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RAWALPINDI—Pakistan mili-tary on Tuesday rejected a re-port published in a US news-paper on recent drone strikesin northwestern Pakistan, call-ing it a “distortion of facts” andan attempt at weakening thecountry’s stand against dronestrikes.

Commenting on the reportpublished in the New YorkTimes on Tuesday, a spokes-man for the Inter Services Pub-lic Relations said “such an ac-

cusation is a distortion of thefacts and seems to be aimed atdiluting Pakistan’s stance ondrone strikes.”

Local and internationalmedia had reported two sus-pected US drone strikes in theNorth and South Waziristantribal regions in early Febru-ary.

According to reports, thefirst strike on Feb 6 targeted asuspected compound in NorthWaziristan agency killing three

unidentified people. The secondstrike on Feb 8 carried out onthe border of the North andSouth Waziristan tribal regionswas reported to have targeted acompound owned by a localTehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan com-mander.

Intelligence officials saidthe Feb 8 attack killed eight mili-tants, including two Al-Qaedamen. The rest, sources said,were local TTP fighters.

However, the report pub-

lished by the New York Timestoday quoted unnamed US in-telligence officials as denyingthe US carried out the attacksand instead accused Pakistaniforces of carrying out thestrikes.

Rejecting the report, theISPR spokesman deniedPakistan’s security forces hav-ing carried out any operation,including air strikes, in the areaon dates mentioned in the newsreport.

Pakistan Army rejects NYTreport on drone strikes

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KARACHI: Fire fighters struggling to extinguish fire in a building which eruptedafter blast at Abbas Town.—File photo

PPP jolted as Lashkari Raisani,21 others join PML-N

Nawaz promises to redress Baloch sense of deprivationSALIM AHMED

LAHORE—The former presi-dent of PPP Balochistan, NawabLashkari Raisani, along with 21Baloch leaders including onesitting MNA and four MPAshave formally announced theirdecision to join the PakistanMuslim League–Nawaz (PML-N) ahead of general elections inthe country.

Led by Nawab LashkariRaisani, a 22-member delega-tion of political leaders fromBalochistan called on the PML-N President Mian Nawaz Sharifat his Raiwind residence onTuesday and announced theirdecision to join the PML-N re-posing full confidence in theparty leadership. Those whojoined the PML-N were in-cluded Nawab Lashkari Raisani,Humayun Kurd, Ismail Gujar,Tahir Mehmood, Ayub Khoso,

Rahila Durrani, Sardar Kamranand others.

It may be noted that Nawab

Lashkari Raisani, who is brotherof Balochistan Chief MinisterNawab Aslam Raisani, was ap-pointed as president of the PPPBalochistan by former PPPchairperson Mohtarma BenazirBhutto in 2003. However,Lashkari Raisani, after havingdifferences with the party lead-ership has quit the party in 2012.

During meeting with thePML-N President, the Balochleaders reposed full confidencein the leadership of the PML-Nand expressed the hope that situ-ation in Balochistan would benormalized under the leadershipof the PML-N through demo-cratic approach.

Talking to Baloch leaders,Nawaz promised to redress thesense of deprivation inBalochistan, if Allah Almightyprovided him an opportunity. Healso welcomed them in party

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Pak fast heading towards emergencyOther major cities under shadow of massive blasts Next 72 hours highly crucial

US-funded Tarbela Damrestoration complete: Olson

‘We support TAPI, not Pak-Irangas pipeline project’

HARIPUR—US AmbassadorRichard Olson reiterated onTuesday the commitment of theUnited States to extend full helpand cooperation in resolving theenergy crisis faced by Pakistan.

Addressing a function hereat Tarbela Dam project, alongwith Water and Power Develop-ment Authority (Wapda) Chair-man Syed Raghib Abbas Shahto recognise the completion ofthe US-funded Tarbela Dam res-toration project the US ambas-sador said, “The United Statesunderstands that Pakistan is fac-ing an energy crisis and we arecommitted to doing our part.”

The restoration of three gen-

erators at Tarbela added 128megawatts of power to the na-tional grid.

He said, “The work com-pleted here at Tarbela contrib-utes enough electricity to sup-ply two million customers, andhelps provide relief to those suf-fering from extensive powershortages.”

Wapda Chairman SyedRaghib Abbas Shah appreciatedthe support of the United Statesto the energy sector in Pakistan.

The US Agency for Interna-tional Development provided$16.5 million to the PakistanWapda to repair three powergeneration units and to train

Tarbela’s staff to operate theupgraded equipment to increaseproduction of electricity atTarbela.

Ambassador Richard Olsonsaid that his country supports theTurkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pa-kistan and India pipeline project.

Relieving Pakistan’s energycrisis is a top priority for USassistance to Pakistan, saidOlson.

In addition to Tarbela, theUnited States is also fundingother high impact projects, suchas the rehabilitation of theMangla dam, and renovation ofthermal plants at Jamshoro,

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Political parties asked to applyfor symbols by March 15

ISLAMABAD—The ElectionCommission of Pakistan (ECP)has invited applications frompolitical parties which havecomplied with the provisions ofthe Political Parties Order, 2002for allocation of election sym-bols.

The applications, dulysigned by the respective partyleader, should reach the ElectionCommission SecretariatIslamabad, on or before 15thMarch, 2013.

The political parties havebeen advised to file applicationsfor allocation of symbols ac-

cording to requirements of Ar-ticle 5 of the Allocation of Sym-bols Order, 2002.

The applications shouldcontain information about listof symbols applied for in orderof preference; symbol or sym-bols if any allocated to the po-litical party during the previousgeneral elections; address of thehead office of the politicalparty; the name of its president,secretary general and other of-fice-bearers of the central ex-ecutive committee; numericalstrength of its members andcopy of election manifesto/

copy of the constitution of thepolitical party should be at-tached.

The parties have also beenasked to state whether theparty was represented by amember or members in theNational Assembly or a pro-vincial assembly in the past, ifso, the name and other particu-lars of such member; whetherthe political party has con-ducted the intra-party electionsas required under Article 12 ofthe Political Parties Order,2002 and whether the political

Law, order inPunjab much

better: ShahbazSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Punjab ChiefMinister Muhammad ShahbazSharif has said that law andorder situation in Punjab ismuch better than other prov-inces and replying to the state-ments of Rehman Malik ismere a waste of time.

He was talking to media-men at the joining of PakistanMuslim League-N by a 22-

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4 arrested forinvolvement inAbbas Townblast: MalikISLAMABAD—InteriorMinister Rehman Malik toldthe National Assembly onTuesday that authorities hadarrested four activists of thebanned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi fortheir involvement in the deadlybombing in Karachi’s AbbasTown area.

Malik told the NA that theKarachi bombing was areplication of similar sectarianattacks in Quetta. He claimedthat a conspiracy was beinghatched to delay generalelections.

The interior minister saidhe had visited Karachi onMonday and had held

Governor acceptsresignations of

MQM ministersSardar declared

leader of opposition

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—Sindh Governor DrIshrat Ul Ebad Khan had onTuesday accepted resignationsof the ministers belonging to theMuttahida Qaumi Movement(MQM). There were 11 Minis-ter that had tendered their resig-nations including Syed SardarAhmed, Syed Faisal AliSabzwari, Dr Sagheer Ahmed,Khawaja Izhar Ul Hassan,Kahlid Bin Wilayat, AdilSiddiqui, Abdul Haseeb, ShoaibBokhari, Zubair Ahmed, SheikhAfzal and Nisar Panhwar.

The Speaker had also Tues-day evening issued a notificationdeclaring Ahmed as the leaderof opposition in the provincialassembly.

The Speaker Sindh Assem-bly Nisar Ahmed Khuhru hadnot approved the resignations

Raja tovisit Indiaon SaturdayNEW DELHI—Prime MinisterRaja Pervez Ashraf will visitIndia for the first time thisweek for a day-long pilgrim-age to a shrine, officials inboth countries said Tuesday.

“Pakistan’s prime ministerwill be in India on Saturday.This is a private visit and hewill be accompanied by hisfamily and other officials,” anIndian government officialsaid on condition of anonym-ity.

“He is not expected tomeet any Indian politicalleaders. This is clearly areligious and spiritual trip,” hetold media.

Ashraf and his family areexpected to pray at the shrineof Sufi saint Hazrat KhwajaGharib Nawaz in AjmerSharif, some 400 kilometreswest of New Delhi.

A senior Pakistanigovernment official confirmedthat Ashraf would make aprivate visit to India on

Blast at poliovaccinationcentre, 2 injuredTARIQ SAEED

PESHAWAR—Volunteersattached to the Polio eradica-tion campaign continued to betargeted as two Female Healthworkers were seriouslywounded when a middleintensity explosion rippedthrough a Polio vaccinationcenter in Jamrod Khyberagency on Tuesday the secondday of the three day Anti-Poliodrive in Federally Adminis-tered Tribal Areas(FATA).

“A middle intensity blastrocked the in immunizationcentre inside Tehsil Jamrod’scivil hospital where a team ofpolio workers, includingwomen volunteers, was busyadministering polio drops tochildren under five years ofage”. Officials said apprehend-ing that was likely to halt the

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NA discussesKarachisituation

ISLAMABAD—The NationalAssembly started debate on ad-journment motion moved byWasim Akhtar regarding inci-dent of 2 bomb blasts at AbbasTown in Karachi on Sunday inwhich over 48 innocent peoplewere killed and dozens injured.

Initiating the debate‚ themover Wasim Akhtar said nomeasures have been taken tostop the terrorist activities inKarachi despite the fact thatthere were intelligence reportsabout terrorist threats.

He said it was not a sectar-ian clash but such terrorist ac-tivities are being carried out un-der a pre-planned conspiracy. He

FAISAL ZAHID MALIK

KARACHI—The large-scalebrutal killings in Karachi anda state of helplessness of thelocal security agencies haveplunged the city of the Quaidinto a state of shock and hor-ror. Terror stricken affecteesare moving to safe places andsome of them to other cities.

According to informationgathered by the Pakistan Ob-server, the foreign-fundedforces engaged in de-stabiliz-ing Karachi are now headingtowards other cities of Paki-stan including Lahore and a re-run of the Karachi tragic inci-dents may soon be witnessedin other cities.

Sources now describe it“hundred percent certain” thatsuch a grave eventuality will

force the President, Mr. AsifAli Zardari, to come into ac-tion and ultimately promulgateemergency so that the dangerslooming large over the Federa-tion were thwarted before thecountry becomes totally un-governable.

This scribe has furthergathered that GHQ had alreadybeen sounded by the Presi-dency of the likelihood of sucha grim scenario resulting in thedelay of the 2013 general elec-tion and installation of a gov-ernment of technocrats withtwo-point agenda namely se-curity of the people andredressal of the acute eco-nomic crisis. “Dr. IshratHussain, Mr. Ishaq Dar or Dr.Hafeez Sheikh may head suchan interim set-up,” the sourcecon-fided.

Our reporter fromIslamabad adds: Some of thefriends of Pakistan too are re-ported to have been urging Pa-kistan to take urgent cogni-sance of the fast deterioratinglaw and order situation and theeconomic down-slide and inthe larger interest of Pakistangovernment should come outwith a stopgap technocrat gov-ernment.

Friendly countries, it islearnt, include some Muslimcountries as well as some tra-ditional allies of Pakistan.

This Paper has gatheredthat the next 72 hours werevery crucial.

However, the law enforce-ment agencies were keeping astrict watch on those elementsthat were having a field-dayin Karachi, it is further learnt.

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Abbas Town carnage

MQM toannounce

strategy todaySTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI— The CoordinationCommittee of Muttahida QaumiMovement (MQM) made itsdecisions in Tuesday’s meetingsconvened to chalk out strategyfollowing the expiry of deadlinegiven by the party to the gov-ernment for the arrest of culpritsbehind Abbas Town attack andto take steps to alleviate the suf-ferings of the victims.

A joint meeting of the Co-ordination Committee ofMuttahida Qaumi Movement(MQM) Karachi and Londonheld Tuesday to chalk out its fu-ture line of action after its dead-line given to the government ex-pired.

MQM Chief Altaf Hussain

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President for uplift ofSouth Punjab people

JAMAL DIN WALI (RAHIM

YAR KHAN) —President AsifAli Zardari Tuesday said that theconstitution of a commission bythe government was a demon-stration of its sincerity to respectthe legitimate aspirations of thepeople of South Punjab and ad-dress their genuine grievances.

He was addressing a gatheringof notables of the area at the resi-dence of Punjab GovernorMakhdoom Syed AhmadMahmood here.

The President said that thepresent government had paidspecial attentiontowards thesocio-economic development ofthe people of South Punjab byundertaking a number of devel-opment projects aimed at im-proving the quality of their livesand to end their sense of depri-vation. He said that it was amatter of great satisfaction to see

a number ofprojects being com-pleted and added that muchmore still needed to be done.

The President said that thegovernment had followed the vi-sion of ShaheedZulfikar AliBhutto and Shaheed MohtarmaBenazir Bhutto, who consideredservice of the people, especiallythe down-trodden and themarginalized, as their moral andreligious obligation. He said thatthe vision of the great leaderswould continue to guide them inserving the people.

He said that guided by thevision of great leaders, the gov-ernment feltspecial responsibil-ity towards the betterment of theplight of people of South Punjaband it would continue undertak-ing every possible effort to im-proving their socio-economicconditions. He said that beingmortal, everyone had to embrace

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Nisar hopes togive consensus

name forcaretaker PM

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Opposition leaderin the National AssemblyChaudhry Nisar Ali Khan hassaid that there is agreementamong opposition parties onfloating two names for the slotof care-taker prime minister.

Talking to reporters hereTuesday, Nisar said, “Out of twonames, there is a bit reservationover one name but he will re-spond to the letter of Prime Min-ister Raja Pervez Ashraf on care-taker prime minister soon.”

Nisar said Imran Khan hadfloated names of RazzaqDawood and Shoaib Suddle forthe slot of caretaker prime min-ister but later he backed out.

The opposition leader fur-

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PPP, PML-Nagree on same-day dissolutionof assemblies

STAFF REPORTER

I S L A M A B A D — P a k i s t a nPeople’s Party (PPP) and Paki-stan Muslim League-N haveagreed on dissolution of nationaland provincial assemblies on asame day on March 16.

The Punjab Assembly willalso be dissolved on March 16while elections for national andprovincial assembly seats willbe conducted on a same day,source said.

The National Assembly willbe completing its constitutionaltenure on March 16 while thePunjab Assembly will complete

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DOHA—US Secretary of StateJohn Kerry expressed confi-dence on Tuesday that weaponsbeing supplied by Gulf countriesto the Syrian rebels were reach-ing the “right people,” as he vis-ited key rebel ally Qatar.

“We had discussions aboutthe type of weapons that are be-ing transferred. We are aware ofwhat people are doing,” Kerrytold reporters in Doha at a pressconference with Qatari PrimeMinister Sheikh Hamad binJassem Al-Thani.

The new top US diplomatwas on the last leg of his maidenGulf tour, with the Syrian con-flict topping the agenda, amidconcerns that arms reportedlybeing supplied to Syria’s insur-gents by Gulf countries, includ-

Kerry: Gulf arms to Syriarebels reaching ‘right people’

ing Qatar, were falling into thehands of extremists.

“We did discuss the questionof the ability to try to guarantee(that the weapons) are going tothe right people and to the mod-erate Syrian opposition coali-tion,” he added, while repeatingearlier comments on the impos-sibility of ensuring that.

On Monday, Kerry said inAbu Dhabi that “there is noguarantee that one weapon oranother might not fall into thewrong hands.”

”We need to ensure that oursupport strengthens the moder-ate opposition,” he said.

Meanwhile, Sheikh Hamadwarned that if the conflict is notresolved soon, “we will findextremist parties taking part in

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD: AlHuda Interna-tional School’s first IslamicExhibition AIEx-2013 “Dis-cover Islamic Science”, washeld with the objective ofsteering the development offuture scientists and helpingstudents recognize the contri-bution of Muslim scientists ofour “Golden Era” to the ad-

vancement of science andtechnology. The exhibitionwas open for general publicand was graced as chief guestby Dr. Noor uddin Qazi, a re-nowned scientist and pioneerof Atomic Energy CommissionPakistan, Dr.Farhat Hashmi;founder of AlHuda Interna-tional School, Sheikh TawfiqueChaudhry, CEO Mercy Mis-sion and Chairman Al-KautherInstitute besides other digni-taries and was visited by morethan 2000 visitors.

The exhibition com-menced with the openingaddress by Dr. M.N.Qazi whoappreciated the efforts of AISand considered the AIEx tobe a milestone on the road of

Youth need proper upbringing tomeet future challenges: M N Qazi

success for the School. Hestressed the importance ofthe fact that the present gen-eration should be broughtout of the inferiority complexand should be confident thatit belongs to the best, com-plete and peace loving reli-gion. However, the founda-tion of modern science itselfis Quran. The chief guestwas spell bound during his

tour of the exhibition.Montessori students per-

formed live experiments ondensity and explained theconcept beautifully, childrenaged 5 to 6 demonstrated themodel of solar system, wheatprocessing by bacteria, aswell as explained the life-cycleof farm birds, butterflies andhoney bee, reflecting theirintellectual curiosity andconfidence. The hard work ofthe students and the guid-ance of the teachers washighly appreciated. Studentsof grades I-V were seen tothoroughly comprehend theenvironmental and earth sci-ences as well as the anatomyof human body.

Eye-opening demonstra-tions and explanations onWind Turbine, Water Cycle,Restless Earth, Ants, Func-tioning of lungs and kidneys,frontal lobe (Nassiyah) left theaudience in deep appreciation.Many parents acknowledgedthat they have learnt a lot fromthese projects. Besides theproject displays, thrillingspeech contests, calligraphy

contests and essay writingcontests were also highlightsof the event. The audiencegained from a series of docu-mentaries shown at the occa-sion. Dr.Tawfique Chaudhary,a well-known scholar ad-dressed the participants at theend, appreciating the initiativeof the host institute as well aspraising the performance andparticipation of other schools.

The exhibition con-cluded with a prize distribu-tion ceremony bringing a dayof intellectual and iman-boosting journey to an end.The public demanded thatsuch initiatives be taken infuture too so that all couldbenefit.

Pir Qutab tocontest pollsfrom NA-94

M ZAFAR ANSARI

TOBA TEK SINGH—Major-ity of people are unable toresolve their problems whichthey have been facing fordecades and these problems,beside others, also includeignorance. This was statedby Pir Qutab Shah, a nephewof former Prime Minister syedYousuf Raza Gilani and anindependent candidate tocontest election for NationalAssembly seat NA-94, whileaddressing a corner publicmeeting.

He said that if the areapeople provided him an op-portunity to serve them hewould try his best to comeupto their expectations. PirQutab said that it was his de-sire to serve the poor segmentof society. He said that major-ity of our people had no reli-gious or worldly knowledgeand they were suffering dueto it. He further said that a lotof evils have penetrated intoour society and it would behis priority to eliminate theseevils from the society.

Pir Qutab, to a question,replied that if they could re-form the society and persuadepeople to shun anti-Islam andanti-human actions it wouldbe a great service to Paki-stanis. Education, he said,helps end ignorance thereforeit would be his one of the pri-orities to make arrangementsfor religious education to chil-dren along with school.

Dy Speakeropens gas

supply schemesSTAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—The KhyberPakhtunkhwa AssemblyDeputy Speaker, KhushdilKhan here Tuesday inaugu-rated gas supply schemes inhis constituency PK-10 thatwill benefits a large numberof people. The residents ofKalay Mera, Sorezai Payan,Khatko bridge and adjoiningareas would be largely ben-efited from this scheme, add-ing the Government feelproud to fulfill yet anotherpledge of masses , said theDeputy Speaker while inau-gurating the gas supplyscheme here on Tuesday.

He said provision of basicamenities of life including elec-tricity and gas to people at theirdoorsteps was the top priorityof the government and ANPhas fulfilled all the promisesmade with public during lastelections. Khushdil Khan saidrecord development schemesin the nook and corner of theprovince were completed de-spite the daunting challengesof terrorism and floods.

He said the positive effectsof the peoples’ welfareschemes have been startedvisible. He said ANP after com-ing into power will provide gasfacility to all the remaining ar-eas of the province. The ANPleader said a network of edu-cation institutes besides eightuniversities were setup in KPto spread rays of education.

He said political jugglerswith catchy slogans wereagain come out to grab atten-tion of masses but theywould face crushing defeatin upcoming elections. TheANP leader said ANP wouldget overwhelming victory innext general elections on ba-sis of performance andrecord development works.

MULTAN—President Asif AliZardari has said it is our en-deavor to remove the back-wardness of SouthernPunjab and for this funds are

being enhanced He ex-pressed these views whileaddressing the opening cer-emony of RashidabadFlyover in Multan on Tues-day.

He said that 95 per centof developmental projects inMultan have been completedHe said southern Punjab wasdeprived of its share of de-

S Punjab backwardness: Zardarireleases Rs 1.56b for Multan uplift

velopment in the past‚ butour government allocatedrecord funds for its rapid de-velopment. He said it is ourendeavour to remove the

backwardness of SouthernPunjab and for this funds arebeing enhanced.

Earlier former Prime Min-ister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilaniaddressing the ceremonysaid the democratic Govern-ment of Pakistan PeoplesParty the commitment madeby Shaheed Benazir Bhutto.He said President Zardari re-

leased 1.5 billion rupees forthe development of Multanwhich is a gift for the people.

He said work on a cancerhospital and a burn centre in

Multan would start soon. Hesaid work on Multan Inter-national Airport is completeand would soon be inaugu-rated. He said work wouldsoon start on Faisalabad-Multan motorway would alsobe initiated soon.

This 5 hundred meterlong flyover has been com-pleted in 10 months at a cost

of 1.47 billion rupees. Itwould be the 8th flyover inMultan city facilitating thetraffic flow between Multanand Lahore. The President

also opened project of abridge on the river Ravi inSyedwala‚ District NankanaSahib. The bridge whichwould be completed in oneand a half year would con-nect Jaranwala with Okara.This 3 kilometer long bridgewould be completed at a costof about one billion ru-pees.—Online

STAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—Provincial Elec-tion Commissioner KhyberPakhtunkhwa, Sonu KhanBaloch has said that the ban-ners and the signboards in-stalled by the prospectivecandidates were in violationof Election Commission’srules and regulation andcode of ethics. He directedthem to remove all such sign-boards and banners withinfive days as incase of noncompliance, the respectiveadministration would remove

all the advertisement’s bill-boards.

According to a release ofthe Election Commission KPhere Tuesday, the decisionhas been taken on the direc-tives of Election Commissionof Pakistan. In a letter ad-dressed to Chief SecretaryKP, Home Secretary, Addi-tional Chief Secretary FATA,Inspector General of Police(IGP), Commissioners,Deputy Commissioners, Po-litical Agents, District PoliceOfficers, wherein the admin-istrative officials have been

asked to remove all such sign-boards and banners. It mer-its mentioned here that ECPin its code of conducts is-sued on January 28, 2013 hasfixed the poster size at 2feet x3feet, hoardings 3feet x 5feet,banners 3feet x 9feet andhandbills & brochures9inches x 6 inches.

It said that the ElectionCommission would ensure toholding of fair, transparentand peaceful elections, urg-ing the members of the civilsociety and politicians tocooperate with the Election

Commission in the judiciousfulfillment of this nationalobligation. It also stressedupon the people to ensureimplementation of code ofethics during election pro-cess. The Election Commis-sioner also appealed the me-dia and advertisement agen-cies to abide by the code ofethics issued by the ElectionCommission for the Election-2013. The Election Commis-sioner intimated to removethe election related wallchalking which is completelybanned.

ONE learns to copewith the loss of dearand near ones as

also some close friends andassociates who were onceyour buddies. Over theyears it has been a painfulprocess. I still recall with ex-treme sadness the loss ofdear friends likeMuslehuddin, MuhammadIdrees, Farooq Mazhar,Zafar Samdani, KhalidHasan and above all OmarKureishi, whom I consid-ered as virtually a guru andmentor in my life.

Having spent long yearsin Karachi and my eventfulcareer with PIA, I cameacross some remarkable col-leagues, who in due coursebecome my close friends.One such person was QamarAli Khan, who recentlypassed away in Karachi bat-tling with multiple healthproblems and had been on adylasis for quite some time.

An outstanding hockeyplayer who rose to the na-tional level and had touredEurope with national team inthe early 60’s had also thehonour to lead PIA Hockey

team to clinch the nationalhockey title for several suc-cessive years.

As a deep defender hefound it hard to retain his posi-tion in the Pakistan side, as hewas up against such stalwarts

like Muneer Dar, Tariq Aziz andothers which showed howmuch talent existed in Pakistanin those golden years ofhockey. In later years he alsolook to squash and golf as he

gradually drifted into the mar-keting hierarchy of PIA to servein senior slots like London, To-kyo, Dubai, Singapore, Karachi,Lahore, Islamabad andPeshawar as a station head. Hecould thus be truly described

as a role model for other sports-men very few of whom had ex-celled in their regular jobs likehim once putting their sportingcareer behind.

He also belonged to athoroughbred hockey familyas many of his other familymembers distinguished them-selves in the game. This in-cluded older brother AsgharKhan, an Olympian of earlierera, brother Akhtar Khan, botha senior player and leadinginternational hockey umpire,followed by nephew Shahid,who retained his place in thePakistan team for quite long.

I have had fond memoriesof his cheerful and pleasantnature who went out of theway to help his friends andmade a creditable name forhimself in the challengingmarketing field to serve PIAwith distinction. Being alsofitness conscious it was sadto see him riddled with healthproblems in latter years. I was

lucky to speak to him fewdays before his passingaway and found him in hisusual and cheerful modewhich had been his hallmarkall his life. He seemed moreworried about the health con-dition of another iconicsporting colleague of PIA,former Test cricketer HaseebAhsan, who too has been ondylasis and is in critical con-dition. Here is my deepestcondolence to Begum QamarAli, his son with whom Ispoke on phone and othermembers of the family.A thought for Haseeb Ahsan

One is also praying forthe recovery of HaseebAhsan, a close friend and re-markable figure who haddistinguished himself inmany ways as a worthysportsman, a marketing wiz-ard of PIA, and lastly as adiplomat representing Ire-land as their senior Coun-selor in Karachi.

Remembering Qamar Ali Khan, Agha Muneer Akhtar

MULTAN: President Asif Ali Zardari unveiling Syedwala bridge over River Ravi at Gilani House.

EC takes notice of oversized election signboards

BASHIR AHMAD RAHMANI

HA F I Z A B A D—Cases ofhundreds of SST teachersin the Punjab for their pro-motion as Subject Special-ists grade 17 have beenhanging fire in the DirectorPublic Instructions officeLahore for the past twoyears. The SST teacherswith qualification of MA/M.Sc have appealed toChief Minister Punjab andEducation Minister to orderfor convening the meetingof District Promotion Com-mittees to decide theircases.

President of SST Teach-ers Union has disclosedthat DPI (Schools) had in-vited applications from theSST teachers for their pro-motion as Subject Special-ists about two years back.

Meeting of the DPCs wereconvened for more than sixtimes during the past twoyears but always postponeddue to unknown reasons asa result of which the SSTteachers were deprived oftheir promotion as SubjectSpecialists.

*****Federal Minister for

Works Ch. Liaquat AbbasBhatti has said that PML (Q)do not believe in drawingroom politics but believed inservice to humanity. Inaugu-rating gas supply in ThathiBehlol village at a cost of Rs.200 million, he said that theybelieved in the importanceof their voters and due totheir power he was ap-pointed Federal Ministerfrom the district first time inthe history of Hafizabad.He said that candidates of

PML (Q) of Ch. Mehdi Bhattigroup would give toughtime to their opponents dur-ing the upcoming electionsin the district. Prominentamong those who also ad-dressed the gathering in-cluded former ProvincialMinister Shoukat Ali Bhatti,former District NazimMubasshar Abbas Bhatti,Ex-Nazim UC SikandarNawaz Bhatti, BabarShafique Arain and Pir SyedShoaib Shah.

*****A young housewife in vil-

lage Mouloo Chak wasthrottled to death by her hus-band and his two brothers onMonday night. According topolice source, deceasedSaima Bibi (23) was married toGhulam Mustafa about fiveyear back. Recently GhulamMustafa got married another

woman against the wishes ofhis first wife resultantly rela-tions between the couple be-came strained owing to whichthey often used to quarrel. OnMonday night GhulamMustafa and his brothersIshtiaq and Allah Ditta alleg-edly throttled her to death.The police have registered acase against the accused andare investigating.

*****Roshan Pakistan Welfare

Society and MahmoodaBashir Trust held a free eyecamp in the DHQ HospitalHafizabad under the super-vision of Medical Superinten-dent (Eye Specialist) Dr.Irshad Ahmad Chatha andDr. Iftikhar Ahmad Hanjra.They operated eye opera-tions of 88 patients while 30patients were providedlenses free of cost.

Subject specialists waiting for promotion

SH I K A R P U R/KA R A C H I—Shikapur’s renowned Dargah(Shrine) Ghulam Shah Ghazi’sCaretaker Pir Syed HajanShah Bukhari was laid to resthere on Tuesday. He was in-jured in a bomb blast fewdays ago and succumbed toinjuries at a hospital inKarachi on Monday. PirHajan Shah Bukhari sus-tained critical injuries in apowerful blast at Shikarpur’sshrine on February 25.

Heavy contingents ofpolice were deployed inLarkana and Shikarpur tocontrol the situation beforeburial of the deceased care-taker of Dargah Ghulam ShahGhazi. Shutter down strikewas also observed in manycities of the province againsthis death and on the occa-sion all business centres,

Hajan Shah Bukhari laid to rest

shops and markets remainedclosed.

Meanwhile, the police onTuesday finally registered anFIR of the Abbas Town bombblast after a lapse of two daysof the tragedy against uni-dentified persons in SachalPolice Station.

A case was registeredunder the Explosives Sub-stance Act and Anti-Terror-ism Act. The FIR said that 49persons died and 140 werewounded in a car bomb blast.The names of any culpritswere not mentioned in theFIR Meantime, life was backto normal in Karachi after aday of protest and strikesagainst the Abbas Townblast. Schools have re-opened in most areas of thecity. All kinds of traffic wererestored on the roads.—INP

Solar energylamps

distributedTANDLIANWALA—Solar en-ergy lamps were distributedamong 68 students of two edu-cational institutes of MamuKanjan here on Tuesday. Ac-cording to details, ceremonieswere held in Government Boyshigh school Tariq colony andvocational training institute todistribute the lamps among eli-gible students.

Local educationists RiazQadir Bhatti and MuhammadJaved while appreciating theinitiative of the Punjab gov-ernment, hoped that the stepwould encourage students tofocus more on their studies.MoU: A Memorandum ofunderstanding (MoU), wassigned between Punjab gov-ernment and Asian Develop-ment Bank (ADB) under pub-lic-private partnership forpromotion of cooperation inenergy sector at ModelTown here on Wednesday.Under the MoU, collabora-tion will be made in energy-related projects for alterna-tive water, coal and otherenergy sources.—APP

Rs 10mEndowment Fundfor UAF students

FAISALABAD—Dr MD KhalidSecretary North AmericanAlumni Association said theassociation would set up Stu-dents Endowment Fundworth Rs 10 million to providescholarships to talented anddeserving students of theUniversity of AgricultureFaisalabad (UAF). In a meet-ing with UAF Vice ChancellorProf Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan atSyndicate Room here onTuesday, he said that his as-sociation was giving scholar-ships to students from the lasttwo decades to make the edu-cation affordable. He assuredof convincing his associationfor raising the number ofscholarships.

VC said that as many as107 students got the scholar-ships under the Punjab Edu-cation Endowment Fund in ayear. He said the UAF wasworking for the uplifting ofagriculture sector in the coun-try, that’s why it was attract-ing a large number of studentsfrom the rural background. Hesaid that keeping in view thefinancial conditions of stu-dents especially from rural ar-eas with low income families,as many as 3,600 students ofthe varsity were getting edu-cation on scholarships.—APP

ISLAMABAD——The Met Of-fice here Tuesday predictedrise of day temperature inplain areas of the country in-cluding Khyber Pakthunkhwaduring next 24 hours. Accord-ing to Met Office Spokesmanhere, the temperature of DIKhan, Bannu, Karak, LakkiMarwat, Mardan andPeshawar districts are likely torise in daytime. Continental airis prevailing over most partsof the country.

Mainly dry weather is ex-pected in most parts of thecountry, however, day tem-peratures are likely to rise inplain areas of the countryduring next 48 hours with noprediction of rain. Theweather remained dry inmost parts of the countryduring last 24 hours as noreport of rain was receivedfrom any part of the country.Minimum -04 degree centi-grade temperature was re-corded at Astore followed byParachinar -03 C, Kalam -02

Dry weather forecastC, Gupis and Skardu -01 Cwhile pollen count remained119 per cubic meter respec-tively.

Karachi: Dry weather hasbeen forecast over the next24 hours in the metropolis,said a weather report on Tues-

day. According to theweather report, the minimumtemperature is expected toremain in the range of 15 to17 degree celsius. Theweather report said mainlydry weather is likely to pre-vail over the region. The re-port said that the night tem-peratures have risen by 2 to4 degree celsius at a numberof places in Sindh, at a fewplaces in Balochistan.—APP

Shutter down proteststrike observed

QUETTA—Citizens ActionCommittee Quetta expresseddeep concern over deteriorat-ing law and order situation inthe province and demandedof the government for takingconcrete measures to restorepeace to the province. In astatement here Tuesday,Salahudin Kakar, RafiullahMengal, Muzamal Khan and

CAC for peace in Quettaothers said the incidents ofbomb blasts, firing on passen-gers coaches and targeted kill-ings had made the environ-ment dreadful and the citizensfind themselves extremelyvulnerable even at theirhomes. They demanded ofthe provincial government forevolving an effective strategyto restore peace.—APP

PPP promotes democracyLAHORE—The Pakistan People’s Partyhas always safeguarded the democraticsystem and worked for its promotion.These views were expressed by Fed-eral Minister for National Heritage andIntegration Samina Khalid Ghurki andPPP Secretary Information Lahore AbidHussain Siddiqui in a joint statementon Tuesday. “The PPP leadershipsacrified lives to strengthen the demo-cratic process and politics of reconcili-

ation was started in the larger interest of the country anddemocracy,” they added. “Continuity of the process isimperative for solution to all problems,” they added. Mean-while, Minister of State for Water and Power TasneemAhmad Qureshi said the Pakistan People Party believed inpower of the masses to come into power rather than takinga short cut. Addressing a public gathering at the openingceremony of a gas project at Chak No Rakh Dhrema onTuesday, the minister said the PPP had always come topower through the vote of people as they were the realpower to bring about any positive change in the country.Qureshi said that instead of hollow slogans, the PPP be-lieved in improving the living standard of the commonman, adding the PPP would field honest, trustworthy andcommitted people in upcoming general elections. He saidduring the last five years Rs 2.5 billion on gas supplyprojects and Rs 500 million on electricity supply schemeswere spent in NA-66 and the PPP would win the next elec-tions with clear majority on the basis of its performance.Khaliq Dad Padhyar, Malik Hamid Nawaz Awan and MianAmjad Javed also addressed.

