KARACHI: Protesters are throwing stones on police as they attempt to reach US Consulate during a rally against theanti-Islam movie.

Continued on Page 7

JACOBABAD: An elder woman kissing a Pakistan Army soldier to thank him forrescue and relief of her family to safer place as flood hit the different areas of theprovince. (Another picture on Back Page)

M I H T A R L A M — E i g h twomen were killed and eightwomen wounded in aNATO air strike east ofKabul, an Afghan officialsaid Sunday, adding that aninvestigation had been or-dered.

NATO’s US-led Interna-tional Security AssistanceForce said it had targetedinsurgents, but had beenmade aware of “possibleISAF-caused civilian casu-alties” numbering five toeight, extending its sincer-est condolences over the“tragic loss of life”.

8 Afghan women perishin Nato air strike

4 coalition soldiers killed by Afghan policeAfghans said the inci-

dent happened overnight inthe area of Dilaram village inthe remote Alingar district ofLaghman province. Thewomen were said to havebeen out in the mountainscollecting fire wood.

Sarhadi Zwak, a provin-cial spokesman, said it was aunilateral military operationnot coordinated with Afghanforces.

“In this raid, eight womenare killed and another eightwomen are wounded. The(provincial) governor hasappointed a delegation to in-

vestigate,” Zwak told AFP.Dozens of tribesmen from

Alingar drove into the pro-vincial capital, Mihtarlam,carrying the bodies of someof the victims they said werekilled.

The crowd stopped out-side the governor’s office,shouting “death to America,death to the Jews”, an AFPreporter said.

ISAF said initially that itstroops had called in an airstrike against about 45 insur-gents in Laghman “afterpositively identifying hostileintent” and that “a large

number of the insurgents”were killed.

Four NATO soldierswere killed Sunday morningby members of the Afghanpolice in restive southernAfghanistan, the latest inthe growing number of theso-called “ green-on-blue”insider attacks when Af-ghan security forces turnedtheir weapons against coa-lition partners, the coalitionforces said in a statement.

“Four International Se-curity Assistance Force(ISAF) service members

Continued on Page 7

JACCOBABAD—Floods arefeared to submergeJacobabad still due primarilyto a 50 foot and 100 footbreaches in Noorwah canalat Tel and Sem Branch canalrespectively.

Flood waters are fast ap-proaching the city and theland link with Balochistan isbeing severed.

Evacuatioon of peoplehave begun from Shahbaz AirBase and aircrafts are readyto fly away.

Meanwhile floods havewreaked havoc and causedimmense destruction inKashmore, Shukarpur,Tangoni and other cities and

Flood fear looms over JacobabadPM announces Rs2b for Sindh flood-hit areas

Continued on Page 7

areas forcing effectees totake reguge on and alongIndus Highway.

There is dearth of foodand potable water and peopleforced to live under openskies have become easy preyto diseases.

Effectees staged protestrallies in Kandhkot. Theyblocked the National High-way by putting typres on fire.

DCO Shikarpur says thatfloods and water everywhereare hindering aid works.

The situation is the samein Balochistan: Effectees areforced to drink dirty water.

Eleven more bodies in-cluding that of a child of

people who were acrriedaway by floods have beenrecovered from Dera MuradJamali during 24 hours. InJafferabad, three morebreaches were made to helplessen the ferocity of the flowof 70,000 cusic of water afterwhich land link with Sindh issevered.

In Punjab, Dera GhaziKhan and Rojhan still remainsubmerged in flash floods. Avillage in the vicinity of ChotiZereen was drowned by theflash floods gushing fromSuleman Mountain.

Lives and well being ofpeople are endangered by

ISLAMABAD—The ministryof finance has approved theproposal forwarded by Oiland Gas Regulatory Au-thority (OGRA) seeking anupward revision in theprices of petroleum prod-ucts with the exception ofdiesel.

According to the sum-

Govt drops another POL prices bombmary, the price of petrol hasbeen raised by Rs6.82 per li-tre while diesel price was cutdown by Rs1.75 a litre witheffect from September 17(Monday), under the weeklymechanism to review theprices of POL products.

The price of High OctaneBlending Content (HOBC)

One killed as protestorsmarch on US Consulate

‘Death to America’ slogan chantedNationwide protests against anti-Islam film

Continued on Page 7

Continued on Page 7

Continued on Page 7Continued on Page 7

Dr A Q Khanaffair a closedchapter: FO

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Foreign OfficeSunday said that ‘so calledDr Abdul Qadeer Khan affair’is a close chapter, adding thatPakistan has taken all neces-sary measures in support ofnuclear non-proliferation andextended full cooperation tothe international community.In a response to a questionregarding comments madeby Dr A Q Khan, the FO

6 fighter jets at UKbase destroyed

Prince Harry wasjust 400 yardsaway whenTaliban attackedKABUL—Prince Harry wasjust ‘400 yards’ away whenthe Taliban attacked theUK’s military base inAfghanistan, but wasrushed to safety.

As the insurgentsarmed with rocket-propelledgrenades stormed CampBastion in Helmandprovince, Prince Harry wasrushed to safety by hisarmed bodyguards to aprotected area, ANIreported Sunday.

But despite being soclose to the intense three-hour fire-fight, which lefttwo American Marinesdead, four British airmenseriously wounded and

Zardariconvenes alliesmeeting todayISLAMABAD—PresidentAsif Ali Zardari hasconvened a meeting of theleadership of allied partiesin the government todiscuss important matters.

The meeting will be heldon Monday during whichamong other things politicalsituation will be discussedin detail.

Sources said themeeting has been called inthe back drop of announce-ment that it would contestthe forthcoming generalelections without enteringinto alliance with the PPP orany other party andannouncement by DeputyPrime Minister and PML-Qleader Pervez Elahi.—INP

has also been raised byRs1.50 a litre and keroseneoil by Rs0.62.

A jump in internationaloil market, which rose by $2per barrel from $113 to $115lately, has been imputed tothis probable hike in localpetroleum productsprices.—INP

KARACHI—One person waskilled and nine others wereinjured in violent protests infront of the US consulate inKarachi.

The protestors were voic-ing their anger over anti-Is-lam video, which has causedanger in Muslim countries.

Police fired bullets in the airand used tear gas and watercanons to disperse some 1,000people at a rally organised byMajlis-e-Wahadatul Muslimeen.

Police said, they had tofire tear gas shells after theprotestors refused to pay anyheed to their warning.

At one stage protestorsbroke through security cor-dons and got closer to theheavily guarded US consu-late, pelting stones at thebuilding.

They chanted “Downwith America”, “We will sac-rifice our lives to safeguardthe honour of the Prophet”and “Hang the film maker.”

Richard Silver, a spokes-man for the US consulate,said: “There has been nodamage or injury to any ofour personnel at the consu-late.”

According to reports theprotestors torched four ve-hicles.

The retreating demon-strators who set ablaze Po-lice Chowki and a number ofbikes parked near the Con-sulate, again converged atNumaish Chowrangi at M.A.Jinnah Road near Quaid’sMausoleum and started pelt-ing stones on passing ve-hicles. They damaged a num-

ber of vehicles, burnt threepolice mobiles and seriouslyinjured at least three police-men. Allama Mirza YousufHussain of Majlis-ul-Wahdatwho has called for three daymourning against the killingsaid that such rallies wouldbe brought out from all majorcities of Pakistan.

Protest rallies were alsoheld in Lahore, Rawalpindi,Peshawar and other cities.

Addressing rally inLahore Hafiz Saeed head ofJamaat-ud-Dawa demandedhanging of the team that pro-duced the film.

In Kohat, a protest rallywas taken out which culmi-nated at the Cantt Gate. Apartfrom workers of political par-ties, ordinary citizens also

Continued on Page 7

TARIQ SAEED

PESHAWAR—A deadly blast,believed to be a landmine ex-plosion, hitting a passengervan in the outskirts of Dirdistrict Sunday morning leftat least 16 people dead andaround a dozen others seri-ously wounded. Those killedincluded 3 women and equalnumber of children. Themedics at the City’s majorhospitals termed the condi-tion of many injured as pre-carious fearing the death tollwould go higher. Some offi-cials said the blast was re-sulted from IED.

Reports reaching herefrom Timergarah, headquar-ters of Dir, said a passengervan coming from Inziro

16 dead, 12 injured inDir landmine blast

Banda to Tehsil Munda hit alandmine near Landai areasome 30 kilometers from dis-trict headquartersTimergarah that playedhavoc on the passengers ofthe van. While the van, fullto the capacity, was de-stroyed completely, all thepeople on board the ill-fatedvehicle fell victim to the blast.

Some police and districtadministration officials saidthe blast was caused by anImprovised Explosive Device(IED) which was detonatedwhen the passenger vanreached by. The blast vic-tims were rushed by the lo-cals to the District headquar-ters hospital where the doc-tors pronounced 16 peopledead while twelve others were

admitted for treatment. Thecondition of many injuredwas stated critical and thedoctors apprehended thedeath toll would mount.A senior police officer toldObserver the van came un-der attack at Jandol areaaround seven in the morning

An eye witness saidhe was inside his housewhen he got the informationabout a huge blast in nearbyLadai Shah area and when hereached the he spot, sawhuman bodies and flesh scat-tered in vast area adding hesaw many amputated limbs atthe site of the blast.

The security officials andthe police rushed to the siteof the blast and helped in the

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—CommissionerKarachi, Roshan Ali Shaikh,ordered dumping of the re-cently imported “infected”Australian sheep after ad-ministering poisonous injec-tions to them.

The 21,000 Australiansheep, infected with salmo-nella and actinomyces, ar-rived in Pakistan in the firstweek of September after

Dumping of ‘infected’Australian sheep ordered

Bahrain refused to accept theconsignment because theanimals allegedly had thescabby mouth disease.

An Australian companycalled Wellard Exports sentthe consignment.

While speaking to media,Shaikh said that the processof killing and dumping thesheep has begun under thesupervision of deputy com-missioner Karachi.

UN group meetsTalal Bugti

QUETTA—JWP chief TalalBugti has urges United Na-tions to send its peace forceto Balochistan.

Dismemberment of Paki-stan would not be in the in-terest of the world, he said.

Talal Bugti said this whiletalking to media after hismeeting with the United Na-tions Working Group inQuetta.

He said he had informedthe UN group about the miss-ing persons and recovery ofmutilated bodies inBlaochistan.

Talal said law and ordersituation in Balochistan wasdeteriorating day by day andthere was uncertainty every-where.

Peace in Balochistan can-not be restored withoutUnited Nations intervention,he said adding he hadhanded over a list of 550 miss-ing persons to the UNgroup.—NNI

Karzai criticizesUS for holding

prisonersKABUL—Afghan PresidentHamid Karzai on Sundaycriticized the United Statesfor failing to transfer 600 in-mates at Bagram jail to Af-ghan control, despite hand-ing over the prison to Af-ghan authorities.

The prison at Bagramairbase, now known asParwan Detention Centre,

Nawaz warnsagainst any delayin electionsSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Pakistan MuslimLeague (Nawaz) President,Mian Nawaz Sharif haswarned that any delay inthe holding of electionswould take the countrycloser to more devastationand destruction.

Talking to a group ofparty leaders at his Raiwindresidence here on Sunday,Mian Nawaz Sharif said thatfailure and corruption bythe ruling elite havebrought a band name forthe democracy. He said thegovernment was not readyto follow constitution andlaw and was bent upon

Continued on Page 7

ISLAMABAD—The Met Of-fice here on Sunday pre-dicted scattered rain/thun-dershowers in Islamabad,Punjab, KhyberPakhtunkhwa, Kashmir andGilgit-Baltistan and hot andhumid weather expected else-where in the country. Theweather of Abbottabad,Bannu, D I Khan, Peshawar,Parachinar will remain partlycloudy with chances of rainduring the same period.

In next 48 hours, scat-tered rain/thundershower isexpected in Punjab, KhyberPakhtunkhwa, Kashmir andGilgit-Baltistan whereas hotand humid weather expectedelsewhere in the country.

In last 24 hours, rain/thun-dershower occurred at iso-lated places of Punjab,Peshawar, Bannu divisions,Gilgit-Baltistan andKashmir.According to MetOffice here, monsoon cur-rents are penetrating in up-per parts of the country anda westerly wave also affect-ing upper parts of the coun-try and likely to persist fornext 2 to 3 days.

The maximum rain wasreceived at N.P.Thal 54mm,Gujranwala 41, Sahiwal 39,Toba Tek Singh 26, Kotli 16,Peshawar (Civil) 12, Lahore(A/P) 09, Rawalpindi 08,Lahore (PBO) & Bhakkar 07,M.B Din 06, Bannu,

Scattered rain predictedPeshawar (A/P) &Bahawalnagar 03, Islamabad,Garidupatta & Okara 02,Barkhan & Rawalakot 01 mmrespectively.

Maximum temperature re-corded at Turbat 44 degreecentigrade while pollencount remained 193 per cu-

bic meter. Meanwhile,Karachi Met Office predictedpartly cloudy/cloudy andwindy weather is likely in thecity during the next 24 hours.

According to Met office,the maximum temperature isexpected to remain in therange of 32 to 34 degreecelsius.

The weather forecastadded that mainly hot and dryweather is likely to prevail inthe region, however, thun-derstorm rain at one or twoplaces is expected in Zhoband Larkana divisions.While, Multan Met officehas forecast partly cloudyweather with chances ofthunderstorm and light rainfor Multan and its suburbsduring the next 24 hours..—APP

OBSERVER REPORT

IS L A M A B A D—SpokesmanNational Disaster Manage-ment Authority (NDMA)Arshad Bhatti has said thatsituation is under control inflood affected areas ofPunjab and Sindh.

Talking to media,Arshad Bhatti said the mainfocus of NDMA andPDMAs is to save humanlives and livestock of thepeople adding PDMAs aretaking preventive measureto avoid epidemics in floodaffected areas. He said theteams of doctors are survey-ing, while medicines are insurplus to meet any emer-gency situation.

All main rivers flowing normal: FFC

Situation in flood hit areasunder control: NDMA

He said food is also be-ing provided to the peoplein some areas. People havebeen shifted to relief campsfrom flood hit areas ofKamaliya, Rajinpur ofPunjab and TandoMuhammad Khan and Badinof Sindh. He said PDMAshave also given telephonenumbers for complaints ofthe affectees adding 5500tents, 1000 blankets, medi-cines and other things havebeen provided in Punjab.Replying to a question, hesaid monitoring cells havebeen set up in DCOs officesto monitor the flood situa-tion and relief activities,while administrators are alsoworking at tehsil level.

NDMA is monitoring everything and is in contact withPDMAs and other govern-ment departments to meettheir needs to cope withflood situation, he added.Meanwhile, the FederalFlood Commission (FFC) onSunday said presently allmain rivers including Indus,Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi andSutlej were flowing normal.According to daily FFC re-port, the reservoir elevationsindicates that Tarbela Dam hasattained its Maximum Conser-vation Level of 1550.00 feetsince September 12 whereas,Mangla Dam is at elevation of1195.70 feet, which is 46.30 feetbelow its Maximum Conserva-tion Level of 1242.00 feet. The

Dam Regulation Authority ofTarbela Dam Project has beenadvised to take utmost careand vigilance in operation andstrictly follow Standard Oper-ating Procedures and safetyguidelines. The combined livestorage position of Tarbela,Chasma and Mangla reservoirsis 10.901 MAF as compared tolast year’s 11.907 MAF.

According to Flood Fore-casting Division (FFD),Lahore, Saturday’s trough ofWesterly Wave over Northernparts of the country today liesover Kashmir and adjoiningareas. Weak Seasonal Low liesover Northeastern Balochistanand strong monsoon currentis penetrating into upper partsof the country upto 5000 feet.

SWAT: Activists of Jamiat Ulema Islam chanting slogans during a protest against blasphemous film Nishat at Chowk.

BZU to publishbooklet on life

of Holy Prophet(PBUH)

MULTAN—Vice ChancellorBahauddin Zakariya Univer-sity Prof Dr Khawaja Alqamasaid on Sunday that BZU incollaboration with Oxfordpublication decided to pub-lish a booklet written on thelife of Hazrat Muhammad(PBUH).

Addressing a press brief-ing after the engineering en-try test, he said that the book-let would be distributedamong the students to high-light the teachings of theHazrat Muhammad (PBUH).

He said that the sacrile-gious film was a sensitive is-sue adding, “We shouldpresent ourselves like a na-tion by following the teach-ings of Islam.” “Pakistan isour country and we have toprotect it at all costs,” headded. Briefing on the entrytest, Principal University Col-lege of Engineering and Tech-nology Prof Shabr Atiq toldthat total 6,500 candidates, outof 6,990 appeared in the test.

He said that 99 test cen-tres were set up in the univer-sity and 14 teams were de-puted to monitor all theprocess.Shabr Atiq furthertold that the university admin-istration has specified 20buses for the candidates toprovide them facility of freeconveyance.—APP

Swat peacegift of ANP:

MinisterP E S H A W A R — K h y b e rPakthunkhwa Minister forScience and Technology,Ayub Khan Ashari said onSunday that establishment ofpermanent peace in Swat val-ley is the gift of ANP anddemocracy and reiterated notto allow enemy of peace todisrupt it again.

He said that the provin-cial autonomy given underthe 18th Amendment wasanother gift of the coalitiongovernment that would leadto prosperity of the province.

He said peace in Swatwas established after enor-mous sacrifices and it was ourcollective responsibility tomaintain it.

The Minister said peoplewould reject those elements,who helped enemy of peaceduring Swat unrest and willnot pay heed to their propa-ganda.

He said ANP hasbrought red revolution andthere was no room for otherrevolutions in KhyberPakthunkhwa. He was ad-dressing party workers at vil-lage Ashari in Swat district.On this occasion dozens ofpeople joined ANP.

He said ANP had lostMPAs, leaders and workersbut never compromise onprinciples and establishedpeace in Swat. He said peoplewould re elect ANP candi-dates for continuity of poli-cies and completion of ongo-ing projects in the province.Without ANP, he said, nopolitical party will form gov-ernment in KP singlehandedly.

The projects worth bil-lions of rupees have beencompleted in Swat and KhasKarmat areas. He said nowtourists can visit each part ofthe valley without fear.

The minister said thepeople were proud of thosewho laid down their lives forthe nation. He said sacrificesgiven by ANP workers andleaders for Swat peace willnot go wasted.

PIMA initiatesflood reliefactivities

STAFFA REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The PakistanIslamic Medical Association(PIMA) has started medicalrelief activities for flood vic-tim in southern Punjab.

A mobile medical teamvisited Rojhan Jamali in Dis-trict Rajan Pur and examinedaround 295 patients while theassociation also distributedfree medicines among the af-fected people, Dr Irfan Ul-lahMalik, Incharge of Flood Re-lief Activities PIMA, told APPon Sunday.

Dr Irfan warned againstspread of different dis-easeslike skin diseases, malaria andgastro in the flood affectedareas.“We have pointed out18 areas in Dera Ghazi Khanand Rajan Pur districts,where we will arrange mobilemedical camps on daily ba-sis,” he said. Meanwhile, itis reported from DG Khanthat Com-missioner DG KhanTariq Mehmood Khan saidthat water has been drainedout from low lying areas anddisplaced people havestarted to return.

Addressing a meeting inhis office, Commis-sionerTariq Mehmood Khan saidthat 150 de-watering setswere being used to drain outwater from the city. He saidthat all breaches has beenplugged and special task hasbeen given to special secre-tary C&W for re-construc-tion of affected roads.

He said that irrigationsystem in district Rajan-purwould be rehabilitated withinnext week.

The Commissioner alsodirected to provide medi-cines at all health centres af-fected by the recent flood. Hesaid that 20 different teamscomprising 80 members hasbeen given responsibility tomonitor the problems facedby the flood affected people.

He urged all departmentsto take part in relief operationin order to provide better fa-cilities to the people.

Director Health told inthe meeting that 3,869 pa-tients has been treated in theflood affected areas of DGKhan and Rajanpur while 174kids were vaccinated.

DG Live Stock DrMuhammad Nawaz Saeedsaid that the department hasset up 28 flood relief centresin flood hit area. —APP

HYDERABAD: Turkish Ambassador Babur Hizian visiting Sindh Museum.

PESHAWAR: Deputy Speaker Khush Dil Khan Advocate and ANP Distt: Peshawar Presi-dent Arabab Najeeb Ulllah offering Dua after breaking stone ceremony of Adezai toShari Kaira Road on Sunday.

LAHORE—The provincialgovernment authorities haveunveiled about 2000 illegalfactories in different areas ofthe provincial capital andhave warned them to com-plete security measures andfulfil legal requirements tillSep 22, otherwise strict ac-tion should be taken againstthem.

According to details,concerned provincial au-thorities have acceleratedtheir operations after Karachiand Lahore infernos whichclaimed about 330 preciouslives.

The two factories gutteddue to wild fire in Lahore andKarachi have been seized bylaw enforcement authoritiesand other factories were be-ing checked to ensure thatproper arrangements were inplace for security of employ-ees in case of any emer-gency.

DCO Lahore said that

Factories issued notices forfulfilling legal requirements

about 2000 illegal factorieswere functioning across thecity and several others werebeing set up and accordingto official sources labour de-partment, industries, civildefence and environmentdepartments were involvedin this illegal activity.

He said that we cannot seize 2000 illegal facto-ries because thousands oflabourers would be unem-ployed.

However, the DCOLahore said that noticeshave been issued to all fac-tories to full legal require-ments and ensure securitymeasures till Sep 22.

Meanwhile, the probingteam has sent the investiga-tion report of Bund Roadshoe factory fire to provin-cial government.

The report stated thatestablishmen of factories inresidential areas was threatto public lives.—INP

LA H O R E—CommissionerLahore Division, JawadRafique Malik has orderedstern action against the of-ficers who do not participatein anti-dengue meetings heldin towns. He directed thatprior intimation be given toall the officers concernedabout the meeting and if any-one does not participate areport be sent to Commis-sioner office so that depart-mental action could be initi-ated against him.

He issued these orderswhile presiding over a meet-ing held to review anti-den-gue arrangements at WahgaTown, here today. The meet-ing was also attended by

Officers forced to attendanti-dengue meetings

CM’s Special Advisor onHealth Khawaja SalmanRafique, Member ProvincialAssembly Rana TajemulHussain, Mian NaveedAnjum, Waseem Qadir, Ad-ministrator Wahga Town,Chief Entomologist, Dr.Sajjad Dara, TMO WahgaTown, officers of WASA,PHA, LWMC, Civil Defenseand Education besides mem-bers of Emergency ResponseCommittee. The Commis-sioner emphasized upon theofficers that the purpose ofholding of anti dengue meet-ing in the towns was tocheck anti dengue arrange-ments and to mobilize admin-istrative officers and rectify

the shortcomings so thatdengue could be controlled.He also directed EDO Healthto keep sufficient stock ofinsecticides and maintainproper record of their utiliza-tion. The Commissioner di-rected TMO Wahga Townand entomologist to keep aclose liaison with the CDGL,Health and other depart-ments concerned to solveany problem they faced. Inthe meeting, the Punjab In-formation Technology Boardofficers while presentingtheir report informed themeeting that 178 Androidphones have been providedso far to the CDGL and otherdepartments.—APP

Police orderedto wear bullet-proof jackets

PESHAWAR—The Provincialgovernment has orderedwearing of bulletproof jack-ets by all police personnel ofthe Province, with immediateeffect.

The directive(s) havebeen given in light of con-tinuous terrorist assaults andattempts over target killing ofpolice of the Province.

Interior ministry has is-sued specific directives to allprovincial DIGs, DPOs etc inthis respect, in light of nu-merous policemen murderedduring their duty patrolling.

KP govt makes recom-mendations for resolving en-ergy crisis: The governmentof Khyber Pakhtunkhwa hasforwarded the recommenda-tions to the federal govern-ment for resolution of theenergy crisis.

The government ofKhyber Pakhtunkhwa havebeen prepared these recom-mendations in the light of theresolutions passed duringthe Energy Conference.

These recommendationshave been sent to the Presi-dency and Prime Minister’sSecretariat.

The provincial govern-ment has also asked the fed-eral government to ensureimplementation on its recom-mendations. —Online

Court approvesbail of Baba Jan

GILGIT—The court of Gilgithas approved the bail of PYFleader Baba Jan. “If new cases are not filedagainst him he will be re-leased on Monday”, a partyworker told the Online.The workers are expressingfear because earlier Baba Janhad been indicted in othercases after a court grantedhim bail in cases related toviolence in the Hunza Valley.Advocate Ehsan Ali, one ofBaba Jan’s lawyers, said thatthe bail documents havegone missing from the jail. Hesaid that authorities are try-ing to delay the release ofBaba Jan because they wantto sabotage massive recep-tions awaiting the PYFleader, who has been in jailfor more than a year.

Baba Jan had handedhimself over to the police inAugust 2011, after he wasdeclared absconder in casesrelated to violence in theHunza Valley, triggered bythe murder of two protestersby police officials.—Online

ATTOCK —Chairman Com-munist Party of Pakistan(CPP), Engineer JameelAhmed Malik has stronglycondemned the unholy ac-tion of disgracing Islam andits sacred Prophet in an anti-Islam film.

He has also demandedfrom President Zardari to im-mediately take up this matterwith the American govern-ment for immediately banningthe film and arrest the filmmakers.

“Neither any communistcountry nor any of their citi-zens has ever disgraced andhumiliated Islam and the holybooks of any religion nor hasplayed with the sentiments ofMuslims or injured the feel-ings of other religious com-munity of the world” , henoted.

It is always the AmericanImperialism and its citizen orthe capitalist countries, whohad periodically, purposely

engaged and played withsentiments of Muslims” hedeclared, condemning therecent deplorable anti-Islamfilm by priest Terry Jonesbeing a coward act by thetroika of Obama, Hillary andCIA.

He said that despitePresident Obama and sec-retary of state HillaryClinton had dissociatedthemselves from the filmmakers, both of them werebehind the scene in leaguewith Terry Jones and CIA,playing with the sentimentsof Muslims

“The American Imperial-ism had sowed the seeds ofIslamic hatred from the verybeginning, when it connivedin creation of a Jewish statein the Islamic and Arab re-gion” the party stated, re-gretting that this anti-Islamfilm had greatly upset theMuslims world-wide.

Condemning the Ameri-

can imperialist lobby for cre-ating misunderstandingsamong the Muslims againstcommunism, the CPP Chair-man pointed , that neither thecommunists nor any regimeof the communist states wereagainst the Muslims or anyother religion but ratheragainst religious terrorismand religious hatred in thename of religion.

He also justified the re-action shown by the angryMuslims all over the worldespecially in Arab countriessuch as Libya where U.SAmbassador was killed, sinceMuslims can not tolerate theoft repeated humiliation oftheir Islam and Prophet.

The chairman CPP alsowarned that such kind of in-cidents would destabilize therelations between the twocountries (Pakistan andAmerica) which are alreadypassing through a crisis. —Online

CPP strongly condemnsanti-Islam film

Serving humanity best form of worshipK A R A C H I — M u t t a h i d aQaumi Movement (MQM)chief Altaf Hussain on Sun-day said that serving the hu-manity is the best form ofworship.

He said this while speak-ing to the people gathered atthe relief camp set up at “NineZero” for the families affectedby the Baldia Town tragedy.

He said that there wasnothing superior and noblerthan the selfless work beingdone by the MQM workers.

He prayed Allah toshower His blessings on thepeople who were donatingmoney for helping the ailinghumanity.

He declared that AbdulRauf Siddiqui has shown

clearly by tendering his res-ignation that ministries wereof little importance for theMQM.

Altaf said that RaufSiddiqui had resigned at thecall of his conscience and ithad no parallel in the historyof the country.

He commended RaufSiddiqui and said that minis-tries were of little importancefor the MQM because serv-ing the humanity was of fore-most importance for theMQM. He thanked the chari-table people who were donat-ing generously at the reliefcamp of the MQM.

He also praised media per-sons who were making inde-pendent coverage of the

Baldia Town tragedy withhonesty. He also praisedmembers of the MQM RabitaCommittee in London and Pa-kistan, MQM workers andKKF volunteers for their self-less and tireless efforts.

He also praised office-bearers of the informationwing of the MQM and its sub-sections news room, photosection, video section, andCyberCom department fortheir services.

Deputy Convener ofMQM Rabita Committee AnisQaimkhani, members of theCommittee and workers andoffice-bearers of variouswings of the MQM were alsopresent on the occasion.—APP

Plan to protect DG KhanD G KHAN—Senior Advisor to PunjabChief Minister, Sardar Zulfiqar KhanKhosa directed the departments con-cerned to make a master plan for secur-ing the district from flood in future. Pre-siding over a meeting at Commissioneroffice here, he directed the departmentsconcerned to expedite rehabilitationand relief work of flood affectees. Hesaid the Punjab government would notleave alone flood-hit people in such

condition, adding that all possible resources would be uti-lized for their rehabilitation Zulfiqar Khosa said the Punjabgovern ment would provide compensation to flood-hitpeople as the loss-survey would complete in flood-hit ar-eas. Chief Engineer briefed the meeting that the breach ofDajal canal would be filled within a week. A total of 28flood relief camps were established in DG Khan andRajanpur districts where food, residential and health facili-ties are being provided, he added. On this occasion,Secretaries of various departments, Commissioner TariqMahmood and other officials were also present. Mean-while, the Irrigation Department issued a flood warning toall departments concerned due to fresh rain spell in thearea. According to a handout, all the departments havebeen warned to be alert and make foolproof arrangementsto cope with any flood situation. It also warned that floodmay affect six canals of DG Khan, including Soori Lond,Wadoor, Wahowa and Singher. Meanwhile it is reportedfrom Larkana that relief and rescue work is under way inflood-hit areas of Jacobabad and Kandhkot-Kashmore dis-tricts. Pak Army, Rangers and volunteers have distributedration and other relief items among flood victims Relief work-ers have been engaged in relief operation across Jacobabadand Kandhkot-Kashmore districts round the clock. Reliefcamps have been set up at various places in Jacobabad andKandhkot-Kashmore districts where teachers and othervolunteers are looking after the affected people.—APP

‘Punjab govt misusing public funds’SIALKOT—Federal Minister for Na-tional Regulations and Services DrFirdous Ashiq Awan alleged that thePunjab government was misusing pub-lic funds.Speaking to party workers andnotables of NA-111 at Kuba Chak, DrFirdous said the Punjab governmenthad set a unique precedent of corrup-tion due to which people were beingdeprived of their rights.She said thatthe people would reject the looters and

corrupt mafia in the coming elections. The PPP-led gov-ernment will complete its constitutional tenure and all con-spiracies against it will fail, she added.Dr Firdous said thePPP-led government was not responsible for the electric-ity crisis, price hike and unemployment in the country.However, it was making sincere efforts to overcome thepower crisis.The minister said that hefty amounts had beenspent on the provision of Sui gas, electricity and uplift ofpolitically ignored and neglected areas of the country. ThePPP will continue its mission of serving the people withdevotion, she added. Earlier, addressing an oath-takingceremony of newly-elected representatives of the SialkotPress Club, the minister said that for the sake of improve-ment, journalists must forge unity and hold accountabilityof political leaders and institutions as well as people in-dulged in hijacking institutions for their personal gains.She said that healthy criticism helped the government re-set its parameters for the redress of issues. “Besides, themedia also serves as a bridge between people and thegovernment. The prime duty of the media to highlight prob-lems of all sections of society and suggest measures to setthings right,” she added. She said it was observed thatsome undemocratic elements were growing fast for theirpersonal gains and the media should play role in weedingout such elements. —APP

CNG stations’ problems

HYDERABAD—Federal Minister for Po-litical Affairs Senator, Mola Bux Chandiohas said that Pakistan Muslim League(N) was playing provincial politics eventhough it claims to be a national politi-cal party. “In every other issue theybring up the Punjab card,” he said whileaddressing Sindh CNG Convention2012-13 at a local hotel. The minister saidthat Peoples Local Government Ordi-

nance, 2012, had been promulgated in the interest of theprovince adding that Sindh Assembly would legislate onthe ordinance withing 90 days of its coming into force.He said the political allies which had parted ways with thePakistan Peoples Party (PPP) over the ordinance had doneso in order to prepare for the upcoming general elections.“They don’t want share any responsibility about the com-plaints the people might have with the government,” headded. Chandio acknowledged that while the PPP govern-ment might not have fulfilled its promises completely, itachieved major accomplishments in the form of provincialautonomy, changing Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s name, rightsfor FATA and Gilgit Baltistan, entrenching democracy,besides many others. The minister said that the PPP lead-ers were blamed in the name of National ReconciliationOrdinance (NRO) by those who fled the country in the darkof the night by making a clandestine agreement with a dicta-tor. Chandio assured the CNG owners that there problems,demands and recommendations would be brought to theknowledge of President Asif Zardari. —APP

ANP to win next pollsMINGORA—Minister for InformationKhyber Pakhtunkhwa Mian IftikharHussain has said the Awami NationalParty would win the next general elec-tions with thumping majority in KhyberPakthunkhwa because of its sacrificesin war against terror, unprecedenteddevelopment work and promotion ofsocial sectors. Addressing a party work-ers convention here at Wadudia Hall,the Information Minister said, prime re-

sponsibility of the KP Government was to establish peacein the province for which the coalition government wasutilizing all available resources to achieve the desired goalsHe added that negotiation process would succeed onlywhen Pakistan, Afghanistan and USA, the major stake-holders, agreed on one point agenda of establishing peacein the region. “We are fighting a national war and willnever back out of it as this war has now become war of oursurvival, war to restore sanctity of our mothers and sis-ters”, he told the charged crowd. For the sake of peace onour soil, we are ready to offer any sacrifice to win this war,he added. Referring to Kalabagh dam, he said his partyopposed its construction because had it been constructed,Peshawar and Nowshera districts have been flooded. Hesaid all the federating units should explore power genera-tion projects, adding the KP Government would constructdams which were feasible and suitable for its economicprosperity and had no adverse effect.Every province andits people have rights over its indigenous resources first,he said adding, and there was no harm in exporting it toother provinces afterwards.— APP

STAFFA REPORTER

PESHAWAR—The provincialgovernment has plannedconstruction of 23 new bigand small water projectscosting Rs.6070 million withmain focus on building of 100irrigation tube-wells, a smalldam at Kiyala Abbottabad,flood protection and im-provement of small pondsworks in KhyberPakthunkhwa to bolster itsagriculture, water and en-ergy sectors.

Official sources told re-porters on Sunday that theGovernment has included 23new schemes for uplift ofwater sector in the currentAnnual DevelopmentProgramme (ADP) with a to-

Construction of Rs 6070mKP water projects on cards

tal allocation of Rs.6070 mil-lion against whichRs.1097.673 million would beutilized in current fiscal year(CFY).

As many as 100 irrigationtubewells/lift irrigation-smallnatures schemes would beconstructed with an esti-mated cost of Rs.400 millionagainst which Rs.150 millionwere set aside for CFY, add-ing focus would be made onestablishment of theseschemes in those areaswhere this facility lacked orwas not available in the past.

The 2010 floods hadbadly affected irrigationchannels in KhyberPakthunkhwa that needquick repair and improve-ment, he said, adding the

government has planned tobring improvement in exist-ing irrigation facilities byproviding small ponds/repaircanals in KP and constructsmall irrigation schemes inHazara division with an esti-mated cost of Rs.200 millionagainst which Rs. 100 wouldbe spent on these twoschemes in current fiscal year.

To provide quick excessand travelling facilities tofarmers and agriculture grow-ers in Khyber Pakthunkhwa,the official said, crossing fa-cilities and small bridgeswould be constructed on ca-nals with an estimated costof Rs. 100 million, whichwould save their time andmoney at large.

