ISTANBUL: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif shaking hands with Chairman of Ciner Group, Nedim Sener.Federal Minister for Water and Power Khwaja Muhammad Asif is also present.

Continued on Page 7

Taliban should shudder iftalks fail................................................Karzai is now almost dictat-ing US................................................Crown Prince to further gelPak-KSA ties

See Page 04

JAVED HAFIZ

THE visit by His Royal Highness Crown PrinceSalman bin Abdul Aziz, which starts today,testifies the growing soli-

darity between the two brotherlynations. HRH Prince Salman hasalways displayed special love forPakistan and its people. His visitscrowns three recent ministeriallevel visits from the Kingdom ofSaudi Arabia. The last of these vis-its was by his son Prince Sultan,Minister of Tourism and Cultural Heritage. I re-member from my Riyadh days of late 1980’s thatthe Crown Prince then held pivotal position asGovernor of the central region. The capital citytoo fell in his domain and he was widely respectedas a person of deep wisdom, mild manners andstrong administrative skills.

His son, who recently toured Pakistan, becamethe first Arab astronaut to go into space. I fondly

remember the heroic welcome given by the Saudipeople when he returned to his country after thathistoric feat .In Pakistan, among other activities,he also attended a function of the Sultana Foun-dation named after his mother. This foundationhas done impressive work in imparting vital skillsto the less privileged boys and girls in Islamabadand vicinity. The Sultana Foundation continuesas a beacon of love and care that the Crown Princeand his family have for Pakistan.

I recall that all official delegations from Paki-stan used to call on HRH Prince Salman bin AbdulAziz in his capacity as Governor of Riyadh Re-gion. It was my pleasant duty to accompany thosedelegations to the official meetings. During sev-eral rounds of aromatic Arab coffee, Prince Salmanwould speak on several subjects from foreignpolicy to the challenges confronting the MuslimUmmah. His pleasant demeanor would put theguests immediately at ease.

I clearly remember that HRH the Governor hadtwo causes particularly close to his heart. First one was beautification of Saudi capital. From a

modest city in the desert, Riyadh soon be-came a city of parks and wide boulevards .Its roads were studded with thousands ofdate palm trees. It would soon have thetallest building in the world. The secondcause very dear to HRH, the Governor waseducation. It was because of his personalinterest that Riyadh became a city of sev-eral universities, finest teaching hospitaland a beautiful custom made DiplomaticQuarter. This area, spread over hundredsof acres, has its own schools, hospitals,shopping malls and sports clubs. Pakistanwas given a large plot of land for chanceryand Embassy residence. Pakistan missionbuildings in Riyadh are very impressiveand truly reflect the strength of our bilat-eral relationship.Very recently the Crown Prince bestowedhigh Saudi national award to GeneralRaheel Sharif in Riyadh. His visit to Paki-

ANKARA—The 8th Pakistan-Turkey-Af-ghanistan trilateral summit has asked theinternational community to contribute to theefforts aiming at supporting Afghan-led andAfghan-owned processes, including thoseconcentrating on further enhancing theAfghan National Security Forces. In a JointStatement the leaders of the three coun-tries President Abdullah Gul, Prime Minis-ter Nawaz Sharif and President HamidKarzai emphasised the pivotal importanceof a political settlement within the frame-work of the Afghan Constitution, to ensuredurable peace in Afghanistan and calledupon the Afghan Taliban to join the peaceprocess.

The joint statement reiterated the im-portance of the ongoing electoral processin Afghanistan in securing a smooth andsuccessful political transition in the coun-try, and underlined in this regard the ne-cessity of a suitable security environment.

It stressed the importance of enhancedcooperation between Afghanistan and Pa-

Ankara Summit urgesTaliban to join talksWorld called to support Afghan-led peace process

kistan as immediate neighbors and the needto taking practical steps in supporting thePeace and Reconciliation Process and inpromoting the necessary security environ-ment during the Afghan Presidential andProvincial Council elections, The statementunderlined the necessity of enhancing closecoordination between the brotherly coun-tries of Afghanistan and Pakistan for effec-tive border management and reiterated thecommon resolve to combat terrorism in allits forms and manifestations.

It welcomed Pakistan’s decision to ex-tend the stay of registered Afghan refugeesin Pakistan until 31 December 2015, whilecalling upon the international communityto assist the two countries in the timely andhonorable return of Afghan refugees andtheir sustainable reintegration in Afghani-stan, The statement took note of the grow-ing people-to-people contacts betweenPakistan and Afghanistan and encouragedthat every effort be made to further develop

Continued on Page 7

Welcome to your second home, Crown Prince

Indian Navy kicks offlargest combat exercise

OBSERVER REPORT

ISLAMABAD—A joint statement issued af-ter a meeting of government and Talibannegotiators for peace talks on Friday calledupon the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan to endarbitrary activities and ensure the imple-mentation of peace in the country.

The statement expressed concern overthe recent spate of terror attacks in the coun-try while strongly condemning them. Thejoint statement reiterated that violencewould not only hamper the dialogue buthalt it altogether.

The meeting between the two sides washeld in the federal capital today. During themeeting, the government’s committee de-manded an immediate end to terror attacks.

Irfan Siddiqui, convener of the four-member government committee, said thepurpose of holding dialogue was to restorepeace in the country and added that in ab-sence of it, talks could not be held for long.

Meanwhile, the committee of TTP ne-gotiators also appealed against creating aprovocative situation. Maulana Samiul Haqand Maulana Yousuf were representing theTaliban committee whereas former chiefcleric of the Lal Masjid in Islamabad,

Shun attacks, peacenegotiators tell Taliban

Taliban team, TTP spokesman make telephonic contactMaulana Abdul Aziz, was not present atthe meeting.

Earlier, Maulana Samiul Haq, the headof the TTP’s three-man talks team, appealedto the Taliban to end all kinds of attacks.

He moreover openly condemned therecent incidents of terrorism in the port cityof Karachi. Sami alleged that foreign forcesand other anti-state elements wanted to foilpeace negotiations.

He said the Taliban had clarified that theattacks staged by them had been carried outin defence, adding that the TTP had deniedinvolvement in many of the attacks that hadrecently gripped the country.

In light of yesterday’s attack on policepersonnel in Karachi that left 13 dead, thegovernment committee expressed their con-cern about the viability of peace talks totheir counterparts, demanding that theTaliban be asked to make a clear statementto immediately stop all activities that un-dermine peace.

The Taliban committee was in agree-ment and added that the governmentshould agree not to use force either. “Atthe moment there is no ceasefire, but weare optimistic that some progress will be

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—Pakistan People’s Party leaderand Sindh Information Minister, SharjeelMemon on Friday, rebutting the allegationsof MQM, said that the operation in Karachiwas being conducted without any discrimi-nation and not against any one party.

Muttahida Qaumi Movement leaderIzharul Hassan earlier had said that theKarachi operation was being conductedagainst the MQM and not against theTaliban.

Izharul Hassan blamed that their partyworkers were being arrested for no reason,while several workers were missing. He saidthat the operation was being conducted

MQM, PPP exchangebarbs over Karachi operationMQM MPAs feel Karachi may slip into TTP hands

against MQM alone.Sharjeel Memon said that the operation

was not controversial, as target killers werealso arrested and added efforts being madeto mislead the people.

Meanwhile, MQM lawmakers express-ing their concern over slipping Karachi intothe control of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistansaid that the Sindh government and the lawenforcement agencies were not looking atthe grave situation but were busy in target-ing the MQM on the pretext of TargetedOperation in Karachi.

Khawaja Izhar Ul Hassan speaking inSindh assembly said that the Federal Inte-rior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had

Continued on Page 7

ISLAMABAD—The USHouse Appropriation Com-mittee (US-HAC) del-egation ledby theChairman ofthe Sub-Committeeon De-fence, Mr.Rodney P.Frelinghuysen had a meet-ing in Ministry of Financeon issues of bilateral politi-cal and economic concernshere Friday.

The Pakistani side wasled by Minister for Finance,

Dar for CSF streamliningto meet political exigencies

Senator Mohammad IshaqDar and his team which hadrepresentation from Minis-try of Defence. The Minis-ter for Finance briefed theUS-HAC delegation aboutthe role, mandate and func-tioning of Ministry of Fi-nance under the federalgovernment.

He underscored Gov-ernment of Pakistan’s spe-cial emphasis on three spe-cific areas of developmentfocus: “Economy, Energyand Security” in the widercontext of regional and in-ternational situation as well

Continued on Page 7

Continued on Page 7

Today’s issue of PakistanObserver carries a 4-PageSpecial Report on Visit toPakistan of Crown Prince ofKingdom of Saudi ArabiaHRH Salman bin AbdulazizAl-Saud.

Continued on Page 7

CID arrests 3Qaeda-linked

suspectsKARACHI—The CID hasarrested three men associ-ated with an organisationworking under Al Qaeda inKarachi.

The men, Junaid Alam,Armaan and Hassan, aresaid to be associated withAshaab, a group workingfor Al Qaeda. Raja UmarKhattab, in-charge of CID’santi-terrorism cell, said themen were active at the Uni-versity of Karachi and inprivate universities acrossthe country’s financial capi-tal from where the group re-cruits religiously-inclinedstudents.

The group, whose chiefis currently in Waziristan,carries out its activities inKarachi, Khattab said, add-ing that the arrested men didnot employ mobile phones

Rangers WingCommander

escapes attackSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Wing Com-mander Brig. Basit of Paki-stan Rangers Sindh nar-rowly escaped attack by asuicide bomber. However,one officer and three Rang-ers personnel were injuredin the attack and the landcruiser of Wing CommanderBrig Basit bearing registra-tion No GS-117 was partlydamaged.

Police claimed a suicidebomber had walked to the

Continued on Page 7 Continued on Page 7

New DelhiCM ArvindKejriwalresignsKARACHI—ArvindKejriwal, a leader of India’snew emerging politicalparty Aam Admi Party(AAP) and New DelhiChief Minister, resignedon Friday only 49 daysafter he assumed theoffice, media reports said.

According to reports,Kejriwal tendered hisresignation after his failedattempt to get an anti-corruption law called JanLokpal Bill approved fromthe Delhi Assembly.

“We have not comehere to save the govern-ment but the country. I willsacrifice the CM’s chair a

Team to recoverkidnapped DC,AC abductedQUETTA,—The team thatwent for the recovery oftwo senior governmentofficials, who werekidnapped a day earlier byunknown gunmen fromTump town inBalochistan’s Kechdistrict, were also ab-ducted Friday.

The recovery team washeaded by AssistantCommissioner DashtNaeem Ghichki andcomprised two tehsildars

NEW DELHI—With an all-seeing eye 36,000km abovethe equator, the IndianNavy has kicked off its larg-est exercise with both thewestern and eastern fleetsamassing in the Bay of Ben-gal for intensive combatmanoeuvres.

“Tropex” or the theatre-level readiness and opera-tional exercise underwayacross the eastern seaboardwith over 50 warships, in-cluding aircraft carrier INSViraat and nuclear subma-rine INS Chakra, as well asscores of fighters, helicop-ters and drones is a yearlyfeature. But what is new thisyear is that the month-longexercise is being held for thefirst time under the gaze ofIndia’s first dedicated mili-tary satellite GSAT-7 or“Rukmini”, which has a

2,000-nautical mile footprintover the critical Indian Oceanregion (IOR).

This geostationary na-val communication and sur-veillance satellite, launchedin August last year, is beam-ing signals from its UHF, S,Ku and C-band transpon-ders to network all Indianwarships, submarines andaircraft with operationalcentres ashore throughhigh-speed encrypted data-links.

“The exercise, with Ad-miral DK Joshi and EasternNaval Command chief ViceAdmiral Anil Chopra em-barked on board warships,is being conducted with twocompletely networked fleetswidely dispersed across theIOR in a dense maritime en-vironment,” said an officer.Apart from IAF chipping in

with its Sukhoi-30MKIs,Jaguars and IL-78 midairrefuellers, the Navy has forthe first time also deployedits newly-acquired P-8I longrange patrol aircraft or “in-telligent hawk eyes” for thewargames. The US has tillnow delivered three of theseeight sensor and radar-packed aircraft, contractedfor $2.1 billion in 2009.

Armed with potent anti-submarine warfare capabili-ties, the P-8Is are workingin conjunction with medium-range Dorniers and IsraeliSearcher-II and Heron UAVs(unmanned aerial vehicles)to create a three-tier surveil-lance grid in the heavily-mili-tarized IOR. With the west-ern fleet coming all the wayaround the Indian peninsula,the “theatre” for the exercise

Continued on Page 7

PM asks Turkishtraders to be part

of PakistanANKARA—Prime MinisterMuhammad Nawaz Sharifon Friday invited the Turk-ish businessmen to becomedevelopment partners ofPakistan and assured thegovernment’s maximum fa-cilitation to the investors.

Talking to the chairmenand CEOs Gach Group‚ ViceChairman of Noral Groupand head of Gama HoldingCompany separately here,the Prime Minister said Pa-kistan would encouragebusiness partnership be-tween Pakistan and Turkeyin private sector as well.

The Pakistani PrimeMinister highlighted themeasures taken by his gov-ernment that resulted in in-creasing the Gross Domes-tic Product’s (GDP) quar-terly rate from 2.9 to 5 per-

Continued on Page 7

Continued on Page 7

US sees moredelay likelyon Afghansecurity pactWASHINGTON—TheObama administration hasquietly stopped demand-ing that Afghan PresidentHamid Karzai finalize astalled security pact withinweeks.

That´s opening up thepossibility that a decisionon keeping US andinternational forces inAfghanistan might not bemade until after Karzai´ssuccessor is elected thisspring.

While US officials saythey still strongly prefer

Continued on Page 7

DC inauguratesprotection bund,excavation workof Jughor NullahGUL HAMAAD FAROOQI

CHITRAL—Deputy Commis-sioner Chitral MuhammadShuaib Jadoon highly hailedrole of civil society organiza-tion in development of Chitralas well as in rehabilitation ofdisaster hit areas and its vic-tims. He said that this is diffi-cult for government having lim-ited resources to overcome allissues in such a vast area likechitral. He was addressing onthe occasion of inaugurationceremony at Shooth Jughor vil-lage of construction protectionwall and excavation of the floodnulla to save the valley.

He stressed upon the localpeople to play vital role to suc-cess this plan for protection ofthis beautiful valley. He saidthat such type of natural calam-ity and disaster is a test of ourAllah Almighty and we shouldto tolerate it and to support eachother in this eve of trouble. Hehighly hailed role of ChitralIntegrated Area Developmentprogram (CIADP) for provid-ing fund for this purpose.

Program coordinator ofCIADP Asfandiyar Khan saidthat we have released 6.4 mil-lion rupees for this purpose inwhich 0.6 million share of lo-cal community. He said thatCIADP initiating different de-velopmental and rehabilitationplans with collaboration in dis-trict government and local sup-port organizations.

Shahzada Mudasirul Mulkof Creative Approach for Devel-opment (CAD) who providingtechnical support in this schemealso thanked CIADP for provid-ing fund for protection of thisvalley. He said that they havelaunched a number of develop-mental and protection work atdifferent parts of Chitral.

Muner Ahmad advocateand other speakers said that lastyear in August 2013 Jughor washit by tremendous flood caus-ing for damaging of dozens ofhouses as well as took lives ofthree children. They said thatflood victims are still waitingof relief cheques (fund) fromdistrict administration.

CHITRAL: Deputy Commissioner, Chitral, Muhammad Shuaib Jadoon inaugurating pro-tection bund and excavation work of Jughor Nullah on Friday.

TIMERGARA—Army and district police have arranged a jointopen katchery here at Dir Scout Headquarters Balambat attendedby the DSPs, SHOs of Timergara sub division and elders of thearea.

Addressing the participants on the occasion, CommandantDir Scout Col. Nasar Umer Hayat Lalilka said a specific groupwas involved in recent wave of terrorism, which wanted to derailthe peace process for their ulterior motives.

He maintained that the people of the country would neverallow such elements to succeed in their nefarious designs.

He said that these elements are involved in massacre of theinnocent men, women and children. He said that security forceswith the cooperation of the people would fight out such peoplewith iron hands.

Col. Lalilka also underscored the need for promotion of edu-cation alongside religious education in the district especiallyamong the women folk adding highly educated persons earnedlaurels for their families.

He lauded the performance of the police in the district, andadded that terrorism has no link whatsoever with ‘Jehad’ as bloodof innocent people was being shed. “We all are Muslims”, hesaid adding that Open Katchery were held to bridge the gap be-tween the people and the army vis-a-vis law and order.

The open katchery was attended by DSPs and SHOs ofTimeragara Sub Division.—APP

Army, police arrangejoint open kutchery

ISLAMABAD—Federal Secretary Communica-tions Muhammad Arshad Bhatti has taken strongnotice of irregularities found in the Pakistan PostDepartment ordered concrete steps to root outcorruption in Pakistan Post and has ordered in-quiry.

It has been unearthed that 34 residential flatsbelonging to Pakistan Post, worth millions ofrupees had been rented out illegally to peopleon exorbitant rates.Moreover fraud has also beendetected in the use of four buses meant for Pa-kistan Post employees and their children.

It has further been disclosed that the peopleoccupying the said flats are relatives of Pak-Postemployees. Similarly,the recruitment records ofthe Pakistan Post show that on 137 posts, closerelatives of the Post employees have been re-

Pre-audit system to blockmalpractices in Pak Post on cards

cruited and 4 to 5 members of the same familyare serving in the Department and that too hasbeen done with the connivance of the PostalUnion office bearers.

According to the records, millions of ru-pees have been paid in advance to developers inthe name of house building for the employeesbut the developers have not yet furnished landownership proofs nor is there any evidence ofdevelopment work on the ground and poor em-ployees are still waiting to own a house.

The Federal Secretary Communications hasconstituted a committee to conduct an inquiry anda case has also been sent to NAB to provide im-mediate relief to deserving employees. Pre- Auditsystem is also being introduced in the Pak-Post toblock malpractices in the Department.—APP

KAMRA: General Rashad Mahmood, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee visited Pakistan Aeronautical Complex Kamra.The CJCSC lauded the achievements of PAC towards attaining self-reliance and international standards in all its projects.

SALAHUDDIN HAIDER

THE flurry of diplomatic activity,witnessed with the advent of newyear, seems to have subsided, but

the Kuwait national day is now on Feb-ruary 24. However, Russians, Ameri-

cans celebrated theirDiplomats and Inde-pendence days back toback, attractive lovelycrowds and with greathospitality.

Despite the na-ture, psyche orworkforce at their dis-posal, the two coun-

tries, displayed marvelous enthusiasmand spirit to portray their respectivecountries in proper perspective. If theAmericans had a huge crowd, the Rus-sians too were not to be left behind,.They excelled in hospitality, with theConsul General Oleg Avedeev takingpersonal care of his large number ofguests who included different and im-portant segments of people.

Oleg, despite new to Pakistan, isquite familiar with subcontinent cul-

Russian, American functions were greatture, having served in Delhi andKolkatta, prefers to speak Urdu andexcels in goodwill, is kind hearted, andkeen on building relationship with Pa-kistan. He has bubbling with ideas, andhopes to win the bid for privatizationof Pakistan Steel, a huge complex,which the Russians built in the 70s.Oleg must be credited for pushing for-ward the cause of peace and strong tieswith Pakistan.

At the American reception, Ambas-sador Olson was personally present togreet his guests, and spoke warmly ofPak-US ties. The guests at the Ameri-can reception showed an enormous mixof business elite, media barons, elitewriters, diplomats, etc.

Replying to Olson’s speech, Gov-ernor Dr Ishratul Ebad recalled thesimilarities between the first US Presi-dent George Washington and Quaid-e-Azam.” Like our own Quaid-i-Azam,President Washington played an inte-gral role in securing America’s inde-pendence and setting the nation’scourse for many years to come. Paki-stan was born in a different era, andwe have faced many challenges

throughout our history, but one criticalgoal that we have achieved is a strongand enduring relationship with theUnited States. Now more than ever, ourcooperation is essential to securingpeace and stability in South Asia,” heremarked.

“Our bilateral relationship is by nomeans perfect – no relationship everis. But it has survived countless chal-lenges, and our key leaders all recog-nize the vitality of our partnership. Asyou mentioned, Mr. Ambassador, theStrategic Dialogue in which you re-cently took part was just one in a se-ries of ongoing high-level bilateralmeetings that reinforce our sharedobjectives.In addition to working oncritical security issues, Pakistan andAmerica share a commitment toPakistan’s economic and human de-velopment. We are grateful for the sig-nificant assistance from USAID inKarachi and throughout Sindh.USAID has funded a major expansionof the Jamshoro power plant, and theconstruction of a new state-of-the-arthospital in Jacobabad. I am pleasedthat construction has begun on the first

of 120 new schools that the UnitedStates will help us build here in Sindh.And these are only a few of theprojects on which we cooperate, “ hesaid.

“ I am also proud of the economicpartnerships that the people and com-panies of Sindh have established withthe United States. There are many moreopportunities for U.S. firms in Sindhand I hope to see more U.S. investmenthere as a way to build bridges betweenour two countries. I also believe thatthe people-to-people partnerships arekey to combating the misunderstand-ings and stereotypes that challenge ourrelationship, and I am glad that so manyresidents of Sindh have benefited fromAmerican exchange programs. “ saidthe Governor.

Agreeing with the ambassador, theGovernor remarked that “ we must re-main optimistic and dedicated to ourgoals, no matter how difficult they orthe working environment might seem.Only by following this philosophy canour two great nations secure a brighterfuture for our people and a more stableand prosperous future for the world.”

RAZA NAQVI

ATTOCK—Provincial Finance Minister Siraj UlHaq has said that the solution to all over prob-lems lies in Islamic system and interest freeeconomy. Secularism, Liberalism is not the so-lution at all. He said this while addressing a gath-ering on the occasion of concluding ceremonyof Jamiat Tulaba-e-Arabia Attock.

On the occasion Organizer JTA MehmoodBashir, Secretary General JTA Abdur Rauf,Deputy General Secretary JTA Fazul ul Rehman,Dist Ameer Jamat e Islami Malik Iqbal, Secre-tary Information Tahir Mehmood JTA and otheroffice bearers of JTA were also present.

Siraj ul Haq said if we want to get solutionof the prevailing situation then we will have tofollow the teaching of Islam and Sunnah of theholy prophet PBUH he said that it was a pitythat we want the solution of all over problemsin followings western society and this all is be-cause of over weak belief.

He said we must understand challenges andmust update over selves with the prevailing sce-nario. Provincial minister said we must learn dif-

Liberalism, secularism notsolution to problems: Siraj

ferent languages to promote the teaching of Is-lam affectively. We must follow Quranic teach-ings as it has solutions to all the problems.

He also criticize world bank and said thatworld bank can not bring us out of the presentfinancial crisis and said that only interest freeeconomy will bring real change.

He said KPK Government has introducedIslamic Banking in Swat, Dir, Peshawar and sofar attracted 155000 clients with the deposit ofrupees14 billion. Siraj ul Haq emphasized uponthe young lot to equip them selves other mod-ern knowledge and techniques to face the chal-lenges and emphasized upon them not to closetheir eyes.

He said we want the system where presi-dent of the country will lead prayer congrega-tion and prime minister will give call for prayer(Azan) and chief justice will be having Quranin his hands and then Pakistan will be a welfarestate. He also criticize Bilawal Bhutto and saidthat recent cultural week celebrated in MoinjoDharo was not the culture of Sindh and said thatBilawal to promote Sindhi Cultural of which heis unaware.

STAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Gov-ernor, Engineer Shaukatullah has said that re-search and innovation are the vehicles of posi-tive change and the nations who led in these twoareas, always lead the world. “The gap betweenthe developed and developing nations is widen-ing all the time because of progress on one sideand stagnation on the other and such a state ofdivide reflects the level of imbalance in theirresearch focus”, he remarked.

Addressing the inaugural ceremony of 3 –Day 5th Khyber Medical University AnnualHealth Research Conference held under the ae-gis of its Office of Research Innovation andCommercialization at its premises at Hayatabad,Peshawar on Friday, the Governor further ob-served that it in fact is the job of universities togenerate research based knowledge and comeup with innovations to address the issues whichthe people are faced with.

Provincial minister for Health, Mr. ShaukatAli Yousafzai, Vice Chancellor of the Univer-sity, Prof. Dr. Hafeezullah, Prof. Dr. MukhtarZaman, Director, ORIC and Prof. Dr. Junaid A.Razzaq, Chairman, Department of EmergencyMedicines of Agha Khan University also spokeon this occasion and highlighted importance ofresearch development in health sector. Referringto theme of the conference – “Today’s Research;Tomorrow’s Health”, the Governor particularlymentioned the top killer diseases and said that

Research, innovation bringchange in society’s values

to him, they all need to be the integral part ofthe Research Agenda, 2030 of the respectiveinstitutions”.

The Khyber Medical University, the Gov-ernor said, with seven constituent and 28 affili-ated institutes being the single public sector in-stitution of higher learning in the province bearsthe huge responsibility of fulfilling the expecta-tions of the government, public, policy makersand managers in finding innovative solutions tothe existing and emerging issues and it also hasthe capability in meeting the emerging chal-lenges successfully. “Local solutions of the localproblems will definitely lead to a positive changein the healthcare delivery system and makingits efficiency up to the desired standards”, hepointed out.

While appreciating presence of a team ofprofessionals from Agha Khan University in theconference, the Governor said that he is alsoaware of the focus of their institution on emer-gency medicine which indeed bears great rel-evance to the state of disastrous situations which,we in this province of our beloved country havebeen going through. The outcome of this mootof great importance, he said, will indeed be ea-gerly awaited.

Prof. Dr. Hafeezullah earlier addressing theconference said that the university since its es-tablishment seven years ago has developed sevenconstituent institutions and also bears the honourfor having unique capability on certain countsat national level.

Governmentland vacated

ABDUL KHALIQ QURESHI

ABBOTTABAD—District Ad-ministration in a another suc-cessful anti encroachment drivein Havelian has got vacatedtwo kilometers area from morethen 160 illegal occupants whohad encroached governmentvaluable land since long.

Anti encroachment drivewhich was started few daysback reached to its climax onFriday when Havelian TehsilAdministration under the super-vision of Assistant Commis-sioner Abbottabad OsamaWarraich cleared the inner cityroads.

AC Abbottabad whilebriefing newsmen here onFriday informed that as manyas 160 buildings were demar-cated as per the revenuerecord from DSP office toRailway station and were is-sued notices. They started theoperation with the support ofTMA Havelian and success-fully evacuated the en-croached road from 6 feet to32 feet including some multistory buildings.

Osama appreciated the co-operation of general public, in-fluential of the area as well aspoliticians in the drive and didnot create any hindrance in itssmooth completion. Osama toldthat local administration evendid not spare the TMA cabinswhich were constructed overmullah.

People of the area them-selves removed the demarcatedencroachments and success-fully completed the IST phaseof the anti encroachment driveat Havelian.

Osama who has earlier al-most completed the anti en-croachment drive at KarkuramHighway (KKH) in Abbottabadassured that remaining 10 %work will be completed in shortspan of time.

PESHAWRA—Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ministerfor Health Shaukat Ali Yousafzai attended theChief Minister complaint Cell on Friday, per-sonally listened public grievances and issued onthe spot directives to the concerned quarters forits redressal.He was assisted by Chairman of theCell Haji Dilroz Khan, Vice-ChairmanMukarram Khan Afridi and Parliamentary Sec-retary for Planning & Development MianKhaliqur Rehman.

Health Minister soon after Juma prayers ar-rived in the cell and remained there till late in

PTI ends evils of corruption,nepotism in government deptt

the evening where he received complaintsthrough telephone calls, email, fax and Dak andissued necessary directives for their redressal.

He assured the callers that not only their com-plaints would be redressed but they would soonfeel positive changes in the service delivery of govtdepartments after the enforcement of accountabil-ity commission, access to service and access toinformation laws because these laws would makeit binding on the government officials to fulfill theexpectations of the public by improving the publicservice delivery system.—APP

WAH CANTT—Hassanabdal Police in two dif-ferent attempts foiled bids to smuggle huge quan-tity of arms, ammunition and narcotics besidearresting three smugglers on Friday.

According to Police sources, a police partyon a tip off, intercepted a car (bearing numberIslamabad UG- 569) near Burhan interchangeand arrested Aamir Riaz and Shah Masood, re-covered 20 guns and 25 thousand rounds of dif-ferent weapons including 1560 rounds of Submachine gun, 36 magazines of 12 bore gun, 2450rounds of 9 MM, 16600 rounds of 30 bore, 2450

Bids to smuggle arms, narcotics foiledrounds of 8MM rifle and 2,000 rounds of 44bore rifle from their possession. During prelimi-nary interrogation the accused confessed thatthese weapons were transported to different ar-eas of Punjab.

While in another raid, Police party led bySub Inspector Javaid Bajouri foiled a bid tosmuggle 13 kilogram charas from KPK toPunjab and arrested Qasim Saleem resident ofMansehara, member of an inter provincial gangof drug smugglers. Police have registeredseparate cases against the culprits.—APP

Gen Rashadvisits

AeronauticalComplex KamraRAWALPNDI—Chairman JointChiefs of Staff Committee(CJCSC), General RashadMahmood Friday visited Paki-stan Aeronautical Complex(PAC) Kamra.

The CJCSC lauded theachievements of PAC towardsattaining self-reliance and inter-national standards in all itsprojects.

PAC is one of the flag shiporganization of defenceproduction.It regularly show-cases its projects in different in-ternational air shows and exhi-bitions, said an ISPR press re-lease issued here.Earlier on ar-rival at PAC Kamra, the CJCSCwas received by the ChairmanPAC, Air Marshal Sohail GulKhan.—APP

Section 144for CSSexams

SARGODHA—District Coor-dination Officer (DCO) TariqMehmood imposed Section144 of CrPC for CSS exami-nations starting from Satur-day under the aegis of theFederal Public Service Com-mission.

The District CoordinationOfficer banned the entry ofirrelevant persons within 300yards of examination centresset up at Universi ty ofSargodha (UoS), Govern-ment Ambala High Schooland Government ElementaryTeachers College.

The District CoordinationOfficer also banned relevantbooks, cell phones and photocopier machines within 500yards of the centres, says anotification.—APP

IGP takesnotice of

recruitmentirregularities

PESHAWAR—Taking noticeof complaints regarding ir-regularities and corruptionin Frontier Reserve Police(FRP) recruitments carriedout in July 2013, the IGP KPNasir Khan Durrani hastransferred the DeputyCommandant FRP andclosed him to CPO, said apress release issued here onFriday.

The IGP also suspendedRI FRP inspector, OASI FRPand Reader to Deputy Com-mandant FRP. A high levelcommittee comprising ofAdditional IGP Investiga-tion Khyber PakhtunkhwaShaukat Hayat and RegionalPolice Officer Kohat Dr.Ishtiaq Marwat has beenconstituted to conduct en-quiry into the allegations.Meanwhile, it is also re-ported that KhyberPakhtunkhwa Police duringongoing search and strikeoperation has arrested 30pro-claimed offenders and amilitant, recovered hugecache of arms and ammuni-tions from their possession.

According to details,Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Policeduring last 24 hours recov-ered 39 kalashnikov, 2kalashnikov, 15 short gunriffles and 660 cartridgeswhile 22 kilograms of charaswere also seized during op-eration in different parts ofthe province. Similarly, 107vehicles were also checkedthrough mobile sim.—APP

109-year-oldschool in

dilapidatedconditionSTAFF REPORTER

DASKA—Government Pri-mary School Purana Daskawhich was constructed in1905 was now in a very di-lapidated condition as thestudents used to drink wa-ter and use washroom at thesame place that was affect-ing their health. It was atemple actually that wasconverted into a school af-ter the partition of Indo-Paksub continent in 1947.

