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Nation rejects civildisobedience call................................................Qadri to take show toother cities................................................India arrogantly snubs Pakistan

See Page 04

PM notto resignNawaz, Raheeldiscuss security

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif has decided notto succumb to pressure exertedby Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insafand the Pakistan AwamiTehreek.

Sources said that Mr Sharifchaired a high level meeting atthe Prime Minister Housewhere he said doors to dialoguewould be kept open but hewould not resign from his post.

Sources add that the meet-ing agreed to speedup the pro-cess of establishing contactswith political forces.

Earlier, Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif met with Chiefof Army Staff General RaheelSharif at the Prime MinisterHouse on Tuesday and dis-cussed issues pertaining to na-tional security.

Senior civilian and militaryleaders also attended the meet-ing to discuss the strategy todefuse the situation in the fed-

STAFF REPORTER

RAWALPINDI/ISLAMABAD—In a belated but bold reactionto the prevailing political cri-sis, Pakistan Army has said thatall the stakeholders should pa-tiently join their heads togetherto find a key to this deadlock—as soon as possible.

“Situation requires pa-tience, wisdom, sagacity fromall stakeholders to resolve pre-vailing impasse through mean-ingful dialogue in larger na-tional and public interest”, DGInter-Services Public RelationsISPR Asim Saleem Bajwa saidin a post that appeared on thesocial media website Twitter.

Bajwa further tweeted that:

‘Meaningful talks’ key topolitical deadlock: ISPRRed Zone buildings symbol of state

“Buildings in Red Zone aresymbol of state. They are be-ing protected by PakistanArmy, therefore sanctity ofthese national symbols must berespected.”

Interior Ministry ChaudhryNisar Ali Khan has said thatsecurity has been handed overto Pakistan army which wouldbe deployed at important andsensitive installations and otherplaces.

Addressing a press confer-ence here on Tuesday after athree and a half hours longmeeting between Prime Minis-ter Nawaz Sharif and ArmyChief General Raheel Sharifand also attended by the Inte-

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Stocks saw ahuge fall on Tuesday asKarachi Stock Exchange-100Index declined by more than300 points and reached thelevel of 28,500 in the morn-ing trading session.

Analysts reflected that ifthe current political scenarioprevailed the situation of

KSE-100 index plummetsby more than 300 points

US urges allsides to resolvedifferencesthrough talksWASHINGTON—The UnitedStates has urged all sides inPakistan to resolve theirdifferences through peacefuldialogue in a way thatstrengthens democracy in thecountry.

“We believe that all partiesshould work together to resolvetheir difference through peace-ful dialogue in a way thatstrengthens Pakistan’s democ-racy,” Deputy Spokesperson atthe State Department MarieHarf said.

She was asked about thesituation arising from PakistanTehreek-e-Insaf and PakistanAwami Tehreek marches onIslamabad. The spokespersonalso called on all sides to avoidviolence.

“We are carefully monitor-ing and urge all sides to refrainfrom violence, exercise re-straint and respect the rule oflaw,” Harf added.

Meanwhile, the UnitedStates has termed asunfortunate the cancellation

Pak economicindicatorsimproving: IMFDUBAI—InternationalMonetary Fund (IMF) hasexpressed satisfaction overPakistan government policiesto strengthen macroeconomicstability and revivinginvestment and growth.

This has been stated byleader of the IMF team,Jeffrey Franks, after holdingtalks with Finance MinisterIshaq Dar in Dubai on thefourth review of Pakistan’sIMF-supported programme.

He said economicindicators are improving andgrowth is continuing to gainmomentum and inflation is ona downward trajectory. Hesaid the government’s reformprogram was broadly ontrack. Jeffrey Franks said theGDP growth is expected torise by 4.3 percent in fiscalyear 2014-15 as compared toa provisional estimate of 4.1percent in last fiscal year.

Terming his talks withFinance Minister Ishaq Darand Governor State BankAshraf Wathra useful, IMFofficial said the mission made

excellent progress towardagreement on key policy is-

China troopsenter disputedIndia territorySRINAGAR—Chinese troopshave advanced 25 to 30 kmdeep into Indian territory inBurtse area in Ladakh,disputed territory claimed byIndia, echoing a similarincursion last year that raisedtensions between the tworival giants, the HindustanTimes website quoted officialsources as saying on Tuesday.

Chinese troops twicecrossed over the border into aremote area of the westernHimalayas, with someunfurling a banner that read“this is Chinese territory, goback”, an official said oncondition of anonymity.

Indian border policenoticed the troops on Sundayin an unpopulated area ofLadakh during a patrol of theinformal border that separatesIndia and China.

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stocks would also remain un-certain in future. The low vol-ume showed the lack of intereston the part of investors as onlyan investment of Rs20 milliontook place.

Tuesday’s decline comes asImran Khan has announced thathe will march into the Red Zoneand Tahirul Qadri has called forthe holding of a people’s parlia-ment in the federal capital.

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TARIQ SAEED

PESHAWAR—The Pakistan AirForce (PAF) birds resumedtheir strikes on the militantspositions after a pause of morethan a week time, and moweddown around fifty suspectedterrorists in Khyber agency aswell as volatile NorthWaziristan agency on Mondayas the Operation Zarb-e-Azbgoes on.

At least 18 suspected mili-tants were killed and seven hide-outs destroyed in fresh airstrikes carried out by fighter jetsin the Khyber and NorthWaziristan agencies early Mon-

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Imran, Qadri triumphant

PTI, PAT marches enter ‘Red Zone’Imran threatens to storm PM House unless Nawaz steps down Qadri asks Nawaz, Shahbaz to

resign Says constitution will not be suspended Calls for setting up national govtSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—With party leaderImran Khan leading from the front,Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf marchersabetted by Pakistan Awami Tehreekprotestors barged into federalcapital’s heavily guarded ‘Red Zone’defying government warnings of acrackdown on Tuesday after mid-night.

Addressing the protestors PTIchief Imran Khan said that he hasgiven Prime Minister Nawaz Shariftill Wednesday evening to resign. “IfNawaz Sharif does not resign thenwe will enter into the PM House,”said the PTI chief.

Imran Khan earlier appealed toworkers to stay peaceful and not en-ter any buildings. However, he di-rected his supporters to “take re-venge” if something happens to him.

Meanwhile, speaking to protest-ors Dr Tahirul Qadri said that PrimeMinister Nawaz Sharif and ChiefMinister Shahbaz Sharif should re-sign and hand over themselves to thelaw. He further said that assembliesbe dissolved and national govern-ment be formed.

Dr Qadri said that constitutionwill not be suspended but someamendmends will be carried out. Hesaid that political and election re-forms should be carried out then hewould return satisfied. He also hintedat referendum.

Earlier on top of physical barri-ers like shipping containers, largecontingents of police, Frontier Corps,Rangers, and regular troops were de-

ployed to safeguard the key govern-ment buildings including the parlia-ment house of Paki-stan.

Pakistan Army’s111th Brigade is re-ported to have beendeployed around theParliament House. Itmust be mentionedthat (this) Triple-1Brigade is notable forits frequent involve-ment and fast re-sponse in militarycoup d’etats sincePakistan’s indepen-dence. As of 11 Janu-ary 2012 BrigadierSarfaraz Ali com-mands the Brigade.

Shortly afterthousands of Paki-stan Awami Tehreekprotestors joined PTImarchers to form onebig throng headingtowards Red Zone.PTI marchers usedcranes to remove theshipping containersplaced on the roadsleading to ‘RedZone’ to continuebarreling ahead.

“Heave-ho, Heave-ho, get us go-ing. You can do it. Move it, move it.See, this is the power of people”,Khan ordered his marchers whilespeaking from his mobile podium setup on an a flatbed trailer.

There were at least three layers

of shipping containers standing be-tween the marchers and ‘Red Zone.’

According to latest reports, PrimeMinister Mian Nawaz Sharif directedthe security personnel not to use forceagainst the protestors. “Securitymenhave been officially told to exerciseutmost restraint until further orders”,sources said.

At one hand the government istrying its best to avoid riots by giv-

ing a conciliatory leeway to themarchers, but on the other authori-ties have also been ordered to lockdown the federal capital by sealingall the exit and entry points, mostlikely in a bid to stop the influx offresh PTI/PAT supporters from

across the country.Islamabad has been bracing for

possible clashes after Khan pledgedto lead his supporters in a march onthe capital’s high security govern-ment district, in a high-stakes bid todepose the prime minister. Khan, theformer cricket star who leads thePakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf party, says

Imran, Qadrirefuse to talk

with govtPTI, PAT plan to

paralyse govt

LIAQAT TOOR

ISLAMABAD: After refusing tomeet with government team onTuesday, PTI and PAT remainedstuck to their demands of resig-nation of Prime Minister NawazSharif and Chief MinisterShahbaz Sharif with a wellthought out plan to paralyse thegovernment after moving theirshow- down in front of ParliamentHouse.

Sitting just a few kilometresfrom Prime Minister House now

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ISLAMABAD: Imran Khan leading his workers in Azadi March to Parliament House on Tuesday.

last year’s general election wasrigged and has demanded PrimeMinister Nawaz Sharif resign.

Thousands of Khan’s followershave protested in Islamabad over thepast five days to demand Sharif quit,piling pressure on the governmentlittle more than a year since its land-slide victory. Populist cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri, who also seeks to topplethe government, synched his own

Operation Zarb-e-Azb

50 militants dead in KA,NWA fresh air strikes

day morning. The strikes werecarried out in the Koki Khel areaof Tiraah Valley in Khyber andin parts of the North Waziristanagency where the operationwhere the military Operationenters third month.

The Military Operationtitled Zerb-e-Azb, it may berelease, was initiated againstthe terrorists challenging thewrit of the government for thelast many years on June 15when the PAF planes struckhard on the militants positionsin Degan area of Tehsil DattaKhel of NWA killing as manyas 100 alleged terrorists with

Politiciansdesperate to

cool Imran, QadriSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Former presi-dent Asif Ali Zardari has calledthe PTI’s decision to quit as-semblies a bad omen for de-mocracy in the country. Paki-stan People’s Party’s Spokes-man Farhatullah Babar talkingto media on Tuesday quoted theparty’s Co-Chairman Asif AliZardari who at present is stay-ing in London.

Babar said that the PPP washolding consultations withother opposition parties overthe current issue. The PPP willcontact the government to de-fuse tensions and ensure demo-cratic continuity in the country,he said. Asif Ali Zardari hassummoned the PPP leadershipto Dubai to consult over thepolitical crisis in Pakistan.

The parliamentary party ofPPP in the Senate on Tuesdaydemanded decisive talks to de-fuse the explosive situation.The meeting was presided overjointly by opposition leader inthe Senate Aitzaz Ahsan andParliamentary party leader

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HYDERABAD: Members of Mazdoor Action Committee hold a protest against adminis-trator, Hyderabad.

MIRPUR KHAS: A volunteer administering polio dropsto a child at a medical camp organized by Rotary Club atJhuddo.

Grand farewell to US Consul GeneralSALAHUDDIN HAIDER

US CONSUL General MIchealDodman, and wifeJoan,heading the US AID for

social sector, area finally to departfrom Pakistan, back home, and then

perhaps a for a newposting after some-time in WashingtonDC. A normal diplo-matic practice, butMike and Joan weregiven a grand fare-well/ Both indeedwere extremely cour-teous and humble,and had won the

hearts of the people of Karachi.A select group of guests, about

50 odd were invited to the BonusRoad heritage building which servedfor a long time as the official residenceof the American consul generals.Guests were carefully selected, butthe fact that the US ambassador Ri-chard Olson, and a number of his se-nior functionaries from the embassyin Islamabad, had risked their lives tofly into Karachi to personally bidgood bye to Mike and Joan, wassomething worthwhile. AmbassadorOlson made a brief speech paying elo-

quent tributes to Mike Dodman forrepresenting his country well and forworking to promote Pk-US ties in vari-ous fields with commitment and dedi-cation.

He had a word of praise for Joantoo who as chief of USAID for Sindhand Balochistan on social sectors forone year, did remarkably well. Am-bassador himself visited some of theprojects in the Interior of Sindh andin Balochistan and felt happy. He alsowelcomed the new US consul gen-eral to Karachi Brian Heath, an of-ficer who had served in Karachi tolok after administrative matters andthen was also consul general of hiscountry in Lahore. He is not new toPakistan, and looked happy to beback here. If Mike and Joan were ex-tremely humble and easily accessibleto Pakistanis, and extended them maxi-mum courtesies, Heath is known forhis humane nature and looks forwardto serving his country in new capac-ity, and in a city, which has its owndimensions, different from Lahore. Hesaid he was looking to do his best.

A number of transfers have takenplace in Karachi and Islamabad con-sulate and embassy after two yeartenures, but that is usual. Dodman inhis brief speech said he had spent

great times in Karachi, was over-whelmed by the hospitality and cour-tesies by the Pakistanis during histenure here for two years. He hadcome here in 2012. He said he wasleaving Karachi with a heavy heartand would cherish memories of hisstay in Karachi. Some on from thecrowd endorsed ambassador’s wishthat sometime in near future MikeDodman will return to Pakistan asambassador. Mike thoroughly en-joyed his suggestion and said hewould be happy to be ambassador inKarachi, “if capital is brought back toKarachi”.

But that was more or a humorous ,off the cuff remarks, than a serious ad-vice which is beyond his capacity andjob limitatitons. There was obviouslylaughter in the room where all the guestshad collected. Invitees were carefullypicked. They included Zia Ispahanhi,and the deputy high commissioner ofUk John Trucknott, German consul gen-eral Dr Tino Kilinner, Italian consul gen-eral Roberto and his wife Gulliana, whotoo serves as a diplomat in Karachi withhusband, and the Japanese consul gen-eral Akira Ouchi. A couple of eminentjournalists were there too. It was a mov-ing event for guests and Mike and hiswife.

CHAKDARA—Chief of his own factionof JUI, Maulana Fazlur Rehman hassaid the politics of Pakistan Tehrik eInsaaf (PTI) was about to end aspeople now have realized that a sit-inwithout any agenda was beyond ap-prehension.

Talking to journalists at Lower Dirhere, Maulana sahib said Imran Khanwas befooling the masses by stagingprotest march that has no logic orgrounds as the issues he (Imran) wasplaying up was of no significance andcould be addressed at appropriate fo-

ISLAMABAD—The legislators both fromtreasury and opposition in National Assem-bly Tuesday termed the ongoing protestof Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) and Paki-stan Awami Tehreek (PAT) as political ter-rorism and vowed to protect the constitu-tion and democratic system.

The Lower House of the Parliament re-sumed the debate on the situation emergedafter the sit-ins of PTI and PAT. The legis-lators were united that the electoral systemwould be made transparent and answerable.

Most of the legislators were in consen-sus that the unconstitutional and antidemocratic adventures would be resisted.

Initiating the debate Abdul RahimMandokhel of Pakhtunkhwa Milli AwamiParty (PkMAP) said that the parliamentshould resolve the issues with PTI and PATamicably. It was regrettable that a mob hasgathered here and trying to derail the de-mocracy, he added.

He said during the budget session, theeconomic condition of the country was dis-cussed. PTI holding protest demonstrationhad also participated in the budget.

MandoKhel said it was unfortunate thatsome parties were demanding the govern-ment to step down through illegal means, abad precedent was being set.

He urged the government to punish thesloganeers of Inquilab (Revolution) chant-ing persons. Such slogans are againstcountry’s interests.

It was the responsibility of the wholenation and parliamentarians to protect thedemocracy and constitution. “We have anagreement that no one would be allowed toharm the democracy and constitution”, headded.

Pir Mazhar-ul-Haq terms call for disobedience an attack on democracy

Imran, Qadri committing political terror,leading people to fatal confrontation: MPs

He said a 33 member parliamentary com-mittee has already been constituted forconsensus electoral reforms. He urged theparliament to play its role in protecting therule of law, democracy and constitution.Peshawar: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz(PML-N) provincial leader Nasir KhanMosazai Tuesday said, PTI chief ImranKhan is promoting politics of agitation andmisleading the people in the name of “AzadiMarch” and civil disobedience call.

Talking to party workers here at his resi-dence, PML-N provincial secretary infor-mation said that resignation from federaland three provincial assemblies is tanta-mount to disrespecting the mandate of themasses.

He said that PTI parliamentarians hadavailed all privileges and financial benefitsfor one year as member of the assembliesand now they were not ready to acceptthese assemblies and terming them fake.

He said resigning from three provincialassemblies and National Assembly is in-sanity and immature political decision, add-ing that instead of taking up issues at as-semblies’ platform the PTI is conspiringagainst the democratic system.Karachi: A senior leader of PakistanPeople’s Party, Pir Mazhar-ul-Haq hastermed the civil disobedience call made byPTI chief, Imran Khan, an attack on the fastgaining roots of democracy in the country.

Expressing his serious apprehensionabout the intentions of Imran Khan andTahirul Qadri, in a statement on Tuesday,he said the two with no service or sacrificeto their credit for restoration of democracyhold a joint agenda to uproot the much cher-ished dream of the masses.

He said the two could never assess thevalue of democracy and through their mali-cious designs have put at stake the highlyvalued and hard earned culture of demo-cratic norm, that though is still in its na-scent phase.

Pir Mazhar ul Haq said that althoughPPP is the main opposition party to thePML-N at the centre yet the party on thewhole or even its workers are not inclinedto strengthen the hands of those trying todestabilize the democracy.

“As a senior politician I can say withcomplete responsibility that the two lead-ers want to de-rail the democracy and foistdictatorship upon the country-men,” hesaid.Lahore: People from all walks of societyhave urged PTI Chief Imran Khan to with-draw his call for civil disobedience, showflexibility and discuss demands with thegovernment for an amicable solution.

“Owing to sit-ins by Imran Khan andTahir ul Qadri the country’s image abroadis being tarnished and the nationaleconomy has been hit hard,” they added.

They said the country had been facinga number of challenges and the marcheswere serving no purpose but to halt na-tional development. They said every politi-cal party had the right to hold protests butthe time was not right for it. They said thecivil disobedience call was illegal and un-constitutional and an attempt to pitch themasses and law enforcement institutionsagainst each other.

Citizens Protection Committeeconvenor Muhammed Essa said the civildisobedience call by Imran Khan would hitthe democratic system and push the coun-

try to chaos. He said losses of billions ofrupees had already been inflicted on thenational exchequer because of the marchesand if the PTI chief did not abandon withhis stubborn attitude, the situation wouldworsen and someone else would benefitfrom it.

Pakistan Workers Confederation Secre-tary General Khurshid Ahmed said work-ing class was concerned over the PTI’s civildisobedience call and wanted an early settle-ment of issues. He said Imran Khan shouldresolve the issues on the table instead ofthe streets.

Former Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE)President Asim Zafar said the civil disobedi-ence call would not only lower the nationalstanding but also creat a negative impres-sion about its trade and investment abroad.He urged Imran Khan to withdraw his call asit was not in the interest of Pakistan.Quetta: Balochistan Minister for Services andGeneral Administration Department and se-nior leader of National Party, NawabMuhammad Khan Shahwani Tuesday allegedthat PTI Chief Imran Khan and PAT ChairmanAlama Tahir-ul-Qadri have been working ona foreign agenda to create anarchy and chaosby long marches and sit-ins.Talking to mediapersons here, he said that demanding resig-nation from a democratic government was anunconstitutional demand.

“Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, Chief ImranKhan and Pakistan Awami Thereek Chair-man, Alama Tahir-ul-Qadri were assignedtask to fulfill foreign agenda to create anar-chy and chaos in Pakistan,” he alleged.

He vowed that no one would be allowedto hatch conspiracy against the democracyin the country.

16 Afghans arrested forillegally entering Pakistan

QUETTA—Balochistan Frontier Corps arrested 16 Af-ghan nationals under Foreign Act (FA) here at Lakpasscheck-post, in the outskirts of the city.

A spokesman for FC told APP here that these Af-ghans had been taken in custody for entering Pakistanwithout traveling documes during routine checking ofpassengers coaches.

“The arrested Afghans were traveling to Panjgurby passengers coches as they were taken into cus-tody”, the spokesman added. Later, the FC handed overthese illegal immigrants to Shallkot police station thatregistered a case under FA against them.—APP

SC restoresChandio Assembly

membershipISLAMABAD—The SupremeCourt on Tuesday sus-pended the Sindh ElectionTribunal decision and re-stored the membership ofPakistan Peoples’ Party’smember Sindh AssemblyGhulam Qadir Chandio fromPS-27.

The three-memberbench headed by Chief Jus-tice Nasir-Ul-Mulk compris-ing Justice Amir Hani Mus-lim and Justice Mushir Alamheard the Ghulam QadirChandio petition againstElection Tribunal’s decisionfor re-election in the con-stituency.

Declaring Chandio ineli-gible, ECP ordered re-elec-tions in PS-27, Nawabshah.

Sindh United Partymember Zainul Abedeen hadchallenged Chandio’s mem-bership of the provincial as-sembly and had filed a peti-tion in the ECP.

The Supreme Court sus-pended the Election Tribu-nal decision for re-electionin the PS-27.

The court accepted hisappeal and issued notices torespondents and adjournedhearing of the case for in-definite period.—APP

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan has been makingsincere and hectic efforts to provide reliefto the affected Pakistanis in Libya and Pa-kistani Embassy is continuing with its hec-tic efforts to get all detained Pakistanis re-leased from Libyan jails.

Foreign Office Spokesperson while giv-ing details said out of the total 175 Paki-stanis detainees, 107 have been already gotreleased. She said the case for release of68 Pakistani detainees at Tavesha deten-

Most detained Pakistanis released in Libyation centre, where clashes are ongoing be-tween rival militias, is already in process.

The number of Pakistanis in the reliefcamps set up by Pakistan Embassy has nowjumped to 1700 and is increasing on daily ba-sis. The spokesperson said additional flightsto bring back the stranded Pakistanis arescheduled for later this week following thePrime Minister’s instructions, 509 Pakistanisstranded in Libya were brought back homelast week through a special PIA flight.—APP

rum that was parliament.He said it was ironic that leaders

of PTI which was in government inKhyber Pakhtunkhwa have left behindhundreds of thousands of IDPs andrainstorm affectees, vulnerable andmarched towards Islamabad to achievetheir personal agenda. The real face ofPTI, he said has now exposed to thepeople.

A prime proof of their (PTI) failure,he said was that PTI failed to utilize69% of the provincial budget for thewelfare of its people who voted them

in name of change.Maulana further said there was

no risk for the central governmentfrom staging drama in Islamabadrather PTI itself would become vic-tim of its negative politics. Pretend-ers of assembling one million peoplein their march even failed to gather20 thousand people.

He maintained that any con-spiracy against the elected govern-ment would be foiled with full forceand democracy would not be allowedto be derailed at any cost.—APP

PTI politics near end: Fazl

LOWER DIR: Women get free medicine during a free medical camp organized by PakArmy at Madan Gul.

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Meteorological De-partment (PMD) on Tuesday forecastmainly hot and dry weather for most partsof the country during next few days.

According to the synoptic situation,seasonal low was lying over northBalochistan and adjoining areas.

The weather would remain dry and hotin most parts of Punjab,Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh,Balochistan, Kashmir andGilgit Baltistan during the nextthree days.

The maximum tempera-tures recorded during the last24 hours were

Dalbandin 42 C, Nokkundi, Dadu,Rahim Yar Khan, Sukkur 41 C, Rohri andTurbat 40 C. The Pollen count recordedwas 198 per mcubic meter of air. Meanwhile,

Heat wave to persist for 3 daysthe Lahore Met Office reported that mainlydry weather is expected over most parts ofthe country though isolated thunderstorm/rain is likely in DG Khan and Multan divi-sions. Some weak moist current is penetrat-ing into south Punjab upto 3000 feet but nomajor change is expected in the weather pat-tern, said a Met report issued here Tues-

day. Meanwhile, all the majorrivers were flowing below lowflood level. The Meteorologi-cal Department on Tuesdayforecast partly cloudyweather during next 24 hoursin metropolis.

According to the Metoffice the maximum temperature will remainbetween 33 and 35 degrees Celsius.

Mainly hot and humid weather is likelyto prevail in the region.—APP

GBLA passes Local Govt Act-2014Introduces social policy framework at grassroots levels

USAID helps curtailunscheduled loadsheddingFAISALABAD—The United States Agency for InternationalDevelopment (USAID) Power Distribution Program isstrengthening Pakistan’s energy sector to improve thesupply and distribution of power.

The USAID Power Distribution Program is trainingthe staff of government-owned power distr ibutioncompanies (DISCOs) in power load management, whichwill eventually help in reducing unscheduled loadshedding. The USAID Power Distribution Programmeorganized a two-day training session for FaisalabadElectr ic Supply Company (FESCO) officials inFaisalabad, told FESCO spokesman Tahir Sheikh hereon Tuesday.

He said that the training was attended by 25 FESCOofficers including Executive Engineers (XENs),Subdivisional Officers (SDOs) and Chief Engineer (CE)Transmission & Generation levels.

He told that the United States Agency for InternationalDevelopment (USAID) Power Distribution Programme hadsuccessfully implemented its ‘Load Data Improvement(LDI) Programme’ in DISCOs, aimed at minimizing unsched-uled load shedding. Automatic Meter Reading (AMR)devices were installed on a fast-track basis in all DISCOsincluding FESCO, he added.

The project also include upgrading of each DISCO’sPower Distribution Center (PDC) and accordingly FESCO’sPDC was upgraded and made functional on May 30, 2013,with live data now being acquired from all of its grid sta-tions and outgoing feeders.—APP

Medical entrancetest to be

held on Aug 31RAWALPINDI—Medical en-trance test for admission tomedical and dental institu-tions will be held here onAug 31. A meeting to reviewarrangements for the en-trance test, was held at dis-trict coordination officer(DCO) office, here on Tues-day.

The meeting was pre-sided over by ADC (G)Imran Qureshi and at-tended by Sr. Administra-tor Officer Aqil AhmedKhan, City Traffic Officer(CTO) Shoaib Khurram,Secretary Regional Trans-port Authori ty (RTA)Awais Tarar, ExecutiveDistr ict Officer (EDO)Health, Zafar IqbalGondal, Director CollegesHumayun Iqbal, ResidentDirector Rawalpindi ArtsCouncil Waqar Ahmed,EDO, Education QaziZahoor ul Haq and otherofficers concerned.—APP

Senate lauds AIOU’scontribution in

educational upliftISLAMABAD—Senate Standing Committee on Education,Training and Standard in Higher Education on Tuesdaylauded the contribution of Allama Iqbal Open Universityin promotion of quality and affordable education in thecountry, hoping that it will further gear up its efforts pro-viding best possible services to its students.

Chairman of the Committee, Senator Abdul NabiBangash, presiding over a meeting held here, noted thatregional network of the University and its academicstrength is outstanding and leading one in educationalsector. “We are happy to visit the University and to see itsstrong technology-based academic structure”, he added.

The Chairman said, it is a mater of pride that the AIOUis among the top-ranking Universities in the world. Hehoped that it will lay great focus on establishment of atransparent examination system, through a proper moni-toring. Minister of State for Education, Training and Stan-dards in Higher Education, Engineer Muhammad Baligh-ur-Rehman, Secretary Education, Muhammad Ahsan Rajaand Senators Ilyas Ahmed Bilour and Qazim Ali Khan alsoattended the meeting.

Chairman, Higher Education Commission, Prof. Dr.Mukhtar Ahmed, Vice-Chancellor, AIOU Prof. Dr. AliAsghar Chishti were also present in the meeting.—APP

Rs1.54b spent tosettle 1490 death

compensation casesof expatriates

ISLAMABAD—Minister forOverseas Pakistanis and Hu-man Resource Developmenthas disbursed Rs.1.54 billionto settle 1490 death compen-sation cases of Pakistani ex-patriates received during lastfive years. Around 4,478 deathcompensation cases were re-ceived during the period, outof which 1,490 were settledand remaining 2,988 are un-der process.

Enumerating the welfareinitiatives taken during theperiod, Overseas PakistanisFoundation (OPF) sourceson Tuesday said a Swift Cen-tre of National Database andRegistration Authority(NADRA) was establishedat OPF Headquarters for is-suance of National IdentityCards for Overseas Paki-stanis (NICOP).

Schools buildings wereconstructed at Rawalpindi,Larkana,Sheikhupura whiledevelopmental work on twohousing schemes werelaunched at Zone-VIslamabad and RaiwindRoad (Extension), Lahorewhere 2,411 plots were allot-ted. Moreover, the sourcessaid free transport busshuttle service waslaunched at Islamabad Air-port with for dropping pas-sengers within city limits ofRawalpindi and Islamabad.

They said an amount ofRs.2.3 million has been spenton relief goods provided to theearthquake affected families ofoverseas Pakistanis in DistrictAwaran, Balochistan in 2012.The other initiative was estab-lishment of Airport facilitationcounters for overseas Paki-stanis at Sialkot, Gwadar andTurbat while an amount ofRs.8 million has been spent onrelief goods provided to floodaffected families of overseasPakistanis in Punjab, AzadJammu and Kashmir (AJK),Sindh and Balochistan in2010.—APP

DG NAB seeksmedia supportin eradicationof corruption

P E S H A W A R — D i r e c t o rGeneral (DG) National Ac-countability Bureau (NAB)Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,Shahzad Saleem has saidthat media can help toguide the bureau in identi-fication and eradication ofcorruption and corruptpractices.

He expressed theseviews in his welcome ad-dress in a Seminar/Interac-tive Discussion betweenNAB and Media here Tues-day.

The DG National Ac-countability BureauKhyber Pakhtunkhwa gavebrief account of the impor-tant cases, achievements ofNAB (KP) during the last 6months during his tenurevis-a-vis progress andachievements of the NAB(KP) since its inception inyear 2000.—APP

HYDERABAD: Civil Society activists marking Humanitarian Day on Tuesday.

I S L A M A B A D — G i l g i t -Baltistan Legislative As-sembly (GBLA) has unani-mously passed the LocalGovernment Act 2014.

The Local GovernmentAct 2014 was drafted by theSelect Committee notifiedby the Gilgit-Baltistan Leg-islative Assembly. The Se-lect Committee was pro-vided technical support inthis process by Strengthen-ing Participatory Federalismand Decentralization Projectof UNDP-Pakistan andGilgit-Baltistan Policy Insti-tute. Gilgit-Baltistan hashad the Punjab Local Gov-ernment Ordinance of 1979enforced in the region sinceSeptember 1979. The localgovernance system imple-mented in the region isbased on two tiers: the Dis-trict Councils and the UnionCouncils/Municipal Com-mittees as the lowest tier.

The middle tier of TehsilCouncil was not notified of-

ficially when the local gov-ernment ordinance of 1979was extended to Gilgit-Baltistan. A participatoryand consultative processhad been adopted for draft-ing the local government bill2014 similar to the Parliamen-tary Committee for Consti-tutional Reforms thatdrafted the 18th Constitu-tional Amendment. The thir-teen-member Committee hadrepresentation from all po-litical parties represented inthe Assembly and con-ducted multi-stakeholderconsultations in both Gilgitand Skardu to incorporatetheir feedback on the draftlaw.

