a closerrelationship with Russia. Theprotesters believe thatYankovich, his family and fa-vored cronies are robbing thepeople of their state.
In Thailand, Prime MinisterYingluck Shinawatra dissolvedparliament on Monday andcalled a snap election afterweeks of protests in Bangkokthat brought 150,000 people tothe streets. Demonstrators tookto the streets in response to theprime minister’s support of anamnesty bill that would have al-lowed her brother, ThaksinShinawatra, to return to Thai-land without facing a jail sen-tence. His own 2001-2006premiership ended in a military
Corruption is everywhere and nowhere
South Africa’s armsindustry most advanced
in global southTHALIF DEEN
WHEN the white apartheid regime in South Africa keptthe overwhelming majority of blacks under militaryrepression, the country’s security forces were armed
with weapons originating mostly from a highly-developed do-mestic armaments industry.
The wide-ranging locally-made weapons – some of whichwere categorised as crowd-control equipment included trans-port and attack helicopters, armoured personnel carriers, mili-tary trucks, internal security vehicles, assault rifles, hand gunsand tear gas canisters.
Proving the resilience of its arms industry, South Africawas quick to respond to a United Nations request last Octoberfor three attack helicopters and two utility helicopters tostrengthen the U.N. peacekeeping force in the DemocraticRepublic of Congo (DRC).3
Nicole Auger, a military analyst covering Middle East/Af-rica at Forecast International, a leader in defence market intel-ligence, told IPS “the South African military industry reallytook shape in the 1980s and got to the point where its techni-cal capability and design and production abilities were amongthe most advanced in the world.”
After the 1994 election, when Nelson Mandela and the Af-rican National Congress (ANC) assumed power, industry de-velopments slowed, notably due to the decrease in defencespending and the lack of immediate security threats, she added.
Still the South African arms industry is considered one ofthe most advanced in the non-Western world today, and verymuch in the company of its IBSA partners, India and Brazil.
The industry dates back to the apartheid regime when itsrapid development was necessitated by two key factors: bat-tling a domestic insurgency and circumventing a 1977 manda-tory arms embargo imposed by the U.N.
Pieter Wezeman, senior researcher, Arms TransfersProgramme at the Stockholm International Peace Research In-stitute, told IPS the South African arms industry is advancedin a few niche areas such as certain light armoured vehiclesand anti-tank missiles.
“But overall, it has become increasingly a part of the glo-bal arms industry acting as subcontractors and supplying mili-tary components for complete systems elsewhere.”
He said South Africa currently supplies weapons and othermilitary equipment to many countries throughout the world,from the United States to China, and from Sweden to Zambia.
The U.S. was a one-time major client because it urgentlyneeded mine-protected armoured vehicles for use in Iraq andAfghanistan.
South Africa was the world leader in the production ofsuch vehicles, he added, including the Casspir. This dated backto the apartheid regime when the South African armed forceshad to learn how to fight guerrilla forces in Zimbabwe andNamibia, which were then known as Rhodesia and South-WestAfrica, respectively.
South Africa was also on the threshold of becoming anuclear power with its well-developed clandestine programmeto produce weapons of mass destruction - even while it re-mained ostracised by the global community.
South Africa’s nuclear weapon programme was successfulin producing seven weapons which were eventually destroyedunder supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Jayantha Dhanapala, a former U.N. Under-Secretary-Gen-eral for Disarmament Affairs, told IPS that South Africa hasthe unique distinction of being the only country to have aban-doned its nuclear weapons programme voluntarily - setting anexample for other nuclear-armed states.
In 1991, South Africa joined the Nuclear Non-Prolifera-tion Treaty as a non-nuclear weapon state after destroyingthe weapons it had developed in a clandestine programmeduring 1974-1990, allegedly with Israeli collusion, he pointedout.
“President de Klerk, who shared the Nobel Peace Prizewith the late Nelson Mandela, told me he was kept in the darkabout the nuclear weapons programme until he became presi-dent when he decided to halt the programme,” said Dhanapala,one of the world’s best-known authorities on nuclear disarma-ment.
He said it was fitting the treaty declaring the whole conti-nent of Africa a nuclear weapon free zone should be namedthe Treaty of Pelindaba, named after the place where the SouthAfrican nuclear weapon programme was located.
Auger told IPS the U.N. arms embargo was one of the de-fining drivers for the South African defence-industrial base.
Before the embargo, defence firms would only acquirelicence-production agreements from other countries so therewas minimal drive to develop its own fully indigenous weap-ons.
But the 1977 arms embargo provided the incentive forSouth African firms to research and develop its own weaponsso that it could become self-sufficient, she added.
The South African arms industry was led by Denel and thegovernment’s arms procurement organisation, ARMSCOR.
Prior to the embargo, South Africa produced most of itsmilitary equipment under licence-production agreements withcountries such as France, Germany, Israel and Italy.
Wezeman said arms exports were an issue of debate dur-ing the 1990s with some people questioning the morality ofselling tools of repression created by the former apartheid re-gime.
“I am not sure what Mandela’s role was in this, but I thinkhe was critical,” he noted.
“In any case the new ANC government quickly set out tosupport the industry for the same reason as other arms-pro-ducing states: as a source of income, a catalyst for techno-logical development and even hoped it could be used as aforeign policy instrument, in particular in Africa,” saidWezeman.
It never became the latter, he said, because South Africa isa rather minor player as an arms supplier on the continent.
—Courtesy Inter Press Service
coup, and he has been mostly inexile since, with various chargesof corruption proven or pendingagainst him.
Even so, Thai commentatorsbelieve the Shinawatras’ base ofsupport would sustain a major-ity in the next election one largereason why the prime ministercalled for a return to the polls.
The masses are also out onthe streets is South Africa, butthey are there to celebrate a manNelson Mandela and his gracein forgiving his race’s oppres-sors while inscribing racial in-tegration into the DNA of theAfrican National Congress.Leading the mourning has beenSouth Africa’s President JacobZuma, who sought to “reaffirm(Mandela’s) vision of a societyin which none is exploited, op-pressed or dispossessed by an-other.” A few weeks earlier,South Africa’s popular tabloid
the Star had published picturesof Zuma’s private estate inNklanda where $19 million ofpublic money had been report-edly spent for renovation. Zumahas been accused of receivingbribes, money laundering andrape all of which have beenthrown out by South Africancourts. Zuma was fired fromvice presidential office for hisalleged involvement in corrup-tion by the then president, ThaboMbeki, in 2005.
The papers were warned notto publish the pictures ofNklanda by the state securityminister Sizabonga Ciwele butthe Star and others publishedanyway, including another paperthat ran a headline “So arrestus.”
Zuma and his allies havesought to portray the press as abastion of white privilege, butsome of his toughest critics, like
the columnist Justice Malawa,are black. Malawa has chargedZuma with disgracingMandela’s legacy and leadingthe ANC into a “corrupt, fac-tional, paranoid and greedyshadow of its former self.”
The real pace-setters in un-savory government behavior arethe world’s biggest states:China, where “corruptionamong government officials isalmost expected,” and India,with its “grinding daily routineof petty corruption.” In bothcountries, rising popular angermay be forcing changes.
The new Chinese President,Xi Jinping, has launched a high-profile anti-corruption drive –even though his rise to powermay have benefited his extendedfamily (though not, as far as weknow, himself or his immediatefamily).
In India, the success of a
new grassroots group, the AamAadmi (Common Man) Party, inelections at state levels in thepast few days is said to herald adesire for clean governance. TheChief Minister of Gujarat,Narendra Modi, who is runningto be the next prime ministerafter next year’s general elec-tions, is following Xi’s exampleby putting corruption at the heartof his pitch, branding Congressas a “dirty team.”
Skepticism is in order forthese pledges of anti-corruption.It is also at the heart of RussianPresident Vladimir Putin’s cur-rent program, even though alle-gations of corruption haveplagued him for twenty years,stretching back to his period asdeputy mayor and head of for-eign economic relations for St.Petersburg in the nineties.
The fact that corruptionnow forms protests and popu-
lar movements in some of thestates where leaders are themost suspect is an encourag-ing sign on the week of anti-corruption day. But to say that“all countries” are in the samecorruption boat is to overloadthe boat and to fail to make acrucial distinction: somestates regard even trivial cor-ruption as deserving of re-buke, while others need riotsto confront it.
The fact that corruption isoften “almost expected” meansthat much of the time it’s wea-rily accepted and only fromtime to time does the wearinessturn to active anger. For somekey states, that time seems tobe now. Anti-corruption daymay mark a celebration drivenby citizens in search of theirstolen citizenship. May theyfind and keep it.
—Courtesy Reuters
US begins air liftingBurundian troops to CAR
BUJUMBURA—The UnitedStates began air liftingBurundian troops to CentralAfrican Republic part of ef-forts to help African andFrench forces prevent a de-scent into civil war, Burundi’sarmy said.
“Burundi is deploying abattalion of troops to the Cen-tral African Republic,” Colo-nel Gaspard Baratuza, Burundiarmy spokesman, told Reuters.
“A U.S. plane today air-lifted the first team and the op-eration with U.S. logistics willcontinue.”
The Burundian troops are
due to join an African peace-keeping force which hasstruggled to contain the vio-lence in Central African Re-public that has killed morethan 500 people in the pastweek.
Previously a Central Afri-can force, the mission is beingbroadened to fall under Afri-can Union command.
Troop numbers are due tobe increased from 2,500 toaround 6,000 following meet-ings between African leadersin France last week.
The U.S. support forBurundian troops comes after
Great Britain started air liftingequipment for French troops tothe capital, Bangui.
Baratuza said the Burundianforces were expected to stay inCentral African Republic for oneyear, but that further troopswould be sent in, in rotation, ifthe mission was extended by theUnited Nations Security Coun-cil.
The Bujumbura govern-ment has also sent peacekeep-ing troops to Somalia to battleIslamist militants fighting toimpose their strict interpreta-tion of Sharia law on the Hornof Africa nation.—Reuters
CAIRO—Egyptian riot policefired tear gas and water cannonto disperse hundreds of pro-Is-lamist protesters demonstratingnear the headquarters of the min-istry of defense in Cairo secu-rity sources said.
Egypt has been witnessingalmost daily protests by support-ers of elected Islamist presidentMohamed Mursi since the armyremoved him in July after massprotests against his rule.
Mursi’s removal opened thebloodiest chapter in Egypt’smodern history. Security forceshave since killed hundreds of hissupporters, while some 200 sol-diers and policemen have died,many in attacks by Islamist mili-tants in the Sinai peninsula, bor-dering Israel and the PalestinianGaza strip. Students supportingMursi have been staging dailyprotests for months inside andoutside their universities.
Last month, Egypt’s army-installed interim government is-sued a law that banned protestsnear or originating from placesof worship, and made it compul-sory to seek Interior Ministrypermission to hold a demonstra-tion.—Reuters
Egyptian security forces and army vehicles hold their positions outside Cairo University during clashes between riot policemen and Universitystudents in Cairo.
SEOUL—South Korean defensecontractor Korea Aerospace In-dustries Ltd (KAI) has signed adeal with Iraq to export 24 lightfighter jets valued at $1.1 billion,the company said.
The deal to supply FA-50aircraft also includes training forIraqi pilots and other support forthe Iraqi Air Force for the nexttwo decades, which could pushthe total value of the deal to $2billion, the contractor said in astatement.
The FA-50 is a light attackvariant of the T-50 Golden Eaglesupersonic trainer that was co-developed by KAI and U.S. de-fense firm Lockheed MartinCorp.
The Iraqi version of the FA-50, labeled the T-50 IQ, can bearmed with air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles, machine gunsand precision-guided bombsalong with other munitions, KAIsaid.
“This deal will improve theperformance of the Ministries ofDefense and Interior in defend-ing the country and in fightingterrorism,” a statement from the
S.Korea’s KAI sellsfighter jets worth
$1.1 billion to Iraqoffice of Iraqi Prime MinisterNuri al-Maliki said.
Iraq has sought F-16 fighterjets from the United States aspart of a deal to rebuild itsairforce.
Iraq is suffering from itsworst violence in at least fiveyears as insurgents carry outalmost daily bombing cam-paigns against civilians andgovernment targets.
More than 8,000 peoplehave been killed in Iraq in thefirst 11 months of 2013, ac-cording to the United Nations.
KAI has previously ex-ported a T-50 variant to Indo-nesia and is pursuing dealswith the Phil ippines andChile.
South Korea has been tocapture a larger share of theglobal defense market with itsfighter jets amid a projectedsharp increase in demand formilitary equipment over thenext decade.
Delivery to Iraq will be-gin in April 2016 and will bemade over a year, a companyofficial said.—Reuters
SAADNAYEL—Syrian refugeeFaisal looks down at themuddy floor of his tent in afield in eastern Lebanon as itis battered by a snowstorm.
“I’d rather die a milliontimes than live through thishumilation,” the 48-year-oldsays bitterly. “Nobody else hashad to go through what’s hap-pening to us. Every country isplotting against us, they’re alltraitors,” Faisal rages, his headwrapped in a scarf.
In the Saadnayel area, aselsewhere in Lebanon whereinformal tented camps havesprouted to house familiesfleeing the carnage inneighbouring Syria, Syrianswho have survived the war arenow battling the forces of na-ture. The father of four fromIdlib in northwestern Syria felthe was speaking for most of hiscompatriots who feel they havebeen abandoned by the inter-national community. Morethan 835,000 Syrian refugeesare registered in Lebanon, al-though the real number isthought to total more than onemillion.
Thousands get by in make-shift camps, in shelters madeof little more than plasticsheeting nailed to wooden
frames a flimsy barrier againstfierce winter weather.
Others live in unfinishedbuildings with only slightlymore protection from the ele-ments in cities including thecapital Beirut.
More than 500 refugeeslive in Faisal’s camp, and fewhave more than rudimentaryheating to fend off the chill ofthe storm dubbed “Alexa” thatis battering Lebanon. “I hatethe cold,” says Sakr, 13,swathed in a hooded coat.“When it snows, the meltwa-ter becomes mud inside thetents, which collapse on ourheads because of the weight ofsnow.”
Other children, some withno hats at all, sneeze and rubfrozen hands together, theirshoes caked in mud. “Give ussomething to keep us warm,”they ask a group of journalists.Farther along, a man hammersin a nail so he can hang a pic-ture at the entrance to his tent.
Inside, men and womencradle babies in their arms, try-ing to transfer some of theirown body heat. A man oncrutches, his feet bare, staressilently at the mud on theground.
Some refugees have re-
sorted to drastic measures in anattempt to counter the effectsof the biting wind. “We haveto burn shoes to keep the heatergoing because there’s no otherfuel,” says 40-year-old Najla.
This releases an acrid stinkthat fills the tents that are now“home” to at least six peopleeach.
At Arsal, also in easternLebanon and some eightkilometres (five miles) fromthe border with Syria, the tentswere draped in snow Wednes-day as the temperature hoveredjust above freezing. At night,however, in the area known forsupporting the armed opposi-tion battling President Basharal-Assad’s forces, the tempera-ture drops to four below. TheUnited Nations High Commis-sioner for Refugees and theLebanese army have beenhanding out thermal blanketsand money for heating fuel.
But despite such efforts,there are major concerns aboutthe fate of refugees living inmore than 200 makeshiftcamps in northern and easternLebanon.
“We are worried, becauseit is really cold in the Bekaaregion, and we’re extremelyworried about the refugees liv-
ing in makeshift shelters, be-cause many are really substan-dard,” said UNHCR spokes-woman Lisa Abou Khaled.
The UNHCR has preparedstockpiles of items includingplastic sheeting, floor mats,blankets and mattresses to helprefugees whose shelters mightbe flooded or destroyed by thestorm.
“The Syrian refugees hereare shivering with cold, espe-cially the ones in tents,” WafiqKhalaf, a member of Arsal’smunicipal council, told AFP byphone. “Water has come intothe tents from the roofs, andfrom the ground where there isflooding,” he said. But despitethe misery wrought by the win-ter storm, Khalaf said the refu-gees keep on coming, amongthem 10 families fleeing theSyrian town of Yabrud in theQalamoun region north ofDamascus.
Yabrud is the last rebel-held stronghold in the strate-gic area near the border, and isbeing pounded by governmentforces.
In the past few months,more than 20,000 new refu-gees have arrived in the Arsalregion alone, overwhelmingthe small town.—AFP
Snowstorm brings newmisery for Syrian refugees
NEW DELHI—A gang of youngneighborhood men would harassSonali Mukherjee whenever sheleft home — taunting her, fol-lowing her, hissing lewd com-ments.
But Mukherjee, 18 at thetime, was not afraid. A sociol-ogy student, she stood up to hertormenters. After she threat-ened to go to the police, theysneaked into her house andpoured acid on her while sheslept, melting away much of herface. “I did not know that theywere hatching a plan to takerevenge,” she said, more than10 years later.
Now, Mukherjee and othervictims of acid attacks arepressing the Indian governmentto do more to prevent such vio-lence, saying a new law aimedat restricting the sale of acid isbeing ignored. In response totheir campaign, the Indian Su-
Indian acid attack victimssay new law is ignored
preme Court on Dec. 3 orderedall states to comply with thelaw, which went into effect inFebruary after a deadly gangrape in New Delhi last year gal-vanized public anger over vio-lence toward women. It prohib-its the sale of acid unless theseller maintains a record of thebuyers and orders states to payacid attack victims $1,400 incompensation.
The law is among a wave ofchanges implemented after theNew Delhi rape case, includinga provision that called for stifferprison terms a minimum of 10years and up to life imprison-ment and no bail for those whocarry out acid attacks. Highlyconcentrated acids are readilyavailable in India for use ashousehold and industrial clean-ers. The liquids are often pro-duced locally and are dirtcheap.—AFP
Indonesia warnsof possibly
violent ChristmasJAKARTA—Indonesia’s presi-dent has ordered police to step upsecurity around churches over theChristmas holidays followingreports of possible attacks.
President Susilo BambangYudhoyono did not name thegroups, but it was a clear refer-ence to Islamic extremists.Though major terror groups havelargely been crushed following aseries of deadly attacks in the early2000s, small Muslim extremistcells still operate. “I have receiveda report from the chief of policeof the existence of the elementswho plan to disrupt security andorder in certain places,” the presi-dential palace quoted Yudhoyonoas saying before flying to Japanfor a regional summit.—Reuters
Zahid Malik awarded PhD degreeFrom Page 1been awarded in recognition of
outstanding services of ZahidMalik for the cause of objectiveand quality journalism, his un-tiring and selfless efforts to pro-mote ideology of Pakistan andpropagation of teachings ofHoly Quran with a focus to cre-ate awareness of religious, hu-man and social values amongthe younger generation.
Infact the degree awarded toZahid Malik was the reckoningof unbiased and transparent roleplayed by Pakistan Observer inserving the people of Pakistanto keep them informed with thetrue picture of the happenings ineach and every socio-economicand political segment of thecountry.
Senator Raja Zafarul Haq,leader of the house in Senate ofPakistan and Abdullah HussainHaroon who were the chief guestand guest of honour on the occa-sion were unanimous on the pointthat the solution of the issues con-fronted to the nation lies in edu-cation and education alone.
Raja Zafarul Haq assuredthe nation that the present gov-ernment would leave no stoneunturned to spread the light ofeducation in the society and re-ferred to the youth development
programs launched by PrimeMinister Nawaz Sharif which isaimed at promoting and support-ing education and training of theyouth in Pakistan. He also prom-ised to take up the issue to in-crease the budgetary allocationswhich are around 2 percent ofthe GDP at the moment.
Highlighting the importanceof education from the beginningto the end in the life of individu-als and the nations AbdullahHussain Haroon, former repre-sentative of Pakistan at the UNand former speaker of SindhAssembly recalled that it was theeducation which played a deci-sive role in creation of Pakistan.He mentioned that for the firsttime in the history of the sub-continent the Muslim leadersrealized that the lack of educa-tion among the Muslims haspushed them at the lowest bot-tom of the society while othersegments of the population wereprogressing because they hadrealized significance of educa-tion much earlier.
In this respect the first Mus-lim Education Convention, pre-sided over by Nawab Salimullahwas held in 1906 in Dhakawhich was turned into a Mus-
lim League political conventionin 1907.
Hussain Haroon said that itwas the education and theUsmania University,Hyderabad, Deccan, and AligarhUniversity which played a spear-head role in creation of Pakistan.Had these two universities notcreated Pakistan, may nevercome into being, he observed.
Hussain Haroon said it ispainful that when the educationplayed a pivotal role in creationof Pakistan, the political leadersand the governments ignored thefundamental role of education indevelopment and building up thenation and the country. He re-ferred to other Muslims Statesin the region where around 25percent of the GDP is allocatedfor education, while in Pakistanit has never exceeded from twopercent of the budget. Instead ofinvesting into people of Pakistanthe governments and politicalleaders preferred to serve theirpersonal interests.
Hussain Haroon sounded anote of warning that every thingin this world has a due date ofexpiry, the due date brings seri-ous consequences to the nations.Give the due right to the peoplebefore the due date is expired.
an exemplary Chief Justice.On this, Chief Justice
thanked Munir A Malik and re-marked that the apex courtwould continue to play its roleto safeguard the constitution.
Justice Jillani is distantrelative of former PrimeMinister Syed Yusuf RazaGilani, therefore, he had notheard the contempt of court caseagainst Gilani.
Soft spoken JusticeTassaduq Hussain Jillani hasdeclared former CJP IftikharMuhammad Chaudhry as hisrole model besides saying thatno compromise will be made onlaw and constitution during histenure as CJP.
After taking oath ChiefJustice Tassaduq Hussain Jillanitook his first suo-motu noticeagainst the leakage of Full CourtReference proceedings footage.
The chief justice directedAdditional Registrar SupremeCourt Muhammad Ali to holdan inquiry into the alleged in-cident so as to determine the au-thenticity and take actionagainst the delinquents, iffound guilty.
The Chief Justice took no-tice on a note of Registrar, Su-preme Court, containing the de-tails that it is widely reported inthe electronic and print mediathat a certain media group wasgiven access inside the CourtRoom No1 to have an exclusivefootage of the proceedings ofFull Court Reference on Decem-ber 11.
erate a lot of economic activity,create more employment oppor-tunities and improve securitysituation in Pakistan,” the re-lease said.
Congratulating the nationon this achievement, Presi-dent Mamnoon Hussain saidthat EU’s Generalized Systemof Preferences Plus (GSPPlus) Scheme would not onlyfurther strengthen our traderelations with the membercountries of the EuropeanUnion but would also signifi-cantly help strengthening oureconomy through greatertrade, generation of economicopportunities and creation ofmore jobs for our people.
He appreciated the effortsof all those who worked hardfor passage of this Act.
The President also ac-knowledged and appreciatedEuropean Commission andthe member countries of Eu-ropean Union for their contin-ued support to the country forgetting GSP Plus status.
The President expressedthe hope that our economyand the business communitywould take full advantage ofthe facility to secure greaterplace for Pakistani products inthe European markets.
Prime Minister NawazSharif said “award of GSP+status shows confidence of theinternational markets on theexcellent quality of Pakistaniproducts.”
He further said, “gainingaccess to European marketswas the top most priority of thegovernment as part of the eco-nomic development agenda,which has been achieved due tocontinuous and hard work ofthe Ministers and Officials ofthe Ministries of Finance, Com-merce and Foreign Affairs andfriends of Pakistan in Europe”.
This status would enablePakistan to export more thanUS $ 1 Billion worth of prod-ucts to the international mar-kets. Only the textile indus-try would earn profits of bil-lions of rupees per year.
Prime Minister also addedthat increase in exports wouldresultantly facilitate in eco-nomic growth and help in gen-eration of millions of addi-tional employments.
He further stressed uponexporters to invest in the en-tire value chain, and improvethe quality and marketabilityof Pakistani products throughresearch and innovation,product diversification andbrand development.
EU grants GSPplus status to
PakistanFrom Page 1
Justice TassaduqJillani takesover as CJP
From Page 1 encouraged aspiring youth tobecome part of armed forces andplay their role for the prosperityof the country.
