International Pak needs nat'l govt: Musharraf See on Page 12 Pir Karam becomes GB See on Page 12 Moscow says Bomber trained in Pak See on Page 12 *Crude Oil (brent)$/bbl 96.63 *Crude Oil (WTI)$/bbl 86.47 *Cotton $/lb 166.83 *Gold $/ozs 1,330.80 *Silver $/ozs 26.78 Malaysian Palm $ 1,202 GOLD (NCEL) PKR 37,088 KHI Cotton 40Kg PKR 11,360 Yearly(Jul, 2010 up to 25-Jan-2011) Monthly(Dec, 2010 up to-25-Jan-2011) Daily (25-Jan-2011) Total Portfolio Invest (21 Jan-2010) 196.07 0.68 -1.03 3065 4.42 -3.97 1.59 -3.21 -0.02 -2.79 3.97 SCRA(U.S $ in million) Portfolio Investment FIPI (26-Jan-2011) Local Companies (26-Jan-2011) Banks / DFI (26-Jan-2011) Mutual Funds (26-Jan-2011) NBFC (26-Jan-2011) Local Investors (26-Jan-2011) Other Organization (26-Jan-2011) (U.S $ in million) NCCPL GDR update Commodities Forex Reserves (15-Jan-11) Inflation CPI% (Jul 10-Dec 10) Exports (Jul 10-Dec 10) Imports (Jul 10-Dec 10) Trade Balance (Jul 10-Dec 10) Current A/C (Jul 10- Dec 10) Remittances (Jul 10 - Dec 10) Foreign Invest (Jul 10-Dec 10) Revenue (Jul 10 Dec 10) Foreign Debt (Sep 10) Domestic Debt (Nov 10) Repatriated Profit (Jul- Dec 10) LSM Growth (Nov 10) GDP Growth FY10E Per Capita Income FY10 Population $17.28bn 14.61% $10.98bn $19.13bn $(8.15)bn $26mn $5.29bn $1.05bn Rs 638bn $58.41bn Rs 5348.6bn $323.6mn -4.69% 4.10% $1,051 174.99mn Economic Indicators Symbols MCB (1 GDR= 2 Shares) OGDC (1 GDR= 10 Shares) UBL (1 GDR= 4 Shares) LUCK (1 GDR= 4 Shares) HUBC (1 GDR= 25 Shares) $.Price 2.60 18.76 2.00 1.70 11.28 PKR/Shares 111.46 160.85 42.87 36.44 38.69 T-Bills (3 Mths) T-Bills (6 Mths) T-Bills (12 Mths) Discount Rate Kibor (1 Mth) Kibor (3 Mths) Kibor (6 Mths) Kibor ( 9 Mths) Kibor (1Yr) P.I.B ( 3 Yrs) P.I.B (5 Yrs) P.I.B (10 Yrs) P.I.B (15 Yrs) P.I.B (20 Yrs) P.I.B (30 Yrs) 26-Jan-2011 26-Jan-2011 26-Jan-2011 29-Nov-2010 26-Jan-2011 26-Jan-2011 26-Jan-2011 26-Jan-2011 26-Jan-2011 26-Jan-2011 26-Jan-2011 26-Jan-2011 26-Jan-2011 26-Jan-2011 26-Jan-2011 13.67% 13.71% 13.88% 14.00% 13.36% 13.64% 13.76% 14.09% 14.20% 14.19% 14.20% 14.20% 14.61% 14.81% 14.98% Money Market Update Symbols Buy (Rs) Sell (Rs) Australian $ 85.50 86.50 Canadian $ 85.90 86.90 Danish Krone 14.00 14.70 Euro 117.20 118.70 Hong Kong $ 10.90 11.00 Japanese Yen 1.031 1.057 Saudi Riyal 22.90 23.10 Singapore $ 66.80 67.80 Swedish Korona 12.00 12.10 Swiss Franc 86.00 86.60 U.A.E Dirham 23.40 23.60 UK Pound 135.75 137.50 US $ 86.20 86.55 Open Mkt Currency Rates Symbols Buying Selling TT Clean TT & OD Australian $ 85.44 85.64 Canadian $ 86.00 86.20 Danish Krone 15.74 15.78 Euro 117.34 117.62 Hong Kong $ 11.01 11.03 Japanese Yen 1.044 1.047 Saudi Riyal 22.87 22.92 Singapore $ 66.95 67.11 Swedish Korona 13.16 13.19 Swiss Franc 91.02 91.23 U.A.E Dirham 23.35 23.40 UK Pound 135.57 135.88 US $ 85.74 85.92 Inter-Bank Currency Rates Subscribe now Tel: 92-21-5311893-6 Fax: 92-21-5388428 Email: editor@ thefinancialdaily.com www.thefinancialdaily.com CITIES MAX-TEMP MIN ISLAMABAD 20°C 2°C KARACHI 26°C 12°C LAHORE 21°C 3°C FAISALABAD 21°C 3°C QUETTA 14°C -7°C RAWALPINDI 20°C 2°C Weather Forecast Index Close Change KSE 100 12,483.34 27.59 Nikkei 225 10,401.90 62.52 Hang Seng 23,843.24 54.41 Sensex 30 18,969.45 181.83 ADX 2,708.81 31.38 SSE COMP. 2,715.29 37.64 FTSE 100 5,985.24 67.53 *Dow Jones 12,007.08 29.89 Global Indices ISLAMABAD: State Minister for Finance Hina Rabbani Khar Wednesday sought help of the parliamentarians for expending tax network in the country. Talking on the point of order, she said "Parliamentarians' sup- port is necessary for expansion of tax network in the country as it will help in improving the economy of the country." She informed the House, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) had recently conducted a survey which reveled that only 65 per cent traders in 34 mar- kets were paying tax. She said documentation of economy is imperative to expand the tax network. The minister said due to steps taken by the government the number of tax-payers had been increased from 2.5 million to 3 million. "Number of tax payers were 2.5 million in 2008-9 now this numbers have increased to 3 million due to measures intro- duced by the government", he added. Hina Rabbani Khar said notices have been issued to traders who have not submitted self assessment tax return. He said the traders earning Rs5 million are bound to sub- mit self assessment tax return. The minister said out of 10000 traders only 3531 traders have filed their tax return in Karachi market. She said the government will take action against the traders who have showed less income in the tax return. Hina Rabbani was of the view that without improving See # 10 Page 11 MPs help sought to broaden tax net Hina urges Parliament to assist govt ISLAMABAD: Senior adviser to US President and Senior Director for Economy, David Lipton along with a delegation of officials Wednesday met with the Federal Minister for Finance and Economic Affairs, Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh here in the ministry of finance. The Advisor and his team were given a detailed briefing on the midterm economic review through a presentation. The Pakistani-side advised the visiting delegation of the various measures, political and economic, which include the constituted Parliamentary Party's parleys with all the political parties in the Parliament on the emerging national issues as well as the economic matters. On the economic-side the recommended measures were also apprised to the Advisor including, cut in the overall federal and provincial expendi- ture, due to which the budget deficit has lowered from 3.2 to 3.0 per cent. During the course of the pres- entation, it was also noted that the exports will cross $20 bil- lion or $22 billion and work force remittances will touch $10 billion this year. Recommended measures for the improvement of the econo- my and to put it on a develop- ing track, mentioned the revival of the IMF programme for which Pakistani side is having parleys with political forces in the country. The foreign inflows at the moment are waiting for the pas- sage of the IMF programme, and this will ease the pressure on domestic borrowings. The measures the govern- ment is taking include improved budget management, deferring subsidies on fertiliser and restricting it to Rs30 billion for Railways and rationalisa- tion of tariff subsidy. Ban on fresh recruitment is also undertaken by the govern- ment and reduction of travel of the officials of the government functionary and limitation of the POL, they were told. Among others from the Pakistani side who attended the See # 9 Page 11 US experts hear out Pak reforms David Lipton calls on Dr Hafeez Shaikh ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court of Pakistan Wednesday sum- moned serving Chief Secretary Balochistan besides, former Chief Secretary, to appear with relevant record on Rekodiq cop- per and gold mining project. A four-Judge bench compris- ing Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Muhammad Sair Ali, Justice Ghulam Rabbani and Justice Khalil-ur Rehman Ramday expressed displeasure over provincial government officials' attitude in submitting relevant record over the project especial- ly the 1992 licensing issue of BHP, an Australian company. Chief Justice addressing to additional Advocate General Balochistan Ataullah Mengal remarked that they were hearing such an important issue but the concerned party was not sub- mitting the required documents. He directed him to ask serving and former chief secretaries of the province to remain in pres- ence during proceedings with relevant record. Chief Justice also hinted to decide the issue before February 11, as petitioners was claiming that the provincial government could finalise contract with the Tethyan Copper Company (TCC). He said the whole stakehold- ers including Federal, provin- cial government and others were waiting for a decision. Khalid Anwar, counsel for TCC, apprised the bench that the impression of February 11 was given wrongly as the TCC would be applying for the license before February 19. He said that they would pres- ent all details before the bench. At the outset of proceedings, Raza Kazim, counsel for Maulana Abdul Haq a petition- er, appeared and said that his allegations were about irrespon- sibility and laziness shown dur- ing execution of the contract. He said under Article 173 of the Constitution, the responsi- bility must be achieved by assigning someone a task but here the concerned authorities spoiled everything. See # 5 Page 11 CS B'stan asked to enlighten SC Rekodiq case Shaikh says agenda talks on right path ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh here Wednesday said that negotiations on national economic reforms agenda were heading in right direction resulting in the eco- nomic revival of the country. Talking to media after the third round of dialogue between the parliamentary committees of the government and Pakistan Muslim League (N), he informed that price con- trol mechanism committee comprising the chief secretaries of the provinces would meet today and submit its sugges- tions to the government. Besides he said that the sug- gestions and the proposals of the petroleum price committee are being finalised, adding a judicial commission headed by a judge of Supreme Court or High Court has been formed to find out the reasons of sugar price hike in the country. Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Shahid Hafeez See # 7 Page 11 Special Correspondent/ Agencies ISLAMABAD: Federal Cabinet on Wednesday allowed import of five-year-old used vehicles to bring the rising prices of cars in the country within the reach of common man. The decision was taken in a meeting of the Federal Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani that took into account the complaints of a sharp hike in the prices of local- ly manufactured cars. "The Cabinet decided to approve the import of five-year old used cars," Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said while briefing reporters on the decisions. He clarified that the Prime Minister never overruled the Cabinet decision to allow import of used cars. He added that the Prime Minister had postponed the decision till the next meeting of Cabinet and the reports in media that earlier decision had been overruled, were totally incorrect. The Cabinet also endorsed decisions taken by the meeting of Economic Committee of the Cabinet. The Finance Minister briefed the Cabinet on his meet- ing with the Opposition regard- ing the state of economy. He stated that the cabinet had decided to observe Kashmir solidarity day with enthusiasm on February, 5. Responding to a question he said prime minister would decide about the future of min- isters. Prime Minister would take any decision about reduc- tion in cabinet after consulta- tion with allied parties, he pointed out. Time had come to stamp out menace of terrorism, he said, adding armed forces had broken the back of central leadership of terrorists. Government alone could not achieve success in war on terror, he underlined. No proposal was under con- sideration to ban recruitment in government department nor was government considering privatising national institutions. However decision had been taken to restructure them, he indicated. During first phase, restructuring of railways, steel mills and PEPCO would be car- ried out, he told. The Cabinet also condemned blasts in Lahore and Karachi on Tuesday and prayed to Allah Almighty to shower His bless- ings on those, who had lost their lives. The Cabinet also paid rich tributes to the armed and securi- ty forces, which were bearing the brunt of terrorist attacks and were rendering numerous sacri- fices to protect their citizens. Meanwhile, briefing the media afterwards, Minister for Information Qamar Zaman Kaira said that federal cabinet ratified and gave its approval for the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the rights of the Child; the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography. See # 13 Page 11 5-yr-old autos import greenlit Cabinet approves Optional Protocol for Child Right Convention DAVOS: Former UNGS Kofi Annan, Chief Executive, IISS John Chipman, the President and CEO of ICG and the General Secretary of the Arab League Amre Moussa talk prior to the start of the 'The Security Agenda in 2011'. -Reuters New Afghan MPs sworn in KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai inaugurated par- liament on Wednesday, ending weeks of political infighting, but took a dig at the West say- ing "foreign interference" had been a serious problem. Western diplomats called the event a "big day" for Afghanistan, but the comments exposed the often frayed ties between Karzai and his backers and in private officials warned of a bigger battle ahead between the president and his new parliament. Afghanistan's government was plunged into political crisis last week when Karzai decided See # 12 Page 11 Agritech Merger FFC gets CCP's half-nod ISLAMABAD: The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) on Wednesday issued its conditional no objec- tion to the bidding by Fauji Fertilizer Company Limited (FFC) for the proposed acquisi- tion of 75 per cent to 79.87 per cent shares of Agritech Limited. The FFC had submitted its pre-merger application on August 2, 2010 for the acquisi- tion of 75 to 79.87 per cent shares of Agritech Limited. The Commission intimated FFC vide its letter dated August 12, 2010 that Commission has decided to move the case to Phase 2 Review, with the view to determine whether the merg- er situation is likely to substan- tially prevent or lessen compe- tition in the market and to See # 11 Page 11 Aamir Abidi KARACHI: Fertiliser num- bers recently released by National Fertilizer Development Centre (NFDC), depicted decline in the outgo- ing calendar year 2010 against pervious year's same period mainly because of catastrophic floods and gas curtailment. Urea offtake dropped 5.5 per cent YoY to 6.12 million tonnes recorded in CY10 against 6.47 million tonnes of identical peri- od of last year. Similarly, Di- ammonium phosphate (DAP) offtake remained weak in the outgoing year with the industry witnessed decline of 22.1 per cent on YoY basis. DAP sales stood at 1.32 mil- lion tonnes against 1.69 million tonnes in CY09, however, DAP offtake significantly surged 211 per cent HoH to 996k tones in 2HCY10 compared with 321k tons in 1HCY10. Urea retail price was record- ed at Rs921 per bag in December 2010, showing an upsurge of 16.6 per cent YoY against Rs790 per bag recorded in December 2009. Likewise, DAP retail price See # 8 Page 11 Last yr, fertiliser offtake took fall CY10: Urea slips 5.5pc, DAP down 22.1pc Qaeda under pressure in Pakistan: Obama See on Page 12 NICL scam FIA summons Monis Elahi ISLAMABAD: Federal Investigation Agency has issued summon to Monis Elahi, son of former chief minister Punjab Parvez Elahi, for inves- tigation in National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) case, media reported. Monis was allegedly involved in facilitating one of the land deals of the NICL scam. Sources said the name of Monis Elahi came to light during an investigation into the NICL scam and some members of Waraich family informed the FIA investiga- tors that Monis had facilitated the purchase of 20-kanal land near the airport. -Agencies PM Gilani to decide Cabinet-size-cut, says Shaikh Defense pact with Indonesia, eco-deal with Korea ratified Karachi, Thursday, January 27, 2011, Safar-ul-Muzaffar 22, Price Rs12 Pages 12 ISLAMABAD: Sindh province, hit hard by last year's floods, is suffering levels of malnutrition almost as critical as Chad and Niger, with hun- dreds of thousands of children at risk, UNICEF said on Wednesday. A survey conducted by the provincial government and the UN Children's Fund revealed malnutrition rates of 23.1 per cent in northern Sindh and 21.2 per cent in the south. Those rates are above the 15 percent emergency threshold set by the World Health Organisation and are on a par with some of the poorest parts of sub-Saharan Africa. Northern Sindh also had a 6.1 percent severe acute malnutri- tion rate and southern Sindh had 2.9 percent, both far above the WHO thresholds. "We are looking at hundreds of thousands of children at risk," Unicef chief of communi- cation Kristen Elsby told Reuters. A full report would be released on Friday by the Sindh government, she said, along with the province's response plan. Elsby said it was unclear if the August's floods had caused a spike in malnutrition, but that it had revealed the extent of the problem because babies and mothers were being screened for the first time. "People were already See # 6 Page 11 Hunger looms large in Sindh
ISLAMABAD: State Ministerfor Finance Hina Rabbani KharWednesday sought help of theparliamentarians for expendingtax network in the country.
Talking on the point of order,she said "Parliamentarians' sup-port is necessary for expansionof tax network in the country asit will help in improving theeconomy of the country."
She informed the House,Federal Board of Revenue(FBR) had recently conducted asurvey which reveled that only65 per cent traders in 34 mar-kets were paying tax.
She said documentation ofeconomy is imperative toexpand the tax network.
The minister said due to stepstaken by the government thenumber of tax-payers had beenincreased from 2.5 million to 3
million. "Number of tax payerswere 2.5 million in 2008-9 nowthis numbers have increased to3 million due to measures intro-duced by the government", headded.
Hina Rabbani Khar saidnotices have been issued totraders who have not submittedself assessment tax return.
He said the traders earningRs5 million are bound to sub-mit self assessment tax return.
The minister said out of10000 traders only 3531 tradershave filed their tax return inKarachi market.
She said the government willtake action against the traderswho have showed less incomein the tax return.
Hina Rabbani was of theview that without improving
See # 10 Page 11
MPs help soughtto broaden tax net
Hina urges Parliament to assist govt
ISLAMABAD: Senior adviserto US President and SeniorDirector for Economy, DavidLipton along with a delegationof officials Wednesday metwith the Federal Minister forFinance and Economic Affairs,Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh herein the ministry of finance.
The Advisor and his teamwere given a detailed briefingon the midterm economicreview through a presentation.
The Pakistani-side advisedthe visiting delegation of thevarious measures, political andeconomic, which include theconstituted ParliamentaryParty's parleys with all thepolitical parties in theParliament on the emergingnational issues as well as the
economic matters.On the economic-side the
recommended measures werealso apprised to the Advisorincluding, cut in the overallfederal and provincial expendi-ture, due to which the budgetdeficit has lowered from 3.2 to3.0 per cent.
During the course of the pres-entation, it was also noted thatthe exports will cross $20 bil-lion or $22 billion and workforce remittances will touch$10 billion this year.
Recommended measures forthe improvement of the econo-my and to put it on a develop-ing track, mentioned the revivalof the IMF programme forwhich Pakistani side is havingparleys with political forces in
the country.The foreign inflows at the
moment are waiting for the pas-sage of the IMF programme,and this will ease the pressureon domestic borrowings.
The measures the govern-ment is taking includeimproved budget management,deferring subsidies on fertiliserand restricting it to Rs30 billionfor Railways and rationalisa-tion of tariff subsidy.
Ban on fresh recruitment isalso undertaken by the govern-ment and reduction of travel ofthe officials of the governmentfunctionary and limitation ofthe POL, they were told.
Among others from thePakistani side who attended the
See # 9 Page 11
US experts hearout Pak reforms
David Lipton calls on Dr Hafeez Shaikh
ISLAMABAD: Supreme Courtof Pakistan Wednesday sum-moned serving Chief SecretaryBalochistan besides, formerChief Secretary, to appear withrelevant record on Rekodiq cop-per and gold mining project.
A four-Judge bench compris-ing Chief Justice IftikharMuhammad Chaudhry, JusticeMuhammad Sair Ali, JusticeGhulam Rabbani and JusticeKhalil-ur Rehman Ramdayexpressed displeasure overprovincial government officials'attitude in submitting relevantrecord over the project especial-ly the 1992 licensing issue ofBHP, an Australian company.
Chief Justice addressing toadditional Advocate GeneralBalochistan Ataullah Mengalremarked that they were hearingsuch an important issue but theconcerned party was not sub-mitting the required documents.
He directed him to ask servingand former chief secretaries ofthe province to remain in pres-ence during proceedings withrelevant record.
Chief Justice also hinted to
decide the issue before February11, as petitioners was claimingthat the provincial governmentcould finalise contract with theTethyan Copper Company(TCC).
He said the whole stakehold-ers including Federal, provin-cial government and otherswere waiting for a decision.
Khalid Anwar, counsel forTCC, apprised the bench thatthe impression of February 11was given wrongly as the TCCwould be applying for thelicense before February 19.
He said that they would pres-ent all details before the bench.
At the outset of proceedings,Raza Kazim, counsel forMaulana Abdul Haq a petition-er, appeared and said that hisallegations were about irrespon-sibility and laziness shown dur-ing execution of the contract.