A conscious effort wasmade by the Committee toengage with political par-ties, representatives of civilsociety organizations,youth and women leadersand constitutional experts.It is of pertinent to note thatthe new local government

law is in line with the Char-ter of Democracy that calledfor local government elec-tions on party-basis. Thelocal government legislationin Gilgit-Baltistan promisesto maximize benefits of self-governance to the citizensat the lowest tier, introduceslocal participatory anddemocratic decision-makingprocesses, encourageswomen participation in localgovernments, and ensureseffective transfer of powerfrom the regional to the lo-cal government. Gilgit-Baltistan Government willnow work with the ElectionCommission of Gilgit-Baltistan to map out the pro-cess of conducting the lo-cal government elections.The key features of theGilgit-Baltistan Local Gov-ernment Act 2014 include:notification of urban andrural areas in which localgovernance structures willbe formed comprising of

elected representativethrough adult franchise ba-sis and indirectly electedmembers on reserved seatsfor women and religious mi-norities, party basis localgovernment elections un-der single ward electoralsystem for encouraginggreater cohesion amongstdifferent religious groupsand ensure sectarian har-mony in the region, intro-duction of standing com-mittee system has for effec-tive participatory develop-ment policy planning, moni-toring and implementation,formation of Local Govern-ment Commission to ensurea link between the Gilgit-Baltistan Government andLocal Government struc-tures, establishment of Lo-cal Council Board to over-see the appointments andother service related mattersof local government em-ployees, establishment oftwo city metropolitan cor-

porations in Gilgit andSkardu Districts headed bya Mayor and a DeputyMayor, formation of JirgaAnjuman at District Coun-cil and District Council lev-els for out-of-court settle-ment of disputes, reserva-tion of seats for women, (thelaw specifically mentionsthat any local council willnot be considered effectiveand functioning unless therequired number of womenseats has been filled) andperformance audits of theline departments etc—NNI

Nation rejects civildisobedience call

PTI leader Imran Khan has been making moves that have resulted intoalmost total isolation of his party and put not only people of Pakistanbut also his well wishers abroad into a state of bewilderment. How-

ever, the move that he described to be the most important one of his life hasturned out to be yet another symbol of his political immaturity.

No political move of any political leader has evoked so much negativereaction and so instantly that Imran Khan has received over his un-under-standable decision to make a call for civil disobedience. Country-wide re-action, as reported by media and calls received in offices of newspapersincluding this paper, clearly showed that it was a non-starter. Layman, trad-ers, political and religious leaders and opinion-makers have unanimouslyrejected the proposition of participation in the so-called civil disobediencemovement, which is generally viewed as mutiny against the state. Businesscommunity of major cities including that of Karachi and Lahore rejectedthe call outright adding that they would never become part of any attemptagainst national interest or which has the potential to create anarchy in thecountry. President FPCCI Zakaria Usman summed up sentiments of thetrading community by announcing that they cannot support a move thatamounts to undermining the recovering economy of the country and thattoo at a time when the country needs unity. It seems Imran Khan himselfhas realized the folly of making such a frivolous and inconsequential move.While announcing the decision on Sunday, Imran claimed he had two op-tions – to enter the Red Zone of the Capital, which meant violence andbloodshed or to go for civil disobedience movement and he has opted forthe second. And a day after, on Monday, he announced decision to enter theRed Zone, which clearly meant he was disappointed from the adverse reac-tion of his call for civil disobedience and is, therefore, now relying on theother option. The move was surely ridiculous and it was spurned with dis-gust it deserved. This shows political maturity of Pakistani nation as peopleare now in no mood to follow whimsical desires of power hungry politi-cians. By rejecting illegal and unconstitutional demand, people have sent aclear message that Pakistan is not a Banana republic.

Qadri to take showto other cities

WITH the passage of every day, PTI leader is shifting stand and takingthe prevailing tension and confrontation to new heights. He is ada-

mant not to listen to the calls of reason and is determined to take the so-called political Tsunami to its ambitious conclusion at whatever cost.

It is now also absolutely clear that leaders of the two gatherings at thenerve centre of the Capital are moving in unison. This became evident fromthe announcement of Tahir ul Qadri to hold sit-ins in other parts of thecountry especially Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta. He might befacilitated in Peshawar by the government of the like-minded party butopening of fronts in other Provincial capitals would certainly raise tensionin the country. There are also chances that the protest may spread to otherparts of the country in days to come especially if something goes wrongsomewhere. Presently, the gatherings are causing inconvenience to shop-keepers of Aabpara and people living in its vicinity besides some problemsfor general public in the twin cities and students and employees. But thedecision to expand scope of the protest would create difficulties for thepeople elsewhere in the country as well. It seems the Government is nottaking the issue with the seriousness it deserves and as a consequence, thesituation could get out of control. No doubt, both Imran Khan and Tahir ulQadri are also to be blamed for their obstinate attitude and refusal to engageinto dialogue but the government has to bear the major burden of responsi-bility if the situation deteriorates further. The seriousness of the govern-ment was clear from the choice of members of the negotiating committees.Time is running out for the Government to take corrective steps to defusethe crisis and we think the onus is on the Prime Minister.

India arrogantlysnubs Pakistan

INDIA has called off Foreign Secretary level talks scheduled for 25th August on the ground that Pakistan High Commissioner in New Delhi met

with Kashmiri leaders. The Indian decision is a reflection of New Delhi’smindset to keep pressurising Islamabad and gives a clear indication thatthat Narendra Modi government would pursue a tough stance in its dealingwith Pakistan on the dictates of hardliners in the ruling Bhartiya JanataParty and the establishment.

It is a longstanding practice that, prior to Pakistan-India talks, meet-ings with Kashmiri leaders are held to facilitate meaningful discussionson the issue of Kashmir. The Indian decision is a setback to the efforts byPakistani leadership to promote good neighbourly relations. The PrimeMinister of Pakistan accepted the offer to attend the inaugurating cer-emony of Narendra Modi, as a goodwill gesture, and repeatedly articu-lated the vision of peace for development. The meeting between the twoForeign Secretaries was scheduled at the directive of the two Prime Min-isters but its cancellation is a proof that the Indian leader has succumbedto the pressure of the opposition Congress Party, the Hindu extremistorganisation, RSS and hawks in the establishment. Modi during his visitto Kargil earlier tried to belittle Pakistan by comments that the neighbouringcountry has lost the strength to fight a conventional war but continues toengage in the proxy war of terrorism, while the new Indian army chiefGeneral Dalbir Singh Suhag on the first day of holding office, issued astern warning to Pakistan. One did not expect immediate improvement inrelations with India after the installation of new government because thereis a misperception in New Delhi that the people consider an arrogantstance towards strength of the incumbent government in Pakistan. That isthe reason that Indian troops are violating the LoC almost on daily basis.The Indian decision is a wake up call for those in Pakistan who at everycost support good relations with India. Though cancellation of the talks isan arrogant snub to Pakistan yet we would say even then Pakistan, beinga peace loving country, should continue making efforts for normalisationof relations with India in the interest of peace and stability in the region.

Political stability in Turkey

DavidCameron’sIraq policy

WITH a general electiononly months away, an inevitable question applies:

why is this politician saying thisnow? In the past 48 hours, DavidCameron has made two statementsto which the question applies. Thefirst, in a Sunday newspaper articleand repeated on Monday, was tothunder a “generational” warningabout the danger to Britain from Is-lamic State (Isis). The second, in aspeech to the Relationships Alli-ance, was to promise a “family test”at heart of every domestic policy.

In both cases, the question in-vites a similar response: that partof what Mr Cameron was doing waspositioning himself against EdMiliband for a May 2015 electionin which credibility as prime min-ister will be a central theme. In bothcases, however, it is important notto be too easily beguiled. If, for ex-ample, relationships are so impor-tant that a family test should be ap-plied to every policy, why has MrCameron decided to say so onlynow, when he has had more thanfour legislative years to really provehis concern? Warm words are theeasy part. It is what you actually dothat counts. This applies even moreto the much more serious questionof British policy on Iraq. MrCameron’s Sunday Telegraph ar-ticle was full of robust talk aboutclear dangers and rising to genera-tional challenges. But it raised manymore questions than it supplied an-swers. Mr Cameron is right to seethat Iraqi instability and the rise ofa barbaric form of Islamism posean enduring and multifarious dan-ger at home and abroad, not least toIslam itself. He is right to speak forthe humanitarian obligation towardsthe victims of Isis, and to offer ap-propriate military support to Isis’sopponents. He is right to set this inthe context of the Iraqi state’s in-stability, the regional implicationsand the global terrorist threat.

Yet, once again, the warmwords are the easy part. Unitingthem into a coherent and consistentpolicy which balances what Britaincan credibly do, or might dream ofdoing, is more problematic. HereMr Cameron is vague and even con-tradictory. As such, he reflects Brit-ish public opinion, which is torn be-tween the fear that nothing in thisarena seems to work and the instinctthat nevertheless something must bedone. That ambivalence is framedby the humiliating experience inIraq after 2003 and came to a headmost recently in the reluctance toengage in Syria just 12 months ago.A timely ComRes/ITN poll onMonday underscores the conflictedmood. By a large majority, the pub-lic recognises a moral obligation onBritain and the US to put right inIraq what they did so wrong in2003. Yet public cannot agree onwhat this might mean. Opinion isdivided over arming Kurds and op-posed to Iraqi refugees of any faithfinding refuge in Britain. Only 30%say Britain “should not get involvedand leave the situation to run itscourse”; but opposing majority isdivided between helping to defeatIsis in its entirety and trying to stopit making further gains.

As an election nears, opinionpolls matter more than ever to poli-ticians, especially in a tight race. Sothis public ambivalence about Iraqwill register. For the moment, MrCameron is doing some right things:humanitarian aid to refugees, readi-ness to help arm the Kurds, supportfor US air attacks which do notthreaten civilians, helping tomobilise the regional powers andworking through the UN; there mayalso be a role for special forces op-erations that observe legal norms.One big danger is that, amid uncer-tainty, politicians will talk a biggergame than they can play. Anotheris that they will channel public anxi-ety into illiberalism at home (popu-lar with many voters) and awayfrom even limited engagementabroad (unpopular with many vot-ers). Mr Cameron and his rivalsneed to recognise the seriousness ofboth the immediate and the long-term crises in Iraq. But they needto do this while simultaneouslyavoiding Tony Blair’s hubris in2003 and Mr Cameron’s own mis-calculations in 2013. The situationin Iraq is very threatening. But Brit-ain is only one of many countriesunder threat. We should speak verycarefully and carry a proportionatestick. — The Guardian

MEDIA WATCH

WHILE political landscapein Pakistan continues to bemuddy and murky, it is

worthwhile to take a look at theTurkish way of managing theircountry. Over the years, Turkey hasbeen able to evolve an enviablemodel of political stability, robusteconomic growth, smooth transi-tions and continuity. After complet-ing his three terms of premiership,Turkish Prime Minister RecepTayyip Erdogan has won hiscountry’s first direct presidentialelection. After the provisional resultsof presidential elections were an-nounced Mr Ihsanoglu, joint candi-date for the two main oppositionparties, said: “I congratulate primeminister and wish him success.”

During the outgoing term asPrime Minister, he has faced mul-tiple challenges from the oppositionbut a determined Erdogan with thebacking of majority of the peoplecame out of difficult times. It waswidely expected that Erdogan wouldbe elected as President; he had calledupon the people to give him a clearmandate in the first round; the elec-torate duly obliged him. He secured52 percent vote, far ahead of hisnearest opponent Ihsanoglu, whogarnered 38% of the vote, and thethird candidate Selahattin Demirtasbagged 10 percent. The vote hasbeen seen as a milestone in Turkishpolitics as Turks are electing theirpresident by a popular vote for thefirst time in the country’s history,bringing the office a new legitimacyand added prestige.

His election reflects on recog-nition of his tireless efforts for de-velopment of economy and evolu-

Politicising the partition

INDIA’S independence or the migration of Hindus and Muslimson the basis of religion is as old

as fifty seven years. I rememberleaving my home in Sialkot city onAugust 14 itself because the newstate of Pakistan did not entertainnon Muslims, just as East Punjab didnot want any Muslim in their midst.I heard Jawaharlal Nehru’s famous‘tryst’ speech in Pakistan itself be-cause at my hometown, Sialkot.However, I crossed the border onlyon Sept. 17, thirty-two days afterindependence. By then, the fury ofkilling and looting had subsided. Idid not see Hindus and Muslimsquarrelling actually fighting. But Isaw the pain etched faces—men andwomen with their meager belong-ings bundled on their heads and thefear-stricken children followingthem. Both Hindus and Muslims hadleft behind their hearth, homes,friends and neighbours. Both hadbeen torn on the rack of history. Bothwere refugees.

The tragedy of partition is toodeep to describe in words. But toconvert it into a Hindu and Muslimquestion is politicizing the problem.The riots took the toll of 10 lakhpeople and uprooted more than twocrore Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs.Some biased elements in Pakistanpropose to depict the rioting in re-liefs to highlight “the oppression ofMuslims”. Unfortunately, this willwhip up hatred against Hindus, whowere as much at the receiving endin Pakistan as were Muslims in In-

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Weekly Magazine

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

Man partly isand wholly hopesto be.

dia. Despite the stories of bru-tal killings there were ex-amples of bravery and cour-age shown by the Muslims tosave Hindus and that of Hin-dus saving Muslims in India.A study done by Ashish

Nandy, a leading intellectual in In-dia, has estimated that both commu-nities saved 50 per cent of the oppo-site community from the brutality.

Why were the killings of peoplewhen they had lived together for cen-turies? Nothing would be more futilethan the effort to pin down who wasresponsible for the partitioning of thesubcontinent. With the sequence ofevents stretching back for over sixdecades, such an exercise can onlybe an academic study. But it is clearthat the differences between Hindusand Muslims had become so acute bythe beginning of forties somethinglike partition had become inevitable.Pakistan Founder Mohammad AliJinnah went on plugging that Hindusand Muslims were two separate na-tions and this made them increasinglydistant from each other.

For those who still regret the di-vision, I can only say that the Britishcould have probably kept the subcon-tinent united if they had been willingto ladle out more power in 1942 whenSir Stafford Cripps tried to reconcilethe aspirations of people in India withhis limited brief. The Congress Partycould also have done it if it had ac-cepted in 1946 the Cabinet Missionproposals of a centre with three sub-jects—Foreign Affairs, Defence andCommunications—and four statesincluded in the zones. But thehistory’s ifs are at best hypotheticaland at worst subjective. The partitionwas like the Greek tragedy. All knewwhat was happening. Still they coulddo nothing to check it. The climate

in the country had become too pol-luted to escape the carnage and themigration that came in its wake. Thespeech on August 11, 1947, by Qauid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, a titlegiven by Mahatma Gandhi, that youwere either Pakistanis or Indians andthat religion had nothing to do withpolitics could not assuage the paro-chial feelings which had been ad-vanced to justify the constitution ofPakistan. The speech was too late.The mood of fanatics in that countrycan be judged from the fact that theysuppressed the speech itself.

Has partition served the purposeof Muslims? I do not know. Duringmy trips to that country, I have heardpeople saying that they are happy thatat least they have “some place” wherethey feel secure, free of “Hindu domi-nation” or “Hindu aggression.” But Ifeel that the Muslims as Muslimshave been the biggest losers. They arenow spread over three countries—India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.Imagine the influence that their num-bers—their votes—could have com-manded in the undivided subconti-nent! They would have been nearlyone-third of the total population. Thereliefs at the border would only widenthe gulf between the two communi-ties. Instead of blaming each other, itwould have been far better to dealwith the enmity and hatred that hasbeen the fallout, keeping the twocountries on tenterhooks. I have re-turned from the Wagha-Amritsar bor-der disheartened, not because thereis no lessening of martial posture ofsoldiers at the sunset parade, but be-cause of a new monstrosity that hascome up there. The Pakistan authori-ties have put up 10 reliefs, projectingfigures in carving on boards to showhow Hindus and Sikhs had killed andlooted Muslims during partition. The

tion of foreign policy that has earnedtremendous respect for the country.Moreover, he correctly identified theaspirations of the Turkish people andincorporated these in his vision anddevelopmental strategy. Erdogan hasbuilt his popularity on economicgrowth, popular foreign policy andreforms that have turned Turkey intoa regional powerhouse. Erdogan is re-vered by supporters for boosting theeconomy and giving a voice to con-servatives. Wedged between the tur-moil of Iraq, Syria and Ukraine, Tur-key has been treading cautious pathto avoid getting embroiled in widerconflict. Erdogan’s people know bet-ter that he is one to hold them all to-gether and prevent ISIS from infil-trating them. His bold policy towardsPalestine and Afghanistan has alsoadded to his popularity.

Underpinning Erdogan’s elec-toral success was his strong supportamong moderate Muslims, many ofwhom have joined the ranks of a bur-geoning middle class as nominal an-nual incomes tripled to US$10,000per capita during his reign. His gov-ernment has raised the status of reli-gious high schools and allowed headscarves for women in state universi-ties and in most public offices.Erdogan has opened a peace processwith Kurdish PKK militants to end aconflict which has killed 40,000people in 30 years. Moreover,Turkey’s military has been sidelinedfrom its traditional role in politics.

With a young, well educated,qualified and competitive work force,important domestic market, competi-tive and dynamic private sector,highly developed technological infra-structure in transportation, telecom-munications and energy sectors; be-ing an energy terminal and corridorin Europe, Asia, Middle East and theMediterranean, connecting East andWest, having a Customs Union with

the EU and being an accession coun-try to the EU, Turkey is a rising eco-nomic powerhouse and a strongemerging power in the globaleconomy. Turkish membership in re-gional organizations such as BlackSea Economic Cooperation (BSEC),Developing Eight (D-8), and Eco-nomic Cooperation Organization(ECO) are a reflection of the multi-pronged character and regional ori-entation of Turkish foreign policy inthe economic sphere. On the otherhand, its membership in G-20 is anindicator for its growing role as a re-sponsible stakeholder in the globaleconomic governance.

Turkish economy has achievedan outstanding performance with itssteady growth over the last 10 years.Sound macroeconomic strategies,prudent fiscal and monetary policies,structural reforms that the Turkishgovernment has been pursuing in thelast decade resulted in high rates ofgrowth and increased confidence inthe Turkish economy. Accordingly,while Turkish GDP stood at 231 bil-lion USD in 2002, it rose to 820 bil-lion USD at the end of 2013. Con-currently, GDP per capita soared to10,800 USD from USD 3,500 in2002. As such, the Turkish economyis the 17th largest in the world andthe 6th largest in Europe. Turkisheconomy expanded by 9.2 percent in2010, and 8.5 percent in 2011.

In parallel with stable economicgrowth, Turkey has also reined in itspublic finances; ratio of public debtto the GDP contracted to around 33percent in 2013. Turkey has beenmeeting the 60 percent threshold ofMaastricht criterion for public debtstock since 2004. Similarly, the bud-get deficit decreased to 1.2 percentof GDP. Turkey lowered unemploy-ment ratio to below 10 percent in anatmosphere of global economic cri-sis. While Turkish exports were

around US$36 billion in 2002, itreached US$ 152 billion in 2013.Turkey has successfully diversifiedits trade destinations all over theworld. As of 2013, more than 4000Turkish companies have investedaround US$30 billion abroad. Thisindicates the resilience of the Turk-ish economy and the efficiency ofthe investment policy.

To mark the 100th anniversaryof the Republic, “Vision 2023” setsout ambitious but attainable goals.Turkey aims at being among the top10 economies in the world withUS$ 2 trillion GDP, and US$ 25000USD GDP per capita income, US$500 billion exports, and 10 glo-bally-known national brands. Turk-ish experience has once more en-dorsed that political stability andmacroeconomic prudence are es-sential for sustainable growth.

Once Tayyip took over asPrime Minister, Turkey was suffer-ing from all the evils which todaycharacterize Pakistan’s fracturedstate and society. During his ten-ure, Turkey has indeed turned thecorner and now it is one of the mod-ern and forward looking polities ofthe world—with robust economy,independent foreign policy and en-viable political stability. In his vic-tory speech Erdogan gave a mes-sage of unity by calling for societalreconciliation: “Let’s leave the olddiscussions in the old Turkey…Iwill embrace all 70 million [Turks]as president…Lets start a new so-cial reconciliation period today…”It is Erdogan’s ninth consecutiveelection victory including referen-dums and municipal polls. Hisswitching of role will ensure conti-nuity of policies and give boost tothe country to sustain itself as amodern state.—The writer is Consultant to IPRIon Policy and Strategic Response.

reliefs have been displayed in sucha way that they are visible only fromthe Indian side. They cannot be seenfrom the Pakistan side because theback of the reliefs are merely largebill boards. The happenings depictedare offensive in expression and de-prave in purport. They have beeninstalled in the last two months,probably because the voice of peacewith India is gaining strength in Pa-kistan and because nearly 50 peoplecame to the border, the zero point,for the first time last year to lightthe candles since independence sixdecades ago. Again, the reliefs putup at the border distort facts. What-ever has been shown happened onboth sides. Hindus and Sikhs werevictims in Pakistan and Muslims inIndia. It was the same sordid spec-tacle in newly-born countries, nei-ther less in brutality nor more incompassion. Women and childrenwere main targets.

If someone were to tell me thatHinduism is greater in generosity orthat Islam emits more love, I wouldbeg to differ. I saw the followers ofthe two religions killing in the nameof faith. They were raising slogansof Har Har Mahadav or Ya Ali whilepiercing sword or spear into one an-other. Some incidents were capturedin the books which were publishedat that time. Aur Insan mar gaya isthe famous book by RamanandSagar and Peshawar Express by theeminent Urdu writer, KrishenChand, to narrate events of how mandies when the Satan in him awakes.Then there are Sadaat HassanMinto’s short stories in Urdu that tellhow the two communities touchedthe depth of crime and callousness.—The writer is a veteran Indianjournalist, syndicated columnist,human rights activist and author.

Robert Browning—British poet

Email:kuldipnayar09@gmail.com

Kuldip Nayar

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Voice of the PeoplePresent shamdemocracy

SRH HASHMI

This refers to article ‘Imran the re-volving John’ (August 15) by MalikM Ashraf. Among other things,Malik M Ashraf says “It is for surequite clear both Imran Khan and DrQadri do not want democracy andconstitutional rule in country andif General Aslam Beg, formerCOAS is to be believed, there isdefinitely a hidden agenda behindtheir March”. Now this statementshardly qualifies as an argument,much less a convincing one.

And Sharif brothers’ style ofgovernance is hardly a democracy.In order to facilitate corruption,nearly all prescribed rules, regula-tions and procedures are being by-passed. Public procurement rulesare being simply disregarded andall leading institutions are being ru-ined by placing favourites as theirheads, again in complete violationof rules governing their appoint-ment. What relevant qualificationand experience had MaryamNawaz to her credit to be madehead of a hundred billion rupeeproject, which is just one exampleof favouritism?

And even after fourteen monthsrule, elections have not been heldfor local governments, which aresupposed to take democracy tograss roots level and train futureleaders. Also, the election promise,as well as Punjab Provincial As-sembly resolution to carve outSouth Punjab Province and to re-vive the earlier status ofBahawalpur as a Province in orderto address the grievances, and tosecure the political, administrativeand economic interests of thepeople of the Southern Region areall forgotten although with theirgovernment both in Punjab and atthe Centre, Sharif brothers couldhave done it with ease.

The writer talks a lot abouttechnicalities and constitutionalprovisions and does not seem torealize that this is Pakistan whereanything can happen or made tohappen. All that is required is astrong will and required level ofpressure to ‘persuade’ the pliantofficials, institutions and profes-sionals to work out a package thatachieves the desired outcome. Forexample, our Constitution providesonly two terms for the PrimeMinister’s slot but see how easilyit was amended to facilitate NawazSharif who got installed a thirdtime, but in keeping with his tradi-tion, doesn’t seem likely to com-plete even this one.—Karachi

*****SAKHI SARWAR

Pakistan is passing through the or-deal of ‘democracy’. It is the ‘de-mocracy’ which we are fosteringand promoting at the cost of thepeople, to safeguard the interests ofa few who are always at influentialpositions. It is said that the USPresident Abraham Lincoln haddefined Democracy as the “Gov-ernment of the people, by thepeople, for the people. However,the established meanings of democ-racy in Pakistan is that the peopleelect a government, empower somepeople who in return exploit all theresources of the resource-rich Pa-kistan, promote their own interests,fleece the masses and either try tocontinue in power or give way toan identical successor who takes histurn to fleece the people. In Paki-stan it is neither for the people, norby the people nor of the people. Thepeople are subjected to the grow-ing price-hike, bleeding law andorder, insecurity, helplessness andare groaning under the suppressionof the rulers.

We condemn the military dic-tators but the democratic dictatorsare the worse. All big nation-build-ing projects except the motorwayand a couple of defence projects ini-tiated and concluded on the behestof the Armed forces, were made bythe so-called dictators. TarbelaDam, Mangla Dame, hydro-powerprojects, industrial development,mausoleum of Quaid-e-AzamMuhammad Ali Jinnah, Minar e Pa-kistan and the Federal Capital -Islamabad the beautiful all weremade by a so-called dictator, un-der a system of government – thePresidential form of Government,which comprised educated, well-qualified genuine experts who de-livered and Pakistan became amodel for industrial development.There was no mention of any cor-ruption or commissions in any ofthe said projects. It is stated thatdemocracy was not given thechance to flourish. It was alwaysthe ambitious political players whomolded the law and the Constitu-tion to protect their corrupt prac-tices and use the public offices tofavour their families, strengthen

Long march arrangement in futureRAJA GHAZANFAR ALI KHAN

In a democratic dispensation, the option of long marches and protests is a routine mode for expressing the dissatisfaction and griev-

ances against the government in office. There is therefore a genuineneed to allocate a dedicated place for this purpose in Islamabad,with big spacious halls, public toilets, health-care clinic, drinkingwater facility, an adjacent market with food shops etc. To cater forat least 10,000 persons of the processions. It is necessary to have aseparate place for political and social gatherings, because it has beenobserved that due to such political protests and demonstration thewhole life of the Federal Capital comes to standstill, the roads andhighways are choked and the whole nation suffers big economiclosses. Moreover, the site of such sit-ins is left stinking because ofthe human waste that gives way to spreading of ailments and epi-demics. Such public place in Islamabad can also be used for hold-ing of Tablighi congregations and other societal gatherings.—Rawalpindi

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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

Civil disobedience

CIVIL disobedience is a non-violent movement which is resorted to by the people of a

country to resist unfair laws and mea-sures adopted by their own govern-ments and against the colonial pow-ers to achieve independence. Gandhi’snon-violent resistance movementagainst British Empire for indepen-dence, Velvet Revolution in formerCzechoslovakia, movement in EastGermany to oust communist govern-ment in late eighties, fight againstapartheid in South Africa, Civil RightsMovement in USA, Boston Tea Party,The 1919 Revolution in Egypt againstBritish Occupation, etc.

The hall mark of the Civil Dis-obedience Movements is that they arewholesome phenomenon cuttingacross the ethnic, sectarian and politi-cal divide launched as a last resort

when the communities andpeople after their sustainedstruggle against injustice cometo a conclusion that the rem-edy was no more possiblethrough any other means.Viewed in the backdrop of the

foregoing conclusions drawn fromcivil disobedience movements acrossthe globe, the movement launched byImran Khan to change the government,is unjustified because avenues of ad-dressing his complaints against rigginghave neither been exhausted nor he hasbeen able to prove the veracity of hisclaims through credible evidence atany legal or judicial forum.

Whatever justification existed forhim to take this extreme step lost itslegitimacy the moment the PrimeMinister conceded his demand to setup a Judicial Commission to problethe allegations of rigging in the polls.His demand for resignation of thePrime Minister and dissolution of theassemblies is not supported and en-dorsed by the majority of the politi-cal parties and the masses. He standsin isolation in this regard and his view

and stance being a minority demandcannot be preferred as a justificationfor the launch of the civil disobedi-ence movement. It also is bereft ofthe element of non-violence as is evi-dent from his repeated threats anddeadlines for the government to suc-cumb to his demand or be ready forfacing the wrath of his supporters.

He also has been very inconsis-tent and vacillating in regards to whathe really wanted. He started with re-count in the four constituencies toprove his rigging charges, kept onadding to the list of those who ac-cording to him conspired to steal elec-tions from him. Then he upped thestakes by asking for opening ten con-stituencies and when the governmentagreed to it, he backtracked and de-manded the audit of all the constitu-encies by forming a Judicial Com-mission. The moment the Prime Min-ister accepted that demand he againtook a somersault and contended thathe would go ahead with his proposedlong march and came up with the newdemands that the Prime Ministershould resign and assemblies be dis-

Views From Abroad

The elusive moderates

HILLARY Clinton was expressing what has becomeWashington’s new conven-

tional wisdom when she implied, inher interview with Jeffrey Goldbergin the Atlantic, that “moderates”might have prevented the rise of theIslamic State. In fact, the UnitedStates has provided massive and sus-tained aid to the moderates in the re-gion. Remember, the Islamic State,formerly known as the Islamic Stateof Iraq and Syria, was created in Iraqand grew out of that country’s inter-nal dynamics. Over the past decade,the United States helped organizeIraq’s “moderates” — the Shiite-dominated government — givingthem tens of billions of dollars in aidand supplying and training their army.But, it turned out, the moderatesweren’t that moderate. As they be-came authoritarian and sectarian,Sunni opposition movements grewand jihadi opposition groups such asISIS gained tacit or active support.This has been a familiar patternthroughout the region.

For decades, US foreign policyin the Middle East has been to sup-port “moderates.” The problem is thatthere are actually very few of them.The Arab world is going through abitter, sectarian struggle that is “car-rying the Islamic world back to theDark Ages,” said Turkish PresidentAbdullah Gul. In these circum-stances, moderates either becomeextremists or they lose out in the bru-tal power struggles of the day. Lookat Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Libya and thePalestinian territories.

The Middle East has beentrapped for decades between repres-sive dictatorships and illiberal op-position groups — between HosniMubarak and al-Qaeda — leavinglittle space in between. The dicta-tors try to shut down all oppositionmovements, and the ones that sur-vive are vengeful, religious and vio-lent. There was an opening for mod-erates after the Arab Spring in 2011and 2012, but it rapidly closed. InEgypt, the Muslim Brotherhood hada chance to govern inclusively, butit refused. Without waiting for vin-dication at the polls, Egypt’s old dic-tatorship rose up and banned andjailed the Brotherhood and other

opposition forces. In Bahrain, theold ruling class is following the ex-ample of the Egyptian regime, whilethe Saudi monarchy funds the returnto repression throughout the region.All of this leads to an undergroundand violent opposition. “Because ofthe culture of impunity [from thegovernment], there is a new cultureof revenge” on the street, Said Yousifal-Muhafda, head of documentationat the Bahrain Centre for HumanRights, told Al-Monitor, a news andanalysis Web site.

In the Palestinian territories,Mahmoud Abbas, who heads the Pal-estinian Authority in the West Bank,is indeed a moderate. But notice thatthe Israeli government and the Westhave happily acquiesced as the Pal-estinian Authority postponed elec-tions in the West Bank year after year— because they know full well whowould win. Moderates don’t do wellin an atmosphere of despair and war.

Perhaps the biggest stretch of allis the idea that the moderates couldwin in Syria. It is one thing to be-lieve that moderates can organizewell, make their case and get to thepolls. But the Bashar al-Assad re-gime turned its guns on the opposi-

Fareed Zakaria

Good days and bad days..!

WHAT is this? I asked agovernment spokesperson, “Industrial units to

shut down two days a week, dueto lack of power?” The spokesmanchuckled as he held up the news-paper, “This government is doingit’s best to help small industrial-ists!” he shouted into the mike ashe faced a group of bored journal-ists at a press conference.

“Sir, did you see this?” askeda writer from a small magazine ashe showed the politician the head-

line about industries having to shutdown. “That is what I am referringto,” smiled the spokesman. “This isfor our takeover czars!” “You are jok-ing sir!” said the journo with his ami-able, pleasant smile frozen.

“No, I’m not! As a governmentit is our duty to see an Indian busi-nessman, entrepreneur or industrial-ist is never bought up by a biggercompany!” “Cheers to that!” said thejourno his amiable smile now com-ing unfrozen. “So these powercuts…” asked another editor.

“Not just power cuts,” said thegovernment spokesman gleefully,“no power! No electricity to run theirunits! No diesel to work their gen-erators! No petrol to move their

trucks! Ah we have a lot lined up forour dear investors when they enterour country!”

There was a stir at the press con-ference as all the journalists pulledout their pens, “What else do youhave in store for these foreign inves-tors sir?” asked a rooky reportercheekily. “Madam how were theroads you came by?” “Horrible sir!”“We will make them worse!”

“Airports sir?” “Will become themost terrible in the world!” “Clean-liness of cities?” “Has been struck offour fund allotment!” “Corruption?”