He said the floods had

badly affected the BudniNullah Peshawar that needsimmediate repair works in or-der to save lives and proper-ties of people in future. Torevamp Budni Nullah, thegovernment will spend Rs.400 million on this majorproject to offset the promi-nent threats of floods inPeshawar suburban areas,adding Rs. 131. 453 would bespent in current fiscal year.Similarly, the governmentwould spend Rs. 75 millionon restoration of flood pro-tection works from Amandarato Totakan in Mardan districtwhile Rs. 6 million would bespent on construction offlood protection works onTarako Nullah near Nogramarea of Buner district to make

these areas safe from floodswhereas improvement ofShamozai in Mardan will costRs. 40 million.

Referring to the Millen-nium Development GoalsReport 2012, he said 783 mil-lion people, or 11 per cent ofthe global population, remainwithout access to an im-proved source of drinkingwater. He said the world hasmet the MDG drinking watertarget five years ahead ofschedule but work is not yetcompletely done and we mustnot forget that since it is notyet possible to measure wa-ter quality globally, dimen-sions of safety, reliability andsustainability may actuallybe slowing progress.

‘I was malignedin Haj scam’,

KazmiMULTAN—Former Ministerfor Religious Affairs, SyedHamid Saeed Kazmi said thathe and his family were ma-ligned through Haj scam buthe would be victorious in thecourt of people. Addressing aceremony here at district bar,he said that recent spate of ter-rorism against a particularschool of thought was a graveconspiracy against MuslimUmmah and the country.

“Shias and Sunnis havebeen living together for centu-ries and they used to resolvetheir issues through dialogues,”he remarked. He said, there wasa dire need to make a Seraikiprovince in SouthPunjab.President district barand general secretary also ad-dressed on the occasion. —APP

Punjab govt usesresources for

workers’ weal:Qureshi

K H A N E WA L —Provincia lMinister for Labour and Man-power Haji Ehsan-u-DinQureshi, said on Sunday thatPunjab government was utiliz-ing all available resources forthe betterment of workers.

Addressing the oath takingceremony of CBA Union Nestlemilk pack factory Kabirwala, hesaid that strict action would betaken against those factoriesoperating without adoptingprecautionary measures.

He said that labour colo-nies and social security hos-pitals were established for theworkers across the province.He urged the workers to playtheir role with honesty for theprogress and prosperity of thecountry.Newly elected presi-dent Muhammad HussainBhatti said that after a longstruggle for the rights oflabourers about 1,000 workerswere being regularized, ofwhom 400 workers belong toKabirwala. —APP

QUETTA—Chief SecretaryBalochistan Babar YaqoobFateh Mohammad has saidthat flash floods triggered bythe torrential rains has ma-rooned about 0.6 millionpeople in Naseerabad andJaffarabad districts alone,besides destroying standingcrops on thousands of acres,damaging over 2,000 housesand completely washingaway road network.

“Dera Allah yar, DeraMurad Jamali, Sohbat pur,Manjopur, Manjoshori areasare still under two to 6 feetwater, increasing the plightof the thousands of familiesliving in these areas,” he saidwhile talking to media per-sons after sending reliefgoods to rain-battered areashere at PDMA office inQuetta.

He said that the govern-ment was fully cognizant ofthe miseries of the rain-hit

Rain-ruined districts of Balochistan

Provincial govt facescolossal losses: CS

people and taking all-out ef-forts to mitigate their suffer-ings by accelerating the res-cue and relief operationlaunched in the affected ar-eas in collaboration with theArmy and Frontier Corps.

The Chief Secretary saidthat he had contacted hiscounterpart in Sindh askinghim not to divert Jacobabadwater towards Balochistan asflow of water to already af-fected areas in Balochistanwould increase the problemsmanifold.

“We are in contact withthe Sindh government in thisconnection to avoid morelosses in Balochistan,” headded. Replying to a ques-tion, he said that lossescaused by the flash floodsand hill torrents in northernand southern Balochistanwere so huge that the pro-vincial government alonecould not cope with the ca-

lamity. “International hu-manitarian organizations,federal government and phi-lanthropists should come for-ward and assist us in the re-lief and rehabilitation pro-cess,” Babar said.

Expressing concern overthe spread of water-bornediseases and scarcity of foodand potable water, he saidthat provincial governmentwas fighting the challengeby utilizing all its availableresources.

However, he said that nostone has been left unturnedso far as the electricity in themain cities in Naseerabad andJaffarabad was restoredwhile efforts were afoot torepairs the damaged roadnetwork .

The Irrigation depart-ment engineers are busy toplug the breaches developedin 13 places, he maintained.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

P E S H A W A R — K h y b e rPakthunkhwa Chief Minister,Ameer Haider Khan HotiSunday strongly condemnedbomb blast at Jandol area inLower Dir district and termedit coward act of terrorism.

In a statement, the ChiefMinister said perpetratorsbehind this heinous crimeagainst humanity would notbe spared and would bebrought to justice soon.

He said anti-state ele-ments will face crushing de-feat in every front and suchacts could not shake the re-solve and determination ofthe government. He said ter-rorists are enemy of Islam,Pakistan and humanity.

The Chief Minister ex-pressed profound grief andsorrow with the families ofvictims and prayed for theireternal peace and early re-covery of the wounded.

He directed the hospitaladministration to providebest medical facilities to theinjured.

It may be recalled that 15people were killed and 10 oth-ers injured in a bomb blast tar-geting a passengers van atJandol area in Lower Dir Dis-trict this morning. Earlier, theoffice-bearers of AnjumaneTahafuz-e-Dukandaran, el-ders of the area, people fromdifferent walk of life, local PPPworkers and leaders and work-ers of the christen communitystaged a set-in to express soli-darity with the victims of thebomb blast and their families.

Addressing the gather-ing Anjumane Tahafuz-e-Dukandaran including Presi-dent, Haji Kamal Hussain,Syed Ejaz Hussain, Haji RaufTori, Mehboob Ali Paracha,local PPP Leader Hamid Toricondemned the bomb blastin which innocent people losttheir lives.

Hoti condemns Dirbomb explosion

KHAR—The Bajaur Agencypolitical administration hasrehabilitated and recon-structed five governmentschools in various areas ofthe agency to provide bettereducation infrastructure totribal students.

An official of politicaladministration here Sundaytold APP that GovernmentGirls Middle School (GGMS)and Government PrimarySchool (GPS) in civil colonyNawagai were rehabilitatedand classrooms, verandaand boundary walls wereconstructed while tables,chairs, cupboards, watertanks and ceiling fans werealso provided to both theschools.

Likewise, GovernmentPrimary school No 1 andGovernment Primary SchoolNo.2 in Damadola area ofMamund Tehsil were also re-habilitated and equipped byproviding 130 studentsdesks, chairs and tables, cup-boards, 20 ceiling fans andother necessary furniture.

Boundary walls and toi-lets were also constructed inboth schools on the requestof tribesmen.

The political authoritieshave also rehabilitated andequipped Government Pri-mary school in Dabar villageof Mamund Tehsil. Theschool was renovated, whitewashed and fully electrified.—APP

Five Bajaur Agencyschools rebuilt

MULTAN: Candidates returning after taking medical en-try test at BZ University.

BANNU: Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from North Waziristan on the way to leave their home loaded with theirluggage and animals on a vehicle due to US drone attacks on their locality.

CHAMMAN: Supporters of PKMAP protest against the target killing of the Pashtoonsdemanding law and order situation control.

Professionalbeggars makelife miserable

PESHAWAR—Large number ofbeggars including womenand children in different areasof the city has made the life ofPeshawarites miserable. Ac-cording to details, begginghas become a profession andmost people instead of put-ting efforts to get employmentor serve as labour to earn live-lihood have started adoptingthe easy and productive pro-fession.

Hundreds of beggars in-cluding women and children,some with disabilities, somewith fake dressings on limbsand some with lame excusesof being affected of variousdiseases or becoming victimsof pick pocketing haveswarmed the traffic signalsand others beg at bus stops,public places and outsidemosques.—INP

DERA ISMAIL KHAN—Criti-cizing the illegal role ofKhyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK)Provincial Minister for Indus-tries, Commerce, Labor andTechnical Education, HajiSher Azam Khan Wazir formanipulating the voters list,PML-N candidate DilawarMehsud said that scores ofMehsud tribe votes has beenillegally got registered bySher Azam in the constitu-ency.

Talking to INP on Sunday,Dilawar Khan Mehsud, can-didate for NA-42 SouthWaziristan Agency (SWA),said that Mehsud tribe de-

IDPs enlisting as voters flayedserted their native SWA af-ter security forces launchedmilitary operation against theTaliban fighters loyal tobanned Tehreek-e-TalibanPakistan (TTP) chiefHakimullah Mehsud in 2009and the Internally DisplacedPeoples (IDPs) started livingin various parts of the coun-try.

Dilawar Mehsud said thatMehsud families started tolive in rented houses in Tank,Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan andother parts of the Provincesince 2009, adding that gov-ernment has repatriated onlyfew families to SWA recently

while thousands of MehsudIDPs are still living in distressin separate areas.

Mehsud said that takingadvantage of the MehsudIDPs helplessness, KPK Pro-vincial Minister Sher AzamKhan Wazir son of AbdurRehman Khan Wazir who waselected to the provincial as-sembly in 2008 from PF-71Bannu-2, has manipulatedthe votes of Mehsud IDPsinto his own constituencywhich is clear violation of law.

Dilawar demanded of theElection Commission of Pa-kistan (ECP) to take strictnotice of the forgery.—INP

MULTAN—Multan ElectricPower Company (MEPCO)will launch a drive for the re-covery of Rs 1.42 billion out-standing dues from 2778 elec-tricity defaulters from Sep-tember 17 Monday (today).

According to MEPCOsources, the MEPCO Admin-istration has directed all thefield officials to launch vig-orous campaign against thedefaulters without any dis-crimination. On the otherside it was reported fromPeshawar that Peshawar

MEPCO to launch recovery driveElectricity Supply Company(Pesco) has barely recoveredRs 7million of its dues dur-ing its two-month-long re-covery drive, official datashowed on Tuesday. Cur-rently, the company is incur-ring losses of around Rs 40-45billion a year because oftechnical and administrativefaults, line losses and poorrecovery system.

A large number of powertheft cases are also a majorreason behind the company’sincreasing financial losses.

Federal line agencies, it islearnt, owed as much as Rs4.5billion while provincialgovernment departmentsowed Rs 1 billion.

The dues, sources said,were outstanding againstthese entities for the pastseveral years. According tothe government’s powersector data, the deficit in therecovery of dues in Pakistansurged to 35 percent over thepast financial year (2011-12)(FY12) from 14 percent in theprevious year. —APP

President needs todo more on drones

PRESIDENT Asif Ali Zardari during meeting with US Special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan Marc Grossman has again calledfor an end to drone strikes in FATA because the continuous attacks

over the last several years have been trampling the country’s sovereigntyand breeding more extremism and terrorism all around. Through dronestrikes Pakistan is being humiliated and the writ of the State is beingaffected because those who loose their near and dear ones take up arms toavenge the deaths.

There have been frequent statements by Pakistan for the stoppage ofthe drone attacks but no serious consideration is being given to them inWashington. Ambassador Marc Grossman, according to our informationvisited Islamabad to prepare the ground for high level contacts between thetwo countries. He mentioned this by stating that the United States waslooking forward to welcoming Foreign Minister Khar to Washington andPresident Zardari to New York for the UN General Assembly, in additionto several bilateral working groups this fall. The Foreign Minister wouldbe holding talks with her counterpart Hillary Clinton and the Presidentwould be meeting Mr Obama and these are the two important occasionswhen Pakistan must strongly raise the issue of drone strikes and attacks bymilitants from Afghan side of the border. On repeated requests by US,Pakistan agreed to reopen the NATO supply routes despite strong opposi-tion in the country and it is time that Washington should reciprocate bybringing an end to the drone strikes. There is need for both the countries tobuild an enduring, strategic and clearly defined partnership in the fightagainst terrorism. For this they will have to work together to identify sharedinterests and act on them jointly for the benefit of both nations and theregion. Though Marc Grossman said the US is committed to building onrecent achievements such as the reopening of the NATO supply lines andthe meeting of the Safe Passage Working Group held in Islamabad on Sep-tember 5, yet it will have to prove its sincerity by addressing serious Paki-stani concerns and top most of them is the drone attacks. Since PresidentZardari has personal relationship with the US leadership, he must stronglyraise the drone issue with President Obama as we are sure he has the capac-ity to get the drone strikes stopped.

Leaders pay lipservice to democracy

WHILE International Day of Democracy was observed on Saturday,some customary functions were held in Pakistan including the one

in Islamabad where speakers observed that solution to our problems liesin continuity of democracy. They also warned that some elements couldderail the democratic process and pointed out that undemocratic inter-ventions in the past not only jeopardized the development process butalso weakened the foundations of democracy in the country.

In our opinion these were just routine utterings made almost on dailybasis by the political leadership and they do not have any impact on thesystem and the people at large. We say so because democracy is a way oflife where there is tolerance, respect to each others view point and ser-vice to all segments of society on equal basis. However in Pakistan thereis a feudal culture and the elected representatives, once they reach theAssemblies, least bother to pay attention to the problems of the elector-ates. They consider themselves as elite and refuse to meet the peoplewho travel from far off places to beg their representatives for help in theresolution of their problems. Democracy is a system for choosing andreplacing the government through free and fair elections, active partici-pation of the citizens in politics and civic life, protection of human rightsof everyone, a rule of law in which laws and procedures apply equally toall citizens. We are pained to point out that mere lip service would do noservice to democracy in Pakistan where the elected representatives aregoing rich and consider themselves unaccountable while the poor arebeing pushed to the wall.

A long termstrategic trade policy

COMMERCE Minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim has disclosed that athree-year Strategic Trade Policy Framework 2012-15 is being pre-

pared to provide a long-term policy framework to have consistency andpredictability for the businesses to be able to plan and strategize for ex-pansion and growth. Such a policy, we believe, should have been put intopractice long before to provide the business community a clear guidelinefor investment and expansion of their businesses.

Due to inconsistency in our policies and several other hurdles includ-ing law and order and the energy crisis, investment is going down withdomestic production fallen. As a result Pakistan is at the bottom of SouthAsian countries when one takes into consideration the GDP growth ofthe past four years. Pakistan’s exports in the first two months of the cur-rent financial year went down while exports have constantly been risingwhich is a very serious issue and those at the helm of affairs in the Com-merce Ministry must give a serious thought to it. The business commu-nity is already feeling the strains of ever increasing energy cost that ismaking our goods uncompetitive in the international market. Perhapsrealizing the gravity of the situation, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, who is asenior Minister, visualised a long term strategic trade policy. However itis essential that leadership of the private sector including FPCCI andPakistan Business Council (PBC) must be associated to give their inputs,as they are the real people who will have to make their valuable contribu-tions to achieve the objectives. The enforcement of the Special EconomicZone Act, 2012 providing incentives to investors such as duty free im-port of capital goods and exemption from all other taxes on the accruedincome for ten years is a welcome move and coupled with the long termstrategic trade policy, one hopes, would certainly help in attracting in-vestment and higher production and exports which are essential to putthe economy on growth trajectory.

United Nations’ ‘WorkingGroup on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances’,

one of the “thematic procedures”of the United Nations HumanRights Council has arrived. Hope-fully’ it will help us indemystifying the issue of ‘missingpersons’. In the prevalent settingof narratives and counter narrativesit is difficult to come out with areport that could satisfy everyone.Nevertheless, issue of missing per-sons is a serious matter impingingupon the fundamental ‘right tolife’. Matter certainly needs a dis-passionate and transparent revisitby a credible agency. This team,led by Professor Olivier deFrouville, will tour all provincialheadquarters to gather information.Experts will analyse and review the“measures adopted by the state toprevent and eradicate enforced dis-appearances, including issues re-lated to truth, justice and repara-tion for the victims of enforced dis-appearances”. The Group has ar-rived in Pakistan at the invitationof the government. OlivierFrouville said that mission wasneither an investigative nor fact-finding but its mandate was to ‘actas a bridge between the families ofmissing persons and concernedgovernments.’

Government of Pakistan hasindeed taken a bold step to invitethe mission. This indicates thatgovernment is quite confident thatits viewpoint and the figures would

Missing persons’ conundrum

Balochistan under global conspiracies

Every man meetshis Waterloo at last.

Robert D. Kaplan writes aboutthe Balochistan province ofPakistan as, “One key to its

fate is the future of Gwadar, a stra-tegic port whose development willeither unlock the riches of CentralAsia, or plunge Pakistan into a sav-age, and potentially terminal, civilwar.” Similarly, the Richard Autypresented his famous ‘ResourceCurse Theory’ that exactly definesand explains the curse faced bynatural resources enriched regionsof the world. Historic evidencesgive us this unfortunate judgementthat any part of the world possess-ing marvellous natural resources inany form, rarely enjoy its fruits.Rather such region becomes a vic-tim of conspiracies by different ac-tors for the occupation of its re-sources. In his book, ‘SustainingDevelopment in Mineral Econo-mies’ Richard Auty, amply de-scribed the problems with suchresourced regions and states. Nodoubt, natural resources are desir-able, yet, can distort the economyto such a degree that the benefit ac-tually becomes a curse.

What is happening inBalochistan is the true manifesta-tion of the theory and the Kaplon’svision and analysis. Balochistan isa prey to conspiracies by differentregional and extra-regional powers.This God gifted province, has im-mense natural resources with tradi-tionally hardworking work force. Asummary of the already exploredmineral resources of the province

Washington’srole in theMideast

Ambassador J ChristopherStevens was the sort of USdiplomat who makes a dif-

ference. Fluent in Arabic, he roamedthe streets in Libya, listening morethan talking. When he did speak, hepushed hard for Libyans to embraceliberal democracy — and for the USto stand behind those who took upthat cause. In the wake of his tragicdeath, the biggest threat to US inter-ests in the Mideast is not that moreembassies will be assaulted andmore envoys killed. It is that, out offear of that prospect or anger at whatoccurred, the US will not follow Mr.Stevens’s example.

Misunderstanding of the anti-American demonstrations, whichhave continued to spread in the Arabworld, could easily lead to poor de-cisions in Washington. The protestsshould be seen not as a popular up-rising against an obscene but obscurefilm, or as a rejection of the US, butas part of a struggle for power inEgypt, Libya, Tunisia and othercountries where the old autocraticpolitical order has been demolished.Militant Islamic movements, whichin several of those countries havebeen losing ground to more moder-ate Muslim and liberal forces, seizeon pretexts such as the anti-Muslimfilm to mobilize against their politi-cal enemies, exploiting widespreadmisconceptions among Arabs aboutthe US and its policy toward the Is-lamic world. By design, they forcemore moderate Islamists, such asEgyptian President Mohamed Morsiand his Muslim Brotherhood, to bal-ance their desire for constructiverelations with Washington againstthe competition with militants forpopular support. That squeeze helpsto explain, if not to excuse, Mr.Morsi’s slow and ambiguous re-sponse to the initial protests in Cairo.

The intelligent US response tothese circumstances is not to cut offaid to Egypt — as some in Congressdemand — or to pressure Mr. Morsifor difficult but largely symbolicstatements or acts. It is to underminethe extremists’ strategy by refutingthe attempts to portray US societyand govt as anti-Muslim; by prag-matically working with governmentsto renew economic growth and com-bat violent jihadists; and by continu-ing to support the liberal politicalmovements that, as much as the Is-lamists, are fighting to win broadpublic support. President Obama’sresponse to last week’s crisis largelyfollowed that path. Theadministration’s greatest failing dur-ing the Arab revolutions has been notdisplays of weakness, as Mitt Rom-ney has charged, but excessive cau-tion. It has been too slow to supportlegitimate movements for change, toback moderates over extremists andto take risks. It has consistently un-derestimated the power of the US topositively influence events fromLibya to Syria. The future of theArab world is up for grabs; the USshould be doing everything it can totilt it toward freedom. That meansembracing the example of Christo-pher Stevens.— The Washington Post

*****

Newinitiative

The old adage that school daysare the best days of your lifeis certainly true once gradua-

tion rolls around. And teachers re-main the essential building blocksin providing quality education forlife. The skills learnt in the class-room provide a basis for a life oflearning, coping with a rate ofchange that seems to speed up bythe week as technologies advance.How to cope with that rate ofchange is a challenge for educators— for administrators as well asthose actually in the classrooms.Education Ministry has recently is-sued guidelines for teachers on howthey need to go about their jobs,their ethical do’s and don’ts, howto communicate with students andhow to build on external relation-ships. The release of the guidelinesis key to getting educators to imple-ment progressive and long-lastingchanges in the classroom. Technol-ogy, and how to use it, is just onefacet of the new initiative. Educa-tors deserve kudos for placingteaching as the vanguard of how tomanage change for the future.— Gulf News

be able to standan objectivescrutiny. Eitherway, the mis-sion would beuseful: if it cor-roborates theg o v e r n m e n tpoint of view, itwould auto-matically dis-

credit the unrealistic claims beingput forward by the disgruntled loton the behest of their pay masters;and if it does not, it would provide aconstructive impetus to the ongoingcampaign to resolve the issue. “Thevisit of the group will provide anopportunity to highlight the effortsbeing undertaken by the governmentto address this important issue andto further improve the relevant pro-cedures”, the foreign ministryspokesperson said in a statement.The mission will meet members ofthe civil society, media, jurists andofficials from the foreign and inte-rior ministries.

During her briefing to the mis-sion, foreign minister has expressedthe hope that the working groupwould reflect in its report commit-ment of the government and effortsof the independent judiciary, freemedia and civil society for protectionof human rights in Pakistan. She said,“The government takes the issue ofdisappearances seriously and makesefforts to strengthen domestic mecha-nisms to address it and ensure rule oflaw...As many as 91 countries wereworking with UN Human RightsGroup”. However, Pakistan’s ambas-sador to the UN Abdullah HussainHaroon has shrugged off the idea:“The Supreme Court is hearing themissing persons’ issue. I do not un-derstand why the foreign office feltthe need to invite them at this point.Pakistan should solve its own prob-lems without foreign intervention”.

Presumably, government would

conduct the team in a professionaland transparent manner, while facili-tating unhindered access to ag-grieved families. Equally importantis to safeguard the sanctity of themission by screening it from dema-gogues and political opportunists.Some international and Pakistanihuman rights groups claim that thou-sands of people have been kidnappedand detained in secret prisons in thepast decade, allegedly by securityforces. However, official point ofview is quite different. There arecertain causes which have led to thisgory state of affairs.

Traditionally feudal lords andtribal chieftain maintain private jailswhich are absolutely illegal; yet inpractice. Brick kilns and some otherwork places practice bonded labours,again illegal and a declining practice;yet managers of these businesses arenotorious for detaining their labourerson allegations of not fulfilling theterms of bond. Moreover, there arepeople who have died in suicide at-tacks, other terrorist related incidentsand drone attacks, and their bodiesgot mutilated beyond recognition;then there are criminals who are pro-claimed offenders and they go under-ground. Another category is of thosewho cross over to Afghanistan to fightthe occupation forces in support oftheir ethnic and sectarian lineages. Asmost of such people remain out ofcommunication with their familiesfor extended periods, they presumethem as missing.

Hopefully, the government ap-pointed ‘Commission on MissingPersons’, headed by Justice JavedIqbal (Retd) , would interact with theUN team and defend its figures andposition about the missing persons.Justice Javed Iqbal (Retd) has al-ready met the working group inGeneva in March. Addressing anews conference in Quetta on June09, Justice Iqbal had said that for-eign intelligence agencies wanted to

MEDIA WATCH

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include; the Saindak mining project,possessing one of the world’s largestcopper and gold deposits. Saindak isexpected to have 1,339.25 tonnes ofgold reserves, thus would generateannual revenue of $ 55 million. Be-sides, Reko Diq in the Chagai Dis-trict is a giant mining project inBalochistan. Deposits at Reko Diq isa large low grade copper porphyry,with total mineral resources of 5.9billion tons of ore with an averagecopper grade of 0.41% and gold gradeof 0.22 g/ton. Besides, the provincehas huge deposits of natural (Meth-ane) gas, and oil both explored andunexplored. Coal is yet another natu-ral resource, found abundantly in theprovince. Coal mining of Balochistanis perhaps the only industry in Paki-stan that employs the largest numberof unskilled labourers.

Apart from the explored and un-explored natural resources, the devel-opment of the strategically locatedGwadar port is the biggest irritant forextra-regional actors. Located at themouth of Persian Gulf, right at theproximity of the Straits of Hormuz,the Gwadar port of Pakistan has astrategic significance. Since the ma-jor shipping route connecting threemain continents; Asia, Africa andEurope are passing through the vicin-ity of this port, therefore, it has at-tained the status of a key strategic andcommercial port. Owing to its “geo-strategic location, Gwadar has thepotential to become a regional mari-time hub. In connection with the glo-bal trade, Gwadar port presents itselfas the best alternative and the stor-age port, as it can handle the majorships and oil tankers.

Over the years, there has beenmuch coherent information that, onceGwadar Port is operational, ports of

neighbouring countries would losetheir significance. Therefore, thesecountries have directly or indirectlycontributed towards the destabiliza-tion of the areas surrounding the port.As well as the extra regional forces,having deep interests in the regionand eyeing the unexplored naturalresources of this rich province areplaying their game here. LocalBaloch population was provoked inthe name of Baloch sub-nationalismthat their rights over their own landare being compromised by the Fed-eral Government. Upon heavy fund-ing by these countries, some misleadelements of the Province even actedas desired by the powers behind them.Even the basic developers of the port,the Chinese engineers were abductedand in many cases were killed orwounded.

The current situation in the prov-ince indeed, is a sum total of the fol-lies of the past rulers of the country.It is because of their deliberate over-looking of the socio-economic con-dition of masses that the situation hasworsened to this level. Federationmaintained a policy of pleasing thesardars and ignoring the masses, con-stituting the bulk of the province in-deed. In the process, the sardars ex-ploited both as per their convenience.Even today, those masses being usedby sardars to challenge the writ of thegovernment are unaware of the mo-tives behind. They act as per ordainof Sardars. Mostly the insurgents arethe paid murderers of the sardars andnow international players too. Evenafter having known all the facts, thoseat the helm of affairs are keepingmum over the extraordinarily chang-ing situation.

“Time changes the geography ofthe nations who do not learn from his-

tory.” The problem with us is that,we also did not learn from our pastmistakes. Besides innumerable glo-bal challenges and conspiracies, Pa-kistan facing today, the biggest threatto Pakistan is the internal strife. IfPakistanis are able to get rid of theirinternal differences and hate culture,there is no way that, we can over-come the external conspiracies andchallenges. The rapidly deteriorat-ing situation of the Balochistan de-mands an immediate action plan,rather a blame-game. The situationwarrants a consensus political solu-tion. Baloch people are the part ofthis mother-land and their griev-ances must be addressed. Whereas,the diplomacy must play its part indismantling the terrorists’ camps, es-tablished in Afghanistan by contact-ing Afghan Government, our ownLEAs must stop infiltration of for-eign elements into the province. Inorder to do that, the nation will haveto differentiate between the covertenemies and the real friends, domes-tically as well as across the frontiers.

At this trying time of the his-tory of Pakistan, just allotment offunds and formulation of commit-tees and commissions would not re-solve the problem. Nevertheless, theimplementation on ground wouldreally matter a lot. An indiscrimi-nate socio-economic developmentof the province in this regard wouldplay a major role. There is a needthat representatives of the federaland provincial governments (bothelected and potentials) along withresponsible bureaucracy must visitthe province physically to know thereal problems and to address theirgrievances on spot.—The writer is Islamabad based IRanalyst.

Wendell Phillips— US reformer

deteriorate the situation ofBaluchistan in order to destabilisePakistan. He said that the totalnumber of missing persons stoodat 460, including 18 fromIslamabad, 117 from Punjab, 174from Sindh, 170 from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and 57 fromBaluchistan while 12 each fromAzad Kashmir and FATA. He fur-ther said that 42 bodies of missingpersons were found in Baluchistan,and claimed that foreign intelli-gence agencies were involved inthe crime.

Justice Iqbal had regretted thatthe authorities have not been ableto compile the complete details ofthose who were enlisted as miss-ing persons. “There is a baselesspropaganda about the actual figureof missing persons in the country.”He further said that the list also con-tained the names of those livingabroad and also those who havebeen involved in terrorism relatedcases. He added that the federal andprovincial governments and secretagencies are cooperating with thejudicial commission. Earlier, onFebruary 11, 2012, IG, FCBaluchistan, Major General ObaidKhan had strongly rejected the im-pression that FC was involved inmissing persons or dead bodies’ is-sues. According to his data aboutBaluchistan, there were only 46missing persons. IGFC should havevolunteered to present his side ofthe story to the working group.

A common Pakistani has ex-pectations from the UN team.These are: professional approach tothe issue and sifting facts from thefiction, draw a criteria based linebetween voluntary and involuntarydisappearances; and finally provid-ing a helping hand rather than de-generating into a Pakistan bashingexercise.—The writer is Consultant, Policy& Strategic Response, IPRI.

Dr RajaMuhammad Khan

Email: drmk_edu@yahoo.com

Air Cdre Khalid Iqbal (R)Email:khalid3408@gmail.com

Voice of the People

Tehran’s electoral strategy

Negotiations over Iran’snuclear programme haveagain hit a wall, but the

country’s Supreme Leader, AyatollahAli Khamenei, appears unconcerned.Indeed, Khamenei seems convincedthat neither the United States nor Is-rael will attack its nuclear facilities— at least not before the US presi-dential election in November.

Iran’s leaders, who closely fol-low Israeli political debates, believethat Israel would not launch an as-sault on their nuclear facilities with-out America’s full cooperation, be-cause unilateral action would jeop-ardize Israel’s relations with its mostimportant strategic ally. Given thatan Israeli offensive would need tobe coordinated with the US, whilean American assault would not re-quire Israeli military support, Iranwould consider both to be Ameri-can attacks.

In fact, Iran’s leaders continueto deride Israel from afar, calling the

country an “insult to humanity,” ora “tumour” in the region that mustbe eradicated. Meanwhile, Iran’scitizens — including clergy in theholy city of Qom, near the Fordownuclear facility — are deeply con-cerned about the consequences of anattack. Ayatollah Yousef Sanei, aformer attorney general and a reli-gious authority (marja’), has askedthe government to refrain from pro-voking Israel.

Indeed, critics of the governmentbelieve that its incendiary rhetoricmight lead to a devastating war. But,from the perspective of Iran’s lead-ership, the taunting has tactical valueto the extent that it reinforces the viewamong the Israeli public that Iran is adangerous enemy, willing to retali-ate fiercely.

In fact Iranian leaders’ are con-vinced that, even if Syrian PresidentBashar Assad’s regime falls, Iran willbe able to destabilize the country insuch a way that would pose a majorsecurity threat to Israel. According tothis view, it is Israel that has an inter-est in refraining from further antago-nizing Iran, not vice versa. Recent

editorials in Kayhan — the hardlinerIranian newspaper that serves as amouthpiece for the Supreme Leader— indicate that Khamenei is lookingforward to the US presidential elec-tion. Regardless of the outcome, heforesees no threat of military action,at least through next year. A victoryby Obama would reinforce America’sunwillingness to attack Iran and re-newed efforts to rein in Israel. And,if Republican challenger Mitt Rom-ney is elected, he will need monthsto form his national security team andassemble his Cabinet, leaving himunable to attack Iran immediately.

That said, since the IslamicRepublic’s emergence in 1979,Iran’s leaders have generally pre-ferred Republican presidents toDemocrats: despite their harsh rheto-ric, Republicans have been morewilling to engage with Iran in prac-tice. Indeed, given that Iran has sofar survived severe internationalsanctions, its leaders believe thatthey could get an offer from the USafter the election — particularly ifRomney wins — that recognizestheir right to enrich uranium. In fact,

Assam Muslims under siege

In the real world, look around andyou will find deceit, dishonesty,deception, misinformation, cir-

cumvention, fraud, jugglery and per-ceptual manipulation everywhere. Itseems as if the world has become astage or a theater for a full-scale de-ception and manipulation of the hu-man race. More so in matters that con-cern the welfare of humanity and itsgovernance.

Take for example, the Americanideological stand on democracy. Theyclaim that they are the champions ofdemocracy and human rights. And yetthey have inflicted such terror anddestruction on humanity that has noprecedent in the entire history of hu-man civilization. From droppingatomic bombs on Nagasaki andHiroshima to the brutality of the le-thal use of power in Vietnam, Iraqand Afghanistan, they have earned theunmatched distinction of “angels ofdeath”. General Powell openly liedabout Saddam Hussain’s “Weaponsof Mass Destruction” in front of theUnited Nation’s General Assemblyand got away with it. Instead, Iraq,one of the oldest human civilizations,

Welcome to the real world!has been turned into ruins andSaddam Hussain was hanged. TonyBlair doctored evidence to go to waragainst Iraq yet he is the “FreeWorld’s” envoy for peace – as if amurderer has been made a judge todispense justice in a murder case.Barak Obama is the recipient of the“Noble Prize of Peace” but “drones”are raining missiles on innocent ci-vilians in Afghanistan, Pakistan, So-malia, Yemen and who knows whereelse. Obama, hailed as the championof democracy and human rights, isthe architect of one of the most lethalmilitary technological approaches toglobal conflicts – peace through thebarrel of a gun is Obama’s doctrinefor the 21st century world. And yetthe American president is gettingaway with it. Welcome to the realworld! It is ironic that the US, thechampion of democracy, human-rights and global peace, should betrading in arms with such intensityand vast investment. FinianCunningham, in a recent articlewrote: “Just this week, a US Congres-sional report revealed that the UnitedStates is responsible for nearly 80 percent of all global arms sales in 2011 -some $66 billion worth - a figure thathas tripled on previous years.”

Cunningham also critically ex-amined UN Secretary-General Ban

“Innocenceof Muslims”

IFTIKHAR MIRZA

Innocence of Muslims —— An-other shot in the foot by mentalmidgets of West. The recent anguishand pain shown by Muslims of Pa-kistan & Middle East is understand-able in the context that respectingthe Hoy Prophet Muhammad (Peacebe upon Him) more than one’s lifeis the focal point of faith of everyMuslim in this world. Not a singleexample can be quoted form the1400 years of Islamic history that aMuslim had ever ridiculed aProphet. Honoring all Messengersof Allah is also part of faith of Mus-lims. Sadly, Muslims have been at-tacked again and again by feebleminded religious sycophants. Thesezealots in an attempt to gain popu-larity trigger hate and contemptagainst Muslims through their dev-ilish acts. Same is the case of recentmovie “Innocence of Muslims”whose trailer of You tube has stirredthe Muslim world.

Here is the character of the per-son who was involved in the filthyact of mudslinging on Muslims andinsulting our beloved Prophet(PBUH). It is worth mentioning herethat Terry Jones who had alreadyteased Muslims is also involved inthis fiasco According to TimesMagazine the details available so forare ” According to law-enforcementofficials on Thursday, Nakoula hasbeen confirmed as the writer anddirector of Innocence of Muslims.Tracked down Wednesday at his LosAngeles–area home by the Associ-ated Press, the man identified him-self as Nakoula Nakoula. When theAssociated Press asked to see hisdriving license for confirmation,Nakoula held his thumb over hismiddle name, Basseley — phoneti-cally similar to the Bacile pseud-onym.

During the interview, Nakouladenied having any connection to oreven knowing Bacile, explaininginstead that he only managed logis-tics for the film. But the AssociatedPress discovered that the cell-phonenumber used by the man who iden-tified himself as Bacile to the pressis registered to the same addresswhere a reporter found Nakoula. Hisother aliases, according to federalcourt papers, include Nicola Bacilyand Erwin Salameh.