Gen Sharif expressed hishigh hopes that the new recruitswill play their part in safeguard-ing national interests and peacein Balochistan.
Referring the Army’s role indealing with calamity along withthe provincial government, hesaid that Army troops always re-mained with the affected peoplewhether it was flood, earthquakeor other catastrophe inBalochistan.
“It was Army that quicklyresponded and rescued thequake battered people ofAwaran,” General Sharif saidadding such efforts would con-tinue till the rehabilitation of thevictims.
He also lauded the closedcoordination of the Army andprovincial government for thepeaceful conduct of Local Gov-ernment polls in Balochistan.
Army to play role in upliftof Balochistan: Gen Raheel
From Page 1
The Chief MinisterBalochistan, on the occasioncommended the role of Army inuplift of Balochistan.
He urged the COAS to fur-ther increase the recruitmentquota of Balochistan youth inPak forces.
He said that the incumbentgovernment was facing multiplechallenges and striving hard tobring reforms in the health andeducation sector.
For restoration of durablepeace and prosperity inBalochistan, efforts were afootto bring Baloch on the negotia-tion table and find an amicablesolution to the issue ofBalochistan. Some 1,800 re-cruits have been inducted in theBaloch regiment after thecompletion of training.
Earlier, COAS GeneralSharif and CM Balochistan DrAbdul Malik Baloch gave awaycane of honours to cadets forshowing distinction during thetraining.—APP
ters say, a picketing party of themilitary convoy was hit by a anImprovised Explosive Device(IED) at Spin Warm area ofNWA. The IED planted at road-side, badly damaged the FCtruck and two of the occupantsembraced Shahadat while sevenFC Jawaans received seri-ousinjuries. Later two more soldierssuccumbed to injuries in hospi-tal.
The security forces imme-diately rushed to the site ofthe blast and cordoned off thesite to carry the rescue opera-t ion as the vict ims wererushed to the military hospi-tal for treatment.
“The explosion was causedby an IED planted by the terror-ists, hitting the vehicle of thepicketing party of the militaryconvoy in Spin Warm Area thatdestroyed the vehicle and killedtwo FC men besides seriouslywounding seven troops whowere dispatched to the hospital”.Well-placed military sourcestold Pakistan Observer that twosoldiers later martyred in thehospital.
4 soldiersmartyred inNWA blast
From Page 1
US new sanctions to block Iran’s tradingFrom Page 1ing new sanctions against Iran
that the administration fearswill undermine the preliminaryagreement it reached to freezemajor elements of the country’snuclear program.
In return, President Obamaagreed to a temporary lifting ofsanctions on auto productionand petrochemical sales, but noton Iran’s oil sector — its great-est source of revenue.
Critics of the preliminarydeal, however, have said thatreversing course on even a lim-ited set of sanctions will under-mine the pressure on Tehran,and make less likely a final dealto roll back the nuclear program.
Mr. Obama took the otherside of the argument on Satur-day, telling an audience at anIsraeli-American forum at theBrookings Institution that unlessthe Iranian people saw the pros-pect of some economic relief,there would be no political con-stituency inside Iran for givingup the key elements of a poten-tial nuclear weapons capability.
But the administration hasalso been eager to show that it
is continuing to apply pressureon the nuclear program, onbanks violating sanctions on fi-nancial transactions, and onfront companies that are help-ing Iran evade oil sanctions.
“There is no way Iran isopen for business,” a senior ad-ministration official told report-ers in a conference call Thurs-day morning, announcing thenew targets of sanctions. Headded that when it came to thecore sanctions, “we haven’t letup, and we aren’t letting up.”
Among the newly sanc-tioned companies is aSingapore-based companycalled Mid Oil Asia, which isaccused of helping the NationalIranian Tanker Company makepayments for services by trans-ferring funds that made no men-tion of the vessels that wereaided, or their Iranian owner-ship. Another Singapore com-pany, Singa Tankers, is accusedof helping Iran make “urgentpayments.” The location of bothcompanies is notable, becauseSingapore often prides itself on
sian news agencies said thatthose who “experiment withnon-nuclear strategic weapons”should remember that “if wecome under attack, we will un-doubtedly use nuclear weaponsin certain situations to defendour territory and state inter-ests.”—AP
RussiaFrom Page 1
running a carefully regulatedshipping and banking system.
Five companies are accusedof helping Iran’s nuclear andmissile program, including anIranian firme, the Eyvaz Tech-nic Manufacturing Company,that the United States said hadprocured some of the most sen-sitive and hard-to-build compo-nents for Iran’s nuclear centri-fuges. The centrifuges are theequipment that, spinning at su-personic speeds, produce ura-nium; over the years the UnitedStates has sought to underminethe effort with sanctions, faultyparts and cyberattacks.
Another firm is accused ofhelping Iran obtain componentsfor its heavy-water reactor facil-ity, which officials fear will ul-timately give Iran another path-way to a bomb capability, usingplutonium.—NYT
Delhi Mahatma Gandhi ThermalPower Plant, Jhajjar, villageKhanpur Kalan, according to thePakistan High Commission inNew Delhi.
He is slated to be the chiefguest at the World KabaddiChampionship final in Ludhianatoday (Saturday). ShahbazSharif is visiting India on theinvitation of his Punjab counter-part in India, Parkash SinghBadal.—INP
Molla met the Jamaat-e-Islamileader at a jail in Dhaka for onelast time hours before the execu-tion, and found him to be“calm.”
“He has told us that he isproud to be a martyr for thecause of Islamic movement inthe country,” Molla’s son HasanJamil told AFP after meeting hisfather.
Security was tightened out-side the jail gate and in the capi-tal Dhaka, with the authoritiesdeploying paramilitary borderguards in key flashpoints.
Islamists and oppositionprotesters armed with crudebombs and rocks clashed withpolice in riots in several citiesacross the country after the Su-preme Court announced thebrief verdict paving the way forthe execution.
Molla was originally set tobe hanged on Tuesday night af-ter he refused to seek presiden-tial clemency.
But in a night of high dramaa judge stayed the hanging just90 minutes before the scheduledexecution, amid internationalconcern over the fairness of the
Shahbaz meetsSingh; wants Pak,India to resolve
differencesFrom Page 1
BD executesFrom Page 1
war crime trials of mainly op-position leaders.
Hundreds of secular pro-testers erupted in celebrationhearing the news of the execu-tion. They have been campingat Shahbagh square in Dhakasince Tuesday night, shoutingslogans including: “HangQuader Molla, hang war crimi-nals.”—AFP
6 of the constitution for abrogat-ing the constitution of the coun-try by imposing emergency on3rd November 2007.
The Interior Ministry has setup two teams to try PervezMusharraf under article 6 of theconstitution.
The two teams, constitutionand prosecution, will be headedby Dr Tariq Hassan andNasiruddin Khan, respectively.
Both of the teams will beworking under the supervisionof advocate Akram Sheikh.
The constitution team com-prises 10 lawyers while the pros-ecution has 11 team members.A notification in this regard hasalso been issued by the InteriorMinistry.
Earlier, the federal govern-ment finalized the charge sheetagainst Musharraf to try himunder article 6 of the constitu-tion.
According to sources, thecharge sheet, comprising ninepages, pressed five charges in-cluding the November 3 emer-gency, detention of superiorcourt judges and implementationof PCO against Musharraf. TheFederation will show the detailsof his orders as proof in thecourt.
A three-member specialcourt including Justice FaisalArab of the Sindh High Court,Justice Tahira Safdar of theBalochistan High Court and Jus-tice Yawar Ali of Lahore HighCourt was constituted by ex-Chief Justice of Pakistan IftikharMuhammad Chaudhry at the re-quest of the government underthe Criminal Law Amendment(Special Court) Act 1976.—INP
Govt requestsspecial court to
initiate caseagainst Musharraf
From Page 1
newspaper quoted al-Sheikh assaying.
He maintained that terroristshave been exploited in order tocause destruction to themselvesand society.
Nearly two months ago, themufti, who is appointed and paidby the Saudi government, urgedSaudis not to travel to Syria tojoin Sunni rebels battling to un-seat President Bashar al-Assad.
The mufti did not refer tosuicide bombings in a specificcountry. Such attacks have oc-curred across the Middle Eastand beyond, nowadays most fre-quently in Iraq and Syria.—Online
Suicide attackershastening way
From Page 1
COURT NOTICE
In the Court of Syed ImamAli Shah, Judge Banking
Court No-II District CourtsGujranwala Camp
Hafizabad
Suit No.367/2013HBL Grain Market BranchHafizabad —PlaintiffVersusMst. Kalsoom etc —DefendantSummons U/S 9 (5) of the Fi-nancial Institutions (Recoveryof Finances) Ordinance; 2001(Ordinance No.XLVI of 2001)Summons to: (1) Mst. Kalsoom(Widow) (2) Zaheer Ahmed (3)Naveed Aslam (Sons) (4) Mst.Uzma Aslam (Daughter) LateMuhammad Aslam Khan all R/O H NO-138/9, Gali DostMuhammad Bhoon WaliMohallah Ghari Awan,Hafizabad.WHEREAS the aforesaid plain-tiff has instituted a suit againstyou and other for the recoveryof Rs=22,25,566/89- along withmark up/interest and cost etc,claimed to be payable by you ASummons u/s 9(5) OrdinanceXIVI of 2001 referred to aboveis hereby issued requiring youto make within 30 days of theservice of the Summon, an ap-plication for leave to defend thesuit in the form of written state-ment U/S 10 of the said ordi-nance.
Take notice that on yourfailure to file such applicationwithin time specified above, theBanking Court shall pass a de-cree as prayed for in the plaint,in the favour of the plaintiffBanking Company. Next datefor further proceedings, in thecase has been fixed on02.01.2014. Camp at Hafizabad
Given under my hand andthe seal of the court, this27.11.2013Seal of the Court
Banking Court IIGujranwala
COURT NOTICE
In the Court of Syed ImamAli Shah, Judge Banking
Court No-II District CourtsGujranwala Camp Sialkot
Suit No.357/2013Bank Alfalah Ltd Gujranwala —PlaintiffVersusMuhammad Arif Butt —Defen-dantSummons U/S 9 (5) of the Fi-nancial Institutions (Recoveryof Finances) Ordinance; 2001(Ordinance No.XLVI of 2001)Summons to: Muhammad ArifS/O Muhammad Hussain ButtR/O Chowk Kashmir MohallahRangpura Near Farooqi MasjidNear U fone Tower Sialkot Busi-ness Addren-Ravi Sweets &Bakers Neiha Pura Baba De BeriNear School # 2, Sialkot.WHEREAS the aforesaidplaintiff has instituted a suitagainst you and other for therecovery of Rs=76,932,/57-along with mark up/interestand cost etc, claimed to bepayable by you A Summons u/s 9(5) Ordinance XIVI of2001 referred to above ishereby issued requiring you tomake within 30 days of theservice of the Summon, an ap-plication for leave to defendthe suit in the form of writtenstatement U/S 10 of the saidordinance.
Take notice that on yourfailure to file such applicationwithin time specified above, theBanking Court shall pass a de-cree as prayed for in the plaint,in the favour of the plaintiffBanking Company. Next datefor further proceedings, in thecase has been fixed on06.01.2014.
Given under my hand andthe seal of the court, this04.12.2013Seal of the Court
Banking Court IIGujranwala
held on Wednesday in connec-tion with the holding of elec-tions.
After that meeting AdvocateGeneral, Sindh, requested for aday’s time to go back to Karachito consult with the Chief Minis-ter on the issue.—INP
Sindh LB pollson Jan 18
From Page 1
Nadra developselectronic
voting machineISLAMABAD—Blocking allpossible loopholes in the votingprocess, NADRA has launchedelectronic voting machine orBio-metric voting machine tostop fake voting.
“The introduction will getrid of all the mess created bymagnetic ink,” says NationalDatabase Registration Author-ity.
“Every voter has to confirmhis identity before Bio-metricmachine by pressing Thumbimpression on the screen,” TariqMalik, chairman of NADRA hassaid.—NNI
Kite-flying part ofspring festivalStaff ReporterLAHORE—Vice President ofAll Pakistan Paper Mer-chants Association(APPMA) and Founder ofKite Flying Festival in Paki-stan Khawaja Nadeem SaeedWayeen has applauded thePunjab government for mak-ing Kite Flying Festival partof spring festivities andtermed it a visionary initiativeof Chief Minister PunjabMian Shahbaz Sharif. “KiteFlying Festival at dedicatedsites like Changa Manga andJallo would not only saveprecious human lives butwould also give a jump startto the much-needed eco-nomic activities.”He was ad-dressing a huge gathering ofpeople attached with kite fly-ing industry and representa-tives of NGOs working forthe interests of workingwomen. Barrister KhalidZafar, Professor KhalidMalik and Madam Ume Lailaalso spoke on the occasion.
NEW DELHI: Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif called on Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
QUETTA: General Raheel Sharif, Chief of Army Staff awarding Chief of Army Staff Cane to Recruit Muhammad Yasinfrom Dera Bugti at Passing Out Parade of Baloch recruits.
TOKYO—Pacifist Japan willadopt new defence guide-lines next week paving theway for its military to re-spond more quickly andforcefully to threats fromChina and North Korea, offi-cials said Thursday.
The government of con-servative Prime MinisterShinzo Abe will approverules intended to help air,land and sea forces work to-gether more effectively in theface of danger, an officialfrom Abe’s Liberal Demo-cratic Party told AFP.
The move comes amidthe continuing row betweenChina and Japan over thesovereignty of a small islandchain in the East China Sea,a dispute that has escalatedover the last year to includemilitary hardware from bothsides. Lawmakers from theruling bloc on Wednesday
Japan to boost militaryamid row with China
endorsed the plan, whichwould create what it called a“Dynamic Joint DefenceForce”, the official said.
“For the first time, we willbe able to obtain mobility, orthe capability to deployswiftly in an integrated man-ner,” Defence MinisterItsunori Onodera said Thurs-day. “When we deploytroops to remote islands... weneed to respond with ground,marine and air defenceforces,” Onodera said in aspeech at a private think tankin Tokyo.
“Or if we faced a NorthKorean missile, Japan wouldfirst attempt to shoot it downfrom the sea, then from theground. “While the Air De-fence Force has huge radarsites, it is the Ground SelfDefence Force who protectsthese important facilities,” hesaid, adding the country’s
military had to be alert to apossible “intrusion from thesea”.
Under operating assump-tions in place during the ColdWar era, Japan’s military,which is constitutionally-bound to being a “self-de-fence force”, was largelystatic, with the majority ofresources in the north andeast to guard against a Rus-sian invasion, long thoughtto be the greatest risk thecountry faced.
But the shifting securitydynamics, in particular therise of China as a militaryforce to be reckoned with,means Japan’s soldiers, sail-ors and airmen need to belocated further south and tobe able to deploy to thecountry’s many far-flung is-lands. Abe’s cabinet is alsoset to approve Tokyo’s firstNational Security.—AFP
Absent ministersshould vacateseats: Nisar
ISLAMABAD—Interior min-ister Chaudhry Nisar AliKhan has said the ministerswho can not give reply inparliament should resign.He said this while giving apolicy statement here inNational Assembly (NA)Thursday.
Replying to calling atten-tion notice from MQM MNA,Sajid Ahmad, interior ministersaid it is unjust that ministersget perks and privileges butthey don’t deem it proper togive reply in the house.
There are clear directivesfrom Prime Minister that minis-ters should ensure their atten-dance in the house.—Online
ISLAMABAD—Blocking allpossible loopholes in thevoting process, NADRA haslaunched electronic votingmachine or Bio-metric votingmachine to stop fake voting.
“The introduction willget rid of all the mess createdby magnetic ink,” says Na-tional Database RegistrationAuthority. “Every voter hasto confirm his identity before
Stop fake votingNadra launches
electronic voting machineBio-metric machine by press-ing Thumb impression on thescreen,” Tariq Malik, chair-man of NADRA has said.
The launch, to be ap-proved by Election Commis-sion of Pakistan, will also bea surprising thing even fortech giants like Apple, whichhas launched thumb impres-sion system in iPhone 5S af-ter years of research.—NNI
KABUL—Afghanistan’s in-telligence agency says a largebomb has accidentally goneoff inside a weapons depotin downtown Kabul. No onewas hurt in the explosion.
Gen Farid Shamal, deputyspokesman for the NationalDirectorate of Security, saysthe bomb was part of a weap-ons cache that was seizedfrom insurgents. It wasstored inside a special depotin the Afghan capital, Kabul.
Shamal says the blastwas caused by a ‘’technicalissue.’’
Bomb goes off inKabul weapons depot
The depot is locatedclose to the headquarters ofthe US-led international mili-tary coalition and the Ameri-can Embassy.
The loud blast shookparts of downtown Kabul onThursday and triggered theUS embassy’s “duck andcover” sirens.
On Wednesday, a suicidecar bomb went off near a gateused by Nato troops in thenorthern section of theKabul airport. The Talibanclaimed responsibility forthat attack.
Pakistan, Sri Lankato strengthen
defense cooperationCOLOMBO—The Chief of Na-val Staff Pakistan AdmiralMohammad Asif Sandila ledthree-member delegation ar-rived in Colombo Thursday tohave bilateral talks with his SriLankan counterpart aimed atstrengthen defense coopera-tion between the two coun-tries, the Sri Lankan navy saidin a statement. He was receivedby Chief of Staff Sri LankanNavy Rear Admiral SAMJPerera along with High Com-missioner of Pakistan‚ RetiredMaj. Gen. Qasim Qureshi andDefence Advisor Pakistan‚Colonel Sheharyar Parvez Butt.
Pakistan’s Chief of NavalStaff Admiral MohammadAsif Sandila, during his stayin Sri Lanka, will hold detaileddiscussions on bilateral co-operation with his Lankancounterpart Vice AdmiralColombage.—NNI
Fazl for strongIndo-Pakrelations
LUDHIANA—The JamiatUlema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F)chief Maulana Fazlur Rehmanon his visit to Indian Punjabcalled upon the need to fos-ter strong relations betweenNew Delhi and Islamabad.
Talking to media personson arrival at Jamia Masjidhere, he said both the nationshave to improve the relationsthrough dialogue and not bypicking up arms.—INP
ISLAMABAD—The NationalAssembly was informedThursday that the mobilecompanies have been di-rected to discontinue suchnight packages which wereconsidered against the normsof social structure and moralvalues of the society.
Minister of State forParliamentary Affairs ShaikhAftab Ahmad told the Houseduring question hour that anumber of complaints hadalso been received againstthem from various quarters.
However, the companiestook the matter to the courtsand it is with Islamabad HighCourt at present. However, allother packages are in place.On a supplementary ques-tion, he said the issue of for-eign SIMs has been referredto the provincial govern-ments and the Ministry ofInterior is also consideringtaking measures on it.
To a question, Minister
Mobile companies directed todiscontinue night packages
Railways performance considerably improved: NA toldfor Railways Khawaja SaadRafique on behalf of Minis-ter for Information andBroadcasting told the Housethat Pakistan Television fol-lows the policy of truth withresponsibility and onlygives authenticated andverified news and views toaudiences.
He said moreover PTV’seditorial policy ensures di-versity of opinions to enrichviewers’ experience.
The Minister said theMedia Commission consti-tuted by the Supreme Courtin its report while evaluatingperformance of Public SectorMedia Corporations has rec-ommended reconstitution oftheir Board of Directors.
He said Information Min-istry is currently reviewingthe composition of existingBoard of Directors and iscontemplating the expansionto bring in diversity of viewsby incorporating representa-
tives from various sectors.To a question, Minister
for Railways said the perfor-mance of Pakistan Railwaysconsiderably improved interms of punctuality of trains,revenue generation position,number of passengers andpublic facilitation.
The Minister said therevenue generated in Octo-ber this year is 1.86 billionrupees which was 1.40 billionrupees in the same period lastyear. Similarly, he said, oversix hundred thousand morepassengers traveled in trainsin October comparing withthe same period last year.
Khawaja Saad Rafiquesaid Railways will continuerecovering its lands from theencroachers and no pressureor influence will be accommo-dated in this regard. He saidhe has serious reservationson the suggestion of provid-ing alternate land to en-croachers.—INP
STAFF REPORTER
ISLAMABAD—Prime Minister’sAdvisor on Foreign Affairs andNational Security, Sartaj Azizsaid on Thursday the US hadconducted 50 drone strikeslast year and 20 this year whichwas an indication that Wash-ington was feeling pressureover the issue.
Speaking to reportersoutside Parliament, SartajAziz said US Defence Secre-tary Chuck Hagel had notmade any threat to stop mili-tary aid to Pakistan.
Aziz added that no pres-sure had been applied onAfghanistan to sign a secu-rity pact with the US.
US feeling pressure overdrone strikes: Sartaj
When asked about thePak-Iran gas pipeline, Sartajreplied that Islamabad wasseeking an extension in the2014 deadline.
Pakistan has rejected allmedia reports regarding anywarning from US DefenseSecretary Chuck Hagel dur-ing his visit to Islamabad.
Foreign Office Spokes-person Aizaz AhmedChaudhry told media duringweekly briefing in Islamabadon Thursday that reports re-garding threats by the USDefence Secretary to halt aidto Pakistan are baseless. Hesaid Pakistan has been con-tinuing NATO suppliesthrough southern routes.
I S L A M A B A D — F o r m e rChief Justice IftikharMohammad Chaudhry hassaid that there is no dan-ger to democracy in Paki-stan as a result of differ-ent decisions and stepstaken by the SupremeCourt and was confidentthat the apex court will bethe major stumbling blockif anyone tried to subvertthe constitution.
Judiciary main hurdle foradventurers: Iftikhar
In an interview, theformer chief justice said hadhe not confronted GeneralMusharraf, i t would nothave been possible forBenazir Bhutto and NawazSharif to return to Pakistanand Musharraf would havebeen ruling the countryeven today.
He said he has no imme-diate plan to enter the poli-tics.
He said the biggestproblem of Pakistan is thepresent outdated systembecause of which Patwarisand constables become‘Pharaoh’.
Justice IftikharChaudhry said while noticeis taken on illegal orders ofthe president and the primeminister, the system cannottake the Patwaris and con-stables to task.—INP
Iran, Saudi Arabiaamong 30 countriesinvited to Syria talksMONTREUX—The so-calledGeneva 2 conference, a fol-low-up to a 2012 meeting, isaimed at mapping out a po-litical transition to end nearlythree years of fighting thathas killed more than 120,000people and displaced mil-lions.
But the January 22 meet-ing will actually be held at thelakeside Swiss city ofMontreux because of a short-age of hotel rooms in Geneva,which will be hosting a luxurywatch fair, a Western diplo-mat told AFP.
“At the moment there are32 countries invited, but thatnumber may increase be-cause everyone wants tocome,” an Arab diplomat toldAFP.
Lowari Tunnelopened for trafficISLAMABAD—Lowari Tun-nel, which was closed afterheavy snowfall on Wednes-day, has been opened fortraffic by Army engineers.People of Swat have appre-ciated extraordinary effortof Pakistan Army. The en-gineers of Pak army re-mained successful in open-ing the tunnel after workingall night. Traffic movementhad become impossible dueto closure of tunnel, how-ever now it has beenopened for vehicles andconnection of Chitral hasalso been restored with restof the parts of country.—Online
Miner killed incoalmine collapseMI A N WA L I—A labourerdied and three others in-jured when a portion ofcoalmine caved-in here onThursday. Rescue sourcessaid that the incident tookplace in a coalmine locatedin Karandi area ofMakarrwal, districtMianwali at the time whenthe miners were busy inroutine work. Four minerswere buried under the de-bris. The other labourerspresent at the scene dug outa body and three injuredminers from the rubble andshifted them to hospital.—INP
NADRA officialgunned downMULTAN—Unknown armedmen gunned down deputymanager of National Data-base Registration Authorityhere late Wednesday nightand sped away. Police saidthat armed motorcyclistssprayed bullets at the vehicleof Muhammad Awais,Deputy Manager AccountsNADRA near Madni Chowkof Multan.—INP
Seven killed inQalat road mishapQALAT—At least sevenpeople were killed and 9 oth-ers injured when a speedingbus overturned on NationalHighway in Qalat earlyThursday morning.