“Will become a recognized na-tional pastime! We may even intro-duce a tax on sleaze which can beevaded with more sleaze!” “You say

all this lack of electricity, crumblinginfrastructure, and introducing morechaos in the country is part of yourplan to tell these investors what ourcountry really is? Then why is ourPM going all over the world askinginvestors to come to India?”

“The same way he went roundtelling the people good days arecoming!” shouted the spokesmangleefully “and then with a rail hike,onion and potato price hike showedthe nation that bad days had actu-ally come!?” “So?” asked the jour-nalist. “What we say has nothing todo with what we do! So it’s all go-ing to be the same, good days andbad days..!”—Email:bobsbanter@gmail.com

solved and mid-term elections heldin the country. After reachingIslamabad he started giving dead-lines for the system to be packedup and finally announced the launchof the civil disobedience movement.

By his actions he has exhibitedlack of political maturity withoutcaring for the legitimacy or consti-tutionality of the means. He has alsodone an irretrievable damage to hisdemocratic credentials. Thereseems no constitutional way of himcoming into power under the exist-ing constitutional arrangement.Many critics and analyst have alsobeen alluding on the basis of thehistory of such marches and theiroutcomes. It is for sure a recipe fordisaster and mind you the countrycannot afford such shenanigans anymore. It is faced with existentialistthreat. National unity and integrityis also threatened by insurgency andseparatist movement in Balochistanand continued volatile law and or-der situation in Karachi.— The writer is Islamabad-basedfreelance columnist.

tion from the start. In that circum-stance, the groups that are going togain power are those that will fightback with ferocity. Consider thenew head of the Western-backedSyrian opposition, Hadi al-Bahra,who urges more support for mod-erates like him. A successful busi-nessman of decency and sincerity,he left Syria in 1983. How likelyis it that people like him can takeover from those on the ground whoare fighting and dying?

And who are those people? Af-ter the Syrian struggle began, the As-sociated Press reported that the op-position to the Assad regime couldbe characterized as “poor, pious andrural.” Describing these people inAleppo, it said, “They frame thefight in a religious context and speakof martyrdom as something theywish for.” University of Oklahomascholar Joshua Landis points outthat of the four largest and most ef-fective rebel forces in Syria, not oneespouses democracy. Asserting thatthe moderates in Syria could win isnot tough foreign policy talk, it is anaive fantasy with dangerous con-sequences.— Courtesy: The Washington Post

their foreign bank accounts, multi-ply their wealth and properties in for-eign countries; the people of Paki-stan were there only to elect themafter a specified time whereafter theywere thrown into the clutches of theexploitation by the corrupt system,especially in 1990s.

What happened during the fiveyears of the Zardari government – apolitical democratic government en-joying ideal situation, no unfair op-position but what did the govern-ment give to its electors - the peopleof Pakistan? Absolutely nothing! Allwealth went into personal accountsof the rulers or the blue-eyed partyworkers and the people groaned un-der the yoke of ever increasing for-eign debt, high prices, depleting lawand order, street crime, insecurityand suicides. To the sheer bad luckof the people, the PML-N govern-ment during the last more than a yearin office has done a lot of cosmeticwork but no attention is given to giveany relief to the masses who are sub-jected to worst kind of corruption,commission mafia, land mafia, GuluButts and nepotism; the ruling fam-ily being the worst example. The tra-ditional politicians – the so-calledParliamentarians – seeing their cor-ruption in danger, are striving hardto protect the corrupt democracy tomaintain the status-quo and protectthe corrupt system. The Revolutionmarch and the Azadi march are thenatural outcome.

It is the last chance to the so-called democracy – the Parliamen-tary Democracy. It will have to de-liver or Mr. Prime Minister, theProvidence will play some othergame wherein the beneficiaries ofthe prevailing democracy will beseen no where.—Islamabad

Railways in acomplete mess

IFTIKHAR MIRZA

The dilapidated condition of Paki-stan Railways is an open secret foreverybody. For so many years, Rail-ways has been in a complete mess.The whole system has ruined ow-ing to neglect and mismanagementby government as well as its em-ployees. Railways, introduced inthe Sub-continent by British in1853, has almost outlived its life inPakistan.

Ironically, India made radicalchanges in its system and trans-formed Railways into internationallevel communication system. IndianRailways is world’s number eightlargest employer with more than 1.4million employees. Pakistan Rail-ways, in contrast to India, presentsa total dismal and gloomy picture.This department like PIA is beingmanaged on interim basis; onlymakeshift arrangements are beingmade to keep its wheels moving, nomatter at what cost. Ironically! Gov-ernment finds solution only in priva-tizing these organisations withoutresorting to some methodical changeor an effort to improve their opera-tions. No one is ready for surgery ofthese ailing departments, which areone of the largest employers of coun-try. On 9th August, I travelled bytrain from Karachi to Rawalpindi toobserve the miseries of passengers.I find no words to express my feel-ings, how roughly and rudely thepassengers are treated by lower staffof Railways. You are denied a ticketof Business class, no matter half ofcompartment’s seats lie un-occupiedwhen the train departs. I had to cut asorry figure when I moved toeconomy class where passengerswere lying on floor like chattel.There was no space to move, accessto washroom was blocked by lug-gage and passengers. I could not un-derstand, why, with this huge turn-over, railways is still a depleting as-set and continuously going in lossfor decades.

Chaos was everywhere. I wastold by some insider that those ly-ing on floor just grease the palm ofconducting guard and do not buy anyticket. What a pity...! Corruption isrunning down our veins like blood.Is there any remedy for this malady?Further to this, damaged floor of bo-gies indicated that no repair andmaintenance procedure was in place.

There was no fan in the compart-ment, only three bulbs, that too atone place, in the whole compartmentwas making the scene horrendous.No light and water was in wash-rooms. One can feel the miseries ofpassengers who have to travel for 30odd hours without basic amenities.To add insult to injury substandardfood of dining car was there, whichwas not only expensive but also staleand unhygienic. Dirt was all aroundthe railway track, and platforms.Sanitation was poor, inviting epi-demics to break in. I suggest, insteadof putting people behind the bars forcrimes, they may be forced to travelthrough train for some specific time.

Alas! Minister of Railways,Khawaja Saad Rafiq is just a mouthorgan of Nawaz Sharif; always busyin mud-slinging on politicians.People are not interested in his an-tics. In the prevailing circum-stances, there is not an iota of hopethat things would improve for Rail-ways. Large bungalows of Railwayofficers, alongwith numerous perks,call for their performance based re-muneration. A complete overhaul-ing of this department is a dire need,lest it would eat itself up like ter-mite. Its employees have alreadysapped the very foundation of theirorganization.—Via email

Containers’politics !JAVAID BASHIR

In our society the containers havebecome a source of Public Nuisance.It is just unthinkable that the vehicleof utility has been misused. Thegovernment’s intentional use of con-tainers to block the people’s entryinto cities. The human rights are vio-lated by such inconvenience.

The Federal and Provincial gov-ernments have been ill advised tomake use of containers to seal thecities. The citizens are denied theirbasic right of movement. There isanother dimension of this problem.Snatching the containers against thewishes of the owners, and depriv-ing them to carry on their trade ac-tivity, thus causing them economicloss. It has negative impact on theoverall economy. Multi purpose useof containers have been invented.These have been used as securitytool and barricades. Last year weobserved the invasion of Islamabadby Dr. Tahir ul qadri, sitting in acontainer. Today Islamabad has beenbesieged through containers and cor-doned off by digging up the trenches.

Dr. Qadri was seriously and se-verely criticized by all for using thecontainers for political purposes.Media was abuzz with containerpolitics. Today we saw another po-litical leader leading the AzadiMarch towards Islamabad. AzdiMarch has been given free hand bythe Punjab government. I think thisnew trend will become a fashion-able in our politics. In present cir-cumstances it has become the needof the hour. Intolerance has creptinto our society and politics. But itis an interesting reality that time hasproved that the containers placed onthe highways to check the entry ofthe demonstrators do fail to achievethe objective, as the these contain-ers prove just a bundle of dried heyin front of a mob movement; theyare nothing but a nuisance for thecommon commuters. The politicalissues should be resolved under thenorms of democratic politics andthe public opinion should be re-spected by all means. The busi-nesses have been shut down in thecities completely. We must shun theabuse of containers.—Via email

How to handle long march?

THIS refers to “Long March:Expectations & apprehensions” (August 19) by Gen

Mirza Aslam Beg. There is no doubtthat demand of resignation of NawazSharif by IK and TUQ is not onlyunconstitutional but is also not jus-tified. While deliberating on the cur-rent situation Gen Beg has failed togive solution but has supported thegovernment’s line of action and tiedit with the Supreme Court Judicialenquiry commission to investigateand report on rigging in 2013 elec-tions. Our track record on commis-sions has been pathetic, first it is timeconsuming, reports never made pub-lic and buried in files.

The media has shown massiverigging in 2013 elections, had Su-preme Court taken sou motto wecould have avoided this situation. IKhad to undergo painful journey to getjustice extending to 14 months butit fell on deaf ears. What was wrongin ordering recounting of votes onfour constituencies? Chief ElectionCommissioner tendered his resigna-tion as he failed to conduct fair elec-tions. How can IK accept judicialcommission when RO’s have beenblamed for not conducting the elec-tions in fair and transparent manner?

IK and TUQ demands are justifiedexcept seeking resignation from PM.There cannot be two opinions thatunder the existing system only thefaces change and old king goes andnew comes.Look at their life style,the way they move, the way theytravel, the way they loot and plun-der, the way they appoint cronies onlucrative assignments, they don’tbother about court orders, they vio-late court decisions. Appointment ofSpecial Assistant on Aviation is ille-gal he was thrown out by Apex Court.Hundreds of such matters can bequoted. We have seen how court or-ders are flouted by our rulers. Deci-sions of High Court not implemented.We are so impotent that we cannotdo anything of violators of Sec 144.Why FIR is not being lodged of mur-der of PAT workers in spite of theorders of the judge? Shahbaz Sharifwas very vocal that if he is named hewould not hesitate to quit. Why he isdelaying this action? This is what iswrong with our system, we have se-lective application of rules, selectivejudgements, delayed judgements,stays beyond pain full limits. Let usadmit that we have failed to providejustice to common man. SC took suomotu on two bottles of whiskey butcould not see murders at Model Town

IK changing decisions are under-standable, poor response by his ownworkers on his civil disobedience wasa big jolt to him, he is now a frus-

trated person and is not ready to com-promise, aiming at some dead bod-ies, come what may. It is now battleof his survival and is ready to go toany extent irrespective of conse-quences. But the government is stillproviding him a way out to sit acrosstable instead of entering in red zone.Question arises what will he achieve,the answer is nothing. 35 seats is goodrepresentation at national level, there-fore he must reconsider his decision,if he fights from the parliament it willhave weight but without representa-tion will be at a loss.

The country is virtually shutdown after Eid has caused billons ofrupees loss. World is watching Paki-stan and are not ready to grant anymore concessions until our leaderscome to some agreement. On theother hand TUQ is well organised andcan sit in for days and months andalso remain peaceful until some stu-pid action from the government. IKand TUQ do not want army to takeover, and also want not to side thegovernment in this conflict. But armyhas to protect areas of red zone be-cause all our foreign embassies arehoused in the vicinity. A chargedcrowd cannot be controlled and theycan do anything, they even don’t lis-ten to their leader on such occasionsthus aggravating the situation, there-fore army shall have to play its rolein ensuring safety of foreigners andvital installations Nawaz Sharif

should realize that it is time to for-get flyovers, new roads, mega struc-tures but to cater for basic needs ofcommon man and scale down arro-gance and life style and shouldpresent a symbol of austerity. Thepromises he made during his elec-tion campaign none of them has beenfulfilled. Even if IK is contained,TUQ will remain a potent threat andwill be joined by like minded par-ties, and it will not be easy to dis-lodge him until some favourableagreement is reached. Still there is away out. Government must showflexibility. In the interest of countryterm of PM is reduced to 3 years be-cause our politicians are still imma-ture irrespective of their age and ex-perience because they learnt noth-ing from the past history. Carry outelectoral reforms get views of pub-lic within one month. A new elec-tion commission be set up throughordinance and people with repute beappointed and their term should alsobe fixed 3 years. Fresh election un-der new electoral reforms is held inMay 2015 under bio-metric system.

Let this be stated categoricallytime is running fast, rulers must reactfast otherwise we may be heading forbloody revolution for which sufficientground has been prepared. Lastly asuggestion to media houses, do notbecome party to any party.—The writer is a freelancecolumnist.

Malik M AshrafEmail:ashrafazim2000@yahoo.com

Mukhtar AhmedEmail:mukhtar17@yahoo.com

Iraqi men brandish their weapons as they show their willingness to join Iraqi security forces in the fight against Jihadistmilitants who have taken over several northern Iraqi cities

Israel plays Russianroulette with Gaza lives

IDAN BARIR

AMONG the difficult reports streaming in from Gaza overthe past few weeks, two especially painful events havecaptured my attention.

The first was the shelling of a UN school building in Jabalya,where a number of families that had escaped or been forced toflee their homes had taken refuge. At least 15 civilians were killed,and dozens more wounded. Israel argued they were targeting anarea from which fire had been directed at Israeli forces.

The second was the bombing of a bustling market in theShuja’iya neighborhood. At a time of precious few opportunitiesfor civilians to safely buy food and other vital supplies, 17 peoplewere killed, 160 wounded, and shops, stalls and merchandiseburned or destroyed. Harsh criticism of Israel followed each in-cident but, as in the past, Israel defended its actions, arguing thatit was targeting militants and doing its best to avoid civilian ca-sualties.

I served as a crew commander in the Israeli artillery corps atthe beginning of the Second Intifada, and I feel compelled tocounter this claim. The images, evidence and army reports fromrecent operations in Gaza - of more than 1,800 deaths and a thirdof the population left without shelter - show that Israel has de-ployed massive artillery firepower. Such firepower is impossibleto target precisely. Artillery fire is a statistical means of warfare.It is the complete opposite of sniper fire. While the power ofsharp-shooting lies in its accuracy, the power of artillery comesfrom the quantity of shells fired and the massive impact of eachone. In using artillery against Gaza, Israel therefore cannot sin-cerely argue that it is doing everything in its power to spare theinnocent. The truth is artillery shells cannot be aimed preciselyand are not meant to hit specific targets. A standard 40 kilogramshell is nothing but a large fragmentation grenade. When it ex-plodes, it is meant to kill anyone within a 50-meter radius, and towound anyone within a further 100 meters.

Furthermore, the humidity in the air, the heat of the barrel,and the direction of the wind can all cause unguided shells toland 30 or even 100 meters from where they were aimed. That isa huge margin of error in somewhere as densely packed as Gaza.The imprecision of this weaponry is so great that Israeli forcesare compelled to aim at least 250 meters away from friendlytroops to ensure their safety - even if those troops are sheltered.In military terms, this distance is called the “safe range of fire.”

In 2006, when shelling was first used against the Gaza Strip,the “safe range of fire” for Palestinian civilians was reduced from300 to just 100 meters. Shortly afterward, a stray shell landedinside the home of the Ghaban family in Beit Lahiya, killing 9-year-old Hadeel, and wounding 12 other members of her family.In response to this and similar tragedies, human rights organiza-tions appealed to the Israeli High Court of Justice to cease thislethal practice, and in June 2007 the attorney-general announcedthat no more artillery fire was to be used in the Gaza Strip.

But just three years later, during Operation Cast Lead, ex-tensive artillery fire was again aimed at the heart of the GazaStrip. And up until the recent cease-fire, throughout OperationProtective Edge, Israel has fired thousands of artillery shells intoGaza, causing intolerable harm to civilians and widespread de-struction, the extent of which will only be fully exposed whenthe fighting ceases. It’s true that in at least some cases, the armyhas informed civilians of its plans to attack a certain area, andadvised them to leave. But this in no way excuses the excessivedamage and huge toll on civilian lives.

I write this with great sorrow for civilians hurt on both sides.Sorrow for our soldiers who have fallen in this operation, andsorrow for the future of my country and the entire region. I knowthat as I write, soldiers like me are firing shells into Gaza. Theyhave no way of knowing who or what they will hit.

—Courtesy: Global Times.(The author served in the Israeli artillery corps during the Sec-ond Intifada and is a member of Breaking the Silence, an Is-raeli NGO. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn)

Obama’s teeteringpresidency

J.T. YOUNG

BARACK Obama’s presidency isn’t just shrinking, it’s losing support among its most critical point — its base. Lessthan two years ago, Barack Obama became the first Demo-

cratic president since FDR to win re-election with a popular-vote majority. Since then, his support has dropped dramatically— not just overall, but among important constituent groups.

Comparing 2012 exit poll results with an Aug. 8 McClatchy-Marist nationwide poll shows how far Mr. Obama has fallenwith various segments of the population. In 2012, Mr. Obamawon among women 55 percent to 44 percent. Today, his approvalrating among women is 41 percent, with 51 percent disapprov-ing. Among political moderates, Mr. Obama has gone from a 56percent approval and 41 percent disapproval in 2012 to 42 per-cent approval and 45 percent disapproval today.

Among Hispanics, the president has gone from a 71 percentand 21 percent winning margin in 2012 to a 34 percent approvaland 46 percent disapproval split. Using the same comparison,Mr. Obama has seen the Midwest, those making less than $50,000,30-to-49-year-olds, and both college graduates and noncollegegraduates flip against him. Pivotal independent voters, alreadyhaving voted against Mr. Obama 45 percent and 50 percent in2012, now register just a 35 percent approval and 55 percentdisapproval rating. Poll: Amnesty Is Toxic For Swing-Voters,Top Issue For GOP Voters

Only 28 percent of swing-voting independents support Presi-dent Barack Obama’s immigration policies, while 59 percentoppose those policies, according to a new CBS poll, which alsoshows that GOP voters think immigration is a more importantissue than Obamacare. That’s a big problem for Obama, as heheads into a critical election season while promising... Evenamong those continuing to support the president, there has beennotable attrition. Democrats voted 92 percent to 7 percent forhim in 2012, but register an 80 percent to 14 percent approvaland disapproval today. Blacks have gone from 93 percent and 6percent in 2012 to a 79 percent and 9 percent split today. Liber-als have gone from 86 percent and 11 percent in 2012 to 77 per-cent and 16 percent currently. Unmarrieds and adults from theEast and Northeast have shown similar drops.

The reasons for these declines are manifest. While Mr. Obamasaw his first term support drop over the economy, Obamacareand the budget, these have been exacerbated by the botchedObamacare rollout and the economy’s continued poor perfor-mance. They have also been supplemented with recent foreign-policy failures and the Mexican border immigration crisis. Theselatest problems have been particularly harmful to his supportamong his base. Mr. Obama’s loss of popularity has not just beenqualitative but quantitative. Virtually across the board, amonggroups in which Mr. Obama still had support to lose, he has lostit in roughly double-digit chunks. Today, the president’s supportcan be identified in just five major groups: Democrats, liberals,blacks, 18-to-29-year-olds and the Northeasterners. Even in thisshrunken core, Mr. Obama has seen notable declines.

There are ramifications to these declines, both for the WhiteHouse and the nation. A president can stand only as tall when thebase beneath him is solid. The narrower the base, the smaller thepresident’s influence. The power of the presidency is not easilysquandered, and even when policy and persuasion fail, the pres-tige of the office still commands respect.

—Courtesy: Washington Times. [J.T. Young served in the Treasury Department and the Officeof Management and Budget from 2001 to 2004 and as a con-gressional staff member from 1987 to 2000].

COMMENTS

AT present, China, to which Mandela hadspecial connections, is on the road tonational rejuvenation, following its

more than 30 years of skyrocketing economicgrowth. But it is also facing the challenge ofthe US’ rebalancing to the Asia-Pacific, whichis widely seen as being aimed at containingChina. At this critical moment of great changesand transitions, China is in dire need of a po-litical leader who has the courage, sense ofmission and wisdom to lead the country to itsreawakening.After showing his resolve with a sweeping andunprecedented anti-graft campaign, which net-ted Zhou Yongkang, a former member of thePolitical Bureau Standing Committee of theCPC Central Committee, the spotlight of glo-bal attention is now on President Xi Jinping.

A year ago, many in China didn’t believethat the CPC would investigate such a high-ranking former top official as Zhou, nor didobservers in other countries imagine that Xi,who just came to power, had the capability andcourage to cage such big “tigers” as Zhou andXu Caihou, the former vice-chairman of theCentral Military Commission.

The outside world has mostly been impressedby the ruthlessness of the CPC’s anti-corruptioncampaign. Yet, many people close to the CPCruling circle said that the fight against corruption

Xi Jinping is awakening Chinais just part of the political objectives of the centralleadership led by Xi. Behind the anti-graft cam-paign is a grand blueprint, which analysts havelabeled “The Second Reforms” . The new conceptcontains a lot more than the word “reforms” canconvey and has gone farther and wider than theoutside world would imagine. Xi aims to breakthe entrenched bureaucracy and vested interestsof officialdom formed during the fast economicexpansion and initiate a brand-new model of gov-ernance for a modernized country. What is evenmore noteworthy is that Xi is quietly leading arevolution that is transforming the CPC’s theoryof governance and the legal framework for gover-nance. It has yet to be seen how Xi is going toimplement it, but one thing is for sure, he highlycherishes the breadth and depth of traditional Chi-nese culture. As for economic development, the“new economic normal” idea, which runs counterto the reckless development of the past 30-plusyears, has appeared and is starting to take root.What is more, reform of the People’s LiberationArmy has been initiated and rebuilding the soul ofmilitary has become a top priority.

In its recent history, China was humiliatedby Western powers. The Opium Wars made itrealize that it had been abandoned by modern-ization. Western powers used their more advancedweapons to force the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911)to drop its policy of seclusion. China’s agricul-tural civilization, which had enjoyed thousandsof years of glory, was beaten by capitalist civili-

zation. Then the terrible defeat of the QingDynasty’s Northern Navy to Japan in 1894 made“political reform” and “restoration” a consensus.From then on, China has been looking for a roadto return to and lead global modernization. Withthe flooding of Western civilization into Chinaalong with gunfire, Chinese culture was deniedand discarded. In his speeches at the Yan’an Fo-rum on Literature and Artin 1942, Mao Zedongopened up a new political era. Traditional Chi-nese culture suffered unprecedented attack dur-ing the ten-year “cultural revolution”(1966-76).After which, China’s economy enjoyed 30 yearsof rapid growth thanks to Deng Xiaoping’s re-form and opening-up policy.

“Everyone has only one fate.” What MichaelCorleone said in the God Fatheris concise andthought provoking. “What should we do withour only fate?” What Pavel Korchagin wonderedis an eternal question — the fates of the weakare controlled by others while strong people holdtheir own destinies. And the fate of a nation isheld in the hands of its leaders.

Xi Jinping insists that he is a loyal descen-dant of revolutionary elders and it is his missionto revive China and achieve the ruling party’smodernization. “Xi could have enjoyed a relaxedterm of office, but as a descendant of revolution-ary forerunners, he feels obligated to choose aharder road.” said another offspring of revolu-tionary elders. Hu Jintao turned over both thepower of Party and military to Xi at the 18th CPC

National Congress in 2012. Despite being inoffice for less than two years, Xi’s confidencehas made him a mature leader who is not afraidof hardship. The image Xi presents to the pub-lic is unimaginable for others, even for friendsand colleagues who used to be familiar with him.His every word is no longer an empty slogan,but from his deep thinking.

Xi stressed that the road the country takescan determine its fate, and he proposed thedream of the great rejuvenation of China asthe road to take while visiting the exhibitionRoad to Revival on November 29, 2012. Thiswas also an announcement of his historicalmission. And so we Chinese will no longerbe those who were controlled by others. Dur-ing Xi’ visit to Europe in 2014, he mentionedChinese civilization and China’s road manytimes, declaring that “China the lion has al-ready woken up” . Xi has his own plan onhow to revive the country, what kind of coun-try China will be when revived, and how itwill interact with other countries after reviv-ing. Even though he is a leader who has notbeen in office for long, he has declared to thewhole world that China will step into a newera under his leadership.

Therefore one can conclude that all of Xi’sideas and actions on cultural, military, politi-cal and economical reforms are meant to pushChina further along the road to rejuvenation.

—Courtesy: People’s Daily.

DAMASCUS—As the U.S. military strikes theIslamic State group in Iraq, Syrian PresidentBashar Assad’s forces have significantlystepped up their own campaign againstmilitant strongholds in Syria, carrying outdozens of airstrikes against the group’sheadquarters in the past two days.

While the government in Damascus has longturned a blind eye to the Islamic State’s expan-sion in Syria - in some cases even facilitating itsoffensive against mainstream rebels - the group’srapid march on towns and villages in northernand eastern Syria is now threatening to overturnrecent gains by government forces. While IslamicState militants have so far concentrated their at-tacks against the Western-backed fighters seek-ing to topple Assad, they have in the past monthcarried out a major onslaught against Syrian armyfacilities in northeastern Syria, capturing andslaughtering hundreds of Syrian soldiers and pro-government militiamen in the process. On Mon-day, Islamic State fighters were closing in on thelast government-held army base in the northeast-ern Raqqa province, the Tabqa air base, prompt-ing at least 16 Syrian government airstrikes inthe area in an attempt to halt their advance. In thenorthern city of Aleppo, there is a sense of im-pending defeat among mainstream rebels as Is-

Syrian forces strike militantslamic militants systematically routed them lastweek in towns and villages only a few kilome-ters (miles) north of the city. An Islamic Statetakeover of rebel-held parts of Aleppo also wouldbe disastrous for Syrian government troops whohave been gaining ground in the city in pastmonths.

“I think they (Syrian government) are finallyrealizing that their Machiavellian strategy of work-ing with the Islamic State group against the moder-ates did not work so well, and so they have startedto fight it,” said Andrew Tabler, a senior fellow atthe Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Butin hitting hard against the Islamic State group, Assadhas another motive. His aerial bombardment of mili-tant strongholds in Syria in a way mirrors that of theU.S. military’s airstrikes against extremists acrossthe border in Iraq. Analysts say Assad’s strikes aimat sending a message that he is on the same side asthe Americans, reinforcing the Syrian government’slongstanding claim that it is a partner in the fightagainst terrorism and a counterbalance to extrem-ists. That comes after the U.S. itself nearly bombedSyria after it blamed Assad’s forces for a chemicalweapons attack on rebel-held areas near Damascuslast August. “Assad would surely love to regaininternational acceptance via a `war on terror’and maybe that is his long-term plan, in so faras he has one,” Syria analyst Aron Lund said.

Even while going against the Islamic State inIraq, U.S. officials have shown little appetitefor striking at the same militants in Syria.

Asked about Syrian government airstrikes tar-geting the militants, State Department DeputySpokeswoman Marie Harf rejected the notion thatWashington and Damascus are “on the same page”in their fight against the Islamic State as a com-mon enemy. “While we may be looking at someof the same targets, I think the fact ... that the Assadregime has allowed ISIS to flourish and grow inthe way it has is really one of the main reasonsthey have grown so strong,” she said, using one ofthe acronyms for the Islamic State. Most of all,however, Assad can simply no longer afford toignore the growing threat of the Islamic State nowthat it has started attacking his own forces. SinceJuly, following their blitz in Iraq and after theydeclared a self-styled caliphate straddling the Iraq-Syria border, Islamic State fighters have methodi-cally gone after isolated government bases in north-ern and eastern Syria, killing and decapitating armycommanders and pro-government militiamen.

The attacks started with a devastating on-slaught on the al-Shaer gas field in Homs prov-ince in which more than 270 Syrian soldiers,security guards and workers were killed. Lastmonth, the jihadis overran the sprawling Divi-sion 17 military base in Raqqa province, killing

at least 85 soldiers. Two weeks later, IslamicState fighters seized the nearby Brigade 93 baseafter days of heavy fighting.

They now are closing in on Tabqa air base.Activists on Monday reported intense clashes be-tween government troops and Islamic State fighterson the edge of the villages of Ajil and Khazna nearTabqa. The Raqqa Media Center, an activist collec-tive, said the Islamic State captured four villagesnear the air base, including Ajil. “They will stop atnothing. If things continue the same way it’s only amatter of time before the Islamic State seizesAleppo,” said Abu Thabet, an Aleppo rebel com-mander. He said the jihadis were now looking totake the rebel stronghold of Marea, to be followedby the Bab al-Salama border crossing with Turkey,which would be a major prize and source of money.Oubai Shahbandar, a Washington-based senior strat-egist for the Western-backed opposition Syrian Na-tional Coalition group, called Assad’s airstrikesagainst the Islamic States superficial, saying theWestern-backed rebels were the only force trulyconfronting the jihadis.He also shrugged off any suggestion that Assadand the West share a common enemy in the Is-lamic State group. “The choice for the West isclear,” he said. “Assad turned Syria into a spring-board for terror, while the opposition leads theanti-Islamic State resistance.” —AP.

CAIRO - Palestinian and Israeli negotia-tors in Cairo resumed indirect talks onTuesday, trying to hammer out a roadmapfor the war-torn Gaza Strip after Egyptannounced a 24-hour extension of thecease-fire to allow more time for negotia-tions.

The extension of the truce fannedhopes of an emerging deal, however vague,though wide gaps remain on key issues,including Israel’s blockade of Gaza, itsdemands for disarmament of the Islamicmilitant group Hamas and Palestinian de-mands for a Gaza seaport and an airport.In an apparent attempt to pressure Hamas,Egypt said early Monday it would co-hostan international fundraising conference forGaza - but only if a deal is reached first.

That appears to play into the hands ofthe West Bank-based Palestinian Author-ity, which is seeking to regain a Gaza foot-hold, seven years after Hamas ousted itfrom power in the densely populatedcoastal strip. Hamas, whose officials arepart of the Palestinian delegation in theCairo talks, has emerged weaker from themonth-long Gaza war.

The militant group finds itself pres-sured by both Egypt and the Palestin-ian Authority to accept a less than per-fect deal with Israel, but needs to show

Israelis, Palestinians resume talks on Gaza dealthe people of Gaza that the enormoussacrifices they endured in the fightingwere not in vain. There were few signsof any major breakthroughs. A memberof the Palestinian delegation said thatIsrael was offering to ease the Gazablockade by opening border crossingsto some goods and people, but was in-sisting that it retain the right to limitthe imports of material like cement, andchemical and metal products, which Is-rael says can be used for weaponsmanufacturing. Hamas fears the ar-rangement would allow Israel to retainthe right to close the crossings when-ever it wished and is pushing for morePalestinian input into such decisions.

The Palestinian official also toldThe Associated Press that Israel wantsto put off for an unspecified date anydiscussion on the opening of a Gazaseaport and airport and the release ofPalestinian prisoners held in Israelijails. The Palestinians, however, saythey will only agree to postpone dis-cussing the seaport and airport for “amonth after a ceasefire agreement, withother issues like .... the prisoners,” theofficial said. He spoke condition of ano-nymity because he was not authorizedto discuss negotiations with the media.

He also said that Israel agrees to ex-tend the maritime territory in which Gazafisherman can venture out from two to fourkilometers (three to six miles) and even-tually to 19 kilometers (12 miles) from theshore, but that it was standing firm againstHamas’ demand for unsupervised exportsfrom the strip. The Gaza blockade, im-posed after Hamas seized control of theterritory in 2007, has greatly limited themovement of Palestinians in and out ofthe territory of 1.8 million people, re-stricted the flow of goods into Gaza andblocked virtually all exports. Israel saysthe blockade is needed to prevent armssmuggling, but critics say the measureshave amounted to collective punishment.Jamal Shobaky, the Palestinian ambassa-dor in Cairo voiced disappointment withthe Israeli stance, particularly on the ques-tion of the blockade. “What the Israelishave offered so far in the talks is not re-moving the blockade but rather easing it,”he said. The latest round of Gaza fightingwas precipitated by massive Israeli arrestsof Hamas members in the West Bank inthe aftermath of the abduction and killingof three Israeli teenagers in June. Theirdeaths were followed by the slaying of aPalestinian youth in Jerusalem in what wasa likely revenge attack—AP.