The school’s strengthwas more than 700 that de-creased to 288 as five roomsand three washrooms weredeclared dangerous after theearthquake in 2005 whileeight teachers also left theschool owing to this awfulsituation. The EducationDepartment was told aboutthe situation time and againbut nobody had ever lis-tened to them, said schoolprinciple

Some months ago whenthe students were not in theclass room fortunately, aportion of the roofs felldown and the students werenarrowly escaped.

Now the children werenot willing to sit in therooms and were compelledto take education in the opensky even in severe weatherconditions while the en-trance of the school wasalso in a dangerous condi-tion.

The officials concernedsaid they had been bringingthe matter into the notice ofhigher authorities but theydid not notice the school’scondition. The principal saidthe students in the schoolwere the children of the poorand could not bear the ex-penditures of privateschools.

The students and teach-ers have appealed to thePunjab Chief MinisterMuhammad Shehbaz Sharif,and Sialkot District Coordi-nation Officer (DCO) IftikharAli Saho to take notice ofthe matter.

PESHAWAR—Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ChiefSecretary Muhammad Shehzad Arbab hassaid that joint efforts of the provincial gov-ernment and the development partners willcontribute much to building more peacefuland stable new Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Addressing a two-day workshop onStrategic Development Partnership Frame-work at a local hotel in Islamabad on Fri-day, he called upon all the donors to aligntheir individual strategies with the priori-ties of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa govern-ment as per principles of the aid effective-ness.

He further emphasized that all the pro-vincial administrative secretaries shouldplay their pro-active role in ensuring closecoordination with the development partnersand implement the reforms already initiatedby the present government.

The workshop was convened by theKhyber Pakhtunkhwa Planning and Devel-opment department in collaboration withUK-AID. All the donor agencies and ad-ministrative secretaries of the provincialgovernment departments, technocrats andmembers of civil society participated in theopening session.

The chief secretary said that the pro-vincial government believed in financialtransparency, mutual accountability, equalpartnership and participation in decisionmaking at grass root level.

Meanwhile, the Additional Chief Secre-tary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khalid Pervez inhis address emphasized the importance ofthe strategic development partnershipframework and informed the participantsthat the provincial government was keento achieve the targets fixed mutually withthe development partners in the reforms

Govt, dev partners’ effortsto make KP prosperous

agenda of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa gov-ernment.

He appreciated the proactive role of allthe donors in the sector coordination com-mittees to translate this strategy into ac-tion.

He also emphasized that all the secre-taries should ensure their next year propos-als for the budget to be aligned with therecommendations of the partnership strat-egy.

The Secretary Planning and Develop-ment Department Dr. Aftab Akbar Durrani,gave a comprehensive presentation on theSDPF and highlighted the priorities of theKPK government, the challenges faced byit and the potential areas where the prov-ince had comparative advantages.

In the second session, a group discus-sion was arranged in which the experts weredistributed in 8 groups. The groups dis-cussed priorities of the government includ-ing economic growth, job creation, peacebuilding, rule of law, social service deliveryin basic health, elementary and secondaryeducation.

The groups also discussed improvingthe citizen participation and bringing statecloser to the citizens, improved transpar-ency and accountability, enhanced fiscalspace for economic and social developmentas well as gender equality.

The workshop will continue on Satur-day and the administrative secretaries willspeak on the above areas. Discussion ondonors harmonization will also be held withthe closing remarks by the additional chiefsecretary.

The participants of the workshop willformulate their recommendations and willcompile the outcomes and outputs.—APP

Govt taking steps tocheck power theft: Abid

FAISALABAD—State Minister for Water and PowerChaudary Abid Sher Ali said that it was a national obliga-tion to stop electricity theft and the government was tak-ing measures to eradicate it.

Talking to media persons after inaugurating renova-tion work of Sandal Bar Enclave greenbelt at Canal Roadhere on Friday, the minister said that it was the top priorityof the government to overcome the energy crisis and main-taining law and order in the country.

He said that 1500 to 2000 megawatt electricity wouldbe added to the system under the government energypolicy and a mega project had also been initiated to pro-duce electricity from coal. The PML-N government is work-ing for national progress and prosperity by initiating anumber of projects.

This was stated by State Minister for Water and PowerChaudary Abid Sher Ali while inaugurating renovationwork of Sandal Bar Enclave greenbelt on Canal Road hereon Friday.

The project was adopted by leading industrialist MianIdrees Ahmed. DCO Noor-ul-Amin Mengal, Managing Di-rector Parks and Horticulture Agency (PHA) Ashiq Dogar,Prof. Atif Qureshi of Horticulture Department of Univer-sity of Agriculture Faisalabad and other officers were alsopresent.

The minister appreciated the excellent role of industri-alists for extending cooperation in the project of city beau-tification.

He said that both sides of the Canal Road were beingrenovated with greenbelts. He said that various otherprojects had also been planned for the development andbeautification of Faisalabad city and different link roadswould be constructed for easing traffic problems on mainroads.—APP

SCBA to playvital role for

judiciary sanctityBASHIR AHMAD

REHMANI

H A F I Z A B A D — K a m r a nMurtaza President SupremeCourt Bar Association saidthat present judiciary is tak-ing all-out efforts for insti-tution building which wouldgo a long way for rule of lawand upholding supremacyof constitution.

He was addressing oath-taking ceremony of the of-fice-bearers of District barAssociation Hafizabad onFriday.

He said that in the pastefforts were made for per-sonality building insteadof strengthening the insti-tution.

He said that SupremeCourt Bar and Lahore HighCourt Bar Associationswould continue to play theirvital role in resolving theproblems of the black coatsand sanctity of judiciary.Referring to parleys withTaliban for ensuring peacein the country, he said thatwe and the nation pray forits success but he has leasthope for their success andit would be mere waste oftime.

He said that all the prob-lems including terrorismwere due to US interventionin Afghanistan and hopedthat the menace of extrem-ism/terrorism would be re-solved after the pullout ofUS/NATO forces from Af-ghanistan.

He said that the land ofHafizabad is very “fertile”and it has produced severaltalented lawyers includingpresent sitting PresidentLHCBA Abid Saqi, Ch.Muhammad Asif CheemaGeneral Secretary SCBA,members Pakistan BarCouncil Ch. MuhammadAhsan Bhoon and Ch. AzamNazir Tarar and ex-memberPunjab Bar Council (whowere also present in the oathtaking ceremony).

They also briefly ad-dressed the gathering. Ear-lier, Kamran Murtaza admin-istered oath of office to thenewly-elected office-bear-ers of the DBA while AbidSaqi administered oath tothe members of ExecutiveCouncil of DBA.

District and SessionJudge Hafizabad MushtaqAhmad Tarar and other lo-cal judges were also presenton the occasion.

PESHAWAR: A view of destruction after clash between two students rival groups in Peshawar University overValentine Day celebrations in the campus.

SWAT: A Pakistan Army doctor checking the patients at a free medical camp inTehsil Kabbal.

ISLAMABAD—Partly cloudy weather conditions with lightrain and snow over the hills is expected at isolated placesof Kashmir, Gilgit Baltistan, Rawalpindi, Islamabad,Gujranwala, Lahore, Malakand and Hazara divisions dur-ing next 24 hours.

Met office reported here on Friday that a shallow west-erly wave is affecting upper parts of the country and likelyto persist during next 12-18 hours.

It said mainly cold and dry weather is expected in mostparts of the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during next24 hours however, partly cloudy conditions with light rainand snow over the hills is expected at isolated places ofboth the provinces.

In Sindh and Balochistan mainly cold and dry weatherforecast in most parts duringsame time span.

Lowest minimum Tempera-ture recorded during last 24hours remained Astore -09øC,Kalam, Skardu -07øC, Kalat,Gupis -06øC, Hunza -05øC,Gilgit, Quetta -04øC.

Minimum Temperatures recorded at Other Cities wereIslamabad 03øC, Lahore 05øC, Karachi 12øC, Peshawar03øC, Quetta -06øC, Murree -02øC, Muzaffarabad 03øC,Gilgit -04øC, Faisalabad 05øC, Multan 08øC, Hyderabad13øC. The KP Met Office forecast light rain with snowfallover the hills on Friday evening/night at isolated places inUpper Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan(GB) during next 24 hours that would hopefully decreasean existing temperature.

According to Met Office here, a shallow westerly waveis affecting upper parts of the country and is likely topersist during next 24 hours.—APP

Light rain likelyin upcountry

ABBOTTABAD: An old Afghan woman carrying useditems on her back to sell the stuff to earn livelihood.

MANSOOR PIRZADA

GHOTKI—A joint team of FIA, SEPCO andSSGC caught gas pilferers red handed at abakery here in Daharki yesterday but own-ers and others attacked and openedstraight firing on the team.

According to reports, SDO SSGC IqbalHussain Chachar, SDO SEPCO Ishaq Shar,Inspector FIA Mohammad Arshad alongwith thier team conducted a raid at a bakerynear railway station Daharki to detect thepower and gas theft. The team found gastheft on the spot and arrested one of thestaffer. The staff of the bakery started ex-change of harsh words with the team.

As team was further performing its du-ties, people at the bakery brought arms and

Power, gas team attackedin Daharki, 3 injured

opened straight firing, broke vehicleglasses, robbed arms from FIA personneland snatched official documents.

SDO SSGC Iqbal Hussain Chachar toldmedia that Mian Iqbal Ahmed, Mian MunirAhmed and six other armed persons openedstraight firing on the team and tortured themresulting three members of the raiding teamwere injured. SDO SEPCO Ishaq Shar futhertold that the people made the team hostagefor at least half an hour.

He said after the negotiations they freedthem but did not return the arms and offi-cial record.

A case has been registered againsttwenty people at Daharki police stationunder section 395, 7ATA and 425 on theapplication of XEN SEPCO Mukhtiar Ansari.

ANP seeks probeinto firing incident

at residence ofMian Iftikhar

PE S H AWA R—An emer-gency meeting of the or-ganizing committee of theAwami National Party Fri-day demanded ini t iat ionof proper inquiry into thefir ing incident on theresidence of i ts leaderand former informationminister Mian If t ikharHussain in Pabbi the otherday.

Interim provincial presi-dent Bashir Khan Mattachaired the meetging held atBacha Khan Markaz. Themeeting expressed concernover incident of firing byunknown miscreants at theresidence of former KP In-formation Minister and ANPleader Mian Iftikhar Hussainin Mohallah Miankhel inPabbi.

The meeting demandedof the authority to registerproper FIR into the incidentand facts should be madepublic.

The culprits should bearrested and brought tojustice. The hidden handsbehind the incident shouldalso be exposed, the meet-ing further demanded.—APP

ISLAMABAD—Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natu-ral Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has said that Pa-kistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) leadership wasworking efficiently to overcome challenges includingenergy crisis and terrorism.

The government was utilizing all its resources toresolve the long standing energy problem in the coun-try, he added.

Talking to media, the minister said that energy sec-tor had been neglected for last many years, addingthat PML-N government was giving special attentionon it after taking power.

The minister said that providing gas to the domes-tic consumers was top priority of the government, add-ing PML-N would overcome shortage of gas in oneyear through importing of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)from Qatar.

He hoped that LNG would be available in the coun-try by November 2014 and importing of gas was theonly fast and short term solution to meet the gas de-mand of the country.

Replying to a quest ion, the minister saidTurkmenistan Afghanistan Pakistan India (TAPI) gasproject would start soon and hurdles were being re-moved in this regard.

He said that availabil i ty of gas in the countrywould helpful to reduced loadshedding and decreasethe prices of electricity.

Replying to another question, he said that TharCoal project was inaugurated jointly by the Prime Min-ister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and former Presi-dent Asif Ali Zardari some days earlier and the projectwould play important role regarding energy situationin future.

Shahid Khaqan said that international sanctionson Iran was a big hurdle in Iran Pakistan gas pipelineproject.—APP

PML-N leadership to resolvenational issues: Shahid

Studentsclash leavesone injured

PESHAWAR—The studentsof two organizations of Uni-versity of Peshawar (UoP)clashed over selection ofvenue for celebrations ofValentine Day here on Fri-day as one student sus-tained injuries during bodyscuffle and aerial firing.

According to Police, thestudents of two different stu-dents’ organizations clashedover selection of venue forValentine Day celebrationsand resorted to aerial firingcoupled with physical scuffleamong them.

As result one studentsustained injuries and wasshifted to hospital for treat-ment. Later, the studentsgathered at VC Chowk onRoad No-2 at UoP andstarted slogans.—APP

Kishwar Naheedhonoured

ISLAMABAD—The Sustain-able Development PolicyInstitute (SDPI) organized aspecial gathering here onFriday in honor of KishwarNaheed, renowned writer,poet and literary critic, as atribute for her valuable con-tributions to Urdu literatureand towards human rightsactivism.

The session also in-cluded recitation of some ofthe popular work byKishwar Naheed. The gath-ering was attended by emi-nent writers and poets fromPakistan’ literary commu-nity, including ShamimIkram-ul-Haq, IntezarHussain, Ashfaq SaleemMirza, and Ahmed Salim.

The panel of speakersalso included representa-tives from the civil societyand academia, includingNaeem Mirza, CEO AuratFoundation, TahiraAbdullah, women’s rightsactivist, and AyeshaSiddiqa.

The panel applaudedthe work of KishwarNaheed, particularly in thecontext of her life-longstruggle for human rightsand women empowermentin Pakistan.

Speaking on the occa-sion, Abid Suleri, ExecutiveDirector, SDPI, said that theoccasion marked the begin-ning of a series of events thatSDPI will be organizingthrough the year in the honorof ‘living legends in Pakistan’.

He said that it is alsoimportant to promote aware-ness on liberal arts and lit-erature in Pakistan. Panelistsalso narrated some of thewritings of Kishwar Naheed,including work translatedinto other languages.—APP

Drugs addictprisoner diesin hospital

GUJRANWALA—A drug ad-dict prisoner of GujranwalaCentral Jail expired in DistrictHeadquarters (DHQ) Hospi-tal on Friday.

Police said that a drugaddict identified as Akhtar, 51,was imprisoned in central jailover drugs paddling charges.

Due to non availability ofdrugs condition of the pris-oner deteriorated after whichhe was shifted to DHQ wherehe expired during treatment.

District and session judgeTariq Iftikhar taking the no-tice of death of prisoner hasconstituted inquiry commit-tee headed by judicial mag-istrate and directed for inves-tigation and presenting a re-port in this regard.—INP

Gunmen killHC, SHO,ASI sustain

injuriesSWABI—Unidentified gun-men opened indiscriminatefiring on a car at Jaddongraveyard, killing a headconstable and injuring Sta-tion House Officer (SHO)and Assistant Sub Inspec-tor of Industrial EstateGadoon Amazai, police saidFriday.

SHO Muhammad RiazKhan along with ASIZiaullah and constableMuhammad Wisal were vis-iting to Malik Abad Gadoonfor patrolling purposes onWednesday night when un-known assailants am-bushed their vehicle atGadoon Graveyard. As a re-sult of firing, Wisal waskilled on the spot and theother two cops sustainedbullet wounds and wererushed to Lady ReadingHospital Peshawar.

The funeral prayer ofWisal was offered at SwabiPolice Lines and was at-tended by DPO Sajjad Khanalong with police officersand jawans in large number.Later, his body was shiftedto Rustam Sir Dheri wherehe was laid to rest with fullpolice honour. Police haveregistered FIR and startedinvestigation.—APP

Taliban shouldshudder if talks fail

THOUGH both the Government and the TTP negotiating teams havedescribed first round of their dialogue as positive expressing hopesthat the process would move towards fruitful conclusion but there

are a number of ominous developments that could undermine the peaceprospects. The situation also underscores the urgency to arrive at someunderstanding for cessation of hostilities as without this the dialogue pro-cess can derail any time due to reckless behaviour of Taliban or conspira-cies being hatched by a number of other vested interests.

It has rightly been pointed out by Senators that one hundred and twentyprecious lives have been lost since beginning of the dialogue and themost provocative and serious was an attack on Police bus in Karachi onThursday resulting into martyrdom of 13 commandos and injuries to 57others. And what has added insult to the injury is the daredevil statementof TTP accepting responsibility for the dastardly attack. Though it is nothundred percent sure whether all of the terrorist attacks that have beenunleashed in recent days are attributable to TTP as in this age of complextechnological innovations manoeuvring of information is quite possiblebut a media report quoting Taliban to continue their killing spree on thepretext of killing of their colleagues in Swabi and Peshawar is intriguing.It is in this backdrop that Interior Minister Ch Nisar Ali Khan, who isotherwise one of the strongest supporters of peace dialogue, was com-pelled to warn that terrorism and talks cannot go side by side. Similarmessage has been conveyed in a letter written by the government team tothe Taliban dialogue team, which speaks volumes about the growing trustdeficit. Under these circumstances, pressure is building up on the Gov-ernment to abandon the path of talks and go for an all out operation. Ifthat becomes inevitable and it seems things are going towards direction,there would be catastrophic consequences and the major brunt of the fa-talities will have to be borne out by the TTP as it is ultimately the might ofstate that prevails. Atmosphere of peace dialogue is being polluted bymedia statements as well as negative actions and this cannot go on for anindefinite period. Therefore, we would urge Taliban to review their policy,agree to unconditional ceasefire and listen to the saner advice to return tothe national mainstream for their own sake and for the sake of Pakistan.

Karzai is nowalmost dictating US

TRILATERAL summit of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkey concludedin Ankara with an understanding that security issues would be addressed

on urgent basis since regional peace and development depends upon eradi-cation of terror activities. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Turkish leadershipand President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan discussed a wide range of is-sues pertaining to regional security, stability and development.

The tone and tenor of Prime Minister Sharif, President Abdullah Guland President Karzai, during their joint press conference after the sum-mit, conveyed a vivid impression that all the three countries were mindfulof the fact that security issues will have to be addressed on priority basisfor the sake of economic development and welfare of their people. ThePakistani leader, during his visit to Kabul, had announced a number ofmega projects to bring the two countries closer in different fields butunderstandably these can materialize and produce the desired results onlyif peaceful conditions are restored in the war-torn Afghanistan. Ankarasummit was significant as it was held in the backdrop of expected secu-rity transition in Afghanistan from where foreign occupation troops areleaving and as a consequence a new scenario is emerging. But the mostvivid aspect of the joint news conference was the categorical and emphaticstance of President Karzai over issues involving exercise of Afghan sover-eignty. He has successfully thwarted pressure tactics by Washington to com-pel him to sign the BSA with the United States, making it clear that it wouldnot be done unless Afghan concerns are addressed. He has also released 65Taliban prisoners from jail despite strong protests by the United States,which believes they could pose serious threat to NATO and Afghan forces.But Karzai defended his position and instead told the US to stop harassingAfghanistan, which is a clear message to the US to behave. It seems thatahead of withdrawal of foreign troops, Karzai wants to improve relationswith Taliban who are still a formidable forces despite one and a half de-cade of military operations by the United States. Some may describe theposition adopted by Karzai as foxy and slippery but this is in line with theground realities and this is how one should resist foreign dictation.

Crown Prince to furthergel Pak-KSA ties

SAUDI Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud is arriving inIslamabad today (Saturday) on a three-day visit to Pakistan to discuss

the entire gamut of bilateral relations with the Pakistani leadership be-sides extensive consultations on regional and international issues of mu-tual interest. The visit takes place in the midst of a number of high-levelexchanges between the two countries aimed at cementing their ties fur-ther as per requirements of the changed regional and global scenario.

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia already enjoyed a strong strategic relation-ship but latest developments have necessitated the need to review it andtake it to new heights to the mutual advantage. Of late, the United Statesand some of its Western allies have started a dubious game in the MiddleEast aimed obviously at un-easing its erstwhile allies in the region in-cluding Saudi Arabia. Some of the developments are equally worryingboth for Pakistan and Saudi Arabia and the two brotherly countries havebeen holding consultative sessions on how best to safeguard their inter-ests. It is expected that on the occasion of the visit of the Saudi dignitary,the two countries would sign a number of defence and trade agreements.Saudi Arabia enjoys enormous goodwill in Pakistan because of its time-tested and sincere friendship for the country. For millions and millions ofPakistanis Saudi Arabia is dearer to them than their own country because ofreligious bonds and the affectionate policy of Saudi rulers towards peopleof Pakistan. Consolidation of ties with KSA would also be in line with‘Look Arab policy’ that some experts have been urging Pakistani leaders tofollow as a way out of the economic and security woes of the country.

Pakistan lags on development goals

Obama’sambassadors!

AS an adult, Shirley TempleBlack shed her signatureringlets, became a Republi-

can fundraiser and went on to a ca-reer as a respected diplomat in theNixon, Ford and George H.W. Bushadministrations. Even her boss,Henry Kissinger, was impressed,calling her “very intelligent, verytough-minded and very disci-plined.” But not all fundraisers areas able as Black, who died Mon-day. Consider George James Tsunis,who has been nominated by Presi-dent Obama as ambassador to Nor-way, and Colleen Bell, Obama’spick to be ambassador to Hungary.Both won their appointments afterbundling money for the president’sre-election campaign, and both gotoff to inauspicious starts at theirconfirmation hearings.

It was hard not to cringe watch-ing Tsunis answer questions lastmonth during his Senate confirma-tion hearing. If you missed it, Tsunisdismissed Norway’s anti-immigrantProgress Party as a “fringe” elementand said, “I will tell you Norwayhas been very quick to denouncethem.” As Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) pointed out, the ProgressParty is part of ruling coalition.Tsunis also referred to Norway’s“president.” A constitutional mon-archy, Norway has no president.Bell did no better; her response to aquestion about US strategic inter-ests in Hungary dissolved into anuntrackable collection of words thatseemed to confuse strategic inter-ests with priorities. You know, lawenforcement and human rights andstuff. It does no good to pillory Bellfor her inability to think on her feet,nor Tsunis for his ignorance —though his failure to absorb rudi-mentary details about his postingcountry should make the WhiteHouse wonder exactly how effec-tive a representative he will be. Thisis risk Obama takes in rewardingpolitical friends with jobs for whichthey are ill-prepared.

This page has chastised Obamaon the issue before, most recentlyover his decision to send formerpresidential daughter CarolineKennedy to Japan. Rewarding po-litical backers with ambassadorialseats is hardly new, but Obama hasbeen noteworthy in two key ways:He has made such appointments ata higher rate than the last few ad-ministrations, and he has done soafter saying, shortly before assum-ing office, that his “general incli-nation is to have civil service, wher-ever possible, serve in these posts.”Despite the stumbles of Tsunis andBell, White House Press SecretaryJay Carney said the president retains“confidence in all the nominees he’sput forward for ambassadorial po-sitions.” The question is, how muchconfidence should the Americanpeople have in Obama’s judgmentin ambassadors?— Los Angeles Times

*****

Violenceagainst women

WE fully share the sentiments of our sisters whoare demanding justice for

those women victims of violencefor whom justice has remained adistant dream. It is astonishing thatonly a handful of 2 lakh cases ofviolence against women filed be-tween 2002 and 2013 have beencleared till now. And what betterway than to ventilate their griev-ances at the slow progress of thesecases than holding a demonstrationon February 14 with the theme,“Demanding Justice” under thebanner of “Uddome UttoroneShotokoti.”

While we would like to assurethe organisers that they are not alonein their effort to establish rights ofwomen we would suggest that theyfocus on the entire gamut of the is-sue of violence against womenwhile invoking the help of the high-est judiciary.We would like to flagan important aspect of issue, as wehave done in past, that to combatthe menace of violence againstwomen and girls we need a collec-tive approach straddling supposedgender barrier. Unfortunately, sys-tem in Bangladesh is heavilyweighted against women. And itneeds both systemic and attitudinalchange, in collective psyche ofmale-dominated society that takesthe matter of men dominatingwomen as not only given but also afait accompli, to tackle the problem.That, along with strident measuresto deal with the perpetrators of vio-lence against women can ensurethat phenomenon is done away withfor good. — The Independent

MEDIA WATCH

EDUCATION is a basicsource which can singlehandedly turns the fortune

for any nation and can be the bestand most appropriate step for anyrespective problems any state isgoing through. If we see nationswho have developed their infra-structure and are on the top rank-ing it’s just because of focus oneducational system.

We all know the importance ofeducation it is the most importantaspect of any nation’s survival to-day. Education builds the nationsand it determines the future of anation but sadly in Pakistan thepolicies which we have adoptedour seriously damaging us.Through my research I found thatUNESCO (United Nations Educa-tional, Scientific and Cultural Or-ganization) released its GlobalMonitoring Report 2012, givingthe latest data about the literacyrate in the world countries.

The facts and figures given inthe report about Pakistan surprisedall concerned in the country onceagain. The report says that illiteracypercentage in Pakistan was 79% in2012-2013 and its number was 180in the list of 221 countries. In otherwords, only 21% population of thecountry is educated.

We all know that Islam stressesthe need for getting education, it issad to note that the majority of Mus-lim countries are far behind othersin this field. In Islam, seekingknowledge is a sacred duty; it isobligatory on every Muslim, maleand female. The first word revealedof the Quran was “Iqra”. Read! But

research studies have always shownthat Muslims are paying no atten-tion to this Holy Command of AllahAlmighty. Providing break-up ofdata and in-depth details, theUNESCO report states that illiteracypercentage in Pakistan was 72% inthe youth aged 15 to 24 years, 57%in the ages 25 to 44 years, 46% in45 to 54 years old and 38% in thepeople aged 55 to 64 years in theyear 2012.

Being a Pakistani, it is sad tonote that Pakistan remained belowin literacy as compared to even un-derdeveloped and developing stateslike Nepal and Burma, besides SriLanka, Iran and China. It remainedabove Afghanistan and Bangladeshin the list. Pakistan is lagging be-hind in the achievement of Millen-nium Development Goals (MDGs),while a lot of work is to be done inthe education sector to achieveMDGs, especially in the remote ar-eas and FATA, where the female lit-eracy rate is just three per cent. Sothe devolution of education to theprovinces was a unanimous politi-cal decision and the provinces wouldhave to make efforts to cope withthis heavy responsibility of improv-ing and developing education.

Sughra Solangi a renowned de-velopment practitioner who worksfor the betterment of marginalizedcommunities believes that empow-ering girls and women through qual-ity education is the smartest invest-ment for breaking the poverty cycleand achieving social justice. Thefact, definitely, highlights the needfor educating women folk on a pri-ority basis, as only education couldgive this oppressed segment of so-ciety freedom from injustice and sla-very of oppressive forces sayssolangi.Now, let me talk about ourpolicy makers, it seems they are not

working efficiently. Every yearpolicy for education is reviewed bythe government but the results aresimilar. Illiteracy rate is going up-wards in Pakistan according to a re-cent survey conducted by UNICEF.From past 10 to 15 years every gov-ernment starts its own drama likestarting “Nai Roshni School”, some-body starting “Parha Likha Punjab”etc. for what to educate Pakistan?Well, I don’t think so. These socalled “People” are playing with ournation for the last 66 years just fortheir on profits and aims. We shouldand we have to think about our chil-dren education now that are we edu-cating them in the right way? Wehave to act as the time is now thatwe demand the government for bet-ter stuff rather sitting and giving anod on their bogus works otherwiseit’s going to be too late secondlywe should urge federal and provin-cial governments to cut down theirexpenditures in other areas andspend a bigger proportion of in-come on education.

However every government ap-proves small budgetary allocationsfor education but in Pakistan the ra-tio is quite low like Pakistan isspending just 2.3% of its GNP and9.9% of overall government budgeton education, India 4.5% of GNPand 12.7 % of government budget,while Bangladesh was spending2.1% of GNP and 14.1% of totalgovernment budget on education.Pakistan’s literacy rate was projectedto reach 60%, India’s 71%, whileBangladesh was estimated to have a61% literacy rate by 2015.

Providing further details youth(between age 15-24) female literacyrate in Pakistan is 61% against 79%for males. However, youth femaleliteracy rate is projected to be 72%(against 82% for males) by year

Peace talks and media’s role

Peace talks between four-member government teamand negotiators nominated by

Taliban to end hostilities and makepeace have been the focal point ofdomestic media. Foreign countrieslike USA, EU, KSA, Iran, India andAfghanistan are watching the devel-opment with keen interest. The talkshave been initiated as Prime Minis-ter Nawaz Sharif desired to givepeace a chance. The aim was toeliminate the spectre of terrorismthrough dialogue as the first optionor military operation in case talksfailed. However, his announcementin National Assembly (NA) to holdtalks was appreciated by majority inPakistan, as political parties, media,civil society and Armed Forces ap-proved and supported the dialogueoption. Two committees - one nomi-nated by the Islamabad government,another by the Tehreek-e-TalibanPakistan - are presently engaged in‘peace’ talks. Shahidullah Shahid,spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban,in his recent interview with weekly‘Newsweek’ said that both sides hadagreed not to impose preconditions.

To a question, he however saidthat the TTP is at war with Pakistanmilitary. Anyhow, the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed re-sponsibility for an explosion target-ing a police bus near Razzaqabadpolice training college in Karachi inwhich 13 policemen were killed and47 others, including civilians, werewounded. Those who oppose the

HURMAT GROUP OF PUBLICATIONSZahid Malik

President & Editor-in-ChiefPh: 051-2256006

Faisal Zahid MalikEditor

Ph: 021-32631102

Gauhar Zahid MalikExecutive Editor

Ph: 051-2853818

IslamabadPh Exchange: 051-2852027

Reporting Desk: 051-2852028, News Desk: 051-5879329Marketing: 051-2262254, 2852029 Fax: 051-2262258

Email: observer@pakobserver.net Website: www.pakobserver.net

KarachiFaisal Zahid Malik

EditorPh: 021-32211777, 32635403

Fax: 021-32626902Email: obskhi@pakobserver.net

LahoreKhalid ButtResident Editor

Ph: 042-37593341, 37566702Marketing Ph: 37597364

Fax: 042-36300043Email: obslhr@pakobserver.net

QuettaGhulam TahirResident Editor

Mobile: 0333-7944760E-mail:obsqta@pakobserver.net

PeshawarTariq SaeedResident Editor

Mobile: 0321-9001476E-mail:obspwr@pakobserver.net

Sunday Magazine

Sadia Zahid MalikEditor

Ph: 2852027-8, Ext: 116Email: magazinesocialdiary@hotmail.com

—Proverb

2015, whereas adult female literacyrate of the older age group (15+) isprojected to be 47% (facts and fig-ures took from UNICEF report).

Sadly, in Pakistan as comparedto education we are spending morebudgets on our arms which depictour ideology about education. Since1947 not a single government isable to change this scenario. We arebusy to buy arms from other coun-tries why don’t we use these fundsfor children who can go to schoolfor the whole year. Why don’t theauthorities think about this? We allknow that economic progress is notpossible when more than 50% hu-man resources are uneducated.Armed conflicts in society andamong groups could be avoidedwhen women had equal access toeducation and participate in deci-sion-making.

In today’s world, I believe thatthe benchmark for excellence iseducation. Moreover, if a countryhas a distraught academic infra-structure, the chances to survive incurrent competitive world are pe-tite. The illiteracy rate in Pakistanis alarmingly high which calls forcritical attention. The federal andprovincial governments need towork together towards eliminationof flaws of education system inPakistan rather giving awaylaptops. The funds can be broughtinto productive use by training theteachers, declaring education com-pulsory and free of cost, provid-ing essential pre required school-ing material like uniforms, booksand stationary. I will sum up myarticle while quoting NelsonMandela that “Education is themost powerful weapon which youcan use to change the world.”—The writer is a Lahore-baseddevelopment practitioner.

talks are already trying toconfuse the nation byconjecturing that dialoguewill not succeed and thatTaliban are trying to buytime and so is the casewith the government.They reckon that opera-tion is imminent as thegovernment is looking for

some sort of pretext. Their objectiveis to dishearten and discourage themediators and spread despondencyin the public. Meanwhile, the Leaderof the House Zafar-ul-Haq said in theSenate on Thursday that the recentwave of terrorist attacks could havean adverse impact on peace talks withthe banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Paki-stan. Though the government andTaliban-nominated committees areholding meetings, a section of me-dia is highlighting the conditions ar-guably put forward by the TTP.

