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Former president and chief of All Pakistan Muslim League Pervez Musharraf has announced to return back to Pakistan within 1 week after the installation of an interim government.

Addressing an important press conference in Dubai Musharraf calling next 2-3 months important for Pakistan said that the time has come for patriotic Pakistanis.

He further talked of giving Pakista-nis a third political alternative for good and honest governance.

Pervez Musharraf said that his party would take take an active part in the next general elections and would field candidates from all the constitutuencies across the country.Ensuring that Articles 62 and 63 are implemented is one of the demands of my party, he added.

Pervez Musharraf announced his return to Pakistan after almost

three years in Dubai and take part in a forthcoming parliamentary election.

Parliament is due to be dissolved by March 16, after which an inter-im administration will take over to oversee the run-up to the election to be held within 90 days.

"I have decided to return to Paki-stan within a week of the forma-tion of the interim government," he told reporters in Dubai, saying he believed this would take place on March 16.

Asked if he planned to run for president, Musharraf said: "The presidency will come at a later stage. Now I'm going back for the parliamentary elections and hope my party does well."

Some media reports have said Musharraf, who faces the threat of arrest in Pakistan on charges that he failed to provide adequate security to former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto before her assas-sination in 2007, will seek Saudi help in obtaining guarantees that he will not be detained.

"I don't see any reason why I should be arrested," Musharraf said. "We will see what will hap-pen when I land in the airport and take action according to that."

Musharraf announces return to Pakistan

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Seven million working families will lose money under Coalition plans to cut the value of benefits payments, economists have esti-mated.Iain Duncan Smith CommentsThe Institute for Fiscal Studies said that the changes set out on legislation to be debated in the Commons will affect far more working households than work-less ones.The think-tank’s analysis has fuelled a political row over the Welfare Benefits Uprating Bill, which would limit annual in-creases in many benefits to 1 per cent, below the expected level of inflation.Conservative ministers say the real-terms cuts are needed to limit the cost of benefits to taxpayers.They estimate that the 1 per cent cap will save £1.9 billion over five years. By contrast, last year’s decision to increase benefits by 5.2 per cent will cost taxpayers £8.7 billion over the same period.Labour have voted against the cuts in the Commons, which it says will primarily affect working families who receive benefits like tax credits and child benefit.It estimated that around 2.5 mil-lion households where no-one works – out of a total of 2.8 mil-lion – will see the value of their

welfare payments reduced, by an average of about £215 per year in 2015 –16.And of the 14.1 million working-age households where at least one adult works, 7 million will see their payments cut. The average loss will be £165 per year, the IFS calculated.Around 3 million of the losing households would be affected by real-terms cuts in child benefit, costing them about £75 per year.Ed Balls, the Labour shadow chancellor, said: “The Govern-ment’s myths about who will be hit by their cuts to tax credits and benefits have now been exposed. While millionaires get a tax cut, 7 million striving working fami-lies are paying the price for David Cameron and George Osborne’s economic failure.”Senior Lib Dems have criticised George Osborne, the Chancellor, for suggesting that cutting bene-fits will primarily affect claimants who do not work and do little to seek employment.Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, echoed those criticisms, saying: ““I don’t think it helps at all to try to portray that decision.Why should the taxpayer pay more to sustain welfare payments while at the same time earning less?”

'Seven Million Working Families Hit By Benefits Cut'

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POLICE are bringing in millions of pounds by passing on crash details to lawyers and insurance companies, figures show.Forces are accepting ‘administra-tion fees’ for handing over copies of reports on road traffic accidents.The Metropolitan Police has re-ceived more than £5 million in this way since 2009, while the Hamp-shire force pulled in more than £480,000 since 2010. Fife Con-stabulary made almost £2000,000.The country’s 48 other police forc-es did not reveal how much they made following a request under the Freedom of Information Act by car insurance company LV=.The Met said the money it made is simply an ‘administration cost’for providing copies of its reports.‘Any suggestions that the MPS has sold these details are untrue’ a spokesman said. The Met’s own figures show it made an average of £371 for each of the 13000 requests it received over the last three years.‘That is a lot of money for admin-istration’ said a spokesman for LV=.

The news came as separate re-search by the company claimed two thirds of accident victims are contacted by claims companies or lawyers – sometimes within hours of accidents.Some opportunistic claims man-agement companies go to the scene of the accident, while others go to the hospital where victims are being treated.Managing director John O’Roarke criticised the ‘aggressive’ hound-ing of crash victims.‘The heavy-handed tactics of the “claims farming” industry has resulted in record levels of com-pensation claims for whiplash and

other personal injuries – despite falling accident rates,’ he added.Last year David Cameron prom-ised to clamp down on a compen-sation culture which had made Britain the ‘whiplash capital of Europe’.From April it will be illegal to receive payment for referral fees in personal injury cases and there will also be a cap on lawyers’ fees on successful claims.But the pending legislation has prompted a whiplash ‘gold rush’ with claims companies hounding people regardless of whether they have been injured or not, says LV=.

POLICE CASHING ON CRASHES ! Poorest families

face new council tax blow

Poor families may have to pay hundreds of pounds more in council tax from April but many have no idea about what is about to hit them. Up to 3million low-income households will be worse off as council tax benefit is scrapped, according to the Resolution Foundation think-tank. Some will have to pay nearly £600 a year more, with single parents on minimum wage likely to be the hardest hit. The foundation’s Gavin Kelly said: ‘Millions of England’s poorest households – both in and out of work – are already very close to the edge given falling wages, tax credits and benefits. ‘Very few of those currently exempt from paying the full rate of council tax are expecting a large new bill to drop on to their doormat this spring. When it does, they are going to find it hard to cope.’ As well as scrapping council tax benefit, the government has handed responsibility for the discounts available to the less well-off to local councils. But it has also told them to find savings of ten per cent and banned them from penalising the elderly. Three out of four councils have been forced to cut the discounts, says the Resolution Foundation. It means families with no one in work and hitherto exempt from the tax will have to pay some of the bill for the first time – typically between £96 and £255 a year. A single parent, working part-time on minimum wage and currently paying £173 a year for a modest home, will become liable for up to an extra £577 a year. If they live in a bigger home, their bill will rise by more than £600.Councils which choose not to trim back the discounts have been ordered to find the ten per cent savings from other services.Critics point out the changes come in at the same time that millionaires get a ‘huge tax cut’. Local government minister Brandon Lewis said the reforms would cut fraud and get people into work. He added: ‘We are ending the something-for-nothing culture.’

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Sheffield City Council’s wisdom has been called into question as new figures reveal plans to close Don Valley stadium will not save taxpayers’ any money over a two-year period. Proposals, which are set to be voted on by councillors this afternoon (Fri 1st Mar, 14:00), will see Don Val-ley stadium closed and the smaller Woodburn stadium re-opened. However, if demolition of the site occurs this year the plans could cost taxpayers more than £500,000 in the next twelve months. Even over a two-year period the plan will not have saved any money.

Sheffield Hallam MP and Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, has again written to the Council asking them to reconsider their plans in light of the new figures. The Council has already been criticised by the athletics community, including Jessica Ennis coach Toni Minichiel-lo, for failing attract major events and raise more income from the stadium. Cllr Joe Otten, Sheffield Lib-eral Democrat spokesperson for Culture and Sport, said: “These shocking figures reveal what a deeply cyni-cal move the Council are taking by closing Don Valley stadium.

“The athletics community are united in saying that not enough has been done to raise income from Don Valley. If we’re to preserve our legacy as a City of Sport and produce the next Jessica Ennis, we need to put politics aside and work together on a

solution for the future. “When you consider that delaying the closure will ac-tually save taxpayers money, there seems little reason to rush ahead with the deci-sion.”

SHOCK FIGURES REVEAL DON VALLEY CLOSURE COST AS COUNCIL VOTE DUE

Sheffield City Council made the decision earlier this month, stating the cameras would help reduce abuse and violent attacks.

The cameras would cost taxi and private hire cab drivers about £500 each.The GMB union said it had written to the council to sug-gest the cameras should be voluntary and said it would consider taking legal action.

A union spokesman said: "If we cannot revisit this deci-sion with the council we will consider a legal challenge once we have received advice

from our solicitors."In any event we are also considering organising a large protest by both private hire and black cab drivers in Sheffield to show our dissat-isfaction with this decision."Crime 'reduced'Hafeas Rehman, chairman of the Sheffield Taxi Trade Association, previously said cameras help drivers, but "shouldn't be mandatory".

"We're all adults. If anyone feels it will enhance their safety they should install one, but not have it actually forced on you just because people think it's a good idea,"

he said.The chairman of the council's licensing committee, council-lor John Robson, said the results of a trial in 2007 were "overwhelmingly amazing".

He said: "One in seven fares prior to the trial resulted in an incident - whether that was verbal abuse, threats of violence, physical assault, a dispute over the fare, people running off without paying or damage to the taxi.

"During the trial that figure reduced to less than one in 100. Surely the figures speak for themselves."

Union campaigns against mandatory CCTV cameras in Sheffield taxis

By: Z Naqviznaqvi@ilmnews.com

Taxi Drivers express Concerns over Imposing of CCTV cam-eras in Cabs and mini cabs. Speaking to ILM News numerous taxi drivers raised their concerns about the invasion of their privacy. Some said that they use their taxi for private use whilst travelling with their respected famlies and felt that why

should those journies be recorded and listened to. What right does anyone have to invade one’s privacy? They feel that Sheffield City Coun-cil has no right to impose the CCTV camers in their cabs and if it comes to that then the Council should pay for them. One suggestioon was that if this is going to become man-datory then the camera should only start when the paid jour-

ney begins and the meter is switched on and switched off when the journey, controlled by the driver as they are self employed and reserve the full right to run their own business and should not be dictated to.

If you have any views about this issue then please send them at the above e-mail.

Taxi Drivers Concerned over Imposing of CCTV in Cabs

By: Z Naqviznaqvi@ilmnews.com

Sheffield

www.ilmnews.com Page 3

Jayne Ludlam, Executive Director for Children, Young People and Families, Sheffield City Council, said:

“Under our contract with Taylor Shaw, very little pre-prepared food is used in the preparation of school meals. Dishes are made from fresh meat and supplies brought in two or three times a week to make sure that there is as little frozen meat product as possible. Dishes such as Lasagne and Meat and Potato Pie are always made by the cooks themselves to agreed recipes. The service is also regu-larly monitored to make sure this is car-ried out to the council’s expectations.

“Most of the meat used in school meals in Sheffield is provided by Underwoods Meats of Rotherham and only British beef is used. Burgers and sausages are provid-ed by Brakes, which has no connections with any of the companies involved so far. All suppliers are complying with the Food Standards Agency’s deadline to have test-ed all beef products by Friday 15 Febru-ary. Taylor Shaw are keeping us informed of all developments.”

Statement from Taylor Shaw (School Meals' contractor)

“As a Company we take the provenance of our products very seriously. All our suppliers are required to undertake a rig-orous due diligence process to ensure that all products are traceable and from reli-able sources. The fact that we produce the majority of our meals from fresh ingredi-ents supplied by UK butchers is reassur-ance as we are not using meat sourced from abroad.

“The latest information regarding cross contamination of meat has given rise to the need for additional vigilance, al-though as a company we do not use any of the products mentioned or indeed take product from the named manufacturers. It should be stressed that there are no hygiene or safety issues arising from the recent issues although the matter is ex-tremely disturbing for religious compli-ance.

“All our halal meat comes from recog-nised suppliers within the relevant com-munities and as such we would expect the religious observance to be excellent. We have been in touch with all our meat sup-pliers and have spoken to them to ensure that they are complying with the Food Standards Agency deadline to have tested all beef products by Friday 15th Feb to en-sure that the meat is of the highest quality and does not contain any cross-contami-nation. We have also asked our suppliers to respond to us as well with the findings. We will continue to be vigilant and re-view our processes so that if changes are required in our checks then these can be accommodated.”

USE OF PROCESSED FOOD

SUSPENDED IN SHEFFIELD SCHOOLS

Joint statement on behalf of Sheffield City Council and Taylor Shaw Ltd:

“There is a national maximum level of prepared meat products that can be used on menus in schools, but the Sheffield specification is even stricter, which we test thoroughly and regularly. The major-ity of food from Taylor Shaw is prepared fresh on site each day and only 6 per cent of meals are pre-prepared. “Although we have been given assurances by our suppliers about the provenance of the pre-prepared food, we take the safety of the young people in our schools very seriously. In light of the ongoing revela-tions of illegal activity by unscrupulous people regarding the contamination of processed meat products, as a precaution we have taken the joint decision to sus-pend the use of all processed meat prod-ucts in all school meals with immediate effect.”

“We hope that this will reassure parents and carers who may have any reservations about their children’s school meals.” “We are aware that the Food Standards Agency are carrying out urgent investiga-tions into meat suppliers nationally and we will monitor any feedback from their investigations before considering the re-introduction of any processed meat prod-ucts in our school meals, in the future.”

“We would advise all schools who do not have Taylor Shaw as their school meals contractor to adopt this decision.”

Horsemeat Alert and School MealsNews in BRIEFPrivate landlords in Sheffield will be encouraged to bring their homes up to scratch under plans to create a citywide accredita-tion scheme. Sheffield Council is concerned that the quality of some private-rented accommo-dation lags behind council hous-ing, which is undergoing a £700 million revamp. Homes provided by private landlords is a growing sector in Sheffield’s housing mar-ket due to lack of new building and many people being priced out of buying their own home.Data from the 2011 Census, re-leased late last year, showed the proportion of Sheffield people owning their own home fell 60.15 per cent in 2001 to 58.7 per cent last year. Nationally, 64 per cent of people owned their own homes, down from 68 per cent in 2001.Improving private-rented housing

is one of the priorities identified in a report by Sheffield’s Fairness Commission published last week, which aims to close the gap in quality of life between rich and poor areas.Coun Julie Dore said: “The plan would be that landlords have their homes inspected and given accreditation. When people are looking to rent a home, they will see which properties are approved under the scheme and choose those homes rather than others.But a chartered surveyor from Sheffield-based property firm ELR, said: “I don’t think the idea will make any difference. If it’s not compulsory why would a landlord sign up to have to pay another administration fee. There are less-scrupulous landlords out there but what’s the incentive to join the council’s scheme?”

Sheffield Landlords Under Scrutiny

A hapless learner sets new record for flunking the theory test. An unnamed 28-year-old has failed the theory test 107 times, and still hasn't passed. The determined Londoner has spent £3,317 trying to passMany of us know someone who has struggled to pass their driv-ing test. But spare a thought for the hapless learner who has set a record for failure. He has so far spent £3,317 trying to pass the exam, which costs £31 a time. The test includes a 57-minute multiple choice exam, with a pass mark of 43 out of 50, and a hazard perception test with a pass mark

of 44 out of 75.Once you’ve passed both parts of the theory, there’s still the practi-cal to overcome. The practical test costs £62 to take on a week-day or £75 for a test on an evening, weekend or bank holiday.An AA Driving School spokes-man said: ‘This is an unusually high number of test attempts, but it is important to remember that everyone learns at their own pace. Their determination to pass high-lights how important learning to drive is to most people. 'It is a milestone that many people aspire to achieving because of the free-dom and independence it brings.’