Caretaker set-up to be neutralISLAMABAD—Member National Assem-bly (MNA) of Pakistan People’s Party(PPP) Mehreen Anwar Raja said that thegovernment will make neutral caretakerset-up which would be acceptable forall parties. Talking to a private televi-sion channel, she said that the demo-cratically elected government would foilevery attempt to derail the democraticprocess. She urged all the political par-ties to help hold elections on time and

support democracy. The MNA said that PPP always re-spected the national institutions, adding the current demo-cratic government had strengthened the constitutionalinstitutions in the country. PPP always rendered the sacri-fices to strengthen the democracy in the country, addingall political parties should play their role in this regard, shemaintained. Mehreen was of the view that foreign elementswere involved in de-stabilizing the country, specially theeconomic hub of Karachi and Balochistan. She said thatthe law and order situation in the country would be re-stored soon and it would not become a hurdle in holdingelections. Mehreen hoped that PPP would win the nextgeneral elections on its performance. She assured that thegovernment is fully committed to hold elections on time intransparent manners. Earlier, leader of Pakistan PeoplesParty (PPP) Gul Muhammad Khan Jakhrani said that gov-ernment is fully committed to maintain peace, law and or-der in the country. Talking to private television channel,he said that all political parties must play their decisiverole for maintaining peace in Karachi. Jakhrani said thatPPP will continue the policy of reconciliation and the situ-ation in Karachi would be settled soon. Replying to a ques-tion, he urged the nation to unite against the terrorism andextremism in the country.—APP

GB govt empowers womenISLAMABAD—Tourism Advisor Gilgit-Baltistan, Sadia Danish has said thatthe government of Gilgit-Baltistan hastaken a number of steps to empowerthe women and necessary legislationwould be made in the assembly to pro-tect them. Talking to a private newschannel, she said that the provincialgovernment had established an insti-tute named ‘Women Development’which was providing vocational train-

ing to them. The advisor said a separate office of NADRAwould be established soon to facilitate women. She saidthat the Pakistan Peoples Party government had empow-ered the women through the passage of Women’s Pro-tection Bill. She said that women were playing a pivotalrole in the economic growth of the country. The govern-ment had started various development programmes, in-cluding training centres and women skill developmentcentres and hundreds of women of Gilgit-Baltistan weregetting benefits from them, she added. KADO conductstraining programme: Karakoram Area Development Or-ganization (KADO) conducted a weeklong training ses-sion on entrepreneurship development in Aliabad, hereon Tuesday. The participants were given theoretical andpractical knowledge about entrepreneurship, ladies werealso among the participants. It is worth mentioning thatmajority of the trainees were successful earning duringtheir business demo. The training CEO Mubeen told thatit was part of the EELY project of Aga Khan Rural Sup-port Programme, which KADO is implementing throughits indigenous leadership and Development Program, incollaboration with the Golden Jubilee Organization forLocal Development (LSO of Aliabad, Hassanabad andMurtazabad). The participants were awarded certificatesat the end of the training program.—APP

PPP popular partyHYDERABAD—Sindh Minister for For-ests Syed Ali Nawaz Shah Rizvi hassaid that the emerging grand electionalliance against Pakistan Peoples Party(PPP) in Sindh proves that the PPP isthe strongest and most popular partyin the province. Addressing a publicmeeting in Tando Allahyar district onSunday, the Minister said the PPPwould win the upcoming elections onthe basis of its performance and com-

mitment for the betterment of the people. “The PPP’s re-lationship with the people of Sindh is indestructible. Ithas been strengthened by decades- long struggle for thepeoples rights initiated by Shaheed Zulfikar Bhutto andthe sacrifices Bhutto family and PPP workers have of-fered in the last four and a half decades,” he observed.Ali Nawaz Shah said the PPP would put itself to thepeoples’ accountability in the upcoming polls, addingthat if the party won the elections then it would suggestthat the people had supported its 5-year rule and poli-cies. Shah said the independence of media and completedemocratic rights have given awareness to the peoplewho could not be misled through any conspiracy or mud-slinging campaign. “It was owing to the concern andrespect for the peoples wishes that the PPP governmentrepealed the Sindh Peolpes Local Government Act, 2012,”he added. Shah criticised the political parties leading theelectoral alliance in Sindh against the PPP for being apart and beneficiaries of the dual local government sys-tem introduced during the regime of former PresidentPervez Musharraf. Earlier, the Minister inaugurated roadsin 14 separate areas of Tando Allahyar which were builtat a cost of Rs 829 million.—APP

ISLAMABAD—The PPP-ledgovernment has been pursu-ing a multi-pronged strategyfor the socio-economic de-velopment of Gilgit-Baltistan(GB), formerly known asNorthern Areas. It is only thePakistan People’s Party,which has always worked forthe development of GB. Forfirst time in the country’s his-tory, political reforms wereintroduced in the region bythe government of PPP’sfounding chairman ShaheedZulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1974.The Northern Areas Council(NAC) was put in place andthe people were given theright to elect their represen-tatives.

Second political reformswere introduced in 1994 byShaheed Benazir Bhutto-ledPPP government. The LegalFramework Order (LFO) was

issued under which the postof “deputy chief executive”was introduced, with the aimof political empowerment ofthe area. The NAC was up-graded to the status ofNorthern Areas LegislativeCouncil, with the power tolegislate on some points.Working in line with the vi-sion of party fore-fathers totake solid steps for the pros-perity of under-developedareas, the present PPP gov-ernment has announced theself-governance reformspackage to ensure constitu-tional, political and legalrights of the people of GB.

Under the package, theposts of Governor and ChiefMinister along with a numberof ministers and advisers wereintroduced. The SupremeAppellate Court was also setup along with the Public Ser-

vice Commission for the area.In order to empower the GBpeople politically, 2009 elec-tions were held under thePresidential Order promul-gated by Asif Ali Zardari,which were won by the PPP.

This landmark reformpackage was the need ofhour to empower the peopleof Gilgit-Baltistan, who hadbeen denied their basic rightsfor the last 65 years. The PPPAzad Kashmir chapter alsolauded the Federal Govern-ment for announcing the re-forms package for Gilgit-Baltistan. President PPP AzadKashmir Chaudhry AbdulMajeed termed the decisiona historic one.

The PPP governmenthave launched various devel-opment programmes, includ-ing training centres andwomen skill development

centres in the GB, and hun-dreds of women are gettingbenefits from them. PrimeMinister Raja Pervez Ashrafrecently announced a Rs 2billion grant to address thefinancial problems of the re-gion. He also directed theMinistry of Finance to imme-diately release the amount.Prime Minister Ashraf alsopledged that with improve-ment in the financial positionof Federal Government, moreresources would be providedto the GB.

“We are committed to thedevelopment of Gilgit-Baltistan and want thepeople of the area to get ba-sic facilities, including healthand education as available inother developed areas. Withthe support of the peopleand the government of Gilgit-Baltistan, we will make it a

model region,” he said. ThePrime Minister also inaugu-rated two landmark multi-mil-lion dollar strategic projectsat the Karakorum Highway(KKH), aimed at restoring thehistoric road link with China,which was severed due to theartificial Attabad Lake cre-ated as a result of landslides.

He performed thegroundbreaking of re-align-ment of a 17-km-long sectionof the highway, which wouldbe constructed in place of the25 km long section, whichwas submerged in theAttabad Lake. The new roadwould be completed in a year.The Prime Minister also in-augurated $510.42 millionproject of up-grading 335 kmlong section of the road fromRaikot to Khunjerab. Theroad has now been widenedas per international stan-

dards.Moreover, the GB gov-

ernment has established aninstitute named as ‘WomenDevelopment’, which is pro-viding vocational training tothe womenfolk. In the waterand power sector, the Waterand Power Development Au-thority, has launched a num-ber of mega and medium-sized projects in Gilgit-Baltistan, including theSatpara Dam having 17 MWpower generation capacityand 0.093 million acrefeetwater storage capacityand Diamer-Bhasha Damhaving 4,500 MW powergeneration capacity and 8.1million acre feet water stor-age capacity, along with hy-dropower projects of 7,100MW Bunji, 34 MW Harpo, 80MW Phandar and 40 MWBasho.—APP

PPP govt pursuing multi-pronged strategy for GB development

SIALKOT: Shiite Muslims hold a protest to condemn Karachi carnage.

STAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—Chief MinisterKhyber Pakhtunkhwa AmirHaider Khan Hoti has saidthat Awami National Party(ANP) will contest the up-coming general elections onthe basis of its brilliant per-formance and unprec-edented developmentalworks and will come intopower again with an over-whelming majority. He ex-pressed these views whileaddressing a function heldhere on Tuesday in whichscores of people from KP-23 constituency Mardanhave announced to join theAwami National Party.

The CM welcomed thenew comers in the party andsaid that popularity graph ofthe party was increasing dayby day owing to the publicwelfare-oriented policies ofthe present provincial gov-ernment. The CM said thatduring the last five yearsthere had been such a tre-mendous development in theprovince which could not bepossible during the last sixtyyears. “I have left no stoneunturned to come up to theexpectations of the peopleand put the province on thepath of progress despite thefacts that circumstances ofthe province were worsethan ever.”

He said that Mardan wasdeliberately kept backwardand deprived, and he hadmade all possible efforts toput an end to the backward-ness and bring the area withother developed areas of theprovince but still there is alot to do and he will continuethis journey of developingthe area in future as well.Touching upon the develop-ment of rest of the province,the CM said that all the dis-tricts of province had beentreated equally in terms ofdevelopmental projects, add-ing that he is fully satisfiedthat no discrimination hadbeen made with any area ofthe province in this regard.

M HALEEM ASAD

TI M E R G A R A—The Paki-stan army local commanderCol Muhammad Nawaz hasurged people of Talash toextend their all out supportand cooperation to secu-rity forces for maintaininglasting peace in the area.He was addressing a ‘khulikatchehri’ at Talash orga-nized by the TalashDushkhel Qaumi Jirga onTuesday. Members of thejirga from four union coun-cils of Talash, elders andnotables of the area turned

up on the occasion. Be-sides others Capt UmairHassan, Lt Abdullah, LtArsalan Shehzad, deputysuperintendent of policeWahid Khan and other offi-cials were also present onthe occasion.

The commanding of-ficer said the area of Talashhad a historical backgroundas Alexender the Great hadstayed here centuries ago.He said security forceswanted to register all kindsof weapons in Dir Lower.

“The British allowedyou keep guns so to keep

your children ignorant,” hesaid, adding the army wasnot against keeping gunsfor self defence but was notin favour of its brandishingon roads and streets.

The army, he said, hadbanned firing in Dir andpeople should follow thesedirectives. He said the Pa-kistanis had been respect-ing laws of other countriesduring their visits but theydo not care the land law inPakistan.

He asked participants toeducate their sons anddaughters so that they

ISLAMABAD—Senator ofAwami National Party(ANP) Dawood Achakzai onTuesday told Senate thatformer provincial ministerand member BalochistanAssembly Sultan Tareenkidnaped on Monday.Strongly condemning theincident he said the driver ofthe kidnapped member wasreleased late Monday. Thekidnappers demanded Rs 500million as ransom. Senatorsaid that provincial govern-ment should take action andmaintain law and order situa-tion in the province. Senatorsof ANP walked out from thehouse to regsiter their pro-test on th issue. Unknownarmed men kidnapped ANP’sMember of Balochistan As-sembly, official sources saidon Tuesday.

They said that familymembers lost contacts withMr Tareen in Kuchlak, some30 km off the provincial capi-tal when he left Quetta forHarnai on Tuesday night onhis personal vehicle. “Armed men whisked awaymy brohter to unknown lo-cation in Kuchlak area be-tween Monday and Tuesdaynight, Mr Ghulam Tareen,brother of MPA said. MrTareen, who was elected onPB-22 Harnai/Sibi seat wasformer Minister for Prison..Earlir, Chief JusticeBalochistan High Court QaziFaez Esa directed the officialsconcerned to recover miss-

ing prosecute general ofBalochistan Abdul WaseyTareen.

Wasey was kidnappedthree days back while he wasway to Islamabad fromQuetta on his personal ve-hicle. Inspector GeneralBalochistan MushtaqSukhaira appeared before thecourt and apprised the courtthat police were utilizing allavailable resources to ensureearly and safe recovery ofthe missing prosecute gen-eral Balochistan.

****As many as ten people

were injured in a clash be-tween two groups over landdispute in Zhob district. Lev-ies force said Tuesday thattwo sub-clans attacked eachother with sticks and stonesdue to land dispute. As a re-sult, ten of them sustainedwounds and were rushed todistrict headquarters hospi-tal.

Further probe was inprogress. Police have de-tained a wanted man fromDhadar area of Kachhi dis-trict. Police sources saidTuesday that acting on a tipoff, police team conductedraid at a place and caughtMuhammad Saleem. Ac-cused was involved in casesof kidnapping for ransom inthe area, police added. Fur-ther investigation was under-way. Unidentified gunmenabducted a man from Banchaarea of Kalat district.—APP

QUETTA: Employees of Metropolitan Corporation stage asit-in for acceptance of their demands.

People’s help sought to maintain peace in Talash

ANP to form next govt: CM

Kidnappers demandRs 500m ransom forANP MPA’s release

QWP electionmanifesto soon

STAFF REPORTER

P E S H AWA R — P r o v i n c i a lPresident, Qumi WatanParty (QWP) and MemberProvincial Assembly,Sikandar Hayat KhanSherpao said Tuesday hisparty would soon an-nounce election manifesto.Addressing party workersat Dir Lower district, he saidpreparations of the party’smanifesto for upcominggeneral elections was inadvanced stage and wouldbe made public soon.

The main features inmanifesto includes restora-tion of peace, generating ofemployment opportunities,provision of quality healthand education services be-sides promoting trade andinvestment in the countryand Khyber Pakthunkhwa.He said QWP would take thecountry out of difficult situ-ation after coming intopower. He said restoration ofpeace in KP would be our toppriority.

Sherpao said free, fair,transparent and timely elec-tion was the solution of allproblems. He said QWP be-lieved in practical works in-stead of hollow slogans andwill change destiny ofpeople.

He strongly condemnedbomb explosion at AbbasTown in Karachi and de-manded arrest of the perpe-trators.

On this occasion, formernazim Union Council KhanPur, Taza Khan and formervice Nazim Nisar Khan re-signed from different politi-cal parties and joined QWP.They expressed full confi-dence in the leadership ofChairman QWP Aftab AhmedKhan Sherpao and assuredfull support.

could use their minds in-stead of guns. On the occa-sion elders of the areaIbrahim Khan, Abbas Khan,Muhammad Habibullah,Haji Wali Rahman, Malikabdul Raqeeb and othersassured the Pakistan armyof full support and coopera-tion.

They also spoke abouttheir civic problems andsaid that neither the gov-ernment nor the depart-ments concerned had beennoticing it.

The elders of Talash in-formed the officials that ma-

jority of the population inTalash depended on educa-tion and government jobs.They said that people of ofthe area had not migratedduring the mass displace-ment in 2009.

“We are peaceful andlaw abiding people and willcooperate with the army inmaintaining peace in thearea,” Ibrahim Khan said.Some of the participantscomplained about strictchecking on army checkposts and demanded of theauthorities to soften check-ing there.

P E S H A W A R — K h y b e rPakthunkhwa Minister for So-cial Welfare, Special Educationand Women Empowerment,Sitara Ayaz said Tuesday care-taker government would beformed in the province afterevolving consensus among allthe stakeholders. “Consulta-tion with different political par-ties have been started andhopefully consensus wouldsoon develop among govern-ment and opposition on theformation of caretaker setup,”she told APP.

In this connection, she saidChief Minister KhyberPakthunkhwa Ameer HaiderKhan Hoti has held in-depthdiscussion recently with theopposition leader in KhyberPakthunkhwa Assembly,Akram Khan Durrani regardingcaretaker Chief Minister andcabinet. She said there was nodeadline in politics and a clear

KP caretaker govt afterconsensus: Minister

time frame existed in the Con-stitution on caretaker setup andhoped that they would soon de-velop consensus before theexpiry of the time period of thesitting government.

The ANP leader saidmassive reforms were intro-duced by provincial govern-ment during its five years’rule for uplift of social wel-fare, special education andwomen empowerment. In ad-dition to up-gradation ofposts of officers and employ-ees of the department, shesaid the government hassetup provincial commissionon status of women and childwelfare protection to helpthese groups.

She said Child Protectionand Welfare Commissionhave started work in eightdistricts of KhyberPakthunkhwa and work ineight more districts will start

function soon. The ChildCommission will enhancesafety, welfare and wellbeingof children in the community,promoting children’s partici-pation in decisions making,monitoring screening proce-dures for child related em-ployment and advising thegovernment on how to im-prove services for children.

She said Child Protectionand Welfare Commission wasthe biggest achievement ofthe present government be-cause this will give a chanceto children to join school be-sides providing emergencysupplies to children duringemergencies. Sitara Ayaz saidthe Child Protection and Wel-fare Commission had estab-lished child protection cen-tres in eight districts in theprovince where some 9,000children in crisis had beenregistered.—APP

Khawaja Faridaman mela

from SundayKHANPUR—The 12th annualKhawaja Farid Rohi AmanMela will begin on Sunday inJhoke Naveed CholistanFeroza in which variousprogrammes would be orga-nized. Committee head HajiAttaullah Muhammad saidhere Tuesday that the celebra-tions would be inaugurated byKhawaja Moinuddin Koreja ofDarbar Kot Mitthan Sharif.Elaborating the events he saidQuran, Naat Khawani, andMehfil-e-Sama would be heldon Sunday.—APP

To create monsterof Punjabi Taliban

AS the Supreme Court of Pakistan and the overwhelming publicopinion unanimously view the continued carnage in Karachi asfailure of the Provincial as well as the Federal Governments to

protect life and property of the citizens, some PPP leaders and Ministersespecially Interior Minister Rehman Malik is seeking refuge in passingon the buck apparently to the Punjab Government by shifting the blameof the unrest and chaos in Karachi on Punjabi Taliban. For the last fewweeks, he along with one or two other Ministers, are harping on the themeof Punjab Taliban perhaps to take advantage of the issue in the cominggeneral elections.

Devastating bomb blasts in Karachi and few weeks back in Quettahave universally been condemned with demands that the culprits shouldbe apprehended and dealt with iron hand. There is absolutely no sympa-thy with those who play with the lives of the innocent people and in away become tool in the hands of enemies of Pakistan who wanted todestabilize the country. However, the tone and tenor of statements re-peatedly being churned out by Interior Minister are being viewed by sanercircles as crude attempt to fan sectarian hatred and also pit provincesagainst each other. Pakistan has all along been telling the world that thereshould be no differentiation between terrorists who have no creed or castebut the Minister himself is flouting this logic by labelling some extrem-ists and terrorists as ‘Punjabi’ and identifying sectarian dimension of theproblem of terrorism as the only aspect of the complicated issue. Giventhe complexity of the situation in Karachi, no one can say with hundredpercent surety that the Abbas Town bombing might or might not havebeen carried out by those being accused by Rehman Malik but one candefinitely ask the Minister who is behind the target killings that claimover a dozen lives almost on daily basis in the mega city for years. TheMinister himself has been blaming some foreign powers and their agentsof hatching conspiracies to weaken Pakistan but people have all alongwitnessed that he confined himself to passing on the information andwarning to people and miserably failed to prevent security threats exceptplacing curbs on mobile phone services. The Interior Minister has alsobeen raising the spectre of religious seminaries in Punjab producingTaliban since long in line with the US scheme of things that had men-tioned Muridke by name in the Kerry-Lugar Bill. We strongly believethat terrorism is a serious issue and it is not fair to misuse it for politicalpoint scoring, rather this would be counter-productive as people are fullyconscious and know who is speaking whose language.

Allow Karkey tomove out of Karachi

KARKEY Rental Power Plant has moved to National Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) against Pakistan for not al-

lowing it to move out from Karachi Port and for breaching bilateral in-vestment treaty. The ICSID’s primary role is to provide facilities for con-ciliation and arbitration of international investment disputes.

The Karkey, a power plant mounted ship from friendly country –Turkey - arrived more than three years back in Pakistan to add 230 MWto the national grid but it did not produce the required power according tothe accord for one reason or the other. It is now lying idle after the SC’sdecision against rental power projects. It was to go back to Turkey butthe dispute over the clearance of the dues is the main hurdle. It wouldhave been ideal if Pakistan had itself resolved the issue which is linger-ing on for almost an year and as a result the ship carrying the power plantis standing at Karachi port. According to estimates it is sustaining loss of$ 31800 per day on account of operational cost of the plant and in theheads of salaries of employees. If the Karkey gets a favourable decisionfrom ICSID, it could lead to penalty on Pakistan and another loss to thenational exchequer. Unfortunately there is a trend in Pakistan to delaycritical issues instead of resolving them and even hurdles are created.This trend sends a negative signal to other intending foreign investorswho are already shy of coming to Pakistan in view of the law and ordersituation. We would therefore urge the authorities at the highest level toresolve the Karkay issue on priority basis and let it move out of Karachi.

PTI comes out withindustrial policy

PAKISTAN Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) seems to be ahead of other politicalparties as it is coming out with different policies, plans and visions to

address issues and challenges confronting the country. In the latest de-velopment on Monday, it unveiled a nine-point industry policy, vow-ing to revive the industry by restoring confidence of investors and tocreate ten million new jobs by shifting the focus towards skill devel-opment of youth.

We have been emphasizing in these columns that instead of indulg-ing in blame game, the political parties should concentrate on their mani-festos to give a clear idea to the electorates as to what they intend to do toaddress problems and promote welfare of the people. Credit goes to PTIfor bringing issues to the fore and focusing on policies to tackle them andwe believe others too would follow the suit. PTI’s industrial policy surelycontains elements that could offer solution to the most worrying prob-lems of poverty, unemployment as skill development, incentives for in-vestment and job generations have the potential to deliver. We hope thatthe party would also come out with vision to develop agriculture on mod-ern lines, reform police and eliminate corruption.

Press Council embroiled in politics

Time and tide wait forno man.

Karachibombing

THE murder on Sunday of atleast 45 people in a bombblast in Karachi is a grim re-

minder that normal political life inPakistan is struggling against abrutal culture of violence. As thecountry goes to its general elec-tions in a few months, it also cel-ebrates the fact that for the firsttime in decades a civilian govern-ment has served its full term andis seeking re-election in a peace-ful manner.

But a deep cynicism dominatesthe Pakistani political scene as thePakistan Muslim League headed byNawaz Sharif and the PakistanPeoples Party headed by Asif AliZardari face off yet again, havingdominated politics for decades, androutinely traded accusations of cor-ruption and inefficiency. Formermilitary dictator and president,Pervez Musharaf, has launched apolitical party and would like toreturn to power, although he mayface serious legal problems if hemoves to Pakistan. Two new forcesmay affect this year’s elections.Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf party calls for new and moreinclusive politics and places greathopes on the 40 per cent of Paki-stani voters who are young enoughto be casting their ballot for the firsttime. And a complete outsider is aCanadian Islamist with Pakistaniroots, Tahir ul Qadri, who tried tooverturn the constitution and elec-toral law with a demand for a“Long March”, which led to hun-dreds of thousands of people gath-ering on the streets. This year Pa-kistan is at a turning point. The fail-ure of the central government togive Pakistan a new sense of mis-sion, and its willingness to panderto Islamist forces, have allowed anunhealthy fluidity into its politicalprocess. The bomb in Karachi isone of many bombs that, sadly,have killed thousands of people.The dead in Karachi this week area sad reminder of the failure of thepresent government to contain vio-lence and a measure of the people’shopes of a future where there maybe no bombs. Pakistan needs stablecivilian government, which is readyto tackle the men of violence.— Gulf News

*****

TheKenyandilemma

THE murder of 15 peopleduring election in Kenyaprovided a stark reminder of

the risk of this contest tipping intothe bloodshed that claimed at least1,100 lives after the last poll. Sofar, every leading candidate hasbeen responsible enough to urgecalm and refrain from incitement.Yet even if widespread violence isavoided, the outcome could stillpresent Britain with a dilemma.Uhuru Kenyatta, a frontrunner forthe presidency, has been indictedby the International CriminalCourt (ICC) for alleged crimesagainst humanity. For good mea-sure, so has his running mate, Wil-liam Ruto. Both men are due tostand trial in The Hague in August.

In some countries, this sort ofthing would damage a presidentialcandidate. In the ultra-cynicalworld of Kenyan politics, however,Mr Kenyatta has a good chance ofwinning. Britain would then beplaced in a difficult position. OurGovernment does not deal withanyone indicted by the ICC, mean-ing Britain could soon find itselfunable to speak to the president ofKenya. Exactly 50 years after weceased to govern that country, wemight choose to estrange ourselvesfrom its leader. At least 20,000 Brit-ons live in Kenya, while annualtrade totals £1.5 billion. The Armysends thousands of British troopsthere for regular exercises. More-over, Kenya is central to stabilisingSomalia and fighting terrorism inthe Horn of Africa. In theory, itmight be laudable to shun some-one accused of terrible crimes. Inreality, however, it would be follyto ignore a President Kenyatta, par-ticularly as he would then fall intothe embrace of China. Perhaps hisrival, Raila Odinga, will win theelection’s final round next month,thereby removing the dilemma. Butour Government should be prag-matic enough to deal with anyonechosen by Kenya’s people.— The Telegraph

MEDIA WATCH

— Proverb

The Press Council of India, inthe midst of a raging controversy, is operating along the

lines of the British Press Council.The latter was wound up a fewyears ago because it had failed tobe an effective instrument for rais-ing press standards. Now a newforum to deal with complaints hasemerged, though India is still at thecouncil stage, grappling with prob-lems which the British Press Coun-cil faced and failed to sort out. Butit seems that the Press Council ofIndia is not making any headwayeither, nor is it having any impacton newspapers. So the second ques-tion is: what should be the arrange-ment? The first point concerns deal-ing with the powers of the Council’schairman, Justice MarkandeyKatju, who is making himself busyin many areas, particularly in theforbidden field of politics. This wasnever anticipated either by the Brit-ish Press Council or that of India.

Once politics comes in, thereis no way to limit or eliminate it.Justice Markandey Katju hascrossed swords with the BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP), whose leader inLok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, gave

Expediting ISAF timely pullout

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Sunday Magazine

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Apart from hostile easternborder which has remaineda chronic security concern

for Pakistan since its inception,Pakistan’s western border has alsoremained a source of constant irri-tation and anxiety. To begin with,settled issue of Durand Line waswillfully converted into a disputeand Pakhtunistan stunt was playedup with the help of former NAPlater renamed as ANP. Khan Broth-ers tied to Indian Congress Partyand wanting to make NWFP inde-pendent or part of Indian Union atthe time of Partition of India in 1947readily played Pakhtunistan theme.Ghaffar Khan preferred to get bur-ied in Jalalabad than in Pakistan.His son Wali Khan carried forwardthe banner of Pakhtunistan whichhe perceived extended up to andincluding Attock River.

President Daood on taking overpower in Kabul in 1973 furtherheated up Pakhtunistan issue andbecame aggressive. His aggressionwas reined in by ZA Bhutto whenhe cultivated Islamist leaders inAfghanistan opposed to Dawood’spro-Moscow policies. Afghanistanprovided refuge to all the rebelliousleaders and backed insurgencies inBalochistan. Kabul regime tradi-tionally preferred India over Paki-stan and collaborated with both In-dia and former USSR to harm Pa-kistan despite being landlocked anddependent upon Pakistan for itsimports and exports. Brunt of fall-out of decade long insurgency in Af-ghanistan as a result of Soviet in-vasion was borne by Pakistan.

Even after the ouster of Sovietforces from Afghanistan in 1989,Pakistan continued to suffer the af-ter effects of Afghan Jihad that hadgiven birth to religious extremismand drug culture. Sectarianism pro-duced extremist outfits like Sipah-e-Sahaba, later named as Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) and now as AhleSunnat Wal Jamaat, and Sipah-e-

Muhammadi. Even when theTaliban came to power partlywith the help of Pakistan andboth developed intimate re-lationship, sectarian warraged with full intensitythroughout 1990s since the

Taliban sheltered and supported LeJand refused to hand over its leaders.Sectarian war to an extent got dilutedin 1998 as a result of tough measuresundertaken by Shahbaz Sharif re-gime in Punjab and because of theKashmiri freedom movement andemergence of dozens of Jihadigroups like Hizbul Mujahideen andLashkar-e-Taiba, which diverted theattention of these extremist groupstowards occupied Kashmir.

Pakistan was once again forcedto take up the role of a frontline stateagainst global terrorism and to helpthe US military in occupying Af-ghanistan in the aftermath of 9/11.Over 12 years of war on terror hasinflicted maximum damage to Pa-kistan both in terms of its economyand human lives. Pakistan securityforces have been fighting foreignsupported TTP aligned with al-Qaida and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi since2003. Although Pakistan is helpingUSA in winding up the futile warthat has brought disgrace to the solesuper power, and the US exit planhas become operational since July2011, departure of ISAF will not endthe problems of Pakistan and Af-ghanistan since the situation in Af-ghanistan will remain in a flux for along time. The reason is that theTaliban that had resisted the occu-pation and waged a Jihad againstoccupying forces have not been de-feated on the battleground. TheTaliban have brought no change intheir ideology, their attitudes andbehavior pattern. They considerthemselves as the rightful rulers ofAfghanistan since power had beenillegally snatched from them.

The coalition of 48 countries ledby USA and assisted by India andIsrael has also not been soundly de-feated. Despite its decision to quit,it has not accepted defeat. Pentagonand CIA are governed by this irra-tional mindset, which have all alongadvocated use of force and opposedpolitical parleys. With less than two

years left for the cutout date of De-cember 2014, the US continues todevise ways and means how to re-tain its control over Afghanistanwhere it has sunk billions of dollarsand wasted blood of so many of itscombat soldiers and injuries to thou-sands other than losing its prestige.It has invested heavily in this coun-try reputed to be the graveyard ofgreat empires because it considersAfghanistan a vitally important mili-tary station for the achievement ofits strategic ambitions in the region.

But for crumbling economywhich is not getting stable, continu-ing soldiers fatalities, growing num-bers of suicides, hospitalization ofsoldiers and cases of indiscipline inthe Army contingent deployed in Af-ghanistan, mounting home pressureand declining interest of its westernallies, the US would not have vol-untarily opted to leave and that toowithout making a bargain with theTaliban. The US could have possi-bly won this war had the ISAF, Pa-kistan military and ANA backed byCIA-ISI-CDS been on one platformand fought the war as a united andcohesive team. Mistrust and lack ofcollaboration between the three so-called partners, ill-intentions ofWashington and Kabul regimes, andwickedness of India and Israel cre-ated the unmanageable mess theonus of which go entirely to USA.Avoidance of boots on ground, re-lying entirely on airpower and ANAtogether with misadventure in Iraq,taking Taliban-al-Qaida threat toolightly, secretly supporting TTP inPakistan, discouraging rather thanencouraging Pakistan by blaming itfor all its failures were other con-tributory reasons which enabled theTaliban to wrest the initiative.

The ISAF has been able to stayon for all these years because of the2000 US-NATO aircrew operatedairpower. On ground, none can matchthe tenacity of Taliban fighters sincethey are the best in guerrilla war. Theyhave no means to confront the airmenace because of which the war hasreached the stage of a stalemate. Theday the Taliban get hold of surface toair missiles like Stingers provided tothem by CIA in 1987, stalematewould get converted into decisive

victory for the Taliban and rout ofISAF. This outside assistance is pos-sible from Russia, China and Iranand possibly from Pakistan if it isditched by USA.

The Taliban appreciating thelethality of airpower are rightly in-sisting departure of all foreignforces by December 2014 and areagainst stay-back force. They aremindful of the historical fact thatunlike President Najibullah whomanaged to stay in power for threeyears after withdrawal of Sovietforces with the help of 35000 So-viet trained Afghan Army, they willnow have to fight much bettertrained and equipped 200,000strong ANA, 160,000 outfitted Af-ghan Police, advanced Central Di-rectorate of Security and RAWtrained RAAM. Their problems arelikely to get further compoundedby the projected US stay-behindforce of about 10,000 together withdrones and airpower and retentionof five military bases till 2024.

Possible way that can expeditethe US pullout is the US dwindlingeconomy and $46 billion defencecuts that have already been levied.So far, 2050 members of the USmilitary have died in Afghanistanand 18170 US servicemen havebeen wounded in hostile action. Anew report by the Government Ac-countability Office in Washingtonalso has estimated that the US hasspent nearly $600 billion on the Af-ghan war and even the troop with-drawal through 2013-14 will cost anadditional $5.7 billion. No doubt,these are weighty compulsionsworking on the US Administration’ssense of urgency that the Afghanwar should be wound up withoutany delay, no matter the apparentimponderables in the way.

The other ways of timely andcomplete pullout are that the Talibanmanage to procure counter air weap-ons, or green-on-blue attacks againstthe US ‘embedded units’ surge dueto successful infiltration of Talibanin ANA ranks, or another crisis eruptelsewhere, or the US succeed instriking a deal with Taliban and bothbecome allies.—The writer is a retired Brig anda defence analyst.

her approval as per the rulesfor the constitution of thePress Council.The new controversy re-

volves around Gujarat chiefminister Narendra Modi. In anarticle, Justice Katju criticised

Modi for the 1992 minority riots andhas asked the country not to make thesame mistake the Nazis did in 1933.In fact, the gauntlet thrown by Jus-tice Katju has been picked up by theOpposition leader in the Rajya Sabha,Arun Jaitley. He has said that ‘Jus-tice Katju’s political bias is clear fromthe fact that, on the burning of theSabarmati Express in Godhara, hesays there is still a mystery about whathappened in Godhara.

Is he trying to hold a brief forthose convicted of setting the train onfire?’ The fact is, the Council, Jus-tice Katju or Arun Jaitley cannot sortout this problem because it does notlie in the domain of the press. In thedust that the controversy has raised,the workings of the Council havecome to be doubted and the impor-tance of the chairman has becomeexaggerated. The adverse fallout haslanded on the press, which the Coun-cil is supposed to serve by way ofsettling disputes among newspapersor addressing their grievances againstthe state and central governments.The man on the street has also beenleft at a loose end, because his com-plaints against a particular newspa-per are either delayed or not taken up

by the Council, which has becomeembroiled in politics. The esteemwhich the government accords to thePress Council can be deduced fromthe fact that the Lok Sabha Speakerhimself nominated members of thefirst Press Council.

It was laid down in the law thatthe Council would uphold the free-dom of the press. Violation of ethicswould be judged by journalists’ ownpeers, that is, other journalists. It wasmade clear at the time of the legisla-tion that the Council was not anotherlaw court. Yet it would serve as a fo-rum where erring newspapers wouldbe criticised, censured or sanctioned.The Council is a moral authority andtherefore it has no teeth. To demandteeth, as chairman Justice Katju hasdone, is to negate the very purposefor which the Council was estab-lished. The Council cannot in anyway become another court of law. Ifit did, the entire purpose of the exer-cise would be lost.

One wishes that the chairmanwould stay within the limits of whatthe law lays down. No doubt, Jus-tice Katju is an able person who onceoccupied the position of a SupremeCourt judge with distinction. He hasnot, however, appreciated the inhi-bitions which he, as the Council’schairman, has to face. Even hismaiden speech at the Councilshowed contempt for journalistswho, he said, were 90 per cent illit-erate. Had he made the remark

within the context of what a jour-nalist has to learn, it would havemade more sense. But Justice Katjuwent on counting his own educa-tional achievements and betrayinghis ignorance about what journal-ists are supposed to do. In fact, theoffice of chairman has never beenpoliticised except once since inde-pendence. That was during theemergency (1975-77), when JusticeN Rajagopala Iyengar was the PressCouncil chairman. He became partof the censorship set-up which thePress Council was expected to op-pose in order to uphold the freedomof the press.

Justice Katju’s is a quasi-judi-cial position. He cannot afford totake issue with Jaitley and ask forhis resignation because this is notJustice Katju’s job. Nor can he de-mand the resignation of an editor,although this is closer to JusticeKatju’s domain. To say that JusticeKatju is indiscreet is too mild astatement. At a seminar, he oncesaid that to resolve the question ofKashmir, India and Pakistan wouldhave to unite. Nobody took him se-riously. Otherwise, his remark couldhave caused a lot of diplomatic em-barrassment to New Delhi. JusticeKatju would be well advised toknow the limits of his office andstay within its confines.—The writer is a veteran Indianjournalist, syndicated columnist,human rights activist and author.

Kuldip NayarEmail:kuldipnayar09@gmail.com

Asif Haroon RajaEmail: asifharoon7751@yahoo.com

Voice of the People

Hundred of people woundedand almost 50 dead, womenand children in majority,

Karachi mourns after a car bomb andanother blast (150 kilograms explo-sives) which took place on the nightthat rocked the city on the 3rd ofMarch 2013. It was detonated in theAbbas Town, a Shia dominated resi-dential area. The twin explosionswere so powerful that they damagedflat buildings, cars, and surroundingareas leaving on the site a crater thatwas 2 meters wide and more than 1meter (4 feet) deep. According to theBBC report; “Groups such asLashkar-e-Jhangvi have long re-garded Shia Muslims as heretics andhave stepped up attacks in recentyears.” With media reports emerg-ing slowly, all emphasized on sec-tarian targeting, one wonders whythis is regarded so? Reports come inthat the TTP was responsible.

Our brothers and sisters die ondaily basis; we are under attack, notone community but the whole coun-try. Register this in mind, everydaywho are targeted in Karachi or else-where in Pakistan are the citizens

We die more!

Our nationalapathy

KHALID IDREES

The bomb blast in Abbas Town hasput paid to our vociferous claimsthat we are Muslims, humane, tol-erant or patriotic Pakistanis. Theincident has brought to light our truenature and the motivations that gov-ern our behaviour. The fact is thatdark forces of bigotry, extremism,intolerance, misplaced self righ-teousness, institutional inefficiencyand corruption coupled with absenceof any desire to know the truth hastaken complete control of ourselvesas a people. Soon after the bombblast the electronic media wenthoarse decrying absence of person-nel of law enforcement agenciesfrom the scene of blast. Then therewas breaking news that PM hasscolded Sindh Police Chief for hislapse and asked him to show hispresence at the blast scene.

What a pathetic sop for the sur-vivors of those who lost their livesor those who would remain maimedthrough out their lives. The mediawho claims to be free and takes pridein its investigative skills did not tellthe people where exactly were thepolice or Rangers and what werethey doing at that time. There was apassing reference in the electronicmedia of some engagement takingplace in Karachi and gathering of allbigwigs at the function. But that wasall. Except for that the media re-mained mum on this point. So muchfor media’s freedom and its abilityto find out the truth.

In a knee jerk reaction the po-litical parties and other organizationsannounced mourning to be observedfor several days, gave calls for clos-ing businesses and demanded nab-bing the culprits without delay. Theadministration ordered closure ofeducational institutions, banningpillion riding, flying the national flagat half mast and all the top leader-ship of the country both in govern-ment and outside condemned thehorrendous incident and promisedresolve to bring to book all thoseinvolved in this crime.

The aforementioned responsesto bomb blasts and other incidentsof extremism or inter sectarianclashes have been typical of all ad-ministrations over the years. Beforewater runs over our heads we needto pose ourselves some basic ques-tions and find their answers in thelight of what people in other coun-tries did in situation similar to theone faced by us as a people.