In fact, the respective commit-tees only have the right to disclosethe details of the meetings, but themedia is debating the issue on the ba-sis of conjectures and hearsays. Con-sequently, the secrecy of dialogue hasbeen compromised that entails riskof derailing the talks. Media tends tocover the talks neglecting the confi-dentiality of contents, and sometimesobjective reporting is also over-looked. The negotiators have to en-sure confidentiality to facilitateagreement and to achieve peacefulsettlement. Media wants to share in-formation disregarding the sensitivephase of dialogue and consequencesof media reporting; but such practicecould serve the agenda and design ofanti-Pakistan elements that do notwish to see dialogue a success.Hence, secrecy of the negotiations isa crucial issue especially when talksare being held under extraordinarycircumstances and government is ne-gotiating with non-political entities

like Taliban militants and terrorists.Some analysts are criticizing theholding of talks with the TTP.

They argue that since the TTP isa banned organization, the govern-ment is not supposed to hold talkswith the banned organization. Pro-TTP elements on the other hand aretrying to justify their demand for en-forcing shareah in the country. Toavoid confusion, media coverage ofthe dialogue process must be care-fully done and details be kept confi-dential till an agreement is reached.This will allow both sides to resolvethe contending aspects of dialogueprocess; otherwise it can be ex-ploited by those who wish to see thattalks fail. Therefore, negotiationsmust be skillfully conducted to ac-commodate conflicting demandswithout disturbing the conditions ofdialogue process. Every detail ofdialogue process is not required tobe covered through media, as thenation is interested in positive out-come of peace talks and earnestlydesires to see that dialogue processsucceeds. Media must realize that thestate is confronted with a complexsituation; and efforts should be madeto make the dialogue a success.

It is therefore imperative that thesecrecy of dialogue be maintained byboth media and negotiating teams.Live coverage and indication of com-mittees’ meeting location would cre-ate security hazards; therefore extracare must be taken to keep the loca-tion secret. Nowhere in the world, arethe details of the talks between thewarring groups released like ball toball commentary in cricket. Neitherlive-coverage is allowed when policeor law enforcing agencies conduct anoperation against terrorists or gunmenwho take people hostage or are on therampage. In the past, the nation hadwitnessed such live coverage by theprivate TV channels when law en-

The first step isthe hardest.

forcing agencies had conducted anoperation against the terroristsholed in Lal Masjid in Islamabad.Some media men andanchorpersons assumed the role ofa mediator and talked to the clericsat Lal Masjid, which created prob-lems for the government. Anyhow,small incidents like the one expe-rienced on 15th July 2013 inIslamabad, in which a lone gunmanin capital city of Islamabad createda scene, should not have beenblown out of proportion.

During crisis media should be-come a source of support to thestate, and facilitate the state organsto perform well rather than imped-ing their work by cluttering thescene with reporters and camera-men, or making telephone connec-tions with the suspect to negotiatein an awkward manner. Negotia-tions with the suspect by anchorswere also not approved by some ofmedia analysts who denounced themedia’s interference into Policedomain. Media men must under-stand their role during a sensitivesituation, and should not jump infor improving rating or showingefficiency while they seriously lackexpertise and authority to hold ne-gotiations with the suspect, espe-cially when the Police was manag-ing a crisis situation. Media mustmake efforts to create a sense ofhope and optimism among the view-ers. For media to become a crediblesource, it should provide reliableand accurate information, andshould work with utmost diligenceto offer reports and comments ob-jectively. Of course, there is a lot ofconfusion due to the controversialstatements of the spokesman of theTTP, which provide arsenal to thosewho are out to disparage the talks.—The writer is Lahore-basedsenior journalist.

Mohammad JamilEmail: mjamil1938@hotmail.com

News & ViewsNews & ViewsNews & ViewsNews & ViewsNews & Views

Salman AliEmail:salmanali088@gmail.com

Voice of the PeopleSindh festival

ANUM SHIVANI

Every culture has its own identifi-cation, classification and impor-tance. Culture represents a nation.It tells the likes and dislikes of anation. It reflects the behaviour andshows the way of living of a nation.Nowadays, the Sindh festival is be-ing celebrated in different parts ofSindh. It is a good step by the Sindhgovernment to promote Sindhi cul-ture. This shows that Sindh respectsits culture. They want to make theother people know about their cul-ture, which is a good step.

However, it has been observedat the inaugural ceremony of the fes-tival that the show was full of non-cultural events. This is not a goodrepresentation of Sindhi culture.The show was full of Western cul-ture rather than Sindhi culture.Sindhi songs were sung in Westernstyle instead of their own culturaltone. The dressing of participantswas more Western than Sindhi.Their gestures were totally reflect-ing Western culture. I request theorganizers of such festivals, espe-cially where the objective is to high-light the culture, to learn culturebefore its promotion.—Karachi

Imran’s u-turn!JAVAID BASHIR

The government scored a moral vic-tory over the Taliban by deciding tohold talks with them. But it evapo-rated by the smart move of Talibanby appointing its supporters andsympathizers on its committee. Itwas a good counter attack. PrimeMinister called it as giving peaceanother chance. A sugar coated poi-sonous pill has been given to the180 million souls living in thecountry. They were baffled by thisdecision. Though it was rejoiced bythe right wingers who have beensupporting Taliban; People were di-vided over this move.

As the political posturing andthe peace process takes place and thedrama unfolds before the eyes ofsceptics and nay Sayers, its dimen-sions have changed. This is a farce.A theatre has been set and the showis on. We hear the news, analysis,views and criticism over the T.Vchannels how the government ishandling this new love affair. Outof curiosity analysts and politicalmavericks make wild guesses. Agreat confusion has been created bythe chaotic situation. What a trav-esty of nature. ?

The basic thought, which pre-vails among the talk show partici-pants, has further muddied the po-litical scene. Whereas the rightwinger sharks are preying and pray-ing for the success of these talks. Thebashers of the government are hav-ing field day. Their scathing criti-cism is hurting the governmentbadly. What is happening out there,is just a political drama It is gettingrave reviews. It is sold out, audiencepacked drama. Nothing like this hasseen before. It tops the billing charts.Surprisingly the cricket Khan hastaken the U-turn to join the Nay Say-ers and renouncing the bad decisionto choose him on their committee.Khan has realized that his uncannysupport of Taliban had jeopardizedhis political career. His categoricalrefusal to sit on the Taliban spon-sored committee is the sign of time.He has changed his position to savehis political life. His popularity wassliding at a fast pace. The questionis would he be able to stem the criti-cism of the right wing lobby againsthim? anybody ‘s Guess !—Karachi

My phoenixwill rise

SYED UMAR HUSSAINI

The world is full of those peoplewho give up struggle, as it is theeasiest thing to do but to learn fromthe mistakes, bear the hardships andfight until victory is what actuallywinners do to win. Pakistanis are anation where patriotism is on itspeak, people love each other, peopletake care of each other however; ithas been through feisty persuasivesnags and always found the pave towalk on. We have a brilliant past anda shining present with reference tothe struggle against terrorism andcertainly our future would be exem-plary in the same context.

The terrorists, at present, mightbe feeling that they are successfulin spreading an air of fear and inse-curity in the country but soon theywould realize they are mistaken intheir assessment. In today’s lifecycle, we have only given ourselvesto terrorism, aloofness, tragedies,and all the discussions that only van-ishes our spirit from motivation.This is not our slip-up but othersbound us so that we can be dividedand they can rule but we cannot letthem to overcome us, instead we

District judiciaryHASHIM ABRO

The subordinate judiciary throughout Pakistan has been thetarget of persistent criticism for mounting pendency as well

as inefficiency in disposing of cases. While visiting various subor-dinate courts and seeing the dilapidated state of several buildingsin which the administration of Justice is being dispensed – youneed only to visit the Courts in the Federal Capital Territory orDistrict Courts in the Province of Sindh, particularly, in its capi-tal Karachi and Hyderabad, to see ‘de visu’ and understand theirpredicaments. eing a student of law, I have logically concludedthat that the adoption of an effective management system needsto be supplemented by other longstanding requirements such asimproving judicial infrastructure, increasing the strength of thejudiciary, promoting Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanism (ADR) and implementation of legislative reforms to truly proveeffective. The sooner, the better it is to create a just society, insteadof unjust society in which we are living nowadays.—Islamabad

DISCLAIMER

Email:editorial@pakobserver.net

THE articles, columns andletters are published on thesepages in good faith. However,the contents of these writingsmay not necessarily match theviews of the newspaper.

—Editor

Playing Al-Qaeda card in Iraq

INTERNATIONAL, regional andinternal players vying for interests, wealth, power or influence

are all beneficiaries of the “al-Qaedathreat” in Iraq and in spite of theirdeadly and bloody competitionsthey agree only on two denomina-tors, namely that the presence of theUS-installed and Iran–supportedsectarian government in Baghdadand its sectarian al-Qaeda antithesisare the necessary casus belli fortheir proxy wars, which are tearingapart the social fabric of the Iraqisociety, disintegrating the nationalunity of Iraq and bleeding its popu-lation to the last Iraqi.

The Iraqi people seem a passiveplayer, paying in their blood for allthis Machiavellian dirty politics. Thewar which the US unleashed by itsinvasion of Iraq in 2003 undoubtedlycontinues and the bleeding of the Iraqipeople continues as well. Accordingto the UN Assistance Mission to Iraq,34452 Iraqis were killed since 2008and more than ten thousand werekilled in 2013 during which suicidebombings more than tripled accord-ing to the US Deputy Assistant Sec-retary of State Brett McGurk’s recenttestimony before the House Commit-tee on Foreign Affairs. The AFP re-ported that more than one thousandIraqis were killed in last January. TheUN refugee agency UNHCR, citingIraqi government figures, says thatmore than 140,000 Iraqis have al-ready been displaced from Iraq’swestern province of Anbar.

In their report titled “Iraq in Cri-sis” and published by the Center forStrategic and International Studies(CSIS) on last January 24, AnthonyH. Cordesman and Sam Khazai saidthat the “cause of Iraq’s current vio-lence” is “its failed politics and sys-tem of governance,” adding that theIraqi “election in 2010 divided thenation rather than create any form ofstable democracy.” On the back-ground of the current status quo,Iraq’s next round of elections, sched-uled for next April 30, is expected tofare worse. Writing in Al-AhramWeekly last August 14, SalahNasrawi said that more than 10 years

AH Lord it’s your birthdayagain! “Yes it is!” said theLord as he looked at me, “It

is indeed.” “Aren’t you happy? Iwould be if I was you; I love birth-days as they come each year; somany presents, so many goodwishes from friends and relatives,and Lord..” “Yes Bob?” “Yourbirthday is oh so magnificent! Thewhole world celebrates it!” “Bob?”“Yes my Lord?” “How old are

you?” “Come on my Lord you knowhow old I am!” “Do your friends andrelatives still come and give you littlebaby presents, like squeaky shoes andstuffed toys, or maybe a doll for youto play with?” “Come on Lord, whatare you talking about?” “Do yourfriends still treat you like a baby?”

I heard the sound of silence andwondered why the Lord had not spo-ken till I heard Him again a few dayslater as I sang with choir round a makebelieve manger: Away in a mangerno crib for a bed The little Lord Jesuslay down his sweet head! “I’m notthere Bob!” “Not where my Lord?”“In that manger you’re looking at!That’s not me in there! That doll incrib!” “I know that Lord!” I said.

The cattle are lowing, babyawakes But little Lord Jesus no cry-ing he makes! I looked at the makebelieve cow and sheep, I stared atsheep and cow as they looked dumblyat the plastic doll and at sweet Marylooking shyly at Joseph for her cue.“No Lord,” I said, “That’s not you!”

I left the manger, the shepherdsand the wisemen, the choir, the sheep-ish cow, and the dozing camel andwalked out and into the open, I heardHis voice again: “I came down toearth as a baby my son and grew upas the years went by. And as I grew Ipreached, I cast out demons, I healedand finally I died on the cross! I diedto grow in the hearts of men! But toyou and many millions I remain that

The baby grew up..!little lovable infant! How nice tothink of me as a child! Helpless,weak, dependent! How nice to letme remain a baby in your lives, alittle babe incapable of doing littleelse than resting in his mother’sarms! Let me grow Bob!”

“Yes Lord!” I said. “Let megrow in the lives of you people, thatinstead of fighting one another, youwill bring peace on earth, that in-stead of just growing rich your-selves, you will look after your poorbrethren. I’m not a lil’ baby! Let megrow in your hearts..!” And sud-denly around me I heard the sing-ing of a thousand angels singing“Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna..!”—Email:bobsbanter@gmail.com

Militaries blocking Indo-Pak trade: Shahbaz

THE powerful brother ofPakistan’s prime minister haswarned the military establish-

ments of both India and Pakistan notto block efforts to sweep aside tradebarriers between the two distrustfulneighbours. On Indian affairsShahbaz Sharif, the chief minister ofPunjab, is widely seen as the de factoPakistani foreign minister, conduct-ing diplomatic missions to Delhi onbehalf of his brother Nawaz Sharif,the prime minister.

But speaking to the Guardian hewarned that distrustful “securityagencies” in both Pakistan and In-dia were one of the two main “block-ages” holding back plans toliberalise trade, which the Sharifsbelieve will provide a desperatelyneeded boost to Pakistan’s moribundeconomy. “Security agencies onboth sides need to really understandthat in today’s world, a security-ledvision is obviously driven by eco-nomic security,” he said. “Unlessyou have economic security then youcan’t have general security.”

While the Sharif brothers, incommon with most mainstream poli-ticians in Pakistan, are impatient fora rapprochement with India, the mili-tary is far more wary. Pakistan andIndia have fought three wars in thenearly seven decades since indepen-dence and tensions over the disputedprovince of Kashmir erupted in vio-

lence several times in the last year.Pakistan’s powerful military has

warned the Sharifs against makingrapid concessions, particularly in therun-up to India’s general election. Theincumbent Congress party is strug-gling to hold off a strong challengefrom the Hindu nationalist BharatiyaJanata party. Manmohan Singh, theprime minister, has long favouredbetter relations with Pakistan andmay still travel across the frontierbefore the polls, which are due inApril or May.

At the same time jihadiorganisations in Pakistan with con-siderable street power have noisilyprotested against any trade dealswhile much of the former Himalayankingdom of Kashmir remains withinIndia. But the brothers are determinedto make progress. Sharif said disputesincluding Kashmir, cross-border wa-ter rights and the Siachen glacier –where soldiers from both sides areengaged in a gruelling, high-altitudestandoff – would only be resolvedthrough “dialogue and imaginativethinking”. “If we remain hostage toour past then we will go nowhere, wehave fought three wars and it broughtnothing but devastation and destruc-tion. It brought miseries on both sides.It added more poverty, more unem-ployment. It solved nothing.” Sharifsaid in an interview at his privatemansion in Lahore.

This week India expressed its an-noyance with the slow pace of reformin Pakistan when Anand Sharma,India’s commerce and industry min-ister, cancelled a trip to Pakistan dueto coincide with the second trade

Views From Abroad

show to be held by Indian companiesin Lahore on Friday. Sharma saidPakistan had failed to enact trade-boosting measures that had beenagreed upon, including the start ofround-the-clock truck passage at oneof only two border crossings and theopening up to trade of hundreds ofcurrently restricted items.

Even though Pakistan and Indiashare thousands of miles of border,common languages and many culturaltraditions, trade is negligible. Fewgoods cross through the sleepy bordercrossing at Wagah border, which sitsbetween Lahore and the Indian city ofAmritsar – just a dozen miles fromeach. Some goods are traded via thirdcountries such as the United ArabEmirates, a practice Sharif describesas “very, very expensive”.

India also continues to press Pa-kistan to tackle militants targeting In-dian-held Kashmir, in particularLashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the Punjab-based jihadist group that was respon-sible for the devastating terrorist at-tacks on the city of Mumbai in 2008.Sharif said he told Singh during ameeting in Delhi in December thatthe matter was with Pakistan’s courtsand “those who are found to be in-volved, there is no question they willbe punished”. Indian officials saysuch assurances are not new and thatIslamabad needs to “walk the walk,after talking the talk”.

But Sharif said India has its ownhardline groups opposed to peace ef-forts, naming the RashtriyaSwayamsevak Sangh, a rightwingHindu nationalist organisation whichhe said regularly protested against

Pakistan. Sharif said Islamabad hadpresented credible evidence of Indianinvolvement in the separatist insur-gency raging in the troubled prov-ince of Balochistan. “Both countriesneed to stop the blame game jointlyresolve to move aside these road-blocks and move forward with aclear-cut agenda,” he said.

Nonetheless, in a bid to appeasehardline nationalists, Pakistan hasdropped efforts to grant India “mostfavoured nation” status. In a purelysemantic reworking, it has opted in-stead for the less inflammatory “non-discriminatory market access”. In-dian officials said the issue of in-volvement in Balochistan was raisedat a strained meeting between Singhand Nawaz Sharif in New York lastyear. “The prime minister subse-quently said he had seen no credibleevidence from the Pakistani side toback the allegations and since thenthere has been no change in that,”the Delhi official said.

Analyst Ashok Mehta, a retiredIndian army general, said Sharif waswrong to say Indian “security agen-cies” were opposed to better relationswith Pakistan, because many seniorofficers believed an improvement inrelations with Pakistan “would freeus up to deal with the greater threat,which is China”. Mehta said that,outside Kashmir, the Indian army andintelligence services were “subservi-ent to the civilian leadership. The bigdifference between security officialsin Pakistan and India is that here theytake orders from a civilian govern-ment,” he told the Guardian.— Courtesy: The Guardian

Jon Boone,Jason Burke

have to revive our history and recallwhat we were, how we are and howwe will be. We are one of those na-tions who have gained admiration dueto the increased politics in the zone.Yes, our country has been throughmany hurdles but despite the fact,Pakistan is still standing as one na-tion and only atomic power in theIslamic block. Pakistan has the old-est Indus civilization and Pakistanholds four out of fourteen highestpeaks in the world. We have theworld’s largest irrigation system,Karakoram highway as the eighthwonder of the globe, best defenceforces in the top list and a beautifulnational anthem that ranks in the bestthree with much more.

The militants cannot sieve ourspirit of becoming united. Continu-ously we are being wounded with theploys of evil minds who think thatPakistanis will be affected by theirnefarious indictments not because weare weak, just because they are afraidof us. Through this platform, I wantto motivate all the Pakistanis to joinhands, retaliate to the outlaws, andremember the famous quote of ourQuaid Muhammad Ali Jinnah that“The great majority of us are Mus-lims. We follow the teachings of theProphet Mohammed (May peace beupon him). We are members of fel-lowship of Islam in which all areequal in rights, dignity and self-re-spect. Consequently, we have a spe-cial and a very deep sense of unity.But make no mistake: Pakistan is nota theocracy or anything like it.” Ne-glecting all the painful spikes, quash-ing all the sub-division between us,lets integrate ourselves, feel proudto be Pakistani and reciprocate to thegiven discomfort in the country;hailing to a bright future as we allrespect our past and I have a firmbelief that my country, my Pakistan,my Phoenix will rise!—Karachi

All love formotherland

SALAR LATEEF

14th of February is remembered asValentine’s Day across the world. Onthis day, various special events takeplace in developed countries but weare still debating either our religionallows us to celebrate Valentine’sday or not? By even listening thename of Valentine’s day, the worldlylove comes in our minds but on thisday, every year, it reminds me thewords of an anonymous; “Dedicateyour entire love for your motherlandwhere there does not exist conceptof cheating.

If your lover is pure, you will beremembered forever.” Let us vow todedicate this day to our dearest moth-erland neglecting all the baselesstheories about Valentine’s Day. Weshould celebrate 14th February to ex-press our love for our motherland. Weshould pledge and pray for rescuingour motherland from religious ex-tremism, terrorism, Talbanization andall other dilemmas.—Via email

A word forPAF authorities

SYED ALI QASIM

This refers to Pakistan AeronauticalComplex’s advertisement dated 12February, 2014, published in the na-tional newspapers. In that ad, Paki-stan Aeronautical Complex hasproudly announced the sale of 20Super Mushshak Aircraft to Repub-lic of Iraq but has ignored to look atthe image of the national flag printedon the aircraft. Being a patriotic Pa-kistani, I want to bring into the kindnotice of Air Force authorities that theimage of the national flag printed onthe aircraft is flipped/reversed.

Similarly, the image of modelnumber printed on the Mushshak Air-craft is also flipped and one cannotread it clearly. How can such a pres-tigious institute of Pakistan ignoresuch facts as it is the question of na-tional prestige? If such state institutesbehave irresponsibly then what canwe expect from other private institu-tions. It should be kept in mind that

the national flag is important to acountry not only because it describesthe authority and power of the nationbut also because it is a symbol ofpeace and unity of all the people in-side its vicinity. This is the reasonwhy country flags are very importantto any country around the globe.Therefore, it is my humble request tothe Air Force authorities to take anotice of it as soon as possible be-cause it is the question of nationalhonour and prestige.—Lahore

By a free will Iam just Muslim

FATIMA HASAN ZAIDI

Yes, I know many people will turnagainst me, I will be left lonesome,may the ones who respect me startto disgust me but I am strong to facethe music just because I know I willbe accompanied by the supremepower. He has bestowed me with apower of writing and it is due toHim, the merciful the beneficent;that today I am putting my thoughtdown on this serious issue whichconstantly pinches up my mind butno body is able to quench my thirstwith solid argument. All they haveto say without any logic is that ourancestors told us.

In the 21st century, youngstersare liberals but we have great gen-eration gap with our parents. Theybelieve the sayings of our forefathersas an old constitution and followingit without any amendment. Theyfound no wrong deed in breakingany law when it is for their benefitbut all fines are imposed on the livesof their children accompanied byshort phrases like “we are bound tofollow ‘within’ the family system”or “log kia kahen ge!!”

Seriously, do we do everythingjust because for the sake of peopleand not for our own happiness? Ifyoungsters are non-interventionists,why can’t they tell their parents tothink out of the box? Let’s not com-plicate it more. I am a Muslim by afree will and no net ensnares me tochoose between being a Shiite orSunni because no one is able to an-swer that from where these twosects took birth?

This conflict started after thedeath of Prophet (PBUH) betweenthe people regarding the caliphs andnowhere Quran states between thecaliphs. So we should not fight overthis matter and live simply acceptingHazrat Abu Bakr Siddiq (RA) as ourfirst caliph and Hazrat Ali (RA) asthe fourth. On the way back, from thelast Haj of the Holy Prophet (PBUH)Quranic verse was revealed: “O Mes-senger! Make known that which hathbeen revealed unto thee from thyLord, for if thou do it not, thou wiltnot have conveyed His message.Allah will protect thee from man-kind. Lo! Allah guideth not the dis-believing folk.”— sura 5 (Al-Ma’ida), ayah 67[2]. When all aresaid to be equal in Islam, Islam is areligion of free will, love, brother-hood and peace. Then why are therecomplications and separations.

Staying strong together as Mus-lims without dividing into the lamesect issue, people can freely prac-tice their religion Islam by worship-ing Allah Almighty, reciting HolyQuran, believing in His LastProphet (PBUH), his family of fiveand all rest of the one lac twentyfour thousand or so messengers, re-specting all who stood by the holyProphet and cherishing a love forall as shown by the holy Prophetbeing ‘Rehma tul lil aalmin’. Be aMuslim with respect.—Rawalpindi

after the US invasion, “the much-trumpeted Iraqi democracy is a mi-rage.” He was vindicated by noneother than the Iraqi Speaker of par-liament Osama Al Nujaifi who wasquoted by the Gulf News on last Janu-ary 25 as saying during his latest visitto US: “What we have now is a fa-cade of a democracy — superficial— but on the inside it’s total chaos.”

Popular Uprising, not al-QaedaAl-Maliki’s government on this

February 8 issued a one week ulti-matum to what the governor of Anbardescribed as the “criminals” who“have kidnapped Fallujah” for morethan a month, but Ross Caputi, a vet-eran US Marine who participated inthe second US siege of Fallujah in2004, in an open letter to US Secre-tary Kerry published by the GlobalResearch last Monday, said that “thecurrent violence in Fallujah has beenmisrepresented in the media.”

“The Iraqi government has notbeen attacking al Qaeda in Fallujah,”he said, adding that Al-Maliki’s gov-ernment “is not a regime the USshould be sending weapons to.” Forthis purpose Caputi attached a peti-tion with 11,610 signatures. He de-scribed what is happening in the west-ern Iraqi city as a “popular uprising.”

Embracing the same strategy theAmericans used in 2007, Iran and USIraqi proxies have now joined forcesagainst a “popular uprising” thatFallujah has just become only a sym-bol. Misleadingly pronouncing al-Qaeda as their target, the pro-Iransectarian and the pro-US so-called“Awakening” tribal militias have re-vived their 2007 alliance.

The Washington Post on this Feb-ruary 9 reported that the “Shiite mili-tias” have begun “to remobilize,” in-cluding The Badr Organization,Kataib Hezbollah and the MahdiArmy; it quoted a commander of onesuch militia, namely Asaib Ahl al-Haq, as admitting to “targeted” ex-trajudicial “killings.”

This unholy alliance is the idealrecipe for fueling the sectarian divideand inviting a sectarian retaliation inthe name of fighting al-Qaeda; thelikely bloody prospects vindicateCordesman and Khazai’s conclusionthat Iraq is now “a nation in crisisbordering on civil war.” Al – Qaedais real and a terrorist threat, but likethe sectarian US-installed govern-

ment in Baghdad, it was a new comerbrought into Iraq by or because of theinvading US troops and most likelyit would last as long as its sectarianantithesis lives on in Baghdad’s so–called “Green Zone.”

“Al-Maliki has more than oncetermed the various fights and stand-offs” in Iraq “as a fight against “alQaeda”, but it’s not that simple,”Michael Holmes wrote in CNN onlast January 15. The “Sunni senseof being under the heel of a sectar-ian government … has nothing to dowith al Qaeda and won’t evaporateonce” it is forced out of Iraq, Holmesconcluded.

A week earlier, analyst CharlesLister, writing to CNN, concludedthat “al Qaeda” was being used as apolitical tool” by al–Maliki, who “hasadopted sharply sectarian rhetoricwhen referring to Sunni elements …as inherently connected to al Qaeda,with no substantive evidence to backthese claims.”

“Al–Qaeda is “not the only forceon the ground in Fallujah, where “de-fected local police personnel andarmed tribesmen opposed to the fed-eral government … represent the su-perior force,” Lister added.

The Washington-based Centrefor Strategic and International Stud-ies (CSIS) had reported that the “Iraqiinsurgency” is composed of at least adozen major organizations and per-haps as many as 40 distinct groupswith an estimated less than 10% non-Iraqi foreign insurgents. It is notewor-thy that all those who are playing the“al-Qaeda threat” card are in consen-sus on blacking out the role of thesemovements.

Prominent among them is theJaysh Rijal al-Tariq al-Naqshabandi(JRTN) movement, which an-nounced its establishment afterSaddam Hussein’s execution onDecember 30, 2006. It is the back-bone of the Higher Command forJihad and Liberation (HCJL), whichwas formed in October the follow-ing year as a coalition of more thanthirty national “resistance” move-ments. The National, Pan-Arab andIslamic front (NAIF) is the HigherCommand’s political wing.Saddam’s deputy, Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri, is the leader of JRTN, HCJLand NAIF as well as the bannedBaath party. “Since 2009, the move-

ment has gained significantstrength” because of its “commit-ment to restrict attacks to “the un-believer-occupier,” according toMichael Knights, writing to theCombating Terrorism Center (CTC)on July1, 2011. “We absolutely for-bid killing or fighting any Iraqi inall the agent state apparatus of thearmy, the police, the awakening, andthe administration, except in self-defense situations, and if someagents and spies in these apparatustried to confront the resistance,” al-Duri stated in 2009, thus extricatinghis movement from the terroristatrocities of al-Qaeda, which hasdrowned the Iraqi people in a blood-bath of daily suicide bombings.

The majority of these organiza-tions and groups are indigenous na-tional anti-US resistance move-ments. Even the ISIL, which brokeout recently with al-Qaeda, is led andmanned mostly by Iraqis. Playing al-Qaeda card is a smokescreen todownplay their role as the backboneof the national opposition to the US-installed sectarian proxy governmentin Baghdad’s green Zone. Their Is-lamic rhetoric is their common lan-guage with their religious people.

Since the end of the US combatmission in the country in December2011, they resorted to popular peace-ful protests across Iraq. Late lastDecember al-Maliki dismantled byforce their major camp of protestsnear Ramadi, the capital of the west-ern province of Anbar. Protestingarmed men immediately took overFallujah and Ramadi.

Since then, more than 45 tribal“military councils” were announcedin all the governorates of Iraq. Theyheld a national conference in Janu-ary, which elected the “General Po-litical Council of the Guerrillas ofIraq.” Coverage of the news and“guerrilla” activities of these coun-cils by Al-Duri’s media outlets isenough indication of the linkage be-tween them and his organizationalstructure.

No doubt revolution is brew-ing and boiling in Iraq against thesectarian government in Baghdad,its US and Iranian supporters aswell as against its al-Qaeda sec-tarian antithesis.—The writer is a West Bank-basedveteran Arab journalist.

Nicola NasserEmail: nassernicola@ymail.com

BLITAR—An explosive vol-canic eruption on Indonesia’smost populous island blastedash and debris 18 kilometersinto the air, killing threepeople while forcing authori-ties to evacuate more than100,000 and close seven air-ports.

The overnight eruption ofJava island’s Mount Keludcould be heard up to 200 kilo-meters away, Indonesia’s di-saster agency said.

“The eruption soundedlike thousands of bombs ex-ploding,” Ratno Pramono, a35-year-old farmer, said afterreturning from an evacuationcenter to check on his propertyin the village of Sugihwaras,around five kilometers (threemiles) from the crater. “Ithought doomsday was uponus. Women and children werescreaming and crying.”

Ash and grit fell to earthin towns and cities across theregion, including Surabaya,

Indonesia volcano erupts; 3 killed, 100K evacuated

BLITAR: Villagers get off a truck upon arrival at a temporary shelter after being evacuatedfrom their homes on the slope of Mount Kelud.

Indonesia’s second-largest cityafter Jakarta, with a populationof about 3 million. It also felleven farther afield inYogyakarta, where motoristsswitched on headlights in day-light.

A 60-year-old woman andan 80-year-old man werekilled in the village ofPandansari, about seven kilo-meters from the mountain,when the roofs of their homescollapsed under the weight ofthe ash and volcanic debris un-leashed during the eruption,the disaster agency said. A 70-year-old man died after beinghit by a collapsed wall whilewaiting to be evacuated fromPandansari, where the volca-nic ash lay up to eight inchesdeep in some places.

The large international air-port in Surabaya and airportsin the cities of Malang,Yogyakarta, Solo, Bandung,Semarang and Cilacap wereclosed due to reduced visibil-

ity and the dangers posed toaircraft engines by ash, Trans-

port Ministry spokesmanBambang Ervan said.

Virgin Australia said it hadcancelled its today’s flights

from Australia to several lo-cations due to the eruption,including the resort islandsof Bali in Indonesia andPhuket in Thailand.

The disaster agency saidtremors were still wrackingthe volcano, but that scien-tists didn’t expect anothermajor eruption. It said all vil-lages within 10 kilometers ofKelud more than 100,000people had been evacuated totemporary shelters, but thatsome villagers were return-ing to their homes to begincleaning up.

The 1,731-meter-highMount Kelud in eastern JavaIndonesia’s most denselypopulated island and home tomore than half of thecountry’s 240 million peoplehas been rumbling for sev-eral weeks and was underclose observation.

