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MAILSI: President PML-N Muhammad Nawaz Sharif addressing a public meeting on Friday.

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Dual office casePresident enjoys immunity: LHC

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—Expressing its in-ability to convict President AsifAli Zardari for contempt ofcourt over holding of dual of-fices, the Lahore High Court(LHC) on Friday observed thatalthough the court could convictanyone for committing con-tempt of court, the fact remainedthat the president enjoyed im-munity under Article 248 (2) ofthe constitution.

However, during the hear-ing, the LHC chief justice UmarAta Bandial said even if Presi-

dent Asif Ali Zardari was not an-swerable to anyone, he wasbound to comply with court’sjudicial orders.

The bench, headed by Jus-tice Bandial, heard the petition.Other members of the bench in-clude Justice Nasir SaeedSheikh, Justice Sheikh NajmulHassan, Justice Ijazul Ahsan andJustice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah.

Subsequently, the bench ad-journed the hearing to Decem-ber 10 and directed the counselsto continue their arguments onpresidential immunity.Moreover, the petitioner’s coun-

sel, A K Dogar, stated that theHigh Courts and the SupremeCourt could convict an of-fender for committing con-tempt of court. Dogar ques-tioned the concept of presiden-tial immunity and asked whatmay have happened if thepresident was to murder some-one.

The petitioner said that ifthe president was not con-victed and sentenced for com-mitting contempt of court, theconcept of an independent ju-diciary would cease to exist.

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Judges appointment

Larger bench to hearpresidential reference

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—A five-memberlarger bench of the SupremeCourt of Pakistan has beenformed to hear the presidentialreference, seeking opinion of thecountry’s top court over the ap-pointment of judges in the su-perior judiciary, on Friday.

The bench headed by Justice

Khilji Arif Hussain would starthearing of the reference, filed bythe government under Article 86of the Constitution, seeking Su-preme Court opinion over therole of Judicial Commission andParliamentary Committee in theappointment of judges.

The president on Thursdayhad signed the reference con-taining 13 questions, which was

filed in the apex court here onFriday.

The reference was filed toobtain advice of the SupremeCourt under Article 186 of theConstitution, inter alia, with re-gard to the appointment of chiefjustice of the Islamabad HighCourt as well as confirmation ofthe additional judges of the

Royal prank callnurse found dead

LONDON—A nurse caring forthe Duchess of Cambridge who

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PakistaniTalibanrecruiting viaFacebookPESHAWAR—The PakistaniTaliban has set up a page onFacebook to recruit enthusiaststo write for a quarterlymagazine and to edit video, aspokesman confirmed Friday.

The Umar Media TTPpage, which has more than 270likes, appears to have beencreated in September and hasjust a handful of messageswritten in English.

“Umar Media is proud toannounce online jobs opportu-nities, says the first post on thenetworking website, written onOctober 25.

“Job description is video

Indian BSFfiring injures

three PakistanisFAISAL KHAWER BUTT

SIALKOT—Three civilianswere injured due to unprovokedfiring of Indian Border SecurityForce at Shakargarh Sector ofSialkot Working Boundary onFriday.

SC reprimandsNAB for notarrestingex-Ogra chiefISLAMABAD—The SupremeCourt on Friday reprimandedofficers from the NationalAccountability Bureau (NAB)over the failure to arrestformer Oil and Gas RegulatoryAuthority (Ogra) chairmanTauqir Sadiq.

A two-judge bench of theapex court, led by JusticeJawwad S. Khawaja, heard thecase.

Deputy Prosecutor GeneralNAB Fauzi Zafar requestedthe court to issue directives tothe police to cooperate withthe NAB in arresting Sadiq, asthe bureau did not have a forceof its own.

NAB to probe6 BalochistanministersSTAFF REPORTERQUETTA—Director GeneralNational AccountabilityBureau (NAB) BalochistanMajor (Retd) Burhan Ali hassaid that there were complaintsabout some provincialministers embroiling incorruption.

He said that the NAB hadlaunched investigation againstsix ministers for their allegedinvolvement in corruption.

It has also been learnedthat the anti-corruption bodyhas sought details regardingthe recruitments in govern-ment departments during thelast four years.

The DG said that evi-dences of misappropriationswere found into the recruit-ment process for the excisedepartment, adding thatinvestigations have also beenlaunched to probe recruitmentsin the department of industry.

SA rejectsKBD as risk to‘very unity of

Pakistan’ISMAIL DILAWAR

KARACHI—The Sindh Assem-bly on Friday rejected theLahore High Court’s verdict infavour of the construction of dis-puted Kalabagh Dam (KBD).

The provincial lawmakerstermed the anti-Sindh projectwith one voice as detrimental to

Nawaz: PML-N to emergevictorious in elections

Pakistan in grip of crisesMAILSI—Pakistan MuslimLeague (Nawaz) Chief MianNawaz Sharif said Friday thatPakistan was in the grip of cri-ses but it would once again besteered towards the path of pros-perity.

During a rally in Mailsi,Nawaz said there was no gas orelectricity in the country yetconsumers would receive billswithout any hesitation. He saidthat homes, factories, shoppingcentres, tubewells are deprived

of electricity but undue burdenof heavy and hectic bills in be-ing imposed on poor farmers.

He though that the PML-Nwould be successful in the up-coming elections. “The by-elec-tions were a trailer, the movie isyet to come.”

Nawaz added that corrup-tion in Pakistan had reached intothe billions and the country hadaccumulated more debt in thelast four years when comparedwith the sixty years prior to that.

Nawaz Sharif said that he issure by the grace of Allah thathe would win forthcoming gen-eral elections.

He said that national insti-tutions like the PIA and PakistanRailways have been destroyeddue to corruption and poor man-agement.

About situation inBalochistan, he said the peoplethere are patriotic and problemscannot be resolved through theuse of force.—INP

Appeals of GHQ attackconvicts rejected

STAFF REPORTER

RAWALPINDI—A military courthas rejected appeals of all theconvicts involved in GHQ ter-ror attack.

According to report, themilitary appellate court upheldthe verdict of a military court,which earlier handed downdeath penalty to Aqeel aka DrUsman, a key accused of the ter-ror attack that also led to killing

of a brigadier. The court had alsoawarded 25-year jail term to twoaccused Usman Khaliq andMajid while 10-year imprison-ment to three others accusedImran Siddique, Adnan andTahir Shafique in the same case.

A group of militants hadstormed General Headquartersof the Pakistan Army on Octo-ber 10, 2009. Army commandoskilled nine of the attackers whileDr Usman was arrested.

ISLAMABAD—The US SpecialEnvoy and Coordinator for In-ternational Energy Affairs Am-bassador Carlos Pascual was inIslamabad on Friday as head ofthe US delegation at the fourthU.S.-Pakistan Energy WorkingGroup meeting.

Secretary of Water and

US to help Pakistanin acquiring LNG

Power Nargis Sethi and Secre-tary of Petroleum and NaturalResources Dr. Waqar MasoodKhan co-chaired the annual En-ergy Working Group meeting.

The Energy Working Groupmeeting is part of an ongoingbilateral dialogue to help ad-

SC dissolves Suddle CommissionSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The SupremeCourt on Friday dissolved theDr Shoaib Suddle judicialcommission which had beentasked to investigate allega-tions of a Rs342 million busi-ness deal between ArsalanIftikhar, son of Chief JusticeIftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry,and property tycoon Malik

Riaz.The commission was dis-

solved by the two-judge benchof the apex court during a hear-ing of the Arsalan Iftikhar case.

The bench reportedly saidthat the court had taken a noticeon the issue when the judiciarywas dragged into the matter butsince that had not been proven,the commission was no longerneeded.

The bench further said thatthe findings of the ShoaibSuddle commission should bemade public.

During the hearing, thecounsel for Riaz, ZahidBokhari, said that the matterwas between two individualsand did not involve corruptionfrom the national exchequer.

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Dogar further argued thatcrimes are carried out under“personal capacity” and thatthey did not have anything to dowith the position a person holds.

Responding to which, thebench stated that although thehead of state was not answerableto anyone, the president was stillbound to respect and follow ju-dicial orders.

Justice Bandial said thecountry would be peaceful andwould prosper when peoplewould abide by the Constitution.Violating the Constitutionwould adversely affect all sec-tions of national life.

However, as the bench re-sumed proceedings, AdvocateSajjad struggled to get the

President enjoys immunity: LHCFrom Page 1

court’s permission to continuehis arguments on the maintain-ability issue, as he has alreadystarted arguments on the consti-tutional immunity enjoyed bypresident during the last hearingon Thursday.

The bench had sought argu-ments as to whether Article248(2) of the Constitution bansentertaining a contempt of courtpetition against the president.

On September 5, thebench had issued a fresh no-tice to President Asif AliZardari through his principalsecretary and had sought areply to the petition pleadingcontempt proceedings againsthim for not abiding the court’sorder to relinquish his politi-

was duped by two deejays pre-tending to be the Queen andPrince Charles has committedsuicide, officials said Friday.

The nurse, JacinthaSaldanha, was found at an ad-dress near King Edward VIIHospital.

“Police were called at ap-proximately 9:35 a.m. Fridaymorning to a report of a womanfound unconscious,” a ScotlandYard spokesman said. “LondonAmbulance Service attendedand the woman was pronounced

editing, translations, sharing,uploading, downloading and

collection of required data,” itsays, giving an email addressand asking readers to “plz spreadit.

Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan(TTP) spokesman EhsanullahEhsan confirmed to AFP by tele-phone on Friday that the factionwas “temporarily” using thepage “to fulfil its requirements”before launching its ownwebsite.

US-based organisationSITE Intelligence Group saysthe TTP uses Facebook as “arecruitment centre”.

“Through its official mediaarm, Umar Media, the TTP hastaken to Facebook to recruit con-tributors for their media workand the group’s forthcomingpublication ‘Ayah-E-Khilafat’(Sign of the Caliphate),” it saidin a statement.

The TTP Facebook pagedescribes the publication as its“official quarterly magazine”and asks writers to submit ar-ticles “on (a) topic of yourchoice”, or on jihadi current af-fairs, history, Islamic move-ments or the plight of Mus-lims.—AFP

Zafar added that the inves-tigation officer could also sub-mit a statement before the benchon the issue of Sadiq’s arrest.

Justice Khawaja remarkedthat out of Rs 82 billion, the NABhad recovered only Rs 30 billion.He also directed the bureau tosubmit a written reply to thebench on the amount recovered.

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the “very unity of Pakistan”.and emotional, visibly, the

People’s Party lawmakers, how-ever, failed to show their repre-sentational strength in the houseThursday where neither Leaderof the House Chief MinisterSindh Qaim Ali Shah nor PPP’sparliamentary party leader PirMazharul Haq was present in thehouse at the time of the “his-toric” resolution’s passage.

Of the total 89 PPP legisla-tors only 47 were counted aspresent in the house when theresolution was adopted minutesbefore Speaker Nisar Khuhroprorogued the session. TheMQM lawmakers present were23 of the total 47. In terms ofnumber, the opposition bencheswere also barren as only 10 ofthe 27-member opposition couldturn up to the Sindh legislaturewas opining on the most-con-demned KBD.

Given the current heatedpolitical climate Friday’sproceedings were marred byintermittent but full-throatedverbal clashes between the PPPled treasury and PML-F-ledopposition members. The twosides at least thrice put the houseinto a noisy pandemonium bypointing fingers at each other fortheir past “wrongdoings”.

“Don’t go into the history, orwe would not be able to maintainunity (against KBD),” Khuhrowarned the two divides of thehouse.

However, the 168-memberPPP-dominated house wasunanimous in adopting the fourresolutions tabled Thursday byDr Sikandar Mandhro and ImranNazir Leghari of the PPP, KhalidAhmed of the MQM and JamMadad Ali Khan of the PML-F.

SA rejects KBD as risk to‘very unity of Pakistan’

From Page 1

President to attend girls’ rightof education event in Paris

PARIS—President Asif AliZardari would attend an event‘Stand up for Malala; girls’ rightof education’ jointly organizedby UNESCO and Pakistan em-bassy in Paris.

According to media reports,President Asif Ali Zardari, alongwith Federal Ministers for For-eign Affairs and Education andChairperson BISP Farzana Raja,will attend the event to demon-strate Pakistan’s commitmenttowards education for girls.

President will hold a briefmeeting with DG UNESCOIriva Bokova. Zardari will alsomeet President Hollande to dis-cuss bilateral issues during histhree days visit.

Within the framework ofEducation for All (EFA), theoverall goal of this event is toadvocate and promote girls’right to education, encompass-ing all levels and all aspects ofeducation, so that education be-comes available and accessibleto all girls, while being accept-

able and adaptable to their spe-cific needs and circumstances.

This unique and joint effortof Government of Pakistan andUNESCO is expected to becomea beacon of light for 61 millionchildren across the world, mostof which are girls, who aspireto go to school.

The objectives of this advo-cacy event are to sensitise theinternational community aboutthe importance of girl’s educa-tion and special challenges andobstacles relating to girls edu-cation.

Pakistan and UNESCOwould sign a MoU to establishMalala Fund to promote girlseducation during President visit.Pakistan will provide seedmoney for the establishment ofthis fund.

Representatives of govern-ments, UN partners, interna-tional and bilateral organiza-tions, foundations, donors, theprivate sector, civil society, aca-demics, religious leaders, emi-

nent personalities, the media andother stakeholders wouldexpectedly attend the nobleevent.

High level International fig-ures would participate in thisadvocacy event, including Jeam-Marc Aryalt, the Prime Minis-ter of France, Gordon BrownUN Special Envoy for GlobalEducation and former PrimeMinister of UK, Tarja Helnonformer President of Finland,Michelle Bachelet ExecutiveDirector UN women educationand Former President of Chile,Sheikh Abdullah Foreign Min-ister of UAE, Liela ZerrouguiUnder Secretary General andSpecial Representative of UNSecretary General for childrenand Armed Conflict,Dr.Abdulaziz OthomanAltwaiijri Director GeneralISESCO, Maria Arnholm StateSecretary to Minister for Gen-der Equality and Deputy Minis-ter for Education and BaronessSaeeda Warsi.—Online

All the four resolutionspassed called upon the federaland provincial governments tovehemently oppose the contro-versial project at all levels tobury this “dead horse” once andfor all.

“This Assembly… ex-presses its feelings of aversionto the sources that disrespect thestatus of this august House ig-noring the importance of manyunanimously passed previousresolutions against the dam,”read the one moved by PPP’s DrMandhro.

“This House condemns thedecision of the Lahore highcourt and the supportingstatmnet by the Chief MinisterPunjab Mian Shahbaz Sharif infavour of construction ofKalabagh Dam,” said the reso-lution tabled by Imran Legahri,also of PPP. The KBD, the docu-ment said, was “detrimental tothe very unity of Pakistan withthe most dangerous repercus-sions on Sindh province”.

The resolution that camefrom the MQM said: “ThisHouse resolves that any attemptto revive the proposal from anyquarter shall be resisted and re-jected outright by the provinceand the people of Sindh.”

The opposition led by theFunctional League dubbed theconstruction of KBD as a “deadissue” saying: “Raising of thisissue by any forum at this stageis nothing but creating distur-bance amongst the masses”.

The members from two di-vides delivered hard-hittingspeeches against the dam blast-ing mostly the Punjab provinceand Sharifs brothers for hatch-

ing judicial conspiracies againstthe already water-scarce Sindh.

The Chief Justice of Paki-stan was also appealed to take asuo motu notice of the LHC de-cree which, Amnullah Mehsudof ANP and other lawmakerssaid, would pit the provincesagainst each other.

The speeches, however,were marred by the noisy blame-game intermittently taking placebetween the PPP and PMNL-Flegislators. The house echoeswith ear-splitting noise at leastthrice when lawmakers from thetwo sides accused the other sideof having tacitly supported theanti-Sindh dam sometime andsomewhere in the past.

“The opposition leader (ofPPP) in Punjab Assembly hadsupported a resolution in favorof Kalabagh dam, is not itdouble standard,” questionedJam Madad Ali of PML-F.

PPP ministers Murad AliShah, Sharjeel Memon andZahid Bhurgary came up withcounter allegations mostlybringing the opposition lawmak-ers on their feet. Others whospoke included Law MinisterAyaz Soomro, Humera Alwani,Heer Ismail Soho, Sussui Palijo,Imdad Patafi and Anwar Meher.

Also, the house said yes toa PPP-backed resolution callingupon the government to declarethe slain PPP chairpersonBenazir Bhutto “a symbol ofdemocracy and freedom” for herglorious struggle and sacrificesfor the restoration of democracyin the county.The house alsoapproved a report of the PublicAccounts Committee regardingdraft paras for the fiscal years06, 07 and 08.

RAWALPINDI: Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani presiding over the 155th Corps Commanders’ Confer-ence at General Headquarters.

dead at the scene.”The death is not being

treated as suspicious at this time,the spokesman said.

“The Duke and Duchess ofCambridge are deeply saddenedto learn of the death of JacinthaSaldanha,” the Royal Familysaid in a statement. “Their RoyalHighnesses were looked after sowonderfully well at all times byeverybody at King Edward VIIHospital, and their thoughts andprayers are with JacinthaSaldanha’s family, friends andcolleagues at this very sad time.”

Saldanha had worked at thehospital for four years, accord-ing to hospital officials.

“Our thoughts and deepestsympathies at this time are withher family and friends,” read astatement by the hospital’s chiefexecutive, John Lofthouse. “Ev-eryone is shocked by the loss ofa much loved and valued col-league.”

Lord Glenarthur, chairmanof the hospital, characterizedSaldanha as a “first-class” nursewho diligently cared for hun-

dreds of patients.“She will be greatly

missed,” Glenarthur’s statementread.

Two Australian radio per-sonalities from 2Day FM —MelGreig and Michael Christian —pretending to be the Queen andPrince Charles tricked thewoman into giving an update onthe condition of Kate Middleton,30, who was being treated formorning sickness.

St. James’s Palace an-nounced Monday that the Duch-ess of Cambridge — formerlyMiddleton — had a severe formof morning sickness and wasbeing treated at a London hos-pital with Prince William at herside.

The couple’s first childwill be third in line to thethrone — behind William andhis father, Prince Charles —leapfrogging the gregariousPrince Harry and possibly set-ting up the first scenario inwhich a female heir could ben-efit from new gender rulesabout succession.—AP

quested the bench to stop thecommission’s proceedings sothat whichever party wanted totake whatever legal recourse,they may approach the con-cerned avenues in that regard.

Speaking to media represen-tatives later, Bokhari said justicehad prevailed, adding that, hisclient had been raising objec-tions over the legality of thecommission from day one.

The counsel said his client’sobjections on the commission’sreport had been noted by thecourt. Bokhari added that theShoaib Suddle commission hadno authority to investigate thefunds of Bahria Town.

The commission’s prelimi-nary report, which was sharedwith the media on Thursday,said that Arsalan had admittedbefore the commission that hehad availed two of the three for-eign visits alleged by Riaz in agraft case being heard in theSupreme Court.

Arsalan admitted that hehad received ‘favours’ fromRiaz, his friend or his son-in-law, but the report did not an-swer why he had accepted theseand nor did it explain thebusinessman’s claim that hehad ‘favoured’ Arsalan in orderto get court cases settled in hisfavour.

Earlier on Aug 30, a two-judge bench of the SupremeCourt, headed by JusticeJawwad S. Khwaja, appointedFederal Tax Ombudsman DrMohammad Shoaib Suddle asa one man-commission to in-vestigate allegations of aRs342 million business dealbetween Arsalan Iftikhar, sonof Chief Justice IftikharMuhammad Chaudhry, andproperty tycoon Malik Riaz.The commission had been di-rected to complete the task ina month’s time.

Islamabad High Court.On November 22, a case per-

taining to extension in the tenureof two additional judges of theIslamabad High Court had takena new turn before the SupremeCourt after the Attorney Generalof Pakistan Irfan Qadir had in-formed it (SC) that the govern-ment wanted to file a presiden-tial reference over the issue.

Questioning the composi-tion of judicial commission onthe judges’ appointments, he hadsought two-week time from theSupreme Court for filing thepresidential reference, citing theneed for seeking legal opinionon all issues related to appoint-ments of the IHC judges.

On October 22, the JudicialCommission of Pakistan hadrecommended the permanentappointment of IHC’s additionaljudge Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui anda six-month extension in the ten-ure of IHC’s additional judgeNoorul Haq N Qureshi.

On November 6, the Parlia-mentary Committee for Ap-pointment of Superior Courtsjudges had also endorsed therecommendations of the JudicialCommission.

The Law Ministry, however,had not issued a notification forextension in the tenure of thesetwo judges and the matter wasstill pending before the SupremeCourt for adjudication. The Su-preme Court would start hear-ing the reference on Monday.

Among the injured personstwo belonged to border area vil-lage Tanda and one was fromvillage Tarapur.

The BSF used light weap-ons in the firing. PakistaniChenab Rangers fitfully an-swered in order to silent the en-emy guns.

SC dissolvesSuddle

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Indian BSFFrom Page 1

cal office.The petition that had been

filed by Munir Ahmad throughlawyers A K Dogar and AzharSiddique had accused PresidentZardari of indulging in politicalactivities in the presidency.

The petitioner had also con-tended that the use of Presi-dency for political activitieswas illegal and tantamount tocommitting contempt of thecourt’s orders issued on May 12last year.

He had also requested thecourt to issue a show-cause no-tice to the president and punishhim under Contempt of CourtOrdinance, 2003, read with Ar-ticle 204 of the Constitution.

dress Pakistan’s energy sectorchallenges, including powergeneration, fuel, gas, and reformpriorities.

At the conclusion of themeeting, the three officials an-nounced that the United Statesgovernment will fund an inter-national consultancy to assistPakistan in acquiring liquefiednatural gas (LNG).

Secretary of Water andPower highlighted the need foran improved and sustained gov-ernance structure as a key ele-ment for a sustainable powersector and the steps taken so far.

Special Envoy Pascual wel-comed Pakistani government’scommitment to the reform pro-cess, improving governance, im-proving the financial viabilityand efficiency of the power sec-tor and energy sector in general,and attracting private sector in-vestment in energy productionand distribution. The Secretary ofWater and Power expressed herappreciation for U.S. assistanceunder the power distribution im-provement project and the energyefficiency programs.

Special Envoy Pascual alsowelcomed Pakistan’s adoptionof the 2012 Petroleum Explora-tion & Production Policy, not-ing that it that has the potentialto spur investment in explora-tion throughout Pakistan. Sec-retary Khan pointed out the im-minent Pakistani oil and gas del-egation meetings in Houston andLondon to promote the auctionof licenses for 60 blocks (or ex-ploration zones).

“Today, the United Statesgovernment and the Govern-ment of Pakistan launched a newinitiative to help Pakistan ac-quire liquefied natural gas moreefficiently,” said AmbassadorPascual at the working group,“This initiative shows theUnited States and Pakistanworking together on concreteactions to relieve Pakistan’schronic shortage of electricity.It will accelerate the liquefiednatural gas procurement processand offer a cheaper alternativeto Pakistan’s current fuel oilimports.”

The LNG consultancy, whichwill commence work before theend of the year, will assist Pakistanin the terms and assessment ofliquefied natural gas supply anddelivery from internationalsuppliers.

The effort will speed theprocurement process, saving thegovernment the expense of fueloil imports that are currentlyused to generate much of thenation’s electricity. Theconsultancy will also providemarket analysis and technicalassistance to the government’simplementer of LNG imports.

The United States and Pa-kistan together are carrying out

US to help Pakistanin acquiring LNG

From Page 1large-scale energy projects, thatwill add 900 megawatts of ca-pacity to the power grid by theend of next year — enough tosupply electricity to an esti-mated 2 million households..—Online

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Chief Justice of theLahore High Court, Mr. JusticeUmar Ata Bandial has said thattaxes provide a boost to the na-tional economy. Therefore, itwas need of the hour to promotetax culture and Tax Bar shouldalso shoulder its responsibility incollection of taxes meant forprogress and prosperity in thecountry, he added.

Hon‘ble Chief Justice wasspeaking at a function arrangedby the Lahore Tax Bar Associa-tion. He underlined the need forstrengthening the tax collectingdepartments. A credible and vi-able Tax system can usher an eraof development. It was responsi-bility of the state to facilitate the

LHC CJ for promoting tax culturebusiness community and pro-mote confidence among them forenhancing the business activities.

Hon’ble Chief Justice calledupon the elite of the society tocome forward in paying taxes andhave a pride in getting NationalTax Numbers. Black coats shouldset an example in this regard andbecome a role model for othersegments of the society. Hewished an atmosphere where tax-payers feel protected. Chief Jus-tice said that if the laws are notenforced evenly the society be-comes uncivilized.

Referring to the National Ju-dicial Policy Making Committeemeeting, Hon’ble Chief Justicesaid that there were 60,000 oldcases in the Punjab as comparedto the 10,000 to 12,000 in other

provinces and it was due to short-age of judges. Chief Justice saidthat we are filling this gap withmore work in the courts. It was apride that Judiciary in the Prov-ince has responded with im-mense conviction and devotionto duty and has tripled the con-viction rate. We have not optedfor number game by enhancingdisposal rate but delivering goodand comprehensive judgments.Judiciary was not meant only todecide individual difference butleading to rule of law. In this re-gard Chief Justice also cited casesof Balochistan and Karachi bythe Supreme Court of Pakistan.Good governance was basic rightof the people and the advocatescommunity was playing their vi-tal role, Chief Justice added.

PTI finalizesparty polls

strategyLAHORE—Strategy for intraparty elections has been final-ized while PTI Town Commit-tees would be constituted tomobilize the workers at unioncouncil level.

This was decided in a a spe-cial meeting of Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf presided by CentralLeader Abdul Aleem Khan..—Online

FAISALABAD: Commissioner Tahir Hussain lit candles during an anti-corruption weekseminar.

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf with members of delegation from District Haripur at Prime Minis-ter House.

SHARAFAT KAZMI

ISLAMABAD—Prime MinisterRaja Pervez Ashraf has said thatthe present democratic govern-ment has introduced liberal andinvestment-friendly policies toattract foreign investment.

He expressed these viewswhile talking to Mr Fan Yun Jun,Chief Executive Officer of Zong,who called on him at PM Houseon Friday.

Mr. Jun appreciated theTelecom Policy being pursued bythe present government whichhas spurred healthy competitionamong the leading cellular com-panies. He further said that Paki-stan telecom sector has great po-tential and Zong intended to ex-pand the reach of its operationsinPakistan.

The Prime Minister said thatthe government greatly valuedZong’s contribution to Pakistan’sdevelopment and economicprogress. The Prime Minister re-

iterated the commitment and re-solve of his government of tak-ing every possible measure toprovide maximum security andprotection to the foreign inves-tors.*****Prime Minister Raja PervezAshraf has said that the govern-ment is committed to improve thestandard of living of the peopleespecially under-developed areasso that they can be brought at parwith the developed areas of thecountry.

Talking to a delegation fromHaripur led by MNA SardarMuhammad Mushtaq Khan inIslamabad today‚ he said thatdevelopment work can be dou-bly beneficial with peoples’ par-ticipation.

He urged PPP workers toencourage community participa-tion so that not only the rightprojects can be identified but alsoits ownership by the people willensure the success and utility of

the projects. The Prime Ministersaid that the peoples’ governmenthas allocated record amount offunds for development projectsacross the country without anypolitical discrimination becauseit considers serving the people ofPakistan a sacred duty.

The Prime Minister said thatthe development work carried outby the government has been ini-tiated with the objective that theyshould make a difference in thelives of the people of Pakistan‚for the better.

The delegation apprised thePrime Minister about the issuespertaining to the district and re-quested for development projectsfor the improvement of infra-structure and provision of healthfacilities like hospitals and col-leges. The Prime Minister as-sured that all possible assistanceand support would be extendedto the people to raise their stan-dards of living.*****

Prime Minister Raja PervezAshraf appreciated the perfor-mance of the incumbent Assem-bly as historic legislations werepassed during the last five years.

Deputy Speaker of the Na-tional Assembly, Faisal KarimKundi called on the Prime Min-ister on Friday and discussedmatters relating to legislativebusiness in the Assembly.

The Deputy Speaker ap-prised the Prime Minister of thelegislative business which wouldbe taken up by the National As-sembly during the forthcomingsession starting December 10,2012.

The Deputy Speaker also dis-cussed with the Prime Ministerissues related to the welfare ofNational Assembly members.The Prime Minister assured thatevery possible measure will betaken to facilitate the legislatorsso that the legislative business ofthe House runs smoothly.

Govt set to uplift underprivileged classes

GILGIT—Governor Gilgit-Baltistan Syed Pir Karam AliShah on Friday addressed theongoing session of Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly(GBLA) in which he highlightedthe achievements of the PakistanPeople’s Party government.

The session was presidedover by Speaker GBLA WazirBaig while Chief Minister SyedPir Karam Ali Shah and opposi-tion leader Haji Janbaz Khan alsoaddressed the house.

The Governor said that po-litical reforms did not end after

the assassination of BenazirBhutto Shaheed who served thearea and introduced many re-forms. He spoke very well of theformer and present Prime Min-ister and Information MinisterQamar Zaman Kaira and saidthey paid special attention andpromulgated Empowerment andSelf-Governance Order 2009.

He said the area enjoys com-plete political set up and he washonored to address the assembly.

Shah said extensive devel-opment has taken place in politi-cal, economic and administrative

fields. The Governor enumeratedvarious steps undertaken by thegovernment and said the provin-cial government had also done amarvelous job.

He stressed on the need to tapnatural resources of the region toimprove the living standard of thepeople.

He said despite financialcrunch, the present governmentprovided jobs to the people andset up new organizations. He saidservice structure lacked ruleswhich were formulated andimplemented.—APP

CM highlights govt’s achievements

MULTAN: BISP Director General Punjab, Shahid AslamMahaar distributing first installment 1.5 lac cheque to de-serving people of Waseela-e-Haq at Gulgasht.

Four powertowers blownup in Kohlu

QUETTA—Unknown men blewup four electricity towers by deto-nating explosive material inKohlu area, said Levies sources.

The sabotage act caused sus-pension of electricity supply to thearea. The Levies Force registereda case. It was reported earlier thatunidentified people set on fire agirls school in mineral-rich ChagaiDistrict of Balochistan.

According to Levies sources,the incident occurred in the areaof Afghan refugees camp in KilliRehmatullah. They also said thatthe unidentified people, usingkerosene oil, set the boundary ofthe school on fire, resultantly somerooms and its boundary wereburnt.

“The fire broke out and en-gulfed three rooms and verandaof the school building, damagingthe things present in the rooms,”Levies officials said. They addedthat the area where girls’ schoolwas torched is close to the Paki-stani area bordering Afghanistanand Iran.

They further said that localpeople informed the Levies Forcethat reached the site and filed ini-tial report of the incident. Mean-while, official sources in the dis-trict administration told APP thata report of the incident has beendispatched to the Quetta Divisioncommissioner.

They said that it was first ofits type of the incident that agirls’ school was set on fire byunidentified men. The LeviesForce has constituted teams totrace the suspects. Meanwhile,in Sarbala village of Kabal, twoschools were torched by sus-pected militants. According tolocal sources, the girls and boysprimary schools were burnt lateSaturday night. The doors, mats,and windows in both the schoolswere burnt.

“I received an emergencycall at 12:30 last night from thewatchman of our school thatsome unidentified people havetorched both schools. Luckily, thelocals saw the fire and rushed tothe spot and put out the blaze,”Abdul Samad, a teacher in theboys school, told The ExpressTribune.

PSEA rejectsPrivate

RegulatoryAuthority Bill

PESHAWAR—President All Pri-vate Schools Executive Associa-tion, Aqeel Razzaq on Fridayrejected the Private RegulatoryAuthority Bill which would betabled in the next scheduled ses-sion of the provincial assembly.

President All Pakistan Pri-vate Schools Executive Associa-tion Aqeel Razaq said that thebill was a means creating a gate-way for bureaucratic interfer-ence in education matters. Aqeelsaid that 25,000 private schoolswould remain close from today(Saturday) to protest the PrivateRegulatory Authority.

According to president Pri-vate Schools Executive Associa-tion, the bill would make it com-pulsory for private schools op-erators to consult the provincialeducation department for induc-tion and termination of teachers.

He said that the Bill wouldbecome an impediment in theway of investment in privateeducation sector, adding that theupcoming legislation also threat-ens the existence of privateschools in operation.—INP

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Meteo-rological Department (PMD) onFriday forecast scattered rainwith snowfall over the hills atMalakand, Hazara divisions,Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan,Isolated rain is also expected inQuetta, Zhob, Peshawar, Kohat,Sargodha, Rawalpindi,Gujranwala divisions during next24 hours.

According to Met office syn-optic situation/outlook: a westerndisturbance is affecting upperparts of the country & likely topersist for next 24 hours. Mostlypartly cloudy weather conditionsis expected in most parts of thePunjab, however rain would oc-cur at isolated places ofRawalpindi, Gujranwala andSargodha divisions during next24 hours.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,rain is expected at scatteredplaces of Malakand, Hazara di-visions while at isolated placesof Peshawar and Kohat divisionsduring next 24 hours. Mainly dryweather is expected in most partsof the Sindh during next 24 hours.

The Multan Met office hasforecast cold and dry weatherwith chances of mist in the morn-ing for the city and its suburbsduring the next 24 hours.

On Friday, the maximum andminimum temperatures were re-corded as 26.2 and 9.3 degreescentigrade, respectively. Humid-

ity was recorded 82 per cent at8am and 31 per cent at 5 pm. TheQuetta Met Office has forecastcloudy weather for Quetta and itssurrounding areas for next 24hours. Minimum temperature onThursday was recorded as -1 de-gree centigrade and maximumas 9 degree centigrade in the pro-vincial capital. The lowest mini-mum temperature was recordedin Kalat as -3 degree centi-grade.—APP

Rain, snowfallat hills predicted

MULTAN—Director GeneralBISP Punjab Shahid AslamMohar said on Friday that underthe programme they were follow-ing a transparent policy of help-ing the poor across the country.

After cheques distributionceremony here at Regional Di-rectorate Benazir Income Sup-port Programme (BISP),among 42 women across thesouth Punjab in connection withthe first instalment of Rs150,000 each under Waseela-e-

Haq programme, he said thatchairperson BISP Farzana Rajahad devised variousprogrammes for eradicatingsense of deprivation among thepoor masses.

Aslam Mohar said a 10-daytraining was also given to thedeserving women to their se-lected businesses included cattleform, handicraft and carpet mak-ing.

He also gave business tips tobeneficiaries and said that they

would have to return the cursoryloan within 15 years.

On this occasion, DivisionalDirector BISP Zulfikar HaiderBhutta, Assistant Director NasiraBatool, Divisional Director DGKhan, Syed Lutfullah Bukhariand others were also present.

He said that it was a goodomen that 23 students had gotemployments in different organi-zations who received trainingfrom COTHM.—APP

BISP eradicating public deprivation

STAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—The DirectorGeneral Prosecution KhyberPakhtunkhwa Mohammad ArifKhattak on Friday gave a com-prehensive presentation on in-troduction and working ofProsecution Service to the vis-iting delegation of EuropeanUnion. All administrative, fi-

nancial, legal, monitoring andevaluation, references and re-search issues were highlightedduring the presentation focus-ing strong prosecution aimedto achieve maximum results onconviction ratio, said a pressrelease here.

Close and well coordinationamongst investigating police,prosecution and judiciary also

came under discussion. Trainingfor prosecutors was also de-manded in order to improve theirworking capabilities on modernscientific lines.

The delegation took keeninterest in the presentation andensured all possible technicalassistance and training facili-ties for achieving high convic-tion ratio.

EU delegation briefed onKP prosecution service

STAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—Chief MinisterKhyber Pakhtunkhwa AmirHaider Khan Hoti has approved49 posts in police department forDistrict Batagram of Hazara Di-vision to meet the law and ordersituation in effective manner inthe district.

The new posts would bemade part of the district police

CM approves 49 new policeposts for Batagram District

from January 2013. Batagramwas raised to the level of Districtin 1993 and the total strength ofthe police force was 486 whichis insufficient to meet the grow-ing need of the population andcurbing crime in the district, saidan official release here on Friday.

The new posts approved areDSP (BPS-17) one, Inspectors(BPS 16) three, Sub Inspectors(BPS 14 ) five, Assistant sub In-

spector (BPS-9) five, JuniorClerk (BPS -7) one, Head Con-stable (BPS 7) eight, Constable(BPS-5) twenty and two each ofCook, Naib Qasid, and Sweeper(BPS-1). The increase in policestrength in Batagram would helpcontrol law and order situation inthe district. Meanwhile the ChiefMinister also approved Rs.14million for DREP-III and IV inDistrict Tank.

PPP tocomplete tenureSUKKUR—PPP MPA NasarullahBaloch on Friday said that Paki-stan People’s Party (PPP) gov-ernment is going to successfullycomplete its five years term dueto effective and comprehensivepolicies.

Addressing an event here,hesaid that despite several chal-lenges including terrorism,floods, economic recession andothers, the PPP government tookpragmatic measures and put thecountry on the path of develop-ment and prosperity.

He said the PPP-led govern-ment took wise decisions to curbterrorism and other social evilsfrom the society and also ad-dress poor peopleproblems,issues of unemploy-ment and energy crisis.

It also provided jobs to thou-sands of people besides regular-izing the services of hundreds ofthousands of contract employ-ees.