These questions are: what is thatwhich acts as solvent to the forcesof extremism, bigotry and intoler-ance; is there a need for us to fostersecularism in our polity; is thereneed for us to control ostentatiousdisplay of our religious beliefs;should we allow foreign funding tocome to our country for the purposeof promoting religion; should theadministrative machinery of thestate issue thousands of arms li-censes for prohibited and non pro-hibited bore weapons to private in-dividuals every year by way of pa-tronage; is physical security the rightof only those who are in the parlia-ment, or run the government or arerich or control the state’s security setup. Unfortunately the questions arenot on the radar of our national con-sciousness. There is hardly any de-bate on any of them even in the elec-tronic and print media. The medianeeds to play a proactive role to sen-sitize people on the matters raisedin the above questions for we havereached a stage where time is shortand opportunity fleeting.—Islamabad

Karachi bleedsM FAZAL ELAHI

Karachi, Pakistan’s Jugular Vein andBusiness Hub, has been profuselybleeding since the past over half adecade. Citizens of Karachi are be-ing ruthlessly killed everyday, noone knows by whom. While the kill-ing spree goes on unabated theblame game continues to be auda-ciously pursued by different groupsagainst each other. The killings ofinnocent people in Karachi seem tonever stop. Not a day passes with-out people getting killed in doubledigits. Everyday Pakistan’s print and

Problems & violenceSANA AHMED MALIK

I am a student of Punjab University and I was travelling from Lahore to Rahim Yar Khan, when theDaewoo was stopped at Okara Bypass. It came out that some strike is going on against a recently

applied tax on a dairy farm owner. Violent people with sticks in hands and broken glasses on the roadwere seen. Road was sealed on both sides traffic was blocked 2-3 kilometers long. The protestingcrowd was demanding government officials to take notice and declare the newly applied law as nulland void. The road remained blocked for about 16 hours but the incident failed to seek any atten-tion of the news channels as well as government and politicians. At 6 a.m., the road was opened andthe transport was released but the incident left so many questions unanswered. Who was the farmowner and why did he gather such a multitude to protest for a personal reason? Why the govern-ment representatives did not take any notice to solve the issue? Where was the electronic and printmedia during the whole incident? Can the intercity travelling be trusted anymore? Is violence theonly solution left to each and every problem?—Lahore

READERS

Email:editorial@pakobserver.net

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

—Editor

electronic media are replete withheart-rending news about the shame-less murder of the people of Karachiby some cruel, unknown, killers. Abrief pause in the killings does bringsome respite to the scared and grief-stricken people but this is only for avery short span of time. Much to theshock and dismay of the people, thetrigger-happy and merciless killerscome back with vengeance of greatermagnitude than before and brazenlyperform their dastardly act.

The killings in Karachi have nowacquired a new dimension. Earlier,the killings were considered more ofsectarian in nature and partly linkedto the extortion mafias in the em-battled city. Later, the security per-sonnel and strategic installations alsobecame their target. Now, bombblasts and suicide bombing by targetkillers have started taking a heavy tollon the people of Karachi. The terriblemess that the business hub of thecountry is in has become a cause forserious concern of every segment ofthe Pakistani society, except those atthe helm of affairs both in the city ofKarachi and the country. They seemto be totally immune to the rapidlydeteriorating law and order and eco-nomic situation that is unfortunatelymaking the city fall apart in all re-spect. Killing of people by the targetkillers, sectarian killings, killings bythe extortion mafia and suicide bomb-ings and bomb blasts have created asense of utter desperation not onlyamong the ordinary citizens but alsothe business community of the city.

The business community ofKarachi, because of the prevailingextremely vulnerable law and ordersituation in the city, have chosen tomove their businesses to countrieslike Bangladesh, India and somecountries of Central Asia. That al-ready a large number of industrieshave moved and several are on theverge of moving to these countries,and elsewhere, should be a matter ofgrave concern for Pakistan. Thosewho should be perturbed and shouldbe passing sleepless nights seem tobe the least concerned about what-ever is happening in Karachi. At leasttheir callousness vis-à-vis the haplessKarachi situation amply proves that.Day-in and day-out they are intenselypreoccupied in political wheeling anddealing and serving their personalinterests that has always been the or-der of the day in this country.—Via email

Compensation:Victims of blast

MUKHTAR AHMED

President, Prime Minister, Gover-nors, Chief Ministers, party heads ofpolitical parties and prominent per-sonalities have condemned the bombblasts in Karachi that has taken heavytoll of 45 people and wounding over200 people but have never botheredto do something concrete to stop theinnocent killing of people. 200 housesalong with belongings have been de-stroyed and equal number of shopshas been gutted due to this heavy ex-plosion in Abbas Town. Unfortu-nately once again Shia communityhas been targeted. What surprisesmost is the casual attitude of our rul-ers who do nothing to stop killing ofinnocent people and feel satisfied ingiving statements. Post terror attackactions is not what the public deservesit is the prevention of such attacks thatis the responsibility of the civil gov-ernment/authorities.

We all know dead can nevercome back but we can at least dosomething about the wounded in thistragedy. Chief Minister Qaim AliShah has announced compensationof Rs 15 lac to the heirs of dead andRs One million for the wounded andbear all expenses of their treatment.Our past on such matters is fullycontaminated and it takes years be-fore people get the compensation.Keeping in view the magnitude ofthe tragedy. It is suggested that heirsof dead be paid Rs 25 lac andwounded Rs 15 lac. Construction ofdamaged houses and shops at someother nearby location should startimmediately. The list of dead andaffectes is prepared with in 07 daysand the compensation paid with in15 days. This is minimum healingrelief the government should do.

Arrangements should be made tocheck all vehicles including govern-ment vehicles under a proper scheme

Ballast for Australia-India relations

With India’s history of opposition to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and its

refusal to sign the ComprehensiveTest Ban Treaty (CTBT), the nuclearirritant to Australia-India relationshipassumed a symbolic importance outof proportion to the objective dimen-sions of the problem. Each side wasfirmly convinced of its own intel-lectual and moral rectitude andtherefore smugly contemptuous ofthe other. The stark reality that In-dia today matters more than Aus-tralia has provided the strategic ra-tionale for Canberra to modify akey and long-standing plank of itsanti-nuclear policy.

The Howard government decidedin principle to sell uranium to Indiabut lost office in 2007. In 2008 theRudd government joined Washingtonin the vote in the Nuclear SuppliersGroup to rewrite the rule book forIndia’s benefit. But this left theLabour government with an illogicaland untenable policy. It supportedopen access to global nuclear trade

for India despite its pariah status un-der the NPT, but would not sell Aus-tralian uranium because India had notsigned the NPT.

The oddity of selling uraniumto China as an NPT-licit nuclearweapons power despite its suspectrecord on nuclear proliferation toPakistan and North Korea, and ban-ning it to India as an NPT-illicitnuclear armed state yet with a de-monstrable record of nuclear non-proliferation to any third party, be-came a favourite refrain.

In December 2011, the LabourParty voted formally to lift its long-standing ban on uranium sales to In-dia despite the latter not being an NPTsignatory, clearing the way for thegovernment to negotiate a bilateralsafeguards agreement as the precur-sor to exporting uranium to fuelIndia’s nuclear power program.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard’svisit to India in October 2012, dur-ing which she put an offer on the tableto negotiate sale of uranium to India,was generally considered to be a suc-cess in both countries. The noisymedia in both countries can inflamepopular passions and prejudices andcomplicate government-to-govern-

ment relations. The federal nature ofboth political systems also producessurprising misunderstandings, includ-ing over student welfare concerns.

The two countries have a sharedstrategic interest in a stable Indo-Pa-cific Asia that links them also to In-donesia and South Africa around theIndian Ocean rim. Because the over-whelming majority of Australia’spopulation is concentrated along theeast coast, it has been difficult to reg-ister on the public consciousness thatPerth is closer to Chennai thanMelbourne, or than Sydney orBrisbane is to Tokyo and Beijing.While bilateral ties are not yet as deepas the ties that bind Australia toChina, Japan and Indonesia, there arealso fewer potential points of majorfriction to worry about in the future.

The China angle was explicitlyadduced by The Australian in an April30, 2012, editorial endorsing India’stest of its first intercontinental ballis-tic missile in April 2012, whose5,500-to-8,000-kilometer range putsmost of China within range of India’snuclear warheads. Washington sup-ports a deepening of the India-Aus-tralia strategic relationship. It is hardto think of a non-Muslim country that

has a greater life-and-death stake inconfronting and reversing the tideof radical Islam than India. That willbe done eventually through the vig-orous contest of ideas. In turn, thatrequires learning the skills of normentrepreneurship. Australia, as aleading example of successfulmiddle-power norm entrepreneur-ship and multilateral coalition build-ing, could help India with a pivotalrebalancing of interests and values.

As long as India remains moreconcerned with consolidating na-tional power aspirations than de-veloping the norms and institutionsof global governance, it will remainan incomplete power, limited by itsown narrow ambitions, with mate-rial grasp being longer than theirnormative reach. India shouldmake a deliberate effort to learnhow to shift its default foreignpolicy mode from the universalmultilateralism of the weak of yes-teryears, to norm-advancing selec-tive coalitions of the influential asthe diplomacy of the future. Thewriter is a professor at theCrawford School of Public Policy,Australian National University.— Courtesy: The Japan Times

Ramesh Thakur

of this country first, they are killedfor one reason only; for being a Pa-kistani, and that their faith is neverasked when they are made to die.Extremist elements inside the coun-try are backed by foreign Govern-ments who are likely the culprits.The end goal is to plunge Pakistaninto a sectarian nightmare reminis-cent of post-Saddam Iraq or thetragic events currently unfolding inSyria! Iraq today still has its townsand cities bombed where Shia re-side, it is blamed on the Sunnipopulation showing a picture to theworld that what was done to Iraqwas absolutely correct by theNATO. This also shows, an inter-national conspiracy; to divide theMuslims and create undue panic inthe religion.

There are certain questions acommon Pakistan would ask:Where are all these explosives com-ing from? What are all those pick-ets for which have cluttered everycity of Pakistan? What are our se-curity agencies doing about this?Why is there no action being takenby the Government? Why is it let-ting it all happen? Why do the Gov-ernment and its allies only condemnsuch attacks, while the criminalswalk freely all over Pakistan? Whyhave the citizens of this country

been put to this insecurity? What istheir fault? Even more disturbingis the fact that no security person-nel arrived at the scene of the bombblast at Abbas Town. The rangers/police were deployed at MohattaPalace where a Government advi-sor was celebrating her engagementceremony, with a musical night thatlasted way after midnight. It is said;the security personnel were not al-lowed to leave their positions at thepalace. Why the honorable rulerswere having a swell time at the costof their subjects?

The Interior ministry knew thiswas to happen, Mr Rehman Malikthe said minister had announced itto media in one of his press confer-ences. If such was the case, whyweren’t actions taken on time to pre-vent this atrocious terrorist attack?What seems here is: That there istotal incompetence that rules us.Having reports of such attacks andno action taken to prevent shows acomplete paralysis, incompetency,that the Government is lethargic.There is lack of coordination be-tween the security agencies, theRangers, Police and the Army.

As a Pakistani citizen, ourhearts bleed for those who died, ourhearts cry for those who got injured,our hearts feel the pain of those

Views From Abroad

I was sitting with the treasurerof an organization I am thechairman of, when he turned to

me angrily and criticized somethingI had passed at the last AGM.

I listened to him, felt hurt by theaccusation, then decided to brush itaside: I’ve noticed that when a per-son comments on or about you in away you don’t like. you try to bekind or smile; after all, you thinkyou know the importance of not

judging or hurting others. Generallyspeaking, when you feel hurt by otherpeoples’ insults it is because somepart of you believes the insult to betrue. What happens when we try tobelieve something we don’t actuallybelieve is this: Our inner self steps inand reminds us of what we shouldfeel. The Inner Self takes us awayfrom the direct experience of feelinghurt and insulted. It says you “should”feel at peace.

But no true peace actually comes.The only way to move past the hurtis to experience the feeling of beinghurt. To actually acknowledge andown the feeling -without- necessar-ily having it consume you. To sim-ply acknowledge, “I feel hurt” with-

out judgment of yourself nor of theother person. It’s not bad to feel hurt.It’s not good to feel hurt either. Theother person is not bad for insultingyou. The insult simply is what it is,and the hurt you feel is hurt. Nothingmore. Nothing less.

I know this is easier said thandone. Our first instinct is to react.We want to feel we are right. Andwe may express this outwardly in anattempt to prove we are right. Thisis our ego and Inner self’s way ofdeflecting our pain onto others so wedon’t have to feel the hurt. It takessome courage and strength and prac-tice: Most of all though, it takes awillingness to try something newthat contradicts what the mind natu-

Handling criticism..!rally wants to do. When you ac-cept criticism and feel it fully, youallow yourself to move through thefeeling and find greater peace.

Merely an acceptance of whatthe moment is presenting to you.After I realized this that evening, Ifelt initially the pain of hurt, of be-trayal, of wanting to hit out. Buteven as I went through it, I knew itwould go away and I would moveout of the hurt feeling, and get bet-ter. That’s exactly what’s happened,and the criticism I received is notan insult; it is merely criticism,that’s all. Handling criticism is sureworth it, so we can move on, andnot get bogged down..!—Email: bobsbanter@gmail.com

Pak-India ties & Afghanistan

India see itself as a rising regionalpower and as it is said that risingpowers seek to enhance their se-

curity and agenda by increasing theircapabilities and their control over theexternal environment so India is do-ing exactly the same by adopting amore proactive role in its extendedneighborhood that is Afghanistan sothat they can control the external en-vironment post 2014 after the with-drawal of NATO/US forces from Af-ghanistan. Given the adversial natureof India-Pakistan relations and diver-gent interest of both the countries,Indian involvement in Afghanistan isviewed with suspicion in Pakistan.

India is pursuing a range of strat-egies to advance its interest by seek-ing political, economic and militaryinfluence in Afghanistan, for that In-dia has established a substantial dip-lomatic presence in Afghanistan, af-ter the Taliban fell India upgradedits liaison office to full- fledged Em-bassy in Kabul and also establishedconsulates in Kandahar, Jalalabad,Heart and Mazar-e-Sharif. This will

enable India to establish relation-ships with local leaders which willhelp India to influence the politicsof Afghanistan because India wantsto play a very pro-active role in thepolitical formation of Afghanistanafter 2014 because India will not liketo see Taliban coming back to powerwhich are very much considered proPakistan in India and anti Indianbecause India supported soviet In-vasion of Afghanistan and helpedNorthern Alliance during the Talibanrule. India would like to see post2014 Afghanistan having a pro In-dian Government so that they canpursue their interest in the regionunder the shield of economic and in-frastructure development withoutany hindrance. Pakistan sees thatDelhi also uses these consulates par-ticularly Jalalabad and Kandahar tocollect intelligence and supportseparatists in Baluchistan.

Indian aid in the form of moneyand infrastructure development to Af-ghanistan is considered as to seekeconomic influence in the country asIndia is among the six top donors ofAfghanistan and in its efforts to gaingreater access to Central Asian En-ergy Resources Delhi will need todevelop an effective trade and trans-

portation infrastructure in Afghani-stan to connect with CARs. For thatIndia has constructed a 220-kilome-ter road between the Afghan cities ofZaranj and Delaram in 2008–2009near Iranian border so that they canhave access to Iranian port ofChabahar by this India will not needPakistan in order to have trade withCARs. Such developments wouldseriously affect the strategic impor-tance of Pakistan in the region andalso undermines the importance ofGawadr port.

Strategic partnership agree-ment between India and Afghani-stan which was signed in Oct 2011when Afghan President HamidKarzai visited India commits Indiato provide light weapons, as wellas training in COIN and high-alti-tude warfare, to the Afghan army,police, and air force is seen as aregional instability factor becausePakistan will not tolerate any kindof India military presence in Af-ghanistan considering the deeplyrooted enmity between the twocountries particularly between thetwo forces. These steps in Pakistanare considered as Indian deliberatestrategy to strategically squeezeand encircle Pakistan which aimed

at trapping and ultimately destroy-ing Pakistan between hostilefronts.

Withdrawal of NATO/US forceswill obviously leave a powervacuum in Afghanistan consideringthe week central government and in-effectiveness of Afghan NationalForces to control the situation inde-pendently. Pakistan and India aretwo important countries of the re-gion and their divergent interests inregion particularly Afghanistan willpush Afghanistan into further tur-moil which will not be a healthy signfor the regional stability as well asfor both countries too.

A long lasting peace and stabil-ity in Afghanistan will be in the in-terest of both the countries becauseit will stabilize the region and makethe economic potential of the regionaccessible. For that all the stakeholders in Afghanistan should showsome leverage in their vested com-peting interest and come with a com-mon agenda which is fully accept-able to Afghan people so that a wartorn country should ride on a pathof stability and economic progress.This will be a very encouraging signfor economic development of theSouth Asian Region as a whole.

at the entry and exit points of thicklypopulated areas, and this shouldequally apply to other areas. In theend I would like to say that preven-tion of such tragedies is the actualresponsibility of the government andwe should make all out efforts to en-sure that we find solutions to stopthese ghastly incidents. Interior Min-ister should stop accusing PunjabGovernment and work jointly insteadof scoring points.—Karachi

Pervez to poweror prison

IQBAL HADI ZAIDI

PPP is known as Pakistan People’sParty but there is another PPP verymuch in the offing as well to be hon-est. Former President Gen (Retd)Pervez Musharraf has just couple ofdays before announced in Dubai thathe will come back to Pakistan withinone week once the care taker govern-ment has taken over to contest theelection and the news has stirred bothwhether government or opposition.

The Gen who toppled MianNawaz Sharif government in a blood-less coup in 1999 and then ruled thecountry till 2008 when he was forcedto leave the office of the President ofPakistan and he opted to leave thecountry on exile and since then he hasbeen shuttling in between Londonand Dubai as he has his houses in boththe cities. During the years in exilehe embarked upon a new venture todeliver lectures on different topics indifferent parts of the globe. He hasvery successfully delivered lecturesin many countries including even In-dia and he is believed to be the high-est paid speaker, more than BillClinton. He is very much in demandto deliver lectures at the most augustplaces where none but intellectualscome and he really proved as the bestspeaker of the day though practicallyspeaking he had been a certifiedKhaki throughout his life and thentook over first as Chief Executive andlater as President and honestly speak-ing he during his stay in power inPakistan never ever showed any gutsthat he is a seasoned speaker but yethe proved his mettle.

Lust of power, to be honest,obliged Gen to form a new politicalparty called All Pakistan MuslimLeague (APML) so that he can con-test elections likely to be held incouple of months and gamble withhis luck to again become Presidentor Prime Minister of Pakistan. He hasonce said publicly that he will bringEarthquake like Imran talked of Tsu-nami in the political arena of Paki-stan and he is very much confidentthat his APML will get quite goodnumber of seats in all the provincesof the country.

During his absence his name hasbeen mentioned in many criminalcases where he has been directly ac-cused of being very much instrumen-tal in the cases like murder of BenazirBhutto in Rawalpindi when she re-turned from exile and that of Bugtiwhen he was attacked in a cave inBaluchistan. Musharraf has also beenfound to be responsible for killing ofmany innocent students when LalMasjid cum madrassa in Islamabadwas raided by Pakistan army on hisdirect orders to quell the uprisingsince those who were inside themosque had stocked lot of gun andpowder to be used against those whotry to invade the mosque. He evenwent to the extent saying quite loudlythat he is not afraid of and he willface all the court cases as and whenhe is back in the country in couple ofweeks and not months.

Summing up, I can say with com-plete conviction, that in the given situ-ation Pervez is just gambling with hisluck and perhaps he also does notknow where he could land in Paki-stan which could be either Power orPrison and time itself will only proveas to what does he get when he is backin the country.—Kuwait

families who became victims. Letthis moment and time be a lessonfor every Pakistani. Through hard-ship walks in resilience and the willto survive. Miracles will not hap-pen for us! Those times are gonewith the passing away of the piousProphets. Do we look forward toget gobbled up like Iraq or Syria?Can we change our fate withoutexpecting it from a Governmentthat has no will to help?

There is still hope, the key liesin the hands of Pakistanis. Theymust come out of caste system,friendships, of obliging people. It’sa matter of life and death now, lifestands with the will and deathstands when we all go quiet on ev-erything that is happening aroundus. It’s better to stand together to-day than to die like a dog alone,lying on the side of a street withnobody to pick up the body. Com-ing few months are decisive for thefate of Pakistanis. You, I, everyonetoday know who is capable of de-livering Governance and security tothe people. Put your hands on yourheart and ask yourself who can de-liver you; this present lot that rulesyou or a new able set-up? Thinkabout your own kith and kin, theycould be one of those victims in thecoming months. Decide Now!

Zeeshan HayatEmail: zeeshanhayat56@yahoo.com

Ayesha Zee Khan Email: ayeshazeekhan@live.com

Critics of the war are missingthe big picture: Afghanistan ismuch better off today.

PETER BERGEN

QUICK question: WhichAsian country has seen itslife expectancy go up an

astounding 18 years in just onedecade, while turning from oneof the world’s most rural coun-tries into one of its fastest-urban-izing? Oh, and the country’s GDPincreased tenfold in that sameperiod. No, this isn’t Japan in the1960s, Singapore in the 1970s,South Korea in the 1980s, or In-dia in the 1990s. It is Afghani-stan since the fall of the Taliban.

What went wrong in Af-ghanistan since the American in-vasion is painfully clear, from thegrotesque levels of official cor-ruption to the worrisome rise ofinsider attacks against NATOforces by Afghan soldiers andpolice. Nobody is claiming all iscoming up roses in a country dev-astated by decades of conflict.But not everything has gonewrong, either. So perhaps themore interesting question — andcertainly a more underexploredone — is this: What went right?

Afghanistan just after theNovember 2001 fall of theTaliban resembled Germany af-ter World War II: The country hadbeen utterly destroyed, around athird of the population had fled,and more than one in 10 of itscitizens had been killed in theprevious two decades of war.Much of Kabul resembled post-war Dresden, so utter was thedestruction of the capital.

When you flew into Kabul’sairport, you were greeted by thedisquieting sight of teams of de-miners clearing the airfield. Thisscene was repeated all over Af-ghanistan, which was then one ofthe world’s most heavily minedcountries. Those few visitors whotraveled would find village aftervillage empty. What were once

houses now lay in fallen-downbaked-mud ruins, like the rem-nants of some long-gone civili-zation. Many Afghans had fledfor Pakistan and Iran during the1980s and 1990s — some 6 mil-lion out of a population of 15million.

As a result of the U.S.-ledoccupation of Afghanistan andthe enterprising spirit of the Af-

ghans themselves, Kabul is nowrebuilt, the villagers are back,and the once-ubiquitous de-min-ers have all but disappeared.Furthermore, millions of Af-ghans have voted with their feet:Since the fall of the Taliban,more than 5 million have re-turned home. By way of con-trast, some 2 million Iraqis lefttheir country during the recentwar there. Only a tiny fractionof those refugees has gone back.

The country to which thosemillions of Afghans have re-turned is in fundamental respectsvery different from the one it wasbefore the 9/11 attacks. Let’s startwith the most obvious point: The

Taliban are removed from power.This was a movement that gavesanctuary not only to Osama binLaden and al Qaeda, but also topretty much every jihadi militantgroup from around the Muslimworld.

Thanks to the U.S. invasionof Afghanistan, al Qaeda (“thebase” in Arabic) lost the best baseit ever had: a country in which it

ran something of a parallel state,with training camps churning outthousands of recruits and fromwhich bin Laden and his hench-men conducted their own foreignpolicy, attacking U.S. embassiesand warships, and planned thedeadliest mass murder in Ameri-can history.

Al Qaeda has never recov-ered from the loss of its Afghanbase. Its last successful strike inthe West was the July 2005 se-ries of suicide attacks onLondon’s transportation system.Meanwhile, the war against alQaeda continues to be foughtfrom Afghanistan. The SEALteam that killed bin Laden in

2011 took off in stealth helicop-ters from an airfield in Jalalabad,in eastern Afghanistan. And thedrones that have inflicted heavylosses on other al Qaeda leaderscontinue to deploy from Afghanbases.

Forget what you hear fromsome of the more vocal critics ofU.S. President Barack Obama’sdrawdown plans — the chances

of the Taliban coming back to runAfghanistan are now vanishinglysmall. Favorable views of theTaliban in polling across Af-ghanistan over the past severalyears are consistently no morethan 10 percent. There is nothinglike experiencing life under theTaliban to convince Afghans thatthe group cannot deliver on itspromises of an Islamist utopiahere on Earth. And if the Talibanhave scant chance of returning topower, their al Qaeda buddieshave even less chance of return-ing to Afghanistan in any mean-ingful way. Few Muslim coun-tries harbor a more hostile viewof al Qaeda and its Arab leaders

than Afghanistan. Afghans havegood reasons to fear the Taliban.The group imprisoned half thepopulation inside their homes,preventing women from havingjobs and girls from attendingschool. Although Afghanistantoday remains a deeply conser-vative Muslim society, propor-tionately more women are nowserving in the Afghan parliamentthan in the U.S. Congress. Andwhile only fewer than 1 millionchildren, almost entirely boys,were in school under the Taliban,now more than 8 million childrenare in school, more than a thirdof whom are girls.

One of the most commonquestions pollsters ask is, “Is yourcountry going in the right direc-tion?” A poll by Rasmussen at theend of December found that 33percent of American voters be-lieved their country was going inthe right direction. By contrast, apoll of some 6,000 Afghans con-ducted by the well-regarded AsiaFoundation found that in 2012,52 percent of Afghans thoughttheir country was on the righttrack. This finding isn’t so sur-prising when you consider whatremained of the Afghan economyunder the Taliban. There werejust six commercial banks in theentire country, and, according tothe IMF, they were “largely in-active.” There was virtually nophone system. Once-bustlingKabul was a city of ghosts, itspopulation down to half a mil-lion. Businesses were shuttered,just a few cars drove on thestreets, and the 9 p.m. curfew wasrigorously enforced by youngTaliban foot soldiers wearing dis-tinctive black turbans, their eyesrimmed with black kohl eyeliner,which gave them a look that wasboth feline and fierce. RadioVoice of Sharia was one of theonly sources of Afghan news, andit blared Taliban propaganda.Taliban cabinet ministers huddledaround stoves in their offices dur-ing the bitter Afghan winters, lec-

turing visitors like myself aboutthat great Muslim leader, Osamabin Laden.

When I visited Kabul in thewinter of 1999, I was the soleguest at the Inter-Continental, theonly hotel where the Talibanwould allow foreigners to stay.What once passed for a glamor-ous hotel in 1970s Kabul wasnow not much more than abombed-out shell. As the soleguest, I was lucky to get one ofthe few rooms with still-intactwindows to ward off the frigidAfghan winter. The staff at thehotel besieged me with requestsfor money, which was under-standable as the economy wasthen so bad that even doctorswere earning only $6 a month.

Afghanistan’s GDP in 2001was some $2 billion — about thesize of Burkina Faso’s. In a de-

cade, GDP has gone up to $20billion (though much of it is at-tributable to foreign aid). Today,one in two Afghans has a cellphone, which they use for every-thing from getting their salarieswired to them to making utilitypayments. There are also nowdozens of newspapers and TVchannels. Where once Kabul’sstreets were largely silent, theyare now a bedlam of traffic andthriving small businesses.

Yes, a good deal of aid toAfghanistan has ended up liningthe pockets of corrupt Afghanofficials or gone back west in theform of large salaries and perksfor expatriates. Less well known

is that one of the world’s mostsuccessful aid programs has beenimplemented in Afghanistan,funded by organizations such asthe U.S. Agency for InternationalDevelopment and the WorldBank. Known as the NationalSolidarity Program, the cost-ef-ficient and popular program givesmodest grants to local self-elected village councils to dowith as they will. Around 30,000councils have been set up, andthey have disbursed some $1 bil-lion for some 60,000 specificprojects since 2003. As a result,thousands of schools and count-less irrigation networks havebeen built, positively affectingthe lives of some two-thirds ofthe rural population.

Or consider this: At the timeof the Taliban, only a tenth of thepopulation had access to basic

health care, a situation mademore complicated by theTaliban’s medieval view ofwomen. Now, almost all Afghanshave access to more and betterhealth care. As a result, in just onedecade Afghan life expectancyhas gone from 45 years to 62years for men and 64 for women.This kind of dramatic increase inlongevity took four decades toaccomplish in the United Statesbetween 1900 and the beginningof World War II.

In the West, the general hope-lessness of Afghan PresidentHamid Karzai is a staple of newsstories that rightly decry his tol-erance for his rapacious family

and cronies who feed at the pub-lic trough. But let’s judge Karzainot against the mayor of a Scan-dinavian city, but rather the lead-ers in his immediate neighbor-hood. To Karzai’s west is theHolocaust-denying theocraticautocracy of Iran. To his north isthe Soviet-style dictatorship ofIslam Karimov in Uzbekistan,where dissidents have beenboiled alive. To his east is Paki-stan, where four military coupshave taken place since thecountry’s independence six anda half decades ago.

Karzai should also be judgedby his immediate predecessors.Let’s recall Taliban leader MullahOmar, a dimwitted religious fa-natic who turned his country intoan international pariah; the war-lords who preceded him; and be-fore them Mohammad

Najibullah, the communist pup-pet who replaced the Soviet oc-cupiers when they retreated in1989 and ended up being hangedfrom a Kabul lamppost sevenyears later.

By both regional and Afghanhistorical standards, Karzai is areasonably competent leader who— despite his feckless image inthe West and despite being in of-fice for 11 years — retains con-siderable popular appeal. Maybe,not too long from now, a newgeneration of guidebooks willagain be raving about the joys ofspringtime in the Hindu Kush.Nothing, not even a failed state,lasts forever. —Courtesy: FP

What Went Right?

Troops continue the fight but Taliban is on the up, MPs warn.

What went wrong in Afghanistan since theAmerican invasion is painfully clear, from thegrotesque levels of official corruption to the

worrisome rise of insider attacks against NATO forcesby Afghan soldiers and police. Nobody is claiming all iscoming up roses in a country devastated by decades ofconflict. But not everything has gone wrong, either. Soperhaps the more interesting question — and certainlya more underexplored one — is this: What went right?

ZHANG WEIWEI

The end of history occurswhen a nation decides ithas nothing to learn from

the successes of other countriesand cultures. That has happenedbefore to China — for instance,when it closed its doors to Eu-ropean trade in previous centu-ries. But now, writes ZhangWeiwei, it is the West — andespecially the United States —that is refusing to learn fromChina.

The Western democraticsystem might be only a transi-tory phenomenon in the longhistory of mankind. Why do Ithink so? Two thousand and fivehundred years ago, some Greekcity-states like Athens practiceddemocracy among their malecitizens, and later they were de-feated by Sparta.

Western countries did notintroduce the one-person-one-vote system in their countriesuntil their modernization pro-cess was completed.

then on, for over 2,000years, the word “democracy” ba-sically carried a negative conno-tation in Europe. Often, it wasseen as the equivalent to “mobpolitics.” The Western countriesdid not introduce the “one per-son, one vote” system in theircountries until their moderniza-tion process was completed.

But today, this kind of

democratic system cannot solveseveral really big problems.

First, there is no culture of“talent first.” Anyone who iselected can rule the country. Thishas become too costly andunaffordable, even for a coun-try like the United States. As asuperpower, U.S. policies haveglobal implications. So a lack ofpolitical leadership or account-ability in the United States

causes serious problems.George W. Bush did not run

his nation well and, under his“mis-leadership,” the UnitedStates declined sharply for eightyears running. Even a countrywith such ample resources can-not afford eight years of decline.

Second, the logic of theWestern welfare state seemssuch that the benefits packagecan only go up, not down. Thatexpectation makes it very hardto launch fundamental social andeconomic reforms that may berequired, as China did in its

banking sector and state-ownedenterprises.

Third, it is getting harderand harder to build a social con-sensus within the Western demo-cratic countries. This problem isespecially acute in the UnitedStates, but not limited to it.

In the past, the winningparty or coalition, provided ithad a majority of the votes, usu-ally united the whole society ina developed country. Today, thelosing party, instead of conced-

ing defeat, continues to obstruct.As a result, American society isdeeply divided and polarized.

The simple-minded popu-lism of electoral democraciesmeans little consideration isgiven to the long-term interestof a nation and society.

, there is an issue of simple-minded populism, which meanslittle consideration can be given

to the long-term interest of anation and society. Even pow-erful countries like the UnitedStates are running this risk.

In 1793, King George III ofthe United Kingdom sent hisenvoy to China to open bilateraltrade. But Emperor Qianlongwas so arrogant that he believedChina was the best country in theworld.

Due to his intransigence,China did not need to learn any-thing from others. This is whatdefined the “end of history”then. And it was at that point in

time that China began to decline.I now observe a similar

mindset not just in the UnitedStates, but virtually the entireWest. It is necessary to come toChina and see with one’s owneyes how China has reformeditself over the past three decades.

Each step China takes issmall, yet the journey is non-stop. The West still has strongfaith in its own system, but it isthe same system that has becomemore and more problematic.

Greece, the cradle of West-ern democracy, has gone bank-rupt. British debt is as high as90% of its GDP and America’sdebt is equal to 101% of its GDP.

China lagged behind theWest over the past 200 to 300years. But China is catching upfast, particularly in the moredeveloped regions of the coun-try. Now, it is the West that that

is a bit too arrogant and fails tolook at China with an openmind.

To my mind, the West —and especially the United States— can learn some vital thingsfrom China. President Obamamay be right, as he urged hisfellow citizens to build high-speed railways, focus on basiceducation, reduce the fiscal defi-cit, have more savings, developthe manufacturing industry anddrive up the export sector.

When late 18th centuryChina decided it did not need to

learn anything from others,China began to decline. This iswhat defines the “end of history”for great nations.

Obama has kept emphasiz-ing the theme that the UnitedStates cannot become theworld’s No. 2. It is very obvi-ous that he feels the pressurefrom the rise of China.

In China, thousands of yearsof traditions leave their mark oneverything. I am not saying tra-dition is always good (or bad).

My point is that it is impossibleor unrealistic to break fromone’s tradition as it always hasan imprint on what we are do-ing today.

Therefore, as far as we Chi-nese are concerned, like it or not,the Chinese characteristics arewith us all the time — becausethe Chinese historical genes arewith us. What we can do is to

leverage the advantages of ourtraditions while mitigating what-ever disadvantages are in our tra-ditions. What happened in theCultural Revolution tells us thatit is very difficult to break fromtradition.

But China does have somevery good traditions, which in-clude a belief in meritocracy.The careful process of selectingleaders, plus some form of elec-tion, offers a promising futurefor China. We can do well onthat basis, given our thousandsof years of experience inmeritocracy-based selection.

China does not have the in-tention of marketing its modelas an alternative for otherpeoples or countries. What wefocus on is simply running ourown country well, which meansdoing a good job for one fifth ofmankind.

There is nothing better thanachieving this goal. But it is alsotrue that if you do well, otherswill follow your example.

Today, virtually all ofChina’s neighboring countries— from Russia to India, andfrom Vietnam, Laos, and Cam-bodia to the Central Asian na-tions — are learning in one wayor another from the Chinesemodel.

Most Westerners view “gov-ernment as a necessary evil,” butmost Chinese view “governmentas a necessary virtue.” With thiscultural legacy, the Chinesemiddle class is more likely to bea staunch supporter of China’sstability, at home and in theworld.

Now, I observe a similarmindset almost in the entireWest. It is necessary to cometo China and see with one’sown eyes how China has re-formed.

The relationship betweenthe middle class and the Chinesestate is most likely to be posi-tively interactive, rather thanconfrontational. This can be ex-pected to generate a social co-hesion in Chinese society that isperhaps unmatched in any West-ern society.

China has learned so muchfrom the West — and will con-tinue to do so for its own ben-efit. It may be time now for theWest, to use Deng Xiaoping’sfamous phrase, to “emancipatethe mind” and learn more aboutand from China’s approachesand its ideas, and to do so forthe West’s own benefit.

I make this suggestion notonly to avoid further ideology-driven misreadings of China, ahugely important nation that isa civilization in itself, but alsoto enrich the world’s collectivewisdom in tackling challengesranging from the eradication ofpoverty to job creation to cli-mate change.—Courtesy: Globalist

China and End of End of History

The brave new world of Chinese power.

ANDREI PIONTKOVSKY

In 1970, Soviet dissident AndreiAmalrik observed in “Will theSoviet Union Survive until1984?” that “all totalitarian re-gimes grow old without realiz-ing it.”

Amalrik was right, and theregime established since 2000 byRussian President Vladimir Putinis likely to fall apart — perhaps

this year — for the same reasonthat the Soviet Union collapsedin 1991.

The Soviet Union’s col-lapse, it should be remem-bered, was not the result ofSoviet President MikhailGorbachev’s reformist “be-trayal.” Nor was it caused byfalling oil prices or U.S. Presi-dent Ronald Reagan’s militarybuildup. Soviet communismwas doomed long before then,when, as Amalrik predicted,the communist myth finallydied in the hearts and mindsof ordinary people and officialsalike.

In a mere 13 years, Putin’sregime, with its grand ideologi-cal style, has passed through allof the stages of Soviet history,becoming a vulgar parody ofeach.

The first stage, that of creat-ing the regime’s legitimizingmyth, generates a heroicdemiurge, the father of the nation.Whereas the Bolsheviks had the1917 Revolution, the Putinistshad the second Chechen war of1999 and the bombings of apart-ment buildings in Buynaksk,Moscow, and Volgodonsk thatyear. Thus was born the myth ofthe heroic intelligence officerwho protects Russians in theirhomes while terrifying thenation’s enemies. The secondstage could be called the period

of storms and stresses. Stalinthrived on the barbaric forced in-dustrialization that planted theseeds of the communist system’sdestruction. Putin, for his part,“built” a great energy power,turning the country into a bananarepublic with hydrocarbons.