28-year-old has failed the theory test 107 times,

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Britain's economy contracted by 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012, according to gross do-mestic product figures by the Of-fice for National Statistics. The contraction exceeded analysts' expectations and contrasted with Britain's 0.9 percent GDP growth rate in the previous quar-ter, when the country emerged from recession. Economists fear Britain could fall back into re-cession for the third time in five years if the economy shrinks again in the first quarter of 2013.The ONS said that output of goods and services in 2012 was largely unchanged relative to the previous year despite GDP growth in the third quarter, when

the economy got a boost from the London Olympics and festivities to mark the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's reign.economists are not ruling out an-other recession and experts are forecasting the economy could shrink between January and March due to weakness in pro-duction, bad weather and bleak export prospects due to the on-going eurozone crisis. Despite the weak economy, ONS data showed that unemployment in Britain fell to 7.7 percent in fourth quarter of 2012, down from 7.8 percent in the previous three-month period and the low-est level in nearly two years

Campaigners have launched a "Sharkstoppers" movement to challenge pay-day loan compa-nies that target Britain's poorest households, who fall victim as a result of massive government cuts. The British federation of trade unions, Trades Union Congress (TUC) as well as credit unions, advice agencies and housing associations joined the move to prevent the public from turning to unscrupulous loan sharks at the time of economic crisis. The campaigners promised to promote alternatives to loan sharks as well as warning British people about the industry which is now turning over £8.5 billion.

Legal loan sharks are cynically trying to prey on the most vul-nerable people but trade unions and other groups are campaign-ing hard to expose them and pro-mote credit unions as the afford-able alternative. Last year, pay-day lender and loan shark Wonga registered profits of £46 million by ripping-off people with a shocking inter-est rate of 4,214 per cent annu-ally. Critics believe turning to money lenders is the last resort for peo-ple at a time when the British government is imposing indis-criminate spending cuts regard-less of their impacts on the poor.

Campaign Against UK Loan Sharks Launched

Bradford-based charity One in a Million has received assurances that their free school will open in 2013. The charity has received a letter from Lord Hill, Parliamen-tary Under-Secretary of State for Schools, offering his full support for the project. In the letter Lord Hill describes the school as “as-pirational and innovative” and that it would “add to the educa-tional offer in Bradford.”One in a Million recently held their open evening and parents who attended were reassured by Lord Hill’s commitment. Over 100 parents attended with 81 showing a strong expression of interest for their child to se-cure one of the 50 places avail-

able at the One in a Million Free School.The shool has a commitment to arts, enterprise and sport and because of its innovative and cutting edge ICT solutions it will mean every student having access to an Apple iPad. The school aims to integrate the curriculum with enterprise op-portunities for work placements with One In A Million’s part-ners across a wide range of roles connected to design, marketing, media studies and the school fa-cilities will offer excellent cater-ing training facilities along with music recording, drama spaces and dance studios.

Malala Yousafzai, the 15-year-old girl who was shot by the Tali-ban in Pakistan for advocating education for girls, has spoken out in two videos filmed before and after she had major surgery.

In a video recorded before she had two operations, she announced in English that she wants to help others. She said: "Today you can see that I am alive. I can speak, I can see you, I can see everyone

and… I am getting bet-ter day by day. It's just because of the prayers of people. Because all people – men, women, children – all of them have prayed for me. And because of these prayers God has given me this new life … and this is a second life. And I want to serve. I want to serve the people. I want every girl, every child, to be educated."

A titanium plate was fit-ted over her skull and a cochlear implant fitted

to help her hearing after her left ear was damaged by the shooting. The two operations together took about five hours. After surgery, Malala said: "I can also walk a lit-tle bit, I can talk and I am feeling

better, and it did not seem I had a very big operation."It has also been revealed that a fund would be set up in her name to help all children get an educa-tion. The first grant from the fund would go towards an organisation in the Swat Valley in Pakistan, where Malala is from, to encour-age girls to go to school rather than going directly into work.Malala’s father, Ziauddin Yousaf-zai, runs a group of schools in Swat Valley. He said: “Malala and all other female human rights activists must be heard seriously and sincerely. If today, their voice goes unheard then com-ing generations will go without basic human rights and sublime values which men and women have been striving for centuries to achieve. We can’t compromise on the peace and prosperity of our future generations.”

Malala Says She Wants ‘To Serve’

£372,000 will help Year 7 pupils in Sheffield who didn’t reach the expected level in literacy and maths when they finished pri-mary school catch up with their classmates who did. Schools have received £500 per pupil who didn’t reach the expected level to help them through catch-up classes and individual tuition.Evidence shows only five per cent of pupils who don’t achieve Level 4 in both English and maths at Key Stage 2 go on to achieve five GCSEs at A* to C, including English and maths. This extra money, announced

by Deputy Prime Minister and Sheffield Hallam MP, Nick Clegg in September at Liberal Democrat Autumn Conference, is to help these children catch up with their classmates. Schools are free to determine how best to use the funding, but Ofsted inspectors will consider how schools are using the pre-mium when inspecting schools. They will also monitor how ef-fectively schools report to par-ents on whether or not students are meeting national expecta-tions.

Since 1992 the government has appointed a number of celebrities and celebrity chefs to lead failed voluntary initiatives to improve hospital food, wasting more than £54 million of taxpayers' money in the process, says a new report by food and farming campaign group Sustain. The report states that the govern-ment’s 21 “voluntary initiatives,” which researched the problems affecting hospital food, published recommendations and called on hospitals voluntarily to adopt them, have failed to improve on low quality, unhealthy and un-popular patient meals.Sustain estimates that these ini-tiatives have cost more than £54 million of taxpayer’s money in the process. They have been roundly criticised, even by the government’s own advisors.The report criticises successive Health Ministers for persisting with this failed approach and continuing where their predeces-sors left off. The report records

every failed hospital food ini-tiative launched by government since 1992. It also records all other projects to improve hospital food which have been launched by organisations and individuals outside government since 1992, including by celebrity chefs, charities and health and medical organisations.Despite the fact that some gov-ernment voluntary initiatives, and all of the projects included in this report, have been successful in improving meals at a handful of hospitals, the majority of hospital food remains as bad as ever. This has been shown by recent surveys of patient meals revealing very poor quality standards.On behalf of the 89 members of the Campaign for Better Hospi-tal Food, Sustain has called on the government to follow exam-ples set by Scotland and Wales by setting mandatory health and sustainability standards for hos-pital food in England, rather than keeping a voluntary approach.

Government Fails To Improve NHS Food

Every dog owner in Britain will have to put microchips on their pets starting 2016 under plans intended to cut a rise in stray animals. The microchips will be coded with owners' details, and people who do not comply could face fines of up to 500 pounds. Owners could also be prosecuted over an attack by their dog on private land.The microchip procedure in-volves inserting a sterile chip the size of a grain of rice between a dog's shoulder blades. Free microchips will be circulated to veterinary clinics, although it was not clear whether vets will charge for the service.

Government figures reveal that more than 100,000 dogs are dumped or lost each year, at a cost of 57 million pounds to the taxpayer and welfare charities.Eight children and six adults have been killed in dog attacks since 2005, with many of these incidents taking place in homes, according to figures from the Department for Environment and Rural Affairs. Last year, 3,000 postal workers were at-tacked by dogs, with 70 percent of the attacks happening on pri-vate property. But owners will be protected from prosecution if their dog attacks a burglar or trespasser on their land.

Dogs In Britain To Have Microchips

Britain's schools are among the worst in the world for social mo-bility, according to a new study. They have some of the larg-est achievement gaps between advantaged and disadvantaged students, along with France, Ger-many and the United States.The warning comes from the Or-ganisation for Economic Co-op-eration and Development, which says that school systems should provide ‘high quality’ education-al opportunities for all students regardless of background.The OECD has published a new analysis of fair opportunities for pupils in more than 60 countries across the world. It compares the reading skills of teenagers

in Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests against levels of social equity. The report shows that across OECD countries, disadvantaged students are twice as likely to be among the poorest performers in reading compared to advantaged teenagers.On average, an advantaged teen-ager scores 88 points higher on the PISA reading test than a dis-advantaged one - a difference that is equivalent to more than two years of schooling.

At the top end of the internation-al spectrum, Shanghai in China, Hong Kong, Finland, South Ko-rea, Canada and Japan combine both high results and high levels of fairness, with pupils succeed-ing regardless of background.The UK is ranked below average in the international comparison of social mobility, with advan-taged pupils scoring around 92 points higher on their 2009 reading tests than disadvantaged teenagers. It belongs to a group of countries, including Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, France, Hungary, Belgium and the Unit-ed States, that are successful in terms of above average results, but have lower levels of equi-

ty. Meanwhile, Russia, Spain, Croatia and the Czech Republic are relatively strong on equal op-portunities but have low levels of performance. Bulgaria, Turkey and Kyrgyzstan perform badly in both equity and results.A long-term characteristic of the UK’s education system has been the polarisation between the re-sults of rich and poor pupils. Lets hope a child’s education achieve-ments should not be determined by their postcode or the wealth of their parents.’

Britain’s Schools Could Be Worst In World

A new variety of rice from the UK is surprisingly low on calo-ries - only 7.7 per 100 grams as compared to 350 for white bas-mati. Named Slim Rice, it helps you feel full while barely regis-tering on your waistline. Regular boiled rice contains 64 percent water, while precooked Slim Rice is made up of 97 percent water and the Asian root konjac.Some nutritionists claim that veg-etable extract konjac, also known as Moyu, can stabilise blood-sugar levels and prevent hunger pangs and over-eating. The unu-sual product smells strongly of starch and needs to be rinsed at

least twice under warm water to remove its distinctive odour.Advocates claim the rice, which is chewier than normal varieties, tricks your brain into thinking you have eaten a full meal. A sin-gle portion can create the sensa-tion of being full for up to four hours. However, there may be side ef-fects to konjac. It will make you feel fuller but doesn't do much for you. Konjac is an appetite suppressant and people will eat it thinking they will get slim but might not be aware they could be starving themselves of nutrients.

Rice With Negligible Calorie Count

British GDP Shrank In Q4 Of 2012

Bradford Free School To Open In 2013

£372,000 TO HELP PUPILS CATCH UP

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News in BRIEF

An updated version of the Life in the UK test handbook has been released. The book will be essential for those taking the new test, which will be introduced in March. The Foreign Office said that the new handbook and test are part of the government's reforms to the immi-gration system to help reduce net migra-tion while ensuring that the UK contin-ues to attract the brightest migrants from across the world.The 'Life in the UK' test is taken by mi-grants wanting to settle permanently in the UK who already speak English to a sufficient standard.The test and handbook have been com-pletely rewritten, removing questions on the practicalities of daily life such as public transport, credit cards and job

interviews. It will now focus on British culture, history and traditions as well as “the events and people who have helped make Britain a great place to live.”

Mundane information has been stripped out, about water meters, how to find train timetables, and using the internet. The new book rightly focuses on val-ues and principles at the heart of being British. Instead of telling people how to claim benefits it encourages participa-tion in British life.The government has made radical changes to the immigration system and is determined to reduce net migration from hundreds of thousands into the tens of thousands by the end of the Parlia-ment. The latest figures show these re-forms are working, with net migration falling by a quarter in the last year.Migrant groups have criticised the new subject matter, saying that it is too dif-ficult.

New UK Citizenship Test Revealed

Boxing superstar Amir Khan is set to fight in the UK for the first time in two years and the main event is expected to be at Sheffield’s Motorpoint Arena, it was reported today.

He is said to be fighting Julio Diaz on April 27 - or possibly a week earlier, on April 20.There has been no official announcement but the story is being covered on several web sites, including The Sun.

An April fight in the UK has also been hinted at on social media sites closely linked to Khan, 26.Mexican-born American

Diaz, 33, would ensure Khan has another tough night as he attempts to re-build his career.

Former world champion Khan, suffered back-to-back defeats against Lamont Pe-terson and Danny Garcia who knocked him out in four rounds.

But he returned with a con-vincing win over Carlos Molina in Los Angeles, in December.

Sheffield’s own Kell Brook is the opponent fight fans would like to see in a Battle of Britain showdown.

Amir Khan May Fight in Sheffield

Mohammed has become the most popular name for newborn boys in Britain. It shot up from third the pre-vious year, overtaking Jack, which had topped the list for the past 14 years but was relegated to third spot. Olivia topped the list for little girls for the second year in a row, behind Ruby and Chloe.

A total of 7,549 newborns were given 12 variations of the Islamic prophet Mohammed’s name last year, such as Muhammad and Mohammad.

The second most popular boy’s name, Oliver, was given to 7,364 ba-bies. Harry and Alfie came in fourth and fifth place respectively.The official list, which covers all births in 2009 in England and Wales, has ¬Mohammed at number 16 but this does not include the many dif-ferent spellings, which are all ranked separately. When they are added in, Mohammed zooms all the way up to top spot for the first time. In order of popular-ity, the variant ¬spellings used dur-ing the year were: Muhammad, Mo-

hammad, Muhammed, Mohamed, Mohamad, Muhamed, Mohammod, Mahamed, Muhamad, Mahammed and Mohmmed.

Since 1999 the number of babies called Mohammed, however spelled, has increased by more than half. In 1999 the name was given to 4,579 newborns. Going even further back, the single spelling Mohammed ap-peared at 73 in the list in 1964 and 87th in 1944.There were 706,248 children born in England and Wales last year.

Mohammed – The Most Popular Name for Baby Boys ahead of Jack And Harry

www.ilmnews.com Page 7

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has announced the introduc-tion of Boeing 777 operations on their non-stop services from Leeds Bradford Airport (LBA) to Islama-bad. This larger aircraft, renowned for its comfort and spaciousness, will offer enhanced cabin facilities providing 35 business class seats and 294 in economy. Passengers in both economy and business class will benefit from increased leg room and a wide se-lection of refreshments from lights

snacks to delicious meals. Compre-hensive in-flight entertainment with the latest films, music and games will also be available. PIA has introduced the Boeing 777 aircraft due to the high demand from travellers in Bradford and the surrounding Yorkshire region who want to fly to and from Pakistan from their local airport. The airline will introduce the aircraft on the ex-isting twice weekly LBA schedule on a Wednesday and Saturday.

PIA introduces Boeing 777 to Leeds Bradford Airport

A ground breaking initiative devel-oped by the South Yorkshire Safer Roads Partnership is being offered to help older people to continue driving safely. The free course, being held at the Lifewise Centre in Rotherham on 4 April, aims to support older drivers by providing them with advice and vital information tailored to meet their needs. Drivers will also be able to take advantage of a practical in-car coaching session to brush up on their driving skills. Data shows that drivers, aged 60+, are over repre-sented in collisions when compared to the proportion of older drivers on the road. With older drivers more likely to be seriously injured, the course aims to help drivers avoid the pain, suffering and inconvenience of

being involved in such an incident. The Safer Roads Partnership is working with Safety 1st Driving Academy to deliver an entertaining and informative presentation at the event as well as offering on the road driving sessions. Attendees will also be able to talk to a range of agencies that will be on hand to offer advice on a variety of related topics such as:

•general health and wellbeing; •eyesight and eye health; •vehicle maintenance; •motoring mobility aids; •alternatives to car travel, with ad-vice on public transport options; •the role of the emergency services in the event of a road traffic colli-sion.

To book a place at the event, which will be held at the Lifewise Cen-tre on Thursday 4 April, starting at 10am, call 01709 832 455 or email drive.safe@southyorks.pnn.police.uk. Places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis so book ear-ly to avoid disappointment.

Senior Citizens Drive Safe

South Community Assembly hosted a Community Star Awards on Wednesday 12 December in the Town Hall reception room. The evening was enjoyable and the room was full with dignitaries and other participants. The attend-ance was by invitation. Dinner was served before the formal event. Awards were presented by Lord Mayor councillor John Cambell. The Awards were given for out-standing volunteering work.

5 Awards were presented for En-vironment Volunteer Category. 3 Awards were presented for Learn-ing Category. 7 Awards were pre-sented for Young Volunteer Cat-egory. 8 Awards were presented for Community Leader Category. 7 Awards were presented for Health and Wellbeing Category.

