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BAJAUR: Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani meeting with tribal elders during his visit to the area onFriday. (Strory on Back Page)

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Punjab cabinet briefed on guidelines for budget

Financial position ofPunjab province strongSALIM AHMED

LAHORE—A meeting of pro-vincial caretaker cabinet washeld at Chief Minister’s Secre-tariat here today, under the chair-manship of Punjab Chief Min-ister Najam Sethi.

The meeting was attendedby Provincial Home MinisterTariq Pervaiz, Provincial LawMinister Shams MehmoodMirza, Provincial Health Min-ister Salima Hashmi, ProvincialMinister for Energy and Trans-port Arif Ijaz, Minister for Ag-riculture and Food QaiserZulfiqar Ali Khan, Minister forHuman Rights and Minorities

Affairs Jamshed Rehmat Ullah,Chief Secretary Punjab JavedIqbal, Secretary Finance TariqBajwa, Secretary Law Abu-al-Hassan Najmi, Secretary Infor-mation Amjad Hussain and sec-retaries of other departments aswell as concerned officers. Dur-ing the meeting, caretaker Punjabcabinet was given detailed brief-ing on guidelines for budget 2013-14. The cabinet was informedabout strong financial position ofthe province.

The caretaker Punjab cabinetexpressed satisfaction over therobust financial position of theprovince, and reviewed budgetguidelines in detail.

Addressing the meeting,Punjab Chief Minister NajamSethi said that the provincial care-taker government is reviewing theoutlines of the budget 2013-14, forthe next fiscal year, in the light ofwhich the coming budget wouldbe prepared. He said all resourcesare the trust of the nation, whichwill only be spent upon theprogress, prosperity and wellbeingof the people. He stressed that thedevelopment work on ongoingprojects would continue.

Secretary Finance PunjabTariq Bajwa apprised the cabi-net about outlines of the nextfiscal year’s budget and finan-cial position of the province.

Tribunals rejectobjections against

Nawaz, QaimLAHORE—The election tribu-nal has dismissed the petitionsfiled against the nomination pa-pers of PML-N chief NawazSharif from NA-120. TheSukkur tribunal has also rejectedthe objections raised againstQaim Ali Shah and Agha SirajDurrani.

The Lahore High Court’selection tribunal resumed hear-ing of the different petitionsagainst the nomination papers of

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FIA seizes CNGlicenses’ recordon SC ordersISLAMABAD—The FederalInvestigation Agency (FIA)Friday raided office of the Oiland Gas Regulatory Authority(OGRA) and seized record ofCNG licenses on SupremeCourt’s orders.

The Supreme Court issuedorders, during hearing of the il-legal CNG licenses’ issuancecase, to the FIA to seize all

Egypt armychief warnsagainstslandering milyCAIRO —With the IslamistPresident by his side, Egypt’sarmy chief warned againstslandering the military,denying in remarks broadcastFriday that the militarycommitted any abuses againstprotesters during the turbulenttransition of the past twoyears.

Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-SissiContinued on Page 6

ISLAMABAD—Former Paki-stani President PervezMusharraf acknowledged hisgovernment secretly signed offon U.S. drone strikes, the firsttime a top past or present Paki-stani official has admitted pub-licly to such a deal.

Pakistani leaders long haveopenly challenged the droneprogram and insisted they hadno part in it.

Musharraf ’s admission,though, suggests he and othersdid play some role, even if theydidn’t oversee the program orapprove every attack. In an in-terview with CNN this week inIslamabad, Musharraf insistedPakistan’s government signedoff on strikes “only on a few oc-casions, when a target was ab-solutely isolated and no chanceof collateral damage.”

Still, his admission that Pa-kistani leaders agreed to even alimited number of strikes runscounter to their repeated denun-ciations of a program they longclaimed the United States wasoperating without their ap-proval.

The drone strikes, which thenonpartisan public policy groupNew American Foundation es-timates have killed at least 1,990people in Pakistan, includinghundreds of civilians, are un-

popular in Pakistan.“Today, the world super-

power is having its own way,without any consent from Paki-stan,” former Interior MinisterRehman Malik said last month.Despite such pronouncements,there’s been speculation that thestory might have been differentbehind the scenes.

In a cable sent in August2008 and later posted online byWikileaks, then-U.S. Ambassa-dor to Pakistan Anne Pattersonmentioned a discussion aboutdrones during a meeting thatalso involved Malik and then-Prime Minister Yousuf RazaGilani.

“Malik suggested we holdoff alleged Predator attacks un-til after the Bajaur operation,”Patterson wrote. “The PM brushed asideRehman’s remarks and said, ‘Idon’t care if they do it as longas they get the right people.We’ll protest in the National As-sembly and then ignore it.’

“ Unmanned U.S. drones

Musharraf admitssecret deal with US

on drone strikes

Continued on Page 6

US to end Pakcounterinsurgency

capability fundWASHINGTON—United Stateshas decided to carry off a keyallocation under what was calledPakistan CounterinsurgencyCapability fund while helping inthe modernization of securityforces.

According to the daily Pio-neer newspaper, Pakistan hadbeen given 800.5 million dollarsby American foreign office un-der counterinsurgency capabili-ties fund in year 2013.

The aim of the fund was toenhance the capabilities ofPakistan’s military in countering

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ISLAMABAD—Supreme Court(SC) has declared appointmentof chairman Securities and Ex-change Commission of Pakistan(SECP) null and void.

A two members bench of SCpresided over by the JusticeJawwad S Khawaja announcedthis verdict on Friday.

Counsels for the petitionersand SECP completed their argu-ments earlier and the court hadreserved its judgment.

The court has maintained inits verdict that rules and regula-tions were not adhered to in theappointment of Chairman SECP

Courts show door to SECPChairman, MDs of PTV, USC

and clause 5 of SECP rules is inconflict with law and constitu-tion. Chairman SECP post wasnot advertised too, court ruled.

Meanwhile, the IslamabadHigh Court (IHC) on Friday dis-missed Pakistan’s statetelevision’s managing director(MD) Yousaf Baig Mirza.

Justice Shoukat AzizSiddiqui hearing former MD ofPakistan Television (PTV)Ashraf Azeem’s petition, chal-lenging the appointment ofYousaf Baig Mirza, dismissedthe incumbent MD and ap-pointed Engineer Mustafa

Kamal Kazi as an interim headof the state television.

The court also ordered thegovernment to appoint a newMD on merit within 30 days.

On the other hand,The Islamabad High Court

(IHC) on Friday upheld the fed-eral government’s decision ofsacking Utility Stores Corpora-tion Managing Director MajGen (Retd)) Farooq.

The court also ordered theMinistry of Industries secretaryto assign a senior officer to look

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AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—The challenges ofmanaging the balance of pay-ment position as well as to con-tain the possible increase in in-flation were the factors behindkeeping the policy rate un-

Debt payments depleteforex reserves

Monetary policy keeps rate unchanged at 9.5pcchanged at 9.5 percent despitesoftening of year on year (YoY)rate of inflation by the Statebank of Pakistan’s in its Mon-etary policy review here today.

According to policy review,SBP’s foreign exchange re-serves have declined by another

$2 billion; from 8.7 billion atend-January 2013 to $6.7 billionas of 5th April 2013, mainly dueto debt payments.

On the back of the prevail-ing situation the State Bank of

Additionalsecurity to Sharifs

withdrawnI S L A M A B A D — E l e c t i o nCommssion (EC) has ordered towithdraw additional security toPakistan Muslim League Nawaz(PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharifand former CM Punjab ShahbazSharif, on Friday.

The EC has directed thegovernment to withdraw the ad-ditional security and submit re-port about it. It also told to pro-vide them security according tothe law.—INP

OUR CORRESPONDENT

HAFIZABAD—Old workersof PML-N have appealed toMian Muhammad NawazSharif to award party ticketfor PP-105 to old, loyal andsincere worker instead ofnew comer in the party.Scores of old and die-hardworkers, with the conditionof anonymity, said thatsome of the local leaders ofPML-N were hatching con-spiracy to award party ticketto an old PPP worker, whohas recently joined theparty, instead of old andloyal worker, Rana SaleemShakir Advocate, PresidentMuslim League LawyersForum, who actively partici-pated in the movement for

the restoration and indepen-dence of judiciary and con-tested 2008 election on partyticket. They said not onlySaleem Shakir remained loyalto the party but his father andhis large biradari always sup-ported the PML-N leadersand actively participated inevery movement launchedby the PML-N. They saidthat it would be grave injus-tice if old and committedworker like Shakir was ig-nored while awarding partyticket for PP-105.

*****Taking serious notice of

the complaints regarding themosquitoes, DCO Capt (R)Muhammad Zafar Iqbal hasdirected the TMAs andHealth Department to take

concrete measures to elimi-nate mosquitoes and flies toprevent dengue fever andbreak out of diseases. Hesaid that in the first phasespray of at least two hun-dred houses should besprayed in every unioncouncil in urban and ruralareas. He also directed theEDO to establish specialwards and counters in THQand DHQ Hospitals for di-agnosing and treatment ofdengue fever.

Entomologist FatimaHaq gave detailed briefingregarding the symptom andmedical treatment of denguefever and added that den-gue fever is curable. Shefurther told the meeting thatso far no case of dengue

fever has been reported inthe district. Prominentamong those who attendedthe meeting included EDOHealth Dr. Farooq AzamTarar, Assistant Commis-sioner Muhammad Yasir,ADC Sohail Ahmad Khanand Focal Person DengueDr. Javed Akhtar Padhiyar.

*****Kissan Board Hafizabad

has appealed to the provin-cial government to ensure theprocurement of wheat byApril 16 to save the growersfrom the fleecing by themiddlemen. At a meeting ofthe District Kissan Boardchaired by Aman UllahChatha, it was disclosed thatwheat harvesting has beenstarted on war footing and so

far food department orPASSCO has not yet ar-ranged the supply of‘bardana’ (empty sack). Themeeting has demanded startof procurement drive at anearliest.

*****A middle-aged villager

was crushed to death by arecklessly driven tractor-trol-ley on Kassoki RoadHafizabad. According to po-lice source, Taj Din alias Tajawas on way to his village onhis bike when a carelesslydriven tractor-trolley com-ing from opposite directionhit his bike. He was rushedto the hospital but could notsurvive. The police are in-vestigating.

140 polling stationssensitive in Kasur

WAQAS ASHRAF

KASUR—One hundred andforty polling station havebeen declared sensitive inDistrict Kasur and ElectionCommission would deployextra force for the security ofthese polling stations. Dis-trict Election CommissionerTahir Mansoor Khan told thejournalists that 140 pollingstations have been identifiedsensitive and three are moresensitive where the CCTVcameras would be installed inorder to hold fair and freeelection in the district.

He said that other lawenforcement agencies wouldalso be asked for the secu-rity of these sensitive poll-ing stations. He added thatthe presiding officer wouldbe provided the contactnumbers of District Return-ing Officer for any kind ofhelp during the polling. TahirMansoor said all theresorces would be utilised inorder to hold fair and freeelections in the district.

PaRRSA toconstruct

schools, watersupply schemes

SWAT—Provincial Recon-struction Rehabilitation andSettlement Authority(PaRRSA) will reconstructtwo more schools besides re-constructing 10 clean Drink-ing Water Supply Schemes inDistrict Swat. A spokesmanfor the authority told APP thatPaRRSA will also reconstructthe boundary walls of Excel-sior College Swat with the fi-nancial support of USAID.Approvals for these schemeswere granted in District Re-construction and Rehabilita-tion Committee (DRRC) Meet-ing held in Swat with KamranRehman, Deputy Commis-sioner Swat in the chair.Shakeel Iqbal Program Man-ager, PaRRSA and represen-tatives from PaRRSA, C&WDepartment, Education De-partment and other line de-partments were present in themeeting.—APP

AJK TBBreplaces

old syllabiMIRPUR—The AJK TextBook Board (TBB) replacedthe old syllabus and intro-duced new syllabus for sec-ondary and higher second-ary classes here on Friday.The Official Sources toldAPP that the Secretary Edu-cation AJK ordered to revisethe old syllabus under thespirit to ensure the dispen-sation of quality educationcompatible to the needs ofmodern age.

Formal official circular tothis effect has been issuedby the government, thesources revealed. The AJKTBB has published the newbooks according to thenewly-introduced syllabus.A spokesman of the AJKTBB said that the Board wasmeant only to introduce andmonitor the observance ofthe syllabus by the educa-tional institutions.— APP

GUL HAMAAD FAROOQI

CHITRAL—Elders ofKalash community fromthree valleys protested anddemanded of Chief ElectionCommission to give themtheir constitutional rights oftheir candidate as per con-stitution of 1973. Address-ing a news conference WazirZada, Luk Rehmat, UnatBaig and others said thatKalash is a unique nation inthe world and have regis-tered with United Nation asindigenous people. Theysaid that according to con-stitution of 1973 they hadtheir own candidate fromscheduled castes includingSikh, Hindu, Farsi, Bhai and

Kalash and after electiontheir candidates may joinany ruling party approach-ing them to join and as a re-sult they get benefit for theircommunity.

They said that there is nocolumn of Kalash commu-nity in NADRA national iden-tity card form. They said thatGovernment of Pakistan issignatory of UN Resolutionof indigenous people andbound to protect rights ofminorities but unfortunatelywe were deprived from ourgenuine right. They urged onrestoration of articles of mi-norities in 1973 constitution.They announced of boycottfrom upcoming general elec-tion 2013 and said that no

Kalash will cast their voteuntil fulfillment of their genu-ine demand of giving themright of contesting electionon minorities seat.

They warned that if theywere not given right of con-testing election as minoritycandidate they will also re-turned their national identitycards to NADRA. They saidthat Shazada Khan Kalashhas contested twice in 1993and 1997 as minority candi-date but after that they weredeprived from their right byformer president ParvezMusharaf. They demandedfor restoration of constitu-tion of 1973 by giving themright of contesting electionas minority candidate.

Constitutional right of minority candidates

Kalash communitywarns of polls boycott

STAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—In view of thegrowing relations betweenthe Government of Pakistanand Malaysia and to pro-mote academic cooperationbetween the educational in-stitutions of both the coun-tries, University of Peshawarand Universiti Sains, Penangagreed to carry out joint ar-chaeological research in Pa-kistan and Malaysia. The aimof the linkage would be to

expand scholarly ties, facili-tate academic cooperationand to promote mutual un-derstanding. A formal Memo-randum of Agreement wassigned in this regard by Prof.Dr. Muhammad Rasul Jan,Vice-Chancellor Universityof Peshawar and Prof. AhmadShukri Mustapa Kamal, act-ing Vice-ChancellorUniversiti Sains Malaysia.

The MoA signing cer-emony took place during thevisit of Vice Chancellor to Ma-

laysia. Prof. Dr. M. Nasim Khan,Director Institute of Archaeol-ogy and Social Anthropology,University of Peshawar andProf. Dr. Mohd Mokhtar Saidin,Director Centre for Global Ar-chaeological Research, Uni-versity Sains Malaysia, werealso present on the occasion.

Under the agreement theInstitute of Archaeology andSocial Anthropology (UoP)and the Centre for Global Ar-chaeological ResearchUniversiti Sains Malaysia

(USM) will jointly conduct ar-chaeological exploration andexcavation in the Gandhara re-gion of Pakistan and theBujang Valley in Malaysia. Thecollaboration is believed to bethe first between both univer-sities. The aim of the joint ac-tivities will be to share exper-tise, students’ exchanges andfaculty for research, trainingand lectures, seminars, confer-ences and discussions thatwill mutually benefit both theinstitutions.

The joint venture programwill start this year. The Ma-laysian team to be headed byProf. Dr. Mohd MokhtarSaidin will arrive in June tojointly survey and excavatethe earliest Shaiva shrine atKashmir Smast (Mardan) andthe Buddhist site of Aziz Dheri(Swabi). Reciprocally, Prof.Dr.M.Nasim Khan with hisstudent will visit Malaysia toconduct excavation of SungaiBatu, Bujang Valley site inKedah state of Malaysia.

While explaining the his-torical significance of theGandhara region after theMoA signing ceremony, theVice-chancellor University ofPeshawar, Prof. Dr. Rasul Janhighlighted that the regionis extremely rich in archaeo-logical heritage.

HYDERABAD: A gypsy girl learning the sewing skill at atraining centre organized by SPARC as part of April 12observed as International Day of Street Children.

Nawaz urged to give tickets to loyal party adherentsHospitals to have special wards, counters to treat dengue patients

STAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—Despite havingmeager resources and staff,the Bomb Disposal Unit(BDU) of KhyberPakhtunkhwa has savedthousands of precious livesof innocent people by defus-ing 5000 bombs in the lastfour and a half years in KPand FATA. “We are workingwith the objective of `Safe theHumanity” and for attain-ment of this goal will continueto serve the masses by fac-ing the dangers of defusingdeadly bombs”, remarked

AIG Shafqat Malik, InchargeBDU KP. Talking to reportershere on Friday, Safqat Maliksaid the staffers of BDU aredoing a very remarkable jobby putting their lives in seri-ous danger for the sake ofsaving other fellow humansfrom death and destruction.

The defused 5000 bombswere planted by terrorists forattainment of their nefariousdesigns and among themaround 20 to 25 were of highintensity like car bombs. Thejob of bomb disposal unitneeds extra ordinary braveryand determination because

dismantling an explosive de-vice is like playing with death.We have lost our few col-leagues who sacrificed theirlives while performing duty ofsaving humanity. ShafqatMalik said in 2009 when heassumed the charge, the BDUwas having very limited facili-ties and equipment. The staff-ers were also very demoral-ized due to assassination oftheir four colleagues in Swatin 2008 by terrorists. However,Shafqat continued, he ac-cepted the responsibility aschallenge and resumed job.

With having a very lim-

ited strength of only 135 per-sons, the BDU is doing itsjob in the whole of KP fromTank to Swat and Torghar,Shafqat Malik informed. Hesaid out of 135 personnelonly 40 are regular while re-maining working on contractbasis on insufficient perksand privileges. Apart fromconcentrating on the job ofbomb disposal, Shafqat saidhe also have to do investiga-tion of bomb explosion, regu-lar inspection of offices ofVVIPs, forensic study of ex-plosives used in terrorismactivity and operation duty.

He disclosed that since2009, he has given legal opin-ion in 3000 incidents of ter-rorism in the province andother parts of the country.Presently in KP there is noproper forensic laboratory toproperly investigate explo-sive device used by terror-ists. The legal opinion, he isgiving is on the basis of hisexperience, he added.Shafqat Malik, who served asArmament Technical Officerin Pak-Army, said he also in-vestigated high profile casesof terrorism like bomb attackon Benazir Bhutto.

LARKANA: Students of Government St Joseph High School solving the question paperduring annual examination.

HASANABDAL: Gurdwara Panja Sahib has been specially decorated for Baisakhi celebrations.

QUETTA—Heavy weightpolitician of Balochistan, MirJan Mohammad Jamali hasannounced to join PakistanMuslim League Nawaz(PML-N) here on Friday. Hemade the announcement dur-ing a press conference at hisresidence in the provincialcapital. PML-N Balochistanchief, Nawab SanaullahZehri, Lieutenant General re-tired and former MNA,Abdul Qadir Baloch andformer provincial minister,Mir Faeq Jamali were alsopresent.

Jan linked the future ofBalochistan with the parlia-mentary system and vowed tounite all factions of Muslimleagues at one platform tostrengthen democracy in thecountry.” Balochistan is pass-ing through the critical junc-ture of hour and drastic mea-sures are required to end law-lessness and bring normalcyin the province,” he stressed.He alleged that issue ofBalochistan did not find dueattention in the previous re-gimes which made situationmore complex rather bringingimprovements.

PML-N is the party whichhas ability to remove thesense of deprivation prevail-ing among the people ofBalochistan. Former leader of

Pakistan Muslim LeagueQuaid, Mir Jan Jamali had re-mained Deputy ChairmanSenate from March 2006 to2012. Former UC-Nazims del-egation joins PML-N: A del-egation of former UC-NazimsLahore Thursday joined

PML-N after a meeting withformer chief minister PunjabShahbaz Sharif at PML-NCentral Secretariat. Accord-ing to a spokesman of PML-N, a UC-Nazim delegation ledby Rana Musheer Iqbal andTalha Barki included formerUC-142 Nazim Tariq Javedand UC-64 former NazimMalik Rehmat met formerchief minister and joinedPML-N. The former UC-Nazims appreciated PML-N’spolicies for the welfare ofpeople.—APP

Jan Jamali joins PML-NPak, Malaysia work on archaeological research

STAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—The govern-ment of Khyber Pakhtunkhwain the Home and Tribal AffairsDepartment has conveyed acommuniqué of the FederalGovernment regarding protec-tion against harassment of

women at their workplaces toall the 25 deputy commission-ers in the province and issuednecessary instructions in thisregard to them.

A press release of the de-partment said the salient fea-tures of these directions areathat the deputy commissioners

are required to constitute threemembers committee of crediblepersons, with at least onewoman member to address thecomplaints of harassment as perlaw, as and when received toensure that justice is doneswiftly and retaliation againstthe complainants is curbed.

It was further directedthat adopting code of con-duct prescribed in the law anddisplaying copies of the codeof conduct in English as wellas in languages understood.

Women protection fromharassment to be ensurd

5000 bombs defused since 2009, thousands lives saved

Khattak for actionagainst illegal

NGOs, schools,hostels

STAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—Caretaker Pro-vincial Minister for LocalGovernment, Finance andPlanning and DevelopmentAbdul Rauf Khattak Fridaysought strict action againstillegal educational institutes,NGOs, hostels and offices.During a briefing at PeshawarDevelopment Authority(PDA) office here, the Min-ister asked the authority tochalk out comprehensivestrategy to complete all de-velopmental schemes withinstipulated timeframe and withquality of work.

He further advised theauthority to shift commercialactivities from residential ar-eas to commercial areas forthe convenience of themasses. The Minister also di-rected the officials concernedto strict prohibit constructionof buildings in parks and onfootpaths. Earlier, SecretaryLocal Government Syed SaadBadshah Bukhari, DirectorGeneral PDA Salim Khanbriefed the Minister regardingvarious developmentalschemes and commercial ac-tivities in the city.

VC calls on Health MinisterStaff Reporter

PESHAWAR—Vice Chancellor Univer-sity of Engineering & TechnologyPeshawar (UET) Syed Imtiaz HussainGilani Friday called on Caretaker Minis-ter for Health & Higher Education DrFarukh Sair and briefed him about mat-ters pertaining to the university. ImtiazHussain Gillani informed the Ministerabout shifting of UET Campus to Jalozaiarea in Pabbi. He suggested that cul-tural heritage of the province should be

preserved and kept in mind in the designing of new build-ings. Dr Farukh Sair said that Engineering University wasplaying active part in promotion of different departmentsof engineering and its students are recognized around theworld due to their extra ordinary capabilities. He appreci-ated shifting of UET to Jalozai saying that it was timelyand correct decision and would enable the students to geteducation in better environment. Provincial Minister saidthat provision of quality education to the students is theresponsibility of the government. He assured all out sup-port to the vice-chancellor and appreciated his efforts forthe development of the engineering sector. KIU observesPeace & Cleanliness Day: Krakruam International Univer-sity (KIU) observed here Thursday “ Peace and Cleanli-ness Day” which was inaugurated by the Vice ChancellorDr.Najma Najam. All faculty and management members ofthe university were suited in white dress as the vice chan-cellor stressed the need for the durable peace and cleanenvironment for a healthy society. The VC said the peace-ful atmosphere in the university would be example for therest of region and she said extra curriculum activities arebeing planned and executed so that the talent of the stu-dents can be explored.