The third stage extends themyth through heroic triumph.The Soviets had their victory inWorld War II, followed by the

creation of a global superpower.Putinism claimed victory afterinvading tiny Georgia in 2008.

Finally, the regime suffersideological exhaustion and death.This stage of Soviet communismtook 40 years to run its course.But a simulacrum falls apartmuch faster. Putin’s four-hournews conference in Decemberrecalled nothing so much as Ro-manian dictator NicolaeCeausescu’s demise at a stagedmass meeting in 1989, when hewas confronted by heckling andprotests.

Indeed, Russia is alreadyliving in the post-Putin era, be-cause Putin can no longer per-form his mission — providingsecurity for a plutocracy. As in1999, when Boris Yeltsin hadoutlived his usefulness to theelite, the current infightingamong elite factions means onlyone thing: a search is under wayfor a successor. The question isno longer whether Putin’s re-gime will survive, but what willcome after him.

The coming transition will bemarkedly different from the 1999transfer of power. It will not be apalace affair, replete with a “pa-triotic,” television-driven mobi-lization of the masses against ter-rorists and the Western nemesis.The current process is more likewhat happened in Central andEastern Europe in 1989 and the

Soviet Union in 1991, with pro-testers’ enthusiasm giving way todisappointment as individualmembers of the old regime re-tained economic and quasi-politi-cal power.

Indeed, a potential heir todayneeds legitimacy, not only fromthe powerful oligarchs but alsofrom the street. That is why so-called system liberals, or loyal-ists who stand for Kremlin-

backed change, want to controlthe protest movement and use itas a lever in an ultimate fight withthe siloviks (Putin’s military andsecurity apparatus).

System liberals believe thatRussia has, on the whole, builtan acceptable market economy.Its further development requiresonly the removal of some ofPutin’s cronies through con-trolled political reform.

Until recently, the loyalistsargued that the quest for changeprecludes criticizing the govern-ment, which should somehow beinfluenced through constructivesuggestions. Demands for Putin’sresignation would lead only to themarginalization of the protestmovement.

Today, however, the loyal-ists’ rhetoric is more aggressive.They now argue that Putin per-sonally chose repression in re-sponding to the protest move-ment that filled the streets ofMoscow and other major citiesin late 2011 and early 2012. Poli-ticians who see no alternative totribunals and criminal prosecu-tions cannot be respected.

The evolution of the loyal-ists’ position is not coincidental.They must consider the mood ofthe protest movement, as well asopinion polls, which suggest thattheir popular support lags behindthe “republicans” by a 9-1 mar-gin. —Courtesy: Japan Times

Putin unable to controlinfighting among elite

Russian President Vladimir Putin and former Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, whowas recently fired, review military officers on Moscow’s Red Square.

The end of history occurs when a nation de-cides it has nothing to learn from the successes ofother countries and cultures. That has happenedbefore to China — for instance, when it closed its

doors to European trade in previous centuries. Butnow, writes Zhang Weiwei, it is the West — andespecially the United States — that is refusing to

learn from China.

fold and said the PML-N wouldfurther strengthen inBalochistan with their participa-tion.

After the meeting, Nawaztold reporters that the sitting rul-ers have pushed back the coun-try by 50 years during the lastfive years. What President AsifAli Zardari had given to thepeople during the government’sfive year tenure, he questioned?He said the PPP government iscompleting its five years butpeople as well as country had tosuffer a lot due to inaptness ofrulers. He added that he wasmore concerned with the futureof the country rather than poli-tics.

Expressing grave concernover situation prevailing in thecountry, the PML-N Presidentsaid that innocent people arebeing killed from Khyber toKarachi on daily basis. He said,“It is the government’s respon-sibility to provide protection oflife and property to the people

PPP jolted as Lashkari RaisaniFrom Page 1

but it failed to fulfill this obli-gation.” He added that peoplehad given mandate for protec-tion of their life and property.“Today every countryman is indeep sense of sorrow and griefover incidents of terrorism andloss of precious lives,” he added.He slammed the attitude shownby the government on presentsituation. He asked federal inte-rior minister what steps weretaken to provide security despitehaving information about terror-ism activities.

The PML-N President,however, emphasized the needto get united and take practicalmeasures for rooting out themenace of terrorism. Today weare reaping the crop of terrorismsown by the dictators, he said.

When asked about caretakerset up, he said, if the governmentnominee for caretaker primeminister was more suitable, thePML-N would accept the deci-sion. However, he said the Op-position Leader held detailed

consultation with the Oppositionparties on two names of care-taker PM and the names sug-gested for caretaker prime min-ister would be acceptable foreveryone.

Talking about situation inKarachi, the PML-N Chief de-manded implementation on theSupreme Court (SC) verdict inthe Karachi law and order case.He said the Supreme Court hasalready declared that there aremilitants wings of different par-ties. What action was takenagainst such parties? People ofKarachi must pose this question,he said.

Lashkari Raisani said on theoccasion that the PPP had devi-ated from the ideology withwhich Benazir Bhutto led theparty.

Moreover, PPP Presidentfrom District Kohistan Haji MisriKhan and PPP MNA from thesame area Saeed Ahmad Khanalso announced that they havedecided to join the PML-N.

LAHORE: Students busy in painting during wall painting competition as part of Jashn-e-Baharan at Jillani Park.

criticized the government’s in-action and silence by differentpolitical and religious parties onthe tragedy.

He said law enforcementagencies have taken no action onfiring on funerals. He said theyhave asked the people to protecttheir lives by themselves.

Khawaja Asif said Shiacommunity is being targetedunder a well-thought-out con-spiracy. He referred to terroristincidents in Quetta and Karachiin this regard.

He criticized that law en-forcement personnel includingrangers reached very late at the

NA discusses Karachi situationFrom Page 1

place of tragic incident inKarachi. He said law and orderin the country has gone frombad to worse over the last fiveyears.

Taking part in the debate‚Noor Alam criticized PunjabGovernment for not taking ac-tion against terrorists and al-leged that Punjab ministers havelinks with banned outfits.

He assured that PPP willhold election on time and hopedthat PPP will again form thegovernment after winning theelections. Himayatullah Mayar

strongly condemned the terror-ist incident in Karachi. He saidit is the responsibility of lawenforcement agencies to takeaction against terrorists.

He said a clear strategyshould be adopted to eliminateterrorism from the country. Hesaid negotiations with Talibanshould be within the law andconstitution.

Sardar Bahadur Khan Siharsaid it is the responsibility ofthe provincial governments tomaintain law and order. Hestressed the need for operationagainst the hideouts of terror-ists. —NNI

activity on the third and thelast day of Anti-Polio drive.

Officials and the indepen-dent sources believe the explo-sive material was planted in civilhospital Jamrod that has beenconverted into Polio drops dis-pensing centre. The blast, offi-cials said, badly damaged acouple of rooms of the hospitalwhere Polio volunteers, mostlyfemale workers, were busy dis-pensing Polio drops to kids. Theexplosion left as many as twofemale health workers who wererushed to hospital for treatment.

It may be recalled that thePolio teams administering Poliodrops which mostly comprisefemale health volunteers, wereattacked by the unknown terror-ists by continuous five days inthe third week of December lastin parts of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa

Blast at polio vaccinationcentre, 2 injured

From Page 1including Peshawar, Charsaddaand Risalpur as well as Karachi.Around ten polio workers,mostly female, were killed andmany others sustained seriousinjuries in the assaults againstthe Polio workers which had notonly sent a wave of terror, anxi-ety and harassment among thePolio staff in the country but hadalso attracted serious concern ofthe international community

This situations forced theUN to withdraw its staff facili-tating Polio vaccination in Pa-kistan and the field staffers ofWorld Health Organization(WHO) and UNICEF were di-rected to suspend their activitieswith regard to Polio campaign.

However, the activities ofdispensing the Polio drops wereresumed after the governmentannounced security for the Po-

lio workers and deputed a po-lice man with every team dis-pensing Polio drops in every partof the country.

Yet the assaults against thePolio teams continued and a fewdays back even policemen de-puted with the Polio team waskilled by the unknown miscre-ants in KP.

It may be mentioned herethat an international bodymonitoring the Polio eradica-tion campaigns all over theworld has apprehended that at-tacks against the Polio teams inPakistan have considerablyweakened the campaign and thePolio virus may spread againin the country in the comingfew months. Already some 11new cases of Polio virus havesurfaced in Pakistan during thecurrent year.

Saturday, but said the detailswere being finalised.

“The details, including hisprogramme, what he will dothere and who he will meet, arebeing worked out,” the officialsaid. Ashraf will be the most se-nior Pakistani to visit India sincelast April when President AsifAli Zardari embarked on a simi-lar pilgrimage and then hadlunch with Prime MinisterManmohan Singh.

Raja tovisit India

From Page 1

member delegation led byBalouch leader LashkariRaisani at Raiwind Tuesday.Answering the question of ajournalist, the Chief Ministersaid that arm licenses to terror-ists were not issued by Punjabgovernment but federal andSindh governments.

He said that Rehman Malikhas been declared a liar by Su-preme Court and consideringhim unreliable, he will not com-ment on any of his remarks.

Law, order inPunjab much

better: ShahbazFrom Page 1

meetings with law enforce-ment agencies to stop therecurrence of such incidents.

The interior minister said hewould give a detailed statementin the National Assembly onWednesday on the law and or-der situation in the country, par-ticularly Karachi.

Malik again urged thePunjab government to take ac-tion against LeJ in Punjab prov-ince.

Speaking to reporters, theinterior minister said the LeJwas conducting its activitiesthrough supervision fromPunjab.

He urged the Supreme Courtto inquire from the Punjab ChiefMinister over why no action wasbeing taken against the bannedoutfit in the province.

He said that if the terroristscould be controlled in Punjab,then terrorism could also becurbed in Karachi. He reiteratedthat a list of suspects belongingto the banned organisation hadalready been sent to the Punjabgovernment.

4 arrestedFrom Page 1

US-funded Tarbela DamFrom Page 1

Guddu, and Muzaffagarh,which have already added over650 megawatts since October2009.

The US government is alsoco-financing the completion ofthe Gomal Zam and Satparadams which will add another 35megawatts and irrigate morethan 200,000 acres.

Finally, the US is helping toreplace thousands of highly in-efficient agricultural and mu-nicipal water pumps throughoutthe country to save additionalmegawatts.

These projects are expectedto add 900 megawatts to the na-tional power grid by the end of

2013, enough energy to powertwo million households andbusinesses.

The ambassador added thatthe US will be the largest fundprovider for the Diamer-BhashaDam.

Meanwhile, talking to a pri-vate TV Channel US ambassa-dor Richard Olson Tuesdaywarned that Pakistan shouldavoid projects that could invitesanctions and added Pakistanmust fulfill its international ob-ligations. Olson said US policyon Iran is very clear. “Not onlyUnited States but the wholeworld has reservations over Irannuclear programme,” he said.

The ambassador did notgive a straightforward replywhen asked whether Pak-Irangasline project will affect Pak-US relations.

He also declined to com-ment on the resolutions byAPCs organized by ANP andJUI-F urging talks with theTaliban, saying talks withTaliban was an internal matterof Pakistan.

The ambassador appreciatedPakistan’s role in Afghan peaceprocess and release of Talibanleaders, hoping two countrieswould reach an understandingon the issue of Moulvi Faqeer.—Agencies

had set a three-day deadline forthe government to arrest the cul-prits behind Abbas Town car-nage. The deadline expired to-day but the terrorists could notbe taken into custody nor did thegovernment undertake any ac-tion to assuage the anguish of thevictims.

It may be mentioned herethat a high-intensity bomb ex-plosion at Abbas Town on Sun-day killed 48 people includingwomen and children and injuredmore than 140 others.

death at some point of time,however it is a matter of greatpride for us that our leaders haveembraced martyrdom whileserving the people, said theSpokesperson.

On this occasion the Presi-dent also strongly condemnedthe blast in Karachi that resultedinto the loss of precious inno-cent lives, including the relativesof Deputy Speaker Sindh As-sembly Ms. Shehla Raza.

Former prime minister andSenior Vice Chairman of PPPSyed Yusuf Raza Gilani,Punjab Governor MakhdoomSyed Ahmad Mahmood,MNAs and MPAs were alsopresent.—NNI

MQM toannounce

strategy todayFrom Page 1

Presidentfor uplift

From Page 1

ther said the opposition wouldalso float two names for care-taker set up in Sindh.

Prime Minister Raja PervezAshraf wrote a letter to the Leaderof the Opposition in the NationalAssembly, Chaudhry Nisar AliKhan for holding talks to finalisetwo names for the post of interimprime minister. The leader of thehouse (prime minister) and leaderof the opposition each will for-ward two names, to select one forthe slot of the caretaker

despite he had taken the chargeof Sindh Governor in the ab-sence of Dr Ebad, who had leftfor Dubai after the MOM hadannounced it had parted wayswith the Pakistan People’s Partyas the coalition partner in thegovernment in Sindh provinceand in Centre.

The Speaker had once com-mented on the situation that DrEbad would see what to do withthe resigna-tions.

On his return from Dubaiafter the MQM Chief had askedhim to resume the charge of theoffice of Sindh Governor acou0ple of days ago, Dr Ebadhad still awaited further to ap-proving the resignations.

Nisar hopesFrom Page 1

Governor accepts resignationsof MQM ministers

From Page 1Amid the ongoing political

maneuvours, the MQM wasasked by the other oppositionparties to en-dorse NusratSahar Abbasi as the leader ofopposition in the provincial as-sembly, which the MQM didnot accept.

Later, the MQM had nomi-nated Syed Sardar Ahmed as theleader of opposition because theresignation of Ahmed was notyet approved. So the MQM hadoffered name of Amir Moeen asthe replacing candidate.

On approval of resignationson Tuesday, the MQM had onceagain nominated Ahmed as theleader of opposition.

The MQM had in this regard

submitted a formal applicationto the office of the Secretary ofSindh provincial assembly toissue a notification in favour ofAhmed declaring him as theleader of opposition. The appli-cation was signed by 40 law-makers of the MQM.

However, the Speaker hadnot yet issued a relevant notifi-cation declaring Ahmed as theleader of opposi-tion.

It is pertinent to mention thatthe Pakistan Muslim League (F)had performed as the oppositionparty in the provincial assemblylonger than any other party andhad nominated Nusrat SaharAbbasi as the leader of opposi-tion.

party has submitted its dueconsolidated statements of ac-counts audited by charteredaccount as required under Ar-ticle 13 of the Political PartiesOrder, 2002.

The ECP has made it clearthat incomplete applications orrequests through fax will not beentertained. The applicationsreceived prior to 5th March,2013 shall also not be consid-ered. Thus, all such parties, whosent applications have to makefresh applications.—INP

PoliticalpartiesFrom Page 1

PPP, PML-Nagree

From Page 1

its term on April 8. Similary,Sindh Assembly is supposed tocomplete its tenure on April 4;Balochistan Assembly on April6 and; Khyber Pakhtunkhwa onMarch 27.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Sikandar AhmedRai, Federal Secretary for Min-istry of Water and Power, hastermed NESPAK a symbol ofhonesty and integrity.

He said this during his firstvisit to NESPAK House here onTuesday.

Asad I. A. Khan, ManagingDirector NESPAK, welcomedthe Federal Secretary and gavehim a corporate presentationhighlighting the performance ofNESPAK.

Speaking on the occasion,the Federal Secretary/ChairmanBoard of Directors of NESPAKeulogized NESPAK services inthe fields of engineering, archi-tecture/town planning etc., andencouraged its professionals tochannelize their expertise inother fields like oil, gas, petro-leum and mining sectors. Healso proposed that NESPAK

NESPAK termed symbol of integrityshould set up its Institute to im-part technical education, whichwill be beneficial not only forNESPAK but also help govern-ment acquire better technicalmanpower.

Assuring his full support toNESPAK, he lauded its manage-ment for not bowing to the po-litical pressure and for uphold-ing the policy of merit insteadof favoritism.

He was very impressed bythe performance of NESPAK,which has been generating itsown revenues and working as aself-sustaining entity withouttaking a single penny from thenational exchequer.

During his visit, he also tooka round of NESPAK and inter-acted freely with the staff. Heinquired about their welfare andlistened to their views and sug-gestions.

On this occasion, he also ad-vised the NESPAK Manage-

ment to expedite the process ofgiving bonus and 20 percent in-crease in basic pay to the staff,which was due since July 01,2012.

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Punjab UniversityVice Chancellor Prof DrMujahid Kamran has said thatthe rulers of the country wereresponsible for educational di-saster in country and they did notrealize that how knowledge wasimportant for respectable sur-vival in the world. He was ad-dressing the annual convocationof Hailey College of CommerceNew Campus.

PU HCC Principal Prof DrLiaqat Ali, senior faculty mem-bers and a large number of stu-dents were present on the occa-sion. Addressing the ceremony,the VC said that because of edu-cation-friendly policies of thecurrent administration, PU hadproduced more than 200 PhDslast year.

He said that knowledge wasthe source of power and respectbut no nation could becomeknowledgeable without thestrength of character. He saidthat the average spending of theworld was around 4-5 percent ofGDP on education but on the

Rulers responsible for academiccrisis in country: PU VC

contrary, we were reducing ourspending on education.He advised them to be expert oftheir subject, keep an eye ontheir own shortcomings, praise

qualities of others and help eachother. He said that the collegeunder the leadership of DrLiaqat Ali was producing qual-ity graduates.

it,” accusing President Basharal-Assad’s regime of “using thisissue” to gain support against hisopponents.

However, he said: “I am op-timistic that the internationalcommunity has started to workin a way by which the Syrianpeople would achieve victoryfaster. The terrorist is Bashar.He is the one killing hispeople.”

”There is a change now inthe international and Americanstance” on Syria, which has beenlocked in a two-year conflict inwhich the United Nations esti-mates more than 70,000 peoplehave been killed.

“They are now discussingweapons.”The United States hasso far refused to arm Syrianrebels.

Kerry had said during a visitto Riyadh that Washington wasworking with its “friends toempower the Syrian opposi-tion,” while stressing it was notarming the rebels.

Several oil-rich monarchiesof the six-member Gulf Coop-eration Council, notably SaudiArabia and Qatar, have sup-ported the rebellion againstAssad, a staunch ally of theirregional foe Iran.

Saudi counterpart PrinceSaud al-Faisal has insisted onthe right of Syrians to self-de-fence.

GCC members are dissatis-fied by the refusal of US Presi-dent Barack Obama’s adminis-tration to arm the rebels, ana-lysts say.

Washington said last monthit would provide direct aid to therebel fighters in the form of foodand medical assistance, but notthe weapons they hoped for, aswell as $60 million in fundingfor the political opposition.—AP

KerryFrom Page 1

BEIJING —China’s govern-ment pledged Tuesday to repairthe country’s ravaged environ-ment and boost public servicesunder its new leadership, an ac-knowledgment that quality oflife was sidelined during theoutgoing administration’s de-cade of breakneck economicgrowth. In a policy speech open-ing the national legislature’syearly session, soon-to-retirePremier Wen Jiabao wentthrough a list of problems thathad built up in recent years andwas being left to his successors:a sputtering growth model; poi-soned air, waterways and soil; avast and growing rich-poor gap;and rampant official corruptionthat has alienated many Chi-

nese.“Is this a time bomb?” Yao

Jianfu, a retirement governmentresearcher, asked. Yao’s specialtyis China’s army of migrant work-ers who are often deprived of ac-cess to housing, education andother government services. “Ifthere’s an economic downturn andmassive unemployment, will the200 million migrant workers be-come the main force of the nextCultural Revolution?” he said,referring to the excesses of thechaotic 1966-76 period.

The unfinished agenda ofChina’s past decade are now cen-tral concerns of the new leader-ship as it seeks to assuage a pub-lic that is looking beyond pocket-book issues, empowered by the

Internet and increasingly vocalabout the need for change.

Wen acknowledged the re-sponsibility he and other retiringleaders have for leaving such atangle of problems, even as theyhave guided China to prosperityand power on the world stage.

“Some of these problemshave built up over time, while oth-ers have emerged in the course ofeconomic and social develop-ment, and still others have beencaused by inadequacies and weak-nesses in our government work,”Wen said in a 100-minute speechto the nearly 3,000 legislativedeputies in the Great Hall of thePeople, his last address beforestepping down.

Though Wen delivered the

China’s new priority: Social wellbeing over growthaddress, it represents the prioritiesof the new leadership headed byCommunist Party chief Xi Jinpingand it underscores the inflectionpoint many Chinese feel the coun-try has reached: The policies thatdelivered stunning growth arefoundering in the ill-effects of cor-ruption and environmental degra-dation, and many Chinese believebenefits unfairly accrue to a party-connected elite.

The legislative session com-pletes the once-a-decade leader-ship transition that began fourmonths ago when Xi and otheryounger leaders were installed asparty leaders. The largely ceremo-nial legislature, known as the Na-tional People’s Congress, will ap-prove appointments to top govern-

ment posts to manage the eco-nomic and foreign policies, round-ing out the team Xi will need togovern. In his first months in of-fice, Xi has raised expectations forchange, talking about the urgentneed to stanch graft and adhere tolaws rather than rule by untram-meled power.

The policy address and anaccompanying budget presentedTuesday give a mixed picture ofhow different a course Xi intendsto steer. Defense spending willincrease 10.7 percent to 720 bil-lion yuan ($114 billion) — ahigher rate than the overall growthof the budget that comes as Chinaengages in tense territorial dis-putes with neighbors and seeks toreduce U.S. influence in the re-

gion. Spending on public secu-rity is getting an 8 percent boostto 769 billion yuan ($124 bil-lion), making this the third yearin a row that outlays for the po-lice, courts and other law en-forcement exceeds defensespending. This, despite publicunhappiness over the enormousstate security system that is usedto repress threats to the party andruns roughshod over the legalsystem.Wen called several timesfor a change in the country’sgrowth model to reduce waste,build out the service sector as asource of much-needed employ-ment and direct spending to sub-sidized housing and other socialprograms that would boosthousehold consumption.—AP

IS L A M A B A D—Senate onTuesday unanimously passed“The Anti-Terrorism (Amend-ment) Bill‚ 2013”. It providesto amend the Anti-TerrorismAct‚ 1997. The bill was movedby Law Minister Farooq H.Naek.

The Senate was informedon Tuesday that the SupremeCourt took 86 suo moto actionsduring the last 5 years. LawMinister Farooq H. Naek toldthe House that according to theinformation provided by Su-preme Court‚ 53 cases havebeen disposed off while 33 arepending.

He said that during thelast year 33737 cases of humanrights were disposed off while16331 are pending.

To a question‚ Minister ofState for Communications MirDost Muhammad Mazari toldthe House that for providingconnectivity to Gwadar Portthree road projects have beencompleted while work on fourother such projects is under-way.

He said 13 billion and 527million rupees have been in-curred on these projects dur-ing the last 5 years.

To a question regarding thenames of the superior courtsjudges having dual nationality‚the Law Minister said that theSupreme Court was requestedto provide the requisite infor-mation.

He said in its reply the Su-preme Court has said that nei-ther the Constitution nor Codeof Conduct prescribed for thejudges of the Supreme Courtplace any embargo in this re-gard.

The Federal Shariat Court

Senate unanimouslypasses Anti-Terrorism

(Amend) Bill‚ 2013has informed that no judge ofthe Court holds dual national-ity while the reply from theHigh Courts is awaited.

Minister for Postal Ser-vices Sardar MuhammadUmar Gorgeij in a written re-ply said that the governmenthas taken a number of steps toimprove the Postal Service inthe country to facilitate themasses.

He said that 508 Post Of-fices have been establishedduring the last 5 years.

ANP members staged awalkout from the House overthe law and order situation inBalochistan. Convener of theSpecial Committee on Electionissues Jahangir Badr presentedbefore the House the report ofthe committee.

Law Minister Farooq H.Naek laid before the House“The Federal Ombudsmen In-stitutional Reforms Ordinance‚2013 (Ordinance No.—NNI

Khosa to head PPP’scentral election cellLAHORE—Former Punjab Gov-ernor Sardar Lateef Khosa hasbeen given a charge to head PPP’scentral election cell. The respon-sibility was given to the formergovernor during his meeting withPresident Asif Ali Zardari onMonday here at Bilawal House.Lateef Khosa would supervise theparty’s preparation for forthcom-ing general elections. He wouldalso consult with the party lead-ership over nominations of can-didates.—INP

PPP Sindh ministerRafiq Engineer

laid to restIRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—Pakistan People’sParty (PPP) leader and Sindhspecial education and archivesMinister Muhammad RafiqueEngineer was laid to rest in

Mewa Shah Graveyard Tues-day.

Rafique had suffered car-diac arrest.

He was taken to a nearbyhospital where the doctors de-clared he was already dead.

PPP leaders and Ministersrushed to the residence of thedeceased on hearing the sadnews.

Last meeting ofCabinet todayISLAMABAD—Prime MinisterRaja Pervez Ashraf has sum-moned the last meeting of thefederal cabinet today (Wednes-day) Approval of the pre-budgetsummary and confirmation of thedecisions of Economic Coordi-nation Committee are on the 16-point agenda. In addition, theagreements with other countrieswill also be discussed. Moreover,security of the country and re-newed analysis of the visa policywith reference to India and othercountries will also be consideredduring the meeting. It meritsmentioning here that the plan forbudget of financial year 2013-14has also been prepared. The totalvolume of the budget is Rs 3200billion. Accordingly, there is arise of Rs 90 billion in develop-ment budget, and also five toseven percent increase in thebudget. —Online

3 suspects heldin QuettaQUETTA—Police with the col-laboration of Frontier Constabu-lary (FC) arrested three personsand recovered arms from thesuspects during a search opera-tion. According to details, localpolice with the cooperation ofFC arrested three suspectsNaeem, Arif and Abdul Manafduring a search operation inQambrani road, Bank colonyand Kali geo here on Tuesday.Police said that one 9MM andtwo 30 Bore pistols were recov-ered from the suspects addingthat a case has been filed againstthe culprits and further investiga-tions have been started. —Online

4.4 magnitudequake hits KPPESHAWAR—A moderate earth-quake measuring 4.4 on the Rich-ter scale jolted Peshawar and itsadjoining areas on Tuesday. Ac-cording to media reports, theearthquake tremors were felt atabout in evening on Tuesday inthe provincial capital and its ad-joining areas. The epicenter of theearthquake was located at 214 ki-lometers northwest of thecountry’s capital in the HinduKush mountainous range alongthe Pakistan-Afghanistan borderarea. —Online

Balochistan MPASultan Tareen

kidnappedSTAFF REPORTER

QU E T TA—Member ofBalochistan Assembly SultanTareen was kidnapped fromKachlak area of restive prov-ince on Tuesday.

As per details, SultanTareen was heading towardsHarnai town from Quetta whenunidentified gunmen stoppedhis car near Kachlak area.

MPA’s guard got injuredwhen he resisted the abductionattempt. Police gave no otherdetails over the incident.

Banks startreceiving

Haj applicationsISLAMABAD—The designatedbranches of banks Tuesdaystarted receiving Hajj applica-tions under the Governmentscheme on first come firstserve basis.

Though there was notmuch rush on the specially setup bank counters for the Pil-grims but it is expected that inthe coming days, people willturn up in large number be-cause those submitting theirapplications first would havegreater opportunity to be se-lected for performing Haj thisyear. This year, ninety thou-sand pilgrims will proceed toSaudi Arabia to perform Hajunder the governmentprogramme, while remainingwill perform Haj through pri-vate Haj operators.—INP

10 militantskilled in UpperOrakzai AgencyKALAYA—At least 10 mili-tants were killed in an opera-tion launched by securityforces in two different area ofUpper Orakazai Agency.

According to security of-ficial, during the ongoing op-eration launched by securityforces against militants in Up-per Orakzai Agency, securityforces backed by helicopterbombarded at the hideouts ofthe militants in Mir KalamKhail and Adam Khail areas,killing 10 militant.—INP

BEIRUT—Syrian warplanesstruck captured security buildingsin Raqqa Tuesday, casting a pallover the northern city a day aftereuphoric rebels seized much of itand captured the provincial gov-ernor, one of the highest-rankingofficials to fall into rebel hands,activists said.

Fighters also battled pocketsof regime loyalists for completecontrol of Raqqa, a city of some500,000 people on the EuphratesRiver. If the opposition succeeds,it would mark the first time anentire city has fallen into opposi-tion hands, dealing both a strate-gic and a symbolic blow to Presi-dent Bashar Assad’s regime.

But airstrikes and intermittentclashes Tuesday raised questionsabout whether the rebels would beable to maintain their hold on thecity. The Britain-based SyrianObservatory for Human Rightssaid opposition fighters capturedthe governor of Raqqa province,Hassan Jalali, after clashes over-night near the governor’s office in

the provincial capital with thesame name. The Observatory saidthe head of Assad’s ruling Baathparty in the province, Salman al-Salman, also was in rebel custody.

Several key regime figureshave defected to the rebel side, butObservatory director Rami Abdul-Rahman said Jalali is one of thehighest-ranking officials to be cap-tured. An amateur video postedonline by activists from Raqqaappeared to show Jalali andSalman seated on chairs sur-rounded by a group of rebels.

“We just want to get rid of theregime,” one of the fighters tellsthe pair. The video appeared con-sistent with Associated Press re-porting from Raqqa. According tothe state-run news agency SANA,Jalali, 62, was appointed Raqqagovernor in September 2012.

An activist in the city whogave only his first name Amir saidthe two were detained by Jabhatal-Nusra, an al-Qaida linkedgroup that the U.S. has designatedas a terrorist organization, and

other fighters who swept into thecity on Monday.

“They are detained in a loca-tion secured by al-Nusra and arebeing treated well,” he said.

The group has emerged as oneof the best organized and mosteffective forces on the oppositionside, leading successful rebel as-saults on military installationsaround the country. Fighting ragedTuesday near an intelligencebuilding in the city as well as sev-eral other places, the Observatorydirector said, adding that “someof Raqqa is still under regime con-trol.” The government also re-mained in control of military airbases outside the city and was us-ing them to deploy warplanes tofight back against the rebel gains.

The Observatory said gov-ernment warplanes carried outairstrikes on two targets in thecity, causing an unspecified num-ber of casualties. It also reportedheavy fighting near an ammuni-tion depot on the northern edgeof the city. —AP

Syrian war planes bombardRaqqa building

WASHINGTON—A US federaljury has convicted a 77-year-oldPakistan-origin Imam of a localmosque in Miami for providingmaterial support to terrorists,including the banned PakistaniTaliban.

At sentencing, scheduled forMay 30, cleric Hafiz Khan facesup to 15 years in prison on eachcount.Khan was found guilty oftwo conspiracy counts and twocounts of providing materialsupport to terrorists.

“Despite being an Imam, orspiritual leader, Hafiz Khan wasby no means a man of peace.Instead, he acted with others tosupport terrorists to further actsof murder, kidnapping andmaiming,” Wifredo Ferrer, USAttorney for the Southern Dis-trict of Florida, said in astatement.But for law enforce-ment intervention, these defen-dants would have continued totransfer funds to Pakistan to fi-nance the Pakistani Taliban, in-cluding its purchase of guns, hesaid after the jury gave its ver-dict following two months of

trial.“Today, terrorists have lost

another funding source to useagainst innocent people and USinterests,” said Special Agent inCharge Michael B Steinbach.

“We will not allow thiscountry to be used as a base forfunding terrorists. Individualssuch as Hafiz Muhammed SherAli Khan, who support terror,represent a threat to our safetyand provide an example of whythe FBI’s number one priority iscounterterrorism,” he said.

According to the evidence,Khan, with the help of personsin South Florida and Pakistan,sent money and other materialsupport to Taliban contacts andsympathisers overseas.

Khan sought to aid theTaliban’s fight against the Paki-stani government and its per-ceived allies, including the US,by supporting acts of murder,kidnapping and maiming in Pa-kistan and elsewhere, in order toestablish Sharia. Khan trans-ferred money from the US toTaliban supporters in Pakistan,

primarily using bank accountsand wire transfer services in theUnited States and Pakistan.

These funds were intendedto purchase guns for the Paki-stani Taliban, to sustain militantsand their families and generallyto promote the PakistaniTaliban’s cause, the departmentof justice said in a statement.

Khan also solicited and col-lected money in the US for thatpurpose, taking great care toconceal his activities, it added.

In one recorded conversa-tion introduced as evidence,Khan stated that money cannotbe sent openly to the Taliban, butmust instead be sent covertlythrough its supporters.

Khan also used a madrassahe founded in Pakistan (wherehe was born) to provide shelterand other support to PakistaniTaliban militants.

In another recorded conver-sation, Khan claimed childrenfrom his madrassa have gone totrain to kill Americans in neigh-boring Afghanistan, the justicedepartment said.—INP

Pak-origin cleric convicted of aiding Taliban

ISLAMABAD—Chief Justice of Pa-kistan (CJP) Iftikhar MohammadChaudhry has remarked moneytrail leads to home of Amin Fahimand then what is left more.

CJP gave these remarks whilepresiding over a 3-member benchof SC during the course of hear-ing of NICL Scandal case here

Money trail leads to home ofAmin Fahim: SC

Tuesday. Commerce secretary,Munir Paracha, counsel for FIA,SM Zafar counsel for commerceminister Makhdoom Amin Fahimand other senior officers appearedbefore the court.

The court was told that AminFahim had appointed Ayyaz Niazi.Four accused are outside the country

and action is being initiated againstthem. Most of the accused includingAmin Fahim who are present inPakistan have been released on bail.Financial loss to the tune of Rs 2.6billion was caused to nationalexchequer in NICL scam and a sumof Rs 1.20 billion was recovered.The amount which was transferredto Amin Fahim’s account, has nowbeen transferred to respectiveaccounts from where it wastransferred.

The Court directed theCommerce Secretary it was hisresponsibility to take actionagainst the accused. “You haveregistered cases against them.Now provide the evidence againstthem too and if your evidences areproved false then action will betaken against you. When courtstarts hearing of any case then thegovernment institutions becomeactive and before it, all of themeare lying in a state of slumber.

Go and initiate proceedingsagainst the accused persons. Reg-ister the cases against whom thecases have not been registered.FIA has done nothing against theaccused sitting abroad except reg-istration of cases against them.Under FIA rules if the accusedsitting in Pakistan are not appre-hended then how those sittingabroad will be arrested. —Online

ABOTTABAD—Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khanon Tuesday called for appointinga non-political individual as care-taker prime minister of the coun-try.

Addressing public gatheringsin Haripur, Hawailian andAbbottabad Imran Khan said thatPresident Asif Ali Zardari andNawaz Sharif were known forplaying the notorious game of‘Noora-Kushti’ due to which theydamaged the country most.

He said that criminals wereruling the roost and terrorists werekilling people in broad daylight.No one was safe from Karachi toWaziristan.

“Despite rampant killingsabductions and extortions, not asingle perpetrator has been ex-ecuted for these heinous crimes,as the government’s writ seemsnowhere in the country,” he saidand adding the PTI would unitethe people of Pakistan and a revo-lution would hold sway in thecountry.

Imran Khan vowed that thepeople were well-aware of politi-

cal tactics of the rulers these rul-ers would face the masses’ wrathin the forthcoming general elec-tions. He said that the people haveto join the PTI for a real changein the country. He said that PTIbecame the first democratic partyof the country that held intra-partypolls.

Imran Khan said that the JUI-F Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehmanwas allies of Zardari for the lastfive-year and now the Maulanahad sided with Nawaz to win nextpolls. “The rulers are becomingbillionaires, while the nation is be-coming poorer with each passingday,” the PTI Chairmanmaintained.He said that Asif AliZardari and Nawaz Sharif’s assetswere in foreign accounts, so howthey talk about the problems ofthe masses.

Terming the PML-N as a fam-ily-limited party, Imran Khan saidthat first the two brothers wereruling the country and now theirchildren are in the line to rule thecountry.He said that the both thefamily-limited political partieswere trying to break the.—INP

Imran: Caretaker PMshould be Non-political

BB murder caseRAWALPINDI—Special Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Number1 Judge Chaudhry HabiburRehman on Tuesday heardformer premier Benazir Bhuttoassassination case. During thehearing, the court recorded thestatement of prosecution’s wit-nesses, District HeadquartersHospital doctor MuhammadAshraf, who conducted externalautopsies of two dead bodies andeight injured of December27,2007 incident. However,cross examination of two wit-nesses of prosecution, Rescue1122 former officer Dr AbdulRehman and Fire Fighting offi-cial Ghulam Muhammad Nazcould not conducted. —INP

Govt keento protect

journalists: KairaISLAMABAD—Minister for Infor-mation and Broadcasting QamarZaman Kaira has said that thegovernment is keen to protect thejournalists’ community and is tak-ing steps for the purpose.

He said this while addressingSenate Standing Committee onInformation and Broadcasting‚which met in Islamabad Tuesdaywith Senator Kamil Ali Agha inthe chair.

Qamar Zaman Kaira said thegovernment wants protection oflocal media industry. He said theissue regarding transmissions ofPakistani channels in India hasbeen raised at every forum.