He said under Article 173 ofthe Constitution, the responsi-bility must be achieved byassigning someone a task buthere the concerned authoritiesspoiled everything.
See # 5 Page 11
CS B'stan askedto enlighten SC
Rekodiq caseShaikh saysagenda talks
on rightpath
ISLAMABAD: FederalMinister for Finance Dr AbdulHafeez Shaikh here Wednesdaysaid that negotiations onnational economic reformsagenda were heading in rightdirection resulting in the eco-nomic revival of the country.
Talking to media after thethird round of dialoguebetween the parliamentarycommittees of the governmentand Pakistan Muslim League(N), he informed that price con-trol mechanism committeecomprising the chief secretariesof the provinces would meettoday and submit its sugges-tions to the government.
Besides he said that the sug-gestions and the proposals ofthe petroleum price committeeare being finalised, adding ajudicial commission headed bya judge of Supreme Court orHigh Court has been formed tofind out the reasons of sugarprice hike in the country.
Governor State Bank ofPakistan (SBP) Shahid Hafeez
See # 7 Page 11
Special Correspondent/Agencies
ISLAMABAD: FederalCabinet on Wednesday allowedimport of five-year-old usedvehicles to bring the risingprices of cars in the countrywithin the reach of commonman.
The decision was taken in ameeting of the Federal Cabinet,chaired by Prime Minister SyedYousuf Raza Gilani that tookinto account the complaints of asharp hike in the prices of local-ly manufactured cars.
"The Cabinet decided toapprove the import of five-yearold used cars," InformationMinister Qamar Zaman Kairasaid while briefing reporters onthe decisions.
He clarified that the PrimeMinister never overruled theCabinet decision to allowimport of used cars. He addedthat the Prime Minister hadpostponed the decision till thenext meeting of Cabinet and thereports in media that earlier
decision had been overruled,were totally incorrect.
The Cabinet also endorseddecisions taken by the meetingof Economic Committee of theCabinet. The Finance Ministerbriefed the Cabinet on his meet-ing with the Opposition regard-ing the state of economy.
He stated that the cabinet haddecided to observe Kashmirsolidarity day with enthusiasmon February, 5.
Responding to a question hesaid prime minister woulddecide about the future of min-isters. Prime Minister wouldtake any decision about reduc-tion in cabinet after consulta-tion with allied parties, hepointed out.
Time had come to stamp outmenace of terrorism, he said,adding armed forces had brokenthe back of central leadership ofterrorists. Government alonecould not achieve success inwar on terror, he underlined.
No proposal was under con-sideration to ban recruitment ingovernment department nor
was government consideringprivatising national institutions.
However decision had beentaken to restructure them, heindicated. During first phase,restructuring of railways, steelmills and PEPCO would be car-ried out, he told.
The Cabinet also condemnedblasts in Lahore and Karachi onTuesday and prayed to AllahAlmighty to shower His bless-ings on those, who had lost theirlives.
The Cabinet also paid richtributes to the armed and securi-ty forces, which were bearingthe brunt of terrorist attacks andwere rendering numerous sacri-fices to protect their citizens.
Meanwhile, briefing themedia afterwards, Minister forInformation Qamar ZamanKaira said that federal cabinetratified and gave its approvalfor the Optional Protocol to theConvention on the rights of theChild; the Sale of Children,Child Prostitution and ChildPornography.
See # 13 Page 11
5-yr-old autosimport greenlit
Cabinet approves Optional Protocol for Child Right Convention
DAVOS: Former UNGS Kofi Annan, Chief Executive, IISS John Chipman, the President
and CEO of ICG and the General Secretary of the Arab League Amre Moussa talk prior
to the start of the 'The Security Agenda in 2011'. -Reuters
New AfghanMPs sworn inKABUL: Afghan PresidentHamid Karzai inaugurated par-liament on Wednesday, endingweeks of political infighting,but took a dig at the West say-ing "foreign interference" hadbeen a serious problem.
Western diplomats called theevent a "big day" forAfghanistan, but the commentsexposed the often frayed tiesbetween Karzai and his backersand in private officials warnedof a bigger battle aheadbetween the president and hisnew parliament.
Afghanistan's governmentwas plunged into political crisislast week when Karzai decided
See # 12 Page 11
Agritech Merger
FFC getsCCP's
half-nodISLAMABAD: TheCompetition Commission ofPakistan (CCP) on Wednesdayissued its conditional no objec-tion to the bidding by FaujiFertilizer Company Limited(FFC) for the proposed acquisi-tion of 75 per cent to 79.87 percent shares of AgritechLimited.
The FFC had submitted itspre-merger application onAugust 2, 2010 for the acquisi-tion of 75 to 79.87 per centshares of Agritech Limited.
The Commission intimatedFFC vide its letter dated August12, 2010 that Commission hasdecided to move the case toPhase 2 Review, with the viewto determine whether the merg-er situation is likely to substan-tially prevent or lessen compe-tition in the market and to
See # 11 Page 11
Aamir Abidi
KARACHI: Fertiliser num-bers recently released byNational FertilizerDevelopment Centre (NFDC),depicted decline in the outgo-ing calendar year 2010 againstpervious year's same periodmainly because of catastrophicfloods and gas curtailment.
Urea offtake dropped 5.5 percent YoY to 6.12 million tonnesrecorded in CY10 against 6.47million tonnes of identical peri-od of last year. Similarly, Di-ammonium phosphate (DAP)offtake remained weak in the
outgoing year with the industrywitnessed decline of 22.1 percent on YoY basis.
DAP sales stood at 1.32 mil-lion tonnes against 1.69 milliontonnes in CY09, however, DAPofftake significantly surged 211per cent HoH to 996k tones in2HCY10 compared with 321ktons in 1HCY10.
Urea retail price was record-ed at Rs921 per bag inDecember 2010, showing anupsurge of 16.6 per cent YoYagainst Rs790 per bag recordedin December 2009.
Likewise, DAP retail price See # 8 Page 11
Last yr, fertiliserofftake took fall
CY10: Urea slips 5.5pc, DAP down 22.1pc
Qaeda under pressurein Pakistan: Obama
See on Page 12
NICL scam
FIAsummons
Monis ElahiISLAMABAD: FederalInvestigation Agency hasissued summon to Monis Elahi,son of former chief ministerPunjab Parvez Elahi, for inves-tigation in National InsuranceCompany Limited (NICL)case, media reported.
Monis was allegedlyinvolved in facilitating one ofthe land deals of the NICLscam. Sources said the nameof Monis Elahi came to lightduring an investigation intothe NICL scam and somemembers of Waraich familyinformed the FIA investiga-tors that Monis had facilitatedthe purchase of 20-kanal landnear the airport. -Agencies
PM Gilani to decide Cabinet-size-cut, says ShaikhDefense pact with Indonesia, eco-deal with Korea ratified
ISLAMABAD: Sindhprovince, hit hard by last year'sfloods, is suffering levels ofmalnutrition almost as criticalas Chad and Niger, with hun-dreds of thousands of childrenat risk, UNICEF said onWednesday.
A survey conducted by theprovincial government and theUN Children's Fund revealedmalnutrition rates of 23.1 percent in northern Sindh and 21.2per cent in the south.
Those rates are above the 15percent emergency thresholdset by the World HealthOrganisation and are on a parwith some of the poorest partsof sub-Saharan Africa.
Northern Sindh also had a 6.1percent severe acute malnutri-
tion rate and southern Sindhhad 2.9 percent, both far abovethe WHO thresholds.
"We are looking at hundredsof thousands of children atrisk," Unicef chief of communi-cation Kristen Elsby toldReuters.
A full report would bereleased on Friday by the Sindhgovernment, she said, alongwith the province's responseplan.
Elsby said it was unclear ifthe August's floods had causeda spike in malnutrition, but thatit had revealed the extent of theproblem because babies andmothers were being screenedfor the first time.
"People were already See # 6 Page 11
Hunger loomslarge in Sindh
2 Thursday, January 27, 2011
Staff Correspondent
LAHORE: While giving aroadmap for the revival ofeconomy for the year 2011,Pakistan Industrial andTraders Associations Front(PIAF) Wednesday termedto utilize all availableresources and motivate allsegments of the society forturning the economyaround.
According to a handoutissued here, the issuesincluding power outages,repeated hikes in petrole-um products, electricityrates, gas shortage,unprecedented increase indaily use items and badgovernance would be takenup with the concerned gov-ernment departments.
The roadmap was givenby the newly elected PIAFChairman Engr.SohailLashari while addressingthe PIAF Executive
Committee meeting. ThePIAF Vice ChairmenNadar Kamal Osman andJunaid Iqbal Sheikh alsospoke on the occasion andgave their point of view asto how the ongoing crisislike situation could beaverted.
Engr. Sohail Lasharisaid that Prime MinisterYousaf Raza Gilanishould intervene into theOGRA affairs and stop itfrom making any furtherincrease in the petroleumprices as it would notonly affect the govern-ment's credibility butwould also break all pre-vious records of inflationin the country.
To overcome the energyshortage, the newly electedPIAF Chairman said thatgovernment would have toadopt the alternate meansof energy generationbesides initiating work on
the construction of waterreservoirs includingKalabagh Dam. He saidthat the country is self suf-ficient for power genera-tion through solar means,therefore, the governmentshould come up with apackage of incentives sothat maximum number ofpeople could be able to usesolar equipment.
He said that the powertariff registered an upwardtrend of 67 percent in 2010while it was almost hun-dred percent in the lastthree years. Due to this sin-gle reason, Pakistani mer-chandise failed to get dueappreciation at the interna-tional market and theneighboring countriesmade huge gains as the rateof electricity for the indus-try in Bangladesh was 9.5cents, in India it was 9cents against a rate of 13cents in Pakistan.
PIAF gives roadmapfor revival of economy
Tax-to-GPD ratio lowest in Pak
ISLAMABAD: ExportProcessing Zones Authority(EPZA) has shown tremen-dous performance duringthe year 2009-10. It haspublished its first ever YearBook for 2010, says a pressrelease.
It's Exports increased by14%, Tax revenuesincreased by 14%,Investment of surplus fundsincreased by 11%, ForeignInvestment increased by60% on account its excel-lent performance. FederalMinister for Industries andProduction Mir Hazar KhanBijarani has appreciated theperformance of EPZA dur-ing 2009-10 and congratu-lated the administration ofEPZA for publishing itsfirst ever Year Book-2010which is very informativeand carries healthy guide-lines for investors andindustrialists.
EPZA is contributing to
the economy by enhance-ment of foreign investment,generation of employmentand setting up of alliedmanufacturing industries. Itis constantly diversifyingand expanding its opera-tions with commitment toachieve its mandate throughsustainable policies andsupport of Government. Itsmandate is to make allarrangements for planning,development and manage-ment of the zones and toprovide for matters con-nected therewith or ancil-lary thereto. The EPZAvision is to proactivelyfacilitate the investors andcreate enabling environ-ment for them to enhanceexport-led manufacturing,trade and investment so asto achieve exports' target ofUS$ one billion by 2015.
At present it has sixExport Processing Zoneslike KEPZ Karachi, EPZ
Risalpur, Saindak EPZ,EPZ Sialkot , TuwairqiSteel EPZ Karachi andDuddar EPZ which areworking very efficiently.EPZA provides one windowoperation with simplifiedprocedures, secured envi-ronment, customs bondedarea , uninterrupted powersupply, Gas provided byutility company on priority,continuous water supply byEPZA, environment friend-ly atmosphere, easy accessto seaport and air port,abundance of skilled andeducated workforce, devel-oped land available at com-petitive rates for 30 yearslease, relief from doubletaxation subject to bilateralagreement, Off-shoreBanking Units available tofacilitate financial transac-tions and Offices ofClearing and Forwardingagents within the zone toinvestors.-NNI
EPZA does mighty well
Staff Reporter
KARACHI: The Union ofSmall and MediumEnterprises (UNISAME)has identified corruptionas one of the impedimentsto SME growth in Pakistanand urged the federal min-ister for industries and pro-duction to establish theoffice of SME Ombudsmanas envisaged in the SMEpolicy 2007 to enable theaggrieved entrepreneur toseek remedy promptlyagainst corruption, unfairand unjust decisions of thegovernment officials in theprovinces and the centre.
President UNISAMEZulfikar Thaver said theSMEs are badly affected bycorruption at every stage ofbusiness right from incep-tion to the running of thebusiness and without bribingthe officials the entrepreneurcannot manage to set up or
remain in business and thiscoupled with the grave lawand order situation is a bigsetback to the SMEs.
He said the second nameof corruption is ' SpeedMoney' and without payingthis an entrepreneur cannotmove his matter to the nextstep and if not the SME hasto face a series of objec-tions and hurdles which areunbearable and ultimatelythe SME gives in and hasto pay, in fact the paymentof speed money hasbecome compulsory andevery nature of work hasbeen categorized and clas-sified and the bribe amounthas been fixed accordinglyas though it is their right.
He said the SMEs arefeeling the pinch as thisamount has increased dueto inflation and the rate hasgone high and is nowexceeding the limits andincreasing the cost of pro-
duction and making thegoods uncompetitive.
The union has urged thefederal minister to set upthe office of the SMEOmbudsman for redressingthe grievances of the smallbusinessman and to checkthe widespread corruptionwhich is seeping into theeconomic fabric of thecountry.
The union has pointedout that the SME has tobribe or remain behinddejected at every stagewhether it is buying ofland, construction of prop-erty, obtaining utilities,running of industry,importing, exporting, mar-keting, registration andother formalities and hasurged the government totake up the matter seriouslyand appoint an ombudsmanto enable the SMEs toknock at his doors for relieffrom this menace.
Plea to appointSME ombudsman
ISLAMABAD: PresidentAsif Ali Zardari has saidthat time has come that wemove from green revolu-tion to gene revolution andcalled upon the scientists toconduct research on genet-ic diversity on the country'smajor crops wheat, rice andcotton so as to produce dis-ease resistant and highyielding variety of thesecrops.
The President urged fed-eral and provincialresearch institutions anduniversities to work togeth-er for developing and intro-ducing latest technologiesin agriculture and farmingsector to enhance crop pro-duction to meet the grow-ing challenge of food secu-rity in the country.Scientists and Researchersin Pakistan should focus ondevising strategies toincrease wheat and cottonyield in situation where thecountry is facing the grow-ing challenges of increasedpopulation, reduced water
availability and deteriorat-ing soil health in the coun-try.
This he said while chair-ing a presentation on"overall review of agricul-tural research activitieswith emphasis on cottonand wheat" given byPakistan AgricultureResearch Council (PARC)at the Aiwan-e-Sadr.
The presentation wasattended among others byNazar Muhammad Gondal,Minister for Food andAgriculture, M. SalmanFaruqui, Secretary Generalto the President, NadeemUl Haque, DeputyChairman PlanningCommission, KamalMajidullah , SpecialAssistant to Prime ministeron water resources,Spokesperson to thePresident FarhatullahBabar, federal secretaries,food and agriculture andplanning and development,Chairman ZTBL,Chairman PARC,
Chairman PCSIR,Dr.Samar Mubarikmand,member PC, Dr. AbdulRashid, Member , PAEC,Rector FAST, heads ofAgriculture researchorganizations and fooddepartments of all theprovinces including AJ&K,Vice chancellors of agri-culture universities andother senior governmentofficials of the relevantministries and departments
Chairman PakistanAgriculture ResearchCouncil (PARC) Dr.Mohammad Afzal gave adetailed briefing on anoverall review of agricul-tural research activitieswith emphasis on cottonand wheat, new technolo-gies and innovations infarming, hybrid seedsdevelopment, PakistanChina collaborative proj-ects in drip irrigation andhybrid cotton and wheatand other ongoing andplanned projects of PARC.
The President said that
research is a basic pillar ofagriculture developmentand urged for accordingpriority to the developmentof high yielding and dis-ease resistant hybrid cot-ton, wheat, and rice to copewith the surging fooddemand with the increasingpopulation of the country.
The President advised theagricultural ministry andPARC to follow the con-cept of modernized farm-ing and develop plans forhelping the small and frag-ile farmers and reiteratedcommitment of the presentgovernment to improve thelivelihood of small farmersand rural population.
The President appreciat-ed PARC for its contribu-tion in cotton research anddevelopment of latest tech-nologies and expressed thehope that collaborationwith China will continuefor improvement of agri-culture in general andwheat and cotton in partic-ular.-Online
Its’time to movefrom green to generevolution: Zardari
KARACHI: A high leveljoint meeting of Healthand Finance departmentwas held under the chair-manship of Chief MinisterSindh Syed Qaim Ali Shahat C.M House onWednesday.
The meeting discussedthe issue of promotion ofdoctors pending since longtime, and approved thefour tier formula for gen-eral cadre doctors and den-tal surgeons. It may benoted that the servicestructure of general cadredoctors and dental sur-geons was lastly approvedduring the regime of for-mer Prime MinsterShaheed Benazir Bhutto in1995. According to ratioof four tier formula, onepercent will be in BS-20out of total sanctionedstrength; 15% in BS-19;34% in BS-18 while 50%will be in BS-17 out oftotal strength. The meetingwas informed that accord-ing to notification issuedby Finance Departmentdated the 27th February1995; for up gradation ofgeneral cadre doctors; 78posts from BS-17 upgrad-ed to BS-19 and 2426posts of BS-17 upgradedto BS-18. Besides, 4-posts
of BS-17 dental surgeonswere up-graded to BS-20;64 posts of BS-17 upgrad-ed to BS-19 and 95 postsof BS-17 were upgraded toBS-18.
It was informed that thetotal strength of doctors inSindh Health department is10923 posts which include109 posts in BS-20; 1634posts in BS-19, 3714 postsin BS-18 and 6798 posts inBS-17. As per details 51posts of BS-20 are vacant;401 posts of BS-19 and903 posts of BS-18 arelying vacant. It wasinformed that after followup and implementation offour tier formula in Healthdepartment, theGovernment of Sindh willhave to bear the financialimplication of Rs: 76.817million. It was alsoinformed in the meetingthat 1452-doctors whohave completed 22 years inGovernment service arestill working in grade / BS-18 while 566 doctors whohave completed 18 years inGovernment service arestill working in grade /BPS-17. It was furtherinformed that with theimplementation of 4-tierformula, no new posts willbe created.-Online
CM Sindhapproves formula
SBP workshopon remittancesPESHAWAR: The StateBank of Pakistan Peshawarin collaboration withPakistan RemittanceInitiative (PRI) organizedone-day workshop on Homeand Remittance BusinessRoles and Responsibilitieshere on Wednesday.
The PRI is a joint initiativeof the State Bank ofPakistan, Ministry ofOverseas Pakistanis andMinistry of Finance. Morethan 100 participants com-prising branch managers ofremittance rich areas of theKhyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP),regional heads of banks andbank officers dealing in for-eign exchange attended theworkshop.
Home remittance is thesecond largest source of for-eign exchange for the coun-try. Owing to its importancefor the economy, it isexpected from the bankingindustry to give priority tothis business area. -APP
Vision ofprosperity
2011 in MarchKARACHI: Being one ofthe largest and most popularexhibitions of Pakistan since2003, Vision of Prosperity2011 is poised to attract over500,000 consumers from allwalks of life. This year'stheme "The Spirit ofSuccess" keeps the traditionof inspiring and motivatingfor the citizens of Karachiand especially the largeMemon Community.
Organized by the AllPakistan Memon Federationthe Vision of Prosperity2011 is a 5 hall exhibition tobe held at the Expo Center,Karachi from March 11-13and is being professionallymanaged by OS CreativeMarketing Services - theofficial event managers forthe exhibition.
The Memon Communityis internationally recog-nized for its philanthropicactivities. The APMF hasalways paid specific atten-tion towards the develop-ment of social sector.-PR
Shaziacondemnschehlum
blastsTFD Report
KARACHI: SindhMinister for Electric PowerShazia Marri has stronglycondemned bomb blasts inMalir Halt Karachi andLahore and expressed herdeep sorrow and grief overthe killing of innocent peo-ple and police personnel inthese blasts.
Shazia Marri said thatterrorists are enemies ofPakistan, Islam andhumanity who are targetinginnocent people but theymay keep in their mind thatour nation is united againstthem and these evils willnot succeed to hostagePakistani nation.
Marri extended herheartfelt condolences to thefamilies of those martyrswho lost their lives in theseblasts. She also paid saluteto those police personnelwho sacrificed their liveswhile protecting peopleand said that their sacri-fices will be rememberedin war against terrorism.