Former councillor Ali Qadar re-ceived the award in the Community Leader Category. Chair of South Community Assembly Councillor Cate McDonald said Ali has played a very active role as a co-chair of Common Ground since 2004. His active role has brought all sections of the community closer and played very active role in the community cohesion. Ali has also played a pos-itive role in his capacity as a school governor and other community and charity work.Ali Qadar who is chartered ac-countant by profession is playing very active role in community and

voluntary sectors. He is trustee of Sheaf citizen advice bureau and trustee of Sheffield Mental Health citizen advice bureau. He is also chair of Sanitation in the Developing World. He also serves as a committee member for Abbey-dale Community Trust and commit-tee member on Sheffield Children Hospital Parents advisory group. He is community school governor for Hunter's Bar junior school.

Talking to ILM news Ali Qadar said he is please to receive the award but was disappointed to note that there was only one Asian and Muslim who was awarded the certificate. He hopes that more members of Muslim Community and ethnic minority community will receive similar achievement awards.

Sheffield City Council South Community Assembly’s

Star Awards 2012

www.ilmnews.com Page 7

By: Shahid AliAt the start of this month I was invited by Nasir Mir (Apna Restaurant) to attend a celebration event on behalf of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, celebrating 3 years of ILM. As I sat there a number of times it was mentioned that people criticised ILM and the people who bought it to-gether, when it first started and continue to do so.

For a monthly community newspaper to be still going after 3 years is an achieve-ment in itself and the com-mitment and dedication by the contributors and the team who bring it together is worthy of praise and rec-ognition. But the constant theme of criticism is one that I would like to explore.

I was watching a movie with my child called ‘Ratatouille’ recently and in it the Char-acter ‘Anton Ego’, offers up the following at the climax of the movie. I enjoyed it and think you may find it relevant to this article.

“In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a posi-

tion over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we crit-ics must face is that, in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defense of the *new*. The world is often unkind to new talent, new creations. The new needs friends..…”

Too many times we take crit-icism as a personal attack, as an insult to who we are. But it’s not. Well, perhaps some-times it is, but we don’t have to take it that way. Take it as a criticism of your actions or product, not your person. If you do that, you can detach yourself from the criticism emotionally and see what should be done. But the way that man

y of us handle the criticisms that we see as personal at-tacks is by attacking back. “I’m not going to let some-

one talk to me that way.” Especially if this criticism is made in public, such as on radio.

You have to defend yourself, and attack the attacker … right? Wrong. By attacking the attacker, you are stoop-ing to their level. Even if the person was mean or rude, you don’t have to be the same way. You don’t have to commit the same sins. Be the better person.

Below are some of the at-tributes a person should have when receiving criticism:

Listen carefully. In any situation listening carefully is a key skill. If you ignore critical comments, you're doomed to repeat the same mistakes.

The first step is the most dif-ficult, as it can mean that one must "suck up" one's pride and admit one's responsi-bility in one's work-related errors. It can be seen as an opportunity to improve — and without that constant improvement, we are just sitting still. Improvement is

a good thing. For example, this criticism:

“The same old people are writing the same old things", can be read: “We need to increase the variety of con-tributors and write about a variety of topics.” That’s just one example of course — you can do that with just about any criticism. Some-times it’s just someone hav-ing a bad day, but many times there’s at least a grain of truth in the criticism.

Thank the critic. Even if someone is harsh and rude, thank them. They might have been having a bad day, or maybe they’re just a negative person in general. But even so, your attitude of gratitude will probably catch them off-guard. Thanking a critic can actually win a few of them over. All because of a simple act of saying thank you for the criticism. It’s un-expected, and often appreci-ated.

Even if the critic doesn’t take your “thank you” in a good way, it’s still good to do — for yourself. It’s a

way of reminding yourself that the criticism was a good thing for you, a way of keep-ing yourself humble - not cocky.Learn from the criticism. After seeing criticism in a positive light, and thanking the critic, don’t just move on and go back to business as usual. Actually try to improve. That’s a difficult concept for some people, because they often think that they’re right no matter what.

But no one is always right. You, in fact, may be wrong, and the critic may be right. So see if there’s something you can change to make yourself better. And then make that change. Actually strive to do better as a com-municator. You'll end up be-ing glad you made the extra effort.Many of the criticisms made are in regards to ILM itself, but year on year the newspa-per has been developing of-fering new insights, new ar-ticles and giving a platform for people to express them-selves and their views. Con-trary to some peoples belief the contributors actually do

not pay ILM to publish their piece or for ILM to cover an event.

I have been a party to many critiquing conversations with ILM, where they have listened patiently at times and explained their point of view. I have found them willing to listen and it is where they asked me to write monthly in the news-paper. ILM is the sum of parts from a large number of contributors and behind the scenes staff, who we should appreciate and encourage.

Finally one of the ripples that ILM has caused in our community along with the radio fraternity is a ‘media revolution’ in the Pakistani community in Sheffield.

I have seen increasing en-thusiasm and commitment from participants that has been developed over the last 3 years and I hope that ILM does go from strength to strength and establishes greater routes into commu-nity and encourages younger participants to contribute over the next year.

ILM NEWS - 3 Years on

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Tough times have hit the high streets and are posing new chal-lenges for small firms.But, they can create opportuni-ties too, says Muhammad Zahur – and he should know.Mr Zahur was one of the first Asian chartered accountants to have his own practice in Shef-field and has developed a di-versified portfolio of businesses spanning successful care homes and property.He heads Altman Smith & Co, the London Road-based char-tered accountants whose clients are primarily small firms and in-clude a fair proportion of small and independent retailers.Having been with the firm for more than 40 years, Muhammad Zahur has seen a recession or two and has, himself, been pre-pared to seize the opportunities they offer.Clients for the core accountancy business have mostly come as the result of personal recommen-dation and are spread through-out Sheffield, Rotherham and Chesterfield. They also include companies in Nottingham and Derby, and even as far away as

London.“The business has grown stead-ily over the last few years,” says Mr Zahur, whose son Amir Zahur, also works for the busi-

ness as an accountant, while his daughter, Sadaf Zahur, is a doc-tor in London.“We have all kinds of clients. A whole range of retail clients, taxi firms, people with properties, driving instructors and all sorts of people.“We have specialised in small retail stores and independent retailers. We do act on behalf of some international firms, but the majority are small firms and self-employed people.”Mr Zahur says the retail market has changed significantly over

the last few years.“Old, established businesses are finding it tough. Some are closing down, but new ones are springing up in their place, people are trying their luck and, hopefully, with new manage-ment and ideas they will be more successful,” he adds.It’s a recipe he followed himself, when the opportunity to acquire Ash House Care Home in Dore arose around 20 years ago.The UK had been through a re-cession and that, combined with the introduction of new stand-ards for care homes, had prompt-ed a number to close down.“We bought it, refurbished it and it’s still there,” says Mr Zahur, for whom the home is more than a business.“We go there and talk to the residents. I know them and their relatives. It gives me a lot of pleasure,” says the man who has also helped to raise money and provide expertise for a small care home in Jhelum, in the north of the Punjab, in his native Pakistan.

New Challenges for Family Firms

Baroness Sayeeda Warsi has said that anti-Muslim prejudice is being caused by an “underly-ing, unfounded mistrust” and a “misinformed suspicion of those who follow Islam.”The UK’s most senior Muslim politician delivered a speech to the Measuring Anti-Muslim At-tacks (MAMA) project, in which she spoke of the “negative per-ception” Muslims face.Lady Warsi mentioned a recent online YouGov survey. Just 23% of those polled thought that Is-lam was not a threat to Western civilisation, while only 24% thought Muslims were com-

patible with the British way of life. Nearly half of those polled thought that Muslims were not compatible. The same number thought there would be a clash of civilisations between and Muslims and other Britons.This is despite research showing that 74% of people claim that they know nothing or next to nothing about Islam, while 64% say what they do know is solely acquired through the media.Lady Warsi warned that this mis-trust could grow further. “I don’t have to remind anyone what happens when an unfounded suspicion of one people can es-

calate into unspeakable horror. I have often said that an attack on a church is an attack on a gurd-wara, or a mosque, or a syna-gogue. Likewise, I believe an attack on a Muslim is an attack on a Christian, a Jew, a Hindu or a Sikh. An attack on one faith is an attack on all faiths. And an attack on faith is an attack on freedom.”Lady Warsi concluded her speech with a plea for all UK citizens to come together and fight this prejudice. “After all, anti-Muslim hatred is a form of prejudice. And there should be no place in Britain for this preju-dice. I believe things can be bet-ter. I think more can be achieved and I know we can lead on this issue. As a Foreign Office Min-ister I know we are respected the world over for our robust stance against hate crime. Our religious freedoms are the envy of the globe. Let’s strengthen that rep-utation by proving that we once again can rise to the challenge and stamp out this new and ris-ing form of prejudice.”Lady Warsi had previously host-ed a meeting of representatives from the Vatican, the United States and Canada on the free-dom of religion and belief.

SUSPICION OF THOSE WHO FOLLOW ISLAM

A Council of Mosques has called for a boycott of Halal Food Au-thority (HFA) products. The HFA meanwhile hit back stating they still have one of the ‘most stringent and well regulated au-diting systems for accreditation of halal meat'. The Lancashire Council of Mosques (LCM) has called for an investigation into the Halal food industry follow-ing reports that Halal food with traces of pork DNA was sup-plied to Muslim prisoners. While praising the Ministry of Justice’s decision to stop food from the said supplier, LCM wanted to stress that the Mus-lim community of Lancashire was deeply concerned at the ir-

regularities in the Halal industry and reiterates the need for proper audit trails to ensure meat and chicken products are authenti-cally Halal. The Halal Food Authority said they wanted to reassure the pub-lic that no pork meat was found in halal products meant for pris-ons in England and Wales. They said, County Tyrone fami-ly owned food company McCol-gan's Quality Foods and distrib-utors 3662 withdrew products as soon as traces of pork DNA were found, for some meals that were still in the distribution chain and had not reached its intended des-tination. The Halal Food Authority has

been accrediting producers, manufacturers and processors of halal meat and poultry for nearly two decades contractually. HFA claims to make full use of the scientific and modern methods of analysis and validation. This includes protein based DNA testing. But the HFA has been linked to controversy in the past with its approval of stunning in the slaughter process. Under Islamic law, Muslims are strictly forbidden to eat pork, as is the consumption of meat which has not been slaughtered in a way that is prescribed under their dietary requirements.

Council Of Mosques Clashes With Halal Food Authority After Pork DNA Scandal

Recently President Zardari offi-cially took possession of ‘Bilawal House’ in Lahore. From all re-ports, it is just as grand as a palace of any Middle Eastern ruler. I received an SMS about this pal-ace a few days ago. How much of it is true, only insiders would know. According to the informa-tion received, it stands on 200 canals of land, has been built in the record time of less than a year, has 20 drawing rooms, three conference rooms, facilities for staff and residences for servants. The grounds are said to have five bomb-proof bunkers, two heli-pads, a runway for planes and a mosque. The whole is surrounded by a 22-feet high, three-feet-thick RCC wall. There is sufficient space and facility to accommo-date 10,000 people at any one time. It is also reported that this grand palace was built, fully furnished and the garden landscaped by property tycoon Malik Riaz Hus-sain, who then gifted it to the pres-ident. The cost is reported to be about Rs5 billion. Gifted or not, is it going to be added to President Zardari’s taxable income. Will he have to prove where the money for maintaining and running it has come from, like us lesser mortals have to do? Reading about Bilawal House, I was reminded of a story I read long ago. A certain king, probably in Persia, built himself a splen-did palace. There were coloured marbles, crystal chandeliers and decoration pieces from Germany, tiles from Samarkand, carpets from Afghanistan, Bokhara and Persia and the designers and ma-sons came from Samarkand. The pillars were decorated with gold leaf and the bathroom fit-tings were also made of gold. A huge amount was spent on its construction. When it was com-pleted, the king invited rulers from neighbouring countries and threw a lavish party. After feast-ing he showed his palace to his guests. They were all totally overawed by

the splendour of it all and appre-ciated everything. He then asked them if they could point out any defects so that he could rectify them. All but one dervish-looking ruler applauded everything. How-ever, the “dervish” king remarked that there was a hairline crack in one of the walls. The host, not all too pleased, asked for it to be pointed out to him. To which came the reply: “You won’t be able to see it. It is the crack through which Hazrat Izrail (AS), the Angel of Death, will enter into this palace to take away your life. You will then be buried under a mound of earth and reduced to a handful of dust to be blown away by the wind. This palace will then be of no use to you.” All those present were stunned, but could do nothing but agree. The Almighty has warned those living in palaces in these words: “Wherever you are, death will find you out; even if you are in towers built up high and strong” (4:78.) At another place we are reminded: “Don’t you see how your Lord dealt with the people of Aad of the city of Iram, with lofty pillars the like of which were never produced before in all the land. And with the Thamud people who cut out huge rocks in the valley (Petra in Jordan) and with Pharaoh, Lord of Tents. All these transgressed beyond bounds in the lands and heaped therein mischief upon mischief. There-fore did your Lord pour on them a scourge of diverse chastise-ments.” (89:6-13.) And in Surah Yasin it is written: “Don’t they see how many gener-ations before them We destroyed? Not to them will they return. But each one of them – all – will be brought before Us for judgment.” (36:31-32.) And listen carefully to what has been said in Surah Mo-min: “Do they not travel through the earth and see what was the end of those before them? They were even superior to them in strength and in the traces they have left in the land. But Allah did call them

to account for their sins and none had they to defend them against Allah.” (40:21.) See how our rich and mighty are intoxicated with their power and wealth and are ignoring the stern and clear warning given by the Almighty. In Surah Qaf we read: “But how many genera-tions before them did we destroy for their sins – stronger in power than they? Then did they wan-der through the land. Was there any place of escape for them?” (50:36.) In Surah Talaq we are reminded: “How many populations that in-solently opposed the command of their Lord and of His apostles did we not call to account, to severe punishment? And we imposed on them exemplary punishment. Then they tasted the evil result of their conduct and the end of their end was perdition. Allah has prepared for them a severe pun-ishment. Therefore, fear Allah, o you men of understanding.” (65: 8-10.) All the Surahs quoted are to re-mind the rich and powerful (and ignorant) rulers and citizens to pay heed to what the Almighty has warned of in unambiguous terms. We have the example of Qarun, whom Allah punished for his arrogance and ingratitude for all the wealth with which he had been blessed (Surah Qasas 28:76-84). When requested to be grate-ful and give thanks to Allah, he replied: “All this has been given to me on account of a certain knowledge that I have.” There are more recent examples too – i.e., King Farouk, the Shah of Iran, Saddam Hussein, Hosni Mubarak, Qaddafi, Marcos, etc. The present rulers should realise that their lofty, fort-like palaces, bullet-proof vehicles and their army of security guards stand no chance against the Angel of Dealth, Hazrat Izrail (AS). He comes at the appointed time and nothing and no one can change that!

Random ThoughtsDr. A.Q.Khan

www.ilmnews.com Page 9

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A remarkable young fundrais-er who runs a successful char-ity stall at his school – despite being blind – has been nomi-nated for a top award. Tahir Hussein, aged 16, was

put forward for the High Sher-iff of South Yorkshire awards for raising cash for Bluebell Wood Children’s Hospice in North Anston. He has bravely overcome his own difficulties

to run a monthly stall at Tap-ton School in Sheffield, giv-ing up his own lunchtime, and has so far collected more than £1,000. Tahir, of Pitsmoor, went blind at the age of five because of rare genetic condi-tion optic atrophy 1 and also has a moderate hearing loss.