The committee urged Minis-try of Information and Broadcast-ing to implement recommenda-tions of the committee. It urgedmedia channels not to show for-eign programmes during theirprime time transmissions. Kairasaid that the government did notwant to impose code of conducton the media that was why itformed a committee headed byFakharuddin G Ibrahim for final-ization of the code, but it couldnot be implemented.—NNI

LAHORE: PML-N President Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, flanked by PPP former MNA from KP Malik Saeed Ahmed,addressing a press conference after joining PML-N. Ch Nisar Ali Khan, Ameer Muqam and other leaders are also present.

DEPRESSION and anxiety create havocwith brain chemicals. Depression andanxiety are two factors that can cause

havoc in a person’s general health. Depres-sion is caused due to a number of factors rang-ing from emotional turmoilto too much exertion atwork.

These create undesir-able reactions in the bodyand cause ill health. Thereare a number of neurotrans-mitters and chemicals in thebrain that are responsible formaintaining balance in thebody. When a person isstressed, these elements areimpacted.

In several cases, impor-tant chemicals in the neitherbrain such as nor epineph-rine, dopamine and seroto-nin that are responsible forcalming the brain and induc-ing sleep are lost due tostress.

Emotional and psychological problemsthat follow depression and anxiety; Owing tothe high stress life that people are living thesedays, there is a large increase in the numberof cases of depression and anxiety.

Being depressed can increase emotionaldegeneration. Loss of self esteem is one ofthe major emotional side effects of depres-sion. The person begins to become introvertedand withdrawn.

Anxiety creates a constant feeling of fearin a person that can cause strain in personaland professional lives.

Further, people suffering with such aproblem develop other problems such as in-

somnia. If not treated in time, they can leadto serious problems that can result in sui-cides.

Depression and anxiety is caused due toa number of factors.

The leading causes aresome kind of tragedy such asloss of a loved one, divorces,failure in professional frontand other incidents that canmake a solid impact on a per-son. Depression can also becaused due to drugs used forillnesses.

Many drugs that areused to treat diabetes, cancer,cardiovascular diseases, in-somnia and Alzheimer’s havebeen known to cause depres-sion and anxiety. Among thetwo genders, it has been foundthat women are more suscep-tible to depression and anxi-ety than men.

Women can also sufferdepression during major hor-

monal changes in the body such as meno-pause, pregnancy and childbirth. Excessiveloss and gain of weight can also lead to theseproblems.

A person who suffers from depressionand anxiety tends exhibit symptoms such asunprecedented and unreasonable fear, with-drawal, sweating, tight shoulders, stiff neck,irregular breathing and irregular heart beat.

A good physiatrist will be able to curethe problem through a combination of medi-cines, counseling and therapy. Healthy liv-ing habits, eating nutritious food and ad-equate exercise can be very effective in re-ducing depression and anxiety.

Anxiety, depression destroysbrain effectiveness

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf handing over cheque to a minority student on the occasion of distribution of scholarship chequesamong the minority students at the PM House.

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rehman Malik offering Dua for the journalists martyredduring the war on terror at a local hotel.

IS L A M A B A D—The new500-beds teaching hospitalat Islamabad would have ad-ditional facilities of burncentre, cardiac cardiologyand a liver transplant centre.

Officials of the workers’welfare fund have said thiswhile briefing the NationalAssembly Standing Com-mittee on Human ResourceDevelopment (HRD) re-garding tender process forconstruction of the hospital.

The meeting waschaired by member nationalassembly Ms. ShaguftaJumani.

Islamabad teaching hospital tohave liver transplant facility

According to the officials 28companies had applied for thepre-qualification out of themfour firms were short listed.

Moreover, they informedthe committee that 50 per centadmissions will be offered tothe children of laborers andother 50 per cent seats will befulfilled on open merit.

The banking institutionswill submit fees of the poorchildren and job security willbe offered to them aftercompletion of their studies.The officials said that suchloans will be returned to bank-ing institutions through the in-

come/salaries of the hospitalgraduates.

The officials furtherstated that all provinces wereadvised to construct onemedical college at least inprovincial headquarters.

They said that the govern-ment is committed to providequality higher education tothe poor youth of the country.

Meanwhile, the officialsof the workers’ welfare fundinformed the committee thatseveral under-constructionwelfare projects were delayeddue to delay in release offunds by the finance ministry.

The committee has recom-mended the ministry to im-mediately release the fundsfor completion of long de-layed welfare projects.

The officials told thecommittee some 18719 flatsand houses, 7 schools andcolleges, 3 hospitals and123 miscellaneous projectshave been delaying due tonon-release of funds on ap-propriate time.The officials also re-quested the committee toseek attention of theministry of finance in thiswake.—Online

ISLAMABAD—An art exhibitiondisplaying the masterpieces oftwenty three contemporary lead-ing artists of the country openedhere at the National Art Galleryon Tuesday.

The exhibition titled “Har-mony and diversity” was theoutcome of the `Artists Resi-dency Programme’(ARP) ar-ranged by Pakistan NationalCouncil of the Arts at villageTumair- in suburbs ofIslamabad.

Artists from all over Paki-stan were invited for the subjectprogramme to stay from Feb. 25

Twenty three artistsshowcase artwork at NAG

to Mar.5, and shared their expe-riences over the topic. The ARPwas aimed to put together dif-ferent minds and provide oppor-tunity for young artists to learn,share and meet the celebritiesand help to broaden their vision.

Forty art works in differentmediums displayed, have beau-tifully reflected the contempo-rary trends in the field and art-ists vision about life and uni-verse.

The artists who attended itincluded Aamir Khan, AdilHussain from Karachi, AhmedHabib, Aqeel Solangi, Asad Ali

Changazi from Lahore,FaisalAsghar from Lahore,Farrah Mehmood Rana, Ibn-e-Khalid, Jehanzeb Malik fromPeshawar, Lubna Khatoon, M.Arshad from Lahore, Masooda Khan from Karachi, MazharHameed from Quetta,Mehmood Ali, Muhammad AliBhatti from Sindh, MuhammadUmar, Mussarrat Nahid Imam,Sobia Rehman, SummaiyaKhan, Syeda Hera Shakoor,Usman Haider, Zara Kazmi &Zeeshan.

The exhibition willcontinue till March 14.—APP

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Prime MinisterRaja Pervez Ashraf has saidthat Pakistan People’s Partyhas strived hard to eliminatethe word minority from thenarrative and instead addressthem as non-Muslim Paki-stanis.

This he said while ad-dressing a select group ofstudents comprising childrenof non-Muslim Pakistanis whowere awarded scholarshipsunder a special scheme ofPrime Minister to encour-age and main stream non-Muslim citizens in the coun-try.

The Prime Minister said

Awards of scholarships

Minorities be called asnon-Muslim citizens: PM

that Constitution of Pakistanenvisages that we are all Pa-kistanis irrespective of cast,colour and creed.

It is therefore the dutyof the state to providethem basic facilities like edu-cation without any discrimi-nation.

“There can be no dis-crimination among citizenswho raise the same flag asevery citizen enjoys equalrights under the constitution”said Prime Minister RajaPervez Ashraf.

He said, “It is the duty ofthe state to protect the funda-mental rights of the citizens.”

Welcoming the childrenat the Prime Minister ’s

House, Raja Pervez Ashrafurged them to work hard forthe glory of the nation byproving themselves as ablecitizens of the country.

He expressed the confi-dence that the children whohave been awarded scholar-ships would benefit from thescheme.

It may be mentioned thatthe Federal Government hasallocated an amount of Rs.23.73 million for 3761 eli-gible non-Muslim students.

The function was also at-tended by Mr. Paul Bhatti,Advisor to PM on NationalHarmony and Mr. AkramMasih Gill, MOS for Na-tional Harmony.—INP

Journalists shoulduse their power

for reformation ofsociety: Malik

ISLAMABAD—Interior Minis-ter Rehman Malik has saidjournalists must take the na-tional interest first and usetheir power for reformation ofsociety instead of disrespect-ing mankind and spoiling cul-tures.

Speaking at a conferencerelated to security of journal-ists organized by PakistanFederal Union of Journalistsin Islamabad on Tuesday af-ternoon, he said heroin wasalso used as a weapon againstUSSR occupation troops inAfghanistan but later it be-came a monster for Pakistanand Afghanistan.

Rehman Malik said thatterrorism is being used as atool to achieve certain nega-tive objectives.

He said in a couple of dayswith final approval from thePrime Minister, a JournalistWelfare Trust will be consti-tuted through which journal-ists’ families will be compen-sated.

The Minister said inci-dents of Quetta and Karachiwere worst kind of terror un-leashed by a militant group.

He appreciated Pakistanijournalists for covering of waron terror despite serious risksand threats to their lives.

He said nowhere in theworld, journalists are sent towar zones without propertraining, gadgets and securityprotection but in Pakistanjournalists have been cover-ing terrorism on their ownrisk.

The Interior Minister saidthere should be a contributoryfund to take care of journal-ists performing professionalduties in war zones.—Online

RAWALPINDI—City DistrictGovernment Rawalpindi(CDGR) has delayed anti-den-gue campaign due to ongoingpolio vaccination drive whichwill now be launched fromMarch 10 in all 46 union coun-cils of the garrison city.

A senior official of theCDGR said 12 teams, each offive members, under the su-pervision of a doctor will takepart in operation against den-gue so as to avoid the spreadof the disease.

The teams will detect andeliminate dengue virus ingraveyards, empty plots, scraphouses, godowns, hotels and

Anti-dengue drivefrom March 10

restaurants.It may be noted that out

of total 46 union councils, 16have been declared high riskincluding Chamanzar, CitySaddar Road, Dhoke Dalaland union council 1to 12 ofthe city.

CDGR has appointed DrEhsan Ghani as focal personof anti-dengue campaign inthe city.

With the start of anti-den-gue campaign from March 10in Rawalpindi, strict actionwould be taken against carwash stations and owners ofplaces where water accumu-late.—INP

22 suspects arrestedby Capital Police

ISLAMABAD—Kohsar policestation has arrested a total of 22suspects during search operationand checking in its respectivearea, a police spokesman said onTuesday.

Following the directions ofIGP Islamabad Bani AminKhan, teams of Kohsar policestation supervised by SDPO cityconducted search in its area in-cluding blue area. The searchoperation was conducted by po-lice teams in various localitiesincluding slum areas, under con-struction buildings, houses, ho-tels and a total of 22 suspectswere arrested who could notproduce any document for theiridentification.

The IG Islamabad has di-rected police to expand thissearch operation in other areasof city and asked to ensure strictmonitoring and vigilance of sus-pected elements.

The purpose of startingsearch operation in various ar-eas is to ensure foolproof secu-rity in the Capital, the IGPadded.—INP

Govt releasesfunds for

ventilators at PIMSISLAMABAD—The federal gov-ernment has issued an amountof Rs 75 million for installationof 30 new ventilators at inten-sive care wards of Pakistan In-stitute of Medical Sciences(PIMS).

These new ventilators willreplace the old damaged ventila-tors. The amount had been re-leased on special direction ofChairman Senate Syed NayyarHussain Bukhari, who took noticeof media reports and complaintsof citizens regarding the matter.

The Planning and Develop-ment Division had released thefunds after meeting of chairmansenate with the officials concernedof ministries and the hospital, inwhich he directed for immediatearrangement of ventilators forPIMS. Chief Election Commis-sioner, Justice (R) Fakhruddin G.Ebrahim had allowed the releaseof funds and directed to submit areport to the commission after in-stallation of ventilators.

The chairman senate alsodirected to take special care ofpatients in all government hos-pitals particularly ensuring bet-ter services at intensive carewards. He also asked to set upspecial counters to address thecomplaints of patients.—APP

ISLAMABAD—The NationalAssembly House and LibraryCommittee Tuesday expressedits dissatisfaction over securityarrangements at ParliamentLodges and directed theIslamabad police department tobeef up security there.

The NA body also ex-pressed it annoyance over leth-argy of police personnel inchecking increased trend of theftcases in the Parliament Lodges,said a press release.

The committee met withDeputy Speaker of the NationalAssembly Faisal Karim Kundithe chair here.

It was brought into the no-tice of the committee that secu-rity cameras installed at the Par-liament Lodges were not func-tioning properly and securityguards deputed in the variousblocks had also been removed.

The Committee directed theDeputy Inspector General Po-lice, Islamabad to take appropri-

Increase in thefts atParliament Lodges

ate measures to control theftcases in the Parliament Lodgesand ensure foolproof security tothe parliamentarians residingthere.

The committee also di-rected the Capital DevelopmentAuthority (CDA) to make nec-essary arrangements for repairof security cameras installed atthe Parliament Lodges.

The committee also ex-pressed its displeasure over theerection of barriers causingblockage of roads in front ofMarriot and Serena hotels anduse of green belts and openspaces in their vicinity as park-ing lots. The CDA Chairman in-formed the committee that no-tices of cancellation of no-objec-tion certificates (NOCs) had beenissued to the managements ofsaid hotels. He assured the com-mittee that green belts and openspaces used by those hotels asparking would be vacatedsoon.—APP

AIOU to holdconvocation

ISLAMABAD—Allama IqbalOpen University (AIOU) willhold shortly the first big of itskind nationwide convocation inall the main cities across thecountry through video-conferencing system, said apress release.

This was announced byProf Dr Nazir Ahmed Sangi,Vice-Chancellor, AIOU on tak-ing notice of the news publishedin a local daily on the title AIOUdegree-holders looking for con-vocation.

The Vice-Chancellor setupa high level committee to prepareand confirm all the needed ar-rangements for the said convo-cation and submit the recommen-dations and suggestions.—APP

Shortage of waterat Valley Road

RAWALPINDI—Residents of Val-ley Road in Cantonment area haveexpressed concerns over shortageof water supply to the area.

The residents, talking to INP,said that the Cantonment Boardauthorities claim to supply plen-tiful water to area, while in real-ity the residents were receivingvery meagre supply. They saidthat some of the other areas wereprovided up to two hour watersupply daily while they were pro-vided one to two hour supply onconsecutive days.

When contacted, in-chargeof water supplies to the area,Atiq-ur-Rehman Chaudhry saidthat Valley Road residents wereprovided two hour water supplyevery second day.—INP

ISLAMABAD: US Ambassador Richard Olson called on Federal Minister and ChairpersonBISP Farzana Raja at her residence.

ISLAMABAD: Students taking interest in the paintings displayed during an exhibition or-ganized by Rawalpindi College of Arts at PNCA.—PO photo

ISLAMABAD: Ambassador of Azerbaijan Dashgin Shikarov and Chancellor Preston University Dr Abdul Basit present-ing a momento to State Minister for Foreign Affairs Nawabzada Malik Amad Khan on the occasion of a seminar on“Khojaly Genocide” at PU.—PO photo by Sultan Bashir

ISLAMABAD: PSF Chairman Prof. Dr. Manzoor H. Soomro and Intel Pakistan CountryManager Mr. Naveed Siraj signing an MoU on behalf of their respective organizations. Sec-retary Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) Akhlaq Ahmad Tarar is also seen in thepicture.—PO photo

Loadshedding disturbsstudents during exams

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Unannouncedhours long loadshedding is ad-versely affecting the students inthe twin cities of Rawalpindiand Islamabad preparing forannual examinations.

The worst-hit are thosestudying at thousands of govern-ment schools and private tuitioncenters, which lack the facilityof power generators as arrangedby some very expensive privateinstitutions.

Maha, a seventh class stu-

dent of a government girlsschool, said the annual exami-nations of primary and middlestandards were going to startfrom Match 6 (Wednesday), butthe power loadshedding wouldaffect their examination prepa-rations.

Her elder sister, Rimsha,who is studying in ninth class,said she was also facing greatdifficulties in preparing forher annual examinationsscheduled to commence fromMarch 19.

We even cannot study at

tuition center or at home becausepower outages take place for twoto four hours from evening tillmidnight, she added.

Examinations for differentlevels are on-going in variousinstitutions and the students aresuffering because they are un-able to focus on studies.

They requested WAPDAand PEPCO authorities to stoploadshedding in the eveningand at night hours to facilitatethe builders of nation preparefor their examinationssmoothly.

ISLAMABAD—The ElectionCommission of Pakistan (ECP)launched its training programmefor over 600,000 polling staff inpreparation for the upcominggeneral elections.

Over 360,000 polling staffwill be trained in Punjab and theIslamabad Capital Territory(ICT) supported by the UnitedNations DevelopmentProgramme (UNDP).

Justice (retd) Riaz Kiyani,Member Election Commissionof Punjab presided over the in-augural ceremony of the train-ing, said a news release issuedhere on Monday.

Speaking on the occasionMarc-Andre Franche, CountryDirector UNDP Pakistan, con-gratulated the Election Commis-sion of Pakistan on organizingthe training and remarked,“Polling staff will play a pivotalrole in safeguarding the credibil-

Training of polling staffcommences in Punjab, ICT

ity of the elections”. It is essential that they are

trained to carry out their respon-sibilities confidently and impar-tially, he said adding, UNDPsupports Election Commissionof Pakistan in improving thetransparency and credibility ofthe electoral process and elec-toral institutions.

The initial step of the train-ing program included training oflead trainers. Within a period oftwo months, 42 lead trainers willtrain 1,800 master trainers whowill in turn train over 360,000presiding officers, assistant pre-siding officers and polling offic-ers in Punjab and the ICT.

Polling staff are responsiblefor conducting polling at stationsand will be trained using inter-active methods with simulations.

In an important initiative,presiding officers who are incharge of polling stations will

receive additional training inexercising their magisterialpowers in order to prevent dis-ruption and fraud in polling sta-tions.

UNDP is providing assis-tance to the Election Commis-sion of Pakistan in areas such astraining, results managementand voter education through athree year electoral cycle supportproject supported by the Gov-ernments of Australia, Norwayand the European Union.

With the support of UNDP,ECP has launched a voter edu-cation campaign targeted at in-clusion of youth and women, aswell as a new elections resultsmanagement system for upcom-ing national and provincial elec-tions. The event was attended bygovernment officials, represen-tatives of media, civil society,development partners and UNagencies.—APP

ISLAMABAD—Scores of BasicEducation Community SchoolSupervisors, who were termi-nated from jobs, held a protestdemonstration Tuesday in frontof the National Press Club heredemanding reinstatement.

They were holding bannersand placards inscribed with slo-gans in favour of their demands.

The supervisors staged a sit-in in front of Basic EducationFoundation of the supervisors onMonday. They ended the sit-in af-ter negotiations with an assistantcommissioner, though they werenot satisfied with the assuranceof the assistant director.

Therefore, they held a protestdemonstration in front of the Par-liament House later and de-manded of the government to im-mediately reinstate them, besidesregularizing them.

Talking to reporters on the

School supervisorsprotest termination

occasion, Bilal and Rabia, repre-sentatives of the supervisors, saidthat many supervisors workingfor five years were terminated bythe government without tellingany reason. They said that theymoved Sindh and Islamabad highcourts against the terminationsand won the case but were notreinstated still.

They further informed thatthe government had regularized503 supervisors including 50those who were earlier declaredsurplus, while they were termi-nated from job without givingany reason.

They said they were beingtold their names were added inthe PC-I then why their reinstate-ment was delayed. They said thatthey have been unemployed forlast eight months and need im-mediate action on their de-mands.—INP

U-turn at RehmanAbad Chowk

demandedRAWALPINDI—People from allwalks of life particularly trad-ers and students have voicedstrong protest over closure ofRehman Abad chowk and de-manded carving out a u- turn tofacilitate the common man.

The traders communitycomplained that closure ofRehman Abad intersect has ledto block the entry of consumersin commercial market andMurree road.

The level of business activi-ties has nose-dived due to nonmovement of consumers, said agroup of traders. This move onthe part of government has leftus hapless and most of smalltraders are reeling on the bankof starvation, they added. It iseconomic murder of traders,they said annoyingly.

This state of affairs hasemerged due to ill planning on thepart of administration in the con-struction of sixth road and Chandnichowk flyovers and we the tradersare now at receiving end, saidGhulam Abbas, a small trader.

Most of educational institu-tions reputed for quality educa-tion are operating in commercialmarket, said a group of students.We have to wait for hours tocross Murree road to make ourentry to commercial market dueto closure of Rehman Abadchowk, they added.—Online

Out of order CTScan machine

RAWALPINDI—Out of order CTscan machine and 3 ventilatorsin District Headquarters Hospi-tal Rawalpindi (DHHR) haveput lives of ICU and emergencyward patients at stake.

CT scan machine was in-stalled five years before but ithas gone dysfunctional being outof order but due attention is notbeing paid for arranging repairwork on this machine.

CT Scan machine facility isavailable to the patients at emer-gency ward free of cost but thisfacility has reduced to nullity. Thepersons who are injured in acci-dents or firing incident requireimmediate CT scanning but thefamily members of such patientshave to arrange this test at pri-vate level which is not only a timeconsuming but highly costly pro-cess. During this process severalpatients lose their lives.

3 out of 5 ventilators are alsoout of order but these have notbeen got repaired since long. Pa-

Primary, middlestandard exam

result on March 31RAWALPINDI—Paper markingprocess in respect of primaryand middle standard annual ex-amination-2013 held underPunjab Examination Commis-sion (PEC) has been com-pleted.

The record pertaining toprimary and middle standardexamination has been sent toPEC following the completionof marking exercise of the pa-pers.

The result of primary andmiddle standard examinationwill be announced on March,31.—Online

Pollen-counton rise

ISLAMABAD—With the begin-ning of spring season, pollencount in the federal capital isincreasing day by day.

The pollen count in SectorE-8 is approximately 46, in Sec-tor F-8 it is 44, Sector G-7, it is32, and in Sector I-10 it is esti-mated to be around 50.

According to Met office,pollen count will reach its high-est point. It is destined to affectthe patients of Asthma, Allergyand respiratory diseases.—Online

Street crimesin RA Bazaar

RAWALPINDI—Street crimes haveescalated in the area of R.A Bazaarcausing many concerns amongstthe residents while the Police isacting like a silent spectator.Theinhabitants complained that mug-gers were roaming freely in the areaand snatching valuables from theresidents especially in TenchBhatta, Peoples Colony andChungi no. 22

The residents have de-manded of CPO Rawalpindi andother concerning authorities totake strict action against the ris-ing incidents of street crimes andalso take action against the neg-ligent attitude of the RA Bazaarpolice.—Online

Sanitary workersdemand

regularisationRAWALPINDI—The sanitaryworkers of the City DistrictGovernment Rawalpindi(CDGR) have demanded regu-larization of their services andpayment of ad hoc relief fund.

Municipal Labour Union(MLU) president Raja AbdulQuyyum said that 700 contractualsanitary workers have been per-forming their duties with devotionfor last 15 years but not regularisedduring the course of time.He saidthat sanitary workers wanted to gettheir due rights as were given toother employees of various depart-ments of the province.

Office bearers of MunicipalLabour Union threatened tolaunch protest movement if con-tractual sanitary workers werenot regularised.—INP

ISLAMABAD—US Ambassadorin Pakistan Richard Olson haspledged continued support of hiscountry for Benazir Income Sup-port Programme (BISP). He alsoappreciated the contribution ofthe interventions of BISP towardsuplifting the lives of the poorestof the poor of the society duringa meeting with Federal Ministerand Chairperson BISP FarzanaRaja here at her residence.

Earlier, Chairperson BISPinformed the ambassador aboutvarious schemes as well as thecomponents of the programmeas multi-pronged strategy tocombat and reduce the poverty.Farzana Raja on this occasionstated that targeted subsidieswere the need of the hour to pro-vide immediate relief to millionsof the deserving families belong-ing to lower income strata of thepopulation.

While outlining the detailsof various initiatives, FarzanaRaja said that the BISP is fullycommitted to carry the war on

poverty on till the objective ofits complete eradication from thecountry is being achieved.

Chairperson BISP high-lighted the salient features aswell as impact of the variousmeasures taken by BISP includ-ing the cash transfers, micro-fi-nancing, vocational and techni-cal training, life and health in-surance and promotion of pri-mary education under the ban-ner of Waseela-e -Taleem. Shesaid that all of these measuresare making significant contribu-tion in the lives of underprivi-leged segments of society.

During the meeting, severalother matters relating to bilateralinterests between the two coun-tries also came under detaileddiscussion. Chairperson BISP,while highlighting various av-enues of mutual cooperation inthe social sector, underpinnedthe need of more efforts aimingat enhancing the people topeople contacts between the twocountries.—INP

Targeted subsidies needof the hour: Farzana

Derelict conditionof public parks in

suburbsISLAMABAD—Citizens andtraders community have ex-pressed concerns over dilapi-dated condition and lack of fa-cilities in public parks of ruralareas of the federal capital.

The citizens said thatbenches, chairs, sheds and otherfacilities in the parks in ruralareas including Rawal Town,Rawal Dam and other areas arebroken while in some parks,swings and other recreationalfacilities are not available. Theysaid that residents avoid visitingthe parks, while drug pushers,taking advantage of the situa-tion, keep wandering there.

Moreover, they said, grillsof some parks in the rural areaswere stolen by thieves due tonegligence of the guards de-ployed in the parks.

The citizens and traders de-manded of the Capital Develop-ment authority (CDA) Chair-man Syed Tahir Shahbaz to ar-range renovation.—INP

CDA seals fourhouses for nonconforming use

ISLAMABAD—On the directionsof Chairman, CDA Syed TahirShahbaz, CDA has sealed fourhouses in continuation of opera-tion against non conforming useand violations of building by-laws in different residential sec-tors of Islamabad. Enforcement,Building Control MagistrateCDA took part in the operation,which was supervised by Mem-ber Planning and Design, CDA,Syed Mustafain Kazmi.

During the operation houseno.09 situated in street 29 of Sec-tor F-10/1 used for (QUIK Com-munications) office purpose,house no 81 situated in street 45in sector F-10/4 being used as(Streaming Networks) office,house 233-B situated in street 51of sector F-10/4 (JAN Enterprises)& house no 289-A at SumbalRoad sector F-10/4 (BJP) beingused as offices were sealed for nonconforming use and in violationsof CDA By-Laws.—INP

Old homes staffersawait salaries forlast 14 months

RAWALPINDI—Hundreds ofemployees of model childrenhomes and model old homesworking under Social WelfareDepartment have announced toset up a protest camp in front ofthe Parliament House, demand-ing payment of salaries and jobregularization.According to theemployees hailing from acrossPunjab, they have not been paidtheir salaries for last 14 months.

The employees announcedthe decision during a protest dem-onstration in front of RawalpindiPress Club the other day.Muhammad Riyaz, MuhammadZaman, Muhammad Tariq,Hammad Ahmed Kiani, Zain ulAbidin and others were leadingthe protest demonstration.

The protesters said the em-ployees have not been paid forlast 14 months, forcing theminto the protest.—INP

ISLAMABAD—The second Na-tional Women-at-Work Festivalin connection with the Interna-tional Women’s Day will begintoday (Wednesday) at the Paki-stan Bait ul Maal SpecialFriends Pakistan at the F-9 Park.

Senator Jahangir Badar,Leader of the House, Senate ofPakistan, will be the chief guestwhile MNA Dr Nafisha Shah,Secretary Women ParliamentaryCaucus, and Managing DirectorPakistan Bait ul Maal would bethe guests of honour.

This festival is being orga-nized by the Development Com-munications Network(DEVCOM-Pakistan) in col-laboration with the Pakistan Baitul Maal, ICIMOD, IslamabadCrescent Lions Club (ICLC),Aiwane-Quaid, Nazriya Paki-stan Council, and the Debatingand Literary Society of theQuaid-e-Azam University.

National Women-at-WorkFestival begins today

Taking to Online, the Festi-val Director Munir Ahmed said,“The festival is aimed promot-ing and mainstreaming thetheme of the year ‘The GenderAgenda: Gaining Momentum’.

The government and thenon-governmental sectors havebeen working onmainstreaming the genderagenda for the last severalyears, and in the recent years ithas taken momentum. The 2ndNational Women at Work Fes-tival is aimed at taking the gen-der agenda step ahead in aware-ness raising and popularizingthe crux of it.

Talking about the objec-tives of the festival, he said thefestival is to promote and main-stream the efforts, initiativesand the work of governmentand non-governmental organi-zations on the women rights,violence against women, gen-

der policy advocacy and gov-ernance.

The other task is to raisepublic awareness on the genderissues for better work environ-ment and a more socially equi-table status for women. The fes-tival activities would inspire thegeneration next by highlightingthe work and achievements ofthe notable and role modelwomen leadership in differentspheres of life.

Over a dozen events wouldbe arranged in five days to pushthe gender development agendaforward.

The events include speech,drama and art competitions forthe college and university levelstudents. “We need to focus onyouth grooming in the contextof gender to make the societysocially and economically eq-uitable for our women.—Online

ISLAMABAD—InternationalWomen’s Rights Day will becelebrated on March 08 through-out the country.

Social organisations willhold rallies, meetings and pro-cessions to spread awareness

International Women RightsDay on March 08

regarding violations of women’srights, the resolve to work forthe welfare of women will alsobe reaffirmed.

The day was aimed ateliminating torture and totake steps for the well being

of women.Newspapers and private

TV channels will highlightimportance of the day.

It is pertinent to mention thatwomen’s rights day was firstcelebrated in 1990.—Online

March 8-10

LOK Virsa is going toorganise ‘Women Lok andFolk Festival’ that will startfrom March 8 and concludeon March 10. The festivalis aimed at encouraging thewomen who performedwell in their respectivefields. Skilled women fromall over the country willparticipate in the festival,especially the makers ofhandicrafts.

March 8

PAKISTAN National Coun-cil of the Arts, Ministry ofNational Heritage and Inte-gration in collaboration withMinistry of Narcotics Con-trol has arranged Stagy Play‘Suhani Mai’ on Friday, at7 pm at PNCA auditorium,F-5/1.

06:00 01:3004:45

07:45

SAJJAD SHAUKAT

BOTH open and clandestine techniques ofstate terrorism arebeing employed by

India to suppress the struggleof Kashmiris who are fightingfor their genuine right of self-determination as recognisedby the UN resolutions. In thisregard, after fabricating a falsecase of his role in attacking theIndian parliament in 2001,Mohammed Afzal Guru washanged on February 9, thisyear, while he had denied anyinvolvement in the event. Be-sides, Indian authorities didnot allow Guru’s family tomeet him before his execution.

Pakistanis have reaffirmedsolidarity with Kashmiris,while expressing serious con-

Whose unmarked graves in Kashmir?cerns on the repressive mea-sures taken by India in wake ofAfzal Guru’s judicial murder.

Meanwhile, recently, aSrinagar based non-political or-ganization “Voice of Victims”in its report has revealed the dis-covery of 60 new mass gravesin Srinagar and Budgam dis-tricts. In 2008, a rights groupreported unmarked graves in 55villages across the northern re-gions of Baramulla, Bandiporeand Handwara. Then research-ers and other groups pointed outthousands of mass graves with-out markers. In fact, in the lastfew years, rights groups discov-ered more than 3,000 unnamedgraves in the various districts ofKashmir.

In this context, in August,2011, Indian Jammu and Kash-mir State Human Rights Com-mission (SHRC) officially ac-

knowledged in its report that2,156 unidentified bodies of theinnocent civilians killed in thetwo-decade conflict had beenburied in unmarked graves invarious regions of the Indian-held Kashmir.

While concealing actualdetails, the Indian commission’sreport also disclosed that fewbodies were defaced, 20 werecharred, five only had skullsremaining, and there were atleast 18 graves with more thanone body each. Before this ad-mission, Indian high officialshad been emphasising that allthese bodies were of militantfighters—claimed by policewhen they were handed over tovillages for burial. Notably, for-

eign sources and human rightsorganisations have confirmedthat unnamed graves includethose innocent persons, killedby the Indian military and para-military troops in the fake en-counters including those whowere tortured to death by theIndian secret agency RAW.

However, the question ofunmarked graves which showsshocking brutalities of Indiansecurity forces in the Indiancontrolled Kashmir has beenappearing with more details.

In its report, China’s lead-ing News Agency Xinhua un-earthed more unmarked gravesin Poonch of the Indian heldKashmir. The report quoted thestatement of Sofi Aziz Joo, care-

taker of a graveyard assaying,?“Police and Army usedto bring those bodies and directme to bury them. The bodieswere usually bullet-ridden, mu-tilated, faces disfigured andsometimes without limbs andheads.” While, rights groupshave disclosed that more than8,000 people have disappeared,accusing government forces ofstaging fake gun battles to coverup killings. The groups also re-vealed that suspected rebelshave been arrested and neverheard from again. Particularly,Parents of Disappeared Persons(APDP), which in March 2008released a report, titled, “FactsUnderground”, had indicatedthe presence of unidentified

graves. The APDP, which esti-mated around 10,000 peopledisappeared during the last twodecades, claims, “many miss-ing people may have ended upin these unmarked graves.”

In December 2009, anotherhuman rights group, the Inter-national People’s Tribunal onHuman Rights had released areport, saying that unnamedgraveyards “entomb bodies ofthose, murdered in fake encoun-ters and arbitrary executions.”

Besides, on June 28, 2010,BBC reported, “three men wentmissing in Indian-administeredKashmir in April…but theirbodies were discovered near theLine of Control…a senior of-ficer of the Indian army had kid-

napped them by offering themjobs as porters. The troops laterinformed the police that theyhad killed three militants.Kashmir’s law minister, AliMohammad Sagar says therehave been several proven casesof fake encounters in the past20 years.”

BBC explained, “There arehardliners in the Indian Armyand intelligence agencies, whothink that by raising the bogeyof infiltration and gun battlesnear the border they can createterror among people and alsoput pressure on Pakistan.”

A recent report on humanrights violations by IndianArmy and its paramilitaryforces in Indian Occupied Kash-mir disclosed that since 1989,there have been deaths of93,274 innocent Kashmiris,6,969 custodial killings,

117,345 arrests and 105,861destruction of houses. Indianbrutal security forces have or-phaned over 107, 351 children,widowed 22,728 women andgang raped 9,920 women.

Especially, Human RightsWatch, in its various reportsand Amnesty International alsopointed out grave human rightsviolations in the Indian con-trolled Kashmir, indicating,“The Muslim majority popula-tion in the Kashmir Valley suf-fers from the repressive tacticsof the security forces.

Under the Jammu andKashmir Disturbed AreasAct, and the Armed Forces(Jammu and Kashmir) Spe-cial Powers Act and PublicSafety Act, security forcespersonnel have extraordinarypowers to shoot suspectedpersons.—Kashmir Watch

ISLAMABAD: Political Officer of British High Commission, Jema Pelosi, meeting withformer Prime Minister of AJK Barrister Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry at his residence.

ISLAMABAD: A delegation, leaded by Ch. Ilyas administrator municipality, meeting Se-nior Minister Ch Muhammad Yaseen.

ISLAMABAD: AJK President Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan administering oath to office-bearers of National YouthAssembly Kashmir Region at Kashmir House.

SRINAGAR—Complete shut-down was observed on the sec-ond consecutive day, today, toprotest against Indian atrocitieson the Kashmiris including thekilling of a Kashmiri scholar inthe Indian city of Hyderabad.Allshops and business establish-ments remained closed whiletraffic was off the road. Theauthorities had deployed Indianpolice personnel in strengthblocking roads with barricadesin the Valley. However, massivedemonstrations erupted inGojwara, Nawhatta, RajoriKadal, Fateh Kadal and otherareas of Srinagar against mur-der of the scholar, MuddasirKamran Malla. Several peoplewere injured after police usedbrute force and fired teargas

Total shutdown in IHK on 2nd dayProtest in Baramulla, one martyred

shells on the protesters duringa march at Habba Kadal. Jour-nalists on the occasion were alsoassaulted by the Indian para-military forces.

And in Bandipore, Indiantroops ruthlessly beat up civil-ians regardless of age and gen-der and smashed windowpanesof vehicles and houses.

Despite stringent restric-tions in Pulwama and Shopian,an APHC team led by MusaddiqAadil and a JKLF delegationheaded by Bashir Ahmad Buttvisited Parigam to express soli-darity with the family of thescholar. However, activists ofDukhtaran-e-Millat were pre-vented by the Indian police fromvisiting Pulwama.

On the other hand one youth

was martyred and several otherswere injured when Indian troopsopened fire at demonstrators inBaramulla town, today. Wit-nesses told media that the troopsopened fire on the protesters nearold town Baramulla killing ayouth, Tahir Ahmed Sofi, on thespot. The authorities suspendedall mobile and Internet servicesacross the Kashmir Valley todeprive people of the informa-tion about situation in the occu-pied territory.

Meanwhile, the authoritiescontinued to place the APHCChairman, Mirwaiz UmarFarooq and other Hurriyet lead-ers including Professor AbdulGhani Butt, Agha Syed HassanAl-Moosvi Al-Safvi andMukhtar Ahmed Waza under

house arrest. Hurriyet leader,Siraj-ud-Din was arrested inTangmarg.

The veteran KashmiriHurriyet leader, Syed Ali Gilaniin a media interview in NewDelhi said that India was com-mitting genocide of theKashmiris in the territory.

In Geneva, the Chairman ofInternational Council for Hu-man Rights-Kashmir Project,Barrister Abdul MajeedTramboo addressing the 22ndsession of the UN HumanRights Council deplored that theUN High Commissioner forHuman Rights had not yetjoined the global condemnationof the execution of MuhammadAfzal Guru by the Indian gov-ernment.—KMS

NEW DELHI—Exposure toradiation from mobile towersand phones has been found tolead to DNA damage, carcino-genicity and impacted develop-ment of sperms and foetusesalong with other harmful ef-fects, according to a recent re-port of 1,800 new studies.