PTI giving 25pc tickets to youthMULTAN—Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf(PTI) Vice Chairman Makhdoom ShahMehmood Qureshi has said that 90 per-cent of the country’s young generationhas joined the PTI and the party is giv-ing 25 percent tickets to youth for up-coming general elections 2013. Address-ing a corner meeting to NA-150constituency’s traders at Shah Rukn-e-Alam Colony here on Friday, he saidthat 90 percent of Pakistani youth in

foreign countries had also joined the PTI. Shah Mehmoodsaid the PTI wanted to introduce new faces, talented, edu-cated and honest youth and termed youth as future lead-ership of the country. He said the PTI was an ideologicalparty and can bring about change in the country. Patron ofAnjuman Tajran D-Market Shah Rukn-e-Alam MalikGhulam Hussain, president Israrul Haq Dogar and othersalso spoke on the occasion and promised to supportMakhdoom Shah Mehmood. Meanwhile, Makhdoom ShahMehmood Qureshi also visited residence of former UCNazim Shabbir Ansari. Former UC Nazim Sheikh Suhail Sajid,and ex-councillors including Haji Yaqub, Haji Ramzan,Sarfraz Bhutta, Ishtiaq Bhatti, Munir Butt, Sajawal Khan,Nasir Bhutta, Aftab Jatt, Abdul Shakoor, Majid Bhutta,Tanweer Rajpoot, and Ammar Masud announced to joinPTI. Seraiki Province Movement (SPM) Pakistan, presi-dent Mumtaz Hussain Jai said that SPM is taking part ingeneral elections. Addressing a press conference here hesaid that all Pakistan Seraiki conference would also be calledsoon. He said that the candidates having SPM tickets werecontesting general elections. Ahmad Kamran Thaheem iscontesting election from party plateform from NA 149, MalikAllah Nawaz Wains from NA 152, Sardar Rafiq Sanjranifrom NA 173, Khalid Ali Jai from PP 203, Allah Nawaz Wainsffrom PP 204.—APP

PPP created employment opportunitiesStaff Reporter

PESHAWAR—Pakistan People Party(PPP) candidate from PK-2, Syed ZahirAli Shah Friday said his party has cre-ated jobs opportunities for youth dur-ing its rule and will create two millionmore jobs for our countrymen if votedto power in 2013 general elections. Heexpressed these views while address-ing different public meetings atShaheedabad, Phandu Road. PPP can-didate NA-4, Misbahuddin, former UC

nazim, Himayat Khan, Gul Zaman, Haji Inzer, Chinar Khan,Alamzeb Khan and others were also present on the occa-sion. Syed Zahir Ali Shah said that the election manifestopresented by PPP has solution to all problems and theprevious government of PPP had served the people throughBenazir Income Support Programme (BISP) and otherpeople-friendly initiatives. The PPP leader said that thepeople of Peshawar have golden opportunity on May 11,2013 to avenge injustices met out to them and reject theopportunists’ politicians in upcoming general elections.TESCO power breakdown notice: Due to some necessarywork at 66KV Tank Jandola section Breaker, power supplywill remain suspended from 08:00 AM to 07:00 PM on 14thApril ( Sunday ) till 20th April ( Saturday ) for improvementof the system. According to a press release of TESCOissued here Friday, areas connected with 66 KV Grid Sta-tions Jandola and Wana will be affected due to this work.The company regrets the inconvenience to be faced byconsumers due to unavoidable maintenance work. Thecompany has asked the consumers to utilize electricityonly for lighting purpose in order to avoid load manage-ment and low voltage problems. Meanwhile, relatives ofmissing people belonging to Swat Valley on Thursdaystaged a protest in front of press club for early recovery oftheir dear ones.

PPP will sweep pollsUMERKOT—Former Federal Ministerand candidate of Pakistan People’sParty on NA 228 Nawab Yousuf Talpurhas said that his party will sweep theelection on basis of five year perfor-mance. Addressing a corner meeting,along with Nawab Taimoor Talpur, atBismillah Town Kunri on Thursday, hesaid that PPP had left no stoneunturned to serve the people and theynot only initiated record development

schemes but also created enormous employment oppor-tunities. He said that to meet the demand of irrigationwater in the area rupees 65 million were spent on desiltingof Nabi Sar canal but now irrigation officials want to con-struct 4 water courses on Nabi Sar canal illegally that iscreating law and order situation in the area. He warnedthat affected farmers would protest and stahe sit in infront of irrigation office if these illegal activities are notstopped. 239 Polling stations declared sensitive: As manyas 239 polling stations in Bahawalpur Division here Fri-day were declared sensitive. According to details, Com-missioner Bahawalpur Division Hamid Yaqoob Sheikhwhile presiding over a meeting told that special securityarrangements would be made for these polling stations.Contingents of Pakistan Army and Rangers would bepresent at these polling stations besides close circuitcameras for monitoring. He said that total of 3749 pollingstations have been set up in the division for elections of15 National and 31 Provincial Assembly seats.—APP

LOWER DIR: Operational Commander, Col Kamran Aslam giving away prize to a positionholder student during annual prize distribution ceremony at Govt Primary School Maidan.

MIRPUR: AJK Prime Minister, Ch Abdul Majid offering Dua after inaugurating ArmyPublic School, Sahar.

CHAMAN: Trucks loaded with flour and fertilizer bags moving towards Afghanistan from Pakistan across Pak-Afghan border.

ISLAMABAD—A new weathersystem will enter in upperparts of the country fromMonday night and causenormal rains at different partsof the country on Tuesdayand Wednesday. An officialof Pakistan MeteorologicalDepartment (PMD) on Fridaytold APP that under thisweather system, rain is likelyat different parts includingRawalpindi, Gujranwala,Lahore, Kohat, Attock andPeshawar. However, theweather will remain cloudy atBannu, Sargodha and someother areas.

The official said dryweather will prevail acrossthe country during the nexttwo days. Mainly dryweather will prevail inPunjab, Islamabad, KhyberPakhtunkhwa, Sindh,Baluchistan, Kashmir andGilgit-Baltistan during thenext two days. According tothe synoptic situation, con-tinental air is prevailingover most parts of the coun-try.

The weather will remaincloudy in the upper parts ofthe country in evening timewhile the temperatures willslightly increase in thesouthern parts of the coun-try during the next two days.The highest maximum tem-peratures recorded duringthe last 24 hours were Chhor39C, Mirpurkhas and Mithi37C, Dadu, Badin and Rohri36C.

The maximum tempera-

tures recorded during thelast 24 hours in the main cit-ies were Islamabad 30C,Lahore 35C, Karachi 34C,Peshawar 32C, Quetta 23C,Skardu 20C, Murree 19C,Muzaffarabad 32C, Gilgit27C, Faisalabad 34C, Multan33C and Hyderabad 35C.The pollen count inIslamabad 629 per cubicmeter. The Multan Met of-

fice has forecast partlycloudy weather withchances of dust raisingwinds for the city and itssuburbs during the next 24hours. On Friday, maximumand minimum temperaturewas recorded as 35.2 and20.6 degree centigrade re-spectively.

Humidity was recordedas 68 percent at 8 am and 26percent at 5 pm. TheKarachi Met Office has fore-cast a fair/partly cloudyweather in the metropolisover the next 24 hours. Itsaid rain/ thunderstorm islikely to occur at isolatedplaces in NortheastBalochistan, at one or twoplaces in upper Sindh. Hotand dry weather is expectedelsewhere in the region, theweather forecast said.—APP

M HALEEM ASAD

TIMERGARA—The Comman-dant Dir Scouts ColMuhammad Kamran Aslamhas inaugurated the newly re-constructed government pri-mary school Dokrai Khanabadwhich was blown up by mili-tants in 2009. The MaidanOperational Commander Lt ColZulfiqar Bhatti, Major Mazhar,deputy district education of-ficer, Dir Lower, Bashir Ahmadand local elders were alsopresent on the occasion. Theschool is jointly rebuilt by thePakistan army, wealthy peopleand local donors with a totalcost of Rs 2 million.

Speaking on the occasionCol Kamran asked people toget their children educated.He said that complete peacehad been restored by securityforces in Maidan. He said thearea had been cleared of mili-tants and they (militants)could no more carry out sabo-tage bids in Maidan. Laterthey also checked cleanlinessin Kumbar bazaar and nearbychildren’ park on conclusionof cleanliness weeklong drivein Maidan. He expressed sat-isfaction on cleanliness andurged shopkeepers to main-

tain the city clean and neat.Also in the day a free medi-

cal camp was set up by the Pa-kistan army in Maidan wheremale and lady doctors exam-ined more than 700 patientswho were provided with freetreatment and medicines. Ma-jor Doctor Tauqir, Dr Mamoonur Rashid, Dr Nadeem, Dr Miraj,Dr Salim and lady doctorHameeda Jamil examined thepatients including women andchildren. Lieutenant ColonelZulfiqar Bhatti and MajorMazhar visited the camp andasked doctors to provide medi-cal care to all patients free ofcost.

*****The vice chancellor Uni-

versity of Malakand Prof DrJauhar Ali has laid down foun-dation stone of construction a50,000 galon water Tankproject costing Rs 10.5 million.An opening ceremony in thisregard was held at the univer-sity campus which was at-tended by faculty members,students and administration.Speaking on the occasion thevice chancellor said that theproject would end problem ofsafe drinking water in the var-sity. He said that students hadbeen facing shortage of drink-

ing water. He directed theworks and services depart-ment officials to complete theproject before its stipulatednine months time. He said therewould be no compromise onlow quality work on theproject.

*****Deputy District Educa-

tion Officer, Dir Lower, BashirAhmad has said that distribu-tion of free text books amongstudents of state-run schoolshad been completed. Talkingto journalists here he said thata total of 2, 82, 245 studentsof government primary,middle, high and higher sec-ondary schools in Dir Lowerhad been provided with freetextbooks. He said that newacademic session had startedin the district wherein 20,000more students would be en-rolled in primary schools thisyear. He said that all heads ofprimary schools had been di-rected to launch special cam-paigns for enrolment of freshstudents in the district. TheDDEO asked parents, mediamen and members of parentsteachers’ councils (PTCs) tosupport the department in in-creasing enrolment in govern-ment schools.

Reconstructed school inaugurated

Maidan cleared of militants,peace restored: Col Kamran

Farmers seek CJhelp in recovery

of duesSYED ADNAN NOOR

JHANG—Hundreds of farm-ers staged a demonstrationand blocked Ayub Chowk inprotest against a sugar millfor not clearing their out-standing dues amounting tobillions of rupees. The pro-testers belonging to differentareas of the district came ontractor-trolleys and gatheredat Ayub Chowk. Theyshouted slogans against themiller.

They alleged that the millowner had blocked their pay-ments and was getting profitfrom banks on it. They saidthat the district administra-tion was backing the millmanagement. PakistanKissan Tehrik tehsil presi-dent Amir Naul alleged thatthe district government wasobliging the mill managementafter receiving bribe. He saidthe police had registeredcases against growers topressurise them. They ap-pealed to Chief JusticeIftikhar MuhammadChaudhry to take notice ofthe situation.

BASHIR AHMAD RAHMANI

H A F I Z A B A D — R P OGujranwala Region MalikKhuda Bukhsh Awan hasdeclared that police wouldtake all-out efforts to main-tain peaceful conditions dur-ing the upcoming electionsand would maintain its neu-trality. While addressing thenewsmen at DPO Office, thenewly appointed RPO saidthat special crackdowns onProclaimed Offenders wouldbe launched so as to preventlaw and order situation andto ensure peaceful conditionparticularly during the elec-

tions.Replying to a question,

he said that over all crime situ-ation in the region is undercontrol and contingencyplan is being envisaged tofurther control the crime situ-ation. He said that ban ondisplay of firearms would bestrictly implemented and zerotolerance would be shown tothe violators. Replying to yetanother question, he said thatthere are 1200 sensitive poll-ing stations including 64 inHafizabad district and policewould take different preven-tive measures and would re-main vigilant so as to prevent

any unpleasant incident.To a question, he said that

1400 personnel includingPolice Qaumi Razakars andsecurity officials of differentdepartments would be de-ployed at the polling stationsin the region. To anotherquestion, he said that all-outefforts would be made tocheck increasing incidents ofbike-snatching, robberiesand dacoities in the district.To another question regard-ing refusal to register FIRsby the SHOs, RPO has as-sured that genuine com-plaints would be registeredby the police officers and he

has directed the DPO andSHOs in this respect.

Earlier, while addressingpolice officers, which wasattended among others byDPO Faisal Ali Raja, the DPOhas directed them to performtheir duties with commitmentand without any fear orfavour and maintain neutral-ity and to ensure peacefulatmosphere in their respec-tive jurisdiction.

STAFF REPORTER

P E S H A W A R — K h y b e rPakhtunkhwa Chief MinisterJustice (R) Tariq Pervez Khanhas said that the role of law-yers in the dispensation ofeasy and speedy justice wasof great importance. He saidthat lawyers have accom-plished the task which noone else could do in thecountry. He expressed theseviews while talking to a rep-resentative delegation ofKhyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar

Council which called on himhere on Friday. The delega-tion was led by AdvocateGeneral and Chairman of theBar Council Khalid Khan.

The delegation dis-cussed with him issues re-lated to the welfare of lawyercommunity, the bar counciland matters of mutual inter-est. Secretary Law and Par-liamentary Affairs,Mohammad Arifeen and rep-resentative of Finance andC&W departments were alsopresent on the occasion. Re-

garding the construction ofBar Council Building theChief Minister directed theconcerned authorities toimplement the developmentscheme of the previous gov-ernment in this regard andcomplete the under construc-tion buildings of the bar coun-cil on priority basis.

On the demand of thedelegation to reserve quotafor the lawyers community inthe proposed Jalozai Hous-ing scheme, the Chief Minis-ter issued instruction to the

quarter concerned to allocatequota for the lawyers in thesaid housing scheme as al-lotted in other governmenthousing schemes. About theendowment fund and grant-in-aid for the bar council, theCM said that bar council wasa legal body of lawyerswhich came into existenceunder an act, and directed theauthorities of finance depart-ment to prepare a case to thiseffect keeping in view theprovisions laid down in therelevant act.

He also directed the quar-ters concerned to work anddeliberate on introducing le-gal services in the province.Regarding the directives ofthe previous Chief Minister toprovide free medical treatmentfacility to the lawyers, theChief Minister asked the rel-evant quarters to look into thecase and report accordingly.The delegation also called forincluding the lawyers in thepackage of the provincialgovernment announced forthe government officials be-

ing killed in bomb blasts.The CM said that any de-

cision to this effect would bemade after going through therelevant rules. Pervez Akhtarof District Bar CouncilPeshawar, Shaukat Ali of DBCNowshera, Iqbal Khan ofDBC Mardan, Mian FaheemDBC of Swabi, Badiuzzamanof DBC Buner, Saeed Khan ofDBC Shangla, Naeem of DBCSwat and Nawaz Khan Advo-cate and other were includedin the delegation.

CM lauds lawyers’ role in quick justice dispensation

Another rain spelllikely from Monday

Police to maintain peace during elections: RPO

STAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—The AppellateElection Tribunal of PeshawarHigh Court (PHC) here Fridayallowed former Minister ofState for Inter-Provincial Co-ordination, Malik AzmatKhan to contest elections2013 on NA-34 and PK-97 DirLower.

A three-member tribunalof PHC, comprising JusticeFasihul Mulk, Justice MazharAlam Miankhel and JusticeIrshad Qasir accepted theappeal of PPP leader MalilAzmat Khan after producingclearance certificate fromHigher Education Commis-sion (HEC) regarding validityof his bachelor degree.

After examining facts,records and judgment of theReturning Officer NA-34 andPK-97, the tribunal set asidethe verdict of the RO and al-lowed him to contest elec-tion on NA-34 and PK-97 DirLower. The Tribunal also ac-cepted the appeal filed byMuhammad Tariq, a candi-date for PK-3 Peshawar afterhe submitted Rs 23,110 pend-ing dues of PTCL. The Re-

turning Officer of PK-3Peshawar has rejectedTariq’s nomination papers onthe grounds of not submit-ting the aforesaid dues ofPTCL.

Likewise, the Tribunalalso dismissed an appeal/objection raised by ArbabAbdul Aziz, challenging thedecision of Returning OfficerNA-2 Peshawar pertaining toaccepting nomination papersof Awami National Party’sPeshawar President, ArbabNajeeb Ullah Khan. The pe-titioner, Abdul Aziz claimedArbab Najeeb did not fulfillon the criteria laid down inArticles 62 and 63 of the Con-stitution and prayed beforethe court to set-aside theverdict of RO of NA-2 andpraying for rejecting of nomi-nation papers of ANP stal-wart, who is contesting elec-tion against PPP leader andformer Federal Minister forCommunication, Dr ArbabAlamgir Khan.

Head of the Tribunal Jus-tice Fasihul Mulk observedElection Tribunal have a spe-cific jurisdiction and couldnot go beyond of it.

Azmat, others allowedto contest elections

Targeting candidatesa worrisome signal

IN a tragic development a candidate of MQM for elections to a National Assembly constituency from Karachi was gunned down by unknown assailants on Thursday. Killing of Fakhrul Islam is being de-

scribed as the first polls-related casualty and highlights the security threatsfor parties, their leaders and candidates and the need for taking concretemeasures to improve the overall environment.

Protection of life and property is the basic responsibility of any Gov-ernment and it is more so in the case of an interim set up that is there tohold elections in a peaceful atmosphere. Federal Minister for InteriorMalik Habib is no doubt a vocal and vibrant member of the Cabinet whohas been, from the day one, striving his best to take concrete measures toimprove security conditions but unfortunately attempts are being madeto embroil him in frivolous things like out-of-proportion reaction to hispersonal statement showing liking for a particular leader, which is notunnatural and surely not in the case of incumbent caretaker set at centreand in provinces that by and large is tilted towards the previous govern-ment. The incident in Karachi confirms that Malik Habib had said a fewdays back about threats to political leaders and decision of the Govern-ment to provide security to important leaders. But the task would remainunfulfilled if provincial interim set ups maintain their idle posture as theyhave done ever since their installation. Candidates and public meetingsare particular targets of terrorists and an ANP candidate was the first oneto be attacked. The situation demands strengthening intelligence gather-ing and coordination and deployment of more security personnel for pro-tection of public meetings. At the same time, political parties must alsorealize the ground situation and instead of going for big public meetings,go for just corner meetings and door-to-door canvassing that are man-ageable. This is important because killing of candidates in different con-stituencies would result in postponement of polls in those areas raisingquestion marks about the entire exercise.

Caretakers should gofor operation clean up

ACCORDING to a report, Caretaker Minister for Industries and Production, Shehzada Ahsan Ashraf Sheikh is being threatened by the

influential Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of attached organisationsand middle level officers of the Ministry of dire consequences in theevent they are removed from their current positions. The Minister, whohas rightly decided to launch operation clean up in the Ministry, to getrid of politically appointed people at salaries running into six digits andwhose number is stated to be about 350 just in the Utility Stores Corpo-ration..

No doubt, the primary job of the caretaker government is to makearrangements for holding of general elections and hand over the adminis-tration to the next elected government but it doesn’t in any way meankeeping its eyes closed to glaring corruption or irregularities in the min-istries and attached department. In fact, it is prudent to launch operationclean up in all ministries and organizations. USC is a commercial ven-ture and should be run as such but unfortunately it has been run on thepersonal whims of ministers and other influential people in the govern-ment. It is because of this that this profit-earning organization sufferedhuge losses in the past and according to a report attempts are also beingat the moment to force it to purchase one of two buildings in the FederalCapital for its Headquarters on more than double the market price. Thisis not just the tale of USC as same happened to almost all institutionswhich have been pushed to the point of total collapse due to politicalinterference and corruption. It is strange that with the exception of Min-ister for Industries no other Minister has thought of cleansing their min-istries of such elements whose political loyalties are fully known andwho are just financial burden on these organizations and corporations.We would, therefore, urge Caretaker Prime Minister Mir Hazar KhanKhoso to take notice of the situation and order general clean up in allministries without waste of further time and resources.

Private sector’s role inskill development

PRIVATE sector is rightly considered to be engine of growth and thecountries that have created conducive atmosphere for the sector are

reaping the benefits of economic development. Pakistan is one of thosecountries which have not been able to exploit the potential of its privatesector due to lack of proper planning and facilitation.

Education and skill development are keys to progress and prosperityand it was in this backdrop that the Minister for Science and TechnologyDr. Attaur Rehman laid focus on market oriented skills and education. Itwas during that period that IT and telecommunication grew at fast paceand the country started producing thousands of IT graduates and engi-neers annually. Atta also worked hard to link research and developmentto market needs and encouraged private sector universities, industrialentities and corporations to contribute their share towards skill devel-opment. This is because the Government alone is not expected to ex-ploit the full potential for development. An international expert Dr.Michael Guder, speaking in Lahore the other day, also emphasized thatPakistan has the biggest potential of youth, which needs to be equippedwith demand driven skills and that is not possible without participationof the industry. We hope that major industries and companies would lis-ten to what Dr. Guder has said and prepare programmes for skill devel-opment that could help not only meet demands of the domestic marketbut also markets abroad.

Karzai’s confused outpourings

A truly great mannever puts away thesimplicity of a child

Brotherhoodignoringproblems

The recent sectarian clashes inEgypt did not come as a surprise. They are part of a vio-

lent trend that has been on the risein the most populous Arab coun-try. The clashes, which claimedseveral lives, represent the failureof the current government to meetthe demands of governance. Led byan increasingly agitated president,the government is being dominatedby the Muslim Brotherhood move-ment which has yet to grasp theconcept of the nation state. Themovement is preoccupied with thenotion that its ascendance to poweris its historic opportunity to domi-nate society and its resources.Thus, most state bodies are beingfilled with Brotherhood membersand supporters.

Meanwhile, they are ignoringthe immediate problems of Egypt.Unemployment is rising sharply.National revenue streams are dry-ing up. Foreign investments in thecountry are shrinking. The numberof tourists is declining. And theunfair conditions of the Interna-tional Monetary Fund, especiallythose related to lifting state subsi-dies on most basic commodities,are fuelling the record high resent-ment of the population, leading toprolonged protests and street vio-lence. More importantly, the re-gional role of Egypt has shrunk tothat of an insignificant state, whileother regional players are racing tofill that gap. The Mursi adminis-tration instead continues to shootthe messengers, by going after thepresident’s critics. The latest vic-tim was the popular satirist BassemYousuf. The Egyptian governmentmust realise before it is too late thatthe way to restore stability, rel-evance and economic growth isthrough an inclusive rule that genu-inely represents the ideals that pre-vailed during the uprising that over-threw the regime of HosniMubarak. However, Mursi is justdoing what his predecessor haddone during the past three decades.The difference is that Mursi man-aged to do it in less than a year. Itis time the president listens to theopposition and considers forminga unity government based on theinterests of Egypt — not those ofan Islamist movement.— Gulf News

*****

Tracingtoxic

agents

The United Nations and Syriaare in a row. Damascus hasliterally obstructed the world

body’s endeavour to probe into thealleged use of chemical weaponsin the country’s conflict, saying itis an encroachment on its sover-eignty. Such a stance, however, isunacceptable given to understandthe complexity of the issue. The in-vestigation was prompted as Syr-ian security forces were reported tohave used toxic material in the vil-lage of Khan Al Assai in Aleppolast month. Though the number ofcasualties were not reported, theallegation has made the interna-tional community nervous, keepingin view the massacres that werewitnessed in Iraq under SaddamHussein. The Halabja killings inwhich thousands were killed andmaimed are a case in point.

It is for quite some time thatthere had been reports of Syriamobilising and tapping on itschemical stockpiles, and preparingthem for the battle field, if need be.This is a serious issue, and cannotbe shrugged aside as a rumour. Per-haps that is why the United Statesand Europe had taken a hardenedstance. Thus the United Nationsdesire to broaden its scope of in-vestigations and to cover the wholeof country is appropriate andtimely. The UN inspectors shouldexhibit professionalism and that toowithout any bias. The very purposeof scanning the fields and garrisonsof Syria is to ensure that no ill willis at work, and the civilians are notused as Ginny pigs. PresidentBashar Al Assad should be forth-coming and allow access to the UNteam. If it has no skeletons to hide,then there is no point in indulgingin the sovereignty debate.— Khaleej Times

MEDIA WATCH

—Proverb

Kabul government’s refusalto hand over Taliban leaderMaulvi Faqir Mohammad,

who was captured by Afghan In-telligence in the eastern parts ofAfghanistan is not understandable.Afghanistan has taken the plea thattwo countries do not have anagreement on exchanging prison-ers. Afghan leadership conve-niently forgets that Pakistan has sofar freed 26 mid-level AfghanTaliban leaders on the request ofthe Afghan government.

Kabul’s refusal to reciprocatethe peace and reconciliation effortsinitiated by Pakistan authorities isdeplorable. Since President Karzaiis not allowed to run for anotherterm according to Afghan consti-tution and does not need Ameri-can help, he is vainly trying toimprove his tarnished image ofAmerican lackey.

Recently, President Karzai hasordered U.S. Special Forces to im-mediately cease all special opera-tions and leave the restive prov-ince of Wardak, a strategically im-portant eastern province viewed asa gateway to the capital, which hasbeen the focus ofcounterinsurgency efforts in recentyears. This shows rifts in Afghan-US relations.

Addressing ceremony on theoccasion of International WomenDay, President Hamid Karzai saidthe Taliban were holding talks withAmerica in Europe and gulf but

Decision-Making & National Security

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Many national security matters incline to be of a complex nature, which not

necessarily falls within the clearpurview of a specific governmen-tal institution, thereby requires“joint mechanism” to gain controlover the deteriorating security situ-ation in a country. One of the for-mal sources is the long-term riskassessment method of decision-making process because capacityand performance of an institutiondepends upon the grounds on thebasis of which those decisions arebeing implemented. Moreover, ina parliamentary system, a crisis ofpolitical coalition, cabinet agenda,and attempts to oversight issuesthat professionally are out of ju-risdiction could dislodge the na-tional security policy at a prema-ture stage. Hence, politicization ofnational security issue will havedetrimental impact on theleadership’s ability to administrateday-to-day policy related issues.How crises of national securityshould be attended under such situ-ations is a key question to chart along-.term course of decision-making?

Typically, the military leader-ship finds it feasible to discussbroad issues with politicians andexperts because for practical rea-sons, they possess the substance,knowledge and resources to pre-vent dramatic policy change. Con-versely, Prime Ministers/Presi-dents seek to control issues that areof crucial importance and, thensimply try to present actions as

were conducting blasts inKabul and Khost. At thesame time, he saidTaliban were not his en-emy, and the people ofAfghanistan had beentortured on the name ofTaliban. One would notunderstand about his con-

fused outpourings. President Karzaiappears to be sour for being keptout of the loop so far as talks be-tween the US and the Taliban areconcerned. He had expected to beat the peace foray’s centre and leadthe negotiations. It is perhaps be-cause of Karzai’s remarks that ajoint press conference of PresidentHamid Karzai and US Secretary ofDefence Chuck Hagel was can-celled. In September 2012 alsoPresident Karzai had stated: “theUS led war on terror has not beenfought the way it should have beenand has brought only misfortuneand grief to Afghanistan. But hehimself is to blame in equal mea-sure, as he never raised the right de-mands with the occupiers at theright time.