The mountain is about600 kilometres east ofJakarta, the capital.—AP

Muslims sit at a camp for displaced people at Mpoko international airport in Bangui, Central African Republic, as theywait to leave the capital.

SEOUL—North and SouthKorea agreed on Friday to pro-ceed with reunions of familiesseparated by the Korean Wardespite an earlier North Koreandemand that they could only goahead if the South postponedmilitary exercises with theUnited States. The agreementclearly represented a conces-sion by the North, which hasmade unpredictable diplomaticmoves over the past month.

The North had proposedthe reunions, but then threat-ened to withdraw consent overa sortie by a U.S. B52 bomber.It had also demanded that theSouth call off annual defencedrills later this month with theUnited States on grounds thatthey overlapped with the pro-posed reunions.

The South refused, sayingthe reunions and the militaryexercises should be treatedseparately. In the end, therewas no link between the issuesin a three-point agreementreached after two sessions of

North, South Koreaagree on family reunions,

no link to exercisestalks this week, the first high-level meetings between thesides in seven years. “We triedto drive home the point that thefamily reunion event will bethe first step in building trustso we should press ahead withit,” South Korea’s chief del-egate, Kim Kyou-hyun, told anews briefing.

“The North accepted thispoint in the end and we cameto the agreement,” he said.Kim is South Korean PresidentPark Geun-hye’s deputy na-tional security adviser. U.S.Secretary of State John Kerrysaid in Seoul on Thursday itwas inappropriate for NorthKorea to link the family re-unions with the military exer-cises. The two Koreas, still intheory at war as the 1950-53Korean War ended only with anarmistice, also agreed to stopengaging in denunciations ofeach other’s leadership. In athird point, they said the twosides would meet again to dis-cuss matters of interest. —AFP

TRIPOLI—Libyan Prime Min-ister Ali Zeidan said on Fridaythe government was safe and se-curity under control after a se-nior army official called for theparliament to be suspended andthe armed forces to “rescue” thecountry. Major General KhalifaHaftar, a leading figure in the2011 revolution againstMuammar Gaddafi, called for apresidential committee to beformed to govern until new elec-tions could be held in what hedescribed as a road map forLibya.

Nearly three years afterGaddafi’s fall, Libya has hadonly fragile government andarmed forces unable to imposetheir authority on competing po-litical factions and the brigadesof former revolutionary fighterswho refuse to disarm. Libya stillhas no new constitution. “Libya

is stable. The (General Na-tional Congress) GNC is do-ing its work and so is the gov-ernment. The army is in itsheadquarters, and KhalifaHaftar has no authority,”Zeidan told Reuters. “No mili-tary units have moved totouch any institutions.” Hesaid legal proceedings undermilitary law would be takenagainst Haftar for his state-ment.

Tripoli was calm, and therewere no signs of any extraordi-nary troop movements or activ-ity outside the parliament, theprime minister’s office or anyministries. It was not clear howmuch influence Haftar has evenwithin the small, nascent armyin a country where brigades ofmilitia groups and former rebelsare more powerful. Appearingin military uniform, Haftar, in

Libyan PM saysgovernment safe after

army statement

The weird war on terrorNOAH FELDMAN

EVERY time you think the war on terror can’t get anyweirder, it does. In the latest manifestation, White Houseofficials are leaking to the news media that they are consid-

ering whether to use drone strikes to kill an unnamed American inPakistan. This behavior is bizarre as a matter of national security:If a terrorist really poses an imminent threat, how exactly does theadministration have time to test the political waters before takinghim out? But it is the inevitable result of a more fundamental,long-term problem with the United States’ use of drone strikes.

The Obama administration has kept secret the legal justifica-tion for such strikes on Americans, as well as the internal proce-dures to be followed in making the decision. The secrecy shroudsthe drone program in a basic sense of illegitimacy. No wonder theadministration feels it can’t just kill our enemies, but needs tosend up trial balloons first: The whole program is operating undera bad legal conscience.

The backdrop to the current mess is the fundamental problemof secret legal opinions. In 2013, the Justice Department releaseda “white paper” — not, it must be noted, a legal term — vaguelyexplaining why it believed that it was constitutional and lawful tokill an American abroad if he or she was a “senior operationalleader of Al-Qaeda.” The white paper offered a kind of sketch or“framework” based on a secret Office of Legal Counsel memo-randum that presumably provides the actual legal arguments onwhich the government relies in making such a momentous deci-sion. But the memorandum itself has never been declassified: Wehave no idea what it really says, or whether the white paper accu-rately summarized its reasoning.

The white paper argued most prominently that a citizen’s due-process rights are not violated when the drone kills him, as long asa “high-level” government official deems him an imminent threat,capture is infeasible, and the strike satisfies the international lawsof war. This argument may sound reasonable enough on the sur-face, but looked at more closely, it’s full of holes. “Imminent threat”is defined incredibly broadly, and on the assumption that someparts of Al-Qaeda “continually” pose an imminent threat.

As for compliance with international law, the white paper es-sentially asks us to ignore the fact that nearly all experts on inter-national law outside the US — and not a few inside — considerdrone strikes already to be a violation of the law of war principles.A glance at the numbers of civilians killed by such strikes as col-lateral damage raises at least the possibility that the technique aspracticed may be unlawful. Far worse, the white paper evisceratesthe traditional idea of due process. Since Magna Carta in 1215,due process has meant, at a minimum, an opportunity to be heardby a neutral decision maker.

If the Justice Department under George W. Bush had releaseda legal memorandum declaring that constitutional due processcould be satisfied for an American through a secret, internal ex-ecutive-branch process, it is hard to imagine that the communityof constitutional law scholars would not have risen in revolt. (Civillibertarians, on the left and right, have been lonely voices of dis-sent in the debate.) Perhaps the full memorandum addresses thesequestions — especially the question of due process — better thanthe white paper does. But if so, we have no way of knowing it,because the memorandum remains secret. There is no national-security reason to justify the suppression of legal reasoning whose“framework” has already been provided. Nor has the Obama ad-ministration suggested such a justification. We are left to con-clude that the supposed threat to national security is actually thatAmericans would be upset by the legal justifications offered. In ademocracy, there can be no worse reason for keeping a secret.

All this helps explain why the Obama administration appar-ently feels it cannot kill an American citizen without first taking thepolitical temperature in the US. When a government program hasthe odor of illegality, no one wants to use it unless the use will notbe heavily criticized. That’s no way to run national security — andit’s no way to run a constitutional democracy, either.

—Courtesy Arabnews

HÉCTOR ABAD

MEDELLÍN, Colombia — Most everyone agrees: Theonly thing worse than killing is being killed. If ourlives are threatened, we have the right to defend ourselves,

with force if necessary. In a civilized society, that defense is del-egated to the state. But not all of us, apparently, live in that kind ofcivilized society.

Colombia in the 1990s saw the rise of vigilante self-defensegroups. In its impotence and desperation at not being able to rap-idly win the war against the guerrilla army (which was essentiallya drug cartel) and against the drug lord Pablo Escobar’s privatearmy, the state gave the green light to these groups — calledConvivir. They were made up of agricultural laborers, trained bysoldiers, and financed by landowners and agribusinesses. Whenthey began to extort money from the very businessmen who werefinancing them, they were declared illegal. But it was already toolate. They had become clandestine paramilitary groups, using thesame weapons as those they were fighting: kidnapping, murder ofinnocents, drug trafficking.

What has been going on these last few months in Mexico, inthe western state of Michoacán, makes me fear that the same thingis happening there today. “Autodefensas” have organized to driveout the vicious local drug cartel, called the Knights Templar. Afterfirst demanding that the vigilantes disband, the government ofPresident Enrique Peña Nieto has now sanctioned them as part ofthe Rural Defense Corps — at least nominally under the control ofthe military.

This is how it happens. The army, with the blessing of thecentral authorities, looks for an ally, a lesser evil among the localpowers. Compared with the cruel and bloodthirsty Knights Templar,the self-defense groups have popular support and are allowed tooperate. Meanwhile, the government ignores the fact that some of

Mexico’s Illusory Curethese vigilantes might be financed by the enemies of the KnightsTemplar — for example, rival drug gangs or another cartel fromthe neighboring state of Jalisco. The government allows the vigi-lantes to act for a while, but when it tries to come back in, the self-defense groups will have turned into a real armed power with whomthe government will have to make a pact, for without them thestate won’t be able to assert its authority.

Mexico, like several Latin American countries, is able to guar-antee security and the rule of law only in certain zones. The life-blood of law and order manages to flow near the heart of power,around the big cities, but the farther away we get, the weaker thepulse, and in some places there is none at all. Police officers arefew and corrupt, judges live under threat from local despots andstrongmen, and the legitimate authorities have been paid off byillegal ones. It’s like the American Wild West, but with 21st-cen-tury armaments, private armies funded by the torrential flow ofmoney from drug trafficking, and no prospect of a righteous sher-iff riding in to restore calm.

Sometimes the United States — which understands itself sowell, but badly misunderstands Latin American realities — asksgovernments of its friendly southern neighbors to wage heroicbattles. It asks for elimination of illicit crops, total war on drugs orextermination of guerrilla forces. The most obedient governmentsignore what might be real solutions — like cutting off the sourceof the cartels’ enormous wealth by legalizing drugs — and insteadattempt to carry out these requests. They send their national armiesto undertake the thankless task of fighting against their own com-patriots. That’s what Felipe Calderón, Mexico’s previous presi-dent, tried.

But these wars to the death always fail. What they generate islocal powers defending themselves by arming to the teeth, andoutlying territories turning into battlefields where life is impos-sible for defenseless civilians. The legitimate economy and tour-

ism disappear, death tolls soar (to around 80,000 in Mexico), andthe final winner, inevitably, is not the state but some local narco-dictator with his own army of mercenaries. This is what we learnedin Colombia: When the state is not present, it is local tyrants whotake power and brutally impose their rules, which are nothing morethan the defense of their privileges. The old Hobbesian concept,that the natural state of mankind is that man is a wolf to man,seems confirmed in these involuntary Latin American anarchistexperiments. The strongest and richest wolf (from trafficking drugsor illegal mining) dominates the other wolves.

Of course, every country is different. But I fear that todayMexico is making the same mistake Colombia did a quarter of acentury ago. The vigilantes appear to be a cure — they are seen assaviors — but in reality they are part of the illness, one more ille-gal army, acting without restraints and financed by dirty money.

In Colombia, the self-defense groups were eventually pursueduntil, in 2003, 25,000 of them were forced to demobilize. Sincethey were also drug traffickers, a few top paramilitary ringleadersended up being extradited to the United States. But their legacypersists. Their descendants still live in Colombia and still havepower: Now they’re called criminal gangs, and they are still prac-ticing extortion and murder financed by illegal mining and drugmoney. The vigilantes might begin by killing kidnappers, drugdealers and extortionists, but soon they begin killing their rela-tives, and then their friends, or those they think are their friends,and then the friends’ families, until everyone is suspect and theymight come knocking at your own door, as happened to us in Co-lombia — as happened to my own father, when he was gunneddown in the streets of Medellín.

To allow private armies, even if they are supposedly for self-defense, is to create a monster like the Hydra: If you cut off onehead, two more grow back.

—Courtesy New York Times

The N-terrorist spectreJONATHAN POWER

US aviation authorities banned the carrying of toothpasteon planes heading to the Sochi Winter Olympics for fearthey might contain a deadly explosive. Apparently such is

the creativity of the modern terrorist. Other departments of the USgovernment rather more seriously worry about the transfer ofnuclear materials to a terrorist group fit for an improvised “dirtybomb” (where explosives are wrapped with radiological materi-als) capable of bringing panic to a city, although it would destroyonly a block. Some go further and fear a small nuclear bomb couldbe smuggled in.

Are they really something to worry about? Presidents say theyare, especially the nuclear bomb. George W. Bush warned in onespeech that rogue states “could provide weapons of mass destruc-tion to terrorists, giving them the means to match their hatred”. Inher attempt to rally support for the decision to invade Iraq andtopple Saddam Hussein, the then secretary of state, CondoleezzaRice, said, “Terrorists might acquire such weapons from SaddamHussein’s regime to mount a future attack far beyond the scale of9/11.” (She said this, despite having no proof that Iraq actuallypossessed nuclear weapons.) More recently, Barack Obama said,“The American people face no greater or more urgent danger thana terrorist attack with a nuclear weapon.” Perspective! Perspec-tive! 9/11 was carried out in a pretty old-fashioned way — aKamikaze attack popularised by the Japanese in World War II. Itwould be a mind-boggling step to think terrorists could leap from9/11 to a nuclear weapon. Some of the arguments against this like-lihood are presented in an article in the latest issue of HarvardUniversity’s International Security, written by professors KeirLieber and Daryl Press.

If for some way-out reason a state did not fear US retaliationwhy would it outsource the job of attack to some terrorist group?A state sponsor would worry that having given a terrorist group aweapon, the latter might use it against a target that was not in-tended. Tracing culpability after an attack would not be difficult.Nearly 97 per cent of terrorist incidents are traced back to theirperpetrators. And these are mainly small acts. The percentage ismuch higher for larger attacks. Moreover, few countries sponsorterrorist groups. Besides, it would be more than obvious wherethey got it from. Passing a nuclear bomb to a terrorist group wouldbe a fraught and risky undertaking. A state that did this would bewagering its life against high odds. If a state tried to do this itwould have to find a group with the demonstrated capability ofcarrying out complex operations across international borders. Per-haps one group, Al Qaeda, could do this. But Al Qaeda has nostate sponsor. It has no source of nuclear materials. The US StateDepartment reckons there are 51 foreign terrorist organisations.Nine of them have had state sponsors and only three of these areactive. Such a small group is easy to monitor.

There is a formidable list of reasons why the US should notworry, but there are counter arguments. Some say there are “loosenukes” around, principally available because of theft from badlyguarded ex-Soviet Union stockpiles. However, earlier fears havenot stood up to scrutiny. Some lowly enriched uranium was stolenbut not a bomb itself and obviously not the technology to fashiona bomb. Nearly all the stolen uranium has been tracked down.

It is argued that tracing the source of an explosion carried outby terrorists would be exceedingly difficult. It would not. Evenadversaries of the US would quickly want to prove they were in-nocent and would cooperate in every way, including detailed in-spections. No state would put itself in a situation where there couldbe an assumption of guilt followed by massive retaliation. PeaceBush, Rice and Obama. Your fears are overblown. Why do youattempt to rattle public opinion? A better rhetoric would be to playdown the danger of such an attack, stressing how capable the USwould be in tracing one, and warning a possible rogue state that itwould bring down the roof on itself if it were found culpable ofpassing to terrorists a nuclear weapon.

—Courtesy Khaleejtimes

NEW YORK—The latest in a series of winterstorms hit United States’ northeast on Thurs-day, dropping wet, heavy snow that disruptedtravel, cut power to many homes and closedschools and government offices.

In New York, streets were nearly desertedThursday during the normally busy morningcommute. Many are heeding warnings to stayoff the roads, as people in southern states did aday earlier. Cars are capped in white, with moresnow falling.

More than 5,000 flights have been groundedin the US, including 493 at New York’sLaGuardia, 328 at Kennedy and 620 at Newarkairports, according to FlightAware.com and thePort Authority. Heavy snow mixed with freez-ing rain continues to fall and was expected to

Powerful winter storm lashesNew York region, disrupts life

continue until early Friday, turning to all rain attimes as temperatures rise through the day onThursday.

Forecasters said New York City can expectabout a foot of snow, with more predicted forareas north and west of the city. New York Cityschools remained open, though field trips werecancelled due to dangerous travel conditions.Most suburban districts were closed.

The massive storm - which crippled partsof the South, leaving hundreds of thousands ofpeople without electricity could also cause somecoastal flooding during high tide, which will behigher than usual because of Fridays full moon.

Major streets in Manhattan, such as Madi-son, Fifth and Sixth avenues in Midtown, re-mained covered in snow.—AFP

Italy’s Lettaresigns as PM,

paving wayfor Renzi

ROME—Italian Prime MinisterEnrico Letta resigned Friday ina fast-paced political drama inRome that paves the way for 39-year-old centre-left leaderMatteo Renzi to take his place.

Financial markets cheered asLetta submitted his resignationto President Giorgio Napolitanoafter just 10 tumultuous monthsat the head of a fragile coalitionwith the centre-right in which hestruggled with a rampant eco-nomic crisis.

Napolitano on Friday willnow begin consultations with po-litical leaders to pick a nomineeto replace Letta, which the presi-dency said would conclude onSaturday. Letta was forced to an-nounce his resignation on Thurs-day after his own DemocraticParty overwhelmingly backed amotion by its new leader Renzicalling for a new government.On Friday he “submitted the ir-revocable resignation of the ex-ecutive that he presides,” thepresidency said. It added thatNapolitano would move swiftlyto find an “efficient solution” tothe political crisis and move onwith economic and “urgent”election law reforms.—AFP

GENEVA—The UN’s human rights office Fri-day raised the alarm over a looming Syrian gov-ernment offensive on the opposition-held townof Yabroud, saying it feared civilians wouldbear the brunt.

“We are deeply concerned that the attackon Yabroud may follow the pattern of previousattacks on cities and towns across Syria,” saidRupert Colville, spokesman for the UN highcommissioner for human rights.

UN raises alarm over loomingSyrian assault on rebel town

“Government aerial bombardments wereindiscriminate and disproportionate in viola-tion of obligations under international law andensuing land incursions resulted in heavy ci-vilian casualties,” he told reporters.

Colville pointed to reports of increasedaerial attacks and shelling on the town, whichlies near the border with Lebanon, and a mili-tary build-up that suggested a major land as-sault was in sight.—AFP

such contacts, welcomedefforts of Pakistan and Af-ghanistan to build a broaderrelationship with strength-ened trade and economicrelations and acknowledgedthe development coopera-tion of Turkey and Pakistanin reconstruction and stabi-lization of Afghanistan, Thesummit underscored thatthe international communityshould continue to supportAfghanistan’s socio-eco-nomic development beyond2014. —INP

AnkaraSummit urges

From Page 1

assured the MQM that the security per-sonnel in plain clothes had been directednot to arrest any civilian but contrary to hisassurances, the security personnel in plainclothes abducted a worker of MQM ShahRukh, son of Kabeer, from Anarkali Bazaarat night. Family of the worker and MQMwere still in dilemma as whether he was ar-rested or kidnapped.

He said that MQM had apprised theFederal Interior Minister that workers ofMQM were being killed extra-judicially andunconstitutional steps were being taken bythe Sindh government with regard to on-going targeted operation. The federal Inte-rior Minister was also informed that work-ers of MQM were being kidnapped by se-curity personnel in plain clothes.

The entire situation had dissipated astrong wave of concern among the peopleof the city as it was not clear whether theywere the terrorists or security forces per-sonnel that kidnapped the workers of MQMand civilians. Targeted operation was be-ing made controversial and out of 15000arrested during targeted operation only 63belonged to banned terrorist organisations.

Sharjeel Inam Memon in rebuttal of alle-gations levelled by MQM leader said that he

MQM, PPP exchange barbsover Karachi operation

From Page 1

LAHORE: High Officials of Police firing with POF made Gun at Elite Training CenterBedian.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Pakistan Ordnance Factories,the premier defense production complex ofthe country has been endeavoring to famil-iarize the Law Enforcement Agencies of thecountry about their state of the art armsand ammunition.

On the invitation of Secretary HomePunjab POF team visited Lahore and gavepresentation to the high officials of Lawenforcement agencies about POF Productsin which Secretary Home Punjab Mr.Muhammad Azam, Special Home SecretaryPunjab IG Prison, Additional Secy Police,Additional IG Counter Terrorism Depart-ment (CTD) Mr. Aftab Cheema and SSP CTDparticipated. Later, Live firing of POF weap-ons was arranged at Elite Training BedianLahore in which Commandant Elite ForceCol Saad and high officials of Police andCTD not only themselves fired with POFproducts but also witnessed the fire dem-onstration of other POF products. Secre-tary Home Punjab directed to purchasecommittee to initiate a case for procurementof POF Arms and ammunition immediately.

POF team givespresentation on its products

Additional IG CTD desired that a specialdesign for the uniform of CTD force shouldbe prepared by POF and POF team assuredhim that the said design will be soon pre-pared for CTD Force.

Col. (R) Inamullah Khan General Man-ager Sales in his detailed briefing told theparticipants that POF can assist law en-forcement agencies by providing reliableand high quality weapons in war againstterrorism. POF can also provide after salesservice facilities to the law enforcementagencies. He urged the participants that lawenforcement agencies should meet their re-quirements of arms and ammunition by pre-ferring POF made products which will alsosave huge foreign exchange. It will also behelpful for growth of national economy andimprovement in weapons which will induceprompt feedback from the users.

High ranking officials of Police and EliteForce themselves made live firing demowith POF made weapons and appreciatedthe accuracy and quality of products. Theyassured the POF team to prefer POF prod-ucts for use by various law enforcementagencies of the country.

stan comes at a critical junc-ture. Our region is facinggrave challenges. Insur-gency in Syria is in its thirdyear. Afghanistan has en-tered a crucial phase of for-eign forces withdrawalwithout concrete plans forpeaceful transition. Thescourge of terrorism has notonly defamed Islam but alsothreatens the fabric of Is-lamic societies. Pakistanfaces serious economic andenergy challenges andlooks towards the Kingdomwhich has always been itsfriend in need.

Peace and stability in

this turbulent region is im-portant for both nations.This visit would afford anexcellent opportunity toboth leaderships for findingsolutions to the challengesthey face. Pakistan wouldcertainly benefit from thewise counsel of the CrownPrince.

Ahlan Wa Sahlan toyour second home, CrownPrince. Pakistani govern-ment and its people valuetheir special bond with theKingdom of Saudi Arabia,the land of their holiestHarmain and for Khadim alHarmain al Shareefein.

Welcome to your secondhome, Crown Prince

From Page 1

in their operations. Khattabsaid that of the differentgroups engaged in targetedkillings in Karachi, theAshaab group was chieflyinvolved in sectarian at-tacks and also in targetingpolice mobile vans.

He said the arrestedsuspects were involved inmajor terrorist activities inthe city in the past twoyears.

Khattab said four pis-tols, four hand grenade,explosive material andmore than 30 detonatorswere recovered from thecustody of the accused.

The inspector furthersa id the ar res ted Al-Qaeda men were studentsof Karachi univers i ty,adding the media group ofQaeda had distributed itsl i tera ture in the vars i tysomet imes back. RajaKhat tab sa id Al-Qaedanetwork is present in theKU that included profes-sors. —INP

CID arrests 3Qaeda-linked

suspectsFrom Page 1

as sharing an update on bi-lateral relations.

The Minister reiteratedthat clearance of CoalitionSupport Funds (CSF) fromUSA needed to be stream-lined and quickened to meetregional political exigencies.It was placed on record thatPakistan’s ongoing financialstringencies in the wake ofinstant security situation inthe Af-Pak Region neededspecial attention by both thecountries in post-alliedforces withdrawal in 2014onwards.

It was impressed uponthe visiting USA-HAC del-egation that Pakistan didhave noticeable concerns inthe context of ongoing com-

plex regional security situa-tion which primarily consti-tuted Pakistan’s currentdemocratic government’spolitical focus for peace tobe given a fair chance.

The Minister for Fi-nance brought home to thevisiting USA-HAC delega-tion the enormity ofPakistan’s human and eco-nomic loss in the wake ofongoing war on terror. TheFinance Minister underlinedthat the political governmentand the armed forces in Pa-kistan are on one page in pri-oritizing strategic options tocurb terrorism and attain themutually-shared goals ofpeace in the region.

The USA delegation ex-pressed its fullest possibleunderstanding of untoldsacrifices rendered by Paki-stan in terms of loss of hu-man life and persistent setbacks to national economy.It assured the Pakistani sideto continue to work for sup-portive efforts to scale downall procedural impedimentsin order to streamline CSFprocessing. Pakistani sideled by Senator MohammadIshaq Dar also presented apolitical review of Af-Paksituation in post-Nato andUSA forces withdrawal thatdid merit strategicallyworked out prudent han-dling, taking stock of his-torical political factors relat-ing to a difficult geographi-cal terrain in the region.

It was stressed that Pa-

kistan and USA needed tojoin their efforts leading toa compact strategic delib-erations process which didhave a positive political fore-cast resulting in political andeconomic stabilization in Af-Pak Region.

The Minister empha-sized that both the countriesneeded to re-focus their stra-tegic considerations in theregion and mutually work forpolitical and economic reha-bilitation of a war-torn partof South West Asia. Thepresent democratic govern-ment in Pakistan shared itscommonality of views withits USA counterparts be-yond 2014 in terms of bilat-erally useful alliances whichalso took into account allpolitical, economic and mili-tary dimensions of a complexsituation in the region, theMinister added. Mr. RodneyP. Frelinghuysen appreci-ated Pakistani citizens socialdiaspora in USA, describingit entrepreneurial, dynamicand energetic which usefullyis contributing to USA’s po-litical economy in all sectorsof development.

He assured Pakistan’s Fi-nance Minister USA’s contin-ued support that would fo-cus mutually beneficial workfor peace and stability in theAf-Pak region through apackage of political and eco-nomic support that is bilater-ally identified. The Ambassa-dor of USA to Pakistan Mr.Richard Olson also attendedthe meeting.—INP

Dar for CSF streamlining tomeet political exigencies

From Page 1

Rangers convoy comprising3 Rangers vans nearQayyumabad and blew himwhen he reached close tothe Land Cruiser of Brig.Basit. The Rangers convoywas moving towardGulshan-e Iqbal from De-fence turn nearQayyumabad.

The incident createdpanic in the city and thepeople living in close vi-cinity were highly intimi-dated. Special Investiga-tion Unit, CID Police andBomb Disposal Unitreached the scene.

Police cordoned off thearea and started search op-eration.

According to BombDisposal Unit of Police, thesuicide bomber was wear-ing a suicide jacket fittedwith ball bearings and hadan explosive of around 5kilogramms.

SSP Korangi UsmanBajwah, talking to news-men at the scene said thatit was a suicide attack andthe attacker was on foot.The suicide bomber blewhad blown him soon afterhe reached close to theLand Cruiser of Wing Com-mander Brig Basit.

He said that the Rang-ers convoy was on routinepatrol. Four Rangers per-sonnel were injured in theattack and the land cruiserof Brig. Basit was slightlydamaged. The suicidebomber torn into pieces onthe spot.

It is pertinent to men-tion that the terrorists justa day earlier had attackeda Police bus in Razzaqabadand claimed 13 cops’ livesand injured 54.

Rangers WingCommander

From Page 1

and three Levies’ personnel.They were kidnapped byunidentified gunmen fromGomazai who then tookthem to a nearby mountain.

The banned Baloch Lib-eration Front (BLF) hadclaimed responsibility forthe first incident of kidnap-ping.

Earlier on Thursday, thedeputy commissioner andthe assistant commissionerof Kechh district were re-turning after a meeting withIranian border officials whenthey were intercepted bydozens of armed men.

The gunmen had over-powered at least 18 staff andsecurity personnel accompa-nying the two officials andordered the convoy to fol-low them. The gunmen hadlater allowed the staff and se-curity personnel to go buttook away the deputy com-missioner and assistantcommissioner.—Online

Team to recoverkidnapped DC

From Page 1

is also significant since In-dia is steadily bolsteringmilitary force-levels on theeastern coast and Andamanand Nicobar archipelago tocounter China’s strategicmoves in the IOR.—INP

Indian Navykicks off

From Page 1

did not name any political party after the at-tack on Police bus but had stated that theattack would be from those elements that wereuncomfortable with the targeted operation.

He said targeted operation should notbe looked at with the jaundiced eye as itwas against all the communities and itwould be not just to claim the targeted op-eration was only against a particular com-munity and the creation of such assump-tion was tantamount to misleading thepeople.

Sharjeel Memon said that the operationwas not controversial, as target killers werealso arrested and added that efforts werebeing made to mislead the people.

Senior leader of the Muttahida QaumiMovement Faisal Sabzwari accused the se-curity personnel of extra-judicial murder of12 party workers and illegal arrest of 45 ac-tivists. Talking to media persons here onFriday, Faisal Sabzwari said that till now 12MQM activists have been extra-judiciallymurdered in Karachi and 45 others havebeen kept in illegal captivity who were bru-tality tortured.

He said Karachi is not FATA that gov-ernment had to face problems in establish-ing and proving its writ in the metropolis.

cent, rise in Karachi StockExchange by 17 percent, in-creased foreign remittanceand increased business ac-tivities.

Gach group is one of theleading car manufacturers inTurkey‚ while the Noralworks in trade‚ constructionand defense sectors.

Gama Holding is one ofthe largest companies inTurkey dealing with energy‚power distribution‚ industryand trade.

Minister for Water andPower and DefenseKhawaja Muhammad Asif‚Prime Minister ’s advisorsSartaj Aziz‚ Tariq Fatemi andChairman PkMAP MehmudKhan Achakzai were alsopresent in the meeting.

The Prime Minister in-formed the Turkish busi-nessmen about measurestaken by his governmentthat resulted in increasingthe GDP quarterly rate from2.9% to 5%, about 17% risein Karachi Stock Exchange,increased foreign remittanceand more business activi-ties.

“Our Government plansto rise the GDP growth rateto above 6% and bringingmore foreign investment inthe energy, infrastructure,low cost housing, municipalservices, agro-based indus-try, information technology,textiles, etc.,” said the Prime

made in the coming days,”Maulana Yousuf Shah said.

“The first issue is theestablishment of peace inthe country. The negotia-tions should not be throughthe media,” Mauala SamiulHaq said, speaking with themedia after the meeting.

Meanwhile, The commit-tee nominated by the Talibanand Tehreek-e-Taliban Paki-stan spokesman ShahidullahShahid spoke over the tele-phone during a meeting heldwith the committee formed bythe government. Sourcessaid the Taliban committeeapprised Shahidullah Shahidover the demand of the gov-ernment committee forceasefire.

The TTP spokesmansaid he would apprise theTaliban shura over the de-mand and would inform thecommittee after it.

Minister.The Turkish companies

who met with the PrimeMinister included MustafaKoc, Chairman Koc Group,Mr. Oguz Carmikli, Vice-Chairman Nurol Group, Mr.Hakan Ozman, CEO andDeputy Chairman of GAMAHolding, Mr. Nehat Ozdemir,Chairman Limak Holding,Mr. Ibrahim Cecin, ChairmanIC Holding, Mr. Alp YalcinTaskent, Chairman of STFAMr. Ahmet Albayrak, Chair-man of Albayrak Group, Mr.Ahmet Zorlu, Chairman ofZorlu Holdings, Mr. KorhanKurdoglu, President of ATAHolding, Mr. Turgay Ciner,Chairman and CEO of CinerGroup, Koc group showedkeen interest to invest inelectrical appliances manu-facturing, dairy develop-ment, and bus manufactur-ing. The finished productscould then be exported fromPakistan. Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif said Pakistanwill facilitate and encour-aged them to have partner-ship with Pakistan privatesector.

In his meeting M/sLimak group, Mr. NawazSharif said Turkish compa-nies will be given all pos-sible help for setting uppower plants. The companysaid they have completed

pre-requisites for investingin the wind energy. Coal firedpower plants in GaddaniPower Park and construc-tion of highways on BOTbasis.

NOROL group said theyhave explored investmentprojects of Dasu Hydro-power Project, Lahore-Karachi Motorway andcoalbased projects., hydro-power projects. Prime Min-ister of Pakistan expectedthat the group will finalizethe technical examination ofthese projects and assuredthat their investment will beprotected.—NNI

PM asks Turkish traders to bepart of Pakistan

From Page 1

ShunattacksFrom Page 1

thousand times if I have todo for this task. We have totake this fight to Parliament.Perhaps it is our last ses-sion,” he was quoted by In-dia Today as saying in theassembly.