Ukrainian troopsinch closer to

rebel cityDONETSK, (UKRAINE)—TheUkrainian government has cap-tured most of a town nearDonetsk, tightening the noosearound the key rebel-heldstronghold, officials said . In-terior Minister Arsen Avakovsaid in a Facebook post that onesoldier was killed and fourwounded when a volunteer bat-talion came under mortar firebefore entering the town ofIlovaysk, 18 kilometers (11miles) east of Donetsk. Amongthe wounded is the commanderof the Donbass battalion,Semyon Semenchenko, whosaid government soldiers de-stroyed three rebel checkpointsand four firing positions, andthat fighting continues.

Government efforts toquell the pro-Russian separat-ist front have focused lately ongradually encircling Donetsk,the largest rebel-controlled city.

Volunteer battalions haveproven essential in the govern-ment offensive against armedseparatists in the mainly Russian-speaking east.

Fighting between govern-ment troops and pro-Russianseparatists in eastern Ukrainehas forced nearly 344,000people to flee their homes, ac-cording to the United Nations- a number that has only grownas the humanitarian situation inrebel-held cities deteriorates.

The situation appears to beparticularly dire in the city ofLuhansk, near the Russian border,which has been left without elec-tricity, running water or phoneconnections for 17 days. Indepen-dent reports from the besieged cityare scarce since the area is verydangerous for journalists. The cityhall said in a statement on itswebsite on Tuesday that Luhanskand its city center came underfierce shelling overnight. An un-specified number of civilians werekilled or wounded.

Residents are standing inlines to buy bread as food sup-plies are running out, the city hallsaid. Authorities also raised thealarm about a potential outbreakof infectious diseases since house-hold waste has not been taken outof town for more than two weeksamid sweltering heat—AP.

Tear gas firedat crowd inUS protest

MISOURI—Police fired teargas Monday to break up pro-testers in another night of un-rest in this Missouri townwhere a black teen was shotand killed by a white policeofficer nine days ago.

A street-wide line of policein riot gear, supported by an ar-mored SWAT vehicle and a heli-copter overhead, repeatedly or-dered the crowd of about 100 todisperse. They then let loose witha volley of tear gas just after 11pm (0400 GMT), sending thecrowd — smaller than one thatclashed with police on Sunday —scurrying into the darkness. Atleast two people were seen beingarrested, and gun shots — de-scribed by one senior police of-ficer as “potshots in the area” —were heard. But National Guardtroops who deployed earlier Mon-day in Ferguson to reinforce po-lice remained out of sight, takingup a position instead at a policecommand center. Monday night’sstandoff occurred near the resi-dential street where 18-year-oldMichael Brown was fatally shotby a local police officer in this StLouis suburb.

Pathologists retained byBrown’s family said Mondaythat the student had been shotat least six times, includingtwice in the head—AFP.

Military clashes withmilitants in Tikrit

BAGHDAD—A local officialand a resident say clashes havebroken out between Iraqi secu-rity forces and militants on theoutskirts of Tikrit.

They say the clashes beganearly Tuesday on the south-western outskirts of the mili-tant-held city of Tikrit, locatednorth of Baghdad. Both spokeon condition of anonymity,fearing their safety. The Iraqimilitary shelled militant posi-tions inside and outside the city,they said. There were no im-mediate reports of casualties.The Islamic State group andother militants occupied Tikritand the northern city of Mosulin early June—AP.

of planned Foreign Secretarylevel talks between India andPakistan. State DepartmentDeputy Spokesperson MarieHarf during briefing on Mondaysaid “ it is unfortunate thatplanned talks between India andPakistan have fallen through”She said the United States con-tinue to support efforts by Indiaand Pakistan to improve all as-pects of their bilateral relations,and it will continue making thisclear to both parties.

Asked to comment on NewDelhi’s assertion that Pakistanhas to choose between talkswith Delhi or with the separat-ist leaders in Kashmir, thedeputy spokesperson said irre-spective of why the talks werecancelled, it is necessary thatboth sides take steps to improvetheir bilateral relations.

To a question whether anyofficial from the United Statesreached out to Delhi andIslamabad on the issue, sheguessed that their staff on theground have been in touch withboth the governments. She saidthere are a lot of issues on thetable, there are lot of emotionsinvolved but what need to hap-pen now is additional steps.

To another question, thedeputy spokesperson said theUS believe that pace, sope andcharacter of any discussons onKashmir are for India and Paki-stan to determine between them.She said the US policy on Kash-mir has not changed.—IN

US urges all sidesFrom Page 1

sues. He said the discussionswill be continuing in the com-ing days via videoconferencefrom Washington to securetimely completion of thefourth review. It is worthmentioning that the IMF mis-sion declined to come toIslamabad for talks in view ofthe political crisis and the Fi-nance Minister and his teamwent to Dubai for talks.—NNI

Pak economicFrom Page 1

“It was a temporary peace-ful face-off with PLA well in-side Indian territory,” the offi-cial told AFP referring toChina’s People’s LiberationArmy.

He said troops returned toIndia’s Burtse area in Ladakh onMonday displaying a banner“understood to be saying ‘this isChinese territory, go back’.“ In-dian army spokesman Colonel SD Goswami declined to confirmif any such incidents had takenplace. But the incursions wereconfirmed by several official so-urces.

Chinese troops crossedover the border into the samearea last April and set upcamps, triggering a three-weekstandoff with Indian soldierswhich was only resolved after

China troops enterFrom Page 1

rior Minister and senior leaders of the army andgovernment, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said therewould be three layers of security with police inthe front row, then FC and Rangers in the sec-ond layer and in the third layer army. He saidthe meeting discussed only the security situa-tion in the capital.

He made it clear that army has not beencalled against any political party. He said lawand constitution give the government and thearmy powers to call in the army under articles131 and 245 and army is taking constitution andsecurity responsibility.

The government decided that all the politi-cal issues will be handled politically, howevernobody will be allowed to worsen the securitysituation of the federal capital”, added the Inte-rior Minister.

The Interior Minister categorically statedthat army is not behind the PTI and PATmarches. To a question, he said some diplo-mats had conveyed their concern about secu-rity to the embassies and a meeting was heldbetween officials of foreign and interior min-istries on Monday and the diplomats were in-formed about the situation and told that the situ-

ation is under control. He said in a way thedeployment of army also has connection withthe security of the concerns expressed by dip-lomats.

Nisar told Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadrithat democracy is due to Pakistan and right ofthe people of the country and adopt a path sothat democracy is not derailed. He also toldthem that violence breeds violence.

He said he is in contact with Imran Khanand as a friend and well wisher say that he is arole model as a sportsman and as a head ofpolitical party he should not incite youths toviolence. He said the leaders never push coun-try towards violence but take it towards poli-tics of tolerance and moderation.

Interior Minister again asked Imran andQadri to follow the path of dialogue as all otheroptions leads to violence.

He said that the government is ready toopen 20 constituencies, but the PTI divertedfrom its basic demand of probing polls-riggingin 4 constituencies and resorted to a long march.

Nisar said, “We demonstrated patience andfacilitated the marches in every way but theagitating parties kept changing their demands”.

‘Meaningful talks’ key topolitical deadlock: ISPR

From Page 1

Mian Raza Rabbani.Spokesperson Senator Farhatullah Babar said

the meeting took stock of the current political situa-tion in the country particularly the situation arisingout of the threats hurled by the leaders of the ‘azaadi’and ‘inqilab’ marches in the federal capital to mobthe red zone. The Senate parliamentary party of PPPunanimously urged its leaders Chaudhry AitzazAhsan and Mian Raza Rabbani to take a lead alongwith the opposition leader in the National Assem-bly Syed Khurshid Shah to meet all concerned todefuse the explosive situation.

Leader of Opposition in the National As-sembly Khurshid Shah has said the committeecomprising members from ten political partiesis continuing efforts to establish contacts withPakistan Tehreek-e- Insaaf Chairman ImranKhan and Awami Tehreek Chief Tahirul Qadri.Talking to the media persons in Islamabad Tues-day, he said the committee will proceed for talks

as soon as invited by the leaders of the two pro-testing parties. He appealed to the PTI andAwami Tehreek to refrain from any such stepwhich could damage the unity of the country.

In London, the leader of Muttahida QuamiMovement (MQM) Mr Altaf Hussain has once againmade a passionate appeal to the chiefs of PakistanAwami Tehreek Dr Tahirul Qadri and PakistanTehreek-i-Insaf Imran Khan to make a last-ditcheffort for resolving political issues by holding dia-logue. He urged them not to close the door of dia-logue at any cost. To Dr Qadri he said, “You are notonly a wise, patient and sagacious person but also aleading religious scholar. “Before you take any ac-tion, I would appeal to you to review your decisionin view of the critical situation of the country, headded” Amir Jamaat-e-Islami Sirajul Haq, frustratedby his attempts to bring a rapprochement betweenthe government and PTI and PAT, has said that thepolitics has reached at dead end.

Politicians desperateFrom Page 1

large number of fugitives, according to militarysources, was advancing effectively as majorityof the trouble makers have either been killed orflushed out from the NWA headquarters MiranShah.

The PAF birds that have been pounding themilitant’s hideouts in the agency sometimeswith a pause of few days or so, have so farkilled over 600 hundred miscreants besides de-stroying more than a hundred militant’s hideouts till date. Likewise during the ground op-eration kicked off on June 30th, the Pak Armylead security forces have seized scores of bomband other explosives manufacturing factoriesof the terrorists in various parts of the agen-cies as they successfully continued their ad-vancements against the trouble makers. Thesecurity forces declared to have cleared morethan 80% area of the Miran Shah and othertroubled spots in NWA.

The Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR)communiqué issued to press on Monday said,18 militants were killed while twelve of their

50 militants dead in KAFrom Page 1

hideouts were destroyed in aerial strikes by Pa-kistani fighter jets in North Waziristan Agencyand Khyber tribal regions early morning add-ing five militant hideouts were destroyed inKhyber agency and seven in North Waziristanin the strikes which were conducted as a partof the ongoing military operation ‘Zarb-e-Azb’against the militants in the tribal region. “Ter-rorists hideouts were destroyed through aerialstrikes in Khyber and North Waziristan agen-cies where as many as 18 terrorists weremowed down,” the ISPR said adding that atleast 30 more terrorists were killed when thePakistan army used gunship helicopters to tar-get them in North Waziristan in Tuesday after-noon. According to ISPR number of cars andseveral motorcycles belonging to terroristswere also destroyed.

“In yet another strike in North Waziristanagency the Cobra gunship helicopters struckhard on the militant’s positions in NorthWaziristan agency killing at least 30 more in-surgents.

Karzai blamesPakistan for

destructive rolein Afghanistan

KABUL—Afghan PresidentHamid Karzai has asked Paki-stan to stop what he said “de-structive role in Afghanistan.”President Karzai made the re-marks during the 95th Indepen-dence Day commemorationwhere he referred towards thecontinued cross-border shellingin eastern Afghanistan. Besidesa large number of governmentofficials, both presidential can-didates Dr. Ashraf GhaniAhmadzai and Dr. AbdullahAbdullah participated in thesimple but dignified.

The remarks by PresidentKarzai come as the NationalSecurity Council (NSC) ac-cused Pakistani intelligence forarming and funding the militia-men in an attempt to destabi-lize Afghanistan. Both presi-dential candidates, Dr. AshrafGhani Ahmadzai and Dr.Abdullah Abdullah, Afghanministers, Afghan MPs andother political figures werepresent at the independenceceremony.

“The Afghans have sacri-ficed for many years, but havemaintained their indepen-dence,” Karzai said at the cel-ebration. “Afghanistan’s inde-pendence is a result of solidar-ity and unity achieved by thepeople of this country.” Presi-dent Karzai also called for earlyannouncement of the result ofthe presidential runoff held onJune 14. “I am hopeful that theelection results to come out assoon as better and both presi-dential candidates accept theresults,” President Karzai said.

The first round of Afghanpresidential election was held onApril 5, and the controversial run-off was held on June 14.—NNI

Parliamentarians five seatseach, Qaumi Watan Party 10,Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) 17 each.

The ruling alliance iscomprised of 70 seats, withPTI 55, JI 8, Awami JamhooriIttehad Pakistan 5 and two in-dependent candidates.

Sources said lawmakersfrom different opposition par-ties held a meeting late Mon-day and decided to present no-confidence motion againstPTI’s Chief Minister KPK,Pervez Khattak. The meetingwas also attended by JUI-Fchief Maulana Fazal UrRehman , a key rival of thePTI.

The opposition requires24 members to submit themotion and after the no-con-fidence notice the Chief Min-ister would not be able to sendadvice to Governor forassembly’s dissolution.

The leader of QWP ofAftab Sherpao, SikandarSherpao claimed the chiefMinister KP was about to dis-

PTI, PAT marchesenter ‘Red Zone’

From Page 1

protest with Khan’s to doublethe trouble for Prime MinisterMian Nawaz Sharif.

Mass support for the pro-test movement beyond Khanand Qadri’s core supportersappears to be lacking and otheropposition parties haveshunned Khan’s call to unseatthe government. With Khanlooking isolated, on MondayPTI made a dramatic doubleroll of the dice to try to re-energise its campaign. First theparty announced it would re-sign all of its seats in parlia-ment and three out of four pro-vincial assemblies.

Then Khan pledged to leadthe protesters in a march onIslamabad’s high-security “redzone”, which houses key build-ings including parliament, the

prime minister’s house andnumerous Western embassies.The area has been cordoned offwith shipping containers andheavily guarded by securitypersonnel since the protestsbegan, setting the stage for pos-sible clashes if Khan goesthrough with his pledge.

“We will march and stagethe next sit-in in front of theparliament house,” said BilalArshad, 20. “We are not readyto listen to anyone except ourchairman. We just want theresignation of the Prime Min-ister Nawaz Sharif, who is asymbol of corruption and badgovernance.” Fellow pro-tester Naeem Kazmi said thecrowd was ready to “reply ina fitting way” if violenceerupted.

and close to central secretariatand president House, themarchers are camped at a stra-tegic position to challenge thegovernment in a dangerousway.

The sources in PTI andPAT indicated their next movewill be to go further close toPrime Minister House in com-ing days. The Governmenthaving no answer to the mam-moth crowd surrendered andthousands of security person-nel retreated.

The PTI sources aftershowing some flexibility saidit is ready to negotiate withPML (N) to address the issuesif, MNS tenders resignation.

The mediators belonging todifferent parties are still busyfor patch up with a sense ofpessimism now as the Govern-ment is not prepared to lose anyground. Egoistic attitude onboth sides is the main hurdle, amediator belonging to Jamaat-e-Islami said.

Imran, QadriFrom Page 1

senior officers from both sidesreached an agreement for ajoint pullback.

That row had threatened todent improving ties betweenthe two countries which have

long been dogged by mutualsuspicion, a legacy of a 1962border war. Small incursions ofa few kilometres across thecontested boundary are com-mon but it is rare for eithercountry to set up camps in dis-puted territory.—AFP

eral capital which had arisendue to the sit-ins staged by thePakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf andPakistan Awami Tehreek.

Sources say that the mili-tary leadership apprised pre-mier Nawaz Sharif about theprogress made in the ongoing‘Zarb-i-Azb’ military operationin North Waziristan.

Prime Minister told themeeting that the governmenthas opened political dialoguewith both PAT and PTI to calloff their protest rallies, but theirleadership have refused to talk.

The decision by Indiangovernment not to send its For-eign Secretary to Pakistan forscheduled talks was also dis-cussed in the meeting.

PM decidesFrom Page 1

Will Mr. Khattak surviveno-trust move?

From Back Page

solve the KP assembly and theparties acted in time to thwartthe move by tabling No – Con-fidence against him. As manyas 48 members of provincialassembly signed the no-confi-dence motion against ChiefMinister KhyberPukhtunkhwa Pervez Khattak,maintaining that Chief Minis-ter has lost confidence of theHouse. The motion singed by48 out of total 124 members ofthe House said, Pervez Khattakhas lost confidence of theHouse and as such be stoppedfrom carrying on his officialduties as Chief Minister.

It may be mentioned thatat-least 63 members out of 123are required to make the no-confidence vote a successagainst Chief Minister PervezKhattak.

However, Mr. KhattakMonday sounded quite confi-dent of defeating the No-Con-fidence move against him withseventy MPA’s support. Hefurther said neither did the PTItop leadership advise him norhe had any intentions to go for

the dissolution of the KP as-sembly and the hype in thisregard was created by the elec-tronic media that carried notruth.

While he has the supportof 55 members of PTI whocannot vote against him afterthe 18th amendment in theconstitution, the junior coali-tion partner of the ruling PTIin KP Awami Jamhoori Ittehadcontinues to support CM KPwith the Party head and SeniorMinister KP Shahram KhanTarakai, who is also attendingthe PTI Azaadi March inIslamabad extending unflinch-ing support to Mr. Khattak.

Likewise the JI has alsodeclared that it has no inten-tions to vote against Mr.Khattak and the party wouldsupport him whole-heartedlyin No- trust move against him.It is believed that Mr. Khattakwould sail in the present cri-ses smoothly and survive theNo-Confidence move.

KP assemblyelections were held

fairly: KhattakZUBAIR QURESHI

ISLAMABAD—Chief Ministerof Khyber PakhtunkhwaPerviaz Khattak in an attemptto defend his government anddiffuse the No-ConfidenceMove against his provincialgovernment has made it clearthat MPAs of KP Assemblywill not tender resignations.

“Elections were fairly heldin Khyber Pakhtunkhwa sothere is no need to tender res-ignations or dismantle PTIgovernment in the province,”said Pervaiz Khattak whiletalking to media after attend-ing the core committee meet-ing at the PTI sit-in venue.About no-confidence motionagainst his government, hesaid “A few cowardly personswant to bring no-confidencemotion against my govern-ment but they will not succeedin their designs.”

However, he made it clearthat on the directions of theparty chief he along with hisparty MPAs will submit resig-nations at once.

Khattak said FazlurRehman’s dream to form hisparty’s government in the KPwill never be realized. Even ifwe have to tender resignation,we will not do it unilaterally hesaid adding, “We would firstconsult our allies in the KPgovernment.

Hezbollahkills top jihadist

in SyriaBEIRUT—Fighters fromLebanon’s Hezbollah have killeda top jihadist from the IslamicState group in Syria who alleg-edly planned bloody attacks inLebanon, a monitoring group saidon Tuesday.

The Syrian Observatory forHuman Rights said Hezbollahfighters had killed AbuAbdullah al-Iraqi in theQalamun region in Syria, nearthe border with Lebanon.

He “was one of the officialsin the Islamic State in charge ofpreparing suicide attacks”, thegroup said. “He was killed by aroadside bomb planted byHezbollah that detonated as hisvehicle passed by,” the NGOadded, saying three other jihadistswere also killed in the blast.Hezbollah’s Al-Manar televisionstation meanwhile reported Iraqi’sdeath, but said he had been killedby the Syrian army.—AFP

Published by: Zahid Malik from Ali Akbar House Markaz G-8, Islamabad and printed by Gauhar Zahid Malik at Al Umar Printers

World’s‘MostPiercedMan’DUBAI—Theworld’s most pierced mansays he was not allowed toenter the United ArabEmirates because of hisappearance and suspicionthat he was involved in“black magic.” RolfBuchholz, who holds theGuinness Book of WorldRecords for his 453piercings on his body andhas horns implanted intohis head, was attempting toenter the UAE to perform atthe Cirque Le Soir night-club at Dubai’s FairmontHotel on Friday. Buchholzsaid never got an officialexplanation as to why hewas denied entry, but hetweeted that he told he wassuspected of “blackmagic.”—Agencies

IS threat toBritain:CameronLONDON—Islamic Statefighters sweeping acrossSyria and Iraq are a directthreat to Britain and thecountry must use all toolsavailable to halt theiradvance, Prime MinisterDavid Cameron said.Cameron said that while itwould not be right to sendan army into Iraq, somedegree of military involve-ment was justified due tothe threat that an expand-ing “terrorist state” wouldpose to Europe and itsallies. “If we do not act tostem the onslaught of thisexceptionally dangerousterrorist movement, it willonly grow stronger until itcan target us on thestreets of Britain,”Cameron wrote in TheSunday Telegraph.—AFP

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif in a meeting with Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif.

Putin tomeetPoroshenkoMOSCOW—The Kremlinsays President VladimirPutin will meet with hisUkrainian counterpart at anAug. 26 meeting in Minsk,Belarus. In a statementpublished on its websiteTuesday, the Kremlin saidPutin would meet with theUkrainian president, as wellas officials from theEuropean Commission andthe Eurasian CustomsUnion, which is comprisedof Russia, Kazakhstan, andBelarus. UkrainianPresident PetroPoroshenko, who con-firmed the news in astatement, said that“stabilizing the situation”in eastern Ukraine wouldbe a key topic of discus-sion. Putin has stressedrepeatedly that Russia isopen to ending the conflictin Eastern Ukraine.—AP

PESHAWAR—The oppositionin the Khyber PakhtunkhwaAssembly on Tuesday sub-mitted a no-confidence mo-tion against KP Chief Min-ister Pervez Khattak to stopassembly dissolution incase the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) makes an at-tempt to do so.

Speaking to media, op-position leader LutfurRehman said they had Paki-stan Muslim League - Nawaz(PML-N), Pakistan PeoplesParty (PPP), Awami NationalParty (ANP) and QaumiWatan Party (QWP) onboard meaning support of46 members. Rehman saidthe motion had been submit-ted in order to save the KPAssembly. The move hasbeen taken as a legal meansto stop the dissolution ofthe KP assembly by thechief executive if the politi-cal crisis in the country

KP Assembly dissolution

No-confidencemotion submitted

against CM Khattakworsens. At present, in the124 member KP Assembly,PTI has 56 seats, Jamaat-i-Islami eight, Awami JamhoriIttehad five, PML-N andJUI-F 17 each, Pak ANPParty five each and QWPhas 10 seats, whereas, elec-tions are still to be held for aD I Khan seat.

The PTI’s governmentin KP was formed througha coalition with JI and AWIwith a total of 69 seats. Ifthe JI parts from the coali-tion and joins the opposi-tion, the PTI-led coalitionwill be left with 61 seatswhereas opposition par-ties would have 62 seats,one more than the govern-ment. In this case, 62votes are required to bothsave and oust Khattak. Atthe same time, at least 15PTI MPAs allegedly haveserious differences withthe chief minister.—INP

Squash legendHashim Khanpasses away

W A S H I N G T O N — H a s h i mKhan, one of the greatestsquash players of all time,died of congestive heart fail-ure Monday night. He wasbelieved to be 100-year-old.His youngest son, Mo, saidin a phone interview that

Khan diedin his homewith familyby his side.

Mo Khansaid of hisf a t h e r ’ sdeath: “Theworld just

lost the greatest player of alltime “. Khan was the patri-arch of Pakistan’s squash su-premacy, winning seven Brit-ish Open titles. At 37, Khanwent to the British Open, theunofficial world champion-ship. He had beaten the bestplayer in the world, four-timedefending championMahmoud El Karim of Egypt,9-5, 9-0, 9-0, for his first title.His last was at 44. About then,he had taught his brother,Azam, to play squash, and hewon four titles.—INP

STAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—A deadly road-side explosion in BajaurAgency Tuesday morningleft as many as six peopledead and many wounded.Those killed included threeschool teachers and twokids.

“Six persons includingthree female teachers, twochildren and a driver werekilled in an improvised explo-sive device IED) blast atTangi in Tehsil Salarzai onTuesday”. Senior officialssaid.

Official sources said thatit was a remote controlledbomb planted at the road side,which went off and hit a pass-ing by car on way to schoolresulting in on the spot deathof two female teachers, a childand a driver, while one femaleteacher, a child and a passer-by who were wounded suc-cumbed to their injuries onway to hospital taking the toll

3 lady teachers amongsix dead in Bajaur blast

to 6 in the incident.Following the explosion,

security and Levies cordonedoff the area and started searchoperation.

The KhyberPukhtunkhwa Governor,Sardar Mahtab Ahmad Khanhas strongly condemned theremote controlled attack on avehicle in Tangi precinct,Salarzai tehsil of Bajauragency on Tuesday and ex-pressed his deep shock andsorrow over the loss of pre-cious lives.

Expressing his deep sym-pathies with members of thebereaved families, the Gover-nor said the elements involvedin the heinous crime, he added,will also no more remain at largeand will be brought to court oflaw and justice. He has alsoprayed for eternal peace of thedeparted souls and courage tothe bereaved families to bearthe irreparable loss with pa-tience. He has also wishedearly recovery of the injured.

LHC rejectspetition against‘Azadi’ March

entering Red ZoneMUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—The Lahore HighCourt on Tuesday rejected anapplication to prevent Paki-stan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI)chief Imran Khan’s ‘Azadimarch’ from entering the fed-eral capital’s Red Zone.

On Monday, AdvocateKashif Sulaimani had submit-ted the petition in the LHC,which stated that Khan’smove to enter the Red Zonewould be unconstitutionalsaying court should issueorders to prevent him fromleading the march into the RedZone. He had moreover re-quested that the court shouldhear the matter on a daily ba-sis. Justice Alia Neelam re-jected the petition in the pre-liminary hearing and re-marked that the matter wasnot of a sensitive nature andthe court could not conductits hearings on a regular ba-sis.

Hearing another petitionregarding civil disobediencemovement launched by ImranKhan the LHC on Thuesdayreserved its verdict.

Juctice Alia Neelam heardthe plea submitted byAdocate Kashif Mehmood.

Pakistan not‘subservient’ to

India: BasitISLAMABAD—A day after In-dia cancelled foreign secre-tary-level talks over Pakistanienvoy’s meeting withKashmiri leaders Pakistan onTuesday reacted stronglysaying it was “not subservi-ent” to New Delhi and was a“legitimate stakeholder” in theKashmir dispute.

Arguing that high com-missioner Abdul Basit did notinterfere in India’s internal af-fairs, Pakistan foreign officespokesperson Tasnim Aslamclaimed that Kashmir was notpart of India. “That is just apretext. It was not the firsttime that meetings withHurriyat leaders took place.It is been happening for de-cades,” Tasnim told PTI.

She was replying to for-eign secretary Sujatha Singhtelling Basit to not to goahead with the meeting inNew Delhi and to choosebetween dialogue with Indiaor with the Kashmiri sepa-ratists.—PTI

PATNA—A passenger trainstruck a crowded rickshaw,killing 21 people at a railway

Train accident kills21 in eastern India

crossing in the eastern In-dian state of Bihar, a railwayofficial said Tuesday.

All the passengers in-cluding the driver of themotorised rickshaw died inthe accident that occurrednear Semra, a town in Bihar,said Vinod Kumar, a railwaypolice superintendent.

The crossing gate wasopen and the rickshaw wascrossing the track when thetrain hit it, dragging it forabout 500 meters, Kumarsaid. Among the dead wereseven children and sixwomen.

They were returning fromoffering prayers at a templein a nearby Motihari town.The rickshaw was reducedto a mangled heap of twistedmetal. Nineteen of the vic-tims died instantly, while twoothers died in a hospital, saidArvind Rajak, a railway offi-cial. Semra is about 240 kilo-meters north of the state capi-tal, Patna. Railway accidentsare common in India, whichhas one of the world’s larg-est networks.—AP

Arrest warrantsfor Dr. Qadri,

71 others issuedGUJRANWALA—The Anti-Terrorism Court has issuedarrest warrants for 72 per-sons including PakistanAwami Tehreek (PAT) chiefDr. Tahirul Qadri.

The ATC issued thewarrants while hearing apetition filed against PATworkers for clashing withpolice personnel nearGhakkar Mandi area,Gujranwala.

At least 61 police offic-ers were injured in clashwith the PAT activists, it wassaid in a petition.

The clash between po-lice and PAT workers oc-curred on Youm-e-Shuhada(Martyrs Day) on August10. The ATC ordered that all72 nominated personsshould be produced beforethe court on August 27,2014.—INP

Sri Lanka torefuse entry to

UN investigators:president

COLOMBO—Sri Lanka willnot grant visas to UN inves-tigators probing war crimesallegedly committed duringthe island’s decades-longseparatist conflict, PresidentMahinda Rajapaksa saidTuesday.

“We will not allow theminto the country,” saidRajapaksa, who is under in-ternational pressure to co-operate with the UN-man-dated investigation.—AFP

WHILE all the oppositionparties in the KhyberPukhtunkhwa province are

gearing up to evolve joint strategyagainst the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI)’s Azadi March and itssubsequent announcement of civildisobedience movement besides ten-dering resignations from the assem-blies sans KP, the 48 members of theopposition parties in the KP assem-bly have tabled no confidence mo-tion against the Chief Minister PervezKhattak, a move aimed at preventingthe intended dissolution of the as-sembly.

On the other hand the confidentlooking Chief Minister KP PervezKhattak said he enjoyed support ofenough members of the house tothwart the NO-confidence move add-

Will Mr. Khattak survive no-trust move?ing he or his party leadership neverintended to dissolve the KP assem-bly as “ his government was beingrun in transparent manners and theruling party was carrying out bestgovernance in the province”.

In fact the combined oppositionin the KP assembly comprising PML(N), Pakistan People Party, AwamiNational Part (ANP) Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam (JUI ) F and Qaumi WatanParty (QWP) of Aftab Sherpao, formerChief Minister of the then NWFP andformer ally of PTI coalition govern-ment in KP, besides Jamaat-e-Islami(JI), which is a coalition partner ofImran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf in KPK government, have ve-hemently been striving to desist thedissolution of the KO assembly.

While the JI has clearly spokenout its mind that it was not going tobe party in any move aimed at illegallydethroning the popularly elected PML

government in the center and also dis-tanced itself from the PTI AzaadiMarch in Islamabad, at the same timeit also reiterated its support to the se-nior coalition partner in KP the PTIsaying it will stand by the Chief Min-ister KP in the No-confidence moveagainst him.

The JI chief Siraj ul Haq presidedover a key meeting of JI’s parliamen-tary party in Islamabad on Mondayto discuss the post-resignation situa-tion and a possible dissolution of theprovincial assembly

and the JI leadership has report-edly decided to resist assembly’s dis-solution as well as defend No-confi-dence move against CM Khattak

Ameer Jamaat-e-Islami Siraj ul Haqhas on Monday said there was a con-sensus among the political parties thatthe assemblies should not be dis-solved rather protected.

Siraj ul Haq said his party was

making serious efforts for continuityof assemblies and to resolve the is-sues between the government andPakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI). TheJI Haq said efforts would be made toconvince PTI to reconsider its deci-sion although they were independentin taking a decision.

Likewise other opposition partiesin KP where PTI is ruling , had alsobeen chalking out their strategies inthe fast changing political scenariowith particular reference to stop pos-sible dissolution of KhyberPukhtunkhwa assembly by ruling PTI.

Imran Khan after he announcedthat his party members will resign fromSindh and Punjab assemblies in a bidto build pressure on Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif to quit.

The combined opposition in KPhas 54 members, with Awami NationalParty and Pakistan People’s Party

Situationer

Tariq Saeed

Continued on Page 7

STAFF REPORTER

QUETTA—The judicial commission formedto probe the mass graves discovered inBalochistan’s Khuzdar district on Tuesdayabsolved the armed forces and intelligenceagencies of responsibility in the case.

Chief Minister Dr Malik Baloch had es-tablished a judicial commission headed byJustice Noor Muhammad Maskanzai of theBalochistan High Court to conduct an in-quiry into the mass graves in the Totak areaof Khuzdar district.

The news drew criticism from humanrights groups, political parties and membersof the civil society.

“No one has recorded any statementagainst the armed forces and security agen-cies,” the report said. “No evidence of in-volvement of intelligence agencies hasbeen found in connection with the mass

graves,” it added. The commission, how-ever, mentioned that it was the core re-sponsibility of the administration to pro-tect the lives and properties of the people,and that the recovery of mass graves wasthe result of negligence on part of the civiladministration. “There has to be no pri-vate check posts in the area,” the reportrecommended, asking the provincial gov-ernment to step up efforts to ensure ruleof law in the region.