Having that said, the fact of thematter is that the war on terror hasbecome the longest war in US his-tory – nearly 12 years. During thisperiod, the US has given $57 bil-lion in development aid to Afghani-stan. The US military has spentmore than $517 billion to subdueand secure Afghanistan.

The question is whether theUnited States has achieved after allthis time and treasury spent in Af-ghanistan? America’s promises andtall claims of progress and devel-opment are farce. The question ishow the war had gone awry, andwhy they could not bring peace inthe country? President Hamid hasto share the blame for ignoring

Pakhtun ethnicity by the occupiersand arrogantly kept the whole of thecommunity as an outcast from thepower dispensation. Afghan mi-norities mainly Tajik were inductedin Afghan army, intelligence, policeand administration with HamidKarzai sitting at the head virtuallyas a lame duck and mere showpiece.The community of erstwhile kingsand king-makers was surely not totake kindly to the raw deal dealt toit. The American movers and shak-ers must be ruing in their hearts forbeing so disrespectful toAfghanistan’s ground realities sincetheir invasion and occupation thathas now become such an Achillesheel for a respectable end-game forthem. They had taken the Talibanlightly, and did not put enoughboots on the ground at the time ofinvading Afghanistan 12 years ago.

The US has to understand thatwithout giving the majorityPakhtuns the due share in power,there would be no peace in the fore-seeable future.

If history is any guide, nobodyshould make long term plans to stayin Afghanistan. It is true that occu-piers used contradictions that haveexisted between Pakhtuns andTajiks, Hazaras and Uzbeks for cen-turies but barring a few exceptionsin the past they stayed together andput up a joint resistance wheneverAfghanistan was invaded. If North-ern alliance and the Taliban do notreach an agreement about share inpower after the US and NATOforces withdraw, there would be abloody battle rather civil war be-cause both sides are armed to theteeth.

The end result could be disin-tegration of Afghanistan, and moreregional players jumping in the frayto secure their positions. But this

could lead to larger conflagrationand perhaps world war. The USand its allies must take steps thatcan bring the majority into themainstream politics. Last month,NATO’s Secretary General was inAfghanistan and called on the Af-ghan government to ensure freeand fair presidential electionsscheduled for next year. He alsoasked Afghanistan to fight corrup-tion, boost women’s rights andstrengthen the rule of law, addingthat these would be the key tomaintain stability within Afghani-stan, and support within the inter-national community. On severaloccasions, Karzai was also warnedby the US and Britain that theywould stop aid to Afghanistan ifcorruption was not rooted out.

Disregarding Pakistan’s secu-rity concerns, President Karzaihad signed strategic pacts withIndia and the US. In fact, Presi-dent Karzai is not popular in thecountry. Pakhtuns consider him asAmerican puppet, whereas he isunder obligation to Northern Alli-ance elements i.e. Tajiks, Hazarasand Uzbaks for being in the presi-dency, as he has no power base ofhis own. Karzai should understandthat people of Pakistan and Af-ghanistan are bound together byfaith, common heritage and sharedvalues of love and peace.

There have been misunder-standings in the past between thetwo brotherly countries because ofbeing in opposite camps during theCold War era, but continuous con-tact and dialogue between Pakistanand Afghanistan had removedmany a misunderstanding. It is inthe interest of both the countries tobetter understand each other’s pointof view, and move forward on theroad to progress and prosperity.

their democratic right toachieve national security ob-jectives. By default, a politi-cal coalition can hardly pro-duce a unanimously agreednational security policy asits decision-making mecha-

nism suits partisan politics, vestedinterests and in some cases “hiddenagenda” of their external sponsors.An inherent consequence of suchdichotomy generates many contro-versial decisions and an overallpoliticization of entire decision-making process.

Almost all political leadershipincluding that of the US, UK andother major democratic countriesseems to be engaged in a never-end-ing process of “political-give-and-take” both with the politicians andinternational partners. Take the ex-ample of the United States’ militaryinvolvement in every continent ofthe world. But, most of its broad na-tional security issues are beingdriven not by the political goodwillof a democratic system, rather thanits ability to expand and invade onthe basis of predesigned nationalsecurity policy.

This characterization does notdiscount the right to incorporate“new” and most suitable rules of thegame, it however clarifies that de-cision-making in terms of the USnational security promotes “control”rather than democratic consulta-tions. Every issue of US nationalsecurity is dealt by military leader-ship and the CIA, although on theface, the Congress and Senate didapprove the military actions. Of thethree major decisions the US civil-military leadership made in the pastyears demonstrates no more thanvagueness. In terms of peace andstability, the US withdrawal fromIraq has increased violence andheightened tensions within sectar-

ian and regional quarters. As a chiefsponsor of the Middle East process,the US comprehensively failed toassert its own historical position ofa mediator, thereby lost the trust ofPalestinians and the neutral coun-tries.

The 2014 US withdrawal planfrom Afghanistan has also becomeunmanageable, ranging from US-Afghan dissent, civilian deathscaused by NATO airstrikes and theAfghan-US dubious negotiation pro-cess with the Taliban. The ostensiblesolution to decision-making problemcan be devised “only” through theprinciple of “collective responsibil-ity”. Forum of politicalbrinkmanship may have advantagesof prestige and overcoming the op-ponents, but efficiency and grand-standing ultimately demands profes-sionalism and understanding of criti-cal security issues. Additionally,ministers are appointed primarily onthe basis of their political parties.Their own political clout does notwarranty expertise in their sphere ofresponsibilities, nor in managementof national security disasters. A“non-intervening” spirit of coexist-ence thus casts a high degree of in-competency and problems of under-standing the decision-making pro-cess of military quarters. Neverthe-less, generally high experienced po-litical leadership performs extremelywell in the fields of agriculture,economy, health and media. Thisreflection aptly addresses the needfor capacity building and strategictraining of civilian leadership, inorder for the politicians to fully ap-prise of analysis, risk assessment andposition papers of military. An inte-grated system of training programcan enhance the trust in decision-making process of the military lead-ership, which in turn mitigate the“capability risks” that cabinet min-

ister often face in broad matters ofnational security. To be concluded,micromanaging details of nationalsecurity issues can be best handledby dissolving controversial pointsof engagement and grant responsi-bility to politicians. Without in-volving the cabinet ministers asstakeholders, the limited utility ofdecision-making will prevail,hence policy implications both forintelligence community and mili-tary leadership. This assessment inno form and shape demands thecomprehensive operational under-standing of military operations bythe politicians, especially the cabi-net ministers, but, insufficientknowledge about the significanceof contemporary national securitycompulsions brings wrong map ofdecision-making in the field ofpolitics.

Whereas the true impression ofpower and decision-making pro-cess flows from the democraticleaders in a government, profes-sionalism experience, tradition andsacrifices remain the symbols ofnational security institutions. Con-versely, political institutions ce-ment operational successes throughtheir policy support system and cancreate unending characteristics ofcooperation between numerous in-stitutions.Thus, the primary advantage ofcompetent civil-military leadershipis to hold highly ambitions objec-tives to protect the broader nationalinterest – without submitting themto rigorous domestic/foreignpressures.In the twenty-first cen-tury, the need to compromise andconsensus is crucial to achieveacomprehensive national securitypolicy.—The author is a Denmark-basedNational Security Expert and De-fence Analyst.

Mohammad JamilEmail: mjamil1938@hotmail.com

News & ViewsNews & ViewsNews & ViewsNews & ViewsNews & Views

Rana Athar Javed Email: ma_javed@hotmail.com

Voice of the People

Going through the politicalhistory of Pakistan, one isconstrained to learn that till

1956, Pakistan was without aconstitution. Popularity graph of theMuslim League kept sliding after thebirth of Pakistan because of the factthat almost the entire lot of leadinglights of this party had no roots inregions falling within Pakistan.Instead of learning a lesson from itsdefeat in 1954 provincial elections inEast Pakistan and restructuring itself,Muslim league got furtherfactionalized due to infighting.Absentee landlordism was notabolished in West Pakistan. The firstgeneration politicians are responsiblefor laying down weak foundations ofdemocracy.

Till 1970, no general electionswere held for they knew they wouldbe bundled out by the electorates.Absence of elections stopped theprocess of pruning of theunscrupulous politicians andreplacement by better ones. Onceprocess of elections commenced,power and money was used to changeelection results. As a result, the samelot of base politicians belonging toselect Baradaries plagued democracyand Pakistani politics.

Gen Ayub Khan shared PresidentIskandar Mirza’s views that thesystem based on western democracywas ill-suited to the people’s psyche.He debarred 6000 politicians fromtaking part in politics under EBDOand introduced Basic Democracies asan alternative political system.Presidential election in 1965 in whichMohtrama Fatima Jinnah stoodagainst Ayub Khan and lost saw thefirst instance of rigging. Politicalagitation together with economic andpolitical impact of 1965 war put anend to Ayub’s golden era.

Gen Yahya Khan is credited forholding first ever general elections inDecember 1970, acknowledged as

Electoral imperfections

Rewardingthe corrupts

MUHAMMAD BUX MARI

In this cruel world corrupt and dis-honest ones are uncountable andhonest people are very hard to find,how ever where those honest menare, even in few, are God gifted forthe nations to whom they belong,they are symbol of light rising fromdarkness. As far as corrupt ones areconcerned, they have no interest forgood of the nation and country. Suchones mostly damage the institutions,which are main pillars of a countryand its nation for their survivals. Ascorrupts are supported and honestones are discouraged, the majorityof institutions especially sensitivedepartments like education are go-ing speedily to be damaged just be-cause of no appreciation of honestofficers. I would like to mention anhonest officer in education of Sindhwho is Mr Abdul Majeed Hur, oneof those honest, literary, talented andprincipled true officers, sufferingfrom many troubles on account ofhis credibility. The officer whereverposted, has taken every effort for thebest of education bearing heavy po-litical influence even if he got pun-ishments in the shape of suspensionsor without postings. He now despitebeing most senior in school educa-tion is passing his suspension perioddue to denying illegal orders of exeducation minister Pir Mazhar formerit less appointments. Although,the Pir is now not in power but hisposted ops and non-cadre officersare enjoying yet. It is now for careto go there to de notify ability lessofficers for the sake of best futureof poor people of Sindh who haveno approach to deliver their voiceto rulers there fore we have a requestfor Care Takers to take necessarysteps to repatriate the ops & outcadre officers to their original postsgiving the chance to mentioned hon-est officer along with other honestofficers for developing the govt.schools where poor children arestudying and who have no one tolisten except God .— Sanghar Sindh

Shame on youAfzal Khan

RAMSHA KOHATI

It’s not the first time a Pakistani jour-nalist has been threatened by a gov-ernment representative. In Pakistanwhere 13 Journalists lost their livesin 2012, many are threatened everyday by the powerful, people, it wasa pity to see ECP Secretary AfzalKhan who ill-treated the reporterand threatened him. Being associ-ated with journalism himself, it wasa very disrespectful thing to do onhis part. In a country like ours wherethe reporters are working against allodds just in order to bring the cor-rect news to us, treating them thisway is a shame.—Karachi

Promotionopportunities

HASHIM ABRO

Indeed, promotion is an effectivetool to increase the spirit to work ina concern. Unfortunately, there areseveral federal and provincial orga-nizations where the ill-fated employ-ees work in the same grade for thelast fifteen - twenty years and thedeadwoods heading those organiza-tions do not show even an iota ofinterest for the promotion of em-ployees in the next higher grade. Itis seen that these “talent –enemy”(re) tired Babas do not hesitate tounleash negative incentives such asdemotion, transfer, fines or penal-ties but never ever think of ‘ posi-tive incentives” like promotion,praise, recognition, perks and allow-ances, etc. in those organizations.

It is a known fact that if the em-ployees are provided opportunitiesfor the advancement and growth,they feel satisfied and contented andthey become more committed to theorganization. However, the PrimeMinister is appealed to take noticeof such “human resources hostile”

No use of electionsRAJA GHAZANFAR ALI

In the forthcoming elections the same politicians are again participating and contesting this electionwho have never done any appreciated welfare works for the people of Pakistan for the last manymany years. They could not finish the load shedding since 1983. Hence how one should believe thatthe same politician would do any appreciated work for the people of Pakistan. It is useless to wastetime and financial lossess. It is better that Election should be postboned in the best interest of thiscountry . ALL those politicians, who remained MNA/MPA for two terms of govts should be declareddisqualified for ever and new most patriotic, honest, well educated, most intelligent young men shouldbe brought forward and they should be given chances to contest election in place of disqualified,most corrupted and most cruel politicians beause these old politicians have always contested forelection only for their own interest. They have never served this country honestly. Hence new electionshould be conducted in August 2013. Only new young men can solve all the problems of this countryand put this country on the path of development and prosperity and can build a developed country ofPakistan. I hope that all people of Pakistan will perform their good role in gaining these aims in agood faith and for a noble cause.—Rawalpindi

READERS

Email:editorial@pakobserver.net

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

—Editor

organizations and save the future ofill-fated employees.—Islamabad

Perilous sheeshasmokingIQRA AKBER

This is to draw attention of the au-thorities concerned through this esti-mated newspaper that recently inDHA Khyban-e-Rahat, two sheeshacafes were banned.

As like in DHA, other parts ofKarachi are suffering from this harm-ful spots. Sheesha smoking is emerg-ing as a fashion in our society , notonly males but young women are alsoinvolved into it on extreme levels,which is highly dangerous for thehealth. Especially for women, itcauses low fertility rates and im-prove, the overall probabilities of fe-tal abnormalities, posing an essentialthreat on their fitness.

One puff of the sheesha smokecontains much more than 5000chemicals in which hundreds of themare Carcinogenic and 25% have se-rious addictive potential. In additionto this point sheeshas are being deco-rated by addictive materials like co-caine, heroine and marijuana to theflavored tobacco either by manage-ments of stores or from the custom-ers themselves. Most significantly,this should be taken up seriously. Dueto it, our young generation is spoil-ing their inner health and outer per-sonalities, both hand in hand.—Karachi

Let boomboom retire

SYED UMARULLAH HUSSAINI

Boom Boom is looking for retirementif a replacement is found. He says atthe moment he can’t see anyone upto the mark to play at the internationallevel. I am sure there are many youngand talented players in Pakistan whocan, if properly trained and groomed,take the all-rounders’ place. Afridionly needs to move out of the way.

I’m a great fan of Afridi and havebeen watching him playing for a longtime. I think Afridi has played wellfor his country but the time has cometo hang up his cricket pads and turnto coaching new players.—Karachi

Channelisingthe youthKIRAN ZEHRA

The destiny of a nation isvested with the youngsters. Theseare who if guided correctly, canmodify the course of the wholeworld. They have the might ofextensive thinking, hard struggle,innovation and advancement. Theyouth are ready to adapt tochanges because they are young,they are in search of truth, theyare open to different ideas con-trary to the people who aremature, old sluggish.

No doubt the youth of Pa-kistan is dedicated, enthusiasticwith their country but emotionsare not enough they need adirection to create a positivePakistan. Youth can attain thisdirection through constant think-ing, discussions, innovations andreasoning. For the real destinyof Pakistan and to bring positiveapproach, the youth must learnthe neglected lessons of truth,justice, bravery and Islamic gov-ernance and should be sincerewith their country.—Karachi

Eve TeasingGULZAR FARID NAYANI

We claim to live in a civilized ageand in a so called civilized society;but however the treatment withwomen is still barbaric as it ever was.It is not possible for a woman in oursociety to get down from her houseto get a piece of bread without acouple of eyes following her around.And not to forget, get back homesafely, without a stranger followingher home.

Could Thatcherism work in 2013?

I grew up admiring MargaretThatcher. It was obvious to manyof us in India in the 1970s that

socialist economics didn’t work andthat Thatcher’s radical reforms werethe right course, one we wishedsomeone would advocate in India. (Ittook 12 years and a massive crisis forthat to happen.) Her plans to cut taxes,privatise industry and deregulate havebeen vindicated by history, but thatdoesn’t tell us much about what todo today.

Consider the world in 1979,when Thatcher came to power. Theaverage Briton’s life was a series ofinteractions with government: Tele-phone, gas, electricity and water ser-vice, ports, trains and airlines wereall owned and run by the state, aswere steel companies and even Jag-uar and Rolls-Royce. In almost allcases, this led to inefficiency and scle-rosis. It took months to get a hometelephone line installed. Marginal taxrates were ferociously high, reachingup to 83 percent. Britain was not un-usual. In most European countries,the state had as large a role atop the“commanding heights” of the

economy. And while the UnitedStates was always far more free-mar-ket-oriented, even US tax rates in the1970s were in the range of 70 per-cent, and government tightly regu-lated telecommunications, transpor-tation and finance.

Throughout the Western world,the consensus was that large-scalestate intervention was needed toachieve growth and prosperity. That’swhy a conservative Republican presi-dent, Richard Nixon, said in 1971, “Iam now a Keynesian in economics.”(The phrase often misattributed tohim, “We are all Keynesians now,”was actually written by the libertar-ian economist Milton Friedman, inTime magazine in 1965.)

Today’s world is completely dif-ferent. Thirty years of privatizationand deregulation have swept throughindustries as varied as telecommu-nications, airlines and finance. Inmost sectors, it is hard to find a ma-jor state-owned company in theWestern world. Thatcher privatised50 companies, and governments inEurope, Asia, Latin America and Af-rica followed the same course. Taxeshave been slashed everywhere. Thetop marginal tax rate in India in 1974was 97.5 percent. (Really.) Today,the top rate is 40 percent. In the

United States in 1977, taxes on capi-tal gains and dividends were 39.9percent; in 2012, the rate was 15percent. In 1977, corporate US taxrates were close to 50 percent; nowthey are 35 percent, and most com-panies pay a much lower rate. Thesechanges have taken place under con-servative, liberal and even socialistgovernments. As Peter Mandelson,architect of the Labour Party’s risein the 1990s, declared, “We are allThatcherites now.”

Note that Thatcher rolled backthe regulatory state but not the wel-fare state. During her 11-year reignof radical free markets, the state’srole in the overall economy grew.She never spoke out againstBritain’s nationalized health care.While cutting some taxes she sub-stantially raised others (on con-sumption), ensuring that deficitsdidn’t grow too large.

Thatcher’s ideas resonated be-cause they were an effective antidoteto the problems of the times. In the1970s, the Western world staggeredunder the weight of oil shocks, risingwages, rocketing inflation, slowingproductivity and growth, labour un-rest, high taxesand sclerotic state-owned companies. These are not theproblems we face now. Today, Ameri-

Fareed Zakaria

the fairest elections ever takenplace this side of Suez.However, in actuality AwamiLeague had carried out massiverigging prior to and duringpolling. When power was nothanded over to Sheikh Mujib

because of Bhutto’s obduracy andMujib creating a state within state,Yahya in his earnestness to save thesituation launched a militaryoperation on 25 March 1971. Ithowever proved to be the beginningof breakup of Pakistan and triggereda civil war which ultimately led todivision of Pakistan and creation ofBangladesh. Elections rather thanintegrating the nation disintegratedthe country.

ZA Bhutto piloted consensus1973 Constitution but carried outseveral amendments to controljudiciary and established politicalcell in ISI and FSF to controlpoliticians. 1977 general electionswere rigged by Bhutto’sadministration since Bhutto waskeen to win two-thirds majority.Complete deadlock created by theirreconcilable politicians resulted inmilitary takeover by Gen Ziaul Haqin July 1977. He introduced clauseof ‘Sadiq and Ameen’ for competinglegislators.

For November 1988 elections, IJIwas formed to prevent BenazirBhutto from winning. Money wasused to win over 30 independents. Inthe 1990 elections, the Establishmentwas involved in bribing political partyleaders to ensure success of IJI underNawaz Sharif. Article 58-2B wasextensively used by presidents to sackgovernments during 1990s. In the2002 elections, pre-poll rigging wasundertaken to force politicians to joinKing’s Party. Agencies were used tocoerce those unwilling to tow thegiven dictates. Patriots were thecreation of NAB.

In the 2008 elections, althoughGen Kayani forbade Army frominterfering in elections, yet thecaretaker government, PML-Q,MQM and USA used their influenceto manipulate the outcome of resultsin their favor. Imran Khan referredthe case of bogus voting to the

Views From Abroad

It is the very same for those who veiland for those who don’t. Everywoman has such stories of humilia-tion to tell. Tales abroad of being dis-graced at public places like buses ormarkets. It had been going on fromso long that now it is not even beingconsidered as an issue. People maysay that when there are so many morethings to worry about, who wouldconsider playful eve teasing a trouble.What big of a problem is it when aman winked at you, or sang somesong, or for God’s sake at most hewhistled at you.

It is a problem, and a big prob-lem indeed, as it has the respect forwomen at stake. Our society and ourcountry could never take the steps ofdevelopment if we don’t learn tohonor and respect women.

There may be laws which aremade to safeguard women from suchharassments but they lack implemen-tations. A change in treatment withwomen can only come when there isa serious change in the orthodoxthinking of our society.—Karachi

“Lets makea move”

MIR MURTAZA HUSSAIN

Sir: I wish to draw readers’ attentionto the fact that, every day, we readand see through the media how manyinnocent people in Karachi are beingkilled by ‘unknown’ forces. Thepeople who have been killed havedone nothing wrong.

Their crime is that they want theirvoices to be heard so that they canenjoy freedom in their own city. Thecaretaker government in Sindh andlaw enforcement agencies cannot pre-tend to be blind and keep quiet with-out taking drastic measures and seri-ous action against the target killingsin Karachi. Election activity is stillparalysed due to violence in the cityof lights.

How long can we wait beforeaction is taken to stop this once andfor all? Time is running out. Actionis needed now and not tomorrow. IfKarachi is suffering from a bad lawand order situation then no electionswill be held in a safe atmosphere. Allmeasures taken by law enforcementagencies are not enough to restorepeace in Karachi.——Karachi

Tribute toGayari martyrs

YASIR FEROZ

The morning of 7th April, 2012 ap-peared as a deep grief for entire Pa-kistan. More than 100 soldiers em-braced shahadat as avalanche hit mili-tary headquarter in Gayari sector(SIYACHEN).

Temperature was minus 70 de-gree Celsius and in those harsh con-ditions; our beloved and brave sol-diers were 70ft down under the hugecover of snow on their way to heaven.Since the day Pakistan came on map,our security forces especially Armyis doing everything for the sake ofthe mother-land and their fight againstterrorism is been highlighted in ev-ery corner of the world.

One year has passed to thisshocking and sad incident on Sunday,but only few of our news channelspresented tribute of more than fiveminutes to these martyrs, rest of themwere showing work out, “how to con-trol blood pressure” as it was thetheme of World Health Day whichwas a shameful act.

I say my haurage attribute to sol-diers of Giyaari Sector and all thesecurity officials working for the ex-istence of the country and presentingtheir life without thinking a secondof their own and family… “Pakistan Zindabad.”—Karachi

Supreme Court, asserting that fromamong the 40-45% votes polled in2008 elections, over 37 million voterswere bogus. About 300 candidates gotfraudulently elected in national andprovincial assemblies who had forgedtheir Bachelor degrees. Largenumbers of parliamentarians withdual nationalities got elected inviolation of Constitution.

In contravention to SupremeCourt orders, MQM, PPP and ANPhave not abolished their militantwings. Delimitation of five districtsof Karachi is being vehementlyresisted by MQM for it sees it as anattempt to diminish its prospects ofgaining total control over Karachi.It has now referred the case to theUN.PPP accommodated illegal demandsof coalition partners under the policyof reconciliation, which gave rise tonepotism and cronyism and sidelinedmerit. Consequently, corruption,inflation, price hike, joblessness,poverty, and crimes scaled newheights.Nawaz extended support to Zardaribecause of inherent fear that Armymay not step in. This fear psychosisfrom democracy-friendly GenKayani is incomprehensible. Nawazoverlooked misdeeds of PPP andearned the title of ‘friendlyopposition because of his innatedesire to gain two-thirds majorityand to have a full tenure of fiveyears.Tehrik-e-Insaf has emerged as thethird force. Imran Khan’s slogan ofchange has appealed to the senses ofurban youth and has posed a seriouschallenge to the two mainstreampolitical parties believing in statusquo. Tahirul Qadri is not wrong insaying that even hundred electionsunder the corrupt electoral systemwould not bring any change. ElectionCommission, judiciary, bureaucracy,military establishment, agencies andinterim governments in unison havebeen recycling same lot of corruptpoliticians in violation of theconstitution.85 year old new Chief ElectionCommissioner (CEC) is a man ofhigh integrity, but age factor is a

serious handicap. So far he has beenunable stop pre-poll rigging andother glaring illegalities. 18thAmendment has curtailed CECpowers and decision makingauthority rests with politicallyappointed four members of ElectionCommission (EC). None meet thecriteria of Article 147 ofConstitution. Caretakers and EC aremorally bound to ensure strictscrutiny of contestants underArticles 62 and 63 so that all badhats are disqualified and onlyrighteous and truthful candidateswith good reputation enter thelegislature. But with so manyimperfections in electoral system,free and fair elections are apipedream.Insecure security environment,rising religious extremism and deeppolitical polarization give rise to thepossibility of bloody elections.Possibility of assassination of highprofile personality to put offelections cannot be ruled out. Noparty will win two-thirds majorityand even if one party gain simplemajority, it will not be able to forma government since losers will rejectelection results. Egged on byinvisible hands, it may lead to acomplete impasse. It is speculatedthat it may be under suchcircumstances that modifiedBangladesh model is applied fortwo-three years to cleanse theAegean Stables through strictaccountability, improve economy,remove electoral flaws and thenhold elections.The democratic system is widelypopular in the world and everycivilized society tends to boast itspropensity and preferences fordemocracy and its associatedvalues. Democracy is as essentiallypermissible and good for tribes ofFATA as for any others in Pakistan.Presently, what is urgently requiredis effective screening of contestants,avoidance of rigging on polling dayand ensuring security. The onus ofelecting the right candidates is onthe voters.—The writer is a retired Brig anda columnist.

can and European workers struggleto keep up their wages as technol-ogy and globalisation push themdown. Western economies face glo-bal competition, with other countriesbuilding impressive infrastructureand expanding education and workertraining. They face a two-trackeconomy where capital does wellbut labour does not, where collegegraduates thrive but those withoutstrong skills fall behind and whereinequality is rising not just in out-comes but also in opportunities.

