MALIKWAL: President Zardari waving to gathering at an Eid Millan party on Wednesday.

USAID to spend $800m in 5 Pakmajor sectors from next year

ISLAMABAD—The United States Agencyfor International Development (USAID)would spend about $800 million in differ-ent development projects in Pakistan in thefinancial year 2013 that has started fromthe 1st of Oct 2012.

The USAID has targeted five majorsectors — economic growth, energy, edu-cation, health and community infrastructuredevelopment, with the mission to promotestability and prosperity in the country.

Jock Conly, Mission Director of theUSAID Programme in Pakistan, disclosedthis in an interview to Pakistan Observer.Virginija Morgan, Country Head of the

USAID Programme facilitated the PakistanObserver’s interview in the USAID’s of-fice in the US Embassy. Ms Morgan andMatthew Boland, Deputy Spokesperson ofthe US Embassy, Islamabad, were alsopresent during the interview. Below is thedetail of the interview.

Q: For how long you have been in Pa-kistan and heading the USAID programme?

A: I came to Pakistan in June this yearto work with the USAID Programme as theMission Director.Q: What motivated you to head the USAIDprogramme in Pakistan and how is your ex-perience of working in this country?A: I am here to make efforts to achieve thekey goals of the US Congress of making

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NRO implementation case hearing

Apex court retractscontempt notice against Raja

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Following thedispatch of the Swiss letterfrom the Federation, the Su-preme Court on Wednesdayretracted the contempt ofcourt notice against PrimeMinister Raja Pervez Ashrafin National Reconciliation

Ordinance (NRO) implemen-tation case.

Heading the hearing Tues-day, Justice Anwar ZaheerJamali, who penned down theorder, said that the governmentcomplied with the court’s direc-tives of writing a letter to theSwiss authorities for reopeninggraft cases against President

Asif Ali Zardari. The con-tempt issue was disposed ofby the court.

Law Minister Farooq HNaek appeared before the courtand presented the receipt vali-dating that the Swiss authori-ties have received the letter

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ISLAMABAD: Jock Conly, Mission Di-rector of USAID Programme in Pakistan,during an interview to Pakistan Observer.

PM, cabinet express concernover Karachi situation

SHARAFAT KAZMI

ISLAMABAD—Prime MinisterRaja Pervez Ashraf has voicedconcern over the ongoing spateof violence in Karachi and di-rected the law enforcing agenciesto take all possible measures forimprovement of law and order inthe city.

In his opening remarks at thecabinet’s meeting on Wednesday‚he said miscreants are trying tocreate sectarian strife in Karachi.We are all mindful of the fact thatextremism, militancy, intoler-ance, sectarian violence and ter-rorism, pose a serious threat andchallenge to our sovereignty, se-curity and national cohesion. Hesaid we have to thwart sinister

designs of the terrorists and thegovernment, would play its partin eliminating these elements.

He directed the law enforc-ing agencies of all provinces tobeef up security arrangementsand evolve a mechanism to main-tain peace and harmony duringthe holy month of MoharramulHaraam. He said the federal Gov-ernment would extend all pos-sible assistance to the provincialgovernments in this regard.

He asked the people ofKarachi to keep an eye on suspi-cious activities of miscreants andinform the Law Enforcing Agen-cies about any such activity. Heurged Ulema and religious schol-ars to play their role in bringingpeace to the city.

Condemning the suicide at-tack on Rangers Headquarters in

‘ISAF, Pak committedto peace, security’

RAWALPINDI—ISAF and Paki-stan are committed to peace andsecurity on the Afghanistan-Pa-kistan border, Lt Gen NickCarter, Deputy Commander ofthe International Security Assis-tance Force said.

He expressed these viewsduring his meeting with Lt Gen

Waheed Arshad, Chief of theGeneral Staff Pakistan Army onWednesday.

According to ISPR, meetingwas the latest in a regular seriesof engagements aimed at bol-stering the military-to-militaryrelationship between ISAF and

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Politics should be fair: Zardari

Elections to be intime, transparent

SHER GONDAL

MANDI BAHAUDDIN—Presi-dent Asif Ali Zadari said onWednesday that elections wouldbe held at due time and it wouldbe ensured elections process wastransparent.

He was addressing an EidMillan party held in his honourat Malikwal. Commencing hisspeech in Punjabi he said hespent seven years in Punjab jails– Attock and Rawalpindi andmany party workers includingfrom Mandi Bahauddin districtwhom he still remembered wentto jails to meet him and spokein Punjabi.

Thus he learnt speakingPunjabi but still he was not flu-

ent. The President said he hadplanned to stay for some time atLahore to further improve onPunjanbi language. He said heremembered that all praties lead-ers raised slogans “elections notacceptable” under Musharraf.But it was Benazir BhuttoShaheed who opted to go forelections and asked other partiesto do so.

After elections a new era ofpolitics started and that was tofollow reconciliation policyamong all political leaders. Hesaid politics is a noble practiceand nurturing enmity in it wasdangerous for the nation. Hesaid his party believed in de-mocracy and our country’s ex-istence, prosperity and stability

depended on it. Therefore hisparty was promoting democ-racy and would advance it infuture as well.

Zardari said his party playspolitics for the state and not forthe party, adding if country sur-vived we would be able to dopolitics and if the county was notthere how all of us would do poli-tics, he questioned. He saidpower was the public and therewas no greater power than it. Wewould make our nation with thesupport of people more civilizedand more prosperous.

He said his party did notwork for one party; it worked forall parties. Referring to Malala hesaid Malala was following vision

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Karachi target killingcontinues, 5 more dead

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—As target killingscontinue, five more persons losttheir lives in the on-going spateof violence in Karachi onWednesday.

According to police, un-known gunmen killed GhulamMuhammad in Sultanabad areaof Manghopir who was the resi-dent of Kotri.

Saifullah was targeted andkilled in Korangi C area by uni-dentified attackers while at thesame time, Qari MuhammadImran was also gunned down atNishtar Road in Jamshed Quar-ter area. Both the victims werebelieved to be the members ofthe same religious group. Ten-sion has gripped the areas ad-joining Teen Hati, Lasbela andJahangir Road while the trafficpolice has advised the commut-ers to take alternate routes.

In the wee hours of Wednes-day morning, two persons were

killed in New Karachi and andOrangi Town.

Police said a man was shotdead near Bashir Chowk in NewKarachi. The identity of the de-ceased could not be ascertained.In another incident, a man uni-dentified as Shujaat was gunneddown by unknown outlaws inOrangi Town.

On Tuesday, five peoplewere killed in ongoing violencein the city.

Meanwhile, Rangers carriedout targeted operation in variousareas and apprehended morethan a dozen suspects. Sourcestold that a target killer was ar-rested from Baldia Town No.VII. Paramilitary force also re-covered weapon from his cus-tody. The accused were said tohave affiliation with banned out-fit. LEAs also conducted raidsin Landhi, Mujahid Colony,Baldia Town and Chanesar Gothand held 12 accused and recov-ered arms.—Online

NBP to provideRs6.1b loan to

RailwaysLAHORE—National Bank ofPakistan (NBP) will providecash-strapped Pakistan Railwaysa Rs6.10 billion-rupee loan torevamp its depleted fleet, mediareports said on Wednesday.

According to the sources, anagreement to this effect has beenreached between the NationalBank and PRACS - a subsidiaryof Pakistan Railways.

Under the agreement, theNBP will provide the funds inone-go but the loan amount willbe payable in the next five yearscarrying a mark-up of 10.45 per-cent per annum.

During the first two years,Pakistan Railways will only paythe mark-up after every sixmonths whereas in the next threeyears Railways will also be li-able to payback principleamount along with the mark-up.

The loan will be used forrepair and maintenance of Rail-ways engines.—Online

Conspiracyagainst army

hatched:Musharraf

KARACHI—Former PresidentGen (R) Pervez Musharraf hassaid that a conspiracy has beenhatched against the army basedon the fact, “If you want toweaken Pakistan then weakenthe army” and this is what ishappening now.

In an interview to BritishRadio on Wednesday, General(Retd) Pervez Musharraf saidthat he during his tenure had or-dered the intelligence agenciesto keep themselves aloof frompolitics and added, “We had de-cided that secret agencies mustnot indulge/interfere in politics.”

Musharraf said US dronestrikes mostly killed terrorists intribal areas, adding some fromthe general public also fell vic-tim to it, but their number wasbeing exaggerated.—INP

Pre-paid SIMs saleat shops banned

ISLAMABAD—Government hasput a ban on sale of SubscriberIdentification Modules (SIMs)at unauthorised shops across thecountry with effect from De-cember 1.

An individual wishing tobuy a mobile phone SIM willnow have to visit the cellularcompaneis’ authorized centers tobuy the SIM which will be is-sued to him upon completion ofa procedure prescribed by thegovernment.

The consumer will need tosubmit a photocopy of his Na-tional Identity Card (NIC) to thecellular company’s authorizedcentre. The company will latercarry out the verification of thesubscriber’s address by sendinga staffer.

The SIM will finally be is-sued to the subscriber after get-ting a go ahead from NationalDatabase and Regulation Author-ity (NADRA).—INP

Eradication of terrorism

Pak, Afghan agreeto work jointly

Taliban urged to sever links with Al-QaedaISLAMABAD—”Pakistan andAfghanistan will work closelywith other international partnersto remove the names from theUN sanctions list of the poten-tial negotiators amongst Talibanand other groups to enable themto participate in peace talks”

This was said in the jointdeclaration issued at ForeignOffice after the successful roundof talks between Pakistan andAfghan High Peace Council on

Wednesday.Afghan High PeaceCouncil’s delegation briefed thePakistan side on the progressmade in the peace and reconcili-ation process and underlined theimportance of Pakistan’s role inthis regard.

Pakistan supportsAfghanistan’s vision androadmap for achieving durableand lasting peace in Afghanistan.

The two sides appealed to theTaliban and other armed opposi-

tion groups to participate in theAfghan-led and Afghan-ownedreconciliation process to end vio-lence.

In support of peace and rec-onciliation process and in re-sponse to the requests of the Af-ghan government and HighPeace Council, a number ofTaliban detainees are being re-leased. The two sides agreed tojointly work for holding an

No evidenceagainst Petraeus:ObamaWASHINGTON—PresidentBarack Obama opened his firstpress conference in months —and first since the election thatgave him a second term — witha vow to work with both partiesin Congress to tackle the so-called “fiscal cliff” and revivethe economy. He also said hehad “no evidence” that thescandal that led David Petraeusto resign in disgrace from hisjob as CIA director had led tobreaches in classified nationalsecurity material.

“Right now our economy isstill recovering from a verydeep and damaging crisis, soour top priority has to be jobsand growth,” Obama said inopening remarks in the EastRoom of the White House.

PM summonsBalochistanparty MPAsISLAMABAD—Prime Minister(PM) Raja Pervez Ashraf hassummoned member ofBalochistan Assembly fromPPP in Islamabad amid thepersisting constitutional crisisin the province.

PPP Balochistan presidentMir Sadiq Imrani saidWednesday that the members ofBalochistan Assembly had beensummoned by PM in Islamabadto discuss the prevailingpolitical crisis in the province.

Supreme Court through itsverdict in Balochistan law andorder case had declared theBalochistan government afailed government and therulers incapable to govern theprovince. The province isfacing constitutional crisisfollowing the apex court deci-sion.—Online

UN committeeadoptsPakistan draftUNITED NATIONS—Acommittee of the UN GeneralAssembly adopted a Pakistan-sponsored resolution reaffirm-ing that the universal realiza-tion of the right of peoples toself-determination was afundamental condition for theeffective guarantee andobservance of human rights.

The resolution, co-sponsored by a record numberof 75 countries, was adoptedby consensus in theAssembly’s Third Committee,which deals with Social,humanitarian and culturalissues.

Diplomatic observers saythe resolution, which Pakistanhas been tabling since 1981,serves to focus the world’s at-tention on the struggle by

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InterviewJaved Mahmood

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—Punjab Policeclaimed to have arrested five ter-rorists having links with bannedoutfit Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan(TTP) Punjabi Chapter involvedin terror activities including at-tack on Babu Sabu checkpointsand Rasool Park tragedy.

Addressing a news confer-ence at Police Club Lahore hereon Wednesday, Inspector General

5 TTP terrorists heldof Punjab Police Haji HabiburRehman said the miscreants werebased in Miranshah, adding theywere arrested in a joint action byCrime Investigation Agency(CIA) Police Multan andMakhdoom Rasheed Police.

He said that Multan policehad an encounter with thePunjabi Taliban Qari Yaseen aliasUstad Aslam group and arrestedits five members. A large cache

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Cabinet approvesElectoral Reforms Bill

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The FederalCabinet on Wednesday gave a goahead to Electoral Reforms Bill-2012.

According to sources, theElectoral Reforms Bill 2012which also contains the Code ofConduct for elections, bans can-vassing by the President, care-taker prime minister and gover-

Continued on Page 7

Qadir: We havebeen left at

terrorists mercyISLAMABAD—Abdul QadirGilani, member of the NationalAssembly and son of formerprime minister Yusuf RazaGilani, has said that lives of hisfamily members have been leftat the mercy of terrorists.

Speaking in the NationalAssembly, MNA Qadir Gilanisaid that the Federal Investiga-tion Agency was threatening himwhile nobody including the par-liament and Rehman Malik tooknotice.

The MNA said that he alongwith his brother, MNA Ali MusaGilani, would resign from theNational Assembly if the ex-cesses went on being committedagainst them. He said though the

Continued on Page 7

Father, son killed;two girls injured

in robbery bidOUR CORRESPONDENT

KHAIRPUR—Some unidenti-fied robbers killed two mem-bers of the family and injuredtwo others on resisting theirrobbery attempt in Pir Jo Gothon Wednesday morning.

The deceased were iden-tified as Sharif-ud-din Sheikhand his son Imran Ali whilethe injured included Sharif’sdaughters Suraiya andFaizan who were shifted tohospital.

On receiving informationpolice reached the spot andtook bodies into custodywhich were later handed overto their relatives after post-mortem. Police have regis-tered a case.

Peace awardevent heldSTAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—A peace excel-lent award ceremony for year2011-12 was held hereWednesday wherein profes-sionals associated with edu-cation, health, performing arts,media and social work werehonoured. The award cer-emony was organized by Hu-man Empowerment and Lib-erty Programme (HELP) NGOwith the assistance of IDEAsVision here at local hotel.

The recipients of thepeace excellent awards win-ners prominent among thoseare social worker LiaquatKhan Tarkai, former NazimImran Khan, Executive Direc-tor Provincial Village Devel-opment Programme (PVDP),Muhammad Haris Khan, so-cial worker Zafrullah Khanand media professionalMujeeb Reheman. Similarly,the social work educationaward was clinched byHasseb Afridi, Asad Qasir,Haji Momin Khan, AbdulWahab, Haji Nasim Gul,Fiazur Rehman, Rahatullahand Asad Ali Qureshi.

Speaking on the occa-sion, Chairman HELP, AftarHussain said the objective oforganizing this function is torecognize the services of pro-fessionals in diversified fields.He said it was our collectiveresponsibility to encourageartists as they are the onewhom bring smile on ourfaces, adding time has cometo work for promotion of peaceand tolerance in the society.

In addition to provision offree education to poor andorphan children in quality pri-vate schools, he said his or-ganization was also endeav-ouring for the socio-economicempowerment of women folk.

GUL HAMAAD FAROOQI

CHITRAL—Chitral witnesseda new era in micro hydro de-velopment sector when localengineers made 800 feet longtunnel water channel to run amicro hydro power stationproducing 600 KW electricityat Karimabad valley and Workhas been started on 600 KVhydro power house atSewakht village of Shughoorvalley.

The tunnel, first of itsnature constructed by localprivate entity, symbolizesthe commitment to develop-ment of Chitral people onself-help basis when peoplearound the country react tothe energy shortfallthrough protests and de-

struction.The tunnel of seven feet

diameter was a joint ventureof the local communities,GAP and Aga Khan RuralSupport Programme(AKRSP), where GAP pro-vided technical support tothe project funded by thePakistan Poverty Allevia-tion Fund (PPAF).

The micro hydro powerProject, providing electric-ity to 9 villages ofKarimabad valley of Lotkoharea, will be managed by thelocal community basedpower committee with thetechnical support of any en-ergy company hired at lo-cal or national level.

The project will prove amilestone to the GAP com-

mitment for larger projectsand its efforts to work onthe next generation energysolutions for sustainablelivelihood and to make en-ergy work for low incomefamilies and households.On Completion of 800 feetlong tunnel a thanks giv-ing day and a function washeld at Sewakht village.

Regional programmeManager of AKRSP Engi-neer Sardar Ayub was chiefguest on the occasion. Ad-dressing the participantsEng. Sardar Ayub said thatPPAF provided 68 millionfund for this purpose whilecommunity put their shareof 10 million. There are twotunnels 800 and 115 feet longwhich were totally com-

OUR CORRESPONDENT

TIMERGARA—Speakers at aone-day seminar on ‘vio-lence against women’ (VAW)urged the government, its in-stitutions and civil society toprovide equal opportunitiesof development to womenand empower them economi-cally in order to eliminate vio-lence against half of thecountry population.

The seminar was orga-nized by a local non-govern-mental organization, the Ru-ral Development Organiza-tion in collaboration with theStrengthening ParticipatoryOrganization at Balambat onWednesday.

Lawyers, teachers, so-cial activists and notablesof the area both men andwomen attended the semi-nar. Sharief Sherazi of theWorld Vision, Ibrash Pasha

of the Khewendo Kor (KK),Akbar Khan, Alam ZebKhan of education depart-ment, RDO chief Amir ZadGul, Safiullah, prominentpoets Iqbal Hussain Salarand Samiullah Khatir spokeon the occasion.

They said that violenceagainst women was notonly Pakistan’s problem butwas a worldwide issue.They said that even in de-veloped states like America,Britain, and Germany, etc.women had been strivingfor elimination of violenceagainst women.

The speakers, however,admitted that incidents ofviolence against women inPakistan had been increas-ing. One of the speakers saidkidnapping/ abduction, mur-der, domestic violence, sui-cide of victim women,honour killing, forced sexual

intercourse, sexual harass-ment, acid throwing, burn-ing and girls’ traffickingwere on the rise in the coun-try. Speakers of the eventsaid that majority of casespertaining to VAW were notbeing reported due to socialand cultural constraints.They said that empower-ment of women, repeal of dis-criminatory laws, provisionof equal opportunities, post-ing of women clerical staffin education offices andwomen role in planning andmanagement could onlyeliminate violence againstwomen.

The women participantson the occasion complainedthat they had been consid-ered second degree citizensin the country as maledominancy had been the gighurdle in their way toprogress.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Higher Edu-cation Commission (HEC)has decided to award morethan 10000 scholarships toneedy students from differ-ent parts of the country un-der its needs-based schol-arship program during cur-rent financial year. Thesescholarships would beawarded to talented but fi-nancially constrained stu-dents especially those fromrural areas to ensure greaterequity in enrollment at dif-ferent public sector highereducation institutions(HEIs) throughout the

country.The needs based schol-

arships are focused on pro-viding opportunities for ac-cess to higher education es-pecially to under privilegedstudents of remote and farflung areas of the countrywho despite possessingacademic merit, are unableto finance their education.Under this new initiative,special emphasis is given tothe students belonging toBalochistan, FATA, interiorSindh and Southern Punjabto support higher educationof maximum number of aca-demically qualified needystudents from the very poor

segments of the country.These scholarships

would be awarded throughStudents Financial Aid Of-fices (SFAO) established at60 public sector highereducation institutions in atransparent and well de-fined mechanism. Thescholarship amount wouldcover the expenditure in-cluding tuition fee, books,lodging , transportation andother academic costs.

The already enrolledstudents would be eligibleto apply and applicationforms can be obtained fromthe Financial Aid offices ofthe selected universities.

Since its inception, HEC hasundertaken a number ofprograms for provision ofequitable access to highereducation especially tomarginalized segments ofthe society.

The award of needsbased scholarships will begreatly helpful in poverty al-leviation by providinggrooming and learning op-portunities to the youth be-longing to humble back-ground and lower middleclass. These youth after com-pleting their studies wouldget better job and businessopportunities to serve theirfamilies and the country.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The measuresadopted by Federal and pro-vincial authorities to combattarget killings have broughtdown such incidents duringlast two months in the coun-try. A data here on Wednes-day revealed that withinIslamabad Capital Territory(ICT), the concerned authori-ties established 29 haltingpoints with break up of 12 inCity Zone, nine in SaddarZone and 10 in I-Area Zone.

At these halting points,51 vehicles have been de-ployed. The data further re-vealed that from 1359 hoursto 0600 hours the number of

halting points have been in-creased and rose to 126. Atthese halting points, 63 ve-hicles have been deployed tokeep an eye over suspiciouspersons and vehicles to con-trol the target killing. Withregard to patrolling systemwithin ICT, the data said ithas also been revamped and15 Falcons and 16 pairs ofEagle Motorcycle along with6 Commandos vehicles havebeen deployed and workingin three shifts for surveillanceand to combat

Besides this, time to timesurveys of houses and placesgiven on rent are being con-ducted at police station levelto ascertain the types of keep

an eye over their activities aswell as to control the crime.Detailed surveys ofMosques situated withinICT have been carried out.Regarding naka bandi, thedata said total 60 such pointsincluding City Zone 24,Saddar 18, Industrial Area 14and Rural 4 have been es-tablished on various keypoints of ICT which are func-tioning round the clock.

About the steps taken inPunjab, the data revealedthat activities of AfghanTrained Boys (ATBs), Re-turnees from Afghan Prisons(RAPs) Guantanamo Bay,Madaris involved in mili-tancy, Firebrand speakers of

different sectarian organiza-tions and publication anddistribution of hate materialare being monitored closelyto control target killing in theprovince. In Punjab, two in-cidents were reported duringthe period. In Sindh prov-ince, overall law and ordersituation is comparativelystable and peaceful exceptincidents of random killings.

The data said from Au-gust 1 to October 25, 2012total 108 target killings werereported in the province ofwhich 43 in August, 33 inSeptember and 32 in October.Karachi police, in order tocombat the crime undertookmeasures including beefing

up its presence in violenceaffected areas, apprehensionof target killers and gang-sters, enhancement of patrol-ling in sensitive areas, moni-toring and surveillance ofsensitive areas and manymore. However, 124 targetkillers involved in violencewere arrested.

The steps taken inKhyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK)include extra ordinary vigi-lance, share of intelligencewith other Law EnforcingAgencies (LEAs), effectivepolice patrolling round theclock and establishment ofadditional checkpoints atconspicuous places, and de-tection of most of crimes &

interrogation of suspects. InFATA, the data revealed thatspecial focus has been main-tained and measures in shapeof deployment of LEAs on allroutes leading to and from theAgencies to ensure that tar-get killing in the jurisdictionof respective Agencies is ef-fectively controlled.

It said due to efforts ofrespective Political Admin-istrations target killing inFATA has been broughtdown to the minimum withexception to only one inci-dent which happened onOctober 11, 2012 in NorthWaziristan Agency in which3 persons were killed andone injured. In Balochistan,

Govt claims curbing target killings, crimes across countrynumber of target killing inci-dents was 30 during twomonths (September and Oc-tober) due to which 10 per-sonnel of LEAs and 24 civil-ians lost their lives while 12LEAs personnel and 11 ci-vilians received injuries.Provincial police strength-ened all exit and entry pointsat district level. Besides po-lice check points (Nakas)were also established in andaround the cities.

The CCTV Cameras havebeen installed at key pointswithin the provincial Capitaland all entry and exit pointsof Quetta district. Security oftroubled spots has been en-hanced in order to provide

security to the citizens. Trad-ers are being escorted fromHazar Ganji to Hazara Townand onward up to MarriabadQuetta while Zaireen travel-ing from Quetta to Iran arealso being escorted through-out the route by District Po-lice and Levies Force in thearea of responsibility. Dis-tricts Police is conductingrandom checking throughBlock Raids while SpecialMobile Patrolling teams wereconstituted to perform dutiesin troubled areas. Intelligencesharing is also being pursuedwith other stakeholders. Nosuch a killing was reportedin AJK and ICT during theperiod.

FESCOshutdown

OUR CORRESPONDENT

F A I S A L A B A D — T h eFaisalabad Electric SupplyCompany FESCO has issuedshutdown programme fornecessary repair, mainte-nance and expansion of elec-tricity lines. According to theprogram issued here onWednesday, power supplyfrom Sheeraza, Pir Salah-ud-Din, Ravi, Kalarwala, SugarMills, Khidarwala andKanjwani feeders will remainsuspended from 9:00 a.m. to12:00 noon while Liaqat Abadfeeder will observe shutdownfrom 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. onThursday, November 15.

Similarly, electricity sup-ply from Al-Faisal feederwill remain suspended from8:00 a.m. to 12:00 noonwhereas Farooqabad,Mansoor Abad, City, DijkotRoad and Farooq feederswill observe load sheddingfrom 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.on November 15. Mean-while, power supply fromShehbaz Pur, Amin Pur,Parokian Wala, Khurd Pur,Langrana, Masha Allah andD-Type Colony feeders willremain suspended from 9:00a.m. to 2:00 p.m. while KotlaJam, Jahan Khan, Majokaand Saray Karishna feederswill observe shutdown from10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. onThursday.

Likewise, electricity sup-ply from Gulab feeder will re-main suspended from 8:30a.m. to 12:30 noon and fromAnayat Ali Shah feeder from8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. whereasJubilee, Abdullah Pur, NIABand Rafhan Mill feeders willobserve load shedding from9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on No-vember 15.

10,000 students to get HEC scholarships

800-ft tunnel for 600 KV hydro power completed

Seminar demands equalgender opportunitiesS HARIS

OCTOBER the 8th, 2005,was the day when notonly the Nation but the

international communitystood spell bound by the mas-sive destruction. With 75,000dead, 1, 2000 injured and over600000 houses destroyed Pa-kistan faced one of the big-gest challenges to rescue,treat, and then rehabilitateover 3.5 million homeless. Theadrenaline worked and nationrushed towards KP and AJK,international communitypoured in and the rescue andrelief started. Seven yearsdown the lane, suddenly theorganization which attractedinternational attention andpraise seem to be criticized forbeing slow! We hear contrac-tors protesting, people of af-fected areas demanding moreand with financial crunch theprojects seem to be stalled.

With world specificallythe South Asian region fac-

ing frequent natural disasters,the phenomena of donor fa-tigue are also visible, which in-dicate that not only Pakistanneeds to manage expectationsof the people of affected areasand government officials, buthas to evolve a wholesomestrategy for future disasters.While 2005 earthquake was atest case testing the resilienceof people and coordinationskills of civil and military orga-nizations, several lessons canbe drawn from the ERRA’s ori-gin and now becoming a per-manent government authority.

Two major points need tobe incorporated in strategy forpost disaster management thatstand out are; one, while de-veloping a post disaster recon-struction strategy the govern-ments need to keep a separatekitty bag full of money in casethe changing environmentalconditions pose a threat or glo-bal politics affect the influx ofdonor money pledged. Boththese have actually been a hin-

drance in speedy reconstruc-tion in case of Pakistan, e.g.,the floods and change ofLibyan government both af-fected the progress.

Secondly, being in a geo-graphically strategic locationand vulnerable to natural di-sasters government needs toinvest in developing and nur-turing its own local and na-tional human resource. Usu-ally when a disaster hits we arewaiting for international re-sponse for damage assessmentand then strategy making fol-lowed by the long bureaucraticprocess leading to reconstruc-tion while the affectees make ahue and cry.

To counter this ERRA ex-perience tells us that we needto have a central data base ofthe names and expertise of thegovernment and non govern-ment experts within Pakistanwho can be immediately hiredto do the job. Such a systemwill not only be time effectivebut also have far less financial

burden on economy than tak-ing loans and hiring interna-tional consultants. Let’s takeexample of ERRA, it rose outof nothing but a need to handlemassive disaster, and keepingaside all the differences the or-ganization did perform prettywell getting international andUnited Nation recognition.Three points made thisorganization’s unique “formedout of need existence” turninto a permanent organization.Firstly the hybrid nature and agroup of bureaucrats, OMG,DMG, finance and audit offic-ers working hand in hand withthe international consultantsand experts from the market,thus cultivating a culture ofmultidimensional thought pro-cess and approach to flourishwhich attracted donors. Sec-ondly, openness and financialtransparency and online fi-nancial management systemdeveloped with help of DIFIDwhich provides online detailsof each project and contrac-

tors payment schedule forhigher management, thus,lowering the incidents offavouritism and delayed pay-ments. Thirdly, approach totake media as a partner in re-construction process ratherthan a third party. Thus open-ness with media and informa-tion dissemination contrib-uted lot to building the imageof the organization. Devel-oping in-house software, elec-tronic data base and engi-neering aspects of recon-struction are where ERRA hasexpertise developed over 7years. However, the need torealize using government or-ganizations for nation build-ing and using expertise athand require proactive deci-sion making where organiza-tions like ERRA can be uti-lized at national level thushelp make futuristic strategiesfor better post disaster recon-struction and rehabilitation.

—The writer is a clinicalpsychologist.

What natural disasters teach us: A point to ponder

pleted by local engineerswithout any casualty orloss. At first phase it willprovide 500 KV electricity to11000 people which will beaugmentation to 600 KV andwill be completed withinstipulated period of twoyears.

A local woman told thisscribe that there was no elec-tricity in the valley and wereliving in dark while thispower house will bring lightin our lives at first time andwe will be able to utilize homeelectric appliances as well ascomputer and internet, etc. Alarge number of people at-tended the inauguration-cum-thanks giving day oftunnel and 600 KV hydropower station. KOHAT: Students and Doctors of Kohat Medical College taking part in awareness walk

on the eve of World Diabetes Day.

CHAMAN: An Afghan boy carrying brother to cross into Pakistan at Pak-Afghan border.

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Me-teorological Department(PMD) on Wednesday indi-cated chances of light rain fordifferent places of UpperPunjab, KhyberPakhtunkhwa, Gilgit Baltistanduring Friday and Saturday.According to the synopticsituation outlook, continentalair is prevailing over mostparts of the country.

Mainly dry weather is ex-pected in most parts of thecountry during the next 24hours. Foggy/misty condi-tions are likely to prevailover Central/Southern areasof Punjab and Peshawar di-vision during late night andmorning. The lowest mini-mum temperatures recordedduring the last 24 hours wereSkardu -05 C and Astore -01C. Dry weather with hazy/misty morning is likely in thecity during next 24 hours.

According to Met officeweather report issued onWednesday the minimumtemperature is expected to re-main in the range of 18 to 20degree centigrade. The MetOffice said,very cold and dryweather is likely to prevail inZhob, Quetta and Kalat divi-sions of Balochistan.

Dry weather is expectedelsewhere in the region overthe period. The Met Officehas forecast a dry weather forthe provincial capital andadjoining areas on Wednes-day. According to Met Office,the highest maximum tem-perature in the metropolis isexpected between 20 to 22degrees centigrade and thelowest minimum temperaturebetween 0 to 2 degreescentigrad.

The dry weather has

Light rain on Friday,Saturday predicted

also been forecast for otherareas of the province. OnTuesday, the maximum tem-perature 37 degree centi-grade was recorded atTurbat and the lowest mini-mum temperature of 00 de-gree centigrade recorded atQuetta.

According to the synop-tic situation, continental airis prevailing over most partsof the country. The lowestminimum temperatures re-corded during the last 24hours were Skardu -08,

Astore -02 and Gilgit -01.Moderate fog appeared onGT Road and Motorway invarious cities of the Punjaband Khyber Pakhtunkhwa(KP) on Tuesday.

The Motorway authoritiessaid there was moderate fogon the expressway atPeshawar, Rawalpindi, Lahoreand Faisalabad. Shallow fogwas also reported on variousareas alongside GT Road, andMultan, Jhang and Hafizabad,PTV reported. The Meteoro-logical Office forecast mainlydry weather for most parts ofthe country in the next fewdays, with fog in the morningin Mardan, Peshawar, Kohat,Rawalpindi, Sialkot,Gujranwala, Sargodha,Faisalabad, Lahore, Sahiwaland Multan divisions. TheKarachi Met office has fore-cast a dry in the city over thenext 24 hours.—APP

Strange are ways ofdemocracy in BalochistanBalochistan Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani, who was in deep

political trouble, managed to secure vote of confidence from majority of the members of the Provincial Assembly and retorted

thereafter that he has foiled the conspiracy to topple his Govt. How-ever, ground realities clearly indicate that he might have got a tempo-rary relief but the problem is there to stay posing questions of legiti-macy of his regime.

Legal fraternity and even layman are fully convinced that RaisaniGovt has lost the right to rule following interim order of the SupremeCourt that pinpointed its failure to deliver as far as security and law andorder situation in the province is concerned. The overwhelming major-ity of the people believe that he should have immediately resigned af-terwards but he not only shamelessly stuck to the position but also runa media and advertising campaign in a bid to restore faith in his mori-bund Government. No doubt, the passage of the resolution of the voteof confidence indicated that he enjoyed the confidence of the majoritybut it was never the question before people or the apex court. Therewere no doubts about the number game that favoured him as most ofthem were hands in glove with corruption and malpractices and eventhree of them were accused of their involvement in incidents of kidnap-ping for ransom. The real question was failure of the provincial Gov-ernment to check the nosedive in law and order and killing of the citi-zens, which is fundamental responsibility of any Government worththe name. This point would remain there until and unless his Govern-ment improves performance, which is highly unlikely in view of itsdismal record during the last over four years. Apart from the verdict ofthe SC, the decision by his own party is also a big no-confidence inhim. No doubt, majority has the right to rule in a democratic dispensa-tion but there are also democratic traditions and spirit that must befollowed. Anyhow, camouflaging of the dirt in Quetta on Tuesday com-pels one to think that strange are the ways of democracy in Balochistan.

Calls for emergencyand military operation

AS there is no let up in the killing spree in Karachi where over adozen people are losing their lives daily, coalition partners both at

the centre and in the province made bizarre calls in the parliament forresolution of the problem. While the MQM demanded imposition ofemergency in the city to check gory incidents, the ANP, as before, reit-erated its call for launching of a military operation to get rid of thecriminals.

There is no harm in going to any length in ensuring peace and sta-bility in Karachi that is bleeding for the last several years because ofinaction on the part of those at the helm of affairs. However, the de-mands for imposition of emergency and military operation convey dis-mal signals about sincerity, commitment, ability and vision of thosewho see this as the last resort to save Karachi. This is because in thefirst instance, this is a clear declaration of self-defeat and failure by thecoalition Government. You are in power both in the province and atthe centre but instead of resolving the issue you are trying to pass onthe buck to others. Why you are not giving free hand to police andRangers to treat criminals as mere criminals and not agents of politi-cal parties and influential people. It is an open secret that criminalsand criminal activities are known to all law-enforcing agencies andon different occasions they rounded up culprits even red handed butthey had to release them afterwards in the face of intervention fromsomewhere else. Who is obstructing hanging of over two thousandcriminals who are waiting execution of death sentences in jails? Whyyou are resisting calls and plans for retrieval of arms from Karachithat is one of the factors responsible for ever-deteriorating securitysituation there? There is also a perception that call for emergency ismotivated by a desire to postpone general elections and therefore, isunlikely to get popular acceptability. It is time to shun rhetoric and actto prevent further bloodshed in the city of Quaid.

Right to free andcompulsory educationTHE National Assembly Tuesday passed a bill moved by lady mem

ber Yasmeen Rehman providing for Right to Free and CompulsoryEducation at a time when the country is in the midst of an educationalemergency with disastrous human and economic consequences. The billprovides for education to all children of the age of five to sixteen yearsand ten percent quota in all the private institutions for poor children.