The ill-fated bus carryingmore than 30 passengerstoppled on the main highwaylinking Quetta to Karachi. Thebodies of the deceased wereshifted to Civil Hospital Qalat,whereas, the injured wererushed to Quetta for treat-ment.—Online
ALMOST a quarter of middle-agedwomen report their quality of sleepis less than good, according to a
new study. Sleep problems were tied topoor quality of life, chronic illness andmedication use, research-ers found. The new studyadds to earlier research bylooking at common sleepproblems among womenbefore they hit meno-pause, according to Dr.Päivi Polo. She led thestudy at the University ofTurku in Finland.
“Typically we thinkthat these are problems ofmenopause and thusmenopause is the reasonfor everything,” Polo toldReuters Health. “Then wetry to treat all menopausalinsomnia symptoms withhormone replacementtherapy ... but because insome women the sleepproblems are already evident before themenopause, the HRT may not alleviateall sleep problems and we physicians arewondering what to do next.”
After menopause, hot flashes andnight sweats increase sleep problems, shesaid. Polo and her colleagues surveyed850 mothers about their sleep when theywere 42 years old, on average. One thirdhad a chronic illness, like diabetes orheart disease, and 28 percent were onregular medication.
Women most often reported wakingup frequently at night. Sixty percent ofthem had that problem at least once aweek. Sixteen percent of women reported
having difficulty falling asleep and 20percent said they woke up too early inthe morning on a weekly basis.
Morning sleepiness was reported by42 percent and daytime sleepiness by
32 percent. Sleep troublesare not new for people ofany age, but they do seemto be a bit more commonamong women. Hormonalchanges related to men-strual cycles or menopausemay be partly to blame, theauthors write in Maturitas.
Occasional alcoholdrinking was tied to bettersleep quality and less fallingasleep at work, they found.But women’s weight andphysical activity levels werenot linked to sleep problems.That might be because mostwomen in the study were inthe normal range for bodysize, Polo said. Other stud-ies have tied obesity to sleep
problems like sleep apnea.“There is likely a bidirectional asso-
ciation such that obesity may inducepoor sleep, and short sleep may induceweight gain and subsequent obesity,”Dr. Helen Driver, who researches sleepat Queen’s University in Kingston,Ontario, Canada, said. “The study wasnot designed to assess much detailabout the relationship between physi-cal activity and sleep, which is a com-plex interaction depending on factorssuch as physical fitness, aerobic capac-ity, exercise type (aerobic, non-aerobic,stretching) and timing,” Driver toldReuters Health in an email.
Sleep problems commonamong middle-aged women
Children presenting skits on the eve of drama festival at Rawalpindi Arts Council.
Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif writing his remarks on Mandela’s death in the condolence book placed at South African Embassy.
CITY REPORTER
ISLAMABAD—A thousand-year old Chinese traditionof brewing a right cup of teaand serve it in a manner tocreate ambiance of particu-lar culture was showcasedat Chinese Tea Culture Pro-gram which was arrangedby Confucius InstituteIslamabad (CII) at NationalUniversity of Modern Lan-guages (NUML).
Ms Li Yanping, a popu-lar Chinese Tea expert, wasthe lady who displayed theblending and brewing thetea for a certain taste andaroma masterly before abig gathering of the event.The event was attendedby the Director General(DG) Brig Azam Jamal, DrZhang Daojian, Head ofConfucius Institute, offi-
cials from Chinese embassy,faculty members of CII,Roots International and oth-ers who enjoyed slurpingand sipping six kinds of tra-ditional hot fresh tea namelyBlack tea, Dark tea, Whitetea, Yellow, Green tea, andOlong tea.
Ms Li Yanping, who hasbeen engaged in the researchof tea culture for last 20 yearsand represented at Tea Expoat platform of United Nationsand a visiting professor inmany international institu-tions, explained the season,region, size of leaves, proper-tea ware, complementary fla-vor, and terroir with referenceto the tradition of tea makingin China.
Ms Yanping said that “aperfect cup of tea is one thatis shared with others, onethat satisfies your thirst
when you are thirsty, stimu-lates and inspires youwhen you are running lowon energy and one thatsoothes the angst of dailylife”. She said that tea is notpouring something intoyour belly rather it is a life,health, tradition, a culture,a recreation and personathat you cherish each timeyou experience it.
In China there is a rangeof tea and the each kind oftea is associated with tra-dition, celebration, anevent and served to omenyou health, happiness andprosperity in your life, sheadded.
The faculty of RootsInternational Schools wereinvited at tea CulturalProgramme hosted byConfucius Inst i tute.Programme was organized
by Confucius Institute atNational Universi ty ofModern LanguagesIslamabad.
Ms. Fariha,programme coordinatorfor Foreign Languages atRoots InternationalSchools along with Ms.Maria Iram, media coor-dinator at tended theevent with couple of fac-ulty members.
The faculty of RIS en-joyed the 6 types of teaat the programme whileMs. Li enlightened themwith history behind thenames of those tea types.Ms. Sana Bawar and Mr.Majid Ahmed preparedthe tea cal led ‘EasternBeauty’, which accord-ing to Ms Li, is namedafter it was presented asa gift to Queen Elizabeth.
Centuries old Chinese Tea Culture
Chinese Tea expert Li Yanping, displaying the art of tea making in Chinese Tea CultureProgramme at NUML.
CITY REPORTER
ISLAMABAD—In order to pro-mote the culture of researchcollection building, the ‘3rdAnnual Book Fair‘ was orga-nized by Bahria University on11th and 12th December, 2013at university premises.
The event was inaugu-rated by the Honorable Rec-tor of Bahria University, ViceAdmiral Shahid Iqbal HI (M)(Retired). This event was oneof the biggest book fairs everorganized by the universitywith around twenty one re-nowned book sellers/ vendorsand publishers who had setuptheir stalls for the university.
The Book Fair covered alarge variety of books includ-ing all major disciplines likeSocial Sciences, Media Stud-
ies, Computer Sciences, Man-agement Sciences, HumanResources and DevelopmentStudies and received over-whelming response from thestaff and students. Pro-Rec-
tor, Registrar, all Directors ofBahria University, were alsopresent on this occasion. Alarge number of students andfaculty members also tookkeen interest in the book fair.
Annual Book Fair at Bahria University
CITY REPORTER
ISLAMABAD—Police officialsfrom twin cities of Rawalpindiand Islamabad on Thursday sattogether to chalk out an effec-tive joint security plan and de-cided elaborate measures to en-sure protection to the lives andproperty of the citizens.
Following the directionsfrom Minister for Interior Ch.Nisar Ali Khan, a meeting of of-ficials of Islamabad andRawalpindi police as well asPakistan Rangers was held atCentral Police Office Islamabad.
The meeting was attendedby City police officer ,Rawalpindi, Akhtar Umar
Hayat Laleka, SSP Operations,Rawalpindi Mian Maqbool,SSP Special BranchRawalpindi Ali Mohsin, AIG(Operations) Islamabad, Sul-tan Azam Temuri, AIG SpecialBranch Islamabad WaqarAhmad Chohan, SSP Opera-tions Islamabad MuhammadRizwan, Sector commander,Pak Rangers, Islamabad.Brigadier Khalid KhanJadoon and representativefrom Ministry of Interior andNational Crisis ManagementCell, Naseem Ul Haq Hashmi.
Speaking on the occasion,IGP Islamabad Sikandar Hayatasked the participants to de-vise an elaborate joint secu-
rity plan for twin cities. Heasked the police officials ofboth cities to enhance coordi-nation and ensure prompt ex-change of information. He saidthat joint pickets at inlets / out-lets will be established andsearch operation in slum areaswould be conducted.
He also asked to consti-tute joint working groups ofpolice and establish joint wire-less control room. The IGP saidthat rapid response force of Pa-kistan Rangers is being de-puted in Rawalpindi andIslamabad which would ap-proach at the site in case ofany untoward incident. Hesaid QRF teams of Pakistan
Rangers would perform dutiesat D-Chowk, Zero Point, IJPrinciap Road.
Sikandar Hayat said thatpatrolling mechanism for bothcities is also being devised andofficers in shifts would patrolin various areas.
The meeting decided thatcrackdown would be ensuredagainst dacoits, car liftinggangs, proclaimed offenders inboth cities and criminalswanted to police of any dis-trict would be transferred tothe respective police stationafter their arrest. The IGP saidthat security cameras would beinstalled at toll plazas ofRawalpindi and Islamabad.
Islamabad-Rawalpindi policedevising joint security plan
STAFF REPORTER
ISLAMABAD—The minister ofState for Education Mr.Muhammad Baligh Ur Rehmansaid the government is plan-ning to provide free educationtill SSC level to increase educa-tion ratio in the country. He saidthis while addressing to a gath-ering at Abasyn university cel-ebrating its first anniversaryand opening ceremony ofStudent’s Week here on Thurs-day. He graced the occasionwith his presence as chief guest.Abasyn University is specifi-cally excellent as it presentspossibilities to students to
work in collaboration, to exer-cise leadership and enhance theability to take initiatives. It sup-plies a wonderful opportunityto youngsters to determinetheir potentials and improveboth academics and non – scho-lastic know how also as theirsocial and behavioral skills. Inaddition to this, these activitiesensure physical, mental, social,emotional and aesthetic im-provement. These activitiesalso deliver possibilities for self-expression and self-fulfillment.Nonetheless, you will find anumber of co-curricular activi-ties which have verified theirimpact in the student life in sev-
eral researches.Vice chancellor Dr. Jamil
Ahmed at the occasion urgedthe government to take moresteps for making collaborationamong government and pri-vate educational organizationsso that students may havemore practical knowledge andcan develop their research skill.While highlighting the activi-ties and achievements includ-ing grant of thirteen million forresearch project from nationalICT and R&D fund, he exploredhis strategy and stressed onquality education, research, in-ternalization, career develop-ment and industrial linkage.
Govt planning to providefree education till SSC
Tasnim back asFO Spokesperson
LIAQAT TOOR
ISLAMABAD—Ms. TasnimA s l a mhas beena p -p o i n t e das then e wS p o k e s -person ofMinistryof For-
eign Affairs with immediate ef-fect.
MS. Tasnim Aslam is a se-nior diplomat who has servedPakistan at ambassadoriallevel in foreign capitals. Ear-lier, she had held this positionin mid of last decade.
Tax counters intrade centers
STAFF REPORTER
ISLAMABAD—District Admin-istration (Distt Admin) hasannounced to establish theTax Counter in different tradecenters of federal capital tofacilitate the tax payers.
PM condolesdeath of Mandela
CITY REPORTER
ISLAMABAD—Prime Minister,Muhammad Nawaz Sharif vis-ited the South African Embassytoday to express condolenceon the death of NelsonMandela. The Prime Ministerconveyed his heartfelt condo-lences to the bereaved familyand the people of South Africa.
On this occasion he saidthat death of Mr. NelsonMandela is a great loss to theworld. He was a man of fore-sight and great wisdom, and hisservices towards reconcilia-tion, human rights, and democ-racy will be remembered, thePrime Minister added. He re-called his meeting with NelsonMandela in 1991 in Harare andsaid that it was an honour andpleasure meeting such a greatperson. Mr. Nelson Mandelatwice visited Pakistan and hewanted peaceful resolution tothe issues between Pakistanand India, the Prime Ministersaid.
Writing his remarks in THECondolence Book, the PrimeMinister said Mr. Mandela’smemory will serve as a beaconfor the coming generations intheir quest for human dignityand equality.
Int’l VolunteerDay today
I S L A M A B A D — N a t i o n a lCouncil of Social Welfare(NCSW) of Capital Adminis-tration and Development Di-vision (CADD) is going toobserve International Volun-teer Day on December 13 (Fri-day). According to a pressrelease issued here on Thurs-day, the event is being orga-nized at a local hotel.—APP
Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed, Chairman Organizing Committee of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly, with the Afghan delegates on theirdeparture at Nur Khan Air Base.
06:10
01:30
03:45
07:00
Zohr
Brothers in Islam establishregular prayers and charity
December 13
TWO day South Asian FreeMedia Association will holdPakistan-Afghanistan bilat-eral conference, ISAF with-drawal from Afghanistan:Bilateral partnership forpeace and cooperation fromDecember 13th at 10: a.m.
****
THE Inspector General,National Highway &Motorway Police Mr.Zulfiqar Ahmed Cheemawill hold a Press Confer-ence on 13.12.2013 at 1500hours (Friday) at NationalHighways & MotorwayPolice HeadquartersHouse No. 07, MainKaghan Road, F-8/3.
Ambassador of Switzerland Christoph Bubb looks at the paintings displayed during anexhibition “Four Seasons” by Ubaid Syed at Tanzara Gallery.—PO photo
Famous singer Humaira Arshad performs during at a musical concert at Open AirTheater.—PO photo by Sultan Bashir
STAFF REPORTER
ISLAMABAD—A three-dayconference of health man-agers of Eastern Mediterra-nean Region of WorldHealth Organization (WHO)to suggest steps for elimi-nation of leprosy con-cluded here on Thursday.The representatives of vari-ous countries discussedthe issues related with thedisease including supportand facilities to membercountries.
The member countriesdiscussed challenge facedin implementing WHO en-
hanced global strategy, de-veloping enhanced globalstrategy 2016-2020, guidingprinciples and focus for thenext five years.
They also reviewedachievements in disease bur-den, chantries experience inimplementing enhanced glo-bal strategy 2011-2015 andother important aspects re-garding elimination of dis-ease.
Country Representative,WHO, Dr Nima Abid thankedthe Global LeprosyProgramme for technicallysupporting the meeting be-sides ‘The Nippon Founda-
tion and Sasakawa MemorialHealth Foundation’ for theircontinuous support to lep-rosy efforts in the EasternMediterranean Region.
He said partners whohave greatly supported lep-rosy elimination efforts in anumber of countries espe-cially areas in emergencysituations or difficult to reachgeographic areas.
He said the main objec-tive of the meeting was tomonitor the implementationof the Global EnhancedStrategy 2011-2015. “Welook forward to hear up-dates on the implementation
of the strategy in countriesof the region, both by thenational programme manag-ers and partners who sup-port the nationalprogrammes in some areas,”he added.
The meeting was in-formed that an importantevent took place few monthsago in way towards the elimi-nation of leprosy, which wasthe International LeprosySummit-Overcoming the Re-maining Challenges, thattook place in Bangkok, Thai-land on July 24-26, 2013.
During the summit,Bangkok Declaration was
endorsed and signed by theMinisters of Health fromthe 18 countries with high-est leprosy burden includ-ing Sudan and SouthSudan. In this Declaration,the Ministers reaffirmedtheir commitments towardsleprosy and urged all inter-ested parties to accordhigher priority for leprosyand allocate more resourcesin the coming years with theaim to achieve the target ofreducing the occurrence ofnew cases with visible de-formity, to less than onecase per million populationby the year 2020.
Global strategy to eliminate leprosy
3,155 beggarsarrested
RAWALPINDI—City TrafficPolice arrested 3,155 beggarsfrom various areas of the cityduring the year. The policehanded over the children tothe Child Protection Bureau.
Talking to media, ChiefTraffic Officer Syed IshtiaqHussain Shah said the beg-gars have been arrested un-der the Vagrancy Act and 33cases have been registeredunder section 9 of the Act.
He said that a compre-hensive campaign has beenlaunched against the beg-gars adding that 2 specialsquads have been set up.
It is not only a securitythreat but a deplorable act.He directed the wardens tosubmit report on daily basisto discourage the trend.
He warned strict actionwould be taken against thosenegligent in performing du-ties.
Meanwhile, the peoplebelonging to various sec-tions demanded of the au-thorities to arrest the beg-gars who not only createproblems for the pedestriansbut also disrupt the flow oftraffic particularly on themain roads and at the cross-ing points making lame ex-cuses to get alms.—APP
Bonus for Christianemployees
STAFF REPORTER
ISLAMABAD—Capital Devel-opment Authority (CDA) hasannounced bonus for itsChristian employees on theeve of Christmas.
The bonus will be equalto one month basic pay. No-tification in this regard hasbeen issued. The CDA hasalso issued notification fordisbursement of Eid allow-ance equal to one month ba-sic pay among 1300 employ-ees of Sanitation, MPO andEnvironment directorate whohad performed duty on theeve of Eid ul Azha.
The bonus has been an-nounced under an agreementreached between CDA ad-ministration and labor union.
The labor union officebearers and employeeshave expressed jubilationover announcement of bo-nus by CDA.
CITY REPORTER
RAWALPINDI—A five-dayanti polio campaign will startfrom December 18th andchildren under five yearswould be vaccinated againstthe crippling disease. Dur-ing the campaign, 6,95,000chidlren would be vacci-nated and the target wouldbe achieved.
According to AdditionalDeputy Commissioner Gen-eral (ADCG) Talat MehmoodGondal all available re-sources would be utilized toensure that the campaign isa success so that no childremains unattended.
He said while reviewingarrangements in a meetinghere on Thursday. The ADCGsaid arrangements for the
polio campaign were beingfinalised. District Health Of-ficer Dr Khalid Randhawasaid that 860 teams have beenconstituted that would coverbus stands, railway stations,markets and other publicplaces.
The teams would alsovisit house to house admin-ister polio drops to the chil-dren. He said communityparticipation in this regardwould be ensured so thatthe target could beachieved. He said no negli-gence on part of officialswould be tolerated duringthe campaign.
Religious scholars andparents have been urged tocome forward and play theirrole to make the campaign asuccess.
Anti-polio campaignfrom Dec 18
STAFF REPORTER
ISLAMABAD—Pir Mehr AliShah Arid Agriculture Uni-versity Rawalpindi (PMAS-AAUR) and Center for De-velopment Research Univer-sity of Bonn Germany willwork together in field of agri-culture and water manage-ment. This was decided in ameeting between Prof. Dr. RaiNiaz Ahmad, Vice Chancellor,PMAS-AAUR and Dr.Bernhard Tischbein, SeniorHydrologist, Center for De-
velopment Research, Univer-sity of Bonn Germany, hereon Thursday.
It was mutually agreed tostrengthen the interactionand collaboration amongPMAS-AAUR and Univer-sity of Bonn Germany. Theyhighlighted the significanceof close linkages with orga-nizations and agreed to worktogether for the promotion ofresearch activities.
In the meeting it was alsodecided that University ofBonn Germany will provide
technical, financial support andwill also provide training toUniversity faculty, students.
Participants discussedthat collaborative research andteaching programs being de-veloped for the students es-pecially in line with the require-ments of Pothwar region. Theyagreed to make efficient use ofnatural resources and at thesame time maintaining interna-tional standards and called forpromotion of environment-friendly agricultural practicesto increase productivity.
PMAS, German Universityto work together
STAFF REPORTER
I S L A M A B A D — S e n a t o rMushahid Hussain Sayed,Chairman of the Senate De-fence Committee on Thursdaysaid that Pakistan places bilat-eral relations with Afghanistanin high esteem as destinies ofboth the countries are inter-twined based on our historical,cultural, linguist and religionscommonalities. He expressedthese views while talking to a10- member Afghan delegationled by Mirwais Yasini, the firstVice Speaker of Afghan Olasi
Jirga.The delegation, after par-
ticipation in the Asian Parlia-mentary Assembly left forAfghanistan on Thursday.
Senator MushahidHussain Sayed who was alsoChairman of the organizingCommittee of the APA sawoff the delegation at NurKhan Airbase, Rawalpindi.Leader and other members ofAfghan delegation agreedwith the view of SenatorMushahid and said that bothPakistan and Afghanistanwant peace and stability in
the region to safeguard thefuture of coming genera-tions.
They also thanked SenatorMushahid Hussain for hospi-tality and extended warm felici-tations for organizing such awonderful conference in whichissues concerning Asian regionwere discussed and debatedthoroughly. On the occasion,Senator Mushahid HussainSayed observed that the 6thPlenary of APA was unique andwould, in the long run, help inachieving the objectives ofpeaceful and prosperous Asia.
Pak gives importance torelations with Afghanistan
Children festivalat RAC
CITY REPORTER
ISLAMABAD—A one day chil-dren festival was organized byRawalpindi Arts Council topatronize co-curricular activi-ties of the students and pro-vide them a platform. ResidentDirector RAC, Waqar Ahmedwas chief guest at the festival.The students of Modern Lan-guage School staged tablos tohighlight social issues.
The students also sangnational songs and pre-sented regional culture of thecountry.
Resident Director RACWaqar Ahmed applauded theefforts of Principal ModernLanguage School ZafranElahi in this regard. Theawards were distributed atthe end of festival among dis-tinguished students.
AIMS AnnualSports Gala
STAFF REPORTER
ISLAMABAD—AIMS Educa-tion System will celebrate itsannual sports gala,on Satur-day, December 14,at Jinnahsports complex. Federal Sec-retary for Law,Justice andHuman rights BarristerZafarullah Khan will be thechief guest on this occasion.
Students from the fourbranches of AIMS EducationSystem of the twin cities ofRawalpindi and Islamabadwill participate in differentsports activites includingC r i c k e t , V o l l e y b a l lThrowball,basketball andTable Tennis, said a press re-lease issued here.
Winter vacationsfor educational
institutionsSTAFF REPORTER
RAWALPINDI—Winter vaca-tions in all the state run schoolsand colleges of Rawalpindi di-vision have been announced.
The winter vacations willcommence from December, 26and continue till December, 31.All the schools, colleges andeducational institutions will re-open on January, 1, 2014. Noti-fication with regard to summervacations has been issued.
MetropolitanCorporation totake over CDA
departmentsCITY REPORTER
ISLAMABAD—Charge of sev-eral departments of CapitalDevelopment Authority(CDA) would be shifted tomunicipal cooperation afterthe establishing of proposedMetropolitan Corporation.
Under the proposed bill ofestablishing of municipal de-partments, thousands of em-ployees working in CDA will bealso shifted in MetropolitanCorporation along with their de-partments. According to bill,corporation will be responsibleto implement the by laws in dis-trict, while establishing of wa-ter resources, drainage plants,solid waste disposable and pro-vision of municipal services willbe also included in the respon-sibilities of corporation.
CITY REPORTER
ISLAMABAD—Minister ofState for Housing & WorksBarrister Usman Ibrahim hasordered to recover all officialvehicles from officials/offic-ers in the Ministry and at-tached departments, who arenot entitled to use these ve-hicles.
The Minister observedthat most of the officers, whoare not entitled under staffcar rules, have been using theofficial vehicles of the Min-istry and attached depart-ments. The Minister has di-rected all attached depart-ments i.e. Pak PWD, Estate
Office, National Construc-tion Limited (NCL), PakistanHousing Authority PHA),Federal GovernmentEmployyes Housing Foun-dation (FGEHF) that all suchvehicles may immediately bereturned and parked in theoffice premises of the Minis-try and respective attacheddepartments.
The Minister further di-rected that officers would re-turn the official vehicles totransport officers of the re-spective offices along withthe amount of POL chargesincurred during the unautho-rized period of use. The Min-ister has also noticed that
there are some un-authorizedofficers who are using morethan one vehicles and wholefuel and maintenance bills aresent to the Ministry and re-spective departments.
It may also be mentionedthat the Minister has directedthe concerned officials tosubmit a detailed report ofeach vehicle along with itsPOL charges and recoverydate, etc. within 3 days. More-over, the Minister stated thatmalpractices have causedgreat financial loss to theMinistry, so no excuse will beaccepted from anyone re-garding keeping the vehiclein his use.
Recovery of vehicles fromnon-entitled officials
STAFF REPORTER
ISLAMABAD—Speaker Na-tional Assembly (NA) SardarAyaz Sadiq has directed minis-ter for Parliamentary Affairs topresent the report of all gov-ernment officials in parliamentwho have been appearing onmedia as observers and ana-lysts.