Against this backdrop, would afurther round of deregulation domuch? Would cutting taxes fromaround 40 percent unleash growth,especially when it would mean evenlarger deficits? The Simpson-Bowles plan, often seen as a practi-cal solution to US fiscal problems,raises tax revenue by $2.6 trillionand hikes the rates on both capitalgains and dividends.

Margaret Thatcher was, in herown words, a “conviction politi-cian,” but she was successful be-cause her convictions addressed thecentral problems of her time. Theideas that work now will be thosethat solve our problems, not thoseof the 1970s. — Courtesy: TheWashington Post

New problems for Egypt’s Morsi

When the Egyptian Uprisingbegan during 2011, weheard media milling about

in search of apt metaphors to describethe mass protests and revolution inEgypt. Two years after revolutionbegan Egypt is still teetering on theedge. In 2011 the first crowds gath-ered to demand reform and to end updictatorship, barricades went up andwithin days the news was transmit-ted to millions. Like a virus the un-rest leapt from host to host. Most re-cently clashes occurred between dem-onstrators and police forces when tensof thousands across the country tookto the streets to mark the second an-niversary of the revolution. Protest-ers who have been angry with theslow pace of change and with someof the steps President MohamedMorsy has taken clashed with his sup-porters and police in the cities. Theprotests were part of a wave of oppo-sition-led demonstrations in recent

past that have frequently de-volved into street clashes.The court rulings sparkeddeadly clashes between secu-rity forces and relatives of theconvicted. The death sen-tence was passed on

21people accused in connection withthe tragedy in the Egyptian town ofPort Said and the riots engulfed thecountry following “celebrations” ofthe second anniversary of the upris-ing that ousted President HosniMubarak. Perhaps one of the causesof the recent wave of violence is theConstitution also.

The judges, many of whom wereholdover loyalists from the govern-ment of Mubarak, are widely viewedas hostile to the Islamists who nowdominate the assembly that has beencharged with framing a new consti-tution.

The Mubarak regime was criti-cized for fomenting religious bigotryand sectarian divisions; now thirty sixper cent of Egyptians rejected thenew constitution drafted by the Con-stitutional Assembly, which wasdominated by Islamic political par-ties. Almost all members represent-ing secular parties, professional syn-

dicates and the Coptic Church with-drew from the Assembly before thefinal drafting of the Constitution.

Again it feels like Mubarak isback. Opposition is demanding Morsiform a new coalition government,open an investigation into the killingsof protesters over the past months andgive guarantees that upcoming par-liamentary elections will be fair andfree. They have also declared a newrevolution and called President Morsito suspend the recently adopted con-stitution. Prime Minister EssamSharaf has said “hidden hands” werebehind the incidents, and that theywould benefit “the enemies of therevolution.” It feels like no sooner hasa cycle of violence abated than a newone erupts.Many wonder how a peaceful revo-lution that earned the world’s admi-ration two years back has sunk intothis quagmire of unrest and uncer-tainty. And many more are wonder-ing: Is there a way out? Certainly,there is. History shows that manyrevolutions have been associated withlongstanding waves of violence. Buthistory also teaches us that nationalreconciliation and dialogue can pro-vide a smooth, nonviolent way out

of vicious cycles of violence; takeSouth Africa as an example. Now,more than at any other time, a simi-lar change is required at the reli-gious, political and grassroots lev-els to reduce the level of violencein Egyptian streets.

Since Egypt democracy is stillin its infancy, political inclusivenessand power sharing among politicalforces is imperative.

Egypt’s chronic social and eco-nomic problems are too big to besolved by one political party. “neo-liberalism” is crucial to understand-ing the contemporary unfolding ofevents, particularly in terms of theexistence of vast economic inequali-ties and the impoverishment of thedemographic masses, a focus onneo-liberalism alone fails to addressthe question of the historical rela-tionship in Egypt between rulers andruled. The rulers failed to under-stand that above all else economiccollapse breeds revolutions. A coa-lition government, including quali-fied politicians from Islamic andsecular parties can at least bringabout stability in the volatile politi-cal scene and cause the tide of vio-lence to subside.

Asif Haroon RajaEmail: asifharoon7751@yahoo.com

Shaukat M ZafarEmail: smzafar101@gmail.com

Pakistan (SBP) decided to keepthe policy rate unchanged at 9.5percent. The decision was takenby the Central Board of Direc-tors of SBP at its meeting heldunder the chairmanship of Gov-ernor, Mr. Yaseen Anwar.

The decision to keep thepolicy rate unchanged was takenin view of the fact that the bal-ance of payments position con-tinues to be driven by low finan-cial inflows and high debt pay-ments. While the external cur-rent account deficit is expectedto widen further in the remain-ing months of FY13, the netcapital and financial inflows arenot likely to increase consider-ably.

In addition, the SBP has toretire another $838 million ofIMF loans during the remainingperiod of FY13 after makingpayments of $2.2 billion duringthe first three quarters of thecurrent fiscal year. Due to thesedevelopments, the pressure onforeign exchange reserves islikely to remain in the comingmonths.

It was also observed by theBoard that contrary to expecta-tions, the year-on-year inflationhas come down by 1.5 percent-age points; from 8.1 percent inJanuary 2013 to 6.6 percent inMarch 2013 posing divergentpolicy choices for the SBP.While the balance of paymentsposition calls for caution, thedeclining trend in inflation in-dicates a possible resumption ofease in the policy rate.

Contrary to expectations,however, year-on-year inflationhas come down by 1.5 percent-age points; from 8.1 percent inJanuary 2013 to 6.6 percent inMarch 2013. These develop-ments pose divergent policychoices for the SBP. While theformer calls for caution, the lat-ter indicates a possible resump-tion of ease in the policy rate.

The balance of paymentsposition continues to be drivenby low financial inflows andhigh debt payments. A cumula-tive net capital and financial in-flow of $34 million during July– February, FY13 is insufficientto finance the external currentaccount deficit of $700 millionfor the same period. While theexternal current account deficitis expected to widen further inthe remaining months of FY13,the net capital and financial in-flows are not likely to increaseconsiderably. It is important toemphasize that it is not the sizeof the external current accountdeficit, which is projected to besmall and manageable, but thelack of adequate financial in-flows that is exerting pressureon the balance of payments.

The SBP has also to retire

Debt payments depleteforex reserves

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another $838 million of IMFloans during the remaining pe-riod of FY13 after making pay-ments of $2.2 billion during thefirst three quarters of the currentfiscal year.

Thus, the pressure on for-eign exchange reserves is likelyto remain in the comingmonths. So far the SBP hasplayed an active role in man-aging the conditions, but onlya consistent increase in foreignexchange can ensure sustain-able stability in the market. Therole of interest rate is also im-portant in this context as it de-termines the return on rupee de-nominated assets relative to for-eign currency assets. The ideais to discourage speculativedemand for dollars by keepingrupee denominated assets suf-ficiently lucrative.

Real returns on rupee de-nominated assets have margin-ally increased due to a substan-tial decline in inflation. More-over, led by a depreciation of5.2 percent in the Nominal Ef-fective Exchange Rate(NEER), the Real EffectiveExchange Rate (REER) hasalso depreciated by 4.2 percentduring July – February, FY13.This bodes well for the com-petitiveness of the externaltrade sector. However, real costof borrowing has increased,which may be undesirable inthe wake of declining privateinvestment and low growth inthe economy.

Despite continued energyshortages and substantial fiscalborrowings from the bankingsystem, credit extended to pri-vate businesses has shownsome nascent recovery. DuringJuly – February, FY13, loans toprivate businesses have in-creased by Rs173.3 billion asopposed to Rs56.8 billion dur-ing the same period of last year.This has helped in a modestgrowth of 2.9 percent in theLarge Scale Manufacturing(LSM) sector during July –February, FY13 compared to1.9 percent in the correspond-ing period of last year.

A cumulative decline of450 basis points in the policyrate of SBP since the beginningof FY12 has played a role inthis uptick. Moreover, an analy-sis of the balance sheets of themain sectors supports this as-sessment. Thus, both the de-cline in inflation and the needto encourage further borrow-ings by the private sector pointtowards continuation of currentmonetary policy stance and apossible reduction in the policyrate. However, the current bal-ance of payments position anda structural imbalance in fiscal

accounts suggest vigilance.The main implication of

fiscal imbalance for monetarypolicy is excessive borrowingsfrom the banking system, in-cluding the SBP. During 1stJuly – 29th March, FY13, thefiscal authority has borrowedRs853 billion (on cash basis)from the banking system forbudgetary support comparedwith Rs925 billion in the cor-responding period of last yearand against a full-year estimateof Rs484 billion for FY13. Thehigh level of these borrowingshas kept an upward pressure onthe system’s liquidity and thusmarket interest rates and is re-straining growth in the privatesector credit.

The SBP can provide li-quidity through short termOpen Market Operations(OMOs), which has been thecase during most of FY13, aslong as inflation expectationsremain manageable. However,even if inflation continues toremain within the announcedtarget, this approach cannot besustained for longer periodssince it does not address thesource of the problem. Thesource of the problem isuntargeted subsidies and theabsence of meaningful tax re-forms to increase the tax base.The implications are high bor-rowings and a rising debt level,which have considerably in-creased debt servicing expen-ditures.

One consequence of highlevel of subsidies is that thegovernment has managed tokeep a check on administeredprices such as electricity andgas prices and some transpor-tation fares. Apart from financ-ing subsidies, high rate of fis-cal borrowing is being used topay for the already accumulateddebt, which does not representcurrent government demand.Taken together, these two ob-servations largely explain whydespite substantial fiscal bor-rowings and high growth in M2inflation has come down. Inaddition, muted private sectorinvestment expenditures arealso having a dampening effecton aggregate demand and thusinflation.

Even inflation expectationsseem to have moderated, hav-ing a broad-based effect on bothfood and non-food inflation.This is because a major factorin expectation formation is therecent experience of inflation.Thus, not only has year-on-yearCPI inflation dropped to 6.6percent but the 20-percenttrimmed measure of core infla-tion has also declined to 8.4percent in March 2013; the low-est level since October 2009.

OGRA record of CNG licenses’issuance and present before it.

Following Supreme Court’sorders, the FIA raided OGRAoffice and took all CNG li-censes’ record including com-puters into custody. The court,while hearing the case Friday,delayed the action against Direc-tor General ORGRA MoazamHussain and adjourned the hear-ing till 15th April.

Chief Justice IftikharMuhammad Chaudhry observedthat DG OGRA deliberatelyconcealed the facts. “He is try-ing to be over smart but it willnot work here.”

The Supreme Court of Pa-kistan Friday ordered the direc-tor general of Federal Investiga-tion Agency (FIA) to seize theentire Oil and Gas RegulatoryAuthority (OGRA) record.

A three-judge bench of theSC headed by Chief JusticeIftikhar Muhammad Chaudhryheard the CNG licenses caseduring the tenure of former pre-mier Yusuf Raza Gilani and RajaPervez Ashraf.

During the course of pro-ceedings, the SC expressed dis-pleasure over the non-imple-mentation of its orders while di-rected the FIA to monitor therecord of OGRA. The DGOGRA apprised the court thatthe files could be brought to thecourt due to their volume. TheChief Justice ordered the DGFIA to take over the entirerecord of OGRA pertaining tothe CNG licenses.

He continued saying thatlooting and plundering is preva-lent in the entire country. Theaim of the court is to protect thenational asset. We will not al-low anyone to plunder the na-tional wealth. He said thatenough is enough time has comefor accountability Chief JusticeIftikhar Muhammad Chaudhryobserved that DG OGRA delib-erately concealed the facts. “Heis trying to be over smart but itwill not work here.”

The court delayed the actionagainst Director GeneralORGRA Moazam Hussain andordered the secretary petroleumto submit a report over the im-port of CNG cylinders and ad-journed the hearing till April15.—Online

FIA seizesFrom Page 1

candidates on Friday. Mean-while, the Peshawar HighCourt’s tribunal is also hearingthe pleas against the nominationpapers. The appellate tribunaldeclared former state ministerMalik Azmat as eligible to con-test from NA-34 and PK-97.Meanwhile, the Sukkur tribunalallowed Qaim Ali Shah to con-test elections from PS-29.—NNI

Tribunals rejectFrom Page 1

LAHORE: PML-N President Muhammad Nawaz Sharif with former MNA Jaffar Leghari and Meena Leghari who joinedPML-N. Former CM Punjab Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif is also present in the meeting.

KARACHI—Experts haveemphasised the need for intro-ducing more independentpower producers (IPPS) tocurb hours-long unannouncedpower outages in the country.

Speakers expressed thisview at the 6th InternationalPower Conference and Exhi-bition on Emerging EnergyMix for Sustainable PowerGeneration.

The Sindh Youth AffairsDepartment and National Fo-rum for Environment andHealth (NFEH) organised theevent. “The independentpower producers (IPPs) cangenerate more energy withmore efficiency as comparedto public sector, however,government’s facilities andencouragement is required inthis regard,” they added.

Abdullah Yusuf, IPPs Ad-

visory Council chairman, saidthat the power shortage hadbecome a big issue as thecountry’s population had in-creased at a high pace. He saidit is the need of the hour thateffective steps should be takento produce alternative powerlike wind and solar energy.

He said that power produc-ers were facing several prob-lems like high cost of genera-tion, governance issue, fuel ad-justment, adding that the gov-ernment should provide incen-tive to IPPs for generatingpower. India, China and Rus-sia are generating huge quan-tity of alternative energy butPakistan is still lagging behindin this regard. “The coalpower generation in the coun-try should be boosted as it ischeap. There is also need torevise NEPRA tariff, while

Karachi conference on energyCall for power crises emergency

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Former Chief Minis-ter Shahbaz on Friday has said thatthe PML-N would bring about aradical change in the lifestyle ofthe common man after coming topower.

Talking to party workers heclaimed, the Nawaz Sharif-ledMuslim League was expected toform government not only at Cen-tre but also in the province as theparty had emerged as a sole popu-lar political force during the lastfive years.

He pointed out that conspira-cies were being hatched againstthe party leadership and vowed tofoil them with the support of thepeople.

He said, under the circum-stances, the country needed a pi-ous and committed leadership andclaimed Nawaz Sharif was theonly person who had the capabil-ity to lead it to prosperity.

PML-N govt to ensure masses welfareHe criticised opponents of the

metro bus service, laptop schemeand Danish schools and said theprevious Punjab government hadspent huge public money on de-velopment schemes with com-plete transparency.

He said the national economywas not in good shape and if votedto power again, the PML-N wouldput the economy back on trackeven though it would be an ex-tremely tough challenge in thepresent situation. Shahbaz Sharifdirected party workers to expeditetheir election campaign and con-tact voters to muster their supportfor the party.

Leader of Leghari tribe andformer MNA Sardar Jafar Legharialong with his wife former MNAMeena Leghari on Friday joinedPML-N after a meeting withPML-N President Nawaz Sharifand former chief minister PunjabShahbaz Sharif at PML-N Cen-tral Secretariat.

According to a spokesman forPML-N, the both belonging toDera Ghazi Khan showed theirfull trust and support in the lead-ership of PML-N. The PML-Nwould win the next elections dueto its popularity among the people,they added.

Meanwhile, a delegation offormer UC-Nazims Lahore joinedPML-N after a meeting withformer chief minister PunjabShahbaz Sharif at PML-N Cen-tral Secretariat.

According to a spokesman ofPML-N, a UC-Nazim delegationled by Rana Musheer Iqbal andTalha Barki included former UC-142 Nazim Tariq Javed and UC-64 former Nazim Malik Rehmatmet former chief minister andjoined PML-N.

The former UC-Nazims ap-preciated PML-N’s policies forthe welfare of people and showedtheir full trust and support in theleadership of PML-N.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Lahore TransportCompany (LTC) has launchedstate of the art air conditionedBus Service from Thokar NiazBaig to Jallo on Route B-22.Efficient, affordable and com-fortable transport facilities arebeing provided to general pub-lic on this route reflects the firmcommitment of company.

This is made possible as aresult of private public partner-ship between Lahore TransportCompany and Foton Busco

LTC launches AC bus serviceCompany. New bus service willprovide relief to the people whowere averse from the dearth ofpublic transport on this route.

This was stated by theChief Executive Officer LTCKhawaja Haider Latif whileaddressing the high levelmeeting at LTC Headquarterheld in connection to reviewthe various initiatives.

Chief Operating OfficerOmar Pirzada, Chief FinancialOfficer Mariyam Khawar, Man-ager Enforcement ChaudhryShafique and senior officials

were also present in the meet-ing.

Khawaja Haider Latif hassaid that Lahore Transport Com-pany since its inception is play-ing effective role in planning,regulating and facilitating thegeneral public underlying mod-ern transport system in the city.

He has further said that theenforcement wing is being regu-larly monitored by the senior of-ficials of LTC to keep an eyeover traffic infringements to en-sure smooth operation of publictransport in Lahore.

LAHORE—On the orders ofcaretaker chief minister ofPunjab, Najam Sethi, an amountof Rs500,000 has been releasedfor the ailing renowned folksinger Reshma, who is currentlyundergoing medical treatment ata local hospital here.

The Chief Minister also an-nounced a monthly stipend of

Caretaker govtto complete itstask: Minister

LAHORE—Provincial Ministerfor minorities affairs and humanrights, Jamshed Rehmatullah hassaid that despite its short tenurethe caretaker government willcomplete the task assigned to it.He was addressing a receptionheld in his honour at Saint PetersSchool/Church Waris Road byBishop Robert Samuel Azariahand Executive Committee Dio-cese of Raiwind, Church of Pa-kistan. Provincial minister saidthat representation of minoritieswas a big honour for him andhoped he would come up to theirexpectations.

The minister thanked the or-ganizers for holding the functionand prayed for the progress andprosperity of the country. BishopRobert Azariah and others ad-dressed on the occasion and fe-licitated the minister on assumingthe office. Pastor Naseem Fiaz,Peter Azariah, Pastor AkmalRana, Qadir Buksh, Mrs.Shaukat, Mrs. Dr. KhushnoodAzariah, Principal Rena Shakir,Mrs. Qadir Buksh, Mrs. Kamran,Wasbi, General Secretary, Na-tional Council of Churches Vic-tor Azariah were also present onthe occasion.

Meanwhile, KhateebBadshahi Masjid MaulanaAbdul Khabir Azad called onJamshed Rehmatullah in his of-fice and discussed matters re-garding promotion of religiousharmony, tolerance and broth-erhood.—APP

began launching attacks in Pa-kistan in 2004, by which timeMusharraf had been presidentfor five years after taking powerin a bloodless coup. He said thatPakistani leaders would OKU.S. drone strikes after discus-sions involving military and in-telligence units and only if“there was no time for our ownmilitary to act.” This happened“only rarely,” said Musharraf,who left office in 2008 and spentyears in exile before returningto Pakistan last month to launcha political comeback. But some-times, he said, “you couldn’tdelay action.” “These ups anddowns kept going,” he said. “Itwas a very fluid situation, a vi-cious enemy, mountains, inac-cessible areas.” Musharraf saidthat one of those killed by U.S.drones was Nek Mohammed, atribal leader accused of harbor-ing al Qaeda militants inPakistan’s western border re-gion.—INP

Musharraf admitsFrom Page 1

insurgency. However, Obamaadministration has opted to re-tain the flow of assistance toPakistan at $1.3 billion in theensuring fiscal year.The pro-posed assistance for Pakistanduring American fiscal 2014,beginning October this year, in-cludes about $860 million indevelopment or non-militaryassistance and $300 million inmilitary assistance under theForeign Military Financingprogramme, the newspaperadded.—Agencies

US decides to endFrom Page 1

spoke following a late nightmeeting Thursday between thecountry’s top brass andIslamist President MohammedMorsi.

The meeting appeared tohave been prompted by recentmedia leaks of parts of a reportby a fact-finding mission com-missioned by Morsi to investi-gate the deaths and abuses ofprotesters during and after theuprising that toppled autocratHosni Mubarak in 2011.

The mission, whose reportwas finalized in late Decem-ber but has yet to be madepublic, reportedly found thatthe army unlawfully detainedprotesters and was possiblyinvolved in killings of someduring the uprising and duringthe military’s nearly 17-month

rule of Egypt after Mubarak’souster.

The Guardian, the Britishnewspaper, quoted parts of thereport it obtained, describing themilitary’s torturing of detainedprotesters, its role in the forceddisappearance of others, andits possible responsibility fora number of killings of somewho went missing and thenturned up dead with signs oftorture and beatings during the18-day protests againstMubarak.

The leaked findings areconsistent with previous alle-gations against the military byinternational and local rightsgroups. But the leaks providespecific testimonies and de-tails of abuses, which the mili-tary has always denied.—AP

Egypt army chief warnsagainst slandering mily

From Page 1

subsidies and bill collection is-sues are also hitting power sec-tor hard,” he said. Whole sys-tem should be restructured toboost power sector, he added.He called for creation of en-ergy ministry to resolve powercrisis and other issues amica-bly. Zubair Malik, presidentFPCCI, called for providingpower supply to industries fortheir sustainability and eco-nomic stability of the country.

Mr. Arif Alauddin, CEOAlternative Energy Develop-ment Board (AEDB) said thattheir 4 wind energy projectswould serve as a model forother projects, as the pace ofdevelopment of another 400-600 MW would get acceler-ated. These wind powerprojects are expected toachieve financial close duringthe current year.—Agencies

Kerry to NorthKorea: Don’ttest missile

SEOUL—US Secretary of StateJohn Kerry delivered a starkwarning to North Korea on Fri-day not to test-fire a mid-rangemissile, while rejecting a newU.S. intelligence report suggest-ing significant progress in thecommunist regime’s nuclearweapons program.

Kicking off four days oftalks in an East Asia beset byincreasing North Korean threats,Kerry told reporters in Seoul thatPyongyang and its enigmaticyoung leader would only increasetheir isolation if they launchedthe missile that American offi-cials believe has a range ofsome 2,500 miles — or enoughto reach the U.S. territory ofGuam.

“If Kim Jong Un decides tolaunch a missile, whether it’sacross the Sea of Japan or someother direction, he will bechoosing willfully to ignore theentire international commu-nity,” Kerry told reporters.“And it will be a provocationand unwanted act that will raisepeople’s temperatures.”

Kerry said the test would bea “huge mistake” for Kim.

“It will further isolate hiscountry and further isolate hispeople who are desperate forfood and not missile launches,”he warned. “They are desper-ate for opportunity and not fora leader to flex his muscles.”

Kerry’s diplomatic tour,while planned long in advance,is unusual in that it brings himdirectly to a region of escalatedtensions and precisely at a timewhen North Korea is threaten-ing action. The North oftentimes its military and nucleartests to generate maximum at-tention, and Kerry’s presenceon the peninsula alone riskedspurring Pyongyang into an-other provocation. Another keydate is the 101st birthday of thenation’s founder, Kim Il Sung,on April 15.

After meeting South Ko-rean President Park Geun-hyeand Foreign Minister YunByung-se, Kerry also weighedin on an intelligence report thatrocked Washington on Thurs-day and suggested that NorthKorea now had the knowhowto arm a ballistic missile with anuclear warhead — even if theweapons would lack reliability.Citing the Pentagon’s assess-ment, Kerry rejected the find-ing and said that Pyongyangstill hadn’t developed or fullytested the nuclear capacitiesneeded for such a step.—AP

Rs 25,000 for Reshma.Earlier, the caretaker CM

while lauding Reshma for her in-valuable contributions in the pro-motion of Pakistan’s culture andmusic said that she, through herfolk singing, introduced the richculture of Pakistan to the world.

He said that the Governmentof Pakistan values Reshma’s con-tribution and would do its utmost

for her medical treatment. Sethialso directed the relevant authori-ties for providing every possibleassistance and best medical treat-ment to the folk songstress.