He said: “It makes me feel very happy to be nominated. “I feel I’d be achieving a great thing.”Tahir chose to help Bluebell Wood as the hospice had aid-ed another visually impaired student at Tapton, on Darwin Lane. He is hoping to go on to college and work in the char-ity sector in the future.

Inspirational Blind Sheffield Pupil Nominated For Award

The UK Border Agency (UKBA) is endangering the health of some preg-nant asylum seekers and their babies by relocating them. The report to inves-tigate the health impact of dispersal and relocation on pregnant women seeking asylum and new mothers, found that women were moved against medical ad-vice and too close to their due dates.

Women were also being moved away from the fa-ther of their baby and were

sometimes made to give birth without birth part-ners after being moved. It also found that women were also being moved to new accommodation sev-eral times. One woman was moved six times during her pregnancy and once after delivery before she found settled accommodation.

The report has highlighted that asylum-seeking wom-en often have high-risk pregnancies. This is due to serious health conditions that are often related to

having fled torture, sexual violence or female genital mutilation in their home countries. Many women suffer from serious mental health conditions, includ-ing severe depression, flashbacks and suicidal thoughts. But UKBA re-locations were separating women from specialist treatment and monitoring, it said. A UKBA spokesperson said that the sample size was small and the conclu-sions made ignored recent policy changes.

UKBA ‘Endangering Pregnant Women’

Years pass by and our kid-neys continuously filter blood by removing salt, poison and toxins in our body. With time, the salt accumulates. Our kidney must themselves undergo cleaning treatments, so how are we going to over-come this?

It is very easy. First take a bunch of parsley or Cilant-ro (Coriander Leaves ) and wash them clean. Then cut

it in small pieces and put it in a pot and pour clean water. Boil for ten minutes and let it cool down. Drink one glass daily to remove

salts and other accumu-lated poisons out of your kidney by urination. There should be a Then filter it and pour in a clean bottle and keep it inside a refrigerator to cool.

noticeable difference as your body will be invigor-ated. Parsley and coriander are known as good clean-ing treatments for kidneys and the remedy is natural!

Natural Cleaning Treatment for Kidneys

A 114-year-old Japanese woman was recognised as the world's oldest female, making the Asian nation home to the longest-living woman and man on the planet. Misao Okawa, a descend-ant of kimono merchants in the city Osaka, said she was "very happy" at receiv-ing the honour -- and a cer-tificate to prove her longev-ity -- from Guinness World Records. "I'm happy. I'm feeling good anyway," Okawa, sitting in a wheelchair sur-rounded by relatives, told media as she closes in on her 115th birthday. Okawa was born on March 5, 1898 and married in

1919. She had three chil-dren, two of whom -- a son and a daughter -- are still alive and in their 90s. The centenarian, who has four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, reportedly never had any major health problems but broke her leg at a compara-tively young 102 years old. Her certificate was issued after a 115-year-old Japa-nese woman, who became

the world's oldest female in December, passed away in January near Tokyo. She claimed the title after the death of an American woman also aged 115. The world's oldest living person is a 115-year-old Japanese man who lives in Kyoto, not far from Okawa's hometown in the western part of the country, which has long been known for the longevity of its citizens.

114-year-old Japanese woman named world’s oldest

Malala's name has been nomi-nated for the Nobel Peace Prize. This might be more positive for the Nobel committee, after recently giving the prize to the drone-happy Obama and then last year to the European Un-ion(!).

A win for Malala may restore some of the lost lustre of the ac-tuality of the Peace Prize. In the mean time, she has made her first public statement since life saving operations and has mentioned the establishment of a fund dedicated for girls' edu-cation. In many instances, this kind of coverage overwhelms the subject in the middle. But it is different with her.

She has always been confident and self-assured. Often people focus on the religion of her at-tackers. But, religion plays a major role in her life as well - and it is that that she credits for her well-being.

This is the reason why it doesn't make much sense to make blan-

ket statements - both good or bad - about religions. The way people inhabit and interact with religion is complex, and it is the specifics that matter. And there really isn't much redeemable

about those Taliban who found any kind of justification (reli-gious or tribal or political) in at-tacking a 14-year old girl.

Nobel Nomination For Malala

www.ilmnews.com Page 10

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Spiritless people are more likely to die of heart disease or stroke, giving the expression 'bored to death' a whole new meaningWhen our lives are filled with routines and monotonous meet-ings, we can all fall victim to the effects of boredom. But is bore-dom necessarily a bad thing?

Psychologists reported that star-ing into space at work can have a positive effect on creativity by giving the mind a chance to wan-der. This is not the first time that boredom has been linked to boost in creativity. Some neuroscien-tists suggest, boredom is good for children because it encourages them to use their imaginations and develop a sense of identity from having to find things to do.

Boredom thresholds vary from person to person, but just why is not known. Men are more likely to complain of boredom than women. Boredom has implica-tions for your health, too, and can even be harmful. Here we review precisely how good – and bad – boredom can be for you.

It helps improve memoryWhen compared how well 40 people recalled details of a dull two-and-a-half minute phone message, those who'd doodled throughout retained more infor-mation than those who tried to sit and listen. Doodling may be something we do because it helps to keep us on track with a boring task. It eases anxiety A little bit of tedium can be a good thing, par-ticularly if you are stressed.

We all need down-time, away from the constant bombardment of stimulation. There's no need for a frenzy of activity at all times. Some people tend to experience mindful introspection when they

are bored, which makes them less anxious and more motivated, and they perform better in tests and tasks. It boosts fitness Find your-self fidgeting and drumming your fingers on the desk through bore-dom? It could have a positive ef-fect on your fitness and weight.A 2008 study by nutritional sci-entists monitored the daily move-ment patterns of obese and lean women. They found the lean sub-jects fidgeted more often – in the process burning around 300 extra calories a day.

It keeps weight off According to nutritionists, eating the same food every day leads to fewer calories being consumed overall. It boils down to human beings having a habituation threshold. The same is true for food. Eat the same thing more than once a

week and it will become so famil-iar you won't want to gorge on it. On the downside, if you restrict your diet too much, you'll get in-sufficient nutrients.It increases infectionsPeople who are bored by their job are more prone to 'underload' syndrome – the term for a collec-tion of symptoms including de-pression, headaches, fatigue and recurrent infections.

Boredom has the same effect on the body as stress, raising levels of stress hormones, which has a negative effect on health. High-fliers are most vulnerable to this because they have perfected

their skills and therefore are able to perform their jobs with little stress. They have more sick days than those without underload syndrome.It triggers depression An Ameri-can study found that boredom was linked to low mood. Psy-chologists at Harvard University tracked the mental states of more than 2,000 people with the help of a mood-tracking iPhone app called Track Your Happiness.

Their results revealed that those who were able to stay focused on a specific task were usually much happier than those who let their minds wander through boredom.Episodes of mind-wandering tended to precede bouts of low mood, but not vice-versa, sug-gesting the former caused the lat-ter. It makes you eat junkOne in four office workers com-plaining, of 'chronic boredom' turn to coffee and chocolate to lighten their day. The most sig-nificant cause of boredom was an undemanding workload.

It's bad for your heartPeople who complain of high levels of boredom are two-and-a-half times more likely to die from heart disease or stroke than those who are satisfied with their lot, researchers at the University Col-lege London reported two years ago.

In their study they found those who complained of boredom were nearly 40 per cent more likely to have died by the end of the investigation. Why? Prob-ably because their boredom leads them to take up habits such as drinking and smoking. Over time, this leads to weight gain and other risk factors for heart disease.

Warning! Boredom Can Kill!

New age Terrorism in the 21st Century. This is how the story unfolds. There are three highly unemployed individuals, with serious social issues. They live in a place called Birmingham, but secretly detest this and really want to live in Birminghamstan.

Because everybody hates them and they were bullied at school, they want to blow the country up. So they decide to do a dress re-hearsal, and as fans of the famous Stanislavsky Method School of acting, they fully engrose them-selves in their characters. They start by wearing Middle Eastern Robes and dress to mingle into the Western society and have long beards, to portray the image that they are secularists.

Having figured the dress code they mobilize learning, for that oversubscribed B-Tec diploma in poisons, firearms and bomb mak-ing. As internationalists they opt for travel abroad to the renowned academic Institution in Northern Afghanistan The College Of Mud And Dopes.

There they meticulously craft their skills, gaining the privilege of being sent to Pakistan for a special PE and Silly obstacle course. As fully fledged graduates our

Three Kangaroos now travel to the UK, looking to show off their newly gained expertise. Irfan Naseer, Irfan Khaliq and Ashik Ali set about raising funds for their mission by that time honoured historical method of deception and fraud. Wiser now after their train-ing they target the Muslims, those fools who have a religious duty to give to charity and as an article of faith donate 2.5 % of their yearly income to assist the hungry and needy of the world.

Muslim Aid now de-frauded to the tune of £12000, they can capitalize on their masterplan. Quick call the Hedgehog aka Rahim Ahmed, that highly unemployed financial gen-ius, who can turn the mere £12000 into millions on the Foreign Currency Markets. After swiftly playing the FCM, the Hedgehog is down losing over £9000. In a hastily aranged board meeting The Kangaroos and Hedgehog decide to drown themselves in debt, by borrowing to make up the deficit.

The Kangaroos now High on a borrowing APR of 80%, dis-cuss the faults and errors of the notorious 7/7 Rucksak Bombers. After many diliberations and long arguments into the night they unanimously conclude that the problem was that they didn’t kill

enough people. That is when they reached the historic decision that there mission will be the 911 of The 7/7 bombings and put their plan in motion by blowing up chickens with rucksacks stuffed with explosives on their backs.

Unaware by the Elite kangaroo squad, the cameras had long been rolling to record their explosive debut into the Terrorists Hall Of fame. After being some what in-nocuously picked up by the police, they are guilty as charged with doing nothing…that is nothing to remember. They plead remember-ing nothing, Islamaphobia, Zionist conspiracy and violation of their human rights to freely kill anyone they want.By Jaan M. Khanjmkglory@yahoo.co.uk

THREE KANGAROOS AND A HEDGEHOGSheffield City Council has added its support to the Fair Deal for Shef-field campaign after a 7500 petition brought by Rev Irwin came to the Budget Council meeting.The campaign asking government for a fair funding settlement is supported by voluntary, faith sectors, local MPs,

local labour party sup-porters and concerned Sheffield residents. Sheffield has faced £140 million cuts over the last two years, with £50 mil-lion more this year and for years to come. Northern cities like Sheffield are facing unfair cuts compared to

wealthy southern towns and cities as the coalition help their own.

Sheffield is bearing the brunt of the cuts losing £200 per person by 2015, amongst the high-est in the country, whilst more prosperous areas like Windsor, Guilford and Wokingham lose

less than £40 per person. Leader of Sheffield City Council, Councillor Julie Dore said: "We fully support the Fair Deal for Sheffield campaign which is sup-ported by many people and groups across our city. This government is

hitting the cities with the highest levels of depriva-tion with the biggest cuts, this is not fair. "At the same time they are giving tax breaks to millionaires, poor and vulnerable families will be hit by changes to benefits, including the bedroom tax - this is not

fair. "Sheffield Council is facing huge cuts to its budget which is also impacting on these families. We are not ask-ing for special treatment from the government - just a fair deal for our city."

Sheffield Council Calls for a Fair Deal for Sheffield

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The United States is seeking Pakistan’s sup-port to secure Afghanistan as it prepares to pull out from the war-ravaged country by the end of next year. The issue came up when the new US Secretary of State John Kerry called President Asif Ali Zardari to show his interest in continuing close ties with a key ally which shares a long and often troubled border with Afghanistan.

Kerry emphasised “our shared interest in re-gional stability, including a secure and peace-ful future for Afghanistan,” said a State De-partment spokesperson.

Kerry acted as US President Barack Obama’s unofficial envoy for Pakistan and Afghani-stan when he headed the Senate Foreign Re-lations Committee and often visited the two countries to supplement the administration’s efforts for resolving difficult issues.The state department said Kerry had “a long-

standing relationship” with many Pakistani leaders during these visits, and he used the phone call to “underscore the continuing im-portance of an effective, strong, and mutually beneficial US-Pakistani relationship”.

The phone call was made hours before presi-dent Obama announced his plans for ending the war in Afghanistan. Kerry also under-lined the issues on which the United States and Pakistan had common interests.

These include fighting terrorism and extrem-ism, supporting democratic civilian institu-tions, and supporting Pakistan’s efforts to increase economic growth.

In his annual state of the union address to the US congress, Obama announced that 34,000 soldiers will come home from Afghanistan within a year, and that Americas “war with Afghanistan will be over” by the end of 2014. Obama also said US forces will move into a support role this coming spring while afghan security forces take the lead.

Of course, it is the Pakistani governments re-sponsibility to move forward and provide all conveniences to establish peace in the region, but who will provide security for Pakistan?

US Seeks Pak Support

Students and other people on low incomes are being warned that they could be duped into laundering money for fraudsters. New figures released by Financial Fraud Action UK (FFA UK) highlight the spread of a scam which recruits ordinary members of the pub-lic, through illicit job adverts, to money-laun-der thousands of pounds to criminal gangs abroad– the proceeds of which fund an inter-national trade in drugs, people trafficking and terrorism.

The fake job offers, often made online using titles such as ‘Money Transfer Agent’ or ‘Pay-ment Processing Agent’, turn participants into so-called ‘Money Mules’. The recipient of the offer is invited to receive money into their bank account and transfer it to another account, retaining a cut for themselves.

In reality, the money received is stolen, of-ten the result of fraud on accounts, and is then laundered to overseas bank accounts. This activity is illegal and carries a number of consequences, including freezing of cus-tomers’ bank accounts, difficulty in opening new accounts in the future, which affects the

person’s ability to obtain a mortgage and in-surance, and even a prison sentence of up to ten years.Demonstrating the scale of this activity, ad-ditional research shows that these offers are received by around 15% of adults in the UK – with fraudsters specifically targeting people on low-incomes, such as students, those on benefits and new entrants to the UK.

Of those who have received such an offer, a fifth (21%) admitting to having considered accepting the work, and 6% went on to vol-unteer. Enlarging these figures nationally across those with internet access, this could

give rise to 380,000 people becoming unwit-ting money-launderers. The figures show that students and new entrants to the country were most likely to consider and accept such an offer. Almost half (41%) of new entrants to the UK who were approached considered the work, with one in five (20%) going on to ac-cept it. Of the students who were approached, almost half (47%) considered and 19% ac-cepted the work.

These figures are reflected across the UK adult population, including those who have not been approached, with almost a tenth admitting that they would consider ‘Money Muling’.

Demonstrating an under-estimation of the se-riousness of this offence, only 15% correctly identified the ten-year maximum custodial sentence available to the courts in prosecut-ing offenders.Crimestoppers is running a campaign in uni-versities across the UK, warning students not to be fooled into getting involved. The cam-paign tells them: "Don't be a mule.”

Students Warned Over Money Laundering

A full-size working replica of the Titanic is to be built in China following an historic agree-ment between an Australian entrepreneur and a Chinese shipyard who are poised to sign a deal. Titanic II is due to be completed by 2016. She will then be sailed to the UK and prepared for her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York - a repeat of the 1912 journey which ended in disaster.The ship will be 270 metres long and 53 me-

tres high with nine floors and 840 rooms. It will accommodate 2,400 passengers and 900 crew members. The liner will be equipped with advanced technologies, including the latest life-saving and communications sys-tems to meet the requirements of modern navigation. The company building the ship has received inquiries from potential passen-gers around the world, with some offering up to $1m (£640,000) for a chance to be on the maiden voyage in 2016.