Details said, on Thursday,Member National Assembly(MNA) Pakistan MuslimLeague (PML-N) Maj.(rtd) Tahir
Iqbal raised the issue on callfor attention notice that manyof government officials havebeen appearing on different TVchannels as a observers andanalysts.
He said, these officials havealso criticized the polices ofgovernment in their analysiswhich is against their servicesrules. Speaker NA demandedthe version of minister for Par-liamentary Affairs Shiekh Aftabon the issue; the minister repliedthat services rules do not allow
any government official to ex-press their views on media.
On this speaker NA di-rected Minister Shiekh Aftab todemand the reply from all min-istries that what disciplinaryaction has been taken againstemployees who have appearedin media against rules and regu-lations. Minister for Parliamen-tary Affairs assured the housethat he will write the letters toall departments and will alsoprovide the details on the floorof house.
Report about officialsappearing on media
Pervaiz’s statementhas no sense: PTI
ISLAMABAD—Central Infor-mation Secretary PTI,Shireen Mazari, expresseddismay over the statementof Information MinisterPervez Rashid where he de-clared his government hadno intention of talking toPTI Chairman Imran Khanon ending the NATO sup-ply blockade in KhyberPukhtunkhwa.
In a statement on Thurs-day, Mazari s tated thatPervez Rashid’s bizarrestatement made no sensebecause PTI had not askedthe government for talks.Instead, she reminded thatPTI has used the only toolit has to pressure the USinto stopping drones as perthe APC mandate, becausethe government has cho-sen to stay immobile.
The US Defence Secre-tary came and went and nopressure was put on theUS through him on stop-ping drones. Pervez Rashidneed not fear about PTImaking demands on thegovernment since the APChas already demandedsome actions from the gov-ernment which have yet tobe met.—Online
Musharrafvisits SouthAfrican HC
I S L A M A B A D — F o r m e rPresident PervezMusharraf visi ted SouthAfrican embassy here tosign the condolence bookto honour the l i fe andlegacy of Nelson Mandela.
According to a state-ment issued by spokesper-son to Musharraf, Dr. RazaBokhari, the former presi-dent wrote in the condo-lence book, “Today theworld pays homage to themost well-known, respectedand popular figure that per-haps history has everknown.
On a personal level Idraw inspiration from thelife of Madiba NelsonMandela: The limit of injus-tice and hardship that onecan endure for a causelarger than self; the causefor one’s country and one’speople”.
Musharraf was re-ceived at the High Com-mission by HE M. Kumalo,High Commiss ioner ofSouth Africa, the DeputyHigh Commissioner , De-fence Attaché and seniorembassy officials.—INP
Removal ofcamp from
Soura demandedISLAMABAD—Several peoplestaged a protest demonstrationagainst the presence of Indianarmy camp at Bilal ColonySoura in Srinagar
Panic gripped after fire at anearby Indian Central Reserve Po-lice Force (CRPF) camp in the city,Kashmir Media Service reported.
The locals while demand-ing immediate removal of thecamp from the areas said thatIndian Central Reserve PoliceForce (CRPF) camp had createdpanic and ruined their daily lifeactivities.“We have time andagain demanded that the campbe shifted from the residentialarea as it was a source of incon-venience for locals,” said an of-fice bearer of Bilal ColonyMasjid Committee.—APP
MUZAFFARABAD: President of AJK Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan, talking to the staff of medical college.
SRINAGAR—A patient suffer-ing from serious cardiac ailmentpassed away at SKIMS, after theambulance ferrying him therefrom Handwara, reached therelate after it was stopped by traf-fic police for half an hour nearSopore.
The inordinate delay wasallegedly caused after traffic of-ficials kept the ambulance wait-ing for almost half-an-hour atSeelu Sopore. Police stoppedthe vehicle on the pretext of us-ing a wrong siren, attendantsaccompanying the patient, al-leged.
“I was ferrying the patientfrom Handwara to SKIMS. As Ireached Seelu Sopore, the policestopped me and opened all thelights and siren of ambulance.They kept the siren near ambu-lance tyre and asked me to breakthe same,” Manzoor Ahmad, theambulance driver working inHandwara district hospital toldKNS on phone.
He further stated that theauthorities made the ambulance
wait for more than 30 minutesand that he repeatedly requestedthe officials about the criticalcondition of the patient but to noavail. “I requested them severaltimes that the patient is in a criti-cal condition with a major car-diac attack but they made me towait on the road side andsmashed the siren.”
According to a KNS report,60-year-old Abdul Rahman Dar,resident of Yansoo Handwarawas admitted in District hospi-tal Handwara under MRD num-ber 11408, dated December 9,2013, after he suffered a cardiacstroke. The doctors at the dis-trict hospital later referred himto SKIMS, Srinagar.
The driver of ambulancebearing number JK05A 3402was directed to ferry the patientto SKIMS. The ambulance wasstopped by the authorities atSeelu Sopore. A senior officerin traffic department said thereason for stopping the ambu-lance was that the driver wasusing a wrong siren.
However, eye witnesses saidthat the authorities were busy inmonitoring the traffic violationsat Sopore and that the ambu-lance driver was stopped nearSeelu by the officials on theground of violating the trafficnorms.
The attendants accompany-ing Dar said that the authorities,without any reason, made themto wait on the road side for halfan hour due to which the condi-tion of the patient deterioratedfurther.
“The doctors here inSrinagar told us that there hasbeen inordinate delay in bring-ing the patient to the hospital butthe main reason for this delaywas the inappropriate attitude ofthe officials at Sopore, they al-leged. “We begged them to letus go but they didn’t pay anyheed,” said a close relative ofDar.
When contacted, the Inspec-tor General of Police (Traffic)Munir Ahmad Khan said thathe will verify the facts.—APP
Cops stop ambulance,‘cause’ death of patient
SRINAGAR—National PanthersParty Patron, Prof Bhim Singhhas said that the National Con-ference President and Indianminister, Farooq Abdullahplayed a key role in rigging 1987elections in the territory.
Endorsing the assertionsof the veteran Hurriyet leader,Syed Ali Gilani and otherHurriyet leaders about the rig-ging, Bhim Singh told aSrinagar-based news agency,“National Conference patronDr Farooq Abdullah played amajor role in rigging the 1987elections and even the Hizbcommander, Syed Salahuddinwas tortured in a police sta-tion at his behest.”
“Muslim United Front badlyrouted National Conference in1987 elections but the coercivemeasures adopted by NC pushedthe MUF members and support-ers to wall.
I myself visited Kothi Bagh
police station where SyedSalahudin was detained. NC isnow twisting facts by claimingthat 1987 elections were notrigged,” Singh said.
At least 22 MUF candidateswere forced to accept defeat byDr Farooq Abdullah led-NC re-gime, he added.
Prof Singh said that humanrights violations in Kashmir Val-ley had taken a heavy toll onpeople and held the NationalConference set-up responsiblefor it.
“At least 60 to 70 Kashmiriyouth are languishing in differ-ent jails of India. Most of themhave been implicated in falsecase and are undergoing trials,”he said.
Singh said that Kashmiriyouth lodged in Jodhpur,Varanasi, Delhi, Bangalore andother jails of India have becomethe victims of flawed legal sys-tem.—KMS
ABDUL MAJID ZARGAR
A web of falsehood hasbeen woven around theinstrument of accession
between Indian Govt. and Ma-haraja of Kashmir to present itas a credible and genuine docu-ment before the internationalcommunity and general public.However, continuous scholarlydebates and archival materialshave exposed such falsehoods.Noted historian and author ofseveral books, Dr Abdul Ahad,who has held many importantpositions as Director Archivesand museums, has termed theinstrument of accession as abogus document on the basisof archival material, overwrit-ing in dates, type of ink usedfor signatures etc. etc.
In chapter 23 of his bookKashmir Triumphs &Trag-edies, he has exposed a num-
ber of infirmities in the instru-ment of accession that put itscredibility to a severe test. Prob-ably this explains the Indian un-willingness to present the origi-nal instrument before the UN orits exhibition in the white paperon Kashmir presented before In-dian Constituent Assembly on3rd March 1948. (See alsoAlistair Lamb -Chapter V1)
Be that as it may, there havebeen many other myths floatedin the past around this instru-ment which need to be rebuttedto put the records straight.
The first of such myths isthat the instrument of accessionwas signed by Maharaja on 26thOctober. V.P. Menon, the mansupposed to have obtainedMaharaja’s Signatures, states inhis book “Integration of States”that he traveled from Delhi toJammu on this date, got the in-strument signed by Maharaja
and flew back to Delhi. Thissimply cannot be true as theMaharaja along with his familyleft Kashmir in the wee hours of26th October and consideringthe condition of Srinagar-Jammu Road (it used to be calledas Banihal cart road those daysand there was no Jawahar Tun-nel) and the eyewitness accountof those who saw Maharaja’sMotorcade pass through differ-ent towns like Ramban, Kud andUdhampur, Maharaja could nothave reached Jammu before 7.00PM.
That being so and keepingin view the absence of nightlanding and take-off facilities atJammu Airport those days it isnext to impossible for any per-son to fly from Delhi to Jammuand back at such an odd hour.Besides this, there are other evi-dences that nail this lie. Accord-ing to Alexander Symon,
Britain’s deputy High Commis-sioner in New Delhi, he metMenon on 26th October in Delhiand was told that he would flyto Jammu next day i.e 27th Oc-tober. (LP&S/13/1845b, ff 283-95-India office records).
Yet another evidence is pro-vided by M.C. Mahajan,Kashmir’s then Prime Minster.Writing in his autobiography,“Looking back – page 154”Mahajan says that he along withMenon went to Jammu on 27thOctober after receiving a mes-sage from Aerodrome officer inSrinagar around 9.00 AM thatIndian troops had landed there.On reaching Maharaja’s Palacein Jammu and after some discus-sion, formal documents weresigned by Maharaja whichMenon took back to Delhi. Ifany doubt remains, it is set at restby Nehru’s letter of 27th Octo-ber addressed to Mahraja which
reads as “Sh. V.P. Menon re-turned from Jammu thisevening (means 27th October)and informed me of talks there.
He gave me the instrumentof accession, which you havesigned. Even Patel’s Daughter andSecretary, Maniben Patel, saysthat her father received Menon atAirport on arrival from Jammu on27th October and not on 26th asis made out to be (Noorani –Frontline 24th March 1995).
By all these evidences, itis proved beyond doubt that ifat all instrument of accessionwas ever signed, it was on 27thOctober after the Indian troopshad landed in Srinagar.
The second of such falsemyths is that Indian forces en-tered Kashmir following atribal incursion on 22nd Octo-ber 1947. But it is now an es-tablished fact that under ‘op-eration Rescue’, Indian Govt.
Kashmir accession document shrouded in false myths
Farooq turned MUF wininto defeat in 1987 polls
had dispatched four commandoplatoons of its army’s 50th Para-chute Brigade and batteries ofPatiala artillery (most of thetimes camouflaged in civvies) toKashmir between 12th and 17thOctober, 1947, well before thetribal invasion. In-fact, SrinagarAirport was already surroundedand secured by these forceswhen the Indian Army was for-mally airlifted on 27th October.
It needs to be noted thatMountbatten had already prom-ised Hari Singh of such militaryhelp during his June 1947 visitto Srinagar (Freedom at Mid-night page 205. See also Patel’sCorrespondence with DefenceMinster Baldev Singh). Thus, itwas India who first sent armedforces into Kashmir even beforethe Maharaja signed the acces-sion.
Yet another distortion offacts is that after partition of the
subcontinent in 1947, Kashmirlay adjacent to both India andPakistan and hence its ruler wasentitled, according to rules ofpartition, to accede to either ofthe two Domains. This state-ment is historically incorrectbecause according to originalPartition Plan of 3rd June 1947,India was left with no accesscorridor to Kashmir.
Aware of this major con-straint, V.P. Menon acting asConstitutional advisor toMountbatten, sent him a notethree weeks before actual parti-tion which reads as “It (Kash-mir) does not lie in the bosomof Pakistan and it can claim anexit to India, especially if a por-tion of Gurdaspur district goesto India”. (See Vol XII of ‘TheTransfer of Power’ series ofdocuments).
Taking the matter further,Nehru exploited his “intimate
SRINAGAR—The All PartiesHurriyet Conference has reiter-ated its resolve to continue thepeaceful struggle till completefreedom from Indian bondage.
The APHC at its ExecutiveCouncil meeting, which waschaired by Mirwaiz UmarFarooq in Srinagar, today, de-cided to launch a mass contactcampaign to make people awareof the needs and demands of theongoing Kashmir freedomstruggle.
The APHC maintained thatthe movement could not be sub-dued through use of brutal tac-tics by New Delhi and stressedsettlement of the Kashmir dis-pute through dialogue between
Pakistan, India and the represen-tatives of the Kashmiri people.
Besides Mirwaiz UmarFarooq, the meeting was at-tended by Professor AbdulGhani Butt, Maulana AbbasAnsari, Agha Syed Hassan Al-Moosvi Al-Safvi, Bilal GhaniLone, Musaddiq Aadil andMukhtar Ahmad Waza.
Senior APHC leaderShabbir Ahmad Shah in a state-ment urged the European Unionto help resolve the Kashmir dis-pute as per wishes of theKashmiri people. APHC lead-ers, Nayeem Ahmad Khan, SyedBashir Andrabi, MuhammadYousuf Naqash and Hurriyetleader Farida Behanji in their
separate statements warnedpeople of baseless propagandaunleashed by New Delhi and itslocal collaborators against theongoing freedom movement.
Jamaat-e-Islami of occupiedKashmir Spokesman in a state-ment said that inhuman treat-ment meted out to the Hurriyetleaders and activists detained invarious jails was against theguarantees provided in interna-tional human rights charter.
Several people were injuredwhen police resorted to intensebaton charge during a protestdemonstration against anti-people policies of the puppetregime in Bijbehara town, today.The demonstrators blocked the
Highway and raised slogansagainst the excesses of the au-thorities.
Jammu and Kashmir Mus-lim League in a statement con-demned the illegal detention ofMasarrat Aalam Butt. A localcourt has sent the detainedHurriyet leader to Kathua policestation on 10-day remand.
National Panthers PartyPatron, Professor Bhim Singhin a media interview inSrinagar said that pro-freedomalliance, Muslim United Fronthad badly routed NationalConference in the elections in1987, but the pro-India partyturned its victory into defeat bythe dint of gun.—KMS
APHC urges UN to helpresolve Kashmir dispute
Nayeem Khan warns Kashmirisof Delhi’s propaganda
SRINAGAR—The All PartiesHurriyet Conference (APHC)leader and the Chairman ofJammu and Kashmir NationalFront, Nayeem Ahmad Khan haswarned people of the baselesspropaganda by New Delhi andits local collaborators against theongoing liberation movement ofKashmir.
Nayeem Ahmad Khan ad-dressing his party workers inSopore said that New Delhi hadstarted a fresh propagandaagainst the freedom movement
for which people had renderedtremendous sacrifices.
He added that it was theforemost responsibility of everypro-movement activist tocounter the latest propagandawave of New Delhi and its col-laborators and it could be doneonly by an effective people’scontact.”
“The Kashmir dispute is aHimalayan fact and the policy-makers of India are too awareof it, still then they are tryinghard to create confusion among
Kashmiris and misunderstand-ings about their freedom move-ment”, he added.
He said that the necessity ofeducating common people hadincreased manifold keeping inview the powerful propagandawave created by New Delhi andits collaborators.
He advised his party work-ers to further enhance people’scontact campaigns so that theconspiracies against the free-dom movement could befoiled.—KMS
relationship” with EdwinaMountbatten to prevail uponher husband Lord Mountbattento help awarding Muslim ma-jority district of Gurdaspur toIndia so as to provide it the re-quired corridor. Mountbatten,already peeved over Jinnah’srefusal to appoint him as firstGovernor General of Pakistaninstantly obliged by insertingextraneous factors in the Par-tition Plan which helpedGurdaspur district to go to In-dia. This is confirmed by a star-tling revelation by ChristopherBeaumont, Radcliffe’s Secre-tary, in London in 1992, stat-ing that under Mountbatten’spressure Radcliffe did alter theboundary lines to award theMuslim-majority district ofGurdaspur to India so as toprovide her a direct land accessto Kashmir.
—KMS
Demandingpolitical rights
not a crimeSRINAGAR—Jamaat-e-Islamihas said that inappropriate treat-ment meted out to various po-litical leaders and activists de-tained in various jails is againstthe guarantees provided in inter-national human rights charter.
The Jamaat spokesman, ad-vocate Zahid Ali in a statementissued in Srinagar said, “Talk-ing about the political rights ofa nation is not a crime but inKashmir even this right has alsobeen trampled by the impositionof black laws.”
“Even today, hundreds ofpolitical activists are languish-ing in jails and their only crimeis that they have been express-ing their sentiments,” the state-ment added.
“On one hand, the statemakes lofty claims about the re-spect of human rights but on theother, such legislations havebeen imposed which make thevery presence of human rightsas pointless,” he deplored.
The statement further said:“The presence of draconian lawslike PSA, AFSPA and UnlawfulActivities Act has virtuallychanged the territory into an au-tocracy where democracy hasbeen exiled.”—KMS
Iqbal Mir paystributes to liberation
leader Sofi AkbarSRINAGAR—The All PartiesHurriyet Conference (APHC)leader and the President ofJammu and Kashmir Mahaz-e-Azadi (MeA), Muhammad IqbalMir has paid rich tributes toparty founder and renownedpro-freedom leader SofiMuhammad Akbar on his 26thdeath anniversary. He passedaway on December 14, 1987
Muhammad Iqbal Mir in astatement issued in Srinagar saidthat Sofi Akbar joined liberationmovement against autocraticDogra Rule even before 1931and started writing about Kash-mir in newspapers.
He said that in his 18 yearsstruggle against tyrant Dogra re-gime, Sofi Akbar remained injail for four years. He said thatthe people of Kashmir would re-member the services and contri-bution of Sofi Akbar for theKashmir cause, adding that inhis 60-year liberation struggle,he spent 29 years in jails and de-tention centres.
The APHC leader urgedNew Delhi to initiate tripartitetalks to settle the Kashmir dis-pute, which, he added, is impera-tive for durable peace in the re-gion.—KMS
Couple diesbefore marriage
ceremonySRINAGAR—A missing couplewas found dead in AruPahalgam reportedly due to theroad accident. The couple hadgone for outing after they re-cently got engaged.
Reports said that a recentlyengaged couple Sabhiya Jandaughter of Ali Mohammad Mirof Kadipora Anantnag andIrshad Ahmed Darzi son of KakaDarzee resident of Nathi PoraDooru Anantng went for outing.
When they didn’t returnhome till late hours, their par-ents reported the matter to Po-lice. After the investigations andsearch operations, the Policefound bodies of the missingcouple in a gorge on Aru road.
A senior Police official saidthat both have died due to acci-dent and their car had rolleddown nearly 700 feet down inriver Lidder near Gurkhum-Aruin Pahalgam.—Agencies
Poll contestantsadvised not to
speak onKashmir dispute
SRINAGAR—Hurriyet leadershave advised the contestants ofthe so-called Kashmir assemblyelections to refrain from speak-ing their mind on disputed na-ture of the territory and askedthem to concentrate on seat win-ning politics.
The forum led by the veteranHurriyet leader, Syed Ali Gilaniin a statement issued in Srinagarsaid, “They must not talk on thevital issues pertaining to the dis-puted nature of the territory. Weare on our stand since 1947 andonce we surrender, that wouldbe our failure. Our real successis that we are treading the pathof resistance movement withzeal and zest.”
Democratic Freedom PartyChairman Shabbir Ahmad Shahsaid that Kashmir’s pro-free-dom camp has not failed in itsstruggle and that the Kashmirissue is the matter of concernfor the world community atpresent. “The international com-munity including the EuropeanUnion has accepted the disputedstatus of Kashmir and its lead-ership is struggling to get it re-solved in accordance to thepeoples’ wishes.”
Other liberation leadersstressed that the people ofKashmir with its leadershiphas made the world to acceptthe fact that Kashmir is a dis-puted territory and needs to beresolved.—KMS
SRINAGAR—A silent sit-in pro-test was held by Association ofParents of Disappeared Persons(APDP) in Srinagar.
APDP Chairperson ParveenaAhangar on the occasion reiteratedAssociation’s demand for settingup an independent commission tolook into the issue of enforced dis-appearances.
APDP members had as-sembled at Pratap Park to protestagainst the enforced disappear-
APDP, civil society groups hold sit-inances in Kashmir.
Meanwhile, various associa-tions of human rights groups andcivil society members along withthe relatives of disappeared per-sons observed sit-in at MunicipalPark in Srinagar under the bannerof Jammu and Kashmir Coalitionof Civil Society (JKCCS). The sit-in was joined by Association ofParents of Disappeared Persons(APDP), Majlis MushawaratShopian, Kunan-Poshpora Village
Committee, Support Group forJustice for Kunan-Poshpora andcivil society members includingDr Altaf Hussain, Abdul MajidZargar, Zareef Ahmad Zareef,Mubeen Ahmed Shah, AnwarAshai and Sanjay Tickoo.
Speaking on the occasion, thespeakers lashed out at the authori-ties for continuously ignoring thehuman rights violations takingplace in the territory for the pastmore than two decades.—KMS
MUZAFFARABAD: Youth protesting against district quota in Local Government.
MUZAFFARABAD: AJK Inspector General Police Malik Khuda Bakhsh Awan giving fi-nancial award to police officers for their outstanding performance.
“Price is what youpay. Value is what
you get.”
¯ Warren Buffett
Jatoi pledges toenhance PSMproduction capacityISLAMABAD—Minister forIndustries and ProductionGhulam Murtaza Khan Jatoisaid efforts were beingmade to enhance produc-tion capacity of PakistanSteel Mills (PSM) from cur-rent 12 percent to 80 percentto reduce its losses. An-swering the questions ofMNAs in the National As-sembly, he said that 26 per-cent shares of PakistanSteel Mills would beprivatised after getting the80 percent production tar-get. He said a purificationplant is being installed inthe Steel Mills to utilise theIron-ore discovered fromBalochistan. Minister ofState for Information Tech-nology and Telecommunica-tion Anusha Rahman Khantold the House that the Uni-versal Service Fund is onlybeing used to provide tele-communication services inun-served and remote ar-eas. She said Pakistan Tele-communication Authorityis working to launch nextyear biometric system for is-suance of verified SIMs.She said that last year acampaign was started toverify the SIMs and underthis process ten millionSIMs have been verified.
GSP Plus status toPakistan to bring hugeinvestment: LCCISalim AhmedLAHORE—The LahoreChamber of Commerce andIndustry (LCCI) on Thurs-day welcomed EuropeanParliament decision to grantduty free market access toPakistan that would helpgive considerable boost toexports and create new jobsin the country. The LCCIActing President Mian TariqMisbah said that approvalof GSP Plus status to Paki-stan by European Parliamenthas proved all internationalconventions relating to hu-man and labor rights, envi-ronment and good gover-nance have been imple-mented by the Pakistan tothe satisfaction of the Euro-pean Parliament. The LCCIActing President said thatexporters from various in-dustries in Pakistan wereanxiously hoping for accessto European markets, whichpromises huge potential formultiplying the country’scurrent exports. He said thatgrant of European Union’sGSP+ to Pakistan will createa million jobs for Pakistaniyouth and boost exports by$1 billion. He said that theLahore Chamber of Com-merce and Industry has beenraising the issue for the lastmany years and today is anhistoric day for Pakistan’sbusiness community.
Rupert Scofield, President and CEO of FINCA International presenting a memento toChaudhry Muhammad Sarwar, Governor of Punjab, with Mudassar Aqil, CEO of FINCAMicrofinance Bank on launch event.