On the face of it, the initiative would be welcomed by all andsundry but the mere passage of the bill would not promote education,which is the most neglected sector. The first and foremost require-ment is allocation of financial resources, which are not there becausethere is no priority to education. Although successive governmentsannounced various programmes to promote literacy, but thoseprogrammes could not achieve the desired results and allocations madefor the purpose were plundered by the greedy politicians and bureau-crats. Today more than 30 millions children are out of school andthe infrastructure is crumbling due to constantly shrinking budgetfor education. At the same time the quality of education is deterio-rating in government run schools, enrolment is dropping and peoplewho can afford are preferring for private institutions. In fact thereis a near breakdown of public education system and the private sec-tor is filling the vacuum. Though some institutions with missionaryzeal are providing quality education but many others are being runwithout required facilities, poor curricula and untrained staff justfor earning money. Given the continual changes in professions, thereis need for development of a wide spectrum of new curricula andqualifications if we want to provide quality education to meet thedemands of the market and development of the country.

Defining principles

In the sex-warthoughtlessness isthe weapon of themale, vindictivenessof the female.

Rigged or stalled elections areimpregnated with seriousconsequences. Experience

tells that election thefts often pro-voke the opposition and the civilsociety to launch demonstrations,which sometimes lead to violentconfrontation between the establish-ment and protestors. Such confron-tations could destabilize the coun-try. Pakistan’s example shows thatit may even derail it from the demo-cratic path and scuttle prospects fordemocratic growth.

The need for the holding of1990 elections had arisen becauseBenazir Bhutto-led PPP govern-ment was dissolved by the Presi-dent, and in keeping with constitu-tional provisions new electionswere required to be held within 90days of the dissolution. Being an ag-grieved party, PPP should havebagged sympathy vote and alsosome extra votes due to her elec-toral alliance with three smaller po-litical parties. But, contrary to popu-lar expectations, instead of im-provement in the mandate PPP wasrouted in the elections!

In its short order, issued lastmonth, in Asghar Khan case, theapex court unambiguously held thatfunds were doled out by the Stateminions to block PPP’s victory inthe 1990 elections. On November8, 2012, the Supreme Court an-nounced its detailed judgment, rul-ing that officials are not bound toaccept unlawful orders by any

DividedStates of

America?

As soon Obama was re-electedas President, scenes of jubilant Americans celebrating

his win exploded on every newschannel. While they certainly gavethe impression that most Americansbreathed a sigh of relief at a Demo-crat victory, that’s not actually thecase. Just as many were pouring outin the streets of the East coast statesto show their solidarity with the tri-umphant leader, there were others inthe country’s South who felt indig-nant and resentful.

And this grumpy lot has collec-tively devised a method (albeit a dras-tic one) to eschew Obama’s leader-ship after their candidate Mitt Rom-ney was defeated: secession from theUS. Yes you read it right — morethan 100,000 Americans have peti-tioned the White House to allow theirstates to secede from the US. Roughly20 petitions have been filled, and theone from Texas has amassed 25,000signatures, to which the White Househas promised a reply. What legal pre-cedence are these Republican sup-porters using to make a case for se-cession? Apparently, they are citingthe American founding fathers, whostated their right to “dissolve the po-litical bands” and form a new nationin the American Declaration of Inde-pendence from Britain. Texas, cur-rently the leading state in this peti-tion-signing business, has cited eco-nomic difficulties brought by the fed-eral government’s mismanagement asthe reason to demand territorial dis-memberment of the US.

While one might guffaw at theoutrageous demand put forth by abunch of Republican “crazies”, thepetitions actually shows how dividedAmerica is today? The US Presiden-tial election was, after all, a closelycontested one. Many thought that theRepublican campaign did not rep-resent an increasingly multiculturaland diverse America, but the fact isthat the Republicans still have theirloyal supporters across the US.There’s a dichotomy in Americanviews, and with the economy downin the dumps, this divide is sharperthan it ever was. Should we call nowcall the country the Divided Statesof America? — Khaleej Times

*****

New Syrianentity

There is much work neededfrom all parties that are directly or indirectly involved in

drawing the future of Syria. The taskis complex as much as intricate asthe matter is no longer confined to asingle group that is calling forchange. The responsibility of ensur-ing the integrity of the nation re-mains one that all Syrians shouldshoulder regardless of their back-ground or political leanings. A ma-jor step has been adopted by theSyrian opposition. Earlier this week,various opposition groups came to-gether in Doha to choose a new lead-ership. Muath Al Khatib has beenselected to head the newly formedSyrian National Coalition for Oppo-sition and Revolutionary Forces(SNCORF). Riad Saif and Suheir AlAtassi have been elected as depu-ties. The Arab League, the GeneralSecretariat of the Gulf CooperationCouncil, as well as several westerncountries have welcomed the stepand recognised the new body.

This is an important step for Syr-ians as this entity is supposed to bethe vehicle for moving towards a fi-nal solution to the crisis. It is alsosupposed to function as an umbrellagroup that unites all factions. Hence,it is critical that a clear and fullagenda is outlined for what needs tobe done in the near future. Withoutsuch a blueprint, the conflict willcontinue without an end in sight.Furthermore, the new body will berequired to speak with one voice.This will obviously mean that itsleadership has to play a role of rec-onciliation and focus on buildingconsensus. There is no doubt that thefocus, as much as the pressure, on theSNCORF is immense. This is sim-ply because the aspirations for free-dom and peace are very high. Andhence, the new opposition entityshould never lose sight of what thepeople want — an end to the blood-shed and suffering of thousands of in-nocent civilians. It is high time thatforces and efforts are gathered for thesake of Syria. — Gulf News

MEDIA WATCH

—Cyril ConnollyBritish journalist

higher office, includ-ing the Presidency.The 140-page judg-ment, authored byChief Justice IftikharMuhammad Chudhry,has set some definingprinciples. Amongothers, these include:All officers who obeyunlawful commands

are individually liable. All superiorofficers giving unlawful commandsor who fail to prevent unlawful ac-tion on the part of their subordinatesare liable and culpable. Any violationof oath of office or any other illegalact committed by a State functionaryis a personal act for which the indi-vidual concerned would be liable inaccordance with law, and the institu-tion to which such individual maybelong would not be involved in it.

The President, in 1990, could nothave issued any command to theArmy chief or the DG ISI as the presi-dent did not have any operationalauthority with respect to the ArmedForces even after the Eighth Consti-tutional Amendment. Through theseprinciples, the court has merely reit-erated what is already codified in theConstitution: However, these prin-ciples are likely to affect GeneralAslam Beg (R) and Lt General AsadDurrani (R), who claim that they wereobeying the orders of their bosses. Inhierarchical order, the “bosses” of theArmy Chief are the Defence Minis-ter and the President in his capacityas the Supreme Commander of theArmed Forces.

But, President Ghulam IshaqKhan’s confidants, including his Ad-visor, close friend and allegedly amember of the ‘election cell’ RoedadKhan, have expressed their reserva-tions on this statement about a per-son who was known for following theConstitution and the laws both in let-ter and in spirit. The Supreme Court

has ordered that any election cell/po-litical cell in the Presidency or ISI orMI or within their formations be abol-ished immediately. In one’s opinion,these defining principles would havewider implications because thesecould equally affect many civilian andmilitary officers, especially those in-volved in General Musharraf’s No-vember 3, 2007 coup

The Supreme Court has de-manded transparent investigationsagainst politicians alleged to havetaken money from the ISI to win 1990polls to establish the allegations oftaking money. Amongst others, thepoliticians in this category include:MQM’s Altaf Hussain, PML-N’sMian Nawaz Sharif and PTI’sMakhdoom Javed Hashmi. (FederalMinister for Information and Broad-casting, Qamar Zaman Kaira has al-leged that Osama bin Laden had alsofunded in the formation of IslamiJamhoor Itehad (IJI) – The News:November 11, 2012).

Meanwhile, Election Commis-sion of Pakistan (ECP)’s former Sec-retary, Kanwar Dilshad has con-tended that the affidavits by GeneralBeg and General Durrani were ac-cepted without checking the authen-ticity and talking to the concerned in-stitutions or persons. He believes thatECP should file a review petition inAsghar Khan case to present its pointof view on 1990 elections. Somequarters are trying to give an impres-sion that huge amounts were givento different politicians before 1990elections because the top PPP lead-ership had become a security riskand was involved in anti-state activi-ties. Unless proved in the court oflaw, these insinuations and allega-tions would merely be considered asrhetoric. Here a question arises, ifPPP was really involved in anti-stateactivities why the allegations againstit were not proved in courts of law?Interestingly, PPP’s founder Zulfikar

Ali Bhutto had created a politicalcell in the ISI in May 1975. Insteadof assisting the federal governmentin its political affairs, this cell em-barked upon rigging or engineeringelections results. In 1990, Bhutto-created political cell declared PPPgovernment led by his daughterBenazir to be a political risk andlaunched a campaign to rout it outin the elections! ‘Those who dig pitfor others themselves (or their prog-eny, permit me to add) fall into it!’The apex court has also ruled thatthe office of the President falls inthe service of Pakistan and is thusnot supposed to indulge in poli-tics. This part of the ruling wouldmake it impossible for the incum-bent to continue his political ac-tivities from the Presidency.Though he can contest election forthe office of the President for thesecond term, but he would not beable to become a member of theNational Assembly and subse-quently Prime Minister on comple-tion of his term as President unlessa period of two years has elapsed.

No doubt, democracy is aboutpopular politics, and the incumbentPresident is co-Chairman of a po-litical party. But, more importantly,he is a symbol of the unity of thefederation and, as pointed out in thecourt’s detailed judgment, like allpresidents in parliamentary repub-lics, his office is expected to be apo-litical, non-partisan and objectivelydisengaged with any and all affilia-tions of political, ethnic, linguistic,or geographic nature. Furthermore,Article 48 of the Constitution lim-its the exercise of presidential func-tions to the advice of the cabinet. Itis, therefore, time that the Presidentabdicates from his parallel role asPPP’s co-Chairman and starts per-forming functions that are strictlyin keeping with the provisions ofthe Constitution.

In the recent months, more than50 ethnic Tibetans died throughself-immolation in China,

which included many Buddhistmonks and nuns, calling for Ti-betan freedom and the return oftheir spiritual leader, Dalai Lamawho has lived in exile in India sincea failed uprising against Chineserule in 1959. Many Buddhist Ti-betans accuse the Chinese govern-ment of religious repression, whileeroding their culture, as majorityof Han ethnic group also lives inthe regions.

In the past few years, severalpersons died in the terror-incidentsand ethnic riots occurred in vari-ous regions of China’s Xinjiang-the largely populated Muslim prov-ince. In January, this year, ChinesePolice shot dead more protestersin Tibetan territories as unrestspread to some other areas includ-ing China’s Sichuan provincewhich was rocked with ethnicclashes. And in February, terroristskilled 13 people in Kashgar.

However, for all the incidents,India blamed Pakistani militants forsupporting the insurgency to dete-riorate Sino-Pak ties and to coverIndia’s role behind Tibetan mili-tancy. But during the visit of a Chi-nese delegation on October 29,2012, while hinting towards India,US and some western countries,

Who is behind Tibetan militants?Pakistan’s SenateStanding Commit-tee on Foreign Af-fairs supported Chi-nese stand on Tibetand Sinkiang issues.It also condemnedthe miscreants fordisturbing peace ofTibetan areas in thename of Jihad as

well as defaming Islam in pursuit ofwestern vested agenda.

In fact, Indian secret agencyRAW with the assistance of Ameri-can CIA and Israeli Mossad have in-termittently been arranging subver-sive acts in China’s Tibetan regionsFor this purpose, RAW has set up anumber of camps where Tibetanmilitants are being imparted train-ing, and are being sent to Chinaalong with arms and ammunition.Besides, these agencies also inciteTibetan religious extremists for in-dependence, who have been settingthemselves on fire. In this regard,with the backing of RAW, a Tibetanexile set himself to ablaze in NewDelhi on March 26 to protest the visitof Chinese President Hu Jintao toIndia. But, protests are common dur-ing Chinese leaders’ visits to Delhi.These secret entities are also fuel-ing tension between the mainlyMuslim Uighur people and Han Chi-nese to destabilise China. Notably,on March 10, 2008, when anti-gov-ernment violent protests by Buddhistmonks erupted in Tibet’s capital,Lhasa and nearby provinces, India,while acting upon a secret diplo-macy, assisted the same.

In that context, Indian FormerForeign minister Yashwant Sinha hadargued that we should intervene tosecure Tibet’s freedom, adding, “Wewant good relations with China. But

if we reach a point of conflict overTibet, we should be prepared for thateventuality.” In May 1998, while ad-vocating Tibetan independence, In-dian former Defence Minister GeorgeFernandes had declared that “Chinais India’s potential threat No. 1.”Meanwhile, Indian media had left nostone unturned in exaggerating thecasualties by manipulating China’scrackdowns against the militants ofTibet—which were essential to re-store law and order. Full coveragewas given to the Tibetan leaders andsome western propagandists againstBeijing. In fact, both New Delhi andLama had covertly planned blood-shed in Tibetan territories, motivat-ing the people for liberation.

In response, China’s officialnewspaper, the People’s Daily hadsaid that Dalai Lama had “neverabandoned violence since fleeing toIndia”, and was scheming to take theBeijing Olympics of August 2008hostage to force China to make con-cessions for Tibet’s independence.Indian dual Tibet policy has signifi-cant security problems for China dueto the entanglement of the issue inthe Sino-Indian border dispute. In thepost-1949 period, New Delhi urgedChina to let Tibet be an autonomousregion. On April 29, 1954, throughan agreement, India had recognisedTibet as part of China. After theIndo-China war of 1962, Beijingreturned the land it occupied inArunachal Pradesh. Indeed, China’sclaim over Tawang (ArunachalPradesh) on the basis of old Tibetanreligious links is logical.

Now, India which apparentlyshows mutual cooperation withChina, is showing inactive approachin the solution of border dispute. Butit has secretly been increasing mili-tary build up near the Chinese bor-

Hurmat GroupZahid Malik

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der coupled with covert support tothe Tibetan insurgents. There arealso other reasons behind Indiandouble game. Fast growing eco-nomic power of China, its strategicrelationship with Pakistan and de-velopment of Gwader seaport inBalochistan irk the eyes of Americaand India. Besides, US-India nucleardeal, supply of sophisticated weap-ons to New Delhi, Obama’s recentdefence strategy, which calls forgreater US military presence in Asia,maintenance of six permanent basesin Afghanistan including Indian rolethere after the withdrawal of foreigntroops in 2014 and Indo-US anti-Pakistan secret game are part ofAmerican desire to make India amajor Asian power to counterbal-ance China. But Chinese see Indiaas a “future strategic competitor”rather than a partner.

US President Barack Obama hadalso met Dalai Lama to indirectly en-courage militancy in China. While,human rights groups of the US andsome western countries exploit ex-tra-judicial killings by Chinese Se-curity forces to give so-called moralsupport to the Tibetan separatist el-ements so that they continue theirsubversive activities in these areas.Nevertheless, the new spiritualleader of Tibetan Buddhist monksand successor of Dalai Lama,Lobsang Sangay, head of the India-based Tibetan government-in-exilehas called on the international com-munity “to not remain passive” and“to intervene to prevent furtherbloodshed” by the Chinese securityforces. Nonetheless, with the tacti-cal support of US, India which hasgiven shelter to Dalai Lama alongwith his 120,000 Tibetan followersis assisting militants in the Tibetanregions to dismember China.

Alauddin Masood Email:alauddinmasood@gmail.com

Sajjad ShaukatEmail: sajjad_logic@yahoo.com

Voice of the People

Charting a post-Petraeus era

So it turns out that the top brassat the CIA had an inbox of secrets of the all-too-human,

sexual variety. Titillating, unquestion-ably. But what about the other secrets— the intelligence secrets that are theagency’s reason for existence? Howare they doing on this score? Whenthe uproar passes over the personalmisjudgements of David Petraeus, thecountry will be left with this ques-tion of intelligence goals and mis-sions. And here’s where an over-looked problem of the Petraeus erashould be fixed. Petraeus was pickedfor the job, and eager to take it, partlybecause the White House believedthat in an era of counter-terrorism, theCIA’s traditional mission of stealingsecrets was morphing into a widerrole that increasingly stressed para-military covert action.

The retired general, with hismatchless experience in running warsin Iraq and Afghanistan, was seen aswell-suited to run an agency thatcombined the trench coat and the flakjacket. But the Petraeus-era CIA hada hidden defect, quite apart from anyerrant e-mails, which was that theparamilitary covert-action functionwas swallowing alive the old-fash-

ioned intelligence-gathering side ofthe house. This actually seems to meto be the central lesson of the disas-ter in Benghazi, Libya. The CIA hada substantial base in Benghazi, withat least a half-dozen former militaryspecial forces assigned there as partof the “Global Response Staff.”These were the muscle-bound secu-rity guys known to flippant earliergenerations of CIA case officers as“knuckle-draggers.” They were inBenghazi in such numbers in partbecause the CIA was supporting theState Department’s programme tocollect the shoulder-fired anti-aircraftmissiles that had gone loose after thefall of Col. Moammar Gaddafi.

Agency officers may also havebeen working with Libyan militiasto help them become effective secu-rity forces.Given the large numberof security personnel at the base inBenghazi, they implicitly took on re-sponsibility for security at thesmaller US consulate a mile away.The consulate didn’t have normalState Department security, so whenthe attack came on Sept.11, the CIAbase was the only 911 number tocall. The agency’s officers and con-tractors acted with great courage, butthey should never have been in sucha position. Similarly, they made amistake in relying on Libyan mili-tias for the heavy weapons they

The confident President Obamaafter being re-elected is expected to adopt more bold po-

sitions on domestic and foreign policyissues as he faces numerous chal-lenges on domestic and forein issues.US still remain divisive and polar-ized, a display of which came afterthousands of citizens in around 18states filed petitions for “secessionfrom the Union to create their ownnew government”. Another majorchallenge at the domestic front is ofeconomic recovery and tax cuts onwhich Republicans and Democratshave divergent positions.

The first major policy speechmade by Obama after the re-electionswas regarding avoiding the “FiscalCliff” but its little early to say if theDemocrats and Republicans wouldput aside their differences to resolvethe issue. On the foreign policy frontthere are numerous complex chal-lenges including Afghanistan, Iran,Pakistan, Syria, China, Russia and

US polls & implications for Pakistanrelocation of Al-Qaeda in Yemen andsub-Saharan Africa. With the pros-pects of a new team of officials tak-ing over the Department of Defence,Department of State and Central In-telligence Agency President Obamaneeds sincere advisors and analystswith more rationalism and less con-servatism.

There are lot of US academics of-fering advice to the US policy mak-ers. Some are rational despite beingcritical; others’ thinking processseems to be blocked by their preju-dices and hatred. With regards to Pa-kistan academics like Christine C.Fair, Daniel Pipes, CharlesKrauthammer and Hussain Haqqanietc are few examples whose opinionsare cynical and overshadowed bytheir personal bigotry and abhorrencetowards specific issues. Daniel Pipesand Charles Krauthammer sufferfrom a deep rooted Islamophobiawhile Christian C Fair is very unfairwhen it comes to Pakistan and herlast few articles in Foreign Policy notonly undermines her academic cred-ibility but also indicates of her para-noiac syndrome towards Pakistan.Mr. Hussain Haqqani’s writings on

Disaster’saftermath in Sindh

HASHIM ABRO

Although several weeks are passedbut it appears as it was yesterday thatthe natural and man-made disasterhad hit different districts of Sindhprovince. Millions of people are dis-placed; they are passing their in-clement days and chilly nights un-der the open skies; rain and floodwater has become stagnant andbreeding ground of mosquitoes.

Nothing has been done for dis-placed people, damage to health,sanitation, water supplies, housing,and agriculture, increase in malnu-trition and communicable diseases.There is complete health crisis in theworst affected areas in the aftermathof disasters. National Disaster Man-agement Authority (NDMA), Provin-cial Disaster Management Authority(PDMA), Pakistan Red Crescent So-ciety (PRCS) and other relevant or-ganizations are not doing enough-better to say these are not visiblein many affected areas in the prov-ince. While visiting different dis-tricts such as Shikarpur, Kashmor/Kandh Kot, Kambar/Shahdad Kotand Dadu last week I could hearabout an alarming increase in theincidence of diarrhea, malaria, res-piratory infections, measles, andother communicable diseases.

In this sordid scenario it is sug-gested that the following measuresmay be taken immediately to savemillions of lives undergoing anagony and pain in the disaster –hitdistricts. First, rain triggered floodwaters must be drained out from theaffected areas. Second, a good sys-tem of water supply and excreta dis-posal must be put in place quickly.Third, the provision of adequateclean water and sanitation, timelymeasles immunization, simple treat-ment of dehydration from diarrhoea,supplementary feeding for the mal-nourished, micronutrient supple-ments, and the establishment of anadequate public health surveillancesystem greatly reduces the healthrisks associated with the harsh en-vironments of torn –out tents.

Above all, the officers of therelevant national and provincialorganizations may be directed notwaste resources in non-productiveactivities such as briefings onPower Points and photo sessionsbut do utilize the resources honestlyand uprightly.—Islamabad

A neverending thirst!

JUNAID ASHRAF

“Those who long only and solely forthe worldly life, their longing turnsto a thirst, a thirst – never ending”

Many of you might be familiarwith the TV drama by the name of“Shehr-e-Zaat” based on the novelof Umera Ahmed that just finished.I haven’t read the novel; neverthe-less I have been following the dramabecause of its heart touching storyand a strong message. To me“Shehr-e-Zaat” is not just a drama;it seems like, more a story about meand so many other people aroundme. It has made me reflect on myown actions and has compelled meto write about it, because I think weshould take lessons from this playin the real sense of the word. Themessage it carries is a need of thehour, because, in pursuit of materi-alistic benefits we have forgotten thepurpose of this life. The balance be-tween spiritual and material life ismissing. In pursuit of worldly gains,spiritual life has fallen into theshades, not only that, it is also di-minishing in our lives with everysingle passing day. We are so muchin love with this worldly life that wehave forgotten the other part, the ex-istence of God, which is a reality,inevitable. We have fallen prey toworldly pleasures, which eventually,will end up in smoke.

By and large, we are living alife of ignorance and obliviousness;instead of purification of our soulswe desire physical beautification.Many good traditions and values

Bureaucrats or land mafia?ASGHAR MAHMOOD

According to a media report, senior bureaucrats are putting pressure on the Capital DevelopmentAuthority (CDA) to create plots in expensive sectors of Islamabad for allotment to BS 22 officers.

The background of this story is that the former Prime Minister approved a scheme for allotment ofadditional plots for Federal Secretaries and senior bureaucrats in BS 22; civil servants in BS 17 andabove are allotted only one plot at the time of retirement. This was a special favour for senior bureau-crats to oblige them for their services beyond the call of duty. The Public Accounts Committee hasreservations about this Scheme. The Monday report has published the names of secretaries who havecostly plots allotted in Sector D-12. Many senior bureaucrats have plots in exclusive schemes in theirown names or in the names of their family members. For example, some of them have got allotted veryexpensive plots in the National Police Foundation Housing Scheme in Sector E-11, at throwaway price,though entitled and deserving police officers have been denied plots in this prestigious scheme by theNPF management. The market price of a Kanal size plot in E-11 is more than two crore rupees. Invest amillion and earn 20 millions. Simple and easy way to become a millionaire overnight for senior bureau-crats. Role of the civil service worldover is to serve the people by making people-friendly policies. InPakistan, the senior bureaucrats make only self-serving policies; they are least interested in the welfareof junior officers and common man. A National Commission is called for to probe the allotment of plotsand farm -houses in the Capital to bureaucrats and their cronies.—Islamabad

Views From Abroad

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Email:editorial@pakobserver.net

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

—Editor

Pakistan after the momogate humili-ation become understandable whichusually reflects of his personal ven-detta towards Pakistani institutions.It still remains unclear that how muchinfluence such voices enjoy on the USpolicy makers, but the recent trendsindicates that the gulf between the USand Pakistan is growing and problemsare likely to compound rather to be-come simplified in the post May 2period, until and unless PresidentObama moves away from stereo typeof thinking regarding Pakistan whichappears less likely.

Pakistan has become dependenton the foreign aid despite immensedomestic potentials mainly becauseof governance issues. Self-suffi-ciency is not something which re-mains out of reach, but just that it hasso far not become the priority of theruling elite who remains badly ad-dicted to foreign aid. The much offoreign aid has either been misappro-priated or has been wasted away infutile projects thus has overall con-tributed very less to the economicgrowth and prosperity. Ground reali-ties just substantiate these assertions.On the other hand, growing economic

have gone by the board because ofexcessive materialism. We have builtwalls of all types of material thingsaround us; the walls are so high thatwe can’t see anything else, otherthan our own self. We only stay con-scious of our self and turn a blindeye to world around, our heart hasbecome like a rock, hard and blind!!What is wrong with us? We all havegone astray; our lives are full of frailand fake pleasures. There also seemsto be a lack of capacity on our partto understand and appreciate the en-joyment that can be found in wor-shiping God. We think that all thematerialistic things we have areblessings of God but in reality, theyoften fulfill the characteristics ofbeing “Israaf” (extravagance). Weshould try to find the path of mod-eration in order to find salvation.

Sometimes the things which arevery obvious to our eye may be justan illusion, and when one realizes it,it may be too late, it may be impos-sible to move forward or backward.It is time we focus our sight to wherewe are heading. The point I am try-ing to make is not leaving the worldlylife aside but to find a balance be-tween the spiritual and material life,between this world and the hereafter.The greed and lust for material gainsshould stop before it is too late! Weneed to thank The Almighty Allah foreverything we have and do not have,for He knows what is that we needthe most, and what is the best for us!—Via email

Hopes pinnedto Obama

MUHAMMED JAMIL ATHER

People all over the world are feelingrelieved and very happy by the newsof President Barack Obama being re-elected and thanking the people ofAmerica for taking the right decision.We see in Barack Obama a positiveattitude — he is not indifferent toother people’s sufferings. He seemsto possess sound judgement, greatwisdom, humility and kindness.

We were touched when we sawhim breaking down in tears as he wasspeaking to his campaign team inIowa for the last time.Former Presi-dent Bill Clinton described BarackObama as a person “who is cool out-side, but burns inside.”We expectthat in his second term he will beable to take concrete steps to bringpeace in Kashmir & between Pales-tine and Israel.

The Kashmeries & Palestinianshave been suffering for so long; theyare deprived of their land and are liv-ing in an inhuman condition.Wehope he will maintain a peaceful re-lationship with other countries in-cluding Iran. Global warming hasbecome a curse. It is wreaking havocall over the world. President BarackObama should take the matter seri-ously and do something to combatit.The world has so many expecta-tions from him; we hope and trustthat by the help of the Almighty, hewill be able to fulfil it.—Karachi

Generals’dirty affairs

KHAWAJA UMER FAROOQ

According to media news after CIAchief Gen. David Petraeus resigna-tion, Pentagon said that the topAmerican commander in AfghanistanGen John Allen is also under investi-gation for alleged inappropriate com-munications. At the time when thingsare going bad to worse in Afghani-stan and NATO withdrawal is com-ing near recent events and resigna-tion of main architect of Iraq and Af-ghanistan wars Gen Petraeus and in-volvement of NATO commander inAfghanistan Gen Allen add furthermiseries for US mission in Afghani-stan. US authorities are trying hardto cover the situation.

Defense Secretary Penata or-dered an immediate investigation andtemporarily stopped Gen Allen nomi-nation as commander of US Euro-pean command. Petraeus acceptedthat he had an affair with biographerPaula Broad. She was writing GenPetraeus biography. InterestinglyCIA chief had been caught between

As I hear about bombings inmy country andneighbouring ones, my heart

goes out to the families who sufferafterwards. But I know there ismore to compassion than it just be-ing an armchair discussion and Iwill try to bring this out with a fewlittle stories below:

A Story is told about a little boywith a big heart. His next doorneighbour was an old man whosewife recently had died. When the

youngster saw the elderly man cry-ing he climbed up onto his lap andsimply sat there.

Later his mother asked the boywhat he had said to their saddenedneighbour. “Nothing,” the child re-plied, “I just helped him cry.” Some-times that is the best thing we can dofor people who are facing profoundsorrow. Often our attempts to saysomething wise and helpful are farless valuable than just sitting next tothe bereaved ones, holding their handand crying with them.

In a London cemetery there weretwo funerals. The first little coffin wasfollowed by a solitary mourner, arather lost looking woman, evidentlythe mother. There were no flowers onthis coffin, while the other was cov-

ered with wreaths and bunches offlowers, and followed by several hun-dred people. At the grave side one ofthe mourners who turned out to bethe father took a wreath and a largebunch of lilies from his own child’scoffin and laid them upon the other.The lost looking mother nodded andwept but she knew she was not alonein her grief. Small gestures go to theheart of those whose hearts are bro-ken. Sometimes compassion needsmore than just our tears or gesture.

In 1984 the newspapers told ofthe plight of a child in Mexico City.The child had been orphaned and se-verely burned in a gas explosion thattook the lives of five hundred people.Millions saw the story and probablyquickly forgot it. One woman in New

Shared tears..!

Respect & freedom of expression

Is there a possibility of balance between freedom of expression andrespect? Deep inside every con-

scious Muslim’s heart is a feelingof serenity and peace even in midstof tyranny, dispute and injustice.Because they believe justice will begranted, not always from humans,but surely from the one who cre-ated humans.

Muslims believe that sometimejustice is given in this world andsometimes in the next. Yet, no doubttotal justice will prevail when itcomes to final reckoning. As for thosewho don’t believe as Muslims do,they could fall into three categories.The first would be the ones who don’tbelieve in Allah the almighty and theHereafter and live basically by theman-made laws of this world whichthey either follow or not, accordingto their desires. Since they don’t be-lieve in Allah the almighty, insultinga Prophet has no meaning to them,since they do not respect the personor his message. The second groupwould be believers in the Hereafter,

like Christians and Jews, but whohave not taken impartial investigationinto the religion of Islam as well asthe life and teachings of ProphetMuhammad (peace be upon him) andthe Holy Quran. They could act asabove from sheer ignorance and ani-mosity toward Islam which couldeven lead to insulting or belittling aProphet of God whom they don’t re-ally know. The third group may fallsomewhere in between and do as theabove for various reasons. All ani-mosities against Islam come down toone point: “Ignorance”.

One may ask, had it been a lawagainst insulting revered historicalfigures, would such actions occur?Most likely not! So, to what extentare we to use freedom of speech tospread evil, violence and chaosamong humans? Perhaps it all de-pends on the desired outcome. Wehave seen during the recent years suchdetestable publications and videoshave cost the loss of innocent livesof even the non Muslims around theworld. Newton’s third law of motionstates that forces occur in pairs, andwhether that force is the action or thereaction is scientifically irrelevantbecause at this point they are identi-

cal. Thus, we find ourselves in thisvicious circle: We see actions and wesee reactions. What is the result? Youdecide! One also may ask, has thefreedom of speech made UnitedStates of America a safer place to live,where people of various cultures livein harmony with each other?

Is there a possibility of balancebetween freedom of expression andrespect? It is normal for humans toact a certain way to achieve desiredresults. So, how can one desire to cre-ate hatred, chaos and disarray? ManyMuslim scholars around the worldhave expressed their strong opinionagainst any kind of violence whilecondemning evil plots of the ignorantfew. But when it comes to generalMuslim population around the world,it would be very difficult to controlthe sentiment of millions against anyinsults on their religion and especiallytheir beloved Prophet. So, is there asolution? As some Muslims aroundthe world express their hatred by at-tacking embassies and its personnel,the Muslims in the US will becometargets of more hate crimes and dis-criminations. This will be especiallydifficult for new Muslims. Is it thefreedom of speech that is fanning the

already ignited fire? Surely, free-dom of speech has two faces de-pending on who is using it or whois being targeted for it. Without get-ting into the issues of politics, onecan clearly see there is a doublestandard even in this law that is sup-posedly written in stone in the USconstitution, which should harborfreedom as well as justice.

Muslims are aware that our pres-ence in this life is a test. So, when aMuslim encounters various incidentsthroughout his life, he is aware thathe is being tested. It is through theseincidents that a person displays hisfaith, submission and closeness toAllah the almighty who grants thislife and countless blessings. Thus aMuslim must not lower himself tothe level of his ignorant adversariesand show reaction that causes harm.He must act in a way that benefitsare heavier on the scale than harm.He knows Allah God’s justice: “Wewill set up the Just Balance on theDay of Rising and no self will bewronged in any way. Even if it is nomore than the weight of a grain ofmustard-seed, We will produce it. Weare sufficient as a Reckoner.} (Al-Anbiya’ 21: 47)”.

York didn’t. She couldn’t get thelittle boy off her mind. Thiswoman’s concern led to efforts tofind the boy, followed by two yearsof medical assistance, gifts, visitsand finally adoption proceedings.The poor homeless boy who had feltearlier that he had lost everythingwas overjoyed to find that he hadsomeone who cared so much forhim that she gave up her normal lifeto care for him. In a world wheregreed and materialism are showingtheir ugly heads compassion can bea powerful antidote.

“A heartfelt tear can show ourlove As words can never do: It says,“I want to share your pain— Myheart goes out to you.”—Email:bobsbanter@gmail.com

needed that night but didn’t get intime. Petraeus himself visited theBenghazi base about a week beforehe resigned, to bolster agency offic-ers there and review what happened.His account, in person or in writing,will be important in understandingwhat went wrong.

Benghazi showed the reason theUnited States needs clandestine in-telligence officers in dangerous coun-tries such as Libya. They’re in coun-try, undercover, to collect the secretsthat will keep US citizens safe. Thatnight, the United States needed toknow what was going down inBenghazi, and in Cairo, Tunis and ahalf-dozen other capitals. It’s hard todo this intelligence collection — re-cruiting and running clandestineagents — when you’re operatingfrom a quasi-public base, as seemsto have been the case in Benghazi,and is certainly true in many othersparts of the world.

The CIA inevitably will continueto mount some paramilitary opera-tions. The United States is still fight-ing a war against al-Qaeda, and theCIA’s Counter-terrorism Centre hasbecome proficient in managing droneattacks, to the point that they’ve madeassassination from 10,000 feet an al-most addictive covert tool of policy.

And there’s a role for paramili-tary action in Syria, too, including an

idea suggested to me by HankCrumpton, a former top CIA officerwho recently published a book called“The Art of Intelligence.” He sug-gests that the CIA train a team ofSyrians that can hunt Iranian fightersfrom the Quds Force of the IranianRevolutionary Guards Corps who areworking with Bashar al-Assad’s re-gime. The United States has mountedsimilar clandestine training missionsin Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan. Ilike this proposal because it under-lines that this is a fight for Syrians,not Iranians or Americans. But oneresolution for the post-Petraeus CIAshould be to put intelligence collec-tion back in the driver’s seat at theagency. Maybe this will only be pos-sible when the agency fully deploysa new network of deep-cover “plat-forms” that can hide CIA officersbetter than that embattled annex inBenghazi did.

And one more thought, sent by awise reader who passed along this so-bering quote from Karl vonClausewitz: “The higher the rank, themore necessary it is that boldnessshould be accompanied by a reflec-tive mind . . . for with increase in rankit becomes always a matter less ofself-sacrifice and more a matter of thepreservation of others, and the goodof the whole.”— Courtesy: The Washington Post

and political issues in the US dictatethat the flow of aid to Pakistan wouldeventually be capped and bulk of USforces would depart from Afghani-stan thus leaving Pakistan and Af-ghanistan to find their own destiny.