Health Minister GhulamNabi Azad said the report hasalso cited the effect on neonatesand off spring and effect onbrain and cranial bone develop-ment in the offspring of animalsthat are exposed to cell phoneradiation during pregnancy.

“Indian Council of Medicalresearch (ICMR) has informedthat Bio-initiative 2012 reporthas summarized about 1800 newstudies under 24 technical chap-ters,” he said in a written replyto a question in the Lok Sabha.“Overall, these new studies re-ported abnormal gene transcrip-tion; genotoxicity and single anddouble strand DNA damage;

Radiation exposure frommobiles harming humans

stress proteins because of thefractal RF-antenna like nature ofDNA; chromatin condensationand loss of DNA repair capacityin human stem cells; reductionin free radical scanvengers - par-ticularly melatonin,” he said.“Neurotoxicity in humans andanimals; carcinogenicity in hu-mans; serious impacts on humanand animal sperm morphologyand function; effects on the foe-tus, neonate and offspring; ef-fects on brain and cranial bonedevelopment in the offspring ofanimals that are exposed to cellphone radiation during preg-nancy; and findings in autismspectrum disorders consistentwith EMF/RFR exposure,” theMinister said.

Azad said with a number ofmeasures taken by the govern-ment, India now has one of themost stringent electromagneticfrequency (EMF) exposure normsin the world. Azad said the De-partment of Telecommunications

(DoT) has informed that the basetransmitting station (BTS) normsfor exposure limit for the radiofrequency field (base stationemissions) has been reduced toone-tenth of the limits prescribedby International Commission onnon-ionizing radiation protectionfrom September 1, 2012. “Strictmonitoring and enforcement ofrevised radiation norms has beeninitiated.

In 83 cases, where the basestation emissions were found tobe more than the prescribednorms, corrective actions havebeen taken immediately,” hesaid. He added that the specificabsorption rate values of mobilehandsets have also been limitedto 1.6 watt/KG and all newmobile phones will have to ad-here to this limit. “All new de-sign mobile handsets shall com-ply with the SAR value of 1.6Watt/Kg averaged over a massof 1 gram tissue with effect from1st September, 2012.—NNI

India can neverbecome friend of

Kashmiris: GeelaniSRINAGAR—Speaking toughagainst the policies allegedlyadopted by India against peopleof Kashmir, Chairman Hurriyat(G) Syed Ali Shah Geelani said“India can never become afriend of people of Kashmir butare only hell bent upon commit-ting atrocities against them”.“Every Kashmiri is insecure inIndia. India can never be thefriend of Kashmir. It (India) isputting its best efforts to coverthe murder of Mudasir Kamran.India has made us slaves and themurder of Mudasir is one of thevisible signs of our being slaveof India”, Geelani told KNS.

He said Mudasir had par-ticipated in the anti executionprotests after Mohammad AfzalGuru’s hanging and had offeredfuneral prayers in absentia. “Hehas been murdered under a con-spiracy”, he claimed.

Appealing people to choosethe right path and be determinedto follow it till the end, HurriyatChairman said, “I appeal peopleto be united and to maintainconstant determination. We’llget independence from India ifwe fight collectively at thisjuncture”. He called killing ofMudasir as ‘a blot on the faceon Indian Democracy’. “Indiahas no moral or legal right torule over us. It is committinggenocide against us”, he added.He said that ‘these atrocities willcontinue to occur until the lastsoldier of India leaves land ofKashmir’.—NNI

Owaisi assuresfull support to

Kashmiristudents in AP

S R I N A G A R — M a j l i s - e -Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM)leader and Member Parliamentfrom Hyderabad, AsaduddinOwaisi assured his party’s fullsupport to Kashmiri studentsstudying in Andhra Pradesh andasked them to contact their partymen in case of any problem.

Talking to local news gath-ering agency KNS over phonefrom New Delhi, Owaisi said,“They (Kashmiri students)should approach me directly ormy office in case of any prob-lem in any part of AP. There isno reason for Kashmiris to feelinsecure in AP. They shouldn’tfeel alone as we are with them.”

On the death of a studentMudasir Ahmed Malla ofParigam Pulwama inHyderabad, he said, “I havetaken up the issue with PoliceCommissioner. Owaisi whowas part of All Party Delega-tion which visited the Kashmirvalley in the midst of summer2010 unrest said Mudasir wasbeing harassed by the Proctor ofthe English and Foreign Lan-guages University,Hyderabad.—NNI

SRINAGAR—Various separat-ist organizations have expressedgrief and sorrow over the deathof a Kashmiri student MuddasirAhmed Malla of ParigamPulwama and have termed it asa murder. Muddasir was foundhanging in a hostel room inHyderabad.

Acting Chairman of Jammuand Kashmir Liberation Front(JKLF) Advocate BashirAhmad Butt condemned the“brutal killing” of Mudasir.“The rulers and their policeclaim that Mudasir killed him-self by hanging but thousandsof people, who saw his bodyincluding the doctors who ex-amined him in Kashmir, haveconfirmed that his body had vis-ible torture marks— beating and

Pro-freedom Kashmiris describeMuddassir’s death as murder

burnings. We want to ask theseso-called rulers and their forcesthat if Mudasir was not killed,from where have these marks oftorture on his body come from?The rulers and forces whoseonly job is to conceal truth cannever be trusted because theirKashmir enmity is wellknown,” said Bhat in a state-ment.

He expressed heartfelt con-dolences to the bereaved fam-ily. Meanwhile, a delegation ofJKLF led by district presidentPulwama Javed Ahmad Bhattoday visited Parigam and par-ticipated in the Nimaz –i- jinazaof Muddasir.

The Jammu and KashmirSalvation Movement chairman,Zaffar Akbar Bhat said that no

Kashmiri was safe in any partof India. He demanded imme-diate shifting of incarceratedKashmiri youth and politicalleaders, currently serving deten-tion in different jails across In-dia, to Valley.

Before attending funeralprayers of Mudasir Zaffar ad-dressed a gathering at Parigam,Pulwama. He paid glowingtributes to Muddasir. He saidthe torture marks on the bodyof Muddasir, amply prove thathe had not committed suicidebut had been killed mercilessly.He expressed sympathy withthe bereaved family, demand-ing an independent investiga-tion from international commu-nity in the murder case ofMuddasir.—NNI

AJK to haveAsia’s longest

bridgeMIRPUR—The formal con-struction work on much-awaited Rs 1394 million megaproject of Asia’s largest Mirpur-Islamgarh bridge over ManglaDam reservoir between Mirpurcity and adjoining Islamgarhtown has been started.

The Mangla Dam Affairssources told APP here Mondaythat after government’s formalapproval of the project under theMangla Dam Raising project.

Highlighting the salient fea-tures of the project, the sourcesaid that the Rathua-Harriyambridge would be the longest everbridge and be the first own kindnot only in Azad Jammu Kash-mir but also in entire SouthAsia.

The bridge will reduce thealready-long zigzag road linkbetween Mirpur city andIslamgarh town but would alsoreduce the traveling time for thecommuters traveling betweendistrict headquarters of Mirpurand Kotli and between Mirpurand Dadayal sub division to agreat extent coupled with safeand comfortable traveling facili-ties. The construction of bridgeover the picturesque ManglaDam reservoir, surrounded bythe lush-green hills, will opennew vistas for the promotion oftourism industry not only in thisdistrict but also in other parts ofMirpur division, the sourcessaid.—APP

SRINAGAR—A video onFacebook shows Kashmiri stu-dents holding protests inHyderabad city of India shortlyafter the mysterious death of aKashmiri scholar, MudassirAhmad Malla, saying that hewas murdered.

The 16-minute video clipapparently shot with a mobilecamera has been uploaded onYouTube and was widelyshared on Facebook. It showsKashmiri youth studying inHyderabad wailing over thebody of Mudassir Kamran, a26-year-old research scholar atEnglish and Foreign Lan-guages University (EFLU)Hyderabad, who was found

‘We Kashmiris are also humanbeings, why are you killing us?

hanging from the ceiling fan ofhis hostel room.

In the video, the mournersscream that they are beingtreated like animals in the city.“We Kashmiris are also humanbeings. We’re students like youpeople here. Why are you kill-ing us,” cries a youth wearingblack and white sweater, as hisfriends try to console him.

The Kashmiri students inthe video are seen joined by thelocal students. Chanting slo-gans “We want justice,” “We’reone!” the students are seenholding strong demonstrationsagainst the university adminis-tration, even as a police officertries to pacify them.

The agitated students tellthe officials that they don’ttrust the committees.

The police officer assuresthe protesting students that anFIR will be registered followedby the legal formalities. Healso seeks support from theprotesting students in submit-ting the evidences related to thecase. “This will be importantfor university and for you alsobecause no such offences orthings should reoccur in fu-ture,” he adds.

Pertinently, police had re-futed the reports that thescholar was murdered after heled a procession against AfzalGuru’s hanging.—KMS

GENEVA—The InternationalCouncil for Human Rights(ICHR)-Kashmir Project to-gether with its partner Interna-tional Human Rights Associa-tion for American Minorities(IHRAAM) submitted a writtenstatement to the UN HumanRights Council in its twenty-second session under agendaitem 3 on arbitrary detention ofminors in India.

The statement officially is-sued and published by UNHRCreads the following:

Written statement submit-ted by the International HumanRights Association of AmericanMinorities (IHRAAM), a non-governmental organization onthe roster. The Secretary-Gen-eral has received the followingwritten statement, which is cir-culated in accordance with Eco-nomic and Social Council reso-

UNHRC moved on arbitrarydetention of minors in India

lution 1996/31.Arbitrary detention of minors

in India International agreements,declarations and conventions es-tablish the rights of citizens un-der the age of 18, both those whowalk freely and those who havebeen detained for an offence. TheConvention on the Rights of theChild, the Standard MinimumRules for the Administration ofJuvenile Justice, the Guidelinesfor the Prevention of Juvenile De-linquency and the Rules for theProtection Deprived of their Lib-erty are all intended to protect ju-veniles, but the human rights anddue process that should be main-tained, particularly when it comesto the procedure of juvenile de-tention, are not universally ap-plied. All accused, but youths spe-cifically, must be treated as inno-cent until proven guilty andbrought in front of a court or equal

legal authority without any unnec-essary delay. Maintaining thisminimal sense of security andprotection of basic rights is not,however, granted across the boardto detained minor in Indian Ad-ministered Kashmir. Individualsunder the age of 18 who are de-tained on the suspicion of a crime– a suspicion that is often basedon vague facts or the result ofminor offences – are stripped ofbasic rights, their dignity andsafety. They are subject to thewhims of the authorities, authori-ties that, in many cases, show acomplete disregard for the exist-ing procedures and rights. Unfor-tunately the situation in IndianAdministered Kashmir makes itabundantly clear that ratifying in-ternational agreements hardlyimplies that they will be enforcedon a national, regional or locallevel.—KMS

Indian troops goberserk, beat up

civilinsSRINAGAR—Indian troopsruthlessly beat up people andsmashed several vehicles of ci-vilians and local police men inBandipore district.

The troops during theirreign of terror assaulted pedes-trians and broke the window-panes of houses and private ve-hicles, eyewitness said.

A civilian who was injuredby the troops said that the troop-ers didn’t spare anyone, young,children, old, male and female;and beat up everyone whoso-ever came in front of them. “Itwas horrible and for a momentI thought they will fire at me,”he added.

Meanwhile, Indian para-military forces and police per-sonnel used brute force to dis-perse the protesters at Shirmalin Shopian. The incident tookplace when locals tried to crossthe barricade laid by the forceson the Shopian-Pulwama road.

As soon as the localsreached near the barricade, themen in uniform used gun buttsand fired teargas shells to chasethem away, an eyewitness toldmedia men.—KMS

“If you are deliberatelytrying to create a futurethat feels safe, you will

wilfully ignore thefuture that is likely.”

— Seth Godin

Rates for conversionKARACHI—The followingrates will be applicable forconversion into rupees ofForeign Currency Deposits,Dollar Bearer Certificates,Foreign Currency BearerCertificates, Special U.S.Dollar Bonds and profitsthereon by all banks and forproviding Forward Cover onForeign Currency Deposits(excluding F.E. 25 deposits) bythe State Bank on March 6,2013. The rates are U.S.Dollar Rs 98.1509, JapaneseYen Rs 1.0547, Pound SterlingRs 149.0421 and Euro128.1654.—APP

TARIQ KHATTAK

ISLAMABAD—DevelopingAsia has become increasinglyintegrated over the past de-cade, led by growing trade andtourism and, most recently, asthe region faced down the glo-bal financial crisis and subse-quent eurozone crisis, accord-ing to a new integration indexpublished in the Asian Devel-opment Bank’s (ADB) latestAsian Economic IntegrationMonitor.

Developing Asia becomes increasingly integrated, but challenges remain: ADB“Going forward, greater in-

tegration will be harder won asthe remaining areas of coopera-tion are more complex,” said LeiLei Song, Principal Economistin ADB’s Office of RegionalEconomic Integration. “Asianeeds to avoid complacency andcontinue to work together in thispost-crisis period.”

The report warns that thestruggles of the eurozone and thefear of the contagion that accom-panies greater integration couldgive Asia’s policymakers pause

as they assess the way forwardfor their region, said a press re-lease issued here today.

The index, which monitorsforeign direct investment, capi-tal markets, output correlations,trade, and tourism across devel-oping Asia, shows the level ofintegration rising from a baselevel of 100.00 in 2001 to a peakof 233.27 in 2010, when the re-gion was collectively bracingitself against the eurozone cri-ses. Preliminary data for 2011shows the level of integration

tapering off slightly to 192.22,still much higher than in 2007when the global financial crisiswas just beginning.

The biannual Asian Eco-nomic Integration Monitor notesthat in addition to growingintraregional trade and tourism,capital markets have also be-come tighter knit. During thecrises, cooperation stepped up anotch: ASEAN+3 countriesacted in concert to expand theChiang Mai InitiativeMultilateralization, their re-

gional financial safety net; In-dia offered to finance a SouthAsian equivalent; and severalcountries expanded bilateral cur-rency swap arrangements.

However, financial integra-tion and labor mobility havelagged. There is a huge need formore national and cross-borderinfrastructure. And even ontrade, there is much work to bedone to deepen integration.

Tariffs have come down butother barriers to trade, such asborder administration, are sig-

nificantly constraining greaterintegration. Intraregional tradein services also faces many im-pediments. The impact of re-gional trade blocs such as theupcoming Trans Pacific Partner-ship and the Regional Compre-hensive Economic Partnership isstill unclear. They could com-pete or they may provide thebuilding blocks for a globaltrade agreement.

The report’s theme chapterpoints to the need to unravel theprofusion of overlapping free

trade agreements. As of January2013, Asia had 109 free tradeagreements, up from only 36 in2002, with another 148 in vari-ous stages of development. Thisplethora of agreements is bothcomplex and costly for export-ers to navigate and Asia shouldwork to multilateralize theagreements to make the best bi-lateral agreements applicable toother trade partners.

More multilateralizedagreements like the ASEANFree Trade Area, which involves

a growing number of countriesin and outside of Asia, wouldincrease global trade, and thusincome gains, in the absence ofa global trade deal, the reportsays.

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

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—The asset base ofBank alfalah rose to Rs.536.467billion in 2012, from Rs 468.174billion at year end 2011, furthersolidifying the Bank’s financialposition. The Bank’s depositsregistered a growth of 14%, end-ing up at Rs. 457.119 billion atthe year end. A consistentgrowth of over 30% was re-flected in the profit after taxa-tion figure, which was posted atRs. 4,556.121 million for theyear 2012, compared toRs.3,503.130 million earnedduring the year 2011.

Bank Alfalah reportsimpressive results for year 2012

Profit before taxation wasreported at Rs. 6,783.202 mil-lion for the year 2012, exceed-ing profit before taxation earnedfor the full year 2011 by 25%.Growth in revenue of 7% wasreported with revenue standingat Rs. 53,361 million for the year2012 and non-fund based in-come registering a year on yeargrowth of 36%.

The Bank’s NPLs to grossloans ratio stands at 9%, reflect-ing a better position vis a vis thatof peer banks as well as the in-dustry infection ratio. Whilstmaintaining a low NPL ratiocompared to the industry aver-

age, adequate provisioning hasbeen maintained against theclassified portfolio.

Atif Bajwa, Bank Alfalah’sChief Executive Officer, said,“2012 was a year when the Bankachieved growth amidst a chal-lenging economic environmentand whilst undergoing a period oftransformation. I am happy to re-port that our financial results for2012 demonstrate the consistentefforts we are making to grow ourbalance sheet, diversify revenuestreams, increase profitability andmaintain a robust credit disciplineby managing NPLs at a better ratevis a vis the market.

Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf chairing second meeting of Board of Approvals under Special Economic Zone Act.

Attaullah Khan, Chairman, The Bank of Khyber Board of Directors presiding over 119thBoK BoD meeting at Islamabad. Rahat Gul, Zahid Sahibzada, Maqsood Ismail, Bilal Mustafa,MD BoK, Sahibzada Saeed Ahmad, Attaullah Khan, Chairman BoK, Sajjid Ahmad, JavedAkhtar, Asad Muhammad Iqbal and Mir Javed Hashmat, Executive Director BoK seen inthe picture.

SHARAFAT KAZMI

ISLAMABAD—The secondmeeting of the Board of Approv-als of the Special EconomicZones was held Tuesday underthe chairmanship of the PrimeMinister, Raja Parvez Ashraf.The BOI officials, under thechairmanship of Finance Min-ister/Chairman BOI, SenatorSaleem H. Mandviwalla, pre-sented some of the agenda pointswhich were discussed in themeeting.

The agenda points of themeeting were the implementa-tion status of the decisions takenin the 1st meeting of BOA, the

Raja approves rules for Special Economic Zonesdelegation of powers to approv-als committee, the appointmentof four members for each SEZAuthority (two by BOA and twoby the concerned Chief Minis-ter), the SEZ Authority forIslamabad Capital Territory, theadoption of SEZ draft rules,2013 etc.

All of the above mentionedagenda points were approved bythe Prime Minister. The SpecialEconomic Zones Authorities(SEZA) had already been noti-fied by the provinces of Punjab,Sindh, KPK, Balochistan andGilgit Baltistan.

The SEZ rules were final-ized after the due consulta-

tions with all the stakehold-ers i.e. the provinces, StateBank of Pakistan etc. TheBoard of Investment accom-modated all the reservationshighlighted by the provinces.After mutual consensus anddeliberation the draft SEZRules were finalized and thesame has been approved bythe Prime Minister of Paki-stan in the Board of Approv-als meeting held today.

The appointment of fourmembers for each SEZ Author-ity was also finalized and themembers were selected by mu-tual consensus of all the stake-holders present in the meeting.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Habib Metropoli-tan Bank closed the financialyear 2012 by recording aprofit-before tax of over Rs. 5billion; in doing so, the 7thlargest bank of Pakistan interms of shareholder equity,exhibited an increase againstthe profit-before-tax of Rs. 4.6billion posted at the end of theprevious year.

This amplification of prof-itability was supplementedwith a growth of 4.4 percentin the Bank’s total assets,which stood at Rs. 301 billionon December 31, 2012, and anoteworthy increase of 17.50percent in the Bank’s depositbase. Meanwhile, CASA de-posits demonstrated a signifi-cant growth of 20.60 percentagainst the previous year, asthe CASA mix of the Bankamounted to an increased53.80 percent.

Net Markup Income ofHabibMetro Bank increasedby 7.90 percent and stood at

Habib Metropolitan Bankcloses year on profit note

Rs. 8.30 billion, while non-markup income registered anincrease of 5.20 percent tostand at Rs. 5.40 billion at theend of the financial year 2012– an enhancement that is pri-marily attributed to the 18 per-cent growth in fee-based in-come and 12.18 percentgrowth in trading and divi-dend income. The Bank’sBoard of Directors recom-mended a final cash dividendof Rs. 2 per share or 20 per-cent for the year ended De-cember 31, 2012, against the15 percent cash dividend an-nounced in the previous year.

Commenting on theBank’s financial performancein the year 2012, the President& CEO, Mr. Sirajuddin Aziz,observed, ‘HabibMetro per-formed well despite the chal-lenging economic environmentof the Country. Going forward,the Bank will endeavor to fur-ther develop its product suiteby adding attractive features toits product offerings during2013.

Pakistan invited to participatein 14th Western China fair

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The Govern-ment has spent a total of Rs13527 million on the construc-tion of link roads to Gwadar Portin last five years, Minister forCommunication Dr ArbabAlamgir told Senate on Tuesday.

In a written reply to thequestion of Ms Nuzhat Sadiq, hesaid Rs 3854 million had beenspent on the construction of N-10, N-85,and M-8 linkingGwadar with rest of the countryin 2008-9, Rs 3738 million in2009-10, Rs 1946 million in2010-11, Rs 1630 million dur-

Rs13,527m spent on constructionof Gwadar port link roads

ing 2011-12 and 2359 millionduring 2012-13. He said Rs 1billion has been allocated forproviding comprehensive fool-proof security and creation ofdedicated wing of Frontier Con-stabulary for providing securityto contractors and labour.

National Highway Author-ity (NHA) has planned the con-struction of another 110 km longBaisma-Khuzdar road (N-30)for providing connectivity toGwadar port. NHA has plannedthe construction of seven roadsfor providing connectivity toGwadar Port, he said.

Three roads have already

been completed including 653km Lyari- Ormara-Gwadar-Gabdroad (N-10). Another 35 km M-8 from Khuzdar- Khori road hasalso been completed. Another 61km (M-8) Quba Saeed Khan-Ratodero road. While 73 percentKhori-Quba Saeed Khan roadhas been completed.

Prime Minister has ap-proved mobilization of FrontierWorks Organisation (FWO) onGwadar-Turbat-Hoshab. 22percent of 459 lm long Hoshab-Basima-Sorab (N-85) has alsobeen completed. 196 km longGwadar-Turbat-Hoshab hasbeen completed 68 percent.

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—The Governor, StateBank of Pakistan (SBP), YaseenAnwar said that Pakistan’seconomy has the ability to navi-gate through choppy waters.

‘I’m excited by the eco-nomic potential that this coun-try holds, and I encourage youall to become a part of thecountry’s future by becoming apart of the solution,’ he saidwhile delivering a speech at Pa-kistan Navy War College,Lahore.

He said that while our cur-rent economic situation is lessthan optimal, it is also very farfrom what may be described asan economic calamity. Anwarsaid that in 65 years, Pakistanhas never gone through an epi-sode of hyperinflation; Pakistanhas never defaulted on its inter-national and domestic debts; in

Economy has ability to navigatethru choppy waters: Anwar

fact, our economy has grownconsistently, but not spectacu-larly, over the past six decades.

‘This has been despite peri-ods of international alienationand sanctions, three expensivewars, two hostile fronts, regularpolitical upheaval, social unrest,sharp increases in the price ofoil, and much, much more,’ headded. Mr. Anwar said the StateBank has always ensured thatthe financial system of the coun-try remains safe and stable. Therobustness of our financial sys-tem is a direct consequence ofthe reforms process and the StateBank’s constant vigilance, hesaid, adding that there’s a lot thatcan be improved in our finan-cial system.

He called for the develop-ment of efficient debt markets,even better regulatory and re-porting practices, and thebroadening of the financial

sector ’s scope to includelargely unbanked sectors of theeconomy, such as agriculture,small and medium enterprises,and housing. ‘Despite thiswish list, the fact remains thatour financial system is, by de-sign, secure and does not poseany threat to the economy as awhole,’ he added. SBP Gover-nor pointed out that the size ofPakistan’s undocumentedeconomy is, by some esti-mates, as large as the formaleconomy.

The informal economy doesnot file taxes and, while it doesabsorb a significant chunk of thelabour force, it also evades cor-porate and labour laws, he said,adding that although close infor-mal relationships do make theeconomy more resilient, they doso at a cost to the overalleconomy, by eroding the ambitof the regulators.

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—China has invitedPakistan to participate in the14th Western China Interna-tional Fair (23-27 October,2013) and 3d China-SichuanImported Commodity Fair (14-18 June, 2013), organized by theSichuan Bureau of Expo Affairsin Chengdu, China.

Sichuan Bureau of Expoalso desied to make Pakistanpartner country for 15th West-ern China International Fair inthe year 2015 and 2016. Theinvitation was extended by aChinese delegation led by Mr.Yang Yunfan, Deputy DirectorGeneral of Sichuan Bureau ofthe Expo Affairs alongwith 5-Member delegation visitedTDAP Headquarter, here to-day.

The Chief Executive,TDAP appreciated the endeav-ors of Sichuan Bureau of Expofor strengthening trade rela-tions between the two coun-tries. The Chief Executive alsoassured the visiting delegatesabout the quality participationfrom Pakistan. Moreover, itwas also stressed by the ChiefExecutive that such participa-tion would also provide us theopportunity to better utilizemarked access opportunitiescreated by the FTA betweenthe two countries.

Chief Executive, TDAPassured that in the SichuanExpo Province those exporterswho are producing / manufac-turing products which fall inFTA, which will in two coun-tries. The Chief Executive,TDAP also suggested that in

order to cemented the export-ers activities of Sichuan Prov-ince and Pakistan, the MOUbetween the Karachi ExpoCentre and Sichuan ProvinceExpo Centre needs to besigned. This would ensuremutual utilization of space byboth the countries for the pro-motion of their products.

Concluding the discussions,signing of the MOU betweenKarachi Expo Centre andSichuan Expo Centre in order tomake improve trade relationsbetween two countries, the ar-rangement would help utiliza-tion of these facilities towardstrade enhancement between thetwo countries. The Chinese del-egation thanked TDAP for itsefforts to promote the trade andto maintain friendly relationshipwith China.

DFID-SMEDA toimplement its SME

dev initiativesSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—British Departmentfor International Development(DFID) has sought collaborationof the Small and Medium En-terprises Development Author-ity (SMEDA) to implement itsSME development initiatives inPakistan. A 4-member delega-tion comprising senior officialsfrom DFID held a meeting withCEO SMEDA Sardar AhmadNawaz Sukhera today atSMEDA head office. The del-egation included Mr. JanWimaladharma, Team Leaderand Senior Private Sector Devel-opment Advisor, Mr. Roland V.Pearson, Jr., Financial and Pri-vate Sector Development Expertbased in Washngton, DC, Mr.Waqas ul Hasan, Private andFinancial Sector DevelopmentAdvisor and Mr. Sohail Wajid,Program Manager of DFID.Whereas, CEO SMEDA wasaccompanied by Mr. SultanTiwana, General Manager

Continued on Page 14

Hindrance incollectionsStaff ReporterLAHORE—Lawyers andJewellers were mainhindrance in professional taxcollection of Excise andTaxation (E&T) departmentPunjab, said an official. Hesaid that out of thousands oflawyers only few payprofessional tax since theywere forced by various firmsand department where theyperform duties. Theiremployer demand clearancecertificate issued by the E&Totherwise perhaps they alsodo not come to this obliga-tion, said officer. A taxinspector said that lawyerswere of the view that ourparliamentarians do not makeproper use of the collectedtax. During an argument withExcise and Taxation Officer(ETO) claimed that with thecollected money of tax theirparliamentarian enjoy foreigntrips and their familymembers spend luxuriouslife. So they would never paytax for that purpose. He saidwhile quoting the lawyersthat first utilization of taxshould be made transparentthen they would start payingprofessional tax.

PGJDC launchesweb portalStaff ReporterISLAMABAD—PakistanGems and Jewellery Devel-opment Company (PGJDC)has launched first e-commerce web portal.Development of the e-commerce portal is incontinuation of variouseffective marketing andbranding initiatives, whichthe company has taken tofacilitate the gems andjewellery industry of thecountry. According to officialsources, the charter ofPakistan Gems and JewelleryDevelopment Company is toenhance the value chainproductivity of gems andjewellery industry from mineto market. “PGJDC aims atincreasing export throughfacilitation, technologyupgradation, skill develop-ment and marketing initia-tives”. With adequate supportfrom the government,Pakistan Gems and JewelleryDevelopment Company issuccessfully realizing theseobjectives and providingrequired infrastructure for thegems and jewellery industry,official said.

Businesses faceRs 4.5b lossSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The economic ac-tivities in Karachi and cities ininterior Sindh remained shutdown on Monday to mourn thekilling of Abbas Town bombblasts.

It took its toll on the eco-nomic activities of the economi-cal hub of the country as mostof the business activities andtransport of the city remainedsuspended, causing a loss ofmore than Rs 3.5 billion. Inother cities of Sindh also theeconomic activities remainedsuspended triggering a loss ofmore than Rs 1 billion, takingthe loss of the province to morethan Rs 4.5 billion, traders andbusinessmen said.

Karachi wore a deserted lookwhile industrial activities of morethan 99 percent of industrial unitsin five industrial estates remainedpartially suspended besides trad-ing as well as port activities cameto a standstill. Apart from Karachi,economic activities also remainedsuspended in Hyderabad, Sukkur,Mirpurkhas, Khairpur, Shikarpur,Tando Muhammad Khan, Badin,Nawabshah, Shikarpur, NausheroFeroze and other parts of Sindh.

Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas,Kotri, Nawabshah and Sukkur asan industrial centers also in totalbore an estimated loss of morethan Rs 1 billion, industrial andtraders bodies of these cities said.

APPMAdemands trade

with IndiaMUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—All Pakistan PaperMerchants Association(APPMA) has demanded of thegovernment to start trade of pa-per & paper board with Indiaimmediately that would end themonopoly of paper mafia andprovide relief to the inflation-hitcommon man.

According to the statementissued here on Tuesday, theleader of APPMA Business-men Group Khamis SaeedButt, APPMA PresidentMuhammad Ajma and VicePresident Khawaja NadeemSaeed Wayeen said in conniv-ance with the FBR, printingpapers was included in thenegative list therefore, papermafia has created monopolyand making repeated increasesin the paper prices and promot-ing under invoicing causingheavy loss to the national ex-chequer.

Gold Tezab 51771.00Silver Tezabi 925.71

Gold Tezabi (24-Ct) 48000.00Gold 22 Ct 43890.00SilverTezabi 830.00Silver Thobi 800.00

USA 98.00 97.80

UK 148.25 147.95

EURO 127.70 127.44

Canada 95.53 95.33

Switzerland 104.18 103.97

Australia 100.30 100.09

Sweden 15.27 15.24

Japan 1.0514 1.0493

Norway 17.15 17.11

Singapore 78.77 78.61

Denmark 17.13 17.09

Omani Riyal 256.00 246.00

Saudi Arabia 26.13 26.08

Hong Kong 12.64 12.61

Kuwait 345.42 344.72

Malaysia 31.62 31.56

Newzeland 81.30 81.13

Qatar 26.92 26.86

UAE 26.68 26.63

KR WON 0.0902 0.0900

Thailand 3.290 3.283

Punjab govt.determined forpromotion of

trade, industrySTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The high-pow-ered committee, formed bythe Chief Minister MianMuhammad Shahbaz Sharif,on Tuesday had marathontalks at the Lahore Chamberof Commerce and Industry(LCCI) on the issues beingfaced by the business com-munity.

LCCI President FarooqIftikhar, Vice President MianAbuzar Shad, LCCI formerPresidents Shahid HassanSheikh, Mian Anjum Nisar,Mian Muzaffar Ali, formerSenior Vice President MalikTahir Javaid, KhawajaShahzeb Akram, Amjad AliJawa and a large number ofLCCI Members gave de-tailed sector-specific presen-tations to MNA PervaizMalik, Advisor to Chief Min-ister on Health MPA KhSalman Rafique, Advisor toChief Minister on TradeMohammad Ali Mian, Pro-vincial Secretary HomeShahid Khan, SecretaryHealth Arif Nadeem, CityChief Police Officer (CCPO)Amjad Javaid Saleem andDistrict Coordination Officer(DCO) Noorul AminMengal.

The meeting, which con-tinued for well over twohours, took a number of im-portant decisions regardingtrade and industry.

The meeting also de-cided to form a committeecomprising representativesof Pharmaceutics manufac-turers, govt and technicalexperts to find out the factsregarding syrup issue that ledthe deaths of addicts and toprepare future course of ac-tion to avert any untowardincident.

It was also decided thatthe two representatives ofthe Lahore Chamber ofCommerce and Industrywould be included in theCitizen-Police LiaisonCommittee.

MNA Pervaiz Malik, inhis opening remarks, saidthat the promotion of tradeand industry in the provinceis the only objective that isbeing pursued by the govern-ment with full vigor and allimpediments to this regardwould be removed.

PQ shippingactivity

KARACHI—Three ships carry-ing containers, furnace oil andedible oil were berthed at QasimInternational Containers Termi-nal, FOTCO Terminal andEngro Vopak Terminal on Mon-day.

Meanwhile four more shipscarrying container and edible oilalso arrived at outer anchorageof Port Qasim during the last 24hours.

Berth occupancy was 65%at the Port on Tuesday where atotal seven namely MSC Nilgun,Mycenae, Mercy Wisdom,Denny-Z, Argent Eyebright, MTLahore and Bunga Akasia arecurrently occupying berths toload/offload container, cement,wheat, rice, chemical, furnaceoil and edible oil respectivelyduring last 24 hours.

A cargo volume of 80154tonnes comprising 60182 tonnesimports and 19972 tonnes ex-ports inclusive of containerizedcargo in 1030 containers (TEUs)was handled at the Port duringlast 24 hours.—APP

DFID-SMEDAFrom Page 13

JAKARTA—Pakistan’s diplo-matic mission said here Tuesdaythat it was in touch with the In-donesian Ministries of Trade andIndustry to expedite clarificationon the pending two tariff linesso that market access for Paki-stani products does not sufferlimitation.

Currently the Indonesianside was imposing 20% duty onimport of citrus fruit despitenotification of the PreferentialTrade Agreement (PTA) witheffect from Jan 19.

Ambassador of Pakistan toIndonesia Sanaullah was talkingto the CEO of Arif Group of

Pakistan to earn millions ofdollars with zero tariffs for citrus

Companies Muhammad Sadiq,an exporter of citrus fruit to In-donesia, Philippines andSingapore.

The CEO met the ambassa-dor to enquire about the progresswith regard to zero tariffs onimport of citrus fruit from Paki-stan in the light of Indonesia-Pakistan PTA.

The main reason for non-clearance was the inability ofTDAP to issue ‘Certificate ofOrigin’ for the product. Indone-sia has cleared most of the dis-puted 12 tariff lines and clarifi-cation was needed about twotariff lines.

The Ambassador informedthe visiting fruit exporter that toget the requisite benefits fromzero tariffs for Kinnow withimmediate effect, fruit exporterscan call on the senior officialsof the Ministry of Commerceand explain complexities ofwithholding implementation ofPTA by Pakistan.

According to estimatesnotified by some Pakistanifruit exporters to the Mission,Pakistan could have earnedUS$ 7-8 millions this seasonif the issue of zero tariffs forKinnow had been resolved.—APP

LAHORE: Emirates SkyCargo held its annual award ceremony. Pictures show KhalidBardan, Emirates’ Vice President, Pakistan (standing in 1st row fifth from the right) withthe winning cargo agents.

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance Senator Saleem H Mandviwalla in a meetingwith Majid Aziz, Chairman SME Bank.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Ambassador ofGreece to Pakistan PetrosMavroidis visited IslamabadChamber of Commerce & In-dustry (ICCI) for discussingways and means to enhance bi-lateral trade relations betweenPakistan and Greece. Ms.LilaFotidou, Sales Manager of OlisCompany also accompanied theAmbassador.

Greece Ambassador saidthat Pakistan and Greece needto improve their commercial andeconomic relations to promotebilateral trade and investment bytaking advantage of new busi-ness opportunities. He said thatPakistan is a peaceful nation andexpressed concern on the role ofinternational media that por-trayed a very negative image ofthe country.

He said that olive oil is oneof the major and well-knownproducts of Greece and is knownto be the finest in the world.H.E.Mr.Petros Mavroidis saidthat cooperation in solar energysector could be one of the areasfor strengthening economic re-lations between the two coun-tries as current annual bilateraltrade between Greece and Paki-stan was very low that needs to

Greece wants to boost economic tieswith Pakistan: Mavroidis

be enhanced by exploring theareas of common interest.

In his welcome address,Mr.Zafar Bakhtawari, PresidentICCI said that Greeks and Paki-stanis share common culturaland historical bonds as there are80,000 Pakistanis were workingthere and contributing in thedevelopment of Greeceeconomy. He also expressedhope that Greece would soon berecovered from economic reces-sion.

He said that this is the righttime to focus on non-traditionalmarkets, adding that frequentexchange of business delega-tions and establishing directB2B contacts are the options,which should be used to exploit

untapped bilateral trade and in-vestment potential in both coun-tries.

ICCI President was of theview that investment coopera-tion was another area in whichboth countries could collaboratefor mutual benefits. Informationtechnology, telecommunication,construction, automobile parts,food processing, fisheries, agri-culture, hotel industry and realestate offer tremendous oppor-tunities and potential for coop-eration, he added.

Bakhtawari said thatAlexander the Great was the firstcultural integrator between theAsia and Europe and Pakistanination still consider Alexanderas Hero.

ISLAMABAD: Ambassador of Greece to Pakistan PetrosMavroidis discussing bilateral trade ties with ZafarBakhtawari, President ICCI. Ms Lila Fotidou, Sales Man-ager of Oils Company is also seen in the picture.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Elixir Securitiesand Credit Suisse jointly con-ducted a Pakistan Capital Mar-kets Day in New York.