He said PPP is committed toeradicate poverty and unemploy-ment from the country.The gov-ernment is utilizing resources todevelop backward areas.—APP

ISLAMABAD—Minister forCommunications Dr ArbabAlamgir Khan on Friday said thatoverloading caused destructionof national highways and termedit great loss for national economy.

He said that no overloadingwould be allowed on motorwaysand highways and ordered In-spector General of MotorwayPolice to devise an action plan tocombat overloading.

He passed these remarkswhile chairing a high level meet-ing here at National Highways andMotorway Police Headquarters.The meeting was attended by IGNational Highways and

Motorway Police (NH&MP)Zafar Abbas Lak, Shahid YarKhan DIG Headquarters, AIGLog Abbas Ahsan, AIG (Estab)Ashfaq Khan and other senior of-ficers of NH&MP and Ministry.

The Minister also issued di-rectives to Motorway Police toinitiate a welfare plan for the pro-fessional drivers and IG NH&MPasked in his briefing that all pro-fessional drivers are inducted inEOBI system by NH&MP andgood professional drivers whohave not met with an accidentwould be awarded financially byNH&MP at country level everyyear. The IG said that 76 Help

Centers (police posts) are being es-tablished at N-5 from Karachi toPeshawar with a cost of 600 mil-lion rupees which would facilitatethe road users in any type of dis-tress at N-5. The Minister whileappreciating the project ordered toestablish first Help Center at GujarKhan which would start workingat the end of this month. The IGPalso informed that PEMRA hasissued FM radio license toNH&MP which would start itsairing next month. The Ministerfor Communications Dr ArbabAlamgir Khan would inauguratethe FM Radio of NH&MP on 1stJanuary 2013. —APP

Alamgir holds overloadingresponsible for roads destruction

ANP forconstruction

of small damsSTAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—The provincialsecretary of Awami NationalParty (ANP) Malik GhulamMustafa Friday called for con-struction of small dams inKhyber Pakhtunkhwa and otherparts of the country to address theenergy crisis.

He said the federal govern-ment will have to concentrate onsmall dams to irrigate the barrenlands as well as for the powergeneration, adding that Kalabaghdam is a controversial issue andthe three provinces have alreadyrejected it.

He said the recent decisionof the Punjab High Court onKalabagh dam issue was tanta-mount to bulldoze the resolutionsof the three provincial assembliesof the country which had alreadyrejected it in their unanimousresolutions.

He said the country is alreadyfacing challenges like terrorism,extremism and other issues andit could not afford any controver-sial issue like Kalabagh dam atthis stage.

Malik Ghulam Mustafa saidthat Khyber Pakhtunkhwa prov-ince has prepared and is imple-menting different projects of gen-erating 2100 mega watt electric-ity, adding that the centre shouldalso pay attention to small dams.

He said that the countries likeChina, India are fulfilling theirenergy demand by constructingvarious small dams.

Woman shot deadOUR CORRESPONDENT

MANDI BAHAUDDIN—Un-known persons armed with fireweapons entered house of NazirAhmed in a suburban village KotBaluch and opened indiscrimi-nate fire and as a result MaqsoodBibi wife of Nazir Ahmed diedon the spot.

Police moved the dead bodyto DHQ Hospital and after au-topsy handed over to her heirs.Sadar police registered FIR andfurther investigation is inprogress.

MULTAN—Four people, includ-ing a man and his two sons, werekilled while a woman was injuredin two seprate accidents here onFriday.

SHO Mumtazabad policestation Rizwan Ahmad said Afzalwith his wife Ijaz Begum and twosons- Usman and GhulamMursaleen- was going toShujabad to attend a marriageceremony on a motorcycle whena speeding truck hit them.

Resultantly, Afzal, Usman,and Ghulam Mursaleen died atthe spot while Ijaz Begum sus-tained injuries and was shifted to

a local hospital. In another acci-dent, Amjad of Mouza BakharBhir was hit to death. Earlier, aman was crushed to death by arashly driven truck in the limitsof Shah Shamas police station onThursday.

According to police, Ahmadwas crossing the road at HassanSawali chowk when a speedingtruck coming from opposite di-rection ran over him.

As a result, he died on thespot while the driver managed toescape from the scene.

Police have took the truckinto custody and started investi-

gation. Bike snatchers kill manin Quetta: A man was killed byunknown armed bike snatchers atSatellite town area of the me-tropolis on Friday.

According to police, the vic-tim identified as MaqsoodAhmad was on his way home onmotorcycle when armed men in-tercepted him. They opened fireon him when he resisted bid ofsnatching his motorbike.

As a result,he received mul-tiple bullet wounds and died onthe spot. The body was handedover to the heirs after completionof legal formalities.—APP

Four killed in road accidents

CondolenceHYDERABAD—The Sindh Minister for Cul-ture Department Sassui Palejo and SecretaryCulture Department Abdul Aziz Uqaili haveexpressed deep sorrow and grief over the saddemise of Allah Bachayo Khoso, a legendryalghozo nawaz, who died here last night af-ter a protracted illness. A press release issuedhere Friday said. It is reported earlier thatPrime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf visitedthe residence of Deputy Speaker of the Na-tional Assembly Faisal Karim Kundi Thurs-

day evening and expressed his heartfelt condolences on the saddemise of his father Fazal Karim Kundi, ex-MNA. The PrimeMinister remained there for some time and offered Fateha for thedeparted soul. He prayed to Almighty Allah to shower His bless-ings upon the deceased soul and give fortitude to the members ofthe bereaved family to bear the immense loss. Meanwhile, KhyberPakhtunkhwa Senior Minister, Rahim Dad Khan on Thursdayexpressed grief and sorrow over the demise of the brother ofDirector Information, Shoaib-ud- Din. Rahim Dad expressed sym-pathies with Director Information and prayed Allah Almighty torest the departed soul in eternal peace. He also prayed for grant-ing courage to the bereaved family members to bear the losswith fortitude. POA condoles over death of journalist’s father:Punjab Olympic Association(POA) has condoled over the deathof senior sports journalist’s father Zahid Maqsood on Friday here.POA President Syed Shahid Ali Shah and Secretary Idris HaiderKhawaja, expressed their sympathies with the family. They of-fered fateha and prayed for peace to the departed soul and cour-age to the bereaved family to bear the loss with fortitude.—APP

Polio eradication meetingQUETTA—Balochistan Chief MinisterNawab Muhammad Aslam Raisani directedto lodge cases against parents who do not co-operate with the teams to administer poliovaccine to their children during the anti-po-lio campaign to be kicked off from Decem-ber 10. He issued the directive while presid-ing over a meeting held here that reviewedarrangements of anti-polio drive in the pro-vincial capital and other districts. The ChiefMinister directed to take concrete measuresto eradicate polio disease as P-2 polio virus

had been reported in some areas of Pishin and Qila Abdullah dis-tricts. He said that the government would use all available resourcesto eradicate the fatal disease from the province. ANP delegationcalls on Raisani: A delegation of the Awami National Party (ANP)called on Chief Minister Balochistan Nawab Mohammad AslamRaisani at CM Secretariat here. The ANP Balochistan presidentOrangzaib Kasi led the delegation while ANP minister ZamarukKhan Achakzai was also present. The delegation reposing theirconfidence in the leadership of the CM asked him to direct theauthorities concerned for early completion of the uplift projectsexecuted in pashtun belt of the province. Besides discussing over-all political situation, projects launched for the wellbeing of thepublic, they shared matters pertaining to mutual interests. CMdelivers Rs 0.5 mln cheque to Balochistan student: Chief Minis-ter Balochistan Nawab Mohammad Aslam Raisani handed overa checque of Rs 5 million to Balochistan student Rafiullah Kakarfor winning Rhodes scholarship. Raifullah, a student from QilaAbdullah district of Balochistan won Rhodes scholarship 2012in which only 80 students are selected for the scholarship from23 countries every year. In Pakistan 188 students applied and outof them Rafiullah was selected. Chief Minister Balochistan inrecognition of his achievement and earning good name not onlyfor the province but also for the country, gave away cheque of Rs0.5 million at CM Secretariat. —APP

Advance health care facilitiesISLAMABAD—Minister for Capital Admin-istration and Development (CAAD) NazarMuhammad Gondal said that the governmenthad planned to expand advanced health carefacilities to the tertiary health care units. Ad-dressing a ceremony on the completion offourth year of Bone Marrow Transplant Cen-tre at Children Hospital, Pakistan Institute ofMedical Sciences (PIMS), jointly organizedby PIMS and Cure2Children Foundationhere, the minister said that attention was givento the primary and secondary tiers of the

health sector. He said that the government had adopted a focusedapproach by identifying key strategies for the health sector, whichhad the potential to bring about a major improvement in the deliv-ery of health care and the overall health status of the people in thecountry. Gondal said that the government had an overall nationalvision for the health sector based on “Health for All” approach. Headded that health sector investment was being viewed a part of thegovernment Poverty Alleviation Plan Priority. He said that thecountry was embarking upon the concept of public private part-nership to facilitate the people at large. Bone Marrow TransplantUnit is an example of public private partnership, he added. He saidthat the PIMS had added another feather to its cap by successfullyrunning the first bone marrow transplant programme in any publicsector hospital. He appreciated the PIMS medical team for givingimparting better patient care. He said that the PIMS, a premierhealth institute, was at the forefront of medical research enablingthe clinicians to impart up to date medical treatment at par with thedeveloped world. He said the PIMS and the Cure2Children Foun-dation, by providing free services of bone marrow transplant, wereserving the ailing humanity. He thanked the Italian Ambassadorfor the grant for the Bone Marrow Transplant programme throughPakistan Italian Debt for Development Swap Agreement.—APP

Gwadar water shortageISLAMABAD—The Sub-committee of SenateStanding Committee on Finance, Revenue andEconomic Affairs asked the Planning Com-mission of Pakistan to resolve the issue of watershortage in Gwadar. Speaking in a meeting ofthe committee, held with Sardar FatehMuhammad Hassani in the chair, SenatorKalsoom Parveen said that there was watershortage in Gwadar as none of the projectslaunched by the government, had so far beencompleted. Member Planning Commission Lt.Gen (retd) Shahid Niaz said that the the de-

salination project, which was launched in 2008 at the cost of Rs.1.1billion, would be completed this year. Senator Hamayun KhanMandokhel said that supply of water from the Mirani Dam to Gwadarcould only solve the shortage problem. Secretary Planning and De-velopment Muhammad Javed Malik said that the sewerage and drain-age system in Gwadar was needed to be improved. MohayyuddinMarri of the Planning Commission informed the committee that theBusiness Plan for Gwadar Development Authority (GDA) waslaunched in 2004 at the cost of Rs 25 billion. Rs 6 billion of the totalamount had been spent on building schools, hospitals and roads.The committee also directed the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP)to submit reports about the development work in Balochistan.Gwadar’s water issue is to be resolved soon as a few water-relatedprojects are expected to be completed soon, said Sohail-ur-Rehman,deputy commissioner of Gwadar. “A major breakthrough tookplace on November 9 during the prime minister’s special meetingwith the Balochistan Cabinet at Gwadar,” he said. “The Miranidam project was approved to connect it to Gwadar in order to avertthe prevailing water crisis.” The project’s estimated cost is Rs4.5billion for the provision of water supply to the people of Gwadar,he added. In view of project funding, the prime minister has an-nounced that 50 percent funds would be provided by the federalgovernment, while the rest would be provided by the provincialgovernment. “The estimated timeframe for project completion isalmost two years,” he said.—APP

CHAMAN: A large number of people participating in an anti-polio walk led by Deputy Commissioner Bashir AhmedBangulzai and DHO Dr Abdul Ghaffar Baloch to create awareness about polio.

GUJJAR KHAN: First Lady, Begum Nusrat Pervez unveiling plaque on occasion of stonelaying ceremony of NICON University. Raja Khurram Pervez is also present.

B K TAHIR

BAHAWALPUR—Prof DrMuhammad Mukhtar, Vice-Chancellor, the Islamia Univer-sity of Bahawalpur, has under-lined the need of joint efforts toroot out corruption from the so-ciety.

He said first of they allhave to notice the causes ofcorruption which had badly af-fected our social set-up as cur-rently Pakistan is at 33 positionin corruption among 221 coun-tries of the world and we haveto make special arrangementsto eradicate this social ill forbetter set-up.

Addressing a seminar here atIUB he remarked that a goodsign was that collectively wewere among good nations and on

7th number in the world for char-ity causes so it means we couldeasily overcome the root causesof the corruption to make coun-try a corruption free and welfarestate for the better future of theyoung generation and country.

The Seminar was arrangedby the Anti-Corruption Establish-ment, Bahawalpur to developawareness among public aboutcorruption and its causes.

The Divisional Commis-sioner, Bahawalpur, MuhammadKhan Khichi in his address on theoccasion condemned the causesof promoting corruption and un-derlined the need to launch cru-sade against corruption and cor-rupt ones as the wrong trends oflavish life style were the maincause of corruption which shouldbe controlled and the corrupt ones

should be taken to task accord-ing to the rules and law. He dis-closed that all the revenue recordwould be computerized within ayear in the area which was a goodmove by the Punjab governmentto control corruption.

The Director, Anti-Corrup-tion Establishment, Bahawalpur,Jehanzeb Awan, SSP, Investiga-tions, Bahawalpur, GoharMushtaq Bhutta, SP, Investiga-tions, Azhar Gujjar, President,BCCI, Atif Aziz, M.D, CholistanDevelopment Authority, JavedMehmood, President, Anjuman-e-Tajraan, Syed Israr HussainShah, eminent social and politi-cal figure of the area, MalikHabibullah Bhutta, Head of thePsychology department, IUB,Prof. Dr. Masood Nadeem andthe Incharge, IUB Dramatic Club

and Director, IUB Alumni, Prof.Dr. Abdul Wajid Khan also ad-dressed on the occasion and high-lighted the root causes of corrup-tion and presented proposals toeradicate this social ill.

They remarked that parentsand teachers could play an ac-tive role to guide their childrenin right direction for better andfair life so they had to concen-trate more on their characterbuilding and teach them to passsimple life and follow the teach-ings of Islam and Sunnah of theHoly Prophet (PBUH) for suc-cessful and progressive as wellas peaceful life and we had toadopt fairways for earning andif we started to use speak truth,surely we could overcome cor-ruption which had ruined thewhole social set-up.

Crusade against corruption stressedIUB seminar highlights causes, steps to end graft

Man killed as tractorhits motorcycle

BASHIR AHMAD RAHMANI

HAFIZABAD—A middle-agedman was killed on the spot whilehis friend seriously injured whena recklessly driven tractor trolleyhit their bike near Kot Ishaq, 15kilometres from here Friday.

Muhammad Manshaalongwith his friend MuhammadYaqoob of Bairiwala village wason way to Kot Ishaq when aspeeding Tractor Trolley hit hisbike No. HZK-2590, resultantlyMuhammad Mansha died on thespot while Yaqoob was removedto DHQ Hospital in critical con-dition. The police have registereda case and are investigating.

*****International Working

Women Day will be observed inHafizabad and Pindi BhattianTehsil today (Saturday).

SHER GONDAL

MANDI BAHAUDDIN—Assis-tant Director Anti-CorruptionEstablishment Aamer Marth hassaid that investigation against230 revenue officials includingPatwaris has been completedand Rs 7 million recovered fromthem were deposited in govern-ment treasury.

Talking to newsmen he saidthe offence of corruption andmisappropriation of governmentmutation fee has been estab-lished in the investigation. Hesaid their challan would be sub-mitted to criminal court for trial.It may be mentioned that rev-enue officials looted public andmisappropriated Rs 800 million

of mutation fee. On filing a writpetition against revenue officialsby a citizen, Lahore High Court,Lahore, ordered inquiry that wasconducted by a special team.Some of the accused had left thecountry after disposing of theirimmoveable properties they pur-chased with looted money.Some were arrested while somepromised to deposit amount theyhad misappropriated. A numberof them is still working asPatwaris.

Tough cold war has beenstarted among the local leadersof political parties to get ticketsforNA and PA seats to contestupcoming elections. Persons as-piring for candidature are run-ning between their home towns

and central offices of their re-spective parties like shuttle toseek favour of parties top lead-ership. Persons desiring to con-test elections believe that can-didates holding tickets of main-stream parties surely have morechances to win the seats.

On the other hand votersthink that candidates should benominated on their recommen-dation. Members of civil soci-ety say that candidates should behonest and competent andparty’s top leadership shouldconsider general public opinionabout their general reputationand competency. In this respecta meeting was arranged bymembers of civil society here atDistrict Complex to consider

suitable candidate for PP-116.After considering many aspir-ants, the meeting resolved thatHassan Aslam was the most suit-able candidate for contestingelection.

Muniba Gondal Advocate,who is a social worker and pro-moter of women’s basic rights,said that Hassan is young andhighly qualified. He is alreadyworking as General SecretaryPPP and his performance isgood. Being son of a farmer heknows problems and difficultiesof people of the area, and ifelected would work for better-ment of the people.

More than thirty membersparticipated in the meeting.Prominent among them were

Aman Ullah Lak Advocate,Iftikhar Warraich, Ijaz Gondal,Akram Advocate, Suhail SindhuLambardar, Ex-Sessions JudgeMuhammad Hussain Maken andBashir Butt Advocate.

A man was crushed to deathunder train on friday. One BashirAhmed boarded Rohi Express togo to home. He has to disem-bark the train at Railway StationPind Makko where the train doesnot stop. When the train waspassing Pind Makko Station,Bashir jumped down from thetrain and fell under the runningtrain. As result he was crushedto death at the spot. After com-pleting legal formalities RailwayPolice handed over the deadbody to his heirs.

Rs 7m misappropriated money recovered from officials

KASUR—A youngman was tor-tured to death in police custodyby SHO Phoolnagar AttaMustafa here on Friday.

According to details,SHOPhoolnagar Ata Mustafa arrestedMuhammad Asif, MuhammadMumtaz and Muhammad Ashfaqon the suspicion of theft. Duringinvestigation he brutally torturedthem, as a result Muhammad Asifdied in custody.

DPO Kasur ordered to reg-ister a case against the allegedSHO and five other officials un-der section 302 CrPc.

Pishin: Unknown armedmen on Friday shot at and killedSub-Inspector (SI) outside theSub-Jail Pishin, police said.

Manzoor Hussain,SI of Po-lice died instantly when gun-men riding bike opened fire athim near the gate of Sub-JailPishin.

The dead body of deceasedafter the medico-legal formalities

was dispatched to his native townKabir wala in Dera Ghazi Khan.

It may be mentioned here thatSub Inspector Mujahid Hussainwas shot dead by armed men inNov last in Pishin. Further inves-tigation was underway.

Arifwala: ASI killed infiring; An Assistant SubInspector (ASI) was gunneddown by two unidentifiedpersons here on Friday.

Meanwhile, the police andBomb Disposable squad Fridayfoiling an attempt of terrorist at-tack, defused seven kilogrambomb planted near Oskai peacecheck post.

The police officials said thatremote control bomb was pre-pared locally, as the explosivematerial was packed in a bucket,concealed in a sack and plantednear peace check post. Policehave registered a case and handedthe body over to victim’s fam-ily.—APP

SI gunned down, mandies in police custody

ISLAMABAD—Federal Ministerfor States and Frontier Regions(SAFRON) Engineer ShaukatUllah said that over one millionun-registered Afghan refugeesliving in Pakistan.

Addressing here at the officeof UNHCR in the ceremony ofPopulation Profiling Verificationand Response (PPVR) survey ofAfghans in Pakistan 2011.

The minister said that pres-ently some 1.66 million regis-tered Afghans residing in Paki-stan, 37% of the population livesin refugee villages in KhyberPakhtunkhwa 69, Balochistan 10,and Punjab 1, while 63% live inurban and rural areas.

The majority of the Afghanrefugees come from five prov-inces in Afghanistan- Nangarhar,Kabul, Kunduz, logar andPaktya. 37% of registered Af-

ghans refugees in Pakistan livein 80 refugee villages of which79 are located along the borderswith Afghanistan in KhyberPukhtunkhwa and Balochistanprovinces, he added.

Shaukat said that 63% live inrural and urban areas. The Rep-resentative of UNHCR NeillWright, informed that total of3.80 Million individuals have re-patriated to Afghanistan between2002 and 2012. PPVR is a com-prehensive household survey thatwas carried out to assess theneeds of the Afghan refugees inPakistan, The survey commencedin September 2010 and by the endof December 2011, over 130,000household had been interviewedby PPVR teams. The findings ofthe survey were made by publicon November 28, 2012. TheGovernment of Pakistan and

UNHCR have a compilation ofcomprehensive household infor-mation on a significant numberof Afghan households living incamps, urban and rural areas inPakistan.

The data contains informa-tion on demographic and socialcharacteristics that include sex,age, martial status, religion, lan-guage, ethnic group, disability,population information such fer-tility and mortality, housingtypes, household asset indicatingthe wealth index, basic health,education that includes dispari-ties between sexes, enrolment,mobility capturing intention toreturn to Afghanistan, livihoodremittances, economic activi-ties including labour force par-ticipation, protection and secu-rity needs and water and sani-tation.—APP

‘Over 1million unregisteredAfghans still in Pakistan’

NAVTEC geared upto macro-level

human resource devMULTAN—National Vocationaland Technical Education Com-mission (NAVTEC) is finalizinga mega project to help country’s45 million youth contribute ac-tively to the national economicgrowth.

Chairman Navtec, MumtazAkhtar Kahiloon told media hereThursday that country’s presenteconomic scenario can improveonly by way of active youth par-ticipation in line with the market-oriented trends and that the de-velopment of only a few thou-sand skilled workers wouldhardly bring about significantchange. —APP

Appointment ofKMC Principalsought on merit

STAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—Dr Amer AzharGeneral Secretary Teaching As-sociation Khyber Medical Col-lege (KMC) has expressed theconfidence that the KPK govern-ment would take necessary stepsto protect the college frompoliticization and chaos by ap-pointing the Principal for the col-lege on merit.

He said that Principal is tra-ditionally selected amongst se-nior most staff of the KhyberMedical College on Senioritycum fitness basis.

STAFF REPORTER

MULTAN—The Pakistan Mus-lim League (N) organized a pro-test demonstration against LPGprice hike after Jumma prayers.

The protest was led byHamza Shahbaz Lodhi andIttehad rickshaw union presidentSheikh Nadeem. They said LPGproducers were earning hugeprofit by increasing prices. It is apity that an LPG cylinder for do-mestic use is available at Rs1,300, they said.

SSGC urged for spreadingawareness about safe use of gasin winter season: The CitizensAction Committee (CAC)Quetta has expressed deep con-cern over increasing incidents ofdeaths caused by gas suffocationin the provincial capital and

urged the Sui Southern GasCompany (SSGC) to createawareness among the consum-ers about safe use of the facilityin winter season.

The CAC, in a statement onThursday, described the numberof deaths caused by gas suffoca-tion in the city as alarming. It isthe beginning of the winter andsuch incidents can rise if theSSGC does not launch a cam-paign to educate consumers, par-ticularly those living in the slumsareas, about precautionary mea-sures for using gas heaters atnight time, it added.

The committee said poorgas appliances and low gaspressure also posed hazards tothe consumers and suggestedfor taking appropriate measuresin this regard.

PML-N protestsLPG price hike

STAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—Vice ChancellorProf. Dr Qibla Ayaz said here onFriday that University ofPeshawar (UoP) would establishstudents’ facilitation desk at theoffice of Controller Examination.

Addressing the officers, Vice

Chancellor said that the Deskwould ensure imparting of infor-mation and provision of all therelevant documents to visitorsand those appearing in exams.

He emphasized the need fortaking more steps towards pa-tronizing more linkages withUniversities of the world.

Students FacilitationCentre at UoP

STAFF REPORTER

LARKANA—The CommissionerLarkana Dr. Saeed AhmedMangnejo presided over a highlevel meeting at Circuit HouseLarkana Friday to review the ar-rangement to observe 5th deathanniversary of ShaheedMohtarma Benazir Bhutto atGarhi Khuda Bux and PresidentHouse Naudero on December 27.

The Commissioner directedthe district administration that thepeople across the country willparticipate in Larkana,so that allarrangements of basic needs wa-

ter, electricity, health provisionand communication should beensured at Garhi Khuda Bux andNaudero, he said.

He directed the NationalHighway Authorities (NHA) tocomplete the road communica-tion and development works be-fore the anniversary.

He said that the ongoingwork on roads from Larkana toMoen Jo Daro, Larkana toKamber-Shahdadkot, SaeeduDero, Garhi Khuda Bux andWaggan road from Karachishould be completed in stipu-lated time.

BB death anniversaryarrangements reviewed

PPP needs to correctcorruption perceptionHEADS of the nation are down over declaration of the Transpar

ency International that Pakistan is one of the most corrupt countries of the world but regrettably those supposed to take lead in

rectifying the situation are unable to digest the truth as they are trying toprove the findings wrong. PPP leader and Chairman Public AccountsCommittee (PAC), Nadeem Afzal Chan, who is always in the forefrontto defend both right and wrong of the party, has claimed that the report ofTI is based on twisted facts.

The statement of PAC Chairman is unfortunate as who knows betterthan the most relevant body overseeing irregularities and misdeeds aboutthe level of corruption in the country but sadly he has chosen to close hiseyes towards the reality, which sends dismal signals about prospects ofany improvement in the situation in the existing set up. In the 2012 reportof the TI, Pakistan ranked ten point higher on the list of most corruptnations where corruption worth 7 billion rupee was going on daily, mean-ing thereby total looted money of Rs. 12,600 billion during tenure of thepresent Government but PAC Chairman is solacing himself and the na-tion by telling that the Committee has recovered ‘ millions’. The findingsof TI are no exaggeration as similar assessments were made even by theNational Accountability Bureau (NAB) as well as FBR. Corruption hasbeen there since long but it surpassed all limits during tenure of the in-cumbent regime when the society is believed to be infested with kick-backs, commissions, kidnappings for ransom and land grabbing. Sharpdecline in foreign direct investment during the last four years speaksvolumes about nature of the problem as besides security and other con-cerns, the prospective investors were harassed by those whose thirst forpalm-greasing never ends. The society is bleeding but regrettably theexisting mechanism to check corrupt practices has become lethargic andthe Government effectively blocked all attempts to provide a strong leg-islative framework and an independent and neutral body to stem the rot.Mere hollow rebuttals would not work and it is time the Governmenttakes tangible measures to stop the hemorrhage.

Degree-less PIA pilotsSECRETARY Defence and PIA Chairman Asif Yasin Malik made star

tling disclosures before the Special Committee of the National As-sembly about what is happening in the national carrier. He revealed thatpilots with fake degrees flew PIA planes and four of them have beensacked. He also admitted that still fake degree holders were working onhigh posts in PIA.

This is just one aspect of the situation that has brought havoc to theotherwise profit-earning and high flying organization. One wondershow come degree-less personnel were inducted even as pilot, a job thatrequires handling of sensitive and latest technology and demands high-est standards of knowledge, expertise, professionalism and experience.This also partly speaks about frequent accidents that have become astigma for PIA, impacting upon its reputation and finances. It is knownto all that PIA has been stuffed with all sorts of people just on politicalconsiderations and that is why aircraft-to-employee ratio in the corpo-ration is highest in the world. Then most of those inducted on politicalbasis lack required qualifications and skills but they are sitting in vari-ous wings and pocketing huge salaries and fringe benefits. It is becauseof inefficiency, mismanagement and corruption that have turned PIAinto a loss incurring entity, which is indebted by Rs 152 billion and isseeking emergency grant of Rs 25 billion. It was the height of misman-agement that PIA, which usually earned huge profits out of Hajj opera-tion, reported incurred losses last year on this account as well. PIA wasonce jewel of Pakistan and professionals from this organization helpedother brotherly and friendly countries like Saudi Arabia and UAE es-tablish their national carriers that have become shining examples in theaviation sector. PIA can restore its glory as there is no reason whyshould it earn losses when other airlines operating to and from Pakistanare witnessing a boom but for that to happen we will have to jettisonthe burden of inefficient, plug corruption and take decisions purely onmerit and commercial considerations.

Olson may help stop dronesAS drone strikes continued unabated with latest one killing four in

North Waziristan Agency early Thursday, Prime Minister Raja PervezAshraf took up the issue with the US Ambassador Richard Olson, tellinghim that these were counter-productive and that there was need to findsome alternative means to eliminate terrorists.

The concern expressed by the PM is reflective of the national con-sensus on the issue as drone attacks are considered to be crude tramplingof the country’s sovereignty. Besides, these also result into huge collat-eral damage that fuels both anti-Americanism and extremism but so farPakistani argument has fell on deaf ears. We hope that the new envoywould himself assess the moods and reaction of the Pakistani people aswell as negative impact of the drone strategy on Pakistan-US relationsand help persuade his Government to bring about a change in the policy.Pakistan has already offered workable proposals for the purpose includ-ing transfer of drone technology so that Pakistani forces could use itthemselves where needed or identification of the terrorist targets followedby action by its own forces. We are sure that Mr Olson, who has thebackground and capacity as well as confidence of White House, wouldtake up the issue in right perspective with his leadership back home. Hispredecessor Cameron Munter carved out a positive image not only inPakistan but in the entire region for pursuing an approach that was seenas advancing genuine US interests and we are sure Olson too can renderservice to the US by playing a proactive role in this regard.

Enabling resolution of Kashmir issue

Poverty and oystersalways seem to gotogether.

In 2004, India and Pakistan initiated the composite dialoguewith a view to removing the de-

cades-old mistrust through confi-dence-building measures (CBMs),and to resolve all the disputes in-cluding the core issue of Kashmir.Unfortunately, the dialogue wasstalled due to Mumbai attacks on26th November 2008. After a longhiatus of four years, the recentovertures from both the sides arereflective of the realization thatpeace is indispensable condition tothe prosperity in the region, andof course, the disputes betweenthe two countries need to be re-solved. The dialogue process willnot only narrow down the differ-ences on Sir Creek, but also workout amicably the comprehensiveresolution regarding demilitariza-tion of Siachen glacier. From aKashmiri perspective, the leadersof both India and Pakistan shouldbe encouraged to continue with thegood-will initiatives/confidencebuilding measures they startedsome time ago, which could be astepping stone towards a sustainableand lasting peace in the region.

Pakistan’s Foreign MinisterHina Rabbani Khar’s invitation to8 members of the executive coun-cil of the All Parties Hurriyat Con-ference (APHC) to visit Pakistanfrom 15 to 22 December 2012 has

Challengesfor Morsi

Regardless of where Egyptiansstand politically, all of themwill be depressed to see tanks

back on the streets of Cairo. The po-larization between Muslim Brother-hood supporters of PresidentMuhammad Morsi and diverse op-position forces is hugely dangerous,and, if people do not realize it yet,the army’s tanks are evidence of therisk the country is running, by be-ing so divided. The generals did notrelinquish their half-century of po-litical dominance because theywanted to. They went because theyhad run out of options. However, anywise political commentator shouldsurely be cautioning, that for manyof the Egyptian military, their retreatfrom politics is seen as a tacticalwithdrawal. At the moment, at thebehest of the Morsi administration,they can play the role of reluctantreferee, in what the military estab-lishment will be hoping, will be ris-ing political conflict. If and when thetroubles tip over into anarchy, maybewith a little covert help from mili-tary intelligence, then there will bewidespread despair at the chaos andviolence, and however reluctantly,the army may be welcomed back,since it alone will be capable of re-storing order.

If that happens, Egypt’s old in-efficient regime will have returned,with a new top commander assum-ing the country’s leadership, on whatof course, he will promise will onlybe a temporary basis, in defense ofthe revolution. Indeed there aregrounds for suspecting that the mili-tary may be quietly encouragingopposition protest against the newconstitution. A close analysis of thetext of this new document and itspredecessor, shows that there is verylittle of substantive difference be-tween them. It is an honorable docu-ment that guarantees the rights ofwomen and of Egypt’s sizable Chris-tian minority and is not, as oppo-nents declare, the template for a one-party Muslim Brotherhood state.Unfortunately President Morsi, whoplayed his cards brilliantly in lever-ing the military out of the new po-litical process, seriously lost histouch last month, when he arrogatedto himself sweeping powers, whichcould neither be challenged by Par-liament nor the judiciary. This movewas simply too much like that of theold regime. Indeed, some have ar-gued that Morsi gave himself evenmore power than Hosni Mubarak.

The president then compoundedhis political error by having agree-ment on the new constitution rushedthrough and insisting that the refer-endum on its provisions would goahead on Dec. 15. His statement thatthe “doors of dialogue” on the con-stitution, “remain open” is deeplyunconvincing, given the absurdlyshort timeline. Those oppositionmembers who have genuine con-cerns over the document, willrightly believe that any adjustmentsafter a vote in favor in just nine daystime, is highly unlikely.

The alternative is continued vio-lence and confrontation, stirred upby extremists on both sides, whichwill make the essential political dia-logue even harder to restart. Morsipromised a middle way and a gov-ernment for all his people. It is notentirely his fault that oppositiondemonstrators have been lured backonto the streets and into the re-oc-cupation of the now iconic TahrirSquare. However, only he now hasthe ability to defuse the tensions andget people to return to their homes.For sure he and his party, the Mus-lim Brotherhood and its political al-lies won a convincing electoral man-date. But that mandate carried withit, as he seemed at first to recognize,a responsibility to bring all Egyp-tians with him into the new politicaldispensation. His enemies, not leastin the military, were ready from thestart, to exploit any mistake or weak-ness, and mount just the sort of dem-onstrations that we are now seeing.Meanwhile his supporters, very rea-sonably, see their electoral victorybeing challenged on the streets, andafter initial reluctance, are now pre-pared in their turn, to confront op-position demonstrations. So far,Egypt’s new president is not de-livering the sort of political leader-ship that is required so urgently. Thedanger is that unless he gets a grip,and acts decisively to defuse the ris-ing tensions, even if the new con-stitution is approved on Dec. 15, hewill find himself the leader of astate in long-term turmoil, with themilitary quietly awaiting the rightmoment to intervene and restore theold order.—Arab News

MEDIA WATCH

Charles Dickens—British novelist

been well receivedby India. The ini-tiative has beentaken to begin aconsultative pro-cess between thepolitical leader-ship of Pakistanand pro-move-ment leaders ofIndian OccupiedKashmir, to pre-pare groundworkleading to thepeaceful resolu-

tion of Kashmir issue. Kashmirwatchers and experts believe thatsuch visits by the Hurriyat leaderswould suit India and Pakistan, asAPHC could act as “facilitator” indeciding things which are in linewith aspirations of the people ofKashmir. Some Indian mediahawks and hardliners, who want toderail the peace initiative, adopt re-straint and over-cautious attitude to-wards upcoming trip of Hurriyatleaders. At this point in time whenboth sides radiate an aura of opti-mism, Indian Prime MinisterManmohan Singh has declinedPresident Zardari’s invitation to visitPakistan stating “there should be con-ducive atmosphere for his visit”.

Anyhow, New Delhi andIslamabad had announced on Febru-ary 10 that they would resume com-prehensive peace talks which weresuspended after Mumbai episode.Experts say that a great majority ofIndian populace want peace to pre-vail so that the pace of economicgrowth and resulting prosperity con-tinues. But some segments of Indianmedia have started a negative cam-paign against the visit of APHC lead-ers branding them as “separatists”.Some hawks from India do not wantimprovement of relations betweenPakistan and APHC leaders. Expertsopine that India may once again showher intransigence in facilitating travel

documents because (i) some elementsfrom India are not sincere towardsresolution of Kashmir issue throughconsultative process (ii) They do notwant Kashmiri leadership to visitPakistan and meet Pakistani politicalleadership (iii) They want to jeopar-dize the consultative process initiatedby Pakistan (iv) They are aiming atcreating division within the pro-movement camp by allowing onlyfew leaders to visit Pakistan.

Pakistan has the still same oldstand on Kashmir, and is committedto extend diplomatic and politicalsupport to the people of Kashmir. Pa-kistan sincerely wants the Kashmirissue should be resolved as per thewishes of Kashmiri people and asprovided in the UN resolutions thatbestowed the right to Kashmiris todecide joining India or Pakistanthrough the plebiscite under the ae-gis of the UN. The US and Britainoften express concern over the loom-ing threat of war between two nuclearstates - India and Pakistan. Formerprime minister Gordon Brown hadbeen candid in his statement duringhis premiership that the solution ofthe Kashmir issue was vital for worldstability, which was indeed encour-aging. But he should have taken theinitiative and persuade internationalcommunity to help resolve the dis-pute, as it was unfinished part of thepartition of the subcontinent. Presi-dent Obama has many a time ex-pressed his desire that the disputebetween India and Pakistan should beresolved but short of playing an ac-tive role in resolving the dispute.

Pakistan has many a time urgedthe international community at theUnited Nations to persuade India toend its repression in Kashmir so asto pave the way for settling the de-cades-old dispute in accordance withthe UN resolutions. The human rightsof the Kashmiri people must be re-spected, and their voices heard to cre-ate an enabling environment for a

There are times when it is possible to negotiate directly withthe US and confine Pakistan’s

concerns over declining professionaland institutional relationship beyondmaintaining the historical ad hocstrategic arrangements. The21stround of the two-day summit ofPak-US Defence ConsultativeGroup (DCG) illustrates a positiveimpression. After the settlement, itis proper for the US to adopt a strat-egy of adhering to permanent na-tional security interests of Pakistan.