Apparently, no dramatic changeis expected for Pakistan after the USelections and Pakistan will have tofind regional solutions to the regionalproblems besides learning to stand onits own feet. State like Russia, China,Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia there-fore gains added importance for Pa-kistan. China has already invested alot in Pakistan while Iran and Russiahave shown their interest in mega gaspipeline projects on which Pakistanhas yet to take a decisive action. AsEurope further plunges into economicrecession, the world donor agencieslike IMF and World Bank might notfind enough funds to bail out Paki-stan. The Pakistani military thereforemight have to play some constructiverole behind the scene at this criticaljuncture to convince the governmentthat now there is no other solution tosurvival except for self-sufficiency.—The writer is NDU researchscholar.

tussle of two women. FBI uncoveredevidence of the affair betweenPetraeus and Broadwell afterBroadwell sent harassing messagesto another woman who informed FBIabout Petraeus affair. Now DefenseDepartment is reviewing thousandsof pages of e mails between the com-mander of forces in Afghanistan andhis close friend.—Jeddah, KSA

An essayon corruptionMAHFOOZ UR RAHMAN

No trade in Pakistan is possible un-less one greases the palms of the con-cerned authorities . In Islam , whobribes for his work to be done com-mits a greater sin than who takes thebribe . When I was attending theNIPA course preparatory to promo-tion (which was not in my fate) tothe next higher grade , there was avisiting professor who belonged to afamous university . He had beenpassed over to become a beaucrat .In each session , he would make adig at the country’s beaucracy . He isnot alone in making this dig . Theremay be others like him . A case ofsour grapes.

It is universally acknowledgedthat ‘corruption’ is a world wide phe-nomenon , not only in Pakistan . Itdid not save the image of the Euro-pean Royalty from being soiled .Princes Philip of the UK and Bernardof the Netherlands were accused ofobtaining ‘hush-hush’ money . Ofcourse , their cases never saw thedaylight . In every third world coun-try the division between the haves andthe have nots is more acute than else-where in the world and hence the feel-ing is greater. Even ,in Pakistan ,where the country was founded onthe slogan of Islam , the society hasbecome rotten to the core .However ,while discussing corruption ,we tendto focus on the country’s beaucracyalone . We do not even consider otherfield or professions . The manage-ment and employees of each Pharma-ceutical companies are aware of thecompany’s sponsored overseas visitof doctors .Do they not fall under thedefinition of ‘ Corruption’ . In addi-tion , doctors prescribe medicines ofparticular favoured companies .

As former ‘beaucrat’ , I had manyopportunities to meet journalists whowere willing to change their reportsfor a cup of tea. Or journalists visit-ing foreign embassies located inIslamabad for a bottle of whiskey .There are many instances in my ca-reer when journalists gave negativetwists in their reports , if annoyed . Iremember an occasion when the lateAhmed Nadeem Qasimi gave a twistin his column in his newspaper . Themedia is instrumental in promotingor demoting of individuals , not onlyhere in Pakistan but everywhere .These days many news of the wrong-doings of journalists are floating inthe air of Islamabad .—Islamabad

What’s oncaption

IQBAL HADI ZAIDI

What a happy coincidence which Ihave noticed that the two Englishdailies of two different countries havea common heading about whateveris being programmed in the city eachday. I am referring to Pakistan Ob-server, Islamabad which captions itas ‘What’s On’ whereas Arab Times,Kuwait captions it as ‘What’s On’.Both of them have spelled and writ-ten the same but very much differ-ently which as such made it still themore appealing and eye catching.—Kuwait

David Ignatius

Shams uz ZamanEmail:smszmn72@yahoo.com

Atif Noor Khan

GORDON LUBOLD

THE stunning revelation that thePentagon is investigating volumes of e-mails between ISAF

commander Gen. John Allen and JillKelley, a socialite in Tampa, throwsinto doubt whether Allen will becomethe Supreme Allied Commander Eu-rope, a position he has been nomi-nated for. And if he does not, it raisesthe question of who would go in hisstead.

The bench isn’t all that deep fora job first held by Gen. DwightEisenhower and seen as a preemi-nent combatant command, typicallygiven as payback for a hardship touror a prize given to a known quantity.

The slate of three- and four-starsacross the military are seen as eithertoo junior or lacking in the kind ofgravitas a job such as SACEUR re-quires. Gone are the Mike Mullens,Jim Joneses, Dave Petraeuses andStan McChrystals who have theconfidence and, at least within de-fense circles, the star power, to lead.

“We have a really talented mili-tary, but after these ten years, whenit has come down to picking people,especially in a pinch, suddenly itseems that there aren’t any,” saidone former defense official whowanted to remain anonymous giventhe current sensitivity over the scan-dal.

Allen, according to a defense of-ficial, says the 20,000 to 30,000 pagesof e-mails between him and Jill Kelley,the Tampa socialite linked to thePetraeus scandal, reflect no wrong-doing on his part. And Pentagon of-

ficials tell Foreign Policy that Allen,who is married, says he did not have

If not Allen, who gets NATO?

SYRIA’s neighbors are increasingly being drawn into the country’s civil warin a variety of ways, whether militarily or

due to an exodus of Syrians fleeing the fightingat home. The spillover has raised concerns thatthe nearly 20-month-long conflict between Syr-ian President Bashar Assad’s regime and rebelstrying to topple him could endanger the entireMiddle East.

Here is a look at how neighboring statesare being affected by Syria’s bloodletting.

TURKEY: Turkey has struck the Syrian mili-tary repeatedly in response to shelling andmortar rounds from Syria since Oct. 3, whenshells from Syria struck the Turkish village ofAkcakale, killing two women and three children.The incident prompted NATO to convene anemergency meeting and Turkey sent tanks andanti-aircraft batteries to the area. Turkey’s mili-tary has also scrambled fighter jets after Syrianhelicopters flew close to the border.

There are about 120,000 Syrian refugeessheltering in Turkish camps, with up to 70,000more living in Turkey outside the camps. Thou-sands more wait at the border, held up as Tur-key struggles to cope with the influx. Turkeyalso hosts much of the opposition and rebelleadership.

Turkey has called for a buffer zone in Syriawhere the opposition and civilians would beprotected, a step that would likely require inter-national enforcement of a no-fly zone. Russiaand China have blocked robust moves againstthe Syrian regime at the U.N. Security Council,and the United States has been reluctant to useits military in another Mideast conflict.

ISRAEL: Israel on Monday became the sec-

How Syria’s neighbours are being drawn into bloody conflict

Israel on Monday became the second country to strike the Syrianmilitary, after Turkey. An Israeli tank hit a Syrian armored vehicle after

shells from fighting in Syria exploded in Israel-controlled GolanHeights. A day earlier, Israel fired a warning shot near a group of Syrian

fighters.

an affair with Kelley.

That leaves a gaping hole in thecombatant command lineup and fewpeople with the skills to fill it.

Gen. Carter Ham, who currentlyheads U.S. Africa Command, wouldbe an obvious choice as someonewho is widely-respected and has ex-hibited the kind of warrior-diplomaticsavvy that job demands. And al-though he was long expected to re-tire, he has already served as headof the Army’s subordinate commandin Europe. But the questions raisedabout what he did or did not do re-garding Benghazi, while frivolous tomany, probably means the WhiteHouse would be unlikely to put his

name forward.

Chief among other candidatescould be Gen. John Kelly, who was

confirmed for U.S. Southern Com-mand and arrived there in recentweeks but who could be redirected.Kelly spent two years in Europe,more than a decade ago, working inBelgium as the special assistant tothe Supreme Allied Commander, forboth Gens. Wesley Clark and thenJoseph Ralston. If the White Houseis looking for someone to go to Eu-rope right away, Kelly could be aneasy choice.

The Army, upset at what it seesas a disproportionate number of Ma-rines in key jobs, from Kelly atSouthern Command to Mattis atCentcom to Lt. Gen. Tom Waldhauseras Panetta’s senior military aide, maylobby to send Gen. Lloyd Austin,

now the vice chief of staff of theArmy and ostensibly headed to U.S.Central Command next year, to Eu-rope instead. And although he is ex-pected to retire at the end of the year,Army Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling couldbe a prime choice because he is oneof the few three- or four-stars withrecent European experience. He justfinished his own tour as the commanderof the Army’s subordinate command inEurope. Other up-and-comers who arestill considered strong varsity playersbut haven’t yet risen to the level of con-sideration for such jobs include the AirForce’s Lt. Gen. Paul Selva, an air strat-egist who just arrived at the Air Force’sAir Mobility Command, and Gen. WillFraser, now at U.S. TransportationCommand. One other choicecould be the new Air Force Chief ofStaff, Gen. Mark Welsh, who servedat U.S. Air Forces in Europe prior togetting the nod for the Air Force’stop job. —Courtesy FP

THE African continent is rich innatural resources that generate big profits. In Zimbabwe

for example, billions of dollars’ worthof diamonds are being produced ev-ery year. However, little profitreaches the country’s treasury. Thisdocumentary discusses how corruptgovernment officials are channelingbig mining profits into secret US andEuropean bank accounts. Anony-mous off-shore companies and in-vestment entities in the West encour-age and benefit from thispractice.The world’s wealthy coun-tries often criticise African nationsfor corruption - especially that per-petrated by those among thecontinent’s government and busi-ness leaders who abuse their posi-tions by looting tens of billions ofdollars in national assets or the prof-its from state-owned enterprises thatcould otherwise be used to relievethe plight of some of the world’spoorest peoples. Yet the West isculpable too in that it often looks theother way when that same dirtymoney is channelled into bank ac-counts in Europe and the US. Inter-national money laundering regula-tions are supposed to stop the pro-ceeds of corruption being movedaround the world in this way, but itseems the developed world’s finan-cial system is far more tempted bythe prospect of large cash injectionsthan it should be.Indeed the Westeven provides the getaway vehiclesfor this theft, in the shape of anony-mous off-shore companies and in-vestment entities, whose disguisedownership makes it too easy for thecorrupt and dishonest to squirrelaway stolen funds in bank accountsoverseas.

This makes them nigh on impos-sible for investigators to trace, letalone recover.

It is something that has longbothered Zimbabwean journalistStanley Kwenda - who cites the trou-bling case of the Marange diamondfields in the east of his country.A few years ago rich deposits werediscovered there which held out thepromise of billions of dollars of rev-enue that could have filled the pub-lic purse and from there have beenspent on much needed improve-ments to roads, schools and hospi-tals.

The surrounding region is one ofthe most impoverished in the coun-try, desperate for the development

Rich Natural Resources

How to Rob Africa?that the profits from mining couldbring. But as Kwenda found out fromlocal community leader MalvernMudiwa, this much anticipatedbounty never appeared. “ W h e nthese diamonds came, they came asa God-given gift. So we thought nowwe are going to benefit from jobs,infrastructure, we thought maybeour roads were going to improve, sothat generations and generations willbenefit from this, not one individual.But what is happening, honestly,honestly it’s a shame!”

What is happening is actuallysomething of a mystery becausethough the mines are clearly in op-eration and producing billions of dol-lars worth of gems every year, littleif any of it has ever been put intoZimbabwe’s state coffers.

Local and international non-gov-ernmental organisations say they

believe this is because the money isactually being used to maintainPresident Robert Mugabe’s rulingZimbabwe African National Union -Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) in power.

True or not, it is clear that thecountry’s finance minister, TendaiBiti, has seen none of it. A repre-sentative of the opposition Move-ment for Democratic Change, whichsits in uneasy coalition with ZANU-PF, he says he has no idea where itis going.

“We have got evidence of thequantities that are being mined, thequantities that are being exportedbut nothing is coming to the fiscus.... All I know is that it’s not comingto the treasury. So that is a self-evi-dent question. It is not coming to

us. That means someone is gettingit. The person who is getting it isnot getting it legally. Therefore,he’s a thief, therefore she’s a thief.”Sadly, as Stanley Kwenda hasrealised, it is typical of a problemfound all over Africa. The continentis rich is natural resources that arebeing exploited for big profits, butthe money is rarely used for thebenefit of the people. Instead it goesto line the pockets of corrupt offi-cials who then often smuggle it outto be deposited in secret offshorebank accounts in the developedworld. So who facilitates thesetransactions? And how and whydoes the developed world make itso easy to launder this dirty cash?

In this revealing investigationfor People & Power, Kwenda andthe Ghanaian undercover journalistAnas Aremeyaw Anas, set off to

find out. Posing as a corrupt Zim-babwean official and his lawyer,their probe takes them deep into themurky world of ‘corporate serviceproviders’ - experts in the formationof company structures that allowthe corrupt to circumvent lax inter-national money laundering rules.

It just so happens that the pair’senquiries take place in theSeychelles but, as they discover totheir horror, they could just as eas-ily be in any one of a number of off-shore locations (or even in the ma-jor cities of Europe and the US)where anonymous companies can beset up for the express purpose ofsecretly moving money and keepingits origins hidden from prying eyes.—Courtesy Al-Jazeera

Polls over, it’s time for Obama to re-engage AsiaBHAGYASHREE GAREKAR

ANALYSTS are unusually forthright insaying that a second Obama term is awholesome deal for Asia, including

Singapore. One veteran US watcher here de-scribes him as the best-ever US president forAsean.US President Barack Obama survivedTuesday’s contest and, for Singapore, that isno cause for regret.

At home... For folks in Singapore, a col-lateral benefit of having Obama continue inthe White House is a wealth effect - the val-ues of property, equities and other assets areforecast to stay firm. Economists infer thisfrom a presumption that there will be conti-nuity in US policies. Although analysts cau-tion that long-term debt and deficit problemswill hobble the US economy.

With Obama in the White House, FederalReserve chairman Ben Bernanke will get tokeep his job and his preferred weapon - ignit-ing the economy by pumping in vast amountsof cash or quantitative easing (QE) - will con-tinue to send money lapping on Asian shores.This will keep asset prices buoyant and tendsto soften interest rates. But this hot money iscapable of spawning inflation, asset bubblesand turbulence that policymakers have to in-tervene to correct. The same forces act onthe US dollar. The QE keeps the US dollarweak and allows room for Asian currencies,

including the Sing dollar, to strengthen fur-ther. That is great for those sending a child tocollege in the US but it means tough times forexporters because their goods get pricier.

As Alvin Liew, an economist at UnitedOverseas Bank, sees it: “With Obama re-elected, impact on Asia is expected to be mini-mal compared to the case of an unknown anduntested person in the White House.

“This is a good outcome because this willensure continuity of current US monetary andforeign policies. Asset prices in Asia couldstay supported, with capital inflows from QEprogrammes going towards higher-yieldingassets and countries. Likewise, Sing dollarcould stay supported.”

During the Obama years, Singapore’strade with the US touched a record US$65billion. American investments in Singaporereached a high of $116 billion.

The post-election drop in the Dow saysthat Wall Street would have been happier withRepublican Mitt Romney. But forecasters likeMoody’s Analytics, for instance, expect theUS economy with Obama at the helm to cre-ate between 10 million and 12 million new jobsin the next four years and the jobless rate tobe under 6 per cent.

That is, if there is no hurtle down the so-called fiscal cliff, the looming harsh fiscal con-straints, with $600 billion worth of automaticspending cuts and expiring tax breaks set to

kick in at the end of the year. If the politiciansfail to reach an agreement to avert the cliff, allthe bullish forecasts are off and shockwaveswill travel across the planet.

This is where Obama can make a differ-ence, analysts say. The re-election has freedhim to roll out the right - not necessarily popu-lar - policies to revive the US economy. ForSingapore’s manufacturers and exporters thatcan only be good news. “A re-elected Obamawill not be spending the next four years run-ning for re-election,” says Manu Bhaskaran,a partner and head of economic research atThe Centennial Group, a policy advisorygroup. “He is, therefore, more likely to be will-ing to take the hard decisions on domesticpolicy - fiscal consolidation, including sen-sible tax reforms, efforts to tackle the woefulUS record on education and infrastructure,improvements to a flawed health-care reform- which will make the US a stronger economyand a better partner for Singapore and Asean.”

To avert the cliff, Obama has to cut a dealwith Congress, which is tricky because theRepublicans have retained control of theHouse of Representatives. The President isto make a statement early this morningSingapore time indicating how he would ap-proach the problem.

But Bhaskaran is optimistic, noting thatthe GOP has failed to replace a presidentlabouring under the burden of a weak

economy. The Republicans, he says, “willhave to ask themselves whether their aggres-sive policies turned off the electorate”. “IfMr Obama and his Democrat colleagues inthe Senate and House reach out to the Re-publican leaders, a compromise on the fiscalcliff is more likely.”

Some observers, noting Obama’s shakyeconomic start in the first term, are less sureof his prowess. On the other hand, he didkeep the economy going when it was mired inthe worst financial crisis since the Great De-pression of the 1930s. Ambassador ChanHeng Chee, Singapore’s envoy to the US for16 years until July and now Ambassador-At-Large at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, says:“It is not often recognised that his policiesdid stop the US from falling into depression.In January 2009, it was not at all clear that itwould not happen. He and his economic teamshould get some credit for that.” Still, shefaults his policy on trade, a test that Singaporeexpects American presidents to ace. “One areaPresident Obama did not do well on in hisfirst term was trade. He was not strong ontrade notwithstanding taking up TPP, or pass-ing Korus, and the FTAs with Colombia andPanama,” says Ambassador Chan.

His predecessor, George W. Bush, initi-ated the free trade pacts with Korea (abbrevi-ated as Korus) and the two Latin Americannations. He also laid the ground for the more

ambitious Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP),which the Obama administration took further.By some estimates, this pact could yield glo-bal income gains of over $300 billion andsegue into an enormous FTA in the Asia-Pa-cific. But progress on trade has been slow.“My best hope is that he focuses on the No.1 thing, the economy,” says Professor KishoreMahbubani, dean of the Lee Kuan School ofPublic Policy. “And No. 2, the completion ofDoha.” Obama, giving in to the farm lobby,let the Doha Round of world trade talks die,despite countless studies establishing thatthe US itself benefits greatly from tradeliberalisation. ... and beyond, Under Obama,the security high-water mark has appreciablyrisen. His vision for a lean and mean US mili-tary, outlined late last year, included a “pivotto the Pacific”, an extension of his convic-tion that the centre of gravity for US foreignpolicy, national security and economic inter-ests is shifting towards Asia. Delighting manyanxious diplomats, he announced he wouldexpand US role in the Asia-Pacific at a timewhen China is emerging as an ever more in-fluential regional power.

A part of the rebalancing allows the ro-tational deployment of US Navy littoralcombat ships in Singapore. For theSingapore Armed Forces, this means en-hanced joint exercises and training.— Courtesy Straits Times

But the volume of e-mails was enough of a flag forDefense Secretary Leon Panetta that he approved a DefenseDepartment Inspector General investigation on the matter.That puts Allen’s promotion from ISAF commander to Su-preme Allied Commander on hold. Although White House

spokesman Jay Carney said Tuesday that President Obama“has faith in General Allen,” there is a good chance that his

promotion to Europe may not weather this storm. The investi-gation alone may take its toll: Adm. James Stavridis, thecurrent SACEUR, missed an opportunity to get the job he

wanted, as Chief of Naval Operations, because of an Inspec-tor General investigation over finances. He was just last

week cleared of all the issues raised, but many believe theinvestigation squashed his chances of getting the job.

ond country to strike the Syrian military, afterTurkey. An Israeli tank hit a Syrian armored ve-hicle after shells from fighting in Syria explodedin Israel-controlled Golan Heights. A day ear-

lier, Israel fired a warning shot near a group ofSyrian fighters.

Syrian shells have exploded inside the Golanseveral times in recent weeks damaging appleorchards, sparking fires and spreading panicbut causing no injuries. In early November,three Syrian tanks entered the Golan demilita-rized zone, and in a separate incident an Israelipatrol vehicle was peppered with bullets firedfrom Syria; no one was hurt in the incident andthe Israeli military deemed it accidental.

There is concern in Israel that Assad maytry to spark a conflict with Israel, opening upthe potential for attacks by Lebanon’s militantHezbollah and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Israelhas also warned that Syria’s chemical weaponscould be turned on the Jewish state. Still, whileno friend of Assad, Israel is also worried that ifhe is toppled, Syria could fall into the hands ofIslamic extremists or descend into sectarianwarfare.

LEBANON: Mortars and shells from theSyrian side regularly crash in Lebanon, caus-ing several casualties, though Lebanese forceshave never fired back. More dangerously, Syria’s

conflict has heightened deep rivalries and sec-tarian tensions in its smaller neighbor. Lebanonis divided between pro-Assad and anti-Assadfactions, a legacy of the nearly three decades

when Damascus all but ruled Lebanon, until2005. Assad’s ally, the Hezbollah militia isLebanon’s strongest political and military move-ment.

On Oct. 19, a car bomb assassinatedLebanon’s top intelligence chief, Wissam al-Hassan. Many in Lebanon blamed Syria andHezbollah for the assassination.

The northern Lebanese city of Tripoli hasseen repeated clashes between Sunni Muslimsand Alawites — the Shiite offshoot sect towhich Assad belongs. Battles in the city in Mayand August killed at least 23 people total andwounded dozens.

The kidnapping of Lebanese Shiites in Syriaby rebels has also had repercussions in Leba-non. In May, Shiites blocked roads and burnedtires in protest over the abductions, and later inthe summer a powerful Shiite clan took 20 Syr-ians and a Turk in Lebanon captive in retalia-tion, all of whom have since been released.Lebanon also shelters about 100,000 Syrian refu-gees. JORDAN: Jordan has taken the bruntof the refugee exodus from Syria, with some265,000 Syrians fleeing across the border.

Around 42,000 of them are housed at Zaatari, adust-filled refugee camp, where riots have bro-ken out several times by Syrians angry over

lack of services. A growing number of straySyrian missiles have fallen on Jordanian villagesin the north in recent weeks, wounding severalcivilians.

Late last month, a Jordanian border patrolofficer was killed in clashes with eight militantstrying to cross into Syria. Hours earlier, Jordanannounced the arrest of 11 suspected al-Qaida-

linked militants allegedly planning to attack shop-ping malls and Western diplomatic missions inJordan.

IRAQ: Sunni and Shiite fighters from Iraqhave made their way to Syria to join the civil war— the former on the side of the opposition, thelatter siding with Assad’s regime, according toIraqi officials and Shiite militants. About 49,000Syrian refugees have temporarily resettled in Iraq,according to the U.N. refugee agency— AP

Pakistan a stable, peaceful andprosperous country. Pakistan isa key ally of the United Statesbecause of its strategic locationin the region. Stability, prosper-ity and peace in Pakistan are es-sential for the United States sothat this country could play itsrole in the regional development,peace and security. In 1989-90 Ihad been working in Pakistan. In2012 my boss (global head of theUSAID Programme) asked me tojoin the programme in Pakistanand I happily accepted this offer.Q: How do you see the cultureand people of Pakistan?A: The people and the culture ofPakistan are very nice. I like thepeople of Pakistan and their hos-pitality.Q: What are the key objectivesof launching the USAID projectsin Pakistan?A: The United States want to seepeace, prosperity and stability inPakistan. That’s why the US gov-ernment had engaged the USAIDin Pakistan and allocating mil-lions of dollars every year fordifferent development projects.To achieve these goals, we havetargeted five major areas _ eco-nomic growth, energy develop-ment, health, education and com-munity infrastructure. These arethe areas that need proper focusand financial support for devel-opment.Q: How much amount is beingspent in a year on the USAIDprojects in Pakistan?A: We are seeing an increase inthe amount of expenditure on theUSAID projects as severalprojects are at an advanced stageof completion that require moreexpenditures. In Financial Year2013, a huge amount of $800million would be utilized for thedevelopment of the USAIDprojects in Pakistan. Earlier, theannual quantum of expenditureson the USAID project was lessthan this amount.Q: Any new sectors/areas beingincluded in the upcomingprojects?A: We have short-listed five key

USAID to spend $800m in 5 Pakmajor sectors from next year

From Page 1sectors in the USAIDprogramme that I have men-tioned earlier. We select a newproject from within these fiveareas after consulting the stake-holders. Once the new projectgets all the mandatory approvals,we start work on it immediately.Q: Do you think the USAIDprojects would change themindset of Pakistanis and im-prove the image of the UnitedStates in this country?A: The American people havealways placed a premium onPakistan’s development andhave extended considerable re-sources to help the country laythe economic and social foun-dations for a better future of itspeople. The majority of the USeconomic assistance over theyears has been delivered by theUS Agency for InternationalDevelopment (USAID) and itspredecessor organizations. TheUSAID’s interventions haveaimed at empowering the Paki-stani population, strengtheningthe country’s institutions andkey services and equipping thecountry with tools and processesto become self-reliant. TheUSAID’s projects are bringingsome visible improvements andchanges in the life of the peoplein Pakistan, especially in thoseareas where the projects are be-ing implemented.

For example, the USAID hassupported the government to gen-erate 400 MWs of electricity perday that was sufficient for theconsumption of 6 million people.We are working on more projectsto support the government to gen-erate more electricity.Q: How you ensure transparencyin the utilization of the money?A: We have very tough stan-dards and audit parameters tomaintain maximum transpar-ency in the utilization of theUSAID money that belongs tothe people of the United States.The US Congress also monitorsthe efficient use of the tax-money of the US citizens.Q: Do you see any benefit ofdevaluation of Pakistani currencyfor the USAID projects? A fewyears ago the dollar-rupee ex-change rate was around Rs 63 butit had increased to over Rs 95 inrecent years.A: Devaluation of rupee givesbenefit in those components anditems which we buy in Pakistanicurrency. But some of the com-ponents of the projects are pur-chased in the US dollars. So I cansay that there is benefit of devalu-ation but only in those compo-nents that are purchased in Paki-stani currency.

Important USAIDProgramme highlights Oct2012Energy: Fatal Incidents at theHyderabad Power DistributionCompany Declined by 80% andNon-Fatal remained zero sinceJanuary 2012 and this surpris-ing but much-needed change isa direct result from the linementraining organized by theUSAID Power DistributionProject. The project plans totrain a total of 9,000 linemenfrom all public power distribu-tion companies in such keyskills as first aid, pole-top res-cue, and modern grounding. Inaddition to preserving humanlives and health, this effort willimprove maintenance of thetransmission lines. This in turnwill reduce power distributionlosses that are estimated at 10percent of all electricity pro-duced.

On October 3, U.S. ConsulGeneral Michael Dodman andSindh Governor Ishrat-ul-Ibadlaunched cooperation betweenthe USAID Power DistributionProgramme and the Karachi Wa-ter and Sewage Board. Underthis $900,000 initiative, USAIDwill upgrade 75 old water pumpsets to improve Karachi’s watersupply and reduce power con-sumption by up to 1.73 mega-watts.Economic Growth: During themonth of October, the Entrepre-neurs Project helped 450 womenmedicinal and aromatic plantcollectors in Swat Valley sellmore than 12,000 kilograms ofmedicinal and aromatic Iants.On average, each woman earned$270. Earlier, the project alsotrained these women to identifyand collect plants without dam-aging their growth.

For the fourth year in a row,the USAID and FAO BalochistanAgriculture Project organizedlivestock markets in KillaSaifullah, Mastung, Loralai, andZhob in connection with Eid-ul-Azha. By bringing markets closerto producers, the project reducesthe cost to the farmers, increasestheir bargaining power, and im-proves their revenues. This year,more than 3,000 farmers partici-pated in the markets from Octo-ber 9-15.

Recently, USAID-supportedMalakand farmers sold 100 tonsof approved chip stock potato tothe PepsiCo plant in Sundar In-dustrial Estate, Lahore. TheUSAID Project is linking small-scale potato producers inMalakand to large-scale buyers,helping them access greater eco-nomic rewards.

of Benazir Bhutto Shaheed. Thisvision was education, peace,progress, prosperity and stabilityof the country and for thisMuhtarama laid down her life.He said even patwari was notwilling to part his chair but hehad given executive power toPM.

He said his party was fight-ing for future generations andhistory would disclose this factas it was recently disclosed inAsghar Khan case how thedemocratic forces were blockedto come into power with the sup-port of public. He said his gov-ernment believed in providingequal educational opportunitiesto the less privileged and talentedyouth of Punjab with an aim tobring them at par with the morefortunate ones

The President said his gov-ernment had tried to strengthenthe regional relationships withChina, Turkey and other coun-tries in order to make Pakistanbetter for the future generations.He said this was first time thatincumbent government was com-pleting its full tenure and noweven other parties were confirm-ing this.He said we must developtolerance for each other. He said

Elections to be in time, transparentFrom Page 1

they would never let the countryweaken and we would tie stoneson our bellies for upholding dig-nity of nation, if need be, headded. Referring to terrorism inKarachi, the president said thatit was part of terrorists’ policy toaggravate situation in Karachi toengage the state and undermineits efforts against war on terror.Zardari said conspiracies againstthe country and nation were inaction but he said if they thoughtthat they would weaken the coun-try, they were mistaken. He saidit was result of tolerance and rec-onciliation policies that institu-tions gradually were becomingsubservient of the parliament.Online add: The President saidhe will respect the mandate ofpeople and all measures havebeen taken to ensure holding offree and fair elections.

Advising his friends and foesto show patience PresidentZardari said that politics shouldremain politics and must not turninto enmity for the sake of thecountry and democracy

He said that preparation ofvoter lists and appointment ofindependent Chief ElectionCommissioner are examples in

this regard.He pledged to the people and

political forces that power wouldbe transferred to any one man-dated by the electorate.

The President urged politicalparties not to stretch their differ-ence too far and demonstrate tol-erance and accommodation.

He said there is need tostrengthen political parties asonly then we can put the countryon the road to progress and pros-perity.

The President said he tookalong people and other politicalparties so as to secure future ofour children. He said our survivalis deeply linked to the survivalof the country. But he said theypart their ways after some timesbut we never closed our doors forthem.

The President said law andorder situation in Karachi is be-ing deliberately created to divertour attention from war againstterror.

He said situation in Karachiis not the failure of the state butsome hidden powers are involvedin destabilizing peace in the cityunder a planned strategy but theirdesigns will be foiled with thepower of the people.

peoples for their inalienableright to self-determination, in-cluding those in Kashmir andPalestine.

The text also declared the193-member body’s firm oppo-sition to acts of foreign militaryintervention, aggression and oc-cupation, since these have re-sulted in the suppression of theright of peoples to self-determi-nation and other human rightsin certain parts of the world.

The resolution also called onthose States responsible to ceaseimmediately their military inter-vention in and occupation offoreign countries and territories,as well as all acts of repression,discrimination, exploitation andmaltreatment.—NNI

UN committeeFrom Page 1

from Pakistan’s Ambassador inSwitzerland. Along with the re-ceipt, Naek also presentedAshraf’s approval and lawministry’s summary regardingthe letter.

Speaking on the premises ofthe Supreme Court, Naek saidthat Pakistan’s envoy in Switzer-land sent his representative toSwiss authorities, who receivedthe letter and issued him a re-ceipt. “The court has disposed ofthe contempt of court noticeagainst Prime Minister Ashraf andsaid that the government has com-plied with directions given by theSupreme Court in paragraph 178of its judgment dated December16, 2009 in the case of DrMobashir Hasan,” said Naek.

The law minister said, “We donot want any confrontation withininstitutions. We want all institu-tions to play while being in theircrease.”Naek said that the envoyhad forwarded all the documentswhich were presented before thecourt today, after which the courtdecided to conclude this aspectof the case and withdraw its con-tempt of court notice againstAshraf. He said, “Whenever thecourt issues orders, we complywith it. We want democracy tothrive in this country and don’twant it to derail.”

Ulema Conference which willinclude religious scholars fromPakistan, Afghanistan and otherIslamic countries.

The conference could eitherbe held in Saudi Arabia, Afghani-stan, Pakistan or any other Islamiccountry. The Ulema Conferencewould address the issue of risingmilitancy and suicide attacks inthe name of religion and the defa-mation of our glorious and peace-ful religion Islam due to its unjus-tified linkage with terrorism. Pa-kistan and the High Peace Coun-cil called on the Taliban and otherarmed groups to sever all linkswith Al-Qaida, and other interna-tional terror networks.

The two sides recognizedthat close and consistent coopera-tion between Afghanistan andPakistan is key to building trustand confidence between the twocountries and strengthening jointbilateral efforts in promotingpeace and stability as well asovercoming the ongoing trendsof violence and extremism. Theycalled for long term and consis-tent mutual cooperation based onmutual interest and respect.

The two sides stressed thattalking to and maligning eachother through media leaves littlespace for serious dialogue. There-fore, all government officials andspokespersons should refrainfrom making hostile statementsand avoid blame game.

The High Peace Council andPakistani authorities discussedthe issue of cross border incur-sions and shelling. It was decidedto discuss ways and means to cre-ate conducive conditions and ini-tiating bilateral mechanisms thatwould completely end the cross-border shelling. The contacts be-tween Pakistan Army and AfghanNational Army in this regardwere lauded and encouraged.

It was also agreed that to ini-tiate an effective mechanism inorder to facilitate consistent andpractical steps, the Ministry ofForeign Affairs of Pakistan andthe High Peace Council of Af-ghanistan agreed to have morefrequent contacts to enhancepeace and stability in Afghanistanand the region.

All concerned countries in-cluding Pakistan, Afghanistan andUSA will facilitate safe passageto potential negotiators to advancethe reconciliation process. Dur-ing their visit to Islamabad HighPeace Council’s delegation led byH.E. Chairman SalahuddinRabbani called upon PresidentAsif Ali Zardari, Prime MinisterRaja Pervez Ashraf,Foreign Min-ister and Chief of Army StaffGeneral Ashfaq Kayani.

The delegation also heldmeetings with Pakistan’s religiousand political leaders. Both sideshad an extensive exchange ofviews including briefing by thePakistan authorities on the inves-tigation of the assassination ofShaheed Burhan-ud-dinRabbani.—Agencies

Apex courtFrom Page 1

Pak, Afghanagree to work

jointlyFrom Page 1

COURT NOTICE

In the Court of JudgeBanking Court-III,

Multan.12-B Allah ShafiChowk Pul Bararan Road

Multan.Suit No.357/2012ZTBL Branch at Dunga Pur—PlaintiffVersusMst. Noor Jahan W/O IshaqSPA Muhammad Shabbir(son) R/O Mouza BapperTehsil Dunga Pur Distt,Lodhran —DefendantProclamation U/S 9 (5) Finan-cial Institution Recovery ofFinances Ordinance 46 of2001WHEREAS the aforesaidplaintiff has instituted a suitagainst you and others for re-covery of Rs-627162/-alongwith mark up/interestand costs etc claimed to bepayable by you Proclamationu/s 9(5) Ordinance 46 of 2001to the above is hereby issuedrequiring you to make within30 days of this proclamation,an application for leave to de-fend the suit.

Taken notice that on yourfailure to file such applicationwithin time specified abovethe Banking Court shall passa decree as prayed for in theplaint. Next date for furtherproceedings, in the case hasbeen fixed on 12.11.2012.

Given under my hand andthe seal of the court, this 26thday of September, 2012

Seal of the CourtJudge Banking Court III

Multan

COURT NOTICE

In the Court of JudgeBanking Court-III,

Multan.12-B Allah ShafiChowk Pul Bararan

Road Multan.Suit No.302/2012UBL Branch JahangerabadMultan —PlaintiffVersusKhalid Latif S/O Khuda BuxR/O Mouza Chopran WalaTatepur Multan —DefendantProclamation U/S 9 (5) Fi-nancial Institution Recoveryof Finances Ordinance 46 of2001WHEREAS the aforesaidplaintiff has instituted a suitagainst you and others forrecovery of Rs-253812/32-alongwith mark up/interestand costs etc claimed to bepayable by you Proclama-tion u/s 9(5) Ordinance 46of 2001 to the above ishereby issued requiring youto make within 30 days ofthis proclamation, an appli-cation for leave to defendthe suit.

Taken notice that on yourfailure to file such applica-tion within time specifiedabove the Banking Courtshall pass a decree as prayedfor in the plaint. Next datefor further proceedings, inthe case has been fixed on29.11.2012.

Given under my handand the seal of the court, this10th day of October, 2012

Seal of the CourtJudge Banking Court II

Multan

PUBLIC NOTICE

One Registry of Plat of5Marla Develop November, 52012 is misplace newKhanapul Islamabad Name ofRegistry Holder is SyedMaqsood Hussain Shah S/OShah Muhammad. It is re-quested of any one finds thatlocated us at this number-0333-5408385.