Sher Shah tragedy
9 suspectsacquitted
KARACHI: Sindh HighCourt Link Judge of Anti-ter-rorism special courts JusticeSajjad Ali Shah has orderedrelease of nine accused per-sons of Sher Shah tragedyon police report.
According to details,nine accused persons wereproduced in the Anti-terror-ism court on Wednesdaybut the defendant did notidentify any one of them asoffender. During the pro-ceeding, the investigatingofficer submitted the reportof 497 pages in the court.
It was stated in the reportthat no evidence wasfound against these accus-ers and nor any one identi-fied them as offenders.The court ordered therelease of them due to noevidence against them.
These persons wereaccused of opening ofindiscriminate firing atSher Shah Kabari Market atjurisdiction of Pak Colonypolice Station on October19, last year.-Online
Ministerseeks ban onill-equipped
buses KARACHI: SindhMinister for Environmentand Alternate Energy,Shaikh Mohammed Afzal,has called for a ban oninter-city buses notequipped with fire extin-guishers and emergencyexit gates.
According to a statementof his office issued here onWednesday, the Ministerhas expressed his deep con-cern over the incident onSuper Highway whichclaimed lives of 33 passen-gers. He said the bus own-ers may be given a certaindeadline to equip theirbuses with all the passen-ger safety measures.
"After the expiry of dead-line action may be takenagainst the violators ofthose bus operators," hesaid. He further said thatthe traffic police shouldalso give fitness certificateto the buses after properinspection. The Ministerfurther advised the busowners to allow due rest tothe drivers as most of theaccidents occur due to rest-lessness of the drivers."Motorway Police could beinstrumental in checkingthe vehicles and conditionof the drivers," heobserved.-APP
SAMAA
clarificationKARACHI: SAMAA TVmanagement has refutedthe claims carried by a cer-tain section of the press thatMeher Bokhari has beensacked. It has stated that asper normal practice of othercurrent affairs anchors,Meher Bokhari has gone onleave from Jan 24.-PR
LAHORE: Punjab Governor Sardar Latif Khosa in a meeting with the fice member
delegation of Commonwealth Parliamentary Assocation UK headed by Roger Gale
during their visit to Provincial Capital City.-APP
PESHAWAR: Chairman Awami National Party
Asfandyar Wali speaks during a ceremony in connec-
tion to the death anniversary of Bacha Khan and Khan
Abdul Wali Khan at Nishtar Hall.-Online
KARACHI: Police officials checking the vehicles in city as
security was beefed up to avoid any untoward incident.-APP
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani chairing the Cabinet meeting at PM Secretariat.-APP
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Promotion of doctors
PaCCScan check
containers'scamming also
Staff ReporterKARACHI: The Federal TaxOmbudsman (FTO) has givensome key recommendationsto the federal government tosplit Federal Board ofRevenue (FBR) into twoboards - one dealing exclu-sively with Customs mattersincluding elimination ofsmuggling, containers scam-ming and others dealing withtaxes like income tax, salestax and federal excise duty,wide discretion in the handsof unscrupulous customs offi-cials, lack of transparency andineffective accountability.
The measures will providebetter focus on mattersrelating to management ofCustoms, says FTO reportsubmitted to Supreme Courtof Pakistan recently.
Former FBR chairmanAbdullah Yousaf said whilecommenting on ISAFContainers Scam that hisgovernment had introducedsome key reforms in thepast. One of such reformswas the introduction of thePakistan AutomatedCustoms ComputerisedSystem (PACCS) for speedyclearance of import andexport procedures.
ZURICH: The Swiss francwas slightly lower against theeuro and the dollar onWednesday after the previousday's strong rally as gooddemand for the debut bondfrom Europe's financial rescuefund reassured investors.
Worries about the economyand a shock contraction in theUnited Kingdom's grossdomestic product pushed thesafe-haven franc higher onTuesday.
"Euro-franc finds it difficultto post gains past the 1.30level," UBS economist RetoHuenerwadel said.
The franc was down 0.3 percent against the euro comparedto the New York close, tradingat 1.2931 per euro at 0820GMT.
"The market has alreadyreacted back to the 1.2825/10support. While we would allowfor further slippage to1.2765/00 we look for signsthat the market is basing here,"Commerzbank technical ana-lysts said in a note to clients.
Credit Suisse analysts saidthey continued to see near-term
downside risks for the euro-franc but remained positive ona twelve-month basis due tothe interest rate support for theeuro and the overvaluation ofthe franc.
The franc was 0.2 per centlower against the dollar at0.9441 per dollar.
The dollar held near a 10-week low against a basket ofcurrencies on Wednesday, withthe market looking for confir-mation from the FederalReserve later in the day that itsfocus remains on supportinggrowth.
In Switzerland, the next keyeconomic data release is theKOF leading indicator, whichwill be published on Friday. -Reuters
Swissie slips vs euroafter strong rally
3Thursday, January 27, 2011
Currencies Rate
Karachi: The following are the London Inter-Bank Offered Rates (LIBOR).
British Members Association Interest Settlement Rates.
AT 11:00 LONDON TIME 26/01/2011
A USD GBP CAD EUR JPY
O/N 0.23688 0.55688 0.94667 1.06875 SN 0.09813
1WK 0.25375 0.57063 0.99417 0.85250 0.10725
2WK 0.25656 0.57438 1.03500 0.83250 0.11313
1MO 0.26000 0.59875 1.08417 0.80625 0.12438
2MO 0.28313 0.65750 1.14750 0.87563 0.15125
3MO 0.30438 0.77375 1.23083 0.99188 0.18875
4MO 0.34500 0.85375 1.29667 1.05188 0.24313
5MO 0.40125 0.95750 1.34917 1.13688 0.30000
6MO 0.45469 1.07188 1.42750 1.22500 0.34625
7MO 0.50813 1.15163 1.49333 1.27625 0.39500
8MO 0.56000 1.23500 1.56833 1.33438 0.44188
9MO 0.61750 1.31850 1.63500 1.38625 0.48750
10MO 0.66781 1.39563 1.72250 1.43500 0.51438
11MO 0.72219 1.46250 1.80417 1.48563 0.54125
12MO 0.78125 1.53125 1.89667 1.53563 0.56750
Countries Selling Buying BuyingTT & OD TT Clean OD/T.CHQ
Bank of England February 10, 2011 March 5, 2009 0.50%
Bank of Japan February 14, 2011 December 19, 2008 0.10%
Federal Reserve January 26, 2011 December 16, 2008 0.25%
Swiss National Bank March 17, 2011 March 12, 2009 0.25%
The Reserve Bank of Australia February 1, 2011 November 2, 2010 4.75%
European Central Bank n/a May 7, 2009 1%
Major Central Banks Overview
Division of National Bank of Pakistan (NBP)KARACHI, January 26,2011 Treasury Management Division of National Bank ofPakistan (NBP) Monday issued the following Exchange rates:
Revaluation RatesTreasury Bills / PIBs / FIBs Holding Applicable for January 26, 2011
NEW YORK: The euro was littlechanged against the dollar onWednesday after earlier hitting a two-month high as investors adjusted posi-tions ahead of the Federal Reserve'spolicy statement later in the day.
None expect the US central bank toannounce any change in its benchmarkinterest rate, but investors are cautiousand looking for confirmation from theFed that its focus remains on supportinggrowth and not on inflation.
Any acknowledgment from the Fedof a recent improvement in the USeconomy is likely to push the eurolower again as much of the single cur-rency's recent rally was based on thebelief the Fed will stick to an easiermonetary policy than the EuropeanCentral Bank.
"The Fed is expected to keep policy on
hold today, leaving the tone of the state-ment the major risk," said Sacha Tihanyi,currency strategist at Scotia Capital inToronto. "Acknowledging an improvedinflation situation may provide US dollarsupport."
The euro fellto a session lowagainst the dol-lar after theC o m m e r c eD e p a r t m e n treported thatsales of new USsingle-family home in December rose totheir highest level in eight months andprices were the highest since April 2008,raising cautious optimism for a housingmarket recovery.
The euro rose to $1.3723 on tradingplatform EBS, its highest since Nov. 22,
before dipping back to $1.3688, littlechanged from the prior close. The ses-sion low was $1.3643.
Traders said a large option barrierwas taken out at $1.3720, with more
barriers highlighted at $1.3725 and$1.3750. Stop-losses were reportedlylurking above the latter level.
The euro stalled ahead of a key tech-nical level around $1.3740, the 61.8 percent retracement of its fall fromNovember to January. Beyond that, the
Nov. 22 high of $1.3786 is seen as amajor target. "The euro got a boost onan anti-inflation focus but (euro-zone)sovereign risk is still a significant over-hang," said Greg Salvaggio, vice presi-dent of trading at Washington-basedTempus Consulting. "Overall there isoptimism on the US economy."
Salvaggio said he was surprised tosee the move to near $1.3725 andexpects to see the euro closer to$1.3400 next week.
Analysts expect the US central bankwill keep short-term rates near zero andsay it remains committed to its $600billion bond purchase program in itspolicy announcement, which is expect-ed at about 1915 GMT after the close ofthe Fed's two-day meeting.
The dollar was up 0.1 per cent at82.32 yen. -Reuters
Euro little changed vs dollarahead of Fed statement
SHANGHAI: China's yuanended up near its record tradinghigh versus the dollar onWednesday after the People'sBank of China set the mid-pointat a new peak again but up onlyslightly from Tuesday's fixing,traders said.
The PBOC recently fixed aslew of record high mid-points, asignal it may let the Chinese cur-rency's fortunes decouple frompolitical events.
But the record high daily fix-ings this week have only beenmarginally higher than each pre-vious session, an indication thatthe government will continuecontrolling the pace of yuan risesand preventing its appreciationfrom inviting speculative "hotmoney" inflows, traders said.
"Repeated record high mid-points appear to reflect the gov-ernment's intention to let theyuan appreciate in the future,keeping the market quite bullishover the prospect," said a traderat a European bank in Shanghai.
"But the market is also cau-tious not to run ahead of the fix-ing too much, in case that pushesthe central bank to pull back theyuan to warn what it may see asexcessive speculation."
Spot yuan closed at 6.5819
against the dollar compared with6.5827 at Tuesday's close. It hasnow risen 3.72 per cent to thedollar since its mid-June depeg-ging. It touched an intraday lowof 6.5847 and a high of 6.5814,just shy of 6.5808 hit on Monday-- its highest intraday tradinglevel since China let the yuan bepublicly trade in 1994.
Traders said they expected theyuan to continue trading narrow-ly in the near term, awaitingfresh signals from the PBOC.
Offshore, benchmark one-yeardollar/yuan non-deliverable for-wards were bid at 6.4470 late onWednesday, down from 6.4530at Tuesday's close. Their impliedyuan appreciation in a year'stime rose to 2.19 per cent from2.09 per cent. Dollar/yuan off-shore forwards have generallystaged a lacklustre performancein recent weeks, partly becausesigns of a US economic recoverypushed hedged funds to reallo-cate their assets, traders said.
Before trading started onTuesday, the PBOC fixed theyuan's daily mid-point versus thedollar at 6.5878, slightly firmerthan Tuesday's 6.5881. The cur-rency can rise or fall 0.5 per centfrom the PBOC's fixing in agiven day. -Reuters
Yuan rises, awaitsfresh PBOC signals
LONDON: Sterling got a lift onWednesday after minutes fromthe Bank of England's policymeeting this month showed twopolicymakers voted for an inter-est rate hike, although worriesabout economic growth checkedgains.
The minutes showed BoEMonetary Policy Committee(MPC) member Martin Wealeunexpectedly joined Andrew
Sentance in voting for a quarter-point rate rise. That promptedinvestors to price in the risinglikelihood of a rate increase incoming months.
Implied interest rate futuresbased on overnight index swapswere pricing in a 44 per centchance of a 25 basis point ratehike in May, up from 30 per centbefore the minutes were released.
Still, they remained lower thanon Monday when the market sawa more than 60 per cent chance.The chances fell on Tuesday withnews of a shock contraction infourth-quarter UK GDP.
"I don't think the BoE minuteswill change the outlook," saidPaul Robson, currency strategistat RBS Global Banking.
"The market may be pricing inchances of a rate hike but the UKfaces the possibility of no growthand high inflation. There are con-cerns about stagflation and ster-ling will find it difficult to risemuch." Sterling was up 0.4 percent on the day against the dollar
at $1.5888, having risen to a ses-sion high of $1.5901. The poundrecovered from a trough of$1.5750 hit on Tuesday, withtraders also citing steady buyingby Asian central banks.
The pound rallied against theeuro, knocking the single currencyroughly half a per cent lower to85.96 pence. The euro retreatedfrom a 2-1/2 month high of 86.72pence hit before the minutes wereannounced. That move had pushedsterling's trade-weighted index to79.7, its lowest since lateDecember, before rebounding to80.1 in late London trade. -Reuters
Sterling gainsafter BoE minutes
SINGAPORE: The Thai bahtsnapped a four-day losingstreak on Wednesday, withdealers deciding the tumble tothe lowest against the dollarsince September the previousday was overdone and foreigninvestors tip-toed back intodomestic shares.
The baht was also supportedafter minutes of the Bank ofThailand's policy meeting ear-lier this month said theMonetary Policy Committeediscussed a 50 basis point-interest rate increase.
It elected to raise rates by aquarter point eventually, butthe minutes suggested authori-ties were ready to take strongermeasures to keep inflation atbay. Still, currency investors
remained concerned about ris-ing prices in Thailand, Indiaand Indonesia, analysts anddealers said.
"With inflation worries, for-eigners will exit from the coun-tries now and come back later,"said a Kuala Lumpur-basedtrader.
Standard Chartered tookprofits on its long dollar/bahtrecommendation, saying the14-day RSI and stochasticswere rolling into overboughtterritory.
Both the baht and the Indianrupee have fallen 2.2 per centso far this month, the worstperforming currencies inemerging Asia
Investors redeemed $299million from Asia equity ETFs
in the week ended Jan. 21, thefirst outflow in nine weeks andthe heaviest since September,data from TrimTabsInvestment Research showed.Within Asia, Thailand, China,Hong Kong and India ETFssuffered the largest outflow in2011, data showed.
Apart from the baht, the wonrose for a third consecutivesession on exporters' demandfor the currency for settlementsbefore the end of the monthand the Lunar New Year.
Dollar/won slid to as low as1,115.8, the lowest since Jan.20. "Strong stocks forcedinvestors to give up their long(dollar/won) positions," saida foreign bank dealer inSeoul. -Reuters
Asian currencies
Thai baht snaps 4-daydecline as equities rise
WELLINGTON: The New Zealand dollar con-solidated its recent euro-fuelled gains in lighttrading on Wednesday, as the market awaited thecentral bank rate reviews from the US and NewZealand.
The New Zealand dollar was at $0.7680 in latelocal trade, slightly above opening levels, as itheld in a tight 20-point range in the local ses-sion. The kiwi was about $0.7650 late onTuesday. "Selling pressure into the RBNZreview should eventuate as the market antici-pates a dovish tone," analysts at ANZ Bank saidin a note to clients.
Trade in the kiwi was kept thin by a holiday inNew Zealand's nearest neighbour and main trad-ing partner, Australia.
The kiwi, along with its Australian counter-part, tracked the single currency higher as euro-zone debt fears eased and investors picked theUS Federal Reserve to take a dovish tone whenit meets later on Thursday.
Soon after the Fed releases its statement theReserve Bank of New Zealand will announce itsrate decision, with the market picking no chanceof a rate rise as the domestic economy strugglesto gain traction, while a recent run of tepid datahas some analysts suggesting the central bankmay be more cautious than its last review.
The Australian dollar was last at $0.9967, atouch below opening levels, after also receivinga solid boost from a strong euro in offshoretrade. The Aussie-kiwi cross also spent a quietday's trade, holding about NZ$1.2970.
The kiwi was unmoved by comments fromNew Zealand prime minister John Key that thegovernment will reduce the amount it borrows,and cut new spending to return its finances tosurplus a year earlier than forecast.
Other local data on Wednesday showed a 1.4per cent dip in credit card spending duringDecember, the largest drop in eight months. -Reuters
NZ dollar holds on to gainsahead of cbank rate calls
Russian rouble
climbs on rate
outlookMOSCOW: The rouble hit itsstrongest levels against the dol-lar since October onWednesday, after inflation datareinforced expectations thecentral bank will tighten mone-tary policy next week.
Russian consumer inflationrose 1.8 per cent in the first 24days of 2011, exceeding thereading for the whole ofJanuary 2010, creating a chal-lenge for the governmentwhich has pledged to keep CPIwithin a range of 6-7 per centthis year.
Market players said the cen-tral bank was likely to curbinflation by raising depositrates when it meets on Jan. 31to encourage shifting excessiveliquidity into bank deposits.
The rouble was 6 kopecksfirmer at 29.74 against the dol-lar after briefly strengtheningto 29.70, its strongest levelsince early October.
Against the euro, the roubleweakened 12 kopecks to 40.69,reflecting a broad recovery inthe single currency.
Versus the euro-dollar basket,used by the central bank totrack exchange rates, the roublegave up 2 kopecks to 34.66, buthas gained around 40 kopeckssince the start of the year. -Reuters
Won up 0.1pc as foreigners scoop up assets
Wariness before Fed; policy seen staying accommodative
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FertiliserFiasco
Reading the details of proceedings of themeeting of Economic Co-ordinationCommittee of the Cabinet (ECC) reveals thatno major decision could be made because ofthe non-availability of the basic information.Two of the most crucial points on agendawere decisions regarding restoration of gassupply to fertiliser plants and import of ureafrom Saudi Arabia on deferred payment.
Disappointingly it transpired that: 1) avail-ability and requirement of urea for the currentsowing season was not known, 2) ChairmanPlanning Commission was directed to getassurance from SABIC (Saudi Arabia BasicIndustries Corporation) for the delivery ofurea before 15th February 2011 and also theCommittee was told to workout financialimplications involved in the price differentialof the 225,000 tonnes of urea.
The Advisor to the Prime Minister onAgriculture Kamal Majeedullah was asked totalk to the Government of Sindh about liftingof the 55,000 tonnes of urea presently stockedwith TCP. This quantity was allocated earlierfor the flood affected people of Sindh butnow the government wants to give it to thegeneral farmers, and the next production/orimport will be given to the farmers of Sindh.
The decision to import urea from SaudiArabia was taken by the ECC on 8thDecember 2010 and a committee was consti-tuted to finalise the plan within a couple ofdays whether Trading Corporation ofPakistan (TCP) or the private sector wouldimport it but the decision is yet to be mademainly because of subsidy issue. The landedcost of imported urea was estimated at almostdouble the price at which locally producedurea was being sold.
The delay in import of urea in 2008 had costthe country and the farmers a fortune. Latearrivals too dealt a big blow to the govern-ment and the farmers couldn't get fertiliser intime on top of it, which substantially slashedthe produce. However, the middle men madetonnes of money through urea's black market-ing, while the government had to bear theburden of billions of rupees in subsidy.
This crisis would have been avoided had thegovernment not gone for the closure of fer-tiliser plants --consuming SSGC/SNGPL gas-- for 45 days and a 20 per cent curtailment ofsupply of the units feeding on Mari field gas.Despite its dedication declared for fertiliserindustry as back as in 2001, Wapda powerplants are still guzzling gas from this field.Curtailing gas supply for such a long periodis a violation of the agreement signedbetween the government and fertiliser manu-facturers while power plants could be run onfurnace oil. And on top of every thing the dis-ruption in fertiliser supply and resultant hikein price will not allow the country to achieveself-sufficiency in food.