The original and 'unsinkable' Titanic set sail from Southampton on April 15, 1912, bound for New York City. She hit an iceberg in the Atlantic and sank, killing 1,523 passengers and crew.Maybe the Titanic II project should be a chance to prove that the 'Made in China' brand does work. It is indeed a challenge for China to fulfil a flawless construction mis-sion as the world watches.

Titanic II to be Constructed in China

My Dear Brothers and SistersDemocracy is good for whom? Is it good for the Muslim countries??? Western world is ‘using’ this word ‘democracy’ to create lawlessness in the Muslim world and we are play-ing in their hands by killing one another against our own faith and destroying our countries.

We are putting ourselves 30 to 40 years behind in the modern world. We know we had bad rulers. Some were OK, they took their country forward but were let down by their children.Only this I can see is we are going backward. Our social system is going down we are killing each other as we are fighting between ourselves. We are destroying the founda-tion laid by our grandparents to Zero. Look at the state of

Egypt, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Mali and others, which have gained nothing. Only few people, who are power hungry in the name of democracy, have destroyed their own country be-cause they are paid by western powers to do just that!

I only want to ask you brothers and sisters look at Iraq, Egypt, Libya and others! Where are they now? What they were -------- 15 years ago. Today they are in the Stone Age again. This is very high price of democracy to pay for. I have been to Iraq, Syria and Egypt and I feel sorry to see what has happened to them; they are worse off now than ever before. NO Jobs, NO Buildings, NO Social System and NO Law & Order; only DEMO and CRAZY???

DemocraZy

Britain’s opposition Labour Party has de-scribed the UK’s loss of its AAA credit rating as a “humiliating blow” after ratings agency Moody’s cut the country’s top rate to Aa1. Shadow chancellor Ed Balls attacked the Conservative-led coalition government’s economic policy and its devastating austerity measures, urging the Chancellor George Os-borne to "kick-start our flat-lining economy". This is the first time since 1978 the country’s rating has been downgraded. Growth will re-main sluggish over the next few years. "This credit rating downgrade is a humiliating blow to a prime minister and chancellor who

said keeping our AAA rating was the test of their economic and political credibility”, said Balls. However, the Chancellor Osborne warned that Britain's situation would get much worse if the government abandoned its "commit-ment to deal with that debt problem". "What is the message from the ratings agency? Brit-ain's got a debt problem. I agree with that. I've been telling the country for years that we've got a debt problem, we've got to deal with it”, he said. "We've got to take tough measures to do that and I think people understand that."

Osborne claimed that the UK was still able to borrow money "very cheaply with very low interest rates" from investors all around the world. The UK's net sovereign debt was the equiva-lent of 68 percent of the country's annual economic output, or GDP, at the end of 2012. The country has experienced a double-dip re-cession since 2008. It grew in the third quarter of last year, boosted by the impact of the Ol-ympics, but shrunk again by 0.3 percent in the last three months of 2012.

Britain’s Ratings Downgrade Described As ‘A Humiliating Blow’

News in BRIEF

A Freedom of Information re-quest has revealed that Shef-field City Council will spend nearly £500,000 altering bus lane signs across the city, after Labour councillors decided to increase restrictions by a total of one hour a day. The news comes at a time when the La-bour run local authority is pro-posing to close libraries, leisure centres and the Don Valley sta-dium to save money. The move will cost local tax-payers £490,000 to change the signage. In the morning bus lanes and gates will operate from 7.30am instead of 8am and in the evening they will operate from 4pm instead of 4.30pm. Cllr Shaffaq Mohammed, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group on Sheffield City Coun-cil, said: “Sheffield’s Labour councillors have already come under fire for wasting £4.7 million on consultants, agree-ing to spend £2.2 million on Town Hall meeting room re-

furbishments and shelling out £500,000 a year of local tax-payer’s money on trade union officials. “It is absurd to spend nearly half a million pounds on changing bus lane signs whilst threatening to close community facilities like libraries and lei-sure centres. Increasing these restrictions is not only a waste of money, it is unnecessary tinkering that will drive away trade and harm local business-es. “At a time when money is tight, the last thing Sheffield needs is Labour councillors in the Town Hall wasting our money on these kinds of ludi-crous projects.”

£500,000 for Bus Lane Signage

TAXI drivers in Sheffield have been refused permission to put up their fares – and were warned an increase could have ‘priced them out of the market’. Shef-field Council’s licensing com-mittee rejected the application by Sheffield Taxi Trade Asso-ciation for a 10 per cent increase to meet rising fuel, insurance and running costs.Coun John Robson, committee chairman, said: We recognise and have a degree of sympathy that costs have increased, but there’s a feeling among mem-bers that the trade needs to ab-sorb cost increases as best they can. While committee members had every sympathy with taxi drivers, who like most members of the public are hard-working and doing their best to earn a living in the current climate, everyone is suffering and there

cannot be exceptions.”The last increase the council ap-proved was a rise of more than 4 per cent in October 2011. Hafeas Rehman, association chairman, said: “The drivers will be very, very disappointed and some will be very angry. We didn’t apply for an increase last year because of the fact that eve-rybody is losing jobs and so on, so we gave it a rest last year. We could have done with a slight increase to meet the increases in costs.”

Sheffield Cabbies Lose Out in Bid to Raise Fares

By: Syed Iftikhar Shah

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PROPERTY CORNER THE RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY DEBATE

High Speed Railway (HS2)Mohammed Mahroof BSc

(Hons) MRICS ConsultantMark Jenkinson & Son

High Speed Railway (HS2) Is It A Positive Or Negative Connection For Property?

In the last few weeks there has been a great deal of media de-bate around the plans for a High Speed Rail system. Some peo-ple are very excited. Others are looking at this with a great deal of trepidation.On the face of it, it is quite ex-citing, improving links between us, other cities and the capital. It brings the rail network into the 21st century, creates jobs and economically would be hugely beneficial in bringing investment into the country and the regions.There is also a further debate in Sheffield as to the location of the new railway station which is planned for Meadowhall. Many analysts argue that this would be detrimental to Shef-field city centre, a centre which is already facing challenges. The arguments for locating close to Meadowhall are that it will benefit the adjoining towns of Barnsley, Rotherham and Doncaster. Arguably whatever the location of the new station, it does have the potential of improving the economic well being of the region, both in the long and short term.Clearly if you are affected, then this will be a difficult time as

communities come to terms with the potential fall out of this announcement. As with any major infrastructure project there will be people who are going to be less enthusiastic, and with good reason as they may have their property affect-ed wholly or in part.

What To Do if Your Property Is Affected

1.Firstly check whether your property is affected by the pro-posed High Speed Link.

2.If the answer to question 1 is yes, then you could be suffering Blight. This basically means you may be unable to sell your property as there would be very few buyers.

3 Blight means you are possibly entitled to serve a Blight Notice asking for the property to be immediately purchased as it is likely to be purchased under a Compulsory Purchase Order.

4.Indications are Blight Notic-es could be served as early as Spring 2013.

5.Alternatively you may be included in a Compulsory Pur-chase Order

6.Compulsory Purchase means you will get market value for

your property. Also home loss, disturbance payments to cover your relocation costs and all your professional fees for your Solicitor and Chartered Surveyor.

A business will be entitled to claim loss of profits, relocation expenses, and in the worst case scenario, total extinguishment of the business.

7.Employ Professional advisors who have experience in Com-pulsory Purchase.

Another question that we have been asked is, is it going to im-prove property values in and around the area of the new rail system? This is very subjec-tive but any major new infra-structure project anywhere in the world arguably does have a long term benefit. Clearly when you are initially affected it is not immediately apparent but a few years in the future the benefits become more evident.

If your land and property is in such a location please take ad-vice as you may be pleasantly surprised by your property's fu-ture potential.

Please note this article is a mere overview, so please ensure you take professional advice.

Labour councillors have been accused of “flushing away” tax-payers’ money by closing seven recently refurbished community toilets in Sheffield. New figures show that, in the past five years, over £260,000 has been invested in the seven public toilets, which are now earmarked for closure

by Labour-run Sheffield City Council. Three toilets have had over £70,000 invested in recent years with new buildings at Rivelin Post Office and Abbey Lane costing £70,000 and £73,000 respectively. Chapeltown toilets received a complete refurbish-

ment at a cost of £80,000 as re-cently as 2010. Liberal Democrats are chal-lenging the decision to close the seven toilets, which will save an estimated £68,000. The saving compares to the £80,000 equiva-lent salary of a recently appoint-ed “Director of Integration” .

£260,000 “FLUSHED AWAY

Wrestling is set to be dropped from the 2020 Olympic Games to make way for a new sport. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommend-ed its dismissal after assessing the performance of all 26 sports at the London Games. "The news from the IOC is extreme-ly disappointing," said British Wrestling chief executive Colin Nicholson. Bulgarian wrestling federation president Valentin Yordanov has sent back his Olympic gold medal from the 1996 Atlanta Games in protest at the Inter-national Olympic Committee's recommendation to drop the sport from the Games."As a sign of protest I am return-ing my gold medal, won at the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996, to the headquarters of the International Olympic Commit-

tee in Lausanne," seven-times world champion Yordanov wrote in a letter to IOC presi-dent Jacques Rogge shown at an emotional news conference.There is a slim chance wrestling may win a reprieve when the IOC meets in September to rati-fy its choice. Modern pentathlon and taekwondo were thought to be the sports most at risk, but wrestling was the surprise choice. It will now compete with with seven other sports - baseball/softball, squash, karate, sport climbing, wakeboarding, wushu and roller sports - for a place in the 2020 Games. Wrestling, which combines freestyle and Greco-Roman events, was included in the inau-gural modern Olympics in Ath-ens in 1896. It has been in every Games since, apart from Paris in 1900. At last year's Olympics, it

featured 344 athletes competing in 11 medal events. Before making its decision, the IOC's programme commission assessed each sport by looking at such factors as TV ratings, ticket sales, anti-doping and glo-bal popularity. Who struck wrestling gold at London 2012• Russia: 4 golds • Japan: 4 golds • Iran: 3 golds • Azerbaijan: 2 golds • USA: 2 golds Golf and rugby sevens will be part of the programme for the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro after winning inclusion in 2010. The IOC will also decide in September whether Istanbul, Madrid or Tokyo will host the 2020 Games.

Wrestling to be dropped from 2020 Olympic Games

Pakistan says to protest to India over new Kashmir killing

The Pakistani army said on Wednesday it will protest to India over the killing of a Pakistani soldier in Kashmir, the fifth fatality in hostilities between the nuclear-armed neighbours this year.Indian troops shot dead the soldier at a

position called Kundi during firing from the Indian side of the Line of Control in

the disputed Himalayan territory, Paki-stan’s army said in a statement.The Indian defence ministry declined to comment.Two Pakistani and two Indian soldiers were killed in early January in the worst outbreak of violence in Kash-mir since India and Pakistan agreed a ceasefire nearly a decade ago.Government spokesmen on both sides have sought to play down the deaths and insisted they would not derail talks meant to improve relations between the two countries.But a new visa regime, that was hailed as a sign of thawing ties before the latest fighting, hit teething problems on Tuesday. Pakistani senior citizens were turned away after turning up at the Wagah border post on the first day the scheme was to come into effect.“The visa on arrival for senior citizens, which was to start from January 15, has

now been put on hold, owing to techni-cal issues,” a senior Indian home ministry official said.In a sign of the emotion the attacks have evoked in India, nine Pakistani hockey players who were signed up to play in a private league are being sent back home following protests over the Kashmir violence.India and Pakistan have fought three wars since their independence from Britain in 1947, two of them over Kash-mir.India-Pakistan ties had improved after nose-diving in 2008 when gunmen killed 166 people in Mumbai in a three-day rampage India blamed on a Pakistani militant group.Firing and small skirmishes are common along the internationally recognised 740-km (460-mile) Line of Control despite a ceasefire that was agreed in 2003.

P T I SHEFFIELD PTI has grown in the United Kingdom over the years, Imran Khan vision of change has appealed many overseas Pa-kistani’s and they are naturally attracted to PTI.I was very lucky to work with bunch of en-thusiastic individual, they worked so hard in media and public gatherings that during 1 year, our paid membership grossed 150 and have huge support bas in the region, we tried to connect other elected bodies of Yorkshire and Humber.Keeping the promise of democratic and modern part, Pakistan Tehreek e Insaaf is again going through intro party elec-tion process, we met with active mem-

bers in the Yorkshire and Humber region and launched UMEED panel, the panel consists of very enthusiastic and vision-ary individuals across the region. We are the party of change and change we need in our leadership to bring fresh ideas for this whole important stage in our national political history.Pakistan Tehreek e Insaaf will participate in upcoming general election with the vi-sion of change and hope for new Pakistan. I am sure the UMEED panel will reflect PTI’s vision in exemplary manner and will reach out every individual in the re-gion who supports our vision and will give them an active sense of ownership.

I request all member to support our UMEED panel.

Dr Ehtsham ul Haq

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Liverpool City Council is of-fering homes in the city for just £1 – providing you can give them a total makeover.

The Victorian terraced houses in the Granby area of the city were bought for up to £70,000 as part of the Labour Govern-ment’s Pathfinder scheme to regenerate struggling areas of the country.

The council was in talks with a developer over a £25 mil-

lion contract to renovate the area, which included bull-dozing the houses. However, the council pulled the plug in November, leaving the homes empty and boarded up.

The idea is to allow people who may be excluded from mortgages but have construc-tion skills to play a part in the regeneration of their commu-nities.

Successful applicants will

need to refurbish them to “a reasonable state of repair”, and they must be warm, weatherproof and have “rea-sonably modern facilities”. The owners must also live in them for a minimum of five years and not sub-let during that time.

Twenty houses will be ini-tially be offered to residents. Last year, Stoke-on-Trent City Council offered a similar scheme.

Homes in Liverpool For Sale For £1

Being Asian means a whole host of things to us; in the way we like our food spicy, our genetic makeup, but also the exaggeration gene. In other words we become in a heightened state of elation in order to get the better over the next person. We can see this come into full effect at the very mention of money. How many of us would admit to having this gene as I have seen it over and over again in my Asian counterparts.

Even in these testing times, when we are as skint as the next person, we still give the impression that we have money stashed under the mat-tress. Of course we secretly suspect others to have that secret stash. But thats not the only exaggerated sig-nal we like to give off....we like to blow our money too. Be it for the extrvagent showpiece in the home, or for the numero uno wedding, with helicopter landings and an en-tourage of several limousines for the arrival of the groom!!

We have an inbuilt ability to exag-gerate earnings, to fabricate assets in the hope and belief that it will enhance one’s self worth and leave their peers feeling impressed and hopefully inadequate. If one de-

clares the purchase of a 38-inch tel-evision, the other will announce the acquisition of a slimmer 42-inch screen.

The fact that it barely fits on the wall is irrelevant. Size matters. Even charitable contributions are

often in competiotion with one an-other, when a person tells us how generous they have been, another will in response inflate his cheque amount. But the desire to elevate oneself in company by professing such things remains customary. Such antics are for social benefits, to impress other people with the be-lief that they will receive more re-spect and to portray the rich factor, even if it means, ironically, running

into debt.

One gentleman only ever offered Cuban cigars to guests, giving the impression that he lived a lav-ish lifestyle whereby this was the norm. When alone, however, he smoked only the cheapest brand. A clear exercise in demonstrating one’s self importance in front of one’s peers. There seems to be a competitive obsession within the culture to pub-licise all manner of concoctions. For example, our children, accord-ing to their bragging parents are al-ways top of the class. A patent fab-rication. And they always seems to attain three A’s in their A levels. If you’re going to exaggerate, at least deliver a believable story.