PUBLIC NOTICE

Ghulam Shabbir S/OMuhammad Ameer Measur-ing four marlas. MouzaNothina, Tehsil & Distt,Islamabad. Wanted to pur-chase if any one have any ob-jection PLZ Contact with in 7days, after due date claim willnot accept. Mr. Riaz KLhattakCell: 0301-5345866

Karachi, the cabinet expresseddeep sorrow and grief over theloss of precious lives in this cow-ardly act of terrorism.

The Federal Cabinet con-gratulated President BarackObama on his re-election as thePresident of the United States fora second term.

Raja Parvez Ashraf said Pa-kistan and United States havecommon interests and shared re-gional objectives of peace, secu-rity and stability.

The prime minister also ap-prised the cabinet about his re-cent visit to Laos. The Ministerfor Interior briefed the Cabineton the situation in Karachi. TheCabinet expressed serious con-cerns over the law and order situ-ation in Karachi and directed theMinistry of Interior to make adetailed presentation to the Cabi-net in its next meeting and sug-

ISLAMABAD—Millions ofpeople, forcibly displaced bynatural and man-made disasters,often face a ‘secondary disaster’that comes from living in un-planned and informal settle-ments. They lack the necessarysocial service, including healthcare and clean water, which theystruggle to access alongside fac-ing an increased exposure tosexual and gender-based vio-lence.

This was revealed at thelaunching of the World DisastersReport 2012 at a ceremonyjointly organised by the Interna-tional Federation of Red Cross,Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)and Pakistan Red Crescent Soci-ety (PRCS) here on Wednesday.The Report stresses that peopleforcibly displaced by conflict,disasters, persecution and other

Millions forcibly displacedfacing ‘secondary disaster’

factors are increasingly seekingrefuge in cities and not in reliefcamps.

Speaking at the launchingceremony of the Report, MianMuhammad Javed PRCS Man-aging Board Member MianMuhammad Javed said this year,the World Disasters Report fo-cuses on forced migration anddisplacement. He said at present,the Red Cross and Red Crescentestimates that there are more than72 million forced migrants whichis the equivalent of one in everyhundred people on the planet.

“Governments and humani-tarian organizations are stillstruggling to figure out how tosupport these people who havefled a disaster or a conflict andwho have ended up living in in-formal parts of towns or cities,”Mian Javed added.

PM, cabinet express concernFrom Page 1

gest concrete proposals.The Cabinet discussed and

accorded its approval to the pro-posed amendment in ForeignExchange Regulation Act, 1947(FERA, 1947) and the Land Sur-veying and Mapping Bill – 2012.

In order to avoid any legalcomplication of important ter-rorism cases under trial, theCabinet approved, subject tovetting by the Ministries of Lawand Human Rights, the JuvenileJustice System (Amendment)Bill, 2012. Necessary provisionshave been incorporated for theprotection of witnesses and ju-venile accused persons in theproposed bill.

The Cabinet considered andapproved amendments in theCustoms Act 1969, Sales Tax Act1990, Income Tax Ordinance2001 and Federal Excise Act2005 to register non-tax filers to

the tax net.The Cabinet was in-formed that a significant segmentof Pakistan’s economy is undocu-mented. The growing size of theunderground economy is not onlydepriving the national exchequerof its due share but is also actingas a hindrance for economic plan-ning and development. A largenumber of businesses and indi-viduals who are regularly filingtheir Income Tax returns areavoiding their legal obligations byeither under-declaring or not cor-rectly declaring their assets or in-come. On the other hand, a largenumber of businesses and indi-viduals who are required to be reg-istered with the FBR and to regu-larly file their Income Tax returnsare avoiding their legal obliga-tions. FBR along with NADRAhas data about the multiple bankaccounts, travels, assets and otherdetails of these non-filers.

nors during official tours. In ad-dition to this, no one will be al-lowed to criticize the army aswell as other constitutional insti-tutions.

The bill also contains a pro-posal seeking to increase the limitfor election campaign expendi-tures from Rs1.5 million to Rs 5million for a National Assemblycandidate and from Rs1 millionto Rs3 million for a candidate ofProvincial Assembly.

Cabinet approvesElectoral Reforms Bill

From Page 1

Pakistan, as well as improvingsecurity in the region.Lt GenCarter and Lieutenant GeneralArshad discussed a variety ofissues relating to mutuallyshared goals of peace and sta-bility in the region, includingpressuring militant groups andstrengthening cross border co-operation along the Pak-Afghanborder.

This ongoing strategic dia-logue between senior ISAF andPakistani leaders, supported byfrequent discussions at lowerlevels, has enhanced the effec-tiveness of operations on respec-tive sides of the Pakistan-Af-ghanistan border.—Online

ISAF, Pakcommitted

From Page 1

of arms and ammunition was alsorecovered from their possession.

He said the accused Habib urRehman, Imtiaz, HafizMuhammad Ramzan,Muhammad Imran and AmirMuawia hail from different areasof Dera Ismail Khan while theircentre is in Miranshah fromwhere countrywide terrorism isplanned.

The IG Punjab said that thesaboteurs are involved in severalcrimes including Green Town’sbank robbery, attack on BabuSabu check post, assault on of-fice of District Police Officer(DPO) Dera Ismail Khan, mur-der of constable in D I Khan andmultiple murder attacks on Shiitepeople.

Haji Habibur Rehman saidKhyber-Pakhtunkhawa policehave also captured also five otherpeople who abetted these arrestedcriminals, adding he said thesaboteurs had on anvil severalplans to be carried out during theholy month of MuharramulHaram.

5 TTPterrorists held

From Page 1

Supreme Court had cleared himin the Haj scam, the FIA was stillhurling threats.

Mr Gilani said his father hadappeared before the apex courtthrice. He demanded of RehmanMalik to resign from the post ifhe could not do something forthem (Gilanis).

He said he received threatswhile on his way to the house toattend the NA session (Wednes-day). A member of Panel ofChairpersons Yasmin Rehmanhas summoned the FIA DirectorGeneral to inquire as to why theMNA was being threatened afterGilani fiery speech in the lowerhouse of the parliament.—INP

Qadir: We have beenleft at terrorists mercy

From Page 1

No evidenceFrom Page 1

“Both parties can worktogether” to address the fiscalchallenges “in a balanced and re-sponsible way,” he said, beforepushing Republicans to sign onto his call for raising taxes on therichest Americans.

In response to the first ques-tion, regarding Petraeus, Obamasaid he had “no evidence at thispoint from what I’ve seen” thatthere had been any national secu-rity breaches. And the presidentpraised the retired general, saying“we are safer because of the workDave Petraeus has done.”

Asked later for his appraisalof the FBI’s work in bringing tolight the marital infidelity thatPetraeus cited in his resignationmessage, and why he learned ofthe probe only earlier this month,Obama said “I am withholdingjudgment” on that process butexpressed “a lot of confidencegenerally in the FBI.”

Obama said he would bewilling to look at raising tax rev-enues by closing loopholes butsaid that “the math tends not towork” when it comes to makingup that way for extending the taxrate reductions on income above$250,000. And he reiterated thathe does not want a stopgap agree-ment with Congress.—Agencies

W A S H I N G T O N — P a u l aBroadwell, the author whoallegedly had an affair withformer CIA Director DavidPetraeus, is suspected ofstoring significant amountsof military documents, in-cluding classified material,at her home, potentially inviolation of federal law.

A source familiar withcase told ABC News thatBroadwell admitted to theFBI she took the docu-ments from secure govern-ment buildings. The gov-ernment demanded thatthey all be given back, andwhen federal agents de-scended on her North Caro-lina home on Monday night

it was a pre-arranged meet-ing.

Prosecutors are now de-termining whether to chargeBroadwell with a crime, andthis morning the FBI and mili-tary are poring over the ma-terial. The 40-year-old au-thor, who wrote the biogra-phy on Gen. Petraeus “AllIn,” is cooperating and thecase, which is complicatedby the fact that as an intelli-gence officer in the U.S. Mili-tary Reserve she had secu-rity clearance to review thedocuments.

The FBI found classifiedmaterial on a computer vol-untarily handed over byBroadwell earlier in the inves-

tigation. Prosecutors willnow have to determine howimportant the classified ma-terial is before making a finaldecision. Authorities coulddecide to seek disciplinary

action against her rather thanpursue charges.

Senior FBI officials are ex-pected to brief the Houseand Senate Intelligence Com-mittees on their handling ofthe Petraeus investigation.The officials are expected tolay out how the case was de-veloped and argue that therewere no politics involved.

The case is so critical thatFBI Director Robert Muellermay attend to defend the bu-reau, ABC News has learned.Members of Congress havebeen angry that they were notinformed about the case be-fore the story was reported bythe media, but FBI officialsmaintain that their guidelines

Paula Broadwell in classified document probe

Scanners at Pak,Afghan borderPESHAWAR—Federal Boardof Revenue has decided toinstall scanners on Pak-Af-ghan Torkham border.Sources in FBR said that afterthe installation of scanners,Customs officials would begiven special authority to pre-vent smuggling in the coverof Afghan Transit Trade. Inaddition, all the goods deliv-ered from Pakistan to Af-ghanistan through ATT willbe checked. In the first stage,scanners are being installedon Chaman border, while inthe second stage, scannerswill be installed at Turkhamborder.—Online

PM visits Dir todayUPPER DIR—Prime MinisterRaja Pervez Ashraf is likely tovisit Dir to inaugurate the secondphase of Lowari tunnel projecttoday. The work on the megaproject had been abandonedfor want of funds. The dis-trict administration, however,did not confirm the visit of theprime minister. It has been toldthat the rail tunnel would beconverted into a road tunnel,which was a longstanding de-mand of the people of Chitral.Media reports said that PMwill visit Dir for one day understringent security measures inthis regard.—Online

Twin blasts inKurram AgencyKURRAM AGENCY—Twinroadside blasts in UpperKurram tribal region onWednesday wounded fivecivilians, officials said.Tribesmen travelling onfoot were hit by the impro-vised explosive devicesplanted on the roadside inKurram tribal agency, saidan official, adding that threeof the people were injuredin Spina Shaga area whiletwo were injured.—INP

forbid them from discussingongoing criminal cases.

This summer, Florida so-cialite and “honorary ambas-sador” to the military JillKelley received anonymousemails accusing her offlaunting a friendly relation-ship with military brass inTampa. Kelley then calledthe FBI, which traced thoseemails back to Broadwell’scomputer. Investigators aresaid to have then foundemails in Broadwell’s inboxthat pointed to an intimateaffair with Petraeus, who onFriday admitted to the affairand announced his resigna-tion as CIA director. —AP

ISLAMABAD—The SupremeCourt on Wednesday ob-served that former prime min-ister Yousaf Raza Gilani mis-used his authority by appoint-ing convicted people, includ-ing NRO beneficiaries AdnanKhwaja and Ahmed RiazSheikh.

A five-member bench,headed by Justice AnwarZaheer Jamali, was hearing theNational Reconciliation Ordi-nance (NRO) implementationcase. During the hearing,Justice Jamali remarked thatthe appointment of Khwaja asthe managing director of thestate-run Oil and Gas Devel-opment Corporation (OGDC)and of Sheikh as the additionaldirector general of the FederalInvestigation Agency (FIA)was an important case.

He maintained that theNational Accountability Bu-reau (NAB) was trying to savethe key respondents of thecase and apparently, thecountry’s top officials seem tobe involved in corruption.

He questioned how areference could be filed againstthe people who were ap-pointed instead of the person

Gilani misused authority byappointing convicts: SC

who appointed them, whileJustice Khilji Arif maintainedthat the convicted people weregiven a favour by Gilani.

Prosecutor General NABKK Agha informed the courtthat no reference has been filedagainst Gilani. The hearingwas adjourned till December 4.

In its NRO ruling, the Su-preme Court had directed NABto take action against Sheikh,Khwaja and officials of the

Establishment Division, Inte-rior ministry and FIA who wereinvolved in the illegal contrac-tual appointment of Khawajaand illegal reinstatement andpromotion of Sheikh.

‘Malik Qayyum misusedauthority as AG’ J u s t i c eAsif Saeed Khosa, during thehearing of the case, main-tained that Malik Qayyum hadmisused his authority as theattorney general.—Agencies

I S L A M A B A D — P a k i s t a nTehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) ChairmanImran Khan on Wednesdaydemanded of the ElectionCommission of Pakistan(ECP) to ban all the politi-cians, including PML-N chiefNawaz Sharif, whose nameshave been included in the listof former ISI chief AsadDurrani’s list in the AsgharKhan case.

Addressing a press confer-ence here at the PTI central sec-retariat along with veteran poli-tician Air Marshal (Retd)Asghar Khan, Imran Khansaid to conduct impartial in-vestigation, the governmentshould make the FIA chiefaccountable to the SupremeCourt. He made it clear that iftaking of money was provedagainst the PTI leaderMakhdoom Javed Hashmi,then he will not take part inthe election.

Imran Khan said the AsgharKhan case will go a long way inbenefiting the democracy in the

country. “The judgement has ex-posed those that had for decadeslied to the nation and indulged inintrigues and conspiracies tocome into power.”

He recalled that on the occa-sion of merging of Tehrik-e-Istiqlal in the PTI, he had de-manded reopening of the 16-year-old case. At that time, hesaid, the PML-N was accusingthe PTI of taking the help ofagencies, but the SC decision hasproved that the PML-N was ontop of the list of ISI beneficia-ries. He came hard on the gov-ernment for its inaction on theSupreme Court’s ruling in theNational Reconciliation Ordi-nance (NRO) implementationcase, saying that it was merelythe powerless men who have toendure jail terms while the pow-erful get NROs. He lashed outat politicians saying they hadmade politics a business andthey didn’t let any inquiriesto be conducted. He calledthis the biggest problem ofPakistan. Referring to Younus

Habib, the owner of MehranBank implicated in theMehrangate case for allegedlyhaving a hand in the creationof the IJI, he stated, “A pow-erful man steals in the coun-try and gets the NRO. Thiswas also the NRO, they didnot let an inquiry be con-ducted and did not let him besentenced.”

The PTI chief was of theopinion that only the powerlesspeople go to jail and this is thetragedy today. He said that Paki-stan was in a quagmire.

He said the PML-N and PPP,like the past, will do “Mukmuka”on the issue of Asghar Khancase verdict. Comment-ing on deteriorating situationof Karachi, he stated that theprovincial government failedto protect the lives and prop-erty of the people in the busi-ness hub. In his view, the de-politicization of the Sindh ad-ministration, especially thepolice, was the key to restor-ing peace.—INP

Imran asks ECP to banISI money-taker politicians

Bal Thackerayon oxygen, noteating anything

MUMBAI—Indian Hindu ex-tremist group Shiv Sena chiefBal Thackeray, who is ailingfor sometime, is on continu-ous oxygen and not eatinganything. “Bal Thackeray isnot on ventilator, but is oncontinuous oxygen,” hisclose source said.

He said the 86-year-oldSena patriarch, who has beensuffering from breathingproblems, continues to beunder medical supervision.“His health is not so good.He is not eating anything,”he said.—INP

PM seeksUlema’s role

in war on terrorSHARAFAT KAZMI

ISLAMABAD—Prime MinisterRaja Pervez Ashraf has said thatPakistan is in a state of war dueto terrorism and urged religiousleaders to play their role in reso-lution of the problem. Addressing Ulema andMashaikh here on Wednesday, hesaid there are trying times bothfor our religion and Pakistan andthey should guide in overcomingthe challenge.

The Prime Minister said ter-rorism is a curse and terrorist arespoiling the image of the coun-try in comity of nations.

He said a handful of ele-ments want to impose their willon the majority and we haveto foil their designs.

Raja Pervez Ashraf said asterrorists are misusing the nameof the religion, Ulema can play aneffective role in countering theirdesigns. He said we should forgetour differences and work unitedlyto save Pakistan and its future gen-erations.

The Prime Minister saidPakistan has offered tremen-dous sacrifices in the waragainst terrorism. It has suf-fered a staggering economiclosses of over seventy bil-lion dollars.

Borders no hurdle inrelations betweenIndia, Pakistan:

Bihar CMRAWALPINDI—The ChiefMinister of Indian ProvinceBihar Natish Kumar has saidthat the borders cannot be-come a hurdle in the relationsof love, affection and culturebetween India and Pakistan.

He expressed these viewsduring his visit to Katas RajTemple at Choa Saiden ShahWednesday.

Provincial Minister forPlanning & Development andHospitality Ch. AbdulGhafoor, Member NationalAssembly Ch. Ayaz Amir,Member Provincial AssemblyBegum Iffat Liaqat, Chairper-son District Social WelfareBoard Chakwal Mehwish Sul-tana, DCO Chakwal AhmadAziz Tarrar, DPO ChakwalKashif Mushtaq Kanjo, ADCChakwal Saadat Hassan andmembers Indian delegationSMP Deno Kumari, MinisterSri Ashook Kumar Sinha,Chief Secretary Behar SriAnjani Kumar Singh, NaushadAhmad, Amir Subhani, SaleemPervaiz and Sri M.K. KumarSingh were present on the oc-casion. The Chief Minister ofIndian Province Behar, NatishKumar planted a sapling atKatas Raj Temple. —INP

Punjab thick fog roadcrashes claim 11 lives

PERTH—United States DefenceSecretary Leon Panetta says adeployment of Australian specialforces to assist in maintainingsecurity in Afghanistan after2014 is worth considering.

Panetta, who visited the bar-racks of the Special Air ServiceRegiment in Perth to meet someof those who had fought in Af-ghanistan, said Defence Minis-ter Stephen Smith had expressedan interest in an Australian spe-cial forces presence in Afghani-stan in the post-2014 period.

“I believe that is worth con-sidering,” he told the media con-ference at the conclusion of theannual Australia-US Ministerial(AUSMIN) consultations inPerth.

Under current transitionplans, Afghan National SecurityForces are progressively takingthe lead in security, with that pro-cess to be fully completed by theend of 2014. Australia is now

considering what assistance it canprovide after that period. Amongthe possibilities is ongoing helpwith training and deployment ofspecial forces, subject to a suit-able mandate and legal frame-work.

Panetta said one of the mis-sions in Afghanistan after 2014would be counter-terrorism andcontinuing to target al-Qaeda andother groups. “As we design thatpost-2014 presence, we want toconsider the role not only of Aus-tralia but other countries can pro-vide in special forces that I thinkwould be very important in thefuture security of Afghanistan,”he said.

In the communique releasedat the close of AUSMIN, Aus-tralia and the US reiterated thecontinued commitment to a se-cure, stable and prosperous Af-ghanistan that is not a safe havenfor international terrorists. Aus-tralia and the US reiterated their

commitment to the InternationalSecurity Assistance Force(ISAF) transition strategy and toa post-2014 mission to train, ad-vise and assist the Afghan Na-tional Security Forces.

Much pre-AUSMIN discus-sion centred on alleged US con-cerns at the level of Australiandefence spending but the topicwas only mentioned briefly in themedia conference after a specificquestion to Panetta.

He said both the US andAustralia were facing budgetconstrictions which had to betaken into consideration.

“But I remain fully confidentthat in light of what we are con-fronting that we have the capa-bility to maintain a strong na-tional defence for both of ourcountries,” he said. “We will beable to meet the threats that con-front us, not only in this part ofthe world but elsewhere aswell.”—INP

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—At least 11 peoplelost their lives and over 30 oth-ers sustained injuries in earlymorning roadside accidents insouthern Punjab areas blan-keted by dense fog onWednesday.

The accidents transpiredowing to the dense fog leav-ing the visibility to the mini-mum on roads posing seriousthreats of accidents in mostparts of the country as thewinter is expanding its foot-hold. According to details,a pickup and a passenger buscollided in Bahawalpur wherefive people were killed on thespot and eight others injured.

The injured and bodieshave been shifted to nearbyVictoria Hospital Bahawalpur.The deceased include achild, a man and threewomen. All the deceased andthe injured people hail from asingle family residing inJanwala. The family was onits way back from attendinga funeral in Karachi. In an-other tragic mishap, three fe-

male students were killed andtwo others injured in a colli-sion between their schoolvan and a truck nearGondlawala area ofGujranwala. The injured andbodies were shifted to Dis-trict Hospital.

The drivers of trailer andpassenger wagon fled the ac-cident scene. Meantime, twobrothers riding a motorbikewere killed when their bikewas hit by a car on fog-cov-ered MM Road in the limit ofKot Addu between districtMuzaffargarh and Layyah.

In another mishap ofcrash between a car and apickup on Khanewal Road inVehari, a man was killed andseven others including awoman were injured. Itshould be mentioned herethat the traffic on NationalHighway has been sus-pended owing to the over-whelming fog inMuzaffargarh, posing serioustroubles for the commuters, asfour more people were injuredwhen two trailers bumped intoeach other on Alipur Road.

Australia to keep part forcesin post-2014 Afghanistan

US official:Telephone wasrecovered from

Osama’s compoundWASHINGTON—A telephonewas recovered from Osama binLaden’s Abbottabad com-pound in Pakistan, a senior USofficial claimed on Tuesday,shedding new light on the sofar known description of thesafe hideout of the al-Qaedachief. Bin Laden was killedon May 2, 2011, by US com-mandos in a daring night raidin Abbottabad.

So far top US officials haveinsisted there was no internetor telephone service connec-tion coming into the com-pound and that bin Ladencompletely relied on humancourier to send his messagesacross or communicate withhis other commanders.

“The FBI relies tremen-dously on SAR information tosupport its current investiga-tions and to identify subjectswe may have missed. We de-pend on the financial institu-tion SAR information beingcomplete and accurate,”Calvery said, adding that theseare FBI’s words.—Online

ISLAMABAD: Air Marshal (Retd) Asghar Khan, alongwith PTI Chairman Imran Khan,addressing a press conference at party office.

Pak-Turkish tiesStaff ReporterLAHORE—Pakistan MuslimLeague-Nawaz (PML-N)President Mian Nawaz Sharifsaid Wednesday that broth-erly and friendly ties betweenPakistan and Turkey hadbeen transformed into eco-nomic relations which will befurther strengthened in timeahead. This was stated byhim while talking to TurkishAmbassador in PakistanMustafa Babur Hizlan whocalled on him at his Raiwindresidence on Wednesday.During the meeting, viewswere exchanged on Pak-Tur-key relations particularly ineconomic field, regional situ-ation and other matters ofmutual interest, sources said.

RESEARCHERS report in the Journal ofthe American Medical Association(JAMA) that women, who are three

times as likely as men to experience migraines,may suffer from other consequences of thepainful headaches apart from the commonsymptoms of nausea, vomit-ing and sensitivity to light.Women who have migrainesare twice as likely as non-suf-ferers to show structuralchanges, or lesions, due to in-adequate blood flow in certainparts of the brain.

The role that these lesionsmay play in health, however,still aren’t obvious. “Patientsshould not live with the ideathat each migraine attack ispotentially ‘damaging’ theirbrains,” corresponding studyauthor Mark Kruit says in anemail to TIME discussing theresults. “Patients shouldknow that the [volume] ofchanges is small, and that theyare not related to worse cog-nitive function. [T]here is noneed for changes in the way migraine patientsare treated, based on the study results.”

Previous MRI brain scans of migraine pa-tients found unusual “hyperintensities” —bright areas suggesting areas of poor blood flow.But those studies could not determine whichcame first — whether people with migrainestend to develop brain lesions, or whether thebrain lesions trigger migraines. Those studiesalso could not track whether each successivemigraine would expand the size of the brainlesions, leading to worsening symptoms.

So Kruit, a radiologist and neurologistworking in Leiden in the Netherlands, joinedwith a Dutch team of doctors to study mi-graine in nearly 300 adults living in that coun-

try. Most of the participants suffered frommigraines, but some did not. Researchersscanned the brains of all of the participants atthe start of the study, in 2000, and again in2009. By comparing the images taken in thesame year, Kruit and his colleagues could mea-

sure differences in brain lesionsbetween the migraine patientsand those who did not sufferfrom the headaches. And bycomparing scans for the samepatients taken nine years apart,they could also record whetherthose with migraine history aremore likely to develop newbrain lesions over time, whetherexisting lesions grow fasteramong people with more mi-graine attacks, or whether thelesions are linked to declines incognitive skills.

The researchers found nodifference in outcomes amongmen. Both men with migrainesand those without the head-aches were equally likely toshow hyperintensities on theMRI scans.

But it was a different story for thewomen. Both in 2000 and in 2009, womenwith migraines had higher lesion volume thanthose without migraines, and during the studyperiod their lesions also progressed fasterthan those among women without migraines.However, the growth of these lesions wasnot associated with the frequency or inten-sity of migraines, or to the presence of aura— the vision disturbances and other sensorychanges that may precede migraine headaches.That, say the researchers, suggests that thelesions are not part of the collateral damageresulting from the migraine attacks but ratherrelated to whatever is responsible for the head-aches.

Migraines linked to brainlesions in women

LIAQAT TOOR

ISLAMABAD—The grand showbloomed in ecstasy of rage onTuesday evening in a local hotelwhen Pakistani elites assembledto give a special salute to 1.5 mil-lion Algerian martyrs who wentdown fighting against occupa-tional forces for earning their birthright of freedom during a longstruggle for independence.

Prolific and energetic AlgerianAmbassador Dr. Ahmed Benflisand his spouse staged an impres-sive ceremony in connection with58th Anniversary of Launching ofArmed Struggle for Restoration ofNational Independence of Alge-ria. A great number of Pakistanielites including politicians, parlia-mentarians, a large number of am-bassadors and diplomats fromdifferent countries, particularlyfrom Muslim countries, ex-gen-erals, ex-civil servants, ex-diplo-mats, businessmen, students,mediamen and friends of Algeriathronged the show.

The show was bursting witha spirit of love, acknowledgementand regard for un-matched sacri-fices of Algerians who wrote his-tory with their blood and tears.

On arrival of the Chief Guest,Dr. Paul Bhatti, Adviser to the

Prime Minister on NationalHarmony, national anthems

of both the countries wereplayed. Dr. Ahmed Benflis was

joined by the Chief Guest andother eminent personalities incutting the cake amidst applauseby the guests.

The ambassadors and otherdiplomats including the new USenvoy Richard Olson were sur-rounded by Pakistani politiciansand parliamentar-ians to discuss thecurrent situationin Pakistan andthe region. Thestatus of Pak- Algerian relationsand struggle for independence ofAlgeria were also the topics dur-ing the interactions in a big hallwhere two screens in the cor-ners continued to beam socialand economic life of this greatcountry in North Africa.

Different flavours andaroma of Algerian food and warmhospitality by the ambassadorand his spouse greeted theguests. The Algerian ambassa-dor and his embassy staff wereattired in traditional dresseswhich brightened the show.

The relentless effort of Dr.Ahmed Benflis has put Pak-Al-gerian multi-dimensional relationson high pedestal. The economicand commercial ties are progress-

ISLAMABAD: Nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan releasing blue balloons, symbol of Diabetes into air before the walk marking ‘World DebatesDay’ organised by Dr M. Saleem Qureshi, Head, Centre for Diabetes and Liver diseases, Islamabad.

Anniversary of Algerian Revolution

A special salute to fighting spirit of AlgeriansA permanent source of inspiration for struggling people; Pakistanis love Algerians and Algeri-ans owe to Pakistanis for support: Dr.Ahmed Benflis; Grand show bloomed in ecstasy of rage

ISLAMABAD: Chief guest Adviser to the Prime Minister on National Harmony Dr PaulBhatti, Ambassador of Algeria Dr Ahmed Benflis and his spouse, Ambassador of UAE EisaAbdullah Al Basha Al-Nuaimi, Ambassador of Argentine Rodolfo Martin Saravia, PresidentAJK Sardar Yaqub, Charge d’ Affaires, Arab Republic of Syria Dr Ali Muhra, Ambassador ofMorocco Mohammed Rida El Fassi and Ambassador of Tunisia Mourad Bourehla cutting thecake on the occasion of the 58th Anniversary of the Launching of Armed Struggle for theRestoration of National Independence of Algeria.—PO photo by Sultan Bashir

ing as the hearts of people ofboth the countries beat in uni-son. Memories are still fresh inthe minds of the people of Pa-kistan when armed struggle waslaunched in Algeria againstFrench occupation. At that timein fifties, Pakistani media was

full of storiesabout heroes ofthe fightingwhich has be-come a perma-

nent source of inspiration forthose who want to attain inde-pendence.

The Algerians always ac-knowledged the support givento them in hours of need by thegovernment and the people ofPakistan.

After independence, Alge-ria is moving on the road toprogress. Its oil wealth is giv-ing a new shape to the country.The recently held elections hadgiven opportunity to the peopleto choose their representatives.Destiny of Algeria is writtenon the horizon. PresidentAbdelaziz Bouteflika is lead-ing his country to new goalsand destinations. Grand Salaamto heroic struggle of Algerians.

ISLAMABAD: Japanese Ambassador Hiroshi Oe awarding the Patent of Decoration andInsignia to Ms Doreen Foster at the Embassy of Japan.—PO photo

ASHRAF ANSARI

ISLAMABAD—The Centre forDiabetes & Liver Diseases ar-ranged a walk entitled ‘Step Out:Walk to Stop Diabetes’ at theParade Ground here Wednesdayto promote awareness about thecauses of diabetes, preventivemeasures and treatment. Thewalk marked the World Diabe-tes Day.

A large number of doctors,patients and youths took partin the walk led by Pakistan’snational hero and renownednuclear scientist Dr. AQ Khan.President, Centre for Diabetesand Liver Diseases, Prof. Dr.Saleem Qureshi, Dr. MusarratIqbal and other senior special-ist doctors accompanied him in

World Diabetes Day

Awareness walk becomeslively fanfare

the walk.Addressing the partici-

pants of the walk as chief guest,Dr. AQ Khan made a strongcause for adopting a simple andhealthy lift style to remainhealthy and energetic. He saidwe should take preventivemeasures against various dis-eases and go for treatmentwhen needed without fear. Henarrated some episodes fromhis own experience about fac-ing ailments at various pointsof time and said, he always keptfaith in the Creator and was notscared of any medical treat-ment.

Dr. Saleem Qureshi wel-coming the chief guest said,people should adopt activelifestyle, should not shun

physical activity and avoid richfood and stay away from inju-rious intakes. He firmly believedthat there should be awarenesscampaigns by the doctors tomake people understand the realnature of diabetes and its treat-ment.

Prof. Dr. Habib ur Rahmansaid incidence of the disease canbe lowered significantly if thepeople make healthy adjustmentin their lifestyle, have regularexercise and avoid excessivesweets and fats.

Dr. Ali, a prominent dentalsurgeon urged the participantsof the walk to take good care oforal health. He pointed out thatthere was a link between diabe-tes and oral problems. He ad-vised the people to regularly

brush their teeth after meals toensure their oral health.

Two diabetic patients, SanaAjmal and Mr. Wajid also ad-dressed the participants of thewalk.

They narrated their experi-ences of facing the challenge ofthe disease while they were quiteyoung and succeeded in achiev-ing control over the ailment.

A large number of blue bal-loons were flown into the airwhen the chief guest inauguratedthe walk.

The Centre for Diabetes andLiver disease, Islamabad andseveral pharmaceutical compa-nies setup stalls, displaying lit-erature, gadgets and latest equip-ment being used for treatmentof diabetes.

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—His Majesty theEmperor of Japan conferredupon Ms. Doreen Foster, a longserving locally employed staffof the Embassy of Japan, a dis-

Former Japanese embassy employee decoratedtinguished decoration, The Or-der of the Sacred Treasure, Goldand Silver Rays.

At the Decoration Confer-ment Ceremony held at the Em-bassy on Wednesday, Mr.Hiroshi Oe, Ambassador of Ja-

pan to Pakistan presented thePatent of Decoration and insig-nia to Ms. Foster on theEmperor’s behalf.

Mr. Oe also thanked all lo-cally employed staff for theircontributions.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Chairman Sen-ate Sayyed Nayyer HussainBokhari has said that strong de-fense is our first priority andthat is why we are all out to

Strong defence is first priority: Bokharifulfill budgetary needs of thearmed forces. He expressedthese views in a meeting withAdmiral Asif Sandila, Chief ofNavel Staff who called uponhim at Parliament House hereWednesday.

Chairman lauded the excel-lent performance of PakistanNavy against piracy and forcontrolling human and drug traf-ficking.

Chairman further said thatit is good that armed forces be-

lieve in continuity of democracyin the country as it is vital forultimate peace, progress andprosperity of our country.

They also discussed mattersof mutual interest and meetingcontinued about half an hour.

IHC reservesverdict in Rimsha

Masih caseISLAMABAD—The IslamabadHigh Court (IHC) on Wednes-day reserved the decision on aplea to dismiss case againstRimsha Masih.

Chief Justice IHC IqbalHamid Khan heard the plea fordismissal of the case againstRimsha Masih. Attorney forRimsha argued that the allega-tions against the accused werebaseless and prayed for the dis-missal of the FIR against her.

The prosecutor maintainedthat the medical report of theaccused was false and the Inte-rior Ministry had tried toweaken the case.—INP

ISLAMABAD: Students of different universities with Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed,Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Defence and Defence Production, at Parlia-ment House.

RAWALPINDI: Girls seen taking keen interest in the calligraphic work displayed at anexhibition at Rawalpindi Art Council.

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—ConsultantEndocrinologist at ShifaInternational Hospital Dr.Usama Ishtiaq has adviseddiabetic patients to adoptpreventive measures toavoid serious health haz-ards including amputationof limbs posed by diabetesas treatment is costly aswell as difficult than pre-vention.

He said every 10 sec-onds, two people are diag-nosed with diabetes, andone person dies from dia-betes related causes.

He was addressing to apublic awareness seminarorganized by Shifa Interna-tional Hospital to observeWorld Diabetes Day hereon Wednesday.

A large number of dia-betic patients, doctors,medical students andpeople from all walks of lifeattended the seminar. Freeblood tests to check diabe-tes were conducted on the

Diabetic patients can avoid limb amputationoccasion. Consultant Endo-crinologist Dr. Mazhar ul Haq,Consultant Cardiologist Dr.Yousaf Hassan and nutritionexpert Aman Afridi alsospoke on the occasion. Later,all speakers and ConsultantEndocrinologist Dr. NaseemYousaf, Consultant Neph-rologist Dr. Syed NayyerMahmood and ConsultantOphthalmologist Dr. SadiaFarooq gave answers to vari-ous queries of patients inquestion-answer session.

Dr. Usama said seven mil-lion people become victim ofdiabetes every year aroundthe globe and 70 thousandchildren suffer from type-1diabetes every year. “Morethan 7 million people in Paki-stan are diabetic patients.” Hesaid diabetes can badly affecteyes, brain, heart, kidneysand legs. It’s one of the ma-jor causes of blindness andkidney failure.

While informing the au-dience about symptoms ofdiabetes, Dr. Usama saidneed to urinate several times,

ISLAMABAD: Prof Dr Sahibzada Sajid-ur-Rehman, President, IIUI addressing at inau-gural ceremony of the 3-day International Conference ‘The Literary Present and thePostcolonial Condition’.

said diabetic patients shouldstrictly check their lifestyleand dietary habits to avoidserious complications in-cluding limbs amputation.They need to pay closedaily attention to foot healthespecially when there is sig-nificantly diminished bloodflow and nerve damage (neu-ropathy). He said such com-plications do not occur veryearly but with the passageof time can pose seriousthreat to patient’s life. Hestressed on pregnant dia-betic women to specially fol-low the instructions of theirdoctor in order to avoid com-plication that can also affectnew born baby. Preventionor delay possible with rigor-ous lifestyle intervention ordrug therapy, 30 minutesdaily exercise, at least 2monthly dietary advice andearly treatment for choles-terol and BP can help peopleavoid diabetes as well ascomplications.

Consultant CardiologistDr. Yousaf Hassan said pa-

tients with diabetes are atvery high risk of develop-ing cardiovascular diseasesand peripheral vascular dis-eases. “They are at morerisk of heart attack and heartfailure than normal per-sons,” he stated. He was ofthe view that in seriouscomplication due to diabe-tes patients commonly leftwith no option but surgerythat is costly and risky. Hestressed on the need toadopt healthy lifestyle andrisk prevention measures forliving a better life.