4Thursday, January 27, 2011
Publisher & Editor-in-Chief: Amir A. Ashary
Editor: Shakil H. Jafri
Executive Editor: Manzar Naqvi
Honorary Advisory Board
Haseeb Khan, FCA
Asim Abbas Ashary, CPA
Akhtar M. Zaidi, FCA
Dr. A. Hadi Shahid, FCA
Muhammad Arif
S. Muneer Hussain Rizvi
Khurram Shehzad, CFA
Prof. Zakaria Sajid (KU)
Zahid Bukhari SVP HBL (retd)
Ismat Sabir
Head office
111-C, Jami Commercial Street 11, Phase VII, DHA KarachiTelephone: 92-21-35311893-6 Fax: 92-21-35388428
We were witness to threePakistan Army soldiersembracing Shahadat in
Waziristan. A roadside IED(Improvised Explosive Device) hadblown them up. Their fellow soldierswere preparing to send their coffins,along with their belongings, to theirhometowns, for burial. One could real-ize how important would be thebelongings for their mothers, wives andsisters. Mothers would kiss theirclothes, breathe in smell of their sons;wives would probably steel hankieswithout catching anyone's eyes and atnight they would talk to them, smellthem and weep. One could watch thecolleagues, standing beside thecorpses, showing respect to their com-rades; with amazing nerves hiding theirfeelings. A soldier took out from thepocket of Shaheed Sepoy Abid Ali aphotograph wrapped in half burnt pieceof paper, a letter written by him to hiswife. He had recently got married. Thephotograph was taken on the day ofmarriage ceremony held in a SindhGhot (village). The half burnt letterwhich Sepoy Abid couldn't post, prom-ised an early return to his newlywedwife. The colleagues did send him tohis hometown, but in a wooden coffindraped in the Pakistan flag. Soldiersdon't break their promises. They aredoing their duty. In the line of dutymore than 30,000 Pakistani civiliansand personnel of the armed forces,since 2001, have laid down their lives.No one knows how many more boxesand Pakistan flags are waiting for thesoldiers to dispatch to their hometownsfor burial, but one thing is clear thatwe, the nation practically in state ofwar, really don't realize, amidst thehustle bustle of life, the intensity andseriousness of our fight against terror-ism, and the menace of extremism thathas plagued our society. This is theheaviest price that any nation in theworld had paid.
But unfortunately and collectively wehave opted to be in a state of denial; wedeny the nature of homegrown threatwe face today. We as a nation and we assoldiers of Pakistan Army were andpartially are not clear as to why theTaliban, the terrorists, the people fromour own within, are the enemy. Anation in general and a soldier in partic-ular are best protected once they deter-mine the tangibility of an enemy. At the
outset we were lost in making our mindwhether to fight our own men or not.Anyone could ask, where the enemy is,who the enemy is, because the enemywas, and perhaps is, invisible. This isaltogether a new challenge of trans-forming the nation to see clearly theenemy, even if he is not visible, who isstructured around asymmetric power,mercurial in nature, unpredictable,unconventional and extremely ideolog-ical, enormously indistinguishable - anideologist-turned terrorist or a terrorist-turned ideologist. They too are profess-ing for jihad-fi-sabil Allah, they tooquote Quran and Hadith to motivatetheir diehards, they touch religious andcommotional province, blend with pre-cision of the political and social griev-
ances, ignites critical mass to explodeinto "terrorism" - he has transmutedinto a network of networks, speaksthrough bombs, bullets and IEDs,places roadside bombs, blows vehiclesand schools alike, says Allah-o-Akbarafter slaughtering the soldiers and men,women and children, journalists andfellow countrymen - this really per-plexes our minds which side to put inthe weight?
Every time the killers of innocentpeople are found to be motivated andreligiously charged Pakistanis. Wedenied all that. With state of denial, weforget our killers, politics of name,blame and shame start again.
Especially this was probably the hard-est task for particularly our militarycommanders and psychological opera-tions experts to clearly show to themtheir real enemy hidden behind the reli-giosity and citizenry, emotionalism and
patriotism. It was very difficult to drawthe line between them and the men fromtheir own within. It was difficult tomanage the perceptions, to ask the sol-diers to fight and sacrifice for trueIslam, to protect Pakistan and soundsirens of success for the people ofPakistan, assuring that we can defeatterrorism, we can protect our freedom,we can live on with dignity, our schoolsare safe, education for girls and theirhonor is protected, and assuring that ourreligion is safe and the Prophet (PBUH)is regarded. The traditional motivation-al means of inspiring soldiers was notthe means but it required correct sensi-tization of soldiers, because the areasour soldiers hail and grow are invari-ably theo-centric and religiously influ-
enced. Our social and religious environ-ment in villages, towns and cities isuncomfortable to true intellectual dia-logue. We derive negative pride ofdestroying enemies of Islam, overpow-ering infidel forces and making Ummahinvulnerable to anti-Islamic forces.Take revenge, and jihad is the onlymeans to do so. One doesn't know howlong our Sparta can live its sword, whileswords create only new difficulties.
The influx of free media, unconstitu-tional involvement of army in nationalaffairs had given militancy a voicelouder than the democratic voices. Thetarnished image made the job more dif-ficult. Voices of militancy use narrativeof injustice. This narrative has radical-izing effects of what we call the rootcauses. The US military action in Iraq,Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen andother counties is inflaming radicalmindset. Its radicalizing effects are
greater than the role played by povertyor social marginalization in turningyouth towards extremism. Conspiracytheorists, half cooked and half-bakedanalysts, the rightwing media and moredangerously some of our politiciansand ulema continue to perpetuate thehidden hand, theories blaming hostileintelligence agencies nexus as a reasonof these terrorist attacks. But one alsodoesn't understand as to why the narra-tive of injustice is to be corrected byblowing our schools, exploding marketplaces to inject more poverty, gustingvideo and barber shops, butcheringminorities through hour long shootingsprees, torching Christian village andburning the innocent alive, slaughter-ing civilians, journalists, captured sol-diers. How can the narrative of injus-tice correct the narrative of brutalityagainst own people?
When there is so-called Taliban-Islam versus the true spirit of Islam,one needs superior thoughts, superiorlogic and conviction that those who arekilling innocent Pakistanis, children inthe streets, women in shopping areas,flogging and beheading publicly ofunproven allegations, blowing upschools and colleges are the enemies ofour motherland. Pakistan's foundingfathers envisioned a moderate Islamicstate, where there is no place forprovincialism, sectarianism and terror-ism - our Islamic identity was progres-sive, enlightened and moderate. Thefounding fathers hoped that educatedulema would interpret Islam in anenlightened, motivated and rationalmanner. Unfortunately misinterpreta-tion of our national and Islamic identi-ties vented ways to extremism.
The impasse that confronts us todayneeds free and fair intellectual debateto explore true ideological dimensionsof Pakistan. The war Pakistan is fight-ing needs national support and withoutnational consensus voices of militancywould make impossible what is possi-ble. Our quest to live on as a nation anddesire to progress - quest to correct pastfollies would hard to pin down withoutnational support. If unity is forged, andnation remains at the back of the sol-diers, the defenders would not let usdown, like they have proved in alltimes of trial so far. They will not breakthe promise made on oath while joiningthe Pakistan Armed Forces.
(The author has won gold medal
from Fatima Jinnah Women
University)
A Soldier’s Promise
In a surprising move, thePakistan security officialshave the other day foiled anattempt by the Indian intelli-gence to enact a fake terroract on the ceasefire line inKashmir in order to implicatePakistan in terrorism, anddraw international pressurethrough lethal propaganda byits media and diplomaticchannels. The plan wasunearthed when a suspectwas apprehended in a Sialkotborder area while attemptingto cross over to the Indianside through the heavilyguarded border fence; which
is not possible because theimpregnable barbed wire'sentrance points are lockedand controlled by the IndianBorder Security Force itself.The man apprehended by thePakistan officials has con-fessed during the interroga-tions that he is an Indian spy,and was tasked to recruitagents from Pakistan to workfor the Indian intelligenceagency, RAW.
The incident provides yetanother proof of how theIndians are deeply involvedin stage-managing terror inci-dents to implicate Pakistan.
Latest confessions of Hinduextremist leader SwamiSeemanand that he, alongwith Indian army's in-serviceCol Prohit and others, wasinvolved in the February2007 Samjhota Expressbombing that killed 68Pakistani passengers, are aproof enough. In this case, anIndian spy tried to cross intothe Indian side. The suspectwhose name has been with-held for security reasons dis-closed that his Indian han-dlers, Sharma and Amjad,had tasked him to recruit aPakistani national by offering
a large monetary reward,preferably carrying a weaponand send him across the bor-der through the barbed wirefence after informing the BSFtroops. Sharma had assuredhim that all the details of bor-der crossing would be final-ized by him and duly takencare off at his end. The sus-pect also disclosed that theIndian Intelligence hadplanned a fake encounter tokill the border crosser andexploit the episode as proofof terrorists launched by ISIcrossing over from Pakistanto commit acts of terrorism in
India. He also said that he hadheld a few meetings with hisIndian handlers in Islamabadas well.
This arrest has pulled thelid off Indian spying net-works in Pakistan and theexistence of Indian agentsor Pakistanis recruited byIndians. The episode alsopoints to the involvement ofIndian undercover agentsstationed in its Islamabadembassy, engaging in espi-onage activities in graveviolation of their diplomaticstatus.
Marya Mufti, Lahore
Another Indian Bid
The 10th anniversary ofthe 9/11 attacks on theUnited States is likely to
spur al Qaeda to redouble itsefforts to instigate a big attackon US and other Western tar-gets, Western officials say.But instead of directing a plot,its isolated and ageing leaderswill probably have to settle forthe lesser role of inspirationalfigureheads who use personalor online ties to motivate allieswith superior manpower andaccess to targets.The capacity of al Qaedaleader Osama bin Laden tostage complex attacks likethose of Sept. 11, 2001, hasbeen relentlessly ground downby US missile strikes in theremote northwest Pakistanimountains where he isbelieved to hide.That is of limited comfort toWestern governments.Counter-terrorism specialistsdescribe a constantly mutatingmovement that is harder tohunt than in its turn of the cen-tury heyday because it isincreasingly diffuse -- a multi-ethnic, regionally dispersedand online-influenced hybridof activists.
"Despite apparent weaknesses,the resilience of al Qaeda, andthe tenacity of its variousallies, have been outstanding,"said Maha Azzam, AssociateFellow at Britain's RoyalInstitute of InternationalAffairs."Counter-terrorism plans inthe West and elsewhere aregoing to be increasingly chal-lenged over 2011 because thethreat is coming from differentfronts and in different guises."
DIVERSE THREAT
Experts suspect bin Ladenwould greatly prefer to over-see an attack, as this would bethe best way to show his net-work remains relevant sixyears after its last successfulstrike in the West, the Londonbombings that killed 52 peoplein 2005.But so diverse are today's glob-al groupings of violent Islamistmilitants compared to a decadeago that such a plot is as likelyto come from one of al Qaeda'sgrowing array of allies as fromits leadership, security officialsand analysts say."Ultimately, I expect it is theend game that matters most tobin Laden," said Henry
Wilkinson, a senior analyst atJanusian security consultancyin London."If a major attack on the Westoccurred with or without alQaeda involvement, he wouldprobably view that as a suc-cess.""And he would almost certain-ly receive credit as the inspira-tion anyway."Weakened by drone strikes,the central leadership headedby bin Laden and his deputyAyman al-Zawahri has beenshorn of many of the mid-levelexperts they would need tomount a threat as complex asthe 2001 airline hijack attacksthat killed about 3,000 peoplein New York, Washington andPennyslvania and triggered theUS-led "war on terror".Making a virtue of necessity,the leaders appear to have hitupon a strategy of encouragingsmaller, simpler attacks car-ried out by globally scatteredhubs of sympathisers and affil-iates in Africa, the MiddleEast, south and central Asiaand Europe."The freelancers and offshootsare more important and potentthan al Qaeda central," said
Fawaz Gerges, professor ofinternational relations atLondon's School of Orientaland African Studies.Experts speculate that in somecases the leaders have had lit-tle choice but to cede opera-tional control over their alliesin return for the right to claimany operation for al Qaeda.These hubs are supplementedby loose networks of so-calledhomegrown militants in theWest, radicalised mostlyonline, which include US citi-zens, experts say, and by anunknown number of individu-als experts say could be will-ing to try solo attacks.
QAEDA SPAWNS A
"CREDIBLE COMPETI-
TOR" TO ITSELF
British Home SecretaryTheresa May said inNovember threats did not nowcome just from "the old alQaeda organisation. Manyother terrorist groups nowaspire to attack us."The evidence shows that alQaeda's willingness to attackin the West is shared not onlyby affiliate groups, such as itsYemen-based al Qaeda in theArabian Peninsula (AQAP),
but also by like-minded mili-tants such as Somalia's al-Shabaab and the Pakistan-based Pakistani Taliban,Lashkar-e-Taiba, and mostlycentral Asian Taitaful Mansuraand Islamic Jihad Union.While al Qaeda central is adetermined instigator and sup-porter of armed groups activein rampant militant violence innuclear-armed Pakistan, itsallies and sub-groups haveshown they have a betterchance of success in striking atthe West, even if most plots todate have been foiled.A case in point is AQAP,which made failed attempts tobomb an airliner over Detroitin December 2009 and sentparcel bombs to Chicago inOctober 2010, coming theclosest of any part of al Qaedato a successful attack on USaviation since 2001.In an article for the SiteIntelligence Group, BruceHoffman, a veteran terrorismexpert at GeorgetownUniversity, calls AQAP "thefirst credible competitor to itsparent, al Qaeda Central, asthe pre-eminent threat toAmerican interests." -Reuters
West’s Threat List Growing
We as a nation and soldiers were and
partially are not clear as to why the
Taliban, the terrorists, the people
from our own within, are the enemy.
A nation in general and a soldier in
particular are best protected once
they determine the tangibility of an
enemy. At the outset we were lost
in making our mind whether
to fight our own men or not.
FERTILISER000 tonnesUrea Offtake (Jan to Nov 10) 5,463Urea Offtake (Nov 10) 845Urea Price (Rs/50 kg) 870DAP Offtake (Jan to Nov 09) 121DAP Offtake (Nov 10) 152DAP Price (Rs/50 kg) 3,137
AUTOMOBILE ASSEMBLERPAK SUZUKI MOTORUnitsProduction (July 10 to Nov 10) 33,929
Sales (July 10 to Nov 10) 32,092
Production (Nov 10) 7,087
Sales (Nov 10) 6,813
INDUS MOTOR COProduction (July 10 to Nov 10) 20,987
Sales (July 10 to Nov 10) 20,375
Production (Nov 10) 3,974
Sales (Nov 10) 3,753
HONDA ATLAS CARProduction (July 10 to Nov 10)6,626
Sales (July 10 to Nov 10) 6,247
Production (Nov 10) 1,145
Sales (Nov 10) 1,075
DEWAN FAROOQ MOTORSProduction (July 10 to Nov 10) 186
Sales (July 10 to Nov 10) 70
Production (Nov 10) 0
Sales (Nov 10) 0
BANKING SECTORScheduled bank (Rs in mn)Deposit (December 3,10) 4,824,464
Advances (December 3,10) 3,050,639
Investments (December 3,10) 1,916,917
Spread (October 10) 7.49%
OIL MARKETING CO(000 tons)MS (Jul 10 to Nov 10) 932
MS (Nov 10) 186
Kerosene (Jul 10 to Nov 10) 66
Kerosene (Nov 10) 12
JP (Jul 10 to Nov 10) 589
JP (Nov 10) 124
HSD (Jul 10 to Nov 10) 2,792
HSD (Nov 10) 612
LDO (Jul 10 to Nov 10)) 26
LDO (Nov 10) 4
Fuel Oil (Jul 10 to Nov 10) 3,641
Fuel Oil (Nov 10) 572
Others (Jul 10 to Nov 10) 3
Others (Nov 10) 1
PRICES (Ex-Refinery) RsMS (1 Dec 10) 45.15
MS (1 Nov 10) 44.53
MS % Chg 1.39%
Kerosene (1 Dec 10) 52.04
Kerosene (1 Nov 10) 51.25
Kerosene % Chg 1.54%
JP-1 (1 Dec 10) 52.27
JP-1 (1 Nov 10) 51.48
JP-1 % Chg 1.53%
HSD (1 Dec 10) 55.20
HSD (1 Nov 10) 54.24
HSD % Chg 1.77%
LDO (1 Dec 10) 50.52
LDO (1 Nov 10) 49.51
LDO % Chg 2.04%
Fuel Oil (1 Dec 10) 43,019
Fuel Oil (1 Nov 10) 42,046
Sector Updates
Symbol Close Vol (mn)LOTPTA 15.38 47.53 PACE 3.39 12.51 FFBL 41.07 7.93 FFC 156.16 5.60 NPL 17.88 5.57
Symbol Close ChangeNESTLE 3,001.90 84.32
FZTM 403.93 19.11
IDYM 218.56 9.56
COLG 1,006.98 8.08
ATLH 128.09 6.09
Symbol Close ChangeSIEM 1,150.00 -41RMPL 2,274.27 -30.73ULEVER 4,629.07 -11.35PSEL 170.57 -8.92ILTM 125.00 -6
Plus 144Minus 223Unchanged 27
Top 5 Volume Leaders
Major Losers
Major Gainers
KSE-100 Index
LSE-25 Index
ISE-10 Index
Active Issues
Thursday, January 27, 2011 5
Dhiyan
Trading channel is bearish and we are foreseeing correctionholding sway for a while. Owing to this it is feared that indexcould come down to 12,571 points level. Keeping this in viewtraders are recommended to sell but not without placing stoploss orders, which are a must. They are advised to sell incement and oil sectors. Better corporate results and launch ofMargin Trading System (MTS) are seen as the factors that willsupport the market. Market would be negative today.
Muzammil Khan, AVP BMA CapitalOutlook is bullish which would draw strength from expected better cor-
porate results, therefore, technically index can touch 12,555 level in thecoming days and if it manages to sustain there then we can see more ral-lies. Invest in those stocks of banking, fertiliser, and power sectors whichare expected to announce good results where my top picks are UBL, FFC,and Kapco. Along with corporate results, launch of MTS would also trig-ger the market however a likely rise in interest rates would incur a nega-tive reaction . Market would remain positive today.
IT’S GOING TO GREEN
Opening 12,455.75
Closing 12,483.34
Change 27.59
% Change 0.22
Turnover (mn) 139.31
Opening 3,843.47
Closing 3,846.44
Change 2.97
% Change 0.08
Turnover (mn) 7.86
Opening 3,073.79
Closing 3,088.12
Change 14.33
% Change 0.47
Turnover (mn) 0.08
NEW YORK: Ivanka Trump (4th from R) and representatives of 100 Womenin Hedge Funds visit the New York Stock Exchange.-Reuters
Ahmed Siddique
KARACHI: Lotte Pakistan PTALimited (PPTA) - sole manufac-turer & distributor of PureTerephthalic Acid (PTA) - hasposted a growth of 26.70 per centin its profit after tax (PAT) for thecalendar year 2010. Company’s PAT reached Rs4.52billion against Rs3.57 billion inthe same period of CY09. Thistranslates into an earning perShare (EPS) of Rs2.99 as com-pared to Rs2.36 in CY09.
Despite a 15-day plant shut-down and reduction in importduty from 7.5 per cent to 3 percent, sales of the company wentup by 12.02 per cent to stand atRs42.40 billion against Rs37.85
billion in CY09 mainly due tohigher PTA prices which aver-aged around $965/tonne inCY10 against $830/tonne a yearearlier. This resulted into a surgeof gross profit by 19.23 per centto Rs7.03 billion compared toRs5.89 billion in CY09.
On the other hand, distributionand selling cost decreased by 9.4per cent to Rs110 million againstRs121 million witnessed inCY09 mainly due to lower out-ward freight and handlingcharges borne by the companyand lower export sales.Similarly, financial charges felldown by 69.6 per cent to Rs229million against Rs755 million inthe same
See # 16 Page 11
Lotte net up 26.70pcCalendar Year 2010
Nawaz Ali
KARACHI: Buying on hopesof strong corporate results gavebulls a reason to extend theirstay at the Karachi stockexchange which ended higheron Wednesday. Foreign investors too boostedthe market, analysts said.
The main index of theexchange i.e. KSE 100-Indexended 27 points up at a level of12,483 points while KSE 30-Index gained 37 points andKSE All-Share index increasedby 12 points to close at 12,216and 8,651 points respectively.
“Bullish activities sustainedon institutional & foreigninterest ahead of major earn-ing announcements thisweek”, said Ahsan Mehanti,Director Arif HabibInvestments.
After a positive opening mar-ket stayed in the grip of bullsthroughout the day led by buy-ing in oil and banking stocks inanticipation of better thanexpected corporate resultswhich are due to be announcedin the coming days. On the
other side hopes of an earlylaunch of much awaited lever-age product too triggered buy-ing therefore index at a momenttouched an intraday high of12,538 points (+ve 82 points).