The principal of sovereignty andlegal norms put forward in the post-Salala and against the illegal dronecampaign symbolizes that prioritiz-ing Pakistan’s defence & securityrequirements would eventually becontributing to dissipate controver-sial provisions of Pak-US dialogues,especially in terms of sanction re-gime and International law. Thus,proving that the US/NATO shouldrealize that the states “under threat”from militancy and foreign infiltra-tion would never risk its sovereigntyat any cost. It was essentially coun-terproductive to impose harsh eco-nomic/military sanctions and notawarding concessions as an appli-cation to defeat terrorism and ex-tremism and thereby chance to sta-bilize Afghanistan. The DCG meet-ing of December 3-4, 2012jointly

Strategising Pak-US partnershipstated that, “recog-nizing the enduringsecurity require-ments on both sidesof the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, thetwo delegationsagreed to cooperateon a prioritized set ofPakistan’s defencerequirements which

will follow-on consultations on se-curity assistance.

The United States and Pakistanalso discussed the importance of theCoalition Support Fund and securityassistance programs, and agreed tocontinue consultations on the way for-ward.” With this type of dispatch, theDCG agreed on continuing Americansupport to Pakistan under Coalition–the DCG remains an invaluable fo-rum to discuss strategic defencepolicy issues and exchange views onshared security concerns, and com-mitted to continue working togetherto implement a framework for de-fence cooperation based on areas ofconvergence between the US and Pa-kistani interests to promote peace andstability in the region.” Since bothcountries tremblingly face the brutalthreat of fragmentation in Afghani-stan and by extension to other re-gional economic powers.

One assessment is that suchsituation can be prevented if theUS policies shift to a footing of“maximum equality”, which nolonger desire Pakistan to just“obey” the orders of a powerfulfriend. For the most part, Pakistannever seek to replace the US asstrategic partner, but a stable anddemocratic Pakistan needs foreigninvestments and access to the USmarket, rather than threats and

plans to modify the territorial mapof South Asia. Strategizing Pak-US partnership therefore will notonly help defeating terrorism andextremism, but will also supplycrucial and timely material supportto the Pakistani people.

The recent settlement betweenthe US and Pakistan conceded morethan the mistrust by which bothcountries felt the need of apprecia-tion, and deemed it unnecessary toslide into deep and permanent hos-tility. However, there are groups andideologues charged with warningpolicy makers in the US, who con-sistently construct synthetic threatsemanating from nuclear accidents/Taliban controlling the Pakistanistate and Balkanization of Pakistan.The presentations of such dangerousscenarios are justly infamous be-cause gradually they are also beingemployed as psychological methodsby negotiators. Providing implicit orexplicit support to such rumors,media ploughs, diplomatic inten-tions, legal and military operationsare fully against the array of chal-lenges that both the US and Paki-stan are facing.

From its creation in 1947, Paki-stan has been the primary target ofeconomic, political and militarythreats from the forces grew out bothfrom domestic and international net-works of vested groups. Over thenext two decades, it is crucial thatthe US and Western powers musthelp Pakistan in enhancing its eco-nomic, energy, defence and securitycapacities as the emerging new alli-ances are not limiting their strategicpartners to the traditional regions.Also, conducting a foreign policyunder the shadow of extreme eco-nomic crisis bitterly betrays the

sense of equality and national iden-tity character. As far as intelligencesharing arrangement goes, findinga better & balanced system of ex-change is increasingly becomingthe only option to turn around thefears of terrorist attacks in Afghani-stan, Pakistan and in the widerworld. The intelligence profession-als seemed to agree upon that toomuch hostility and anti-sharing be-havior could risk terrorists and “badguys” slipping out into tiny groups,an assessment that evidently wouldaffect the value of information.

There is also the need of a “newstrategy” with the proposition that“before” the US/NATO withdrawalin 2014, every opportunity that en-ables both Pakistan and Afghanistanto work together must be encour-aged and supported by the US. Inretrospect to negotiation withTaliban and upgrading Afghanmilitary/security forces, draftingPakistan’s expertise would openup new channel of communicationand trust between the two broth-erly neighbors. Furthermore, ap-parently dismissive of calls fortechnological modernization ofPak-military’s weaponry systems,the prevailing optimism can be re-alized if the US benefit itself byoffering to share modern militaryweapons and education with Paki-stani professionals. It would be aleading act of building bridges be-tween the future cadres of armyofficers and soldiers of both allaycountries, which in turn would pre-vent the nourishment of anti-American sentiments in Pakistan’scivil & military institutions.—The author is a Denmark-basedNational Security Expert and De-fence Analyst.

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peaceful solution of the longstandingJammu and Kashmir dispute. Ofcourse, India has recently shown itswillingness to improve relationswith Pakistan by lifting the ban onforeign investment from Pakistan,showcasing goodwill to achieve ul-timate goal of establishing good-neighborly relations with Pakistan.The decision, on its face value ap-pears to have its merits as Pakistanicitizens or any entity incorporated inPakistan will be able to make invest-ments in India in fields other thandefence, space and atomic energy.India claims to have taken a positiveinitiative to build trust and confidencebetween the two states with a viewto finding a way forward to addressconflicting issues and resolve dis-putes such as Kashmir, Siachen, SirCreek and water disputes.

In the past, India’s stance was tofirst promote trade and take confi-dence building measures that wouldhelp resolve the outstanding disputes.On the other hand Pakistan wantedto see tangible progress in the reso-lution of disputes including the coreissue of Kashmir before giving Indiathe status of most-favored nation.With gestures from both sides, therehas been an unprecedented develop-ment. Today in Pakistan, the govern-ment, the opposition and establish-ment are on the same page, and theywant to give peace a chance. There isa window of opportunity, whichshould not be wasted by India. Paki-stani media has been supportive ofsuch moves, but Indian media has yetto play a positive role in creating en-abling environment for resolving dis-putes and for everlasting peace in theregion. Though narratives of bothgovernments on the issues/disputesare at variance, yet both countriescould reduce their defence-spendingand allocate more for social sector toimprove the lives of teeming millions.—The writer is Lahore-based seniorjournalist.

Mohammad JamilEmail: mjamil1938@hotmail.com

News & ViewsNews & ViewsNews & ViewsNews & ViewsNews & Views

Rana Athar Javed Email: ma_javed@hotmail.com

Voice of the People

Growing political crisis in Egypt

Baring any acceptable solutionto the growing political crisisin Egypt, the situation may de-

scend into violence and instability.Anti-Morsi protesters clashed withthe president’s supporters near thepresidential palace. In fact, Egypt wit-nesses the worst crisis since the presi-dent took office some six months ago.Morsi is in real trouble. His oppo-nents accused him of creating a kindof autocracy by granting himself ex-traordinary power and by imposing aconstitution that does not representthe aspirations of a wide range of theEgyptian society.

So far President Morsi hasproven that he does not buckle underpressure. He is confident that his sup-porters can protect him and that theproposed constitution can pass in thereferendum. But, this is hardly wise!In politics, it is not a matter of a ma-jority versus minority. If anything, theEgyptian state needs societal under-standings that transcend the issue ofa majority ruling over a minority. Thepresident and his movement will be

better off if they look for compro-mises with their opponents rather thanimposing their will on the rest.Averting a showdown is possible butnot easy. The president can retracthis decree, agree to revise the con-stitution and defer the referendum.The president is yet to understandthat the revolution is not over. Thetransition should be in an inclusivemanner and as a result of a dialogue.Unfortunately, the president and hisIslamist supporters think that it istheir golden opportunity to reorga-nize the Egyptian politics in theirfavor. They forget however that theEgyptians rose against tyranny anddictatorship and will not tolerate anew dictatorship. And yet, the crisisis deeper than what many think. Ithas to do with the absence of an ac-ceptable framework of democraticvalues that glues Egyptians together.Mursi’s controversial moves cameas a function of a lack of trust in hisopponents.

Put differently, President Mursiacted preemptively. Shadi Hamid,director of research at BrookingsDoha Center said, “Islamist distrustof the other side, justified or not, iswhat led Mursi to issue his Nov. 22

Pakistan has remained in thethroe of a perennial multi-faceted crisis. But let us not de-

spair about its destiny and a gloriousfuture ahead. Pakistan a nascent statehas remained caught in myriad prob-lems ever since it came into being onAugust 14, 1947. These problems areboth internal and external. A new na-tion under an inept and self-seekingleadership remained lost and dis-tracted from its course of moving for-ward to progress, prosperity, and sta-bility. Pakistan’s dilemma is that itsleadership that created and struggledfor Pakistan did not live long enoughto set the parameters that could havetransformed it into a vibrant and vi-able state. In the modern times, Pa-kistan and India’s emergence as twoindependent States is a unique phe-nomenon that has few parallels in thehistory. Both the sub-continentalstates were the result of a sustainedmovement for independence kept inhigh gear by Muslim and Hindu lead-ers. For a variety of undeniable fac-tors and divergent dynamics, thesetwo communities could not opt to livetogether in one united state.

Pak ordeals to be overImmediately af-

ter partition of theBritish India; Paki-stan was beset withrefugees’ problemand the settlement ofthe incoming immi-grants from the terri-tories that becamepart of India. Thiscountry fell into the

hands of the nasty bureaucrats whowere averse to making a constitutionand embarking Pakistan upon ademocratic course. The intriguingpoliticians, whose predominant lotcame from the feudal classes, hi-jacked the political power and untilthis day are overt or covert powerbrokers and wielders.

With the feudal culture still ram-pant and dominant, the democracyseems to be tainted and hijacked.The perennial Kashmir issue hasgiven ascendancy to the armedforces as the savior of the nation al-though it was during the militaryrules that Pakistan suffered ruinoussetbacks. As is commonly known,the first military ruler Gen (howcould he become Field Marshall)Ayub Khan deprived Pakistan ofthree rivers, lending a devastatingblow to Pakistan’s agricultural basedeconomy. Yahya Khan truncatedPakistan. Gen Ziaul buried a demo-cratic government, hanged an electedprime minster, promoted religious ex-tremism and sectarian animus, andturned Pakistan into a mercenaryhatchet man of the foreign imperial-

IESCOperforms better

HARIS WALEED

Public dealing and customer care ofIslamabad Electric Supply Com-pany (IESCO) have improved a lotin recent days. The behaviour ofdealing staff is much better thanbefore regarding redressal ofconsumer’s complaints. We allknow that customers are real assetof any company and providing themwith better facilities is prime dutyof the Company. IESCO have alarge number of customers and bet-ter services are being provided tothem by the IESCO as compared toother distribution companiesthroughout Pakistan.

As a trader from CommercialMarket, I appreciated that IESCOstaff receive phone calls promptlyand try to handle the issue on meritto entire satisfaction of the consum-ers.” Its management has providednecessary instruments and good of-fice environment in all customerservices offices and complaint of-fices which, previously used to bein shabby condition. A Customercan after get duplicate bill, makeinstalment and extend due date ofbill etc from these customer ser-vices Centres.

It is also a welcome develop-ment that to redress the complaintsof entire region, a Central Complaintand Monitoring Cell at IESCO Headoffice is also providing essential ser-vices to the consumers round theclock. On receipt of a complaint, thestaff respond quickly to redress it bygiving instructions to the concernedIESCO office quickly. It is alsolearnt that IESCO has mobile ser-vice too which visits various areasas per schedule to redressconsumer’s billing problems.—Rawalpindi

Pakistan servingUS interest

SYED HASSAM AHMED

US Secretary State Hilary Clintonstated in November 2011, “As thewar in Iraq winds down andAmerica begins to withdraw itsforces from Afghanistan, the UnitedStates stands at a pivot point. In thenext 10 years, we need to be smartand systematic about where we in-vest time and energy, so that we putourselves in the best position to sus-tain our leadership, secure our in-terests, and advance our values. Oneof the most important tasks ofAmerican statecraft over the nextdecade will therefore be to lock in asubstantially increased investment— diplomatic, economic, strategic,and otherwise — in the Asia-Pacificregion”. This US is shifting atten-tion from Iraq and Afghanistan to-wards containing China’s growingassertiveness in Asia pacific.

It is clear, in Afghanistan thepresence of US foot hold is to dis-turb China’s western trade, and en-ergy routes. India and Japan a cus-tomary rivals and enemy of Chinacan play a great role. America hasalready established seven wellknown military bases to pressurizeChina, like South Korea, Japan,Philippines, Singapore, Guam andnow Australia. In order to assertmore pressure on China, US isstrengthening china’s neighbours,Obama had an important meetingwith Indian Prime MinisterManmohan Singh at ASIAN in In-donesia, and Hillary Clinton madean unexpected tour of Myanmar,which is sharing very long borderwith China.

US also see relation with Indiato pursue her policy to restrict China.After last year’s visit of US secre-tary state to Pakistan, efforts to nor-malize relationship between Indiaand Pakistan has been noticed. Gov-ernment of Pakistan suddenly gaveIndia a status of MFN (Most Favor-ite Nation) an astonishing step in thecontext when Pakistan accuses In-dia for insurgency in FATA and inBalochistan.

America wants India to becomeeconomic and military power in theregion. But the presence of mostpowerful rival at the western bor-der, Pakistan always unrest Indiaand in this scenario India can’t eventhink to counter or even create any

Bill for senior citizensZAHEER AHMED

It is heartening to note that the United Nations Population Fund and HelpAge International are tryingto focus the media’s attention on the bill for the rights of senior citizens, which has been lying pending

in parliament since 2007. Pakistan is perhaps the only country where senior citizens of above 60 years ofage are hardly offered any concessions or facilities when it comes to travelling, healthcare or entertain-ment. The government recently introduced the idea of a smart card scheme for pensioners, but it is yet tobe implemented. The position on the ground is that senior citizens, especially those who belong to thelower strata, are offered no privileges. They have to wait in long queues. As against this, in developedcountries, senior citizens are given special treatment and consideration everywhere. They are given con-cession cards for travelling by air, road or trains. I have myself availed these concessions during my visitsabroad. There are separate queues for senior citizens so that they do not have to wait for a long time. InPakistan, the population of senior citizens is almost 12 percent of the total population. It is high time thegovernment passed the bill. Similarly, the recent judgement of the Supreme Court on restoring fullpension to retired senior citizens should also be implemented.—Islamabad

Views From Abroad

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Email:editorial@pakobserver.net

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

—Editor

ism. Finally, Gen Musharraf playedhavoc with the constitution of Paki-stan. He consolidated his power bymanipulating with self-preservingamendments in the constitution andpushing Pakistan further into the lapof foreign hegemonic designs and re-inforcing Pakistan’s mercenary role.Now this is history. With the popularelections in February 2008, Pakistanhas been set on a new democratic pathafter almost ten years of one-man rule,and 32 years of cumulative militarydomination of Pakistan. Despite theferocious and unrelenting insurgencyand frequent suicide bombing, Paki-stan is doing well with the rest of theworld and at home. The religious basedmilitancy that is apace for a decade orso would have challenged the author-ity of state at some juncture. The thornsof sectarian and ethnic bad blood thatGen Zia had sown have been growinginto full-scale stature.

Pakistan could not have saved it-self from the fanaticism of the reli-gious militants after their victory inAfghanistan. Logically they wouldhave come home with more victorieswith a view to establishing an Islamicorthodox system (caliphate) of gov-ernment in both Afghanistan and Pa-kistan. I doubt if Pakistan or Afghani-stan governments or societies couldhold their advance and check their un-relenting sway as was later witnessedin Swat and northern valleys. It is herethat the American and NATO forces’presence in this region, to curb andweaken these merciless brigands,looks useful. Therefore, in a way the

sort of problem for china. But on theother side US also knows the fact thatshe is not able to justly solve theKashmir issue, instead she is push-ing Pakistan to bury the Kashmircause and build India Pakistan blockwhich can be used against China.

Now Pakistan has been an impor-tant chess man for US to take refresh-ment in central Asia by stabilizingAfghanistan after American messedup the country and also helping USagenda of making India sole powerin the region especially against China.Unfortunately the current leader shipis unable to see the country’s strate-gic vigour and think that Pakistan isso frail that we cannot even defendourselves. Only a sincere and vision-ary leadership can use our strategicstrength to optimum effect and makeChina a strategic alley to counter USand India’s combined threat.—Via email

Birthdaycelebration at Taj

M RAFIQUE ZAKARIA

Our Interior Minister Rehman Malikhas expressed his desire with Indiangovernment to celebrate his 61stbirthday with his spouse SaeedaRehman in one of the seven wondersof the world, the Taj Mahal on 12thDecember 2012.

According to media reports,Rehman Malik will be in India from11 to 13 December. My advance sym-pathies are with the people of Agra.Possibilties are, that cell phonesmight be blocked on the day RehmanMalik visits Agra if he feels slightestthreat to his life. It will not be out ofplace to mention here that besides TajMahal, Agra city is equally famousfor having largest mental hospital!—Karachi

Indian atrocitiesin Kashmir

ANZA KANWAL

Recently, ‘ Citizens’ Council for Jus-tice (CCJ)’ released a report statingthat the Indian army and other gov-ernment agencies have been brutal-izing Kashmiri people while subject-ing them to torture, enforced disap-pearance, killing, destruction of prop-erty and molestation of women.

The report has been preparedwith the assistance of InternationalPeoples’ Tribunal for Human Rightsand Justice in Kashmir and Jammuand Kashmir Coalition of Civil So-ciety. To crush the Kashmiri Libera-tion movement, India has employedvarious techniques including blacklaws. Public Safety Act (PSA), Pre-vention of Terrorism Act (POTA),Terrorist and Disruptive ActivitiesAct 1990 (TADA) and Armed ForcesSpecial Powers Act 1990, (AFSPA)are enforced in Kashmir despite thefact that they contravene the IndianConstitution and international law.These laws violate the basic humanrights such as right to life, the rightto liberty and security of the personand the right to remedy. These atroci-ties are true reflection of Indian policyof condoning human rights violationsby its security forces in occupiedKashmir.—Rawalpindi

Unlucky geniusM ATIF MAHMOOD MAJOKA

Alfred Nobel stipulated that no dis-tinction of race or colour will deter-mine who received of his generosity.On this occasion, let me say this tothose, whom God has given HisBounty. Let us strive to provide equalopportunities to all so that they canengage in the creation of Physics andscience for the benefit of allmankind.Abdus Salam’s speech atthe Nobel Banquet, December 10,1979. Above is an excerpt from DrAbdus Salam’s speech which he de-livered at Stockholm about thirtythree years ago on the occasion ofNoble prize distribution ceremony.The spirit of the message is nothingbut what Quran has emphasised inhundreds of its verses, the universalspirit of equality and justice. Salamwho dreamed a world without preju-dice could not get fairness for him-self. Mortality of man is still a stand-ing truth. Humans live and die butnot all of them. One would raise eye-

Quake-hit areas regain colours

Nature has blessed Pakistan’snorthern areas and Kashmirvalley with striking land-

scapes, snow dressed peaks, inspir-ing mountain passes, shining glaciers,beautiful meadows, lush-green val-leys, roaring rivers, eye catchinglakes, wonderful waterfalls, thick for-ests and flowers of unbelievable col-ors and fragrance. All these combineand make the north of Pakistan, a realparadise on earth.

In the lives of the nations, therecome certain moments, when thesebeauties turn pale and come such dis-appointed situations that even manybig nations lose hopes. But great na-tions face these awful moments withgreat courage and wisdom. We findsuch an example in Pakistani nationwhen in the unfortunate morning ofOctober 8, 2005, at 8:52 a.m. the furyof the nature shook the calmness ofthe north of Pakistan and AJ&K andbrought anguish and woes to the livesof over 3.5 million people. The earth-quake of 7.6 magnitude at Richter

scale caused the loss of about 73338precious lives, while 128500wounded, 53000 seriously injuredand about 500000 families badly af-fected. This deadly earthquake alsodipped all the essential facilities andinfrastructure to dust and debris.About 600000 houses were de-stroyed. Educational institutions justdisappeared from the scene. Roadsand communication ways were to-tally damaged.

The government and the peopleof Pakistan as well as the internationalcommunity responded in an unprec-edented manner to this tragic calam-ity and rushed to the affected areasof Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and AJ&K.The relief activity began, right afterthe rescue efforts, wherein the gov-ernment and people of Pakistan, hu-manitarian organizations and interna-tional community participated enthu-siastically to restore the life in theaffected areas. In a mere six monthstime, the relentless efforts of the Pa-kistani nation and international com-munity matured in the successfulcompletion of relief and recoveryphase that was followed by recon-struction and rehabilitation activities.

To take up the mammoth taskof reconstruction and rehabilitationin earthquake affected areas spreadover 30,000 square kilometers ofnine districts of KhyberPakhtunkhwa and AJ&K, the Gov-ernment of Pakistan established theEarthquake Reconstruction and Re-habilitation Authority (ERRA) onOctober 24, 2005. The staff ofERRA comprises a hybrid of civilservants, armed forces personneland international consultants.ERRA’s prime task is to strategizeand approve projects together withthe provision of funds to undertakethe reconstruction and rehabilita-tion works.

ERRA’s mission at the time of es-tablishment was to “Convert this Ad-versity into an Opportunity” by re-constructing the lost and destroyed fa-cilities, while following highest stan-dards of reconstruction and rehabili-tation with the obligation to “BuildBack Better”.Due to untiring effortsby the whole nation of Pakistan andespecially ERRA, today the sloganof “Build Back Better” has come true.During my recent visit to some of thedistricts of AJ&K, I was surprised to

see that it is now difficult to find asign of such a big and deadly dev-astation, which even frightened thewhole world. The life is now in fullswing. There are schools and uni-versities of international standardeverywhere. The communicationand other infrastructure have beenbuilt better than before. There is re-markable development in the fieldslike rural housing sector, urban de-velopment, public infrastructure,health, education, water and sanita-tion, roads and transportation, tele-communication, livelihood rehabili-tation, social protection and envi-ronment. The projects, which couldnot be completed yet, are in progresswith special emphasis on qualityand standard.

It can truly be said that the col-ors are back and are in full swing inearthquake affected areas of North-ern Pakistan and AJ&K. We mustpray that in case of any future unto-ward incident, May Allah Almightygive us the strength, courage andwisdom to face the challenges,which He bestowed us during thetragedy of 2005 (Amin) PakistanZindabad…

decree, people close to him insist.The Brotherhood saw an existentialthreat on the horizon: Looming inthe near future were court rulingsthat would dissolve both the Con-stituent Assembly and the upperhouse of Parliament. Brotherhoodand FJP officials told me that theyknew from sympathetic judges thatrulings revoking Mursi’s Aug. 12decree, which established civiliancontrol of the military, and even pos-sibly annulling the presidential elec-tion law, were in the cards. Anotherprominent Brotherhood member,who has privately been critical ofMursi’s presidency, went so far asto suggest to me that, if the presi-dent didn’t act preemptively now,the closing of Brotherhood officescould be next in a new campaign ofrepression, followed by the dissolu-tion of the group itself.”Some even argue that the non-Islamist’s antipathy toward the presi-dent and his dominant movement isnot justified. The Muslim Brother-hood is adopting a version of politicsthat is different from the past and in-deed more moderate. The program ofthe movement is way different fromthe past as well. In Shadi Hamid’s

military might of NATO and of theUnited States to browbeat religiousfrenzy and militancy has been a kindof blessing in disguise for Pakistan.

Eventually the occupationforces will have to leave Afghani-stan. So primarily, it would beboth Pakistan and Afghanistan thatwould benefit from the weaken-ing and bludgeoning of Talibanand Al-Qaida who could haveturned this region into a hell en-gaging Pakistan army into a per-petual conflict. If there are people,who believe that Taliban would re-vive Islamic glory and pristine ca-liphate are morons and so to speak,living in fools’ paradise. If Talibanturn Pakistan into another Swatand Kabul, would we call it agenuine Islamic government?Notwithstanding the personal ob-jectionable character or the vil-lainous volition of the individualsin power in Pakistan, the fact can-not be ignored that it is essentiallyan elected government. Still it isa democratic dispensation that issubject to some semblance of ac-countability and censure as exer-cised by media and judiciary.Gradually and imperceptibly theeconomy is showing resilienceand revival, howsoever feeble andslow it may be. There is some kindof accountability although the ex-ecutive has not moved fast to ad-dress the law and order and simi-lar grave issues.—The writer is a senior journalistand a former diplomat.

words, “The Brotherhood took stepsto smooth over the hard edges of itspolitical program during the nexttwo decades, culminating in its 2005electoral platform — the center-piece of the group’s effort to rebranditself and offer a vision for politicaland institutional reform. Democ-racy, rather than shariah, was thenew call-to-arms.”That said, the president and theFreedom and Justice Party made akey flip-flops. Their understandingof democracy is not complete.They think that they have the back-ing of the majority of people andthat they can decide any step theywant to take in a democratic way.Apparently, they failed to see thatdemocracy is not only voting orhaving more supporters and morevoters. It is about a broad societalunderstanding. Sadly, what is tak-ing place in Egypt is a sort of po-larization that threatens the stabil-ity of the country as a whole. Itremains to be seen however howthe president is going to tackle thegrowing political crisis. But shortof meeting the rest of political forcehalf way, the crisis is most likelyto snowball.—The CG News

Hassan Barari

brows as to how man can defy death.Some people live and always livethrough their extraordinary work andcontribution towards the good ofmankind. Dr Abdu Salam was onesuch soul. He was lucky and unluckythe same time.

Lucky that God created him withamazing mental abilities and drovehim towards unprecedented destiny.If you look at his life it seems as if hewas chosen by nature to be what heturned out to be. A man who hailedfrom a lower middle class family forwhom joining Indian Railway couldbe a dream come true, scaled heightsvery few could ever do in the entirehistory of mankind, yet was an un-lucky fellow. Isn’t it intriguing to usethe word unlucky for someone whohas left indelible marks on the faceof human knowledge, hold yourbreath, I would say he was unluckybecause he belonged to a communitywith controversial religious beliefs,because he was born to a poor man,because the country he opted to be acitizen of, showed more concern tohis inherited religious beliefs than hisintelligence.

He was unlucky because he kepthis faith in science and decided to sowthe seeds of knowledge in the infer-tile soil of Muslim world. He wasunlucky that he studied Physics andMathematics to excel in, had he learntbigotry and sycophancy, he wouldhave had millions of lovers and fol-lowers in his country. He tried to es-tablish Science University, if he hadendeavoured to find a “Mudarsa” in-stead, he would have enjoyed the titleof “Hazrat” at least. He definitelymade wrong choices; therefore, he isno one in the land of pure. God madehim lucky but he made himself un-lucky by making wrong decisions inlife. Sorry to unlucky genius.—Melbourne, Australia

Political partyor cults

RASHID ORAKZAI

Any individual who chooses to enterpolitics, especially those who headpolitical parties should be open topublic scrutiny and have tolerance toface critical analysis of their assets,their extravagant lifestyle, taxrecords, their commitment to Paki-stan viz a viz dual nationality status,financial and business records etc.When men or women, who seekelected public office, or hold politi-cal party office, giving them clout indecision and policy making, than theirprivate lives, weaknesses, andsources of earning should be open topublic scrutiny and media exposure,because men who decide the fate ofpeople should be above board. Cultsor hereditary rights to seek politicalroles are adverse to democraticnorms, because these roles are onlyconducive to feudal mindsets. Politi-cal cults lead to violence, murder andthreats of intimidation to exert theirinfluence.

Party workers who do not toler-ate criticism of their leaders havebecome cult disciples, which has norole in democratic politics. Politicalmorality, democratic ethics and cul-ture of tolerance have become vic-tims of these cult-like groupings thatthrive on corruption, land grabbing,human traffic, drug scams, weaponsmuggling and usurpation of stateassets. Individuals like Asif Zardari,Nawaz Shariff, Imran Khan, Shujaat,Bilawal, Hamza, Moonis Elahi,Pervaiz Elahi, Yusaf Raza Gillani, PirPagara, Altaf Hussain, AfzandyarWali etc who have chosen to play arole in national or provincial politicsshould be subjected to strict publicscrutiny and given exemplary severepunishments if found abusing theirpowers for personal benefits and con-flict of interest. Paid public servantsmust also be subjected to similar scru-tiny and accountability.—US

Shahid Hussain

Saeed QureshiEmail: qureshisa2003@yahoo.com

Column from DallasColumn from DallasColumn from DallasColumn from DallasColumn from Dallas

Very often I get letters fromreaders asking me abouthow to develop a writing

style or how to write better English,ah well, here’s something for all ofus who think we have mastered thislanguage, here’s the English weknow little about: Did you know themost commonly used letter in the

alphabet is ‘E.’ Did you know theleast used letter in the alphabet is ‘Q.’Did you know skiing is the only wordwith double ‘I.’ Did you know dreamtis the only word that ends in ‘MT.’Did you know there are only 4 wordsin the English language which end in‘dous’ (they are: hazardous, horren-dous, stupendous and tremendous).Did you know the oldest word in theEnglish language is ‘town.’

Did you know ‘Bookkeeper’ and‘bookkeeping’ are the only 2 wordsin the English language with threeconsecutive double letters. Did youknow the word ‘Strengths’ is the long-

est word in the English language withjust one vowel. Did you know the doton top of the letter ‘i’ is called a tittle?Did you know the past tense for theEnglish word ‘dare’ is ‘durst.’ Didyou know the word ‘testify’ derivedfrom a time when men were requiredto swear on their testicles? Did youknow the first English dictionary waswritten in 1755. Did you know theword old English word ‘juke’ mean-ing dancing lends its name to the JukeBox. Did you know 1 out of every 8letters written is an ‘e.’ Did you knowthe longest one syllable word in theEnglish language is ‘screeched.’

The English, we don’t know..!Did you know all pilots on in-

ternational flights identify them-selves in English regardless of theircountry of origin? Did you knowthe expression to ‘knuckle down’originated from playing marbles(players used to put their knucklesto the ground for their best shots).Did you know the word ‘almost’ isthe longest in the English languagewith all the letters in alphabeticalorder. Did you know the most com-monly used word in English con-versation is ‘I.’Quite a lot of En-glish we know little about, right?—Email: bobsbanter@gmail.com

PRAFUL BIDWAI

BY secretly hanging Ajmal Kasab forthe 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks,the Indian government committed aConstitutional impropriety and vir-

tually ensured that the masterminds behindthe attacks wouldn’t be brought to justice.Kasab’s execution exposes the crassness of“the hangman’s justice” and should triggera demand for the abolition of the death pen-alty. The Constitutional impropriety les in afailure of due process — to inform Kasab ofhis right to seek a judicial review of the rejec-tion of his mercy petition by India’s Presi-dent Pranab Mukherjee on November 5.While communicating the decision to Kasabone week later, the government should havetold him that the rejection doesn’t close alllegal avenues; he could still move the Su-preme Court to review it.

This was Kasab’s right under theConstitution’s right-to-life Article 21, whichapplies to foreign nationals too. The SupremeCourt has the power to review and even re-verse the president’s rejection of mercy peti-tions, based on the home ministry’s recom-mendation, if the rejection is based on biasand incomplete consideration of evidence,or is otherwise wrongful. The Court explic-itly clarified this in the Kehar Singh verdict(1989) on Indira Gandhi’s assassination. Itheld the courts have the power to examinethe material on the basis of which the rejec-tion is decided. The president’s pardoningpower is totally different from the judiciary’spower of review. But both institutions are

fallible.India’s Constitution provides checks and

balances against this. If the judiciary fails,the president has the power to correct it. Ifthe president’s exercise of this power is ques-tionable, the judiciary can ask him to recon-

Kasab and politics of the death penaltysider his decision. The review right has beenused many times by convicted people or theirrelations e.g. three men sentenced for RajivGandhi’s assassination, by Devinder PalSingh Bhullar, convicted for a 1993 terror at-tack in Delhi, and even by rapist-murdererDhananjoy Chatterjee, the last person to hang

before Kasab, in 2004.In Kasab’s case, the Indian state followed

due process through the trial and right untilhe made his mercy petition to the president.

But it faltered at the very last stage. Presi-dent Mukherjee failed to disclose his reasonsfor rejecting the petition and lost an opportu-nity to promote transparency and the rule oflaw. The suddenness and secrecy surround-ing Kasab’s execution raises suspicions that

it was conducted for extraneous reasons onthe eve of Parliament’s winter session, whenthe ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA)is in the dock over scandals and unpopularpolicies.

The hanging took the wind out of theBharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) strident cam-

paign claiming the UPA lacks the courage toact against terrorists. The BJP cites the caseof Afzal Guru, convicted for the ParliamentHouse attack of December 2001. It also put

out of the limelight the aftermath of BalThackeray’s death. And it gave the Congressa macho image in competing with the BJP.According to The Indian Express,Maharashtra’s prison authorities had madeelaborate preparations for hanging Kasab in

Pune, whose timing would be decided by thestate of Thackeray’s health. The fallback planwas to hang Kasab in the Mumbai jail wherehe was lodged in contravention ofMaharashtra’s practice of hanging convictsonly in Pune or Nagpur.

This speaks of the political executive’sdeviousness and venality and sets a terribleprecedent. Tomorrow, the UPA may hang AfzalGuru just before the next election for politicalreasons. There’s a huge difference betweenKasab and Guru. Kasab’s gunning down ofinnocent people was televised in real time andwatched by millions. Guru didn’t kill directly,nor was he so charged. Explosives were al-legedly recovered from his hideout later. Ac-cused of conspiracy, he was tried under thehighly controversial, now-repealed Preven-tion of Terrorism Act, which allows confes-sion before a police officer as evidence.

It can be persuasively claimed that Guru’sguilt wasn’t established beyond doubt on strictjudicial criteria. Yet the court order upholdinghis conviction said the Parliament attack “hasshaken the entire nation” and society’s “col-lective conscience” will be satisfied if “capitalpunishment is awarded” to him. Given the se-crecy, it wouldn’t be uncharitable to concludethat the government didn’t weigh the meritsof summarily hanging Kasab vis-?-vis usinghis testimony in the trial in Pakistan of sevenmen led by Laskar-e-Taiba commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi for the Mumbai attacks.

Kasab was a rare asset one of the few for-eign terrorists caught alive in India. Yet, verylittle solid evidence based on his interroga-tion was provided to the Pakistani trial court.Nor was Kasab produced there. Under Paki-

stani and Indian criminal procedures, Kasab’sconfessional statement won’t count as evi-dence without his cross-examination. When aPakistani judicial commission visited India inFebruary, it recorded the statements of themagistrate before whom Kasab made his con-

fession, and the police officer who interro-gated him. But it wasn’t allowed to cross-ex-amine them, leave alone Kasab.

Kasab’s elimination makes it unlikely thatthe Mumbai attacks’ plotters/handlers will beconvicted. Two among their battery of law-yers, Shahbaz Rajput and Khwaja Haris Ahmed,say that the defence “case just got stronger;”Kasab’s statements now “have no legal value”.Just imagine a different scenario, with Kasab’scross-examination.

He would have identified the men who in-spired, trained, guided, and commanded the10 young men sent to attack Mumbai, includ-ing Lakhvi and Abu Jundal. If televised to in-ternational audiences, this would have im-pelled Pakistan to move faster on the trial andbring the attacks’ plotters to justice.

This was not to be. The trial will probablysoon lose its momentum. Pakistani courts havehanded out just two convictions in terrorismcases in 15 years. In the first, the accused waseventually set free. In the second case, thejudge who sentenced the killer of SalmanTaseer fled Pakistan and hasn’t been heard ofsince. Kasab’s execution will stoke mutual sus-picions and set back the objective of achiev-ing a breakthrough in India-Pakistan relations.If Sarabjeet Singh, convicted for terrorist at-tacks in Pakistan, is executed, relations will befurther embittered.

Many innocent people have been ex-ecuted because of inadequate legal represen-tation, judicial misjudgment, false testimonyor police prejudice and sloppiness. Such preju-dice recently became starkly evident in Indiain the Lajpatnagar blasts case, leading to ac-quittals. In the US alone, more than 130 peoplewere released from the death row since 1973because they were proved innocent. In India,14 former Supreme Court and High Courtjudges have asked President Mukherjee tocommute the death sentences of 13 people,based on the Supreme Court’s own admissionthat some of these were rendered per incuriam(out of error or ignorance). Such commutationmust become the first step towards abolition.We cannot play with human life in a sordidlyinhuman manner. The writer is an eminent In-dian columnist.

—Courtesy : Daily Star

The time has come to abolish the death penalty, as more than two-thirds of the world’s nations have done. No state has the moral right to takeanybody’s life. Capital punishment is inhuman, cruel and degrading, and is disproportionately awarded to the poor and underprivileged everywhere.It doesn’t deter killing and heinous crimes. In the US, for instance, death-penalty states have a much higher rate of murder than non-penalty states.

It’s just a crass act of revenge, which legitimises senseless violence while undermining human solidarity.

MANDAKINI DEVASHER SURIE

THE arrest of two youngwomen over Facebook comments has renewed a muchneeded debate over internet

censorship. India’s online communityhas been buzzing since the arrest oftwo young women by the Mumbaipolice last month for posting com-ments on Facebook criticizing thecity’s shutdown following the deathof veteran Shiv Sena leader, BalThackeray. The arrests of ShaheenDhada and Renu Srinivasan sparkedpublic outrage across the country, anddrew criticism from civil society, me-dia, and the government. TelecomMinister Kabil Sibal described the ar-rests as “unfortunate,” and renownedIndian personalities, such as authorShobha De, anti-corruption activistturned politician, Arvind Kejriwal, andothers, expressed their dismay onTwitter.