He as well prayed for herearly recovery. It may be men-tioned that the President of Paki-stan had already authorized a sti-pend of Rs.10,000/- per month forReshma.—INP

Rs 500,000 released for ailingfolk singer Reshman

BIPIN DANI

OBSERVER

CORRESPONDENT

MUMBAI—Fawad Ahmed,the Pakistan-born leg breakbowler is ‘most likely” tobe yet another Asia-bornplayer to play for Austra-lia.

Three years ago hewent to Australia on a shortvisit and immediately ap-plied for a refugee status.

“Fawad may join a num-ber of Asian-born cricket-ers who have gone on torepresent Australia (ortheir state). UsmanKhawaja (Pakistan-born)and Dav Whatmore (SriLanka-born) are two suchexamples”, Grant Pouler,Cricket Australia’s Govern-ment & Community Rela-

Fawad Ahmed all set to get Australianpassport citizenship very soon

tions Manager said.“As per ICC regulations,

a player can become eligiblefor consideration for nationalselection for a country oncehe has lived in that countryfor a period of 183 days mini-mum in four consecutiveyears. As a result, Fawadwould become eligible forconsideration for nationalselection for Australia on 18August 2013”, he added.

“We note that under thesame ICC regulations, shouldFawad be granted Australiancitizenship and an Australianpassport before that date, hewould become eligible imme-diately for consideration fornational selection”, he fur-ther added.

“The citizenship issue isa matter for the Federal Min-ister for Immigration and Citi-

zenship, BrendanO’Connor”.

According to thesources, Fawad is likely toget this status “very soon”.

“Players like Fawadfrom non-traditional back-grounds competing in theBupa Sheffield Shield, PrimeMinister’s XI and possiblyin the future at a higherlevel will reinforce thatcricket is a sport for all Aus-tralians”, Pouler added.

“Fawad has played forVictoria in the BupaSheffield Shield, in theRyobi One-Day Final (histhird Ryobi Cup game) andfor the Melbourne Ren-egades in the KFC Big BashLeague this season. He hasplayed all three forms of thegame this year”, he signedoff.

LAHORE: Students participating in a race during 113th Annual Sport Day 2013 at Government College University.

MADRID—The pairing ofBarcelona with BayernMunich and Real Madridwith Borussia Dortmund inFriday’s Champions Leaguesemi-final draw has left Spaindreaming of an El Clasico fi-nal at Wembley in May.

A completely open drawin Nyon meant that Barca andMadrid could have beenpaired together in the lastfour for the second time inthree seasons, but havingboth drawn German opposi-tion they could now meet inthe final for the first time.

“A Madrid-Barca final.The dream final. These 110years of rivalry, these lastthree of four years that haveattracted the attention of thewhole world to the Clasicosdeserves something likethis,” enthused AlfredoRelano, editor of Madridsports daily AS.

“A final duel in the MainStreet of the town. A Cham-pions League final atWembley, in the 150th yearof the creation of football inthis same city that producedthis miracle. I am dreaming.”

Madrid probablyemerged from the draw hap-piest of all the four teams in-volved. “It was all thatMadrid could have asked for,with the return-leg at homeas well,” wrote Relano.

“That is not to say I think

Semi draw leaves Spaindreaming of Clasico final

Dortmund are a Cinderella,but among what is left, theywere the preferred one.”

However, Dortmundhave already beaten the nine-times European Championsin the group stages of thisseason’s competition andalso managed a 2-2 draw atthe Bernabeu to ensure theytopped the group.

And not everyone within

the Real halls is getting quiteas excited as Relano.

“We respect BorussiaDortmund and I need to saythat we played them twicealready this season andweren’t able to beat them, soeliminating them will not beeasy,” former Real striker andnow the club’s director of in-stitutional relations EmilioButragueno was keen tostress.

Yet, having failed at this

stage of the competitionagainst Barca and Bayern ineach of the last two seasons,there is a growing expecta-tion that Jose Mourinho’sthird season in Madrid couldbe the lucky one.

And as long as they man-age to reach their first final in11 years, there will be littleconcern in the Spanish capi-tal whether the old foe they

meet is from Barcelona orBavaria.

For Barca, meanwhile, atie with Bayern is given extraintrigue by former coach PepGuardiola’s decision to jointhe Bavarians at the begin-ning of next season.

Bayern are arguably theform team in Europe havingalready sealed theBundesliga title with sixgames to go and they dis-missed Italian champions

Juventus 4-0 on aggregate inthe quarter-finals.

However, of more con-cern for Barca is in what sortof physical condition a num-ber of their key players willbe by the time the first-leg ofthe semi-final comes along in11 days time.

Lionel Messi should befit to play after not aggravat-ing his hamstring injury in the1-1 draw with Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesdaywhich secured Barca’s pas-sage to the semis on awaygoals.

At the back, though,there are more questions withAdriano suspended for thefirst-leg and Carles Puyol andJavier Mascherano still outinjured.

Yet, despite those doubtsthere is still the belief thatwith a fit Messi, Barca canreturn to Wembley, wherethey have already won Euro-pean football’s greatest prizeon two occasions.

“There will be great play-ers, great coaches and greatfans, everything will be in abig dose,” Barca sporting di-rector Andoni Zubizarretatold the club’s website.

“When you look at thesquad and history of Bayernit shows that they are a greatclub, but when I look at ours,I see the same. It is a chal-lenge for us.”—AFP

KA R A C H I—The PakistanCricket Board (PCB) hasconfirmed that former Zim-babwe player, Grant Flower,is being considered for theposition of the nationalteam’s batting coach amongother candidates,ESPNCricinfo reported.

Flower is currently serv-ing as Zimbabwe’s battingcoach but his contract ex-pires in August.

Pakistan Cricket Boardannounced they were look-ing for a batting coach inNovember 2012 to addressPakistan’s batting slump af-ter they flopped in theWorld Twenty20.

Pakistan hired Inzamam

PCB considering GrantFlower for batting coach

ul Haq as a batting consult-

ant before the team’s tourof India in December 2012.

Pakistan has been on thelookout for a coach to over-come batting weaknessesthat have proved trouble-some at an internationallevel.

Previously, severalformer Pakistan playerssuch as Zaheer Abbas andSaleem Malik offered theirservices as batting coach.

Pakistan hired formerAustralian batsman DavWhatmore as head coach inMarch last year followed byEnglishman Julian Fountainas fielding coach andMohammad Akram as bowl-ing coach.

KARACHI—Pakistan cricketicon Wasim Akram demandedprivacy and respect from fansand media alike Friday, call-ing for an end “once and forall” to rumours he is marry-ing Bollywood heroineSushmita Sen.

The famed paceman hasbeen linked constantly in themedia to the 1994 Miss Uni-verse since they were judgesin 2008 Indian dance show“Aik Khilari, Aik Haseena” (Aplayer, a beauty).

Wasim, a widower sincehis wife Huma died in Octo-ber 2009, said he is fed up.

“I am tired of denyingsuch rumours and now I wantthis to end once and for all,”Wasim told after Indian me-dia claimed Thursday thatthe couple were about to tiethe knot in Mumbai.

Wasim said he and Senare good friends only.

“She is one of the mostgraceful and decent ladies Ihave come across,” saidWasim of the 37-year-oldBollywood star. “It washuge fun working as judgewith Sushmita as she is athorough professional andpresents herself grace-fully.”

The dance show alsofeatured Indian cricket starsHarbhajan Singh, DineshKarthik, Irfan Pathan,Shanthakumaran Sreesanth,Nikhil Chopra and VinodKambli and was also telecaston a leading Pakistani chan-nel.

Wasim described the

Wasim Akram calls for endto ‘marriage’ rumours

show as a good experience.“The show was well re-

ceived and was admiredacross the borders and thatwas it. If I get another chanceto work with her I will do butI want the media of both thecountries to respect us,” saidWasim.

Wasim said he is devotedto bringing up his two sons,

Taimur and Akbar.“I want to bring them up

and make them good andsuccessful human beings, somy life is devoted to mysons,” said Wasim.

Sen has two adopteddaughters and has yet tomarry. Wasim said their per-sonal lives should be re-spected.—APP

MULTAN: Players in action during All Punjab Inter Division Girls TaekwondoChampionship.

OISSA 5-a-sideHockey Cupfrom April 27

K A R A C H I — O l y m p i a nIftikhar Syed Sports Acad-emy (OISSA) is holding aninaugural 5-a- Side HockeyTournament at their turf fromApril 27, it was announcedhere on Friday.

The event is beingstaged to celebrate the tri-umph of Pakistan U16Hockey team in the Asia Cup5- a- Side Hockey Tournamentheld in Singapore.

Competition will be heldat the academy’s indoorarena under flood lights.

The event will be held asper the rules and regulationof International Hockey Fed-eration (FIH).

Players in age group ofUnder30 would be allowed totake part in the event as perthe directive of PakistanHockey Federation.

All registered clubs ofKarachi Hockey Associationare eligible to take part. In-terested players are advisedto contact Adil Askari on cellNo.0300-2190390 for registra-tion and details.—APP

LAHORE—In all 94 top golf-ers of the country completedtheir first round in the PunjabOpen Golf Championship atthe par-72 Gujranwala Golf andCountry Club Golf Course.

Islamabad’s MohammadShabbir and Mohammad Naziremerged as the top contend-ers.

As many as 42 profes-sional golfers produced scoresof excellence through underpar rounds and nine participat-ing professionals have cardsof level par.

The inaugural shot of thischampionship was hit by Lt.Gen. Muzzamal Hussain,Corps Commander,Gujranwala.

As for the individual per-formances Shabbir and Nazir ,reflected class and stunningcapabilities, their shot makingtop of the line and the shortgame champion like. In theopening round Shabbir hadeight birdies, the first three ina sequence on the openingthree holes followed by otherfive ,on holes 7,8,10,12,and 18.

First round of Punjab Opengolf championships completed

Overall he had eight birdies,six pars and two bogies andan 18 holes aggregate of gross66,six under par.

Shabbir’s partner on thefirst days leader board, Naziralso had an aggregate scoreof gross 66,six under par, madepossible by seven birdies, tenregulation pars and only onebogie. Nazir managed the bird-ies on holes 3,5,7,9,11,14 and16.

“I played easy in the firstround “said Shabbir and fur-ther added,” I stayed morelevel emotionally and that iseasy to do when you are play-ing well”. Nazir said,”I reallylike the Gujranwala Golf Courseand it is easy to hit good shotson the crisp fairways and I amvery pleased with the condi-tions on the golf course”.

One stroke away from thetwo leaders are TalatIjaz(Lahore Gymkhana) andMohammad Tariq(Islamabad).These two havelooked really spectacular in thefirst round and with impressiveperformance have added a daz-

zling touch to this champion-ship. Talat had a round ofgross 67,five under par ,com-piled with the help of six bird-ies ,eleven pars and one loststroke on the 5th hole.Hisscore mateTariq had five bird-ies, thirteen pars and his roundwas bogie free.

Others who have managedto perform exceedingly well,yetlag behind the leaders by a twostroke deficit are Shafiq Masih(Gymkhana) 68 along with AliAsghar (Islamabad), NisarHussain (Pwr), MatloobAhmed (Lahore Garrison) andthe very young and talentedone Hamza Amin who hastravelled from Austria to be apart of this championship.These five champions of sub-stance were joyous about theirscore of 68,four under par butcertainly felt unsatisfied withtheir positioning on the leaderboard. And by virtue of thisthe realization has sunk in thatthe national golf circuit hasalso become demanding interms of performance excel-lence.—APP

National U-16Hockey C’shipfrom April 28

PESHAWAR—The secondedition of National Under-16Boys Hockey Championshipwill be played at NationalHockey Stadium, Lahorefrom April 28 to May 6, 2013in which all qualified regionalteams would take part.

In this connection thePakistan Hockey Federationhas appointed a panel oftechnical officials in order tohold the event in befittingmanners.

Former OlympianMuhammad Tahir Zaman wasappointed as TournamentDirector with another Olym-pian Rehan Butt as AssistantTournament Director (TD).Muhammad Shafique Bhattiand Hassan Akhtar havebeen appointed as Tourna-ment Officers (TOs) while thejudges comprising AllahDad, Rana Muhammad Afzal,Haroon Saeed, ZulfiqarBhutto, Muhammad Pervaizand Ihsan-ul-Haq Babar withRashad Mahmood Butt willact as umpire manager andRana Khalid Iqbal as assis-tant umpire manager.

A panel of umpires hasalso been announced withthe following members in-cluding Haider Rasool, RanaMuhammad Liaqat, AmirHamza, Atif Malik, MunirAhmed, Kamran Sharif,Kamran Hussain, RanaMuhammad Sajid andMahmood Ali.

The pre-Tournamentbriefing meetings will be heldby the Tournament Directoron April 27, 2013.—APP

Haas crashesout in HoustonHOUSTON (Texas)—Secondseed Tommy Haas crashedout of the US Clay CourtChampionships in Houstonon Friday, suffering a straightsets defeat to RicardasBerankis of Lithuania.

The German veteran —who had inflicted a shockdefeat on world number oneNovak Djokovic at the MiamiMasters last month — wassent tumbling out 6-3 6-3 atthe River Oaks CountryClub.

It was just the secondtime this year the 35-year-oldHaas lost his opening match.

In other matches onThursday, Nicolas Almagrocontinued his dominance ofGael Monfils on clay by ral-lying past the former worldnumber seven 2-6, 6-0, 6-3 intheir second round tie.

Almagro, of Spain, hasnow won three of five careermeetings against the French-man, including all three timesthey have met on the claysurface. Almagro finishedwith three aces, one doublefault and won 74 percent ofhis first-serve points in the85-minute match.

Almagro advances to thethird round where he will facePaolo Lorenzi who won an all-Italian duel by beating FlavioCipolla 7-6 (7/4), 6-1.—AFP

Brazil slumpto lowest everworld ranking

PARIS—Brazil have slumped totheir lowest ever position inworld football, according toFIFA’s latest world rankingspublished.

The 2014 World Cup hosts,automatic qualifiers for the tour-nament, dropped one place to19th in the list, which also sawCroatia jump five places andbreak into the top five.

The top three were un-changed with world championsSpain at number one followedby Germany and Brazil’s archSouth American foes, Argen-tina.

Croatia, who owe theirsharp climb to fourth largely totheir recent 2-0 “derby” winover Serbia, sit above Portugal(+2), Colombia, England, Italy(-3), Holland (-1) and Ecuador(+1), who complete the top 10.

Brazil, who are on a diet offriendlies ahead of their stag-ing of next year’s World Cup,registered a brace of draws inMarch, 1-1 against Russia and2-2 with Italy, before seeing offBolivia 4-0.

The South Americans, five-time winners of football’s big-gest prize, have dropped in therankings because FIFA’s listawards more points for quali-fying matches than friendlies.

England dropped threeplaces to seventh followingtheir 1-1 World Cup qualifyingdraw in Montenegro, whichcame after an 8-0 victory againstminnows San Marino.—Online

BC mangunned downQUETTA—An official ofBalochistan Constabularywas shot dead in Quetta’sSariyab Road area on Friday,media reports said. Officialssaid unknown armed targetedHabib Ullah near ChakiShahwani at Sariyab areawhen he left his home. Hedeceased, who was identifiedas Balochistan Constabularyofficial, was shifted to hos-pital but was pronounceddead on arrival.—Online

Grenade hurled atcandidate’s houseLANDI KOTAL—House of alocal candidate of AwamiNational Party (ANP) was at-tacked in a remote area ofKhyber Agency bordering Af-ghanistan, with no casualtiesreported. Sources told thatunknown miscreants hurledhand grenades at the resi-dence of Munaf Afridi who iscontesting elections from NA-46 of the tribal agency. Noloss of life, however, was re-ported in the incident as thecandidate remained safe inthe attack.—Online

Khursheed, Rahimdiscuss issuesMIRPURKHAS—Ex federalminister and senior PPP leaderSyed Khursheed Shah met onFriday with chief of PeoplesMuslim league and ex Sindhchief Minister Dr ArbabGhulam Raheem here at Marihouse, in which a serious ex-postulated was exchnagedbetween both leaders. Afterdiscussing confidential meet-ing both leaders told mediathat, as the first step theyopened door of dialogue andalso discussed about reserva-tion on candidates and seatadjustment in Mirpurkhhasdivision. —APP

World Health DaycommemoratedSUKKUR—Sindh Rural Sup-port Organization (SRSO), incollaboration with Help AgeInternational, organised a semi-nar on Hypertension/ HighBlood Pressure to observeWorld Health Day with thetheme “Age Demands Actionon Health,” here on Friday.The Seminar was attended byrepresentatives of national in-stitutions, Sindh Health De-partment, local NGOs,academia, journalists and se-nior citizens of the region. Thespeakers on this occasionhighlighted the challenge interms of social protection ingeneral and health protectionin particular, because of anageing Pakistan. On the occa-sion in his presentation, Dr.Amanullah Soomro reportedthat Hypertension is a silentkiller and 1 in every 3 adults issuffering from it. He said that1 in 3 adults with hypertensiondo not know that he/ she hasthis disease, whereas 1 in 3adults taking treatment of hy-pertension cannot keep it un-der control. —APP

ISLAMABAD: Former President Gen (Retd) Pervez Musharraf is escorted by soldiers after he leaves the High Court.

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—Sindh caretakergovernment on Friday or-dered transfers and postingsof 42 top officials in provin-cial bureaucracy on the direc-tives of the Election Commis-sion, Sindh.

The Election Commissionhad Thursday asked thecaretaker govern-ment totransfer those 65 top officialsagainst whom complaintswere re-ceived for favouringcertain political parties in theprovince.

In this regard, provincialSecretaries of 16 depart-ments, Commission-ers of 4divisions and deputy Com-missioners of 20 districtshave been transferred. Thecaretaker government has is-sued notification in this re-gard. Further transfers andpostings were in pipeline inpursuance to the directivesof the Election Commission.However, Karachi Commis-sioner and DCs of 5 districts

of Karachi were not in the list.According to details,

Malik Israr Hussain has beenposted as Sindh Board ofRevenue Senior memberwhile Sindh Wildlife Secre-tary Mu-hammad Waseemwould be the additional ChiefSecretary of Sindh HomeDepartment. Dr Riaz AhmedMemon was posted asHyderabad Commis-sioner,Niaz Ali Abbasi would beSukkur Commissioner andSaeed Ah-med Mangnijowould be Mirpur Khas Com-missioner. Sindh Board ofRevenue Senior MemberShah Zar Shamoon was pos-ited to Enquiries and AntiCorruption Establishment asChairman with effect fromApril 16. Additional ChiefSecretary Sindh Home De-partment was transferred toSindh Board of Revenue asSenior Member.

Lala Fazl Ur Rehmanwould be Secretary SindhWildlife department whileSeema Najeeb was posted as

Secretary Women Develop-ment De-partment.Muhammad Farooq Leghariwas posted as Secretary En-ergy and Dr Atta MuhammadPanwhar would be SecretaryLive Stock and Fisheries.

Muhammad WaseemUrsani was posted as Secre-tary Excise and Taxa-tionwhile Muhammad Rashidwas posted as Director Gen-eral Provincial Services Acad-emy. Pervez Ahmed Junejowas transferred to KatchiAbadis as

Secretary andMakhdoom Shakil Uz Zamanwas posted as Special Sec-retary Sindh Local Govern-ment Department. NazeerHussain Jamali was asked toreport to Services and Gen-eral Administration Depart-ment while Dr Iqbal SaeedKhan was posited as Direc-tor General Gorakh Hill Au-thority. Riaz Ahmed Memonwas posted as Special Fi-nance Secretary Excise andTaxation Department.

Major reshuffle in Sindh bureaucracy

16 Secretaries, 4 Commissioners,20 DCs transferred

ISLAMABAD—Islamabad HighCourt (IHC) has granted in-terim bail to Pervez Musharraffor 6 days in the case of No-vember, 3, 2007 steps, imple-mentation of PCO and sack-ing and internment of over 60judges of Supreme and highcourts by him.

He has been directed tofurnish two surety bonds inthe sum of Rs 500000 each.IHC bench comprising JusticeShaukat Aziz Siddiqui heardthe petition filed by the formerpresident Pervez Musharrafseeking interim bail.

Pervez Musharraf alongwith his counsel Qamar Afzaladvocate appeared before thebench. Qamar Afzal advocateprayed the court to admit in-terim bail in respect of his cli-ent. Justice Shaukat AzizSiddiqui inquired “ as to whyyou have not appeared beforethe relevant court. He repliedthat he could not appear theredue to security concerns.

Counsel for PervezMusharraf further argued thatFIR registered against his cli-ent was based on malafide in-tent and the petitioner fearedhe may be arrested by localpolice. If Pervez Musharraf wasarrested then he could sustainirreparable loss, therefore, bailbe granted to him in this case,he prayed. The court ad-journed the hearing of the casetill April, 18 besides directingPervez Musharraf to convincethe court on next hearing as towhy he had not appeared be-fore the subordinate court.

It may be recalled that Sec-retariat police registered FIRagainst Pervez Musharraf onAugust, 11, 2009 under theorders of Additional SessionsJudge Islamabad. It was saidin the FIR which was lodgedby Chaudhry MuhammadAslam Ghumman that judicialsystem of the country was dis-rupted due to illegal and un-constitutional steps taken by

Pervez Musharraf on Novem-ber, 3, 2007.

This not only caused em-barrassment among the peoplebut it also earned bad name forthe country in the comity ofnations. Pervez Musharrafsacked and house arrested 60judges of superior judiciaryincluding Chief Justice of Pa-kistan Iftikhar MuhammadChaudhry under illegal andunconstitutional PCO on No-vember, 3, 2007.These judges were kept in ha-beas corpus for five and a halfmonth. The judges were barredfrom performing their duty,barbed wire was erectedaround their residences andtheir movement was banned.Therefore, case be registeredagainst Pervez Musharraf andhe be proceeded against un-der law.

Later civil judge Islamabad,Muhammad Abbas Shah haddeclared Pervez Musharrafproclaimed offender.—Online

Pervez Musharraf grantedinterim bail for 6 days

President briefedon FATA law,

order situationI S L A M A B A D —Governo rKhyber Pakhtunkhwa Engi-neer Shaukatullah and ChiefMinister Mr. Justice (Retd)Tariq Pervez called on Presi-dent Asif Ali Zardari inIslamabad on Friday and dis-cussed overall situation in theprovince and Tribal Areas.

Khyber PakhtunkhwaGovernor, CM met PresidentZardari and discussed elec-tions relating matters TheGovernor briefed the Presi-dent on law and order situa-tion in FATA.

They also discussedmatters pertaining to freeand fair election in the prov-ince. —Online

National Partyannounces election

manifestoQUETTA—National Partyhas announced its electionmanifesto here on Friday.The manifesto was an-nounced by the party chiefAbdul Malik.

The manifesto demandsconstitution of an indepen-dent commission onBalochistan situation.

It demands early recov-ery of missing political work-ers and withdrawal of casesagainst political leaders andworkers. The manifesto callsfor ensuring return of dis-placed persons.—NNI

PIA offers specialUmrah fares

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—In order to tapthe increasing Umrah trafficPIA has decided to offer spe-cial Umrah fares.

According to PIA, Thespecial fares are Rs. 40,000/-from Karachi and Rs. 48,000/- from other cities of Pakistaninclusive of taxes and fuelsurcharge. The offer is validtill 31st May 2013.

The decision was takenafter a meeting held at PIAHead Office to review PIAUmrah Operation 2013. Chair-man PIA, Lt. General (Retd.)Asif Yasin Malik directed air-line officials to provide maxi-mum facilities to PIA UmrahPassengers. The meetingwas attended by ManagingDirector PIA, MuhammadJunaid Yunus and senior of-ficials of the airline.

Earlier, Chairman PIA, Lt.General (Retd.) Asif YasinMalik and Managing Direc-tor PIA, Muhammad JunaidYunus, visited PIA Township(Staff Residential Colony)near PIA Head Office. Chair-man PIA instructed DirectorHuman Resources PIA andGeneral Manager Works toensure proper maintenanceof PIA Township includingthe maintenance of streets,its lighting and paint work ofthe residential flats.

He also instructed PIASecurity Division to providebetter security for PIA Town-ship.

The employees wel-comed the Chairman andManaging Director PIA andthanked them for their inter-est in improving the ameni-ties of PIA Township.

G8 ministers failto agree on SyriaLONDON–Foreign ministersfrom the G8 group of richcountries failed to patch updeep divisions over Syria andcondemned North Korea’sthreats but did not announceany concrete measures toaddress Pyongyang’s provo-cations during a meeting inLondon.

Foreign Secretary WilliamHague, speaking after talkswith his counterparts, admit-ted the world had done toolittle to try to resolve Syria’stwo-year-old conflict, inwhich an estimated 70,000people have been killed.

“The United Nations Se-curity Council has not ful-filled its responsibilities be-cause it is divided. That divi-sion continues. Have wesolved that division at thismeeting? No. We didn’t ex-pect to do so,” Hague toldreporters.

ISLAMABAD: Women from Jamia Hafza seen removingthe party posters of Pervez Musharraf from the poles nearMelody Market.

Jamia Hafsa students vent anger on Musharraf posters STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Female stu-dents of Jamia Hafsa on Fri-day vent their anger on theposters carrying images offormer military dictatorPervez Musharraf placed byhis supporters in differentareas of the federal capital.Students clad in Burqas at-tacking posters of the formerpresident with sticks andknives.