Nakoula has a checkered historywith the law. According to federalattorneys, he was involved in a fraudscheme in which he would set upfake bank accounts using stolenSocial Security numbers. He wouldthen withdraw money from the ac-counts and relocate it to other bo-gus accounts. In 2010 he wascharged with bank fraud, to whichhe pleaded no contest and was or-dered to pay $790,000. He was sen-tenced to 21 months in a federalprison and banned from using com-puters or the Internet for five years.

Thursday morning, U.S. law-enforcement officials confirmedNakoula is the filmmaker behind theinflammatory movie that has incitedriots in Egypt, Libya and Yemen”The above facts shows that afraudster joined hands with TerryJones to produce a filthy movie thatinfuriated Muslims around theglove. All the noble minds of theworld should rise and protest againstactions of a few mental midgets in-volved in sacrilegious actions.Through your esteemed paper wedemand that these culprits must behanged in front of people so that noone should dare again to mock Mus-lims. Government should also ap-ply pressure on US for for takingstern action and giving exemplarypunishment to Nakoula Basseley,Terry Jones and others.—Islamabad

Lehri’s stipendIFTIKHAR MIRZA

It was very sad to know that veterancomedian Lehri, was awarded a sti-pend of Rs.2500/- per month byslain Prime Minister Benazir Bhuttoduring her 2nd regime which Lehrireceived till death. What criteria wehave for compensating our filmsstars. Our heads must hang in shamefor how we treat our stars. Govern-ment should fix atleast an amount

Not so clean, sir!ASGHAR MAHMOOD

Reference stories and comments published recently in the media. There is no doubt that BISP is aunique welfare initiative undertaken by the PPP government. However to say that it is apolitical

programme would be challeging the common sense of the people of Pakistan BISP is a politicallymotivated programme and its administrative head, Mr. Sher Ali, a retired bureaucrat in 70s is headinga team of politicised functionaries. I wish to share with readers a personal experience in this regard: Lastyear BISP advertised two positions of Senior Executives in May. In response to my application for theposition of Senior Executive (Inspection and Monitoring & Evaluation) I was advised to appear forinterview at BISP Hqrs on 13th June 2011 at 1100 Hrs with original testimonials and CNIC. During myinterview, conducted in a casual manner, a subtle message was conveyed to me that this interview was amere formality, otherwise pre-selection to fill the position has already been made. I left BISE Headquar-ters in protest. I left BISP office in frustration and informed the Chairperson BISP then MNA FarzanaRaja about the whole affair. Her response is still awaited.—Islamabad

Majority Hindus in India cando any insane tricks andconduct terror operations

against minorities, especially theMuslims, if the regime, media andjudiciary can tactfully shield theirghastly crimes aginst humanity.That has exactly been happening inIndia for decades now. By doing so,India collecitvely share the guilt.Sept-11 hoax perpetrated by anti-Is-lamic forces came as a boon to theanti-Muslim elements in India andAssam has been burning for quitesome time off and on, each time kill-ing some Muslims.

The decision of Bodo majorityHindus in Assam to kill Muslims toshowcase their joint power in thecountry is also cruel. This theme issupported by the HIndutva outfitsroaming about the nation to fish introubled communal problems in or-der to expand their vote bank con-siderably to make to the power cor-ridors to loot nation’s resources asthe “patriotic” BJP leaders are do-ing in their ruling states. Majorityterror against Muslims in Assam as

elsewhere in the background ofjudiciary’s clean chit to Gujarat chiefminister who obviously got so manyMuslims killed cold bloodedly is notjust anti-constitutional but also anti-humanity. Brutality of Hindu major-ity against Muslims should not becondoned but severely punished.

It is, however, cruel that Indianjudiciary which is committed to pro-tect minorities by providing justiceto them against Hindu majority,unfortunatley, has also joined theanti-Islamic chorus of the BJP ledcommunal forces successfully oper-ating in the country by targeting thebesieged Muslims in Assam. Hindumedia make a big hue and cry thatforeigners come to India as if it is acirme for peole to migrate. As manyHindus as millions have migrated toother countries and have obtainedcitizenships, including duel ones andIndian Hindus are proud of that”achievement .

The regime promotes such sys-tematic migration to foreign coun-tries. In recent years many Hindushave migrated to Canada. Lakhs ofHindus have migrated to Jammu re-gion of occupied Jammu Kashmir inorder to claim legitimacy ofoccuption fever since that nation wasinvaded and brutally occupied, kill-

ing thousand of Muslims. But Mus-lims from neighboring East Bengalare not welcome in India andAssamese Muslims are brutallykilled as “illegal immigrants” by themajority Hindus yet the crimes areshielded by the regime and judiciary,emboldening the Hindu criminals tocommit more crimes. The histori-cal background of ethnic tension inAssam as the Bodo-Muslim clash isalso rooted to the same demographicavalanche from erstwhile East Ben-gal. Various historical developmentssince the annexation of Assam by theBritish in 1826 suggest that the pro-tracted demographic invasion fromerstwhile eastern Bengal to Assamhas been one of the major sourcesof ethnic bitterness and tension inthe region.

The ongoing Bodo-Muslimclash is an offshoot of this bitterness.Initially, the British brought theMuslim peasantry from the overpopulated eastern Bengal toBrahmaputra and Surma valleys inAssam for tea plantation as well asfor the purpose of growing morefood grains but the sequence of sub-sequent developments suggest thatthe descendants of the former Mus-lim rulers of Indian sub-continentwith an objective to regain their po-

Views From Abroad

READERS

Email:editorial@pakobserver.net

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

—Editor

Ki-Moon’s role in the NAM 16thsummit in Tehran on August 30,2012: “But then, in his speech on thishistoric day, Ban engaged in a dis-graceful diplomatic offensive. Hepointedly denounced those who“deny the [Nazi] holocaust” and whocall for the Zionist state’s destruction.Ban championed “Israel’s right toexist” without a word of condemna-tion of Israel’s decades-long crimesagainst humanity on the Palestinianpeople and its violation of countlessUN resolutions. In that way, the UNchief was peddling the spurious West-ern propaganda that seeks to besmirchIran’s principled opposition to theZionist state’s record of criminality…No, he would rather engage in pejo-rative, baseless innuendoes againstIran, while disgracefully covering upWestern crimes of aggression in Pal-estine, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya,Syria, Iran and the ongoing slaugh-ter of innocents with US drones inPakistan, Somalia and Yemen.” BanKi-Moon also did not mention any-thing about Kashmir’s right of self-determination. Nor did he call on In-dia to resolve the Kashmiri issue forfurthering peace in the region.

On the home front, in the belovedcountry of Pakistan, contradictionsand perceptual manipulationsabound. The incumbent Prime Min-

ister said recently that the livingstandards of the common citizensin the country have improved ap-preciably due to the economic poli-cies of the PPP regime. The ques-tion is: On what planet has RajaPervaiz Ashraf been living – Mars?Does the PM not know that pov-erty has drastically increased in thecountry, hunger is widespread, pricehikes are unprecedented, the healthand education sector is nearly de-molished, industrial growth is at thelowest in the nation’s history, na-tional commercial institutions in-cluding steel mills, railways andPIA are bankrupt, the nation is with-out electricity and oil, gas is unavail-able and the Pakistani currency isnose-diving. Add a few more thingslike deplorable law and order con-ditions, drone attacks and mass dis-placement of people in the north-ern part of the country and bulletriddled dead bodies thrown on theroads in Balochistan.

Is that what the incumbentPrime Minister considers commoncitizen prosperity, progress, devel-opment and material advancement?Welcome to the real world of glar-ing contradictions and continuousmanipulations. Perhaps, we shouldsearch for a new real world!Shouldn’t we?

it is far from certain that Iran willbe able to withstand current sanc-tions-related pressures indefinitely.But its leaders’ confidence thatthey can remains a crucial elementof their strategy, and the West can-not afford to ignore their percep-tions. America, whether led byObama or Romney, must under-stand that Iran will not negotiateseriously on its nuclear programmeuntil it perceives a clear, convinc-ing, and unified consensus in theUS and Israel on an approach thataddresses both Iran’s ambitionsand Israel’s concerns.

Achieving such a consensus inthe context of an American presi-dential election will be no smallfeat. Nor is it easy to create consen-sus in Israel, especially as its politi-cal parties prepare for elections nextyear. But only with significantlygreater cohesion within the US andIsrael will Iran’s leaders even con-sider accepting a compromise ontheir nuclear programme. The writeris a senior fellow at the Washing-ton Institute for Near East Policy.— Courtesy: The Japan Times

equivalent to money paid to labourerfor old ailing actors. The rich andwealthy should also support artistesin the later part of their lives.—Islamabad

EnvironmentpollutionMAIMUNA RAZA

Earth is perhaps the only planet in thisvast universe, which is inhabited bylife forms living in supporting envi-ronment. A thin cover of water andair known as the biosphere encasingearth sustains life. The absence ofbiosphere would make earth a life-less planet like many others in theuniverse. We have made the ecologysuffer by the thoughtlessness of ouractions. We have polluted the encas-ing of earth, namely the water andair, far beyond its capacity to cleanseitself. Urgent measures are needed tocheck further degradation of the en-vironment or a day will come whenthe environment around us wouldcollapse to make survival a nearimpossibility. Nature has alreadystarted warning us in the form of un-expected disasters and diseases. Itwill take a foolish person to ignorethese warnings. The motto of the dayis to improve or ecology or perish inthe absence of it.—Karachi

Probing Karachifactory inferno

KHALID IDREES

According to reports more than therehundred lives were lost in the fire thatengulfed a factory in SITE in Baldiatown. The print media has reportedthis accident in papers in screamingheadlines and the electronic media isalmost hoarse with cries to to bringthe culprits to book as quickly as pos-sible. It is being said that the factorylacked appropriate fire fighting equip-ment and other necessary and re-quired safety precautionary measureshad not been adopted.

Attention is also being drawn tothe inescapable fact that were theconcerned officials, charged with theresponsibility of ensuring obser-vance of the rules and regulationsthat exist to minimize occurrence ofsuch accidents, less indifferent to-wards performing their function thishorrendous tragedy could have beenavoided or, at least, the loss result-ing therefrom considerably mini-mized. Not to be left behind in add-ing their share to the barrage of criti-cism that has ensued the politiciansalso have come out in the field andare commenting on different aspectsof the accident ostensibly to showsympathy with the victims of thetragedy but, in reality, to make po-litical milage. In the usual knee jerkreaction the CM Sindh has an-nounced payment of Rs 300000 ascompensation to the family of eachperson who died in this tragedy. Fur-ther, a number of inquiries into theincident have also been ordered.

Now that the unfortunate trag-edy has occurred there can be noquarrel with compensating the fami-lies who have lost their earningmembers in it. As a matter of factthe amount of compensation to thevictims’ families should not remainlimited to what the CM has an-nounced. The families of the victimsshould be given additional compen-sation and that this amount shouldbe paid by the owners of the factory.

Therefore, those made respon-sible for conducting the inquiry intothe tragedy should not lose sight ofthis aspect while finalizing their re-port. The situation demands that athorough inquiry into the incident iscompleted in the shortest possibletime. But the possibility that thiswould happen is remote because sev-eral inquiries into the incident havebeen ordered; there would be issuesof jurisdiction and terms of referencegiven to the various inquiry commit-tees, etc. These difficulties can beavoided if all concerned authoritiessit together and constitute one in-quiry committee who should begiven comprehensive terms of ref-erence and a timeframe to finalizethe inquiry.

I may point out that this is notthe first incident of its kind. Suchincidents, that is , factories or partsthereof gutted by fire with casual-

Ever so often I have men andwomen meeting me who tellme how they slave for their

children, working hard to see theyhave a good life. Without takingaway from their noble intentions,here’s some advice translated fromthe original in Chinese: There are1000-year old trees in the mountain,but not many 100 year-oldpeople...... At the most, you live un-til 100 years old, you may be justone in ten thousand. Because youdon’t have many years to live, and

you can’t take along things when yougo, you don’t have to be too thrifty.Spend the money that should bespent, enjoy what should be enjoyed,donate what you are able to donate,but don’t leave all to your children orgrandchildren, for you don’t wantthem to become parasites.

Don’t worry about what willhappen after you are gone, becausewhen you return to dust, you willfeel nothing about praises or criti-cisms. Don’t worry too much aboutyour children for children will havetheir own destiny and find their ownway. Don’t be your children’s slaveDon’t expect too much from yourchildren. Caring children, thoughcaring, would be too busy with theirjobs and commitments to render anyhelp. Uncaring children may fight

over your assets even when you arestill alive, and wish for your earlydemise so they can inherit your prop-erties. Your children take for grantedthat they are rightful heirs to yourwealth; but you have no claims totheir money.

Out of thousand hectares ofgood farm land, you can only con-sume three quarts (of rice) daily; outof a thousand of mansions, you onlyneed eight square meters of space torest at night. So as long as you haveenough food and enough money tospend, that is good enough. So youshould live happily. Every familyhas its own problems. Just do notcompare with others for fame andsocial status and see whose childrenare doing better, etc. but challengeothers for happiness, health and lon-

Live your day happily..!gevity. Don’t worry about thingsthat you can’t change because itdoesn’t help and it may spoil yourhealth.

You have to create your ownwell-being and find your own hap-piness; Get into a good mood,think about happy things, do happythings daily and have fun in doingthem, then you will pass your timehappily every day. When one daypasses sadly, you lose one day. Oneday passes with happiness, andthen you gain one day. When youare in a good spirit, sickness willbe cured; in happy spirit, sicknesswill cure fast; in good and happyspirit; sickness will never come.Above all learn to cherish thegoodness around..!—Email:bobsbanter@gmail.com

litical supremacy adopted a strat-egy to turn Assam also into a Mus-lim majority region like East Ben-gal. Some of these events may bean eye opener to understand thepolitics in the region. New lawswere passed from time to time toisolate and harass Muslims inAssam. The creation of BTAD un-der the provision of the sixth sched-ule of the Indian constitution bycarving out of eight existing dis-tricts was however strongly re-sisted by the Muslim settlers in thearea who had migrated to this re-gion from erstwhile eastern Ben-gal as it prohibited the non-tribalto buy land there. While the Bodoagitation reached to its peak, theGovernor of Assam, military manLt. Gen.S. K. Sinha (R) submittedan alarming report to the Presidentof India in 1998 on the continuousdemographic invasion byBangladesh and called the infiltra-tion a ‘national threat’.

Under pressure from Hinducommunal forces the SupremeCourt repealed in July 2005 the en-actment of the IMDT Act aftertwenty-two years of, it. This wasanother blow to the Muslims as theIndian regime was getting the noosetighter and closer to Muslims.

ties, have been happening in ourcountry with sickening regularity.What is different about the instantKarachi incident is its massive scale.In all such cases inquiries were or-dered. But what was their outcomeis not made known to the public.Periodic occurrence of such inci-dents in Pakistan is indicative of thefact that neither the factory ownershave mended their ways nor the per-formance of the concerned govern-ment authorities have improvedovertime. Let us hope and pray thatthis Karachi factory inferno suc-ceeds in really waking all of us upand jolts us in getting our act to-gether. Media’s special responsibil-ity in this scenario is to keep the pub-lic regularly informed about theprogress or otherwise of the inquiryor inquiries into this tragedy and alsowhether or not the authorities re-sponsible for ensuring adherence tothe safety and other related rules andregulations by the factories havestarted to discharge their duty in thisregard properly and effectively.—Islamabad

Sorrydear Ramsha

HUMAIRA KANWL

Sorry dear Ramsha ,sorry to wholeof the Christian community and mi-norities living in Jinnah’s country. Asa Muslim I feel ashamed and embar-rassed over the act of so called reli-gious cleric, over the ignorance andfear of government and political par-ties regarding most controversial‘Blasphemy law’ and over the reac-tion of annoyed mobs.

The innocent girl of mental age7 to 8 years passed 20 days withouther family and play mates in policecustody. On Friday she got bail withheavy surety bonds and now she hasshifted to unknown residence to avoidsecurity threat. This is not the firstblasphemy case in our country butit has once again rung the alarm andreminds that the reason behind mostof the case had always been personalgrudge and extremist religiousmindset . According to latest reportreleased by CRSS in last two decades52 people extra-judicially murderedfor being implicated in blasphemycharges. Whereas, from 1953 till date,there were 434 offenders of blas-phemy law in Pakistan and amongthem 258 were Muslims, 114 wereChristians, 57Ahmadi and 4 Hindus.

The suberb of Islamabad-Meherabad, where Ramsha spent herlife is quiet. The Christian commu-nity is frightened over the unfortu-nate incident and instability prevailseverywhere, some families haveshifted and the rest seem reluctantto comment over incident. Who isresponsible for the whole agony andpain from which Ramsha her fam-ily and the whole Christian commu-nity is being passed .would this badexperience ever become shed offfrom Ramsha’s mind?

We don’t have any answer to giveour Christian brothers; the questionsin their eyes are very simple butthrobbing and painful .I still remem-ber the Christian lady named Zinnet, who used to clean our home daily,my Hindu and Christian class matesand now various colleagues in office. These are those who are serving usand facilitating us in our homes, inour offices and outside. we are withthem in bond of friendship. But havewe ever considered them equal citi-zen. We never bothered when they arefasting but we expect others to respectour fast, we expect them to respectour rituals. They have adopted ourcultural even Islamic traditions likesaying Salam, respecting our Azanour fast etc but what we are doing?We who believe in Prophet ISSA andare followers of Muhamad(P.B.U.H)we treated this community like un-touchables .most of us take their cupand plate away from or utensils, why,were these real teaching of Islam?—Islamabad

Mehdi Khalaji

Dr Abdul RuffEmail: abdulruff@gmail.com

Dr Haider MehdiEmail: hl_mehdi@gmail.com

NICHOLAS KRALEV

INTERVIEWS with diplomats in the lineof fire an exclusive excerpt from thenew book America’s Other Army: TheU.S. Foreign Service and 21st Century

Diplomacy. The mob that had gathered at asoccer stadium descended on the U.S. Em-bassy in Belgrade, determined to avengeWashington’s recognition of Kosovo — aSerbian province until five days earlier —as an independent state. On that day in Feb-ruary 2008, the Serbian riot police stationedin front of the embassy at the request ofU.S. Ambassador Cameron Munter conve-niently vanished just before the hundreds-strong horde arrived. “The police marchedaway, got on buses, and drove away, sowhen the hoodlums came there was no onethere,” Munter recalled. A part of the em-bassy was soon ablaze. “One of the pro-testers who was drunk managed to get inand burned himself to death,” Munter said.Several others climbed the fence. The U.S.Marines guarding the compound had everyright to shoot, but they managed to drivethe intruders away with warnings and in-structions instead. “I was very impressedthat the Marines knew how to make judg-ment calls as well as to be defenders,”Munter, a Foreign Service officer since 1985and until recently the U.S. ambassador toPakistan, told me in an early 2012 interviewin Islamabad.

U.S. diplomats saw the embassy attackcoming. And as a result of their prepara-tions, no Americans were hurt during theincident. Only a small crew, including theambassador, was still in the building at thetime of the assault. As soon as the protest-ers tried to penetrate the compound, someof the Americans began destroying millionsof dollars’ worth of communications equip-ment, which is a standard procedure in suchcases, Munter said. The next day, aboutthree-quarters of the embassy staff and allfamily members were evacuated out ofBelgrade. “We were fairly sure there wouldbe an angry reaction” to the recognition ofKosovo “and had made all necessary prepa-rations,” he said. “We had already arrangedfor hotel rooms and space at the embassy inZagreb,” the Croatian capital. “We even had

space at the American school in Zagreb forour kids.” Most diplomats, however, aren’tso lucky. Preparing for a specific attack on aU.S. diplomatic facility overseas is almostnever possible, andevacuations are rarelyas orderly as the one inBelgrade. The events inLibya on the night ofSept. 11 this week werea tragic reminder of thatreality. When the U.S.Consulate in Benghazicame under attack, Am-bassador ChristopherStevens was trapped inthe burning buildingand reportedly died ofsmoke inhalation. Threeother U.S. officials werealso killed during theassault. A breach of theU.S. Embassy in Cairothat same day did notresult in any deaths,but the incident signifi-cantly heightened ten-sions between theWhite House and the Egyptian government.

Munter, who didn’t abandon his embassyin Belgrade in 2008, wanted those responsiblefor the attack to be punished. Once evidencesurfaced that Serbian Prime Minister VojislavKostunica had personally approved the as-sault, Munter decided that he was “going toensure the prime minister was gone” and that“the best revenge was making sure this guylost the next election,” which was less thanfive months away. Munter determined thatthe key to weakening Kostunica’s 2008 re-election chances was taking away the sup-port of the Socialist Party of Serbia, once ledby former Serbian President SlobodanMilosevic. Its new leader was Ivica Dacic, whohad once challenged Milosevic for the toppost. “We got him to flip over and join thepro-Europeans,” Munter said. “We didn’t payhim off; we just persuaded him. What he re-

ally wanted was international legitimacy. Sowe got [José Luis Rodríguez] Zapatero, theSpanish prime minister at the time, and GeorgePapandreou, the future Greek prime minister,

who ran Socialist International at the time, toinvite Dacic to visit them abroad, where theywined and dined him. They told him theywould let him in [to the Socialist International]if he joined the pro-European forces, and hedid. He put a knife in Kostunica’s back.”

Munter got his revenge: Kostunica’s partylost the election. Dacic’s party didn’t joinSocialist International, the global organiza-tion of left-of-center political parties, but hebecame deputy prime minister and rose toprime minister four years later. ike Stevensand thousands of other U.S. diplomats,Munter has served in places much more dan-gerous than Serbia, including Iraq and Paki-stan. As he prepares to retire from the For-eign Service after 27 years, the longtime dip-lomat would like Americans to know that mod-ern diplomacy is not all glitz and glamour.

While U.S. diplomats still spend time in

the company of kings and queens, presidentsand prime ministers — and remain some ofthe most sought-after people in foreign capi-tals — they also contend with security

threats, the stresses involvedin constant relocation, andthe challenges of being ajack-of-all-trades in a foreignland. I have interviewed some600 Foreign Service membersat more than 50 embassiesand consulates in the courseof research for my new book,America’s Other Army. Whilemost said they could not imag-ine doing anything else,many also added that beingconstantly on the move andfar from home means givingup much of what most Ameri-cans take for granted. Ameri-can diplomats risk their livesjust by showing up for workevery day. During my travelsresearching the book, I heardmany stories aboutcarjackings, kidnappings, rob-beries, and diplomats being

held at gunpoint. Some have been murdered.On New Year’s Day in 2008, John Granville, a33-year-old officer with the U.S. Agency forInternational Development (USAID), was fa-tally shot in Sudan while returning from aholiday party at the British Embassy. In 2002,Laurence Foley, 60, also with USAID, wasgunned down in front of his home in Jordan.In 1968, John Gordon Mein, 54, became thefirst U.S. ambassador to be assassinated whilein office when he was shot by rebels in Gua-temala. Stevens in Libya was the first ambas-sador to be killed in the line of duty since1979, when Adolph Dubs died in Afghani-stan.

Philip Frayne, a Foreign Service officerwhom I first met in Cairo in 2003, said he wasdriving to a meeting in Yemen in 1993 whenhis embassy vehicle was carjacked by “threeguys with Kalashnikovs” pointed at him. “I

asked them in Arabic if I could get my bagfrom the back seat, but by then they werealready in the car and driving away,” Fraynerecalled. “About six months later, someonefrom the embassy security office saw thecar in the parking lot of the presidentialpalace — the diplomatic license plateshadn’t been changed. I don’t think it wastaken by the president’s men, but it wasprobably taken by tribesmen and later tradedor confiscated by the presidential forces.”That same year, Frayne’s boss in Yemen,public affairs officer Haynes Mahoney, waskidnapped for a week. Laura Clerici, a now-retired officer I met in Mexico City in 2003,said she was “ambushed by bandits” inGuatemala in the late 1970s while drivingwith three colleagues and six children.“When they saw that the guy from the de-fense attaché’s office had a handgun, theystarted shooting at us,” Clerici said. “For-tunately, all they wanted was our money,but when we got back, I absolutely fellapart.” Still, work in such places gave “rich-ness to my life that would have never hap-pened, no matter what I had done in Wash-ington,” she said. “I’ve had one of the mostexciting lives anybody could possiblywant.”

Top diplomats are the U.S. government’sversion of firefighters: They move aroundthe globe rapidly, from flash point to flashpoint. Just when they have managed onecrisis, it’s on to the next assignment. Twoyears before taking up his post in Serbia, forinstance, Munter had led a team that taughtIraqi provincial authorities how to governeffectively and trained local judges how toconduct trials and other court proceedings— amid frequent shootings, roadsidebombs, and rockets. U.S. diplomats arecharged with an extraordinarily diverse ar-ray of assignments — and they have thestories to prove it. In 2008, around the timeMunter worked to evacuate the BelgradeEmbassy, Yuri Kim was in North Korea. Sheaccompanied the New York Philharmonicduring a rare concert tour in the communistcountry. Kim had helped negotiate the un-precedented visit, which Washington hopedwould improve Pyongyang’s cooperation inefforts to dismantle its nuclear weapons pro-gram. —Courtesy - Foreign Policy.

America’s other Army

MAHBUBUR RAHMAN

ONCE again a depraved and dangerous game is being played, one withthe aim of increasing religious tensions across the globe. This time

it’s a film that seeks to defame the Prophet ofIslam. Predictably, too many Muslims havereacted with fierce intensity, and with deadlyconsequence. Angry demonstrators have at-tacked American embassies in Libya, Egypt,Tunisia, and Yemen. In Benghazi, Libya, theAmerican ambassador, three other embassyofficials, and several Libyan security staffmembers were tragically killed. We deploreand condemn both the audacious bigotry ofthe film-maker as well as the inexcusable vio-lence of the protestors. The protesters can-not counter the fraudulent claims of the ob-scure film, Innocence of Muslims — no mat-ter how profane and bigoted it is — withbehaviour that itself harms the image of Islamand its Prophet and Muslims everywhere.Ironically, the world came to know about thisfilm only after American embassies were at-tacked and the ambassador to Libya waskilled. By engaging in violence, the overzeal-ous Muslims are falling into the very trap setup by the bigots. The Islamophobic campaignis nothing new in America. It is even worse inEurope. The film made by Sam Bacile (who itnow appears is actually Nakoula BasseleyNakoula, a California man who was convictedin 2009 of bank fraud) is not the first effort todenigrate Islam and Prophet Muhammad, norwill it be the last. There have been countlessattempts by Islamophobes to incite a fiercereaction in the Muslim community. In some

Let’s not fall into the trapcases, the provocateurs succeeded in elicitinga violent response. On other occasions, theirhate-mongering plots faded into obscurity,especially when Muslims decided to ignorethem or chose to counter/correct them throughdialogue and other civil means. The resultswere predictably positive: the challenges soonturned into opportunities where Muslims wereable to present the truth of Islam to their fellowcitizens.

Those who seek to inflame passions willcontinue their incitements, hoping that Mus-lims will take thebait. They canthen say: “Seehow violent theMuslims are.”The incitementswill remain un-abated; butMuslims muststop reactingand instead re-spond to theevil with some-thing that is civiland intelligentand put the big-otry to shame. In fact, the Quran itself com-mands Muslims to “repel evil with what is bet-ter” (Surah 41: Verse 34). The Quran also says:“O you who believe! Be steadfast in the causeof Allah, bearing witness in equity; and let nota people’s enmity incite you to act otherwise

than with justice. Be always just, that is nearerto righteousness. And fear Allah. Surely, Allahis aware of what you do” (Surah 5: Verse 9).The overzealous Muslims, who claim to bedefending the honour of the Prophet by at-tacking the embassies and committing acts ofdestruction and even murder, need to reflecton how Prophet Muhammad would have re-sponded to a provocation like Sam Bacile’sfilm. The Prophet was a man of patience, peace,and mercy. Even though he was attacked andinsulted many times throughout his life, he re-

sponded with ahigh-minded andmeasured per-spective, alwaysinclined to com-passion and for-giveness, andnever actied outof revenge or in aviolence-drivenway. Engaging inwanton acts ofviolence andsenseless killingcan only serve todefile his sublime

legacy in the minds of those who don’t knowhim. Muslims in the Middle East and aroundthe world must remember this: We honour theProphet by following his example of toleranceand patience in the face of hostility.

It is also important for Muslims to recognise

that the actions of a person who reviles ormocks the Prophet, or even goes so far as toinsult or ridicule God Himself, is responsiblefor his or her own actions. There is no justifi-cation for collective blame, whether of theperpetrator’s national, religious, or politicalgroup, or of the government of the nation heresides in (let alone the ambassador or otherembassy officials or staff). Regrettably, manyMuslims across the world have little or no ideaas to how American democracy functions andits society operates.

They think the American government is be-hind, complicit in, or endorsing any Islam-bash-ing action or statement broadcast from its soil.This is a serious misperception and myth aboutAmerica that must be dispelled and debunkedat every opportunity. It is true and unfortu-nate that some biased individuals andorganisations are stirring up hatred againstIslam and Muslims with unrelenting persis-tence. The film that is centre stage in the cur-rent turbulence is a manifestation of exceed-ing ignorance and the most ignoble foolish-ness in its scandalous attack against theProphet, Islam, and Muslims. It aims to tarnishthe image of Islam and spoil the relations be-tween Muslims and non-Muslims. However,there are huge numbers of people in Americawho have condemned this film, and amongthem are leaders of various faiths, especiallyChristianity and Judaism. Some non-Muslimacademics have even called for Sam Bacile’sarrest.

Muslims must think deeply before react-ing tempestuously. For overreacting to suchprovocations will only make things worse.Resorting to violence shouldn’t be an optionat any time. The maker and sponsors of theanti-Prophet film have undoubtedly put fortha piece of propaganda promoting the worstkind of bigotry; still, this should never be anexcuse to commit any act of violence againsta person or any destruction of property. Weare certainly not suggesting that Muslimsstop defending the Prophet.

But the best way to defend the Prophet isby conveying to people who he really was,and by emulating his sublime character. Wecannot become emotionally overblown andact irrationally every time an Islamophobe in-sults Islam. We should act with utmost matu-rity and deal with caution, care and prudence.The Prophet is loved and respected by hun-dreds of millions of people around the world,and no one can take this veneration from ourhearts. So we should not fall into the trap ofthose who wish to incite our anger and instillhatred in the minds and hearts of non-Mus-lims. Indeed, there is no God-conscious faithor love for the Prophet in reacting in a brutaland destructive way.

As we mourn the loss of lives, we call onMuslims around the world to “repel evil withwhat is better.” That might entail ignoring aprovocation, like the film in question, that isugly in its purpose but supremely foolish inits content. It might require in presenting areasoned argument as to why some anti-Is-lam talking point is erroneous. In all cases,however, repelling evil with what is betterdemands speech.—Courtesy - Daily Star.

TONG KIM

DESPITE its long, deep involvement in the issues ofKorea, the United States hasnever pursued a consistent

policy that would help bring aboutKorean unification. The United Stateshas a multi-faceted image to the SouthKorean people: a liberator from Japa-nese colonial rule, a divider of thepeninsula, a contributor to the out-break of the Korean War, a rescuer ofthe South from the brink of defeat inthe war, an advocate for freedom anddemocracy while a practicalsupporter of military dicta-torship, and a provider of se-curity and market for theSouth to achieve what itproudly is today. The prior-ity of U.S. policy toward Ko-rea has been focused on theimmediate security impera-tives deterrence of war, non-proliferation of nuclear weap-ons and the maintenance ofthe status quo. Korea has al-ways been a dependent vari-able to the larger strategicequation that the UnitedStates forged to protect itsnational interest.

Currently, the United States ismore preoccupied with Iran thanNorth Korea, more with the MiddleEast than Europe, and more with arising China than the unification ofKorea. Former President George H.W. Bush was the first U.S. presidentwho publicly spoke in support ofKorean unification. In January 1992,he said the United States would sup-port a peaceful unification of Koreathat would be acceptable to the SouthKorean people, without specifyingany backup measures.

In October 2000, Washington se-riously considered undertaking a nor-malization process with North Koreaunder the conditions that it wouldgive up its nuclear and missile devel-opment programs, respect humanrights, stop illicit international activi-

Korean unificationties, and cease terrorist support. How-ever, transformation of the North Ko-rean system was not a requirement. Inretrospect, even in the best days ofcooperation between the administra-tions of Kim Dae-jung and Bill Clintonfollowing the first inter-Korean sum-mit, there was no discussion of anyspecific U.S. role in the unification pro-cess. Nor was there any explicit expres-sion of U.S. support for a unified Ko-rea. Any further progress on unifica-tion was left to the North and the Southwhich agreed to “take their own initia-tives.”

The Clinton administration, like allits predecessors, did not have a clearpolicy on unification. Even WilliamPerry’s final report of the Review ofU.S. Policy toward North Korea in Oc-tober 1999 did not mention an alter-ation to the status quo nor did it ex-press U.S. support for Korean unifi-cation. President George W. Bushopenly talked about a military optiontargeting the North. However, Bushhad no plan to attack the North or tobring it down. In other words, theBush administration had no policy onKorean unification by any of the threeoptions: force, absorption, or peace-ful engagement.

The Barack Obama administrationwas not different in terms of its policyon Korean unification. However, itagreed to include a mention of unifi-cation in the Joint Vision statement

for the ROK-U.S. alliance of June 11,2009.

The statement contained a rhe-torical expression: “We aim to builda better future, leading to peacefulunification on the principles of freedemocracy and a market economy.”This statement defined a desirableend state of Korean unification fromthe perspectives of Seoul and Wash-ington. However, it did not mentionhow such a goal should be achieved.It only inferred to an unstated pref-erence of unification by absorptionat the end of a wishful sudden

change in North Korea. Onthe other hand, “peacefulunification” in the statementimplied that Washingtonwould not support SouthKorea if it wants to unify theKorean Peninsula by force.

The short-lived leap dayagreement of Feb. 29, 2012,reached after two months hadpassed following Kim Jong-il’s death in December 2011,was seen as an end toWashington’s ill-conceived“waiting game.”

Unfortunately, this hard-won deal was killed instantly

by a North Korean rocket launch lastApril. In November, the next U.S.president will be chosen betweenBarrack Obama and Mitt Romney.Both candidates are committed toeliminating North Korea’s nuclearweapons. Romney will be tougher onthe North. However, he has no planor strategy for Korean unification,either. A new U.S. administration,Democratic or Republican, will con-tinue to approach the Korean issuesas part of its overall strategy to pro-tect U.S. interest in Asia.

The four major powers surround-ing the peninsula ¯ China, theUnited States, Russia and Japan ¯would not want a reconfiguration ofthe geostrategic balance in the re-gion that might affect their interestas the result of a unified Korea.—Courtesy - Korea Times.

In Libya and America,imbeciles affecting

foreign policyKATHLEEN PARKER

THAT was the assessment of French philosopherBernard-Henri Levy in his remembrance of U.S.Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens. And hewasn’t just whistling “Freres Jacques.” BHL was

referring to the fact that Stevens was a great friend ofLibya and of the Muslim/Arab world generally. The imbe-ciles killed perhaps their bravest advocate in the Westernworld. And they killed him (perhaps in part) because of theactions of another imbecile in the United States. One lowlifecreates an anti-Islam film that looks like a blend of “TheBlair Witch Project” and “Keystone Terrorists,” and theunhappy Muslim world goes ballistic.