Faced with mounting public ire,the Mumbai police eventually sus-pended the officers who made the ar-rests and dropped the case againstDhada and Srinivasan. The arreststriggered a vigorous public debatethat rages today about the right tofreedom of speech and expression, andthe extent to which the governmentcan or should regulate the internet.India is the fastest growing internetmarket among the BRICS (Brazil, Rus-sia, India, China, and South Africa)nations, according to a recent studyby Assocham and ComScore, expand-

ing annually at the rate of 41 percent,with approximately 125 million internetusers currently.Nearly 75 percent of these users arebetween the ages of 15 and 34, mak-ing India’s online community one ofthe youngest in the world. Whileinternet penetration is still low (lessthan 10 percent of the population),social networking sites such asFacebook and Twitter are becomingincreasingly popular as mobile phone

India’s Battle for Freedom in Cyberspacepenetration deepens across the coun-try. From a small user base of 8 millionin 2010, Facebook today has 50 mil-lion subscribers in India, with the num-ber growing each day. Indians aregenerating a growing volume of usercontent as they like, post, tag, tweet,and blog online. Some of this contenthas the Indian government worried.As I wrote in an earlier post to In Asia,India’s government has dramaticallyincreased its oversight and surveil-

lance of the internet and social mediaplatforms over the last two years. InApril 2011, it adopted a new set of ITrules requiring websites and service

providers to respond to netizen re-quests to remove content deemed“blasphemous,” “disparaging,” or“hateful” within 36 hours of the com-plaint being filed. Later in the year, thegovernment filed cases against 21companies, including internet giantslike Microsoft, Facebook, Yahoo, andGoogle, demanding the removal of ob-jectionable and inflammatory materialand the “pre-screening” of user con-tent.

According to Google’s latestTransparency Report, between Janu-ary and June 2012, Indian authoritiesalso sought web user details in asmany as 2,319 cases and requestedthe removal of 596 items from variousinternet platforms, a more than 100%jump over the previous six months.The items related primarily to issuesof privacy and security (374), defa-mation (120), and religious offences(75). The argument for internet regu-

lation or censorship in India hasmostly been framed in the context ofensuring national security and secu-lar harmony. Efforts at regulation in-creased in the aftermath of the 2008Mumbai terror attacks and subse-quent tightening of national security.While some see these arguments asjustified given India’s experience withterrorism and history of ethnic andreligious tension, many civil societyand internet activists feel that thegovernment’s attempts at regulationgo too far, infringing on peoples’ rightto free speech and expression.

In recent months, there has beena spate of arrests across the countryfor content posted by users on socialnetworking sites. In West Bengal, achemistry professor was arrested forsharing an unflattering cartoon ofChief Minister Mamta Banerjee andother political figures online. In TamilNadu, businessman Ravi Srinivasanwas arrested for a tweet criticizing theson of Finance Minister P.Chidambaram.

—Courtesy: Diplomat

STEPHEN LEAHY

THE Green Climate Fund waslaunched at the 2011 UN Climate Change Conferenceheld in Durban, South Africa.

The fund is still empty although it isdue to begin dispensing money in2013 to help developing countriescope with climate change. Rich in-dustrialized countries have failed todeliver on their financial pledges, andthe issue is expected to be back onthe table during the last few remain-ing days of the 2012 UN ClimateChange Conference in Doha. Richcountries are withholding pledges tofund the Green Climate Fund to seewhat concessions they can get fromdeveloping countries. The outcomeof the conference will not be success-ful if industrialized countries do notput their geopolitical interests aside.The new Green Climate Fund to helpdeveloping countries cope with cli-mate change may one day have a big-ger budget than the World Bank. Atthe moment, however, the Fund isempty.

No financial pledges have beenmade even though the Fund is sup-posed to begin dispensing money in2013. “Finance is at the heart of ne-gotiations here,” said Oxfam Inter-national climate change policy advi-sor Tim Gore on the sidelines of theUN climate change negotiations atthe 18th meeting of the Conferenceof Parties to the United NationsFramework Convention on ClimateChange (COP 18), taking place in thecapital of Qatar until Dec. 7.

“The issue has come to a head inDoha. Developing countries are bit-ter and saying rich industrialisedcountries are once again failing todeliver on their promises,” Gore toldTierramérica. “The NGO communityis calling on the COP president toconvene a special roundtable on fi-nance next week during the high-levelsegment,” he said.

Without that call by COP presi-dent Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Attiyahof Qatar, many ministers will arrivenext week without the authority todo anything on finance. “I doubt themeeting will be successful withoutthis,” added Gore. In 2009, at COP 15in Copenhagen, “developing coun-tries bought into the sales pitch” byindustrialised countries that theywould get financial help beginning

The Big Fight in Doha is Over Climate Financein 2013 and ramping up to 100 billiondollars a year in new and additionalfunding by 2020, said Gore.

In exchange for getting this Green

Climate Fund – officially adopted atthe following COP, in Cancún – theysigned on to the Copenhagen Ac-cord, a U.S.-backed voluntary emis-sion reduction agreement. This was abig compromise. Not only did devel-oping countries want a legally bind-ing agreement, they wanted larger

emission reduction commitments fromindustrialised nations and theywanted a lot more money to help themcope with the impacts of climatechange, said Gore.

To bridge the gap between 2010and 2012, developed countries alsoagreed to a “Fast Start Finance”programme of 30 billion dollars. Butnot all of that promised money hasbeen delivered, and most of it was inthe form of loans, not grants. More-over, much of the money was not newor additional, but came out of devel-opment aid, said Nithika Mwenda ofthe Pan African Climate Justice Alli-

ance.Tracking a country’s actual con-

tribution to Fast Start Finance andwhere the money has come from is

extremely complex, Mwenda said ina press conference. The Green Cli-mate Fund must have clear report-ing and verification measures alongwith a forum to independently over-see this, he said.

Should the promised billions forthe Fund materialise, this might sim-

ply be more bad news for the world’sindigenous peoples if the moneygoes into massive tree plantationsor mega-dams that end up displac-ing local communities, said VictoriaTauli-Corpuz, an indigenous repre-sentative from the Philippines. “Wewill be in big trouble if the moneygoes into the wrong projects,” Tauli-Corpuz told Tierramérica.

The Green Climate Fund is creat-ing environmental and social safe-guards intended to prevent this.However, the involvement of indig-enous peoples and civil society islimited. —Courtesy: IPS

Lawyers and internet activists have argued that the lawis vague in defining terms such as “offensive” and “menac-ing” and needs to be amended. Last week, a young student inDelhi filed a public interest litigation case in the SupremeCourt arguing that Section 66A is unconstitutional and in-fringes on the right to freedom of speech and expressionenshrined in Article 19 of the Constitution.

“We don’t even get documents in advance. That makes itvery difficult for us to participate,” Kanti said at a COP 18 sideevent. “Many board members are unaware of indigenous is-sues.” Strong safeguards will also need to be combined with

monitoring and verification and a “grievance” mechanism acces-sible to local people should a Green Climate Fund-financed

project be having a negative impact, said Nira Amerasinghe ofthe Centre for International Environmental Law.

SIMON SHUSTER

HAS Vladimir Putin lost control of his“corruption crackdown”? Over thepast month, a surreal new elementhas come to dominate Russia’s

nightly news. At times it feels like some sortof hybrid reality show, as if the Kremlin’s pro-paganda men have started splicing episodesof MTV Cribs with episodes of COPS. Theentrancing new genre was born from the purgethat President Vladimir Putin launched in Oc-tober the first anti-corruption campaign hehas ever attempted and it has made for excel-lent television. Viewers have been treated tocommando raids on posh apartments, seizedboxes of diamonds and gold, stacks of bribemoney being fed by police into counting ma-chines that look about ready to burst. Per-haps most satisfying of all, for the millions ofworkaday Russians watching at home, hasbeen the sight of once-mighty bureaucratsgroveling for sympathy, clemency, or bail.That schadenfreude is part of the point.Purges are meant to be popular.

Off with Their HeadsBut six weeks into this one, its initiator

has found himself in the bind of his career. Byallowing state TV to cover all the gory detailsof the bureaucratic bloodletting, Putin’s gov-ernment seems to have only reminded Rus-

sians just how shameless and pervasive cor-ruption has become. In one case, police claimto have found an obscure military bureau-crat, Alexander Yelkin, in possession ofaround $9 million in cash and four Breguetwatches. Had he not been arrested on Nov.16, he was reportedlyplanning to celebratehis birthday the following night with a pri-

vate concert by Jennifer Lopez. Judging bythe latest polls, such tales of profligacy havebegun to reflect badly on the entire govern-ment Putin included. But satisfying thepublic’s piqued desire for justice is hardly an

option at this point. Bureaucrats at every levelare already spooked by the spate of arrests,and if the lifestyle to which they have be-come accustomed becomes threatened, theycould start to turn on Putin. And that raisesthe risk of a palace coup.

“He has to strike a very delicate balance,”says Alexander Rahr, a member of the Valdai

Club, a forum of Russia experts that meetswith Putin once a year. “He is too dependenton the boyars [feudal lords] to go choppingoff their heads, but that is what the peopleare now demanding.” Putin announced the

new anti-corruption campaign at the most re-cent Valdai Club meeting on Oct. 25. At thetime, no one took it very seriously. Over thepast decade, corruption in Russia has grownto the levels of a third-world kleptocracy ,and hardly a month goes by without somesenior official promising a crackdown. But thistime it seems Putin was serious, or at least

more serious than usual.The day of the Valdai Club meeting, police

had raided a handful of homes and officeslinked to Defense Ministry officials accused ofstealing about $100 million in state assets. Whenthe cops arrived at the apartment of EvgeniaVasilieva, the comely young director of theministry’s property department, they were sur-prised to find Defense Minister AnatolySerdyukov there. (One of the more entertainingsidebars of the scandal has involved the haremof beautiful women Serdyukov had placed inpositions of extraordinary power. The Russianpress has dubbed them “the Amazons,” andbefore resigning last month, one of them, a 31-year-old aspiring poet named Marina Chubkinawas in charge of maintaining some of Russia’schemical and nuclear weapons facilities.) Dur-ing the raid on Vasilieva’s apartment, policefound several valuable paintings by the 19th-century masters Ilya Repin and Ivan Shishkinthat belonged to the ministry’s museum. Nowunder house arrest pending investigation forlarge-scale fraud, Vasilieva, 31, denies anywrongdoing.—Courtesy: Foreign Policy

The tsar looked the other way. For the most part, this system held under the Soviet Union, and the only majoreffort to dislodge it helped precipitate the empire’s collapse. In the late 1980s, Soviet President MikhailGorbachev oversaw the so-called Cotton Case, which exposed a syndicate of senior Communist Party officialswho had pilfered millions of dollars from the state. Two of them were executed and dozens jailed; but rather thanrestore faith in the Soviet system, the scandal helped expose to the public just how rotten it truly was.

Dogar further argued thatcrimes are carried out under“personal capacity” and thatthey did not have anything to dowith the position a person holds.

Responding to which, thebench stated that although thehead of state was not answerableto anyone, the president was stillbound to respect and follow ju-dicial orders.

Justice Bandial said thecountry would be peaceful andwould prosper when peoplewould abide by the Constitution.Violating the Constitutionwould adversely affect all sec-tions of national life.

However, as the bench re-sumed proceedings, AdvocateSajjad struggled to get the

President enjoys immunity: LHCFrom Page 1

court’s permission to continuehis arguments on the maintain-ability issue, as he has alreadystarted arguments on the consti-tutional immunity enjoyed bypresident during the last hearingon Thursday.

The bench had sought argu-ments as to whether Article248(2) of the Constitution bansentertaining a contempt of courtpetition against the president.

On September 5, thebench had issued a fresh no-tice to President Asif AliZardari through his principalsecretary and had sought areply to the petition pleadingcontempt proceedings againsthim for not abiding the court’sorder to relinquish his politi-

was duped by two deejays pre-tending to be the Queen andPrince Charles has committedsuicide, officials said Friday.

The nurse, JacinthaSaldanha, was found at an ad-dress near King Edward VIIHospital.

“Police were called at ap-proximately 9:35 a.m. Fridaymorning to a report of a womanfound unconscious,” a ScotlandYard spokesman said. “LondonAmbulance Service attendedand the woman was pronounced

editing, translations, sharing,uploading, downloading and

collection of required data,” itsays, giving an email addressand asking readers to “plz spreadit.

Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan(TTP) spokesman EhsanullahEhsan confirmed to AFP by tele-phone on Friday that the factionwas “temporarily” using thepage “to fulfil its requirements”before launching its ownwebsite.

US-based organisationSITE Intelligence Group saysthe TTP uses Facebook as “arecruitment centre”.

“Through its official mediaarm, Umar Media, the TTP hastaken to Facebook to recruit con-tributors for their media workand the group’s forthcomingpublication ‘Ayah-E-Khilafat’(Sign of the Caliphate),” it saidin a statement.

The TTP Facebook pagedescribes the publication as its“official quarterly magazine”and asks writers to submit ar-ticles “on (a) topic of yourchoice”, or on jihadi current af-fairs, history, Islamic move-ments or the plight of Mus-lims.—AFP

Zafar added that the inves-tigation officer could also sub-mit a statement before the benchon the issue of Sadiq’s arrest.

Justice Khawaja remarkedthat out of Rs 82 billion, the NABhad recovered only Rs 30 billion.He also directed the bureau tosubmit a written reply to thebench on the amount recovered.

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the “very unity of Pakistan”.and emotional, visibly, the

People’s Party lawmakers, how-ever, failed to show their repre-sentational strength in the houseThursday where neither Leaderof the House Chief MinisterSindh Qaim Ali Shah nor PPP’sparliamentary party leader PirMazharul Haq was present in thehouse at the time of the “his-toric” resolution’s passage.

Of the total 89 PPP legisla-tors only 47 were counted aspresent in the house when theresolution was adopted minutesbefore Speaker Nisar Khuhroprorogued the session. TheMQM lawmakers present were23 of the total 47. In terms ofnumber, the opposition bencheswere also barren as only 10 ofthe 27-member opposition couldturn up to the Sindh legislaturewas opining on the most-con-demned KBD.

Given the current heatedpolitical climate Friday’sproceedings were marred byintermittent but full-throatedverbal clashes between the PPPled treasury and PML-F-ledopposition members. The twosides at least thrice put the houseinto a noisy pandemonium bypointing fingers at each other fortheir past “wrongdoings”.

“Don’t go into the history, orwe would not be able to maintainunity (against KBD),” Khuhrowarned the two divides of thehouse.

However, the 168-memberPPP-dominated house wasunanimous in adopting the fourresolutions tabled Thursday byDr Sikandar Mandhro and ImranNazir Leghari of the PPP, KhalidAhmed of the MQM and JamMadad Ali Khan of the PML-F.

SA rejects KBD as risk to‘very unity of Pakistan’

From Page 1

President to attend girls’ rightof education event in Paris

PARIS—President Asif AliZardari would attend an event‘Stand up for Malala; girls’ rightof education’ jointly organizedby UNESCO and Pakistan em-bassy in Paris.

According to media reports,President Asif Ali Zardari, alongwith Federal Ministers for For-eign Affairs and Education andChairperson BISP Farzana Raja,will attend the event to demon-strate Pakistan’s commitmenttowards education for girls.

President will hold a briefmeeting with DG UNESCOIriva Bokova. Zardari will alsomeet President Hollande to dis-cuss bilateral issues during histhree days visit.

Within the framework ofEducation for All (EFA), theoverall goal of this event is toadvocate and promote girls’right to education, encompass-ing all levels and all aspects ofeducation, so that education be-comes available and accessibleto all girls, while being accept-

able and adaptable to their spe-cific needs and circumstances.

This unique and joint effortof Government of Pakistan andUNESCO is expected to becomea beacon of light for 61 millionchildren across the world, mostof which are girls, who aspireto go to school.

The objectives of this advo-cacy event are to sensitise theinternational community aboutthe importance of girl’s educa-tion and special challenges andobstacles relating to girls edu-cation.

Pakistan and UNESCOwould sign a MoU to establishMalala Fund to promote girlseducation during President visit.Pakistan will provide seedmoney for the establishment ofthis fund.

Representatives of govern-ments, UN partners, interna-tional and bilateral organiza-tions, foundations, donors, theprivate sector, civil society, aca-demics, religious leaders, emi-

nent personalities, the media andother stakeholders wouldexpectedly attend the nobleevent.

High level International fig-ures would participate in thisadvocacy event, including Jeam-Marc Aryalt, the Prime Minis-ter of France, Gordon BrownUN Special Envoy for GlobalEducation and former PrimeMinister of UK, Tarja Helnonformer President of Finland,Michelle Bachelet ExecutiveDirector UN women educationand Former President of Chile,Sheikh Abdullah Foreign Min-ister of UAE, Liela ZerrouguiUnder Secretary General andSpecial Representative of UNSecretary General for childrenand Armed Conflict,Dr.Abdulaziz OthomanAltwaiijri Director GeneralISESCO, Maria Arnholm StateSecretary to Minister for Gen-der Equality and Deputy Minis-ter for Education and BaronessSaeeda Warsi.—Online

All the four resolutionspassed called upon the federaland provincial governments tovehemently oppose the contro-versial project at all levels tobury this “dead horse” once andfor all.

“This Assembly… ex-presses its feelings of aversionto the sources that disrespect thestatus of this august House ig-noring the importance of manyunanimously passed previousresolutions against the dam,”read the one moved by PPP’s DrMandhro.

“This House condemns thedecision of the Lahore highcourt and the supportingstatmnet by the Chief MinisterPunjab Mian Shahbaz Sharif infavour of construction ofKalabagh Dam,” said the reso-lution tabled by Imran Legahri,also of PPP. The KBD, the docu-ment said, was “detrimental tothe very unity of Pakistan withthe most dangerous repercus-sions on Sindh province”.

The resolution that camefrom the MQM said: “ThisHouse resolves that any attemptto revive the proposal from anyquarter shall be resisted and re-jected outright by the provinceand the people of Sindh.”

The opposition led by theFunctional League dubbed theconstruction of KBD as a “deadissue” saying: “Raising of thisissue by any forum at this stageis nothing but creating distur-bance amongst the masses”.

The members from two di-vides delivered hard-hittingspeeches against the dam blast-ing mostly the Punjab provinceand Sharifs brothers for hatch-

ing judicial conspiracies againstthe already water-scarce Sindh.

The Chief Justice of Paki-stan was also appealed to take asuo motu notice of the LHC de-cree which, Amnullah Mehsudof ANP and other lawmakerssaid, would pit the provincesagainst each other.

The speeches, however,were marred by the noisy blame-game intermittently taking placebetween the PPP and PMNL-Flegislators. The house echoeswith ear-splitting noise at leastthrice when lawmakers from thetwo sides accused the other sideof having tacitly supported theanti-Sindh dam sometime andsomewhere in the past.

“The opposition leader (ofPPP) in Punjab Assembly hadsupported a resolution in favorof Kalabagh dam, is not itdouble standard,” questionedJam Madad Ali of PML-F.

PPP ministers Murad AliShah, Sharjeel Memon andZahid Bhurgary came up withcounter allegations mostlybringing the opposition lawmak-ers on their feet. Others whospoke included Law MinisterAyaz Soomro, Humera Alwani,Heer Ismail Soho, Sussui Palijo,Imdad Patafi and Anwar Meher.

Also, the house said yes toa PPP-backed resolution callingupon the government to declarethe slain PPP chairpersonBenazir Bhutto “a symbol ofdemocracy and freedom” for herglorious struggle and sacrificesfor the restoration of democracyin the county.The house alsoapproved a report of the PublicAccounts Committee regardingdraft paras for the fiscal years06, 07 and 08.

RAWALPINDI: Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani presiding over the 155th Corps Commanders’ Confer-ence at General Headquarters.

dead at the scene.”The death is not being

treated as suspicious at this time,the spokesman said.

“The Duke and Duchess ofCambridge are deeply saddenedto learn of the death of JacinthaSaldanha,” the Royal Familysaid in a statement. “Their RoyalHighnesses were looked after sowonderfully well at all times byeverybody at King Edward VIIHospital, and their thoughts andprayers are with JacinthaSaldanha’s family, friends andcolleagues at this very sad time.”

Saldanha had worked at thehospital for four years, accord-ing to hospital officials.

“Our thoughts and deepestsympathies at this time are withher family and friends,” read astatement by the hospital’s chiefexecutive, John Lofthouse. “Ev-eryone is shocked by the loss ofa much loved and valued col-league.”

Lord Glenarthur, chairmanof the hospital, characterizedSaldanha as a “first-class” nursewho diligently cared for hun-

dreds of patients.“She will be greatly

missed,” Glenarthur’s statementread.

Two Australian radio per-sonalities from 2Day FM —MelGreig and Michael Christian —pretending to be the Queen andPrince Charles tricked thewoman into giving an update onthe condition of Kate Middleton,30, who was being treated formorning sickness.

St. James’s Palace an-nounced Monday that the Duch-ess of Cambridge — formerlyMiddleton — had a severe formof morning sickness and wasbeing treated at a London hos-pital with Prince William at herside.

The couple’s first childwill be third in line to thethrone — behind William andhis father, Prince Charles —leapfrogging the gregariousPrince Harry and possibly set-ting up the first scenario inwhich a female heir could ben-efit from new gender rulesabout succession.—AP

quested the bench to stop thecommission’s proceedings sothat whichever party wanted totake whatever legal recourse,they may approach the con-cerned avenues in that regard.

Speaking to media represen-tatives later, Bokhari said justicehad prevailed, adding that, hisclient had been raising objec-tions over the legality of thecommission from day one.

The counsel said his client’sobjections on the commission’sreport had been noted by thecourt. Bokhari added that theShoaib Suddle commission hadno authority to investigate thefunds of Bahria Town.

The commission’s prelimi-nary report, which was sharedwith the media on Thursday,said that Arsalan had admittedbefore the commission that hehad availed two of the three for-eign visits alleged by Riaz in agraft case being heard in theSupreme Court.

Arsalan admitted that hehad received ‘favours’ fromRiaz, his friend or his son-in-law, but the report did not an-swer why he had accepted theseand nor did it explain thebusinessman’s claim that hehad ‘favoured’ Arsalan in orderto get court cases settled in hisfavour.

Earlier on Aug 30, a two-judge bench of the SupremeCourt, headed by JusticeJawwad S. Khwaja, appointedFederal Tax Ombudsman DrMohammad Shoaib Suddle asa one man-commission to in-vestigate allegations of aRs342 million business dealbetween Arsalan Iftikhar, sonof Chief Justice IftikharMuhammad Chaudhry, andproperty tycoon Malik Riaz.The commission had been di-rected to complete the task ina month’s time.

Islamabad High Court.On November 22, a case per-

taining to extension in the tenureof two additional judges of theIslamabad High Court had takena new turn before the SupremeCourt after the Attorney Generalof Pakistan Irfan Qadir had in-formed it (SC) that the govern-ment wanted to file a presiden-tial reference over the issue.

Questioning the composi-tion of judicial commission onthe judges’ appointments, he hadsought two-week time from theSupreme Court for filing thepresidential reference, citing theneed for seeking legal opinionon all issues related to appoint-ments of the IHC judges.

On October 22, the JudicialCommission of Pakistan hadrecommended the permanentappointment of IHC’s additionaljudge Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui anda six-month extension in the ten-ure of IHC’s additional judgeNoorul Haq N Qureshi.

On November 6, the Parlia-mentary Committee for Ap-pointment of Superior Courtsjudges had also endorsed therecommendations of the JudicialCommission.

The Law Ministry, however,had not issued a notification forextension in the tenure of thesetwo judges and the matter wasstill pending before the SupremeCourt for adjudication. The Su-preme Court would start hear-ing the reference on Monday.

Among the injured personstwo belonged to border area vil-lage Tanda and one was fromvillage Tarapur.

The BSF used light weap-ons in the firing. PakistaniChenab Rangers fitfully an-swered in order to silent the en-emy guns.

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cal office.The petition that had been

filed by Munir Ahmad throughlawyers A K Dogar and AzharSiddique had accused PresidentZardari of indulging in politicalactivities in the presidency.

The petitioner had also con-tended that the use of Presi-dency for political activitieswas illegal and tantamount tocommitting contempt of thecourt’s orders issued on May 12last year.

He had also requested thecourt to issue a show-cause no-tice to the president and punishhim under Contempt of CourtOrdinance, 2003, read with Ar-ticle 204 of the Constitution.

dress Pakistan’s energy sectorchallenges, including powergeneration, fuel, gas, and reformpriorities.

At the conclusion of themeeting, the three officials an-nounced that the United Statesgovernment will fund an inter-national consultancy to assistPakistan in acquiring liquefiednatural gas (LNG).

Secretary of Water andPower highlighted the need foran improved and sustained gov-ernance structure as a key ele-ment for a sustainable powersector and the steps taken so far.

Special Envoy Pascual wel-comed Pakistani government’scommitment to the reform pro-cess, improving governance, im-proving the financial viabilityand efficiency of the power sec-tor and energy sector in general,and attracting private sector in-vestment in energy productionand distribution. The Secretary ofWater and Power expressed herappreciation for U.S. assistanceunder the power distribution im-provement project and the energyefficiency programs.

Special Envoy Pascual alsowelcomed Pakistan’s adoptionof the 2012 Petroleum Explora-tion & Production Policy, not-ing that it that has the potentialto spur investment in explora-tion throughout Pakistan. Sec-retary Khan pointed out the im-minent Pakistani oil and gas del-egation meetings in Houston andLondon to promote the auctionof licenses for 60 blocks (or ex-ploration zones).

“Today, the United Statesgovernment and the Govern-ment of Pakistan launched a newinitiative to help Pakistan ac-quire liquefied natural gas moreefficiently,” said AmbassadorPascual at the working group,“This initiative shows theUnited States and Pakistanworking together on concreteactions to relieve Pakistan’schronic shortage of electricity.It will accelerate the liquefiednatural gas procurement processand offer a cheaper alternativeto Pakistan’s current fuel oilimports.”

The LNG consultancy, whichwill commence work before theend of the year, will assist Pakistanin the terms and assessment ofliquefied natural gas supply anddelivery from internationalsuppliers.

The effort will speed theprocurement process, saving thegovernment the expense of fueloil imports that are currentlyused to generate much of thenation’s electricity. Theconsultancy will also providemarket analysis and technicalassistance to the government’simplementer of LNG imports.

The United States and Pa-kistan together are carrying out

US to help Pakistanin acquiring LNG

From Page 1large-scale energy projects, thatwill add 900 megawatts of ca-pacity to the power grid by theend of next year — enough tosupply electricity to an esti-mated 2 million households..—Online

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Chief Justice of theLahore High Court, Mr. JusticeUmar Ata Bandial has said thattaxes provide a boost to the na-tional economy. Therefore, itwas need of the hour to promotetax culture and Tax Bar shouldalso shoulder its responsibility incollection of taxes meant forprogress and prosperity in thecountry, he added.

Hon‘ble Chief Justice wasspeaking at a function arrangedby the Lahore Tax Bar Associa-tion. He underlined the need forstrengthening the tax collectingdepartments. A credible and vi-able Tax system can usher an eraof development. It was responsi-bility of the state to facilitate the

LHC CJ for promoting tax culturebusiness community and pro-mote confidence among them forenhancing the business activities.

Hon’ble Chief Justice calledupon the elite of the society tocome forward in paying taxes andhave a pride in getting NationalTax Numbers. Black coats shouldset an example in this regard andbecome a role model for othersegments of the society. Hewished an atmosphere where tax-payers feel protected. Chief Jus-tice said that if the laws are notenforced evenly the society be-comes uncivilized.

Referring to the National Ju-dicial Policy Making Committeemeeting, Hon’ble Chief Justicesaid that there were 60,000 oldcases in the Punjab as comparedto the 10,000 to 12,000 in other

provinces and it was due to short-age of judges. Chief Justice saidthat we are filling this gap withmore work in the courts. It was apride that Judiciary in the Prov-ince has responded with im-mense conviction and devotionto duty and has tripled the con-viction rate. We have not optedfor number game by enhancingdisposal rate but delivering goodand comprehensive judgments.Judiciary was not meant only todecide individual difference butleading to rule of law. In this re-gard Chief Justice also cited casesof Balochistan and Karachi bythe Supreme Court of Pakistan.Good governance was basic rightof the people and the advocatescommunity was playing their vi-tal role, Chief Justice added.

PTI finalizesparty polls

strategyLAHORE—Strategy for intraparty elections has been final-ized while PTI Town Commit-tees would be constituted tomobilize the workers at unioncouncil level.

This was decided in a a spe-cial meeting of Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf presided by CentralLeader Abdul Aleem Khan..—Online

CAIRO—The Egyptian NationalSalvation Front, a new opposi-tion coalition formed recentlywith liberals and leftists, refuseda suggestion for dialogue byPresident Mohamed Morsi,Ahram online reported Friday.The front said in a statement thatthe speech delivered by Morsilate Thursday did not meet thewhole Egyptians’ aspirations.“The president’s speech was sur-prising because it denied all therealities that the whole world sawon the TV channels, whichproved that all the violent attacksagainst the peaceful protestorsbefore the presidential palaceWednesday were incited by theMuslim Brotherhood leaders,”the statement said. “Thepresident’s speech was intended

Egypt Opp spurns talks offerto divide the people to two par-ties, his supporters whom he de-scribed as protecting the legiti-macy, and the opponents whomhe described as getting out of thelegitimacy,” the front said in its astatement. “Based on the above,the front refuses the dialogue sug-gested by the president, becauseit lacks the principles of the seri-ous negotiations by ignoring thefront’s basic demands, which arecancelling the latest constitutionaldeclaration, and cancelling theconstitution referendum sched-uled for Dec. 15,” the statementadded. The front stressed the ne-cessity of opening investigationsover the recent violence triggeredWednesday before the presiden-tial palace, noting that it will con-tinue using all the legal ways to

defend its rights and freedoms.Morsi delivered a long-

waited speech Thursday night,denouncing recent bloody clashesoutside the presidential palace andinviting all opposition forces tomeet Saturday afternoon at thepalace for a dialogue over the so-lution to the ongoing crisis. Morsiadded that in case the draft con-stitution is disapproved in theDec. 15 referendum, he will callfor the formation of a new con-stituent assembly. The presidentnoted that he was willing to giveup, if necessary, Article 6 of theconstitutional declaration, whichgives him the right to take “anyrequired measures” to protect thecountry, after the intended dia-logue with the political forces.

He reaffirmed that the con-

NEW DELHI: The parliamentary delegation from Pakistan meeting with the Indian Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh.

DUBAI—Minister for Informa-tion and Broadcasting QamarZaman Kaira Friday said that theTransparency International reporton corruption in Pakistan was fab-ricated, baseless and pack of liesthat showed volume of corruptioneven more than country’s annualbudget.

In a statement issued here, hesaid the report had depicted dailycorruption of Rs 7 billion with itsannual volume of Rs 25.20 tril-lion in the country, which was thestrongest evidence to prove its ir-rationality and falseness.

He observed that Transpar-ency International had modifiedits method this year and that thecurrent score was incomparablewith that of previous year. Like-wise, the comparison betweenPakistan’s 33rd rank with 42nd ofprevious year was illogical.

Kaira said no country main-tained same score during previousyears as out of total 176 countries,around two-third countries ob-tained below 50 score manifest-ing that increase in corruption was

Transparency’s reportbaseless, pack of lies: Kaira

a global phenomenon. However,more corruption in South Asianstates was more worrisome asNepal stood at 139 in the list ofmost corrupt countries, but SouthAsian states of Bangladesh andAfghanistan followed it depictingthat the whole region was crippledwith corruption. He said the situ-ation needed to be addressedthrough civil society, media, busi-ness community and the govern-ment using different techniques.

The Information Ministersaid even the countries located atthe heart of the Euro Zone havebeen showing dismal progress inConsumer Price Index. He ob-served that the world’s top 85multinational companies do notshow their tax invoices on theircorporate website.

Kaira said at parliamentarylevel, Public Accounts Commit-tee was actively working and forthe first time in country’s history,Opposition Leader in NationalAssembly was appointed as itschairman that manifestsgovernment’s commitment to

eliminate corruption. He said the PAC had recov-

ered Rs 180 billion indiscrimi-nately that was also lauded by theTransparency International as ithad helped reduce corruption, butnow through this report, the TIwas negating its own stance.

He said at federal level, Na-tional Accountability Bureau andFederal Investigation Agencywere working while Anti-Corrup-tion Departments were perform-ing at provincial levels, whichhave also recovered embezzledamounts and acted against the re-sponsible people. QamarZaman Kaira said judiciary andmedia were functioning indepen-dently in the country and thecourts had also taken suo motunotices on the basis of media re-ports, several of those have beendisposed of and plenty of otherswere subjudice.

“It is a fact that graph of cor-ruption has come down owing toefficient performance of NAB andFIA as well as court cases,” hecommented.—APP

ANKARA—Turkish PresidentAbdullah Gul has said there is agreat deal of awareness about theKashmir issue in Turkey and com-mended Pakistan for its positivestand on the problem.

He was talking to a four mem-ber Pakistan’s parliamentary del-egation led by Haji MuhammadAdeel here on Thursday. Othermembers of the delegation in-cluded Senator Syed MuzafarHussain Shah, Senator MaulanaAbdul Ghafoor Haideri, SenatorSehar Kamran and Mr. AmjadPervez, Secretary of the Commit-tee.

President Gul said Kashmirissue was a product of the unjustinternational system and ex-pressed the hope that the dialoguebetween the leadership of Pakistanand India would lead to an ami-cable solution.

On bilateral economic andcommercial relations, PresidentGul said that the two countries areworking on multiple tracks toboost trade and investment links.Mentioning ‘Gul train’ he said

with efficient operation and reduc-tion in its duration, the cargo traincan play an important role in aug-menting trade links between thetwo countries and beyond.

Referring to the forthcoming7th trilateral Afghanistan-Paki-stan-Turkey summit being held inAnkara, President Gul said he islooking forward to meet PresidentZardari. He said that he was fullyaware with Pakistan’s difficultiesarising out of instability in Af-ghanistan and the three countriesare working through trilateralprocess to bring peace, stabilityand development in Afghanistan.

President Gul said that thevisit of Senate Parliamentary del-egation is very important andmeaningful for further enhancingthe existing extra-ordinary goodrelations between Pakistan andTurkey. He said both the coun-tries have traditions of support-ing each other at internationalfora on various issues. Referringto the visit of the delegation toTurkish Republic of NorthernCyprus, he thanked them for the

support for a peaceful and last-ing solution of the Cyprus issue.

Senators thanked PresidentGul for his strong support andfriendship with Pakistan. Theyinformed that the long-lastingspecial relations of Pakistan andTurkey enjoy all the supportacross the political divide.

Haji Adeel also showedgratitude for Turkey’s solidarityand assistance during natural di-sasters in Pakistan. He said Pa-kistan and Turkey are two impor-tant Muslim countries and canplay a critical role for resolutionof outstanding disputes likeCyprus, Kashmir and Palestinethrough concerted and unitedefforts of the Islamic world.

The visiting delegation alsomet with Speaker of TurkishGrand National Assembly(TGNA) Mr. Cemil Çiçek. Mr.Cemil Çiçek said such an ex-change of parliamentary del-egations will help boost our re-lations and shall help in evolv-ing joint strategies to tacklecommon issues.—INP

Gul stresses Kashmirawareness in Turkey

Pak MPs team meets Turkish President

UNITED NATIONS—A five-member parliamentary delega-tion of Pakistan led by SenatorSabir Ali Baloch, Deputy Chair-man Senate, who is visiting NewYork to participate in the 2012Parliamentary Hearing at theUN General Assembly, on theside-line met Inter-ParliamentUnion (IPU) Secretary General,Mr. Anders B. Johnsson. In themeeting both side agrees to en-hance cooperation between theIPU and Pakistan’s Parliament.

They also discussed theagenda and format of the Hear-ing. Mr. Anders B. Johnsson,the IPU Secretary General, ex-pressed his desire to visit Pa-kistan in the second half of2013.

Other members of the del-egation included SenatorMuhammad Mohsin KhanLeghari, Senator Eng. MalikRashid Ahmed Khan, SenatorMukhtiar Ahmad Dharmah andMNA Arif Aziz Sheikh.

Meanwhile Parliamentar-ians across the globe are attend-ing a two-day Inter-Parliamen-tary Union (IPU) annual Parlia-mentary Hearing to discuss the

role of parliaments in conflictprevention, reconciliation andpeace building. 180 parliamen-tarians, high-level UN officials,experts are attending this impor-tant event.

A five-member Parliamen-tary delegation from Pakistanled by Deputy Chairman Senate,Senator Sabir Ali Baloch is par-ticipating in this year’s Hearing.

Inter-Parliament Union(IPU) President AbdelwahadRadi, President of UN GeneralAssembly, Vuc Jeremi? and UNDeputy Secretary General JanElliason opened the event.

in the first session, leader ofthe delegation, senator Sabir AliBaloch underlined the need fora comprehensive and systemwide approach at all stages ofconflict cycle comprising pre-conflict situation – conflictstage/actual violence, post-con-flict, transient recovery and, re-lapse of conflict.

He told the participants thata dispassionate analysis of aconflict situation was essen-tial before employing thetools of mediation and pre-ventive diplomacy. —INP

IPU-Pakistan agree toenhance cooperation

Bokhari conveysgreetings of Pakpeople to Singh

NEW DELHI—Chairman Sen-ate Syed Nayyer HussainBokhari Friday conveyed thegreetings of the Pakistani lead-ership and people to the IndianPrime Minister Dr. ManmohanSingh.

He said that the democraticgovernment in Pakistan attachedhigh priority to creating a stableand prosperous neighborhoodand a national consensus existedon improving relations with In-dia.