Muhammad Shiraz, member executive committee FPCCI with Dr Ishrat-ul-Ebad Khan,Governor Sindh and Mr. Khurram Dastgir Khan, Federal Minister for Commerce at adinner held at Governor House Karachi.
MUZAFFAR ALI
LAHORE—Executive Com-mittee Member of FPCCI andformer Executive CommitteeMember of LCCI Nasir Saeedhas urged the youth to availthe opportunity being pro-vided through Prime Minis-ter Youth Loan Scheme as itwould help sharpen theirentrepreural skills besidesgiving much needed strengthto the economy. In a state-ment issued here on Thurs-day, Nasir Saeed said thatPrim Minister Nawaz Sharifdeserves appreciation for ful-filling the promises he madewith the people during hiselection campaign. He hopedthat the trust shown by thegovernment in the abilities of
youth that makes more thanhalf of the population wouldbe responded with samespirit.
Nasir Saeed said thatthere was no doubt in it thatPakistani youth has all thequalities to surpass other na-tions of the world as far astheir skills are concerned butat the same time it was alsotrue they were never given achance to show their abilities.He said that urged the youthto prepare new feasibilitiesinstead of relying on existingfeasibilities and submit theirbusiness plans to the banksto tell the world that peopleof Pakistan are geared up tochange their destiny.
He said that thegovernment’s decision to set
up Business and AgricultureAdvisory Committees wouldalso pave way for acceleratedtrade and economic activitiesin the country. He said thatthere was no second opinionthat all policies failed to yielddesired results until and un-less the stakeholders are takenonboard. Nasir Saeed, how-ever, suggested to the gov-ernment to expedite work onthese committees to initiateconsultation as any furtherdelay would not be doing anyfavour to the economy. Hesaid that Pakistan’s Agricul-ture Sector’s potential re-mained untapped only be-cause the policies in the pastwere implemented withoutconsulting the concerned pri-vate sector people.
JCR-VIS ReaffirmsIFS rating of
Premier InsuranceSTAFF REPORTER
KARACHI—JCR-VIS CreditRating Company Limited(JCR-VIS) has reaffirmed theInsurer Financial Strength(IFS) rating of Premier Insur-ance Limited (PIL) at ‘A’(Single A). Outlook on therating is ‘Stable’. The as-signed rating draws strengthfrom the company’s largeequity base. Over the years,the company has built a size-able investment portfolio, amajor portion of which is de-ployed in cash/incomefunds, providing both asource of earnings and li-quidity.
In recent years, thecompany’s focus has beenon augmenting the premiumlevels; business mix remainsdiversified with motor com-prising around 1/5th claimsexperience and higher reten-tion on net account that haseventually trickled down tothe bottom line. Despitestrong investment incomesupport, claims incurred andprovisioning against out-standing receivables led to anet loss during 9M13. PIL’slarge equity base providescushion to absorb losses; theunderwriting strategy maynevertheless need to be re-visited to improve claims ra-tio. The company is makingon-going efforts to curtailexpense ratio through staffcost rationalization. Manage-ment expects underwritingresults to improve in the com-ing year.
Ample fuelstock available
STAFF CORRESPONDENT
ISLAMABAD—The Oil andGas Regulatory Authority(OGRA) has dispelled theimpression that there is a fuelshortage in the country, say-ing there is sufficient stocksof petrol and diesel to caterto the nation’s requirements.“The authority convened ameeting of the marketingcompanies today and all thecompanies informed theyhave adequate stocks andthat their outlets are operat-ing routinely,” theauthority’s spokesman said.
The official said the com-panies informed their saleofficers were making hecticefforts in collaboration withdealers to meet demand in allareas throughout the coun-try. Talking action in view ofreports regarding artificialfuel shortage fuel shortageespecially in southernPunjab, the spokesman saidthe authority chairman hadconstituted a high-levelMonitoring and EnforcementCommittee led by theauthority’s Vice-Chairman toensure uninterrupted fuelsupply, across the country.
Regarding the margin is-sue, the spokesman saidcompanies were informedthat report in this regardwould be put to the Eco-nomic Coordination Commit-tee (ECC) and then the au-thority would pursue the de-cision, accordingly.
PM Loan Scheme to helpstrengthen economy
Pakistan needs diversification to benefit from GSP plusAMANULLAH KHAN/
MUZAFFAR ALI
KARACHI/LAHORE—TheChairman All Pakistan Tex-tile Mills Association(APTMA) Yasin Siddik hasexpressed his extreme joy ongetting GSP (generalizedsystem of preferences) sta-tus from the European Par-liament terming it a big suc-cess for Pakistan and goodomen for country’s exportoriented industry.
Yasin said that EU Par-liament has approved GSPPlus status for Pakistan with406 parliamentarians extingtheir support for Pakistanand the status has beengranted till 2017. He said thatthe status will prove to beof great benefit to Pakistan’s
textile manufacturers and ex-porters who will now haveduty free access to 27 Euro-pean countries and will en-joy a level playing field.
He said that Pakistanimanufacturers and exporterswere finding it hard to com-pete with Countries likeBangladesh etc who alreadyhad duty-free access to Eu-ropean markets and were get-ting 11.5 per cent and abovetariff cuts..
The facility will provideduty free access to 3,500products. Pakistan can earnan additional 500million to aBillion dollars per yearthrough GSP Plus status, headded. He now appealed tothe Govt to improve the sup-ply of Gas and electricity tothe textile Industry I order to
realise the full potential ofthe GSP PLUS advantage aswithout this the advantagecannot be achieved.
Meanwhile the FederalSecretary, Ministry of Com-merce and Textile Industry,Rukhsana Shah, said that thevalue-added textile industry,which is very important interms of export as well as em-ployment generation, needs tooffer more diversified productsto benefit from the GSP plus.
Addressing thePRMGEA Managing Com-mittee during her visit toNorth Zone office in Lahorehere on Thursday, SecretaryTextile Industry Divisionassured PakistanReadymade GarmentsManufacturers and Export-ers Association of having
separate Statutory Regula-tory Orders (SROs) forreadymade garments indus-try very soon.
”I will take up the issuewith FBR chairman, as timehas come to acknowledgethe high potential of this sec-tor which is important interms of export as well asemployment generation. Thegovernment is focused tomaximize the benefits fromthe GSP plus status to its se-lected textile products.”Rukhsana Shah said the de-velopment of synergies be-tween local and internationaltextile sectors is crucial forPakistan to get advantagefrom the generalized systemof preferences status.
The meeting was at-tended among others by
Add secretary KanwarUsman, PRGMEA SeniorVice Chairman Jawwad A.Chaudhary, former chairmanSajid Saleem Minhas andPRGMEA Chief CoordinatorIjaz Khokhar. Addressing themeeting PRGMEA SeniorVice Chairman Jawwad A.Chaudhary, said thatPRGMEA being one of themajor value-added stake-holders are playing pivotalrole in earning foreign ex-change as well as generat-ing employment opportuni-ties without any gender dis-crimination.
Jawwad A. Chaudharydemanded the liberal importpolicy for raw materials forre-export like duty-free im-port of fabrics and acces-sories same as Bangladesh,
besides simplifyingMINTEX Registration pro-cedure. “We suggest thegovernment to make it man-datory that all export in-voices be attested and re-corded by the Associationsbefore Customs.
This way all export com-modities will be recorded inrespective HS Code and ex-port data will be compiledappropriately. Furthermore,EDF collected from specificsector be spent through re-spective associations.Sales Tax should be zero-rated, whereas since Febru-ary, 2013 our members werepaying 2% sales tax whichhas not been refunded sofar and now through SRO898 this has been increasedto 3%.
PRGMEA former chair-man and chief coordinatorIjaz Khokhar lauded thegovernment for achievingfavourable support from theInternational Trade Com-mittee of EU, which has ap-proved the duty-free statusfor Pakistan leading toboost the exports of thevalue-added textile sectorand create job opportuni-ties. Khokhar lamented thatPakistan could utilise onlythree textile categories outof total 73 types relaxed bythe EU countries for duty-free import from Pakistan in2013.
Sajid Saleem Minhas,former chairman said thatbesides improving law andorder, controlling terrorismand providing non-stop
gas and electricity supply,the government wouldhave to relax import policyto empower value-addedtextile industry to get themaximum benefit of GSPPlus Status, as the coun-try had no raw material ex-cept cotton. Minhas ex-pressed his disappoint-ment over the FBR delay-ing tactics, as no companyhad get refund for twopercent sales tax on pur-chases of raw material forexport s ince February2013, while refund claims ofbillions of rupees of 2010were also pending yet. Hesaid that revenue genera-tion through taxes was nota good approach by keep-ing the value-added textileindustry hostage.
STAFF REPORTER
KARACHI—JCR-VIS CreditRating Company Limited hasupgraded the Insurer Finan-cial Strength Rating of EFUGeneral Insurance Limited(EFU) from ‘AA’ (Double A)to ‘AA+’ (Double A Plus).Outlook on the assigned rat-ing is ‘Stable’. The rating in-corporates EFU’s position asthe dominant player in theprivate insurance sector inPakistan. Senior manage-ment team comprises quali-fied and experienced re-sources, having long asso-ciation with the company.The assigned rating depictsvery high capacity to meetpolicyholder obligations.
EFU’s business mix is ledby fire and marine segmentswith about one-fifth of pre-mium underwritten in motorsegment. EFU has strong re-insurance arrangements witha diversified panel ofreinsurers. Lead reinsurers inmajor business segments arecompanies with sound riskprofile. Treaty limits have
IFS Rating of EFU GeneralInsurance upgrades
enhanced over time to pro-vide room for growth. Size ofmaximum per risk claim fall-ing on net account is consid-ered manageable in relationto the company’s loss ab-sorption capacity. The com-pany has consistentlyposted improvement in netclaims ratio over the period2008-2012; net claims ratioalso compares favorably topeers. Expense ratio is how-ever on the higher side; man-agement is targeting toachieve material reduction inthe same over the next threeyears. Assuming continua-tion of past trend in net claimsratio, improvement in ex-pense ratio is likely to trans-late into improved underwrit-ing results.
Of the total investmentportfolio, about one-third isdeployed in fixed income in-struments and real estatewhereas the remaining is in-vested in equities, includingthe company’s strategic in-vestment in EFU Life Assur-ance Limited, one of the lead-ing life insurance companies
in Pakistan. Given the surgein equity market, the com-pany has booked consider-able capital gains on listedequities while dividendstream also continues to behealthy. The company’s ex-posure to equity price risk isslightly on the higher side;this is proposed to be con-tained, going forward whilethe management will con-tinue to build the fixed incomeportfolio. Operating cashflows have strengthened inrecent periods, translatinginto improved liquid assetscarried on balance sheet. In-surance debt continues toremain within manageablelimits.
The company has imple-mented a comprehensive ERPin 2013. The new system is ex-pected to enhance internal con-trol efficiency while improvingMIS reporting. For further in-formation on this rating an-nouncement, please contactMr. Abdur Rahim, ACII (Ext:508) or Ms. Sobia Maqbool,CFA (Ext: 604) at 35311861-70(10 lines) or fax to 35311872-73.
STAFF REPORTER
LAHORE—All Pakistan Tex-tile Mills Association(APTMA) Punjab ChairmanS M Tanveer has said the in-dustry has rationalised itsdemand for gas during win-ter to 100 million cubic feetper day (MMCFD) againstactual demand of 450MMCFD while understand-ing the compulsion of thegovernment on gas supply.However, still, he said, the SuiNorthern Gas Pipelines Ltd(SNGPL) has suspended gassupply to the textile industryin Punjab, likely to cause $1.3billion per month export loss,retrenchment of 3.0 millionworkers and loss of oppor-tunity arising out of much-
APTMA fears unbearableloss to textile industry
likely GSP Plus status fromthe EU. Further, he added,the country would be hitbadly be street crime as wellas high inflation in case notimely action is taken by thegovernment and textile in-dustry demand for gas sup-ply is not met accordingly.
He was addressing a pressconference along withAPTMA Punjab TreasurerAdil Bashir and APTMAPunjab Gas Committee Mem-ber Ali Pervez. Tanveer saidthe industry was grateful toPrime Minister Nawaz Sharif,Federal Minister for Petro-leum and Natural ResourcesShahid Khaqan Abbasi andPunjab Chief MinisterShahbaz Sharif for accedingto APTMA proposal of
hourly-based gas supply fourmonths back that enabled theindustry to continue with op-erations uninterrupted.
He said the industry wasunder an impression that thehourly-based gas supply willcontinue for next threemonths but the SNGPL hassuddenly decided to cut offgas supply to textile mills thathas resulted into a crisis likesituation. He expressed thefear that the textile industryin Punjab will turn into agraveyard in case the adversesituation continues for long.
According to him, theAPTMA was negotiatingwith the government on thehourly-based gas supply andexpressed the hope that theproblem will be resolved soon.
STAFF REPORTER
KARACHI—The country’slarge-scale manufacturing(LSM) industries have regis-tered a growth of 8.37 percentin the first quarter of this fiscalyear to 113 indices as comparedto 104.27 indices in the sameperiod of last fiscal, PakistanBureau of Statistics (PBS) re-ported. The increase in outputof LSM industries was mainlydriven by 10 sectors during thefirst three months of the ongo-ing fiscal year 2013-14 (FY14).Fertilizer segment’s productionremained the major contributortowards 8.37 percent growth ofoverall LSM industries by reg-istering 44.56 percent increaseto 840,711 tonnes productionin the first quarter of FY14 over588,134 tonnes in the corre-sponding period of last fiscalyear.
Improved gas supply tothe fertilizer sector and thesufficient distribution andproduction of electricityplayed an important role inthe country’s LSM industriesgrowth during the new fiscalyear, in keeping view thisperformance of the sector, 4.4
LSM industriesgrow by 8 pc in Q1
percent growth target set bythe new government couldbe achieved by the end ofthis fiscal.
The LSM industries out-put increased by 12.76 per-cent for September 2013 to115.34 indices as comparedto 102.29 indices in Septem-ber 2012 and increased by3.79 percent when comparedto 111.13 indices in August2013. The provisional quan-tum indices of LSM indus-tries for September 2013, withbase year 2005-06, have beendeveloped on the basis oflatest data supplied by thesource agencies, said PBS.
During the period underreview, industries monitored byOil Companies Advisory Com-mittee (OCAC) registered ayearly increase of 0.87 percentto 98.43 indices in the first quar-ter of FY14 as against 86.68 in-dices in the same period lastyear. In the first quarter of FY14,the indices of Ministry of In-dustries witnessed a growth of3.35 percent to 102.48 as com-pared to 97.53 and that of PBSincreased by 4.16 percent to152.07 as against 132.22 indi-ces in same period of FY13.
Rs 220bsubsidies topower sector
STAFF CORRESPONDENT
ISLAMABAD—Minister of Statefor Water and Power Abid SherAli has said Rs 220 billion sub-sidies would be paid to thepower sector during the currentfinancial year. Answering to thequestion of Syed NaveedQamar during a session of theNational Assembly, he said perunit tariff is Rs 14.67 whereasthe consumer is being chargedRs 11.69 per unit.
The subsidy rate is Rs 2.98per units. He said Nepra allowsonly legitimate losses and nosubsidy is being providedagainst excess losses of enti-ties of power sector. Givingdetails of the total subsidy hesaid Rs 150 billion subsidy arebeing paid to Wapda/Pepco onaccount of Inter Disco TariffDifferentials, subsidy of Rs 55billion would be paid to Wapdaduring the current financialyear to pick KESC’s tariff dif-ferentials and Rs 12 billion sub-sidy would be paid to wapda/pepco for power losses in Fataand Rs 3 billion would be paidduring this financial year toWapda/pepco on account oftariff differential for agriculturetubewells in Balochistan.
Oil pricesdown in
Asian tradeSINGAPORE—Oil priceseased in Asian tradeThursday on a mixed USinventory report indicat-ing tepid demand, whileexpectations of a return ofLibyan supplies alsoweighed, analysts said.New York’s main contract,West Texas Intermediate(WTI) for January deliv-ery, was down four centsat $97.40 in mid-morningtrade while Brent NorthSea crude for Januaryeased 20 cents to $109.50.
The US Department ofEnergy (DoE) reported thatUS crude inventories fell10.6 million barrels in theweek ending December 6,almost five times the 2.5million barrel decline esti-mated on average by ana-lysts polled by Dow JonesNewswires. But the drop incrude stocks, the secondconsecutive drawdown af-ter a 10-week run of rises,was offset by bigger-than-expected increases in gaso-line and distillates, weigh-ing on the WTI contract.Gasoline supplies rose 6.7million barrels and distil-lates, which include dieseland heating fuel, gained 4.5million barrels.
“Weak downstream de-mand for refined productswould signal possible slug-gish demand for crude oil asa feedstock going forward,”Singapore-based Phillip Fu-tures said in a note. It addedthat oil prices were also hitby investors betting that thestockpiles drawdown wasonly temporary. The officialweekly DoE inventory re-port is seen by traders as akey indicator of the strengthof demand in the US, theworld’s top crude consumer.
Analysts said oil priceswere also pressured aftera tribal chief in crude pro-ducer Libya announcedthat a months-long block-ade by armed protesters ofvital oil terminals would belifted on December 15. Theprotests as well as block-ades of fuel deliveries bythe Berber minority haveslashed Libya’s oil outputto about 250,000 barrels perday from normal levels ofnearly 1.5 million.—AFP
Rates forconversion
KARACHI—The followingrates will be applicable forconversion into rupees ofForeign Currency Depos-its, Dollar Bearer Certifi-cates, Foreign CurrencyBearer Certificates, Spe-cial U.S.
Dollar Bonds and prof-its thereon by all banksand for providing ForwardCover on Foreign Cur-rency Deposits (excludingF.E- 25 deposits) by theState Bank on on Decem-ber 13, 2013. The rates areU.S. Dollar 107.2656, Japa-nese Yen 1.0429, PoundSterling 175.9692 and Euro147.8012.—APP
KARACHI—Follow-ing were the bullionrates in major citiesyesterday.
KARACHI:
MULTAN:
Currency Selling Buying
Bullion Rates
RS PER 10 GRAMS
STAFF REPORTER
ISLAMABAD—Chairman Su-preme Council APCNGAGhiyas Abdullah Paracha onThursday said SNGPL hassuspended supply of naturalgas to CNG sector in Punjabfor indefinite period withoutthe approval of governmentand despite stiff oppositionfrom the Planning Commissionof Pakistan which is illegal andunconstitutional. The unilat-eral and ill-timed decision hasdisturbed the daily life whileposing serious threat to Rs450 billion investments in theCNG sector, he said.
Speaking at a press con-ference here, he said that un-like others, CNG is the onlysector which has no alterna-tive to the natural gas whichshuts down completely whensupply is suspended. Gov-ernment and the CNG opera-tors have signed an agree-ment for supply of gas around
the year which is being vio-lated, he said. Ghiyas Parachasaid that all other sectors us-
ing natural gas have optionto run their operation by us-ing furnace oil or electricitybut the government’s axe also
falls on the CNG sector if itdecides on favour of a break.
He said that load manage-
ment means reduction in sup-ply and that the CNG opera-tors will not allow completeclosure in the name of man-
agement which is total exploi-tation. The SNGPL’s one-sided and mistaken decisionhas resulted in inflation, hikein transport fares, disturbancein daily life, black marketingof petrol, hike in LPG pricesby Rs 40 per kg, and reduc-tion in forex reserves which ispushing country toward a ca-tastrophe, he informed.
On one hand governmenthas been introducing employ-ment schemes while on theother supporting decisionwhich will result in massive un-employment and non-service-ability of tens of thousands ofcommercial and private ve-hicles, he observed. The leaderof the CNG sector said that ourfilling stations are closedacross Punjab and there is re-duced pressure in the prov-inces of Sindh and KhyberPakhtoonkhwa but the do-mestic consumers are not get-ting gas which merits questionthat where it is flowing silently.
PM asked to save millions of jobs andbillions of investment in CNG sector
Wateen consumer team along with CEO Wateen Telecom, Naeem Zamindar GM Con-sumer Business, Anwar Khan and Chief Transformation Officer, Asad Rezzvi on occa-sion to celebrate the 10m mark.
STAFF REPORTER
IS L A M A B A D —IslamabadChamber of Commerce & In-dustry has called upon thegovernment to focus on tak-ing measures for availabilityof easy credit facility to pri-vate sector that would pro-mote investment new busi-nesses, encourage industrialprojects and allow business-men to expand their businessoperations.
Shaban Khalid, Presi-dent, Islamabad Chamber ofCommerce & Industry saidthat private sector is the en-gine of growth for economy,but government heavy bor-rowing from banking sectoris depriving it of affordablecredit availability for invest-ment and business develop-ment. The government hasreportedly borrowed anamount of Rs.980 billion inthe first quarter of current fis-cal year, which shows its in-efficient economic manage-ment. Instead of focusing on
improving tax mobilizationand taking other revenuegenerating measures, gov-ernment has opted to exces-sive bank borrowing to copewith rising fiscal deficit,which is highly inflationaryin nature and retards thegrowth of economy.
Shaban Khalid said due tohigh lending rates for publicborrowing, banks shy awayfrom lending to private sectorand prefer to invest in gov-ernment treasury bills and in-vestment bonds. But this ap-proach negates the interme-diary role of banks whosemain function is to promotesavings and channel them toproductive private-sectortrade and investment activi-ties. Due to this situation, pri-vate sector in Pakistan findsitself in tough competitionwith the government in ob-taining loans from banks.
He said according to aWorld Bank report, credit toprivate sector in Pakistan hasbeen on a declining trend as
it declined from 23.6% of GDPin 2009 to 16.4% in 2012 whileduring the same period it im-proved from 47.7% of GDP to51.5% in India, 41.5% to 49.6%in Bandlagesh and 127.2% to131.6% in China. It shows thatour neighbors are focusing onprivate sector for achievingbetter economic growth, butour private sector is facingeven more challenges on topof the energy crisis and law &order situation.
Shaban Khalid stressedthat government should re-verse the current strategy ofheavy bank borrowing anddirect banks to focus on pri-vate sector for providing iteasy credit facility. Such ashift in strategy will improvethe confidence of investorsand enable the private sec-tor to spend more on new in-vestment and business de-velopment leading to growthof business activities, cre-ation of new jobs and revivalof overall economy.
ICCI for easy credit facility toprivate sector to revive economy
China says alreadypart of effort to help
EuropeVIENNA—China will remainpart of international efforts tohelp Europe through its cri-sis, vice foreign minister FuYing said, dismissing the ideathat Beijing was sitting backas the region suffered. “Chinawill be part of the internationaleffort to help Europe. We’vedone a lot, we have been somuch in it, Europeans knowit,” she told reporters on thesidelines of a conference inVienna. Asked how Chinawould help, she said:
“We want to invest, weare importing more, we aresending delegations to buy,to purchase, that will help cre-ate jobs, that will help stimu-late the economy. “China willcontinue to be part of the ef-fort because we are interre-lated, interdependent. We arein it together. We are in oneboat,” she said.— Newswire
STAFF REPORTER
KARACHI—Nokia has an-nounced the availability ofthe Nokia Lumia 1020 allover Pakistan - thesmartphone that sets a newbenchmark in smartphoneimaging. The Lumia 1020 isable to produce some of thesharpest images possibleby any digital camerathanks to Nokia’s innova-tive PureView technology,including a second genera-tion 41 megapixel sensor,ZEISS optics with six lensesand optical image stabiliza-tion; allowing people tocapture, edit and share pho-tos and videos of profes-sional quality. The phone isavailable at all Nokia CareCentres and partner fran-chises across Pakistan.
Nokia Lumia 1020available for sale
“The Nokia Lumia 1020marks a giant leap forwardin smartphone photogra-phy. With its 41 megapixelsensor and extensive rangeof photography apps, theNokia Lumia 1020 boostscreativi ty and makes i teasier to shoot, edit andshare pictures of unrivaledclarity,” said Arif Shafique,country general manager,Nokia Pakistan.