The judicial commission submitted itsreport to the government after conduct-ing an inquiry into the incident.

According to the Home and Tribal Af-fairs Department, a total of 17 dead bodieswere retrieved from the mass grave.

“The number of dead bodies in Totakis more than official figures claim,” Balochnationalist leader, Dr Hayee Baloch toldnewsman.

Khuzdar mass grave

Commission rules out involvementof armed forces, agencies

BAGHDAD—Iraqi forces launched an of-fensive on Tuesday to drive Islamic Statefighters out of Tikrit, home town of ex-ecuted dictator Saddam Hussein, while themilitants warned they would attack Ameri-cans “in any place.”

In Geneva, the United Nations refugeeagency announced a major aid operationto get supplies to more than half a millionpeople displaced by fighting in northernIraq.

Buoyed by an operation to recapture astrategic dam from the jihadists after twomonths of setbacks, Iraqi army unitsbacked by Shi’ite militias fought their waytowards the center of Tikrit, a city 130 km

north of Baghdad which is a strongholdof the Sunni Muslim minority.

“Our forces are advancing from twodirections with cover from army helicop-ters, mortar and artillery shelling the posi-tions of the Islamic State fighters in andaround the city,” an army major in theoperations room told Reuters.

Sunni Muslim fighters led by the Is-lamic State swept through much of north-ern and western Iraq in June, capturingthe Sunni cities of Tikrit and Mosul aswell as the Mosul dam, a fragile struc-ture which controls water and power sup-plies to millions of people down the Tigrisriver valley.—Reuters

Iraqi forces battle to drive jihadistsfrom Saddam’s home town

EGG YOLKS, along with other sourcesof saturated fat and cholesterol, cameunder fire in the wake of research by

Nikolai Anichkov at the turn of the 20th cen-tury. Do you always toss out the yolks whenyou make an omelette? Ifstudies are to be believed,avoiding egg yolks couldmean you are missing outon good nutrition. Wholeeggs don’t raise your risk ofheart disease - in fact, ac-cording to nutrition coachLiz Wolfe, it may be worsefor your health to not eatthem.

Egg yolks, along withother sources of saturatedfat and cholesterol, cameunder fire in the wake ofresearch by NikolaiAnichkov at the turn of the20th century. Anichkovtested on rabbits and foundthat cholesterol promotesheart disease.

Wolfe counters: “Rabbits have nothingin common with human bodies ... and choles-terol isn’t part of their diet anyway.” Re-searcher Ancel Keys made headlines in the1950s with his Seven Countries’ Study, whichalmost single-handedly set the line of think-ing on saturated fat that prevails today.

Keys claimed that after looking at the av-erage diets of populations in seven differentcountries, he was able to determine that thosewho ate the most animal fat had the highestrates of heart disease. But his analysis wasflawed. Although Keys’ data did show a con-

nection between fat and heart disease, hecouldn’t demonstrate that the relationshipwas causal. Furthermore, while mortalityrates for heart disease were higher in thecountries that consumed the most animal

fat, deaths from nearly everother cause were lower—andoverall life expectancy washigher.

In 2010, The AmericanJournal of Clinical Nutritionpublished a meta-analysis—the collected findings of 21different studies—whichstated that “saturated fat wasnot associated with an in-creased risk of coronary heartdisease, stroke or coronaryvascular disease”. Earlier thisyear, Time magazine reversedthe argument it made in a 1984cover story claiming eggs andother high-fat foods were dan-gerous. Wolfe suggests the realcause of heart disease lies in

the inflammation caused by “chronic stresslevels, and the over consumption of veg-etable oils and processed carbohydrates.”

According to Wolfe, egg yolks are “agreat source of vitamin A, which is goodfor skin, B vitamins for energy and cho-line, which supports brain health, musclesand is necessary for a healthy pregnancy”.The saturated fat in yolks is also necessaryfor hormone production and the body’s ab-sorption of vitamins and minerals. If youcontrol your overall calories, whole eggconsumption won’t cause weight gain, de-spite its fat content.

Egg whites or whole eggsfor a healthy you?

Long queue of vehicles seen outside a filling station before their closure by authorities on Tuesday.

Members of Hindu community performing rituals at Krishna Mandir to celebrate the Janam Ashtami festival.

Helpline for guidance of sit-in affectees directed

IHC Judge orders Chief Commissionerto meet PTI, PAT leadership

ZUBAIR QURESHI

ISLAMABAD—Justice AtharMinallah of the Islamabad HighCourt (IHC) on Tuesday whilehearing a petition of Islamabad’straders against the Azadi andInqilab marches and their re-spective sit-ins, has directed theActing Chief CommissionerMujahid Sherdil to meet the PTIand PAT chiefs and discuss withthem the situation for the pro-tection of fundamental rights ofthe citizens.

IHC single bench directedChairman Pakistan AwamiTehrik (PAT) Dr Tahirul Qadriand Chairman PakistanTehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) ImranKhan and the administrators ofIslamabad Capital Territory toensure that fundamental rightsof the citizens are well protectedand no one is in a position toencroach upon them.

IHC judge also directed thecapital administration to set upa helpline for the information ofcitizens facing hardships in theareas where protests are goingon. The judge gave these direc-tions while hearing a petitionfiled Ajmal Baloch President ofAabpara Traders Association. In

his petition, Baloch has soughtfrom the court intervention tostop the Azadi and the Inqilabmarches as “they were creatinghurdles for the smooth runningof business and thus affectingthe fundamental rights of thecitizens.”

In the last hearing the IHCjudge had observed that becauseof the twin marches and due toextraordinary security measuresincluding sealing of ‘red zone’life of common man has beenparalyzed and his/her funda-mental rights including right oftrade, movement, education,protection of life, property and

travelling abroad are en-croached upon.

In the last hearing, counselfor the petitioner IkramChaudhry advocate argued be-fore the court that the govern-ment should not have permit-ted PTI and PAT to hold sit-inseven at Aabpara andKhayaban-i-Suharwardi asthey were busiest markets ofthe federal capital.

He said that the protestersshould have been stopped out-side Islamabad in the outskirtsto lodge their protest. He con-tended that the administrationmay be directed to remove con-

tainers and barriers from themain arteries enabling the citi-zen to move freely for their rou-tine business.

After hearing his argu-ments, Justice Athar Minallahhad summoned the AdditionalAdvocate General (AAG) andinquired of him about the fed-eral government’s stance. AAGKhokhar had told the court thatthe government would considerthe demand of allocating aspecified area for the protesters.

The court then summonedacting Chief CommissionerIslamabad Mujahid Sherdil andwhen he appeared before the

court Tuesday, IHC bench ob-served that the recent activitiesin the capital have brought lifeto a standstill. The citizens can-not go to important public de-partments. Those students andothers who intend to travelabroad have also been struck.IHC judge told him that beingActing Chief Commissionerand as a head of the local ad-ministration he was duty-boundto protect the fundamental rightsof the people.

Justice Minallah directedthe local administration’s bossto submit a report and adjournedhearing till Monday August 25.

Security personnel ready to cope with any untoward incident on Tuesday.

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Minister of State, Capital Ad-ministration and Development Division, Bar-rister Usman Ibrahim directed the officials ofPIMS,NIRM, and Poly Clinic to make specialarrangements to counter any emergency situa-tion in the capital city.

As some of the political parties are launch-ing their protests in Islamabad and there mightbe a situation where a health emergency couldbe arisen, so we need to be fully prepared for

any such situation, said the State Minister,pressrelease issued here.

For that State Minister gave special direc-tives to arrange approximately 100-150 bedsfor emergency from 14th August, 2014 on-wards, in order to meet with any kind of un-foreseen event.

Ministry of CADD would be the authenti-cated source and the final authority to issue anypress release/news regarding Federal educationand Federal health related issues, said the StateMinister.

Hospitals directed foremergency arrangements

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The anti-government sit-ins organised by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the Pakistan AwamiTehreek (PAT) have not only disruptedthe routine life of city residents but theparks and recreational points of capitalcity also have witnessed very little visi-tors for last one week.

The recreational spots of Islamabad,including, Pakistan Monument, Daman-e-Koh, Capital Zoo, Shakar Pariyan, LokVirsa etc, which always had great attrac-tion for the visitors, looked deserted thesedays due to the protests and sit-ins led by

Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri. A localresident, Asad Khan while talking to APPsaid, we have restricted our movementever since these marches started, until andunless it was very important, so there wasno question to go for picnic or visitingsuch recreational places, he remarked.

“There is a situation of uncertaintyall around and no one is sure what is go-ing to happen,” said Asad.

“Our comfort and normal activitieshave been put at stake, we are the victimsof the political agenda being persuadedby the two leaders,” he said.

“We are highly perturbed as yet it wasnot clear, as how long the sit-ins would

continue. We are seriously concerned overthe security risk to our lives during theongoing sit-ins,” another resident RehanAhmad commented.

The shop keepers at these recre-ational points also showed deep concernover the current situation and said that itis not only they who were suffering, butthe business community in the city wasalso besieged causing huge losses to thebusiness.

“This situation will not only send awrong signal to the world but also haveadverse impact on Pakistan’s overall po-litical, economic and social fabric,” theyasserted.

Sit-ins suspend recreationalactivities in capital city

ZUBAIR QURESHI

ISLAMABAD—The Executive Council ofPakistan Ex-Servicemen Association(PESA) has called for dissolution of as-semblies, formation of interim govern-ment, holding of mid-term elections andlast but not least electoral reforms.

The association made this demandduring a meeting presided over by ViceAdmiral (R) Ahmad Tasnim here on Tues-day. Admiral (R) Fasih Bokhari, Lt Gen(R) Naeem Akbar, Air Marshal (R)Masood Akhtar, Brig (R) Muhammad Taj,Brig (R) Mian Mahmud, Brig (R)Masudul Hassan, Brig (R) Simon Sharafand Maj (R) Farouk Hamid Khan at-tended the meeting.

According to a release issued by thePESA afterwards, the meeting deliberatedon the current political situation and re-solved that the present crises in the coun-

try had exposed cracks, weaknesses andvulnerabilities of Pakistan’s constitutionaldemocracy. “It is time for the governmentand Parliament to take initiative and re-solve the crisis through political and con-stitutional means avoiding use of force,”says the statement.

The members expressed concern thatpolitical leaders had failed to rise aboveparty affiliations at the cost of country’sinterests.

According to the statement, the gov-ernment and the Parliament had so farfailed to deliver and perform their duties.

The public institutions have failed toaddress the serious and genuine issuesbeing raised through public protests, themeeting observed.

PESA also noted with concern dis-qualifications of elected members, in-cluding some ministers, which accord-ing to the statement is a testimony to

those doubts. “Thus, Pakistan Ex-Ser-vicemen Association after deliberatingand discussing all such matters of na-tional importance calls for immediatedissolution of assemblies, formation ofa constitutional caretaker government,electoral reforms and appointment of anIndependent Election Commission be-fore fresh elections are held,” concludesthe statement. It also expressed its con-cerns about the failure to implement or-ders of Additional District & SessionsJudge to register the FIR of Model Townincident.

Members considered it both, a con-tempt of court and breach of fundamen-tal rights under the constitution. Theyurged the Punjab government to imme-diately give directions for implementa-tion of court orders. The accused canclaim innocence at the trial, the state-ment said.

Ex-servicemen demandmid-term polls, independent EC

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Capital Development Author-ity (CDA) has increased the numbers of sani-tation staff from 150 to 182 to provide sanita-tion facilities to the marches Spokesman ofCDA said on Tuesday.

Talking to APP, he said CDA has consti-tuted a contingent of 182 sanitary staff whichwould work round the clock in three shifts.

As many as 31 workers each has beendeployed to provide cleanliness facilities toboth the marchers in 8 hours each shift, headded.

Sanitation facilities for marchers

04:45 01:3005:15

08:45

Zohr

Asr

Isha

Fajar

Meghrab at Sunset

Brothers in Islamestablish regularprayers & charity

PTI workers dancing while songs are being played during Azadi March sit-in at Kashmir Highway.

Workers of Pakistan Awami Tehreek having nap on Tuesday.

RAWALPINDI—The traders of Rawalpindidistrict have criticised PTI Chairman ImranKhan’s call for civil disobedience, saying itwill not succeed.

The representatives of trade unions ofRawalpindi district while condemning ImranKhan’s call said the country is confrontingvarious challenges and such steps would pushit towards economic instability.

President, Rawalpindi Chamber of Com-merce and Industry (RCCI) Dr. ShamialDaood said business community ofRawalpindi have rejected the civil disobedi-

ence call stating that such steps and politicalinstability will cause irreparable loss to theeconomy.

He said, how the citizens and businesscommunity support a party that does not havean alternate plan. He said, theincumbent gov-ernment has taken steps to boost economicactivity. Efforts are also being made to elimi-nate load-shedding, he added.

He said, the business community con-sider, civil disobedience tantamount to under-mining the economy, and will increase law-lessness and poverty in the country.

President, Anjuman-e-Tajran SheikhMuhammad Saddique told APP that tradebodies of the district have rejected PTI’s callfor starting civil disobedience.

He informed that a large number of tradeunion representatives have rejected ImranKhan’s civil disobedience call which wasunjustified and does not have any supportparticularly of the business community.

President Anjuman-e-Tajran Commer-cial Market, Raja Tauheed said, the stockmarket, after long and inqlab marches hadrecorded loss qorth billions. “We will not ac-

cede to PTI’s call as we are already facinghuge losses due to strikes, long and inqlabmarches,” he added.

He further said the civil disobedience callis not understandable and business commu-nity disfavours it.

The business community is against therecent political civil disobedience move anddo not want to close their business and indus-tries.

Talking to APP, President MarkaziAnjuman-e-Tajran Shahid Ghafoor Parachasaid that PTI’s call of civil disobedience will

increase problems for the citizens.President Traders Action Committee

Sharjeel Mir said Imran Khan’s civil disobe-dience call is unjustified and does not havethe support of the citizens particularly thebusiness community.

Traders would not accept PTI’s call asthe traders are facing huge losses due to thestrikes, long and inqlab marches, he added.

According to National Bank of Pakistan(NBP), regional head, the citizens and trad-ers are paying taxes and utility bills in all NBPbranches in the region.—APP

Business community rejectsImran’s civil disobedience call

Roads of G-6 closed by placing containers at all exit and entry points on Tuesday.

ISLAMABAD—Minister for Planning andDevelopment Ahsan Iqbal has called upon theleadership of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf andAwami Tehreek to withdraw its call for en-trance into the red zone.

Talking to the media persons in IslamabadTuesday, he said political and democraticforces are collectively engaged with the twoprotesting parties to find a political situationof the current situation. He said appropriatesecurity measures will also be taken for thesecurity of the red zone in the wake of pro-vocative calls given by the PTI and the AwamiTehreek.

He said the parliament is not the propertyof a single party. It is a sovereign institutionrepresenting 180 million people of the coun-try. Any attack on this sacred institution willbe considered an attack on the constitution anddemocracy. Ahsan Iqbal said the country isnot being run by an NGO but the PML-Nwhich is the most powerful political force ofthis country.

A handful people cannot steal the man-date of the ruling party and its allies which

have secured millions of votes. He said thegovernment is demonstrating utmost flexibil-ity and patience and advising the same to itssupporters who are perturbed over the situa-tion created by a few thousand people.

Talking to the media persons in Islamabad,Federal Minister Abdul Qadir Baloch said thedemand of PTI and Awami Tehreek for resig-nation of the prime minister is constitutional.He said a few thousand people cannot imposetheir will on the mandate of millions of people.

The Minister said the prime minister hasgiven full authority to the negotiating team togo to any extent for amicable solution of thecurrent crisis. He however made it clear thatno compromise will be made on the constitu-tion and democracy.

Minister for Railways Khawaja SaadRafique said we are constantly trying to en-gage Awami Tehreek and PTI on the table ofnegotiations but so far all the efforts have re-mained futile. He said the protesting partiesshould not do politics of corpses and opendoors for dialogue for the sake of the coun-try.—NNI

Ahsan Iqbal calls uponPTI, PAT to withdraw call

for entering Red Zone

CITY REPORTER

RAWALPINDI—A meeting was held atDCO office, Rawalpindi to review ar-rangements for entry tests of medical col-leges being held on August 31st.

The meeting was presided over byADC (G) Imran Qureshi and was attendedby Sr. Administrator Officer Aqil AhmedKhan, CTO Shoaib Khurram, Secretary

RTA Awais Tarar, EDO Health Zafar IqbalGondal, Director Colleges HumayunIqbal, Resident Director Rawalpindi ArtsCouncil Waqar Ahmed, EDO EducationQazi Zahoor ul Haq among other con-cerning officers.

The meeting reviewed traffic, secu-rity, parking and other arrangements forabout 6500 candidates who will appearin entry tests. ADC (G) said section 144

will be imposed around the examinationcenters and candidates will not be allowedto any print material, bags and cell phoneswith them in examination centres.

He said police will be deployed forsecurity and “walk through” gates will beplaced at all centers. He said smooth traf-fic flow will be ensured and parking ar-eas will be available around all examina-tion centers.

Meeting reviews arrangementsfor entry tests of medical colleges

ISLAMABAD—Supreme Court Bar As-sociation of Pakistan (SCBAP) has calledan emergent meeting of the ExecutiveBody tomorrow (Wednesday) to discussthe prevailing political scenario.

A press release by the Associationhere Tuesday said it is disturbed by thefact that mobs can rule over democraticdispensation and dictate terms for thefuture of the country bypassing the col-lective will and wisdom of the people ofPakistan. The release said SCBAP fullysupports freedom of association and ex-

pression but this should not be abused toundermine other fundamental rights byparalyzing the country. The SCBAPpointed out that it played a pivotal role inupholding rule of law and in bringingback democratic transition.

“An independent judiciary is a guar-antor for upholding these norms and theSCBAP hopes that this institution willremain neutral, impartial anddepoliticized. It will not stand by to seeany intervention in this respect” the pressrelease added.

At the same time the SCBAP calledupon the government to follow demo-cratic traditions and adopt the politics ofaccommodation.

It regretted that the government actedin a rash manner and SCBAP wholeheart-edly condemned e killings at ModelTown, Lahore.

It apprehended that further loss of lifemay deteriorate the political climate andput the lives of innocent people at risk,while their leaders continue to squabbleover power sharing.—INP

SCBAP summons emergentmeeting to discuss political situation

10 lawbreakersrounded upCRIME REPORTER

RAWALPINDI—Rawalpindipolice in its continued driveagainst anti-social elementshave arrested 10 lawbreakersbesides recovering 510 gramscharras, 20 liter wine, two pis-tols 30 bore with five rounds,10 rounds 44 bore and fireworksitems from the possession ofarrested accused.

According to Rawalpindipolice spokesman, Race Coursepolice netted Sartaj Khan forhaving 510 grams charras. Canttpolice nabbed Faiz ul Hassan forpossessing 20 liter wine.

Waris Khan police heldYousaf and recovered a 30 borepistol with three rounds.Morgah police also recovered a30 bore pistol and two roundsfrom Khawaja Tahir. Pirwadhaipolice held Sher Alam on recov-ery of 10 rounds of 44 bore.

Meanwhile, Waris Khanpolice sent behind the barsAdnan Latif, Muqadir Hussainand Mubashir Hussain and re-covered fireworks items fromthem. A kite seller namelyAshraf Mahmood was bookedas police seized kites and stringrolls from him.

ISLAMABAD—Minister of State for In-terior, Balighur Rehman Tuesday said thegovernment is taking different steps toaddress the increasing trend of use of nar-cotics in youth in the country.

Responding to a call attention noticeof Rida Khan and others, the Minister ofState said according to a survey of UnitedNations Office on Drugs and Crime, there

are 6.7 million identified drug users inthe country.

He said the UN has declared Paki-stan poppy free cultivation country andPakistan is maintaining this status. Hesaid our neighbor country Afghanistan isnumber one in the poppy cultivation anddue to porous border forty percent ofdrugs being smuggled from that country

passing through Pakistan. BalighurRehman said that with the cooperation ofthe provincial governments’ efforts arebeing made to include character buildingsubject in the syllabus which would dis-courage use of drugs in the youth.

The house offered Fateha for thoselost their lives in a blast in Bajour AgencyTuesday.—INP

6.7 million drug users inPakistan: Balighur Rehman

RAWALPINDI—The residents of Askari VII comprising 400 unitshave demanded of the Garrison authorities to immediately con-struct a speed breaker in front of the colony’s gate where a num-ber of accidents have taken place.

Col (retd) Ramzan, Col (retd) Javed Butt, residents of thecolony, complained that the traffic coming from Khawaja Cor-poration does not slow down in front of the colony’s gate, caus-ing accidents. They cited that a few months back Col (retd)Asghar was hit by a speeding car, which broke his leg and he

was still recuperating. A number of guards and Nimazis, whocross either side of the road to say prayers in the mosque, havebeen hit by speeding vehicles, though luckily no fatality has yettaken place, they added.

Brig. (Retd) Qamar uz Zaman, President of the residentscommittee, demanded of the authorities to have mercy on theresidents, who have to cross the road.

The road requires urgent repair to check its further break-age, he added.—APP

Askari-VII residents demandconstruction of speedbreaker

ISLAMABAD—Leader of the House inSenate Raja Zafarul Haq on Tuesdayhailing the Opposition role for strength-ening democracy in the current politi-cal scenario said that all democraticforces in the country are united forstrengthening of parliament, democracyand supremacy of the constitution.

Speaking in the Senate, Zafarul Haqsaid that democratic forces were on thesame page to steer the country out ofquagmire.

He said that civil disobedience wasalways against the country and not thegovernment.

He lauded opposition’s role in thecurrent political situation and said thatthe nation would remember their posi-tive role for the cause of democracy.Zafarul Haq said “their role will be re-

membered as milestone in democratichistory of the country”.

He said it was duty of the opposi-tion to pin point the government mis-takes for sake of betterment. “They notonly listen the opposition criticismwhole heartedly but also accepted theirgenuine demands in letter and spirit,”he said.

Regarding audit of four constituen-cies, the leader of the House said thatwining candidates associated with theseconstituencies themselves offered toopen and recount the votes.

He said that even the Prime Minis-ter visited Imran Khan in Bani Gala andoffered to constitute an electoral reformscommittee to ensure electoral transpar-ency. Later the committee was consti-tuted for electoral reforms, he said and

added that Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insafmembers were also included in the com-mittee.

Zafarul Haq said that Prime Minis-ter himself wrote letters to the SpeakerNational Assembly and Chairman Sen-ate for nominating members to the com-mittee.

The Committee was constituted toensure electoral procedure in a moretransparent manner and address all com-plaints regarding election process.

Zafarul Haq said those who sup-ported Gen (R) Musharraf during hisreferendum were united to save himfrom court decisions. These people wishto roll back the whole democratic pro-cess, he said. Later, the House adjournedto meet again on Friday morning at10.00 am.—APP

All democratic forces united forstrengthening Parliament, democracy

MUZAFFARABAD: Chairman Muzaffarabad Development Authority (MDA) Mr. Assad Habib Awan advisingtradersrational mearsures to reduce prices for the facility of common citizens here on Tuesday.

Patients being treated in corridors as wards are being renovated at the SMHS hospital inSrinagar.

ABDUL MAJID ZARGAR

THE recent announcement by Indian HomeMinster, Rajnath Singh, in his own temple ofdemocracy, the Indian Parliament that Kash-mir problem will be solved within the ambit ofInsaniyat is welcome. Metaphorically Insaniyatembraces truth, justice & fair-play. That ear-lier, Atal Behari Vajpayee, former PrimeMinster of India had also made a similar prom-ise, but not kept, is besides the point.

While dwelling on the subject , Singh usedtwo expressions-“within the ambit of IndianConstitution” & “within the ambit of Insaniyat”meaning thereby that these are two differentexpressions, mutually exclusive and the lattermuch more broader in meaning & scope thanthe former. It, therefore, stands to reason thatif a particular step or action is not warranted orallowed under the laws flowing from the Con-stitution, the same may initiated or taken un-der the broader canvass of “Insaniyat”. The first& most important step which can immediatelybe taken under the ambit of Insaniyat is the re-lease of Kashmiri prisoners. Languishing inJails spread over the length & breadth of India,

Release our prisoners within theambit of insaniyat

these prisoners are facing alien conditions &hostile behavior. How these prisoners are mal-treated is clear from the report of a team ofKashmir Bar Association which recently vis-ited various Jails in Jammu? It has listed thepathetic conditions prevailing in these jails andthe inhuman treatment meted out to inmates.

There should be no doubt in mind that thecondition of parents, spouses & children ofthese prisoners is no less than those of halfparents, half widows & half orphans particu-larly in this era of neglect at societal level. Ican vouch this from my personal experiencehaving witnessed the frequent incarceration ofmy father during the plebiscite front movementin Sixties and seventies. As a teenager I viv-idly remember how a family was subject toemotional torture by regimes of the day bykeeping their political adversaries continuouslyin jails? Sometimes selective leaks were madethrough a Kar-i-Khas( a CID personnel incivies) about the imminent release of prison-ers on Eid or other festivals. We would preparefor the event in a big way only to learn that thedecision has been postponed on one ground oranother. But once released, which would often

turn out to be for a short period, my fatherwould never reveal the tales of torture & mis-behavior inside the jails. He would instead bragabout the comforts inside the jail-of handsomedaily allowances, lovely group discussions withfellow prisoners & available sports activitiesetc. etc. Long after, I discovered that this washis own way of maintaining the morals of fel-low workers outside at higher pedestals & keep-ing them ready for going to Jails. This is a foodfor thought for our present day Pro-freedomleadership.

If India hopes to achieve an acceptablepolitical solution to the long festering problemthen it is imperative that all prisoners are setfree and a congenial & conducive atmosphereprepared for holding talks with all the stake-holders. That was also stated by a RadhaKumar, one of the three interlocutors on be-half of her group appointed by Govt. Of Indiain 2010 to explore a political solution to theissue. It will be quite absurd on the part of au-thorities to think that by putting people in longdetentions or restricting their movements willcompel them to forsake their claim for a justsolution. In-fact, longer the detention-stronger

the resolve to achieve the objective on thesimple premise that time spent in jails is aninvestment for those craving for just & equi-table solution & larger this investment- greaterthe expectations for a full return on investment.

Those in power at the Centre also need torealize that mere expression of sympathy willnot win over the bruised hearts of Kashmiris.In the past we have heard Narshima Rao say-ing “Sky is the limit”, Congress President SoniaGandhi reassuring us that “Kashmir had a spe-cial place in our polity” and the people of theState were “our own and their suffering is ours.”We also had former Indian Home Minster, Mr.Chidambram saying that Kashmir is a case ofbroken promises and a unique problem requir-ing a unique solution. But, such statements willnot carry any meaning with the people of Kash-mir unless these are translated into action. Non-fulfillment of the promise will also be a seri-ous sacrilege of the temple in which the an-nouncement has been made by the presentHome Minster.

—Courtesy: Kashmir Watch.[Author is a practicing chartered Accountant.E mail: abdulmajidzargar@gmail.com]

WASHINGTON—“India cannot disen-tangle from her responsibility by callingoff the foreign secretary level talks becausePakistani Ambassador met with the lead-ership of the Kashmiri resistance in NewDelhi. Both India and Pakistan must real-ize that the people of Kashmir must be theintegral component of ongoing peace pro-cess as they are the primary stakeholders.The Kashmiri leadership should be in-cluded as it will facilitate permanent, du-rable and honorable settlement of Kash-mir dispute. Both countries should under-stand that they cannot and must not try toresolve the Kashmir dispute by them-selves.

If they try without the the involvementof Kashmiri leadership, they will be per-forming Hamlet without the Prince of Den-mark,” said Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, Secre-tary General of ‘World Kashmir Aware-ness’ while addressing a forum at PeoriaConvention Center, Illinois entitled “Mus-lims Around the World Series” subtitle,“Kashmir: Challenge to the World Con-science.” The event was a part of the ICNAMidwest Convention. The leadership ofboth India and Pakistan must recognizethat there can be no settlement, negotiatedor otherwise, without the active and fullparticipation of the people of Jammu &Kashmir living on both sides of the

Kashmir is challenge to worldconscience: Dr Fai

Ceasefire Line, Fai added. “There are cer-tain characteristics of the situation in Kash-mir, which distinguish it from all other de-plorable human rights situations around theworld. It prevails in what is recognized -under international law and by the U.N. -as a disputed territory. According to the in-ternational agreements between India andPakistan, negotiated by the United Nationsand endorsed by the Security Council, theterritory’s status is to be determined by thefree vote of its people under U.N. supervi-sion,” he stressed.

He added that it represents aGovernment’s repression not of a seces-sionist or separatist movement but of anuprising against foreign occupation, anoccupation that was expected to end un-der determinations made by the UnitedNations. The Kashmiris are not and can-not be called separatists because they can-not secede from a country to which theyhave never acceded to in the first place,”

Fai ruled out one thing about the reso-lution of Kashmir and that is doing noth-ing. Because time, he said is not on theside of people of Kashmir. Time has madethe things worst. It will never heal thisproblem of Kashmir. He suggested the fol-lowing agenda to help resolve the Kash-mir problem: (1). The conflict over Kash-mir cannot be resolved through military

means. Kashmir issue is a political issueand has to be resolved through politicalmeans; (2). There has to be a cease-firefrom all sides during negotiations. Nego-tiations cannot be carried out at a timewhen parties are killing each other; (3).Talks must be tripartite between India,Pakistan and genuine leadership of thepeople of Kashmir; (4). There cannot beand should not be any condition from anyparty, other than commitment to non-vio-lence and to negotiations; (5). Negotiationsshould be initiated simultaneously at fourdifferent levels, including:

(a). an intra-Kashmir dialogue be-tween the leadership of the Kashmiri po-litical resistance, and the leadership ofAzad Kashmir, Gilgat-Baltistan and theleadership of Pandits, Sikhs and Buddhists;

(b). talks between the government ofIndia and Pakistan; (c). talks between theGovernments of India, Pakistan and theKashmiri leadership;(d). talks between India, Pakistan, Kash-mir, China and the United States.

(6). There should be third party facili-tation to make sure that the talks betweenIndia, Pakistan and Kashmiri leadershipremain focused. Third party facilitator couldbe a person of an international standing, likeNobel Laureate, Bishop Desmond Tutu ofSouth Africa or Dr. Kofi Annan of—KW.

SRINAGAR—Mary Aileen Diez Bacalso, theSecretary General of Asian Federation Againstinvoluntary Disappearances (AFAD) wasbanned to enter India on the night of 17th Au-gust 2014 at the Mumbai International Airport,a statement issued by JKCCS said.

Aileen Bacalso is also the Focal Person ofthe International Coalition Against EnforcedDisappearances with 52 members worldwide.On 11th August, Aileen Bacalso had tried toapply for visa from the Indian embassy in Ma-nila. While her papers were complete her appli-cation was not accepted on the pretext that timewas too short but they looked at the documentsand were completely aware that she was travel-ling on 17th August to India.

At around 10 p.m. on 17th August 2014,upon arriving at the Mumbai International Air-port, Aileen was immediately taken to a sepa-rate office, where around nine officials werepresent. Without asking any questions, the offi-cials started filling up a form, which later Aileencame to know was the form for refusal to land.None of Aileen’s questions or concerns wereanswered, instead she was asked when was thelast time she visited India, which was in No-vember 2009, and also ‘what bad happenedthen’. Aileen Bacalso was sent back on the sameflight and her passport was only handed over toher when she arrived at Manila. The only an-

India disallows HR activist’s Kashmir tripswer given to her question on why she wasbanned was that she should know. It is perti-nent to mention that Association of Parents ofDisappeared Persons (APDP), a member orga-nization of AFAD produced a report in Decem-ber 2009 on unmarked graves and mass gravesin Jammu and Kashmir, which later became ahuge embarrassment for Indian State. In Jammuand Kashmir more than 8000 people have beensubjected to enforced disappearances. So faraccording to the research of APDP, 7,000 un-marked graves and mass graves have been iden-tified in Jammu and Kashmir.