Pakistan Oilfield, AttockRefinery, National Refinery,Fauji Fertiliser Co and AttockPetroleum are the major com-panies that are scheduled toannounce their corporate earn-ings during the week.
Going forward, however,profit-taking at higher levelsreduced the index gains and itended the day with limitedgreen numbers.
Murtaza Jafar, equity dealer atTopline Securities said that prof-it taking was witnessed at inflat-ed levels as investors preferredto book gains ahead of theMonetary Policy Announcement(MPS) due on 29th of January,which would give the market itsfuture direction.
Foreigners' interest remainedintact and even improved asaccording to NCCPL, offshoreinvestors did a net-buying of$4.41 million on Wednesday.
See # 14 Page 11
KSEgains,
ungains
HONG KONG/SHANGHAI:Hong Kong shares rose for thefirst time in five days onWednesday, though losses inbanking heayweight HSBC andflagging turnover suggestedinvestor confidence remainedfrail.
The Hang Seng ended up 0.2per cent, with HSBC thebiggest drag on the benchmarkindex after an unexpected con-traction in the UK economy hitshares of Europe's largestlender. HSBC's Hong Kong-listed shares fell 1 per cent.
The Shanghai CompositeIndex rose 1.2 per cent, butturnover shrunk to its lowest infour months as investors con-tinued to worry that Beijingwill unleash more policy tight-ening measures this year tocool inflation.
The Shanghai index has lost4.2 per cent this year, making itNorth Asia's worst performingequity market.
"It's quite normal for it torebound following losses overthe past few sessions. But ifvolume remains thin, the indexhas little potential to rise," saidChen Shaodan, a senior analystat China Development BankSecurities in Beijing.
Trading activity remainedlight ahead of the Lunar NewYear holidays in earlyFebruary, while foreigninvestors remain wary aboutChinese shares after theShanghai index lost more than14 per cent last year.
While short-selling of HongKong-listed mainland Chinacompanies, or H shares, hasbroadly slowed from levels latelast year, exchange tradedfunds (ETF) have seen activitypick up.
The most shorted, China-related ETF is the iSharesFTSE A50 which shows shortinterest is at a six-month highof 6.5 per cent, according to
Data Explorers. The data provider, which
tracks short-selling activityacross global markets, said thatwhile the high short-interest forthe ETF must be partly hedging,it also reflected recent nervous-ness about prospects for China'sdomestically listed shares.
China Gezhouba Group CoLtd , builder of the mammothThree Gorges Dam, bounced6.2 per cent after sliding onTuesday, while ChongqingThree Gorges WaterConservancy and ElectricPower jumped by its 10 percent daily limit.
In Hong Kong, the HangSeng dipped in and out of posi-tive territory in choppy trade.
While the index has managedto stay above a medium-termupward trend line in place sinceits May 2010 low, a strong startto the year has stalled as main-land markets continue to under-perform.-Reuters
Shanghai rebounds, HongKong up, but investors wary
TOKYO: Japan's Nikkei aver-age dropped 0.6 per cent onWednesday, with resourceshares losing ground after a ratehike in India and a contraction inBritain's economy led to a pull-back in commodity prices.
Growing concerns over inflationin emerging economies, such asChina and India, made bothJapanese and foreign investorscautious about taking new posi-tions in stocks ahead of a slew ofcorporate earnings announce-ments, pushing down dailyturnover to its lowest this year.
Trading volume fell to thelowest level since Dec. 30 -- thefinal trading day of last year --with only 1.63 billion shareschanging hands on the TokyoStock Exchange's main board.
That was sharply belowTuesday's volume of 1.97 billion
shares and last week's dailyaverage of 2.15 billion.
"Futures-led purchases hadlifted the Nikkei over the pasttwo days, but without them themarket was pretty dull as manyinvestors refrained from tradingactively ahead of corporate earn-ings," said Hideyuki Ishiguro, asupervisor in Okasan Securities'investment strategy section.
The benchmark Nikkei closeddown 0.6 per cent, or 62.52points, at 10,401.90. The broad-er Topix index fell 0.7 per cent,or 6.64 points, to 922.64.
The Indian interest rate rise,expectations that China willsoon lift rates, as well as expec-tations that this trend will con-tinue as raw materials and foodcosts climb, hit commoditiesprices on Tuesday.
See # 17 Page 11
Nikkei slips 0.6pc,volume at 1-mth low
UpbeatObamainspires
FTSE rallyLONDON: Britain's top shareindex rebounded onWednesday on hopes forstronger global growth after anupbeat speech overnight by USPresident Barack Obama andpositive US housing data.
The FTSE 100 closed up51.50 points, or 0.9 per cent, at5,969.21, after falling 0.4 percent on Tuesday followingnews Britain's economy shrank0.5 per cent in the fourth quar-ter of last year.
US stocks were also higherby the close on the back ofObama's plans to lower corpo-rate taxes and ahead of the lat-est Federal Reserve rate-settingpolicy meeting.
"Concerns about growthprospects after yesterday's risein interest rates in India and theshock fall in UK GDP had seensome risk aversion, but this
See # 18 Page 11
US stocks late-morning
Wall St upas Obamatalks; ears
on Fed wordNEW YORK: Stocks rose onWednesday as US PresidentBarack Obama's call for alower corporate tax rate offset aweak outlook from Boeing.
Investors awaited commentsfrom the US Federal Reserve,which is expected to nod to animproving economic outlook asit reaffirms a plan to buy gov-ernment debt to help speed therecovery.
"The Fed continues to sayeven in an improving US eco-nomic environment it is goingto continue its stimulus activi-ty," said Tim Speiss, chairmanof the personal wealth divisionat EisnerAmper in New York."The market is reacting posi-tively to continued Fed inter-vention."
Boeing Co fell nearly 4 percent, weighing on the Dow.
Commodity shares got aboost after AlleghenyTechnologies Inc forecaststronger sales in 2011, helpedby higher base prices for metalsand a stronger aerospace anddefense market. Allegheny rose8.2 per cent to $63.16, leadingthe S&P materials sector.GSPM, which was up 1 percent.
In his State of the Unionaddress to Congress onTuesday night, Obama askedlawmakers to work with him tocut the corporate tax rate andsimplify the tax code, movesthat could lead to higher corpo-rate profits.
The Dow Jones industrialaverage dipped 3.94 points, or0.03 per cent, to 11,973.25. TheStandard & Poor's 500 Indexgained 3.62 points, or 0.28 percent, to 1,294.80. The NasdaqComposite Index added 13.51points, or 0.50 per cent, to2,732.76.
The Dow briefly tradedabove 12,000 for the first timesince June 2008.
Boeing dropped nearly 4 percent to $69.44. The planemakerposted a drop in quarterly prof-it and offered a disappointingforecast partly due to delays inits new 787 Dreamliner.
In the latest economic data,new US single-family homesales rose in December to theirhighest level in eight months.
See # 15 Page 11
Foreign inflows boost Thailand, Indonesia
South East Asian stocks
European shares jump onObama comments; miners up
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Company Period Div/Bon/Right PAT (Rs in mn) EPS(Rs)
Lotte Pakistan PTA Yearly 5%D 4527.77 2.99
Mirpurkhas Sugar 1st Qtr - 33.80 4.00
Shahtaj Sugar 1st Qtr - 44.80 3.73
Thal IndustriesXD 1st Qtr - 107.42 7.15
Thursday, January 27, 20116
Volume 139,314,846
Value 5,880,484,206
Trades 65,555
Advanced 144
Declined 223
Unchanged 27
Total 394
Current 8,651.24
High 8,690.73
Low 8,638.78
Change h12.46
Current 12,483.34
High 12,538.63
Low 12,455.75
Change h27.59
Current 12,216.99
High 12,286.42
Low 12,179.49
Change h37.50
Market KSE 100 Index All Share Index KSE 30 Index
Current 20,356.45
High 20,452.61
Low 20,278.95
Change h77.50
KMI 30 IndexSymbolsAlert ! Unusual Movements
Technical AnalysisFundamental Highlights
As on Dec 31, 2009
KASB Bank Limited
KASBB closed down -0.17 at 1.60. Volume was 1,801 per cent above
average (trending) and Bollinger Bands were 168 per cent wider than
normal. The company's loss after taxation stood at Rs1.571 billion
which translates into a Loss Per Share of Rs2.20 for the nine months
of current calendar year (9MCY10).
KASBB is currently 45.1 per cent below its 200-day moving average
and is displaying a downward trend. Volatility is extremely high when
compared to the average volatility over the last 10 trading sessions.
Volume indicators reflect very strong flows of volume out of KASBB
(bearish). Trend forecasting oscillators are currently bearish on
KASBB. Momentum oscillator is currently indicating that KASBB is cur-
rently in an oversold condition.
RSI (14-day) 23.13 Total Assets (Rs in mn) 59,223.06
MA (10-day) 2.12 Total Equity (Rs in mn) 4,958.87
MA (100-day) 2.43 Revenue (Rs in mn) 5,061.63
MA (200-day) 2.92 Interest Expense 5,490.40
1st Support 1.50 Loss after Taxation (4,227.75)
2nd Support 1.38 EPS 09 (Rs) (4.446)
1st Resistance 1.82 Book value / share (Rs) 5.22
2nd Resistance 2.02 PE 10 E (x) -
Pivot 1.70 PBV (x) 0.31
Technical AnalysisFundamental Highlights
As on Jun 30, 2010
NETSOL closed up 0.40 at 25.67. Volume was 130 per cent above
average and Bollinger Bands were 304 per cent wider than normal. The
company's profit after taxation stood at Rs194.76 million which trans-
lates into an Earning Per Share of Rs2.64 for the 1st quarter of current
fiscal year (1QFY11).
NETSOL is currently 11.3 per cent above its 200-day moving average
and is displaying an upward trend. Volatility is extremely high when
compared to the average volatility over the last 10 trading sessions.
Volume indicators reflect very strong flows of volume into NETSOL
(bullish). Trend forecasting oscillators are currently bullish on NETSOL.
Momentum oscillator is currently indicating that NETSOL is currently in
an overbought condition.
RSI (14-day) 73.38 Total Assets (Rs in mn) 3,980.15
MA (10-day) 24.43 Total Equity (Rs in mn) 3,337.21
MA (100-day) 19.38 Revenue (Rs in mn) 1,845.02
MA (200-day) 23.04 Interest Expense 24.80
1st Support 25.05 Profit after Taxation 951.86
2nd Support 24.50 EPS 10 (Rs) 12.217
1st Resistance 26.20 Book value / share (Rs) 42.83
2nd Resistance 26.80 PE 11 E (x) 2.43
Pivot 25.65 PBV (x) 0.60
NetSol Technologies Limited
Technical AnalysisFundamental Highlights
As on Jun 30, 2010
DFML closed down -0.04 at 2.15. Volume was 74 per cent below aver-
age (consolidating) and Bollinger Bands were 46 per cent narrower
than normal. The company's loss after taxation stood at Rs41.81 million
which translates into a Loss Per Share of Rs0.47 for the 1st quarter of
current fiscal year (1QFY11).
DFML is currently 18.5 per cent above its 200-day moving average and
is displaying a downward trend. Volatility is extremely low when com-
pared to the average volatility over the last 10 trading sessions. Volume
indicators reflect volume flowing into and out of DFML at a relatively
equal pace. Trend forecasting oscillators are currently bearish on
DFML.
RSI (14-day) 45.04 Total Assets (Rs in mn) 4,204.55
MA (10-day) 2.25 Total Equity (Rs in mn) (747.01)
MA (100-day) 1.74 Revenue (Rs in mn) 1,025.34
MA (200-day) 1.81 Interest Expense 8.92
1st Support 2.07 Loss after Taxation (437.50)
2nd Support 1.99 EPS 10 (Rs) (4.917)
1st Resistance 2.28 Book value / share (Rs) (8.40)
2nd Resistance 2.41 PE 11 E (x) -
Pivot 2.20 PBV (x) (0.26)
Dewan Farooque Motors Limited
Technical AnalysisFundamental Highlights
As on Dec 31, 2009
WTL closed down -0.15 at 2.69. Volume was 59 per cent below aver-age (consolidating) and Bollinger Bands were 11 per cent narrower thannormal. . The company's loss after taxation stood at Rs744.23 millionwhich translates into a Loss Per Share of Rs0.86 for the nine months ofcurrent calendar year (9MCY10).WTL is currently 12.2 per cent below its 200-day moving average andis displaying a downward trend. Volatility is high as compared to theaverage volatility over the last 10 trading sessions. Volume indicatorsreflect volume flowing into and out of WTL at a relatively equal pace.Trend forecasting oscillators are currently bearish on WTL.
RSI (14-day) 44.28 Total Assets (Rs in mn) 17,566.02
MA (10-day) 2.83 Total Equity (Rs in mn) 11,379.05
MA (100-day) 2.66 Revenue (Rs in mn) 8,408.28
MA (200-day) 3.07 Interest Expense 523.03
1st Support 2.59 Loss after Taxation (490.82)
2nd Support 2.49 EPS 09 (Rs) (0.57)
1st Resistance 2.85 Book value / share (Rs) 13.22
2nd Resistance 3.01 PE 10 E (x) -
Pivot 2.75 PBV (x) 0.20
WorldCall Telecom Limited
OIL AND GAS
Performance of SR Oil and Gas Index
Open High Low Close Change % Change
1,602.36 1,620.55 1,599.55 1,607.87 5.51 0.34
Turnover Total cos Defaulter cos Listed cap Market cap 5-Day High
United Bank Ltd 58.96 68.00 67.35 69.55 70.40 68.85
WorldCall Tele 44.28 2.60 2.50 2.85 3.00 2.75
Company RSI 1st 2nd 1st 2nd Pivot
(14-day) Support Resistance
TECHNICAL LEVELS
Faran Sugar Mills Limited 27-Jan 3:30
Husein Sugar Mills Ltd 27-Jan 11:00
Crescent Sugar Mills ltd 27-Jan 11:00
Crescent Steel Ltd 27-Jan 12:30
Pakistan Hotels Developers Ltd 27-Jan 10:00
Premier Sugar Mills Ltd 27-Jan 10:30
Chashma Sugar Mills Limited 27-Jan 11:00
Colgate-Palmolive (Pakistan) Ltd 27-Jan 11:00
Adam Sugar Mills Limited 27-Jan 2:00
Clover Pakistan Limited 27-Jan 12:00
Security Papers Limited 27-Jan 10:30
Attock Refinery Limited 27-Jan 12:00
National Refinery Ltd 27-Jan 12:30
Shahmurad Sugar Mills Ltd 27-Jan 4:00
Al-Noor Sugar Mills Ltd 27-Jan 11:30
Central Insurance Company Ltd 27-Jan 10:00
Fauji Fertilizer Company Ltd 27-Jan 10:00
Millat Tractors Limited 27-Jan 10:00
Attock Cement Pakistan Ltd 27-Jan 4:30
J.K Spinning Mills Ltd 28-Jan 10:00
BOARD MEETINGS
Company Date Time
Thursday, January 27, 2011 8
BA cabin
crew vote
for further
industrial
actionLONDON: British Airwayscabin crew voted last week tostrike again in a long-runningbattle over proposed job andpay cuts, casting a shadow overthe completion of the airline'smerger with Spain's Iberia.
The Unite union said that of7,330 valid ballots, 78.5 per-cent backed strike action, while21.5 percent opposed it.
No date was announced forany further strikes and theunion left the door open tomore talks.
"For the fourth time in 13months, British Airways cabincrew have voted overwhelm-ingly in support of their unionand expressed their dissatisfac-tion with management behav-iour," Unite General Secretary-designate Len McCluskey said.
"This dispute will be resolvedby negotiation, not litigation orconfrontation, and it is to nego-tiation that BA managementshould now apply itself. We areready," he added.
The dispute began last yearover proposed cuts to pay andstaffing levels. It has alreadycost the airline 150 millionpounds.
But the dispute has nowbroadened into a fight overissues related to last year'sstrikes.
The union is demanding thatBA restore travel perks that ittook away from cabin crewwho took part in the originalstrikes. It also wants bindingarbitration on disciplinarycases linked to the original dis-pute and the restoration of earn-ings docked from crew whowere genuinely off sick onstrike dates.
BA said the ballot resultshowed Unite did not havethe support of a majority ofcabin crew for further strikeaction.
"Of our 13,500 crew, only 43per cent voted in favour ofstrike action in this ballot," thecompany said in a statement.
It urged Unite to return to adeal being discussed last yearwhich it said guaranteed payrises for the next two years andsecured terms and conditionsfor existing crew.
The airline accuses the unionof going back on a promise torecommend that deal to itsmembers.
The latest strike announce-ment was made on the day BAwas due to complete its mergerwith Iberia. Shares in the newholding company, InternationalConsolidated Airlines Group ,will be listed in London andMadrid on Monday. -Reuters
PIA’s nat’linterests
intact:Mukhtar
ISLAMABAD: DefenceMinister Ch Mukhtar has deniedhanding over of profitableroutes of Pakistan InternationalAirline to any foreign airline.
Responding to a calling atten-tion notice in NationalAssembly, he said "I assure thehonourable house that the gov-ernment has no intention tohand over profitable routes toany foreign airline."
The Minister said, "We willhold negotiations with any air-line only in a win-win situa-tion."
He said that the governmentwould take all those steps whichit deemed were in the interest ofPIA and Pakistan.
He clarified that Turkishauthorities had requestedPakistan to give more routes toTurkish airlines on reciprocalbasis.-APP
RAWALPINDI: PIA MDCaptain Ejaz Haroon has saidthat the PIA discussed codesharing with Turkish Airline(THY) but no agreement so farhas been signed in this regard,added the agreement will besigned after the approval of thefederal government.
Briefing the media atIslamabad Airport, the PIAMD said that six to seventhousand employees were reg-ularised in the PIA, addingthat at the moment, the PIAwas facing competition atinternational level. GeneralManager North OperationsCaptain Qasim Hayat, SeniorStaff Association IslamabadPresident Samir Karamat andother officials also attendedthe briefing.
All the airlines are workingunder the formula of code
sharing, he underlined. Thereis lot of load on the PIA air-planes.
After possible code sharingformula with Turkey, EjazHaroon said that the PIAplanes would flight tillIstanbul from where theywould take flights forIslamabad, Lahore andKarachi to bring Pakistani pas-sengers.
There is no direct PIA flightto New York, first it flies toManchester then New Yorkwhile the passengers have tofirst travel from Islamabad toManchester and then NewYork, he noted.
The PIA DG said that theone-stop Turkish Airline --loaded from Istanbul-- wouldgive to the PIA after code shar-ing agreement with TurkishAirline.
He said that there were onlytwo flights of the PIA forChicago, adding after theagreement, it would link withLahore, Karachi, andIslamabad but it would not putany extra burden on the pas-sengers and they would onlychange the plane.
On this occasion, SamirKaramat told the media thatthey are protesting it as thePIA did not take them intoconfidence in this regard.
He demanded of the govern-ment to take measures for theimprovement of the PIA,adding that the administrationhad signed an agreement onJanuary 01, 2010 for providingoperating profit but it was notpaid so far.-Online
PIA sayssharingno code
with THY Body reviewsnat'l carrier'sbusiness plan
KARACHI: A meeting of theSub-Committee of the SenateStanding Committee onDefence and DefenceProduction was held at PIAHead Office here last week.
The Committee reviewed theBusiness Plan of PIA, a state-ment issued here said.
It said that the meeting wasattended by Senator Tariq AzimKhan, Convener and SenatorHaji Muhammad Adeel, mem-ber of the Sub-Committee.
Managing Director PIA,Captain Muhammad EjazHaroon, and Senior
Management officials of theairline were present at themeeting.-APPPIA directed to
spice up food,entertainment
ISLAMABAD: SenateStanding Committee onCulture and Tourism has direct-ed Pakistan InternationalAirline (PIA) to improve thestandard of entertainment pro-grammes and food quality intheir flights.
The committee meeting heldhere on Wednesday and waschaired by Senator NilofarBakhtiar.
Senator Muhammad KazimKhan, Senator SalahuddinDogar, Senator Abdul KhaliqPirzada and Senator PervaizRashid also attended the meet-ing.
The committee said that thefood being provided during theflights do not meetInternational standard whichneeds to be improved on imme-diate basis.
The committee said that theentertainment programme isalso very old and does not caterthe need of passengers.