Speaking to media, hedemanded for a fresh elec-tion. He criticized the twomain political parties theCongress and the BJP fornot allowing the bill to betabled in the legislature.

New DelhiCM Arvind

From Page 1

that the agreement besigned quickly, they did notrule out the possibility ofwaiting to see if a new Af-ghan leader might be easierto work with.

Pushing off the decisionon keeping troops in Af-ghanistan after 2014 comeswith increased risks andcomplications for the USmilitary, though the Penta-gon is making adjustmentsto give President BarackObama that option.

Karzai´s refusal tosign the security pact hasstrained relations withWashington. -AP

US seesmore delay

From Page 1

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Muttahidda QaumiMovement’s (MQM) Coordination Com-mittee has expressed concern at the newsreport about the presence of Alqaeda af-filiated network Ashab in the University ofKarachi. They have termed it the failure oflaw enforcement and security agencies.

The disclosure made by three Alqaedaaffiliated terrorists from the University ofKarachi arrested by law enforcement agen-cies has revealed who are behind bombattacks, sectarian violence and killings inKarachi. Who is trying to disturb the peaceof the city, it questioned.

Terrorists have revealed that there areprofessors who are helping their network.

MQM concerned overpresence of Al-Qaeda in UoK

They have distributed materials in the uni-versity. How did security agencies failedto detect the activities of Ashab Organiza-tion, it asked further.

The presence of International terroristsin Karachi has given a bad name to theinstitution. It has also caused fear amongstudents. We have heard the news aboutthe arrest of terrorists from the hostel roomof a Jamiat member in Punjab University.This person was involved in a number ofterrorist acts in Punjab, it said.

The arrest of Alqaeda affiliated terror-ists from the University of Karachi afterPunjab University is a cause of concern.It has revealed that some religious partiesin our country have links with the Inter-national terrorist organization Al-Qaeda.

Published by: Zahid Malik, Printed by Gauhar Zahid Malik,33-Queens Road, Lahore at Barex Printers.

Peace talksuseless after

Karachi blast:Khursheed

S U K K U R — O p p o s i t i o nleader in the National As-sembly Syed KhursheedShah on Friday said hisparty supported the govern-ment to hold talks with theTaliban despite criticismfrom several political parties.

He said the peace talkswere useless following therecent terrorist attacksacross the country. Speak-ing to media in Sukkur,Khursheed Shah said PrimeMinister Nawaz Sharifshould take a firm decisionon this sensitive issue like atrue leader, adding that thePPP would completely sup-port the government what-ever decision it takes to curbterrorism. —INP

Terrorist activitiesmay hamper peaceprocess: Ibrahim

RAZA NAQVI

ATTOCK—Member PeaceCommittee Prof Ibrahim hassaid that nation must remainoptimist regarding peaceprocess as dialogue is theonly solution to the prevail-ing challenges.

He said this while talk-ing to newsmen here atAttock. He said, “we wantto get positive results inshortest possible time anddo not want any interval orbreakage in peace process”.

Prof Ibrahim said boththe parties will have to showflexibility to get the desiredresults.

Police registersFIR againstFazlullah,ShahidIRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—Shah LateefTown Police registered anFIR against Tehreek-eTaliban Pakistan (TTP)Ameer Maulvi Fazlullah andTTP spokespersonShahidullah Shahid on com-plaint of Assistant Sub-In-spector Asrar under section302, 324/24, 109 and ¾ ex-plosive act and 7A TA ofanti-terrorist clauses.

TTP spokespersonShahidullah Shahid was di-rectly nominated in clause109 of the case registered atthe said police station.

LAHORE—Commerce Minister KhurramDastgir Khan has blamed the Foreign Min-istries of India and Pakistan for the currentstalemate in bilateral trade talks.

The Minister, however, was optimisticthat talks would resume soon and Pakistanwould be able to deliver on the promise ofremoving all bans on Indian exports andopen up the land route further.

“When you are talking trade, you cango to a certain extent and then trade talkshit a wall when other Ministries get in-volved,” the Minister said while talking topresspersons at the ‘India Show’ jointlyorganised by FICCI and the CommerceMinistry. When asked which Ministry hehad in mind, Khan said it was the ForeignMinistries which refused to resume thecomposite dialogue for improving relations

between thetwo coun-tries. The

composite dialogue was suspended lastJanuary following violence at the Line ofControl.

“Today is Valentine’s Day. Instead ofgiving each other messages of love, thetwo Foreign Ministries are not even resum-ing the composite dialogue,” Khan said on

Dastgir blames Pak,India foreign ministries

for trade stalemate

ANKARA: General Raheel Sharif, Chief of Army Staff along with General Bismullah Khan, Afghan Defence Ministerand General Necdet Ozel, Chief of Turkish General Staff during Pak, Afghan and Turkey Trilateral Summit.

LO N D O N—The Britishgovernment says militaryrecruitment centers haveincreased their securitymeasures regarding mailfollowing seven failed let-ter bombings in Englandblamed on Irish Republi-can Army militants.

No group has claimedresponsibility for thisweek´s posting of sevenenvelopes containing gunpowder, fuses and otherpotential bomb parts torecruitment offices in sev-eral towns outside Lon-don.

British officials blameIRA militants, who are al-

UK military on alert fornew IRA mail-bomb threat

ready linked to failed Oc-tober letter-bomb attacksin Northern Ireland.

Two of this week´sthreats were mailed fromthe Republic of Ireland,the rest from within theU.K.

Police say theywere too crudely designedto have killed anyone.Most IRA members re-nounced violence in 2005,but breakaway factionsstill seek to undermineNorthern Ireland´s peacesettlement.

They have not deto-nated any bombs in Englandsince 2001. —Agencies

Anti-dronecampaignerKarim Khan

recoveredSTAFF REPORTER

IS L A M A B A D—Anti-dronecampaigner, Karim Khan whohad disappeared fromRawalpindi on February 5 hasbeen recovered.

Karim Khan whosebrother and teenage son werekilled in a December 2009drone attack had disappeareddays before he was due totestify before European par-liamentarians.

Khan’s lawyer, ShahzadAkbar claimed his client hadbeen kidnapped by 15 to 20men.

Ebad for qualityeducationKARACHI—Sindh Gover-nor Dr. Ishrat-ul-EbadKhan has emphasized onpromotion of quality edu-cation as this is the onlyway to build a society.He called for joint effortsof the government and thesociety on this account asthe government alone cando a little due to paucity ofresources. —APP

a lighter note.But the Minister categorically specified

that there were no pre-conditions to resum-ing the trade dialogue.

India and Pakistan started negotiationsfor liberalising bilateral trade in February2012 following which both sides took anumber of steps to open up their markets.Pakistan, which allowed only about 2,000items to be exported from India, now al-lows more than 6,000 goods from the coun-try. An export ban, however, continues onabout 1,000 items, which it had promisedto dismantle by December last year.

Khan also stressed on the need for amore liberal visa regime to boost trade. “Wemay keep talking about tariff and customsbarriers, but till business people are al-lowed to travel freely to each other’s coun-tries, they would not be able to see for them-selves what opportunities they can ex-ploit,” the Minister said.

Bilateral trade between India and Paki-stan is pegged at about $3 billion, with Pa-kistan exporting less than $1 billion. Com-merce Joint Secretary Arvind Mehta, how-ever, said Pakistan’s exports to India haddoubled in the last three years, which au-gurs well for the future.—Online

See also Page 13

DRAB olive cigarette packs bearing aprominent quit-smoking helplinenumber, introduced more than a year

ago in Australia, had a sizeable and sus-tained effect on interest in quitting, re-searchers say. Just oneof many controls im-posed on cigarette mar-keting and sales over thepast decade in that coun-try, the plain packagingwas linked to a 78-per-cent spike in calls to ter-ritorial quitlines within amonth of its introduc-tion.

“The results suggestthe legislation does havea positive early impact (onsmokers) and so othercountries could feel moreconfident in introducingsimilar legislation,” saidJane Young, a cancer epi-demiologist at the SydneySchool of Public Health,who led the study. Theplain packages, implemented in October 2012,mean that every brand’s cigarettes look nearlyidentical, with the brand name relegated to asmall, standardized font.

In March 2006, cigarette packaging withgraphic health warnings including photos ofcancer-riddled lungs and gangrenous limbswas introduced in Australia. “(The labels) in-form consumers about what might happen tothem when they use the product,” said JoannaCohen, director of the Institute for Global To-bacco Control at the Johns HopkinsBloomberg School of Public Health in Balti-more, Maryland.

“The plain and standardized packaging is

meant to reduce the appeal of the packageand show the warning. Hopefully currentsmokers will quit because they are moreaware of the health impacts, and fewerpeople will start,” said Cohen, who was not

involved in the new study.Young’s team wanted to iso-late the impact of just theswitch to plain packaging oninterest in quitting.

They looked at thenumber of calls in New SouthWales and the Australian Capi-tal Territory to the nationalquitline before and after intro-duction of the plain packages.Calls jumped from 363 a weekbefore the packaging changeto a peak of 651 calls a weekfour weeks after the new pack-ages were introduced, Youngand her colleagues report inthe Medical Journal of Aus-tralia.

The study also com-pared those results to the num-ber of calls received by the

Quitline after Australia’s addition of graphicwarning labels. That change was linkedwith a jump from 910 calls a week to a peakof 1,653 calls 12 weeks afterwards, repre-senting an 84 percent increase. The effectof the graphic warnings only lasted an es-timated 20 weeks, however, whereas theresearchers estimate the effect of plain pack-aging to have endured 43 weeks.

They also adjusted their results forother potential influences on interest inquitting smoking, such as cigarette pric-ing, limits on smoking in public and on thedisplay of cigarettes at points of sale, aswell as the New Year’s resolution effect.

Plain cigarette packs spurquitline calls: study

ASHRAF ANSARI

ISLAMABAD—Ambassa-dor Richard G.Olsonhosted US National Dayreception at his embassyin the federal capital. Itwas rather a very largegathering of guests,drawn from almost all seg-ments of Pakistani soci-ety. A vivid presence ofdiplomatic corps clearlyindicated somewhatunique status the UnitedStates enjoyed in theworld.

A special feature ofthe ceremony was recita-tion of national anthemsof the two countries bythe citizens of the US andPakistan. Another dis-tinct feature was presen-tation and raising of theAmerican national flag bya contingent of the USMarines.

Federal Minister forScience and Technology,

Zahid Hamid was the chiefguest at the occasion whojoined the US ambassadorin cutting ceremonial cake.The guests turned keen earsto the chief guest and theUS ambassador as theythought the two would up-

date the audience about theUS Pakistan relations in thebackdrop of looming Ameri-can exit from Afghanistanand Pakistan’s current chal-lenge coming from the tribalareas bordering Afghani-stan.

However Federal Minis-ter Zahid Hamid and Ambas-sador Olson chose to remainclear of any signs of reserva-tions. They were one voicein declaring that strategic part-nership between Pakistan andthe United States was in theinterest of regional peace and

as such served national inter-ests of both the countries.The minister said, Pakistanshared democratic values,cherished so much by theAmerican people. He point-edly referred to the constitu-tional provisions to stress hisview.

He also spoke of eco-nomic challenges beingfaced by Pakistan and saidthe PML(N) government ledby Prime Minister NawazSharif was making strenuousefforts to overcome theproblems.

Ambassador RichardOlson in his address said, therevival of strategic dialoguebetween Pakistan and hiscountry would help instrengthening of partnershipbetween the two countries. Hebelieved that the two nationscould greatly contribute topromoting peace and securityhoping they would continuetreading the path to peace andprogress.

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Future of Paki-stan lies in education and par-ticularly in a well establishedsystem of higher educationsaid Prof Ahsan Iqbal, Fed-eral Minister for Planning, De-velopment and Reforms. Hewas addressing inaugurationceremony of Writing Re-source Centre (NWRC) atNational University of Mod-ern Languages (NUML),Islamabad.

The Federal Minister ProfAhsan Iqbal along with Rec-tor NUML Maj Gen (R)Masood Hasan and DirectorGeneral (DG) Brig Azam un-veiled the plaque of theNWRC in a simple but grace-ful ceremony. The ceremonywas also attended by Prof DrMukhtar Ahmed, ExecutiveDirector HEC, Peter Brennan,Minister Counselor for Pub-lic Affairs US Embassy, MsJudith Ravin, Deputy CulturalAttache US Embassy, FifeMac Duff, Director RegionalEnglish Language Office atUS Embassy, Islamabad, DrAsad Zaman, Vice ChncellorPIDE, Registrar Brig (R) SaeedAkhtar Malik, Director Plan-ning and Coordination Brig(R) Dr Riasat Ali, other Offi-cials from US Embassy, HECand Directors of the univer-sity.

Prof Ahsan Iqbal said that it wasimmense pleasure to see that uni-versities and institutions were put-ting their all efforts and resourcesfor development of quality researchand writing culture in Pakistan. Hesaid that in all developed and civi-lized countries universities had con-tributed tremendously for achiev-ing national development goals.

Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal along with Executive Director Mukhtar Ahmed andRector Maj Gen (R) Masood Hasan unveiling the plaque of Writing Resource Centre at NUML.

Higher education can playpivotal role in development

Universities had a pivotal role inproviding innovative research, cre-

ative ideas, intellectual leadershipand solution leaders to the coun-try, he added. He said NUML wascentre of excellence for teaching andlearning foreign languages and itwas government policy to take in-structions of foreign languages toschool level to develop in studentscapacity of multi-lingual communi-cation skills. He gave examples ofdeveloped countries where foreign

languages are taught at schoollevel.

Addressing the inaugurationceremony, Peter Brennan, MinisterCounselor for Public Affairs US Em-bassy, appreciated the setting up ofNWRC at NUML. He said the centrerepresents the visible example ofgood results arising from partnershipbetween Pakistan and his countryin the field of higher education. Heexpressed the hope that the centrewould help in promoting research ac-

tivities at NUML. He assured NUMLadministration of continued coopera-

tion in their pursuits of in the re-search areas. DG Brig Azam Jamalbriefing about the NWRC said it hasbeen established with the assistanceof US State Department under theUniversity of North Texas-NUMLPartnership Program sponsored byUS Embassy in Islamabad, to sup-port the development of researchbased writing projects for all mem-bers of NUML academic community.

American Ambassador hosts National Day reception

US, Pakistan partnership serves peace

Federal Minister for Science and Technology Zahid Hamid and US Ambassador RichardOlson cutting the cake to celebrate the President’s Day of US.—PO photo by Sultan Bashir

STAFF REPORTER

IS L A M A B A D—Bowing isprobably the most popu-lar feature of social eti-quette associated with Ja-pan to the outside world.The gesture is only one ofan intricate etiquette sys-tem governing this islandnation. I t symbolizeshonour, appreciation andrespect. Therefore, whenJapan gives the proverbialbow (or nod) to one ofPakistan’s f inest educa-tional institutions to par-t icipate in i ts on-goingJENESYS Program, thegesture carries with it thesame value system ofhonour, appreciation andrespect. Roots MillenniumSchools is the recipient ofthis invitation to be a partof the iconic JENESYSProgramme.

The program was an-nounced by the PrimeMinister of Japan ShinzoAbe during his s tay inJakarta on 18 January 2013as a continuation of theoriginal program (Japan-East Asia Network of Ex-change for Students andYouths) carried out from2007 to 2012. It is cited asone of the important areasof the Japanese foreignpolicy. The program isplanned to promote poten-tial interests towards Ja-pan within the young gen-eration, to increase visi-tors to Japan as well as tofacil i tate global under-standing on Japanese val-ues and Japan’s strengthsand attractions including

Roots millennium schoolsdiscovering ‘Cool Japan’

“Cool Japan” towards therevitalization of the Japa-nese economy.

Approximately 35,000youths (middle school,high school and collegestudents) from 41 coun-tr ies, throughout Asian/Oceania region (10 coun-tries of ASEAN, Australia,New Zealand, East Timor,

China, Mongolia, Taiwan,Korea, 14 countries andregions of South PacificOcean, 8 countries ofSAARC) and NorthAmerica (The UnitedStates and Canada) qualifyto participate in the pro-gram, either staying in Ja-pan or dispatched for 9nights and 10 days.

ISLAMABAD—A number of petrol pumpsand CNG filling stations in the FederalCapital have inadequate fighting equip-ments, security arrangements as requiredunder the shops and security act.

These petrol and CNG stations arealso violating weight and measurementact and labour laws.

A customer, who visited a petrolpump in Melody area to purchase fuelfor his vehicle pointed out that there wasno proper safety and security arrange-ments in case of any untoward incident.

Several petrol, CNG outlets lack firefighting equipments, security

81 foreignersbooked for illegal

stay in CapitalSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Cases wereregistered against 81 for-eigners for illegal stay inIslamabad Capital Territory(ICT) during last five years,while 154 others were ar-rested and sent to judicialcustody, said a police offi-cial Friday.

He said the IslamabadPolice had asked all refugeecamps to restrict the move-ment of Afghan refugeesand not to allow anyone tomove outside the camp with-out permission.

The district administra-tion has been requested toapproach the UNHCR forrepatriation of Afghan refu-gees residing in the jurisdic-tion of ICT, he added. Thesource said a survey wasbeing conducted throughthe beat officers/officials inslum communities, situatedin the jurisdiction of variouspolice stations for takingaction against illegal for-eigners.

He said the Interior Min-istry had directed to deputepolicemen at all inlets/out-lets of the city to check theactivities of foreigners resid-ing in the jurisdiction of ICTand take strict action againstillegal immigrants. It had alsodirected the ICT Police tocomplete the registration ofAfghan Refugees as soonas possible otherwise the of-ficials concerned would beheld responsible, he added.

He said proper safety equipment andsecurity arrangements should be inplace at each and every petrol filling sta-tion.

There are also complaints of cleanli-ness condition and overcharging fromcustomers by the owners of tuck shops,another customer informed this agency.He said the mechanism to check adul-teration and measurement should beimplemented in letter and spirit.

When contacted an official ofIslamabad Capital Administration (ICT)

informed that surprise inspection of suchpetrol pumps and CNG filling stations inthe city area is conducted on regular ba-sis and heavy fines are imposed on theowners to ensure implementation of con-cerned laws.

He said even this week, various petrolpumps which were challaned and im-posed fines included Shell Aabpara, Rs.20,000, PSO Melody, Rs.30,000, PSOPress Club, Rs.20,000, Caltex, Super Mar-ket, Rs.40,000 and Shell, Super Market,Rs. 15,000.—APP

ISLAMABAD—Commuters of federalcapital Thursday demanded of the con-cerned civic authorities to force taxi cabdrivers to install meters in their Taxi cars.

The excuse of non availability ofCompress Natural Gas (CNG) is rapidlyincreasing among the taxi drivers, wherethe citizens are forced to pay an extrasum of money to reach at their respec-tive destinations.

Hundreds of people traveling in tax-ies due to poor public transport systemin the federal capital. A resident of sec-tor G-7, Shahid Nazir said that five to sixmonths back, taxi fares ranged betweenRs 100 and Rs 150 inside the city butnow it has doubled.

“Taxi drivers demand more thandouble fare if you stop them in poshsectors like F-6 or F-8,” said Maria

Khan, a resident of Sector F-10, sayingthat it was also difficult to bargain withthe cabbies for females. A commuter,Naeem Ali, said that people belong tofar flung areas visiting twin cities werecompelled to pay more fare as they donot know to bargain with the drivershere. He said that taxi drivers werecharging as much as they wanted withblaming of fuel prices.—APP

Commuters demand meter system

Dr. Mukhtar Ahmad, Executive Director HEC, presents certificate to a participant ofthe training for college teachers. Fife McDuff, Regional English Language Officer, USEmbassy is also present.—PO photo

06:10 01:3004:15

07:30

Zohr

Asr

Isha

Fajar

Marhrib at Sunset

Brothers in Islamestablish regular

prayers andcharity

Students exhibiting cultural dresses at Waqar-un-Nisa College in connection with Punjab Youth Festival.

March 5

CANDIDATES to submit/send the admission formalongwith attested photo-copies of the relevant cer-tificates/degrees to theChairman, Department ofBusiness Administration,Block 13, AIOU, Islamabadtill 5th March, 2014.

Police personnel busy in playing cards others taking a nap at the green belt during duty hours.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The Higher Education Com-mission (HEC), under its English LanguageTeaching Reforms Project, and in collabo-ration with the US Embassy, organized aweek-long International Resource Persontraining on “Testing and Assessment onELT” at Learning Innovation Division, HECIslamabad.

Twenty-four English teachers of publicsector colleges from across Pakistan at-tended the training. ELTR Project has sofar trained 160 English teachers from acrossthe country in training courses organizedin collaboration with the US Embassy.

Dr. Mukhtar Ahmad, Executive DirectorHEC, was the chief guest in the closing cer-emony of this training held here on Friday.Dr. Naeem Khalid, Adviser (Academics)HEC, Mr. Fife MacDuff, Regional EnglishLanguage Officer, US Embassy, and MsNoor Amna Malik, Director General (Learn-ing Innovation) HEC were also present atthe occasion. The main objectives of thetraining are to delineate the aspects of as-sessment/testing, discuss trends in ELTassessment, testing and alternative assess-ment and evaluate ways to assess a variety

HEC, US Embassyhold training forEnglish teachers

of language activities and skills. The train-ing was a fusion of innovative activitiesand theory to provide an all-out exposureof testing and assessment techniques tothe English fraternity. It aimed at creatingawareness of the concepts, trends, prin-ciples and concerns of language assess-ment English community of colleges.

James Stabler, who has extensive expe-rience in conducting trainings on this par-ticular theme explained in detail basic con-cepts and theories underlying testing, al-ternative assessment and rubrics. He intro-duced to the participants unique and strik-ing ideas to construct tests for assessmentof linguistic competence (grammar and vo-cabulary) and language skills (reading, writ-ing, speaking, and listening), and to usealternative forms of assessment in theirclassroom, in addition to traditional achieve-ment tests. Participants worked in groupsto develop different sample tests.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. MukhtarAhmad reiterated HEC plans to widenscope of such trainings to facilitate moreteachers and address the need of languagereforms at a larger scale. He thanked the USEmbassy for extending support to train in-digenous English faculty.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—President Interantional IslamicUniveristy Islamabad Prof Dr. Ahmed YousifAl-Driaweesh has called upon Ulema to workfor dissemination of peace and they shouldpromote of harmony while discouraging ap-proach of extremisms. He was addressingthe participants on the occasion of inaugu-ral session of 82nd Training Program forUlema organized by Dawah Academy IIUI.On the occasion Deputy Director GeneralDawah Academy Dr. Imtiaz Zafar was alsopresent. In his address President stressedupon the Ulema to play their key role in thereformation of society as they are pillars ofstability.

He termed Ulema pre-requisite componentof peace and tranquility as they are respon-sible to prevent the people from extremists andnegative thinking. He invoked that Ulema

Sectarianism has noroom in Islam

should come forward to preach the true mes-sage of Islam in true sense as preaching is thekey element of Islam. President said no onehas right to enforce anybody to act upon one’swish as Islam has no room to use force or powerin regard to preaching.

Dr. Al-Draiweesh admired the role ofDawah Academy and said Academy nurtur-ing the plant of Islam not only in Pakistan butin whole world. He said Dawah Academy issymbol of unity as it’s free from any biased orsectarian inclination. On the occasion in hisaddress Dr. Imtiaz Zafar briefed the participantsabout the Dawah Academy and about thecourse.

He said Islam condemn all sectarian ap-proaches and give us true sense of unity andbrotherhood. Deputy Director Zahir ud Behramis the coordinator of the program that will lasttwo month in which 30 Ulema from across thecountry participating.

ASI demotedon poor

performanceRAWA L P I N D I—RegionalPolice Officer Akhtar UmerHayyat Lailaka on poor per-formance of Assistant SubInspector (ASI) demotedhim to the rank of head con-stable on Friday.

According to policespokesman, ASI Sadiqabadpolice station was interro-gating a case of car theft.

But the official failed tocarry out investigationproperly.—APP

Four clinics ofquacks sealed

STAFF REPORTER

RAWALPINDI—The Districtadministration on Fridaylaunched an operationagainst quack doctors andcases have been sent toQuality Control Board forproper action.

Four Clinics were sealedincluded Abdullah Clinic,Imran Medical Center,Mazhar Clinic and Zohaibclinic set up in Chaklala andnine were fined in the Can-tonment area.

The Clinics in TehsilGujar Khan Ijaz, RajaIftikhar, Kashmir and SadatClinics were sealed for sell-ing drugs without license.

Newconnections

within 10 daysSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Chief Execu-tive Officer (CEO) IslamabadElectric Supply Company(IESCO) MuhammadYousaf Awan has directed allconcerned company offi-cials to give new connec-tions to the customerswithin 10 days. He said thatthe customers complaintsmust be redressed with goodattitude and the progress ofrecovery be boasted up,and line losses must be re-duced.

“New connection will begiven to the customerswithin 10 days where elec-tricity poles are not re-quired,” he said while chair-ing a meeting of AttockCircle officers.

The CEO said that safetymeasures should beadopted by the Line Staffwhile working on electricityinstallations.

The projects of ELRand installations of 11KVfeeders should be fur-nished as soon as pos-sible. Yousaf said that theconsumers are our real as-set therefore it is our primeduty to facilitate them onpriority basis by address-ing their complaints withgood attitude.

The Chief Executive Of-ficer also visited the underconstruction 132KV JhangBahter Grid Station and SEAttock Circle office. He saidthat after completion ofnew 132 KV Jhang BahterGrid Station, low voltageissue would be resolved.Line losses would also bereduced due to instal la-tions of new11KV feeders,he added.

ISLAMABAD—The publictransport, plying on differ-ent routes of the Capital,apparently has no careabout the safety of passen-gers as there had been nosafety measures includinginstallation of fire extin-guishers.

In an informal survey,generally public transportwas found without fire ex-tinguisher except oil tankers,even though these did notmeet the set standards asthese were never refilled.

Inspected fire extin-guishers were found to beinadequate which seemedto be there purely for ‘deco-ration’ and could not func-tion properly.

It seems that Provincialand Capital Transport au-thorities had no concern forinspection - the installationof fire extinguishers andother safety measures inpublic transport vehiclesthat are necesaary for safetyof the passengers.

According to rules,public transport cannot beon-road without taking nec-essary safety measures andfitness certificates from con-cerned authorities.

In the country, annuallya number of vehicles facedaccident and the cause ofpassengers’ mortality wasdue to fire and lack of othersafety measures.

So there is a need of

regular inspection of vehicleto avoid such accidents andcommercial motor transpor-tation companies shouldimmediately make improve-ments to ensure the safetyof passengers.

In a verdict, PeshawarHigh Court in its Novem-ber-2013, had directed thatspecial teams should beconstituted to examine theinstallation of fire extin-guishers in the publictransport.

The court also directedtransporters to adopt inter-nationally set standards forfire extinguish system butthe transporters and admin-istration did not take propersteps in this regard.

Vehicles sans safety measures,put passengers lives at risk

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—A four members bipartisandelegation of Subcommittee on Defense ofthe United States House AppropriationsCommittee (HAC) Friday held a meetingwith Foreign Secretary Aizaz AhmedChaudhry in the Ministry of Foreign Af-fairs here.

The delegation was led by sub-commit-tee Chairman Representative, Rodney P.Frelinghuysen and included CongressmanRepresentative Peter Visclosky, Represen-tative James Moran and RepresentativeKenneth Calvert. The US Ambassador toPakistan Richard Olson also attended the

Congressional delegationmeets Foreign Secretary

meeting.Pakistan-US bilateral relations includ-

ing economic, security and counter-terror-ism issues as well as the regional situationwere discussed.

The US visiting Congressmen acknowl-edged the importance of Pakistan-US rela-tionship especially in the current interna-tional environment and reiterated supportto the consolidation of democracy in Paki-stan. The US side also appreciatedPakistan’s efforts for countering terrorismand its role in the promotion of regionalpeace and prosperity, especially in the back-drop of US forces drawdown from Afghani-stan during the current year.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Senate Stand-ing Committee on Communi-cations directed the Ministryof Communications to launchan inquiry against the irregu-larities in process of transfersand posting in Postal ServicesDepartment and submit the

Senate body seeks inquiryof irregularities in PSD

report.Senate body which met on

Friday under the chairmanshipof Senator Daud KhanAchakzai also asked the de-tail report of senior officersstaying at the circle office ofthe postal services.

The meeting was also at-tended by Senator

Muhammad Zahid Khan,Muhammad Mohsin KhanLeghari and Minister for Com-munications, Sardar AftabSheikh. Achakzai said thatthere were reports of takingbribes for new appointmentson the posts of post mastersand general postmasters inBalochistan province.

ICT policearrest 10outlaws

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The IslamabadCapital Territory (ICT) policeFriday arrested 10 criminalsduring separate actions in dif-ferent areas of the capital andrecovered arms and drugsfrom their possession.

The ICT spokespersonsaid police conducted op-eration and raids in differ-ent areas of Islamabad.

During separate actions,10 outlaws were detainedbesides recovering differenttypes of weaponry, heroin,hashish, opium and dozensof bottles of branded liquorfrom their possession.

The police have regis-tered separate cases againstthe detainees at concernedpolice stations and investi-gation was underway.

Fruit, vegetableprices on

downward trendISLAMABAD—Fruits andvegetable prices have de-creased in the weekly ba-zaars of federal capital, how-ever vendors at open mar-ket are still over-chargingthe people in various locali-ties.

According to rate list is-sued by Capital Develop-ment Authority for Fridaybazaar at H-9, the prices offruits and vegetable haveregistered decreasing trendparticularly in the weeklybazaars.

Rates of weekly bazaar,apples are being sold at Rs.40 to 100 per kilogram, ba-nanas Rs. 40 to Rs. 60 perdozen, ‘kinu’ Rs. 40 to Rs.90per dozen, guava Rs. 40 to60 per kg and dates at Rs.150 to Rs. 300 per kg.

While the prices of veg-etables have decreased astomatoes are being sold at Rs.32 per kilogram, potatoes Rs126 per five kg, turnip Rs. 14per kg, Cauliflower Rs. 16 perkg, cabbage Rs. 16 per kg,brinjal at Rs. 40 per kg, cucum-ber Rs. 40 per kg.—APP

Special fund toalleviate hardships

of artistsSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Minister forInformation, Broadcastingand National HeritagePervaiz Rashid on Fridayinformed the Senate that afund has been created to al-leviate hardships of artistsin the country.

Replying to question ofthe members during Ques-tion Hour, he said, the PrimeMinister has allocated a suf-ficient amount for the fundand its disbursement toneedy artists, will soon bestarted.

He also mentioned thatspecial steps are being takento promote the artists fromremote areas, particularlythose hailing from FederallyAdministered Tribal Areas(FATA).

The Minister said thereis no disparity in the dis-bursement of remunerationto artists on basis of lan-guage or region.

Answering anotherquestion, Pervaiz Rashidsaid, a 100 KW mediumwave transmitter has beeninstalled at Radio Pakistan

Hyderabad that will startfunctioning in the secondweek of next month.

NBF nurturingbook reading

STAFF REPORTER

IS L A M A B A D—Renownedliterary figure and Head ofAl-Hamra Art Council, Atta-ul-Haq Qasmi here on Fri-day said National BookFoundation (NBF) is nur-turing the habit of bookreading among the peoplethrough Readers Book Clubscheme.

“The Reader Book Clubis performing well throughissuing concession cardsto all members for purchas-ing expensive books oftheir choice on half ratesespecially for youngergeneration”, he com-mented during a meetingwith Managing Director,NBF, Prof. Dr. Inam ul HaqJaved and a visit of NBFHead Office.

The writer who himselfis great fond of readingsaid, NBF service in thisway is very important inpersuasion of people toread the books and love tostudy book.

He said the foundationis passing on its journey ofevaluation and progressand publishing very rareand important books whichare not available in marketand libraries.