The Chairman Senate saidthat the destinies of the twocountries were entwined and thetwo countries have to work to-gether for mutual progress, pros-perity and peace as well as ofthe entire region. He said thatbeing the representative of thepeople, the parliaments of thetwo countries had the responsi-bility to work towards the im-provement of bilateral relations.

Welcoming the ChairmanSenate and his delegation, PrimeMinister stated that closer rela-tion between the parliamentswas necessary for strengtheningbilateral relations and this visitwould make a significant con-tribution in this regard.

He said that India and Paki-stan were neighbors with sharedcivilization, history and culture.Welcoming the resumption ofdialogue process, Prime Minis-ter said that India would like tosee a strong, stable and prosper-ous Pakistan and was happy tosee democracy flourish overthere.—Online

Jam Yousafmade minister

for privatizationISLAMABAD—Prime MinisterRaja Pervez Ashraf has ap-pointed Jam Muhammad Yousafas the Federal Minister forPrivatization.

He has previously served asthe Chief Minister ofBalochistan province 2002-2007.

Mir Jam MohammadYousaf was born in 1954 atLasbela.He belongs to the fa-mous Jam faimily of Lasbela.He is the Ex Chief Minister ofBalochistan and Federal Minis-ter for Water and Power‚ Rail-ways and senior Minister ofBalochistan.Previously he hasheld positions as MNA and MPAin the National and BalochistanProvincial Assembly. —NNI

WASHINGTON—The UnitedStates is shifting warships intoposition to track and possiblydefend against a planned NorthKorean rocket launch while urg-ing Pyongyang to cancel its sec-ond such attempt this year, thehead of the U.S. Pacific Com-mand said on Thursday.

Admiral Samuel Locklear,who commands U.S. forces inthe Asia-Pacific region, said war-ships were being moved to thebest locations to track the rocketduring its launch and flight,which North Korea has set forsometime between December 10and 22.

The United States is watch-ing preparations for the launch“very closely,” he told a Penta-gon news conference. He saidU.S. warships were being movedto monitor the rocket, as theywere when Pyongyang attempteda similar launch in April.

“It should seem logical thatwe’ll move them around so wehave the best situational aware-ness,” he said.

“To the degree that thoseships are capable of participatingin ballistic missile defense, then

we will position them to be ableto do that.”

Pyongyang says the launchaims to put a satellite into space.The United States and manyother countries view it as a testof a long-range, nuclear-capableballistic missile that would vio-late U.N. resolutions and furtherdestabilize the Korean Peninsula.The North Korean launch attemptin April failed.

Locklear said the reposi-tioned U.S. ships would help an-swer a series of questions.

“If they do violate the Secu-rity Council and launch a missile,what kind is it? What is it about?Where does it go? Who does itthreaten? Where do the parts ofit ... that don’t go where they wantit to go, where do they go? Andwhat are the consequences ofthat?” he said.

The admiral said his mainconcern was reassuring U.S. al-lies that the United States waseffectively monitoring thesituation.“We believe it is stillcontradictory to the U.N. Secu-rity Council resolutions ... be-cause of the nature of the typeof missile —Reuters

US warships cruising north tomonitor Pyanyong rocket launch

US officialfor Af-Pakholds talksSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—US SeniorDeputy Special Representativefor Afghanistan and PakistanDavid Pearce held meetings inIslamabad on Friday with Paki-stani officials to continue discus-sions regarding how the UnitedStates and Pakistan can worktogether to identify their sharedinterests and act on them jointly.

Ambassador Pearce’s visitbuilds on the many recent US-Pakistan bilateral engagements,such as the recent meetings be-tween Secretary of State HillaryClinton and Foreign MinisterHina Rabbani Khar in Washing-ton and Brussels, the Econom-ics and Finance Working Group,the Defence Consultative Groupand the Energy Working Group.

“I am delighted to be inPakistan,” said Pearce.

“Over the last few monthsthere have been a number of sig-nificant high-level US -Pakistanbilateral engagements. We havemade real progress on issuescritical to the interests of bothof our nations,” he said.

3 brothers getlife termsKHAIRPUR—The additionaldistrict and session judgeKhairpur Naveed HussainKolachi sentenced life impris-onment and imposed fine of Rsone lac upon three real brotherincluding Bahadur Mari, BegoMari and Shah Baig Mari oncharges of killing a villagerAkram Phulpoto. In default ofpayment of fine the accusedwill remain six months morein jail. They were found guiltyof killing Akram Phulpotonear Sim nalley in the juris-diction of Ahmedpur policeon August 9, 2007 over oldenmity between Phulpoto andMari community. —INP

AbbottabadCommissionreportISLAMABAD—The judicialcommission investigating theevents surrounding Al-Qaedachief Osama bin Laden’s kill-ing during May 2, 2011 raidconducted by US Navy SEALsin Abbottabad has finalised its700-page report. The commis-sion will submit the report tothe government this month. Asper details, the report has beencompiled in the light of 300witnesses. Also, 3,000 docu-ments have been made part ofthe report, in which, statementsof high civil, military officialsand bin Laden’s family mem-bers were included. In a state-ment, Osama bin Laden’s pres-ence in Abbottabad compoundwas also confirmed. —INP

Railways MazdoorIttehad protestMuzaffar AliLAHORE—Railways MazdoorIttehad on Friday staged a pro-test in favour of their demandsand threatened the railways au-thorities of observe completewheel jam strike across thecountry if their demands werenot met within minimum timespan. Despite the assurance ofthe federal government, the rail-ways authorities were not com-plying with the federalgovernment’s orders of payingthem in hard cash instead ofcheques in wake of their sala-ries. They said it was also de-cided in principle that the rail-ways workers’ scale would alsobe upgraded with another facili-tation of providing them salariesduring holidays. The railwaysworkers stopped the railway en-gines in engine shades, thus,causing undue delays in depar-ture of railways trains fromLahore Railways Stations.

No prosperitysans strength ofcharacter: PU VCStaff ReporterLAHORE—Punjab UniversityVice Chancellor Prof DrMujahid Kamran has said thatknowledge was power and nonation could be educated with-out strength of character. Hesaid that the Muslims were be-ing facing all challenges dueto avoid promotion ofeducation. He was expressingthese views in a seminar on“Character Building of Youthfor Future Leadership” in con-nection with the Anti-Corrup-tion Week being observed fromDecember 3 to 9, at Instituteof Social and Cultural Studies(ISCS) here on Friday. Spe-cial Assistant to Chief Minis-ter Zaeem Qadri, Dean Fac-ulty of Social and BehavioralSciences and Director ISCSProf Dr Zakria Zakir DIGPunjab Police Naveed Elahiwere also present.

stitutional declaration was onlymeant to protect the country andto accomplish the newconstitution.On Nov. 22, Morsiissued a new constitutional dec-laration which rules that all laws,decrees and constitutional dec-larations issued by the presidentsince he came into office on June30 are final and unchallengeableby anybody, which triggered anationwide wave of protests anddemonstrations.

Protesters did not calmdown even though Morsi laterpromised that the declarationwas only temporary and wouldbe withdrawn as soon as the draftconstitution was approved byEgyptians in the upcoming ref-erendum, which was later slatedfor Dec. 15. —Xinhua

Blast in Quettainjures fiveSTAFF REPORTER

QUETTA—An explosion rippedthrough Quetta, the capital ofBalochistan province on Fridayevening, injuring at least fivepeople.

According to some initialreports by the police, the blasttook place at Quetta’s JanMohammad Road when explo-sive material planted outside ashop, blew up. Five people wereinjured with one in critical con-dition, police said. The exactnature of the blast could not beascertained.

Gen Austin pickedto head Centcom

WASHINGTON—Army Gen.Lloyd J. Austin III, the last U.S.commander in Iraq, has beentapped to lead the U.S. CentralCommand, which oversees mili-tary operations in the MiddleEast and the Afghan war, thePentagon announced Thursday.

Austin, 59, who is now serv-ing as the vice chief of staff ofthe Army, will oversee the draw-down of American troops in Af-ghanistan.—INP

BRAND name drug makers and their generic counterparts rarely find themselveson the same side of an issue, but now

they are making an exception. They have teamedup to fight a local law in California, the first inthe nation, that makes them responsible forrunning — and paying for —a program that would allowconsumers to turn in unusedmedicines for proper dis-posal.

United Pharmacy in Ber-keley, Calif., already has a binon site to dispose of expireddrugs.

Such so-called drug take-back programs are gaining inpopularity because of a grow-ing realization that those left-over pills in your medicinecabinet are a potential threatto public health and the envi-ronment.

Small children might acci-dentally swallow them andteenagers will experimentwith them, advocates of thelaws say. Prescription drugabusers can, and are, breaking into homes insearch of them.

Unused pills are sometimes flushed downthe toilet, so pharmaceuticals are now pollut-ing waterways and even drinking water. Onestudy found the antidepressant Prozac in thebrains of fish.

Most such take-back programs are run bylocal or other government agencies. But increas-ingly there are calls to make the pharmaceuticalindustry pay.

“We feel the industry that profits fromthe sales of these products should have thefinancial responsibility for proper managementand disposal,” said Miriam Gordon, Californiadirector of Clean Water Action, an advocacy

group.In July, Alameda County, Calif., which

includes Oakland and Berkeley, became thefirst locality to enact such a requirement. Drugcompanies have to submit plans for accom-plishing it by July 1, 2013.

But the industry plans tofile a lawsuit in United StatesDistrict Court in Oakland onFriday, hoping to have the lawstruck down. The suit is beingfiled by the PharmaceuticalResearch and Manufacturers ofAmerica, or PhRMA, whichrepresents brand-name drugcompanies, the Generic Phar-maceutical Association and theBiotechnology Industry Orga-nization.

James M. Spears, generalcounsel of PhRMA, said theAlameda ordinance violated theConstitution in that a local gov-ernment was interfering withinterstate commerce, a right re-served for Congress.

“They are telling a com-pany in New Jersey that you

have to come in and design and implementand pay for a municipal service in Califor-nia,” he said in an interview.

“This program is one where the cost isshifted to companies and individuals who arenot located in Alameda County and whowon’t be served by it.”

Mr. Spears, who is known as Mit, saidthat the program would cost millions of dol-lars a year to run and that pharmaceuticalcompanies were “not in the waste disposalbusiness.”

He said it would be best left to sanitationdepartments and law enforcement agencies,which must be involved if narcotics, like painpills, were to be transported.

Unused pills raise issueof disposal and risks

LIAQAT TOOR

QATAR, an importantcountry and one of thebiggest growing econo-

mies of Arab world maintainsstrategic relations with Pakistanbased on mutual trust and re-spect.

The high level exchangesin the recent past, particularlyvisits of top political leader-ship of Pakistan to Qatar gavetremendous fillip to economicand political relations.

The touch of Islamicbrotherhood, geographicalproximity and mutual inter-ests have given depth to suchties which are growing with thepassage of time as energy-starved Pakistan is confi-dently looking towards Dohafor its energy needs, particu-larly supply of liquefied gas.

The relations have as-sumed such an importance thatwhen the ambassador of QatarSayar Abdul Rahman Al-Mawdah threw a gala functionto celebrate anniversary of theaccession of Sheikh Jassim binMohamed bin Thani , theFounder of the state of Qatar,

to the rule of the country, highprofile personalities from Pa-

kistan graced the occasion in alocal hotel on Thursday

evening.Prime Minister Raja

Parvez Ashraf, PML (Q)leader Ch. Shujaat Hussain,Mushahid Hussain, Dr. AsimHussain, Adviser to PrimeMinister on Petroleum, a largenumber of members of diplo-matic corps including ambas-sador of the United States Ri-chard Olsonthronged thegrand show. Par-l i amenta r ians ,b u s i n e s s m e n ,ex-diplomats, ex-militarymenand ex-civil servants were alsoshared the joys with the am-bassador of Qatar and his teamon the occasion.

The gala picked up afterthe national anthems ofboth the countries wereplayed and cake cutting cer-emony was held which wasjointly performed by the PrimeMinister, envoy of Qatar andother diplomats and politi-cians.

The gathering was enter-tained with the cultural showof Qatar on the two screenswhich were also beaming thesocio-economic developmentof Qatar.

A corner of the hall was

RAWALPINDI: Nursery students walking on the ramp during a function at City School, Satellite Town.

Qatar National Day

Pak-Qatar strategic relations to give fillip to regional peacePakistan is looking confidently to meet its energy needs; Doha came to rescue victims of earthquake and floods:

Sayar Abdul Rahman Al-Mawdah: Raja Parvez Ashraf added exuberance to jam-packed celebrations

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Raja Parvez Ashraf, Ambassador of Qatar Sayar AbdulRahman Al-Mawdah, President PML (Q) Chaudhry Shujat Hussain, President AJK SardarYaqoob, Ambassador of UAE Eisa Abdullah Al Basha Al-Nuaimi and Ambassador of Iraq DrRushdi Al-Ani cutting the cake on the anniversary of the accession of Sheikh Jassim binMohamed bin Thani the founder of the State of Qatar, to the Rule of the Country, at a localhotel.—PO photo by Sultan Bashir

allocated to showcase thetraditional culture of Qatar.

The guests were treatedwith warm hospitality of thehosts as traditional food wasalso served to the partici-pants.

The ambassador ofQatar has vig-o r o u s l yworked forbrining boththe countriescloser to each

other. He is also an instru-ment to help Pakistanis inhours of need.

The recent agreementbetween gas companies ofboth the countries will pavethe way of more cooperationin energy sector. Pakistan iseager to import liquefied gasfrom Qatar.

A large number of Paki-stanis are in Qatar. Pakistanhas been a traditional sourceof manpower supply toQatar.

The ties betweenIslamabad and Doha havegrown to new heights whichwill give fillip to regionalpeace.

ception.

RIS teachergains int’lacclaim

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Roots Interna-tional Schools has gained inter-national recognition due to theinnovative efforts of Ms.Munazza Riaz, Science Teaherat Roots Junior School, 77-A,Satellite Town. She partici-pated in the Microsoft ITF(Innovative Teachers Forum)and represented Pakistan aswell as Roots InternationalSchool at the Global Forumheld in Prague, Czech Repub-lic.

This forum was held from28th November 2012 – 1st De-cember 2012. Ms. MunazzaRiaz made RIS proud by se-curing the first position in the“Teacher as an Innovator andChange Agent” category.

The main aim of the forumwas to gauge the effective useof IT by teachers and incorpo-ration of these skills in theirteaching methods.

CEO Roots InternationalSchools Mr. Walid Mushtaqhas been a staunch supporterof introducing ICT in the cur-riculum to ensure the best edu-cation to the students ofRoots.

He also appreciated theefforts done by Ms. Munnazaand urged others to followsuit.

Increased urbanpopulation

creating problemsCITY REPORTER

RAWALPINDI—While address-ing the monthly Ijlas of ShuraHamdard former Naval ChiefAdmiral Iftekhar Ahmad Serohiand other participents said thatone of the main reason of ourproblems is high rate of increasein our urban population and it isdue to the lack of basic facilitieslike health, education etc.

If our governments planproperly, provide basic facilitiesand built factories in rural areasour social, economical problemswill decrease and our countrywill develop.

We need to set a limit of oururban population to bring downproblems ratio. Mrs. SadiaRashid president Hamdard Foun-dation preside the Ijlas and in heraddress she said that our urbanpopulation increase due to theurbanization in the search of ba-sic facilities and earn their living.

The idea of launching newcities after setting a limit ofpopulation in a city is from ourProphet we need to follow histeachings for the success.

SANA JAMAL

ISLAMABAD—For the well-be-ing of senior citizens of Pakistan,the government has taken a ma-jor step by devising the policyon Rights of senior citizens.

The draft of Senior CitizensWelfare Bill 2012 was presentedat the consultation session whereCapital Administration and De-velopment authority finalizedand assured to present SeniorCitizen Bill in Parliament soon.

The stakeholders who playedthe major role in formulating thepolicy and organized the consul-tation workshop are: NationalCouncil of Social Welfare (M/o

Policy finalized

Protecting the rights ofsenior citizens

Capital Administration and De-velopment Authority), HelpAgeInternational and Pakistan Na-tional Centre on Ageing.

“Present government isconcerned on protection ofrights of senior citizens and willextend all its support for legis-lation on Senior citizens rightsas the Constitution of IslamicRepublic of Pakistan guaranteesequal rights for all citizens” saidAbdul Latif Laghari, AdditionalSecretary, M/o Capital Admin-istration & Development.

Participants at the meetinghighlighted the problems faced bysenior citizens including poverty,discrimination, health, food &

nutrition, and social protection.Ms. Ajeeba Aslam, Country

Director, HelpAge International,requested that Government ofPakistan should submit the draftpolicy and bill for approval ofthe cabinet and parliament assoon.

Ch. Abdul Ghafoor, Secre-tary General, Pakistan NationalCenter on Ageing, explained thebackground of the legislation andpolicy for the welfare of seniorcitizens. Zammurud Khan,Managing Director of PakistanBait-ul-Mal, assured all possiblecooperation in the accomplish-ment of noble task for the wel-fare of senior citizens.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—To mark theInternational Mountain Dayand create awareness about theimportance of mountains tolife, a 3-day festival would beheld in capital city, startingfrom Dec. 10 at National ArtGallery.

“The festival aims to en-courage the idea of ‘working to-gether’ for mainstreaming theclimate change threats, for con-servation of biological diversityto bring different stakeholdersand youth together for the largerand lasting impact” said MunirAhmed informing about the ob-jectives of the festival.

Ahmed, the Festival Direc-tor and the Director DEVCOM-Pakistan, added that festival nalso “intends to showcase theculture and livelihood and eco-system services of our moun-tains.”

The festival is being jointlyorganized by the DevelopmentCommunications Network(DEVCOM-Pakistan), Ev-K2CNR, the SEED project of thegovernments of Pakistan and

Mountain Festival tobe held in Capital

Italy, ICIMOD and PakistanNational Council of the Arts(PNCA).

Several mountain communi-ties would be taking part in theexhibition that would be inau-gurated by the renowned moun-taineer Nazir Sabir and MirShahjehan Kethran, ManagingDirector Pakistan Tourism De-velopment Corporation(PTDC).

The world’s mountainsencompass some of the mostspectacular landscapes, a widevariety of ecosystems, agreat diversity of species, anddistinctive human communi-ties.

It is heartening to note thatfive out of world’s fourteen 8000meter peaks are in Pakistan. Outof 100 highest peaks in theworld about 50 peaks are in Pa-kistan.

The United Nations GeneralAssembly has designated 11December, from 2003 onward,as International Mountain Dayand it is observed every yearwith a different theme relevantto sustainable mountain devel-opment.

ISLAMABAD—Mr. QamarZaman Ch. presided over themeeting of Higher EducationCommission’s senior manage-ment as Executive Director onFriday. The meeting was at-tended by all the divisional headsof HEC.

Speaking on the occasion, hecategorically denied the rumorthat HEC’s autonomy is underthreat. “Let me assure you that

HEC’s autonomy not under threatHEC will continue to work asan independent entity, the cur-rent set-up is transitional and anew Executive Director will beappointed following the pre-scribed procedure.”

The Executive Directorsaid that HEC is only linkedto the Ministry for parlia-mentary business and govern-mental interaction, and thelatter has nothing to do with

the administrative affairs ofHEC.

Mr. Qamar Zaman appre-ciated the initiatives takenby HEC during the last 10years. “Good performance ofHEC management and em-ployees is evident from theachievements that higher edu-cation sector has made overthe last decade,” he said.—NNI

PCSIR employeesdeprived of salaries

ISLAMABAD—Employees ofPakistan Council of Scientificand Industrial Research(PCSIR), a sub-ordinate institu-tion of Ministry of Science andTechnology, could not get sala-ries of November due to short-age of funds.

According to sources, thePCSIR did not get grant fromthe Ministry of Finance, thus2,500 employees of the institu-tion did not get their salaries forthe month of November as wellas the increase in the salariesfrom July. Moreover, 1,700 pen-sioners of the PCSIR have alsobeen deprived of pensions forlast two months.—INP

ISLAMABAD: A large number of motorcyclists crossing the road near Zero Pointinstead of using u-turn to adopt shortcut which may cause any mishap.

ISLAMABAD: Rubina Qaimkhani, MNA, speaks during a seminar on “Anti WomenPractices, Impact of Recent Legislation for Women Protection and Role of Media”organized by South Asian Women in Media, at SAFMA. Tasneem Siddiqi, SamarMinullah and Humera Masihuddin are also seen in the picture.—PO photo bySultan Bashir

IS L A M A B A D—SafeguardMy Childhood: Stop GirlChild Marriage”, with thismessage the campaign toaddress the harmful practiceof girl child marriage wasjointly launched at PrestonUniversity by ActionAidPakistan, Plan Internationaland Ideas for Life Trust aspart of 16 days of activismon eliminating violenceagainst women.

The event focused onsensitizing youth about theissue by involving theminto live painting, poetrywriting and music. Speciallydesigned book marks,pocket calendars, and doll

key chains were dissemi-nated among the youth. Forthis campaign the organizersprojected doll as the mascotwhich symbolizes childhood.Youth from NCA were mobi-lized and they creatively por-trayed the issue as a nega-tive customary practicethrough their creative artwork.

The youth expressedtheir views and concernsabout the practice of girl childmarriage in variety of medi-ums. The consistent messageis how marriage at an earlyage damages a girl child interms of her health; educa-tional opportunities, empow-

RAWALPINDI: People burn tyres to block the road during a protest against low gaspressure at Dhoke Ratta Amral.

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rehman Malik chairing a high level meeting to reviewproblems related to issuance of passports in Islamabad. Secretary Interior and DGPassports are also seen in the picture.

erment and emancipation,and how it reinforcesgendered nature of poverty.

Faheem Ullah a studentfrom Preston Universityshared that when the girls aremarried early in childhood;their lives are totally de-stroyed as she will not beable to manage the family re-sponsibilities. AbdulRehman mentioned, ‘I amagainst early girl’s marriage,because it is harm practice forthe girls both physically andmentally and at such an ear-lier age girls can’t bear re-sponsibility of starting a newfamily. Usman Nazaar, a BBAstudent expressed his views

that we should spread thismessage to the rural areasand the Govt should takesteps to stop this practice.Sabia Khan Wazir said thatthere are girls who give girlsin wani, which is illegal; lawsshould be implemented inPakistan against girl childmarriages. Raina from Psy-chology department sug-gested that this activity canbe stopped through educa-tion this may have seriousconsequences, so it needs tobe stopped as it is harmful totheir well being. Kehkeshanand Ghazal Jalali were of theview; we would like to havea community like this so that

we may be able to stop cru-elty against girl child mar-riage.

Earlier Fazal Elahi, SeniorDirector Media and PR andPublications from PrestonUniversity said that girl childmarriage is indeed a major is-sue that severely confrontsthe Pakistani society today.It is an undeniable fact thatearly marriage caused severephysical and emotional chal-lenges, to the nascent girlswho fall victims to this evil.Justice demands that girlsshould also be married whenthey attain the age of 18. Notonly this, they have in factalso provided equal oppor-

Safeguard My Childhood: Stop Girl Child Marriagetunity to them to play an ef-fective role in national devel-opment.

While talking to youth,Sadaf Raza, the Gender Re-source Person from Ideas forLife Trust said that this mes-sage needs to be carried tothe masses, and youth canplay a very important role insensitizing people aroundthem; they have the moraland message.

The representative fromActionAid Pakistan ZohraBano, Women’s Rights Co-ordinator said; “being youthas agents of change can playa pivotal role as catalysts andchange makers to elevate

society and to bring it outfrom the shackles of harm-ful traditional practiceswhich violate to considerwomen and girls as humanbeings”.

The three partners,ActionAid Pakistan, PlanInternational and Ideas forLife Trust have planned fur-ther events in other publicand private Universities ofRawalpindi and Islamabad.The activities will culminateinto a final event, which willbe a policy dialogue with theyouth, government repre-sentatives and civil societyorganizations inIslamabad.—NNI

CITY REPORTER

RAWALPINDI—World HealthOrganisation (WHO) hasverified the presence of po-liovirus in the nullahs ofRawalpindi, specifically inthe sewerage water of thePakhtun settlements.

According to sources,the WHO sent samples ofsewerage and nullah water ofRawalpindi to laboratory fortesting and the test con-firmed that poliovirus waspresent in the water.

The district administra-tion and WHO seems help-less in eradicating polio vi-

Presence of poliovirus innullahs of Pindi verified

rus from the country.The district administra-

tion officials said that the resi-dents of the Pakhtun settle-ments did not cooperate withthe anti-polio teams and didnot allow them to administerpolio drops to their children.

This time, in the upcom-ing polio campaign, the dis-trict admin has devised a spe-cial strategy for the Pakhtunpopulation and deployedwomen in the anti-polioteams who know Pushto.

Moreover, extra doseswere also administered to thechildren in the high risk zoneincluding the areas with ma-

jority Pukhtun population.Union council 1 to 10 are theareas of Pakhtun majority.

When contacted, DCORawalpindi, Saqib Zafar saidthat the registration of thePakhtun children revealedthat total 20,000 childrenwere residing in the Pakhtunareas, while total number ofchildren in high risk area was91,000.

He further said that anti-polio teams would now bedeployed on 13 points in-stead of six points on the en-try points of Rawalpindi. Thecity would soon be made po-lio free, the DCO added.

ISLAMABAD—US Ambassa-dor Richard Olson welcomed300 alumni of the Global Un-dergraduate exchange pro-gram (Global Ugrad) to thefirst-ever alumni reunion onFriday.

The Global Ugrad pro-gram sends students fromnon-elite backgrounds fromall regions of Pakistan to theUnited States to study for onesemester at a U.S. university.During the reunion, partici-pants discussed their experi-ences in the United States andused what they learned to cre-ate service projects in theirhometowns in Pakistan.

At the end of the reunion,they will practice their com-mitment to community ser-vice by cleaning up a trail inthe Margalla Hills, in collabo-ration with the Capital Devel-opment Authority.

“There are so many im-pressive young people in

Students to visit US in Janfor one semester study

Pakistan. Each of you is atalented representative ofthis nation’s bright future,”said Ambassador Olson. “Tothink that my country hashad some role in advancingyour education and helpingyour nation’s prospectsmakes me very proud of ourcooperation – and of you.”

Since 2010, the U.S. Em-bassy has sent 400 Pakistaniuniversity students fromnon-elite backgrounds to theUnited States for one semes-ter of undergraduate study.One hundred more studentswill depart in January. Dur-ing their time in the UnitedStates, Global UGrad stu-dents gain the skills to imple-ment long-term civic and eco-nomic changes in their com-munities. The students un-dergo leadership training,training in their field of study,and participate in communityservice projects.—INP

ISLAMABAD—National Data-base and Registration Au-thority (NADRA) is enablingand facilitating citizens’ en-franchisement through vari-ous measures and initiativesundertaken by the authority.

This was said byNADRA’s Chairman TariqMalik while welcoming a del-egation of senators led bySenator Ishaq Dar to theNADRA Headquarters inIslamabad. The senatorswere invited by NADRAChairman to a briefing on thecitizens’ registration andelectoral rolls preparationprocess.Since 2002, NADRAhas registered over 92.9 mil-lion Pakistanis and issuedthem Computerized NationalIdentity Cards (CNICs), cov-ering 96% of the adult popu-lation. Possession of a validCNIC is essential for manyservices and facilities in Pa-kistan, including the right tovote.

In order to facilitate thecitizens of Pakistan with thiscrucial document NADRAhas made the process of ob-taining an CNIC convenient,easy and affordable by in-

NADRA providing supportenabling citizens’ enfranchisement

creasing the number of cen-ters and coverage, making thefirst card free-of-cost, andspecial initiatives for registra-tion of women, minorities andthird-gender.

NADRA has issued 29.0million free CNICs since 24thJune 2008.

Currently there are 486National Registration Cen-ters, 254 Mobile RegistrationVans (MRVs) and 70Manpacks and MotorcycleUnits reaching out to the re-motest parts of the country.

NADRA has workedclosely with other govern-ment departments andNGOs to encourage femaleregistration and has desig-nated Friday as a women-only registration day at allNADRA centers. Such ini-tiatives have doubled fe-male registration in the past4 years.

Chairman NADRA hasalso reached out to all po-litical parties and NADRA isproviding MRVs to all areasof Pakistan at the request oftheir elected local represen-tative.

Upon directions issued

by the Parliament NADRAassisted the Election Com-mission of Pakistan (ECP)with the preparation of theelectoral rolls. NADRAcleansed the legacy data of81.2 million of unverifiedand deceased voters.

NADRA assisted theECP in preparation of theDraft, Preliminary and FinalElectoral Rolls by verifyingover80 million CNICs,digitizingover 17.1 millionforms, printing 15.1 millionpages during the variousstages of the voter lists andaugmenting 3.6 million ad-ditional votes in the ECPdata.

Chairman NADRA hasrequested the citizens ofPakistan to verify their votethrough by sending theirCNIC number to 8300. Over10 million people have al-ready verified their votethrough this service makingthis the largest SMS-basedvote verification in theworld.Changes in the vote can bemade by contacting the lo-cal ECP office and filling outa simple form.—INP

Rising StudentsFestival on

December 19ISLAMABAD—The IslamiJamiat Students would orga-nize Rising Pakistan StudentsFestival at Jinnah Conven-tion Centre in Islamabad onDecember 19.

In view of this, thousandstudents of different Col-leges and universities of thetwin cities would take part inthis festival.

Debate, Software project,poetry competition, docu-mentary making and severalother contests would be heldin this festival while the con-testants who clinched posi-tion would also get prices inthis regard.

Meanwhile, thehonourable personalities ofthe different countries DrQadeer Khan, Syed MunawarHassan, Journalist, Religiouspersonalities and Ambassa-dors would be the chief Guestof this competition.—Online

Polio campaignin Pindi from

Dec 17RAWALPINDI—Three daynew Polio campaign wouldkick off in the district from17th December in which morethan 0.6m children under theage of 5 would be vaccinated.

In order to save the coun-try from the crippling dis-ease, the new campaign ofpolio would start inRawalpindi from 17 andwould end on 19. 1397 mo-bile teams would participatein the polio campaign.

In view of this, 85 teamswould perform duty at air-port, railway stations bus ter-minals and public parks and258 health facilitate centreshas been established in thisregard.

EDO Health Zafar IqbalGondal announced poliocampaign in his meeting andfurther said that it is our na-tional duty to eradicate thepolio from roots and prosper-ous Pakistan polio free coun-try.

Meanwhile, DO healthKhalid Randhawa said that30 Mobiles Teams of healthcenter would perform duty attransport terminals duringday and night who wouldimmunize polio drops to un-der age children of passen-gers, tourists respectively.—Online

Winter bringsnew cuisines to

marketsISLAMABAD—With a sharpfall in temperature, people inthe capital have started en-joying winter foods likechicken corn soup, doodhjalebi, gajar halwa, Kashmiritea, coffee, fried fish andboiled eggs at various res-taurants, stalls in marketsand sweet shops.

A number of vendors haveset up makeshift stalls in F6(Super Market); F7 (Jinnah Su-per and Raana Market); F8, F10,F11 and G6 (Aabpara andMelody Market); G7 (SitaraMarket); G8 Markaz; G9(Karachi Company); G10 andG11 Markaz respectively.Hotdrinks like tea and coffee, andfried food like fish, fries,pakoras, samosas and veg-etable rolls are also in high de-mand, as they are consideredan integral part ofsuppers.Vendors said the pricesof everything were soaring, sothey had also increased theprices of their products.—Online

Campaignagainst sale ofstolen petrol

ISLAMABAD—CIA Police haslaunched operation againstthe elements involved in sell-ing petrol and diesel stolenfrom vehicles of governmentdepartments.

These elements pur-chase the petrol and dieselfrom the corrupt governmentemployees particularly driv-ers community and sell out itat cheaper rate causingheavy loss to the nationalexchequer.

A police squad led byDSP Zubair Sheikh has com-menced the drive under thedirectives of IG Baniamin.The squad has arrested 9persons and registered casesagainst 6 persons so far be-sides recovering stolenpetrol and diesel worth Rs300000.

Sohail Afsar, MuhammadRiaz and Nasim Khan havebeen arrested under a caseregistered with Sabzi Mandipolice, Ehsan Ullah in a casewith Golra Police, BabarHussain, Tariq Habib andBabar Sultan with Sohalapolice and Rizwan Abbas andIrfan Mushtaq with Tarnolpolice.SP CIA has directed the spe-cial squad to continue opera-tion.—Online

06:2001:3003:45

07:00

Zohr

December 8

MONTHLY meeting ofthe Association of Busi-ness, Professional andAgricultural Women andthe Anjuman-e-Rifah, atthe Pearl Continental Ho-tel, The Mall, Rawalpindi,10:30 am.

*****

OPENING session of theInternational SurgeryConference titled ‘NewInnovations andMultidisciplinary Ap-proach in Surgery’,organised by the Societyof Surgeons of Pakistan(Rawalpindi-IslamabadChapter), at Serena Hotel,Khayaban-e-Suhrwardy,Islamabad, 3:30 am-5 pm.

December 13

SPECIAL Plenary andClosing Plenary of SDPI’sFifteenth Sustainable De-velopment Conferencewill be held at Best West-ern Hotel, 6, IslamabadClub Road, 12 noon-5 pm.

Continuing

MINIATURE paintingsexhibition titled ‘The Kingmust die’ by Asif Ahmed,at Tanzara Gallery, HouseNo 14, Street 12, Sector F-7/2, Islamabad, continu-ing up to December 811:30 am to 6:30 pm.

Pak-Iran to enhancecultural ties

ISLAMABAD—Minister ofState for Information andBroadcasting Samsam AliBukhari has urged the needfor increasing cultural ex-changes between Pakistanand Iran.

Addressing a function atRadio Pakistan, he sug-gested that Persian shouldbe included as a subject inthe Pakistani universities andUrdu in the syllabus of theIranian universities.

He said that the presentgovernment, particularlyPresident Asif Ali Zardari, ismaking serious efforts forpromotion of relations be-tween Pakistan and Iran.

Speaking on the occasion,Special Assistant to the IranianForeign Minister and spokes-person of Iranian Foreign Min-istry, Ramin Mehman Parastsaid there is need to furtherconsolidate relations betweenPakistan and Iran. He appreci-ated efforts of Radio Pakistanfor strengthening cultural rela-tions between the two coun-tries. Earlier, a Mehfil-e Qawwaliwas arranged in honour ofMehman Parast and othermembers of his delegation cur-rently visiting Pakistan.—INP

MIRPUR: AJK Prime Minister Chaudhary Abdul Majeed distributing prizes among the students.

MUZAFFARABAD: AJK Minister for AKLAS and Irrigation, Raja Faisal MumtazRathore talking to District Havalli PSF President Anees Sherazi.

SRINAGAR—n Srinagar, sev-eral people were injuredwhen Indian police resortedto brute force against apeaceful procession at LalChowk, today. The proces-sion was led by the Jammuand Kashmir LiberationFront Chairman, MuhammadYasin Malik, against the sen-tencing of two Kashmiriyouth to life imprisonmentby a TADA Court in Jammu.The police arrested liberationleaders and activists includ-ing Muhammad Yasin Malik,Bashmir Ahmed Butt andJaved Ahmed Mir on theoccasion.The police person-nel also thrashed a Doctor,Sundar Nath Khanna, afterbarging into his clinic atMaisuma, and vandalizingthe equipment. Clashes be-

tween protesters and thepolice personnel were goingon in Lal Chowk, Maisumaand Budshah Chwk areas tilllast reports came in.

Talking to media men be-fore his arrest, MuhammadYasin Malik said thatthrough such tactics Indiawould never succeed in sup-pressing the Kashmiris’ justliberation struggle. He de-plored that New Delhi wasusing the life imprisonmentas a tool to terrorise theKashmiri youth. Liberationleader, Showkat AhmedBakhshi led a similar proces-sion in Batamaloo area ofSrinagar against the sen-tencing of the youth by theTADA court.

The Indian police tookinto custody the All Parties

Hurriyet Conference leadersand activists includingShabbir Ahmed Shah,Mukhtar Ahmed Waza andMuhammad Yousuf Naqash,today, from different areas ofPulwama to prevent themfrom addressing public gath-erings. The occupation au-thorities continued to placethe veteran Kashmiri Hurriyetleader, Syed Ali Gilani, underhouse arrest disallowing himto offer Juma prayers.

The APHC spokesman ina statement in Srinagar ex-pressed serious concernover rising human rights vio-lations by Indian troops andpolice across the territory. Heurged India to hold talks withPakistan and genuineKashmiri leadership to settlethe Kashmir dispute, once

for all.Senior APHC leader,

Agha Syed Hassan Al-Moosvi, addressing a gath-ering in Badgam deploredthat the Indian authoritieswere not providing traveldocuments to Hurriyet lead-ers Shabbir Ahmed Shah,Maulana Abbas Ansari,Mukhtar Ahmed Waza andMusaddiq Aadil for their visitto Pakistan. Another APHCleader, Zafar Akbar Butt, inhis address to a Friday con-gregation at Jamia MasjidBarzullah-Baghat in Srinagarsaid that the sentencing oflife imprisonment to DrMuhammad Qasim Fakhtoo,Javed Khan, Nazir AhmadSheikh and Showkat AhmadKhan had exposed India’scruel face.—KMS

Several protesters injured in police action in Srinagar

Malik, Shabbir, Waza, otherIHK leaders arrested

Guruimmediate

release urgedSRINAGAR—Terming theaward of the life imprison-ment to Dr Qasim, Afzal Guru,Javed Khan and otherKashmiri detainees as ‘Ille-gal and State sponsored Ter-rorism’ Muslim KhwateenMarkaz (MKM), a women’spro-freedom group alignedto Hurriyat (G) has de-manded stopping of this ‘il-legal practice’ and ‘immedi-ate release’.