The Nokia Lumia 1020is the most versatile digitalcamera available. I tsunique dual capture featuresimultaneously takes ahigh resolution 38megapixel image for end-less editing opportunities,and creates a 5 megapixelpicture that is easy toshare to social networkswith Windows Phone 8.Chairman Supreme Council APCNFA Ghiyas Paracha
speaking at a press conference.
AMANULLAH KHAN
KARACHI—The KarachiElectric Supply Companyhas once again termed thestate minister for water andpower, Abid Sher Ali’s alle-gations as baseless. KESCsaid that the minister shouldfirst obtained the requiredproof before making prepos-terous claims and negativelyaffecting the company’sgood image.
The minister threatenedto push the courts againstKESC that the honorablecourts are upholders of theConstitution of Pakistan,1973 and do not take dicta-tion from the executive orpolitical arm of the govern-ment. Spokesman for KESCsaid that the issue of taking650 MW from the NTDC isalready with the honorableHigh Court of Sindh in two
KESC claims payingRs 248 to NTDC since 2008
cases where all parties havebeen ordered to maintain sta-tus quo, to which the Fed-eration of Pakistan, Provinceof Sindh, KESC, NTDC andNEPRA are all co-respon-dents. The state minister hasstill not come up with anyproof regarding Karachi tak-ing additional electricity fromthe NTDC when the monthlybills of NTDC have all beenwithin the prescribed limits.
KESC has once againclarified that since 2008, thecompany has paid Rs.248 bil-lion against electricity worthRs.237 billion, to the NTDC.If KESC has been takingmore than 650MW then theminister should prove it.KESC had previously invitedthe state minister so that hecould check the bills and seefor himself whether KESChad been taking extra elec-tricity from the NTDC or not,
but the minister had avoidedthis invitation.
KESC has categoricallydenied and expressed its con-cern at the ridiculous natureof the Minister ’s claims,which has a negative impacton the prospects of foreigndirect and indirect investmentin Pakistan in the energy andother sectors. Till date, KESCis owed over Rs. 25 Billionfrom the Federal Governmentin relation to outstandingbills of strategic customerssuch as KWSB, Province ofSindh etc. under which KESCis prevented from interrupt-ing power supply in returnfor the Government’s com-mitment to pay such bills. Ona daily basis KESC is incur-ring a loss of Rs. 2 Billion fromKWSB alone due to contin-ued non-payment of bills,but the Minister of State re-mains silent on this.
STAFF REPORTER
KARACHI—Archroma hasannounced that it opened itsfirst sustainable effluent treat-ment (SET) facility for a tex-tile operational site inJamshoro. With an invest-ment of 371 million PKR thefacility not only supports thesubstantial recovery of 80percent of water but also al-lows effluent treatment basedon zero liquid discharge ful-filling Pakistan’s very strin-gent National EnvironmentalQuality Standards (NEQS) re-quirements.
Alexander Wessels,CEO of the Archroma Group,declared at the inauguration“we take water scarcity veryseriously and therefore areconstantly exploring newand environmentally com-patible solutions. As achemical company commit-ted to innovation and per-formance together withsustainability, Archromaputs a lot of time and en-gagement in developingchemical solutions that help
our customers use less wa-ter.” In a textile industrycurrently under close scru-tiny for its massive wateruse, the SET facility is a clearsign that leading companiessuch as Archroma are con-stantly aiming for ever moresustainable solutions.
The operational SET plantis spread over an area of 25acres consisting of floccula-tion, equalization, surfaceaeration, clarification, ultra fil-tration and reverse osmosisto yield colorless water with aCOD (Chemical Oxygen De-mand) and TDS (Total Dis-solvable Solids) of less than75 ppm. Mujtaba Rahim, CEOof Archroma in Pakistan,added: “In 2010 we decidedto make the significant invest-ment in the Jamshoro site withthe aim of setting new stan-dards not only in the quan-tity but also in the quality ofthe recovered water.
The data from the SGStesting report is an indicativeof Archroma’s commitmenttowards sustainable opera-tional excellence.”
Sustainable effluenttreatment facility opened
IBA namesnew
gymnasiumafter ButtSTAFF REPORTER
KARACHI—IBA Karachi re-cently held a ceremony dedi-cating its newly constructedgymnasium to Mr. KhawarM. Butt, corporate veteranand Chairman and Manag-ing Director of English Bis-cuit Manufacturers. Mr. Buttand his company committeda sum of thirty million rupeesto IBA for the establishmentof gymnasium facilities intheir new Alumni StudentCenter Building. The gym-nasium has been named theKhawar M. Butt Gymna-sium.
At the ceremony, Mr.Butt unveiled a commemo-rative plaque and said thathe was honored to havecontributed to the recre-ational and fitness opportu-nities for the students ofone of Pakistan’s most pres-tigious academic institu-tions. Mr. Butt’s remarkablelegacy owes much to hislong-standing commitmentto corporate social respon-sibility. Sports and fitnessin particular have been alifelong passion for Mr.Butt, who himself was anoutstanding national-levelcricketer as a young man,and pioneered sports spon-sorships in Pakistan. Hesees fitness as a way of life,and hopes that the newgymnasium will help IBAstudents balance their rig-orous academic challengeswith the essential physicalexercise needed to de-stress and stay healthy.
Dr. Ishrat Husain, Deanand Director IBA Karachi,expressed his deepest grati-tude to Mr. Butt, thanking himfor his generous contribu-tion towards the develop-ment of such a remarkablehealth and fitness facility forthe institution.
PIAF felicitatesgovt over GSP
Plus statusSALIM AHMED
LAHORE—Pakistan Indus-trial and Traders Associa-tions Front (PIAF) onThursday congratulated thegovernment for getting GSPPlus status from Europeanparliament and hoped thatthe government would fa-cilitate the export-orientedindustry to fulfill all the for-eign orders. The PIAF Chair-man Malik Tahir Javaid saidthat the GSP Plus statuswould not only help expan-sion in existing businessesbut would also encourageforeign businessmen to puttheir money in new venturesin Pakistan.
The PIAF Chairmansaid that the boost to themanufacturing sectorwould also create new jobsthat would definitely helpbring down the graph ofunemployment that wasgoing up with every pass-ing day. “By all means it isa great opportunity for Pa-kistani businessmen andgreat achievement of thepresent government as notonly the government wouldget needed foreign ex-change but its image wouldalso get a new boost.
STAFF REPORTER
ISLAMABAD—Ministry ofInformation Technology andTelecommunications has de-cided to enhance the numberof Universal Telecentres(UTCs) from 35 to 500 to fa-cilitate e-services in rural ar-eas of the country. The ob-jective behind establishingTelecentres is to creating lo-cal employment opportuni-ties and extending broad-band to provide distanceeducation and Informationand Communication Tech-nologies (ICTs) literacy, Min-ister of State for InformationTechnology, Ms. AnushaRehman said.
Talking to a group of jour-nalists here, she said theUniversal Service Fund(USF), the executing Body,has been directed to enhancethe number of such centresas the project is of great im-portance to serve the ne-
glected and unprivilegedpopulation of rural areas inall provinces. She said nowin the first phase 500Telecenters would be estab-lished in all provinces includ-ing Federally AdministeredTribal Areas (FATA). Theprovinces have identifiedpotential areas on which pro-posed Telecenters would beestablished and start deliv-ering initial three E-serviceswithin the next one year.
She said these the UTCswould offer many servicessuch as E-learning, E-com-merce, E-agriculture etc andverification/registration ofSIM cards, ID cards throughNational Database and Reg-istration Authority(NADRA). The E-health ser-vices would also be providedsubsequently, the Ministeradded. These Telecenters,she said, would provide ser-vices at grassroots level i.e.district and tehsil while Dis-
trict Coordination Officers(DCOs) would monitor theproject in order to ensure itsproper and smooth function-ing, within their respectivejurisdictions.
The Telecenter is ashared site - with few com-puter machines equippedwith internet access - thatprovides public access toICTs where people can accesscomputer, internet that en-ables them to gather informa-tion, create, learn and com-municate with others whilethey develop essential digi-tal skill. Now the Telecenters,in addition, would house bio-metric verification of SIMcards, birth/death registra-tion and computer training tothe youth.
These UTCs will be pow-ered up by alternate energysolutions with reasonableback up arrangements, andhence the recurring opera-tional cost will be minimal.
Number of UTCs enhanced to 500 tofacilitate e-services in rural areas: Anusha
HCCI expressesconcern over alleged
grabbing of landHYDERABAD—HyderabadChamber of Commerce andIndustry (HCCI) has ex-pressed concern over thealleged grabbing of land oftraders and industrialists ofHyderabad, Mirpurkhas andJamshoro districts.
If the government failedto take action against crimi-nals, the business commu-nity would have to resort toprotest demonstrations,hunger strikes and shutterdown strike for an indefiniteperiod, the HyderabadChamber maintained in astatement.
The statement, issuedhere Thursday alleged theextortionists, criminals andarmed tribal groups havegrabbed the land of busi-ness community worth mil-lions of rupees.
It also maintained thatstreet crimes and dacoitiesare on rise in Hyderabadand that no action is beingtaken against the lawbreak-ers, even cases are not be-ing registered againstthem.—APP
STAFF REPORTER
KARACHI—Shaheen Air In-ternational has planned toexpand fleet substantiallywith induction of 25 ad-vanced, fuel-efficient andcomfortable in the comingyears aimed at providing highstandard passengers andcargo services and develop-ment of aviation industry ofPakistan. This was stated byKashif Sehbai at the eventheld here organized byBukhari Group in his honor.
The induction of aircraftshaving series of B737-400 andA330 enhanced quality of theservice of the airline making itbest and passengers’ firstchoice to travel for differentdestinations, ChairmanShaheen Air International said.The airline will be flourishedwith expansion and consolida-tion in its business and infra-structure to provide qualitystandard service to its passen-gers on domestic and interna-tional routes on the prioritybasis, he said.
We are committed to de-velop Pakistan aviation indus-try through Shaheen Airline incollaboration with ours busi-ness partners whom supportedus grow our business at localand international level, Sehbaisaid. Safdar Ali, Vice Chairmanof Shaheen Air International,
said the airline has witnessedrapid induction period in theaviation industry of the worldas 18 aircraft were inducted in18 months including replace-ment of old aircrafts with new.
He mentioned thatShaheen Air International iscarrying on its flight opera-tions with nine Boeing 737-300aircrafts and seven Airbusaircrafts A330 whereas moreaircraft has been planned topurchase in near future tomake the fleet size up to 25. Hesaid the flight frequency of theairlines has been increasing ondifferent domestic and interna-tional routes as 38 to 45 flightsare being operated on variousroutes. However, the flyinghours have been increased sig-nificantly from 30,000 permonth to 4,200 per monthwhich is close to PIA which isa big and old organization.
Sardar Muhammad RafiqChairman Bukhari Group saidShaheed Air International ispassing through its growingphase in the national aviationindustry due to its success-ful and committed partner-ship with travel partners. Hesaid the airlines witnessedups and downs includingsuspension of operations butit remained sustained in theairline industry which is evi-dent that the airlines are ac-quiring new aircrafts.
Shaheen Air plans to enhanceits fleet up to 25 aircraft
Gas consumersasked to adopt
safety measuresSTAFF REPORTER
ISLAMABAD—The Sui North-ern Gas Pipelines Ltd(SNGPL) has urged the con-sumers to adopt safety mea-sures while using gas appli-ances to avoid untoward in-cidents. The company’sspokesman says every yearseveral gas related accidentsoccurred in different areas,particularly during the win-ter season. He urged the gasconsumers to follow precau-tionary measures such as fre-quent checking of gas ser-vice lines and immediate re-pair in case of gas leakage.
He added that the peopleshould avoid using rubberpipes for gas appliances asstandard gas equipment andpipes could curtail the ratioof critical incidents. Stress-ing the safe use of heaters,he said that the windows ofa room should be kept openwhen the gas heater wasturned on and the same beswitched off before going tobed. He said that the SNGPLemergency teams were work-ing round the clock and fa-cilitating the customers ontheir complaints. SNGPL be-ing a national company iscommitted to honour itspolicy on Corporate SocialResponsibility.
MULTAN: A view of basketball match between Multan Board and Sahiwal Board teams during All Pakistan Boards Basketball Tournament.
LAHORE: A view of play during 3rd Quaid-e-Azam Golf Championship at LahoreGymkhana.
HYDERABAD: Students participating in Tug-of-War match during Inter-School girls and boys games organized byHyderabad Division Olympic Association at Board Stadium.
Fed Cup trialson Dec 20
ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Ten-nis Federation (PTF) will beholding national Fed Cupteam (women) trials from De-cember 20 here at PTF Ten-nis Complex.
The selection committeeconstituted to hold the trialsinclude Naidr Mumtaz asChairman while the memberscomprise Majid Bashir, Inamul Haq, Fazal e Subhan,Nouman Aleem, and ArifQureshi and Shahzad AkhtarAlvi as referee.
Pakistan Fed Cup teamwill participate in the Fed CupAsia-Oceania Zone Group IIto be held at Astana,Kazakhstan in the first weekof February 2014.—APP
P E S H A W A R — K h y b e rPakhtunkhwa Girls Inter-Regional Games got underway at Girls CollegeNowshera ground underthe aegis of the Director-ate of Sports KhyberPakhtunkhwa (WomenGames) on Thursday.
Principal Girls DegreeCollege Nowshera, SadaqatFirdos was the chief gueston this occasion.
Director SportsRashida Ghanavi, Organiz-ing Secretary of the twogames Netball and Hand-ball, Farhad Sami, formerInternational handballplayer Sami Ullah Marwat,officials from various par-ticipating regions includingDera Ismail Khan, Bannu,Kohat , Mardan, Hazara,Malakand and Peshawar,players and large number ofspectators were alsopresent .
Before the start of thematches the scrutiny com-mittee headed by SamiUllah Marwat conductedthe scrutiny, followed bythe March Past and intro-duced of the players.
In the opening matchplayed on hot note bothPeshawar and Malakandprovided great thrill for thesi t t ing spectators.Peshawar opened the ac-count through Shaista
KP Girls Inter-RegionGames begin
Khan in the very f irstminute but their lead wasnot prolonged asMalakand tied the tally 1-1when Kashmala netted afine goal.
In the f irst-halfPeshawar was leading by5-4. For Peshawar Aysha,Benish, Kaynat and Mariascored one goal whileShaista Khan scored, themain str iker , scored f ivegoals to make the tally 9-8.
On the other hands, forMalakand Kashmala scoredfive goals while Asma Gul,Farhana, Maryum andNeelam scored one goaleach.
In the second matchBannu defeated DeraIsmsail Khan by 7-5. ForBannu Shahrukh, Anila,Maryum and Mehreenscored one goal each whileAnila scored three goalsfor Bannu.
On the other handsNargis, Kalsoom, Sumbal,Rehma and Khatija scored
one goal each for DeraIsmail Khan.
In the other matchesPeshawar defeated Kohatby 9-6, Shaista scored fourgoals , Aysha Gul, Hafsa,Amina, Urosa, Shehzadiscored on goal each. ForKohat Sana, Bushra scoredtwo goals each while Irumand Fatima scored one goaleach.
In the pool matchMalakand defeated Hazaraby 7-6.
For MalakandKashmala scored fourgoals, Neelam, Sakina,Salma scored one goaleach while for HazaraAmina, Kinza, Maria,Shafat, Shazia and Tauheedscored one goal each.
In the Netball Peshawardefeated Kohat by 8-4. ForPeshawar Yusra, Arifa,Faiza and Tehreem scoredtwo goals each forPeshawar while for KohatJaveria, and Lubna scoredtwo goals each.—APP
ISLAMABAD—NUST Univer-sity earned victories in theMale open competitions ofthe Open Rock ClimbingCompetition organized byThe Adventure Club Paki-stan at two different venuesto mark the InternationalMountain Day.
Mir Manzar Elahi andAfaq Baig held first and sec-ond positions respectively inthe Male open competitionsof the event whileMuhammad Qazzafi ofNUML University stoodthird.
The Boys competitionswere held at Hang Loose,Beetle’s Nest in Saidpurwhere Mir Manzar maderecord performance to com-plete his climb in only00:17:15 seconds.
On new record makingperformance, Mir Manzarwas awarded as the bestclimber of the Rock Climbing
NUST victorious inclimbing competition
Competition and was pre-sented with a shield me-mento, while Ahmed Rizwah,Vice President of the Clubannounced a cash prize of Rs3,000 for special performanceof Mir Manzar.
In the Male Under-18event, Asadullah Shah ofTAC stood first while AbdurRauf Sani took the secondspot. In the female open event,Aleeza Sana of TAC stoodfirst, Mahrukh Mahmood ofNUST university was secondand Rida Abid of COMSATSwas third.
In the Female Under-12event, Kiran Khan and UzmaGul of GM held first and sec-ond positions respectively.
In the Female Under-10event, Bushra Humayun ofTAC was first while ShamsaBibi of GM took second po-sition. The girls competitionswere held at jasmine Cor-ner.—APP
Pakistan DavisCup teamannounced
ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Ten-nis Federation (PTF) onThursday announced thenational team for the DavisCup tie against Vietnam to beheld from February 14 to 16,2014 at Vietnam.
The team was an-nounced on submission ofDavis Cup selection Commit-tee trial report which washeld under the chairmanshipof Senator Syed DilawarAbbas, members NadirMumtaz, Muhammad ArifQureshi, Mushaf Zia andKhalil Chughtai and in con-sultation with KhawajaSaeed Hai.
The Davis Cup team in-cludes Aisam ul Haq Qureshi,Aqeel Khan, Yasir Khan andMuhammad Abid.
Usman Ejaz and AhmedCh. would be on standbydue to their fitness. HoweverMuhammad Khalid has beennominated a Non-PlayingCaptain for the tie.
The training camp for theteam will be held in the lastweek of January 2014.—APP
P E S H A W A R — P e s h a w a rclinched the trophy after de-feating Nowshera in the finalof the Khyber PakhtunkhwaGirls Inter-School Boys Vol-leyball Championship playedhere at pSB Hall on Thurs-day.
Member Provincial As-sembly (MPA) Arif Yousafwas the chief guest on thisoccasion. Director GeneralSports (Acting) TariqMehmood, Organizing Secre-tary Syed Saqlain Shah, mem-bers of the organizing com-mittee Jamshed Baloch, offi-cials, players and large num-ber of spectators were alsopresent.
Peshawar and Nowshera
Peshawar win KP InterSchool Volleyball title
provided great thrilling forthe capacity crowd wit-nessed the final as Peshawartook the first set by 25-23 butfailed to click in the secondlost to Nowshera at 18-25.
Nowshera after levelingthe tally 1-1, got the third setby 21-25. It was the fourth setwhen Peshawar staged astrong comeback and wonthe set by 25-23.
When the teams werelocked 2-2, Peshawar playerscomprising Azeem, SaeedWali, Anwar, Sadam,Shahzeb and Ayaz Khanplayed well and got the fifthset by 15-13.
For Nowshera Shah RukhKhan, Faisal, Abdul Basit,
Muhammad Ahmad andTauqeer played. Earlier,Peshawar defeated Swabi by3-0, the score was 25-20, 25-19 and 25-23 in the first semi-final while Nowshera beatMalakand by 3-0, the scorewas 25-20, 25-21 and 25-18.
At the end, the chiefguest MPA Arif Yousaf gaveaway trophies and Rs. 7000/-cash prize to the winner andRs. 5000 cash to the runners-up.
A total of seven teamsfrom seven different schoolsfrom seven regions includingDera Ismail Khan, Bannu,Kohat, Malakand, Hazara,Mardan and Peshawar tookpart.—APP
PPBL toorganise ‘Nightof Champions’
ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Pro-fessional Boxing League(PPBL) will organize “Nightof Champions” on the occa-sion of Punjab Youth Festi-val to be started from nextmonth in Lahore.
President Pakistan Pro-fessional Boxing League(PPBL) Syed Nauman Shahsaid this in a press statementissued here on Thursday.
He said that the “Nightof Champions” would pro-vide unique opportunity tothe young Pakistani boxersto show their talent and ca-pabilities.
He also asked the tal-ented boxers to approach theofficials of PPBL for enlist-ment for professional boxingcategory.
He said that it was veryencouraging and postitivesign that World BoxingCouncil (WBC) has given re-organization to PPBL. He saidthat coaching camp of youngboxers would be startedsoon in Islamabad.
He said that Pakistan issports loving country andpeople love to support theplayers of all games.—APP
U19 WC 2014fixtures to be
announcedtomorrow
IS L A M A B A D—The pools,venues and fixtures of theInternational Cricket Coun-cil (ICC) Under-19 CricketWorld Cup 2014 will be an-nounced in Dubai on Sat-urday.
The event wil l be at-tended by members of thePakistan and Sri Lankacricket teams, who haveplayed in previous ICC U19Cricket World Cups, as wellas officials of the EmiratesCricket Board (ECB) andthe International CricketCouncil (ICC), says a pressrelease issued here.
India wil l defend thetitle it won in Australia in2012.
Apart from the 10 FullMembers, Afghanistan,Canada, Namibia, PapuaNew Guinea (PNG), Scot-land and the United ArabEmirates (UAE) will takeplace in the event that willbe staged at seven venuesacross the UAE fromFebruary 14 to March 1,2014.
The U19 World Cupwas ini t ial ly staged as aone-off event in Australiain 1988, and has been heldevery two years since 1998.
Pakistan defeated theWest Indies by 25 runs inthe final of the 2004 tour-nament that was held inBangladesh.
Pakistan also won the2006 U19 World Cup thatwas held in Sri Lanka beat-ing India in the finals.—APP
National andAppalo in 2nd
round of RahberT20 Cup
L A H O R E — N a t i o n a lGymkhana beat Shah Faisalclub by 16 runs and Appaloclub outplayed Cricket cen-tre by 34 runs and all movedto the second round of the2nd Rahber cup T20 ClubCricket Tournament here onThursday.
Brief scores, NationalGymkhana innings, 158/7 in20 overs, Rehan Shah 55,Waqas Ahmad 33, NaikMohammad 27. Shah Faisalbowling, Mohammad Adeel2/27, Sadiq Khan 2/25 whileHammad Malik & NasirJameel took 1 wicket each.Shah Faisal innings, 142/allout in 19.2 overs. FarooqAslam 58, Adnan Mughal 20.
National Gymkhana bowl-ing, Adnan Rafiq 2/20, WaqasAhmad 2/31, Habib-ur-Rahman 2/32.—APP
NEW DELHI—Controversialformer India pace bowler S.Sreesanth tied the knot witha girl from the Jaipur royalfamily, a jewellery designerby profession, at the famedGuruvayoor Sree Krishnatemple in Kerala on Thurs-day morning.
Pre-wedding ceremonieswere held at a private hotelin Kochi on Wednesdaywhich were attended by theclose relatives of Sreesanthand the brideBhuveneshwari Kumari. Shealong with her family arrivedin Kochi from Rajasthan onDecember 8.
The couple has beengoing steady for the pastfew years and she stoodby him in t imes of crisiswhen he was jailed follow-ing a spot-fixing scandalwhich took place duringthe last edition of the In-
S Sreesanth ties the knot withJaipur princess in Kerala
dian Premier League. (Read:Kerala Cricket Association
president to discussSreesanth’s life-ban issuewith BCCI)
The couple will go toSreesanth’s ancestral home
in Kothamangalam inErnakulam district after thewedding, followed by a re-ception in Kochi on Thurs-day, according to sourcesclose to the fast bowler.
After his arrest May 16and subsequent imprison-ment till June 11, Sreesanthwas banned from all formsof the game by the Boardof Control for Cricket inIndia after a probe by thecountry’s cricket body.
Sreesanth has beencharged under the draconianMaharashtra Control ofOrganised Crime Act(MCOCA) and the case hasnow been posted for Decem-ber 18.