AH RAO

MIRPUR—The AJK subordinate judi-ciary comprising the civil courts lacksthe required number of the judicial offic-ers (judges) since past many years be-cause of the reasons best known to theconcerned higher authorities – the AJKgovernment. The lack ofrequired number of the civil courts invarious parts of AJK including in the busi-est Mirpur district was causing an inor-dinate delay in disposal of the under-trialcases since past many years compellingthe litigant people roam pillar to post insearch of justice, an in-depth survey-cum-investigation conducted by this Corre-spondent revealed.

The apex Supreme Court AJK, lackthe immediate requirement of two morejudges against the full required sanc-tioned strength of five judges. Presentlythe apex court is comprising a ChiefJustice and two permanent judges.

The sitting AJK High Court, however,meets the full sanctioned strength ofseven judges including a Chief Justice.

The subordinate judiciary comprisingcivil courts in various parts of the AJKstate are facing the shortage of judgesagainst the much-needed requirement.

Mirpur, one of the largest-populousdistrict of AJK, is presently facing theshortage of at least four civil courts sincelong.

At present there is only one civilcourt, besides a senior civil court inMirpur against the required number of atleast five civil courts.

“The Mirpur Senior Civil Court andthe only Civil Court were presently hear-ing over 6000 under-trial cases each –which were pending since past manyyears”, said Mirpur District BarAssociation’s President Sardar Ijaz NazirAdvocate.

Talking to this correspondent heretoday, the DBA President pointed out un-

der the normal working policy, a civilcourt could hear maximum of 350 casesto ensure the timely disposal of the caseswithout any inordinate delay. And underthe recent judicial policy maximum offive hundred (500) of cases could be triedin a civil court any where in Pakistan andAJK, he underlined.

As compared to Mirpur, the districtsof Muzaffarabad, Rawalkot and Kotlihave five, four and four civil judges re-spectively at present.

It may be added that in its repeatedrecommendations to the AJK governmentfor the early induction of at least two civiljudges in Mirpur, the AJK High Courthad offered to meet all the expendituresof one of the civil courts to be establishedin Mirpur for an year.

But this proposal was also awaited tobe accepted and materialized by the con-cerned competent authorities of AJK in-cluding the State Finance Department, thesources pointed out.

Acute shortage of civil courts in AJKcauses delay in disposal of cases

SRINAGAR—The Chairman of All Par-ties Hurriyet Conference, Mirwaiz UmarFarooq, has said that the occupation au-thorities are involved in the molestationof women in addition to the violation ofother basic rights of the people.

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq addressingJuma congregation at Jamia Masjid inSrinagar, today, demanded return of mor-tal remains of prominent Kashmiri mar-tyrs, Muhammad Maqool Butt andMuhammad Afzal Guru to the Kashmiris.

Resolutions passed in various areasof the occupied territory said that Indiawas promoting unethical and immoral ac-tivities in the territory under a premedi-tated plan to divert the people’s attentionfrom their basic problems.

The gatherings were addressed byAgha Syed Hassan Al-Moosvi Al-Safvi,Mukhtar Ahmad Waza, Zafar Akbar Butt,Syed Bashir Andrabi and others.

The Jammu and Kashmir LiberationFront Chairman, Muhammad Yasin Malik

while addressing a religious function atSarai Bala in Srinagar, today, said thatthe Kashmir dispute was a living reality,and its settlement was imperative forpeace and stability in South Asia.

The veteran Hurriyet leader, Syed AliGilani addressing over telephone a biggathering in Shopian from New Delhisaid that India was continuing massacreof people of Kashmir.

He urged people to boycott the up-coming farcical elections in the occupiedterritory. Meanwhile, police arrestedDukhtaran-e-Millat Chairperson, AasiyaAndrabi in Srinagar.

Indian troops subjected to severe tor-ture several people including a photojour-nalist in Shopian town.

The photojournalist, Sajjad Ahmad,was covering an anti-India protest dem-onstration against the killing of two youthby Indian troops in the Pinjora area ofthe district, when he was attacked andbeaten up by the troops.

Complete shutdown was observed forthe second consecutive day, today, inBandipora against the arrest of youth inthe area.

Hurriyet leaders including ShabbirAhmad Shah, Nayeem Ahmad Khan,Muhammad Farooq Rehmani, Mushtaq-ul-Islam, Farooq Ahmad Dar,Muhammad Yousuf Naqash, ShabbirAhmad Dar and others in their statementspaid glowing tributes to GhulamMuhammad Bulla on the eve of his mar-tyrdom anniversary.

Ghulam Muhammad Bulla was tor-tured to death in the Central Jail Srinagaron 15th of February in 1975 for protest-ing against the 1975 Indra-Abdullah Ac-cord.

Other Hurriyet leaders, Javed AhmadMir, Firdous Ahmad Shah and Mir ShahidSaleem in their statements reiterated theKashmiris’ resolve to continue liberationmovement till its logical conclusion.—KMS

Authorities grilled formolestation, HRs abusesKashmir dispute described as a living reality

Indian troopsassault civilians,photojournalist

in ShopianSRINAGAR—Indian troopshave subjected to brute tortureseveral people including a pho-tojournalist in Shopiandistrict.The photojournalistswere covering an anti-Indiaprotest demonstration againstthe killing of two youth by In-dian troops in the Pinjora areaof the district, when the forceslobbed teargas shells and beatup several civilians includinga photojournalist, SajjadAhmad.

All the injured were shiftedto district hospital for treat-ment. Three of the injured havebeen seriously affected by pel-let guns. They were shifted toSoura hospital in Srinagar fortreatment.

“I was returning from theoperation site when the forcesgrabbed me and beat me mer-cilessly. The troops also dam-aged my cameras,” the photo-journalist, Sajjad Ahmad said.

Meanwhile, a police con-stable posted at GovernmentMedical College and Hospital(GMCH), died under mysteri-ous circumstance near Jewelarea in Jammu.—KMS

SRINAGAR—Paying rich tributes to GhulamMuhammad Balla on his 39th martyrdom anni-versary, Hurriyet leader, Shabbir Ahmad Shahsaid that the great purpose for which GhulamMuhammad Bulla sacrificed his life is a valu-able asset which needs to be secured. ShabbirAhmad Shah addressing the condolence meet-ing organized at the martyr’s graveyard said thatno stone would be left unturned to take the mis-sion of martyrs to its logical conclusion.

Terming election boycott as instrumentalpart of freedom movement, he said the electionsunder the ambit of Indian Constitution is notacceptable at any cost. Meanwhile, a high-leveldelegation, today, visited the residence of

Shabbir Shah, others paytribute to Balla

Hurriyet member Abdul Rashid Hazari atChanapora and offered funeral prayers there.

The delegation comprised Shabir AhmadShah, Nayeem Ahmad Khan, Mushtaq-ul-Is-lam, Farooq Ahmad Dar, Muhammad YusufNaqash, Wajhat Qureshi, Asif Mushtaq Waniand others.

Paying tributes to late Abdul RashidHazari, the Hurriyet leaders said the deceaseddedicated himself to the freedom movement.His love and interest with liberation movementwill be written with golden words as he con-tributed a lot to the freedom movement, theyvowed and prayed Allah Almighty to rest hissoul in eternal peace.—KMS

Kashmir virtuallyconverted into a

prison: MehboobaJAMMU—Demanding imme-diate release of the youth ar-rested by police in the past fewdays, Peoples DemocraticParty President MehboobaMufti has said that the territoryhas been virtually convertedinto a prison.

Mehboob Mufti, condemn-ing the increasing intoleranceof the regime towards thepeople in her address to the so-called Kashmir Assembly ses-sion in Jammu, said there isgenuine sense of alienationamong people as teenagers arearrested under draconian laws.Bandipore police have arrestedseveral boys under draconianPublic Safety Act and at leasttwo of them are even below 13 years, she deplored.

She said imprisonment ofteenagers, who should havebeen in school, is the real posterof present regime’s perfor-mance.

Mehbooba said that there isa sense of anger in Kashmir.She said it has been the prac-tice of the present regime t touse curfew and curbs as thesubstitute to democraticmethod of engaging with alien-ated people.—KMS

SRINAGAR—APHC leader andChairman of Kashmir FreedomFront (KFF), Syed BashirAhmad Andrabi, has demandedrevocation of draconian law,Armed Forces Special PowersAct, and demilitarization wouldbe meaningless and such de-mands would only be vital ifIndia acknowledged that theKashmir dispute should be re-solved in accordance with theaspirations of the Kashmiripeople.

Andrabi while addressing agathering in Pulwama area said

Andrabi demands repeal ofdraconian law

that India had the same policyvis-à-vis Kashmir dispute andall the pro-India political partieshad the same stand. They issuedifferent statements regardingKashmir issue during facileelections but once they come topower, their policy about Kash-mir remains the same, he added.

He said that the Kashmiriscould not forget the sacrificesrendered by the martyrs andthey would always rememberthose who laid down their livesfor the Kashmir cause. He saidthat every nook and corner of

the occupied Kashmir is dottedwith army camps and policecheck-posts.

Meanwhile, APHC leadersincluding Agha Syed Hassan AlMoosvi, Zafar Akbar Butt,Mukhtar Ahmad Waza, SyedSaleem Gilani, Hakeem AbdurRasheed, Imtiaz Ahmad Reshiand other leaders during theiraddresses to public meetingsurged India to fulfill its prom-ise with the people Kashmir ofgranting them their right to self-determination according to theUN resolutions.—KMS

Protest strike inBandipora

against Indiantroops atrocitiesSRINAGAR—In occupiedKashmir, Bandipora town ob-served complete shutdown forthe second consecutive day onFriday against the Indian troopshighhandedness and continueddetention of a youth fromAythmulla village in thetown.Shopkeepers gathered inMain Chowk and observed theshutdown to protest against theatrocities committed by Indiantroops.

They demanded release ofyouth and an end to atrocities.

Meanwhile, Indian po-lice detained the Chairpersonof Dukhtar-e-Millat, SyedaAasiya Andrabi at LalChowk in Srinagar. She waslodged at Kothibagh policestation.—KMS

JAMMU—The Jammu and Kashmir PeoplesMovement (JKPM), a constituent of the All Par-ties Hurriyet Conference (APHC), has said thatthe sham elections in Kashmir are no alterna-tive to the right to self-determination guaran-teed by the world community and the UnitedNations.

APHC leader and the JKPM Senior ViceChairman, Mir Shahid Saleem addressing ameeting of the party office-bearers and workersin Jammu, said that the sham exercise stage man-aged by the India with the help of its seven700,000 troops in the territory had already beenrejected by the United Nations resolutions as analternative to the right to self determination.

He said the people of Kashmir have startedan indigenous struggle for obtaining their in-

Sham polls no substitute to rightto self-determination:JKPM

alienable right to self-determination. He saidduring the past over 24 years the people of Kash-mir have been offering unprecedented sacrificesto achieve their birth right the right to self de-termination.

Mir Shahid Saleem said the pro-India par-ties in Kashmir have once again started talkingabout the political and human rights of theKashmiris to reach to the corridors of power.And once they achieve their goal, they becomedeaf and dumb to the sufferings and pain of thecommon people subjected to the worst kinds ofoppression and suppression by the occupationsforces, he added.

The meeting was also addressed byMuhammad Shafi, Abdul Hamid Khan, GhulamHassan Mir and Muhammad Shafi Rafiqui.—KMS

SRINAGAR: The JKLF Chairman, Mohammad Yasin Malik addressing a public gathering at Buqa Aaliyah Gousia SaraiBala in Srinagar.

SRINAGAR—In occupied Kashmir, the Chair-man of All Parties Hurriyet Conference, MirwaizUmar Farooq, has said that upcoming electionsare purely an administrative issue and can neverbe projected as a referendum for the Kashmirissue, which has been accepted as a dispute bythe United Nations.

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq talking to reporterson the sidelines of a seminar in Srinagar, saidHurriyet’s stand on elections is very clear, “Wehave been saying that elections are a non-issuefor us. It is purely an administrative issue, whichcan’t be projected as a referendum for Kash-mir issue, which is a known dispute in UNbody.”

“Kashmir issue is beyond elections as

India urged to reciprocateNawaz dialogue offer

Hurriyat wants resolution of the basic problemthrough tripartite talks and the UN resolutions,”Mirwaiz said in reply to a query. He said Kash-mir issue can’t be put on the backburner as peacewon’t prevail in South Asia unless the issue isresolved.

“The situations that emerged in Egypt, Syria,Afghanistan and in many middle-east countrieshave proved that genuine sentiments can’t becrushed through military might. The super pow-ers accepted the disputed nature of many coun-tries and ended up with a meaningful dialoguefor conflict resolution,” he added. “The geo-po-litical scenario is changing and conflicts are be-ing resolved. NATO pull-out from Afghanistanis a case in point. —KMS

AJK SCmaintains HighCourt verdict

MUZAFFARABAD—The Su-preme Court of Azad Jammuand Kashmir Thursday main-tained a High Court verdict ofdeclaring appointments ofChairman and members of AJKPublic Service Commission(PSC) null and vide by strik-ing down an appeal of ag-grieved incumbents and Gov-ernment jointly.

A full bench of the apexcourt comprising Chief JusticeAzam Khan, Justice IbrahimZia and Justice Raja SaeedAkram Khan had earlier re-served the Judgment after thor-ough hearings of the appeals,which was announced onThursday.

The high court of AzadJammu and Kashmir on a peti-tion filed by Raja FarooqHaider Khan and other, hadnullified the appointments ofChairman and nine members ofPSC on the grounds of politi-cal affiliations and un-match-ing the required qualificationfor the post they hold.—APP

AJK CEC ordersremoval of AC

MIRPUR—Chief Election Com-missioner of Azad Jammu Kash-mir Justice Munir AhmedChaudhry Thursday ordered im-mediate removal of AssistantCommissioner of Baloch Subdivision of Sudhanoti DistrictSardar Azkaar Hussain from theoffice.

His removal was for alleg-edly violating the conduct dur-ing the bye-election to the vacantseat of the AJK Legislative As-sembly from the electoral con-stituency LA-22 in Sudhanotidistrict of Poonch district, it wasofficially declared.

According to an officialstatement issued by SecretaryAJK Election CommissionMuhammad Younis Khan, theCEC AJK, passed the orders forthe immediate removal of ACafter the complaints, lodged byseveral candidates, accusing himof misusing his office by openlyintervening in the political affairsand election campaign.—APP

ISLAMABAD: Ambassador of South Korea Jong Hwan Song meeting with former AJKprime minister Barrister Sultan Mehmood at his residence.

MUZAFFARABAD: IGP Malik Khuda Bakhsh awarding certificate and cash prize forbest Naat recitation.

MUZAFFARABAD: Retired officer of Pakistan Army Muhammad Azad Khan addressinga press conference.

A budget tells uswhat we can’tafford, but it

doesn’t keep usfrom buying it.

—William Feather

LCCI for allowingall tradable items byland route at WagahLAHORE—The LahoreChamber of Commerce andIndustry (LCCI) Fridaycalled for early establish-ment of banking networkbetween India and Paki-stan, opening up ofborders 24/7, infrastructuralfacilities at borders andcontainerization of cargo,allowing all tradable itemsby land route at Wagah.This was stated by LCCIPresident Engineer SohailLashari while speaking atinaugural function of IndiaShow 2014 here at ExpoCentre. LCCI Vice PresidentKashif Anawar was alsoprominent among otherparticipants at the inaugu-ral ceremony. The LCCIPresident said that beingimportant members of theSAARC, Pakistan and Indiaboth need to pull up theiracts together to bringeconomic and politicalstability and prosperity inthe region. “Trade betweenIndia and Pakistan hold themajor share in the pie of theSAARC countries.” TheLCCI President said thatthe mutual and diplomaticrelations between both thecountries should remainunaffected by the politicalvicissitudes. EngineerSohail Lashari said thatthere should also beinvestment in each other’scountries. There should becongenial environment forinvestment and jointventures.—Online

MDPT depositsRs 101m tax in JanMU LTA N —Multan DryPort Trust (MDPT)deposi ted taxes of Rs101 million in thegovernment account inthe month of January2014, MDPT ChairmanKhawaja MuhammadYounis said on Friday.He told APP that MDPThandled exports worthRs 1.913 billion through631 Teus and importsworth Rs 101.6 millionwere cleared through107 Teus last month.General ManagerMDPT Col. (Retd)Muhammad Awais Buttsaid that MDPT wouldhopeful ly set newrecord by the end ofcurrent fiscal year byhandling large volumeof goods ti l l June thatwould surpass therecord MDPT hadmaintained during thelas t ten years .—APP

M SARWAR AWAN

ISLAMABAD—Ms Magdalena Alverez Arza,Vice President of the European InvestmentBank, will be arriving today on a four-dayvisit to Pakistan and sign a cooperationagreement with the Government of Pakistanfor a £100 million credit provided by theEIB to Pakistan for the 128 MW KeyalKhwar Hydropower Project. The KeyalKhwar Project will be built in Dasu districtof Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on the right tribu-tary of the Indus River.

The project is scheduled to be com-pleted in four years and will provide 418million units of low-cost hydel electricityto the national grid and support the de-ployment of renewable energy in Paki-stan. It will also benefit local residentsthrough improved transportation and em-

EIB VP due today, to sign£100m cooperation agreement

ployment opportunities. The Project issupported by European Investment Bankin cooperation with the German Develop-ment Bank (KfW) and the Pakistan Waterand Power Development Authority. EIBand KfW are providing •100 million and£97 million respectively for constructionof the hydropower project, whose totalcost is £240 million.

This is the fifth project supported bythe European Investment Bank in Paki-stan. Since the start of lending in Asia in1993 the European Investment Bank hasprovided more than £5.1billion for long-term investment projects, including £2.4billion in the energy sector.

The European Investment Bank in-tends to explore ways to finance addi-tional renewable energy projects in Pa-kistan.

IS L A M A B A D—Spokesman of FederalBoard of Revenue (FBR) Shahid HussainAsad on Friday said that the governmentis committed to broaden the tax net forthe economic revival and to enhance theeconomic growth in the country. Talkingto APP, he said that FBR launched anaggressive drive for broadening tax baseand in this connection National Tax Num-ber (NTN) has been issued to 3.5 millionstax payer.

He said that out of 3.5 millions taxpayers,only 10 % have returned the tax files, which isvery low ratio for halting the budget deficit infiscal years 2014. Shahid Hussain Asad saidthat FBR was aiming to issue the notices tothose non-compliant persons, who have notreturned their tax files”, he added. The FBRSpokesman said the government directed allChief Commissioners to send Income Tax re-turns file notices to the people, who haveNational Tax Number (NTN) but they did notreturn their tax files.

Govt to broaden tax netfor economic revival: FBR

He added that Chief Commissionershave instructions to ensure the 90% taxreturns from non tax payers from all overthe country to generate the revenue foreconomic growth of the country. Reply-ing to a question, he said that Prime Min-ister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif has an-nounced the tax incentive package for nontax payers and they would be given spe-cial relaxations in tax returns. Besides,amnesty scheme was also launched forpotential taxpayers to declare their un-disclosed assets at either zero or nominalrates with soft conditions.

Replying to another query, he said thetax payers who will file Rs.25000 tax per anumfor past five years till February 28 wouldget special immunity from audit and defaultin coming years. He hoped that the busi-ness community would be benefitted fromthese facilities bestowed by the govern-ment and it will file tax returns for economicgrowth and stability of the country.—APP

ISLAMABAD—Vegetable growers from various regions of the country were provided acomprehensive training here by the scientists of Pakistan Agriculture Research Coun-cil (PARC) to help them produce healthy seedling for better and enhanced crop pro-duction. Vegetable growers from Islamabad Capital Territory, Haripur, Azad Jammu andKashmir, Attock, Pindi Ghaip, Taxila, Kahutta andChakwal participated in a four-day training workshopon “Healthy Vegetable Seed- ling Production” that wasconducted at National Agri- culture Research Center(NARC).

“The training for small farmers would help enhanceagriculture production for food security in the coun-try,” said Chairman PARC, Dr. Iftikhar Ahmed while ad-dressing the concluding ses- sion of the workshop here.The Vegetable farmers who were trained in the workshopwould share their knowledge and experience with otherfarmers in their respective communities to promotehealthy vegetable seed pro- duction and nursery raisingbusiness on modern lines, Dr. Iftikhar added. He said Agri-cultural Innovation Program (AIP) for Pakistan has created a platform for public andprivate sector institutions to share the new innovations and knowledge to promoteagriculture sector activities in the country.

Dr. Iftikhar Ahmad stressed the need for practical implementation of the innovationtechniques of healthy vegetable nursery growing, ensuring compost preparation, ster-ilization and proper management of insect and diseases at the farm level. He alsounderlined the importance of coordination between PARC Vegetable Program and themaster-trainers of the targeted areas in future.—APP

Vegetable farmers trained inseedling production

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The ‘2nd India Show’ was started here at Expo Centre on Friday amid hopes ofcloser cooperation between the two countries for the benefit of people through improvedeconomic relations. Federal Minister for Commerce, Textile and Industries Khurram DastgirKhan was the Chief Guest at the inaugural session. Speaking on the occasion, KhurramDastgir said trade between Pakistan and India will bring prosperity to the people of bothcountries. He said that Pakistan should have friendly relations with all its neighbouringcountries and promote trade with them.

According to him, trade was a force which would help find new avenues of prosperitybetween the two countries. Visa restrictions were the biggest non-tariff barrier and hope-fully all barriers would be considerably brought down. Cultural and academia exchangesare very important and sharing experiences of each other’s training institutions is alsosignificant.

Khurram said that there was a great opportunity to grow if both countries normalisedtheir relations. He said a sense of confidence was needed for improved trade betweenboth countries. Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) SeniorVice President (SVP) Dr Jyotsna Suri said that vibrant cooperation between Pakistan andIndia would result in better growth in both countries.

She said that Pakistan had great potential to attract tourists and huge foreign exchange.Vikramjit Singh Sahney, Ministry of Commerce and Industry India Joint Secretary ArvindMehta, Indian High Commissioner in Pakistan TCA Raghavan, SAARC Chamber of Com-merce and Industry Vice President Iftikhar Ali Malik and Trade Development Authority ofPakistan (TDAP) Secretary Rabia Javeri Agha also spoke.

Earlier, FICCI SVP Dr Jyotsna Suri presented a FICCI status paper on India-Pakistan eco-nomic relations to Federal Minister Khurram Dastgir. Later, Khurram Dastgir cut a ribbon and

Second India Show starts in Lahore

Pakistan, India trade to bring prosperity to people of two countries

LAHORE: Federal Minister for Commerce and Textile Industry, Eng Khurram Dastgirand Sr Vice President FPCCI Dr Jyotsna Suri jointly cutting the ribbon to inauguratethe India Show exhibition.

ISLAMABAD—Chairperson Prime Minister ’s YouthProgramme Maryam Nawaz held a meeting with US Am-bassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues CathyRussell in Islamabad on Friday. During the meeting‚ mat-ters of bilateral interests‚ especially government’s initia-tives to empower women‚ came under discussion. TheChairperson apprised the visiting ambassador that thegovernment is focused on creating new job opportuni-ties for the youth through the promotion of SMEs in thecountry.

She said Prime Minister ’s Small Business LoanScheme is a milestone in this regard. Chairperson PrimeMinister’s Youth Programme, Maryam Nawaz said thatgovernment was fully committed to economic empower-ment of women and would impart them vocational train-ing through Youth Skill Development Scheme. Thewomen would be professionally trained in skills like cook-ery, bakery and provided a monthly stipend worth Rs.3000 to 5000 for a period of 6 months. The governmentwill pay their fee as Rs. 800 million has been allocated forthis programme, she said.

During the meeting, matters of mutual interests, es-pecially government’s initiatives to empower women cameunder discussion. The Chairperson apprised the visit-ing ambassador “The government is focused on creat-ing new job opportunities for the youth through promo-tion of SMEs in the country. Prime Minister’s Small Busi-ness Loan Scheme is a milestone in this regard.” She

Govt fully committed to economic empowerment of women

ISLAMABAD: Chairperson of Prime Minister’s Youth Programme, Maryam Nawaz ina meeting with US Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues, Ms Cathy Russell,and US Consel General, Miss Nina Fite.

said, “Women constitute almost 52 per cent of 190 mil-lion population of the country and there are 60 specialseats reserved for women in Pakistan’s National Assem-bly.” Women are 25% of the workforce in the country,especially in rural areas, Maryam said and added theyare actively contributing in agriculture, industry, banks,telecommunication and marketing.

The Chairperson highlighted, “The government in-tends to promote entrepreneurial skills in women asPrime Minister’s Youth Business Loan Scheme has re-served 50% loans for women. This scheme includesmany women-specific trades like bakery andconfectionary, catering and decoration services,montessori school, beauty clinic, interior decoration,day care centre and boutique. She said besides provi-sion of business loans to the women, the governmentis also focusing on providing them technical trainingthrough programmes.

Ms. Cathy Russell appreciated efforts of the govern-ment for economic revival of the country by empoweringand engaging the youth, especially women, and assuredher country’s maximum support in this regard. Later in theday, Chairperson Prime minister ’s Youth Programme,Maryam Nawaz chaired a meeting on Hand HoldingProgramme which was attended by a young parliamentar-ian along with Secretary Food Security and Research, Sec-retary Industry, Secretary Information and other officersconcerned.—NNI

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Pakistan Industrial and TradersAssociations Front (PIAF) has lauded theefforts of Chief Minister Punjab MianMuhammad Shabaz Sharif for early comple-tion of Nandipur Power Project and hopedthat other projects like 1000 MW solar powerproject, Nelum Jhelum and Thar coal wouldfollow the suit. The PIAF Malik Tahir Javedsaid that power generation through NandipurPower Project in May 2014 would definitelycurtail load shedding that has made indus-trial sector wobbling. He said that hasty workon power projects shows the commitment ofPML-N government. Previous regime hadnever bothered to increase power generationby a single MW and put the whole economyon stake.

He said that just because of power short-age a large number of industrial units hadshifted their operations to the other coun-tries left millions industrial workers joblessbut previous government remained busy injust ruling but now situation is taking a posi-tive turn. He said that unbelievable pace ofwork on Nandipur Power Project has not onlygiven a ray of hope to the local business-

PIAF praises Shahbaz for earlycompletion of Nandipur Power Project

men but has also given a very good signalto the foreign investors who were reluctantto put their money into the ventures in Paki-stan.

Malik Tahir Javed urged the govern-ment to complete all power projects at theearliest on the patron of Nandipur PowerProject. He also stressed the need to buildconsensus on Kalabagh Dam that couldeasily fulfill day-to-day rising energy andwater needs of the country. He said thatKalabagh Dam was a mega project as itcould easily curtail the menace of watershortage and could generate more than3500 MW cheap electricity. And most im-portantly it could save the people of par-ticularly Sindh and Baluchistan from flooddestruction.

He said that the people, who are cryingagainst Kalabagh Dam, always avoid sayinga word against Indian water aggression, whichshows that how much they are loyal with thecountry. He said that keeping in view the dev-astation of recent-past floods, governmentshould not waste time and start constructionof KBD immediately otherwise the days arenot far when the country would have bestirrigation system in the world but not water.

Ismail Suttartakes over asFPCCI vice

presidentSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—President LasbelaChamber of Commerce andIndustry (LCCI), Ismail Suttarhas taken over the charge ofVice President of Federation ofPakistan Chambers of Com-merce and Industry (FPCCI)from Balochistan for the termof 2014. A number of stake-holders from Balocjsitan as-sembled on the annual gen-eral meeting of FPCCI at Fed-eration House the other day,paid geeat homage to IsmailSuttar on his election as VP,FPCCI and hoped that hewould strive hard for the bet-terment and promotion of tradeand industry particularly forBalochitan’s economy.

The FPCCI has an-nounced the result of one VicePresident of FPCCI fromBalochistan after the with-drawal of his opponent.Ismail an elected member ofexecutive committee of theFPCCI has also representedLCCI on FPCCI General Bodyduring 2007- 2008. An indus-trialist, Ismail has a largemanufacturing set ups at Hub,District Lasbela, Balochistanand Mithi, DistrictTharparkar, Sindh. He alsoremained Chairman of manystanding committees of LCCIsince 2007.

Ismail Suttar, MBA (Mar-keting) from InternationalUniversity, Missouri, USA,also remained Vice Chairman,National Mirror Committee(NMC) on Environmentalmanagement of PSQCA,Member, Salt institute, Wash-ington, USA, Member, ICCIDD (International Committeefor the control of Iodine defi-ciency disorders), AlternateDispute Resolution Commit-tee (Sales Tax) of FBR, HubCircle (2007) member of Work-ers Welfare Board,Balochistan (2007, 2009, 2011).

formally inaugurated the 2nd India Show aimed at exploiting potential market and expanding vistas of economic cooperationbetween both countries. The minister also visited different stalls.

Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Presi-dent Sohail Lashari said that trade relations between Pakistanand India should grow in a harmonized way. He said that bothcountries should work hard to boost their economic relations.“Relations between Pakistan and India should remain unaf-fected by political happenings on both sides and exchangesof students and technology are of vital importance,” he added.

He called for early establishment of banking networkbetween India and Pakistan, opening up of borders 24/7,infrastructural facilities at borders and containerization ofcargo, allowing all tradable items by land route at Wagah.The LCCI President said that being important members ofthe SAARC, Pakistan and India both need to pull up theiracts together to bring economic and political stability andprosperity in the region. “Trade between India and Pakistanhold the major share in the pie of the SAARC countries.”

The LCCI President said that the mutual and diplomaticrelations between both the countries should remain unaffectedby the political vicissitudes. Engineer Sohail Lashari said thatthere should also be investment in each other’s countries.There should be congenial environment for investment andjoint ventures. “There should be standardization proceduresfollowed for trade so that there is some harmonized standardin order to avoid disagreements,” he said.

Lotte Group,expands itspresence

LAHORE—The groundbreaking Ceremony ofKolson’s (Lotte Group Com-pany) new manufacturingsite in Sundar IndustrialArea, Lahore was carried outat a local hotel on the otherday. The ceremony was at-tended by the Chief Minis-ter of Punjab, MianMuhammad Shahbaz Sharif,Mr. Kag Gyu Hwang (Presi-dent & Head of Group Strat-egy & Vision, Lotte Head-quarters), Mangko Noh(CGO/Kolson BOD CM),Mr. Abdul Latif (CEOKolson) and other importantdignitaries from the Govern-ment and Business sector.

Lotte Group, Korea isexpanding its investmentbase in Pakistan by set-ting up its new state-of-the-art confectionaryplant in Sundar IndustrialEstate, Lahore. This plantwould bring in investmentworth over PKR 2 Billionto Pakistan and showsLotte’s growing confi-dence and interest inPakistan’s economy andconsumer base. The in-vestment will add to theeconomic growth of Paki-stan and Punjab and willalso provide numerousnew employment oppor-tunities in Lahore.