Holding the detainee’sphotographs in a symbolicprotest at Press EnclaveSrinagar, MKM blamedGoI for ‘exploiting’ the ju-diciary.

“This is barbarism andinjustice with the people ofthe valley. They are beingimplicated in false cases andmade to rot in jails. It shouldbe stopped or otherwise itcould have serious conse-quences,” said ChairpersonMKM Anjum ZamroodaHabib.

Calling Guru, Qasim andothers as ‘Heroes’ of Kash-mir the protestors said thatthey have fought for thepeople of the valley. “Theyshould be released. This isnothing more than the po-litical vengeance,” said theprotestors amidsloganeering.—NNI

SHRC seeks report onunmarked graves in

Poonch, RajouriSRINAGAR—Jammu andKashmir State Human RightsCommission has issued anotice to the deputy com-missioners of Poonch andRajouri to file before the nextdate of hearing their final re-port on the unmarked gravesin their respective districts.

The direction was is-sued by a division benchof the Commission compris-ing retired Justice JavedKavoosa and Justice RafiqFida on a petition filed byseveral human rights activ-ists, including AdvocateParvez Imroz, AnganaChatterjee, GautamNavlakha, Zahir-ud-dinand Khurram Parvez, seek-ing investigation into theexistence of unmarkedgraves to bring forth thetruth lying buried in them.

Pert inently, hundredsof unmarked graves havebeen discovered in variousparts of Kashmir. The ac-tivists had sought investi-gation into similar gravesfound in the border dis-tricts of Jammu region onthe same pattern as thosein Kashmir. They havestated that 2,717 personswere buried in 90 grave-yards in Poonch distr ictwhile 1,127 persons werelying in 118 graveyards inRajouri district. —NNI

SRINAGAR—The veteranKashmiri Hurriyet leader,Syed Ali Gilani has termeddirectives of the Indian Su-preme Court to the authori-ties for broadening passageto Amarnath Yatra as disap-pointing and said that theIndian government washatching a big conspiracy byusing judiciary.

Syed Ali Gilani address-ing media men in Srinagarsaid that it was a matter ofconcern that the yatra wasbeing given a communalcolour by India to give prac-tical shape to its evil de-signs. He said that the au-thorities wanted to changethe demography of Kashmirand Amarnath Shrine Board

was being used as a launch-ing pad.

Referring to the SupremeCourt ruling on the killing ofpilgrims during AmarnathYatra, the veteran leaderquestioned that if the apexcourt was concerned aboutdeath of yatris, then why itwas silent over killing of in-nocent people in the occu-pied territory and why it wasnot taking suo moto noticeof human rights violationstaking place in Kashmir?

“Kashmir is not anyMuslim-Hindu issue but afight between oppressor andthe oppressed. The authori-ties are trying to give it a dif-ferent colour and portray itas a conflict between Hindus

and Muslims. By doing sothey are trying to deceive theinternational community,” hemaintained.

Syed Ali Gilani said thatthe Kashmiris were notagainst Amarnath yatra.“We want affairs of the yatrabe handled by the localpeople, who have been de-livering the services for last150 years,” he maintained.He also issued a pamphletsuggesting four-point pro-posal including handing ofyatra’s management toKashmiri Pandits, restrictingyatra period to 15 days, lim-iting number of yatris andsuspending plans for broad-ening and concretization ofAmarnath road.—KMS

Geelani concerned over IndianSC’s verdict on Amarnath road

SRINAGAR—Indian paramili-tary Indo-Tibetan BorderPolice (ITBP) has furnishedparticulars of seven of itsmen including an officer ofIG rank wanted by police fortheir involvement in the dis-appearance of a Kashmiriyouth from KokagundVerinag in Islamabad districtof occupied Kashmir, 11years ago.The particularswere furnished by the coun-sel of ITBP, B A Zargar, be-fore a division bench of theHigh Court comprising Jus-tice Muzaffar Hussain Attarduring the hearing of thecontempt petition filed bythe family of the victim,Muhammad Ashraf Koka,son of Ghulam Hassan Koka.

Advocate Zargar pro-duced a faxed statement bythe Commandant of 10 Bat-talion to 21st Battalion sta-

tioned at Pantha Chowk inSrinagar. The 10 Battalionresponsible for the youth’sarrest has already moved outof the Kashmir Valley.

The Commandant of 10Battalion furnished details ofseven personnel required foridentification parade by thepolice. They are Inder SinghNegi, then commandant andpresently IG Northern FTR,Dehradun Himachal Pradesh,PS Gunjiyal (posted inArunachal Prdaesh), HukumSingh (Leh), Ajeet Kumar(Chandigarh), R S Rana(Dehradun) and PratabSingh, who has died on Au-gust 4, 2004.

After hearing advocateZargar, the court directedthat the officers shown in thefaxed statement should ap-pear before the police onDecember 13.—KMS

SRINAGAR—APHC leaderand the Chairman ofJammu and Kashmir Salva-t ion Movement, ZafarAkbar Butt, has expressedserious concern over theTADA Court’s decision oflife imprisonment to twoKashmiri youth, NazirAhmad Sheikh andShowkat Ahmad Khan,terming its a cruel act.ZafarAkbar Butt while address-ing a Friday congregationat Jamia Masjid Barzullah-Baghat in Srinagar saidthat the life imprisonment

to Dr Qasim Fakhtoo,Javed Khan, Nazir AhmadSheikh and ShowkatAhmad Khan had exposedthe India’s cruel face.

He said that the Gov-ernment of India with thehelp of its puppet regime inoccupied Kashmir hadadopted barbarism and in-justice with the people ofKashmir. However, headded that such brute poli-cies of New Delhi would notdeter the Kashmiris frompursuing their cause offreedom.—KMS

Life sentence exposesIndia’s cruel face

Youth disappearancesITBP furnishes

details of 7 personsJKLF pays tributesto Kashmiri martyrs

SRINAGAR—The Jammu andKashmir Liberation Front(JKLF) has paid rich tributesto Kashmiri martyrs includ-ing Ghulam Hassan Butt,Yawar Khan and AbdulRashid.A JKLF delegationincluding Bashir AhmadButt, Manzoor Mustafa,Mohammad Siddeeq Shah,Mir Sirajuddin, BashirKashmiri, Gulzar Pahalwanand Abdul Rashid visitedWagur Budgam and paidhomage to the martyrs.

Meanwhile, the JKLF hasexpressed grief and sorrowover the demise of AghaSyed Baqar Shah Rizwi. Thedeceased was father-in-lawof JKLF leader in Dooru,Islamabad, Syed MuzafarRizwi.—KMS

Draconian PSAslapped on

Mushtaq-ul-Islamfor 5th time

SRINAGAR—The authoritieshave once again slappedblack law Public Safety Act(PSA) on the illegally de-tained senior liberationleader, Mushtaq-ul-Islam.Mushtaq-ul-Islam hasbeen booked under the PSAfor the fifth time in sixmonths. The authorities or-dered to lodge the detainedleader at the district jailUdhampur.

Mushtaq-ul-Islam wasrecently shifted from aJammu jail to Central JailSrinagar.—KMS

Indian armedforces operatingwith impunity

SRINAGAR—A report re-leased on Friday said thatthe Indian state hasauthorised its armed forcesto carry out with impunityevery kind of operation with-out adherence to estab-lished laws and norms.

The report was issued byInternational Peoples’ Tribu-nal on Human Rights andJustice and Association ofParents of Disappeared Per-sons at a press conferencein Srinagar.

The report pointed outthat in a majority of cases thecrimes were not noted or in-vestigated at all. The judi-ciary, the report added, hadrendered itself subservientto the State.

The report emphasisedthat institutional culture ofmoral, political and juridi-cal impunity had resultedin enforced disappearanceof an estimated 8000 per-sons in the occupied terri-tory.—KMS

APHC appealspeople to

observe unitySRINAGAR—In an executivemeeting consulted by All Par-ties Hurriyat Conference(APHC) under the chairman-ship of Syed Ali Shah Geelani,the Hurriyat expressed seri-ous concern over the com-munal tensions that tookplace in old city, Srinagar andurged people to observeunity and brotherhood.

In a statement issued toGlobal News Service,Hurriyat in the meeting unani-mously appealed the Shia-Sunni community to observeunity and mutual harmonyand desist from any such tac-tic that may hinder religiousas well as the ongoing free-dom cause and said it wouldorganize a peace march onDecember 5 in old city to beled by Syed Ali Shah Geelani.

“In the meeting it washeld that the people of Kash-mir are known for their mod-erate behaviour and broth-erhood and it is due to somemiscreants that such inci-dents took place,” the state-ment said adding “some pro-Indian politicians are creat-ing the present unpleasantturmoil and trying to grabopportunity to make votebank politics over the issue”.

During the march Hurriyatwill visit all the affected placesand clear the misconceptionscreated by some vested inter-ests and reiterated its appealto people to part in the saidpeace march to make it a suc-cess and foil the sinister de-signs of the miscreants andthose quarters which are al-ways bent upon to createwedge and misunderstandingbetween the Shia and SunniMuslims, the statement fur-ther added. —NNI

SRINAGAR—Nestled in avalley between the GreatHimalayas and the PirPanjal mountain range,Kashmir is an idyllic andculturally rich region, acradle of Muslim, Hindu,and Buddhist religious rel-ics and architectural sites.But a decades-long conflicthas overshadowed theregion’s heritage and pro-duced a new generation ofKashmiris who are ignorantof the unique history andculture of their land.

A recent survey by theNew Delhi-based IndianTrust for Art and CulturalHeritage (INTACH), basedon extensive interviews

with a sample population of1,600 people, combined withbroad field research, founda significant “cultural dis-connect” in 98 percent of theyouth polled.

“We are most concernedabout the fact that the ma-jority of the respondentswere unaware about the richcultural heritage of Kash-mir,” Saleem Beig, whoheads INTACH in Jammuand Kashmir, told IPS. Thiscultural isolation was evi-dent in the number of youthengaged in any kind of com-munity service (only twopercent of respondents), thenumber of residents seekingto leave their homes in the

historic ‘old city’ due to alack of civic infrastructure (30percent) and ignoranceabout the many world-re-nowned religious and archi-tectural sites in the region –a group of school childrenwho were taken on a ‘heri-tage tour’ as part ofINTACH’s research couldonly name, at most, two ofKashmir’s heritage sites andwere unable to identifyplaces like the Jamia Masjidand theHazratbal shrine.

According to Beig, therespondents had very little

knowledge about the signifi-cance of the River Jhelum,the largest river in Kashmir.“River Jhelum has tremen-dous economic, cultural andreligious significance. Untilvery recently it used to bethe only means of transport-ing goods and it has reli-gious significance forKashmiri non-Muslims(Kashmiri Pandits). But formost of the respondents, itwas just a river flowingnearby,” Beig added.

And despite widespreadinternational awareness

about increasing pollutionlevels in the Jhelum, 70 per-cent of the residents who liveon its banks said they hadnot noticed “any change” inthe water body. “A majorityof the respondents could noteven describe what culturalheritage was and felt thatthey should be educatedabout it by the media andlocal government,” accord-ing to the survey, which alsofound that 91 percent of in-habitants view cultural heri-tage as the practice of tradi-tional crafts like carpet weav-

ing, shawl making, papierm?ch?, embroidery andwoodcarving.

Experts like BashirAhmad Dabla, a leading so-ciologist and professor atKashmir University, haveblamed this worrying trendon the ravages of conflict,which has its roots in the1947 partition of India. AsIndia concretised its inde-pendence from the BritishRaj, the Muslim-dominatedareas of Kashmir were ab-sorbed by the newly estab-lished state of Pakistan.

Meanwhile a United Na-tions resolution gave the re-maining population the op-tion of either joining Hindu-dominated India, Muslim-majority Pakistan or becom-ing independent – butKashmiris have never beenallowed to exercise the thirdoption. As a result, Pakistantook control over about athird of modern Kashmir, leav-ing the rest to Indian militaryand political administration.

Generations of Kashmirishave challenged this ar-rangement and demandedindependence from bothcountries. A ‘pro-freedom’uprising in 1989 signalled thebeginning of an armed insur-

gency that continues tosimmer. Government agen-cies and a host of non-gov-ernmental organisationsthat have monitored thesituation closely over theyears have put the deathtoll of the conflict at wellover 50,000.

The struggle for freedomhas usurped interest or theability to participate in cul-tural and social life. Between1989 and 2004, young peoplebetween the ages of 20 and35 flocked to the resistancemovement, taking up arms inlieu of pursuing higher edu-cation, professional devel-opment or any kind of hob-bies or social activity.—NNI

Conflict kills Kashmir culture

Salahuddin to shift to battlefieldwhen required: UJC

SRINAGAR —Reacting to thestatement of “non-local”Jammu and Kashmir director-general of police, AshokPrasad, in which he haddared the United JihadCouncil chief, SyedSallahudin, to come to thisside of the border and issuethreats, UJC Thursday said“it will take less than a mo-ment for the Hizb chief todecide shifting from one partof Kashmir to the other, ifneed arises.” “For militaryreasons, the UJC chief iswhere he is. If the situationrequires him to shift to thebattlefield, he will not delayit even by a moment. TheHizb chief doesn’t need chal-lenges from Indian officers,”UJC spokesman, SyedSadaqat Husain, said in astatement, adding “the state-ment of the DGP is laughableas he is issuing such state-ment under the cover of eightlakh troops in the state.”

He asked the DGP tobenefit from the experiencesof former CRPF inspector-

general, N C Asthana, who,according to a statement inAugust, had said the resolveof Kashmiri people could nei-ther be broken by force northrough elections. Mean-while, clarifying the UJCstand on Panchayat elec-tions, the spokesman saidthe members of village bod-ies would have to be ac-countable in the people’scourt.

“A section of the mediahad distorted the statementof Syed Sallahudin. He hadsaid that Indian ministersand authorities were misus-ing panches and sarpanchesfor their cheap objectivesand to hoodwink interna-tional opinion. People ofKashmir, including the pro-freedom people, wereagainst it. So, in the largerinterest of the people, they(PRs) should resign,” thespokesman said.

“The UJC chief had saidthat panches andsarpanches can die any-where and no weapon was

needed to kill them becausethey cannot protect them-selves from the wrath of thenation with charged senti-ments towards them. Hisstatement was misrepre-sented,” the spokesmanadded. On the panchs andsarpanchs taking part in thejust-concluded LegislativeCouncil elections, the UJCspokesman said thepanchayat members wouldhave to be accountable fortheir anti-movement role.

“Despite earnest appealsfrom pro-freedom leaders andmilitant leadership, thepanchayat members took partin the polls in large numbersstrengthened the Indian pro-paganda, wittingly or unwit-tingly. They will have to beaccountable for such anti-movement and enemy-likeacts at any point in time,” hesaid. “We’re are committedand ready to take the move-ment to its logical conclusion.No one will be allowed to sellout sacrifices of martyrs,” headded.—KNS / KMN

A.H RAO

MIRPUR (AJK)—USA-based seasoned overseasPakistani and Kashmirimedical experts and physi-cians forum ‘APPNA” havelaunched an extensive driveacross Azad Jammu & Kash-mir to discourage and wipeout the life-threatening dis-ease of Hepatitis C. “Thedrive has been launched un-der the auspices of USA-based Pakistani doctors –forum ‘APPNA’ – the Asso-ciation of Physicians of Pa-kistan Descent of NorthAmerica, through raisingawareness among themasses about the drastic ef-fects of the fatal disease andthe preventive measures tobe saved from it”, disclosedDr. Muhammad YousafKhalid and Lady Dr. GulNasreen, the Country-repre-sentatives of the forum in

AJK.Elaborating the salient

features of the drive at a newsconference here late Thurs-day against the dangerousimpacts of ‘Hepatitis C’ for thehuman health and the precau-tionary measures to avert itssymptoms, Dr. Yousaf KhalidDr. Gul Nasreen, the special-ists of family medicines,warned that since this life-threatening disease was rap-idly spreading in Pakistan in-cluding Azad Jammu Kash-mir, it was the high time forthe impending patients to bealert and vigilant of its life-threatening symptoms assoon as they feel facing thesame by adopting immediatepreventive measures.

“Although a lot of symp-toms of the Hepatitis C pre-vail, yet these symptoms donot emerge among certainhuman beings who later be-come the victim of this fatal

US-based Pakistani expatriatesdrive against ‘Hepatitis C’ in AJK

disease”, Dr. Khalid pointedout while elaborating thedrastic-effects of the dis-ease. He continued thattiredness, pains in stomach,mussels and joints, fever,vomiting and lack of hungerwere the general symptomsof Hepatitis C. He said thatthe immediate use of propermedicines and completetreatment through the quali-fied medical expert and phy-sician could lead to get ridof the disease.

He also strongly sug-gested the regular checking ofblood by every person fromthe qualified and registeredlabs. proper medicines andcomplete treatment throughthe qualified medical expertand physician could lead toget rid of the disease. He alsostrongly suggested the regu-lar checking of blood by ev-ery person from the qualifiedand registered labs.

A leader has the visionand conviction that a

dream can beachieved. He inspiresthe power and energy

to get it done.

— Ralph Lauren

RASHID AHMEDMUGHAL

IT is now an establishedfact that human resourceconstitutes a major pillar

of development of any coun-try. Those who have investedin the human capital havereaped the benefits of rapiddevelopment, affluence, re-duction in poverty which isconsidered to be the biggestchallenge as declared byUnited Nations. Countrieswhich have provided trainingto their working class havesucceeded in reducing povertyto a great extent and thus im-proved the living standard of

Strategy to combat unemployment through manpower export, remittancestheir nationals.

The globalization has cre-ated a huge opportunity forqualified, trained and technicalworkers as they are in great de-mand in almost every continent.Doctors, engineers, pharmacists,nurses, construction workers,urban planners and environmen-talists are needed by every coun-try, notwithstanding the globalfinancial crisis.

In addition, there is persis-tent dearth of Business andBanking professionals in finan-cial capitals of the world likeUSA, UK, Singapore andDubai. In the coming days, thisdearth is going to increase fur-ther rather than decrease for two

simple reasons: globalization oftrade and commerce and doingaway with trade barriers andneed for qualified and trainedwork force to develop infra-structure for massive projectswhich some of the countrieswith extra cash have embarkedupon.

They have and will need infuture hundreds of thousands ofqualified and trained workers tocater to their needs. Thus thescope of export of Manpower isfar from over. The role the ex-patriate workers play in the de-velopment of a country is set toincrease significantly as the re-mittance they send to their homecountries, now recognized to be

the single major source of con-tribution in its GDP is constantlyincreasing. The world Bank, theIMF, the UNCTAD and OECDhave realized and accepted thefact that remittances have playeda major role in the developmentof manpower exporting coun-tries and improved the livingstandard of its people therebyreducing poverty. The table be-low will give an idea of flow ofremittances world wide and itscontribution towards GDPgrowth.

It is note worthy that coun-tries which have embarked uponproviding world class trainingfacilities to their work forcehave succeeded in capturing a

major chunk of the availableopportunities where as countrylike Pakistan has suffered be-cause of negligence or will onthe part of concerned depart-ments/ministries, in the past.The fact becomes evident fromthe number of workers sentabroad by manpower exportingcountries during the last 10years.

While Manpower Exportoccupies central and importantplace in the over all planningof a country(e.g Phillipines,Bangla Desh, Sri Lanka) it hasyet to get importance it de-serves in our country as it hasnot yet been even given a sta-tus of a Ministry. The subject

of training has been relegatedto a secondary importance andthere is no proper strategy orpolicy to increase manpowerexport and remittances whichare the life line of the countryand reached US.$11Billion in2011.The Labour Attachesposted abroad whose job is toprocure maximum jobs for ournationals are mostly un-trainedand with absolutely no background in the labour migrationarea, mostly being relatives ofthe people who matter. Theirperformance is more than evi-dent from the manpower ex-port figures of Pakistan whichhave shown dismal growthover the past three years as

compared to other Manpowerexporting countries.

Another important factwhich confirms increasedLabour Migration in the daysto come is the low birth rate inthe western countries and mas-sive shortages of skilled Man-power which is almost certainto hit them. Countries whichdo their homework in advanceand prepare for this opportu-nity will certainly reap thebenefits of the situation. Thusthe government needs to actsfast in controlling the damagedone so far and devise well-thought out strategy to en-hance flow of manpower ex-port and do proper planning

for enhancing flow of remit-tances, so important for thecountry in these days of glo-bal economic crisis and tur-bulent times. While percent-age wise the flow of remit-tances to India, Phillipinesand Bangladesh has in-creased by 25%-28%,in caseof Pakistan it has barelytouched 17%-18% whichshows that all is not wellwith our existing system andplanning.

—The write is former Di-rector, Emigration & Protectorof Emigrants, Consultant, Inter-national Labour Organisationand International Organisationfor Migration

TARIQ KHATTAK

ISLAMABAD—The new tradingsoftware of ISE called IslamabadElectronic trading system (IEES)became operational today. Thisnew state of the art software willprovide multi-faceted facilities toboth investors trading through thebrokerage houses of ISE as wellas to the brokers. This advanceversion of the trading software willalso provide online, mobile andSMS trading abilities to the inves-tors and clients of the ISE brokers.This will also provide portfoliomanagement facilities, back officeoperations, risk management op-erations, orders routing, data ser-vices, direct market access and

Trading engine at ISEbecomes operational

many other facilities at multipleportals.

It is to be mentioned herewith deep appreciation andgratitude that this advancedtrading facility developmentwas made possible only withuntiring efforts of the ISE ITstaff, TRT committee and MDIslamabad Stock Exchange. Mr.Qaiser Mushtaq deserves a spe-cial mention being a member atthe time and an IT specialist;he spent countless hours to seethe development of this state ofthe art system. Without hisdedicated efforts this might nothave been possible at this shortnotice. Dr Iftikhar Ahmed whochaired the TRT Committee

during the development of thisIEES system did a fantastic jobkeeping the whole team fo-cused and fought tirelessly toremove any hurdles in the de-velopment of IEES and hard-ware procurement.

Special mentioned is to bemade of the Chief Manager IT,Farhan Malik and the TRT Sec-retary, Miss Fozia Irum as theywent beyond the call of the dutyand worked extra hours tire-lessly to make this immenseproject a success. Mian AyyazAfzal MD/CEO worked dayand night to see through thesuccessful development of thissoftware and its implementa-tion.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Tele-communication Company Lim-ited (PTCL) held its day longannual sales conference 2012 to-day at a local hotel here inIslamabad.

Senior Executive VicePresident (SEVP) CommercialPTCL, Naveed Saeed and Se-nior Executive Vice President(SEVP) Human ResourcesPTCL, Syed Mazhar Hussainled the conference by sharingvaluable insights and holdingbrainstorming sessions, focus-ing on improving the processesand methodologies determiningthe customer experience.

PTCL holds annualsales conference

“Our people empower ourbusiness by conceiving ideas,sharing insights, and workingtogether to create solutions witha single minded focus i.e. boost-ing our customers confidencefor the offered products and ser-vices”, said Senior ExecutiveVice President CommercialPTCL, Naveed Saeed, whilechairing the conference. “Inno-vative thinking and out of thebox business ideas are vital toremain competitive in the everchanging telecom industry”, headded further.

Themed “It matters not howfar your goal is, but how far youare ready to go”, the conference

PTCL’s SEVP Naveed Saeed and SEVP, HR Syed Mazhar Hussain chairing PTCL annualsales conference along with EVP Contact Centers Junaid Azeem, EVP Wireless Omer Khalidand EVP Customer Care, Kamran Malik.

Continued on Page 14

Robin L. Raphel visits KESC

KESC moves on coalfired power projects

CEO Zongcalls on PM

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Prime MinisterRaja Pervez Ashraf has saidthat the present democraticgovernment has introduced lib-eral and investment-friendlypolicies to attract foreign in-vestment.

He expressed these viewswhile talking to Mr Fan Yun Jun,Chief Executive Officer ofZong, who called on him at PMHouse here on Friday.

Jun appreciated the TelecomPolicy being pursued by thepresent government which hasspurred healthy competitionamong the leading cellular com-panies. He further said that Pa-kistan telecom sector has greatpotential and Zong intended toexpand the reach of its opera-tions in Pakistan.

The Prime Minister said thatthe government greatly valuedZong’s contribution toPakistan’s development andeconomic progress.

The Prime Minister reiter-ated the commitment and re-solve of his government of tak-ing every possible measure toprovide maximum security andprotection to the foreign inves-tors.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Dr. AsimHussain Advisor to the PrimeMinister on Petroleum andNatural Resources has said thatPakistan needs to improve effi-ciency in utilization of naturalresources and wastage needs tobe controlled. He said this whilemeeting Ambassador / SpecialEnvoy for International EnergyAffairs of USA Carlos Pascualtoday in Islamabad.

Advisor on Petroleum wel-comed US interest in helpingPakistan to resolve problems

Efficiency required to overcomeenergy challenges: Asim

faced by the Energy sector. Dr.Asim Hussain informed theUS Special Envoy regardingpolicy initiatives taken by theGovernment of Pakistan forpromoting investment in oiland Gas sector. He emphasizedupon cooperation in areas in-cluding efficiency improve-ment, reduction in gas losses& wastage, human resources’capacity building, and studiesfor structural reforms at orga-nizations working in the oiland gas sector.

Carlos Pascual said thatUS realizes the Energy needs

of Pakistan and in this regardUSAID is providing technicalassistance for various energysector projects. He stated thatthe synergy between Petro-leum and Power sector is im-portant. He apprised that USGovernment intends to helpPakistan in LNG importproject by offeringconsultancy services.

The US Special Envoy forInternational Energy Affairs isleading a delegation for the 4thPakistan-US Energy WorkingGroup meeting being held inIslamabad today.

OBSERVER REPORT

KARACHI—The days-long on-going strike of the goods trans-porters has halted the supplies ofthousands of tons of urea from thefertilizer plants located in this portcity, said the industry sources.

They said the dealers andfarmers in the upcountry weredesperately waiting for the DAPurea as the haulers’ strike hasentered its fifth day.

Worst hit among the ureaplants was the Fauji FertilizerBin Qasim Limited (FFBL)which during the last five daysof strike saw over 25,000 tonsof its DAP urea supplies nottransported to the farmers.

Transporters strike haltsurea supplies

“If supplies of DAP are notrestored immediately the sow-ing of wheat crop may be de-layed and affected in major partsof the country, as the applicationof Phosphates is highly recom-mended at the time of sowing,”said the officials at FFBL. This,they claimed, was in addition tothe fact that some political ele-ments were also harassing thetruckers in transit at HyderabadToll Plaza on “clumsy grounds”.

According to the officials,the intervention of higher au-thorities was needed to resolvethe issue immediately in the bestinterest of the country.

They said the Fauji Fertil-izer, being the only urea and

DAP production plant situatedin the outskirts of Karachi, wasunable to transport it’s DAP andurea for the farmers across Pa-kistan. “This has created theshortage of DAP in upper partsof the country,” they said.

On the other hand, the indus-try sources said the situation mightresult in a huge loss to the agri-culture sector and thegovernment’s wheat sowing tar-get may also be adversely affected.

“Pakistan being an agricul-ture economy cannot afford suchsituations,” said the sources add-ing that the indefinite strike bygoods transporters had alsobadly affected the imports andexports from and to Pakistan.

Rs 765.302mallocated foragri varsity

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—The Punjab govern-ment has approved the schemeof agriculture sector with an es-timated cost of Rs. 765.302 mil-lion for “Establishment of SubCampus of University of Agri-culture, Faisalabad at Chak No.427/EB. Burewala, DistrictVehari”.

Five development schemesof various sectors of theeconomy were also approvedworth Rs. 2175.729 million inthe 22nd meeting of ProvincialDevelopment working Party ofcurrent financial year 2012-13presided over by the PunjabPlanning and DevelopmentBoard Chairman, Javaid Aslam.

Secretary Planning & De-velopment Punjab BushraAman, members of the Planning& Development Board and othersenior representatives of the rel-evant Provincial Departmentsalso attended the meeting.

The approved developmentschemes included: Development& Restoration of Archaeologi-cal Sites from Taxila to Swat atthe cost of Rs.150.299 million,Development of Park andCompletion of Basements for

Continued on Page 14

SBP injectsRs 547,250mStaff ReporterKARACHI—State Bank of Pa-kistan (SBP) on Friday injectedRs 547,250 million into the mar-ket for one week through its re-verse repo open market opera-tion in Government of PakistanMarket Treasury Bills and Pa-kistan Investment Bonds. Thebids offered were of Rs 550,750million and the rate of return is9.01 percent.

KMC inks MoUwith FPCCISTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Knowledge is themost important production fac-tor in building up society andimprovements of the labor forcethis was stated by Haji FazalKadir Khan Sherani, President,Federation of Pakistan Cham-bers of Commerce and Industry

while signing MoU withKarachi Municipal Corporationon Establishment of a centrallylocated “Centre of VocationalExcellence Karachi” (CoVEK).MoU signing ceremony heldwhich Administrator, KMC, Mr.Muhammad Hussain Syed

Continued on Page 14

Picture on Page 14

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—The Karachi Elec-tric Supply Company (KESC)currently engaged with manylarge scale infrastructureprojects, such as coal conver-sion, new coal fired powerprojects, LNG import andbiogas power plant, that KESCis pursuing in line with its long-term vision.

This was informed to UnitedStates’ Senior Advisor for Paki-stan, Robin L. Raphel when shevisited KESC Head Office alongwith the US Consul General inKarachi, Michael Dodman andother members of the US diplo-matic team today.

KESC’s CEO, Tabish

Gauhar, appreciated Mrs.Raphel for her keen interest inKESC’s matters. He briefed theUS delegation on the progressthat KESC, under the presentmanagement team, has madeduring the last three and a halfyears.

The delegation was in-formed that the team has man-aged to invest an unprecedentedamount of one billion US dol-lars in various developmentprojects including 1000 MWs ofnew generation capacity, signifi-cant enhancement in the trans-mission and distribution infra-structures and many otherprojects of strategic importance.He further outlined how theseinitiatives have significantly im-

proved the end user service.The delegation was also in-

formed that over the last fewyears KESC has establishedstrong commercial ties with USorigin firms and the value ofthese relationships is in excessof USD 860 million with the po-tential to grow significantly infuture.

Mrs. Raphel showed a deepunderstanding of the present en-ergy situation in Pakistan andinformed the KESC team thatthe US government is very keento help Pakistan in resolving theprevalent energy crisis. She alsoassured KESC of her full coop-eration and stressed the need foran ongoing dialogue as a meansto foster future collaborations.

STAFF REPORTER

FAISALABAD—The leadersof textile associations haverejected the proposed raise ingas prices by 9.87 percentand termed it an unwisemove, as it would further in-crease the cost of doing busi-ness, hit industrial produc-tion, affect exports andwould be detrimental to thenational economy as well asindustry.

Commenting over the gasprices, Asghar Ali, Chairmanand Muhammad Asif, ViceChairman Pakistan Textile Ex-porters Association (PTEA)said that Oil and Gas Regula-tory Authority’s(Ogra)decision would badlyaffect the industry as it was

Textile body rejectsproposed raise in gas price

already facing immense prob-lems.

Jacking up gas priceswould further paralyse the in-dustries, which were alreadystruggling for survival due toenergy crisis, liquidity crunch,and other challenges confront-ing them, they said. They fur-ther said that governmentshould cut the number of taxeson gas, as fuel is the engine ofgrowth. If the fuel is heavilytaxed then the entire economywould suffer and the same ishappening in Pakistan as therepeated increases in gas priceshad ruined the industrial andeconomic activities.

To keep the economic cyclewell on track, the governmentwould have to shelve the deci-sion to increase gas prices, they

demanded. Because of high costof doing business in Pakistan,a large number of industrialunits had already shifted theiroperations to other countriesand the recent decision wouldforce more industrialists to fol-low the suit, they maintained.Gas prices for industrial sectorin Bangladesh and Sri Lankawere lower than Pakistan.

In Pakistan, gas prices werehigher of Rs 235 per unit fromBangladesh and Rs 165 fromSri Lanka.

Asghar Ali was of the viewthat textile sector was alreadyfacing severe loadshedding ofgas resulting in decline in tex-tile exports. Gas supply to in-dustrial sector has been reducedby 329 percent in last fouryears.

KSE 100 inches closerto 17,000 pointsStaff ReporterKARACHI—Stocks hit arecord high in intraday tradingfor the fourth straight sessionon Friday, but settled lower astraders booked profits to closeout the week. The KarachiStock Exchange’s (KSE)benchmark 100-share indexsurged as high as 16,903.46 inintraday trading. It closed at16,807.91 points, down 0.10per cent or 16.64 points. Theindex has hit record highs ineight of the last nine sessions,and was up more than 25 percent since mid-June. Lotte Pakrose 11.32 per cent, or 0.83rupee, to 8.16 per share, whileAzgard Nine was up 2.07 percent, or 0.18 rupees, to 8.88per share. Maple Leaf Cementfell 6.93 per cent, or onerupee, to 13.43 per share. Inthe currency market, thePakistani rupee weakened to96.70/96.76 against the dollar,compared to Thursday’s 96.54/96.59, ahead of scheduledgovernment debt and oilpayments, dealers said.Overnight rates in the moneymarket eased to 9 per centfrom 10 per cent on Thursday.

Reservations overMNFStaff ReporterKARACHI—Though theMinistry of Commerce andother concerned authoritiesclaim that the decision ofgranting MFN status to Indiahas been made with duedeliberations and after holdingmeetings with all concernedsectors, the reservations ofagriculture sector especiallygrowers over the tradenormalization process remainunaddressed. The growers arescared about the tariff structureand non-tariff barriers astechnical hindrance to competethe neighbouring country. Theyhowever are confident about thequality and standard ofagricultural products. Accordingto a fresh study/report, madeavailable by TDAP, in general,Pakistan’s applied tariffs onagricultural products are lowerthan India. Islamabad’s averagetariff rate works out to 20percent whereas in India it is 33percent. In addition, India alsolevies education cess of 3percent on these products.Pakistan however, allows importof several agriculture productsbetween 0 to 5 percent dutieswhere India is competitive suchas vegetables.

CEO Zong Fan Yun Jun called on Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf. Chairman Pakistan Telecommunication AuthorityFarooq Awan is also present.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The surgingeconomies of Southeast Asiahave been a bright spot in de-veloping Asia’s otherwisesubdued 2012 growth perfor-mance, but the broader regionshould still pick up steam in2013, says a new Asian De-velopment Bank (ADB) re-port.

The latest Asian Devel-opment Outlook Supplement,released on Friday, says devel-oping Asia will post growth of6.0% in 2012 and 6.6% in2013, 0.1% percentage pointlower than anticipated byADB in October.

Southeast Asia’s strength keepsAsia growth on track: ADB

Robust private consump-tion in Southeast Asia and a mildeconomic recovery in Chinanearly balance out the weak-nesses in India’s economy.

The report warns that on-going sluggishness and uncer-tainty in Europe and the UnitedStates mean that risks to theforecasts remain firmly on thedownside.

“Enduring debt problemsand economic weakness in Eu-rope and the looming fiscal cliffin the United States remain veryreal threats to developing Asianext year,” said ADB ChiefEconomist Changyong Rhee.

Rhee added that at the sametime there are highly encourag-

ing signs from Southeast Asiaand recent data from PRC con-firms a bottoming out of theeconomy, with industrial outputrebounding to a five-month highin October.”

Malaysia and the Philip-pines outstripped expectations,with strong third quarter perfor-mance boosting ASEAN-5growth forecasts from 5.6% to5.9%. Third quarter expansionin the Philippines was a stellar7.1%, more than double the ratefrom the same period a year ear-lier.

This performance and therecovery in China—supportedby a turnaround in industrialproduction and retail sales and

solid fixed investment—arehelping to offset weakness inother East Asian economies, in-cluding Hong Kong, China; theRepublic of Korea; andTaipei,China. India’s economyremains sluggish, with slidingindustrial production and declin-ing exports.

Growth in Central Asia isalso soft, pulled down by diffi-culties in its two largest econo-mies—Azerbaijan andKazakhstan. Pacific economies,led by resource- rich Papua NewGuinea, Solomon Islands andTimor-Leste, are continuing tobenefit from infrastructurerollouts which should supportgrowth of 6% in 2012, but the

expansion will moderate in2013, the report says.

Inflation remains broadlybenign across most of the re-gion as a result of price de-clines in some food commodi-ties, including soybean andpalm oil.

Inflationary pressures re-main a concern in South Asia,however, with the subregionexpected to post an annual in-flation rate of 8.3% in 2012.

An expected spike in meatprices, lower output of grains,and higher global demand willsee inflation for developingAsia tick up to 4.2% in 2013,from a revised rate of 4.0% in2012.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Adding furtherto its distinctive experientialbase in skill enhancement,TSUDEC (TechnologyUpgradation and Skill Develop-ment Company) in collaborationwith the British Council Paki-stan arranged training work-shops to train the primary schoolteacher both from the public andprivate schools.

According to a companyspokesperson, the two work-shops have been arranged atTUSDEC- NIDA (NationalInstitute of Design and Analy-sis) Peshawar centre wheretotal 52 instructors have beenimparted the skills of onlineteaching.

The workshops were pro-

TUSDEC arrangestraining for trainers

gramed in a way to cover twosubsequent levels of the train-ing and were organized on aninterval of two days in the monthof November. The seasonedtrainers of British Council ap-prised the trainees about the es-sence and practice of onlineteaching.