Aimed at providing globalfund managers with deeper in-sight into some of Pakistan’s hi-growth sectors, the extremelywell attended event attracted awide range of investors with fo-cus on emerging and frontiermarkets.

The Pakistan delegationcomprised of senior team mem-bers of Elixir Securities and topmanagement of Pakistani com-panies, representing Banking,Fertilizer, Cement, Food,Chemicals and Energy sector.

Pakistan Capital MarketDay held in New York

Some of the key themeswidely discussed between thedelegation and investors in-cluded the possible outcomes ofthe upcoming election andgrowth opportunities. Pakistan’sretail potential, infrastructuredevelopment, high returns in theenergy sector and turn aroundstories in the banking, cementsand fertilizer sectors generatedexcitement amongst investors,ranging from traditional longonly funds to region specifichedge funds.

“I was truly amazed at thelevel of interest we saw. Inves-tors are not only looking beyondthe political noise we see in themedia, they are in fact deeplyplugged into the impressive

numbers that corporate Pakistanhas been delivering for 5 years.The questions were pointed andtheir understanding of our mar-ket was impressive. A large ma-jority of those who attendedhave expressed interest in visit-ing Pakistan this year. We ex-pect huge flows,” said JunaidIqbal, CEO of Elixir Securities.

“It is frustrating the media at-tention which Pakistan gets for theviolence and political noise. Thebottom-up stories are incredible,but the noise makes Pakistan adifficult top-down investmentcase. My boss find it difficult toconnect the growth of EngroFoods and the bombs going off atthe same time” said one of theparticipating fund managers.

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—The Global eco-nomic power is shifting to-wards Asia led by China andPakistan gives much impor-tance to China both in eco-nomic and political terms.Now Pakistan and China hadentered into the second phaseof Free Trade Agreementwhich was signed in 2006.There is a need from bothsides to take maximum ad-vantage of FTA. Opportuni-ties of joint ventures exist intextile, agro farming, foodprocessing, pharmaceuticals,

Global economic focus shifting to Asiaengineering goods etc. There isenormous potential in energysector and Chinese companiesshould come forward and investin this sector. China can alsohelp Pakistan in developing andmodernizing SMEs sector. Morethan 11,000 Chinese engineers,technicians and workers are ren-dering their valuable services inprogress and development ofPakistan. Chinese investment inPakistan increased many fold inkey sectors including port devel-opment, roads, railways, mobiletelephones communication tech-nology, hydro and thermalpower, mining, electronics, and

nuclear energy.”,This was stated by

Muhammad Haroon Agar,President, Karachi Chamber ofCommerce & Industry (KCCI)during visit of Pakistan’s Con-sul General designate toGuangzhou China Babar Amin.President KCCI stated Chinaand Pakistan also share closemilitary relations with Chinasupporting a range of modernarmaments to the Pakistan de-fence forces. Pak- China mili-tary cooperation has deepenedwith joint projects producingarmaments ranging from fighterjets to guided missile frigates.

Chinese cooperation with Paki-stan reached high points withsubstantial investments fromChina in Pakistani infra struc-tural expansion, including thenoted projects in the Pakistandeep water port in Gawadar.Pakistan’s major imports fromChina are machinery, chemicals,garments and other textile prod-ucts, construction material lietiles, sanitary wares and crock-ery.

Trends of trade are verypositive as volume of bilateraltrade has increased exponen-tially during the last seven years.Pakistan enjoys huge export po-

tential to China due to advan-tages in agriculture, minerals,chemical, textile and leatherproducts. Besides Pakistan hascomparative advantage of oilseeds, fruits, base metals, plas-tic goods and perfumery etc.

A large number of Chinesecompanies are working in Paki-stan in oil and gas, IT andtelecom, power generation, engi-neering, automobiles, infrastruc-ture and mining sector. HaroonAgar was of the view that theAmbassadors and Consul Gen-erals abroad are the eyes and earsof Pakistan. Their aggressive ef-forts to promote Pakistan and

marketing of Pakistani productsis imperative. He also assertedupon the need of essential roleof Commercial offices in resolu-tion of trade disputes. He alsoasked the Consul General to in-vite Chinese companies to par-ticipate in the KCCI’s My-Karachi Exhibition scheduled tobe organized in July 2013.

Pakistan’s Consul Generaldesignate to Guangzhou Chinarecognized the vibrant role ofKarachi Chamber of Commerce& Industry for promotion ofcommercial and industrial activi-ties and desired to work closelywith President KCCI. He

stressed upon the need to furtherexplore bilateral trade prospects;with frequent exchange of del-egations and data-based informa-tion. He agreed that extensivemarketing of Pakistani productsis crucial. He said that every Chi-nese province hold unique dy-namics and business trends. Heassured that the Consulate Gen-eral of Pakistan in Guangzhouwill extend best facilitation to thebusiness community in terms oftrade. He observed that leadingcompanies of Pakistan don’t fre-quently participate in the exhibi-tions while the participation ofsmall businessmen is exhibition

is comparatively on widerscale. He was of the view thatthe big brands of Pakistanshould exhibit in internationalexhibitions of China. He statedthat presently there was nottrade officer at the Consulate,the Chief TDAP has approvedto hire one local trade represen-tative to look after the commer-cial affairs.

Majyd Aziz, former Presi-dent KCCI, Shamim Firpo,Senior Vice President KCCI,Nasir Mehmood, Vice Presi-dent and Managing Commit-tee Members of KCCI alsoparticipated in the meeting.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Haji Fazal KadirKhan Sherani, President FPCCI,Tariq Sayeed, Vice PresidentCACCI, Founder & FormerPresident SAARC CCI &former President FPCCI, S.M.Muneer, President, India-Paki-stan CCI & Former PresidentFPCCI, Iftikhar Ali Malik, VicePresident, SAARC CCI &Former President FPCCI,Shaikh Haroon Rashid, ShaikhShakil Ahmad Dhingra, IqbalDawood Pakwala, Sheikh AbdulWaheed Sandal, Mirza AbdulRehman, Azhar Majeed, ZubairAli, Engr. Daroo Khan, BegumSalma Ahmad, Vice PresidentsFPCCI, and Executive Commit-tee of FPCCI have expressedtheir sorrow and grief over thetragic incident of bomb blast atKarachi’s Abul HassanIsphahani Road, in Abbas Town,claiming precious life of more

FPCCI strongly condemnsbomb blasts in country

than 50 peoples, injuring of 100peoples and damaging proper-ties.

They said that such type ofterrorism acts can only be carriedout by inhuman mercenaries whoare working for the enemies ofPakistan and are bent upon cre-ating an adverse image of Paki-stan around the world and aredestabilizing the community,economically and politically.

While condemning the inci-dent they said that Karachi whichis contributing more than 60 per-cent in the national exchequer hascompletely left at the mercy ofmilitants. All security measureshave completely failed.

FPCCI, which has been de-manding to ensure security to thepeople, their property and busi-ness have been given deaf ears.Such massive incidences have tar-nished the image of Pakistanwhich is already confronted withmany challenges.

ISLAMABAD: Dr Iftikhar Ahmad, Chairman PARC, Dr Rick Ward, Dr Imtiaz, Dr AbdulMajeed, Dr Akbar and other scientists on the occasion of National Travelling Wheat Semi-nar 2013.

Boeing to meetwith FAA on

Dreamliner fixesWASHINGTON—A seniorBoeing Co (BA) executive willmeet with the head of the U.S.Federal Aviation Administrationand present a series of measuresaimed at preventing battery fail-ures that grounded its 787Dreamliner fleet for five weeks,according to a source familiarwith the plans.

Ray Conner, who headsBoeing’s commercial airplanesunit, will explain the proposedchanges to FAA AdministratorMichael Huerta, but the planshave already been vetted withlower level U.S. government of-ficials, the source said. If Huertaand U.S. Transportation Secre-tary Ray LaHood accept the pro-posed plan, that could lay thegroundwork for resuming flightsof the Boeing 787 by April, saidthe source, who asked not to beidentified.— Newswire

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Chairman, Paki-stan Agricultural ResearchCouncil (PARC) Dr. IftikharAhmad while addressing at 2ndSession of National TravelingWheat Seminar in Karachi saidthat private sector should joinhands with public sector toachieve self-sufficiency in agri-culture sector on sustainablebasis. Scientists and farmersshould also work together in thefield and use modern practicesand resource conservation tech-

Private sector persuadedto invest in agri sector

nologies to enhance wheat pro-duction in the country. He alsostressed that the wheat researchshould be diverted towards thebetterment of small farmers toensure food security.

Dr. Iftikhar Ahmad alsohighlighted the role of PARC incoordination and promotion ofresearch on scientific basis par-ticularly in the post-devolutionscenario and stressed the needto focus on the areas which aredoable and can be implemented.

He stressed for effectivecoordination among national

and international research part-ners such as CIMMYT,ICARDA, USDA and FAO, etc.for diseased free seed breedingparticularly for small farmers.He hoped with the adoption ofrecommendations of currentseminar, the farming communitycan increase their farm produc-tion ultimately making Pakistana food secured country.

He also desired that the cur-rent seminar recommendationswill be shared with all stake-holders for future wheat breed-ing programme.

AMANULLAH KHAN

K A R A C H I — P a k i s t a nReadymade Garments Manu-facturers and Exporters Asso-ciation (PRGMEA) is seekinga long term collaboration ofsome credible internationalsafety certifications providingcompanies for audit of itsmember companies’ policies,procedures and documenta-tion, to ensure a safe work-place. PRGMEA CentralChairman, Sajid SaleemMinhas while addressing thecentral executive committeemeeting of the association,held at PRGMEA North Officethe other day, observed thatAssociation is engaged in talksand plans to ink agreementswith some global compliancecertification companies to hiretheir services for the audit ofall its members.

He also mentioned thatPRGMEA is endeavoring to en-sure hundred per cent safety

Textile exporters to have foreigncoloration to ensure safety compliance

compliance to avoid any unto-ward incident in future. He saidthat following the internationalbuyers’ concerns over credibil-ity of Pakistani garment groupsdue to devastating inferno atBaldia Town factory, PRGMEAhas decided to make audit forevery member company com-pulsory with a view to grant itinternational safety certifica-tions. In this way Pakistani ex-porters can satisfy internationalbuyers that strong measures arebeing taken to avoid fire trag-edies in future, he pointed out.

PRGMEA central chair-man said that protection ofworkers’ health and safety is afundamental right world over,stressing the need for avoidingfire incidents, as it may alsolead to restrictions on Paki-stani exports from the interna-tional buyers. He said thatPRGMEA has alreadylaunched awareness campaignin this regard immediately af-ter the fire tragedy in Karachi.

For this purpose, he said, thePRGMEA, in collaborationwith Accordia Global Compli-ance Group and WorldwideResponsible Accredited Pro-duction (WRAP), has alreadyheld a workshop to enable thewhole textile value-added sec-tor to be certified with the so-cial and safety compliance sothat Pakistani exports to theUSA and European Union maynot be affected.

During this month anotherworkshop with SGS is plannedat the associations Lahore train-ing center PRGTTI. The asso-ciation has an open invitationfrom WRAP to visit their USAheadquarters to ink an MOU toestablish a center of excellenceat the two association institutesin Lahore and Karachi. Furtherthe PRGMEA delegation willvisit the offices of the majorcustomers in the USA to allaytheir fears regarding health andsafety compliances at garmentfactories in Pakistan.

New wirelesstechnology

demonstratedat MWC

OBSERVER REPORT

KARACHI—LG Electronics(LG) displayed its industry-leading Wireless Ultra HighDefinition (Ultra HD) Transmis-sion technology for the first timeat Mobile World Congress(MWC) 2013 in Barcelona. Thisexciting next generation mobilefeature enables users to viewgames and other smartphonecontent on Ultra HD TVs in realtime, via wireless data transfer.

“Thanks to our innovativeWireless Ultra HD Transmissiontechnology, users can now en-joy their favorite mobile contenton today’s most advanced UltraHD TVs,” said Dr. Jong-seokPark, President and CEO of theLG Electronics Mobile Commu-nications Company. “With thedevelopment of this cutting-edge technology, LG again con-firms its industry leadership inthe area of display and mobileconvergence for a truly enjoy-able viewing experience.”

Wireless Ultra HD Transmis-sion technology makes the deliv-ery of smartphone multimedia con-tent to TVs faster and smootherthan previous mobile video com-pression and transfer systems. Withminimal lag and data loss, LG’snext generation mobile feature per-forms this feat using ubiquitousWiFi connections. During trans-mission, multimedia content is au-tomatically adjusted to match thereceiving TV’s screen resolution,resulting in flawless visuals.

What’s more, LG’s WirelessUltra HD Transmission systemconsumes less than half thepower of other similar transmis-sion technologies. It achievesthis by reducing the burden onthe smartphone’s CPU and otherhardware resources.

ness & Sector Development Ser-vices, Mr. Khurram Khan, Gen-eral Manager, Central SupportDivision and a number of theother senior officials of SMEDAon this occasion.

The visiting delegation toldthat DFID was running financialinclusion program for support ofthe micro enterprises in Paki-stan. They informed that DFIDauthorities were interested toextend this program till the year2015 moving its focus to SMEsector. They invited SMEDA tojoin hands with DFID for devel-opment and implementation ofsuch program for benefit the lo-cal SMEs.

Earlier, CEO SMEDA wel-comed the delegation and gavea presentation on services,projects and future plans ofSMEDA. He said that a moveto strengthen relationship withinternational donor agencieswas already underway atSMEDA.

SEOUL/UNITED NATIONS—North Korea threatened onTuesday to scrap an armisticethat ended the 1950-53 civil warand sever a military “hotline”with the United States if SouthKorea and Washington pressedon with two-month-long wargames.

It was a notable sharpeningin the North’s often bellicoserhetoric and followed word fromU.N. diplomats that the UnitedStates and China had struck atentative deal on a draft U.N.Security Council sanctions reso-lution that would punish NorthKorea for its third nuclear test,which it conducted last month.

“We will completely nullifythe Korean armistice,” theNorth’s KCNA news agencysaid, quoting the KoreanPeople’s Army (KPA) SupremeCommand spokesman.

“The war exercise beingdone by the United States andthe puppet south Korea is a sys-tematic act of destruction aimedat the Korean armistice.”

The two Koreas remaintechnically at war since the1950-53 conflict ended in a trucerather than a peace treaty.

“We will be suspending theactivities of the KPA represen-tative office at Panmunjom(truce village) that had been ten-tatively operated by our army asthe negotiating body to establisha peace regime on the Koreanpeninsula,” KCNA quoted thespokesman as saying.

“Related to that, we will be

making the decision in parallel tocut off the Panmunjom DPRK-U.S. military hotline.”

North Korea, officially calledthe Democratic People’s Repub-lic of Korea (DPRK), has made

much of hotlines with the Southand the United States over theyears, but has not been knownever to have used them in timesof increased tension.

About 200,000 Koreantroops and 10,000 U.S. forces areexpected to be mobilized for theirdefensive “Foal Eagle” exercise,under the Combined ForcesCommand, which began on

March 1 and goes on until the endof April. Separate computer-simulated drills called “Key Re-solve” start on March 11.

Speaking on condition of

anonymity, the U.N. diplomatssaid they hoped to receive thedraft resolution on North Koreaat Tuesday’s council session.They added that they would liketo see the council vote on the

resolution by the end of thisweek.

“I hope to see a draft tomor-row perhaps, but you know it’sup to the Americans,” a diplomat

told Reuters on condition of ano-nymity. Details of the draft werenot immediately available.

The U.N. press office an-nounced separately that Russia,which holds the presidency of the

15-nation Security Council thismonth, would convene closed-door consultations on North Ko-rea at 11 a.m. EST (1600 GMT)in New York on Tuesday.

China’s Foreign Ministrydeclined to confirm that it hadreached a deal with the UnitedStates.

“We have said many timesthat China supports an appropri-ate response from the U.N. Se-curity Council and have also ex-pressed our stance that we opposeNorth Korea conducting itsnuclear test,” spokeswoman HuaChunying told reporters.

“At the same time, we areresolute in believing that therelevant response has to be pru-dent and moderate, has to pre-vent an escalation, be condu-cive to the denuclearization ofthe Korean peninsula, preventnuclear proliferation and main-tain the peace and stability ofNortheast Asia.”

Council diplomats have saidthat they would like tostrengthen the provisions in pre-vious sanctions resolutionsadopted after North Korea’s2006 and 2009 nuclear tests -above all those related to the in-spection and seizure of shipmentsof banned items and tougheningfinancial restrictions.

The U.N. Security Councilstrongly condemned NorthKorea’s third nuclear test, onFebruary 12, and vowed to takeaction against Pyongyang for anact denounced by all major worldpowers, including ally China.

Pyongyang said at the timethat the test was an act of self-defense against “U.S. hostility”and threatened stronger steps ifnecessary.—AP

N-Korea threatens to scrap armistice ending war

A North Korean flag on a tower flutters in the wind at a site near truce village of Panmunjom in the demilitarized zoneseparating the two Koreas in this picture taken just south of the border, in Paju, north of Seoul.

MOSCOW—A spokeswomanfor the Bolshoi Theater says po-lice have detained a suspect in theJanuary acid attack on its artisticdirector. Moscow police said ina statement on Tuesday that itwas questioning a suspect in theattack but did not provide anyother details. Calls to a policespokesperson went unanswered.Katerina Novikova, a theaterspokeswoman, said the suspectwas detained Tuesday. The

theater’s artistic director, SergeiFilin, was left with severe burnsto his eyes and face when an uni-dentified attacker threw sulfuricacid in his face on Jan. 17 as hewas returning home from work.He’s now undergoing treatmentin Germany.

Filin’s colleagues have saidthe attack on Filin could be inretaliation for his selection ofcertain dancers over others forprized roles.—AP

Suspect in acid attackon Bolshoi chief detained

Powers wantearly results inIran diplomacyVIENNA—Six world powers willcall for quick tangible results innuclear negotiations with Iranthat have resumed after an eight-month break, according to a draftjoint statement obtained byReuters on Tuesday.

The draft being consideredby the United States, Russia,China, France, Germany andBritain described last week’stalks with Iran in Almaty,Kazakhstan, as “useful”. The twosides are due to meet again inearly April at the same venue.

“We seek tangible results inthis diplomatic process at an earlystage,” said the statement, ex-pected to be delivered at a boardmeeting of the U.N. nuclearwatchdog on Wednesday.

“We reaffirm our continuingsupport for a diplomatic solutionto the Iranian nuclear issue,” itsaid.—Reuters

Japan’s barrentsunami coast 2

years onKESENNUMA—Japan’s progressin rebuilding from the tsunamithat thundered over coastal seawalls, sweeping entire commu-nities away, is mainly measuredin barren foundations and emptyspaces.

Next week, Japan will ob-serve the second anniversary ofthe March 11, 2011, disaster thatkilled more than 19,000 people.

In dozens of towns along thecountry’s northeastern Pacificcoast, from tiny Ryoishi in thenorth to Fukushima farther south,where some areas remain off-limits due to radiation fears, thetsunami zone remains a waste-land. Scattered along the coast arehuge piles of rubble and stacksof smashed scooters and cars.

The government has prom-ised faster action on resettling thetens of thousands of people lefthomeless by the disaster, but thelocal economies were already indecline, doubling the challengefor reconstruction..—AP

India rejects Bayerplea against cheap

cancer drugNEW DELHI—India’s patentappeals office has rejected BayerAG’s plea to stop the productionof a cheaper generic version of apatented cancer drug in a rulingthat health groups say is an im-portant precedent for getting in-expensive lifesaving medicinesto the poor.

Last year, India’s patent of-fice allowed local drug manufac-turer Natco Pharma Ltd. to pro-duce a generic version of Bayer’skidney and liver cancer drugNexavar on the grounds it wouldmake the drug available to thepublic at a reasonably affordableprice.

It was the first use of com-pulsory licensing under Indianpatent laws passed in 2005.

The Intellectual PropertyAppellate Board rejected theGerman drug maker’s appeal ofthe 2012 ruling .—AP

PARIS—About 15 Islamistmilitants were killed by Frenchand Chadian troops in fightingovernight in northern Mali’sAmetetai valley, French De-fense Minister Jean-Yves LeDrian said on Tuesday.

He said some 1,600 Frenchand Chadian troops in that areacontinued to search for Islamistrebels, seven weeks into a cam-paign to drive al Qaeda-linkedfighters out of Mali’s north.

“Our forces fought terroristgroups last night, still in thesame area, the Ametetai valleyregion, where there is a strongconcentration of them. Around15 militants were killed,” LeDrian told BFM TV.

“It’s not over yet as after theAmetetai valley there are othervalleys ... Given the ferocity ofthe fighting over the past fort-night, we can see there is a hide-out there.”

Chad’s President IdrissDeby overnight reiterated thattwo key al Qaeda commanders,Abdelhamid Abou Zeid andMokhtar Belmokhtar, had been

killed. Le Drian, however, saidFrance is still not in a position toconfirm that they had been killed.

Deby said the two bodies hadnot been displayed out of respectfor the dead. “I say to MinisterLe Drian, who is asking for proof:as Muslims, we do not put onshow the bodies of the dead,”Deby said on state television lateon Monday.

“In the days that come, wewill see that these terrorists haveindeed been killed in fightingwith the Chadian forces.”

Shown a photograph pub-lished in French media of a partlyshrouded corpse said to beBelmokhtar’s, Le Drian said itwould be good news if it was thejihadist leader but that he was notconvinced by the image.

Abou Zeid and Belmokhtarled the two Al Qaeda in the Is-lamic Maghreb (AQIM) unitsthat operated in Mali’s north, kid-napping Westerners and launch-ing sporadic attacks over the lastdecade.

Three French soldiers anddozens of militants have been

killed in the offensive against theIslamist fighters who hijacked aseparatist Tuareg rebellion to takeover northern Mali last April.

The Islamists did not fight todefend the main towns they oc-cupied, pulling back into moun-tain and desert redoubts, wherethey have long been based andare now being hunted by hun-dreds of French and Chadiantroops. AQIM has pledged toavenge the French assault, whichParis says it launched due to fearsthat its former colony could be-come a launchpad for wider Is-lamist attacks.

Asked about the risks of thefighting to a French family takenhostage in Cameroon last monthby Islamist militants and takeninto Nigeria, Le Drian saidFrance had information on thewhereabouts of the three adultsand four children, and everythingindicated they were still alive.

“I think if the hostages hadbeen killed, their captors wouldhave let it be known,” he said.“We are using all the means wecan to get them freed.”—Reuters

15 militants killed inMali fighting: France

KUALA LUMPUR—Malaysialaunched airstrikes and mortarattacks against nearly 200 Fili-pinos occupying a Borneocoastal village Tuesday to end abizarre three-week siege thatturned into a security nightmarefor both Malaysia and the Phil-ippines.

The assault followsfirefights this past week thatkilled eight Malaysian policeofficers and 19 Filipino gun-men, some of whom were mem-bers of a Muslim clan thatshocked Malaysia and theneighboring Philippines by slip-ping by boat past naval patrolslast month and storming an ob-scure village on Borneo’s east-ern Sabah state.

The crisis has sparked jit-ters about a spread of instabil-ity in Sabah, which is rich intimber and oil resources. Un-known numbers of other armedFilipinos are feared to have en-croached on other districts in the

area recently. More than sevenhours after fighter jets were de-ployed, Malaysian Home Minis-ter Hishammuddin Hussein saidno injuries occurred among Ma-laysian police and military per-sonnel who went in to raid housesnear palm oil plantations there.

“On the enemy’s side, wehave to wait because the opera-tion is ongoing. We have to becareful,” the minister said, refus-ing to elaborate on whether therewere Filipino casualties or cap-tives.

National police chief IsmailOmar said ground forces encoun-tered resistance from gunmen fir-ing at them.

The clansmen, armed withrifles and grenade launchers, hadrefused to leave the area, stakinga long-dormant claim toMalaysia’s entire state of Sabah,which they insisted was their an-cestral birthright.

Prime Minister Najib Razakdefended the offensive, saying

Malaysia made every effort to re-solve the siege peacefully sincethe presence of the group inLahad Datu district becameknown on Feb. 12, including byholding talks to encourage theintruders to leave without facingany serious legal repercussions.

“For our sovereignty and sta-bility, we will not allow even aninch of Malaysian territory to bethreaten or taken by anyone,”Najib said.

The Filipinos who landed inLahad Datu, a short boat ridefrom the southern Philippines,insisted Sabah belonged to theirroyal sultanate for more than acentury.

The group is led by a brotherof Sultan Jamalul Kiram III of thesouthern Philippine province ofSulu.

Abraham Idjirani, a spokes-man for the Filipinos, told report-ers in Manila that the groupwould not surrender and that theirleader was safe.—AP

Malaysia troops attackFilipinos to end Borneo siege

HARARE—Zimbabwe’s Presi-dent Robert Mugabe will not in-vite Western observers for a con-stitutional referendum and gen-eral election due this year, statemedia said on Tuesday, a deci-sion likely to trigger a dispute inhis shaky coalition government.

Mugabe was forced into apower-sharing deal four yearsago with his arch-rival MorganTsvangirai, now Prime Minister,after bloody and disputed elec-tions in 2008.

The southern African coun-try is due to hold a referendumon March 16 on a new constitu-tion which, if adopted, will pavethe way for elections after Junewhen the current presidential andparliamentary terms expire.

Foreign Minister SimbarasheMumbengegwi, from Mugabe’sZANU-PF party, told the state-controlled Herald newspaper thatHarare would bar U.S. and Eu-ropean Union observers becauseof sanctions on Mugabe and hisinner circle for alleged humanrights abuses.

“To be an observer, you haveto be objective and once you im-pose sanctions on one party, your

objectivity goes up in smoke,”Mumbengegwi, who is respon-sible for inviting and accreditingforeign observers, was quoted assaying.

“I do not see why they needto be invited when they havenever invited us to monitortheirs.”

The pronouncement is likelyto cause another quarrel withinthe fractious power-sharing gov-ernment. Tsvangirai’s Movementfor Democratic Change has saidit will oppose ZANU-PF’s plansto hand-pick poll observers.

Mumbengegwi said Zimba-bwe had already invited referen-dum observers from the AfricanUnion and regional trade blocsthe Southern African Develop-ment Community and the Com-mon Market for Eastern andSouthern Africa.

Mugabe, 89, faces a battleto extend his 33 years in poweragainst Tsvangirai, who haspromised to fix an economyanalysts say has been ruined bypolicies such as the seizure ofwhite-owned commercial farmsto resettle landless blackpeople.—Reuters

Zimbabwe to bar Westernelection observers

Chavez’s breathing problems worsenCARACAS—Venezuelan President HugoChavez’s breathing problems have worsenedand he is suffering from a “severe” new res-piratory infection as he struggles to recoverfrom cancer surgery, the government said ina somber medical update on Monday. The58-year-old socialist leader has not been seenin public nor heard from in almost threemonths since undergoing the operation inCuba. It was his fourth surgery since the dis-ease was detected in mid-2011. “Today there

is a worsening of his respiratory function, related to his depressedimmune system. There is now a new, severe infection,” Informa-tion Minister Ernesto Villegas said, reading the latest brief state-ment on Chavez’s condition. Chavez made a surprise pre-dawnhomecoming two weeks ago with none of the fanfare and cel-ebration that had accompanied previous returns from treatment inHavana. The government said he is now fighting for his life at aCaracas military hospital. Armed guards are providing heavy se-curity outside. “The president has been receiving high-impactchemotherapy, along with other complementary treatments ... hisgeneral condition continues to be very delicate,” Villegas said.Chavez suffered multiple complications after the December 11surgery, including unexpected bleeding and an earlier severe res-piratory infection that officials said had been controlled. The gov-ernment said he had trouble speaking because he was breathingthrough a tracheal tube, but that he was giving orders to ministersby writing them down. “The commander-president remains cling-ing to Christ and to life, conscious of the difficulties that he isfacing, and complying strictly with the program designed by hismedical team,” Villegas said. Chavez had undergone several gru-eling rounds of chemotherapy and radiation treatment, which attimes left him bald and bloated. He twice wrongly declared him-self cured. The only sight of the former soldier since his latestoperation were four photos published by the government while hewas still in Havana, showing him lying in a hospital bed.—Reuters

Maldives ex-president arrestedMALE—Police in the tropical Indian Oceanresort archipelago of the Maldives arrestedformer president Mohamed Nasheed onTuesday, 10 days after he left the Indian HighCommission where he had taken refuge toavoid detention. A court had ordered policeto arrest Nasheed after he missed a February10 court appearance in a case relating to ac-cusations that he illegally detained a judgeduring the last days of his rule. “We havereceived a court order to arrest him and pro-

duce to the court,” Maldives police spokesman Hassan Haneeftold Reuters. “...We have him in police custody. He will be pro-duced in court tomorrow.” Nasheed, the Maldives’ first demo-cratically elected leader, left office last year in contested circum-stances. He entered the Indian High Commission, or embassy, onFebruary 13 and left 10 days later on the understanding that hewould be able to conduct “peaceful political activity”. His sup-porters say he was ousted last February in a coup in the Maldives,a major tourist destination. They have clashed with police outsidethe diplomatic mission. Soon after Nasheed’s arrest, minor scufflesbroke out in Male. Supporters of the detained president threw thebrother of the current president, Mohamed Waheed, off his mo-torcycle and attacked a parked military vehicle. Some gatheredoutside the former president’s home and blocked nearby roads.The U.S. embassy in nearby Sri Lanka called for calm in theMaldives and said Nasheed “must be accorded due process underthe law regarding his pending court cases”. If Nasheed is foundguilty in the case, he could be barred from standing in a presiden-tial election on September 7. Nasheed’s Maldivian DemocraticParty denounced his detention as politically motivated, carriedout by “numerous armed and masked police officers who didnot...produce an arrest warrant or court summons”. The party saysany trial is part of efforts to exclude him from the contest and haschallenged the court’s legitimacy. —Reuters

Kenyatta leading in national pollsNAIROBI—Kenyan presidential hopefulUhuru Kenyatta opened an early lead as theeast African nation counted ballots on Tues-day in an election that brought out millionsof voters despite pockets of violence thatkilled at least 15 people. The deputy primeminister, who faces international charges ofcrimes against humanity linked to the lastelection, was ahead of Prime Minister RailaOdinga. But Kenyatta could still be over-hauled as the count goes on in a vote Kenyans

hope will restore their nation’s image as one of Africa’s most stabledemocracies after the bloodshed five years ago. Although votingpassed off broadly peacefully with a big turnout, the real test willbe whether the candidates and their backers accept the result,after the disputed 2007 vote touched off ethnic blood-letting thatkilled more than 1,200 people. “Nobody should celebrate, no-body should complain,” election commission chairman IsaacHassan told journalists, saying work was going on to resolveglitches and speed up the count. “We therefore continue to ap-peal for patience from the public.” The commission says provi-sional results may not be tallied until Wednesday, meaning anofficial declaration will not come until then or later. Kenyatta’slead has held overnight but more than 60 percent of polling sta-tions have yet to report. Odinga’s camp said counting in theirstrongholds had not been completed yet and a debate over thefate of a sizeable number of rejected votes could help shift thebalance. The United States and Western donors have watchedthe vote closely, concerned about the stability of a nation seenas a regional ally in the fight against militant Islam. They alsoworry about what to do if Kenyatta wins, because of the chargesof crimes against humanity he faces at the International Crimi-nal Court (ICC) related to the violence five years ago. Withmemories still fresh about the lethal mayhem after the last elec-tion and its dire impact on the economy, many Kenyans are de-termined not to see a repeat and, like their candidates, havepledged to accept the outcome. —Reuters.

Italy president mulls forming technocrats govtROME—President Giorgio Napolitano isconsidering appointing a new technocratgovernment led by a non-politician as oneway out of Italy’s political stalemate,sources said on Tuesday. Such a solutionwould come into play if center-left leaderPier Luigi Bersani failed to form a govern-ment after receiving an initial mandate fromNapolitano, as is expected, they said.Bersani won a majority in the lower houseof parliament and says he has the right to

be the first to try to form a government, although he has noworkable majority in the Senate. However, 5-Star Movementleader Beppe Grillo, who holds the whip hand after winning ahuge protest vote, responded to speculation about a technocratgovernment in Italian media on Tuesday by saying he wouldnot support such an administration. “Technocrat governmentsdon’t exist in nature but only political governments supportedby parliamentary majorities. The Monti government was themost political government since the war,” he said on his blog.He said a technocrat premier would just be a “fig leaf” to coverthe responsibilities of the traditional parties. Napolitano ischarged with finding a way out of the impasse but does notbegin formal consultations until around March 15 for consti-tutional reasons, which encourages both speculation and ma-neuvering by politicians in the limbo before then. With no partyable to control the upper house, the options for forming a gov-ernment depend on an agreement between at least two of thethree main rival forces in parliament, Bersani’s center-left, thecenter-right bloc led by Silvio Berlusconi and the anti-estab-lishment 5-Star Movement. —Reuters

COLOMBO—China’s Export-Import Bank will provide a loanof $278.2 million to Sri Lanka tohelp lay a rail track to a key portwhich Beijing is building that hasstoked concern in neighboringIndia.

The port of Hambantota onthe southern tip of the IndianOcean island nation is envisionedas a refueling and service pointfor cargo ships, which pass a fewkilometers away on one of theworld’s busiest East-West ship-ping lanes.

Sri Lanka’s finance ministrysaid on Tuesday that the Chineseloan will be used to construct a27 km single-line track connect-ing Hambantota to Matara, thebiggest coastal town in the south.

“The demand for transportbetween the Southern Provinceand other provinces of the coun-try will increase due to develop-ments in the Southern region andoperations of the HambantotaPort,” the finance ministry said.

Sri Lankan PresidentMahinda Rajapaksa been push-ing for development of infra-structure projects in the south,since the end of the civil war inMay 2009. The $59 billion

economy has been increasinglyrelying on China, both for financ-ing and technical expertise for re-construction projects. Under thenew railway loan, $200 millionwill be provided under a prefer-ential buyer’s credit facility andthe balance $78.2 million will bea Chinese governmentconcessional loan facility, the SriLankan finance ministry said ina statement.

The loan will be offered at a2 percent annual interest rate witha repayment period of 20 years,including a five year grace pe-riod.

China has loaned $1.5 billionfor construction of theHambantota port and $209 mil-lion for a nearby airport, whichwill be launched on March 18.

Beijing’s expanding influ-ence in Sri Lanka has caused con-cern in India, which feelshemmed in by a string of similarport developments stretchingfrom Myanmar to Pakistan andthat it fears give the Chinese navya strategic boost in the region.

Rajapaksa has rejected NewDelhi’s concerns and said China’spresence was strictly for businessreasons, not political.—Reuters

China to provide loan forrail track to key SL port

MINNEAPOLIS—A blizzardroared into North Dakota onMonday and was expected todump up to a foot of snow inneighboring Minnesota beforemoving east over the mid-At-lantic states, where it couldbury the Washington area withits biggest snowfall of the win-ter, the National Weather Ser-vice said.

Blowing snow and drifts upto three feet (0.9 meter) leftparts of Montana and the north-west North Dakota oil regionwith visibility at a quarter of

mile under blizzard conditionsthat were expected to last intoMonday night, the weather ser-vice said.

The North Dakota transpor-tation department was recom-mending “no travel” on roadsacross the northwestern part ofthe state where there is a bliz-zard, stretching along the north-ern edge of the state across toroads north of Grand Forks.

Up to 15 inches of snow wasexpected in northwestern NorthDakota and 9 inches in theGrand Forks area, on the east-

ern border with Minnesota. Butthe state took the latest storm instride. “It’s a normal late winterstorm for us,” said Adam Jones,a meteorologist with the Na-tional Weather Service in Bis-marck.

The Minneapolis and St.Paul metropolitan area wasdusted by an inch or two of snowon Monday from a separatestorm system, and up to 10inches was expected from themain winter storm, mostly over-night into Tuesday morning, theweather service said. —Reuters

Snowstorm hits north-centralUS, heads to mid-Atlantic

BIPIN DANI

OBSERVER

CORRESPONDENT

MUMBAI—At least oneformer Pakistani captainwas following the proceed-ings of the 2nd India-Aus-tralia Test match(Hyderabad), since Satur-day when captain MichaelClarke declared the inningson the first day.

No team had earlier lostthe Test match by an in-nings after its captain de-cided to declare the firstinnings on the first day it-self.

No big deal in declaring on firstday of Test: Intikhab Alam

“I don’t think the resultwould have been declaredhad he not declared”,Intikhab Alam, who too de-clared on the first dayagainst England at Lord’s in1974, said.

“Declaring the innings onthe first day is not a bigdeal”, he added.

“We were hoping toscore 500 runs after decidingto bat on winning the toss,but the things were not go-ing the way we wanted...”, headded.

“The last pair (SarfarazNawaz and Asif Masood)was not recognised for bat-

ting and so, like Clarke inthe Test against Australianow, I decided to declare theinnings and were hoping toget one or two wickets”, headded.

“My gamble yieldedresult and we could getopener ’s (Dennis Amiss)wicket. It was purely mydecicion and no other se-nior members were con-sulted. There was no spe-cial coach in thosedays...”.

“My decision was notcriticised”, he added.

The Test match wasdrawn.

RAWALPINDI: A view of play during a tie of Inter University Volleyball Championship at Barani University.