The committee suggested thatPIA should introduce newentertainment programmes.Earlier the PIA officials briefedthe committee regarding theirfood and entertainment pro-grammes. Officials claimedthat PIA is currently offeringhigh quality entertaining Audioand Video Programmes onboard and different types of air-craft are fitted with differenttype of In Flight Entertainment(IFE) systems. -APP
BRUSSELS: Europe's compe-
tition watchdog used a rare
veto Wednesday to block a
merger between Greece's
biggest carriers, Olympic Air
and Aegean Airlines, saying it
would create a quasi-monop-
oly.
The tie-up would have led to
a near total domination by the
new airline between Athens
and Greece's second biggest
city, Thessaloniki.
"This would have led to
higher fares for four out of six
million Greek and European
consumers travelling on routes
to and from Athens each year,"
the European Commission
said.
Europe's competition watch-
dog seldom uses its veto on
mergers: the last time it
blocked one was in 2007, when
it barred Irish low-cost airline
Ryanair from taking over
national competitor Aer
Lingus.
Olympic Air and Aegean
Airlines announced in
February 2010 plans to merge
into a single listed company
that would take the name
Olympic Air and become a
"national champion" in the air-
line business.-APP
Merger of Greekaircos shot down
KUALA LUMPUR: Asia-Pacific airlines recorded "solidgrowth" in 2010 with a strongrebound in passenger numbers,an industry group saidWednesday as it forecast fur-ther gains for this year.
The Association of AsiaPacific Airlines (AAPA) saidregional airlines carried 185million international passen-gers in 2010, up 13 per centfrom the previous year.
International air cargo
demand grew by 24.2 per centin freight tonne-kilometresyear-on-year basis, followingdeclines of 10 and 7 per cent in2009 and 2008 respectively.
"Asia Pacific carriersenjoyed a year of solid growth,with robust demand for bothleisure and business travel, andthe strong rebound in interna-tional trade, led by dynamicgrowth of the Asia Pacificregion," AAPA director gener-al Andrew Herdman said in a
statement.The industry group said the
outlook for 2011 remains"broadly positive".
"Given expectations of fur-ther sustained growth in trafficdemand, the outlook for thenew year remains broadly pos-itive," he said.
"The prevailing shift of polit-ical influence and commercialdynamism towards Asia shouldresult in players from theregion playing an increasingly
important role in shaping thefuture of the air transportindustry."
World airline industry group,the International Air TransportAssociation, in Decemberraised its forecast for airlineearnings in 2010 to a record15.1 billion dollars from 8.9billion dollars as economicconditions improved.
However it has predicted thatairlines would face more tur-bulence in 2011.-APP
Apec cargoers hope big 2010
AusQantas
yet jinxed SYDNEY: Australian airlineQantas said an air conditioningproblem likely caused one of itsjets to depressurise mid-flighton Tuesday, prompting the pilotto rapidly descend panickingpassengers.
Oxygen masks weredeployed as the plane droppedfrom its cruising altitude of11,000 metres to 3,000 metres(36,000 feet to 10,000 feet), aspokesman for the airline said.
The Boeing 737-400 flightcarrying 99 passengers fromAdelaide to Melbourne wasaround half an hour from itsdestination when the incidentoccurred.
It has been a dramatic fewmonths for the Australian air-line, which in November tem-porarily suspended flights of itsAirbus A380 superjumbos afteran engine on one exploded aftertaking off from Singapore,damaging the plane.
Last week a Qantas flightbound for New York made anunscheduled stop in Fiji afterthe Boeing 747 developed aproblem with a fuel valve sup-plying one of its engines.
In the latest incident, the air-line's spokesman said the airconditioning system was likelyat fault. "There are two air con-ditioning systems on the air-craft -- one of them failed at thecruising altitude, that's whenthey started to descend," hesaid.-APP
ISLAMABAD: EtihadAirlines will expand its flyingprogramme to Jeddah fromFebruary 1, increasing from adaily service to 12 services perweek, said a press releaseissued here.
It offers more options forpeople travelling fromKarachi, Lahore, Islamabadand Peshawar to Makkah andMedina through Jeddah.
James Hogan, ChiefExecutive Officer of the airlinesaid, "Saudi Arabia is a corner-stone market for the airline andJeddah has always been animportant strategic destinationfor it. The demand for theUmrah flights has always beenvery strong and we expect thisto continue growing in future."The airline is also offeringexclusive return Umrah fares
for passengers traveling fromPakistan to the Jeddah for theupcoming Umrah season start-ing at Rs29,870 from Karachiand Rs38,500 from Lahore andIslamabad. The airline com-menced operations to Jeddah inMay 2006, with three frequen-cies per week, increasing todaily from April 2007 and nowto 12 flights per week fromFebruary 2011.-APP
Etihad to frequentJeddah more & more
TANGERANG: Passengers walk to the Mandala airline office at Soekarno-Hatta airport in Tangerang. Reuters
LONDON: Michael O'Leary, chief executive of Irish low-fare airline
Ryanair, attends a news conference in Marseille-Provence airport.-Reuters
LONDON: Copper rose onWednesday, but trimmed itsgains on a resurgent dollar, asthe approach of a holiday amidexpectations of tighter monetarypolicy in top consumer Chinachecked investor enthusiasm.
Tin hit a record high of$28,775 a tonne as the markettried to price in scarcity of sup-plies from top exporterIndonesia. It has risen about 6per cent so far this year after again of nearly 60 per cent in2010.
"Clearly of all base metals tinhas best fundamentals," said NicBrown, an analysts at Natixis.
"Supply is constrained,demand continues to expandstrongly, and unlike copperwhere there is some substitution,tin is not very easy to substitute,so there is very little to stop itgoing higher," he said.
Benchmark copper on theLondon Metal Exchange waslast quoted at $9,325 a tonnefrom $9,250 on Tuesday, whenthe metal used in power and con-struction fell to a one-month lowof $9,234.85 a tonne.
Traders also pointed to newsthat China had unveiled freshmeasures to contain propertyprice rises, including biggerdown payments for second-home buyers.
China's Lunar New Year holi-days also start next week. Chinaaccounts for nearly 40 per centof global copper consumptionestimated at around 21 million
tonnes this year."We are in a seasonal slow-
down. There are public holidaysin China and concerns overmonetary tightening," said VTBCapital analyst Andrey
Kryuchenkov.Growth in China accelerated
in the fourth quarter and its infla-tion slowed less than expected,fuelling concerns that harsherpolicy tightening is needed.
Also weighing on copper arerising stocks in LME warehous-es, which at 394,700 tonnes areat their highest since Septemberand up more than 10 per centsince Dec. 9. The stocks haverisen around 3.5 per cent in thepast two days alone.
"Copper inventories are build-
ing ... It is logical to see a short-term pullback...," Kryuchenkovsaid. Exchange open interest oncopper futures at the LMEstands at 305,551 lots or morethan 7.64 million tonnes from324,420 lots or more than 8.11million tonnes on Jan. 14.
Also helping boost tin senti-ment was a survey by consult-ants ITRI showing that global tinconsumption rose 12.5 per centlast year.
Three-month tin closed at$28,625 a tonne from $28,195 atonne at the close on Tuesday.
Lead was $2,376 a tonne froma last bid at $2,336 a tonne onTuesday when the battery mate-rial touched a low of $2,325 atonne, its lowest since Dec. 8.
It has come under pressurefrom stocks in LME warehouses,which at 275,300 tonnes aretheir highest since May 1995.
However, LME data showsone company controlling 80-90 per cent of lead stock war-rants and cash contracts, whichhas fuelled nervousness aboutnearby supplies.\ Zinc wasquoted at $2,278 a tonne from$2,221 on Tuesday, nickel was$26,500 from $25,900 and alu-minium was $2,387 from$2,361. -Reuters
Copper rises; dollar,China doubts curb gains
9Thursday, January 27, 2011
POLYPROPYLENE(PP) LINEAR LOW (LL)
Cash & Settlement 1310 1250
December (3rd Wednesday) 1310 1250
January (3rd Wednesday) 1310 1255
LONDON METAL EXCHANGE (PLASTIC)
LME Official Prices, US$ per tonne for January 25 2011
LME Official Prices, US$ per tonne for January 25 2011
ALUMINIUM ALUMINIUM COPPER LEAD NICKEL TIN ZINC NASAAC
LONDON: US crude heldabove $86 a barrel onWednesday and Brent rose morethan $1 as a weaker dollar aheadof a Federal Reserve statementand rising equities countered abig rise in US crude inventories.
US crude briefly turned nega-tive after the US EnergyInformation Administrationreported a 4.84million-barrel risein crude stocks.Still, some ana-lysts said that wasunlikely to stand inthe way of higherprices.
"What does itreally mean to price? Very little.By the end of the day, I thinkwe'll be more along the lines ofwhat the equity markets aredoing," said Kyle Cooper, man-aging director at IAF Advisorsin Houston.
"I still maintain the overallmarket is driven way more byfinancial flows than by weeklyinventory numbers.
US crude was up 3 cents at$86.22 as of 1620 GMT, whileBrent crude gained $1.30 to$96.55.
High US crude inventories,
especially at the Cushing,Oklahoma, delivery point forthe US crude contract, alsoknown as West TexasIntermediate or WTI, havehelped keep US crude pricesbelow Brent.
"Brent and WTI have beentrading increasingly as entirelyseparate commodities in recent
weeks, driven by decidedly dif-ferent fundamentals," said J.P.Morgan analysts in a report.
"Unsurprisingly, the mainissue for the wide Brent-WTIspread seems to lie not withBrent but rather with WTI."
The EIA report showed amixed trend for stocks of refinedfuels. Gasoline stocks rose by2.4 million barrels and distil-lates supplies fell by 140,000barrels.
The Fed is expected to under-score reasons for optimism evenas it reaffirms its economic
stimulus plan to buy $600 bil-lion in government debt in its1915 GMT statement.
The EIA report showed a big-ger rise in crude stocks thanindustry group the AmericanPetroleum Institute, which onTuesday said inventoriesincreased by 2.1 million barrels.
The two oil benchmarks hitmore than two-year highs ear-lier in Januarywith Brenttrading just 80cents short ofthe $100 a bar-rel milestoneon Jan. 14.
Analysts at Credit AgricoleCIB and Facts Global Energysaid that the immediate risk of abreach of $100 had now recededwith prices likely to trend lowerthrough the first quarter.
"I think the fall is justified bythe disappearance of very coldweather in Europe and therestart of the Alaskan pipeline aswell as signs that theOrganization of the PetroleumExporting Countries is increas-ing production," said analystChristophe Barret at CreditAgricole. -Reuters
US oil holds above $86ahead of Fed comment
Europeanvegetableoil prices
ROTTERDAM: The follow-ing were the Wednesday'sRotterdam vegetable oil price'sat 22:00 PST.
Note: Traded Volume reflects the trades from 06:00 pm of previous day to 06:00 pm of current day
NAIROBI - KENYA: Vendors unload bags of onions from a truck outside the main Wakulima
farmers' vegetable market in Kenya's capital Nairobi. -Reuters
LONDON: Gold eased onWednesday ahead of a USFederal Reserve policy decisionlater in the day, while a recordoutflow from the largestexchange-traded bullion fundkept prices near Tuesday's three-month low.
The SPDR Gold Trust, theworld's biggest gold-backedETF had its largest one-day out-flow on record on Tuesday,reflecting a decline in investor
interest.Barclays Capital said outflows
from a range of gold ETFs hadbrought overall holdings to theirlowest in five months.
Spot gold was bid at $1,328.20an ounce at 1505 GMT, against$1,332.75 late in New York onTuesday. US gold futures forFebruary delivery fell $5.00 to$1,327.50 an ounce.
"Gold hasn't adjusted to aworld in which interest rate risesare conceivable particularlywell, and some investors seemto think enough is enough," saidMitsubishi analyst MatthewTurner.
"We could see further weak-ness, particularly if the econom-ic data continues to be strong
worldwide. However with majorproblems remaining in the euro-zone and US economies, it isdoubtful this signals the end ofthe gold bull market."
This echoes the views of ETFSecurities head of research NickBrooks, who told a journalists'conference call on Wednesdaythat the ongoing fiscal problemsof developed economies, cou-pled with rising inflation aroundthe globe, would likely feed
demand for gold. "Ultimately,the demand for gold will remainfirm and will come back butwe're going through a periodwhere there is a lot of profit-tak-ing coming through," he said.
Gold has fallen for five days ina row now, bringing the lossesfor January to more than 6 percent, which would be its worstmonthly performance sinceDecember 2009.
Spot platinum was bid at$1,787.24 an ounce against$1,784.50, while palladium wasat $787.97 against $778.72.Both are expected to rise thisyear and next as their underlyingfundamentals tighten.
Silver was bid at $26.77 anounce against $26.84. -Reuters
Gold eases beforeFed; ETFs shed metal
Cocoa hits 1-yr
peak; Arabica
spikes 3.9pcLONDON: Cocoa futures onICE touched a fresh one-yearpeak on Wednesday, as sixmajor exporters adhered to acall for a cocoa export ban fromIvory Coast and new salesoffers from the top growerwound down.
Arabica coffee futures soaredas high as 3.9 per cent, takingback losses from the past twodays, after fund buying trig-gered automatic buy stops,dealers said.
Cocoa prices have stayedhigh since Monday, after IvoryCoast presidential claimantAlassane Ouattara called for amonth-long ban on Ivoriancocoa exports to cut funds fromhis rival for the presidency,incumbent Laurent Gbagbo.
New York's March cocoacontract gained $9 or 0.3 percent to $3,344 per tonne at1630 GMT after touching$3,395, its highest sinceJanuary 2010. London's Maycocoa contract slipped 4pounds or 0.2 per cent lower to2,172 pounds a tonne, belowMonday's six-month peak of2,269 pounds a tonne.
Arabica coffee futuresjumped higher after commeri-cal buying near recent lows fol-lowed by fund buying triggeredautomatic buy stops above$2.36 on the March contract.
The collapse (the past twodays) had to do with the macroeconomics," said RodrigoCosta, vice-president of institu-tional sales for Newedge USAin New York. ICE March arabi-ca traded up 6.3 cents or 2.7 percent to $2.3770 per lb at 1630GMT after spiking as high as$2.4035 a lb, near its 13-1/2-year high of $2.4450 a lb.
Liffe March robusta coffeewas up $11 or 0.5 per cent at$2,105 per tonne. ICE rawsugar futures edged up asinvestors focused on a potentialcut in Russia's import tax to$50 from $140 a tonne begin-ning in March, which couldimpact front month spreads.
ICE March raw sugar futureswere up 0.65 cent or 2 per centto 32.50 cents a lb at 1555GMT, while Liffe March whitesugar was up $13 or 1.7 percent to $794.50 per tonne.
Sugar supply will just coverdemand this year and prices willfall by the end of 2011, a Reuterspoll showed, although that finebalance could easily be upset bydire weather or logjams atBrazilian ports. -Reuters
NEW YORK: US cottonfutures finished lower Tuesdayas speculative buying poweredthe spot contract to a freshrecord high, but that faded andback months sank as a lack ofsupport and fears of a slow-down in top consuming coun-tries such as China weighed onfiber contracts.
The cotton market had risennearly 20 per cent since mid-January, driven by strongprices in top consumer Chinaand tight deliverable suppliesin the US cotton market.
The key March cotton con-tract on ICE Futures US fell0.11 cent to close at $1.6183per lb, with the contract hittinga new spot record high at$1.6789. Total volume wastwice the 30-day average at38,800 contracts, Thomson
Reuters preliminary datashowed.
Spot March was driven byheavy speculative buying butthe rest of the board 'did nothave the same support' and lostground as a result, said SharonJohnson, senior cotton analystat brokerage Penson Futures.
Deferred contracts closedroughly 2 to 3 cents lower.Some investors may be forcedto pay up to get out of theirpositions in the March con-tract, said Mike Stevens, anindependent analyst inMandeville, Louisiana.
Overnight Chinese cottonprices were softer, with the keySeptember cotton futures onthe Zhengzhou CommodityExchange last done at 31,505yuan per tonne, down 445 yuanon the day. -Reuters
US cotton lower, specbuying seen in March
Tokyo rubber
down on
profit-takingBANGKOK: The key Tokyorubber futures contract fell to itslowest in nearly two weeks onWednesday as broad weaknessin commodity markets triggeredprofit-taking as players fearedthat prices had risen too fast,dealers said.
The benchmark rubber con-tract on the Tokyo CommodityExchange for July delivery,which made its debut onWednesday, fell 3 yen from theopening price to settle at 457.2yen ($5.56) per kg, the lowestfor a benchmark since Jan. 14.
The previous benchmark Junecontract fell as much as 16.5yen, or 3.4 per cent, to finish at460.1 yen per kg.
The most active rubber contracton the Shanghai futures exchangefor May deliver fell 385 yuan tosettle at 39,280 yuan ($5,967) pertonne. The sixth month Tokyorubber contract could fall to 397.7yen per kg over the next fourweeks, as the fourth wave correc-tion has started after the thirdwave peaked at 484.90 yen, basedon its wave pattern and aFibonacci retracement analysis onthe rise from 256.70 yen to 484.90yen, according to Reuters Marketanalyst Wang Tao. -Reuters
Shanghai copper
declinesShanghai's benchmark third-
month copper futures contractfell 30 yuan to 70,800 yuan atonne. The discount for LMEmetal versus Shanghai contin-ued to narrow, currentlyaround 1,300 yuan, a third ofthe recent highs, stirringexpectations that the arbitragemay open after the Chineseholidays starting Feb. 2.
EIA reports large rise in US crude inventories
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysianpalm oil bounced off fresh one-week lows on Wednesday ontalk of production falling furtherthis month as rains continue tobatter estates.
But investors continued tofactor in favourable weatheracross Argentina's farming beltthat may relieve soy and corncrops suffering from drought.
The benchmark April crudepalm oil contract on BursaMalaysia Derivatives endeddown nearly 1 per cent to3,670 ringgit ($1,202) a tonne,after going as low as 3,622ringgit -- a level unseen sinceJan. 18. "There is a perceptionthat the market was oversold.Also, there is talk that produc-tion could be at least 5 per cent
lower in January," said a traderwith a foreign commoditiesbrokerage.
Other traders pegged the pro-duction decline at between fiveand 10 per cent for Malaysia asheavy rains stall harvestingand excessive moisture affectsyield quality.
A Reuters technical analysisshowed palm oil might extendlosses to 3,539 ringgit pertonne, based on its wave pat-tern and a Fibonacci retrace-ment analysis.
A Reuters survey showedpalm oil prices to average3,100 a tonne this year, mark-ing a third straight year ofgains as global vegetable oilsupplies continue to shrink.
Other vegetable oils were
mixed in Asian trade hours. USsoyoil for March deliveryedged higher after postinglosses in the previous session.
The most traded Septembersoyoil on China's DalianCommodity Exchange hit one-month lows.
Trading in China is slowingas investors have begun to pullout funds before the new yearholiday from Feb. 2 to Feb. 8.
Despite a broad sell-off incommodities, crude rose inAsian hours on a technicalrebound ahead of a statementfrom the US Federal Reserveexpected to reaffirm animproved economic outlookfor the world's largest oil con-sumer while investors awaitweekly stocks data. -Reuters
Palm oil off 1-wk lowon lower output talk
10Thursday, January 27, 2011
Italian Couple performe during ice danceat European Figure Skating Championships
Zvonarevablasts intoOz Open
semisMonitoring Desk
MELBOURNE: World num-ber two Vera Zvonarevabrushed off Czech PetraKvitova 6-2, 6-4 to reach theAustralian Open semisWednesday and stay on coursefor her third straight GrandSlam final.
Zvonareva shrugged off thedistractions of a medical dramain the stands and a thunderous21-gun salute for Australia Day,a national public holiday, todown Kvitova in just 75 min-utes.
The 26-year-old Muscovitewas badly distracted during thefifth game of the second set,when she was ordered to playon despite a woman spectatorneeding medical attention andthe celebratory artillery fire,and lost her serve.
But Zvonareva recoveredstrongly to set up a last-fourclash with either third seed KimClijsters or Poland's AgnieszkaRadwanska, who play later.
"It was a bit of a difficultmoment," she said. "Someonewasn't feeling well -- it was dif-ficult to play but the chairumpire said we had to go on nomatter what.
The Russian was playing herthird Czech left-hander in arow following wins overLucie Safarova and IvetaBenesova and she was clearlycomfortable against Kvitovaas she broke twice to open upa 4-0 lead.