Nutrition expert AmanAfridi highlighted the im-portance of diet in treatmentof diabetes. She also under-lined factors affecting indi-vidual diet of diabetic pa-tients such as type of dia-betes, complications, medi-cations, blood sugar con-trol, past medical history,height, weight, age, gender,dietary history, eating pat-terns and habits, favoritefoods, food allergies andphysical activity.

ISLAMABAD: Dr Usama Ishtiaq briefs participants about Diabetes on the occasion ofWorld Diabetes Day at Shifa International Hospital.

feeling severe thirst, reduc-ing weight and fatigue andweakness are important

symptoms of this deadly dis-ease. Taking balanced diet,

regular exercise, weight con-trol, regular medication andproper test of blood glucose

level are a few essential fac-tors that can help to control

diabetes and avoid complica-tions, he observed.

Dr. Mazhar said in diabe-

tes prevention is more im-portant than treatment. He

RAWALPINDI: Students cling to a passenger bus near Faizabad to reach theirdestinations.

I S L A M A B A D — S e n a t o rMushahid Hussain Sayed,Chairman Senate StandingCommittee on Defence andDefence Production hascalled upon all the politicalforces of the country to joinhands for a broad-based na-tional consensus on 4 key is-sues: education, economy,energy and extremism, to putthe country back on track to-wards development. He saidthat a national consensus onthese issues for the next 10years was direly needed torestore people’s confidencein their democratic institu-tions and faith in the future.Senator Mushahid expressedthese views while addressinga group of students from dif-

Political forces urged to joinhands for national consensus

ferent universities of the coun-try, who visited him at the Par-liament.

He observed that multiplepower centers have emergedin the country, showing dyna-mism and playing their role ef-fectively. He further maintainedthat independent Judiciary,lively parliament, vibrant me-dia and active civil societyhave helped in ensuring trans-parency in decision making andinjecting dynamism in society.

He said that on a largerperspective, the role of Parlia-ment has changed qualita-tively, saying that it has to bemore pro-active on issues fac-ing the people.

Answering various ques-tions, Senator Mushahid

Hussain said the Senate De-fence Committee would revisitthe national security paradigmand would prepare a DefencePolicy Strategy Document af-ter consultations with Khakiand Mufti stake holders in-cluding defence experts, thinktanks, civil society organiza-tion and all those who can con-tribute to finalizing the docu-ment. Regarding regional situ-ation, the Chairman of the De-fence Committee expressedthe view that reelection of US-President, Bark Obama andupcoming change of leader-ship on the political landscapeof China would have far reach-ing impacts on the region ingeneral and Pakistan in par-ticular.—NNI

ISLAMABAD—A workshop onintegration of Information andCommunication Technologies(ICTs) pedagogy in classroomlearning and teaching prac-tices was inaugurated hereWednesday. The four-dayworkshop is being jointly or-ganized by the UNESCO andBritish Council.

Two education special-ists from UNESCO Bangkok,Dr. Jonghwi Park and SchmidHeartfried, experts supportedby British Council, and na-tional level educationists arepart of team of resource per-sons, would be facilitating

Training of teachers in useof ICTS in classrooms

various sessions of the work-shop during next 3 days. Theopening session took placeat Allama Iqbal Open Univer-sity (AIOU), in Islamabad.

This Workshop is aimedat introducing, not only theschool-teachers to new di-mensions of teaching andlearning, but also to sensitizeeducation managers andpolicy makers about the po-tential role of ICTs towardsimproving quality of educa-tion in schools. The partici-pants with hands-on-trainingwill be equipped with knowl-edge and skills for planning

and effective delivery of les-sons through ICTs.

Dr. Kozue Kay Nagata,Director UNESCO,Islamabad in her opening re-marks underlined the use ofinnovation in classroomteaching. “Information andCommunication Technolo-gies (ICTs) are a rapidly ex-panding and evolving me-dium, which have revolution-ized our life, including edu-cation. ICTS have reshapednot only modes of deliveryof lesson, but also they havetransformed role of teach-ers.” said Dr. Nagata.—INP

ISLAMABAD—Department ofEnglish, International IslamicUniversity Islamabad (IIUI) incollaboration with HigherEducation Commission (HEC)of Pakistan, organized a 3-dayinternational conference on“The Literary Present and thePostcolonial Condition”.

The inaugural ceremonyof the conference was held atthe Quaid-e-Azam Audito-rium of the university. Prof. Dr.Sahibzada Sajid ur Rehman,Acting President IIUI pre-sided over the ceremony.

Prof. Munawar IqbalGondal, Dean Faculty of Lan-guage and Literature, IIUIincluding faculty members,administrative officers and a

Literary Present andPostcolonial Condition

large number of male and fe-male students also attendedthe conference. Renownedscholars from Pakistan, India,Nigeria, England, Canada andNorth America attended theconference as contributors.

In the opening remarksDr. Sahibzada Sajid urRehman has said that socio-political and religious normsof the dominating colonizingpowers not only commandpolitical and military su-premacy but also do impressupon the socio-cultural val-ues and religious norms per-vasively and thus influencethe entire socio-cultural andpolitico-religious structure ofthe colonized society.—NNI

R AWA L P I N D I — P a k i s t a nUnited Christian Movement(PUCM) strongly condemnsthe selection system for thenon-Muslim candidates for thelegislative assemblies in Paki-stan, said chairman PUCMAlbert David.After launchinga political party, Albert Davidsaid that PUCM discourage thepresent electoral system of se-lection for minority’s represen-tatives. The selection systemadopted for the minority mem-bers has opened the doors ofcorruption. He emphasized thatthe current system is discour-aging and is a blockade for newand young leadership toemerge.

The people who maketheir way to the assemblies

PUCM resents selectionsystem for non-Muslims

by virtue of this system arenot the true representatives ofnon-Muslims. “Big Pakistanipolitical parties do not haveright to hand picks non Mus-lim representatives on the ba-sis of their liking,” he added.

He urged the governmentto have true census to ensurethe true numbers of non -Muslims, Christians in par-ticular. Representation in allfields including legislative in-stitutions should reflect thesenumbers.He requested thechief election commissioner toensure true democratic elec-toral system for non-MuslimPakistanis in the coming elec-tion, as the current systemwas a violation of Article 226of the constitution.—INP

PHA to spendRs30m on

planting flowersRAWALPINDI—The Parks andHorticulture Agency (PHA)Rawalpindi has decided tospend Rs30 million on plant-ing flowers on green belts ofvarious roads of Rawalpindi.

According to sources,the flowers planting processhas been started in greenbelts of various roads includ-ing Benazir Bhutto Road,Rawal Road, Saidpur Road,Sixth Road and Fifth Road.

Managing Director PHA,Captain Mushtaq Ahmed saidthat scarcity of funds was usu-ally a problem, adding theywere planting flowers in theauthority’s nursery as well thatwould be ready to be plantedon green belts and parks tillApril.He said that they wouldimprove the situation of all theparks. “We are trying to hiregardeners at daily wages forthe purpose”.Expressing theirreservations, citizens of thecity said that it would havebeen better to use the grantfor metalling the roads in thestreets.—INP

PAF officialsgiven 10 days tochange pipelines

RAWALPINDI—District Con-sumer Court Rawalpindi hasgiven the deadline of 10 daysto the officials of PAFChaklala to change a waterpipelines in the area.

Wing Commander, RajaParvez Hassan appeared beforethe court in the case of supplyof adulterated water to the resi-dents. The PAF officials prayedthat the consumers pay the costof the pipes and the authorityshould be given one monthtime for the installation work.

The court rejected theviewpoint of the PAF offi-cials and remarked that theconsumers were not respon-sible to pay the cost of thepipes as they pay the billsregularly.—INP

IHC formscommission onencroachments

I S L A M A B A D —Islamabadhigh Court (IHC) has consti-tuted a commission to reviewthe encroachments eradi-cated by the Capital Devel-opment Authority (CDA) inthe federal capital.

According to sources,the commission, headed bythe Assistant Registrar Resi-dent of the IHC, MuhammadShafiq-ur-Rehman, wouldsubmit its report in the IHCwithin a week.

Justice Shoukat AzizSiddiqui heard the plea re-garding end of encroach-ments in Islamabad, whereLegal Advisor CDA, JawwadAdvocate presented reportof 59 operations against en-croachments.

Justice Shoukat AzizSiddiqui said that the courtcould not be misguided byshowing pictures of confis-cating a few bricks or chairs.He formed a commission tolook into the matter saying ifthe commission rejected thereport about the operationagainst encroachments, acontempt of court case wouldbe started against the re-sponsible elements.—INP

APCA to continuestruggle for its

demandsRAWALPINDI—All PakistanClerks Association (APCA)has announced to carry onpeaceful struggle in favour oftheir demands until theirCharter of Demands (CoD)was accepted.

According to sources,president of the APCA saidthis while speaking at an eventof the association here. He fur-ther said that the associationoffice bearers were in contactwith the federal and provincialgovernments in this regard,adding that notification of thenew pay scale would be is-sued till December 01.He alsosaid that they were making allout efforts to end the hiringsystem and get house rent ap-proved for all the governmentemployees. The associationhad earned the favours of mil-lions of clerks and governmentemployees of the countrythrough its practical steps toget their rights, he said, add-ing the APCA would continueits struggle to get the rights ofthe clerks.—INP

NAB arrest 2plunderers

ISLAMABAD—NAB Rawal-pindi has arrested Tahir Saeedand Nadeem Raza who haveallegedly plundered Rs. 300million from 27 complainantson the pretext of investmentin their (fake/bogus) foreignexchange business namely M/s Ahmed Trading Company(Commodity trading) .

The complainant investedin said fake company throughbank transactions using Inter-national Fund TelegraphicTransfers, according to NABspokesperson.NAB has col-lected relevant bank recordswhich transpired that theamounts were actually trans-ferred in personal accounts ofaccused who defrauded thecomplainants.—Online

Operationagainst quacksISLAMABAD—Operation hasbeen launched against thequacks in the rural areas ofFederal Capital.

Campaign has kicked offunder District Health Officer(DHO) Dr M Azhar Khan inpursuance of the directivesof Deputy CommissionerIslamabad Aamir Ali Ahmad.

Operation was started inthe area of Tarnol. The DHOIslamabad visited the areaalongwith drug inspector andsealed medical store and a hos-pital for violating drug act. No-tices have also been issued tothe violators under drug act andPMDC Ordinance and legal pro-ceedings have been initiatedagainst them. DHO said thecampaign would continueagainst the quacks in all therural areas of the federal capi-tal.—Online

Participants of 12thsenior managementcourse visit PEMRA

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The partici-pants of 12th Senior Man-agement Course (SMC) com-prising of senior Govt. offic-ers from various Federal &Provincial Govt. depart-ments, autonomous and pub-lic sector organizations vis-ited PEMRA Headquartershere Wednesday.

The Chairman PEMRADr. Abdul Jabbar briefed thedelegation of 24 participantsabout the mandate, func-tions, scope, performanceand challenges related toPEMRA. He apprised partici-pants of various initiativesbeing taken by PEMRA totransform electronic mediainto more vibrant, objectiveand sensible organ.

He told that the initiativesare both qualitative and quan-titative and of-course itsimplementation would bedone in consultation with thestakeholders and media orga-nizations. Ultimately, it is themedia who have to realize theirresponsibility and PEMRA inisolation may not be able toyield desired results, saidChairman PEMRA.

06:0001:3004:00

07:00

Zohr

November 15-16

DEPARTMENT of En-glish, International Is-lamic University wouldorganize a three-day inter-national conference atFaisal Mosque Campus.The conference “The Lit-erary Present and thePostcolonial Condition”will be held on 14-16 No-vember.

5 outlaws arrestedISLAMABAD—Islamabad Po-lice have arrested 5 outlawsincluding a lady drug pusherfrom various areas of the cityand recovered 10 winebottles, 3 gallons (90 liters)alcohol, 75 gram heroin, aToyota Hilux worth 14 lac 50thousands rupees from theirpossession, a police spokes-man said on Wednesday.

On a tip of special informerSub Inspector Muhammad Aliwith police team arrested a ladydrug pusher Razia Bibi and re-covered 10 bottles of wine,while on her disclosure policealso recovered 3 gallons (90 li-ters of Alcohol).InspectorMuhammad Aslam of ACLCrecovered a Toyota HiluxNo.QTA-353 worth 14,50000rupees from an accusedMuhammad Khalil during pa-trolling, while Assistant-SubInspector Muhammad Saeedof Sabzi Mandi police arrested75 gram heroin from a culpritMuhammad Imtiaz during pa-trolling.—NNI

YOUNUS FAROOQ

WE could have preventedmuch loss of human livesand secured what is nowbeing called “injured

honor” of Kashmir’s had the Kashmirhome grown resistance been a politicalmovement right from the day it fell toforced occupation . The inspiration forwriting this piece comes from the onearticle of A.G.Noorani- constitutionalexpert and historian- entitled“Kashmir’s wronged strategy “pub-lished in Dawn newspaper dated 9 No-vember,2012. A.G.Noorani, as I haveunderstood, takes Kashmir struggle backto British colonial era that was comingapart at the outbreak of World WarII.Political leaders of congress and Mus-lim league, who desired liberation oftheir people, find it necessary to workwithin the British system. The most ofthe political vibrant leader from IndianNational Congress was punditJawaharlal Nehru and Mohammad AliJinnah, represented the Muslim League.

Shortly after the war or so, The In-dian Independence Act, 1947, when itcame into force, set in motion the cre-

ation of two independent domains. Withthe organization of an effective politi-cal movement, British Empire yieldedto the Independence cry and relishedBritish departure. Kashmir freedommovement needs an exceptional leader,well educated, rational, problem solv-ing, who can coordinate a divided Kash-mir movement into a one whole orga-nized ideology. The freedom movementof Kashmir needs a more political, ideo-logical and less sentimental leader whocan inspire masses and be able to coor-dinate and sustain them. It is importantto rid people of wrong ideas and bringabout a great change.

“Protests have taken a toll on thepatience of people”, rightly understandsA.G.Noorani and believes that the pro-freedom leadership should insteadsearch for a workable alternative and aradical shift perspective. Protestmarches and strikes have little hope todefeat an armed strength. They can only,instead, intimidate and keep the strugglealive in the hope of breaking the back

of other side. The costs of the persistentprotests should be outweighed againstthe benefits. The time had come to aban-don little street wars. As long as ourpolitical consciousness remains low,effective, organized and coordinatedfreedom action will be a distant dream.The response of the armed forces is al-ways out of proportion to the mass up-rising they face. The Indian governmentwants to integrate Kashmir state and tohold on to it they are using any and allmeans –arbitrary arrests, torture of ev-ery conceivable sort, and just to men-tion a few, that has terrorized a great partof Kashmir.

The summer uprising of 2008 whichclaimed more than one hundred liveswas a humiliating reminder of the de-feat of leadership, only, morally bent onthe question of India’s right to rule Kash-mir, which has, yet, remained at the coreof the continuing tension in state ofKashmir. The loss of great lives reflectsimpotence and frustration of our lead-ers commanding behind the walls fate

of lakhs of innocent lives. Who is re-sponsible for the killings of innocentpeople? The youth took to streets underthe impression that streets wars woulddo for them. Over the years, the Kash-mir leadership had failed to achieve any-thing of substance. The hard-liner par-ties in Kashmir have slacken the free-dom struggle that is why we are beingcontinuously beaten and killed by for-midable military strength of India. Wewill continue to suffer because of ourbackwardness, political backwardness,if we did not act and act decisively. Fora political solution of Kashmir the mosturgent task is to negotiate and discussthe fate of people of Kashmir whomIndia assumes an integral part and thusan internal matter. The time had cometo sit down and talk.

MLA Lang ate, engineer AbdulRashid, observes, A.G.Noorani, duringa visit to Kashmir, sometimes makingfervor appeals shall be conceived to bebacked by Pro-freedom leaders, or say,Hurriyat leaders, a far as I can gather, is

a clarion call for Kashmir leaders to seekelections and abandon little street wars.While in the University, I on few occa-sions watched a growing desire forchange manifested by University stu-dents in large political demonstrationsin June 2010.The demonstrations con-tinued for almost few days before po-lice forces dispersed the demonstrations.I believe in my two year study course atUniversity I did not think, I saw encour-aging signs of reforms or watched or-ganized freedom chants.

First student activism is highly re-stricted and second permission to freeraccess to information is limited. Stu-dents are not allowed to heed to publicopinion on political issues, evidences ofwide spread corruption among highUniversity officials did not perturb ourintellectuals sitting comfortably in aca-demic chairs. That the situation of a so-ciety changes in the face of education,ironically, indigenous elite intellectuals,have remained politically less consciousand become victims of

ranks,awards,degrees and medals. Thegreat poet-philosopher Al-lamaMohammad Iqbal warned us of thewestern styled education system onewhich pollutes the spirit of revolutionand diverts youth to crooked lines, assuch, fashion parties, beauty bars andTV shows. Kashmir intellectual society,academicians, and teachers, it can besaid, has not fully developed a sense ofgrievance and responsibility, politicalconsciousness, big prospect of effective,organized action has evaded our collec-tive thought. The influence of the Is-lamic revolution in Iran and the rise ofthe Islamic fervor throughout the Arabworld, the coming of power of MuslimBrotherhood candidate, MohamedMorsi, did not stimulate our leadershipto take a big leap forward instead preferto stick in. Shall our pro-freedom lead-ers and intellectual finest seek electionsand get appointed and once this comes,convene all, and organize political par-ties and effect a real change. The futureof a large part of population in Kashmiris deeply entrenched in one of the mostdangerous places of the world Kashmir-a flash point for a possible nuclear warin the Subcontinent.—Kashmir Watch

Kashmir struggle needs inspirational ideology

ISLAMABAD: Chairperson Kashmir Cultural Academy, Prof Taqdees Gilani inquiringabout the health of Kashmiri leader Chaudhry Noor Hussain on Wednesday.

MUZAFFARABAD: Commissioner Sardar Zafar Khan, DIG Khalid Chohan and DC AnsarYaqoob with NIM Lahore mid-career participants.

ISLAMABAD: AJK Prime Minister Ch Abdul Majeed coming to participate in a function.

SRINAGAR—In occupiedKashmir, terming their visit toAzad Kashmir a historic andemotional moment, the 10-member delegation of womenactivists from occupied Kash-mir returned fromMuzaffarabad after attending a3-day cross-LoC conferencefrom November 5 to 7.

The delegation members onarriving in Srinagar told mediathat the visit would serve as aroadmap for future dialogues.Returning home with a bagfulof memories, the activists saidthey are proud of being the firstbatch of women delegates tocross LoC and hold discussions

IHK women delegationterms AJK visit historic

with women activists and civilsociety members ofMuzaffarabad.

The 10-member delegationcomprised Prof Nusrat Andrabi,Nighat Shafi Pandit, Prof TJoldan, Prof Qurat-ul-Ain, ProfEffat Yasmeen, Prof RavinderjitKour, Prof Rekha Chowdary,Prof Yasmin Ashai, Ellora Puriand Ayesha Saleem. This wasthe first visit of women activ-ists from Kashmir toMuzaffarabad since 1947. Firstsuch conference was organizedin Srinagar in November 2007and the last was held in Gulmargin September 2011. The mainmotive of the visit was to in-

clude women in the peace-building process. “Women form50 per cent of the total popula-tion but ironically when itcomes to peace building… this50 per cent is neglected. We arethe ones who are worst hit byturmoil and deserve to have asay in the conflict discourse,”said Nusrat Andrabi who washeading the delegation.

“We have appealed boththe governments to make thetravel hassle free to the otherside so that visit of people es-pecially senior citizens, studentsand women groups engaged inholding of such conferences canbe facilitated.—KMS

JAMMU—People’s Demo-cratic Party (PDP) leaderMurtaza Khan has said UnionMinister and patron of rulingNational Conference FarooqAbdullah was the foundingmember of Jammu KashmirLiberation Front (JKLF).

“The son of SheikhAbdullah and father of ChiefMinister Omar Abdullah wasamong the founding membersof JKLF when it started armedstruggle against India fromAzad Kashmir,” Khan told jour-nalist here. Khan said theAbdullah family had alwaysbetrayed Indian union.

Giving an example he saidSheikh Abdullah had kept two

Farooq was JKLF foundingmember: Murtaza

conditions for endorsing acces-sion to Government of India.“The two conditions were thatthe citizens of Jammu and Kash-mir will not be ‘Indian citizen’and Indian constitution’s funda-mental right chapter will not beapplied on Jammu and Kash-mir,” he said.

He kept these conditionsto keep people of Jammu andKashmir as fiefdom but Delhidid not agree to his demands.Khan said since Delhi did notaccept his conditions, Sheikhstarted Plebiscite Front in1953 and started speakingagainst India.

He said his second betrayalwith India was in 1975 when

Indira–Sheikh accord wassigned. “After the accord,Sheikh was made Chief Minis-ter of the State though NC hadno member in the house. All thelegislators were from the Con-gress party but Sheikh againbetrayed the Congress,” he said.

“He motived 12 Con-gress MLAs and includedthem in his party by strangu-lating Congress.” Khan saidhis third treachery was in1981 when Income Tax de-partment raided the houses ofMattoo and other familymembers of Sheikh. “Sheikhaddressed a public rally inIqbal Park in Srinagar andspoke against India..—NNI

Power protestsknock at IHK

CM’s doorSRINAGAR—Dozens of peoplemostly women, furious over in-discriminate power tariff hikebroke a commanding securitygrid near Chief Minister OmarAbdullah’s residence at GupkarRoad here, raising slogansagainst the “imperial policies”of state government. The pro-testors from Sonwar and its ad-joining areas marched towardsthe Chief Minister’s residencein a bid to register their com-plaint before the Minister ofPower Development Depart-ment against “indiscriminatepower tariff hike”.

The furious protestorsshouted anti-government slo-gans and demanded an end to“persecution of poor” by thestate government. “Get us theChief Minister. Is it power tar-iff hike he had promised us? Weneed to talk face to face like hedid with us when he had askedfor votes,” the protestorsshouted to a police official. Pro-testors accused the Power De-velopment Department ofcharging them bills in thousandof rupees. The PDD officials,who were called to pacify thesituation, arrived after almostfifteen minutes and promised toreissue their bills. Assistant Ex-ecutive Engineer Power Devel-opment Department SheikhBagh Ghulam Qadir told theprotestors that they will begiven new bills in an hour.“There would be some sort oferrors. We are checking them.We will just give you new bills,”he told them.—INP

Mirwaiz toskip OIC mootSRINAGAR—Chairman ofHurriyat Conference (M)Mirwaiz Umar Farooq will skipan important meeting of the Or-ganization of Islamic Countries(OIC) where Contact Group onKashmir is scheduled to meet.The Mirwaiz has been invited byOIC for its 39th annual confer-ence scheduled to be held inDjibouti on 17th of this month.

“General Secretary ofOIC, Kemal AkmeludinAugloo has sent a formal invi-tation to Mirwaiz on behalf ofOIC for the conference,”Hurriyat (M) said in a handout.It, however, said that Mirwaizis unlikely to attend the con-ference due to his busy sched-ule. In interaction with media,Mirwaiz said, “I cannot attendthe meet on 17th of Novemberin Djibouti as Hurriyat is busyin gearing up for importantPakistan visit. —INP

Talaaq verdict:HC to hear review

plea on Dec 3SRINAGAR—Jammu andKashmir High Court has slatedDecember 3 for hearing a peti-tion for review of its judgementthat a Muslim man’s right todivorce his wife is not “unre-stricted or unqualified”.

Justice Hasnain Masoodisaid he will hear the petition onDecember 3 after a retiredjudge, Bashir Ahmad Kirmani,rose to argue his applicationseeking review of the judge-ment.

The former judge had filedan application before the HighCourt seeking review of the rul-ing on the grounds that obser-vations made by JusticeMasoodi in his 23-page judge-ment had far reaching conse-quences.

“The judgement touchesupon some very crucial ques-tions of the Family Law appli-cable to a vast majority of thepopulation of the state and islikely to operate in a wide area,as such, in its given texture re-quires thorough second look,”Justice Kirmani has said in hisapplication.

Kirmani has challenged theobservations made by JusticeMasoodi in para 26 and 27 ofthe ruling which pertain tomaintenance of wife after di-vorce and putting the onus onthe husband to prove that di-vorce was resorted to after alloptions of reconciliation hadfailed.

Giving reference of ShahBano case in Supreme Court,President High Court Bar As-sociation, Zaffar A Qureshi hadsaid High Court has no compe-tence to hear the matter relatedto personal laws.—NNI

World asked tocome forwardfor Kashmirsettlement

SRINAGAR—The Jammu andKashmir Salvation MovementChairman, Zafar Akbar Butt hasappealed to the world commu-nity to take cognisance of theblatant human rights violationsbeing carried out by Indiantroops in the territory and comeforward to resolve the Kashmirdispute as per the people’s as-pirations.

Zafar Akbar Butt, whilepaying rich tributes to motherof martyer Abdul Haq Raina andmother-in-law of liberationleader, Ahmad Hassan at theirresidences in Chadora said thatpeople were the custodians ofthe ongoing freedom move-ment, who had presented greatsacrifices for a just cause. “Wepledge that we will carry themovement to its logical end,” headded.—KMS

SRINAGAR—The NationalConference has lambasted thePDP for issuing wrong figures,imaginary stats and utter liesabout Srinagar while accusingthem of creating division be-tween Rural and urban Kashmir.“The gerontocratic politician, ina classic instance of hoodwink-ing the gullible by negative cam-paigning, has pointed out to thealleged paucity of infrastructurein Srinagar city, and scurrilouslyalleging that Srinagar city is theswing factor that allows the Na-tional Conference to come topower and the old intriguer hasrattled off a few figures and statsin support of his wildly over-board and delusional allega-tions” National ConferenceSpokesman Tanvir Sadiq said ina statement issued to GNS, add-ing “Mufti Sahib once againflaunting a piece of paper anddistorting facts”

Mufti creating urban-ruraldivide among people: NC

“These tricks are to sowdivision and discord in theKashmiri society and polity,deepening the urban rural fis-sures” adding “he is now try-ing to deceive and ingratiatehimself with the city and urbandwellers of Kashmir” saidTanvir adding “Should we be-lieve the same PDP and theirleaders who almost shifted thesecretariat from Srinagar,stalled the urban reform bill toensure the GOI does not releasethe funds” “Srinagar and nowthe whole of Kashmir will nevertrust him as everyone has real-ized PDP’s game plan andagenda.

Mufti, Mehbooba, Beighare divisive, diversionary, fouland negative” said Sadiq “Byhallow slogans, mere tours ofthe city with a handful of syco-phants doesn’t give you devel-opment but commitment does”

Tanvir said “as actions speaklouder than words and the Na-tional Conference under theleadership of Omar Abdullah isdeveloping Srinagar like neverbefore” adding “Mufti talksabout election boycott in 8 seatsof Srinagar city and says thatwe form government on thatbasis; let me remind him if hisage stop’s him from readingfacts that 20 other seats ourparty won are from other ruralareas of the state” adding “InJammu region alone we camesecond in 15 seats and lost withfew votes”

Castigating PeoplesDemocratic Party for nurturingfalsehood and unleashing un-founded propaganda, theSpokesman said that PDP hasa homework now carved foritself, and that is to circulatefalse rumors and publish con-cocted stories.—NNI

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—President ofthe Jammu and KashmirPeople’s Party Sardar KhalidIbrahim Khan has said thattime has come for the UnitedStates to push her role for apeaceful Kashmir solutionduring second terms of Presi-dent Barack Obama.

Talking on Wednesday toa group of Kashmiri intellec-tuals at his residence here TheJK-PP Chief said that beingon the UN agenda Kashmirdispute cannot be bypassedunder any pretext. It has hadto be solved one day, but it

South Asian peace needsKashmir priority for Obama

would be better that beingsole super power the UnitedStates under President Obamaprioritized it on her interna-tional agenda.

He recalled that duringhis first-term electioneeringObama had promised to ap-point his special envoy onKashmir but after enteringWhite House he lost thatpromise. But in his Novem-ber 2010 visit to India heurged New Delhi to solveKashmir issue.

Now he should material-ize his promise of appointinga special envoy on Kashmirfor the sake of durable peace

in South Asia.As media reports indicate

America has already chosenAsia as its “21st centurypivot”.

Therefore it becomes allthe more important for him tostart with the situation inJammu and Kashmir. Massivehuman rights violations inIHK and daily house arrestsof elderly Kashmiri leadersmust be stopped.

Reply a question he saidthat the UN Kashmir resolu-tions provide best practicalway of Kashmir settlementvia will of Kashmiris. “Thelukewarm Kashmir policy of

the present government of Pa-kistan is very worrisome forKashmiris. Kashmir is an in-ternational dispute, but the‘expression’ of the presentgovernment gives theimpresssion Kashmir being abilateral issue.

We would not allow thisinternational dispue to be re-duced into a bilateral issue.

We have made tremen-dous sacrifices for the causeof Kashmir and the wholeworld recognizes those sacri-fices, meaning thereby thatworld believes in the interna-t ional personali ty of theKashmir dispute”, explained.

Coalition govt breaksrecords of corruption: PDP

SRINAGAR—Peoples Demo-cratic Party has said the rulingcoalition has broken all recordsof corruption by previous NCgovernments and landed theState in its worst administrativecrisis.

Rounding off the tour ofKupwara district with a work-ers’ meeting in Zachaldara ofHandwara constituency, formerDeputy Chief Minister and se-nior leader Muzaffar HusseinBaig said the NC-led coalitionhad struck the State like a natu-ral calamity.

Baig said the present gov-ernment had converted corrup-tion into broad daylightdacoity with most ruling poli-ticians facing serious chargesof involvement in murder,

fraud, nepotism and land grab-bing. This had resulted in aunique situation in which no-body was in a position to ques-tion the other, he said, addingthey had now found safety incoming to each other’s rescuein times of need.

He said the dissolution ofthe House panel constituted toprobe allegations of land grabagainst a minister representedthe lowest point in moral deca-dence of a government.

“Everyone will henceforthfeel free to indulge in loot as allinstitutional vigilance has beendemolished. The legislature isonly the latest victim and mostpowerful institution to betrampled by the present govern-ment,” Baig said.

Baig said the Chief Minis-ter had lost all moral authorityafter the Haji Yusuf incident inwhich his own name and that ofDr Farooq Abdullah figuredaround transaction of money forgranting party mandates andministerial berths.

This was followed by thecricket scam in which DrFarooq Abdullah is in the dockin a multicrore swindle whichsaw money meant for promot-ing sports going into the pock-ets of the cricket associationbosses.

Baig said the governmentmachinery and institutions in-stead of being allowed to con-duct independent probe wereused to protect the ruling fam-ily from legal scrutiny.—NNI

The important thingin my view is not topin the blame for amistake on some-body, but rather to

find out what causedthe mistake.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The PakistanSteel (PS) has opened an LCof 50,000 MT of coal fromAustralia, a spokesman ofPakistan Steel said here onWednesday. He stated thatthe PS opened an LC of50000 MT coal which is usedas one of basic raw materialsin Pakistan Steel process.

Moreover, the PS stillseeking purchase of iron ore,tenders are in process andsoon the iron ore shipmentswill be finalized after comple-tion of necessary formalities.

Chief Executive Officer ofPakistan Steel Major General(Retd) Mohammad Javed ex-pressed the hope that afterthe availability of raw materi-als in continuity Pakistan

Steel’s production level willimprove.

He said that after open-ing of LC the raw materialtakes about more than sixtydays journey and process toreach Pakistan Steel.

This transitional periodmust be included in thecount down. Pakistan Steelrecently purchased 110,000MT of coal which arrived lastmonth from Australia andCanada after the first trancheof bailout package and nowthis is the third LC of 50,000MT coal.

According to PakistanSteel production plan, theproduction units are cur-rently working properlywhile after the induction ofraw materials the productionwill be increase accordingly.

Pakistan Steel opensLC for 50,000 MT coal

DIR: Federal Minister for Communication Dr. Arbab Alamgir Khan being briefed onconstruction work on Lowari Road.

ISE-10 Indexwitness

bullish trendI S L A M A B A D —IslamabadStock Exchange witnessedbullish trend here onWednesday as the ISE-10 in-dex was up by 12.72 pointsto close at 3,207.52 points intoday’s trading. A total of123,600 shares were traded,which were down by 158,900shares when compared withprevious day’s trading of282,500 shares.

Out of 130 companies,share prices of 66 companiesrecorded increase, share pricesof 64 companies registereddecrease while that of zerocompany remained stable.

The share prices of LindePakistan increased by Rs 6.92per share, while the shareprices of Sana Industries de-creased by Rs 2.44 per share.First Fidelity LeasingModaraba, SilkBank andNishat Mills remained the toptrading companies inWednesday’s trading with200,000, 75,000 and 4,000shares respectively.—APP

Country to losetextile export target

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The textile in-dustry is likely to miss its ex-port target by $4 billion, includ-ing Christmas orders worth$1.5 billion during the currentyear, sources revealed. Theindustry is likely to face 700MMCFD gas shortage in thecurrent year against 500MMCFD in the precedingyear, officials said. The indus-try will face a drastic decline ofabout $1.5 billion in textile ex-ports for Christmas, as export-ers accepted 50 percent lessorders in the current year, in-dustry sources said.

Textile export target wasprojected to be $16 billion forthe current year. Industrialists,sources said, were finding ithard the timely completion ofexport orders because of exces-sive power outages. As a re-sult, foreign buyers are divert-ing export orders to neighbor-ing countries, inflicting hugelosses on the county’s foreignexchange earnings, sourcesmaintained. More than 15-20percent textile export orders ofPakistan were diverted toBangladesh, India and Sri Lankalast year. The situation is likelyto worsen in the current yearbecause of energy shortages.Obviously, a foreign importer,whose orders are not met withina specific time, will divert hisorder to other countries suchas India and Bangladesh.

KP Science Fair’ Staff ReporterISLAMABAD—IntelPakistan today concludedthe provincial fair heldKhyber Pakhtunkhwa(KPK) in the run-up to theIntel® InternationalScience and EngineeringFair (Intel® ISEF), one ofthe world’s largest pre-college science competi-tions, to be held in May2013. During the KPKProvincial Science Fair,students from across KPKpresented research-basedprojects in the categoriesof biology, chemistry,computer sciences,mathematics and physics.More than 40 projectswere displayed from allover the province.

PCSIR exhibitionPESHAWAR—The PakistanCouncil of Scientific &Industrial ResearchLaboratories (PCSIR) willorganize Science &Technology exhibition onNovember 17-18 with aview to develop closeliaison with local industryand transfer of its tech-nologies for economic,commercial and socialuplift of the end users.During the exhibitionproducts/processesdeveloped by Research &Development organiza-tions of Ministry ofScience & TechnologyKhyber Pakhtunkhwa andFATA would be put ondisplay. Eminent business-men, entrepreneurs,academicians and stu-dents would attend theevent.—APP

Conversion ratesKARACHI—The followingrates will be applicable forconversion into rupees ofForeign CurrencyDeposits,Dollar BearerCertificates,ForeignCurrency BearerCertificates,SpecialU.S.Dollar Bonds andprofits thereon by all banksand for providing ForwardCover on Foreign CurrencyDeposits (excluding F.E.25deposits) by the State Bankon November 15, 2012. Therates are U.S. Dollar Rs95.9049, Japanese Yen Rs1.1990,Pound Sterling Rs152.3736 and Euro Rs122.1540.—APP

Mills crushing startsStaff ReporterKARACHI—After thepassage of two weeks, canecrushing in the provincecould not start in full asonly three of the total 32sugar mills have so farstarted their operations.The non-operational millsare expected to begin theiroperations after Muharram,they said, adding that theboilers of all mills havebeen lighted. One of themajor reasons behind thefailure of mills to startoperations is the lack oflabour, which delayed thecrushing on the scheduleddate of November 1, theysaid. There are 29 othersugar mills in the provincemills that have illuminatedthe boilers (a first stage insugarcane crushing) oftheir sugar factories.Industry sources said thatthe remaining twenty ninesugar mills would com-mence their operations after10th Muharam-ul-Haram,adding that Sanghar SugarMills, Ranipur Sugar Millsand Mityari Sugar Millshave started their opera-tions. However, MehranSugar Mills, Al-Noor SugarMills, Sindh Abadgar SugarMills, Habib Sugar Mills,Faran Sugar Mills, AnsariSugar Mills, New DaduSugar Mills.