Sreesanth is only the sec-ond Keralite to represent thecountry and has played in 27Tests (87 wickets), 53 ODIs(75 wickets) and 10 T20s(seven wickets).—Online
MUMBAI—Did India miss anopportunity to give SachinTendulkar more excitingfarewell? no one in theBoard of Control forCricketin India (BCCI) is will-ing to admit this but therewas a scenario where Indiacould have played against abetter opposition than thelistless West Indies, whofailed to last even three fulldays in the two farewellTests for the maestro lastmonth, Indian media re-ported on Thursday.
Discussions with CricketSouth Africa (CSA) officialshave revealed that the SouthAfrican team offered to tourIndia and play those two fare-well Tests in November.
There, were of course, afew conditions attached tothe offer but the BCCI, rea-sons best known to itsbosses, was not too excitedby the prospect of hostingDale Steyn & Co. The BCCI,apparently, even said no toname the series after Ma-hatma Gandhi and NelsonMandela.
It has come to light thatCSA, in countless number of
BCCI denied SachinTendulkar a tougher farewell
their discussions with theBCCI, put forward a proposalof touring India straightfromDubai, where they wereengaged in a full fledged se-ries againstPakistan in No-vember.
As per the points of thenegotiations, South Africawould play two Tests in In-dia and then both teams flyout to South Africa for athree-Test series. And therewould not be any onedayersduring the two legs of bilat-eral exchange programmeand the series would becalled Gandhi-Mandela se-ries or trophy.
South Africa’s Pakistanengagement ended on No-vember 15 and the two IndiaTests would have ended inthe fourth week of Novem-ber after which the teamswould have shifted base tothe Southern hemisphere toresume the Test rivalry for aprestigious cup.
Those were the broadcontours of the tour but theBCCI did not apparentlyshow too much interest. In-stead, they invited WestIndies who were pathetic on
the field, losing both theTests and one-dayers. Thetwo Tests in Kolkata andMumbai failed to go past thethird day much to the con-sternation of the respectivestate associations.
The Tendulkar farewellwas rather tame affair, fizzgone out of the contest be-cause of the meekness of theopposition.
Imagine the scenario ofthe maestro facing the likesof Steyn and Morne Morkelin his last Test.
BCCI president NSrinivasan could not bereached for a commentwhile secretary Sanjay Patelcould not immediately recallany such discussion but atop CSA official revealedthe suggestion was madeby its president ChrisNenzani to the top BCCIofficials.
“They did not showmuch enthusiasm. Wewanted to name the seriesafter Gandhi and Mandela. Ifit had happened, this serieswould have been a fitting fare-well to Madiba,” said the of-ficial.—Online
DUBAI: Shahid Afridi lofts one down the ground during Pakistan vs Sri Lanka 1st T20I.
BIPIN DANI
OBSERVER
CORRESPONDENT
MUMBAI—Former SouthAfrican captain Clive Ricesuspects ‘foul play’ in se-lection of the Test team forthe series against India.
“I cannot believe thatQuinton De Kock is left outof the Test side after scor-ing 2 consecutive hun-dreds against India’, he hadpasted the message on thesocial net working site be-fore the final one-dayer yes-terday.
De Kock followed hisform and registered yethundred on Wednesday.
“Are the officials in-volved with bookmakersbecause i am sure they
Clive Rice suspects ‘foul play’ inselection of South Africa’s Test team
would have got good oddswith this selection”, he said.
Interestingly, Earlier thisyear, Rice came in open say-ing the former skipper HansieCronje’s death was not acci-dental but was murdered.
Speaking exclusively onWednesday night from CapeTown, Rice emphasized, ‘myviews expressed on the networking site remain same. Idon’t need to elaborate more”.
“This is like our politiciansthinking we are stupid. Weare not and do not accept it.Andrew Hudson’s patheticexcuse in his radio interviewfor the selection was morethan unacceptable and a pa-thetic explanation”, he saidon the site.“The sad thing is that JacqueFolds could have been the
CEO of South Africancricket if he bowed downto the board and broughtTsolokele in to the Testteam and the Gupta broth-ers into SA Cricket. Thiswas before Guptagate. Atleast he has morals not tobow down to total medioc-rity that is now prevailing.Where are we heading???Was this also a requirementfor Lorgart’s appointment.Seems like it doesn’t it. CostSouth Africa 200 million onthe Indian tour and prob-ably the cancellation of theIPL in South Africa be-cause the Indian electionsare happening at the sametime. What will this costSouth African cricket ???”,the message he has pastedon the site.
DUBAI—Dashing allrounderShahid Afridi starred inPakistan’s exciting three-wicket win over Sri Lanka inthe first Twenty20 interna-tional at Dubai stadium onWednesday.
Afridi scored an un-beaten 20-ball 39, hitting thewinning six off the last ballof the final over by pacemanNuwan Kulasekara to givePakistan a 1-0 lead in the two-match series. In all Afridi hitthree sixes and two bound-aries to help Pakistan over-come a tough challenge fromworld number one Sri Lankawho had taken the match tothe final over with Pakistanneeding six runs.
Set a challenging 146 toget, Pakistan lost AhmedShehzad (four) in the thirdover but Mohammad Hafeez(32) and Sharjeel Khan (34)steadied the innings throughtheir 57-run second wicketstand before they lost threewickets in the space of sevenruns.
Sharjeel holed out afterhitting three fours off 31 ballswhile Hafeez, who hit twofours and a six in his 27-ballknock, fell leg-before andUmar Akmal was run out forfive. It was left to Afridi tosee Pakistan through.
Criticised for his recentpoor batting form, Afridi hittwo towering sixes inKulasekara’s 16th over togive Pakistan a sniff of vic-tory. When on 23, Afridi alsobecame the first player toscore 1,000 runs and take 50wickets in all Twenty20cricket. In all he has 73 wick-
Afridi stars in Pakistan’sT20 win over Sri Lanka
ets in 69 matches.Afridi said he was de-
lighted to return to his aggres-sive batting. “Pakistan wonand I’m very happy for that.I have to mention (skipper)Hafeez, who was not feelingwell but still he played for thecountry. “It’s nice to batwell, once in a blue moon.”Sent into bat, Sri Lankan bats-men did not capitalise on thegood starts before Mathews(50) and Lahiru Thirimanne(23 not out) added 58 for thefifth wicket stand to take theirteam to 145-5 in 20 overs.Mathews hit five boundariesand a six off 34 balls beforeholing out in the last over.
He hit paceman BilawalBhatti for three boundaries inone over before sending left-arm paceman Sohail Tanvir to
long-on ropes to reach hisfifty off 32 balls.
Experienced openerTillakaratne Dilshan man-aged just seven before hewas the first wicket to fall inthe second over. KusalPerera (15) and skipperDinesh Chandimal (22) thenadded 32 for the secondwicket but off-spinner SaeedAjmal put on the initialbrakes with 2-35. KumarSangakkara scored 21.
Pakistan gave an interna-tional debut to 19-year-oldUsman Shinwari after the left-arm paceman was draftedinto the team as late as Tues-day but the youngster fromthe troubled KahyberPakhtunkhwa provincebowled only one over, cost-ing nine runs.—AFP
Sri Lanka innings:Dilshan b Tanvir .............. 7Perera lbw b Ajmal ........ 15Chandimal lbw b ShahidAfridi ............................... 22Sangakkara b Ajmal ...... 21Mathews c Sharjeelb Tanvir .......................... 50Thirimanne not out ....... 23T. Perera not out .............. 2Extras: (w5) ....................... 5Total: (for five wkts) ... 145Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-41, 3-59, 4-84, 5-142Bowling: ........... O-M-R-WHafeez ................... 4-0-24-0Tanvir .................... 4-0-34-2Shinwari .................. 1-0-9-0Bhatti .................... 3-0-23-0Ajmal ..................... 4-0-35-2Afridi ..................... 4-0-20-1
Pakistan innings:Sharjeel Khan b Thisara34Shehzad b Senanayake .. 4Hafeez lbw b Mendis .... 32Umar Akmal run out ........ 5Sohaib lbw b Malinga .. 13Umar Amin b Malinga .... 8Shahid Afridi not out .... 39Bilawal Bhatti b Malinga10Sohail Tanvir not out ...... 0Extras: (nb1) ..................... 1Total: (for seven wkts) 146Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-69, 3-76, 4-76, 5-96, 6-117, 7-139Bowling: ........... O-M-R-WMalinga ................ 4-0-26-3Kulasekara ........ 3.1-0-30-0Senanayake .......... 3-0-14-1Mendis ................. 4-0-29-1Mathews .............. 2-0-20-0Thisara .................. 3-0-26-1
Cook saysteam hungry
as everPERTH (Australia)—En-gland captain Alastair Cookinsisted Thursday his under-pressure team was as hungryas ever and did not need lift-ing, despite being crushed inthe first two Ashes Tests byAustralia.
Cook, who like Australianskipper Michael Clarke willplay his 100th Test in Perthfrom Friday, said his side re-tained the belief that they canprevent Australia winning atthe WACA to take an un-beatable 3-0 lead in the five-Test series.
“Our confidence has ob-viously had a hit from the firsttwo Test matches,” he toldreporters, referring toBrisbane and Adelaide.
“But as a squad we’vemade a conscious effort tolook forward rather than back.We think we’ve got ourpreparations right.”
England will go into theTest with coach Andy Flowersuggesting there will bechanges from the team thatplayed in Adelaide, wherethey opted for two spinnersin Monty Panesar andGraeme Swann.
Perth is more of a fast-bowlers track and Panesar isexpected to miss out, al-though a team has yet to beannounced.—AFP
W E L L I N G T O N — N e wZealand claimed the upperhand in the second Test onThursday with the WestIndies on 158-4 and key bats-men Darren Bravo andShivnarine Chanderpaul backin the pavilion.
At the end of the rain-abbreviated second day, inwhich only 63.1 of the sched-uled 90 overs were bowled,the West Indies trailed NewZealand’s first innings of 441by 283.
New Zealand take commandagainst West Indies
Only Kirk Edwards andMarlon Samuels provided anystern resistance with well com-piled half centuries. Samuelswas not out 50 and NarsinghDeonarine was on 11.
New Zealand all-rounder Corey Anderson,in only his fourth Test, madethe crucial breakthroughsfor his team, removing firstTest double centurionDarren Bravo for four andEdwards for 55.
The West Indies made a
positive start as Edwards andKieran Powell progressed to46 with New Zealand new-ball partners Trent Boult andTim Southee moving the ballaround and finding plenty toappeal about but nothingthat impressed the umpires.
Southee was eventuallyrewarded with an lbw deci-sion against Powell on 21while Boult came back in hissecond spell to removeChanderpaul.
Bravo, unable to repro-duce his marathon innings ofthe first Test, faced 12 ballsbefore he edged Anderson tosecond slip Peter Fulton.
Edwards, who hadlooked assured on his wayto a half century, was undoneby a full Anderson deliverywhich he tried to turn to theleg side but sent a leadingedge to Hamish Rutherfordat cover.
Anderson, who has fig-ures of two for 20, was againin the play to removeChanderpaul for six when hetook a fine catch at coverpoint.
New Zealand resumedthe day at 307-6 and crackeda rollicking 134 runs to be allout on the stroke of lunch.
It was an impressive to-tal on a wicket ratedfavourable to the quickbowlers, although the WestIndies were guilty of too
many short, wide, deliveries.Wicketkeeper BJ Watling
was the mainstay of the lateattack which ended when hewas removed for 65.
Watling and Southeeopened the day with 27 runsin 26 balls before Southeewas dismissed, caught atdeep square leg for 21.
Ish Sodhi chimed in with27 off 35 balls in a cameo pep-pered with quick singles be-fore he was caught behind offTino Best who was quicklyto go from hero to villain.
Best removed NeilWagner with his next ball tobe on a hat-trick only forBoult to crush those hopes.
He not only avoided thehat-trick but in the next overhe skied a Shane Shillingforddelivery, which Best spilledover the ropes, turning achance to wrap up the in-nings into a six.
Boult was particularlysevere on Shillingford, belt-ing 14 off one over, as he andWatling set a record 10th-wicket partnership for NewZealand against the WestIndies of 58
Best was the most suc-cessful of the West Indiesbowlers, with four for 110.
The day’s play was twicedisrupted by rain, with thestart delayed by 75 minutesand the entire middle sessionwashed out.—AFP
CENTURION—South Africabatsman Quinton de Kockset a new world recordagainst India in the third andfinal One Day Internationalat Supersport Park onWednesday.
The 20-year-old left-hander hit his third succes-sive ODI hundred to becomethe first wicketkeeper-bats-man to achieve the feat ingame’s history.
With 342 runs in thisthree-match series, he is thefirst to aggregate this manyruns in a three-game rubber.
Zaheer Abbas, SaeedAnwar (both Pakistan),Herschelle Gibbs and AB deVilliers (both South Africa) arethe other four in this elite club.Pakistan’s Abbas also got tohis hundreds in the same se-ries, against India in 1982-83.
1993 - Saeed Anwar (Pa-kistan) 107 vs Sri Lanka, 131vs West Indies, 111 vs SriLanka
2002 - Herschelle Gibbs(South Africa) 116 vs Kenya,116* vs India, 153 vsBangladesh
2010 - AB de Villiers(South Africa) 114* vs India,102* vs India, 102 vs West
CENTURION: Quinton de Kock of South Africa raises hisbat after scoring his third consecutive hundred againstIndia in 3rd ODI.
De Kock sets world recordwith hat-trick of tons
Indies2013 - Quinton de Kock
(South Africa) 135, 106, 101vs India.—AFP
New Zealand 1st innings:Fulton c Ramdinb Sammy ........................... 6Rutherford b Best ......... 11Williamson b Best ......... 45Taylor c Shillingfordb Gabriel ....................... 129McCullum c Edwardsb Deonarine ................... 37Corey J Anderson c Powellb Shillingford ................. 38Watling b Gabriel .......... 65Southee b Sammy ......... 21Sodhi c Ramdin b Best . 27Wagner c Sammy b Best 0TA Boult not out ........... 38Extras: (b 16, lb 6, nb 2) 24Total: (all out) .............. 441Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-24, 3-112, 4-189, 5-257, 6-296, 7-334, 8-383, 9-383, 10-441Bowling: ........... O-M-R-WTL Best ............. 21-1-110-4
ST Gabriel ........ 25.1-5-86-2DJG Sammy ........ 25-3-92-2S Shillingford ..... 28-4-92-1N Deonarine ....... 16-2-39-1West Indies 1st innings:Edwards c Rutherfordb Anderson .................... 55Powell lbw b Southee ... 21DM Bravo b Anderson .. 4Samuels not out ............ 50S Chanderpaul b Boult ... 6N Deonarine not out ..... 11Extras: (lb 6, w 1, nb 4) .. 11Total: (4 wickets) ......... 158Fall of wickets: 1-46, 2-67, 3-103, 4-119Bowling: ........... O-M-R-WTA Boult ............... 9-3-25-1Southee ................ 9-1-40-1N Wagner ............. 7-1-37-0J Anderson ........... 7-1-20-2IS Sodhi ................ 3-1-18-0Williamson ........... 2-0-12-0
No room forJamshed, Aminas PCB names
ODI squadLAHORE—Pakistan left outopener Nasir Jamshed andmiddle-order batsman UmarAmin from their 15-mansquad for the five-match one-day series against Sri Lankastarting in Sharjah fromWednesday.
Jamshed and Amin werepart of the squad which beatSouth Africa 2-1 away lastmonth — Pakistan’s first-ever win against the Proteas.The 24-year-old Jamshedscored two and 24 in the twomatches he played of the se-ries while Umar Amin made25 in his only appearance.
They beat Sri Lanka in thefirst Twenty20 on Wednes-day and will complete thetwo-match series on Fridaybefore starting the one-dayleg. The second one-day willbe in Dubai on December 20,the third in Sharjah on the22nd while the fourth and fifthone-days will be played inAbu Dhabi on the 25th and27th, respectively.
Pakistan will also playthree Tests against Sri Lankafor which a squad will benamed later. Pacemen UmarGul and Mohammad Irfanwere not considered as bothare recuperating from injuries.
There was also no placefor veterans Shoaib Malik andAbdul Razzaq — who bothhad to return from South Af-rica after injuries. SharjeelKhan, 24-year-old opener whois also part of the Twenty20squad, earned a place in theone-day team for the first time,replacing Jamshed.—AFP
KARACHI—Senior Pakistanpaceman Umar Gul couldn’timpress the national selectors
in his comeback bid after hefailed a fitness test at the Na-tional Cricket Academy.
Umar, who last played for
Neymar scoreshat-trick asBarca crush
CelticB A R C E L O N A — N e y m a rscored a Champions Leaguehat trick in a 6-1 rout of Celticon Wednesday to helpBarcelona forget aboutLionel Messi, for one nightat least.
Gerard Pique, PedroRodriguez, and Cristian Telloalso scored for Group H win-ners Barcelona, whileGiorgos Samara added a lateconsolation goal for Celtic,which finished last in thegroup.
With Messi sidelined bya hamstring injury, Neymarwas finally able to take com-mand of a Barcelona attackwhich has passed throughthe boots of the Argentinaforward for so many years.
On Wednesday at theCamp Nou, it was Neymar’sfeet which did the talking ashe finally scored in Europe’selite competition.
‘’I don’t feel pressurebut, still, I should score,’’Neymar said.
After Pique’s seventh-minute opener got the Span-ish champions going,Neymar used some masterfuldribbling to throw off de-fender Efe Ambrose with hischange of rhythm beforecutting a pass back into thebox for Pedro to direct homein the 40th.
The Brazil forward wasable to tap home his first goalsince Nov. 10 four minuteslater after Alexis Sanchezlifted a ball over Celtic’s de-fense to meet MarcMontoya’s run, and theSpanish fullback slid it backfor an easy goal.
Neymar showed no prob-lems handling Barcelona’sslick combination capabilitiesas he backheeled to XaviHernandez who returned onto his run through the de-fense, and Neymar sent a ris-ing shot into the corner ashe slipped to the ground inthe 48th.
‘’I wouldn’t say someplayers gave up but it cer-tainly looked that way attimes,’’ said Celtic coach NeilLennon. ‘’A lot of half-hearted performances and, asa manager, that was the mostdisappointing aspect of thewhole game.’’
Ambrose was caughtout again in the 58th.Neymar’s stepover createdspace before he used hisother foot to slide the ballthrough the big defender’slegs, get into the box andthen beat Forster.—AFP
Umar Gul fails fitness testPakistan in South Africa ear-lier this year, underwent a kneesurgery in Melbourne in May
and is yet toconvince theselectors he isready for acomeback tothe nationalteam.
“Pakis tanc a p t a i n s ,M i s b a h - u l -Haq andM o h a m m a dHafeez hadconveyed tothe selectorsthey wantedUmar back inthe nationalside for the SriLanka series,”one reliablesource wasquoted as say-ing to Indian
news agency PTI on Tuesday.“Because of this the selec-
tors decided to have a fitnesstest for Gul at the NCA, where
he bowled in the nets but ap-parently he failed to convincethe selectors he had made a100 per cent recovery from hisoperation and was fully matchfit for international cricket.”
Although Umar has re-sumed playing cricket in thedomestic competitions, so far,in a few appearances, he hasfailed to come out with a bigperformance.
Another source said thatthe medical panel of the boardwould reassess the rehabilita-tion process for Umar and hemight have to undergo anotherfitness test soon.
“The selectors have notedthat Umar has so far played inonly a couple of T20 and one-day matches for Habib Bankin domestic cricket and is yetto be tested in a first classmatch,” the source said.
“Misbah was keen to haveUmar for the ODI seriesagainst the Lankans but it ap-pears he will take some moretime to make a comeback tointernational cricket,” the
source stated.Umar, 29, has taken 163
Test, 161 One-day Interna-tional and 74 T20 wickets inhis career.
Umar himself remainedconfident of a comeback whenhe told reporters after his testthat he was feeling okay andwas ready to play for Pakistanagain.
Pakistan are also withouttall left-arm pacer MuhammadIrfan for the Sri Lanka series ashe has also suffered a hip frac-ture during the South Africaseries.“With the selectors dueto announce the squad for thefive One-day Internationalsagainst Sri Lanka later this weekit is expected they will give acall up to right arm fast bowlerMuhammad Talha who hasbeen in great form this season,”the source said.
Talha featured in the aban-doned Test against Sri Lankaat Lahore in March, 2009 whenmilitants attacked the visitingteam leading to the tour beingcalled off immediately.—INP
ALMOST a quarter of middle-agedwomen report their quality of sleep isless than good, according to a new study.
Sleep problems were tied to poor quality of life,chronic illness and medication use, researchersfound. The new study adds toearlier research by looking atcommon sleep problemsamong women before they hitmenopause, according to Dr.Päivi Polo. She led the studyat the University of Turku inFinland.
“Typically we think thatthese are problems of meno-pause and thus menopause isthe reason for everything,”Polo told Reuters Health.“Then we try to treat all meno-pausal insomnia symptomswith hormone replacementtherapy ... but because in somewomen the sleep problems arealready evident before themenopause, the HRT may notalleviate all sleep problemsand we physicians are won-dering what to do next.”
After menopause, hot flashes and nightsweats increase sleep problems, she said. Poloand her colleagues surveyed 850 mothers abouttheir sleep when they were 42 years old, on av-erage. One third had a chronic illness, like dia-betes or heart disease, and 28 percent were onregular medication.
Women most often reported waking up fre-quently at night. Sixty percent of them had thatproblem at least once a week. Sixteen percentof women reported having difficulty fallingasleep and 20 percent said they woke up tooearly in the morning on a weekly basis.
Morning sleepiness was reported by 42percent and daytime sleepiness by 32 percent.Sleep troubles are not new for people of anyage, but they do seem to be a bit more com-mon among women. Hormonal changes re-
lated to menstrual cycles ormenopause may be partly toblame, the authors write inMaturitas.
Occasional alcohol drink-ing was tied to better sleep qual-ity and less falling asleep atwork, they found. But women’sweight and physical activity lev-els were not linked to sleep prob-lems. That might be becausemost women in study were innormal range for body size, Polosaid. Other studies have tiedobesity to sleep problems likesleep apnea.
“There is likely a bidirec-tional association such that obe-sity may induce poor sleep, andshort sleep may induce weightgain and subsequent obesity,”Dr. Helen Driver, who re-
searches sleep at Queen’s University inKingston, Ontario, Canada, said. “The studywas not designed to assess much detail aboutthe relationship between physical activity andsleep, which is a complex interaction depend-ing on factors such as physical fitness, aero-bic capacity, exercise type (aerobic, non-aero-bic, stretching) and timing,” Driver toldReuters Health in an email. All sleep prob-lems can affect daytime tiredness, work per-formance and quality of life, Driver said.Women tend to get about seven hours of sleepeach night during the week, but sleep needsare unique to individuals, she said.
Sleep problems commonamong middle-aged women
Commuters are facing hardship due to broken road and water accumulation nearLiaquatabad Flyover.
A view of destroyed shops at the site of a remote controlled bomb blast near Landhi 89.
KARACHI—The Karachi Rail-way Division authorities haveunearthed Rs 0.7 million em-bezzlement at Mirpurkhas Rail-way station which led to the ar-rest senior reservation supervi-sor.
The supervisor was arrestedfollowing a discreet raid con-ducted by Divisional Commer-cial Officer (DCO), Shaoib AdilMughal, who earlier had re-ceived a tip of the loss beingcaused to Pakistan Railway.
According to railwaysources, the Mirpurkhas book-ing supervisor had not depositedthe ticket sale amount of Rs 0.7million and thus caused a rev-
enue loss to the railway. Thesources pointed out that an In-spection Team from RailwayHeadquarter Lahore had visitedKarachi Railway Division onNovember 22 and 23 and alsoinspected Mirpurkhas Railwaystation but did not report thisfraud to Karachi Railway divi-sion authorities. Shaoib AdilMughal, after taking over asDCO on September 9, was cred-ited to have unfolded two fraudsof Karachi division inside acouple of months.
In year 2012, he was alsoinstrumental in nabbing a gangof retired railway employees whowere selling fake railway Paper
card tickets in Karachi . A casewas registered against them.