HYDERABAD—When India’sconfidence was rattled by thedrubbings in Australia andEngland over the past twoyears, they took solace in theiroutstanding home record.Even that bit of relief had beentaken away when MontyPanesar and Graeme Swannoutspun India earlier this sea-son, but India’s belief at homehas come surging back withtwo thumping victories overAustralia.

Though it was widely ex-pected that Australia would godown on the fourth day, fewthought it would happen withthe embarrassing rapidity thatit did. Australia’s batsmen wereonce again nonplussed by theturning ball to subside to 131all out, handing India an in-nings-and-135-run victory anda 2-0 series lead.

If Australia’s chances wereslim at the start of the day, theyvanished with two deliveriesof vastly contrasting quality.Ishant Sharma got his firstwicket of the series with aharmless ball sliding down theleg side which Shane Watsonguided through to thewicketkeeper. Ravindra Jadeja,usually the butt of derogatoryjokes from Indian fans despitea stellar first-class record, thenproduced the ball of the match,a delivery that drifted ontomiddle stump and spun backto beat Michael Clarke’s for-ward defensive to crash intooff.

From then it was only a

India vs Australia 2nd Test

India go 2-0 up afterAustralia capitulate

matter of time. Ed Cowanhad gritted it out for nearlythree hours, forgetting thedeliveries that ripped pasthis outside edge to concen-trate afresh. Jadeja, with histail up after that magic ballto Clarke, ended Cowan’sresistance on 44 as an edgericocheted off MS Dhoni’sgloves deflected to VirenderSehwag at slip.

It got even better for Jadejasoon after as he lasered in athrow from cover to run outMoises Henriques, who wasyards out despite Jadeja fum-bling the ball before collectingit.

Then the man who startedAustralia’s slide on Mondayevening, R Ashwin, took over.He has kept his Twenty20variations to a minimum thisseries, and cleverly used themagainst the lower order. GlennMaxwell was looking towardssquare leg after attempting aflick only to be confounded bythe carrom ball that was head-ing for the off stump. Therewas time left for Ashwin tocomplete his eighth five-for in

11 home Tests.While the capitulation on

Tuesday morning was painfulviewing for Australia fans,much of the damage had beendone by the batting failure onthe first day, when the pitchwas at its best. Just threemonths ago, the much-cov-eted No. 1 Test ranking waswithin Australia’s grasp andClarke and the team manage-ment seemed to be able to dono wrong. After the two de-feats, he will be assailed byquestions, just as Dhoni hasbeen over the past couple ofyears.

The result will be a majorsource of relief for Dhoni, whoafter settling doubts over hisTest batting in Chennai hasnow become India’s most suc-cessful Test captain with 22wins.

The next match is inMohali, typically a swing-friendly surface, but givenAustralia’s ineptness againstspin, the curators are likelyto work overtime to producea turning track there aswell.—AFP

Australia 1st innings:237India 1st innings: ...... 503Australia 2nd innings:Cowan b Jadeja ............. 44Warner b Ashwin .......... 26PJ Hughes b Ashwin ...... 0Watson b Sharma ............ 9Clarke b Jadeja ............... 16Wade b Ashwin ............. 10Henriques run out ........... 0Maxwell lbw b Ashwin ... 8Siddle c Kohli b Jadeja ... 4Pattinson lbw b Ashwin . 0XJ Doherty not out ......... 1Extras: (b 7, lb 6) ............ 13Total: (all out) .............. 131Fall of wickets 1-56, 2-56, 3-75, 4-108), 5-111, 6-111, 7-123, 8-130, 9-130, 10-131Bowling: O-M-R-WB Kumar .................. 6-4-7-0R Ashwin .......... 28-12-63-5Harbhajan Singh 10-7-10-0RA Jadeja ........... 18-8-33-3I Sharma .................. 5-2-5-1

KARACHI—Pakistan CricketBoard chief threw his weightbehind under-fire coach DavWhatmore on Tuesday, afterthe national team’s 3-0 Testwhitewash in South Africa,saying he was doing a goodjob.

Whatmore, appointedPakistan coach a year ago,came in for severe criticismfrom former captains WasimAkram, Moin Khan and

Rashid Latif who called forthe former Australian bats-man to be sacked.

Appointed on a two-yearcontract, Whatmore guidedPakistan to the Asia Cup titleand a one-day series winover arch-rivals India but lostconsecutive Test series in SriLanka and South Africa.

Pakistan Cricket Board(PCB) chairman Zaka Ashraf

PCB chief backsunder-fire Whatmore

vowed there will be no hastydecisions on Whatmore’sfuture.

“Whatmore is under con-tract with the PCB and is per-forming well,” Ashraf toldAFP. “There is a committeewhich evaluates each personunder contract and submitsits report.

“We take decisions onlyon merit and performance ofthe individuals.”

Pakistan has a history ofsacking coaches, showingthe door to their last foreigncoach Geoff Lawson afteronly a year in the job in 2008.

Whatmore’s own ap-pointment in March last yearcame as a surprise after hispredecessor Mohsin Khanwas widely acclaimed forbringing stability to the teamand leading them to a 3-0

Test whitewash over En-gland.

But the latest Test capitu-lation prompted Khan to lashout at Whatmore, who mas-terminded Sri Lanka’s 1996World Cup triumph, callinghim over-rated and saying hewas “fighting for survival”.

Pakistan bounced backwith a convincing win inSunday’s Twenty20 matchand a PCB official speakingon condition of anonymitysaid Whatmore should not bejudged on Tests alone.

“Undoubtedly, the Testperformance is a concern butour results in other formatsare not bad. People who arecriticising the coach mustlook at the team’s overall per-formance,” the official said.

Pakistan’s Twenty20 cap-tain Mohammad Hafeez, whoblitzed a match-winning 86on Sunday as the touristshammered South Africa by 95runs in the second T20, alsobacked Whatmore.

“It (criticism ofWhatmore) was unfair,”Hafeez said in his post-matchcomments. “If the results ofone format do not come in yourfavour, it does not mean theboys are not working hard orthe coach is not good enough.Those are all premature state-ments,” he said. Pakistan nowplay a five-match one-day se-ries against South Africa, start-ing in Bloemfontein on Sun-day.—AFP

Pak-IndiaSnooker series

postponedKARACHI—The Pak-IndiaSnooker Series scheduledto be played here fromMarch 7 to 10 has beenpostponed, in the city, Pa-

kistan Bil l iards andSnooker Federation (PBSF)announced on Tuesday.

“The Billiards and Fed-erat ion of India has in-formed us that the playersfrom India will not be ableto participate in the eventas the Indian Travel Advi-sory Board has restrictedthe Indian team to travel toPakistan due to securi tyconcerns,” it said a state-ment issued here.

“Therefore the PakistanBil l iards and SnookerFederation and KMC’sCSR Department has de-cided to postpone the se-ries for due to the prevail-ing situation in the city”, itsaid.

The new dates for theseries wil l be announcedlater , the statementadded.—APP

Punjab Youth FestivalCricket, badminton

semis todayLAHORE—The Punjab YouthFestival 2013 competitions ofPress Clubs, Bar Associa-tions, Departments and Cor-porate sector in cricket andbadminton entered into semi-final here on Tuesday whiletable tennis formally startedat Shah Jahan Hall.

In the table tennis com-petitions, Lahore defeatedFaisalabad 3-0. Lahore play-ers did not give an inch tothe Faisalabad Press Clubplayers to settle down andwon the competition.

In singles, Lahore’sNaeem Akhtar beat Bilal ofFaisalabad 10-6, 12-9. In theother singles match SarmadSaeedi defeated AbdulWahed 10-5, 108 and in thedoubles match Lahore beatFaisalabad 11-7, 12-10.

In the second match,Multan edged asideRawalpindi 3-2 to qualify forthe quarter-finals. The tabletennis competitions of de-partments, Bar Associationand Corporate sector wouldstart from today.

In cricket matches of thepress clubs, Lahore wasoverwhelmed by Multan.Lahore gathered 96 runs ineight overs but Multan ham-mered the target losing onewicket. With this nine wick-ets win Multan qualified forthe semi-final and seems allset to defend its title.

In the badminton compe-titions, Higher EducationCommission (HEC) beatMotorway Police 2-0 toqualify for the final. Similarlyin the Press club category,Sahiwal beat Rawalpindiwhile Lahore Bar defeatedRawalpindi.

On Wednesday, semi-fi-nals of cricket will be playedat Ittefaq Ground, New Ittefaq,Shah Faisal and Mehran Clubgrounds while the semi-finalsof badminton will be playedat Iqbal Park Sports ComplexGymnasium.—APP

KARACHI—The Interna-tional Tennis Federation(ITF) has granted permissionto Pakistan to play theirDavis Cup Asia Oceaniazone group two secondround rubber against NewZealand at a neutral venue inMyanmar from April 5 to 7.

“We are very relieved af-ter the ITF acceded to ourrequest by allowing us toplay the next tie at a neutralvenue on grass courts,” thePresident of Pakistan TennisFederation (PTF), Dr SyedKaleem Imam, told Dawn fromSudan.

It is pertinent to mentionthat this will be for the firsttime in recent years that Pa-kistan tennis team will playits Davis Cup home tie at a

HYDERABAD: R Ashwin traps Glenn Maxwell lbw during India vs Australia 2ndTest on Tuesday.

Pakistan to play DavisCup tie at neutral venue

neutral venue similar to Paki-stan cricket team which playsthe home series away from

home.Foreign teams have re-

fused to travel to Pakistan forthe last couple of years ow-ing to security concerns.

“The PTF has suggestedMyanmar (grass courts) as a

neutral venue which suitsPakistan after failing to getpositive response from Ma-laysia,” he added.

The PTF chief added thatSenator Syed Dilawar Abbasand Ehtisham-ul-Haq, fatherof tennis celebrity Aisam-ul-Haq, have played a key rolein getting the nod for neutralvenue.

According to KaleemImam, Pakistan will retain thesame team that won the first-round tie against Sri Lankaat Colombo 3-2 last month.The team comprised Aisam-ul-Haq, Aqeel Khan, YasirKhan and Mohammad Abid.

It may be mentioned thatNew Zealand thrashed Leba-non 5-0 in the first round atAuckland.—APP

W E L L I N G T O N — N e wZealand fast bowler DougBracewell apologised Tues-day for an off-field incidentin which he injured his foot,ruling him out of the open-ing Test against England inDunedin.

New Zealand Cricket(NZC) said Bracewell cut hisright foot on glass in an “un-fortunate accident” whilecleaning up at his Napierhome on Saturday.

New Zealand media re-ported the accident occurredafter a party at Bracewell’shouse that attracted com-plaints from neighbours.

He was initially expectedto undergo a fitness test toassess whether he could faceEngland on Wednesday butcoach Mike Hesson said

Injury rules Bracewellout of England Test

medics had given the bowlerno chance of playing and IanButler had been called intothe squad.

Team manager MikeSandle said he was disap-

pointed in Bracewell, whohad brought unwelcome at-tention on the Black Caps onthe eve of the three-Test se-ries.

“We’ve told Doug thathe needs to take responsibil-ity for what happens aroundhim and that he needs to doall he can to ensure his prepa-ration for international cricketis not compromised,” Sandlesaid.

“Doug is very sorry forany inconvenience he hascaused his team-mates andmembers of the public, andhe has apologised to hisneighbour in Napier.”

Bracewell, 22, was brieflysuspended from the BlackCaps last year after becominginvolved in an alcohol-fuelledrow with a member of the pub-lic in a Napier bar following aloss to South Africa.—AFPDebutant Saga

wins NationalBridge crown

KARACHI—Debutant Sagafrom Lahore won the NationalBridge Championship whenthey defeated Karachi Aces123-117 International MatchPoints (IMPs) at Aslam Hallon Monday night.

Saga having GhalebBandesha, Asad Maqbool,Sarim Shakir and Asad Ranaproduced a sterling showduring the championship andemerged on the unbeaten.

All top teams includingTariq Rasheed Khan’s De-fending Champion Data Steelwhich won the Bridge Federa-tion for Asia and Middle EastChampionship in Chennai in2011, struggled with ex- Na-tional Champions Allana andlast championship runner-upteam Bilal.—APP

DEPRESSION and anxiety createhavoc with brain chemicals. Depression and anxiety are two fac-

tors that can cause havoc in a person’sgeneral health. Depression is caused dueto a number of factors rang-ing from emotional turmoilto too much exertion atwork.

These create undesir-able reactions in the bodyand cause ill health. Thereare a number of neu-rotransmitters and chemi-cals in the brain that areresponsible for maintain-ing balance in the body.When a person is stressed,these elements are im-pacted. In several cases,important chemicals in theneither brain such as norepinephrine, dopamine andserotonin that are respon-sible for calming the brainand inducing sleep are lostdue to stress.

Emotional and psychological problemsthat follow depression and anxiety; Ow-ing to the high stress life that people areliving these days, there is a large increasein the number of cases of depression andanxiety. Being depressed can increaseemotional degeneration. Loss of self es-teem is one of the major emotional sideeffects of depression. The person beginsto become introverted and withdrawn.

Anxiety creates a constant feeling of fearin a person that can cause strain in personaland professional lives. Further, people suf-fering with such a problem develop other prob-

Anxiety, depressiondestroys brain effectiveness

lems such as insomnia. If not treated in time,they can lead to serious problems that canresult in suicides.Depression and anxiety iscaused due to a number of factors. The lead-ing causes are some kind of tragedy such as

loss of a loved one, divorces,failure in professional frontand other incidents that canmake a solid impact on a per-son. Depression can also becaused due to drugs used forillnesses.

Many drugs that areused to treat diabetes, can-cer, cardiovascular diseases,insomnia and Alzheimer’shave been known to causedepression and anxiety.Among the two genders, ithas been found that womenare more susceptible to de-pression and anxiety thanmen. Women can also sufferdepression during major hor-monal changes in the bodysuch as menopause, preg-nancy and childbirth. Exces-

sive loss and gain of weight can also leadto these problems.

A person who suffers from depres-sion and anxiety tends exhibit symptomssuch as unprecedented and unreason-able fear, withdrawal, sweating, tightshoulders, stiff neck, irregular breathingand irregular heart beat. A good physi-atrist will be able to cure the problemthrough a combination of medicines,counseling and therapy. Healthy livinghabits, eating nutritious food and ad-equate exercise can be very effective inreducing depression and anxiety.

KARACHI: The rubble of the destroyed buildings is lying at the site of Abbas Town blast. It isworth mentioning the govt has not yet initiated repair work of the buildings affected by the blast.

KARACHI: Motorists are stuck in a massive traffic jam in Saddar.

KARACHI: The relaxed security protocols are visible within the premises of city courtsas unchecked/unmonitored parking area is easily accessible for possible terror activi-ties.—PO photo by Sultan Chaki

KARACHI—The two dayworkshop on education forjournalists organized by Pa-kistan Coalition for Educa-tion (PCE) and Oxfam GBconcluded here with theparticipants promising tohighlight issues related toeducation in the media.

During the workshopjournalists discussed issuesand hurdles preventing chil-dren from accessing qualityeducation. Zafarullah Khanfrom Civic Education Paki-stan (CCEP) provided tipson innovative ideas for edu-cation reporting. Effective

Quality education for all genders stressedreporting he said, would helpbring the education issues onthe media radar.

The journalists appreci-ated the PCE efforts tobroaden their understandingabout education sector, par-ticularly right to educationand girls’ education.

Abdual Khaliq, EditorOnline News Agency duringthe workshop said that thepoliticians need to changetheir priorities and ensure thatevery child has access to freeand quality education. Sindhhas declared free educationfor all children, other prov-

inces; he said should imple-ment Article 25A in letter andspirit.

The country needs tospend more on education; Pa-kistan he said spends theleast on education in the re-gion. The education criseswill get worse if the situationis not tackled as an emergencyhe said. The campaign “Myright, make it right “he saidwould help the decision mak-ers pay proper attention torectify the maladies afflictingthe education sector.

Eight fellowships werealso announced for the jour-

nalists participating in theworkshop, four for theQuetta journalists and fourfor Karachi journalists. Thefellowships will help encour-age the journalists to high-light issues related to educa-tion in their regions. Similarfellowships were also an-nounced during the Lahoreand Islamabad workshops.PCE conducted similar mediaworkshop in all the provin-cial capitals to sensitise thejournalists about the need towrite on education related is-sues.

Pakistan Coalition of

Education (PCE) wasfounded in 2005 by a groupof like-minded civil societymembers with the aim of im-proving the quality educa-tion in Pakistan. PCE, worksin partnership with 200 or-ganizations located in differ-ent districts in Pakistan toensure free quality educa-tion for all children particu-larly the girl child. PCE alsoprovides a forum for researchand advocacy for promotingnew education policies thatwould help usher a positivechange in the education sec-tor.—Online

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—The AbbasTown disaster had happenedbecause of failure of intelli-gence breach in the securitymeasures by the law enforc-ing agencies and govern-ment should concentrate onthis matter security issue.The PMA demanded a fairjudicial inquiry to this inci-dence and bring the culpritsand responsible to justice. A

Abbas Town disaster was dueto intelligence failure: PMA

strategy should be evolvedto prevent the deadly inci-dence in future.

The Pakistan MedicalAssociation (PMA) said thisin a meeting held Tuesday atthe PMA office in the city.

PMA Karachi PresidentDr M Idrees Adhi, , PMACentre Secretary General DrMirza Ali Azhar, PMA Cen-tre Finance Secretary Dr S MQaisar Sajjad, Dr ShaukatMalik, Dr Ahmed Bhimani

and Dr Aziz Khan Tank at-tended.

PMA strongly condemnthe deaths of the innocentpeople at Abbas TownKarachi in recent Bomb Blasttragedy.

PMA appealed to generalpublic to donate blood atPWA at Civil HospitalKarachi as injured people arein need of blood and offeredfull support to SecretaryHealth in this disaster.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Karachi Waterand Sewerage Board(KW&SB) under the ordersof the Managing Director(MD) Misbahuddin Fareedwas devising a strategy toreceive betterment andcommercialisation chargesfrom Cantonment Boards.

In this regard, the MDsaid that the Board had timeand again requested the offi-cials of the CantonmentBoards and Station Com-mander for the same.

In a letter to Deputy Man-

KW&SB MD asks CantonmentBoards to release betterment charges

aging Director recovery andDeputy Managing Directortechnical services he di-rected that a proper strategymust be formulated with thecollaboration of officials ofthe Cantonment Boards andwater connections of all de-faulting consumers must bedisconnected.

The MD said that that‘No Objection Certificate(NOC) for connection to un-der construction buildingmust be compulsory. VariousResidential and IndustrialConsumers were availing thewater supply without any

prior permission neither therewas any proper system to is-sue NOCs and receive bet-terment charges.

He said that in this regard awritten agreement and memo-randum of understanding withCantonment Board was a vitalneed of the hour. It would notonly ensure recovery from Un-der Construction Buildings,Residential and CommercialUnits but would also improvewater supply and sewerage fa-cilities. However, right now theKW&SB was unable to receivebetterment andcommercialisation charges.

Seerat-un-NabiConference held

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Pakistan SteelMills (PSM) Chief ExecutiveOfficer Major Gen. M. JavedHI-M (retd) said that truelove and complete respect toour Holy Prophet (SAW)was a necessary part of ourfaith, Prophet’s life was hereto guide us in all aspects oflife.

He said these words whileaddressing PresidentialSpeech in Seerat un Nabi(SAW) Conference held at Pa-kistan Steel MTC Auditorium.Different Religious Scholars,Senior PS Officers along withCBA representatives andworkers were also present atthe conference.

He said the Holy Prophet(SAW) has shown the pathof success in this world andhereafter to the whole hu-manity and it is unfortunatefor us if we do not follow thetrue path. The life of HolyProphet (SAW) is completelycommitted towards the suc-cess and trueness of his mis-sion for which he didn’t evertake any break. Prophet(SAW) was the pioneer of theguiding principles for estab-lishing business with cred-ibility on behalf of honestyand truthfulness.

Addressing the partici-pants, Maulana TanveerulHaq Thanvi said that Seeratun Nabi (SAW) gave thepeaceful and positive roots ofunity to mankind. The sacredpractical life of Muhammad(SAW) was the example forMuslims to pave their goalstowards peace and prosperity.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Pakistan was pass-ing through the most difficultphase of unprecedented crises.There had tremendous internaland external threats that weremeant to destabilize the coun-try. Therefore, it was need ofthe hour that the democraticpolitical forces should getunited on a single point agendaof peace and harmony acrossthe country.

All Pakistan MuslimLeague (APML) Central Secre-tary Information Aasia Ishaq ina statement issued here saidthat Pakistan was at war andthe terrorists had rocked thenook and cranny of the coun-

Politicians need to standunited for peace: APML

try through suicide attacks andbomb blasts with aim to estab-lish their writ and destroy thesoft image of the country as theprogressive democratic state.

The religious and politicalparties should now realize thatthe country need unity more itneeded ever because the coun-try could not afford the divisionof the people on sectariangrounds, which was also aplanned plot of the enemies ofthe country, she said addingthat there was no doubt thatforeign hands were behind theongoing arson and carnage andwanted to create circumstancesas were once created in 1971,which led to division of theunited Pakistan into two sepa-

rate states.The institutions that had

sworn in to protect the countryunder all situations should alsofocus on elements that hadwaged a war from inside thecountry and leave no chanceof their elimination, she urged.It was very sad that the politi-cians of dynasty had lost trustof the people and were lookingfor a change in the country’sleadership. The terror-affectednation had been looking at theformer President PervezMusharraf to lead the countryand take it out from the threatsand crises, which he would cer-tainly do as he did during histenure as the President of Paki-stan, she asserted.

PML-F movesSHC againstSA speaker,

deputy speakerKARACHI—Pakistan Mus-lim League-Functional(PML-F) Member of SindhAssembly Jam Madad Ali onTuesday filed a writ petitionin Sindh High Court (SHC),seeking contempt proceed-ing against the speaker andthe deputy speaker. Ali, thepetitioner, has pleaded thecourt to initiate contemptproceeding against thespeaker and the deputyspeaker for not notifying theopposition leader in the SA.

On February 8, the SHCon a petition filed by 10MPAs of PML-F had directedthe speaker to notify the op-position leader within 10days. The PML-F and otheropposition members in theSindh Assembly had nomi-nated Nusrat Seher Abbasifor the slot.—NNI

Switzerland tocontinue

cooperationwith Pakistan

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The Consul Gen-eral of Switzerland in KarachiMr. Didier Boschung hosteda media get-together event athis residence. The main pur-pose of this gathering was tofurther strengthen the exist-ing friendly relations withKarachi based journalist andwriters. The Ambassador ofSwitzerland in Islamabad H.E.Christoph Bubb and Mrs.Bubb also graced the occa-sion as they were in Karachito embark on their two daysvisit to interior Sindh. Thisauspicious event was at-tended by some tycoons ofprint and electronic media anda number of senior journalists.

The Swiss Ambassadorsaid that he likes the metropo-lis of Karachi and he had al-ready made several visits to thecity. He was of the view thatSwitzerland would increase itsinvestments in local industrydespite the law and order situ-ation.

KARACHI—One of the threebuildings which were af-fected in the twin blasts ofAbbas Town on Sunday hasbeen declared dangerous, itneeds to be completely de-molished and re-constructed.

The two other AbbasTown blasts-hit buildings arerequired to be repaired underthe supervision of experts.This was stated in a reporton Tuesday prepared byTechnical Committee ofSindh Building Control Au-thority (SBCA) for danger-ous buildings led by its Sec-retary Ashkar Dawar which

SBCA declares Abbas Townblasts-hit building dangerous

held detailed inspection ofthe affected buildings.

The report has also beensubmitted to the DirectorGeneral, SBCA ManzoorQadir.The report said the ba-sic RCC structure of the four-storeyed building of Iqra Cityphase-I’s block-D which af-fected in Abbas Town blastshas been damaged to a largeextent and it needs to be com-pletely erased and re-erected.

The report said the struc-ture of the second buildingof Iqra City’s block-E has alsobeen affected which needsrepair.

It said half of the struc-ture of Rabia Flower’s block:A-3 building has been af-fected to a larger extentwhich also needs repairwork.

The SBCA’s Technicalbody has advised that theconstruction and repair workof the blasts-hit buildings becarried out under the super-vision of licensed construc-tion consultants. The com-mittee has also warned thepeople to stay away from theblasts-affected buildings anddo not enter or pass by thesame.—NNI

UNTIL now, blood was used in diabetes testing machines to evaluate the blood sugar level of pa-

tients. Latest studies have now shownthat tears can also used effectively toevaluate blood sugar lev-els.

The study was con-ducted by University ofMichigan researchersand the study was pub-lished in AnalyticalChemistry journal. Whenstudies were conductedon animals in laboratory,tears were found to givean accurate measure ofblood sugar level. Thedevice used for testingwas an electrochemicalsensor.

According to the re-searchers, there is a dras-tic increase in the num-ber of people sufferingwith diabetes all over the world. As perstatistics, 5% of the world’s populationis diabetic.

In addition, the lead researcher ofthe study Mark Meyerhoff said that thefrequency of diabetics is also increas-ing. Obesity was said to be the majorculprit behind this alarming scenario.

Given the demand for devices thattest diabetes, Meyerhoff and his teamdecided to develop a new method thatdid not involve drawing blood to testglucose levels. Tears were the next bestchoice. The level of blood sugar in tears

Exercise, less sitting time,linked to better sleep

was found to give an accurate evalua-tion.

People who suffer from very highlevel of diabetes may have to test theirblood sugar level by drawing blood

more than eight times aday. Piercing finger with aneedle to extract blood isa painful and uncomfort-able process. This leads toa dangerous ramification.

People who need totest their blood sugar donot do i t often enoughdue to the pain caused.This hampers testing theglycemic index and leadsto inefficient control ofglycemic levels. Thismight lead to further com-plications. Testing usingtears is more comfortableand less painful.

According to thestudy, tears are accurate

in providing results as is blood. Fur-ther, those who need to measure bloodsugar several times a day do not haveto be intimidated by the task becausetears do not cause pain at all.

The device that has been developedis sensitive enough to measure very smallamounts of blood sugar as well. It can de-tect 1.5μM add or subtract 0.4 μM of glu-cose.

This provides an accurate enough so-lution to testing of glucose in the blood. Itis also a non invasive and painless way oftesting blood glucose.

LAHORE: PML-N President Muhammad Nawaz Sharif meeting with Indian Ambassa-dor Sharat Sabarwal.

LAHORE: Students busy in painting during wall painting competition as part of Jashn-e-Baharan at Jillani Park.

LAHORE: Employees of Punjab Local Government holding a demonstration in supportof their demands.

Beggarsswarm local

trainsLAHORE—The passengerscommuting for livelihoodvia local trains have com-plained against the pres-ence numerous beggarswho make the journey diffi-cult and pose securitythreat for all.

Talking to APP on Tues-day, passengers alleged thatpolice let the beggars “oper-ate” freely as they receivetheir share of “alms” fromthese elements.

Usman, Tahir, Liaqat, Umarand several other daily com-muters said that Railway Po-lice should take steps for elimi-nating these elements so thatrail travel becomes better.

An official of Railwaypolice assured that specialattention would be paid tothis issue and all such per-sons would be checked fromboarding local trains.—APP

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—Noise pollution inthe capital metropolis hasjumped up to 35 percent caus-ing serious hazards to humanhealth especially school go-ing children due to lack ofcoordination among thePunjab Environmental Pro-tection, Transport and Traf-fic Departments.

The alarming raise of pol-lution is causing widespreadhearing defects, insomnia,indigestion, heart burn, ulcers,hypertension and psycho-logical disorders among theinhabitants of the city.

No department related tochecking noise pollution is

ready to accept the responsi-bility of negligence and havetaken the course of blamingeach other for not taking ac-tion against the violators ofthe rules that help controlnoise pollution. Environmen-tal Protection Department saidit was only responsible formaking policies while theTransport Department was re-sponsible for controlling noisepollution in coordination withthe Traffic Police. On the otherhand, the Transport Depart-ment, denying the allegation,said the department was notregistering two-stroke ve-hicles nor giving road permitsto them and all two stroke ve-hicles were illegal. Environ-

mental Department said the in-spectors wore plain clothesand no noise-emitting ve-hicles stop at their orders sothey were totally dependent onTransport Department andTraffic Police.

However, a sources privyto the Environmental Depart-ment revealed that the lack ofequipment and staff was thegreatest hindrance in the wayof measuring traffic noise levelin various parts of the city ondaily basis as the departmenthad eight inspectors onlywho shared four Sound Levelmetres. According to thesources, the inspectors wereexpected to measure noiselevel within the radius of 7.5

meters randomly on daily ba-sis and these eight inspec-tors only cover eight to tenlocations. The sources fur-ther said the EPD focusedonly on smoke-emitting ve-hicles and ignored noise pol-lution while the high-upsconcentrated their energieson attending meetings anddoing paperwork. TransportDepartment said they werenot authorised to check thefitness of the private vehiclesand motorbikes and the ve-hicles running on diesel werethe main cause of noise pol-lution and there should belegislation to amend the trans-port laws according to re-quirements.

Noise pollution up by 35% in city

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Punjab Univer-sity Vice Chancellor Prof DrMujahid Kamran has saidthat the rulers of the countrywere responsible for educa-tional disaster in country andthey did not realize that howknowledge was important forrespectable survival in theworld. He was addressing theannual convocation ofHailey College of CommerceNew Campus.

PU HCC Principal Prof DrLiaqat Ali, senior facultymembers and a large numberof students were present onthe occasion. Addressing theceremony, the VC said thatbecause of education-

Rulers responsible for academiccrisis in country: PU VC

friendly policies of the cur-rent administration, PU hadproduced more than 200PhDs last year.

He said that knowledgewas the source of power andrespect but no nation couldbecome knowledgeable with-out the strength of charac-ter. He said that the averagespending of the world wasaround 4-5 percent of GDP oneducation but on the con-trary, we were reducing ourspending on education.

He said that the averagespending of the world oneducation was 4 to 5 percenton education in average. Hesaid that Pakistan’s popula-tion was around 180 millionand our population was in-

creasing but unfortunately,our rulers had cut educa-tional budget from 2 percentto around 1.5 percent of GDP.He advised them to be expertof their subject, keep an eyeon their own shortcomings,praise qualities of others andhelp each other. He said thatthe college under the leader-ship of Dr Liaqat Ali was pro-ducing quality graduates. DrLiaqat Ali said that accord-ing to Nelson Mandela, edu-cation was the best weaponfor bringing change to thesociety. He also detailed theprogress report of the col-lege. Earlier, degrees, medalsand prizes were distributedamong degree holder stu-dents.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Punjab LabourMinister Haji Ehsaan-ud-DinQureshi has said thatlabourers are the backboneof our industry and every ef-fort is being made by the gov-ernment to upgrade thesocio-economic status of thelabourers.

He said that the timelypayment of minimum wagesi.e. Rs. 9000/- per month, bythe employers has been en-sured.

He said that present gov-ernment has also increasedthe marriage grant from Rs70,000/- to Rs.100,000/- of thelabourer’s daughters and fe-male worker as well. He saidthat death grant has alsobeen increased fromRs.300,000/- to Rs.500,000/-on the death of an industrialworker.He said that PunjabEmployees Social SecurityInstitution (PESSI) is provid-ing best treatment facilities,even out of country, to reg-

Social Security Medical College okayed for Faisalabad

Labourers get modernhealthcare facilities in

Punjab: Qureshiistered workers and familymembers. He said that chiefminister has approved theconstruction of social secu-rity medical college atFaislabad.

He said that governmentwas providing state of the arthealth care facilities to thelabourers and labour depart-ment is spending Rs. 4.31 bil-lion for the provision of stateof the art healthcare facilitiesto the labourers and theirfamilies during current fiscalyear. He said that new socialsecurity hospitals will besetup and existing hospitalswould be updated. He toldthat during current financialyear a new social securityhospital is being establishedat Sheikhupura where mod-ern facilities and medicalequipments will be provided.

He expressed these viewsin 121st governing bodymeeting of Punjab EmployeesSocial Security Institution(PESSI) presided by its

Chairman / Minister Labour.The meeting was attended bySecretary Labour, Commis-sioner PESSI, high rankingofficials of labour, health, fi-nance and other depart-ments.

Haji Ehsaan-ud-DinQureshi said that governmentis giving top priority to theprovision of state of the arthealthcare facilities to thelabourers and the main ob-jective of the labour depart-ment is to provide free of costcomprehensive healthcarefacilities to the workers andtheir family members.

He said that the socialsecurity is introducing hos-pital management informa-tion system costing rupees107 million. The schemewould be introduced at thedispensary level in phases.He said that latest treatmentfacilities to the workers / fam-ily members are being pro-vided even for chronic andfatal diseases.

STAFF REPORTER

L A H O R E — S i k a n d a rAhmed Rai, Federal Secre-tary for Ministry of Waterand Power, has termedNESPAK a symbol of hon-esty and integrity.

He said this during hisfirst visit to NESPAK Househere on Tuesday.

Asad I. A. Khan, Man-aging Director NESPAK,welcomed the Federal Sec-retary and gave him a cor-porate presentation high-lighting the performance ofNESPAK.

Speaking on the occa-sion, the Federal Secretary/Chairman Board of Direc-tors of NESPAK eulogizedNESPAK services in thefields of engineering, archi-

NESPAK termed symbol of integritytecture/town planning etc.,and encouraged its profes-sionals to channelize theirexpertise in other fields likeoil, gas, petroleum and min-ing sectors. He also pro-posed that NESPAK shouldset up its Institute to imparttechnical education, whichwill be beneficial not onlyfor NESPAK but also helpgovernment acquire bettertechnical manpower.

Assuring his full sup-port to NESPAK, he laudedits management for notbowing to the political pres-sure and for upholding thepolicy of merit instead offavoritism.

He was very impressedby the performance ofNESPAK, which has beengenerating its own rev-

enues and working as a self-sustaining entity withouttaking a single penny fromthe national exchequer.During his visit, he also tooka round of NESPAK and in-teracted freely with thestaff. He inquired abouttheir welfare and listened totheir views and sugges-tions.

On this occasion, he alsoadvised the NESPAK Man-agement to expedite the pro-cess of giving bonus and 20percent increase in basicpay to the staff, which wasdue since July 01, 2012.

On behalf of the Com-pany, MD NESPAKthanked the honourableguest for supportingNESPAK and his words ofencouragement.

UVAS QualityEnhancementCell achievesQEC rating

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The Quality As-surance Agency of theHigher Education Commis-sion Islamabad has rankedthe Quality EnhancementCell (QEC) of the Universityof Veterinary and AnimalSciences (UVAS) Lahore in“W” category with a totalscore of 91 per cent for theyear of 2012.

“W” is the top most cat-egory in the QEC rating cri-teria with a score falling inthe range of 85%-100%while the other categoriesare “X” with a score be-tween 68%-84%, “Y” 51%-67% and “Z” with a scoreof up to 50%.

The HEC’s Quality As-surance Agency assessesthe progress of the qualityenhancement cells of pub-lic and private universitiesthrough quantitative/scorecard system.

In a letter to UVAS Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr TalatNaseer Pasha, HEC’s Qual-ity Assurance AgencyManaging Director Prof DrAzam Ali Khwaja appreci-ated the performance of theQuality Enhancement Cellof the UVAS.

“It is appreciable thatthe performance of theUVAS QEC is progressingwell. It is hoped that it willcontinue to achieve the ob-jectives of strengtheninginternal quality assuranceprocesses at your univer-sity,” the letter added.

Sewer safety kitsimported for

sanitary workersLAHORE—Punjab govern-ment has imported latestsewer safety kits from Italyto control loss of human lifeduring desilting of sewerlines.

This was informed bySpecial Secretary Local Gov-ernment Punjab DostMuhammad Bareech whileaddressing a function of dis-tribution of sewer safety kitsamong Tehsil Municipal Of-ficers at Punjab MunicipalDevelopment Fund Com-pany.

Dost MuhammadBareech said that Punjabgovernment has imported thebest available system anduseful machinery available inthe world from Italy for theprotection of sewer menwhich consisted of facemask,oxygen cylinders, pipe foroxygen and compressor.

He said that sewer mencan carry out desilting ofsewerage and restorationwork for seven to eight hoursin the sewer with the equip-ment. Special Secretary fur-ther directed the concernedauthorities that emergencybattery light used in minesshould be provided to thesewer men along with sewersafety kit so that they couldwork in deep and dark sewerlines easily.

MD Punjab MunicipalDevelopment Fund Com-pany, Aamir Rafique in-formed that every sewersafety kit is comprised of twocylinders, sixty three feetpipe, one facemask, cylindertrolley and a compressor andthe air can be filled in eachcylinder upto the pressure ofthree hundred bar. He toldthat one cylinder is sufficientfor continuous use for threehours whereas compressorshave also been provided forfilling it again.

Later, Special SecretaryLocal Government gave twosewer safety kits to eachTehsil Municipal Officer ofChiniot, Chubara, Burewala,Sadiqabad, Kalar Kahar,Khanewal, Hafizabad,Jhelum, Muzaffargarh,Khanpur, Gojra, Muridke,Bahawalnagar, Pakpattanand Daska.—INP

Journalistshunger strike

continueLAHORE—Journalists con-tinued their hunger strikeon the second day in frontof Punjab Assembly topress their demand for F-Block and other JournalistColony problems here onTuesday.

The Punjab Chief Minis-ter had promised many timesto resolve this issue.

No any senior official ofthe provincial governmentbothered to assure them toresolve their problems.—APP