Flood-hit dairy farmers income doubles with US aid

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—A delegationof Ministry of Industries andTrade of Czech Republic ledby Dr. Pavel Kavina,alongwith Miroslav Krenek,Ambassador of Czech Re-public called on Dr. AsimHussain, Advisor to thePrime Minister on Petroleum& Natural Resources anddiscussed with him certainvistas of opportunities andmutual cooperation in min-eral sector. Advisor to the PMon Ministry of Petroleum &NR appreciated the keen in-terest evinced by the Minis-try of Industries and Tradeof Czech Republic in the de-

velopment of Mineral Sectorof Pakistan. Minister alsolauded that Czech Republichas established a very ad-vanced mineral sector andPakistan can benefit im-mensely from their expertiseand experience.

The delegation of Minis-try of Industries and Tradeof Czech Republic led by Dr.Pavel Kavina, is currently ona visit to Pakistan.

The delegation earlierheld extensive discussionswith Secretary, MP&NR andDirector General, GeologicalSurvey of Pakistan. Follow-ing areas of mutual coopera-tion have been identifiedwhere the Czech delegation

has assured providing Paki-stan all possible cooperationand assistance.

Capacity building of thegeoscientists of the Geo-logical Survey of Pakistanin exploration of Rare EarthElements (REE).

Preparation of the train-ing module for Applied Ex-ploration in Geological Sci-ences for Human Re-sources Development Cen-tre of the Geological Surveyof Pakistan in collaborationwith the European Univer-sities and Evaluation of theGeothermal Energy in Paki-stan and its potential to fillthe gap in Energy Demandand Supply.

Czechs mineral sectoruplift role lauded

ISLAMABAD: Dr. Asim Hussain, Advisor to PM on Petroleum and Natural Resourcesmeeting with Miroslav Krenek, Ambassador of Czech Republic on cooperation on min-eral exploration.

KARACHI: Haroon Agar, President KCCI presenting crest to Brian Graul, Chief of Party, USAID Trade Project.

265 textile companiesdissolved, struck

off during five yearsISLAMABAD—Minister for Sci-ence and Technology (S&T)Mir Changez Khan Jamali onWednesday informed the Sen-ate that during the last fiveyear 265 out of 5,363 textilecompanies registered with Se-curity Exchange Commissionof Pakistan (SECP) had eitherbeen dissolved or their namehad been struck off under theprovisions of the CompaniesOrdinance, 1984.

He was replying to aquestion asked by SenatorKalsoom Parveen during thequestion-hour session.

The minister told the Housethat the data concerning to clo-sure of textile mills due to powershortage was not maintained.He said Interpol (Pvt) Ltd., M/sSootry Enterprises (Pvt) Ltd.and US Apparel & Textile MillsLtd. And M/s Sootry were ap-proved by the SPB for invest-ment in textile related businessin Bangladesh in the last fiveyears. —APP

Vfone WirelessService in

Balochistan startsSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—As part of itsvision to bring latest Informa-tion and CommunicationTechnologies (ICT) to the re-motest areas of the country,Pakistan TelecommunicationsCompany Limited (PTCL) hasextended its Vfone wirelessservice to isolated Mekhtar,Bard and Murgha Kibzai ar-eas of Balochistan.

Part of Loralai region ofBalochistan, Mekhtar, Bardand Murgha Qibzai areas areone of the remotest areas ofthe country. PTCL aims to fa-cilitate the people of the re-gion with the launch of Vfoneservice. PTCL Vfone has thecountry’s largest WLL cov-erage and is available withboth prepaid and postpaidoptions. Supported by high-speed CDMA technology,Vfone also offers SMS andinternet connectivity at af-fordable rates.

“Our vision is to bring lat-est telecommunications infra-structure to every city andvillage of Pakistan,” saidPTCL Executive Vice Presi-dent (EVP) Wireless, OmerKhalid. “Provision of Vfoneservices in the area will go along way in fulfilling the com-munications needs of thepeople of Balochistan.”

STAFF REPORTER

IS L A M A B A D—Followingtheir adoption by the Euro-pean Parliament and theCouncil, the EU Autono-mous Trade concessions forPakistan come into forcefrom November 14.

“The Regulation coversall EU members States andwill remain in force until De-cember 2013”, a statementof the EU Delegation to Pa-kistan here on Wednesday.

According to the EUstatement, after the 2010

devastating floods in Paki-stan, the European Councilmandated the EuropeanCommission to formulate acomprehensive package, in-cluding measures to providePakistan with greater marketaccess to help recover fromthe disaster.

EU Ambassador to Paki-stan Lars Gunnar Wigemarkwelcomed the entry into forceof the autonomous trade con-cessions, saying, “These spe-cial trade concessions willprovide economic growth bygenerating employment. They

will also help the industriesof Pakistan, especially thetextile and clothing exportersto get increased market ac-cess.

The 26 items originatedin Pakistan have been of-fered under Tariff RegulatedQuotas while 49 items origi-nated in Pakistan have beencovered under non-tariffregulated quotas in total, 75items have been grantedduty-free market access un-der these autonomoustrade concessions, the EUstatement said.

EU’s autonomous tradeconcessions take effect in Pakistan

LAHORE—Implementation of aproject with the financial sup-port of UNDP to enable poorstrata of society take upmarginalized businesses is un-der way.

Small and Medium Enter-prises Development Authority(SMEDA) is working to imple-ment the project,informedspeakers at a consultative work-shop arranged by SMEDA hereon Wednesday to review draftof the “Community OutreachStrategy” developed by the re-nowned legal expert AsadMaken for practical implica-tions of the project.Law,experts,business manag-ers and other stakeholder at-tended the event while Sultan

Tiwana,General Manager, Busi-ness and Sector DevelopmentServices (BSDS) chaired themeeting. While discussing vari-ous aspects of the draft thespeaker stressed the need forengaging poor people inmarginalized businesses and tomake them aware of their rights.

They recommended that alegal status should be deter-mined for marginalized busi-nesses coupled with regulatoryand lawful framework. Theyidentified that even though ex-isting SMEDA structure pro-vides legal services to the busi-ness community but it does notcater to peculiar requirementsof the marginalized busi-nesses.—APP

Plan to support marginalizedbusinesses on cards

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The All Paki-stan CNG Association (AP-CNGA) on Wednesday ex-pressed reservations onforensic audit report of theCNG stat ions terming i tflawed.

In a letter sent to Chair-man OGRA regarding auditof production cost of theCNG filling stations on thedirect ives of SupremeCourt , the APCNGA saidthat audit teams have ne-glected some critical issueswhich has left the report in-complete.

The quality of gas pro-vided to CNG outlets hasremained very importantfactor in terms of rate, price

and bil l ing but unfortu-nately this factor has beenneglected during the audit,said Ghiyas Abdullah Para-cha, Chairman SupremeCouncil APCNGA in astatement.

Variation in quality ofnatural gas results in dis-similar billing in differentlocations of the country re-sulting in losses, he added.He said that 90 per cent ofthe CNG stations are fac-ing low pressure which isan-other major concern forthe sector. The excessivecost of gas and electricitybil ls due to low pressureshould have been takeninto consideration.

Paracha informed thatmost of the CNG stations

are instal led on petrolpumps where the ownershave to pay 10 to 20 percent margin to oil market-ing companies which hikescost of doing business, afactor conveniently over-looked in the audit. Pricesof gas provided to CNGstations should be uniformand government shouldsell gas at kilograms rates,he demanded.

Over 2300 CNG stationsremain closed for twelvedays every month due togas load shedding causingcolossal losses. Only eigh-teen working days marredwith un-scheduled loadshedding is an additionalburden faced by the CNGsector, said Paracha.

Reservations expressedover CNG audit report

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—As many as22,000 flood-affected dairyfarmers throughout the coun-try have doubled their in-comes since May 2010 withthe assistance of the UnitedStates’ development projects.The facts were shared at aconference held here for Pa-kistani entrepreneurs to dis-cuss the results of theprojects of U.S. Agency forInternational Development(USAID) Entrepreneurs Pro-gram.

The conference titled“Livelihood Recovery Sup-port Conference” was specifi-

cally designed to address thischallenge by bringing to-gether entrepreneurs, govern-ment officials and academia toshare their experiences dealingwith natural disasters and dis-cuss best practices for re-sponding to them and rebuild-ing their businesses. “Undernormal conditions, Pakistan’sentrepreneurs face challengesat many fronts. These issuesare compounded by thecountry’s particular suscepti-bility to natural disasters,” saidCatherine Moore, DeputyMission Director, USAID Pa-kistan in her address at theevent.

“We are delighted that $4

million of U.S. support hassuccessfully revitalized eco-nomic growth in disaster-af-fected regions and enabledresilient Pakistani entrepre-neurs to recover and rebuildtheir businesses,” she said. Arecent impact assessment ofUSAID’s rehabilitation pro-gram found that since May2010, more than 22,500 dairyfarmers increased their in-comes by more than 200 per-cent, as a result of receivingthe U.S. government’s flood-related assistance.

Dr. Zafar Iqbal Qadir,Chairman of the National Di-saster Management Authorityaddressing the gathering

thanked the U.S. governmentfor their prompt response tothe country’s urgent need.He said the assistance by theU.S. government broughttears of joy and hope to thou-sands of conflict and flood-affected families as theystruggled to stand on theirfeet once again.

The USAID initiative ispart of a comprehensive U.S.economic assistance programwhich creates jobs and boostsincomes with projects that ex-pand Pakistan’s agriculturaloutput, build roads to facili-tate trade, and offer a privateequity fund to help small andmedium-size businesses grow.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Board of In-vestment (BoI) in collabora-tion with USAID and BankAl-Falah has been workingto introduce a fund for thedevelopment of Small andMedium Enterprises (SME)sector in Pakistan. Thenewly elected Senator andMinister for State and Chair-man BoI, Saleem HMandviwala informed themedia in an informal chathere on Wednesday.

He said that delibera-tions have been going on thecreation of the proposed

new funds adding that thesize of the fund will bearound Rs.50 million. “It willbe ten years plan”, he re-marked. Responding to aquestion, he said that a pro-posal has been under theconsideration of Prime Min-ister over amendments inrules of Business to makethe process of foreign in-flow more efficient.

The amendment will al-low them to approach di-rectly to decision making fo-rums like Cabinet and Eco-nomic Coordinate Committeeof Cabinet to seek approvalon investment proposals.

BoI to introduce fundfor dev of SME sector

LAHORE: Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf with members and office-bearers of LCCI.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Benazir In-come Support Programme(BISP) is a commendable ini-tiative aiming at poverty al-leviation and women empow-erment. Various interven-tions including those inhealth and education sectorhave been introduced to up-lift the living standards ofunderprivileged segments ofsociety. India wants to learnfrom the experiences and suc-cess of BISP. These were theviews expressed by Mr.Nitish Kumar, Chief Ministerof Indian province Bihar dur-ing a meeting with FederalMinister and ChairpersonBISP Farzana Raja here onTuesday. The Chief Minister

Bihar was accompanied by ahigh level delegation com-prising of Indian Ministers,Members of Assembly and

officials of Indian High Com-mission in Islamabad.

Mr. Nitish Kumar saidthat poverty is beyond the

border phenomenon. He saidthat various schemes aimingat poverty reduction and pro-vision of job opportunitiesare being run in India, espe-cially in the province of Bihar.However, he said, BISP is aunique intervention in thesocial sector as its offeringvarious services under oneroof. He said that the target-ing and identification mecha-nisms adopted by BISP arelaudable indeed which hasmade it a truly wonderfulprogramme.

Chief Minister Bihar saidthat Mohtarma BenazirBhutto had played pivotalrole for the sake of democ-racy. Attributing BISP withher name is one of the majorfactors behind the success of

this Programme due to herstruggle for poverty allevia-tion and women empower-ment, he said.

Earlier, Farzana Raja wel-comed the Indian delegationand appraised its membersabout various initiatives ofBISP. She said that BISP isready to share its experienceswith India with regards tosteps in the social sector.

She said that it is true thatpoverty is a trans-nationalmenace, hence Pakistan andIndia have similar sort of is-sues in the social sector thatought to be resolved byworking together. She addedfurther that BISP has intro-duced various measures toempower women, childrenand youth.

ISLAMABAD: Chairperson BISP, Farzana Raja talkingto Nitish Kumar, Chief Minister of Indian Bihar State.

India to learn from BISP successes

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—Mobilink an-nounced the winners of thefive million rupee bumper prizeand eight 1300 CC cars for theJazz SMS Khazana Offer, 2012.The prize money and cars’keys were handed over to thewinners in a ceremony held inMobilink House, Islamabad.This is the 8th version ofMobilink’s highly populartrivia-based contest that offersMobilink customers the op-portunity to win high-valuedprizes on a daily and weeklybasis by answering simplequestions over SMS.

A cheque of Rs. 5 Millionwas presented to the grandprize winner, Shamsullah ofQuetta, whereas, Zahid Iqbalof Toba Tek Singh andJahangir Mehmood Gul ofLahore drove off in their 1300CC cars.

Farid Ahmad, Vice Presi-dent Marketing, Mobilink

sharing his thoughts, “It isdelightful to see our custom-ers winning such fabulousprizes, as they enjoy the pre-mium cellular services fromMobilink. Besides the big cit-ies, numerous winners dur-ing this campaign came fromsmall towns and even remotevillages, which highlights thevast network coverage weprovide to our customers. Iwould like to congratulate thewinners and would also liketo thank our subscribers formaking the SMS KhazanaOffer such a great success.”

Shamsullah, the winner ofthe Rs 5 million bumper prizeshared his excitement stating,“I had no idea that the rewardfor choosing Mobilink for mycommunication needs wouldbe this huge. With all gratitudeto Allah for his blessings, Iwould also like to thankMobilink for introducing thisunbelievable offer. This day hascompletely changed my life!”

‘SMS Khazana 8’

Mobilink awardsRs 5m, cars to winners

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—The LahoreChamber of Commerce andIndustry (LCCI) andSargodha Chamber of Com-merce and Industry (SCCI)on Wednesday inked Memo-randum of Understanding(MoU) to wage joint effortsand pool their resources forthe promotion of trade andindustry in their respectiveareas of jurisdiction.

The LCCI Senior VicePresident Irfan Iqbal Sheikhsigned the MoU on behalf ofthe Lahore Chamber of Com-merce and Industry whileSargodha Chamber of Com-merce and Industry was rep-resented by its President ZiaAmin Sheikh. LCCI Vice Presi-dent Mian Abuzar Shad,former President SargodhaChamber of Commerce andIndustry Mazhar AhmadMalik, Chairman Researchand Development Cell ofSCCI Faisal Khawaja, ViceChairman R&D Javaid IqbalChaudhry also spoke on theoccasion.

As per MoU, both the

chambers would evolve aunified strategy on the is-sues of common interest,share and exchange all trade-related data with each otherfor increasing competitive-ness of goods and reducingcost of doing business. TheLahore Camber of Commerceand Industry and SargodhaChamber of Commerce willcooperate in preparation ofproposals for Excise andTaxation matters, budgetaryrecommendations and othernational policies.

Both the Chambers wouldconduct joint research stud-ies to strengthen industriesin their respective areas.Speaking on the occasion,the SCCI President Zia AminSheikh said that the harmonybetween the LCCI andSargodha Chamber of Com-merce would give furtherboost to the inter chamberinteraction. He said thatSargodha is hub of qualityCitrus, wooden handicraftsand products made of salt,therefore, offer matchlessopportunities for both localand foreign investors.

LCCI, SCCI ink tradepromotion MoU

LSE sheds8.87 points

LAHORE—Bearish trend pre-vailed in Lahore Stock Ex-change on Wednesday as itshed 8.87 points, following theLSE-25 index opened with3932.53 and closed at 3923.66points. The market’s overallsituation, however, corre-sponded to an upward trendas it remained at 2.193 millionshares to close against previ-ous turnover of 1.904 millionshares, showing an upwardmove of 289,200 shares. While,out of the total 97 active scrips21 moved up, 19 shed valuesand 57 remined equal.

Cherat Cement CompanyLimited, Maple Leaf CementFactory and BalochistanGlass Limited were MajorGainer of the day by record-ing increase in their per sharevalue by Rs 2.06, Re 1.00 andRe 1.00 respectively.

Muslim Commercial BankLimited, Pakistan State Oil Com-pany Limited and Adamjee In-surance Company lost their pershare value by Rs 2.00, Rs 1.35and Rs 1.30 respectively. TheVolume Leader of the day in-cluded Maple Leaf Cement Fac-tory with 698,000 shares, SilkBank Limited (Saudi) with422,500 shares, Lafarge Paki-stan Cement with 192,500shares.—APP

1,217 corporatetaxpayers

selected for auditSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The FederalBoard of Revenue (FBR) hasselected 1,217 corporate tax-payers and 8,523 non-corpo-rate taxpayers for income tax,sales tax and federal exciseaudit for the Tax year 2011through transparent para-metric computer balloting.The FBR conducted com-puter ballot for selection ofaudit cases at the FBRHouse.

The selection was madeon the basis of various riskparameters developed afterconsultation with all stake-holders.

President of Pakistan TaxBar Association ZulfiqarKhan pressed the button forselection of cases. Represen-tatives of All Pakistan Tax BarAssociation, Islamabad/Rawalpindi Tax Bar Associa-tion, Federation of PakistanChambers of Commerce andIndustry, Islamabad Cham-ber of Commerce and Indus-try, Rawalpindi chamber ofCommerce and Industry, me-dia and senior officials ofFBR attened the ballotingceremony.

Representatives of cham-bers and federations con-gratulated FBR’s Member ofTaxpayer Audit for transpar-ent balloting.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The wave ofheinous crimes like targetkilling, kidnapping and fre-quent extortions fearlesslyis a question on the effec-tiveness of the rule of lawparticularly in Karachi, saidleaders of the trade and in-dustry today.

Chairman Korangi Asso-ciation of Trade and Indus-try, Mohammad ZubairChhaya has shown his dis-may over the ever-increasingtarget killing in the city andfrequent incidents of extor-tion and street crimes.

In meeting with SPs ofKorangi and Landhi areas todiscuss law and order situ-ation Zubair said thatpeaceful industrial environ-

ment is essential in the in-dustrial zones for economicsurvival of the country.President

All Karachi IndustrialAlliance Mian ZahidHussain, SSP Traffic, KIAAli Raza, SP KIA, Capt.Chaudhry Asad, SP Landhi,Abdul Qayyum Patani,Chairman Law and OrderCommittee, Nadeem Khan,Vice Chairman KATI NiazAhmed and Danish Khanattended the meeting.

He urged upon the policehigh ups to increase policepatrol in KIA and strengthenall check posts in and aroundKorangi industrial area. MianZahid Hussain while speak-ing on the occasion said thatKarachi plays most importantrole in Pakistan’s economy.

Soaring Karachi crimesbetray govt claims

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The agriculturalexperts have said that devel-oping countries like Pakistanwould have to adopt geneti-cally modified/biotech cropsin the shortest possible timeto ensure food security forrapidly growing population,saying that the future of ag-riculture growth depends onbiotechnology.

“The sale of illegal/sub-standard seeds especially Btcotton seeds is another im-portant issue that needs tobe addressed by the govern-ment on priority basis to taptrue potential of agriculturalproductivity in the country,”

the experts unanimouslysaid while speaking at extraordinary general body meet-ing of Farmers AssociatesPakistan (FAP), a represen-tative body of farming com-munity, here in Lahore. Theevent was attended by alarge number of farmers fromdifferent parts of the coun-try as well as representativesof different seed companies.Media representatives werealso present on the occasion.

On the occasion, corngrowers urged the governmentto approve the geneticallymodified (GM) corn, which isbeing planted successfullyacross the globe, for commer-cial plantation in Pakistan.

Stringent check on saleof fake seeds urged

ICMAPSummit held

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI —A SAFA summitfollowed the theme “Corpo-rate Governance and Trans-parency” organized by theInstitute of Cost and Man-agement Accountants of Pa-kistan (ICMAP) in Lahore.

The Summit was at-tended by delegates from In-dia, Bangladesh, Sri Lankaand Nepal. Past Presidentand current Council memberof the Institute of CharteredAccountants of Pakistan(ICAP) Abdul Rahim Suriyawas the speaker in the ses-sion on “Corporate Report-ing – a means of CorporateGovernance and Transpar-ency “, the first technical ses-sion of the Summit. NazirAhmed Shaheen, ExecutiveDirector, Law Division of theSecurities and ExchangeCommission of Pakistan(SECP) was the Chief Guest.

Peace booststrade ties: HCSTAFF CORRESPONDENT

P E S H AWA R — M a l a y s i a nHigh Commissioner inIslamabad Dr Hasrul SaniBin Mujtbar said the resto-ration of peace further im-proved economic and traderelations between Pakistanand Malaysia.

He viewed that KhyberPakhtunkhwa province andAfghanistan as a gatewayfor l inking with CentralAsian Republic (CARs)states and rest of the world.He was speaking at SarhadChamber of Commerce andIndustry (SCCI).

SCCI Chief MohammadYousuf Sarwar, vice presi-dents, Malik Iftikhar Awan,Mohammad Anees Ashraf,members of executive body,renowned industr ial is ts ,and businessmen, andleaders of traders commu-nity were present. The bothside agreed for boosting upmutual trade and economiclinkages.

Defaulters yieldRs. 24.3mto PESCO

PESHAWAR—The PeshawarElectric and Supply Com-pany (PESCO) has recoveredRs.24.3 million from default-ers and disconnected powersupply of a large number ofconsumers on non-paymentof Rs. 13.9million in differentareas of the province. Ac-cording to Pesco press re-lease here on Wednesday, therecovery teams of the com-pany has recovered Rs8,17,498 from defaulters inSwabi-I division and Rs2,88,200 in Swat circle. Simi-larly, in Hagu Division, Rs3,36,830 have been recoveredfrom defaulters while powersupply of 34 defaulters wasdisconnected on non pay-ment of Rs.19,70,541.

In Khyber Circle,Rs.1,16,12,974 from 78 de-faulters have been recoveredwhile power supply to 26consumers disconnected onnonpayment of Rs1,13,79,472.

In Hazara Circle PescoRecovery Teams recoveredRs 79,00000 from three Govtdefaulter departments andRs 33,80000 from private con-sumers while power supplyto 76 defaulters was discon-nected on nonpayment of Rs5,90,000. Likewise, InMardan-1-division, Rs14,00000 have been recov-ered from defaulters.—APP

Fiscal deficiency

Large scaleindustries in

negative growthFAISALABAD—Mian ZahidAslam, President, FaisalabadChamber of Commerce andIndustry (FCCI) has said thatIndustrial growth particularlythe large manufacturing sec-tor is following negativegrowth owing to non-avail-ability of finance from thebanking sector which haslead to stoppage of even fur-ther expansion to the largeindustries at the regional andnational level.

Giving details he said thatGovernment borrowedRs.324 billion from scheduledbanks from July 30 to Sept 07(2 months) which is 123%higher than the same periodof last year. He continuedthat according to SBP, theGovernment accumulatedborrowing from scheduledbanks till June 2012 wasRs.2.360 trillion against a to-tal borrowing of Rs.1.704 tril-lion from the State Bank.

He maintained that highmark up rate is another majorhurdle to increase the cost ofdoing business. The bankingspread of 7% is the worldhighest in Pakistan. RampantGovernment borrowing hasreduced credit space to theprivate sector and their im-pact on the prospectus ofgrowth. The banks haveshifted their lending focusfrom private sector to theGovernment. The interestrate being charged by theCommercial Banks can bedecreased if Governmentstop or curtail its borrowingsfrom them, he added.

He continued that such aheavy domestic borrowingfrom Commercial Banks hasrestricted credit space to theprivate sector which is en-gine of growth for revenuegeneration, employment anddesired economic growth ofthe country. He said that in-dustries are already crippledwith the shortage of energyand gas coupled with dete-riorating law and order situa-tion and lesser availability ofloans to the industrial sectoris a stumbling block to therevival of economy. —INP

Fakhar for stepsto develop

agri, industryMULTAN—Former NationalAssembly Speaker and pro-gressive grower Syed FakharImam has urged the govern-ment to take steps for devel-opment of agriculture and in-dustry on modern lines to en-hance national productivityand attract premium pricethrough export of finishedproducts. Addressing a semi-nar here Wednesday, he saidthat such policies be formu-lated that strengthen both thefarming and industrial sectorsand stressed on their enforce-ment in letter and spirit.

He expressed concernsover the rising cost of doingagriculture and added that thegovernment must ensure bet-ter returns to growers. He saidthat price of Urea had risenfrom Rs 1200 to Rs 1800 perbag, power tariff from Rs 4 toRs 13.8 per unit, diesel from Rs60 to Rs 117 per litre. He urgedthe government to convene ameeting of all the stakehold-ers of cotton economy to de-vise a strategy to protect theinterests of all.—APP

ILO holding BusinessPlan Competition

ISLAMABAD—InternationalLabour Organization (ILO)would hold a Business PlanCompetition to encourage aculture of entrepreneurshipamongst Pakistani womenon November 17, (Satur-day). In the competitionnamed ‘Khadija’, awardswill be given to the bestbusiness start-up plans thatshow the most potential togrow, are in line with marketdemand and have the poten-tial of achieving socio-eco-nomic empowerment ofwomen.

President, Women Cham-ber of Commerce Lahore, MsQaisera, will be the chiefguest at the occasion, said arepresentative of ILO here onWednesday. —APP

PESHAWAR: DCO Javed Marwat and President Chamber of KPCCI Dr. Yusuf Sarwardiscussing arrangements for Muharramul Harram.

ISLAMABAD—The EconomicCoordination Committee(ECC) of the Cabinet sched-uled to meet on November 20,is expected to allow addi-tional export of 0.2 milliontons sugar. Last month, theapex economic decisionsmaking body had also al-lowed 0.2 million tons sugarexport.

According to PakistanSugar Mills Association(PSMA), the permission for fur-ther export of 0.2 million tonssugar will go a long way to im-prove the financial positions ofthe mills and payments to sug-arcane cultivators. Accordingto the agenda items availablewith Online News agency, theECC will consider the summary

of Commerce Ministry whichhas sought the export of 0.2million tons sugar in additionto 0.2 million tons allowed ear-lier.

The committee will alsotake up the ministry ofIndustry’s summary in whichthey (ministry) sought the wa-ver of sales tax at import stageon the import of Swede busPakistan. Following a resolu-tion passed by the NationalAssembly, the Economic Co-ordination Committee of thecabinet is also expected to givea go-ahead to switch to amonthly oil pricing mechanismas the Ministry of Petroleumand Natural Resources willtable the summary before thecommittee for its approval.

The controversial weekly pricereview mechanism was alsosuspended by the govern-ment after giving an undertak-ing in the Supreme Court lastmonth.

The government has alsobeen seen to repeatedly ignorethe continuous recommenda-tions of the National AssemblyStanding Committee on Petro-leum and Natural Resourcesand the Oil and Gas RegulatoryAuthority (OGRA) to switch tothe old oil pricing mechanism.The Ministry of Finance andOGRA had already opposed tothe price review on a weeklybasis when the summary wasfirst tabled before the ECC forapproval, but their concernswere not addressed.—Online

ECC to allow additionalexport of 0.2m tonnes sugar

CHINIOT: Peasants using machine for harvesting rice.

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

KARACHI—Pakistan andRussia are feeling the heat ofthe long absent direct sea, airand banking links as the twocountries are mulling ways topromote bilateral trade to theextent of singing a Preferen-tial Trade Agreement (PTA).“The unavailability of directshipping-lines, airlines andbanking channel are majorobstacles impeding bilateraltrade,” said Andrey V.Demidov, Russian ConsulGeneral during his visit to theKarachi Chamber of Com-merce and Industry (KCCI)

on Wednesday.At the Chamber,

Demidov met KCCI PresidentMuhammad Haroon Agar,Senior Vice President KCCIShamim Firpo, Vice PresidentNasir Mehmood, FormerPresident KCCI Majyd Azizand members of theChamber’s managing com-mittee.

The Russian consul gen-eral said good prospects forPak-Russia PTA were existed.“Russian Mission can pre-pare feasibility study on PTAas deliberations are requiredon certain legalities,” headded. Demidov viewed that

to execute transit trade fromGawader Port, adequate in-frastructure, railways, high-ways and bridges were es-sential.

He recalled that in early90’s PIA operated to Mos-cow and the restoration ofsuch direct air-connectivitywas important. “In past, PIAalso used to stopover toMoscow while going to UK,while Russian Airline maystopover Islamabad orKarachi while going to UAEwhich can provide opportu-nity to visitors of both coun-tries for interaction,” ob-served the Russian consul.

Russia ready tosign PTA with Pakistan

New treason law in RussiaMOSCOW—Russian PresidentVladimir Putin has signed a law broad-ening the definition of treason whichopponents say could be used tosmother dissent and put almost any-one who has contact with foreignersat risk. The law allows Russians rep-resenting international organizationsto be charged with treason, as well asthose working for foreign intelligence.It took effect on Wednesday when it

was published in the official gazette, despite a promiseby Putin on Monday that he would review it. Politicalopponents and rights activists say the legislation is thelatest in a series of laws intended to crack down on theopposition and reduce foreign influence since he re-turned to the Kremlin in May for a six-year third term.“Citizens recruited by international organizations act-ing against the country’s interests will also be consid-ered traitors”, the official gazette, Rossiyskaya Gazeta,said in a commentary on its website. The maximum sen-tence for high treason remains 20 years. At a meeting ofhis human rights council on Monday, Putin listened toa retired Constitutional Court judge’s concerns aboutthe legislation, which she said did not require authori-ties to prove a suspect damaged state security. Putinindicated at the meeting that he would move cautiouslyand that the legislation had been scrutinized closely asit passed through parliament. But he also said “none-theless, I am ready to return to this again, to look moreattentively.” Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said thepresident had signed the legislation on Tuesday al-though the Kremlin had not made a formal announce-ment. Russian officials have said the law is needed tohelp prevent foreign governments using organizationsin Russia to gather state secrets.— Reuters

China’s Hu clears way for Xi to take party helmBEIJING—President Hu Jintaostepped aside as ruling party leaderWednesday to clear the way for VicePresident Xi Jinping to take China’shelm as part of only the second orderlytransfer of power in 63 years of Com-munist rule. In a possible break fromtradition, Hu may also be giving up hispost as head of the commission thatoversees the military, which would giveXi greater leeway to consolidate his

authority when he takes over. A top general indicated Huwould not stay on in the military post. Hu and other se-nior leaders mostly in their late 60s are handing over powerto leader-in-waiting Xi and other colleagues in their late50s over the next several months. The new leadershipfaces daunting challenges including slowing growth inthe world’s No. 2 economy, rising unrest among increas-ingly assertive citizens and delicate relations with neigh-boring countries. In keeping with the widely anticipatedsuccession plans, Hu was not re-elected a member of theparty’s Central Committee on the final day of a pivotalparty congress, showing that he’s no longer in the politi-cal leadership. Delegates said they cheered when the an-nounced results of secret balloting showed that Xi hadbeen unanimously chosen for the committee, a step to-ward being named to the topmost panel, the PolitburoStanding Committee, and becoming party leader as ex-pected on Thursday. Li Keqiang, designated as the nextpremier, also was elected to the Central Committee of 205full members. “We were very happy, and the whole as-sembly responded with warm applause,” said delegateSi Zefu, president of the Dongfang Electric Corp. basedin the central city of Chengdu. Previous outgoing lead-ers, including former President Jiang Zemin, have heldonto the military post for a transitional period to extendtheir grip on power. Asked by Hong Kong reporters ifHu would retain his chairmanship of the military com-mission, Zhang Qinsheng, deputy chief of general staffof the People’s Liberation Army, said the central leader-ship “had no such arrangements.

Suu Kyi meets SinghNEW DELHI— Myanmar oppositionleader Aung San Suu Kyi met with India’sprime minister and foreign secretary onWednesday as part of a trip to establishcloser ties between the countries. SuuKyi, who arrived Tuesday for a five-dayvisit, met separately with Prime MinisterManmohan Singh and Foreign SecretaryRanjan Mathai. Details of the meetingswere not immediately available. 0 Com-ments Weigh InCorrections?PersonalPost Images from around the world Take

a look at some of the week’s best photographs from aroundthe globe. WorldViews How the Petraeus scandal might havegone down in China Max Fisher 7:00 PM ET What if a Chi-nese Communist Party spychief and top general, rumored tohave higher ambitions, suddenly lost office amid an uncer-tain scandal? Irans hardline media struggles to grasp Petraeusscandal Max Fisher 6:00 PM ET The pro-regime Serat Newshas some harsh words for Paula Broadwell and David Petraeus.China shows off its new drone Max Fisher 4:22 PM ET Anairshow demonstration of the Wing Loong or Pterosaur un-manned aerial vehicle. Protests break out in Jordan, mentionking by name Max Fisher 2:49 AM ET Is this just anotherbump in the status quo or a serious challenge to the monar-chy? In the 1980s and early ‘90s, India was a strong sup-porter of Suu Kyi in her struggle against the country’s mili-tary junta for which she received the Nobel Peace Prize. Butin the mid-1990s, India changed tack to engage with thejunta, resisting pressure from Western democracies that hadimposed economic sanctions on Myanmar. New Delhi in-sisted it had to follow a pragmatic policy because it neededits neighbor’s help in cracking down on Indian rebels whohad built hideouts in the jungles along the India-Myanmarborder. The new policy also underscored India’s quest forenergy supplies and concerns about China’s strong influencein the Southeast Asian country. Suu Kyi also visited the memo-rials of Indian independence leaders Mohandas K. Gandhi andJawaharlal Nehru on Wednesday, and delivered the prestigiousNehru Memorial Lecture, held annually to mark the birthday ofindependent India’s first elected leader. —AP

Pelosi to stay in WHWASHINGTON— Nancy Pelosi toldHouse of Representatives Democratson Wednesday that she plans to stayon as minority leader, according to asource close to the San Francisco law-maker. “She will continue to serve asDemocratic Leader. She has just an-nounced her decision to her Caucus,”the source told reporters on conditionof anonymity. Pelosi was scheduledto hold a 10 a.m. press conference with

House Democratic women. “Ten years ago today, NancyPelosi was elected as the first woman to lead a politicalparty in Congress,” said the source. “She will continueto lead a united Democratic Caucus that will play a cru-cial role in developing a responsible deficit reductionpackage—working with President Obama and our col-leagues in the Senate—that protects Social Security andMedicare, the middle class and children, while askingthe wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share.”—AP

BEIRUT—France becamethe first Western power torecognize a fledgling Syrianopposition coalition fully,stepping out beyond theUnited States, which said onWednesday the body mustfirst show its clout insideSyria. Six Gulf Arab statesrecognized the Syrian Na-tional Coalition for Opposi-tion and RevolutionaryForces on Monday andFrance followed suit the nextday, unlike its European part-ners.

President FrancoisHollande’s decisive postureon Syria recalled that of hispredecessor NicolasSarkozy on Libya last year,when France led calls for

France recognizes Syria opposition, US stays awayNATO action to protect ci-vilians which effectivelyhelped Libyan rebels toppleMuammar Gaddafi.

The European Unionbans arms sales to Syria, butHollande said the questionof arming rebels would beexamined when the coalitionformed a transitional govern-ment. Paris had previouslyruled this out, fearing armscould reach Islamist mili-tants.

U.S. Secretary of StateHillary Clinton said the for-mation of the coalition,which supersedes thewidely discredited SyrianNational Council as the faceof the Syrian opposition,was an important step, but

did not offer it full recogni-tion or arms.