It is for the second time anyone from AFADhas been stopped from entering India. Previouslyanother AFAD Administrative Officer was re-fused entry in India in the year 2010. No AFADrepresentatives have ever been banned from vis-iting any country. This ban on AFAD represen-tatives to Jammu and Kashmir and India showsthe deep paranoia and hostility of the Indian gov-ernment towards human rights activists.

It appears that Indian State’s objective fromthis ban is also to isolate the human rights ac-tivists from Jammu and Kashmir. India, despitebeing the largest democracy has consistently be-haved like a rigid anti-human rights countrywithout any respect and concern to allow hu-man rights groups to work unhindered in Jammuand Kashmir—KO.

Kashmir employeesheld during protest

SRINAGAR—Hundreds ofJammu and Kashmir govern-ment employees were on Tues-day detained as they tried tomarch toward Chief MinisterOmar Abdullah’s residence tostage a demonstration in sup-port of their demands includ-ing regularisation of daily-wage and casual workers.

The employees of PublicHealth Engineering (PHE) de-partment marched towards thehigh security Gupkar residenceof the Chief Minister, officialssaid. As the protesting employ-ees reached Sonwar, the policeasked them to disperse but theyinsisted on going ahead with thedemonstration, followingwhich fifteen of them were de-tained. The protest call wasgiven by Kashmir PHE JointEmployees Association in sup-port of its demand forregularisation of daily wageworkers, casual labourers andneed-based workers. They alsodemanded their pending sala-ries be released and paid regu-larly. The employees have beenfrequently holding protest dem-onstrations in support of theirdemands. Over the past severalmonths, the employees stagedvarious demonstrations and sit-ins in support of their demands.They have threatened togherao the residences ofministers in their respectiveconstituencies if theirdemands were not metimmediately—KD.

SRINAGAR—Separatist leadership havestrongly reacted to New Delhi’s decision toblock a meeting between Hurriyat groups andPakistani envoy Abdul Basit in New Delhi. Al-though Shabir Shah, heading one of Hurriyatfactions, met with the Pakistani ambassadorAbdul Basit but a bevy of protesters booed himoutside Pakistan High Commission.

The meeting was scheduled ahead of Indo-Pak foreign secretary level talks. “Pakistan as-sured me that the government at Islamabadwould continue with the traditional stand onPakistan. He told me that the Pakistan wouldnot move an inch from its stand on Kashmir,”Shah told Kashmir Observer over phone fromNew Delhi. Other separatist groups too havesharply reacted to the New Delhi’s decision tostall the Srinagar-Islamabad talks. “It is a rou-tine exercise that whenever Pakistan governmentmakes any progress with respect to the Kash-mir issue, they first of all hold deliberations withthe Kashmiri leadership and it is also a perfectand appropriate action because Kashmiri nationis the prime party to the dispute, who shell beproperly consulted before any dialogue on thisissue,” says Hurriyat G spokesman Ayaz Akbar.

Malik, Mirwaiz, Geelaniangry over talks fiasco

Akbar further said that Congress’ opposition tothe meeting was a proof that Congress partyhas all along been a hurdle in the resolution ofKashmir dispute. He called upon The formerforeign minister of India Salman Khursheedasking him to clarify if these meetings were notagainst the diplomatic principles in the Con-gress. Yasin Malik, Chairman of JKLF, haswondered why the Modi-led NDA governmenthas chosen to block the meeting while their pre-decessor and model Atal Bihari Vajpayee hadrather facilitated such meetings. “ This govern-ment increasingly gives out the notion that theRSS agenda is it’s guiding principle,” Malik toldKashmir Observer who is leaving for DelhiTuesday to see off his Pakistani wife.“Kashmiris are the fundamental party to the dis-pute. After all India and Pakistan are discussingKashmir and the genuine representatives ofKashmir are supposed to be taken on board.”

Shabir A Shah, another separatist leader whoheads one of the Hurriyat factions, met with thePakistani envoy on Monday. “Pakistan acknowl-edges the fact that Kashmiris are the primaryparty to the dispute. India doesn’t want to ac-knowledge this starker fact—KO.

NEW DELHI—Hurriyat leaderSyed Ali Geelani arrived tomeet the Pakistan high com-missioner here Tuesday, a dayafter India called off the foreignsecretary level talks with Paki-stan over the latter’s envoyholding talks with Kashmirseparatists.

Geelani arrived to meetPakistan High CommissionerAbdul Basit. Ahead of meetingthe Pakistani high commis-sioner, Geelani termed theNarendra Modi government’sdecision to cancel the India-Pakistan Foreign Secretarylevel talks as unfortunate.

“We have been visitingPakistan embassy severaltimes to hold talks. The deci-sion to cancel foreign secre-tary-level talks is undemo-cratic,” Geelani said. “The is-sue of Jammu and Kashmir isan international issue and itshould be solved. As long aspromises made to us are notfulfilled, this issue will re-main unsolved,” said Geelani.

Moderate Hurriyat faction

Geelani meets Pak envoy, termscanceling talks ‘undemocratic’

leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooqsaid the Indian government hasover-reacted. “New Delhi over-reacted on the issue...There hasto be a peaceful, political resolu-tion to the Kashmir issue,”Farooq told a news channel. OnMonday, the Modi governmentcalled off the Aug 25 foreign sec-retary-level talks with Pakistanterming as unacceptable “thecontinued efforts to interfere” inits internal affairs. But the sepa-ratist leaders have decided to goahead with their scheduled meet-ing with the Pakistan high com-missioner in Delhi Tuesday.

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq andJammu and Kashmir Libera-tion Front leader MohammadYasin Malik are also scheduledto meet Basit. Pakistan has de-scribed the decision to cancelthe talks as a setback to its ef-forts to promote goodneighbourly relations. Indiahad conveyed its decision tocall off the talks followingBasit’s meeting with separatistKashmiri leader Shabir Shah—KD.

Kashmir youthkidnapped from homeGANDERBAL, (IHK)—A youthwas kidnapped by unidentifiedmen from his house in CentralKashmir’s Ganderbal districtleading to protest on Tuesday,an official said here. He saidresidents of Kangan this morn-ing took to streets and blockedthe Srinagar-Leh Highway af-ter a youth Mushtaq Ahmad Mirwas kidnapped from his homein resident of Barunbugh onMonday night. The youth’sfamily said that masked menkidnapped him from his homeafter they barged in—KD.

UN role urgedafter Pak-India

talks cancellationSRINAGAR—Terming the can-cellation of Indo-Pak talks asunfortunate and sorry state ofaffairs, senior resistance leader,National Front Chairman andHurriyat (JK) leader, NayeemAhmad Khan has said that thesituation has made the interven-tion of United Nations inevi-table.

“Who else than UN is themost suitable third party tointervene in a si tuat ionwhere talks are being can-celled? UN must come for-ward and resolve the longpending Kashmir dispute sothat the whole South Asianregion is saved from the de-structions of war and con-tinuous conflict,” NayeemKhan said in a statementwhile reacting to the cancel-lation of talks between Indiaand Pakistan.

Nayeem Khan said that itis of utter importance that itwas India which took theKashmir dispute to UN andthe internationally acclaimedand accepted inst i tut ionpassed many resolutionsabout it so who else than UNis a suitable third party to in-tervene in this regard. More-over it is India whose politi-cal leadership has promisedthe people of J&K about theresolution of the dispute.Nayeem Khan said that re-fusing dialogue and opposingit in the twenty first centuryonly exhibits the grave situ-ation prevailing in the SouthAsian region. He said that In-dia and Pakistan have al-ready fought two wars overKashmir which only added totheir sufferings.

He said that Kashmirisare holding deliberationswith Pakistan ever since thedispute came into being andNew Delhi’s present politi-cal dispensation has createda meaningless hue and cryover it. “By reacting againstit the Indian political leader-ship has created a situationof suffocation which canonly lead to destruction,” hesaid—KW.

SRINAGAR—Kashmir-born Sadaf Munshi, pro-fessor in the University of North Texas, US, hasput the human sufferings of Gaza and Kashmiron canvas. Her paintings are on a display fortwo days at the Jammu and Kashmir CulturalAcademy office at Lal Mandi in Srinagar.

The paintings exhibit the pain of the victimsof Gaza killings and also the Kashmiris who havesuffered during the turmoil. Sadaf said she wasmoved by the recent happenings in Gaza espe-cially the atrocities on children which motivatedher to draw faceless women and children of Gazain her paintings. Another painting of hers show-cases conflict in Kashmir as a prison and she says

US professor puts Gaza,Kashmir sufferings on canvas

due to the turmoil the Kashmiris have been un-able to break their shackles. “The closed wall inmy painting is reflective of what it is being likein the Valley,” Sadaf added. She said art could bea powerful medium of expression of human suf-ferings and that Kashmir was in dire need of moreplatforms where such expressions could be show-cased. “I was shocked to know that there is stillnot a single art gallery in the Valley. Even for thedisplay of my paintings, I had to look for adequatespace and finally I got the support of the culturalacademy. I really think that the artists in the Val-ley do not have a viable platform to showcasetheir talent,” Sadaf said—KMS.

WASHINGTON—Describing the cancellationof next week’s Foreign Secretary-level talksbetween Pakistan and India as “unfortunate”,the US has said what matters now is that boththe countries take steps to improve bilateralrelations. US State Department DeputySpokesperson Marie Harf told reporters inWashington, “It is unfortunate that planned

US policy on Kashmir has not changed: State Depttalks between India and Pakistan have fallenthrough.”

“We continue to support efforts by Paki-stan and India to improve all aspects of theirbilateral relations. And that is a position wewill continue making clear to both partieshere,” she said in response to a question—KMS.

Men, women, andchildren who

cannot live ongravity alone need

something tosatisfy their gayer,lighter moods andhours, and he who

ministers to thiswant is, in my

opinion, in a busi-ness establishedby the Creator ofour nature. If he

worthily fulfills hismission and

amuses withoutcorrupting, he

need never feelthat he has lived in

vain.

—P. T. Barnum

Conversion ratesKARACHI—The followingrates will be applicable forconversion into rupees ofForeign Currency Depos-its, Dollar Bearer Certifi-cates, Foreign CurrencyBearer Certificates, SpecialU.S. Dollar Bonds and prof-its thereon by all banksand for providing ForwardCover on Foreign Cur-rency Deposits (excludingF.E- 25 deposits) by theState Bank on August 20,2014. The rates are U.S.Dollar Rs 100.4087, Japa-nese Yen Rs 0.9784, PoundSterling Rs 167.0902 andEuro Rs 134.0356. —APP

KSE Index reportKARACHI—KarachiStock Exchange (KSE)100 index closed lower onTuesday having 28630.12shares with a negativechange of 222.03 andvolume of 101,085,520shares. High and Lowwere 28852.15 and28286.19 respectively.Total volume traded inthe market was144,735,930 shares with331 total traded compa-nies out of which 80 wereup, 237 were down and 14were unchanged.Construction andMaterials (Cement) werethe top traded sector withtotal traded volume of35,405,600 shares. It wasfollowed by CommercialBanks with a total tradedvolume of 35,000,500shares. The three toptraded companies wereBank Al-Falah with avolume of 7,561,000 andprice per share of 27.29(0.05), TPL Trakker Ltdwith a volume 3,837,000 ofprice per share of 8.79(0.99), Nishat Mills Ltdwith a volume 3,438,400 ofprice per share of 105.55(0.63). The top threeadvancers were ShezanInter with price per share943.00 (43.00).—Agencies

Port Qasimshipping activity

KARACHI—Three shipsC.V Posen, C.V CapeMelville and M.T Al-Salam-II carrying containers anddiesel oil were arrangedberthing at Qasim Interna-tional Container Terminaland FOTCO Oil Terminal re-spectively at Port Qasim onMonday. Meanwhile threemore ships carrying contain-ers, chemicals and palm oilalso arrived at outer anchor-age of Port Qasim during last24 hours.

Berth occupancy wasmanaged at the port at fortythree percent on mondaywhere six ships namely C.VPosen, C.V Cape Melville,M.V Glovanni, Bottigieri,M.V Maricana, M.T ArgentAster and M.T Al-Salam- IIwere occupied at PQAberths to load/offload con-tainers, canola seeds, ironore, diesel oil and phospho-ric acid respectively duringlast 24 hours.

Cargo throughput dur-ing last 24 hours stood at82,618 tonnes, comprises73,764 tonnes imports and8,854 tonnes exports in-clusive containerizedcargo carried in 1,449 con-tainers (TEUs) (1,003 im-ports and 446 exportsTEUs) were handled at theport. Container ship, con-tainer vessel ‘CapeMelville’ sailed out to seaon Tuesday morning, whilean oil tanker ‘Al-Salam-II’is expected to sail on sameday afternoon.

Four ships C.V Al-Farahdi, M.T Golden GatePark, m.T Hong Hai-36 andM.T Anema-e-Core carry-ing containers, chemicals,palm oil and furnace oil areexpected to take berths atQICT, EVTL, LCT andFOTCO respectively onTuesday.—APP

Trade deficitshrinks by16.58pc

IS L A M A B A D —Country’strade deficit narrowed by16.58 percent during thefirst month of the ongoingfiscal year (2014-15) com-pared to the same monthof last year, mainly owingto decline in imports intothe country. According tothe latest trade figures re-leased by Pakistan Bureauof Statistics (PBS), the im-ports into the country de-creased by 11.80 percent inJuly 2014 compared to theimports of July 2013.

The imports into thecountry were recorded at$3.364 billion in July 2014compared to the imports of$3.814 billion in July 2013,the PBS data revealed. Ex-ports from the country, how-ever, also decreased by 7.88percent by going down from$2.095 billion in July 2013 to$1.930 billion in July 2014.Based on the figures, theoverall trade deficit in July2014 was recorded at $1.434billion compared to the defi-cit of $1.719, showing a defi-cit of 16.58 percent.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

I S L A M A B A D — Te r a d a t a(NYSE: TDC), the analyticdata platforms, marketingapplications, and servicescompany, and Mobilink, theleading telecommunicationsprovider in Pakistan, onTuesday announced theyare enhancing their nearlydecade old partnership byenhancing sophisticateddata analytics capabilities inMobilink’s existing IT infra-structure in order to accel-erate the company’s evolu-tion as a customer-focused,data-driven business.Mobilink has been usingTeradata Enterprise DataWarehouse technology andservices since 2005. Withthis upgrade, Mobilink willenter a superior phase ofadvanced analytics to pro-vide customer centric ser-vices to their users.

The IT enhancementsare part of Mobilink’s strat-egy to continuously im-prove their technology forthe benefit of their custom-ers, especially in light of the

rapidly expanding 3G tele-communications network inPakistan. “Mobilink be-lieves in anticipating cus-tomer needs and innovatingconstantly to provide bestcustomer experience. Ro-bust IT infrastructure playsa pivotal role in creating thisexperience and calls for un-matched data analytics ca-pabilities”, said Bilal MunirSheikh Chief CommercialOfficer with Mobilink. “Ex-tension in our collaborationwith Teradata will help uscontinue to enhance ourcustomers’ experience bydeployment of fasteranalytics across depart-ments and achieving morerelevant insights into therapidly changing customerneeds”. “All of the top 15Communication ServiceProviders in the world useTeradata data warehousingand analytics solutions,”said Khuram Rahat, manag-ing director, Teradata Paki-stan, Afghanistan &Bangladesh, in explainingTeradata’s commitment towork with Mobilink.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Board of Directors of NationalBank of Pakistan in their meeting held onTuesday at the Bank’s Head Office Karachiapproved the financial statements of theBank for the six months period ended June30, 2014. Pre-tax profit of the bank stood atRs. 12.3 billion in the first half under review,which is higher by 63% from the corre-sponding period last year. The bank in H12014 recorded after tax profit of Rs.8.1 bil-lion which is a marked improvement com-pared to H1 2013 after taxprofit of Rs. 5.7 billion, an in-crease of 42%. Earnings pershare for June 2014 stood atRs.3.82 as against Rs. 2.69 (Re-stated) of last year.

The bank in Q2 2014 re-corded after tax profit of Rs. 5.0 billion,which compared to Q1 2014 is 59% highermainly on account of higher net interestmargin and capital gains. Non-interest/mark-up income increased by Rs. 2.5billion or 19%compared to the corresponding period lastyear. Fees / commission income is showingincrease of 8% only due to downward revi-sion in agency commission; however the

same was offset through higher volumes.The Bank capitalized on record high stockexchange index and recorded gains of Rs.4.5 billion which compared to correspond-ing period last year is higher by Rs. 1.8 bil-lion or 64%.

The bank’s efforts on reducing its non-performing loans have started to yield posi-tive results as NPLs reduced by Rs. 10.4billion compared to March 2014 and by Rs.6.2 billion compared to December 2013. Pro-vision charge against advances has re-duced by Rs. 4.5 billion or 70% mainly on

account of better recoveriesand reduction in non-perform-ing loans. Deposits comparedto December 2013, increasedby Rs.37.5 billion. Comparedto March 2014 deposits showan increase of Rs. 121 billion.

Compared to year-end December 2013 ad-vances show an increase of Rs. 4.4 billionmainly due to higher commodity financing.The bank is strongly capitalized with capi-tal and reserves of Rs. 160 billion, whichtranslates into break- up value per share ofRs.75.1/- per share. The bank’s rating wasre-affirmed at “AAA” by JCR VIS Creditrating agency in June 2014.

NBP approves six monthsfinancial statement

ISLAMABAD: Bilal Muneer Sheikh, Chief Commercial Officer Mobilink and KhurramRahat, Managing Director Teradata signing MoU.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The Securities and ExchangeCommission of Pakistan (SECP) has allowedUnited Insurance Company (UIC) to launchTakaful operations, a statement issued hereon Tuesday said. The notification issuedby SECP in this regard said that UIC hasbeen granted permission to launch windowTakaful operations in respect of generalTakaful products.

Takaful is a type of insurance system de-vised to comply with the sharia laws, in whichmoney is pooled and invested. Commentingon the development, Mian Shahid, Chairmanof United International Group of which UICis a member company lauded SECP to permitconventional insurance companies to launchTakaful, which is the Islamic alternative tomainstream insurance products.

The decision of the government will

help broaden the insurance base of as thepublic concern on the insurance being com-patible with Shariah was barring growth ofthe this sector, he added. Mian Shahid in-formed that after official authorization UICwill venture into untapped areas and in-crease insurance penetration which is lessthan one percent of the GDP. Takaful hasemerged as a Shariah-compliant tool forsatisfying risk mitigation needs of the tensof millions of Muslims across the world.The western financial crises have devel-oped interest of masses in the non-Muslimnations to study and subscribe to Islamicfinancial products. Earlier only dedicatedTakaful companies were allowed to under-write Takaful products but now the con-ventional companies could begin to under-write Takaful products after obtaining au-thorization as “Window Takaful Operator”under the Takaful Rules 2012.

SECP allows UIC to runTakaful operations

Mobilink extendscollaboration with Teradata

OBSERVER REPORT

KARACHI—The Annual Pakistan SME Forum2014 was organized for the 8th consecutiveyear, by SHAMROCK Conferences Interna-tional on August 19, 2014 in Karachi. Thetheme for this year’s conference was “Bring-ing SMEs to the forefront of National Priori-ties”. The insightful event attracted numer-ous SME experts and speakers along with alarge number of stakeholders. Speaking at theconference, the Executive Director of SMEsfrom the State Bank of Pakistan, Mr. SamarHasnain stated that over the past two years,SBP has been closely monitoring the Bank-Loan performance shown by the Small andMedium enterprises all over the country, andfound it heartening to note that the financialperformance of the SMEs, while utilizing bankloans, has shown significant improvement. Heurged the banks and financial institutions toextend generous financial support to this es-sential sector which demands some extra ana-lytical measures, but promises very safe andhealthy returns for the regulated banking sec-tor, as the default ratio of SMEs has alwaysbeen less than one percent.

In the inaugural session, the President ofUnion of Small and Medium Enterprises(UNISAME) and Director SMEDA, Mr.Zulfikar Thaver stated that three high-impact

SMEs financial performance registers upward trend8th Pakistan SME Forum 2014 concludes

measures are needed to ensure the prosper-ity of SMEs sector, which is an engine ofgrowth for the economy: credit guarantee,export House for SME marketing support andIncentives like tax-relief and technologicalsupport. “There should be a separate ExportPromotion Bureau, Engi-neering DevelopmentBoard and an Ombudsmandedicated for the SMEs.”He added. The CEO ofSmall and Medium Enter-prises Development Au-thority (SMEDA), Mr.Muhammad AlamgirChaudhry dilated on thestate of the SME sector,stating that SMEDA iscommitted to provide aconducive regulatory andtechnological environmentfor the SMEs. It conductsextensive research to strategically developclusters and sectors in the SME arena.SMEDA has launched numerous facilitationprograms to foster investment, productivityand competitiveness among the SMEs. Thegovernment realizes that 90% of the workforcein Pakistan is employed by the SME sector.

Mr. Anjum Nisar, Director of Export Pro-cessing Zones (EPZ) and former President

Karachi Chamber of Commerce (KCCI) criti-cally examined the performance of the SMEsector and its support institutions. He indi-cated that the Energy Crises and poor Law &Order are major impediments in the growth ofour SMEs. Pakistan needs to urgently build

new large dams to over come the electricityshortage. He also committed the provision ofspace for setting up a SMEDA Help-Deskwithin the KCCI building to facilitate theSMEs. Islamic banking can also play a keyrole in SME progress. E-Commerce specialistfrom the UK, Salman Merchant deliberatedon the increasingly critical role of E-Com-merce, which promises highly productive and

low-cost advantages for the SME entrepre-neurs. If Pakistan is able to establish a cred-ible online brand for its SME products, wecan accelerate the growth of our SMEs tre-mendously. However, he also highlighted theneed for creating a fool-proof Cyber Security

Mechanism for our onlinebusiness ventures.Ecommerce allows you todo more with less. Veryspecific Target marketingis possible with onlinebusinesses and it costs ascheap as 2000 rupees amonth, while there is noneed to pay any rent foryour shop. He added.

Former PresidentKCCI, Majyd AzizBalagamwala stated thebanks need to alter theirpolicies regarding the

provision of loans to credible and produc-tive SMEs who are not able to offer any col-lateral. The banks must consider giving outloans to such SMEs against movable assets.Other important personalities and speakersat the forum included; Group Head of BankAl-Falah Ltd, Ms. Mehreen Ahmed: CreditHead of First Women’s Bank, Ms. YasminAdham; Planning Ministry’s Development

Fellow, Mr. Kaleem Ahmed and the Sr. VicePresident of Women Entrepreneurship Com-mittee at KCCI, Ms Silwat Afzal.

Earlier, during his inaugural address, Mr.Menin Rodrigues, Convener & Chairman ofSHAMROCK Conferences Internationallauded the productivity of SMEs stating, “Ac-cording to research estimates in South Asiancountries; every one rupee of investment infixed assets in the SME sector, producesaround 4 rupees worth of goods and services,with an approximate value addition of 10 per-centage points”. The participants discussedin detail, the critical subjects and challengesranging from regulatory inconsistency, diffi-culties in SMEs access to finance, banking ser-vices, taxation, training, transportation ofgoods, power and energy issues, and securityconcerns.

Senior representatives and decision mak-ers from; State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Com-mercial Banks, Small & Medium EnterprisesDevelopment Authority (SMEDA), BusinessSupport Fund (BSF), Sindh Enterprise Devel-opment Fund, Chambers of Commerce & In-dustry, IFC-World Bank, Sindh Finance Minis-try, Sindh Investment Board, Women Entre-preneurs and Union of Small & Medium Enter-prises (UNISAME) along with learned regula-tors graced the occasion and enriched the dis-cussions with their enthusiastic participation.

ISLAMABAD—Federation of Pakistan Cham-ber of Commerce and Industries (FPCCI) Presi-dent Zakaria Usman Tuesday hailed the In-ternational Monetary Fund (IMF) satisfac-tion report on government policies tostrengthen macro economic stability and re-viving investment and growth. Talking to APPFPCCI President said economic indicatorswere improving and growth was continuingto gain momentum and inflation is on a down-ward trajectory. He said the government’s re-form program was broadly on track.

“IMF team during talks with financeminister at Dubai said that GDP growth wasexpected to rise by 4.3 percent in fiscal year2014-15 as compared to a provisional esti-

FPCCI President hails IMFeconomic indicators stability report

mate of 4.1 percent in last fiscal year” hesaid. Commenting on IMF officials state-ment, Usman said that PML-N governmentmade excellent progress for economicgrowth. He welcomed PM’s decision ofconstituting committee for dialogue withPTI and PAT as a five member committeehas been assigned to contact both the par-ties. Zakaria said Prime Minister is deter-mined to fulfil economic agenda and PML-N government will continue its march to-wards prosperity and development. TheFPCCI President, said any attempt to en-courage citizens for not paying their utilitybills and taxes would further weaken theeconomy.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Secretary Livestock and Dairy DevelopmentDepartment Punjab Nasim Sadiq has said that the govern-ment wants to take full advantage of Turkish experience ofunprecedented success in the livestock sector and intendsto explore the possibilities for its replication in Pakistan.He said that disease control, nutrition, breed improvement,human resource, value chain enhancements are the toppriorities of Livestock and Dairy Development DepartmentPunjab. He was talking to a Turkish delegation led byMinistry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock DeputyUnder-secretary Nihat Pakdil who visited the Univer-sity of Veterinary and Animal Sciences. They discussedpossibility of collaboration in education, research anddevelopment in veterinary, livestock and related sec-tors .

Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr Talat Naseer Pashagave a detailed presentation on “Veterinary EducationSystem in Pakistan” to the visiting delegation. He threwlight on the history of veterinary education and vet-erinary educational institutions, new initiatives in vet-

Govt to have advantage of Turkishexperience in livestock sector

Turkish delegation seeks potential collaboration in R&Derinary and livestock sector and the contribution oflivestock to the national and agriculture GDPs of Paki-stan. He also spoke about the role of the UVAS inproduction of trained manpower, provision of servicesand promotion of research in the country.

He said that UVAS is currently executing researchprojects worth Rs 606 million grants won by the fac-ulty members from national and international donoragencies. The Turkish delegation comprised NihatPakdil, Deputy Under-secretary, Ministry of Food, Ag-riculture and Livestock, Dr Nahit Yazicioglu, Head ofDepartment, Animal Health and Quarantine, GeneralDirectorate of Food and Control, Ministry of Food,Agriculture and Livestock, Mehmet Ali Karagoz, EUAssistant Expert, EU and Foreign Relations Depart-ment, Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, DrAli Ayar, Head of Department, Breeding and Improve-ment, General Directorate of Animal Farming, Sirri Ozturk,member of Turkish Cattle Breeding Central Association,Dr Huseyin Velioglu, Secretary General, Turkish CattleBreeding Central Association, Professor Dr Rifki Haziroglu,Dean of Veterinary School, Ankara University.

Samsung tounveil smart

office platformSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Samsung willunveil the new smart of-fice platform alongside itslatest multifunction print-ers. This is the first timeSamsung will hold a pressconference dedicated toits Printing Solutionsbusiness at IFA.

The event will be heldat 4:00 p.m. on September4, in the Leonardo RoyalHotel Berlin. A statementissued here on Tuesdaysaid interested partiesshould contact their localSamsung press office formore information.

Building on its com-mitment to create theSmart Office throughconnected office de-vices, Samsung willshowcase its continuedefforts in innovativesmartphones, Smart TVsand Smart Home tech-nology.

Earlier this year atCeBIT 2014, Samsungdemonstrated SamsungCloud Print, which allowsusers to easily print viatheir mobile devicesthrough a simple regis-tration process.Samsung also plans tounveil its newest enter-prise-focused printersand printing solutionsthat will enable the con-vergence of office de-vices.

Oil pricesrebound in AsiaSINGAPORE—Oil pricesrebounded in Asia Tues-day on bargain-huntingafter tumbling on easingconcerns about con-fl icts in Ukraine andIraq, analysts said. USbenchmark West TexasIntermediate (WTI) forSeptember delivery rose38 cents to $96.79 whileBrent crude for Octoberwas up 22 cents to$101.82 in late-morningtrade. WTI fell 94 centsin New York trade Mon-day, while Brent sank$1.93 in London to hit itslowest level since June2013.

“We are seeing a con-tinued trend in the pastfew days of gains in Asia-Pacific trading after over-night falls,” MichaelMcCarthy, chief marketstrategist at CMC Marketsin Sydney, told AFP. “Oilprices generally are con-tinuing to fall with the dy-ing down of geopoliticaltensions in Ukraine andIraq,” McCarthy said. Adeclaration by Ukrainelast week that it had de-stroyed some Russianarmoured cars hadsparked fears that the sim-mering tensions betweenthe neighbours could es-calate into a full-fledgedwar.

Such a developmentcould cause energy pricesto surge as Russia is theworld’s number-two oilproducer, and Ukraine isa key conduit forMoscow’s gas exports toEurope. But talks late Sun-day that also involved theforeign ministers of Ger-many and France con-cluded with an agreementfor the sides to meet againand continue trying to de-escalate the worst East-West crisis since the ColdWar.—AFP

Currency Selling Buying

USA 99.50 99.30

UK 166.39 166.05

Euro 132.91 132.64

Canada 91.34 91.16

Switzerland 109.72 109.50

Australia 92.94 92.76

Sweden 14.51 14.48

Japan 0.9697 0.9678

Norway 16.15 16.12

Singapore 80.00 79.84

Denmark 17.83 17.79

Saudi Arabia 26.53 26.48

Hong Kong 12.84 12.81

Kuwait 350.86 350.16

Malaysia 31.56 31.49

Newzealand 84.01 83.84

Qatar 27.32 27.27

UAE 27.09 27.04

Kr. Won 0.0978 0.0976

Thailand 3.125 3.119

Daily opening& closing ratesPMEX Index 2,963Total Volume (Lots): 9,982Traded Value (Rs): 1,738,769,833

Commodity .......................... Price Quotation .................... Open ............. CloseCRUDE OIL ......................... $ Per Barrel ............................. 96.38 .............. 96.80SILVER ................................. $ Per Ounce ............................ 19.578 ............ 19.650GOLD ................................... $ Per Ounce ............................ 1,301.4 ........... 1,300.0GOLD ................................... Rs Per 10 gms ......................... 41,823 ............ 41,780MTOLAGOLD .................... Rs Per Tola ............................. 50,210 ............ 50,138GOLD ................................... Rs Per Tola ............................. 50,210 ............ 50,138RICEIRRI6 ........................... Rs Per 100 kg.......................... 3,628 .............. 3,627PALMOLEIN ...................... Rs Per Maund ........................ 4,006 .............. 3,995SUGAR ................................ Rs Per kg ................................. 48.17 .............. 50.80ICOTTON ............................ US Cents per pound ............. 63.71 .............. 63.59WHEAT ............................... Rs Per 100 kg.......................... 3,402 .............. 3,401

The total value traded was PKR 1.739 billion and number of lots traded was reportedat 9,982. PMEX Commodity Index closed at 2,963. Major business was contributedby crude oil amounting to PKR 1.378 billion, followed by gold at PKR 338 million andsilver at PKR 22 million.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The Administrator Karachi RaufAkhtar Faruqi has assured the industrialiststo carry out development work in Korangiindustrial area very soon despite the pau-city of funds. Addressing to a dinner recep-tion hosted by Pakistan Tanners Associa-tion (PTA) S.Z. in his honour on Tuesday,Faruqi announced to re-construct dilapi-dated Jam Sadiq Bridge very soon as theChief Minister has approved the PC-I of theproject. Chairman PTA SZ, Fawad Jawed,Deputy Commissioner Korangi, SSP PoliceKorangi, former Chairman PTA and Vice Presi-dent FPCCI, Gulzar Firoz and prominent tan-ners were also present on the occasion.