Such inventive people are adept in turning all manner of conversa-tions into one that revolves around themselves and their alleged finan-cial achievements. They seem to be incapable of any other kind of dialogue from which we cannot escape, just to enhance their social standing. Are Asians all 'flash and no cash'?

‘All flash and no cash?’Lib Dem Leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has been issued with a damning letter by Sheffield City Council’s independent Chief Ex-ecutive, spelling out the untruths he has recently made about the council’s budget.

In recent weeks Clegg has been caught misinterpreting Sheffield City Council finances in a desperate at-tempt to deflect attention away from the huge cuts that his Government are making to Sheffield. Sheffield City Council has to save £50 million next year, in addition to the £140 million it has had to cut over the past two years, whilst some of the wealthiest areas in the country receive almost no cuts at all.

At its February meeting Sheffield City Council instructed the Council’s Chief Executive to write to Mr Clegg correcting inaccurate claims he has

made on a number of issues. The letter corrects Clegg’s inaccurate claims around the council’s work to save money on accommodation costs

and essential Town Hall maintenance. The letter also points out that contrary to Clegg’s claims Sheffield City Coun-cil has the lowest useable reserves of any large local authority in England and also corrects incorrect Lib Dem claims on consultant spending. Councillor Bryan Lodge, Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources said:

"It is a damning indictment of the un-truths that Nick Clegg has been telling that we have had to instruct the Chief Executive to write to him to correct the misinformation that he has been putting out in recent weeks. "The fact is that across the country cities like Sheffield are being forced to make unprecedented reductions to services because of the massive cuts that Nick Clegg is responsible for. At the same time as we are being forced to make these cuts some of the wealth-iest areas of the country are receiving almost no cuts at all. Instead of con-tinuing to try to mislead the people of Sheffield about council spending, Nick Clegg should stand up to the To-ries and give Sheffield a fair deal."

Clegg Corrected By Council Chief Exec Over False Claims

Doctors will be banned from working in the UK if they cannot speak English in an at-tempt to cut down on serious blunders. New checks will be introduced to make sure all NHS doctors can speak English well enough to treat patients, the Government has announced.

It comes five years after a 70 year old patient was killed by a German doctor on his first out-

of-hours shift in the UK. The Doctor accidentally gave the pensioner 10 times the recom-mended dose of the painkiller diamorphine. The locum was struck off the medical register in the UK, but still practises in Germany, despite admitting death by negligence in a Ger-man court.

Last year, research by Pulse magazine for GPs found that 792 EU doctors were on the

so-called "performers lists" of 51 Primary Care Trusts, allow-ing them to work in the UK. Of those, 657 doctors, or 83%, hadn't had their English skills tested.

From April 1 there will be one national list which every GP will have to be on before treat-ing patients. There will also be a legal duty to ensure those on it have good English.

Doctors from abroad must take English Test

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Mohammed NazirHead of Property & ImmigrationWosskow Brown Solicitors LLP

Legal CornerQ&A PROPERTY

Questions and Answers

Q: I am a British Na-tional. Which forms should I obtain and fill from the UK, if I am sending documents to my Wife for her visa?

A: You should fill the Spon-sorship Undertaking and AP-PENDIX 2 (VAF 4A NO-VEMBER 2012) and other documents as per your solici-tor’s advice.

Q My visa has been refused on the basis that my accom-modation is not big enough for my children and spouse who are travelling from Paki-stan. What can I do?

A. If your children and spouse visas have been refused on this basis then you can ask for a surveyor to do a survey

of the property and ask for a review of the decision by the Entry Clearance Officer. Please note you should lodge this sur-vey with the review request. This should be asked for within 28 days of the refusal.

Q I have not passed my English language test and my VISA is going to expire in the next few months - what should I do?

A You should continue to try and pass your English test and in the meantime you should apply for an extension within the time of leave shown on your passport otherwise your status could become “illegal immi-grant”.

Q Can I apply for a visit visa for a family friend?

A Yes you can apply for this provided you can accommo-date and maintain them without recourse to public funds. But there will be no right of Appeal in case of refusal.

Q I have received a Notice of Appeal from the Immigra-tion Tribunal, can I attend it without my solicitor?

A. Yes you can attend this hearing without your solicitor provided you can provide all information in the English lan-guage otherwise you can ask the Tribunal for an interpreter before attending.

(This is for information purpos-es only and does not amount to legal advice.Always seek legal advice from your solicitor before you pro-ceed.)

Yorkshire used to have about fifty Adventures Playgrounds, mostly established in deprived urban are-as. Sheffield had a network of five of their own. Just two of them are left: in Sharrow (Highfield) and Pitsmoor. They are places of great activity, community cohesion, wonderful places for children of all ages to let off steam after school, play creatively and hang out with staff later in the evening. The massive cuts in Sheffield mean that the council (Activity Sheffield) are currently propos-ing to withdraw staffing from these places, as well as Verdon Recreation Centre in Burngreave. The Playgrounds currently have around 25,000 visits each per year, they are already well used but could easily attract even more people as they have enormous po-tential for citywide use.Without staff these sites will no longer be family friendly, safe places, we have seen it before where they have been taken over by anti-social behaviour. The communities are very concerned that these vital sites have quietly been holding our communities

together and their withdrawal could have hugely negative con-sequences. For generations chil-dren have grown up in these play-grounds, parents have supported each other whilst chatting and watching their children play, and youngsters have come to be in a safe place in the evenings. Sharrow and Burngreave are in the lowest 10% of living envi-ronments in the country (includ-ing the availability of places for sport, green spaces and air qual-ity) Highfield Adventures, Pit-smoor Adventures and Verdon Rec serve 6340 children between the ages 5-14, 5314 of these are BME. 40% of the children in the areas live in poverty. How can it be alright to take away these sites from these communities? There has been a huge reaction from the Sharrow and Burngreave communities, and over 4000 people signed the petitions cam-paigning to keep the Playgrounds staffed. As a result the council has had to set up a Scrutiny Com-mittee to further discuss the is-sue. The Friends of Adventures community group believe that

Activity Sheffield (the Council) should keep core staffing at the three sites and not turn all their staff into ‘mobile’ staff. The play-grounds with their unique type of play and the accessibility to all families, provide a service that mobile workers could not. By the time this article goes to press, the Public Meeting will have been held at Madina Mosque. Isobel Bowler, Cabinet Minister, will have spoken and the community will have shown their strong support for the Play-grounds. The Council’s Scrutiny Committee meeting will have been and gone. Hopefully all the hard work done by so many in Sharrow and Burngreave will have resulted in the Council re-directing remaining staff so that they keep a core staffing at High-fields, Pitsmoor and Verdon Rec.Please support the campaign by joining our email list on friend-sofadventures@gmail.com or like us on Facebook ‘friends of adventures’. We hold meetings most Tuesdays at 6pm and Thurs-days at 9am at Highfield Adven-ture Playground and we welcome everyone.

A central ward Labour councillor said ''Highfield Adventure play-ground have been here since long time which played an important role for local communities and children of all ages. Sheffield City Council is facing unprecedented and unfair cuts from Lib Dem Tory government and we have to find Fifty million ponds saving in this year"s budget only and cuts to many services are unavoidable. However, I am campaigning with the friends that council keep core staff at Highfield Adventure Play-ground and fully support their ar-guments''

Playground News

A minority of Muslim parents need to take their children’s edu-cation more seriously, according to a senior Islamic scholar. Parents should not take their children out of school to go on long trips to In-dia, Pakistan or Bangladesh, even at times of bereavement, a cleric, Mufti Shams-Ul-Huda Khan Mis-bahi has said. “The damage this does to children’s education is horrific,” said the scholar, known as Mufti Sahib. “I appreciate that it is a tiny minority, but this practice needs to stop.” Mufti Sahib, said the effect of taking children out of school for long periods was devastating to

their future prospects. He said: “I would say that taking children abroad during term time, even if it’s a family bereavement, as dis-tressing as it may seem, is not a good idea.” And he said teachers or other pub-lic sector workers shouldn’t feel worried about respectfully voicing their concerns about such trips. He said schools need to get their point across if they see any issues re-lated to education among children from any minority ethnic group and they should not feel afraid that they would be labelled as racist or prejudiced.He advised raising such concerns

in a professional, sensitive manner and urged any Muslim parents on the receiving end not to feel in-sulted, but to see the advice as a blessing. Other clerics came together to sign a pledge in which the schol-ars promised to educate parents in their communities on the impor-tance of avoiding term-time holi-days, helping children with their homework, reading their school reports and attending parents’ evenings. Copies will be sent to schools to demonstrate how seri-ously the scholars are treating the issue of education.

Clerics Draw Up Pledge On Pupils’ Extended Breaks

A public consultation on the use of foreign language voiceovers and interpreters on theory tests and practical driving tests has been launched. The Driving Standards Agency (DSA) is reviewing the level of foreign language support available to candidates in response to concerns about potential road safety implications and the risk of fraud, as well as the cost of provid-ing translations. Road Safety Minister Stephen Hammond said: “We want to en-sure that all drivers have the right skills to use our roads safely and responsibly. We also want to keep test fees to a minimum for candi-

dates, and I am not convinced that providing translations is the most effective use of resources. There is a potential road safety risk of driv-ers not understanding important traffic updates or emergency in-formation, but allowing interpret-ers on tests also presents the risk of fraud, for example if they are indicating the correct answers to theory test questions.” Currently people whose first lan-guage is not English or Welsh can request pre-recorded voiceovers for the computer-based car and motorcycle theory tests in 19 dif-ferent foreign languages. Candidates can also use approved

interpreters on theory tests, usu-ally if a voiceover is not available in a candidate’s native language, or where a candidate speaks a dia-lect that would make a voiceover difficult to understand. Interpreters can also be used in practical tests to translate the examiner’s instruc-tions. Candidates have to pay for inter-preters themselves, but the cost of developing and updating voiceo-vers for the theory test is met by DSA. Any change to the current arrange-ments will be subject to the out-come of the consultation.

Consultation On Foreign Language Interpreters On Driving Tests

During the visit to Pakistan Chief Editor of ILM NEWS had various meetings with the prominent politicians, amongst them was Senator Mushahid Hussain, Senator Hassan Hassani, Senator Zahid Hussain, alongside the businessman Qazi Munir and others and exchanged views on the current affairs on situation in Pakistan.

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108 Fitzwilliam Road Rotherham S65 1PXT: 01709 85 33 55 www.kandhtravel.co.uk

A pen that can draw in the air? This is the world’s first –and only– 3D drawing pen. It workswith a plastic that cools off rapidly, allowing the user to create 3D objects.Come September, the world’s first 3D printing pen will go on sale for $75. The pen, called the 3Doodler, essentially allows you to lift your flat sketches off the paper — or, if you wish, to actually draw in three dimensions. 3Doodler is a Kick-starter project, and in under 24 hours it has obtained more than $500,000 in pledges — significantly more than its $30,000 target. The target price is $75 for a September 2013 release. The inventors say they have already located a Chinese manufacturer who is capable of meeting these targets. The final device should 24mm (1in) thick and weigh less than 200g, with an external power brick that accepts 110-240V.

Worlds First 3D Drawing pen LaunchedWomen who regularly use per-manent hair dye may be putting themselves at increased risk of bladder cancer, new research findings suggest. The study is the first to show that how often you use hair dyes affects your blad-der cancer risk.The investigators found that women who used permanent hair dye at least once a month were twice as likely to develop bladder cancer, as women who did not use permanent hair dye. They took cigarette smoking - a known risk factor for bladder cancer - into consideration in their calculations. But they said

it was premature to make any recommendation about stopping the use of permanent hair dyes.Those who reported regular use of the hair dye for at least 15 years were more than three times as likely to develop bladder can-cer as non-dye users, concluded the study. Even some hairstyl-ists and barbers were 50 per cent more likely to have bladder can-cer than those who did not expe-rience occupational exposure.The measure of exposure could be due to frequency of use and duration of use, which is mis-leading. The most important factor in ex-

posure to hair dye could be the shade you use. All of the shades use essentially the same chemi-cals, but there’s quite a lot more of them (the chemicals) in dark brown and black than there are in blonde.Previous studies’ by the National Cancer Institute and the Ameri-can Cancer Society failed to find a similar association between hair dye use and cancer risk. The bottom line is the new study findings should not affect people in their decision as to whether to use hair colour or affect the hair colour industry in considering that they sell safe products.

Hair Dye Could Cause Cancer

Strong financial management and tight spending controls will be needed over the years ahead if Rotherham Borough Council is to do the best it can for the people of Rotherham. That was the message from council leaders when members of the authority's Cabinet recommended this year's budget proposals. Significant reductions in fund-ing by Government together with major changes to the wel-fare reform system mean that Rotherham faces a budget gap of £20.2 million in the coming financial year. This has resulted in difficult decisions and some hard choices to be made in decid-

ing how Rotherham's budget of £221.474 million will be spent and how best to lessen the impact on hard working individuals and their families as well as protect-ing the more vulnerable members of society.The budget priorities include:* Making the safeguarding of children a top priority* Continue the invest-ment in preventative services and early inter-vention* Reduce the time taken to provide new packages of care and supply equip-ment, assistive technol-ogy and adaptations

* Continue to promote new busi-ness start-ups and help stimulate the local economy* Help Rotherham's Credit Un-ions in the financial support to local residents* Continue to invest in infrastruc-ture, such as houses, schools and roads, across the Borough.

Fair Deal For Rotherham Citizens Despite Budget Constraints

Google is so confident in secu-rity on the company's Chrome operating system its offering $3.14159million in cash rewards for successful hacks of the sys-tem at this year's Pwnium hack-ing contest. The figure is a nod to pi, an irrational number that has intrigued mathematicians for thousands of years.Previously the tech giant has of-fered reward of $1 million and $2 million to crack its systems. The most likely outcome is that multiple hacks momentar-ily compromise the system with several contestants earning up to $100, 000 each, or $150,000 should their hack survive a sys-tem reboot. For a hack to count,

it must be delivered via webpag-es on a basic-model Samsung 550 Chromebook over a Wi-Fi connection. Google calls Chrome OS its most secure operating system its market share is so small it hasn't

yet faced a real world field-test. However the Pwn2Own prize for cracking the Chrome browser is $100,000 but only $60,000 for Firefox and $65,000 for Safari. Internet Explorer running on Windows 8 wins $100,000 and IE 9 on Windows 7 nets $75,000. Pwn2Own winners also get to keep the contest provided lap-tops. Pwnium hasn't said wheth-er winners will be able to leave with their Chromebooks but as they only run $450 its likely the company won't lose sleep over the losses. Google has never once paid out the full amount offered for a Chrome browser crack.

A European spying agency will soon get powers to access a vast range of personal information, including medical data, criminal records, emails and website vis-its, a media report said Sunday.The European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) will co-ordinate a net-work of specially created secu-rity agencies in each EU member state who will have unprecedent-ed powers to demand data from public bodies and internet com-panies. British privacy laws have till now protected citizens from intrusion into their personal lives, but MPs and privacy-rights groups have warned that such new powers may pose a threat to individual

security. This represents a dan-gerous escalation in the way that cyber security is being justified as a reason to monitor us all.Britain's own draft bill for sur-veillance of citizens, the Com-munications Data Bill, has come to a halt in the face of fierce op-position.Now, information on National Health Service trusts, police forces, councils, Google and Facebook could be shared with other European agencies.Under the European proposals, agents will be able to force dis-closure of personal data where they suspect a company or pub-lic authority has been the victim of or is unable to prevent online hacking or any other cyber crime.

European Spies To Be Able To Snoop On Emails

At least 26 people were arrested as dozens of coordinated raids were carried out across Britain, France and Belgium against a human trafficking network. UK Border Agency (UKBA) officers raided 35 addresses in England and Scotland, while 40 raids were carried out in France and Bel-gium. Addresses in Sheffield were raided as well as other locations around the country. More than 150 UKBA officers joined the crackdown on gangs trafficking illegal migrants. Many of the im-migrants were reportedly from Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan.