I emphasize the word “unhappy” because it is no moreaccurate to condemn the Muslim world for the atrocitiesof a relative few than it is to indict America because onelowbrow decides to upload a lousy flick that nobody oth-erwise would watch or even know about. Hey, demonstra-tors: Anybody can make a movie. It doesn’t mean any-thing. And by the way, anybody can burn a Koran. Or aBible. Or smear feces on a crucifix. Or .?.?. ad infinitum. Wetolerate rudeness because the alternative — state-enforcedpoliteness — leads to the guillotine. Unfortunately, evenwe seem to have lost sight of the nature and causes ofthese incidents, which have less to do with reasons thanwith excuses. The demonstrations and attacks more likelyare a function of post-revolutionary jockeying among thegroups competing for power than they are about Ameri-can anything. The storming of the U.S. Consulate inBenghazi on the anniversary of 9/11 may have been aplanned attack, possibly orchestrated by al-Qaeda andpossibly having nothing to do with the movie.The extent of our role, alas, has been exaggerated by ourown actions. At least two notable missteps should be re-minders about the importance of getting it right. For handyreference, check the parenting manual: Do not indulge tan-trums. First, the U.S. Embassy in Cairo issued whatamounted to an apology to the mobs for any hurt feelingsthey may have suffered because of the film in question. Ifyou intend to watch it, be sure to take necessary IQ-lower-ing measures. It is so ridiculous and poorly made, no movie-going American could watch long without succumbing tolaughter or .?.?. coma. But then, the America-hating, un-happy Muslim mob isn’t familiar with RottenTomatoes.comor even Siskel and Ebert. They watch a homemade movietrailer on their computer and see a nation of haters. —Courtesy - The Washington Post.

The anatomy of ananti-Taliban uprising

DAVID H YOUNG

REVOLT is a loaded word, conjuring up images ofthe Free Syrian Army, the Anbar Awakening, andthe Libyan civil war. In small pockets across eastern Afghanistan, however, farmers, shopkeepers

and others are taking the fight to the Taliban over the group’sabusive tendencies. Though entirely isolated from one an-other, instances of violent resistance to harsh Taliban ruleshave spiked this past summer-brought on by school clos-ings in Ghazni, music bans in Nuristan, beheadings in Paktiaand murders in Laghman, among other causes. While asmall number of Afghans admire the Taliban, most who sup-port it do so because they are coerced, or believe that thegroup is less predatory than the government, though that’shardly an endorsement. So what precisely does it take forAfghans to stand up to the Taliban, and what are their op-tions? When I served in eastern Afghanistan as a civilianadvisor to the U.S. military, I closely monitored the Taliban’srelationship with the local population and discerned a num-ber of red lines the Taliban could not cross, depending onthe retaliatory options available to their victims. While work-ing closely with a dozen or so of these nascent rebel groupsin Laghman and Nuristan Provinces, I noted that the amountof Taliban abuse most Afghans will endure before consider-ing rebellion in one way or another depends on a number ofinter-related factors (incidentally, the calculus for whetherAfghans will join the Taliban due to government abuse issimilar): the severity of the grievance, the locals’ ability toretaliate, and the community’s resilience to withstand inevi-table counter-attacks if they do rise up. More specifically,they ask:

1. Does this abuse or restriction prevent my family fromearning a living or even surviving? ‘Prevent’ is the key wordhere. Afghans will walk an extra five miles every day toavoid a Taliban checkpoint on the way to a bazaar, and aslong as they are able to get to the bazaar, the obstacle can beclassified as a mere nuisance. If, however, the Taliban isrestricting movement to such a degree that there is a threatof being shaken down or attacked every time Afghans leavetheir home, the Taliban is playing with fire. 2. Does itprevent the men in my family from receiving an education?Again, as long as they get the education, even if the Talibandictates that Islam should be taught in a certain way, suchslights are likely to be overlooked in the face of overwhelm-ing force. Tactful members of the Taliban will usually en-courage changes in a ‘dangerously westernizing’ curricu-lum through intimidation but stop short of actually closingthem by force, given the value Afghans place on educationand their willingness to fight for it. —Courtesy - AfPakChannel.

JEDDAH: Crown Prince Kingdom of Saudi Arabia HRH Prince Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud receives Pakistan’snew Defence Attache Brigadier Tahir Gulzar Malik at his office Sunday. Brigadier Tahir Gulzar Malik assumed hisresponsibilities last month in Embassy of Pakistan, Riyadh.

COLOMBO—Their tails upafter an easy outing againsthosts Sri Lanka, India wouldlike to keep the winning mo-mentum going when they takeon arch rivals Pakistan in theirsecond warm-up game today(Monday) ahead of the ICCWorld Twenty20 beginningon September 18.

Pakistan all rounderShahid Afridi, who missed theT20 series against Australiadue to a thumb injury, has saidhe is desperate to perform forhis country in the Twenty20World Cup in Sri Lanka, start-ing from September 18.

“I am looking to regain myform,” he said. Afridi, as say-ing. “I’m aware of the expec-tations from me and since it’sa very important event, I willgo all-out to put on a goodshow,” he added.

The Mahendra SinghDhoni-led Indian team would,however, want their batsmanto come good against a supe-rior Pakistani bowling unit tomaintain a clean slate aheadof their World Twenty20opener against Afghanistanon September 19.

Though, India won com-fortably against the hosts intheir opening warm-up game,they certainly need to put upa better show with the batagainst Pakistan, who boastof quality bowlers like SaeedAjmal and Umar Gul in theirranks.

Injury to opener Gautam

Pak, India warm up match todayGambhir, who hurt his wristagainst Sri Lanka, would be aconcern for the Indians butVirender Sehwag along withother top-order batsmen needto redeem themselves againstPakistan following their dis-mal show with the bat in thefirst match.

India, in particular, wouldlike Sehwag to fire againstPakistan and get some runsunder his belt ahead of thetough battle ahead.

Virat Kohli, on the otherhand, has been a consistentperformer, but the young Delhilad would look to settle downand get battle ready with asolid knock against Pakistanat the R Premadasa Stadium.

Yuvraj Singh, who made acomeback to world cricket af-ter recovering from cancerwith a cameo of 34 runsagainst New Zealand in thesecond T20 game in Chennai,also needs to get some moreruns under his belt.

And the match againstPakistan will provide thegutsy left-hander with an op-portunity to prove that he isready and looking forward totake on the world with thesame zeal as he had left it ayear ago following the criticalillness.

While Suresh Rainawould also look to spendsome more time on the crease,Dhoni showed why he is stillrated as one of the great fin-ishers of the game against Sri

Lanka the other day.But against Pakistan on

Monday, the Indian skipperneeds to be much more fo-cused both with the bat andwith his leadership skills.

Of late, Rohit Sharma hasbeen erratic with bat whichmight prompt Dhoni to giveManoj Tiwary a chance aheadof their campaign opener.

The Indian bowlers led byIrfan Pathan, however, lookedin good stead in the previousmatch and they just need tocontinue their positive runagainst Pakistan.

Pathan continued his finerun and scalped five wicketsto guide India to a comfort-able 26-run victory over SriLanka in the first practicematch yesterday.

The only concern forDhoni would be lack of wick-ets in pace spearhead ZaheerKhan’s kitty.

But comeback manHarbhajan Singh looked com-posed against the hosts andbowled a tight line, which defi-nitely is encouraging for theteam.

Pakistan, on the otherhand have been a bit incon-sistent in the run-up to thesporting extravaganza. Theywon two successive T20matches against Australia, buttheir 94-run loss to the Kan-garoos in the final T20 tieshowed that their batsmen arevulnerable to quality bowl-ing.—AP

Prince Harry was just 400 yardsaway when Taliban attacked

From Page 1several aircraft ablaze, thePrince told his commandingofficers he was ‘stayingput’.According to the DailyMail, he told his superiorsthat he was ‘fine’ and wasdetermined to carry out hisduties as an Apachehelicopter pilot.

As well as apparentlytargeting the Prince, aTaliban spokesman also in-dicated the raid was a re-sponse to an anti-Muslimfilm made in the UnitedStates, which has causedoutbreaks of violenceacross the Middle East.

Military sources saidthe attack must have beenplanned days, if not weeks,in advance in order to gainaccess to the heavily forti-fied base and get to ‘within400 yards’ of Harry.

The insurgents are be-lieved to have studiedCamp Bastion beforehandand passed unnoticedthrough vehicle check-

points before recovering acache of weapons hiddenin the desert, the reportsaid.

According to the report,at about 10 p.m. on Friday,16 fighters dug beneath aperimeter fence on thecamp’s eastern side and rantowards the airfield, wherethey were challenged byU.S. Marines.

They fired rocket-pro-pelled grenades and rifles,killing the two Marines anddestroying aircraft, includ-ing Harrier jets and Cobrahelicopters, the report said.

According to NATOcoalition chiefs, 15 Talibaninsurgents were shot dead.The remaining insurgentwas wounded and taken tohospital at Camp Bastionwhere he remains underarmed guard.

NATO has admitted thatsix of coalition fighter jetswere destroyed duringTaliban attack at Camp Bas-

tion in Helmand province.International Security

Assistance Force in a state-ment said at least fifteen in-surgents executed a well-coordinated attack againstthe airfield on Camp Bas-tion. The insurgents ap-peared to be well equipped‚trained and rehearsed. Thestatement confirmed that sixCoalition AV-8B Harrier jetswere destroyed and twowere significantly damaged.Three coalition refuelingstations were also de-stroyed. Six soft-skin air-craft hangars were damagedto some degree.

Three coalition refuel-ing stations were also de-stroyed and six aircrafthangars damaged in the as-sault that caused unprec-edented damage at CampBastion in southernHelmand province, one ofthe toughest batt le-grounds of the war, thespokesman said.—NNI

Dr A Q Khanaffair a closedchapter: FO

From Page 1spokesman said that the mat-ter had been thoroughly in-vestigated in the year 2003-4. It had been clearly estab-lished that the proliferationactivity was an individual actand did not carry authoriza-tion of any Pakistani govern-ment at any stage, thespokesman added.

8 Afghanwomen perish inNato air strike

From Page 1

died today in southern Af-ghanistan following an in-sider attack suspected to in-volve members of the Af-ghan police,” the NATO-ledcoalition or ISAF said in thestatement.

The attack came one dayafter two British soldiers wereshot dead by an Afghan Lo-cal Police service member insouthern Helmand provinceon Saturday.The brief state-ment disclosed neither thenationalities of the victimsnor the details about the in-cident under the ISAF policy.The incident is currently un-der investigation, it added.

Troops mainly from theU.S., Britain and Australia havebeen stationed in the southernregion within the framework ofISAF to curb Taliban-linked in-surgency there.Sunday’s at-tack brings to 33 the number ofthe green-on-blue attacks sincethe beginning of this year, kill-ing 51 service members with themilitary alliance.

Meantime, an Afghan of-ficial who declined to benamed said that an Afghanpolice shot dead four U.S.soldiers in an outpost inMizan district of southernZabul province early Sundaymorning.

While the coalition offi-cials recently said that only 25percent of insider attacks arerelated to Taliban-led insur-gency but Taliban insurgentsfighting Afghan and NATOforces regularly claim respon-sibility for the attacks, sayingtheir fighters infiltrated to Af-ghan army and police ranks tokill the foreign soldiers.Agroup of Taliban, who maskedthemselves in U.S. military uni-form, launched a coordinatedattack against a main coalitionbase — Camp Bastion inHelmand in the attack that lefttwo U.S. Marines and 14Taliban dead late on Friday.Itis not known at the momentwhether the recent attackswere related to Taliban’s an-nouncement of hunting downBritish Prince Harry, who ar-rived at Camp Bastion inHelmand province earlier thismonth, starting his four-monthmilitary service as an Apachehelicopter pilot—AFP

Nawaz warnsFrom Page 1

taking decisions at its freewill which is weakening theinstitutions.

Nawaz Sharif saidloadshedding in the countryhas taken the economy at thebrings of total collapse. Hesaid the loadshedding prob-lem would only be resolvedwhen corruption was rootedout. He strongly criticized theincrease in POL prices anddescribed it a huge injusticewith the people by pointingout that every body was al-ready perturbed over pricehike and unemployment.

He said the country ispassing through an era ofunprecedented corruption butrulers are not ready for selfcorrection and prefer to adoptunconstitutional methods.

16 dead, 12injured in Dirlandmine blast

From Page 1rescue operation at LandaiShah at the converge of DirDistrict and Bajaur agency.The officials said there are noreports of any anti-Taliban fig-ure travelling in the vehicle. Allthe people on board the vanwere ordinary people thoughmajority of dwellers of Dir arepro-government. “A majorityof the passengers were thosewho came to District head-quarters for routine shoppingand they did not belong to aparticular group or the caste”.A police official said.

It was also reported thatthe security forces kicked offoperation in the area to huntthe saboteurs in the out-skirts of Dir district where thesecurity forces and the localshad been subjected to at-tacks by the militants manytimes in the past.

Dumping of‘infected’Australian

sheep orderedFrom Page 1

He added that officialsfrom the federal and provin-cial governments alongwith the Karachi Metropoli-tan Corporation (KMC) arepresent on the site to over-see the process that mighttake a few days.

The commissioner saidthat the process was initiatedon the directives of LivestockDepartment, as they said thatthe sheep were not “safe forhuman consumption.”

Earlier, Sindh Livestockand Fisheries Secretary SyedAbid Ali Shah had said onSaturday that media reportssuggesting the recently im-ported Australian sheep areinfected with contagiousbacteria are baseless and fab-ricated.

Last week, the AustralianHigh Commissioner to Paki-stan Peter Heyward had saidthat the sheep had been in-spected at the Karachi portand were cleared.

He insisted that thesheep were healthy and re-fusal by Bahrain to offloadsheep puzzled him.

Karzai criticizesUS for holding

prisonersFrom Page 1

holds more than 3,000 sus-pected insurgents and is oneof the largest in Afghanistan.Control of the jail was handedover by the US to Afghanauthorities on September 10.

But NATO said 34 pris-oners plus 600 who were cap-tured after the initial agree-ment had been signed, wouldremain in US custody pend-ing clarification. The US isreportedly concerned thatAfghan authorities may sim-ply release inmates it consid-ers to be dangerous.

“Delay in the handingover of prisoners after 9thSeptember is a serious viola-tion of the agreement signedbetween Afghanistan andthe United States,” Karzaitold Marc Grossman, the USspecial representative forAfghanistan and Pakistan, ina meeting at his palace.

“The people of Afghani-stan consider prisons and thedetention of Afghans to be anissue related to their nationalsovereignty and this has beenrepeatedly mentioned in thestrategic partnership agree-ment between the two coun-tries,” Karzai was quoted assaying in a statement.—AP

Flood fear looms over JacobabadFrom Page 1

epidemic disseases. Khawajagahreeb Nawaz Trust is busyin aid activities in effected ar-eas particularly D G Khanwhere it is disributing food tohundreds of families.

Meanwhile, Prime Minis-ter Raja Pervez Ashraf onSunday approved a grant ofRs. 710 million for provisionof relief goods and food ra-tion to the people affectedby the unprecedentedfloods in various districts ofSindh.

The Prime Minister ap-proved Rs. 70 million eachfor Sukkur and Khairpur, Rs.200 million each forJacobabad and Kashmoreand Rs 100 million forShikarpur, and ordered forthe immediate release offunds by the Finance Min-istry to the provincial gov-ernment.

Besides, he also an-nounced approval of similargrants for the flood affectedareas in Southern Punjaband Balochistan.

The Prime Minister alsoissued directives to the Min-istry of Interior to place twoadditional helicopters at thedisposal of the local admin-istration in these districts sothat food ration could bedropped to the peoplestranded in flood affectedareas.

He also directed the Na-tional Disaster ManagementAuthority (NDMA) to rush25,000 tents to the affecteddistricts urgently so that thepeople could be providedshelter.

These decisions weretaken by the Prime Ministerat a high level meeting,which continued for overtwo hours at ShahbazAirbase, Jacobabad, to re-view the flood situation onSunday morning.

The meeting was at-tended by Federal Ministerfor Finance Dr Abdul HafeezShaikh, Minister for InteriorRehman Malik, Minister forClimate Change RanaFarooq Saeed Khan, SindhChief Minister Syed Qaim AliShah, Provincial Ministerfor Irrigation Javed SaifullahDharejo, Provincial Ministerfor Disaster ManagementMuzaffar Ali Shujran, GOCPanu Aqil, members of Na-tional and provincial assem-blies and senior civil andmilitary officials.

The Prime Minister alsoannounced that in the sec-ond phase an additional re-lief of minimum Rs 2 billionwould be given to the Gov-ernment of Sindh for the re-habilitation of the people af-fected in the flood affecteddistricts of the province.

He said, “We will haveto depend on our own re-sources to meet the chal-lenges posed by floods.There is no dearth of fundsfor providing succour to theflood affectees.”

He assured the provin-cial government that morefunds would be released bythe Federal Government ifrequired.

The Prime Minister as-sured the people of the af-fected areas that the FederalGovernment would leave nostone unturned and extendall possible financial, tech-nical and administrative as-sistance to the provincialgovernment for meeting thisnatural calamity.

He directed the provin-cial government to ensurethat every child, elderly andwoman was provided relief.

The Prime Minister saidthat he was grieved at theloss of lives and damages tothe property of the people,who have been devastatedbecause of heavy rains andwater flowing from hill tor-rents that struckBalochistan.

President Asif AliZardari was also concernedabout the situation and wasbeing kept abreast of themeasures being taken by thefederal and provincial au-thorities, he added.

The Prime Minister saidthat the entire nation stoodwith the flood affectees inthis hour of trial and grief.

He expressed the confi-dence that they would bravethe situation with the helpof their brethren.

He said this was the thirdconsecutive year that floodshad hit Sindh causing mas-sive devastation and loss ofprecious lives, besides dam-age to the property and lossof standing crops.

The Prime Ministerurged the federal and pro-vincial departments to coor-dinate their efforts and helplocal administration in carry-ing out rescue and relief op-erations in areas affected byfloods in the country.

The Prime Ministerurged the parliamentariansand political leadership toreach out the people in thedevastated areas and leadthe rescue and relief opera-tions with missionary zealand selflessness. “I will per-sonally monitor the situa-tion,” he said.

He paid tribute to theservices rendered by theArmed Forces, which had al-ways risen to the occasionand played their role when-ever the country was facedwith any natural calamity oran emergency.

The Prime Minister alsoappreciated the efforts madeby the provincial govern-ment, especially the promptresponse by the Sindh ChiefMinister, who had been su-pervising the rescue and re-lief operations and visitingthe areas.

Earlier, Dr Saeed AhmedMangnejo, CommissionerLarkana Division, briefed the

Prime Minister about theflood situation and the mea-sures taken for relief and res-cue operation.

He said that the presentfloods were even more se-vere than the super floodsthat hit the province lastyear.

He said that the magni-tude and gravity of the dev-astation caused by thefloods could be gauged fromthe fact that so far 73 peoplehad lost their lives, 3000people were injured, while75% standing crops dam-aged and 150,000 houses af-fected.

This is more than thelosses suffered during thefloods in Sindh last year, headded.

Nearly three millionpeople have been affectedout of a population of ninemillion in the six affected dis-tricts, he said.

The Commissioner saidthat the scale of devastationhad been larger because ithad affected the urban areasof the province.

The Prime Minister tookan aerial view of the flood-hit areas of Sindh andBalochistan for over an hourand covered areas, includ-ing Shikarpur, Jaffarabad,Ghari Yaseen, Sultan Kotand Kashmore.

He was accompanied bythe Sindh Chief Ministerand federal ministers for Fi-nance, Interior and ClimateChange.

He met the people af-fected by floods and listenedto their problems. He also dis-tributed relief goods amongthem.

The Prime Minister, whoarrived in the morning atSukkur Airport from Karachi,was received by the SindhChief Minister. Meanwhile,during its relief and rescueoperations in flood-affectedareas of Sindh andBalochistan, Pakistan Armytroops have distributed 22 tonrations and 500 packs of dryration at Dera Murad Jamaliand Loralai.—Agencies

One killed as protestorsmarch on US Consulate

From Page 1took part in the rally.

In Kotli Azad Kashmir,protests were held at theShaheed Chowk. Thechanted slogans against themakers of the film. A rally wasalso held in Lahore whichstarted in the Gulberg areaand ended at Baradari.

Protests were also held inJhelum, Nawabshah,Jacobabad and DI Khanagainst the anti-Islam film.Meanwhile, Protest ralliesand demonstrations werestaged across many cities ofthe country Sunday.

Protestors demandedsevering diplomatic linkswith the US.

In Hasht Nagri district ofPeshawar, a protest demon-stration was staged by JUI.Hundreds of participants of

the demonstration chanted“Death of America”.

Protests also continuesacross many cities in Punjab.A protest rally organized byMarkazi Jamiat Ahle HadeesYouth Force was staged atBatti Chowk, Ravi Road inLahore. Protestors burntAmerican flags and raisedanti-US slogans and con-demned the blasphemousfilm.

Jamiat Ahle Hadees alsoannounced to start Namoos-e-Risalat (Protecting theSanctity of the Holy Prophetpeace be on him) movementfrom September 21.

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Pa-kistan strongly condemningthe anti-Islam film demanedthe government to record itsstrong protest to the Ameri-

can government and to callback Pakistan’s Ambassadorto Washington, SherryRahman.

In Faisalabad, angry pro-testors staged a protest rallyand chanted slogans againstthe US. They also burnt USflag.Protest rallies were alsostaged in many cities ofSindh province.

Members of Christiancommunity staged a protestin front of Hyderabad PressClub and demanded banningthe movie for ever.

In Naushero Feroze an-gry protestors held a protestmarch on G T Road andtorched US flag.SarwariRoohani Jamaat staged arally in Umar Kot whileJamaat-e-Islami organized arally in Nawabshah. —NNI

TEHRAN—Commander of theIslamic Revolution GuardsCorps Major GeneralMohammad Ali Jafari, whoseforces were in charge of thesecurity of the recent Non-Aligned Movement summitin Tehran, rejected reports onthe attempted assassinationof Indian Prime MinisterManmohan Singh during thesummit.

“It has not yet beenproved if the suspect in-tended to assassinate theIndian prime minister,” Jafaritold a press conference inTehran on Sunday.

“A person attempted todrive his car close to the con-voy of the Indian officials”and go through the cars, heexplained, and added, “The

Iran rejects reports about assassinationattempt on Indian PM in Iran

person was carrying a coldweapon but he has not yetconfessed to any ill intentionand therefore the issue is notdefinite yet.”

“The person has statedthat he was in a hurry andwanted to overtake the con-voy,” Jafari said.

The 16th NAM summitwas held in Tehran from Au-gust 26 to 31.

Some 51 countries senttheir high-ranking leaders tothe 16th heads-of-state sum-mit of the NAM, while over150 delegations from theworld countries and bodiesattended the other meetingsof the bloc in Tehran.

NAM, which is com-prised of some 120 memberand 17 observer states, is an

international organization ofstates considering them-selves not formally alignedwith or against any majorpower bloc. NAM is the larg-est grouping of countriesoutside of the United Na-tions. During the 6 days ofholding the conference, theIranian officials held meet-ings with the heads of statesand important leaders of dif-ferent countries attendingthe conference on differentregional and international is-sues as well as the bilateralrelations.

The world leaders attend-ing the conference appreci-ated the Iranian authoritiesfor maintain high securityduring the 6-day summit inTehran.— NNI

Ahmadinejad to leavefor New York in days

TEHRAN—Iran’s PresidentMahmoud Ahmadinejadwill leave for New Yorkat the head of a delega-tion next week to attend aUN General Assembly meet-ing.

“Given the coordinationmade, the president willmost likely leave Tehran forNew York on September 21to attend the United Na-tions General Assembly

meeting,” Director-Generalof the Presidential Office forInternational AffairsMohammad Reza Forqanitold FNA on Sunday.

Meantime, he informedof some possible minutechanges in the president’sitinerary, saying that thedate of PresidentAhmadinejad’s departuremight be changed to Sep-tember 20 or 22. —NNI

S Korean warshipsvisit Russia

MOSCOW—Two destroyersfrom the South Korean navyvisited Russia’s Far Easternport of Vladivostok on Sun-day, a spokesman withRussia’s Pacific Fleet said.

The South Korean war-ships, on a two-day businessvisit to Russia, will stay inthe city till Tuesday, spokes-man Roman Martov told lo-cal media.—NNI

DUBAI—Members of Iran’selite Islamic RevolutionaryGuards Corps (IRGC) are inSyria providing non-militaryassistance and Iran may getinvolved militarily if Syriacomes under attack, its com-mander said on Sunday.

The statement is the firstofficial acknowledgementfrom a senior military com-mander that Iran has a militarypresence on the ground inSyria where an uprising hasleft tens of thousands deadsince it began 18 months ago.

Western countries and Syr-ian opposition groups haveaccused Iran of providingweapons and expertise to Syr-ian armed forces and have sus-pected an Iranian military pres-ence inside the country. Iranhas denied this.

The Islamic Republic hasbacked President Bashar al-Assad since the crisis beganand regards his rule as a key

Iran may get involved in Syriapart of its axis of resistanceagainst Israel and Sunni Arabstates.

“A number of members ofthe Qods Force are present inSyria but this does not consti-tute a military presence,” com-mander-in-chief of the IRGCMohammad Ali Jafari said at anews conference on Sunday, Ira-nian news agency ISNA re-ported.

Qods is an IRGC unit set upto export Iran’s ideology. It hasbeen accused of plotting attacksinside Iraq since the overthrowof Saddam Hussein.

Jafari did not indicate howmany members were in Syriabut said they were providing“intellectual and advisory help”.

“The IRGC is giving intel-lectual help and even financialassistance but there is no mili-tary presence,” he said.

He also said that Iran wouldchange its policy and offer mili-tary backing to Assad if Syria

came under attack.“I say specifically that if

Syria came under military at-tack, Iran would also give mili-tary support but it ... totally de-pends on the circumstances,” hesaid.

Iranian officials have saidTehran has supplied medical andhumanitarian relief to Damascusbut have denied all allegationsof military involvement.

Meanwhile, Battleships, air-craft carriers, minesweepers andsubmarines from 25 nations areconverging on the strategicallyimportant Strait of Hormuz in anunprecedented show of force asIsrael and Iran move towards thebrink of war, a report in DailyTelegraph reported on Sunday.

Western leaders are of theview that Iran will retaliate toany attack by attempting to mineor blockade the shipping lanethrough which passes around 18million barrels of oil every day,approximately 35 per cent of the

JEDDAH—More than 1.8 mil-lion foreign pilgrims were ex-pected to perform Haj this year,Haj Minister Bandar Hajar an-nounced recently.

Speaking to reporters aftervisiting the headquarters of theTawafa Organization for SouthAsian Pilgrims, Hajar said therewas no plan to reduce the num-ber of Umrah pilgrims for themataf (circumambulation areaaround the Kaaba) expansionproject. The minister said thisyear’s was the most successfulUmrah season. An estimated5.5 million foreign pilgrimscame to the Kingdom. “We is-sued 5.8 million Umrah visasthis year. Most of the 5.5 mil-lion pilgrims came for Umrahhave already left the Kingdom.Only 10,000 pilgrims are nowremaining in the country,” hesaid.

“This is a big success com-

pared to the Umrah season of2005, when 2.5 million foreignpilgrims came and about half ofthem remained in the country,overstaying their Umrah visas,”he explained.Hajar said despitethe convening of an emergencyIslamic summit in Makkah, theUmrah pilgrims who camefrom different parts of theworld were able to leave theKingdom without any diffi-culty. He commended the ef-forts of all government depart-ments for the success of theUmrah season.Hajar said he isready to meet the Shoura Coun-cil if he gets an invitation fromthe consultative body. “I havenot yet received any invitationand I am ready to accept the in-vitation at any time,” he said.

Hajar met with chairmanand members of theorganization’s board of directorsand discussed its preparations

for the Haj season. He urged theorganization to make use of thehuge facilities being provided bythe government in the service ofpilgrims.

The ministry has set out aplan for sending pilgrims ofvarious Tawafa organizations tothe Jamrat and the HaramMosque in coordination with thePublic Security and Civil De-fense Department.Adnan Katib,president of the Tawafa Organi-zation of South Asian Pilgrims,said they had discussed withHajar the organization’s opera-tion plan for the Hajseason.“We have discussedvarious aspects to improve ser-vices for pilgrims includinghousing, transport and generalplanning,” Katib said, addingthat the organization would mo-bilize all its resources to extendthe best possible services to theguests of God.—NNI

Over 1.8m foreign pilgrimsto perform Hajj

NEW DELHI—Indian Na-tional security adviser (NSA)Shivshankar Menon hasbriefed Indian diplomats thatIndia may have a record num-ber of terrorist infiltrationsfrom Pakistan.

Briefing Indian heads ofmissions (HoMs) here, Menontold them that terrorism fromPakistan was a never-endingaffair, but despite this, Indianeeded to engage with differ-ent quarters in that country,even as New Delhi enhancesits own security proactively.

The NSA’s assessment ofPakistan matched the homeministry’s briefing to Indiandiplomats.

But these were at variancewith the ministry of externalaffairs’ take on India’s tieswith Pakistan. Foreign minis-ter S M Krishna gave a fairly

positive spin to the Pakistanrelationship, describing it as a“democracy”.

Giving an account of hisrecent visit to Islamabad fortalks with his counterpart HinaRabbani Khar, Krishna felt anew atmosphere in Pakistanand is confident that the rela-tionship was on the upswing.

Pakistan, he said, wantedto take steps forward. On thequestion of whether the pow-erful ISI and Pakistani Armywas on the same page as thecivilian government there,Krishna said, he believed thatif the civilians were movingforward with India it wouldhave the “blessings” of themilitary.

But these were very differ-ent from the home ministerSushil Kumar Shinde’s assess-ment. In his speech to the dip-

lomats, Shinde explained thedifferent ways in which Paki-stan continued to foment ter-rorism inside India.

These included infiltra-tion, a growing fake Indiancurrency network, sleeper cellsof terror groups, luring Indi-ans to terror training camps tocarry out terror attacks.

Analysts said the Diplo-mats listening to the top lev-els of policymaking in the gov-ernment would be forgiven forbelieving that the establish-ment was speaking in differentvoices.

But though there is almostno one willing to bet that Pa-kistan had given up terrorismagainst India, there is an un-derstanding that India neededto engage with some of themain players in Pakistan.—INP

Indian MHA, MEA atodds on ties with Pak

‘Govt doingnothing foraffectees’KHAIRPUR—Pakistan MuslimLegaue-Nawaz (PML-N)leader and former Member ofNational Assembly (MNA)Marvi Memon has said thatthousands of people have beenhomeless due the flood whichswept away their all assets inSindh but the government hasdone nothing for the people ofthe province. The victims arebeing died due to differentdiseases and shortage of food,Marvi said while talking toprivate news television GeoNews while visiting the floodand rain hit areas. Marvi saidthat the PML-N would soonstart the relief operation in theprovince. Answering to aquery about new local bodiessystem, she said that twodifferent systems could not berun in province simulta-neously. She added that theirparty would make alliancewith the PML-F to defeatruling PPP in Sindh.— NNI world’s petroleum traded by sea.

A blockade would have acatastrophic effect on the frag-ile economies of Britain, Europethe United States and Japan, allof which rely heavily on oil andgas supplies from the Gulf.

The Strait of Hormuz is oneof the world’s most congestedinternational waterways. It isonly 21 miles wide at its narrow-est point and is bordered by theIranian coast to the north and theUnited Arab Emirates to thesouth.

In preparation for any pre-emptive or retaliatory action byIran, warships from more than25 countries, including theUnited States, Britain, France,Saudi Arabia and the UAE, willtoday begin an annual 12-dayexercise. The war games are thelargest ever undertaken in theregion.

They will practice tactics inhow to breach an Iranian block-ade of the strait and the force

will also undertake counter-min-ing drills.

The multi-national navalforce in the Gulf includes threeUS Nimitz class carrier groups,each of which has more aircraftthan the entire complement ofthe Iranian air force.

The carriers are supportedby at least 12 battleships, includ-ing ballistic missile cruisers,frigates, destroyers and assaultships carrying thousand of USMarines and special forces.

The British component con-sists of four British minesweep-ers and the Royal Fleet Auxil-iary Cardigan Bay, a logisticsvessel. HMS Diamond, a brand-new £1billion Type 45 de-stroyer, one of the most power-ful ships in the British fleet, willalso be operating in the region.

In addition, commanderswill also simulate destroyingIranian combat jets, ships andcoastal missile batteries.

In the event of war, the main

threat to the multi-nationalforce will come from the Is-lamic Revolutionary GuardsCorps navy, which is ex-pected to adopt an “access-denial” strategy in the wakeof an attack, by directly tar-geting US warships, attack-ing merchant shipping andmining vital maritimechokepoints in the PersianGulf.

Defence sources say thatalthough Iran’s capabilitymay not be technologicallysophisticated, it could delivera series of lethal blowsagainst British and US shipsusing mini-subs, fast attackboats, mines and shore-basedanti-ship missile batteries.

Next month, Iran willstage massive military ma-neuvers of its own, to showthat it is prepared to defendits nuclear installationsagainst the threat of aerialbombardment.—INP

LONDON — Lawyers forBritain’s royal family will makea criminal complaint against thephotographer who took picturesof Prince William’s wife Katesunbathing topless in the southof France, William’s office saidSunday. The palace has alreadylaunched a civil lawsuit againstFrance’s Closer magazine, whichpublished the paparazzi snaps ofKate, the Duchess of Cambridge,relaxing during a holiday at a pri-vate villa in Provence.

The couple is hitting backhard against publication of thepictures, which William’s officecalled a “grotesque” abuse of theyoung royals’ privacy.A spokeswoman for William’sSt. James’s Palace office said thecouple’s lawyers would file acomplaint with French prosecu-tors on Monday against the uni-dentified photographer or pho-tographers involved.

“The complaint concerns thetaking of photographs of the

Duke and Duchess of Cambridgewhilst on holiday and the publi-cation of those photographs inbreach of their privacy,” she saidon condition of anonymity inkeeping with palace policy.

The palace said it would beup to French prosecutors to de-cide whether to investigate andpursue a criminal complaint forbreach of privacy or trespassing.The couple’s lawyers are alreadydue in a Paris court Mondayseeking an injunction againstCloser’s publisher, the Italianmedia group Mondadori. It alsopublishes Italy’s Chi gossipmagazine, which says it will pub-lish 26 pages of the images onMonday.

The palace will seek dam-ages from the publisher, whichis owned by former Italian Pre-mier Silvio Berlusconi.The palace said it was consider-ing “all proportionate responses”against Chi, though no decisionhas been made on legal action

Palace to file criminalcomplaint over Kate pics

Malik suspectsterror in Karachi

factory fireKARACHI—Federal InteriorMinister, Rahman Malik has saidthat the element of terrorism inBaldia town factory fire cannotbe ruled out.

He said whosoever is foundguilty in the factory infernowould not be spared and addedthat the investigation was beingconducted on three points to digout the real causes of fire.

Talking to media persons onthe occasion of his visit to the gut-ted factory, Rahman Malik saidthat the factory owners would notbe harassed but those found in-volved in this tragic incidentwould be brought to justice.

He said that the threat of ter-rorism existed in the city accord-ing to the intelligence report. Ac-cording to the initial report of thepolice the generator tripped andcaused fire, while the boiler wasalso nearby.

Rahman Malik said that thereport relating to generator caus-ing fire was wrong, as it wasworking alright. —INP

Egypt securityHQ in Sinai

attackedISMAILIA—Militants attackedEgypt’s security headquarters innorthern Sinai on Sunday witha barrage of mortar bombs andmachinegun fire and fought po-lice elsewhere in the desert re-gion, wounding three conscripts,security officials said.