“We have long called forthis kind of organization. Wewant to see that momentummaintained,” Clinton told re-porters in the Australian cityof Perth. “As the Syrian op-position takes these stepsand demonstrates its effec-tiveness in advancing thecause of a unified, demo-cratic, pluralistic Syria, wewill be prepared to work withthem to deliver assistance tothe Syrian people.” Suhair al-Atassi, a vice president ofthe new coalition, said thatonce it had proved it repre-sents “revolutionary forces”on the ground, there wouldbe no excuse for Western

powers not to provide someform of military backing.“The ball now is in the inter-national community’scourt,” she told Reuters inan interview in Dubai, blam-ing Western reticence to armthe rebels for the rise of ex-tremism in Syria. “There is nomore excuse to say we arewaiting to see how efficientthis new body is. They usedto put the opposition to thetest. Now we put them to thetest,” she declared. Syrianinsurgents have few weap-ons against Assad’s airforce and artillery, which canpound rebel-held territory atwill. A Syrian warplanebombed the town of Ras al-Ain near the Turkish border

again on Wednesday, rock-ing buildings on the frontierand sending up huge plumesof smoke, in the latest ofseveral attacks since rebelscaptured the town last week.

After 20 months of a con-flict that has killed more than38,000 people, fragmentedSyrian opposition groupsstruck a deal in Qatar onSunday to form a coalitionled by Damascus preacherMouaz Alkhatib, who hasappealed for internationalrecognition.

Arab League and EU for-eign ministers meeting inCairo on Tuesday welcomedthe coalition’s formation asan important step, but didnot recognize it as Syria’s

sole authority. F r a n c e ,however, went ahead on itsown. Hollande told a newsconference in the Frenchcapital that Paris recognizedthe new Syrian national coa-lition “as the sole legitimaterepresentative of the Syrianpeople and as future govern-ment of a democratic Syriamaking it possible to bringan end to Bashar al-Assad’sregime”. Clinton announcedan extra $30 million in aid tothose affected by the war inSyria, to be delivered via theUnited Nations’ WorldFood Programme, which issupplying food to morethan a million people inSyria and to 408,000 Syrianrefugees.—Reuters

JERUSALEM — Israeli diplo-mats have put foreign leaderson notice that their countrywill consider its historic peaceaccords with the Palestiniansnull and void if they ask theUnited Nations for a state, ac-cording to a document ob-tained Wednesday by TheAssociated Press.

The list of Foreign Minis-try talking points also in-structs diplomats to tell worldleaders that Israel will retaliateagainst the move, withoutspecifying details.

The Palestinians, frus-trated with a four-year im-passe in peace efforts, saythey will ask the U.N. GeneralAssembly on Nov. 29 to givethem upgraded observer sta-tus. A draft resolution floatedby the Palestinians seeks in-ternational recognition of theirstate in the West Bank, eastJerusalem and the Gaza Strip,territories captured by Israelin the 1967 Mideast war.

Israel and the U.S.strongly oppose the effort,saying all matters must be re-solved through negotiations.

On Wednesday, a U.S. envoywas set to meet the Palestin-ian president in Switzerland ina last-ditch bid to halt the bid.

The document says U.N.General Assembly approval ofthe Palestinian request wouldviolate 1990s agreements be-tween the two sides and “giveIsrael the right to reconsiderand nullify” them in whole orin part. “Adoption of the reso-lution by the General Assem-bly will have grave conse-quences, and set in motionunilateral Israeli responses,”the ministry communiquesaid, cautioning that it wouldalso complicate future diplo-matic progress.

Vice Premier MosheYaalon, speaking in a similarvein, told Army Radio onWednesday that his countrywould “have to take steps tomake it clear that there will bea heavy price” if the state-hood petition goes ahead.Prime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu has also warnedpreviously that a statehoodappeal would push peace fur-ther away and lead to insta-

bility.Late Tuesday, U.N. chief

Ban Ki-moon warned that theplanned Palestinian movewould undermine negotia-tions. “None of us should actin any way that would placea return to talks at risk. Therecan be no substitute formeaningful negotiations,” hesaid in a speech at Yale Uni-versity.

Palestinians, exasperatedafter 44 years of Israeli occu-pation, insist they have nochoice but to sidestep talksthat have foundered fornearly two decades amid atoxic mix of intransigence,violence and failure of will.

Palestinian PresidentMahmoud Abbas insists hehasn’t closed the door on ne-gotiations, but only on con-dition Israel stop buildingsettlements on lands the Pal-estinians claim for a futurestate. Israel refuses to do that,saying the future of settle-ments will be settled once anagreement is reached on thefinal borders of Jewish andPalestinian states.— AP

Palestine UN bidendangers accords: Israel

BAGHDAD—A series of carbombs killed at least 14people across Iraq early onWednesday, the eve of aMuslim festival to mark thestart of the Islamic year, po-lice and hospital sourcessaid.

The holy month ofMuharram is of special sig-nificance to Shi’a Muslims,who are a prime target of al-Qaeda’s Iraqi affiliate andother Sunni Islamist insur-gents seeking to re-ignitethe kind of sectarian vio-lence that gripped the coun-try in 2006-2007.

The deadliest explosiontook place in the disputedand ethnically-mixed city ofKirkuk, 250km north of thecapital Baghdad, where fourbombs planted in parkedcars went off simulta-

neously, killing nine peopleand wounding 30, policesaid.

In the southern city ofHilla, 100km south ofBaghdad, four people werekilled in a car bomb blast,police and hospital sourcessaid.

“A car bomb explodednear a secondary school forgirls and a crowded poultrymarket, leaving four dead,including innocent stu-dents. It’s a real vicious ter-rorist act,” said HamzaKadhim, a local official inHilla. Another car bombtargeting an Interior Minis-try official in centralBaghdad killed one passer-by and wounded nine oth-ers, including three police-men, hospital and policesources said.— Reuters

Blasts kill14 across Iraq

CE Y L A N P I N A R —TurkeyTurkey on Wednesdaywarned that i ts mil i tarywould retaliate if any Syr-ian aircraft violate its air-space amid a third day ofair strikes by Syrian forcesagainst rebels who overrana town along the borderwith Turkey.

An Associated Pressvideo journalist in theTurkish border town ofCeylanpinar witnessed aSyrian air strike in the ad-jacent Syrian town of Rasal-Ayn, where rebels saythey have ousted troopsloyal to President BasharA s s a d .Deadly air s tr ikes beganseveral days ago, andmany casualt ies wererushed into Turkey fortreatment. Local officialssaid as many as 30 peoplehave died since Monday.

Turkey’s Anadolunews agency and otherTurkish media said severalvi l lages west ofCeylanpinar have beenevacuated to protect resi-dents from any spillover offighting between Syriangovernment forces andrebels.

About 1,000 people leftMursitpinar, 180 kilome-ters (110 miles) fromCeylanpinar, after an ap-peal from the loudspeakersof local mosques.

Turkey’s defense min-ister, Ismet Yilmaz, indi-cated that Turkey woulduse mil i tary force in re-sponse to any incursionsby Syrian aircraft . Lastmonth, Turkish art i l lery

Turkey warns Syriaon border violation

f ired on targets in Syriaafter Syrian shells landedinside Turkey and kil ledseveral Turkish civilians inone instance.

“The necessary re-sponse wil l be given toSyrian planes and helicop-ters that violate our bor-der,” Yilmaz said.

Also Wednesday, theAP journalist saw Syrianforces shelling a woodedarea near Ras al-Ayn fromwhere rebels had been fir-ing on them.

A Turkish official inCeylanpinar said thesound of shell ing washeard throughout thenight.

Two rocket-propelledgrenades hit houses on theTurkish side, but therewere no injuries, accordingto the official, who spokeon condition of anonymitybecause he is barred fromspeaking to the media onthe record.

Ras al-Ayn is located inthe northeastern Syrianprovince of al-Hasaka, anoil-producing regionwhere the populat ion ismostly Kurdish.

The violence in Syriahas killed more than 36,000people s ince an upris ingagains t Assad’s regimebegan in March 2011.

Hundreds of thou-sands have fled the fight-ing into neighboring Tur-key, Jordan, Lebanon andIraq .

Another 11,000 escapedinto Turkey last week follow-ing the surge of fighting atRas al-Ayn. —AP

Croatia DeputyPM punished for car crash

B U D A P E S T — C r o a t i a ’ sdeputy prime minister,Radimir Cacic, has beengiven a 22-month prisonsentence by a Hungariancourt for causing a fatal carcrash in Hungary in 2010, acourt spokesman andCacic’s lawyer told Reuterson Wednesday. In a previ-ous ruling in June, Cacicwas given a suspended 22-month prison sentence butthis has now been changedand Cacic will need to starthis sentence probably in 1-2 months, Attila Vadocz,spokesman for theKaposvar court said. Cacicis also economy ministerand Prime Minister ZoranMilanovic’s closest ally inthe centre-left cabinet. Theruling is not open to ap-peal.— Reuters

Hamas militarychief killed inIsraeli attack

GAZA—Israeli aircraft at-tacked a car in the Gaza Stripon Wednesday, killing Hamasmilitary chief al-Jabari withmultiple Israeli attacks rockingthe Gaza Strip. The Israeli mili-tary confirmed the incident,which appeared to end a 24-hour lull in cross-border vio-lence that surged this week.

Jabari becomes the mostsenior Hamas official to bekilled since an Israeli invasionof Gaza four years ago, whohas long topped Israel’s most-wanted list. Witnesses sayJabari was traveling in his ve-hicle in Gaza City when his carexploded. Jabari is claimed tooversaw the detention of GiladShalit. Hamas said AhmedAl-Jabari, who ran the Izz el-Deen Al-Qassam, died alongwith a passenger after their carwas targeted by an Israelimissile.Israel’s Shin Bet do-mestic intelligence serviceconfirmed it had carried outthe attack, saying it had killedJabari because of his “decade-long terrorist activity”.

“The purpose of this op-eration was to severely impairthe command and controlchain of the Hamas leader-ship,” the Israeli military saidin a statement.

Immediate calls for re-venge were broadcast overHamas radio and smallergroups also warned ofretaliation.“Israel has declaredwar on Gaza and they will bearthe responsibility for the con-sequences,” Islamic Jihadsaid.A Reuters witness re-ported there were multiple Is-raeli airstrikes against thecoastal enclave, but it was notimmediately clear what else hadbeen targeted. —Turkish News

BARCELONA — Flights andtrains were canceled acrossEurope on Wednesday asthousands of workers took tothe streets to protest auster-ity measures aimed at reduc-ing massive government defi-cits and boosting shakyeconomies.

“We all know that reforms,layoffs and cuts will continuebut maybe we manage to getthem cut (more slowly),” saidFrancisco Vallejo, 41, an ad-ministrative assistant inMadrid. “The only strike thatis useless is the one we don’tfollow.”

Unions had called forstrikes across Europe to pro-test the trimming of govern-ment-funded salaries and pen-sion benefits, which had risendramatically over the yearsand led to significant debtproblems in some countries.

The call to strike washeeded by many in Italy andSpain; but union workers inBritain, Germany and Den-mark held rallies instead ofwalking off the job.

Transport hubs were atstandstill across southernEurope and in Brussels as air-ports and train stations shutdown. Clashes between pro-testers and police were re-ported in Spain and Italy butdemonstrations remainedlargely peaceful. World stockmarkets were mixed Wednes-day.

Anti-austerity protests,strikes spread across Europe

The so-called austeritymeasures comprise spendingcuts, tax hikes and changes tolabour laws to allow busi-nesses to better adjust toshaky economies. But severalgovernments and many work-ers worry that the measuresmay worsen economies bydriving down individual in-comes.

The protests Wednesdaybrought out people whoblame the economic system asa whole.

“They’ve only just startedcuts but they are pretty dra-conian already,” said AndrewBurgin, European officer forthe Coalition of Resistance inLondon, which organized arally outside the EuropeanCommission offices there. “Ithink this is the beginning ofa new movement. It will be aday remembers in history asthe beginning of a pan-Euro-pean movement, possibly aninternational movement,against capitalism.”

But European leaders,such as Angela Merkel of Ger-many, says the problem is themassive debts piled up by in-dividual nations, many ofwhich like Greece and Portu-gal spent beyond revenueson public projects, expandingwelfare and government jobs,and generous public benefits.

Greece and Spain, whichhave been hit hardest by aneconomic slowdown and debt

crisis that has swept up sev-eral nations across the conti-nent, are experiencing unem-ployment rates of more than25%. Both countries passedmeasures recently to changelabor laws that protected em-ployees from layoffs and thatbusinesses say preventedthem from hiring or innovat-ing.

The austerity measuresare supposed to improve theeconomy over time but in theshort-term people in Greeceand Spain especially are expe-riencing curtailment of gov-ernment health care, reduc-tions in their pensions andsalaries and higher taxes.“Of course it’s a political strike,against the policies of a sui-cidal and anti-social govern-ment,” said Igancio FernandezToxo, a Spanish union leader,at a protest.

Analysts were skepticalabout the effectiveness of thestrikes.

“I think we have alreadyseen turn in the European cri-sis management toward amore social management,meaning, like in the case ofGreece and Spain, that moretime is given for the reformsto be implemented due to thesocial impact, not to somehowtotally overburden the coun-tries with the implementationof the measures,” said CarstenBrzeski, senior economist atING in Brussels.— AP

Demonstrators hold banners reading ‘General Strike’ in Barcelona during strike on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON— The Sen-ate sent the White House abill on Tuesday givingnearly 4 million veteransand survivors a 1.7 percentincrease in their monthlybenefit payments next year.

Democrats said the nor-mally routine measure wasdelayed for weeks becausean unidentified Republicansenator objected to it.

Republicans were notgiven enough time to ensurethat all senators were okaywith the bill, said DonStewart, a spokesman forMinority Leader MitchMcConnell. He said theclearance process was com-pleted soon after Congressadjourned for the electionsand that Democrats couldhave brought the bill up if

US Senate passes billboosting payments

to veteransnecessary.

When the Senate re-turned this week, it actedquickly to ensure thatchecks issued beginning inJanuary reflect the adjust-ment for the higher cost ofliving.

The House approvedthe measure in July. The billnow goes to PresidentBarack Obama for his signa-ture.

Sen. Patty Murray ofWashington state, a Demo-crat who chairs the SenateVeterans Affairs Committee,welcomed the financialboost .

“Particularly in this dif-ficult economy, our veter-ans deserve a boost in theirbenefits to help make endsmeet,” Murray said.—AP

BIPIN DANI

OBSERVER

CORRESPONDENT

MUMBAI—The PakistanCricket Board (PCB) hassent a “get well soon” mes-sage to Shiv Sena chief BalThackrey. This was re-vealed by the PCB chair-man Zaka Ashraf.

Speaking exclusivelyover telephone from hisLahore residence, he said,“we have sent him a letterwith flower bouquet at hisShiv Sena office inMumbai”. “In our letter, wehave expressed our con-cern about his health andwished him speedy recov-

Pakistan team will winhearts of Indians,

promises PCB chairmanery. We have been prayingfor his good health and fansin this country want to seehim at all match-venues”, headded.

Shiv Sena chief BalThackrey has been opposingthe Pakistan cricket team’stour of India next month.

“We want to win thehearts of Indian people”, headded.

Pakistan team is sched-uled to play two Twenty20and three ODIs’ during theirtwo-week tour (Dec. 25, 2012to January 6, 2013).of India.

“The forthcoming revivalseries between India and Paki-stan will be the biggest everand much bigger than the

Ashes between Australiaand England”, Ashrafhoped. “The matchesbetwwen India and Pakistanwill have more market value”.

The PCB has plannedto send ten former greats towitness the matches.

Unlike Gavaskar-Bor-der trophy being playedbetween India and Austra-lia, the PCB is not in favourof naming the Trophy onindividual players’ names.“Yes, Imran Khan andKapil Dev are legendaryliving all-rounders, but wewould like the people ofboth nations interact heartto heart with each other”,Ashraf concluded.ISLAMABAD: Squash players during 2nd All Pakistan Inter-University Squash Championship 2012-13 organized

by Preston University in collaboration with Higher Education Commission at Sports Complex.

MIRPUR: Shivnarine Chanderpaul attempts to play a shot during Bangladesh vs WestIndies 1st Test on Wednesday.

DHAKA—At one end wasShivnarine Chanderpaul,who took seven-and-a-halfhours to make his secondTest double hundred. At theother end was Tamim Iqbal,who hit so many boundariesin his 72 that he turned thesingle into an event. In theend, Bangladesh were half-way towards the follow-onmark, at the cost of their toporder.

West Indies didn’t losea wicket in two sessions to-day, with Denesh Ramdinmaking a hundred and put-ting on 296 withChanderpaul. After DarrenSammy declared withChanderpaul havingequalled his highest Testscore, West Indies did losetheir bearings for a bit,though, as Tamim, alongwith Shahriar Nafees briefly,entertained the sparsecrowd with a thrill-a-minuteshow of unrestrained hit-ting.

Bangladesh tend to regu-larly indulge in such shows,but they generally prove tobe self-consuming in Testcricket. Tamim and Nafeesboth fell to urges to manu-facture outrageous strokes,and it was down to NaeemIslam and Shakib Al Hasanto shut down the thrill storefor the evening.

Tamim’s first boundarywas fortuitous, when a lifterfrom Ravi Rampaul took theedge and flew over the slipcordon. A similar, and bettertargeted, snorter soon con-sumed Junaid Siddique.Then began the Tamim-and-

West Indies 1st innings:Gayle c Mahmudullah bSohag Gazi ..................... 24Powell b Sohag Gazi ... 117Bravo c Rubel b Gazi .... 14MN Samuels c Sohag Gazib Shahadat Hossain ..... 16Chanderpaul not out .. 203D Ramdin not out ........ 126Extras: ....... (b 4, lb 13, w 2,nb 8) ................................ 27Total: (4 wickets dec) .. 527Fall of wickets 1-32, 2-74, 3-106, 4-231Bowling: ........... O-M-R-WSohag Gazi ....... 47-7-145-3Shahadat ............ 21-3-85-1Rubel Hossain ... 18-0-89-0Mahmudullah .... 14-0-45-0Shakib Al Hasan34-4-104-0Naeem Islam ......... 8-1-24-0

Nasir Hossain ........ 1-0-8-0Tamim Iqbal .......... 1-0-10-0Bangladesh 1st innings:Tamim Iqbal c Narineb Sammy ......................... 72Junaid c Bravo b Rampaul 7Shahriar Nafees c Ramdinb Rampaul ...................... 31Naeem Islam not out ..... 27Shakib Al Hasan not out16Extras: (b4, lb4, w1, nb2)11Total: (3 wickets) ......... 164Fall of wickets 1-25, 2-88, 3-119Bowling: ........... O-M-R-WR Rampaul ............ 8-0-49-2TL Best ................. 7-1-31-0DJG Sammy .......... 5-0-21-1SP Narine ............ 10-3-40-0V Permaul ............... 3-2-1-0CH Gayle .............. 3-0-14-0

1st Test: BD swift in reply to WI’s 527

Nafees display. It barely lasted eight overs, fetchedBangladesh 63 runs, 52 ofwhich came in boundaries.The highlight was Tamim’sassault on Tino Best, whowas punched, pulled anddriven for four fours in anover.

The suicidal momentsarrived soon enough. Afterhitting seven fours in his 31,Nafees flailed at one tooclose to him, and was caughtbehind off Rampaul. Tamimcarried on a while longer andhit Sunil Narine for two sixesin three deliveries beforesomehow managing to ten-nis-forehand a short andwide Sammy delivery toshort mid-on.

The frenzied action wasin stark contrast to the calmmanner in whichChanderpaul and Ramdintook West Indies to an im-

posing score. They battednearly three sessions, andtheir near-triple centurystand came at a healthy rateof 3.57 runs an over.

Chanderpaul, troubled afew times in the morning bythe quicks, but otherwise incontrol, kept leaving offer-ings outside off stump, butstill managed to outscoreRamdin. Chanderpaul hitfewer boundaries on the daythan Ramdin, and wentabout his job unobtrusivelyas usual. Singles werepicked regularly, deliverieswere worked from offthrough midwicket, and hedid enough to letBangladesh know who wasin charge.

What stood aboutRamdin’s innings was hisdesire to bat long - he wasat the crease for five-and-a-

half hours. He did loft thespinners for a few bound-aries after getting to his sec-ond Test hundred of theyear but before that, he hadgone through several peri-ods of denial, refusing to goafter innocuous stuff fromthe tiring spinners.

For a side that had con-ceded 361 on the first day,Bangladesh started promis-ingly. They restricted thebatsmen, and even createda few opportunities, but for-tune and consistency con-tinued to desert them. Thehome side could have hadan opening off the secondball of the day when the tire-less debutant Sohag Gazibeat Ramdin in the flight. Butto sum up Bangladesh’smorning, not only did theball turn past the stumps, italso beat the wicketkeeper.

The second over,bowled by Rubel, held morepointers to the day. Rubelsprayed the first ball downthe pads to concede fourleg-byes, offered enoughwidth outside off on thefourth to be taken for fourto third man and Ramdin’sslash eluded gully off thefifth to go for anotherboundary.

Bangladesh managed toat least slow things downconsiderably. They did nothave any wickets to showfor their effort, but a first-session run-rate of 2.71 wasevidence enough of howmuch two well-set batsmenhad to work for their runs.However, Bangladesh’sfight evaporated after lunch.

One of their fast bowlers,Shahadat Hossain, didn’tbowl in the second session,the other, Rubel, bowled justtwo overs, and Tamim sentdown only his fifth over inTests. Shakib was reducedto bowling flat and wide out-side off stump. Gazi endedup sending down 47 oversin his debut.

Chanderpaul motoredalong at his own pace all dayand eventually brought uphis double with a dab pastpoint for two in the 143rdover. An over later, Sammycalled his men back. Thepitch had remained largelysedate, and he would needall the time to enable hisbowlers to take 20 wickets.As it turned out, Bangladeshhave already gifted himtwo.—AFP

AHMEDABAD (India)—Indiaand England will be withoutthe services of fast bowlersIshant Sharma and StevenFinn when they open a four-Test series in Ahmedabad onThursday.

Finn has not recoveredfrom a thigh strain sufferedin England’s three-day touropener in Mumbai lastmonth, while Sharma wasruled out of the first Test dueto viral fever he picked up onTuesday.

The duo’s absence wasconfirmed by rival captainsAlastair Cook and MahendraSingh Dhoni at a pre-matchpress conference onWednesday, even as specu-lation mounted over thelikely nature of the newly-laidpitch.

Both Dhoni and Cook ex-pected the dry surface at theMotera stadium to assistspin, but added its unknownquality would generate con-siderable interest for the twoteams.

“Wickets could change alot in 24 hours, but it looksquite dry,” said Cook. “Thepitch has been re-laid and sothere are not many statisticsavailable that are relevant tothe wicket.”

Dhoni, who had openlycalled on groundsmenacross India to prepare turn-ing pitches against spin-wary tourists, termed it a“good wicket”.

“It definitely looks dryand I feel it will turn,” he said,but indicated India were un-

Finn, Sharma out of firstIndia-England Test

likely to field a third special-ist spinner in HarbhajanSingh to bowl alongsideRavichandran Ashwin andPragyan Ojha.

“The fast bowlers couldalso get a bit of reverse swing.It’s always advisable to havea bowling attack that haspeople available for different

scenarios.”England have proved

vulnerable against the turn-ing ball this year, losing 3-0to Pakistan in the UnitedArab Emirates in January-February before forcing a 1-1 draw in Sri Lanka inMarch.

The tourists now con-front an Indian side that usu-ally makes up for its poorrecord abroad by dominatingall comers on home soil,where it has lost just one se-ries out of 16 in the past 10years. India are desperate tomake amends for two succes-

sive 4-0 routs in England andAustralia over the past year,but Dhoni refused to term theupcoming matches as agrudge series.

“When we go on to thefield there will be a red balland there will be two teamsplaying,” he said. “You canname it whatever you want

but it does not change thefact that this is another Testmatch.

“In your own countryyou are supposed to begood. But when you playabroad it’s a fresh challenge.Every country feels thesame. It’s no different forEngland.”

Cook said he was “ner-vous and excited” leadingEngland as a full-time Testcaptain since taking overfrom Andrew Strauss, whoretired after the 2-0 loss toSouth Africa at home in Au-gust.—AFP

LAHORE: Players of Punjab White and Mangolia struggle for the ball during a matchof International Chief Minister Punjab Football Tournament.

LAHORE—Pakistan hockeyteam announced here onWednesday for Championstrophy has two new faces inKashif Ahmed andMohammad Atiq and theteam management is hopingto improve Pakistan’s rank-ing by putting up a goodshow in 8-nation event be-ing played from December 2in Melbourne.

“It is the most suitablecombination selected fromthe 27 camp probables and

Champions Trophy: Pak hockey teamnamed, chief coach eyes fourth/fifth place

we have included two un-capped players keeping inview our preparations for2014 World Cup ,” said Chiefcoach and manager of theteam, Akhtar RasoolChaudhary while addressinga news conference to an-nounce the 18-membersquad.

He said Kashif willstrengthen the forward lineand Atiq will reinforce thedefence as a full back . Theteam management has ap-

pointed full back MohammadImran as the captain of theteam which also has the ser-vices of veteran defender,Wasim Ahmed who was alsopart of the teams during thissummer’s Olympics in Lon-don.

The squad is the ImranShah, Imran Butt,Mohammad Imran (captain),Waqas Sharif (vice captgain),Wasim Ahmed, MohammadRashid, FaridAhmed,Mohammad Umer

Bhutta, Shafqar Rasool,Shakeel Abbasi, Kashif Shah,Mohammad Atiq, Rizwan Jr,Touseeq Ahmed, HisseemKhan, Rizwan Sr, Ali Shanand Kashif Ahmed.

“ We have selected theteam purely on merit and weseek God’s help for improv-ing its performance duringtwo hockey assignments inAustralia “,he added. Prior toits participation the team willalso play in 9-a-side hockeytournament commencingfrom November 22.

The team official said theparticipation in championstrophy is very significant inorder to improve its ranking.”We will be going all out toproduce a better show to im-prove from our number sev-enth ranking to number fouror five and if we do so it willbe a big accomplishment, heasserted.

Akhtar Rasool said theteam management is underheavy load of responsibilityas it is also performing theduties of the selection com-mittee. “ Our aim is to inspirethe team to a level to struckits peak during the Champi-ons trophy and to improveits ranking, he said adding “the task is tough amid pres-ence of world’s best eightteams but achievable as Pakteam is full of talent and po-tential .”

He blamed lack of clubsactivities for the overalldownfall of hockey in Paki-stan and said clubs have al-most vanished from thehockey scene and thosewhich exist are making lesserefforts to strengthen the baseof the game at grass rootlevel.—APP

Umar droppedby SNGPL

LAHORE—Umar Akmal, thePakistan batsman, has been leftout by his department sideSNGPL from the President’sTrophy, the Pakistan’s domes-tic first-class tournament.Akmal had skipped severalrounds of the tournament, butwas ‘discouraged’ after beingdropped as he had hoped toshow his Test credentials in theremaining rounds of the com-petition.

SNGPL are currently un-beaten in the President’s Tro-phy, topping the table with 45points after winning five oftheir six matches.—APP

ZURICH—Five-times worldchampions Brazil remainedstuck outside the top 10 of theFIFA world rankings onWednesday despite winningboth friendlies last month andscoring 10 goals in the pro-cess. Brazil, whose next gameis against Colombia next week,thumped Iraq 6-0 and Japan4-0 yet rose only one place inthe controversial table, from

Football: Brazil remain outsideworld rankings top 10

a record low 14th to 13th.Despite winning most of

their games, the 2014 WorldCup hosts, who qualify auto-matically for the tournament,have been slipping steadilydown the table over the lastyear as they have only beenplaying friendlies which carryless weight in the complexsystem.

Mano Menezes’s side

have played 19 games sincethe Copa America last year,winning 15.

South American champi-ons Uruguay’s dramatic lossof form cost them a place inthe top 10 as they slipped fromseventh to 11th. They werethumped 3-0 by neighboursArgentina in World Cupqualifying and slumped to a4-1 defeat in Bolivia.—AP

RESEARCHERS report in the Journal ofthe American Medical Association(JAMA) that women, who are three

times as likely as men to experience migraines,may suffer from other consequences of thepainful headaches apart from the commonsymptoms of nausea, vomit-ing and sensitivity to light.Women who have migrainesare twice as likely as non-suf-ferers to show structuralchanges, or lesions, due toinadequate blood flow in cer-tain parts of the brain.

The role that these lesionsmay play in health, however,still aren’t obvious. “Patientsshould not live with the ideathat each migraine attack ispotentially ‘damaging’ theirbrains,” corresponding studyauthor Mark Kruit says in anemail to TIME discussing theresults. “Patients should knowthat the [volume] of changesis small, and that they are notrelated to worse cognitivefunction. [T]here is no need for changes in theway migraine patients are treated, based onthe study results.”

Previous MRI brain scans of migraine pa-tients found unusual “hyperintensities” —bright areas suggesting areas of poor bloodflow. But those studies could not determinewhich came first — whether people with mi-graines tend to develop brain lesions, orwhether the brain lesions trigger migraines.Those studies also could not track whethereach successive migraine would expand thesize of the brain lesions, leading to worseningsymptoms.

So Kruit, a radiologist and neurologistworking in Leiden in the Netherlands, joinedwith a Dutch team of doctors to study mi-graine in nearly 300 adults living in that coun-try. Most of the participants suffered from mi-graines, but some did not. Researchers

scanned the brains of all of theparticipants at the start of thestudy, in 2000, and again in2009. By comparing the im-ages taken in the same year,Kruit and his colleagues couldmeasure differences in brainlesions between the migrainepatients and those who did notsuffer from the headaches.And by comparing scans forthe same patients taken nineyears apart, they could alsorecord whether those with mi-graine history are more likelyto develop new brain lesionsover time, whether existinglesions grow faster amongpeople with more migraine at-tacks, or whether the lesionsare linked to declines in cog-

nitive skills. The researchers found no differ-ence in outcomes among men. Both men withmigraines and those without the headacheswere equally likely to show hyperintensitieson the MRI scans.

But it was a different story for the women.Both in 2000 and in 2009, women with mi-graines had higher lesion volume than thosewithout migraines, and during the study pe-riod their lesions also progressed faster thanthose among women without migraines.However, the growth of these lesions was notassociated with the frequency or intensity ofmigraines, or to the presence of aura.

Migraines Linked toBrain Lesions in Women

Sindh Assemblysession from

todayOBSERVER REPORT

KARACHI—Governor SindhDr Ishratul Ebad Khan hassummoned the Sindh Assem-bly session to reassemble hereat the Assembly Secretariatfrom today, Thursday.

According to a notificationissued by acting SecretarySindh Assembly GhulamMuhammad Umar Farooq, theprovincial legislators wouldgather at the legislature on10am.

Farooq is officiating inplace of Secretary Sindh As-sembly Hadi Bux Buriro whois under treatment after beingwounded in an accident on theNational Highway his way tohome in the interior of Sindh.The governors are constitution-ally empowered to convene thesession of their respective pro-vincial assemblies underClause (a) of Article 109.

Dacoits killedin encounterwith police

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Police onWednesday claimed to havekilled three alleged dacoitsduring an encounter in Karachias the metropolis continuedreeling from violence moti-vated by political and sectar-ian rivalries. Officials said apolice party stopped duringsnap-checking four suspectsriding two motorbikes nearQuaidabad’s Daud Chowrangi.

“The shootout took placewhen the dacoits didn’t stopand sped away opening fire onthe policemen. Three of themwere killed while two of ourconstables sustained bullet in-jures in exchange of fire,” anofficial said. He claimed that thevictims were dacoits, adding thattheir bodies and the injured copswere shifted to Jinnah hospital

Bilawal calls forstrict security planduring Muharram

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Chairperson Pa-kis tan People’s Par ty,Bilawal Bhutto Zardari hasemphasized the need forimplementation of strict se-curity plan during the monthof Muharram-ul-Haram inSindh.

He emphasized this at ameeting with Sindh ChiefMinister Syed Qaim Ali Shahand the Pres ident PPPWomen Wing MNA FaryalTalpur in Karachi onWednesday.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardariunderlined the need for en-suring protection to the lifeand property of the peoplewith comprehensive securityarrangements particularlydur ing the month ofMuharram-ul-Haram.

The meeting discussed atlength the law and order situ-ation in the province and themeasures adopted by the gov-ernment for providing secu-rity to law abiding people.

The meeting also dis-cussed in detail the party af-fairs and the political situationand took various decisions in-cluding further activation ofthe party as well as address-ing of the problems of theparty workers.

KARACHI—An eight-memberSri Lankan delegation, headedby Chairman, Puttalam UrbanCouncil and Minister for Health,Indigenous Medicine, Sportsand Youth Affairs, visited SirSyed University of Engineeringand Technology (SSUET) andexchanged views on matters ofbilateral cooperation in the fieldof education.

An official of SSUET saidhere on Wednesday that the del-egation comprised K.A. Baiz,Mayor of Puttalam, Chief Gov-ernment Organizer for PuttalamElectorate, N.T.M Thahir, Mem-ber of North Western ProvincialGovernment, A.M. Kamardeen,Member of North Western Provin-cial Government, R.A.S. Pushpa

Sri Lankan delegation visits SSUET,discusses coop in academic sector

Kumara, Deputy Mayor ofPuttalam, A.O. Alikhan, Opposi-tion Leader for Puttalam, M.T.N.Ameen, Sri Lanka Muslim Con-gress, Party Member for PuttalamUrban Council and W.M.M.BWeerasakara, Commissioner ofLocal Government and Represen-tative of Governor of NWP.

Mayor of Puttalam andChief Government Organizerfor Puttalam Electorate, K.A.Baiz said that efforts are beingmade to improve further bilat-eral cooperation in academicsector, for which vast potentialexists between two countries.

We are planning for interac-tive sessions with the officialsof Sir Syed University to openits campus in Sri Lanka, he

added. Baiz appreciated theUniversity’s role in helping thestudents in acquiring knowledgein modern technologies throughhighly competent and capablefaculty and state of the art equip-ment. He was impressed withthe presentation given by Prof.Shahid Saleem providing com-plete information about Sir SyedUniversity with the help of sta-tistics. Speaking on the occa-sion, Mayor Abdul Baiz empha-sized the need to explore newavenues of bilateral economicand commercial cooperation.

He was of the view thatPuttalam Urban Council canjoin hands with SSUET in areasof mutual cooperation in thefield of education.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Providing medi-cal facilities to poor and de-serving people was a greatwork and such people wereserving humanity in the soci-ety.

Chief Officer Karachi Met-ropolitan Corporation (KMC),Matanat Ali Khan said this whieaddressing as chief guest afterinaugurating 3-day free eyemedical camp and the medicallaboratory opened in the build-ing of Fatima Hospital inSurjani Town by Hawwa Alma-ul-Shifa Trust.

Director Local GovernmentMushtaq Ahmed, FatimaSurayya Bajya, Wahid AliRehmani and others were alsopresent on this occasion, said astatement. Matanat Ali Khansaid that medical equipmentsfor other medical facilitieswould be provided in hospitalin the future and KMC wouldfully cooperate in providing

KMC’s 3-day freeeye, medical camp

medical facilities to poor anddeserving people.

He admired the services ofchairman of the OrganizationWahid Ali Rehmani.

Fatima Surayya Bajya alsospoke on this occasion andsaid that it was a big respon-sibility that I had been madethe head of this organizationto serve the poor and needypeople.

Chairman of the organiza-tion Wahid Ali Rehmani saidthat this organization wasbased 20 years ago which hadbeen a medical hospital wheregeneral OPD, gynecology, eyeOPD and medical lab wereavailable.

In 3-day eye camp 41 eyephaco surgeries were done, 40gynecologic patients wereprovided medical treatmentand 315 sugar patients werealso cured. Later, the ChiefOfficer KMC visited campand distributed spectacles andmedicines among eye patients.