Lotte believes that Pa-kistan presents promisingopportunities in terms ofbusiness and is looking for-ward to bring in more in-vestment in the future. Thiswas stated by Mr. Kag GyuHwang (President & Headof Group strategy & Vision,Lotte Headquarters) in hisaddress to the gathering.Speaking at the occasion,honorable chief minister ofPunjab, Mian MuhammadShahbaz Sharif appreciatedLotte’s efforts and also ex-pressed his complete sup-port in encouraging furtherinvestment initiatives byLotte in Punjab and Paki-stan.—PR

Oil prices downSINGAPORE—Oil priceswere down in Asian tradeFriday as investors di-gested lacklustre US stock-piles and economic datathat point towards weak-ening demand in theworld’s top crude con-sumer. New York’s maincontract, West Texas Inter-mediate (WTI) for Marchdelivery, eased 15 cents to$100.20 in afternoon Asiantrade. Europe’s benchmarkcontract Brent North Seacrude for April was downeight cents at $108.44 onits first day of trading. “Oilprices were pressured byan expected dip in demandduring the refinery mainte-nance season and a rise injobless claims in the US,the world’s largest oil con-sumer,” Singapore’sUnited Overseas Bank saidin a commentary. —AFP

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

KARACHI:

MULTAN:

Currency Selling Buying

Bullion Rates

RS PER 10 GRAMS

USA 104.90 104.70

UK 174.69 174.36

Euro 143.49 143.22

Canada 95.77 95.59

Switzerland 117.54 117.32

Australia 94.36 94.21

Sweden 16.24 16.21

Japan 1.0304 1.0284

Norway 17.19 17.15

Singapore 82.90 82.74

Denmark 19.23 19.19

Saudi Arabia 27.97 27.92

Hong Kong 13.52 13.50

Kuwait 371.96 371.25

Malaysia 31.61 31.55

Newzealand 87.48 87.31

Qatar 28.81 28.75

UAE 28.56 28.51

KR. WON 0.0988 0.0986

Thailand 3.225 3.219

Gold Tezabi 44057.00Silver Tezabi 702.85

Gold Tezabi (24-Ct)43200.00Gold 22 Ct 39500.00SilverTezabi 686.00Silver Thobi 627.00

Shipping activityat Port Qasim

KARACHI—Five ships carry-ing containers and edible oilwere berthed at Qasim Inter-national Containers Termi-nal, Multi Purpose Terminaland Liquid Cargo Terminalon Thursday, 13th February.Meanwhile two more shipscarrying containers.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

RAWALPINDI—Technical and Voca-tional Education and Training Ac-creditat ion & Quali ty EvaluationCommittee 5th meeting was heldhere today.

The TA&QEC meeting was con-vened under the directives of Ex-ecutive Director National Voca-tional & Technical Training Com-mission (NAVTTC) Capt. TariqMasud (Rtd). Director General Ac-creditation & Certification Wing ofNAVTTC Syeda Adeela Bukharipresided over the meeting.

Members of the TA&QEC from allthe Provincial Technical Educationand Vocational Training Authorities,including AJK TEVTA and GilgitBaltistan, all Provincial Boards ofTechnical Education, Trade TestingBoards, FPCCI, All Pakistan BusinessForum, Employers Federation of Pa-kistan, National Institute of Scienceand Technical Education Islamabad,Pakistan Engineering Council, HigherEducation Commission, Pakistan Na-tional Accreditation Council and Na-tional Training Bureau were invited

TA&QEC approves accreditation of15 TVET institutes with NAVTTC

who attended meeting. The meetingwas held with the technical assis-tance of GIZ under TVET Reform Sup-port Program co-funded by the Euro-pean Union, Netherland and Ger-many.

NAVTTC presented total 18cases of TVET institutes from thepublic and private sector before theTA&QEC for accreditation. Afterthread bear discussion, 15 inst i-tutes in 63 different demand drivendisciplines and trades were ap-proved for accreditat ion withNAVTTC whereas three were de-cided for revisiting of their assess-ment. Out of these 63 disciplines/trades, 11programs in Diploma ofAssociate Engineering and 52 pro-grams of Vocational Trades havebeen approved.

TVET institutes accredited withNAVTTC in today’s meeting includedSMA Rizvi Textile Institute Karachi,Pakistan Readymade Garments Tech-nical Training Institute Karachi, Gov-ernment College of TechnologyPeshawar, Multan Technical Educa-tion Centre Multan Cantt, Ranger In-stitute of Technical Education (RITE)

Rahim Yar Khan, Pakistan ReadymadeGarments Technical Training Insti-tute Lahore, PHMA- Institute ofKnitwear Technology Karachi,Descon Technical Institute Lahore,Government Technical Training Insti-tute Mirpur AJ&K, Government Col-lege of Technology Rawlakot AJ&K,Vocational Training Center (Female)Kotli AJ&K, Lahore Institute of Tech-nical Education Lahore, GovernmentTechnical Training Institute,Gulberg-11, Lahore, PakistanKnitwear Training Institute New Gar-den Town Lahore and Fauji Founda-tion Technical Training CentreRawalpindi.

In her closing remarks, D.G (A&C)NAVTTC appreciated the members ofTA&QEC for sparing their time andproviding their valuable inputs, sug-gestions and for granting decision onthe Accreditation Assessment Re-ports. She mentioned that with such avibrant Forum, where people with ex-perience, expertise and knowledge ofTVET, are helping NAVTTC in policymaking. There is no question that Pa-kistan is going to make vigorousprogress in near future.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Institute of Cost and Manage-ment Accountants of Pakistan has launchedTurnaround Management Club at ICMAPIslamabad. The launching ceremony was at-tended by the business community, represen-tatives of both the chambers of commerce,Islamabad Stock Exchange, government func-tionaries, professional accountants, profes-sionals from different fields and general pub-lic. Addressing the audience Mr. Basharat A.Mirza, FCMA, acting Chairman of OGDLshared his experiences in perspective of Turn-around Management. He opined that com-mon sense and analytical skills are pre-requi-site for any Turnaround venture.

Mian Ayaz Afzal, Managing Director ofIslamabad Stock Exchange lauded ICMAP’sIslamabad Branch Council for this daring ini-tiative. He said that this club can play a pivotalrole in growth of under performing corporateentities by highlighting their bottlenecks andsuggesting the best suited solutions. Mr. NazirA. Shaheen, FCMA briefed about the history

Revival of Business and Industry

ICMAP Islamabad launchesTurnaround Management Club

of previous efforts of revival of sick units inPakistan. Mr. Tahir Chaudhry, a Cerified Turn-around Management Practitioner briefed aboutthe process of Turnaround Management.

Mr. Muhammad Imran, Vice Chairmanof Islamabad Branch Council of ICMAPopined that the ICMAP Members whileworking as Turnaround Practitioners canbe partners of growth of ailing industrialunits and government entities. He briefedabout the working mechanism of the club,its future vision and coordination with thegovernment and business community.

Mr. Waqar Ali Khan, Chairman ofIslamabad Branch Council of ICMAPhoped that this club would prove to be anindispensable part for the overall revivaloff our economy. He expressed his grati-tude for keen interest of all the participants.Through the launch of Turnaround Man-agement Club, the Islamabad Branch Coun-cil of ICMAP envisions to provide a cred-ible, effectual and structured mechanism forTurnaround Management of loss makinggiant government entities.

RAWALPINDI: The Member of Technical and Vocational Education and Training Ac-creditation and Quality Evaluation Committee who participated in the meeting of ac-creditation of TVET institutes with NAVTTC held at NAVTTC Headquarters are in agroup photo with Director General Accreditation and Certification Wing of NAVTTCSyeda Adeela Bukhari.

Ufone has recently partnered with British Council for a scholarship programme withprizes worth Rs 5 million; Rs 1 million each which whill be given to five winners.Picture shows Israr Ahmed (2nd from left) the first prize winner receiving a cheque ofRs 1 million from Uforne and British Council’s representatives.

Omar Manzur, Head of Corporate Communication Mobilink receiving a shield fromJawad Paul, Chief Commissioner Islamabad and Sultan Azam Taimuri, AIG OperationsIslamabad Police.

Jawed Ali Ghori, Managing Director, Matco Rice receiving 37th FPCCI Export Awards Trophy.

ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for IT and Telecommunication, Ms Anusha Rahmanchairing a meeting to review the final draft of ‘The Prevention of E-Crimes Bill.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—“We are going to table a com-prehensive Cyber crime bill before the cabi-net. Which has been prepared in consulta-tion with all stakeholders over the last 3yeas. International best practices have beentaken in to consideration while drafting it”,said Ms. Anusha Rahman, State Ministerfor IT & Telecom.

The State Minister was chairing a meet-ing to review the final Draft of Preventionof E-Crimes Bill 2014 here today. Mr. AkhlaqA. Tarrar, Secretary IT, Member (IT), Mr.Yasir Qadir, Member (Telecom) and repre-sentatives from Ministry of law, PTA, FIAand representative of ISPAK, PASHA andBarrister Zahid Jamil were also present inthe meeting.

The objective of the meeting was todiscuss the final draft of The Preventionof Electronic Crimes Bill before its sub-

Cyber crime bill to be tabledin cabinet: Anusha

mission to the cabinet expected early nextweek.

The Minister of State was of the viewthat in this technological era, there is adire need that illegal and unauthorizedaccess to information system, and i tsabuse should be addressed under theCyber Crimes Law in accordance with theInternational Best Practices. The Minis-ter has further said that Cyber crimes arespecial in nature and should be ad-dressed with special legislation.

The Minister appreciated the ceaselessefforts of all stakeholders, in particular thepositive role of ISPAK & PASHA in finaliz-ing this draft. She further added that it’s alandmark achievement of the Ministry ofIT that a comprehensive Cyber crime billhas been drafted after strenuous efforts.The Minister further directed to upload thedraft on Ministry’s official website for pub-lic information.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Haier, the world’s leading home appliance pro-vider, has been recognized by Fast Company as one ofworld’s most innovative companies, and one of China’sten leading innovative companies. In its recently published2014 rankings, which track leadership in innovation, FastCompany highlighted Haier’s “bold approach to innovat-ing” through allowing employees to self-organize.

The Fast Company citation recognizes Haier’s creationof a flat management structure, a “management revolu-tion” that puts customer needs at the heart of the productdevelopment process. To drive entrepreneurial innovationamong employees, Haier encourages staff to track evolv-ing market trends and form autonomous project teams toaddress emerging opportunities.

Haier refers to these self-organizing employee work-ing groups as ZZJYT, a Chinese acronym that means ‘in-dependent operation unit.’ The recently launched Tianzunair conditioner, which successfully debuted at CES in LasVegas in January, was developed by a self-managing groupthat recognized growing customer demand for a more flex-ible and responsive air conditioning unit via an onlineengagement program involving more than 670,000 internetusers. The Most Innovative Companies is Fast Company’smost significant, high-profile editorial effort of the year.

The editorial team spends months gathering and siftingdata, to identify those enterprises that exemplify the best inbusiness from across the economy and around the world.This year’s honorees include major brands such as Googleand Amazon, as well as creative upstarts like Tesla and Box.

Haier among world’smost innovative

companies

LSE to de-listWateen Telecom

LimitedSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The LahoreStock Exchange (LSE) hasdecided to de-list WateenTelecom Limited from theReady Board Quotation ofLSE from February 17, 2014.After the de-listing ofWateen Telecom Ltd. fromthe Lahore Stock Exchangenumber of listed companieswill remain 434.

The decision was takenin view of the applicationfiled by the majority share-holders of the Company forvoluntary de-listingthrough buy-back of sharesfrom the minority sharehold-ers. The proposed buy-backtransaction by the Companyhas been approved by theListing Committee (LC) ofthe Exchange at a price ofRs. 4.50 per share subject topurchase of at least 92 mil-lion ordinary shares out ofthe total 284.181 millionshares, outstanding with theshareholders other thansponsors, to qualify fordelisting.

The purchase agent ofthe Company, Arif HabibLimited has purchased215.411 million shares withina period of 60 days as percondition imposed by theExchange. The Companyhas also complied with theprocedure for voluntary de-listing under Listing Regu-lation No. 30-C of LahoreStock Exchange.

The shareholders of theCompany who could notavail the opportunity earlierand desire to sale the sharesare requested to approachthe purchase agent, ArifHabib Limited, Arif HabibCentre, 23-M.T. Khan Road,Karachi. Managing Direc-tor and Chief Executive Of-ficer of Exchange AftabAhmed Chaudhry con-gratulated the managementand stakeholders of WateenTelecom Limited for suc-cessfully completing theprocess of voluntary de-list-ing of the Company throughbuy-back of shares from theminority shareholders.

MATCO Ricegets Export

Awards TrophySTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—MATCO Rice re-ceived the Federation of Pa-kistan Chamber of Commerce& Industry Export Awards Tro-phy in the category of “TopExporter of Basmati Rice (2012-2013)” recently. The event washeld at Lahore where the PrimeMinister Mian MuhammadNawaz Sharif handed over theaward to Mr. Jawed Ali Ghori,CEO Matco Rice.

Nandi Pur projectcompletion a great

success: GCCIOUR CORRESPONDENT

GUJRANWALA—The Presi-dent, Senior Vice Presidentand Vice president of GCCIin their combined statementsaid that the completion ofNandi Pur project before timeis a huge success. It’s creditgoes to Chief Minister ofPunjab. The efforts to over-come the electricity crisis bythe Government are highlyappreciated. They said thatthis project delayed due tothe poor policies of formerGovernment. The govern-ment of Punjab is highly keento complete this project bythe involvement of differentengineers and labor.

The business commu-nity faced too many finan-cial crises due to the elec-tricity shortage. Now thepolicies of the current Gov-ernment to overcome energycrisis have proved to be likea beam of light in the dark-ness. We are very hopefulthat if they keep their pacethey will definitely take outthe people of Pakistan fromdisappointment.

RAWALPINDI: Players in action during 3rd Quarter-final match beween Larkana Bulls and Faisalabad Wolves teams in Faysal Bank T-20 Cup.

RAWALPINDI: Students playing a hockey match during Punjab Youth Festival at Viqar-un-Nisa College.

Punjab University winbadminton championship

PunjabYouth Festival

held atPMAS-AAUR

SPORTS REPORTER

R AWA L P I N D I — P u n j a bYouth Festival (PYF) In-ter- University level com-petit ions of Tug of War,Volleyball , Basketball ,Badminton,and Table Ten-nis was held at Pir MehrAli Shah Arid AgricultureUniversi ty (PMAS-AAUR) here on Friday.

Member National As-sembly, Malik AbrarAhmad was chief guest onthe occasion, In his ad-dress, he said “ Sports arepart of a nation’s imageand the government ispaying special attention topromote sports.

Speaking about theFestival , he said thatunique talent has emergedthrough this festival andit is the vision of, PrimeMinister , MuhammadNawaz Sharif and ChiefMinister Punjab ShahbazSharif to provide opportu-nit ies to the youth toshow their talent.

He also urged thepeople to take part inhealthy act ivi t ies withpassion and avail the op-portunities and sports fa-cilities being provided bythe government.

In this regard, he said,government is taking allnecessary measures toprovide good sports facili-ties to people as stadiumsand gymnasiums were be-ing established through-out the province.

LA H O R E—The arrangements ofmaking the Largest Human Flag ofthe world have been completed anda total of 29,040 people will gatherhere at National Hockey Stadium toattempt for breaking the GuinnessWorld Record (GWR) of the Flag.

Speaking at the press conferencehere on Friday Punjab Education andSports Minister Rana MashhoodAhmed Khan said: “The enthusias-tic Punjab Youth will try to smash asmany as 100 world records.

The dream of Punjab Governmentto attract the youth towards thehealthy activities has turned into re-ality through Punjab Youth Festi-val.” Sports Board Punjab DG Mr.Usman Anwar, Tahia Noon andGWR officials were also present onthe occasion.

After setting the World Recordof the Largest human flag, 150,000passionate Punjab people will alsotry snatch the world record of Na-tional Anthem from India on Febru-ary 19. “I am proud of great enthusi-asm shown by the young boys andgirls in the preparations of thesegrand events. Today, world is tryingto chase records set by Pakistan in-

Youth to attempt 100 Guinnessworld records: Mashood

stead of negative propagation,” hestated. Mashhood said that the num-ber of participants was exceededfour millions and definitely it wouldgrow till the end of the PYF.

To a query, he replied that thesports culture was developing in thecountry through PYF and peoplefrom across the world were throng-ing to Pakistan to feature in thegrand event. “The Punjab Youth Fes-tival will prove to be a platform forholding of grand events like Asianand Olympic Games,” he opined.

The Minister further said “Suchevents play key role in bringing ma-turity in the characters of kids and itis quite common in the world,” heelaborated. Replying to anotherquery he said that foolproof secu-rity arrangements had been made andall the flaws had been removed prop-erly. He also recognised the patron-age of federal government for hold-ing of festival.

Guinness World Record repre-sentative Leo Wiger praised thehospitality of Pakistan and its peoplesaying that he has visited 46 coun-tries but never received such a loveand respect anywhere. Ms Anatolia,

an another GWR official said “I likedthe culture of Pakistan and the free-dom, the Pakistani women are enjoy-ing.”

Meanwhile, the Full Dress Re-hearsal to make the World’s LargestHuman Flag for the Guinness WorldRecord (GWR) was held here at theNational Hockey Stadium on Fridayunder the banner of Punjab YouthFestival 2014.

Around 30,000 students from dif-ferent schools gathered at the sta-dium to make the largest human flagfor new world record. Mashhoodalong with Sports Board Punjab(SBP) Director General UsmanAnwar along with the GWR repre-sentatives visited the arena to viewthe arrangements of the mega event.

The participants showed greatenthusiasm and kept on chantingslogans “Pakistan Zindabad”. In theprevious Punjab Sports Festival, Pa-kistan created a new world record ofmaking the largest human flag withthe participation of over 24,000people which was broken byBangladeshi students and army menwith the participation of 27,117 lastyear.—APP

LAHORE—All-rounder Fawad Alamand wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal have beenrecalled in the Pakistan team for the CricketAsia Cup being staged in Bangladesh laterthis month but Sarfraz Ahmed was over-looked despite good performances againstSri Lanka.

While Kamran Akmal was also pickedin team for ICC World T20 alongwith his

Shoaib, Kamran recalled,Sarfraz, Asad dropped in

World T20 squadyounger bother Umar Akmal. Howeverwicketkeepers name has not been men-tioned by PCB selectors. 28-year-old lefthanded Fawad Alam staged a comeback inthe team after three years in wilderness dueto fine show in domestic circuit. Anotherplayer to face the axe included Asad Shafiq.Misbah-ul-Haq was retained as the captainfor Asia Cup while Muhammad Hafeez willlead the team in ICC World T20 which fol-low the Asia Cup also in Bangladesh

While left arm spinner Abdul Rehmanwas selected in ODI team veteran ZulfiqarBabar was picked in T20 team. ShoaibMalik also got selectors nod for ICC WorldT20. Pakistan’s mercurial fast bowlerMuhammad Irfan as expected was not con-sidered due to injury which was great set-back. However Muhammad Talah got aplace both in ODI and T20 teams. A short-training camp of the Asia Cup team will beheld at Gaddafi Stadium Lahore from Feb-ruary 18-21.

Asia Cup squad: Misbah ul Haq (Cap-tain), Muhammad Hafeez, Ahmad Shahzad,Sharjeel Khan, Shahid Afridi, Umar Akmal,Sohaib Maqsood, Fawad Alam, SaeedAjmal, Abdul Rehman, Junaid Khan, UmarGul, Anwar Ali, Bilawal Bhatti andMuhammad Talha.ICC World T20 squad: Muhammad Hafeez(Captain), Ahmed Shahzad, Sharjeel Khan,Sohaib Maqsood, Kamran Akmal, UmerAkmal, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik, SaeedAjmal, Umer Gul, Junaid Khan, BilawalBhatti, Sohail Tanvir, Zulfiqar Babar andMohammad Talah.—APP

LAHORE: Girls taking part in tug-of-war during the Annual Sports Day of KinniardCollege.

KHAIRPUR—The Inter University (Women)Badminton Championship 2014 concludedat Khairpur Gymkhana on Friday, organizedby Shah Abdul Latif University, in collabo-ration with Higher Education Commission.

The final matches were played betweenPunjab University, Lahore and Universityof Lahore (Private). In single event thePunjab University defeated University ofLahore by 21-14 while in doubles PunjabUniversity beat University of Lahore by 21-16. University of Veterinary & Animal Sci-ences, Lahore secured third position.

Prof Dr. Mohammad Yousuf Khushk,Chairman Sports, SALU, Khairpur distrib-uted the shields and prizes among the win-ners and runners. Rs. 15,000, 10,000 and5,000 as cash prizes were also awarded tofirst, second and third positions respec-tively. Meanwhile, Government CollegeUniversity Faisalabad (GCUF) has won di-

visional level Inter University (men) Bas-ketball Championship here on Friday.

A spokesman for GCUF said that theInter University (men) Basketball Champi-onship at divisional level was held at Uni-versity of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) inconnection with Punjab Youth Festival andthe GCUF won it.

Meanwhile, Board of Intermediate andSecondary Education Peshawar recorded19 runs victory against Quetta in the ongo-ing All-Pakistan Inter-Board Twenty20Cricket Tournament being played at BISEpremises on Friday.

Peshawar Board won the toss andelected to bat first by setting up 121 runs inwhich Zubair made a graceful 35 runs in-cluding six boundaries, Haris Khan made30 runs and Hanif scored 24 runs. For QuettaBoard Younis took two wickets, Asad, Imranand Hayat got one wicket each.—APP

RAWALPINDI—Faisalabad Wolves andAbbottabad Falcons have qualified for thesemi-finals of the Faysal Bank Twenty-20Cup being played here at Pindi Stadium,Rawalpindi on Friday.

In the third quarter final, FaisalabadWolves beat Larkana Bulls by 33 runs. Putinto bat, Faisalabad Wolves scored 121 runsfor the loss of all wickets in 20 overs.Khurram Shehzad (38), Imran Khalid (18)and captain Misbah-ul-Haq (16) were themain scorers.

For Larkana Bulls, Mohammad Siddiqbagged 3 wickets giving 25 runs while ImtiazAli grabbed 2 wickets for 24 runs.

In reply, Bulls were all out on 88 runs.Ayaz Jamali (34), ohammad Waqas (11) andGhulam Yasin (11) batted well.

For Wolves, Saeed Ajmal was the mainpin-up as he took 4 wickets for 14 runs.Asad Ali and Ehsan Adil attained 2 wicketseach for 3 and 16 runs, respectively. AsadAli of Faisalabad Wolves was declaredPlayer of the match.

Wolves, Falcons insemis of T20 Cup

In the fourth quarter final, AbbottabadFalcons hammered Karachi Zebras by 4wickets. Electing to bat, Zebras scored 129runs for the loss of 6 wickets in 20 overs.Hasan Raza (47), Faisal Iqbal (43) andAkbar-ur-Rehman (10) were the main run-getters.

For Falcons, Junaid Khan bagged 3wickets for 17 runs. In reply, Falcons at-tained the target in 19.1 overs losing 6 wick-ets. Younis Khan played a superb unbeateninnings of 55 runs on 35 balls while HammadAli (20) and Yasir Hameed (15) batted well.

For Zebras, Tariq Haroon and Akbar-ur-Rehman took 3 and 2 wickets for 14 and21 runs, respectively.

Younis Khan of Abbottabad Falconswas declared Player of the match.

The 1st semi-final will be played be-tween Islamabad Leopards and Lahore Li-ons while the 2nd semi-final will be playedbetween Abbottabad Falcons andFaisalabad Wolves at Pindi Stadium on Sat-urday.—APP

KARACHI—Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Friday named a14-member Pakistan women squad for the series againstBangladesh and for next month’s ICC Women’s WorldTwenty 20.

Sana Mir has been retained as the captain of the teamwhile Bismah Maroof her deputy.

The series against Bangladesh will be played fromMarch 2 to 15 at Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Three ODIs andfive T20 matche3s will be played against Bangladesh team.

The ICC Women’s World Twenty 20 to be held inSylhet,Marcgh 16 to April 16.

A training camp will be at Lahore Country Club, Muridkefrom February in build-up for the events. Sqauad: SanaMir (Captain), Bismah Maroof (Vice Captain), Syeda NainFatima Abidi, Nida Rashid, Javeria Wadood, Syeda BatoolFatima Naqvi (wicketkeeper), Asmavia Iqbal Khokhar,Qanita Jalil, Sumaiya Siddiqui, Sadia Yousaf, Bibi Nahida,Sania Iqbal, Sidra Amin and Marina Iqbal.—APP

Union CupTennis

commencesKARACHI—Fahim Ramzangot off to a sterling start inthe inaugural Union ClubTrophy Ranking TennisTournament with a straightset hammering of AqeelShabbir on the men’s singlesfirst round at Union Clubcourt on Friday.

Top seed Fahim playedbetter brand of strokes andpassing shots to overpowerAqeel Shabbir 6-2, 6-3.Follwing are results: Men’ssingles (qualifying tounds):Saqib Nawaz bt Fraz 8-0. Istrd: Fahim Ramzan bt AqeelShabbir 6-2, 6-3. Juniors U17dingles (Ist rd): Hania Naveedbt Taha Hasan 6-2, 6-2, IbrahimIltifat bt Wania Khan 6-1, 6-3.—APP

Pak women squadfor World T20,

BD series named

Mohsin facesbig challenge inNational Junior

SnookerK A R A C H I — R e i g n i n gChampion Mohsin Amin ofPunjab will be facing stiffchallenge to defend hiscrown in the Jubilee Insur-ance 6th National JuniorAsian Snooker Champion-ship which goes into actionat Hotel Movenpick Arcadefrom Saturday.

Former National Cham-pion and top seed HamzaAkbar, who had representedin Asian championshipalong with Asian juniornumber two MuhammadMajid Ali, Mohsin Amin,Hunain Amir from Punjaband Haris Nadeem andMuhammad Fahad bothfrom Sindh are the other maincontenders for the crown.

Teenager Hamza rose tofame a couple of the yearago when he won the seniornational title at KarachiGymkhana.

S Lanka beat BDin T20 series

CHITTAGONG—Sri Lankadefeated Bangladesh bythree wickets in the secondand final Twenty20 interna-tional in Chittagong on Fri-day to win the series 2-0.

The tourists, whobowled out Bangladesh fora paltry 120, lost seven wick-ets before securing victoryoff the final ball in an excit-ing finish at the ZahurAhmed Chowdhury sta-dium.

Sri Lanka, the world’stop-ranked Twenty20 side,had won the first match atthe same venue on Wednes-day by two runs, also off thelast ball.—AFP

ROSA KHUTOR (Russia)—Switzerland’s Sandro Viletta won

t h emen’sOlym-p i cs u -p e r -com-binedo nF r i -d a yt o p -p i n g

a shock podium that included nei-ther favourites Ted Ligety ofthe US or Frenchman AlexisPinturault.

The 28-year-old, whohad only one World Cup winand podium so far, won witha combined time of 2min45.20sec, after one downhilland one slalom run.Croatian veteran IvicaKostelic was second at0.34sec, bagging his fourthOlympic silver and third inthe combined.

He preceded Italy’sChristof Innerhofer at0.47sec, who takes his sec-ond medal at these WinterGames after downhill silveron Sunday. The resultturned all predictions upsidedown as combined worldchampion Ligety and younggun Pinturault failed to evenmake the top 10 in theValentine’s Day race.

The two skiers had eachwon one super-combinedrace this World Cup season.But Ligety, who needed aclean slalom after finishing18th in the morning’s down-hill, made a costly mistakeand ended up 12th. Francehad meanwhile set its sightson Pinturault to win a firstalpine skiing medal for thecountry in Sochi. But the 22-year-old, who won the su-per-combined in Kitzbuehellast month, straddled a gate evenas he was leading in the times, andwent out.

Defending Olympic championBode Miller, seeking to make up for

Swiss Viletta wins shockmen’s super-combined gold

a disappointing eighth place in thedownhill, fought hard to come backfrom a 12th place after the morningrun but had to make do with sixthplace.

The tricky course, made evenmore challenging by warm tempera-tures, left several casualties in itswake, including Italy’s Peter Fill, USskier Andrew Weibrecht, AustrianMax Franz and Norway’sAleksander Aamodt Kilde. Withlumpy snow and a tough course setby Ante Kostelic, Ivica’s father,many straddled or caught their skisin a gate and fell.

Meanwhile, Switzerland’s DarioCologna on Friday won his secondgold of the Sochi Olympics andunderlined his supremacy in crosscountry skiing with a dominant per-

formance in the men’s 15km classic.After a steady start, Cologna tookthe time trial race by the scruff ofthe neck from the middle section andwas able to punch the air in triumphas he crossed the line.

He finished in 38min 29.7sec, acolossal 28.5sec ahead of his near-est challenger Johan Olsson of Swe-den who took silver. DanielRichardsson, also of Sweden, wonthe bronze in 39min 8.5sec.

The race once again took placein warm conditions of up to 12 de-grees Celsius (54 degrees Fahren-heit) that made the going tough on

soft snow and prompted many ath-letes, including Cologna, to race inT-shirts. Cologna’s gold is his sec-ond in Sochi after his win in theskiathlon that mixes both the clas-

sic and freestyle. He said his tri-umphs in Sochi were particularlyspecial after he tore a ligament inhis ankle in November, whichforced him to miss a crucial trainingperiod.“It’s amazing. I couldn’t be-lieve the first gold medal, after be-ing injured, and now the second,”said Cologna, 27.

“It was the perfect race. I knewit would be hard and I was preparedfor it,” said Cologna. It is is thirdOlympic gold after he also won the15km in Vancouver 2010 which wasrun as a freestyle event. Cologna’sthree gold medals at the Winter

Games, equals alpine skier VreniScheider’s mark at second in theSwiss all time list. Only ski jumperSimon Ammann, with four, has moregold medals.—AFP

CENTURION (South Africa)—David Warnerand Alex Doolan built on Australia’s size-able advantage after Mitchell Johnson de-stroyed South Africa’s firstinnings on the third day ofthe first Test at SuperSportPark on Friday.

Warner (93 not out) andDoolan (48 not out) tookAustralia to 147 for one intheir second innings at tea,an overall lead of 338.

Johnson continued hisdevastating form of the re-cent Ashes series againstEngland - and his superbopening spell on the secondday - and finished with sevenfor 68 as South Africa werebowled out for 206 in reply toAustralia’s 397.

AB de Villiers made asparkling 91 for South Africabefore he was ninth man out.

The left-handed Warnerwas dropped three times butplayed some thrilling attack-ing strokes as he and new capDoolan added an unbeaten 146 for the sec-ond wicket after Chris Rogers was bowledby Dale Steyn in the secondover of the Australian secondinnings. Warner’s firstchance came on 26 when hehooked Vernon Philander tofine leg where substituteDean Elgar dived but couldnot hold the ball.

He edged the next ball hefaced, from Morne Morkel,high to second slip where aleaping Alviro Petersencould only get his fingertipsto it. And, on 51, he wasdropped in similar fashion byGraeme Smith at first slipwhen he slashed at RyanMcLaren.

Warner had faced 115balls by tea, hitting 11 foursand two sixes.

Doolan was more circum-spect and faced 85 balls, hit-ting seven fours.

Johnson struck with hisfourth ball of the day whenRobin Peterson fended asharply lifting delivery toMichael Clarke moving to hisleft from second slip.

Vernon Philander playeda dogged innings of 15 be-

Warner, Doolan build onJohnson devastation

fore he was leg before wicket to off-spinnerNathan Lyon. Umpire Richard Illingworthgave Philander not out but the Australians

successfully sought a review which showedthe ball was hitting the stumps.—AFP

Australia, 1st innings:397South Africa, first innings(overnight 140-6)Smith b Johnson ......... 10Petersen b Johnson ...... 2Amla lbw b Siddle ....... 17F. du Plessis c Clarkeb Johnson ...................... 3A. de Villiers c Warnerb Johnson .................... 91Duminy b Lyon ............ 25R. McLaren b Johnson . 8R. Peterson b Johnson 10V. Philander lbw b Lyon15D. Steyn not out ............ 7Morkel b Johnson ......... 0Extras: (b14, lb2, nb1, w1)18Total: (61.1 overs) ..... 206Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-15, 3-23, 4-43, 5-110, 6-126, 7-140,

8-189, 9-202Bowling: ......... O-M-R-WHarris ................ 17-3-51-0Johnson ......... 17.1-1-68-7Siddle ................ 13-1-33-1Lyon .................. 14-0-38-2Australia, second innings:Rogers b Steyn .............. 1Warner not out ............ 93A. Doolan not out ....... 48Extras: (b3, lb1, w1) ....... 5Total: (1 wkt, 34 overs)147Fall of wicket: 1-1Bowling: ......... O-M-R-WPhilander ............ 7-1-13-0Steyn ................... 7-2-41-1McLaren ............. 7-0-33-0Morkel ................ 5-1-16-0Peterson ............. 5-0-30-0Duminy ............... 3-0-10-0

BIPIN DANI

Observer Correspondent

MUMBAI—Sri Lanka’s ShashikalaSiriwardene, who has been appointed tolead the team in ICC World T20s inBangladesh in March this year, claims tobe the first and only woman-cricketer bornon Valentine Day (14th February 1985).