The militants had climbedonto the roofs of buildings acrossfrom the headquarters building inal-Arish and fired rocket-pro-pelled grenades, one securitysource said.Machinegun battleswere still being fought in thestreets around the building, wit-nesses said. About 30 armouredpersonnel carriers backed by he-licopters fought militants in thetown of Sheikh Zuwaid, 30 km(18.6 miles) east of al-Arish onthe Mediterranean coast.Egyptianforces last month began their big-gest security sweep in decades inSinai after militants.—Reuters

SLAMABAD—Pakistan has saidthat it has taken all necessarymeasures in support of nuclearnon-proliferation and extendedfull cooperation to the interna-tional community.

In a response to a question

Pak suports N non-proliferationregarding comments made byDr A Q Khan in a leading news-paper about transfer of nucleartechnology, the Foreign OfficeSpokesman said that the matterhad been thoroughly investi-gated in 2003-04. —Online

JACOBABAD: Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf distributing relief goods among flood affectees.

Demand torestore trainsLAHORE—Daily PassengersAssociation PakistanRailways office-bearersalleged the attitude ofrailways administration withpassengers of Lahore divisionwas unfair. Talking to APPhere on Sunday, Abdulmajid,president DPA, and otheroffice-bearers said theoperation of more than 20trains of Lahore division hadbeen stopped which made thelives of commuters very hard.He said thousands ofpassengers used to traveldaily to the provincial capitalto earn their livelihood fromsmalltowns but after thesuspension of trains manycommuters had been leftunemployed. —APP

OBSERVER REPORT

LALAMUSA—Federal Minis-ter for Information and Broad-casting Qamar Zaman Kairasaid on Sunday that PPP was apolitical force and such likeforces do not afraid from elec-tions.

Talking to media at awalima ceremony of Ch TariqZaman Kaira’s son, he saidthat election was not a play ofdolls that should be held onanybody’s desire. Electionswould be held on time, he said.

Regarding sacrilegiousmovie, Kaira said that thewhole world should protest onthe blasphemous film.

He said that protest wasthe right of Muslims and thisshould be peaceful.

Speaking on the occasion,PPP Punjab president ImtiazSafdar Warraich said that theconstitution of Pakistan doesnot allow to write a foreigncourt for the trial of the Presi-

dent of Pakistan as Presidentwas enjoying immunity underarticle 248, he added.

Federal Minister for Re-ligious Affairs KhurshidAhmed Shah said that opposi-tion had been demanding elec-tions for the last four years butit would not be held on its de-mand. To a question, he saidthat consultation would bemade with opposition leaderand other political parties oncaretaker setup.

Former prime ministerSyed Yusuf Raza Gilani, In-t e r io r Min i s te r RehmanMalik, Ch Aitzaz Ahsan,p res iden t Azad KashmirSardar Muhammad Yaqoob,federal ministers- HaiderAbbas Rizv i , Sa rdarBahadur Khan , She ikhWaqas Akram, TasneemQureshi, MNAs, MPAs andother political leaders andworkers attended the Walimaceremony.

PPP not afraid ofelections: Kaira

against it or the Irish DailyStar which reproduced theCloser photos on Saturday.

No British publication hasrun the pictures, and Britain’stabloids have lined up to de-nounce them as an invasion of theduchess’ privacy.The strong response stands incontrast to the reception of na-ked photos of Prince Harry par-tying in Las Vegas, which ap-peared online last month andwere later published in Britain’sSun tabloid. The palace shruggedoff the photos, snapped during agame of strip billiards, and tookno action against those who pub-lished them.

Some see British papers’ re-luctance to run the Kate photosas a sign that the country’s once-rambunctious tabloids have beencowed by a scandal over phonehacking and other wrongdoing,which brought public oppro-brium and an ongoing media-eth-ics inquiry.—AP

Low-cost denguerepellantLAHORE—Pakistan Councilof Science and IndustrialResearch (PCSIR) has made alow-cost dengue repellant tocounter the virus, DirectorGeneral Dr Shahzad Alam toldAPP on Sunday. Followingdirections of the SecretaryScience and Technology andChairman PCSIR, the PCSIRlike the previous year prepareda dengue herbal repellantcosting Rs 30 per pack, the DGsaid. It remains affective for atleast eight hours after applyingonce whereas its permanent usehas no side effect or causes skinproblems as it is a herbalproduct, Dr Shehzad Alamclaimed. It is easily available atPCSIR’s Industrial LiaisonOffice(ILO) on the basis of noprofit no loss.—APP

Lesco achieveshighest everrecoveryLAHORE—The Lahore ElectricSupply Company (Lesco) hasachieved the highest everrecovery of bills than all otherdistribution companies acrossthe country. The FederalMinistry of Water and Powersources told APP on Sundaythat a total amount of Rs40,649.32 million was billed tothe consumers on the basis ofpower consumption during thelast quarter of April-June ofwhich Rs 40,734.52 wascollected, which was 100.21per cent, the highest everrecovery in the country.Director Customer Services,Lesco, Khalid Mahmood,during his tenure.—APP

Iran adds toreward for

Rushdie’s deathTEHRAN — Iranian newspapersare reporting that a religiousfoundation has increased a re-ward for killing British authorSalman Rushdie to $3.3 millionfrom $2.8 million in response toalleged insults to the ProphetMuhammad.

The Sunday reports in thehardline Jomhoori Eslami dailyand other newspapers appearedto be a reference to an anti-Is-lam film that sparked a series ofprotests across the Muslimworld. The report said that the15 Khordad Foundation will paythe prize to whoever acts on the1989 death fatwa issued byIran’s late leader AyatollahRuhollah Khomeini against theauthor of the novel “The SatanicVerses,” calling his bookblasphemous.The reward startedat one million U.S. dollars andis occasionally increased.— AP

Taliban leaderwho destroyed

US copterdetained

KABUL—Afghan forces and theNATO-led coalition troops de-tained a Taliban leader who wasresponsible for shooting down aU.S. helicopter killing two U.S.service members earlier thismonth, the coalition forces saidSunday.An Afghan and coalitionsecurity force today arrested theTaliban leader responsible for thedeath of two American servicemembers following a Sept. 5 he-licopter crash in eastern Afghani-stan,” the NATO-led coalition orISAF said in a statement.No civilians were harmed duringthe operation, the statementadded.The Taliban leader and hisinsurgent cell coordinated the at-tack that downed an OH-58Kiowa helicopter, killing both ser-vice members aboard, it said, add-ing that the security force alsodetained one suspected insurgentand seized improvised explosivedevice components and Taliban-associated materials during thisoperation.—NNI

Afghan studentsprotest against

anti-Islam movieKABUL—Hundreds of Afghanstudents on Sunday staged ademonstration in protest againsta controversial US-made anti-Islam film.

Chanting anti-US sloganssuch as ‘Death to America’ and“Those behind producing anti-Islam film must be punished,”protesters at Kabul Universityurged the Afghan government tosever ties with US and annul thestrategic partnership it signedwith Washington in May thisyear.The students also closeddown the university gates anddid not allow people to get in.“We condemned this act and wewant the Americans to end theirpresence in Afghanistan, we donot want Afghanistan to havediplomatic relationship with theUS any longer,” said a studentprotester who declined to benamed.—NNI

AN otherwise healthy 57-year-old, hefigured he just needed to learn someback-strengthening exercises, so he

found a personal trainer to help him. Butdespite the workouts, his leg pain gotworse making it hard for him even to walkfrom the car to the grocery store entrance.He and the trainer suspected somethingelse was wrong and he sought the adviceof his doctor. Soon his doctor’s tests re-vealed the true cause:blockages in the bloodvessels of his legs. In fact,the arteries going to hislower extremities werenearly 100 percent blocked.The cause? Years of heavysmoking and high-fatmeals, and other factorshad caused cholesterol,scar tissue and blood clotsto build up inside his bloodvessels.

Most people think thiskind of clogged artery dis-ease, or arteriosclerosis,only happens in the heart.But as Dow’s case shows,it can happen throughoutthe body. When it does,it’s called peripheral arte-rial disease, or PAD.

And in some people, PAD causes legpain that acts as an ‘early warning’ thatsomeone is at high risk for a heart attack ora stroke, says a University of MichiganCardiovascular Center expert. “This is thehallmark of a disease that’s all over,” saysJames Stanley, M.D., a director of the U-MCVC and the vascular surgeon who oper-ated on Dow. “It’s like gray hair you don’tjust get it on one side of your head. So ifyou’ve got this kind of blockage in yourleg, you’re going to have it other places.”

In fact, nearly a quarter of people whohave leg pain due to PAD will be dead in

five years, mostly due to heart attacksand other heart problems, Stanley says.For people like Dow, whose leg pain keptthem from walking even short distances,the odds are even worse: as many as halfwill die by five years. Fortunately, Dowgot diagnosed and treated before thathappened to him. Stanley performed abypass operation to open his blocked legarteries, similar to the bypasses that heart

patients have. A recentcheckup showed he’s doingwell.

“For sure, it’s a wake-up call,” says Dow, who hasquit smoking and changedhis eating habits. “You knowthat old saying, ‘Wherethere’s smoke, there’s fire’?I’m sure that I not only havethe vascular issues in mylower extremities, but I’msure I have them in otherparts of my body.” Dow isn’talone, says Stanley, who hasoperated on thousands ofpatients with severe PAD inhis decades as a professorof vascular surgery at the U-M Medical School. Nearly 30million people in the United

States have some form of PAD, thoughthe vast majority are “silent” cases thatdon’t cause symptoms. Among peopleover age 70, nearly one person in five hasPAD. So, the advice for preventing PAD,or stopping it before it gets serious, islargely the same as the advice for prevent-ing a heart attack or stroke: Quit smoking,eat healthier, get more exercise, controlyour blood sugar if you have diabetes,lose weight, and get your blood pressureand cholesterol levels checked. And askyour doctor if you should take a daily as-pirin to prevent clots, or drugs to reduceyour blood pressure and cholesterol.

Leg pain can mean heart danger

ISLAMABAD: Children enjoy swing over a nullah at Sector F-6/4 which may cause a mishap .—PO photo by Sultan Bashir

ISLAMABAD: JI leader, Mian Muhammad Aslam participating in a protest rally againstblasphemous film organized by Jamaat-e-Islami and Christian Community outside Na-tional Press Club.

Proposal to converttraffic signals on

solar energy beingconsidered

ISLAMABAD—A proposal isunder consideration to converttraffic signals on solar energyat different locations and cross-ings in the Federal Capital.

As a pilot project, trafficsignals at Dhokri Chowk nearSerena Hotel have been con-verted on solar energy whilethe Cabinet Division in con-sultation with the IslamabadTraffic Police has already ini-tiated working on the pro-posal to convert other sig-nals, aimed at saving thepower, an official source saidon Sunday.

He said that the estimatedcost for conversion to solarpower traffic signal variedfrom intersection to intersec-tion. However, approximatecost is Rs 800,000 per inter-section, he added.—APP

Pakistani NGOelected as UN

observerSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD —SustainableDevelopment Policy Institute(SDPI), country’s leadingpolicy think tank has been se-lected as the CSO representa-tive for Asia-Pacific Region byUN-REDD Programme PolicyBoard, according to a pressrelease issued here on Sunday.

SDPI was elected througha voting process where 19 or-ganizations from 12 countriesincluding Pakistan contestedfor the position of Civil SocietyOrganisation (CSO) Observerfor UN CollaborativeProgramme on Reducing Emis-sions from Deforestation andForest Degradation (UN-REDD) Kanwar MuhammadJaved Iqbal, the SDPI represen-tative would represent Asia-Pacific region as Observer forthe next two-year term duringwhich he would solicit issuesand concerns at UN-REDDPolicy Boards on behalf of civilsociety organizations and theirconstituencies, includingwomen’s organizations.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—President ofI d a r a - e - A d a b - o - S a q a f tTariq Shahid has expressedgrief over the sad demise ofHajra Masroor, a renownedshort story writer and au-thor of several Urdu fictionbooks. Tariq Shahid, in hiscondolence message, saidthat Hajra Masroor was animportant name in the fic-tion writing of Urdu litera-ture.

She had been advocat-ing social, political, legal,

and economic rights of women in his writing and herunique style and approachremained stable, he added.

Tariq Shahid said herdeath had deprived thecountry of a major writer,who wrote on womenrights. Some of her famousshort stories Chand KeDoosri Taraf, Tisri Manzil,Andhere Ujale, ChooriChupe, Ha-ai Allah andWoe Log are consideredpopular writing in literature.She also wrote the script ofthe 1965 film ‘Aakhri Sta-tion’.

Members of Idara-e-Adab-o-Saqaft said thatshe had shown her appear-ance in the history of Urduliterature and fiction withbold imagination and writ-ing of short stories in anon-traditional way. Mem-bers of Idara-e- Adab -o-Saqaft, Wahid Buzdar,Saeeda Durrani, TabassumAkhlaq, Iqbal HussainAfker, Zahid Jatoi, MasoodHashmi and others haveexpressed condolences onthe death of the HajraMasroor.

Hajra Masroor contributionsas writer acknowledged

SSUET organizes posterpresentation 2012

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Sir Syed Univer-sity of Engineering & Technol-ogy organized a poster pre-sentation where a number ofinnovative research projects,designed and produced by thestudents of Computer Engi-neering Department, were puton the display.

Students combined textand graphics to make a visu-ally pleasing presentationthat made the visitors spell-bound.

While inaugurating theposter exhibition Vice Chan-cellor Prof. Dr. Syed JawaidHasan Rizvi said that the sci-entific and technical informa-

tion in such forums providea mechanism to facilitate therapid communication of sci-entific ideas in the form ofposter presentations.

Appreciating the inno-vative skill of students ofComputer Engineering De-partment, Dr Jawaid Rizvisaid that the poster presen-tation represents a well-de-signed, eye-catching, andengaging display of re-search or scientific informa-tion and it conveys the re-sults of research activities asto promote the scientificachievements of theposter’s presenter.

Vice Chancellor gave assur-ance to the students that the

university will provide everykind of financial help and moni-tory support to the students tocomplete their projects and tomake it commercially viable.

Projects that were puton display at the Presenta-tion included AutomatedWeb & Mobile Based Trad-ing System, Image Process-ing for Visually Impaired,Shop Pro via Smart Phone,Disaster Management Sys-tem, MIS for Welfare Orga-nization, Remote Appoint-ment System for Health &Care, Map Generators withLocation Awareness forWindows Mobile, MediaNeuron, Intelligent ParkingManagement System etc.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Around 80-yearold miniature paintings of Brit-ish and Indian Royal familiesand rulers will be displayed hereat Gallery 6 on September 22.Sheikh Mohammad Mansoorof Karachi has inherited minia-ture paintings of his greatgrandfather Hafiz SheikhMohammad Amin and grand-father Sheikh Moin.

Both the artists had madeportraits in miniature of theBritish and Indian royal fami-lies and rulers depictingunique aspects of the art in adelicate way. Among the Brit-ish are Victoria Mary Augusta(wife of King George V),Victoria Alice Mary (the onlydaughter of King George V),Prince Philip (Duke of

Edinburgh), Prince Andrew,Lord Curzon (Viceroy of In-dia) and others.

Among the Indians areKasturba Gandhi, several mem-bers of the Tata family (RatanTata, Navaj Tata, Dorabji Tata,Sir Jamsetjee Tata, MeherbaiTata), Sarojini Naidu (first In-dian woman to become thePresident of Indian NationalCongress), Hakim Ajmal Khan(President of Indian NationalCongress), Gopal KrishnaGokhale and Sir PherozshahMehta (Leaders of Indian Na-tional Congress), MaharajaSarajirao Geakwad (Maharaja ofBaroda), Nawab Mir MahbubAli Khan Bahadur (Nizam ofHyderabad Deccan), Nawab SirMuhammad Mahabat KhanjiIII (Nawab of Junagadh State)and many others.

Miniature paintings onBritish rulers to be displayed

PESS denouncesanti-Islam movieRAWALPINDI—The PakistanEx Servicemen Society(PESS) on has denouncedanti-Islam movie terming it aconspiracy against the Mus-lims and Islam.

A meeting, held under thechairmanship of CommodoreM Farooq Mirza, Senior VicePresident here, condemnedthe anti-Islam movie, whichprovoked the Muslims sen-timents and said that it was aconspiracy of the Jews.

The society strongly de-nounced this shameful actand urged the moderatestates and the United Na-tions to take steps againstthe movie maker.

The meeting also de-cided that a country-wideprotest would be launched toprotect the soft image of Is-lam.—APP

RAWALPINDI—Rawalpindidistrict administration (RDA)has been directed to utilize allavailable resources to elimi-nate dengue larvae fromRawalpindi district.

The authorities con-cerned have also been in-structed to accelerate the on-going campaign against den-gue to save the citizens fromthe disease.

DCO issuing special in-structions said that the offic-ers concerned should not sitin the offices for next twoweeks as these days werecritical and crucial for theflourishment of dengue lar-vae and the officers con-cerned should go in the fields

to supervise the campaignand monitor the field teamsto make this campaign acomplete success. Negli-gence in this regard wouldnot be tolerated at any cost,he added. According to thecity district governmentspokesman, the DCO hasalso directed the WASA of-ficials to make utmost effortsto stop the leakage of waterpipelines and focus on theplaces where the water tank-ers are parked and the propercleanliness should be con-ducted and carried out ondaily basis.

The accumulated rain wa-ter must be cleared especiallyin the union council Shakrial,

Pir Vedhai bus stand, NawazSharif park and also from allother vulnerable places of thecity. The city should be keptclean including governmentoffices on daily basis so thatthe flourishment of larvaecould be stopped.

The campaign to checktyre shops and warehousesshould also be acceleratedand those who are violatingthe orders should be dealt inaccordance with the law.

DCO directed the healthofficials to continue out doorand in door surveillance cam-paign to spread awarenessabout the precautionary andpreventive measures againstdengue larvae.—APP

Elimination of dengue

RDA directed toutilize all resources

ISLAMABAD—A group ofmaster artisans is beingtrained here at Lok Virsa inthe field of wood art, metalwork, lacquer art, papiermache and truck art to keepalive traditions of the dyingarts. Besides training, theartisans belonging to remoteregions will also display andsell their products to earnlivelihood and make prod-ucts according to marketneeds.

The Lok Virsa (NationalInstitute of Folk and Tradi-tional Heritage) in collabora-tion with the SUNGI Devel-opment Foundation and theGIZ is holding a series ofmaster artisans training work-shops. Two batches of thetraining workshop have beenheld recently while the cur-rent workshop will continuetill September 27.

Commenting on the work-shop, Khalid Javaid, ExecutiveDirector, Lok Virsa said thatcraftsmen were engaged inwood carving, producing fur-niture and wooden artifacts ofunsurpassed quality all overthe country as the art of carvedwood was mostly used for fur-niture, screen, doors and win-dows. “Jali” or screening isdone by cutting of wood intofloral patterns appearing almostlike a sieve. Punjab is famousfor the skills of carving, incis-ing, columning and inlaying inSheesham wood. Chiniot is wellknown for brass and bone in-lay in wood. Kashmiri crafts-men excel in delicate workman-ship on walnut wood. Swat isfamous for lavishly ornamentedcarved wooden columns andpillars, doors, chests andwooden balconies of housesand mosques.—APP

Artisans keep alivetraditions of wood art

Screening of film on‘Sufi Soul: Mystic

Music of Islam’CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The Institute forPreservation of Art and Culture(IPAC) has arranged screeningof the film “Sufi Soul: The Mys-tic Music of Islam” here onSeptember 18 to highlight thetraditions of Sufism.

The film screening will beheld at Kuch Khaas, Center forArts, Culture and Dialogue. Inthis documentary film the ac-claimed historian and travelwriter William Dalrymple ex-plores Sufism and its music indifferent parts of the Islamicworld, including Syria, Turkey,Pakistan, and Morocco.

Music lies at the heart ofthe practice and traditions ofSufism- the mystical dimen-sion of Islam that seeks to ex-perience oneness with Godon an intimate, personal level.From the Whirling Dervishesof Turkey to the qawwali mu-sic of Pakistan, Sufism hasproduced some of theworld’s most spectacularmusic celebrated by Muslimsand non-Muslims alike.

Lawyers to observestrike today

ISLAMABAD—The Presidentand the Executive Committeeof the Supreme Court BarAssociation of Pakistanhave empathetically con-demn the worst Film made byan American citizen and de-clare that this act is againstIslam and injured the feelingsof Muslims all over the world.

In this regard the SupremeCourt Bar Association has re-solved protest and shall ob-serve full day strike and boy-cott the court proceedings on17th September 2012.

All the High Court Bar As-sociations and District Bar As-sociations will also observe thestrike in line with the decisionof the Supreme Court Bar As-sociation of Pakistan.—INP

Blasphemy case

Rimsha to appearbefore court todayISLAMABAD—A court inIslamabad on Monday willhear the case pertaining toRimsha Masih, a girl who hadbeen accused of blasphemy.From police side, investigationofficer Muner Jaffery will sub-mit full challan of the case,while the court has summonedRimsha Masih for today’s hear-ing.

Security will be beefed uparound the court during hear-ing of the case. During the pro-ceedings of the case, Rao AbdulRahim, the counsel for com-plainant will start arguments.

Earlier, on September 7, theadditional district and session’scourt of Islamabad had grantedbail to the girl. Later on Septem-ber 9, Rimsha was airlifted fromAdiala Jail to an unspecified lo-cation within Islamabad underthe protective custody of po-lice.—Online

RAWALPINDI: Despite instruction by the Government that tyres are breeding place ofdengue larvae they have been put in open air beside stagnant water.

ISLAMABAD: Prof. Dr Muhammad Mukhtar, Chairman Inter University Consortium for Promotion of SocialSciences and Zafarullah Khan, Executive Director Centre for Civic Education exchanging documents after sign-ing MoU in the presence of Dr. Sohail Naqvi, Executive Director HEC.

RAWALPINDI: A group photo of Guides with EDO education Naseem Altaf and SaraQazi after successful completion of training course.

RAWALPINDI: Citizens filling their water cans from filtration plant, because of scaressupply of water at their homes.

SANA JAMAL

ISLAMABAD—With an aim toameliorate the state of socialsciences and civic educationin Pakistan, and to promotecritical and creative ways ofthinking in teaching, a memo-randum of understanding(MoU) was signed here onSunday.

The MoU is the result ofsuccessful collaborationbetween Inter UniversityConsortium for Promotionof Social Sciences, Arts &Humanities PakistanIUCPSS, Pakistan‘s firstever inter university alli-ance formed by 9 leadinghigher education institu-tions and Centre for CivicEducation Pakistan, an in-dependent educational in-stitute.

Prof. Dr. Sohail H. Naqvi,Executive Director of HigherEducation Commission, un-derscoring the close relation-ship between universitiesand civil society organiza-tions, urged that “Universi-

ties should produce suchgraduates who are also goodcitizens and are acquaintedwith core values of tolerance,peace and respect for rightsof other citizens.”

Prof. Dr MuhammadMukhtar, ChairpersonIUCPSS & Vice Chancellorthe Islamia UniversityBahawalpur termed the agree-ment “milestone” in improv-ing the state of social sci-ences and civic education inPakistan.

The main avenues of mu-tual cooperation in thesigned MOU include: invit-ing faculty and researchscholars in training work-shop; collaborating in re-search, seminars/confer-ences; working together forintroducing diploma/Certifi-cate courses on civic/humanrights education and mutualunderstanding in sharing ex-pertise.

The collaborative effortswould be helpful in encour-aging “critical and creativeways of thinking and stimu-

lating civic activism to pro-mote pluralism, rule of lawand good governance” atthe leading Pakistani univer-sities, hoped Zafarullah KhanExecutive Director Centre forCivic Education Pakistan.Prof. Dr. MohammadNizamuddin, ChairpersonNational Committee on De-velopment of Social SciencesHEC & Vice Chancellor Uni-versity of Gujrat, maintainedthat promotion of social sci-ences is vital for the socio-economic development ofthe country.

Renowned educationistand human rights activists,including I. A. Rehman,Tahira Abdullah, Dr. NasserAli Khan Member HEC, Dr.Riaz Hussain Qureshi Advi-sor HEC, Wilson Lee, Pro-gram officer of National En-dowment for Democracy at-tended the colloquium.Murtaza Noor was jointlyelected as IUCPSS focal per-son for coordination amongIUCPSS member institutionsand CCEP.

First ever inter-university alliance

MoU signed to promotecivic education

RAWALPINDI—Tension andinsecurity gripped variousparts of the garrison city af-ter the recovery of parts ofhuman body in the jurisdic-tion of three police stations.Police recovered two legspacked in paper-carton boxdumped near railway line inDhok Maie Sawar area in thejurisdiction of the AirportPolice station after some arearesidents informed themabout a suspicious box.

Sub-inspector AsmatMehmood of Gulzar-e-Quaidtalking to INP said that legs

were separated from knee andseemed to be cut fresh.

Later, the body parts wereshifted to the District Head-quarter Hospital mortuary formedical assessment.

In the second incident,an arm was found in a grave-yard located in HabibColony, Jhanda Chichi areain the premises of Civil Linespolice Station. Similarly, an-other arm was recoveredfrom Nullah Leh in MohallahUsman Pura area of City Po-lice Station.

Hospital sources said

that both the arms werechopped from elbows. Policesaid that body parts appearto be of a man, who was killedbrutally by unknown per-sons and dumped the bodyparts at different places.

It should be mentionedhere that recovery of humanbody parts from different ar-eas of the city not only cre-ated panic and fear among thecitizens but also raised ques-tion on the performance ofthe law enforcement agen-cies and security of thepeople.—INP

Recovery of human bodyparts spreads panic

ISLAMABAD—Allama IqbalOpen University (AIOU) willestablish a ‘Testing Centre”here at its main campus forholding the GRE/GMAT andTOFEL test, enabling the Pa-kistani students to avail ad-missions and scholarshipsfor higher studies at homeand abroad. This was statedby Prof. Dr. Nazir AhmedSangi, Vice-Chancellor,AIOU during his meetingwith the representatives ofUnited States EducationalFoundation in Pakistan(USEFP) held here Sunday.

AIOU and USEFP haveagreed to undertake collabo-rative programme for promo-tion of education in the coun-try. The two sides discusseda plan for holding orientation,mock (diagnostic) test andfinal tests of GRE/GMAT/TOEFL. This will facilitate thestudents and employees who

are willing to get admissionin higher studies. Accordingto the proposed Memoran-dum of Understanding, atesting centre would be es-tablished at the main campusof AIOU for holding the GRE/GMAT and TOEFL tests.

Prof. Dr. Nazir A. Sangifurther said that conduct ofGRE, GMAT, and TOEFLtests in collaboration withUESFP would result in im-proved performance in theseareas particularly for thepeople of Pakistan who areunder-privileged and livingin remote regions. AIOU andUSEFP, he said shouldstrengthen their relation-ships and may explore fur-ther areas of mutual interest.This will go a long way inpromoting mutual under-standing between the peopleof Pakistan and the people ofthe United States through

educational and cultural ex-change project.

The USEFP’s representa-tives appreciated vision ofProf. Dr. Nazir A. Sangi forpromoting higher educationin the country. They alsounderscored the significanceof the proposed tests for ad-mission in higher education.They noted that studentssometime get afraid of GRE,GMAT, & TOEFL testswhereas with proper prepa-ration, these tests could eas-ily be qualified. The pro-posed arrangements be-tween the AIOU and USEFPwill mainly facilitate the un-der-privileged people of Pa-kistan living in remote areas,since similar arrangementsfor holding the tests will alsomade at the AIOU’s campusand study centers across thecountry at later stage, theyadded.—INP

AIOU to establish testing centre

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—No action hasso far been taken on the com-plaint lodged at Sabzi MandiPolice Station by a seniorjournalist, who is continu-ously receiving threats ofdire consequences from in-fluential people of land mafia.

As per details, a seniorjournalist associated withan independent newsagency, had appealed to theInterior Minister RehmanMalik to come to his rescueand order the arrest of in-fluential people who aregiving life threats to himand his family.

As per details, Zafar Iqbal

Qazi, senior staff reporter ofNNI news agency was goingto Islamabad from Rawalpindiwhen he was intercepted bywhite Corolla car on I J Prin-cipal Road in the jurisdictionsof Sabzi Mundi Police stationon the other day.

The concerned policestation was approached inwriting in this regard, how-ever, neither the police reg-ister an FIR, nor taken actiondespite a lapse of more thenone week to arrest the cul-prits.

A written complaint wasalso lodged with InteriorMinister Rehman Malik fortaking action against the cul-prits, but no reply has so far

been received in this regard.The journalist is receiv-

ing continuous threats fromthe influential people of direconsequences.

He said that two armedpersons came out of thecar and threatened him thathe and his family memberswould be killed if he doesnot withdraw FIR againstMehtab Hussain.

He said that the armedpersons also asked to for-get Rs 4 million which weredue against MehtabHussain as payment ofhouse of Zafar Qazi soldabout three years back.Mehtab has been declaredas proclaimed offender.

Police failed to arrest influentialpeople threatening journalist

Auction of seizeditems generate

Rs1m to RTMARAWALPINDI—The RawalTown Municipal Administra-tion (RTMA) auctioned thegoods confiscated duringanti-encroachment drivesand earned Rs1 million. Thegenerated funds will bespent on developmentschemes in 46 union coun-cils of the city, it has beenlearnt.

The auctioning was su-pervised by Aftab Chouhanof RTMA and attended byother officials of the civicbody. The seized goods in-cluded around 800 used tyresand other items.

It has been learnt thatRTMA staff was under strictorders not to return the seizedgoods to the shopkeepersand cart pushers as the samewould be auctioned to gen-erate funds for the civicbody.—INP

Traders holdprotest against

blasphemous filmISLAMABAD—Hundreds offruit and vegetable traders onSunday held protest demon-stration against the blasphe-mous film. According to de-tails, under the auspices ofAnjuman-e- Whole Sale FruitCommission Agents, a rallywas taken out from sector I-11/4. The protestors marchedthrough the surroundings ofIslamabad Sabzi Mandi dis-turbing in flow of traffic.

They were holding ban-ners and placards inscribedwith slogans demanding thefederal government for boy-cott of US at diplomatic level.

The office bearers of thecommission agents unionMuhammad Ayyub and TahirAleem addressing the pro-testing traders said that nocompromise would be madeon any issue that is againstIslam, Quran e karim andMuhammad Peace Be UponHim (P.B.U.H).

They also urged the USgovernment to hang the pro-ducer of blasphemous filmwho hurt the passions ofMuslim Ummah.—INP

Factory ownersdirected to installfire extinguishersRAWALPINDI—All the own-ers of factories, governmentand private offices, mills,educational institutions, busstands and shopping centresin Rawalpindi division havebeen directed to install mod-ern fire extinguishing instru-ments within two weeks.

After the tragic blaze inci-dents of Karachi and Lahore,on the specials directives ofthe commissioner Rawalpindi,all the factories, governmentand private offices, mills, edu-cational institutions, busstands, academies, populatedareas, godown and shoppingplazas of Rawalpindi district,along with other three districtsof the division, have beenserved notices to install fireextinguishing instruments intheir premises.

The commissioner also or-dered major industrial unitsand owners of other buildingsto provide emergency exit fa-cility to avoid any untowardincident. He warned the own-ers that failure to comply withthe instructions would resultin heavy fines and even clo-sure of the premises.—INP

RAWALPINDI—Parents ofthe students of DivisionalPublic School (DPS) haveprotested the increase in theschool fee, use of schoolfunds for repair and mainte-nance of Principal’s car andmisbehaviour with the stu-dents.

The parents held a pro-test demonstration in front ofDPS Shamsabad under theParents Action Committeeauspices in which a largenumber of the parents par-ticipated. They demanded ofChief Minister Punjab

Shahbaz Sharif to hold an in-quiry into misuse of schoolfunds. They demanded theChief Minister to order withwithdrawal increase in fee andthe school be funded fromgovernment budget like othergovernment educational in-stitutions.

The parents were carry-ing banners and placardshaving slogans in favour oftheir demands. Later, the par-ents said that the hike in feewould not be tolerated at anycost and the district adminis-tration will be forced to take

the decision back, as the par-ents could not pay such highfee. Moreover, they said, theprincipal is using the fee andschool funds for his personalexpenditures.

They called on the chiefminister Punjab to hold aninquiry as to how the princi-pal had bought a car worth atleast Rs16 lakh and how hehad renovated his house solavishly. They said everything would be known inblack and white if proper au-dit of school funds was car-ried out.—INP

Parents protest DPS fee-hike, corruption in fund

Sh Rasheed denouncesUS defamatory film

RBISE to announceF.Sc part-I results

on October 2RAWALPINDI—RawalpindiBoard of Intermediate and Sec-ondary Education (RBISE)would announce the results ofF.Sc part one on October 2, saidthe spokesman of the board.Other seven boards of educa-tion in Punjab, includingLahore, Faisalabad, Dera GhaziKhan, Multan, Bahawalpur,Sargodha and Gujjanwala,would also announce their re-sults of F.Sc on October 2.

According to Spokes-man of the board, Arslan AliCheema, preparations for theannouncement of the resultsare on the last stages, whichwould be completed in thenext week. The results wouldalso be uploaded on thewebsite of the board i.e.www.biserwp.edu.pk.—INP

Pindi police praisedfor regulating trafficRAWALPINDI—City Traffic Po-lice (CTP) Rawalpindi has con-gratulated all the staff on thesuccess of traffic plan for theentry tests of University of En-gineering and Technology(UET) Taxila held on Sunday.

According to the plan de-vised by the traffic depart-ment, vehicles of the candi-dates of admission test of theUniversity of Engineering andTechnology (UET), Texila,were parked on the HMC andKhanpur Road. —INP

Civil Defenceempowered to inspect

safety measureRAWALPINDI—After the trag-edies in Karachi and Lahore,the Punjab government hasrestored the power of CivilDefence department to in-spect fire safety measure at thehigh-rise buildings, factoriesand commercial outlets.

The City District Govern-ment Rawalpindi (CDGR) hasissued a notification in thisregard. District Officer CivilDefence said that the depart-ment would issue notices tothe high rise buildings, fac-tories and commercial build-ing in order to ensure firesafety measures. —INP

IS L A M A B A D—Chief ofAwami Muslim League,Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed hascondemned the airing of aU.S.-made defamatoryvideo clip to malign the per-sonality of Muslim ProphetMohamma (PBUH).

He said that the act hassparked anger againstWest in the whole Muslimworld.

A 14-minute trailer forthe video t i t led “Inno-cence of Muslims,” wasuploaded on the internetdepict ing Holy ProphetMuhammad (PBUH) in aderogatory manner. SheikhRasheed Ahmed said that‘may be prophets are not

given respect in westernsocieties but for us it is avery sensitive matter.’

He said that may be itcould be a conspiracyagainst Muslims but thoseinvolved in the criminal actmust be brought to justice.“This move has hurt thesentiments of Muslimsthroughout the world,” theAwami Muslim Leagueleader told IRNA in an in-terview.

Shaikh Rasheed Ahmedwhile expressing his viewover the anti-Islam moviewas of the view that suchmoves by the West couldplace the world in a dan-gerous s i tua t ion .—NNI

11 outlaws arrestedISLAMABAD—Islamabad Po-lice have arrested eleven out-laws from various areas ofthe city and recovered 55wine bottles, weapons, sto-len cars and looted itemsfrom their possession, a po-lice spokesman said on Sun-day.

According to details, ASIKhurram Shazad from Kohsarpolice station arrested a boot-legger Buta Masih and recov-ered 25 wine bottles from him.ASI Zulfaqar Ahmad fromMargalla police station ar-rested a bootlegger MasoodAhmad and recovered 6 winebottles and 24 cans of beerfrom him. Meanwhile ASINaveed Tahir from Kohsarpolice recovered two car (LXL-2847,LXA-0018) fromGhulam Mustfa andMuhmmadi Gul.—INP

05:1001:3005:00

08:15

Zuhar

September 17

PAKISTAN Space & Up-per Atmosphere(SUPARCO) will hold firstNational Space Conferencein Pakistan at CONSTECHSecretariat, 33 ConstitutionAvenue, G-5/2 at 9:30 am.