Raids Across Europe Against

Human Trafficking

Paul Blomfield, MP for Sheffield Central, challenged the Health Secretary in Parliament about Government plans to force NHS privatisation through the back door. At Health Question Time Mr Blomfield challenged Jeremy Hunt to hold a full debate and vote on his new NHS Competi-tion plans, which the Health Sec-retary refused.

Speaking after Health Questions Paul Blomfield MP said:“The new NHS Competition reg-ulations that Jeremy Hunt is in-troducing will force local doctors to open up nearly all of the NHS’ services to private companies. Shamefully he is forcing them through Parliament by the back door without proper scrutiny. His refusal to hold a full debate and vote is undemocratic and

just goes to show that you cannot trust the Tories on the NHS. Last year Tory Ministers promised to keep the NHS public, today their privatisation plans are being ex-posed. I hope people will join

the campaign to keep our NHS public.”

Challenging the Health Secretary in the House of Commons Paul Blomfield MP said:“On 13 March 2012, the former Secretary of State said of the Health and Social Care Bill: “There is absolutely nothing in the Bill that promotes or permits the transfer of NHS activities to the private sector”. However, the new NHS competition regula-tions break those promises by creating a requirement for almost all commissioning to be carried out through competitive markets, forcing privatisation through the back door, regardless of local will. Will the Secretary of State agree to make the regulations subject to a full debate and vote of both Houses?

Sheffield MP Opposes Tory Plans To Force NHS Privatisation Through The Back Door

A Piece Of The Pi

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Every coalition U-turn: the list in full

As Michael Gove backs down over his plans for GCSEs, we list every about-face since the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition government took power in 2010Michael Gove, the education sec-retary, has abandoned his plans to replace GCSEs with a new English Baccalaureate certificate (EBC). The U-turn is the latest in a long line of reversals from the coalition gov-ernment, including about-faces on the "pasty tax" and "caravan tax" af-ter the 2012 budget. Below is a list of all the coalition's U-turns so far since the Conservative-LibDem coalition government took power in 2010:

20137 Febuary 2013: GCSE replacement. In September 2012, Gove said he wanted to replace what he saw as discredited, grade-inflated GCSEs with a more rigorous qualification to be assessed by exams only rather than coursework or modular ele-ments. This English Baccalaureate Certificate (EBC) was opposed by the Liberal Democrats, teaching un-ions and famous names in the arts world, who felt their subjects would be downgraded, and concerns were also raised by exams watchdog Of-qual and the education select com-mittee. Gove scrapped the plan to replace GCSEs with the EBC five months later, although many of his other planned changes to GCSEs will still take place.

201230 November 2012: flood defences. Devastating flooding across Britain forced David Cameron into a partial U-turn over deep cuts to spending on flood defences. An extra £120m would allow 50 delayed schemes to go ahead, although hundreds of projects remained without financial support. The government cut flood defence spending on entering office, slashing it from £665m in 2010-11, to £540m for each year until 2014-15.28 November 2012: payday loans. In the face of possible defeat in the Lords, the government agreed to change the law to give the new Fi-nancial Conduct Authority (FCA) powers to set a cap on exorbitant in-terest rates charged on payday loans. The government had said a cap could harm the interests of users of payday loan firms. 23 October 2012: badger cull. A con-troversial planned badger cull aimed at curbing the rise in bovine TB was

postponed until summer 2013 follow-ing public and scientific opposition. Owen Paterson, the environment secretary, blamed the rainy weather, time-consuming legal challenges, and the Olympics taking up police resources for the delay.19 October 2012: energy tariffs. Af-ter telling MPs at prime minister's questions that "we will be legislating so energy companies have to give the lowest tariff to their customers", Cameron was forced to admit the next day that he had only raised an option for inclusion in the energy bill. The government is now expected to demand only that firms limit their tar-iffs to four and tell customers which one is cheapest for them. 2 October 2012: West Coast Main-line. The government scrapped its decision to award the West Coast Mainline rail franchise to FirstGroup after admitting there were "signifi-cant technical flaws" in the process. Up to that point two transport secre-taries had insisted the bidding process was robust in the face of threatened legal action by Virgin Trains. 11 September 2012: payments to victims of minor criminal assaults. The Ministry of Justice had wanted to limit payments under the criminal injuries compensation scheme so that only seriously injured victims would be eligible, but after critics claimed the move would leave victims unable to seek redress for attacks the plans were scrapped.27 June 2012: fuel duty rise. The gov-ernment backed away from a planned 3p increase in fuel duty in the face of opposition from motoring organisa-tions and business groups. The U-turn led to a disastrous appearance on the BBC's Newsnight from then-Treas-ury minister Chloe Smith, who was unable to explain which departments would contribute to an underspend that would pay for the change. She was moved to the Cabinet Office a few months later. 31 May 2012: charitable donations. In the 2012 budget, George Osborne, the chancellor, announced he would cap tax relief on charitable donations at £50,000 or 25% of income. This was greeted by protests from chari-ties, which warned they could lose a significant proportion of their income and suggested the policy went against the principle of Cameron's "big socie-ty". It was scrapped two months later.30 May 2012: buzzards. The envi-ronment department had planned to destroy buzzards' nests to protect pheasant shoots. The proposal caused uproar among conservationists, who

said the government itself admitted it was based only on anecdotal evi-dence.28 May 2012: pasty tax. Also in the budget, Osborne announced plans to charge VAT on food designed to cool down, such as sausage rolls and past-ies, prompting protests in Cornwall, claims that ministers were "out of touch", and embarrassing photo-opportunities and press conferences as politicians of all stripes rushed to prove they loved eating pasties and sausage rolls. The plan was scrapped two months later.28 May 2012: caravan tax. The budg-et also levied VAT on static caravans. Again the government was accused of being out of touch with ordinary people, and was subject to fierce lob-bying from the Caravan Club. Two months later the new VAT rate was cut from 20% to 5%.

28 May 2012: secret courts. A gov-ernment green paper on keeping evidence from the security services secret was watered down following opposition from the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg.15 May 2012: Scottish independence referendum. Scottish Tories were furious after Cameron said he was not "too fussy" about the date of the referendum – in effect disowning the previous Conservative line that a plebiscite must be held within two years.9 May 2012: Joint Strike Fighter. The coalition had replaced Labour plans to buy a jump jet for the Royal Navy's new aircraft carriers, instead plump-ing for a "cats and traps" model that could catapult and recover a version of the Joint Strike Fighter. But the JSF model the coalition wanted be-came beset by delays and technical problems, meaning the government had to revert to Labour's plans.5 May 2012: unannounced Ofsted inspections. The chief inspector of schools announced in January 2012 the introduction of no-notice inspec-

tions, but Gove backed down a few months later following protests from headteachers, and admitted there was a perception that Ofsted was becom-ing "an arm of the Spanish Inquisi-tion".21 March 2012: video games tax re-lief. In the March 2010 budget, La-bour promised the same sort of tax relief for the video games industry that the film sector gets, but this was scrapped when the coalition came to power. Two years later Osborne changed his mind.

20111 December 2011: Disability Liv-ing Allowance. The government an-nounced plans in the 2010 spending review to cut the "mobility" part of DLA, worth £51 a week, for those in residential care, but after criticism that this was "callous" dropped the

plans the following year.23 November 2011: chief coroner. Kenneth Clarke, the justice secretary, scrapped plans to abolish the post of chief coroner after a year-long cam-paign to save the post by the Royal British Legion.23 November 2011: Youth Justice Board. The board was supposed to be scrapped in the government's "bon-fire of the quangos", but in the face of opposition ministers changed their minds.17 November 2011: NHS waiting times. Andrew Lansley, the then-health secretary, had criticised wait-ing time targets as unnecessary and bureaucratic, but in the face of evi-dence that waiting times were creep-ing up he introduced a new rule to halt the growing number of patients not being treated within the 18 weeks guaranteed under the NHS constitu-tion.14 July 2011: coastguard centres. The government had planned to reduce the number of coastguard centres from 18 to eight, with only three open 24 hours a day, but partially back-

tracked, changing the plans to ensure 10 would stay open 24 hours a day.22 June 2011: BBC World Service. William Hague, the foreign secretary, partially reversed huge cuts to World Service funding by announcing an extra £2.2m a year for the BBC's Ara-bic Service. A report on the Foreign Office website: "Massive U-turn on BBC World Service funding."21 June 2011: sentencing discounts. Cameron abandoned plans to offer a 50% sentence discount to offenders who submitted early guilty pleas after tabloid criticisms of "soft justice".13 May 2011: circus animals. The government replaced a proposed ban on wild animals in circuses with new licensing conditions.17 February 2011: housing benefit cut. The government announced a 10% cut in housing benefit for any-one unemployed for more than a year in the June 2010 budget. Clegg feared that private sector landlords might be reluctant to rent to jobseeker's al-lowance claimants if their housing benefit was at risk, and the following spring the plans were dropped.17 February 2011: selling off the for-ests. "We got this one wrong," said the environment secretary, Caroline Spelman, when she abandoned plans to sell 258,000 hectares of state-owned woodland in England only one month after they had been an-nounced.12 February 2011: Financial Inclu-sion Fund. In January 2011 the gov-ernment said it would axe a £27m-a-year scheme paying for specialist debt advisers. Campaigners said this could lead to ill or vulnerable people lack-ing help dealing with serious debt. A month later the government said the service would continue for another year; it has now been replaced by the Face to Face debt advice programme.9 February 2011: military covenant. In June 2010 Cameron said a promise of duty of care in return for the mili-tary's sacrifices would be enshrined in law. But the armed forces bill eventu-ally published required the Ministry of Defence only to produce an annual report on the covenant.

201026 December 2010: Bookstart. Writ-ers such as Philip Pullman and An-drew Motion protested in December 2010 after the government announced plans to scrap a scheme providing free books for children, and a few days later the plan was abandoned. However, two months later it was announced that Bookstart would lose half its funding.

20 December 2010: school sports. In October 2010 Gove announced that the education department would no longer fund the £162m-a-year school sport partnerships. After heavy criti-cism from headteachers, Olympic sportspeople, Labour, young people and others, two months later Gove backtracked and said he had found £112m to keep the system going.25 November 2010: domestic vio-lence. Theresa May, the home sec-retary, announced in July 2010 she would abandon a scheme to remove violent partners from the family home. After pressure from charities she performed a U-turn four months later.16 November 2010: photographer and camerawoman on the public payroll. Andrew Parsons was Cam-eron's personal photographer before he became prime minister, and Nicky Woodhouse made "Webcameron" videos for the Tory website, but there was an outcry when they were placed on the public payroll when the Tories took office. Cameron defended this as a cost-saving measure, but a few days later decided the Conservative party would pay their salaries.12 November 2010: rape anonym-ity. In the coalition agreement in May 2010, the Tories and Liberal Democrats had suggested extending anonymity in rape cases to defend-ants. After protests from women's groups, who said it would have sent a message to juries that victims in rape cases should not be believed, five months later the government said there was not sufficient evidence to justify the move and scrapped it.9 September 2010: NHS Direct. In August 2010 the Department of Health said the NHS Direct service would be scrapped. A month later Lansley said the department just meant the phone number.8 August 2010: free school milk. Anne Milton, a Tory health minister, suggested withdrawing the scheme that gives free school milk to under-fives. The idea was quickly stamped on by No 10 – presumably because of its echoes of Margaret Thatcher's scrapping of free milk for seven- to 11-year-olds in 1971.5 July 2010: dissolution of parlia-ment. In what was greeted with de-light by the media as the first big U-turn of the coalition, the govern-ment's plans to block the dissolution of parliament without the agreement of at least 55% of MPs were altered to allow a simple majority of MPs to trigger such a dissolution.

Coalition U-Turns: again and again and again!!

Sayed

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BY JAVED ZAHEER, FREE EXPRESSION AWARD WIN-NER,DEDICATED TO SERVE, CRE-ATE AWARENESS Don’t feel bad or get mad and react in the same manner when arrogant, crazy and senseless people consider and call you stu-pid, idiot and a fool. If you can manage, handle, help and support them then go ahead. If you can’t, don’t mess to make it worse but avoid and just pray for the poor souls and leave them to God or those who can really handle properly. This is what they de-serve the most in such pitiable condition. However, the situation differs when it is said and done deliberately and cunningly in full senses. At a seniors gathering recently, one of the members, who like most others who boast and claim to be highly literate, experienced, well-connected and try desper-ately to promote themselves from team leader to community leader, knowingly, unknowingly or jokingly, gave a nasty com-ment: “All those who consider themselves as exploited ones are STUPID”.Such comment about people who deserve priority attention, help, support and promotion, exposes the type and calibre of most com-munity leaders, their character, intention and mindset. This is a common problem with people who are self-proclaimed lead-ers and consider themselves and pose as heavyweights and cham-pions of everything including community and humanity.In reality, these exploiters, oppor-tunists and hypocrites are rotten eggs of the society and commu-nity. They are cunning and cruel and only interested in their vested interests and can stoop to any lows to achieve them. Yes, they are the ones who think that the exploited, helpless and innocent people are stupid, idiot and fool. They keep preying on them and playing with them. They act as quicksand and prevent the people from reaching the true leaders. We have to, should and must

remain alert, united and com-mitted to protect all good, in-nocent, deserving, helpless and exploited people from all such evils and devils in disguise, who are harming and damaging the community, society, system and the country in reality. All those engaged in serving the people in any way must come forward and act to protect the people.We cannot expect any good thinking, constructive approach and positive results from the Charia (Mentally Sick), Chiran-di (Troublemaker) and Jahil & Makkar (Illiterate & cunning) characters and hope that the lead-ers, parties, groups and bodies of all levels---municipal, provincial and national---would keep them away in the best interest of the people and parties. Is there really a dearth of good people and leaders in the com-munity and country that nuisanc-es are made volunteers, mem-bers and leaders? Unfortunately, instead of being monitored and controlled properly so that the people and their interests are protected and not harmed, they are cleverly used and cunningly let loose on the people. Is this not why both the people and the country are suffering? Yes, it is.The Muslim Community is play-ing an important constructive and positive role and contributing tremendously towards progress, prosperity and stability in west-ern countries. The number of Muslims, Mosques and Ma-drassas is increasing rapidly. This is because of good character of Muslims and the rights, freedom and facilities enjoyed in these countries. More Muslims are be-coming Practicing Muslims and teaching and training their chil-dren as well. What the community and the people in general urgently need is a good and true leadership for better performances, contri-butions and results. Despite the lacking in most fields they are doing well and good. The cunning exploiters, op-portunists, professionals and hypocrites are definitely NOT but certainly yes pose as reli-

gious leaders, scholars and pi-ous persons. They act as mafia, use mosques and madrassas for their vested interests, prey on the worshippers and innocent people and play with them. They do not enjoy trust and confidence of the people, who understand their na-ture, character and the dirty game very well. Just construction of large and beautiful mosques and collection of money/donation in the name of or for their maintenance/fa-cilities only is not sufficient. The mosques and the donation boxes become a source of lifetime earn-ings for the mafia. This is exactly what they are interested in and want. The mosques must be used purely as a place of worship and centres of excellence to properly guide Muslims and promote and spread message of Islam and hu-manity. Look what Allah says about the wrong-doers in the Holy Quran. Sura 9 - Al-Tawba (MADINA) : Verse 19:“Do you consider the providing of drinking water to the pilgrims and the maintenance of Al-Mas-jid-al-Harâm (at Makkah) as equal to the worth of those who believe in Allâh and the Last Day, and strive hard and fight in the Cause of Allâh? They are not equal before Allâh. And Al-lâh guides not those people who are the Zâlimûn (polytheists and wrong-doers).”---Translation Eng-Dr. MohsinEven people booking and buying land for graves in the cemetery have been allegedly cheated in some countries. They are ap-proaching those involved in deal-ing of the land for grave and cem-etery so that they could get back the difference in hundreds (Their hard earned money) but have faced disappointment till now. On the one hand such swindlers acting as community and reli-gious leaders fool the people by saying that they consider the gay and lesbian as sinners on re-ligious grounds but on the other hand they are found to be their best friends, partners and com-mitted team mates. They cleverly use religion for this purpose and

play with the people. If they think it is right then they should give valid reasons to convince the people. It is very simple, Muslims defi-nitely have a problem in becom-ing gay or lesbian because the religion strictly forbids them and warns them of Wrath of Allah (The Almighty) but they have no problem in working with gay or lesbian in the best interest of the community, people and country. They can never practically be-come part of gay or lesbian class or support and promote them for this very purpose. The parameter for judgment of a good person, true leader and be-liever is described by Allah (The Almighty) in the Holy Quran as follows. Sura # 103 Al-Asr (Vers-es 1-3):“By the declining day, (1) Lo! man is a state of loss, (2) Save those who believe and do good works, and exhort one another to truth and exhort one another to endurance. (3)”---Translation by Pickthal. We can easily recognize and identify the Fake & Cunning Mullahs, scholars, leaders and persons in general by carefully reading and understanding Sura # 107 Al-Maun (Verses 1-7) in the Holy Quran. It clearly tells us about how to judge people and protect our prayers in order to become a good and pious person and a practicing Muslim (Believ-er & Worshipper). “Hast thou observed him who be-lieth religion? (1) That is he who repelleth the orphan, (2) And ur-geth not the feeding of the needy. (3) Ah, woe unto worshippers (4) Who are heedless of their prayer; (5) Who would be seen (at wor-ship) (6) Yet refuse small kind-nesses! (7)”. In order to serve humanity in re-ality and the people in the best possible manner we have to be-come: 1) Good human being first and then 2) Good Practitioner. Only a Good Person can please Allah---The Almighty by serving all people---irrespective of caste, creed and religion---in the best possible manner.