On that performance theRailway administration, headedby Anzar Ismail Rizvi, had rec-ommended his name for bonussalary which was awarded tohim besides the appreciationcertificates.
This year, despite unfoldedtwo frauds, he has not been re-warded yet and instead havingbeen recommended for OSDwhich was quite frustrating anddemoralizing for any civil ser-vant who has performed verywell during the Mid career Man-agement Course at NIMKarachi which offered him to
Shoaib Adil deserves recognitionfor unearthing embezzlement
join NIM and render his servicesfor NIM as Additional Direct-ing Staff. Since joining in Sep-tember 2013, he has shifted atleast a dozen staff on their ir-regularities and disciplinary ac-tion is underway against them
Recently he raided 19 up atGhadar station and in midnightKhyber Mail 1 up surprisinglyfrom Kot and a STE in 1 upKhyber mail has been caughttaking money from a passengerand he caught him on the spot.He also conducted inspection ofHDR-MPS section and caughtminor irregularities and one ma-jor irregularity of a bookingclerk at Tando Allah Yay.Advisor to CM Sindh Sharmila Farooqui addressing on the occasion of ‘Human Rights
Day’ at Women Jail.—PO photo Sultan Chaki
IRFAN ALIGI
KARACHI—Sindh Minister forInformation and Archives andLocal Government, SharjeelEnam Memon while vehementlycondemning the attack on Paki-stan Rangers Sindh convoy inLandhi said that the designs of theterrorists to inflict damages to theefforts for maintaining peace andtranquillity in the metropoliswould never be allowed to be suc-cessful. Pakistan rangers Sindh,Police and all other forces werefully prepared and active to com-bat the vested designs of the per-petrators.
The Minister said that theLandhi bomb blast on PakistanRangers Sindh convoy was an
attempt by the terrorists to seekan end to the ongoing targetedoperation in the metropolis;however, such cowardly actwould never leave the LEAs in-timidated and the targeted opera-tion would continue to go onwith full force and commitmentfor making the city clean ofcrimes and terrorism.
Memon said that the ongo-ing targeted operation wasagainst the anti-social elements,criminals and terrorists and noforce of terrorism could compelthe Sindh provincial governmentto put an end to the ongoing tar-geted operations, which wouldcontinue to go till the fullachievement of pre-set targets.He said that the LEAs would
never take even a single step backas the morale of them was everhigh and they had complete ca-pability to eliminate the terroristsand they would achieve that goalsooner.
The Minister expressed hisgrief over the casualty of Rang-ers Sepoy and directed the au-thorities concerned to ensure bestmedical treatment to the injuredRangers personnel.
The Minister had also soughtdetails about the incident fromPakistan Rangers Sindh DirectorGeneral Rizwan Akhtar and In-spector General of Police, SindhShaheed Nadeem Balouch andasked them to leave no stoneunturned in bringing the perpe-trators to task at the earliest.
Terrorists to fail intheir nefarious designs
STAFF REPORTER
KARACHI—A consultation onthe Database being developedfor better documentation of thecases registered by the DarulAmaans (DUA) was jointly or-ganized by Rozan, Shirkatgahand Ministry of Social Welfareat a local hotel Thursday. Therewas discussion on the tools ofdatabase for ensuring qualitydocumentation.
The event was presided overby Sindh Minister for WomenDevelopment, Special Educa-tion and Social Welfare, RubinaSadat Qaimkhani.
Secretary Social WelfareNoor Muhammad Leghari, pro-vincial coordinator DAUsNuzhat Fatima, DAU staffs, se-nior staff members of
Shirkatgah and Rozan alongwith representatives of variouscivil society organizations work-ing on violence against womenissues in Sindh were a part ofthe consultation in which theattributes of database were dis-cussed for input and future stepswith regards to the implemen-tation and training on the data-base of the DAUs staff were alsoshared.
The Minister said that in or-der to strengthen the recentlyapproved and notified standardoperating procedures (SOP) forDUAs by Ministry of SocialWelfare along with Rozan andShirkatgah, a private publicpartnership for creating supportmechanisms to facilitate theimplementation of SOPs hadbegun.
Database for betterdocumentation
STAFF REPORTER
KARACHI—Sindh Senior Min-ister for Education Nisar AhmedKhuhru said that the Sindh pro-vincial government did not needto rig the upcoming local bodypolls as the Pakistan People’sParty Parliamentarian (PPP)would sweep the pools all alonebecause there were 10-party al-liance against the PPP I recentpast but the results were open toeach naked eye.
The statement made byArbab Ghulam Rahim did nothave any weight as his friendshad parted ways with him andhe was lonely and was facing theaftermath of his wrong deeds hehad committed in past during histenure. The Senior Ministerasked Rahim to explain as howhe established 84 schools in justone village Thar with the taxpayers money as the schools
were not attended by teachers dueto which the tax payers moneyhad gone in waste.
He warned that the Ministryof education would take depart-mental action against those teach-ers, who were not attending schoolsbut were regularly drawing theirsalaries and other perks. No teacherwould be allowed to draw his sal-ary for free. Rahim would also es-cape on government’s demands forrecovery of tax payers money hehad apparently used for the estab-lishment of those 84 schools justin one village.
Khuhru said that a report hadbeen finalized about employmentin education department andSindh provincial governmentwould shortly take its decision onthat issue. It would be impossibleto appoint 5000 teachers on just1000 seats and thus salaries andother perks of extra 4000 wouldnot be possible to release.
Khuhru lambasts Rahim forallegations against PPP
Altaf condemnsattack on Rangers
STAFF REPORTER
KARACHI—Muttahida QaumiMovement (MQM) Chief AltafHussain strongly condemned thebomb attack on a Rangers’ truckin Landhi 89, which resulted inthe death of a Rangers’ person-nel and wounded others.
He expressed deep sorrowand grief over the tragic incident.
The bomb attack was carriedout by the terrorists, who did notwant peace in the country andwant to destabilize it with theirsubversive activities, saidHussain.
He expressed his heartfeltcondolences with the bereavedfamilies of the martyred person-nel and urged them to remaincalm and composed and prayedto Allah to grant them high placesin paradise. He also prayed forthe recovery of the wounded.
He demanded an action fromthe Prime Minister NawazShareef, Federal MinisterChaudhry Nisar Ali Khan andChief Minister Qaim Ali Shah toarrest the perpetrators respon-sible for the bomb attack.
He also demanded that con-crete measures should be takenfor the elimination of terrorismfrom the country.
Targetedoperation to
continueKARACHI—Additional Inspec-tor General of Police (AIGP),Karachi, Shahid Hayat Thurs-day underlined the need for con-tinuation of on-going targetedoperation to make Karachi acrime- free city.
The rate of crimes such astarget killing, extortion and kid-napping for ransom have comedown due to actions by the po-lice and rangers, he said whileaddressing the inaugural cer-emony of the newly establishedSITE, Super Highway IndustrialArea police station here.
Chairman of the SITE As-sociation, Jawed Ali Ghori,Jamshed Chandi, ShahenshahAlam, Shaheen Illyas, SarwanaAli were also present on the oc-casion.
The AIGP said that verysoon the list of alleged terroristsand criminals would be pub-lished and certain important de-cisions in this regard would betaken soon.
He said that the police havenarrowed the circle around theextortionists who made threat-ening calls to doctors of LiaquatNational Hospital with the de-mand to have the money depos-ited in South African Bank. Anumber of arrests have also beenmade in this connection.
Shahid Hayat stated that thePolice Department is progress-ing in the right direction. If thepresent progress is maintainedat the same level, the law andorder situation of Karachi willimprove even further.—APP
BIEK maintainsprofessionalefficiency
STAFF REPORTER
KARACHI—Board of Intermedi-ate Education Karachi (BIEK)Chairman Prof Anwar AhmedZai said that the conduction ofannual examinations and an-nouncement of the results earlierthan the given schedule was notonly a manifest of BIEK’s pro-fessional expertise but was alsoa manifest of trust of parents ofthe students.
A large number of studentshad after passing their examina-tions from BIEK sought admis-sion in leading universities of thecity, the University of Karachi,the NED University of Engineer-ing and Technology and others,which was also a proof that theBIEK had never compromisedon education. He was addressinga large audience as the ChiefGuest at an Inter-faculty debatecompetition held at Bahria Col-lege at Karasaz Thursday.
Prof. Zai urged the studentsto study the full syllabus so thatthey could achieve the highestmarks in the ir results of annualexaminations and should avoiddependence on course guidebooks as later would lead themto utter state of disappointment.
Illegal leases atNew Truck
Stand cancelledKARACHI—KMC Administra-tor Rauf Akhtar Farooqui has di-rected to cancel all illegal leasesin New Truck Stand Mauripurand carry out its developmentworks according to approvedmaps. Six iron gates would beinstalled for transportation in thetruck stand.
He said this while talking toa delegation of Karachi GoodsCarrier Association (KGCA)which under the supervision ofthe Association’s PresidentKhalid Khan met with the Admin-istrator Karachi in his office, saida statement on Thursday.
Development works in NewTruck Stand Mauripur were re-viewed and Senior Director Mu-nicipal Services Masood Alamwas appointed as Focal Personin connection with implementa-tion on the developmentworks.—APP
Preservation ofarchives on
scientific linesKARACHI—A strategy has beenprepared for preserving the ar-chives on scientific lines.
This was stated by SindhSecretary Information and Ar-chives, Dr Zulfiqar AliShahlwani.
He was chairing a meetingof the Sindh ArchivesDepartment’s Project Committeehere on Thursday.
Development schemes of ar-chives under the annual develop-ment programme were reviewedduring the meeting and recom-mendations were made whichwould be presented before theSindh government for necessaryapproval.
Dr Zulfiqar also spoke aboutthe importance of archives for thehistory and culture.—APP
ALMOST a quarter of middle-agedwomen report their quality of sleep isless than good, according to a new study.
Sleep problems were tied to poor quality of life,chronic illness and medication use, researchersfound. The new study adds toearlier research by looking atcommon sleep problemsamong women before they hitmenopause, according to Dr.Päivi Polo. She led the studyat the University of Turku inFinland.
“Typically we think thatthese are problems of meno-pause and thus menopause isthe reason for everything,”Polo told Reuters Health.“Then we try to treat all meno-pausal insomnia symptomswith hormone replacementtherapy ... but because in somewomen the sleep problems arealready evident before themenopause, the HRT may notalleviate all sleep problemsand we physicians are won-dering what to do next.”
After menopause, hot flashes and nightsweats increase sleep problems, she said. Poloand her colleagues surveyed 850 mothers abouttheir sleep when they were 42 years old, on av-erage. One third had a chronic illness, like dia-betes or heart disease, and 28 percent were onregular medication.
Women most often reported waking up fre-quently at night. Sixty percent of them had thatproblem at least once a week. Sixteen percentof women reported having difficulty fallingasleep and 20 percent said they woke up tooearly in the morning on a weekly basis.
Morning sleepiness was reported by 42percent and daytime sleepiness by 32 percent.Sleep troubles are not new for people of anyage, but they do seem to be a bit more com-mon among women. Hormonal changes re-
lated to menstrual cycles ormenopause may be partly toblame, the authors write inMaturitas.
Occasional alcohol drink-ing was tied to better sleep qual-ity and less falling asleep atwork, they found. But women’sweight and physical activity lev-els were not linked to sleep prob-lems. That might be becausemost women in study were innormal range for body size, Polosaid. Other studies have tiedobesity to sleep problems likesleep apnea.
“There is likely a bidirec-tional association such that obe-sity may induce poor sleep, andshort sleep may induce weightgain and subsequent obesity,”Dr. Helen Driver, who re-
searches sleep at Queen’s University inKingston, Ontario, Canada, said. “The studywas not designed to assess much detail aboutthe relationship between physical activity andsleep, which is a complex interaction depend-ing on factors such as physical fitness, aero-bic capacity, exercise type (aerobic, non-aero-bic, stretching) and timing,” Driver toldReuters Health in an email. All sleep prob-lems can affect daytime tiredness, work per-formance and quality of life, Driver said.Women tend to get about seven hours of sleepeach night during the week, but sleep needsare unique to individuals, she said.
Sleep problems commonamong middle-aged women
PML-Q senior central leader Ch Pervaiz Elahi addressing a Press conference.
MUZAFFAR ALI
LAHORE—From Colonialtimes we are being ‘trained’with the purpose of gaining spe-cific skills but not ‘educated’ tofurther our knowledge and de-velop our intellect.
This was stated by notedscientist Prof Dr HR Ahmadfrom JMDC Medicare Campusand Aga Khan University,Karachi, while delivering a lec-ture on ‘Research Pathways’ tothe jam-packed hall of medicalstudents and faculty here at theUniversity of Health Sciences(UHS) on Thursday. Referringto Thomas Macaulay’s con-
scious policy of liquidating indig-enous culture in the subcontinentvia the education system, ProfHR Ahmad said that the systemtends to marginalize inheritedlearning and has uprooted aca-demics and research from tradi-tional modes of thought to theextent for no space for people’sthinkers and philosophers. Hesaid we need research based edu-cation.
He said that patient care andteaching were rather well estab-lished components of our medi-cal career, however, with the pas-sage of time the component ofresearch had started to influencethe medical culture.
“Research is the re-chargerfor the batteries of teaching andpatient care otherwise both be-come routine work with the pas-sage of time”, he emphasized.
Prof HR Ahmad further saidthat the research activity of aninstitution is directly propor-tional to the number of qualifiedand committed PhD scholars. Hemaintained that an inspiring in-frastructure, laboratory facilitiesand libraries are pre-requisitesfor a research culture to grow inorder to sustain the generationcycle of an institution.
He was of the view that themain objective of doctoral workin biomedical sciences was to
Scientist speaks at UHS: ‘We arebeing trained but not educated’
People standing in a queue to get forms of Prime Minister’s Business Loans from a branchof National Bank.
develop a galaxy of scientistphysicians and surgeons pos-sessing high degree of humil-ity, selflessness and ethical su-periority.
He said that higher degreeprogrammes such as MPhil andPhD give the scholars a chanceto work with internationally re-spected researchers, gain adeeper, stronger knowledge oftheir discipline, contributesomething new to the knowl-edge pool of the world, and geta competitive edge.
Later on, he conducted aworkshop for postgraduate stu-dents of UHS on “writing a doc-toral thesis”.
LAHORE—Federal Minister forPlanning and DevelopmentAhsan Iqbal has said that PrimeMinister Nawaz Sharif has “Zeroconflict policy” with neighbours,including India, Afghanistan andother states in the larger interestof the country.
He was addressing an inter-national conference on “SocialChange and Security Impera-tives: Challenges for Leadershipand Democratic Governance inPakistan” held here at FormanChristian College on Thursday.
Martine Herlem Hamidi,French Counsellor for Coopera-tion & Cultural Affairs in Paki-stan, Dr James Tebbe, Rector FCCollege and Dr Saeed Shafqat,Director Centre for Public Policyand Governance (CPPG) werealso present on the occasion.Ahsan Iqbal said that a compre-hensive development plan for 20to 25 years is being prepared andstressed that it should not be seenas Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz plan, rather a “NationalPolicy” to set dimensions of fu-turistic progress in the country.
Ahsan Iqbal said that educa-tion, health, energy,law and or-der and other important sectorswould be accorded priority in thisplan. He said that largely due topoor performance of previous re-gimes the incumbent governmentis facing many issues, includingpoverty, food security, energy cri-sis, unemployment, extremism,law and order, and regretted thatthe country was earlier run on‘year to year’ plans.
He said that extremism is aglobal virus and a major threatto mankind which exists in al-
most all the countries. Ahsan saidthat Pakistan lost its eastern partjust after 25 years of its creationdue to non-existence of democ-racy. “And now we are faced
with many problems inBalochistan and Sindh. But on theother hand India followed thecourse of democracy”, addingthat as a result it is still intact.
However, he noted that in the
democratic process of the coun-try now some maturity can beseen.In this context he high-lighted the transition of powerfrom one democratic govern-
ment to the other. Like wise,Chief Justice and Chief of ArmyStaff have assumed powerthrough a constitutional processwhich is a positive sign for thecountry, he appreciated. Ahsan
Iqbal hoped for further consen-sus and harmony among all thedemocratic institutions over na-tional issues and said that democ-racy is on the right track.
Talking about corruption, theminister said that there was a timewhen ‘corruption scandals’ werethe talk of the media, but duringseven months of the government,not even one such scandal could
be found as Premier MohammadNawaz Sharif has demonstrated“zero tolerance” for corruption.The minister concluded by say-ing that, “Inter-dependency
among the countries of south andcentral Asia is the need of timeas 3 billion people, almost halfof total population of the globe,live here and the region is a hubof commerce and trade.”—APP
Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal addressing the International Conference on “Social changeand security imperatives: Challenges for Leadership and Democratic Governance in Pakistan” at FC College.
Premier has ‘Zero conflictpolicy’ with neighbours: Ahsan
STAFF REPORTER
LAHORE—Pakistan MuslimLeague-Qauid-i-Azam (PML-Q)senior central leader and formerDeputy Prime Minister ChParvez Elahi has said in the localbodies’ elections in Punjab thegovernment has planned to rigelections.
“Law has been made for“transparent rigging”, nobodywill accept elections conductedby the DCOs and Tehsildars, theChief Election Commissionershould take notice of it,” ChParvez Elahi emphasized whileaddressing a press conference atthe Muslim League House hereon Thursday.
Ch Parvez Elahi said thatduring our tenure, heads of localbodies used to write ACRs ofDCOs and DPOs but now even
Tehsildars will be writing ACRsof the Chairmen and the Vice-Chairmen of the local bodies.
“During our tenure localbodies were given ideal admin-istrative and financial powersand instead of the discretion ofthe Chief Minister, funds of Rs.200 billion were given throughthe Provincial Finance Commis-sion comprising the local bod-ies’ members but they have notonly deprived the local bodiesof administrative and financialpowers but also dumped the lo-cal bodies in the Jangla Bus,” headded.
He said that the local bodies’system enforced by the presentgovernment in Punjab wasagainst basic spirit and thinkingof this system, local bodies werenever so powerless in any erawhich they have been made.
Govt planning to rigLB elections: Elahi
SALIM AHMED
LAHORE—Punjab Chief Minis-ter Muhammad Shahbaz Sharifhas accorded approval to the ap-pointment of 35 Members PunjabAssembly as Parliamentary Sec-retaries for different departments.
According to details, RajaIjaz Ahmed Noon has been ap-pointed as Parliamentary Secre-tary for Agriculture, SaqlainAnwar Sipra, Auqaf & ReligiousAffairs, Lt. Col (Retd.) ShujaatAhmed Khan, Colonies, Con-solidation of Holdings, PDMA,Mahmood Qadir Leghari, CMIT,Muhammad Naeem AkhtarKhan Bhabha, C&W, Ms.Shaheen Ashfaq, Cooperative,Muhammad Khurram Gulfam,Energy, Akmal Saif Chatha, En-vironment Protection, MianMuhammad Munir, Excise &
Siddique Bhatti, Local Govern-ment & Community Develop-ment, Nawabzada HaiderMehdi, Management & Profes-sional Development, MalikAhmed Karim QaswarLangrial, Planning & Develop-ment, Mrs. Naghma Mushtaq,Population Welfare, Mrs.Joyce Rofin Julius, SchoolEducation, Ali Asghar Manda,S&GAD, Muhammad IlyasAnsari, Social Welfare & Baitul Maal, Sardar Aamer TalalGopang, Special Education,Muhammad Nawaz Chohan,Transport, Mrs. RashidaYaqoob, Women Develop-ment, Ch. Sarfraz Afzal, YouthAffairs, Sports, Archaeology &Tourism while Raja MuhammadAwais Khan has been appointedas Parliamentary Secretary forZakat & Ushr.
Appointment of 35 MPAs asparliamentary secretaries
STAFF REPORTER
LAHORE—The Lahore HighCourt (LHC) on Thursday tooknotice on an application submit-ted with its Complaint Cell thatpolice allegedly tortured aconstable’s young son to death.District & Sessions Judge,Sargodha has been directed to look
into the matter and submit a de-tailed report regarding steps takenby the local police along with hisown comments.
According to details, a policeconstable serving Police Depart-ment for 20 years, Sher AhmadChishti, resident of Aziz ParkSillanwali, submitted the applica-tion that his 21-year-old son
Fahim Ahmad was going to mar-ket when an ASI MuhammadIqbal and Constables Umar Hayat,Zafar Ullah and Munawar Ahmadstopped him and took him toSillanwali Police Station. Theyalong with a private man Nasirunder the supervision of SHORiaz Ahmad tortured FahimAhmad severely.
LHC takes notice of death ofcop’s son in Police torture
Kite-flyingpart of spring
festivalSTAFF REPORTER
LAHORE—Vice President of AllPakistan Paper Merchants Asso-ciation (APPMA) and Founder ofKite Flying Festival in PakistanKhawaja Nadeem Saeed Wayeenhas applauded the Punjab gov-ernment for making Kite FlyingFestival part of spring festivitiesand termed it a visionary initia-tive of Chief Minister PunjabMian Shahbaz Sharif. “Kite Fly-ing Festival at dedicated sites likeChanga Manga and Jallo wouldnot only save precious humanlives but would also give a jumpstart to the much-needed eco-nomic activities.”
He was addressing a hugegathering of people attached withkite flying industry and represen-tatives of NGOs working for theinterests of working women.Barrister Khalid Zafar, ProfessorKhalid Malik and Madam UmeLaila also spoke on the occasion.
Khawaja Nadeem Wayeensaid that the decision shows thevision of the Punjab governmentas permission for kite flying farfrom populated areas would cer-tainly save precious human liveson one hand while attract a largenumber tourists on other hand.
KP LivestockSecretary visits
UVASSTAFF REPORTER
L A H O R E — K h y b e rPakhtunkhwa Agriculture, Live-stock, Fisheries & CooperationSecretary Hussain Zada visitedthe University of Veterinary andAnimal Sciences (UVAS) Lahoreand called on Vice-ChancellorProf Dr Talat Naseer Pasha hereon Thursday.
The Vice-Chancellor briefedthe secretary on the academic,research, extension and trainingprograms of the university. Theyalso discussed collaboration be-tween the UVAS and Livestockand Dairy Development Depart-ment of KP for the training oflivestock professionals and para-professionals on latest diagnos-tic techniques and technologies.
The Vice-Chancellor assuredthe visiting secretary of all-outsupport and collaboration fromthe UVAS for the developmentof livestock sector, consequentlycontributing to the national de-velopment.
‘Lessonsof history’STAFF REPORTER
LAHORE—Punjab UniversityPakistan Study Centre has orga-nized a special lecture on “Les-sons of History” at its seminarhall in which former Chairmanof PU History Department Prof.
Ali Abbas was the keynotespeaker. Director PSC Prof DrMassarrat Abid, newly recruitedsenior subject specialists of His-tory/Pakistan Studies under train-ing at Directorate of Staff Devel-opment, Dr. Ahmed Ejaz and Mr.Amjad Abbas were also presenton the occasion.
The speakers highlighted thevarious types of History speciallyemphasizing on “Pragmatic His-tory”. He was of the opinion thatthat subject of history should betaught highlighting the lessons ofhistory. The main reason for theproblems prevalent in our soci-ety is also due to our negligencetowards lessons of history.
Pensioners’Day on Dec 16
STAFF REPORTER
LAHORE—Pensioners’ Daywill be celebrated in all officesof Ombudsman Punjab on Mon-day, December 16 while Om-budsman Punjab JavedMahmood has decided to per-sonally supervise all the activi-ties of the day.
Wazir Ahmad Qureshi,Incharge “Mohtasib Punjab Pen-sion Cell”, will organize KhuliKucheri on “Pensioners’ Day” atLahore likewise MemberIncharge concerned of RegionalOffices of Ombudsman Punjabat Multan, Sargodha andRawalpindi will hold khulikucheri and welcome pensionersand retired employees of PunjabGovernment on 16th.