*****

COMSATS Institute of In-formation Technology willhold 46th Convocation atJinnah Convention Centreat 8:15 am.

September 18

THE Rawalpindi Art Coun-cil will organize calligraphycompetition in connectionwith Punjab youth festivalat Art Council Rawalpindi.

*****

IN connection with PunjabYouth Festival,Rawalpindi Arts Council isholding a divisionalcalligraphic competitionamongst the students at11 am. Cash prizes will begiven to the students whowill secure 1st, 2nd, and3rd position.

September 24

ROHTAS Art Gallery hasscheduled a show ofPakistani ContemporaryArt at the National ArtGallery here on September24 to celebrate RohtasGallery’s 30th anniversary.More than 65 artists willdisplay in excess of 160works. The artists arerecognized worldwide andthe show will celebrate thecontribution the RohtasGallery has made overthree decades to thedevelopment ofcontemporary art inPakistan.

MUZAFFARABAD: Jamaat-e-Islami AJK Acting Amir Sheikh Aqeelur Rehman address-ing a press conference

Strike inKupwara against

screening ofblasphemous filmSRINAGAR—In occupiedKashmir, complete shutdownwas observed in Kupwara dis-trict against the screening of ablasphemous film at a schoolin Lolab by Indian army.

Shops, business establish-ments and educational institu-tions remained closed whiletraffic was off the road.

Despite heavy deploymentof Indian troops and police per-sonnel, people took to thestreets in Dooniwari,Cheerkote, Potushai, Lolab,Trehgam, Kralpora andHandwara areas. They blockedKupwara-Lolab main road atDooniwari, Cherakoot, andSever Thandipora. The Indianpolice resorted to brute force todisperse the protesters trigger-ing clashes between police per-sonnel and the demonstrators.

The demonstrators de-manded immediate release ofsix protesters picked up by thepolice. They also sought sternpunishment to the troopers in-volved in the screening of blas-phemous film

Meanwhile, All PartiesHurriyet Conference (APHC)leader and the Chairman ofJammu and Kashmir SalvationMovement (JKSM), ZafarAkbar Butt has condemned instrong terms the recent sacri-legious film in the US.

Zafar Akbar Butt address-ing public gatherings in Bagh-e-Mahtab and Channapora ar-eas of Srinagar, urged theOrganisation of Islamic Coop-eration (OIC) to take steps toavoid such incidents in futureand impress upon America totake action against the culprits.

He said that the anti-Is-lamic elements had started acampaign against the Muslimsby hurting their religious sen-timents, adding that the Mus-lims could not tolerate any sar-castic act against their sacredreligion. He reiterated theKashmiris’ resolve to continuethe liberation struggle till itslogical conclusion.—KMS

Two injuredin bear attack

SRINAGAR–Two persons, in-cluding a five-year- old boy,were critically injured in sepa-rate attacks by bears in Budgamand Baramulla districts of Kash-mir Valley, police said.

A boy, Tauqeer FayazSheikh, was attacked by a bearoutside his house at Putlab nearChrar-e-Sharief in Budgam dis-trict last evening, they said.

In a similar incident,a 55-year-old man, identified asMohammad Dilawar Bhat wascritically injured at Ladhu-Ladoora village in Baramulla dis-trict by the wild animal.—INP

Aussiedelegation

meets SHRCmembers

SRINAGAR—A delegation ofthe Australian High Commis-sion met the Secretary andmembers of the State HumanRights Commission (SHRC).

The delegation comprisingDiana Nelson Counsellor Politi-cal at the Australian High Com-mission and Brendan Hodgson(Second Secretary Political ofthe Commission), met theSHRC members, JavidKawoos, Rafiq Fida and Secre-tary Tariq Ahmad Banday.

During the meeting variousissues including working of theCommission, implementationof its recommendation by Gov-ernment besides overall sce-nario of human rights violationswere discussed. “The delega-tion expressed satisfaction onthe overall working of theSHRC,” the Commission’s sec-retary Tariq Ahmad Banday saidin a statement.—NNI

Landslidesblock traffic in

UdhampurJAMMU—At-least 200 truckscarrying essential items toKashmir valley got stranded dueto a landslide on the highwayin Udhampur district.

However, traffic flow wasrestored in the afternoon andstranded vehicles were cleared.

Traffic police officer saidthat the landslide was triggeredby heavy rains in the wee hours,blocking Dhar-Udhampur roadat Moda Dadda, about 18-kmsfrom Udhampur. Dhar road isconsidered as the shortest routeto the valley and is preferred bytruckers instead of going viaJammu.—INP

Counterfeitingof Kashmirproducts a

major concernSRINAGAR—The Islamic Uni-versity of Science and Technol-ogy, has organized a day-longYouth Festival “Aalaw – Con-sumer Calling”. The seminarwas aimed to spread awarenessabout the menace of “counter-feiting of Kashmiri Handicraftsand adulteration in agriculturalproducts.”

The event was organized byFederation of Indian Chamberof Commerce and Industries(FICCI) in collaboration withSchool of Business Studies, Is-lamic University of Science andTechnology (IUST) and Kash-mir Rotary Club, an officialstatement said.

“This institution shouldlead the way towards a betterchange. A collective effort byyouth, civil society and the gov-ernment is needed to countercounterfeiting and adulterationof Kashmiri products,” headded.

In his address, Vice Chan-cellor IUST Prof. A. R. Trag,gave an introduction about theadulteration of products inKashmir and its impact on theeconomy of the State. He alsoappraised the gathering aboutthe counterfeiting of KashmiriSaffron and its remedial mea-sures.

Registrar IUST, Prof A.G.Rather welcomed the guests andparticipants of the festival. DeanSchool of Technology, ProfKKS Jamwal, faculty membersof various departments of IUSTbesides students were alsopresent at the occasion.—NNI

Kashmirresolution vital to

regional peace,stability: JKPL

SR I N A G A R— In occupiedKashmir, the Jammu andKashmir Peoples League(JKPL), a constituent of theAll Parties Hurriyet Confer-ence, has said that peacefulresolution of the Kashmir dis-pute is vital for ensuring per-manent peace and stability inSouth Asia.

He said that the people ofKashmir had been strugglingfor the past over six decadesto secure their right to self-de-termination guaranteed by theUnited Nations but they weredenied this inalienable right byIndia.

The APHC leader de-manded of the internationalcommunity to put pressure onNew Delhi to settle the linger-ing dispute in accordance withthe aspirations of Kashmiripeople.

He also condemned the blas-phemous film, which has injuredthe sentiments of Muslimsthroughout the world.—KMS

Posters threateningsarpanches surface

in PalhallanSRINAGAR—In occupied Kash-mir, days after unknown gunmenshot dead a sarpanch (villagehead) at Palhallan in Baramulladistrict, some posters pasted onelectric poles surfaced in the areawarning panchayat members toresign or face action.A localdaily reported that hand writtenposters surfaced in Wahipora andSherpora mohallas of Palhallanon Saturday.

Meanwhile, another localdaily has reported that with thekilling of Ghulam MohamamdYatoo, the number ofpanchayat members killed inlast one and a half year hasreached four while five personshave been wounded in attacksby unknown gunmen in differ-ent districts of Kashmir Val-ley.—KMS

Mirwaiz toattend HR event

in GenevaSRINAGAR—In occupied Kash-mir, the Chairman of All partiesHurriyet Conference, MirwaizUmar Farooq, left Srinagar forNew Delhi, on Sunday, for hisonwards journey to Genevawhere the 21st session of theUnited Nations Human RightsCouncil is underway.

The APHC Chairman willparticipate in seminars, de-bates and deliver lectures onKashmir on the occasion. Hewill also meet the office-bear-ers of international humanitar-ian and different non-govern-mental organisations and ap-prise them about the humanrights situation of the occupiedterritory.—KMS

SRINAGAR—With the kill-ing of a Sarpanch in Pattanarea of Baramulla, the num-ber of panchayat memberskilled in last one and a halfyear has reached four andwhile five persons have beenwounded in attacks by un-known gunmen in differentdistricts of Kashmir Valley.

Most of the killed and in-jured Sarpanchs and Panchsbelong to ruling NationalConference (NC) and policesaid that their security will beensured.

According to police data,the law enforcing agency hasblamed militants for the kill-ings. The first killing was ofGhulam Hasan Dar of Hajinarea of Bandipora district innorth Kashmir.

He, police says, was mak-ing the ground to contest thePanchayat election, but wasshot on February 18, 2011near Jhelum Bakery HajinBazar.

The second killing was ofHaseena Begum of PakerporaBudgam. She was killed ather residence on April 16,2011.

Haseena had filed hernomination papers when shewas killed, but the police has

4 Sarpanchs, Panchskilled since polls

not identified her party affili-ation.

Sarpanch GhulamMuhammad Dar ofMachipora Kulgam waskilled on February 2, 2012.

The latest casewas of Ghulam MuhammadYatoo of Repora vi l lagePalhalan Baramulla. FiveSarpanchs have also got in-jured in the attacks by gun-men in Pulwama, Baramullaand Shopian districts, the datasays.

One among them has beenshot at Machipora Sopore,soon after filing of his nomi-nation papers.

The killing forced manypanchayat representatives toresign from their posts.

There were reports thatsome even announced theirresignations on loudspeakersof mosques.

In various parts of the val-ley posters were also circu-lated threatening the Panchsand Sarpanchs with “direconsequences” if they did notresign, police said.

“In some cases the threatshave turned out to be a hoax,”a senior police officer saidadding internal rivalry hasalso prevailed in thethreats.—INP

SRINAGAR—The idea ofconstructing an all-weatherfence along Line of Controlhad struck Indian Home Sec-retary RK Singh after a toppolice officer told him that themodel has been immenselyeffective at Israeli-Palestineborder, sources revealed.

Sources said during hisrecent visit to Kashmir, Singhvisited Cheema post inGulmarg sector along withseveral top army and police

LoC fence proposal inspired by Israeli patternofficials to inspect the fencealong the LoC.

“Later, while Home Secre-tary was being briefed about theLoC fence during a high levelmeeting, he raised queries as towhy the fence does not remaineffective during winter months.

A top police official said hehad visited Israel and observedthe efficacy of the fence alongIsraeli-Palestine border. It hasbeen successful in stopping in-filtration of Palestinian people

and militants into Israel,” theysaid. They said the official toldSingh that they could replicatethe model of Israeli barrieralong the LoC to counter infil-tration and prevent sneaking ofmilitants into Jammu and Kash-mir.

“The official informedHome Secretary that pillarsalong the famous Gandola cablecar are weather resistant and canwithstand all weather condi-tions. He opined that similar

mechanism should be put inplace along the LoC. The HomeSecretary was very appreciativeof the idea and agreed to dis-cuss the proposal of the Israeli-Palestinian barrier model withthe ministry. He also informedthe officials that he would besending a team of engineers totake the feasibility report,”sources said.

They, however, said armyofficials present in the meetingraised concerns and said such an

“all weather fencing would iso-late villages permanently alongthe LoC and would also meangiving away large tracts of landalong the border”.

Sources said the civilianofficials present in the meetingopined that a gate could be con-structed at such places, whichwould remain exclusively openfor people of the area.

Senior army officials toldRising Kashmir that such a plancan hardly be executed. “The ter-

rain geography is tougher thanIsraeli-Palestinian border.”Substantiating the apprehen-sions, GoC 15 corps Lt GeneralOm Prakash had recently toldthis newspaper that army hadno plan to build any new allweather fence to replace theexisting fence structure along740 kms Line of Control (LoC).

He had said the currentfencing design is effective.“The terrain is such that no re-placement would work”.—NNI

SRINAGAR—Voicing theirconcern at the failure of Mus-lim governments and organi-zations, notably the Organiza-tion of Islamic Co-operation(OIC), to live up to their man-date, the Islamic scholars, in-tellectuals and representativesof religious organizations ofKashmir has called for effec-tive and long-term steps tocounter the recurrent blasphe-mous and anti-Islam activitiesacross the world.

At a day-long seminar or-ganized by Jami’at-e-AhliHadees, Jammu and Kashmir,the speakers strongly con-demned anti-Islam activities ofZionists and imperialists andthe blasphemous film “Inno-

Kashmiris for global deterrence against blasphemycence of Muslims” and highlyderogatory and inflammatoryremarks against holy ProphetMuhammad (pbuh). The urgedthe Muslim world to stand unitedagainst such acts and to voicetheir anguish forcefully so thatno inimical force ever dares re-peat these, a statement issued thisevening said.

In an 8-point resolutionunanimously adopted at theseminar, participants urged theUnited States president and allpeace-loving nations to play theirrole in bringing to justice thoseresponsible in making the blas-phemous film which has hurt thesentiments of hundreds of mil-lions of Muslims across theworld. Regardless of where they

are, they deserve an exemplarypunishment for the heinouscrime they have committed.

Asserting that under pretextof freedom of expression, anti-Islam forces indulged in blas-phemy of universally recognizedreligious beliefs and personages,the resolution said, there wasurgent need for the world Mus-lims to evolve an effective strat-egy to counter such acts. For thispurpose, it urged Muslim clericsand intellectuals to rise aboveinsignificant sectarian differ-ences and forge complete unityin the Ummah.

It urged the Imams andpreachers to highlight the life andteachings of ProphetMuhammad (pbuh) in a sus-

tained manner. “Simultaneously,people need to be kept informedabout nefarious designs of anti-Islam forces,” it added.

The resolution underscoredthe urgency to motivate theyounger generation to study thelife and achievements of the holyProphet (pbuh) every day to off-set the negative impact of machi-nations aimed at creating doubtsabout Him (pbuh). For this pur-pose, it urged government andprivate educational institutions toorganize special meetings, semi-nars and other group activities topropagate the universal messageof Islam and holy Prophet(pbuh). The resolution asked themedia to desist from publishingor airing such material which

could harm the image of Islamand the holy Prophet (pbuh). “Thereligious organizations shouldalso bring out special editions ofmagazines and periodicals tohighlight the life and teachings ofthe holy Prophet (pbuh).

Those present in the meet-ing included: Ghulam RasoolMalik (president JeH);Peerzada Akhzar Husian( A n j u m a n - e - U l e m a - e -Ahnaaf), MS Rehman Shams(representative of MirwaizUmar Farooq), AdvocateZahid Ali (Jama’at-e-Islami),Mufti Nazir Ahmad Qasmi(Darul Uloom Raheemia,Bandipore; MaulanaMuhammad Abbas Ansari(Ittehadul Muslimeen), Aga

Syed Hassan (Anjuman-e-Sher-i-Shiayan), MaulanaKhursheed Ahmad Qanungo(Anjuman-e-Himayat-e-Is-lam), Mirwaiz Syed AbdulLateef Bukhari (Anjuman-e-Mazharul Haq, Beeru),Agha Syed Abdul Hussain(Taqrib-Bain-al-Mazahib)Prof Hameed NaseemRafiaabadi (University ofKashmir), Zafar AminQureshi (High Court BarAssociation), SheikhMuhammad Abdullah (Is-lamic Study Circle), MianAbdul Qayoom (High CourtBar Association), BashirAhmad (Democratic Free-dom Party) besides oth-ers.—NNI

SRINAGAR—In occupiedKashmir, Indian troops, in theirfresh act of state terrorism,martyred one Kashmiri youthduring a continued siege andsearch operation in Uri area ofBaramulla district.

The veteran KashmiriHurriyet leader, Syed Ali Gilani,in a statement in Srinagar,strongly de-nounced the arrestof innocent youth by Indian po-lice after the forceful demon-strations across the KashmirValley against blasphemousfilm in the US. He demandedimmediate release of the ille-gally detained youth.

Addressing a meeting of hisparty activists in Srinagar, se-nior leader of the All Parties

Indian troops martyr onemore Kashmiri youth

India urged to give up intransigence on KashmirHurriyet Conference, ShabbirAhmed Shah, urged India togive up intransigence and takepractical measures for resolvingthe Kashmir dispute in accor-dance with the Kashmiris’ as-pirations. He maintained thatthe unparalleled sacrifices of-fered by the Kashmiri peoplewould not be allowed to gowaste and the ongoing liberationmovement would be taken to itslogical conclusion at all odds.

Another APHC leader, ZafarAkbar Butt, ad-dressing publicgatherings in Bagh-e-Mahtaband Channapora areas ofSrinagar condemned in strongterms the recent sacrilegious filmin the US. The APHC Chairman,Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, left

Srinagar for New Delhi, today,for his onwards journey toGeneva where the 21st sessionof the UN Human Rights Coun-cil is underway. He will par-ticipate in seminars, debates anddeliver lectures on Kashmir onthe occasion.

On the other hand, completeshutdown was observed inKupwara district against thescreening of a blasphemous filmat a school in Lolab by the In-dian army. Despite heavy de-ployment of Indian troops andpolice, people took to the streetsin Dooniwari, Cheerkote,Potushai, Lolab, Trehgam,Kralpora, Handwara and otherareas and staged demonstrationsagainst the incident.—KMS

SRINAGAR—Reacting to ques-tions regarding the GrandMufti’s diktat to American ask-ing them to leave valley, Hurriyatconference (G) Chairman SyedAli Shah Geelani has said therewas no need for them (US citi-zens) to leave valley.

“Islam advocates peace andsecurity to non Muslims and itis our duty to protect them. Is-lam does not allow for sentenc-ing anyone for someone else’smistakes or crimes”, the octoge-narian leader said.

Stating that one person’sbad deeds can’t be blamed onothers, Geelani flayed J&KGrand Mufti and asked foreign-

No need for US touriststo leave Valley: Geelani

Others can’t be blamed for one person’s bad deedsers not to leave Kashmir.

“Individuals, citizen andstate policy are different things.Every American doesn’t sup-port what that country’s gov-ernment doctrine maintains. Itwould be foolish to harm indi-viduals, who have nothing dowith the government policy,”Geelani told reporters on side-lines of a press conference athis Hyderpora residence,where he continues to remainunder house arrest.

He said they have differ-ences with the irresponsible per-son (Sam Bacile alias NakoulaBasseley) who produced the anti-Islam film “Innocence of Mus-lims” but that does not mean that

one person’s bad deeds can beblamed on others. “Every tour-ist, who comes to Kashmir, is ourguest and should be welcomedand taken care of”.

The Hurriyat (G) chairmanwas referring to the statement ofGrand Mufti, Mufti Basheer-u-Din, who had asked US citizensto leave Kashmir as anti-Islamfilm by American filmmaker hasdeeply hurt the sentiments ofKashmiri people.

“Such statements are toonaïve to be heeded,” Geelani saidand asked people not to pay anyheed to Grand Mufti’s statement.

He termed Mufti Bashir as“stupid” and said nobody shouldlisten to him.—NNI2-day DPC

meeting inMuzaffarabad

next monthHAMEED SHAHEEN

ISLAMABAD—On the invita-tion of the president of the Mus-lim Conference, ex-premierSardar Attique Ahmed Khan,the next 2-day Defence of Pa-kistan Council’s (DPC) meet-ings will be held inMuzaffarabad on October 13and 14 to consider the evolvingKashmir situation in the regionbesides deliberations on otheritems on their regular agenda.

Sardar Attique AhmedKhan told Pakistan Observer ontelephone from Dhirkote that tomake successful the DPC eventsin AJK he has formed variousorganizing committees com-prising professional partygroups like lawyers, students,social volunteers, senior partycadre, etc.

He described the DPC asthe soul of ideology of Pakistanand Kashmir, saying his partyendorses every decision of thisnational forum. Sooner theoverseas Kashmiris would alsobe included in it, he added.

He welcomed Sunday’s state-ment of Pakistan Foreign Officeon Kashmir reiterating Pakistan’snational stand on the dispute overJammu and Kashmir:

SRINAGAR—Denouncing thespate of killings of Panchs andSarpanchs in different parts ofvalley, Chairman Huriyat Con-ference (G) Syed Ali Geelanisaid it was completely againstthe principles of his party to killanyone on the basis of havingdifferent political ideology.

Addressing a press confer-ence at his Hyderpora residence,Geelani said his party wasagainst the idea of killing peopleon basis of different politicalideologies.

“Even if we consider the

Geelani denounces Panchs’ killingspro-India parties and the peoplefollowing them as the enemiesof the ongoing struggle but wedon’t endorse to kill people onlyfor belonging to a particularshade of political ideology. Weare capable of dealing with suchpeople at political level and wewill continue the struggle bypeaceful means,” Geelani saidadding his party will continueto strive for peaceful resolutionof Kashmir and will not pres-surize anyone to follow theirideology.

Accusing the state govern-

ment of curbing the politicalspace of the Tehreek-e-Huriyat,Geelani said the state govern-ment wanted to wipe out hisparty from the political scene ofKashmir and in this regard thepolice was continuously harass-ing and arresting its activists.

“Recently, after a Sarpanchwas killed in Pattan and policearrested our district presidentAbdullah Nasir on flimsy chargesbooking him under section 302.We strongly condemn his arrest,this is an undemocratic step,” theveteran leader claimed.—INP

MUZAFFARABAD: Chairman Right to Self-Determination Britain, Raja Najabat with govern-ment Advisors Sardar Abdul Rehman Khan, Chaudhry Haq Nawaz and other Kashmir leaders.

MUZAFFARABAD: A protest demonstration being held against blasphemous film.

DETROIT—General MotorsCo (GM) has halted the saleof about 60,000 2013 models,including its Chevrolet Cruzecompact car and Equinoxcrossover, to repair a soft-ware problem that affects thevehicles’ OnStar communi-cation system.

The cars are now on U.S.dealer lots and the repairsshould be done by early nextweek, said GM spokesmanAlan Adler. The fix takesabout 30 minutes.

Eight models are af-fected, including the 2013Cadillac XTS sedan and thenewly launched 2013 ATSsports sedan, which juststarted to arrive in show-

GM halts US sale of several2013 models to fix software

rooms.OnStar is an in-vehicle

service best known for con-necting drivers to live opera-tors who can provide direc-tions or summon emergencyhelp after an accident. If a caris hit, OnStar’s crash re-sponse system is supposedto automatically contact anoperator, who then calls thevehicle.

But GM found in teststhat a software glitch pre-vented the affected modelsfrom sending these alerts af-ter crashes that do not causethe airbag to deploy, such asrear-end collisions.

The problem does notoccur in more severe crashes

that trigger the airbags, Adlersaid. The issue also does notaffect the airbags themselves.

“In certain crashes, theyshould get a call that they’renot getting,” Adler said. Headded that the issue was nei-ther a safety issue nor a re-call.

“That is a GM standard,”Adler said, of the automaticcrash response system. “Wetell people to expect this.”

Also affected are the 2013versions of the ChevroletCruze, Equinox, Volt plug-inhybrid as well as the BuickVerano sedan and GMC Ter-rain crossover. Sales of the2012 Cadillac SRX have alsobeen halted.—Newswire

VLADIVOSTOK—Caterpillar(CAT), the world’s largestmaker of construction equip-ment, expects a $157 billionChinese infrastructurespending drive to feedthrough to its sales next year,boosting its operations bothlocally and in North America.

China has given the go-ahead to 60 infrastructureprojects as it seeks to exportweakness resulting fromEurope’s debt crisis and aslow U.S. recovery that have

Caterpillar sees bigChina stimulus in 2013

dragged its economic growthto a three-year low.

President Hu Jintaopitched the stimulus plan ina keynote speech to busi-ness leaders attending anAsia-Pacific summit, drawingan enthusiastic responsefrom Caterpillar’s top regionalexecutive.

“It’s very good news,”Richard Lavin, who overseesCaterpillar’s China business,said during the Asia-PacificEconomic Cooperation

(APEC) summit in Russia’seastern port of Vladivostok.

“To have President Hu ...talking about infrastructure andthe role it plays in ongoingstable economic development... I thought that was really ex-citing.” Highlighting increasingdownward risks to globalgrowth, Hu said in his speechthat China would “leverage therole of infrastructure in boost-ing domestic demand, creatingjobs and improving people’slivelihood”.—Newswire

KARACHI—Marble City isone of the priority projectsof Sindh government andSindh Board of Investment(SBI), through Sindh StoneDevelopment Company iscommitted towards the suc-cessful materialization of thisproject at an earliest.

This was stated by Chair-man SBI, Muhammad ZubairMotiwala at a 3rd Board meet-ing of Sindh Stone Develop-ment Company (SSDC)“Marble City” held under hisChairmanship at SBI office,Karachi. Board of SSDC re-viewed the progress of theproposed Marble City.

Muhammad ZubairMotiwala said that thisproject is also planned tohave a dedicated trainingcenter, which would be a keyto providing the technicaland vocational training forskill development. He alsoproposed to allocate land fora Trauma Center to cope up

Establishment of Marble City apriority project of SBI: Motiwala

any disaster. ChairmanSSDC/SBI said that the earn-ing would also increase fromimproved skill impartedthrough training by expertsin marble and granite sector.Muhammad Zubair Motiwalaalso proposed and Board ofSSDC unanimously ap-proved to induct SecretaryFinance, GoS as member ofSSDC Board.

Secretary Finance, Gov-ernment of Sindh, Mr. ArifAhmed Khan said the projectwas envisaged to be ex-ecuted as a priority project.Arif Ahmed Khan further saidthat it is important to find outthe existing market scenariofor determining the futurecourse of action through adetailed technical study forthis project.

Mohammad RiazuddinDG, SBI extended his fullsupport in expediting theproject. The Director SSDCSanaullah Khan has said that

the Marble City project willstrengthen the untapped andun-exploited sector of stonesin Sindh.

Mr. Haroon Rashid, Direc-tor SSDC emphasized on theopportunity of brining in theForeign Direct Investment atMarble City. He further saidthat there are possibilities ofJoint Venture alliances withforeign companies for produc-tion and processing.

Earlier, Abdul AzeemUqaili, Director, SBI briefedthe board about the projectand said that 300 acres ofland in Deh Mithaghar 2 kmsoff Northern Bypass nearHamdard University hasbeen procured for the estab-lishment of Marble Cityproject. Abdul Azeem Uqaili,Company Secretary SSDCand Director Projects SBI in-formed the procurement ofthe consultant for feasibilityand transaction advisory ser-vices in underway.—NNI

BEIJING—Wife of ChineseForeign Minister, Mrs. LeAimei has appreciated thePakistani traditional dressesand embroidery work.

She expressed theseviews while visiting the Pa-kistan Pavilion established atthe sprawling ChaoyangPark in the heart of city.

The embassies of Paki-stan and over fifty othercountries, prominent domes-tic and international organi-zations, have set up stallsunder the theme “LoveKnows No Borders” to gen-erate funds for medical assis-tance of deserving people.Mrs. Le Aimei evinced keeninterests in the products dis-played at the Pakistani stalls.She also purchased a Paki-stani dress.

“Pakistan and China areall weather friends”, saidMrs. Le Aimei while talkingto Ambassador MasoodKhan and Mrs. Zohra

Pakistani dresses, otherproducts draw praise

Masood, who received thechief guest at the stalls. Mrs.Le appreciated the dressesput on display and inquiredabout embroidery work onthe shirts.

Ambassador MasoodKhan said this embroiderywork is very popular in Pa-kistan. Khan lauded Mrs.Le’s efforts in raising fundsfor helping the poor peopleby holding charity fairs andsaid he would also ap-proach the Pakistan’s For-eign office to replicate thesame for the downtroddenclasses of the people livingin Pakistan.

Earlier, in her welcomeaddress Mrs. Le said that Chi-nese government is makingevery effort to mitigate prob-lems of the poor and deserv-ing people, and at the sametime non-governmental orga-nizations are also shoulderingtheir responsibilities. She saidthe funds generated from this

exhibition, will be spent on thetreatment of cataract patientsliving in Xinxiang county inHenan province. She saidthat the Chinese compatriotsliving in Hong Kong haveplayed a key role in setting upthe train named “Life Line Ex-press Journey” for carryingout cataract surgeries. TheExpress train comprises fourbogies equipped with state ofthe art equipment and topophthalmologists fromaround the country. It takes15-20 minute for surgery on acataract patient. She said asthe Yunnan province was re-cently struck with a massiveearthquake, a part of thetoday’s income will also bespent there so that peoplecould rebuild their houses andresume normal life. She, laud-ing the participants of theevent, said their contributionwill help bring brightness forthe 1,500 poor cataract pa-tients of Xinxiang county.

ISLAMABAD—President ofthe Pakistan EconomyWatch (PEW) Dr MurtazaMughal on Sunday said thatthe mushroom growth of pri-vate sector schools hadmade education a profitablebusiness, neglecting theprime objective of gettingeducation to adopt moral val-ues.

He said social and eco-nomic development couldnot be ensured unless qual-ity education was availableto all. Unfortunately cultureof greed has taken over oureducation system once sup-posed to be a noble endeav-our, he added.

Excessive focus on self-interest in the privateschools is leading to deterio-ration of the education sec-tor; it is hurting moral values

PEW wants monitoringof private schools

and promoting negative ten-dencies in the studentswhich must be contained, hesaid in a statement.

He said that private sec-tor schools were cashing inon the desires of parents toensure a better future for theirchildren but what they get inreturn was a piece of papercalled an academic degree.

These institutions arefollowing a simple rule thatthe students are enrolled toget degrees and not to fail inthe exams, he added.

Dr. Murtaza Mughal saidthat majority of teachers in theprivate colleges and univer-sities are part-timers, servingand retired bureaucrats andbusiness executives with noexperience in education, nointeraction with students.

Payment on hourly basis

makes them run from oneschool to other to make asmuch money as they can, headded.

He said that majority ofteachers in private schoolshad been transformed intosalesmen whose prime re-sponsibility is to please stu-dents throughout the aca-demic year and give inflatedgrades.

Almost all the known pri-vate schools are being run asa family business to maximizeprofits resulting in compro-mising the quality of educa-tion, he observed.

Dr Mughal said that thecountry could only move for-ward if quality and affordableeducation was ensured for allfor which regulating the pri-vate sector institutions wasvery important.—APP

LSE to electfour directors

on 26thSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Board of Direc-tors of the Lahore Stock Ex-change Limited has resolvedto hold the LSE’s Extraordi-nary General Meeting(EOGM) here at the Exchangeoffice on September 26 at 3:00p.m.

The LSE spokesman saidhere Sunday that meetingwould elect four Directors ofthe Exchange in term of Sec-tion 10(2) of the Stock Ex-changes (Corporatization,Demutualization and Integra-tion) Act, 2012 with Article 76,77, 78 and 81 of the Articlesof Association of the Ex-change, for a period of threeyears to replace the ‘first di-rectors’ nominated by theExchange as per Section4(1)(e) of the Act.

He added that six mem-bers including Ammar ul Haq,Dr. Arslan Razaque, Asif BaigMirza, Mirza Ejaz Ullah Baig,Omar Khalil Malik and SyedAsim Zafar submitted theirnomination papers.

Shippingactivity at PQ

KARACHI—Two ships ar-rived at Port Qasim carryingcontainers at QICT and todischarge furnace oil atFOTCO on September 15.

Berth occupancy wasmaintained at 28% at the Sat-urday where a total of fourships namely M.V AnayanNaree, M.T Harsanadi, M.TGenie, M.V MSC Jade arecurrently occupying berthsto load/offload corn, contain-ers, furnace oil, MEG washandled at Port Qasim last 24hours.

Cargo handling opera-tion were carried outsmoothly at the Port Qasimwhere a cargo volume of86,004 tonnes comprising60,450 tonnes imports and25,554 tonnes exports and2,392 (Tues) was handled atthe Port Qasim during last 24hours.

M.V Sonoma arrive atFAP on September 16.—APP

EC sets outopening gambit

on banking unionROME—Many agree that aEuropean Union bankingunion is required followingthe sovereign crisis; there isless unanimity in how thatunion should be structured.The European Commissionthis morning provided theopening gambit in launchingproposals for supervision ofthe financial system.

The commission thismorning published threedocuments outlining its pro-posals for a single supervi-sory mechanism, or SSM, forbanks led by the EuropeanCentral Bank.

José-Manuel Barroso,president of the EuropeanCommission, said: “This newsystem, with the EuropeanCentral Bank at the core andinvolving national supervi-sors, will restore confidencein the supervision of allbanks in the euro area. TheEuropean Parliament willhave a crucial role to play inensuring democratic over-sight.”

However, there are con-cerns among market partici-pants of a lengthy round ofnegotiations, with certainaspects of the proposalslikely to be keenly foughtover by the likes of Germanyand the UK in particular.

Simon Lewis, the chiefexecutive at the Associationfor Financial Markets in Eu-rope, said the lobby groupwelcomed the Commission’sproposal “as a vital step to-wards restoring confidencein Europe’s financial systemand wider economy”.

But he added: “Some keyissues remain to be resolved,including the implications forthe Single Market; the allo-cation of responsibilities be-tween the ECB and nationalsupervisors within and out-side the banking union; andthe essential backstop ar-rangements for resolutionand depositor protection.We stand ready to assistpolicymakers in workingthrough the issues.”

Richard Reid, researchdirector of the InternationalCentre for Financial Regula-tion, said the move was “thefirst step of many on a politi-cally and technically ambi-tious bout of institutionbuilding”.—Online

FRANKFURT—German banksseem to be losing their appe-tite for agricultural commodi-ties trading as public opin-ion turns against the invest-ment vehicles blamed for driv-ing up global food prices.

Catastrophic droughts thissummer in the United Statesand Russia have led to an ex-plosion in global cereal prices,fanning the flames of debateon whether it is ethical for in-vestment banks to make bil-lions of dollars in profits fromspeculation in food commodi-

German banks lose taste forfood commodities trading

ties while millions of people arecondemned to live—anddie—in hunger and poverty.

“By betting on price devel-opments for agricultural com-modities, investment banks aredriving up food prices. They areaccessories to the world’s fam-ine crisis,” the German-basedNGO, Foodwatch, says on itswebsite.

“And because the banksare using the money that weinvest in life insurance poli-cies and pension funds togamble in this global com-

A group photo of Deputy Speaker National Assembly Faisal Karim Kundi with the Mis-sion Director USAID, Chairman Wapda and elders from D I Khan after the MoU signingceremony between Wapda and USAID.

ISLAMABAD: Chairman Dr Ghulam Akbar Khan Niazi, Islamabad Medical & DentalCollege and Regional Manager (Credit) Bank Alfalah Sarwat Ali signing agreement forconstruction of a teaching hospital.

modities casino, it’s a prob-lem that implicates all of us,”the campaign group said.

But the tide of public opin-ion is turning. And in face ofgrowing pressure, Germany’ssecond-biggest bankCommerzbank, regional banksLBBW and LBB and the sav-ings bank DekaBank have allannounced in recent monthsthat they are pulling out of ag-ricultural commodities tradingand ceasing to offer such in-vestment vehicles to theircustomers.—APP

AYUBIA—Managing Direc-tor of Pakistan Tourism De-velopment Corporation(PTDC) Mir ShahjahanKhetran said thecorporation’s devolutionplan has been postponedand a formal announcementin this regard would be madesoon.

“I held meetings with thePrime Minister and con-vinced him that the controlof tourism sector should bewith the center as it is a uni-versal practice that the min-istry of tourism works underthe federal government. ThePrime Minister has agreedwith me and announcementin this regard will be madewithin two months,” the MDPTDC said while addressinga news conference in Ayubia.

He said the decision tointact the tourism sector withthe center would not helppromote tourism but also pro-tect future of hundreds

OUR CORRESPONDENT

ATTOCK—The Attock Cham-ber of Commerce and Industry(ACCI) on Sunday said exten-sive sensitive lists being main-tained by different countries ishindering progress and growthof trade within SAARC region.The last two decades have wit-nessed a number of attemptsby South Asian countries topromote intra-regional tradethrough several agreementsbut with limited success, it said.