HELPLESS NOT STUPID

by Munir Akram

PAKISTAN is at another inflex-ion point in its eventful history. It confronts strategic challenges simultaneously on three fronts: internal, western and eastern.The internal challenge is most palpable: economic stagnation; growing poverty and inequal-ity; looming financial collapse; pervasive corruption; regional disaffection and endemic terrorist and sectarian violence. A political system controlled by feudal and money power appears impervious to cleansing change.In the coming days, three pos-sible scenarios could unfold. Optimistically, the strict and fair implementation of the constitu-tion’s Articles 62 and 63 could result in the election of new, hon-est and competent representa-tives. But the odds are that the entrenched system will beat back reform. Either as a consequence, or anticipating this, Pakistan may experience yet another military intervention to impose change.If business continues as usual, the country confronts the real pros-pect of economic collapse and popular revolt. This will intensify the threats from the western and eastern fronts.Afghanistan is the second front.US President Obama is deter-mined to withdraw quickly from “America’s longest war”. Unless managed well, for Pakistan, an Afghanistan without America could be as bad as one with the latter.One factor in determining the future conditions in Afghanistan is whether the US leaves behind troops there and how many. There is an internal debate between the US generals, who want a large rump presence not only to train Afghans but to continue to con-duct counterterrorism operations “against Al Qaeda”, and the White House, which does not want to throw good money and lives after bad in Afghanistan.While a continued US military presence may help to prop up the regime left behind in Kabul, it would probably foreclose any possibility of a peace deal with the Afghan Taliban during and af-ter the US withdrawal. Also, both Pakistan and Iran will construe this as posing a threat of future intervention.Despite hopes engendered by re-cent informal engagements and Pakistan’s release of Taliban pris-oners, the prospects of peace talks and a settlement between the US and the Taliban are not bright. Differences on both process and substance are too significant. The best one can hope for is a truce during US withdrawal. The real negotiations for the future gov-ernance of Afghanistan are likely to take place among the Afghan parties after America has left.Pakistan will need to make a stra-tegic choice: whether to revert to a frontal endeavour to secure

a friendly government in Kabul; or to work with others for genu-ine national reconciliation in Af-ghanistan. The choice is obvious. Without peace in Afghanistan, there will be no peace on Paki-stan’s western border regions.But the choice is not entirely Pakistan’s. Other powers may decide to play the “hard game”. Pakistan’s internal turmoil and strategic confusion may encour-age India, and some of its friends, to shut out Pakistan’s legitimate interests in Afghanistan and to persist in alleged interference in Balochistan and complicity in cross-border attacks against Pa-kistan.Islamabad must make clear that its desire to contribute to genuine peace in Afghanistan is accom-panied by a determination to re-spond vigorously to threats to its security, territorial integrity and vital interests.The eastern challenge is by far the most pervasive.The recent outburst of war talk from India should be a wake-up call for those among our leaders who naively thought that bon-homie and unilateral concessions by Pakistan are the path to peace with India.The reality is that Pakistan and India have an adversarial rela-tionship rooted in history; epito-mised by Kashmir and other un-resolved disputes; and manifested in the wars fought and their ongo-ing military rivalry.On more than one occasion in re-cent years, Pakistan would have been attacked by India were it not a nuclear power. This strate-gic capability remains vital for Pakistan’s security. The current and prospective chaos in Pakistan could create a justification and an opportunity for those who have plans to neutralise this capability.Without a serious dialogue on their disputes or their military re-lationship and nuclear doctrines — and with an uncontrolled arms race propelled by India’s Great Power ambitions — the danger of a Pakistan-India war happening sooner or later, and escalating to the nuclear level, is very real.It is time for those who wish to avoid an epic catastrophe — par-ticularly the US which has done the most to feed India’s delusions of grandeur — to bring the Indian hawks down to earth.It is only through a sincere and sustained dialogue, based on mu-tual respect and reciprocity, that Pakistan and India can address their deep differences and man-age their difficult relationship. In-dian arrogance and belligerence and Pakistani turmoil and pusil-lanimity are a recipe for eventual disaster.Today, more than ever, Pakistan needs wise and honest leadership to face its triple-front challenge.

The writer is a former Pakistan ambassador to the UN.

Pakistan’s Triple Front

MQM supported PP for democracy: AltafChief of Muttahida Qaumi Movement Altaf Hussain has said that his party sup-ported Peoples Party in Sind for the resto-ration of democratic system in the country.Addressing the meeting of MQM’s Labor Division in Karachi Altaf Hussain said that if MQM had not supported the Peoples Party it would had been hard for the PP to complete four months.

US makes hydrogen-powered Phantom Eye dronePhantom Eye -- an unmanned, hydrogen-powered drone that can stay aloft for as much as four straight days -- completed its first autonomous flight at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., following a series of test drives on the runway earlier. It can also fly at 65,000 feet at approximate-ly 150 knots and carry up to a 450-pound payload, thanks to a 150-foot wingspan and two 2.3-liter, four-cylinder engines that give

it 300 horsepower -- 150 from each engine. The Phantom Eye is also a green aircraft. With a liquid-hydrogen propulsion system, it has excellent fuel economy. And its only by-product is water.The maker says the altitude and endurance are clear advantages for reconnaissance and surveillance missions.“This day ushers in a new era ... where an unmanned aircraft will remain on station for days at a time providing critical information and services,” said Darryl Davis, president of Boeing Phantom Works.This drone is the latest in a series of Boeing-funded rapid prototyping programs, which include Phantom Ray -- Phantom Eye’s big brother, which is arguably even more ambi-tious.Fighter-jet sized, the Phantom Ray will be able to stay aloft for a whopping ten days

and will be able to carry a payload of more than 2,000 pounds.In addition to intelligence and surveillance, Phantom Ray will be useful in electronic at-tacks and suppression of air defenses.Both UAVs are creations of Boeing’s Phan-tom Works home to other cutting-edge autonomous technologies such as Echo Ranger.

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The Gem.‘ They ‘ say that diamonds. . .are a girl’s best friend . . .

and they may well bein South Africa ~

( where there’s quite a lot o’ them ) :

BUT : if my best friendwere to be a diamond . . .

then he ( or she )would huv tae be a metaphoric dia-

mond ,for surely a boy , ( or a girl’s ) best friend

. . .is a boy or a girl’s best friend

because friendship cannot be boughtneither can it be sold

and ah sometimes find masel’ won-derin’

whit the world might be likeif friendship were to be valued . . .

jist a wee bit higher . . .than ‘ a ‘ diamond . . .

(From WORDIC MEANDERINGS of a mainly light ~ hearted NATURE)

by‘ Jim Waverly ‘

The AISCL sports presentation for season 2012 took place at Pakistan Muslim Centre in the presence of some distinguished guests includ-ing Cllr Mohammad Maroof, Shef-field City Council, Mohammad Ali, Chairperson, Pakistan Muslim Cen-tre, Steve Maddock and Michael Heseltine of the Last Man Stands Cricket League. It was attended by Captains, Secretaries and members of the Clubs in the League.The evening was introduced and conducted by the Allama Iqbal Cricket League Secretary Syed Zeeshan Haider Naqvi and started with the recitation of verses from the Holy Quran by League Official (Fundraiser) Zahid Saleem followed by a Naat confidently recited by Mo-hammad Jawaid Khan, Captain of Eagle Stars, Rotherham.An overview of the last season was presented by Zeeshan Naqvi high-lighting achievements, successes and also the issues which needed to be addressed to improve the League. He also stated the purpose of the Sports Presentation and introduced Bilal Jamil, who has joined the League as a new committee member.Afraz Khan, the League Treasurer then talked point by point, about the Rules and Regulations of Allama Iqbal Sunday Cricket League taking questions which were responded to by the League Officials. The issues discussed included prompt start of the matches, appeals procedures, standard of the cricket balls and their provision and shortage of umpires.Steve Maddock then spoke about the Last Man Stands Cricket League in this area, praising the participation, competitive spirit, performance and achievement of Asian Teams against tough competition. He particularly applauded the honours achieved by Abbey’s Diner Cricket Club of Rotherham who in their debut sea-son had earned through perseverance and teamwork the respected title of Champion of LMS UK 2012 and are 4th in England and 11th in the World rankings. On the way to this achieve-ment in the National Finals weekend at Neston Cricket Club they were the first Yorkshire winners of the ‘Roses Match’ when in the quarter final they convincingly won against a Lanca-shire team: Team Manchester, the 2011 Champions.

They are now looking forward to contest with the Australian National Champions in the 2013 LMS World Championship opening match at Lords on 25th August 2013 and the team is committed to going all out to ensure the LMS World Champion-ship trophy is won by a team from England for the first time ever! Steve with his colleague Michael Heseltine beside him also encouraged wider participation by saying that their League is still welcoming new teams for the season.Ibrar Khan the PMC Representa-tive presented the accounts and also highlighted the issues with regards to lack of qualified umpires for the league. Players were encouraged to avail the opportunities being facili-tated by the League in coordination with Association of Cricket Offi-cials, England and Wales Cricket Board, for training as umpires and

use their off-days and available time to enhance their own League which is also monetarily rewarded. Bilal Jamil, the new Committee Member introducing himself talked in a jolly manner about good food and good cricketers which runs in the blood with a patriotic streak. He himself is a talented cricketer whose heroes are Waqar Yunus and Wasim Akram.

On a serious note he is anxious that no man of his colour representing Yorkshire; when he was playing he thought he was good enough! He emphasised that the League, the Teams and the players have potential which needs to be exploited through encouragement, support and facilita-tion. PMC Badminton club captain, Ibrar Hussain and his team mates were presented with a special trophy rec-ognising and appreciating the pro-motion also of their second team to the premier division.Ibrar highlighted that it is an honour for both the teams to play at the high-est level in a Yorkshire League. This is the first time that not only one but two teams of Pakistani origin mem-bers have made it into the Premier Division of Yorkshire League. He stressed that we have a lot of talent in our community and organisations

like PMC should encourage and support youngsters so that they can prosper further.Councillor Mohammad Maroof pointed out the financial situation which was affecting every provi-sion and along with the forced cuts the challenges of difficult decisions being dealt with by the Sheffield City Council. He emphasised the importance of playing an active part in the protests against cuts and lack of finance and at the same time the League enthusiastically continuing to make its case, wherever possible for support and funding.

Zeeshan Naqvi briefed about the future plans for the League which include its own website, opportu-nity for blogs as well as chat room InshaAllah! He then invited Mr Mo-hammad Ali to wrap up the proceed-ings of that evening.Mr Ali, Chairperson, Pakistan Mus-lim Centre passing his congratula-tions said that the event was recog-nition of the hard work done by all players and the League Committee

before, through and after

the cricket season. He was sure that Bilal Jamil’s addition to the commit-tee will add another dimension in the running of the League. He was pleased that monies had been raised through Badminton activities for good causes such as supporting St Lukes Hospice’s work.It was delightful, he said, to be with them all, at the presentation that evening particularly at the PMC. He warned that though these are tough times, it is important to keep

together for the passion of cricket and to ensure that children are play-ing on sports field away from streets and drives.

He finished with the hope and look-ing forward to when someone from these grass roots progresses and goes further to play at higher levels to make us even more proud InshaAllah!

The presentation evening culminat-ed in everybody enjoying generous helpings of delicious Biryani and lovely Halwa hosted by the League officials.

Allama Iqbal Sunday Cricket League Sports Presentation

Tahir Nawaz (Abbey Diner) (from right) recieving AISCL Cup runner up 2012 placque from Ibrar Khan

Javed Khan (Eagle Stars CC) in the middle recieving AISCL league Winners trophy season 2012 from Cllr Mohammad maroof and Ch M Ali, from right Rizwan Ali, Liaqat Khan,

Zeeshan Naqvi (Al-Mahdi XI CC) in the middle recieving AISCL Cup Winners trophy season 2012 from Sam Gittens and Anjum Iqbal, from right Rafaqat Khan & Khalid Rehman.

The United States is seeking Paki-stan’s support to secure Afghanistan as it prepares to pull out from the war-ravaged country by the end of next year. The issue came up when the new US Secretary of State John Kerry called President Asif Ali Zard-ari to show his interest in continuing close ties with a key ally which shares a long and often troubled border with Afghanistan.

Kerry emphasised “our shared interest in regional stability, including a se-cure and peaceful future for Afghani-stan,” said a State Department spokes-person. Kerry acted as US President Barack Obama’s unofficial envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan when he headed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and often visited the two countries to supplement the adminis-tration’s efforts for resolving difficult issues.

The state department said Kerry had “a longstanding relationship” with many Pakistani leaders during these visits, and he used the phone call to “underscore the continuing impor-tance of an effective, strong, and mu-tually beneficial US-Pakistani rela-tionship”. The phone call was made hours before president Obama an-nounced his plans for ending the war in Afghanistan. Kerry also underlined the issues on which the United States and Pakistan had common interests. These include fighting terrorism and extremism, supporting democratic ci-vilian institutions, and supporting Pa-kistan’s efforts to increase economic growth.

In his annual state of the union ad-dress to the US congress, Obama announced that 34,000 soldiers will come home from Afghanistan within a year, and that Americas “war with Afghanistan will be over” by the end of 2014. Obama also said US forces will move into a support role this coming spring while afghan security forces take the lead. Of course, it is the Pakistani govern-ments responsibility to move forward and provide all conveniences to estab-lish peace in the region, but who will provide security for Pakistan?

US Seeks Pak Support

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