According to reports, thestudents also carrying lad-ders, iron rods, kniveschanted slogans againstMusharraf while tearingdown his posters.

In July 2007, securityforces laid siege to LalMasjid and Jamia Hafsaseminary led by two broth-ers Maulana Abdul Aziz andAbdul Rashid Ghazi afteraccusing them ofharbouring militants, arsonattacks and challenginggovernment writ in the fed-eral capital.

STAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—COAS GeneralAshfaq Parvez Kayani on Fri-day visited Bajaur and Swat inconnection with inaugurationof projects completed underUAE Pakistan Assistance Pro-gram (UPAP).

COAS inaugurated Tech-nical College at Khar, Bajaur.The college will provide di-ploma level technical educa-tion for upto 450 students in

various disciplines of Engi-neering including electrical,mechanical, civil and mining.Pakistan Army Engineers havecompleted the project at thecost of Rs 266.2 Million in lessthan two years.

Later, COAS went toShamozai, Swat for the inau-guration of Sheikh Zayed BinSultan Al Nahyan Bridge atthe site of the old ShamozaiBridge. Talking on the occa-sion, COAS appreciated the

quality of the work done andexpressed thanks - on behalfof the Government of Pakistan- to the Government andpeople of UAE for their sup-port in carrying out criticallyneeded development work inthe terrorism affected areas ofFATA and Swat.

He expressed hope thatsuch projects will alleviatethe hardships faced bypeople of the area and helproot out terrorism.

Kayani lauds UAE role inuplift of terror affected areas

KARACHI—All city wardensFriday quit work and parkedvehicles at head office forunlimited period after threefellows’ murder in the city.Unknown armed attackershave shot dead five city war-dens, when they were per-forming their duties in differ-ent parts of the metropolis.

Seeing no safety forthem, all city wardens haverefused to perform duties asprotest against brutal mur-ders of fellows, saying theyperform duties for public butnow target killers in the cityare killing them.

The City District Govern-

Wardens quit work afterthree colleagues’ murder

ment of Karachi establishedDepartment of City Wardensin 2007 to help in controllingmassive traffic in the me-tropolis. Total 1575 city war-dens perform duties at 60 dif-ferent spots to manage traf-fic in the city but now ab-sence will create great diffi-culties for motorists and mas-sive traffic jams are expectedat all busy roads in Karachi.

It is expected that if thisproblem will not be re-solved soon and traffic war-dens will not resume theirduties then major trafficproblems will emerge in themetropolis.—INP

LAHORE—Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief, Imran Khan,has announced he will declarewar on illiteracy in the countryand will treat it as a nationalemergency when he assumesoffice.

Mr Khan said that he in-tends to create a specialist cabi-net of advisors and implementa ten-year multi-pronged planto reach full literacy in Pakistan.Illiteracy is one of the main fac-tors holding back the country’sdevelopment and is closely re-lated to the ongoing levels ofpoverty and income inequality,he said.

The statistics are some-what daunting. Due to manyyears of underinvestment in

Imran to declare war on illiteracy

SC orders completion ofprocess for voting by expats

ISLAMABAD—The SupremeCourt Friday ordered the con-cerned authorities to com-plete the process of givingright of vote to overseas Pa-kistanis.

A three member benchheaded by Chief JusticeIftikhar MuhammadChauhdry heard the over-seas Pakistanis voting rightscase.

Submitting its report, theelection commission of Paki-stan, pointed out that thereare multiple hurdles in pro-viding vote facility to the

Pakistanis living abroad. Thereport said the overseas Pa-kistanis have to registerthemselves in their respectiveembassies.

It said over 2.9 million Pa-kistanis live in UAE andSaudi Arabia, of them 1 mil-lion people do not have ma-chine readable passports.

The bench observed thatall steps including promulga-tion of an ordinance shouldbe taken to give the right ofvote to overseas Pakistanis.The Apex court expressedthe confidence that the Elec-

tion Commission of Pakistanand all other functionariesshall implement the plan asearly as possible so that theprocedure can be finalizedfor extending the facility tothe Overseas Citizens of Pa-kistan enabling them to exer-cise their Right of Franchisein the forthcoming GeneralElections scheduled to beheld on 11th May, 2013.

The court asked the ECPand other functionaries toreport it on the progress forperusal and adjourned thehearing for ten days.—INP

education, some 42% of theadult population (15-64 years)lack basic literacy and 44% ofyoung children (5-10 years) arenot even attending primaryschool, thereby perpetuatingthe problem. If Pakistan is toreach its stated goal of full lit-eracy by 2025, then a twin trackapproach is needed to expandprimary education to univer-sal access and to tackle theadult illiteracy problem with allavailable resources.

PTI has already committedto expanding the educationbudget to 5% of GDP, makinganother Rs 8,687 million avail-able for investment in the nec-essary schools and trainedteachers.—NNI

WORLD Health Organization multi-country survey on maternal andnewborn health on Wednesday

claimed that anaemia, postpartumhaemorrhage and preeclampsia were the mostprevalent maternal complications in the coun-try.

Sharing the results ofWHO survey here at reportdissemination ceremony,Head of Department,Mother and Child health(MCH) centre, Pakistan In-stitute of Medical Sciences(PIMS), Prof Dr SyedaBatool Mazhar informed theparticipants that severe ma-ternal illness occurred at therate of 12 per 1000 livebirths ratio.

She said severeanaemia occurred in 50.0%,postpartum haemorrhage in48.5% and preeclampsia in9.1% of women with severematernal outcomes.

Prof Dr Syeda BatoolMazhar said cardiovascular, respiratory andhaematologic dysfunctions were the mostprevalent among women in Pakistan with se-vere maternal outcomes, with rates rangingfrom 34.1% to 59.1%.

She said the overall caesarean section ratewas 34.5% while the prevalence of low birthweight and preterm births were 10.9% and11.2%, respectively.

Preterm births, foetal and neonatal deathsoccurred at increased rates in women withsevere maternal outcomes as compared to allwomen.

She said there were 94 maternal near-miss mortality cases and 38 maternal deaths

giving a maternal mortality ratio of 299 per100,000 births. Proportion of maternal deathsassisted without ICU admission was 44.7%.

She said prevention of postpartumhaemorrhage by any uterotonic was 98.2%.Among target population, 80.9% of women

had prophylactic antibioticduring caesarean section,93.3% received magnesiumsulfate for eclampsia and57.7% of the women who hada preterm delivery after threehours of hospital stay receivedcorticosteroids for fetal lungmaturation.

Prof Batool said thatimplementing the systematicidentification of near misscases, mapping the use of criti-cal interventions andanalysing the correspondingindicators are just the initialstep for using the maternalnear miss concept as a tool toimprove maternal and new-born health.

She said these findingswill be a good starter for a more compre-hensive dialogue with governments, profes-sional and civil societies, health systems orfacilities for promoting best practices, im-proving quality of care and achieving betterhealth for mothers and children.

She said that the survey was conductedsimultaneously in 357 health facilities from29 countries and a total of 314,623 womenwere included in this study. She said thisproject is the result of an international col-laborative effort carried out by a large groupof institutions and researchers members ofthe WHO Multi-country Survey on Mater-nal and Newborn Health Research Group.

WHO declares anaemia mostprevalent maternal complication

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for National Heritage and Harmony Shahzada Jamal Nazir is sitting on the stage while a folk singer is performing duringinauguration ceremony of Lok Mela.

Paraguay opens up to Pakistan

Trading links to be established soon: envoyLIAQAT TOOR

I S L A M A B A D —Ausbe r toRodriguez Jara, ambassadorof Paraguay accredited to Pa-kistan is looking for avenuesfor setting up new tradinglinks between Pakistan andParaguay.

Based in Cairo, the envoytoured Pakistan to meet gov-ernment leaders, officialsand important members ofbusiness community.

Ausberto Rodriguez Jaratold this scribe about his visitthat his country would like totake advantage of Pakistan’sexperience in cotton produc-tion as cotton production inhis country is going downqualitatively.

Pakistan is very strong inagriculture and its productionin different crops is on higherside. Similarly, textile indus-try has developed on modernlines.

He will try to help in set-

ting up textile unit in Para-guay in joint venture of Pak-

Paraguay entrepreneurs.He has found immense po-

ISLAMABAD: CEO Roots School System Walid Mushtaq and Ambassadors of differentcountries, cutting the cake during RSS Silver Jubilee Celebration and High Achievers Cer-emony 2012-13 at Jinnah Convention Centre.—PO photo by Sultan Bashir

Ambassador of Paraguay, Ausberto Rodriguez Jara and Honorary Consul General KanwarM.Tariq along with other guests at a reception hosted by the latter in honour of the am-bassador.

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The 10-day folkfestival of Pakistan, popularlyknown as “Lok Mela” hasopened here at Shakarparian.This mega annual cultural eventis organized by Lok Virsa.

The inaugural ceremony wasperformed by Shahzada JamalNazir, Federal Minister for Re-ligious Affairs, National Har-mony, National Regulation &Services, National Heritage &Integration as chief guest.

In his address, minister said,“traditions and cultural valuesare the identity of a nation.Changes over the time can di-

Lok Mela begins at Shakarparian

Traditions, culturalvalues, identity of nation

minish them but they cannot bewiped away. Lok Virsa is doinga great service to the nation inthis respect as it is striving hardto preserve our indigenous folktraditions, promote and projectthem at the national and inter-national levels. This is not onlyimportant but also essential andthe need of the hour”.

The minister said “cultureis certainly a priority area be-cause it is the path that leads tothe provincial solidarity, reli-gious harmony, love, peace andbrotherhood among the nation”.

During the inaugural cer-emony, vibrant cultural perfor-mances were also presented by

each of the participating prov-inces/regions showing nationalsolidarity and proving that thisunique festival is a symbol offederation’s recognition and pa-tronage to our rich cultural di-versity and active participationof the people of Pakistan.

A large number of peoplefrom different walks of life includ-ing art & craft experts, culturalpersonalities, diplomats, mediapersons, students and general pub-lic attended the ceremony andenjoyed the thrilling performancesof the artists.More than 500 arti-sans and artists from differentparts including remotest regionsare participating in the festival.

tential in commercial sectorand he will try to exploit it

for the benefits of both thecountries.

During the last ten years,Pakistan has opened up inSouth America. It has al-ready established close rela-tions with Brazil, Argentinaand Cuba. Paraguay, a land-locked country will be a newdestination.

Though the envoy saidhe will frequently visit Pa-kistan to carry out his diplo-matic duties, but in his ab-sence, Kanwar M. TariqHonorary Consul General ofParaguay to Pakistan willlook after ambassador’s job.

Kanwar M. Tariq hosteda reception in honour of theambassador at a local hotelon Friday evening whereambassadors, particularlyfrom African countries andSouth America were in at-tendance. Eminent person-alities from different seg-ments of Pakistani societygraced the occasion.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—In pursuance ofits regular contribution towardsscientific and technologicalmodernization and innovation inMuslim countries, Saudi Arabiahas contributed an amount of$0.5 million to OIC’s StandingCommittee on Scientific andTechnological Cooperation(COMSTECH).

In this regard a simple cer-emony held here on Friday at

S Arabia contributes $ 0.5m to COMSTECHCOMSTECH Secretariat,Deputy Head of Mission, SaudiEmbassy Jasim Al-Khalidi pre-sented a cheque of US$ 200,000.00 to Dr. Muhammad AliMahisar, Assistant CoordinatorGeneral COMSTECH.

The amount was a final in-stallment completing the totalamount.

Jasim Muhammad on theoccasion informed that SaudiArabia remained committedin support ing Muslim

Ummah, particularly in meet-ing modern and updated sci-entific endeavors and latesttechnology.

Dr. Muhammad AliMahisar, extending gratitude toSaudi government said SaudiArabia always came forward inassisting and supportingCOMSTECH’ s needs.

“The amount donated bythe OIC member states is sub-jected to expenditure occurredfor such activities”, he said.

Shuttle servicebetween twin citiesRAWALPINDI—Pakistan Rail-ways (PR) is expandingMargallah railway track upto itstrail called “9th Avenue” (SevenUp Crossing) aimed at launchingregular shuttle service betweenthe twin cities of Rawalpindi andIslamabad for commuters.

The Capital DevelopmentAuthority will also set up a busterminal at the “9th Avenue” tofacilitate the commuters, said apress release issued here today.

PR Chairman Arif Azeem un-veiled the plaque of the expansionproject at the Margalla StationIslamabad and said the formal con-struction work on the project wouldstart during the current month.

The Chairman directed thequarters concerned to ensuretimely completion of the projectand said all-out efforts would bemade for betterment of the Pa-kistan Railways.—APP

Polling staff tobe trained

RAWALPINDI—The DistrictElection Commission (DEC) willstart imparting training to 18,000polling staff, which will be de-ployed at 2,150 polling stationsin seven National Assembly and14 Provincial Assembly constitu-encies of the region on the Elec-tion Day, from April 18.

“A 10-day training programmewill commence from April 18 un-der which 180,000 governmentemployees will be given electiontraining to ensure free, fair andtransparent polls.—APP

April 13

PAF Retired Officers’ As-sociation Rawalpindi/Islamabad chapter is hold-ing monthly meeting at Of-ficers’ Mess, PAF Base NurKhan at 1630 hours. Allmembers and their familiesare cordially invited and arerequested to intimate abouttheir attendance to Secre-tary PAFROA, Wg Cdr(Retd) Zafar Hameed onTelephone No – 9525811,9280376.

April 15

PRESTON University,Islamabad is organizing aweek-long festivity titled‘Spring Splash 2013’. Theevent is going to kick off inthe capital from Monday.

p

The salesman knowsnothing of what he isselling save that he ischarging a great deal

too much for it.

— Oscar Wilde

Rates for conversionKARACHI—The followingrates will be applicable forconversion into rupees ofForeign Currency Deposits,Dollar Bearer Certificates,Foreign Currency BearerCertificates, Special U.S.Dollar Bonds and profitsthereon by all banks and forproviding Forward Cover onForeign Currency Deposits(excluding F.E. 25 deposits) bythe State Bank on April 15,2013. The rates are U.S.Dollar Rs 98.2497, JapaneseYen Rs 0.9905, Pound SterlingRs 150.8625 and Euro128.1963.—APP

Additional fundsof Rs74m for

Industries DivisionSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—April 12: Fed-eral Minister for Industries &Production Shahzada AhsanAshraf Shiekh has said that Pri-ority Committee for 2013-14 ofthe Ministry of Finance has al-located on additional fundsRs.74 million for the Industriesdivision’s Department/Organi-zation like Pakistan IndustrialTechnical Assistance Centre(PITAC), Small and MediumEnterprises Development Au-thority (SMEDA), National Pro-ductivity Organization (NPO)and Pakistan Institute of Man-agement (PIM) to cater the bud-getary requirement under theHead “Pay and Allowances”.

It is worth noting at earthierduring this week, after the as-sumption of the charge of theMinistry, The Minister receivedbriefing from Heads/CEO ofsubordinate department’s / com-panies on their performanceprojects and problems.

The Minister assure theseorganization/department to ad-dress their financial woes. TheMinister discus the matters withthe Prime Minister and the casewas referred to the Finance Di-vision. On Minister’s recom-mendations the Finance Minis-try agreed to allocate an addi-tion funds of Rs.74 million forthe Departments/Organizationsunder the supervision of Minis-try of Industries.

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Justice (Retd) Mir Hazar Khan Khoso being briefed on Pakistan Steel Mill.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Caretaker PrimeMinister Justice (Retd) MirHazar Khan Khoso has consti-tuted a three members commit-tee comprising Secretaries Min-istries of Finance, Productionand Chief Executive Officer ofthe Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM)to give concrete and practicalrecommendations to overcomePakistan Steel Mills present fi-nancial woes.

The Prime Minister waspresiding over a high levelmeeting to review the overall

PM constitutes committeefor PSM financial bailout

performance of PSM, its issuesand challenges, at the PM’sHouse.

The meeting was attendedby Federal Minister for Produc-tion Shahzada Ahsan AshrafSheikh, representatives of Min-istries of Finance, Planning andProduction and Management ofPSM.

In his briefing Mr. ShahidUllah Baig, Secretary Ministryof Production apprised thePrime Minister of history, issuesand performance of PSM.

The Prime Minister was toldthat basic cause of the losses

incurred by PSM was its inabil-ity to utilize its capacity and thatsteel mills would break evenonly if its production was 75%of the total capacity.

The Prime Minister was alsotold that four bailout packageswere given to PSM but theycould not impact on its perfor-mance as the financial commit-ments made, were released inpiecemeal.

Prime Minister Mir HazarKhan Khoso said that PSM is astrategic asset and that it shouldbe managed in a manner that thelosses can be reduced.

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Lahore TownshipIndustries Association (LTIA)has threatened to take extremestep if government fails to en-sure uninterrupted supply ofelectricity to the industrialsector without any further de-lay.

The LTIA ChairmanNasrullah Mughal was ad-dressing the representatives ofthe trade and industry associa-tions here at LTIA office on

Uninterrupted power supply to industries demandedFriday. PIAF Chairman MalikTahir Javaid, LCCI formerPresident Mian Anjum Nisaralso spoke on the occasion. Theprominent among the partici-pants were Haroon ShafiqueChaudhry, Chaudhry IftikharBashir, Mehmood Akhtar, andSyed Mehmood Ghaznvi.

Nasrullah Mughal said thatif pilferage in controlled and re-covery of outstanding dues fromother provinces is expedited, thegovernment would be able tocurtail loadshedding to a consid-

erable degree.He said that power outage

after every hour is not only dam-aging the industrial processesbut had also curtailed produc-tions. He said that the govern-ment should come out with astrategy to ensure continuoussupply of electricity to the in-dustry.

He said that it was very un-fortunate that despite the factthat the industry in Punjab ispaying all its dues, it is beingdenied power and gas. He said

that the graph of unemploymentis going up with every passingday but the rulers are playing therole of silent spectator.

The LTIA Chairman saidthat the Chief Justice of Paki-stan should take notice of thesituation in the larger interestsof the economy.

He said that the MD SNGPLwhile addressing the industrial-ists at the Lahore Township In-dustrial Area in the end of monthof March had promised to pro-vide gas to industries four days

a week but he fulfilled his prom-ise for only ten days. Now onceagain, they are providing gas foronly three days a week.

The Chairman PIAF MalikTahir Javaid said that the situa-tion has turned so bad that lead-ing industrial units are experi-encing losses despite being man-aged professionally.

The crisis in industrial sec-tor is not only causing flight ofcapital and relocation of indus-trial units to the countries likeBangladesh and Malaysia but

had also reduced governmentrevenues drastically.

He said that a similar situ-ation had erupted about twoyears ago but that was re-solved with the help of thebusiness community who lenta lot of input in developing aviable load management plan.

He appealed to the PrimeMinister to intervene in thematter and direct the con-cerned authorities for uninter-rupted power supply to the in-dustrial sector.

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—Pakistan TaiwanBusiness Council of Federation ofPakistan Chambers of Commerceand Industry (FPCCI) would beformed to facilitate the businesscommunity of both countries andexplore new avenues for promo-tion of joint ventures and bilateraltrade and economic relations.

This was announced by theFPCCI President Zubair AhmedMalik in a meeting with a 30-member delegation from Taiwanat the Federation house in CliftonFriday. He emphasized on theneed for adoption of such policiesas conducive to the trade devel-opment between the two coun-tries.

He further proposed to theTaiwanese side that TAITRA mayopen its liaison office in Pakistanto carry out business activities andaccelerate the pace of momentum

Pakistan-Taiwan Business Councilto be set up: FPCCI president

for interaction between the busi-ness communities of both thecountries.

The FPCCI also intended toreciprocate the same facility inTaiwan, said Malik adding thatopening of trade office in both thecountries would contribute in en-hancement of volume of bilateraltrade, which was at the momentis US$ 631 million. He stressedthe need for exchange of delega-tion and exhibitions on reciprocalbasis. He particularly pointed outthat the great impediment in pro-motion of bilateral trade betweentwo countries was visa facility. Hesuggested to Taiwanese delegationto take up this matter at the high-est level at their end so that thevisa could be granted at airport atTaipei and to take up the same is-sue with Ministry of Interior of Pa-kistan.

The FPCCI President re-iter-ated that in collaboration with Tai-

wan External Trade DevelopmentCouncil (TAITRA), he wouldsoon lead a delegation for the in-teraction with the business com-munity. Malik suggested the Tai-wanese delegation for frequentvisit to Pakistan, which may alsoinclude the visit to Lahore,Faisalabad, Multan, Gujranwala,Sialkot and Gujarat, which wereindustrial cities. The joint venturesin the area of power sectorprojects, mineral resources, high-tech machinery, infrastructure,iron and steel, railways, construc-tion etc can enhance bilateral eco-nomic relations, he said.

The leader of Taiwanese del-egation Helen Lin disclosed thattheir visit had been so successfulin Pakistan and the members ofthe delegation had succeeded insecuring exports order to the tuneof US$ 5 million in various prod-ucts such as steel coils, Diapers,sanitary items rubber products etc.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Karachi ElectricSupply Company (KESC) re-ceived Energy Leaders Award2013 for best practices in en-ergy conservation, energy ef-ficiency and implementationof efficient practices during theyear 2012.

According to a statementissued Friday, the KESC re-ceived the award at a nationalenergy leader’s summit orga-nized by the National Forumfor Environment and Health(NFEH) in collaboration withGovernment of Sindh. Theaward marks the recognition of

KESC receives EnergyLeaders’ Award 2013

KESC’s belief in showing itscommitment to the communityat large, especially in timeswhen the country is facing anunprecedented energy crisis.

It said that many nationaland international corporate com-panies and organizations hadsubmitted their nominations, outof which KESC was one of theselected through a judges’ panelfor being the best in EnergyConservation and efficiency.

It said that it was the first timein four years that KESC wasawarded for its Energy Conserva-tion initiatives particularly takenduring year 2012, which includedtransformation of Mazar-e Quaid

tomb and museum lights fromconventional to LED; completetransformation of KESC HeadOffice on LED lights; transfor-mation of Energy Conservationoffice on LED and Solar; and,providing free of cost Energyaudit and review across the board,especially to industrial and com-mercial consumers.

The statement said thatover the past four years, KESChad been pursuing Environ-mental, Social and CorporateGovernance initiative, underwhich a specific ClimateChange Policy has been formu-lated aimed at sustainable de-velopment.

PQ shipping activityKARACHI—Two ships C.VAPL Atlanta and C.V Kerstinscarrying containers wereberthed at Qasim InternationalContainer Terminal at PortQasim on Thursday, portsources said here Friday. Threemore ships with chemicals,furnace oil and wheat alsoarrived at the outer anchorageof Port Qasim on Fridaymorning. Berth occupancyremained at the port at sixtyfour percent on Thursdaywhere nine ships namely C.VAPL Atlanta, C.V Kerstina,M.V Styliani-Z, M.V Phiutai-19, M.V Faith, MV StodtSolingen, M.V Inlaco Brave,M.T Bunga Allium and M.TLahore are currently occupy-ing berths to load/ offloadcontainers, rice, cement, sandcrush, palm oil and furnacesoil. Cargo throughput duringthe last 24 hours stood at84,635 tonnes, comprising55,122 tonnes imports and29,523 tonnes exportsinclusive of containerisedcargo carried in 2,477containers (1,206 imports and1,271 exports TEUs) werehandled. Five ships C.V APLAtlanta, M.V Phiutai-19, MVStadt Solingen, M.T BungaAllium and M.T Lahore sailedout to sea during the last 24hours while two more shipsC.V Kerstins and M.VStyliani-Z are expected to sailon the same day afternoon.—APP

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—Private sector in-vestment in Independent PowerProjects has been recommendedby the energy experts to bridgethe yawning gap between de-mand and supply of electricityas the shortage is the primecause for load shedding in thecountry.

The recommendation wasunanimously approved at the 6thInternational Power Conferenceand Exhibition on EmergingEnergy Mix for SustainablePower Generation. The SindhYouth Affairs Department andNational Forum for Environ-ment and Health (NFEH)organised the event. “The inde-pendent power producers (IPPs)can generate more energy with

Private sector investment toovercome power shortage

more efficiency as compared topublic sector, however,government’s facilities and en-couragement is required in thisregard,” they added.

Abdullah Yusuf, IPPs Advi-sory Council chairman, said thatthe power shortage had becomea big issue as the country’spopulation had increased at ahigh pace. He said it is the needof the hour that effective stepsshould be taken to produce al-ternative power like wind andsolar energy.

He said that power produc-ers were facing several problemslike high cost of generation,governance issue, fuel adjust-ment, adding that the govern-ment should provide incentiveto IPPs for generating power inpeace. India, China and Russia

are generating huge quantity ofalternative energy but Pakistanis still lagging behind in this re-gard.

“The coal power generationin the country should be boostedas it is cheap. There is also needto revise NEPRA tariff, whilesubsidies and bill collection is-sues are also hitting power sec-tor hard,” he said. Whole sys-tem should be restructured toboost power sector, he added.