Main reason behind re-duced intra-SAARC tradewhich is hovering around fourper cent of the total trade is largenegative trade lists maintainedby the member countries whichhas left all efforts to boost tradealmost unsuccessful, said TariqMehmood, President ACCI.

Lengthy sensitive lists impedingSAARC trade, development

Speaking to business com-munity, he said that all Saarcnations are providing protec-tion to sectors considered un-fit for competition like infantindustry, small-scale producers,and agricultural products.

All countries of the group-ing must realise that tradeagreements could be beneficialonly when negative lists aremaintained on merit and for aspecific period to be phased outeventually, he added.

Tariq Mehmood, who isalso Director Pak-UK BusinessCouncil and Chairman FPCCICommittee on Health, said thatall Saarc countries should bemade to review the sensitivelists for reduction every twoyears under the tariffliberalisation programme ofSAFTA.

Insisting on merit and care-ful examination in preparingsensitive lists, he said that sec-tors with strong domestic lob-bies get included in the list de-spite fitness for competitionwhich is against the spirit ofSAFTA.

Lauding the Indian move toreduce sensitive trade list by30 per cent, Tariq Mehmoodsaid that New Delhi being thelargest economy in the group-ing should take lead inliberalising imports and furtherpruning sensitive list.

Our leader Tariq Sayeedhas been working day andnight since decades to ensurepeace in region through in-creased trade without whichSaarc will remain home to ma-jority of the poor in the world,he said.

PTDC’s devolution planpostponed: Khetran

PTDC’s employees.The MD said around 200

contractual and daily-wageworkers of the PDTC wouldbe regularized as per policyof the Pakistan PeoplesParty-led coalition govern-ment.

To a question he saidPTDC would soon get a bail-out package from the gov-ernment and all the dues ofthe employees would becleared. To another ques-tion he expressed the hopethat the target set for PTDCto generate revenue in thecurrent year would beachieved.

“The tourism season isnear to end and we are hop-ing that the set target of rev-enue will be achieved. Itsdetails will be shared withmedia after getting collectionfrom all the PTDC centers.”

During the current tour-ism season, he apprised themedia that the booking of

PTDC motels and hotels re-mained 100 percent. He alsosought media help to effec-tively counter the negativepropaganda launchedagainst Pakistan.

“Foreign media and somecountries are indulged innegative propaganda againstPakistan and it is prime re-sponsibility of local media tocounter it in an effective man-ner and highlight soft imageof country.

He said media would beextended all kind of assis-tance for making documen-tary films to introducePakistan’s culture and terror-ism aboard. Khetran said Pa-kistan is an important andattractive tourist destinationfor foreigners due to its heri-tage, spiritual places, histori-cal architecture, picturesquelandscape beauty of moun-tains, lakes, rivers and natu-ral beauty.

“There was a dire need

to introduce Pakistan’s cul-ture and tourism on interna-tional level and since 1970PTDC was working hard topromote the beautiful picnicspots situated in far-flungareas, especially where theprivate sector was shy toinvest,” he added. The MDsaid foreign missions of thecountry have been assigneda task to highlight soft im-age of Pakistan and moti-vate foreign tourists to visittourist resorts as there is noconcerns on law and ordersituation.

Every year, he said,special discounted tourpackages are being offeredfor students, groups andfamilies in addition to op-erating the air-conditionedcoach service betweenRawalpind and Naran. “Be-sides, PTDC has plannedto run bus service to Swatby next summer,” headded.—APP

KP makesrecommendations

for resolvingenergy crisis

STAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—The govern-ment of KhyberPakhtunkhwa has forwardedthe recommendations to thefederal government for reso-lution of the energy crisis.The government of KhyberPakhtunkhwa have been pre-pared these recommenda-tions in the light of the reso-lutions passed during theEnergy Conference.

These recommendationshave been sent to the Presi-dency and Prime Minister’sSecretariat. The provincialgovernment has also askedthe federal government toensure implementation on itsrecommendations. In addi-tion, resolutions werepassed in the conference tohand over the operations ofWater and Power Develop-ment Authority to the prov-inces.

Federal Reservelaunches QE3

NEW YORK—The FederalReserve announced plans tounleash more stimulusThursday, in its third attemptat a controversial program torev up the U.S. economy.

The policy, known asquantitative easing and oftenabbreviated as QE3, entailsbuying $40 billion in mort-gage-backed securities eachmonth. The end date remainsup in the air, as the Fed willre-evaluate the strength ofthe economy in comingmonths.

The Fed is wasting notime. The purchases beginFriday and are expected toadd up to only $23 billionfor the remainder of Septem-ber.

The bond-buyingpolicy “should put down-ward pressure on longer-term interest rates, supportmortgage markets, and helpto make broader financialconditions more accommo-dative,” the Fed’s officialstatement said.

Meanwhile, the Fed willcontinue its existing policyknown as Operation Twist.Together the two programswill add $85 billion in long-term bonds to the Fed’s bal-ance sheet each month.

In addition, the Fed alsoindicated that it plans to keepshort-term interest rates at“exceptionally low levels”until mid-2015. Previously,the Fed had forecast rateswould remain low until late2014.

The central bank’s mainobjective is to lower interestrates and mortgage rates inparticular. By keeping rateslow, the Fed hopes to fuelmore spending and eventu-ally, more hiring.

Related: QE3 won’t cre-ate jobs

The Fed has been try-ing to st imulate theeconomy for over threeyears now, and has ex-hausted i ts usual tool bykeeping interest rates nearzero since late 2008. Quan-titative easing is an uncon-ventional way of trying tolower rates further.

But given that the unem-ployment rate has remainedabove 8%, the Fed is still notsatisfied.—Online

‘Comeback depends on electoral law’ROME—Former Italian Prime MinisterSilvio Berlusconi is waiting to see howa new electoral law shapes up beforedeciding whether to run in national elec-tions in spring, he said on Saturday.Berlusconi has kept Italy guessing overwhether he plans to attempt a politicalcomeback. On Sunday he disappointedsupporters when he failed to turn upfor a major youth rally where some hadhoped he would finally announce his

candidacy. Italy’s former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi(L) waves as he arrives for a meeting of the EuropeanPeople’s Party (EPP), ahead of a two-day European Unionleaders summit, in Brussels. Speaking to reporters in Venicewhere he was preparing to board a cruise ship, the 75-year-old media magnate said his decision would depend on “theconditions that emerge, and what the electoral law will be.”Italy’s politicians have been arguing for months about howto replace a voting law that is generally referred to as “thepigsty”, adding to uncertainty over the political future.Berlusconi was forced to step down in November and handpower to respected economist Mario Monti when the eurozone debt crisis pushed Italy close to a Greek-style melt-down. He has kept a low profile since then but, some mediareports say, is unhappy out of the limelight. The fortunesof his People of Freedom (PDL) party have slumped, underassault from populist forces that have exploited widespreaddisgust with politicians.—Reuters

Chavez weeps over toughest challengeCARACAS—Facing his toughest-everre-election challenge, socialist Presi-dent Hugo Chavez teared up during acampaign speech on Saturday, lament-ing his lost freedom to roam anony-mously through Venezuela’s townsand countryside. The 58-year-old self-styled revolutionary, who has battledcancer over the past year, is known forlong speeches during which he oftenbursts into song and digresses into the

folksy anecdotes that have endeared him to many of thecountry’s poor. Venezuelan President and presidentialcandidate Hugo Chavez speaks to supporters during acampaign rally in San Fernando de Apure September 15,2012. Venezuelans will go to the polls for the presidentialelection on October 7. But the lament for his lost libertyduring his 14 years in power caught his audience of sup-porters by surprise during a rally in the southwesterncattle-ranching town of San Fernando less than a monthbefore the October 7 election. “If it were up to me, youknow I’d get down off this stage, and I’d go walking, as intimes past,” he said, his voice quivering and tears rollingdown his cheek. “My last dream is to free myself ... freemyself of all of this, but only after we have made thecountry that we dream of a reality,” Chavez said to loudapplause. He faces 40-year-old challenger HenriqueCapriles, who promises a more business-friendly approachto running the OPEC-member country.—Reuters

Brahimi meets AssadBEIRUT—International mediatorLakhdar Brahimi said after talks withSyria’s President Bashar al-Assad onSaturday that the escalating conflict inthe country posed a global threat. UnitedNations (U.N.)-Arab League peace en-voy for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi speaksduring a news conference, after meetingwith Syria’s President Bashar al-Assadin Damascus September 15, 2012. Inter-national mediator Brahimi met al-Assad

on Saturday, state television said, to discuss efforts to endthe country’s 18-month-old conflict, which activists say haskilled more than 27,000 people. Activists say 27,000 peoplehave been killed in the 18-month-old uprising against Assad.Late on Saturday, 20 bodies, including a woman’s, were foundby residents in a district of Damascus that had been overrunby Assad’s troops, a watchdog said. “This crisis is deterio-rating and represents a danger to the Syrian people, to theregion, and to the whole world,” Brahimi told reporters inDamascus after speaking with Assad for an hour at the presi-dential palace. It was the veteran Algerian diplomat’s firstmeeting with the Syrian leader since he replaced Kofi Annanas mediator two weeks ago, taking on a mission that hedescribed as “nearly impossible”. The revolt started as amainly peaceful street campaign for reform but has become abloody insurgency that is deepening sectarian rifts in theMiddle East. Activists say 160 people, mostly civilians, werekilled on Sunday.—Reuters

Violence against embassies condemnedRIYADH—The Kingdom’s Grand Mufti,Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh, yester-day denounced attacks on diplomats andembassies as un-Islamic after deadly pro-tests against a US-made anti-Islam filmswept the Middle East. At the same time,he called on the international communityto take steps to criminalize any act ofabusing great prophets and messengerssuch as Abraham, Moses, Jesus andMuhammad (peace be upon them). In a

statement issued yesterday, Al-Asheikh also appealed toworld Muslims to react to any attempt to denigrate ProphetMuhammad (pbuh) by strictly adhering to the values advo-cated by the Prophet (pbuh) instead of unleashing violenceagainst innocent people, the SPA reported. “Condemnationof the attempts to abuse the Prophet (pbuh) should be withinthe Law of Allah and Sunnah of the Prophet. The Muslimsshould not shed the blood of innocent people, or vandalizeproperties or of public institutions,” the Grand Mufti said.The mufti said the hatred of Islam through such movieswould not harm the great personality of the Prophet (pbuh)or any aspect of Islam but would only backfire on the peoplewho spread venomous ideas. “Such animosity only helps inspreading the glory of the Prophet (pbuh) with greater vigor,”he said.—Arab News

Zimbabwe PM marries flouting court banZIMBABWEY CITY—ZimbabweanPrime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai hasgot married, despite a court rulingblocking the move. Tsvangirai, 60, andElizabeth Macheka, 35, exchangedrings in Harare under an alternative“customary marriage” law that allowspolygamy. He could not be marriedunder the country’s monogamous lawbecause the court ruled that he alreadyhad a wife. Some analysts say the court

case could be an attempt to besmirch his name ahead ofnext year’s presidential poll. Tsvangirai is expected to chal-lenge President Robert Mugabe, 88, who is in a fractiouscoalition with the prime minister. But others say he hasonly himself to blame for the marriage controversy as hehas been involved with a number of women since his wifedied in a car crash soon after he became prime minister in2009. Relationship ‘damaged’ Tsvangirai was married be-fore hundreds of guests at a smart wedding venue inHarare on Saturday. But the prime minister, wearing a darksuit, and Elizabeth Macheka, in a white gown, did notsign a register recording the marriage as monogamous, asthey had planned.—Reuters

IDLIB: A Syrian national wounded in forces shelling being shifted to hospital.—AFP

DUBAI—Al Qaeda con-firmed that one of its top mili-tary commanders in NorthAfrica had died in a car acci-dent, according to a state-ment posted on Sunday ona website used by Islamistmilitants. An Algerian secu-rity official said last weekthat Nabil Sahrawi, an Alge-rian national who was a mili-tary commander of AQIM inthe Sahara desert, died in acar accident in northern Malilast week.

“With hearts full of ac-ceptance of God’s will, wehave received news of themartyrdom of one of our he-roes ... Nabil Abu Olqoma,the deputy emir of the Sahararegion, as a result of a tragic

Al-Qaeda’s S Africachief dead in accident

traffic accident,” the groupsaid, adding a number offighters were also injured. Itsaid Sahrawi, who it alsoidentified as Nabil al-Orasi,had been jailed in Algeriaand was among the firstfighters to join the group inthe Sahara as a young manin the 1990s.

Abu Olqoma had servedas deputy to AbdelhamidAbu Zeid, one of AQIM’sleading field commanders inthe Sahara desert. Abu Zeidis believed by security ex-perts to have ordered the kill-ing of two foreigners kid-napped by his group,Frenchman MichelGermaneau and BritonEdwin Dyer. —Reuters

Opposition picks rightslawyer as presidential candidate

SHANGHAI—China’s leader-in-waiting Xi Jinping will at-tend a meeting with South-east Asian nations later thisweek, the Foreign Ministryannounced on Sunday, sig-nalling his return to diplo-matic duties after skipping aseries of events with foreigndignitaries. Vice President Xihad been out of the publiceye for almost two weeks,missing meetings with for-eign leaders that included U.S.Secretary of State HillaryClinton, prompting rumoursof ill health or worse.

Xi reappeared on Satur-day at a Beijing university. Hewill now be heading to thesouthern region of Guangxito attend a trade fair for As-sociation of Southeast AsianNations (ASEAN) whichopens on Sunday, the For-eign Ministry said. “VicePresident Xi Jinping and

Xi to attendAsean meet in Beijing

ASEAN leaders will attendthe opening ceremony andother important activities,”the ministry said in a briefstatement on its website(www.mfa.gov.cn).

Other leaders in atten-dance will include MyanmarPresident Thein Sein, LaoPrime Minister ThongsinThammavong and VietnamPrime Minister Nguyen TanDung, it said. China’s rela-tionships with some ASEANmembers, notably Vietnamand the Philippines, havebeen strained lately due to ris-ing tensions over competingterritorial claims in the SouthChina Sea. Chinese govern-ment officials have repeatedlyrefused to say what had hap-pened to Xi, fuelling specu-lation that has included himsupposedly suffering a heartattack, a stroke, emergencycancer surgery.—Reuters

8 cops killed byroadside bomb

ANKARA—Eight police offic-ers died and nine werewounded in a roadside mineblast Sunday blamed onKurdish rebels in Turkey’ssoutheast, local securitysources said. The members ofthe outlawed Kurdistan Work-ers’ Party (PKK) launched theattack around 0715 GMT Sun-day as a police vehicle waspassing in the Karliova districtof Bingol province, thesources said.

The latest attack comesamid an ongoing army opera-tion against Kurdish rebels inthe southeast that has beenconcentrated in the Semdinlidistrict in Hakkari provinceand has included nearly 5,000ground troops, according tothe Turkish military. Twenty-eight Kurdish rebels werekilled in operations in the lastthree days, the localgovernor’s office said onSunday. The PKK, consid-ered a terrorist group by Tur-key and much of the interna-tional community.—Reuters

CALIFORNIA—The crematedremains of legendary Ameri-can astronaut Neil Armstrongwere scattered at sea, in a cer-emony aboard a US aircraftcarrier paying final tribute tothe first man to set foot onthe moon, NASA said.

US Navy personnel onFriday carried Armstrong’sremains to the Atlantic Oceanone day after a somber me-morial ceremony at the Wash-ington National Cathedral forthe famously reserved Apollo11 commander, who died Au-gust 25 at the age of 82.

Armstrong’s widow Carolwas presented an Americanflag at the ceremony aboardthe USS Philippine Sea thatincluded a bugler and rifle

Remains of astronautArmstrong buried in sea

salute. “Neil will always beremembered for takinghumankind’s first small stepon another world,” NASAAdministrator CharlesBolden said at the NationalCathedral service.

“But it was the courage,grace and humility he dis-played throughout his life thatlifted him above the stars.”Armstrong’s Apollo 11 crewmates Michael Collins andBuzz Aldrin, Eugene Cernan— the Apollo 17 mission com-mander and last man to walkon the moon — attended thememorial service.

Also present Thursdaywas John Glenn, the formerUS senator and first Americanto orbit the Earth.—Reuters

Malaysia wantsGoogle to lose

anti-Muslim clipKUALA LUMPUR—Malaysiais asking Google to block ac-cess to an anti-Muslim videoclip blamed for sparking mobattacks against US embassiesand consulates across theMiddle East. InformationMinister Rais Yatim said lateSaturday that Malaysian au-thorities want the clip re-moved from YouTube be-cause of the “explosive com-motions and repercussions athand.”

Google owns YouTube,the online video sharingsite. YouTube has blockedthe clip in Libya and Egypt,citing “the very sensitivesituations” there.

It also blocked it in In-dia and Indonesia after theirgovernments told YouTubethe video broke their laws.The short film “Innocenceof Muslims,” produced inthe US, denigrates Islamand the ProphetMuhammad.—Reuters

BEIJING—Torrid protestsagainst Japan flared in Chi-nese cities for a second dayon Sunday, with the govern-ment struggling to find a bal-ance between venting publicanger and containing vio-lence that could backfireahead of a delicate leadershipsuccession. The protestsover islands claimed by bothcountries broke out in Beijingand other cities on Saturday,when demonstrators be-sieged the Japanese embassy,hurling rocks, eggs andbottles, and testing cordonsof anti-riot police with shieldsand batons. In other Chinesecities, demonstrators lootedshops and attacked Japanesecars. Protesters also brokeinto a dozen Japanese-run fac-tories in the eastern city ofQingdao, according to theJapanese broadcaster NHK.

The threat of fresh vio-lence drew a warning fromJapanese Prime MinisterYoshihiko Noda, who toldFuji TV that China “muststrictly be on guard to preventharm to Japanese citizens andcompanies”, according to

Anti-Japan protests widen in ChinaJapan’s Kyodo news agency.The protests, the latest set-back in long-troubled relationsbetween Beijing and Tokyo,followed Japan’s decision onTuesday to buy the disputedislands, which Tokyo calls theSenkaku and Beijing calls theDiaoyu and which could con-tain valuable gas reserves,from a private Japanese owner.China called that decision aprovocative violation of itssovereignty. In the biggestflare-up on Sunday, policeused tear gas and water can-non to drive back thousandsof protesters occupying a ma-jor street in the southern cityof Shenzhen, near HongKong.

A much smaller crowd,some throwing water bottles,resumed marching past theJapanese embassy in Beijing,now guarded by a six-deepcordon of anti-riot police. “Ja-pan, get the hell out of China!,”some yelled. Police used loudspeakers to tell protestersthat, while their anger wewasunderstandable, they shouldrespect the law and remain “ra-tional”. Crowds also gathered

LONDON—The UnitedStates has ordered non-es-sential diplomatic staff andtheir families to leave Sudanand Tunisia. In a statement,the State Department alsourged US citizens in Tunisiato make their way out of thecountry. The US embassiesin the Tunisian andSudanese capitals have bothbeen attacked in the wave ofanti-US protests in the Mus-lim world over an anti-Islamfilm made in the US. Earlier,Sudan refused to allow theUS to send Marines to pro-tect its embassy.

Sudanese officials saidthe country’s security forceswere capable of providingprotection to the embassy.The State Department saysthe Sudanese governmenthas “taken some steps tolimit the activities of terror-ist groups”, but that ele-ments remain and havethreatened to attack Westerninterests, the BBC’s PaulAdams in Washington re-ports. On Friday, threepeople were killed in the capi-tal, Khartoum, when the USembassy was attacked. TheGerman and UK missionswere also singled out by pro-testers.

US orders staff toleave Tunisia, Sudan

In Tunisia, two peoplewere killed when protestersattacked the embassy inTunis and a neighbouringAmerican school. The StateDepartment said US citizensshould “avoid all travel to theDarfur region of Sudan, theBlue Nile and SouthernKordofan States” and care-fully considers risks in trav-elling to other areas. It alsosaid it was warning US citi-zens against all travel to Tu-nisia, and that it had ordered“all non-emergency govern-ment personnel from Tuni-sia” following the attack. “UScitizens remaining in Tunisiashould use extreme cautionand avoid demonstrations,”it said.

Several other peoplehave been killed across theMiddle East and north Africasince the protests over thefilm erupted on Tuesday. TheUS ambassador to Libya,Chris Stevens, and threeother US officials died whenthe consulate building inBenghazi was attacked andset on fire. The US an-nouncements came as al-Qaeda in the Arabian Penin-sula called for fresh attacksagainst Western embas-sies.—Reuters

SEOUL—South Korea’s lib-eral opposition picked a hu-man rights lawyer as itspresidential candidate onSunday in a bid to derailconservative frontrunnerPark Geun-hye’s ascent tothe top job in December’spolls. Moon easily beatthree minor contenders fromthe Democratic United Party(DUP) in the three-weekparty primaries but faces aformidable task of trying toform an alliance with the in-dependent and popularsoftware entrepreneur AhnCheol-soo if the left of cen-tre is to make a serious chal-lenge against Park.

“You have chosen achange for the Republic of(South) Korea, a transfer ofgovernment power, a victory

of the Democratic UnitedParty and me,” he said in hisacceptance speech before thecheering audience at the partyconvention. Moon, an ear-nest but lacklustre speakerwhose most prominent jobwas chief of staff to formerPresident Roh Moo-hyun,has tried to paint Park as littlemore than a privileged childof a former president while hegrew up in poverty.

Moon, 59, trails a longway behind Park in publicopinion polls and has consis-tently ranked third behindAhn, who has no party affili-ation. Park, daughter of slainleader Park Chung-hee, is theclear favourite to win the De-cember 19 poll to elect theleader for a single five-yearterm at a time when the ex-

port-driven economystruggles to maintain thepace of growth.

Moon, who was jailed fortaking part in democracy pro-tests in 1975 during Park’sfather’s presidency, is a rela-tive unknown in the nationalpolitical scene. Ahn, whoshot to the forefront of thepolitical scene a year ago asa potential candidate for themayor of Seoul, has said hewould make public his deci-sion whether to stand for thepresidency after the end ofthe Democratic primaries.

Moon did not rule outforming an alliance with Ahn,saying on YTN TV that who-ever stands as the coalitioncandidate should representthe Democratic UnitedParty—Reuters

Syrian refugeesface border wiresAL QAIM, IRAQ—Syrianrefugees squeeze against aclosed gate at an Iraqi borderpost, reaching through itsmetal bars to clamour for wa-ter, and calling out to Iraqicousins and brothers on theother side. Yelling into theircellphones, more Syriansperch on top of the concretewalls that divide Iraq fromSyria, waiting for Iraqis to un-load trucks filled with boxesof cooking oil and bottledwater and hoist them over theal Qaim checkpoint. Close by,predominantly Sunni Syrianrebels are fighting PresidentBashar al-Assad’s forces overthe town of Albu Kamal,bringing the war to al Qaimwith refugees, Syrian jets andoccasional rocket attacks.

Al Qaim, in the Sunniheartland of Anbar province,reflects the tricky balancingact Iraq’s Shi’ite leaders facein Syria, whose crisis is test-ing the Middle East’s sectar-ian divide. Many Shi’ite poli-ticians took refuge in Syriaduring the rule of SaddamHussein, and Assad, who isAlawite, an offshoot of Shi’iteIslam, is backed by Shi’ite Iranwhile Sunni power SaudiArabia supports the rebels.

Iraq’s leaders dismissclaims they support Assad,but they also fear a nightmarescenario: his downfall bringsa hostile Sunni Muslim regimeto power and emboldens dis-enchanted Sunnis in Iraq’sown fragile sectarian mix. InAnbar, where tribal ties arestrong, discontent overBaghdad’s stance on the Syr-ian crisis is growing. Manyhave already chosen their side.

“When you have cousinshere, it is a matter just of luckwhether they are Iraqi or Syr-ian,” said Emad Hammoud, agovernment worker in al Qaim.“In Syria, it’s a fight of a gov-ernment against its people,and we are with the people.”Al Qaim and its neighbouringSyrian counterpart AlbuKamal are on a strategic sup-ply route for smugglers, gun-runners and now insurgentsaiming to join the rebellion.Just a few years ago the traf-fic went the other way: SunniIslamist bombers crossed intoIraq to fight against the Ameri-can occupation and refugeesfled to Syria to avoid sectar-ian slaughter.—AP

in the southwest city ofChengdu.

In Shanghai, about 1,500people marched towards theJapanese consulate, althoughthey were only allowed to en-ter cordoned-off areas in smallgroups. Protesters carriedflags and images of formerleader Mao Zedong as hun-dreds of police looked on. TheNikkei business newspapersaid on Sunday demonstra-tors had earlier attacked twoPanasonic electronic partsplants in the eastern cities ofQingdao and Suzhou, and thecompany will decide whetherto continue operations afterchecking the damage. Toyotavehicle dealerships were alsoset on fire and many vehicleswere damaged, it said, citingToyota’s China unit.

The flare-up in tensionshas come while both Beijingand Tokyo are focused on do-mestic political pressures, nar-rowing the room for diplomaticgive-and-take.

Noda’s government facesan election in months, addingto pressure on him not to lookweak on China. China’s ruling

Communist Party is preoccu-pied with a leadership turn-over, with President Hu Jintaodue to step down as partyleader at a congress thatcould open as soon as nextmonth. While the public in-dignation against Japancould help to foster unityahead of the succession, ithas also exposed widespreadpublic impatience for atougher line from Beijing. “Ithink it’s time for the Chinesegovernment to get tougher,”a middle-aged Beijing mansurnamed Xue told Reutersin front of the embassy lateon Saturday.

“I don’t mean war, buttougher action like sanctions.You can see how much Japandepends on our economy,” hesaid. Chinese state mediapraised “rational” expressionsof anger but warned that vio-lence could backfire againstBeijing. “There has been someirrational behaviour that is tobe regretted,” said a commen-tary on the website of thePeople’s Daily, the main paperof the Chinese CommunistParty.—Reuters

Cambodiagenocide

defendant freedCA M B O D I A—Cambodia’swar crimes tribunal set free aformer leader of the KhmerRouge on Sunday, upholdinga decision that has outragedsurvivors seeking an expla-nation of the mass killingscommitted more than 30 yearsago. Eighty-year-old IengThirith, who has been de-clared mentally unfit for trial,was driven out of the U.N.-backed tribunal’s compoundby family members. She madeno comment to reporters.

The Sorbonne-educatedShakespeare scholar servedas social affairs minister dur-ing the Khmer Rouge’s 1975-79 rule, during which an esti-mated 1.7 million people diedof execution, medical neglect,overwork and starvation.

The tribunal initially an-nounced its decision to freeIeng Thirith on Thursday,saying medical experts haddetermined there was noprospect for her to be trieddue to a degenerative mentalillness that was probablyAlzheimer’s disease.

Prosecutors then delayedher release by filing an ap-peal demanding that condi-tions be set to restrict her free-dom.—Reuters

W A S H I N G T O N — I s r a e l iPrime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu warned on Sun-day that Iran would be onthe brink of nuclear weap-ons capability in six to sevenmonths, adding new ur-gency to his demand thatPresident Barack Obama seta clear “red line” for Tehranin what could deepen theworst U.S.-Israeli rift in de-cades. Taking his case to theAmerican public, Netanyahusaid in U.S. television inter-views that by mid-2013, Iran

Iran 6 months away fromnuke bomb : Netanyahu

would be 90 percent of theway toward enough enricheduranium for a bomb. Heurged the United States tospell out limits that Tehranmust not cross or else facemilitary action - somethingObama has refused to do.

“You have to place thatred line before them now, be-fore it’s too late,” Netanyahutold NBC’s “Meet the Press”program, saying that such aU.S. move could reduce thechances of having to attackIran’s nuclear sites.—Reuters

LORD’S: Liam Dawson, Chris Wood, James Vince and Michael Bates of Hampshire with the CB40 trophy afterbeating Warwickshire in CB40 Final.

BIPIN DANI

OBSERVER

CORRESPONDENT

M U M B A I — K u m a r iSurangana, the mother offormer Sri Lanka captainKumar Sangakkara believsthat India’s master-blasterSachin Tendulkar wouldalso have been the “right”candidate to win the Inter-national Cricket Council’sPeople’s Choice Award.

Kumar Sangakkara haswon this Award for the sec-ond year in a row at the ICCAwards evening in Colomboyesterday.

Speaking exclusvielyfrom Colombo, the mothersaid, “Sachin Tendulkar isthe most popular cricketerin the world and he also de-served this award. But itwas people’s choice to

nominate my son”.Sangakkara was voted to

the award by the generalpublic and beat off strongcompetition for the awardfrom South Africa duoJacques Kallis and VernonPhilander, India’s SachinTendulkar and England’sJames Anderson.

The winner of the award,which was introduced in2010, was chosen by cricketfans around the world whohad, in the course of the lastfour weeks, the opportunityto vote for their favouriteplayer.

“There can’t be anydoubt about the popularityof Sachin Tendulkar”, shefurther added.

The parents watched onTV their son grabbing threeawards. “The entry was limitedto few people and therefore we

Sachin Tendulkar also deservedICC’s People Choice Award,says Sangakkara’s mother

witnessed the ceremony onTV at home”, she said.

“All three awards-TestCricketer of the Year 2012,People’s Choice Award andthe ICC Cricketer of the Year-won by my son are impor-tant and prestigious andtouching to us”.

Tom Moody (former SriLanka coach) and MarvanAtapattu, the current battingcoach were among the mem-bers of the judge panel,chaired by Windies greatClive Llyod. “The winnerswere selected by the inde-pendent panel and they werenot bias”, the mother in-sisted.

Sangakkara credited hissuccess to his father.Swarnakumara Sangakkara.“His father had hands inmoulding Kumar’s career”,the mother signed off.

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan isconfident to win the goldmedal when its Kabaddi teamwill feature in the 2ndKabaddi Asia Cup scheduledto be held next month in theeastern city of Lahore, Paki-stan Kabaddi Federation(PKF) Secretary MohammadSarwar said.

Mohammad Sarwar saidthat Pakistan was preparingand training hard to win thefive-day Asian mega event inOctober this year.

The Pakistani team, oneof the best but lost the finalof the inaugural event by 44-38 to India in Tehran in Sep-tember last year, aimed toshow a better performance infront of the home crowd.

“We are working hard onour team’s preparations and

GIJON (Spain)—HoldersSpain clinched reached theirfourth Davis Cup final in fiveyears when David Ferrerovercame the big-servingJohn Isner to help beat theUnited States 3-1 in the last-four tie on Sunday.

World number five Ferrerhad to fight from a set downon the clay in the northernSpanish coastal city, comingthrough 6-7 6-3 6-4 6-2against the 10th-ranked Isnerin exactly three hours for his16th victory in 16 singles rub-bers on clay.

“It was a very tough,very difficult tie but we arereally happy as we are in an-other Davis Cup final, some-thing that is extremely hardto achieve,” Ferrer said in aninterview with Spanish tele-vision.

“Now we just need toenjoy it and rest and preparefor the final,” added the 30-year-old, who has won fivetitles this year and reachedthe U.S. Open semi-finals thismonth.

Spain will play awayagainst Argentina or CzechRepublic, whom they beat inthe 2011 and 2009 finals re-spectively, in November’stitle clash. Those finals, theirmost recent meetings withthe two nations, were athome and competition rulesdictate the next must be away.

The Czechs were in astrong position at 2-1 aheadafter Saturday’s doubles inBuenos Aires, with TomasBerdych due to play CarlosBerlocq in Sunday’s first re-verse singles following thewithdrawal through injury ofJuan Martin del Potro.

Ferrer said the Spanishwere hoping talisman RafaNadal, who has not playedsince Wimbledon, wouldhave shrugged off a knee in-jury in time to feature.

“Spanish tennis isblessed with very good play-ers, led by Rafa Nadal, andwe hope he recovers soonbecause he is fundamentalfor us,” he added.

India suspends Olympic rebels over doubles row

Davis Cup: Ferrer holds offIsner to put Spain in final

Isner told Spanish TVbefore the match Ferrer wasprobably his favourite playeron the tour for his work ethicand fighting spirit but it wasthe American who battledback from a break down totake the opening set 7-3 inthe tiebreak.

One U.S. fan held up acard counting each of Isner’sbooming aces - he powereddown 16 in the match toFerrer’s five - but the Ameri-can also made 70 unforcederrors to Ferrer’s 32 and hewas visibly tiring as his chal-lenge faded in the fourth set.

He saved a match pointon his serve to stay in the

match but it was merely de-laying the inevitable as Ferrersealed victory the next gamewhen Isner went wide with alimp backhand.

Ferrer flung his racketinto the crowd before he,Isner and captains AlexCorretja and Jim Couriershook hands at the net.Shortly after it was an-nounced that NicolasAlmagro and Sam Querreywould not contest the deadfinal rubber.

Top-ranked U.S. pair Boband Mike Bryan had kepttheir team’s hopes of upset-ting the Spanish alive whenthey fought off a brave chal-

COLOMBO—Brian Lara, whowas inducted into the ICC’sHall of Fame at the awardsceremony in Colombo on Fri-day evening, dedicated thehonour to his late fatherBunty Lara, who died beforehis son played a Test. Laraalso credited his brother Win-ston and sister Agnes dur-ing the function at theWater’s Edge Resort, sayingthey’d played importantroles in his development as acricketer.

“This person you see to-day before you acceptingthis Hall of Fame honour issomeone he [Bunty Lara]moulded. He ensured that Ihad everything I needed tosucceed as a cricketer and inlife, even in trying times,”Lara said. “He made a spe-cial effort to make sure ev-erything was there.

“I had to work hard ... butI knew I had strong support.My biggest pain was that hedid not see me play a Testmatch, but having the WestIndies team in Trinidad at hisfuneral was a special tributeto the man who made sure Iwas given the tools to playthis glorious game and makesuch a lasting contribution.”

Lara ended his 17-yearinternational career as Testcricket’s leading run-scorer,with 11,953 runs at an aver-age of 52.88 in 131 matches,a record that has been beatensince. However, he still holdsthe record for the highest in-dividual score - 400 againstEngland in Antigua in 2004.He had held it before as well,when he scored 375, alsoagainst England in Antiguain 1994, to go past Garry So-bers’ 365. He also holds therecord for the highest first-

GIJON, SPAIN: David Ferrer of Spain celebrates a pointover John Isner of the United States during day three ofthe semi final Davis Cup between Spain and the UnitedStates at the Parque Hermanos Castro in Gijon, Spain.

lenge from Marcel Granollersand Marc Lopez to win theirdoubles on Saturday.

Ferrer and Almagro beatQuerrey and Isner respec-tively in Friday’s singles.

Favourites to win a fourthtitle in five years, Spain’s lat-est success extended theirunbeaten run at home to 24ties dating back to 1999 whenthey lost 3-2 to Brazil inLerida.

The U.S. are the mostsuccessful Davis Cup nationwith 32 titles, while Spainhave dominated the compe-tition over the past decade,with four titles since theirfirst one in 2000.

Meanwhile, India’s tennisassociation has handeddoubles specialists MaheshBhupathi and RohanBopanna a two-year DavisCup suspension for their re-fusal to partner Leander Paesin this year’s London Olym-pics.

The trio figured in anugly row ahead of the Olym-pics that forced the All IndiaTennis Association (AITA)to change their original deci-sion to field Paes andBhupathi as a pair.

Paes eventuallypartnered rookie VishnuVardhan while India had asecond pair in Bhupathi andBopanna but none returnedwith a medal from London.

“It is ... decided not toconsider Mahesh Bhupathiand Rohan Bopanna for se-lection to play for India untilJune 30, 2014,” AITA Secre-tary Bharat Oza said in astatement late on Saturday.