The trainees were brought torehearse various methods andtechniques of classroom instruc-tion through internet. Pakistanhas got through an aggregate of31 Million internet users wherethe ciphers are accelerating eachday due to the fast-paced growthof telecommunication industry.With this mounting reach to theinternet connections, it is wiseto utilize this surge to enablediverse educational opportuni-ties for the masses.

According to the ProgramManger(PM) at TUSDECNIDA Peshawar centre, the ab-solutely outfitted and techno-logically equipped classroomsof NIDA made an immaculatelocal for the trainings of onlineschooling.

The workshops also im-parted the ‘ cascading process’to the teachers in order to en-able them to pass on the theiracquired skills to their peerteachers in their respective ar-eas.

The PM (Program Manager)at NIDA centre also shared thatthe institute is penetrative in itsplanning to organize furtherworkshops and training pro-grams in order to enable mul-tiple educational opportunitiesfor the area masses.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Chairman Intel-lectual Property Organization(IPO) of Pakistan Hameed UllahJan Afridi Friday said that infor-mation technology is the fastestgrowing sector playing signifi-cant role in knowledge- basedeconomy.

Talking to a delegation of ITindustry, he said IPO encouragesIT sector for investment in theareas of research and develop-ment so that technological ad-vancements may occur.

He said IP is an affectivetool for the development and theIP owners should come forwardand register their IP Rights toensure their protection and tobring revolution in their special-ized fields.

IP owners should protect theirrights through registration

There is dire need to awarethe IT sector of Pakistan abouttheir basic IP Rights and theirregistration process, IPO is tak-ing concrete initiatives to in-crease awareness campaignsabout IP Rights and their im-pacts on national economy.

He also urged the delegationto join hands with IPO to bringchange in the society throughincreasing awareness about IPRights.

Afridi underlined that ITsector of Pakistan has huge po-tential to bring drastic changesthrough great inventions how-ever, few elements are damag-ing our economy through bring-ing pirated goods in the markets.

He said that counterfeitingand piracy are major threatswhich can be countered through

mutual cooperation and coordi-nation.

The Chairman was also ofthe view that healthy economyis need of time to meet thegrowing challenges of thecountry. IPO is initiating vari-ous projects to strengthen lawenforcement agencies so thatimplementation of IP laws maybe ensured and action may betaken against those elementsthat are evolved in piracy andcounterfeiting.

The delegation expresseddeep concern over the piratedstuff present in the markets.They expressed all possible co-operation to promote awarenesscampaigns about IP. They alsolauded the role of IPO for ca-pacity building of law enforce-ment agencies.

Fareed Ullah Jan, Business Head Samsung and his team hold-ing Samsung Galaxy Note II.

Pakistan seeks investment from Hungary

KCCI to hold single countryexhibition in Budapest

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—Ambassador ofHungary to Pakistan H.E. IstvanSzabo has said that Pakistan andHungary had good political re-lations however, the bilateraltrade volume was not accordingto the existing trade potential.He asked the cooperation ofKCCI to organize Single Coun-try Exhibition of Hungary inPakistan. He said that he mayinvite the attention of BudapestChamber of Commerce to signMoU with KCCI. He informedthat Schengen visa forbusinesspersons can be appliedthrough Hungarian Embassy inIslamabad, however,businesspersons after visitingHungary can also visit Schengenstates. He said that MOL was the

biggest Hungarian company inPakistan engaged in oil whichwas catering 11 percent needs ofPakistan.

He said that Hungary canexport to Pakistan agro-basedproducts, halal food products,machinery, healthcare products,medical diagnostic machinery,water treatment plants, desalina-tion plants, cell phones, securityequipments, electrical appli-ances etc. whereas Pakistan canexport to Hungary textiles, gar-ments, cotton, cotton yarn, autoparts, sports and surgical goodsetc.

Karachi Chamber of Com-merce & Industry’s PresidentMuhammad Haroon Agar urgedAmbassador of Hungary to in-vite Hungarian investors to in-vest in Pakistan. Exchanging

views with the Hungarian Am-bassador to Pakistan H.E. IstvanSzabo he highlighted the realand true potential of Pakistanwith all its strengths.

He asserted upon the needto develop trade with the Euro-pean Union countries and raisedstrong voice for market accessto Pakistan in the EU markets.He informed that Ambassador ofEuropean Union Delegation toPakistan in association withKCCI is organizing a EU Paki-stan Trade Dialogue: “Opportu-nities for Growth”.

To enhance Pakistan andHungary bilateral trade he alsoproposed to sign MoU withBudapest Chamber of Com-merce to facilitate the privatesector of two countries. He wasof the view that Hungarian com-

pany “MOL” can further en-hance its business in oil and gassector as it was enjoying suc-cessful business in Pakistansince last many years. Pakistanhas a very liberal investmentpolicy with agreements of in-vestment protection, he told. Healso Hungarian Exhibitorsthrough Ambassador to partici-pate in KCCI annual “My-Karachi, Oasis of Harmony”Exhibition scheduled to be heldin July 2013 which is a show-case and B2B & B2C platformwherein local and foreign ex-hibitors participate. He assuredthe Karachi Chamber’s best sup-port and cooperation for match-making with their Pakistancounterparts, particularly KCCImembers with Hungarianbusinesspersons.

PIA readyto fly forKandhar

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—PIA managementhas decided to commenceflights between Quetta andKandahar in Afghanistan fromDecember 25 , 2012 on the oc-casion of the 136th birth anni-versary of the father of the na-tion Quaid-e-AzamMohammad Ali Jinnah.

Quetta and Kandahar arethriving commercial towns andit was a long standing demandof the business community ofboth cities to have commercialflights between the two. Ini-tially two flights will operateweekly on the Karachi-Quetta-Kandahar-Quetta-Karachi sec-tor on every Tuesday andThursday using the ATR air-craft.

The launch of these flightswill enable PIA to expand itsnetwork in Afghanistan. Cur-rently PIA is only flying toKabul. These flights will alsohelp connect people in Southof Afghanistan to rest ofworld through the gateway ofQuetta.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The Federationof Pakistan Chambers of Com-merce and Industry (FPCCI) andPakistan Association of Inde-pendent Radio Stations (PAIRS)on Friday joined hands to cre-ate awareness and positive atti-tude among masses and businesscommunity.

The decision took place in ameeting between Vice PresidentFPCCI Mirza Abdul Rehmanand President PAIRS SheikhWaseem Ahmed.

Chairman CoordinationFPCCI Atif Ikram Sheikh andoffice bearers of PAIRS includ-ing Joseph J Dial, Sheikh ZahidIqbal, Kamran Khawaja andWajih Akhtar of InterMediawere also present on the occa-sion.

Speaking at the occasion,Mirza Abdul Rehman said thatFM radio is a very effective toolwhich can help transform soci-ety. He asked the radio station

FPCCI, radio stations ownersjoin hands to create awareness

owners to engage masses to en-sure positive tendencies in dif-ferent communities.

He said that even the besttechnology will ultimately failif no one wants to use it, there-fore government, business com-munity and companies shouldpromote radio business in theirown interest. Chairman Coordi-nation FPCCI Atif Ikram Sheikh

also spoke on the occasion. Hesaid that recent radio boom is anunprecedented which is chang-ing the life of the country inways that few could have envi-sioned.

Unlike newspapers and TVchannels, radio delivers imme-diate information allowing lis-teners to be a part of it the mo-ment it occurred.

ISLAMABAD: VP FPCCI speaking to owners of FM radiostations. Atif Ikram Sheikh and Joseph J Dial are also seenin the picture.

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—The trade and in-dustry has expressed its grati-fication over slow developmentof discovered gasfields and ex-ploration of huge reserves ofnatural gas in Suleman GasField located in DistrictKhairpur.

The Patron In-Chief,Korangi Association of Tradeand Industry (KATI), ChairmanMohammad Zubair Chhaya,President All Karachi IndustrialAlliance, Mian Zahid Hussainand Vice Chairmen, NajmulArfeen and Niaz Ahmed whilewelcoming the OGDCL explor-ative activities that were goneslow in the recent past, said that

Development of gasfields can meet growing national demands

exploration of 20 million cubicfeet per day (MCFD) is a goodachievement and would ease upgas crisis in the country.

They said that according toOGDC country has reserves ofnatural gas to the tune of 23 tril-lion cubic feet per day and thegovernment should speed upexploration due to the ongoingenergy crisis and rescue dyingindustries.

They said that the new gasfield would enhance supply ofgas into existing network up totwo to four billion cubic feetper day (bcfd) and the gas cri-sis could be overcome.

They pointed out thatOGDC has already planned todrill 37 wells in coming fiscal.

Meanwhile, they strongly re-jected the increase in gas pricesto the tune of 9.8 per cent asproposed by OGRA.

They said that industry isalready in deep crisis due toskyrocketing oil and gas pricesand power shortage while costof industrial inputs is becom-ing unbearable and any furtherincrease would be extremelydetrimental to the country’seconomy.

“Not only gas but any raisein input cost would mean moreshut downs in the industrialsector resulting in massive un-employment which is alreadygoing beyond the control of thegovernment”, Zubair Chhayawarned.

Saving consumers fromcartels demanded

wi-tribe announceswinners of Pakistan

DevelopersChallenge 2012

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Entrants to wi-tribe Pakistan Developers Chal-lenge 2012(PDC2012) got theirmoment to shine after wi-tribeannounced the winners of 17award categories. In partnershipwith education and technologyindustry giants Punjab IT Board(PITB), Higher Education Com-mission (HEC), Microsoft, Intel,Pakistan Software House Asso-ciation (P@SHA) and Dell Inc,entrants were offered the chanceto contest in and win prizes in17 categories, ranging from cashawards, internships and job op-portunities.

The PDC2012 Grand Prizeof Rs. 100,000 has beenawarded to Muhammad Rizwanul Haq for the Al Quran Audio,while the recipient of the mostnumber of entries category prizeis AllamaIqbal Open University,also winning Rs. 100,000.

Launched in April 2012 onwi-tribe Bazaar, PDC 2012 isthe largest application develop-ment platform in Pakistan, pro-viding opportunities to anyonewith a passion for app develop-ment, be it students, graduates,aspiring developers or profes-sionals. wi-tribe Bazaar isPakistan’s first Buy and Sellsoftware portal that furtherstrengthens wi-tribe’s promiseto remain an industry leader thatis constantly looking for inno-vative opportunities to bridgethe gap between technology andconsumers. Under the wi-tribeBazaar platform, the PDC 2012contest aimed to bring togetherPakistan’s greatest young devel-oper minds to jointly create andmonetize proprietary local PCand Mobile software applica-tions.

LCCI Chief asksgovt to focus

on IT knowledgeSALIM AHMED

LAHORE—The Lahore Cham-ber of Commerce & Industry(LCCI) President Irfan IqbalSheikh has urged the govern-ment to focus on InformationTechnology based knowledge asmaximum utilization of humanpotential is necessary to makePakistan a developed country.

While addressing the par-ticipants of “LCCI Web GraphicSkill Course with SEO” here atthe LCCI on Friday, Irfan said,“Right out of the gate of theirAlma Mater, our students facealtogether new challenges,therefore, they must be equippedwell to cope with these chal-lenges and for the purpose theeducational institute ions mustcontinue to review and upgradetheir curricula.”

He said curriculum needs tobe designed in proper consulta-tion with the private sector thathas both the ability and capac-ity to guide the educationists inright direction. He said that intoday’s world the InformationTechnology is of utmost impor-tance. In the job market thepeople having knowledge ofcomputers are given preferenceover those who are without it,he added.

He said that the only objec-tive behind starting computercourses at LCCI is to equipmembers of this chamber withlatest business technologies sothat they could be able to go glo-bal.

The LCCI Senior VicePresident Irfan Iqbal Sheikh saidin the knowledge race in the 21stcentury and rapid globalization,the quality of information tech-nology based higher educationneeds to be enhanced to bring itat par with international stan-dards for the sake of progressand prosperity.

was attended by PTCL’s coun-trywide sales managementteams comprising consumersales, direct and indirect sales,corporate sales, contact centers,one-stop shops, wire-line andwireless departments.

Senior officials from thecompany’s Commercial, HumanResource and Marketing depart-ments as well as General Man-agers from different Regionsalso attended the conference.

Comprising of various inter-active and creative sessions, theconference gave the opportunityto the participants for knowl-edge sharing.

PTCLFrom Page 13

car Parking at Doongi Ground,M.M. Alam Road, Lahore at thecost of Rs. 290.500 million,Widening/Improvement ofMitha Tiwana Adhi Kot Roadlength 33.00 km in DistrictKhushab at the cost of Rs.294.154 million, Constructionof Mujahid Dam DistrictRawalpindi (amended) at thecost of Rs. 721.516 million andConstruction of Mohra SheraDam District Rawalpindi(Amended) at the cost Rs.719.260 million.

Rs 765.302mFrom Page 13

signed MoU on behalf ofKarachi Metropolitan Corpora-tion.

Centre of Vocational Excel-lence Karachi” (CoVEK) willserve as the focal point for thedevelopment of Trainers for thepromotion of long term and sus-tainable Vocational Training Cul-ture.

During the visit of Adminis-trator KMC under FPCCI delega-tion, entered into an MOU withthe Istanbul Metropolitan Mu-nicipality (IMM) Turkey on 18thJune, 2012 at Istanbul to improvethe Vocational.

KMCFrom Page 13

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The speakers at aseminar demanded strict measuresto protect consumers from the car-tels. They also demanded inde-pendence of regulators, effectiveenforcement and monitoringmechanism, awareness raisingand healthy business practices.

The speakers were discuss-ing at a seminar on ‘AdverseImpact of Cartels on the Poor’organized by Sustainable Devel-opment Policy Institute (SDPI)to contribute into internationalefforts to celebrate 5th of De-cember as ‘World CompetitionDay’. The culture of competitionis quite weak in many countries

and consumers have limited un-derstanding about the harmfuleffects of cartels. Thus, theWorld Competition Day allowsa scope for greater discussionsand dissemination of the benefi-cial effects of competition on theaverage consumer – either di-rectly or indirectly. In effect, itis expected to result in greaterpublic understanding and sup-port on the need to crack downcartels.

Chairing the proceedings DrVaqar Ahmed, Head-EconomicGrowth Unit, SDPI maintainedthat consumer as a constituent hasalways been ignored in publicpolicy discourse and economicgrowth agenda in Pakistan.

Etihad Airwayslaunches Etihad

Wi-Fly connectivitySTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Etihad Airways to-day launched its new “EtihadWi-Fly” inflight Internet andmobile connectivity service,powered by the Panasonic Avi-onics Global CommunicationsSuite.

The airline’s first aircraftequipped with Panasonic’s com-munications technology, an Air-bus A330-200, took flight todayfor Brussels, offering high-speed broadband Internet con-nectivity as well as data andmobile phone services.

The A330-200 will be usedfor long-haul destinations acrossEtihad Airways’ network, suchas Brussels, Dublin, Manches-ter, Munich, Frankfurt andMilan.

James Hogan, Etihad Air-ways President and Chief Ex-ecutive Officer, said: “’EtihadWi-Fly’ is a result of the 10-year, US$1 billion agreementwe signed with Panasonic Avi-onics in November 2011. Wecontinue to invest in our prod-uct and consider ways to offerour guests the most engagingand dynamic inflight entertain-ment options.

President FPCCI presenting shield to Administrator KMCMuhammad Hussain Syed. (Story on Page 13)

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Communications Dr Arbab Alamgir Khan chairing a meetingat Motorway Police Headquarters which was also attended by IG NH&MP Zafar AbbasLak and other senior officers.

LAHORE: Chairperson TEVTA Arif Saeed and CEO, AkzoNobel Pakistan Jehanzeb Khan are exchanging documentsafter signing MoU.

European sharesslightly higher

LONDON—European sharestraded fractionally higher earlyon Friday, consolidating 18-month highs, as a worseningeconomic outlook for Europetempered some optimism aboutU.S. budget negotiations.

Sentiment was underpinnedby signs the White House andRepublicans had resumed pri-vate talks on delaying a January“fiscal cliff” of scheduled taxrises and spending cuts, whichcould stall the world’s largesteconomy.

The FTSEurofirst 300 indexof top European shares traded0.2 percent higher at 1,133.95points, extending a 7 percentrally since mid-November onexpectations the fiscal cliff willbe avoided.—APP

Chavez back from CubaCARACAS—Venezuela’s President HugoChavez made a theatrical return from Cubaon Friday after medical treatment, walkingand joking in a first public appearance forthree weeks that quashed rumours he mayhave been at death’s door. “I’m happy andenthused to be back again,” Chavez saidafter flying in overnight to the delight ofsupporters. “So, where’s the party?”Chavez joked, in festive mood as he chat-ted with ministers after walking unaided

down the steps from his plane at the international airportoutside Caracas. The 58-year-old socialist leader has had threecancer operations in Cuba since mid-2011 and returned toHavana ten days ago to receive “hyperbaric oxygenation” - atreatment normally used to alleviate bone decay from radia-tion therapy. But speculation was rife he may have suffered arecurrence of the disease. One local journalist said he wasconfined to a wheelchair. Earlier this year, Chavez declaredhimself “completely cured” and went on to comfortably winre-election in October. Amid a barrage of rumours, officialshad maintained his latest trip to Cuba was just a sched-uled follow-up to the radiation therapy he underwent inthe first half of 2012. Supporters celebrated the return ofthe man who has dominated the South American OPECnation since he first won election in 1998. “Chavez isback and has shown up all the rumour-mongers,necrophiliacs, gossips and ill-thinkers.—Reuters

Hillary visits BelfastBELFAST—Hillary Clinton will travel toNorthern Ireland on Friday to lend hersupport to the British province’s fragilepeace, the frailty of which was underlinedby overnight rioting on the eve of her visitand the seizure of a bomb. Making one ofher last foreign trips as U.S. Secretary ofState, she visits a province transformedby the 1998 peace agreement that her hus-band helped bring about in what was re-garded as one of the greatest successes

of his presidency. But Northern Ireland remains riven by sec-tarian tensions and she arrives in a week that has seen threeriots, the seizure of a bomb over 100 kilometres (62 miles)outside Belfast, and the arrest of four militant nationalists.The latest riot erupted on Thursday night when a policemanwas injured after protesters hurled missiles to vent their an-ger against nationalist councillors who voted to remove theBritish flag atop Belfast City Hall. Two people were arrestedand four vehicles damaged. Militant nationalists also shotdead a prison officer last month. However, Clinton’s visit,during which politicians from both sides of the political di-vide will brief her on the peace process, will be a re-minder of the huge popularity of her family in Ireland, apotential asset in attracting the Irish-American vote ifHillary decided to run for the U.S. presidency in 2016.The province has suffered one of the world’s worst prop-erty market crashes and its leaders are hoping for thekind of U.S. foreign investment that has transformedthe rest of Ireland.—Reuters

Slovenia still hopes to avoid bailout: FMLJUBLJANA—Slovenia believes it cansave its troubled banks and avoid a bail-out even if it does not enforce a law to setup a bad bank, but acknowledges it wouldhave to seek help next year if that planfails, its finance minister said on Thurs-day. The introduction of a law to set up abad bank to allow Slovenia’s banks totransfer non-performing loans to a statecompany has been stalled by a tradeunion demand for a referendum. “There

are several options of solving the problem (of bad loans)which we will consider ... but we believe the law is the mostefficient and the fastest solution. I hope we’ll solve the situ-ation in the banks fast enough to avoid a bailout,” FinanceMinister Janez Sustersic told Reuters in an interview. “If not,we would have to ask for help ... which could happen in themiddle of the next year.” The amount of bad loans held bylocal banks, mostly state-owned, has been rising steadily sincethe economy plummeted in 2009. Non-performing loansreached 6.7 billion euros (5.4 billion pounds) at the end ofSeptember, equalling 19 percent of GDP. Sustersic said heexpected the Constitutional Court to rule by the end of thisyear to reject a trade union’s demand for a referendum on a“bad bank” and enable the enforcement of the law. The tradeunion for the chemical, non-metal and rubber industries isdemanding the referendum, claiming the law would lead tothe swift and non-transparent sale of state banks.—AP

Ukraine to name PM soonKIEV—Ukrainian President ViktorYanukovich has promised to name hischoice of new prime minister by Sundayand to nominate someone whose first bigtask will be to try to broker a new loandeal with the International MonetaryFund. Ukraine also faces the prospect ofrepaying its foreign creditors $9.1 billionin 2013, up from $6.5 billion this year. The2013 sum includes $6.4 billion owed to theIMF and Ukraine has said it hopes to refi-

nance that debt. Yanukovich accepted the resignation of PrimeMinister Mykola Azarov’s government on Monday, a movethat was widely expected after a parliamentary election onOctober 28. He has not indicated who he wants as his nextprime minister but has not ruled out re-appointing Azarov, along-time ally and government veteran who is now actingprime minister. But his resistance to pressure from the IMF toraise household gas prices - a move that would be unpopularbut which the Fund sees as essential to control the budgetdeficit - prompted it to suspend payments under a stand-byprogram in early 2011. The principal lender to the cash-strapped former Soviet republic, the IMF on Thursday raisedeyebrows after it put back to late January a visit to Ukraine fortalks over a possible new loan arrangement. The mission hadoriginally been due to arrive on Friday. The Fund’s local rep-resentative, Max Alier, said it had made the decision at therequest of the Ukrainian authorities in view of possible gov-ernment changes.—Reuters

Renewed talks on US ‘fiscal cliff’WASHINGTON—With little to show aftera month of posturing, the White Houseand Republicans in Congress droppedhints on Friday that they had resumedlow-level private talks on breaking thestalemate over the “fiscal cliff” but refusedto divulge details. A day after a phoneconversation between President BarackObama and John Boehner, the Republi-can speaker of the House of Representa-tives, appeared to kick-start communica-

tions, both sides used similar language to describe the stateof negotiations but imposed a media blackout on develop-ments. A Quinnipiac University survey found respondentstrust Obama and Democrats more than Republicans on thecliff talks by a wide margin - 53 percent to 36 percent.The debtceiling issue - the same one that provoked a showdown in2011 that led to a downgrading of the U.S. credit rating - hasbecome a centrepiece of the fiscal cliff debate, thanks in partto Obama’s insistence that Congress give him enhanced powerto increase the debt limit, which needs to be raised again inthe next few months.—Reuters

Palestinian members of the al-Qassam brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement, ride in pickup trucks torecover Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal in Rafah in the southern Gaza.

TOKYO—A strong quakecentered off northeastern Ja-pan shook buildings as faraway as Tokyo on Friday andtriggered a one-meter tsu-nami in an area devastated bylast year’s Fukushima disas-ter, but there were no reportsof deaths or serious damage.The quake had a preliminarymagnitude of 7.3, the U.S.Geological Survey said, andthousands of coastal resi-dents were ordered to evacu-ate to higher ground, but thetsunami warning was liftedtwo hours after the tremorstruck.

The March 2011 earth-quake and following tsunamikilled nearly 20,000 peopleand triggered the world’sworst nuclear crisis in 25years when the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant was de-stroyed, leaking radiationinto the sea and air. Workersat the plant were ordered tomove to safety after Friday’squake. Tokyo Electric PowerCo, the operator of theFukushima nuclear plant, re-ported no irregularities at itsnuclear plants.

All but two of Japan’s 50nuclear reactors have beenidled since the Fukushima di-saster as the government re-views safety. The quake mea-

Strong quake hits offJapan near Fukushima

sured a “lower 5” in Miyagiprefecture on Japan’s scale ofone to seven, meaning theremight be some damage toroads and houses that areless quake resistant.

The scale measures theamount of shaking and in thatsense gives a better idea ofpossible damage than themagnitude. The quake regis-tered a 4 in Tokyo The one-meter tsunami hit atIshinomaki, in Miyagi, at thecentre of the devastationfrom the March 2011 disas-ter. All Miyagi trains haltedoperations and Sendai air-port, which was flooded bythe tsunami last year, closedits runway.

Five people in the prefec-ture were slightly injured. “Iwas in the centre of the citythe very moment the earth-quake struck. I immediatelyjumped into the car andstarted running away to-wards the mountains. I’m stillhiding inside the car,” saidIshinomaki resident ChikakoIwai. “...I have the radio onand they say the cars are stillstuck in the traffic. I’m plan-ning to stay here for the nextcouple of hours.” There arevast areas of Ishinomaki thatstill have not been cleaned upsince last year’s tsunami.

Many houses lie in ruins, fullof rubble. Workers by theshore still sort through thou-sands of cars that wereswamped and destroyed. Thecars are piled up and beingtaken apart for parts andscrap.

Narita airport outside To-kyo was back in action after abrief closure for safetychecks. There were small tsu-namis, measuring in the cen-timeters, elsewhere near theepicenter. Last year’s quake,which measured 9.0, triggeredfuel-rod meltdowns atFukushima, causing radiationleakage, contamination offood and water and massevacuations. Much of thearea is still deserted.

The government declaredin December that the disasterwas under control. “Citizensare now escaping to desig-nated evacuation centers andmoving to places on higherground,” office worker NaokiAra said in Soma, 30 km (18miles) from the Fukushima-Daiichi plant. Prime MinisterYoshihiko Noda cancelledcampaigning in Tokyo aheadof a December 16 election andwas on his way back to hisoffice, but there was no imme-diate plan to hold a specialcabinet meeting.—Reuters

WASHINGTON—The U.S.Senate intelligence commit-tee plans to vote next weekon whether to approve find-ings of a nearly 6,000-pagesummary of its long-runninginvestigation into conten-tious counter-terrorism prac-tices, including “enhancedinterrogation techniques,”used by the CIA during theGeorge W. Bush administra-tion.

But the report remainsclassified and it is unclearwhether committee Republi-cans, who have largely boy-cotted the investigation, willendorse it. This leaves it un-clear whether a version of thedocument will ever be madepublic.

Part of the committee’sinvestigation was to evalu-ate whether enhanced inter-rogation methods, which in-cluded stress techniques that

US senators to vote onprobe of CIA tortures

human rights activists andmany U.S. politicians con-demned as torture, were ef-fective in producing usefulintelligence. Reuters reportedearlier this year that the three-year-long investigation wasexpected to find little evi-dence that the interrogations,which included the use on afew high-level suspects of asimulated drowning tech-nique known as“waterboarding,” producedbreakthroughs.

Committee officials exam-ined millions of pages ofrecords charting the treat-ment of detainees handled bya CIA program that also in-cluded a network of secretprisons and the “rendition” -kidnappings- of suspects tothird countries where theyoften were subjected to harshtreatment by local authori-ties. Senator Dianne

Feinstein, the CaliforniaDemocrat who heads thecommittees, confirmed in anemail that while the panelwould vote on the report nextweek, it would not be madepublic then.

“The IntelligenceCommittee’s 3-year review ofthe CIA’s detention and en-hanced interrogation tech-nique program (2002-2009)will not be released next week.The committee is, however,scheduled to vote to approvethe report,” she said.Feinstein added: “The reportis nearly 6,000 pages.

It is comprehensive, it isstrictly factual, and it is themost definitive review of thisCIA program to be con-ducted. Any decision on de-classification and release ofany portion of the report willbe decided by committeemembers at a later time.”—AP

GAZA—Hamas leaderKhaled Meshaal arrived inthe Gaza Strip on Friday, end-ing 45 years of exile from Pal-estinian land with a visit thatunderscored the Islamistgroup’s growing confidencefollowing a recent conflictwith Israel. Palestinian mem-bers of the al-Qassam bri-gades, the armed wing of theHamas movement, ride inpickup trucks as they awaitthe arrival of Hamas chiefKhaled Meshaal in Rafah inthe southern Gaza Strip.

After passing throughthe Egyptian border cross-ing, Meshaal knelt on theground to offer a prayer ofthanks and was then greetedby dozens of officials froman array of competing Pales-tinian factions lined up tomeet him in warm Decembersun.

Meshaal will spendbarely 48 hours in the coastalenclave and attend a mass

Emboldened Hamas leader ends exile, visits Gazarally on Saturday that hasbeen billed as both a com-memoration of the 25th anni-versary of the founding ofHamas and a “victory” cel-ebration following the No-vember fighting.

“All Palestinians willeventually return to theirhomeland. Khaled Meshaalis returning after a victory,”said veteran Hamas strategistMahmoud Al-Zahar. The 56-year-old Meshaal left thenearby West Bank as ayoung boy in 1967 and, be-fore Friday, had never set footin the largely isolated Gaza,which has been governed byHamas since a brief, 2007 civilwar against its Fatah secularrivals. Later on Friday, he isexpected to visit the home ofHamas founder SheikhAhmed Yassin, who was as-sassinated by Israel in 2004,as well as that of Ahmed Al-Jaabari, the group’s militarycommander killed in an Israeli

strike last month.Israel tried and failed to

kill Meshaal himself in 1997in a botched Mossad missionin Jordan. Although there wasno indication he might be tar-geted again, Hamas laid onmassive security for his ar-rival, with heavily armed men,some wearing black masks,patrolling the border area.Meshaal ran Hamas from ex-ile in Damascus from 2004until January this year whenhe quit the Syrian capital be-cause of Iranian-backedPresident Bashar al-Assad’swar against Sunni Muslimrebels. He now divides histime between Qatar and Cairo.

His abrupt departure fromSyria initially weakened hisposition within Hamas: tieswith Damascus and Tehranhad made him important, butwith those links damaged orbroken, rivals based withinGaza had started to asserttheir authority. However, the

exiled leader regained the ini-tiative in the November war,working closely with Egyptto secure the truce, and al-though he says he plans tostand down soon few hereexpect him to carry throughon his pledge.

The highlight of his visitwill be an open-air rally onSaturday, which Hamas willuse to proclaim victory in itseight-day conflagration withIsrael that killed some 170Palestinians and six Israelis.It ended with an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire. A largestage has been set up in Gazacity, complete with a hugemodel of the homemade M75rocket that was fired at bothTel Aviv and Jerusalem in lastmonth’s war.

Israel says its air strikesnot only killed Jaabari, butalso severely depletedHamas’s weapons stockpile.However, the fighting clearlyboosted Hamas’s political

standing in the region, win-ning it the support of manyregional powers, such asQatar, Turkey and Egypt, whodispatched senior delega-tions to Gaza in a rare andpublic display of solidarity.

The Arab Spring revoltsof the last two years havebrought friends of Hamas topower across the Arab world,above all Egypt’s new Presi-dent Mohamed Mursi, whoselong-banned Muslim Broth-erhood is spiritual mentor toHamas. Saturday’s rally is notbeing held on the exact dateof Hamas’s founding, but onthe 25th anniversary of thestart of the first Palestinianuprising, or intifada, againstIsrael.

That is being seen as anoverture to other factions anda hint of a new willingness toseek reconciliation with Pal-estinian President MahmoudAbbas, who controls theWest Bank.

“There is a new moodthat allows us to achieve rec-onciliation,” Meshaal toldReuters in an interview lastFriday from Qatar, where hehas set up home since leav-ing Syria earlier this year.Hamas leaders have said inrecent years the movementcould live peacefully along-side Israel if it wins a state onall Palestinian land occupiedby Israel in 1967, althoughthe Islamist group’s 1988founding charter calls for thedestruction of Israel and forrecovering all of British man-date Palestine.

Various Hamas officialshave at times indicated a will-ingness to negotiate a truce,possibly decades long, withIsrael. But Hamas continuesto say that it will notrecognise the Jewish stateofficially, and it is viewed asa terror group by Israel andmost Western govern-ments.—Reuters

Russia, US talkon Syria, events

worsen on groundDUBLIN—The two super-powers divided by Syria’s civilwar met head to head onThursday, with signs emerg-ing that Russia might curb itssupport for President Basharal-Assad and Washingtonsaying events were gatheringspeed on the ground.

U.S. Secretary of StateHillary Clinton met RussianForeign Minister SergeiLavrov in Dublin on the side-lines of a security conference,at a time when rebel advanceshave brought the 20-monthwar to the doorstep of the capi-tal Damascus.

“Events on the ground inSyria are accelerating, and wesee that in many differentways,” Clinton said before themeeting. “The pressureagainst the regime in andaround Damascus seems to beincreasing.” Lakhdar Brahimi,the U.N. mediator who con-vened the meeting, said thetwo sides had not made anybreakthroughs, but wouldseek a “creative” solution totheir impasse.—Reuters

South Sudandrops kidnap

charges againstUS citizen

JUBA—South Sudan droppedits case against an Americancitizen who it had held on kid-nap charges but whose wifesaid was a victim of an extor-tion attempt by securityagents, a U.S. official said onFriday. Elton Mark McCabewas arrested in October, ac-cused of plotting to kidnap anIndian businessman for a $5million ransom. His Iraqi busi-ness partner MohammedOglah was also detained.

“We can confirm that theHigh Court of CentralEquatoria State dismissed thecase against Mr. EltonMcCabe and Mr. MohammedOglah,” Oliver Mains, spokes-man for the U.S. embassy inthe capital Juba, told Reutersby email. Both men had de-nied the charges, andMcCabe’s wife said he hadbeen beaten by securityagents trying to extort$100,000 for his release.

South Sudan’s securityforces have not publicly com-mented on McCabe’s case,and officials were not immedi-ately available to comment onFriday. —Reuters

NEW BATAAN—Rescuerswere digging through mudand debris Friday to retrievemore bodies strewn across afarming valley in the south-ern Philippines by a power-ful typhoon. The death tollfrom the storm has sur-passed 500, with more than400 people missing. Morethan 310,000 people have losttheir homes since TyphoonBopha struck Tuesday andare crowded inside evacua-tion centers or staying withtheir relatives, relying onfood and emergency sup-plies being rushed in by gov-ernment agencies and aidgroups. “I want to know howthis tragedy happened andhow to prevent a repeat,”President Benigno AquinoIII said during a visit to NewBataan town, the groundzero of the disaster, whereferocious winds and rainslashed the area.

Officials have confirmed252 dead in Compostela Val-ley, including New Bataan,and 216 in nearby DavaoOriental province. Nearly 40others died elsewhere andmore than 400 are still miss-ing, about two-thirds in NewBataan alone. Aquino toldNew Bataan residents gath-ered in the middle of toppledcoconut trees and rooflesshouses that he was bent onseeking answers in order toimprove their conditions andminimize casualties whennatural disasters occur. Fa-tal storms and typhoons

Philippines typhoondeaths reach beyond 500

blowing from the Pacific arecommon in the Philippines,but most of them hit north-ern and central areas, andsouthern Mindanao Island isusually spared.

“We are going to look atwhat really happened. Thereare allegations of illegal min-ing, there are allegations ofthe force of nature,” said In-terior Secretary Mar Roxas,who traveled with Aquino.“We will find out why thereare homes in thesegeohazard locations.” Roxassaid rescue dogs will bebrought to help search forsurvivors, although onlybodies were found Friday.

Government geologicalhazard maps show that thefarming town of New Bataan,population 45,000, was builtin 1968 in an area classifiedas “highly susceptible toflooding and landslides.”Most of the casualties werekilled in the valley sur-rounded by steep hills andcrisscrossed by rivers.Flooding was so widespreadhere that places peoplethought were safe, includingtwo emergency shelters, be-came among the deadliest.

Poverty is widespread inthe Philippines, and the di-saster highlights the risksthat some take in living indangerous areas in the hopeof feeding their families. “It’snot only an environmentalissue, it’s also a poverty is-sue,” Environment SecretaryRamon Paje said.—AP

CAIRO—The MuslimBrotherhood’s main office inthe Egyptian capital and anoffice used by the Islamistgroup in a suburb south ofCairo were set on fire late onThursday, Brotherhood offi-cials and state media said.Egypt has been in turmoilsince President MohamedMursi issued a decree onNovember 22 awarding him-self wide powers. OnWednesday night, sevenpeople were killed in clashesaround the presidential pal-ace before security forcesstopped the fighting.

The Brotherhood’s Free-dom and Justice Party (FJP)said on its Facebook pagethat the headquarters in theMukattam district had beenattacked in “a terrorist ag-gression” by thugs. The

Muslim BrotherhoodCairo offices set afire

state news agency said theoffice used by the FJP wasset ablaze in the suburb ofMaadi. Another office wasbroken into near the citycentre, it said.

Brotherhood officialsblamed police for failing toprevent the violence. “Therewas an intensive presence ofsecurity forces in front of theBrotherhood’s main head-quarters in Mukattam, yet noone intervened to stop theprotesters from burning itdown,” FJP’s Facebook pagequoted the Brotherhood’sspokesman MahmoudGhozlan as saying. Mursi in-vited in a live televised ad-dress, political groups,judges and others to meet onSaturday for a national dia-logue but demonstrators andactivists refused.—Reuters

SEOUL—North Korea’s newyoung leader is using an im-minent rocket launch to bol-ster his prestige internallyand crack down on dissentamid signs the transition ofpower is not going assmoothly as planned, a topSouth Korean official said onFriday.

The isolated North is tolaunch a rocket carryingwhat it says is a satellite be-tween December 10-22 in amove that has been con-demned by the UnitedStates, South Korea and Ja-pan as they believe it is de-signed to test technologyfor a long-range missile ca-pable of delivering a nuclearwarhead.

Kim Jong-un took powerin December 2011 after thedeath of his father and initialsigns that he was willing to

N Korean leadercracks down on dissent

open the economy havegiven way to fears of a crack-down. Kim himself warned ofthe danger of “rebellious el-ements” in North Koreansociety last month and re-cently met the country’s toplaw enforcement officials.