He called for creation ofenergy ministry to resolvepower crisis and other issuesamicably. He said thatprivatisation of Discos andGencos was also mandatory asthe government could not tackleall issues itself. “We should re-habilitate Gencos for power con

Continued on Page 11

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—MohammadAkhtar Bawany, President, Hos-pitality, Industrial & Real EstateDivision, Hashoo Group hosteda reception in honour of the newGeneral Manager of theIslamabad Marriott Hotel, Mr.Jan Verduyn at the residence ofthe Chairman Hashoo Group,Mr. Saddruddin Hashwani. Thereception was attended by alarge number of ambassadors,top officials from the UN, andthe Group executives.

Bawany thanked the digni-taries for gracing the eveningwith their presence. Senior Ex-ecutive Advisor, Hashoo Group,Dr. Salim Mehmud commendedthe vision and efforts of theChairman Hashoo Group, whogot the hospitality business inPakistan recognized throughoutthe world. He also said “we arepleased to have a very experi-enced GM for the IslamabadMarriott and expect him to fur-ther enhance the image of the

Hashoo Group hosts reception to honournew GM Islamabad Marriott Hotel

hotel. “He is not only a compe-tent GM but also a linguistwhich is an additional ability toexecute his assignments effec-

tively” The Chief OperatingOfficer, Hashoo Group Hotels’Division introduced the newGM of the IMH to the dignitar-ies, and also shared with the lat-ter the achievements and mainfeatures of the group hotels. Hefurther said that “I must admit,he is the right man for the job asJan Verduyn brings with him

immense international experi-ence and we surely will benefitfrom his knowledge and skills.He is a dynamic leader and we

expect and look forward to moreand more achievements underhis leadership.

Jan Verduyn, the GeneralManager Islamabad Marriott Ho-tel in his brief speech thanked ev-eryone and also praised the sup-port of the Hashoo Group execu-tives, dignitaries and the ambas-sadors in the capital of Pakistan.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The SensitivePrice Indicator (SPI) for theweek ended on April 11 forthe lowest income group up toRs.8,000 decreased by 0.35per cent as compared to theprevious week.

The SPI for the week un-der review in the above men-tioned group was recorded at186.79 points against 187.45points registered in the previ-ous week, according to provi-sional figures of Pakistan Bu-reau of Statistics (PBS).

The weekly SPI has beencomputed with base 20072008=100, covering 17 urbancenters and 53 essential items

Weekly inflation goes downfor all income groups andcombined.

The SPI for the combinedgroup also decreased by 0.15per cent as it went down from192.55 points in the previousweek to 192.27 points in theweek under review.

As compared to the corre-sponding week of last year,the SPI for the combinedgroup in the week under re-view witnessed increase of4.19 percent.

As compared to the lastweek, the SPI for the incomegroups from Rs.8001 12,000,12,001 18,000, 18001 35,000and above Rs.35,000 de-creased by 0.27 percent, 0.22percent, 0.16 and 0.04 percent

respectively.During the week under re-

view average prices of 10items registered decrease,while that of 15 items increasewith the remaining 28 items’prices unchanged.

The items which regis-tered decrease in their pricesduring the week under reviewincluded onions, gram pulse(washed), wheat, LPG(11 kgcylender), wheat flour (bag),red chillies (powder), egg hen(farm), mash pulse (washed),georgette, vegetable ghee(loose). The items which re-corded increase in their aver-age prices included garlic, to-matoes, chicken live (farm),tea (prepared), long cloth, ba-nanas, mutton, sugar, moongpulse (washed), masoor pulse(washed), beef, lawn, pota-toes, mustard oil and gur.

The items with no changein their average prices duringthe week under review in-cluded rice basmati (broken),rice (irri-6), bread (plain),milk (fresh), curd, milk (pow-dered), cooking oil(tin), veg-etable ghee (tin), salt (pow-dered), tea (packet), cookedbeef, cooked dal, cigarettes,shir t ing, sandal (gents) ,chappal(gents), sandal (la-dies), electric charges, gascharges, kerosene oil, fire-wood, energy savor, washingsoap, match box, petrol, die-sel, telephone local call andbath soap.

KARACHI: President FPCCI Zubair Malik addressing a press conference at federationhouse.—PO photo by Sultan Chaki

PSO’s refinery todevelop energy

supply chainSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The PakistanState Oil (PSO) will set up atechnologically advanced refin-ery as part of efforts to developa self-reliant energy supplychain for the country.

The facility having a capac-ity of 40,000 Barrels Per Day(BPD) will be constructed onabout 400 acres of land in dis-trict Kohat - KhyberPakhtunkhwa.

The company’s spokesper-son said the facility which wouldbe fully commissioned by 2016-17 is being set up as a part ofthe new vision of the companyto make the leading public sec-tor company an integrated en-ergy company and with the de-termination to secure Pakistan’senergy supply chain.

The official said the PSOhas already signed a Memoran-dum of Understanding (MoU)with Government of KhyberPakhtunkhwa (GoKP) for estab-lishment of a state-of-the-art oilrefinery in the province.

LCCI wants cut inpolicy rateStaff ReporterLAHORE—The LahoreChamber of Commerce andIndustry on Friday expresseddismay at the State Bank ofPakistan for keeping the policyrate intact and strongly called fora downward revision to 8% toencourage new investments andrevive trade and industry. TheLCCI President Farooq Iftikharsaid that the availability ofcheaper money is extremelyessential to accelerate industrial-ization and the financialmanagers of the country mustrealize this fact. The LCCIPresident said that ongoingdepressed economic scenariocalls for hand-holding by thegovernment so that the busi-nesses could prosper. He said thatthe business community, for thelast many months, had beenpressing the State Bank ofPakistan for a considerable cut inthe policy rate for the sake ofeconomic revival. Farooq Iftikharsaid that developed world despitehaving higher inflation havecurtailed interest rates to lowestpossible level to protect theirtrade and industry. The LCCIPresident said that the State Bankof Pakistan should understandthat its continuing tight monetarystance is inflicting a heavy losson the national economy and isdeterring the setting up of newindustries in the country. “Ifcheaper money would not bemade available to the business-men, new ventures will notcome.” Farooq Iftikhar said thatthe interest rate should be limitedto 8% maximum for the sake ofexpansion in investmentactivities and for creating jobs formillions of young peopleentering the job market everyyear.

Gold Tezab 50700.00Silver Tezabi 840.00

Gold Tezabi (24-Ct) 50420.00Gold 22 Ct 46010.00SilverTezabi 895.00Silver Thobi 815.00

USA 98.20 98.00

UK 151.22 150.92

EURO 128.80 128.54

Canada 97.24 97.04

Switzerland 105.67 105.45

Australia 103.65 103.43

Sweden 15.49 15.45

Japan 0.9871 0.9851

Norway 17.22 17.19

Singapore 79.36 79.20

Denmark 17.27 17.24

Omani Riyal 255.00 245.00

Saudi Arabia 26.19 26.13

Hong Kong 12.65 12.63

Kuwait 344.56 343.86

Malaysia 32.35 32.28

Newzeland 84.79 84.61

Qatar 26.97 26.92

UAE 26.74 26.68

KR WON 0.0868 0.0867

Thailand 3.382 3.375

FPCCI 15points reform

agendaAMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—Zubair AhmedMalik newly elected Presi-dent of Federation of Paki-stan Chambers of Commerceand Industry (FPCCI) hasannounced the a 15-point re-form agenda to elevate theimage of the apex trade body.

Addressing his maidenpress conference at the Fed-eration House today Maliksaid that FPCCI would coor-dinate with the federal gov-ernment to implement andenforce accords and agree-ments with internationaltrade forums and the bilateraltreaties in letter and spirit.

Due to non-implementa-tion of trade agreements andpreferential agreements, Pa-kistan is not losing precioustrade but getting isolated. Hesaid that FPPCI is the repre-sentative body of 48 cham-bers of commerce and 96 as-sociations in the country andFPCCI would strive hard tobridge the gap between allsuch trade bodies and thegovernment. He said thatprevailing economic situa-tion is not at all satisfactoryand FBR has to revise its tar-get downward three timesdue to the fact and the FPPCIwould create a FPCCI Par-liamentarian Forum in orderto apprise the governmentabout economic reforms andrevive the industrial, finan-cial and commercial sectors.

Zubair further announcedto hold frequent meetings withall chambers and associationsat various public sector orga-nizations. He said that a strongR&D Directorate is being cre-ated to enhance advocacy roletowards national economic is-sues and policy interventionsbesides institutional capacitybuilding of FPCCI through re-furbishment of the existingSecretariat and induction ofmore capable and professionalhuman resource.

A close liaison with inter-national organizations likeUNCTAD, UNDP,UNESCAP, WTO, WIPO andISO would be maintained andthe trade bodies would be dis-seminated all the relevant infor-mation. He said that industry-academia linkage is almostnon-existent and FPCCI wouldcreate an effective linkage be-tween the two by creating coun-cil of eminent personalitiescomprising trade and industryplayers, social and economicscientists, practitioners/experts,representatives of media , etc.he further announced to estab-lish new department s includ-ing public policy, internationalaffairs, public private liaison de-partment, investment promo-tion wing, trade promotion cen-tre, industrial productivity, etc.

Malik said that status ofFPCCI representation at vari-ous public sector organizationswould be reviewed and presi-dential trade delegations wouldbe sent to targeted countries toexplore new trade and eco-nomic opportunities and re-gional business policies (ECO,SAARC, CACCI, ASEAN, D-8, Europe, Americas, BRICS,etc.

KARACHI—Follow-ing were the bullionrates in major citiesyesterday.

KARACHI:

MULTAN: STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Nigerian Busi-ness Community is keen to en-hance bilateral trade relationwith Pakistan, PresidentIslamabad Chamber of Com-merce and Industry (ICCI),Zafar Bakhtawari during a visitof a delegation of Nigerian busi-nessmen Islamabad-based, said.

The delegation was led byPresident of Nigerian Commu-nity in Pakistan

Francis Onyisi with aim offurther promoting the cause ofNigeria in Pakistan, said a state-ment issued here on Friday.

Speaking on the occasion,President ICCI said that Paki-stan did consider the value ofstrengthening the trade and eco-nomic relations with Nigeriakeeping in view the big marketof Africa but unfortunately bothcountries have been facing chal-lenges which could be solved bydevising a common strategy.

Referring to recently con-cluded D8 Summit, he said thatboth the sides need to make allout efforts to increase mutual

Nigerian biz community keen toenhance trade ties with Pakistan

cooperation for each others ben-efits.

He said that D8 countrieshave large population which wasover 1 billion, therefore, weneed to further activate D8 fo-rum by strengthening our mu-tual cooperation, communica-tion and take initiative throughexchange of expertise, knowl-edge and transfer of technology.

President ICCI also empha-sized on signing of Free Tradeagreement among all the mem-ber countries of D8 organizationthat would ultimately enhancethe level of economic and com-mercial cooperation amongthese Muslim countries.

He also informed the mem-bers of Nigerian business com-munity that ICCI has planned toorganize Capital ChambersConference of D-8 countries inIslamabad, aiming to promotemutually beneficial relations ofPakistan with these countries.

Bakhtawari also expressedconcern on the role of interna-tional media that portrayed verynegative image of Pakistan andNigeria. He said that Pakistan and

Nigeria are very peaceful coun-tries and they have the potentialto lead their respective regions.

Francis Onyisi said that Ni-gerian Community in Pakistan isdetermined to join hands withIslamabad Chamber of Com-merce and Industry to furtherstrengthen the efforts of NigerianHigh Commissioner to Pakistan.

He further said that Nige-ria offers great investment op-portunities to Pakistan as wellin a number of areas includingoil and gas, minerals and min-ing, textile, agriculture and live-stock.

Members of the delegation,Isaac Omomolesho, ObasiChukwu, Mrs.Bolanle Afolabi,John Smith Okoro, AdibeChinwendu and Ubaka Udenwaalso discussed the areas of theirinterests as well as investmentopportunities between the bothcountries.

They also showed interestin expanding business ties withtheir Pakistani counterpartswhich would further acceleratebilateral trade relation betweenNigeria and Pakistan.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The country’sLarge Scale Manufacturing(LSM) has registered positivegrowth of 2.93 percent duringthe first eight months of the cur-rent fiscal year over the corre-sponding period of the last fi-nancial year.

On year-on-year basis, theLSM grew by 3.84 percent dur-ing the month of February 2013when compared to the samemonth of last year, according tothe data of Pakistan Bureau ofStatistics (PBS). The QuantumIndex Numbers (QIN) of LSMstood at 111.33 points duringJuly-February (2012-13) against114.59 points during July-Feb-ruary (2011-12).

During the period under re-view, industries monitored byOil Companies Advisor Com-mittee (OCAS) registered in-

LSM grows 3.84pc in Feb,2.93pc in 8 months

crease of 0.63 percent growthwhile the indices of Ministry ofIndustries grew by 0.79 percentand that of Provincial Bureausof Statistics by 1.51 percent.

The manufacturing itemsthat witnessed growth during thefirst eight months of the currentyear over the same period of lastyear included food beveragesand tobacco (5.44 per cent), Ironand steel products (13.02 percent), coke and petroleum prod-ucts (11.23 per cent), paper andboard (27.42 per cent), rubberproducts (21.13 per cent), phar-maceuticals (6.78 per cent), nonmetallic mineral products (5.06per cent), textile (0.76 per cent)and chemical (0.94 per cent).

The manufacturing itemsthat witnessed decrease in pro-duction during the period in-cluded fertilizers (5.36 per cent),electronics (9.37 per cent), woodproducts (20.36 per cent), engi-

neering products (15.49 percent), automobiles (11.97 percent) and leather products ((4.71per cent).

Meanwhile, the industrialgrowth during February 2013increased by 3.84 percent and1.37 percent when compared tothe growth of February 2012 andJanuary 2013 respectively.

It may be recalled that theProvisional Quantum IndexNumbers of Large Scale Manu-facturing Industries (QIM) hasbeen computed in PBS on thebasis of latest production data of112 items received fromsources, including OCAC, Min-istry of Industries and Produc-tion and BOS.

OCAC supplied the data of11 items, Ministry of Industriesand Production supplied the dataof 36 items and Provincial Bu-reaus of Statistics provided datafor 65 items.

Rates ofcommodities

LAHORE—Agriculture Market-ing Information Service Punjab(AMISP) issued rates of agricul-ture products in local market onFriday.

The following are 100 kgrates of different agricultureproducts in Lahore market:

Maize minimum Rs 2400and maximum 2600, Rice SuperBasmati (New) minimum Rs10000 and maximum Rs 10500,Rice Basmati (old) minimum Rs12000 and maximum Rs 13000,white sugar minimum Rs 5220and maximum Rs 5220, whitegram (local) minimum Rs 8000and maximum Rs 8500, RedChili Whole (Dry) minimum Rs11750 maximum Rs 13000,Cauliflower minimum Rs 1000and maximum Rs 1200, Onionminimum Rs 3200 and maxi-mum Rs 3600, Tomato mini-mum Rs 2800 and maximum Rs3000, Ginger (china) minimumRs 9000 and maximum Rs 9500,Peas minimum Rs 4000 andmaximum Rs 4600, Brinjalminimum Rs 2400 and maxi-mum Rs 2600, Potato Freshminimum Rs 1000 and maxi-mum Rs 1100, Apple Kala Kullu(Pahari) minimum Rs 8000 andmaximum Rs 9000, Banana(Dozen) minimum Rs 44 andmaximum Rs 56.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Federation of Paki-stan Chamber of Commerce andIndustry, an apex body in thecountry, has unanimously ap-proved the setting up of newmulti storey “Capital Office” atIslamabad to effectively aug-ment liaison, coordination withforeign trade missions and em-bassies.

President FPCCI ZubairAhmad Malik told media Fri-day that FPCCI at its recentannual general body meetingaccorded the approval and ap-pointed veteran trade leader andVice President SAARC CCI,Pak chapter Iftikhar Ali Malikits first Director who will per-sonally ensure early completionof the project under his directsupervision.

He added that a full-fledged

FPCCI approves setting up ofnew multi-storey ‘Capital Office’

state of the art research and de-velopment section will also beestablished to meet require-ments of trade organisations.

He said that all the chambersand other registered trade bod-ies affiliated with FPCCI canbenefit from the capital office.

The FPCCI chief said thatit was the need of the hour to setup an office where all embassiesand foreign mission are located,adding that now it will be quiteeasy for FPCCI to have one onone interaction with ambassa-dors and heads of foreign trademissions to promote trade activi-ties.

Director-designate Iftikharsaid that FPCCI will invite allforeign trade mission heads toits capital office and arrangetheir meetings with Pak export-ers and importers.

He said that capital office

will benefit Pak business com-munity to further establish busi-ness links with other foreignmarkets. He expressed his grati-tude for the business commu-nity, especially new leadershipof FPCCI for reposing confi-dence in him.

He said that the interests ofcorporate sectors and traderswill be fully safeguarded andtheir genuine problems will besolved on top priority.

FPCCI VPs Naveed JanBolch, Gulzar Feroz, ShaheenIllays Sarwana, KhawajaMuhammad Iqbal, Zafar JalilKhan, Abdul Khaliq, RukhsanaJehangir, veteran trade leaderSM Munir and Tariq Sayyedgreeted Iftikhar on his new im-portant assignment and hopedthat one of the best building willbe erected at par with interna-tional standard.

ISLAMABAD: President Pak-Gulf Sardar Tanveer Ilyas Khan opening Toyland in TheCentaurus Mall.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Pakistan has re-ported significant growth in ag-riculture produce in both live-stock and horticulture in recentyears, owing to adoption ofmodern agricultural practicesand improved methods of mar-ket linkages. Despite thisgrowth, the country shares onlya negligible percentage of themulti-billion dollar global tradeof fresh and processed fooditems. However, realizing thepotential in Agribusiness of pro-cessed food, more and morestakeholders, including farmersand processors are now invest-ing in bringing the prevailingpractices up to internationalstandard for a boost in produc-tivity for export.

The Agribusiness SupportFund (ASF), a leading nonprofitorganization engaged in the devel-opment of agribusiness sector is

Significant growthregistered in agri produce

launching a series of workshopson “Dairy Business Planning andManagement”, “Market Develop-ment and Value Chain Analysis”and “International Trade Market-ing and Export Procedure”. Effec-tively, it is important to conductbest practices training by leadingexperts in these fields to enhancethe collective industry standard ofAgribusiness. These workshopsare being organized acrossLahore, Karachi and Islamabad,between, April 12th 2013 to May3rd 2013.

For Dairy Business Plan-ning and Management, theworkshops will enhance plan-ning, analysis and managementskills through the use of feasi-bility and financial businesstechniques for dairy businesses,directly leading to improved ef-ficiency and profitability.

For Market Developmentand Value Chain Analysis it aimsto transfer concept knowledge of

a market development approach,with specific reference to valuechain including selection, analy-sis and development of sub-sec-tors. Using relevant case stud-ies, market assessments andgroup work on project cases, thetrainers will help participantsapply these concepts in theirown practical fields.

In International Trade Mar-keting and Export Procedureworkshop, the audience willunderstand the process, andmandatory documentation forexport including WTO rules andregulations; customs clearanceprocedures and a review of vari-ous international markets forPakistani products.These work-shops are part of ASF’s lead di-vision, Agribusiness ResourceCenter (ARC) which aim to for-ward the goal of capacity build-ing, market access and forgingstrategic partnerships with rel-evant stakeholders of ASF.

Aamer Mohsin (COO Service Sales Corporation) hands over a cheque to Dr Faisal Sultan(CEO Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Center).

SSC retailerpresented

donation toSKMCH&RC

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Service Sales Cor-poration, Pakistan’s leading re-tailer presented a donation toSKMCH&RC as part of theirCSR program Har Aik BantayKhushiyan.

HABK encapsulates thenoble intent of SSC. The pro-gram binds the customers, theinternal team, and the commu-nities where SSC strives to bringa change under a commonthread. SKMCH&RC is SSC’sprimary partner for the programand have donation boxes placedon more than half of the ServisStore network. SSC has been aregular contributor to commu-nities over the years as they be-lieve in making meaningful im-provements, no matter small, inthe community by using exist-ing organizational muscle.

KARACHI: Microsoft conducted a Private Cloud Immersion Session in Pakistan. Seen here are Amir Rao, CountryManager, Microsoft Pakistan and Sajjad Abbas, Regional Manager, ME, Fujitsu Technology Solutions along with otherofficials.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Cloud computinghas ushered a revolutionary ad-vancement in the field of Infor-mation Technology. To createawareness about this innovativeplatform among the businesscommunity of the country,Microsoft Pakistan recently con-ducted a Private Cloud Immer-sion session for local media per-sonnel. The event was organizedin partnership with Fujitsu,which is the hardware partner ofMicrosoft Pakistan for the de-ployment of this cutting-edgetechnology across variousorganisations in Pakistan.

Cloud computing is a majorparadigm shift in how IT re-sources are designed, managedand delivered. This new modelopens a matchless avenue forinnovation and coversvirtualized infrastructure, ad-

Microsoft organises Private CloudImmersion session in Pakistan

vanced storage management,deep application managementand data security. Microsoft so-lutions for Private Cloud, builton Windows Server, Hyper-Vand System Center, are a keypart of the company’s end-to-end approach to cloud comput-ing. By improving on the wayorganizations currently consumeIT, Microsoft can help busi-nesses leverage investments andskill sets they already have,while taking advantage of thenew value the cloud provides.Most importantly for local busi-nesses the cloud service pro-vider they trust their informationor applications to will be aroundfor the long term, becauseMicrosoft’s belief in, and com-mitment to, the cloud is seenclearly in the fact that much oftheir annual $9.5 billion R&Dbudget — more than any othercompany in the world — is de-

voted to cloud technologies.Today, 70% of Microsoft’s40,000 engineers work oncloud-related products and ser-vices because the companyfirmly believes in a cloud basedfuture and the innumerable ben-efits it brings to industries notonly in Pakistan but around theglobe.

Speaking on this occasion,Amir Rao, country manager,Microsoft Pakistan said: “Infor-mation Technology permeatesthrough every sector of our busi-ness environment. In this era ofmodernity, Microsoft Pakistanprovides private cloud solutionsto companies through whichthey can reform the workplacefor employees across variousdepartments and offices. More-over, they enable you to deliverunrivaled services to your exter-nal stakeholders and engagewith them more directly.

servation. It is private sectorwhich is boosting production butnot the public sector,” he added.

Zubair Malik, presidentFPCCI, said that electricity wasvery important for development,adding that steps should be takento generate alternative energy tomeet power needs of the coun-try.

Current debt, governance,price adjustment and other is-sues facing power sector be ad-dressed on priority basis, hesaid. It is private sector that isdoing business effectively ascompared to government. Hecalled for providing power sup-ply to industries for theirsustainability and economic sta-bility of the country. “We willnot allow industries shift,” hesaid.

Arif Alauddin, CEO Alter-native Energy DevelopmentBoard (AEDB) said that their 4wind energy projects wouldserve as a model for otherprojects, as the pace of devel-opment of another 400-600 MWwould get accelerated. Thesewind power projects are ex-pected to achieve financial closeduring the current year.

He said that two wind powerprojects— FFCEL (49.5MW)and Zorlu Enerji (56.4MW)have already been completed.FFCEL has been inauguratedand the Zorlu Enerji is ready forthe formal launch.

Arif urged The Governmentof Pakistan to attract the sugaryindustry owners to setup Co-Generation Bagasse/Biomassbased power plants.

Private sectorFrom Page 10

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—Colin Hu, Manag-ing Director of Huawei Enter-prise in Pakistan said:“Huawei’s channel partner pro-gram is to play a vital role in ouroverall business strategy.

Speaking at an agreementsigning ceremony with EZYInfotech here in Karachi he saidthe partnership with EZYInfotech Pvt. Ltd. represents ourcommitment in providing worldclass ICT solutions to our val-ued customers in Pakistan.

It may be mentioned that adistributor partnership agree-ment was taken place and signedbetween Huawei TechnologiesPakistan – Enterprise BG andEZY Infotech Pvt. Ltd here inKarachi which will advance thepresence Huawei in Pakistan.The partnership aims to increasethe integration and optimisationof ICT infrastructure in key sec-tors including government,healthcare, industry and financethrough its Channel Partner Net-work. According to agreementHuawei has appointed EZYInfotech Pvt. Ltd. as a distribu-tor, drawing on their extensiveReseller Channel base and localreach through its four officesbased in major cities across Pa-kistan and EZY Infotech Pvt.Ltd. will provide its Channelwith the latest Huawei products

Huawei brings new ICTsolutions to Pakistan

in enterprise networking andcommunications as well as awide range of IT solutions tosupport the growth of cloudcomputing, Servers & Storage,unified communication, videoconferencing and data centers inPakistan.

EZY Infotech’s localknowledge and customer centricapproach will help us tailor and

deliver our technology to thisrapidly evolving market throughits large channel partner base inPakistan”, he said adding that2012 saw Huawei Enterpriseinvested heavily in the develop-ment of its Channel PartnerProgramme which had now be-come an integral part of thecompany’s growth strategy inthe Middle East and Asia.

Toyota DreamCar Art Contest:

designing thecar of futureSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The secondphase of the 7th Toyota DreamCar Art Contest organized byIndus Motor Company con-cluded at a grand event here to-day. During this event, morethan 2,000 entries from schoolsacross Islamabad were dis-played, highlighting the creativ-ity and talent of the participants.Besides a large number ofschools, special children fromvocational schools also partici-pated in the nationwide contest.