He said that Massive repairs and recon-struction of the bridge that connects thecity to the Korangi Industrial was the longtime demand of the industrialists and nowthe work would be commenced in a week’stime. As pointed by the PTA Chief, he im-mediately ordered the carpeting of link roadin Tannery Zone, which was left by theKMC staff incomplete. He further an-nounced to repair the refinery road, which

KARACHI: Photograph of SM Munir CEO TDAP, President KATI Syed Farukh Mazhar,Mian Zahid Hussain presenting KATI Shield to Chairman BOI Dr. Miftah Ismail. MDSSGC Shoaib Warsi, Ehteshamuddin, Masood Naqi, Umer Rehan, Saleem-uz-Zamanand others also present on the occasion.—PO photo by Sultan Chaki

KARACHI: Anjum Nisar Director Export Processing Zone addressing to “PakistanSME Forum 2014”, Mehreen Ahmed Group Head Retail and New Initiatives, Bank Al-Falah Limited is also seen in the picture.—PO photo by Sultan Chaki

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Tobacco Company(PTC) has announced its half yearly resultsfor 2014. According to the financial resultsreleased, the company contributed morethan Rs. 41 billion to Government revenueson account of excise duty, sales tax andincome tax, which is a 31% increase overthe same period last year. The growth in taxcontribution is even more that thecompany’s gross turnover growth ofaround 24%. The company also declared aprofit of Rs. 2.85 billion with an earningsper share of Rs. 11.84 Tobacco in-dustry is a big revenue spinner and con-tributed more than Rs. 87 billion in FY 2013-2014. According to tax experts, due to theincrease in excise duties this year the rev-enue contribution from the sector is ex-pected to be in the vicinity of Rs. 102 bil-lion this fiscal year. It is noteworthy thatmore than 99% of the government revenuecontribution in the tobacco sector comes

OBSERVER REPORT

KARACHI—Al Baraka Banking Group has announced itscollaboration with the World Bank to begin a research part-nership that would be beneficial to the global Islamic bank-ing industry. The partnership’s first initiative, part of aplanned series of research projects, will be a study examin-ing the risk-management challenges facing Islamic banks,with a particular focus on Musharaka and Mudaraba un-der the profit-and-loss-sharing system. The Group Presi-dent & Chief Executive, Mr. Adnan Ahmed Yousif, stated:“This collaboration with the World Bank is yet anotherdemonstration of the Group’s commitment to research andknowledge-building in the Islamic financial services in-dustry.” Al Baraka is recognized as a pioneer in the Islamicbanking sector for its longstanding think tank, Al Baraka’sAnnual Islamic Banking Symposium (The Nadwa). TheNadwa is the only platform of its kind that annually pro-vides the industry with resolutions and fatwas, which formthe basis of new products, standards and policies. Mr.Yousif added, “We are committed to serving the sector byaddressing several pressing issues that the industry isfacing today. The research collaboration with the WorldBank is yet another step in this direction.”

Mr. AbayomiAlawode, Head of Islamic Finance at theWorld Bank, stated, “The most pressing challenge fac-ing the industry today is to prepare the ground for theprofit-and-loss system to flourish. After a series of dis-cussions with Al Baraka’s Executive Management andResearch Team, we recognize that the industry must ad-dress concerns that the majority of Islamic banking as-sets are debt-based and that the proportion of equity-based investments (such as Musharaka and Mudaraba)does not form a significant portion of the Islamic invest-ments portfolio. The enabling support system to mitigatethese inherent risks and challenges is either limited ornonexistent. As a result, equity-based investments re-main under-represented in the Islamic banking industry.”

Islamic Finance: Al Baraka announcescollaboration with World Bank

Mr. Adnan Ahmed Yousif added, “Being the first ofits kind, the research project will not only collect datafrom a number of countries where Musharaka andMudaraba are being used in banking transactions, butthe project will also examine what enabling legal and regu-latory environment would be needed to support the ad-equate risk management of Musharaka and Mudaraba.”Mr. AbayomiAlawode remarked, “We look forward to ourcollaboration with Islamic financial institutions, such asAl Baraka, drawing on their front-line experience in theuse of Islamic financial products. Their insights will con-tribute to producing a study that will encourage innova-tion and contribute to the sustainable growth of the in-dustry. The Islamic banking and financial industry hasreached a level where further growth is possible, if it de-velops new tools and innovative products that addressthose core issues.”

The research project is now under way. Its prelimi-nary findings are expected to be available in the first quar-ter of 2015. Al Baraka Banking Group is a Bahrain JointStock Company licensed as an Islamic wholesale bankby Central Bank of Bahrain, listed on Bahrain Bourse andNasdaq Dubai stock exchanges. It is a leading interna-tional Islamic banking group providing its unique ser-vices in countries with a population totaling around onebillion and is rated by Standard & Poor’s at BB+ (longterm) / B (short term). Al Baraka offers retail, corporate,treasury and investment banking services, strictly in ac-cordance with the principles of the Islamic Shari’a. Theauthorized capital of Al Baraka is US$ 1.5 billion, whiletotal equity is at about US$ 2 billion.

The Group has a wide geographical presence in theform of subsidiary banking Units and representative of-fices in fifteen countries, which in turn provide their ser-vices through more than 480 branches. Al Baraka cur-rently has a strong presence in Jordan, Tunisia, Sudan,Turkey, Bahrain, Egypt, Algeria, Pakistan, South Africa,Lebanon, Syria, Indonesia, Libya, Iraq and Saudi.

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—The Punjab government on Tuesday approved11 development schemes of different development Sectorswith an estimated cost of Rs. 6695.570 million. These schemeswere approved in the 6th meeting of Provincial Develop-ment Working Party of current fiscal year 2014-15 presidedover by the Punjab Planning and Development Board Chair-man, Muhammad Irfan Elahi, says P&D Spokesman. Pro-vincial Secretary P&D Waseem Ajmal Choudhary, membersof the Planning & Development Board, Provincial Secretar-ies concerned and other senior representatives of the rel-evant Provincial Departments also attended the meeting.

According to Spokesman for P&D, the approved de-velopment schemes included: Improvement / Rehabilita-tion of Existing Multan Road, Lahore from Chauburji toThokar Niaz Baig, length=11.20 Km, Lahore at the cost ofRs. 311.000 million, Construction of road from Narowal toLahore via Baddomalhi-Narang-Kala Khatai Shahdara(length=42.71 km) District Narowal / Sheikhupura (Revised)at the cost of Rs. 697.626 million, Widening / Improvement

Punjab Govt approves 11 developmentschemes worth of Rs. 6695.570m

of Mianwali Muzaffargarh road from Km#229.80 to 278.36length 48.56 Km (section chowk Sarwar Shaheed to T.P.link Canal & T.P. link Canal to Muzaffargarh) (Revised) atthe cost of Rs. 1032.896 million, Establishment of Univer-sity of Veterinary and Animal Sciences at Bahawalpur atthe cost of Rs. 2350.000 million, Installation of New WaterSupply Scheme for the Residents of Fateh Jang City TehsilFateh Jang District Attock at the cost of Rs. 420.441 mil-lion, Feasibility Study for Raising of Rawal Dam (PC-II) atthe cost of Rs. 38.059 million, Feasibility Study of QutibBandi Dam Site (PC-II) at the cost of Rs. 39. 507 million,Feasibility Study of Thatha Dam Project (PC-II) at thecost of Rs. 43.844 million, Lining of Thamman Disty RD0+000 to 97+960 Tail, District Kasur at the cost of Rs.318.550 million, Rehabilitation and Improvement of Ex-isting Dams and Irrigation Channels in Small Dams Or-ganization at the cost of Rs. 732.017 million and Hiringof Design Review, Monitoring, Reporting, and Construc-tion Supervision Consultants for Mega IrrigationProjects, in the Irrigation Department, Punjab, (PC-II)(Revised) at the cost of Rs. 711.630 million.

Development work in tanneryzone set on priority

has turned into a very bad shape. He saidthat encroachments on refinery road wouldbe removed with the help of area deputycommissioner and police.

He said that despite the fact that KMChas very limited resources and facing mas-sive shortfall of revenue, would completethe remaining work in Tannery Zone with itsown funds. He however said that the waterto the industrial areas especially the Tan-nery Zone could only be supplied when thegovernment increase water quota from Indusfor at least 1000 cusecs as present quota of1200 cusecs could only cater to the needs ofthe less than half of the population ofKarachi. He said that reverse osmosis plantsinstalled by DHA have been failed either. Heurged upon the industrialists to urge uponthe federal government to release KMC’sfunds so that several projects that have beenshelved due to non release of funds in thecity should be executed. Gulzar Firoz pointedout on the occasion that people have ex-tended their houses on the link nullah thatconnects to the treatment plant, illegallyshould be removed otherwise any untowardincident could have occurred any time.

PTC contributes over Rs 41bto govt leviesPosts Rs. 2.85b profit

from two companies i.e. Pakistan TobaccoCompany and Philip Morris Pakistan. Whilethe legitimate players are paying up theirshare of the levies, incidence of illegal tradein cigarettes stands at an alarming 25%+and has resulted in a loss of over PKR 80+Billion to the Government exchequer overthe past five years.

The cheap illegal brands on which noduty is paid are widely available across thecountry and are sometimes sold at a pricemuch below the minimum tax payable percigarette pack. Due to the low purchasingpower, the consumers get attracted to theseproducts. Not only that but the margins forthe wholesalers and the distributors arealso much higher for illegal cigarettes incomparison to the legal sector. Resultantlythe legitimate cigarette sector suffers. Ac-cording to sources in government, enforce-ment against these illicit brands is beingstepped up as national exchequer may losemore than 100 billion rupees in revenues inthe next five years if nothing is done.

HYDERABAD: A vendor selling potatoes and onion at vegetable market.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The Pakistan Credit RatingAgency (PACRA) has maintained the long-term and short-term entity ratings of HabibMetropolitan Bank Limited at ‘AA+’(Double A Plus) and ‘A1+’ (A One Plus),respectively. The ratings denote a very lowexpectation of credit risk emanating from avery strong capacity for timely payment offinancial commitments. The ratings incor-porate HabibMetro’s association with a di-versified and financially strong interna-tional bank - Habib Bank AG Zurich (HBZ).This association helps in assimilating theparent’s best practices into HabibMetro,while fostering control environment withenhanced level of regulatory oversight.

The ratings recognize the bank’s healthyfinancial profile emanating from a strong eq-uity base that is supplemented by an adequate

PACRA maintains entity ratingsof Habib Metropolitan Bank

flow of profitability. The bank sustained itsdominant position in its niche market - self-liquidating trade finance - though with higherfocus of other banks, the competition is in-creasing. The bank characterizes concentra-tion in its deposit as well as loan books. Thebank’s asset quality is relatively stressedcompared to similar rated banks.

However, the accumulation has stalledwith high likelihood of reduction in theoverall size of the infection. Nonetheless,strong provision coverage limit any dragon risk absorption. The rating is dependenton management’s ability to successfullyexecute its business strategy of diversifi-cation in the northern region and growthwhile upholding position in its respectiveniche. Any weakening in asset quality, inturn, putting pressure on the bank’s profit-ability and risk absorption capacity, mayhave negative implications for the ratings.

Steady trend seenin cotton market

LAHORE—Prices managedto hold firmness on the cot-ton market in the process ofslow arrivals, dealers said.The official spot rate was un-changed at Rs 5400, theyadded. In ready session,around 11,000 bales of cottonchanged hands between Rs5450-5600, they said. Prices ofseed cotton in Sindh were atRs 2500 and Rs 2550 and inPunjab prices were un-changed at Rs 2550 and Rs2600, they said.

Commenting on the per-sisting demand by mills andspinners, some brokerssaid that quality consciousbuyers were making dealsto keep themselves fromany kind of loss. Cottonanalyst, Naseem Usmansaid that despite the politi-cal uncertainty in the capi-tal, trading activity is goodand may continue thepresent trend in the market.On the other hand, the gin-ners were not looking inter-ested in holding the stufffor a long time in apprehen-sion of steep fall in rates,he added.—Agencies

Rates ofcommodities

L A H O R E — A g r i c u l t u r eMarketing Information Ser-vice Punjab (AMISP) issuedrates of different agricultureproducts as per 100 kg inlocal market on Tuesday.Rice (Super Karnal BasmatiNew) minimum Rs 11500 andmaximum Rs 12000, whitesugar minimum 5560 andmaximum Rs 5560, whitegram minimum Rs 5500 andmaximum Rs 6000, Red ChiliWhole (Dry) minimum Rs22500 maximum Rs 22500.

Potato Fresh minimumRs 6000 and maximum Rs6200, Onion minimum Rs3100 and maximum Rs 3300,Tomato minimum Rs 3600and maximum Rs 3800, Gar-lic (Local) minimum Rs 9000and maximum Rs 9400, Peasminimum Rs 11400 and maxi-mum Rs 11800.—APP

KARACHI: Secretary Information PML-N Ali Akbar Gujar distributing prizes among players of Azadi CricketTournament.

Will Hopoate warms up during a Parramatta Eels NRL training session on Tuesday inSydney, Australia.

CHAKDARA—Veteran politician and formerfederal minister Afzal Khan Lala on Tues-day here at Thana tehsil inaugurated SwatSports Gala 2014 and paid tributes PakistanArmy for their endeavors to bring lastingpeace to the area.

Addressing the sports gala functionarranged under the auspices of PakistanArmy, Lala said Pakistan Army has renderedmatchless services for restoration of peacein the area and enabling us to arrange suchhealthy function.

He said such functions reflect the im-age of any society and we were lucky to bepart of this function.

By arranging such functions, he saidwe also gave a message that all we wantpeace and harmony in our region. He said itwas not possible to arrange such functionssome years ago when Taliban had enteredthe area for their nefarious objective add-

Swat Sports Gala beginsing it was Pakistan Army that help us get-ting rid of such anti state elements.

Lala said it was now our prime respon-sibilities to point out and discourage anti-social and anti-state elements to secure thepeaceful environment of our area.

He also thanked Pakistan Army and civiladministration on behalf of the people ofMalakand for arranging this colourful sportsgala in such a great manner.

Earlier, Afzal Khan Lala formally inau-gurated the sports gala wherein players andstudents presented a march past and ex-hibited PT show. A tug of war competitionwas also held between Pakistan Army andMalakand Levies which was won by theArmy.

The gala would continue up till August29, with cricket, football, badminton, mara-thon races and special children competi-tions its main features.—APP

BANNU—The colourful IDPs Gamesthemed ‘Smiles through Sports’ con-cluded amidst fun and joys with allparticipating players by dancing onthe tones of local dholls (drums) andsurna (pipe) here at beautifully deco-rated Qazi Muhib-ur-Rehman HockeyStadium on Tuesday.

Director Sports and Youth AffairsFATA Faisal Jamil Shah was the chiefguest on this occasion. Besides him,APA FR Bannu Javed Ullah Masood,DSO and former internationalhockey player Anwar Rashid, Assis-tant Sports Manager FR Bannu NoorUllah, organizing Secretaries ImranKhan, Khurshid Iqbal, Aamir Khan,hundreds and thousands of cheer-ing spectators, players and officialswere also present.

Under the directives of governorKP Sardar Mehtab Ahmad KhanAbbasi, the Directorate of Sportsand Youth Affairs organized the two-week long Games which conductednine different events besides someof the traditional games were alsoplayed.

North Waziristan Agency SaeedRasool presented recitation of HolyQuran, followed by National anthemand smart March Past of all the par-ticipating contingents of 22 tribes.

IDPs Games ‘Smilesthrough Sports’ conclude

The teams of 22 tribes took partin nine games formed from IDPscamps setup at different areas of theSouthern Districts are particularlyBannu. The contingent comprisingKhurmaz, Tappi, Mir Ali, Musa Khai,Kusha Khail, Kuddi, Pappi, Kajoori,Dadta Khail, Miran Shah, Banda, PAXI, Asstori, Chasma, Spin Wam,Shahoo, Sapgal, Kamzoni, Razmak,Haider Ali and Malakan.

Pigeons, balloons and placardsinscribed with different slogans werereleased in the air. There were folkdance performed by teams ofDadakhel and Chasma that enthralledthe sitting spectators.

The aim and objective of the 16-day Sports Festival was to involvethe traumatize youth of NorthWaziristan Agency into a health andentertaining activities wherein morethan 3000 thousands youth took partin the Festival carrying nine differ-ent games comprising Football,Cricket, Volleyball, Basketball,Hockey, Athletics, Martial Arts,Table Tennis and Badminton besidesTug-of-War, Archery and some ofthe traditional and indigenousGames.

Faisal Jamil Shah in his speechlauded Governor KP Sardar Mehtab

Ahmad Khan for extending all outsupport in holding the Games. Hesaid it was the special directives ofthe Governor to involve the youthof North Waziristan Agency so thatto bring smile back on their facesagain through sports. The playersprovided full uniform with tract-suite, shoes and games equipmentsduring the Games. We have suc-ceeded to some extend by bringingthe smile back on the faces of NorthWaziristan Youth, he said. The youthparticipated very enthusiastically indifferent sports events, Faisal Jamiladded.

“It is very encouraging that theyoungsters of Bannu supportedtheir IDPs brothers while playing,”Faisal said. “Certainly through theseevents many of the talented NWAyouth, who do not have such facili-ties of playing or participating in thecompetition, were indentified tocome up at national and internationallevels.

In the last cricket event final,Waziristan XI defeating Kajore XIteam by 32 runs in the final won thetrophy”.

At the end, Faisal Jamil Shahgave away trophies and cash prizesto the position holders.—APP

ISLAMABAD—Former leggie star AbdulQadir on Tuesday hailed the appoint-ment of former diplomat Shahryar Khan

as the newP a k i s t a nC r i c k e tBoard (PCB)C h a i r m a nby sayingthat boardwill not onlyget finan-cially strongbut thecricket mat-ters will alsoget better.

Talk-ing to APP,Qadir ad-vised thechairman to

bring in his expertise organizing team toimprove the game in the country. “Thechairman should also seek for advisesfrom the former retired cricketers presentin the country,” he said.

Qadir said Shahryar has a vast cricketand diplomatic experience which willsurely prove as an asset to the board.“He is an honest person and is sincere tothe game,” he said.

Qadir said Shahryar has also headed

Qadir hails Shahryar’sappointment as PCB chief

the board before and in his tenure theboard was financially very strong.“When Shahryar left the board there wasalmost five billion rupees in the board’skitty,” he said.

Qadir said he hopes that Shahryarwould take such steps for the bettermentof cricket which will be remembered all-time. “Shahryar will definitely improvethe position of national team in the inter-national arena,” he said.

Qadir said like India the PCB Chair-man should also offer stipends to the exretired cricketers and umpires in order toremember their efforts and achievementsin the game.

Speaking about the Pakistan-SriLanka ODI series starting from August23, Qadir said Pakistan team needs to bea match finisher. “Players should playwith confidence and courage forgettingthe loss of the Test series,” he said.

Qadir said the Green-Shirts are oneof the dangerous team of the world whenit comes to winning games. “Our playersneed to improve their discipline andshould play with commitment and dedi-cation,” he said.

Qadir said with the inclusion ofSarfraz Ahmed in the Test squad the bat-ting line-up has improved. “Pakistan hasan edge over Sri Lanka when it comes tobowling,” he said.—APP

Capital sportsactivities in

troubleISLAMABAD—The sportsactivities in the FederalCapital has been troubledby the sit-ins held by Paki-stan Awami Tehreek (PAT)and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) making it al-most impossible for thePakistan Sports Board(PSB) to carry on with theactivities.

Talking to APP, a PSBofficial said due to the sit-ins the Pakistan SportsComplex has been closedfor all sports activities in-cluding swimming, walksand football. “Due to se-curity reasons the boardhad to close its facilities,”he said.

He said no one will beallowed to use the facilitiestill the situation of the fed-eral capital gets better andthese sit-ins are over.“However the employees’can only get access to thePSB,” he said.—APP

PESHAWAR—Air Chief Marshal TahirRafique Butt, Chief of the Air Staff,Pakistan Air Force who is also thePresident of the Pakistan SquashFederation expressed deep sorrowand grief on the sad demise of Paki-stan Squash Legend Hashim Khan,who died in USA after prolonged ill-ness .

The Air Chief paid tributes to theservices of Legendary Hashim Khan.He further said that services and con-tribution of Hashim Khan for Paki-stan and the game of Squash wouldnever be forgotten and he would al-ways be a beacon of light for theyoung squash players of country.

Hashim Khan was born in

Hashim’s services for Pakistan, squashwill never be forgotten: Air Chief

Nawakille (Peshawar). He startedplaying squash in Royal-Indian AirForce as a coach. He won British Opentitle seven times consecutively from1951 to 1958. He also won five BritishProfessional Championship titles,three US Open titles, and three Cana-dian Open titles in his illustrious ca-reer.

Meanwhile, former Sports Minis-ter Syed Aqil Shah, Legendary QamarZaman have expressed deep grief andsorrow over demise of Hashim Khan.In the separate condolence messagesto the bereaved family, they ex-pressed sympathies and prayed forthe departed soul.

The Professional Squash Asso-

ciation (PSA) have also paid tributeto legendary Pakistan squash playerHashim Khan.

“Hashim Khan was a pioneer dur-ing his career and remained one ofthe most charismatic individuals inthe sport throughout his lifetime,”said PSA Chief Operating Officer LeeBeachill in condolence message is-sued here. “He was an inspiring char-acter who was admired by all playersand the catalyst behind Pakistan’sdomination of world squash from the1950s through to the end of JansherKhan’s era in the late 1990s. “Hischarm will be sorely missed and ourcondolences are with his family andfriends at this time,” he added.—APP

PESHAWAR—Pakistan International Circuit-II squash tournament carrying a prize moneyof 10,000 US $ will be commencing here atPAF Hashim Khan Squash Complex.

This was stated by Qamar Zaman, VicePresident of the Pakistan Squash Federation(PSF) while talking to APP here on Tuesday.

He said all arrangements in this connec-tion have already been completed for thesmooth conduct of the international event.

All the top ranking player including topseed Nasir Iqbal who is ranked 53, WorldNo. 58 Farhan Zaman, world no 74 DanishAtlas Khan, world no 87 Aamir Atlas,ranked 95 in the world Tayyaz Aslam,Khawjah Adil Maqbool, world 100, FarhanMehboob world no 107, Syed HamzaBukhari 109, Muhammad Saqib Yousaf 118,Yasir Butt, (139), Ammad Fareed (141), andSyed Ali Mujtaba Bokhari (148) were placed

Pakistan Int’l Circuit-II SquashTournament from tomorrow

in the top main round, followed by fourqualifiers.

He said the pre-qualifying round will beplayed on August 21-22, qualifying roundon August 23-24 while the main round of theevent will be played from August 25-28, 2014.

Vice President of PSF lauded the effortsof the Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa SardarMehtab Ahmad Khan for extended all outsupport for holding the international event.

While lauding the efforts of the Presi-dent Pakistan Squash Federation and SeniorVice President AVM Razi Nawab QamarZaman expressed the hope that more inter-national event would come to Pakistan.

Qamar Zaman disclosed that US $ 25000Pakistan International Circuit-I tournamentwould be organized in Islamabad very soonunder the aegis of the Pakistan Squash Fed-eration.—APP

Youths enjoyIndependenceDay fun sportsKH A N E WA L —Youths ofKhanewal on Tuesday ac-tively participated in funsports and athlet ic con-tests at the sports stadiumin connection with month-long Independence Daycelebrations.

Youths participated inslow-cycling race, three-leg race, arm wrest l ing,fun race and tug-of-war.Fakhar Bashir andTasawur Abbas grabbedfirst and second positionsin the slow cycling race,pair of Fakhar BashirHamza Mahmood won thethree-leg race whileShabaz-Mustafa’s duostood second.

Muhammad Tariq andMuhammad Osama wonarm wrestling in 70-kg and65-kg weight categories.Muhammad Ashraf wonfun race among youthswhile Muhammad Hassanwon the fun race amongkids.

A team led byMustaqeem won tug-of-war. His team comprisedIrfan, Hamza, Shahbaz,Fakhar Jahan Shakir ,Jahanzeb and Khurram.—APP

IndependenceDay Cup Open

Golf C’ship begintomorrow

KARACHI—DHA Country& Golf Club in collaborationwith Pakistan Golf Federa-tion (PGF) and Sindh GolfAssociation is hosting theprestigious four days 6thIndependence Day CupOpen Golf Championship2014 from 21 Aug’ 2014 to24 Aug 2014 at Defence Au-thority Country & Golf Club.The rupees 2 million prizedchampionship is beingplayed at the beautiful golfarena of Defence AuthorityCountry & Golf Club inDHA Phase-VIII. Top mostprofessional golfers from allover the country are partici-pating in the tournament.

This was disclosed bySecretary DA Country &Golf Club in a press confer-ence held at DHA Golf Club.Terming 6th IndependenceDay Cup Open Golf Cham-pionship as the event of theyear it was hoped that thecelebrated golfers would il-luminate the golf arena withtheir exciting play and unri-valled golfing skills.

Secretary Golf Club saidthat a total of rupees 2 mil-lion prize money will be dis-tributed among top profes-sionals with the winner get-ting Rs. 1,700,000/- while Rs.300,000/- will be given tosenior professionals ascash prizes. Different prizeswill be given to amateurs.

The top players of na-tional golf circuit would beplaying in the tournamentbeing held at the redesignedgolf course of Defence Au-thority Country & Golf Clubspread over 7000 yards andhaving eighteen holes withpar 72 layout. Prominentprofessionals MuhammadShabbir (Isd), MatloobAhmed (Lhr Gymkhana),Muhammad Munir (Isd) and

MANCHESTER: Renowned boxer Aamir Khan, singers Yasir Akhtar and Fadia Shab-o-Roz and nicely turned upchildren projecting diverse ethnic and regional colours of Pakistan during the Pakistan Independence Day paradeorganized by Consulate General of Pakistan.

KA R A C H I—Several senior and youngscrabble players took part in a Scrabbletournament organized by PakistanScrabble Association (PSA) here at a lo-cal hotel , ahead of the departure ofPakistan’s Scrabble team for the 9thWorld Youth Scrabble Championship(WYSC) being played in Sri Lanka.

The tournament afforded the Paki-stan youth team an opportunity to prac-tice with their seniors before leaving forSri Lanka to take part in the internationalevent .

Yasir Jamshaid started the newscrabble season in style by winning thefirst ranking Scrabble tournament whileYasir won his first 8 matches in a row

PSA holds Scrabble tournamentbefore losing in the f inal match toWaseem Khatri. Yasir ended with 8 winsand a spread of 511.

Pakistan’s number one playerWaseem Khatri was the runner up with 7wins and a whopping spread of 1183.

Tariq Pervez finished third for thesecond consecutive t ime. Tariq had 7wins and a spread of 638.

Reigning world youth championMoiz Baig also won 7 matches and fin-ished fourth with a spread of 536.

Abdullah Abbasi notched up 6 winsagainst his senior players and finished7th while the Hadi twins, Hassan andHammad ended up at 8th and 9th withalmost identical scores.—APP

Bipin DaniOBSERVER CORRESPONDENT

MUMBAI—The first ever Asia Handi-cap Cricket Cup which was scheduledto take place in Pakistan from 24th to29th August has been postponed. Thiswas revealed by Ravi Chauhan, theSecretrary General : Phycially Chal-lenged Cricket Association of India(PCCAI).

Speaking exclusively over his mobilefrom Delhi on Tuesday morning, he said,Owing to the current political scenario inPakistan, the tournament has been post-poned”.

“We have received a note from theSecretary General (Waqar Ahmed Khan)of the similar association in Pakistan stat-ing their inability to host the matches incurrent unstable situation in Pakistan.Obviously we are sad with the develop-ment”.

The Physically Challenged CricketAssociation was founded by RaviChauhan, a handicapped cricket-enthu-siast. He has played the Handicap cricket

First ever Asia Cup for physicallyhandicapped cricketers in Pakistan postponed

at the national level.“We are the 1st Indian handicap

cricket association which plays and fol-lows ICC cricket rules using leather ball.Very recently our team visited South Af-rica and played six T:20 matches with theirteam between. This was a memorable trip.Indian Ambassador invited our team toIndian Embassy and even hosted a galalunch”, he added.

The association is seeking BCCI helpfor the recognition.

“The other countries like England,Pakistan, South Africa have their handi-capped associations recognized by theirnational boards and therefore we need tobe approved by the Indian cricket board”,he added.

Ravi Chauhan is scheduled to meetthe BCCI’s acting president Shivlal Yadavin Mumbai on August 22, it is learnt here.“We need recognition.

The financial help is not the criteria ofour meeting. We recently expressed outwish to play against England’s Handi-capped team but informed by the ECB toget BCCI’s approval”.

BULAWAYO: JP Duminy celebrates the fall of Brendan Taylor, Zimbabwe v South Africa, 2nd ODI on Tuesday.

Giarnni Regini-Moran (C) of Great Britain, Nikita Nagornyy of Russia (L) and AlecYoder of United States bite their medals after the Boys All-Round Individual ArtisticGymnastic Final during Day Three of the Nanjing 2014 Summer Youth Olympic Gameson August 19, 2014 in Nanjing, China.

Terry eyestitle as

Chelsea makeflying start

BURNLEY (United King-dom)—Chelsea captainJohn Terry set his sights onwinning the Premier Leagueafter his side’s 3-1 victoryin their season opener atBurnley on Monday.

Jose Mourinho’s teamrecovered from ScottArfield’s 14th minute goal tosink the newly-promotedClarets and send a warningto their title rivals.

Spain striker DiegoCosta marked his debut withthe equaliser and AndreSchurrle finished off a sub-lime 25-pass move to put thevisitors ahead beforeBranislav Ivanovic made itthree inside the first half.

“We’ve made some verybig signings,” Terry toldSky Sports. “Diego hascome in and he was greattonight.He got on thescoresheet which is a greatstart for him”. “We’re hop-ing to win the league. That’sour target this year”.

“This league is going tobe really tough and we’veseen some quality at theweekend from many teams,but importantly we pickedup three points and we’llmove on to the next.”—AFP

LAHORE—Fit-again paceman MohammadIrfan will join the Pakistan squad for theirone-day matches against Sri Lanka to rein-force the attack after their 2-0 Test seriesdefeat, a board official said on Tuesday.

The 32-year-old, who holds the record

of being the tallest-ever cricketer at sevenfeet one inch, will fly out in time for the firstODI in Hambantota on Saturday.

“The team management in Sri Lanka hadasked for Irfan to join the squad consider-

Irfan to join Pakistan forSri Lanka one-days

ing the uncertainty over fast bowler JunaidKhan,” a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB)spokesperson told AFP.

Khan was hit on the head while hook-ing a delivery during Pakistan’s 105-run de-feat in the second Test, which ended on

Monday.“The team management

is assessing Khan’s fitnessand will take a decision onretaining him or sending himback soon,” said the spokes-person.

Irfan injured a hip dur-ing the second Twenty20international againstSouth Africa in Dubai inNovember last year, andhas since recovered with-out surgery.

He featured in a domes-tic Twenty20 tournament inFebruary and felt no pain.

The lanky paceman hasso far played four Tests, 27one-day internationals andseven Twenty20internationals.

Seven players —Mohammad Hafeez, ShahidAfridi, Fawad Alam, AnwarAli, Sohaib Maqsood,Sharjeel Khan and ZulfiqarBabar — have already joinedthe one-day squad.

Sarfraz Ahmed, AzharAli, Asad Shafiq, KhurramManzoor, Shan Masood,Rahat Ali and AbdurRehman have returned afterfeaturing in the Testmatches.

Pakistan will play a one-day warm-up match in

Moratuwa on Wednesday before the startof the one-day series.