Kvitova got one break backand held to give herself somehope of a comeback, butZvonareva broke once more torun away with the first set.
Zvonareva two barely madean error in the opening set andshe continued that form intothe second, in stark contrast toKvitova, who blasted ballswide or into the net as the pres-sure built.
The umpire signalled forplay to continue despiteZvonareva wanting to stop,then the second seed wasunsettled further by the 21-gun salute nearby, subsequent-ly dropping her serve.
KARACHI: As a unique edu-cational institution that contin-uously strives to develop mind,body and soul of each childfrom an early age, Reflectionsheld recently a junior boysfootball championship tourna-ment.
Twelve school teams fromaround Karachi qualified tocompete in the championshiporganized for the first time bythe Reflections School. Theteams include KarachiGrammar, TCS DarakhshanBranch, Beacon House Jubileecampus, River Oaks Academy,TCS PAF chapter, Reflections,Beacon House Defence cam-pus, TCS Nazimabad, KNAcademy, Bayview Academy,TCS Gulshan and EducationBay.
First semi-final played
between TCS PAF and KNAcademy; while the secondsemi-final played betweenReflections and KarachiGrammar. TCS PAF defeatedKN Academy by 4-2 throughpenalty kicks. Reflections wonconvincingly by defeatingKarachi Grammar 4-1.Reflections lost the final 4-3against TCS PAF throughpenalty shootouts.
Reflections School foundedin 2003 with a mission to be anexemplary institution to pro-vide a balanced education anddevelop God fearing leaders.The Institution was initiated byIbadullah Welfare Trust, a non-profit organization whichinvolves community and itsphilanthropists to poolresources for equipping chil-dren for the future.-APP
Junior school boyssoccer c’ship held
WELLINGTON: InftikhabAlam, the Pakistan's tour man-ager, said the team is confidentof making a strong comebackin the series.
He expressed his disappoint-ment after the second one-dayinternational (ODI) waswashed out due to incessantrains.
Pakistan made a breezy startto their innings, reaching 31without loss off 4.2 overs withAhmed Shahzad racing to 25off 16 balls and MohammadHafeez on four, when rainforced them off again less than20 minutes after play began.
Talking to a private TV atQueenstown Events Center on
Wednesday, he said "We willtry to win the third one-dayerto level the 6-match series," hesaid.
All players, he said, will bebe given an opportunity toshow their performance inorder to finalize an ideal com-bination for the upcomingWorld Cup.-NNI
Pakistan confidentof cricket comeback
LAHORE: Pakistan FootballFederation (PFF)'s PresidentMakhdoom Syed Faisal SalehHayat praised new refereecommunication system thatutilized by Referees andAssistant Referees in theongoing 15th AFC Asian Cupat Doha,Qatar. The final ofthe event, between Japan andAustralia, will be held onSaturday, 29 January at 8 PM(Pakistan Time).
"The new system was testedby the AFC during 6th AFCPresident's Cup 2010 atMyanmar last September andhas proven to be effective.The system is also seen in the
European leagues and FIFAWorld Cup developed byFrench wireless data trans-mission systems companyAdeunis RF," said Faisal whowas elected to the prestigiouspost of AFC ExecutiveCommittee - AFC's highestdecision-making committee -during 24th AFC Congress inDoha, Qatar on 6
January along with H.E.Shaikh Ali Bin Khalifa AlKhalifa (Bahrain), Dr HafezI. Al Medlej (Saudi Arabia),Sayyid Khalid Hamed AlBusaidi (Oman), Praful Patel(India), Ali Azim (Maldives),Lee Boo Aun Winston
(Singapore), TranQuoc Tuan (Vietnam), Zaw
Zaw (Myanmar), GanboldBuyannemekh (Mongolia),
Kohzo Tashima (Japan) andRichard K. Lai(Guam).Faisal, who is alsoFIFA and World DisciplinaryCommittee member and
Chairman AFCDisciplinary Committee,praised the efforts put in byAsian referees and stressedthat they had given an excel-lent account of themselvesparticularly SubkhiddinMohd Salleh (Malaysia),Abdul Malik (Singapore),Abdulrahman Mohammed
(Qatar), Ravshan Irmatov(Uzbekistan), Khalil AlGhamdi (Saudi Arabia), AliAl Badwawi (UAE) whosupervised the tense quarterand semi finals at four Doha'svenue viz Al GharafaStadium, KhalifaInternational Stadium, JassimBin Hamad Stadium andQatar SC Stadium. "The ref-ereeing has been flawless. Itspeaks volumes about thehigh standards of refereeingon the continent.
Our referees consistentlyperformed well in internation-al competitions like the FIFAWorld Cup last year," said
Faisal who pointed out therole of Vision Asia in raisingthe overall standards of thegame in Asia and added it washis dream to see an Asian ref-ereeing the World Cup final."To achieve that goal we needto significantly improve refer-ees performances throughintensive training sessions.
While summing up aboutnew referee communicationsystem, Faisal said that "Thenew communication systemhas been used since the 2006World Cup and in theEuropean leagues. Ninety-nine percent of Europeanfootball leagues use this sys-
tem and in Asia, it was testedand found effective by theMohamad bin Hammam-ledAFC.The system has distinctadvantages over other wire-less communication systemsnow in use in other sports. Itcan be used anywhere with-out a need for the bulky basestation and doesn't need pro-gramming. It has the abilityto transmit only voice and fil-ter crowd noise and the whis-tle's sound. The system alsouses licence-free frequencies,which are frequencies thatyou don't have to pay thecommunication authoritiesfor,"Faisal concluded.-Online
New referee communication system hailed
WELLINGTON: Rain-washedout the second one-day interna-tional between New Zealand andPakistan. Only 26 balls were bowled afterNew Zealand won the toss andput Pakistan in to bat, with thetourists at 31 without loss whenpoor weather forced the playersback to the pavilion.
In all 4.2 overs were bowledafter New Zealand won the tossand elected to field after thematch got under way one hourbehind the scheduled time.
Ahmed Shehzad was on 25 andMohammad Hafeez on four, with
extras accounting for two runs.New Zealand lead the series,
which has now been reduced tofive matches, 1-0 after a nine-wicket victory in Wellington onSaturday.
The next match is scheduledfor Saturday in Christchurch.
Pakistan were 31-0 when morerain fell and after hours of delaythe match was finally abandonedat 3.30pm local time.
New Zealand lead the six-match series 1-0 with the thirdgame taking place inChristchurch on Saturday.-Online
NZ-Pak2nd ODI
rained out
WELLINGTON: NewZealand captain Daniel Vettoriwill sit out the third one-daycricket international againstPakistan at Christchurch onSaturday while the newly estab-lished opening pair of JesseRyder and Martin Guptill havebeen broken up after oneinnings together.
New Zealand today madethree changes to the 12 who fea-tured in the first two matches, anine-wicket win at Wellingtonlast Saturday and today's aban-doned match at Queenstown.
Wellington left-arm spinnerLuke Woodcock replacesVettori, while batsman Kane
Williamson and pace bowlerKyle Mills come into the squadfor Ryder and all-rounder JamesFranklin.
Vettori will stay with the teamas 13th man, while Ryder andFranklin have been released toplay for Wellington.
Ross Taylor will be the cap-tain while Jamie How will openalongside Guptill.
The changes are part of theselectors' rotation policy for thissix-match series and theyattempt to give all 15 players inthe World Cup squad time in themiddle ahead of the subconti-nent-hosted tournament, whichstarts in mid-February.-Online
Vettori to missout on third ODI
Cueists trioto representPakistan in
Asian C’shipKARACHI: Three cueists
instead of two will be repre-
senting Pakistan in the 27th
Asian Snooker
Championship to be held in
Indore (India) from April 23
to 30, Pakistan Billiards and
Snooker Association
(PBSA) announced on
Wednesday.
"Muhammad Sajjad, who
finished the runner-up in
the last Asian event held in
Thailand last year will be an
automatic selection," PBSA
President Alamgir Shaikh
told reporters.
"If Sajjad wins the nation-
als, then losing finalists will
be second choice while
picking the third cueist will
be association's discretion,"
he said.
He said PBSA Executive
Committee have changed
the format for the year 2011
for automatic selection for
the top two. "Now PBSA
will be selecting number
two for Asian and World
Snooker," he said. In the
meantime, Muhammad
Sajjad crashed out of the
quarter-final of Sangsom
Lop Buri Cup 2011 in
Thailand Professional
Ranking Circuit going
down to top Thai profes-
sional and former World
Amateur Champion James
Wattana of Thailand.-APP
ADELAIDE: England keepseries alive with 21-run victoryin fourth one-day internationalagainst Australia at AdelaideOval.
England (299-8) beatAustralia (278-7) by 21 runs
It takes a certain kind of per-sonality to keep grinding awayweek after week, game aftergame, without allowing yourmind to wander off an inter-minable tour like this one. Apersonality like JonathanTrott’s, in fact.
England’s Mr Obsessive wastheir matchwinner, not onlystriking a fine century but audi-tioning for a back-up bowler’srole with a spell of 7-0-31-2.Could he be our answer toShane Watson?
Perhaps not. There is little
fashionable about Trott, and itis hard to imagine him tintinghis hair or strutting about onTV adverts in the manner ofWatson. But he is a remorselesspiler-up of runs, in all formatsof the game.
Trott already holds the sec-ond-highest average in the his-tory of Test cricket (61.53).And after yesterday’s 102, he ishigh up the one-day chart aswell with 54.38 - ahead ofMichael Bevan, and behindonly Hashim Amla amongmajor international batsmen.
Trott’s critics say that hescores too slowly, that his bat-ting is all tick and no boom. Buthe also does something that hasbeen beyond any of his team-mates in this series: he stays in,for long periods of time. Apart
from a bizarre run-out chancethat Brett Lee somehow man-aged to waste, his 126-ballinnings involved few alarms.
A fortnight ago, Trott wouldhave been on the outside ofEngland’s plans for the WorldCup - the batsman most likelyto find himself carrying thedrinks in Nagpur on Feb 22.Now the selectors must bewondering how they can possi-bly drop such an unstoppablerun machine.
He found a backer in MichaelClarke, the Australian captain,who said “The earlier Jonathangets in, the more it suits himand allows him to play his nat-ural game. I thought he held theinnings together well andallowed the others to bataround him.”-Agencies
Eng put pulsein dead series
Nowshera winInter-District
Women CricketPESHAWAR: A cracking cen-tury by no 3 batter Ambareensteered Nowshera to 118 runsvictory against Malakand in theopening match of the 5thRegional Inter-District WomenCricket Tournament-2011 beingplayed here at Frontier Collegefor Women ground onWednesday.
Ambareen smashed her 115runs after facing 107 balls andhit a vital 13 boundaries andeight six in a mini-ground insidethe college. Ambareen stayed for102 minutes at the crease andplayed key role in her team suc-cess.
Principal of the FrontierCollege for Women NauzatLiaqat was the chief guest onthis occasion who formally inau-gurated the event in which eightteams comprising Peshawar,Nowshera, Thana Swat,Malakand, Swat in group-A andin group-B Star women club,Swat District, Lower Dir andCharsadda are taking part.
Cricket representative of PCBWomen Wing for KhyberPakhtunkhwa Ms. Hajra Sarwarand Mrs. Rahim Bibi, officialsof the teams, and players werealso present.
Rabia Noreen made 35 runswith seven boundaries, Nazia hitanother cracking 45 not out withsix boundaries and two sixes,Nazneen with 25 boundarieswith five boundaries and one sixwith 57 extras including 43 wideballs and 12 no balls.-APP
15th Asian Cup 2011
MELBOURNE: Vera Zvonareva of Russia returns against Petra Kvitova of the CzechRepublic in their quarter-final women's singles match on the tenth day of the
Australian Open tennis tournament.-Reuters
Ferrerknocksinjured
Nadal outMonitoring Desk
MELBOURNE: Injury-hitworld number one Rafael Nadalwas sensationally dumped fromthe Australian Open quarterfi-nals 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 by Spanishcompatriot David Ferrer onWednesday.
The defeat ended Nadal's bidfor a fourth straight non-calen-dar year Grand Slam victory.Only Don Budge and Rod Laverhave held all four titles at thesame time.
Nadal looked troubled by astrapped left hamstring injurywhich he appeared to pick up ina drawn-out second game of thematch, and needed medical time-outs to see out the 2hr 33minmatch on Rod Laver Arena.
It was seventh seed Ferrer'sfourth win over Nadal in 15encounters and he will now playBritish fifth seed Andy Murrayin Friday's semifinal.
It will be Ferrer's second GrandSlam semi-final after he reachedthe last four at the 2007 US Open.
"It's not easy because Rafael isa gentleman and he was playinginjured and we are friends,"Ferrer said.
11Thursday, January 27, 2011
International & Continuation
CONTINUATION
Policy splitwidening atBoE, minutes
showLONDON: Bank of EnglandGovernor Mervyn King facesgrowing opposition in hisMonetary Policy Committee asinflation boosts pressure for anearly interest rate hike, minutesof the committee's last meetingsuggested on Wednesday.
Martin Weale, who had beenviewed as a moderate, unex-pectedly joined longstandinghawk Andrew Sentance on thenine-member committee bycalling for an immediate 0.25per centage point rise in interestrates, minutes of the Jan. 12-13meeting revealed.
"The cracks are starting toappear in the MPC consensus,"said Brian Hilliard, economistat Societe Generale. "Not onlydid Weale vote for a rateincrease, there's a hint thatother members were teeteringon the brink of doing that aswell."
The pound rose and shortsterling interest rate futurestumbled on the news, whichcame a day after shock datashowed Britain's economy con-tracted in the last three monthsof 2010.
Market expectations forfuture interest rates have swungwildly over the past two days.Investors now see a first hike inAugust as the most likely out-come; before Tuesday's grossdomestic product data, the mar-kets had generally expected ahike in May.
In a rare public speech onTuesday, King mounted adetermined defence of theBoE's decision not to lift inter-est rates over the past year,arguing that inflation wouldfall back in 2012 as its recentsurge was due to one-off pres-sures from import prices, oiland rises in indirect taxes.-Reuters
He said it is wrong to say that Pakistan is more dangerous thanAfghanistan; this is just propaganda of Afghan president HamidKarzai. He himself is living in Palaces and sends his policemenfor training to India.
Replying to a query regarding statement of US Secretary ofState Hilary Clinton that Osama bin Laden is hiding somewherein Pakistan, the former president said she should provide proof ofthis. It is just ramous, lots of people say that he is in Somali orsome other country and I also say that he could be in Somalia.
He rejected the allegation that Pakistan army has Taliban sym-pathisers or is training them added there could some but not theentire army. Regarding Pakistan nukes falling into the hands ofterrorists he said that it is not possible as a strategic command isprotecting it. -Online
Continued from page 12No #1
The first session focused on the importance of youth entrepre-neurship culture in the education system in order to shape leadersfor tomorrow. The session was co-chaired by Seema Aziz, theChairperson of Care Foundation and amongst the key note speak-ers included Faisal Mushtaq from Roots School System and DrZubair Sheikh from FAST presented their views in this session.
Many respected members of the community presented theirviews on the second sub-theme, including Abrar-ul-Haq, initia-tor of the Youth Parliament Pakistan (YPP), Sabiha Shaheenfrom Bargad and Sumbal Naveed from 'Right to Play' under theshadow of the Session Co-chair, David Martin, the CountryDirector of British Council, Pakistan. Abrar-ul-Haq emphasizedon the importance of the vision of youth and looked forward toa better future. -Agencies
Continued from page 12No #2
Security experts said the tip-off had revealed that a criminalgang based in the Moscow suburbs was assisting a Chechenbombing making squad and that a suicide cells was travellingfrom training camp. A newspaper close to Russia's FSB securityservice published what it claimed was a warning to Moscowpolice issued in December that said there was credible intelli-gence that a suicide squad made up of three women and one manfrom Chechnya was headed to Moscow.
An al Qaeda linked website said that the group IslamicCaucasus Emirate, led by the rebe Doku Umarov, was poised toclaim it had staged the attack. It said that Russia's harsh militarymeasures against independence activists in the Caucasus had pro-voked the attack." The daily Kommersant newspaper said securi-ty service officials were alerted to the extent of the threat when awoman accidentally blew herself up on New Year's Eve inMoscow. The region, which includes restive internal Russianrepublics such as Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan, is in thegrip of a growing insurgency and has served as a launching pad inthe past for a series of deadly strikes on civilian targets in Moscowand other cities. -Agencies
Continued from page 12No #3
This irregularity was identified in audit report as well. Hisappointment as advisor to Wapda had also come under sharpcriticism in Senate and members of Senate had expressed theirreservations over his educational qualification and compe-tence.Government has not only appointed him advisor to min-istry of water and power but also has assigned the responsibil-ities of consultant to electricity distribution and transmissionimprovement project launched with the World Bank loan of173 million dollars.
Report said that government had faced humiliation on suchappointments earlier particularly appointment of AdnanKhwaja former MD Oil and Gas Development. Later he wasremoved from his office. While a corruption case was alsopending hearing in Supreme Court against former DG HajjRao Shakil. During the hearing of the case of corruptionagainst Rao Shakil, chief justice of Pakistan had raised thequestion as to why government appoints corrupt elements ontop posts. -Online
Continued from page 12No #4
WASHINGTON: New USsingle-family home salesraced to their highest level ineight months in Decemberwhile prices were the highestsince April 2008, raising cau-tious optimism for a housingmarket recovery.
The Commerce Departmentsaid on Wednesday salesjumped 17.5 per cent to a sea-sonally adjusted 329,000 unitannual rate after a downward-ly revised 280,000-unit pacein November.
Economists, who hadexpected new home sales riseto a 300,000-unit pace lastmonth, took the fairly upbeatreport as a tentative sign of aturnaround in the troubledhousing market. Novembersales were previously reportedat a 290,000 unit rate.
"Things are definitely perk-ing up, but there is a questionwhether it's sustainable," saidBrian Bethune an economist atIHS Global Insight inLexington, Massachusetts.
US stocks rose slightly,
while Treasury bond pricesslipped modestly after thehome sales data. The dollarwas little changed.
The report is the latest in aseries to suggest the economicrecovery is gaining strengthand broadening out.
Federal Reserve officials areexpected to nod to the improv-ing economic outlook at theend of a two-day meeting lateron Wednesday, but remainfirmly committed to the $600billion bond buying programto aid the recovery.
Data last week showed asurge in sales of previouslyowned homes in December,but progress could be frustrat-ed by a glut of homes from anunrelenting wave of foreclo-sures.
But the new home salesreport showed supply is grad-ually being reduced as salesrise. The supply of new homeson the market fell to 6.9months' worth, the lowestsince April, from 8.4 months'worth in November.
There were 190,000 newhomes available for sale inDecember, the lowest in 43years.
"We haven't found a bottomyet and the best we can say isthat perhaps we will find itthis year," said MichaelWoolfolk, a senior currencystrategist at BNY-Mellon inNew York.
The median sales price for anew home increased 12.1 percent last month fromNovember to $241,500, thehighest since April 2008.Compared with December lastyear, the median price rose 8.5per cent, the biggest increasesince August.
Separately, applications forhome mortgages, seen as agauge of home demand,slumped last week as bankersrecorded the slowest refinanc-ing activity in more than ayear. The Mortgage BankersAssociation's index of mort-gage application activitydropped 12.9 per cent in theweek ended Jan. 21.-Reuters
US new homes salesat 8-month high,prices soared up
DAVOS: Global chief execu-tives pinned their hopes onroaring growth in emergingmarkets at the start of theannual Davos forum onWednesday but warned thatrising inflation and politicalrisks cast a shadow.
Business leaders at theWorld Economic Forum(WEF) said surging foodprices could spark fresh socialunrest and pointed to geopolit-ical worries over tensionsbetween North and SouthKorea and Iran and Israel, aswell as unrest in Egypt.
"I'm optimistic because theworld is growing ... Now weare seeing a much more self-assured developing worldgoing more its own way,"Nestle chief executive PaulBulcke told the organisers'opening news conference.
But other CEOs at the eventstruck a more cautious tone,pointing to the numerous riskswhich could yet derail thefragile global revival.
"Interest rates are zero todaybut they can only go up andhigher interest rates will drivefinancing costs up as well,"John Krenicki, chairman andchief executive of GE Energyand vice chairman of GE toldReuters.
"It's not just inflation inenergy but steel, cooper andgeneral commodities."