“I am the first Sri Lanka woman andas far as I know I don’t recall any over-seas woman-cricketer born on this day”,she said over telephone from Colombo.

She turned 29 on Friday.“It is a nice feeling to have born on

this day when I will jointly celebrate thebirthday and Valentine Day with my be-loved one.

The only regret is I can have only onegift from my husband. Had my birthdayfalling on some other day, I would havereceived two gifts..”, she added laugh-ingly, of course, adding, “no gift is big-

Nice feelings on jointlycelebrating Valentine Dayand Birthday: Shashikala

ger than my husband’s love. A gift of roseflower to me means a lot”.

She married to Namal Senaviratna onMarch 28 last year and therefore thecouple was scheduled to celebrate thefirst V day and B Day jointly.

“We have invited a few of our friendsand family will spend the day together”,she added.

The Sri Lankan woman captain doesnot remember having played any interna-tional match on her big day but she says,“I do remember I decided to become theplayer on this day in 1998 and I seriouslystarted my first practice session in 1998when I turned 14”.

Interestingly, the Test playing nationSri Lanka won its first international match(ODI) won on this day in 1982 againstEngland. “Oh, if that is the case, I hon-estly did not know but then am proudand honored for this special day”, shesigned off.

WELLINGTON—India pressed their advan-tage after paceman Ishant Sharma’s career-best six-wicket haul, reaching 100 for two atthe close of play on the first day of the sec-ond test against New Zealand on Friday.

Ishant was the pick of the tourists’bowlers, who were given first use of the greenand bouncy Basin Reserve wicket after cap-tain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won his seventhsuccessive toss. The tall right-armer took sixfor 51 and helped bowl the hosts out for 192after tea.

Mohammed Shami provided admirablesupport with 4-70. Shikhar Dhawan was on71 and Ishant, sent in as nightwatchman afterChesteshwar Pujara was out for 19, was threenot out at the close. “It was a bit of a mixedday, losing the toss and getting put in wasn’tin the plan,” New Zealand all-rounder JimmyNeesham told RadioSport.

“I thought we did all right to get to 180 togive us something to bowl at but they battedquite well there. “I think slightly,” he added

Ishant’s career-best haulgives India upper hand

when asked if India had the advantage at theend of theday. “Weknow thatfrom the WestIndies testthat wicketstend to getlost in clumps.

“There isstill a bit in itand hopefullyit will keepswinging to-m o r r o w . ”K a n eW i l l i a m s o ntop scoredwith 47 forNew Zealandafter being dis-missed three times and recalled twice due to no-balls.—AFP

ROSA KHUTOR, Russia: Switzerland’s Sandro Villetta speeds down the course during the men’s Olympic super-combined on Friday.

Country ....... G ...... S ..... B TotalGermany ....... 7 ...... 2 ...... 1 ..... 10Switzerland ... 5 ...... 0 ...... 1 ....... 6Canada .......... 4 ...... 4 ...... 2 ..... 10Norway ......... 4 ...... 3 ...... 6 ..... 13Netherlands . 4 ...... 3 ...... 5 ..... 12United States 4 ...... 2 ...... 6 ..... 12Russia ........... 2 ...... 5 ...... 4 ..... 11China ............. 2 ...... 1 ...... 0 ....... 3France ........... 2 ...... 0 ...... 2 ....... 4Poland ........... 2 ...... 0 ...... 0 ....... 2Austria .......... 1 ...... 4 ...... 0 ....... 5Slovenia ........ 1 ...... 1 ...... 2 ....... 4South Korea . 1 ...... 0 ...... 1 ....... 2Belarus .......... 1 ...... 0 ...... 0 ....... 1Slovakia ........ 1 ...... 0 ...... 0 ....... 1Sweden ......... 0 ...... 5 ...... 2 ....... 7Italy ............... 0 ...... 2 ...... 2 ....... 4Czech ............ 0 ...... 2 ...... 1 ....... 3Japan ............. 0 ...... 2 ...... 1 ....... 3Australia ....... 0 ...... 1 ...... 0 ....... 1Croatia .......... 0 ...... 1 ...... 0 ....... 1Finland .......... 0 ...... 1 .... 0-1Latvia ............ 0 ...... 0 ...... 2 ....... 2Great Britain . 0 ...... 0 ...... 1 ....... 1Ukraine ......... 0 ...... 0 ...... 1 ....... 1

CENTURION PARK: Chris Rogers chopped on againstDale Steyn’s first ball during South Africa vs Australia1st Test’s 3rd day on Friday.

SOCHI: Galina Skiba of Russia dives for the puck as Josefine Holmgren GoalkeeperValentina Wallner, and Lina Backlin of Sweden look on during the 2014 Winter Olym-pics women´s ice hockey game at Shayba Arena.

Pak to participatein Asian Bowling

C’shipI S L A M A B A D — P a k i s t a nTeam will be participating inthe 23rd Asian Tenpin Bowl-ing Championship sched-uled to be held at Thailandfrom May 19 to 30.

Teams participating inthe event include China,Egypt, Hong Kong, Iran,Malaysia, Qatar, Singapore,Thailand, UAE, Pakistan,India and Indonesia. Ijaz UrRehman Secretary PakistanTenpin Bowling Federationtold APP that the nationalteam for the event will in-clude six players.—APP

Hole-in-one Hedwall leadsAustralian Open

MELBOURNE—Caroline Hedwall fired a hole-in-one onFriday as she established a one-shot lead at the Women’sAustralian Open and raised hopes of her first LPGA vic-tory. The 24-year-old Swede aced the par-three 16th holeat par-72 Victoria Golf Club, en route to a scintillatingseven-under 65 and an aggregate score of 11-under 133.

Hedwall lay one ahead of Norwegian world numbertwo Suzann Pettersen at the halfway stage with Australianamateur Minjee Lee, 17, a further shot back in third.

Tiger Woods’s niece Cheyenne matched Hedwall’s 65as she rocketed 80 places up the board to lie six shots offthe lead, in contention for her second win in two weeks.

But the score of the day belonged to Sweden’s AnnaNordqvist, who shot a women’s course record 64 to sharefourth alongside New Zealand prodigy Lydia Ko, 16.

Ko, embarking on her first pro season after winning fourtournaments as an amateur, shot her second successive 68to be three shots back heading into the weekend. Furtherdown the leaderboard, Yani Tseng’s struggles continued asthe Taiwanese ex-world number one flirted with the cut be-fore scrambling through with even-par 144.—AFP

ROSA KHUTOR—The pressure is onfor favourites Ted Ligety and AlexisPinturault in the men’s super-com-bined on Friday, after relatively poor

Favourites under pressure in super-combinedfinishes in the downhill left them need-ing a strong slalom to make the po-dium.

Norway’s Kjetil Jansrud, fresh froma downhill bronze medal five days ago,clocked the fastest time down the RosaKhutor course at 1min 53.24.

He was followed by Czech skierOndrej Bank at 0.14sec and Sunday’sOlympic downhill champion MatthiasMayer of Austria at 0.37sec.

US hot shot Ligety and Frenchyoung gun Pinturault, meanwhile,were 18th and 23rd on a course thatgradually softened due to warm tem-peratures.

Croatian veteran Ivica Kostelic,combined Olympic and world silvermedallist, finished in a strong seventhplace.

“It’s not reallythat great whenthe early guyshave harder snowthan the laterguys,” Ligety,who started in22nd place, admit-ted.

“It definitelyaffected times, theguys who startedearly with fasterstart intervals hada little bit of an ad-

vantage.”Organisers had already moved the

start of the downhill forward by anhour to 10:00am (0600GMT) due to thespring-like temperatures.

But Ligety, a four-time world cham-pion and 2006 combined Olympicchampion, was confident of makingup nearly two seconds on the leaderin the slalom.

“Two seconds is not that much tomake up on downhill skiers.”

“Two seconds on Ivica’s tough forsure, but in slalom there can be hugeswings very quickly. I’m happy beingnot too far behind.

“I would have liked to be closer toIvica and would have liked to havebeen a little bit more ahead of Alexis

DRAB olive cigarette packs bearing aprominent quit-smoking helpline number, introduced more than a year ago in

Australia, had a sizeable and sustained effecton interest in quitting, researchers say. Just oneof many controls imposed oncigarette marketing and salesover the past decade in thatcountry, the plain packagingwas linked to a 78-percentspike in calls to territorialquitlines within a month of itsintroduction.

“The results suggest thelegislation does have a posi-tive early impact (on smokers)and so other countries couldfeel more confident in intro-ducing similar legislation,”said Jane Young, a cancer epi-demiologist at the SydneySchool of Public Health, wholed the study. The plain pack-ages, implemented in October2012, mean that every brand’scigarettes look nearly identi-cal, with the brand name relegated to a small,standardized font.

In March 2006, cigarette packaging withgraphic health warnings including photos ofcancer-riddled lungs and gangrenous limbs wasintroduced in Australia. “(The labels) informconsumers about what might happen to themwhen they use the product,” said Joanna Cohen,director of the Institute for Global TobaccoControl at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Schoolof Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland.

“The plain and standardized packaging ismeant to reduce the appeal of the package andshow the warning. Hopefully current smokerswill quit because they are more aware of the

health impacts, and fewer people will start,”said Cohen, who was not involved in the newstudy. Young’s team wanted to isolate theimpact of just the switch to plain packagingon interest in quitting.

They looked at the num-ber of calls in New SouthWales and the Australian Capi-tal Territory to the nationalquitline before and after intro-duction of the plain packages.Calls jumped from 363 a weekbefore the packaging change toa peak of 651 calls a week fourweeks after the new packageswere introduced, Young andher colleagues report in theMedical Journal of Australia.

The study also com-pared those results to the num-ber of calls received by theQuitline after Australia’s addi-tion of graphic warning labels.That change was linked with ajump from 910 calls a week toa peak of 1,653 calls 12 weeks

afterwards, representing an 84 percent in-crease. The effect of the graphic warningsonly lasted an estimated 20 weeks, however,whereas the researchers estimate the effectof plain packaging to have endured 43 weeks.

They also adjusted their results for otherpotential influences on interest in quittingsmoking, such as cigarette pricing, limits onsmoking in public and on the display of ciga-rettes at points of sale, as well as the NewYear’s resolution effect.

Between 2006 and 2011, Young’s teamnotes, smoking rates in New South Wales hadalready dropped from 17.7 percent of resi-dents to 14.7 percent.

Plain cigarette packs spurquitline calls: Study

A large number of passengers travelling on rooftop of a bus as transport is not availabledue to closure of CNG stations.

Heart-shaped balloons were in great demand on Valentine Day in the Provincial Capital.

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—Sindh senior Minister foreducation Nisar Ahmed Khuhru saidthere were 49000 schools in Sindh prov-ince of which 38000 were functioningregularly while 11000 were lying shutand a ban would continue to be imposedon creation of new schools till all the11000 closed schools would start func-tioning normally and regularly.

He was responding to a question inSindh assembly on Friday during ques-tion and answer hour.

The Senior Minister said that up to90 percent (43000) of schools of a totalof 49000 were under the category of pri-mary schools and 5500 such primaryschools were either closed or non-func-tional and quite interestingly, there were54 schools just in one village.

In the meantime, a lawmaker up-dated the House with the informationthat there were 84 schools in a villageof Sindh, too.

The Senior Minister told the Housethat Sindh education Department was

heading toward computerisation of dataabout the teachers of public schools andefforts were being made to see all schoolsshould function properly and none ofthem should remain closed.

The computerisation of data wouldalso furnish details about total strengthof children attending schools and howmany were leaving schools. The elementsthat caused closure of schools would betaken to task.

He said that offer letters had alreadybeen dispatched to the candidates thatpassed the NTS test and there was no banon their appointment as with the new in-duction, some 3000 closed schools wouldbe re-channelised.

The Senior Minister informed theHouse that the total budget for educationwas Rs 132 billions of which Rs 110 bil-lion were being spent on salaries andperks of the teaching and non-teachingfaculties.

Additionally, a separate budget fordevelopmental expenditures was Rs 22billion, which also included annual de-velopment programmes and other

projects with foreign financial assistance.Major portion of the sum from develop-mental budget was being utilized on de-velopmental schemes such as repair andrenovation of schools and colleges pre-mises.

He informed the House that of a to-tal of employees in government sector(1.5 million), 50 percent were only ineducation department.

He also informed the House thatthere was not a single ghost school inKarachi and during a period from 2008-2013, no report indicated existence of anyghost school in Karachi.

The Senior Minister said that 35middle schools were either establishedor upgraded in Karachi from 2011-12 to2012-2013. Conversely, 107 schoolswere upgraded in Hyderabad region, 74in Mirpurkhas region, 73 in Sukkur re-gion and 63 in Larkana region.

No new school was established inKarachi during 2009-2013 while 83, 40,76 and 39 middle schools were estab-lished in Hyderabad, Sukkur, Mirpurkhasand Larkana regions respectively.

Khuhru tells Assembly

11,000 schools closedin Province

Delayed formation of ‘Sindh HealthcareCommission’ perturbs doctors

KARACHI—Pakistan Medical Associa-tion has regretted unwarranted delay inthe required legislation for formation of“Sindh Healthcare Commission,” meantto address alleged inefficiency and in-competence among doctors.

Office bearers of PMA Central andPMA Karachi talking to APP Friday saidthe proposed commission, draft of whichwas finalized in the May last year andsince then rigorously scrutinized by allconcerned departments, including Lawand Health, required political will forearly adoption by the provincial assem-bly. “This extremely public friendly leg-islation that could eliminate quackery and

its wide range of connotations needed im-mediate attention of the law makers,”said President, PMA - Karachi, Prof.Idrees Adhi.

Dr. Qaiser Sajjad of PMA - Cen-tral said law for formation of the muchawaited Commission, once adopted inactual letter and spirit, will also be ex-tremely important to develop trust be-tween patients and the medical com-munity.

Avenues, in all parts of the world,exist where patients can register theircomplaints about negligence on part ofthe doctors, nurses or any concerned pro-fessional. In reply to a question Dr. Adhi

said the commission would be equallybeneficial for all healthcare establish-ments, public and private hospitals, non-profit organizations, charitable hospitals,trust hospitals, semi government and au-tonomous healthcare organizations.

About patients’ rights, he said in casewhere a patient sustains injury or dies asa result of improper treatment in ahealthcare establishment and, in case ofdeath, determined on the basis of medi-cal autopsy report, the attendants of thedeceased shall have the right to approachdirectly to the Commission and will beentitled to register their case against thedefaulter.—APP

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—Sindh Senior Minister for Educa-tion Nisar Ahmed Khuhru said that privateschools management had been issued directivesto avoid deciding about keeping their schoolsdue to announcement of strike by any politicalor religious party or group. It would be SindhGovernment’s responsibility to ensure securityof students.

New academic year would be starting fromApr 1. It would compulsory for every candi-date, who would have passed class VIII exami-nation, to qualify a test for admission in classIX and those candidates that would secure po-sition in that test would be offered scholarships.Any educational board could be approached forpreparing question paper for the test for admis-sion in class IX.

The senior Minister for Education NisarAhmed Khuhro expressed these views duringa meeting of the Steering Committee held Fri-day at the Committee Room inside the SindhAssembly building.

Heads of educational boards and represen-tatives of private schools management attendedthe meeting. The meeting reviewed matter thatwould pertain to educational system in comingacademic year.

In particular, the Senior Minister directedthe management of private schools that theyshould not decide about closing their privateschools in case any political or religious partywould announce to observer strike in the citywithout prior permission from Sindh Govern-ment. People had showed great courage on vari-ous occasions and would also not be let downunder any challenging situation in future,Khuhro asserted.

He told the meeting that examinations ofclass VIII would be completed by Mar 15 andthe results would be announced by mar 31.Examinations of SSC would start from Apr 22and results would be announced on Jul 30 whileexaminations of HSC would be from May 12and all educational boards in interior of Sindhand in Karachi would announce the results onAug 31 and sep 15 respectively.

Private schools not tobe closed on strike call

Altafcondemns

suicide attackOBSERVER REPORT

KARACHI—The Founder andLeader of MQM Altaf Hussainhas condemned the suicide at-tack on the vehicle of Rangers’Wing Commander inQayyumabad area in the stron-gest possible terms. He has ex-pressed deep sorrow and griefover the injury of two rangers’personnel and prayed for theirspeedy recovery.

He said terrorists have beencarrying out bomb attacks andsubversive activities to destabi-lize the industrial hub of Paki-stan. Bomb attacks in Karachiare not good for the integrity ofPakistan.

Today, Taliban has given usmessage by attacks on PoliceTraining Centre and Rangers’Wing Commander’s vehiclethey are not interested in peacetalks and will carry out attacksunder the pretext of negotiation,said Hussain.

He appealed to the Presi-dent, Prime Minister, FederalInterior Minister and SindhChief Minister to take action theterrorists responsible for the at-tacks and take measures to stopsuch attacks.

KARACHI—Commissioner Karachi,Shoaib Ahmad Siddiqui on Friday as-sured fishing community of Karachiof early completion of fishing jetty atGizri creek. In a meeting, consequentto directives of Sindh Chief Minister,with members of Fishers’ Folk Forum,Siddiqui said the government is genu-inely committed to address the prob-lems of the fishermen belonging toKarachi and its coastal villages.

The delegation led by MohammadAli Shah and Sami Memon informedthe commissioner about the prevalentdisquiet among fishing community dueto their difficult accessibility to sea

water leading to growing unemploy-ment among them.

The meeting was also attended byAdditional Commissioner Karachi,Aslam Khoso, Assistant Commis-sioner (Civil Lines), Additional Di-rector Vigilance, DHA, Lt ColFarooqui, besides representatives ofCommander-Pakistan Navy, Chair-man-Karachi Port Trust, Chief Col-lector, Pakistan Customs (Preventive)and Director, Special Projects-DHA.

The representatives of fishingcommunity referred to disbandmentof a jetty used by DHA authoritiesyears’ ago, however, despite all com-

mitment no new jetty could be builtseverely affecting the livelihood offishermen.

They also referred to the issue ofinternational waters, that the fisher-men may inadvertently cross and ex-posed to serious difficulties due tosecurity related legal conditionalities.

Representatives of concerned lawenforcing agencies said the issue hasbeen taken up and efforts are under-way to provide needed guidance aswell as protection to the sea fisher-men of the country. The officialspresent on the occasion informed thatthe limit for small boats entering into

deep sea water is 12 nautical miles andthat concerned fishermen also need toget themselves registered with any ofthe country’s fish harbour.

As for long pending issue of “jetty”the additional commissioner said DHAin compliance to its commitment hadallotted a suitable piece of land for itand the contract was also given toNESPAK, however, the delay was dueto inability of NESPAK to start thework. The proposed Commission, theysaid will also issue regulations, guide-lines, instructions and directives topersons engaged in the provision ofhealthcare services.

Commissioner assures early constructionof fishing jetty at Gizri creek

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Sindh Festival great festivity, “TheSassui Pannu event” was held Friday night atthe historical Mohatta Palace in Clifton. Paki-stan people’s Party Parliamentarian ChairmanBilawal Bhutto Zardari had graced the eventwith his presence. Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari,PPPP leader and member provincial assemblySyed Owais Muzaffar Hashmi, dignitaries fromdifferent corners of society were present.

Legends in ode (Ghazal) singing Ustad(Master) Ghulam Ali, ‘Mainey Pairon mainPayal to Baandhi Nahi’ fame legendary odesinger Fareeda Khanum, Asif Mehdi, Humera

Channa and other eminent singers from acrossPakistan performed at their best at the SassuiPannu Event.

The Sassui Pannu Event was the last megaevent of Sindh Festival to be followed by theconcluding ceremony at the Makli in Thatta.

The “The Sassui Pannu event” was carvedout to be staged at the Mohatta Palace on Feb14 to reciprocate the love celebrations in con-nection with the Saint Valentine’s Day to paytribute to the lovers in the name of Sassui andPannu, a couple that loved each other and wassilenced to death for loving each other. Theirlove had become a great and unforgettableevent in the history of Sindh.

Sindh Festival: Sassuiand Pannu remembered

DRAB olive cigarette packs bearing aprominent quit-smoking helpline number, introduced more than a year ago in

Australia, had a sizeable and sustained effecton interest in quitting, researchers say. Just oneof many controls imposed oncigarette marketing and salesover the past decade in thatcountry, the plain packagingwas linked to a 78-percentspike in calls to territorialquitlines within a month of itsintroduction.

“The results suggest thelegislation does have a posi-tive early impact (on smokers)and so other countries couldfeel more confident in intro-ducing similar legislation,”said Jane Young, a cancer epi-demiologist at the SydneySchool of Public Health, wholed the study. The plain pack-ages, implemented in October2012, mean that every brand’scigarettes look nearly identi-cal, with the brand name relegated to a small,standardized font.

In March 2006, cigarette packaging withgraphic health warnings including photos ofcancer-riddled lungs and gangrenous limbs wasintroduced in Australia. “(The labels) informconsumers about what might happen to themwhen they use the product,” said Joanna Cohen,director of the Institute for Global TobaccoControl at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Schoolof Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland.

“The plain and standardized packaging ismeant to reduce the appeal of the package andshow the warning. Hopefully current smokerswill quit because they are more aware of the

health impacts, and fewer people will start,”said Cohen, who was not involved in the newstudy. Young’s team wanted to isolate theimpact of just the switch to plain packagingon interest in quitting.

They looked at the num-ber of calls in New SouthWales and the Australian Capi-tal Territory to the nationalquitline before and after intro-duction of the plain packages.Calls jumped from 363 a weekbefore the packaging change toa peak of 651 calls a week fourweeks after the new packageswere introduced, Young andher colleagues report in theMedical Journal of Australia.

The study also com-pared those results to the num-ber of calls received by theQuitline after Australia’s addi-tion of graphic warning labels.That change was linked with ajump from 910 calls a week toa peak of 1,653 calls 12 weeks

afterwards, representing an 84 percent in-crease. The effect of the graphic warningsonly lasted an estimated 20 weeks, however,whereas the researchers estimate the effectof plain packaging to have endured 43 weeks.

They also adjusted their results for otherpotential influences on interest in quittingsmoking, such as cigarette pricing, limits onsmoking in public and on the display of ciga-rettes at points of sale, as well as the NewYear’s resolution effect.

Between 2006 and 2011, Young’s teamnotes, smoking rates in New South Wales hadalready dropped from 17.7 percent of resi-dents to 14.7 percent.

Plain cigarette packs spurquitline calls: Study

Girls buying flowers on Jail Road on Valentine Day on Friday.

PU VC Dr Mujahid Kamran presents souvenir to British Educationist and Advisor to Chief Minister Punjab, Sir Michel Barber and Education MinisterRana Mashood after screening of documentary on ‘Roadmap to education’ at Al-Razi Hall new campus.

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—Around 500 women andgirls become victims of ‘honour kill-ing’ in the country every year thusmaking Pakistan one of world’s mostdangerous countries for women.

Delivering a lecture on “HonourKillings: A Public Health Perspective”,here at the University of Health Sci-ences (UHS) on Friday.

Dr Muazzam Nasrullah, a publichealth specialist teaching at Emory andWest Virginia University, USA,stressed the need to give voice towomen who are oppressed and to cre-ate a more informed and supportiveenvironment for advocacy and policyto eliminate violence against women.

He explained that considered aform of domestic and gender-basedviolence, honor killings often in-volved women murdered by familymembers to avenge shame brought byinfidelity or other culturally unaccept-able behaviors. “It’s a very uniquekind of violence, because usually do-mestic violence is caused by husbandsor partners, but this is often conductedby brothers or fathers,” said Dr.Muazzam Nasrullah, who ran a studyin this regard.

Dr. Muazzam further said that hisreport was the first statistical studythat attempted to quantify the prob-lem since data about the practice wereso difficult to collect. He used localand national newspaper reports sys-

tematically compiled by the HumanRights Commission of Pakistan as thebasis for his study. A total of 1,957incidents of honor killings were re-corded over four years, study reported.The majority occurred in response toalleged extramarital relations.

But Dr. Muazzam said he is con-fident the results were lower than theactual number because not everyevent makes it into the media.

“The problem is much more thanwhat is depicted in my paper,” hestated adding that the mean annual rateof honour killing in female aged 15-64 years was found to be 15 per mil-lion women. He further said that mur-ders in the name of so-called honourwere prevalent across Pakistan and

this crime was known by its regionalnames such as kala-kali (Punjab), karo-kari (Sindh), tor-tora (KhyberPakhtunkhwa) and siyakari(Balochistan).

The Country Head of HumanRights Commission of Pakistan,I.A.Rehman said that although honorkillings were illegal and consideredmurder in Pakistan, there were loop-holes that often prevent full punish-ment for the crime.

He further said that having reliabledata about honour killings was impor-tant to tackle the issue. The lecture wasorganized by UHS Department ofFamily Medicine and it was attendedby UHS faculty, students and a num-ber of family physicians.

500 women killed everyyear in name of honour

Girls taking part in Annual Sports Day of Kinniard College.

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Punjab Chief MinisterMuhammad Shahbaz Sharif has said thatpromotion of education is essential forcurbing the trend of extremism; therefore,Punjab government is spending billionsof rupees on uplift of education sector.

He said that funds will continue tobe provided for the improvement of pub-lic sector schools. Announcing abolish-ment of the fund for the promotion ofeducation collected voluntarily in publicsector schools, the Chief Minister saidthat no such fund will be collect fromchildren in future.

He was presiding over a high levelmeeting to review the Punjab SchoolsReforms Roadmap Programme, here onFriday. Head of UK Department for In-ternational Development (DFID) Sir Ri-chard Montgomery, Special Representa-tive DFID and educationist Sir MichaelBarber and representatives of WorldBank besides Provincial Minister forEducation Rana Mashhood AhmadKhan, Chief Secretary, Chairman Plan-ning & Development, Secretary SchoolEducation, Secretary Literacy, Secretary

Finance, concerned officers and educa-tionists attended the meeting. Sir MichaelBarber gave a detailed briefing on PunjabSchool Reforms Roadmap Programme.

Addressing the meeting, the ChiefMinister said that Punjab School ReformsRoadmap is a splendid programme andis yielding positive and encouraging re-sults. He said that enrollment campaignis going on successfully and 0.5 millionchildren have got admission in schoolsduring the last six months.

He said that enrollment of 98-percentchildren will be ensured in schools dur-ing the next two to three years. He di-rected School Education Department towork hard for ensuring enrollment ofmaximum children in schools and per-form this duty as a national obligation.

The Chief Minister said that the of-ficers and officials of concerned districtsshowing good performance towardsimplementation of Punjab SchoolRoadmap Programme would be encour-aged while those guilty of inefficiencywill be held accountable. He directedthat enrollment of 15 lakh children un-der voucher scheme of Punjab EducationFoundation be ensured up to April 2014

and all possible steps be taken for theachievement of this target. He furtherdirected that digitalization of theprogramme of examinations of 5th and8th classes be considered and recommen-dations be submitted as early as possible.

He also directed that the progrmameof imparting education through smartboards in public sector schools be pro-moted expeditiously and besides ensur-ing attendance of teachers and studentsdue attention be paid to provision of qual-ity education.

He said that as a result of PunjabSchool Reforms Roadmap and monitor-ing system, there has been a marked im-provement in the attendance of teachersand boy and girl students in schools, how-ever, there is a need to revamp the entiresystem of attendance of teachers and stu-dents and using automation system finalrecommendations be submitted as soonas possible.

The Chief Minister also directed toform a committee for better and speedyimplementation of Punjab School Re-forms Roadmap Programme for puttingup its recommendations after consider-ing various aspects.

Enrolment of 98pc childrenin schools to be ensured

Shahbaztakes noticeof kite flying

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Punjab Chief Min-ister Muhammad ShahbazSharif has taken notice of theincident in which two personswere injured due to kite stringin Singhpura and sought a re-port from district administra-tion and police.

The Chief Minister also is-sued instructions for strict imple-mentation of the ban on kite fly-ing and said that stern action betaken against the concerned of-ficials if complaint of kite flyingis received from any area.

Pensioners’day on

MondayOBSERVER REPORT

LAHORE—Pensioner’s Daywill be celebrated in all officesof Ombudsman Punjab onMonday, February 17 whileOmbudsman Punjab JavedMahmood will personally su-pervise all the activities of theday.

Wazir Ahmad Qureshi,Incharge “Mohtasib PunjabPension Cell”, will organizeKhuli Kucheri on “Pensioner’sDay” at 10:00 AM at Lahorelikewise Member Incharge ofconcerned Regional Offices ofOmbudsman Punjab atMultan, Sargodha andRawalpindi will also holdkhuli kucheri and welcomepensioners and retired em-ployees of Punjab Govern-ment on 17th February.

Ombudsman Punjab JavedMahmood while declaring15th of every month as“Pensioner’s Day” in all of-fices of Ombudsman in Punjabhas clearly has issued notifi-cation mentioning that in caseof holiday on 15th,“Pensioner’s Day” will be cel-ebrated on next working day.

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—Lahore High Court (LHC) com-plaint cell on Friday took notice of a pressreport on administrative side regarding twoincidents of killings of minor boy and girl af-ter alleged assault.

The Cell has directed the District & Ses-sions Judge, Faisalabad to look into the mat-ters and submit a detailed report regardingsteps taken by police along with his own com-ments within a week. According to details,Muhammad Wasim, 12, son of MuhammadYasin, resident of Dajkot Chak No.243/RBwas working in a coal factory at Samundari

Road. One day he was returning from hisworkplace when some unknown accused ab-ducted and took him to an deserted place wherethey molested him.

They later killed him, threw his body inthe nearby fields and fled away. Father of ill-fated boy identified his body from his clothesand shoes. However, police registered a caseand looking for the suspects. In an anotherincident, 8-year-old daughter of Hasan Khan,resident of Naya Bazar Jaranwala was play-ing in the street when some unidentified ac-cused took her to an unknown place. The cul-prits allegedly assaulted the innocent girl andkilled her.

LHC takes notice of murderof minor children

OBSERVER REPORT

LAHORE—Provincial Minister for Labour &Human Resources, Raja Ashfaq Sarwar hassaid that Punjab government with the coop-eration of Federal government, ILO and Eu-ropean Union is holding a 3-day ministeriallevel South Asia Labour Conference from 24to 26 April in Lahore.

The aim of the conference is to enhancecooperation among South Asian countries forjoint initiatives to improve labour market man-agement, labour market policies, capacity-building of the labourers, elimination of forcedlabour from the children and the workingwomen and highlighting the measures beingtaken for the protection of their rights.

He expressed these views while address-ing a largely attended press conference atLahore Press Club, here today. Member Pro-

vincial Assembly Saira Iftikhar, Hina PervaizButt, Secretary Labour Capt. Retd.Muhammad Yousaf, Commissioner SocialSecurity Farhan Aziz Khawaja, Representativeof ILO and senior officers of Labour & Hu-man Resource Department were also presenton the occasion.

Giving details of the aim and objectivesof the conference to media representatives,Raja Ashfaq Sarwar said that this internationallevel labour conference will result in enhanc-ing the employment of Pakistani labourers inthe world labour market.

He said that this conference will also bebeneficial to enforcement of internationallabour laws under ILO convention in the re-gional countries including Pakistan, strength-ening of labour market information system andevolving a joint strategy after deliberations oflabour policy.

South Asia Conference

Enhancing coop to improvelabour market management