KARACHI: Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan chairing a meeting with businessmen community at Governor House.

KARACHI: Police checking vehicles on a roadside in city to avoid any incident on Wednesday.

KARACHI—KMC Administra-tor Muhammad Hussain Syedsaid construction of a 50 bedeach hospital in Gulistan-e-Jauhar and Federal B-AreaBlock 13 was started to providebetter health care facilities tocitizens.

He said this on a visit of bothunder construction hospitalsalong with the D.G TechnicalServices Altaf G. Memon, Sr.Director Medical Services Dr.A.D Sajnani, Sr. Director T& CMuhammad Ather, Project Di-rectors and other concerned en-gineers.

The AdministratorKarachi said sum of Rs 165million would incur on theconstruction of hospital inGulistan-e-Jauhar and thiswould be completed in a year.

Karachi administrator visitsunder-construction hospitals

The hospital building whichspread on 48000 square feetwould have the emergency,diagnosis facility, OPD, Op-eration Theatre, ICU, Wardsfor Women and Children andGeneral Wards.

This three storey hospitalwould provide medical facilitiesto the residents of localities lo-cated at from around NipaChowrangi to Safoora Goth, headded.

While visiting the FederalB-Area Block 13, Administra-tor Muhammad Hussain Syedsaid this hospital would beconstructed with a cost of Rs165 million in a year with allthe necessary medical andhealth care facilities to be pro-vided in this three storeybuilding.—APP

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

KARACHI—The Sindh govern-ment would provide the tradersand industrialists of this vio-lence-hit city with 50 percent ofthe funds they would be using toinstall high-tech equipment tomake their monitoring systemsfool-proof.

The pledge was made byGovernor Sindh Dr IshratulEbad Khan with an appreciativedelegation of traders and indus-trialists who, led by the KarachiChamber of Commerce and In-dustry (KCCI), visited GovernorHouse Wednesday.

According to an officialstatement issued by the Gover-nor House, the traders and indus-trialists expressed satisfaction

Ebad pledges 50pc financingof monitoring systems

over the provincialgovernment’s efforts to bringthe law and order situation ofthe city under control. The gov-ernor told the KCCI membersthat the financing for the acqui-sition of their monitoring sys-tems would be provided fromthe province’s developmentfunds. Dr Ebad said moderntechnology was being intro-duced along with an effectivecommunity policing to root outmenaces of extortions and tar-geted killing from the city.

The governor on the occa-sion directed the IG Sindh,Commissioner Karachi and DGRangers to accelerate the ongo-ing measures underway tocheck the criminals in the me-tropolis.

The official statementquoted trader leader SirtajQasim Teli as saying that thepledges made previously withtraders by the Sindh governorhad been materialized by 30 to60 percent.

Later, President KCCIHaroon Agar told the reportersthat his side’s meeting with thegovernor was fruitful as the laterhad assured the traders of fur-ther improvement in the city’slaw and order before November30. He said the governor vowedto ensure permanent deploymentof the police in all major cityneighborhoods, particularly theold city areas. He said the gov-ernor also would convene an-other review meeting of the trad-ers after Muharram.

Sattar hints atconspiracy to shatter

sectarian violenceSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Deputy Convenerof the Co-ordination Committeeof Muttahida Quami Movement(MQM) Dr Farooq Sattar hassaid that the people of Pakistanwould continue their struggle forreligious tolerance and sectarianharmony. He said that Pakistanwas passing through critical cir-cumstances and the conspiracyto shred sectarian harmony intopieces by pitching peopleagainst each other was at itsheight. He was speaking at alarge gathering of religiousscholars in Jinnah GroundAzizabad on for forging sectar-ian harmony during the monthof Muharram.Dr Sattar said that there was noissue of sectarian differences atthe time of independence in1947 but now after the passageof 65 years a group has emergedin the country that wants to im-pose its particular lifestyle onthe rest of the people.

KARACHI: General Secretary Supreme Court Bar Association Javeed Iqbal Raja address-ing a press conference at Supreme Court Registry office.

KARACHI: Provincial Minister Faisal Sabzwari inaugurating youth festival at Arts Coun-cil on Wednesday.

AUTUMN and winter eating is something to look forward to. It is theideal time to savor comfort food, and

some of the best is at its peak when theweather turns cold. Pumpkins, pomegran-ates, nuts, beets and sweet potatoes are allat their best.

Apart from pumpkin pie, which is a pe-rennial favorite, winter squash appears inmany forms, and whetheryou choose butternut oracorn squash, they can be awonderful addition tostews, soups and curries inaddition to being delicioussimply roasted on their ownor stuffed. All these autumnfoods are packed with vita-mins and minerals and manyprovide a special bonus inthe form of antioxidants.They help us to get throughthe long cold days of winterin excellent health.

The European settlerswho came to the new worldhad not seen anything likean autumn squash before.Squash is a word that origi-nates from “askutasquash,” a word used bythe Narragansett Indians. Even now, the va-riety of shapes and colors is impressive.

Winter squash consists not only of car-bohydrates, it also features prodigiousamounts of vitamin A in the form of beta-carotene and a low calorie count. Their highlevels of potassium and their easy digestibil-ity make them a perfect choice for comfort-ing and healthy fall and winter cooking.

Pomegranates are becoming ever morepopular, and whereas just a few years ago itwas rare to find one even in a gourmet foodstore, you now can often find them in your

Autumn superfoods for healthlocal supermarket. Low in calories, with nofat or cholesterol, pomegranates (both as afruit and as a juice) are an importantsuperfood in your health arsenal due totheir antioxidant polyphenols. They are highin vitamin C (17% of your daily require-ment), vitamin K and are high in fiber. Stud-ies have shown pomegranate juice to beeffective in reducing the risk of heart dis-

ease and lowering blood pres-sure, and it also boasts anti-viral and antibacterial prop-erties. Although drinking thejuice provides many benefits,you get the most from eatingthe fruit itself (the seedsonly). The fiber benefits comefrom ingesting the entire seed(called an aril).

Although nuts are highin calories, if you can manageto allow yourself only a hand-ful each day, it can providesignificant benefits to yourhealth. Two studies done onwomen found that womenwho ate nuts more than fourtimes per week had a 40%lower risk of dying from heart

disease. They’re good for men too: resultsfrom the Physician’s Health Study showedthat men who ate nuts two or more timesper week were less likely to suffer suddencardiac death.

They contain healthy mono- and poly-unsaturated fats, the kind that raise levelsof “good” cholesterol, have abundant an-tioxidants in the form of selenium and vita-min E and are high in fiber. One or twoounces a day is enough to keep you healthyand provide a tasty snack when you getthe munchies. Most people are unawarethat the humble beet is an aphrodisiac.

LAHORE: A volunteer of Akhuwat Health Services distributing Debates awarenesshamlets on World Debates Day at Campus Road.

LAHORE: A view of low visibility due to fog early in the morning at Egerton Road.

LAHORE: PML-N President Muhammad Nawaz Sharif talking to Turkish Ambassador to Pakistan Bahur Hizlan.Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif also present.

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Punjab ChiefMinister MuhammadShahbaz Sharif has said thatthe Punjab government ofMuslim League-N, for thefirst time in national history,has introduced a culture ofmerit and transparency, atevery level and in every sec-tor, due to which even inter-national institutions haveappreciated transparent andmerit-oriented policies ofPunjab government.

He asserted that nobodyhas been able to raise a fig-ure of accusation against thePunjab government, duringthe last four and a half years.

He said our hands areclean, while the incompetentgovernment of People Partyhas distributed largesseamong its cronies, therebydestroying the national insti-tutions. Muhammad ShahbazSharif said the next generalelections would not be for

Meritocracy, transparencyintroduced in Punjab: Shahbaz

formation of governmentsbut for the survival of Paki-stan, in which PML-N wouldachieve a thumping successon the basis of its unprec-edented performance.

The Chief Minister wastalking to members of delega-tions from various districts,who apprised him of theprogress made on the devel-opment projects in their ar-eas, and other issues of thepeople.

Talking on the occasion,Muhammad Shahbaz Sharifsaid that Punjab governmenthas set a new standard ofmerit and transparency inevery sector, due to whichinternational institutionshave also acknowledgedtransparency and good gov-ernance of Punjab govern-ment.

Muhammad ShahbazSharif said federal govern-ment has given nothing tothe people, except pain, whilethe Punjab government has

provided them great relief.He said that the unjusti-

fied treatment being metedout to Punjab overloadshedding, was vigor-ously raised in the Councilof Common Interests.

He said Zar Baba andForty Thieves have merci-lessly looted Pakistan, forfour and a half years, andsuch worst kind of corruptionwas perpetrated that eventhe most corrupt are alsoashamed. But he warned thedays of looters and plunder-ers are over now.

He said as a result of cor-ruption by the leadership ofPeople Party, relations of Pa-kistan with friendly countrieshave no longer remained thesame.

National economy hasbeen destroyed and peopleare sick of incompetent fed-eral rulers who have not paidany attention to solving theproblems of the masses dueto which the people have

been unable to enjoy the fruitof democratic system duringthe last four and a half years.

Muhammad ShahbazSharif said the Punjab gov-ernment is implementing arevolutionary developmentprogramme which is boost-ing the standard of living ofthe people and the trust ofthe people in Punjab govern-ment proves beyond doubtthat the government of PML-N is utilizing all available re-sources for solving problemsof the masses.

He directed Members ofthe Assembly to keep a closeliaison with the people oftheir constituencies and workvigorously to solve theirproblems.

He further directed Mem-bers Assembly to closelymonitor the developmentwork in their area, and keep astrict eye on the quality ofconstruction material beingused for the developmentactivities.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Senior Advisor toChief Minister Punjab andChairman Cabinet CommitteeMuharram-ul-Haram SenatorSardar Zulfiqar Ali KhanKhosa has said that elec-tronic and print media shouldhelp the government in main-tenance of atmosphere ofpeace brotherhood, and har-mony between variousschools of thought in theirprogrammes and talk shows.

He said, before publish-ing or telecasting any newsduring Muharram-ul-Haram,it must be got verified by thecontrol room, so that no un-rest is created among thepeople.

Giving a briefing regard-ing Muharram-ul-Haram ar-rangements to the represen-tatives of media, at 90-Shahrah-e-Pakistan, SardarZulfiqar Ali Khan Khosa ap-preciated responsible report-ing and assistance to thegovernment by the media

Arrangements for Muharrampeace finalised

during last Muharram-ul-Haram. He said that ban onpillion-riding would be mini-mized during Muharram-ul-Haram for convenience of thepeople, however whereverdistrict administrationswould consider necessary,this ban could be imple-mented.

He said that mobile peacecommittees consisting of ad-ministrative officers andUlema of all schools ofthought have been formu-lated at provincial, divisional,district and tehsil levels.

He said at every unioncouncil level, local SHOs andnotables of the area wouldpatrol their concerned areasfor maintenance of law andorder. He called upon thepeople to inform the localpolice immediately, if they seeany suspicious element sothat timely action can betaken against him.

Sardar Zulfiqar Ali KhanKhosa informed the mediarepresentatives that visits of

all district headquarters ofthe province have been com-pleted in order to reviewMuharram-ul-Haram relatedarrangements. He said thathe himself would visit pro-cession routes at sensitiveareas, while no processionwould be allowed without li-cense. He said no problemwould be created if we do notinterfere into each others be-liefs. He said the organizersof the processions havebeen asked to ensure adher-ing to the stipulated timings.

Sardar Zulfiqar Ali KhanKhosa said that necessarylogistic support and fundshave made available to ad-ministration and the police ofall districts by the Punjabgovernment, while controlrooms have been set up at alldistricts of the province,whereas control rooms atsensitive tehsils are also be-ing established, whichwould be linked with the cen-tral control room at the sec-retariat.

Nawazhappy overPak-Turkish

tiesSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Pakistan MuslimLeague-Nawaz (PML-N)President Mian Nawaz Sharifsaid Wednesday that broth-erly and friendly ties betweenPakistan and Turkey hadbeen transformed into eco-nomic relations which will befurther strengthened in timeahead.

This was stated by himwhile talking to Turkish Am-bassador in PakistanMustafa Babur Hizlan whocalled on him at his Raiwindresidence on Wednesday.During the meeting, viewswere exchanged on Pak-Tur-key relations particularly ineconomic field, regional situ-ation and other matters ofmutual interest, sources said.

The sources claimed thatNawaz Sharif appreciated Turk-ish cooperation for Metro BusProject in Lahore besides vari-ous other projects.

He noted there has beena tremendous increase intrade and bilateral ties be-tween Pakistan and Turkey.He also said that the effortsof Turkish AmbassadorMustafa Babur Hizlan to fur-ther mutual ties between Pa-kistan and Turkey are highlycommendable.

Talking on the occasion,Turkish AmbassadorMustafa Babur Hizlan said therole of PML-N in strengthen-ing Pak-Turkish mutual rela-tions was laudable.

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—The Director Gen-eral Punjab Emergency Ser-vice (Rescue 1122) Dr. RizwanNaseer has directed all thedistrict emergency officers(DEOs) of Punjab to remainalert and ensure provision ofswift emergency ambulance,rescue and fire services tomourning processions andother citizens during Ashura.

Following special direc-tives by the Home Depart-ment, rescuers shall performtheir duties duringMoharram-ul-Harram and willprovide first aid besides shift-ing seriously injuredazadaars to base hospitals.

DG Rescue 1122 DrRizwan Naseer on Wednes-day reviewed the arrange-ments for providing emer-gency care to the mournersduring Moharram. He said

Ashura processions plansreviewedthat such precautionarysteps were necessary for thesafety of mass gatherings sothat any kind of untowardincident could be respondedproperly.

He, however, asked thecitizens to extend their coop-eration with the Rescue 1122officials and always give wayto the Rescue EmergencyAmbulances. “Kindly dial1122 in case of emergency, astimely call can ensure timelyrescue,” he asked the citi-zens.

As per emergency plan,trained rescuers will dis-charge their professional du-ties in different shifts inPunjab.

Three special monitoringteams under the supervisionof Provincial MonitoringCell (PMC) will evaluate theperformance of rescuers ofeach district and will submit

their final report to the Di-rector General duringMoharram.

In Lahore, emergencymedical technicians andother rescue officials alongwith 24 emergency ambu-lances, 11 fire vehicles, tworescue vehicles and 46 mo-bile posts shall provide medi-cal cover to the proces-sions. Rescue posts will beestablished at Imam BargahBhakewal More,Samanabad, Niaz Baig Vil-lage, Ali Raza Abad, KothaPind, Cavalry Ground, H-Block Model Town, A-BlockModel Town, NishatColony/ R.A Bazaar, BatapurAttokey Awan, Adda ShabilHando Village, Gamay Shah,Aziz Pully, LalpulMughalpura, Islampura,Rang Mahal Chowk, BhaatiChowk, Imamia Colony andJafria Colony, Shahdara.

Trains delayriles passengers

LAHORE—Delay in the ar-rival and departure of severaltrains irked passengers hereat Lahore railway station onWednesday .

According to the PakistanRailways Inquiry 117, severaltrains including night coach,Allama Iqbal Express, Tezgam,Jaffar Express and Awam Ex-press were late and hundredsof passengers alongwith theirfamilies including children hadto wait for hours.

Saleem, a passenger toldAPP that he and his familyhad reserved seats in AwamExpress which arrived hereat 8:00 am while it wasscheduled to reach herefrom Karachi at 7:30 pm lastnight. Zulfikar, another pas-senger who was going toKarachi by Night Coach saidhe came at the station atabout 4:00pm but time of thetrain had been changed andnow it would leave at 9:00pm for Karachi and he hadto wait for more than fivehours.

Jamal, head of a familysaid he alongwith his familyhad come from Sharaqpurfor going to Sialkot butcould not board Lasani Ex-press due to heavy crowdand shortage of thecoaches, adding that nowthey would wait for AllamaIqbal Express which wasreaching here at 6:30 pmfrom Karachi and was almostnine hours late.—APP

LAHORE—Islamic calendaryear 1434 AH will begin onFriday as new moon to beeasily visible in the eveningof Thursday, November 15,on all places of Pakistan ifthere will be no clouds.

The New Moon wasborn on the midnight of Tues-day and Wednesday at 03:08Pakistan Standard Time andthe age of the new moon atthe time of Sunset on theevening of Thursday will bemore than 37 hours in all parts

1434 AH begins on Fridayof Pakistan.

Khalid Ejaz Mufti Secre-tary General Ruet-e-Hilal Re-search Council predicted saidthis while talking to APP hereon Wednesday.

“New Moon cannot besighted until and unless itsage is minimum 20 hours atthe time of sun set, at theplace of observation,whereas the difference be-tween Sun set and Moon set(Lag Time) is more than 40minutes.

On other hand, Lag Time(difference between Sun setand Moon set) will be morethan 85 Minutes in all parts ofthe country. So the NewMoon will not only be easilyvisible in all the areas of Paki-stan but comparatively big insize in the evening of Thurs-day, November 15, 2012 i.e.29th Zulhijja 1433 AH, in caseof clear weather”, he said.Yaum-e-Aashur will be onSunday, November 25,2012.—APP

PDWP approvestransport sector

schemesSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The Punjab Gov-ernment has approved thescheme of Transport Sectorwith an estimated cost of Rs.2677.467 million for “MetroBus Transit System forLahore-Ferozepur Road Corri-dor, Construction of MTS fromTaxali Chowk to Shahdara Mor(Package-V) length 3.3 km (Re-vised)” on Wednesday.

Five developmentschemes of various sectors ofthe economy were also ap-proved worth Rs. 5239.996 mil-lion in the 19th meeting of Pro-vincial Development WorkingParty (PDWP) of current finan-cial year 2012-13 presided overby the Punjab Planning andDevelopment Board Chairman,Javaid Aslam.

Secretary Planning & De-velopment Punjab Arif AnwarBaloch, members of the Plan-ning & Development Boardand other senior representa-tives of the relevant ProvincialDepartments also participatedin the meeting.

President PTIKasur, othersjoin PML-N

LAHORE—President Tehrik-e-Insaf District Kasur Ch.Nasir Mahmood along withother four leaders of the partyhave announced to join Pa-kistan Muslim League-N.

Ch.Nasir Mahmood,Malik Muhammad KhurramNasrullah Khan, PresidentTehrik-e-Insaf Laliyani,Mehr Muhammad ShafiqueOrganizer Tehrik-e-InsafKasur City, MehrMuhammad Afzal seniorleader Tehrik-e-Insaf Pattokiand Abdul Ghaffar Bhattisenior leader Tehrik-e-InsafKasur, called on centralleader of PML-N, MNAHamza Shahbaz Sharif andannounced to join PML-N.

Ch. Nasir Mahmood andhis companions said thatthey fully support the poli-cies of PML-N.—APP

Strict Muharram securityOur Correspondent

NAWABSHAH—Chairperson PakistanPeoples Party, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari hasemphasized the need for implementationof strict security plan during the month ofMuharram-ul-Haram in Sindh. He empha-sized this at a meeting with Sindh ChiefMinister Syed Qaim Ali Shah and thePresident PPP Women Wing MNA FaryalTalpur here at Zardari House Wednesdayafternoon. The meeting discussed atlength the law and order situation in the

province and the measures adopted by the government forproviding security to law abiding people. The chairpersonPPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari underlined the need for ensuringprotection to the life and property of the people with compre-hensive security arrangements particularly during the monthof Muharram-ul-Harram. The meeting also discussed in detailthe party affairs and the political situation and took variousdecisions including further activation of the party as well asaddressing of the problems of the party workers. Meanwhilea comprehensive security plan has been chalked out by thedistrict administration regarding Muharra- ul-Harram. Thiswas stated by SP Khushab Faysal Ali Raja while chairing ahigh level meeting here on Wednesday. According to detailsfor 807 majalis and 186 processions ,1800 or more police per-sonnel would be deployed and moreover 1500 volunteerswould perform their duties during Muharram-ul-Harram. Hesaid 19 different locations have been declared sensitive pointsand they would be monitored through CCtv cameras in thedistrict to avoid any untoward incident during the holy month.He further said four walkthrough gates along with 119 metaldetectors have been provided on concerned sensitive points.

Political stability stressedISLAMABAD—Federal Minister for Po-litical Affairs, Moula Bakhsh Chandiohas said that Political stability must forcountry’s development. Talking to Pri-vate television channel, he said thatPolitical stability is a pre-requisite foreconomic growth and development ofthe country. He urged the leaders of thepolitical parties to help strengthendemocratic system in larger national in-terest by burying their political differ-

ences. Replying to a question, he said that oppositionmust demonstrate their responsibility, tolerance and up-hold the decent democratic values and norms in their ranks.The Minister said that the government believes in the su-premacy of Constitution. He said that “Let the Parliamentto fulfill their responsibilities and in democracy minoritycannot impose its opinion upon the majority. He said thatthe PPP will not indulge in politics of confrontation butwill not allow the opposition to adopt undemocratic meth-ods. Meanwhile addressing a seminar here Wednesday,he said that such policies be formulated that strengthenboth the farming and industrial sectors and stressed ontheir enforcement in letter and spirit. He expressed con-cerns over the rising cost of doing agriculture and addedthat the government must ensure better returns to grow-ers. He said that price of Urea had risen from Rs 1200 to Rs1800 per bag, power tariff from Rs 4 to Rs 13.8 per unit,diesel from Rs 60 to Rs 117 per litre. He urged the govern-ment to convene a meeting of all the stakeholders of cot-ton economy to devise a strategy to protect the interestsof all. He said that cotton and cotton products accountedfor 60 per cent of export earnings, adding that cotton andrelated industry provided employment to 40 per cent ofthe total industrial work force of the country.—APP

Compensation to terror victims paidOur Correspondent

QUETTA—Balochistan government incompliance with the Supreme Court ofPakistan’s directives increased compen-sation amount being paid to the victimsof terrorism from Rs 0.4 million to the tuneof Rs 1 million. The heirs of those whosemutilated dead bodies was found inBalochistan would also receive the sameamount, while compensation amountpaid to the injured of subversive acts hasbeen doubled from Rs 100,000. The advi-

sory committee formed by the Balochistan government forthe review and transparency of the appointment in the pro-vincial government has also decided to be abolished. Thesedecisions were taken by the Cabinet meeting held with ChiefMinister Nawab Mohammad Aslam Raisani in chair here.The three-member bench of the apex court during its hear-ing on Balochistan law and order situation directed theBalochistan government to enhance the amount paid to thevictims of terror incidents and families of those who re-ceived mutilated dead bodies of their dear ones. NawabRaisani led Cabinet meeting taking unanimous decision,approved Rs 1 million amount as compensation to the vic-tims and Rs 0.2 million to the injured. While strictly follow-ing the merit, areas and quota allocated for the disabled inthe provincial departments, meeting directed the officialsconcerned to make new appointments on the previous pat-tern. Denouncing the Airport Road blast which claimed twolives of the FC men and left many others injured on theAirport Road of the city, the meeting expressed sympathieswith the bereaved families and offered Fateha for the de-parted souls. Besides, they also offered Fateha for the lateBalochistan Minister Abdul Khaliq Bashar Dost and formerfederal minister Iqbal Haider. Meeting also approved onemonth extension of the police powers to Frontier Corps tomaintain peace in Quetta.

Women college affiliation with GCUFOur Correspondent

FAISALABAD—Government CollegeUniversity Faisalabad (GCUF) Syndi-cate has approved the affiliation of Gar-rison Postgraduate College for Women,Lahore Cantt, with GCUF for variousdegree programs. A spokesman of theGCUF told here that under the semestersystem, Garrison College for Women gotaffiliation for the BBA, BS (Commerce),MBA, MSC (Microbiology), M.Phil (Sta-tistics), M.Phil (Economics), M.Phil

(Urdu) whereas for the annual system, the courses areB.Com (Part 1, Part 2) , BS (Mass Communication), M.Com,MA (Mass Communication), B.Ed, M.Ed and MA Educa-tion. On the direction of GCUF Vice Chancellor Prof DrZakir Husain, a meeting of Affiliation Committee GCUFwas held to finalize the modalities relating to the relevanteducational disciplines. The meeting was chaired by Direc-tor Admin Chaudhary Muhammad Mushtaq. A ten-memberdelegation of Garrison College headed by Senior FacultyMember Dr Muhammad Ismaeel also participated at the meet-ing. The visiting team said that although there are manyother universities in the province for whom they could getaffiliation, yet the GCUF was making development with alarge pace as it has emerged country’s number six best uni-versity only in the span of ten years. The other high rankedGCUF officials including Prof Dr Pervez Azeem, Prof DrMuhamamd Zubair, Dr Nasir Amin, Sibqat Ullah Tahir, DrNadeem Sohail, Abdul Qadir Mushtaq, Dr Shahzad Ali, DrSofia Anwar, Dr Tanvir Ahmad, Dr Hadayat Ullah, ImranWakeel and Asif Lateef also attended the meeting.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

BAHAWALPUR—Five personsincluding three women and aminor were killed when a vanwas hit by a speeding bus nearBahawalpur Bypass here onWednesday. According topolice sources, a van was hithead on by a speeding busnear Bahawalpur Bypass.

The details revealedNazar Muhammad, SughraBibi, Naimat Bibi, Zafran Bibiand a minor Zeeshan died onthe spot. Police have regis-tered the case and startedinvestigation. M e a n -while two persons includinga woman were killed whileanother injured in differentroad accidents in Bhalwalpolice limits on Wednesday.According to police, AzharMehmood Warriach resi-dent of Satellite Town(Sargodha) and his wifeZhuran Bibi (50) were goingto Bhalwal by a motorcyclewhen a rashly driven car(GAA-5831) hit them near 26-

Phatak Ajnala Road.As a result, Zhuran Bibi

died on the spot while Azharreceived injuries. Similarly,Ejaz Ahmed resident of 153/SB riding a motorcycle waskilled when his two-wheelercollided with a van (LEB/5769)near Tanoka Phatak Bhalwal.

Cases have been regis-tered. A young man was shotdead by unknown persons inFactory Area police limits hereon Wednesday. According topolice, some persons riding ina car opened fire at MumtazHussain Usmani (35) residentof Istaqlalabad ColonySargodha near Bakar Mandi.The body was shifted to DHQhospital for postmortem.

A case has been regis-tered. One person was killedduring the exchange of firebetween two rival groupsover land dispute here onWednesday. According topolice, Mohamad Fiaz diedduring the firing. Body wasrecovered by Sub InspectorNoor Mohammad.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

GUJRANWALA—All availableresources would be utilizedto thwart nefarious designsof unscrupulous elements tomaintain law and order andensure congenial atmo-sphere besides strengthen-ing religious harmony amongall sects during the month ofMuharram-ul-Haraam. Re-gional Police Officer, DIGMuhammad Amin Vance toldAPP here Tuesday that16,000 policemen comprisingcommandoes, elite force andmobile squads have beendeployed on Muharram duty.

He said that a modernnetwork of close circuit TVhad been installed at all im-portant routes of theZuljinnah processions be-sides walk-through gates atall processions and Majalisin the entire range. He saidvideo would also be madeduring the main processionpassing through different ar-eas. “A sufficient number ofpolice reserves, platoonsand mobile teams of policecommandos of elite forceequipped with modern weap-ons and wireless fitted jeepsare conducting round theclock regular patrolling in all

important areas of the dis-tricts for maintaining law andorder”, he added.

He said City Police Of-ficer, all DPOs, AdditionalSPs and SDPOs had alreadybeen strictly directed to en-sure round the clock patrol-ling in all the sensitive areas.They had further been di-rected to personally visit thesensitive areas regularly intheir respective jurisdictionand ensure harmony duringMuharram ul Harram. CaptAmin said the Punjab CMand IG have accorded high-est priority to sectarian har-mony in the province.

STAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—Federal Minis-ter for Communications, Dr.Arbab Alamgir Khan Khalilsaid that the present demo-cratic government of PPPwants to change the destinyof the residents of Chitral,adding the completion ofLowari Tunnel will usher so-cial and economic revolutionin the area. He expressedthese views after meetingpolitical and social delega-tions and reviewing con-struction work on LowariTunnel Road during his emer-gency visit to Chitral.

Those present on the oc-casion included Chairman,National Highway Authority(NHA), Mohammad Javed

Iqbal, Member Construction,Yusuf Ali Khan, General Man-ager, Khyber PakhtunkhwaRegion, Fazal Nawab Khattakand other concerned officials.The federal minister after re-viewing pace of work onLowari Tunnel also held meet-ings with political and socialnotables of Dir Upper.

Speaking on the occa-sion, Arbab Alamgir Khansaid that fast-track progressand development of Chitraland Malakand is the top pri-ority of the government. Theconstruction of Lowari Tun-nel is the part of the same ef-forts, he added. He said thatthe completion of the projectwill not only facilitate thepeople of Chitral in the pro-vision of all weather passage

to the people of Chitral, but,to the people of the wholeMalakand region.

Arbab Alamgir Khan saidthat the completion of theproject will also provide tradeaccess to the whole regionincluding Central Asian Re-publics (CARs) and will notonly help develop trade, in-dustries, agriculture andtourism, but will also helpusher an era of economic sta-bility in the region.He said that Lowari Tunnelis not only a mega project ofKhyber Pakhtunkhwa, butalso of the whole country,which was initiated byShaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhuttoand will be completed duringthe period of the present PPPgovernment.

Demo againstmurder of old manOUR CORRESPONDENT

SARGODHA—Traders com-munity Kutchery Bazaar onWednesday staged a pro-test demonstration againstthe murder of an old manhere on Tuesday night. Ac-cording to details, a shop-keeper Amjad Latif and Irfanetc had quarrelled over park-ing a motorbike in front ofshop at Kutchery Bazaar,two weeks ago.

The people of both sidesgathered at Kutchery Bazaaron Tuesday night whenAmjad Latif and othersopened indiscriminate fireinjuring two brothers- Irfan,Nadeem and their fatherMuhammad Yasin.

NAZIR SIYAL

LARKANA—Police have failedeven after 19 days to recoverbaby Kainaat (6), missing sinceEid-ul-Udha from Larkana city,and citizens have warned ofprotest campaign. The rela-tives along with social and po-litical activists held a protestdemonstration and token hun-ger strike continued to demandrecovery of Kainaat Jagirani,daughter of MohammedAmeen, resident of HussainiMuhalla, Larkana city.

It is pertinent to be men-tioned here that the criminalactivities are on rise inLarkana city and adjoiningareas. The snatching of mo-torbikes and mobiles, robber-ies followed by killing inci-dents are witnessed in city inthe broad daylight. Police

has also failed to control thestreet crimes and robberies oftraders and citizens. The pro-testers told that the police hasfailed to curb the criminal ac-tivities in Larkana district.

The relatives told thattheir innocent baby Kainaatwas abducted from Larkanaand the gangsters are mov-ing freely while the policeand administration are calmspectators. Talking to thisscribe, the uncle of KainaatMohammed Asghar Jagiranitold that we are in a difficultsituation and family in un-consciousness and sufferingfrom the dilemma. On theother hand, several socialand political parties haveshown dissatisfaction overthe law and order situationof Larkana city and they havesoon called for the All Par-

ties Conference and activecitizen action move about theissues of Larkana.

They have also de-manded of recovery of inno-cent Kainaat Jagirani and pre-vention of robberies and kill-ings in Larkana, they havealso demanded of the Presi-dent Asif Ali Zardari, ChiefMinister Sindh, MNA FaryalTalpur to depoy an honestpolice officials. They saidLarkana is the constituencyand the home of PakistanPeoples Party as well theleader Benazir Bhutto, hadbecome the target of the crimi-nal activities. On the occa-sion, Larkana citizens havewarned police and adminis-tration for control of law andorder situation otherwisethey will launch of protestdrive against them.

STAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—The InternallyDisplaced Persons (IDPs) ofTehsil Bara Khyber Agencyhave announced for a GrandJirga on coming Sunday atJalozai refugees’ camp tomake a final decision for pro-test against the governmentfor not giving them their ba-sic human rights. The grandjarga shura members headedby Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf(PTI) FATA leaders Haji IqbalAfridi and others will take thefinal decision whether theyregister their protest onGrand Trunk (GT) roadPeshawar or march to Parlia-ment House Islamabad for the

sake of their rights in the campand in the agency (Bara).

“Government wants tocrush us by force in theagency and use baton chargeor starvation in the IDPscamp,” the PTI leader IqbalAfridi accused. He claimedonly innocent women, chil-dren and aged men fallingprey to mortar shells in Tehsilbara. In the Jirga meeting, heinformed will devise strategyagainst the prolonged secu-rity forces operation, indiffer-ence attitude of police andunauthorized US drone at-tacks in tribal areas.

Flanked by tribal eldersand PTI leaders Engineers GulMadar, Tahir Advocate, Noor-

ul-Haq, Inayat Haji, NawazMir, Muhammad Javed, JavedKhan, Rahman Gul Haji,Zahoor, Haji Gul Bat Afrid andAbd-ul-Wahab, he said theIDPs of the agency were fac-ing enormous difficulties dueto absence of adequate facili-ties at their makeshift Jalozaicamp whereas the registrationprocess was suspended.

“A number of displacedfamilies had been deprived ofrelief items due to blockageof registration, while the non-governmental organizationsallegedly involved in corrup-tion by selling out food itemsin open market,” he blamed.Haji Gul Bat on the occasionsaid the sub-standard food

was being distributed amongthe displaced people againstthe actual weight of the reliefitems. He alleged that the ad-ministration had suspendeddistribution process severaltime.

Mr Iqbal said that thetribal people had inflictedhuge losses of lives and prop-erty in wake of excessive se-curity forces operations inBara Khyber agency and elsewhere tribal region. He allegedthat the CIA-operated dronecampaign was being carriedout on behest of corrupt rul-ers in which killing of inno-cent people including women,children and aged. He saidthat a large number of people

were fled from their hometownto take shelter in temporary fa-cilities, but no proper facilitieswere available to them. He ex-pressed grave concern overindifferent attitude of policewith IDPs in the settled areas.

The tribal affectedpeople, therefore, appealedto Chief Justice of Pakistantake sou moto notice of in-human attitude with the IDPshere in camp and in theagency as well and they alsodemanded of GovernorKhyber Pakhtunkhwa, highofficials of police to take ac-tion against for arrestingtribal people even studentswhile going to colleges insettle areas and IDPs camp.

5 die in road mishap

IDPs jirga to protest for human rights

PPP to change economicdestiny of Chitral: Arbab

Police fail to recovergirl, curb crimes

16,000 police to guardMuharram events

LARKANA: A view of stagnant water in front of Railways Quarters.

QUETTA: School girls attending the function of 19th day of camping entitled ‘Voice ofChildren’ organized by an NGO.

MULTAN: Labourers busy in construction work of overhead bridge at Rasheed Abad.

HABIB KHAN

LAHORE—Pakistan MuslimLeague senior central leaderand Deputy Prime MinisterCh Pervaiz Elahi has saidthat the Khadam-e-A’alashould get a comparativesurvey done on develop-ment works undertaken inPunjab during our and histenure. Addressing a publicmeeting in Hockey GroundVehari Ch Pervaiz Elahi saidthat during our period Rs 300billion were utilized in theSouth Punjab whereas hehas spent Rs 100 billion on

Elahi: Rs 300b were spent onSouth Punjab development

a single road of Lahore, heis enemy of South Punjaband farmers, he has droppeddevelopments of our tenureand withdrawn facilitiesgiven to the people particu-larly the farmers. We hadserved all segments of thesociety including poor, farm-ers, workers, students, law-yers, doctors, journalistsand government servantsand he has done nothing ex-cept indulging in politics ofrevenge.

Ch Pervaiz Elahi said thatwe would restart the processof development and progress

in Punjab from where we hadleft, our five years comparedwith previous 55 years,people themselves would de-cide during which period moredevelopment had taken place.He maintained that we didpolitics of principles, did nothumiliate anyone and not gotfalse cases registered againstanyone. He said further thatin view of deprivations of thepeople of South Punjab wepractically launched the move-ment for making South Punjaba province, we establishedfirst dental hospital in SouthPunjab.