The other two one-day internationalswill be played in Colombo on August 27and Dambulla on August 30.—APP

LONDON—Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoniand coach Duncan Fletcher remain in place,but only time will tell if the appointment ofRavi Shastri as director of cricket is a tempo-rary measure or a sign of deeper changesahead in the Indian game. Former captain

Shastri wasi n s t a l l e d“overall in-charge ofcricket af-fairs” forIndia’s up-coming five-match one-day seriesagainst En-gland, follow-ing their em-barrassing 3-1test series todefeat to thesame opposi-tion.

I n d i aclaimed their first overseas win since 2011when they won the second test at Lord’s, butsurrendered the final three matches meekly,the final indignity being their downfall at TheOval when they lost by an innings and 244runs within three days. Dhoni was one of theonly players to show some fight as India’sbatting line-up failed to pass 200 in their lastfive innings of the series, but has come undersevere criticism from media back home foroverseeing some desperate performances.

“He has well and truly outlived his use-fulness as a captain in the long form of thegame,” Nalin Mehta said in The Times of In-

Shastri appointment upspressure on Dhoni and Fletcher

dia on Tuesday. “It is not so much the defeat,but the manner of the capitulation that rankles.

India’s cricketers have not just beenrouted in a series they began well, underDhoni they looked bereft of ideas and direc-tion.” The sentiment was shared by SanjeevK Samyal in the Hindustan Times, who re-called that former greats Kapil Dev, SachinTendulkar and Saurav Ganguly had lost thecaptaincy during their careers. “And theynever led teams that have played as poorlyas those MS Dhoni has captained,” he wrote.

“The humiliation at Old Trafford and TheOval is unacceptable. He has long since out-lived his utility as test captain.” Fletcher, aformer England coach, has arguably beenplaced under supervision following Shastri’sappointment. He was not spared criticismeither, apportioned blame for the way the likesof Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan, tipped aspotential stars of the series, struggled on for-eign pitches. “Fletcher is aware of the condi-tions and should have developed ways tosee that the boys improve and come out oflean patch,” former India captain GRViswanath said in The New India Express.

“I think Fletcher has not been able to dothe job.” Bowling coach Joe Dawes and field-ing mentor Trevor Penney have been givena “break” for the ODI series, with SanjayBangar and Bharat Arun made assistantcoaches and R Sridhar named as fieldingcoach. The Board of Control for Cricket inIndia said the changes were for the next fivematches, but given India begin the defenceof their World Cup title in Australia and NewZealand in February, more big decisions maybe needed if India are to add a third 50-overtrophy to their name.—APP

Sri Lankashuffle packfor one-day

seriesCO L O M B O—Sri Lankahave made severalchanges after naming a 15-man squad for the first twoone-day internationalsagainst Pakistan. BatsmenUpul Tharanga and DineshChandimal, spin duoSeekkuge Prasanna andSuraj Randiv, and fastbowler Dhammika Prasadhave been recalled aftermissing last month’s three-match series against SouthAfrica that Sri Lanka lost2-1.

Squad: Angelo Mathews(captain), TillekaratneDilshan, Upul Tharanga,Kumar Sangakkara, MahelaJayawardene, DineshChandimal, Ashan Priyanjan,Lahiru Thirimanne, LasithMalinga, Nuwan Kulasekara,Dhammika Prasad, RanganaHerath, Seekkuge Prasanna,Suraj Randiv, ThisaraPerera.—APP

Garcia-Lopez,Nieminenadvance at

Winston-SalemWINSTON-SALEM (UnitedStates)—Spain’s GuillermoGarcia-Lopez and JarkkoNieminen, of Finland, wontheir second round matchesat the ATP Tour’s Winston-Salem Open at Wake ForestUniversity on Monday.

The fifth-seeded Garcia-Lopez of Spain rallied pastGerman Dustin Brown 6-7(5/7), 6-2, 6-2 at the $600,000hardcourt event, a final USOpen tune-up.

Nieminen, the No. 15seed, beat German BenjaminBecker 7-5, 6-4. American SamQuerrey defeated Spain’sPere Riba 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 in first-round action. Querrey willnext face fellow AmericanSteve Johnson on Tuesday.

In other opening-roundaction, Frenchman Paul-HenriMathieu toppled Americanwild card Robby Ginepri 6-3,7-5, Poland’s Jerzy Janowiczrolled over Argentine CarlosBerlocq 6-1, 6-4, and Kitzbuhelchampion David Goffin of Bel-gium ousted Austrian veteranand defending Winston-Sa-lem champ Jurgen Melzer 6-3, 6-4. Melzer beat FrenchmanGael Monfils in last year’s fi-nal.—AFP

South Africa innings:Q de Kock b Nyumbu . 38Amla b Nyumbu .......... 15Plessis b Utseya .......... 55Villiers* run out ............. 1Duminy b Utseya ........ 36Miller lbw b Vitori ........ 45McLaren b Vitori ........... 4Parnell b Madziva ....... 24Abbott b Williams ...... 23Phangiso b Williams ..... 2Imran Tahir not out ....... 0Extras: (lb 7, w 7) ......... 14Total: (all out) ............ 257Fall of wickets: 1-47, 2-59,3-60, 4-129, 5-169, 6-204, 7-211, 8-252, 9-257, 10-257Bowling: ......... O-M-R-WBV Vitori ............. 9-0-57-2P Utseya ........... 10-1-39-2Madziva .............. 5-0-27-1J Nyumbu ......... 10-0-44-2Jongwe ............... 2-0-20-0Sikandar Raza .... 2-0-15-0Williams ........... 9.4-0-37-2Chigumbura ....... 2-0-11-0

Zimbabwe innings:Masakadza b Parnell ..... 7R Mutumbami lbw ....... 12Sikandar Raza b McLaren0Taylor b Duminy ........ 14Williams b McLaren ... 55Chigumbura b Parnell ... 7Jongwe b McLaren ....... 6Utseya lbw b Parnell ... 15Madziva b Imran Tahir 25Nyumbu b Imran Tahir 18Vitori not out ................ 20Extras: (b 2, lb 8, w 6, nb 1)17Total: (all out) ............ 196Fall of wickets: 1-21, 2-21,3-26, 4-45, 5-59, 6-88, 7-114,8-134, 9-175, 10-196Bowling: ......... O-M-R-WAbbott ................ 8-2-19-0Parnell ................. 9-2-28-3Phangiso ............ 8-2-34-1McLaren ............. 8-0-21-3Duminy ............... 7-0-58-1Imran Tahir ...... 9.1-1-26-2

Luis Suarez:Barcelona striker

says he won’tbite in future

IS L A M A B A D—Barcelonastriker Luis Suarez says hehas talked to specialistsabout his behaviour and in-sists there will be no furtherbiting incidents.

Suarez is serving a four-month ban for biting Italy’sGiorgio Chiellini at theWorld Cup - his third bit-ing offence, BBC News re-ports.

“I say to fans, don’tworry, because I won’t dothat anymore,” he prom-ised.

“I spoke to my psy-chologist and he said I hadto face it and say sorry. I did- now I would rather focuson the present, which isBarcelona.”

The 27-year-old Uru-guay striker, who said he was“really depressed” after theincident in Brazil, launchedan appeal with the Court ofArbitration for Sport againstthe ban.—APP

BULAWAYO—Ryan McLaren andWayne Parnell claimed three wicketsapiece as South Africa beat Zimbabweby 61 runs in the second one-day in-ternational to clinch the three-matchseries on Tuesday in Bulawayo.

McLaren claimed figures of 3 for21 in eight overs while Parnell took 3for 28 in nine as Zimbabwe werebowled out for 196 in response toSouth Africa’s 257.

Not even Zimbabwe’s most suc-cessful performance in the fieldagainst South Africa in 15 years couldchange the inevitable. Despite bowl-ing their big brothers out for the firsttime since the 1999 World Cup and justthe third time in their 34 ODI history,Zimbabwe could not avoid a seriesdefeat.

After stemming South Africa’sspeedy start and punctuating theirprogress by plucking through theirmiddle and lower order, Zimbabwegave themselves the best chance oflevelling the series and then squan-dered it. Their batting proved brittlewith only Sean Williams and the tailmounting any resistance. The restengineered their own downfall againsta disciplined but not overly danger-ous South African attack.

Zimbabwe would have knownthere were no demons in the pitchwhen they watched South Africa bat.Apart from the usual sluggishness anda small amount of turn, South Africafound run-scoring came with nothingmore than old-fashioned digging inand that it was even possible to playwith relative freedom in parts.

Quinton de Kock breezed his wayto a sprightly 38, helped by BrianVitori’s struggles to find a stranglingline, as he made his return from anankle niggle, and became the join-fast-est player to 1,000 ODI runs. De Kockshares the record with a countryman,albeit one who plays for a differentcountry, Jonathan Trott who alsoreached the milestone in 21 innings.

De Kock only added one run to

South Africa crushZimbabwe to take series

the landmark figure before he becamethe second in a trio of early wicketswhich saw Zimbabwe wrest control ofthe innings. Both de Kock and HashimAmla fell to John Nyumbu and AB deVilliers was run-out freakishly afterthinking he had paddled the ball pastwicketkeeper Richmond Mutumbamiwhen in fact it had stopped at thegloveman’s feet.

South Africa lost 3 wickets for 13in the space of 26 deliveries to landFaf du Plessis in a familiar rebuildingposition. With JP Duminy, he negoti-ated Zimbabwe’s slew of spinners, thatincluded Sikandar Raza, with care. Forseven overs they could not find theboundary and had to content them-selves with 26 runs in ones and twosbefore Duminy was bowled around hislegs.

David Millerfailed to take ad-vantage of themore than 20overs he had infront of him untilthe latter stages ofhis innings whenhe was the keyprotagonist inSouth Africa’smost profitableover. Luke Jongwewas taken for 18runs in thepenultimate overof the Powerplay,a period in whichSouth Africascored 43 runsbut lost both duPlessis and Miller.

Du Plessiswas their onlyh a l f - c e n t u r i o n ,proof that watch-fulness can gofurther than all-out aggression onoccasion. His en-terprising innings

meant that by the time South Africaentered the final fifth of their inningsthey were in almost exactly the sameposition as they were in during thefirst ODI, at least in runs terms. OnSunday, South Africa were 208 for 1.On Tuesday, they were 206 for 6.

The wickets that had fallen weretestament to Elton Chigumbura’smore creative captaincy - he rotatedbowlers with more thought and setbetter fields - and the spinners’stranglehold. But South Africa’slower middle order was still capableof mounting a surge and WayneParnell and Kyle Abbott showed that.They put on 41 runs for the eighthwicket to take the score past 250 andleave the contest well-balanced at thehalf-way stage.—AFP

EGG YOLKS, along with othersources of saturated fat and cholesterol, came under fire in the wake

of research by Nikolai Anichkov at theturn of the 20th century. Do you alwaystoss out the yolks whenyou make an omelette? Ifstudies are to be believed,avoiding egg yolks couldmean you are missing outon good nutrition. Wholeeggs don’t raise your riskof heart disease - in fact,according to nutritioncoach Liz Wolfe, it may beworse for your health tonot eat them.

Egg yolks, along withother sources of saturatedfat and cholesterol, cameunder fire in the wake ofresearch by NikolaiAnichkov at the turn ofthe 20th century.Anichkov tested on rab-bits and found that cho-lesterol promotes heart disease. Wolfecounters: “Rabbits have nothing in com-mon with human bodies ... and choles-terol isn’t part of their diet anyway.” Re-searcher Ancel Keys made headlines inthe 1950s with his Seven Countries’Study, which almost single-handedly setthe line of thinking on saturated fat thatprevails today.

Keys claimed that after looking at theaverage diets of populations in seven dif-ferent countries, he was able to determinethat those who ate the most animal fathad the highest rates of heart disease.

Egg whites or wholeeggs for a healthy you?

Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah presides over a meeting of all Deputy Commissioners and District Municipal Administrators regardingcleanliness, at CM House.

But his analysis was flawed. AlthoughKeys’ data did show a connection be-tween fat and heart disease, he couldn’tdemonstrate that the relationship wascausal. Furthermore, while mortality rates

for heart disease werehigher in the countriesthat consumed the mostanimal fat, deaths fromnearly ever other causewere lower—and overalllife expectancy was higher.

In 2010, The AmericanJournal of Clinical Nutritionpublished a meta-analy-sis—the collected findingsof 21 different studies—which stated that “satu-rated fat was not associatedwith an increased risk ofcoronary heart disease,stroke or coronary vascu-lar disease”. Earlier thisyear, Time magazine re-versed the argument it madein a 1984 cover story claim-

ing eggs and other high-fat foods weredangerous. Wolfe suggests the real causeof heart disease lies in the inflammationcaused by “chronic stress levels, and theover consumption of vegetable oils andprocessed carbohydrates.”

According to Wolfe, egg yolks are “agreat source of vitamin A, which is goodfor skin, B vitamins for energy and choline,which supports brain health, muscles andis necessary for a healthy pregnancy”. Thesaturated fat in yolks is also necessary forhormone production and the body’s ab-sorption of vitamins and minerals.

Additional IGP Traffic Ghulam Qadir Thebo talking to media at DL Branch Nazimabadafter inaugurating international driving license card system.—PO photo

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—Paid assassins commonly names as‘Target Killers’ had once again challenged writof the government and the law enforcement agen-cies by creating a state of insecurity for thosesecurity personnel, whose responsibility was es-tablished to protect lives of the citizens andchase the terrorists and hardened criminals tillthey were brought to task. A day earlier, KarachiPolice Chief Additional Inspector General (IG)of Police Ghulam Qadir Thebo had on the occa-sion of inauguration of International driving Li-cense Branch at Nazimabad claimed that throughthe ongoing targeted operation, incidents of tar-geted killing had saliently declined and that all

Target killers making free use of guns

3 cops killed amid Police Chief’sclaim of decline in murders

the killings were not the incidents of targetedkillings.

Unfortunately, within 24 hours of his claims,3 cops were gunned down in Karachi while acouple of civilians were also subjected to terror-ism. According to details, two cops, Azhar Abbasand Muhammad Azam posted at Quaidabad Po-lice Station in Landhi were gunned down nearDawood Chowrangi while they were on a motor-cycle heading toward their place of work,Quaidabad Police Station. Both the cops hadexpired on the spot. They were chased andgunned down by unidentified terrorist with lat-est assault weapons.

In another incident, a head constable Tahirwas shot dead near his home in Ittehad Town in

Baldia Town area of Karachi West. The victimcops were assigned for security of the volun-teers of anti-polio drive that was resumed in 46union councils on Tuesday for three days. Tilldate, as many as 110 cops and police officerswere victims of targeted killings and terrorism.

In other violent incidents, an unidentified manwas gunned down in Landhi near Export Process-ing Zone office while a dead body was recoveredfrom Landhi No 6. Limbs of the later were tiedwith rope. Bodies of both the victims were shiftedto JPMC. Police claimed the executed criminal,who was identified as Sajid was wanted to lawenforcement agencies for heinous crimes includ-ing murder of an Assistant Sub-Inspector Jameeland 52 cases of murders and extortion.

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—Sindh High Court (SHC)Tuesday directed Anti-CorruptionEstablishment to initiate enquiry intoalleged illegal allotment of land atMauripur area by Karachi Metropoli-tan Corporation (KMC). Justice SajjadAli Shah and Justice Shaukat AliMemon of the higher court passedthis order on hearing a petition filedby the petitioner Noor Khan Niazi. Thepetitioner had stated in his petitionthat the allotted land was reservedfor parking site, which the KMC al-

Illegal allotment of parking sitelotted to 17 individuals and each wasallotted 240 square yards of land.

The counsel for the KMC AzraMuqeem apprised the higher courtthat KMC did not allot the land to anybut an assistant director in KMC,Zeeshan had on his own allotted theland among the individuals. Mean-while, the assistant director of KMCZeeshan apprised the higher courtthat the said land was allotted to 17different persons, which record wasmaintained at the KMC. However, thecounsel for the KMC denied of anyrecord of the said land at the KMC.

The higher court while showingutmost annoyance over the situationsummoned the ACE Chairman andDirector Legal ACE MushtaqueSoomro in person and ordered himfor conducting an enquiry into landdiscrepancy. The higher court in itsremarks said that the KMC had alsoin past allotted land for commercialuse, which was reserved for parkingsite and it looked as if just one of-ficer of KMC was not involved inthe illegal allotment of land but awhole team of officers was involvedin illegal allotment.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Acting Inspector General (IG)of Police Sindh Ghulam Hyder Jamali hasasked all units and branches of Sindh Po-lice to discharge duties in close coordina-tion to ensure elimination of crimes fromthe society. He was addressing to rangeDIGs through Video Conference Systemreviewing law and order situation of theprovince and police performance.

AIG Operations, Sharjeel Kharal whilebriefing the acting IG informed him that Jan 1,2014 till date, 85 terrorists killed, 32 arrested;296 dacoits killed, 7389 arrested; 5 extortion-ists killed, 177 arrested; 20 kidnappers killed,55 arrested and 3199 proclaimed offenders19460 absconders apprehended in 2118 en-counters with criminal elements throughout

Acting IG for coordinatedefforts to curb crime rate

the province. Police also nabbed red-handed1871 other criminals and busted 692 criminalgangs during the reported period.

He was further informed that during thatreported period throughout Sindh province,Police recovered 4 G-3 rifles, 255 SMGs, 611repeater guns, 116 shot guns, 6422 pistols,15 live bombs, and 16 rocket propellingguns, 377 grenades, 8 IEDs, 11 suicide jack-ets and 517-kg explosives.

In Karachi alone, Police recovered 515-kg explosives, 102 SMGs, 48 shot guns, 55rifles, 4356 pistols, 11 suicide jackets, 15live bombs, 8 IEDs, 16 rocket launchers, 372grenades and 2 detonators during said pe-riod. The acting IG enquired about prob-lems confronting to professional responsi-bilities and directed range DIGs to submitpractical recommendations at the earliest.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Karachi Metro-politan Corporation (KMC)Administrator Rauf AkhtarFarooqui said the developedbudget for Karachi hadsqueezed from Rs42 billionin 2006-08 to just Rs3-5 bil-lion. The metropolis was therevenue engine of the coun-try and besides huge re-trenchment in its develop-ment budget, the prices ofconstruction material hadreached skyrocketing due to

Rulers always ignoredPakistan’s revenue engine, Karachi

which it was a tedious jobto even maintain and repairthe infrastructure.

He expressed theseviews while addressing theFederal B Area Associationof Trade and Industry(FBAATI) on the occasionof a luncheon hosted by theAssociation in his honour.FBAATI President ShaikhMuhammad Tehseen, SITESuper Highway AssociationPresident Jawaid Ghauri,SITE Limited Chief Execu-tive Rehan Zeeshan andIdrees Geeki were present.

The KMC Administratorsaid that Karachi once usedto be a city of double deckerbusses and trams but now it

had converted into city ofQingqi auto rickshaws. Thecity was the real portrait ofPakistan but its image had al-ways been tarnished pur-posely. He said Karachi wasthe revenue hub of the coun-try but the rulers had alwaysstepped back when they wereasked to release funds for thedevelopments in this city.

He said the traders andbusinessmen of the citycould better plead the caseof this deprived city. TheKMC was facing acute pau-city of funds and even theCorporation did not haveenough funds to get the firetenders and snorkels re-paired so that those could be

placed for service to the in-habitants of the city. Helauded the businessmencommunity of the city fortheir positive role for the de-velopment of the city andthe country despite highlyuntoward circumstances.They had been constantlyplaying their role for the gen-eration of revenue for thecountry and opening newvenues for employment tomillions of the people, whichwas a highly laudable act.

While talking to Paki-stan Observer, the KMCAdministrator said thatgovernment had demergedvarious departments, whichrevenue was shifted away

from the KMC but the liabili-ties were allowed to stick tothe already financially re-trenched Corporation. Thissituation had led to a verydevastating financial situa-tion, which needed to be re-dressed. In reply to a ques-tion, he said that the issueof ghost employees in KMCwas a big nuisance and itwould require drastic mea-sures to scrutinise the genu-ine employees from theghost. In order to removethe ghost employees fromthe KMC, necessary stepswere being imitated underwhich biometric systemwould be the key factor.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Pakistan Bar Council(PBC) Executive Chairman AbrarHassan strongly condemned sits-inat Islamabad and demanded for ami-cable solution of political unrestthrough dialogue as per law and theConstitution of Pakistan. Those po-litical parties that were making a hueand cry over rigging in general elec-tions-2013 should move Election Tri-bunals (ET) rather than paralysinglives of the people of twin cities,Rawalpindi and Islamabad. In caseof any reservation on judgment ofETs, they could move Supreme Courtof Pakistan for the redressal of theircomplaints. Any plan to derail de-mocracy should be avoided as it wasthe era of democracy in the country.

He expressed these views in a joint

Bar Associations condemn PTI, PAT sits-inpress conference with the representa-tives of the Supreme Court Bar Asso-ciation, Sindh High Court Bar Associa-tion, Sindh Bar Council and PBC. ThePBC Executive Chairman said that thecall for civil disobedience was not a na-tional issue but a matter of personal feel-ings while allegations of rigging in gen-eral elections were also personal.

He said since Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf (PTI) had tendered resignationsfrom national assembly seats, hencetheir demand for prime Minister’s resig-nation was also unethical and had nological base. The PBC Executive Chair-man Abrar Hassan alleged PTI Chair-man Imran Khan of contesting generalelections-2013 under protection ofTaliban, which was also tantamount topre-poll rigging. Taliban had threatened3 political parties of dire consequencesfor contesting general elections-2013.

He said that demands could notbe forced into acceptance with theshow of street power. Imran Khanshould withdraw his call for civil dis-obedience at once, which was tan-tamount to driving the country intoa state of economic devastation andwas an act of treason. The punish-ment for treason was a minimum oflife imprisonment or even death asper the Constitution of Pakistan. Hewarned federal government to avoidaccepting unconstitutional de-mands of PTI Chairman Imran Khanand Pakistan Awami Tehreek.

He said PTI’s petitions had beenrejected by the ETs and the peoplecould not be held hostage on thebasis of ignorance to law. The na-tion could not allow PTI to hold themasses hostage and conduct danceparty at the sit-in.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The Anti Narcotics Force Sindh on a tip offseized 80-kg heroin from a container No. PO 0914953 atQasim Port. The shipment was destined for Turkey.

ANF recovers 80kg heroinCase has been registered against the culprits accord-

ingly while ANF had also nabbed one accused. ANF saidthat raids were being conducted across the country forarrest of rest of culprits. Further investigations were un-der way.

EGG YOLKS, along with othersources of saturated fat and cholesterol, came under fire in the wake

of research by Nikolai Anichkov at theturn of the 20th century. Do you alwaystoss out the yolks whenyou make an omelette? Ifstudies are to be believed,avoiding egg yolks couldmean you are missing outon good nutrition. Wholeeggs don’t raise your riskof heart disease - in fact,according to nutritioncoach Liz Wolfe, it may beworse for your health tonot eat them.

Egg yolks, along withother sources of saturatedfat and cholesterol, cameunder fire in the wake ofresearch by NikolaiAnichkov at the turn ofthe 20th century.Anichkov tested on rab-bits and found that cho-lesterol promotes heart disease. Wolfecounters: “Rabbits have nothing in com-mon with human bodies ... and choles-terol isn’t part of their diet anyway.” Re-searcher Ancel Keys made headlines inthe 1950s with his Seven Countries’Study, which almost single-handedly setthe line of thinking on saturated fat thatprevails today.

Keys claimed that after looking at theaverage diets of populations in seven dif-ferent countries, he was able to determinethat those who ate the most animal fathad the highest rates of heart disease.

Egg whites or wholeeggs for a healthy you?

The women participants of workers convention held at Aiwan-e-Iqbal in favour of Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and democracy areraising slogans.

An attractive view of newly constructed Azadi Chowk interchange.

But his analysis was flawed. AlthoughKeys’ data did show a connection be-tween fat and heart disease, he couldn’tdemonstrate that the relationship wascausal. Furthermore, while mortality rates

for heart disease werehigher in the countriesthat consumed the mostanimal fat, deaths fromnearly ever other causewere lower—and overalllife expectancy was higher.

In 2010, The AmericanJournal of Clinical Nutritionpublished a meta-analy-sis—the collected findingsof 21 different studies—which stated that “satu-rated fat was not associatedwith an increased risk ofcoronary heart disease,stroke or coronary vascu-lar disease”. Earlier thisyear, Time magazine re-versed the argument it madein a 1984 cover story claim-

ing eggs and other high-fat foods weredangerous. Wolfe suggests the real causeof heart disease lies in the inflammationcaused by “chronic stress levels, and theover consumption of vegetable oils andprocessed carbohydrates.”

According to Wolfe, egg yolks are “agreat source of vitamin A, which is goodfor skin, B vitamins for energy and choline,which supports brain health, muscles andis necessary for a healthy pregnancy”. Thesaturated fat in yolks is also necessary forhormone production and the body’s ab-sorption of vitamins and minerals.

Member of Sialkot Bar Association with the President Shahid Mir during their meet-ing with Chief Justice Lahore High Court Justice Khawaja Imtiaz Ahmad.

LAHORE—Provincial Minister for Excise & Taxa-tion and Finance Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman hassaid that government has adopted the policy ofcomputerization and e-technology in govern-ment affairs and encouraging results are beingwitnessed especially in the recovery of taxes.He said that system of online payment of taxesis also being introduced. He said that property,token and services taxes are the major source ofincome of the government and modern comput-erized technology is being introduced for im-proving the system of receipt of taxes as goodgovernance and elimination of corruption is themission of Punjab government.

Addressing the party workers, MujtabaShuja ur Rehman said that in order to achievethe Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),Rs.2 billion has been reserved for current fiscalyear. He said that government has provided

Minister says e-technologypolicy yields positive results

record funds to health and education sectorsfor imparting modern education to the studentsRs. 274 billion have been provided which is 26.25percent of the total budget of the province.

He said that by increasing the health budget upto 121.80 billion rupees, the present government hasensured modern health facilities and free medicinesto poor and resource-less people. He said that peopleof rural and remote areas are also being providedtreatment facilities through mobile health units andRs. 1 billion has been provided for this purpose. Hesaid that huge sum of Rs.47.44 billion will be spenton treatment facility and upgradation of hospitalsduring current financial year.

He Mujtaba said that present governmenthas levied tax only on elite and well-to-do-peoplewhile tax on big houses and increase in the dutyof luxury vehicles. He said that property tax hasbeen increased after 14 years and this increase

will also be imposed on big houses as well asaffluent people. He said that 95 percent discre-tionary funds are spent on the treatment andfinancial help of poorest people.

Mujtaba Shuja ur Rehman said that four bil-lion rupees have been provided for issuance ofhealth insurance cards under which people hav-ing low income would be able to get state-of-the-art healthcare facilities in private medical insti-tutes as well as in public sector hospitals. He saidthat Rs.60 crore has been reserved for dialysisfacilities to the poor kidney patients. He said thathuge amount of 8.25 billion would be spent onthe provision of free treatment and medicines tothe poor and destitute in public sector hospitalsof the province. He said that three thousand newjob opportunities have been created for nurses inpublic sector hospitals and the government hasinitiated the process of recruitment.—NNI

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—Punjab University ViceChancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamranhas said that almost no Muslimnames are found in the best researchjournals of the world which is lamen-table. He was addressing faculty ori-entation program organized at Insti-tute of Administrative Sciences hereon Tuesday.

PU Dean Faculty of Economicsand Management Sciences Prof Dr

No Muslim name in best researchjournals is lamentable: PU VC

Ehsan Malik, Director IAS Prof DrNasira Jabeen and recently appointedlecturers and research officers werepresent on the occasion. Addressingthe ceremony, Prof Dr Mujahid Kamranadvised the teachers to enhance read-ing habits in order to master their sub-jects. He said that the most importantthing was commitment of teachers totheir subjects and they should workhard to prepare good lectures. He saidthat teachers must see how their sub-jects were developing. Dr Ehsan Malik

said that teachers should be commit-ted to their subjects and should workfor their conscious.

He said that your research workwould be your legacy and teachersmust provide good human resourcefor the development of country. DrNasira Jabeen said that PU was thefirst university which launched regu-lar training programs for capacitybuilding of teachers. She thanked PUVC Dr Mujahid Kamran for provid-ing all-out support.

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—A consultancy contract hasbeen signed between Lahore Waste Man-agement Company (LWMC) andGujranwala Waste Management Company(GWMC) which aims at provision of all kindof professional and technical support toGWMC by LWMC to help improve SolidWaste System in Gujranwala. MD LWMCKhalid Majeed and MD GWMC Dr. Ata-u-Haq signed the agreement during a cer-emony held at head office.

On this occasion, Mr. Haq said thatLWMC is truly a role model for us andGWMC is seeking to take benefit from itsexperienced professionals to improveSWM in Gujranwala. Moreover, senior of-

LWMC inks 1 year consultancycontract with GWMC

ficials from Faisalabad Waste ManagementCompany (FWMC) and Sialkot Waste Man-agement Company (SWMC) also visitedLWMC to take briefing on SWM in Lahore.Delegation was comprised of ChairmanSWMC Mansha Allah Butt, MD RanaAzhar, DCO Sialkot Nadeem Sarwar, MDFWMC Amjad Awan and Manager Opera-tions Dawood Makki.

MD Khalid Majeed briefed delegationabout method of waste collection and trans-portation, construction of Sanitary Landfillsite, monitoring of operations through vari-ous technologies etc. question and answersession was also held at the end. Delega-tion also visited Video Wall MonitoringRoom and observed the process of live timemonitoring of ongoing operations.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—A ceremony to acknowledge thesuccess of “Student Week” held at VirtualUniversity Lawrence Road Campus. Dr.Naveed A Malik, Rector Virtual Universityof Pakistan, presented participant certifi-

Award distribution ceremonycates and shields to all coordinators andconveners of all student societies.

He congratulated all conveners and co-ordinators for organizing this successfulStudent Week in VU. He urged all membersto plan more extracurricular events in a man-ner that all students may participate equally.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The Chief Justice of LahoreHigh Court Justice Khawaja ImtiazAhmad has issued the order of com-pulsory retirement of Syed Zia Abbas,Assistant Registrar (BS-18) on thecharges of corruption and misconduct.According to details, he was also found

CJ fires assistant registraron corruption charges

guilty during the course of inquiry whichproposed imposition of major penalty ofcompulsory retirement. The said officerwas also served with a Final Show CauseNotice and his reply was found unsatis-factory. Moreover, Habib Ullah Amir,Member Inspection Team conducted hispersonal hearing on behalf of the Au-thority, Chief Justice.

After meeting all the department for-malities and as the allegations againstthe said officer have been stoodproved, therefore, Syed Zia Abbas (As-sistant Registrar) has been compulso-rily retired from the service w.e.f. 07-08-2014 under rule 23(a)(5) of the HighCourt Establishment (Appointment andConditions of Service) Rules.

3 brothers killedLAHORE—Three brotherswere killed and three othersinjured during an exchange offire between rival groups inBadami Bagh area of Lahoreon Tuesday. According topolice, the members of twogroups - Amir But and KhalidKhan - had a spat after whichthey exchanged gunshots inBadami Bagh area. Six personswere injured in the exchangeof fire who were rushed tohospital for treatment whilethree brothers identified asBablo, Bilal and Pappo suc-cumbed to their injuries.—INP

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—With a view to making Punjab a polio-free prov-ince, Provincial Emergency Operations Centre for PolioEradication is being set up in Punjab. The office of PEOCwill be established in the building of Directorate GeneralHealth Services. Director General Health Punjab has beennominated as Emergency Coordinator.

It was decided in a meeting chaired by Secretary

Polio eradication centre being set upHealth Punjab Dr. Ijaz Munir, here at Civil SecretariatTuesday. Besides, Additional Secretary Health (Techni-cal) Dr. Salman Shahid, Director General Health PunjabDr. Zahid Pervaiz, Provincial Chief World Health Orga-nization (WHO) Dr. Obaid ul Islam, representatives ofUNICEF Dr. Tahir Manzoor, Rotary International SaeedShamsi, Melinda Gates Foundation Dr. Aslam Chaudhry,Director Health (EPI) Dr Munir and other concernedofficers were present.