The official said that Kim,believed to turn 30 next year,had ordered modern equip-ment for his riot police fromanother country and hadalso had them trained tohandle possible civil distur-bances. “We know thatNorth Korea is sending riotpolice for training to anothercountry and they are import-ing a lot of equipment for theriot police,” he said.

He declined to name thecountry and said that therehad been no signs that Seoulcould see of unrest in NorthKorea.—Reuters

BIPIN DANIOBSERVER

CORRESPONDENT

MUMBAI—The game’sstatisticians don’t agree toViv Richards’ suggestion ofrecognising players’ per-formance of the World Se-ries Cricket (WSC).

Former Windies captainbelieves that the runs andwickets from the World Se-ries Cricket era should becounted in players’ overallrecords. ‘’I’m a little bitpissed off with the peoplewho organise the stats, be-cause that was some of thehardest cricket ever played,’’Richards said in Melbourneon Thursday. The ICC hasnot yet been convinced.

“I don’t think the au-thorities will ever legitimisematches which were notplayed under the aegis ofthe sport’s governing bod-ies. I am more perturbed bythe exclusion of the En-gland vs Rest of the World

Viv Richards’ suggestion of recognisingKerry Packer matches not acceptable,

say cricket statisticiansmatches which were ar-ranged to fill the gap left bythe cancellation of the SouthAfrican tour following theD’Oliveira affair - at the timethese were designated asTest matches but this waslater rescinded”, the US-based cricket statistician,Dave Wilson has said.

“All those who have ba-sic knowledge of compilingrecords will never take intoconsideration the figures ofthe W S C, firstly because itwas not organised by the I CC. It was was organised byan private individual. Allteams were a mixture of play-ers from this or that country,and was not played amongthe individual contries”,India’s renowned statisti-cian, Sudhir Vaidya believes.

“As governing body ofthe game, It’s ICC that de-cides about granting the of-ficial status to matches. We,the statisticians, have to fol-low ICC’s decisions even ifwe have the reasons to be-

lieve that they are totally il-logical and defy ICC’s ownguidelines at times”, India’sother statistician, RajneeshGupta said.

The 1970 England vROW (Rest of the World)series matches were firstgiven the official status andperformances were in-cluded in the players’ ca-reer records. However, theywere termed unofficial laterand the reason given wasthat they were not the con-tests between nations. Simi-lar logic was used for notgranting official status toWSC games. However, in2005 ICC gave official sta-tus to Australia v ICCWorld XI ‘Super Test’, eventhough it was also not acontest between nations.

“It will be better if VivRichards direct his ire to-wards the ICC and not to-wards people who organisethe stats. We are in no wayresponsible for this mess”,Gupta added.

PESHAWAR: Students taking part in High Jump during 36th Inter-Varsity Athletics Championship 2012 at QayyumSports Complex organized by Sarhad University.

KOLKATA—The feeling ofhelplessness that envel-oped much of India’s hor-rendous tours of Englandand Australia descendedagain on MS Dhoni’s sideon the third day at EdenGardens, as two of the mostbloody-minded batsmen inworld cricket, Alastair Cookand Jonathan Trott, setabout grinding down tooth-less bowling in the morning.After lunch, India managedto dismiss both of them, butthat didn’t alter England’sdominance of the match asKevin Pietersen and thelower order stacked upsome quick runs to stretchthe lead towards a comfort-able 200.

The moment typifyingIndia’s ineptness was

India vs England Third Test

England batsmentighten grip on game

from Ishant that struck thebat handle - the batsmenweren’t tested much by thequicks as they wiped outthe deficit.

India’s spinners turnedin a much-improved effortafter Thursday’s disap-pointing show, bowling ac-curately with the old ball inthe first hour before gettingsome bounce and turn withthe shiny one. In the sec-ond session, they got somehelp from the pitch as well,spinning the ball past theoutside edge several times,and asking questions of thewell-set Cook and Trott.

Nothing took the shineoff Cook’s golden tour,though, as he completed 26hours of batting in the se-ries, the longest day for

tion, the carrom ball, forfour, and walking out of thecrease before driving.

When England’stailenders were out in themiddle practising their bat-ting during the lunch break,one wondered why theybothered, given how bleakIndia’s chances of prisingapart the Cook-Trott com-bination looked. The standfinally came to an end on173 when Pragyan Ojhamanaged to get a flat deliv-ery to spin away and takeTrott’s outside edge toDhoni.

Trott fell 13 short of ahundred, but Cook seemedset for a double, given hismassive powers of concen-tration, and unquenchablethirst for runs. However,

gressive threat provided byPietersen. The Barmy Army,which had boisterouslycheered the dogged-but-ef-fective scoring of Cook andTrott, was treated to someflamboyant shots fromPietersen, whononchalantly whipped ballsfrom outside off to the leg-side boundary. With lessthan 10 minutes to tea, helaunched Ojha for a straightsix, and began the final ses-sion with three successiveboundaries.

He was toying with theattack, dispatching the ballwhere he liked and gallopedto yet another half-century.However, he missed asweep soon after wastrapped lbw for 54. Eventhat didn’t lead to a slow-down as Samit Patel capit-alised on a tiring attack, andcrashed a brisk 33. Hischance of making it into asizeable innings endedwhen he nicked a catch toslip, where Virender Sehwagjuggled before holding on.

On what was a depress-ing day for India fans, oneof the most disappointingphases was the hour beforestumps. After Samit Patelwas dismissed, Indianeeded just one more wicketto get into England’sbonafide tailenders. In-stead, Matt Prior andGraeme Swann pummelled56 runs in the final 13 overs,the highlight of which wasa majestic pull for six byPrior off Ishant.

India have not lost twohome Tests in a row sinceearly 2000, a streak thatlooks set to come to an endover the next couple ofdays, unless their falteringbatting order finds some-one to replicate Cook’smarathon efforts of this se-ries.—AFP

India 1st innings: ........ 316England 1st innings:Cook run out (Kohli) .. 190Compton lbw b Ojha ..... 57Trott c Dhoni b Ojha .... 87Pietersen lbw b Ashwin 54IR Bell c Dhoni b Sharma 5Patel c Sehwag b Ojha .. 33MJ Prior not out ............ 40GP Swann not out ......... 21Extras: (b 13, lb 4, nb 5) 22To bat MS Panesar, JMAnderson, ST FinnFall of wickets 1-165 , 2-338, 3-359 , 4-395 , 5-420, 6-453Bowling: ........... O-M-R-WZ Khan ................ 29-6-82-0I Sharma .............. 29-8-78-1R Ashwin .......... 52-9-183-1PP Ojha ........... 50-10-140-3Yuvraj Singh .......... 3-1-9-0

DUBAI: Cindy Lacrosse from U.S. plays a ball on the 16th hole during the third round of Dubai Ladies Masters golftournament on Friday.

KOLKATA: Kevin Pietersen acknowledges his half-century during 3rd Test.

Ishant Sharma puttingdown an absolute dolly offhis own bowling whenCook was on 156. A rareCook mistake sent the balllooping towards Ishant atwaist height and at slowpace, but Ishant contrivedto fluff that chance, the ballmissing his palm and hittingthe wrist. Ishant was leftscratching his head in dis-appointment, while MSDhoni maintained his fa-mously expressionlessdemeanour.

Neither the old ball northe new one swung, andthough there was some un-even bounce - Cook wasonce surprised by a lifter

India’s bowlers. As usualthere was no extravagancefrom him; he patientlyblocked or left countlessdeliveries, before cashing inon those that were overpitched or on his pads.

Trott had missed out inthe first two Tests, but notthis time. He was cautiousearly in the morning, butsoon helped himself to thegifts offered by India’sbowlers, especially ZaheerKhan and Ishant. Zaheergave him several deliverieson the pads to put away,while Ishant bowled plentyshort and wide. Beforelong, Trott was calmly dis-patching R Ashwin’s varia-

Cook too fell short of themilestone, run-out on 190after a brain-fade. AfterPietersen clipped a ball tosquare leg, Cook took a fewstrides before turning back.The ball went to India’sbest fielder, Virat Kohli, whoscored a direct hit afterCook jumped back and liftedhis bat to avoid the throw.Cook hadn’t grounded hisbat, so there was no ques-tion of him escaping on ac-count of evasive action,and he was run-out for thefirst time in his Test career.

Though India had re-moved both of England’saccumulators, they still hadto deal with the more ag-

PESHAWAR—University ofBahawalpur (UoB) clinchedthe trophy after defeatingUniversity of Central Punjabby 5-4 in the thrilling final ofthe HEC Inter-UniversityMen Hockey Championshipon Friday.

Professor Dr. Qibla Ayuzwas the chief guest at thepresentation ceremony.

Director Sports Universityof Peshawar Bahre Karam,former international hockeyplayer Tanveer Ahmad,Muhammad Mobeen and Sec-retary Pakistan Sports WritersFederation Amjad Aziz Malikand large number of specta-tors were also present on thisoccasion. Before the start ofthe match the two teams wereintroduced to him.

UoB clinch Inter-VarsityHockey Championship title

The match was startedon fast tempo and Universityof Bahawalpur took the leadthrough Sikander on the fieldattempt in the 12th minute.

It was fine move made bythe right winger and afterdodging three defenders in arow he sent in a beautifulcross to the center forwardSikander who slammed in thegoal without any mistake.After taking the lead,Bahawalpur put in more pres-sure with some fine combinemoves were also witnessed.

University of Bahawalpurafter taking the lead got threeeasy goal scoring chances butthe University of CentralPunjab goal-keeper SajjadKhan thwarted all that attempts.

University of Bahawalpur

was leading by 1-0 at half-time. After the resumption ofthe second session Univer-sity of Central Punjab for-wards kept up pressure tolevel the tally and soon theywere succeeded when full-back Monib sounded theboard with a perfect forcefulhit from the top of the circle,thus leveling the tally 1-1.

After 1-1 both the teamsmade some incisive rallies ofattacks but they were failedto score any goal and thus thematch was ended in a 1-1 draw.To get result of the matchboth were awarded five eachpenalty stroke on which forUniversity of BahawalpurUsman Khan saved two at-tempts by piloting the teamto victory.—APP

Watson to batat Ponting’snumber fourspot in Test

SYDNEY—Shane Watsonsaid Friday he will be giventhe first chance to fill the va-cancy in Australia’s battingorder left by Ricky Ponting’s

retirement and bat at numberfour in next week’s first Testagainst Sri Lanka.

Recalled Phillip Hughesis expected to bat at first dropin a re-jigged Australian toporder for the Hobart Test,starting next Friday.

On the same day skipperMichael Clarke, speaking toreporters in Sydney, sug-gested the Test batting line-up was still undecided, vice-captain Watson confirmed inBrisbane that he would dropdown one spot to numberfour in the Australian order.

“(Coach) Mickey Arthurtalked to me at the end of thelast Test to say the way it waslooking, they were going tomove me down to four,”Watson told reporters.

“It’s taken me a few daysto get my head around that,but it means I can bowl a fewmore overs.

“In the last Test match, Iknow Michael (Clarke) in thesecond innings was a bit hesi-tant to bowl me a few timestowards the latter part of theirinnings, just to give me thechance to be as fresh as Icould going into bat.

“The ultimate is to be ableto contribute with both batand ball throughout thewhole Test match and not beheld back.

“Batting at four will giveme that extra time to freshenup.”—AFP

IS L A M A B A D —Pakis tan’sMuhammad Rizwan Juniorhas made the cut to get hisname included in the final listof International Hockey Fed-eration (FIH) Young Player ofthe Year award.

The FIH will announce itsmen’s 2012 Player of the Yearand Young Player of the Yearon Saturday, at the Champi-ons Trophy in Melbourne,Australia. After receivinginput from the teams partici-pating at the ChampionsTrophy and Champions Chal-lenge in Argentina, the po-tential field of candidates hasbeen trimmed down to fiveper category. Rizwan’s recent

Rizwan Jr potential candidate for‘Young Player of the Year’ award

performance has enabled himto get included in the list ofYoung Player of the Year.

A midfield player, Rizwanwas born on November 25,1994 and was part of Pakistansquad for the 2012 OlympicGames in London, UK.

It was a packed interna-tional calendar for the topmen’s teams with the Olym-pic preparation events, theLondon 2012 Games andnaturally the ChampionsTrophy here in Melbourne.

For the first time, theYoung Player of the Year isopen to players under the ageof 21, instead of the previousU23 cutoff. The women’s

Player of the Year and YoungPlayer of the Year will be an-nounced in early 2013. TheCoach of the Year for bothmen and women will also beannounced at that time. Fol-lowing is the list of players:

Player of the Year: JamieDwyer (Australia), MoritzF•rste (Germany), TobiasHauke (Germany), Robertvan der Horst (Netherlands),Sardar Singh (India).

Young Player of the Year:Florian Fuchs (Germany),Simon Gougnard (Belgium),Harry Martin (England),Gonzalo Peillat (Argentina),Muhammad Rizwan Junior(Pakistan).—APP

Champions TrophyPakistan to faceHolland today

MELBOURNE—Pakistan willface Holland in the semi-fi-nal of the Hockey ChampionsTrophy today (Saturday).

The semi-final will start at7:30 AM (PST) while India willplay Australia in the secondsemi-final at 10:00 AM (PST).

During the tournamentPakistan has won twomatches, while Holland re-mains undefeated.

Former Olympian andPakistan Hockey teamcoach Hanif Khan says theteam is in rhythm and Paki-stan can easily defeat Hol-land.—Agencies

BRAND name drug makers and theirgeneric counterparts rarely findthemselves on the same side of an

issue, but now they are making an excep-tion. They have teamed up to fight a locallaw in California, the first in the nation,that makes them respon-sible for running — andpaying for — a programthat would allow consum-ers to turn in unused medi-cines for proper disposal.

United Pharmacy inBerkeley, Calif., alreadyhas a bin on site to dis-pose of expired drugs.

Such so-called drugtake-back programs aregaining in popularity be-cause of a growing realiza-tion that those leftoverpills in your medicine cabi-net are a potential threatto public health and theenvironment.

Small children mightaccidentally swallow themand teenagers will experiment with them,advocates of the laws say. Prescriptiondrug abusers can, and are, breaking intohomes in search of them. Unused pills aresometimes flushed down the toilet, so phar-maceuticals are now polluting waterwaysand even drinking water. One study foundthe antidepressant Prozac in the brains offish.

Most such take-back programs are runby local or other government agencies. Butincreasingly there are calls to make the phar-maceutical industry pay.

“We feel the industry that profits fromthe sales of these products should have the

financial responsibility for proper manage-ment and disposal,” said Miriam Gordon,California director of Clean Water Action,an advocacy group.

In July, Alameda County, Calif., whichincludes Oakland and Berkeley, became the

first locality to enact such arequirement. Drug companieshave to submit plans for ac-complishing it by July 1, 2013.

But the industry plans tofile a lawsuit in United StatesDistrict Court in Oakland onFriday, hoping to have the lawstruck down. The suit is be-ing filed by the Pharmaceuti-cal Research and Manufac-turers of America, or PhRMA,which represents brand-name drug companies, the Ge-neric Pharmaceutical Asso-ciation and the Biotechnol-ogy Industry Organization.

James M. Spears, generalcounsel of PhRMA, said theAlameda ordinance violatedthe Constitution in that a lo-

cal government was interfering with inter-state commerce, a right reserved for Con-gress. “They are telling a company in NewJersey that you have to come in and designand implement and pay for a municipal ser-vice in California,” he said in an interview.

“This program is one where the cost isshifted to companies and individuals whoare not located in Alameda County and whowon’t be served by it.”

Mr. Spears, who is known as Mit, saidthat the program would cost millions ofdollars a year to run and that pharmaceuti-cal companies were “not in the waste dis-posal business.”

Unused pills raise issueof disposal and risks

KARACHI: Opposition Member Nusrat Sehr Abbasi protesting during the proceedings of Sindh Assembly session.

KARACHI: Vice Chancellor Ziauddin University Prof Dr. Pirzada Qasim inauguratingArt Exhibition of Aliya Faizi. Mirza Ishtiaq Baig, Aliya Faizi and others are also seen inthe picture.—PO photo

AMANULLAH KHAN

KA R A C H I—Toronto –Grand Challenges Canadahas selected Pakistani sci-entist Mishal Khan for itsStars in Global Health Pro-gram. Funded by the Gov-ernment of Canada, theprogram selects and sup-ports the brightest scien-tists and innovators. Forthe first time close to $6million has been awardedto 51 leading scientists

from 18 low and middle in-come countries.

Khan, who holds a doc-torate from the LondonSchool of Hygiene andTropical Medicine and a firstclass degree from the Univer-sity of Cambridge, has beenchosen from among 250 glo-bal applicants.

“This is the largest pipe-line of bold ideas in globalhealth from innovators inthe developing world, andshows unequivocally that

poor countries can be richin ideas about how to im-prove the health of theirpeople,” says Dr. Peter A.Singer, CEO of Grand Chal-lenges Canada. “GrandChallenges Canada is proudto support these extraordi-nary innovators becausethey will make a differenceto so many lives.”

Khan will work with thePakistan National Forum onWomen’s Health to evalu-ate an innovative safe birth

tool developed by Dr.Shershah Syed and his col-leagues. The low cost tool,which assists mothers thathave difficulty during child-birth, could prevent millionsof maternal and newborn in-juries and deaths.

“To make sustainableimprovements in health anddevelopment it is essentialto develop local solutions”said Dr Fahad Qazi from theResearch Alliance for Advo-cacy and Development

which will be conductingindependent monitoringand evaluation of theproject.

Expressing her commit-ment to addressing in-equalities in health Khansaid “Women living in poorcommunities are more likelyto require healthcare butless likely to get it. There-fore we must find solutionsthat can reach needy popu-lations and prevent ill-nesses from occurring.”

Pak scientist picked for ‘Star in Global Health’

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The Governmentof Sindh jointly with stake-holders has developed a con-sensus for action plan to pre-vent Baldia Factory Fire likeincidents in future. Almost300 representatives of em-ployers, workers, governmentofficials, international buyers,civil society, academia, andmedia deliberated in a daylong consultation in Karachiand provided key recommen-dations for the Plan of Actionon Safety and Health atWorkplace. The workshopwas organized by SindhLabour Department, Employ-ers Federation of Pakistan(EFP), and Pakistan WorkersFederation (PWF) and theILO. A “Statement of Com-mitment” was also agreed andsigned by Sindh Labour De-partment, EFP and PWF tojointly work and promote

health and safety at work.Secretary Labour Arif Elahiannounced that the LabourDepartment will launch theAction Plan by end of Janu-ary 2013.

ILO Country Director Mr.Francesco d’Ovidio saidthat ILO will provide all tech-nical facilities to the SindhLabour Department for de-velopment and implementa-tion of Plan of Action to pro-mote safety and health atworkplace. He said it wasunfortunate that many work-ers lost their lives in singlepreventable accidents of fac-tory fire. He passionatelyappealed to the stakeholdersto come together and helpprevent such accidents infuture. Ms. IngridChristensen, ILO’s technicalexpert on occupationalsafety and health said thatfactory fires are preventableif right systems, training and

response mechanisms areput in place. She made tech-nical suggestions for theworkshop participants to de-liberate for the improvementof Labour inspection Sys-tem, establishing an occupa-tional safety and health atwork place, and strengthen-ing the work insuranceschemes to help protectworkers.

Brother Zahoor AwanGeneral Secretary PakistanWorkers Federation, whileappreciating the efforts of theSindh Labour Departmentand ILO, demanded thatworkers must be registeredand should not be consideredas machines or tools. ZakiAhmed, Acting President ofEmployers Federation of Pa-kistan also suggested thatemployers should be madeaware of safety related legis-lations and implication ofnon-compliance.

Baldia factory fire like incidents prevention

Action Plan to belaunched soon: Sec

CITY REPORTER

KARACHI—At least fourpersons lost their lives inKarachi on Friday with threebody bags found in Gardenarea and a man gunned downin Manghopir in fresh inci-dent of killings.

According to policesources, the bodies weredumped on the back seat ofa rickshaw that was parkedin Garden area. The bodieswere packed in gunny sacksand had fresh wounds, de-picting that all three weremurdered few hours ago. Thebodies were transferred tothe hospital for medico-legalformalities and to ascertaintheir identities, sourcesadded.

A man was gunned downin New Mianwali neighbor-hood in Manghopir, policesaid. The deceased was iden-

tified as Sarmast, whose bodywas brought to AbbasiShaheed Hospital.

Also, two people —Khalid and Zubair — wereinjured in a firing incident inKorangi-5. Meanwhile, theRangers personnel con-ducted late night targetedoperation in Khokharapararea of Malir and detainedfour suspects during search.

Police arrested two armedmen after shootout inQuaidabad. The arrested menbelong to a drug gang, policesources said. The men werewanted to police in theft, rob-bery, attempt to murder, drugsand other cases, sourcessaid. The accused opened fireover the police party duringthe raid, policemen coun-tered the attack and arrestedtwo accused Shahzad andWajid with three motorcyclesand weapons.

Four killed in freshcity violence

Rangers arrestalleged

criminalsKARACHI—Pakistan Rang-ers has taken into custodyseveral suspects from theKhokhrapar area of Karachi,while local police also heldtwo important criminals thatbelonged to a group ofdacoits.

According to media re-ports, the arrested criminalsare alleged to be involved inmore than 100 cases of mur-der, extortion, robbery, andlooting certain factories. Ithas been said that the ar-rested dacoits belong to abanned outfit and also in-dulged in gang-war.

Meanwhile, police raidedGulshan Bonair area ofQuaidabad, and held twocriminals, who have beenidentified as Shahzad, com-monly known as Naanga, andMuhammad Wajid. The twowere backed by some politi-cal parties, and used to sup-ply arms for them. —Online

Farooq Sattar visitsInt’l Book Fair

KARACHI—Federal Ministerfor Overseas Pakistani’s DrFarooq Sattar visited here the8th Karachi InternationalBook Fair at Karachi ExpoCentre on Friday. Dr. Farooq,who is also the Deputy Con-vener of the Rabita Commit-tee of Muttahida QaumiMovement (MQM) went tothe stall of the LiteratureCommittee of the MQM,where books on the politicalstruggle of MQM Chief AltafHussain and the party litera-ture were displayed.

According to a statementissued by the MQM here,former MNA Tayyab Hussainwas also accompanying DrSattar. Speaking on the oc-casion Dr Sattar commendedthe efforts of Pakistan Pub-lishers and Book Sellers As-sociation. He said that suchpositive steps would help indrawing the attention ofyoung generation to book-reading.

The stall of the MQMLiterature Committee of theMQM drew a large numberof visitors who showed keeninterest in the party litera-ture.—APP

KARACHI—Senior Director In-formation Technology ofKarachi Metropolitan Corpora-tion (KMC) Masood Alam hassaid computer courses for em-ployees were beneficialthrough which progress of vari-ous KMC departments im-proved. He said this while ad-dressing a certificate distribu-tion ceremony of 48th officeautomation course held in KMCcomputer training center, saida statement issued by the KMCon Thursday evening.

On this occasion thecommencement of 49th com-puter training course forKMC employees was an-nounced. Director ComputerTraining Fakhar-ud-din andother officers were alsopresent in the ceremony.

Masood Alam said thatletters to concerned depart-ments for the employees whohad appeared in computertraining would be sent to knowtheir current performance afterthe course. He said that com-puter training courses for em-ployees under KMC Informa-

tion Technology Departmenthad been held in which OfficeAutomation, Web Designing,Advance Excel and InternetTraining included.

During the two monthcourse the mental capabilitiesof employees were enhancedaccording to modernage.These courses underKMC were being arranged freeof cost. KMC departments, ad-ministrations of 18 towns,Sindh Building Control Au-thority, Water and SewerageBoard and other departmentsparticipated in these courses.

Director Computer Train-ing Fakhar-ud-din informedthat 49th course was beingstarted this month whereasmore courses including Ad-vance Excel, Web Designing,Graphics and Internet wouldbe held soon. The purpose ofthese courses was to enhancethe capabilities of employeesaccording to modern needs.Later, Director Informationand Technology MasoodAlam distributed certificatesamong participants. —APP

Computer trainingcourse for KMC staff

Polio drivefrom Dec 17

KARACHI—Deputy Commis-sioner Karachi East SamiuddinSiddiqui has said on Fridaythat the polio eradication cam-paign will start from December17. He said a function will bearranged on December 11, at12 noon at Government GirlsHigh School Sachal Goth,Gulshan-e-Iqbal Karachi Eastin which the schools childrenwill be selected as “PolioChampions”.—APP

Public diplomacourse for

Shuhada wardsKARACHI—The Sindh policewould soon initiate various di-ploma courses on the basis ofself-employment for the chil-dren of the Shaheed police per-sonnel. A statement here onFriday said that these courseswould be on the basis of self-employment and would be inrefrigeration,electrician andcivil works etc.

It said that the IGP, Sindh,Fayyaz Ahmed leghari, chair-ing a meeting here has askedthe AIG Welfare to preparerecommendations regardingallocation of seats for admis-sion to the children ofShaheed police personnel, atthe cadet colleges.

The IGP directed thatspecial attention be paid to-wards the health and medi-cal facilities to the heirs ofthe Shaheed police person-nel.—APP

MORNING sickness might be an indicator of more serious later-pregnancy complications, including

preterm delivery, in some women, research-ers say.In the study, women who re-ported nausea and vomiting in preg-nancy that interfered withtheir ability to live nor-mally were 23 percentmore likely to deliver theirbaby before 34 weeks, and31 percent more likely tohave high blood pressureor preeclampsia, com-pared with women whosaid their morning sick-ness did not substantiallyaffected their lives.

Women with life-af-fecting morning sicknesswere also about twice aslikely to have low weightgain during pregnancy.

The findings under-score the importance ofrecognizing morning sick-ness and managing it, saidstudy researcher Dr. Gary Stanziano, ofAlere Health, a company that produceshealth care products and offers a pro-gram to treat morning sickness.“Thisshould not be a condition that’s takenlightly,” Fox News quoted Stanziano assaying.

About 50 to 60 percent of pregnantwomen experience some type of morn-ing sickness during pregnancy,Stanziano said. About 1 percent have asevere, persistent form known as hyper-emesis gravidarum, which can lead tomalnutrition.

While the immediate effects on

Severe morning sickness ‘maybe marker of preterm births‘

mothers are easy to observe, few stud-ies have investigated the impact ofnausea and vomiting on the later stagesof pregnancy, and delivery.

Stanziano and colleagues analyzedinformation from 81,486 women en-

rolled in an Alere maternityeducation program whodelivered between 2004and 2011. After delivery,the women were askedwhether they had experi-enced nausea and vomit-ing during their pregnancythat affected their ability todo their job or their dailyactivities.

About 5,200 women, or6.4 percent of those sur-veyed, reported nausea andvomiting that affected theirquality of life. About 1,800women of these said theydid not require any inter-ventions, while about 3,300required hydration or phar-macological treatments.

Of those who said the nausea andvomiting affected their quality of life, 23percent had low weight gain for their preg-nancy, compared with 13.7 percent ofwomen who did not have such sickness.In addition, about 10 percent of those whogot sick had infants who were small fortheir gestational age when they were born,compared with 8.4 percent of those whodidn“t have nausea and vomiting.

Researchers aren’t sure why womenwith severe morning sickness saw theseeffects but poor nutrition and too littleweight gain in pregnancy may contrib-ute to the risk, Stanziano said.

LAHORE: A delegation from PPP Minority Wing Punjab led by Yunus Bhatti, PresidentPunjab called on Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan and Presi-dent PPP Punjab Mian Manzoor Ahmad Watto.

LAHORE: Activists of Railways Mazdoor Ittehad chanting slogans in favour of their demands during a protest atLocal Engine Shed.

RailwaysMazdoor Ittehad

stages protestMUZAFFAR ALI

L A H O R E — R a i l w a y sMazdoor Ittehad on Fridaystaged a protest in favour oftheir demands and threatenedthe railways authorities ofobserve complete wheel jamstrike across the country iftheir demands were not metwithin minimum time span.

Despite the assurance ofthe federal government, therailways authorities were notcomplying with the federalgovernment’s orders of pay-ing them in hard cash insteadof cheques in wake of theirsalaries. They said it was alsodecided in principle that therailways workers’ scalewould also be upgraded withanother facilitation of provid-ing them salaries during holi-days.

The railways workersstopped the railway enginesin engine shades, thus, caus-ing undue delays in depar-ture of railways trains fromLahore Railways Stations.They were chanting slogansagainst the authorities andthreatened to observe com-plete wheel jam strike if theirdemands were not met.

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Punjab ChiefMinister, MuhammadShahbaz Sharif has said thatmore than half of our popu-lation consists of womenwho are playing their activerole in education, health, en-gineering, banking and othersectors.

He said that empoweringwomen could put countryon the road to progress andprosperity. He said thatPunjab government hastaken concrete measures forthe development of women.He said that the professionalwing of PML-N will be fullyactivated and professionalmen and women would beincluded in this wing.

He was presiding over ameeting with regard to pro-fessional wing of PakistanMuslim League-N(PML-N)in Lahore. General SecretaryPML-N Punjab Raja AshfaqSawar, Muslim Leagueleader Kamal Ahmed and

PML-N professional wing tobe fully activated: Shahbaz

professional women associ-ated with various sectors at-tended the meeting.Mehwish Malik and SairaIftikhar gave briefing regard-ing professional wing.

Addressing the meeting,Shahbaz said that a prosper-ous and independent Paki-stan is our aim and we willdefinitely achieve this goalunder the leadership ofMian Nawaz Sharif. He saidthat PML-N has a visionaryleadership which is fully ca-pable of strengthening thecountry.

The Chief Minister saidthat PML-N has solid poli-cies for the development andprosperity of the people andthe party will execute thesepolicies after getting suc-cess in coming elections.

He said that the targetsof development cannot beachieved without promotionof education, health, agricul-ture, energy and informationtechnology, that is whyPunjab government has

made improvement of thesesectors its top priority. Hesaid that a comprehensivestrategy has been evolvedfor the improvement of edu-cation, health, agricultureand other social sectors.Shahbaz Sharif said that pro-fessional wing will be fullyactivated in the party and acommittee comprising poli-ticians would be constitutedfor this purpose, which willsubmit its proposals and rec-ommendations.

Professional womenwho participated in themeeting while paying richtributes to Shahbaz Sharifon the welfare steps takenby the Punjab governmentsaid that holding of youthfestival and distribution oflaptops on merit among theyouth are important stepswhich will not only providean opportunity to the youthfor polishing their abilitiesbut the spirit of competitionwill also be created amongthem.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Chief Justice ofthe Lahore High Court, Mr.Justice Umar Ata Bandial hassaid that taxes provide aboost to the nationaleconomy. Therefore, it wasneed of the hour to promotetax culture and Tax Bar shouldalso shoulder its responsibil-ity in collection of taxes meantfor progress and prosperity inthe country, he added.

Hon‘ble Chief Justice wasspeaking at a function ar-ranged by the Lahore Tax BarAssociation. He underlinedthe need for strengtheningthe tax collecting depart-ments. A credible and viableTax system can usher an eraof development. It was re-sponsibility of the state to fa-cilitate the business commu-nity and promote confidenceamong them for enhancing thebusiness activities.

Hon’ble Chief Justicecalled upon the elite of the

LHC CJ for promoting tax culturesociety to come forward inpaying taxes and have a pridein getting National Tax Num-bers. Black coats should setan example in this regard andbecome a role model for othersegments of the society. Hewished an atmosphere wheretaxpayers feel protected.Chief Justice said that if thelaws are not enforced evenlythe society becomes uncivi-lized.

Referring to the NationalJudicial Policy Making Com-mittee meeting, Hon’ble ChiefJustice said that there were60,000 old cases in the Punjabas compared to the 10,000 to12,000 in other provinces andit was due to shortage ofjudges. Chief Justice said thatwe are filling this gap withmore work in the courts. It wasa pride that Judiciary in theProvince has responded withimmense conviction and de-votion to duty and has tripledthe conviction rate. We havenot opted for number game

by enhancing disposal ratebut delivering good and com-prehensive judgments. Judi-ciary was not meant only todecide individual differencebut leading to rule of law. Inthis regard Chief Justice alsocited cases of Balochistan andKarachi by the Supreme Courtof Pakistan. Good governancewas basic right of the peopleand the advocates commu-nity was playing their vitalrole, Chief Justice added.

On a demand of funds,Chief Justice informed that inlast June, Lahore High Courtsaved money and equally dis-tributed amongst tehsil anddistrict bar associationsthroughout the Punjab for es-tablishment of libraries and pur-chasing books. Lahore Tax Barwill also get its share in future.

Patron of Tax Bar ZiaHaider Rizvi, President LTBAZahid Attiq, Zulfiqar KhanPresident Pakistan Tax Barand Mohammad Naeem alsospoke on the occasion.

Bid to smuggle10kg heroin

foiledSTAFF REPORTER

LA H O R E —The securi tyforces at Allama Iqbal In-ternational Airport on Fri-day held two passengerswith ten kilograms ofheroin in their luggage.

According to AirportSecurity Force (ASF), tenkilograms of heroin wasseized from two passen-gers at Lahore Airport.

One of the accusedMohammad Asghar, resi-dent of Gujarat, was trav-eling to Doha via foreignair l ine and was detainedwith seven kilograms ofheroine.

The other passengerMohammad MuzammilYousuf, who was travelingto Bahrain, was found with2.25 Kg of heroin.

Both the passengershad hidden the drugs intheir hand-carry.

The securi ty forcesseized the heroin andhanded over the accusedto ANF for investigation.

LAHORE—Strategy for intraparty elections has been fi-nalized while PTI Town Com-mittees would be constitutedto mobilize the workers atunion council level.

This was decided in a aspecial meeting of PakistanTehrik-e-Insaaf presided byCentral Leader Abdul AleemKhan.

This meeting was at-tended by Hammad Azhar,Sardar Kamal Umer, HaamedMeraj, Jamshaid Cheema,Shoaib Siddiqui, NosheenHamed, Talat Naqvi,

PTI finalizes party polls strategyNasrullah Moghal, ManshaSindhu, Nazir Chohan,Ameen Zaki, Rana ZameerDayal, Shaheena Asad andMrs. Neelam Shah.

Addressing the meeting,Abdul Aleem Khan said thatintra party elections of PTIhas set new trend in the po-litical and democratic historyand other parties would haveto follow it. He said that suchsteps would help to end thepolitics of kinship in thecountry. Youth and womenalongwith every patriotic Pa-kistani would play their role

to act upon the vision ofImran, Abdul Aleem added.

Other speakers said thatthe Unity Convention of PTIhas mobilized the party work-ers all over the Punjab andnow they would participatewith more zeal in the PTI elec-tions.

They lauded the effortsof Abdul Aleem Khan tounite and mobilize Tehrik-e-Insaaf and announced tofully support. In the meetingparticipants offered fatehafor the father of Nasir ShahidLodhi, a PTI leader.—Online

PEF giveseducationvouchers to

brick-kiln childrenSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The Punjab Edu-cation Foundation (PEF) hasextended its educationvoucher scheme (EVS) to thechildren of brick-kiln work-ers. This project is aimed toprovide the facility of gratiseducation to maximum num-ber of hapless children. 200vouchers have already beendistributed in Lahore’s JalloMorr area in the first phase.

Chairman Punjab Educa-tion Foundation, Raja Anwarstated this during his meet-ing with a group of brick-kilnworkers at Jallo Morr on Fri-day. PEF-Director (EVS) Ms.Maleeha Batool and otherofficers were also present onthe occasion.

Raja Anwar congratulatedthe brick-kiln workers forsending their children toschools and said that it willhelp to save them from thecruelties of child labor. Hesaid that PEF will providemonthly fee and text books,so they will not be burdenedin any way. The beauty ofEVS is the facility to choosea school of choice, he main-tained. He said that EVS isalso very helpful for girls byarranging their education innearby schools as theycouldn’t go to far off areasfor education due to lack ofresources.

On the occasion, brick-kiln families thanked the PEFfor arranging the facility offree education for their chil-dren and said it will help toroot out illiteracy in their fami-lies. Earlier, PEF-Director EVSbriefed the Chairman aboutvarious facets of the scheme.

No nation canprosper sansstrength of

character: PU VCSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Punjab Univer-sity Vice Chancellor Prof DrMujahid Kamran has saidthat knowledge was powerand no nation could beeducated without strengthof character.

He said that the Mus-lims were being facing allchallenges due to avoidpromotion of education.

He was expressing theseviews in a seminar on “Char-acter Building of Youth forFuture Leadership” in con-nection with the Anti-Cor-ruption Week being ob-served from December 3 to9, at Institute of Social andCultural Studies (ISCS)here on Friday.

While Special Assistantto Chief Minister ZaeemQadri, Dean Faculty of So-cial and Behavioral Sci-ences and Director ISCSProf Dr Zakria Zakir DIGPunjab Police Naveed Elahi,faculty members and a largenumber of students werealso present on the occa-sion.

Dr Mujahid Kamran saidthat the Muslims had beendivided on the definition ofcharacteristics and theyshould think about their be-liefs. He said the Muslimshad not realized that theover 700 verses of HolyQuran, which is 1/8th of theHoly Book, stressed to fo-cus on the mysteries of theuniverse.

He said that an Austra-lian Jewish scientist GideonPolya had written in hisbook “Body Count”, pub-lished in 2007, that therehad been 1.3 billion avoid-able deaths during the pe-riod 1950-2005 of which 600million were Muslims and ifwe considered deaths dur-ing last ten years it wouldreach almost 700 million. Hesaid that high aim with sin-cerity and continuous pro-cess was important to char-acter building.