After regular pairBhupathi-Bopanna refusedto be separated for the Lon-don Games, the AITA de-cided to pair Paes withVardhan and indicated actionwould be taken againstBhupathi and Bopanna.

The AITA has decided toretain the current Davis Cupsquad, which does not in-clude Paes, for next year’sAsia/Oceania groupmatches.—AP

Lara dedicates Hall ofFame honour to father

COLOMBO: Brian Lara with Enid Bakewell of England, af-ter the pair was inducted into the ICC’s Cricket Hall of Fame.

class score: 501 not out forWarwickshire againstDurham* in 1994.

In the 299 ODIs that heplayed, Lara scored 10,405runs at an average of 40.48.In 2004, when captainingWest Indies, he led the teamto victory in the ChampionsTrophy against England atthe Oval.

“As a boy, you never re-ally thought of Hall of Fames,you never really thought ofrecords. Growing up in the’70s my heroes were CliveLloyd, Viv Richards and Roy

Fredericks as a left-hand bats-man. I am happy I was ableto spend 17 years in the WestIndies and was able to con-tribute in a way worthy ofthis honour,” Lara said. “It isnice to share it with my fam-ily.

“Tonight I had my brotherand my sister here with me.Agnes is the one who tookme to my first coaching clinicwhen I was six, and Winstonwas a role model as a stylishright-handed batsman ... soto have them here is veryspecial.”—AP

Pakistan confident to winAsian Kabaddi tournament

hopefully will not repeat mis-takes that we did last year,and we shall lift the trophy,”Sarwar told Xinhua newsagency.

Experts believed that thehome ground and localcrowd-support will matterthis time for Pakistani teamin the Asia Cup taking placefrom Oct 27 to Oct 31 at thePunjab Stadium, Lahore.

According to PKF secre-tary, other than Pakistan,seven teams including India,Sri Lanka, Iran, Nepal, Indo-nesia, Thailand and Afghani-stan will participate in theevent.

All the teams will be di-vided into two groups andevery team will play againsteach other in the group. Andthe top two from each group

will go through to the semi-finals.

The winning team will beawarded a prize money of anamount of Rs 1.5 million(15,957 U.S. dollars) while therunners-up will receive Rs 1million (10,638 U.S. dollars).

Pakistan has also an-nounced to provide all theparticipating teams with freetravel tickets besides ar-ranging foolproof securityduring their stay in the coun-try.

Pakistan has won silvermedals at the 10th SouthAsian Games held in 2006 inSri Lanka followed by 11thSouth Asian Games in 2010in Bangladesh. Pakistaniteam also won silver medalin the 2006 Asian Games heldin Doha.—NNI

S Africa unfazedby ‘choker’ tag:

de VilliersCOLOMBO—Power-packedSouth Africa go into the WorldTwenty20 starting in Sri Lankaon Tuesday determined not tobe ridiculed any more as theperennial chokers of interna-tional cricket.

The Proteas, a formidableside in all forms of the game,have not won a major worldtitle since their return from anapartheid-induced ban in 1990,after inexplicably crashing atcrucial moments in previoustournaments.

But limited-overs captainAB de Villiers warned rivals inthe 12-nation tournament thatthey will see a new, determinedSouth Africa in action who arecapable of going all the way.

“I am going to be very hon-est with you, and I am goingto put it up straight up front—we have choked in the past andwe know about it,” de Villierstold reporters in Colombo.

“We have had some reallybad experiences in the past.But I emphasis the word‘past’. We have come with anew look in this team and wehave worked hard with ournew management team thathas given us a lot of energyand new ideas.

“So we will approach thistournament differently and welike to win in pressure situa-tions and we are going to doexactly that. We are preparedand excited to take the field.”

South Africa failed to makethe final of the 1999 World Cupin England when they tied withAustralia despite needing justone run to win off the last fourdeliveries. During the Champi-ons Trophy semi-final againstIndia in Colombo in 2002, SouthAfrica collapsed from a com-fortable 192-1 to lose by 10 runsafter needing just 70 more fromthe last 14 overs.—AFP

Inter schoolstournament

starts tomorrowRAWALPINDI—The Inter-Schools Sports Tournamentof the federal governmenteducational institutions(boys) will start on Tuesday.

The opening ceremony ofthe tournament will be held atF.G Technical High SchoolTariqabad. The students willparticipate in Hockey, Football,Baskeball, Cricket, Table Ten-nis, Badminton and Volleyball.

Every Primary School willhave to participate in the PTShow. FGEI (C/G) RegionalOffice Rawalpindi GSO-1 willbe the chairman whileMuhammad Afzal Tahir Prin-cipal F.G Boys Sec SchoolAdamjee Road will be Secre-tary Sports for 2012.

Draws of team will be heldheld on Monday at F.G BoysSecondary School AdamjeeRoad under the supervisionof Sports Secretary.—APP

KAPOLEI (Hawaii)—BillGlasson moved into positionfor his first Champions Tourvictory, shooting a 7-under65 on Saturday to take a four-stroke lead into the finalround of inaugural HawaiiChampionship.

Winless in 46 starts onthe 50-and-over tour, the 52-year-old Glasson had a 13-under 131 total. He wonseven times on the PGA Tour

Golf: Bill leads Hawaii C’shipin an injury-plagued careermarked by more than 20 sur-geries.

Glasson birdied three ofthe last five holes after drop-ping a shot on the par-4 13th.

‘’Finishing the way I didis going to help tomorrow,’’he said. ‘’I need to hit somefairways. That’s my thing.My irons have kept me in theballgame. My driver, she’snot liking me right now.

We’re having a little war. So,we’ll see who wins thatbattle.’’

First-round leader PeterSenior and Mark McNultywere tied for second.

Senior followed his open-ing 65 with a 70. The 53-year-old Australian is winless in65 starts in three seasons onthe senior tour. He has fiverunner-up finishes, losingthree playoffs.—AP

McKay makessolid returnfrom injury

COLOMBO—Clint McKay be-came one of the fastest to 50ODI wickets earlier this yearbut he knows his place in theshorter format is far from cer-tain for Australia’s World T20campaign. McKay missed theT20s against Pakistan in theUAE due to a hamstring injuryand made his return on Satur-day in Australia’s warm-upmatch against New Zealand inColombo, where he took 2 for14 from three overs.

However, with PatCummins and Mitchell Starcboth in good form, and thespinners Brad Hogg, XavierDoherty and Glenn Maxwelllikely to play a significant rolein the Sri Lankan conditions,McKay may struggle to forcehis way in for the groupmatches against Ireland andWest Indies. McKay hasplayed only four T20internationals - three of themthis year - despite his ongoingpresence in the ODI side.

“I’d like to think I’d get inthe best attack but if I don’t,well so be it,” McKay told re-porters after the New Zealandgame. “I’ll just keep trainingand making sure that if I doget my turn I’ll be ready to go.The young boys Starcy andPatty are bowling beautifullyat the moment so we’ll just waitand see what makeup of theteam they’re going to go with.”

McKay is far from an ex-press bowler but has been ex-tremely valuable to Australia’sone-day team in the past threeyears, his changes of paceproving especially difficult forbatsmen to handle.—AFP

AN otherwise healthy 57-year-old, he fig-ured he just needed to learn some back-strengthening exercises, so he found a per-sonal trainer to help him. But despite theworkouts, his leg pain got worse making ithard for him even to walk from the car to thegro-cery store entrance. He and the trainersuspected something else was wrong andhe sought the advice of his doctor. Soon hisdoc-tor’s tests revealed thetrue cause: blockages in theblood vessels of his legs. Infact, the arteries going to hislower extremities were nearly100 percent blocked. Thecause? Years of heavy smok-ing and high-fat meals, andother factors had causedcholes-terol, scar tissue andblood clots to build up in-side his blood vessels.

Most people think thiskind of clogged artery dis-ease, or arteriosclerosis,only happens in the heart.But as Dow’s case shows, itcan happen throughout thebody. When it does, it’scalled peripheral arterial dis-ease, or PAD. And in somepeople, PAD causes leg pain that acts as an‘early warning’ that someone is at high riskfor a heart attack or a stroke, says a Univer-sity of Michigan Cardiovascular Center ex-pert. “This is the hallmark of a disease that’sall over,” says James Stanley, M.D., a direc-tor of the U-M CVC and the vascular sur-geon who operated on Dow. “It’s like grayhair you don’t just get it on one side of yourhead. So if you’ve got this kind of blockagein your leg, you’re going to have it otherplaces.”

In fact, nearly a quarter of people whohave leg pain due to PAD will be dead in fiveyears, mostly due to heart attacks and other

Leg pain can mean heart dangerheart problems, Stanley says. For peoplelike Dow, whose leg pain kept them fromwalking even short distances, the odds areeven worse: as many as half will die by fiveyears. Fortunately, Dow got diagnosed andtreated before that happened to him. Stanleyperformed a bypass operation to open hisblocked leg arteries, similar to the bypassesthat heart patients have. A recent checkup

showed he’s doing well. “Forsure, it’s a wake-up call,”says Dow, who has quitsmoking and changed hiseating habits. “You knowthat old saying, ‘Wherethere’s smoke, there’s fire’?I’m sure that I not only havethe vascular issues in mylower extremities, but I’msure I have them in otherparts of my body.” Dow isn’talone, says Stanley, who hasoperated on thousands ofpatients with severe PAD inhis decades as a professorof vascular surgery at the U-M Medical School. Nearly 30million people in the UnitedStates have some form ofPAD, though the vast major-

ity are “silent” cases that don’t cause symp-toms. Among people over age 70, nearlyone per-son in five has PAD.

So, the advice for preventing PAD,or stopping it before it gets serious, islargely the same as the advice for pre-venting a heart attack or stroke: Quitsmoking, eat healthier, get more exercise,control your blood sugar if you have dia-betes, lose weight, and get your bloodpressure and cholesterol levels checked.And ask your doctor if you should takea daily aspirin to prevent clots, or drugsto reduce your blood pressure and cho-lesterol.

KARACHI—As many as 189cases of Dengue have comethe fore in Karachi this yearso far. This was stated by theCommissioner Karachi,Roshan Ali Shaikh, says astatement on Sunday.

He said that keeping inview the increasing cases ofDengue it has become im-

perative to foster necessaryawareness among thepeople in this regard. TheCommissioner said that allthe organization concernedwould take steps under ajoint strategy for the cam-paign regarding the treat-ment, precaution and aware-ness in order to help control

the cases of Dengue.He was of the view that

work in this regard would beundertaken on war footing.Roshan Shaikh said that anattractive pamphlet would beprinted for distribution amongthe schoolchildren so thatthey could take these home andask the parents for the neces-

sary precautions. He statedthat the Ulema and khatibswould be requested to deliversermon to create awarenessamong the people regardingDengue. The Commissionersaid that arrangements havealso been made for carryingout spray to combat the Den-gue virus.—APP

189 dengue cases surface this year

KARACHI—Sindh GovernorDr. Ishratul Ebad Khan in-formed Prime Minister RajaPervaiz Ashraf that he had im-mediately reached the site ofthe factory fire in BaldiaTown to see the rescue op-erations. He said that he hadconvened a meeting withSITE Association of

Industry’s office-bearersand told them that the Govern-ment would continue its sup-port to the industry but not atthe cost of people’s lives.

He said that Karachi,which is the city of 20 mil-lion people, needs more mod-ern fire fighting machineryand equipment along with fo-rensic capacity to effectivelytackle the incidents like thefire that engulfed the gar-ments factory in SITE area.

Sindh Chief MinisterSyed Qaim Ali Shah said that

More modern fire fightingmachinery needed: Governor

Sindh province has beenfacing floods for the lastthree years consecutively.

Unlike previous years’floods, this year the urbanareas are affected which is amatter of serious conern be-cause of the density of popu-lation. More than three mil-lion people have been af-fected in six districts of theprovince. He said that an in-terim report about the lossesin flood would be submittedto the Prime Minister withinnext few days.

He said that 135 peoplehave died so far in floods inthe province this year. Hesought assistance from theFederal Government to man-age the situation.

Earlier, Sindh Chief Sec-retary Raja MuhammadAbbas briefed the PrimeMinister about the rescue

and relief steps taken in con-nection with the garmentsfactory fire and rain/flood af-fected areas of the province.

Meanwhile,Dr. IshratulIbad said that the businesscommunity has decided togive compen-sation to the af-fected families of fire incidentin a garment factory.

Talking to newsmen inKarachi on Sunday‚ he saidthat heirs of the deceasedpeople will also be given jobs.

He said all possiblesafety measures would betaken in all the Industrieswhich will be verified by thegovernment.

To a question‚ the Gov-ernor said DNA tests havebeen taken of unidentifiedbodies to ensure theirproper identifi-cation tohand over the bodies to thelegal heirs.—NNI

KARACHI— MuttahidaQaumi Movement (MQM)chief Altaf Hussain on Sun-day said that serving the hu-manity is the best form ofworship.

He said this while speak-ing to the people gathered atthe relief camp set up at “NineZero” for the families af-fected by the Baldia Towntragedy.

He said that there wasnothing superior and noblerthan the selfless work beingdone by the MQM workers.

He prayed Allah toshower His blessings on thepeople who were donatingmoney for helping the ailinghumanity.

He declared that AbdulRauf Siddiqui has shown

Serving humanity bestform of worship: Altaf

clearly by tendering his res-ignation that ministries wereof little importance for theMQM.

Altaf said that RaufSiddiqui had resigned at thecall of his conscience and ithad no parallel in the historyof the country.

He commended RaufSiddiqui and said that minis-tries were of little importancefor the MQM because serv-ing the humanity was of fore-most importance for theMQM.

He thanked the charitablepeople who were donatinggenerously at the relief campof the MQM.

He also praised mediapersons who were makingindependent coverage of the

Baldia Town tragedy withhonesty.

He also praised membersof the MQM Rabita Commit-tee in London and Pakistan,MQM workers and KKF vol-unteers for their selfless andtireless efforts.

He also praised office-bearers of the informationwing of the MQM and itssubsections news room,photo section, video section,and CyberCom departmentfor their services.

Deputy Convener ofMQM Rabita CommitteeAnis Qaimkhani, members ofthe Committee and workersand office-bearers of variouswings of the MQM were alsopresent on the occasion.—APP

MQM chiefpays tribute toImran Farooq

KARACHI—Chief ofMuttahida Qaumi Move-ment Altaf Hussain payingglowing tribute to ex con-vener of MQM Dr ImranFarooq on his second deathanniversary said that theblood of Dr Imran Farooqwould not go to waste. In astatement Altaf Hussain saidthat Haqparast movementwould definitely be success-ful to achieve all its objec-tives.

Calling late Dr ImranFarooq an asset for theMQM who remained stead-fast even in the most difficulttimes and till his death AltafHussain said that Dr Farooqwas a beacon of light for thepeople struggling on the pathof truth and justice. He saidthat the entire nation payshomage to its leader for hisgreat sacrifices.

Hussain prayed Al-mighty Allah to shower hisblessings on the soul of DrFarooq and bring his killersto justice. He expressed sym-pathies to the widow, chil-dren, parents and all otherfamily members of DrFarooq.—NNI

Fire breaks outin shoe

factory storeKARACHI— A fire broke outin a shoe factory’s store inNew Karachi area. A spokes-man of Rangers said on re-ceiving the information theRangers acted swiftly andsent two mobiles and fourmotorcycle squads.

He said two fire tendersalso reached the spot andcontrolled the blaze. No ca-sualty was reported, theRangers spokes-man furtherpointed out.—APP

Commuters sufferas CNG stationsclosed in Sindh

KARACHI— Majority ofcommuters and motoristssuffered as all CompressedNatural Gas (CNG) stationsin Sindh, including Karachi,are closed Sunday. The com-muters looked worried onroads of the city waiting fortheir buses for hours.

The CNG stations ofacross the province wereclosed yesterday morning at9am and will be reopened to-morrow morning at 9am. Thistime the Sui Southern GasCompany (SSGC) closed thegas supply for 48 hours as itfaces shortage of gas due tothe breakdown in three gasfields. Usually, CNG stationsremain closed for 24 hoursfrom 9am Saturday till 9am onSunday every week acrossthe province under the SuiSouthern Gas Company’sweekly gas load managementschedule.—NNI

PM condoleswith Dr Asim

KARACHI—Prime MinisterRaja Pervez Ashraf on Satur-day visited the residence ofAdviser to the Prime Minis-ter for Petroleum and NaturalResources, Dr. Asim Hussain,to condole the demise of hisfather, Dr. Tajammul Hussain.

Federal Ministers, Dr.Abdul Hafiz Sheikh, RehmanMalik and Syed NaveedQamar accompanied thePrime Minister.

The Prime Minister of-fered condolence to Dr. AsimHussain on the demise of hisfather and offered Fateha forthe departed soul.

Raja Pervez Ashrafprayed to Almighty Allah torest the departed soul in eter-nal peace and grant courageand fortitude to the bereavedfamily to bear this irreparableloss.

Sindh Governor, Dr.Ishrat-ul-Ebad Khan andSindh Chief Minister, SyedQaim Ali Shah were alsopresent on the occasion.—APP

NBP donatesRs2m to SIUT

KARACHI—National Bank ofPakistan (NBP), CSRDivision’s head Iqbal Qasimhas given Rs 2 million dona-tion to Sindh Institute ofUrology Transplantation(SIUT) here on Sunday.

According to a statementissued by the NBP, IqbalQasim handed over the do-nation amount cheque to Di-rector SIUT, Prof.

Dr. Adib-ul-Hasan Rizvi.Coordinator CSR Division ofthe NBP, Ghulam MuhammadKhan and other notableswere also present on the oc-casion.

Speaking on the occa-sion, Iqbal Qasim hailed theservices of the SIUT and saidevery possible assistancewill be provided to the Insti-tute.— APP

New politicalalliance in theoffing in Sindh

KARACHI— Pakistan MuslimLeague-Functional, PML-Q,ANP and PML-likemindedagreed to form new alliancein Sindh. A meeting in this re-gard was held in Karachiwhich was chaired by PirPagara.

Leaders of FunctionalLeague, PLM-Q, PML-Likeminded (Arbab RahimGroup) and National People’sParty attended the meeting.

Final announcement inthis regard would be made onSeptember 29. Meanwhile,Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)and PML-Q reached anagreement of political adjust-ment in Punjab.

A coordination commit-tee for distribution of ticketwould be set up after PML-Qchief Shujaat Hussain returnfrom abroad.—NNI

KARACHI—The Police Hos-pital Karachi would bestreamlined on modern lines.This was decided at a meet-ing chaired by the InspectorGeneral of Police (IGP), Sindh,Fayyaz Ahmed Leghari, saysa statement here on Sunday.

A five-member committeehas been formed in this re-gard which will finalize its rec-ommendations in this con-nection. The meeting was in-formed that Police HospitalKarachi is a 62-bed facilitywith separate medical, surgi-cal, gynecology, neo-natal,

Police Hospital tobe streamlined

on modern lineschildren and dental wards.

It was further informedthat during the current year20,600 patients were treatedat the OPD while 41,429 labtest and 3,000 ultra soundtests have also been con-ducted. For new entrants topolice service, Hepatitisscreening test is compulsory.

So far, Hepatitis screeningtest of 74,500 Hepatitis screen-ing tests have been carriedout. The meeting was also in-formed that the record of thePolice Hospital Karachi is be-ing computerized.—APP

FIA takespossession offactory files

KARACHI—The Federal In-vestigations Agency has takeover the files of charred fac-tory in Baldia Town Karachiafter the authorities declaredthe building dangerous andsealed the factory premisesand adjoining area using con-tainers last night. Director FIAAzad Khan re-visited thedoomed factory along withhis investigation team andcollected evidences. The FIAteam took many important filesfound at the factory with it.The team is conducting in-vestigating from a number ofangles including insurance toevaluate what really causedfire.—APP

KARACHI—At least threepeople have been gunneddown in different areas of thecity on Sunday.

A tortured body, packedin a gunny sack was foundfrom Musa Lane, Lyari. Aman was shot dead whileanother was injured in a fir-ing incident that occurred inGulistan-e-Jauhar area of thecity.

The deceased was iden-tified as Ahmed while the in-jured person Shams Fakhri.

7 die in different incidentsThe body and the injuredman were shifted to hospi-tal for post mortem andtreatment. On the otherhand, a bullet-riddled deadbody of an unidentified manwas found from OrangiTown.

Meanwhile, four peopleincluding children andwoman were killed when apassenger bus struck a mo-torcycle in Karachi, policeand witnesses said Sunday.

Rescue sources said

that the incident took placeat Super Highway when aspeedy bus hit a motorcycle,killing three people includ-ing two children and manand injuring his wife.

Edhi’s rescue teamrushed to spot but a womansuccumbed to her injurieswhile shifting to hospital.

The bodies were shiftedto Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.“The driver of the bus fledthe scene soon after the in-cident,” they added.—NNI

KARACHI: Crane machine being used to get down heavy equipment of air system fromKPT building.

KARACHI: Indian fishermen, arrested on violating sea territorial limits, in custody of Docks Police.

KARACHI: Tara Uzra Dawood, President DGF snapped with panelists that includedamongst others Catwalk’s Frieha Altaf, Dr. Saadia Virk Rizvi, Chairperson & CEOSouth City Hospital, celebrated sculptor Ameen Gulgee, Shallum Xavier of Fuzon &moderator Sidra Iqbal. P.O.Photo. Javed Iqbal

ADOPTING a fixed timetable for mealscould be a more effective method ofdieting than trying to cut out fatty

foods, say researchers.People who snack on healthy food can

put on weight if their eatingpatterns are not maintainedproperly, according to newstudy.

In contrast, the re-searchers said, sticking tostrict meal times is good forthe metabolism and helpsthe body burn off fat, allow-ing a more liberal choice offood, the Telegraph re-ported.Previous studieshave shown that both ahigh-fat diet and eating pat-terns that disrupt the natu-ral body clock can interferewith our metabolism andraise the risk of obesity.

Scientists from the He-brew University of Jerusa-lem tested the effects of tim-ing and fat intake on four groups of miceover an 18-week period to determine whethercareful scheduling of meals could lower theeffects of a high-fat diet. Half were given ahigh-fat diet that would normally be ex-pected to make them obese. Of these, a quar-ter were fed at the same time each day andanother quarter could eat as much as theyliked, whenever they liked. The other halfwas fed a diet that was lower in fat. Again,one quarter had a fixed feeding time, theother had not.

All four of the groups gained weightover the course of the trial, with the groupthat ate a high-fat diet at irregular intervals

Keeping food diary could bekey to staying slim and fit

unsurprisingly gaining the most weight,while those on a low-fat, scheduled dietgained the least.

But more surprisingly, the mice thathad been fed a high-fat diet at regular in-

tervals finished the trial in abetter condition than thosethat ate low-fat foods when-ever they wanted, despiteboth groups consuming thesame number of caloriesoverall.

The mice in the sched-uled, high-fat group had 12per cent lower body weight,21 per cent lower cholesteroland 1.4 times higher sensi-tivity to insulin than the un-scheduled, low-fat group.

The diet also changedtheir metabolism so that theyburnt off the fats they in-gested to produce energy inbetween meal times, ratherthan storing the fat in theirbodies.

“Our research shows that the timingof food consumption takes precedenceover the amount of fat in the diet, leadingto improved metabolism and helping toprevent obesity,” the paper quoted ProfOren Froy, who led the experiment, assaying.

“Improving metabolism through thecareful scheduling of meals, without lim-iting the content of the daily menu, couldbe used as a therapeutic tool to preventobesity in humans,” he suggested.Thestudy was published in the Journal ofthe Federation of American Societies forExperimental Biology

LAHORE: Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif with former Provincial MinisterMehr Ghulam Dastagir Lak and Mehr Yar Lak on the occasion of their joining PML-N.

LAHORE: Activists of Ahl-e-Hadees Youth Force staging a protest on Ravi Road against the maker of blasphemousfilm in America.

LAHORE: A large number of candidates return after giving entry test at University ofEngineering and Technology on Sunday.

Call to restoretrains

LAHORE—Daily PassengersAssociation Pakistan Rail-ways office-bearers allegedthe attitude of railways ad-ministration with passengersof Lahore division was un-fair.

Talking to APP here onSunday, Abdulmajid, presi-dent DPA, and other office-bearers said the operation ofmore than 20 trains of Lahoredivision had been stoppedwhich made the lives of com-muters very hard.

He said thousands of pas-sengers used to travel dailyto the provincial capital toearn their livelihood fromsmalltowns but after the sus-pension of trains many com-muters had been left unem-ployed. He said most affectedpeople belonged to Lahore-Narowal section as many sta-tions did not have any meansother than train. He said an-other unfair act was an in-crease in the fare as it hadannounced a five percent hikebut the fare was increased by15 to 20 percent.—APP

LAHORE—Punjab GovernorSardar Muhammad Latif KhanKhosa said on Sunday thegovernment would introduceinterim set-up after evolvinga consensus among all politi-cal parties and the stake-hold-ers.

Talking to a 96-memberdelegation from National De-fence University headed bySyed Razi Nawab atGovernor’s House, he saidthat handing over power tothe elected representativesthrough free, fair and trans-parent elections is the top pri-ority of the PPP-led govern-ment.

Interim setup after consensus: KhosaThe Punjab governor said

that difference of opinion isthe beauty of democracy, add-ing that the government hadsettled all disagreeable issuesthrough consensus during thepast four and half years.

To a question, the Gover-nor said the PPP-led govern-ment would create new prov-inces in the light of the rec-ommendations by the Parlia-mentary Commission.

To another query, Khosasaid the government believesin the smooth continuity ofdemocratic system, addingthat PPP believes all conten-tious issues could be re-

solved through collectivewisdom.

Stressing the importanceof national cohesion, SardarLatif Khosa said that everytype of education must beimparted to enhance nationalsolidarity.

He said the governmentshould bring together peoplefrom diverse backgrounds,experiences and outlooks andenable them to the issues froma national stand-point.

Khosa eulogized servicesof the Armed Forces, addingthat it is an open secret thatPakistani Armed Forces are thebest forces in the world.—APP

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—The spokesmanof Pakistan Muslim League-N, Senator Pervaiz Rashidhas termed the talk of Dr.Qadeer about Nawaz Sharif,regarding atomic explosionsby Pakistan, contrary to thefacts.

Commenting on the recentinterview of Dr. Qadeer, hesaid that disclosure by Dr.Qadeer after 14 years aboutnuclear tests are ludicrous.Pervaiz Rashid said thatformer Prime Minister NawazSharif was in Kazakhstan inconnection with ECO SummitConference at the time ofatomic explosions by India onMay 11.

He said “Syed MushahidHussain (now Secretary Gen-eral of PML-Q) has also re-peatedly said that former

PML-N rejects DrA Q Khan’s claims

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif,in response to India, had de-cided there for conductingatomic explosions. On his re-turn to Pakistan, Nawaz Sharifmet Pakistani scientists in-cluding Dr. Qadeer in this re-gard”.

Pervaiz Rashid said thatfor atomic explosion Pakistanhad to face worst internationalpressure and economic sanc-tions, therefore, for this pur-pose, wide range consulta-tion, forming internationalopinion in our favour and tak-ing friendly countries intoconfidence, was utmost es-sential for which the period ofmore than two weeks was notenough.

General Zaini and GeneralTommy Franks have admittedin their books that NawazSharif was not ready to acceptany pressure in this regard.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Punjab ChiefMinister MuhammadShahbaz Sharif said that as aresult of next general elec-tions, PML-N will not onlyform government in Punjabbut entire Pakistan and themodern cleanliness systemwill be spread throughout thecountry.

According to the GallopSurvey Report, he said thepopularity of President PML-N, Mian Muhammad NawazSharif, has increased mani-fold throughout the country.

Talking to reporters,Shahbaz Sharif said thatPML-N is not afraid of anypolitical party. He said thatwe are going to contest gen-eral elections on the basis ofour performance and publicservice and will form the gov-ernment throughout thecountry with the power ofvotes of the people.

Replying to a question,the Chief Minister said thatfederal government an-nounces to copy ourprojects but practically doesnothing and its performanceis completely zero for whichwe are not at fault. ShahbazSharif disclosed that he isgoing to visit Turkey at theend of this month where he

will hold negotiations withTurk authorities regardingcooperation in energy andother sectors.

Moreover, MoUs weresigned by Lahore SolidWaste Management Com-pany and District Administra-tions of four districts includ-ing Rawalpindi, Gujranwala,Multan and Sialkot for pro-vision of solid waste man-agement services.

Chief Minister Punjab,Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif,Chairman Solid Waste Man-agement Company KhawajaAhmed Hassaan, MemberProvincial Assembly MehrIshtiaq Ahmed, ChairmanTurk Company OZPAK,Muhibbi Kartal, consultantof ISTAC company Ismailand representatives of Turkcompanies Albaraq andOzpak were also present onthe occasion. Under theseagreements, Solid WasteManagement Company willprovide consultation to fourdistricts regarding collectionof garbage, shifting of wasteand cleanliness through ma-chines. MD Lahore SolidWaste Management Com-pany, Waseem Ajmal andDistrict Coordination Offic-ers of four districts signedthe MOUs.

Shahbaz Sharif said on

the occasion that this is a his-toric day that Lahore SolidWaste Management Com-pany has been able to pro-vide technical assistance re-garding waste managementto other districts.

He said that prior to nextelections, initial work with re-gard to modern system ofcleanliness will be started infour cities. He said that mod-ern system of cleanliness hasbeen introduced in the pro-vincial metropolis in collabo-ration with Turk CompaniesOZPAK and ISTAC andthese companies are workingefficiently for making Lahorea clean city. He said that thescope of this modern systemwill be extended to entire cityat the end of this year due towhich citizens will see aprominent change regardingcleanliness and clean envi-ronment. The Chief Ministerexpressed his gratitude tothe Turkish Prime MinisterTayyip Erdogan, MayorIstanbul Municipality KadirTopbas and his entire teamas due to their personal ef-forts and interest the projectsare being executed success-fully. He said that soonpeople of Pakistan, Punjabespecially Lahore will see amajor change with regard tocleanliness. He said that Turk

PML-N to form next govt inPakistan after polls: Shahbaz

companies are busy in mak-ing provincial metropolis aneat and clean city throughmodern machinery and latesttechnique and expressed thehope that our collective ef-forts will definitely bear fruit.Shahbaz Sharif said thatagreements of cooperationbetween Lahore Solid WasteManagement Company andother four districts are a milestone and ISTAC companyof Istanbul Municipality isworking jointly with SolidWaste Management Com-pany. He said that Turkey,Iran and Saudi Arabia arevery sincere friends of Paki-stan and we have to enhancetrade cooperation with them.Shahbaz Sharif said that wedon’t want aid but want tradeand with mutual cooperation,confidence and collabora-tion, can change the courseof history on the basis of prin-ciple of trade. He said thatvarious Turk companies areworking with Punjab and thecooperation of Turkey inmetro bus service project iscommendable.

Lak groupjoins PML-N

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Leader ofTehreek-e-Insaaf fromSargodha and former Pro-vincial Minister MehrGhulam Dastagir Lak andMehr Yar Lak son of formerSenator late Khuda Dad Lakcalled on Punjab Chief Min-ister Muhammad ShahbazSharif, here Sunday andwhile expressing their con-fidence in the leadership ofQuaid Pakistan MuslimLeague-N Mian MuhammadNawaz Sharif and PunjabChief Minister MuhammadShahbaz Sharif, announcedto join Pakistan MuslimLeague-N.

The leaders of Lak groupwhile speaking on the occa-sion, said that only MianMuhammad Nawaz Sharif cansteer the country out of crisisand put it on the road toprogress. That is why todayevery person is looking to-wards him, they added. Theysaid that after joining PakistanMuslim League-N, they willwork as workers for the partyand welfare of the people.They said that they will an-nounce their formal joining ofthe party during meeting withthe president Pakistan Mus-lim League-N MuhammadNawaz Sharif within a day ortwo.

The Chief MinisterMuhammad Shahbaz Sharif,welcoming the joining ofMuslim League-N by Lakgroup, said that party will befurther strengthened due totheir joining.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Chairman LahoreTransport Company (LTC)and Advisor to Punjab ChiefMinister, Khawaja AhmadHassan has said that LTC willreorganize urban routes of thecity so that citizens could reachthe stations of bus rapid tran-sit system and evolve a com-prehensive mechanism for thedevelopment of feeder routesto facilitate the people in reach-ing other parts of the city. Hesaid that LTC has developedconnectivity with adjacent cit-

PCSIR produceslow-cost dengue

repellantLAHORE—Pakistan Councilof Science and Industrial Re-search (PCSIR) has made alow-cost dengue repellant tocounter the virus, DirectorGeneral Dr Shahzad Alamtold APP on Sunday.

Following directions ofthe Secretary Science andTechnology and ChairmanPCSIR, the PCSIR like theprevious year prepared adengue herbal repellant cost-ing Rs 30 per pack, the DGsaid.

It remains affective for atleast eight hours after apply-ing once whereas its perma-nent use has no side effector causes skin problems as itis a herbal product, DrShehzad Alam claimed.

It is easily available atPCSIR’s Industrial LiaisonOffice(ILO) on the basis ofno profit no loss.

However, it should bekept out of the reach of chil-dren and avoid applying toeyes and lips.

Answering a questionabout its commercialization,the DG hinted at financialconstraints.—APP

LTC to reorganize Lahoreurban routes

ies of Lahore and new A.C.buses of International stan-dard have been plied fromLahore to Raiwind,Sheikhupura, Maraka, Kasurand other areas. In addition toold buses, LTC succeeded inplying 410 new buses on vari-ous routes of the city, headded.

This was stated by himwhile addressing a meetingheld to review the performanceof LTC. The meeting was at-tended by Vice chairman LTCMehar Ishtiaq, Acting ChiefExecutive Officer LTC, Amjad

Hussain. G.M. (F) MariamKhawar, Dy. G.M. (Ops)Tanveer Siddiqi, Manager (Op-erations & Planning), HumaDaha, Senior Manager (F)Zafar Ahmad Qureshi andManager (Ops) Faisal Nisar.

Kh. Ahmad Hassan saidthat as many as 30 urbanroutes have been made op-erational in the city. He saidthat LTC is implementingcomprehensive plan of ac-tion to provide efficient trans-port facilities to residential lo-calities far from the city in anintegrated manner.

LESCO achieveshighest ever

recovery thancounterparts

LAHORE—The Lahore ElectricSupply Company (LESCO) hasachieved the highest ever re-covery of bills than all otherdistribution companies acrossthe country.

The Federal Ministry ofWater and Power sourcestold APP on Sunday that atotal amount of Rs 40,649.32million was billed to the con-sumers on the basis of powerconsumption during the lastquarter of April-June of whichRs 40,734.52 was collected,which was 100.21 per cent, thehighest ever recovery in thecountry.

Director Customer Ser-vices, LESCO, KhalidMahmood, during his tenure,through good governanceand dedication coupled withteam work not only achievedthe target.—APP

Rs 1528.47mallocated for

internshipprogramme

LAHORE—The Punjab gov-ernment has allocated Rs1528.47 million for the PunjabYouth Internship Programmeand approved six develop-ment schemes worth Rs3853.635 million.

The schemes were ap-proved in the 11th meetingof Provincial DevelopmentWorking Party of current fi-nancial year 2012-13 presidedover by Punjab Planning andDevelopment Board Chair-man Javaid Aslam.

The approved schemesinclude: campaign for en-hancement of literacy rate infour districts of Punjab at a costof Rs 720.809 million;upgradation and developmentof the shrine of Hazrat Bibi PakDaman, Lahore, at a cost of Rs581.00 million; setting up acentre for energy research anddevelopment at University ofEngineering & Technology,Lahore (Phase-I) at a cost ofRs 292.000 million; widening/improvement of Pattoki toKanganpur Road.—APP