The 7th Toyota Dream CarArt Contest, the first of its kindin Pakistan will be culminated ina series of three regional eventswith the first in Karachi, secondin Islamabad and followed by aconcluding event in Lahore.

Speaking on the occasion,Mr. Parvez Ghias, CEO, IndusMotor Company, said that theTOYOTA Dream Car Art Con-test is a first of its kind activityin Pakistan, and added, “Thepurpose of the initiative is toengage children in the creativeprocess of designing a car andat the same time, provide a plat-form to them where they free toexplore their imaginationthrough art by drawing a ‘Fu-ture Dream Car’.”

WORLD Health Organization multi-country survey on maternal andnewborn health on Wednesday

claimed that anaemia, postpartumhaemorrhage and preeclampsia were themost prevalent maternal complications inthe country.

Sharing the results ofWHO survey here at reportdissemination ceremony,Head of Department, Motherand Child health (MCH)centre, Pakistan Institute ofMedical Sciences (PIMS),Prof Dr Syeda Batool Mazharinformed the participants thatsevere maternal illness oc-curred at the rate of 12 per1000 live births ratio.

She said severeanaemia occurred in 50.0%,postpartum haemorrhagein 48.5% and preeclampsiain 9.1% of women with se-vere maternal outcomes.

Prof Dr Syeda BatoolMazhar said cardiovascular,respiratory and haematologic dysfunctionswere the most prevalent among women inPakistan with severe maternal outcomes, withrates ranging from 34.1% to 59.1%.

She said the overall caesarean sectionrate was 34.5% while the prevalence of lowbirth weight and preterm births were 10.9%and 11.2%, respectively.

Preterm births, foetal and neonataldeaths occurred at increased rates inwomen with severe maternal outcomes ascompared to all women.

She said there were 94 maternal near-missmortality cases and 38 maternal deaths givinga maternal mortality ratio of 299 per 100,000

WHO declares anaemia mostprevalent maternal complication

births. Proportion of maternal deaths assistedwithout ICU admission was 44.7%.

She said prevention of postpartumhaemorrhage by any uterotonic was 98.2%.Among target population, 80.9% of womenhad prophylactic antibiotic during caesar-

ean section, 93.3% receivedmagnesium sulfate for eclamp-sia and 57.7% of the womenwho had a preterm deliveryafter three hours of hospitalstay received corticosteroidsfor fetal lung maturation.

Prof Batool said thatimplementing the systematicidentification of near misscases, mapping the use ofcritical interventions andanalysing the correspondingindicators are just the initialstep for using the maternalnear miss concept as a toolto improve maternal andnewborn health.

She said these find-ings will be a good starter fora more comprehensive dia-

logue with governments, professional andcivil societies, health systems or facilitiesfor promoting best practices, improvingquality of care and achieving better healthfor mothers and children.

She said that the survey was con-ducted simultaneously in 357 health facili-ties from 29 countries and a total of 314,623women were included in this study. Shesaid this project is the result of an interna-tional collaborative effort carried out by alarge group of institutions and researchersmembers of the WHO Multi-country Sur-vey on Maternal and Newborn Health Re-search Group.

KARACHI: Rangers’ jawans showing the weapons seized during a targeted operation atFalak Naz Plaza near airport, Shar-e-Faisal.

KARACHI: Consul General of the Russian Federation Andray V. Demidov called on Chief Minister Justice (R) ZahidKurban Alvi.

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—Sindh caretakerChief Minister Justice (Retd)Zahid Kurban Alavi said thatbeing a densely populatedcity, there were challengesand some problems for whichthe provincial governmentwas striving hard to tackledown the challenges andproblems. This he said whiletalking to British DeputyHigh Commissioner FrancesCampbel and Russian Fed-eration Consul GeneralAndray V. Demidov, who hadseparately called on him at theCM House Friday.

Shahyar Khan Niazi, Ad-ditional Deputy Head of Mis-sion was present. The care-taker CM said that the pro-vincial government was tak-ing measures to ensure, free,fair and transparent electionsand election commissionwas being extended all sortsof support and assistance tomake the general electionscredible. He said that for themaintenance of law and or-der and ensuring peacefulconduct of general elections,the interim government wasutilizing all resources.

He expressed hope thatprompt and effective mea-sures of the governmentwould bring positive resultsvery soon. He informed the

British, Russian envoys call on Chief Minister

Govt to ensure free, fair,transparent elections: Alvi

British Deputy High Commis-sioner that the InspectorGeneral of Police and the Di-rector General of Rangers hadbeen directed to make foolproof security arrangementsfor peaceful conduct of gen-

eral elections.He stressed upon the

British Deputy High Commis-sioner to extend cooperationand assistance to promoteeducation in interior Sindh.While ensuring all possible

cooperation to promote edu-cation, British Deputy HighCommissioner said that theBritish government under theSindh education trust wastaking steps for promotingeducation in various urban

as well as rural areasof Sindh.He said that the British gov-ernment had allocated fundsof 1 million Euro to providebetter education facilitiesand enrollment of maximumnumber of Children acrossthe province.

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—Bring minoritiesinto mainstream to change themindset and to resolve theirpro blems was the consensusof Shura hamdard KarachiChapter to discuss social is-sues confronted to minoritiesin Pakistan. The talk on “Mi-norities and our responsibili-ties”, was presided over byformer chief justice, FederalSharriat Court, IslamabadHaziqul Khairi while Mrs.Sadia Rashid, President,Hamdard Foundation Paki-stan was also present at themeeting.

Speaking on the occasion,Zubeida Mustafa, a renownedjournalist, columnist and mem-ber of Forum of Secular Paki-stan said that she did not agreewith the word of “minority”,when we were all Pakistanis,

having equal rights, responsi-bilities and citizenship of Paki-stan, the question of being mi-norities didn’t rise.

“To make people a minor-ity on their numbers is equallywrong as women in Pakistan arelesser in number than men, butit doesn’t mean that women area minority in this country”, shesaid adding that it was alsowrong to consider some peoplea minority on religious ground.Because people who belongedto other religions such asHindu, Christian, Parsi and oth-ers maintained that they werelaw abiding Pakistani and loyalto Pakistan and they claimedthat they should not be con-sidered as minorities.

“It is true that there aremajority and minority parties indemocratic system. But that istemporary as the majority partyof today can be a minority party

of tomorrow”, she said addingthat it was also incorrect to con-sider some people a minority onthe basis of race and language,because that were only for iden-tification.

She said that Quaid-i-Azamgave the concept of one nationis his speech of 11th August1947, but this concept was dis-torted when political use of re-ligion was started in our soci-ety and question of minoritiesarose that brought about muchdifficulties for minorities.

Highlighting the impor-tance of freedom of speech,she said that it was quitenecessary, but its licenseshould not be given to any-one. It was correct to havethe right to oppose, but tonegate other’s such right wasnot the freedom of speech.Justice (Rtd) Haziqul Khairisaid that the movement of

Pakistan was an struggle forMuslims’ rights, becauseMuslims were denied theirpolitical and economic rightsin undivided India.

Mahdi Masul, ex-ambassa-dor of Pakistan said that when-ever something wrong wasdone against minorities in Paki-stan, he would think about In-dian Muslims that they wouldface the repercussion of theseacts in India.

He said that good gover-nance, changing mindset andtaking minorities in main streamwas the only solution of minori-ties’ problems. People shouldvote to those candidates whohad a reputation of being hon-est and tolerant in coming gen-eral elections, he added.

Comodore (Rtd) SadeedAnwar Malik said that minori-ties were a reality as UN ac-cepted their existence and

made a charter for their rightsand Pakistan was signatoryof the charter. In this charterthe first point was about thefreedom of religion, if we fol-low this charter we would beable to solve the problems ofminorities. The religiosity hadincreased in our country, cre-ated by some powers for po-litical ends, because somecountries could not digestthat we were an atomic power,he added and emphasized toinclude modern subjects incurricula of religious madaris.Adm (Rtd) M.I. Arshad, Dr.Rizwana Ansari, Dr. AbubakarSheikh, Anwarul HaqSiddiqui, Shamim Kazmi andProf. Dr. Naeem Qureshi alsospoke. Shura condoled thedeaths of Z.A. Nizami and el-der brother of Adm (Rtd) .I.Arshad in a unanimous con-dolence resolution.

Bring minorities in the mainstream: Shura Hamdard

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—amaat-e Islami(JI) Karachi Chief MuhammadHussain Mahenti hinted thatthere would be no possibilityin the improvement of thesystem if the power and poli-tics both remained in thehands of corrupt people. Heexpressed these views whileaddressing a Women Con-vention organised at Idara-eNoor-e Haq.

He said that if the rule ofthe country will not come inthe hands of honest and thesincere people then the pre-vailing deteriorated situationof the country would not be

changed. It was imperativeto vote for honest leadershipof Jamaat-e-Islami to changethe destiny of the country andits people, Mahenti stressed.He said that the JI leadershipselected candidates, whowere free from any corruptioncharges and no one couldpoint out the finger on theirhonest adding the peopleshould vote for ‘Tarazu’ (Bal-ance) to take the country outof hot waters.

He referred the services ofJI former city Nazims AbdulSattar Afghani andNaimatullah Khan, who left nostone unturned in order toprovide facilities to the people

of the city without any dis-crimination. The law of Godand Sunnah of ProphetMuhammad (peace be uponhim) would be imposed in thecountry and the people willtake their revenge in the up-coming elections from thoserulers who plunged the coun-try into crises, he said.

JI Karachi chapter deputychief and candidate of PS-103Hafiz Naeem Ur Rehman hasappealed to the people to usethe right of vote in honestway, as all the problems andissues would be resolvedwhen the rule of the countrywould be in the hands of hon-est leadership.

No change without eliminationof corrupt system: Mahenti

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—All Pakistan Mus-lim League (APML) Central In-formation Secretary AasiaIshaque said that the APMLChief Pervez Musharraf provedwith his practical stance that herespected the Judiciary and be-lieved in the supremacy of Jus-tice. The APML Chief returnedto the country to challenge thecorrupt political junta and takethe country out of the unprec-edented crises, for alleviatingthe prevailing unrest, for cre-ation of jobs for the youth of

the country and for making thedemocratic institutions of thecountry stronger including theJudiciary.

She was talking to theAPML workers Friday at themain secretariat of the party.She said that none could intimi-date the APML Chief and thecorrupt politicians were abso-lutely terrified by his return tothe country. The decision ofthe Supreme Court of Pakistanfor rejecting the application forarresting the APML Chief wasthe victory of the Justice andthe APML welcomed the deci-

sion from the core of heart.She appealed to the Chief

Justice of Pakistan to take no-tice of deliberate efforts madefor ridiculing the APML Chiefbecause the opponent weremaking all they could to disap-point the people of the countrythrough their malicious propa-ganda campaign against theAPML Chief. She said that theAPML Chief was well aware ofthe fact that on his return to thecountry, he would be present-ing him in the court of law todefend him against the chargeslevied on him.

Propaganda against Musharraf won’thelp corrupt politicians: Ishaque

Rangers raidseveral areas

KARACHI —Rangers per-sonnel are continuing tar-geted search operation inseveral areas of the metropo-lis after getting informationabout the presence of crimi-nal elements in those areason Friday. According tosources, Rangers raided dif-ferent areas including Fron-tier Colony in SITE and ad-joining areas of airport dur-ing which the entry and exitpoints were sealed. Snapchecking was also donemeanwhile Rangers contin-ued operation in the areas.

At least 800 commandosand female personnel are tak-ing part in the action.

Sources told that operationwas launched after getting thetip off regarding the presenceof criminals and suspected per-sons in the areas.

Meanwhile, ten people,including three city wardensand a member of theMuttahida Qaumi Move-ment, were gunned down indifferent parts of the me-tropolis. City wardensFarooq Hanif, 30, MuhammadSadiq, 28, Nasrullah, 30, andFaisal, 23, were on duty nearFatimid Foundation in theSoldier Bazar police precinctsand Imran was passing bywhen a group of men onthree motorcycles openedfire on them.

The five injured men weretaken to the Civil HospitalKarachi, but Hanif, Sadiq andNasrullah succumbed to theirinjuries before reaching thehospital.—Online

119 students caughtcheating in exams

KARACHI—Sindh police tookseveral people into custodyafter matriculation boardcaught 119 children in raidsin six districts of Larkana, hereon Friday. In Landhi alone, 50pupils were caught using un-fair means to attempt theirpaper. Moreover, a person im-personating for his brotherwas also arrested from thescene.

The matriculation boardoffice team conducting theraid revealed that the illegalpractice was taking placeunder the ‘supervision’ ofpolice, deputed there to dothe otherwise.

A media report said thatthe school had accommo-dated 600 pupils in the cen-tre that had capacity of 150students.—Online

PEOPLE who have recently lost theirjobs are more likely to suffer a heartattack than their employed peers, in

some cases running a risk as high as 35 per-cent, according to a study.

Researchers, whose results appeared inthe Archives of Internal Medicine, found thateach successive job losswas tied to a higher chanceof heart problems amongmore than 13,000 olderadults, although it’s notclear how unemployment it-self might have caused theextra heart attacks, KhaleejTimes Reported.

A combination of stress,worsening lifestyle andpoor management of chronicconditions without health in-surance may be to blame,said Matthew Dupre, thelead researcher from theDuke Clinical Research In-stitute in Durham, NorthCarolina.

“Those without a jobmay be unable to controltheir high blood pressure or to manage theirdiabetes (with their usual medication), orrates of smoking may be exacerbated,” Dupretold. But it’s still too early to know forsure what’s behind the link, he said, whichmeans it’s also too early to recommend waysto ward off heart problems among the re-cently-employed.

The data came from a large US study of13,451 adults who were interviewed everyother year, for an average of 12 years, abouttheir health, lifestyle and life events such asemployment and job loss.

The study participants were 55 years oldat the onset, on average, and twothirds of

Heart attacks more commonamong the unemployed: Study

them were overweight or obese. One inseven people was initially unemployed.During the research period, 1,061 of the par-ticipants - almost eight percent had a heartattack.

Dupre’s team found that the more timespeople had been let go leading up to the

latest survey, the higher theirchance of having a heart at-tack. Unemployment was stilllinked to a 35 percent in-creased risk of heart attackafter the researchers had ac-counted for the effects ofpoverty and education, aswell as race, age and otherheart risks.

“We weren’t surprisedto find the association, but wewere surprised to find that theeffects were so large, on parwith classic risk factors suchas hypertension and diabe-tes,” Dupre said.

“The associations arestrong, and they remain de-spite accounting for a wholehost of possible explana-

tions.” People were especially likely to havea heart attack during their first year of be-ing out of work, they reported.

Dupre said people who have recentlylost their jobs, as well as the doctors whotreat them, should be aware of these addedheart risks and be extra vigilant about thesigns and symptoms of a heart attack.

The author of a commentary that ap-peared with the study said more researchis needed to understand the link and whomay be most at risk. Studies have shown“a fairly convincing relationship betweenjob loss and adverse health,” said WilliamGallo, from City University of New York.

LAHORE: Chief Justice Lahore High Court Umer Atta Bandial administering oath to newAdditional Judges Justice Shaoib Saeed, Justice Athar Masood, Justice Shahid HassanBilal, Justice Alia Neelam, Justice Shahzada Mazhar and Justice Abid Aziz Sheikh.

LAHORE: PML-N President Muhammad Nawaz Sharif with former MNA Jaffar Leghari and Meena Leghari whojoined PML-N. Former CM Punjab Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif is also present in the meeting.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Former Chief Min-ister Shahbaz on Friday hassaid that the PML-N wouldbring about a radical changein the lifestyle of the commonman after coming to power.

Talking to party workers heclaimed, the Nawaz Sharif-ledMuslim League was expectedto form government not onlyat Centre but also in the prov-ince as the party had emergedas a sole popular political forceduring the last five years.

He pointed out that con-spiracies were being hatchedagainst the party leadershipand vowed to foil them withthe support of the people.

He said, under the circum-stances, the country needed apious and committed leader-ship and claimed Nawaz Sharifwas the only person who hadthe capability to lead it to pros-perity.

He criticised opponents ofthe metro bus service, laptopscheme and Danish schools

PML-N govt to ensuremasses welfare

and said the previous Punjabgovernment had spent hugepublic money on developmentschemes with complete trans-parency.

He said the nationaleconomy was not in goodshape and if voted to poweragain, the PML-N would putthe economy back on trackeven though it would be anextremely tough challenge inthe present situation. ShahbazSharif directed party workersto expedite their election cam-paign and contact voters tomuster their support for theparty.

Leader of Leghari tribe andformer MNA Sardar JafarLeghari along with his wifeformer MNA Meena Legharion Friday joined PML-N aftera meeting with PML-N Presi-dent Nawaz Sharif and formerchief minister Punjab ShahbazSharif at PML-N Central Sec-retariat.

According to a spokes-

man for PML-N, the both be-longing to Dera Ghazi Khanshowed their full trust andsupport in the leadership ofPML-N. The PML-N wouldwin the next elections due toits popularity among thepeople, they added.

Meanwhile, a delegation offormer UC-Nazims Lahorejoined PML-N after a meetingwith former chief ministerPunjab Shahbaz Sharif at PML-N Central Secretariat.

According to a spokes-man of PML-N, a UC-Nazimdelegation led by RanaMusheer Iqbal and Talha Barkiincluded former UC-142 NazimTariq Javed and UC-64 formerNazim Malik Rehmat metformer chief minister andjoined PML-N.

The former UC-Nazims ap-preciated PML-N’s policies forthe welfare of people andshowed their full trust andsupport in the leadership ofPML-N.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Lahore TransportCompany (LTC) haslaunched state of the art airconditioned Bus Servicefrom Thokar Niaz Baig to Jalloon Route B-22. Efficient, af-fordable and comfortabletransport facilities are beingprovided to general public onthis route reflects the firmcommitment of company.

This is made possible asa result of private public part-nership between LahoreTransport Company andFoton Busco Company. New

LTC launches AC bus servicebus service will provide re-lief to the people who wereaverse from the dearth ofpublic transport on thisroute.

This was stated by theChief Executive OfficerLTC Khawaja Haider Latifwhile addressing the highlevel meeting at LTC Head-quarter held in connectionto review the various ini-tiatives.

Chief Operating OfficerOmar Pirzada, Chief FinancialOfficer Mariyam Khawar,Manager EnforcementChaudhry Shafique and se-

nior officials were alsopresent in the meeting.

Khawaja Haider Latif hassaid that Lahore TransportCompany since its inceptionis playing effective role inplanning, regulating and fa-cilitating the general publicunderlying modern transportsystem in the city.

He has further said thatthe enforcement wing is be-ing regularly monitored bythe senior officials of LTC tokeep an eye over traffic in-fringements to ensuresmooth operation of publictransport in Lahore.

Sethi noticesmeasles spread

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Taking strict no-tice of spread of measles invarious areas of the prov-ince, including Lahore,Punjab Chief MinisterNajam Sethi has directedHealth Department to takeimmediate steps for its pre-vention.

He further directed thatall measures should betaken to ensure proper careand medical assistance tothe children admitted in vari-ous hospitals.

Chief Minister exhortedhealth authorities to ensureall preventive measuresagainst measles, along withmaximum possible medicalcare to the children sufferingfrom the disease.

Rs 500,000 releasedfor ailing folk singer

ReshmanLAHORE—On the orders ofcaretaker chief minister ofPunjab, Najam Sethi, an amountof Rs500,000 has been releasedfor the ailing renowned folksinger Reshma, who is cur-rently undergoing medical treat-ment at a local hospital here.

The Chief Minister alsoannounced a monthly stipendof Rs 25,000 for Reshma.

Earlier, the caretaker CMwhile lauding Reshma for herinvaluable contributions in thepromotion of Pakistan’s cultureand music said that she,through her folk singing, intro-duced the rich culture of Paki-stan to the world.

He said that the Govern-ment of Pakistan valuesReshma’s contribution andwould do its utmost for hermedical treatment. Sethi also di-rected the relevant authoritiesfor providing every possibleassistance and best medicaltreatment to the folk song-stress. He as well prayed for herearly recovery. It may be men-tioned that the President of Pa-kistan had already authorized astipend of Rs.10,000/- permonth for Reshma.—INP

Firemen savepetrol pump by

dousing tanker fireLAHORE—The firemen lateThursday night thwarted amajor destruction by bringingan oil tanker fire under con-trol saving the petrol pump itwas parked at. According toreports the incident was re-ported from a fuel outlet lo-cated near Butt Chowk onCollege Road, Lahore.

Rescuers as well as fire bri-gade reached on time anddoused the fire before it couldspread further. There was noreport of any casualty or burninjury. What caused the fire toerupt was not known.—INP

‘PML-N toaward tickets tohonest, educated

people’LAHORE—PML-N SecretaryInformation MushahidullahKhan has said their Party wouldgive a surprise to the nation byannouncing party candidates,as a large number of tickets arebeing awarded to honest,young and educated people.

In a statement, he saiddelay in the announcementof tickets is due to ongoingdialogue with regional andreligious political parties forseat adjustment.Mushahidullah rejected me-dia reports that PML-N hasavoided alliances with otherparties in view of opinionpolls depicting the party instrong position.

He said President ofPML-N would formallylaunch election campaignnext week.—Online

Jafar Leghari, his wife join PML-N

SALIM AHMED

L A H O R E — O m b u d s m a nPunjab Javed Mahmood hasdirected Finance Depart-ment to review and obtain

Ombudsman orders for providingrelief to retired employees

Chief Minister’s approvalfor increase in the meageramount of Rs.3000 permonth minimum pension inorder to fulfil the promisemade to the elderly and hap-less retired government em-ployees according to theconstitution.

Ombudsman PunjabJaved Mahmood issuedthese orders on the com-plaint of a retired chowkidarof Sardar Town Sher ShahColony Lahore, MuhammadShafi who had not been re-ceiving the minimum pensionof three thousand rupees permonth from Accountant Gen-eral Punjab.

Ombudsman Punjab di-rected Consultant Ombuds-man Office Wazir AhmedQureshi to probe into thematter. According to WazirAhmed Qureshi, Class-IVemployees of Punjab gov-ernment had been given mini-

mum monthly pension ofRs.300, after that Punjab gov-ernment increased thisamount to Rs.2,000 permonth in 2010 and later fixedRs.3,000 per month.

Ombudsman Punjab or-dered Accountant GeneralPunjab to make payment ofoutstanding dues of mini-mum pension of Rs.3000 tothe applicant.

He ordered that althoughPunjab government has en-hanced minimum pensionfrom Rs.300 to Rs.3000 permonth yet due to price-hikeand inflation this amount isvery low for retired govern-ment employees to meet theirboth ends.

The Ombudsman saidthat according to the judg-ments of superior courts,pension is not only the legaland constitutional right ofthe old pensioners but it isalso their social need.

Six addl judgesof LHC take oath

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The newly-ap-pointed six additional judgesof the Lahore High Court (LHC)took oath of their office hereon Friday. LHC Chief JusticeUmar Ata Bandial administeredoath to Justice Shoaib Saeed,Justice Atir Mahmood, JusticeShahid Bilal Hassan, JusticeAalia Neelum, Justice ShezadaMazhar and Justice Abid AzizSheikh in a ceremony held atLHC Judges’ lounge. LHCJudges,federal and provinciallaw officers, office bearers oflawyers’ bodies,families ofjudges and a number of seniorlawyers attended the cer-emony.

After the induction of sixadditional judges, thestrength of LHC judges hasbecome 41. President Asif AliZardari acting upon the ad-vice by Prime Minister ap-pointed the said additionalJudges on April 10 for a pe-riod of one year.

All police officesto remain open

on SaturdayLAHORE—Inspector Generalof Police (IGP), Punjab, AftabSultan has ordered that Cen-tral Police Office besides allpolice offices in the provincewill remain open on Saturday.

Holiday of Saturday willnot applicable on Police De-partment and all officers andofficials will perform theirduties as usual.—APP

Caretaker govtto complete itstask: Minister

LAHORE—Provincial Minis-ter for minorities affairs andhuman rights, JamshedRehmatullah has said that de-spite its short tenure the care-taker government will com-plete the task assigned to it.He was addressing a recep-tion held in his honour atSaint Peters School/ChurchWaris Road by Bishop Rob-ert Samuel Azariah and Execu-tive Committee Diocese ofRaiwind, Church of Pakistan.Provincial minister said thatrepresentation of minoritieswas a big honour for him andhoped he would come up totheir expectations.

The minister thanked theorganizers for holding the func-tion and prayed for theprogress and prosperity of thecountry. Bishop RobertAzariah and others addressedon the occasion and felicitatedthe minister on assuming theoffice. Pastor Naseem Fiaz,Peter Azariah, Pastor AkmalRana, Qadir Buksh, Mrs.Shaukat, Mrs. Dr. KhushnoodAzariah, Principal Rena Shakir,Mrs. Qadir Buksh, Mrs.Kamran, Wasbi, General Sec-retary, National Council ofChurches Victor Azariah werealso present on the occasion.

Meanwhile, KhateebBadshahi Masjid MaulanaAbdul Khabir Azad called onJamshed Rehmatullah in hisoffice and discussed mattersregarding promotion of reli-gious harmony, toleranceand brotherhood.—APP