The four-day Forum in theSwiss Alps will bring togetherat least 35 national leaders,including the presidents ofRussia and France, and over1,400 business chiefs. Thenumber of participants fromIndia and China is bigger thanever.
Bankers are keen to showtheir industry emerging suc-cessfully from the wreckageof the global financial crisisand politicians want to dispelthe gloom hanging over theeuro zone. Growth in develop-ing countries is key.
"This year, we think we'llsee western Europe continuingto be tepid, America more U-shaped and the fast-growingemerging markets will contin-ue to be V-shaped," MartinSorrell, chief executive of theworld's biggest advertisinggroup WPP , told the openingsession.
ENTRENCHED Resurgent inflation, howev-
er, is stalking many develop-ing economies.
Reports in China suggestednew bank lending has surgedin January, prompting freshgovernment measures to con-tain property price rises. Indiaraised interest rates onTuesday, warning that higherfood prices could becomeentrenched if steps to boostoutput are not taken.
Nor is the threat confined tothe emerging world. Eurozone inflation exceeded theEuropean Central Bank's twoper cent target for the firsttime in two years last monthand Bank of EnglandGovernor Mervyn Kingwarned on Tuesday that UKinflation could hit five percent soon.
Sorrell put global economiesinto four divisions in terms ofgrowth prospects: The BRICs-- Brazil, Russia, India andChina -- in the top category,followed by the United Statesand Germany, then the rest of
Western Europe, with Japanlast.
"Net-net I think corporatesare still uncertain," he said."Boards are terrified of mak-ing mistakes."
Russian group Vimpelcom'schief executive AlexanderIzosimov, who is bidding forcontrol of Egypt's OrascomTelecom , said he was wellaware of the risks in theMiddle East after recent tur-moil in Tunisia and Egypt.
"As you go into emergingmarkets, it's not unfortunatelyonly growth and high returns,sometimes you have to dealwith the risks," he told ReutersInsider television.
Unprecedented protests inEgypt against President HosniMubarak's 30-year rule in thewake of this month's "JasmineRevolution" that oustedTunisian president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali were a hottopic in the corridors ofDavos.
Prince Turki al-Faisal, amember of Saudi Arabia's rul-ing family and former intelli-gence chief and ambassador toBritain and the United States,said he could not be sure ofMubarak's survival in power.
"In Egypt, I really can't saywhere this is going to go," hetold Reuters Insider. "Whetherthey can catch up as leaders towhat the population is aiming(for) is still to be seen."
Russian President DmitryMedvedev, who delayed hisdeparture for Davos after asuicide bombing on Mondaykilled at least 35 people atRussia's busiest airport, deliv-ers the opening speech later onWednesday.-Reuters
CautiousCEOs counting onBRICs for growth
He contended under the same provision, the executive weregiven the powers to utilize such natural reserves and deposits.
He said under the Mining Rules 1998, there were no provisionfor sale or transfer of ownership rights which had been witnessedin BPH and TCC case. To bench's query he replied that there wasdifference between the Mineral policy of 1998 and Mineral Rules2000. The Balochistan government had made relaxation in theRules for the BHP, a mining company, and about 13 exemptionswere made for the company to carry out work in the province.
Justice Khalil-ur Rehman Ramday reading out provisions ofRules 1998 said that the term relaxation indicated individual hard-ship and under special circumstances which should be recorded inwriting with terms and conditions. To bench's query the counselreplied that he did not know how the concerned authorities madesuch relaxations. Justice Muhammad Sair Ali observed that theremight be terms and conditions while in special circumstances, thejustifiable terms had to be made. -Agencies
Continued from page 1No #5
vulnerable and this kind of kicked the chair out from underthem," she said. Monsoon floods starting in late July last year dev-astated Pakistan. More than one-fifth of its territory was inundat-ed and 20 million people affected. Ten million were left homelessand nearly 2,000 people died. Six months later, many communi-ties in Sindh are still surrounded by floodwaters. In Sindh andBaluchistan, some 600,000 people are still living in temporarycamps, according to the World Food Programme. The UnitedNations appealed for $2 billion in emergency aid, but only 56 percent has been delivered, according to Oxfam. -Reuters
Continued from page 1No #6
Kardar said that the meeting was apprised of the details aboutloan write-off by the financial organizations.
"We provided two lists of loan write-off, the first list was from1971 to 2003 and the second was from 2003 to onward", headded. Kardar said that 95 per cent of total loan write-off consistsof small loans amounting to Rs0.5 million or less than 0.5 million.
He informed that out of the total write-off 48 per cent was madeby the foreign banks or financial organizations adding that thegovernment borrowing from SBP had reached Rs155 billion tillSeptember 2010. Talking on the occasion, Senator Ishaq Dar saidthat the government of Punjab has started to implement the poli-cy of economic reforms and merged the seven organizations tosave the national exchequer. The next meeting of theParliamentary Committee would be held on January 31 and thenon February 2, however the sub committees would continue theirdeliberations on different issues. -Online
Continued from page 1No #7
during December 2010 stood at Rs3143 per bag compared withRs2008 per bag during December 2009, an increase of 56.5 percent in YoY.
Continued from page 1No #8
meeting were Minister of State for Finance and EconomicAffairs, Hina Rabbani Khar, Governor of State Bank, DeputyChairman Planning Commission, Federal Secretaries of Finance,Economic Affairs Division, Revenue and Special Secretary. Andthe US Adviser was assisted by Robin Rafel and officials from theUS Embassy. -Agencies
Continued from page 1No #9
audit system, tax system in the country could not be improved.The minister said the government is taking all possible measures
to improve audit system. She said under the 18 amendment, tax onagricultural is subject of provincial government. The minister alsoinformed the house that Reformed General Sales Tax has nothingto do with income tax. -Online
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ascertain the probability that the merged entity in the post-merg-er market will behave competitively or cooperatively.
The Commission is also of the view that free trade ensures com-
Continued from page 1No #11
to delay the opening of the assembly by a month so a special poll court he set up could have moretime to investigate fraud in the Sept 18 election. Karzai, who has already accused Western powers ofmeddling in a fraud-ridden presidential poll that saw him re-elected in 2009, said foreign interferencein last year's parliamentary vote was one of the things that sullied the results.
"During the election process we faced serious problems in protecting people's votes, preventingfraud and from the interference of foreigners," Karzai said in his opening speech to members of theassembly shortly before they were sworn in. "We must 'Afghanise' government institutions and theelections. Undoubtedly, elections convened by the Afghans will be more transparent, less expensive,"he said. "I think what he meant is that he wants in the future to have much more involvement of theAfghans in their own elections and we agree," said Staffan de Mistura, the top envoy in Kabul.
"The special court is key. I think we can expect to see the president using what he says are legalpowers to try to remove some parliamentarians," said a senior Western diplomat.
"We are not over this. He will try to do something, if only to weaken legitimacy of parliament," thediplomat said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic. -Reuters
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petition, keeps competitive pressure on the local industry and protects consumers from possibleexploitation. The Commission issued its NOC for the proposed merger with the following conditionsimportantly requiring FFC to file its commitment within four weeks from the date of issuance of thisdecision to comply with all the conditions stipulated in the order, in letter and in spirit and the clear-ance/approval given by CCP shall only be deemed effective upon the filing of such commitments:
1- FFC shall maintain "tara" and "sona" brands separately for two years and there shall be aprice cap on the price increase of "tara" product by FFC for a period of one year (although with effi-ciencies claimed it is expected that the price for `tara' shall go down).
The maintenance of the two brands shall be subject to review after a period of one year or any time later butprior to two years; provided the market share of Urea acquired by FFC i.e., 6% drops from the existing mar-ket share through distribution or redistribution amongst existing and upcoming players in the fertilizer sector.
2- the FFC shall maintain transparency for any change in price in all its fertilizer products andshall for the period of three years intimate to theCommission any price escalation along with reasonsfor such price increase (if any) within seven days of such increase.
3- Subject to review of this decision as stipulated below, the Commission if deemed neces-sary may require FFC to divest a portion of shareholding in Hazara.
4- In terms of sub-section 11(b) of Section 11 this approval is subject to review within one yearunder sub-section 13 of the said section. For the purpose of review, the following shall be consideredas a yardstick which may include but shall not be limited to the monitoring of:unexplained escalationin price levels, tendency of price parallelism, changes in market share and levels of concentration,new investments made in Balancing Modernization Replacement of the target firm by the acquirerleading to enhancement of production capacity; and commitment to nondiscriminatory behavior.
The Bench has observed that while competition generally drives undertakings to achieve efficienciesinternally, the primary benefit of the mergers to the economy is their potential to produce substantialefficiencies by enhancing its ability and incentive to compete. Efficiency claim, however, should notbe vague or speculative and should be verifiable by reasonable means. Be it incremental cost reductionwhich may control the incentive to increase prices or leading to new and improved products or the abil-ity of merged firms to conduct research or development which may encourage innovation.
Kaira briefing the media about decisions said Optional Protocol would enable theGovernment to fulfill its national and international obligations regarding child rights. TheUnited Nations and the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) has also urged the memberstates to ratify the protocol, he added. The Cabinet ratified and accorded its approval for UNConvention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, he said, adding that being memberstates of UN, it is obligatory for all member states to sign and ratify the Convention providedthey have no reservations.
The Government of Pakistan signed this Convention on September 25, 2008 after approvalof the Cabinet, 147 member states have signed and 96 states have ratified this Convention.
The minister said that the Cabinet also ratified and gave its approval for signing of agree-ment between Government of Republic of Indonesia and Islamic Republic of Pakistan oncooperative activities in the field of defense.Cabinet accorded approval for initiation of nego-tiations to conclude an agreement between the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the Republicof Senegal for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion withrespect to taxes on income, he said.
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Volumes stayed marginally higher as 139.3 million shares traded during the day which is 2 mil-lion more as compared to137.3 million shares on Tuesday.
Lotte Pakistan stood as the volume leader with 47.53 million shares followed by Pace Pakistanwith 12.51 million shares and Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim with 7.93 million shares. Though, marketmanaged to close on a positive note but most of the stocks ended the session on negative side main-ly due to profit-taking at higher levels. Therefore out of total 394 active issues, share prices of 223declined, 144 appreciated, and 27 issues remained unchanged.
Continued from page 5No #14
The PHLX housing index .HGX advanced 1 per cent, with Hovnanian Enterprises Inc adding 3.1per cent to $4.60, and KB Home up 3.6 per cent to $15.80.-Reuters
Continued from page 5No #15
period last year mainly due to improved cash flows. The other operating income of the companysignificantly increased by 95.4 per cent YoY to Rs894 million against Rs457 million in the same lastyear owing to surplus cash flow available from operations.
Continued from page 5No #16
"Inflation fears in emerging markets are clearly one of the key concerns now weighing on shareprices. Falling commodities prices are making investors nervous about making large investments in riskassets," Okasan's Ishiguro said. Oil and gas exploration company Inpex fell 1.3 per cent to 519,000 yen.
Earnings were in focus with Komatsu Ltd initially climbing on a report that it is expected to postbetter-than-expected results for October-December. The Nikkei daily said it would likely log anoperating profit of about 220 billion yen ($2.7 billion) for the year to March 31, roughly triple itsprevious year's result.-Reuters
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appears to have subsided for now," Michael Hewson, market analyst at CMC Markets, said.Miners and energy companies were the standout performers on London's blue-chip index, climb-
ing on the back of the previous session's weakness along with metal and crude CLc1 prices.Chilean copper producer Antofagasta rose 3.3 per cent. Oil major BG Group added 3.4 per cent,
helped by its partner -- Brazil's state-run oil giant Petrobras -- announcing an oil find in the Santosbasin. BP fell 1.1 per cent, with traders citing rating downgrades from Societe Generale and CollinsStewart. "Capable crisis management reflected in recent strong outperformance -- which we use todowngrade to 'hold' on valuation grounds," SocGen said in a note.-Reuters
Printed & Published by Amir Abbas Ashary at DRC Printing Press for Data Research Communication (PVT) LTD, 111-C, Jami Commercial Phase VII, DHA Karachi.
JEDDAH: Former president Gen(Retd) Pervez Musharraf has said thata national government should beformed in Pakistan as that would be inthe best of national interest, addingthat he would definitely return toPakistan.
"I would definitely go to Pakistan.Right now I am heading my ownpolitical party and soon as it gainsground I would return and face thecourt cases", Musharraf said in aninterview with Arabian languagenewspaper Al-Sharq Al-Ausat.
He said that he left Pakistan as he
was facing life threats and due tojudges being political. He said that hefeared that baseless cases would befiled against him.
He said that he believes Pakistanneeds a national govt as that it wouldbe in the country's largest interest.
He said that his foes blame him forthe current economic woos in thecountry but even a blind man canjudge the difference between statisticsof today's economy and those of in histenure and can decide who is respon-sible for the economic degradation.
In response to a question he said that
he is willing to work with any party.Talking about drone attacks, he said
he never gave a go-ahead to the US tolaunch drone attacks in tribal areas.
"One can see that in my tenure onlynine drone attacks occurred while inthis govt tenure 150 drone attackshave occurred", the president said.
In response to a question he said thatUS can ever win the war in Afghanistan.Most of the Taliban are Pashtun and agovt of Pashtun should be formed but itis being headed by a Tajik minority andthis won't solve the problem.
See # 1 Page 11
Musharraf pitches fornat’l govt in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD: Deputy Chairman ofPlanning Commission Dr Nadeem-ulHaq on Wednesday stressed the needfor promoting private sector to accel-erate economic growth in the country.
"For high growth rate, we need topromote private sector entrepreneur-ship along with vibrant and globallyconnected communities," he saidwhile addressing the concluding ses-sion of a seminar on "Youth social andeconomic entrepreneurship."
The seminar was organized byUnited Nations DevelopmentProgramme (UNDP) and Center forPoverty Reduction and Social PolicyDevelopment (CPRSPD) here onWednesday afternoon.
US Coordinator for EconomicDevelopment to Pakistan RobinRapheal co-chaired the session.
Dr Nadeem-ul Haq expressed theneed for planning to actively promoteyouth development.
Citing an example, he said, "Poorquality of education in public schoolshas resulted in parallel education sys-tems, which are completely discon-nected from each other producing twodifferent sets of individuals: the so-called liberal elites on one hand and the
conservative masses on the other whoseemingly live on different planets."
Dr Nadeem-ul Haq said that the edu-cation and skill training systems areproducing individuals for elementaryskill job market.
He added that those who are consid-ered trained have mostly acquiredbasic or intermediary skills, which areeither least in demand or outmoded.
"Even some donor driven skill acquisi-tion programs are focusing on producingmore plumbers and electricians, but leastwe know about where and how this lowskilled labor force will be absorbed?Dubai has had its own bust, which was afamous destination for these least skilledworkers', he remarked.
The Centre for Poverty Reduction andSocial Policy Development (CPRSPD)held a Roundtable on "YouthDevelopment and Economic Growth" onJanuary 25 at the Planning Commission.
The roundtable brought togetherprominent leaders working for youthdevelopment, young entrepreneurs anda handful of donors from across thecountry to promote youth developmentin Pakistan with active involvement ofboth private and the public sector.
See # 2 Page 11
Plan Comm termsprivate sector aseconomy-mover
Pir Karambecomes GB
GovernorISLAMABAD: Pakistan PeoplesParty leader Pir Karam Ali Shahhas been appointed new governorof Gilgit-Baltistan (GB).
He has been appointed as GBgovernor by President Asif AliZardari on the advice of PrimeMinister Yousuf Raza Gilani.
Karam Ali Shah is popularpolitical personality of north-ern areas. He was elected ascouncil member of northernareas in 1977 and he is nowmember of legislative assembly.
Pir Karam Ali Shah has beenappointed GB Governor afterthe demise of former governorShama Khalid.
Yet anothercorrupt
appointeeISLAMABAD: Government hasappointed Shahid Sattar as advi-sor to ministry of water andpower who is only matriculateand is not only allegedly involvedin several corruption cases butwas also dismissed from serviceas advisor to water and powerministry in 1998 under the ordersof the then prime minister.
According to a private TVchannel three different caseswere registered against ShahidSattar in two police stations offederal capital under the chargesof forgery and corruption.
First case was registered withsecretariat police and he wascharged with misusing his pow-ers and committing corruption,corrupt practices and forgerywhile being the president ofOrion Petroleum International.
Second corruption case wasregistered by secretary petrole-um GS Sabri in 2002 withKohsar police.
Third case was also registeredwith Kohsar Police where ShahidSattar was alleged of spendingillegally over 700,000 rupeesbeing as advisor to Wapda.
See # 4 Page 11
LONDON: The two suicidebombers who carried out theMoscow attack were thought to bepart of a suicide squad trained inPakistan's al Qaeda strongholds andsent to the capital to target the city'stransport system, reported TheTelegraph.
Russian security services warnedin December that there were twoattack teams primed to carry outattacks, sparking fears there couldstill be terrorists at large who wereprepared to carry out another attack.
Intelligence sources said that thesquads had established a base, at ahouse in Moscow, where the suicidebelts to be used in attacks, wereassembled.
Russian security sources saidTuesday that a male and female sui-cide bomber from the Black Widowbrigades had carried out the bomb-ing together. The attack had beenclosely supervised by three accom-plices, who had watched from a dis-tance and are now being sought bythe authorities.
A Russian security official said thebomb that ripped through Moscow'sDomodedovo airport was carried by awoman who mingled in the crowd atarrivals. She then either set the bomboff herself or someone else detonatedit using a remote-control device.
An eyewitness said the womanhad been dressed in black and hadworn a veil, suggesting she may
have been a 'Black Widow' suicidebomber from the North Caucasusregion out to revenge the killing ofher husband by Russian securityforces.
"The explosion occurred themoment the presumed female sui-cide bomber opened her bag," thesecurity source told the RIA Novostinews agency.
"The terrorist was accompanied bya man. He was standing beside herand the blast tore off his head."
Intelligence services have beenembarrassed by the revelation thatinformants had warned of an attackon an airport in the Russian capitaljust weeks before the incident.
See # 3 Page 11
Bomber indoctrinatedin Pak, blames Moscow
WASHINGTON: PresidentBarack Obama Wednesday saidal Qaeda and its affiliates contin-ue to plan attack against theUnited States even as he said thatOsama bin Laden-led outfit isunder pressure in Pakistan.
"As we speak, al Qaeda andtheir affiliates continue to planattacks against us, thanks to ourintelligence and law enforcementprofessionals, we are disruptingplots and securing our cities andskies," Obama said in his State ofthe Union Address before a joint
session of the US Congress."As extremists try to inspire
acts of violence within our bor-ders, we are responding with thestrength of our communities,with respect for the rule of law,and with the conviction thatAmerican Muslims are a part ofour American family," said theUS President.
Reiterating that the al Qaedaleadership in Pakistan is undermore pressure than at any pointsince 2001, he said his adminis-tration is determined to defeat
the terrorist outfit."In Pakistan, al Qaeda's leader-
ship is under more pressure thanat any point since 2001.Theirleaders and operatives are beingremoved from the battlefield.Their safe-havens are shrinking,"Obama said.
"We have sent a message fromthe Afghan border to the ArabianPeninsula to all parts of theglobe: We will not relent, we willnot waver, and we will defeatyou," the US President said. -Online
US says Qaedaunder immensepressure in Pak
QUETTA: Iranian authorities haveopened the mutual trade gate Zero-Point situated at Pak-Iran borderafter about 6 months for trade hereonWednesday.
Iranian authorities after a suicideattack, in a mosque of provincialcapital Zahedan of Iranian provinceSeestan that had left dozens injuredand killed several, closed up thetrade gate, Zero-Point, for all typesof trades on 15th of July, 2010.
The closure of the trade gate creat-
ed great problems for the people liv-ing on both sides of the border.
It has suspended the supply of eat-able items as well. The closure notonly affected the people living onboth sides of the border but alsohung up the source of livelihood ofthe individuals related to the Zero-Point.
Iranian authorities have openedZero-Point for all kinds of tradeswhich has jubilated the residents ofthe area. -Online
Pak-Iran tradegate reopened
Former president talks with ME newspaper
Congress Joint Session
Terrorists continue to plan attacks: Obama
ISLAMABAD: President Zardari chairing a presentation on “over all review of agricultural research activities with
emphasis on cotton and wheat” given by Pakistan Agricluture Research Council (PARC) at the Aiwan-e-Sadr.-APP
